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Chapter 3: It’s About Time
I wrote this essay about time a few years ago but bring it back occasionally to remind myself that contrary to what seems to be, the truth of me is eternally fixed in the here and now of Heaven. It’s about time. We said before that the miracle abolishes time. It does this by a process of Collapsing it. It thus abolishes certain intervals within it. It does this, however, within the larger temporal sequence. The word temporal seems to be a stumbling block to understanding. Temporal has many meanings yet they all point to our experience in time. Of our relating to time as opposed to eternity, of our relating to earthly life, of our relating to the sequence of time or to a particular time. Also, of our relating to time as distinguished from space. And, the word symbol sequence also denotes the linear aspect of time. So once again, I see the Holy Spirit using our experience within the illusion of time/space to lead us back to Truth through the process of undoing.
Just like we will never really know the effects of the miracles we perform, we will never know, at least while we slumber, the effect of these intervals of time which are abolished on our behalf through miracles. Perhaps that car accident I might have had next week does not occur because I have forgiven and healed the recurring pattern of misperceptions that brought such things into my experience. Or the friend who was supposed to steal from me next week will also not occur because I’d already forgiven a friend who stole in the past. Once forgiveness has opened our eyes to the truth, we need never experience it again. That lesson has been learned, so the time required now, that interval of time collapses, is undone, and is no longer needed, it is abolished by the Holy Spirit for us.
Through forgiveness, time is utilized by the Holy Spirit to teach us, and now that lesson need not be repeated in that specific time interval ever again. That time interval has collapsed and disappeared into the nothingness from which it came. That is the only reason for time and once it has served its purpose, it will no longer exist in our experience. Since the first years of my study of ACIM, the illusion of time has always fascinated me. Yes, so much more that can be said about time's illusion, especially how the Holy Spirit uses it on our behalf and also our experience of time and the limitations that time seems to present. It is helpful for me to remember that “I” always stands fixed in now as time passes before me. Here comes tomorrow, then I call it today, and then it becomes yesterday. But the truth is that all of it is experienced now. We need only take a peek at our mind to know if our awareness has traveled into yesterday's regrets or traveled to tomorrow's worries. Whenever I notice my awareness of time-traveling, I step out of time and rest my mind here and now with God. Jesus tells me that Now is the closest approximation we have to eternity. It is why so many spiritual teachers and teachings ask us to "Be Here Now." Only Now can we experience Heaven on earth. For now, and for me, I will continue to practice forgiveness until fear itself becomes an obsolete idea and no longer appears in my mind and all time collapses so what is left is merely the awareness of Heaven. That is my wish and hope for the entire Son ship, to awaken in Heaven. It's about time.
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