[acimlessons_list] Lesson 223 - August 11

[Sue Roth]

Lesson 223 * August 11

"God is my life. I have no life but His."

Practice instructions

See complete Part II practice instructions. 
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: In praying this particular prayer, I find it helpful to
convert it to first person singular: <"My Father, let me see the face of
Christ instead of my mistakes,"> etc.

Commentary

Our only mistake is thinking that we have some sort of life apart from God.
We do not. God <is> Life. He is Being. He is Existence. He created all that
there is, and there is nothing apart from Him. "Nothing can be apart from
Him and live" (W-pI.156.2:9). "I do not exist apart from Him" (1:2).

Most of my time here on earth I have spent thinking of myself as someone or
something apart from God. Most of my spiritual seeking has been a striving
to "get back to God," as if He were unimaginably distant from me. He is not
distant. He is not Something separate from my Self. "I have no life but
His." There is a blessing often used in Unity churches which ends with the
words "Wherever I am, God is." Yes. My life is God's Life. My thoughts are
God's Thoughts. There is nowhere to go. There is nothing to do to find Him;
He is here. He is with me. He is my life. If I live, I am participating in
God.

There is a blessed relief that washes over us when we realize our unity with
God. All the bitter struggle, all the fruitless longing, all the aching
sense of being on the outside looking in--all of it ends. A thought of pure
joy fills our minds. At times it bubbles over into laughter, a certain
compassionate amusement at the ludicrous idea we have tormented ourselves
with, that we could ever, in any remote or tiny way, be separated from Him.
Can the sunbeam be separate from the sun? Can an idea be separate from the
mind that thinks it?

And so we turn again to the quiet place within, where all this is already
known. We ask to "see the face of Christ instead of our mistakes" (2:1). We
affirm that we no longer want to be lost in forgetfulness. We state clearly
that we want to leave our loneliness and find ourselves, as we have always
been, at home. And in the quiet, God speaks to us, and tells us we are His
Son.

WHAT IS FORGIVENESS?

Part 3: W-pII.1.2:1-2

The second paragraph is all about <un>forgiveness. The distinguishing
characteristic of an unforgiving thought is that it "makes a judgment that
it will not raise to doubt, although it is not true" (2:1). The
distinguishing characteristic of a forgiving mind, then, is that this mind
<will> be willing to cast doubt on its own judgments! The unforgiving mind
is saying, "My mind is already made up; don't confuse me with facts." The
forgiving mind is saying, "Perhaps there is another way to look at this."

In the section discussing the ten characteristics of <advanced> teachers of
God (Section 4 of the Manual for Teachers), the final characteristic is
"open-mindedness." It says:

As judgment shuts the mind against God's Teacher, so open-mindedness invites
Him to come in. As condemnation judges the Son of God as evil, so
open-mindedness permits him to be judged by the Voice for God on His behalf.
(M-4.X.1:3-4)

The willingness to let go of our own judgments and hear the judgment of the
Holy Spirit is what makes forgiveness possible. An unforgiving mind "is
closed, and will not be released" (2:2). The forgiving mind is open. Over
and over the Course asks us simply to be <willing> to see things
differently, simply to be willing to question what we think we know, simply
to "do this":

Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all
concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about
yourself. (W-pI.189.7:1)

With judgment set aside, "What then is free to take its place is now the
Will of God" (1:7).