A Tale of Truth

A dialogue between
Joshua and Adam.

One warm sunny summer’s day a young boy, aged nine, was strolling along a narrow country lane watching the butterflies flitting from flower to flower. After a while, he decided to sit down under a shady tree as the hot summer sun was quite strong. As he approached the tree, he noticed an elderly man sitting underneath it. “Welcome young man,” he said. “Will you tell me your name?” “My name is Adam,” he replied. “What’s yours?” “Joshua,” said the man. “Would you like to sit and have a chat?” Adam didn’t hesitate; there was something about the man that interested him. “Oh yes,” he replied.
“I expect you have a few questions about the world that you would like answers to,” remarked Joshua. “How did you know?” replied Adam, rather surprised. “Well, it was just a guess, but fire ahead. What would you like to know?”
“Well, my first question is about butterflies. Why do they have such short lives?” said Adam. “They are so beautiful but I know they only live a few weeks.” “Ah,” said Joshua, “You have noticed something important. Most things in this world don’t live very long, do they? In fact, all living things eventually appear to grow old and die.” Adam felt sad as he remembered his loving grandmother who had recently passed away, and he nodded in silence.

“Let me tell you a story, which may make everything a bit clearer to you,” said Joshua in a kindly manner.
“Once upon a time in a land of peace and harmony, known as Heaven, where every living spirit was one with God, the Creator, a tiny, mad idea entered into the mind of a very small aspect or tiny strand of the spirit created by God. This tiny portion decided to try and live a life of its own, far away from God and Heaven. At this point its mind split in two, and part of it, the lower mind, made the ego to take the place of God. The ego then made the human body as a home for itself, and it made the world, time and space and all other living creatures too. The ego made these things by thinking them and then sending them out beyond the mind. The word for this is called projection. But the important thing to remember is that the ego didn’t really have the power to split away from God, so all this took place in a dream, and we are still all sharing this same dream to this very day—all seven billion of us. You could think of it as an illusion; we seem to be here but really we are still at home in Heaven having a dream of being here. And there really aren’t seven billion of us. There is just one of us because, as I said, we are all one with God and with each other.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Adam. “Does this mean that you and I and the butterflies are not really here at all?” “Yes,” said the old man. “But in our dream it does all seem to be real, and we do seem to be here. We can’t deny that.” Adam thought for a minute and then asked him why the spirit that decided to split away from Heaven couldn’t really create the world of time and space and human beings. “Everything God creates is like Him,” said Joshua, “and as God is eternal and immortal, we must be, too, because we are part of Him. But, as you have noticed, everything in this world of ours is born, lives for a while and then dies. So how could this really be happening, if we remember that we are all sons of God, and have been given the gift of eternal life?”
“Why are there wars and people who don’t have enough to eat in this dream world?” asked Adam. “The ego doesn’t have God’s powers to create a perfect world of love, abundance and eternal life. It can only create a world of conflict, where people believe there isn’t enough of everything to go around, and so they fight each other to get as much as they can for themselves,” replied Joshua. “You also need to know that the ego feels very guilty for splitting away from God, and it is frightened that God will be revengeful because of this. And so the ego sends out feelings of anger and fear and guilt into the world, and puts the blame on other people to make it feel better about itself. But God is a God of love, and He would never punish any of us. Don’t forget, we haven’t really split away from Heaven, therefore we haven’t done anything wrong, although it seems like that in our dream. So God has no reason to punish us.”
“Let me teach you a few lessons to help you understand a bit more about the Truth,” said Joshua, as he opened a thick, dark blue book that was by his side. “A very good one to start with is, ‘I am not a body. I am free.’ This is Lesson 199 in this book, which is called A Course in Miracles. This is quite a new teaching given to the world by Jesus. The ego believes the body is real because that is where it lives. But if we can remember that we are not our bodies, we can rise above the ego and remember what life was like before we had the dream of separation from Heaven and God. Then we will be free, and we will not have to keep being born, grow old and die.”
“Another important lesson is Lesson 35, ‘My mind is part of God’s. I am very holy.’ This lesson reminds us that we are all part of God and, therefore, we are all holy and eternal,” said Joshua. “Does this mean that people who go and kill other people are holy too?” asked Adam. “Yes,” said Joshua “Even though they appear, in the dream, to have committed a terrible crime, they, too, are holy sons of God. Don’t forget that we never actually split away from Heaven, so none of this is really happening. This means there are no good guys and no bad guys in the world. There is only one guy because there is only one of us, although there appear to be so many people.”
Adam pondered upon this for a while and then asked Joshua if those who commit crimes should not be punished for them. “In the dream, people are judged and have to go to prison if they commit a crime,” said Joshua. “But in Heaven God doesn’t judge us for we are all part of Him and he loves us all equally.”
“If we are all the same and are all one with God, why do we look different from each other?” asked Adam. “I mean why do people have different colour skins and different religions and speak different languages?” “That, my boy, is an excellent question,” said Joshua. “Any differences that you see with your eyes are unreal and are part of the illusion for, no matter how we look or what we believe, we are one with each other and one with God. We must ignore appearances and see only God’s spark within each person we meet. We greet each other as holy sons of God because we are all God’s sons, just as Jesus was. As for languages, the only true language is the language of love. A good way to communicate with other people is to send loving thoughts to them. When you do that it doesn’t matter if they speak a different language from you.”
“But what about all the different religions in the world?” insisted Adam. “Religions were made for man and not for God. It doesn’t matter what your religion is. As I said, God loves us all equally. Only it is true that some religions and some spiritual paths suit some people better than others,” replied Joshua. “However, if a person doesn’t have love in his heart and is unable to give love and forgiveness to everyone he comes across in this world, then he will not be able to awaken from the dream and return to Heaven,” he added. “There is something else that is very important that I want you to remember for the rest of your life: you should love your neighbour as yourself because you neighbour is yourself.”
After a brief pause, Joshua continued, “Here is another important lesson for you, Lesson 181, ‘I trust my brothers, who are one with me.’ This lesson reminds us that we should look upon everyone with trust and love because the holy Self lives in each and every one, no matter what their religious or spiritual beliefs may be.“
 

Adam was silent for a few moments, lost in thought. In the short conversation he had had so far with Joshua, he had learnt so much. He wondered what he would have to do to awaken from the dream. So he turned to Joshua and asked him, “If we are all dreaming, what can we do to wake up?” “That’s another very good question,” remarked Joshua. “One very important thing you can do is to learn about the truth and then share what you have learnt with others. But the most important thing you can do is to offer love and forgiveness to others. A Course in Miracles says that if we forgive each other for whatever we seem to be doing to each other and if we are able to let go of all our illusions, then we will eventually awaken from the dream of separation and find ourselves back in Heaven again.”
“Does that mean if someone steals something from me, I should forgive him?” asked Adam, somewhat perplexed. “Yes indeed, it does,” replied Joshua. “You see, although stealing is bad, the person that steals from you has actually been made up by your ego to appear to be a bad person. The ego does this to make it feel better about itself.” “But how does forgiving him help me wake up?” insisted Adam. “Let me tell you about another A Course in Miracles lesson, which might make this easier for you to understand,” said Joshua.
“’Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.’ That’s Lesson 62 in A Course in Miracles, and it shows that each time we forgive someone we call upon the strength of Christ in us. You should realise that forgiveness means letting go of illusions—of things that are not real. Forgiveness also gives us inner strength and stops us from being afraid or guilty. Once we stop being afraid or worried about God wanting to punish us (which He doesn’t) and as we let go of illusions, the truth about ourselves will return to our memory. We will remember that we are still one with God!”. “Wow!” exclaimed Adam.
Joshua continued with his explanation about forgiveness. “True forgiveness means looking beyond the body of the person who has harmed you and seeing his divine spirit instead. If you do this, you gradually get rid of the ego because the ego sees everyone as a body, separate from each other and from God.” “So it’s as though the ego slowly dissolves bit by bit each time you forgive,” said Adam. “Exactly!” exclaimed Joshua.
“According to A Course in Miracles, you don’t forgive someone for something that they did that harmed you. You forgive them for what they have not done, because you recognise that the person is just a split part of your own mind, and you know that there is really only one mind, which we share with each other, and which exists in the Mind of God. In Lesson 99, Jesus tells us, ‘Forgiveness and salvation are the same. Forgive what you have made and you are saved.’”
“It’s important also not to judge others because if you judge someone, it really means that you haven’t forgiven him,” continued Joshua. Adam was quiet for a few moments and then he asked Joshua, “What should I do about a boy in school who bullies other children?” “I think you know the answer to that,” said Joshua. “You forgive him because he, too, is just another aspect of the minds of the other children. Also, if he behaves like that it is because he is really crying out for love. Of course, you must do something about it and take steps to stop the boy from continuing to bully others. But you must also remember that there are only two emotions or feelings: love and fear. Anyone who behaves in an unloving way is following the instructions of his ego, and the ego’s thoughts are always based on fear and guilt.”
“Another important point that the Course keeps making is that we need to remember that we are not victims of the world, although it may appear that way. Lesson 31, ‘I am not the victim of the world I see,’ explains that because we have invented the world, we can’t be victims of it. We can just change our minds about it.” “But how do we do that?” asked Adam. “The answer can be found in Lesson 34, ‘I could see peace instead of this.’ This lesson tells us that, whenever we feel upset, we should go within our minds and try to replace our upsetting thoughts with peaceful ones. We can remind ourselves that since we have created this world from our own thoughts, we are free to choose peaceful thoughts from now on, and we should try not to let things in this dream world get us down,” explained Joshua.
The young boy sat quietly for a few moments, lost in thought. Then he said, “Joshua, you said that we keep being born, growing old and dying. Why do we do that? Why can’t we just forgive each other and awaken from the dream?” “Well, the ego has got such a strong hold on us that it is very difficult to awaken from the dream suddenly. Only very few people have been able to do this. For most of us, awakening takes place gradually, step by step, as we practice forgiveness. When we have forgiven everyone and everything in our lives, and let go of all the illusions we believe in, then we stand a good chance of overcoming the ego and awakening from the dream,” explained Joshua.

“It may seem like a lot of hard work to forgive everyone and everything, but thankfully for us we have an inner guide, called the Holy Spirit, whom we can turn to for help,” continued Joshua. “We can think of the Holy Spirit as being our Higher Self, who always knows what is best for us. At the time of the tiny, mad idea, when we decided to split away from Heaven, God place the Holy Spirit in our minds to help us stay connected to Him. So, we really have two voices in our heads—the ego’s and the Holy Spirit’s,” explained Joshua, adding that without the help of the Holy Spirit it would be very difficult to overcome the ego and remember our oneness with God.
“Lesson 361 is another interesting lesson: ‘This holy instant would I give to you. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, Certain that Your direction gives me peace.’ It is a prayer to the Holy Spirit in which we call upon Him and ask Him to guide us.” “What is a holy instant?” asked Adam. “A holy instant is the instant you decide to forgive someone because you know that there really is nothing to forgive in a dream world. When we offer the miracle of love and forgiveness to someone, we experience a holy instant. Holy instants are steps along the road to awakening. That is why they are very important,” explained Joshua. “They take practice, hard work, faith in the
 
Holy Spirit and a deep belief in the fact that we are one with God and with every human being that seems to exist,” he added.
“Is it easy to hear the Holy Spirit when He talks to us?” “Not as easy as all that,” said Joshua “because the ego’s voice is very loud and it distracts us with so many things, so that it seems that we don’t have the time for the Holy Spirit. Think of all the hours people spend at work, or having fun, or playing sports, or watching television, or going on the Internet or playing with some new gadget. It can be difficult to make time for the Holy Spirit too. But those who are sensible, do so. They spend some time quietly every day, trying to calm the mind so they can listen to the Voice for Love or Voice for God, which are other names for the Holy Spirit. Lesson 221 says, ‘Peace to my mind. Let all my thoughts be still.’ This lesson tells us that if we sit quietly and try not to think about anything, we will hear the Holy Spirit. But, like everything in life, it takes practice,” said Joshua. “It is also important to remember to ask the Holy Spirit whenever you are not sure what to do or how to respond to another person.”
Adam sat quietly for a while, absorbing all that he had learnt. The wind blew gently, the warm sun shone down upon the earth and the beautiful butterflies continued to flit from flower to flower. He looked all around him at the picturesque landscape and then he turned to Joshua and asked, “All the lovely things we see in nature—are they all an illusion too?” “Well, they are part of our dream so, yes, they are part of the illusion. But Mother Earth is a holy being, who has chosen to experience life in a physical form just like us. We need to treasure her and value all that she has given us within the dream. This includes the rivers and the seas, the forests, the mountains and the green fields, the plants, the birds, animals, butterflies, bees and much more.” Adam nodded his head in agreement, remembering how keen he had been at school when his teacher was teaching a lesson about protecting the environment.
Adam was one of those children who say their prayers every night before going to sleep. He was wondering if there was any point in praying to God if the life he was living was just a dream. He was just about to ask Joshua about this when the old man turned to him and said: “I expect you are wondering if you should say your prayers every night.” Adam nodded his head in astonishment. How did Joshua know what he had been thinking? “Well, it all depends on the type of prayer you say.

 
True prayer asks God for nothing in this world. There is no point asking God to give you a lot of money, for example, so that you can buy a brand new bicycle because God does not enter into our dream world to give us things that we think we need.” “Well, what should I pray for then?” asked Adam, somewhat perplexed. “A Course in Miracles tells us that the secret of true prayer is to forget the things we think we need and place everything in the Hands of God. Prayer should be a quiet time of listening to God’s Voice and thanking Him for being our Creator. You become humble and grateful and you try to tune into his Love. You recognise that you are one with God and that you are also one with everyone else.”
“Can you tell me a prayer from A Course in Miracles?” asked Adam. “Certainly. This prayer is from Lesson 232 and it is helpful to say it when you wake up in the morning:
‘Be in my mind, my Father, when I wake, and shine on me throughout the day today. Let every minute be a time in which I dwell with You.