[acimlessons_list] Lesson 79 - March 20

[suelegal at gmail.com]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ 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/>
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Lesson 79 - March 20

"Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes
*	Try to free your mind of your perception of your problems. Do your
best to "entertain some doubt about the reality of your version of what your
problems are" (8:3). Try to realize that the many-ness of your problems is a
smokescreen, hiding the fact that you have only one problem. Do not,
however, define what this one problem is.
*	Then ask what your one problem is and wait for the answer. Even
though the lesson has said your problem is separation, set that aside and
listen for an answer that genuinely comes from within you. 
*	Then ask what is the answer to the one problem. In asking about the
problem and the answer, apply your training in how to listen to the Holy
Spirit: wait in mental silence; wait in confidence ("we will be told"-7:6);
and periodically repeat your request while you wait.

Response to temptation: whenever you see a problem
*	Recognize that this is simply the one problem showing up in
disguise. Say immediately: "Let me recognize this problem so it can be
solved." 
*	Then try to lay aside what you think the problem is. If you can,
close eyes and ask what it is. You will be told.

COMMENTARY

This lesson, with the next, presents one of the clearest statements of an
important Course principle: "One problem, one solution," as it is stated in
Lesson 80 (1:5). They merit repeated re-reading until the concept they teach
become imbedded in our thought processes.

I seem to be faced with a multitude of problems, overwhelming in number and
complexity, ranging from tiny to titanic, constantly shifting, changing,
appearing and disappearing in the moments of my life. If I pause to consider
things objectively from this viewpoint the only possible response is blind
panic. Attention paid to one problem obliterates dozens of others, equally
deserving of my attention, from conscious consideration. Like Lucy and Ethel
on the pie conveyor, as things speed up I can only start stuffing some of
the "pastries" down my shirt, trying to hide them before my failure to
handle them becomes evident.

Seen from the perspective of specialness, our problems doom me to failure
after failure, with every moment increasing my overwhelming sense of
inadequacy.

What if all of these problems were really just one? What if I already had
the solution to that one problem? I can scarcely imagine the universal sense
of relief that would run through my being if I could grasp that this were
true: All of my problems are one, and that one has already been solved.

Could this be? Yes. If I think my problems are many and separate, if I have
failed to recognize the one problem in them all, I could already have the
answer and not know it. I could even be aware of the answer without
realizing its application to what seem to me to be very different problems.
"This is the situation of the world. The problem of separation, which is
really the only problem, has already been solved. Yet the solution is not
recognized because the problem is not recognized" (1:3-5).

To break free of this illusory imprisonment, then, my first step must be to
recognize THE problem in every problem. I have to become aware of what the
problem is before I can realize that I already hold the solution to it. As
long as I think the problem is something other than my separateness from God
(which has already been so completely resolved that it has become a
non-issue), I will continue to think I have problems and lack the solution.
I will look for "salvation" from my problems everywhere but where the answer
is because I have already discounted the answer as irrelevant to the problem
at hand. "Who can see that a problem has been solved if he thinks the
problem is something else?" (2:3)

The seeming complexity of the world is nothing more than my mind's attempt
to <not> recognize the single problem, thus preventing its resolution (6:1).
My greatest initial need, therefore, is to perceive "the underlying
constancy in all the problems" (6:3). If I can see the separation at the
root of every problem I would realize that I already have the answer, and I
would <use> the answer. I would be free.

Again, this lesson is so wonderfully forgiving. Even the idea of seeing
<all> my problems as variations on the theme of separation may seem an
impossibly daunting task. So the lesson tells me, "that is not necessary.
All that is necessary is to entertain some doubt about the reality of your
version of what your problems are" (8:2, 3). The only thing I have to do is
to doubt? Hey, I can handle that; I'm pretty good at doubting.

All I am being asked to do is to "suspend all judgment about what the
problem is" (10:4). "Suspend" means to temporarily abate; the lesson does
not even ask me to lay aside my judgments forever. Just for an instant. Just
allow myself to doubt my personal perspective on things and consider that
there might be another way of looking at it.

So today I am called to doubt. To doubt my version of what my problems are.
To think to myself, "I'm probably not seeing this with complete clarity. I'm
probably muddling the issues here somewhere." And then to ask, "What <is>
the real problem here?" That kind of practice <even I> can handle. Thank
You, God, for such a simple Course! 
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ 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)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ The Workbook Commentaries are Copyright 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003 by The 
+ Circle of Atonement, P.O. Box 4238,
+ W. Sedona, AZ 86340.
+ All rights reserved.
+
+ Please notify us of any intent to use them beyond the scope of this 
+ e-mail list; write to info at circleofa.com.
+
+ WWW: <http://www.circleofa.com/>
+ Email: <info at circleofa.com>
+ Back Issues Lesson Archive: <http://www.circleofa.com/curwkbk.html>
+ or <http://five.pairlist.net/pipermail/acimlessons_list/>, click "Date"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To unsubscribe from ACIMLESSONS_LIST send email to
acimlessons_list-request at circleofa.com with "unsubscribe" as the subject

To unsubscribe from ACIMWKBK_LIST send email to
acimwkbk_list-request at circleofa.com with "unsubscribe" as the subject

For more information about unsubscribing, subscribing, and changing settings
for your subscription, send an e-mail message to the same address with the
word "help" as the subject. You can also change your subscription options by
visiting the list website:
<http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/acimlessons_list> OR
<http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/acimwkbk_list>
Scroll to the bottom to change your personal options. 
____________________________________________

Tell your friends to subscribe. They can simply send an e-mail message to
<acimwkbk_list-request at circleofa.com> with the word "subscribe" in the
subject, changing "acimwkbk" to "acimlessons" if they want only the
commentaries, without member discussion.
_______________________________________________

Please support the Workbook commentaries! Make a donation to the Circle:
<https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=info%40circleofa.com&item_name=donat
ion+to+support+Workbook+commentaries&image_url=http%3A//www.circleofa.coion+
to+support+Workbook+m/images/main_title.gif&return=http%3A//www.circleofa.co
m&cancel_return=http%3A//www.circleofa.com&cn=Note+to+the+Circle&tax=0&curre
ncy_code=USD>
(If clicking the above link does not work, try copying it and pasting it
into the address field of your web browser, and clicking on "Go".)
_______________________________________________

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