[acimlessons_list] Lesson 305 - November 1

Sun Oct 31 11:29:42 EST 2004

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ 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/>
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

LESSON 305 - November 1

"There is a peace that Christ bestows on us."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

(See also Part II Introduction)

COMMENTARY

I find myself a little resistant to the lesson today. I judge it; it isn't
"inspiring enough," or it doesn't tell me anything new. It asserts this
wonderful peace, "a peace so deep and quiet, undisturbable and wholly
changeless, that the world contains no counterpart" (1:1). I'm not
experiencing that this morning. I'm not fraught with anxiety or anything,
but I have only a limited peace; it doesn't feel changeless; I think I could
be disturbed. So I feel a bit frustrated. I know that aloneness, for
instance, is there, gnawing away at the peace. If the right thing came up,
my peace could disappear. I think this is something most of us feel at times
while reading the Course.

The lesson says that God's peace is a gift, "come to us to save us from our
judgment on ourselves" (2:2-3). It offers a prayer: "Help us today...[to]
judge it not" (2:2). How do we judge the peace of God?

I judge peace as inappropriate due to my circumstances. The peace of God is
here, now, and part of my mind believes that, but I refuse to let myself
accept it and feel it because my mind judges that peace would be
inappropriate because of some external circumstance. "I can't be peaceful
until this changes, until that changes, or until this happens." It is an
assertion of a belief that something other than the will of God exists,
something which has power to take away my peace. God gives the peace;
something else, something apparently more powerful, removes it. There is no
other will, nothing more powerful than God, but my refusal of peace is
asserting a belief that there is.

"You see what you believe is there, and you believe it there because you
want it there" (T-25.III.1:3).

The Course teaches that in reality I do not have peace because I don't want
peace. The first obstacle to peace is my desire to get rid of it
(T-19.IV(A))! That is the only reason. Since nothing really exists that can
take away the peace of God, my insistence that there is such a thing is a
delusion chosen to excuse my refusal of God's gift. "It isn't my fault!" I
can cry. "This person, this circumstance, did it to me. I want Your peace
but they took it away." I am projecting my refusal of peace onto something
else.

There is another way I judge God's peace. I judge it as weak and vulnerable,
easily disturbed.

Why would I want to get rid of peace? Why would I refuse God's gift? In
T-19.IV.A.2, the Text asks the same question: "Why would you want peace
homeless? What do you think that it must dispossess to dwell with you? What
seems to be the cost you are so unwilling to pay?" There is something, Jesus
is saying, that I think I will lose if I accept peace. What is it?

It is the ability to justify attack against my brothers; the reasonableness
of finding guilt in them (T-19.IV(B).1:1-2:3). I want to be able to place
the blame somewhere else. If I simply accepted peace I would have to give
up, forever, the idea that anyone else can be blamed for my unhappiness. I
would have to give up all attack, and behind that is the fact that in order
to give up attack, I need to give up guilt, I need to give up feeling
separate and alone, I need to give up separation. I need to give up the
belief in my own incompletion, which is the foundation of my belief in my
separate identity.

The peace of God "has come to save us from our judgment on ourselves" (2:3).
I judge myself as sinful, as unworthy, as incomplete. That judgment is
behind my need to hold on to attack as a defense mechanism, my need to have
someone or something else to blame for the inadequacy I see in myself.

If I accept the peace of God as unconditional peace it feels to me as if I
am giving up all hope of ever having things, and other people, the way I
want them. It feels as if I am saying, "It is OK if you don't love me and
leave me alone. It is OK if you take my money. It is OK if you ignore me or
mistreat me. None of this disturbs my peace." Unconditional means it does
not matter what the conditions are. And I don't want that! I want the
conditions the way I want them!

Unconditional peace! The very idea scares the living daylights out of my
ego. Everyone is seeking peace; of course they are. But we want to achieve
peace by adjusting the conditions according to our own idea of what will
bring peace. Jesus is offering to give us peace regardless of the
conditions. "Forget the conditions," he is saying. "I can give you peace in
any circumstance." We don't want unconditional peace; we want peace our own
way. "Peace?" we ask. "What about the conditions?" We don't want to hear
that they don't matter.

The truth of the matter is that our world reflects our mind. We see an
unpeaceful world because our minds are not at peace. We think the world is
the cause, and our peace--or lack of it--is the effect. Jesus is saying that
our mind is the cause, and the world is the effect. He approaches us on the
level of cause, not effect. He isn't going to change the conditions to give
us peace; He is going to give us peace, and that will change the conditions.
The peace of God must come first. We have to get to the point of saying,
"The peace of God is all I want." We have to give up all other goals, goals
related to conditions. Accept the peace, and the world projected from our
mind will change accordingly--but that is not the goal. That is not the
healing we seek; it is only the effect of the healing in our minds.

Father, help me today to accept the gift of peace, and not to judge it. Let
me see behind my refusal of peace my judgment on myself as unworthy of it,
and my desire to attack something outside myself and place the blame on it.
In the eternal sanity of the Holy Spirit in my mind, I do want peace. Enable
me today to identify with that part of my mind. Let me see the insanity of
holding on to grievances against anyone or anything. Speak to me of my
wholeness. Let me understand that what I see that contradicts peace is not
real and does not matter. It is only my self-judgment (which is not real)
projected on the world (which is not real). Heal my mind, my Father. Peace
to my mind. Let all my thoughts be still. I am home. I am loved. I am safe.

What is the Second Coming? (Part 5)

W-pII.9.3:1

"The Second Coming ends the lessons that the Holy Spirit teaches, making way
for the Last Judgment, in which learning ends in one last summary that will
extend beyond itself, and reaches up to God."

The sequence the Course sees as ending the world, then, starts with our
individual minds going through the process of perception correction, or
forgiveness, until forgiveness has embraced the entire world. Each of us
comes, more and more, to see the real world, until all minds have been
restored to sanity, which is the Second Coming. This re-establishes the
condition in which reality can again be recognized. The lessons are over.
The Second Coming makes way for the Last Judgment (which is the subject of
the next "what is" section, starting with Lesson 311). This sentence gives a
little preview of what the Last Judgment is, in the Course's understanding.

The Text has already discussed the Last Judgment at some length (T-2.VIII
and T-3.VI); we'll touch on those passages with that next "what is" section.
This single sentence, however, gives a couple of interesting previews. The
Last Judgment is called "one last summary" that is the capstone of all
learning. To the Course, the Last Judgment is something the Sonship does,
not God. Perhaps the best description of it is in a passage in which the
phrase, "Last Judgment," does not even occur. It comes in the section, "The
Forgiven World" (T-17.II), which speaks of how the real world will appear to
us, and then talks of the last evaluation of the world that the united
Sonship will undertake, guided by the Holy Spirit:

"The real world is attained simply by complete forgiveness of the old, the
world you see without forgiveness. The Great Transformer of perception will
undertake with you the careful searching of the mind that made this world,
and uncover to you the seeming reasons for your making it. In the light of
the real reason that He brings, as you follow Him, He will show you that
there is no reason here at all. Each spot His reason touches grows alive
with beauty, and what seemed ugly in the darkness of your lack of reason is
suddenly released to loveliness" (T-17.II.5:1-4).

This is the time when, at last, the nagging question we all ask--"Why did we
make this world in the first place?"--will be fully answered, and we will
see "there is no reason here at all." Under His gentle tutelage, we will
carefully search out "the seeming reasons for your making it." We will at
last be ready to look at that "terrible" moment of the original thought of
separation. What seemed irredeemably ugly to us, in our fear, will grow
alive with beauty, and the loveliness of our united mind will be restored
and released to our awareness. The primal guilt will finally be undone, and
we will once again KNOW our innocence.

The Last Judgment, which follows the Second Coming, will be one last, great
summary lesson of forgiveness. This lesson will "extend beyond itself" for
it will finally and decisively remove the last barrier of guilt, our
collective guilt at having tried to usurp the throne of God. It will reach
"up to God," for it will completely restore the memory of God to our united
mind. The way will be fully open for God to reach down and once again to
gather us into His arms, home at last. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ 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)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ The Workbook Commentaries are Copyright 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003 by The 
+ Circle of Atonement, P.O. Box 4238,
+ W. Sedona, AZ 86340.
+ All rights reserved.
+
+ Please notify us of any intent to use them beyond the scope of this 
+ e-mail list; write to info at circleofa.com.
+
+ WWW: <http://www.circleofa.com/>
+ Email: <info at circleofa.com>
+ Back Issues Lesson Archive: <http://www.circleofa.com/curwkbk.html>
+ or <http://five.pairlist.net/pipermail/acimlessons_list/>, click "Date"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To unsubscribe from ACIMLESSONS_LIST send email to
acimlessons_list-request at circleofa.com with "unsubscribe" as the subject

To unsubscribe from ACIMWKBK_LIST send email to
acimwkbk_list-request at circleofa.com with "unsubscribe" as the subject

For more information about unsubscribing, subscribing, and changing settings
for your subscription, send an e-mail message to the same address with the
word "help" as the subject. You can also change your subscription options by
visiting the list website:
<http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/acimlessons_list> OR
<http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/acimwkbk_list>
Scroll to the bottom to change your personal options. 
____________________________________________

Tell your friends to subscribe. They can simply send an e-mail message to
<acimwkbk_list-request at circleofa.com> with the word "subscribe" in the
subject, changing "acimwkbk" to "acimlessons" if they want only the
commentaries, without member discussion.
_______________________________________________

Please support the Workbook commentaries! Make a donation to the Circle:
<https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=info%40circleofa.com&item_name=donat
ion+to+support+Workbook+commentaries&image_url=http%3A//www.circleofa.coion+
to+support+Workbook+m/images/main_title.gif&return=http%3A//www.circleofa.co
m&cancel_return=http%3A//www.circleofa.com&cn=Note+to+the+Circle&tax=0&curre
ncy_code=USD>
(If clicking the above link does not work, try copying it and pasting it
into the address field of your web browser, and clicking on "Go".)
_______________________________________________

Portions from Clarification of Terms, Copyright 1975, Psychotherapy:
Purpose, Process and Practice, (c) 1976, The Song of Prayer, (c) 1978, are
copyrighted by The Foundation for "A Course in Miracles," 41397 Buecking
Drive, Temecula, CA 92590.