Book I: A Course of Love
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The new time is defined as the Time of Christ. Christ is
the word used to describe the true identity of the self. Letting
go of one’s
mental orientation to learning is the method by which the true self
is able to take over and learn what the ego never could.
The Time of Christ differs from
the time of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is described as an
intermediary between truth and illusion,
and as one’s helper. In the Time of Christ, the intermediary
is no longer needed. The movement is to seeing only truth. The means
is direct (rather than indirect) communication of the truth and the
acceptance of one’s true identity.
This direct experience replaces
learning with a new means of knowing. The means is an appeal to
the heart. “Our hearts…go out
to the world, to the suffering, to the weak of body and of mind.
Our hearts are not so easily contained with the casing of our flesh
and bone. Our hearts take wing with joy and break with sadness. Not
so the brain that keeps on registering it all, a silent observer,
soon to tell you that the feelings of your heart were foolishness
indeed. It is to our heart that we appeal for guidance, for there
resides the one who truly guides. … Such foolishness as the
heart’s desires will save you now.” (3.17-18)
After the initial appeal to
the heart, Jesus speaks of the division there has been between
head and heart and says that unity is found
in ending the division, which he expresses as being wholehearted.
This wholeheartedness allows us to see the truth and be the truth
in unity and relationship. “Those who know the truth find it
for themselves by joining mind and heart.” (21.10) Our own
lives are our curriculum. No teachers or gurus are needed.
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