Lesson 339. I will receive whatever I request.
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Lesson 339. I will receive whatever I request.
No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one would avoid
his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and dangerous.
Everyone will receive what he requests. But he can be confused indeed about the
things he wants; the state he would attain. What can he then request that he
would want when he receives it? He has asked for what will frighten him, and
bring him suffering. Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want, and
only this, that we may spend this day in fearlessness, without confusing pain
with joy, or fear with love.
Father, this is Your day. It is a day in which I would do nothing by myself, but
hear Your Voice in everything I do; requesting only what You offer me, accepting
only Thoughts You share with me.
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Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey
Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the
following site:??~ M. Street.
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Lesson 339. "I will receive whatever I request."
*If I feel pain it is because I chose pain, and I chose it because of its value
in keeping God away. The suffering will never cease, therefore, until I change
my mind about its purpose.*
(1:1-4) "No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one
would avoid his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and
dangerous."
*Jesus discusses this idea at the end of the first and second obstacles to peace
(T-19.IV.-A.17:10-12); T-19.IV-B.15). He explains that we really do not
understand the difference between pleasure and pain, and that if we believe the
body can give us one, it can also give us the other. We are confused because we
have taken instruction from a teacher with a vested interest in what we learn --
that we stay in pain but blame someone else for it. This is the ego's insane
method of freeing us from guilt. Thus we need a Teacher Who will help us realize
that anything of the ego is ultimately painful, and that the only real pleasure
is in doing God's Will (T-1.VII.1:4), which in this world entails learning to
forgive.
Therefore, our real joy is giving up of the ego, which means giving up our
individuality and self-importance. To our egos, however, this can only be
perceived as painful. Jesus reminds us that babies will cry when the scissors
they are playing with are taken from them (T-4.II.5:2). To the caring adult, a
baby's enjoyment is courting danger, and so it removes the potential source of
harm. Jesus is the caring adult trying to do the same with us, except he does
not have the same power to effect change that an adult has over a child. Thus he
waits patiently until we change our minds sufficiently to realize that he knows
better than we. He is trying to take away our specialness, not by force, but by
gently reminding us it will not make us happy.*
(1:5-9) "Everyone will receive what he requests. But he can be confused indeed
about the things he wants; the state he would attain. What can he then request
that he would want when he receives it? He has asked for what will frighten him,
and bring him suffering. Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want,
and only this, that we may spend this day in fearlessness, without confusing
pain with joy, or fear with love."
*Once again, we all receive what we want, and we want happiness; but we do not
understand that what we think will make us happy brings us only suffering and
pain. We need a different definition of happiness, which comes when we step with
Jesus outside of the dream -- outside our personal identity, wishes, and
specialness -- and let him teach us what alone will give us what we want: the
perceptual shift of relationships that forgiveness brings about. Of such is the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth, as joy replaces pain, and love takes the place of
fear.*
(2) "Father, this is Your day. It is a day in which I would do nothing by
myself, but hear Your Voice in everything I do; requesting only what You offer
me, accepting only Thoughts You share with me."
*When our day is given to the Holy Spirit, our plan is to do nothing ourselves.
We need only be aware of how quickly we forget our right-minded intention as we
are overwhelmed by the pressures the day brings. It will seem as if these are
the causes of forgetting our Teacher, but constant practice helps us to remember
that it is we who give power to these pressures to push Him away. No one and
nothing can take the Holy Spirit from us except our fear of His Atonement and
Love. At last we choose to hear His Voice and welcome Him to our shared home in
the mind.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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