OrEd-T-18.8-I Need Do Nothing
63. I still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. In some way, all the plans I make involve the body's comfort, enjoyment or protection. This interprets the body as an end, not a means, and always means that I still find sin attractive. I prefer sin and pain, so I have not met my one responsibility to accept the Atonement for myself.
64. I have made much progress, and am trying to make more. Only I have never utterly forgotten the body, even for one instant. It has faded at times, but not completely disappeared. Only an instant is needed for the miracle of Atonement to happen. I will see the body again, but never quite the same. Every instant that I spend without awareness of the body gives me a different view of it when I return.
65. The body does not really exist at all. It is always remembered or anticipated, but never experienced now. Its past and future make the body seem real. The body is controlled entirely by time, for now there is no sin. Guilt's attraction is imaginary, and can only be thought of in the past or future. Guilt has no attraction now. In any single instant the attraction of guilt would be avoided, being experienced only as pain, and nothing else.
66. To accept the holy instant without reservation means that I am willing to see no past or future. Preparing for the holy instant places it in the future. Release is given the instant I desire it. The Course is aimed at saving time. Other ways, or methods, can succeed with much effort and time. But they all look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness.
67. Our way will be different in means, but not in purpose. A holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together restores the universe to both of us. We are prepared. We remember we need do nothing. It is far more profitable to concentrate on this than to consider what we should do. Whatever means are used, release comes always with the happy realization: 'I need do nothing.'
68. Here is the ultimate release which everyone will find in his own way, at his own time. Jesus says we do not need this time. Time has been saved for us because we are together. The Course saves us time, by using this special means. We are not making use of the Course if we neglect what was made for us, and use other means instead. Jesus asks that we save time for him by using this one preparation and practice and nothing else. 'I need do nothing' is a statement of allegiance and loyalty. Believing it for one instant will accomplish more than a century of contemplation or struggle against sin and temptation.
69. To do anything involves the body. If I recognize I need do nothing, I have withdrawn the body's value from my mind. Here is the quick and open door through which I slip past centuries of effort, and escape from time. This is the way sin loses all attraction right now. Here time is denied, the past and future gone. Those who need do nothing have no need for time. To do nothing is to rest, and make a place within myself where the body ceases to demand attention. The Holy Spirit comes and abides in this place. He will stay when I forget, and the body's activities return to my conscious mind.
70. I am more aware of this quiet center, where the body is absent, than of all the outer storm's raging activity. There will always be this place of rest where I can return. And from this center I will be directed how to use the body sinlessly. This quiet center, in which I do nothing, will remain with me, giving me rest, even in the midst of busy doings on which I am sent.
