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Lesson 359 God's answer is some form of peace. All pain Is healed; all misery replaced with joy. All prison doors are opened. And all sin Is understood as merely a mistake. Father, today we will forgive Your world, and let creation be Your Own. We have misunderstood all things. But we have not made sinners of the holy Sons of God. What You created sinless so abides forever and forever. Such are we. And we rejoice to learn that we have made mistakes which have no real effects on us. Sin is impossible, and on this fact forgiveness rests upon a certain base more solid than the shadow world we see. Help us forgive, for we would be redeemed. Help us forgive, for we would be at peace. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson by Ken 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 359. "God's answer is some form of peace. All pain Is healed; all misery replaced with joy. All prison doors are opened. And all sin Is understood as merely a mistake." *This is the happy result when we realize we are the ones who were mistaken all along, and the Holy Spirit was right.* (1:1) "Father, today we will forgive Your world, and let creation be Your Own." *God's world, as we have seen, is the real world. We forgive it in the sense that we now accept it as what we want, with no further desire to attack it, which we were compelled to do in self-defense when we chose to retain our identity as an individual self, seemingly at home in the ego's world of specialness and death.* (1:2-3) "We have misunderstood all things. But we have not made sinners of the holy Sons of God." *In the insanity of the separation, we believed in the reality of our existence. Yet this belief did not give us the power to make the Son of God a sinner. <Ideas leave not their source>, and the truth is that we are a sinless Idea in the sinless Mind of God, our Source. "The Son of God can be mistaken; he can deceive himself; he can even turn the power of his mind against himself. But he <cannot> sin. There is nothing he can do that would really change his reality in any way, nor make him really guilty." (T-19.II.3:1-3) * (1:4-6) "What You created sinless so abides forever and forever. Such are we. And we rejoice to learn that we have made mistakes which have no real effects on us." *We again see our joyous gratitude in being wrong, seeing that our delusional mistakes of betraying love -- rejecting, attacking, and destroying it -- accomplished nothing. God loves us; Jesus loves us; nothing has changed, for Christ in us remains sinless forever, with our mad dreams of sin having no effects upon reality. See these two statements from the text: "Son of God, you have not sinned, but you have been much mistaken." (T-10.V.6:1) "Acknowledge but that you have been mistaken, and all effects of your mistakes will disappear." (T-21.II.2:7)* (1:7-9) "Sin is impossible, and on this fact forgiveness rests upon a certain base more solid than the shadow world we see. Help us forgive, for we would be redeemed. Help us forgive, for we would be at peace." *Forgiveness allows us to recognize the impossibility of sin. It rests on a solid base -- the reflection of God's Love in our right minds -- while our perceptions of bodily sin, attack, and pain rest on no base at all. They are all illusory, their purpose being to defend against the mind's illusion of sin and separation. Yet illusions bring us no peace, and so we happily choose the Holy Spirit's forgiveness, the doorway to the real world of light, peace, and joy -- our home away from home.* 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 358. No call to God can be unheard nor left Unanswered. And of this I can be sure; His answer is the one I really want. You Who remember what I really am alone remember what I really want. You speak for God, and so You speak for me. And what You give me comes from God Himself. Your Voice, my Father, then is mine as well, and all I want is what You offer me, in just the form You choose that it be mine. Let me remember all I do not know, and let my voice be still, remembering. But let me not forget Your Love and care, keeping Your promise to Your Son in my awareness always. Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 358. "No call to God can be unheard nor left Unanswered. And of this I can be sure; His answer is the one I really want." *This lesson presumes we have realized our mistaken choice and acknowledged there must be another way. We thus know our call to God will be answered, because the answer is already within us -- and now we choose it. Interestingly, the beginning of the prayer is addressed to the Holy Spirit -- another indication that Jesus is not rigid about form.* (1:1-3) "You Who remember what I really am alone remember what I really want. You speak for God, and so You speak for me. And what You give me comes from God Himself." *Here we address the Holy Spirit, Who speaks for God; His Voice we choose instead of the ego's. In the next sentence, God returns as the object of our prayer:* (1:4) "Your Voice, my Father, then is mine as well, and all I want is what You offer me, in just the form You choose that it be mine." *Strictly speaking, we are the ones who choose the form. The ego speaks first and writes its script of special relationships, which become the form in which we practice the special function that is God's gift to us -- forgiveness of our insane projections onto Him: "Your special function is the special form in which the fact that God is not insane appears most sensible and meaningful to you. The content is the same. The form is suited to your special needs, and to the special time and place in which you think you find yourself, and where you can be free of place and time, and all that you believe must limit you." (T-25.VII.7:1-3)* (1:5) "Let me remember all I do not know, and let my voice be still, remembering." *Once again we hear an echo of Psalm 46: "Be still and know that I am God." Thus our prayer to ourselves to let the ego's voice be quiet. If we still its discordant sounds, we will remember the love we denied because we were afraid of its truth.* (1:6) "But let me not forget Your Love and care, keeping Your promise to Your Son in my awareness always." *Thus I want to forget what my ego taught me, and choose to remember only what the Holy Spirit has held out to me as the truth. Above all: * (1:7) "Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all." *This wonderful line strikes terror in our hearts, for it tells us that we, who think of ourselves as important and meaningful, are truly nothing. We actually think, for example, that Jesus gave this course to us as individuals, each of us with a name and personal identity. He has been teaching us, however, that we must ultimately realize this separated self is an illusion. At present, our bodily selves are the classrooms in which we learn the holy lesson that teaches us their nothingness, but that our true Self as Christ is everything -- the realization of which is the ultimate goal and purpose of our learning.* 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 357. Truth answers every call we make to God, Responding first with miracles, and then Returning unto us to be itself. Forgiveness, truth's reflection, tells me how to offer miracles, and thus escape the prison house in which I think I live. Your holy Son is pointed out to me, first in my brother; then in me. Your Voice instructs me patiently to hear Your Word, and give as I receive. And as I look upon Your Son today, I hear Your Voice instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall be: "Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 357. "Truth answers every call we make to God, Responding first with miracles, and then Returning unto us to be itself." *To state this important point again, miracles are the correction. Therefore, the first response to our call for help is some recognition of the need to undo our misperceptions, for it is only when we have exposed these to the Holy Spirit that the ego can be undone. In that way our minds are freed to remember our Identity as Christ.* (1:1) "Forgiveness, truth's reflection, tells me how to offer miracles, and thus escape the prison house in which I think I live." *We offer miracles by accessing the correction in our minds, reminding us of the mind's innate power to choose. Therefore, since minds are joined -- in the holy instant in which we have chosen to forgive -- we remind our brothers that they have the same power as we to choose right-mindedly.* (1:2) "Your holy Son is pointed out to me, first in my brother; then in me." *That is why this is a course in miracles, which means it is a course in shifting how we perceive. Jesus directs his teaching to the conditions with which we identify -- our special relationships. I first learn to perceive you differently, because I believe you are really there; and not only are you there, but you are there to victimize, hurt, and persecute me. Therefore, by asking Jesus' help to shift my perception of you, I learn that what I am seeing in you is a projection of what I see in me. Realizing that you are part of God's one Son, I realize that I am, too.* (1:3-4) "Your Voice instructs me patiently to hear Your Word, and give as I receive. And as I look upon Your Son today, I hear Your Voice instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall be:" *Once again we are reminded of the wonderful prayer at the end of Lesson 189 -- it is God Who knows the way to Himself; of ourselves we do not, and cannot. Forgiveness -- the Holy Spirit's gift that leads us home -- is not Heaven's truth, but is its kind and gentle reflection. This final line is a lovely summary of the healing power of forgiveness: * (1:5) "Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed." *In this familiar passage from the text, Jesus tells us not to see our brother's sinlessness, for that is beyond us. However, he does ask for our little willingness to see him sinless: "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." (T-20.VII.9:1-3) This statement from the lesson is meant to convince us of the need to have this willingness. Jesus wants us to return to the part of the mind that has chosen to see sin in others as a way of protecting it in ourselves, and thus accepting no responsibility for it. When he says "Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed," he speaks of the correction of the misperception of sin, and our desire to see it anywhere but in ourselves. By choosing the miracle we make the choice to be healed, and our brothers along with us.* 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 356. Sickness is but another name for sin. Healing is but another name for God. The miracle is thus a call to Him. Father, You promised You would never fail to answer any call Your Son might make to You. It does not matter where he is, what seems to be his problem, nor what he believes he has become. He is Your Son, and You will answer him. The miracle reflects Your Love, and thus it answers him. Your Name replaces every thought of sin, and who is sinless cannot suffer pain. Your Name gives answer to Your Son, because to call Your Name is but to call his own. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 356. "Sickness is but another name for sin. Healing is but another name for God. The miracle is thus a call to Him." *The miracle, as we know, is nothing but a correction. We chose sin as our identity, and from that insane base, sickness arose. When we choose the Holy Spirit's miracle instead, the belief in separation is undone, which in turn removes the foundation for all pain. This change in teachers is the heart of healing, since in our dream of sin the Holy Spirit is another name for God, and thus our choosing Him as our Teacher opens the gate for our return home.* (1:1-3) "Father, You promised You would never fail to answer any call Your Son might make to You. It does not matter where he is, what seems to be his problem, nor what he believes he has become. He is Your Son, and You will answer him." *In other words, nothing has changed God, nor His loving Answer. It does not matter where we are in the dream -- a dream is a dream is a dream -- it has no effect on our reality. That is why there can be no hierarchy in illusions and no order of difficulty in miracles. All illusions are the same, for they are undone with the one Answer, as Helen's poem "Before We Ask" points out to us: Let us not question, but be still awhile. There is an answer given us before We ask the question; a solution to All strife and pain and turbulence; a door To silence and to absolution ................................................ God's Son is answered. Wearily at last, He calls upon his Father's Name again. (The Gifts of God, p.34)* (1:4-6) "The miracle reflects Your Love, and thus it answers him. Your Name replaces every thought of sin, and who is sinless cannot suffer pain. Your Name gives answer to Your Son, because to call Your Name is but to call his own." *Recall our earlier discussion about the <Name of God> (W-p1.183,184), where we discussed how Jesus' use of that term symbolized the right-minded thought system that we now choose instead of the little names the ego has made in its place: sin, individuality, and specialness. The miracle replaces our desire to be special and unique, and thus calling upon the Name of God is to call upon the Name of our Self -- hearing God's answer of love when He created us one with Him as His one Son: "The miracle but calls your ancient name, which you will recognize because the truth is in your memory. ... Your ancient name belongs to everyone, as theirs to you. Call on your brother's name and God will answer, for on Him you call. Could He refuse to answer when He has already answered all who call on Him? A miracle ... make[s] no change at all. But it can make what always has been true be recognized by those who know it not; and by this little gift of truth but let to be itself, the Son of God allowed to be himself, and all creation freed to call upon the Name of God as one." (T-26.VII.16:1,20)* 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 355. There is no end to all the peace and joy, And all the miracles that I will give, When I accept God's Word. Why not today? Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but reach out my hand to find it. Even now my fingers touch it. It is very close. I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever. It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You. Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and Creator, and his Love. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 355. "There is no end to all the peace and joy, And all the miracles that I will give, When I accept God's Word. Why not today?" *Remember the question Jesus posed earlier: "Why wait for Heaven? (W-pI.131.6:1; W-pl.188.1:1). Here he implores us: "Why continue to be upset and in pain? All you need do is listen to me, take my hand, and let me teach you how to look at the world differently. You will then certainly experience my peace and joy." * (1:1-2) "Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile." *His Word, again, is the Atonement. When we fell asleep and dreamt of exile, we took with us into the dream the memory of our Identity as God's Son, Who never left His Father. This memory is the Word that guarantees our eternal joy because it undoes the belief in separation that is the cause of sorrow.* (1:3-6) "Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but reach out my hand to find it. Even now my fingers touch it. It is very close. I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever." *The memory of God's Love is already present in us. It is as close to us as anything could be, because it is the thought of our Self -- the Idea of God's Son that never left its Source. The holy instant restores the treasure of our Identity to awareness, the right mind that has waited patiently for our return to sanity: "What God has willed for you is yours. He has given His Will to His treasure, whose treasure it is. Your heart lies where your treasure is, as His does. You who are beloved of God are wholly blessed. Learn this of me, and free the holy will of all those who are as blessed as you are." (T-8.VI.10:1-4)* (1:7) "It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You." *This can be our choice, as Jesus continually reminds us. Our making the right choice is guaranteed when we realize that our choices, always based on what we think we want, brought us nothing but unhappiness and pain. The choice for God, however, ensures our peace and joy, the core of our Identity as His beloved Son.* (1:8) "Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and Creator, and his Love." *By choosing against our self -- the ego's son -- we choose for our Self -- God's Son -- the blessed Christ of our loving Creator. This choice occurs as we change our perceptions of our brothers, Sons of the same loving Father: "Do not perceive anything God did not create or you are denying Him. His is the only Fatherhood, and it is yours only because He has given it to you. ... Yet the real Fatherhood must be acknowledged if the real Son is to be known. ... Only if you accept the Fatherhood of God will you have anything, because His Fatherhood gave you everything. That is why to deny Him is to deny yourself." (T-10.V.13:1-2,5,7-8)* 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 354. We stand together, Christ and I, in peace And certainty of purpose. And in Him Is His Creator, as He is in me. My oneness with the Christ establishes me as Your Son, beyond the reach of time, and wholly free of every law but Yours. I have no self except the Christ in me. I have no purpose but His Own. And He is like His Father. Thus must I be one with You as well as Him. For who is Christ except Your Son as You created Him? And what am I except the Christ in me? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: http://www.facim.org/ ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 354. "We stand together, Christ and I, in peace And certainty of purpose. And in Him Is His Creator, as He is in me." *What follows reiterates the point of the last lesson:* (1:1) "My oneness with the Christ establishes me as Your Son, beyond the reach of time, and wholly free of every law but Yours." *We are not asked within our experience here to go beyond time, nor to identify with God's law of love as it truly is, which only involves the unified spirit that is totally beyond the world of separation. Rather, we are asked to identify with a different use of time, reflecting God's law -- what I give to my brother I give to myself, because we are one. We thus shift our purpose by joining with the Holy Spirit's forgiveness, and then remember our Oneness in Heaven, which is beyond all laws but Heaven's law of love.* (1:2) "I have no self except the Christ in me." *Spend some time reflecting on that thought. If you think about it, you may indeed break into a cold sweat, accompanied by anxiety and palpitations. The self reading these words is very real to you, and you do not want to let it go. That is why you are tempted to bring the truth into your illusion, rather than the illusion of your self to the truth of Christ that lies beyond all words.* (1:3-5) "I have no purpose but His Own. And He is like His Father. Thus must I be one with You as well as Him." *We are Christ, united as God's Son, as Christ is united with God. When we truly understand these words, we realize that these very terms -- God and Christ, Father and Son -- have no real meaning. They are dualistic symbols that reflect a state of unity far beyond our ability to understand. Recall these words from the text on the true state of the Trinity: "Father and Son and Holy Spirit are as One, as all your brothers join as one in truth. Christ and His Father never have been separate, and Christ abides within your understanding, in the part of you that shares His Father's Will. The Holy Spirit links the other part -the tiny mad desire to be separate, different and special- to the Christ, to make the oneness clear to what is really one. In this world this is not understood, but can be taught." (T-25.I.5:3-6). This oneness is taught through forgiveness -- the undoing of the barriers we placed between ourselves and our brothers; shadows of the barrier we placed between ourselves and God.* (1:6-7) "For who is Christ except Your Son as You created Him? And what am I except the Christ in me?" *By choosing against the ego's false self, we make room for the memory of our true Self to dawn upon our healed minds, as we read again in this important statement near the end of the text: "I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself. Yet in this learning is salvation born. And What you are will tell you of Itself." (T-31.V.17.7-9)* 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 353. My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today Have but one purpose; to be given Christ To use to bless the world with miracles. Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use in any way that best will serve the purpose that I share with Him. Nothing is mine alone, for He and I have joined in purpose. Thus has learning come almost to its appointed end. A while I work with Him to serve His purpose. Then I lose myself in my Identity, and recognize that Christ is but my Self. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commentary on this lesson is by Kenneth Wapnick, from his book set: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and may be purchased at the following site: Foundation for "A Course in Miracles"? ~ M. Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lesson 353. "My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today Have but one purpose; to be given Christ To use to bless the world with miracles." *Lessons 353 and 354 also share a common theme -- helping us recognize the difference between Christ and the ego. We awaken each morning, still in the body, but now with a different purpose: to have our daily experiences be the classroom in which the Holy Spirit -- here the Teacher is Christ -- can teach us. In conjunction with this thought, both lessons remind us that we need to recognize how much we cherish what we believe is ours. We do not want to lose our individual identity -- our self, body, and personal interests -- which we believe to be sacred. To the ego, of course, it <is> sacred, for this special self preserves the religion of individuality.* (1:1-2) "Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use in any way that best will serve the purpose that I share with Him. Nothing is mine alone, for He and I have joined in purpose." *Anything you believe is yours alone is of the ego, and therefore illusory -- a dream without reality. The only thing within the dream that reflects reality is the recognition of common purpose. Therefore, once caught in defining yourself and your world -- name, body, desk, clothing, car, home, religion, or country -- you are in the world of illusion, which can only bring you pain. From the moment you open your eyes in the morning, therefore, dedicate your day to learning that to cherish anything as your own results in pain, and only when you relinquish investment in yourself and in what is yours alone, will you realize what is truly yours -- the purpose and identity that can be shared with everyone else. Everything else is of the ego and so belongs to no one, for the ego is nothing. Recall this passage from the manual about the right-minded use of the body: "Yet what makes God's teachers is their recognition of the proper purpose of the body. As they advance in their profession, they become more and more certain that the body's function is but to let God's Voice speak through it to human ears. And these ears will carry to the mind of the hearer messages that are not of this world, and the mind will understand because of their Source. From this understanding will come the recognition, in this new teacher of God, of what the body's purpose really is; the only use there really is for it. This lesson is enough to let the thought of unity come in, and what is one is recognized as one. (M-12.4:1-5) * (1:3-4) "Thus has learning come almost to its appointed end. A while I work with Him to serve His purpose." *Jesus is not saying we are now going to disappear into the Heart of God. This is our ultimate goal, but he is telling us here that we still have work to do in the classroom of our lives, in which his love will teach us to forgive.* (1:5) "Then I lose myself in my Identity, and recognize that Christ is but my Self." *This is the ego's fear, and ours who identify with its thought system of separation and specialness. We do not want to lose our identity as individuals, and that is why we are so tempted to bring Jesus and the Holy Spirit into the dream to interact with us. By making Them dream figures along with us, we keep our identity as individual selves intact, reinforced

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