[acimlessons_list] Lesson 363 - December 29

[Susan Carrier]

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+ 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 <http://www.circleofa.com/>
>
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LESSON 363 - December 29


"This holy instant would I give to You. 
Be You in charge. For I would follow You, 
Certain that Your direction gives me peace."


PRACTICE SUMMARY

FINAL LESSONS

PURPOSE: To receive the gift that God promised His Son. To dedicate your
mind to following in the way of truth and leading your brothers there. To
forgive the world and so hasten the ending of the dream that God appointed.

MORNING/EVENING QUIET TIME: as long as needed

Use the words only at the beginning, and only to remind yourself you are
trying to go beyond them. 
Leave the rest of the lesson to the Holy Spirit. Put Him in charge. Whatever
you need, be it a thought, a word, or stillness and tranquility, He will
give it to you.
HOURLY REMEMBRANCE

No specific instructions

FREQUENT REMINDER

No specific instructions

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION

No specific instructions

COMMENTARY

Once again we repeat this "holy instant" lesson. It seems as if the author
is telling us, "Having presented all the thoughts we have presented, there
is really nothing left to do except to put your life into the hands of the
Holy Spirit." Helen Schucman, who wrote the first parts of the Preface to
the Course some time after completing it (the final section, "What It Says,"
was taken down from the same inner dictation as the rest of the books), said
there:

"The Course makes no claim to finality, nor are the Workbook lessons
intended to bring the student's learning to completion. At the end, the
reader is left in the hands of his or her own Internal Teacher, Who will
direct all subsequent learning as He sees fit" (Preface, page ix). That is
exactly what these final five days are reinforcing, leaving us in the hands
of the Holy Spirit for our further instruction.

The Workbook is a primer, one that is intended to ready us for the on-going
instruction of the Holy Spirit. It serves as a kind of crutch while we are
too weak to stand on our own. I like to think of the Workbook, sometimes, as
training wheels on our bicycle. The training wheels are there to keep the
child who is learning to ride from falling over. Once he learns to keep his
balance, the wheels become unnecessary, while the rider continues to learn
to ride his bike better and better, perhaps learning to do wheelies, ride
with no hands, or even do off-road dirt bike maneuvers. The learning isn't
over when we are done with the Workbook; there is much yet to learn.

The training of the Course is a mind training. The Workbook offers mental
"training wheels," the structure of daily thoughts and suggested practice
exercises. Its purpose is to initiate us into the Course's form of spiritual
practice, which consists of mentally engaging with God, morning, evening,
and moment to moment throughout the day. Its words give us something to
grasp while we try to form this new habit. In the beginning it is very
structured, and the structure gets fairly demanding. Over time it eases off,
in the assumption that we have begun to form the habits it is attempting to
impart. Here, in the final lessons, the structure is about to fall
completely away; the training wheels are being removed. We are left in the
hands of the Holy Spirit alone, with no book to guide us.

Some, perhaps, may be motivated enough to apply themselves diligently
throughout the entire first year they do the Workbook, following its
instructions (or trying to) every day. If indeed one were to do this, a
single year would be enough to form the habits of spiritually engaging with
God. For most of us, however, once is not enough.

I have to confess, this next year will be, I think, my ninth pass through
the Workbook. My first took me most of three years. Since then I've done it
once a year except for one year I decided I wanted to do something different
for a while. I'm a slow learner; as this year ends, I still haven't formed
the daily habits the Workbook is trying to teach us. I'm doing much better
each year, but it is still a rare day I remember to practice my lesson every
hour, much less recall it briefly five or six times in between the
hours--and that is what the practice instructions consist of once we are
several months into the book. So I am doing it again, not just so that I can
share daily comments with you folks, but because I still have much to learn
myself.

Yet even though I don't feel I can take this lesson as fully as it is meant,
letting go of the Workbook to go on in my private instruction with the Holy
Spirit, I can still take it for each time of practice and remembrance
through the day. "This holy instant would I give to You." Every instant can
be a holy one. Let's try to remember, today, as often as we can. Each time
we do, let's give the instant to Him to be made holy. Or rather, let's give
it to Him for His purposes in recognition that it is holy.

As the Introduction to this lesson stressed, "Unto us the aim is given to
forgive the world. It is the goal that God has given us" (W-FL.In.3:2-3).
That is the purpose the Holy Spirit has, and each instant given to Him is
used for that purpose: forgiving the world. "It is our function to remember
Him on earth" (W-FL.In.4:1). We remember Him by forgiving: "For all that we
forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself" (W-FL.In.3:5).
Our brothers are our saviors; through our forgiveness of them, we remember
God.

===========================================

Year End Notes: I'm going to suggest that for the last two days of this year
you read through the Epilogue following the last lesson, as well as the
lesson. I will share a few comments based on that section over the next two
days.

On January 1, if you are starting the Workbook over again, I suggest reading
the Introduction to the Workbook as well as Lesson 1.
 
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+ 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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