[acimlessons_list] Lesson 273 - September 29

Tue Sep 28 08:17:01 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 273 - September 30

"The stillness of the peace of God is mine."

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 also Part II Introduction)

COMMENTARY

I love the way the Course makes room for all of us, no matter our level of
attainment. Some of us, it says, may be "ready for a day of undisturbed
tranquillity" (1:1). And for some of us, this may not yet be "feasible"
(1:2). If we have done the Workbook lessons from the beginning, we have
already done 272 lessons. Yet a day of undisturbed tranquillity may not yet
be feasible. "Feasible" means "possible" or "do-able." There is no sense of
put-down in this, no tone of saying, "Some of you haven't been doing your
work." It simply says it isn't possible for you--yet. Even the "yet" has
meaning, because it clearly states that it will be possible for us
eventually.

The author of the Course has total confidence in every one of us. Not just
those of us doing the Course, but every one of us. One day, it will be
possible for me, for you, and for everyone to spend a day in "undisturbed
tranquillity." Isn't that wonderful to think about, if you aren't at that
place yet?

"Do you want a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that never
can be hurt, a deep, abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be
upset? All this forgiveness offers you, and more" (W-pI.122.1:6-2:1).

The lesson suggests to us that if we are not yet ready to spend a day in
perfect peace, we can still be "content and even more than satisfied" (1:2).
The way to peace is also a way of peace. There is no need to be upset
because we cannot yet be perfectly peaceful! To lose what peace we have
because we are not perfectly at peace is not a productive state of mind to
be in. We can be at peace about not being at peace. That is where we begin.
We are content and satisfied to learn how a day of undisturbed tranquillity
is possible.

We need to be happy learners, happy to be learning how to be peaceful, even
while we are not yet peaceful. And how do we learn that? "If we give way to
a disturbance, let us learn how to dismiss it and return to peace. We need
but tell our minds, with certainty, 'The stillness of the peace of God is
mine,' and nothing can intrude upon the peace that God Himself has given to
His Son" (1:3-4). In other words, we simply instruct our minds that peace
has been given us by God. When disturbance arises, we "dismiss it." This is
the practice of mental vigilance so often taught in the Text. We do not
allow the disturbance to remain undisturbed; we recognize it as something we
do not want, and instruct our minds to return to peace.

It says we do this "with certainty." This is not a striving, trying to shout
down the ego. It is gentle but firm, calm and not anxious. We are telling
our minds, "Peace, be still." There is no stressed-out way to peace. The
words, "The stillness of the peace of God is mine," come from a place within
us that is always at peace. In speaking them to ourselves with quiet
certainty, we have already connected with that place of peace within us.

"And so the peace You gave Your Son is with me still, in quietness and in my
own eternal love for You" (2:4).

What is the Christ? (Part 3)

W-pII.6.2:1-3

Christ is the link that keeps us one with God (2:1). If we have any
awareness at all of the Christ within us, it seems as if He is only a part
of us, perhaps a small part or an obscure part. That is not the reality (see
3:2), but that is how it seems. And yet every one of us is aware of
something in us that is more than what we appear to be, something that links
us to God. We probably would not be reading this Course if we did not have
that awareness. And this part, small and obscure as it may seem, links us to
God. Somehow we know that.

If that link is real, then the separation is not real. It is "no more than
an illusion of despair" (2:1). If we are linked with God, one with Him, then
we are not separate, and everything that seems to tell us we are must be
illusion. In every one of us, in the Christ within us, "hope forever will
abide" (2:1). Something in us knows that this is true. The link with God has
not been broken. Each of us has this hidden ally in our hearts. Within me,
within you, there is the Christ. The Course relies on this fact totally
because Jesus, who remembered his Christ Self fully, knows that is it so.

"Your mind is part of His, and His of yours" (2:2). He is there, in you. And
you are in Him. All we are doing is, as the Bible says, to let the mind of
Christ be in us. We are recognizing this part of our minds we have denied
and doubted. His mind is in us, and this is our salvation. It is part of us;
we cannot be rid of it, even if we want to.

In this part of our mind, "God's Answer lies" (2:3). The Answer to
separation. The Answer to pain and suffering. The Answer to despair. The
Answer to every problem. The Answer is in you. The Answer is part of you .
It is not outside, not to be found in something in this world, nor in
someone else. You already have it. You already are it. The Answer is IN YOU.

In this part of your mind, "all decisions are already made, and dreams are
over" (2:3). What this is saying is so wonderful we can scarcely believe it.
There is a part of our minds in which we all, every one of us, have already
decided for God . We have already chosen peace. We have already relinquished
all attack and judgment. And all of our dreams are already over. Armed with
this knowledge we can be absolutely certain that we will "make it." Because
the Christ in us has already made it.

All that remains to be done is to recognize that this "part" of us is really
all there is. All that remains is to let go of everything else but this. We
do not need to attain enlightenment; we need only accept that it is already
accomplished. This is the truth, and all we are doing in this world is
learning to "deny the denial of truth" (T-12.II.1:5), to let go of all the
"blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural
inheritance" (T-In.1:7). 

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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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