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Lesson 42. God is my strength. Vision is His gift.

 

Lesson 42. God is my strength. Vision is His gift.

The idea for today combines two very powerful thoughts, both of major
importance. It also sets forth a cause and effect relationship that explains why
you cannot fail in your efforts to achieve the goal of the course. You will see
because it is the Will of God. It is His strength, not your own, that gives you
power. And it is His gift, rather than your own, that offers vision to you.

God is indeed your strength, and what He gives is truly given. This means that
you can receive it any time and anywhere, wherever you are, and in whatever
circumstance you find yourself. Your passage through time and space is not at
random. You cannot but be in the right place at the right time. Such is the
strength of God. Such are His gifts.

We will have two three-to-five-minute practice periods today, one as soon as
possible after you wake, and another as close as possible to the time you go to
sleep. It is better, however, to wait until you can sit quietly by yourself, at
a time when you feel ready, than it is to be concerned with the time as such.

Begin these practice periods by repeating the idea for today slowly, with your
eyes open, looking about you. Then close your eyes and repeat the idea again,
even slower than before. After this, try to think of nothing except thoughts
that occur to you in relation to the idea for the day. You might think, for
example:


Vision must be possible. God gives truly,<
or:
God's gifts to me must be mine, because He gave them to me.<
Any thought that is clearly related to the idea for today is suitable. You may,
in fact, be astonished at the amount of course-related understanding some of
your thoughts contain. Let them come without censoring unless you find your mind
is merely wandering, and you have let obviously irrelevant thoughts intrude. You
may also reach a point where no thoughts at all seem to come to mind. If such
interferences occur, open your eyes and repeat the thought once more while
looking slowly about; close your eyes, repeat the idea once more, and then
continue to look for related thoughts in your mind.

Remember, however, that active searching for relevant thoughts is not
appropriate for today's exercises. Try merely to step back and let the thoughts
come. If you find this difficult, it is better to spend the practice period
alternating between slow repetitions of the idea with eyes open, then with eyes
closed, than it is to strain to find suitable thoughts.

There is no limit on the number of short practice periods that would be
beneficial today. The idea for the day is a beginning step in bringing thoughts
together, and teaching you that you are studying a unified thought system in
which nothing is lacking that is needed, and nothing is included that is
contradictory or irrelevant.

The more often you repeat the idea during the day, the more often you will be
reminding yourself that the goal of the course is important to you, and that you
have not forgotten 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 42. "God is my strength. Vision is His gift."

(1:1-2) "The idea for today combines two very powerful thoughts, both of major
importance. It also sets forth a cause and effect relationship that explains why
you cannot fail in your efforts to achieve the goal of the course."

*This "cause and effect relationship" is that if I know God "walks with me" and
He is my strength, I shall automatically perceive through the eyes of His Love
and Holiness. Christ's vision comes from the thought I am holy and part of God.
When I look out, which, as we have learned, has nothing to do with our physical
eyes, all I shall see are figures in a dream either expressing love and trying
to return home, or still too afraid of love and attempting to attack it. In
other words, the <cause> is the vision that sees all people as part of the
Sonship, regardless of their disparate forms.*

(1:3-5) "You will see because it is the Will of God. It is His strength, not
your own, that gives you power. And it is His gift, rather than your own, that
offers vision to you."

*Jesus is urging us to trust him that we cannot fail. Illusions of ego strength
can have no power over the real Source of strength within us. Jesus now sets out
the wonderful consequences of this happy fact:*

(2:1-2) "God is indeed your strength, and what He gives is truly given. This
means that you can receive it any time and anywhere, wherever you are, and in
whatever circumstance you find yourself."

*Since the mind, the home of God's strength, is beyond time (and space), it is
<always> available to us. It simply awaits our acceptance. That is why Jesus
tells us in the text, already cited, that we need do nothing (T-18.VII). We need
do nothing <except> to accept what is already there. Thus our need is to learn
to <un>do what the ego has taught us, releasing God's strength to once again be
our own. Since this is a process occurring in our <minds>, which are totally
under our control, this joyful acceptance can occur anywhere, any time,
regardless of external circumstances.

This discussion next moves more specifically to the topic of time, which we
shall examine much more carefully later on. For now I shall just make some brief
comments: *

(2:3-6) "Your passage through time and space is not at random. You cannot but be
in the right place at the right time. Such is the strength of God. Such are His
gifts."

*Jesus is saying that nothing is at random because it is all our dream. The ego
chooses our scripts as a way to keep us further and further away from the truth.
When we look at these scripts with Jesus, they then become classrooms. But
nothing is random. I -- the mind that my current physical identity is but a
fragment of -- have chosen my life and what happens in it as a way of
reinforcing my individuality and specialness. If I look at any aspect of this
with Jesus and ask his help, I see it as the means of learning forgiveness so I
may return to an awareness of my true Identity. Thus I am "in the right place at
the right place at the right time," for lessons of forgiveness can <always> be
learned, regardless of the outer circumstance.

For the two longer practice periods today, Jesus encourages us to focus on
having <quiet> time. Looking at the instructions for these lessons as a whole,
we can see how Jesus has emphasized different aspects of our practice at
different times; sometimes focusing on the <form> (the external), other times on
the <content> (the internal). The point here, of course, is to help us at our
own level of learning, so that we may come to understand that <cause and
effect>, <content and form> <inner and outer>, are never separated.*

(3) "We will have two three-to-five-minute practice periods today, one as soon
as possible after you wake, and another as close as possible to the time you go
to sleep. It is better, however, to wait until you can sit quietly by yourself,
at a time when you feel ready, than it is to be concerned with the time as
such."

*Jesus' weaning us from reliance on the <form> of our practicing is part of his
training us not to be slaves to ritual. We previously cited the discussion in
the manual for teachers in this regard, and here is the relevant passage:

"There are some general rules which do apply, although each one must use
them as best he can in his own way. Routines as such are dangerous, because they
easily become gods in their own right, threatening the very goals for which they
were set up. ... This course is always practical. ... Duration is not the major
concern. One can easily sit still an hour with closed eyes and accomplish
nothing. One can as easily give God only an instant, and in that instant join
with Him completely." (M-16.2:4-5;4:1,4-6).

We shall return to this important theme of the <quality> of our time spent with
the Holy Spirit, rather than its <quantity>.

The fourth paragraph discusses our personal thoughts "in relation to the idea
for the day." *

(4) "Begin these practice periods by repeating the idea for today slowly, with
your eyes open, looking about you. Then close your eyes and repeat the idea
again, even slower than before. After this, try to think of nothing except
thoughts that occur to you in relation to the idea for the day. You might think,
for example:

Vision must be possible. God gives truly,
or:
God's gifts to me must be mine, because He gave them to me."

*Once again we can observe the emphasis Jesus places on bringing <our> thoughts
to <his>, and thereby practice bringing them into harmony with his vision of
forgiveness and peace.

In the next paragraph Jesus plays down the active mind-searching exercises of
before, asking us to be quiet, letting his thoughts come to us, rather than our
coming to them:*

(5) "Any thought that is clearly related to the idea for today is suitable. You
may, in fact, be astonished at the amount of course-related understanding some
of your thoughts contain. Let them come without censoring unless you find your
mind is merely wandering, and you have let obviously irrelevant thoughts
intrude. You may also reach a point where no thoughts at all seem to come to
mind. If such interferences occur, open your eyes and repeat the thought once
more while looking slowly about; close your eyes, repeat the idea once more, and
then continue to look for related thoughts in your mind."

*However, if nothing "comes," our gentle teacher instructs us in the next
paragraph to become more active again and look for the thoughts. Yet, this
looking is <not> the focus here, but rather the letting go of control, allowing
his guidance to take over, reminiscent of this statement from the text:

"My control can take over everything that does not matter, while my
guidance can direct everything that does, if you so choose. ... This is
controlled by me automatically as soon as you place what you think under my
guidance." (T-2.VI.1:3;2-9)*

(6:1) "Remember, however, that active searching for relevant thoughts is not
appropriate for today's exercises."

*Jesus is thus saying you do not have to search for God. Once you have removed
your negative thoughts, the work of earlier lessons, the resultant blank slate
allows the thoughts of love to appear to you. Therefore:*

(6:2-3) "Try merely to step back and let the thoughts come. If you find this
difficult, it is better to spend the practice period alternating between slow
repetitions of the idea with eyes open, then with eyes closed, than it is to
strain to find suitable thoughts."

*I might add that in reality the thoughts do not come to us; <we come to them>.
It was our mind's decision maker that chose to leave the thought of the
Atonement for the thought of separation, and so it is this decision maker than
now must make the choice to return to that thought, although our experience may
well be that the Atonement and its reflected thoughts come to us. That
experience is reflected in this lesson, as is Jesus' emphasis on the gentle and
non-coercive nature of this learning.*

(7) "There is no limit on the number of short practice periods that would be
beneficial today. The idea for the day is a beginning step in bringing thoughts
together, and teaching you that you are studying a unified thought system in
which nothing is lacking that is needed, and nothing is included that is
contradictory or irrelevant."

*This is a point that Jesus makes in many other places as well. Everything you
ever need is in this course; there is no need to seek elsewhere. Once you decide
A Course in Miracles is your spiritual path, to do anything else will simply
confuse you. As Jesus told Helen specifically, in words meant for <all> his
students:

"You are not making use of the course if you insist on using means which
have served others well, neglecting what was made for you." (T.18.VII.6.5)

A Course in Miracles contains everything that will help you undo your ego, and
therefore everything that will help remind you of who you are. Insisting on
"using means which have served others well," will simply defend against
accepting the Course's message of forgiveness as your own.*

(8) "The more often you repeat the idea during the day, the more often you will
be reminding yourself that the goal of the course is important to you, and that
you have not forgotten it."

*You need to realize there is a part of you, despite your fear, that does want
to learn what this course is teaching, and that its goal is truly important to
you. Despite all attempts to cover it with clouds of guilt, there remains the
right-minded self that remembers your goal: above all you want to return home. A
Course in Miracles, with Jesus as your teacher, will be the means to help you
ultimately reach that goal.*


Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson
719-369-1822

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