[acimlessons_list] Lesson 191 - July 10

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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>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Lesson 191   July 10

I am the holy Son of God Himself

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

PURPOSE: To go past your self-perception as weak, frail, and afraid which
comes from the denial of your Identity and remember that you are the holy
Son of God Himself. This will release you and will save the world from
suffering.

MORNING/EVENING QUIET TIME: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

There are no specific instructions for the longer practice periods, just a
strong focus on the use of these lines: <I am the holy Son of God Himself
[<Himself,> by the way, refers to God]. I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain;
I cannot suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks.> By saying and
meaning these lines, you reverse your denial of your Identity. You accept
the power and glory that is your true nature. You typically see the world as
your jailer, filled with enemies massed against you. Yet this role is not
inherent in the world. Rather, your denial of your Identity turns the world
into this in order to support your false identity. Your denial imprisons the
world. Thus, when you reverse that denial (through the words of today's
practice), you set the world free. By unveiling your glory as God's Son, you
release those in chains, those who see no mercy in the world, those who
suffer pain, and even those who die. This is your motivation to practice
today their release and your release.

Beyond devoting some time to repeating these words, with as much certainty
and sincerity as possible, the rest of the practice period is up to you to
your inspiration and your guidance from the Holy Spirit. You can't go wrong
with meditation, especially since nine of the last eleven lessons have been
devoted to it.

HOURLY REMEMBRANCE: One or two minutes as the hour strikes (reduce if
circumstances do not permit).

Do a short version of the morning/evening exercise. Close by asking for
God's guidance for the coming hour and thanking Him for His gifts in the
past hour.

COMMENTARY

Once again the Course sounds its keynote: You are as God created you.
Anything God creates is like Himself holy, sinless, guiltless, an endless
spring of love, and immortal. To put a different twist on a familiar saying,
we are not human beings seeking a spiritual experience; we are spiritual
beings who think we are having a human experience. We did not suddenly
spring into existence at birth, and we do not pass out of existence when the
body stops functioning. We are aspects of an immortal being, existing
entirely outside of time. <I am the holy Son of God Himself.>

How we see ourselves determines how we see the world. It may not be obvious
at first, but if we see ourselves as other than the holy Son of God, we are
<giving to the world the role of jailer to the Son of God> (1:3). If we see
ourselves as separate, isolated beings, we are inevitably cast in the role
of victim. We become a mote of dust in a hurricane, whirled about by the
universe without any consideration for our wellbeing (3:2).

The world then takes on an appearance that reflects this mistaken identity
we have assumed. The whole world witnesses to our frailty; all our
experience here seems to testify that death is certain, and loss inevitable
(2:5 6). That is what projection does. The world becomes our jailer, our
victimizer. If we deny our Identity as the holy Son of God, as God created
us, we make the world into a place of chaos, evil, sin, and death. We then
resent the world for it, although we have laid this role on the world! As I
look at the world today, let me ask myself, <What have I done that this
should be my world?> And let me answer myself, <I have denied my Identity as
God's Son.> Thus, to accept my Identity is to forgive the world for what it
did not do to me.

Rectify that single mistake, and we have changed the world we see. The world
cannot truly be as we see it, because Identity cannot truly be denied. Our
imagined identity as not-the-Son-of-God is no more than a silly game, with
no real effects and no real consequences. If we can begin to accept our
Identity, all illusions that derive from this error disappear (4:1 6). 

Again we are asked to <practice> recognizing our Identity in the holy
instant. For a brief time, we <let today's idea find a place among [our]
thoughts> (5:1). In that holy instant we rise far above the world (5:1) into
a place of safety, where we recognize the impossibility of the world's
victimizing us, because we see our own eternal, invulnerable nature. And
from that place of safety we return to the world and set it free (5:2).
Notice the similarity of this description to the earlier one in Lesson 184
(paragraph 10). In the holy instant we accept Atonement for ourselves, we
recognize our true Identity. And then we return to bring the message of this
shared Identity to all the world, that it may be free with us.

The realization of our Identity is enough to free us from every problem
forever, and to free the world with us. To cling to our little, individual
identity is to perpetuate <a devastating image of yourself walking the world
in terror, with the world twisting in agony because your fears have laid the
mark of death upon its heart> (6:5). Do I really want to go on playing this
silly, tragic game? Do I want to continue to hold the world to task because
it has not met my needs, but has denied me what is my right? Or will I
recognize today that I have done this, I have denied my Self and blamed the
world for it?

In the latter part of this lesson it speaks in glowing terms of <the Son of
God> Who <has come in glory to redeem the lost> (8:3). Who is this <Son of
God>? It is not speaking of Jesus. It is speaking of you and me. It appeals
to us to realize that our glory is the light that saves the world, and asks
us not to withhold it (10:5 6). It asks us to see the suffering in the world
(not to brush over it, saying, <It's only an illusion!>), and to find it in
our hearts to respond to it (10:7 8). How can we release our brothers from
suffering? By accepting our own release, by finding our own Identity (11:1
5). 

   You are the holy Son of God Himself. Remember this, and all the    
   world is free. Remember
   this, and earth and Heaven are one.     (11:6 8) 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ 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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