Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something “outrageous,” do it because it does not matter. Refuse, and your opposition establishes that it does matter to you. It is only you, therefore, who have made the request outrageous, and every request of a brother is for you. Why would you insist in denying him? For to do so is to deny yourself and impoverish both. He is asking for salvation, as you are. Poverty is of the ego, and never of God. No “outrageous” requests can be made of one who recognizes what is valuable and wants to accept nothing else.
ACIM Chapter 12,III,4
The distinction between what is valuable and what is valueless is an important one. It is easy to relinquish the invaluable when it is recognized as having no value, and easy to cherish what is valuable when it is recognized as such. But if the distinction is not correctly made, there is a potential to treat that which has great value as though it was valueless, and to treat that which has no value as though it was valuable. For one who knows this distinction, his path is clear and simple: keep what is valuable and release what is valueless. Certainly you would have no reason to deny a request of someone who asks you for that which you recognize to be valueless. He requests it because he believes it to be of value, so if you refuse, you would be agreeing with him that his request is valuable, and so are joining him in his inability to correctly distinguish between the valuable and valueless. Therefore: ‘Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something “outrageous,” do it because it does not matter.’
In addition, God’s law of giving and receiving which states that what is given to one is given to all, and what is received by one is received by all, is an additional reason for granting the request, outrageous though it may be for that which is valueless; for to deny it would be to deny both our brother and our self the opportunity to correctly distinguish between the valuable and the valueless. A child that asks an adult for a toy believes it to be of value, but the adult who know it is valueless can easily begin the process of correcting the child’s value error by granting his request. If the adult denies the request, he is then endowing the toy with even greater value in the eyes of the child who then becomes even more convinced that the toy is valuable. The job of the adult, which is to teach the child to correctly distinguish between the valuable and the valueless, is now much more difficult because the child’s wrong conviction is greatly increased. Furthermore, if the adult only grants the request of the child and does nothing more, he has done some little bit, but has not helped the child learn to make the distinction for himself. With this purpose in mind, it becomes clear that both the valuable and the valueless (as requested) must be given so that the child can learn to correctly distinguish between them.
This is how it is between us and God. We his children, are constantly asking for that which is valueless, for we have a conviction that it is valuable. To correct our mistake, God grants us the wisdom of His voice in the form of the Holy Spirit who knows this distinction clearly, as well as all that we desire believing it to be valuable, but which He knows is valueless. God knows us, for He created us, and by granting our request and in addition providing the contrast of the valuable, we are now able to make a better choice. Of God, ‘No “outrageous” requests can be made’ for He clearly knows the distinction, and so it is for us as well, when we too correctly recognize the difference. We can just as easily substitute the words “real” and “unreal” for valuable and valueless respectively, for both are the same. That which is of God, like His children, are valuable, and nothing else is of value. Our value is inherent in what we are: the Holy children of God, endowed with all the power, wisdom and glory of the Father. When we acknowledge and accept our true identity, we too will recognize how simple it is to decide between the valuable and the valueless.
No comments:
Post a Comment