Lesson 90. For this review we will use these ideas:
1.(79) Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.
Let me realize today that the problem is always some form of grievance that I
would cherish. Let me also understand that the solution is always a miracle with
which I let the grievance be replaced. Today I would remember the simplicity of
salvation by reinforcing the lesson that there is one problem and one solution.
The problem is a grievance; the solution is a miracle. And I invite the solution
to come to me through my forgiveness of the grievance, and my welcome of the
miracle that takes its place.
Specific applications of this idea might be in these forms:
This presents a problem to me which I would have resolved.
The miracle behind this grievance will resolve it for me.
The answer to this problem is the miracle that it conceals.
3.(80) Let me recognize my problems have been solved.
I seem to have problems only because I am misusing time. I believe that the
problem comes first, and time must elapse before it can be worked out. I do not
see the problem and the answer as simultaneous in their occurrence. That is
because I do not yet realize that God has placed the answer together with the
problem, so that they cannot be separated by time. The Holy Spirit will teach me
this, if I will let Him. And I will understand it is impossible that I could
have a problem which has not been solved already.
These forms of the idea will be useful for specific applications:
I need not wait for this to be resolved.
The answer to this problem is already given me, if I will accept it.
Time cannot separate this problem from its solution.
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The commentary on this lesson 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
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Lesson 90. For this review we will use these ideas:
*This lesson also deals with two parallel lessons: one problem, one solution.*
(1:1) (79) "Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved."
*The problem is defined as a grievance, and the solution as the miracle that
undoes the problem. Could anything be simpler? Jesus would ask.*
(1:2-3) "Let me realize today that the problem is always some form of grievance
that I would cherish. Let me also understand that the solution is always a
miracle with which I let the grievance be replaced."
*We find reflected here the undoing of the ego's first law of chaos -- "There is
a hierarchy of illusions" (T-1.1.1:1) Despite appearances, our problems can be
traced back to a grievance, such as: "If only you had been different, I would be
happy." The solution is the miracle of forgiveness, for the problem was the
projection of guilt, which I now happily reclaim so that it can be released.*
(1:4-6) "Today I would remember the simplicity of salvation by reinforcing the
lesson that there is one problem and one solution. The problem is a grievance;
the solution is a miracle. And I invite the solution to come to me through my
forgiveness of the grievance, and my welcome of the miracle that takes its
place."
*These two lessons form the capstone of the review period, because they clearly
articulate that every problem we experience during the day is a form of attack
or grievance -- whether we are conscious of it or not -- and the only way we can
be happy and remember our function is to let the attack go. We release the
grievance by asking Jesus to help us realize we are wrong because we are
perceiving the situation wrongly. Thus, once again, borrowing the title of the
final chapter of the text, we see and accept the simplicity of salvation: one
problem one solution; one grievance, one miracle.*
(2:2) "This presents a problem to me which I would have resolved."
*The problem we perceive and the remedy we seek are equally illusory. The
"solution" may resolve its specific expression, but not the ultimate problem --
the grievance we hold against ourselves and God. If we truly want to be at
peace, therefore, we need to ask Jesus to help us perceive the situation
differently. We ask him to show us that what we are seeing in this person or
circumstance is a reflection of the mind's decision to exclude love. While the
<forms> vary in our specific applications, the <content> remains the same.
Choosing to separate from the Love of God is the problem; choosing to rejoin
what we never truly left is the solution. Thus today we choose the miracle:*
(2:3-4) "The miracle behind this grievance will resolve it for me."
"The answer to this problem is the miracle that it conceals."
*The inability to make this choice -- to look beyond the problem to the solution
-- reflects our refusal to do so, born of the resistance to "losing" the problem
and thus "losing" our identity. Only by recognizing we are clinging to an
illusion, an illusion that is the source of our unhappiness, will we be
motivated to choose the miracle.*
(3:1)(80) "Let me recognize my problems have been solved."
(3:2-3) "I seem to have problems only because I am misusing time. I believe that
the problem comes first, and time must elapse before it can be worked out."
*This is certainly true from the ego's point of view. Jesus importantly -- is
not saying we should not try to solve problems in the world. However, if the
true problem is a grievance, which hides our guilt, then the solution -- guilt's
undoing -- is instantaneous.*
"The one remaining problem that you have is that you see an interval between
the time when you forgive, and will receive the benefits of trusting in your
brother." (T.26.VIII.1.1)
Jesus is not talking about working out a worldly problem or performing a task,
which very often does take time. After all, it took Helen seven years to take
down A Course in Miracles. He is referring to the correction of the mind's
problem: forgiveness removing our guilt; miracles undoing our grievances.
Again, Jesus is not asking us to ignore the world. Rather, he teaches us that
our problem is not external, but the mind's decision to exclude him. We are
overwhelmed with guilt over this "sin" of betrayal, and that is the source of
our pain, which can be remedied in an instant. All we need do, he tells us, is:
"Bring me back, and speak honestly about what you have done. Let me tell you
that you have not committed a sin, but merely expressed your fear. Let my love
be a gentle reminder that you are better off with me alone." This, then, is the
sense in which healing is immediate, taking only an instant:
"The working out of all correction takes no time at all. Yet the acceptance
of the working out can seem to take forever." (T-26.VIII.6:1-2).
As Jesus tells us in Lesson 188, "Why wait for Heaven?" (W-pI.188.1:1).*
(3:4-5) "I do not see the problem and the answer as simultaneous in their
occurrence. That is because I do not yet realize that God has placed the answer
together with the problem, so that they cannot be separated by time."
*Recall that what we think of as time is nothing but the projection into form of
the ego's unholy trinity of sin, guilt, and fear, resulting in the perception of
linear time: past, present, and future. Both the problem of separation and the
answer of Atonement are located in the mind, beyond time and space. Thus there
is no time needed in the correction of our wrong-minded choice. Only when the
problem and answer are projected into a temporal and spatial world does it
appear that salvation takes time. Once again, we see how everything hinges upon
reversing our projections and regaining the power of our temporal minds to
choose.*
(3:6-7) "The Holy Spirit will teach me this, if I will let Him. And I will
understand it is impossible that I could have a problem which has not been
solved already."
*The problem is that <we do not want Him to teach us>, for we fear losing our
individual identity. Solving the problem of separation is suicide for the ego,
and as long as we identify with its thought system -- as we do when identifying
with our physical and psychological selves -- it becomes suicide for us as well.
Who, then, would willingly choose annihilation of one's self? That is why,
within the temporal illusion, it takes time to shift our identification from the
ego to the Holy Spirit. We begin with shifting our identity from a guilty, angry
self to a forgiving, peaceful self. From these happy dreams, born of miracles,
do we finally awaken -- gradually, gently, and patiently -- to the true Self of
God's living Oneness. Thus have we chosen at last to accept the solution to the
problem that has already been solved.
Finally, the three applications speed us along our journey:*
(4:2-4) "I need not wait for this to be resolved.
The answer to this problem is already given me, if I will accept
it.
Time cannot separate this problem from its solution."
*Perhaps it will take some time for the external problem to be resolved, but our
internal problem -- the <only> problem -- is resolved immediately, for peace
merely waits our acceptance. Salvation from all pain and suffering is in our
minds, where "God placed it." Withdrawing our attention from the world of bodies
to the locus of both the problem and its answer -- the mind -- is all Jesus
requires to teach us that the problem of guilt has already been replaced by
peace.*
