[acimlessons_list] Review III, Lesson 118 - April 28

Wed Apr 27 06:15:46 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/>
>
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Review III, Lesson 118 - April 28

"God's peace and joy are mine."

"Let me be still and listen to the truth."

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

The substitutes that I have made are what stand in the way of my accepting
God's peace and joy. I already <have> God's peace and joy, but my ego has
decided they are not enough. As the Course says, I want "more than
everything" (T-29.VII.2:3); my own wholeness is not enough. That section of
the Text actually says that my seeking for "more than everything" is shown
by the very fact that I am in this world. "No one who comes here but must
still have hope, some lingering illusion, or some dream that there is
something outside of himself that will bring happiness and peace to him"
(T-29.VII.2:1). "Happiness and peace" is what I am looking for, but outside
of myself. I have denied that they are within me, where God placed them.

In order to find the peace and joy that are inherently mine, I have to
"exchange" all the substitutes I have made. I have to let go of looking for
happiness anywhere outside of myself. That isn't easy, in my experience. It
seems to happen gradually, over time. Little by little we learn that what we
are looking for in the world simply isn't there, not in any lasting way.
Little by little, in parallel, we begin to take little tastes of our
internal joy and peace. As we begin to weigh the two experiences it starts
to become obvious that the peace and joy that come from within are much more
reliable and satisfying than that which comes from without. We may try for a
time to hold on to both, but it doesn't work. Eventually we will let go, and
fall back into the arms of God. Eventually we will simply accept God's peace
and joy.

My voice keeps trying to declare how things should be. Essentially the
Course is telling us to stop listening to our own advice: "Resign now as
your own teacher" (T-12.V.8:3), it urges us. We have to stop thinking we are
in control, that we know what to do and what is needed, and learn to listen.
Like a drowning  person, our own efforts to save ourselves are the biggest
barrier to our Life Guard. We need to trust Him, to lie back and let go.

The best way I know of to learn to do this is to practice doing it. To
simply sit down for five, ten, fifteen minutes (whatever the lesson calls
for, whatever seems right) and, after very briefly reviewing the idea of the
day, just to be quiet. It seems hellaciously difficult, many days, to simply
be quiet. The minute I try my mind starts reminding me of things: "Don't
forget to make that phone call. You need yogurt from the store. What are you
going to do about your relationship with X? You haven't done your laundry
this week. You are overweight and you're going to die." I take a deep
breath. Another. Another. I repeat the words for the day, "Let me be still
and listen to the truth." Or I say, "Help!" to the Holy Spirit. I let the
thoughts come and go. I step back and watch them and try not to get drawn
in. And I listen; maybe there is some word from my Teacher that will come.
And sometimes, there is. Sometimes I just get very quiet, and the chatter of
thoughts subsides, if not completely, to a dull, background murmur, like a
crowd in a busy restaurant that I'm not really paying attention to. I
practice getting quiet and listening. I don't know about you, but I think it
is a worthwhile exercise. Sometimes, it even carries over into my day, and I
find myself listening to the Voice and not to myself as I move through it.
And that's what it's all about.   

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+ Commentary by Allen Watson
+ Practice Summary: Robert Perry
+ Available in book format from The Circle
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