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Lesson 64. Let me not forget my function.

 

Lesson 64. Let me not forget my function.

(1) Today's idea is merely another way of saying "Let me not wander into
temptation." The purpose of the world you see is to obscure your function of
forgiveness, and provide you with a justification for forgetting it. It is the
temptation to abandon God and His Son by taking on a physical appearance. It is
this the body's eyes look upon.

(2) Nothing the body's eyes seem to see can be anything but a form of
temptation, since this was the purpose of the body itself. Yet we have learned
that the Holy Spirit has another use for all the illusions you have made, and
therefore He sees another purpose in them. To the Holy Spirit, the world is a
place where you learn to forgive yourself what you think of as your sins. In
this perception, the physical appearance of temptation becomes the spiritual
recognition of salvation.

(3) To review our last few lessons, your function here is to be the light of the
world, a function given you by God. It is only the arrogance of the ego that
leads you to question this, and only the fear of the ego that induces you to
regard yourself as unworthy of the task assigned to you by God Himself. The
world's salvation awaits your forgiveness, because through it does the Son of
God escape from all illusions, and thus from all temptation. The Son of God is
you.

(4) Only by fulfilling the function given you by God will you be happy. That is
because your function is to be happy by using the means by which happiness
becomes inevitable. There is no other way. Therefore, every time you choose
whether or not to fulfill your function, you are really choosing whether or not
to be happy.

(5) Let us remember this today. Let us remind ourselves of it in the morning and
again at night, and all through the day as well. Prepare yourself in advance for
all the decisions you will make today by remembering they are all really very
simple. Each one will lead to happiness or unhappiness. Can such a simple
decision really be difficult to make? Let not the form of the decision deceive
you. Complexity of form does not imply complexity of content. It is impossible
that any decision on earth can have a content different from just this one
simple choice. That is the only choice the Holy Spirit sees. Therefore it is the
only choice there is.

(6) Today, then, let us practice with these thoughts:

Let me not forget my function.
Let me not try to substitute mine for God's.
Let me forgive and be happy.>

At least once devote ten or fifteen minutes today to reflecting on this with
closed eyes. Related thoughts will come to help you, if you remember the crucial
importance of your function to you and to the world.

(7) In the frequent applications of today's idea throughout the day, devote
several minutes to reviewing these thoughts, and then thinking about them and
about nothing else. This will be difficult, at first particularly, since you are
not proficient in the mind discipline that it requires. You may need to repeat
"Let me not forget my function" quite often to help you concentrate.

(8) Two forms of shorter practice periods are required. At times, do the
exercises with your eyes closed, trying to concentrate on the thoughts you are
using. At other times, keep your eyes open after reviewing the thoughts, and
then look slowly and unselectively around you, telling yourself:

<This is the world it is my function to save.>


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The commentary on this lesson (below) is from Kenneth Wapnick's eight volume
series of books, called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles,"
which can be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lesson 64. "Let me not forget my function."

*Lesson 64 is even more specific about awareness of our function.*

(1:1-2) "Today's idea is merely another way of saying "Let me not wander into
temptation." The purpose of the world you see is to obscure your function of
forgiveness, and provide you with a justification for forgetting it."

*In this explicit statement Jesus tells us again that the purpose of the world
is to obscure our function. The ego made the world to ensure we retain our
individuality and never remember who we truly are, while accepting no
responsibility for the separation from God. That is why the world of specifics
was made: to keep the separation real, but to project responsibility onto others
by seeing the sin in them and not ourselves. Lesson 161 addresses this point
quite specifically, as we shall see later.

Our function of forgiveness is to become aware that our individuality is an
illusion we made up, <in our minds>. The unholy trinity of sin, guilt, and fear
is also an illusion we made up -- <in our minds> -- as a defense against not
choosing our individuality, and that is what we want to have undone. The purpose
of the world is to protect this unholy trinity, which, in turn protects our
individual existence. The world thus was made as a giant smoke screen that would
conceal from us the Holy Spirit's correction. As we have already seen
(W-pII.1.2:3), our unforgiving thoughts, firmly placed in the world, protect the
projection of our mind's guilt so that we never recognize its source and choose
against it. The ego is continually tempting us to see our guilt in another's
<body>, rather than in our <minds>. Near the end of the text Jesus defines
temptation as the wish to see ourselves as a body:

"Be vigilant against temptation, then, remembering that it is but a
wish, insane and meaningless, to make yourself a thing [i.e., a body] that you
are not. And think as well upon the thing that you would be instead. It is a
thing of madness, pain and death; a thing of treachery and black despair, of
failing dreams and no remaining hope except to die, and end the dream of fear.
<This> is temptation; nothing more than this." (T-31.VII.14:1-4).

When we see ourselves as bodies , it is inevitable that we shall see others as
bodies as well, attacking them for the body's origin: the separation thought in
our minds, now judged in another.*

(1:3-4) "It is the temptation to abandon God and His Son by taking on a physical
appearance. It is this the body's eyes look upon."

*We made up the world as one Son, which then fragmented into billions of
fragments. Our personal worlds, then, become rooted in our bodies -- physical as
well as psychological. Moreover, the sensory apparatus, here represented by the
eyes, reports back to the brain that the world (and therefore <not> the mind) is
real. In this way the body ensures the thought system of the ego remains
untouched and unhealed.*

(2:1) "Nothing the body's eyes seem to see can be anything but a form of
temptation, since this was the purpose of the body itself."

*The temptation, to repeat, is to have us believe the ego thought system is
real. This has nothing to do with temptations localized in the body, as
traditional religious systems have defined them. Temptation, rather, represents
a thought that says: "I believe the ego is right and the Holy Spirit is wrong."
He would tell us the body is an illusion, the underlying thought system of
individuality is an illusion, and the dream's only truth is the Atonement
principle that we never left God. The body's purpose, therefore, is nothing less
than to obscure the truth. As Jesus states in the text: "Nothing so blinding as
perception of form" (T-22.III.6:7).

Note that Jesus says in the first sentence: "Nothing the body's eyes <seem> to
see." This is because they do not truly see, "seeing" only what the mind told
them is there: sin -- in everyone else! And even if we do see it in ourselves,
we are convinced it was not our fault because it was not our choice to come into
the world. That is the message our body's eyes, and indeed all our sensory
organs, were made to perceive: sin is all around us, but not within. This
thought is quite important, as is evidenced by its frequent mention throughout A
Course in Miracles.*

(2:2-4) "Yet we have learned that the Holy Spirit has another use for all the
illusions you have made, and therefore He sees another purpose in them. To the
Holy Spirit, the world is a place where you learn to forgive yourself what you
think of as your sins. In this perception, the physical appearance of temptation
becomes the spiritual recognition of salvation."

*This is what, in the text, Jesus refers to as our special function (T-25.VI).
The ego made special relationships to attack, hurt, and keep us separate; the
Holy Spirit uses those same relationships as a means of undoing the ego's
purpose, so they now become the symbols of healing rather than attack.
Consequently, rather than the world being a prison from we will never escape, it
becomes a classroom in which we learn how to escape, realizing what we see
outside us is nothing other than the projection of our mind's decision. By
teaching us that happy fact about our happy function, the Holy Spirit enables
us to return to our minds, understanding at last that we can make another
choice.

It is evident, by the way, that Jesus is not asking us to deny the world or our
bodies. He is simply saying: "Bring your experiences to me so I can teach you to
look at them differently. Let me and not your ego be your guide as you go
through life, for I will help you to undo the barriers that kept you from my
love." These barriers are never anything external, having to do only with which
teacher we choose to instruct us, and with which attitude we pursue our lives.*

(3:1) "To review our last few lessons, your function here is to be the light of
the world, a function given you by God."

*By creating us as an extension of His Love and light, God has ensured we are
that same love and light. Our function is simply to <be> what God created. I
might add that Jesus does not mean that God <specifically> gave us a <specific>
function, a belief that nicely serves the ego's purpose of spiritual
specialness; namely, God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit) wants me to write a book,
teach and/or preach A Course in Miracles, travel (physically or mentally) to a
troubled spot in the world to bring healing, help this specific person with this
specific problem, etc., etc., etc. Our function in this world, rather, is to
learn to forgive. This restores to our awareness our function in Heaven to
create. To be the light of the world thus reflects both functions: forgiveness
undoes the darkness, which prevents the light of our Identity to shine forth
from our minds in blessing the <one> world of the <one> Son.*

(3:2-4) "It is only the arrogance of the ego that leads you to question this,
and only the fear of the ego that induces you to regard yourself as unworthy of
the task assigned to you by God Himself. The world's salvation awaits your
forgiveness, because through it does the Son of God escape from all illusions,
and thus from all temptation. The Son of God is you."

*Throughout A Course in Miracles -- text, workbook, manual for teachers -- when
Jesus talks about our need to forgive the Son of God, or that the Son of God
needs our help, he is not talking about a person outside us. He is talking about
us, in the context of a relationship perceived to be outside us. Once again, it
should be understood that Jesus is not speaking about a specific behavioral
function, but the non-specific function of forgiveness, common to all. Ours is a
unity not only of darkness, but of light; not only hate, but forgiveness.*

(4) "Only by fulfilling the function given you by God will you be happy. That is
because your function is to be happy by using the means by which happiness
becomes inevitable. There is no other way. Therefore, every time you choose
whether or not to fulfill your function, you are really choosing whether or not
to be happy."

*This echoes the line in Chapter 1 of the text: "All real pleasure comes from
doing God's Will" (T-21.VII.1:4). Jesus is not against our having pleasure in
the world, but is simply saying that whatever pleasure we have here does not
hold a candle to the pleasure of joining with him in undoing our thoughts of
separation and specialness. Therein lies our happiness. True happiness and joy
are not found in getting what we want here. Nor does true peace. They come when
we let go of the barriers to them -- thoughts of sin, guilt, fear, attack, pain,
sacrifice, and death. Thus, fulfilling our function -- joining with the Holy
Spirit to look at the ego thought system differently -- is what makes us happy.

Our natural state is happiness, but this, again, has nothing to do with the body
or satisfaction of its physical or psychological needs. In this context,
happiness is identical with remembering Who we are as Christ. Once happiness is
so defined, whenever we are separate from our Identity we will be unhappy. We
will then inevitably seek happiness in the special areas of our lives, and will
never really find it. Whatever happiness we do receive will be a few measly
crumbs that disappear almost as quickly as we enjoy them. However, the happiness
that Jesus describes lasts, because it has to do only with the thought of love
that transcends time and space entirely.

An added point, already implied above: This lesson explains that if forgiveness
is the <means> whereby we attain the <end> of happiness, if we choose not to
forgive, we are really choosing not to be happy. Understanding the causal
connection between the practice of forgiveness and our happiness is what Jesus
hopes will provide the motivation for learning and living this course.*

(5:1-6) "Let us remember this today. Let us remind ourselves of it in the
morning and again at night, and all through the day as well. Prepare yourself in
advance for all the decisions you will make today by remembering they are all
really very simple. Each one will lead to happiness or unhappiness. Can such a
simple decision really be difficult to make? Let not the form of the decision
deceive you."

*In other words, try not to take too seriously the <specific> things in your day
that you think will make you happy or unhappy. It is their <content> that is
important; i.e., will they serve as <means> to achieve the minds <end> of
happiness or unhappiness? The simplicity of this decision echoes what we
mentioned just before about the simplicity of salvation. It is why there is no
order of difficulty in miracles (T-23.II.2:3); and why we believe all of this
course, or none of it (T-22.II.7:4). Indeed, we can say that our entire day
should be dedicated to learning the simplicity of the Holy Spirit's <content>; a
simplicity that belies the complexity of the <forms> of our lives. This theme is
continued in what follows:*

(5:7-10) "Complexity of form does not imply complexity of content. It is
impossible that any decision on earth can have a content different from just
this one simple choice. That is the only choice the Holy Spirit sees. Therefore
it is the only choice there is."

*These lines are extremely important as a way of counteracting the mistake that
most students inevitably fall into, and reminiscent of these previously quoted
statements from the text:

"Complexity is of the ego, and is nothing more than the ego's attempt to
obscure the obvious." (T-15:IV.6:2).

"Complexity is not of God. How could it be, when all He knows is One? He
knows of one creation, one reality, one truth and but one Son. Nothing conflicts
with oneness. How, then, could there be complexity in Him?" (T-26.III.1:1-5).

The issue is thus <not> to ask the Holy Spirit what you should do: Should I go
to place A or B, be with person A or B, eat food A or B; should I do this, that,
or the other thing? He sees only one simple choice -- God or the ego --
encouraging us to ask but one question: Do I believe the Atonement principle is
true, or the separation? Since this is the only choice the Holy Spirit sees, it
should be the only choice for which we ask His help.

On the other hand, because we believe we are <specific> creatures, with
<specific> needs, living in <specific> world, our experience is that the Holy
Spirit gives us <specific> advice about what we should <specifically> do. Later
lessons actually even say that, as we shall see presently. Yet Jesus tells us
this is just our experience. The reality is that the Holy Spirit sees only one
possible choice: truth or illusions: which, of course, is no real choice.

As we go though our day, confronted by the many kinds of decisions we all have
to make -- seemingly important and unimportant -- the only issue we need to
attend is which teacher we will choose. If our choice is the Holy Spirit, we
will automatically know the most loving thing to do in any circumstance.
However, when we fixate on asking the Holy Spirit for specific advice, we are
going to "hear" specific advice. This means we will have forgotten our lesson,
and will thus have to ask His help each and every time we are faced with a
problem, or a plan that needs to be made. As Jesus tells us at the end of the
manual, living like this is not practical, "and it is the practical with which
this course is most concerned." (M-29.5:4-7).

Jesus asks us to be mindful of his presence as often as possible, not only
asking him specifically what to do, but simply <to think of him>. We should do
this especially, when we are tempted to have ego thoughts -- anxiety, concerns,
and, even more to the point, when we think there is a meaningful choice to be
made here. If we have this illusion, we have already chosen on our own, and
<will be wrong>. The world offers no meaningful choice, for meaning can only be
found in our minds -- in the decision between the ego and the Holy Spirit.

Thus are we slowly, gradually, and gently led to be thinking of Jesus as often
as we can throughout the day. This means being vigilant in our thoughts about
how often we are <not> thinking of him, how often we do not <want> to think of
him, and how often we want to do things on our own without asking for help. Our
desire to preserve our specialness impels us to avoid the help that would undo
it, but in our right minds we forgive ourselves for forgetting what we truly
want. This gentle and forgiving reminder of the one choice we need to make is
the current running through this discussion, and why Jesus repeatedly tells us
his course is simple. Incidentally, this simplicity is the theme of "Rules for
Decision," in Chapter 30 in the text (T-30.1).

Jesus now proceeds with specific instructions for the day, designed to encourage
us in our practicing to remember:*

(6) "Today, then, let us practice with these thoughts:

Let me not forget my function.
Let me not try to substitute mine for God's.
Let me forgive and be happy.

At least once devote ten or fifteen minutes today to reflecting on this with
closed eyes. Related thoughts will come to help you, if you remember the crucial
importance of your function to you and to the world."

*This concluding sentence is of course the key. We will remember our function of
forgiveness when we recognize its importance for ourselves, and therefore for
the Sonship.

Next, Jesus lets us know that <he> knows all about our resistance:*

(7) "In the frequent applications of today's idea throughout the day, devote
several minutes to reviewing these thoughts, and then thinking about them and
about nothing else. This will be difficult, at first particularly, since you are
not proficient in the mind discipline that it requires. You may need to repeat
"Let me not forget my function" quite often to help you concentrate."

*Students need to be careful not to <over>estimate their advancement in the
curriculum, being tempted to believe that these lessons are simple-minded, and
beneath their "high" spiritual state. It is far better to err on the side of
<under>estimating one's spiritual status, if one can use such a horrid phrase.
These still-early lessons are helpful in instilling such humility in us, the
companion on the journey that ensures achievement of our goal.

The concluding paragraph and set of instructions returns to the <eyes
closed-eyes open> exercises, reminding us of the lack of true differentiation
between the external world of bodies we perceive and the inner world of our
thoughts.*

(8) "Two forms of shorter practice periods are required. At times, do the
exercises with your eyes closed, trying to concentrate on the thoughts you are
using. At other times, keep your eyes open after reviewing the thoughts, and
then look slowly and unselectively around you, telling yourself:

This is the world it is my function to save."

*Recognizing no difference between exercising with eyes open or closed reflects
our recognition that the world it is our function to save is us in the mind.*


Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson
719-369-1822
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