[acimlessons_list] Lesson 340--December 6

Wed Dec 7 18:42:55 EST 2005

Lesson 340

"I can be free of suffering today."

PRACTICE SUMMARY (See Part II Practice Summary, and also Part II
Introduction)

COMMENTARY

The Workbook lessons from 221 on are meant to be used as brief
introductions to holy instants of direct experience of the truth. As the
Introduction to Part II of the Workbook says, "Now we attempt to let the
exercise be merely a beginning. For we wait in quiet expectation for our
God and Father." "We say some simple words of welcome, and expect our
Father to reveal Himself, as He has promised." "We say the words of
invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait for Him to come to
us." The "words of invitation" seem to refer to the prayers in each
lesson. The idea is that we read the lesson over and perhaps think on
them a minute or two. Then, we repeat the prayer that invites God to
join us. More and more, as I have worked with these lessons, I have
found increasing benefit from really focusing on these prayers, and
making them very personal. Then we wait, quietly, until we are aware of
God's presence with us. That is the whole purpose of the exercises.

"I can be free of suffering today."

So let me remind myself of this. Freedom from suffering is my choice. I
have the option, today, to be free. As I listen to God's Voice directing
me to find Christ's vision through forgiveness, I will be free forever
from all suffering (1:4). Let me think on that a moment, pray the prayer
given here, and then sit quietly and wait, listening, opening my mind to
that vision.

I do not live in that vision yet, or only sporadically. To me it seems I
have some way to go. So I wait. I make my mind, empty, available to Him
and ask Him to fill me with this vision and to enlarge it in my mind.

"I was born into this world but to achieve this day, and what it holds
in joy and freedom for Your holy Son and for the world he made..."
(1:6).

Achieving Christ's vision fully is all that I am here for; I was born
for this. Perhaps today! I open myself to it, I loose my mind from all
lesser thoughts and offer it to You. In this holy instant I can find
that release. Perhaps it won't last more than a few minutes, a few
seconds. Perhaps it will lodge in my mind and stay with me all through
the day. Salvation is already accomplished, and I can tap in to that
awareness right now. Even if I forget in ten minutes, even if I "lose"
the awareness, the memory will remain and will sustain me, transforming
my day from what it would have been had I not spent these moments with
You. So I give myself to this time, this remembering.

We all will remember. God will gather us all to Himself, and together we
shall all awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love (2:5-6). Take heart, my
soul! The outcome is as inevitable as God. The way may seem long at
times, but the ending is sure, and no anxiety need touch my heart. I am
content in this moment simply to be with You. There is nothing more that
I need. "There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today" (2:3),
and only these will I welcome into my holy mind.

WHAT IS THE EGO? (Part 10)

W-pII.12.5:2

"And peace will be restored forever to the holy minds which God created
as His Son, His dwelling place, His joy, His love, completely His,
completely one with Him."

How is it that simple forgiveness can do this? The guilt and fear
induced by our belief in the ego's reality is the cause of all our
suffering. It is our mad wish to be a separated self that has caused us
to see God, and all the universe, as our enemies, and filled us with
nightmares of punishment. Forgiveness shows us that what we think we did
to ourselves has not occurred. There is no cause for our guilt.
Forgiveness releases us from the dread of punishment, and brings us to
realize that our oneness with God is undisturbed. We are still "His
dwelling place, His joy, His love, completely His, completely one with
Him." And in that knowledge, peace is restored forever.

When forgiveness washes over us, we realize that, "I can be free of
suffering today" (Lesson 340). It is the ego thought in our mind that
paints unrest over the eternal calm of our mind as God created it.
Letting go of that thought, even for an instant, brings immediate peace.
The thought of separation, of an independent identity, was the original
mistake:

"That one error, which brought truth to illusion, infinity to time, and
life to death, was all you ever made. Your whole world rests upon it.
Everything you see reflects it...You do not realize the magnitude of
that one error. It was so vast and so completely incredible that from it
a world of total unreality <had> to emerge" (T-18.I.4:4-5:3).

Forgiveness shows us that what we think we have done has no real
consequence. It removes the barriers to our awareness of God. That
terrible mistake, upon which our whole world rests, was inconsequential;
our union with God remains forever uninterrupted. We rest, now and ever,
in His 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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Portions from Clarification of Terms (c) Copyright 1975, Psychotherapy:
Purpose, Process and Practice, (c) 1976, The Song of Prayer, (c) 1978, are
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