[acimlessons_list] Lesson 244 - September 1

[Sue Roth]

Lesson 244 - September 1

"I am in danger nowhere in the world."

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 suggestion: Whenever you think of it, especially when you are
feeling afraid, repeat the lesson in this more specific form: <"I am in
danger nowhere in the world, including in this situation.">

COMMENTARY

Who I have believed myself to be is in danger <everywhere> in the world. We
are assaulted constantly with signals of danger. Smoking can kill me; even
residual smoke is deadly. Our water is unsafe, I need a purifier.
Preservatives and coloring in foods cause cancer. Stay well away from your
microwave while using it. Don't sit too close to your TV or computer screen
(and watch out for carpal tunnel syndrome). Beware of computer viruses; even
more, beware of HIV viruses. Don't feed bears when camping. Don't use your
telephone in a lightning storm. Don't drink and drive, and watch out for
those who do.

In order to even begin to accept today's idea, I have to realize that I am
not who I have believed myself to be. This little identity of Allen Watson,
wrapped in a very fragile body, is not the one who is in danger nowhere in
the world: "Your Son is safe wherever he may be" (1:1). It is the Son Who is
safe; the Son Who is beloved of God, held "in the safety of Your Fatherly
embrace" (1:3). In my quiet times today I will recall that this is Who I
really am, and, at least in these moments, I will let go of my sense of
danger, relax my defensiveness, and enjoy the awareness of the Father's Love
and protection (1:2). I will realize that Who I really am "cannot suffer, be
endangered, or experience unhappiness" (1:3).

Let me attempt to feel my safety today. What would I feel like if I truly
knew, to the depths of my being, that I can never suffer, or be in danger,
or experience unhappiness? What effect would that have on the tension in my
shoulders, the knot in my stomach, or the rapid beating of my heart? Let me
thoughtfully consider this. Let me try to imagine the peace I would feel.
Let me experience the softening in every part of my body, and more
importantly, the melting of the hardness of my mind. I would feel, I think,
like the very young child who, when Mommy or Daddy says, "Everything will be
all right now," really believes it. The shuddering stops, the little body
relaxes, and the child falls asleep in Mommy's arms.

"And there we are in truth," "in the safety of Your Fatherly embrace" (2:1;
1:3). "In God we are secure" (2:3). Yes.

What Is the World?

Part 4: W-pII.3.2:4-7

The world is where perception was born (2:5). It was born because
<knowledge> could not give birth to thoughts of fear; knowledge knows only
the peace of God. Knowledge, in the Course, always speaks of Heaven and its
oneness; perception, on the other hand, is the only means of "knowing" in
this world. The two are often contrasted in the Text. Perception is
inherently unreliable: "Eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely" (2:6). We all
know this to be true. One has only to engage in one marital argument about
what was seen and said the evening before to demonstrate it to ourselves.
(Of course it is always the other person who seems to be perceiving
falsely!)

Has it ever occurred to me, in all the times my senses have deceived me,
that they were made deliberately to do so? "They were made to look upon a
world that is not there; to hear the voices that can make no sound"
(T-28.V.5:4; the rest of the paragraph is relevant also).

The body's eyes see only form. They cannot see beyond what they were made to
see. And they were made to look on error and not see past it.
(T-22.III.5:3-6)

With our dependence on our eyes and ears, we have made ourselves very
vulnerable to error: "Now mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has
gone" (2:7).

Unreliable and deceptive perception enables the ego to make this world seem
real. Perception shows us the sight of a world full of danger, demanding
defensiveness and constant vigilance against attack. "The world <is> false
perception" (1:1, my emphasis). Only the vision of Christ, which sees the
light of God, can reveal anything different.

The purpose of the world you see is to obscure your function of forgiveness,
and provide you with a justification for forgetting it. It is the temptation
to abandon God and His Son by taking on a physical appearance. It is this
the body's eyes look upon.

Nothing the body's eyes seem to see can be anything but a form of
temptation, since this was the purpose of the body itself. Yet we have
learned that the Holy Spirit has another use for all the illusions you have
made, and therefore He sees another purpose in them. To the Holy Spirit, the
world is a place where you learn to forgive yourself what you think of as
your sins. In this perception, the physical appearance of temptation becomes
the spiritual recognition of salvation. (W-pI.64.1:2-2:4)