Final Lessons. Introduction:
Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. We use them but at
the beginning of our practicing, and only to remind us that we seek to go beyond
them. Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. To Him
we leave these lessons, as to Him we give our lives henceforth. For we would not
return again to the belief in sin that made the world seem ugly and unsafe,
attacking and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the
hope of trust and the escape from pain.
His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. It is His way that
everyone must travel in the end, because it is this ending God Himself
appointed. In the dream of time it seems to be far off. And yet, in truth, it is
already here; already serving us as gracious guidance in the way to go. Let us
together follow in the way that truth points out to us. And let us be the
leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way, but find it not.
And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to
serve the function of salvation. Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world.
It is the goal that God has given us. It is His ending to the dream we seek, and
not our own. For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of
God Himself. And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete.
It is our function to remember Him on earth, as it is given us to be His Own
completion in reality. So let us not forget our goal is shared, for it is that
remembrance which contains the memory of God, and points the way to Him and to
the Heaven of His peace. And shall we not forgive our brother, who can offer
this to us? He is the way, the truth and life that shows the way to us. In him
resides salvation, offered us through our forgiveness, given unto him.
We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised to His holy Son.
We are forgiven now. And we are saved from all the wrath we thought belonged to
God, and found it was a dream. We are restored to sanity, in which we understand
that anger is insane, attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. We
have been saved from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. Nothing more
than that. And is a father angry at his son because he failed to understand the
truth?
We come in honesty to God and say we did not understand, and ask Him to help us
to learn His lessons, through the Voice of His Own Teacher. Would He hurt His
Son? Or would He rush to answer him, and say, "This is My Son, and all I have is
his"? Be certain He will answer thus, for these are His Own words to you. And
more than that can no one ever have, for in these words is all there is, and all
that there will be throughout all time and in eternity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is from Kenneth Wapnick's eight volume series of books, called: "Journey
Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the
following site: ~ M. Street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Final Lessons. Introduction:
*We come now to the Final Lessons. Lesson 361 to 335 are combined in one, the
theme of which, appropriately, is the Holy Spirit. He is also the theme of this
lovely introduction. At the workbook's conclusion, Jesus leaves us in the Holy
Spirit's charge to continue the journey, as he has throughout. In addition,
embedded in this final theme is the reminder that our purpose in the world is
forgiveness, through which the memory of God returns to our minds.*
(1:1-2) "Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. We use
them but at the beginning of our practicing, and only to remind us that we seek
to go beyond them."
*Jesus is continually reminding us of our purpose, which is reflected here in
not making words into reality. Thus the words of A Course in Miracles are not
sacred, but their source -- the love that inspired them -- most certainly is.
That love is in all of us, and so we need to be reminded again and again as we
go through our day that our purpose is to learn forgiveness -- the means of
undoing guilt and returning with our brothers to the home that lies beyond all
words and symbols.*
(1:3-4) "Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. To
Him we leave these lessons, as to Him we give our lives henceforth."
*The purpose of this one year of practice has been learning to be secure in the
awareness that the Holy Spirit is the only true Teacher. Thus it is His lessons,
guidance, and Love we would follow. When we are tempted to be upset, sick,
angry, or otherwise preoccupied with our specialness, it is because we first
pushed Him away and chose the ego instead. That is why our vigilance needs to be
focused on the ego's lies as the means of remembering the Holy Spirit's truth.
It is our minds that need vigilance, to choose against believing in the ego and
choosing for God and His Kingdom -- the third of the Holy Spirit's three
lessons. Thus does our corrected belief undo the ego's doubt, allowing us to
move beyond the belief to the certainty of God:
"The third step is thus one of protection for your mind, allowing you to
identify only with the centre, where God placed the altar to Himself. Altars are
beliefs, but God and His creations are beyond belief because they are beyond
question. The Voice for God speaks only for belief beyond question, which is the
preparation for being without question. As long as belief in God and His Kingdom
is assailed by any doubts in your mind, His perfect accomplishment is not
apparent to you. This is why you must be vigilant on God's behalf. The ego
speaks against His creation, and therefore engenders doubt. You cannot go beyond
belief until you believe fully." (T-6.V-C.7).*
(1:5) "For we would not return again to the belief in sin that made the world
seem ugly and unsafe, attacking and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and
treacherous beyond the hope of trust and the escape from pain."
*We once made the mistake of believing the ego's lies of sin, and Jesus
encourages us never to make it again. From that one mistake the world of
treachery, danger, and pain arose, and who in his right mind would ever choose
its cause, when forgiveness gently beckons us to a world of peace and safety.*
(2:1-2) "His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. It is His
way that everyone must travel in the end, because it is this ending God Himself
appointed."
*A Course in Miracles is only one spiritual path; but whatever path we choose --
regardless of its symbols -- the only way to reach home is to relinquish belief
in the self that believes in separation, anger, pain, and death. Through joining
with the Holy Spirit in our right minds, we undo the faulty belief system we
have accepted. Forgiving ourselves for our mistakes -- born of fear, not sin --
opens the certain way home, regardless of form, as we read again:
"Forgive yourself your madness, and forget all senseless journeys and all
goal-less aims. They have no meaning. You can not escape from what you are. For
God is merciful, and did not let His Son abandon Him. For what He is be
thankful, for in that is your escape from madness and from death. Nowhere but
where He is can you be found. There is no path that does not lead to Him."
(T-31.IV.11).*
(2:3-4) "In the dream of time it seems to be far off. And yet, in truth, it is
already here ..."
*It is a fact that the peace of God is already here -- in the presence of the
right-minded truth of Atonement. Moreover, in the holy instant we are outside of
time and space, so there is no longer a journey to the peace that is ours. We
find a similar expression in the manual for teachers, where Jesus speaks of the
world's end: "When not one thought of sin remains, the world is over"
(M-14.2:10). He continues:
"Certainly this seems to be a long, long while away. "When not one thought
of sin remains" appears to be a long-range goal indeed. But time stands still,
and waits on the goal of God's teachers. Not one thought of sin will remain the
instant any one of them accepts Atonement for himself." (M-14.3:1-4).
Since the Atonement is fully present within us -- its very presence reflects it
acceptance -- the separation has already been undone. Recall these lines from
the opening to Chapter 28:
"This world was over long ago. The thoughts that made it are no longer in
the mind that thought of them and loved them for a little while."
(T-28.1.1:6-7).
Thus Jesus reminds us that his peace is here, merely awaiting our choosing it --
<again>.*
(2:4-5) "And yet, in truth, it is already here; already serving us as gracious
guidance in the way to go. Let us together follow in the way that truth points
out to us."
*<Truth> is used as a synonym for the Holy Spirit, in Whose Love and Presence
there is no time or space. Joined with Him in the holy instant, we no longer
worry about how far we have to go, nor how long the journey's duration. Concerns
about the ego being so strong that we can never get free of it are thoughts that
occur only within the dream of linear time: past sins, present guilt, and future
fear of punishment. When we are outside the dream with Jesus, we realize these
thoughts, too, are just a defense against the truth that has guided us so
graciously to itself.*
(2:6) "And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the
way, but find it not."
*Jesus does not mean we are to be leaders in any external or behavioral way. We
lead simply by having chosen the Holy Spirit's Love. When that is ours choice,
we become the hand that reaches out, just as Jesus was the hand that reached for
ours. We now can say to our brothers that the same choice we have made they can
make, too, the journey we have embarked on welcomes them as well. Recall that in
Psychotherapy, Jesus comments on the need for the therapist to be his patient's
leader, even as he is being led by his Therapist:
"The psychotherapist is a leader in the sense that he walks slightly ahead
of the patient, and helps him to avoid a few of the pitfalls along the road by
seeing them first. Ideally, he is also a follower, for One should walk ahead of
him to give him light to see." (P-2.III.1:1-2). *
(3:1-4) "And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our
thoughts to serve the function of salvation. Unto us the aim is given to forgive
the world. It is the goal that God has given us. It is His ending to the dream
we seek, and not our own."
*Our purpose is to learn the lessons of forgiveness so that we can help
ourselves and others. God's ending is that we awaken <from> the dream, whereas
ours is to become happier and pain-free figures <in> the dream. Thus we make the
decision to accept God's function of forgiveness rather than our own; the Holy
Spirit's rather than the ego's:
"Ask not to be forgiven, for this has already been accomplished. Ask,
rather, to learn how to forgive, and to restore what always was to your
unforgiving mind. ... On earth this is your only function, and you must learn
that it is all you want to learn. ... Before you make any decisions for
yourself, remember that you have decided against your function in Heaven, and
then consider carefully whether you want to make decisions here. Your function
here is only to decide against deciding what you want, in recognition that you
do not know. How, then, can you decide what you should do? Leave all decisions
to the One Who speaks for God, and for your function as He knows it."
(T-14.IV.3:4-5,7,5:1-4).*
(3:5) "For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God
Himself."
*When I forgive, I realize you and I are one; in illusion and in truth --
despite what the ego's dreams have told us. Thus do we lift the veil of the
ego's principle of <one or the other>, and happily see the sinlessness of God's
one Son in all we meet or even think about:
"A dream has veiled the face of Christ from you. Now can you look upon His
sinlessness. High has the ladder risen. ...Now can you say to everyone who comes
to join in prayer with you:
"I cannot go without you, for you are a part of me."
"And so he is in truth. ... For you have understood he never left, and you, who
seemed alone, are one with him." (S-1.V.3:3-5, 8-10,12).*
(3:6) "And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete."
*We forgive by seeing the face of Christ in our brothers, and then we remember
God. Recall these words that nicely summarize A Course in Miracles'
quintessential formula for healing:
"When brothers join in purpose in the world of fear, they stand already at the
edge of the real world. ... For when they joined their hands it was Christ's
hand they took, and they will look on Him Whose hand they hold. The face of
Christ is looked upon before the Father is remembered. For He must be
unremembered till His Son has reached beyond forgiveness to the Love of God. Yet
is the Love of Christ accepted first. And then will come the knowledge They are
one." (T-30.V-7:1,4-8).*
(4:1) "It is our function to remember Him on earth, as it is given us to be His
Own completion in reality."
*This refers to our dual function: in Heaven it is to create, which means we are
the completion of God; on earth it is to forgive, that we would come to remember
our true function and Who we are as Christ. Thus Jesus helps us undo the ego's
function of blocking God's, by teaching us to fulfill our function of
forgiveness. Removing this block restores to our awareness the joy of creation
-- extending the Love of God from His Self to ours, knowing they are One. The
following passage from the text summarizes the two functions -- forgiveness
removes the barriers of separation among the Sons of God, restoring to our
awareness the completion of God's one Son as spirit and its extended fullness as
Christ:
"The extension of God's Being is spirit's only function. Its fullness
cannot be contained, any more than can the fullness of its Creator. Fullness is
extension. The ego's whole thought system blocks extension, and thus blocks your
only function. ... The Kingdom is forever extending because it is in the Mind of
God. You do not know your joy because you do not know your own Self-fullness.
Exclude any part of the Kingdom from yourself and you are not whole. A split
mind cannot perceive its fullness, and needs the miracle of its wholeness to
dawn upon it and heal it. This reawakens the wholeness in it, and restores it to
the Kingdom because of its acceptance of wholeness. The full appreciation of the
mind's Self-fullness makes selfishness impossible and extension inevitable. That
is why there is perfect peace in the Kingdom. Spirit is fulfilling its function,
and only complete fulfillment is peace." (T-7.IX.3:1-3:4).*
(4:2) "So let us not forget our goal is shared, for it is that remembrance which
contains the memory of God, and points the way to Him and to the Heaven of His
peace."
*In this world goals are not shared, because it is a world ruled by the
principle of <one or the other>. Thus, I will get to Heaven -- <my> Heaven --
standing on your shoulders, pushing you down: as you descend, I ascend. The
essence of forgiveness is realizing we -- reflecting Heaven's Oneness -- share
the same purpose, goal and need. That is why remembering our shared goal
contains the memory of God. Recall this important passage on remembering God
through perceiving the common mind uniting the Sonship, despite the ego's fog of
guilt that would keep us divided:
"The light in them [ our sick brothers ] shines as brightly regardless of
the density of the fog that obscures it. If you give no power to the fog to
obscure the light, it has none. For it has power only if the Son of God gives
power to it. He must himself withdraw that power, remembering that all power is
of God. You can remember this for all the Sonship. Do not allow your brother not
to remember, for his forgetfulness is yours. But your remembering is his, for
God cannot be remembered alone. This is what you have forgotten. To perceive the
healing of your brother as the healing of yourself is thus the way to remember
God. For you forgot your brothers with Him, and God's Answer to your forgetting
is but the way to remember." ((T-12.II.2).*
(4:3-5) "And shall we not forgive our brother, who can offer this to us? He is
the way, the truth and life that shows the way to us. In him resides salvation,
offered us through our forgiveness, given unto him."
*John's gospel has Jesus say: "I am the way, the truth and life" (Jn.14:6). Yet
here Jesus says: Yes, I am the way, the truth, and the life, but so are you as
part of God's one Son. Learning to forgive someone you perceive outside you --
realizing he is the Son of God along with you -- is the way your return to the
truth and the life.
"The Holy Spirit teaches one lesson, and applies it to all individuals in
all situations.... When I said "I am with you always", I meant it literally. I
am not absent to anyone in any situation. Because I am always with you, you are
the way, the truth and the life. You did not make this power, any more than I
did. It was created to be shared, and therefore cannot be meaningfully perceived
as belonging to anyone at the expense of another." (T-7.III.1:1,7-11).*
(5:1) "We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised to His
holy Son. We are forgiven now."
*God's gift to us is forgiveness, which, as we now see, bring with it the happy
realization we were mistaken -- about ourselves, our brothers, and our Source.*
(5:2-7) "And we are saved from all the wrath we thought belonged to God, and
found it was a dream. We are restored to sanity, in which we understand that
anger is insane, attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. We have
been saved from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. Nothing more than
that. And is a father angry at his son because he failed to understand the
truth?"
*Jesus is reminding us again of the importance of humility, of being able to say
with sincerity and gratitude that we have been wrong. We need be humble enough
to acknowledge that the insanity he just described is present in practically
every thought, behavior, and goal we have during the day. Yet we need also
accept that God is not angry because we believe we attacked Him -- our Father
never even saw the "attack." Jesus uses the symbol of a father because it is
such an important one for us. Thus the symbol of the angry father the ego has
made is corrected to the Father Who never ceases to love His Son. Recall the
discussion in "Atonement without Sacrifice" (T-3.1.1-2), in which Jesus says the
following of God, in the context of the traditional Christian belief that he
suffered and died for our sins:
"If the crucifixion is seen from an upside-down point of view, it does
appear as if God permitted and even encouraged one of His Sons to suffer because
he was good. This particularly unfortunate interpretation, which arose out of
projection, has led many people to be bitterly afraid of God. Such
anti-religious concepts enter into many religions. ... In milder forms a parent
says, "This hurts me more than it hurts you", and feels exonerated in beating a
child. Can you believe our Father really thinks this way?" (T-3:1.1:5-7;2:7-8).
In truth, of course, there is no Father and Son. There is no separation at all,
and so the belief in sin, guilt, and fear -- the foundation for believing in the
wrath of God -- does not exist. The Father has never ceased to love His Son.*
(6:1) "We come in honesty to God and say we did not understand, and ask Him to
help us to learn His lessons, through the Voice of His Own Teacher."
*Honesty says "I am mistaken." How frequently Jesus comes back to this pivotal
theme! Again, you want to practice this honesty in the very specific events of
your life. Try to catch yourself adamantly insisting you are right, which but
demonstrates you are wrong -- proclaiming your superiority in being right
implicitly makes someone else inferior. This means you are seeing differences
and separation, the hallmarks of the special relationship. Thus the need for
honesty in realizing you understand nothing about love -- between brothers, and
between God and His Son -- and that idols of specialness have brought you
nothing but misery and pain:
"Be speeded on your way by honesty, and let not your experiences here
deceive in retrospect. They were not free from bitter cost and joyless
consequence. ... Do not look back except in honesty. And when an idol tempts
you, think of this:
"There never was a time an idol brought you anything except the "gift" of
guilt. Not one was bought except at cost of pain, nor was it ever paid by you
alone."
"Be merciful unto your brother, then. And do not choose an idol
thoughtlessly, remembering that he will pay the cost as well as you."
(T-30.V.9:11-10:6).*
(6:2-3) "Would He hurt His Son? Or would He rush to answer him, and say, "This
is My Son, and all I have is his"?"
*This is an interesting passage, based on the gospel parable of the prodigal son
(Luke 15:11-32), wherein the errant son returns to the father who rushes gladly
to meet him. The eldest son, who remained faithfully at home with his father,
complains about his brother being given such a royal welcome, including a feast
to be held in his honor. The father essentially replies to him: "I love both of
you, and all I have is yours." In other words, neither brother loses anything by
the father's love: the father loving son A does not preclude his loving son B.
Comparisons are always of the ego, for love makes none (T-24.II.1:1) and we are
loved equally by our Father. In this one workbook sentence, therefore, Jesus
combines into one the response the father makes to the prodigal son who returns,
as well as to the son who remained. Needless to say, having split minds, we are
both sons.*
(6:4-5) "Be certain He will answer thus, for these are His Own words to you. And
more than that can no one ever have, for in these words is all there is, and all
that there will be throughout all time and in eternity."
*Throughout all time, when we choose Jesus as our teacher he will reflect to us
the Love of God and the abundance of His treasure, which we are -- there can be
no lack in God's Son. Throughout eternity, we remain a part of our Source --
there is nothing else. The practice of this glorious message in our daily lives
entails seeing how we manifest the scarcity principle that is opposite to
abundance: the belief in lack, wherein we feel there is something missing in us.
The ego takes this belief and teaches that what we lack someone has taken -- the
fourth law of chaos (T-23.II.9-10). Though not always in awareness, this <one or
the other> belief of winners and losers is present in our minds, and we need
realize that in thinking that God plays favorites we assert He is insane. Yet
this insanity in only in <our> minds, as is God's sane answer. His abundance is
the response to the ego's scarcity, for how can we lose not only the love we
<have>, but the love we <are>? Recall this passage from early in the text:
"In your own mind, though denied by the ego, is the declaration of your
release. God has given you everything. This one fact means the ego does not
exist, and this makes it profoundly afraid. In the ego's language, "to have" and
"to be" are different, but they are identical to the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit knows that you both have everything and are everything. Any distinction
in this respect is meaningful only when the idea of "getting", which implies a
lack, has already been accepted. That is why we make no distinction between
having the Kingdom of God and being the Kingdom of God." (T-4.III.9).
We are now ready for the final five days of lessons.*
