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Lesson 39. My holiness is my salvation.

 

Lesson 39. My holiness is my salvation.

If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? Like the text for which this workbook
was written, the ideas used for the exercises are very simple, very clear and
totally unambiguous. We are not concerned with intellectual feats nor logical
toys. We are dealing only in the very obvious, which has been overlooked in the
clouds of complexity in which you think you think.

If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? This is not difficult, surely. The
hesitation you may feel in answering is not due to the ambiguity of the
question. But do you believe that guilt is hell? If you did, you would see at
once how direct and simple the text is, and you would not need a workbook at
all. No one needs practice to gain what is already his.

We have already said that your holiness is the salvation of the world. What
about your own salvation? You cannot give what you do not have. A savior must be
saved. How else can he teach salvation? Today's exercises will apply to you,
recognizing that your salvation is crucial to the salvation of the world. As you
apply the exercises to your world, the whole world stands to benefit.

Your holiness is the answer to every question that was ever asked, is being
asked now, or will be asked in the future. Your holiness means the end of guilt,
and therefore the end of hell. Your holiness is the salvation of the world, and
your own. How could you to whom your holiness belongs be excluded from it? God
does not know un-holiness. Can it be He does not know His Son?

A full five minutes are urged for the four longer practice periods for today,
and longer and more frequent practice sessions are encouraged. If you want to
exceed the minimum requirements, more rather than longer sessions are
recommended, although both are suggested.

Begin the practice periods as usual, by repeating today's idea to yourself.
Then, with closed eyes, search out your unloving thoughts in whatever form they
appear; uneasiness, depression, anger, fear, worry, attack, insecurity and so
on. Whatever form they take, they are unloving and therefore fearful. And so it
is from them that you need to be saved.

Specific situations, events or personalities you associate with unloving
thoughts of any kind are suitable subjects for today's exercises. It is
imperative for your salvation that you see them differently. And it is your
blessing on them that will save you and give you vision.

Slowly, without conscious selection and without undue emphasis on any one in
particular, search your mind for every thought that stands between you and your
salvation. Apply the idea for today to each of them in this way:

My unloving thoughts about___are keeping me in hell. My holiness is my
salvation.<

You may find these practice periods easier if you intersperse them with several
short periods during which you merely repeat today's idea to yourself slowly a
few times. You may also find it helpful to include a few short intervals in
which you just relax and do not seem to be thinking of anything. Sustained
concentration is very difficult at first. It will become much easier as your
mind becomes more disciplined and less distractible.

Meanwhile, you should feel free to introduce variety into the exercise periods
in whatever form appeals to you. Do not, however, change the idea itself as you
vary the method of applying it. However you elect to use it, the idea should be
stated so that its meaning is the fact that your holiness is your salvation. End
each practice period by repeating the idea in its original form once more, and
adding:
If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?<
In the shorter applications, which should be made some three or four times an
hour and more if possible, you may ask yourself this question, repeat today's
idea, and preferably both. If temptations arise, a particularly helpful form of
the idea is:
My holiness is my salvation from this.<
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 39. "My holiness is my salvation."

(1:1) "If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?"

*There are two ways of answering this question. On one level, and the most
obvious, the answer is the lesson title: the opposite of guilt is holiness, and
the opposite of hell is salvation. As we shall see in the second paragraph,
however, another opposite of <guilt is hell> is that <guilt is heaven>.*

(1:2) "Like the text for which this workbook was written, the ideas used for the
exercises are very simple, very clear and totally unambiguous."

*This is not what most students of A Course in Miracles believe about the text.
The problem is that once you understand what the Course is saying, which means
you have set aside your guilt, specialness, and investment in being an
individual, what is left is the simple truth. You then read A Course in Miracles
in that state of mind and it is ever so "simple ... clear and ... unambiguous."
What makes it difficult to understand is not the language, the blank verse, or
any other aspect of its form, but your unwillingness to understand it. This is
not intended as an attack or condemnation, but simply as a means to help you
understand why you find it so difficult to comprehend, let alone practice. As
long as you have an investment in keeping your mind hidden, in keeping your body
real and individuality paramount, you will find what this course is saying to be
terribly threatening. Inevitably, then, the natural defense against the
perceived threat would be to obscure what it is saying.

You cannot understand A Course in Miracles without first letting it inside. Once
you do, however, you find that when you read something that a week, month or a
year ago made no sense, the words suddenly leap off the page and are "totally
unambiguous." Thus, when Jesus says here -- as he says in so many other places
-- that his course is simple and clear, he is not being facetious, nor mocking
you. He is simply saying that if it is not clear to you it is because you are
defending against it, a statement made in the text that was originally meant for
Helen:

"This course is perfectly clear. If you do not see it clearly, it is because
you are interpreting against it, and therefore do not believe it. And since
belief determines perception, you do not perceive what it means and therefore do
not accept it." (T-11.VI.3:1-3).*

(1:3-4) "We are not concerned with intellectual feats nor logical toys. We are
dealing only in the very obvious, which has been overlooked in the clouds of
complexity in which you think you think."

*So much for our holy and brilliant thoughts we think we are thinking. But we
have already learned we are not thinking at all. Rather, these "profound"
thoughts are but shadows of the mind's thought of fear. The underlying dynamic
here is our fear of the clarity of A Course in Miracles, which gives rise to the
defense of complexity. This renders its simple truths temporarily inaccessible
to us.

The Course's teachings shine in our minds like the sun, and we become so
frightened of the light that we quickly produce clouds, more clouds, and more
clouds still. These defenses, which elsewhere are described as symbols of guilt
(T-13.IX) or "screens of smoke" (W-pI.133.12:3), "protect" us from the light of
the "sun's" truth. In the context of this passage, then, the clouds represent
our intellectual ruminations, all designed, under the rationalization of seeking
understanding, to defend against the simplicity of the teachings. In the end,
truth's simplicity can only be experienced, not understood through the brain. As
Jesus explains in the text about complexity:

"Complexity is of the ego, and is nothing more than the ego's attempt to
obscure the obvious." (T-15:IV.6:2)

"Complexity is not of God. How could it be, when all He knows is One? He knows
of one creation, one reality, one truth and but one Son. Nothing conflicts with
oneness. How, then, could there be complexity in Him?" (T-26.III.1:1-5).*

(2:1-4) "If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? This is not difficult, surely.
The hesitation you may feel in answering is not due to the ambiguity of the
question. But do you believe that guilt is hell?"

*That is the problem. We believe <guilt is heaven>, but are not aware that we
do. There is a subsection of "The Obstacles to Peace" called "The Attraction of
Guilt" (T.19.IV.A..I) in which Jesus specifically talks about our attraction to
seeing guilt in other people. It is obvious, though, that if I see it in others
it is because I want to keep it real in myself. That is the problem. We believe
that guilt is heaven and holiness is damnation. In the text Jesus says our real
fear is not of crucifixion but of redemption (or holiness) (T-13.III.1:10-11).
In the presence of this holiness -- the principle of the Atonement that <is> our
redemption -- our self-concept of individuality disappears: our ego is gone, as
are our problems and their false solutions. Nothing remains but the light of
truth, the light of which truly frightens us. That is the problem.

Guilt preserves individuality because it tells us never to look within our
minds; our guilt and self-hatred are so overpowering that if we go anywhere near
them we will be destroyed. Thus, following the ego's strategy, which we outlined
in the Prelude, we make a world and body to conceal the "awful truth" about
ourselves. This dynamic, which reveals the true purpose of the body, is most
clearly articulated in the following passage from the text. We shall
occasionally return to parts of it, but here is the passage in its entirety. I
have supplied the appropriate nouns, where the pronouns might be confusing:

"The circle of fear lies just below the level the body sees, and seems to
be the whole foundation on which the world is based. Here [ the world ] are all
the illusions, all the twisted thoughts, all the insane attacks, the fury, the
vengeance and betrayal that were made to keep the guilt in place, so that the
world could rise from it [ guilt ]and keep it [ guilt ] hidden. Its [ guilt's ]
shadow rises to the surface, enough to hold its [ guilt's] most external
manifestations in darkness, and to bring despair and loneliness to it [ the
world ] and keep it [ the world ] joyless. Yet its [guilt's ] intensity is
veiled by its [ guilt's ] heavy coverings, and kept apart from what was made to
keep it [ guilt ] hidden. The body cannot see this [guilt ], for the body arose
from this [ guilt ] for its protection, which depends on keeping it [ guilt ]
not seen. The body's eyes will never look on it [guilt ]. Yet they will see what
it [ guilt ] dictates."

"The body will remain guilt's messenger, and will act as it [ guilt ]
directs as long as you believe that guilt is real. For the reality of guilt is
the illusion that seems to make it [ guilt ] heavy and opaque, impenetrable, and
a real foundation for the ego's thought system. Its [ guilt's] thinness and
transparency are not apparent until you see the light behind it [ guilt ]. And
then you see it [ guilt ] as a fragile veil before the light." (T-18.IX.4-5).

Thus are we not aware that guilt is the choice to preserve our individuality by
making up imaginary thoughts that equate it with sin and guilt, which deserve
punishment. All this is protected by the world and the body, which keeps the
horror of our guilt hidden. When Jesus asks, then, "Do you believe that guilt is
hell?" we emphatically answer "No." The proof we have answered thus is that we
believe we are here as bodies and personalities. Jesus knows this to be a fact
in the perceptual universe, which is evident in what he says next: *

(2:5-6) "If you did [believe that guilt is hell ], you would see at once how
direct and simple the text is, and you would not need a workbook at all. No one
needs practice to gain what is already his."

*This is Jesus' reply when you say you cannot understand his course; that it is
too complicated, difficult, or convoluted. He is telling you that is <not> the
problem. In saying, a line we have already quoted, "And God thinks otherwise."
(T-23.I.2:7), Jesus tells you: "*I* think otherwise." The problem is that you
believe guilt is heaven, and do not believe guilt is hell and your holiness is
your salvation. Clearly, Jesus is not attacking or judging anyone here. Rather,
he tells you: "You will not be able to learn this course as long as you do not
listen to what I am telling you, which is that you do not want to learn this
course. Bring to me your fear of learning so I can teach you that A Course in
Miracles will help and not hurt you. Love will not abandon, betray, or crucify
you, but will simply accept you for the Christ you are. It is that love you
fear."

This passage is also an appeal to our humility. Jesus is gently informing us
that we are still spiritual children, babes in the ego's woods that need a wise
older brother to extend his gentle hand and lead us through. As long as we
identify with our physical and psychological self we need a Course in Miracles
as the means whereby Jesus leads us through the darkened thickets of the ego's
thought system to the light of truth that shines just beyond them. It is only
the ego's arrogance that would have us believe we are beyond the need for such
help.*

(3:1-3)"We have already said that your holiness is the salvation of the world.
What about your own salvation? You cannot give what you do not have."

*The world is nothing more than a mirror of what you believe you are; and
therefore the salvation of the world and yourself are identical.

<Having and giving>, <giving and receiving> , <having and being> -- all are
equated in the Course (see e.g., T-6.V), and thus are the same. If the reality
of love, which is the <only> reality, is perfect undifferentiated unity and
nothing else, then what I <have> is what I <am>, and what I <give> is what I
<receive>: again -- they are the same. The four are synonymous with the dynamic
that says that love is, and there is nothing else. In this world, of course,
<having, being, giving and receiving> are separate. If I give you something, I
do not have it. These sentences, moreover, emphasize the need for us to accept
the Atonement for ourselves, not for anyone else. I cannot be of help to others
if I remain an <unhealed healer> (T-9.V).The next lines make this clear:*

(3:4-5) "A savior must be saved. How else can he teach salvation?"

*Nothing in A Course in Miracle will make sense to you -- intellectually or
experientially -- unless you realize that everything is one -- within the ego's
dream and in Heaven. The guilt in your wrong mind is the same guilt in everyone.
Likewise in your right mind: If you forgive one person you forgive everyone,
because everyone is the same. Forgiveness must begin and end where it is needed
-- in our minds, where the original choice for guilt was made. We have already
seen that as we accept salvation for ourselves, it automatically extends through
us to embrace the Sonship as one.*

(3:6) "Today's exercises will apply to you, recognizing that your salvation is
crucial to the salvation of the world."

*I do not have to worry about saving the world or ameliorating a terrible
condition, whether it is global or personal. I need only "worry" about saving
myself, which means asking Jesus to help me look at my mistaken decisions and
thoughts another way.*

(3:7) "As you apply the exercises to your world, the whole world stands to
benefit."

*This of course makes no sense from the world's point of view. Thus, when
students approach this lesson, still thinking they are real persons, living in
the world they can save, they misinterpret Jesus' teaching that there is no
world, which is given detailed attention later in the workbook (e.g., Lesson
132.). Here he is teaching that if I save myself and take him as my teacher
instead of the ego, the whole world is saved as well. The oneness of the world
reflects the oneness of our minds, a oneness that remains at one with itself,
since <ideas leave not their source>. *

(4:1-2) "Your holiness is the answer to every question that was ever asked, is
being asked now, or will be asked in the future. Your holiness means the end of
guilt, and therefore the end of hell."

*That is what we are afraid of, and therefore why we choose to be unholy.
Whenever we attack another, whether in our thoughts, words, or actions, we seek
to prove we are unholy and undeserving of love. It is very simple. There is but
one specific motivation: to keep yourself guilty. If you are guilty, you are
right and Jesus is wrong, for he tells you that you are holy. This, then,
becomes our ego's response to his "attack": "I will show you! Look at what I am
doing or what I am thinking. Look at what I am not doing or thinking." You need
to get in touch with the underlining motivation that wants to prove guilt is not
hell but heaven. Once caught in the maelstrom of guilt, your thought system
quickly evolves to wanting the guilt to rest on another, not yourself. Such
projection is the ego's heaven, since it protects the unforgiveness of ourselves
(W-pII.1.2), and therefore our individual and guilt-ridden identities.
Preserving that identity is the ultimate motivation for our thoughts of judgment
and attack.*

(4:3) "Your holiness is the salvation of the world, and your own."

*Why? Because they are exactly the same: <ideas leave not their source.> *

(4:4-6) "How could you to whom your holiness belongs be excluded from it? God
does not know unholiness. Can it be He does not know His Son?"

*Having firmly established this in the text (e.g., T-4.1.2:6, 11-12; II.8:6-7),
Jesus is clearly implying here that God does not know about this world. This is
an unholy world coming from an unholy thought, and God does not know his Son in
an unholy state. If He did, the unholy state would be real and duality would be
the truth of the Kingdom. Even though the ego is outraged to be told God does
not know about it, in truth that is the most comforting thought of all. If God
does not know about you, then you -- the separated Son of God -- do not exist.
But what God <does> know about does exist: the Self you <truly> are.*

(5) "A full five minutes are urged for the four longer practice periods for
today, and longer and more frequent practice sessions are encouraged. If you
want to exceed the minimum requirements, more rather than longer sessions are
recommended, although both are suggested."

*Again, we see Jesus gently encouraging and leading us forward in our
practicing. He clearly wants us to think of him and his message as often as
possible throughout the day, yet he does not wish us to feel coerced, for
coercion merely reinforces fear.*

(6) "Begin the practice periods as usual, by repeating today's idea to yourself.
Then, with closed eyes, search out your unloving thoughts in whatever form they
appear; uneasiness, depression, anger, fear, worry, attack, insecurity and so
on. Whatever form they take, they are unloving and therefore fearful. And so it
is from them that you need to be saved."

*This is a striking and unequivocal statement that you need to be saved only
from your thoughts. The problem is that we do not know them because we think our
thoughts have taken flight and exist outside us. That is why I have been
emphasizing how Jesus emphasizes our need to search our minds. Indeed, one of
the most important themes of these lessons is mind searching for unloving
thoughts. Occasionally Jesus says to search for loving ones, as will be coming
up shortly, but by and large his focus is on the unloving thoughts, because they
are the problem. It is they we need to bring to the light of truth. Once their
darkness is dispelled, the loving thoughts simply <are>.*

(7) "Specific situations, events or personalities you associate with unloving
thoughts of any kind are suitable subjects for today's exercises. It is
imperative for your salvation that you see them differently. And it is your
blessing on them that will save you and give you vision."

*That is a very strong statement. "It is imperative for your salvation that you
see them differently." How can you see them differently if you do not see them
at all? That is why you have to search your mind for unloving thoughts. Jesus
has already told you he understands that you do not understand what he is
talking about. Moreover, you certainly do not accept his teachings because you
do not believe that guilt is hell. The idea here, therefore, is that you <not>
pretend you are a wonderful student and believe everything in these lessons.
What makes you a wonderful student of A Course in Miracles is to forgive
yourself for <not> believing everything that is here. Remember, the idea is to
bring your unloving thoughts to his love so he may reinterpret them for us. That
is why our recognition and acceptance of their presence -- in our minds -- is so
essential to our healing and salvation.*

(8) "Slowly, without conscious selection and without undue emphasis on any one
in particular, search your mind for every thought that stands between you and
your salvation. Apply the idea for today to each of them in this way: My
unloving thoughts about ________ are keeping me in hell. My holiness is my
salvation."

*That is what Jesus means in the text when he says, to quote this important
statement again:

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the
barriers within yourself that you have built against it." (T.16.IV.6.1)

This aspect of our forgiveness is so essential it could almost be repeated for
each lesson. We need to be continually vigilant for our unloving
thoughts, in order to bring them to the Presence of Love in our minds, which
gently shines them away. Our task, again, is merely to seek and find; removal
belongs to the Holy Spirit.

The remainder of the lesson contains further guidance and instructions for the
day's practice. Note especially these gentle reminders that we are, after all,
just beginners on the journey.*

(9) "You may find these practice periods easier if you intersperse them with
several short periods during which you merely repeat today's idea to yourself
slowly a few times. You may also find it helpful to include a few short
intervals in which you just relax and do not seem to be thinking of anything.
Sustained concentration is very difficult at first. It will become much easier
as your mind becomes more disciplined and less distractible."

*"Sustained concentration" becomes one of the characteristics of our more
advanced state of learning, when we are consistently able to think of Jesus and
his message of forgiveness. The attainment of the real world, the ultimate goal
of A Course in Miracles, comes when our sustained concentration becomes
permanent -- the right-minded correction having undone the wrong-minded problem,
leaving only the memory of God to dawn on our healed and holy minds.*

(10) "Meanwhile, you should feel free to introduce variety into the exercise
periods in whatever form appeals to you. Do not, however, change the idea itself
as you vary the method of applying it. However you elect to use it, the idea
should be stated so that its meaning is the fact that your holiness is your
salvation. End each practice period by repeating the idea in its original form
once more, and adding:
If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?"

*Jesus introduces the idea we can be flexible in our practicing, an obvious
attempt to help us begin the process of generalizing the specific lessons to
<all> situations and circumstances. By instructing us <not> to change the idea,
he is also introducing us to the important theme of <form> and <content>, we may
vary the <form> in which we express forgiveness or love, as long as the
<content> remains the same.

The final paragraph encourages us to become increasingly mindful throughout the
day, as well as to apply the day's idea to temptations to listen to the ego's
doctrine of guilt:*

(11) "In the shorter applications, which should be made some three or four times
an hour and more if possible, you may ask yourself this question, repeat today's
idea, and preferably both. If temptations arise, a particularly helpful form of
the idea is:
My holiness is my salvation from this."

*To the extent we can respond quickly to our ego's temptations to feel guilt and
anger, to that extent we shall progress to the goal of knowing that our holiness
is our salvation, and that we <are> holy.*



Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson
719-369-1822

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