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Lesson 78. Let miracles replace all grievances.

Lesson 78. Let miracles replace all grievances.

(1) Perhaps it is not yet quite clear to you that each decision that you make is
one between a grievance and a miracle. Each grievance stands like a dark shield
of hate before the miracle it would conceal. And as you raise it up before your
eyes, you will not see the miracle beyond. Yet all the while it waits for you in
light, but you behold your grievances instead.

(2) Today we go beyond the grievances, to look upon the miracle instead. We will
reverse the way you see by not allowing sight to stop before it sees. We will
not wait before the shield of hate, but lay it down and gently lift our eyes in
silence to behold the Son of God.

(3) He waits for you behind your grievances, and as you lay them down he will
appear in shining light where each one stood before. For every grievance is a
block to sight, and as it lifts you see the Son of God where he has always been.
He stands in light, but you were in the dark. Each grievance made the darkness
deeper, and you could not see.

(4) Today we will attempt to see God's Son. We will not let ourselves be blind
to him; we will not look upon our grievances. So is the seeing of the world
reversed, as we look out toward truth, away from fear. We will select one person
you have used as target for your grievances, and lay the grievances aside and
look at him. Someone, perhaps, you fear and even hate; someone you think you
love who angered you; someone you call a friend, but whom you see as difficult
at times or hard to please, demanding, irritating or untrue to the ideal he
should accept as his, according to the role you set for him.

(5) You know the one to choose; his name has crossed your mind already. He will
be the one of whom we ask God's Son be shown to you. Through seeing him behind
the grievances that you have held against him, you will learn that what lay
hidden while you saw him not is there in everyone, and can be seen. He who was
enemy is more than friend when he is freed to take the holy role the Holy Spirit
has assigned to him. Let him be savior unto you today. Such is his role in God
your Father's plan.

(6) Our longer practice periods today will see him in this role. You will
attempt to hold him in your mind, first as you now consider him. You will review
his faults, the difficulties you have had with him, the pain he caused you, his
neglect, and all the little and the larger hurts he gave. You will regard his
body with its flaws and better points as well, and you will think of his
mistakes and even of his "sins."

(7) Then let us ask of Him Who knows this Son of God in his reality and truth,
that we may look on him a different way, and see our savior shining in the light
of true forgiveness, given unto us. We ask Him in the holy Name of God and of
His Son, as holy as Himself:

Let me behold my savior in this one You have appointed as the one for me to

ask to lead me to the holy light in which he stands, that I may join with him.<

The body's eyes are closed, and as you think of him who grieved you, let your
mind be shown the light in him beyond your grievances.

(8) What you have asked for cannot be denied. Your savior has been waiting long
for this. He would be free, and make his freedom yours. The Holy Spirit leans
from him to you, seeing no separation in God's Son. And what you see through Him
will free you both. Be very quiet now, and look upon your shining savior. No
dark grievances obscure the sight of him. You have allowed the Holy Spirit to
express through him the role God gave Him that you might be saved.

(9) God thanks you for these quiet times today in which you laid your images
aside, and looked upon the miracle of love the Holy Spirit showed you in their
place. The world and Heaven join in thanking you, for not one Thought of God but
must rejoice as you are saved, and all the world with you.

(10) We will remember this throughout the day, and take the role assigned to us
as part of God's salvation plan, and not our own. Temptation falls away when we
allow each one we meet to save us, and refuse to hide his light behind our
grievances. To everyone you meet, and to the ones you think of or remember from
the past, allow the role of savior to be given, that you may share it with him.
For you both, and all the sightless ones as well, we pray:

Let miracles replace all grievances.<

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

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 78. Let miracles replace all grievances.

*In this lesson we can see much more specifically that grievances are the
problem and miracles the solution. I might mention that this is the first lesson
that is in blank verse. This has no bearing on the meaning of the lesson of
course, but for those who appreciate Shakespeare, whose primary verse was iambic
pentameter, this is a bonus. Prior to this lesson there were occasional passages
that slipped in and out of blank verse, but this is the first time a lesson is
written entirely in meter. Jesus then shifts back to prose until later. If as
you go through this lesson you find yourself reading in rhythmic cadences, your
are responding to the iambic pentameter, even without being aware of it.*

(1:1) "Perhaps it is not yet quite clear to you that each decision that you make
is one between a grievance and a miracle."

*We think the decisions we make are between A and B, choices that are always
seen as external. Do I see this person or that one? Do I eat this food or
something else? Do I go here or there? Jesus is telling us these choices are but
forms that conceal the underlying and only choice: Do I choose the ego or the
Holy Spirit, attack of forgiveness, grievances or miracles?*

(1:2) "Each grievance stands like a dark shield of hate before the miracle it
would conceal."

*Note the purposive nature of grievances. We have seen that purpose is
everything in A Course in Miracles, and Jesus states that the only question we
should ask of anything is: "What is it for?" (T.17.VI.2.2) The purpose we give
to a circumstance is all the meaning it has. Directly implied here is that the
grievance is a defense, "a dark shield of hate" that prevents us from choosing
the miracle "it would conceal." We are therefore never angry or judgmental for
the reasons we think. We believe our anger is caused by something outside us:
what someone does or says, or a situation we do like. However, this statement
lets us know that the real purpose -- the attack thought's underlying content --
is our desire to hide the miracle from our vision.*

(1:3) "And as you raise it up before your eyes, you will not see the miracle
beyond."

*Why do we not want to see the miracle? If we did, we would be seeing within our
minds, realizing the reason we are upset is that we made the wrong choice. In
other words, we are the dreamers of our dreams, and therefore the only ones who
have the power to change them -- the last thing in the world the ego wants us to
discover. What preserves the belief in the reality of the ego is the fact that
we do not remember we made it up. The ego has no existence in itself, which
means the world that arose from it has no existence either. Their seeming
reality rests in the power of the Son's mind to believe in it.

The ego's problem, to recap our earlier discussions, is not the Love of God, of
which it knows nothing. Its problem is the decision maker, the power of the
Son's mind to choose the ego. This means that at any given moment -- the holy
instant -- the Son can withdraw that power and choose the Holy Spirit's miracle
instead. The ego would then disappear, as would our individual existence. That,
then, is the ego's fear: redemption, not crucifixion (T-13.III.1:10-11). To
ensure this does not happen, the ego makes up an elaborate thought system of
sin, guilt, and fear, and projects this into a specific world in which we can
justifiably hold grievances. These defend against the minds guilt, which in turn
defends against the love in our minds. Thus the ego's "shield of hate" prevents
us from seeing the miracle, thereby preventing our ever choosing it.*

(1:4) "Yet all the while it waits for you in light, but you behold your
grievances instead."

*The miracle of correction waits, which ultimately means the One Who <is> the
correction. Consequently, if you want to keep the Holy Spirit's Love away from
you, you need only pick a fight with someone. Jesus says the same thing in the
manual in the context of the peace of God:

"God's peace can never come where anger is, for anger must deny that peace
exists. Who sees anger as justified in any way or any circumstance proclaims
that peace is meaningless, and must believe that it cannot exist." (M-20.3:3-4).

Anger is like a solid shield or wall, behind which is the Love of God. If you
fear this Love, knowing that in its presence your specialness disappears, you
keep it by fighting with someone -- physically, verbally, or in your thoughts.
The form anger takes does not matter, since the dynamic is the same: the
darkness of our grievances conceals the miracle's light.*

(2:1-2) "Today we go beyond the grievances, to look upon the miracle instead. We
will reverse the way you see by not allowing sight to stop before it sees."

*Implied here is that our eyes are not the instruments of seeing. True seeing,
or vision, occurs in our minds, as we have seen many times already. It occurs
only when we choose Jesus as the source of our vision. When we exclude him we
become blind. We "see" separation and sin within; and therefore we think we see
a separated and sinful world without. But none of this is seeing. Recall our
earlier quoted line -- "Nothing so blinding as perception of form" -- now seen
in its fuller context:

"Everything the body's eyes can see is a mistake, an error in perception, a
distorted fragment of the whole without the meaning that the whole would
give.... The body's eyes see only form. They cannot see beyond what they were
made to see. And they were made to look on error and not see past it. Theirs is
indeed a strange perception, for they can see only illusions, unable to look
beyond the granite block of sin, and stopping at the outside form of nothing. To
this distorted form of vision the outside of everything, the wall that stands
between you and the truth, is wholly true. Yet how can sight that stops at
nothingness, as if it were a solid wall, see truly? It is held back by form,
having been made to guarantee that nothing else but form will be perceived."

"These eyes, made not to see, will never see. For the idea they represent
left not its maker, and it is their maker that sees through them. What was its
maker's goal but not to see? For this the body's eyes are perfect means, but not
for seeing. See how the body's eyes rest on externals and cannot go beyond.
Watch how they stop at nothingness, unable to go beyond the form to meaning.
Nothing so blinding as perception of form. For sight of form means understanding
has been obscured." (T-22.III.4:3;5:3-6:8).

That is why Jesus teaches us never to trust our perceptions. They are based on
form, the shadowy fragment of the ego's thought system of separation and guilt.*

(2:3) "We will not wait before the shield of hate, but lay it down and gently
lift our eyes in silence to behold the Son of God."

*In the early years of studying A Course in Miracles, we inevitably think the
Son of God we behold is someone external to us. It is only later, as we work
with the Course over a period of time, that we come to realize that the Son of
God has nothing to do with what our physical eyes see, for we experience him in
the mind, the image of which we project onto others. The Son we have made real
within is thus what we perceive outside: <projection makes perception>. To be
sure, the context of these lessons is the shift in our perception of our special
love or hate partners. In truth, however, we are only changing our minds about
the Son of God <in our minds>. Before we can shift the inner perception of the
Son from guilty to sinless, we need first recognize that the Son is ourselves
and not another. Only then do we happily lay down our shield of hate.*

(3:1-2) "He waits for you behind your grievances, and as you lay them down he
will appear in shining light where each one stood before. For every grievance is
a block to sight, and as it lifts you see the Son of God where he has always
been."

*The Son has always been within his Father, Whom he never left. Therefore he has
always been within the mind, which contains the memory of his Source. The
principle of the Atonement reminds us that the darkness of our hate has no power
over the light; the ego's grievances cannot withstand the face of Christ shining
in forgiveness beyond the block to sight.*

(3:3) "He stands in light, but you were in the dark."

*The Son of God is the Christ Who remains in our right minds through the Holy
Spirit, even though we shrouded him in veils of separation, guilt, and hate.
These are veils that we, in our deluded minds, had chosen to replace the light
in our awareness.*

(3:4--4:1) "Each grievance made the darkness deeper, and you could not see."
"Today we will attempt to see God's Son.

*We come now to another exercise in forgiveness, which helps us see the light
that is just beyond the ego's darkness of hate and judgment. Keep in mind,
again, that the context is seeing God's Son in our brother, against whom we
believe we hold grievances. However, since what we perceive outside mirrors what
we perceive inside, the light of Christ I see in you is nothing more or less
than the Son of God I have made real in my mind. My learning to see God's Son in
you, my brother in specialness, reflects my seeing the same Son in me.*

(4:2-5) "We will not let ourselves be blind to him; we will not look upon our
grievances. So is the seeing of the world reversed, as we look out toward truth,
away from fear. We will select one person you have used as target for your
grievances, and lay the grievances aside and look at him. Someone, perhaps, you
fear and even hate; someone you think you love who angered you; someone you call
a friend, but whom you see as difficult at times or hard to please, demanding,
irritating or untrue to the ideal he should accept as his, according to the role
you set for him."

*In "Dream Roles" near the end of the text, Jesus explains that we get angry at
others because they do not fulfill the role we have given them in our dream
(T-29.IV.4:1). This kind of exercise, repeated in different ways throughout the
workbook is something we should practice all the time, not just when we are
working with a particular lesson. It should be applied whenever we are tempted
to get upset with anyone. Sometimes it is the same person, -- we all have our
favorite targets -- but it could be someone, as Jesus describes here, whom we
think of as a friend or loved one. When people behave in a way that pushes our
buttons, we can see this as an opportunity to realize that the relationship is
only a screen onto which we projected our guilt over having pushed the love of
Jesus away. If we allowed ourselves to experience his love, we could never be
angry or upset with anyone. It would be impossible because of the mind's
principle of <one or the other>: hate of forgiveness; fear or love.

When we find ourselves upset, it is always because: 1) we decided Jesus' love
was too threatening to our specialness, and separated from it; 2) we next
repress the guilt over this perceived sin, committed still again; and 3) sought
and found others onto whom we could project our guilt, magically believing we
had become free of it. We then forget this three-step process, aware only of its
end product -- hurt, anger, and disappointment. At this point we should remind
ourselves of the exercise, returning to our minds to ask Jesus for help, saying,
as a variation of T-5,VII.6:7: "I must be looking at these people wrongly,
because I am blaming my loss of peace on them." We thus use the circumstance as
an opportunity to realize that what we are perceiving outside directly reflects
the sin and guilt we first perceived inside. Instead of seeing it in ourselves
and accepting it there, we had chosen to see it in other people.

It is only in asking Jesus for help -- i.e., joining with him -- that we undo
the cause of our upset, which lies in our guilt over pushing him away. That is
why going to him or the Holy Spirit is a major theme of A Course in Miracles.
Asking Their help is precisely what undoes the root cause of our distress,
regardless of its form. In an important passage at the end of the manual for
teachers, Jesus tells us that asking the Holy Spirit for guidance is the way out
of guilt:

"There is another advantage, -and a very important one,- in referring
decisions to the Holy Spirit with increasing frequency. Perhaps you have not
thought of this aspect, but its centrality is obvious. To follow the Holy
Spirit's guidance is to let yourself be absolved of guilt. It is the essence of
the Atonement. It is the core of the curriculum. The imagined usurping of
functions not your own is the basis of fear. The whole world you see reflects
the illusion that you have done so, making fear inevitable. To return the
function to the One to Whom it belongs is thus the escape from fear. And it is
this that lets the memory of love return to you. Do not, then, think that
following the Holy Spirit's guidance is necessary merely because of your own
inadequacies. It is the way out of hell for you." (T-29.3).

This view of seeking the Holy Spirit's help shifts the focus from the <form> of
what we think we are asking for to the <content> of undoing the ego's arrogance
in thinking it is better off on its own.

The process of healing thus begins with the experience of anger or
disappointment with another, our having repressed the mind's decisions for sin,
guilt, and projection. Our commitment to learning and practicing this course can
be seen in how quickly we are able to ask the Holy Spirit's help to shift how we
see someone outside, as a way of reflecting the shift in how we wish to see
ourselves.*

(5:1-3) "You know the one to choose; his name has crossed your mind already. He
will be the one of whom we ask God's Son be shown to you. Through seeing him
behind the grievances that you have held against him, you will learn that what
lay hidden while you saw him not is there in everyone, and can be seen."

*We find here an intimation of the theme of generalization, which is central to
the next two lesson. If I could accept that I made up my grievances against you
-- and no one has trouble finding someone to use for the exercise -- I will at
some point generalize the lesson and realize I have made up my grievances
against everyone. The darkness I saw in you I saw in all people, because it is
in me. However, the light I now see in you is also in all people, because that,
too, is in me. We have practiced with specifics but only so we can learn to
generalize and recognize there is only one problem and one solution. As Jesus
says later in the workbook:

"The mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer grasp
abstraction in the sense that it is all-encompassing. We need to see a little,
that we learn a lot." (W.PI.161.4.7).*

(5:4-6) "He who was enemy is more than friend when he is freed to take the holy
role the Holy Spirit has assigned to him. Let him be savior unto you today.
Such is his role in God your Father's plan."

*Our brother is our savior -- "more than friend" -- not because he possesses
magical attributes, but because we realize that what we are seeing in him is a
projection of what is in our ourselves. This enables us to be saved from our
guilt and the disastrous effects of our wrong choices. Had it not been for this
special relationship, we would have had no opportunity for salvation. This,
then, is the essence of "God's" plan of Atonement: The world, which was made as
an attack on God and substitute for His Love, becomes a classroom in which we
learn to remember Him. There is nothing redeeming in the world itself, but our
redemption comes from giving it a different purpose.*

(6) "Our longer practice periods today will see him in this role. You will
attempt to hold him in your mind, first as you now consider him. You will review
his faults, the difficulties you have had with him, the pain he caused you, his
neglect, and all the little and the larger hurts he gave. You will regard his
body with its flaws and better points as well, and you will think of his
mistakes and even of his "sins."

*Jesus is asking us to be honest with ourselves (and with him) about our
grievances: to hold no perception back from awareness. If we do, we are choosing
to retain some "spots of darkness" (T-31.VIII.12.5) in ourselves that we never
wish to relinquish to the healing light of forgiveness. It is these "spots" we
have projected onto another -- our savior -- that become the means of healing
ourselves.*

(7:1) "Then let us ask of Him Who knows this Son of God in his reality and
truth, that we may look on him a different way, and see our savior shining in
the light of true forgiveness, given unto us."

*Again, we need ask for help to change the wrong choice in our minds, not the
external situation; we change our minds, not someone else. As Jesus says in a
parallel passage from the text:

"Dream softly of your sinless brother, who unites with you in holy
innocence. And from this dream the Lord of Heaven will Himself awaken His
beloved Son. Dream of your brother's kindnesses instead of dwelling in your
dreams on his mistakes. Select his thoughtfulness to dream about instead of
counting up the hurts he gave. Forgive him his illusions, and give thanks to him
for all the helpfulness he gave. And do not brush aside his many gifts because
he is not perfect in your dreams." (T.27.VII.15.1-6).*

(7:2-3) "We ask Him in the holy Name of God and of His Son, as holy as Himself:
"Let me behold my savior in this one You have appointed as the one for me to ask
to lead me to the holy light in which he stands, that I may join with him."

*We ask for help "that I may join with him." Strictly speaking, of course, we do
not join with someone else, because we are already joined. However, the
experience of joining with someone undoes the attack thought that kept us
separated. It is really a prayer to ourselves -- the decision-making part of our
minds -- that we begin the process of recognizing that God's Son is one. If I
attack you, my special love or hate partner, I am saying the Son is separated,
split in two: <me> and <you>, and the rest of Sonship contained in you. The
above prayer for the experience of oneness is thus the correction for such
insane thinking.*

(7:4) "The body's eyes are closed, and as you think of him who grieved you, let
your mind be shown the light in him beyond your grievances."

*Jesus is certainly not talking about an external perceptual shift, but a
miraculous shift in the Course's sense of that term: the mind's shift from
grievances to miracles.*

(8:1-3) "What you have asked for cannot be denied. Your savior has been waiting
long for this. He would be free, and make his freedom yours."

*This can be understood on two levels. We each need each other's forgiveness
because we can help each other understand we made the wrong choice and now can
make the correct one. When you identify with your guilt and I attack you, I
reinforce it by saying, in effect, your decision for the ego was right. However,
when I am in my right mind and do not attack, regardless of how you may perceive
me, I send a different message, communicating to you that same choice I made you
can make:"Your mind contains two alternatives. The one you have chosen -- the
one I have chosen as well -- was a mistake. As I have corrected my mind I
represent for you the same choice." Recall the passage from the manual for
teachers we have seen before, in which we say to each other:

"Behold, you Son of God, what life can offer you. Would you choose sickness
[or guilt] in place of this?" (M-5.III.2:11-12).

Ultimately, of course, the savior who "has been waiting long for this" is
ourselves. We understand metaphysically that there is no one out there, and so
the person we perceive is a split-off part of ourselves -- the guilty self that
needs forgiveness. Our misperception of this person thus becomes the means
whereby we correct the original misperception of ourselves.*

(8:3-5) "He would be free, and make his freedom yours. The Holy Spirit leans
from him to you, seeing no separation in God's Son. And what you see through Him
will free you both."

*At this stage of one's work with A Course in Miracles, one would most likely
not be aware that these lines are meant literally. It is not the Holy Spirit
sees me and you as separate, both beloved Sons of God. He does not see us as
separate at all, because we are not. As our experience of the Course deepens
over time, our understanding of lines like these will deepen, too. We will come
to realize that this literally means we are not separate selves, but split-off
parts of a larger self that is one, as our true Self is One.*

(8:6-8) "Be very quiet now, and look upon your shining savior. No dark
grievances obscure the sight of him. You have allowed the Holy Spirit to express
through him the role God gave Him that you might be saved."

*Our quietness is the result of having silenced the ego's shrieking voice of
specialness, allowing us to hear the gentle sound of the Holy Spirit's
Atonement. His vision of the inherent sinlessness of God's Son is allowed to
replace the darkened sight of grievances and hate. This vision embraces the
Sonship as one -- my brother and myself -- as I come to recognize my savior in
the very person I had chosen to exclude from love: the savior who is my self.*

(9) "God thanks you for these quiet times today in which you laid your images
aside, and looked upon the miracle of love the Holy Spirit showed you in their
place. The world and Heaven join in thanking you, for not one Thought of God but
must rejoice as you are saved, and all the world with you."

*The gratitude is our own, for finally having made the right choice: oneness
instead of separation; miracles instead of grievances; God instead of the ego.
In that choice is all the Sonship healed as it remembers the unity it had never
destroyed, its voice joined at last with the song of gratitude -- the prayer of
love -- Jesus describes in the beautiful opening to The Song of Prayer:

"Prayer is the greatest gift with which God blessed His Son at his creation.
It was then what it is to become; the single voice Creator and creation share;
the song the Son sings to the Father, Who returns the thanks it offers Him unto
the Son. Endless the harmony, and endless, too, the joyous concord of the Love
They give forever to Each Other. And in this, creation is extended. God gives
thanks to His extension in His Son. His Son gives thanks for his creation, in
the song of his creating in his Father's Name. The Love They share is what all
prayer will be throughout eternity, when time is done. For such it was before
time seemed to be." (S-1.in.1.)*

(10) "We will remember this throughout the day, and take the role assigned to us
as part of God's salvation plan, and not our own. Temptation falls away when we
allow each one we meet to save us, and refuse to hide his light behind our
grievances. To everyone you meet, and to the ones you think of or remember from
the past, allow the role of savior to be given, that you may share it with him.
For you both, and all the sightless ones as well, we pray:
"Let miracles replace all grievances."

*This, again, is an expression of the oneness of God's Son. As long as we
believe he is many -- separate bodies involved with other bodies -- we need to
practice with each one, applying "God's salvation plan": the forgiveness of our
special relationships. Each person then becomes our individual savior, for each
offers the opportunity of being saved from the mistaken choice of making the
separation real. At some point we realize that each person is every person, and,
finally, that <there is no person out there at all> -- only the one Son of God
contained in our minds. Since minds are joined, God's Son is in all people as
well. This vision of the light of miracles replacing the darkened veil of
grievances is given lovely expression in "The Savior's Vision":

"Behold your role within the universe! To every part of true creation has
the Lord of Love and Life entrusted all salvation from the misery of hell. And
to each one has He allowed the grace to be a savior to the holy ones especially
entrusted to his care. And this he learns when first he looks upon one brother
as he looks upon himself, and sees the mirror of himself in him. Thus is the
concept of himself laid by, for nothing stands between his sight and what he
looks upon, to judge what he beholds. And in this single vision does he see the
face of Christ, and understands he looks on everyone as he beholds this one. For
there is light where darkness was before, and now the veil is lifted from his
sight." (T-31.VII.8).

We move now to Lessons 79 and 80, which present the familiar theme of salvation,
but expressed differently. Our symphony based on the theme of forgiveness thus
continue, with its almost endless series of variations.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 77. I am entitled to miracles.

#93076

Lesson 77. I am entitled to miracles.

(1) You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. You will receive
miracles because of what God is. And you will offer miracles because you are one
with God. Again, how simple is salvation! It is merely a statement of your true
Identity. It is this that we will celebrate today.

(2) Your claim to miracles does not lie in your illusions about yourself. It
does not depend on any magical powers you have ascribed to yourself, nor on any
of the rituals you have devised. It is inherent in the truth of what you are. It
is implicit in what God your Father is. It was ensured in your creation, and
guaranteed by the laws of God.

(3) Today we will claim the miracles which are your right, since they belong to
you. You have been promised full release from the world you made. You have been
assured that the Kingdom of God is within you, and can never be lost. We ask no
more than what belongs to us in truth. Today, however, we will also make sure
that we will not content ourselves with less.

(4) Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself quite confidently that
you are entitled to miracles. Closing your eyes, remind yourself that you are
asking only for what is rightfully yours. Remind yourself also that miracles are
never taken from one and given to another, and that in asking for your rights,
you are upholding the rights of everyone. Miracles do not obey the laws of this
world. They merely follow from the laws of God.

(5) After this brief introductory phase, wait quietly for the assurance that
your request is granted. You have asked for the salvation of the world, and for
your own. You have requested that you be given the means by which this is
accomplished. You cannot fail to be assured in this. You are but asking that the
Will of God be done.

(6) In doing this, you do not really ask for anything. You state a fact that
cannot be denied. The Holy Spirit cannot but assure you that your request is
granted. The fact that you accepted must be so. There is no room for doubt and
uncertainty today. We are asking a real question at last. The answer is a simple
statement of a simple fact. You will receive the assurance that you seek.

(7) Our shorter practice periods will be frequent, and will also be devoted to a
reminder of a simple fact. Tell yourself often today:

I am entitled to miracles.<

Ask for them whenever a situation arises in which they are called for. You will
recognize these situations. And since you are not relying on yourself to find
the miracle, you are fully entitled to receive it whenever you ask.

(8) Remember, too, not to be satisfied with less than the perfect answer. Be
quick to tell yourself, should you be tempted:

I will not trade miracles for grievances.

I want only what belongs to me.
God has established miracles as my right.<

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

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 77. "I am entitled to miracles."

*This is the first mention of miracles in the workbook. There is an indirect
reference earlier in the lessons, but discussion of this central theme occurs
here for the first time. Since it is so easily misunderstood, I shall talk
briefly about the miracle before moving into the lesson itself.

In A Course in Miracles, Jesus is fond of using terms that seem to suggest one
thing, and providing them with an entirely different meaning. The term
<miracles>, which gives its name to the Course, is a prime example. Almost
everyone associates the word with something external. Whether or not one
believes in the Bible, everyone in our Western world has been influenced by the
accounts of various miracles described in the Old and the New Testaments. An
examination shows that they involve some change in the body or the world,
whether it is the parting of the Red Sea, healing of illness, or raising the
dead. In the Course, miracles are understood differently, having nothing to do
with the external, but only with a change of mind. Lessons 77 and 78 indicate
that the best way of thinking about a miracle is as a correction for our faulty
perceptions and, above all, as the means for undoing our distress and pain. In
Lesson 193 Jesus explains that all distress comes from a lack of forgiveness:
"Certain it is that all distress does not appear to be but unforgiveness"
(W.PI.193.4.1); and in our next lesson he discusses miracles as the answer to
our grievances.

As we go through these lessons, therefore, think of the miracle as a change of
mind or, even more specifically, a change of teachers: from the ego to the Holy
Spirit. That change corrects all misperceptions and misthoughts, the source of
our suffering. Therefore, when Jesus says at the beginning of this lesson "I am
entitled to miracles," he, again, is not referring to something external, nor
God's grace descending upon us from on high, blessing us, our families, or
anyone else. We are entitled to the end of our pain simply because we are God's
Son, who cannot be in pain. He may dream he suffers, dream he separated from God
but the truth is that he remains as God created him. The miracle is Jesus name
for the dynamic that allows us to understand that everything we have made -- our
personal and collective worlds -- is a dream. We are the dreamers of this dream,
and therefore we are the ones who can change our minds about it, as we see in
this passage from the text:

"Nothing at all has happened but that you have put yourself to sleep, and
dreamed a dream in which you were an alien to yourself, and but a part of
someone else's dream. ... The miracle does not awaken you, but merely shows you
who the dreamer is. It teaches you there is a choice of dreams while you are
still asleep, depending on the purpose of your dreaming. Do you wish for dreams
of healing, or for dreams of death?" (T.28.II.4.1-4).

We turn now to the lesson, which takes us another step towards accepting the
dreams of healing, the precursor to our awakening from the sleep of separation:*

(1:1-2) "You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. You will receive
miracles because of what God is."

*The source of the miracle is the presence of Jesus or the Holy Spirit in our
minds. This presence reminds us of who we are as God's one Son. In "Principles
of Miracles," Jesus explains that their Source is beyond our evaluation
(T-1.1.2:2), meaning God is beyond understanding. Jesus or the Holy Spirit
reflect God's truth -- the Atonement principle -- which is that the separation
from God never happened. Thus, we will receive miracles because we have
<already> received them. The correction is fully present in our minds, awaiting
our acceptance.*

(1:3) "And you will offer miracles because you are one with God."

*When we choose the miracle -- the choice to return to our minds and change the
decision from the ego to the Holy Spirit -- we have undone the belief in
separation. In that holy instant there is no separation. In that holy instant
there is no separated Son of God, only the <one> Son. Thus does the miracle we
have accepted naturally extend through us to the whole Sonship, because our
healed mind <is> the whole Sonship. In the instant we have chosen Jesus -- the
great symbol of the one Son -- as our teacher and identified with his love, we
become like him. Helen's "A Jesus Prayer," expresses the fervent wish that this
be so, in our first of several references to this inspired and inspiring poem:

A perfect picture of what I can be
You show to me, that I might help renew
Your brothers' failing sight. As they look up
Let them not look on me, but only on You." (The Gifts of God, p.83.)

Moreover, Jesus tells us in the text that when we take his hand we reach beyond
the ego because he is beyond the ego:

"I go before you because I am beyond the ego. Reach, therefore, for my hand
because you want to transcend the ego." (T.8.V.6.7-8)

In the holy instant we have transcended thoughts of separation, and offer
miracles in the sense that we are one with God when we have chosen His Teacher.
As one with our Creator, we must then be one with His creation; a unity that
embraces its seemingly separated fragments.

The words of the lesson seems to suggest that a miracle is something we do. In
fact, many statements early in the text seem to suggest that as well. As we have
discussed previously, however, the language of A Course in Miracles allows Jesus
to speak to us on a level that we can understand, which involves experiencing
ourselves and others as bodies. Although the language in many places suggests
that miracles involve behavior, in truth they are but correction thoughts we
choose and therefore accept. Again, once accepted, the miracle naturally extends
through our joined minds. We, as separated individuals -- body and ego -- do not
do anything. We do not offer miracles on a bodily level, nor do we receive them
there. The miracle is simply a process of decision in our minds that allows
extension to occur.*

(1:4) "Again, how simple is salvation!"

*This is a recurring theme throughout A Course in Miracles. Salvation is simple
because it says, for example: "what is false is false, and what is true has
never changed." (W.PII.Q10.1.1) What is false is the ego system, regardless of
the many forms in which it comes; and what has never changed is the truth of
God. As Jesus repeatedly reminds us: What could be more simple? *

(1:5-6) "It is merely a statement of your true Identity. It is this that we will
celebrate today."

*Choosing the miracle corrects the misperceptions we are an ego, we have a split
mind, and we are not as God created us. When we realize what we are <not>, the
memory of who we are -- Christ, the Identity of God's Son -- will dawn on our
minds.*

(2:1) "Your claim to miracles does not lie in your illusions about yourself."

*The primary illusion about ourselves is that we are bodies. We are therefore
not entitled to miracles on the bodily level to better our dream or those of our
loved ones. Our true claim is to a change in mind or, again more and more to the
point, a change in teachers. Thus we are taught by our new teacher that we are
not travesties of our Self: bodies instead of spirit. Recall Jesus' statement to
Helen in "The Gifts of God": "For I am not a dream that comes in mockery" (The
Gifts of God, p.121). In other words, Jesus is not a body, the hero of the dream
that would mock our creation as spirit. Likewise, neither are we. Thus we claim
the miracle of correction that reminds us of the truth about ourselves.*

(2:2) "It does not depend on any magical powers you have ascribed to yourself,
nor on any of the rituals you have devised."

*From the perspective of A Course in Miracles, the miracles that are described
in the Bible are forms of magic. They are what one miraculous body does on
behalf of other bodies. The Biblical God, too, is very much involved in the
physical world, and He is portrayed as the source of the miracles, often working
through His chosen agents -- the prophets or Jesus himself. All these are forms
of magic because they have nothing to do with a change of mind. The problem
requiring the miracle's intervention is external to the mind. In fact, there is
nothing in the Bible about a mind -- even though the word is used occasionally
-- in the sense in which it is defined in the Course. The problem is thus
perceived to be external, and the miracle correspondingly acts to remedy the
problem.

In A Course in Miracles this is all different. The source of the problem is
shifted from the body to the mind that conceived of the problem. This is
ultimately some aspect of guilt, which can be solved only by the miracle.*

(2:3-5) "It is inherent in the truth of what you are. It is implicit in what God
your Father is. It was ensured in your creation, and guaranteed by the laws of
God."

*The truth of what we are is Christ, and His memory is in our right minds
through the presence of the Holy Spirit. That is where the miracle is found
waiting to be chosen. The "It" throughout this paragraph refers to our claim to
miracles. We are entitled to them because of who we are as God's Son, which
means we are entitled to the correction already present in us.*

(3) "Today we will claim the miracles which are your right, since they belong to
you. You have been promised full release from the world you made. You have been
assured that the Kingdom of God is within you, and can never be lost. We ask no
more than what belongs to us in truth. Today, however, we will also make sure
that we will not content ourselves with less."

*Again, miracles belong to us because they are within our minds, and cannot be
found in anything outside them. The promise of the "full release from the world
that you made," and the assurance "that the Kingdom of God is within you, and
can never be lost," is the purpose of the Atonement principle -- the separation
from God never happened. It is the truth of the Holy Spirit that releases us
from the world, because the world came from the belief that we did in fact
separate, a belief that initiated the development of the thought system of
individuality -- sin, guilt, and fear -- culminating in the projection that made
the world. Therefore, if there is no individuality, because the separation from
God never happened, we are automatically released from the world. This is the
truth to which we are entitled because we <are> the truth: an extension of God's
loving Will.

We see here a recurring theme in A Course in Miracles: By choosing the ego
instead of the Holy Spirit, littleness instead of magnitude (T-15.III), we
settle for a parody of our creation instead of the glorious truth of who we are.
In other words, we settle for the crumbs instead of the banquet, the parts of
the song itself. Thus we are told in the opening pages of The Song of Prayer:

"The real sound is always a song of thanksgiving and of Love."
"You cannot, then, ask for the echo. It is the song that is the gift. Along
with it come the overtones, the harmonics, the echoes, but these are secondary.
In true prayer you hear only the song. All the rest is merely added. You have
sought first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all else has indeed been given you."
(S-1.1.2.9-3:5).

Or, as Jesus says of "the forgotten song": "The notes are nothing" (T-21,1.7:1).
Our preferring life in the body to life as spirit is the height, not only of
insanity, but of self-depreciation. Jesus says further in the text:

"Be not content with littleness. But be sure you understand what littleness
is, and why you could never be content with it. Littleness is the offering you
give yourself. You offer this in place of magnitude, and you accept it.
Everything in this world is little because it is a world made out of littleness,
in the strange belief that littleness can content you. When you strive for
anything in this world in the belief that it will bring you peace, you are
belittling yourself and blinding yourself to glory. Littleness and glory are the
choices open to your striving and your vigilance. You will always choose one at
the expense of the other." (T-15.III.1).

In summary, we are told that our problem is that we ask for far too little, and
not for too much (T-26.VII.II:7). We are indeed entitled to everything.*

(4:1-2) "Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself quite confidently
that you are entitled to miracles. Closing your eyes, remind yourself that you
are asking only for what is rightfully yours."

*We have repeatedly seen the importance of using these ideas whenever we are
tempted to believe we are separated: feeling special, angry, guilty, anxious, or
depressed. Having thus made real some aspect of the ego thought system, we need
to realize as soon as possible that we have made the wrong choice of the wrong
teacher. At this point we ask for help to see that the problem we are
experiencing is one we made up because we needed it to preserve our individual
identity. This self is in the mind, chosen by the decision maker, and as long as
we see the problem in the world or body, we affirm our mindlessness. Thus there
is no way we can change our minds, a state that is the ego's salvation, and with
which we have all so strongly identified. That is why exercises such as these
are so vital for our unlearning.*

(4:3-5) "Remind yourself also that miracles are never taken from one and given
to another, and that in asking for your rights, you are upholding the rights of
everyone. Miracles do not obey the laws of this world. They merely follow from
the laws of God."

*The five laws of chaos discussed in Chapter 23 of the text, are the most cogent
descriptions in A Course in Miracles of these "laws of the world." The fourth
law of chaos says that "You have what you have taken" (T-23.II.9:3), which rests
on the now-familiar teaching of the ego: <one or the other> -- if you have it, I
do not; if I have it, you do not. Thus, if you have the innocence and I want it,
I must take it from you. This establishes you as sinful -- being without
innocence -- leaving me as sinless, for I have taken your innocent state and
made it my own.

The law of God is that we are one. What is therefore true for you must be true
for me. The laws of the ego -- the laws of chaos -- rest on the belief in
differences are real (T-23.II.2;1-3). A Course in Miracles teaches instead that
there is only one law in Heaven -- perfect Oneness and Love. Miracles are thus
present in everyone. There are no exceptions because there can be no exceptions
in Heaven's truth or its reflections on earth.*

(5) "After this brief introductory phase, wait quietly for the assurance that
your request is granted. You have asked for the salvation of the world, and for
your own. You have requested that you be given the means by which this is
accomplished. You cannot fail to be assured in this. You are but asking that the
Will of God be done."

*As the text reminds us -- <twice> : "The outcome is as certain as God"
(T-2.III.3:10; T-4.II.5.8). We cannot fail. However, we believe we can, if we do
not avail ourselves of the means -- the miracle or forgiveness -- that is
provided by the Holy Spirit to help us remember the Will that God has for us, to
remember that we <are> His Will. In that remembrance, brought about by the
miracle, is salvation come.*

(6) "In doing this, you do not really ask for anything. You state a fact that
cannot be denied. The Holy Spirit cannot but assure you that your request is
granted. The fact that you accepted must be so. There is no room for doubt and
uncertainty today. We are asking a real question at last. The answer is a simple
statement of a simple fact. You will receive the assurance that you seek."

*The problem, as we have seen many times, is our arrogance in thinking we know
the problem and therefore know which question to ask, always some version of:
How do I behave? What should I say? What is the answer to my problem? Where
should I move? What job should I take? What relationship should I be involved
with? All these are but pseudo-questions, designed to distract us from realizing
the true problem of separation, the focus of Lessons 79 and 80.

In truth we are not asking <for> anything. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us
realize we made a mistake, and can now make the correct choice. That is the
meaning of Jesus saying early in the text that "the only meaningful prayer is
for forgiveness, because those who have been forgiven have everything"
(T-3.V.6:3). Our true prayer is that we accept the miracle or correction that is
already present within us. This means we have to take our eyes off the
distractions -- perceived problems, either in my body or another's -- bringing
them to our minds so we can understand the problem is not something outside, but
a mistaken choice within. Again, this correction is the essence of the miracle,
and asking for it is the only real request we can make, the answer to which is
found in the holy instant, as the following passage explains:

"Therefore, attempt to solve no problems in a world from which the answer
has been barred. But bring the problem to the only place that holds the answer
lovingly for you. Here are the answers that will solve your problems because
they stand apart from them, and see what can be answered; what the question is.
Within the world the answers merely raise another question, though they leave
the first unanswered. In the holy instant, you can bring the question to the
answer, and receive the answer that was made for you." (T-27.IV.7).*

(7:1-4) "Our shorter practice periods will be frequent, and will also be devoted
to a reminder of a simple fact. Tell yourself often today:

I am entitled to miracles.<

Ask for them whenever a situation arises in which they are called for."

*Jesus is again telling us that these lessons -- and therefore his course --
have no meaning if we do not use them to help undo our pain and distress. He
asks us to think very specifically of the idea for today, and go to it for help
when we are upset and tempted to blame someone or something else for our
discomfort.*

(7:5-6) "You will recognize these situations. And since you are not relying on
yourself to find the miracle, you are fully entitled to receive it whenever you
ask."

*This is an extremely important point -- the big shift. Heretofore we have
relied on ourselves, or a projected image of ourselves we call Jesus, the Holy
Spirit, or God -- some magical savior figures who will undo our pain and
distress without <our> having to change our minds. The plea to these magical
savior figures was really a prayer for magic, not true healing. Jesus is now
assuming we are no longer telling ourselves what the problem is, and therefore
not asking the image we made of him to solve the problem for us. Instead, we go
to the source of the problem, the mind's decision to be on its own and be right,
rather than happy. Truly asking Jesus or the Holy Spirit for help says we do no
want to be on our own anymore, ensuring that the miracle will once again be
ours. A special message to Helen addressed this very issue, Jesus cautioning his
scribe against trying to define the problem that needed answering:

"Any specific question involves a large number of assumptions which
inevitably limit the answer. A specific question is actually a decision about
the kind of answer that is acceptable. The purpose of words is to limit, and by
limiting, to make more manageable. But that means manageable by you." (Absence
from Felicity: The Story of Helen Schucman and Her Scribing of A Course in
Miracles. p.445).

The point lies in our recognizing that all problems are the same, and therefore
asking for the miracle -- asking ourselves to choose it -- is the only
meaningful thing to do. Only the miracle allows true and unlimited correction of
the separation to occur.*

(8) "Remember, too, not to be satisfied with less than the perfect answer. Be
quick to tell yourself, should you be tempted:

I will not trade miracles for grievances.

I want only what belongs to me.
God has established miracles as my right.<"

*This paragraph leads into the next lesson's theme: miracles and grievances are
mutually exclusive states. The former reside in our right minds, when we choose
the Holy Spirit as our Teacher; the latter in our wrong minds, when we project
responsibility for our attack onto others, even God Himself.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 76. I am under no laws but God's.

#93075

Lesson 76. I am under no laws but God's.

(1) We have observed before how many senseless things have seemed to you to be
salvation. Each has imprisoned you with laws as senseless as itself. You are not
bound by them. Yet to understand that this is so, you must first realize
salvation lies not there. While you would seek for it in things that have no
meaning, you bind yourself to laws that make no sense. Thus do you seek to prove
salvation is where it is not.

(2) Today we will be glad you cannot prove it. For if you could, you would
forever seek salvation where it is not, and never find it. The idea for today
tells you once again how simple is salvation. Look for it where it waits for
you, and there it will be found. Look nowhere else, for it is nowhere else.

(3) Think of the freedom in the recognition that you are not bound by all the
strange and twisted laws you have set up to save you. You really think that you
would starve unless you have stacks of green paper strips and piles of metal
discs. You really think a small round pellet or some fluid pushed into your
veins through a sharpened needle will ward off disease and death. You really
think you are alone unless another body is with you.

(4) It is insanity that thinks these things. You call them laws, and put them
under different names in a long catalogue of rituals that have no use and serve
no purpose. You think you must obey the "laws" of medicine, of economics and of
health. Protect the body, and you will be saved.

(5) These are not laws, but madness. The body is endangered by the mind that
hurts itself. The body suffers just in order that the mind will fail to see it
is the victim of itself. The body's suffering is a mask the mind holds up to
hide what really suffers. It would not understand it is its own enemy; that it
attacks itself and wants to die. It is from this your "laws" would save the
body. It is for this you think you are a body.

(6) There are no laws except the laws of God. This needs repeating, over and
over, until you realize it applies to everything that you have made in
opposition to God's Will. Your magic has no meaning. What it is meant to save
does not exist. Only what it is meant to hide will save you.

(7) The laws of God can never be replaced. We will devote today to rejoicing
that this is so. It is no longer a truth that we would hide. We realize instead
it is a truth that keeps us free forever. Magic imprisons, but the laws of God
make free. The light has come because there are no laws but His.

(8) We will begin the longer practice periods today with a short review of the
different kinds of "laws" we have believed we must obey. These would include,
for example, the "laws" of nutrition, of immunization, of medication, and of the
body's protection in innumerable ways. Think further; you believe in the "laws"
of friendship, of "good" relationships and reciprocity. Perhaps you even think
that there are laws which set forth what is God's and what is yours. Many
"religions" have been based on this. They would not save but damn in Heaven's
name. Yet they are no more strange than other "laws" you hold must be obeyed to
make you safe.

(9) There are no laws but God's. Dismiss all foolish magical beliefs today, and
hold your mind in silent readiness to hear the Voice that speaks the truth to
you. You will be listening to One Who says there is no loss under the laws of
God. Payment is neither given nor received. Exchange cannot be made; there are
no substitutes; and nothing is replaced by something else. God's laws forever
give and never take.

(10) Hear Him Who tells you this, and realize how foolish are the "laws" you
thought upheld the world you thought you saw. Then listen further. He will tell
you more. About the Love your Father has for you. About the endless joy He
offers you. About His yearning for His only Son, created as His channel for
creation; denied to Him by his belief in hell.

(11) Let us today open God's channels to Him, and let His Will extend through us
to Him. Thus is creation endlessly increased. His Voice will speak of this to
us, as well as of the joys of Heaven which His laws keep limitless forever. We
will repeat today's idea until we have listened and understood there are no laws
but God's. Then we will tell ourselves, as a dedication with which the practice
period concludes:

I am under no laws but God's.

(12) We will repeat this dedication as often as possible today; at least four or
five times an hour, as well as in response to any temptation to experience
ourselves as subject to other laws throughout the day. It is our statement of
freedom from all danger and all tyranny. It is our acknowledgment that God is
our Father, and that His Son is saved.

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

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 76. I am under no laws but God's.

*If memory serves me correctly, it was well over twenty years ago that questions
asked about the two levels on which A Course in Miracles was written. As I
discussed in the Prelude, Level One is the Course's metaphysics foundation,
which contrasts the reality of God and Heaven with the illusion of the ego's
thought system and the world that arose from it. On this level there is no
compromise between truth and illusion. Level Two treats <only> the illusory
realm, contrasting the ego's wrong-minded thought system of separation with the
Holy Spirit's thought system of Atonement.

The reason students find this lesson so difficult, not to mention infuriating,
is their confusion of these levels, not understanding that the purpose of Level
Two discourse is to meet us in the illusionary state we believe we are in, and
not to make statements of absolute truth. Thus, even though the body is
inherently illusory, we are not asked to dismiss it. Quite the contrary. We are
asked to pay careful attention to it and its place in our special relationship,
for these become the classrooms in which we learn the Holy Spirit's lessons in
forgiveness.

From this perspective we can see how Jesus pokes fun at the body; more
importantly, at our use of it. You may recall Jesus' statement that it is
practically impossible to deny our physical experience in this world
(T-2.IV.3:10). Therefore he is not asking us in this lesson to deny our bodies
by not taking medicine, let alone not eating, breathing, spending money, etc.
Rather, Jesus presents a vision of what it is like to be in the real world,
without the belief in bodies. A passage in "The Attainment of the Real World"
highlights the complete absence of separation that characterizes this advanced
state of mind:

"The real world ... has no buildings and there are no streets where people
walk alone and separate. There are no stores where people buy an endless list of
things they do not need. It is not lit with artificial light, and night comes
not upon it. There is no day that brightens and grows dim. There is no loss.
Nothing is there but shines, and shines forever".(T.13.VII.1.)

This is not describing a physical place, but the healed mind in which the
thought of separation has been undone. In that state, the holy instant wherein
we have accepted the Atonement for ourselves, there is no longer a body "At no
single instant does the body exist at ll." [T.18.VII.3.1] ) Therefore if there
is no body, there can be no laws to govern it. That is the point here. Jesus is
not making fun of us, nor, again, challenging us to give up our beliefs in the
necessity for medicine, food, or relationships. He simply reminds us that we
believe in is not really there. The new understanding enables us not longer to
take our physical and psychological experiences in the world as seriously as we
once did, reflecting our having learned not to take the tiny, mad idea of
separation seriously either ( T-27.VIII.6.2-5)

Once again, this is not meant to be a statement in which Jesus is pressuring us
to give up our belief in the body. In fact, he says in the text:

"Your question should not be, "How can I see my brother without the body?" Ask
only, "Do I really wish to see him sinless?" (T.20.VII.9.1-2).

Rather than having us deny our experience that bodies exist external to us,
Jesus stresses that his goal for us is to change our <minds> about the body,
i.e., its purpose. He urges us no longer to project our perceived sin onto
others, thereby attacking them and reinforcing the belief in separate interests.
Forgiveness -- <the> message of A Course in Miracles -- rests on the simple
premise that our interests are one. *

(1:1) "We have observed before how many senseless things have seemed to you to
be salvation."

*The reference of course is to our special love objects, the idols we made to
show God we did not need His Love. Special hate objects function that way as
well, insofar as we feel salvation comes when we can truly hate another or
suffer pain. By blaming someone (or something) other than our selves for our
misery, we establish our innocence. Salvation, then, takes either form, and the
ego does not care whether it is special love or hate, as long as salvation is
seen to be external to our minds.*

(1:2-4) "Each has imprisoned you with laws as senseless as itself. You are not
bound by them. Yet to understand that this is so, you must first realize
salvation lies not there."

*This is a reference to the laws of specialness, which center on the rock on
which the ego's salvation rests: <one or the other> -- someone must lose so that
another can win. Every law of the ego -- in the mind as in the world -- reflects
this basic principle. One finds them as well in the ego's five laws of chaos
(T-23.II), the virtual grandfather of all laws. The key point is that these laws
not only emanate from the mind, but they remain there as well, following the
fundamental principle <ideas leave not their source.> Yet they do appear to be
external, and our lives are governed by them. The truth, however, is that we are
bound only by our mind's decision, and this is truly good news. We have very
little -- if any -- control over the body's laws, and this would seem to condemn
us to a life of hopeless victimization, the helplessness felt by almost all
people. But only <we> -- the decision-making part of our minds -- can control
the fact that we have chosen to identify with these laws. Therein lies our true
help.

This is an extremely important concept to grasp, for it would keep you honest as
you work through this lesson. In order to understand why you are under no laws
but God's, and why you are not bound by any of the body's laws, you must first
realize that you have a mind, because that is where salvation lies. The problem
is that we do not believe we do. No matter how many times Jesus tells us this in
A Course in Miracles, no matter how many times we read the same lines, there
remains a part of us that does not believe it, because we still believe he is
teaching us <as a body>. He repeatedly teaches how we are not really here, and
so the body does not do anything: it is not born, nor does it live or die; it
does not suffer pain or feel pleasure. In other words, everything occurs in the
mind. Yet this means absolutely nothing to us, because, again, we still think
Jesus is talking to us as a person, living in a body. We refuse to go to the
source of this self -- the mind -- that is not in the body at all, and find the
real problem. Were we to find this in our minds -- the guilt over the separation
-- we would see the answer of the Atonement.

This lesson, then, is a plea to all of us to pay careful attention and think
about what Jesus is teaching us in A Course in Miracles. When he has us say over
and over again -- as he does later in the sixth review -- "I am not a body. I am
free. For I am still as God created me," he means that very literally as well.
We must be really clear that we do <not> believe it, because we still think that
Jesus, a separated person, is talking to <us>, as separated persons, and
teaching <us> very nice things. However, we do not yet realize he is not
teaching us as a body. What we think of as our bodily self but reflects a
thought in the mind. This is such an important lesson because it points out so
clearly the illusory nature of the body. Just as clear, if we study it
carefully, is the reason we have so much trouble with it: <We do not want to
believe it!> The basis of our difficulty is the refusal to accept that salvation
does not lie outside us, but rather within our minds, the locus of both the
problem and answer.*

(1:5-6) "While you would seek for it in things that have no meaning, you bind
yourself to laws that make no sense. Thus do you seek to prove salvation is
where it is not."

*That, again, is the problem: We do not want to know we have a mind, for if we
do, we will at some point choose against the ego, and our individuality will
disappear. The ego tells us the problem is sin and guilt, found either in our
body or someone else's. Since that is where the problem is, salvation is found
there as well. If I believe sin is in my body, I believe in suffering and
sacrifice; if I believe it is in yours, I believe in judgment and attack. The
ego's plan for salvation therefore consists of punishing the body -- mine or
yours.

Evading the truth that we have a mind can take another form. For example, A
Course in Miracles says that I am under no laws but God's and that I am not a
body. Therefore since my body is an illusion, I do not have to see doctors; nor
need I lock my car or apartment; I do not have to care for my body and so it
does not matter what I eat or what I do. These are a few examples of what I
refer to as "blissninnyhood": the simplistic and naive denial of the body and
its problems. Rather than accepting the fundamental unreality of the body as a
shadow of guilt, "blissninnies" simply deny they have a body, which renders the
source of the shadow -- our mind's guilt -- even more inaccessible. Thus does
the answer of the Atonement remain buried still further beneath the ego's
arsenal of defenses.

This lesson is certainly <not> intended to discourage Course in Miracle students
from seeking medical attention, or to decline inoculation if they plan to travel
abroad, for example. It is not meant to discourage students from eating foods
that are good for them, or doing whatever it is that they believe is healthy. We
all have some notion of what is good in this regard -- and whatever you believe
in is what you should do. Moreover, Jesus is not saying you should give up
friendship or anything that reflects the laws of the world. He is simply saying
it would be of value to realize the source of these laws, and to understand
their place in the ego's thought system. Only then may you choose to shift their
purpose so that they fill their more proper place in the Holy Spirit's thought
system of correction.

Implicit in all of this, to make the important point again, is the necessity of
realizing the tremendous resistance we have to accepting the fact we are not
bodies. This is an important theme in the text, and is one of the centerpieces
of the workbook. Again, Jesus uses these statements to poke gentle fun at us, as
he does in these passages from the text that highlight the futility of trying to
protect the body and make it real and attractive:

"Can you paint rosy lips upon a skeleton, dress it in loveliness, pet it and
pamper it, and make it live?" (T.23.II.18.8)

"What would you save it [the body] for? For in that choice lie both its
health and harm. Save it for show, as bait to catch another fish, to house your
specialness in better style, or weave a frame of loveliness around your hate,
and you condemn it to decay and death." (T.24.VII.4.4-6)

"It [the body] puts things on itself that it has bought with little metal
discs or paper strips the world proclaims as valuable and real. It works to get
them, doing senseless things, and tosses them away for senseless things it does
not need and does not even want. (T.27.VIII.2.2-3)

Thus we are encouraged to ask Jesus for help learning not to take our bodily
identification so seriously. But -- one more time -- he is not asking us to
<deny> our bodies in the process.

We would know we have fallen into the trap of seriousness when we find ourselves
becoming impatient with those who do not deny their body or accusing others of
not doing A Course in Miracles right, seeing that they have physical or
psychological concerns. Those judgments should be a red flag, indicating we are
accusing others of what we secretly accuse ourselves. Remember, we want the
complete patience the previous lesson spoke about, and we cannot have it without
being completely gentle. Patience and gentleness go hand in hand -- that is why
they are among the ten characteristics of God's teachers. (M-4.IV,VIII). *

(2:1) "Today we will be glad you cannot prove it."

*The part of us that clings to our individual and special self is <not> glad! We
need to be aware of our resistance to being truly glad that salvation is not
outside of us but within. That awareness will eventually make it possible for
true gladness to come.*

(2:2-4) "For if you could, you would forever seek salvation where it is not, and
never find it. The idea for today tells you once again how simple is salvation.
Look for it where it waits for you, and there it will be found."

*Salvation waits for us, and so the one we have to be patient with is ourselves
-- to choose the salvation that awaits us in our minds. We must be willing to
<seek> salvation where we can <find> it. To achieve that goal Jesus instructs us
in seeing the body as the effect of the mind, which is the cause: the <cause>
that is the problem; the <cause> that is the solution. What could be simpler?*

(3) "Think of the freedom in the recognition that you are not bound by all the
strange and twisted laws you have set up to save you. You really think that you
would starve unless you have stacks of green paper strips and piles of metal
discs. You really think a small round pellet or some fluid pushed into your
veins through a sharpened needle will ward off disease and death. You really
think you are alone unless another body is with you."

*Jesus is taking three of the most important aspects of our existence here:
dependence on <money>, fear of <sickness> and need to go to doctors for help,
and the <special relationship that says if I do not have another person with me,
I will be alone in my misery. However, Jesus is not telling us to give these
things up; merely to look at our investment in them.

Near the end of the Psychotherapy pamphlet, in a section called "The Question
Payment" (P-3.III), Jesus discusses money, but does not say therapists should
not charge their patients. He says that "even an advanced therapist has some
earthly needs while he is here" (P-3.III.1:3), and will thus require payment. It
is evident, however, that Jesus is not talking about money <per se>, but rather
the therapist's attitude that would lead to gouging patients, for example, or
that would insist that they pay even if they lacked funds. Again, as long as we
are here we are going to have needs, which means money is a necessity.
Therefore, Jesus is not against our making money, just as he is not against our
taking care of he body. He is helping us shift our emphasis from the body to the
mind, which the understanding of purpose allows us to do.

At the end of the journey, in the real world, there will be no emphasis at all
on the body, because we shall have realized there is none. At the point,
recognizing the illusory nature of the body is not denial, nor is it the basis
of affirmations to repress an experience with which we do not want to deal. We
have become aware of what Jesus refers to in the text as "a simple statement of
a simple fact" (T-26.III.4:5). What enables us to reach this simple fact of the
real world, in which there is no separation and no body, is gently looking at
our investment in denying both the guilt and Atonement that are in our minds. We
learn we are gentle with ourselves by the degree to which we are gentle with
others. When we <un>gently judge them, it is only because we have attacked
ourselves for pushing Jesus away once again. Further, since he is within, we
have pushed the mind away as well, which roots our attention to the body, the
ego's principal form of protection and the consummation of its plan for
salvation.*

(4) "It is insanity that thinks these things. You call them laws, and put them
under different names in a long catalogue of rituals that have no use and serve
no purpose. You think you must obey the "laws" of medicine, of economics and of
health. Protect the body, and you will be saved."

*It is essential that you take care of your body <as long as you think you are
one.> Not doing so as long as you identify with it is only an expression of
self-hatred and self-punishment, not to mention silliness. <Taking care of your
body can therefore be a gentle and kind way of forgiving yourself.> Remember, no
one who reads A Course in Miracles fully believes in what Jesus says, because if
he or she did they would not need it. We very much believe we are bodies. In
fact, these lessons are geared specifically to those who believe in them. As
bodies we live in time, and it is obvious these lessons are geared toward
time-bound people. Almost every lesson mentions some aspect of our temporal
existence -- minutes, hours, days, weeks, years -- because Jesus' students
believe they are bodies existing in time and space, and he does not ask us to
deny them. Once again, he but asks that we be gentle and kind towards our and
other people's bodies, reflecting the desire to forgive ourselves for our misuse
of them, the shadow of our misuse of the mind.

Nonetheless, it is also important for us to recognize that these "laws" hold
<only> because we have given them power to do so. We are not bound to the body's
laws, but rather to our mind's decision to be a body, which as been specifically
designed to be under the laws that appear to bind us. Thus it is that we seek
"protect the body ... [to] be saved," while our true protection -- the Atonement
-- is kept buried beneath the ego's laws of guilt and specialness.*

(5:1) "These are not laws, but madness."

*They are madness because in reality there are only God's laws: the laws of
love, oneness, and eternal life. All other "laws" are outside the Mind of God,
and therefore dwell in the ego's mind of madness. ... The next paragraph
explicitly states the causal relationship between the mind and body, which
relationship is, in a sense, the very heart of the lesson.*

(5:2-3) "The body is endangered by the mind that hurts itself. The body suffers
just in order that the mind will fail to see it is the victim of itself."

*How does the mind hurt itself? Guilt. The original "injury" to my mind was the
belief I separated from God, for in that decision I denied my true reality. From
that moment on I continually punished myself through guilt. My ego does not want
me to realize it is my mind that is victimizing me, and that I -- the decision
maker cloaked by the ego's thought system -- am the one who is suffering.
Therefore, my decision maker, now identified with the ego, projects the guilt
onto the body, which thus becomes guilt's shadow. It now appears that the body
suffers -- the smoke screen that keeps my mind out of awareness. In the
following passage Jesus explains the insanity of seeing the body as the problem,
when all along it is the clever ego mind calling the shots from behind its veil
of secrecy:

"Who punishes the body is insane. ... It is indeed a senseless point of view
to hold responsible for sight a thing that cannot see, and blame it for the
sounds you do not like, although it cannot hear. It suffers not the punishment
you give because it has no feeling. It behaves in ways you want, but never makes
the choice." (T.28.VI.1.1;2:1-3)

Our mind is indeed the source of the problem, but even there its guilt does not
deserve punishment, as the ego would have us think, but simply correction.*

(5:4) "The body's suffering is a mask the mind holds up to hide what really
suffers."

*What Jesus means by "mind," of course, is the decision maker, which chooses to
make guilt real, and then chooses to project it onto the body. It is thus the
decision maker that uses the body to hide the real cause of the suffering: its
decision for separation and guilt. The cleverness of the ego's strategy is
described in more detail below, part of the section from which we have just
quoted. Here we see the <you>-- our decision maker -- hides behind the body so
that no one is ever the wiser about what is really going on: the mind's decision
to be separate and guilty:

"The thing you hate and fear and loathe and want [ the ego's guilt, ] the
body does not know. You [ the decision making part of our minds] send it forth
to seek for separation and be separate. And then you hate it, not for what it
is, but for the uses you have made of it. You shrink from what it sees and what
it hears, and hate its frailty and littleness. And you despise its acts, but not
your own. It sees and acts for you. It hears your voice. And it is frail and
little by your wish. It seems to punish you, and thus deserve your hatred for
the limitations that it brings to you. Yet you have made of it a symbol for the
limitations that you want your mind to have and see and keep." (T-28.VI.3).*

(5:5) 'It [ the mind's decision maker] would not understand it is its own enemy;
that it attacks itself and wants to die."

*If we knew this, of course, we would change our minds in an instant. If we knew
that <we> were the problem -- we would not hesitate to choose the Holy Spirit,
marking the end of the ego. Once again, to ensure that this catastrophe never
occurs, the ego -- the part of our minds that embraces separation -- devises its
strategy of mindlessness, which has the Son identify with the body -- other's
and our own -- are the enemies, while the true "enemy" -- our decision maker's
wrong-minded choice -- remains safely hidden out of awareness, concealed by
guilt and fear.*

(5:6-7) "It is from this your "laws" would save the body. It is for this you
think you are a body."

*Jesus helps us to understand the motivation or purpose for having a body; to
have a place in which to hide the mind's guilt. Thus the ego tells us we do
indeed have a real problem -- in our bodies -- but fortunately there are laws
that will take care of it, The problem, the ego convinces us, is not our inner
emptiness because we left God, but, for example, the emptiness in our stomachs.
Therefore, we fill them with food and we feel fine. The "law" states: if you are
hungry, you eat. Furthermore, if you want to stay healthy by your eating, you
must eat specific foods -- whatever it is you believe in, for the food itself
does not matter.

The ego has thus taken the problem of lack -- the absence of Christ because I
believe I crucified Him -- splits it off and projects it, so now there is a lack
perceived in my body. The ego's "laws" then come to save it, and solve the
problem of maintaining our physical and psychological existence as creatures of
the world. Thus it becomes, in addition to the problem of food:
1) The problem is that I am alone in the universe, since I destroyed God. Yes,
the ego agrees, there is a problem of loneliness, but it is in the body.
Therefore, I will invent special relationships, and teach you the laws of
manipulation and seduction, which will enable you to keep other bodies close to
you. Thus the problem of your loneliness is solved.
2) The problem is that I am impoverished because I threw away the treasure of
God. I have nothing. Yes, the ego agrees, there is a problem of impoverishment
but it is in the body. Therefore I will invent money and teach you the laws of
earning it. Thus is the problem of your impoverishment solved.
3) The problem is that I am sick at heart because I betrayed God. Yes, the ego
agrees, there is a problem of sickness, but it is in the body. Therefore, I will
invent medicine and teach you the laws of acquiring and using it. Thus is the
problem of your sickness solved. ... And on and on it goes.

This lesson helps us understand that the laws the ego tells us will save the
body only uphold the separation and guilt that is in our minds. Jesus' purpose,
once again, is not to make us feel guilty or like failures, but simply to help
us realize where the problem is so it can be <truly> solved.*

(6:1-2) "There are no laws except the laws of God. This needs repeating, over
and over, until you realize it applies to everything that you have made in
opposition to God's Will."

*By "repeating, over and over," Jesus does not mean, once again, that we use the
words as a mantra of affirmation. Rather, they are a statement of truth to which
we bring the ego's laws of illusion. The body is nothing but the end product of
a long series of thoughts that were made in opposition to God's Will:
separation, specialness, sin, guilt, fear, and death. Thus we need to pay
careful attention to our experiences of victimization at the hands of laws over
which we have no control, and on which we believe the fate of our peace rests.
It is this misplacement we bring to the truth, recognizing how we have used the
body's laws as a cloak to conceal our guilt over believing we had, in fact,
chosen against the laws of God.*

(6:3) "Your magic has no meaning."

*The laws of the world have to do with magic because they are external. The
miracle -- magic's counterpart -- is internal. Magic helps us change our
bodies, the miracle helps us change our minds. Magic is the ego's solving a
problem where it cannot be solved -- in the body. The miracle is the Holy
Spirit's solving a problem where it can be solved -- in the mind.*

(6:4-5) "What it is meant to save does not exist. Only what it is meant to hide
will save you."

*This a nice Level One statement: the body does not exist. Moreover, the body
and its laws were made to hide guilt in our minds. Yet they do not only hold the
guilt but its undoing, brought about through the acceptance of the Atonement,
which alone can save us.*

(7) "The laws of God can never be replaced. We will devote today to rejoicing
that this is so. It is no longer a truth that we would hide. We realize instead
it is a truth that keeps us free forever. Magic imprisons, but the laws of God
make free. The light has come because there are no laws but His."

*We need to pay careful attention to the ego's laws we obey in order to trace
them back to what they represent in our minds, as I just did above. Thus: money
undoes our experience of spiritual <impoverishment>, putting food in our stomach
and oxygen in our lungs supplies the <lack> in our split minds; and specialness
undoes the <loneliness> that is the "natural" state of a separated mind. We can
therefore use the ego's laws to reflect back to us what they were meant to hide:
the belief that the laws of God can be replaced. Indeed, they have been replaced
-- by me; at least by the wrong-minded, deluded me that thinks it is a separated
self. However, we are now ready to learn that this delusion occurred only in our
dreams. Our real Self but awaits the opening or our eyes. ... Jesus now pokes
further fun at us:*

(8:1-5) "We will begin the longer practice periods today with a short review of
the different kinds of "laws" we have believed we must obey. These would
include, for example, the "laws" of nutrition, of immunization, of medication,
and of the body's protection in innumerable ways. Think further; you believe in
the "laws" of friendship, of "good" relationships and reciprocity."

*It should be quite obvious by now that Jesus is not asking us to give up our
belief in these laws, which are the very bedrock of our existence in the world.
But we are asked to step back with him -- to go <above the battleground>
(T-23.IV) -- and look through his eyes at the place these laws hold in our ego's
defensive system and strategy of mindlessness. Thus we learn not to take them or
our lives as seriously as before. This point, like so many others, cannot be
stated too often. Our resistance to looking at the ego without judgment is
enormous, and needs the gentle persuasion of gentle repetition to be effectively
diminished.*

(8:5-6) "Perhaps you even think that there are laws which set forth what is
God's and what is yours. Many "religions" have been based on this. "

*Jesus puts "religion" in quotes because he is telling us that these -- the
formal religions of the world -- are not <true> religions. The etymological
meaning of <religion> is "to bind together again," by realizing God's Son is one
-- we are one with each other and one with God. The "religions" of the world
separate, their adherents judging everyone who does not agree with them,
unconsciously believing they themselves are separate from God. Thus Jesus states
the following in the pamphlet of Pyschotherapy, addressing the issue of
religion's place in the practice of pyschotherapy:

"Formal religion has no place in psychotherapy, but it also has no real
place in religion." (P-2.II.2.1)

Once religion, regardless of its inspirational origin, becomes formalized, it
becomes separatist. It invetibly then becomes subsumed under the laws of <homo
sapiens>, which not only demarcate the respective and hierarchical places of
different members of the species, but also respective and hierarchal places of
God and us. Separation becomes Heaven's law, while the true law of unity and
oneness disappears into the reality that has been hidden by the externalization
of God's Love, the only law.*

(8:6-7) "They would not save but damn in Heaven's name. Yet they are no more
strange than other "laws" you hold must be obeyed to make you safe."

*These "laws" of formal religions are indeed strange, for they make the Love of
God conditional, accessible through the body. On the other hand, the
universality of love makes it totally accessible, and easily remembered when the
world is seen as a classroom in which we learn of forgiveness that enables us to
<transcend> the world and body entirely. *

(9:1-2) "There are no laws but God's. Dismiss all foolish magical beliefs today,
and hold your mind in silent readiness to hear the Voice that speaks the truth
to you."

*How do you become silently ready? You quiet the ego's raucous shrieks and
stubborn insistence that you are right and God is wrong. And then wait in
patience for yourself to move beyond the resistance born of fear to the truth
born of love.*

(9:3) "You will be listening to One Who says there is no loss under the laws of
God."

*In all the ego's laws -- whether religious or not -- there is loss. If I am to
eat, an animal or vegetable must lose its "life"; if I am to have my specialness
needs met, another must sacrifice. It must be so, for the rock on which the
ego's <slavation> rests is that one must lose so that another can win.
Statements like the above gently correct that illusion.*

(9:4-6) "Payment is neither given nor received. Exchange cannot be made; there
are no substitutes; and nothing is replaced by something else. God's laws
forever give and never take."

*The ego is born of the original thought I am a substitute for God or Christ,
and everything else logically from that ontological premise. In other words,
from the sin of substitution I experience guilt, which then demands I be
punished. In order to assuage the vindictive wrath of the sinned-against deity,
I concoct a theory of salvation in which it appears as if He demands my payment
for what I stole, a payment that drips with the blood of my suffering and
sacrifice: the ego's meaning of atonement. From this insane thought arises a
world in which we believe that we can achieve happiness or salvation only
through payment of some kind. Thus we find the following statements in
Psychotherapy regarding the question of payment. Unlike the world's view, in
which patients pay therapists for their expertise, a <quid pro quo>, Jesus
advocates the more Marxist view: <From each according to his ability. To each
according to his need.> This utopian vision has, unfortunately, never been
tried, yet Jesus makes it the basis for his view on <payment>, distinguishing it
from <cost>:

"Only an unhealed healer would try to heal for money, and he will not
succeed to the extent to which he values it. Nor will he find his healing in the
process. There will be those of whom the Holy Spirit asks some payment for His
purpose. There will be those from whom He does not ask. ... There is a
difference between payment and cost. ... Patients can pay only for the exchange
of illusions. This, indeed, must demand payment, and the cost is great. ... If
their relationship is to be holy, whatever one needs is given by the other;
whatever one lacks the other supplies. ... The therapist repays the patient in
gratitude, as does the patient repay him. There is no cost to either. ... This
... [reflects] the law of God, and not of the world."

Anticipating the inevitable complaint, Jesus states:

"This view of payment may well seem impractical, and in the eyes of the
world it would be so. Yet not one worldly thought is really practical. How much
is gained by striving for illusions? How much is lost by throwing God away? And
is it possible to do so?" (P-3.III.2:1-4, 6-8;3:3-4;4:4,6-7;5:4;7:1-5).

The law we are asked to reflect in our relationships is the law of perfect
Oneness, in which there can be no cost or loss. Its loving expression within the
world of illusion is the rock on which salvation rests: "And everyone <must>
gain, if anyone would be a gainer" (T-25.VII.12:2).

The next paragraph asks us to listen to the Holy Spirit tell us, again, how
foolish indeed are the "laws" we have striven to follow:*

(10) "Hear Him Who tells you this, and realize how foolish are the "laws" you
thought upheld the world you thought you saw. Then listen further. He will tell
you more. About the Love your Father has for you. About the endless joy He
offers you. About His yearning for His only Son, created as His channel for
creation; denied to Him by his belief in hell."

*The Holy Spirit does not take our laws away from us, but shows us their
foolishness in that they reflect a thought system that is foolish. Remember how
miracles do not make the correct choice. They simply show us how incorrect we
have been in our prior choices:

"The miracle establishes you dream a dream, and that its content is not true
... The miracle does nothing but to show him that he has done nothing."
(T-28.II.7:1,10).

Once He has our attention, the Holy Spirit "speaks" to us of he heavenly Love we
chose to forget, when we chose to remember the hell of he ego's special love.*

(11:1) "Let us today open God's channels to Him, and let His Will extend through
us to Him."

*The way we open God's channels -- our minds -- is to forgive ourselves for
having chosen the ego as substitute for the Love of God. Forgiveness is the key
that opens the right-minded home of the Holy Spirit, which we had sealed with
locks of guilt and specialness.*

(11:2-6) "Thus is creation endlessly increased. His Voice will speak of this to
us, as well as of the joys of Heaven which His laws keep limitless forever. We
will repeat today's idea until we have listened and understood there are no laws
but God's. Then we will tell ourselves, as a dedication with which the practice
period concludes:

I am under no laws but God's."

*Once we choose to accept the Atonement and remember our Identity as Christ, we
identify with our true function of creation: the endless increase of God's Love
<through> us and <as> us. This "us" is God's one Son, the Christ He created as
one with Him; the Self that is no longer <under> the laws of God -- It <is> the
law of God.*

(12) "We will repeat this dedication as often as possible today; at least four
or five times an hour, as well as in response to any temptation to experience
ourselves as subject to other laws throughout the day. It is our statement of
freedom from all danger and all tyranny. It is our acknowledgment that God is
our Father, and that His Son is saved."

*We are back where we began -- the acceptance of the Atonement. Jesus is asking
us to strengthen our resolve to accept this acceptance throughout the day -- <at
least> every twelve-to-fifteen minutes. Thus we seek to remember -- as often as
we can and especially when tempted to believe in the ego's laws of scarcity and
deprivation, of specialness and loss -- that "there is no will but God's; no
laws but His." We then gladly acknowledge: "Yes, I made these laws and still
believe in them. But I am now willing to admit I was wrong. The truth is that
God is my Father and not the ego, and therefore I am saved from my thoughts of
sin and guilt, for they have disappeared into His Love." The only remaining
question for ourselves is why would we not remember this happy fact throughout
the day.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 75. The light has come.

#93074

Lesson 75. The light has come.

(1) The light has come. You are healed and you can heal. The light has come. You
are saved and you can save. You are at peace, and you bring peace with you
wherever you go. Darkness and turmoil and death have disappeared. The light has
come.

(2) Today we celebrate the happy ending to your long dream of disaster. There
are no dark dreams now. The light has come. Today the time of light begins for
you and everyone. It is a new era, in which a new world is born. The old one has
left no trace upon it in its passing. Today we see a different world, because
the light has come.

(3) Our exercises for today will be happy ones, in which we offer thanks for the
passing of the old and the beginning of the new. No shadows from the past remain
to darken our sight and hide the world forgiveness offers us. Today we will
accept the new world as what we want to see. We will be given what we desire. We
will to see the light; the light has come.

(4) Our longer practice periods will be devoted to looking at the world that our
forgiveness shows us. This is what we want to see, and only this. Our single
purpose makes our goal inevitable. Today the real world rises before us in
gladness, to be seen at last. Sight is given us, now that the light has come.

(5) We do not want to see the ego's shadow on the world today. We see the light,
and in it we see Heaven's reflection lie across the world. Begin the longer
practice periods by telling yourself the glad tidings of your release:

The light has come. I have forgiven the world.<

(6) Dwell not upon the past today. Keep a completely open mind, washed of all
past ideas and clean of every concept you have made. You have forgiven the world
today. You can look upon it now as if you never saw it before. You do not know
yet what it looks like. You merely wait to have it shown to you. While you wait,
repeat several times, slowly and in complete patience:

The light has come. I have forgiven the world.<

(7) Realize that your forgiveness entitles you to vision. Understand that the
Holy Spirit never fails to give the gift of sight to the forgiving. Believe He
will not fail you now. You have forgiven the world. He will be with you as you
watch and wait. He will show you what true vision sees. It is His Will, and you
have joined with Him. Wait patiently for Him. He will be there. The light has
come. You have forgiven the world.

(8) Tell Him you know you cannot fail because you trust in Him. And tell
yourself you wait in certainty to look upon the world He promised you. From this
time forth you will see differently. Today the light has come. And you will see
the world that has been promised you since time began, and in which is the end
of time ensured.

(9) The shorter practice periods, too, will be joyful reminders of your release.
Remind yourself every quarter of an hour or so that today is a time for special
celebration. Give thanks for mercy and the Love of God. Rejoice in the power of
forgiveness to heal your sight completely. Be confident that on this day there
is a new beginning. Without the darkness of the past upon your eyes, you cannot
fail to see today. And what you see will be so welcome that you will gladly
extend today forever.

(10) Say, then:

The light has come. I have forgiven the world.

Should you be tempted, say to anyone who seems to pull you back into
darkness:
The light has come. I have forgiven you.<

(11) We dedicate this day to the serenity in which God would have you be. Keep
it in your awareness of yourself and see it everywhere today, as we celebrate
the beginning of your vision and the sight of the real world, which has come to
replace the unforgiven world you thought was real.

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

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 75. "The light has come."

*In this lesson Jesus speaks of the real world, and as is true of other lessons,
he gives us a pep talk. Despite what he says overtly, Jesus obviously does not
expect his students to identify with the light on this particular day. If he
did, this message would not be in other lessons. These are words of
encouragement that let us know that beyond the clouds of illusion -- the
complexity of our anger, judgments, suffering and anxiety -- there is really a
light. It is the light of the real world, the truth that shines outside the
ego's darkened dreams of separation and madness.

Let me also comment on the theme running through the lesson as a musical
<leitmotif>, which not so much tells us that the light <comes>, but that <we
have come to the light>. Our experience is that the light has come to us, but in
truth it never left, for it is always present in our minds. Since, then, we are
the ones who left the light, we must be the ones who return. If the workbook
statement were accepted literally, it would seem that we had nothing to do with
the light's coming. It simply came on its own, implying that at some other point
it had left.

This points again to the importance of understanding that the words in A Course
in Miracles are simply symbols. The true dynamic at work here is that we were
the ones who left the light by clinging to the ego's illusion of separation and
individuality. Therefore, we are the ones who must realize our wrong choice --
the darkness of our illusions does to not make us happy. That realization leads
us finally to say there must be another way, and then we do seek the light we
had left. In fact, it is more than that we just left it. The ego tells us we
were abandoned, and destroyed its love. We therefore accuse ourselves of this
sin, from which, as we have seen many times, comes the experience of guilt and
horror that impels us to get rid of the guilt through projection, thereby making
a God in our own image and likeness, and a world that also mirrors our
self-concept of separation, guilt, and attack.

If we were to realize we simply made a mistake, taking the wrong turn because we
listened to the wrong guide, we would remember the Guide Whom we could truly ask
for help. His Love would teach that our "sin" was a mistake that has already
been corrected. Thus there can be no sin, guilt, denial, or projection, and no
world. It is at that point we come to the inner light A Course in Miracles
refers to as the real world.*

(1:1-2) "The light has come. You are healed and you can heal."

*If I am healed, it means the thought of separation in my mind has been undone,
along with pain and suffering, leaving only God's Son as He created him. This is
how I become a healer: accepting the Atonement's healing light instead of the
ego's darkness. Since the Sonship is one with me, it is healed, too. This again
is what is meant by Lesson 137: "When I am healed I am not healed alone." *

(1:3-4) "The light has come. You are saved and you can save."

*This of course parallels "You are healed and you can heal." You are saved from
the prison of your own mistaken choice, the pain and suffering of your mind's
guilt. In the holy instant you become God's one Son, symbolizing, as does Jesus,
the right-minded choice for light instead of darkness.*

(1:5) "You are at peace, and you bring peace with you wherever you go."

*This is because <ideas leave not their source>. Throughout the day -- wherever
we go, whatever we do -- our right minds are filled with the light that is
always there. It is not anything we literally bring with us, but something that
automatically happens, as natural to the mind as breathing is to the body.
<Ideas leave not their source>: The body and its misuses of attack and judgment
have never left its source -- the thought of guilt in the wrong mind; the body
as an instrument of Jesus' love has never left its source -- the thought of
light in the right mind. This light of peace automatically extends through the
mind of God's Son, the meaning, again, of "you bring peace with you wherever you
go." *

(1:6-7) "Darkness and turmoil and death have disappeared. The light has come."

*Remember, it is <one or the other>. The ego uses this principle as a way of
justifying attack: if I do not kill you, you will kill me. The same principle
operates with Jesus as well, but with different content. If I join with the
light there cannot be darkness, not because I attacked it, but because the
darkness disappears in the presence of light. To Jesus, then, <one or the other>
is a non-dualistic principle. If there is light and oneness, there cannot be
darkness and separation; since my mind and will are one with God's, and there is
no Mind and Will but His, how could separation exist? The principle of <one or
the other> is thus valid for both teachers: to the ego it means attack and
murder; to Jesus it reflects the comforting fact of the Atonement -- the
separation from God never happened.*

(2:1) "Today we celebrate the happy ending to your long dream of disaster."

*Regard this as another of Jesus' pep talks. If you feel distress or unhappiness
today, do not use this statement as a way of judging yourself as a failure. The
fact that there is the rest of the workbook -- and Jesus' concludes the
workbook by saying this course is a beginning and not an end -- is letting you
know that he does not expect you to end the ego's dream here and now. However,
he does want to remind you of the Atonement principle: The light has come
because it never left.

This is another way of telling us -- as Jesus does throughout the workbook --
that there is another thought system in our minds that is totally separate from
the ego. We believe there is nothing <but> the ego, and our interpretations of
God, Jesus, and salvation are based on our specialness, in which we magically
hope that someone or something outside us will be our savior. We do not know
another teacher, a Jesus who is outside the dream and not the more familiar
figure who is very much part of the ego's dreams -- "a dream that comes in
mockery" (The Gifts of God, p.121). Lessons like this one, therefore, are Jesus'
way of telling us there is another teacher in our minds; his way of
communicating to us -- just beginning to learn his lessons of forgiveness -- our
ultimate goal: the light at the end of the ego's tunnel that happily shines away
our dreams of disaster and death. This outcome of light is indeed as certain as
its Source.*

(2:2) "There are no dark dreams now."

*From a different perspective we can view this lesson as Jesus providing the
ideal, even as he knows we have miles to go before we wake, to paraphrase Robert
Frost, and identify with the light. At least we now know there is a goal; and he
teaches us how to attain it. Another way of understanding the lesson is to
regard it as Jesus' way of telling us: "If you follow me, do these lessons
faithfully, read my text carefully, you will be at peace and your dark dreams
will be over. If you persist in thinking you know better than I, however, your
dreams of separation, specialness, and individuality will unhappily continue.
Are they really worth the pain?" *

(2:3-4) "The light has come. Today the time of light begins for you and
everyone."

*It can never be said enough that if the light of Christ shines for me it must
shine for everyone, since Christ is one. Therefore, it is not only that the
light has come, in the sense that I have chosen to accept it in place of the
ego's dark dreams of separate interests, but that light has come for the entire
Sonship, since the Holy Spirit's happy dreams see everyone's interests as the
same.*

(2:5-7) "It is a new era, in which a new world is born. The old one has left no
trace upon it in its passing. Today we see a different world, because the light
has come."

*When Jesus says the old world "has left no trace upon it in its passing," he
echoes the lovely words I never tire of quoting: "Not one note in Heaven's song
was missed" (T-26.V.5:4) -- past sins have had no effect on the present; not the
ego's guilty present, but the present of the holy instant. Once we are in the
new world -- the real world -- and accept forgiveness as our reigning principle
instead of attack, the ego thought system is gone. When students sometimes ask
if they will remember their world when they awaken from the dream, the answer is
"no" -- <there is nothing to remember>. The old world has left no trace upon the
new one in its passing. What is gone is gone, because it never was.*

(3:1) "Our exercises for today will be happy ones, in which we offer thanks for
the passing of the old and the beginning of the new."

*"The passing of the old" is not something Jesus of A Course in Miracles does,
but it is our accomplishment when we exercise the mind's power to choose. Jesus
offers us a glimpse of how wonderful it will be when we release our illusions of
individuality, specialness, and judgment, as he tells us early in the text, and
we repeat again and again:

"You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from
meeting yourself and your brothers totally without judgment." (T-3.VI.3:1).*

(3:2) "No shadows from the past remain to darken our sight and hide the world
forgiveness offers us."

*This is an explicit statement that the shadows of our past -- some expression
of sin -- "hide the world forgiveness offers us." In other words, our thoughts
of attack and judgment are purposive and do not just happen. We choose them to
hide the world of light forgiveness offers us. Being the key, forgiveness opens
our mind's locked door, behind which stands the loving presence of Jesus. The
door opens when we look at our defenses: the shadows of guilt we projected onto
our brothers. The very close of the text restates this now familiar thought in
beautiful fashion:

"Not one illusion is accorded faith, and not one spot of darkness still
remains to hide the face of Christ from anyone." (T-31.VIII.12:5).*

(3:3-5) "Today we will accept the new world as what we want to see. We will be
given what we desire. We will to see the light; the light has come."

*Jesus appeals to our motivation to be happy, for happiness is what we truly
want. Without this desire, however, we will never find it. We are thus being
taught, as was emphasized in the text, to associate the light of forgiveness
with happiness and peace, and the darkness of guilt with misery and pain. In the
following passage from the text, Jesus elaborates on his philosophy of teaching.
Like any good reinforcement theorist, he knows that: "learning through rewards
is more effective than learning through pain" (T-4.VI.3:4). Thus he is teaching
us to associate joy with valuing his teaching, and misery with ignoring it. In
this way we come to desire his teaching of light because of the joy it would
bring us:

"How can you teach someone the value of something he has deliberately
thrown away? He must have thrown it away because he did not value it. You can
only show him how miserable he is without it, and slowly bring it nearer so he
can learn how his misery lessens as he approaches it. This teaches him to
associate his misery with its absence, and the opposite of misery with its
presence. It gradually becomes desirable as he changes his mind about its worth.
I am teaching you to associate misery with the ego and joy with the spirit. You
have taught yourself the opposite. You are still free to choose, but can you
really want the rewards of the ego in the presence of the rewards of God?"
(T-4.VI.5).*

(4:1--5:1) "Our longer practice periods will be devoted to looking at the world
that our forgiveness shows us. This is what we want to see, and only this. Our
single purpose makes our goal inevitable. Today the real world rises before us
in gladness, to be seen at last. Sight is given us, now that the light has
come."
"We do not want to see the ego's shadow on the world today."

*The "ego's shadow on the world" is our thoughts of pain and attack, arising
from our mind's guilt. We know how the ego makes up an illusory thought of
individuality. It does not let this world of thought go, but buries it within
our minds before projecting it. It is this thought system of guilt that casts a
long and despairing shadow on what we think of as the world. Guilt's final
destination is thus the body, the perceived source of all pain and distress, up
to and including death. Yet this is nothing more than a flimsy veil used by the
ego to conceal the truth we do not want to see because it is the truth
(T-21.VII.5:14) Recognizing our mistake, we choose again, forgiveness instead of
judgment, the world of light instead of the ego's shadows of guilt.*

(5:2) "We see the light, and in it we see Heaven's reflection lie across the
world."

*We do not see Heaven in the world; we see its reflection, known as the real
world. We have first looked within, and then seen the ego's projected shadow's
of guilt all around us: loss, abandonment, sacrifice, and death. When we change
our minds and ask Jesus for help, we let the shadows go, allowing his inner
light to be all that we see reflected in the world.*

(5:3-5) "Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself the glad tidings
of your release:

The light has come. I have forgiven the world."

*"Glad tidings," of course, is a biblical phrase that referred to Jesus coming
as the light of the world. He thus uses a phrase that has had one series of
connotations, and gives it a totally different meaning. Here, the good news --
"the glad tidings" -- is not that the light of Jesus came into the world, but
that the light of Jesus in our minds has never gone away, despite our belief
that we had destroyed it. The Holy Spirit's principle of the Atonement was true
after all. What gladder tidings could there be than that?

We can forgive the world only because we forgive ourselves for destroying the
light of the world, the inner world of love that our deranged minds convinced us
was actually gone. Thus we realize -- through accepting Jesus' love for us here
-- that we have not separated from love, which means we have not crucified it
nor destroyed its Source. That, again, is the truly good news. We happily
realize that our attempts to shroud this light has not left. Once we accept this
joyous fact the shrouds disappear, the veils of darkness part, the shadows
evanesce, and only the light remains. This happens only by forgiving ourselves
for having made a mistake -- glad tidings indeed!*

(6:1) "Dwell not upon the past today."

*The past expresses sin, <literally>; the belief we sinned against God. We catch
ourselves dwelling on the past each and every time we hold a grievance, for each
one is a shadowy fragment that reminds us of our original grievance: <against
ourselves>. We thus come to recognize that withholding forgiveness reflects our
desire to keep the sinful past alive, reinforcing the separate identity that is
protected by our projections onto others.*

(6:2) "Keep a completely open mind, washed of all past ideas and clean of every
concept you have made."

*Lesson 189 contains a prayer that nicely expresses this idea. It is important
enough to quote it here, even though we shall be returning to it later:

"Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and
what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold
about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false,
or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it
is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has
taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world,
forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God."
(W-pI.189.7).

This implies we have to know we are truly happy that we are wrong and Jesus is
right. We are wrong because we believe there is a world of attack and pain here,
and he is right because he tells us all this is made up. Only when we allow
ourselves to be taught that our reward of peace is far greater than the
punishment of pain, can we allow our minds to be cleansed.*

(6:3-9) "You have forgiven the world today. You can look upon it now as if you
never saw it before. You do not know yet what it looks like. You merely wait to
have it shown to you. While you wait, repeat several times, slowly and in
complete patience:

The light has come. I have forgiven the world."

*Jesus is telling us we do not bring the real world to us, since we are the ones
who must choose it. Moreover, our patience does not include waiting for Jesus
because there is a long waiting list; we wait but for ourselves, for we are
still too afraid to accept the light, in the presence of which the darkness of
our individual self is gone. We once again see how Jesus is letting us know that
<he> knows we are not yet at the point when we can look upon the forgiven world.
That is why there is no need to pretend we are further along than we really are.
Such arrogance hardly befits a Son of God; moreover; such arrogance ensures we
shall never remember that we <are> the Son of God.

It is evident in Jesus' approach throughout A Course in Miracles that while he
is unequivocally consistent in presenting the truth, he is always gentle,
patient, and understanding of our not yet being ready to accept it. It is
extremely important to experience his patience, so we can demonstrate it to
everyone else. When we find ourselves becoming upset with others and impatient
with their mistakes, it is only because we do not want to accept Jesus' patience
with <our> mistakes. This is because we want to see them as sins, and rather
than accept responsibility for these mistaken thoughts, we project them out and
find ourselves seemingly justified in being impatient with everyone else.
Statements like these make clear how lovingly patient Jesus is with us, a model
for us all.*

(7:1) "Realize that your forgiveness entitles you to vision."

*The theme of vision returns, this time in the context of our acceptance of the
real world through forgiveness. In other words, when we are unforgiving we
cannot see, and what we think we see is simply a distortion. When we forgive, on
the other hand, our eyes are washed clean of guilt's shadows, and then vision
comes.*

(7:2) "Understand that the Holy Spirit never fails to give the gift of sight to
the forgiving."

*This does not mean that the Holy Spirit withholds the gift from us when we
judge others or ourselves, but rather that we reject the gift when we are filled
with judgments. Indeed, that is why we judge in the first place, to keep the
gift away. As with God's grace, the Holy Spirit's vision is for all, and
embraces all. It merely awaits our forgiveness for the acceptance of His gift.*

(7:3-11) "Believe He will not fail you now. You have forgiven the world. He will
be with you as you watch and wait. He will show you what true vision sees. It is
His Will, and you have joined with Him. Wait patiently for Him. He will be
there. The light has come. You have forgiven the world."

*Once again, if we take these words literally it sounds as if we have to wait
for the Holy Spirit to come. Obviously that makes no sense, just as it makes no
sense that for over two thousand years Christians have waited for Jesus to come:
the so-called Second Coming. At issue is not <his> Second Coming but <ours>, as
the term is re-defined in A Course in Miracles (T-4.IV.10:2-3). Thus when Jesus
says "wait patiently for Him," he really means wait patiently to let go of our
fear sufficiently so we could accept the Holy Spirit. Thus we watch and wait
with patience, reflective of his infinite patience:

"Your patience with your brother is your patience with yourself. Is not a
child of God worth patience? I have shown you infinite patience because my will
is that of our Father, from Whom I learned of infinite patience. His Voice was
in me as It is in you, speaking for patience towards the Sonship in the Name of
Its Creator." (T-5.VI.11:4-7).*

(8:1-3) "Tell Him you know you cannot fail because you trust in Him. And tell
yourself you wait in certainty to look upon the world He promised you. From this
time forth you will see differently."

*To make the point about the metaphor once again, we are not really telling the
Holy Spirit, Who hardly has to be told anything from us. The meaning of this
first sentence is simply that we have to reinforce <our> decision to trust Him.
We learn to recognize the causal connection between abandoning our belief that
we are better off on our own, and the wonderful effects that vision brings:
seeing a gentle world of shared interests, quite different from the ego's
hateful world of separate interests.*

(8:4-5) "Today the light has come. And you will see the world that has been
promised you since time began, and in which is the end of time ensured."

*This last is an intriguing sentence. When Jesus says "you will see the world
that has been promised you since time began," he is not talking about the <you>
you think you are.<You> have not existed since time began; <you> are not fifteen
billion years old. Hence he is referring to the decision maker in our minds,
which is part of the one Son who was promised at the beginning that "the light
has come" -- the principle of the Atonement. In that ontological moment when we
believed we separated from God, the promise was there, already fulfilled. We
just had not accepted it. Projecting the blame for the rejection, we believed
that the Holy Spirit did not keep His promise, nor did God, Jesus, and now A
Course in Miracles.This is the problem Jesus corrects. The Atonement was in our
minds from the first instant the thought of separation seemed to begin,
reflecting God's promise to us (and ours to Him), as we read in this inspiring
passage from the text. It comes in the context of our choosing sickness instead
of healing, having made a promise to the ego instead of God:

"God keeps His promises; His Son keeps his. In his creation did his Father
say, "You are beloved of Me and I of you forever. Be you perfect as Myself, for
you can never be apart from Me". His Son remembers not that he replied "I will",
though in that promise he was born. Yet God reminds him of it every time he does
not share a promise to be sick, but lets his mind be healed and unified. His
secret vows are powerless before the Will of God, Whose promises he shares. And
what he substitutes is not his will, who has made promise of himself to God."
(T-28.VI.6:3-9).

Once again, if you pay close attention to a statement like the above, it is
clear that Jesus is not talking about the <you> you think is reading, studying,
and practicing these words, but the one Son of God outside of time and space,
the decision-making self that believed in itself, rather than its Self. As a
later lesson succinctly puts it:

"Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all."
(W-pII.358.1:7).*

(9:1-4) "The shorter practice periods, too, will be joyful reminders of your
release. Remind yourself every quarter of an hour or so that today is a time for
special celebration. Give thanks for mercy and the Love of God. Rejoice in the
power of forgiveness to heal your sight completely."

*As in many other lessons, Jesus wants us to experience the joy of learning his
message. The end of our misery lies in forgiving our brothers and ourselves --
truly one and the same. Who, knowing this fact, could not want to remember every
fifteen minutes that the light has come and is ours. Yet that light is what we
still need to accept as the truth about ourselves.*

(9:5-7) "Be confident that on this day there is a new beginning. Without the
darkness of the past upon your eyes, you cannot fail to see today. And what you
see will be so welcome that you will gladly extend today forever."

*Notice Jesus says "a new beginning," which, incidentally, is the title of
Chapter 30 in the text. He is not saying the journey is over, even though many
of the statements in the lesson would indicate that, for he is not coming from a
linear perspective. He is saying "the light has come" because the light is
already here within us. Yet we must undertake the process of accepting it, which
consists of releasing the darkness of our sinful past. Only then can we acquire
the joy of Christ's vision, welcomed once we no longer desire to make sin real,
and protect it by the guilt perceived in another. As this vision is welcomed,
<and nothing else beside it>, it extends into the forever of knowledge.*

(10) "Say, then:

The light has come. I have forgiven the world.

Should you be tempted, say to anyone who seems to pull you back into darkness:

The light has come. I have forgiven you."

*We practice so that this vision of light would come more quickly, along with
the joy of forgiveness. What speeds us along is our willingness to practice
vigilance against our grievances, that forgiveness would shine away the darkness
of guilt that had enshrouded us and the world in pain and misery.*

(11) "We dedicate this day to the serenity in which God would have you be. Keep
it in your awareness of yourself and see it everywhere today, as we celebrate
the beginning of your vision and the sight of the real world, which has come to
replace the unforgiven world you thought was real."

*Jesus continues to inspire with the happy outcome of peace he assures us is
ours. We need merely desire it as fully as we desire to leave the unforgiven
world, and walk into the light born of forgiving our partners in specialness.
This light is our reality and reward, as Jesus portrays so beautifully in this
passage from the text, a lovely way to end our discussion of this lesson:

"This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean
and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here,
for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the truth.
... All this beauty will rise to bless your sight as you look upon the world
with forgiving eyes. For forgiveness literally transforms vision, and lets you
see the real world reaching quietly and gently across chaos, removing all
illusions that had twisted your perception and fixed it on the past. ... Go out
in gladness to meet with your Redeemer, and walk with Him in trust out of this
world, and into the real world of beauty and forgiveness."
(T-17.II.2:1-3;6:1-2;8:5).*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 74. There is no will but God's.

#93073

Lesson 74. There is no will but God's.

(1) The idea for today can be regarded as the central thought toward which all
our exercises are directed. God's is the only Will. When you have recognized
this, you have recognized that your will is His. The belief that conflict is
possible has gone. Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by
conflicting goals. As an expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but
His.

(2) There is great peace in today's idea, and the exercises for today are
directed towards finding it. The idea itself is wholly true. Therefore it cannot
give rise to illusions. Without illusions conflict is impossible. Let us try to
recognize this today, and experience the peace this recognition brings.

(3) Begin the longer practice periods by repeating these thoughts several times,
slowly and with firm determination to understand what they mean, and to hold
them in mind:

There is no will but God's. I cannot be in conflict.<

Then spend several minutes in adding some related thoughts, such as:

I am at peace.

Nothing can disturb me. My will is God's.
My will and God's are one.
God wills peace for His Son.<

During this introductory phase, be sure to deal quickly with any conflict
thoughts that may cross your mind. Tell yourself immediately:

There is no will but God's.

These conflict thoughts are meaningless.<

(4) If there is one conflict area that seems particularly difficult to resolve,
single it out for special consideration. Think about it briefly but very
specifically, identify the particular person or persons and the situation or
situations involved, and tell yourself:

There is no will but God's. I share it with Him.

My conflicts about ______ cannot be real.<

(5) After you have cleared your mind in this way, close your eyes and try to
experience the peace to which your reality entitles you. Sink into it and feel
it closing around you. There may be some temptation to mistake these attempts
for withdrawal, but the difference is easily detected. If you are succeeding,
you will feel a deep sense of joy and an increased alertness, rather than a
feeling of drowsiness and enervation.

(6) Joy characterizes peace. By this experience will you recognize that you have
reached it. If you feel yourself slipping off into withdrawal, quickly repeat
the idea for today and try again. Do this as often as necessary. There is
definite gain in refusing to allow retreat into withdrawal, even if you do not
experience the peace you seek.

(7) In the shorter periods, which should be undertaken at regular and
predetermined intervals today, say to yourself:

There is no will but God's.

I seek His peace today.<

Then try to find what you are seeking. A minute or two every half an hour, with
eyes closed if possible, would be well spent on this today.

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

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 74. There is no will but God's.

(1:1) "The idea for today can be regarded as the central thought toward which
all our exercises are directed."

*This is Jesus' way of rephrasing for us our sole responsibility, which is to
accept the Atonement for ourselves. The tiny, mad idea, once taken seriously by
the ego, says the separation from God is a fact, and that the Son has a will
separate and distinct from the Will of his Creator. This "will" of the Son can
now establish its own reality as an autonomous entity. From that basic premise
the ego system logically follows, up to and including the making of the physical
universe. The ego is thus a statement that says there is indeed a will apart
from God's. This is in contrast to the principle of the Atonement that says
there is no will <but> God's. Any other thought is illusory, and therefore has
never happened. This idea is succinctly captured in the following lines from the
manual for teachers, in the context of the idea of separation:

"In time this happened very long ago. In reality it never happened at all."
(M.2.2.7)

Again, Jesus is saying this idea -- "there is no will but God's" -- is the
central thought of these exercises. In fact, it is the goal of A Course in
Miracles to teach and accept the Atonement for ourselves; to deny the seeming
reality of the ego thought system, which is based on the tiny, mad idea taken
seriously -- "[in the Son's forgetting to laugh at the tiny, mad idea] did the
thought become a serious idea" (T-27.VIII.6.3) -- and an individual self
believed to have an autonomous will outside the Will of God.*

(1:2-3) "God's is the only Will. When you have recognized this, you have
recognized that your will is His."

*This is the last thing the ego ever wants us to understand, because if our will
is His, there is no separation -- another way of stating the Atonement
principle, which undoes the ego. Moreover, if there is no other than God, there
can be no choosing and hence, no decision maker. The Holy Spirit holds this
Atonement thought in our minds, and the ego's fear of our choosing to identify
only with this motivates it to develop the strategy of mindlessness -- the world
of bodies. This fear is succinctly summarized in the following statement from
the text:

"You are afraid to know God's Will, because you believe it is not
yours. This belief is your whole sickness and your whole fear."
(T-11.1.10:3-4).*

(1:4) "The belief that conflict is possible has gone."

*We find in these lessons -- which is why we are studying them so closely -- the
entirety of the ego's thought system as presented more fully in the text. If I
have a will that is separate from God's, the ego tells me I earned it by
triumphing over my Great Adversary. By thus winning the great conflict, I
deserve the wonderful fruits of individuality. This winning, however, is called
<sin> by the ego, followed by <guilt>, the projection of which causes us to make
a God in our image and likeness: One Who has been sinned against, and now
angrily and justifiably seeks retribution, an attack we justifiably <fear>. As
you may recall from our previous discussion, the second and third laws of chaos
(T-23.II.5-8) specifically address this issue of a vengeful, angry God; an image
present in everyone, regardless of their religion or lack thereof. In the
Western world, the image is grounded in the biblical God -- a vengeful deity who
believes in the reality of sin.

Once we project our sin, a seemingly eternal battleground is established in our
minds. <That> is the conflict -- between ourselves and God, since He is the One
we believe we have attacked, and Whose vengeance is demanded by our guilt. It
goes without saying that this is not the true God. However, within our insane
dream, which begins with the belief we are autonomous individuals, this conflict
is quite real. It leads us to repress the terrifying thought, and -- through
projection -- make up a world in which we see conflict all around us, but no
longer within our minds. We believe everyone and everything is at war with us,
the fragmentary shadows of the original conflict. Whether this takes the form of
outright enemies -- what we call special hate, or the more subtle enemies we
call our special loves -- the conflict remains. It is a battle not only with
individuals, but with life itself, the chief characteristic of which is death.
Hence, as Freud taught, from the moment we are born we are preparing to die. The
ultimate thought of death, therefore, is the primary conflict we experience
here, yet this is but a thought we have a will separate from God's. We won that
will by destroying Him, and now He is going to rise from the grave and destroy
us, seizing back the life we believe we took from Him.*

(1:5-6) "Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting
goals. As an expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but His."

*Recall for a moment Lesson 24 and 25, in which Jesus explains that we do not
know our own best interests. One of the exercises had us take a problem and
think about its best solution. Jesus told us if we really did this
conscientiously we would realize we have conflicting goals and thus could not be
sure of what was best for us. One moment we think of something that would work
well, and in the next we think of something else. This forces us to decide
between these shifting goals, which is Jesus' way of teaching us that we do not
understand anything, and certainly not our own interests.

The conflicting goals we experience reflect the original conflict in our minds
between God and ourselves, which really is within ourselves. This ego-projection
of a God is made up. Thus He is not truly there, being nothing but a split-off
part of our already split minds. The ego's conflict is <one or the other, kill
or be killed> -- a conflict played out within our minds, because the figures in
our lives we believe are victimizing us are but characters in our own dreams:
hallucinatory figures of our delusional thought system. However, when we turn
away from the ego's thought system -- conflict, sin, and individuality -- and
are back with the Holy Spirit, we have accepted the Atonement. There is only
<one> goal -- already accepted -- which is remembering Who we are and returning
home.*

(2:1) "There is great peace in today's idea, and the exercises for today are
directed towards finding it."

*In fact, we can find peace <only> through this idea. It comes in many, many
different forms, but its essence is that peace is found in accepting the idea
that we never separated from God, and therefore are not separate from anyone or
anything else.*

(2:2-4) "The idea itself is wholly true. Therefore it cannot give rise to
illusions. Without illusions conflict is impossible."

*The illusions are everything the ego tells us is true. Thus, once we begin with
the basic premise there is another will besides God's -- the tiny, mad idea
taken seriously, which leads us to believe that we exist as separate individuals
-- the other illusions logically follow: I am sinful, guilty, and afraid of
punishment, my inevitable fate if I am to remain in my mind. In order to project
this newly acquired self, I have to project the basic conflict between me and my
image of God, making a world in which I experience a new set of problems -- all
perceived outside my mind.

These, then, are the illusions, and they stem from our not accepting the
principle of the Atonement that there is no will but God's, which means the
separation never happened. Therefore, once these illusions are looked at and let
go, there can be no conflict, which, again, is between our guilty, sinful part
of ourselves we do not want to let into our awareness, and the guilty, sinful
part of ourselves we have projected as the image of God. When the thought of sin
is no longer accorded faith, there can be no illusions or conflict; and
therefore no pain or suffering.*

(2:5-3:1) "Let us try to recognize this today, and experience the peace this
recognition brings."
"Begin the longer practice periods by repeating these thoughts several times,
slowly and with firm determination to understand what they mean, and to hold
them in mind:"

*I mentioned twice before than many statements in the workbook can be
misunderstood as affirmations, similar to those found in many New Age systems
where they shout down people's ego's by replacing negative thoughts with
positive ones. It is quite obvious this does not work, for all it accomplishes
is our repressing our bad thoughts into the unconscious, and whatever is
repressed has a most unfortunate way of finding its way back out, either in
attacking others (judgment) and/or attacking ourselves (sickness).

Jesus is not encouraging us to bring truth to the illusion -- the truth of these
statements to the illusions we believe in -- but rather is teaching us to
bring the illusions of our ego's thoughts to this truth. Whenever we are tempted
to feel upset, therefore, we need to bring that upset and all its seeming causes
to the truth: we made this up. We know we have because there is no Will but
God's.

To repeat, these are not statements we should use to shout down our ego's, but
instead we should bring our ego's raucous shrieks of guilt and judgment to the
lesson's gentle thought. This process holds not only for these exercises, but
for all the others. Thus we say:*

(3:2-3) "There is no will but God's. I cannot be in conflict."

*This means that when you find yourself unhappy or upset in the course of the
day and honestly look at your ego, you would realize you are upset because you
believe you are in conflict -- someone or something has brought you pain, and
that is the "cause" or the problem. If you recall the statement -- "There is no
will but God's. I cannot be in conflict" -- you recognize that everything you
now perceive comes from the thought that you are in conflict with God. You
suffer at someone else's hands, feel ill, or have lost your peace as a result of
conditions in the world -- all because you believe that you have separated from
your Creator. Stated another way, conflict means duality, which is the essence
of the ego's illusory state of separation; while the Will of God expresses the
non-dualistic truth of the oneness of our reality as God's Son.

This lesson continues the process of training that would have us begin to always
-- not just here, but always -- revisit the ego thought system that underlies
our being upset, angry, depressed, sick, anxious, or fearful. When we look at
the ego with Jesus beside us, we automatically do what he is asking of us in
this lesson. As he tells us at the beginning of the text, he is the Atonement
(T-1.III.4:1): the experience and symbol within our dream that there is no Will
but God's. His loving principle within our minds is proof that nothing has come
between us and the Love of God, and that, moreover, nothing <could> come between
us and this Love, as we now read:*

(3:4-9) "Then spend several minutes in adding some related thoughts, such as:

I am at peace.
Nothing can disturb me. My will is God's.
My will and God's are one.
God wills peace for His Son."

*Jesus continues by telling us how to proceed in these exercises:*

(3:10-13) "During this introductory phase, be sure to deal quickly with any
conflict thoughts that may cross your mind. Tell yourself immediately:

There is no will but God's.
These conflict thoughts are meaningless."

*Once again, Jesus does not want us to shout down our pain or deny our
experience of conflict with anyone or anything, but to bring our suffering to
him. This is analogous to what the great Indian teacher Krishnamurti emphasized
is his teachings: <Stay with the pain.> This was not a call to masochism. It was
a plea to his students not to cover the pain, but to continue on through it to
the love beyond. In A Course in Miracles, Jesus is the one who leads us through
the pain we have first brought to him, to the peace that awaits us beyond the
ego's veil of conflict.*

(4:1) "If there is one conflict area that seems particularly difficult to
resolve, single it out for special consideration."

*As we have seen throughout these lessons, Jesus is asking us to pay careful
attention to our minds, to search them to find the thoughts of conflict. We then
move back from our unhappiness and distress to the underlying thought of
separation that is the basis for the experience of specific conflicts. Rather
than seek to avoid the particular difficult conflict situation, we are
encouraged by Jesus to pay attention to it -- to "single it out for special
consideration" -- which means bringing it to him so that the mind's guilt can be
looked at and let go.*

(4:2-5) "Think about it briefly but very
specifically, identify the particular person or persons and the situation or
situations involved, and tell yourself:

There is no will but God's. I share it with Him.
My conflicts about ______ cannot be real."

*I cannot realize the conflicts between you and me are unreal unless I accept
the fact that I have made them real, <very real>. We first have to look at the
conflict as we experience it, and then retrace it to its source. This process of
looking, of course, is the sum and substance of A Course in Miracles, a process
that is impossible unless we look in the right place: the decision-making part
of the mind, where the mistake was first made. The close of Chapter 5 in the
text provides one example of Jesus' explicit teaching in this regard:

"... the undoing process, which does not come from you, is nevertheless
within you because God placed it there. Your part is merely to return your
thinking to the point at which the error was made, and give it over to the
Atonement in peace." (T-5.VII.6:4-6).

Elsewhere in the text Jesus discusses conflict and how it is resolved by the
vision of the Holy Spirit, the sharing of which is the goal of A Course in
Miracles:

"The Holy Spirit undoes illusions without attacking them, because He cannot
perceive them at all. They therefore do not exist for Him. He resolves the
apparent conflict they engender by perceiving conflict as meaningless. I have
said before that the Holy Spirit perceives the conflict exactly as it is, and it
is meaningless. The Holy Spirit does not want you to understand conflict; He
wants you to realize that, because conflict is meaningless, it is not
understandable." (T-7.VI.6:1-5).

Again, this is why Jesus wants us to perceive the conflict; that we may see
<beyond> it to the truth.

This concludes the first part of the exercise. The second part follows:*

(5:1) "After you have cleared your mind in this way, close your eyes and try to
experience the peace to which your reality entitles you."

*In other words, we have first to be aware of our obscuring thoughts, the clouds
that in an earlier lesson Jesus told us he would take us through (Lesson 70).
Beyond these clouds of defense is the peace of God. Consistently Jesus reminds
us that peace cannot come without first undoing the conflict; light is returned
to us only when we to go through the darkness; and love cannot be remembered
unless we look at the hate.*

(5:2-4) "Sink into it and feel it closing around you. There may be some
temptation to mistake these attempts for withdrawal, but the difference is
easily detected. If you are succeeding, you will feel a deep sense of joy and an
increased alertness, rather than a feeling of drowsiness and enervation."

*Many people experience a tendency to fall asleep when they begin to meditate or
do the lessons. This is Jesus' point of reference here, and he is helping us
understand its defensive purpose of protecting our fear. Drowsiness does not
happen because we are overtired or insincere students. It comes because we fear
the state of peace. When we are aware of our thoughts of conflict we will not
fall asleep. We should therefore ask ourselves why we stay awake with these
thoughts, and fall asleep when we are on the verge of getting beyond them to the
peace of God. The answer is obvious. Peace is threatening because it says there
is no will but God's, and ours is one with His. If the separation never
happened; then we never happened either. <That> is the fear; the fear of losing
our individual self.

It is important when you begin to distract yourself -- by being tired, falling
asleep, or thinking of everything but the exercise -- that you not judge
yourself or feel guilty, but realize the distraction is coming from your fear of
the lessons' goal.*

(6) "Joy characterizes peace. By this experience will you recognize that you
have reached it. If you feel yourself slipping off into withdrawal, quickly
repeat the idea for today and try again. Do this as often as necessary. There is
definite gain in refusing to allow retreat into withdrawal, even if you do not
experience the peace you seek."

*What is helpful about such statements is Jesus' gentleness in pointing out our
potential resistance to these lessons. If he is expecting us to have difficulty
and does not judge us for it, there is no reason, again, to judge ourselves when
we forget to do the exercises, or begin them and promptly fall asleep.

When we allow ourselves to move beyond the thoughts of anger, depression, and
conflict, we joyously feel the peace of knowing our sins are forgiven and have
had no effect on the love and light within. Such joy is impossible if we do not
first accept our self-concepts of sin, guilt, and failure. "Failing" the
workbook offers us perfect opportunities of looking at these ego concepts, and
then moving beyond them to the truth about ourselves.*

(7) "In the shorter periods, which should be undertaken at regular and
predetermined intervals today, say to yourself:

There is no will but God's.
I seek His peace today.

Then try to find what you are seeking. A minute or two every half an hour, with
eyes closed if possible, would be well spent on this today."

*If the goal of peace is truly ours, we shall happily embrace the means of
attaining it as well. Our constant remembrances throughout the day reflect this
embrace. Therefore, once again, forgetting "the minute or two" we are asked to
spend every thirty minutes helps us get in touch with our ambivalence about the
goal. This alerts us to our inner conflict, and provides constant opportunities
for forgiving ourselves for the "sin" of pushing God away. From time to time we
shall return to this important aspect of our workbook practice.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 73. I will there be light.

#93072

Lesson 73. I will there be light.

(1) Today we are considering the will you share with God. This is not the same
as the ego's idle wishes, out of which darkness and nothingness arise. The will
you share with God has all the power of creation in it. The ego's idle wishes
are unshared, and therefore have no power at all. Its wishes are not idle in the
sense that they can make a world of illusions in which your belief can be very
strong. But they are idle indeed in terms of creation. They make nothing that is
real.

(2) Idle wishes and grievances are partners or co-makers in picturing the world
you see. The wishes of the ego gave rise to it, and the ego's need for
grievances, which are necessary to maintain it, peoples it with figures that
seem to attack you and call for "righteous" judgment. These figures become the
middlemen the ego employs to traffic in grievances. They stand between your
awareness and your brothers' reality. Beholding them, you do not know your
brothers or your Self.

(3) Your will is lost to you in this strange bartering, in which guilt is traded
back and forth, and grievances increase with each exchange. Can such a world
have been created by the Will the Son of God shares with his Father? Did God
create disaster for His Son? Creation is the Will of Both together. Would God
create a world that kills Himself?

(4) Today we will try once more to reach the world that is in accordance with
your will. The light is in it because it does not oppose the Will of God. It is
not Heaven, but the light of Heaven shines on it. Darkness has vanished. The
ego's idle wishes have been withdrawn. Yet the light that shines upon this world
reflects your will, and so it must be in you that we will look for it.

(5) Your picture of the world can only mirror what is within. The source of
neither light nor darkness can be found without. Grievances darken your mind,
and you look out on a darkened world. Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts
your will, and lets you look upon a world of light. We have repeatedly
emphasized that the barrier of grievances is easily passed, and cannot stand
between you and your salvation. The reason is very simple. Do you really want to
be in hell? Do you really want to weep and suffer and die?

(6) Forget the ego's arguments which seek to prove all this is really Heaven.
You know it is not so. You cannot want this for yourself. There is a point
beyond which illusions cannot go. Suffering is not happiness, and it is
happiness you really want. Such is your will in truth. And so salvation is your
will as well. You want to succeed in what we are trying to do today. We
undertake it with your blessing and your glad accord.

(7) We will succeed today if you remember that you want salvation for yourself.
You want to accept God's plan because you share in it. You have no will that can
really oppose it, and you do not want to do so. Salvation is for you. Above all
else, you want the freedom to remember Who you really are. Today it is the ego
that stands powerless before your will. Your will is free, and nothing can
prevail against it.

(8) Therefore, we undertake the exercises for today in happy confidence, certain
that we will find what it is your will to find, and remember what it is your
will to remember. No idle wishes can detain us, nor deceive us with an illusion
of strength. Today let your will be done, and end forever the insane belief that
it is hell in place of Heaven that you choose.

(9) We will begin our longer practice periods with the recognition that God's
plan for salvation, and only His, is wholly in accord with your will. It is not
the purpose of an alien power, thrust upon you unwillingly. It is the one
purpose here on which you and your Father are in perfect accord. You will
succeed today, the time appointed for the release of the Son of God from hell
and from all idle wishes. His will is now restored to his awareness. He is
willing this very day to look upon the light in him and be saved.

(10) After reminding yourself of this, and determining to keep your will clearly
in mind, tell yourself with gentle firmness and quiet certainty:

I will there be light. Let me behold the light. Let me behold the light

that reflects God's Will and mine.<

Then let your will assert itself, joined with the power of God and united with
your Self. Put the rest of the practice period under Their guidance. Join with
Them as They lead the way.

(11) In the shorter practice periods, again make a declaration of what you
really want. Say:

I will there be light. Darkness is not my will.<

This should be repeated several times an hour. It is most important, however, to
apply today's idea in this form immediately you are tempted to hold a grievance
of any kind. This will help you let your grievances go, instead of cherishing
them and hiding them in darkness.

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

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 73. I will there be light.

*In this lesson Jesus continues to talk about grievances. He begins, however, by
contrasting <will> with <wish>, a distinction that is explained more fully in
the text (see, e.g., T-7.X.4-7) the ego wishes; spirit wills.*

(1:1-2) "Today we are considering the will you share with God. This is not the
same as the ego's idle wishes, out of which darkness and nothingness arise."

*The ego's idle wish is to be separate from the Will of God, an individual self
apart from His living Oneness. Out of that illusory wish arise nothingness and
darkness: first the ego thought system of sin, guilt, and fear, and then the
world.*

(1:3-7) "The will you share with God has all the power of creation in it. The
ego's idle wishes are unshared, and therefore have no power at all. Its wishes
are not idle in the sense that they can make a world of illusions in which your
belief can be very strong. But they are idle indeed in terms of creation. They
make nothing that is real."

*The ego's idle wishes have no power in reality, but they certainly do within
the dream. On the level of truth, the ego is absolutely nothing, but within its
own thought system it is very powerful. After all, it believes it destroyed
Heaven. Yet because the ego is on its own, it lacks the power of Heaven's
Oneness, which is the power of creation. The ego's "power" of miscreation can
only make illusions; hence, it is idle. I mentioned above that in the text Jesus
makes the same distinction. Here is an excerpt from his comments:

"God wills. He does not wish. Your will is as powerful as His because it is
His. The ego's wishes do not mean anything, because the ego wishes for the
impossible. You can wish for the impossible, but you can will only with God.
This is the ego's weakness and your strength." (T.7.X.4.6-11).*

(2) "Idle wishes and grievances are partners or co-makers in picturing the world
you see. The wishes of the ego gave rise to it, and the ego's need for
grievances, which are necessary to maintain it, peoples it with figures that
seem to attack you and call for "righteous" judgment. These figures become the
middlemen the ego employs to traffic in grievances. They stand between your
awareness and your brothers' reality. Beholding them, you do not know your
brothers or your Self."

*When Jesus talks about "picturing the world [we] see," he does not mean there
is a world out there that we simply misperceive. He is speaking of the <world of
perception> that we see. It is not just that we see by means our misthoughts.
The fact that we see in the first place is the object of Jesus' correction. The
perceptual world -- "the delusional system of those made mad by guilt."
(T.13.IN.2.2) -- was made by the wish to protect our mind's decision to be
separate, and the dynamic of projection, which accomplished this, is also
utilized to protect the original (or primary) projection. Our grievances against
others -- the secondary projections if you will -- perpetuate the delusional
system of separation by keeping them separate from us, at the same time holding
them up as sinners deserving punishment. All this -- the special love and hate
relationships are the ego's bread and butter -- continually attack our and our
brother's reality as Christ: God's one Son, undifferentiated and undivided. Our
specialness clothes them in the darkness of our needs and demands, hiding the
light that unites us all as one Self.*

(3) "Your will is lost to you in this strange bartering, in which guilt is
traded back and forth, and grievances increase with each exchange. Can such a
world have been created by the Will the Son of God shares with his Father? Did
God create disaster for His Son? Creation is the Will of Both together. Would
God create a world that kills Himself?"

*Once again, Jesus is not speaking of a world in which there is physical death,
plane crashes, or other disastrous occurrences; he is speaking of a physical
world, <period>. The world of perception is the world of duality; the world of
special relationships in which each partner bargains with the other for some
scraps of specialness. Each seeks to give as little and receive as much as
possible in return. This strange and unnatural way of relating -- one ego self
trying to negotiate with another ego self for what is ultimately worthless -- is
depicted quite explicitly in this passage form "The Choice for Completion":

"Most curious of all is the concept of the self which the ego fosters in
the special relationship. This "self" seeks the relationship to make itself
complete. Yet when it finds the special relationship in which it thinks it can
accomplish this it gives itself away, and tries to "trade" itself for the self
of another. This is not union, for there is no increase and no extension. Each
partner tries to sacrifice the self he does not want for one he thinks he would
prefer. And he feels guilty for the "sin" of taking, and of giving nothing of
value in return. How much value can he place upon a self that he would give away
to get a "better" one?" (T-16.V.7)

In reading the Bible, a student of A Course in Miracles can see how the biblical
deity is directly involved with such a strange bartering, continually trading
grievances with his children. This reinforcement of the ego's principles of
specialness explains the great attraction the Bible has had for its readers and
adherents, and one can justifiably ask whether the God of Love and Oneness could
possibly be involved with such insanity?*

(4) "Today we will try once more to reach the world that is in accordance with
your will. The light is in it because it does not oppose the Will of God. It is
not Heaven, but the light of Heaven shines on it. Darkness has vanished. The
ego's idle wishes have been withdrawn. Yet the light that shines upon this world
reflects your will, and so it must be in you that we will look for it."

*This is the real world. While still an illusion, it yet reflects the reality of
Heaven as it does not oppose God's Will in any way. In this peaceful state we
stand outside the dream, seeing the physical world for what it is. We have
accepted the Atonement for ourselves by choosing, <once and for all>, against
the separation wishes of the ego. All that remains is the light of the
Atonement's truth within our minds, patiently awaiting our decision to look for
it.*

(5:1-4) "Your picture of the world can only mirror what is within. The source of
neither light nor darkness can be found without. Grievances darken your mind,
and you look out on a darkened world. Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts
your will, and lets you look upon a world of light."

*Truth and illusions are both within our minds; not outside, as the ego would
have us believe. This idea is more than familiar to us by now: What we see
outside is a projection of what we have first seen inside: <projection makes
perception.> If we want to see light outside, we first must see it within, which
we cannot reach without going through the darkness. Forgiveness -- undoing the
mind's guilt -- is therefore the means of accomplishing this happy and
light-filled outcome.*

(5:5-8) "We have repeatedly emphasized that the barrier of grievances is easily
passed, and cannot stand between you and your salvation. The reason is very
simple. Do you really want to be in hell? Do you really want to weep and suffer
and die?"

*The barrier is easily passed because it consists of nothing but our decision to
be in the hell of separation and attack. Once taught by Jesus that all
suffering, even unto death, has come from this decision, the answer is very
simple: change our minds and forgive.*

(6:1-4) "Forget the ego's arguments which seek to prove all this is really
Heaven. You know it is not so. You cannot want this for yourself. There is a
point beyond which illusions cannot go."

*In other words, illusions will never make us happy. We have to accept that
statement as fact before we can be willing to ask Jesus' help. The illusions of
specialness can certainly bring us happiness and pleasure, but these can never
last because our special relationships were made <not> to last. This is "the
point beyond which illusions cannot go." Why would we want to seek for what will
inevitably fail us? Jesus repeatedly returns to this point, since its appeal is
what he hopes will eventually turn us away from hell.*

(6:5-6) "Suffering is not happiness, and it is happiness you really want. Such
is your will in truth."

*Once again, Jesus is pointing out our need to realize that what we do in this
world does not make us happy. Until we can accept that, and accept that none of
our specialness is going to end our pain or bring us joy, we are not going to
ask for his help, at least not sincerely. Intrinsic to this process is
acknowledging, as we have seen earlier, that only he can teach us the difference
between pain and joy, imprisonment and freedom, suffering and happiness.*

(6:7-9) "And so salvation is your will as well. You want to succeed in what we
are trying to do today. We undertake it with your blessing and your glad
accord."

*Jesus cannot help us unless we give such help our blessing. That is why he must
first convince us he is right and we are wrong, and that we truly prefer to be
happy and not right (T-29.VII.1:9). Without such conviction we would never
choose to follow him. That is why he needs us as much as we need him
(T-8.V.6:10). We need to want to be helped; only then can our salvation be
accomplished.*

(7) "We will succeed today if you remember that you want salvation for yourself.
You want to accept God's plan because you share in it. You have no will that can
really oppose it, and you do not want to do so. Salvation is for you. Above all
else, you want the freedom to remember Who you really are. Today it is the ego
that stands powerless before your will. Your will is free, and nothing can
prevail against it."

*Another pep talk from Jesus, reminding us to remember how much we want his
salvation instead of the ego's slavation; that our freedom lies in ourselves as
does our imprisonment. When we are tempted to forget, he reminds us that no
matter how powerful the ego appears to be -- external <and> internal -- it can
have no power over us unless we choose to let it. That is why nothing can
prevail against our will, as he tells us in the text:

"The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will
not prevail against it (T-4.III.1:12; italics omitted).

That is the source of our hope and our joy.*

(8) "Therefore, we undertake the exercises for today in happy confidence,
certain that we will find what it is your will to find, and remember what it is
your will to remember. No idle wishes can detain us, nor deceive us with an
illusion of strength. Today let your will be done, and end forever the insane
belief that it is hell in place of Heaven that you choose."

*The pep talk continues, as Jesus wants us to understand the inherent weakness
of the ego's illusory wishes, which in no way can compare with the strength of
our will, always at one with the Will of our Creator and Source.*

(9) "We will begin our longer practice periods with the recognition that God's
plan for salvation, and only His, is wholly in accord with your will. It is not
the purpose of an alien power, thrust upon you unwillingly. It is the one
purpose here on which you and your Father are in perfect accord. You will
succeed today, the time appointed for the release of the Son of God from hell
and from all idle wishes. His will is now restored to his awareness. He is
willing this very day to look upon the light in him and be saved."

*We are asked by Jesus to put into practice what he has been teaching us; to
think seriously during the day's long practice periods about our mistake in
thinking we would want, even if we could, to oppose God's Will. He asks us to
see how unhappy such a mistake has made us, and how happy we could be simply
setting aside our ego's opposition to the truth. Thus do we welcome the Will of
God where it is already, as the awareness of Heaven is restored to our minds in
place of the hell we had made in its stead.

It is important to understand that we must truly accept this teaching;
otherwise, we might choose to practice these lessons <behaviorally>, without
really wanting to do so. Early in the text Jesus cautions us against this very
mistake of entering into the conflict of not wanting to do what we feel he is
asking us do, yet doing it anyway:

"You can behave as you think you should, but without entirely wanting to do
so. This produces consistent behavior, but entails great strain ... resulting in
a situation in which you are doing what you do not wholly want to do. This
arouses a sense of coercion that usually produces rage, and projection is likely
to follow. " (T-2:VI.5:4-7).

That is why Jesus is continually emphasizing the benefits to us of letting our
grievances go. He wants us to <want> to forgive. Only then will we truly and
joyfully choose to do so.*

(10) "After reminding yourself of this, and determining to keep your will
clearly in mind, tell yourself with gentle firmness and quiet certainty:

I will there be light. Let me behold the light that reflects God's Will and
mine.

Then let your will assert itself, joined with the power of God and united with
your Self. Put the rest of the practice period under Their guidance. Join with
Them as They lead the way."

*We do our part by joining God and Christ in our minds. This allows our joint
Will to shine through us, embracing the Sonship in the oneness of love. This
process of reflecting creation's will of light -- the essence of healing --
finds lovely expression in the final principle of miracle workers, known to many
students of A Course in Miracles as the "Prayer for Salvation":

I am here only to be truly helpful.
I am here to represent Him Who sent me.
I do not have to worry about what to say or
what to do, because He Who sent me will
direct me.
I am content to be wherever He wishes,
knowing He goes there with me.
I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal.
(T-2.18:2-6)

Thus are we guided daily to heal as we are healed, forgive as we are forgiven,
and love as we are loved.*

(11:1-5)"In the shorter practice periods, again make a declaration of what you
really want. Say:

I will there be light. Darkness is not my will.

This should be repeated several times an hour."

*Our decision is reflected by the willingness to remember -- as often as we can
-- that our will and God's are one, the ego's delusions of grandeur
not-withstanding. We reinforce this willingness because of our recognition that
illusions breed darkness, while the truth sets us free by virtue of its light --
<our> light as God's Son, the Self He created as Himself.*

(11:6:7) "It is most important, however, to apply today's idea in this form
immediately you are tempted to hold a grievance of any kind. This will help you
let your grievances go, instead of cherishing them and hiding them in darkness."

*Jesus is always asking us to pay careful attention to our attack thoughts and
grievances. Thus we realize they will not make us happy, for they are an active
attack on God's plan for salvation. We have come to understand that we have
cherished our judgments because of their ability to keep our individuality safe
and the light of Christ in darkness, and the cost to us of cherishing such
defenses was too great. This recognition makes it easier and easier to let our
grievances go, and choose the Holy Spirit's light over the ego's darkness.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 72. Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.

#93071

Lesson 72. Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.

(1) While we have recognized that the ego's plan for salvation is the opposite
of God's, we have not yet emphasized that it is an active attack on His plan,
and a deliberate attempt to destroy it. In the attack, God is assigned the
attributes which are actually associated with the ego, while the ego appears to
take on the attributes of God.

(2) The ego's fundamental wish is to replace God. In fact, the ego is the
physical embodiment of that wish. For it is that wish that seems to surround the
mind with a body, keeping it separate and alone, and unable to reach other minds
except through the body that was made to imprison it. The limit on communication
cannot be the best means to expand communication. Yet the ego would have you
believe that it is.

(3) Although the attempt to keep the limitations that a body would impose is
obvious here, it is perhaps not so apparent why holding grievances is an attack
on God's plan for salvation. But let us consider the kinds of things you are apt
to hold grievances for. Are they not always associated with something a body
does? A person says something you do not like. He does something that displeases
you. He "betrays" his hostile thoughts in his behavior.

(4) You are not dealing here with what the person is. On the contrary, you are
exclusively concerned with what he does in a body. You are doing more than
failing to help in freeing him from the body's limitations. You are actively
trying to hold him to it by confusing it with him, and judging them as one.
Herein is God attacked, for if His Son is only a body, so must He be as well. A
creator wholly unlike his creation is inconceivable.

(5) If God is a body, what must His plan for salvation be? What could it be but
death? In trying to present Himself as the Author of life and not of death, He
is a liar and a deceiver, full of false promises and offering illusions in place
of truth. The body's apparent reality makes this view of God quite convincing.
In fact, if the body were real, it would be difficult indeed to escape this
conclusion. And every grievance that you hold insists that the body is real. It
overlooks entirely what your brother is. It reinforces your belief that he is a
body, and condemns him for it. And it asserts that his salvation must be death,
projecting this attack onto God, and holding Him responsible for it.

(6) To this carefully prepared arena, where angry animals seek for prey and
mercy cannot enter, the ego comes to save you. God made you a body. Very well.
Let us accept this and be glad. As a body, do not let yourself be deprived of
what the body offers. Take the little you can get. God gave you nothing. The
body is your only savior. It is the death of God and your salvation.

(7) This is the universal belief of the world you see. Some hate the body, and
try to hurt and humiliate it. Others love the body, and try to glorify and exalt
it. But while the body stands at the center of your concept of yourself, you are
attacking God's plan for salvation, and holding your grievances against Him and
His creation, that you may not hear the Voice of truth and welcome It as Friend.
Your chosen savior takes His place instead. It is your friend; He is your enemy.

(8) We will try today to stop these senseless attacks on salvation. We will try
to welcome it instead. Your upside-down perception has been ruinous to your
peace of mind. You have seen yourself in a body and the truth outside you,
locked away from your awareness by the body's limitations. Now we are going to
try to see this differently.

(9) The light of truth is in us, where it was placed by God. It is the body that
is outside us, and is not our concern. To be without a body is to be in our
natural state. To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves
as we are. To see our Self as separate from the body is to end the attack on
God's plan for salvation, and to accept it instead. And wherever His plan is
accepted, it is accomplished already.

(10) Our goal in the longer practice periods today is to become aware that God's
plan for salvation has already been accomplished in us. To achieve this goal, we
must replace attack with acceptance. As long as we attack it, we cannot
understand what God's plan for us is. We are therefore attacking what we do not
recognize. Now we are going to try to lay judgment aside, and ask what God's
plan for us is:

What is salvation, Father? I do not know.

Tell me, that I may understand.<

He will answer. Be determined to hear.

(13) One or perhaps two shorter practice periods an hour will be enough for
today, since they will be somewhat longer than usual. These exercises should
begin with this:

Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.

Let me accept it instead. What is salvation, Father?<

Then wait a minute or so in silence, preferably with your eyes closed, and
listen for His answer.

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

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 72. Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.

*Viewing the lessons as a series, different movements in a gigantic symphony, we
see how each one is part of the larger whole, the lessons building upon
themselves as the music of forgiveness evolves. In this lesson Jesus talks a
great deal about the body. Yet it is not the body that is the problem, but our
belief in it. This defends against the body's source: the guilt in our minds.*

(1:1) "While we have recognized that the ego's plan for salvation is the
opposite of God's, we have not yet emphasized that it is an active attack on His
plan, and a deliberate attempt to destroy it."

*If we really experienced this "deliberate attempt" the instant we started
making judgments and holding grievances, we would stop instantly. The ego splits
off the effect from the cause, so that we are not aware of what we are doing,
allowing us blissfully to keep on doing it. Jesus was making the same point in
the text when he discussed the viciousness of the special relationship, not only
to destroy God's "plan" of forgiveness but to destroy God Himself. We have
already discussed the paragraph's opening sentence:

"If you perceived the special relationship as a triumph over God, would you
want it? Let us not think of its fearful nature, nor of the guilt it must
entail, nor of the sadness and the loneliness. For these are only attributes of
the whole religion of separation, and of the total context in which it is
thought to occur. The central theme in its litany to sacrifice is that God must
die so you can live. And it is this theme that is acted out in the special
relationship." (T.16.V.10.1-5)

It is essential that we recognize the effects of our judgments; otherwise
choosing against them would have no meaning and, indeed, could never happen.*

(1:2) "In the attack, God is assigned the attributes which are actually
associated with the ego, while the ego appears to take on the attributes of
God."

*This is an important theme in A Course in Miracles, and helps us to understand
why the world has made such hideous images of God: destroyer, avenger, punisher,
arbiter of specialness, etc. We project our unconscious thoughts about
ourselves, and have them now be in God. We discussed this in the previous
lesson, citing the text's statement of the impossibility of <not> perceiving God
as a body once we believe we are bodies -- <projection makes perception>. It is
not only our belief in the body that we project onto God, but the underlying
thought system of sin, guilt, and fear. Given the immutable nature of this
fundamental principle of the mind -- again, <projection makes perception> -- it
cannot <not> be the case that we would project our unconscious attributes of
selfishness and hate onto our Creator; He, the great killer. In the following
images of sun and sunbeam, ocean and ripple, God is perceived by the little self
to be a monster:

"In its amazing arrogance, this tiny sunbeam has decided it is the sun; this
almost imperceptible ripple hails itself as the ocean. Think how alone and
frightened is this little thought, this infinitesimal illusion, holding itself
apart against the universe. The sun becomes the sunbeam's "enemy" that would
devour it, and the ocean terrifies the little ripple and wants to swallow it."
(T-18.VIII.3:4-6).

Moreover, it cannot <not> be the case that we would believe -- following another
ego principle of <one or the other> -- that what was once God's has become ours.
<We> -- the separated and autonomous ego self -- have become the creators. We
shall return to these fundamental ego dynamics later in the workbook.*

(2) "The ego's fundamental wish is to replace God. In fact, the ego is the
physical embodiment of that wish. For it is that wish that seems to surround the
mind with a body, keeping it separate and alone, and unable to reach other minds
except through the body that was made to imprison it. The limit on communication
cannot be the best means to expand communication. Yet the ego would have you
believe that it is."

*These are explicit statements of the ego's essence, the stark reality of its
desire to become autonomous, independent, and free, < and then believing it has
accomplished this impossibility > ! The body, then, "is the physical embodiment
of [ the ego's ] wish" to replace God and be on its own. In the text Jesus
teaches that the body is a limit on love (T-18.VIII.1:2). <Communication> in the
Course, however, is the song of unlimited love the Father and Son sing to each
other, a song of perfect oneness and unity. The body keeps that reality separate
from our awareness. "The Little Garden" also expresses the idea that the body
keeps us separated from God, as we see in this representative passage:

"God cannot come into a body, nor can you join Him there. Limits on love
will always seem to shut Him out, and keep you apart from Him. The body is a
tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and complete idea. It draws a
circle, infinitely small, around a very little segment of Heaven, splintered
from the whole, proclaiming that within it is your kingdom, where God can enter
not." (T-18.VIII.2:3-6).

In the next two paragraphs Jesus explains that when we hold grievances they are
always against a body. This relates to the idea in Lesson 161, which I mentioned
earlier, that hate is specific. If I am going to hate, there must be a body out
there to be hated. Jesus is helping us realize that our grievances always deal
with bodies, the antithesis of our, and our brother's identity as spirit:*

(3) "Although the attempt to keep the limitations that a body would impose is
obvious here, it is perhaps not so apparent why holding grievances is an attack
on God's plan for salvation. But let us consider the kinds of things you are apt
to hold grievances for. Are they not always associated with something a body
does? A person says something you do not like. He does something that displeases
you. He "betrays" his hostile thoughts in his behavior."

*Recall the essential role of the body in its plan to keep the Son of God
mindless. It not only solidifies the ego's claim that the separation actually
occurred, but the magical hope as well that someone else's body will be the
secure repository of our guilt. Thus do our bodies' eyes roam viciously around
their world, ready to pounce on any proof that our brother is the sinner,
leaving us innocent and free of any threat of punishment. Our brother "says
something [ we] do not like" because we want him to say something we do not
like. This does not mean we are responsible for what is said, but we are most
definitely responsible for our interpretation of what he said. In other words,
we <want> the hostility to be in another, directed at ourselves, and so we see
it there, as this graphic passage about the ego's "hungry dogs of fear"
(T-19.IV-A.15:6) depicts:

"The messengers of fear are harshly ordered to seek out guilt, and cherish
every scrap of evil and of sin that they can find, losing none of them on pain
of death, and laying them respectfully before their lord and master. ... Fear's
messengers are trained through terror, and ... Its messengers steal guiltily
away in hungry search of guilt, for they are kept cold and starving and made
very vicious by their master, who allows them to feast only upon what they
return to him. No little shred of guilt escapes their hungry eyes. And in their
savage search for sin they pounce on any living thing they see, and carry it
screaming to their master, to be devoured ... they will bring you word of bones
and skin and flesh. They have been taught to seek for the corruptible, and to
return with gorges filled with things decayed and rotted. To them such things
are beautiful, because they seem to allay their savage pangs of hunger."
(T-19.IV.A.11:2;12;3,5-7;13:2-4).

Without the body, these fear-laden dogs would have nothing to feast on, and
their guilt would devour them as punishment for their sin.*

(4:1-4) "You are not dealing here with what the person is. On the contrary, you
are exclusively concerned with what he does in a body. You are doing more than
failing to help in freeing him from the body's limitations. You are actively
trying to hold him to it by confusing it with him, and judging them as one."

* "Shadows of the Past" also tells us we do not see people for the Christ they
are, but as shadowy bodies based on the projection of guilt: or perceived evil
seen in them. The following passage describes the ego's unholy use of the body
-- "as means for vengeance":

"The shadow figures are the witnesses you bring with you to demonstrate he
did what he did not.... They represent the evil that you think was done to you.
You bring them with you only that you may return evil for evil, hoping that
their witness will enable you to think guiltily of another and not harm
yourself. ... They offer you the "reasons" why you should enter into unholy
alliances to support the ego's goals, and make your relationships the witness to
its power.... Without exception, these relationships have as their purpose the
exclusion of the truth about the other, and of yourself. This is why you see in
both what is not there ...And why whatever reminds you of your past grievances
attracts you, and seems to go by the name of love ... And finally, why all such
relationships become attempts at union through the body, for only bodies can be
seen as means for vengeance. That bodies are central to all unholy relationships
is evident." (T-17.III.1:6,9-10,12;2:3-7).

Strictly speaking, I cannot hold you in the ego's hell; but I can certainly
reinforce your choice to be there by equating you with the body, the purpose of
the special relationship. Thus every special relationship -- unfortunately that
means almost all our relationships -- is based upon an illusion. It begins with
the illusion we hold about ourselves -- "the home of evil, darkness, and sin"
(W-pI.93.1.1) -- which we then seek to dispose of through projecting it onto
others. Our belief that we are separated, now projected onto another, leads to
that projected thought given form <and made real>. Thus our brother <is> a body,
and if we are too, it is not our fault. The sinful and guilty shadows of our
past's mistaken decision have become reality to us, and our reality as spirit
has become the illusion.*

(4:5-6) "Herein is God attacked, for if His Son is only a body, so must He be as
well. A creator wholly unlike his creation is inconceivable."

*In Lesson 68 I referred to the concept of God being whatever we conceive His
Son to be. Thus, again, if we see ourselves and others as bodies, it is
impossible that we not see God as one, too. This is because every belief we have
about another comes directly from our belief about ourselves: <projection makes
perception>. That is why, to repeat this important point, Jesus speaks about God
as if he were a body. He calls him "Father," asks us to have a conversation with
Him, and ask Him questions. However, this is not because God knows about the
illusion, as the continuation of the passage of the sun and ocean -- metaphors
for God -- makes clear:

"Yet neither sun nor ocean is even aware of all this strange and
meaningless activity. They merely continue, unaware that they are feared and
hated by a tiny segment of themselves." (T-18.VIII.4:1-2).

Once more, Jesus talks to us <as if> God knows about us, because this is how we
experience God: like perceives like, bodies perceive bodies, illusions perceive
illusions.*

(5:1-5) "If God is a body, what must His plan for salvation be? What could it be
but death? In trying to present Himself as the Author of life and not of death,
He is a liar and a deceiver, full of false promises and offering illusions in
place of truth. The body's apparent reality makes this view of God quite
convincing. In fact, if the body were real, it would be difficult indeed to
escape this conclusion."

*This passage depicts the biblical God -- in spades! When we make our thought
system of individuality real, we make the body real. This means we believe we
have destroyed the true God, replacing Him with a deity literally made up in our
own image, and a lying and deceiving one at that. If the body is real, which we
certainly believe, this image of God <must> be real as well. The ego thought
system, you may recall, is a totally coherent, internally consistent one. Thus,
if the body were real, the thought system that made it and still informs it is
real as well. And God, the projection of our guilt, must be an ego, too. This
same argument begins in Chapter 13 in the text, the context being the world of
bodies, made by "those made mad by guilt":

"The acceptance of guilt into the mind of God's Son was the beginning of
the separation, as the acceptance of the Atonement is its end. The world you see
is the delusional system of those made mad by guilt. Look carefully at this
world, and you will realize that this is so. For this world is the symbol of
punishment, and all the laws that seem to govern it are the laws of death.
Children are born into it through pain and in pain. Their growth is attended by
suffering, and they learn of sorrow and separation and death. Their minds seem
to be trapped in their brain, and its powers to decline if their bodies are
hurt. They seem to love, yet they desert and are deserted. They appear to lose
what they love, perhaps the most insane belief of all. And their bodies wither
and gasp and are laid in the ground, and are no more. Not one of them but has
thought that God is cruel.

If this were the real world, God would be cruel. For no Father could
subject His children to this as the price of salvation and be loving."
(T-13.in.2:1--3:2).

No wonder the biblical God is such a despicable creature. He is <us>! *

(5:6-9) "And every grievance that you hold insists that the body is real. It
overlooks entirely what your brother is. It reinforces your belief that he is a
body, and condemns him for it. And it asserts that his salvation must be death,
projecting this attack onto God, and holding Him responsible for it."

*Projection comes to the ego's rescue, once again! What better way to keep our
true Identity hidden than to see only the mindless body as real. What better way
to keep the body real than to continually see it as the object and perpetrator
of attack. How better to keep the belief in attack real than by punishing it
through the "natural" law of death. Finally, how fiendishly clever on the ego's
part to keep this law immutable by attributing it to Almighty God Himself, as
the Bible so blatantly asserts. One can only admire the ego's ingenuity, even as
we suffer under its guilt-ridden yoke.*

(6) "To this carefully prepared arena, where angry animals seek for prey and
mercy cannot enter, the ego comes to save you. God made you a body. Very well.
Let us accept this and be glad. As a body, do not let yourself be deprived of
what the body offers. Take the little you can get. God gave you nothing. The
body is your only savior. It is the death of God and your salvation."

*This is a rather strong passage, but if we are honest with ourselves we will
realize this is not only what religions have believed, but what we believe, too.
Indeed, religions teach this because they were made by the ego.

The reference here is to the little scraps of specialness we are so desperate to
get, for which we so pitifully settle. This is why Jesus says in the text that
the problem is not that we ask for too much, but for far too little
(T-26.VII.11:7); and why he asks us to consider our use of the body:

"To think you could be satisfied and happy with so little is to hurt
yourself ... " (T-19.IV-A.17:12).

In The Song of Prayer he urges us not to settle for the parts of the song, but
to seek instead the experience of the song itself. In other words, we should not
accept the ego's shabby and specific substitutes of specialness when Jesus is
offering us the totality of God's Love:

"You cannot, then, ask for the echo. It is the song that is the gift. Along
with it come the overtones, the harmonics, the echoes, but these are secondary.
In true prayer you hear only the song. All the rest is merely added. You have
sought first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all else has indeed been given
you."(S-1.I.3.).

The ego has told us that God has given us nothing, for He gave us the body and
left us here, and there is nothing we can do about it. Moreover, He is going to
kill us. Therefore, the ego continues, as long as we are here let us make the
best of it, and get whatever bodily crumbs of pleasure we can! In the
pessimistic words of Isaiah, worthy of the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes:
"Let us eat and drink [ and be merry , adds Ecclesiastes 8:15]; for tomorrow we
shall die" (Isaiah 22:13). The ego then believes it has had the last laugh,
because the very fact there is a body that can live <and> die, means that Gods
and Christ's reality as eternal spirit must be illusory. Thus are we saved
<from> God's Love, and for the ego's specialness.*

(7) "This is the universal belief of the world you see. Some hate the body, and
try to hurt and humiliate it. Others love the body, and try to glorify and exalt
it. But while the body stands at the center of your concept of yourself, you are
attacking God's plan for salvation, and holding your grievances against Him and
His creation, that you may not hear the Voice of truth and welcome It as Friend.
Your chosen savior takes His place instead. It is your friend; He is your
enemy."

*There is no one in this world who does not believe the body saves us from God,
for each of us has chosen to come into this world as a body. And who but the
insane would choose to come to hell rather than remain in Heaven? We all have
chuckled over the Cheshire Cat's response to poor Alice, perhaps without
recognizing Lewis Carroll's wisdom:

"In that direction." the Cat said, waving its right paw, "lives a Hatter: and in
that direction," waving another paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like:
they're both mad."

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're
mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

It makes no difference to the insane ego whether we embrace the body or are
repulsed by it. Either way we have made it real. That is why Jesus tells us
(twice!) in the sections on the obstacles to peace that whether the body is
perceived as pleasurable or painful is irrelevant, as long as believe it has
that capacity (T-19.IV-A.17:10-11;T-19.IV-B.12). Thus have we made it real in
our perception, and turned spirit into illusions. These opposite sides -
pleasure and pain -- of the same bodily coin are discussed again in Lesson 155.

The devotion to the body goes right to the heart of our motivation. We do not
want to hear the Voice of truth, which signals the end of the ego self.
Therefore we first silence the Holy Spirit by our guilt, and by glorifying the
body as our friend and savior.*

(8) "We will try today to stop these senseless attacks on salvation. We will try
to welcome it instead. Your upside-down perception has been ruinous to your
peace of mind. You have seen yourself in a body and the truth outside you,
locked away from your awareness by the body's limitations. Now we are going to
try to see this differently."

*Again, after making his case, Jesus appeals to us to listen, and therefore
choose again. At the end of the text Jesus makes this same appeal, even more
emphatically:

"Temptation has one lesson it would teach, in all its forms, wherever it
occurs. It would persuade the holy Son of God he is a body, born in what must
die, unable to escape its frailty, and bound by what it orders him to feel. It
sets the limits on what he can do; its power is the only strength he has; his
grasp cannot exceed its tiny reach. Would you be this, if Christ appeared to you
in all His glory, asking you but this: Choose once again if you would take your
place among the saviors of the world, or would remain in hell, and hold your
brothers there. For He has come, and He is asking this:

"Choose once again if you would take your place among the saviors of the
world, or would remain in hell, and hold your brothers there. For He <has> come,
and He <is> asking this." (T-31.VIII.1).

The question is clear, the problem even clearer. The answer merely awaits our
inevitable decision.*

(9) "The light of truth is in us, where it was placed by God. It is the body
that is outside us, and is not our concern. To be without a body is to be in our
natural state. To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves
as we are. To see our Self as separate from the body is to end the attack on
God's plan for salvation, and to accept it instead. And wherever His plan is
accepted, it is accomplished already."

*Referring to our chart, the light of truth is in our minds -- the inner circle
-- and the body is in the clouds -- the outer circle. Once again, the decision
is ours. It is helpful to return to the workbooks basic purpose: training us to
return to our minds, within which we have a choice between the unnatural thought
system of the body -- reflecting the unnatural thought of the ego -- and the
natural state of our Self as spirit. The decision is made possible by
recognizing the painful futility of holding onto our grievances, when we could
have the peace of God instead.*

(10) "Our goal in the longer practice periods today is to become aware that
God's plan for salvation has already been accomplished in us. To achieve this
goal, we must replace attack with acceptance. As long as we attack it, we cannot
understand what God's plan for us is. We are therefore attacking what we do not
recognize. Now we are going to try to lay judgment aside, and ask what God's
plan for us is:

What is salvation, Father? I do not know.

Tell me, that I may understand.<

Then we will wait in quiet for His answer. We have attacked God's plan for
salvation without waiting to hear what it is. We have shouted our grievances so
loudly that we have not listened to His Voice. We have used our grievances to
close our eyes and stop our ears."

*We have already discussed at length the use of dualistic language in A Course
in Miracles, which is seen again here and requires no further commentary.

Jesus is asking us to set aside our judgments and grievances, for these are the
ego's "raucous shrieks" that prevent us from hearing the gentle Voice of the
Atonement. To quote again from that important passage on specialness:

"What answer that the Holy Spirit gives can reach you, when it is your
specialness to which you listen, and which asks and answers? Its tiny answer,
soundless in the melody that pours from God to you eternally in loving praise of
what you are, is all you listen to. And that vast song of honor and of love for
what you are seems silent and unheard before its "mightiness". You strain your
ears to hear its soundless voice, and yet the Call of God Himself is soundless
to you." (T-24.II.4:3-6).

Our judgments are thus calculated by the unconscious ego to deflect our
attention from the guilt in our minds, focusing it on the body -- our sinful
brother's!*

(11) "Now we would see and hear and learn. "What is salvation, Father?" Ask and
you will be answered. Seek and you will find. We are no longer asking the ego
what salvation is and where to find it. We are asking it of truth. Be certain,
then, that the answer will be true because of Whom you ask."

*Jesus is assuming we have made our choice, released our grievances, and are
free to hear the truth. We have <sought> for the answer where it can be <found>,
where it has awaited our return. Salvation is really not an answer but a
decision, and one which we now happily make.*

(12) "Whenever you feel your confidence wane and your hope of success flicker
and go out, repeat your question and your request, remembering that you are
asking of the infinite Creator of infinity, Who created you like Himself:

What is salvation, Father? I do not know.

Tell me, that I may understand.<

He will answer. Be determined to hear."

*As he almost always does at the end of a lesson, Jesus urges us to remember his
truth when we are tempted to forget our function and embrace the illusion of
attack and judgment. Recall again that judgment is motivated by decision <not>
to hear the Voice that speaks for the Atonement -- the salvation from
separation and pain. Such recollection brings to mind our purpose of remembering
the Love that is the Answer to all problems and concerns. *

(13) "One or perhaps two shorter practice periods an hour will be enough for
today, since they will be somewhat longer than usual. These exercises should
begin with this:

Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.

Let me accept it instead. What is salvation, Father?<

Then wait a minute or so in silence, preferably with your eyes closed, and
listen for His answer."

*Today's instructions call for fewer practice periods than before, and we can
see how Jesus does not want us to be bound by rigid structure. His goal is for
us to be dependent on the <content> of his message not the <form> in which it
comes and with which we practice. Thus he varies the <form> of the daily
exercises, though hardly their <content>.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 71. Only God's plan for salvation will work.

#93070

Lesson 71. Only God's plan for salvation will work.

(1) You may not realize that the ego has set up a plan for salvation in
opposition to God's. It is this plan in which you believe. Since it is the
opposite of God's, you also believe that to accept God's plan in place of the
ego's is to be damned. This sounds preposterous, of course. Yet after we have
considered just what the ego's plan is, perhaps you will realize that, however
preposterous it may be, you do believe in it.

(2) The ego's plan for salvation centers around holding grievances. It maintains
that, if someone else spoke or acted differently, if some external circumstance
or event were changed, you would be saved. Thus, the source of salvation is
constantly perceived as outside yourself. Each grievance you hold is a
declaration, and an assertion in which you believe, that says, "If this were
different, I would be saved." The change of mind necessary for salvation is thus
demanded of everyone and everything except yourself.

(3) The role assigned to your own mind in this plan, then, is simply to
determine what, other than itself, must change if you are to be saved. According
to this insane plan, any perceived source of salvation is acceptable provided
that it will not work. This ensures that the fruitless search will continue, for
the illusion persists that, although this hope has always failed, there is still
grounds for hope in other places and in other things. Another person will yet
serve better; another situation will yet offer success.

(4) Such is the ego's plan for your salvation. Surely you can see how it is in
strict accord with the ego's basic doctrine, "Seek but do not find." For what
could more surely guarantee that you will not find salvation than to channelize
all your efforts in searching for it where it is not?

(5) God's plan for salvation works simply because, by following His direction,
you seek for salvation where it is. But if you are to succeed, as God promises
you will, you must be willing to seek there only. Otherwise, your purpose is
divided and you will attempt to follow two plans for salvation that are
diametrically opposed in all ways. The result can only bring confusion, misery
and a deep sense of failure and despair.

(6) How can you escape all this? Very simply. The idea for today is the answer.
Only God's plan for salvation will work. There can be no real conflict about
this, because there is no possible alternative to God's plan that will save you.
His is the only plan that is certain in its outcome. His is the only plan that
must succeed.

(7) Let us practice recognizing this certainty today. And let us rejoice that
there is an answer to what seems to be a conflict with no resolution possible.
All things are possible to God. Salvation must be yours because of His plan,
which cannot fail.

(8) Begin the two longer practice periods for today by thinking about today's
idea, and realizing that it contains two parts, each making equal contribution
to the whole. God's plan for your salvation will work, and other plans will not.
Do not allow yourself to become depressed or angry at the second part; it is
inherent in the first. And in the first is your full release from all your own
insane attempts and mad proposals to free yourself. They have led to depression
and anger; but God's plan will succeed. It will lead to release and joy.

(9) Remembering this, let us devote the remainder of the extended practice
periods to asking God to reveal His plan to us. Ask Him very specifically:

What would You have me do?

Where would You have me go?
What would You have me say, and to whom?<

Give Him full charge of the rest of the practice period, and let Him tell you
what needs to be done by you in His plan for your salvation. He will answer in
proportion to your willingness to hear His Voice. Refuse not to hear. The very
fact that you are doing the exercises proves that you have some willingness to
listen. This is enough to establish your claim to God's answer.

(10) In the shorter practice periods, tell yourself often that God's plan for
salvation, and only His, will work. Be alert to all temptation to hold
grievances today, and respond to them with this form of today's idea:

Holding grievances is the opposite

of God's plan for salvation.
And only His plan will work.<

Try to remember today's idea some six or seven times an hour. There could be no
better way to spend a half minute or less than to remember the Source of your
salvation, and to see It where It is.

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

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 71. "Only God's plan for salvation will work."

*This is not a very happy thought for the ego, because we still think <our> for
salvation will work. To say it again, God does not have a plan. Terms like these
are used because they are familiar and easily understood. We must always keep in
mind, however, that they are Jesus' symbols of forgiveness to correct the ego's
symbols of sin and punishment. In the Bible, and in the religions that have
sprung from the Bible, God certainly does have a plan. The plan Jesus speaks of
here is much different, as we have already seen, and will see again in this
lesson.*

(1:1-2) "You may not realize that the ego has set up a plan for salvation in
opposition to God's. It is this plan in which you believe."

*Most of us do not think when living our special love and hate relationships
that we are actively choosing against God. That is why Jesus asks in the text
that if we knew our special relationships were a triumph over God, would we want
them? (T-16.V.10:1) He is helping us understand that not only do we have a plan
to save ourselves from pain, but this plan directly opposes God. It is helpful
to think about this <one or the other> aspect of our lives, for perceiving the
situation as it is will enable us to change our minds and make the correct
choice.*

(1:3) "Since it is the opposite of God's, you also believe that to accept God's
plan in place of the ego's is to be damned."

*That <is> what we believe: If we accept God's plan and forgive, our
individuality is over and we are damned to eternal oblivion. This is reminiscent
of the crucial discussion in the text where Jesus explains the ego's upside-down
thinking: good is bad, and bad is good; forgiveness is to be shunned, and guilt
embraced:

"Much of the ego's strange behavior is directly attributable to its
definition of guilt. To the ego, the guiltless are guilty. Those who do not
attack are its "enemies" because, by not valuing its interpretation of
salvation, they are in an excellent position to let it go... When it [the ego]
was confronted with the real guiltlessness of God's Son [i.e.,Jesus] it did
attempt to kill him, and the reason it gave was that guiltlessness is
blasphemous to God. To the ego, the ego is God, and guiltlessness must be
interpreted as the final guilt that fully justifies murder."
(T-13.II.4:1-3;6:2-3).*

(1:4-5) "This sounds preposterous, of course. Yet after we have considered just
what the ego's plan is, perhaps you will realize that, however preposterous it
may be, you do believe in it."

*You may recall that in "The Laws of Chaos" Jesus says the very same thing. He
describes the insanity of the ego's five laws, and then states:

"You would maintain, and think it true, that you do not believe these
senseless laws, nor act upon them. And when you look at what they say, they
cannot be believed. Brother, you do believe them." (T-23.II.18:1-3).

Jesus knows we believe in the ego's plan because we believe we are here. This
means we believe projection is salvation, for it protects us from the mind's
Atonement principle, the home of the memory of God's Love.*

(2:1) "The ego's plan for salvation centers around holding grievances."

*You wouldn't ask for a simpler statement, and one more directly reflective of
the ego's use of projection. This leads to a cogent description of specialness:*

(2:2-5) "It maintains that, if someone else spoke or acted differently, if some
external circumstance or event were changed, you would be saved. Thus, the
source of salvation is constantly perceived as outside yourself. Each grievance
you hold is a declaration, and an assertion in which you believe, that says, "If
this were different, I would be saved." The change of mind necessary for
salvation is thus demanded of everyone and everything except yourself."

*There is not a person in this world who does identify with this thought system,
for it is what made and sustains the world. In <The Interpretation of Dream>
Freud set forth his theory that all dreams are fulfillments of wishes. Jesus
would take this same principle and expand it to <all> dreams: sleeping and
waking. The physical universe as macrocosm, and our individual world is a
microcosm, were specifically made to fulfill the ego's secret wish of
maintaining the separation, but shifting responsibility for it to others. Thus
we all have our ego's cake of separation, and eat and enjoy it because someone
else will pay the price for it. "The Picture of Crucifixion" offers a trenchant
expression of this dynamic of selfishness and hate, wherein we preserve our
innocence at the expense of someone else's guilt, for which the other will be
punished instead of ourselves:

"Every pain you suffer do you see as proof that he is guilty of attack.
Thus would you make yourself to be the sign that he has lost his innocence, and
need but look on you to realize that he has been condemned. And what to you has
been unfair will come to him in righteousness. The unjust vengeance that you
suffer now belongs to him, and when it rests on him are you set free...

"Whenever you consent to suffer pain, to be deprived, unfairly treated or in
need of anything, you but accuse your brother of attack upon God's Son. You hold
a picture of your crucifixion before his eyes, that he may see his sins are writ
in Heaven in your blood and death, and go before him, closing off the gate and
damning him to hell." (T-27.1.2:2-5;3:1-2).

We shall return to this essential component of the ego's plan for salvation.*

(3:1-2) "The role assigned to your own mind in this plan, then, is simply to
determine what, other than itself, must change if you are to be saved. According
to this insane plan, any perceived source of salvation is acceptable provided
that it will not work."

*In the next paragraph Jesus describes this as the ego's maxim -- "Seek and do
not find" -- what everyone does. It is so clearly expressed her that there is no
need to belabor it. It is the essence of projection, the heart of the ego's
thought system, and its insurance that nothing will ever change in the mind of
God's Son.*

(3:3-4) "This ensures that the fruitless search will continue, for the illusion
persists that, although this hope has always failed, there is still grounds for
hope in other places and in other things. Another person will yet serve better;
another situation will yet offer success."

*Later in the workbook Jesus says "another can be found" (W-p1.170.8:7). If we
are truly honest with ourselves, we will realize we are doing precisely what has
been described. Therefore, the last thing we want to do is embrace this course
totally, both intellectually and in practice. Instead, we want to compromise its
teachings so that it would fail to help us -- exactly what we just read, which
is the essence of the ego's specialness.*

(4) "Such is the ego's plan for your salvation. Surely you can see how it is in
strict accord with the ego's basic doctrine, "Seek but do not find." For what
could more surely guarantee that you will not find salvation than to channelize
all your efforts in searching for it where it is not?"

*Remember, what the ego does not want us to find is that we have a mind, for
then we would realize we could choose differently, marking the end of the ego
and our special self. Therefore, we direct our efforts towards searching for
salvation where it is <not>. We can see how Jesus has gradually been bringing us
to this realization, on both the intellectual and experiential levels. He wants
us to know how we use the world to distract us from <finding> the peace we truly
<seek>, convincing us it will yet be <found> in the world outside, as we read in
this passage from the text:

"No one who comes here but must still have hope, some lingering illusion,
or some dream that there is something outside of himself that will bring
happiness and peace to him. If everything is in him this cannot be so. And
therefore by his coming, he denies the truth about himself, and seeks for
something more than everything, as if a part of it were separated off and found
where all the rest of it is not."

"The lingering illusion will impel him to seek out a thousand idols, and to
seek beyond them for a thousand more." (T-29.VII.2:1,5-3:1).

Needless to say, all idols will fail: the ego's hidden agenda.*

(5:1-2) "God's plan for salvation works simply because, by following His
direction, you seek for salvation where it is. But if you are to succeed, as God
promises you will, you must be willing to seek there only."

*That is the catch. Everyone who studies A Course in Miracles will say: "Of
course I want to follow the Holy Spirit ( the meaning of "God" here ); of course
I want to forgive -- but I do not want to do <only> that. I want my specialness,
too, to luxuriate in its pleasures every once in while. I will read the text and
do the workbook lessons faithfully ... <but>, I will do my specialness thing as
well, making the body real and ignoring the mind ("where [salvation] is").
"Unfortunately for the ego, salvation is without such a compromise. This passage
from "Salvation without Compromise" states this explicitly, in the context of
the ego's attempt to attack and love together:

"Salvation is no compromise of any kind. To compromise is to accept but part
of what you want; to take a little and give up the rest.... Let the idea of
compromise but enter, and the awareness of salvation's purpose is lost because
it is not recognized. It is denied where compromise has been accepted, for
compromise is the belief salvation is impossible. It would maintain you can
attack a little, love a little, and know the difference. ..."

"This course is easy just because it makes no compromise. ... Forgiveness
cannot be withheld a little. Nor is it possible to attack for this and love for
that and understand forgiveness." (T-23.III.3:1-2,5-7;4:1,5-6).

It is this uncompromising nature of A Course in Miracles that is its greatest
strength and greatest trial for the ego, hell-bent on maintaining the
specialness of the body.*

(5:3-4) "Otherwise, your purpose is divided and you will attempt to follow two
plans for salvation that are diametrically opposed in all ways. The result can
only bring confusion, misery and a deep sense of failure and despair."

*We can see how the early workbook book lessons were leading to statements like
these two sentences. The lessons helped us understand there is no outer world,
and what we see outside is a projection of what is inside. In fact, Lesson 22
told how it is our attack thoughts that make up the world. Jesus has thus been
training our minds to understand that the problem is within, not in our bodies
or brains. This lesson provides an explicit statement that he could not have
made without first having taught all he had done previously. The symphonic
development of these ideas is indeed masterful to behold.

It is also interesting to behold the parallels between the text and the
workbook. Although the development in each book is quite different, the core
ideas are present in each. For example, Jesus' point here about the difficulty
in following diametrically opposed plans for salvation parallels the following
passage in the text, even in the use of language:

"The curriculum of the Atonement is the opposite of the curriculum you have
established for yourself, but so is its outcome. If the outcome of yours has
made you unhappy, and if you want a different one, a change in the curriculum is
obviously necessary. The first change to be introduced is a change in direction.
A meaningful curriculum cannot be inconsistent. If it is planned by two
teachers, each believing in diametrically opposed ideas, it cannot be
integrated. If it is carried out by these two teachers simultaneously, each one
merely interferes with the other. ..."

"The total senselessness of such a curriculum must be fully recognized
before a real change in direction becomes possible. You cannot learn
simultaneously from two teachers who are in total disagreement about everything.
Their joint curriculum presents an impossible learning task. They are teaching
you entirely different things in entirely different ways, which might be
possible except that both are teaching you about yourself. Your reality is
unaffected by both, but if you listen to both, your mind will be split about
what your reality is." (T-8.1.5:1-6;6).

Within this context we can understand Jesus' purpose in A Course in Miracles as
presenting us with two "diametrically opposed" teachers, asking us to make the
only meaningful choice open to us: Heaven or hell, God or the ego, happiness or
misery.*

(6) "How can you escape all this? Very simply. The idea for today is the answer.
Only God's plan for salvation will work. There can be no real conflict about
this, because there is no possible alternative to God's plan that will save you.
His is the only plan that is certain in its outcome. His is the only plan that
must succeed."

*The choice is a no-brainer, to use the popular expression. Only one plan will
bring the end of misery and pain. However, this makes no sense unless it is
recognized that the problem resides in the mind, the source of all suffering.
That is why the workbook has been so emphatic on the mind's role in salvation.*

(7) "Let us practice recognizing this certainty today. And let us rejoice that
there is an answer to what seems to be a conflict with no resolution possible.
All things are possible to God. Salvation must be yours because of His plan,
which cannot fail."

*The joy of making the right choice is our ultimate motivation in making it. The
end of conflict is the end of pain and misery, and the beginning of joy and
happiness. Jesus never tires of reminding us of the joyous result of choosing
the Answer.*

(8:1-2) "Begin the two longer practice periods for today by thinking about
today's idea, and realizing that it contains two parts, each making equal
contribution to the whole. God's plan for your salvation will work, and other
plans will not."

*It is the second clause that is the killer. We would willing to accept the
first if we did not also have to accept the second. Unfortunately for our egos,
salvation makes no compromise. We have discussed before that in A Course in
Miracles "yes" means "not no." To say "yes" to God's plan means saying "no" to
the ego's, rejecting the thought system that is the basis of our resistance to
accepting Jesus' teachings. These lines, therefore, reflect the uncompromising
nature of the Course's thought system: truth is true, and nothing else is;
Christ is our true Identity, the ego's is the illusion. We shall happily return
to this principle throughout the rest of the workbook.*

(8:3-6) "Do not allow yourself to become depressed or angry at the second part;
it is inherent in the first. And in the first is your full release from all your
own insane attempts and mad proposals to free yourself. They have led to
depression and anger; but God's plan will succeed. It will lead to release and
joy."

*Anger and depression arise at this stage because we still want to do things our
way. When we feel anxious or depressed, rather than go within and ask Jesus for
help to undo the thoughts that led to the unpleasant feelings, we choose to
cover them by indulging in a special relationship. This is the origin of all
addictions -- with people or substances. The pain is too great, and instead of
resolving it in the mind -- the source of the distress -- we use the body to
dull the pain. To truly practice A Course in Miracles we must realize the ego's
plan does not work. Insisting that it will bring us happiness and relief ensures
that the pain will always be there, albeit appearing in different forms.

The next paragraph has us literally ask God what we should do. Here again, you
must understand that Jesus does not literally expect God to answer us. In fact,
he tells us later in the workbook that God does not even understand words nor
does He answer prayers (see Lesson 184). Yet His words meet us where we are, and
so we are supposed to ask God:*

(9:1-5) "Remembering this, let us devote the remainder of the extended practice
periods to asking God to reveal His plan to us. Ask Him very specifically:"

What would You have me do?

Where would You have me go?
What would You have me say, and to whom?<"

*In other places in A Course in Miracles, Jesus explains that imploring God with
words has no effect. For example, in the manual for teachers he discusses "the
role of words in healing," and says:

"God does not understand words, for they were made by separated minds to
keep them in the illusion of separation. Words can be helpful, particularly for
the beginner, in helping concentration and facilitating the exclusion, or at
least the control, of extraneous thoughts. Let us not forget, however, that
words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality."
(M.21.1.7-10).

Moreover, Jesus makes it clear in the opening pages of The Song of Prayer that
asking for specifics is tantamount to -- in my words, paraphrasing the ego
principle of forgiveness-to-destroy -- "asking-to-destroy." As is explained in
the following passages, when we ask for specifics we are reinforcing the ego's
belief in the scarcity principle ( A Course in Miracles, Preface, p.xi )
"feelings of weakness and inadequacy" -- and thus asking God to join us there.
The central teaching of A Course in Miracles, however, is that we bring our
beliefs in scarcity and lack to Him, and in His Love all such illusions are
dispelled and problems answered:

"The secret of true prayer is to forget the things you think you need. To
ask for the specific is much the same as to look on sin and then forgive it.
Also in the same way, in prayer you overlook your specific needs as you see
them, and let them go into God's Hands. There they become your gifts to Him, for
they tell Him that you would have no gods before Him; no Love but His. What
could His answer be but your remembrance of Him? Can this be traded for a bit of
trifling advice about a problem of an instant's duration? God answers only for
eternity. But still all little answers are contained in this." (S.1.I.4.)

Yet because we are still "uncertain of [our] Identity." Jesus is telling us in
this lesson that we should in fact ask God for specifics, because he is
responding to us at a different stages of our growth -- different rungs of the
ladder of prayer, the pamphlet's term for the process of forgiveness:

"Prayer has no beginning and no end. But it does change in form, and grow
with learning until it reaches its formless state, and fuses into total
communication with God. In its asking form it need not, and often does not, make
appeal to God, or even involve belief in Him. At these levels prayer is merely
wanting, out of a sense of scarcity and lack."

"These forms of prayer, or asking-out-of-need, [i.e., asking for specifics:
<asking-to-destroy>], always involve feelings of weakness and inadequacy, and
could never be made by a Son of God who knows Who he is. No one, then, who is
sure of his Identity could pray in these forms. Yet it is also true that no one
who is uncertain of his Identity can avoid praying in this way."
(S.1.II.1.1:1-2-3).

Students must be wary, however, that they not take statements like this out of
their overall context in A Course in Miracles. Otherwise, they would be
wrenching its <form> from the fabric of the Course's content, thereby altering
its meaning by having A Course in Miracles teach the exact opposite of what it
truly means. This is a course in undoing the <cause> -- the mind's decision for
separation -- and not modifying the <effect> -- the specifics of our daily
lives.

To summarize this important point: In A Course in Miracles Jesus is leading us
"up the ladder separation led [us] down." (T-28.III.1.2). We begin our ascent at
the bottom rung, which is reflected in our embrace of the ego's dualistic
thought system of sin, guilt, and fear, and the reality of the material world.
At this level God must inevitably be perceived as a body:

"Can you who see yourself within a body know yourself as an idea? Everything
you recognize you identify with externals, something outside itself. You cannot
even think of God without a body, or in some form you think you recognize."
(T.18.VIII.1.5-7)

This divine body, made in our image and likeness -- the symbol of our belief in
sin, guilt, and fear -- is perceived by our egos as a vengeful and punitive God,
obsessed with our destruction. Thus Jesus, our loving elder brother, gently
corrects this fearful myth by providing us with a kinder one, a forgiving
illusion in which God -- <still perceived as a body> -- is lovingly attentive to
our needs, rather than punishing us for them. Once we ascend the ladder of
prayer with the Holy Spirit as our Guide, we recognize the illusory nature of
these myths and move beyond them to the love that is "beyond the world of
symbols":

"A Power wholly limitless has come, not to destroy, but to receive Its Own.
... Give welcome to the Power beyond forgiveness, and beyond the world of
symbols and of limitations." (T.27.III.7.2,8) *

(9:6-7) "Give Him full charge of the rest of the practice period, and let Him
tell you what needs to be done by you in His plan for your salvation. He will
answer in proportion to your willingness to hear His Voice."

*This statement is very important. Lesson 49 told us that God's Voice speaks to
us throughout the day. In that lesson, as I pointed out, Jesus does not say we
<hear> God's Voice throughout the day, but only that the Holy Spirit's Love is
continually present to us. The problem is that we shut ourselves off from it.
Therefore, it is our willingness to hear His Voice that will allow us to hear
It. Needless to say, Jesus is not literally talking about an actual voice or
specific words, but an experience of God's Love that comes when we say, in
effect: "Only God's Love will bring me happiness; the ego's special love will
not." It is thus not the ego's separating fear we seek, but the Oneness of God's
Love, experienced as a Voice. This passage from the manual for teachers explains
it this way, in a continuation of the previous quoted passage about words being
"symbols of symbols":

"As symbols, words have quite specific references. Even when they seem most
abstract, the picture that comes to mind is apt to be very concrete. Unless a
specific referent does occur to the mind in conjunction with the word, the word
has little or no practical meaning, and thus cannot help the healing process.
The prayer of the heart does not really ask for concrete things. It always
requests some kind of experience, the specific things asked for being the
bringers of the desired experience in the opinion of the asker. The words, then,
are symbols for the things asked for, but the things themselves but stand for
the experiences that are hoped for." (M.21.2.)

Therefore, once we choose <against>the ego's fear and <for> the Holy Spirit's
Love, we shall experience the effect of that choice in a form we understand
which reflects that we, a separated body, are in need of another separated body
(even a discarnate one) to help us.*

(9:8-10) "Refuse not to hear. The very fact that you are doing the exercises
proves that you have some willingness to listen. This is enough to establish
your claim to God's answer."

*Jesus is once again letting us know this is a process. The fact that we have
come this far, are doing the workbook and reading his text, is saying there is a
part of us that wants this other way. In the end, "our [little] willingness to
listen" ensures the happy outcome we are promised. However, what will speed us
along in this process is realizing how much we do not want this other way, and
asking Jesus to help us forgive our fear.*

(10) "In the shorter practice periods, tell yourself often that God's plan for
salvation, and only His, will work. Be alert to all temptation to hold
grievances today, and respond to them with this form of today's idea:"

Holding grievances is the opposite

of God's plan for salvation.
And only His plan will work.<

Try to remember today's idea some six or seven times an hour. There could be no
better way to spend a half minute or less than to remember the Source of your
salvation, and to see It where It is."

*The lesson closes, as many of them do, with Jesus urging us to be as vigilant
as possible for our decision for separation, guilt, and attack as the defense
against returning Home to the heart of Love. Jesus is asking us continually --
even <more> than every ten minutes -- to compare his plan with the ego's;
forgiveness with holding grievances. Thus would we be reminding ourselves of
what we really want, and how choosing attack and blame merely interferes with
the desire to return to our Source.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 70. My salvation comes from me.

#93069

Lesson 70. My salvation comes from me.

(1) All temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not to
believe the idea for today. Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from
you. So, too, does the source of guilt. You see neither guilt nor salvation as
in your own mind and nowhere else. When you realize that all guilt is solely an
invention of your mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the
same place. In understanding this you are saved.

(2) The seeming cost of accepting today's idea is this: It means that nothing
outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself can give you peace. But
it also means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you, or disturb your peace
or upset you in any way. Today's idea places you in charge of the universe,
where you belong because of what you are. This is not a role that can be
partially accepted. And you must surely begin to see that accepting it is
salvation.

(3) It may not, however, be clear to you why the recognition that guilt is in
your own mind entails the realization that salvation is there as well. God would
not have put the remedy for the sickness where it cannot help. That is the way
your mind has worked, but hardly His. He wants you to be healed, so He has kept
the Source of healing where the need for healing lies.

(4) You have tried to do just the opposite, making every attempt, however
distorted and fantastic it might be, to separate healing from the sickness for
which it was intended, and thus keep the sickness. Your purpose was to ensure
that healing did not occur. God's purpose was to ensure that it did.

(5) Today we practice realizing that God's Will and ours are really the same in
this. God wants us to be healed, and we do not really want to be sick, because
it makes us unhappy. Therefore, in accepting the idea for today, we are really
in agreement with God. He does not want us to be sick. Neither do we. He wants
us to be healed. So do we.

(6) We are ready for two longer practice periods today, each of which should
last some ten to fifteen minutes. We will, however, still let you decide when to
undertake them. We will follow this practice for a number of lessons, and it
would again be well to decide in advance when would be a good time to lay aside
for each of them, and then adhering to your own decisions as closely as
possible.

(7) Begin these practice periods by repeating the idea for today, adding a
statement signifying your recognition that salvation comes from nothing outside
of you. You might put it this way:

My salvation comes from me.

It cannot come from anywhere else.<

Then devote a few minutes, with your eyes closed, to reviewing some of the
external places where you have looked for salvation in the past;--in other
people, in possessions, in various situations and events, and in self-concepts
that you sought to make real. Recognize that it is not there, and tell yourself:

My salvation cannot come from any of these things.

My salvation comes from me and only from me.<

(8) Now we will try again to reach the light in you, which is where your
salvation is. You cannot find it in the clouds that surround the light, and it
is in them you have been looking for it. It is not there. It is past the clouds
and in the light beyond. Remember that you will have to go through the clouds
before you can reach the light. But remember also that you have never found
anything in the cloud patterns you imagined that endured, or that you wanted.

(9) Since all illusions of salvation have failed you, surely you do not want to
remain in the clouds, looking vainly for idols there, when you could so easily
walk on into the light of real salvation. Try to pass the clouds by whatever
means appeals to you. If it helps you, think of me holding your hand and leading
you. And I assure you this will be no idle fantasy.

(10) For the short and frequent practice periods today, remind yourself that
your salvation comes from you, and nothing but your own thoughts can hamper your
progress. You are free from all external interference. You are in charge of your
salvation. You are in charge of the salvation of the world. Say, then:

My salvation comes from me.

Nothing outside of me can hold me back.
Within me is the world's salvation and my own.<

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

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 70. My salvation comes from me.

*This is an important lesson, from which we quote a great deal. The reason for
its importance lies in its explicit statement that the problem of guilt is in
our minds. In other words, the cause of our distress is within, as is its
undoing. They are not, and <cannot> be found in anything external.*

(1:1)"All temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not
to believe the idea for today."

*This is the purpose of all special relationships which proclaim: My salvation
comes from you -- whoever or whatever that special person, substance, or
activity appears to be. What makes me happy comes not from my mind's choice, but
from what is external to it. The truth, of course, is that <salvation> can come
only from the mind, since <slavation> (to indulge some word play) comes only
from the mind.*

(1:2-3) "Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you. So, too, does
the source of guilt."

*What is appealing about the workbook is that most of the time you do not have
the complicated discussions found in the text. The statements are so clear it
will astound you how your eyes pass right over them. If you have done the
workbook in the past and are reading it again, you will be surprised at how much
you did not remember or even notice the first time around. The above is an
example of such simplicity.*

(1:4-6) "You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own mind and nowhere
else. When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you
also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place. In
understanding this you are saved."

*The purpose of the ego's thought system is to keep the problem away from the
answer. The ego makes guilt up as the defense against salvation -- the
acceptance of the Atonement that is in our right minds. It tells us to take the
problem of guilt and project it onto someone else. Our problem now has become
someone else's guilt, not our own. Thus we spend the rest of our lives -- as
individuals and as a society -- trying to solve the mind's problem of guilt that
is perceived to be outside us. We attempt to alleviate pain by external
behavior, yet all the time the real problem -- our choice to be a special and
guilty individual -- is safely buried by the ego's defensive strategy. This is
the <double shield of oblivion> --guilt and body -- we have already discussed.*

(2:1) "The seeming cost of accepting today's idea is this: It means that nothing
outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself can give you peace."

*This includes A Course in Miracles, its author, and God. There is no one and
nothing outside that can save us. From the perspective of the Course, this means
the end of gurus, in the popularized expression of this Eastern practice. Only
our mind's power to choose -- and this cannot be said often enough -- can bring
us salvation and peace.*

(2:2) "But it also means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you, or disturb
your peace or upset you in any way."

*If one is true the other must be true, too, because <there is nothing outside
our minds.> No one outside can help us because there is nothing outside. This is
another way of understanding "the simplicity of salvation" (T-31.1).*

(2:3-5) "Today's idea places you in charge of the universe, where you belong
because of what you are. This is not a role that can be partially accepted. And
you must surely begin to see that accepting it is salvation."

*This is not referring to the universe of Heaven, but to the universe of our
minds and the world. We are in charge because we are the ones who chose it. The
<you> in charge of this universe, again, is the <decision maker>. It has chosen
to be in the dream, but can just as easily choose to be outside it.

To say that this role cannot be partially accepted means that we cannot
legitimately claim: "Yes, I can help myself here, but someone else has to help
me there"; or "I can ask for help with this particular problem, but not for
others." Forgiveness works all the time, or else it does not work at all.
Remember that this is an <all> or <nothing> course.*

(3:1-2) "It may not, however, be clear to you why the recognition that guilt is
in your own mind entails the realization that salvation is there as well.
God would not have put the remedy for the sickness where it cannot help."

*As a brief summary of what was discussed in my Preface to these volumes, let me
return to the theme of the language of A Course in Miracles. If taken literally,
3:2 would mean that God does things. Obviously making it real, He has seen the
error of sin and sickness, and gives us the answer. Jesus' words do say this, as
they sometimes do in the text as well. To repeat a most important point,
however, these are the words of metaphor. God does not have a plan in response
to the separation, nor does He create the Holy Spirit and place Him in our
minds. Moreover, our Creator does not set up an elaborate plan of the Atonement
whereby his Sons will awaken from the dream. Jesus just finished telling us
there is nothing outside that can save us! If so, He must be a dualistic Being
Who is external to the one He is saving.

Jesus uses this dualistic language of A Course in Miracles because it is one
with which we can identify; a comforting way of speaking since it is familiar to
us. Recall the passage we discussed before from "The Link to Truth"
(T-25.1.5-7): Being thoroughly identified with a separated (i.e., dualistic)
self, the state of perfect Oneness is unknown to us and so would the "language"
that spoke of it. Thus Jesus utilizes the "ego framework" (C-in.3:1) in which to
express his teachings -- the <reflection> of non-duality is what ultimately will
lead us to non-duality.

We return now to the sentence I just read, and continue.*

(3:2-3) "God would not have put the remedy for the sickness where it cannot
help. That is the way your mind has worked, but hardly His."

*In other words, our minds have separated the problem from the solution.
Fortunately, "God thinks otherwise" (T-23.1.2:7). The memory of His Love enables
us to bring the problem (projected from the mind) back to the solution (in the
mind).*

(3:4) "He wants you to be healed, so He has kept the Source of healing where the
need for healing lies."

*To repeat, God does not want you to be healed. If He did, He would recognize
that you are sick. If so, He would be making the error real. To state it again,
this is comforting set of symbols that we all find reassuring. It is important
to understand this is why A Course in Miracles is written dualistically. The
non-dualistic truth is that God, by virtue of His very nature, is the
ever-present Source of healing: His memory in our separated -- and thus sick --
minds.*

(4:1) "You have tried to do just the opposite, making every attempt, however
distorted and fantastic it might be, to separate healing from the sickness for
which it was intended, and thus keep the sickness."

*We have already discussed that the ego's real fear is not of the Love of God,
about which it knows nothing, but of the mind's power to make the right choice
-- the decision maker's ability to say: "I chose the ego falsely, but there is a
principle of truth in my mind still available for me to choose." That ability to
correct the mistaken decision is the ego's fear, which supplies the motivation
to carry out its strategy of making the Son of God mindless, thereby protecting
itself against the "attack" of the Son's power to change his mind.

The solution, therefore, is in our minds, because that is the source of the
problem, which does not lie in the ego thought system itself, but in our
decision to identify with it. Consequently, the solution does not rest in
changing the ego thought system (the first shield of oblivion). The solution
lies in changing our minds about the ego thought system. To cite again the
wonderful line:

"Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind
about the world." (T-21.In.1:7)

Changing our minds is therefore what A Course in Miracles is about, as we see
over and over again in these lessons. This goal should be quite evident by now,
as should the place of the workbook in its curriculum.

Let me re-read the first sentence of the paragraph: "You have tried to do just
the opposite, making every attempt, however distorted and fantastic it might be,
to separate healing from the sickness for which it was intended, and thus keep
the sickness." That is what we want: to keep the sickness of specialness. The
intricate thought system of the ego and the complex world which arose from it
have one purpose only: to keep the sickness of believing we are special,
autonomous, and separate from God.*

(4:2-3) "Your purpose was to ensure that healing did not occur. God's purpose
was to ensure that it did."

*Remember, the <you> whose purpose Jesus is talking about is the decision maker
that likes the idea of being on its own. This puts the Son in direct opposition
to God, Whose Will is that He and His Son are one and never separate, as the
next paragraph reflects:*

(5) "Today we practice realizing that God's Will and ours are really the same in
this. God wants us to be healed, and we do not really want to be sick, because
it makes us unhappy. Therefore, in accepting the idea for today, we are really
in agreement with God. He does not want us to be sick. Neither do we. He wants
us to be healed. So do we."

*Jesus has to convince us that holding onto grievances makes us unhappy. It may
make everyone else unhappy, too. However, the only motivation that will work is
ending our misery and pain. We are not going to study and practice A Course in
Miracles because Jesus says we should, but because we finally recognized that
everything we tried on our own has failed. We accept at last that only joining
with Jesus will make us happy. Our decision to be with him thus reflects the
union of our will with God's, reflecting the decision to heal the separation.*

(6) "We are ready for two longer practice periods today, each of which should
last some ten to fifteen minutes. We will, however, still let you decide when to
undertake them. We will follow this practice for a number of lessons, and it
would again be well to decide in advance when would be a good time to lay aside
for each of them, and then adhering to your own decisions as closely as
possible."

*Once again we see Jesus asking <us> to impose some structure on our practicing.
It is not much, to be sure, but it is a beginning. His purpose here, as always,
is to encourage us to pursue our training of wanting to think along with him, so
that we can forget our egos and remember God.*

(7) "Begin these practice periods by repeating the idea for today, adding a
statement signifying your recognition that salvation comes from nothing outside
of you. You might put it this way:

My salvation comes from me.

My salvation cannot come from any of these things.

My salvation comes from me and only from me.<"

*This is the purpose of our special relationships: the belief we can be helped
and made happy by something other than God. The purpose of this exercise is to
review how important this concept has been in our lives, and how painful. This
is what will impel us, finally, to make the choice that will bring us true help
and happiness.*

(8:1-5) "Now we will try again to reach the light in you, which is where your
salvation is. You cannot find it in the clouds that surround the light, and it
is in them you have been looking for it. It is not there. It is past the clouds
and in the light beyond. Remember that you will have to go through the clouds
before you can reach the light."

*The aforementioned chart will serve us here as well, illustrating the process
of moving beyond the clouds to the light; beyond the illusions of our special
relationships to the truth of forgiveness. These lines make a very important
statement: We cannot go from where we think we are directly to Heaven; we must
first go through the clouds of illusions. That is why Jesus teaches that freedom
lies in looking at the special hate relationship (T-16.IV.1:1). We must look at
our disturbed, sick, insane, and hateful thoughts before we can move past them
to the love that is underneath. Salvation cannot be found in the clouds of the
world, but only in the light of the Atonement the ego has kept hidden, but which
has never ceased to shine in our minds.*

(8:6) "But remember also that you have never found anything in the cloud
patterns you imagined that endured, or that you wanted."

*We do not really believe this; there is a part of us that still believes there
is hope for something here. We believe our specialness will yet work; we just
have to do it better. This kind of thinking is why we feel A Course in Miracles
does not help us. And so we have to be reminded -- continually reminded -- how
nothing in the world has ever, or will ever, satisfy our longing for love and
peace.*

(9) "Since all illusions of salvation have failed you, surely you do not want to
remain in the clouds, looking vainly for idols there, when you could so easily
walk on into the light of real salvation. Try to pass the clouds by whatever
means appeals to you. If it helps you, think of me holding your hand and leading
you. And I assure you this will be no idle fantasy."

*This is one of the very few places in the workbook where Jesus speaks of
himself. Needless to say, it is a powerful statement. He is saying: "You would
do much better going through the clouds with me." In fact, as Jesus makes it
clear in other places: "You <cannot> go through the clouds without me." That is
why, for example, he says that he needs you as much as you need him
(T-8.V.6:10), a reference we have already seen. As long as you believe you are
an individual body, you need another individual body to help you; a hand to hold
as guide through the morass of specialness. When you attempt to go through the
ego's clouds of guilt by yourself you are doomed to failure, for such attempt is
a shadowy fragment of the original error of trying to exist and create by
ourselves -- <without God>.

In the end there is no you, no Jesus. no clouds -- only God. But that is at the
end. As long as you identify yourself as a student of the Course, Jesus' help is
extraordinarily meaningful. This is echoed in the plea to us in the
clarification of terms, which states that although it is Jesus' message that is
ultimately important, he can still be of help to us:

"Jesus is for you the bearer of Christ's single message of the Love of God.
You need no other. It is possible to read his words and benefit from them
without accepting him into your life. Yet he would help you yet a little more if
you will share your pains and joys with him, and leave them both to find the
peace of God." (C-5.6:4-7).

Thus Jesus says: "Do not make this journey without me.*

(10) "For the short and frequent practice periods today, remind yourself that
your salvation comes from you, and nothing but your own thoughts can hamper your
progress. You are free from all external interference. You are in charge of your
salvation. You are in charge of the salvation of the world. Say, then:

My salvation comes from me.

Nothing outside of me can hold me back.
Within me is the world's salvation and my own.<"

*The lesson closes with the important reminder that we are no longer justified
in shifting responsibility for our spiritual impediments from our selves to
external influences. Jesus wants us to remember as often as possible throughout
the day that salvation comes only from us. This is the bad news to our egos, but
the best news for the part of our minds that wants to return home. Nothing in
the world can prevent this return, and since this is what we truly want, we
cannot help but succeed.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 69. My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

#93068

Lesson 69. My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

(1) No one can look upon what your grievances conceal. Because your grievances
are hiding the light of the world in you, everyone stands in darkness, and you
beside him. But as the veil of your grievances is lifted, you are released with
him. Share your salvation now with him who stood beside you when you were in
hell. He is your brother in the light of the world that saves you both.

(2) Today let us make another real attempt to reach the light in you. Before we
undertake this in our more extended practice period, let us devote several
minutes to thinking about what we are trying to do. We are literally attempting
to get in touch with the salvation of the world. We are trying to see past the
veil of darkness that keeps it concealed. We are trying to let the veil be
lifted, and to see the tears of God's Son disappear in the sunlight.

(3) Let us begin our longer practice period today with the full realization that
this is so, and with real determination to reach what is dearer to us than all
else. Salvation is our only need. There is no other purpose here, and no other
function to fulfill. Learning salvation is our only goal. Let us end the ancient
search today by finding the light in us, and holding it up for everyone who
searches with us to look upon and rejoice.

(4) Very quietly now, with your eyes closed, try to let go of all the content
that generally occupies your consciousness. Think of your mind as a vast circle,
surrounded by a layer of heavy, dark clouds. You can see only the clouds because
you seem to be standing outside the circle and quite apart from it.

(5) From where you stand, you can see no reason to believe there is a brilliant
light hidden by the clouds. The clouds seem to be the only reality. They seem to
be all there is to see. Therefore, you do not attempt to go through them and
past them, which is the only way in which you would be really convinced of their
lack of substance. We will make this attempt today.

(6) After you have thought about the importance of what you are trying to do for
yourself and the world, try to settle down in perfect stillness, remembering
only how much you want to reach the light in you today,--now! Determine to go
past the clouds. Reach out and touch them in your mind. Brush them aside with
your hand; feel them resting on your cheeks and forehead and eyelids as you go
through them. Go on; clouds cannot stop you.

(7) If you are doing the exercises properly, you will begin to feel a sense of
being lifted up and carried ahead. Your little effort and small determination
call on the power of the universe to help you, and God Himself will raise you
from darkness into light. You are in accord with His Will. You cannot fail
because your will is His.

(8) Have confidence in your Father today, and be certain that He has heard you
and answered you. You may not recognize His answer yet, but you can indeed be
sure that it is given you and you will yet receive it. Try, as you attempt to go
through the clouds to the light, to hold this confidence in your mind. Try to
remember that you are at last joining your will to God's. Try to keep the
thought clearly in mind that what you undertake with God must succeed. Then let
the power of God work in you and through you, that His Will and yours be done.

(9) In the shorter practice periods, which you will want to do as often as
possible in view of the importance of today's idea to you and your happiness,
remind yourself that your grievances are hiding the light of the world from your
awareness. Remind yourself also that you are not searching for it alone, and
that you do know where to look for it. Say, then:

My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

I cannot see what I have hidden.
Yet I want to let it be revealed to me,
for my salvation and the salvation of the world.<

Also, be sure to tell yourself:

If I hold this grievance the light of the world will be hidden from me,<

if you are tempted to hold anything against anyone today.

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

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 69. My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

(1:1) "No one can look upon what your grievances conceal."

*That is the main idea. The "light of the world" is the Holy Spirit in our
minds, the memory of God's Love we have sought so strenuously to forget. In
Lesson 136, Jesus talks about the double shield of oblivion. The subject there
is sickness, but we could also speak of attack since it shares the same dynamic.
We are shielding the light of the world -- the memory of our Identity as Christ
-- which awaits our choosing to remember it. The first shield is guilt, our
self-hatred. The second shield arises when we project our mind's guilt and
attack bodies. Attacking ourselves constitutes sickness; attacking others is
anger. Thus the purpose of holding grievances is to allow us to say: "The guilt
is not in me, but in you." This second shield protects us from guilt, which in
turn protects us from love.*

(1:2) "Because your grievances are hiding the light of the world in you,
everyone stands in darkness, and you beside him."

*The Sonship is one. If I take Jesus' hand and stand in his light, the whole
Sonship stands with me. If I drop his hand, my mind again fills with the
darkness of my sin and guilt. The Sonship is there with me as well, at least in
my deluded mind.*

(1:3-5) "But as the veil of your grievances is lifted, you are released with
him. Share your salvation now with him who stood beside you when you were in
hell. He is your brother in the light of the world that saves you both."

*This lifting of the veil -- the essence of forgiveness or the miracle -- has
nothing to do with what the other person does or does not accept, believe, or
perceive. It has to do only with what is in our minds, the dream's sphere of
action. There is nothing within us but the thoughts of Heaven or hell, the <us>
that is God's one Son.*

(2) "Today let us make another real attempt to reach the light in you. Before we
undertake this in our more extended practice period, let us devote several
minutes to thinking about what we are trying to do. We are literally attempting
to get in touch with the salvation of the world. We are trying to see past the
veil of darkness that keeps it concealed. We are trying to let the veil be
lifted, and to see the tears of God's Son disappear in the sunlight."

*First and foremost, we need keep in mind how much we do <not> want to do this.
In the presence of the light of Christ, our individuality is gone. It is this,
we fear, the birthplace of our resistance to A Course in Miracles and, more
specifically, to this type of lesson.

The chart below (it is a chart shown in Kenneth's book, but only roughly
described here) parallels Jesus' discussion in this and the following lesson.
The circle in the center represents the circle of light to which he will refer
presently.*

**
The chart, is somewhat shaped like a doughnut. With a smaller circle inside a
larger circle. In the center of the inner circle are the words <mind>, <light>,
<reflection of Self>. In the bulk of the other circle are the words <clouds> and
<body>. And near the outer edge is a dot, with the words "you" and "decision
maker" beside it.

**

*For purposes of these lessons, this will be the locus of the right mind. As
Jesus will explain, this contains the reflection of our real Self. The true
Self, of course, is not in the illusion. We cover truth's reflection with a
circle of clouds, which relates to our physical experience. We believe -- the
<you> to whom Jesus speaks -- we are a body in the clouds. The "you" is placed
in quotation marks because it is not the real you -- for the same reason
"decision maker" is in quotation marks -- which is in the mind.

We believe we are in the clouds, and therefore do not see anything else. If you
are in the midst of a cloud bank you do not see the sun. If flying on a cloudy
day, you do not see sunlight until the plane goes through the clouds. We have
already seen portions of a passage in which Jesus uses the image of clouds
hiding our guilt. Here is more of that passage, beginning with the perceptual
illusions found in observing a bank of clouds:

"Yet in this cloud bank it is easy to see a whole world rising. A solid
mountain range, a lake, a city, all rise in your imagination, and from the
clouds the messengers of your perception return to you, assuring you that it is
there. Figures stand out and move about, actions seem real, and forms appear and
shift from loveliness to the grotesque. And back and forth they go, as long as
you would play the game of children's make-believe. Yet however long you play
it, and regardless of how much imagination you bring to it, you do not confuse
it with the world below, nor seek to make it real."

"So should it be with the dark clouds of guilt, no more impenetrable and no
more substantial. You will not bruise yourself against them in traveling
through. Let your Guide teach you their insubstantial nature as He leads you
past them, for beneath them is a world of light whereon they cast no shadows.
Their shadows lie upon the world beyond them, still further from the light. Yet
from them to the light their shadows cannot fall." (T.18.IX.7.1-2)

Once you pass through the clouds, you see the sun and its light. They had not
disappeared, even though the clouds adversely affected our sight. The obvious
point is that our belief in sin and guilt has not affected the love that is our
Self. Once again, that lovely line: "Not one note in Heaven's song was missed."
(T.26.V.5.4).*

(3) "Let us begin our longer practice period today with the full realization
that this is so, and with real determination to reach what is dearer to us than
all else. Salvation is our only need. There is no other purpose here, and no
other function to fulfill. Learning salvation is our only goal. Let us end the
ancient search today by finding the light in us, and holding it up for everyone
who searches with us to look upon and rejoice."

*More words of encouragement from Jesus, urging us to remember <why> we are
here, as we set aside our "ancient [and futile] search" that led nowhere. Now,
having chosen the light instead of the darkness, we become reminders for others
to make the same choice we have made.*

(4) "Very quietly now, with your eyes closed, try to let go of all the content
that generally occupies your consciousness. Think of your mind as a vast circle,
surrounded by a layer of heavy, dark clouds. You can see only the clouds because
you seem to be standing outside the circle and quite apart from it."

*The <you>, once again, is the <you> I have put in quotation marks on the chart.
The content Jesus asks us to let go of involves grievances of the past, thoughts
of present specialness, and fears of the future -- all having to do with bodies.
We see only the clouds because we are in the clouds. We stand outside the circle
of light, and therefore believe we are "quite apart from it." Guilt is the great
blinder of the universe. Once having identified with it, we cannot but "see"
through its eyes. But such eyes were made not to see, as we have already
discussed. Thus we cannot see the circle of light, even though it is all around
us, indeed, even though it <is> us.*

(5:1) "From where you stand, you can see no reason to believe there is a
brilliant light hidden by the clouds."

*In other words, to continue the point just made above, all we know is our
individuality and specialness -- what we have believed is real. Because we
perceive a world of bodies, an insanity shared by billions of others, we believe
this to be reality, and we are not aware of the truth underneath. Again, guilt's
darkness blinds us to the light. Recall that important statement:

"Nothing so blinding as perception of from." (T-22.III.6:7).*

(5:2-5) "The clouds seem to be the only reality. They seem to be all there is to
see. Therefore, you do not attempt to go through them and past them, which is
the only way in which you would be really convinced of their lack of substance.
We will make this attempt today."

*We do not attempt to go through and past the clouds because we do not see any
reason to do so. Like Plato's chained prisoners who saw only the back of the
cave, oblivious to the source of the shadows cast upon the wall, we know of
nothing else. We thus have no recourse but to rearrange the clouds in order to
feel better. For example, we make artificial light so we may see: literally the
artificial light of electricity, the metaphysical artificial light of the sun,
and, perhaps most importantly, the artificial light of specialness. Not knowing
the true light, we do the best we can. We think our problems are in the cloud
banks of the world, just as we believe our solutions are found there as well.
The ego's strategy of establishing mindlessness as reality has been remarkably
successful.*

(6:1) "After you have thought about the importance of what you are trying to do
for yourself and the world...."

*Realize again that Jesus is not talking about saving an external world -- There
is no external world! He is talking about the world we believe in, projected
from our minds. We believe in a world of separation from God, the home of sin,
guilt, fear, attack, and death. We project this thought system, and now believe
a world exists outside us and needs to be saved. Again, when Jesus speaks of our
being the saving light of the world, he is clearly not talking about anything
external, which would be the exact opposite of his message. We save the world
because we save ourselves; we save ourselves because we save the world --our
self and the world are one and the same: <ideas leave not their source>. The
following succinctly summarizes Jesus' teachings on the mind-world relationship,
and the nature of salvation:

"For it [the world] is made out of what you do not want, projected from your
mind because you are afraid of it. Yet this world is only in the mind of its
maker, along with his real salvation. Do not believe it is outside of yourself,
for only by recognizing where it is will you gain control over it. For you do
have control over your mind, since the mind is the mechanism of decision."
(T-12.III.9:7-10).*

(6:1-3) "... try to settle down in perfect stillness, remembering only how much
you want to reach the light in you today,--now! Determine to go past the clouds.
Reach out and touch them in your mind."

*By saying "touch them in your mind," Jesus emphasizes that the clouds are
external. They are the mind's attack thoughts, projected as bodily experience.
This emphasis, needless to say, reflects the undoing of the ego's strategy of
mindlessness by having us recall that we have a mind. It also reflects Jesus'
encouraging us to choose happiness, which can only be attained through choosing
to be led through the clouds of guilt to the light of truth.*

(6:4-5) "Brush them aside with your hand; feel them resting on your cheeks and
forehead and eyelids as you go through them. Go on; clouds cannot stop you."

*This is another way of saying illusions have no power unless we choose to give
it to them. What motivates us to learn this lesson is recognizing that our
specialness does not work for us. The cessation of our pain thus becomes our
motivation:

"Tolerance for pain may be high, but it is not without limit. Eventually
everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there must be a better way."
(T-2.III.3:5-6).

Our pain causes us to admit we were wrong. Holding judgments, grievances,
specialness in any form does not work. Nothing works, <except letting them all
go>. At some point we will come to accept this truth for ourselves. Until then,
the lesson is merely something we do on the level of behavior. The clouds of
guilt cannot stop us unless our minds give them the power to do so.*

(7) "If you are doing the exercises properly, you will begin to feel a sense of
being lifted up and carried ahead. Your little effort and small determination
call on the power of the universe to help you, and God Himself will raise you
from darkness into light. You are in accord with His Will. You cannot fail
because your will is His."

*How can we lose? This, of course, is the whole point. Our egos want us to lose,
and we do not even know it! We cannot lose because "the outcome is as certain as
God" (T-4.II.5:8). We learn this is true when we accept the Atonement for
ourselves, meaning we accept the happy fact that the separation from God never
happened. All that is required for this acceptance is our "little effort and
small determination" -- our little willingness -- to allow this truth to be
restored to our awareness by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus assures us in the
following passages in the context of the holy instant:

"The holy instant is the result of your determination to be holy. ...You
prepare your mind for it only to the extent of recognizing that you want it
above all else. It is not necessary that you do more; indeed, it is necessary
that you realize that you cannot do more. ... The holy instant does not come
from your little willingness alone. It is always the result of your small
willingness combined with the unlimited power of God's Will."
(T-18.IV.1:1,4-5;4:1-2)

"Your part is only to offer Him [ the Holy Spirit ] a little willingness to
let Him remove all fear and hatred, and to be forgiven. On your little faith,
joined with His understanding, He will build your part in the Atonement and make
sure that you fulfill it easily. And with Him, you will build a ladder planted
in the solid rock of faith, and rising even to Heaven." (T-18.V.2:5-7).*

(8:1-2) "Have confidence in your Father today, and be certain that He has heard
you and answered you. You may not recognize His answer yet, but you can indeed
be sure that it is given you and you will yet receive it."

*The passage is important because it reflects to us that Jesus knows this is a
process: "You may not recognize His answer yet." He is not expecting us
instantaneously to go through the clouds of illusion to his light. As in many,
many other places, Jesus reminds us of the goal, the strength of our desire to
achieve it, and how much practice we have ahead of us. Yet again, "the outcome
is as certain as God," and merely awaits the diminution of our fear that we may
accept God's answer.*

(8:3-5) "Try, as you attempt to go through the clouds to the light, to hold this
confidence in your mind. Try to remember that you are at last joining your will
to God's. Try to keep the thought clearly in mind that what you undertake with
God must succeed."

*This, then, becomes the prototype for living in the world. As we experience the
ego's clouds of guilt and fear, anxiety and depression, we try to remember Who
goes with us. It is only through this experience of trust in a power that is not
us -- the Love of God and not the ego -- that we are finally able to go through
clouds to the light. As Jesus explains, speaking of the circle of fear in words
we have already quoted:

"Yet God can bring you there, if you are willing to follow the Holy Spirit
through seeming terror, trusting Him not to abandon you and leave you there. For
it is not His purpose to frighten you, but only yours. You are severely tempted
to abandon Him at the outside ring of fear, but He would lead you safely through
and far beyond." (T-18.IX.3:7-9).

Because of our Companion we must succeed, for truth will always succeed over
illusion, since truth is all there is.*

(8:6) "Then let the power of God work in you and through you, that His Will and
yours be done."

*As we have just seen, we are not the ones who bring about this union, but the
power of God. This really means the Holy Spirit, Who restores to our awareness
the unity of wills that is our only reality.*

(9:1-2) "In the shorter practice periods, which you will want to do as often as
possible in view of the importance of today's idea to you and your happiness,
remind yourself that your grievances are hiding the light of the world from your
awareness. Remind yourself also that you are not searching for it alone, and
that you do know where to look for it."

*Jesus is not referring to himself or the Holy Spirit here. <They> do not
search. He means we are not searching for the light alone, because our brothers
are one with us in the Sonship of God. That understanding comes when we ask for
help of the Holy Spirit instead of the insane ego, whenever we are tempted to
hold on to a grievance.

Motivation for such a shift comes with the recognition that our happiness
depends on it:*

(9:3-6) "Say, then:

My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

I cannot see what I have hidden.
Yet I want to let it be revealed to me,
for my salvation and the salvation of the world.<"

*Not only <our> happiness depends on it, but our salvation from the hell of
guilt; not only <our> salvation, but that of all the Sonship since, once again,
our minds are one.*

(9:7-8) "Also, be sure to tell yourself:

If I hold this grievance the light of the world will be hidden from me,<

if you are tempted to hold anything against anyone today."

*In other words, Jesus tells us we should monitor our minds for all attack
thoughts -- "large" or "small," "justified" or "unjustified" -- and realize they
are hiding the light of the world from us. Set aside the fact that our
grievances are hiding the light from this other person; they are keeping <us> in
darkness. Our release is the motivation -- the only motivation that will truly
work -- for letting them go.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 68. Love holds no grievances.

#93067

Lesson 68. Love holds no grievances.

(1) You who were created by love like itself can hold no grievances and know
your Self. To hold a grievance is to forget who you are. To hold a grievance is
to see yourself as a body. To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind
and to condemn the body to death. Perhaps you do not yet fully realize just what
holding grievances does to your mind. It seems to split you off from your Source
and make you unlike Him. It makes you believe that He is like what you think you
have become, for no one can conceive of his Creator as unlike himself.

(2) Shut off from your Self, which remains aware of Its likeness to Its Creator,
your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves
illusions in its sleep appears to be awake. Can all this arise from holding
grievances? Oh, yes! For he who holds grievances denies he was created by love,
and his Creator has become fearful to him in his dream of hate. Who can dream of
hatred and not fear God?

(3) It is as sure that those who hold grievances will redefine God in their own
image, as it is certain that God created them like Himself, and defined them as
part of Him. It is as sure that those who hold grievances will suffer guilt, as
it is certain that those who forgive will find peace. It is as sure that those
who hold grievances will forget who they are, as it is certain that those who
forgive will remember.

(4) Would you not be willing to relinquish your grievances if you believed all
this were so? Perhaps you do not think you can let your grievances go.That,
however, is simply a matter of motivation. Today we will try to find out how you
would feel without them. If you succeed even by ever so little, there will never
be a problem in motivation ever again.

(5) Begin today's extended practice period by searching your mind for those
against whom you hold what you regard as major grievances. Some of these will be
quite easy to find. Then think of the seemingly minor grievances you hold
against those you like and even think you love. It will quickly become apparent
that there is no one against whom you do not cherish grievances of some sort.
This has left you alone in all the universe in your perception of yourself.

(6) Determine now to see all these people as friends. Say to them all, thinking
of each one in turn as you do so:

I would see you as my friend,

that I may remember you are part of me
and come to know myself.<

Spend the remainder of the practice period trying to think of yourself as
completely at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world that protects
you and loves you, and that you love in return. Try to feel safety surrounding
you, hovering over you and holding you up. Try to believe, however briefly, that
nothing can harm you in any way. At the end of the practice period tell
yourself:

Love holds no grievances.

When I let all my grievances go
I will know I am perfectly safe.<

(7) The short practice periods should include a quick application of today's
idea in this form, whenever any thought of grievance arises against anyone,
physically present or not:

Love holds no grievances.

Let me not betray my Self.<

In addition, repeat the idea several times an hour in this form:

Love holds no grievances.

I would wake to my Self by laying
all my grievances aside and wakening in Him.<

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

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 68. "Love holds no grievances."

*As I mentioned before, there are places in the workbook where lessons cluster
around a specific theme These next few lessons focus of the role that attack --
holding grievances or judgments -- play in the ego's plan to preserve our
individuality and keep the Love of God away. While the term is never found in
the workbook, Jesus' discussion of attack and holding grievances is based on the
dynamics of special hate relationships.*

(1:1-2) "You who were created by love like itself can hold no grievances and
know your Self. To hold a grievance is to forget who you are."

*These two sentences unmistakably point out why we hold on to grievances. The
purpose of the ego thought system is to ensure that we would not know our true
Self, thus forgetting Who we are. The Holy Spirit is the principle of the
Atonement, and if we chose His counsel instead of the ego's He would remind us
of our Identity as Christ, God's one Son, perfectly united with His Father.
Thus, if we turned to the Holy Spirit we would automatically remember. If God's
Son is perfect Oneness, and our Identity as God's Son is Love, all we need do to
keep this Identity from awareness is accentuate differences within the Sonship.
Attack, grievances, or judgments accomplish this goal by conveying to others
that they are different and separate from us. At that point, of course, love is
out the window. Special love is certainly welcomed, but the Love of God no
longer has a home in our minds.

Banishing love from our minds is the ego's bottom line, and explains why
practically everyone has trouble with true intimacy, friendship, and love. In
these holy relationships there are no barriers: no special interests, special
needs, or special expectations -- only an experience of the oneness of shared
purpose. Therefore, if it is this oneness we fear because it reflects Who we are
in reality, we will do everything possible to keep it away. These lessons
highlight how attack and grievances accomplish just that.*

(1:3) "To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body."

*This makes perfect sense when you realize that the body is the thought of
separation given form. If the body is real, then the source of the body -- the
thought of being separate from God -- must also be real. In Lesson 161, Jesus
talks about the need for us to have specifics: if we are to hate, we must hate a
body. Needless to say, if I hate a body, I must be a body, too. This bodily
identification is the underlying motivation for all attack thoughts and
grievances.*

(1:4) "To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the
body to death."

*In my conscious mind I may think it is your body I am condemning to death
through my attack; but in reality, since <ideas leave not their source>, it is
my own self I am condemning. Once the ego thought system of separation is
accorded reality, the entirety of that thought system is accorded reality as
well. Death, being the culmination of the thoughts system of sin, guilt and
fear, is thus inevitable.*

(1:5) "Perhaps you do not yet fully realize just what holding grievances does to
your mind."

*Whenever we are angry or entertain thoughts of annoyance or judgment, we are
not aware of the consequences. In one sense we could say that the purpose of A
Course in Miracles is to have us see the disastrous effects -- to us -- of
holding grievances. Remember that this is a course in helping us remember the
relationship between cause and effect. In this context the <cause> is holding
grievances, and its <effects> are misery and suffering. However, if we are not
aware of the causal connection between our attack thoughts and pain, there will
be no motivation to let the grievances go. One of Jesus' principle "burdens" as
our teacher is to have us realize the consequence of holding on to these
grievances. And here it is:*

(1:6) "It seems to split you off from your Source and make you unlike Him."

*Note that Jesus says "<seems> to split you off." Holding grievances <seems> to
split us off because, in reality, the separation never occurred. Within our
nightmare illusions of anger, we are not only split off from the person at whom
we are angry, but also from God. Since all is one within our split minds, what
we believe we do to one, we do to the other. As this passage succinctly states,
in the context of the need to forgive our brother:

"He represents his Father, Whom you see as offering both life and death to
you."
"Brother, He gives but life. Yet what you see as gifts your brother offers
represent the gifts you dream your Father gives to you." (T-27.VII.15:7--16:2).

This now is why God stands behind our brothers -- in forgiveness and
unforgiveness alike:*

(1:7) "It makes you believe that He is like what you think you have become, for
no one can conceive of his Creator as unlike himself."

*This is an important concept. In fact we are going to see it repeated very
shortly in Lesson 72. The meaning is this: If I believe I have attacked God, I
will automatically project the thought and believe God will attack me. When I
split off a part of myself I do not want -- a self always associated with guilt
-- I inevitably make another self that is perceived outside me. This self is
literally made up in my image and likeness; a carbon copy of a thought that I
believe I can deny and be rid of. But since <ideas leave not their source>, the
ideas of my attack and guilt remain with me. I am unaware this is so because I
believe I have gotten rid of them through projection, and thus see the guilt in
another. The following passage from the text nicely expresses this dynamic,
which inevitably ends up separating us from ourselves, at the same time
separating from each other -- a perfect result of the ego:

"What you project you disown, and therefore do not believe is yours. You are
excluding yourself by the very judgment that you are different from the one on
whom you project. Since you have also judged against what you project, you
continue to attack it because you continue to keep it separated. By doing this
unconsciously, you try to keep the fact that you attacked yourself out of
awareness, and thus imagine that you have made yourself safe.

"Yet projection will always hurt you. It reinforces your belief in your
own split mind, and its only purpose is to keep the separation going. ...
Projection and attack are inevitably related, because projection is always a
means of justifying attack. Anger without projection is impossible. The ego uses
projection only to destroy your perception of both yourself and your brothers.
The process begins by excluding something that exists in you but which you do
not want, and leads directly to excluding you from your brothers." (T-6.II.2:
3:1-2,5-8).

This highlights the importance of never forgetting the Course's underlying
metaphysics. If there is no one out there, and the world is nothing but a
projection of what I believe is in me, everything I see outside comes from me.
When we dream at night, the characters, events, places, and symbols in the dream
are split-off parts of our self; different aspects of a personality we now
perceive outside us in the dream. It works the same way with our waking dreams.

Thus it is impossible I see anyone as unlike me, because everyone is made like
me, whether it is God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or people in my everyday life.
Therefore, if I see myself as separate from you, I have made separation real,
which makes real my separation from God. This is the source of my
self-accusation that I am a sinner. Projecting this out, I automatically see God
as a sinner, too. This is the figure of God we know and "love" in the Bible; the
God Who is literally made up in our image and likeness. He is thus as insane as
we, filled with our beloved specialness. The law of projection ensures that it
cannot be otherwise.*

(2:1) "Shut off from your Self, which remains aware of Its likeness to Its
Creator, your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves
illusions in its sleep appears to be awake."

*Jesus here juxtaposes the image of Christ truly awake, yet <appearing> to be
asleep, with our ego self <really> asleep, yet dreaming its life. This split
self appears to be awake, because we actually think we live. Our Self (Christ),
in truth, can never fall asleep. It but seems to sleep, a "sleep" that is buried
in our minds, protected by the ego's thought system of guilt and attack.*

(2:2-5) "Can all this arise from holding grievances? Oh, yes! For he who holds
grievances denies he was created by love, and his Creator has become fearful to
him in his dream of hate. Who can dream of hatred and not fear God?"

*This is an expression of the ego's "unholy trinity" of sin, guilt, and fear: I
believe I have separated from God (sin); I project out my guilt and God (as well
as everyone who comes to symbolize this vengeful God) out to steal from me what
I believe I stole from Him ( fear). It is impossible for us to hold a grievance
against anyone and not believe, in the end, that God is going to punish us for
it. This is the dynamic Jesus wants us to recognize. He does not want us to feel
guilty because we have attack thoughts; he simply wants us to be aware of why we
are choosing them, and the consequences of our decision. He wants us to
understand as well that as long as we think our function is to get rid of guilt
through attack, we will never know real happiness. This is why he tells us that
our function and happiness are one. Our function is to let go of our grievances
and forgive, allowing to surface the Holy Spirit's thoughts of love, which alone
can make us happy. The connection between our unforgiveness and the fear of God
is highlighted in this statement from the last obstacle to peace:

"Before complete forgiveness you still stand unforgiving. You are afraid of
God because you fear your brother. Those you do not forgive you fear. And no one
reaches love with fear beside him." (T-19.IV-D.11:4-7).

The importance of our understanding this dynamic of cause and effect,
unforgiveness and fear, is reflected by how often Jesus returns to it, as we
shall continue to see in the workbook.*

(3:1) "It is as sure that those who hold grievances will redefine God in their
own image, as it is certain that God created them like Himself, and defined them
as part of Him."

*The truth is that God and His So are alike, but in Love and perfect Oneness.
The ego says God and His Son are alike, but in guilt and perfect separation.
Voltaire's famous <bons mots> are always relevant:

"God created man in his own image. And then man returned the compliment." *

(3:2) "It is as sure that those who hold grievances will suffer guilt, as it is
certain that those who forgive will find peace."

*As we learn from many other passages in A Course in Miracles, the cause of our
suffering and pain, without exception, is guilt. The following passage from the
text, from which we have already quoted, is representative:

"Once you were unaware of what the cause of everything the world appeared to
thrust upon you, uninvited and unasked, must really be. Of one thing you were
sure: Of all the many causes you perceived as bringing pain and suffering to
you, your guilt was not among them. Nor did you in any way request them for
yourself. This is how all illusions came about. The one who makes them does not
see himself as making them, and their reality does not depend on him. Whatever
cause they have is something quite apart from him, and what he sees is separate
from his mind. He cannot doubt his dreams' reality, because he does not see the
part he plays in making them and making them seem real." (T-27.VII.7:3-9).

What holds our guilt in place is attack thoughts, and so we can conclude that
these thoughts, born of our guilt, are the cause of our unhappiness and misery.
Recognition of this is essential if we are to be motivated to give up attack
through forgiveness. Only then can we find the peace we so desperately seek.*

(3:3) "It is as sure that those who hold grievances will forget who they are, as
it is certain that those who forgive will remember."

*We want to remember our underlying motivation, which is to forget Who we are.
We want to forget, because in the memory of our Identity there is no
specialness, uniqueness, or individuality that we know of as ourselves. What
keeps that memory away is guilt, the pain of which is defended against by
holding projected grievances against everyone else. *

(4:1-2) "Would you not be willing to relinquish your grievances if you believed
all this were so? Perhaps you do not think you can let your grievances go."

*It is the ego's voice that tells us A Course in Miracles is too difficult, our
hate-filled judgments too overwhelming, our fear too great, and finally that
there is no hope of meaningful change. Yet the reader may recall the passage we
have already presented from the beginning of Chapter 31 (T-31.1.5), where Jesus
gently chides us for believing our minds are not powerful enough to learn his
course and practice its principles of forgiveness.*

(4:3) "That, however, is simply a matter of motivation."

*Another way of characterizing A Course in Miracles is to say it is about
<motivation>. Therefore, we must realize that we all have a secret motivation, a
hidden agenda that says: "I do not want to awaken from the dream and return
home: I do not want to let go of my grievance." That is the hidden motivation.
Until we are aware of these secret thoughts, we cannot change them. That is why
it is so important to be honest with ourselves about this secret motivation of
not wanting to awaken from the dream. If we are truly honest, we would realize
that what we really want is to live in this world, but more happily, and bend
this course to suit our ego's purpose. Thus Jesus implores us in the text, as we
have seen, to be honest with him, which naturally means with ourselves. His
words are worth another read:

"Watch carefully and see what it is you are really asking for. Be very
honest with yourself in this, for we must hide nothing from each other."
(T-4.III.8:1-2).

"Think honestly what you have thought that God would not have thought, and
what you have not thought that God would have you think. Search sincerely for
what you have done and left undone accordingly, and then change your mind to
think with God's. This may seem hard to do, but it is much easier than trying to
think against it." (T-4.IV.2:4-6).

Jesus is helping us realize that what we are doing will not make us happy.
Special relationships may work temporarily, but will not bring the peace of God,
as forgiveness most certainly will. Our honesty, allowing us to join with him,
is what brings about this happy effect.*

(4:4-5) "Today we will try to find out how you would feel without them. If you
succeed even by ever so little, there will never be a problem in motivation ever
again."

*Once we allow Jesus to come into our minds, which means allowing ourselves to
come into <his>, we would know the peace of God. Even though we may be tempted
to shut him out again, there will always be a part of us that knows the
experience of being truly happy when we were with him. When we let go of our
attack thoughts, judgments, and specialness, we are truly happy. If we listen,
we can hear him say the following words to us, which would ultimately motivate
us to make them our own. Thus we shall repeat them from time to time:

" You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from
meeting yourself and your brothers totally without judgment." (T-3.VI.3:1). *

(5:1) "Begin today's extended practice period by searching your mind for those
against whom you hold what you regard as major grievances."

*This is an exercise that Jesus repeats many times in the workbook. It is
another example of the honesty he asks us to practice: to look truly at those
against who we hold grievances. The purpose of this looking, it goes without
saying, is to let the grievances go. By remembering the pain to <us> of holding
on to them, we would be motivated at last to release our brothers, thereby
releasing ourselves.*

(5:2-3) "Some of these will be quite easy to find. Then think of the seemingly
minor grievances you hold against those you like and even think you love."

*Jesus is talking about both special hate and special love. It is not just a
matter of locating the rage we might feel toward a specific person; these
feelings are relatively easy to locate in our minds. What is even more important
is to identify the feelings that are more subtle, especially those that hide
beneath the face of special love. Jesus also understands his earlier point in
Lesson 21 about no degrees of anger, which he also makes in the manual for
teachers:

"It [Anger] may be merely slight irritation, perhaps too mild to, be even
clearly recognized. Or it may also take the form of intense rage, accompanied by
thoughts of violence, fantasied or apparently acted out. It does not matter. All
of these reactions are the same. They obscure the truth, and this can never be a
matter of degree. Either truth is apparent, or it is not. It cannot be partially
recognized. Who is unaware of truth must look upon illusions." (M.17.4.4-11)

Anything not of God is illusory, regardless of its seeming magnitude.*

(5:4-5) "It will quickly become apparent that there is no one against whom you
do not cherish grievances of some sort. This has left you alone in all the
universe in your perception of yourself."

*These are lines no one likes! Yet what Jesus says must be so if the Sonship of
God is one. If I literally make up the world in my image of self-hatred, no
matter how many billions of fragments exist in the universe I projected, there
will be a part of me that hates everyone. If you think you do not harbor this
hatred within you, think a moment on the people you think you love. Imagine what
happens when they do not do or say what you want. Feeling disappointed or even
mildly annoyed is, once again, but a mild veil drawn over intense fury.

As long as you cherish attack thoughts toward yourself, and believe your
individuality is what you want, it is impossible to perceive <anyone> with love.
It is thus important to become aware of these subtle grievances. Remember, since
the Sonship of God is one, if you claim that you hold grievances against many
people, but not this one particular person, remember how angry, annoyed, hurt,
and disappointed your felt when this wonderful person did not do or say what you
wanted. The unfortunate effect of this dynamic is that it has "left you alone in
all the universe in your perception of yourself." This is where the ego begins:
the belief we have murdered God and destroyed Christ, leaving us isolated in our
universe of separation. Since we do not want to accept responsibility for this
condition, we project the thought and make a universe of billions and billions
of people -- those we love and those we hate. We no longer feel alone or
separate, though we indeed are, for our original thought has never left its
source: "I am all alone, and I have done this terrible thing."

Specialness, then, is an attempt to cover the searing anxiety of the separation
so we could end up thinking: "I am not alone in my hatred of these people,
because these others agree with me"; or, "I am not alone because this loved one
is with me." From the point of view of purpose -- the only meaningful
perspective for understanding the dream -- special love and special hate are the
same. Their <forms> differ, but the <content> of separation and guilt remains
the same.*

(6:1-3) "Determine now to see all these people as friends. Say to them all,
thinking of each one in turn as you do so:

I would see you as my friend,

that I may remember you are part of me
and come to know myself.<"

*The important theme of oneness returns. Jesus does not pretend, though, that we
are going to be successful in doing this exercise. It is an exercise he wants us
to <practice> doing, by understanding our insane thinking that there really are
some people we could like and some we could hate. In terms of form, this does
not mean we need to spend our lives with everyone. Rather, when we spend our
lives with specific people -- the classrooms we all have -- we would not, <in
our minds>, exclude anyone else. It is very easy, when we find people whom we
love because they meet our special needs, to use the relationship as a standard
by which we judge the people who have failed us in the past: e.g., "I never met
anyone like you before." "No one has ever been so kind." "No one has ever really
understood me until now." Thoughts like these signal that the all-inclusive love
of Jesus is not being expressed.*

(6:4-9) "Spend the remainder of the practice period trying to think of yourself
as completely at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world that
protects you and loves you, and that you love in return. Try to feel safety
surrounding you, hovering over you and holding you up. Try to believe, however
briefly, that nothing can harm you in any way. At the end of the practice period
tell yourself:

Love holds no grievances.

When I let all my grievances go
I will know I am perfectly safe.<"

*Jesus wants us to think about our safety when in the midst of feeling unsafe.
He knows our ability to do this at this point is limited; that is why he uses
the phrase "however briefly." However, he wants us to become accustomed to our
split minds: the ego's thought system of danger and the Holy Spirit's correction
of safety. Only then can we exercise the mind's power to bring the unsafe to the
safe, the darkness to the light, the grievance to the love.*

(7) "The short practice periods should include a quick application of today's
idea in this form, whenever any thought of grievance arises against anyone,
physically present or not:

Love holds no grievances.

Let me not betray my Self.<

In addition, repeat the idea several times an hour in this form:

Love holds no grievances.

I would wake to my Self by laying
all my grievances aside and wakening in Him.<"

*Still once again, Jesus reminds us to maintain vigilance for our ego's antics,
so we may look at them with his gentle love beside us, enabling them to
disappear. To paraphrase the rhetorical question (T-23.IV.9:8) we cited earlier:
Who, with the Love of God beside him, would find the choice between grievances
or forgiveness hard to make?*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 67. Love created me like itself.

#93066

Lesson 67. Love created me like itself.

(1) Today's idea is a complete and accurate statement of what you are. This is
why you are the light of the world. This is why God appointed you as the world's
savior. This is why the Son of God looks to you for his salvation. He is saved
by what you are. We will make every effort today to reach this truth about you,
and to realize fully, if only for a moment, that it is the truth.

(2) In the longer practice period, we will think about your reality and its
wholly unchanged and unchangeable nature. We will begin by repeating this truth
about you, and then spend a few minutes adding some relevant thoughts, such as:

Holiness created me holy.

Kindness created me kind.
Helpfulness created me helpful.
Perfection created me perfect.<

Any attribute which is in accord with God as He defines Himself is appropriate
for use. We are trying today to undo your definition of God and
replace it with His Own. We are also trying to emphasize that you are part of
His definition of Himself.

(3) After you have gone over several such related thoughts, try to let all
thoughts drop away for a brief preparatory interval, and then try to reach past
all your images and preconceptions about yourself to the truth in you. If love
created you like itself, this Self must be in you. And somewhere in your mind It
is there for you to find.

(4) You may find it necessary to repeat the idea for today from time to time to
replace distracting thoughts. You may also find that this is not sufficient, and
that you need to continue adding other thoughts related to the truth about
yourself. Yet perhaps you will succeed in going past that, and through the
interval of thoughtlessness to the awareness of a blazing light in which you
recognize yourself as love created you. Be confident that you will do much today
to bring that awareness nearer, whether you feel you have succeeded or not.

(5) It will be particularly helpful today to practice the idea for the day as
often as you can. You need to hear the truth about yourself as frequently as
possible, because your mind is so preoccupied with false self-images. Four or
five times an hour, and perhaps even more, it would be most beneficial to remind
yourself that love created you like itself. Hear the truth about yourself in
this.

(6) Try to realize in the shorter practice periods that this is not your tiny,
solitary voice that tells you this. This is the Voice for God, reminding you of
your Father and of your Self. This is the Voice of truth, replacing everything
that the ego tells you about yourself with the simple truth about the Son of
God. You were created by love like itself.

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

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 67. "Love created me like itself."

(1:1-5) "Today's idea is a complete and accurate statement of what you are. This
is why you are the light of the world. This is why God appointed you as the
world's savior. This is why the Son of God looks to you for his salvation. He is
saved by what you are."

*The Son of God is saved by <what> I am because the Son of God <is> what I am.
If I am a creation of love, the entire Sonship must be a creation of love
because love is one. Thus when we remember Who we truly are, we are remembering
for all. You may recall the motto of Dumas' three musketeers: <One for all and
all for one.>*

(1:6) We will make every effort today to reach this truth about you, and to
realize fully, if only for a moment, that it is the truth."

*The long-range goal of A Course in Miracles is that we become aware of this
truth all the time, not just for a moment. Jesus therefore says to us: "I am
willing to accept as our goal for today that we have at least <one> moment of
remembering that you are love." We would then understand he is reflecting back
to us that this is a process of <gradually> accepting the truth, as we
<gradually> reject the illusion by correcting the ego's substitution of a
self-concept of guilt and fear for the memory that we are created by love like
itself.*

(2:1-7) "In the longer practice period, we will think about your reality and its
wholly unchanged and unchangeable nature. We will begin by repeating this truth
about you, and then spend a few minutes adding some relevant thoughts, such as:

Holiness created me holy.
Kindness created me kind.
Helpfulness created me helpful.
Perfection created me perfect.

Any attribute which is in accord with God as He defines Himself is appropriate
for use."

*Jesus is emphasizing what is true about us, a truth to which we are always
asked to bring the illusion. Clearly, Jesus knows that we do not believe this
about ourselves. If we did, we would not be needing the workbook, and certainly
not A Course in Miracles itself. Thus he seeks to reinforce the memory he holds
for us in our right minds. However, lest we forget we have another side, which
is the problem, he reminds us of the journey on which he is leading us, as we
now read:*

(2:8) "We are trying today to undo your definition of God and replace it with
His Own."

*Jesus explains that truth is in us, and continually reminds us of its nature;
but he also reminds us that the means of remembering truth is to undo what we
made as its replacement. Thus, our ego's God is a dualistic deity, which means
that His creation -- us -- must be dualistic, too: good perhaps, but also evil:
sometimes innocent, but guilty as well. When brought to Jesus definition, the
ego's deity is replaced by the non-dualistic God of innocence and Love.*

(2:9) "We are also trying to emphasize that you are part of His definition of
Himself."

*Jesus goes back and forth between these two self concepts, because we do. Our
fear impels us to hide in the ego's thought system of separation: while the pain
of such a choice motivates us to return home. We vacillate between fear and love
until we finally accept the Atonement for ourselves, at which point all teaching
ends as we disappear into the love that created us like itself.*

(3:1-2) "After you have gone over several such related thoughts, try to let all
thoughts drop away for a brief preparatory interval, and then try to reach past
all your images and preconceptions about yourself to the truth in you. If love
created you like itself, this Self must be in you."

*We have seen this idea often. Before we can remember who we truly are, we must
first allow ourselves to get in touch with who the ego tells us we are. The path
thus takes us through the illusions of darkness to the light of truth. As we
shall see presently, Jesus describes himself as our guide on this journey
through the ego's clouds of illusion.*

(3:3) "And somewhere in your mind It is there for you to find."

*That truth, namely the Love of God, "is there for [us] to find." Once again,
the way we reach the truth is first to reach past our "images and perceptions,"
which we cannot do until we know what they are. That is why in our daily
practice of the lessons, let alone our practice of the lessons, let alone our
practice of the Course's principles -- in all situations and relationships --
we must continually be vigilant for what our egos are up to. We need not worry
about what Jesus is up to; we need be concerned only for our egos. If we can
look at them with Jesus, our investment in being right will decrease, allowing
truth to become increasingly important to us. In other words, we shall finally
have <sought> for what we truly want to <find>. And seeking for it, we shall be
successful, since "it is there for [us] to find." *

(4) "You may find it necessary to repeat the idea for today from time to time to
replace distracting thoughts. You may also find that this is not sufficient, and
that you need to continue adding other thoughts related to the truth about
yourself. Yet perhaps you will succeed in going past that, and through the
interval of thoughtlessness to the awareness of a blazing light in which you
recognize yourself as love created you. Be confident that you will do much today
to bring that awareness nearer, whether you feel you have succeeded or not."

*It is important to note, once again, that instructions such as these should not
be compared to what is referred to in some New Age circles as "affirmations" --
the positive statements we are asked to recite that end up as covers for our
ego's negative thoughts, thereby making it impossible for them to be undone.
<Undoing>, as described in A Course in Miracles, means <looking> at the ego
first, as the prerequisite for the process to the light. Thus, from time to
time, as he does here, Jesus reminds us of the light to which we bring the
darkness of our "thoughtlessness," which consists of the ego's attempts to
distract us with thoughts that are not real. Yet, to repeat, one cannot regain
awareness of the blazing light of our real thoughts without first recognizing
our identification with the unreal (or thought-less) ones.

Jesus concludes this paragraph by expressing his confidence in our willingness
to undergo this process with him, even though our resistance to such progress
will most likely still be present.*

(5:1-2) "It will be particularly helpful today to practice the idea for the day
as often as you can. You need to hear the truth about yourself as frequently as
possible, because your mind is so preoccupied with false self-images."

*In this one sentence we find a wonderful juxtaposition of both halves of our
split minds, and the basic theme of A Course in Miracles: We must realize how
preoccupied we are with our false self images or self-concepts. These might
include: I am right; I am holy because I am right; I am an individual; I am
special; I know what is in my best interests. We must become aware of our
preoccupation with these self-images, otherwise we will never know there is
something we can choose between. Jesus therefore tells us, in the workbook
especially: "I will remind you frequently of who you really are, so you can see
you have a choice between the glorious Self of Christ and the shabby one you
made as a replacement." It is our awareness of the ability to choose between two
mutually exclusive self-concepts that allows us in the end to make the choice
that <is> the end. Bringing us to this awareness is the function of the
miracle.*

(5:3-4) "Four or five times an hour, and perhaps even more, it would be most
beneficial to remind yourself that love created you like itself. Hear the truth
about yourself in this."

*Jesus is upping the ante here. He wants us to think about the day's lesson as
often as possible, up to four or five times an hour; i.e., every twelve or
fifteen minutes. Jesus does not truly expect us to be so focused on the truth.
After all, we ran away from it into the illusory world of time and space just so
we would be distracted from the timeless truth of Heaven. Nonetheless, he does
want us to make the effort, which, if we attempt it faithfully, will make us
aware of how much we do not want to remember. Such insight into our resistance,
as we have seen and will see repeatedly, is extraordinarily useful on our
journey. We cannot correct a problem we do not know we have, and are so
resistant to letting go.*

(6) "Try to realize in the shorter practice periods that this is not your tiny,
solitary voice that tells you this. This is the Voice for God, reminding you of
your Father and of your Self. This is the Voice of truth, replacing everything
that the ego tells you about yourself with the simple truth about the Son of
God. You were created by love like itself."

*The Holy Spirit cannot replace my ego with His truth unless I bring the ego
thought system to Him. That is why, to say it again -- <and again and again> --
be ever vigilant for your ego as you go through these lessons. Ask Jesus to join
you there, so that with his light you can shine away the darkness, and thereby
remember who you are: created by love like itself.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 66. My happiness and my function are one.

#93065

Lesson 66. My happiness and my function are one.

(1) You have surely noticed an emphasis throughout our recent lessons on the
connection between fulfilling your function and achieving happiness. This is
because you do not really see the connection. Yet there is more than just a
connection between them; they are the same. Their forms are different, but their
content is completely one.

(2) The ego does constant battle with the Holy Spirit on the fundamental
question of what your function is. So does it do constant battle with the Holy
Spirit about what your happiness is. It is not a two-way battle. The ego attacks
and the Holy Spirit does not respond. He knows what your function is. He knows
that it is your happiness.

(3) Today we will try to go past this wholly meaningless battle and arrive at
the truth about your function. We will not engage in senseless arguments about
what it is. We will not become hopelessly involved in defining happiness and
determining the means for achieving it. We will not indulge the ego by listening
to its attacks on truth. We will merely be glad that we can find out what truth
is.

(4) Our longer practice period today has as its purpose your acceptance of the
fact that not only is there a very real connection between the function God gave
you and your happiness, but that they are actually identical. God gives you only
happiness. Therefore, the function He gave you must be happiness, even if it
appears to be different. Today's exercises are an attempt to go beyond these
differences in appearance, and recognize a common content where it exists in
truth.

(5) Begin the ten-to-fifteen-minute practice period by reviewing these thoughts:

God gives me only happiness.
He has given my function to me.
Therefore my function must be happiness.

Try to see the logic in this sequence, even if you do not yet accept the
conclusion. It is only if the first two thoughts are wrong that the conclusion
could be false. Let us, then, think about the premises for a while, as we are
practicing.

(6) The first premise is that God gives you only happiness. This could be false,
of course, but in order to be false it is necessary to define God as something
He is not. Love cannot give evil, and what is not happiness is evil. God cannot
give what He does not have, and He cannot have what He is not. Unless God gives
you only happiness, He must be evil. And it is this definition of Him you are
believing if you do not accept the first premise.

(7) The second premise is that God has given you your function. We have seen
that there are only two parts of your mind. One is ruled by the ego, and is made
up of illusions. The other is the home of the Holy Spirit, where truth abides.
There are no other guides but these to choose between and no other outcomes
possible as a result of your choice but the fear that the ego always engenders,
and the love that the Holy Spirit always offers to replace it.

(8) Thus, it must be that your function is established by God through His Voice,
or is made by the ego which you have made to replace Him. Which is true? Unless
God gave your function to you, it must be the gift of the ego. Does the ego
really have gifts to give, being itself an illusion and offering only the
illusion of gifts?

(9) Think about this during the longer practice period today. Think also about
the many forms the illusion of your function has taken in your mind, and the
many ways in which you tried to find salvation under the ego's guidance. Did you
find it? Were you happy? Did they bring you peace? We need great honesty today.
Remember the outcomes fairly, and consider also whether it was ever reasonable
to expect happiness from anything the ego ever proposed. Yet the ego is the only
alternative to the Holy Spirit's Voice.

(10) You will listen to madness or hear the truth. Try to make this choice as
you think about the premises on which our conclusion rests. We can share in this
conclusion, but in no other. For God Himself shares it with us. Today's idea is
another giant stride in the perception of the same as the same, and the
different as different. On one side stand all illusions. All truth stands on the
other. Let us try today to realize that only the truth is true.

(11) In the shorter practice periods, which would be most helpful today if
undertaken twice an hour, this form of the application is suggested:

My happiness and function are one,
because God has given me both.

It will not take more than a minute, and probably less, to repeat these words
slowly and think about them a little while as you say them.

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

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 66. My happiness and my function are one.

*This lesson continues the theme of our happiness and function, elaborating on
their unity. The only way we can be happy is to let Jesus be our teacher. That
decision reflects our function of forgiveness. Anything else will not bring us
happiness because it will not last.*

(1) "You have surely noticed an emphasis throughout our recent lessons on the
connection between fulfilling your function and achieving happiness. This is
because you do not really see the connection. Yet there is more than just a
connection between them; they are the same. Their forms are different, but their
content is completely one."

*Another way to say this is that fulfilling our function is the cause, and the
effect is our happiness. When we forgive our thoughts of guilt, hate, and pain,
what remains is happiness, for cause and effect are one. This theme of oneness
is expressed throughout A Course in Miracles, and is the characteristic of
Heaven as well as the split mind. Thus cause and effect, ideas and source, inner
and outer -- all are one. Cause and effect are not separated; <ideas leave not
their source>; effects are not their cause. Again, the acceptance of our
function is the cause, and its effect is our happiness. In truth they are one
and unseparated.*

(2:1) "The ego does constant battle with the Holy Spirit on the fundamental
question of what your function is."

*To the ego, our function is to survive. This is accomplished by projecting
responsibility for the separation onto everyone else, thereby ensuring that we
never return to its source: the mind's decision for the ego. Needless to say,
this is a one-way battle, since the Holy Spirit knows nothing of the ego's
illusions, except that we have chosen to identify with them. Because it takes
<two> to wage a war, the very fact that the Holy Spirit, not to mention God
Himself, does not engage the ego in any way ensures that there is no war. This
non-combativeness, otherwise known as defenselessness, is the essence of the
Atonement. The separation, the source of the ego's war against God, never
occurred because God knows nothing of it. An illusion unrecognized remains an
illusion. However, when confronted, the illusion becomes real in our <belief>,
and thus is our dream of separation made real for us. Choosing the Atonement
undoes this madness, restoring to our awareness the truth of our Identity as
Christ.*

(2:2) "So does it do constant battle with the Holy Spirit about what your
happiness is."

*Happiness to the ego is when we kill. Indeed, its motto is <kill or be killed>.
Happiness is when we get what we want, which occurs at someone's expense: I win,
you lose. That's happiness! Ask the members of a sports team that wins a big
game. The players are happy because the other team lost, and they would not be
happy if the other team had won. Sports are set up so that there cannot be two
winners. What we act out on an athletic field as a participant (or in a stadium
as a fan) in a seemingly benign way reflects the underlying malevolence of the
ego thought system of <one or the other>. Yet to all this the Holy Spirit gently
replies:

"You but mistake interpretation for the truth. And you are wrong. But a
mistake is not a sin, nor has reality been taken from its throne by your
mistakes. God reigns forever, and His laws alone prevail upon you and upon the
world. His Love remains the only thing there is. Fear is illusion, for you are
like Him." (M-18.3:3-12; italics omitted).

In the acceptance of that Love is found our true happiness.*

(2:3-6) "It is not a two-way battle. The ego attacks and the Holy Spirit does
not respond. He knows what your function is. He knows that it is your
happiness."

*The Holy Spirit does not respond because there is nothing for Him to respond
to. How could He, the reflection of truth in our minds, respond to an illusion?
If He did, the illusion would be real. As Jesus explains in the text
(T-5.II.7:1-5), a passage to which we shall return frequently, all the Holy
Spirit does is remind. He does not overcome, command, or demand. He does nothing
but simply remind us of the truth. The passage continues:

"The Voice for God is always quiet, because It speaks of peace. Peace is
stronger than war because it heals. War is division, not increase. No one gains
from strife. What profiteth it a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own
soul? If you listen to the wrong voice you have lost sight of your soul."
(T-5.II.7:7-12).

The Holy Spirit's peace is the end of conflict, while the "wrong voice" guides
us into the war, wherein we lose our soul. Yet without opposition, the seeming
enemy ceases to be, and what appeared to be a battleground fades "into the
nothingness which it came" (M-13.1:2). The illusion of the ego's attacks are
brought to the Holy Spirit's truth, "and truth saw them not" (M-14.1:10). Thus
are they undone, for their seeming reality is not even recognized. How could
they then be responded to?

Nonetheless, the ego continually attempts to make conflict real. In any conflict
there are two opposing forces, of which one will be a winner and the other a
loser. To the Holy Spirit, again, there is no opposing force. There is only God,
and nothing else. For the Holy Spirit, therefore, the way out of conflict is to
remind us there is no conflict; no problem to be solved; no enemy to be
confronted and overcome. That fact alone makes us happy.*

(3) "Today we will try to go past this wholly meaningless battle and arrive at
the truth about your function. We will not engage in senseless arguments about
what it is. We will not become hopelessly involved in defining happiness and
determining the means for achieving it. We will not indulge the ego by listening
to its attacks on truth. We will merely be glad that we can find out what truth
is."

*A Course in Miracles' way of undoing the ego is having us look at it. Nothing
else is required. When we look, we realize there is nothing to see, and thus no
point in defining the ego or arguing with its thought system. Thus we go beyond
its illusory nature to the truth. To quote again these important lines:

"No one can escape from illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking
is the way they are protected. There is no need to shrink from illusions, for
they cannot be dangerous. We are ready to look more closely at the ego's thought
system because together we have the lamp that will dispel it, and since you
realize you do not want it, you must be ready. Let us be very calm in doing
this, for we are merely looking honestly for truth. The " dynamics" of the ego
will be our lesson for a while, for we must look first at this to see beyond it,
since you have made it real. We will undo this error quietly together, and then
look beyond it to truth."

"What is healing but the removal of all that stands in the way of knowledge?
And how else can one dispel illusions except by looking at them directly,
without protecting them? Be not afraid, therefore, for what you will be looking
at is the source of fear, and you are beginning to learn that fear is not real."
(T-11.V.1:1-3, 2.1-3)

The process of forgiveness thus entails realizing that the ego we thought was
there had no effect. If it had no effect, it could not be a cause; if it is not
a cause, it does not exist.

Jesus is training us to look at the false functions of specialness we have made
as substitutes for our true function, which is to forgive, and then
remember Who we are. He asks us only to look at the false, for thus is the
illusion brought to the truth, and in the presence of its light, the ego's
darkness disappears.*

(4) "Our longer practice period today has as its purpose your acceptance of the
fact that not only is there a very real connection between the function God gave
you and your happiness, but that they are actually identical. God gives you only
happiness. Therefore, the function He gave you must be happiness, even if it
appears to be different. Today's exercises are an attempt to go beyond these
differences in appearance, and recognize a common content where it exists in
truth."

*Here Jesus addresses the crucial difference between appearance and reality, not
in terms of what we perceive externally, but within our own experience. So
often, reinforced by religious or spiritual traditions, spiritual aspirants hold
to the insane belief that God demands sacrifice, and pursuing our function means
to suffer. Jesus addresses this insanity in the beginning of Chapter 3 in the
text, where he discusses "the terrible misperceptions that God Himself
persecuted His Own Son on behalf of salvation" (T-3.2.3:4). He elaborates on
this crucial point, using the misperceptions of the crucifixion as his referent:

"God does not believe in retribution. His Mind does not create that way. He
does not hold your "evil" deeds against you. Is it likely that He would hold
them against me? Be very sure that you recognize how utterly impossible this
assumption is, and how entirely it arises from projection. This kind of error is
responsible for a host of related errors, including the belief that God rejected
Adam and forced him out of the Garden of Eden. It is also why you may believe
from time to time that I am misdirecting you. ... Sacrifice is a notion totally
unknown to God. It arises solely from fear, and frightened people can be
vicious." (T-3.1.3:4-10; 4:1-2).

This viciousness is not only directed towards others, but ourselves as well. It
is this painful misperception of God demanding sacrifice that Jesus attempts to
correct here in this lesson: <Our happiness and function are one>.

Continuing his discussion in paragraph 5, Jesus presents us with a syllogism, a
traditonal form of logic in which you logically prove an argument to be true:*

(5:1-4) "Begin the ten-to-fifteen-minute practice period by reviewing these
thoughts:

God gives me only happiness.

He has given my function to me.
Therefore my function must be happiness.<"

*In sentence 2 and 3 are true, sentence 4 must be true as well. Therefore,
because the first premise is true ("God gives me only happiness") as is the
second ("He has given my function to me"), the concluding statement must
logically follow ("My function must be happiness").

Jesus' purpose in using this syllogism is to have us realize how none of what we
do in this world will bring us happiness. It is only in recognizing that our
attempts fail, and fail miserably, that we will be motivated to say there must
be another else. We will then understand we have been looking for happiness in
the wrong place, and therefore will never find it. It can be found only if we go
within and ask it of our true Teacher. Thus Jesus says:*

(5:5 - 6:6) "Try to see the logic in this sequence, even if you do not yet
accept the conclusion. It is only if the first two thoughts are wrong that the
conclusion could be false. Let us, then, think about the premises for a while,
as we are practicing."

"The first premise is that God gives you only happiness. This could be false, of
course, but in order to be false it is necessary to define God as
something He is not. Love cannot give evil, and what is not happiness is evil.
God cannot give what He does not have, and He cannot have what He is not. Unless
God gives you only happiness, He must be evil. And it is this definition of Him
you are believing if you do not accept the first premise."

*Jesus is saying that if you do not believe God gives only happiness, you are
making Him into a dualistic being Who will give you happiness <along with
something else>. For example, the biblical God gives us happiness, but also
pain, life, but also death, good, but also evil. The God Jesus depicts in A
Course in Miracles thus corrects the dualistically divine figure of the Bible.
He tells us God can give us <only> happiness, for He knows only of perfect
Oneness: He thus gives only what is Himself, and cannot give anything else. This
is because <there is nothing else>.

To continue this argument: If God gives you happiness <and> evil, then evil must
be part of Him, too. Remember, <ideas leave not their source>. Thus, if evil
exists and God is the source of everything, evil must have its source in God.
This means the biblical divinity not only has God within Himself, but also the
devil. Thus Jesus encourages us to look at this, asking ourselves if this could
possibly be true.

And now the second premise:*

(7:1-4)"The second premise is that God has given you your function. We have seen
that there are only two parts of your mind. One is ruled by the ego, and is made
up of illusions. The other is the home of the Holy Spirit, where truth abides."

*This of course is the description of the right- and wrong-minded parts of the
split mind.

The next sentence gives a very clear implication, of the third part of the mind,
what we call the decision maker.*

(7:5) "There are no other guides but these to choose between ..."

*Accordingly, there must be some part of our minds that chooses between the ego
and the Holy Spirit.*

(7:5) "...and no other outcomes possible as a result of your choice but the fear
that the ego always engenders, and the love that the Holy Spirit always offers
to replace it."

*There are only two outcomes, effects, or contents that are possible in this
world: love or fear. Everything else is imply an expression of either one of
these two thoughts. That is why in Lesson 64 Jesus said: "Complexity of form
does not imply complexity of content." The world was made to confuse us and
complicate what it is, in essence, a very simple choice: I choose the ego, and
fear and pain are the unhappy result; I choose the Holy Spirit, and happiness
and peace are the happy result. Simple.*

(8) "Thus, it must be that your function is established by God through His
Voice, or is made by the ego which you have made to replace Him. Which is true?
Unless God gave your function to you, it must be the gift of the ego. Does the
ego really have gifts to give, being itself an illusion and offering only the
illusion of gifts?"

*Jesus tells us the ego cannot give us any real gifts; and therefore it cannot
give us anything that is true. Hence, God alone gives us our function. The
problem, as always, is that there still remains our insanity that prefers the
ego's "gifts" of separation and individuality to the loving gift of God's
Oneness. Since the ego's "gifts' to us must entail pain and suffering, we gladly
bear its burden if it means our continual <existence>. Jesus' challenge as our
teacher is to convince us that happiness comes from choosing to return to
<being>, our true Self.*

(9) "Think about this during the longer practice period today. Think also about
the many forms the illusion of your function has taken in your mind, and the
many ways in which you tried to find salvation under the ego's guidance. Did you
find it? Were you happy? Did they bring you peace? We need great honesty today.
Remember the outcomes fairly, and consider also whether it was ever reasonable
to expect happiness from anything the ego ever proposed. Yet the ego is the only
alternative to the Holy Spirit's Voice."

*Once again, Jesus is emphasizing the necessity of paying careful attention to
our egos. Before we can remember the function God has given us, we first have to
look at the functions we have given ourselves as replacements for God's gifts.
He is asking us to be completely honest about whether any of these functions,
indeed anything of this world has truly made us happy. Needless to say, Jesus is
not talking about the transient happiness we all experience from time to time,
which again, is when we get what we want. He refers to a happiness that is so
deep it cannot be undone by anything else. It is this honesty that Jesus
requires of us throughout our study and practice of A Course in Miracles,
without which the ego will successfully slip away unnoticed into our
unconscious, only to wreak havoc on our lives and on the world.

Paragraph 10 is another statement of the importance theme, <one or the other>,
God or the ego. In this case it refers not to one or the other in the ego
system, but one or the other, God or the ego. In this case it refers not to one
or the other in the ego system, but one or the other in the sense that there can
only be God <or> the ego, but not both:*

(10:1-4) "You will listen to madness or hear the truth. Try to make this choice
as you think about the premises on which our conclusion rests. We can share in
this conclusion, but in no other. For God Himself shares it with us."

*Because God Himself shares it with us, it must be true. Anything else, then,
would be a lie. The simplicity of our decision making: To choose the ego is to
reject God's truth. One leads to happiness; the other to misery. What could be
simpler than that?*

(10:5-8) "Today's idea is another giant stride in the perception of the same as
the same, and the different as different. On one side stand all illusions. All
truth stands on the other. Let us try today to realize that only the truth is
true."

*This theme is found all through A Course in Miracles. Near the end of the
workbook Jesus says, for example: "Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God
this gift: to hear the Voice for God proclaim that what is false is false, and
what is true has never changed" (T-pII.10.1.1) -- <one or the other>. In the New
Year's Prayer that ends chapter 15, we read: "Make this year different by making
it all the same" (T-15.XI.10:11). In other words, in our right-minded
experience, everything is the same because everything serves the same purpose of
forgiveness, which alone will bring us happiness.

To the ego there are many different ways of achieving happiness. What
establishes me as different from you is that if I am happy, you are not.
Therefore, if I want to be happy, you have to lose. That makes us different. I
do not realize that if I am unhappy, you will be unhappy, and vice versa. It
cannot be that I attack you and not be attacked myself, nor can I forgive you
without forgiving myself, since we are not different but the same -- one Son
with one wrong-minded function to attack, and one right-minded function to
forgive. This point is emphasized at the end of chapter 22, concluding a
discussion of the holy relationship:

"Only the different can attack. So you conclude because you can attack, you
and your brother must be different. Yet does the Holy Spirit explain this
differently. Because you and your brother are not different, you cannot attack.
Either position is a logical conclusion. Either could be maintained, but never
both. The only question to be answered in order to decide which must be true is
whether you and your brother are different. From the position of what you
understand you seem to be, and therefore can attack. Of the alternatives, this
seems more natural and more in line with your experience. And therefore it is
necessary that you have other experiences, more in line with truth, to teach you
what is natural and true." (T-22.VI.13).*

(11) "In the shorter practice periods, which would be most helpful today if
undertaken twice an hour, this form of the application is suggested:

My happiness and function are one,

because God has given me both.<

It will not take more than a minute, and probably less, to repeat these words
slowly and think about them a little while as you say them."

*It should be striking to us to see how easily we forget. Twice an hour to
remember how happy forgiveness makes us is not really very much time, except to
an ego, which jealously covets each and every unholy instant. Therefore, when we
are not able to think about the words of the exercise twice an hour, we should
at some point think about our resistance to doing so. Such non-judgmental
thinking -- the meaning of looking with the Holy Spirit -- will yield abundant
rewards each and every time we remember to forgive ourselves for forgetting.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 65. My only function is the one God gave me.

#93064

Lesson 65. My only function is the one God gave me.

(1) The idea for today reaffirms your commitment to salvation. It also reminds
you that you have no function other than that. Both these thoughts are obviously
necessary for a total commitment. Salvation cannot be the only purpose you hold
while you still cherish others. The full acceptance of salvation as your only
function necessarily entails two phases; the recognition of salvation as your
function, and the relinquishment of all the other goals you have invented for
yourself.

(2) This is the only way in which you can take your rightful place among the
saviors of the world. This is the only way in which you can say and mean, "My
only function is the one God gave me." This is the only way in which you can
find peace of mind.

(3) Today, and for a number of days to follow, set aside ten to fifteen minutes
for a more sustained practice period, in which you try to understand and accept
what the idea for the day really means. Today's idea offers you escape from all
your perceived difficulties. It places the key to the door of peace, which you
have closed upon yourself, in your own hands. It gives you the answer to all the
searching you have done since time began.

(4) Try, if possible, to undertake the daily extended practice periods at
approximately the same time each day. Try, also, to determine this time in
advance, and then adhere to it as closely as possible. The purpose of this is to
arrange your day so that you have set apart the time for God, as well as for all
the trivial purposes and goals you will pursue. This is part of the long-range
disciplinary training your mind needs, so that the Holy Spirit can use it
consistently for the purpose He shares with you.

(5) For the longer practice period, begin by reviewing the idea for the day.
Then close your eyes, repeat the idea to yourself once again, and watch your
mind carefully to catch whatever thoughts cross it. At first, make no attempt to
concentrate only on thoughts related to the idea for the day. Rather, try to
uncover each thought that arises to interfere with it. Note each one as it comes
to you, with as little involvement or concern as possible, dismissing each one
by telling yourself:

This thought reflects a goal that is preventing me from accepting my only

function.<

(6) After a while, interfering thoughts will become harder to find. Try,
however, to continue a minute or so longer, attempting to catch a few of the
idle thoughts that escaped your attention before, but do not strain or make
undue effort in doing this. Then tell yourself:

On this clean slate let my true function be written for me.<

You need not use these exact words, but try to get the sense of being willing to
have your illusions of purpose be replaced by truth.

(7) Finally, repeat the idea for today once more, and devote the rest of the
practice period to trying to focus on its importance to you, the relief its
acceptance will bring you by resolving your conflicts once and for all, and the
extent to which you really want salvation in spite of your own foolish ideas
tothe contrary.

(8) In the shorter practice periods, which should be undertaken at least once an
hour, use this form in applying today's idea:

My only function is the one God gave me.

I want no other and I have no other<

Sometimes close your eyes as you practice this, and sometimes keep them open and
look about you. It is what you see now that will be totally changed when you
accept today's idea completely.

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

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 65. "My only function is the one God gave me."

*Whenever we are tempted to think we have a function other than forgiveness, we
should recognize we are involved with a defense. Many of the functions we think
we have seem to be very important: to save the world, family, friends, or job,
be a teacher of A Course in Miracles, etc. Whatever its form, it is not my
function, and God did not give it to us. As we have already discussed, God does
not know about specifics, and the function He "gave" me is simply to remember
who I am as His Son. Forgiveness makes that possible, and that is this lesson's
theme.*

(1:1-2) "The idea for today reaffirms your commitment to salvation. It also
reminds you that you have no function other than that."

*Remember, salvation means being saved from our wrong minds, from believing we
are right and Jesus is wrong. It means undoing the belief we are individuals
acting on our own, necessitating having everyone else be responsible for the
misery we chose for ourselves.*

(1:3) "Both these thoughts are obviously necessary for a total commitment."

* "Both these thoughts" means having the function of salvation, and having no
function but that. It means looking at the positive -- our function to forgive
-- and the negative -- the belief we have another function. In the following
sentences Jesus states even more explicitly our need to be aware of both the
right-minded <and> wrong-minded perception of our function.*

(1:4-5) "Salvation cannot be the only purpose you hold while you still cherish
others. The full acceptance of salvation as your only function necessarily
entails two phases; the recognition of salvation as your function, and the
relinquishment of all the other goals you have invented for yourself."

*Before we can relinquish these other goals, we first have to be aware of them.
That underscores the importance of being honest with ourselves and Jesus
concerning our pursuit of the ego's hidden goals of specialness. One can apply
here his plea to us from the text that comes within the context of asking for
his help. It is a plea we shall hear again:

"Watch carefully and see what it is you are really asking for. Be very
honest with yourself in this, for we must hide nothing from each other."
(T-4.III.8:1-2).

"Think honestly what you have thought that God would not have thought, and
what you have not thought that God would have you think. Search sincerely for
what you have done and left undone accordingly, and then change your mind to
think with God's." (T-4.IV.2:4-5)

To state this another way : To say "yes" to our true function is to say "no" to
the false ones. In "The Last Unanswered Question" in the text, Jesus says to
answer "yes" (to the last of the four questions he poses) is to say "not no"
(T-21.VII.12). We must first look at the ego's denial of the truth -- "no" --
and then say we do not want this anymore -- "<not no>." As he says earlier in
the text, in words that will become increasingly familiar to us: "The task of
the miracle worker thus becomes to <deny the denial of truth>." (T-12.II.1:5).

This entails becoming aware of both the manifest and subtle ways in which we
have established what <we> believe to be our function in life: the purpose for
which we came. We think, in our grandiosity, we were born for some noble
purpose. Not true! We are here to undo the <ignoble> purpose for which the ego
brought us: to blame others for our sin, leaving us free of all responsibility
for how we feel. The undoing of that purpose -- the meaning of forgiveness -- is
our function, and <nothing else>.*

(2:1) "This is the only way in which you can take your rightful place among the
saviors of the world."

*At the beginning of the last section of the text, "Choose Once again," Jesus
asks us to choose whether we would take our place among the saviors of the world
or remain in hell, holding our brothers there (T-31.VIII.1:5). He recalls for us
this significant statement, much as a composer quotes significant themes from
earlier portions of the symphony.*

(2:2-3) "This is the only way in which you can say and mean, "My only function
is the one God gave me." This is the only way in which you can find peace of
mind."

*It is worth noting that <only> is a strong qualifier. Jesus uses it quite
frequently throughout A Course in Miracles, and here he uses it in successive
statements. We have no function other than forgiveness, and the <only> way we
find peace of mind is to fulfill this function, which is to undo our ego's false
functions. These always involve our bodies doing something in the world, thereby
making the state of mindlessness real in our experience and belief. A passage in
the manual for teachers, in the context of anger, describes this process of
attaining peace through forgiveness -- anger being directed from one body to
another, reinforcing mindlessness; while forgiveness returns us to our minds and
the peace of God:

"God's peace can never come where anger is, for anger must deny that peace
exists. Who sees anger as justified in any way or any circumstance proclaims
that peace is meaningless, and must believe that it cannot exist. In this
condition, peace cannot be found. Therefore, forgiveness is the necessary
condition for finding the peace of God. More than this, given forgiveness there
must be peace." (M-20.3:3-7).

Choosing against our anger, or any other expression of the ego's thought system,
is the <only> way we become aware of the Holy Spirit's truth that lies beyond
the ego's defensive cover.*

(3:1-3) "Today, and for a number of days to follow, set aside ten to fifteen
minutes for a more sustained practice period, in which you try to understand and
accept what the idea for the day really means. Today's idea offers you escape
from all your perceived difficulties. It places the key to the door of peace,
which you have closed upon yourself, in your own hands."

*We cannot escape our difficulties until we perceive them. The phrase "perceived
difficulties" means that we believe we have them, even though they are not real.
Thus, we cannot let them go until we first become aware of the ego's thought
system that we have perceived, as a way of denying it in ourselves. This is thus
a re-statement of the first principle of miracles. Looking at our perceived
difficulties with Jesus enables us to recognize them all as smoke screens for
the <only> problem we truly have: our belief in the reality of the separation.
In this way, our perceived difficulties disappear into the one problem, which
the miracle gently corrects.

Further on in Lesson 121 Jesus says that "forgiveness is the key to happiness."
The key to the door of happiness is in our hands. It is not in Jesus' or God's
hands, nor in the hands of A Course in Miracles, let alone anyone else's. <It is
in our hands>, for we alone have the power to keep our minds closed to the truth
or the ego's lies. We are the ones who closed the door on the Holy Spirit,
therefore, we are the only ones who can open it. The Holy Spirit is on the other
side of the door, but He cannot make the choice for us.

Finally, the longer practice periods that Jesus continues to suggest reflects
his wish we reflect more and more seriously on the thoughts he is presenting to
us. This is similar to his injunction to Helen and Bill in the early period of
the Course's scribing that they "study the notes." *

(3:4) "It gives you the answer to all the searching you have done since time
began."

*When Jesus says "<you> have done since time began," he is not referring to the
individual self you think you are, but the collective Son of God. The searching
we have done -- encompassing all levels of existence -- is for happiness, peace,
and the absence of pain. Needless to say, we have failed miserably. Indeed, it
seems these days as if there is no hierarchy in the illusory world of time and
space; yet it certainly seems as if this were the case. It appears we are
denying our egos less and our defenses have become less effective, and so we
search, search, and search for solutions to our pain. We seek but do not find
because we are looking in the wrong place. That is why it is imperative to
remember that forgiveness occurs in the mind, not anywhere else. It manifests
our choice to release our grip on the ego, taking Jesus as our teacher instead.

Once we have chosen sanely, our new teacher helps us realize our searching has
been in vain, since we persistently sought truth and happiness when they could
not be found. As Jesus tells us near the end of the text:

"Real choice is no illusion. But the world has none to offer. All its roads
but lead to disappointment, nothingness and death. There is no choice in its
alternatives. Seek not escape from problems here. The world was made that
problems could not be escaped. Be not deceived by all the different names its
roads are given. They have but one end... All of them will lead to death.
...Think not that happiness is ever found by following a road away from it. This
makes no sense, and cannot be the way... to achieve a goal you must proceed in
its direction, not away from it. And every road that leads the other way will
not advance the purpose to be found... There is a choice that you have power to
make when you have seen the real alternatives." (T-31.IV.2:1-8,11;7:1-4;8:1).*

(4:1-2) "Try, if possible, to undertake the daily extended practice periods at
approximately the same time each day. Try, also, to determine this time in
advance, and then adhere to it as closely as possible."

*As I have mentioned, Jesus provides specific instructions for doing these
lessons, and he tells us here to establish some structure for ourselves,
although he will say presently that this is will not be a permanent arrangement.
His words imply the undisciplined nature of our minds, stemming from the fear of
regaining our mind's power to choose. This fear is so great, that without
structured time periods we would easily all our practicing to be diverted by
fear-induced mind wandering, thus diluting the efficacy of the workbook to help
us choose again. We need external discipline before we can internalize Jesus'
teachings, so that we may learn to think of him and his message as often as
possible.

The structure we are seeking to impose on ourselves also offers the wonderful
opportunity of learning the depth of our resistance as we forget our extended
practice periods, and then seek to rationalize or deny our fear. We shall
discuss this resistance more extensively later on.*

(4:3) "The purpose of this is to arrange your day so that you have set apart the
time for God, as well as for all the trivial purposes and goals you will
pursue."

*Jesus is not telling us to give up our "trivial purposes and goals" but says
instead: "You can have them, but give me a little time, too, and I will help you
structure your day. You are going to spend ten minutes at this time; ten times
another time; twenty minutes still another time. Set up the structure so you do
not have to give up what you want, but also allow some space during the day when
you think of me, and let me spend it with you." After all, he is not asking for
a lot. Jesus is thus providing an example of how we should be with each other
and with ourselves: clear and firm, yet gentle and patient. Truth does not hit
us over the head with itself, but merely reminds us -- within the context of our
illusory lives and values -- what alone is important to us. Recall again that
all-important idea in the text: The Holy Spirit does not deprive us of our
special relationships, He transforms them (T-17.IV.2:3).*

(4:4) "This is part of the long-range disciplinary training your mind needs, so
that the Holy Spirit can use it consistently for the purpose He shares with
you."

*Over and over, Jesus tells us this is a process; a long-range program, which
will become less and structured later on. For now, however, such structure is
extremely important. To think you do not need it reflects the ego's arrogance.*

(5) "For the longer practice period, begin by reviewing the idea for the day.
Then close your eyes, repeat the idea to yourself once again, and watch your
mind carefully to catch whatever thoughts cross it. At first, make no attempt to
concentrate only on thoughts related to the idea for the day. Rather, try to
uncover each thought that arises to interfere with it. Note each one as it comes
to you, with as little involvement or concern as possible, dismissing each one
by telling yourself:

This thought reflects a goal that is preventing me from accepting my only
function."

*Jesus is telling us our assignment is to pay careful attention to the ego
thoughts, for it is these that interfere with our remembering the idea for
today. This careful watching is the focus; for these thoughts are the problem.
The mind-searching emphasis here is reminiscent of the earlier lessons and, in
fact, is a practice that should remain with us for a long, long time. Only by
being vigilant for these thoughts can we truly bring them for undoing to Jesus'
love -- <our only function> -- thus removing the obstacles to accepting our true
Identity. Note also that our looking is to be done as much as possible without
anxiety, guilt, or judgment. This helps us not give these thoughts the power the
ego would like us to believe they have.*

(6:1-2) "After a while, interfering thoughts will become harder to find. Try,
however, to continue a minute or so longer, attempting to catch a few of the
idle thoughts that escaped your attention before, but do not strain or make
undue effort in doing this."

*Jesus wants us to pay close attention to these idle thoughts, even if they are
elusive. It is our <wanting> to find them that is important here, for it
reflects the little willingness he tells us in the text is all the Holy Spirit
requires for our healing (e.g., T-18.IV,V). ... Now comes something of great
importance:*

(6:3-4) "Then tell yourself:
On this clean slate let my true function be written for me."

*Our job us to clean the mind's slate, the overriding emphasis throughout A
Course in Miracles. Our minds are cluttered with thoughts of separation, sin,
attack, suffering, pleasure, specialness, arrogance, and death. This clutter
obscures the lucid expression of the Atonement in our minds. We clean the slate
by paying careful, non-judgmental attention to these idle thoughts, realizing we
have chosen them as a way of keeping Jesus' love away. Our function is choosing
to remove the clutter; the love just beyond will shine in and of itself.*

(6:5) "You need not use these exact words, but try to get the sense of being
willing to have your illusions of purpose be replaced by truth."

*Again, we are not the ones who replace them; that is Jesus' job. Ours is simply
to bring the ego's illusions to him. Jesus thus appeals to our
willingness to have "illusions of purpose" be replaced by our true function of
forgiveness. It is this little willingness -- the motivation to have the
darkness of our mistakes corrected by the light -- to which Jesus is always
appealing.*

(7) "Finally, repeat the idea for today once more, and devote the rest of the
practice period to trying to focus on its importance to you, the relief its
acceptance will bring you by resolving your conflicts once and for all, and the
extent to which you really want salvation in spite of your own foolish ideas to
the contrary."

*We continually try to resolve our conflicts by doing external things that
require sacrifice of others, seeing our world as one of conflicting interests:
ours versus everyone else's. The only real conflict within the dream, however,
is the conflict in our minds between the ego and the Holy Spirit. In truth, of
course, that is an illusion, too. But that conflict is our only problem: "Do I
want the ego or Jesus as my teacher?"

Jesus is appealing to our desire for salvation in spite of our foolish beliefs
of what it is. Thus, as we do these exercises, he urges us to focus on the
insane and foolish ways we believe salvation will come to us; what we believe
will make us happy, as opposed to what will truly make us happy.

Another point, which was made earlier and comes up again in the next lesson, is
that our function is to be happy. The problem -- the arrogance of the ego -- is
that we think we know what happiness is. Humility, on the other hand, says that
we do not understand what will make us happy, but there is One within us Who
does. Thus we see parallel sections in the text -- "The Confusion of Pain and
Joy" (T-7.X) and "The Difference between Imprisonment and Freedom" (T-8.II) --
and the following representative passages:

"The Holy Spirit will direct you only so as to avoid pain. Surely no one
would object to this goal if he recognized it. The problem is not whether what
the Holy Spirit says is true, but whether you want to listen to what He says.
You no more recognize what is painful than you know what is joyful, and are, in
fact, very apt to confuse the two. The Holy Spirit's main function is to teach
you to tell them apart. What is joyful to you is painful to the ego, and as long
as you are in doubt about what you are, you will be confused about joy and
pain." (T-7.X.3:1-6).

"We have said that the Holy Spirit teaches you the difference between pain
and joy. That is the same as saying He teaches you the difference between
imprisonment and freedom. You cannot make this distinction without Him because
you have taught yourself that imprisonment is freedom. Believing them to be the
same, how can you tell them apart? Can you ask the part of your mind that taught
you to believe they are the same, to teach you how they are different?"
(T-8.II.5)*

(8) "In the shorter practice periods, which should be undertaken at least once
an hour, use this form in applying today's idea:
My only function is the one God gave me.
I want no other and I have no other
Sometimes close your eyes as you practice this, and sometimes keep them open and
look about you. It is what you see now that will be totally changed when you
accept today's idea completely."

*Again, we see the emphasis on the <closed eyes-open eyes> exercise, reflecting
that <ideas leave not their source>: Our thoughts (closed eyes) remain within,
despite the attempts of the ego's projection to perceive them outside (open
eyes). That is why our perceptions will be totally changed when we change our
thinking.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 64. Let me not forget my function.

#93063

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

Lesson 63. The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.

#93062

Lesson 63. The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my
forgiveness.

How holy are you who have the power to bring peace to every mind! How blessed
are you who can learn to recognize the means for letting this be done through
you! What purpose could you have that would bring you greater happiness?

You are indeed the light of the world with such a function. The Son of God looks
to you for his redemption. It is yours to give him, for it belongs to you.
Accept no trivial purpose or meaningless desire in its place, or you will forget
your function and leave the Son of God in hell. This is no idle request that is
being asked of you. You are being asked to accept salvation that it may be yours
to give.

Recognizing the importance of this function, we will be happy to remember it
very often today. We will begin the day by acknowledging it, and close the day
with the thought of it in our awareness. And throughout the day we will repeat
this as often as we can:

The light of the world brings peace

to every mind through my forgiveness.
I am the means God has appointed for the salvation of the world.<

If you close your eyes, you will probably find it easier to let the related
thoughts come to you in the minute or two that you should devote to considering
this. Do not, however, wait for such an opportunity. No chance should be lost
for reinforcing today's idea. Remember that God's Son looks to you for his
salvation. And Who but your Self must be His Son?

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

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 63. The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my
forgiveness.

*Lesson 63 returns to the theme of oneness. As we have seen in earlier lessons,
Jesus takes a central theme and keeps developing it. Here he is teaching us that
when we forgive, peace must extend throughout the Sonship, as we all are one
mind. It does not mean, however, that every seeming fragment of the Sonship will
accept it immediately. It simply means I now become another symbol or thought in
the mind of God's Son, serving as a reminder to make the right choice that alone
will bring peace.*

(1:1) "How holy are you who have the power to bring peace to every mind?"

*Please note that Jesus does not say to every <body>. Forgiveness is not
something we physically do with words, for it is a thought we hold as true in
our minds. Recall our previously quoted passage from the manual (M-5.III.2) that
healing is shared simply by our having chosen it, that choice calling others to
make the same one. In this regard we emulate the Holy Spirit, Who merely reminds
us of the right choice:

"The Holy Spirit calls you both to remember and to forget. You have chosen
to be in a state of opposition in which opposites are possible. As a result,
there are choices you must make. ... Choosing depends on a split mind. The Holy
Spirit is one way of choosing. ... [His Voice] merely reminds. It is compelling
only because of what it reminds you of. It brings to your mind the other way,
remaining quiet even in the midst of the turmoil you may make."
(T.5.II.6.1-3,6-7.7.4-6)

We thus remind our brothers, as we remind ourselves, that peace is a decision,
and one which unites us all as one Son. I might also point out the similarity in
<form> and <content> between this lesson's first sentence and the opening of
"For They Have Come": in the text:

"Think but how holy you must be from whom the Voice for God calls lovingly
unto your brother, that you may awake in him the Voice that answers to your
call!" (T.26.IX.1.1)

The symphonic hand of our composer is every-where present in his masterwork.*

(1:2-3) "How blessed are you who can learn to recognize the means for letting
this be done through you! What purpose could you have that would bring you
greater happiness?"

*Again, Jesus is reminding us that forgiveness is the means whereby we shall
attain happiness. This is inevitable once we choose to let go of our judgments,
which keep us separate: the source of all our misery. Once this obstacle is
gone, happiness flows through our minds, umimpeded, and embraces the Sonship as
one.*

(2:1-2) "You are indeed the light of the world with such a function. The Son of
God looks to you for his redemption."

*As we shall see a little later, the Son of God looking for redemption is
ourselves; the little Child -- whom Jesus speaks of in Lesson 182 -- Who has
wandered away: the Child Who represents the Christ in us that we have concealed
and forgotten; the Child Who patiently awaits our forgiveness of others and
ourselves; the Child Who makes it possible to forgive, at the same time He
Himself is forgiven. His is the light that shines in each of us and all of us;
His the light that <is> the Son, who is ourselves.*

(2:3-4) "It is yours to give him, for it belongs to you. Accept no trivial
purpose or meaningless desire in its place, or you will forget your function and
leave the Son of God in hell."

*Implied here is that we make an active choice to choose a "trivial purpose or
meaningless desire" to replace the glorious truth about ourselves. This purpose
and desire expresses some aspect of specialness. We have noted before that
specialness has nothing to do with behavior but with an attitude whereby we use
others -- people and things -- as substitutes for the Love of God or the peace
of Jesus. Thus, Jesus speaks about the decision for Heaven or hell.*

(2:5-6) "This is no idle request that is being asked of you. You are being asked
to accept salvation that it may be yours to give."

*The way we give salvation is to accept it in our minds. This acceptance denies
the ego thought system and automatically means we give salvation to the world,
which is one with us. Thus "the simplicity of salvation" (T-31.1), in contrast
with the complexity of the ego's plan to "save" us from guilt through
specialness, thereby reinforcing the very problem from which we were told we
would be saved. In other words, the ego reinforces our separation from each
other, while the Holy Spirit undoes it by teaching our inherent unity. This is
no trivial matter; again, the choice is between Heaven or hell.*

(3) "Recognizing the importance of this function, we will be happy to remember
it very often today. We will begin the day by acknowledging it, and close the
day with the thought of it in our awareness. And throughout the day we will
repeat this as often as we can:

The light of the world brings peace
to every mind through my forgiveness.
I am the means God has appointed for the salvation of the world."

*Once again, we see Jesus helping us appreciate the importance <to us> of
frequent remembrances of the lesson's central idea. It is what he reminds of at
the text's close: how we keep the gift of Christ's vision that alone ends all
suffering. These wonderful lines will be a frequent reminder to us of the
all-inclusive nature of Jesus' vision:

"Yet this a vision is which you must share with everyone you see, for
otherwise you will behold it not. To give this gift is how to make it yours. And
God ordained, in loving kindness, that it be for you." (T-31.VIII.8:5-7).

Jesus urges us to forgive <all> people, for this is the only way we shall know
we are forgiven. In this vision of forgiveness of every mind we find our
salvation and the salvation of the world.*

(4:1-3) "If you close your eyes, you will probably find it easier to let the
related thoughts come to you in the minute or two that you should devote to
considering this. Do not, however, wait for such an opportunity. No chance
should be lost for reinforcing today's idea."

*Still one more time, Jesus asks us to waste no opportunity for remembering that
our happiness and function are one.*

(4:4-5) "Remember that God's Son looks to you for his salvation. And Who but
your Self must be His Son?"

*This Self is the Christ in us, the little Child who has seemingly lost His way.
Of course the Child is not lost: <we> are the ones who have lost awareness of
His Presence. Acceptance of our happy function of forgiveness is what restores
is what restores this happy awareness to us.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 62. Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

#93061

Lesson 62. Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

(1) It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light.
It is your forgiveness that lets you recognize the light in which you see.
Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through
your forgiveness does the truth about yourself return to your memory. Therefore,
in your forgiveness lies your salvation.

(2) Illusions about yourself and the world are one. That is why all forgiveness
is a gift to yourself. Your goal is to find out who you are, having denied your
Identity by attacking creation and its Creator. Now you are learning how to
remember the truth. For this attack must be replaced by forgiveness, so that
thoughts of life may replace thoughts of death.

(3) Remember that in every attack you call upon your own weakness, while each
time you forgive you call upon the strength of Christ in you. Do you not then
begin to understand what forgiveness will do for you? It will remove all sense
of weakness, strain and fatigue from your mind. It will take away all fear and
guilt and pain. It will restore the invulnerability and power God gave His Son
to your awareness.

(4) Let us be glad to begin and end this day by practicing today's idea, and to
use it as frequently as possible throughout the day. It will help to make the
day as happy for you as God wants you to be. And it will help those around you,
as well as those who seem to be far away in space and time, to share this
happiness with you.

(5) As often as you can, closing your eyes if possible, say to yourself today:

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

I would fulfill my function that I may be happy.<

Then devote a minute or two to considering your function and the happiness and
release it will bring you. Let related thoughts come freely, for your heart will
recognize these words, and in your mind is the awareness they are true. Should
your attention wander, repeat the idea and add:

I would remember this because I want to be happy.<

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

I would remember this because I want to be happy."

<
*The connection between our function of forgiveness and our happiness is clearly
articulated here, and will be returned to presently. The motivation for learning
is therefore our own happiness. We are slowly and gently being taught that the
<only> way we can be happy is by removing our guilt through forgiveness of
others. I have commented before on the symphonic nature of the workbook. We can
see here the continual introduction of new themes, building up our symphony of
learning as we progress day by day.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 61. I am the light of the world.

#93060

Lesson 61. I am the light of the world.

(1) Who is the light of the world except God's Son? This, then, is merely a
statement of the truth about yourself. It is the opposite of a statement of
pride, of arrogance, or of self-deception. It does not describe the self-concept
you have made. It does not refer to any of the characteristics with which you
have endowed your idols. It refers to you as you were created by God. It simply
states the truth.

(2) To the ego, today's idea is the epitome of self-glorification. But the ego
does not understand humility, mistaking it for self-debasement. Humility
consists of accepting your role in salvation and in taking no other. It is not
humility to insist you cannot be the light of the world if that is the function
God assigned to you. It is only arrogance that would assert this function cannot
be for you, and arrogance is always of the ego.

(3) True humility requires that you accept today's idea because it is God's
Voice which tells you it is true. This is a beginning step in accepting your
real function on earth. It is a giant stride toward taking your rightful place
in salvation. It is a positive assertion of your right to be saved, and an
acknowledgment of the power that is given you to save others.

(4)You will want to think about this idea as often as possible today. It is the
perfect answer to all illusions, and therefore to all temptation. It brings all
the images you have made about yourself to the truth, and helps you depart in
peace, unburdened and certain of your purpose.

(5) As many practice periods as possible should be undertaken today, although
each one need not exceed a minute or two. They should begin with telling
yourself:

I am the light of the world.

That is my only function.
That is why I am here.<

Then think about these statements for a short while, preferably with your eyes
closed if the situation permits. Let a few related thoughts come to you, and
repeat the idea to yourself if your mind wanders away from the central thought.

(6) Be sure both to begin and end the day with a practice period. Thus you will
awaken with an acknowledgment of the truth about yourself, reinforce it
throughout the day, and turn to sleep as you reaffirm your function and your
only purpose here. These two practice periods may be longer than the rest, if
you find them helpful and want to extend them.

(7) Today's idea goes far beyond the ego's petty views of what you are and what
your purpose is. As a bringer of salvation, this is obviously necessary. This is
the first of a number of giant steps we will take in the next few weeks. Try
today to begin to build a firm foundation for these advances. You are the light
of the world. God has built His plan for the salvation of His Son on you.

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

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

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

"I am the light of the world."

*The lesson's title is taken from the gospels, specifically where Jesus tells
his disciples: "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). Here, as in many
other places in A Course in Miracles, we see how Jesus takes an idea from
traditional Christianity and gives it a totally different interpretation. The
gospel understanding was that the disciples' function was to bring that light to
the world -- literally, to the physical world.

It is easy for students of A Course in Miracles who are unaware of its
underlying teaching to mistake this gospel exhortation for what Jesus means in
this lesson. He is <not> saying we should bring the light into the world,
because <there is no world>. By saying we are the light of the world he refers
to the light of Christ shining in our minds. Because the mind of God's Son is
one (a subsidiary theme in these lessons, yet a continually recurring one), that
light is shared by the Sonship as a whole. We are not asked to be spiritually
special persons who bear the light because Jesus gave it to us, and then charged
us with the function of spreading it to the multitudes. Rather, he is reminding
us -- God's one Son who has the illusion of fragmentation -- we <all> are the
light of the world. This, then, corrects the ego's self-concept bequeathed to
each of us: we are the <darkness> of the world. In fact, Lesson 93 begins: "You
think you are the home of evil, darkness and sin" (W-pI.93,1.1) That is the
illusion we bring to the light-filled truth about ourselves.

Our arrogance and pride is expressed in holding the thought: "I am the light of
the world, but you are not. There is something special about me, and in my
beneficent holiness I will bring you that light, giving you something you do not
have." Such arrogance reflects the spiritual specialness that I have something
you lack. In <The Song of Prayer> Jesus discusses this dynamic --
"healing-to-separate" -- in the context of healers who believe <they> are the
healers, giving healing to one who is sick, and therefore separate from them.
The following passage applies as well to what we can call "light
bearing-to-separate."

"Someone knows better, has been better trained, or is perhaps more talented
and wise. Therefore, he can give healing to the one who stands beneath him in
his patronage. ... How can that be? True healing cannot come from inequality
assumed and then accepted as the truth, and used to help restore the wounded and
to calm the mind that suffers from the agony of doubt. ... You do not make
yourself the bearer of the special gift that brings the healing. You but
recognize your oneness with the one who calls for help. For in this oneness is
his separate sense dispelled, and it is this that made him sick. There is no
point in giving remedy apart from where the source of sickness is, for never
thus can it be truly healed." (S.3.III.2.4-5;3:3-4;4:5-8).

The darkness that needs healing, regardless of its form, resides in the mind
that believes in separation. The light that heals also resides in the mind, and
each of us carries both -- the darkness of guilt and the light of the Atonement.
Choosing the light is healing for ourselves <and> the world, for the light of
Christ shines in God's Son as one, there being only <one> light. To believe
anything else is the ego's specialness at work. Its deception lies not only in
separation, but also in what specialness covers: the belief I am really the
darkness of the world.

Therefore, in the workbook, as well as in the rest of A Course in Miracles, we
are taught that our function is to remind ourselves we are the light of the
world, having made the choice against the ego's darkness. Our acceptance of that
fact of the Atonement serves as a reminder for everyone else to make the same
choice we have. Jesus thus begins the lesson by contrasting the light of our
true Identity with the ego's darkened self of arrogance and delusion:*

(1) "Who is the light of the world except God's Son? This, then, is merely a
statement of the truth about yourself. It is the opposite of a statement of
pride, of arrogance, or of self-deception. It does not describe the self-concept
you have made. It does not refer to any of the characteristics with which you
have endowed your idols. It refers to you as you were created by God. It simply
states the truth."

*Later in the workbook, the theme that we are as God created us becomes central,
as I mentioned earlier. However, here once again Jesus shows us the other side.
He wants us to understand what we believe about ourselves -- "the [sinful and
guilty] self-concept you have made" -- at the same time he wants us also to
remember that these self-concepts are a defense against our true Self: the light
of Christ.*

(2:1-2) "To the ego, today's idea is the epitome of self-glorification. But the
ego does not understand humility, mistaking it for self-debasement."

*To the ego, "I am the light of the world" means, again; I have something you
lack." Likewise, to the ego, humility means self-debasement, a meaning held by
many, many people. This traditional Christian version of humility commonly finds
expression in assertions such as: "I am a miserable sinner. But only because of
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ am I saved." Perhaps the most famous of all
prayers of the Orthodox Church is the "Jesus Prayer": "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of
God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Appearances to the contrary, this is really
the height of arrogance, because it says there can be a sinful self that is
independent of, and separate from the glorious Self that God created. An
important passage from the text reflects the ego's false humility:

"A major tenet in the ego's insane religion is that sin is not error but
truth, and it is innocence that would deceive. Purity is seen as arrogance, and
the acceptance of the self as sinful is perceived as holiness. And it is this
doctrine that replaces the reality of the Son of God as his Father created him,
and willed that he be forever. Is this humility? Or is it, rather, an attempt to
wrest creation away from truth, and keep it separate?" (T-19.II.4)**

(2:3-5) "Humility consists of accepting your role in salvation and in taking no
other. It is not humility to insist you cannot be the light of the world if that
is the function God assigned to you. It is only arrogance that would assert this
function cannot be for you, and arrogance is always of the ego."

*Another important theme appearing here is <function>. A Course in Miracles
teaches that our function is to accept the Atonement for ourselves, to accept
the fact that our seeming sins are forgiven. It is not our function to do
anything with anyone else, the reason being, ultimately, <there is no one else>.
We are but to ask Jesus' help in healing our minds, for thus we realize that the
mind of God's Son is one. Once healed, we become a symbol of healing and
right-minded choice -- light instead of darkness -- for everyone else.

Again, if we take words in A Course in Miracles at face value, without
understanding their content, we could wind up with ideas that are the exact
opposite of what Jesus is teaching, making the same mistakes Christianity and so
many religions and spiritualities have made throughout history. The statements
we have just considered are prime examples of this mistake, one of the ego's
most effective defenses against the truth of our reality as God's <one> Son.*

(3)"True humility requires that you accept today's idea because it is God's
Voice which tells you it is true. This is a beginning step in accepting your
real function on earth. It is a giant stride toward taking your rightful place
in salvation. It is a positive assertion of your right to be saved, and an
acknowledgment of the power that is given you to save others."

*In the text Jesus explains in several places that our function on earth is to
forgive or heal, and our function in Heaven is to create. For example:

"Do the Holy Spirit's work, for you share in His function. As your function
in Heaven is creation, so your function on earth is healing. God shares His
function with you in Heaven, and the Holy Spirit shares His with you on earth."
(T-12.VII.4:6-8).

This lesson refers to our function of accepting our own salvation, that the Holy
Spirit may extend it through us. It is also evident that Jesus is talking about
a process: "<a beginning step> in accepting your real function of earth ... <a
giant stride> toward taking your rightful place in salvation." This is not
something we do overnight, and he is not expecting his students to do Lesson 61
in the morning, be healed in the afternoon, and made whole by evening as they
enter the real world. We are <beginning> to change our minds about what we
believe we are. We shall return again and again to this important theme of
<process>.*

(4) "You will want to think about this idea as often as possible today. It is
the perfect answer to all illusions, and therefore to all temptation. It brings
all the images you have made about yourself to the truth, and helps you depart
in peace, unburdened and certain of your purpose."

*This is an unmistakable reference to the theme of bringing the darkness to the
light, or the illusion to the truth. As we have discussed previously, Jesus is
not saying we should use these workbook thoughts as affirmations to cover or
shout down our misperceptions about ourselves. He is asking us rather to look at
misperceptions, realizing our terrible self-concepts and images. Looking at
these with Jesus constitutes bringing them to his truth, which we cannot do if
we do not know they are there.

Again, nothing in the workbook should ever be taken as analogous to affirmations
that ask us to drown out the ego thought system. This corrects the predominant
New Age emphasis on affirmations, which is an example of using truth as a cover
for illusion. As he does throughout the workbook, Jesus gives us the other side.
In addition to emphasizing our wrong-minded beliefs about ourselves, he also
emphasizes the truth about ourselves; not that we would cover the illusion with
the truth, but that we would be aware we have a choice. I have pointed out many
times the importance A Course in Miracles places on the power of our minds to
choose. However, we cannot make a meaningful choice if we do not know what we
are choosing <between>. That is why Jesus sets forth for us in no uncertain
terms that we have a wrong mind -- the ego's voice that lies -- and a right mind
-- the Holy Spirit's Voice that speaks the truth.*

(5) "As many practice periods as possible should be undertaken today, although
each one need not exceed a minute or two. They should begin with telling
yourself:

I am the light of the world.

That is my only function.
That is why I am here.<"

Then think about these statements for a short while, preferably with your eyes
closed if the situation permits. Let a few related thoughts come to you, and
repeat the idea to yourself if your mind wanders away from the central thought."

*Note Jesus again urging us to recall the thought for the day as often as
possible, reminding us of the truth of our Identity, <to which we bring> the
ego's shabby substitute of guilt and judgment. Note, too, how Jesus is expecting
us to mind wander, and gently encouraging us to overcome our fear and return to
the truth of his teaching.*

(6) "Be sure both to begin and end the day with a practice period. Thus you will
awaken with an acknowledgment of the truth about yourself, reinforce it
throughout the day, and turn to sleep as you reaffirm your function and your
only purpose here. These two practice periods may be longer than the rest, if
you find them helpful and want to extend them."

*Jesus' methodology should be recognizable by now. He wants us continually to
remember the truth about ourselves, so that we have an ongoing standard against
which we can evaluate the ego's delusions. He also allows us the freedom to do
more than he asks, if we are comfortable.*

(7:1-4) "Today's idea goes far beyond the ego's petty views of what you are and
what your purpose is. As a bringer of salvation, this is obviously necessary.
This is the first of a number of giant steps we will take in the next few weeks.
Try today to begin to build a firm foundation for these advances."

*Jesus lets us know that he knows about our choice for the ego -- "the ego's
petty views of what you are" -- and so there is no need to deny it. Moreover, it
is because of this choice against our Self that time is required to feel less
and less confidence in the ego's petty thought system of guilt and fear. Once
again, Jesus' words reflect the process of choosing against our resistance and
for the truth. These lessons thus become the building blocks on which we will
construct a totally new concept of ourselves -- one gentle step at a time.*

(7:4-6) "Try today to begin to build a firm foundation for these advances. You
are the light of the world. God has built His plan for the salvation of His Son
on you."

*Finally, Jesus encourages us to have faith in his process of forgiveness as he
reminds us of our purpose, and how important these early lessons are in
achieving our goal: remembering the light that is our Identity, brought about by
forgetting the darkness of the ego's shabby substitute of the separated and
guilt-ridden self.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 60. These ideas are for today's review.

#93059

Lesson 60. These ideas are for today's review.

1. God is the Love in which I forgive.

God does not forgive because He has never condemned. The blameless cannot blame,
and those who have accepted their innocence see nothing to forgive. Yet
forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. It is the
reflection of God's Love on earth. It will bring me near enough to Heaven that
the Love of God can reach down to me and raise me up to Him.God is the Love in
which I forgive.

2. God is the strength in which I trust.

It is not my own strength through which I forgive. It is through the strength of
God in me, which I am remembering as I forgive. As I begin to see, I recognize
His reflection on earth. I forgive all things because I feel the stirring of His
strength in me. And I begin to remember the Love I chose to forget, but Which
has not forgotten me.

3. There is nothing to fear.

How safe the world will look to me when I can see it! It will not look anything
like what I imagine I see now. Everyone and everything I see will lean toward me
to bless me. I will recognize in everyone my dearest Friend. What could there be
to fear in a world that I have forgiven, and that has forgiven me?

4. God's Voice speaks to me all through the day.

There is not a moment in which God's Voice ceases to call on my forgiveness to
save me. There is not a moment in which His Voice fails to direct my thoughts,
guide my actions and lead my feet. I am, walking steadily on toward truth. There
is nowhere else I can go, because God's Voice is the only voice and the only
guide that has been given to His Son.

5. I am sustained by the Love of God.

As I listen to God's Voice, I am sustained by His Love. As I open my eyes, His
Love lights up the world for me to see. As I forgive, His Love reminds me that
His Son is sinless. And as I look upon the world with the vision He has given
me, I remember that I am His Son.

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

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 60. "These ideas are for today's review."

*This final lesson returns to forgiveness, the central theme in Jesus' symphony
of love and truth.*

(1:1) (46) "God is the Love in which I forgive."

(1:2-3) "God does not forgive because He has never condemned. The blameless
cannot blame, and those who have accepted their innocence see nothing to
forgive.

*The fact that God does not forgive becomes the basis for our forgiveness in the
dream. Forgiveness is necessary only as the correction for condemnation. When
judgment of ourselves is withdrawn, our judgment of others is withdrawn as well:
the <idea> of judgment can never leave its <source>. We are thus asked by Jesus
to accept our past mistakes, thereby accepting the light-filled innocence that
rests in peace just beyond the darkness of our belief in sin. With condemnation
gone, nothing remains to forgive.*

(1:4-6) "Yet forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. It
is the reflection of God's Love on earth. It will bring me near enough to Heaven
that the Love of God can reach down to me and raise me up to Him.God is the Love
in which I forgive."

*That is the problem: We do not want to be lifted up to Heaven, for then our
individuality disappears. Recognizing our innocence allows us to realize how
sinful and guilty we believed we were, because we wanted to be apart from such a
belief, we can make the choice for sanity. No longer afraid of God's <last
step>, which ends the process that our decision to forgive our brother began, we
allow His Love to lift us back from earth to Heaven.

Another important theme in these five lessons, not to mention throughout A
Course in Miracles, is that we do not forgive on our own, as we now see:*

(2:1) (47) "God is the strength in which I trust."

(2.2-3) "It is not my own strength through which I forgive. It is through the
strength of God in me, which I am remembering as I forgive."

*I am not the one who forgives you. I can only ask the Holy Spirit for help in
looking at you <differently>, because the way I am looking at you now is not
making me happy. The bottom line is recognizing there are painful effects of
choosing to be right, selfish, and special. I thus lay aside the weakness of my
petty strength, choosing instead the strength of Christ that is restored to my
awareness through forgiveness.*

(2:4-6)"As I begin to see, I recognize His reflection on earth. I forgive all
things because I feel the stirring of His strength in me. And I begin to
remember the Love I chose to forget, but Which has not forgotten me."

*The problem again is simply that we have forgotten. Yet forgetting is active.
We have chosen to forget because we wanted to remember the weakness of our
individuality instead of Christ's strength. However, forgetting our Identity did
not destroy it. Our Self merely waited for us to change our minds, effected by
our change of perception: from judgment to vision, weakness to strength.

Paragraph 3 returns us the real world: *

(3:1) (48) "There is nothing to fear."

(3.2-4) "How safe the world will look to me when I can see it! It will not look
anything like what I imagine I see now. Everyone and everything I see will lean
toward me to bless me. I will recognize in everyone my dearest Friend. What
could there be to fear in a world that I have forgiven, and that has forgiven
me?"

*Once we choose the place of perfect safety in our minds, represented by Jesus,
the world we experience outside will be its mirror. It cannot <not> be that way,
since <ideas leave not their source.> The beauty of this forgiven world is
reflected in this lovely passage from the text:

"Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you? In no
fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing you see here, sleeping or
waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will you value like unto
this, nor hold so dear. Nothing that you remember that made your heart sing with
joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will
bring you. For you will see the Son of God. You will behold the beauty the Holy
Spirit loves to look upon, and which He thanks the Father for. He was created to
see this for you, until you learned to see it for yourself. And all His teaching
leads to seeing it and giving thanks with Him.
"This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean
and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here,
for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the truth."
(T-17.II.1:1-2:3)

Recalling this beauty will help us choose again when we are tempted to make real
the ego's ugly world of specialness.

Note the usage of "everyone" and "everything" in 3:4 to describe our vision. If
anyone or anything is excluded from the light of safety, all the world is
plunged in darkness, the shadow of our mind's darkened thoughts of guilt.*

(3:5-6) "I will recognize in everyone my dearest Friend. What could there be to
fear in a world that I have forgiven, and that has forgiven me?"

*This is the vision of Christ, in which the entire Sonship is perceived through
the eyes of holiness. Not one aspect of the Son is excluded, and with separation
gone, so is all fear, which had been the inevitable result of our belief in sin
and guilt. This vision is nicely captured in the opening lines in Helen's very
first poem, The Gifts of Christmas" :

"Christ passes no one by. By this you know
He is God's Son. You recognize His touch
In universal gentleness. His Love
Extends to everyone. His eyes behold
The Love of God in everything He sees."
(The Gifts of God, p.95)

With such love beside and within us, fear is impossible; its place taken by the
love forgiveness brings.*

(4:1) (49) "God's Voice speaks to me all through the day."

(4.2-3) "There is not a moment in which God's Voice ceases to call on my
forgiveness to save me. There is not a moment in which His Voice fails to direct
my thoughts, guide my actions and lead my feet."

*As I mentioned when we did Lesson 49, this does not mean we <hear> His Voice
all through the day, it simply means He is calling to us throughout the day.
This is the Call we fervently and ferociously try to conceal -- the purpose of
the world we have made, the purpose of our specialness thoughts of attack,
judgment and desire. These are easily set aside when we decide we no longer wish
to hear the ego's raucous shrieking. The stunning yet gentle silence of God's
Voice returns in the instant we wish to hear its sound, and <only> its sound.
Thus does God's sweet song of love extend all through the dream, guiding our
thoughts, words, and deeds.*

(4:4-5) "I am, walking steadily on toward truth. There is nowhere else I can go,
because God's Voice is the only voice and the only guide that has been given to
His Son."

*There is nothing else. Any other pathway we choose is nothing and leads
nowhere, because it comes from a voice that does not exist. The loveliness of
this recognition is described in these beautiful closing paragraphs in "The Real
Alternative," which reminds us that as a Thought of God we have never left our
Source; the road back to Him undoes the road that never existed in reality:

"He has not left His Thoughts! But you forgot His Presence and remembered
not His Love. No pathway in the world can lead to Him, nor any worldly goal be
one with His. What road in all the world will lead within, when every road was
made to separate the journey from the purpose it must have unless it be but
futile wandering? All roads that lead away from what you are will lead you to
confusion and despair. Yet has He never left His Thoughts to die, without their
Source forever in themselves."

"He has not left His Thoughts! He could no more depart from them than they
could keep Him out. In unity with Him do they abide, and in their oneness both
are kept complete. There is no road that leads away from Him. A journey from
yourself does not exist. How foolish and insane it is to think that there could
be a road with such an aim! Where could it go? And how could you be made to
travel on it, walking there without your own reality at one with you?"

"Forgive yourself your madness, and forget all senseless journeys and all
goal-less aims. They have no meaning. You can not escape from what you are. For
God is merciful, and did not let His Son abandon Him. For what He is be
thankful, for in that is your escape from madness and from death. Nowhere but
where He is can you be found. There is no path that does not lead to Him."
(T-31.IV.9-11).

And finally, the symphonic movement that is this review ends with a return to
its central theme; the cycle of love concluding the love and wisdom with which
it began: *

(5:1) (50) "I am sustained by the Love of God."

(5.2-4) "As I listen to God's Voice, I am sustained by His Love. As I open my
eyes, His Love lights up the world for me to see. As I forgive, His Love reminds
me that His Son is sinless."

*And who is His Son? I am. Since we are all one, when I realize my sinlessness,
I realize everyone is sinless, too. It cannot <not> be, if God's Love <is> His
Love.*

(5.5) "And as I look upon the world with the vision He has given me, I remember
that I am His Son."

*Jesus ends this movement of his symphony with the attainment of our ultimate
goal. The way we reach the vision of the real world is by paying careful
attention to the external world, so it can teach us that the <outside> mirrors
the <inside.> The pain of our experience as bodies, interacting with other
bodies, becomes the motivation to cry out for the other way, the other Teacher.
Thus we come to change our minds, choose the Holy Spirit's Thought as the source
of our seeing, and look out upon the world through Christ's vision. The real
world greets our sight, and we finally remember Who we are as God's one Son,
gladly exclaiming these words from Part II of the workbook:

"Be glad today! Be glad! There is no room for anything but joy and thanks
today. Our Father has redeemed His Son this day. Not one of us but will be saved
today. Not one who will remain in fear, and none the Father will not gather to
Himself, awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love." (W-pII.340.2).

Thus we end this heavenly movement with a happy thought of Oneness, the thought
that ends the nightmare dream of illusion and joyfully awakens us to the
remembrance of our Father's Love.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

Lesson 59. The following ideas are for review today:

#93058

Lesson 59. The following ideas are for review today:

1. God goes with me wherever I go.

How can I be alone when God always goes with me? How can I be doubtful and
unsure of myself when perfect certainty abides in Him? How can I be disturbed by
anything when He rests in me in absolute peace? How can I suffer when love and
joy surround me through Him? Let me not cherish illusions about myself. I am
perfect because God goes with me wherever I go.

2. God is my strength. Vision is His gift.

Let me not look to my own eyes to see today. Let me be willing to exchange my
pitiful illusion of seeing for the vision that is given by God. Christ's vision
is His gift, and He has given it to me. Let me call upon this gift today, so
that this day may help me to understand eternity.

3. God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.

I can see what God wants me to see. I cannot see anything else. Beyond His Will
lie only illusions. It is these I choose when I think I can see apart from Him.
It is these I choose when I try to see through the body's eyes. Yet the vision
of Christ has been given me to replace them. It is through this vision that I
choose to see.
4. God is the light in which I see.

I cannot see in darkness. God is the only light. Therefore, if I am to see, it
must be through Him. I have tried to define what seeing is, and I have been
wrong. Now it is given me to understand that God is the light in which I see.
Let me welcome vision and the happy world it will show me.

5. God is the Mind with which I think.

I have no thoughts I do not share with God. I have no thoughts apart from Him,
because I have no mind apart from His. As part of His Mind, my thoughts are His
and His Thoughts are mine.

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

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

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

*In Lesson 59 we again find the theme of who we are as God's Son, and the
wonderful and wondrous effects of coming to understand and accept its truth.*

(1:1) (41) "God goes with me wherever I go."

(1:2-7) "How can I be alone when God always goes with me? How can I be doubtful
and unsure of myself when perfect certainty abides in Him? How can I be
disturbed by anything when He rests in me in absolute peace? How can I suffer
when love and joy surround me through Him? Let me not cherish illusions about
myself. I am perfect because God goes with me wherever I go."

*It is not that God literally walks with us. Rather, Jesus teaches that God is
with us because His Love is in our minds, which is where we are. It is this Love
-- our Self -- that is the basis for undoing the thought of separation: the home
of all illusions of suffering and pain.

All that is needed for this Love to return to awareness is calling upon the
power of our minds to choose, one of A Course in Miracles' most important
themes, to which we now return: *

(2:1-2) (42) "God is my strength. Vision is His gift."

(2:3-6) "Let me not look to my own eyes to see today. Let me be willing to
exchange my pitiful illusion of seeing for the vision that is given by God.
Christ's vision is His gift, and He has given it to me. Let me call upon this
gift today, so that this day may help me to understand eternity."

*We always have a choice about the thought system with which we identify, made
possible once we remember that our feelings of dis-ease and disturbance emanate
from the mind's mistaken choice, and from nowhere else. Thus do we exchange the
ego's misperceptions for the vision of Christ, exclusion for unity, separation
for forgiveness, and time for eternity.*

(3:1-2) (43) "God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him."

(3:3-7)" I can see what God wants me to see. I cannot see anything else. Beyond
His Will lie only illusions. It is these I choose when I think I can see apart
from Him. It is these I choose when I try to see through the body's eyes."

*Again, all misperceptions stem from the illusory belief we can be apart from
God; the Idea of God's Son, which we are, can leave its Source. Thus does our
thought of separation give rise to a world of separation, which we believe is
there because we believe we see it. The body's eyes have now replaced vision, a
substitution that remains in place until we change our minds.*

(3:8-9) "Yet the vision of Christ has been given me to replace them. It is
through this vision that I choose to see. It is through this vision that I
choose to see."

*A Course in Miracles has as its purpose the change in mind that allows <vision>
to replace the ego's seeing. This vision cannot come unless we make a choice
that says: I have been thinking and perceiving wrongly. I know there is another
way, because there has to be another way of feeling. I am not happy, and want to
be at peace. I therefore let go of my investment in being right. Thus does our
desire for true peace and happiness become the motivation for choosing vision to
replace illusions.*

(4:1) (44) "God is the light in which I see."

(4:2-4) "I cannot see in darkness. God is the only light. Therefore, if I am to
see, it must be through Him."

*As the text reminds us: "Vision [or light] or judgment [darkness] is your
choice, but never both of these." (T-20.V.4:7). We choose one or the other, and
in our right-minded choice is all the world made free.*

(4:5-7)"I have tried to define what seeing is, and I have been wrong. Now it is
given me to understand that God is the light in which I see. Let me welcome
vision and the happy world it will show me."

*I have to realize I have been wrong about everything I see, and everything I
think I understand. How often does Jesus remind us of this happy fact; happy
indeed when we are not identified with the ego's stubborn insistence that it is
right and God is wrong. This happy acceptance of the truth is the birthplace of
our humility, leading to Christ's vision that blesses the world along with me.*

(5:1) (45) "God is the Mind with which I think."

(5:2-4) "I have no thoughts I do not share with God. I have no thoughts apart
from Him, because I have no mind apart from His. As part of His Mind, my
thoughts are His and His Thoughts are mine."

*Remember, the ego system is born of the idea that our thoughts are our own,
God's thoughts, are His, and never the twain shall meet. Not only that, we tell
God what His thoughts are. This insane arrogance forms the basis of the second
law of chaos (T-23.II.4-6), wherein God becomes as insane as we:

"The arrogance on which the laws of chaos stand could not be more apparent
than emerges here. Here is a principle that would define what the Creator of
reality must be; what He must think and what He must believe; and how He must
respond, believing it. It is not seen as even necessary that He be asked about
the truth of what has been established for His belief. His Son can tell Him
this, and He has but the choice whether to take his word for it or be mistaken."
(T.23.II.6.1-4).

The insanity of such a belief is easily corrected once we recognize its sheer
madness. The clouds of separation quickly disperse in this return to sanity, and
we rejoice in the Oneness of Love that has never changed, and which remains as
the Thought of our Self, at one with the Sonship and the Mind of God.*

Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson

719-369-1822

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