What is the Holy Spirit according to “A Course in Miracles”?

Connecting with the Bridge to Truth and Love

Those familiar with A Course in Miracles will likely notice that the Course employs Christian terms in unique and novel ways. Often, these terms render new meanings grounded in a psycho-spiritual orientation.

The Course aims to remove the blocks to our awareness of love. The Text, Workbook, and Manual for Teachers offer concepts, meditations, prayers, and exercises to support us towards this aim.

The​​ Course recursively employs the concept of the Holy Spirit. In traditional Christianity, the Holy Spirit forms the third part of the Trinity. It is the aspect of God that descended upon the apostles after Jesus’s ascension into heaven.

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God, alive and active within the self. The Holy Spirit was the activating agent for the apostles as they began their ministry and spread the word about Jesus.

In A Course in Miracles, the Holy Spirit is also referred to as a part or aspect of God. The Holy Spirit is the part of God that is aware of our mistakes, illusions, the ongoing manifestations of the ego world, and the lovelessness that permeates within and without.

The Holy Spirit is the eternal link to God inside every one of us. He is the voice within that harkens to loving and peaceful thoughts, the aspect of self that is still united with and in union with God, and the bridge that dismantles our errors and illusions and casts light upon the truth.

The excerpt below from the Manual for Teachers provides a direct response to the question of the Holy Spirit as the communication link between ourselves and God.

The Holy Spirit is described as the remaining Communication Link between God and His separated Sons. In order to fulfill this special function the Holy Spirit has assumed a dual function. He knows because He is part of God; He perceives because He was sent to save humanity. He is the great correction principle; the bringer of true perception, the inherent power of the vision of Christ. He is the light in which the forgiven world is perceived; in which the face of Christ alone is seen. He never forgets the Creator or His creation. He never forgets the Son of God. He never forgets you. And He brings the Love of your Father to you in an eternal shining that will never be obliterated because God has put it there.

We can ignore or deny the Holy Spirit. We can pretend that the link between ourselves and the divine is not there. Or we can turn to the Holy Spirit and ask for peace, guidance, and enlightenment.

The Course relates that as soon as we had the idea of separating from God and took this idea seriously, the Holy Spirit was there to call us and bring us back to the realization that separation is an illusion.

When we call on the Holy Spirit and ask for aid, we entrust our minds to a power greater than ourselves, one that knows God’s plan for us.

No opportunity for learning and development is lost to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can remake everything and anything. All relationships, situations, and circumstances can be surrendered to the Holy Spirit.

The Course emphasizes that the Holy Spirit is the Voice for God. He is ever ready to respond to our slightest invitation. He always responds fully and readily. Thus, in our most difficult moments and challenging times, we can call upon the Holy Spirit and trust that a plan greater and more perfect than anything we could ever have imagined is being set in motion.

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