“Perfect love casts out fear.
If fear exists,
Then there is not perfect love.
But
Only perfect love exists.
If there is fear,
It produces a state that does not exist. (T14)”
Affirmation: “Perfect love casts out fear.”
Reflections:
Jesus seems fond of syllogisms. There are a number in the Course, but this is phrased in perhaps this most beautiful way of all of his syllogisms.
Here the Course goes to the heart of the unreality in which we live. We live in illusions, not the real world, at all–at least most of us. (The real world comes near the conclusion of our pathway back to God.)
Perfect love and fear are completely incompatible. This is what this passage is saying. Because most of us still feel fear upon occasion, we are lost in dreams–and not the happy dreams of the Holy Spirit. There is a danger that we will feel depressed upon reading these words. But elsewhere Jesus cautions us not to lose heart. If the way seems long, once begun the way back is always found in the end. If the way seems long, we are to take heart and to know that we will find our way back, ultimately.
Prayer:
Dear Father,
In reality, only perfect love exists. But we frequently feel fear, and so we are not experiencing the real world on a consistent basis.
May we experience the real world. If this seems a long way off, may we in the interim experience the happy dreams the Holy Spirit brings.
Amen.
