T-7.III The Reality of the Kingdom
1. The Holy Spirit teaches one lesson, and applies it to all individuals in all situations. ²Being conflict-free, He maximises all efforts and all results. ³By teaching the power of the Kingdom of God Himself, He teaches you that all power is yours. ⁴Its application does not matter. ⁵It is always maximal. ⁶Your vigilance does not establish it as yours, but it does enable you to use it always and in all ways. ⁷When I said “I am with you always”, I meant it literally. ⁸I am not absent to anyone in any situation. ⁹Because I am always with you, you are the way, the truth and the life. ¹⁰You did not make this power, any more than I did. ¹¹It was created to be shared, and therefore cannot be meaningfully perceived as belonging to anyone at the expense of another. ¹²Such a perception makes it meaningless by eliminating or overlooking its real and only meaning.
2. God’s meaning waits in the Kingdom, because that is where He placed it. ²It does not wait in time. ³It merely rests in the Kingdom because it belongs there, as you do. ⁴How can you who are God’s meaning perceive yourself as absent from it? ⁵You can see yourself as separated from your meaning only by experiencing yourself as unreal. ⁶This is why the ego is insane: it teaches that you are not what you are. ⁷That is so contradictory it is clearly impossible. ⁸It is therefore a lesson you cannot really learn, and therefore cannot really teach. ⁹Yet you are always teaching. ¹⁰You must, therefore, be teaching something else, even though the ego does not know what it is. ¹¹The ego, then, is always being undone, and does suspect your motives. ¹²Your mind cannot be unified in allegiance to the ego, because the mind does not belong to it. ¹³Yet what is “treacherous” to the ego is faithful to peace. ¹⁴The ego’s “enemy” is therefore your friend.
3. I said before that the ego’s friend is not part of you, because the ego perceives itself at war and therefore in need of allies. ²You who are not at war must look for brothers and recognize all whom you see as brothers, because only equals are at peace. ³Because God’s equal Sons have everything, they cannot compete. ⁴Yet if they perceive any of their brothers as anything other than their perfect equals, the idea of competition has entered their minds. ⁵Do not underestimate your need to be vigilant against this idea, because all your conflicts come from it. ⁶It is the belief that conflicting interests are possible, and therefore you have accepted the impossible as true. ⁷Is that different from saying you perceive yourself as unreal?
4. To be in the Kingdom is merely to focus your full attention on it. ²As long as you believe you can attend to what is not true, you are accepting conflict as your choice. ³Is it really a choice? ⁴It seems to be, but seeming and reality are hardly the same. ⁵You who are the Kingdom are not concerned with seeming. ⁶Reality is yours because you are reality. ⁷This is how having and being are ultimately reconciled, not in the Kingdom, but in your mind. ⁸The altar there is the only reality. ⁹The altar is perfectly clear in thought, because it is a reflection of perfect Thought. ¹⁰Your right mind sees only brothers, because it sees only in its own light.
5. God has lit your mind Himself, and keeps your mind lit by His light because His light is what your mind is. ²This is totally beyond question, and when you question it you are answered. ³The Answer merely undoes the question by establishing the fact that to question reality is to question meaninglessly. ⁴That is why the Holy Spirit never questions. ⁵His sole function is to undo the questionable and thus lead to certainty. ⁶The certain are perfectly calm, because they are not in doubt. ⁷They do not raise questions, because nothing questionable enters their minds. ⁸This holds them in perfect serenity, because this is what they share, knowing what they are.