Our Only Function here

"I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me... for just as you have done this to least of these, my brothers, you have done it unto me." -- The Bible, Matthew 25:35-36, 40

"Your home is built upon your brother's health, upon his happiness, his sinlessness, and everything his Father promised him."-- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 28, Section VII, 7:1

"Pain, illness, loss, age, and death seem to threaten me... yet perfect security and complete fulfillment are my inheritance."-- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 56:1:3 and 5

The images that pass across the mirror of our minds every day can seem daunting.  We see others suffering as well as witnessing our own suffering.  But over 2,000 years ago Jesus gave us a radical teaching... seeing our brother as whole, healthy, fulfilled and secure and letting all the images of lack and limitation go.  Allowing the radiance of Divine Love to so fill our minds and hearts that we see only that Light reflected in all that we seem to encounter. And then discovering that as we have seen the 'other', so we have seen our Self. 

Forgiveness as given to us through A Course in Miracles means the simple act of letting the daunting  images go, 'overlooking' them, and seeing all things safe and healed and whole.  "Spirit am I, safe and healed and whole; free of all limits, free to forgive, and free to save the world." The Course assures us that this practice will give us everything we have ever dreamed of or could ever want.  So what is stopping us?

From a very early age we are taught habits of mind and thought that are supposedly normal, habits that we are told will keep us healthy and safe within the tribe of humans.  Of course, they are actually the mental chains we willingly wear day after day until we seem to age and die, worn out by the struggle to be something we are not.  These conditioned habits of thought and behavior can only be let go by a disciplined willingness to practice this new way of looking at things every minute of every day. This is forgiveness.  This is our only function here. 

"These insubstantial images will go and leave your mind unclouded and serene, when you accept the function given you. Salvation of the world depends on you who can forgive.  Such is your only function here." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 186, 10:1 and 14:5-6