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Epilogue
Epilogue1.?This course is a beginning, not an end.??Your Friend goes with you.??You are not alone.??No one who calls on Him can call in vain.??Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him.??He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you.??He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts.??His certainty is yours.??You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you. 2.?You are as certain of arriving home as is the pathway of the sun laid down before it rises, after it has set, and in the half-lit hours in between.??Indeed, your pathway is more certain still.??For it can not be possible to change the course of those whom God has called to Him.??Therefore obey your will, and follow Him Whom you accepted as your voice, to speak of what you really want and really need.??His is the Voice for God and also yours.??And thus He speaks of freedom and of truth. 3.?No more specific lessons are assigned, for there is no more need of them.??Henceforth, hear but the Voice for God and for your Self when you retire from the world, to seek reality instead.??He will direct your efforts, telling you exactly what to do, how to direct your mind, and when to come to Him in silence, asking for His sure direction and His certain Word.??His is the Word that God has given you.??His is the Word you chose to be your own. 4.?And now I place you in His hands, to be His faithful follower, with Him as Guide through every difficulty and all pain that you may think is real.??Nor will He give you pleasures that will pass away, for He gives only the eternal and the good.??Let Him prepare you further.??He has earned your trust by speaking daily to you of your Father and your brother and your Self.??He will continue.??Now you walk with Him, as certain as is He of where you go; as sure as He of how you should proceed; as confident as He is of the goal, and of your safe arrival in the end. 5.?The end is certain, and the means as well.??To this we say “Amen.”??You will be told exactly what God wills for you each time there is a choice to make.??And He will speak for God and for your Self, thus making sure that hell will claim you not, and that each choice you make brings Heaven nearer to your reach.??And so we walk with Him from this time on, and turn to Him for guidance and for peace and sure direction.??Joy attends our way.??For we go homeward to an open door which God has held unclosed to welcome us. 6.?We trust our ways to Him and say “Amen.”??In peace we will continue in His way, and trust all things to Him.??In confidence we wait His answers, as we ask His Will in everything we do.??He loves God’s Son as we would love him.??And He teaches us how to behold him through His eyes, and love him as He does.??You do not walk alone.??God’s angels hover near and all about.??His Love surrounds you, and of this be sure; that I will never leave you comfortless. Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lessons 361 to 365
Lessons 361 to 365 This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, Certain that Your direction gives me peace. And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that will He also give. And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. He is in charge by my request. And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on these lessons are by Kenneth Wapnick, from his books: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles." Book set may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lessons 361 to 365 "This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, Certain that Your direction gives me peace." *Again, Lessons 361 to 365 are one, and focus on the Holy Spirit. They reflect our having achieved the workbook's goal, which was to learn we have a split mind: we were mistaken in choosing the ego, and we correct that mistake by choosing the Holy Spirit. Indeed, this is how the lesson begins. In the Introduction to the sixth review, Jesus told us he is placing us in the Holy Spirit's charge. Now <we> place ourselves in the Holy Spirit's charge. The clear implication is that we have learned Jesus' lesson and realized our mistake, knowing there is a principle of correction in our minds to which we can go, and which will bring us peace. We therefore undo the original error when we chose against the Holy Spirit and in that original unholy instant asked the ego to be in charge. The world, then, is nothing but a projection of that original unholy instant. Now we happily change our minds, glad to have been wrong and grateful to be living in the Holy Spirit's holy instant of forgiveness.* (1:1-4) "And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that will He also give. And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. He is in charge by my request." *"He is in charge by my request" -- this is most important. It is not that Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to us; we actively choose Him. To make that choice is thus our goal throughout the day.* (1:5) "And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son." *We will see this same thought expressed in the Epilogue. As long as we believe we are bodies living in the world, we will experience the abstract presence of the Holy Spirit's Love as meeting us where we believe we are. We will think He is helping us in all the specific ways in which we experience our need, as we read in the clarification of terms: "The Holy Spirit abides in the part of your mind that is part of the Christ Mind. He represents your Self and your Creator, Who are one. He speaks for God and also for you, being joined with both. And therefore it is He Who proves them one. He seems to be a Voice, for in that form He speaks God's Word to you. He seems to be a Guide through a far country, for you need that form of help. He seems to be whatever meets the needs you think you have. But He is not deceived when you perceive your self entrapped in needs you do not have. It is from these He would deliver you. It is from these that He would make you safe." (C-6.4). However, as we continue our journey home, after completing the journey through the workbook, we realize that help is not specific at all, for the only reality is the abstract Love of God. It is to this Love we make our certain way with our Guide, Teacher, and Comforter, Whose Love leads us to the peace of God and everlasting life.* Lessons 361 to 365 This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, Certain that Your direction gives me peace. And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that will He also give. And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. He is in charge by my request. And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on these lessons are by Kenneth Wapnick, from his books: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles." Book set may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lessons 361 to 365 "This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, Certain that Your direction gives me peace." *Again, Lessons 361 to 365 are one, and focus on the Holy Spirit. They reflect our having achieved the workbook's goal, which was to learn we have a split mind: we were mistaken in choosing the ego, and we correct that mistake by choosing the Holy Spirit. Indeed, this is how the lesson begins. In the Introduction to the sixth review, Jesus told us he is placing us in the Holy Spirit's charge. Now <we> place ourselves in the Holy Spirit's charge. The clear implication is that we have learned Jesus' lesson and realized our mistake, knowing there is a principle of correction in our minds to which we can go, and which will bring us peace. We therefore undo the original error when we chose against the Holy Spirit and in that original unholy instant asked the ego to be in charge. The world, then, is nothing but a projection of that original unholy instant. Now we happily change our minds, glad to have been wrong and grateful to be living in the Holy Spirit's holy instant of forgiveness.* (1:1-4) "And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that will He also give. And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. He is in charge by my request." *"He is in charge by my request" -- this is most important. It is not that Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to us; we actively choose Him. To make that choice is thus our goal throughout the day.* (1:5) "And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son." *We will see this same thought expressed in the Epilogue. As long as we believe we are bodies living in the world, we will experience the abstract presence of the Holy Spirit's Love as meeting us where we believe we are. We will think He is helping us in all the specific ways in which we experience our need, as we read in the clarification of terms: "The Holy Spirit abides in the part of your mind that is part of the Christ Mind. He represents your Self and your Creator, Who are one. He speaks for God and also for you, being joined with both. And therefore it is He Who proves them one. He seems to be a Voice, for in that form He speaks God's Word to you. He seems to be a Guide through a far country, for you need that form of help. He seems to be whatever meets the needs you think you have. But He is not deceived when you perceive your self entrapped in needs you do not have. It is from these He would deliver you. It is from these that He would make you safe." (C-6.4). However, as we continue our journey home, after completing the journey through the workbook, we realize that help is not specific at all, for the only reality is the abstract Love of God. It is to this Love we make our certain way with our Guide, Teacher, and Comforter, Whose Love leads us to the peace of God and everlasting life.* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Final Lessons. Introduction:
Final Lessons. Introduction: Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. We use them but at the beginning of our practicing, and only to remind us that we seek to go beyond them. Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. To Him we leave these lessons, as to Him we give our lives henceforth. For we would not return again to the belief in sin that made the world seem ugly and unsafe, attacking and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the hope of trust and the escape from pain. His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. It is His way that everyone must travel in the end, because it is this ending God Himself appointed. In the dream of time it seems to be far off. And yet, in truth, it is already here; already serving us as gracious guidance in the way to go. Let us together follow in the way that truth points out to us. And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way, but find it not. And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. It is the goal that God has given us. It is His ending to the dream we seek, and not our own. For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete. It is our function to remember Him on earth, as it is given us to be His Own completion in reality. So let us not forget our goal is shared, for it is that remembrance which contains the memory of God, and points the way to Him and to the Heaven of His peace. And shall we not forgive our brother, who can offer this to us? He is the way, the truth and life that shows the way to us. In him resides salvation, offered us through our forgiveness, given unto him. We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised to His holy Son. We are forgiven now. And we are saved from all the wrath we thought belonged to God, and found it was a dream. We are restored to sanity, in which we understand that anger is insane, attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. We have been saved from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. Nothing more than that. And is a father angry at his son because he failed to understand the truth? We come in honesty to God and say we did not understand, and ask Him to help us to learn His lessons, through the Voice of His Own Teacher. Would He hurt His Son? Or would He rush to answer him, and say, "This is My Son, and all I have is his"? Be certain He will answer thus, for these are His Own words to you. And more than that can no one ever have, for in these words is all there is, and all that there will be throughout all time and in eternity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Final Lessons. Introduction: *We come now to the Final Lessons. Lesson 361 to 335 are combined in one, the theme of which, appropriately, is the Holy Spirit. He is also the theme of this lovely introduction. At the workbook's conclusion, Jesus leaves us in the Holy Spirit's charge to continue the journey, as he has throughout. In addition, embedded in this final theme is the reminder that our purpose in the world is forgiveness, through which the memory of God returns to our minds.* (1:1-2) "Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. We use them but at the beginning of our practicing, and only to remind us that we seek to go beyond them." *Jesus is continually reminding us of our purpose, which is reflected here in not making words into reality. Thus the words of A Course in Miracles are not sacred, but their source -- the love that inspired them -- most certainly is. That love is in all of us, and so we need to be reminded again and again as we go through our day that our purpose is to learn forgiveness -- the means of undoing guilt and returning with our brothers to the home that lies beyond all words and symbols.* (1:3-4) "Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. To Him we leave these lessons, as to Him we give our lives henceforth." *The purpose of this one year of practice has been learning to be secure in the awareness that the Holy Spirit is the only true Teacher. Thus it is His lessons, guidance, and Love we would follow. When we are tempted to be upset, sick, angry, or otherwise preoccupied with our specialness, it is because we first pushed Him away and chose the ego instead. That is why our vigilance needs to be focused on the ego's lies as the means of remembering the Holy Spirit's truth. It is our minds that need vigilance, to choose against believing in the ego and choosing for God and His Kingdom -- the third of the Holy Spirit's three lessons. Thus does our corrected belief undo the ego's doubt, allowing us to move beyond the belief to the certainty of God: "The third step is thus one of protection for your mind, allowing you to identify only with the centre, where God placed the altar to Himself. Altars are beliefs, but God and His creations are beyond belief because they are beyond question. The Voice for God speaks only for belief beyond question, which is the preparation for being without question. As long as belief in God and His Kingdom is assailed by any doubts in your mind, His perfect accomplishment is not apparent to you. This is why you must be vigilant on God's behalf. The ego speaks against His creation, and therefore engenders doubt. You cannot go beyond belief until you believe fully." (T-6.V-C.7).* (1:5) "For we would not return again to the belief in sin that made the world seem ugly and unsafe, attacking and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the hope of trust and the escape from pain." *We once made the mistake of believing the ego's lies of sin, and Jesus encourages us never to make it again. From that one mistake the world of treachery, danger, and pain arose, and who in his right mind would ever choose its cause, when forgiveness gently beckons us to a world of peace and safety.* (2:1-2) "His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. It is His way that everyone must travel in the end, because it is this ending God Himself appointed." *A Course in Miracles is only one spiritual path; but whatever path we choose -- regardless of its symbols -- the only way to reach home is to relinquish belief in the self that believes in separation, anger, pain, and death. Through joining with the Holy Spirit in our right minds, we undo the faulty belief system we have accepted. Forgiving ourselves for our mistakes -- born of fear, not sin -- opens the certain way home, regardless of form, as we read again: "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.11).* (2:3-4) "In the dream of time it seems to be far off. And yet, in truth, it is already here ..." *It is a fact that the peace of God is already here -- in the presence of the right-minded truth of Atonement. Moreover, in the holy instant we are outside of time and space, so there is no longer a journey to the peace that is ours. We find a similar expression in the manual for teachers, where Jesus speaks of the world's end: "When not one thought of sin remains, the world is over" (M-14.2:10). He continues: "Certainly this seems to be a long, long while away. "When not one thought of sin remains" appears to be a long-range goal indeed. But time stands still, and waits on the goal of God's teachers. Not one thought of sin will remain the instant any one of them accepts Atonement for himself." (M-14.3:1-4). Since the Atonement is fully present within us -- its very presence reflects it acceptance -- the separation has already been undone. Recall these lines from the opening to Chapter 28: "This world was over long ago. The thoughts that made it are no longer in the mind that thought of them and loved them for a little while." (T-28.1.1:6-7). Thus Jesus reminds us that his peace is here, merely awaiting our choosing it -- <again>.* (2:4-5) "And yet, in truth, it is already here; already serving us as gracious guidance in the way to go. Let us together follow in the way that truth points out to us." *<Truth> is used as a synonym for the Holy Spirit, in Whose Love and Presence there is no time or space. Joined with Him in the holy instant, we no longer worry about how far we have to go, nor how long the journey's duration. Concerns about the ego being so strong that we can never get free of it are thoughts that occur only within the dream of linear time: past sins, present guilt, and future fear of punishment. When we are outside the dream with Jesus, we realize these thoughts, too, are just a defense against the truth that has guided us so graciously to itself.* (2:6) "And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way, but find it not." *Jesus does not mean we are to be leaders in any external or behavioral way. We lead simply by having chosen the Holy Spirit's Love. When that is ours choice, we become the hand that reaches out, just as Jesus was the hand that reached for ours. We now can say to our brothers that the same choice we have made they can make, too, the journey we have embarked on welcomes them as well. Recall that in Psychotherapy, Jesus comments on the need for the therapist to be his patient's leader, even as he is being led by his Therapist: "The psychotherapist is a leader in the sense that he walks slightly ahead of the patient, and helps him to avoid a few of the pitfalls along the road by seeing them first. Ideally, he is also a follower, for One should walk ahead of him to give him light to see." (P-2.III.1:1-2). * (3:1-4) "And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. It is the goal that God has given us. It is His ending to the dream we seek, and not our own." *Our purpose is to learn the lessons of forgiveness so that we can help ourselves and others. God's ending is that we awaken <from> the dream, whereas ours is to become happier and pain-free figures <in> the dream. Thus we make the decision to accept God's function of forgiveness rather than our own; the Holy Spirit's rather than the ego's: "Ask not to be forgiven, for this has already been accomplished. Ask, rather, to learn how to forgive, and to restore what always was to your unforgiving mind. ... On earth this is your only function, and you must learn that it is all you want to learn. ... Before you make any decisions for yourself, remember that you have decided against your function in Heaven, and then consider carefully whether you want to make decisions here. Your function here is only to decide against deciding what you want, in recognition that you do not know. How, then, can you decide what you should do? Leave all decisions to the One Who speaks for God, and for your function as He knows it." (T-14.IV.3:4-5,7,5:1-4).* (3:5) "For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself." *When I forgive, I realize you and I are one; in illusion and in truth -- despite what the ego's dreams have told us. Thus do we lift the veil of the ego's principle of <one or the other>, and happily see the sinlessness of God's one Son in all we meet or even think about: "A dream has veiled the face of Christ from you. Now can you look upon His sinlessness. High has the ladder risen. ...Now can you say to everyone who comes to join in prayer with you: "I cannot go without you, for you are a part of me." "And so he is in truth. ... For you have understood he never left, and you, who seemed alone, are one with him." (S-1.V.3:3-5, 8-10,12).* (3:6) "And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete." *We forgive by seeing the face of Christ in our brothers, and then we remember God. Recall these words that nicely summarize A Course in Miracles' quintessential formula for healing: "When brothers join in purpose in the world of fear, they stand already at the edge of the real world. ... For when they joined their hands it was Christ's hand they took, and they will look on Him Whose hand they hold. The face of Christ is looked upon before the Father is remembered. For He must be unremembered till His Son has reached beyond forgiveness to the Love of God. Yet is the Love of Christ accepted first. And then will come the knowledge They are one." (T-30.V-7:1,4-8).* (4:1) "It is our function to remember Him on earth, as it is given us to be His Own completion in reality." *This refers to our dual function: in Heaven it is to create, which means we are the completion of God; on earth it is to forgive, that we would come to remember our true function and Who we are as Christ. Thus Jesus helps us undo the ego's function of blocking God's, by teaching us to fulfill our function of forgiveness. Removing this block restores to our awareness the joy of creation -- extending the Love of God from His Self to ours, knowing they are One. The following passage from the text summarizes the two functions -- forgiveness removes the barriers of separation among the Sons of God, restoring to our awareness the completion of God's one Son as spirit and its extended fullness as Christ: "The extension of God's Being is spirit's only function. Its fullness cannot be contained, any more than can the fullness of its Creator. Fullness is extension. The ego's whole thought system blocks extension, and thus blocks your only function. ... The Kingdom is forever extending because it is in the Mind of God. You do not know your joy because you do not know your own Self-fullness. Exclude any part of the Kingdom from yourself and you are not whole. A split mind cannot perceive its fullness, and needs the miracle of its wholeness to dawn upon it and heal it. This reawakens the wholeness in it, and restores it to the Kingdom because of its acceptance of wholeness. The full appreciation of the mind's Self-fullness makes selfishness impossible and extension inevitable. That is why there is perfect peace in the Kingdom. Spirit is fulfilling its function, and only complete fulfillment is peace." (T-7.IX.3:1-3:4).* (4:2) "So let us not forget our goal is shared, for it is that remembrance which contains the memory of God, and points the way to Him and to the Heaven of His peace." *In this world goals are not shared, because it is a world ruled by the principle of <one or the other>. Thus, I will get to Heaven -- <my> Heaven -- standing on your shoulders, pushing you down: as you descend, I ascend. The essence of forgiveness is realizing we -- reflecting Heaven's Oneness -- share the same purpose, goal and need. That is why remembering our shared goal contains the memory of God. Recall this important passage on remembering God through perceiving the common mind uniting the Sonship, despite the ego's fog of guilt that would keep us divided: "The light in them [ our sick brothers ] shines as brightly regardless of the density of the fog that obscures it. If you give no power to the fog to obscure the light, it has none. For it has power only if the Son of God gives power to it. He must himself withdraw that power, remembering that all power is of God. You can remember this for all the Sonship. Do not allow your brother not to remember, for his forgetfulness is yours. But your remembering is his, for God cannot be remembered alone. This is what you have forgotten. To perceive the healing of your brother as the healing of yourself is thus the way to remember God. For you forgot your brothers with Him, and God's Answer to your forgetting is but the way to remember." ((T-12.II.2).* (4:3-5) "And shall we not forgive our brother, who can offer this to us? He is the way, the truth and life that shows the way to us. In him resides salvation, offered us through our forgiveness, given unto him." *John's gospel has Jesus say: "I am the way, the truth and life" (Jn.14:6). Yet here Jesus says: Yes, I am the way, the truth, and the life, but so are you as part of God's one Son. Learning to forgive someone you perceive outside you -- realizing he is the Son of God along with you -- is the way your return to the truth and the life. "The Holy Spirit teaches one lesson, and applies it to all individuals in all situations.... When I said "I am with you always", I meant it literally. I am not absent to anyone in any situation. Because I am always with you, you are the way, the truth and the life. You did not make this power, any more than I did. It was created to be shared, and therefore cannot be meaningfully perceived as belonging to anyone at the expense of another." (T-7.III.1:1,7-11).* (5:1) "We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised to His holy Son. We are forgiven now." *God's gift to us is forgiveness, which, as we now see, bring with it the happy realization we were mistaken -- about ourselves, our brothers, and our Source.* (5:2-7) "And we are saved from all the wrath we thought belonged to God, and found it was a dream. We are restored to sanity, in which we understand that anger is insane, attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. We have been saved from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. Nothing more than that. And is a father angry at his son because he failed to understand the truth?" *Jesus is reminding us again of the importance of humility, of being able to say with sincerity and gratitude that we have been wrong. We need be humble enough to acknowledge that the insanity he just described is present in practically every thought, behavior, and goal we have during the day. Yet we need also accept that God is not angry because we believe we attacked Him -- our Father never even saw the "attack." Jesus uses the symbol of a father because it is such an important one for us. Thus the symbol of the angry father the ego has made is corrected to the Father Who never ceases to love His Son. Recall the discussion in "Atonement without Sacrifice" (T-3.1.1-2), in which Jesus says the following of God, in the context of the traditional Christian belief that he suffered and died for our sins: "If the crucifixion is seen from an upside-down point of view, it does appear as if God permitted and even encouraged one of His Sons to suffer because he was good. This particularly unfortunate interpretation, which arose out of projection, has led many people to be bitterly afraid of God. Such anti-religious concepts enter into many religions. ... In milder forms a parent says, "This hurts me more than it hurts you", and feels exonerated in beating a child. Can you believe our Father really thinks this way?" (T-3:1.1:5-7;2:7-8). In truth, of course, there is no Father and Son. There is no separation at all, and so the belief in sin, guilt, and fear -- the foundation for believing in the wrath of God -- does not exist. The Father has never ceased to love His Son.* (6:1) "We come in honesty to God and say we did not understand, and ask Him to help us to learn His lessons, through the Voice of His Own Teacher." *Honesty says "I am mistaken." How frequently Jesus comes back to this pivotal theme! Again, you want to practice this honesty in the very specific events of your life. Try to catch yourself adamantly insisting you are right, which but demonstrates you are wrong -- proclaiming your superiority in being right implicitly makes someone else inferior. This means you are seeing differences and separation, the hallmarks of the special relationship. Thus the need for honesty in realizing you understand nothing about love -- between brothers, and between God and His Son -- and that idols of specialness have brought you nothing but misery and pain: "Be speeded on your way by honesty, and let not your experiences here deceive in retrospect. They were not free from bitter cost and joyless consequence. ... Do not look back except in honesty. And when an idol tempts you, think of this: "There never was a time an idol brought you anything except the "gift" of guilt. Not one was bought except at cost of pain, nor was it ever paid by you alone." "Be merciful unto your brother, then. And do not choose an idol thoughtlessly, remembering that he will pay the cost as well as you." (T-30.V.9:11-10:6).* (6:2-3) "Would He hurt His Son? Or would He rush to answer him, and say, "This is My Son, and all I have is his"?" *This is an interesting passage, based on the gospel parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), wherein the errant son returns to the father who rushes gladly to meet him. The eldest son, who remained faithfully at home with his father, complains about his brother being given such a royal welcome, including a feast to be held in his honor. The father essentially replies to him: "I love both of you, and all I have is yours." In other words, neither brother loses anything by the father's love: the father loving son A does not preclude his loving son B. Comparisons are always of the ego, for love makes none (T-24.II.1:1) and we are loved equally by our Father. In this one workbook sentence, therefore, Jesus combines into one the response the father makes to the prodigal son who returns, as well as to the son who remained. Needless to say, having split minds, we are both sons.* (6:4-5) "Be certain He will answer thus, for these are His Own words to you. And more than that can no one ever have, for in these words is all there is, and all that there will be throughout all time and in eternity." *Throughout all time, when we choose Jesus as our teacher he will reflect to us the Love of God and the abundance of His treasure, which we are -- there can be no lack in God's Son. Throughout eternity, we remain a part of our Source -- there is nothing else. The practice of this glorious message in our daily lives entails seeing how we manifest the scarcity principle that is opposite to abundance: the belief in lack, wherein we feel there is something missing in us. The ego takes this belief and teaches that what we lack someone has taken -- the fourth law of chaos (T-23.II.9-10). Though not always in awareness, this <one or the other> belief of winners and losers is present in our minds, and we need realize that in thinking that God plays favorites we assert He is insane. Yet this insanity in only in <our> minds, as is God's sane answer. His abundance is the response to the ego's scarcity, for how can we lose not only the love we <have>, but the love we <are>? Recall this passage from early in the text: "In your own mind, though denied by the ego, is the declaration of your release. God has given you everything. This one fact means the ego does not exist, and this makes it profoundly afraid. In the ego's language, "to have" and "to be" are different, but they are identical to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows that you both have everything and are everything. Any distinction in this respect is meaningful only when the idea of "getting", which implies a lack, has already been accepted. That is why we make no distinction between having the Kingdom of God and being the Kingdom of God." (T-4.III.9). We are now ready for the final five days of lessons.* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 360 Peace be to me, the holy Son of God.
Lesson 360 Peace be to me, the holy Son of God. Peace to my brother, who is one with me. Let all the world be blessed with peace through us. Father, it is Your peace that I would give, receiving it of You. I am Your Son, forever just as You created me, for the Great Rays remain forever still and undisturbed within me. I would reach to them in silence and in certainty, for nowhere else can certainty be found. Peace be to me, and peace to all the world. In holiness were we created, and in holiness do we remain. Your Son is like to You in perfect sinlessness. And with this thought we gladly say "Amen." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his books: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles." Book set may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 360 "Peace be to me, the holy Son of God. Peace to my brother, who is one with me. Let all the world be blessed with peace through us." *This lesson is a lovely rendering of the oneness of God's Son.* (1:1) "Father, it is Your peace that I would give, receiving it of You." *If I am enamored of my personal self -- the self that is founded on conflict -- I will continually try to attack peace and withhold it from myself and everyone else. Yet when the pain becomes too great, we gladly choose the Atonement that alone washes away all pain and restores God's peace to our grateful awareness.* (1:2) "I am Your Son, forever just as You created me, for the Great Rays remain forever still and undisturbed within me." *This is the only place in the workbook where Jesus uses the phrase <Great Rays>. These are nothing visual or perceptual, nor are they associated in any way with the rays of light of which other metaphysical systems speak. As used in A Course in Miracles, the term is a symbol for the Light of Christ that is our true Self. God, then, would be the "Sun" -- the Source -- and we the emanations or extensions -- the Rays -- of that Light. In the text, Jesus speaks of the little spark of the Great Ray that exists in all of us -- the memory of that great Light, held for us in our right minds by the Holy Spirit, and found fully present in all the seeming fragments of the Sonship: "In many only the spark remains, for the Great Rays are obscured. Yet God has kept the spark alive so that the Rays can never be completely forgotten. If you but see the little spark you will learn of the greater light, for the Rays are there unseen.... But the spark is still as pure as the great light, because it is the remaining call of creation. Put all your faith in it, and God Himself will answer you." (T.10.IV.8.1-3,6-7)* (1:3) "I would reach to them in silence and in certainty, for nowhere else can certainty be found." *I reach for the spark of that Great Ray in everyone, in recognition of our inherent oneness as God's Son. Jesus encourages us to ask for help to perceive the Light of Christ -- instead of the darkness of the ego -- shining in everyone. By "hearing" the ego's silence in our brothers, we hear the Holy Spirit's Voice answering our prayers for peace with His certainty -- the reality of God's one Son, in whom we put our faith: "If you would know your prayers are answered, never doubt a Son of God. Do not question him and do not confound him, for your faith in him is your faith in yourself." (T-9.II.4:1-2)* (1:4-7) "Peace be to me, and peace to all the world. In holiness were we created, and in holiness do we remain. Your Son is like to You in perfect sinlessness. And with this thought we gladly say "Amen." *Again, we are all one, and if I wish to remember my Oneness as Christ, I cannot exclude any of God's Sons from the vision of holiness -- nor would I want to, knowing its tremendous cost to me of losing my Self.* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 359 God's answer is some form of peace.
Lesson 359 God's answer is some form of peace. All pain Is healed; all misery replaced with joy. All prison doors are opened. And all sin Is understood as merely a mistake. Father, today we will forgive Your world, and let creation be Your Own. We have misunderstood all things. But we have not made sinners of the holy Sons of God. What You created sinless so abides forever and forever. Such are we. And we rejoice to learn that we have made mistakes which have no real effects on us. Sin is impossible, and on this fact forgiveness rests upon a certain base more solid than the shadow world we see. Help us forgive, for we would be redeemed. Help us forgive, for we would be at peace. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson by Ken Wapnick, from his books: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles." Book set may be purchased at the following site: M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 359. "God's answer is some form of peace. All pain Is healed; all misery replaced with joy. All prison doors are opened. And all sin Is understood as merely a mistake." *This is the happy result when we realize we are the ones who were mistaken all along, and the Holy Spirit was right.* (1:1) "Father, today we will forgive Your world, and let creation be Your Own." *God's world, as we have seen, is the real world. We forgive it in the sense that we now accept it as what we want, with no further desire to attack it, which we were compelled to do in self-defense when we chose to retain our identity as an individual self, seemingly at home in the ego's world of specialness and death.* (1:2-3) "We have misunderstood all things. But we have not made sinners of the holy Sons of God." *In the insanity of the separation, we believed in the reality of our existence. Yet this belief did not give us the power to make the Son of God a sinner. <Ideas leave not their source>, and the truth is that we are a sinless Idea in the sinless Mind of God, our Source. "The Son of God can be mistaken; he can deceive himself; he can even turn the power of his mind against himself. But he <cannot> sin. There is nothing he can do that would really change his reality in any way, nor make him really guilty." (T-19.II.3:1-3) * (1:4-6) "What You created sinless so abides forever and forever. Such are we. And we rejoice to learn that we have made mistakes which have no real effects on us." *We again see our joyous gratitude in being wrong, seeing that our delusional mistakes of betraying love -- rejecting, attacking, and destroying it -- accomplished nothing. God loves us; Jesus loves us; nothing has changed, for Christ in us remains sinless forever, with our mad dreams of sin having no effects upon reality. See these two statements from the text: "Son of God, you have not sinned, but you have been much mistaken." (T-10.V.6:1) "Acknowledge but that you have been mistaken, and all effects of your mistakes will disappear." (T-21.II.2:7)* (1:7-9) "Sin is impossible, and on this fact forgiveness rests upon a certain base more solid than the shadow world we see. Help us forgive, for we would be redeemed. Help us forgive, for we would be at peace." *Forgiveness allows us to recognize the impossibility of sin. It rests on a solid base -- the reflection of God's Love in our right minds -- while our perceptions of bodily sin, attack, and pain rest on no base at all. They are all illusory, their purpose being to defend against the mind's illusion of sin and separation. Yet illusions bring us no peace, and so we happily choose the Holy Spirit's forgiveness, the doorway to the real world of light, peace, and joy -- our home away from home.* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 358. No call to God can be unheard
Lesson 358. No call to God can be unheard nor left Unanswered. And of this I can be sure; His answer is the one I really want. You Who remember what I really am alone remember what I really want. You speak for God, and so You speak for me. And what You give me comes from God Himself. Your Voice, my Father, then is mine as well, and all I want is what You offer me, in just the form You choose that it be mine. Let me remember all I do not know, and let my voice be still, remembering. But let me not forget Your Love and care, keeping Your promise to Your Son in my awareness always. Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 358. "No call to God can be unheard nor left Unanswered. And of this I can be sure; His answer is the one I really want." *This lesson presumes we have realized our mistaken choice and acknowledged there must be another way. We thus know our call to God will be answered, because the answer is already within us -- and now we choose it. Interestingly, the beginning of the prayer is addressed to the Holy Spirit -- another indication that Jesus is not rigid about form.* (1:1-3) "You Who remember what I really am alone remember what I really want. You speak for God, and so You speak for me. And what You give me comes from God Himself." *Here we address the Holy Spirit, Who speaks for God; His Voice we choose instead of the ego's. In the next sentence, God returns as the object of our prayer:* (1:4) "Your Voice, my Father, then is mine as well, and all I want is what You offer me, in just the form You choose that it be mine." *Strictly speaking, we are the ones who choose the form. The ego speaks first and writes its script of special relationships, which become the form in which we practice the special function that is God's gift to us -- forgiveness of our insane projections onto Him: "Your special function is the special form in which the fact that God is not insane appears most sensible and meaningful to you. The content is the same. The form is suited to your special needs, and to the special time and place in which you think you find yourself, and where you can be free of place and time, and all that you believe must limit you." (T-25.VII.7:1-3)* (1:5) "Let me remember all I do not know, and let my voice be still, remembering." *Once again we hear an echo of Psalm 46: "Be still and know that I am God." Thus our prayer to ourselves to let the ego's voice be quiet. If we still its discordant sounds, we will remember the love we denied because we were afraid of its truth.* (1:6) "But let me not forget Your Love and care, keeping Your promise to Your Son in my awareness always." *Thus I want to forget what my ego taught me, and choose to remember only what the Holy Spirit has held out to me as the truth. Above all: * (1:7) "Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all." *This wonderful line strikes terror in our hearts, for it tells us that we, who think of ourselves as important and meaningful, are truly nothing. We actually think, for example, that Jesus gave this course to us as individuals, each of us with a name and personal identity. He has been teaching us, however, that we must ultimately realize this separated self is an illusion. At present, our bodily selves are the classrooms in which we learn the holy lesson that teaches us their nothingness, but that our true Self as Christ is everything -- the realization of which is the ultimate goal and purpose of our learning.* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 357. Truth answers every call we make to God,
Lesson 357. Truth answers every call we make to God, Responding first with miracles, and then Returning unto us to be itself. Forgiveness, truth's reflection, tells me how to offer miracles, and thus escape the prison house in which I think I live. Your holy Son is pointed out to me, first in my brother; then in me. Your Voice instructs me patiently to hear Your Word, and give as I receive. And as I look upon Your Son today, I hear Your Voice instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall be: "Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 357. "Truth answers every call we make to God, Responding first with miracles, and then Returning unto us to be itself." *To state this important point again, miracles are the correction. Therefore, the first response to our call for help is some recognition of the need to undo our misperceptions, for it is only when we have exposed these to the Holy Spirit that the ego can be undone. In that way our minds are freed to remember our Identity as Christ.* (1:1) "Forgiveness, truth's reflection, tells me how to offer miracles, and thus escape the prison house in which I think I live." *We offer miracles by accessing the correction in our minds, reminding us of the mind's innate power to choose. Therefore, since minds are joined -- in the holy instant in which we have chosen to forgive -- we remind our brothers that they have the same power as we to choose right-mindedly.* (1:2) "Your holy Son is pointed out to me, first in my brother; then in me." *That is why this is a course in miracles, which means it is a course in shifting how we perceive. Jesus directs his teaching to the conditions with which we identify -- our special relationships. I first learn to perceive you differently, because I believe you are really there; and not only are you there, but you are there to victimize, hurt, and persecute me. Therefore, by asking Jesus' help to shift my perception of you, I learn that what I am seeing in you is a projection of what I see in me. Realizing that you are part of God's one Son, I realize that I am, too.* (1:3-4) "Your Voice instructs me patiently to hear Your Word, and give as I receive. And as I look upon Your Son today, I hear Your Voice instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall be:" *Once again we are reminded of the wonderful prayer at the end of Lesson 189 -- it is God Who knows the way to Himself; of ourselves we do not, and cannot. Forgiveness -- the Holy Spirit's gift that leads us home -- is not Heaven's truth, but is its kind and gentle reflection. This final line is a lovely summary of the healing power of forgiveness: * (1:5) "Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed." *In this familiar passage from the text, Jesus tells us not to see our brother's sinlessness, for that is beyond us. However, he does ask for our little willingness to see him sinless: "Your question should not be, "How can I see my brother without the body?" Ask only, "Do I really wish to see him sinless?" And as you ask, forget not that his sinlessness is your escape from fear." (T-20.VII.9:1-3) This statement from the lesson is meant to convince us of the need to have this willingness. Jesus wants us to return to the part of the mind that has chosen to see sin in others as a way of protecting it in ourselves, and thus accepting no responsibility for it. When he says "Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed," he speaks of the correction of the misperception of sin, and our desire to see it anywhere but in ourselves. By choosing the miracle we make the choice to be healed, and our brothers along with us.* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 356. Sickness is but another name for sin.
Lesson 356. Sickness is but another name for sin. Healing is but another name for God. The miracle is thus a call to Him. Father, You promised You would never fail to answer any call Your Son might make to You. It does not matter where he is, what seems to be his problem, nor what he believes he has become. He is Your Son, and You will answer him. The miracle reflects Your Love, and thus it answers him. Your Name replaces every thought of sin, and who is sinless cannot suffer pain. Your Name gives answer to Your Son, because to call Your Name is but to call his own. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 356. "Sickness is but another name for sin. Healing is but another name for God. The miracle is thus a call to Him." *The miracle, as we know, is nothing but a correction. We chose sin as our identity, and from that insane base, sickness arose. When we choose the Holy Spirit's miracle instead, the belief in separation is undone, which in turn removes the foundation for all pain. This change in teachers is the heart of healing, since in our dream of sin the Holy Spirit is another name for God, and thus our choosing Him as our Teacher opens the gate for our return home.* (1:1-3) "Father, You promised You would never fail to answer any call Your Son might make to You. It does not matter where he is, what seems to be his problem, nor what he believes he has become. He is Your Son, and You will answer him." *In other words, nothing has changed God, nor His loving Answer. It does not matter where we are in the dream -- a dream is a dream is a dream -- it has no effect on our reality. That is why there can be no hierarchy in illusions and no order of difficulty in miracles. All illusions are the same, for they are undone with the one Answer, as Helen's poem "Before We Ask" points out to us: Let us not question, but be still awhile. There is an answer given us before We ask the question; a solution to All strife and pain and turbulence; a door To silence and to absolution ................................................ God's Son is answered. Wearily at last, He calls upon his Father's Name again. (The Gifts of God, p.34)* (1:4-6) "The miracle reflects Your Love, and thus it answers him. Your Name replaces every thought of sin, and who is sinless cannot suffer pain. Your Name gives answer to Your Son, because to call Your Name is but to call his own." *Recall our earlier discussion about the <Name of God> (W-p1.183,184), where we discussed how Jesus' use of that term symbolized the right-minded thought system that we now choose instead of the little names the ego has made in its place: sin, individuality, and specialness. The miracle replaces our desire to be special and unique, and thus calling upon the Name of God is to call upon the Name of our Self -- hearing God's answer of love when He created us one with Him as His one Son: "The miracle but calls your ancient name, which you will recognize because the truth is in your memory. ... Your ancient name belongs to everyone, as theirs to you. Call on your brother's name and God will answer, for on Him you call. Could He refuse to answer when He has already answered all who call on Him? A miracle ... make[s] no change at all. But it can make what always has been true be recognized by those who know it not; and by this little gift of truth but let to be itself, the Son of God allowed to be himself, and all creation freed to call upon the Name of God as one." (T-26.VII.16:1,20)* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 355. There is no end to all the peace and joy,
Lesson 355. There is no end to all the peace and joy, And all the miracles that I will give, When I accept God's Word. Why not today? Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but reach out my hand to find it. Even now my fingers touch it. It is very close. I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever. It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You. Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and Creator, and his Love. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 355. "There is no end to all the peace and joy, And all the miracles that I will give, When I accept God's Word. Why not today?" *Remember the question Jesus posed earlier: "Why wait for Heaven? (W-pI.131.6:1; W-pl.188.1:1). Here he implores us: "Why continue to be upset and in pain? All you need do is listen to me, take my hand, and let me teach you how to look at the world differently. You will then certainly experience my peace and joy." * (1:1-2) "Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile." *His Word, again, is the Atonement. When we fell asleep and dreamt of exile, we took with us into the dream the memory of our Identity as God's Son, Who never left His Father. This memory is the Word that guarantees our eternal joy because it undoes the belief in separation that is the cause of sorrow.* (1:3-6) "Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but reach out my hand to find it. Even now my fingers touch it. It is very close. I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever." *The memory of God's Love is already present in us. It is as close to us as anything could be, because it is the thought of our Self -- the Idea of God's Son that never left its Source. The holy instant restores the treasure of our Identity to awareness, the right mind that has waited patiently for our return to sanity: "What God has willed for you is yours. He has given His Will to His treasure, whose treasure it is. Your heart lies where your treasure is, as His does. You who are beloved of God are wholly blessed. Learn this of me, and free the holy will of all those who are as blessed as you are." (T-8.VI.10:1-4)* (1:7) "It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You." *This can be our choice, as Jesus continually reminds us. Our making the right choice is guaranteed when we realize that our choices, always based on what we think we want, brought us nothing but unhappiness and pain. The choice for God, however, ensures our peace and joy, the core of our Identity as His beloved Son.* (1:8) "Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and Creator, and his Love." *By choosing against our self -- the ego's son -- we choose for our Self -- God's Son -- the blessed Christ of our loving Creator. This choice occurs as we change our perceptions of our brothers, Sons of the same loving Father: "Do not perceive anything God did not create or you are denying Him. His is the only Fatherhood, and it is yours only because He has given it to you. ... Yet the real Fatherhood must be acknowledged if the real Son is to be known. ... Only if you accept the Fatherhood of God will you have anything, because His Fatherhood gave you everything. That is why to deny Him is to deny yourself." (T-10.V.13:1-2,5,7-8)* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 354. We stand together, Christ and I, in peace
Lesson 354. We stand together, Christ and I, in peace And certainty of purpose. And in Him Is His Creator, as He is in me. My oneness with the Christ establishes me as Your Son, beyond the reach of time, and wholly free of every law but Yours. I have no self except the Christ in me. I have no purpose but His Own. And He is like His Father. Thus must I be one with You as well as Him. For who is Christ except Your Son as You created Him? And what am I except the Christ in me? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 354. "We stand together, Christ and I, in peace And certainty of purpose. And in Him Is His Creator, as He is in me." *What follows reiterates the point of the last lesson:* (1:1) "My oneness with the Christ establishes me as Your Son, beyond the reach of time, and wholly free of every law but Yours." *We are not asked within our experience here to go beyond time, nor to identify with God's law of love as it truly is, which only involves the unified spirit that is totally beyond the world of separation. Rather, we are asked to identify with a different use of time, reflecting God's law -- what I give to my brother I give to myself, because we are one. We thus shift our purpose by joining with the Holy Spirit's forgiveness, and then remember our Oneness in Heaven, which is beyond all laws but Heaven's law of love.* (1:2) "I have no self except the Christ in me." *Spend some time reflecting on that thought. If you think about it, you may indeed break into a cold sweat, accompanied by anxiety and palpitations. The self reading these words is very real to you, and you do not want to let it go. That is why you are tempted to bring the truth into your illusion, rather than the illusion of your self to the truth of Christ that lies beyond all words.* (1:3-5) "I have no purpose but His Own. And He is like His Father. Thus must I be one with You as well as Him." *We are Christ, united as God's Son, as Christ is united with God. When we truly understand these words, we realize that these very terms -- God and Christ, Father and Son -- have no real meaning. They are dualistic symbols that reflect a state of unity far beyond our ability to understand. Recall these words from the text on the true state of the Trinity: "Father and Son and Holy Spirit are as One, as all your brothers join as one in truth. Christ and His Father never have been separate, and Christ abides within your understanding, in the part of you that shares His Father's Will. The Holy Spirit links the other part -the tiny mad desire to be separate, different and special- to the Christ, to make the oneness clear to what is really one. In this world this is not understood, but can be taught." (T-25.I.5:3-6). This oneness is taught through forgiveness -- the undoing of the barriers we placed between ourselves and our brothers; shadows of the barrier we placed between ourselves and God.* (1:6-7) "For who is Christ except Your Son as You created Him? And what am I except the Christ in me?" *By choosing against the ego's false self, we make room for the memory of our true Self to dawn upon our healed minds, as we read again in this important statement near the end of the text: "I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself. Yet in this learning is salvation born. And What you are will tell you of Itself." (T-31.V.17.7-9)* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 353. My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today Have but one purpose; to be given Christ
Lesson 353. My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today Have but one purpose; to be given Christ To use to bless the world with miracles. Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use in any way that best will serve the purpose that I share with Him. Nothing is mine alone, for He and I have joined in purpose. Thus has learning come almost to its appointed end. A while I work with Him to serve His purpose. Then I lose myself in my Identity, and recognize that Christ is but my Self. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 353. "My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today Have but one purpose; to be given Christ To use to bless the world with miracles." *Lessons 353 and 354 also share a common theme -- helping us recognize the difference between Christ and the ego. We awaken each morning, still in the body, but now with a different purpose: to have our daily experiences be the classroom in which the Holy Spirit -- here the Teacher is Christ -- can teach us. In conjunction with this thought, both lessons remind us that we need to recognize how much we cherish what we believe is ours. We do not want to lose our individual identity -- our self, body, and personal interests -- which we believe to be sacred. To the ego, of course, it <is> sacred, for this special self preserves the religion of individuality.* (1:1-2) "Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use in any way that best will serve the purpose that I share with Him. Nothing is mine alone, for He and I have joined in purpose." *Anything you believe is yours alone is of the ego, and therefore illusory -- a dream without reality. The only thing within the dream that reflects reality is the recognition of common purpose. Therefore, once caught in defining yourself and your world -- name, body, desk, clothing, car, home, religion, or country -- you are in the world of illusion, which can only bring you pain. From the moment you open your eyes in the morning, therefore, dedicate your day to learning that to cherish anything as your own results in pain, and only when you relinquish investment in yourself and in what is yours alone, will you realize what is truly yours -- the purpose and identity that can be shared with everyone else. Everything else is of the ego and so belongs to no one, for the ego is nothing. Recall this passage from the manual about the right-minded use of the body: "Yet what makes God's teachers is their recognition of the proper purpose of the body. As they advance in their profession, they become more and more certain that the body's function is but to let God's Voice speak through it to human ears. And these ears will carry to the mind of the hearer messages that are not of this world, and the mind will understand because of their Source. From this understanding will come the recognition, in this new teacher of God, of what the body's purpose really is; the only use there really is for it. This lesson is enough to let the thought of unity come in, and what is one is recognized as one. (M-12.4:1-5) * (1:3-4) "Thus has learning come almost to its appointed end. A while I work with Him to serve His purpose." *Jesus is not saying we are now going to disappear into the Heart of God. This is our ultimate goal, but he is telling us here that we still have work to do in the classroom of our lives, in which his love will teach us to forgive.* (1:5) "Then I lose myself in my Identity, and recognize that Christ is but my Self." *This is the ego's fear, and ours who identify with its thought system of separation and specialness. We do not want to lose our identity as individuals, and that is why we are so tempted to bring Jesus and the Holy Spirit into the dream to interact with us. By making Them dream figures along with us, we keep our identity as individual selves intact, reinforced by our continual judgment of others.* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 352. Judgment and love are opposites.
Lesson 352. Judgment and love are opposites. From one Come all the sorrows of the world. But from The other comes the peace of God Himself. Forgiveness looks on sinlessness alone, and judges not. Through this I come to You. Judgment will bind my eyes and make me blind. Yet love, reflected in forgiveness here, reminds me You have given me a way to find Your peace again. I am redeemed when I elect to follow in this way. You have not left me comfortless. I have within me both the memory of You, and One Who leads me to it. Father, I would hear Your Voice and find Your peace today. For I would love my own Identity, and find in It the memory of You. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which may be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 352. "Judgment and love are opposites. From one Come all the sorrows of the world. But from The other comes the peace of God Himself." *As long as we are afraid of God's peace -- within which our individuality, based on conflict and unhappiness, will disappear -- we will choose to defend our self. Judgment -- perceiving someone else as sinful -- is the ego's perfect way of carrying out this defense.* (1:1) "Forgiveness looks on sinlessness alone, and judges not." *We are asked first to recognize how we look on sinfulness in others and ourselves, and then ask Jesus for help. He reinterprets our perceptions so that we realize that acting sinfully comes from fear -- "frightened people can be vicious" (T-3.I.4:2) -- behind which is the call for love we do not believe we deserve. In that realization are sins forgiven, because they are looked at differently. The key idea, as we have seen throughout our journey with the workbook, is that when we look with Jesus at what goes on in the world and in our relationships, we refrain from judging -- judgment is the problem; forgiveness is the answer.* (1:2) "Through this I come to You." *It is through our forgiveness that we return to God. Remember that these prayers are addressed to God as correction for our ego's prayers to its gods of judgment and punishment.* (1:3-4) "Judgment will bind my eyes and make me blind. Yet love, reflected in forgiveness here, reminds me You have given me a way to find Your peace again." *Again, the way to find God's peace, return home, and remember our Identity as Christ is to forgive. When we hold on to grievances and withhold forgiveness, it is because we do not want to awaken from the dream, losing our self to find our Self.* (1:5-6) "I am redeemed when I elect to follow in this way. You have not left me comfortless." *It is our decision alone to follow His way. In the very last words of the workbook we will be reminded of this lovely thought -- we have not been left comfortless.* (1:7) "I have within me both the memory of You, and One Who leads me to it." *As we have seen in other lessons, means and end are one. Thus I have within me the end or goal, which is remembering Who I am as God's Son. I also have within me, through the Holy Spirit, the means of remembering. Both means and end are present in my mind, for the Idea of God's Son has never left Its Source.* (1:8-9) "Father, I would hear Your Voice and find Your peace today. For I would love my own Identity, and find in It the memory of You." *This is the central idea. We do not love our own Identity as Christ because we love our individual identity more. Crucial to our daily practicing, then, is vigilance for how much we cherish this special and unique self. We would even go so far as to kill in order to preserve it. Yet when we finally realize the loss to <us>, we choose to listen to the Voice of sanity and return to our true love -- our Self and our God.* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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14. What Am I ?
14. What Am I ? I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own. Our use for words is almost over now. Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared. And thus you joined with me, so what I am are you as well. The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us. We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. And this, our gift, is therefore given us. We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good. We do not seek a function that is past the gate of Heaven. Knowledge will return when we have done our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth. Ours are the eyes through which Christ's vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. Ours are the ears that hear the Voice for God proclaim the world as sinless. Ours the minds that join together as we bless the world. And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy. We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came, and which we seek to serve. We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries from his book set called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 14. What Am I ? *We come to the final summary, "What Am I ?" Of the many jewels in the Course's treasure chest, this is among the most treasured -- a beautiful description of Who we are as God's Son. The answer that Jesus gives to this question has been the underlying focus of A Course in Miracles, inasmuch as the problem at the beginning when we chose the ego over the Holy Spirit was our making a self that is decidedly not Who we are. Paralleling this is the only question asked of his followers by the enlightened Indian teacher Ramana Maharshi: "Who am I?" If the answer is the body and personality, we have answered incorrectly, and from that belief comes our pain, misery, and unhappiness. The purpose of A Course in Miracles, therefore, is to help us be open to ask the right question -- "What am I?" -- that we may hear and accept this inspiring answer.* (1) "I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own." *This is our response to everything the ego ever taught is true about ourselves, undoing all fear and guilt, all pain and suffering. What remains is the eternal life given us in creation, unblemished by the ego's sullying thoughts of miscreation and usurpation. Never real, these thoughts evanesce into the nothingness of their own illusion. From the glorious end of the text, we read of the ending of a journey that never really happened: "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) This shining face lasts but an instant before its place is taken by the sinless Self that God created, residing in God's holy home. Recall the lovely close to the clarification of terms: "The Son is still, and in the quiet God has given him enters his home and is at peace at last." (C-ep.5:6)* (2:1-2) "Our use for words is almost over now. Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared." *Recall that A Course in Miracles is about purpose and our need to realize that maintaining the ego's purpose of individuality has not made us happy or brought us peace. Indeed, the single purpose mentioned above, shared by everyone, is the need to forgive and recognize our simple mistake -- nothing more than a bad dream that will last only as long as we choose to believe in the ego's purpose of separation. This passage from the text nicely expresses our shared purpose, which reveals to our awakened awareness the Oneness of God's holy Will: "The Will of God forever lies in those whose hands are joined... when they joined and shared a purpose, they were free to learn their will is one. And thus the Will of God must reach to their awareness. Nor can they forget for long that it is but their own." (T-30.V.11:3:5-13)* (2:3) "And thus you joined with me, so what I am are you as well." *This teaching is crucial for undoing Christianity's millennia-old tradition that Jesus is ontologically different from us and thus we are <not> like him. With such specialness as our foundation, we can only <hope> to join with him, asking his help and suffering as he did, but never able to see that we are what he is.* (2:4-5) "The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us." *Again, Who we are as Christ in the realm of knowledge is not what Jesus teaches in his course, and is certainly not what we are capable of learning. However, he can teach and we can learn how to undo the interferences to the remembrance of our Self. Therefore the words can be of use as symbols that correct the ego's symbols. The reader will no doubt recall this important discussion in the clarification of terms, where Jesus explains how words -- i.e., symbols -- fulfill his purpose in A Course in Miracles: "This course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed. It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because it is planned only to set the direction towards it. Therefore it uses words, which are symbolic, and cannot express what lies beyond symbol." (C-in.3:1-3). The ego speaks first, as the text says (T-5.VI.3:5), and is always wrong. The Holy Spirit is the Answer, and is always right. The ego spoke first by producing a thought system of separation and making the perceptual world to be its cover. A Course in Miracles is one of the answers the Holy Spirit has given that uses the ego's symbols within its framework -- the separated world -- but for a totally different purpose. Our function, however, is not to teach the truth of A Course in Miracles by preaching or explaining its theory, but by accepting its principles and living them, accepting Jesus' forgiving love so that it extends through us. That is what he teaches us, and asks us to teach through him. We cannot quote often his exhortation to us, his disciples: "Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather that I did not die by demonstrating that I live in you." (T-11.VI.7:3-4)* (3:1) "We are the bringers of salvation." *Once again, we bring salvation through exemplifying Jesus' teaching. A Course in Miracles states that the best teaching is by example (T-5.IV.5:1). In fact we could say that the only real teaching is by example, as this previously quoted passage from the manual illustrates: "To teach is to demonstrate. There are only two thought systems, and you demonstrate that you believe one or the other is true all the time. From your demonstration others learn, and so do you. The question is not whether you will teach, for in that there is no choice. The purpose of the course might be said to provide you with a means of choosing what you want to teach on the basis of what you want to learn." (M-in.2.1-5). Thus, our choice is whether we are to be bringers of salvation or damnation, resurrection or crucifixion -- knowing that what we bring to others we have first brought to ourselves.* (3:2-4) "We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. And this, our gift, is therefore given us. We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good." Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Lesson 351. My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain.
Lesson 351. My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain. And which I choose to see I will behold. Who is my brother but Your holy Son? And if I see him sinful I proclaim myself a sinner, not a Son of God; alone and friendless in a fearful world. Yet this perception is a choice I make, and can relinquish. I can also see my brother sinless, as Your holy Son. And with this choice I see my sinlessness, my everlasting Comforter and Friend beside me, and my way secure and clear. Choose, then, for me, my Father, through Your Voice. For He alone gives judgment in Your Name. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from his book set called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 351. "My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain. And which I choose to see I will behold." *As we shall see, these final lessons are composed only of prayers to God. The first two are similar in presenting the mind's opposite thought systems -- sinfulness and sinlessness (Lesson 351), and judgment and love (Lesson 352) -- and our ability to choose between them. We could say: I choose to see one or the other -- sin or sinlessness -- and beholding my choice, I make it real in my perception. Thus the way I perceive you will show me how I have perceived myself.* (1:1) "Who is my brother but Your holy Son?" *Remember, the Son of God is one, and therefore the way I see you must be the way I see me. To believe anything different from that principle denies the Atonement and affirms the seeming reality of the separation.* (1:2-3) "And if I see him sinful I proclaim myself a sinner, not a Son of God; alone and friendless in a fearful world. Yet this perception is a choice I make, and can relinquish." *The only way we let this perception go is to realize it is a choice that brings us pain -- the turning point on our journey. Jesus thus appeals to the selfish need in all of us to feel better. The problem is, as we have already seen, that we do not know what will make us feel better. We think that pleasure is pain and pain is pleasure. Thus our need for a Teacher to instruct us in the difference, helping us to understand that forgiveness alone brings pleasure, while a life of attack and fear reinforces the pain of our separation and aloneness. Once this understanding is made clear to us, the choice is not difficult to make.* (1:4-7) "I can also see my brother sinless, as Your holy Son. And with this choice I see my sinlessness, my everlasting Comforter and Friend beside me, and my way secure and clear. Choose, then, for me, my Father, through Your Voice. For He alone gives judgment in Your Name." *We have seen that God does not choose. These words but symbolize Jesus reminding us that we are the ones who have to choose the Holy Spirit -- our Comforter and Friend -- as correction for the original and ongoing choice for the ego's thought system of separation, sin and hate. Thus does the Holy Spirit's Love become the basis for our judgment of God's Son as sinless, the certain means for our returning home along the path of forgiveness, and the way we remember that God's Name is ours -- our inheritance as His beloved and unified Son. Thus we say to our innocent brother, in the words of Helen's poem, "God's Likeness": "How holy are you, Son of God! How pure Your thoughts; how innocent your mind. In you I see the Host of God; His Love, His Joy, His one creation, indivisible. You are as like to God as I to you, And being like to you, I am like Him." (The Gifts of God, p.17).* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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14. What Am I?
14. What Am I? W-pII.14.1. I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. 2 In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. 3 In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. 4 I am the holy home of God Himself. 5 I am the Heaven where His Love resides. 6 I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own . W-pII.14.2. Our use for words is almost over now. 2 Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared. 3 And thus you joined with me, so what I am are you as well. 4 The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. 5 Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us. W-pII.14.3. We are the bringers of salvation. 2 We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. 3 And this, our gift, is therefore given us. 4 We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good. 5 We do not seek a function that is past the gate of Heaven. 6 Knowledge will return when we have done our part. 7 We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth. W-pII.14.4. Ours are the eyes through which Christ's vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. 2 Ours are the ears that hear the Voice for God proclaim the world as sinless. 3 Ours the minds that join together as we bless the world. 4 And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy. W-pII.14.5. We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. 2 And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came, and which we seek to serve. 3 We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. 4 Now is he redeemed. 5 And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God. . Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Re: A little laugh
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On Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 5:22 PM, Mary Beth Haines via groups.io <mbhartist@...> wrote:
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Lesson 350. Miracles mirror God's eternal Love. To offer them is to remember Him,
Lesson 350. Miracles mirror God's eternal Love. To offer them is to remember Him, And through His memory to save the world. What we forgive becomes a part of us, as we perceive ourselves. The Son of God incorporates all things within himself as You created him. Your memory depends on his forgiveness. What he is, is unaffected by his thoughts. But what he looks upon is their direct result. Therefore, my Father, I would turn to You. Only Your memory will set me free. And only my forgiveness teaches me to let Your memory return to me, and give it to the world in thankfulness. And as we gather miracles from Him, we will indeed be grateful. For as we remember Him, His Son will be restored to us in the reality of Love. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 350. "Miracles mirror God's eternal Love. To offer them is to remember Him, And through His memory to save the world." *The way we remember God's Love is to forgive, withdrawing the projections placed on the world. Since it is one with our thought, as the thought of separation is healed, the world is healed as well.* (1:1-2) "What we forgive becomes a part of us, as we perceive ourselves. The Son of God incorporates all things within himself as You created him." *My attack teaches you are different and separate from me; not a part of my self. That is the ego's purpose for specific bodies -- to perceive people as separate and different: "You are sinful and I sinless. Thus you are not a part of me and I shun your presence, lest your sins contaminate my innocence." When I let that insane thinking go, I begin to understand that you and I are one, and I cannot return home to God's Love unless I first realize we are the same -- in illusion and in truth. This undoes our wrong-minded attempts to separate all things from ourselves. The correction -- the miracle's gift -- helps us remember our inherent oneness as God's Son.* (1:3-5) "Your memory depends on his forgiveness. What he is, unaffected by his thoughts. But what he looks upon is their direct result." *Recall what amounts to a formula in A Course in Miracles: We see the face of Christ in our brother and remember God. To see the face of Christ is to forgive, which allows the memory of God's Love to return to us. The Son of God's true Identity has never been affected by his insane thinking, but what we believe we are and perceived with our eyes is a direct result of the ego's thoughts. When we indulge these thoughts we make them real, project them out, and believe we see them all around us instead of in ourselves. Yet is our true reality unaffected by what we think -- the meaning of the Atonement. However, because we think these thoughts of separation are real, we remain asleep, believing our dreams to be reality. Our physical and psychological experiences as bodies are the witnesses that "prove" that what we are dreaming is really there. It is from that dream of insanity that the miracle helps us gently to awake.* (1:6-8) "Therefore, my Father, I would turn to You. Only Your memory will set me free. And only my forgiveness teaches me to let Your memory return to me, and give it to the world in thankfulness." *The only way the memory of God will return to me and I will realize I <am> His Son is by changing my thought system of separation and specialness. I accomplish this through letting go of my investment in its effects -- the projections I have placed onto everyone around me, which have imprisoned the world, along with me.* (2) "And as we gather miracles from Him, we will indeed be grateful. For as we remember Him, His Son will be restored to us in the reality of Love." *That Son is the Oneness of Christ. As the text says, the Son's Oneness transcends the sum of its parts (T-2.VII.6:3). It is not you, me, and everyone else adding up to one glorious whole, for the wholeness of Christ is its undivided unity and absence of individuality. Remembering that Identity through forgiveness is the birthplace of our gratitude and return to sanity.* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
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Re: A little laugh
Great food for thought. Thanks for sharing! Ute On Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 4:27?PM Mary Beth Haines via <mbhartist=[email protected]> wrote:
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Lesson 349. Today I let Christ's vision look upon All things for me
Lesson 349. Today I let Christ's vision look upon All things for me and judge them not, but give Each one a miracle of love instead. So would I liberate all things I see, and give to them the freedom that I seek. For thus do I obey the law of love, and give what I would find and make my own. It will be given me, because I have chosen it as the gift I want to give. Father, Your gifts are mine. Each one that I accept gives me a miracle to give. And giving as I would receive, I learn Your healing miracles belong to me. Our Father knows our needs. He gives us grace to meet them all. And so we trust in Him to send us miracles to bless the world, and heal our minds as we return to Him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: ~ M.Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 349. "Today I let Christ's vision look upon All things for me and judge them not, but give Each one a miracle of love instead." *Our prayer, then, is that we not judge, which means that we not attack or condemn our brothers. In so doing we attack ourselves, and thus we ask for help that we look on the world through Christ's vision instead of our own, allowing His miracle to rest on us.* (1:1) "So would I liberate all things I see, and give to them the freedom that I seek." *By releasing you from the bondage of guilt I placed on you, I liberate you from my dream. Within your dream you still must choose whether or not to accept that freedom, but in my forgiveness I demonstrate that our guiding principle is not <one or the other>, but <together, or not one at all>. That is how I come to realize I am forgiven, too.* (1:2-6) "For thus do I obey the law of love, and give what I would find and make my own. It will be given me, because I have chosen it as the gift I want to give. Father, Your gifts are mine. Each one that I accept gives me a miracle to give. And giving as I would receive, I learn Your healing miracles belong to me." *I want to <give> the gift, because I want to <receive> the gift. If I really wish to learn my sins are forgiven and that God loves me, all I need do is extend that love through my forgiveness to others, who may yet believe otherwise.* (2) "Our Father knows our needs. He gives us grace to meet them all. And so we trust in Him to send us miracles to bless the world, and heal our minds as we return to Him." *This is taken from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel, where Jesus explains that God knows our needs and loves us: indeed, <every> hair on our head is counted, and He loves us even more than the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:8,28-30,32). Placing this within the teachings of A Course in Miracles, we understand that God does not really know about our need, because He does not know about us in a separated state. Yet has His Love come with us into the illusion through the Holy Spirit, and thus the need "our Father knows" is to undo our mistaken choice through the miracle. We have already seen that the miracle's corrective nature reflects God's Love within the dream, which undoes the ego's thought system and heals our bloodied nightmares of separation, hopelessness, and death. The miracle that forgiveness brings can therefore, only heal our brother and ourselves as one, the single need held by the world of hate and guilt, for the miracle alone allows us to hear our Father's ancient clarion call of grace: "A miracle can offer nothing less to him than it has given unto you. So does your healing show your mind is healed, and has forgiven what he did not do. And so is he convinced his innocence was never lost, and healed along with you. Thus does the miracle undo all things the world attests can never be undone. And hopelessness and death must disappear before the ancient clarion call of life. This call has power far beyond the weak and miserable cry of death and guilt. The ancient calling of the Father to His Son, and of the Son unto His Own, will yet be the last trumpet that the world will ever hear. Brother, there is no death. And this you learn when you but wish to show your brother that you had no hurt of him. He thinks your blood is on his hands, and so he stands condemned. Yet it is given you to show him, by your healing, that his guilt is but the fabric of a senseless dream." (T-27.II.6.) * Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 |
James Stevens
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