Lesson 50. I am sustained by the Love of God.
Here is the answer to every problem that will confront you, today and tomorrow
and throughout time. In this world, you believe you are sustained by everything
but God. Your faith is placed in the most trivial and insane symbols; pills,
money, "protective" clothing, influence, prestige, being liked, knowing the
"right" people, and an endless list of forms of nothingness that you endow with
magical powers.
All these things are your replacements for the Love of God. All these things are
cherished to ensure a body identification. They are songs of praise to the ego.
Do not put your faith in the worthless. It will not sustain you.
Only the Love of God will protect you in all circumstances. It will lift you out
of every trial, and raise you high above all the perceived dangers of this world
into a climate of perfect peace and safety. It will transport you into a state
of mind that nothing can threaten, nothing can disturb, and where nothing can
intrude upon the eternal calm of the Son of God.
Put not your faith in illusions. They will fail you. Put all your faith in the
Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and forever unfailing. This is the
answer to whatever confronts you today. Through the Love of God within you, you
can resolve all seeming difficulties without effort and in sure confidence. Tell
yourself this often today. It is a declaration of release from the belief in
idols. It is your acknowledgment of the truth about yourself.
For ten minutes, twice today, morning and evening, let the idea for today sink
deep into your consciousness. Repeat it, think about it, let related thoughts
come to help you recognize its truth, and allow peace to flow over you like a
blanket of protection and surety. Let no idle and foolish thoughts enter to
disturb the holy mind of the Son of God. Such is the Kingdom of Heaven. Such is
the resting place where your Father has placed you forever.
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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
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Lesson 50. "I am sustained by the Love of God."
*Lesson 50 differs from the preceding ones, and we shall be reintroduced to
themes that will return later. Specifically, this lesson makes another
statement, much clearer than the previous one, about the nature of the special
relationship. The terms <special relationships> and <specialness> do not appear
in the workbook at all; however, it is clear in passages like these that this is
Jesus' referent.*
(1) "Here is the answer to every problem that will confront you, today and
tomorrow and throughout time. In this world, you believe you are sustained by
everything but God. Your faith is placed in the most trivial and insane symbols;
pills, money, "protective" clothing, influence, prestige, being liked, knowing
the "right" people, and an endless list of forms of nothingness that you endow
with magical powers."
*If these statements are read in the context of A Course in Miracles as a whole,
it is obvious that Jesus is not saying we should feel guilty because we take a
pill, wear warm clothing in the winter, or have friends with whom we spend time.
This passage is similar to Lesson 76 "I am under no laws but God's," which we
shall discuss in due course and where we shall issue the same caveat. Moreover,
Jesus is not saying we should let go of our bodily concerns. That would be
confusing levels -- mind and body -- which he warns us about in the text (see,
e.g.T-2.IV.3:8-11). We <can> overlook our bodies -- physical and psychological
-- if we are in the real world, because at that point we <know> they are not our
identity. But Jesus knows his students, and knows us well, and he wants us to be
aware of the thought system on which dependencies (or special relationships) are
based, and to understand the source of our trust in the things of the world.
Only then can we make the meaningful choice against them. He continues with the
source of these special attachments:*
(2) "All these things are your replacements for the Love of God. All these
things are cherished to ensure a body identification. They are songs of praise
to the ego. Do not put your faith in the worthless. It will not sustain you."
*Again, Jesus is not saying we must give up anything that makes us feel better
physically or mentally. However, he is saying we should be aware of our
<dependence> on it, what in the text he refers to as <idols.> Such dependency is
a statement that says God's Love is not enough, we want more:
"The world believes in idols. No one comes unless he worshipped them, and
still attempts to seek for one that yet might offer him a gift reality does not
contain. Each worshipper of idols harbors hope his special deities will give him
more than other men possess. It must be more. It does not really matter more of
what; more beauty, more intelligence, more wealth, or even more affliction and
more pain. But more of something is an idol for. And when one fails another
takes its place, with hope of finding more of something else. Be not deceived by
forms the "something" takes. An idol is a means for getting more. And it is this
that is against God's Will." (T.29.VIII.8.4-13).
But we knew all this anyway, otherwise we would not be in the world, for no one
comes here, as we have just read, unless he seeks more than the love God has
offered. Be careful not to use Jesus' teaching as reason to club yourself or
others over the head. However, <do> use it as a way of reminding yourself that
the journey takes you through your specialness; a journey you cannot make until
you first recognize your heavy involvement in it. Lessons like this, as well as
much of the text, make that abundantly clear. We shall return to this theme over
and over again, for the same reason Jesus does: The journey to Heaven through
hell <is> the path Jesus leads us on, and understanding the journey's contours
will enable us to be led gently home.*
(3) "Only the Love of God will protect you in all circumstances. It will lift
you out of every trial, and raise you high above all the perceived dangers of
this world into a climate of perfect peace and safety. It will transport you
into a state of mind that nothing can threaten, nothing can disturb, and where
nothing can intrude upon the eternal calm of the Son of God."
*Jesus is reminding us our goal is to walk through this dream without fear. When
we can do so, we shall realize we are not in the dream at all: the dream figure
we call ourselves but reflects a thought of love with which we are now
identified. Remember this is a process, and in this lesson we are presented with
the journey in its entirety; where we begin, the nature of the journey -- going
through our specialness -- and then at last the journey's end.*
(4:1-4) "Put not your faith in illusions. They will fail you. Put all your faith
in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and forever unfailing. This
is the answer to whatever confronts you today."
*There are many lovely sections and passages in the text about not putting our
faith in illusions. We read, for example, this one on <faithlessness>, putting
our faith in nothing:
"It is impossible that the Son of God lack faith, but he can choose where
he would have it be. Faithlessness is not a lack of faith, but faith in nothing.
Faith given to illusions does not lack power, for by it does the Son of God
believe that he is powerless. Thus is he faithless to himself, but strong in
faith in his illusions about himself." (T-21.III.5:1-4).
The opening to "Seek Not Outside Yourself" summarizes the entire section:
"Seek not outside yourself. For it will fail, and you will weep each time
an idol falls. Heaven cannot be found where it is not, and there can be no peace
excepting there. Each idol that you worship when God calls will never answer in
His place. There is no other answer you can substitute, and find the happiness
His answer brings. Seek not outside yourself. For all your pain comes simply
from a futile search for what you want, insisting where it must be found."
(T-29.VII.1:1-7).
Whenever we are troubled, it is because we do not believe we are sustained by
the Love of God. Still closer to the truth, we do not want to be sustained by
everything else, as long as it is outside our minds. Looking at that horrid
thought without judgment or guilt is the way to move beyond it to the state of
true sinlessness, the innocence that is our natural Identity as God's Son.*
(4:5-8) "Through the Love of God within you, you can resolve all seeming
difficulties without effort and in sure confidence. Tell yourself this often
today. It is a declaration of release from the belief in idols. It is your
acknowledgment of the truth about yourself."
*The Love of God is the <content> that automatically heals all "seeming
difficulties," which deal only with <form>. The ego, as we have already seen,
literally made up the world of <form> -- both collectively and individually --
to keep us from choosing the <content> of the Atonement that ends the ego's
reign in our minds. When the external problem is kept from the internal answer,
the problem will never be solved, for it can but shift from one form to another.
However, when brought to the truth within, it cannot help disappearing. As a
later lesson on forgiveness puts it: "I will forgive, and this will disappear"
(W-pI.193.13:3); italics omitted).
The reference to the idols, from which we are released, is special
relationships. We invoke these substitutes for God's Love as replacements for
what threatens our ego's existence, and which provide the illusion that our
needs are met:
"Let not their form deceive you. Idols are but substitutes for your
reality. In some way, you believe they will complete your little self, for
safety in a world perceived as dangerous, with forces massed against your
confidence and peace of mind. They have the power to supply your lacks, and add
the value that you do not have." (T-29.VIII.2:1-4).
We can therefore see that Jesus' purpose for us in these lessons is to help us
realize the idol of specialness for what it is, so we can choose against it.
Jesus asks now to sink into consciousness, which means going deeply into our
minds, an instruction we have already seen, and which our chart (see p.135)
helps us envision:*
(5:1-3) "For ten minutes, twice today, morning and evening, let the idea for
today sink deep into your consciousness. Repeat it, think about it, let related
thoughts come to help you recognize its truth, and allow peace to flow over you
like a blanket of protection and surety. Let no idle and foolish thoughts enter
to disturb the holy mind of the Son of God."
*The way to prevent these thoughts from disturbing your holy mind is through
your recognition of them. Without such acknowledgment, they simply remain. The
idea, again, is to see the "idle and foolish thoughts" of specialness in all its
forms asking Jesus for help in understanding what they are <for>.*
(5:4-5) "Such is the Kingdom of Heaven. Such is the resting place where your
Father has placed you forever."
*A lovely way to end this first major section of the workbook: the reminder of
our ultimate goal.*
*This concludes the first 50 lessons, leading to the first review. We have seen
how Jesus has given us an understanding of the journey, emphasizing the
importance of taking seriously our study and practice of his course. This means,
as we have discussed repeatedly, looking at our ego thoughts and asking Jesus'
help. This process clearly implies the existence of our separated minds, split
between the wrong-minded thought system of separation, guilt, and hate (the
ego), and the right-minded correction of Atonement, forgiveness, and peace (the
Holy Spirit). Thus are we trained by Jesus to recognize these two thought
systems, asking for help to exercise our mind's power to choose the Teacher Who
alone will bring us peace.*
