There is no one who can bring you to your knees faster than your mate can! The soul with whom you are intimate and destined to expose both the shadow and the light of your whole nature offers you profound opportunities to grow. Intuitively your “significant other” seems to hone in on your greatest fears and weaknesses and serve them up effortlessly with a side of guilt or blame.

Then there are those wonderful relationships with those whom you call friends, those people you hope or pray will stick by your side no matter what happens or no matter with whom you decide to pair. What a shock it can be when you realize that they are your friend for specific reasons. In part they call you friend so you can give them what they need or want – and you do the same to them! What insight can come to you, then, when you realize that their sticking by you will only happen if their ideals or values are not compromised?
 

Next, we look to the more casual relationships with the neighbor, acquaintances, clients or customers we face each day, and we see that these relationships offer us insights into how we treat those with whom we have not created deeper bonds and expectations.

A Course in Miracles teaches you that there are three levels of relationship through which you can be forgiven; that is, three levels of relationship commitment and expectation in which you can be healed from your belief of separation.

The three levels of relationships are the casual, the specific learning, and the lifelong. The lifelong level is the rarest, where the teaching-learning balance is perfect and the relationship will last a lifetime, although it is not necessarily gentle or without conflict.

Most of our relationships fall into the category of either the specific learning or the casual, and each offers us particular lessons about who we think we are and the ideas, values, goals and expectations we have for ourselves and others. Because goals, expectations, ideals and values all stem from the belief in separation, fear, guilt and lack, we eventually need to give them up in favor of unity, love, innocence and truth.

A Course in Miracles teaches you that the reclamation of Spirit identification is the goal of every encounter and union you have.