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Lesson 38. There is nothing my holiness cannot do.

 

Lesson 38. There is nothing my holiness cannot do.

Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction
of time, space, distance and limits of any kind. Your holiness is totally
unlimited in its power because it establishes you as a Son of God, at one with
the Mind of his Creator.

Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest. Through your holiness
the power of God is made available. And there is nothing the power of God cannot
do. Your holiness, then, can remove all pain, can end all sorrow, and can solve
all problems. It can do so in connection with yourself and with anyone else. It
is equal in its power to help anyone because it is equal in its power to save
anyone.

If you are holy, so is everything God created. You are holy because all things
He created are holy. And all things He created are holy because you are. In
today's exercises, we will apply the power of your holiness to all problems,
difficulties or suffering in any form that you happen to think of, in yourself
or in someone else. We will make no distinctions because there are no
distinctions.

In the four longer practice periods, each preferably to last a full five
minutes, repeat the idea for today, close your eyes, and then search your mind
for any sense of loss or unhappiness of any kind as you see it. Try to make as
little distinction as possible between a situation that is difficult for you,
and one that is difficult for someone else. Identify the situation specifically,
and also the name of the person concerned. Use this form in applying the idea
for today:
In the situation involving ___ in which I see myself, there is nothing that
my holiness cannot do.<

In the situation involving___in which___sees himself, there is nothing my
holiness cannot do.<

From time to time you may want to vary this procedure, and add some relevant
thoughts of your own. You might like, for example, to include thoughts such as:
There is nothing my holiness cannot do because the power of God lies in
it.<

Introduce whatever variations appeal to you, but keep the exercises focused on
the theme, "There is nothing my holiness cannot do." The purpose of today's
exercises is to begin to instill in you a sense that you have dominion over all
things because of what you are.

In the frequent shorter applications, apply the idea in its original form unless
a specific problem concerning you or someone else arises, or comes to mind. In
that event, use the more specific form in applying the idea to it.


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

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 38. "There is nothing my holiness cannot do."

*Jesus does not mean that your holiness will enable you to walk on water or heal
people's physical symptoms. His focus, as we have already observed many times,
is not on behavior, even though the language may sometimes suggest it is. The
concern of A Course in Miracles is always on the thinking in your mind. The
reason there is nothing that your holiness cannot do, think, say, or feel will
come directly from your right-minded decision to identify with the holiness of
Christ. That means there will be no interference or distortion: with guilt and
judgment gone, all that remains is the love that transcends all problems and
concerns.*

(1:1-2) "Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every
restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind."

*This is because your holiness resides in your right mind, accessed by choosing
the holy instant in which you are joined with Jesus or the Holy Spirit. This
means there is no separation, and so there can be no sin, guilt, or fear. If
there is no <sin>, there is no <past>; if there is no <guilt>, there is no
<present>; and if there is no <fear>, there is no <future>. In other words,
there is no time in the holy instant. Moreover, if there is no thought of
separation from God, there is no body. To cite a previously cited statement from
the text: "At no single instant does the body exist at all" (T.18.VII.3.1). Thus
holiness is completely outside of time and space. When you identify with your
holiness you know the world of time and space is a dream, and you can literally
watch your dream figure -- the dream figure with the name you think you are --
come and go, realizing at last that is <not> who you are. There is nothing you
have to do: "I need do nothing," as the text says (T-18.VII).*

(1:3) "Your holiness is totally unlimited in its power because it establishes
you as a Son of God, at one with the Mind of his Creator."

*That is what joining with the Holy Spirit or Jesus effects. In that instant,
once again, everything changes, and all your problems are solved. Lessons 79 and
80 tell us our problems are solved because there is only one problem: the belief
we are separated. Therefore there is only one solution: accepting the Atonement,
which denies the reality of guilt because it denies the reality of the
separation. At that point the memory of our Identity as God's one Son dawns on
our unclouded minds.*

(2:1-3) "Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest. Through your
holiness the power of God is made available. And there is nothing the power of
God cannot do."

*Jesus is not talking about anything external, as I have already said a number
of times. For two thousand years the miracle stories of the gospels have been
regarded as testimony of the power of God: Jesus can heal the sick, raise the
dead, turn water into wine, and resurrect the flesh. This represents a total
misunderstanding of what Jesus taught. It is interesting to observe students of
A Course in Miracles who are trying to get away from their Christian upbringing
making the same mistake of confusing <form> with <content>, <body> and <mind>:
the confusion of levels that early in the text Jesus discusses as the cause of
all sickness (T-2.IV.2).

Jesus is therefore not talking about what your body will do, because when you
identify with the power of God and your holiness, you realize that the body is
simply a figment of your imagination, a figure in your dream. We are all figures
in the dream in which the body literally does nothing, and we can liken it to a
puppet that is nothing more than a lifeless piece of wood. Thus do we live as
puppets, in a make-believe world that has no more reality than that enjoyed by
little children in a theater. This, too, is an idea to which we shall return
again and again.*

(2:4-6) "Your holiness, then, can remove all pain, can end all sorrow, and can
solve all problems. It can do so in connection with yourself and with anyone
else. It is equal in its power to help anyone because it is equal in its power
to save anyone."

*The source of all our pain, sorrow, and problems is our decision to push Jesus
away. If we invite him back there can be no distress. Remember that we are
speaking only on the level of the mind, since that is the source of all pain. It
is possible that perceived negative external circumstances, totally beyond our
human control, will continue, as might physical symptoms. However, without
guilt, they will no longer be experienced as problems or sources of pain or
distress.

"The body's eyes will continue to see differences. But the mind that has
let itself be healed will no longer acknowledge them. There will be those who
seem to be "sicker" than others, and the body's eyes will report their changed
appearances as before. But the healed mind will put them all in one category;
they are unreal. This is the gift of its Teacher; the understanding that only
two categories are meaningful in sorting out the messages the mind receives from
what appears to be the outside world. And of these two, but one is real. Just as
reality is wholly real, apart from size and shape and time and place -for
differences cannot exist within it- so too are illusions without distinctions.
The one answer to sickness of any kind is healing. The one answer to all
illusions is truth." (M-8.6).

It cannot be emphasized too often that A Course in Miracles is concerned only
with the <cause> of the world -- the <mind> -- and not the <effect> -- the
world. That is why Jesus makes this important statement in the text: "This is a
course in cause and not effect." (T.21.VII.7.8). Thus when we ask Jesus to help
end our physical or emotional pain, or to solve an external problem, we are
bringing his truth into our illusion. Sometimes the problem is resolved and
sometimes it is not, but involving Jesus in our external problems only glorifies
specialness, the exact opposite of what he is teaching us to correct.

This certainly does not mean that one should <not> ask him for this kind of
help. However, to remain at that level of relationship with him is to ensure
that we never grow beyond it. Indeed, the pamphlet <The Song of Prayer> was
written specifically to help students of A Course in Miracles move beyond what
is described there as the bottom rung of the ladder of prayer -- asking for
specifics -- to the higher rungs that reflect our shift in focus from the world
to the mind, a shift that helps us to see that there is, again, only <one>
problem and therefore only <one> solution. Such insight of course is what the
very first principle of miracles teaches us:

"There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not "harder" or "bigger"
than another. They are all the same." (T-1.I.1:1-3).

To make this important point one more time: Our holiness is "equal in its power
to help anyone" because there is one problem. There is also only one Son. If my
mind is healed because I have chosen the holiness of Christ as my identity
instead of the ego's sinfulness, in that instant I realize I am that one Son,
and everyone is part of that Sonship with me. Therefore, in my experience all
pain is gone. This has nothing to do with other people's choices still to remain
asleep, for in the holy instant I am beyond their dream, as was Jesus.*

(3:1-3) "If you are holy, so is everything God created. You are holy because all
things He created are holy. And all things He created are holy because you are."

*If I am holy, so is everything God created, because what God created is One.
When you read lovely and inspiring sentences like these, you have to penetrate
beyond the words to the meaning, beyond the <form> to the <content>. If you
truly believe what Jesus is saying, then throughout your day you must attempt to
generalize his meaning to everything, <without exception>. In doing so you need
realize how you do <not> believe the Son of God is holy because you do not
believe the Son of God is one. You need realize that you choose to believe some
people are holy and some are not. Remember, your judgment of anyone directly
reflects your judgment of yourself. Vigilance, once again, means paying careful
attention to what you perceive outside you, realizing this is a mirror of what
you have made real inside.*

(3:4-5) "In today's exercises, we will apply the power of your holiness to all
problems, difficulties or suffering in any form that you happen to think of, in
yourself or in someone else. We will make no distinctions because there are no
distinctions."

*We can see once again why Jesus begins A Course in Miracles with "There is no
order of difficulty in miracles" (T-1.1.1:1). That is the alpha and omega. The
ego's version is that there <is> a hierarchy of illusions (T-23.II.2:3), which
is why in these lessons Jesus repeatedly instructs us not make any distinctions
in what we perceive or think. Either everything is of the ego or the Holy
Spirit, and there is no in between. As Jesus said a moment ago, either you are
sinless or sinful. It is one or the other, the right-minded use of that ego
principle.

Paragraphs 4 and 5 instruct us in the day's exercise, focusing on the role of
choosing our right-minded thought of holiness in solving <all> our problems. It
is important to note that Jesus asks us to make no distinction between perceived
problems in ourselves or in others: *

(4) "In the four longer practice periods, each preferably to last a full five
minutes, repeat the idea for today, close your eyes, and then search your mind
for any sense of loss or unhappiness of any kind as you see it. Try to make as
little distinction as possible between a situation that is difficult for you,
and one that is difficult for someone else. Identify the situation specifically,
and also the name of the person concerned. Use this form in applying the idea
for today:
In the situation involving ___ in which I see myself, there is nothing that
my holiness cannot do. In the situation involving___in which___sees himself,
there is nothing my holiness cannot do."

*Since their source remains the same -- the unholiness (guilt) in our minds --
it matters not where the projection is perceived. There is no hierarchy of
illusions -- the illusory <idea> of separation has never left its illusory
<source> in the mind. That is why distinctions among illusions --e.g., separate
bodies -- are ultimately irrelevant. This is the <content> behind the <form> of
Jesus' instruction to us "to make as little distinction as possible between a
situation that is difficult for you, and one that is difficult for someone
else." *

(5) "From time to time you may want to vary this procedure, and add some
relevant thoughts of your own. You might like, for example, to include thoughts
such as:

There is nothing my holiness cannot do because the power of God lies in it.

Introduce whatever variations appeal to you, but keep the exercises focused on
the theme, "There is nothing my holiness cannot do." The purpose of today's
exercises is to begin to instill in you a sense that you have dominion over all
things because of what you are."

*Jesus is asking us to continue our practice of generalizing his lesson to as
many thoughts and situations as possible. The final sentence is a reference to
the Adam and Eve story in Genesis, where God gives Adam dominion over all things
(Genesis,1;28), symbolized in the myth by Adam giving everything a name. Naming
something is a symbol of having power over it, a thought we shall return to in
Lesson 184. Jesus uses the same idea here, although obviously he is not speaking
of power as the world regards it, but as the power of God's love -- His total
Oneness. I thus have dominion over all things because of what I am -- the
holiness of Christ. Therefore, everything I perceive as separate from me must be
holy; not because its form is inherently holy, but because it is a projection of
the mind that contains holiness. This concept is expressed in the following
prayer of Jesus from the text, said on our behalf:

"I thank You, Father, knowing You will come to close each little gap that
lies between the broken pieces of Your holy Son. Your holiness, complete and
perfect, lies in every one of them. And they are joined because what is in one
is in them all. How holy is the smallest grain of sand, when it is recognized as
being part of the completed picture of God's Son! The forms the broken pieces
seem to take mean nothing. For the whole is in each one. And every aspect of the
Son of God is just the same as every other part." (T-28.IV.9).

If I am tempted not to see you as holy, but as an entity separate from me --
having something I want, or having power over me -- this misperception
represents a <prior> choice to keep my holiness separate from me. I would have
made this choice out of fear that in my holiness all individuality and
specialness disappear. In other words, power is in our minds because there is
nothing outside them. That power rests in our decision maker's ability to choose
the Love of God or attack it. There <is> no other power in the world

The lesson concludes with Jesus again asking us to apply the day's thought to
any <specific> form of upset:*

(6) "In the frequent shorter applications, apply the idea in its original form
unless a specific problem concerning you or someone else arises, or comes to
mind. In that event, use the more specific form in applying the idea to it."

*As we have remarked, and will continue to remark, these exercises have no value
if we do not learn to generalize their principles to <all> situations in which
we find ourselves -- minor, or major, pleasurable or painful. We must learn that
all problems are the same since they share the common source of separation or
unholiness. When brought to the Atonement -- the thought of holiness in our
minds -- they cannot but disappear.*



Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson
719-369-1822

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