[acimlessons_list] Review III

Sat Apr 23 07:31:47 EDT 2005

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

REVIEW III, Lesson 114 - April 24

"I am spirit."

"I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: a second chance at the last 20 lessons, in which you can practice
them more diligently, and which can carry you so far ahead that you will
continue your journey "on more solid ground, with firmer footsteps and with
stronger faith" (12:3).

Remarks: Please follow the format below as closely as you can. If you miss a
practice period (either the longer ones or the every-half-hour ones) because
you simply couldn't do it at the appointed time, your progress is not
hindered. Don't worry about making those ones up. If, however, you missed
because you just didn't want to give the time, your progress is hindered.
Those ones should be made up. You missed because you thought some other
activity would deliver more. As soon as you remember that "your practicing
can offer everything to you" (4:5), do your make-up practice periods as a
statement that your real goal is salvation.
In deciding if you should make up a practice period, be very honest with
yourself. Do not try to pass off "I didn't want to practice" as "I couldn't
practice." Learn to discern between situations truly unsuited to practicing
and those in which you could practice if you wanted. 

Longer: 2-one in the morning, one in the hour before sleep (ideally the
first and last 5 minutes of your day), for 5 minutes (longer if you prefer)
*	Read over the two ideas and the comments about them, so that the
ideas are firmly placed in your mind.
*	Then close your eyes and begin to think about the ideas and also to
let related thoughts come (you should remember both of these practices from
earlier lessons). This time, however, there is an important twist. Let your
mind search out various needs, problems, and concerns in your life. As each
one arises, let your mind come up with thoughts related to the ideas,
thoughts which apply the essence of those ideas to the need, problem, or
concern. In other words, let your mind creatively apply the ideas so as to
dispel your sense of need, problem, or concern. This is a more developed
version of letting related thoughts come, in which it combines with response
to temptation (there were hints of this in Review II-see my response to
temptation comments there).
*	Remember your training in letting related thoughts come: place the
ideas in your mind. Trust your mind's inherent wisdom to generate related
thoughts (this trust is a big theme in this review). Don't strain-let your
mind come up with thoughts. The thoughts need only be indirectly related to
the ideas, though they should not be in conflict. If your mind wanders, or
you draw a blank, repeat the ideas and try again.
*	If you try this and it is just too unstructured for you, I have
found the following more structured version to be useful:
1.	Let a need, problem or concern come to mind, and name it to yourself
(for example, "I see this conflict with so-and-so as a problem").
2.	Repeat one or both of the ideas for the day (for instance, "I am
spirit").
3.	While repeating the idea, watch your mind for any sparks of insight
that arise which apply the idea to your need, problem or concern, and
verbalize this insight to yourself (for example, "As spirit, I cannot be
hurt. I am totally invulnerable").
4.	Either continue with more such related thoughts, or go on to the
next need, problem or concern.

Frequent reminders: on the hour and on the half hour, for a moment
*	Repeat the applicable idea (on the hour, the first idea; on the half
hour, the second idea).
*	Allow your mind to rest in silence and peace for a moment.
*	Afterwards, try to carry the idea with you, keeping it ready for
response to temptation.

Response to temptation: whenever your peace is shaken
Repeat the idea (the one you are carrying with you from your last practice
period). By applying the idea to the business of the day, you will make that
business holy.

Remarks: These shorter practice periods (frequent reminders and response to
temptation) are at least as important as the longer. By skipping these,
which you have tended to do, you have not allowed what you gained in the
longer periods to be applied to the rest of your life, where it could show
just how great its gifts are. After your longer practice periods, don't let
your learning "lie idly by" (10:1). Reinforce it with the frequent reminders
every half hour. And after those, do not lay the idea down (11:3). Have it
poised and ready to use in response to all your little upsets. In this way,
you forge a continuous chain that reaches from your longer practice periods
all the way into the hustle and bustle of your day.

COMMENTARY

"No body can contain my spirit" (1:3) or limit it. So often, even when we
connect with spiritual reality in some way, we think of ourselves (as
someone has said) as human beings having a spiritual experience; it would be
more accurate to conceive our ourselves as spiritual beings having a human
experience. The first way of looking at it makes our humanness the basic
reality, with the spiritual something that comes and goes within that
reality. The second way of looking at it realizes that the spiritual is our
basic reality, and the "human" experience is something that comes and goes
within that reality. "I am spirit." That is what I am. The experience of
being a human being in a body is a temporary, passing thing. It does not
alter what I am, and it cannot limit what I truly am, although it seems to
do so because I believe in limitation.

The value of such things as psychic or paranormal experiences lies in the
degree to which they help us realize that the limits under which we
habitually operate are not firm and fixed. Minds really are joined; space
and time are not absolute limits; and so on. We all have many abilities of
which we are not aware (M-25.1:3), because we are not bodies but spirit. The
transcendence of these limits, while appearing "supernatural" from the
bodily perspective, is really completely natural; it is the limits that are
unnatural (M-25.2:7,8). Anything that breaks our illusion of being limited
to the body and makes that illusion less solid in our perception is useful,
to the degree that we use these experiences or powers under the direction of
the Holy Spirit. The experiences and powers are not ends in themselves.

Our primary purpose is not to develop paranormal abilities, but to fulfill
our part in God's plan for salvation, which is simply to accept His Word
about "what I am and will forever be" (2:2).In other words, spirit, complete
and holy and everlasting. Notice that; my function, my part in the plan, is
to <accept> the truth about what I am. It may seem as though that has
nothing to do with anyone else, but it has everything to do with everyone
else, because what I am is a part of everyone and everyone is a part of me.
My illusion is that I am separate; the truth is that we all are one. To
accept the truth about myself is to accept you as part of me, and us
together as part of God. That involves forgiving you, forgiving the world,
and forgiving God. To accept the Atonement for myself <means> to extend the
Atonement to everyone around me; I cannot find my Self if I exclude you. To
accept the fullness of my Self and my own creative power, I must cease to
see myself as the victim of anyone or anything--because that is not the
truth about what I am. To accept my unsullied integrity of being, I must
cease to blame you for anything and realize that I am affected only by my
own thoughts.

Today, I will relax and let go of bodily limits. I will look at the limits I
believe in and remind myself they are unreal. I will cease to "value what is
valueless" and let go of my investment in my body. I will care for it as I
would any useful possession, but I will try to undo, at least a little, my
attachment to it and my feeling of identity with it. It will die. It will
cease to be, but I will not, for I am spirit. I will accept this reality
about myself because this is my part in God's plan for salvation. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ 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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