The Holy Spirit is one of the most enigmatic and challenging ideas presented in A Course in Miracles. Is he the hand of God? Higher or lower than Jesus? Can we see him? Can we even use pronouns when describing Holy Spirit?
We are so used to thinking in terms of form – because that is how our physical body perceives both itself and the world in which it finds itself – that it can be difficult to figure out who or what the Holy Spirit is.
So what is the Holy Spirit?
In ACIM lingo, the Holy Spirit is the medium through which God reaches us in the dream. God does not act in the world the way we conceive of action. It’s not a big chessboard and he’s not up in the heavens nudging the pieces this way and that.
Yet, because the world is not real and God most certainly did not create it, he’s certainly not here either.
Enter the Holy Spirit. Created by God at the very moment of separation and placed in our minds, the Holy Spirit is the communication link between us and our creator. The Holy Spirit is unique in that he sees and can work with the material of the illusion, the dream but he also knows God. He can use the former to enhance our capacity for the latter. He bridges the gap.
How then do we make contact with the Holy Spirit? If an encounter with God is necessarily abstract and challenging, an encounter with the Holy Spirit isn’t. Or rather, it doesn’t have to be. Over and over in the text we are encouraged to simply talk to the Holy Spirit. Let him know what our thoughts are, our fears.
Indeed, in a particularly important passage of the text, we are told to say to the Holy Spirit “decide for me” and it will be done. The Holy Spirit’s decisions, say the text, are “a reflection of what God knows about you” and so they are free of all error.
When we are faced, then, with a vexing challenge or something that really gooses our fear and guilt, we don’t have to do anything other than say to the Holy Spirit, you take the reins. I’m just going to enjoy the ride.
That’s freedom. That’s grace.
But does it answer conclusively what is the Holy Spirit?
As the Course says, the Holy Spirit is the “voice for God.” That’s the so-called “form” he takes, because that’s what we need. In fact, the Holy Spirit will assume whatever form is most helpful – a kind neighbor, a lucky encounter with a stranger, magic, a therapist, a book. You name it.
So our encounter with him is fascinating because while on the one hand it is formless (it happens in our mind) it manifests in the world that we see. Problems are solved. We relate differently to people whom we have been angry with. What was difficult becomes easier. There is a flow, a gentleness.
The Holy Spirit is the facilitator of the Course. He – or it – is that part of your mind, to which your access is inhibited and blocked and tangled and screwy. He speaks for what is pure and perfect in you.
Turning our lives over to this entity, this power isn’t easy. In fact, I find myself resisting it all the time. And often, when I think I’ve done it – when I think I’ve finally let the baggage go – I find another layer of baggage. That’s just the process. Don’t worry about it. The Holy Spirit is cool with that.
Really, touching base with the Holy Spirit is a function of our trust in God. We are not abandoned. We are not left without hope. Jesus was the name of a man who heard perfectly the lessons of the Holy Spirit. He’s our model. The Holy Spirit is the means. Truly, the Kingdom of God is at hand. It’s in your mind, available for the asking.
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