[acimlessons_list] Lesson 298 - October 25

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 298 - OCTOBER 25

"I love You, Father, and I love Your Son."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete Part II practice instructions in separate document.  
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.

COMMENTARY

"My gratitude permits my love to be accepted without fear" (1:1). It is
speaking here of my love for the Father and His Son. As the Course often
points out, in my wrong mind I am afraid of my own love for God and His Son,
because it seems that if I give in to it, I will lose myself in the infinity
of God. I <will> lose my "little self" in Him, but not my true Identity. It
is the false identity I am afraid of losing, and clinging to it, attempting
to preserve ego identification, makes me terrified of my own love of God.

"Gratitude" is what "permits my love to be accepted without fear." Gratitude
is simply the acceptance of and thankfulness for God's gifts: "I accept
instead what God establishes as mine" (1:5). When I let go of what I think I
made-the ego identity-and accept instead God's gift of my true Self, with
thanks, suddenly my love for God and for His Son is no longer terrifying.
All that makes it seem frightening are my vain attempts to make real what
never was real and to hold on to my separateness.

Deep in my heart, I love You, Father. I let go, even if only for an instant,
of what I have been trying to protect. I liberate my love, freeing it to
flow unhindered. I allow myself to feel its depth. So often it seems to me
that I do not love You; now, it is refreshing and cleansing to simply allow
that love free course, to acknowledge its presence within me. I have the
gift of my secure Identity in You; there is no need to protect a nonexistent
"something else."

Deep in my heart, Father, I also love Your Son, the Christ Who is my true
Self, and the shared Self of every living thing. I accept the Son as my
Self, and I accept my sisters and brothers as parts, with me, of that one
Self. Your Son is Your gift to me, and is me. So often it seems to me that I
do not love some aspects of the Son, some of those who seem to differ from
me, or who seem antagonistic to me. Now, in this moment, I acknowledge them
all with gratitude as parts of my Self. I am no longer, for this instant at
least, protecting this little fenced-off aspect I have known as "me." I
embrace them all with love.

I am so glad You describe the journey as going "through fear to meet my
Love" (1:5). Because there is fear. I feel frightened to let go of me. Who
will I be? What will be left? How wonderful to know that what I fear to lose
is not lost at all; it is expanded and uplifted into something far greater
than I have ever believed possible. When I have gone through fear, what I
meet is my Love. This, truly, is no sacrifice!

"I am grateful for...escape from everything that would obscure my love for
God my Father and His holy Son" (2:4).

WHAT IS THE REAL WORLD?

Part 8: W-pII.8.4:2-3

As we begin to perceive the real world, we are beginning to wake up. Perhaps
we have had some tiny glimpses of the real world. The Text refers to "a
little flicker of your eyelids, closed so long" (T-18.III.3:4); perhaps we
have known that much, at least. Each glimpse of the real world we experience
is a bit like the misty images of our bedroom as we hover between sleep and
wakefulness. Sometimes those images, flashed upon us as our eyes briefly
flick open, become integrated into a dream that is still going on. That is
what we are like. We are in that odd state halfway between sleeping and
waking. The Course refers to a borderland between the worlds, in which "you
are like to one who still hallucinates, but lacks conviction in what he
sees" (T-26.V.11:7).

"His waking eyes perceive the sure reflection of his Father's Love; the
certain promise that he is redeemed" (4:2). We are not yet wholly awake, but
we are waking. The sights of the real world reflect the Father's Love to us.
The new perceptions, given us by the Holy Spirit, bolster our confidence
that we are, indeed, redeemed.

The more we see the real world, the more we realize that the need for time
is over. "The real world signifies the end of time, for its perception makes
time purposeless" (4:3). The purpose of time for us is nothing more than to
perceive the real world. When we perceive it, there is no more need for time
because it has accomplished its purpose. In Review IV of the Workbook, we
are told that each time we pause to practice the lesson for the day, we are
"using time for its intended purpose" (W-pI.rIV.In.7:3). Each time we stop
and try to overcome an obstacle to peace, each time we let the mercy of God
come to us in forgiveness, we are using time for the only purpose it has.
"Time was made for this" (W-pI.193.10:4; see all of W-pI.193.10:1-5).

Let me, then, today, use time for its intended purpose. Let me remember the
lesson, morning and evening, and every hour in between, and often between
the hours. Let me cooperate willingly in the transformation of my
perceptions. Each time I sense a disturbance in my peace, let me turn
within, and seek the healing light of God. Let me realize that this is the
only thing time is for, and that there is no better way to spend it. Let me
seek to hasten the day when I will have no more need of time, when all my
perceptions have become united with the vision of Christ, and the real world
stands sparkling in beauty before my eyes.