[acimlessons_list] Review III, Lesson 119 - April 19

Thu Apr 28 06:39:25 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 119 - April 29

"Truth will correct all errors in my mind."

"To give and to receive are one in 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 first idea speaks of the correction of all error. The two explanatory
sentences that follow speak on a very high level, defining "error" as any
thought that we can be hurt. What I am is spirit. Spirit is eternal and
unchanging, created by God like Himself. By the Course's definition, what
can be hurt or damaged is not real. That includes our bodies, our woundable
psyches, everything we see in the physical universe; all of it has an end.
"Nothing real can be threatened," says the Introduction to the Text. What I
am learning is the invulnerability of my being, the eternal safety of my
Self, at rest in the Mind of God.

We are undergoing a very gradual and gentle weaning away from our
identification with the ephemeral. What we are, in truth, does not die. We
have dreamed a dream, and foolishly have come to believe the dream is us. We
are not the dream; we are the dreamer. (The Text speaks at length of this in
Chapter 27, Sections VII and VIII.) The Holy Spirit eases us through a
transitional phase, changing our terrifying dream into a happy one, so that
we will waken softly and joyfully, no longer gripped by terrors of the
night.

How are we to shift our dream? It is too great a leap to go from a state
where pain and hurt and death are bitter realities to us, into an awareness
of our eternal nature. So the second idea for today speaks of the means by
which we can begin, gently, to shift into the happy dream: forgiveness. We
come to recognize our sinlessness, and thus our Self, by forgiving all
things around us. We have to <learn> to accept the truth in ourselves, and
we do so by learning to see past the error in others, until with a start of
recognition, we realize that what is beneath the errors of others is
Something we share with them. We find ourselves in our brothers and sisters,
through forgiveness. What we have learned to give to others has, all the
time, been given to ourselves. We awaken by awaking others. We teach peace
to learn it. In kindness and mercy towards others, we ourselves fall into
the kind and merciful heart of God. 

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