For those doing the lessons, this special instruction is to be read daily before the next ten lessons.
11. What is Creation?
(1) Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts, in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself. There was no time when all that it created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that it created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God's Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done.
(2) God's Thoughts are given all the power that their own Creator has. For He would add to love by its extension. Thus His Son shares in creation, and must therefore share in power to create. What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began.
(3) Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth. Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making every part container of the whole. Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate; forever held within His holy Will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection and of any spot upon its sinlessness.
(4) We are creation; we the Sons of God. We seem to be discrete, and unaware of our eternal unity with Him. Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. For love remains with all its Thoughts, its sureness being theirs. God's memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their Creator. Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God's Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us.
(5) Our Father calls to us. We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the Name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose Holiness His Own creation shares; Whose Holiness is still a part of us.
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Below is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this section, from his book set called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: M.Street
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11. What is Creation?
We have in this summary another example of Jesus appearing to speak out of both sides of his mouth. He describes <creation> as perfect oneness, at the same time he speaks of creations and Sons of God. The explanation is that on one hand he is stating the pure truth, which is that Christ is perfectly unified and at one with His Creator. On the other hand Jesus is reflecting this truth to us in our separated state, in which we clearly believe that the Sons of God are many. Thus both descriptions are true, depending upon Jesus pedagogical purpose and emphasis.
(1) "Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts, in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself. There was no time when all that it created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that it created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God's Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done."
Again, Jesus says <Thoughts> because we believe God has many Sons. In saying "There was no time when all that it created was not there," he is teaching us once again that the separation never happened. We experience loss only if we do not believe we are the creation of God. In that <un>holy instant of insanity we believed we were the ego's creation instead. All experience of loss originated in that mistaken belief, while the truth of our Identity as Thought awaits our sure return through the Holy Spirit, as we recall:
"God created His Sons by extending His Thought, and retaining the extensions of His Thought in His Mind. All His Thoughts are thus perfectly united within themselves and with each other. The Holy Spirit enables you to perceive this wholeness now." (T-6.II.8:1-3)
We cannot know the wholeness of the Kingdom until we recognize the unity of creation, even as it is reflected in the dream. In other words, we need to see all people sharing the need for forgiveness -- with no exceptions. Recognizing our unified need or purpose leads us remember our unified Self.
(2:1-3) "God's Thoughts are given all the power that their own Creator has. For He would add to love by its extension. Thus His Son shares in creation, and must therefore share in power to create."
This aspect of Jesus' teaching is more prominent in the text, and appears infrequently in the workbook. As part of God, we share His attributes -- He creates and we create, too. The extension of His Self -- His Love and Will -- is Christ, the creation of God. Likewise, we also extend our Self as Christ -- our Love and Will -- and that extension is our creations, which have nothing to do with the world of time and space.
(2:4) "What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began."
In other words, in time we have we have the illusion of fragmentation and separation, and God's Sons appear to be many. Yet the reality is our perfect oneness. When the dream is over and awareness of our individuality has disappeared, all that remains is God's one Son, Who never left His eternal home. He merely had a bad dream in which he left the timeless for the world of time, the nightmare from which he will certainly awaken:
"God in His knowledge is not waiting, but His Kingdom is bereft while you wait.... Delay does not matter in eternity, but it is tragic in time. You have elected to be in time rather than eternity, and therefore believe you <are> in time. ...You do not belong in time. Your place is only in eternity, where God Himself placed you forever." (T-5.VI.1:1,3-4,6-7).
(3:1-2) "Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth. Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making every part container of the whole."
Another important theme from the text: the whole is found in every part. In the right mind of every seemingly separated part of the Sonship -- and each of us who appears as one of those parts -- the memory of Who we are as Christ is firmly imbedded, a fact that has never changed. Thus Jesus teaches that when we forgive one brother totally we have forgiven every brother, for we are all part of the one Son: wrong- right- and One-minded. Here is a passage from the text on the part whole relationship:
"The whole does define the part, but the part does not define the whole. Yet to know in part is to know entirely because of the fundamental difference between knowledge and perception. In perception the whole is built up of parts that can separate and reassemble in different constellations. But knowledge never changes, so its constellation is permanent. The idea of part-whole relationships has meaning only at the level of perception, where change is possible. Otherwise, there is no difference between the part and whole." (T-8.VIII.1.10-15).
(3:3) "Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate; forever held within His holy Will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection and of any spot upon its sinlessness."
Our oneness has never changed, and can never change -- the essence of the Holy Spirit's Atonement principle:
"You can lose sight of oneness, but can not make sacrifice of its reality. Nor can you lose what you would sacrifice, nor keep the Holy Spirit from His task of showing you that it has not been lost." (T-26.1.6:1-2).
(4:1-2) "We are creation; we the Sons of God. We seem to be discrete, and unaware of our eternal unity with Him."
Jesus addresses us here in our separated state, as he usually does throughout A Course in Miracles. We appear separate and separated, each from the other, in a place where one ends and another begins. The body is the point of demarcation, not only of the separation between brothers, but between us and God:
"Such is the strange position in which those in a world inhabited by bodies seem to be. Each body seems to house a separate mind, a disconnected thought, living alone and in no way joined to the Thought by which it was created. Each tiny fragment seems to be self-contained, needing another for some things, but by no means totally dependent on its one Creator for everything ..." (T-18.VIII.5:1-3)
(4:3-5) "Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. For love remains with all its Thoughts, its sureness being theirs. God's memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their Creator."
The memory of God in our right minds holds within it the one Thought of Christ -- Who we are as God's one Son. When we forget and still believe we are in the world -- vacillating between our wrong and right minds -- the concept of may Sons of God is meaningful to us. That is why Jesus refers to us as Thoughts instead of Thought. Regardless, he wants us to accept that our fears, anxieties, and concerns are but fragile veils that cannot keep the light of certainty from our awareness. We do not have to be saved, but merely have to accept the certain fact that because of God's Love, we <are> saved:
"Salvation is as sure as God. His certainty suffices. Learn that even the darkest nightmare that disturbs the mind of God's sleeping Son holds no power over him. He will learn the lesson of awaking. God watches over him and light surrounds him.... His sleep will not withstand the call to wake. The mission of redemption will be fulfilled as surely as the creation will remain unchanged throughout eternity. You do not have to know that Heaven is yours to make it so. It is so." (T-13.XI.9.3-7,10:3-6).
(4:6) "Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God's Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us."
We complete our forgiveness lessons -- the way to let the memory of God return -- and then choose to let the dream of separation go. That is our function -- by accepting the Atonement, forgiving our brothers totally, we deny the ego's world and remember we have always been as God created us. We rejoice that our judgments were wrong and His Love right: separation from our brothers and our Source was a lie, and our inherent oneness the only truth.
(5) "Our Father calls to us. We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the Name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose Holiness His Own creation shares; Whose Holiness is still a part of us."
If God's Son is holy, shares in the Holiness of his Father and is one, and he attacks others -- in other words, chooses to see only what appears to be unholiness or sinfulness in the dream -- he says that not only what appears to be unholiness or sinfulness in the dream -- he says that not only are they unholy, but he is, too. Since <ideas leave not their source>, his creator must also be unholy, which of course is true within the ego's dream. Once again, Jesus stresses our oneness with each other and with God. It is important to remember when we are tempted to judge, criticize, or make people objects of our specialness, that we are defining them as different from us, and differences always mean unholiness since they reflect separation from Holiness. Moreover, if you are unholy I must be as well. Therefore Jesus says to us: The way you see someone else is the way you see yourself: separate and apart from each other, from me, and from God. Is this the image with which you wish to identify?" Recall these comforting lines from Helen's poem, "The Comforter," reminding us of God's Voice that continuously calls to us. His call also invites us to call to our brothers, to remind us we are not alone in our seeking. This ensures hearing the Voice that will remind us our goal has already been found. Forgiveness has thus led us back to the Holiness we never truly left, and we are blessed in our comfort:
Step back, My child, and let Him lead the way
Whom I have sent to you. He holds your hand
And speaks to you of Me.
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My Voice I send
To sing in soundless places. Hear from Me
The song a Father sings to you, His child;
A melody from far beyond the world.
Step back and listen, for He comes to bless
And tell you that you are not comfortless.
(The Gifts of God, p.71)
