Lesson 98. I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation.
(1) Today is a day of special dedication. We take a stand on but one side today.
We side with truth and let illusions go. We will not vacillate between the two,
but take a firm position with the One. We dedicate ourselves to truth today, and
to salvation as God planned it be. We will not argue it is something else. We
will not seek for it where it is not. In gladness we accept it as it is, and
take the part assigned to us by God.
(2) How happy to be certain! All our doubts we lay aside today, and take our
stand with certainty of purpose, and with thanks that doubt is gone and surety
has come. We have a mighty purpose to fulfill, and have been given everything we
need with which to reach the goal. Not one mistake stands in our way. For we
have been absolved from errors. All our sins are washed away by realizing they
were but mistakes.
(3) The guiltless have no fear, for they are safe and recognize their safety.
They do not appeal to magic, nor invent escapes from fancied threats without
reality. They rest in quiet certainty that they will do what it is given them to
do. They do not doubt their own ability because they know their function will be
filled completely in the perfect time and place. They took the stand which we
will take today, that we may share their certainty and thus increase it by
accepting it ourselves.
(4) They will be with us; all who took the stand we take today will gladly offer
us all that they learned and every gain they made. Those still uncertain, too,
will join with us, and, borrowing our certainty, will make it stronger still.
While those as yet unborn will hear the call we heard, and answer it when they
have come to make their choice again. We do not choose but for ourselves today.
(5) Is it not worth five minutes of your time each hour to be able to accept the
happiness that God has given you? Is it not worth five minutes hourly to
recognize your special function here? Is not five minutes but a small request to
make in terms of gaining a reward so great it has no measure? You have made a
thousand losing bargains at the least.
(6) Here is an offer guaranteeing you your full release from pain of every kind,
and joy the world does not contain. You can exchange a little of your time for
peace of mind and certainty of purpose, with the promise of complete success.
And since time has no meaning, you are being asked for nothing in return for
everything. Here is a bargain that you cannot lose. And what you gain is
limitless indeed!
(7) Each hour today give Him your tiny gift of but five minutes. He will give
the words you use in practicing today's idea the deep conviction and the
certainty you lack. His words will join with yours, and make each repetition of
today's idea a total dedication, made in faith as perfect and as sure as His in
you. His confidence in you will bring the light to all the words you say, and
you will go beyond their sound to what they really mean.
Today you practice with Him, as you say:
I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation.
(8) In each five minutes that you spend with Him, He will accept your words and
give them back to you all bright with faith and confidence so strong and steady
they will light the world with hope and gladness. Do not lose one chance to be
the glad receiver of His gifts, that you may give them to the world today.
(9) Give Him the words, and He will do the rest. He will enable you to
understand your special function. He will open up the way to happiness, and
peace and trust will be His gifts; His answer to your words. He will respond
with all His faith and joy and certainty that what you say is true. And you will
have conviction then of Him Who knows the function that you have on earth as
well as Heaven. He will be with you each practice period you share with Him,
exchanging every instant of the time you offer Him for timelessness and peace.
(10) Throughout the hour, let your time be spent in happy preparation for the
next five minutes you will spend again with Him. Repeat today's idea while you
wait for the glad time to come to you again. Repeat it often, and do not forget
each time you do so, you have let your mind be readied for the happy time to
come.
(11) And when the hour goes and He is there once more to spend a little time
with you, be thankful and lay down all earthly tasks, all little thoughts and
limited ideas, and spend a happy time again with Him. Tell Him once more that
you accept the part that He would have you take and help you fill, and He will
make you sure you want this choice, which He has made with you and you with Him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The commentary on this lesson is an excerpt 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 98. "I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation."
*In my introductory comments to Lesson 91, I said that the next twenty lessons
directly or indirectly contrasted Self with self. The past seven have emphasized
this distinction, and urged us to choose spirit as our identity instead of the
body. These next two lessons introduce a subsidiary theme -- our special
function of forgiveness. This is the bridge enabling us to shift from our
identity as an ego self to the glorious Self of Christ.*
(1:1) "Today is a day of special dedication."
*As students work with A Course in Miracles, it is important they understand
Jesus does not always reserve the word <special> for the ego. Students sometimes
avoid the word as they would the plague, because of its connotations of
scarcity, guilt, and murder. However, there are many places where Jesus uses
<special> in a positive way, by way of telling us that it is not the word itself
that is terrible, but its underlying thought system; the <content>, not the
<form>. Thus today is special because of its place in the curriculum that will
help us undo our belief in specialness and remember Who we are as God's Son.*
(2:1) "How happy to be certain!"
*In order for us to be happy we must realize what we thought we were certain
about was wrong: "Do you prefer that you be right or happy?" (T.29.VII.1.9) To
be happy means to be truly certain, identifying with the certainty of the Holy
Spirit, not the ego's arrogance in believing it is right.*
(3:1) "The guiltless have no fear, for they are safe and recognize their
safety."
*The reason the guilty fear is that guilt demands punishment, and therefore we
will always fear the punishment we believe is forthcoming. However, if there is
no guilt there can be no projection, which means we will no longer believe the
sinner is outside, poised to attack us. Therefore, there is no fear and we are
free to recognize our safety.*
(4) "They will be with us; all who took the stand we take today will gladly
offer us all that they learned and every gain they made. Those still uncertain,
too, will join with us, and, borrowing our certainty, will make it stronger
still. While those as yet unborn will hear the call we heard, and answer it when
they have come to make their choice again. We do not choose but for ourselves
today."
*This reflects the important theme of the Sonship's unity, found not only in
Heaven, as Christ, but in the fragmented world of billions and billions of
separate parts. This crucial idea can never be understood from our point of view
-- individuality, separation, and differences. From this perspective, my being
saved does not mean you are saved, or your being damned that I am damned. The
truth, however, is that as one Son, we are saved and damned
<together>.Therefore, what I see in you can only be what I see in myself. If I
seek to crucify you to escape my guilt, I am crucified as well. "It can be but
myself I crucify," a later lesson tells us (W-pI.196). On the other hand, if I
see you as absolved from sin because you are not responsible for my loss of
peace, I am absolving myself as well. Keep in mind that this unity transcends
the seeming limitations of time and space. Thus this oneness extends throughout
what we consider to be the history of the cosmos -- a history that spans many
billions of years, and an almost infinite number of miles.*
(5) "Is it not worth five minutes of your time each hour to be able to accept
the happiness that God has given you? Is it not worth five minutes hourly to
recognize your special function here? Is not five minutes but a small request to
make in terms of gaining a reward so great it has no measure? You have made a
thousand losing bargains at the least."
*This is what Jesus asks us on almost every page of A Course in Miracles (see,
e.g.,T-20.VII.I:7-8): "I am asking you to give up so little, and exchange I am
offering you so much. Why don't you do it?" It is not because we are stupid;
insane perhaps, but not stupid. We realize that if we give Jesus five minutes
out of the hour, next time he is going to want ten, and then fifteen; and before
you know it, he is going to demand the hour's full sixty minutes. We then
protest: "What about <me>? Don't <I> count for anything? And Jesus gently shakes
his head and says: "No, you do not, because your individuality is an illusion."
He does not demand we give it up, however, but he does ask us to look at the
fact that the reason we cherish our individual identity so much is so we will
not even give him five minutes an hour. This is not meant to be guilt inducing,
to be sure, but a simple acknowledgement of our fear of love and truth, holding
on to specialness instead. Learning about this fear is useful information as we
seek to fulfill our special function. Incidentally, this term reflects the
important section "The Special Function" (T-25.VI), which describes our function
not in terms of form or behavior, but the change of mind brought about by our
decision to forgive.*
(6:1) "Here is an offer guaranteeing you your full release from pain of every
kind, and joy the world does not contain."
*The problem is that we all respond: Who would I be without my pain, without the
joys of specialness that is directed at an object, substance, or person? Where
would I be if I did not have my daily fix, whatever its form? The problem is
that we would gladly hold on to these forms because, as Jesus tells us in the
text, we do not know the difference between pain and joy (T-7.X). We think the
world gives us joy -- accepting the Atonement -- the ego tells us is painful.*
(7:1) "Each hour today give Him your tiny gift of but five minutes."
*That is all Jesus asks. He is not asking for the full hour. Indeed, if all you
gave him were three minutes, it would be enough. Try to be aware of resisting
the thought of him every hour, and do not buy a wrist alarm watch to remind you.
Such good intentions miss the point. Jesus wants you to <want> to think of him,
and to forgive yourself for not doing so. If you have such a watch, for example,
you are merely exchanging <form> for <content>, and will never learn the lesson
of forgiveness. The idea is not that you spend five minutes each hour thinking
of God, as if there were some magical or salvific value in these thoughts.
Rather, it is that you learn to forgive yourself for <not> wanting to think of
him. Recall our discussion of this idea from Lesson 95.*
(8) "In each five minutes that you spend with Him, He will accept your words and
give them back to you all bright with faith and confidence so strong and steady
they will light the world with hope and gladness. Do not lose one chance to be
the glad receiver of His gifts, that you may give them to the world today."
*This is similar to what we saw at the end of Lesson 97. When we choose to
accept Jesus' words and release our egos, we receive greater gifts than we would
have thought possible. They are gifts that are not for us alone, but for the
entire Sonship, without exception. Because of the rich treasures such gifts
offer, we are urged by our teacher to practice as faithfully as we can.*
(9:1) "Give Him the words, and He will do the rest."
*In the text, Jesus tells us our responsibility is to choose the miracle, and
not be concerned with any of its effects. To revisit that important passage:
"Concern yourself not with the extension of holiness, for the nature of miracles
you do not understand. Nor do you do them. It is their extension, far beyond the
limits you perceive, that demonstrates you do not do them. Why should you worry
how the miracle extends to all the Sonship when you do not understand the
miracle itself?" (T.16.II.1.3).
Our responsibility is to let go of the barriers to our forgiveness, not to
extend it. If we believe our function is to extend forgiveness, we allow the ego
to get in the way again and guide us to believe it is our function in the sense
of behavior or form, we are adopting the ego's point of view.
The right-minded function of the split mind is to let go of the ego, <and that
is all>. By identifying with the love of Jesus in our minds we have fulfilled
our one responsibility. This allows his love to extend throughout the Sonship
because that love is already in the Sonship. In fact, that love <is> the
Sonship. Hence, all we need to do is release the problem of our believing we are
separated from love. That is salvation's simplicity (T-31.1).*
(10) "Throughout the hour, let your time be spent in happy preparation for the
next five minutes you will spend again with Him. Repeat today's idea while you
wait for the glad time to come to you again. Repeat it often, and do not forget
each time you do so, you have let your mind be readied for the happy time to
come."
*Jesus does not want us to underestimate the effect of even one five-minute
period we give to him. Like money in the bank, it will grow, with each period
building a strong foundation on which the next five minutes rest, and the ones
to follow resting on what preceded them. This is similar to the passage in the
text where Jesus describes the process of Atonement as a strong chain that is
welded (T-1.III.9:2). In this case the welded chain is our personal journey that
is strengthened with each and every practice period.*
(11:1) "And when the hour goes and He is there once more to spend a little time
with you, be thankful and lay down all earthly tasks, all little thoughts and
limited ideas, and spend a happy time again with Him."
*Jesus speaks here in the context of the workbook, which provides structured
exercises that help us take a little time throughout the day in which we divert
our attention from the world -- our earthly tasks and limited thoughts and ideas
-- and think only of God. Needless to say, exclusive attention to the mundane
reflects our decision maker's choice to identify with the ego's limited
littleness, instead of the Holy Spirit. Yet these exercises will eventually lead
to our going through the day paying attention to earthly tasks, at the same time
remembering there is a love beyond the dream. Thus we are able to retain contact
with that love at the same time our bodies go about their busy activities. The
ultimate goal of our study and practice is that these teachings and lessons
become so integrated that our day expresses <our> being the bridge between earth
and Heaven. Such is vision -- retaining that quiet center within, all the while
being active in the everyday world -- that closes "I Need Do Nothing":
"Yet there will always be this place of rest to which you can return. And you
will be more aware of this quiet centre of the storm than all its raging
activity. This quiet centre, in which you do nothing, will remain with you,
giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from
this centre will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly." (T.18.VII.8.1).
Until we are able to identify with that quiet center of love, however, it is
important we take specific time out each hour -- or whatever the lesson asks of
us -- to think of the Holy Spirit. We need to be aware of our mind's
wrong-minded, right-minded split, not just the ego portion of the mind. There is
a part of us that indeed gets caught up with specialness, but there is also a
part that can be quiet and still.*
