Creation

At first glance it does seem that the author of the Course contradicts himself in teaching, on the one hand, the Son of God was created perfect, yet, on the other hand, he asked for something. If the Son is “perfect” He has everything and lacks nothing. And so, the apparent contradiction can be stated in another way besides our statement above: The Son of God has everything and the Son of God does not have everything. To resolve this paradox, we first need to recall the Course's teaching about creation. The Course's concept of the nature of “perfect creation by the perfectly created in union with the perfect Creator” (8.3,3:3) can be represented as follows: Father - Son - Son - Son - S - S ... We notice that the Father is Prime Creator of all Sons. He is First Cause of all His Effects; Prime Creator of all Creations; First Father of all Sons; First Thinker of all His Thoughts; and First Extender of all His extensions. Thus, the Father is the Creator of everything and everyone that exists in reality. Every Son, in creating his first Son, creates him with the Father, as well as with all the Sons created "before" him. The term "before" as applied to God and His creations is not a time concept. One Son was created "before" the Son he himself created in the sense that this is a logical priority. It simply points to the fact that the creator creates his creation; a creation does not create his creator. The relationship of "created" is not reciprocal or commutative. Once God the Father had created His first Son, He always co-creates. In other words, with the first Son joining Him, the Father creates the second Son. And with the first and second Son, the Father creates the third Son. With the first, second, and third Son He creates the fourth Son, and so on, endlessly, changelessly. “You who are Co-creator with Him extend His Kingdom forever and beyond limit” (7.1,5:4). We see then, that after the creation of the first Son ALL CREATION IS CO-CREATION. This is how God's Kingdom increases. Creation causes it to grow in number. (“Creation is the sum of all God Thoughts in number infinite.”) As more minds share everything they have, the joy of the Kingdom increases. In other words, all creations were created to create. Thus every “Son of God is both Father and Son, because he has both Father and Son” (11.2,1:3). Notice that all Sons are co-creators with the Father. And each Son has an immediatecreator (the Son that is created immediately before him), and an immediate creation (the first creation that he creates with his co-creators). Along with having an immediate creator and an immediate creation, each Son also has mediate creators and mediate creations. Thus, in the Kingdom/Reality any one of your brothers is a Son of God who either created you or whom you created! Every Son, then, is perfect like His Father because He is the extension of the Father’s Thought of what He is (His perfect Self). Every Son shares the same Self. They are one in nature. They are the same kind of thing (mind) with the same attributes (knowledge, power, love …) to an equal degree. And they are united (in one another). They also are one in mind and will. They are not different in any way. The only thing that distinguishes one from the other is the RELATION of creation. In other words, what distinguishes me from you in the Kingdom/Reality is whether you created me or I created you. Nothing else! Among other things, all of which we have already mentioned, this means that every Son of God has everything. He lacks nothing. There is no emptiness in him. Excerpted with slight changes from God, Self, and Evil: A Miracle Theodicy, Chapter 9,Copyright © 2002, 2022 • Robert J. Hellmann