[acimlessons_list] Lesson 222--August 10

Allen Watson allen at circleofa.org
Tue Aug 9 08:32:06 EDT 2005 

Lesson 222 * August 10

"GOD IS WITH ME. I LIVE AND MOVE IN HIM."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See complete instructions in separate document. A short summary:

* READ the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.

* PRAY the prayer, perhaps several times.

* MORNING AND EVENING: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open
Mind Meditation.

* HOURLY REMEMBRANCE: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment
in meditation.

* FREQUENT REMINDERS: Repeat the idea often within each hour.

* RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore
peace.

* READ THE "WHAT IS" SECTION slowly and thoughtfully once during the
day.

Practice comments: The prayer for this lesson states that we will be
doing Name of God Meditation. It speaks of a time when we come to God
with no words in our minds except His Name, using the repetition of
that Name as a request to enter His Presence and rest with Him in
peace. This, of course, is a perfect encapsulation of Name of God
Meditation.

COMMENTARY

Again we are brought to the Presence of God, without words, in quiet.
Our only awareness is of God, His Name upon our lips.

What does it mean to "live and move" in God? This is the message that
the Apostle Paul brought to the Athenians, speaking of the "unknown
God," and saying that "in Him we live and move and have our being"
(Acts 17:16-28). The lesson speaks of the omnipresence of God--that
God is everywhere and "everywhen." In beautiful imagery, the lesson
turns our thoughts to the all-pervading Presence, never apart from
us, "closer...than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet," as
Tennyson wrote.

This is imagery and not (in my opinion) literal. If the world is
illusion, as the Course has so often said, God is not <literally>
"the water which renews and cleanses me" (1:2). This is speaking of
our spiritual reality, where we <really> are. God is the reality of
all things in which we look to the world for sustenance, the true
Source of our life. We think we live in the world, but we live in
God. We think our body contains our life, but He is our life. We
think we breathe air, but we breathe Him. God is our true food and
our true drink, our true home. We do not live and move in the world;
we live and move in God.

Reading this lesson aloud is an excellent exercise. Or turning the
first part into a prayer: "You are the Source of my life...You are my
home...." Use these words at the start of your practice period to set
your mind into a consciousness of being immersed in and filled with
God, kept in His loving care. Then, be still, and let yourself sink
into that Presence, to rest with Him in peace a while.

WHAT IS FORGIVENESS?

PART 2: W-PII.1.2-7

"Forgiveness," it says, "does not pardon sins and make them real. It
sees there was no sin" (1:2-3). This is the whole distinction between
true and false forgiveness, which the <Song of Prayer> calls
"forgiveness-to-destroy" (S-2.1:2). There is such a difference
between seeing sin in someone and struggling to overlook it or to
refrain from the desire to punish, and seeing not sin but a mistake,
a call for help from a confused child of God, and naturally
responding with love. When the Holy Spirit enables us to see the
"sin" of another in this way, suddenly we can see our own "sins" in
that same very different light. Instead of trying to justify our own
errors, we can admit they are mistakes and simply let them go,
without guilt.

Sin is simply "a false idea about God's Son" (1:5). It is a false
self-appraisal projected onto everyone around us. It is the belief
that we are truly separate, attackers of God's Love in our
separation; it sees attackers everywhere.

Forgiveness is seen here (1:6-7) in three steps. <First>, we see the
falsity of the idea of sin. We recognize that no sin has occurred;
the Son of God (in the other or ourselves) is still the Son of God,
and not a devil. He has been mistaken, but he has not sinned.
<Second>, closely following on the first step and a natural
consequence of it, we let the idea of sin go. We drop it. We
relinquish our grievances, abandon our thoughts of attack. Only the
first step depends on our choice; the second step follows as its
inevitable result. When we no longer see attack, what reason is there
to punish with counterattack?

The <third> step is God's part. Something comes to take sin's place;
the Will of God is freed to flow through us unhindered by our
illusions, and Love follows its natural course. In this we experience
our true Self, the extension of God's own Love.

All we need do, then, if it can be called doing, is to be willing to
see something other than attack, something other than sin. We need
only to be willing to admit that our perception of sin is false. When
we do, the Holy Spirit will share His perception with us. He knows how
to forgive; we do not. Our part is merely to ask to be taught by Him.
He does the rest, and everything flows out of that simple willingness.


    COMMENTARIES ON LESSONS FROM THE WORKBOOK OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES
    by Allen Watson, with Practice Summaries by Robert Perry
    The Circle of Atonement--Visit our website at <http://www.circleofa.com>

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Portions from Clarification of Terms (c) Copyright 1975, Psychotherapy:
Purpose, Process and Practice, (c) 1976, The Song of Prayer, (c) 1978, are
used by permission of the copyright holder, The Foundation for "A Course in
Miracles," 41397 Buecking Drive, Temecula, CA 92590.


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