Having Faith
As with everything else, A Course in Miracles uses the idea of “faith” in a way that is different from the way that the world usually uses it. It still means trust, and trusting Something that the body’s eyes cannot see, but faith as the Course uses means acknowledging that only God is Real.
One day I was having a conversation with my life-partner, Courtney, about prayer. She comes from a traditional Christian background and sometimes I have questions because I don’t understand Christianity. I told her about overhearing two women talking and one told her friend that her daughter had had a medical procedure and she had come through it okay. Her friend said, “God is good. Our prayers were answered. ” I asked Courtney if this woman would’ve thought God was bad if the first woman’s daughter had not come through okay. Of course not. The woman would’ve accepted that as God’s Will. Okay, so what’s the point of these petitioning prayers if God is going to do Its will in any case? Courtney explained that many people have a child-like relationship with God where God is their Father and they beg him to do what they want but if he refuses they accept it and perhaps sulk and get angry, but they realize that God is the “parent” and has ultimate power. Of course, some people have an easier time with this than others. So prayers, in a case like this, are just a way of begging God, like a kid begging a parent for a pony for Christmas.
Faith in God, for many then, is simply a matter of acknowledging that there is a God (and their concept of God seems to demand this acknowledgment) and then accepting whatever happens because God is wiser, or in some cases, simply so much more powerful that you have not choice but to accept God’s Will. Faith, then, is really a matter of “submission”. It’s no wonder so many people get pissed off at God! Whether people acknowledge it or not, there’s a lot of justifiable rage against this idea of God.
The Course uses the idea of “faith” as a way of forgiving, or overlooking, what is not real. God did not make the world and has nothing to do with it. To have faith in God is to acknowledge that God is here no matter what is appearing to the body’s eyes or what is being projected by the ego. It’s a way of shifting your mind to Reality. To have faith in another is to have faith that Christ is here no matter what body or ego is appearing. Faith is about acknowledging God, yes, but not because God needs this. It’s about bringing God back into your awareness. You have never left God, but you have become unaware of God. So faith is a form of correcting your perception that you are separate from God.
One day I was having a conversation with my life-partner, Courtney, about prayer. She comes from a traditional Christian background and sometimes I have questions because I don’t understand Christianity. I told her about overhearing two women talking and one told her friend that her daughter had had a medical procedure and she had come through it okay. Her friend said, “God is good. Our prayers were answered. ” I asked Courtney if this woman would’ve thought God was bad if the first woman’s daughter had not come through okay. Of course not. The woman would’ve accepted that as God’s Will. Okay, so what’s the point of these petitioning prayers if God is going to do Its will in any case? Courtney explained that many people have a child-like relationship with God where God is their Father and they beg him to do what they want but if he refuses they accept it and perhaps sulk and get angry, but they realize that God is the “parent” and has ultimate power. Of course, some people have an easier time with this than others. So prayers, in a case like this, are just a way of begging God, like a kid begging a parent for a pony for Christmas.
Faith in God, for many then, is simply a matter of acknowledging that there is a God (and their concept of God seems to demand this acknowledgment) and then accepting whatever happens because God is wiser, or in some cases, simply so much more powerful that you have not choice but to accept God’s Will. Faith, then, is really a matter of “submission”. It’s no wonder so many people get pissed off at God! Whether people acknowledge it or not, there’s a lot of justifiable rage against this idea of God.
The Course uses the idea of “faith” as a way of forgiving, or overlooking, what is not real. God did not make the world and has nothing to do with it. To have faith in God is to acknowledge that God is here no matter what is appearing to the body’s eyes or what is being projected by the ego. It’s a way of shifting your mind to Reality. To have faith in another is to have faith that Christ is here no matter what body or ego is appearing. Faith is about acknowledging God, yes, but not because God needs this. It’s about bringing God back into your awareness. You have never left God, but you have become unaware of God. So faith is a form of correcting your perception that you are separate from God.
Comments
God, being All, has to contain even its own opposite. But what is the opposite of Everything? Nothing - which is exactly what the Course teaches the world is. The error is in taking the world seriously. As soon as the idea of God's opposite arises in God's Mind it is undone. Time is the great illusion in which all other illusions rest. In time, it seems like you left God long ago and will return to God way in the future. But in fact, you have never left God. This is why the Course emphasizes the importance of practicing the Holy Instant in Which you experience God now and know that there is no separation from God.
God does not need to make anything to experience Itself because God is Complete.