[acimlessons_list] LESSON 282 - October 9

Mon Oct 11 06:36:32 EDT 2004

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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 282 - October 9

"I will not be afraid of love today."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

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

COMMENTARY

Here is another of the dozens of statements which the Course says, if
accepted without reservation, can constitute the entirety of salvation. "If
I could realize but this today, salvation would be reached for all the
world" (1:1). A few of the others that fall into this category which come to
mind are: "I am as God created me;" "Ideas leave not their source;" "There
is no world;" "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists;" and
"Forgive the world, and you will understand that everything that God created
cannot have an end, and nothing He did not create is real."

How often do I realize that I am afraid of love? We are afraid of love far
more frequently than we realize. Ken Wapnick has used a variation of this
thought as a suggested mental response whenever we notice our egos acting
up: "I must be afraid of love again." There is a sense in which we could say
that the ego is the fear of love. It is a mental stance that rejects Love as
our Source, that rejects Love as our Self, and that refuses to recognize
Love in everyone and everything around us. When we look at it in this way,
it begins to be more understandable that if we could simply realize this one
thing--not to be afraid of love--the salvation of the world would be
accomplished.

Fear of love is insane on the face of it. Of all the things we might be
reasonably afraid of, love is not one of them. A famous old-time Christian
evangelist, Charles Grandison Finney (famous in the 1800's), once wrote that
"Love is the eternal will to all goodness." To be afraid of that which
eternally wills only our good is truly insane. So to accept today's idea is
"the decision not to be insane" (1:2).

Fear of love is a fear of our own Self, which is Love. Therefore, to realize
today's idea is "to accept myself as God Himself, my Father and my Source,
created me" (1:2). We are indeed afraid to recognize ourselves as Love; it
seems a very dangerous thing to do, to our egos.

Fear of love is to fall asleep and dream of death, because in rejecting love
we are rejecting that which guards us, protects us, and brings us joy. In
fearing love we are imagining ourselves to be something other than loving,
or in other words, evil and sinful. In such a picture of ourselves we
imagine we deserve death. To forget what we are and to believe we are
something else, the mind must fall asleep. Therefore to realize today's idea
is a determination not to be asleep in dreams of death (1:3).

To will not to be afraid of love is a choice to recognize my Self because my
Self is Love.

No matter what names we may have called ourselves in our madness, names
cannot change what we are in truth (2:1-3). To choose not to fear love is to
remember this. What we have done in calling ourselves unloving is not a sin:
"The name of fear is simply a mistake. Let me not be afraid of truth today"
(2:4-5).

What is the Holy Spirit? (Part 2)

W-pII.7.1:3-5

The Holy Spirit is the mediator or bridge between illusion and truth, dreams
and reality, perception and knowledge. He becomes the means by which we can
carry all of our dreams to the truth "to be dispelled before the light of
knowledge" (1:3). His purpose within our minds is to effect this
transformation of our mistaken perception into true perception. Our only
task is to bring Him everything we do not want, so that He can dispel it.
The Course refers to its curriculum as :

"...an organized, well-structured and carefully planned program aimed at
learning how to offer the Holy Spirit everything you do not want. He knows
what to do with it. You do not understand how to use what He knows. Whatever
is given Him that is not of God is gone" (T-12:II.10:1-4).

Across the bridge, in the light of knowledge, "sights and sounds" are
"forever laid aside" (1:4). "Sights and sounds" represent the whole realm of
perception. We bring our perceptions to the Holy Spirit to be "cleansed and
purified, and finally removed forever" (T-18.IX.14:2). The Holy Spirit's
purpose is to perform this task; He is the mediator between perception and
knowledge (W-pI.43.1:3):

"Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge
forever in your mind. With this link with God, perception will become so
changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge" (W-pI.43.1:4,5).

This transformation of perception is identical to forgiveness; it is
forgiveness that "has made possible perception's tranquil end" (1:5).
"Forgiveness, salvation, Atonement, true perception, all are one" (C-4.2:6).
Perception as managed by the ego always sees sin, and manifests in judgment
and attack. Perception as managed by the Holy Spirit always sees the face of
Christ, and manifests in love and joining. The ego's perception sees
differences; the Holy Spirit's perception sees sameness and identity. "This
is the shift that true perception brings: What was projected out is seen
within, and there forgiveness lets it disappear" (C-4.6:1).

The Holy Spirit is, therefore, central to the process of forgiveness. He is
the means by which the transformation of perception from false to true is
possible, and without Him, we would forever be lost in our dream of
judgment. With Him, we can learn to forgive.

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+ Commentary by Allen Watson
+ Practice Summary: Robert Perry
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