As long as we seem to exist in the world we are alone and separate. Why? Because the world and the self we think we are were made from the idea of being alone and separate. If we remembered our true nature. that we are one of God’s many Thoughts collectively known as the Sonship, at one with our Creator, we would not seem to be here.

The ego must hide this truth. Why? Because our nature of union calls unceasingly from unremembered places. To distract us from this song of union and our possible embracing of it, the ego tempts us with all sorts of illusory relationships including with itself. Our engagement in these deceptions, as if they were real, is a block to love’s presence.

As long as we seem to be here, we are alone and separate. Not only are we not in relationship with anyone, but those seeming external relationships are not real. At the first level, they are a child’s game we play in delusion land. There are a bunch of inner children running around getting in relationship, having sex, having children, having families with people from the past. That is one layer of the delusion.

Peel back the delusional layers further and we find our external seeming relationships are just a reflection of the relationships that are playing out in our minds between our own internal warring selves. These internal selves are aspects of the ego and are the only things we are really in “relationship” with. We made them and they are our companions. Our external relationships are an outward representation of that inner dynamic. Think “Fightclub.”

These layers of belief in relationships in perceptionland need to be uncovered and looked at and brought to the light. But as long as we defend the beliefs and the seeming “relationships” they spawn, their unreality will stay hidden and continue to attack the truth.

The delusion that we could possibly be in relationship with anything not of God is the definition of sin.

“There is no order in relationships. They either are or not. An unholy relationship is no relationship. It is a state of isolation, which seems to be what it is not. No more than that. The instant that the mad idea of making your relationship with God unholy seemed to be possible, all your relationships were made meaningless. In that unholy instant time was born, and bodies made to house the mad idea and give it the illusion of reality. And so it seemed to have a home that held together for a little while in time, and vanished. For what could house this mad idea against reality but for an instant?” (T-20.VI.8:1-9)

Even the holy relationship is not real. And its romanticization can be used to justify engaging in special relationships as if they were real.

“The holy relationship, a major step toward the perception of the real world, is learned. It is the old, unholy relationship, transformed and seen anew.” (T-17.V.2:1-2)

(Off topic side note: This idea that an unholy relationship can be transformed and seen anew before the real world, lends credence to the idea that the world can be transformed and seen anew before getting to the real world. Would we not be tempted to hang out in such a relationship, in such a world?)

The holy relationship is not unlike the special assignment the Holy Spirit gives to each of us, in that they are both exchanges. He gives us our special part to play in exchange for our delusion of specialness. He gives us the real world in exchange for the unreal world. He gives us the holy relationship in exchange for the unholy relationship. He gives us a relationship with Him in exchange for our fabricated relationship with the ego. All these are still in perceptionland but are as close as we can get to God, once perfected, in this world.

“In this world, God’s Son comes closest to himself in a holy relationship. There he begins to find the certainty his Father has in him. And there he finds his function of restoring his Father’s laws to what was held outside them, and finding what was lost. Only in time can anything be lost, and never lost forever. So do the parts of God’s Son gradually join in time, and with each joining is the end of time brought nearer. Each miracle of joining is a mighty herald of eternity. No one who has a single purpose, unified and sure, can be afraid. No one who shares his purpose with him can not be one with him.” (T-20.V.1:1-8)

We need to be honest with ourselves. Our actions in the world, whether we believe the script is written or not, attest to our beliefs at the level of the mind. This idea that we have only to look at our actions and the happenings around us with the Holy Spirit and forgive, is fine if all we want to do is transform the world by seeing it anew. That is forgiveness without correction which is an empty gesture. It cannot result in the transcendence of the world. That requires forgiveness plus correction. All of our hidden beliefs must be brought to the surface so that we can have them corrected. In a sense, the whole thought system needs to be undone or recognized as unreal.

How do we get to our hidden beliefs? By examining our actions. One area we can look at is relationships. How are we making relationships real? Who is in the relationship and why? Has the relationship been turned over to the Holy Spirit to be used for His purpose? Is the ego up to tricks and deceptions that are effectively hiding beliefs? Are we willing to challenge all of our beliefs about relationships? Are we willing to give up our miscreations? Are we willing to see the truth at the cost of what we believe is our everything?

Our wanting to participate in delusional relationships as if they were real is, only ever and always, our desire to make the selves we have made and our specialness real. Our insistence that the relationships are real is only our insistence that our personality selves are real. If you are open to this possibility, ask the Holy Spirit if it is something He wants you learning. If He does, He will lead the way.