开云体育

So here I was on my computer looking at a post a friend made. I went to click the like button, but it kept showing me a list of people who had liked it, rather than let me click. I finally made the click, after having gotten pretty irritated. Then I remembered that this was an opportunity for forgiveness. Right after that thought, I realized that here I was getting irritated about clicking a like button for a post on gratitude, and I just started laughing. How ridiculous is it that I would get so irritated over something so little that was reminding me about gratitude?! I love it when H. S. cracks me up like that!

Lesson 352. Judgment and love are opposites. From one Come all the sorrows of the world. But from The other comes the peace of God Himself. Forgiveness looks on sinlessness alone, and judges not. Through this I come to You. Judgment will bind my eyes and make me blind. Yet love, reflected in forgiveness here, reminds me You have given me a way to find Your peace again. I am redeemed when I elect to follow in this way. You have not left me comfortless. I have within me both the memory of You, and One Who leads me to it. Father, I would hear Your Voice and find Your peace today. For I would love my own Identity, and find in It the memory of You. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which may be purchased at the following site: Foundation for "A Course in Miracles"? ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 352. "Judgment and love are opposites. From one Come all the sorrows of the world. But from The other comes the peace of God Himself." *As long as we are afraid of God's peace -- within which our individuality, based on conflict and unhappiness, will disappear -- we will choose to defend our self. Judgment -- perceiving someone else as sinful -- is the ego's perfect way of carrying out this defense.* (1:1) "Forgiveness looks on sinlessness alone, and judges not." *We are asked first to recognize how we look on sinfulness in others and ourselves, and then ask Jesus for help. He reinterprets our perceptions so that we realize that acting sinfully comes from fear -- "frightened people can be vicious" (T-3.I.4:2) -- behind which is the call for love we do not believe we deserve. In that realization are sins forgiven, because they are looked at differently. The key idea, as we have seen throughout our journey with the workbook, is that when we look with Jesus at what goes on in the world and in our relationships, we refrain from judging -- judgment is the problem; forgiveness is the answer.* (1:2) "Through this I come to You." *It is through our forgiveness that we return to God. Remember that these prayers are addressed to God as correction for our ego's prayers to its gods of judgment and punishment.* (1:3-4) "Judgment will bind my eyes and make me blind. Yet love, reflected in forgiveness here, reminds me You have given me a way to find Your peace again." *Again, the way to find God's peace, return home, and remember our Identity as Christ is to forgive. When we hold on to grievances and withhold forgiveness, it is because we do not want to awaken from the dream, losing our self to find our Self.* (1:5-6) "I am redeemed when I elect to follow in this way. You have not left me comfortless." *It is our decision alone to follow His way. In the very last words of the workbook we will be reminded of this lovely thought -- we have not been left comfortless.* (1:7) "I have within me both the memory of You, and One Who leads me to it." *As we have seen in other lessons, means and end are one. Thus I have within me the end or goal, which is remembering Who I am as God's Son. I also have within me, through the Holy Spirit, the means of remembering. Both means and end are present in my mind, for the Idea of God's Son has never left Its Source.* (1:8-9) "Father, I would hear Your Voice and find Your peace today. For I would love my own Identity, and find in It the memory of You." *This is the central idea. We do not love our own Identity as Christ because we love our individual identity more. Crucial to our daily practicing, then, is vigilance for how much we cherish this special and unique self. We would even go so far as to kill in order to preserve it. Yet when we finally realize the loss to <us>, we choose to listen to the Voice of sanity and return to our true love -- our Self and our God.* Foundation for "A Course in Miracles"? Religious and educational materials promoting understanding and application of the teachings of A Course in Mira... Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822

14. What Am I ? I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own. Our use for words is almost over now. Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared. And thus you joined with me, so what I am are you as well. The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us. We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. And this, our gift, is therefore given us. We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good. We do not seek a function that is past the gate of Heaven. Knowledge will return when we have done our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth. Ours are the eyes through which Christ's vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. Ours are the ears that hear the Voice for God proclaim the world as sinless. Ours the minds that join together as we bless the world. And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy. We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came, and which we seek to serve. We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries from his book set called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 14. What Am I ? *We come to the final summary, "What Am I ?" Of the many jewels in the Course's treasure chest, this is among the most treasured -- a beautiful description of Who we are as God's Son. The answer that Jesus gives to this question has been the underlying focus of A Course in Miracles, inasmuch as the problem at the beginning when we chose the ego over the Holy Spirit was our making a self that is decidedly not Who we are. Paralleling this is the only question asked of his followers by the enlightened Indian teacher Ramana Maharshi: "Who am I?" If the answer is the body and personality, we have answered incorrectly, and from that belief comes our pain, misery, and unhappiness. The purpose of A Course in Miracles, therefore, is to help us be open to ask the right question -- "What am I?" -- that we may hear and accept this inspiring answer.* (1) "I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own." *This is our response to everything the ego ever taught is true about ourselves, undoing all fear and guilt, all pain and suffering. What remains is the eternal life given us in creation, unblemished by the ego's sullying thoughts of miscreation and usurpation. Never real, these thoughts evanesce into the nothingness of their own illusion. From the glorious end of the text, we read of the ending of a journey that never really happened: "Not one illusion is accorded faith, and not one spot of darkness still remains to hide the face of Christ from anyone." (T-3

Lesson 351. My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain. And which I choose to see I will behold. Who is my brother but Your holy Son? And if I see him sinful I proclaim myself a sinner, not a Son of God; alone and friendless in a fearful world. Yet this perception is a choice I make, and can relinquish. I can also see my brother sinless, as Your holy Son. And with this choice I see my sinlessness, my everlasting Comforter and Friend beside me, and my way secure and clear. Choose, then, for me, my Father, through Your Voice. For He alone gives judgment in Your Name. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from his book set called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 351. "My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain. And which I choose to see I will behold." *As we shall see, these final lessons are composed only of prayers to God. The first two are similar in presenting the mind's opposite thought systems -- sinfulness and sinlessness (Lesson 351), and judgment and love (Lesson 352) -- and our ability to choose between them. We could say: I choose to see one or the other -- sin or sinlessness -- and beholding my choice, I make it real in my perception. Thus the way I perceive you will show me how I have perceived myself.* (1:1) "Who is my brother but Your holy Son?" *Remember, the Son of God is one, and therefore the way I see you must be the way I see me. To believe anything different from that principle denies the Atonement and affirms the seeming reality of the separation.* (1:2-3) "And if I see him sinful I proclaim myself a sinner, not a Son of God; alone and friendless in a fearful world. Yet this perception is a choice I make, and can relinquish." *The only way we let this perception go is to realize it is a choice that brings us pain -- the turning point on our journey. Jesus thus appeals to the selfish need in all of us to feel better. The problem is, as we have already seen, that we do not know what will make us feel better. We think that pleasure is pain and pain is pleasure. Thus our need for a Teacher to instruct us in the difference, helping us to understand that forgiveness alone brings pleasure, while a life of attack and fear reinforces the pain of our separation and aloneness. Once this understanding is made clear to us, the choice is not difficult to make.* (1:4-7) "I can also see my brother sinless, as Your holy Son. And with this choice I see my sinlessness, my everlasting Comforter and Friend beside me, and my way secure and clear. Choose, then, for me, my Father, through Your Voice. For He alone gives judgment in Your Name." *We have seen that God does not choose. These words but symbolize Jesus reminding us that we are the ones who have to choose the Holy Spirit -- our Comforter and Friend -- as correction for the original and ongoing choice for the ego's thought system of separation, sin and hate. Thus does the Holy Spirit's Love become the basis for our judgment of God's Son as sinless, the certain means for our returning home along the path of forgiveness, and the way we remember that God's Name is ours -- our inheritance as His beloved and unified Son. Thus we say to our innocent brother, in the words of Helen's poem, "God's Likeness": "How holy are you, Son of God! How pure Your thoughts; how innocent your mind. In you I see the Host of God; His Love, His Joy, His one creation, indivisible. You are as like to God as I to you, And being like to you, I am like Him." (The Gifts of God, p.17).* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 http://www.mlynjohnson.com/ https://www.facebook.com/sweedreamz ACIM Gather for "A Course in Miracles" Students & Teachers

14. What Am I? W-pII.14.1. I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. 2 In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. 3 In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. 4 I am the holy home of God Himself. 5 I am the Heaven where His Love resides. 6 I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own . W-pII.14.2. Our use for words is almost over now. 2 Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared. 3 And thus you joined with me, so what I am are you as well. 4 The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. 5 Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us. W-pII.14.3. We are the bringers of salvation. 2 We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. 3 And this, our gift, is therefore given us. 4 We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good. 5 We do not seek a function that is past the gate of Heaven. 6 Knowledge will return when we have done our part. 7 We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth. W-pII.14.4. Ours are the eyes through which Christ's vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. 2 Ours are the ears that hear the Voice for God proclaim the world as sinless. 3 Ours the minds that join together as we bless the world. 4 And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy. W-pII.14.5. We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. 2 And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came, and which we seek to serve. 3 We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. 4 Now is he redeemed. 5 And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God. . Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 http://www.mlynjohnson.com/ https://www.facebook.com/sweedreamz ACIM Gather for "A Course in Miracles" Students & Teachers

Lesson 350. Miracles mirror God's eternal Love. To offer them is to remember Him, And through His memory to save the world. What we forgive becomes a part of us, as we perceive ourselves. The Son of God incorporates all things within himself as You created him. Your memory depends on his forgiveness. What he is, is unaffected by his thoughts. But what he looks upon is their direct result. Therefore, my Father, I would turn to You. Only Your memory will set me free. And only my forgiveness teaches me to let Your memory return to me, and give it to the world in thankfulness. And as we gather miracles from Him, we will indeed be grateful. For as we remember Him, His Son will be restored to us in the reality of Love. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 350. "Miracles mirror God's eternal Love. To offer them is to remember Him, And through His memory to save the world." *The way we remember God's Love is to forgive, withdrawing the projections placed on the world. Since it is one with our thought, as the thought of separation is healed, the world is healed as well.* (1:1-2) "What we forgive becomes a part of us, as we perceive ourselves. The Son of God incorporates all things within himself as You created him." *My attack teaches you are different and separate from me; not a part of my self. That is the ego's purpose for specific bodies -- to perceive people as separate and different: "You are sinful and I sinless. Thus you are not a part of me and I shun your presence, lest your sins contaminate my innocence." When I let that insane thinking go, I begin to understand that you and I are one, and I cannot return home to God's Love unless I first realize we are the same -- in illusion and in truth. This undoes our wrong-minded attempts to separate all things from ourselves. The correction -- the miracle's gift -- helps us remember our inherent oneness as God's Son.* (1:3-5) "Your memory depends on his forgiveness. What he is, unaffected by his thoughts. But what he looks upon is their direct result." *Recall what amounts to a formula in A Course in Miracles: We see the face of Christ in our brother and remember God. To see the face of Christ is to forgive, which allows the memory of God's Love to return to us. The Son of God's true Identity has never been affected by his insane thinking, but what we believe we are and perceived with our eyes is a direct result of the ego's thoughts. When we indulge these thoughts we make them real, project them out, and believe we see them all around us instead of in ourselves. Yet is our true reality unaffected by what we think -- the meaning of the Atonement. However, because we think these thoughts of separation are real, we remain asleep, believing our dreams to be reality. Our physical and psychological experiences as bodies are the witnesses that "prove" that what we are dreaming is really there. It is from that dream of insanity that the miracle helps us gently to awake.* (1:6-8) "Therefore, my Father, I would turn to You. Only Your memory will set me free. And only my forgiveness teaches me to let Your memory return to me, and give it to the world in thankfulness." *The only way the memory of God will return to me and I will realize I <am> His Son is by changing my thought system of separation and specialness. I accomplish this through letting go of my investment in its effects -- the projections I have placed onto everyone around me, which have imprisoned the world, along with me.* (2) "And as we gather miracles from Him, we will indeed be grateful. For as we remember Him, His Son will be restored to us in the reality of Love." *That Son is the Oneness of Christ. As the text says, the Son's Oneness transcends the sum of its parts (T-2.VII.6:3). It is not you, me, and everyone else adding up to one glorious whole, for the wholeness of Ch

Lesson 349. Today I let Christ's vision look upon All things for me and judge them not, but give Each one a miracle of love instead. So would I liberate all things I see, and give to them the freedom that I seek. For thus do I obey the law of love, and give what I would find and make my own. It will be given me, because I have chosen it as the gift I want to give. Father, Your gifts are mine. Each one that I accept gives me a miracle to give. And giving as I would receive, I learn Your healing miracles belong to me. Our Father knows our needs. He gives us grace to meet them all. And so we trust in Him to send us miracles to bless the world, and heal our minds as we return to Him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M.Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 349. "Today I let Christ's vision look upon All things for me and judge them not, but give Each one a miracle of love instead." *Our prayer, then, is that we not judge, which means that we not attack or condemn our brothers. In so doing we attack ourselves, and thus we ask for help that we look on the world through Christ's vision instead of our own, allowing His miracle to rest on us.* (1:1) "So would I liberate all things I see, and give to them the freedom that I seek." *By releasing you from the bondage of guilt I placed on you, I liberate you from my dream. Within your dream you still must choose whether or not to accept that freedom, but in my forgiveness I demonstrate that our guiding principle is not <one or the other>, but <together, or not one at all>. That is how I come to realize I am forgiven, too.* (1:2-6) "For thus do I obey the law of love, and give what I would find and make my own. It will be given me, because I have chosen it as the gift I want to give. Father, Your gifts are mine. Each one that I accept gives me a miracle to give. And giving as I would receive, I learn Your healing miracles belong to me." *I want to <give> the gift, because I want to <receive> the gift. If I really wish to learn my sins are forgiven and that God loves me, all I need do is extend that love through my forgiveness to others, who may yet believe otherwise.* (2) "Our Father knows our needs. He gives us grace to meet them all. And so we trust in Him to send us miracles to bless the world, and heal our minds as we return to Him." *This is taken from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel, where Jesus explains that God knows our needs and loves us: indeed, <every> hair on our head is counted, and He loves us even more than the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:8,28-30,32). Placing this within the teachings of A Course in Miracles, we understand that God does not really know about our need, because He does not know about us in a separated state. Yet has His Love come with us into the illusion through the Holy Spirit, and thus the need "our Father knows" is to undo our mistaken choice through the miracle. We have already seen that the miracle's corrective nature reflects God's Love within the dream, which undoes the ego's thought system and heals our bloodied nightmares of separation, hopelessness, and death. The miracle that forgiveness brings can therefore, only heal our brother and ourselves as one, the single need held by the world of hate and guilt, for the miracle alone allows us to hear our Father's ancient clarion call of grace: "A miracle can offer nothing less to him than it has given unto you. So does your healing show your mind is healed, and has forgiven what he did not do. And so is he convinced his innocence was never lost, and healed along with you. Thus does the miracle undo all things the world attests can never be undone. And hopelessness and death must disappear before the ancient clarion call of life. This call has power far beyond the weak and miserable cry of death and guilt. The ancient calling of the Father to His Son, and of the Son unto His

Lesson 348. I have no cause for anger or for fear, For You surround me. And in every need That I perceive, Your grace suffices me. Father, let me remember You are here, and I am not alone. Surrounding me is everlasting Love. I have no cause for anything except the perfect peace and joy I share with You. What need have I for anger or for fear? Surrounding me is perfect safety. Can I be afraid, when Your eternal promise goes with me? Surrounding me is perfect sinlessness. What can I fear, when You created me in holiness as perfect as Your Own? God's grace suffices us in everything that He would have us do. And only that we choose to be our will as well as His. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 348. "I have no cause for anger or for fear, For You surround me. And in every need That I perceive, Your grace suffices me." * "I have no cause for anger or for fear" because I am invulnerable, and thus no longer have to defend myself -- preserving my individuality by getting angry, fearful of what others will do to me. This reflects the ego's belief that God's grace is not enough, the antithesis of St. Paul's experience of Jesus telling him: "My grace is sufficient for thee" (2 Corinthians 12:9a). Thus we want to realize that whenever we get angry or indulge our specialness, we are saying to Jesus: "Your love and peace are not sufficient; I desire <special> love and <my> peace. I want things my way, not yours, and if you insist on helping me, be assured it will be the way I want it done." Realizing the insanity of this position, we are finally free to make another choice -- <his> .* (1:1-5) "Father, let me remember You are here, and I am not alone. Surrounding me is everlasting Love. I have no cause for anything except the perfect peace and joy I share with You. What need have I for anger or for fear? Surrounding me is perfect safety." *When we indulge our specialness, are angry or fearful, it is the ego's god that is with us, not the true God. What makes A Course in Miracles unique among world spiritualities is Jesus' teaching that there is specific motivation for anger, fear, and specialness: to block awareness of his love and the memory of God.* (1:6-8) "Can I be afraid, when Your eternal promise goes with me? Surrounding me is perfect sinlessness. What can I fear, when You created me in holiness as perfect as Your Own?" *When I am afraid, angry, and filled with judgments, I deny my invulnerability and safety because the Love of God is within. I thus have denied the Love that is my only need, and the promise God gave when He created me. The second stanza of Helen's poem, "The Promise," also speaks of our Creator's promise: "Throughout the years, throughout the arc of time, What was still is, and yet will be again; Your single promise, never to be changed. Hear me, my Lord! I cannot call in vain." (The Gifts of God, p.14) * (2) "God's grace suffices us in everything that He would have us do. And only that we choose to be our will as well as His." *We need realize how much we do not choose God's Will in our everyday life, and yet have the power to choose His grace as the blessed guide in our daily activity, as we read again from the manual's closing verse: "And now in all your doings be you blessed. God turns to you for help to save the world. Teacher of God, His thanks He offers you, And all the world stands silent in the grace You bring from Him." (M-29.8:1-3)* Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 http://www.mlynjohnson.com/ https://www.facebook.com/sweedreamz ACIM Gather for "A Course in Miracles" Students & Teachers

Lesson 347 Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is The weapon I would use against myself, To keep the miracle away from me. Father, I want what goes against my will, and do not want what is my will to have. Straighten my mind, my Father. It is sick. But You have offered freedom, and I choose to claim Your gift today. And so I give all judgment to the One You gave to me to judge for me. He sees what I behold, and yet He knows the truth. He looks on pain, and yet He understands it is not real, and in His understanding it is healed. He gives the miracles my dreams would hide from my awareness. Let Him judge today. I do not know my will, but He is sure it is Your Own. And He will speak for me, and call Your miracles to come to me. Listen today. Be very still, and hear the gentle Voice for God assuring you that He has judged you as the Son He loves. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 347. "Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is The weapon I would use against myself, To keep the miracle away from me." *Lesson 347 is another opportunity for us to realize the insanity of our choices, here exemplified by judging ourselves, the cause of our anger. Thus we again see the importance of recognizing the purpose behind our making the world and judging everything in it. Such judgments hold us in a state of mindlessness, which keeps the Holy Spirit's miracle away from us.* (1:1-3) "Father, I want what goes against my will, and do not want what is my will to have. Straighten my mind, my Father. It is sick." *This passage calls to mind the well-known lament of St. Paul: "Why is it that the good that I would, I do not do, and the evil that I would not do, I do do?" (Romans 7:19) In other words, why I am insane? Why is it that part of me wants to do the right thing, and yet I always end up doing the wrong thing; and the wrong things I do not want to do, are the very things I find myself doing? This is Jesus' point here, making clear to us our insanity in doing the very things that keep us from being happy. We think happiness comes through holding grievances or worshipping the gods of specialness. Yet they only bring us sadness, and our minds are sick to think otherwise. Humility helps us realize this sick insanity, the precursor to letting it go.* (1:4-8) "But You have offered freedom, and I choose to claim Your gift today. And so I give all judgment to the One You gave to me to judge for me. He sees what I behold, and yet He knows the truth. He looks on pain, and yet He understands it is not real, and in His understanding it is healed. He gives the miracles my dreams would hide from my awareness." *Interestingly, in the context of this passage the Holy Spirit sees the world through our eyes. Strictly speaking, of course, He does not see anything; the point being we should not deny what our eyes see, but rather look at the world through different lens. Jesus tells us, for example, that we should look on pain: "Do not deny the existence of wars, floods, and famine, from which people suffer. Do not deny the suffering. But let me help you to look at pain differently. Let me use your perception of suffering to show you that it mirrors your choice for an internal thought of suffering." This, then, is the world's only value -- there is no other way to return to the mind except through the world, because we made it and believe we are here. Though the world is not holy in itself, it can yet serve the holy purpose of reflecting back to us the repressed mind's choices, which correct the purpose served by the ego's dreams of anger, judgment, pain, and death: to hide the fact that we are the mind's decision maker, the dreamer of the dream.* (1:9-11) "Let Him judge today. I do not know my will, but He is sure it is Your Own. And He will speak for me, and call Your miracles to come to me." *I simply

Lesson 346. Today the peace of God envelops me, And I forget all things except His Love. Father, I wake today with miracles correcting my perception of all things. And so begins the day I share with You as I will share eternity, for time has stepped aside today. I do not seek the things of time, and so I will not look upon them. What I seek today transcends all laws of time and things perceived in time. I would forget all things except Your Love. I would abide in You, and know no laws except Your law of love. And I would find the peace which You created for Your Son, forgetting all the foolish toys I made as I behold Your glory and my own. And when the evening comes today, we will remember nothing but the peace of God. For we will learn today what peace is ours, when we forget all things except God's Love. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 346. "Today the peace of God envelops me, And I forget all things except His Love." *This is another important lesson that can be helpful as you go through your day. Realize how much you forget His Love and seek to remember everything else. If it is His Love you really want to remember, your specialness needs will recede into the background and His Love, as reflected through Jesus' teachings of forgiveness, will come to the foreground. If you realize that the purpose of this day is not to satisfy your ego's needs, but rather to be a classroom in which your only need of forgiveness is satisfied, that purpose will be in the foreground, and the daily events and relationships will reflect that changed purpose. They will thus have become the curriculum in which you learn the lessons that will speed you along your Atonement path. That is the meaning of "I forget all things except His Love." Jesus does not mean that you literally have to think of God's Love throughout the day; but he asks that you think of the gift Love's reflection offers you in very specific ways -- the opportunity of learning lessons in your classroom of forgiveness.* (1:1-2) "Father, I wake today with miracles correcting my perception of all things. And so begins the day I share with You as I will share eternity, for time has stepped aside today." *When I choose the holy instant I am outside time. That is how it has stepped aside. This does not mean I deny that I live in a world of time and space. It simply means that the world recedes into the background, its place taken by the lesson that comes from timelessness -- my reality is outside the dream. I now understand I chose the dream because I desired to keep my special dream figure alive and well, but am ready and willing to learn something else.* (1:3-4) "I do not seek the things of time, and so I will not look upon them. What I seek today transcends all laws of time and things perceived in time." *That is not meant to imply that you do not watch a news program, read a newspaper, or listen to someone's sad story, but that you look at them through Jesus' eyes. Remember that before you realize the perceptual world is an illusion, you first must reverse the perceived figure and ground. You do not want to skip steps, meaning that before you realize the illusory nature of everything, including yourself, you first must pay careful attention to what goes on here, but seen with a different purpose. The world of specialness, instead of being front and center, becomes the background of your new purpose. Thus what emerges in the forefront is Jesus' teaching that will help you realize that you can look on the world another way.* (1:5-7) "I would forget all things except Your Love. I would abide in You, and know no laws except Your law of love. And I would find the peace which You created for Your Son, forgetting all the foolish toys I made as I behold Your glory and my own." *These foolish toys, as we have seen elsewhere, are the

Lesson 345. I offer only miracles today, For I would have them be returned to me. Father, a miracle reflects Your gifts to me, Your Son. And every one I give returns to me, reminding me the law of love is universal. Even here, it takes a form which can be recognized and seen to work. The miracles I give are given back in just the form I need to help me with the problems I perceive. Father, in Heaven it is different, for there, there are no needs. But here on earth, the miracle is closer to Your gifts than any other gift that I can give. Then let me give this gift alone today, which, born of true forgiveness, lights the way that I must travel to remember You. Peace to all seeking hearts today. The light has come to offer miracles to bless the tired world. It will find rest today, for we will offer what we have received. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 345. "I offer only miracles today, For I would have them be returned to me." *The theme of oneness of giving and receiving is discussed here in the context of miracles. The miracles we offer correct our projected thoughts. They are nothing external; not beautiful, kind, holy, and pure -- not something to brag about. They are but withdrawals of the projection, reflecting the change of mind about our original guilt. They <undo>, reversing what the ego has done. Thus we look upon the ego's dream of devastation -- internal and external -- and smile gently as we accept they are not the truth. It is therefore our right-minded goal to teach each other, by showing that attacks have no effect on our love for those who sought to hurt us. As we teach that miracle to others, we reinforce its truth in ourselves.* (1:1) "Father, a miracle reflects Your gifts to me, Your Son." *God's gift is His Love; the miracle Its reflection. At the beginning of the text Jesus says that the source of miracles is love (T-1.I.3), which means the miracle is not love, but the Holy Spirit's correction principle in our minds -- our right-minded Atonement thought that reflects Heaven's love.* (1:2-4) "And every one I give returns to me, reminding me the law of love is universal. Even here, it takes a form which can be recognized and seen to work. The miracles I give are given back in just the form I need to help me with the problems I perceive." *The law of love is universal, holding for everyone; the Atonement principle is universal, holding for everyone. Yet the specific ways in which we practice the Atonement will differ for each of us, the meaning of Jesus' words at the end of the manual that the curriculum is highly individualized (M-29.2:6). It is what he means here by saying we will experience the correction in the forms we need. Since we wrote our scripts of special relationships, and these differ from the scripts of others, our experiences of undoing the ego will also differ. The underlying principle is always the same, however -- the mind has dreamt the dream, and therefore it is the mind alone that can change it.* (1:5-7) "Father, in Heaven it is different, for there, there are no needs. But here on earth, the miracle is closer to Your gifts than any other gift that I can give. Then let me give this gift alone today, which, born of true forgiveness, lights the way that I must travel to remember You." *Our only need is forgiveness or the miracle, for, as the text states, we already have all that we need as God's Son (T-3.V.6). The miracle reminds us of our prior choice for nothing, which now can be reconsidered in light of truth's reflection of the Everything. In the end, making the right choice is inevitable, as we recall: "Who with the Love of God upholding him could find the choice of miracles or murder hard to make?" (T-23.IV.9:8)* (2) "Peace to all seeking hearts today. The light has come to offer miracles to bless the tired world. It will fi

Lesson 344. Today I learn the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift to me. This is Your law, my Father, not my own. I have not understood what giving means, and thought to save what I desired for myself alone. And as I looked upon the treasure that I thought I had, I found an empty place where nothing ever was or is or will be. Who can share a dream? And what can an illusion offer me? Yet he whom I forgive will give me gifts beyond the worth of anything on earth. Let my forgiven brothers fill my store with Heaven's treasures, which alone are real. Thus is the law of love fulfilled. And thus Your Son arises and returns to You. How near we are to one another, as we go to God. How near is He to us. How close the ending of the dream of sin, and the redemption of the Son of God. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 344. "Today I learn the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift to me." *This reiterates the idea that giving and receiving are the same, both from the wrong-minded and right-minded points of view. It holds for the law of hate <and> for the law of love, and so the guilt I give my brother is the guilt I give to myself, as is the case with forgiveness.* (1:1-2) "This is Your law, my Father, not my own. I have not understood what giving means, and thought to save what I desired for myself alone." *We have a secret place in our minds where we hold onto what we cherish and call our own. We will never give it up, and therefore we can never give love entirely. Whether we are conscious of this thinking or not, it is in all of us. We will not give Jesus or A Course in Miracles everything: we will not give God everything. There remains a piece of our individuality we hold back. That is <our> law, because if we lose this special identity we lose our very selves.* (1:3-4) "And as I looked upon the treasure that I thought I had, I found an empty place where nothing ever was or is or will be. Who can share a dream?" *This is the dream of specialness, beginning with the dream of our own existence. We seek above all to preserve this special existence, even if it means killing one who threatens it. After all, we killed God in order to exist, and this <kill or be killed> mentality is reflected each and every day of our lives. If we do not do it physically, we do it psychologically -- others have what we want, and we must kill to get it. When we succeed, or believe we have, we must continue to protect our treasure by the same hate-filled tactic that seemed to win it in the first place.* (1:4-9) "And what can an illusion offer me? Yet he whom I forgive will give me gifts beyond the worth of anything on earth. Let my forgiven brothers fill my store with Heaven's treasures, which alone are real. Thus is the law of love fulfilled. And thus Your Son arises and returns to You." *The gifts you give me when I forgive are the gifts of remembering my sinlessness. When I forgive you, I realize the light of Christ shines in you as it does in me, and your unkindness is but a call for the love that mirrors my own. We are united in that call for love, as we are united in the love that is our true Self.* (2) "How near we are to one another, as we go to God. How near is He to us. How close the ending of the dream of sin, and the redemption of the Son of God." *We need learn as we make our way home how close we are to each other, and at the journey's end we realize we are not close to each other at all, we <are> each other; not the individual selves we seem to share, but the one Son of God who remained awake within his Father. Recall this passage from The Song of Prayer: "The ladder ends with this, for learning is no longer needed. Now you stand before the gate of Heaven, and your brother stands beside you there. The lawns are deep and still, for here the place appointed for th

Lesson 343. I am not asked to make a sacrifice To find the mercy and the peace of God. The end of suffering can not be loss. The gift of everything can be but gain. You only give. You never take away. And You created me to be like You, so sacrifice becomes impossible for me as well as You. I, too, must give. And so all things are given unto me forever and forever. As I was created I remain. Your Son can make no sacrifice, for he must be complete, having the function of completing You. I am complete because I am Your Son. I cannot lose, for I can only give, and everything is mine eternally. The mercy and the peace of God are free. Salvation has no cost. It is a gift that must be freely given and received. And it is this that we would learn today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 343. "I am not asked to make a sacrifice To find the mercy and the peace of God." *Continuing the theme of the unity of giving and receiving, this lesson focuses specifically on sacrifice, which is based on the idea that if I am to receive something, I have to give something away; if I am to receive love, I have to pay for it.* (1:1-4) "The end of suffering can not be loss. The gift of everything can be but gain. You only give. You never take away." *This is our prayer to God, but the ego has us believe the exact opposite: the world's God gives life and takes it away. Funeral services almost always affirm that thinking, and behind it is the idea we stole from God, and now He is justified in taking back from us -- through our death -- the life we believed we stole from Him.* (1:5-11) "And You created me to be like You, so sacrifice becomes impossible for me as well as You. I, too, must give. And so all things are given unto me forever and forever. As I was created I remain. Your Son can make no sacrifice, for he must be complete, having the function of completing You. I am complete because I am Your Son. I cannot lose, for I can only give, and everything is mine eternally." *This corrects the ego thought system that says the way to win God's mercy and peace is to pay Him for it -- the birth of the strange notion that God demands sacrifice. In biblical times God demanded animal sacrifice, then the sacrifice of His Son. Following along, we sacrifice the pleasure of our own bodies. All this makes perfect sense from the ego's view of truth, which knows nothing of such insanity: "Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. It arises solely from fear, and frightened people can be vicious. Sacrificing in any way is a violation of my injunction that you should be merciful even as your Father in Heaven is merciful." (T-3.I.4:1-3) In other words, "God thinks otherwise" (T-23.I.2:7), and so our thought system of guilt and punishment, vengeance and sacrifice, is quietly undone through forgiveness, which restores to our awareness the completion of God's Son. The ego's dream of sacrifice -- <one or the other> -- ends in our embrace of the Holy Spirit's principle -- <together or not at all>. Thus we remember our Identity, the eternal Christ God created like Himself.* (2) "The mercy and the peace of God are free. Salvation has no cost. It is a gift that must be freely given and received. And it is this that we would learn today." *God's Love is total, and is totally present to <all> Sons, who in their delusions believe they are separate. Thus they believe their separation from God must be brought at a price -- the compromise of the Oneness of God and His Son. Yet does Jesus save us from this insanity by gently teaching that reality cannot be compromised, for Heaven's love is not diminished by our belief in the hell of judgment: "Salvation is no compromise of any kind. To compromise is to accept but part of what you want; to take a little and give up the rest. Salvation gives up nothing. It is complete for ever

Lesson 342. I let forgiveness rest upon all things, For thus forgiveness will be given me. I thank You, Father, for Your plan to save me from the hell I made. It is not real. And You have given me the means to prove its unreality to me. The key is in my hand, and I have reached the door beyond which lies the end of dreams. I stand before the gate of Heaven, wondering if I should enter in and be at home. Let me not wait again today. Let me forgive all things, and let creation be as You would have it be and as it is. Let me remember that I am Your Son, and opening the door at last, forget illusions in the blazing light of truth, as memory of You returns to me. Brother, forgive me now. I come to you to take you home with me. And as we go, the world goes with us on our way to God. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on the lessons. It is taken from his eight volume work: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles." which can be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 342. "I let forgiveness rest upon all things, For thus forgiveness will be given me." *Lessons 342 through 345 revisit the theme of giving and receiving, so prominent in the workbook, not to mention the text. The fact that giving and receiving are the same undoes the ego's principle of < one or the other > -- if I give you something, you have it and I do not; if I take it from you, you do not have it and I do. Thus to the ego, giving and receiving are <not> the same. This is patently true of the world of materiality, but not in thought, where the equality of giving and receiving holds for both the ego and the Holy Spirit. If I give you my guilt to you and attack, I still receive it. Likewise, when I undo guilt and forgive, I teach myself I am forgiven too: "I let forgiveness rest upon all things. For thus forgiveness will be given me." I therefore learn that my sin of separating from God is undone through recognizing there is no sin in my brother. I begin there because that is where my ego taught me I am -- the attacking world of bodies -- at the bottom of its ladder of guilt and hate: Asking Jesus to help me look differently on my perceptions of separate bodies in relationship, I learn that what I perceived outside is simply what I made real inside, a mistaken choice for separation I can now happily correct through forgiveness -- the gift I both give and receive as one.* (1:1-4) "I thank You, Father, for Your plan to save me from the hell I made. It is not real. And You have given me the means to prove its unreality to me. The key is in my hand, and I have reached the door beyond which lies the end of dreams." *The hell of the external world of suffering and death is not real, and neither is the hell of the internal world of sin, guilt, and fear. Metaphorically speaking, God gives us the means to prove this unreality through the Holy Spirit in our minds. The "key" is not in Jesus' hand, God's Hands, or the Course's hands, it is in <our> hands. It was our choice to leave Heaven, and it is now our choice to return to it. "Forgiveness is the key to happiness" (W-pI.121), but we can only turn the key when our hands are joined with Jesus'. We cannot do it without him, and he cannot do it without us. Patiently, he awaits our decision to have him help us.* (1:5-8) "I stand before the gate of Heaven, wondering if I should enter in and be at home. Let me not wait again today. Let me forgive all things, and let creation be as You would have it be and as it is. Let me remember that I am Your Son, and opening the door at last, forget illusions in the blazing light of truth, as memory of You returns to me." *As he is want to do, Jesus lets us know there is a part of us that is still uncertain this is what we want, for we fear that if we do what he asks, we will lose.* (2) "Brother, forgive me now. I come to you to take you home with me. And as we go, the world goes with us on our way to God." *Jesus says to us, "I cannot help you return home if you still hol

This next section is to be read once a day for the next ten days, for those doing the actual lessons. ~ M. Street 13. What is a Miracle? A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time's limits. Yet it paves the way for the return of timelessness and love's awakening, for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings. A miracle contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one. And thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it fails entirely to understand its ways. A miracle inverts perception which was upside down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions that were manifest. Now is perception open to the truth. Now is forgiveness seen as justified. Forgiveness is the home of miracles. The eyes of Christ deliver them to all they look upon in mercy and in love. Perception stands corrected in His sight, and what was meant to curse has come to bless. Each lily of forgiveness offers all the world the silent miracle of love. And each is laid before the Word of God, upon the universal altar to Creator and creation in the light of perfect purity and endless joy. The miracle is taken first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yet faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really there. And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed from what you thought was there. Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water. Now the world is green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is born can never die, for what has life has immortality. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this section, from his book set called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: Foundation for "A Course in Miracles"? ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 13. What is a Miracle? *This is one of the more important of the 14 summaries in Part II, as the focus of A Course in Miracles is on the miracle, which is why it is part of the Course's title. It will be clear as we go through this, as well as the lessons to come, that Jesus treats the roles of the miracle and forgiveness synonymously. It would be difficult to regard them as significantly different as they are really aspects of the same process of healing. However, more often than not Jesus gives the name <forgiveness> to the process of changing our minds, and the miracle to the realization that our minds are the <cause> of the dream, not its <effect>.* (1:1-3) "A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false." *The passage parallels the first summary, which says forgiveness "is still, and quietly does nothing ... It merely looks, and waits, and judges not" (W-pII.1.4:1,3). In other words, the miracle can be viewed as the process of (1) going above the battleground with Jesus and looking on the world's devastation -- what we believe has victimized us and others -- and understanding that this is the external dream that mirrors our internal dream of devastation -- the belief we attacked and destroyed God; and (2) looking at that belief with a gentle smile, as we realize that what we are looking on -- <form> and <content> -- is false. Thus, the miracle is not about external changes, but solely about a change of mind. It is as if we shifted lenses -- no longer looking at the world through the lens of the ego, but through the lens of the Holy Spirit. Remember that the miracle is not tr

Lesson 341 I can attack but my own sinlessness, And it is only that which keeps me safe. Father, Your Son is holy. I am he on whom You smile in love and tenderness so dear and deep and still the universe smiles back on You, and shares Your Holiness. How pure, how safe, how holy, then, are we, abiding in Your Smile, with all Your Love bestowed upon us, living one with You, in brotherhood and Fatherhood complete; in sinlessness so perfect that the Lord of Sinlessness conceives us as His Son, a universe of Thought completing Him. Let us not, then, attack our sinlessness, for it contains the Word of God to us. And in its kind reflection we are saved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his books: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles." Book set may be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 341 "I can attack but my own sinlessness, And it is only that which keeps me safe." *Beginning with Lesson 341, the next ten lessons differ from what we have been accustomed to seeing in Part II. First, the lesson titles increase, beginning with two lines instead of one, and then shifting to three with Lesson 347. Second, each lesson begins with a prayer to God, the dominant part of the lesson. Thus, the number of words Jesus says to us decreases, while he increases what we say to God in our prayer. In this first lesson is an extension of Lesson 135, "If I defend myself I am attacked." If I see myself as vulnerable and needing defense, I must see myself as separated and sinful. Therefore, when I hold grievances against others, I attack not only their sinlessness but mine as well, since we are one.* (1) "Father, Your Son is holy. I am he on whom You smile in love and tenderness so dear and deep and still the universe smiles back on You, and shares Your Holiness. How pure, how safe, how holy, then, are we, abiding in Your Smile, with all Your Love bestowed upon us, living one with You, in brotherhood and Fatherhood complete; in sinlessness so perfect that the Lord of Sinlessness conceives us as His Son, a universe of Thought completing Him." *This is a lovely rendering of the Oneness of the Sonship as Christ, and Its Oneness with God. God's smile -- a metaphor, of course -- tells us that nothing happened in the separation, for we are the ones who took the tiny mad idea seriously, making a world based upon the ego's mistaken correction. The gentle laughter of the Holy Spirit -- the expression of the Atonement principle -- reflects God's smile that undoes this foolishness, as we see in this important and familiar passage from the text: "In gentle laughter does the Holy Spirit perceive the cause, and looks not to effects. How else could He correct your error, who have overlooked the cause entirely? He bids you bring each terrible effect to Him that you may look together on its foolish cause and laugh with Him a while. You judge effects, but He has judged their cause. And by His judgment are effects removed. Perhaps you come in tears. But hear Him say, "My brother, holy Son of God, behold your idle dream, in which this could occur". And you will leave the holy instant with your laughter and your brother's joined with His." (T-27.VIII.9) * (2) "Let us not, then, attack our sinlessness, for it contains the Word of God to us. And in its kind reflection we are saved." *We attack our sinlessness by attacking our brothers, which is why we attack them: to keep sin intact in our deluded minds, and therefore maintain the reality of the separation. Thus Jesus asks us, again, to choose what we want -- sin or sinlessness, imprisonment or freedom, blindness or vision: "Your question should not be, "How can I see my brother without the body?" Ask only, "Do I really wish to see him sinless?" And as you ask, forget not that his sinlessness is your escape from fear. Salvation is the Holy Spirit's goal. The means is vision. For what the seeing look upon is sinless. No one who loves can judge, and what he sees is free of co

Lesson 340. I can be free of suffering today. Father, I thank You for today, and for the freedom I am certain it will bring. This day is holy, for today Your Son will be redeemed. His suffering is done. For he will hear Your Voice directing him to find Christ's vision through forgiveness, and be free forever from all suffering. Thanks for today, my Father. I was born into this world but to achieve this day, and what it holds in joy and freedom for Your holy Son and for the world he made, which is released along with him today. Be glad today! Be glad! There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today. Our Father has redeemed His Son this day. Not one of us but will be saved today. Not one who will remain in fear, and none the Father will not gather to Himself, awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: Foundation for A Course in Miracles ? ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 340. "I can be free of suffering today." *This lesson provides us with another clear statement of what our experience can be if we choose the Teacher of freedom instead of the teacher of suffering.* (1:1-2) "Father, I thank You for today, and for the freedom I am certain it will bring. This day is holy, for today Your Son will be redeemed." *Our gratitude is not for whatever pain we experience this day -- that would be masochism. We thank our Father for His Love, which, through the Holy Spirit's Presence in our hurtful dream, reminds us that we can choose again. Our suffering is the effect of the mind's mistaken choice for a teacher, but we can change the cause to the Cause that alone will free us from our prison house of pain. Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit's means to liberate us from hell, for it reflects the Will of Heaven, the only Source of joy.* (1:3-6) "His suffering is done. For he will hear Your Voice directing him to find Christ's vision through forgiveness, and be free forever from all suffering. Thanks for today, my Father. I was born into this world but to achieve this day, and what it holds in joy and freedom for Your holy Son and for the world he made, which is released along with him today." *Choosing the Voice of forgiveness instead of the voice of guilt marks the end of suffering. There is no other way to remember our pain-free Self than to recognize that suffering's end comes with the separation's end, expressed through not seeing another's interests as separate from our own -- the essence of forgiveness. As Jesus reminds us in Psychotherapy : "Hear a brother call for help and answer him ... There is no other way to hear His Voice. There is no other way to seek His Son. There is no other way to find your Self." (P-2.V.8:4,6-8)* (2) "Be glad today! Be glad! There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today. Our Father has redeemed His Son this day. Not one of us but will be saved today. Not one who will remain in fear, and none the Father will not gather to Himself, awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love." *The only right-minded purpose for being here is to learn that suffering comes from a wish that in turn gives rise to a thought. This, then, gives rise to a projected experience. Recall these important lines from the text: "Perception seems to teach you what you see. Yet it but witnesses to what you taught. It is the outward picture of a wish; an image that you wanted to be true." (T-24.VII.8.8-10). If I am not happy with my suffering, I can return to my mind's decision maker and say: "I no longer wish this." Yet to say I no longer wish this pain must also mean I no longer wish its cause -- the decision to be on my own and separate from the Love of God. Thus I joyfully allow myself to hear God's loving Judgment on me, His Son: "Holy are you, eternal, free and whole, at peace forever in the Heart of God." (M-15.1:11) * Love and Blessings, Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822 http://www.mlynjohnson.com/ https://www

Lesson 339. I will receive whatever I request. No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one would avoid his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and dangerous. Everyone will receive what he requests. But he can be confused indeed about the things he wants; the state he would attain. What can he then request that he would want when he receives it? He has asked for what will frighten him, and bring him suffering. Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want, and only this, that we may spend this day in fearlessness, without confusing pain with joy, or fear with love. Father, this is Your day. It is a day in which I would do nothing by myself, but hear Your Voice in everything I do; requesting only what You offer me, accepting only Thoughts You share with me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: Foundation for A Course in Miracles ? ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 339. "I will receive whatever I request." *If I feel pain it is because I chose pain, and I chose it because of its value in keeping God away. The suffering will never cease, therefore, until I change my mind about its purpose.* (1:1-4) "No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one would avoid his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and dangerous." *Jesus discusses this idea at the end of the first and second obstacles to peace (T-19.IV.-A.17:10-12); T-19.IV-B.15). He explains that we really do not understand the difference between pleasure and pain, and that if we believe the body can give us one, it can also give us the other. We are confused because we have taken instruction from a teacher with a vested interest in what we learn -- that we stay in pain but blame someone else for it. This is the ego's insane method of freeing us from guilt. Thus we need a Teacher Who will help us realize that anything of the ego is ultimately painful, and that the only real pleasure is in doing God's Will (T-1.VII.1:4), which in this world entails learning to forgive. Therefore, our real joy is giving up of the ego, which means giving up our individuality and self-importance. To our egos, however, this can only be perceived as painful. Jesus reminds us that babies will cry when the scissors they are playing with are taken from them (T-4.II.5:2). To the caring adult, a baby's enjoyment is courting danger, and so it removes the potential source of harm. Jesus is the caring adult trying to do the same with us, except he does not have the same power to effect change that an adult has over a child. Thus he waits patiently until we change our minds sufficiently to realize that he knows better than we. He is trying to take away our specialness, not by force, but by gently reminding us it will not make us happy.* (1:5-9) "Everyone will receive what he requests. But he can be confused indeed about the things he wants; the state he would attain. What can he then request that he would want when he receives it? He has asked for what will frighten him, and bring him suffering. Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want, and only this, that we may spend this day in fearlessness, without confusing pain with joy, or fear with love." *Once again, we all receive what we want, and we want happiness; but we do not understand that what we think will make us happy brings us only suffering and pain. We need a different definition of happiness, which comes when we step with Jesus outside of the dream -- outside our personal identity, wishes, and specialness -- and let him teach us what alone will give us what we want: the perceptual shift of relationships that forgiveness brings about. Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, as joy replaces pain, and love takes the place of fear.* (2) "Father, this is Your day. It is a day in which I would do nothing by myself, but hear Your Voice in everything

Lesson 338. I am affected only by my thoughts. It needs but this to let salvation come to all the world. For in this single thought is everyone released at last from fear. Now has he learned that no one frightens him, and nothing can endanger him. He has no enemies, and he is safe from all external things. His thoughts can frighten him, but since these thoughts belong to him alone, he has the power to change them and exchange each fear thought for a happy thought of love. He crucified himself. Yet God has planned that His beloved Son will be redeemed. Your plan is sure, my Father,--only Yours. All other plans will fail. And I will have thoughts that will frighten me, until I learn that You have given me the only Thought that leads me to salvation. Mine alone will fail, and lead me nowhere. But the Thought You gave me promises to lead me home, because it holds Your promise to Your Son. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: Foundation for A Course in Miracles ? ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 338. "I am affected only by my thoughts." *In this lesson and the two that follow, Jesus reminds us how to be free of suffering. Since pain does not originate outside, release from it cannot be sought there. We think we are affected by everything but our thoughts -- weather, germs, insults, the body's deterioration, etc. Yet since this is our dream, we can be affected only by our thoughts. This realization marks the end of pain. As Jesus says in "The Dreamer of the Dream," the way to be free of all suffering is to see the problem as it is, not the way we set it up (T-27.VII.2). Our setup was to attribute the cause of our distress to something external. To see the problem as it is, however, is to accept the internal cause of suffering -- the mind's decision for guilt and unforgiveness.* (1:1-4) "It needs but this to let salvation come to all the world. For in this single thought is everyone released at last from fear. Now has he learned that no one frightens him, and nothing can endanger him. He has no enemies, and he is safe from all external things." *Salvation comes when I understand I am affected only by my thoughts. If the world is nothing but a projection of my thought, when this thought changes, my perception of the world changes, too. Within the dream our bodies are not safe; indeed, they were made to be vulnerable. However, we are not talking about the dream's bodily hero. Jesus' teachings can be understood only when we are able to step outside the dream and no longer see ourselves as figures within it. Being above the battleground with Jesus (T-23.IV), we understand we have brought this on ourselves, for our purpose was to prove we are innocent victims, not sinful victimizers. Thus do we see that we can be affected only by our victimizing thoughts, and nothing else, and therefore are made safe from all threat and released from fear.* (1:5-7) "His thoughts can frighten him, but since these thoughts belong to him alone, he has the power to change them and exchange each fear thought for a happy thought of love. He crucified himself. Yet God has planned that His beloved Son will be redeemed." *God's plan -- the Atonement -- undoes our misthoughts. Our first step is realizing that the problem is not outside, but our <thoughts> about what is outside. That is why A Course in Miracles gives us true hope, for we can do something about our thoughts. Since it is our dream, we can change it, but if we are the victim of another's dream, there is no hope for us -- except attack.* (2) "Your plan is sure, my Father,--only Yours. All other plans will fail. And I will have thoughts that will frighten me, until I learn that You have given me the only Thought that leads me to salvation. Mine alone will fail, and lead me nowhere. But the Thought You gave me promises to lead me home, because it holds Your promise to Your Son." *God's plan is to return t

Lesson 337. My sinlessness protects me from all harm. My sinlessness ensures me perfect peace, eternal safety, everlasting love, freedom forever from all thought of loss; complete deliverance from suffering. And only happiness can be my state, for only happiness is given me. What must I do to know all this is mine? I must accept Atonement for myself, and nothing more. God has already done all things that need be done. And I must learn I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self, my sinlessness, created for me, now already mine, to feel God's Love protecting me from harm, to understand my Father loves His Son; to know I am the Son my Father loves. You Who created me in sinlessness are not mistaken about what I am. I was mistaken when I thought I sinned, but I accept Atonement for myself. Father, my dream is ended now. Amen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site: Foundation for A Course in Miracles ? ~ M. Street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 337. "My sinlessness protects me from all harm." *The belief that our sinful attack against God will be used against us causes us to walk the world in a state of vulnerability and fear. However, choosing to be sinless helps us to realize there is nothing to fear, because there is no projection of guilt that demands attack in return.* (1:1-4) "My sinlessness ensures me perfect peace, eternal safety, everlasting love, freedom forever from all thought of loss; complete deliverance from suffering. And only happiness can be my state, for only happiness is given me. What must I do to know all this is mine? I must accept Atonement for myself, and nothing more." *I find peace, safety, love, and happiness, not through the world changing or my manipulating others to meet my special needs, but rather by changing my mind's thought system or teacher. Accepting the Holy Spirit's Atonement for myself remains my one and only responsibility." (T-2.V.5:1).* (1:5-6) "God has already done all things that need be done. And I must learn I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self, my sinlessness, created for me, now already mine, to feel God's Love protecting me from harm, to understand my Father loves His Son; to know I am the Son my Father loves." *To cite the important section from the text: I need do nothing (T-18.VII). All I need do is <undo> what my ego has taught me, which I accepted instead of the Atonement's truth. Reversing my decision allows me to shift my identification from sin to sinlessness, guilt to innocence, and fear to love, for I have accepted Jesus' now-familiar words as truth: "Walk you in glory, with your head held high, and fear no evil. The innocent are safe because they share their innocence. Nothing they see is harmful, for their awareness of the truth releases everything from the illusion of harmfulness. And what seemed harmful now stands shining in their innocence, released from sin and fear and happily returned to love." (T-23.in.3:1-4).* (2:1) "You Who created me in sinlessness are not mistaken about what I am." *This calls to mind Jesus' reassuring statements in the text: "My trust in you is greater than yours in me at the moment ...You are asked to live so as to demonstrate that you are not an ego, and I do not choose God's channels wrongly. The Holy One shares my trust, and accepts my Atonement decisions because my will is never out of accord with His. I have said before that I am in charge of the Atonement. This is only because I completed my part in it as a man, and can now complete it through others. My chosen channels cannot fail, because I will lend them my strength as long as theirs is wanting." (T-4.VI.6:1,3-4) In Jesus' certainty we rest content -- safe from guilt, safe from attack, safe for love.* (2:2-4) "I was mistaken when I thought I sinned, but I accept Atonement for myself. Father, my dream is ended now. Amen." *Once more we see the crucial idea