Rising Above the Battleground: An Exercise Based on T-23.IV

by Robert Perry

Call to mind a conflict situation in which you are involved and watch your behavior in this situation.
See how reasonable you have been,
or at least how justified and necessary your harshness has been.
You had good reasons for everything you did, no matter what it was.
You really had no choice.

You’ve tried to be considerate of the other person.
You’ve refrained from striking back so many times.
You’ve held your tongue.
You’ve tried so hard to be good.

Now be willing to consider that beneath this considerate and reasonable facade
there has been attack in your mind, in your unloving perception of the other person,
in your drive to get your needs met even if it meant sacrifice for them.
Most of the time you probably don’t even notice this attack, yet its signs were there.
Do you recall feeling any of the following things:
“a stab of pain,
a twinge of guilt,
and above all, a loss of peace”? (12:5)

These are the signs that your justified exterior was concealing the intent of murder.
The Course says, “What is not love is murder.
What is not loving must be an attack.” (8:4-5).
These are the signs that you have been on the battleground.
Can you see yourself on the battleground?
Maybe you’ve been on the offensive.
Maybe you’ve been hiding in your trench.
Perhaps you’ve been trying to lure the enemy into an ambush.
Perhaps you’ve been waiving a white flag while you held a gun behind your back.
One thing is for sure: you’ve been going after the spoils of war.
What exactly have you been trying to win on this battleground?

Now ask yourself: “Can it be anything that offers me a perfect calmness,
and a sense of love so deep and quiet that no touch of doubt can ever mar my certainty?
And that will last forever?” (adapted from 14:8-9)

These blessings can only be found above the battleground.
“When the temptation to attack rises to make your mind darkened and murderous,
remember you can see the battle from above” (12:3).

“This is your part: to realize that murder in any form is not your will.
The overlooking of the battleground is now your purpose” (11:1-2).

“Be lifted up, and from a higher place look down upon it” (11:3).
Imagine yourself rising up—physically,
but also mentally and emotionally.
“From there will your perspective be quite different” (11:4).
From this higher perspective, you see the battle as inconsequential and trivial.
Its forms are small, its sounds remote.
“The senselessness of conquest is quite apparent
from the quiet sphere above the battleground” (15:5).
In this quiet sphere you realize that this battle cannot touch you,
that your brother’s body and personality cannot harm you in any way.
In this quiet sphere you realize that the battle is not real, and easily escaped.
And in this place you say to yourself: “I choose a miracle instead of murder.”
“I choose a miracle instead of murder” (adapted from 12:7).

This quiet sphere is more than just an absence of battle, it is a place of peace.
Repeat these words to yourself:
“In this place I want for nothing.
Sorrow of any kind is inconceivable.
Only the light I love is in awareness,
and only love shines upon me forever.
It is my past, my present, and my future;
always the same, eternally complete, and wholly shared.
I know it is impossible my happiness could ever suffer change of any kind” (adapted from 14:2-6)

Do you feel tempted to return to the battleground,
because you still think there is something you can win there?
If so, ask yourself again, “Can it be anything that offers me a perfect calmness,
and a sense of love so deep and quiet that no touch of doubt can ever mar my certainty?
And that will last forever?” (adapted from 14:8-9)

And so repeat, “I choose to remain above the battleground.
And God Himself and all the lights of Heaven
will gently lean to me, and hold me up” (adapted from 12:8).
“I choose a miracle instead of murder.”

QUESTIONS

Could you see that you have been on the battleground?

What have you been trying to win on the battleground?

Were you able to rise above it?

Did rising above it feel like a practical response to the conflict?
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