From the ego came sin and guilt and death, in opposition to life and
innocence, and to the Will of God Himself. Where can such opposition lie
but in the sick minds of the insane, dedicated to madness and set
against the peace of Heaven. One thing is sure; God, Who created neither
sin nor death, wills not that you be bound by them. He knows of neither
sin nor its results. The shrouded figures in the funeral procession march
not in honor of their Creator, Whose Will it is they live. They are not
following It; they are OPPOSING It.

And what is the black-draped body they would bury? A body which THEY
dedicated to death, a symbol of corruption, a sacrifice to sin, offered
to sin to feed upon and keep itself alive; a thing condemned, damned by
its maker, and lamented by every mourner
who looks upon it as himself. You who believe you have condemned the Son
of God to this ARE arrogant. But you who would release him are but
honoring the Will of his Creator. The arrogance of sin, the pride of
guilt, the sepulchre of separation, all are part of your unrecognized
dedication to death. The glitter of guilt you laid upon the body would
kill it. For what the ego loves it kills for its obedience. But what
obeys it not it CANNOT kill.

You have another dedication which would keep the body incorruptible and
perfect as long as it is useful for your holy purpose. The body no more
dies than it can feel. It does NOTHING. Of itself, it is neither
corruptible nor incorruptible. It IS nothing. It is the result of a
tiny, mad idea of corruption which can be CORRECTED. For God has
answered this insane idea with His Own, an answer which left Him not,
and therefore brings the Creator to the awareness of every mind which
heard His answer and ACCEPTED it.

You who are dedicated to the incorruptible have been given, through your
acceptance, the power to RELEASE from corruption. What better way to
teach the first and fundamental principle in a course on miracles than
by showing you the one which seems to be the hardest can be accomplished
first? The body can but serve your purpose. As you look upon it, so will
it seem to be. Death, were it true, would be the final and complete
disruption of communication which is the ego’s goal.

Those who fear death see not how often and how loudly they call to it,
and bid it come to save them from communication. For death is seen as
safety, the great dark savior from the light of truth, the answer to the
Answer, the silencer of the Voice that speaks for God. Yet the retreat
to death is not the end of conflict. Only GOD’S answer is its end. The
obstacle of your seeming love for death that peace must flow across
seems to be very great. For in it lies hidden all the ego’s secrets, all
its strange devices for deception, all its sick ideas and weird
imaginings. Here is the final end of union, the triumph of the ego’s
making over creation, the victory of lifelessness on Life Itself.

Under the dusty edge of its distorted world the ego would lay the Son of
God, slain by its orders, proof in his decay that God Himself is
powerless before the ego’s might, unable to protect the life that He
created against the ego’s savage wish to kill. My brothers,
Children of our Father, this is a DREAM of death. There is no funeral,
no dark altars, no grim commandments nor twisted rituals of condemnation
to which the body leads you. Ask not release of IT. But free it from the
merciless and unrelenting orders YOU laid upon it, and forgive it what
YOU ordered it to do. In its exaltation you commanded it to die, for
only death COULD conquer life. And what but insanity could look upon the
defeat of God, and think it real?

The fear of death will go as its appeal is yielded to love’s REAL
attraction. The end of sin, which nestles quietly in the safety of your
relationship, protected by your union, ready to grow into a mighty force
for God, is very near. The infancy of salvation is carefully guarded by
love, preserved from every thought that would attack it, and quietly
made ready to fulfill the mighty task for which it was given you. Your
newborn purpose is nursed by angels, cherished by the Holy Spirit, and
protected by God Himself. It needs not your protection; IT is YOURS. For
it is deathless, and within it lies the end of death.

What danger can assail the wholly innocent? What can attack the
guiltless? What fear can enter and disturb the peace of sinlessness?
What has been given you, even in its infancy, is in full communication
with God and you. In its tiny hands it holds, in perfect safety, every
miracle you will perform, held out to you. The miracle of life is
ageless, born in time but nourished in eternity. Behold this infant, to
whom you gave a resting-place by your forgiveness of each other, and see
in it the Will of God. Here is the babe of Bethlehem reborn. And
everyone who gives him shelter will follow him, not to the cross, but to
the Resurrection and the Life.

When anything seems to you to be a source of fear, when any situation
strikes you with terror and makes your body tremble and the cold sweat
of fear comes over it, remember it is always for ONE reason; the ego has
perceived it as a symbol of fear, a sign of sin and death. Remember,
then, that neither sign nor symbol should be confused with source, for
they must stand for something OTHER than themselves. Their meaning
cannot lie in them, but must be sought in what they REPRESENT. And they
may thus mean everything or nothing, according to the truth or falsity
of the idea which they reflect. Confronted with such seeming uncertainty
of meaning, judge it not.

Remember the holy presence of the One given to you to be the Source of
judgement. Give it to Him to judge for you, and say:

“Take this from me and look upon it, judging it for me.

Let me not see it as a sign of sin and death, nor use it for
destruction. Teach me how NOT to make of it an obstacle to peace,

But let You use it FOR me, to facilitate its coming.”