An Act of Will

"There is no one who does not feel that he is imprisoned in some way. I f this is the result of his own free will he must regard his will as not free, or the circular reasoning in this position would be quite apparent. Free will must lead to freedom. Judgment always imprisons because it separates segments of reality by the unstable scales of desire. Wishes are not facts. To wish is to imply that willing is not sufficient. Instead of "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven," say, "Will ye first the Kingdom of Heaven," and you have said, "I know what I am and I accept my own inheritance." -- A Course in Miracles

"There is no will but God's." -- A Course in Miracles

"The beliefs of the human mind rob and enslave it, and then impute this result to another illusive personification..." -- Mary Baker Eddy

I love the understanding that judgment imprisons the will, because it requires separating oneself from what is judged... it requires a subject and an object. So the One is no longer seen or experienced as whole. This is of course wholly illusory (judgment is illusory). But we have been taught from childhood that we have to evaluate and judge so that we will make good decisions and live a good, free life. Hmmm... how has that worked so far? Let's look at it another way: if there is only one Will, then making judgments is an exercise in futility and seems to remove our Will from our awareness. This is of course a smokescreen, too.

It makes absolutely no difference if the judgment is toward a person, place, thing, or experience. It makes absolutely no difference if we are evaluating 'spiritually' or 'from the ego.' It makes absolutely no difference if we are trying to decide between people, places, things, or situations. None of these things exist as we imagine them, and so we cannot judge. ACIM explains that judgment is not our function here, because we use it to maintain the illusion and so it will always, always bring us suffering. Forgiveness is our only true function in the world, because as we let go of the smokescreens of our judgments, our true Will is restored to our Awareness.

As long as we are judging, we are slave to the beliefs and evaluations behind the judgments. These are always some version of lack and separation from our good (or the fear of lack and separation from our good). As One with the Allness of God, where is this somewhere that is separate from the All and Everywhere?

As there is no will but God's, what aspects of our puny judgments could possibly have any reality? I for one am ready to give up the need to evaluate and understand any of it. I am ready to BE as God created me, the only real thing I can do anyway. This involves the only right use of Will in this world. I WILL to BE as I AM.

What is true of God is true of me. ACIM tells us, "He Who is changeless shares His attributes with His creation. All the images His Son appears to make have no effect." I live and move and have my Being in Him. Does a drop of water differ in quality from the river or the ocean? It shares the attributes of its being with its source. So do we.

The one true use of my Will is to consciously remember. To remember in this world of dreams is an act of Will.

"Remember always that you cannot be anywhere except in the Mind of God." -- A Course in Miracles