God’s Answer to the Separation: The Holy Spirit

"The Holy Spirit is God's Answer to the separation."

In the very instant the separation seemed to occur God answered. He did not punish or cast his only beloved Son out. He placed within the mind a Correction, a Memory, a Voice.

The Holy Spirit is the part of our own mind that remained sane when the rest went mad. It is the memory of God, the voice for the Atonement, the bridge between the dream and Reality. It was there before we even finished falling. It was the Correction already in place before the error fully crystallized.

This is important, for It means the dream was answered before it began. It means the outcome was never in doubt. It means that no matter how deep into the illusion we descend, no matter how many lifetimes we wander, no matter how thoroughly we forget — there is something in us that remembers. There is a voice, however quiet, that keeps calling us Home.

Many names for it in the course: the Voice for God, the Answer to the separation, our “internal Teacher,” “the communication link between God and His separated Sons,” “the Great Transformer of perception,’ “the Universal Inspiration,” “the great correction principle,’ among dozens of others.

“God created the Holy Spirit to bridge the gap in communication between Him and His children.” - ACIM

“The Holy Spirit’s function is to heal our minds by leading us into a thought system that reflects reality. This is how He guides us home.” - ACIM

Shem

Shem - what Jeshua called the Holy Spirit in Aramaic(?)

שֵׁם (Shem) in Hebrew and Aramaic most directly translates to “name.” But in biblical and mystical tradition, a “name” is not merely a label—it is the essence, the vibration, the presence of the thing itself. To speak the Shem of God is to invoke the power, identity, and spiritual force of the Divine.

The phrase “b’Shem Adonai” means “in the Name of the Lord”, implying action done through the spiritual force or agency of the Divine. There is an ancient mystical teaching—particularly in Syriac Christian and Gnostic circles—that Yeshua referred to the Holy Spirit as the “Shekinta” (Aramaic for Shekhinah, the feminine indwelling presence of God), and at times used “Ruach” (spirit, breath), but also is said to have invoked “Shem” in reference to the sacred Name or Presence of God.

The New Testament, written in Greek, translates the Aramaic/Hebrew ruach as pneuma (πνεῦμα), meaning "spirit," "breath," or "wind." The Holy Spirit is called Pneuma Hagion (Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον), meaning "Holy Spirit."

Sophia

The translation to “Sophia” is symbolic rather than literal.

• In Gnostic and mystical Hellenistic Christianity, Sophia (Wisdom) becomes the Divine Feminine, the emanation of the unknowable Source.
• Sophia suffers separation and fall, and through her restoration comes the return to the Pleroma (Fullness).
• Just as the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, the indwelling teacher, Sophia is the guide, the one who calls the soul back to its Source.

Thus, Shem → Sophia becomes an esoteric gesture: from Name as Presence to Wisdom as Companion.

The traditional Hebrew/Aramaic word for Spirit is:

• רוּחַ (Ruach) = breath, wind, spirit (feminine in gender)
• In Aramaic: Rukha d’Qudsha = the Holy Spirit

• Shem = The Name (the source, the identity, the resonance)
• Ruach = The Breath, the animating energy
• Shekhinah = The Presence, the indwelling feminine aspect of God

In Latin, the Greek Pneuma Hagion was translated as Spiritus Sanctus ("Holy Spirit") in the Vulgate, the Latin Bible.

The Guide Back Home

“He seems to be a Voice, for in that form He speaks God’s Word to you. He seems to be a Guide through a far country, for you need that form of help.”

The Holy Spirit: sets up the events and movements of our lives to bring us back Home:

• guides people to us
• brings about things
• give us our function
• give us all we need to fulfill our function - possessions, money, abundance…

God’s Voice: The Voice for God

Is both God and something God expresses or does… a speaker is using his Voice to speak his Word. God using the Holy Spirit Voice to express his Word

HS is both its own being, its own unique thing - and is intimately God himself.

“Now hear God speak to you, through Him Who is His Voice.”(T-30.II.3:3)

“Listen, and hear your Father speak to you through His appointed Voice.” (W-pI.106.2:1)

“Hear, holy Son of God, your Father speak. His Voice would give to you His holy Word.” (W-pI.125.4:1-2)

The Holy Spirit is the Christ Mind which is aware of the knowledge that lies beyond perception. He came into being with the separation as a protection, inspiring the Atonement principle at the same time….The Voice of the Holy Spirit is the Call to Atonement, or the restoration of the integrity of the mind. When the Atonement is complete and the whole Sonship is healed there will be no call to return. But what God creates is eternal. The Holy Spirit will remain with the Sons of God, to bless their creations and keep them in the light of joy. (T-5.I.5:1-7)

The Holy Spirit is described as the remaining communication link between God and His separated Sons. In order to fulfill this special function the Holy Spirit has assumed a dual function. He knows because He is part of God; He perceives because He was sent to save humanity. (C-6.3:1-3)

An intimate ongoing conversation

“God would respond to every need, whatever form it takes. And so He keeps this channel [the Holy Spirit] open to receive His communication to you, and yours to Him.” - ACIM

What I have called as the Holy Spirit is not an entity. It is a form of energy. I’ve called it before right-mindedness, which merely means Mind that is operating in alignment with unlimitedness, aligned with the Mind of God. Therefore, what is required, by way of guidance or knowledge, simply flows in an unimpeded way. The Holy Spirit is that aspect of one’s own Mind that is, indeed, and has always remained aligned with the Mind of God. Therefore, it would be very appropriate to say that The Holy Spirit is as your Oversoul, if you will. It is an aspect of your own beingness given and shared equally by all. The Comforter, The Holy Spirit, is right-mindedness, correct seeing, right alignment.

• Way of the Heart, Lesson Eight: Question One

You let go of everything you thought you knew and you asked in prayer. This same way of not knowing is the ultimate state of Knowing. Knowing that the egoic mind does not know is the source of powerful Knowing.

• Way of Knowing, Lesson Three: Question Two

Being Guided by the Holy Spirit

• I don’t know what a single thing is for and I am no longer under the sway of the habits of my perceptions. Holy Spirit, what is the best thing that I can do in this moment?
• trust a Voice that is wholly unseen and the hearing of which may come softly and gently as a nudge in the heart? Only after much listening does it begin to take on the shape of a voice that you can have complete conversations with.
• Every time you ask the question of the Holy Spirit, an answer is immediately given.  *Immediately. * *It requires only your willingness to hear with different ears.

“Why not be willing, just for the heck of it, to trust a Voice that is wholly unseen and the hearing of which may come softly and gently as a nudge in the heart? Only after much listening does it begin to take on the shape of a voice that you can have complete conversations with. Why not? Give it a try. What would it mean if tomorrow morning when you woke up, you looked around yourself and said, *I don’t know what a single thing is for and I am no longer under the sway of the habits of my perceptions. Holy Spirit, unseen—and I don’t even know if I really believe in You, but what the heck—what is the best thing that I can do in this moment? Some of you will end up sitting in bed all day waiting to hear, and yet when that happens it’s because you have not acknowledged that you have heard. For every time you ask the question of the Holy Spirit, an answer is immediately given. Immediately. It requires only your willingness to hear with different ears.

As a dove descending from above

In Judaism, the Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is the divine force, quality and influence of God over the universe or his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as an agent of divine action or communication. In the Baha’i Faith, the Holy Spirit is seen as the intermediary between God and man and "the outpouring grace of God and the effulgent rays that emanate from His Manifestation".1

The Hebrew Bible contains the term "spirit of God" (ruach elochim)

The Holy Spirit as Guide: The Perfect Teacher

“We accept Him(The Holy Spirit) as our Teacher by resigning as our own teacher.” - ACIM

“The Holy Spirit is the perfect teacher.”

“All that we made for ego He takes and uses for our awakening.” - rp

“The Holy Spirit is the perfect teacher. He uses only what your mind already understands to teach you that you do not understand it. The Holy Spirit can deal with a reluctant learner without going counter to his mind, because part of it is still for God.” (T-S.II1.10:1-3)

“The Holy Spirit teaches you to use what the ego has made, to teach the opposite of what the ego has ‘learned.”

“God...blessed His children with a way of thinking that could raise their perceptions so high they could reach almost back to Him. The Holy Spirit is the Mind of the Atonement. He represents a state of mind close enough to One-mindedness that transfer to it is at last possible.”

“The Holy Spirit bridges the distance between reality and illusion. By seeing our illusions in light of reality, He places them in true perspective.” - RP

Transforming our Illusions into Reality, our Obstacles into Stepping Stones

“All that you made can serve salvation easily and well. The Son of God can make no choice the Holy Spirit cannot employ on his behalf, and not against himself.”

Everything that we created in order to exist in separation, the HS transforms and uses as the path back home - our body, the world and everything that happens in it in our life, time, the ego, etc….

“Yet if the Holy Spirit can commute each sentence that you laid upon yourself into a blessing, then it cannot be a sin.”

The Body

“The Holy Spirit sees the body only as a means of communication, and because communicating is sharing it becomes communion.”

Memory

We made memory “as a means to keep the past.”

“You are so long accustomed to believe that memory holds only what is past, that it is hard for you to real- ize it is a skill that can remember now.”

Special Relationships into holy relationships. Thus He turns “the ego’s chief weapon for keeping you from Heaven,’ into quite literally “the source of your salvation.’

He turns our perceived “specialness” into our special function in salvation, our special way of erasing our ego by serving everyone else.

Human language was “made by separated minds to keep them in the illusion of separation.” The Holy Spirit uses words for His holy purpose. This actually “gives to the words...the power of His Spirit, raising them from meaningless symbols to the Call of Heaven itself.”’

Everything is a perfect orchestration of the Holy Spirit

“It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful.” - M-4.I.A.4.

“What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?” - W-pI.135.18

“No one is where he is by accident and chance plays no part in God’s plan.” - M-9.1.

“Your passage through time and space is not at random. You cannot but be at in the right place at the right time.” - W-pI.42.2.

The Holy Spirit is the foundation of your right mind. ²He was also the foundation of mine. ³The Bible says, “May the mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” and uses this as a blessing. ⁴It is the blessing of miracle-mindedness. ⁵It asks that you may think as I thought, joining with me in Christ-thinking. The Holy Spirit is the only part of the Holy Trinity Who, at present, has a symbolic aspect. ²He is referred to as the Healer, the Comforter, and the Guide. ³He is also described as something separate, apart from the Father and from the Son. ⁴I myself said, “And if I go I will send you another Comforter, and He will abide with you.” ⁵The Holy Spirit is a difficult concept to grasp, precisely because of His symbolic aspect, which makes Him open to many different interpretations. As a man and as one of God’s creations, my right thinking, which came from the Universal Inspiration which is the Holy Spirit, taught me first and foremost that this Inspiration is for all. ²I could not have It myself without knowing that. ³The word “know” is proper here, because the Holy Inspiration is so close to knowledge that It calls it forth, or better, allows it to come. ⁴We have spoken before of the higher or true perception, which is so close to truth that God Himself can flow across the little gap. ⁵Knowledge is always ready to flow everywhere, but it cannot oppose. ⁶Therefore you can obstruct it, although you can never lose it. The Holy Spirit is the Christ Mind that is aware of the knowledge that lies beyond perception. ²He came into being with the separation as a protection and inspired the beginning of the Atonement at the same time. ³Before that, there was no need for healing, and no one was comfortless. ⁴God honored even the miscreations of His children because they had made them. ⁵But He also blessed them with a way of thinking about them which could raise their perceptions until they became so lofty that they could reach almost back to Him. The Holy Spirit is the Mind of the Atonement. ²He represents a state of mind that comes close enough to one-mindedness that transfer is at last possible. ³As psychologists know, transfer depends on common elements in the old learning and the new situation to which the learning transferred. ⁴Perception is not knowledge, but it can be transferred to knowledge, or cross over into it. ⁵It might even be more helpful here to use the literal meaning “carried over,” for the last step is taken by God. The Holy Spirit, the shared Inspiration of all the Sonship, induces a kind of perception in which many elements are like those in the Kingdom of Heaven itself. ²First, its universality is perfectly clear, and no one who receives it could ever believe for one instant that sharing it involves anything but gain. ³Second, it is incapable of attack and is without judgment, and is therefore truly open. ⁴This means that, although it does not engender knowledge, it does not obstruct it in any way. ⁵Third, it is an unequivocal call to love. ⁶Every other voice is still. - [CE T-5.II.1-6]