Lesson 63. The light of the world brings peace to every mind through myforgiveness.How holy are you who have the power to bring peace to every mind! How blessedare you who can learn to recognize the means for letting this be done throughyou! What purpose could you have that would bring you greater happiness?You are indeed the light of the world with such a function. The Son of God looksto you for his redemption. It is yours to give him, for it belongs to you.Accept no trivial purpose or meaningless desire in its place, or you will forgetyour function and leave the Son of God in hell. This is no idle request that isbeing asked of you. You are being asked to accept salvation that it may be yoursto give.Recognizing the importance of this function, we will be happy to remember itvery often today. We will begin the day by acknowledging it, and close the daywith the thought of it in our awareness. And throughout the day we will repeatthis as often as we can:The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.I am the means God has appointed for the salvation of the world.<If you close your eyes, you will probably find it easier to let the relatedthoughts come to you in the minute or two that you should devote to consideringthis. Do not, however, wait for such an opportunity. No chance should be lostfor reinforcing today's idea. Remember that God's Son looks to you for hissalvation. And Who but your Self must be His Son?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The commentary on this lesson (below) is from Kenneth Wapnick's eight volumeseries of books, called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles,"which can be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lesson 63. The light of the world brings peace to every mind through myforgiveness.*Lesson 63 returns to the theme of oneness. As we have seen in earlier lessons,Jesus takes a central theme and keeps developing it. Here he is teaching us thatwhen we forgive, peace must extend throughout the Sonship, as we all are onemind. It does not mean, however, that every seeming fragment of the Sonship willaccept it immediately. It simply means I now become another symbol or thought inthe mind of God's Son, serving as a reminder to make the right choice that alonewill bring peace.*(1:1) "How holy are you who have the power to bring peace to every mind?"*Please note that Jesus does not say to every <body>. Forgiveness is notsomething we physically do with words, for it is a thought we hold as true inour minds. Recall our previously quoted passage from the manual (M-5.III.2) thathealing is shared simply by our having chosen it, that choice calling others tomake the same one. In this regard we emulate the Holy Spirit, Who merely remindsus of the right choice:"The Holy Spirit calls you both to remember and to forget. You have chosento be in a state of opposition in which opposites are possible. As a result,there are choices you must make. ... Choosing depends on a split mind. The HolySpirit is one way of choosing. ... [His Voice] merely reminds. It is compellingonly because of what it reminds you of. It brings to your mind the other way,remaining quiet even in the midst of the turmoil you may make."(T.5.II.6.1-3,6-7.7.4-6)We thus remind our brothers, as we remind ourselves, that peace is a decision,and one which unites us all as one Son. I might also point out the similarity in<form> and <content> between this lesson's first sentence and the opening of"For They Have Come": in the text:"Think but how holy you must be from whom the Voice for God calls lovinglyunto your brother, that you may awake in him the Voice that answers to yourcall!" (T.26.IX.1.1)The symphonic hand of our composer is every-where present in his masterwork.*(1:2-3) "How blessed are you who can learn to recognize the means for lettingthis be done through you! What purpose could you have that would bring yougreater happiness?"*Again, Jesus is reminding us that forgiveness is the means whereby we shallattain happiness. This is inevitable once we choose to let go of our judgments,which keep us separate: the source of all our misery. Once this obstacle isgone, happiness flows through our minds, umimpeded, and embraces the Sonship asone.*(2:1-2) "You are indeed the light of the world with such a function. The Son ofGod looks to you for his redemption."*As we shall see a little later, the Son of God looking for redemption isourselves; the little Child -- whom Jesus speaks of in Lesson 182 -- Who haswandered away: the Child Who represents the Christ in us that we have concealedand forgotten; the Child Who patiently awaits our forgiveness of others andourselves; the Child Who makes it possible to forgive, at the same time HeHimself is forgiven. His is the light that shines in each of us and all of us;His the light that <is> the Son, who is ourselves.*(2:3-4) "It is yours to give him, for it belongs to you. Accept no trivialpurpose or meaningless desire in its place, or you will forget your function andleave the Son of God in hell."*Implied here is that we make an active choice to choose a "trivial purpose ormeaningless desire" to replace the glorious truth about ourselves. This purposeand desire expresses some aspect of specialness. We have noted before thatspecialness has nothing to do with behavior but with an attitude whereby we useothers -- people and things -- as substitutes for the Love of God or the peaceof Jesus. Thus, Jesus speaks about the decision for Heaven or hell.*(2:5-6) "This is no idle request that is being asked of you. You are being askedto accept salvation that it may be yours to give."*The way we give salvation is to accept it in our minds. This acceptance deniesthe ego thought system and automatically means we give salvation to the world,which is one with us. Thus "the simplicity of salvation" (T-31.1), in contrastwith the complexity of the ego's plan to "save" us from guilt throughspecialness, thereby reinforcing the very problem from which we were told wewould be saved. In other words, the ego reinforces our separation from eachother, while the Holy Spirit undoes it by teaching our inherent unity. This isno trivial matter; again, the choice is between Heaven or hell.*(3) "Recognizing the importance of this function, we will be happy to rememberit very often today. We will begin the day by acknowledging it, and close theday with the thought of it in our awareness. And throughout the day we willrepeat this as often as we can:The light of the world brings peaceto every mind through my forgiveness.I am the means God has appointed for the salvation of the world."*Once again, we see Jesus helping us appreciate the importance <to us> offrequent remembrances of the lesson's central idea. It is what he reminds of atthe text's close: how we keep the gift of Christ's vision that alone ends allsuffering. These wonderful lines will be a frequent reminder to us of theall-inclusive nature of Jesus' vision:"Yet this a vision is which you must share with everyone you see, forotherwise you will behold it not. To give this gift is how to make it yours. AndGod ordained, in loving kindness, that it be for you." (T-31.VIII.8:5-7).Jesus urges us to forgive <all> people, for this is the only way we shall knowwe are forgiven. In this vision of forgiveness of every mind we find oursalvation and the salvation of the world.*(4:1-3) "If you close your eyes, you will probably find it easier to let therelated thoughts come to you in the minute or two that you should devote toconsidering this. Do not, however, wait for such an opportunity. No chanceshould be lost for reinforcing today's idea."*Still one more time, Jesus asks us to waste no opportunity for remembering thatour happiness and function are one.*(4:4-5) "Remember that God's Son looks to you for his salvation. And Who butyour Self must be His Son?"*This Self is the Christ in us, the little Child who has seemingly lost His way.Of course the Child is not lost: <we> are the ones who have lost awareness ofHis Presence. Acceptance of our happy function of forgiveness is what restoresis what restores this happy awareness to us.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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