A COURSE IN MIRACLES

T-5.III The Guide to Salvation

1. The way to recognize your brother is by recognising the Holy Spirit in him. ²I have already said that the Holy Spirit is the Bridge for the transfer of perception to knowledge, so we can use the terms as if they were related, because in His Mind they are. ³This relationship must be in His Mind because, unless it were, the separation between the two ways of thinking would not be open to healing. ⁴He is part of the Holy Trinity, because His Mind is partly yours and also partly God’s. ⁵This needs clarification, not in statement but in experience.

2. The Holy Spirit is the idea of healing. ²Being thought, the idea gains as it is shared. ³Being the Call for God, it is also the idea of God. ⁴Since you are part of God it is also the idea of yourself, as well as of all His creations. ⁵The idea of the Holy Spirit shares the property of other ideas because it follows the laws of the universe of which it is a part. ⁶It is strengthened by being given away. ⁷It increases in you as you give it to your brother. ⁸Your brother does not have to be aware of the Holy Spirit in himself or in you for this miracle to occur. ⁹He may have dissociated the Call for God, just as you have. ¹⁰This dissociation is healed in both of you as you become aware of the Call for God in him, and thus acknowledge Its being.

3. There are two diametrically opposed ways of seeing your brother. ²They must both be in your mind, because you are the perceiver. ³They must also be in his, because you are perceiving him. ⁴See him through the Holy Spirit in his mind, and you will recognize Him in yours. ⁵What you acknowledge in your brother you are acknowledging in yourself, and what you share you strengthen.

4. The Voice of the Holy Spirit is weak in you. ²That is why you must share It. ³It must be increased in strength before you can hear It. ⁴It is impossible to hear It in yourself while It is so weak in your mind. ⁵It is not weak in Itself, but It is limited by your unwillingness to hear It. ⁶If you make the mistake of looking for the Holy Spirit in yourself alone your thoughts will frighten you because, by adopting the ego’s viewpoint, you are undertaking an ego-alien journey with the ego as guide. ⁷This is bound to produce fear.

5. Delay is of the ego, because time is its concept. ²Both time and delay are meaningless in eternity. ³I have said before that the Holy Spirit is God’s Answer to the ego. ⁴Everything of which the Holy Spirit reminds you is in direct opposition to the ego’s notions, because true and false perceptions are themselves opposed. ⁵The Holy Spirit has the task of undoing what the ego has made. ⁶He undoes it at the same level on which the ego operates, or the mind would be unable to understand the change.

6. I have repeatedly emphasized that one level of the mind is not understandable to another. ²So it is with the ego and the Holy Spirit; with time and eternity. ³Eternity is an idea of God, so the Holy Spirit understands it perfectly. ⁴Time is a belief of the ego, so the lower mind, which is the ego’s domain, accepts it without question. ⁵The only aspect of time that is eternal is now.

7. The Holy Spirit is the Mediator between the interpretations of the ego and the knowledge of the spirit. ²His ability to deal with symbols enables Him to work with the ego’s beliefs in its own language. ³His ability to look beyond symbols into eternity enables Him to understand the laws of God, for which He speaks. ⁴He can therefore perform the function of reinterpreting what the ego makes, not by destruction but by understanding. ⁵Understanding is light, and light leads to knowledge. ⁶The Holy Spirit is in light because He is in you who are light, but you yourself do not know this. ⁷It is therefore the task of the Holy Spirit to reinterpret you on behalf of God.

8. You cannot understand yourself alone. ²This is because you have no meaning apart from your rightful place in the Sonship, and the rightful place of the Sonship is God. ³This is your life, your eternity and your Self. ⁴It is of this that the Holy Spirit reminds you. ⁵It is this that the Holy Spirit sees. ⁶This vision frightens the ego because it is so calm. ⁷Peace is the ego’s greatest enemy because, according to its interpretation of reality, war is the guarantee of its survival. ⁸The ego becomes strong in strife. ⁹If you believe there is strife you will react viciously, because the idea of danger has entered your mind. ¹⁰The idea itself is an appeal to the ego. ¹¹The Holy Spirit is as vigilant as the ego to the call of danger, opposing it with His strength just as the ego welcomes it. ¹²The Holy Spirit counters this welcome by welcoming peace. ¹³Eternity and peace are as closely related as are time and war.

9. Perception derives meaning from relationships. ²Those you accept are the foundations of your beliefs. ³The separation is merely another term for a split mind. ⁴The ego is the symbol of separation, just as the Holy Spirit is the symbol of peace. ⁵What you perceive in others you are strengthening in yourself. ⁶You may let your mind misperceive, but the Holy Spirit lets your mind reinterpret its own misperceptions.

10. The Holy Spirit is the perfect Teacher. ²He uses only what your mind already understands to teach you that you do not understand it. ³The Holy Spirit can deal with a reluctant learner without going counter to his mind, because part of it is still for God. ⁴Despite the ego’s attempts to conceal this part, it is still much stronger than the ego, although the ego does not recognize it. ⁵The Holy Spirit recognizes it perfectly because it is His Own dwelling place; the place in the mind where He is at home. ⁶You are at home there, too, because it is a place of peace, and peace is of God. ⁷You who are part of God are not at home except in His peace. ⁸If peace is eternal, you are at home only in eternity.

11. The ego made the world as it perceives it, but the Holy Spirit, the reinterpreter of what the ego made, sees the world as a teaching device for bringing you home. ²The Holy Spirit must perceive time, and reinterpret it into the timeless. ³He must work through opposites, because He must work with and for a mind that is in opposition. ⁴Correct and learn, and be open to learning. ⁵You have not made truth, but truth can still set you free. ⁶Look as the Holy Spirit looks, and understand as He understands. ⁷His understanding looks back to God in remembrance of me. ⁸He is in communion with God always, and He is part of you. ⁹He is your Guide to salvation, because He holds the remembrance of things past and to come, and brings them to the present. ¹⁰He holds this gladness gently in your mind, asking only that you increase it in His Name by sharing it to increase His joy in you.