Lesson 124. Let me remember I am one with God.
(1) Today we will again give thanks for our Identity in God. Our home is safe,
protection guaranteed in all we do, power and strength available to us in all
our undertakings. We can fail in nothing. Everything we touch takes on a shining
light that blesses and that heals. At one with God and with the universe we go
our way rejoicing, with the thought that God Himself goes everywhere with us.
(2) How holy are our minds! And everything we see reflects the holiness within
the mind at one with God and with itself. How easily do errors disappear, and
death give place to everlasting life. Our shining footprints point the way to
truth, for God is our Companion as we walk the world a little while. And those
who come to follow us will recognize the way because the light we carry stays
behind, yet still remains with us as we walk on.
(3) What we receive is our eternal gift to those who follow after, and to those
who went before or stayed with us a while. And God, Who loves us with the equal
love in which we were created, smiles on us and offers us the happiness we gave.
(4) Today we will not doubt His Love for us, nor question His protection and His
care. No meaningless anxieties can come between our faith and our awareness of
His Presence. We are one with Him today in recognition and remembrance. We feel
Him in our hearts. Our minds contain His Thoughts; our eyes behold His
loveliness in all we look upon. Today we see only the loving and the lovable.
(5) We see it in appearances of pain, and pain gives way to peace. We see it in
the frantic, in the sad and the distressed, the lonely and afraid, who are
restored to the tranquility and peace of mind in which they were created. And we
see it in the dying and the dead as well, restoring them to life. All this we
see because we saw it first within ourselves.
(6) No miracle can ever be denied to those who know that they are one with God.
No thought of theirs but has the power to heal all forms of suffering in anyone,
in times gone by and times as yet to come, as easily as in the ones who walk
beside them now. Their thoughts are timeless, and apart from distance as apart
from time.
(7) We join in this awareness as we say that we are one with God. For in these
words we say as well that we are saved and healed; that we can save and heal
accordingly. We have accepted, and we now would give. For we would keep the
gifts our Father gave. Today we would experience ourselves at one with Him, so
that the world may share our recognition of reality. In our experience the world
is freed. As we deny our separation from our Father, it is healed along with us.
(8) Peace be to you today. Secure your peace by practicing awareness you are one
with your Creator, as He is with you. Sometime today, whenever it seems best,
devote a half an hour to the thought that you are one with God. This is our
first attempt at an extended period for which we give no rules nor special words
to guide your meditation. We will trust God's Voice to speak as He sees fit
today, certain He will not fail. Abide with Him this half an hour. He will do
the rest.
(9) Your benefit will not be less if you believe that nothing happens. You may
not be ready to accept the gain today. Yet sometime, somewhere, it will come to
you, nor will you fail to recognize it when it dawns with certainty upon your
mind. This half an hour will be framed in gold, with every minute like a diamond
set around the mirror that this exercise will offer you. And you will see
Christ's face upon it, in reflection of your own.
(10) Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will see your own transfiguration in
the glass this holy half an hour will hold out to you, to look upon yourself.
When you are ready you will find it there, within your mind and waiting to be
found. You will remember then the thought to which you gave this half an hour,
thankfully aware no time was ever better spent."
(11) Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will look into this glass, and
understand the sinless light you see belongs to you; the loveliness you look on
is your own. Count this half hour as your gift to God, in certainty that His
return will be a sense of love you cannot understand, a joy too deep for you to
comprehend, a sight too holy for the body's eyes to see. And yet you can be sure
someday, perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will understand and comprehend and
see.
(12) Add further jewels to the golden frame that holds the mirror offered you
today, by hourly repeating to yourself:
Let me remember I am one with God,
at one with all my brothers and my Self,
in everlasting holiness and peace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 124. Let me remember I am one with God.
*Here we find the theme of oneness, the understanding of which means recognizing
how much we do not want to let go of the separation. To make the point again,
what is positive in A Course in Miracles is undoing what is negative, because
this is not a course about Heaven, where the only true Positive can be found.
The thought system of separation is the cause of all our problems, and its
undoing leads us to remember who We are. The process, as does this lesson,
begins with an expression of gratitude:*
(1:1) "Today we will again give thanks for our Identity in God."
*We give thanks to the extent we are willing to say: I no longer want to be who
I thought I was -- a unique and special person, separate from the Creator; I no
longer want to be right.*
(1:2-5) "Our home is safe, protection guaranteed in all we do, power and
strength available to us in all our undertakings. We can fail in nothing.
Everything we touch takes on a shining light that blesses and that heals. At one
with God and with the universe we go our way rejoicing, with the thought that
God Himself goes everywhere with us."
*As we do this lesson and read Jesus' beautiful and inspiring words, we need to
be aware of a part within us that does not believe him. Moreover, there is a
part that does not want to believe him. We have made a world in which we are
vulnerable at every turn, and yet it is a world in which we take strange and
perverse comfort. Our learning therefore takes us away from here, as we choose
the strength of Christ instead of our weakness (T-31.VIII.2.3). As the journey
continues, we come to know we fail in nothing because of Who walks with us and
Who we are. Jesus' beautiful words thus cease to be mere words, but symbols of
our reality.*
(2:1) "How holy are our minds!"
*Our minds are obviously not very holy, if we think we exist as individuals.
Guilt is not holy, but we remember the mind's holiness when we recognize that
the Love of God is the only thing we want. Holiness is found in our right minds,
to which we return when we forgive. Thus we recall our holy minds by forgiving
our unholy projections onto others. One of the loveliest lines in A Course in
Miracles states:
"The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become
a present love." (T.26.IX.6.1)*
(2:2) "And everything we see reflects the holiness within the mind at one with
God and with itself."
*This is so, as everything we see with our eyes reflects the mind's <un>holiness
in believing it is not one with God or with itself. Once we choose to be an
individual and reinforced the belief in separation, the mind filled with guilt.
The world arose from this thought as a shadow whose purpose was to conceal it.
When we change our teacher we join the light, and everything we see through
vision reflects it. To continue the passage quoted above, we read how God and
Christ return to the temple of forgiveness that has welcomed Them, as the world
fills with the light reflected from Heaven's Love and gratitude:
"And They come quickly to the living temple, where a home for Them has been
set up. There is no place in Heaven holier. And They have come to dwell within
the temple offered Them, to be Their resting place as well as yours. What hatred
has released to love becomes the brightest light in Heaven's radiance. And all
the lights in Heaven brighter grow, in gratitude for what has been restored."
(T-26.IX.6:2-6).*
(2:3) "How easily do errors disappear, and death give place to everlasting
life."
*Jesus is not speaking of everlasting life in the body; only in thought, which
is all he ever speaks about. Thus, when we choose the ego we make real the
thought of death; when we choose the Holy Spirit the unreality of this thought
is apparent, and the memory of our eternal life as Christ becomes the only thing
with which we identify.*
(2:4) "Our shining footprints point the way to truth, for God is our Companion
as we walk the world a little while."
*To the extent to which I walk with Jesus, I become a reminder. My footprints
shine the way for others, as I exemplify the right-minded choice. Indeed, to
choose forgiveness for myself is my only function in the world, allowing me to
become the symbol of truth Jesus has become. By the peace and love people
experience in me, they hear the message: "The same choice I made is available to
you, because our minds are one."*
(2:5) "And those who come to follow us will recognize the way because the light
we carry stays behind, yet still remains with us as we walk on."
*The light stays behind to the extent it is still in the mind of God's Son --
within me, but within everyone else as well. It is a reminder, to repeat his
important point, that says the choice I made you can make as well. This occurs
within the mind, though it seems to be within the dream of bodies. Indeed, we
have many symbols -- Jesus among the most prominent -- to whom we point as
models for the right choice. We look to them, understanding that because they
chose correctly, and minds are one, we can make the same choice. In fact, we
already have!
You need be wary, however, that you do not identify with other people's
behavior, for it is with their minds you wish to identify. It is pointless to
emulate external appearances; e.g., how people act, dress, speak, or eat. It is
the process of right-minded choosing that is the proper focus. When Jesus tells
us to take him as our model for learning (e.g., T-in.2:1), he is not really
referring to the biblical life with which people associate him, but his mind's
choice for truth instead of illusion -- the separation never happened, for the
Holy Spirit is the mind's true Voice.*
(3:1) "What we receive is our eternal gift to those who follow after, and to
those who went before or stayed with us a while."
*In other words, past, present, and future are one. When I choose the holy
instant, I learn that the illusion of separation had no effect -- no sin, guilt,
or fear, and therefore no linear time. In the oneness of the holy instant,
therefore, I am one with the Sonship: past, present, and future.*
(3:2--4:1) "And God, Who loves us with the equal love in which we were created,
smiles on us and offers us the happiness we gave."
"Today we will not doubt His Love for us, nor question His protection and His
care."
*This acceptance is possible only when we realize how much we doubt His Love and
do not trust His protection of care. After all, how could He care about or
protect me, let alone love me, if I am the one who betrayed Him? That is why we
need realize that the way we experience God's Love is by releasing the
interferences to His Presence. Needless to say, Jesus speaks to us in symbols --
God does not literally smile on us, yet His Love transcends the ego's special
(or unequal) love that would have us believe, for example, that He smiles on
<some> of the Sonship, but not all, or <some> of the Sonship <some> times, but
not all times.*
(4:2-6) "No meaningless anxieties can come between our faith and our awareness
of His Presence. We are one with Him today in recognition and remembrance. We
feel Him in our hearts. Our minds contain His Thoughts; our eyes behold His
loveliness in all we look upon. Today we see only the loving and the lovable."
*We need first be aware of the anxieties, before realizing they have no power.
We first remove the interference before we can see, the static before we can
hear. Acknowledging our faith in the ego, we correct the mistake and remember
the Presence of truth. Identifying then with the Thoughts of peace, the thoughts
of conflict dissolve into nothingness. Instead of war, "we see only the loving
and the lovable" as the memory of God dawns on our quiet and holy minds.
To restate this important point, we do not use these statements as affirmations
to cover the ego thought system, but as statements of the truth to which we
bring the ego thought system. The next paragraph describes this process: *
(5) "We see it [the loving and the loveable] in appearances of pain, and pain
gives way to peace. We see it in the frantic, in the sad and the distressed, the
lonely and afraid, who are restored to the tranquility and peace of mind in
which they were created. And we see it in the dying and the dead as well,
restoring them to life. All this we see because we saw it first within
ourselves."
*This is the same thought expressed in Lesson 122, which spoke of our seeing the
"changeless in the heart of change." As we go through our day, we do not deny
what is distressing -- fear, loneliness, and death. We see our ego's
perceptions, but realize they come from a thought we first saw within ourselves.
<Projection makes perception> is still the heart of Jesus' teachings: I look
within, choose the ego or the Holy Spirit as my teacher, guilt or forgiveness as
my truth, and from that choice a world arises. If guilt is my choice, I see the
world Jesus describes here -- a place of pain, distress, and death. I will have
made it real because I made the thought of guilt real. At that point, all that
is described above must be so: <effect> follows <cause>. If, on the other hand,
I choose forgiveness, I undo separation for I have joined with the Love of God,
meaning there can be no pain, loneliness, or death. Once the <cause> is removed,
the <effects> are removed as well.
The final sentence is the key: "All this we see because we saw it first within
ourselves." When Jesus says "we see it in the dying and the dead as well,
restoring them to life," he is not speaking of physical resurrection, nor
encouraging us to go to funeral homes or graveyards, saying words like this and
expecting people to rise up. All this has nothing to do with the body because
death is only a thought of guilt. Death ends when we choose against the thought
<in ourselves>: the ego's guilt.
When your mind walks with Jesus, therefore, you do not see death as real because
you know the body is an illusion, a mere figure in a dream. Moreover, you
realize the person appearing as that dream figure is one with you in the mind;
not only in separation, but in the Atonement. Beyond that, of course, the person
is one with you in the Mind of Christ, in which there is no death, loneliness,
or pain. There are two places in A Course in Miracles where Jesus instructs us
in recognizing which teacher and lessons we have chosen. In the text:
"Whenever you feel fear in any form, -and you are fearful if you do not feel
a deep content, a certainty of help, a calm assurance Heaven goes with you,- be
sure you made an idol, and believe it will betray you. For beneath your hope
that it will save you lie the guilt and pain of self-betrayal and uncertainty,
so deep and bitter that the dream cannot conceal completely all your sense of
doom. Your self-betrayal must result in fear, for fear is judgment, leading
surely to the frantic search for idols and for death." (T.29.IX.9).
And from the workbook, in a lesson we shall examine later:
"How can you tell when you are seeing wrong, or someone else is failing to
perceive the lesson he should learn? Does pain seem real in the perception? If
it does, be sure the lesson is not learned. And there remains an unforgiveness
hiding in the mind that sees the pain through eyes the mind directs."
(W.PI.193.7)
These passages emphasize that the problem of fear and pain have their cause in
self-perception. If you see pain as real in yourself or others, experience fear
and loss of peace, it is because you first made guilt real in your mind. The
dead arise and the sick are healed not by physical intervention, but by a change
in you: <Projection makes perception>. If there is only a thought of love in
your mind, which Jesus represents, there could no longer be perceptions of pain,
suffering and death. It does not mean your body's eyes do not see them, but you
will give them no power to affect you.
To repeat, Jesus is not talking about what our bodies' eyes see, but our
<interpretation> of the sensory data. Two brief passages, for example, express
perception's interpretative function:
"All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recognize
yourself, your brother or God. To recognize means to "know again", implying that
you knew before. You can see in many ways because perception involves
interpretation, and this means that it is not whole or consistent."
(T-3.III.2:1-3).
"There has been much confusion about what perception means, because the
word is used both for awareness and for the interpretation of awareness. Yet you
cannot be aware without interpretation, for what you perceive is your
interpretation." (T-11.VI.2:5-6).
To summarize, there is no objective data out there to be seen. It is only the
<way> we see that is important. Thus our bodies eyes continue to see what other
eyes see; but our minds, joined with Jesus, will no longer give the
interpretation that proves the reality of individuality and sin. Our minds see
everything here as an ego defense to deny the truth of our shared interests with
the world, the stepping-stone towards remembering our shared reality in Heaven.
Thus are the sick healed and the dead risen from their dream of separation.*
(6) "No miracle can ever be denied to those who know that they are one with God.
No thought of theirs but has the power to heal all forms of suffering in anyone,
in times gone by and times as yet to come, as easily as in the ones who walk
beside them now. Their thoughts are timeless, and apart from distance as apart
from time."
*As we just saw, when thoughts of sin, guilt, and fear are projected, they give
rise to a world of past, present, and future. The world of time, therefore, is
nothing but the expression in form of the ego's unholy trinity. When I join with
Jesus and remember I am one with God, these thoughts of Atonement and sin,
oneness and separation, cannot coexist. Thus, if there is no ego thought system,
there is no time: likewise, if there is no separation, there is no body, if
there is no body, there is no pain -- oneness cannot suffer.
This passage expresses the first principle of miracles: no order of difficulty
among them (T-1.1.1:1). This is because every problem is the same -- the choice
for the ego -- as is its solution -- the choice for Jesus. When I choose the
ego, everything my eyes see will be true: pain, suffering, specialness, bodies
that live and die -- and all are equally illusory. When I choose Jesus, however,
I stand outside the dream and, looking with him, gently smile at the silliness
of believing anything here can be real. That is how pain disappears and God's
smile wipes away all tears. The following passage from the text call us to
witness to the shared innocence of God's Son, instead of the pained bodily
picture of sin, guilt, and fear:
"Now in the hands made gentle by His touch, the Holy Spirit lays a picture
of a different you. It is a picture of a body still, for what you really are
cannot be seen nor pictured. Yet this one has not been used for purpose of
attack, and therefore never suffered pain at all. It witnesses to the eternal
truth that you cannot be hurt, and points beyond itself to both your innocence
and his. Show this unto your brother, who will see that every scar is healed,
and every tear is wiped away in laughter and in love. And he will look on his
forgiveness there, and with healed eyes will look beyond it to the innocence
that he beholds in you. Here is the proof that he has never sinned; that nothing
which his madness bid him do was ever done, or ever had effects of any kind.
That no reproach he laid upon his heart was ever justified, and no attack can
ever touch him with the poisoned and relentless sting of fear."(T.27.I.5).
Thus are we healed as one, because we are one in our Creator and Source: *
(7:1) "We join in this awareness as we say that we are one with God."
*To say "we are one with God" means we must first say we are not one with the
ego. Again, this is not a course in affirmations, but in denying the denial of
truth (T-12.II.1:5).*
(7:3-7) "For in these words we say as well that we are saved and healed; that we
can save and heal accordingly. We have accepted, and we now would give. For we
would keep the gifts our Father gave. Today we would experience ourselves at one
with Him, so that the world may share our recognition of reality. In our
experience the world is freed. As we deny our separation from our Father, it is
healed along with us."
*To repeat, to say I am one with God is to deny I am separate from my Father. We
see here at the end of the paragraph the explanation for what Jesus said at the
beginning: I first deny what I thought I was, gladly realizing I was wrong. What
remains is the simple truth that God is right. Only then can I truly accept His
gifts of love and eternal life. Yet I do not accept them for myself alone, for
in my freedom from the ego's fearful gifts is found the freedom of the world.
Paragraph 8 to the end contain the instructions for the day. They are
particularly beautiful, as indeed all the lessons are now:*
(8:1-4) "Peace be to you today. Secure your peace by practicing awareness you
are one with your Creator, as He is with you. Sometime today, whenever it seems
best, devote a half an hour to the thought that you are one with God. This is
our first attempt at an extended period for which we give no rules nor special
words to guide your meditation."
*Once we have accepted peace as our goal, we also accept the means Jesus offers
us to attain it. He asks us now to extend our practice periods to a full thirty
minutes, a period in which he would like us to think about the oneness of our
Self, at one with Its Creator. Try to see how many senseless words and thoughts
you bring to the meditation, how hard it is to sit quietly without specific
instructions. When you find yourself having difficulty, do not berate, judge, or
pressure yourself. Simply say: "I am afraid of oneness, for if I were really
still, the thought of love would penetrate my barriers and I would disappear. To
protect myself from the silence of God's Love, I shall be noisy and restless: A
fly will disturb my concentration, my ear will begin to itch, a later
appointment will suddenly concern me -- dozens of other irrelevant thoughts will
cross my mind as well." Do not fight such fear and distraction; simply watch
calmly what you are doing. That will be enough to fulfill the requirements of
the practice period.*
(8:5-7) "We will trust God's Voice to speak as He sees fit today, certain He
will not fail. Abide with Him this half an hour. He will do the rest."
*We enter this exercise in trust that if we do our part -- looking at our egos
without judgment -- the Holy Spirit will do His. Indeed, He cannot fail to do
His part because He <is> His part. By deciding against the barriers we built
against the Holy Spirit's Presence, His Voice of Love can be heard -- not in
words, but in the experience of a non-specific love that extends through the
mind to guide our words and deeds.*
(9:1-2) "Your benefit will not be less if you believe that nothing happens. You
may not be ready to accept the gain today."
*Jesus is again telling you not to feel guilty if you do not "accept the gain,"
letting you know it is very likely you are not going to accept it. You may
recall his words to Helen:
"After you have passed the course, you will accept it and keep it and use
it. That is the final exam, which you will have no trouble in passing. Midterm
marks are not entered on the permanent record." (Absence from Felicity, p.219) .
"Jesus is not grading your performance, for he knows the outcome of your return
is as certain as God." (T-4.II.5:8).*
(9:3) "Yet sometime, somewhere, it will come to you, nor will you fail to
recognize it when it dawns with certainty upon your mind."
*Do not be upset, Jesus says, if you grapple with thoughts of when it will
happen, or thinking it never will happen, you but return to the mistake of
giving the ego power it does not have. Remember, you do the workbook properly to
the extent you do it "miserably," but without judgment. Do not pressure yourself
into being perfect, for that merely reinforces the fearful belief you are
imperfect.*
(9:4-5) "This half an hour will be framed in gold, with every minute like a
diamond set around the mirror that this exercise will offer you. And you will
see Christ's face upon it, in reflection of your own."
*The symbolism here is similar to "The Two Pictures" (T-17.IV). However, where
the diamond-faceted frame served to conceal the ego's picture of death, here the
beautifully jeweled frame symbolizes our practice that reveals to us the
innocence of Christ's face, radiating its love back to us as we accept it. Thus
does our thirty-minute meditations become the frame that leads directly to the
remembrance of our Identity. We may even find our meditation opening the window
to timelessness, in which all sense of self disappears:
"The frame fades gently and God rises to your remembrance, offering you the
whole of creation ... "(T-17.IV.15:5).
In the timeless holy instant we are joined with all our brothers, creation at
one with its Creator:
"The holy instant shines alike on all relationships, for in it they are
one. For here is only healing, already complete and perfect. For here is God,
and where He is only the perfect and complete can be." (T-17.IV.16:8-10).*
(10) "Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will see your own transfiguration in
the glass this holy half an hour will hold out to you, to look upon yourself.
When you are ready you will find it there, within your mind and waiting to be
found. You will remember then the thought to which you gave this half an hour,
thankfully aware no time was ever better spent."
*As you practice this exercise, be aware of your fear and resistance. Look in
the mirror and see <your> face, the "friendly" face of specialness, pain, and
abuse, which you prefer to the face of Christ. You do not want to see a face
with no painful past, nor a future anticipated with dread or magical hope. This
lesson, therefore, will be helpful, if you come away with an increased
understanding of how much fear there is in looking within to see the sinless and
atemporal face that shines with the love of Jesus. You may also recognize the
scriptural reference to the transfiguration of Jesus, as witnessed to by the
disciples on Mount Tabor (Matthew 17:1-8).
This next paragraph begins with the same phrase of previous one, highlighting
the musical nature of these lessons:*
(12) "Add further jewels to the golden frame that holds the mirror offered you
today, by hourly repeating to yourself:
Let me remember I am one with God,
at one with all my brothers and my Self,
in everlasting holiness and peace."
*At least once an hour, then, try to be aware of how you do not want to speak
these words. To say it again -- without pressuring yourself, focus on what you
do not want to do or let go of. Becoming aware of these ego thoughts will allow
you to realize that another part of your mind does in fact want to make these
words your own. This will make the day meaningful, for you will have learned how
much your commitment is to yourself and to the Sonship. You will realize that
your fear of remembering every hour does not make you happy, yet another thought
within your mind will bring you the peace that comes in knowing you are one with
God and with your Self.*
