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Jesus on Elevated Form

A Dialogue between Jesus and Lars Gimstedt

Note: regular typeface is written by Lars; italic represents what was received from Jesus

One thing still disturbs me. This image of the mountain – it conveys one reality. Ground level seems to symbolize our every-day experience in our physical world. But the whole mountain is real, as real at its base as at the peak.

Despite this, I have met many ACIM students that describe “ground level” as imaginary, as an illusion. Even the editor of ACIM, Kenneth Wapnick, was a very strong proponent of this description.

But here we have been describing The Elevated Self in Form, and I cannot read into your descriptions of this as it being illusionary. On the contrary, you say that being An Elevated Self in Form is meeting the conditions for being able to experience “The Happy Dream”.

Misinterpretations are common and unavoidable. Many of these are naturally a result of ego resistance, which should come as no surprise.

The interpretation that dear Kenneth was such a proponent for, which I agree he was, was though not at all ego-driven. It was a result of his need of standing firm against strong forces that arose around him when ACIM was first published. Unwittingly, he ended up in the position that the physical reality as you perceive it was an illusion in itself, and that God’s Kingdom was the only True Reality. I say unwittingly, because despite the fact that Kenneth firmly believed in non-dualism, his interpretation actually reflected a dualistic view.

My message in ACIM was, and is, that existence of the ALL is non-dualistic. At each and every place in ACIM I talk about illusion, I talk about “the illusion of the ego”. With this I mean that it is the belief that is illusionary, and I have described in many places in ACIM how this belief made you “blind”, even “unconscious”, unable to see how the physical realm is but a part of, an aspect of Reality. What you see, in this limited state of mind that makes you believe that only what you see is real and the only reality there is, can be called illusion. Your state of mind will also make you “see” things that are illusionary, like sin, and separation.

As ACIM sometimes became interpreted with a dualistic stance, albeit people talked much about non-dualism, I recognized the need for correcting this misinterpretation. And this was one of the reasons I asked Mari Perron to scribe A Course of Love. There were many other reasons, but correcting common misinterpretations of ACIM was one.

I am relieved to hear you say this. In order to not having to repeat things you have already said in ACOL, are there any particular passages in ACOL that you think are useful in understanding non-dualism and the seeming contradiction between the physical and the Divine?

There are many, but let me first show you some passages from ACIM which illustrate what I said above about the ego’s illusions:

T-4.III.1. “It is hard to understand what ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is within you’ really means. This is because it is not understandable to the ego, which interprets it as if something outside is inside, and this does not mean anything. The word ‘within’ is unnecessary. The Kingdom of Heaven is you. What else but you did the Creator create, and what else but you is His Kingdom? This is the whole message of the Atonement; a message which in its totality transcends the sum of its parts. You, too, have a Kingdom that your spirit created. It has not ceased to create because of the ego’s illusions. Your creations are no more fatherless than you are. Your ego and your spirit will never be co-creators, but your spirit and your Creator will always be. Be confident that your creations are as safe as you are.

The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen.”

T-4.V.4. “The body is the ego’s home by its own election. It is the only identification with which the ego feels safe, since the body’s vulnerability is its own best argument that you cannot be of God. This is the belief that the ego sponsors eagerly. Yet the ego hates the body, because it cannot accept it as good enough to be its home. Here is where the mind becomes actually dazed. Being told by the ego that it is really part of the body and that the body is its protector, the mind is also told that the body cannot protect it. Therefore, the mind asks, ‘Where can I go for protection?’ to which the ego replies, ‘Turn to me.’ The mind, and not without cause, reminds the ego that it has itself insisted that it is identified with the body, so there is no point in turning to it for protection. The ego has no real answer to this because there is none, but it does have a typical solution. It obliterates the question from the mind’s awareness. Once out of awareness the question can and does produce uneasiness, but it cannot be answered because it cannot be asked.”

C-4.1. “The world you see is an illusion of a world.”

C-4.2. “The body’s eyes are therefore not the means by which the real world can be seen.”

When you said before how you in ACIM talk about the ego’s illusions “at each and every place in ACIM”, I used my electronic copy of ACIM and scanned all three books of ACIM for the word “illusion”. The Textbook contains 458 instances, the Workbook 230, the Manual 70, Clarification of Terms 25, and the rest 46, all in all 829 instances. I have studied each of these instances, and I can understand your point, even if I have to say that some of the instances were not as clear as others with respect to clarifying your definition of the word “illusion”, as being what comes out of the ego’s power over us, making us “blind” to God’s Reality.

I really love you Inner Engineer, Lars, describing spiritual matters in mathematical terms! But I understand your need of consistency and logic. I have to admit that some of the parts where I talked about illusion may not have been crystal clear, but it is important to remember the context in which ACIM was introduced, and that the primary purpose of ACIM was to challenge the collective ego’s claims of owning the Truth about Reality.

ACIM was aimed at influencing the mind, by breaking down the multitude of erroneous and limiting beliefs imposed by the ego.

Thirty years later, the world had changed, partly thanks to the message of ACIM and similar messages that have come through to mankind by other channels.

In this new context, ACOL came, in a small part to clarify some of the things in ACIM that had become misinterpreted or not fully understood, but mostly as a necessary sequel to ACIM. Where ACIM spoke to your minds, the purpose of ACOL was to speak to your Hearts.

I can subscribe to that – reading ACOL was a much more emotional experience for me than reading ACIM ever was. If you allow my persistent Engineer to continue, ACOL has only 100 instances of the word “illusion”. Does this illustrate anything about what we are talking about?

It does, even if I have not purposefully limited the number of times I used the word “illusion”. But still, even if the ultimate aim of ACOL is the same as that of ACIM, to teach how to remove all obstacles against realizing who you are in Truth, there is in ACOL more focus on how to achieve The Happy Dream, how to Elevate your personal self into becoming An Elevated Self still remaining in the illusion of being only in form. Note: form is not illusionary in itself, but the belief that form is all there is, is illusionary.

I have described this in many places in ACOL, for example like this:

ACOL
“19.1 There was no evil intent in the creation of the body as a learning device, and as a learning device it was perfectly created. The problem lies in what you have, in your forgetfulness, made of the body. Only from thinking of the body as yourself did ideas of glorifying the body arise. To glorify a learning device makes no sense. And yet in creating the perfect device from which you could experience separation, all such problems were anticipated and corrective devices created alongside them. You could not fully experience separation without a sense of self as separate, and you could not fully experience anything without your free will. A separate self with a free will operating in an external world, as well as a spirit self desiring the experience of separation, would naturally lead to a situation where the whole range of experiences available to a separate being would exist.”

The third Treatise
“12.8. Let’s return a moment to the choice that was made for the human experience, the choice to express whom you are in the realm of physicality. You were not “better” or more “right” before this choice was made than you are now. You made a choice consistent with the laws of creation and the steps of creation outlined above. From this choice, many experiences ensued. Some of these experiences were the result of fear, some the result of love. The choice to express who you are in physical terms was not a choice made of fear but made of love. A physical self is not inconsistent with the laws of God or of creation. It is simply a choice.

12.9 The life of the physical self became a life of suffering and strife only because the physical or personal self forgot that it exists in relationship and believed itself to be separate and alone. In its fear, it made an ego-self which, because it sprang from fear, was not consistent with the laws of Love or of creation. Knowing it existed in a state inconsistent with that of the laws of God, it made of God a being to be feared, thus continuing, and being unable to find release from, the cycle of fear.

12.10 What would be a greater step in all of creation than a physical self able to choose to express the Self within the laws of love? A physical self, able to express itself from within the House of Truth in ways consistent with peace and love is the next step in creation, the rebirth of the Son of God known as the resurrection.

12.11 While this would seem to say that mistakes may occur within creation, remember that creation is about change and growth. There is no right or wrong within creation but there are stages of growth and change. Humankind is now passing through a tremendous stage of growth and change. Are you ready?”

Wonderful passages. Reading them reminds me of the feeling of relief I felt when I first read them, and when I read other similar passages in ACOL. The relief of not having to deny anything in my present reality.

The only thing I need to do (which is not so “only”…) is to keep expanding my sense of what is real to me.

On your question “Are you ready?”, my answer just now is “no”, or possibly “maybe”. But this I can say with conviction – I am willing! Isn’t this what you said would be enough?

Yes and no. At the stage you were at when taking the course as presented in ACIM, it was enough. But now, if you want to be a serious student of ACOL, I have called you to have more than “just a little willingness”:

The second Treatise
“11.9 This learning, then, must be seen for what it is. It is the holiest of work and the final evidence of means and end being the same. Your devotion to this learning must now be complete, your willingness total, your way of learning that of a mind and heart joined in wholeheartedness.”

This is what I expect of you, this is what I call you to do, if you really want to become An Elevated Self in Form.

I fully accept that, as I feel deep down that this “demand” is not a demand from you, it comes as a wish and a longing – it is a calling in full strength from my own Heart!