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Lesson 62. Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

 

Lesson 62. Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

(1) It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light.
It is your forgiveness that lets you recognize the light in which you see.
Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through
your forgiveness does the truth about yourself return to your memory. Therefore,
in your forgiveness lies your salvation.

(2) Illusions about yourself and the world are one. That is why all forgiveness
is a gift to yourself. Your goal is to find out who you are, having denied your
Identity by attacking creation and its Creator. Now you are learning how to
remember the truth. For this attack must be replaced by forgiveness, so that
thoughts of life may replace thoughts of death.

(3) Remember that in every attack you call upon your own weakness, while each
time you forgive you call upon the strength of Christ in you. Do you not then
begin to understand what forgiveness will do for you? It will remove all sense
of weakness, strain and fatigue from your mind. It will take away all fear and
guilt and pain. It will restore the invulnerability and power God gave His Son
to your awareness.

(4) Let us be glad to begin and end this day by practicing today's idea, and to
use it as frequently as possible throughout the day. It will help to make the
day as happy for you as God wants you to be. And it will help those around you,
as well as those who seem to be far away in space and time, to share this
happiness with you.

(5) As often as you can, closing your eyes if possible, say to yourself today:

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
I would fulfill my function that I may be happy.<

Then devote a minute or two to considering your function and the happiness and
release it will bring you. Let related thoughts come freely, for your heart will
recognize these words, and in your mind is the awareness they are true. Should
your attention wander, repeat the idea and add:

I would remember this because I want to be happy.<


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

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

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

Lesson 62. "Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world."

*The theme of replacing the ego's image of ourselves for Jesus' vision continues
in this and the next lesson. He begins to clarify what it means to say that our
function is to forgive. As we know from our study of the text, and from what we
have already seen in our discussions of the workbook, forgiveness is a process
that does not occur between two people, but in our <minds>, within the context
of a relationship between ourselves and someone else. It is not really that I
forgive you; but rather that I forgive the projection of my self-concept of
guilt I placed on you. That is indeed all I can forgive, for everything else in
my perceptual world is a projection of this guilt.*

(1) "It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light.
It is your forgiveness that lets you recognize the light in which you see.
Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through
your forgiveness does the truth about yourself return to your memory. Therefore,
in your forgiveness lies your salvation."

*Here again, Jesus articulates for us the crucial theme of bringing darkness to
the light. We "recognize the light in which we see" because forgiveness removes
the veils of darkness that prevent our vision. It has nothing to do about the
light, but simply removes the interferences to seeing the light. Once done, the
light is what remains in our awareness.

As we have seen many, many times, A Course in Miracles is not about the light or
the truth. Its ongoing and consistent focus is on recognizing the darkness, with
the help of Jesus or the Holy Spirit -- the essence of forgiveness. We are thus
not saved <for> the light, but saved <from> the darkness.*

(2:1-2) "Illusions about yourself and the world are one. That is why all
forgiveness is a gift to yourself."

*This rests on the principle we have seen before: <ideas leave not their
source>. The world is nothing more than an idea we made up, and which we
projected from its source in our minds. Therefore Jesus is telling us that
whatever illusions we hold against others are the illusions we hold about
ourselves. This is the fact because, again, <ideas leave not their source>. Even
though the principle is not stated here, it is reflected. Thus forgiveness is
not a gift we give to another person. It is a gift we give to ourselves.*

(2:3) "Your goal is to find out who you are, having denied your Identity by
attacking creation and its Creator."

*That is what we did as one Son in the original instant. We chose to forget Who
we are as Christ, at one with our Source, and chose instead to see ourselves as
individuals, separated from perfect Oneness. That is what gave rise to the ego's
wrong-minded thought system, and therefore it is in the mind that we need
correction. Before we can remember our Identity, we first have to undo the
terrible things we taught ourselves about ourselves. To recall an important
statement about our focus, which we shall use as a recurring motif throughout
this book:

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the
barriers within yourself that you have built against it. It is not necessary to
seek for what is true, but it is necessary to seek for what is false."
(T.16.IV.6.1-2)

Thus we find out who we are by first finding out who we are <not>.*

(2:4-5) "Now you are learning how to remember the truth. For this attack must be
replaced by forgiveness, so that thoughts of life may replace thoughts of
death."

*It cannot be said too often that before we can undo our attack thoughts, we
first have to recognize and accept that we have them. Forgiveness makes no sense
if we are not first aware of what needs to be forgiven and undone. That is why
it is highly important -- I cannot emphasize this enough, either -- that as
students of A Course in Miracles you do not use its teachings, and especially
the workbook lessons, as a defense against uncovering what you believe is the
truth about yourself.*

(3:1) "Remember that in every attack you call upon your own weakness, while each
time you forgive you call upon the strength of Christ in you."

*This theme, mentioned earlier, is central to A Course in Miracles: we always
choose between our weakness and the strength of Christ (T-31.VIII.2:3). Attack
therefore weakens us, while forgiveness truly empowers us and sets us free.*

(3:2-4) "Do you not then begin to understand what forgiveness will do for you?
It will remove all sense of weakness, strain and fatigue from your mind. It will
take away all fear and guilt and pain."

*In other words, forgiveness is the end of all suffering. It should be obvious
as you read this carefully that Jesus is not talking about anything external.
The source of all weakness, strain, fatigue, fear, guilt, and pain is in our
minds. Therefore, it is in our minds that is must be undone. The world seeks
always to remove these negative experiences by changing what is outside,
referred to in the Course as magic. It will truly work; temporarily perhaps, but
it cannot undo the real source of pain in the mind: our decision to separate,
which we alone can reverse.

This idea of forgiveness' gifts makes it first appearance here, but will return
later. It represents Jesus' appeal to our selfish interests of feeling better,
and being without pain and sorrow. Again, the world may offer temporary relief,
but only forgiveness brings about true healing.*

(3:5) "It will restore the invulnerability and power God gave His Son to your
awareness."

*Everything in A Course in Miracles has to do with awareness, a mental state.
The awareness of the invulnerability and power (or strength) of Christ that God
gave when He created us in our minds. The problem is that we have ceased to be
aware of it, covering this strength with the ego's two-tiered layers of guilt
and attack. Thus it is these coverings of weakness that have to be removed,
allowing the true power of God's Son to shine forth.*

(4) "Let us be glad to begin and end this day by practicing today's idea, and to
use it as frequently as possible throughout the day. It will help to make the
day as happy for you as God wants you to be. And it will help those around you,
as well as those who seem to be far away in space and time, to share this
happiness with you."

*The text teaches us how to be a happy learner (T-14.II), which entails our
willingness to learn the day's lessons of forgiveness, regardless of the pain or
resisting such learning. Since this is a process occurring in our minds, the
dimension beyond time and space wherein all our brothers are found, our learning
reinforces the learning of everyone. Thus we read in the text how bringing our
darkness to the Holy Spirit's light allows it to shine in us, <for all the
Sonship>:

"Like you, the Holy Spirit did not make truth. Like God, He knows it to be
true. He brings the light of truth into the darkness, and lets it shine on you.
And as it shines your brothers see it, and realizing that this light is not what
you have made, they see in you more than you see. They will be happy learners of
the lesson this light brings to them, because it teaches them release from
nothing and from all the works of nothing. The heavy chains that seem to bind
them to despair they do not see as nothing, until you bring the light to
them.... And you will see it with them. Because you taught them gladness and
release, they will become your teachers in release and gladness."
(T-14.II.4:3-6,8-9).*

(5) "As often as you can, closing your eyes if possible, say to yourself today:

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
I would fulfill my function that I may be happy.<

Then devote a minute or two to considering your function and the happiness and
release it will bring you. Let related thoughts come freely, for your heart will
recognize these words, and in your mind is the awareness they are true. Should
your attention wander, repeat the idea and add:

I would remember this because I want to be happy."
<
*The connection between our function of forgiveness and our happiness is clearly
articulated here, and will be returned to presently. The motivation for learning
is therefore our own happiness. We are slowly and gently being taught that the
<only> way we can be happy is by removing our guilt through forgiveness of
others. I have commented before on the symphonic nature of the workbook. We can
see here the continual introduction of new themes, building up our symphony of
learning as we progress day by day.*





Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson
719-369-1822

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