[acimlessons_list] Lesson 237 - August 25

[Sue Carrier Roth]

Lesson 237 - August 25

"NOW WOULD I BE AS GOD CREATED ME."

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.

COMMENTARY

These lessons in Part II all seem to be about realizing Who or What I
really  am. As the introduction to the Workbook says:

The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with
the  undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the
acquisition of true  perception. (W-In.3:1)

So the emphasis in this entire last section of the Workbook, the last
145  lessons, is on true perception. The assumption is that the reader
has at  least become aware of the ego thought system in his life,
although by no  means is it supposed that the ego is entirely undone.
If that were the case,  additional lessons would not be needed.

What we are doing in these last lessons is putting the positive side
of the  Course into practice, and attempting to bring it into
application. "Now I  would be as God created me." The goal is not just
to understand the idea and  file it away under "Facts: human nature,
true," but <to be> the Son of God,  by bringing that truth to my
awareness throughout the day, and living  accordingly.

"I will arise in glory" (1:2). Each day can begin in glory. Radiance,
bright  outshining. Glory, according to my dictionary, means "majestic
beauty and  splendor; resplendence." It is not a word we easily
associate with  ourselves. Today I can make a conscious effort to be
aware of my glory. I am  a radiant being. The light of love and joy
shines out from me to bless the  world. Let me sit a moment in
silence, just picturing that, being aware of  my own shining.

As I go through the day, let me

allow the light in me to shine upon the world throughout the day. I
bring  the world the tidings of salvation which I hear as God my
Father speaks to  me. (1:2-3)

This has more to do with being than with doing. It has more to do with
 radiating than with speaking. We teach peace by <being> peaceful, not
so  much by talking about it. If I am joyful, restful, loving, and
accepting of  those around me, my attitude will speak louder than my
words.

So in this day, as I work and visit with friends, let me be radiant. I
am as  God created me, so I <am> radiant; I don't need to do anything
to become  radiant. All that is needed is to notice what my thoughts
would do to dim  that radiance, and to choose otherwise.

In a certain sense this supersedes the earlier lesson where I ask the
Holy  Spirit where to go, what to do, and what to say. Now the
emphasis is on what  I am. It really doesn't matter so much where I
go, what I do, or what I say,  as long as I am acting as the being
whom God created rather than my  independent self.

I come to see "the world that Christ would have me see" (1:4), and I
see it  as "my Father's Call to me" (1:4). Seen through the eyes of
Christ the world  can become a constant call to be who I am, to shine,
to radiate His Love, to  be His Answer to the world.


WHAT IS SALVATION?

PART 7: W-PII.2.4:1

If the altar to God is within me, yet remains largely hidden from my
habitual awareness, what I need to do is to "come daily to this holy
place"  (4:1). This is the practice of the holy instant recommended by
the Text (see  T-15.II.5-6 and T-15.IV), a premeditated turning aside
from our routine  activities to bring our minds into this holy place,
with Jesus at our side  ("Let <us> come...and spend a while together"
[4:1, emphasis mine]). If you  are open to it, it seems to me that
Jesus is here asking us to spend some  time, daily, with him, in God's
presence. If the figure of Jesus is somehow  discordant for you,
picture an anonymous spiritual guide, perhaps  representing your
higher Self. With him or her, you enter this temple, stand  by the
altar, and spend time there in communion with God.

We need to form this habit of bringing our minds into the holy
instant,  reminding ourselves of the presence of Jesus (or the Holy
Spirit),  remembering this altar to God within ourselves, with His
Word written on it  (3:4). That Word, I think, is the Word of
salvation, the promise He made  that we would find our way to Him
(1:1). It is the Thought of peace, which  will replace our thoughts of
conflict. This meeting place is where we  experience the unbroken
communication between ourselves and God. This is  where we bathe in
the flow of love that streams constantly between the  Father and the
Son.

Chapter 14, Section VIII of the Text describes this holy meeting
place, and  says:

All this is safe within you, where the Holy Spirit shines. He shines
not in  division, but in the meeting place where God, united with His
Son, speaks to  His Son through Him. Communication between what cannot
be divided cannot  cease. The holy meeting place of the unseparated
Father and His Son lies in  the Holy Spirit and in you. All
interference in the communication that God  Himself wills with His Son
is quite impossible here. Unbroken and  uninterrupted love flows
constantly between the Father and the Son, as Both  would have it be.
And so it is. (T-14.VIII.2:10-16)

<And so it is>. This is what I want to know and experience daily, in
coming  to this place. Here I bring my guilt and fear and lay it down,
accepting  Atonement for myself. Here my mind renews its contact with
its Source. Here  I rediscover the unending communion which is mine,
my inheritance as God's  Son. Here my nightmares are all banished, and
I breathe the fragrant air of  Heaven and of home.