God Takes a Step
The Fourth and Final Step
Concerning the fourth and final step the Course says this:
“The final step will still be taken for you by God, but by the third step the Holy Spirit has prepared you for God. He is getting you ready for the translation of having into being by the very nature of the steps you must take with Him.” T-6.V.C.5
This fourth step then is taken by God after we have assimilated the first three. It is specified here that before God takes this step we must be “ready for the translation of having into being.”
At this point, perhaps a student would ask what it would mean to move from having to being and ponder on what is the meaning as well as the difference between the two states.
Actually, there are three main states mentioned by the Course. The first is “getting” which is the mindset of the ego. Getting always involves sacrifice. When we get, we give up one thing to get another. Giving through the ego’s system is limited because of the fear of loss.
Having involves true giving. When we give under God’s thought system, we never lose anything. We have and give, but still have.
“You learn first that having rests on giving, and not on getting.” T-6.V.C.6.
The third state is being. We enter this state when our true identity is realized, but having always comes first. The difference in the two are described in this quote:
“The Holy Spirit knows that you both have everything and are everything.” T-4.III.9
The state of having is the recognition that you “have everything”, or that everything is accessible to you.
“It is impossible not to have, but it is possible not to know you have. The recognition of having is the willingness for giving, and only by this willingness can you recognize what you have.” T-9.II.11
Beyond the consciousness of having is “being” and one enters this state when he or she realizes that they “are everything.”
When this state is reached the idea of not having loses its meaning because you realize that God has already shared everything with you, including His life, so you share in being everything. This is why “we make no distinction between having the Kingdom of God and being the Kingdom of God.” T-4.III.9
God made the universe out of Himself and this includes you. When oneness with God is realized then we share the universe with Him by both having and being all there is.
In the kingdom having and being are united into oneness through sharing the will of God:
“To unite having and being is to unite your will with His, for He wills you Himself.” T-11.II.1
The state of being is expressed here:
“There is no end to God and His Son, for we are the universe.” T-11.I.5
If you are the universe then there is nothing else to get or to have. You have it all because you are one with all there is.
The student can experience true giving and receiving, or “having” in this world but can only partially understand being. After he has done all he can do to embrace being then God will take the final step
“When you perceive yourself without deceit, you will accept the real world in place of the false one you have made. And then your Father will lean down to you and take the last step for you, by raising you unto Himself.” T-11.VIII.15
When this fourth step is complete then we will understand being because we will fully experience it.
There are several things we can grok about being while yet in this world, which are:
In the state of being we are in the eternal present or now with no past or future, but a state where creation is ongoing in a universe which is ever extending or expanding.
When new creation occurs, it happens in the eternal present or the Now so there is no past. Because creation manifests with no past it is eternal and always in the present.
Learning is no longer needed because we are one with all there is and all knowledge is before us.
Perception is no longer needed because we are one with all there is and there is nothing outside of ourselves to perceive.
Memory is no longer needed because we are aware of all there is and there is nothing outside of the ALL to remember.
There will be nothing outside of ourselves to be conscious of because we will be aware of the entire universe of creation in the eternal present.
Indeed, there is much to look forward to when we complete the three steps and God takes the fourth step “by raising you unto Himself.”
To search the website, containing millions of words, replace the word “search” with the word or phrase you want to find and place the entire line in the Google search box.
“Search” site:freeread.com
Check out JJ’s Facebook Group HERE
Join A Course in Miracles Discussion Group on X (Twitter) HERE
Access other articles associated with ACIM HERE
Check out JJ’s books on Amazon HERE
Easy Access to All the Writings
For Free Book go HERE and other books HERE