Teachings of Christ Mind

^8.1 The Kingdom of God is the House of Truth. Or better said, the House of Truth has been called the Kingdom of God. I remind you, once again, that what you have called things are but representations too and that we move now beyond representations to meaning so that what you represent will move beyond representations to the truth. Realize here the subtle difference between a symbol that represents the truth, and the truth, for this is what we work toward. Symbols are needed only in the house of illusion, just as are beliefs. The most enlightened among you have beautifully symbolized or represented the truth. These symbols or representations have been of great service and have caused the very explosions that have rocked your faulty foundation. To work toward being a representation of such great power is still a worthy goal and many of you have reached this power. You can see why this power has been necessary and continues to be necessary. But to stop at this dismantling power is not enough. To stop at this dismantling power would be to leave the world in its present condition and your brothers and sisters scrambling in the dust. The work that is upon you now is that of replacing the house of illusion once and for all with the home of truth. The work that is upon you now is that of revelation of the Source.

^8.2 If the Source of Truth is within you, then it is your own revelation toward which we work. Never forget that establishing your identity has been the only aim of this entire course of study. Realize how often you have forgotten this, despite the many repetitions of our aim, and you will be more aware of your resistance and your need to let it go.

^8.3 This resistance is the reason you have been taken on such a long journey before we ever once talked of an idea as crucial as that of bitterness. This bitterness has been a source of resistance as strong as that of the ego and more deeply felt. As I have said, bitterness is to your heart what the ego has been to your mind. Thus bitterness has to do with your feelings more so than your thoughts. The ego but played upon these feelings, using them as building blocks for its thought system. As long as you carry this bitterness within you, you will remain in the house of illusion for your feelings are as real to you as have been the thoughts of your ego-mind. While anything other than the truth remains real to you, your house of illusion will remain a real structure, a structure that keeps you from the truth as surely as would iron bars keep you within its rooms.

^8.4 Although at this moment it may be hard for you to conceive of the idea of bitterness as something that you are attached to, I want you to think of attachments for a time and see how bitterness does indeed fit into this category. Bitterness is an idea intrinsically tied to the personal self and the experience of the personal self. Whether you believe the personal self is comprised of the one identity you now hold or the identity of many past lives, the identity you hold in this time and this place still believes in its own history and that of those who came before it. These beliefs hold the seeds of bitterness, the angst you feel towards God and brothers and sisters both alive and dead.

^8.5 These are the beliefs that would say that you, and all of those who came before you, have been falsely made to suffer, a suffering for which you see no rationale. Those who believe in past lives have also often adopted beliefs regarding choice and believe that choices for suffering were made for some greater good or to repay debts of the past. The only choice that has been made is that of attachment to the human form as the self. The choice that hasn’t been made is the choice to leave this idea behind. The choice that has been made is to believe in a savior who could have, but did not, keep you from this suffering. The choice that has not been made is the choice to believe in the Christ-Self who is the only savior, rather than the ego-self, which is all you have needed saving from.

^8.6 What happens when you believe the choice to suffer, as well as the choice to leave suffering behind, has always been found within? Who then are you to be angry with for all that has occurred? Do you blame yourself and your ancestors for the history, both ancient and recent, that you think you would have given anything to change? Do you look upon the ill and blame them for their illness? Do you not look upon all suffering and feel bitter at your own inability to relieve it? And do you not thus attempt to see it not and then blame yourself for looking the other way?

^8.7 As was said in A Course of Love, the idea of suffering is what has gone so wrong within God’s creation. As was said in “A Treatise on the Art of Thought,” the idea of love can replace the idea of suffering but it is chosen not, because of the suffering that seems to make no sense of love. Bitterness is the cause of this inability to make a new choice and what keeps the cycle of suffering in motion.

^8.8 Remaining attached to bitterness is a reflection of the disbelief that one person, and surely not you, can make a difference. If you could relieve the world of suffering you would, but to try and fail is too heartbreaking. Why should you not be bitter when you and all of those you love will surely suffer and eventually die? Why should you not be bitter when you believe you are powerless? How difficult it is to believe that you need not change the world but only your own self. How difficult to imagine that this one change could bring about all the changes you would imagine that even an army of angels could not bring about. While such a thought remains inconceivable to you it will not come to be.

^8.9 As the representations of the true Self within the house of illusion caused explosions and a fallout of treasure, the representation of the true Self within the House of Truth will cause the creation of the new.

^8.10 Your ancestors could not have imagined all that the explosions in the house of illusion have wrought. These treasures that you now enjoy would have seemed like miracles to them.

^8.11 Within the fallout of treasure, what was looked for was found. If what was looked for were means of making life easier, why not the idea of machinery and tools that would seem to do so? If what was looked for was a means of finding simple pleasures in a harsh world, why not ideas of entertainment that would seem to provide them? People suffering from disease: Why not cures for those diseases?

^8.12 People have looked for what they have imagined it was possible to find. Why would you look for an end to suffering if you felt this was impossible? Much better to look for cures and treatments than for an end to what but seemed endless. Could suffering really have gone on for countless ages simply due to your inability to birth the idea of an end to suffering?

^8.13 Has not a part of you always known that suffering does not have to be even while you have accepted that it is? Let us now put an end to this acceptance through the birth of a new idea.