'This simple courtesy is all the Holy Spirit asks of you. Let truth be what it is. Do not intrude upon it, do not attack it, do not interrupt its coming. Let it encompass every situation and bring you peace…But rise you not against it, for against your opposition it cannot come.' T17 VIII
The Course in Miracles uses highly abstract language like this, and it is too easy to read it in a trance without paying close attention to what it is saying. And to wake up a few paragraphs later with no idea what you have just read. The Course offers few concrete examples to explain its teachings, because the examples must vary from student to student. All the case histories and anecdotes you need to illustrate its meaning are your own life situations, relationships and dilemmas.
When any problem arises in your day and you do not know what to do, or how to meet it from a specifically Course-related point of view, here is your answer in the quotation above. But what is it telling you to actually do? How can you ‘let truth be what it is’ when you have to make a career decision, or can’t afford to pay the mortgage, or a neighbour is playing their music too loud, too late and too often? What is the ‘truth’ when you find yourself stuck in a traffic jam, a medical condition or a deteriorating relationship?
To let truth be is to allow yourself to experience a sense of peace, or at least to want to experience something of the kind, no matter what is going on. The Course is very specific about the ways in which we set obstacles in the way of peace: see the whole section ‘The Obstacles to Peace (T19 IV), and the workbook lesson 185, ‘I want the peace of God’. (No, you don’t, says the Course. If you wanted it, you would have it. No power in heaven or on earth can fog the truth in your mind, except your own fear of it.) And the Course is explicit again in the lines above. Do not intrude upon, attack or interrupt the truth; just let it be. So how does that apply in your own case? Only you can know. but here are some clues:
Do not intrude upon it – You ‘intrude’ upon truth by thinking you know what is best, true and right. You impose opinions, assumptions, expectations, fears, conditions and wishes in the way of truth, rather than pausing to listen or invite it in. You try to organize and control it, by setting up rituals and environments to be conducive to your idea of peace and to establish truth as you want it to be.
Do not attack it – Any form of attack on anyone, such as by disliking, complaining, criticising, judging, blaming, accusing or ridiculing, is an attack on peace. Any kind of attack is an attempt to impose your own version of truth on reality. It is also attacking truth to dismiss it as irrelevant, or to suggest that the truth is different for everyone, or to deny it is true.
Do not interrupt it – We frequently interrupt the entering of truth in our minds, by losing patience, getting distracted, seeking alternative solutions and pleasures, and by imposing limits on it, as if truth were all very nice in theory but not practical when real problems arise. From the Course’s point of view, no problem is ‘real’, every problem can be resolved, and the truth is wholly practical; this is the truth that will enlighten, if we do not throw obstacles in its way.
Let it encompass every situation – The most practical and effective thing you can do in any situation is to be open to the truth: without knowing what that might be, and even if it seems to go against your own interests. By not pre-judging it, or taking sides, or letting your ego muscle in to try to defend its honour and stroke its self esteem, the power of love will guide your choices, and truth will correct all errors.
This simple courtesy is all – The introduction to the workbook makes clear that to learn the Course, to learn peace of mind, we do not need to believe in what it says, or understand it, or even like it. There is no need either to believe in God or to be bothered by the Christian language. All that is asked is that we do not wilfully oppose the truth it offers. The Course requests a little ‘courtesy’, and indeed this is all it ever asks from us, towards every person and every situation; the willingness to respect and pay a modicum of attention to, rather than boorishly dismiss or condemn out of hand; to make room for another’s point of view without shouting them down. Only consent to its presence, and truth will by itself transform your understanding, your relationships, your state of mind.
In the following seventeenth-century poem by George Herbert, he shows Love as the perfect example of a sweetly courteous host, welcoming the poet to a feast. Quick-witted and compassionate, Love just will not take ‘no’ for an answer, brushing aside excuses and evasions and cringing mumblings of shame. Stop faffing about, Love says; come in, sit down, enjoy the feast. This is exactly what the Course is asking us to do in return; simply to welcome truth to come on in and be itself.
Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guiltie of dust and sinne.
But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d anything.
A guest, I answer’d, worthy to be here.
Love said, You shall be he.
I, the unkind, ungratefull? Ah my deare,
I can not look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, but I have marr’d them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know ye not, sayes Love, who bore the blame?
My deare, then I will serve.
Ye must sit down, sayes Love, and taste my meat.
So I did sit and eat.
