Lesson 99. Salvation is my only function here.
(1) Salvation and forgiveness are the same. They both imply that something has
gone wrong; something to be saved from, forgiven for; something amiss that needs
corrective change; something apart or different from the Will of God. Thus do
both terms imply a thing impossible but yet which has occurred, resulting in a
state of conflict seen between what is and what could never be.
(2) Truth and illusions both are equal now, for both have happened. The
impossible becomes the thing you need forgiveness for, salvation from. Salvation
now becomes the borderland between the truth and the illusion. It reflects the
truth because it is the means by which you can escape illusions. Yet it is not
yet the truth because it undoes what was never done.
(3) How could there be a meeting place at all where earth and Heaven can be
reconciled within a mind where both of them exist? The mind that sees illusions
thinks them real. They have existence in that they are thoughts. And yet they
are not real, because the mind that thinks these thoughts is separate from God.
(4) What joins the separated mind and thoughts with Mind and Thought which are
forever One? What plan could hold the truth inviolate, yet recognize the need
illusions bring, and offer means by which they are undone without attack and
with no touch of pain? What but a Thought of God could be this plan, by which
the never done is overlooked, and sins forgotten which were never real?
(5) The Holy Spirit holds this plan of God exactly as it was received of Him
within the Mind of God and in your own. It is apart from time in that its Source
is timeless. Yet it operates in time, because of your belief that time is real.
Unshaken does the Holy Spirit look on what you see; on sin and pain and death,
on grief and separation and on loss. Yet does He know one thing must still be
true; God is still Love, and this is not His Will.
(6) This is the Thought that brings illusions to the truth, and sees them as
appearances behind which is the changeless and the sure. This is the Thought
that saves and that forgives, because it lays no faith in what is not created by
the only Source it knows. This is the Thought whose function is to save by
giving you its function as your own. Salvation is your function, with the One to
Whom the plan was given. Now are you entrusted with this plan, along with Him.He
has one answer to appearances; regardless of their form, their size, their depth
or any attribute they seem to have:
<Salvation is my only function here.
God still is Love, and this is not His Will.>
(7) You who will yet work miracles, be sure you practice well the idea for
today. Try to perceive the strength in what you say, for these are words in
which your freedom lies. Your Father loves you. All the world of pain is not His
Will. Forgive yourself the thought He wanted this for you. Then let the Thought
with which He has replaced all your mistakes enter the darkened places of your
mind that thought the thoughts that never were His Will.
(8) This part belongs to God, as does the rest. It does not think its solitary
thoughts, and make them real by hiding them from Him. Let in the light, and you
will look upon no obstacle to what He wills for you. Open your secrets to His
kindly light, and see how bright this light still shines in you.
(9) Practice His Thought today, and let His light seek out and lighten up all
darkened spots, and shine through them to join them to the rest. It is God's
Will your mind be one with His. It is God's Will that He has but one Son. It is
God's Will that His one Son is you. Think of these things in practicing today,
and start the lesson that we learn today with this instruction in the way of
truth:
<Salvation is my only function here.
Salvation and forgiveness are the same.>
Then turn to Him Who shares your function here, and let Him teach you what you
need to learn to lay all fear aside, and know your Self as Love which has no
opposite in you.
(10) Forgive all thoughts which would oppose the truth of your completion, unity
and peace. You cannot lose the gifts your Father gave. You do not want to be
another self. You have no function that is not of God. Forgive yourself the one
you think you made. Forgiveness and salvation are the same. Forgive what you
have made and you are saved.
(11) There is a special message for today which has the power to remove all
forms of doubt and fear forever from your mind. If you are tempted to believe
them true, remember that appearances can not withstand the truth these mighty
words contain:
<Salvation is my only function here.
God still is Love, and this is not His Will.>
(12) Your only function tells you, you are one. Remind yourself of this between
the times you give five minutes to be shared with Him Who shares God's plan with
you. Remind yourself:
<Salvation is my only function here.>
Thus do you lay forgiveness on your mind and let all fear be gently laid aside,
that love may find its rightful place in you and show you that you are the Son
of God.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The commentary on this lesson is an excerpt 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 99. "Salvation is my only function here."
*This lesson continues discussion of our function, with Jesus speaking
specifically about salvation bridging the seeming gap between illusion and
truth. Before we begin, however, let me mention -- for Helen would never forgive
me if I did not -- that beginning with this lesson the rest of the workbook,
including instructions, is in blank verse.*
(1:1) "Salvation and forgiveness are the same."
*This is another theme in Jesus' symphonic structure. <Salvation, miracle, holy
instant, holy relationship, forgiveness,> and <vision> are terms describing the
process of undoing the thought system of separation and guilt, which we have
made to be reality. Yet both salvation and forgiveness are illusions, because as
Jesus will explain, they undo what never happened.*
(2:1) "Truth and illusions both are equal now, for both have happened."
*The ego would have us believe there <was> truth, but also illusion; there <was>
God, but also separation from Him. Both coexist. In almost all formal religions,
truth and illusion, spirit and matter, are equal states; the world and the body,
a God Who is spirit -- share reality. In this apparent coexistence, God is
perceived as operative in this world. Indeed, in many religions, God is not only
involved in the world, but is its Creator. Consequently, truth and illusion live
side by side, equal in their reality.*
(3:1) "How could there be a meeting place at all where earth and Heaven can be
reconciled within a mind where both of them exist?"
*This tells us such a meeting place of truth and illusion is impossible, because
they are mutually exclusive states. At the same time Jesus teaches that the
meaning of salvation is to forgive and achieve Christ's vision, he reminds us
that the process itself is illusory. On earth this is not understandable, since
we still believe we exist here. However, we can be taught to understand the
importance of forgiving, and thus are led through illusion to the single truth
of our Self.*
(4:1-2) "What joins the separated mind and thoughts with Mind and Thought which
are forever One? What plan could hold the truth inviolate, yet recognize the
need illusions bring, and offer means by which they are undone without attack
and with no touch of pain?"
*This is a plan of the Atonement: undoing the illusions without attack and pain
by looking at them with Jesus by our side. If we had to <do> something with the
illusion, we are saying it is real, which only brings more pain. The way to undo
the illusions of specialness is to see the suffering that is its goal when we
call on it to provide happiness or surcease from pain, to offer more than the
Love of God. Looking at illusions with Jesus means recognizing the cost of
holding on to them; realizing its pain enables us to let specialness go without
attack. The eyes of gentleness look gently, and where is pain or attack when
gentleness is present? Thus are we blessed with the gift of healing, as
described in this lovely passage on the gentle grace of Heaven:
"The grace of God rests gently on forgiving eyes, and everything they look on
speaks of Him to the beholder. He can see no evil; nothing in the world to fear,
and no one who is different from himself. And as he loves them, so he looks upon
himself with love and gentleness. He would no more condemn himself for his
mistakes than damn another. He is not an arbiter of vengeance, nor a punisher of
sin. The kindness of his sight rests on himself with all the tenderness it
offers others. For he would only heal and only bless. And being in accord with
what God wills, he has the power to heal and bless all those he looks on with
the grace of God upon his sight." (T-25.VI.1).*
(5:1) "The Holy Spirit holds this plan of God exactly as it was received of Him
within the Mind of God and in your own."
*Our own mind here means our right mind, and within its forgiving thoughts it
holds God's plan of the Atonement, for it <is> God's plan of the Atonement.*
(6:1) "This is the Thought that brings illusions to the truth, and sees them as
appearances behind which is the changeless and the sure."
*This tells us again that to overlook is to look through. The ego teaches that
the reality of sin is like a solid wall of granite. If so, it would be
impossible to the truth beyond it. When we look with Jesus on what we thought
was sin -- our own or another's -- we realize it has had no effect on his love
nor our unity with him. It can therefore have no effect on our unity with
everyone else. At this point the seemingly solid and sinful wall of granite
becomes a flimsy veil that cannot conceal the light shining beyond it. Looking
with Jesus enables us to share his vision of sinlessness and see the changeless
and the sure behind appearances.*
(7:1-2) "You who will yet work miracles, be sure you practice well the idea for
today. Try to perceive the strength in what you say, for these are words in
which your freedom lies."
*Remember that despite the connotation of the words, Jesus is not referring to
behavior, but the healing of our minds through his miracle of correction,
realizing we are the dreamer of a dream that is not true. His love then is freed
to work through us as our bodies do what everyone else's does, but differently,
because our purpose has changed from dreaming to awakening, the weakness of the
ego's imprisonment to the strength of the Holy Spirit's freedom, the separate
interests of specialness to the shared interests of forgiveness.*
(8:1-2) "This part belongs to God, as does the rest. It does not think its
solitary thoughts, and make them real by hiding them from Him."
*Our right mind holds the correction thought; our wrong mind holds all our
thoughts. It is these thoughts -- of specialness and hate -- we have to bring to
the Holy Spirit, the reflection of our Creator's Love.*
(8:3--9:1) "Let in the light, and you will look upon no obstacle to what He
wills for you. Open your secrets to His kindly light, and see how bright this
light still shines in you."
"Practice His Thought today, and let His light seek out and lighten up all
darkened spots, and shine through them to join them to the rest."
*This is another statement of the forgiveness process, echoing the above
passages from the text. With openness and honesty we look with Jesus at our ego
thoughts, without shame or guilt, thus non-judgmentally bringing the darkness of
our specialness to the light of his gentle undoing. We have repeatedly seen that
Jesus cannot shine away our illusions unless we ask his help. And we certainly
cannot shine them away without him. Thus is forgiveness a collaborative venture;
not an occurrence between two special partners, but between us and Jesus. We
recall again his words that echo our mutual dependence:
"I need you as much as you need me." (T-8.V.6:10).*
(10:1-3) "Forgive all thoughts which would oppose the truth of your completion,
unity and peace. You cannot lose the gifts your Father gave. You do not want to
be another self."
*It is important to acknowledge that there is a part of us that wants to be this
other self. We need to let this go if we are to remember we are one with God.
Without looking at this resistance to the truth, there is no hope of minimizing
it sufficiently to enable truth's reflection to occupy more and more of our
minds, allowing the darkness of our separation to be replaced by the light of
unity. Thus we learn that the gift we thought we had lost was held for us in
safe-keeping through its Memory; thus we learn we are forgiven for the sin of
stealing that we never committed.*
(11) "There is a special message for today which has the power to remove all
forms of doubt and fear forever from your mind. If you are tempted to believe
them true, remember that appearances can not withstand the truth these mighty
words contain:
<Salvation is my only function here.
God still is Love, and this is not His Will.>
*Jesus is again asking us to use these thoughts whenever we are tempted to
believe they are not true. The light cannot shine away our ego's darkness unless
we bring the darkness to it. The vigilance asked by these exercises facilitates
the process of healing -- our only function here.*
(12)"Your only function tells you, you are one. Remind yourself of this between
the times you give five minutes to be shared with Him Who shares God's plan with
you. Remind yourself:
<Salvation is my only function here.>
Thus do you lay forgiveness on your mind and let all fear be gently laid aside,
that love may find its rightful place in you and show you that you are the Son
of God."
*This final paragraph summarizes the lesson's <form> and <content>. Diligence in
applying the lesson's special message to all distressing situations in our day
-- the <form> -- reflects the mind's decision to "let all fear be gently laid
aside" -- the <content> -- as forgiveness replaces it with the love that gently
brings us Home to our Self: God's one Son.*
