[acimlessons_list] Lesson 229 - August 17

[Susan Carrier]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ COMMENTARIES ON LESSONS FROM THE WORKBOOK OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES
+ by Allen Watson, with Practice Summaries by Robert Perry, 
+ of The Circle of Atonement
+ Visit our website at <http://www.circleofa.com>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lesson 229 - August 17

"Love, Which created me, is what I am."

PRACTICE SUMMARY 

Purpose: To take the last few steps to God. To wait for Him to take the
final step.

Morning/Evening Quiet Time: as long as needed.

Read the written lesson.

Use idea and prayer to introduce time of quiet. Do not depend on the words.
Use them as a simple invitation to God to come to you.

Sit silently and wait for God. Wait in quiet expectancy for Him to reveal
Himself to you. Seek only direct, deep, wordless experience of Him. Be
certain of His coming, and unafraid. For He has promised that when you
invite Him, He will come. You ask only that He keep His ancient promise,
which He wills to keep. These times are your gift to Him.

Hourly Remembrance: Do not forget.

Give thanks to God that He has remained with you and will always be there to
answer your call to Him.

Frequent Reminder: As often as possible, even every minute.

Remember the idea. Dwell with God, let Him shine on you.

Response To Temptation: When you are tempted to forget your goal.

Use idea as a call to God and all temptation will disappear.

Reading: preceding one of the day's moments of practice.

Slowly read "What is...?" section.

Think about it a while.

Overall Remarks: Now, in this final part of the year that you and Jesus have
spent together, you begin to reach the goal of practicing and of the course.
Jesus is so close that you cannot fail. You have come far along the road. Do
not look back. Fix you eyes on the journey's end. You could not have come
this far without realizing that you want to know God. And this is all He
requires to come to you.

(See Part II Practice Summary, and also Part II Introduction)

COMMENTARY

Many of these lessons in Part II of the Workbook may seem to be expressing a
state of mind that is beyond where I am as I read them. In reality, they
express my <true> state of mind, the state of my right mind. It is this
state of mind we can reach in the holy instant. Right-mindedness is not some
future state I am trying to reach. There is an aspect of my mind that
already knows these things and already believes them. It is this part of my
mind that is leading me home. "Now need I seek no more" (1:2) is the truth
right now. It is the part of my mind that doubts this, that denies it, which
is unreal.

Love <is> what I am; It is my Identity. Let me look honestly at what I
believe I am instead, because it is in discovering what Love is not that I
will come to know Love.

"Love is not learned. Its meaning lies within itself. And learning ends when
you have recognized all it is <not>. That is the interference; that is what
needs to be undone" (T-18.IX.12:1-4).

Love waited for me, "so still" (1:4). Love is still because that is what
forgiveness does; it is "still, and quietly does nothing" (W-pII.1.4:1). My
own Love waits to forgive me all I think I have done, all that I have
believed I was other than Love. I actually "sought to lose" my Identity
(1:5), but God has kept that Identity safe for me, within me, as me. "In the
midst of all the thoughts of sin my foolish mind made up" (2:1), my Father
kept my Identity untouched and sinless. Let me turn to that Identity now.
Let me give thanks, and express my gratitude to God that It has never been
lost, even when I was sure it was. I cannot be anything other than what God
created me to be. "Love, Which created me, is what I am."

In my heart, in my mind, in the still and tranquil core of my being, lies
everything I have ever been seeking for. Let me now remember.

WHAT IS FORGIVENESS? (Part 9)

Paragraph 5:1-2. Faced with this stark contrast between forgiveness and
unforgiveness, what then are we to do? "Do nothing, then" (5:1). We are not
called upon to <do>, we are called upon to cease doing, because there is
nothing that need be done. To the ego, to do means to judge, and it is
judgment we must relinquish. If we feel there is something that must be
done, it is a judgment that affirms lack within ourselves, and there is no
lack. That is what we must remember. To believe that something must be done
is a denial of our wholeness, which has never been diminished.

"Let forgiveness show you what to do, through Him" (5:1). To forgive
ourselves means to take our hands off the steering wheel of our lives, to
stop trying to "make things right," which only affirms that something is
wrong. To forgive others means we stop thinking it is our job to correct
them. The Holy Spirit is the One Who knows what we should do, if anything,
and His guidance will often surprise us. Yes, there may still be something
for us to "do," but we will not be the ones to determine what that is. Our
doing is so often deadly, quenching the spirit instead of affirming it,
imparting guilt instead of lifting it.

The Holy Spirit is my Guide and Savior and Protector. In each situation
where I am tempted to do something, let me stop, remember that my judgment
is untrustworthy, let go, and give it into His hands. He is "strong in hope,
and certain of your ultimate success" (5:1). How often in a time when I am
judging, whether myself or another, am I certain of my ultimate success? Let
me then give the situation into the care of One Who is certain. He will show
me what to do.

"He has forgiven you already, for such is His function" (5:2). Each time I
bring Him some terrible thing I think I have done, let me remember: "He has
forgiven you already." I do not need to fear entering His Presence. His
function, His reason for being, is to forgive me. Not to judge me, nor to
punish me, nor to make me feel bad, but to forgive. Why would I stay away an
instant more? Let me fall gratefully now into His loving arms, and hear Him
say, "What you think is not the truth." He will still the troubled waters of
my mind, and bring me peace.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Commentary by Allen Watson
+ Practice Summary: Robert Perry
+ Available in book format from The Circle
+ of Atonement (Vol. 1 reprint due by end of 2004, write us for info)
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