ACIM Glossary H
H
happiness
Conventional: A state of joy, satisfaction and contentment that is believed to result from possessing or attaining certain outer things or circumstances that one considers desirable. ACIM: A state of joy, satisfaction and contentment that results from remembering and extending who we really are. 1. Happiness, being a part of love, is God's Nature and is our natural state. 2. Currently, we have chosen misery instead because we confused misery with happiness. In other words, we do not know our own best interests (see W-pI.24). 3. Now we seek outside ourselves for happiness (see idols) and hold grievances because things do not behave the way we want. This simply yields more misery. 4. To find real happiness, we must realize that we are miserable and that there is no hope of happiness in the ways of the world (see T-31.IV). 5. Happiness comes from guiltlessness, which comes from forgiveness. It comes not from trying to make things go our way in the world, but from forgiving things for not going our way. 6. Happiness comes not from getting, but from giving, from fulfilling our function of extending to others (see W-pI.66). 7. The function of relationships is "to make happy" (T-17.IV.1:3). The holy relationship is one in which the purpose of making miserable has been replaced with the purpose of making happy (see T-17.IV.2). 7. God's Will for us is perfect happiness (see W-pI.100). Thus we need not pay for it, but merely accept it. Once accepted it is by nature constant, unless we reject it again.
happy dream
A way of experiencing the world that sees the world through the eyes of happiness, a state of mind in the world that is totally healed. The concept of the happy dream straddles illusion and reality. Being in this world, it is still a dream; yet being happy, it is a reflection of reality. It is a dream of waking and thus leads to full awakening. The holy relationship, in its mature state, is a happy dream. The happy dream is not a collection of more pleasing external forms. It is a state of mind. Yet this state of mind will often result in healed forms (see T-30.VIII.2:5). See dream, real world, true perception, vision, right-mindedness.
having/being
In the world, what you have is different from what you are. The ego teaches that what you are is lacking, empty (see lack). To be happy, then, you must apparently have more. You must acquire things from the outside and make sure you do not give them away. In Heaven, however, having and being are the same. What you have is what you are, and what you are is everything. Therefore, you can give all you have without losing it because it is not detachable from you, being what you are. You remember this state through giving in this world (see giving/receiving) and through overcoming all doubts about what you are (see "The Lessons of the Holy Spirit," T-6.V, especially V(B).3,8, V(C).5-8).
he, him
The Course uses masculine pronouns for all beings: God and His creations (Christ, the Sons of God and the Holy Spirit). Traditionally, masculine pronouns have been used for both the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit--all "He") and the collectivity of humanity (mankind). This has expressed the preeminence of masculinity, the victory of the male in the war of the sexes. The Course, as with so many of its terms, has taken this traditional terminology and filled it with radically new meaning. In the Course, "he" does not refer to the male, nor to specifically male qualities and values. It refers to a spirit that is neither male nor female, neither human, animal, plant or mineral, that is beyond all biology and personality and transcends space and time. Thus, rather than favoring one side of the gender gap and affirming the male victory in the war of the sexes, this new meaning does not even acknowledge gender as real. For the split between male and female is one of the most fundamental separations, and separation is an illusion. This new meaning further does not regard beings as defined in any way by their bodies, whether those bodies be male, female, human or non-human. Thus, the Course has filled terms which assumed the reality of gender and the preeminence of masculinity with meaning that radically redefines beings as non-physical and gender-free. In so doing, the Course marches the new meaning right into the old term, so that the old meaning, with all of its associated scars and aggression, can be brought to light and replaced. See brother, God, Son of God.
healing
Root meaning: The restoration of wholeness, the remedy for sickness. Conventional: Sickness and healing are primarily of the body. ACIM: Sickness and healing are entirely of the mind. The mind's sick thought system is the source of all pain. Healing is thus the replacement of wrong thinking with right thinking; the release from fear and the acceptance of love. The "Holy Spirit is the only Healer" (T-13.VIII.1:2), and the Atonement is the principle behind all healing. 1. Healing is not needed in Heaven, where unchangeable wholeness reigns. 2. In this world, the ego tells us that we are beyond the hope of healing (see magic). This belief, however, is an expression of our underlying fear of healing. 3. We ultimately find healing through letting go our perception--of self and others--that we are separate and sinful, which lets us see past sick appearances to the underlying wholeness which has never changed. 4. In this world, healing others is our only function, our one true response to all that happens and our one proper mode of communication. Through forgiveness we overlook the sick appearance of others and see their true wholeness. 5. This extension of healing to the minds of others can heal their bodies, yet this is only a shadow or symptom of true healing. 6. Only through allowing healing into our own minds can we extend healing to others (see accepting the Atonement for oneself). 7. Healing and joining go together. Healing comes from and results in the joining of minds (see holy relationship). See teaching.
Heaven
Conventional: The dwelling place of God, where He lives in perfect and everlasting communion with His children, who enter this state of perfect joy after physical death. ACIM: The dwelling place of God and His one Son, where They live in perfect oneness and eternal peace, where They ceaselessly sing Their song of love to each other (see song of Heaven). Our home, in which we were created and which we never left. In contrast to conventional images, Heaven is reality itself, the only reality, and is a realm of pure spirit or mind, without space, form, perception or change. There are no clouds, thrones, beards, harps or wings. There are no bodies or passage of time. There is nothing but the pure oneness of Father and Son. "Heaven is not a place nor a condition. It is merely an awareness of perfect oneness..." (T-18.VI.1.5-6) See eternity and Kingdom of God. See T-13.XI.3,6.
hell
Conventional: The opposite of Heaven. An afterlife realm where sinners are eternally punished and forever separated from God. ACIM: 1. An afterlife realm of eternal punishment which is not real, yet which is the ego's goal for us, and which the ego tells us awaits us after death because of all our sins (see T-15.I.3-7). This threat of hell is the unconscious source of all fear of the future. 2. This world, which, like hell, is a state of separation from God in which we seem to be constantly punished for our sins. 3. What the ego tells us Heaven is, because there we will find God's wrath (or so it says) and there the ego will disappear.
holiness, holy
A quality of divine innocence or purity, untainted by the slightest sin, guilt or impurity. A quality that comes from God to those things that are like Him. Holiness is the natural condition of God's creations and is shared. It is characterized not by separation from the impure (as in some traditional notions), but by oneness with all things. It can never be tainted or lost, only obscured. Salvation comes through overlooking all unholiness and seeing again the native holiness in others and in oneself (see vision).
holy instant
A moment in which we temporarily set aside the past and enter into the timeless present, in which we momentarily transcend identification with illusions and recognize what is real. We enter the holy instant not by making ourselves holy, but by forgetting our normal frame of reference, with its absorption in the past, the future, the body and our own sinfulness. This allows our minds to be still and shift into another state of mind. There we experience the lifting of the barriers of space and time, unawareness of the body, the sudden feeling of peace, joy and love, recognition of our true holiness, and communion with all that seemed to lay outside of us--with all our brothers and with God. In this instant we may be bumped ahead years in our spiritual development, because we experience the endpoint of development (see T-1.II.6). After this instant we will go forth in time carrying a permanent quiet center of timelessness. Our goal is to eventually make every situation a holy instant so that our lives become a permanent holy instant. At that point we will go beyond time into the endless instant of eternity (see T-15.IV.6:3). The Course speaks of various kinds, degrees and functions of the holy instant (which is called an "out-of-pattern time interval" early in the Text; see T-1.I.47:2): 1. The holy instant is the birthplace of the miracle (see T-27.V.3). In it our thoughts are healed and this healing then extends out to the world (see T-28.I.11). 2. The holy instant can go beyond the miracle and be a revelation, a direct experience of God. 3. We will often bring illusions into the holy instant, making the experience a weakened version of the holy instant (see T-16.VII.7). 4. We can experience a kind of quasi-holy instant (which may lead to a true holy instant) through joining with music, a beautiful scene, a memory or even an abstract idea (see T-18.VI.12). 5. The holy instant is the answer to the special relationship. 6. Joint holy instants (ones experienced mutually with another person) are the Course's special means of shortening our spiritual journey (see T-18.VII.6:3-4). Joint holy instants both initiate the holy relationship (see T-17.V.1) and are crucial tools in its development (see T-18.V.6-7). See T-15.
holy relationship
A relationship in which holiness has entered, though this holiness may not yet be fully manifest and the relationship may still be dominated on the surface by patterns of specialness. The source of salvation (see T-20.VIII.6:9), a necessary means to salvation, the Course's special means for saving time (see T-18.VII.5-6). The holy relationship is a process, a gradual reversal of the special relationship. It begins when two or more people truly join in a common goal, at least for an instant (see holy instant). In this instant, the Holy Spirit enters the relationship and heals it at a deep, unconscious level, changing its goal from sin to holiness. As the two forgive each other, this deep-level healing then slowly works its way to the surface, overturning the remaining ego patterns. As the holy relationship matures, the two will experience an increasing sense of oneness, which will prove to them experientially that they are not separate egos. And they will exercise their joint special function of together giving healing to the world. The Course and its supplements mention several forms of holy relationship: 1. The Text (see chapters 17-22) discusses a holy relationship between peers. 2. The Manual discusses a holy relationship between a spiritual teacher and his pupil (see M-2.5). 3. The Psychotherapy pamphlet discusses a holy relationship between therapist and patient (see P-2.IN.4, 2.I.3, 2.II.5-9). 4. The Song of Prayer mentions a holy relationship (by concept but not by name) between people who pray together (see S-1.IV.1-3). 5. The Text discusses a holy relationship between people who had already had a special relationship (see T-17.V.2:2). 6. The Manual mentions that a holy relationship can begin when two individuals first meet (see M-3.2:6-8).
Holy Spirit
Christian: The third person of the Trinity, Who is the active Presence of God in human life. ACIM: The third part of the Holy Trinity (see T-5.I.4:1), God's Answer to the separation, the Voice for God, our internal Teacher, the communication link between God and His separated Sons, the bridge between knowledge and perception. God created the Holy Spirit at the separation and placed Him inside every sleeping mind as the call to awaken (see T-6.V.1:5-2:1). He dwells in our right mind and our Christ Mind. He has the special function of undoing the separation so that God's children can come home. At the heart of everything He does is the fact that He is completely aware of both reality and illusions. 1. This enables Him to translate reality into a form we can understand in the world of illusions. He translates knowledge into true perception, waking into happy dreams, Heaven's laws into laws of mind that operate on earth (see extension and laws). 2. This also enables Him to translate everything we made into a way out of what we made. He translates the world into a teaching device for leading us home, the body into an instrument of communication, memory of the past into memory of the timeless present, our defenses against truth into defenses against illusion, our special relationships into holy relationships, our desire to be special into our special function, human language into a meaningful communication about truth, and so on. 3. He is able to see illusions in light of reality, thus seeing their unreality. He sees everything we see, all the pain, guilt and death, yet realizes that none of it is real. Thus He sees that we are still God's guiltless Son. 4. He can communicate with us who believe in illusions and can thereby lead us to reality. He is our Teacher, Who teaches us true perception, guides us into it, and replaces our perception with it when we are willing to let ours go. He judges for us, separating out the true from the false for us. He selects our part in the plan of the Atonement, shows us what it is, guides us in the doing of it and carries it out through us. When He has led all of God's children home, He will have completed His special function and will remain with us in Heaven to keep us from separating again (see T-5.I.5:7). See T-5.I-III, W-pII.7.
humility
Conventional: Seeing ourselves as lowly, sinful and unworthy (the root of the word is humus: earth or dirt). This, says the Course, is false humility or arrogance, for it says that we know who we are better than God does. ACIM: Realizing that on our own we know nothing, and so instead accepting God's definition of us as His infinitely glorious and holy Son (see W-pI.152.9), and accepting His definition of our function as being a savior of the world (see W-pI.61.1-3).
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