[acimlessons_list] Lesson 94 - April 4

[Sue Carrier Roth]

Lesson 94 - April 4

"I am as God created me."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: "to feel the truth in you" (3:1); to experience your true Self.

Longer: every hour on the hour, for 5 minutes

*	Say, "I am as God created me. I am His Son eternally."
*	The remainder is again a brief meditation, in a slightly new format.
First, lay aside your self-images-"the list of attributes, both good and
bad, you have ascribed to yourself" (4:1). Then "wait in silent expectancy"
(4:1) for your true Self to be revealed to you. Wait confidently, knowing
that God has promised you this revelation. This waiting means holding your
mind in stillness, empty of specifics yet filled with the expectancy that
Who you really are will dawn on you. When your mind wanders, repeat the idea
to return your mind to this expectant waiting. 

This appears to me to be the first example of what I call Open Mind
meditation, which will become the Workbook's crowning method of meditation.
In this technique, you consciously set aside your normal thoughts and
beliefs, and then hold your mind in stillness, waiting for the truth to dawn
on you. For examples, see the introduction to Review V, paragraph 12, and
Lesson 189, paragraph 7.

Alternate: on the hour
If you do not do the five minutes on the hour, at least repeat, "I am as God
created me. I am His Son eternally." This practice of spending a minute or
so with the idea, if you can't do the full five minutes, will apply to all
the five-minute-per-hour lessons.

Frequent reminders: frequently
Repeat the idea, in original or expanded form.

Response to temptation: whenever someone seems to irritate you
Be certain to respond with, "You are as God created you. You are His Son
eternally."

Encouragement to practice: You are urged to "make every effort to do the
hourly exercises today" (5:8). "Each one you do," you are promised, "will be
a giant stride toward your release" (5:9). If you let that line sink in, you
will find that it is a tremendous motivator to practice. That line also
means that this lesson is another of the Workbook's giant strides (the first
ones were 61 and 66). This is appropriate because "I am as God created me"
is the Workbook's premier lesson. It is repeated in 110, 162, and all
through the twenty-day Review VI.

COMMENTARY

This lesson continues with the thought introduced yesterday: "Salvation
requires the acceptance of but one thought;--you are as God created you, not
what you made of yourself" (W-pI.93.7:1). The Course places a significant
emphasis on this single idea. It is the only idea used as the main theme of
more than one lesson; it is the lead thought of this lesson, Lesson 110, and
Lesson 162. It was introduced in the Text (31.VIII.5:2). It is a sub-theme
in Lessons 132 and 139, and Review VI has us repeating every day for <twenty
days>, "I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me." You
sort of get the feeling that Jesus wants us to get this idea and get it
good.

Read over the first paragraph of this lesson and you will see just how
important this idea is in the Course's curriculum: it is called "the one
idea which brings complete salvation" (1:1).

So. Why is this single, simple idea so very important? Just this. Our entire
"problem" lies in our belief that, even if God created me whole and
complete, somehow I have screwed that up. Somehow I have lost it, blown it,
destroyed it, or corrupted myself. "I am as God created me" asserts that
none of this is true. God created me whole, and "I am as God created me." I
am still whole. I am still holy. I am still sinless and guiltless.

To think that we can change what God created and corrupt it is the height of
arrogance; it asserts that our power is greater than God's, that we can
un-create what He created. If God created us wholly loving and wholly
loveable, then we are still that, no matter what we think, no matter what we
may believe we have done. We are not what we made of ourselves; we are still
what God created. "If you remain as God created you, you must be strong and
light must be in you" (2:2). So we "stand in light, strong in the
sinlessness in which [we] were created" (2:6). That is the truth about us,
and the Course is all about undoing any belief we may have that contradicts
it and denies the truth.

Today's practice, once again, asks for "the first five minutes of each
waking hour" (3:1) as times in which we attempt to feel the truth in
ourselves, and to reach the Son of God in ourselves. This practice of five
minutes each hour, begun yesterday, is going to continue in another sixteen
lessons through Lesson 110, so get used to it. This is probably the most
intense extended practice the Workbook demands; after Lesson 110 it settles
down to a morning and evening period with shorter hourly remembrances. As
you will see, nearly all of these 18 lessons from 93 to 110 are variations
on the theme of reaching the Christ within, the true Self, me as God created
me. Realize how important this is, and make a real effort to do the hourly
practices, rearranging your day as necessary if you can. Remember, though,
that yesterday's lesson told us that we may not want, or even be able, to do
this, and if our motivation is not so high, it suggested that we at least
spend <one minute> per hour reviewing the idea for the day.

Recognize also that the Workbook would hardly include eighteen lessons on
the same basic theme and format if it expected you to "get it" perfectly in
the first one. Getting in touch with our One Self takes practice, and that
is what the lessons are for. The Text refers to the benefits of practicing
"the mechanics of the holy instant" (T-15.II.5:4) even when we don't
actually "feel the truth in you" (3:1) every time; practicing the mechanics,
going through the motions as it were, is what brings the reality of the holy
instant closer every time we do it. It asserts our willingness to receive
the grace God wants to give us; it breaks down our resistance, which is the
only thing keeping the One Self from our awareness.

The closing words of the lesson emphasize the importance of this practice:
"Make every effort to do the hourly exercises today. Each one you do will be
a giant stride toward your release, and a milestone in learning the thought
system which this course sets forth." So join me in a serious attempt to do
as these lessons tell us to do. Remember the admonitions of the Introduction
to the Workbook:

"It is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible."

"You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. You are
not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only to use them. It is their
use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that they are
true."

"Do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook
contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing
more than that is required."