Lesson 341
I can attack but my own sinlessness,
And it is only that which keeps me safe.
Father, Your Son is holy. I am he on whom You smile in love and tenderness so
dear and deep and still the universe smiles back on You, and shares Your
Holiness. How pure, how safe, how holy, then, are we, abiding in Your Smile,
with all Your Love bestowed upon us, living one with You, in brotherhood and
Fatherhood complete; in sinlessness so perfect that the Lord of Sinlessness
conceives us as His Son, a universe of Thought completing Him.
Let us not, then, attack our sinlessness, for it contains the Word of God to us.
And in its kind reflection we are saved.
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Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his books: "Journey
Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles." Book set may be purchased at the
following site: ~ M. Street.
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Lesson 341
"I can attack but my own sinlessness,
And it is only that which keeps me safe."
*Beginning with Lesson 341, the next ten lessons differ from what we have been
accustomed to seeing in Part II. First, the lesson titles increase, beginning
with two lines instead of one, and then shifting to three with Lesson 347.
Second, each lesson begins with a prayer to God, the dominant part of the
lesson. Thus, the number of words Jesus says to us decreases, while he increases
what we say to God in our prayer.
In this first lesson is an extension of Lesson 135, "If I defend myself I am
attacked." If I see myself as vulnerable and needing defense, I must see myself
as separated and sinful. Therefore, when I hold grievances against others, I
attack not only their sinlessness but mine as well, since we are one.*
(1) "Father, Your Son is holy. I am he on whom You smile in love and tenderness
so dear and deep and still the universe smiles back on You, and shares Your
Holiness. How pure, how safe, how holy, then, are we, abiding in Your Smile,
with all Your Love bestowed upon us, living one with You, in brotherhood and
Fatherhood complete; in sinlessness so perfect that the Lord of Sinlessness
conceives us as His Son, a universe of Thought completing Him."
*This is a lovely rendering of the Oneness of the Sonship as Christ, and Its
Oneness with God. God's smile -- a metaphor, of course -- tells us that nothing
happened in the separation, for we are the ones who took the tiny mad idea
seriously, making a world based upon the ego's mistaken correction. The gentle
laughter of the Holy Spirit -- the expression of the Atonement principle --
reflects God's smile that undoes this foolishness, as we see in this important
and familiar passage from the text:
"In gentle laughter does the Holy Spirit perceive the cause, and looks not
to effects. How else could He correct your error, who have overlooked the cause
entirely? He bids you bring each terrible effect to Him that you may look
together on its foolish cause and laugh with Him a while. You judge effects, but
He has judged their cause. And by His judgment are effects removed. Perhaps you
come in tears. But hear Him say, "My brother, holy Son of God, behold your idle
dream, in which this could occur". And you will leave the holy instant with your
laughter and your brother's joined with His." (T-27.VIII.9) *
(2) "Let us not, then, attack our sinlessness, for it contains the Word of God
to us. And in its kind reflection we are saved."
*We attack our sinlessness by attacking our brothers, which is why we attack
them: to keep sin intact in our deluded minds, and therefore maintain the
reality of the separation. Thus Jesus asks us, again, to choose what we want --
sin or sinlessness, imprisonment or freedom, blindness or vision:
"Your question should not be, "How can I see my brother without the body?"
Ask only, "Do I really wish to see him sinless?" And as you ask, forget not that
his sinlessness is your escape from fear. Salvation is the Holy Spirit's goal.
The means is vision. For what the seeing look upon is sinless. No one who loves
can judge, and what he sees is free of condemnation. And what he sees he did not
make, for it was given him to see, as was the vision that made his seeing
possible." (T-20.VII.9) *
