Thoughts on “What is the Christ?” in the ACIM Workbook
(Full text of “What is the Christ” in the workbook)
The Christ is the name that has been given to the pure extension of Source. It is synonymous with Creation and with the Son. Just as Source is synonymous with the Father. All that defines and characterizes Cource/the Father defines and characterizes its extension: Christ/the Son/Creation. It is impossible for an extension of something to be extending something other than what gave rise to it. For if it were it would also have something else as its source. There is only one Source and it is characterized by all that is good and lovely, completely willing and forgiving, peaceful, free and joyful. When those qualities are expressed, the resulting extensions share those very same qualities and nothing else.
The interface, the translator, between Source and extension is the mind. Mind is synonymous with holy spirit, the inner voice, the higher self. When the focus of the mind is exclusively on the creative qualities of Source, mind extends those qualities towards the realm of expression where the resulting images speak of those creative qualities. They come into being through the intermediary of the mind. It is the builder, as Edgar Cayce described it, and it builds with the building blocks it is provided with. So far so good.
Humans have been given the ability to direct the focus of their mind in order to enhance their creative capability and span. At some point a sustained focus on a given expression can cause someone to identify with limited form, causing feelings of constraint, unease, confusion and fear. The mind is then presented with these building blocks and starts to build with them. It projects these qualities onto the face of reality where they overlay it with images that speak of those different qualities. Since they are not part of Source, nor of Creation, they have no Life in them. They only last for as long as the mind keeps building with them. As soon as the mind’s focus is taken off these qualities and is redirected towards the creative stream, Source’s qualities will again form the building blocks with which the mind builds.
And what does the mind build? It builds the perfect extensions on the basis of the perfect building blocks provided by Source. The result is a perfect pattern, the Christ pattern, that can serve as an example for those who may still be wondering what on earth the chaotic images they see are telling them. The perfect Christ pattern is available in each and every aspect of Creation, waiting to be recognized, acknowledged and allowed to extend.