Lesson 334. Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.
Lesson 334. Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.
I will not wait another day to find the treasures that my Father offers me.
Illusions are all vain, and dreams are gone even while they are woven out of
thoughts that rest on false perceptions. Let me not accept such meager gifts
again today. God's Voice is offering the peace of God to all who hear and choose
to follow Him. This is my choice today. And so I go to find the treasures God
has given me.
I seek but the eternal. For Your Son can be content with nothing less than this.
What, then, can be his solace but what You are offering to his bewildered mind
and frightened heart, to give him certainty and bring him peace? Today I would
behold my brother sinless. This Your Will for me, for so will I behold my
sinlessness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 334. "Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives."
*Lessons 334 through 337 center on the theme of perceiving sinlessness in our
brothers, which allows us to realize we are sinless, too. They roughly parallel
the two sections that end Chapter 20, "The Consistency of Means and End" and
"The Vision of Sinlessness" (T-20.VII,VIII). Forgiveness' gift awakens in us the
memory of our innocence, for by undoing the belief in the sin we perceive in
others, we give ourselves the opportunity to choose the sinlessness the Holy
Spirit offers over the ego's gift of sinfulness.*
(1:1) "I will not wait another day to find the treasures that my Father offers
me."
*Here again, Jesus appeals to us to recognize how unhappy we are living under
the ego's guidance, and how happy we would be if we let him be our teacher
instead.*
(1:2) "Illusions are all vain, and dreams are gone even while they are woven out
of thoughts that rest on false perceptions."
*In other words, the world is already over. The Atonement principle has never
ceased to be, and everything we have ever dreamt, thought, or experienced is an
illusion that never happened -- "This world was over long ago" (T-28.1.1:6).*
(1:3-6) "Let me not accept such meager gifts again today. God's Voice is
offering the peace of God to all who hear and choose to follow Him. This is my
choice today. And so I go to find the treasures God has given me."
*We saw the importance of choosing the second place, that we may remember that
we -- an aspect of God's Son -- are part of the first. If we are unhappy with
the ego's gifts of anger, depression, or pain, we need but remember these were
our choice, and thus we can choose again.*
(2:1) "I seek but the eternal."
*The ego will always have us seek after the ephemeral: the world's gifts of
specialness. Jesus reminds us that what we truly want, and want alone, is the
love that never ends:
"Let, then, your dedication be to the eternal, and learn not to interfere
with it and make it slave to time." (T-19.1.16:1)*
(2:2-5) "For Your Son can be content with nothing less than this. What, then,
can be his solace but what You are offering to his bewildered mind and
frightened heart, to give him certainty and bring him peace? Today I would
behold my brother sinless. This Your Will for me, for so will I behold my
sinlessness."
*The way we find the eternal in ourselves is to forgive. Jesus, as we have seen
repeatedly, has us work backwards. We begin where we think we are -- in special
relationships fraught with neediness and grievances. We learn to use these as
classrooms under the guidance of our new teacher, in which we come to understand
that the sin we perceive around us, or even in our own bodies, is a projection
of the mind's belief in sin. Once we return to the source of the error, we can,
as the decision maker, choose differently. We begin by asking for help to shift
our perception of someone perceived external to us, and gently move to our
bewildered mind and frightened heart, there to accept our inherent sinlessness
as God's true Son.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 333. Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here.
Lesson 333. Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here.
(1) Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. For only then are its defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears.
(2) Father, forgiveness is the light You chose to shine away all conflict and all doubt, and light the way for our return to You. No light but this can end our evil dream. No light but this can save the world. For this alone will never fail in anything, being Your gift to Your beloved Son.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 333. "Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here."
This world originated with the thought of fear, the source of the conflict that is the root of all dreams. Thus, for example, I fear someone or something outside of me, their will being to attack, clearly in conflict with my will, which I perceive to be loving and peaceful. Yet it is impossible to be in this world as a body without conflicts of this nature, for the essence of physical life is rooted in the wrong mind's principle of <one or the other> -- an aspect of Darwin's notion of survival of the fittest. It is only when, through forgiveness, we step outside the dream with Jesus that we realize the illusory nature of the ego's thought system of separation and conflict. This lesson is especially important because of its emphasis on resolving the problem of ego conflict in the mind, not in the world or body.
(1:1-3) "Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it."
Psychodynamic psychologists have focused on what they term <basic conflict>, and every theorist has had a different definition. Jesus, too, has a theory, and defines basic conflict as between illusion and truth. This conflict of the ego with God underlies everything in this world, and Jesus emphasizes that we cannot resolve it outside, but only at its source -- the mind's decision to be right rather than happy, aligning with the ego instead of the Holy Spirit. Thus no conflict is truly resolved in the world, and there will never be a lasting peace here, only hatred, because we are not in touch with its source that lies within the ego thought system shared by parties of every conflict -- past, present, and future.
We therefore need to see conflict where it is: in the mind. Once chosen, conflict is dissociated and then -- projected -- is seen in the world. There is then no hope of undoing it. As our teacher, Jesus asks us to let his eyes be ours, that we may learn the true source of conflict; never outside -- between people, governments, religions, and races -- but in the mind that believes it can exist only through conflict, rooted in the belief it has waged war with God, defeated Him, and now must avoid His inevitable retaliation. The process of healing begins with our external perceptions, and, Jesus helps us see that these are but "the outside picture of an inward condition" (T-21.in.1:5)
(1:4) "For only then are its defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears."
Conflict ends when we bring its darkness to the light of forgiveness -- <in the mind>. Asking Jesus for help means looking at the situation through his eyes, learning that what we perceive as conflict outside is a projection of conflict inside: our war with God. Only when we look at that thought can we realize its insanity, allowing the light of truth to shine it away.
(2) "Father, forgiveness is the light You chose to shine away all conflict and all doubt, and light the way for our return to You. No light but this can end our evil dream. No light but this can save the world. For this alone will never fail in anything, being Your gift to Your beloved Son."
Jesus is saying no problem will ever be solved in this world without our first bringing it to its source, and then changing the mind's decision for the ego. Only then will the light return.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12. What Is The Ego?
(1) The ego is idolatry; the sign of limited and separated self, born in a body, doomed to suffer and to end its life in death. It is the "will" that sees the Will of God as enemy, and takes a form in which it is denied. The ego is the "proof" that strength is weak and love is fearful, life is really death, and what opposes God alone is true.
(2) The ego is insane. In fear it stands beyond the Everywhere, apart from All, in separation from the Infinite. In its insanity it thinks it has become a victor over God Himself. And in its terrible autonomy it "sees" the Will of God has been destroyed. It dreams of punishment, and trembles at the figures in its dreams; its enemies, who seek to murder it before it can ensure its safety by attacking them.
(3) The Son of God is egoless. What can he know of madness and the death of God, when he abides in Him? What can he know of sorrow and of suffering, when he lives in eternal joy? What can he know of fear and punishment, of sin and guilt, of hatred and attack, when all there is surrounding him is everlasting peace, forever conflict-free and undisturbed, in deepest silence and tranquility?
(4) To know reality is not to see the ego and its thoughts, its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams, its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and the cost belief in it entails. In suffering, the price for faith in it is so immense that crucifixion of the Son of God is offered daily at its darkened shrine, and blood must flow before the altar where its sickly followers prepare to die.
(5) Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light; the altar to illusions to the shrine of Life Itself. And peace will be restored forever to the holy minds which God created as His Son, His dwelling place, His joy, His love, completely His, completely one with Him.
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 332. Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free.
Lesson 332. Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free.
(1) The ego makes illusions. Truth undoes its evil dreams by shining them away. Truth never makes attack. It merely is. And by its presence is the mind recalled from fantasies, awaking to the real. Forgiveness bids this presence enter in, and take its rightful place within the mind. Without forgiveness is the mind in chains, believing in its own futility. Yet with forgiveness does the light shine through the dream of darkness, offering it hope, and giving it the means to realize the freedom that is its inheritance.
(2) We would not bind the world again today. Fear holds it prisoner. And yet Your Love has given us the means to set it free. Father, we would release it now. For as we offer freedom, it is given us. And we would not remain as prisoners, while You are holding freedom out to us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commentary on this lesson is 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 332. "Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free."
The world is bound by my fear because the world is my thought. If my mind chooses fear, I will look out on a fear-based world, seeing imprisonment all around me. If it chooses forgiveness, I will look out on a world in which everyone is free and unbound. I may see people having the illusion of being imprisoned, but I will no longer participate in their dream by feeling the effects of their pain. As we practice A Course in Miracles, we are not asked to deny what goes on in the world, but simply asked not to participate in its thought system by giving it power over our minds. To others, we may appear to be participating in illusion, but our minds remain at peace. What thus governs our behavior is peace and forgiveness, not conflict or fear.
(1:1-4) "The ego makes illusions. Truth undoes its evil dreams by shining them away. Truth never makes attack. It merely is."
Forgiveness does nothing; it merely is. Love does nothing; it merely is. When Jesus was here, he did nothing; he merely was. One who is in the real world and appears to be here does nothing, too, in the sense of actively correcting the ego's mistakes. The love within simply shines away the mistaken thoughts in the mind of God's one Son.
(1:5) "And by its presence is the mind recalled from fantasies, awaking to the real."
The "mind" here is the decision maker recognizing its mistake. It had identified with fantasies, and now realizes these will not lead to happiness.
(1:6-8) "Forgiveness bids this presence enter in, and take its rightful place within the mind. Without forgiveness is the mind in chains, believing in its own futility. Yet with forgiveness does the light shine through the dream of darkness, offering it hope, and giving it the means to realize the freedom that is its inheritance."
When we choose to identify with the ego, we choose to be in the imprisoning state of sin, guilt, and fear. When we correct our mistake and choose forgiveness, we undo the ego's thought system by looking at it without judgment. Gone, then is the darkened dream in which we are chained to guilt, its place now taken by freedom's light that is our true inheritance, unaffected by the ego's fantasies of rejection and hate:
"Peace is a natural heritage of spirit. Everyone is free to accept his inheritance, but he is not free to establish what his inheritance is." (T-3.VI.10:1-2)
(2) "We would not bind the world again today. Fear holds it prisoner. And yet Your Love has given us the means to set it free. Father, we would release it now. For as we offer freedom, it is given us. And we would not remain as prisoners, while You are holding freedom out to us."
We realize that what binds the world is not what goes on externally, but what we make real in our minds. We change our imprisoned state by changing teachers, and our world changes accordingly. Enemies become friends, and prison doors seemingly locked forever swing open wide as we emerge in joyful gratitude from the bonds of guilt and hate. Yet we do not emerge alone, for all our brothers walk with us from darkness to light, imprisonment to freedom, and fear to love.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12. What Is The Ego?
(1) The ego is idolatry; the sign of limited and separated self, born in a body, doomed to suffer and to end its life in death. It is the "will" that sees the Will of God as enemy, and takes a form in which it is denied. The ego is the "proof" that strength is weak and love is fearful, life is really death, and what opposes God alone is true.
(2) The ego is insane. In fear it stands beyond the Everywhere, apart from All, in separation from the Infinite. In its insanity it thinks it has become a victor over God Himself. And in its terrible autonomy it "sees" the Will of God has been destroyed. It dreams of punishment, and trembles at the figures in its dreams; its enemies, who seek to murder it before it can ensure its safety by attacking them.
(3) The Son of God is egoless. What can he know of madness and the death of God, when he abides in Him? What can he know of sorrow and of suffering, when he lives in eternal joy? What can he know of fear and punishment, of sin and guilt, of hatred and attack, when all there is surrounding him is everlasting peace, forever conflict-free and undisturbed, in deepest silence and tranquility?
(4) To know reality is not to see the ego and its thoughts, its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams, its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and the cost belief in it entails. In suffering, the price for faith in it is so immense that crucifixion of the Son of God is offered daily at its darkened shrine, and blood must flow before the altar where its sickly followers prepare to die.
(5) Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light; the altar to illusions to the shrine of Life Itself. And peace will be restored forever to the holy minds which God created as His Son, His dwelling place, His joy, His love, completely His, completely one with Him.
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 331. There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.
Lesson 331. There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.
How foolish, Father, to believe Your Son could cause himself to suffer! Could he
make a plan for his damnation, and be left without a certain way to his release?
You love me, Father. You could never leave me desolate, to die within a world of
pain and cruelty. How could I think that Love has left Itself? There is no will
except the Will of Love. Fear is a dream, and has no will that can conflict with
Yours. Conflict is sleep, and peace awakening. Death is illusion; life, eternal
truth. There is no opposition to Your Will. There is no conflict, for my will is
Yours.
Forgiveness shows us that God's Will is One, and that we share it. Let us look
upon the holy sights forgiveness shows today, that we may find the peace of God.
Amen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set, called:
"Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at
the following site: ~ M. Street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 331. "There is no conflict, for my will is Yours."
*In this lesson Jesus focuses on the prominent role conflict plays in the ego
thought system. The ego believes it has defied God's Will and remains in
opposition to It. That is the basis of all conflict, manifest in the split mind
between the ego and the Holy Spirit. This of course is not how He thinks, but is
at the core of the ego's thought system that established our identities through
conflict, opposition, defiance, and murder -- reflected in a world that thrives
on conflict, opposition, defiance, and murder. The ego thus proclaims that
conflict is alive and well -- we took from God, Who now will take it back from
us -- witnessed to by its worldly shadow of conflict and war. This necessitates
our doing something about the imminent threat to our existence, and the end
product of this "doing" is the world of attack.*
(1:1-5) "How foolish, Father, to believe Your Son could cause himself to suffer!
Could he make a plan for his damnation, and be left without a certain way to his
release? You love me, Father. You could never leave me desolate, to die within a
world of pain and cruelty. How could I think that Love has left Itself?"
*The ego tells us that God abandoned us. He created us in bodies and then left
us in this world to fend for ourselves, suffer, and finally die. It never tells
us that <we> abandoned God, nor the ultimate truth -- there was no abandonment
at all, for how could Love leave Itself?*
(1:6-9) "There is no will except the Will of Love. Fear is a dream, and has no
will that can conflict with Yours. Conflict is sleep, and peace awakening. Death
is illusion; life, eternal truth."
*You may remember that Lesson 190, "I choose the joy of God instead of pain,"
concludes with a similar rhythm. The words are different, but the meaning and
presentation are the same:
"This is the day when it is given you to realize the lesson that contains
all of salvation's power. It is this: Pain is illusion; joy, reality. Pain is
but sleep; joy is awakening. Pain is deception; joy alone is truth."
(W-pI.190.10:3-6) *
(1:10-11) "There is no opposition to Your Will. There is no conflict, for my
will is Yours."
*Our lives as physical, psychological beings -- shadows of the authority problem
with God -- are based on opposition and conflict. If we do not defend ourselves,
others will attack us and end our existence, and thus we always need to be
engaged in self-protection. Finally, however, we realize there is something
wrong with this life of attack-defense, and we can choose again, as Jesus now
tells us:*
(2) "Forgiveness shows us that God's Will is One, and that we share it. Let us
look upon the holy sights forgiveness shows today, that we may find the peace of
God. Amen."
*Forgiveness undoes the false perception of conflict by ending the dream that
you and I are separate, kept apart by thoughts of guilt and judgment, pain and
sorrow. True perception reveals a world washed clean of sin, as we remember our
shared interest of finding the peace of God and returning home:
"A vision of a different world, so new and clean and fresh you will forget
the pain and sorrow that you saw before." (T-31.VIII.8:4) *
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
for those who are doing the Workbook lessons, this special discussion is to be read each day for the next ten lessons:
12. What Is The Ego?
(1) The ego is idolatry; the sign of limited and separated self, born in a body, doomed to suffer and to end its life in death. It is the "will" that sees the Will of God as enemy, and takes a form in which it is denied. The ego is the "proof" that strength is weak and love is fearful, life is really death, and what opposes God alone is true.
(2) The ego is insane. In fear it stands beyond the Everywhere, apart from All, in separation from the Infinite. In its insanity it thinks it has become a victor over God Himself. And in its terrible autonomy it "sees" the Will of God has been destroyed. It dreams of punishment, and trembles at the figures in its dreams; its enemies, who seek to murder it before it can ensure its safety by attacking them.
(3) The Son of God is egoless. What can he know of madness and the death of God, when he abides in Him? What can he know of sorrow and of suffering, when he lives in eternal joy? What can he know of fear and punishment, of sin and guilt, of hatred and attack, when all there is surrounding him is everlasting peace, forever conflict-free and undisturbed, in deepest silence and tranquility?
(4) To know reality is not to see the ego and its thoughts, its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams, its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and the cost belief in it entails. In suffering, the price for faith in it is so immense that crucifixion of the Son of God is offered daily at its darkened shrine, and blood must flow before the altar where its sickly followers prepare to die.
(5) Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light; the altar to illusions to the shrine of Life Itself. And peace will be restored forever to the holy minds which God created as His Son, His dwelling place, His joy, His love, completely His, completely one with Him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This 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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12. What is the ego?
(1:1) "The ego is idolatry; the sign of limited and separated self, born in a body, doomed to suffer and to end its life in death."
Yet this self is what we continually choose to idolize. An idol is meant to substitute for the true God, with images that take the form of our Creator, Who is abstract and formless. We then worship the idols, taking their <form> as truth, all the while we lose truth's <content> of love. Likewise, we worship the ego in the form of the body, substituting its self for the Self of Christ. The body thus becomes reality for us, the "hero" of the ego's dream, as Jesus tells us in the text:
"The body is the central figure in the dreaming of the world. There is no dream without it, nor does it exist without the dream in which it acts as if it were a person to be seen and be believed. It takes the central place in every dream, which tells the story of how it was made by other bodies, born into the world outside the body, lives a little while and dies, to be united in the dust with other bodies dying like itself." (T-27.VIII.1.1-3).
In our insanity we actually believe that this moribund body, Hamlet's "mortal coil," is our identity.
(1:2) "It is the "will" that sees the Will of God as enemy, and takes a form in which it is denied."
The ego's unholy trinity of sin, guilt, and fear leaves us terrified of God, Who has become our mortal enemy -- at war with us because we are secretly at war with Him. Clearly, this has nothing to do with the true God, but with the vengeful deity of the ego's dream. This passage from the manual for teachers dramatically describes the ego's thought system of magic, vengeance, and murder:
"A magic thought, by its mere presence, acknowledges a separation from God. It states, in the clearest form possible, that the mind which believes it has a separate will that can oppose the Will of God, also believes it can succeed. That this can hardly be a fact is obvious. Yet that it can be believed as fact is equally obvious. And herein lies the birthplace of guilt. Who usurps the place of God and takes it for himself now has a deadly "enemy." And he must stand alone in his protection, and make himself a shield to keep him safe from fury that can never be abated, and vengeance that can never be satisfied." (M-17.7.5.3-9)
(1:3) "The ego is the "proof" that strength is weak and love is fearful, life is really death, and what opposes God alone is true."
The strength of Christ is weakness to the ego, because it is the power of perfect Oneness. The ego's strength -- truly weakness -- is the seeming power of separation, to which the world attests. We believe we are strong, because if we are here -- and we certainly believe we are -- it was due to our defeat of God. We then defeat everyone else through the indulgence of our specialness -- our twisted idea of strength. Yet we are asked to consider if this is really the strength we want, as in Helen's poem "Alternatives":
"A fantasy of pain, a dream of death,
A cry of agony, a shallow breath,
Such is the world you see. Is this your choice
To be the substitution for God's Voice?" (The Gifts of God, p.11)
In lines already familiar to us, Jesus asks us directly at the end of the text if is our wish to succumb to the ego's temptation to identify with the weak, powerless, and attacking body:
"Temptation has one lesson it would teach, in all its forms, wherever it occurs. It would persuade the holy Son of God he is a body, born in what must die, unable to escape its frailty, and bound by what it orders him to feel. It sets the limits on what he can do; its power is the only strength he has; his grasp cannot exceed its tiny reach. Would you be this, if Christ appeared to you in all His glory, asking you but this: Choose once again if you would take your place among the saviors of the world, or would remain in hell, and hold your brothers there. For He has come, and He is asking this.
How do you make the choice? How easily is this explained! You always choose between your weakness and the strength of Christ in you. And what you
choose is what you think is real." (T-31.VIII.1:1--2:4).
(2:1-4) "The ego is insane. In fear it stands beyond the Everywhere, apart from All, in separation from the Infinite. In its insanity it thinks it has become a victor over God Himself. And in its terrible autonomy it "sees" the Will of God has been destroyed."
"Sees" is in quotes because the Will of God has not been destroyed. Yet underlying our belief that we exist as individuals is the thought we have indeed destroyed Him -- the bedrock of the ego's insane thought system:
"All that the ego is, is an idea that it is possible that things could happen to the Son of God without his will; and thus without the Will of his Creator, Whose Will cannot be separate from his own. This is the Son of God's replacement for his will, a mad revolt against what must forever be. This is the statement that he has the power to make God powerless and so to take it for himself, and leave himself without what God has willed for him. This is the mad idea you have enshrined upon your altars, and which you worship." (T-21.II.6.4-7).
(2:5) "It dreams of punishment, and trembles at the figures in its dreams; its enemies, who seek to murder it before it can ensure its safety by attacking them."
This is the world's prevailing thought system and basis for its behavior: dog eat dog, kill or kill be killed, <one or the other> -- the shadowy projection of the original thought that we exist by having destroyed God. Our guilt screams that He will seek to get back His life by destroying us in return. Recall the text's succinct and telling passage of the two dreams we consciously think to be reality -- victim and victimizer respectively:
"A brother separated from yourself, an ancient enemy, a murderer who stalks you in the night and plots your death, yet plans that it be lingering and slow; of this you dream. Yet underneath this dream is yet another, in which you become the murderer, the secret enemy, the scavenger and the destroyer of your brother and the world alike." (T-27.VII.12.1-2)
The truth however, lies safely beyond these dreams, for "God thinks otherwise" (T-23.1.2:7):
(3) "The Son of God is egoless. What can he know of madness and the death of God, when he abides in Him? What can he know of sorrow and of suffering, when he lives in eternal joy? What can he know of fear and punishment, of sin and guilt, of hatred and attack, when all there is surrounding him is everlasting peace, forever conflict-free and undisturbed, in deepest silence and tranquility?"
In other words, when we are in our right minds, outside of the dream and remembering our Identity as Christ, we no longer know of the madness or the death of God. Having returned to sanity, we realize this madness was a dream that has now disappeared. The above tells us once again that God cannot know of anything in this world, for how can He know of sin, guilt, fear, or separation, none of which has happened. The clarification of terms provides this contrast of the ego and the miracle, and Jesus once again asks us to choose between insanity and sanity, illusion and truth:
"This was the ego-all the cruel hate, the need for vengeance and the cries of pain, the fear of dying and the urge to kill, the brotherless illusion and the self that seemed alone in all the universe. This terrible mistake about yourself the miracle corrects as gently as a loving mother sings her child to rest. Is not a song like this what you would hear? Would it not answer all you thought to ask, and even make the question meaningless?" (C-2.8)
The next paragraph begins with the same thought.
(4:1) "To know reality is not to see the ego and its thoughts, its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams, its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and the cost belief in it entails."
When you are in the presence of reality you do not see the ego, its thoughts, or anything else, which is the point of Jesus telling us that when we awaken from the dream we will no longer remember it, because there is nothing there to remember (T-19.IV.D.6). That is why, from the non-dualistic perspective of A Course in Miracles, spirit can have nothing to do with the dream, for it does not know of the ego or its world (e.g.,T-4.II.8:6). Reality -- and the Son of God as part of reality -- is literally egoless and apart from the ego's insanity. How, then, can the ego be seen, let alone reacted to, when it is literally not there?
"What is the ego? But a dream of what you really are. A thought you are apart from your Creator and a wish to be what He created not. It is a thing of madness, not reality at all. A name for namelessness is all it is. A symbol of impossibility; a choice for options that do not exist.... What is the ego? Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something. In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real. Yet could God's Son as He created him abide in form or in a world of form? (C-2.1:4-9;2:1-4)
(4:2) "In suffering, the price for faith in it is so immense that crucifixion of the Son of God is offered daily at its darkened shrine, and blood must flow before the altar where its sickly followers prepare to die."
The term <altar> in A Course in Miracles is used as a symbol for the decision maker, as we learned previously. It is the part of our minds that can choose to identify with the ego or the Holy Spirit. The above passage describes our choice to worship at the ego's shrine -- its thought system of sin, guilt, and fear; of suffering, murder, and death -- while the following passage from the text fleshes out for us the ego's altar as manifest in our special relationships:
"Suffering and sacrifice are the gifts with which the ego would "bless" all unions. And those who are united at its altar accept suffering and sacrifice as the price of union. In their angry alliances, born of the fear of loneliness and yet dedicated to the continuance of loneliness, each seeks relief from guilt by increasing it in the other. For each believes that this decreases guilt in him. The other seems always to be attacking and wounding him, perhaps in little ways, perhaps "unconsciously", yet never without demand of sacrifice. The fury of those joined at the ego's altar far exceeds your awareness of it. For what the ego really wants you do not realize." (T-15.VII.9).
Blood flows freely at this shrine of specialness, for it represents the crucifixion of God's Son. Thus when Jesus appeared in the world, people made him part of their dream of crucifixion, idolizing their crucified savior. Yet the invulnerable truth of God's innocent Son -- reflected in the form of Jesus -- rested within the Son's right mind, awaiting his return to sanity.
(5:1) "Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light; the altar to illusions to the shrine of Life Itself."
Our decision maker now realizes its mistake, changes its mind and turns to the Holy Spirit's light. The bloodied altar is cleansed of hate and forgiveness, which sees no sin as love has replaced fear, peace war, and joy pain. The light of truth has come to shine away the darkness of illusion:
"Everyone here has entered darkness, yet no one has entered it alone. Nor need he stay more than an instant. For he has come with Heaven's Help within him, ready to lead him out of darkness into light at any time. The time he chooses can be any time, for help is there, awaiting but his choice. And when he chooses to avail himself of what is given him, then will he see each situation that he thought before was means to justify his anger turned to an event which justifies his love. He will hear plainly that the calls to war he heard before are really calls to peace. He will perceive that where he gave attack is but another altar where he can, with equal ease and far more happiness, bestow forgiveness. And he will reinterpret all temptation as just another chance to bring him joy." (T-25.III.6.)
(5:2) "And peace will be restored forever to the holy minds which God created as His Son, His dwelling place, His joy, His love, completely His, completely one
with Him."
We have returned to our right minds, realizing there is no place we would rather be, the prerequisite for being in the real world in which the wrong mind disappears, as does the world of separation and sin. All that remains is the memory of Who we are as God's one and unified Son, as holy as his Creator, Holiness Itself:
"How lovely does the world become in just that single instant when you see the truth about yourself reflected there. Now you are sinless and behold your sinlessness. Now you are holy and perceive it so. And now the mind returns to its Creator; the joining of the Father and the Son, the Unity of unities that stands behind all joining but beyond them all. God is not seen but only understood. His Son is not attacked but recognized." (C-3:8)
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Marcy thanks for that. I read the linked article. It really ties into what I have been looking at lately too. I had been listening to the audio class “Above all Else: Be Not Afraid.” Ken emphasized this Course quote near the end: “He loves you both, equally and as one.” This short line has become so penetrating in and of itself, to wash away all else that says otherwise, to expose my unconscious reasoning meant to covertly affirm otherwise—saying something else is true, separation is justified… in “this case.”?
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Ken’s point was that if we keep this idea in mind, we won’t separate from others… knowing that Jesus is imploring us to love others as he loves, always without exception and as one. If we are secure in knowing we are loved, and are love, we would easily recognize love and calls for love as unthreatening, being absolutely secure and knowing… in that knowing.?
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In the meantime we get to see where our thinking needs the light of love to shine on it as we willingly bring our thoughts to it in this way. Recognizing our resistance related to our fear of love and wholeness. Each time we forget always being an opportunity and not a sin, to reach the goal of complete forgiveness and the Atonement. Atonement or bust! And since the Atonement is inevitable, “bust” isn’t an option! Giving up my delay and suffering apparently is! But eventually we are busted wide open from this seemingly closed, separate, imprisoned and non-existent self… as we embrace with gratitude and love our Self without exception!?
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--Dave
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This is the complete ACIM quote:
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“In you there is no separation, and no substitute can keep you from your brother. Your reality was God’s creation, and has no substitute. You are so firmly joined in truth that only God is there. And He would never accept something else instead of you. He loves you both, equally and as one. And as He loves you, so you are. You are not joined together in illusions, but in the Thought so holy and so perfect that illusions cannot remain to darken the holy place in which you stand together. God is with you, my brother. Let us join in Him in peace and gratitude, and accept His gift as our most holy and perfect reality, which we share in Him.” (ACIM, T-18.I.10:1-9)
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Here are some of Ken’s comments on this, I found to be exceedingly helpful:
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“In you there is no separation and no substitute can keep you from your brother.” That means in your right mind this is the truth. “Your reality was God's creation and has no substitute.” Remember God created one Son, and we are all part of that one Son. “You are so firmly joined in truth that only God is there.” Meaning there's no room for your ego. “And he would never accept something else instead of you. He loves you both equally and as one.”?
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So what if you carried this thought around with you, to censor all the time whenever you had an unkind thought. What if you really did that? And each and every time you had an unkind thought about a stranger or a friend or a family member, or colleague at work, or a public official, and each and every time you had an unkind thought, an angry thought, an insensitive thought you said: “God loves us both equally and as one.”?
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That would be a wonderful example of bringing the illusion to the Truth. And then ask yourself why won't I do that? Why won't I ask myself, how does Jesus look at this person? Is he making fun of our president? Is he making fun of this person that I'm hating and badmouthing? Well, then why am I doing it? Because clearly I'm separating myself from Him and from the love of God.?
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That's obvious. So that must be my secret wish. To separate myself from this perfect love. At least now I know what I am doing. It has nothing do with you, or what this person did or said. It has to do with—I want to put a distance between myself and perfect love. “Because God loves us both, equally and as one. And as he loves you, so you are.”?
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“You are not joined together in illusions, but in the Thought, so holy and so perfect that illusions cannot remain to darken the holy place in which you stand together.”?
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“The holiest spot in all the earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love.” Why won't I let this relationship, whatever it is, become that “holiest spot on all the Earth?”?
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In that same section, Jesus talks about how the bloodied earth is cleansed. Why don't I want to cleanse the bloodied Earth of my relationships? Why do I keep pouring more and more blood??What stops me? At least be aware of that. That would help because it cuts through all the complexity of the lies that the World tells you.
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It's not worth it. Why give up this experience of this incredible love that would last forever? For the seeming thrill of a little hate or a grievance justified, or fear indulged. That's the question you should ask, “why, why am I doing this?” “Why am I calling this person sinful?” Engendering guilt in them and making them and myself fearful? Why am I doing that??
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It's very helpful to see what you're doing. You don't have to change it right away if you don't want to, but at least see what you're doing. And see it in the specific context of your everyday living. Not so called abstract metaphysical thinking, but very specific, what my body is doing with itself, what it's doing with other bodies. What it's thinking about, what it's feeling, how it's behaving. And why do I act in a way that's directly antithetical to the way that Jesus loves??
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“God loves you both equally and as one, and as he loves you, so you are.”
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“God is with you, my brother. Let us join in Him in peace and gratitude, and accept His gift as our most holy and perfect reality, which we share in Him.” So each and every time you find yourself being angry, and again, holding on to grievances say, read these lines:?
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“God is with you, my brother. Let us join in Him in peace and gratitude, and accept His gift as our most holy and perfect reality, which we share in Him.”?
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But this means I have to bring everyone with me. I always quote the line right at the end of the text with Jesus talking about his glorious vision for us. He says: “Yet this a vision is which you must share with everyone you see, for otherwise you will behold it not.” And the vision really is the sameness of God's Son. And if we're the same, there can be no attack, no loss, no hurt, no judgment. And if I want that, then I must share it with everyone. And then when I find myself withholding that love and substituting judgment instead, it's because I'm not ready to go home yet. And that's not a sin. It's an honest statement.
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Lesson 330. I will not hurt myself again today.
Lesson 330. I will not hurt myself again today.
Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function. Why should we attack
our minds, and give them images of pain? Why should we teach them they are
powerless, when God holds out His power and His Love, and bids them take what is
already theirs? The mind that is made willing to accept God's gifts has been
restored to spirit, and extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of God
united with its own. The Self which God created cannot sin, and therefore cannot
suffer. Let us choose today that He be our Identity, and thus escape forever
from all things the dream of fear appears to offer us.
Father, Your Son can not be hurt. And if we think we suffer, we but fail to know
our one Identity we share with You. We would return to It today, to be made free
forever from all our mistakes, and to be saved from what we thought we were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 330. "I will not hurt myself again today.
*This is another significant lesson that reminds us of our need to recognize how
we continually hurt ourselves by holding on to thoughts of specialness.
Persistently engaging in thoughts and behavior we know will hurt us -- despite
the ego's lies that they will give us pleasure -- it is a way of saying: "I want
to hurt myself, because that establishes my existence without being responsible
for it." We thus need to do to be aware how we are the cause of our own
suffering.*
(1:1-3) "Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function. Why should we
attack our minds, and give them images of pain? Why should we teach them they
are powerless, when God holds out His power and His Love, and bids them take
what is already theirs?"
*The images of pain are what we experience as bodies, but they are only shadows
of the pain of the mind's guilt. Jesus asks us to question our having made the
mind powerless, which we do whenever we identify with the body's suffering. If
the body suffers and we blame it on another, we deny the mind's power to choose
pain. We thus make the dream figure real, for we wish to conceal the mind's role
as dreamer. Recognizing our mistake, we no longer want to teach our
powerlessness, but rather that our suffering comes from the mind's choice -- the
world can never hurt us, but we hurt ourselves by our mistaken decisions.*
(1:4) "The mind that is made willing to accept God's gifts has been restored to
spirit, and extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of God united with
its own."
*Jesus helps us bring the image of pain, which is experienced in the world and
body, back to the mind that is the seat of all power. Thus we can choose again
to accept God's gifts instead of the ego's -- freedom and joy instead of
imprisonment and pain.*
(1:5-6) "The Self which God created cannot sin, and therefore cannot suffer. Let
us choose today that He be our Identity, and thus escape forever from all things
the dream of fear appears to offer us."
*Recall this lovely line depicting the turning from fear to God's Love, which is
our Self:
"Do not think that anything the gifts of fear hold out is worth an instant's
hesitation, when the gate of Heaven stands before you and the Christ of God is
waiting your return." (The Gifts of God, pp.121-22).*
(2) "Father, Your Son can not be hurt. And if we think we suffer, we but fail to
know our one Identity we share with You. We would return to It today, to be made
free forever from all our mistakes, and to be saved from what we thought we
were."
*Implicit in this statement is the purpose of all suffering -- perceived in
ourselves and others -- preventing us from knowing our Identity. When we
remember who we are as God's one Son, we are no longer the ego -- a special,
unique, and individual self. Therefore, to ensure that we do not remember, we
need only suffer, and then blame it on someone or something else. Thus our focus
should be on learning the purpose inherent in pain. What makes A Course in
Miracles unique among spiritual systems is that Jesus helps us understand <why>
we choose to suffer, and <why> we choose to remain here in such a painful state.
There is thus a method in the ego's madness -- to keep the memory of God forever
buried in the mind, beyond our ability as mindless bodies to accept it.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
This article is very much worth reading, though the focus of this specific article is not on taking back ones projections specifically (which is a key piece in observing our ego concepts, while we believe? A=B+C).There's much much more in the guidebook.which includes many articles, including the theme of projection and looking at ones own hateful thoughts. Very cool resource.
J always offers his hand whenever I think I've fallen and can't get up,
Marcy? ;-)
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Lesson 329. I have already chosen what You will.
Lesson 329. I have already chosen what You will.
Father, I thought I wandered from Your Will, defied it, broke its laws, and
interposed a second will more powerful than Yours. Yet what I am in truth is but
Your Will, extended and extending. This am I, and this will never change. As You
are One, so am I one with You. And this I chose in my creation, where my will
became forever one with Yours. That choice was made for all eternity. It cannot
change, and be in opposition to itself. Father, my will is Yours. And I am safe,
untroubled and serene, in endless joy, because it is Your Will that it be so.
Today we will accept our union with each other and our Source. We have no will
apart from His, and all of us are one because His Will is shared by all of us.
Through it we recognize that we are one. Through it we find our way at last to
God.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from his book set:
"Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be
purchased at the following site: ~ M. Street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 329. "I have already chosen what You will."
*We come to another lesson on the theme of oneness -- the unity of our will and
God's. Our Creator has willed we forever be a part of Him, not separate, and
what He wills can never not be so.*
(1:1-4) "Father, I thought I wandered from Your Will, defied it, broke its laws,
and interposed a second will more powerful than Yours. Yet what I am in truth is
but Your Will, extended and extending. This am I, and this will never change. As
You are One, so am I one with You."
*We believed we accomplished the impossible in the separation, having wandered
into the ego's far country of separate wills. Our guilt, born of the thought we
had sinned against our Father, caused us to become its children instead of
Love's. The truth, however, is that is that as an extension of God's Will we
never left our Source, and so we gladly recognize the mistake of having believed
in illusions, happily accepting the truth of our creation in their place.*
(1:5) "And this I chose in my creation, where my will became forever one with
Yours."
*I earlier referred to the important section "The Secret Vows," where Jesus
speaks of God's promise to us that we would forever be His Son, always one with
His Love. The Son forgot "he replied 'I will," though in that promise he was
born (T-28.VI.6:4-6). In that lovely passage, Jesus poetically expresses what
happened at our creation, and he refers to it here as well -- we, as God's Son,
are eternally at one with His Will.*
(1:6-7) "That choice was made for all eternity. It cannot change, and be in
opposition to itself."
*We can dream we are in opposition to God and His Will, but in truth nothing
happened to disturb our dwelling place in Heaven:
"Think not that you can change Their [God and His Son's] dwelling place. For
your Identity abides in Them, and where They are, forever must you be. The
changelessness of Heaven is in you, so deep within that nothing in this world
but passes by, unnoticed and unseen." (T-29.V.2.1-3) *
(1:8-9) "Father, my will is Yours. And I am safe, untroubled and serene, in
endless joy, because it is Your Will that it be so."
*What greater joy can there be in our world of separation than learning we are
perfectly safe -- anywhere and everywhere -- because our will and God's are
one.*
(2) "Today we will accept our union with each other and our Source. We have no
will apart from His, and all of us are one because His Will is shared by all of
us. Through it we recognize that we are one. Through it we find our way at last
to God."
*If we are sincere in our desire to return home and awaken to our Identity as
God's Son, we cannot see ourselves as separate from anyone else. The Sonship of
God is one, on earth as it is in Heaven, and remembering this happy fact <is>
the way to reach our Father's house.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 328: I choose the second place to gain the first.
Lesson 328: I choose the second place to gain the first.
What seems to be the second place is first, for all things we perceive are
upside down until we listen to the Voice for God. It seems that we will gain
autonomy but by our striving to be separate, and that our independence from the
rest of God's creation is the way in which salvation is obtained. Yet all we
find is sickness, suffering and loss and death. This is not what our Father
wills for us, nor is there any second to His Will. To join with His is but to
find our own. And since our will is His, it is to Him that we must go to
recognize our will.
There is no will but Yours. And I am glad that nothing I imagine contradicts
what You would have me be. It is Your Will that I be wholly safe, eternally at
peace. And happily I share that Will which You, my Father, gave as part of me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This (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 328: "I choose the second place to gain the first."
*This thought comes from the famous biblical statement that the last shall be
first and the first shall be last (Matthew 19:30;20:16a), and pertains to the
bedrock of the ego thought system: <one or the other> -- God is second because
the ego is first. This would obviously mean that God is no longer God, and so
has been destroyed. However, we can recognize our mistake and realize we are
much better off in second place. Once we accept this -- "God is the Cause and I
am the Effect" -- we are automatically in the first place, because <there is
only one place>. Thus Jesus says in the text, referring to the Trinity: God is
first, but there is no second (T-14.IV.1:7-8), because only perfect Oneness is
real. In truth, then, there is not a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Heaven --
only perfect Love. Moreover, the instant we choose the second place -- letting
go of the ego and choosing Jesus as our teacher -- we realize there is only the
unity of Father and Son -- no competition, no battleground, no one <and> two.
Only One.*
(1:1) "What seems to be the second place is first, for all things we perceive
are upside down until we listen to the Voice for God."
*If I say I am second, someone else must be first. For example, no sports team
wants to finish second, for that means another team won -- the upside-down
perception of the world. To the Holy Spirit, however, when you are second you
automatically become first, because, again, there is only one. Thus when you
learn that God is your Cause and not the ego, the memory of God and His Oneness
returns. *
(1:2) "It seems that we will gain autonomy but by our striving to be separate,
and that our independence from the rest of God's creation is the way in which
salvation is obtained."
*In capsule form, again, we see what we have done to God and what we believe we
have done in the world, reflecting the ego's principle of <one or the other>. By
striving to be separate we are on our own -- autonomous and free, but at a price
that God must pay with His life. Since this principle established our identity,
we carry it into our dream. Consequently, we need to be independent of everyone
else -- it is <we or they>. The ego thus cautions us to be on our guard, lest
others take back what we believe we took from them. This, then, is the essence
of the special love and hate relationships: others are perceived as having what
we lack and want, and we must get it from them, otherwise we cannot survive.*
(1:3-6) "Yet all we find is sickness, suffering and loss and death. This is not
what our Father wills for us, nor is there any second to His Will. To join with
His is but to find our own. And since our will is His, it is to Him that we must
go to recognize our will."
*Jesus wants us to recognize these are the effects of choosing to be number one,
the unhappy results of the specialness that might make us right, but never happy
(T-29.VII.1:9). When we choose to be in second place, we are in God's living
Oneness where our will is one with His. To the ego this means we are second
best, but our right minds tell us this is truth's reflection.*
(2) "There is no will but Yours. And I am glad that nothing I imagine
contradicts what You would have me be. It is Your Will that I be wholly safe,
eternally at peace. And happily I share that Will which You, my Father, gave as
part of me."
*In other words, we made up the dream of our lives, and are grateful it had no
effect on reality.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 327. I need but call and You will answer me.
Lesson 327. I need but call and You will answer me.
I am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith. For God
has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself. Let me but learn from
my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to me. This
is the faith that will endure, and take me farther and still farther on the road
that leads to Him. For thus I will be sure that He has not abandoned me and
loves me still, awaiting but my call to give me all the help I need to come to
Him.
Father, I thank You that Your promises will never fail in my experience, if I
but test them out. Let me attempt therefore to try them, and to judge them not.
Your Word is one with You. You give the means whereby conviction comes, and
surety of Your abiding Love is gained at last.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 327. "I need but call and You will answer me."
*We call and God answers us, because His Answer is already present in our minds.
We wandered away and chose the ego's answer instead. Calling on God now is to
realize our mistake, and so we return to the decision-making part of our minds
and choose correctly. God automatically answers because we have placed ourselves
in the presence of His Answer.*
(1:1-4) "I am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith.
For God has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself. Let me but
learn from my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to
me. This is the faith that will endure, and take me farther and still farther on
the road that leads to Him."
*Jesus is telling us here as we will see in the prayer below, that this is
something we need to practice. Our experience that God's Love replaces the ego's
hate will teach us that everything in A Course in Miracles is true, but until
this experience is chosen there will remain a part of us that will doubt what it
says. It is only when we put the ideas into practice -- realizing that hatred,
judgment, and depression were simply mistaken choices -- that we realize: Yes,
all this is true, and I choose to follow the road that takes me home.*
(1:5) "For thus I will be sure that He has not abandoned me and loves me still,
awaiting but my call to give me all the help I need to come to Him."
*Because I believe I abandoned God, I believe He has abandoned me, a mistake His
Voice corrects in this inspiring close to The Song of Prayer:
"Do not abandon Love. Remember this; whatever you may think about yourself,
whatever you may think about the world, your Father needs you and will call to
you until you come to Him in peace at last." (S-3.IV.10:6-7) *
(2:1) "Father, I thank You that Your promises will never fail in my experience,
if I but test them out."
*Jesus is saying: "You have given the ego many chances and it has failed you
miserably. Please give me a try. Test out what I am saying, and see how much
better you feel when you let go of judgments. Recall my words:
"You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from
meeting yourself and your brothers totally without judgment." (T.3.VI.3.1).
Try it. You can always retain judgment if you want. First, however, test these
thoughts and you will see how much better you feel without your specialness.*
(2:2-4) "Let me attempt therefore to try them, and to judge them not. Your Word
is one with You. You give the means whereby conviction comes, and surety of Your
abiding Love is gained at last."
*This means we will at least temporarily accept God's promises, without judging
them. Again, we can always return to the ego if we wish. Yet the fact we have
failed so miserably on our own, and have been so unhappy throughout our lives
should demonstrate that our thought system does not work. *
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 326. I am forever an Effect of God.
Lesson 326. I am forever an Effect of God.
Father, I was created in Your Mind, a holy Thought that never left its home. I
am forever Your Effect, and You forever and forever are my Cause. As You created
me I have remained. Where You established me I still abide. And all Your
attributes abide in me, because it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause
that Cause and Its Effect are indistinguishable. Let me know that I am an Effect
of God, and so I have the power to create like You. And as it is in Heaven, so
on earth. Your plan I follow here, and at the end I know that You will gather
Your effects into the tranquil Heaven of Your Love, where earth will vanish, and
all separate thoughts unite in glory as the Son of God.
Let us today behold earth disappear, at first transformed, and then, forgiven,
fade entirely into God's holy Will.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 326. "I am forever an Effect of God."
*This lesson is also important in establishing Who we are as the Effect of God's
Love. It restates the Atonement principle that nothing has changed -- none of
our sad or sinful dreams has changed the fact that we remain at one with our
Source.*
(1:1-5) "Father, I was created in Your Mind, a holy Thought that never left its
home. I am forever Your Effect, and You forever and forever are my Cause. As You
created me I have remained. Where You established me I still abide. And all Your
attributes abide in me, because it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause
that Cause and Its Effect are indistinguishable."
*We have never left our Father's Mind, because <ideas leave not their source>.
We recognize that the ego's thought system was a mistake, and thus choose to
remember the Thought that created us and which shares it attributes of
changelessness, formlessness, love, and eternal life:
"Now is the Son of God at last aware of present Cause and Its benign
effects. ... His Cause is Its effects. There never was a cause beside it that
could generate a different past or future. Its effects are changelessly eternal,
beyond fear, and past the world of sin entirely." (T-28.I.14.1,5-7)*
(1:6-7) "Let me know that I am an Effect of God, and so I have the power to
create like You. And as it is in Heaven, so on earth."
*In Heaven, God extends His Love -- the meaning of creation -- establishing us
as His Son. He is thus our Cause and we His Effect, creating as He created --
the circle of creation:
"Thus, the Son gives Fatherhood to his Creator, and receives the gift that
he has given Him. It is because he is God's Son that he must also be a father,
who creates as God created him. The circle of creation has no end. ... in itself
it holds the universe of all creation, without beginning and without an end."
(T-28.II.1.4-6,8)*
(1:8) "Your plan I follow here, and at the end I know that You will gather Your
effects into the tranquil Heaven of Your Love, where earth will vanish, and all
separate thoughts unite in glory as the Son of God."
*Again, God does not literally have a plan, which is really the Holy Spirit's
Atonement, reflecting His Love. Still an illusion, yet does the Atonement not
oppose the truth, as other illusions do. At the journey's end, God gathers His
Effects in the last step that follows the Second Coming and Last Judgment. In
other words, the separated Sons rejoin as one, as God lifts him unto Himself,
reuniting the Son with the Source He never left.*
(2) "Let us today behold earth disappear, at first transformed, and then,
forgiven, fade entirely into God's holy Will."
*This is the process: We remain in the world, but look differently -- forgiving
it and ourselves -- and then all disappears as the Will of God ascends in the
Son's healed and holy mind. And he is home, where God would have him be.
(T-31.VIII.12:8).*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 325. All things I think I see reflect ideas.
Lesson 325. All things I think I see reflect ideas.
This is salvation's keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind, which
starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of
the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These
images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as
one's own. From insane wishes comes an insane world. From judgment comes a world
condemned. And from forgiving thoughts a gentle world comes forth, with mercy
for the holy Son of God, to offer him a kindly home where he can rest a while
before he journeys on, and help his brothers walk ahead with him, and find the
way to Heaven and to God.
Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart from Yours but make up
dreams. Let me behold what only Yours reflect, for Yours and Yours alone
establish truth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 325. "All things I think I see reflect ideas."
*Its strong theoretical basis makes this lesson unique to Part II. It recalls
the early lessons, where Jesus teaches that everything comes from thought: "All
things I think I see reflects ideas." What we perceive outside comes from a
thought within. If we perceive anger, loss, or sin, we but see a shadow of the
separation thought we made real in our minds. Similarly, if we perceive only
love or calls for love, we see a reflection of the Atonement we chose for our
truth within the dream.*
(1:1-2) "This is salvation's keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind,
which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image
of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find."
*Do we want the ego's individuality or the Holy Spirit's Atonement? Do we want
to remain in our dream of specialness or to awaken and return home? Our wrong
mind seeks and finds sin, because this proves the ego's separate existence is
real.*
(1:3-5) "These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real
and guarded as one's own. From insane wishes comes an insane world. From
judgment comes a world condemned."
*Listening to the ego, we look around and see sin throughout the world, but not
in ourselves. Even if we were able to see sin within, we would be quick to
attribute it to someone else's sin, beginning with our parents. We seek to find
sin because, again, it means our separation from God is real, and thus are our
individual identities real as well. Seeing sin in everyone else allows us to
escape responsibility for it. On the other hand, when we realize we made a
mistake and there must be another way, we choose the Holy Spirit's forgiveness
and perceive a totally different world, as we now read:*
(1:6) "And from forgiving thoughts a gentle world comes forth, with mercy for
the holy Son of God, to offer him a kindly home where he can rest a while before
he journeys on, and help his brothers walk ahead with him, and find the way to
Heaven and to God."
*When we have forgiven totally, the "gentle world" turns into the real world.
All we need do to recognize which choice we made is pay attention to our
thoughts about others. The world's value is that it reflects our choices back to
us. We initially chose wrongly, but once recognized, we can ask our Teacher to
reinterpret our perceptions, helping us to choose again. Thus we need to be
especially vigilant of what we are seeing in others and ourselves. Another's
body is no more real than our own, and therefore what we project onto another's
is what we project onto ours. Again, becoming aware of our judgments and attack
thoughts helps us realize our mistake, so we can return to its choice in the
mind and correct it.*
(2) "Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart from Yours but
make up dreams. Let me behold what only Yours reflect, for Yours and Yours alone
establish truth."
*The reflection of God's ideas is the real world. We need to recognize our
investment in our individual self will not make us happy, for it is but an empty
dream. Such realization allows the happy dream to replace the unhappy one,
ushering in the real world of truth's reflection.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 324. I merely follow, for I would not lead.
Lesson 324. I merely follow, for I would not lead.
(1) Father, You are the One Who gave the plan for my salvation to me. You have set the way I am to go, the role to take, and every step in my appointed path. I cannot lose the way. I can but choose to wander off a while, and then return. Your loving Voice will always call me back, and guide my feet aright. My brothers all can follow in the way I lead them. Yet I merely follow in the way to You, as You direct me and would have me go.
(2) So let us follow One Who knows the way. We need not tarry, and we cannot stray except an instant from His loving Hand. We walk together, for we follow Him. And it is He Who makes the ending sure, and guarantees a safe returning home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 324. "I merely follow, for I would not lead."
This is the second appearance of this thought, and it will re-appear again shortly. Lesson 317 stated, "I follow in the way appointed me," and we shall soon see Lesson 328, "I choose the second place to gain the first." All three lessons present the same teaching -- our gratitude for not being in charge; for being second and not first. In other words, we are grateful we are the creation of God, not the Creator; the effect, not the Cause. The ego obviously wants to be number one, which means it has to push God off the throne of creation. Usurping God's role, the ego is left alone to proclaim itself as the Deity:
"God's creations are given their true Authorship, but you prefer to be anonymous when you choose to separate yourself from your Author. Being uncertain of your true Authorship, you believe that your creation was anonymous. This leaves you in a position where it sounds meaningful to believe that you created yourself." (T-3.VI.8:7-9)
At this point, then, there is nothing left but to follow the ego, until the pain becomes too great and we finally accept the fact we were mistaken. Moreover, we gladly realize there is Someone Whom we can now follow along the gentle path of forgiveness.
(1:1-4) "Father, You are the One Who gave the plan for my salvation to me. You have set the way I am to go, the role to take, and every step in my appointed path. I cannot lose the way. I can but choose to wander off a while, and then return."
This is our mistake, right at the beginning. Jesus says we can choose to wander off "a while," because from where he is -- outside time and space -- a billion years is nothing. As he says of God and Christ: "What is a hundred or a thousand years to Them, or tens of thousands?" (T-26.IX.4:1).
(1:5-7) "Your loving Voice will always call me back, and guide my feet aright. My brothers all can follow in the way I lead them. Yet I merely follow in the way to You, as You direct me and would have me go."
We saw this idea expressed in Lesson 155, "I will step back and let Him lead the way." Truth is ahead of us, calling us out of the dream. As we follow truth's call, its memory in our minds calls to others through our peace, love, and kindness. Jesus makes the same point of the psychotherapist:
"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)*
(2) "So let us follow One Who knows the way. We need not tarry, and we cannot stray except an instant from His loving Hand. We walk together, for we follow Him. And it is He Who makes the ending sure, and guarantees a safe returning home."
Thus we walk with Jesus, along with all our brothers. The ego does not know the way, and to follow it <is> to walk alone, because its theme song is <one or the other>. Following the Holy Spirit, however, we walk with everyone, for we <are> everyone. The popular and inspiring song from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel says it all -- "You'll Never Walk Alone."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11. What is Creation?
(1) Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts, in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself. There was no time when all that it created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that it created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God's Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done.
(2) God's Thoughts are given all the power that their own Creator has. For He would add to love by its extension. Thus His Son shares in creation, and must therefore share in power to create. What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began.
(3) Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth. Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making every part container of the whole. Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate; forever held within His holy Will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection and of any spot upon its sinlessness.
(4) We are creation; we the Sons of God. We seem to be discrete, and unaware of our eternal unity with Him. Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. For love remains with all its Thoughts, its sureness being theirs. God's memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their Creator. Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God's Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us.
(5) Our Father calls to us. We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the Name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose Holiness His Own creation shares; Whose Holiness is still a part of us.
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 323. I gladly make the "sacrifice" of fear.
Lesson 323. I gladly make the "sacrifice" of fear.
Here is the only "sacrifice" You ask of Your beloved Son; You ask him to give up
all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely
let Your Love come streaming in to his awareness, healing him of pain, and
giving him Your Own eternal joy. Such is the "sacrifice" You ask of me, and one
I gladly make; the only "cost" of restoration of Your memory to me, for the
salvation of the world.
And as we pay the debt we owe to truth, -- a debt that merely is the letting go
of self-deceptions and of images we worshipped falsely -- truth returns to us in
wholeness and in joy. We are deceived no longer. Love has now returned to our
awareness. And we are at peace again, for fear has gone and only love remains.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 323. "I gladly make the "sacrifice" of fear."
*The term <sacrifice> is in quotation marks because in truth we give up nothing.
We are not giving up something we deem valuable -- a behavior, ritual, or an
addiction, for example, that we think makes us feel better -- for Jesus is
asking us to let go of the fear that is the core of all dreams. We let go of it
simply by stepping back with him and looking at the thought system of separation
that gave rise to this fear and sustains it. Realizing at last that all this
makes no sense, we gladly "sacrifice" it for the truth.*
(1:1) "Here is the only "sacrifice" You ask of Your beloved Son; You ask him to
give up all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and
freely let Your Love come streaming in to his awareness, healing him of pain,
and giving him Your Own eternal joy."
*We are asked to give up only our misery and unhappiness. The problem is that we
do not believe that is all Jesus wants from us, for we do not accept that
holding onto our special identity, judgments, and being right is the source of
our pain and suffering. We continue to maintain we are right and Jesus is wrong
-- the world does indeed hold something we want, and we will find it:
"The first illusion, which must be displaced before another thought system
can take hold, is that it is a sacrifice to give up the things of this world.
What could this be but an illusion, since this world itself is nothing more than
that? ... It takes great learning both to realize and to accept the fact that
the world has nothing to give. What can the sacrifice of nothing mean?"
(M-13.1:6-2:2).*
(1:2) "Such is the "sacrifice" You ask of me, and one I gladly make; the only
"cost" of restoration of Your memory to me, for the salvation of the world."
*The world's salvation is nothing more than the extension of salvation in my
mind -- or giving up fear for love, illusion for truth.*
(2) "And as we pay the debt we owe to truth, -- a debt that merely is the
letting go of self-deceptions and of images we worshipped falsely -- truth
returns to us in wholeness and in joy. We are deceived no longer. Love has now
returned to our awareness. And we are at peace again, for fear has gone and only
love remains."
*Christianity has taught that our sin against God demands payment to Him, a debt
paid through sacrifice, suffering, and death. Jesus is once again reminding us
that such thinking is upside down and backwards. The only "debt" to be repaid is
to ourselves, by letting go of the illusion, which, again, is nothing. Recall:
"The statement "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord" is a misperception by
which one assigns his own "evil" past to God. The "evil" past has nothing to do
with God. He did not create it and He does not maintain it. God does not believe
in retribution. His Mind does not create that way." (T-3.I.3:1-5)
Thus do we sacrifice the god of vengeance and hate for the God of Love.
Wholeness has returned to replace separation, and truth rises in our awareness
as we happily realize that for all this we gave up nothing!" (T-16.VI.11:4)*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 322. I can give up but what was never real.
Lesson 322. I can give up but what was never real.
I sacrifice illusions; nothing more. And as illusions go I find the gifts
illusions tried to hide, awaiting me in shining welcome, and in readiness to
give God's ancient messages to me. His memory abides in every gift that I
receive of Him. And every dream serves only to conceal the Self which is God's
only Son, the likeness of Himself, the Holy One Who still abides in Him forever,
as He still abides in me.
Father, to You all sacrifice remains forever inconceivable. And so I cannot
sacrifice except in dreams. As You created me, I can give up nothing You gave
me. What You did not give has no reality. What loss can I anticipate except the
loss of fear, and the return of love into my mind?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 322. "I can give up but what was never real."
*Lessons 322 and 323 deal with the important theme of sacrifice. While it is not
a major theme in the workbook, it is prominent in the text and deserves some
discussion here. Sacrifice is the reigning principle of the ego's thought system
-- if we are to get what we want, someone or something must be sacrificed: <one
or the other>. In the beginning, it was God's Love that was sacrificed in order
to secure our individuality. Following the law of projection, once sacrifice was
made real we believed it would be used against us, and that God would in turn
demand sacrifice of His sinful Son.
Moreover, as the principle behind the birth of our individual identities,
sacrifice also governs the world, not to mention being the ego's mode of
self-preservation. Therefore, all selves emanating from that thought system
share the belief that salvation means sacrifice. If, for example, the ego's God
is to be saved from my sinful attack on Him, He is going to demand I sacrifice.
Thus we believe God asks us to give up something that is ours. This is the basis
of many world religions, and has been a crucial theme in Christianity: Jesus had
to be sacrificed so we could be forgiven by God and share His eternal life. The
ego thus has us believe that in order to retrieve God's Love we have to pay for
it by returning the life we stole, thereby paradoxically regaining it in the
hereafter. However, we do not want to give it all back, because then we would
disappear, and so we do it piecemeal: a little bit of happiness, pleasure, or
the body's blood -- but never everything.
Since we believe God demands we give back the separated selves we have judged to
be real, Jesus needs to remind us that we give up a thought system that was
illusory from the beginning. Thus he explains in the text how this course
"requires almost nothing of you. It is impossible to imagine one that asks so
little, or could offer more" (T-20.VII.1:7-8). He tells us all he requires is
for us to let go of the ego which is essentially nothing. To us, of course, the
ego is everything; and so letting it go is deemed sacrificial. People in
religious life -- and unfortunately this goes for students of A Course in
Miracles as well -- have shifted the focus of sacrifice from the <content> to
the <form>. Consequently, they believe that God demands they give up pleasure --
sex, food, money, and comfort. Thus does the ego twist the concept of sacrifice
in its favor and has us give up certain behaviors, which leads us to believe we
have accomplished something meaningful. However, the underlying ego thought
system remains intact, the ego's motivation from the beginning. Jesus explains
many times that sacrifice has given rise in the strange idea of martyrdom (e.g.,
T-3.1; T-6.1), wherein we become martyred to salvation. That is why people
struggle to give up addictions, habits, and relationships, for they think this
is what is asked of them. However, if we give up the <form> and retain the
<content>, we have given up nothing. That does not mean it is not helpful at
times to change behavior, but if we do not change the mind's underlying thought
system, changing behavior is only half the job, as Jesus says in this familiar
passage on sickness:
"The miracle is useless if you learn but that the body can be healed, for
this is not the lesson it was sent to teach. The lesson is the <mind> was sick
that thought the body could be sick; projecting out its guilt caused nothing,
and had no effects." (T-28.II.11.6-7) *
(1) "I sacrifice illusions; nothing more. And as illusions go I find the gifts
illusions tried to hide, awaiting me in shining welcome, and in readiness to
give God's ancient messages to me. His memory abides in every gift that I
receive of Him. And every dream serves only to conceal the Self which is God's
only Son, the likeness of Himself, the Holy One Who still abides in Him forever,
as He still abides in me."
*The key phrase is "every dream serves only to conceal the Self." This a major
emphasis of Jesus' teaching throughout A Course in Miracles: that we become
aware of the purpose of the ego thought system to which we have given our
allegiance. Our dreams of specialness and sacrifice are purposive; that is,
there is a reason we choose to be miserable. We come into this body to keep from
awareness the mind's power to choose our Self rather than the ego. This
subterfuge is what we need to see: our macrocosmic and microcosmic worlds are
part of ego's carefully contrived plot to keep us from returning to the mind,
where we would certainly choose truth instead of illusion, and correction
instead sin. Sacrifice of the body, then, becomes the central concept in the
ego's plan for <its> salvation.*
(2:1-2) "Father, to You all sacrifice remains forever inconceivable. And so I
cannot sacrifice except in dreams."
*In Heaven, loss is impossible. However, within the dream we call our lives, we
can indeed sacrifice, believing we are asked to give up our most treasured
possession: the "priceless pearl" (T-23.II.11:2) of our identity, surrounded by
the ego's specialness. Within our experience here, therefore, this special self
-- born of sacrifice, and sustained and threatened by it at the same time -- is
real and important to us. It is only when we step outside of the dream with
Jesus that we can look back and say: "My God, I am holding on to nothing. Not
only that, what I have been clinging to is making me miserable and unhappy, for
I identify with a self that does not even exist. Why, except in insanity, would
I continue to choose to do this?" *
(2:3-5) "As You created me, I can give up nothing You gave me. What You did not
give has no reality. What loss can I anticipate except the loss of fear, and the
return of love into my mind?"
*In other words, all we give up is an illusion, because God did not give the
separated self to us. What He did give -- our Identity as Christ -- we can never
lose, and what He did not give has no reality. That is why it is imperative for
almost everyone in this world -- whether they are religious or not -- to believe
in a God or some greater principle that gave them life. For the same reason,
many students of A Course in Miracles have difficulty with the idea that God did
not create this world, and why religions need to have God involved here in some
way. If He did not give us this world or body, they have no reality, and so we
can have no true existence here. Recognizing that we do not exist at all is our
greatest fear, but we support, reinforce, and save our special identities by
bringing God into them, believing we are born into this world as bodies that
lives deemed to be holy, part of an ongoing spiritual activity or divine
process.
Therefore, a passage such as the above is one of the most dreaded thoughts the
ego can hear. Again, it is terrifying to be told that God did not give us this
body or our specialness. In truth, He gave only Himself through extending His
Love, and this has nothing to do with the world or our illusory self.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 321. Father, my freedom is in You alone.
Lesson 321. Father, my freedom is in You alone.
I did not understand what made me free, nor what my freedom is, nor where to
look to find it. Father, I have searched in vain until I heard Your Voice
directing me. Now I would guide myself no more. For I have neither made nor
understood the way to find my freedom. But I trust in You. You Who endowed me
with my freedom as Your holy Son will not be lost to me. Your Voice directs me,
and the way to You is opening and clear to me at last. Father, my freedom is in
You alone. Father, it is my will that I return.
Today we answer for the world, which will be freed along with us. How glad are
we to find our freedom through the certain way our Father has established. And
how sure is all the world's salvation, when we learn our freedom can be found in
God alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 321."Father, my freedom is in You alone."
*The ego tells us our freedom lies in itself alone, for to remain with God is to
be the slave of a tyrant who strips us of our will and independence. The ego
thus entices us to choose against the Holy Spirit, promising that thus we will
be free to be the unique individuals we are.*
(1:1) "I did not understand what made me free, nor what my freedom is, nor where
to look to find it."
*Recall that the underlying theme running through the lessons in Part II is
recognizing our mistaken choices. Here Jesus tells us we were wrong in thinking
we knew what freedom was, not to mention where to find it.*
(1:2) "Father, I have searched in vain until I heard Your Voice directing me."
*This is what occurs when I am finally able to say: "There must be another way.
I no longer want to be directed by my specialness needs, but by the Voice that
will lead me home, restoring the awareness of my freedom as God's Son." *
(1:3-4) "Now I would guide myself no more. For I have neither made nor
understood the way to find my freedom."
*Jesus clearly feels that the prayer closing Lesson 189 is important -- "Father,
we do not know the way to You. But we have called, and You have answered us"
(W-pI.189.10) -- as he refers to it many times, and once again here.*
(1:5-9) "But I trust in You. You Who endowed me with my freedom as Your holy Son
will not be lost to me. Your Voice directs me, and the way to You is opening and
clear to me at last. Father, my freedom is in You alone. Father, it is my will
that I return."
*Realizing we were wrong, we joyfully choose the freedom that comes from
re-uniting our Will with God's:
"When you have learned that your will is God's, you could no more will to be
without Him than He could will to be without you. This is freedom and this is
joy."(T-8.II.6:4-5)*
(2:1) "Today we answer for the world, which will be freed along with us."
*This is another expression of the oneness of the Son's mind, and the world with
it. The world must be freed because the world is nothing more than a projection
of our thoughts.*
(2:2-3) "How glad are we to find our freedom through the certain way our Father
has established. And how sure is all the world's salvation, when we learn our
freedom can be found in God alone."
*This "certain way" is forgiveness. Releasing our brothers from the prison house
of guilt, we find our freedom, joined with theirs.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
For those doing the lessons, this special instruction is to be read daily before the next ten lessons.
11. What is Creation?
(1) Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts, in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself. There was no time when all that it created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that it created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God's Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done.
(2) God's Thoughts are given all the power that their own Creator has. For He would add to love by its extension. Thus His Son shares in creation, and must therefore share in power to create. What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began.
(3) Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth. Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making every part container of the whole. Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate; forever held within His holy Will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection and of any spot upon its sinlessness.
(4) We are creation; we the Sons of God. We seem to be discrete, and unaware of our eternal unity with Him. Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. For love remains with all its Thoughts, its sureness being theirs. God's memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their Creator. Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God's Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us.
(5) Our Father calls to us. We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the Name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose Holiness His Own creation shares; Whose Holiness is still a part of us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this section, from his book set called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: M.Street
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11. What is Creation?
We have in this summary another example of Jesus appearing to speak out of both sides of his mouth. He describes <creation> as perfect oneness, at the same time he speaks of creations and Sons of God. The explanation is that on one hand he is stating the pure truth, which is that Christ is perfectly unified and at one with His Creator. On the other hand Jesus is reflecting this truth to us in our separated state, in which we clearly believe that the Sons of God are many. Thus both descriptions are true, depending upon Jesus pedagogical purpose and emphasis.
(1) "Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts, in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself. There was no time when all that it created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that it created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God's Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done."
Again, Jesus says <Thoughts> because we believe God has many Sons. In saying "There was no time when all that it created was not there," he is teaching us once again that the separation never happened. We experience loss only if we do not believe we are the creation of God. In that <un>holy instant of insanity we believed we were the ego's creation instead. All experience of loss originated in that mistaken belief, while the truth of our Identity as Thought awaits our sure return through the Holy Spirit, as we recall:
"God created His Sons by extending His Thought, and retaining the extensions of His Thought in His Mind. All His Thoughts are thus perfectly united within themselves and with each other. The Holy Spirit enables you to perceive this wholeness now." (T-6.II.8:1-3)
We cannot know the wholeness of the Kingdom until we recognize the unity of creation, even as it is reflected in the dream. In other words, we need to see all people sharing the need for forgiveness -- with no exceptions. Recognizing our unified need or purpose leads us remember our unified Self.
(2:1-3) "God's Thoughts are given all the power that their own Creator has. For He would add to love by its extension. Thus His Son shares in creation, and must therefore share in power to create."
This aspect of Jesus' teaching is more prominent in the text, and appears infrequently in the workbook. As part of God, we share His attributes -- He creates and we create, too. The extension of His Self -- His Love and Will -- is Christ, the creation of God. Likewise, we also extend our Self as Christ -- our Love and Will -- and that extension is our creations, which have nothing to do with the world of time and space.
(2:4) "What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began."
In other words, in time we have we have the illusion of fragmentation and separation, and God's Sons appear to be many. Yet the reality is our perfect oneness. When the dream is over and awareness of our individuality has disappeared, all that remains is God's one Son, Who never left His eternal home. He merely had a bad dream in which he left the timeless for the world of time, the nightmare from which he will certainly awaken:
"God in His knowledge is not waiting, but His Kingdom is bereft while you wait.... Delay does not matter in eternity, but it is tragic in time. You have elected to be in time rather than eternity, and therefore believe you <are> in time. ...You do not belong in time. Your place is only in eternity, where God Himself placed you forever." (T-5.VI.1:1,3-4,6-7).
(3:1-2) "Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth. Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making every part container of the whole."
Another important theme from the text: the whole is found in every part. In the right mind of every seemingly separated part of the Sonship -- and each of us who appears as one of those parts -- the memory of Who we are as Christ is firmly imbedded, a fact that has never changed. Thus Jesus teaches that when we forgive one brother totally we have forgiven every brother, for we are all part of the one Son: wrong- right- and One-minded. Here is a passage from the text on the part whole relationship:
"The whole does define the part, but the part does not define the whole. Yet to know in part is to know entirely because of the fundamental difference between knowledge and perception. In perception the whole is built up of parts that can separate and reassemble in different constellations. But knowledge never changes, so its constellation is permanent. The idea of part-whole relationships has meaning only at the level of perception, where change is possible. Otherwise, there is no difference between the part and whole." (T-8.VIII.1.10-15).
(3:3) "Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate; forever held within His holy Will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection and of any spot upon its sinlessness."
Our oneness has never changed, and can never change -- the essence of the Holy Spirit's Atonement principle:
"You can lose sight of oneness, but can not make sacrifice of its reality. Nor can you lose what you would sacrifice, nor keep the Holy Spirit from His task of showing you that it has not been lost." (T-26.1.6:1-2).
(4:1-2) "We are creation; we the Sons of God. We seem to be discrete, and unaware of our eternal unity with Him."
Jesus addresses us here in our separated state, as he usually does throughout A Course in Miracles. We appear separate and separated, each from the other, in a place where one ends and another begins. The body is the point of demarcation, not only of the separation between brothers, but between us and God:
"Such is the strange position in which those in a world inhabited by bodies seem to be. Each body seems to house a separate mind, a disconnected thought, living alone and in no way joined to the Thought by which it was created. Each tiny fragment seems to be self-contained, needing another for some things, but by no means totally dependent on its one Creator for everything ..." (T-18.VIII.5:1-3)
(4:3-5) "Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. For love remains with all its Thoughts, its sureness being theirs. God's memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their Creator."
The memory of God in our right minds holds within it the one Thought of Christ -- Who we are as God's one Son. When we forget and still believe we are in the world -- vacillating between our wrong and right minds -- the concept of may Sons of God is meaningful to us. That is why Jesus refers to us as Thoughts instead of Thought. Regardless, he wants us to accept that our fears, anxieties, and concerns are but fragile veils that cannot keep the light of certainty from our awareness. We do not have to be saved, but merely have to accept the certain fact that because of God's Love, we <are> saved:
"Salvation is as sure as God. His certainty suffices. Learn that even the darkest nightmare that disturbs the mind of God's sleeping Son holds no power over him. He will learn the lesson of awaking. God watches over him and light surrounds him.... His sleep will not withstand the call to wake. The mission of redemption will be fulfilled as surely as the creation will remain unchanged throughout eternity. You do not have to know that Heaven is yours to make it so. It is so." (T-13.XI.9.3-7,10:3-6).
(4:6) "Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God's Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us."
We complete our forgiveness lessons -- the way to let the memory of God return -- and then choose to let the dream of separation go. That is our function -- by accepting the Atonement, forgiving our brothers totally, we deny the ego's world and remember we have always been as God created us. We rejoice that our judgments were wrong and His Love right: separation from our brothers and our Source was a lie, and our inherent oneness the only truth.
(5) "Our Father calls to us. We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the Name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose Holiness His Own creation shares; Whose Holiness is still a part of us."
If God's Son is holy, shares in the Holiness of his Father and is one, and he attacks others -- in other words, chooses to see only what appears to be unholiness or sinfulness in the dream -- he says that not only what appears to be unholiness or sinfulness in the dream -- he says that not only are they unholy, but he is, too. Since <ideas leave not their source>, his creator must also be unholy, which of course is true within the ego's dream. Once again, Jesus stresses our oneness with each other and with God. It is important to remember when we are tempted to judge, criticize, or make people objects of our specialness, that we are defining them as different from us, and differences always mean unholiness since they reflect separation from Holiness. Moreover, if you are unholy I must be as well. Therefore Jesus says to us: The way you see someone else is the way you see yourself: separate and apart from each other, from me, and from God. Is this the image with which you wish to identify?" Recall these comforting lines from Helen's poem, "The Comforter," reminding us of God's Voice that continuously calls to us. His call also invites us to call to our brothers, to remind us we are not alone in our seeking. This ensures hearing the Voice that will remind us our goal has already been found. Forgiveness has thus led us back to the Holiness we never truly left, and we are blessed in our comfort:
Step back, My child, and let Him lead the way
Whom I have sent to you. He holds your hand
And speaks to you of Me.
..........................................
My Voice I send
To sing in soundless places. Hear from Me
The song a Father sings to you, His child;
A melody from far beyond the world.
Step back and listen, for He comes to bless
And tell you that you are not comfortless.
(The Gifts of God, p.71)
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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LESSON 320. My Father gives all power unto me.
LESSON 320. My Father gives all power unto me.
The Son of God is limitless. There are no limits on his strength, his peace, his
joy, nor any attributes his Father gave in his creation. What he wills with his
Creator and Redeemer must be done. His holy will can never be denied, because
his Father shines upon his mind, and lays before it all the strength and love in
earth and Heaven. I am he to whom all this is given. I am he in whom the power
of my Father's Will abides.
<Your Will can do all things in me, and then extend to all the world as well
through me. There is no limit on Your Will. And so all power has been given to
Your Son.>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 320. "My Father gives all power unto me."
*This statement is another reinterpretation of a biblical saying referred to in
A Course in Miracles. In the New Testament, Jesus says "All power is given unto
me in earth and heaven (Matthew 28:18), which means God gave Jesus all power,
<not anyone else>. His is the power because he is God's Son. In the Course,
Jesus says that God does indeed give all power unto His Son, but we <are all His
Sons>. At the beginning of this lesson, Jesus refers to the limitlessness of the
Son of God, yet in the ego's Christian thought system the Sonship of God is
limited, for there is only one true Son: the rest of us are adopted (Ephesians
1:5). We accept this second-class condition as true and project it out, seeing
everyone as more limited than we -- the specialness that is at the core of the
ego's power.*
(1:1-4) "The Son of God is limitless. There are no limits on his strength, his
peace, his joy, nor any attributes his Father gave in his creation. What he
wills with his Creator and Redeemer must be done. His holy will can never be
denied, because his Father shines upon his mind, and lays before it all the
strength and love in earth and Heaven."
*The strength of God's limitlessness is the answer to all problems perceived
here:
"The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity
and your limitless power. This limitless power is God's gift to you, because it
is what you are.... There is no circumstance it cannot answer, and no problem
which is not resolved within its gracious light."
(T-7.VI.10:4-5;T-26.VII.18:5).*
(1:5-6) "I am he to whom all this is given. I am he in whom the power of my
Father's Will abides."
*Again, following from Lesson 319, this is not arrogance but the humility that
says this power is not in me alone, and individual lording it over others. It is
the power of Christ, God's one Son as He created Him, and I know the power is
truly mine when I share its strength and love with the world:
"To use the power God has given you as He would have it used is natural. It
is not arrogant to be as He created you, nor to make use of what He gave to
answer all His Son's mistakes and set him free. But it is arrogant to lay aside
the power that He gave, and choose a little senseless wish instead of what He
wills." (T-26.18:1-3).*
(2:1) "<Your Will can do all things in me, and then extend to all the world as
well through me."
*When my mind is healed, God's Son is one, and since <ideas leave not their
source>, the world is one with me as well.*
(2:2-3) "There is no limit on Your Will. And so all power has been given to Your
Son.>"
*The conclusion of Helen's "The Singing Reed" nicely expresses this unity of
Father and Son:
"How holy are my footsteps, which but go
To do the Will of God, Whose Son I am.
And how forever perfect is my will,
Which is in no way separate from His Own."
(The Gifts of God, p.3)*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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LESSON 319. I came for the salvation of the world.
LESSON 319. I came for the salvation of the world.
(1) Here is a thought from which all arrogance has been removed, and only truth remains. For arrogance opposes truth. But when there is no arrogance the truth will come immediately, and fill up the space the ego left unoccupied by lies. Only the ego can be limited, and therefore it must seek for aims which are curtailed and limiting. The ego thinks that what one gains, totality must lose. And yet it is the Will of God I learn that what one gains is given unto all.
(2) <Father, Your Will is total. And the goal which stems from it shares its totality. What aim but the salvation of the world could You have given me? And what but this could be the Will my Self has shared with You?>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 319. "I came for the salvation of the world."
Recall the earlier lesson, "Salvation of the world depends on me" (W-p1.186). As Jesus tells us, this is not a statement of arrogance, but of humility.
(1:1-3) "Here is a thought from which all arrogance has been removed, and only truth remains. For arrogance opposes truth. But when there is no arrogance the truth will come immediately, and fill up the space the ego left unoccupied by lies."
Our function is to be aware of the ego's arrogant interpretation of "I am the salvation of the world," realizing its insanity, and ask Jesus' help to look at it differently. Through his eyes we realize we are the salvation of the world, not because of something we do, but because of the unity that is our Self. Our humbly bringing the arrogance to the truth allows truth simply to be.
(1:4-5) "Only the ego can be limited, and therefore it must seek for aims which are curtailed and limiting. The ego thinks that what one gains, totality must lose."
This is a wonderfully succinct statement of what happened in the original instant. Because of the principle of <one or the other>, winning our individuality meant totality lost: the ego and world were thus born and saved when we believed we killed wholeness and perfect Love. Yet true salvation of the world comes in realizing all this was a mistake, with no true effects.
(1:6) "And yet it is the Will of God I learn that what one gains is given unto all."
The rock on which salvation rests, Jesus tells us in the text, is that no one loses and everyone gains. To be God's Son does not mean God has to be destroyed. It means we are at one with our Father, as is every other seemingly separate fragment. Thus we read how the Holy Spirit converts the ego's insane world of separation to a sane world of forgiveness, undoing the ego's belief in <one or the other>:
"The Holy Spirit has the power to change the whole foundation of the world you see to something else; a basis not insane, on which a sane perception can be based, another world perceived. And one in which nothing is contradicted that would lead the Son of God to sanity and joy. Nothing attests to death and cruelty; to separation and to differences. For here is everything perceived as one, and no one loses that each one may gain." (T-25.VII.5).
(2) " <Father, Your Will is total. And the goal which stems from it shares its totality. What aim but the salvation of the world could You have given me? And what but this could be the Will my Self has shared with You?>"
To remember that God's Will embraces mine, as well as the Sonship as a whole, I must share the single purpose of forgiveness with my brother. Thus are we saved together, and the world along with us:
"You and your brother are the same as God Himself is One, and not divided in His Will. And you must have one purpose, since He gave the same to both of you. His Will is brought together as you join in will, that you be made complete by offering completion to your brother. See not in him the sinfulness he sees, but give him honor that you may esteem yourself and him. To you and your brother is given the power of salvation, that escape from darkness into light be yours to share; that you may see as one what never has been separate, nor apart from all God's Love as given equally." (T-25.II.11)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10. What Is the Last Judgment?
(1) Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God this gift: to hear the Voice for God proclaim that what is false is false, and what is true has never changed. And this the judgment is in which perception ends. At first you see a world that has accepted this as true, projected from a now corrected mind. And with this holy sight, perception gives a silent blessing and then disappears, its goal accomplished and its mission done.
(2) The final judgment on the world contains no condemnation. For it sees the world as totally forgiven, without sin and wholly purposeless. Without a cause, and now without a function in Christ's sight, it merely slips away to nothingness. There it was born, and there it ends as well. And all the figures in the dream in which the world began go with it. Bodies now are useless, and will therefore fade away, because the Son of God is limitless.
(3) You who believed that God's Last Judgment would condemn the world to hell along with you, accept this holy truth: God's Judgment is the gift of the Correction He bestowed on all your errors, freeing you from them, and all effects they ever seemed to have. To fear God's saving grace is but to fear complete release from suffering, return to peace, security and happiness, and union with your own Identity.
(4) God's Final Judgment is as merciful as every step in His appointed plan to bless His Son, and call him to return to the eternal peace He shares with him. Be not afraid of love. For it alone can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears, and gently waken from his dream of pain the Son whom God acknowledges as His. Be not afraid of this. Salvation asks you give it welcome. And the world awaits your glad acceptance, which will set it free.
(5) This is God's Final Judgment: "You are still My holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me. I am your Father and you are My Son.
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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