[acimlessons_list] Lesson 229--August 17

Tue Aug 16 05:55:07 EDT 2005

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ 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.org/index.php>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lesson 229 * August 17

"Love, Which created me, is what I am."

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: When you repeat today's idea, you may want to
repeat it in the spirit suggested by the first paragraph. Realize
this idea represents the end of all your seeking. All along you've
been seeking to answer a single, paramount question, "Who am I?" And
here, in this idea, you've found that answer. Try to repeat it in
that spirit.

Commentary

Many of these lessons in Part II of the Workbook may seem to be
expressing a state of mind that is beyond where I am as I read them.
In reality, they express my <true> state of mind, the state of my
right mind. It is this state of mind we can reach in the holy
instant. Right-mindedness is not some future state I am trying to
reach. There is an aspect of my mind that already knows these things
and already believes them. It is this part of my mind that is leading
me home. "Now need I seek no more" (1:2) is the truth right now. It is
the part of my mind that doubts this, that denies it, which is unreal.

Love <is> what I am; It is my Identity. Let me look honestly at what
I believe I am instead, because it is in discovering what Love is not
that I will come to know Love.

Love is not learned. Its meaning lies within itself. And learning
ends when you have recognized all it is <not>. That is the
interference; that is what needs to be undone. (T-18.IX.12:1-4)

Love waited for me, "so still" (1:4). Love is still because that is
what forgiveness does; it is "still, and quietly does nothing"
(W-pII.1.4:1). My own Love waits to forgive me all I think I have
done, all that I have believed I was other than Love. I actually
"sought to lose" my Identity (1:5), but God has kept that Identity
safe for me, within me, as me. "In the midst of all the thoughts of
sin my foolish mind made up" (2:1), my Father kept my Identity
untouched and sinless. Let me turn to that Identity now. Let me give
thanks, and express my gratitude to God that It has never been lost,
even when I was sure It was. I cannot be anything other than what God
created me to be. "Love, Which created me, is what I am."

In my heart, in my mind, in the still and tranquil core of my being,
lies everything I have ever been seeking for. Let me now remember.

WHAT IS FORGIVENESS?

Part 9: W-pII.1.5:1-2

Faced with this stark contrast between forgiveness and unforgiveness,
what then are we to do? "Do nothing, then" (5:1). We are not called
upon to <do>, we are called upon to cease doing, because there is
nothing that need be done. To the ego, to do means to judge, and it
is judgment we must relinquish. If we feel there is something that
must be done, it is a judgment that affirms lack within ourselves,
and there is no lack. That is what we must remember. To believe that
something must be done is a denial of our wholeness, which has never
been diminished.

"Let forgiveness show you what to do, through Him" (5:1). To forgive
ourselves means to take our hands off the steering wheel of our
lives, to stop trying to "make things right," which only affirms that
something is wrong. To forgive others means we stop thinking it is our
job to correct them. The Holy Spirit is the One Who knows what we
should do, if anything, and His guidance will often surprise us. Yes,
there may still be something for us to "do," but we will not be the
ones to determine what that is. Our doing is so often deadly,
quenching the spirit instead of affirming it, imparting guilt instead
of lifting it.

The Holy Spirit is my Guide and Savior and Protector. In each
situation where I am tempted to do something, let me stop, remember
that my judgment is untrustworthy, let go, and give it into His
hands. He is "strong in hope, and certain of your ultimate success"
(5:1). How often in a time when I am judging, whether myself or
another, am I certain of my ultimate success? Let me then give the
situation into the care of One Who is certain. He will show me what
to do.

"He has forgiven you already, for such is His function" (5:2). Each
time I bring Him some terrible thing I think I have done, let me
remember: "He has forgiven you already." I do not need to fear
entering His Presence. His function, His reason for being, is to
forgive me. Not to judge me, nor to punish me, nor to make me feel
bad, but to forgive. Why would I stay away an instant more? Let me
fall gratefully now into His loving arms, and hear Him say, "What you
think is not the truth" (W-pI.134.7:5). He will still the troubled
waters of my mind, and bring me peace.

    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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+ Commentary by Allen Watson
+ Practice Summary: Robert Perry
+ Available in book format from The Circle
+ of Atonement (Vol. 1 reprint due soon, write us for info)
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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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