[acimlessons_list] LESSON 266 - September 23

[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
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LESSON 266 - September 23

"My holy Self abides in you, God's Son."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

(See also Part II Introduction)

COMMENTARY

These are not words I speak to Jesus, or to the Christ as some abstract
being. These are words I speak to the person who is sitting next to me, to
my boss, to my family members, to whoever is in front of me or in my mind.
"My holy Self abides in you, God's Son."

If my mind is enlightened, everyone is my savior. Everyone points the way to
God (2:2-3). Jesus is saying here, "Wake up! You can't miss the way home.
The world is filled with people, and every one is pointing the way to God.
Every one reflects His Son. Your Self is in every one of them. Just let your
eyes be opened and I will give you the sight to see it."

"God's Will is your salvation. Would He not have given you the means to find
it? If He wills you to have it, He must have made it possible and easy to
obtain it. Your brothers are everywhere. You do not have to seek far for
salvation. Every minute and every second gives you a chance to save
yourself" (T-9.VII.1:1-6).

Nothing shows quite so vividly how skewed our perception is than our
reaction to this lesson. Perhaps right now you are thinking, "Yeah, sure.
They certainly don't seem like saviors and bearers of God's holy Voice to
me!" If we are honest, most of us will admit that we perceive our brothers
as the stumbling blocks and barriers on the way to God, if not outright
antagonists. Let us, then, consider the possibility that the reason we see
them that way has nothing to do with them, or with the truth. Let us
consider that perhaps we have laid our sins on them, and see them looking
back at us (W-pII.265.1:1). Let us begin to realize that our perception is
truly upside down, and needs to be turned right side up.

May I open my eyes today. May I remind myself with each person I encounter,
or think about, "She (or he) is my savior, my counselor in sight, the bearer
of God's Voice to me." Let me ask, "God, give me the sight to acknowledge my
Self in this person." Let me acknowledge that seeing anything but this,
which God says is their reality, is my own sickness of mind, my own twisted
perception, and let me bring those perceptions to the Holy Spirit for
healing.


What is the Body? (Part 6)

W-pII.5.3:4-5

Our minds chose to make the body. We made it from fear, and we made it to be
fearful. Once that purpose is in motion it will continue, unless the purpose
is changed. The body "must serve the purpose given it" (3:4), and it will
continue to serve fear as long as we do not question the premises on which
it was made. It will continue to preserve our separateness, fencing us in,
protecting our little self from love.

Our minds have great power, however. Our minds can choose to change the
purpose of the body. Our minds do not serve the body; the body serves the
mind. If, within our minds, we change what we think the body is for, the
body will begin to serve that new purpose. Instead of using the body to keep
love out, we can begin to use the body to extend love, to express love; to
heal rather than to hurt, to communicate rather than to separate, to unite
rather than to divide. Instead of being a fence, it can become a medium of
communication, the mechanism by which the Love of God can be seen and heard
and felt and touched in this world.

This is our function here. "Fail not in your function of loving in a
loveless place made out of darkness and deceit, for thus are darkness and
deceit undone" (T-14.IV.4:10). We are here to express the Love of God, to be
the Love of God in this dark and loveless place. God's formless Love takes
form in our forgiveness, and in our merciful and grateful acknowledgement of
the Christ in all our brothers and sisters (W-pI.186.14:2), as we reach out
our hands to help them on their way (W-pII.5.4:3). 
 
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+ Commentary by Allen Watson
+ Practice Summary: Robert Perry
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+ of Atonement (Vol. 1 reprint due by end of 2004, write us for info)
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