T-26.VI The Appointed Friend
1. Anything in this world that you believe is good and valuable and worth striving for can hurt you, and will do so. ²Not because it has the power to hurt, but just because you have denied it is but an illusion, and made it real. ³And it is real to you. ⁴It is not nothing. ⁵And through its perceived reality has entered all the world of sick illusions. ⁶All belief in sin, in power of attack, in hurt and harm, in sacrifice and death, has come to you. ⁷For no one can make one illusion real, and still escape the rest. ⁸For who can choose to keep the ones that he prefers, and find the safety that the truth alone can give? ⁹Who can believe illusions are the same, and still maintain that even one is best?
Expanded
1. Anything in this world that you believe is good and valuable and worth striving for can hurt you, and will do so. ²Not because it [anything you believe is good] has the power to hurt, but just because you have denied it [anything you believe is good] is but an illusion, and made it [anything you believe is good] real. ³And it [anything you believe is good] is real to you. ⁴It [anything you believe is good] is not nothing. ⁵And through its [anything you believe is good’s] perceived reality has entered all the world of sick illusions. ⁶All belief in sin, in power of attack, in hurt and harm, in sacrifice and death, has come to you. ⁷For no one can make one illusion real, and still escape the rest [of the illusions]. ⁸For who can choose to keep the ones [illusions] that he prefers, and find the safety that the truth alone can give? ⁹Who can believe illusions are the same, and still maintain that even one is best?
Summarized
If you believe in illusions, you make them real enough to hurt you. Even one illusion can hurt you.
2. Lead not your little life in solitude, with one illusion as your only friend. ²This is no friendship worthy of God’s Son, nor one with which he could remain content. ³Yet God has given him a better Friend, in Whom all power in earth and Heaven rests. ⁴The one illusion that you think is friend obscures His grace and majesty from you, and keeps His friendship and forgiveness from your welcoming embrace. ⁵Without Him you are friendless. ⁶Seek not another friend to take His place. ⁷There is no other friend. ⁸What God appointed has no substitute, for what illusion can replace the truth?
Expanded
2. Lead not your little life in solitude, with one illusion as your only friend. ²This is no friendship worthy of God’s Son, nor one [illusion] with which he [God’s Son] could remain content. ³Yet God has given him [God’s Son] a better Friend, in Whom [a better Friend] all power in earth and Heaven rests. ⁴The one illusion that you think is friend obscures His [your better Friend’s] grace and majesty from you, and keeps His [your better Friend’s] friendship and forgiveness from your welcoming embrace. ⁵Without Him [your better Friend] you are friendless. ⁶Seek not another friend to take His [your better Friend’s] place. ⁷There is no other friend. ⁸What God appointed has no substitute, for what illusion can replace the truth?
Summarized
Do not make illusion your friend. Embrace the Friend God has given you.
Golden Chain
Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”. —Matthew 28:18
3. Who dwells with shadows is alone indeed, and loneliness is not the Will of God. ²Would you allow one shadow to usurp the throne that God appointed for your Friend, if you but realized its emptiness has left yours empty and unoccupied? ³Make no illusion friend, for if you do, it can but take the place of Him Whom God has called your Friend. ⁴And it is He Who is your only Friend in truth. ⁵He brings you gifts that are not of this world, and only He to Whom they have been given can make sure that you receive them. ⁶He will place them on your throne, when you make room for Him on His.
Expanded
3. Who dwells with shadows is alone indeed, and loneliness is not the Will of God. ²Would you allow one shadow to usurp the throne that God appointed for your Friend, if you but realized its [throne of the Friend God appointed to you] emptiness has left yours [your throne] empty and unoccupied? ³Make no illusion [your] friend, for if you do [make a friend of an illusion], it [illusory friend] can but take the place of Him [the Friend God appointed to you] Whom God has called your Friend. ⁴And it is He [the Friend God appointed to you] Who is your only Friend in truth. ⁵He [the Friend God appointed to you] brings you gifts that are not of this world, and only He [the Friend God appointed to you] to Whom they [Friend’s gifts] have been given can make sure that you receive them [Friend’s gifts]. ⁶He [the Friend God appointed to you] will place them [Friend’s gifts] on your throne, when you make room for Him [the Friend God appointed to you] on His [your appointed Friend’s Throne].
Summarized
God has appointed a friend for you. The appointed friend gives you gifts when you make room for them.