From suelegal at gmail.com  Mon Dec  1 05:01:00 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 05:01:00 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 336 - December 2
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAC7L3/ab9KJEgI2CxETFzADCgAAAEAAAAIJiQc+6o7dOs6/23bktFfABAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 336 - DECEMBER 2

"Forgiveness lets me know that minds are joined."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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

In the Text, the Course speaks of the idea that minds are joined as
something that is experienced in a holy relationship, where two people have
joined together in common purpose, what is called in one place "a common
state of mind" (T-22.III.9:7). In a healthy holy relationship, the members
of that relationship regularly practice forgiveness with one another. The
result is stated as follows:

	This is the function of your holy relationship. For
	 what one thinks, the other will experience with him.
	What can this mean except your mind and your brother's
	are one? Look not with fear upon this happy fact,
	and think not that it lays a heavy burden on you.
	For when you have accepted it with gladness, you will
	realize that your relationship is a reflection of the
	union of the Creator and His Son.	( T-22.VI.14:1-5)

The idea that forgiveness is somehow connected to the experience of linked
minds is not intuitively obvious. Yet a little reflection seems to make it
clearer for me. If I am unforgiving toward someone, there is certainly a
barrier between our minds. I am mentally rejecting that other person and
have no desire whatever to find myself mentally linked to them. My judgment
is a strong "no" to that person's thoughts. When I forgive, my mind opens to
them. "Forgiveness <lets me know> that minds are joined" (my emphasis). It
opens the way for me to realize that this is true.

Our perceptions tell us, in a myriad of ways, that we are separate beings.
Forgiveness opens the way to an experience that takes us beyond perception
and shows us the underlying unity that perception cannot see. Forgiveness
"opens the hidden altar to the truth" (1:4). Within our minds we find "the
dwelling place of God Himself" (1:6). Forgiveness wipes "away my dreams of
separation and of sin" (2:1). In the experience of union with another human
being, we begin to remember our union with God and all creation.

WHAT IS THE EGO?

Part 6: W-pII.12.3:4

In contrast to the ego, our true Self, the Son of God, is surrounded by
everlasting peace. Where the ego sees itself at war with the universe, and
trembles constantly in fear of attack from every figure in its dreams, the
Son of God is "forever conflict-free." The Son rests forever "undisturbed,
in deepest silence and tranquility" (3:4).

	When we begin to get in touch with our Self, we experience
	a taste of that deep, silent tranquility. That is one of the
	characteristics of the holy instant. There is a peace in the
	holy instant that beggars description.

There is a silence into which the world can not intrude. There is an ancient
peace you carry in your heart and have not lost. There is a sense of
holiness in you the thought of sin has never touched.	(W-pI.164.4:1-3)

The ego, in isolation from the universe, can never know this peace. It comes
only from within our Self, being an attribute of Who we are. It has nothing
to do with external circumstance, and is unaffected by any such
circumstance. It is part of what we are, together.




From suelegal at gmail.com  Tue Dec  2 05:00:38 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 05:00:38 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 337 - December 3
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAC7L3/ab9KJEgI2CxETFzADCgAAAEAAAAP3BeYkcIP1Cu15U5KbNo5YBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 337 - DECEMBER 3

"My sinlessness protects me from all harm."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion: Think of your day yesterday, and in relation to each
thing you did, ask yourself, "Was there an element of 'If I do this thing
right, I'll redeem myself'?" 

	Then, with each "yes" you get, ask yourself, 
	"What was I trying to redeem myself for?"

Then focus on simply accepting the awareness from God that you are sinless,
that you need do nothing to be redeemed, because "God has already done all
things that need be done" (1:5).

COMMENTARY

This is a lesson about simply accepting the Atonement and nothing more. It
states that there are really only two steps to the full knowledge of
complete happiness (1:4-6):

	1. Realize that I need do nothing of myself.
	2. Accept what God has already done.

All of the turmoil and discomfort we experience as we begin a spiritual path
comes from thinking that we lack something (which is not seeing step 2) and
therefore we have to do something to get it (which is not seeing step 1).

We feel unhappy, and therefore we think we lack happiness and set out to
seek it. Unhappiness is not a condition of lack. It is a condition of
denial. We are actively negating happiness, which is our natural state. We
are blocking out the awareness of love's presence. We are covering over the
joy of our created nature, of simply being, with a filthy patina of
unfulfillment. We think the solution is to do something; actually the
solution is to stop doing something, to put an end to the activity that is
obscuring our happiness.

That is one of the values of meditation. When we deliberately bring a stop
to our mental activity we often suddenly feel happy. That is because we are
always happy, but we are constantly generating unhappiness by our thoughts.
Stop the thoughts and the happiness shines through. Clear away the clouds
and the sun is always there.

We have taught ourselves that we are this constant mental activity. Letting
go of that activity is an extreme threat to the ego. If we let it go nothing
is left, or so we fear; so the ego tells us. The ego lies!

All we need to do is to stop doing. What we are, without any activity at
all, is enough to support perfect, constant happiness.

WHAT IS THE EGO?

Part 7: W-pII.12.4:1

	To know reality is not to see the ego and its thoughts,
	its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams,
	its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and the cost 
	belief in it entails.

Knowing reality consists simply of not seeing illusions. Without illusions
to conceal it, reality is self-evident. That is why we "need do nothing." We
don't have to make reality. We don't have to make ourselves sinless, or
happy, or peaceful. We simply have to stop seeing the thing that obscures
reality from our sight: the ego, and everything to do with it.

The list of all the aspects of the ego that we are "not to see" is needful
for us, because if the lesson simply said that "to know reality is not to
see the ego" we would not be sure what was meant. By listing all the things
related to the ego-thoughts, works, acts, laws, beliefs, dreams, hopes,
plans for salvation, and the cost it demands of us-we are more likely to
understand the full import of what not seeing the ego means. Not just the
acts of the ego need to be banished from our sight, but all the things that
drive those acts.

I am especially struck with "its plans for salvation." The ego has many
plans for getting us out of the mess we think we are in. But we aren't
really in a mess; we have simply covered over reality with illusions, and
the reality is still there. We don't have to do anything to find it. We
don't need to make plans for our salvation. Indeed, making plans for our
salvation just digs the ego rut deeper. We need, as Lesson 337 points out,
to understand that "I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my
Self, my sinlessness, created for me, now already mine, to feel God's Love
protecting me from harm" (W-pII.337.1:6).





From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Dec  2 06:33:47 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 06:33:47 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] LESSON 337 - DECEMBER 3
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAC7L3/ab9KJEgI2CxETFzADCgAAAEAAAAACorwJuAGxOqrTjIri9X9MBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



LESSON 337 - DECEMBER 3

"My sinlessness protects me from all harm."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion: Think of your day yesterday, and in relation to each
thing you did, ask yourself, "Was there an element of 'If I do this thing
right, I'll redeem myself'?" 

	Then, with each "yes" you get, ask yourself, 
	"What was I trying to redeem myself for?"

Then focus on simply accepting the awareness from God that you are sinless,
that you need do nothing to be redeemed, because "God has already done all
things that need be done" (1:5).

COMMENTARY

This is a lesson about simply accepting the Atonement and nothing more. It
states that there are really only two steps to the full knowledge of
complete happiness (1:4-6):

	1. Realize that I need do nothing of myself.
	2. Accept what God has already done.

All of the turmoil and discomfort we experience as we begin a spiritual path
comes from thinking that we lack something (which is not seeing step 2) and
therefore we have to do something to get it (which is not seeing step 1).

We feel unhappy, and therefore we think we lack happiness and set out to
seek it. Unhappiness is not a condition of lack. It is a condition of
denial. We are actively negating happiness, which is our natural state. We
are blocking out the awareness of love's presence. We are covering over the
joy of our created nature, of simply being, with a filthy patina of
unfulfillment. We think the solution is to do something; actually the
solution is to stop doing something, to put an end to the activity that is
obscuring our happiness.

That is one of the values of meditation. When we deliberately bring a stop
to our mental activity we often suddenly feel happy. That is because we are
always happy, but we are constantly generating unhappiness by our thoughts.
Stop the thoughts and the happiness shines through. Clear away the clouds
and the sun is always there.

We have taught ourselves that we are this constant mental activity. Letting
go of that activity is an extreme threat to the ego. If we let it go nothing
is left, or so we fear; so the ego tells us. The ego lies!

All we need to do is to stop doing. What we are, without any activity at
all, is enough to support perfect, constant happiness.

WHAT IS THE EGO?

Part 7: W-pII.12.4:1

	To know reality is not to see the ego and its thoughts,
	its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams,
	its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and the cost 
	belief in it entails.

Knowing reality consists simply of not seeing illusions. Without illusions
to conceal it, reality is self-evident. That is why we "need do nothing." We
don't have to make reality. We don't have to make ourselves sinless, or
happy, or peaceful. We simply have to stop seeing the thing that obscures
reality from our sight: the ego, and everything to do with it.

The list of all the aspects of the ego that we are "not to see" is needful
for us, because if the lesson simply said that "to know reality is not to
see the ego" we would not be sure what was meant. By listing all the things
related to the ego-thoughts, works, acts, laws, beliefs, dreams, hopes,
plans for salvation, and the cost it demands of us-we are more likely to
understand the full import of what not seeing the ego means. Not just the
acts of the ego need to be banished from our sight, but all the things that
drive those acts.

I am especially struck with "its plans for salvation." The ego has many
plans for getting us out of the mess we think we are in. But we aren't
really in a mess; we have simply covered over reality with illusions, and
the reality is still there. We don't have to do anything to find it. We
don't need to make plans for our salvation. Indeed, making plans for our
salvation just digs the ego rut deeper. We need, as Lesson 337 points out,
to understand that "I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my
Self, my sinlessness, created for me, now already mine, to feel God's Love
protecting me from harm" (W-pII.337.1:6).




From suelegal at gmail.com  Wed Dec  3 14:17:44 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 14:17:44 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 338 - December 4
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAME3MbCRi9IRs80AYJdtD0migQAAEAAAANxtyymLK3BHtSNaLT8cEQIBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 338 - DECEMBER 4 

"I am affected only by my thoughts." 

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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 

This is a key Course concept, repeated many times in different words: 

I <am> responsible for what I see. I choose the feelings I  experience, and
I decide upon the goal I would achieve.  (T-21.II.2:3-4) 

I am never upset for the reason I think. 
(W-pI.5.Heading) 

It is impossible the Son of God be merely driven by events  outside of him.
It is impossible that happenings that come  to him were not his choice. His
power of decision is the  determiner of every situation in which he seems to
find  himself by chance or accident. (T-21.II.3:1-3) 

Nothing beyond yourself can make you fearful or loving,  because nothing
<is> beyond you. (T-10.In.1:1) 

It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. Nothing external  to your
mind can hurt or injure you in any way. There is no cause  beyond yourself
that can reach down and bring oppression. No one  but yourself affects you.
There is nothing in the world that has  the power to make you ill or sad, or
weak or frail. But it is you  who have the power to dominate all things you
see by merely  recognizing what you are. (W-190.5:1-6) 

The Course says that accepting this is foundational to our release from our
suffering. As long as we think something outside of us is affecting us and
causing our pain, we will not look within for the thoughts that are truly at
the root of the pain. We will believe ourselves to be innocent victims of
forces beyond our control. There are no forces beyond our control; that is
the whole point. 

It needs but this to let salvation come to all the world. For in this single
thought is everyone released at last from fear. (1:1-2) 

The realization that there is nothing outside me threatening me in any way
is sure to release us from fear. At first it may seem to induce
guilt-because if no one else is doing it to me, I must be doing it, and that
seems to be a horrendously difficult admission to make. In fact, however,
the realization that I am affected only by my own thoughts brings an
expansive freedom from fear. 

Now has he learned that no one frightens him, and nothing can endanger him.
He has no enemies, and he is safe from all external things. (1:3-4) 

Let me remind myself of this today. Nothing can endanger me. I have no
enemies, and nothing external can threaten me. I do not need to live in
anxiety and defensiveness; I am safe. 

Yet what about the fact that my own thoughts can hurt me? Isn't that
something to be afraid of? It seems especially frightening that I can be
affected by thoughts I have but of which I am not conscious. The eerie
message of psychology that I am driven by subconscious motives that never
surface in my conscious mind has always been frightening, and the Course is
very much in line with those psychological theories. It is constantly
telling us that we do believe certain things we are not aware of believing,
and that we are driven by a subterranean guilt about separation so deeply
buried that we perhaps will never, in this world, become aware of it. How
can we be free from fear when these hidden enemies lurk beneath the surface
of our minds, ready to explode like land mines when we unsuspectingly step
on them? 

His thoughts can frighten him, but since these thoughts belong to him alone,
he has the power to change them and exchange each fear thought for a happy
thought of love. He crucified himself. Yet God has planned that His beloved
Son will be redeemed. (1:5-7) 

The good news is that since our thoughts are our thoughts, we can change
them. Even the subconscious ones. That is what the Course is all about. Yes,
we have crucified ourselves, but God has planned a way out for us. He has
planned that we be redeemed: that is, liberated or released from our
self-imposed prison. It is a way of changing our minds, and nothing more
than that is needed. 

All other plans will fail. (2:2) 

They will fail because they are based on an untruth, namely, that the
problem is something external, something other than my thoughts. I can try
to solve my problems with more money, with medicines or drugs, or by
surrounding myself by people who seem to supply what I seem to lack. Being
external solutions they will all fail, because the real problem is my own
thoughts. No matter how ingenious they are, my plans will fail, because I am
solving the wrong problems. 

And I will have thoughts that will frighten me, until I learn that You have
given me the only Thought that leads me to salvation. Mine alone will fail,
and lead me nowhere. But the Thought You gave me promises to lead me home,
because it holds Your promise to Your Son. (2:3-5) 

Even though I know the truth of this lesson, I will still have frightening
thoughts, thoughts that seem to hurt me. That is not anything to be
concerned about. When such thoughts surface I can learn to shrug and tell
myself, "So I still have an ego. What else is new?" I can bring thoughts
that frighten into the presence of the Thought given by God, the Holy
Spirit. He is the "Thought that leads me to salvation," the Thought of
forgiveness and love. He is a Thought full of promise and certainty, a
Thought that tells me I am God's beloved Son, with nothing to fear (as we
saw in yesterday's lesson, "My sinlessness protects me from all harm"). 

Let me today be willing to recognize my fear thoughts when they arise,
rather than denying I have them, so that with the help of the Holy Spirit I
can change them and exchange them for a happy thought of love. 

WHAT IS THE EGO? 

Part 8: W-pII.12.4:2 

In suffering, the price for faith in it [the ego] is so immense that
crucifixion of the Son of God is offered daily at its darkened shrine, and
blood must flow before the altar where its sickly followers prepare to die. 

This is one of the Course's darkest assessments of our ego. It evokes a
picture of a primitive, blood-sacrifice religion such as we read about
having existed in Central America, where human beings had their hearts
ripped from their bodies still beating, and altars had channels cut into
them to drain away the flowing blood. It says that our faith in the ego is
the cause of suffering as immense and terrifying as that. 

For our faith in the ego's illusion of autonomy, of separated identity, we
pay an immense price in suffering. Each day we persist in this insane faith,
we crucify the Son of God. For the existence of a separated identity demands
the death of our unified Identity. As "sickly followers" of this religion
(for religion it is), we are all preparing to die as we watch the sacrifice
of the holy Son of God. (Of course, the Son of God cannot die; the sacrifice
is illusion. But to our minds it is terribly, terribly real.) Our own death
will vindicate our faith; it will prove our separation from God. 

Although this suffering is not real in the final sense, it is real to us.
And one of the things the Course asks of us, in order to bring about our
deliverance from the ego, is that we honestly assess the cost of our belief
in it. What does it cost me to hold a grievance? What does it cost me to
hate? What does it cost me to insist on being right in an argument? What
does it cost me to hold on to my view of myself as a victim? What does it
cost me to hold on to my guilt? What does it cost me to hold on to my
perception of sin in my brothers and sisters? 

We need to count the cost of our belief in the ego. The Course says: 

You will not accept the cost of fear if you recognize it. (T-11.V.10:3) 

The ego is trying to teach you how to gain the whole world and lose your own
soul. The Holy Spirit teaches that you cannot lose your soul and there is no
gain in the world, for of itself it profits nothing. To invest without
profit is surely to impoverish yourself, and the overhead is high. Not only
is there no profit in the investment, but the cost to you is enormous. For
this investment costs you the world's reality by denying yours, and gives
you nothing in return. (T-12.VI.1:1-5) 

You must learn the cost of sleeping, and refuse to pay it. (T-12.VI.5:2) 

Belief in sin needs great defense, and at enormous cost. All that the Holy
Spirit offers must be defended against and sacrificed. For sin is carved
into a block out of your peace, and laid between you and its return.
(T-22.V.2:6-8) 

We pay an immense price in suffering in order to hold on to our tattered,
treasured ego. We lose awareness of our real Identity to hold on to an
imagined one that we can never make real. Once we see this, once we
recognize the insanity of it, we will no longer be willing to accept it.
Once we see what the ego demands of us, we will refuse to pay the price,
because we will realize that the ego is not what we really want. But first,
very often, we must confront the horror of what we have done. We must look
at that altar dripping with blood and realize we have been choosing this. 

It is not difficult to relinquish judgment. But it is difficult indeed to
try to keep it. The teacher of God lays it down happily the instant he
recognizes its cost. All of the ugliness he sees about him is its outcome.
All of the pain he looks upon is its result. All of the loneliness and sense
of loss; of passing time and growing hopelessness; of sickening despair and
fear of death; all these have come of it. And now he knows that these things
need not be. Not one is true. For he has given up their cause, and they,
which never were but the effects of his mistaken choice, have fallen from
him. Teacher of God, this step will bring you peace. Can it be difficult to
want but this? (M-10.6:1-11) 







From suelegal at gmail.com  Thu Dec  4 13:40:56 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 13:40:56 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 339 - December 5
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAuAAAAAAAAANRjjr5NM4BMjbq6WSynwoIBAF3trr1h3elBgHEHpka5+R0AAAAARVQAABAAAABnvzIRumo9QqZwdHxavdY/AQAAAAA=@gmail.com>



LESSON 339 - DECEMBER 5 

"I will receive whatever I request." 

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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. 

Practice suggestion: To get the real thrust of today's idea, you might want
to try the following exercise. First, think of three things: a plan you have
for today, something you want today, and a thought you have been thinking
today. Then repeat the following lines to God: 

I plan to do _________, yet I would do nothing by myself, but hear Your
Voice in everything I do. 
Today I want __________, but I request only what You offer me. 
Today I might think _________, but I accept only Thoughts You share with me.


COMMENTARY 

This can be an upsetting idea! It means that whatever I have received, I
requested. We don't like to hear that, and it can seem harsh. "You've got
cancer? You asked for it." Used that way it is harsh, a weapon for
separation instead of a tool for union. How could anyone desire sickness and
pain? The thought seems absurd. 

No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one would
avoid his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and
dangerous. Everyone will receive what he requests. But he can be confused
indeed about the things he wants; the state he would attain. (1:1-6) 

Of course nobody wants pain; nobody consciously refuses happiness. If that
is so, and everyone receives what he requests, then how is it that pain and
unhappiness arise? We might think of it as a syllogism, which seems to make
sense: 

Nobody wants pain. 
Nobody, therefore, would request pain. 
Everyone receives what he requests or wants. 
Therefore, we cannot receive pain. 

That seems logical, doesn't it? If the first three are true, the fourth must
be true. So how come I hurt? We must be missing something; our logic must be
flawed. The flaw lies between the first two premises. Nobody wants pain, but
nevertheless, we <do> request it; that is why we receive it. 

The lesson explains that I can be confused about what I want; that I can
think pain is pleasure, or that joy is threatening. The latter is perhaps a
little easier to understand since it is a common experience. Haven't you
ever had the thought "This is too good to last"? Or perhaps you've found
yourself very happy in a relationship and suddenly getting afraid of it
because some part of you is nearly certain that if you keep your guard down
you're going to get smacked good. I had a friend who somehow entered a very
high and totally joyful state of mind and was there for nearly three weeks
until she started thinking, "This is wonderful. I love everybody, I have no
fear of anything, but if I live like this in the world I'm going to get
crucified. Maybe I'm not enlightened; maybe I'm just insane." So she lost
the joy, and it never came back in quite the same way. 

We really do think that too much joy is threatening and dangerous. We value
our suspicions. We cherish our defenses. We're afraid of simply opening up
to joy. So, quite unconsciously most of the time, we request unhappiness. We
choose not to be peaceful. 

The confusion of pain and joy is much more deeply buried, but the Course
teaches that pain validates our separateness and justifies our barriers
against one another. We choose it to strengthen our ego identity. It is
perhaps difficult to believe that all of our pain and unhappiness is chosen,
but the Course is insistent on this point. 

What can he then request that he would want when he receives it? He has
asked for what will frighten him, and bring him suffering. (1:7-8) 

We actually do ask for things that frighten us and bring us suffering. Much
of the Text is dedicated to bringing this to conscious awareness; making us
aware of what we are choosing so that we can realize how insane it is and
make another choice. 

Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want, and only this, that we
may spend this day in fearlessness, without confusing pain with joy, or fear
with love. (1:9) 

We can change our minds. We can begin, consciously, to choose the joy of God
instead of pain. When a moment of pain arises we can accept the fact that we
are choosing it, and choose again. We can say, "This is not what I want; I
choose the joy of God." We can choose peace instead of upset. One thought I
repeat so often that it is practically a mantra is "Oops! I'm doing it to
myself again." It is remarkable what a change this fundamental realization
can make in one's life. 

Read now the short prayer that closes this lesson, and start your day with
these thoughts. If you've already started the day, start it over right now.
Stop a moment and adopt this mindset. Setting the tone of your mind right
now will carry over into the day and bring changes you can't begin to
foresee now. 

Father, this is Your day. It is a day in which I would do nothing by myself,
but hear Your Voice in everything I do; requesting only what You offer me,
accepting only Thoughts You share with me. (2:1-2) 

WHAT IS THE EGO? 
Part 9: W-pII.12.5:1 

Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light; the altar
to illusions to the shrine of Life Itself. 

The "darkened shrine" of the ego is flooded with light; the bloody altar to
death is transformed into "the shrine to Life Itself." How? By "one lily of
forgiveness." I think of a magical, fantasy tale, where the heroine or hero
enters the black, forbidding temple of the evil god, carrying only a single
flower. With great trepidation she approaches the altar and lays the pure,
white lily upon it, and in a flash, the entire scene is transformed. 

Forgiveness is that "magical." It isn't magic, though, it's a miracle. "The
holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a
present love" (T-26.IX.6:1). That is the miracle forgiveness works. I have
seen it with my own eyes. I have watched a relationship filled with blood
and bitterness transformed into sweet, mutual devotion-through forgiveness.
This is no idle theory, no idealistic fantasy; this works. 

Forgiveness undoes the ego. The blackest of blackness that the ego has
manifested becomes flooded with light when touched by forgiveness. We need
not fear to look at our ego's darkness; there is nothing forgiveness cannot
heal.


From suelegal at gmail.com  Fri Dec  5 06:12:43 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 06:12:43 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 340 - December 6
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAPdpUCvZaBdNrA8v447aZugBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 340 - DECEMBER 6

"I can be free of suffering today."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See complete 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

The Workbook lessons from 221 on are meant to be used as brief introductions
to holy instants of direct experience of the truth. As the introduction to
Part II of the Workbook says:

    Now we attempt to let the exercise be merely
   a beginning. For we wait in quiet expectation
   for our God and Father.     (W-pII.In.2:1-2)

   We say some simple words of welcome, and
   expect our Father to reveal Himself, as He has promised.
       (W-pII.In.3:3)

    We say the words of invitation that His Voice
    suggests, and then we wait for Him to come to us.
       (W-pII.In.4:6)

 The 
"words of invitation" seem to refer to the prayers in each lesson. The idea
is that we read the lesson over and perhaps think on it a minute or two.
Then, we repeat the prayer that invites God to join us. More and more, as I
have worked with these lessons, I have found increasing benefit from really
focusing on these prayers, and making them very personal. Then we wait,
quietly, until we are aware of God's presence with us. That is the whole
purpose of the exercises.

   I can be free of suffering today.

So let me remind myself of this. Freedom from suffering is my choice. I have
the option, today, to be free. As I listen to God's Voice directing me to
find Christ's vision through forgiveness, I will be free forever from all
suffering (1:4). Let me think on that a moment, pray the prayer given here,
and then sit quietly and wait, listening, opening my mind to that vision.

I do not live in that vision yet, or only sporadically. To me it seems I
have some way to go. So I wait. I make my mind empty, available to Him, and
ask Him to fill me with this vision and to enlarge it in my mind.

    I was born into this world but to achieve this day,
    and what it holds in joy and freedom for Your holy
    Son and for the world he made.     (1:6)

Achieving Christ's vision fully is all that I am here for; I was born for
this. Perhaps today! I open myself to it, I loose my mind from all lesser
thoughts and offer it to You. In this holy instant I can find that release.
Perhaps it won't last more than a few minutes, a few seconds. Perhaps it
will lodge in my mind and stay with me all through the day. Salvation is
already accomplished, and I can tap into that awareness right now. Even if I
forget in ten minutes, even if I "lose" the awareness, the memory will
remain and will sustain me, transforming my day from what it would have been
had I not spent these moments with You. So I give myself to this time, this
remembering.

We all will remember. God will gather us all to Himself, and together we
shall all awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love (2:5-6). Take heart, my soul!
The outcome is as inevitable as God. The way may seem long at times, but the
ending is sure, and no anxiety need touch my heart. I am content in this
moment simply to be with You. There is nothing more that I need. "There is
no room for anything but joy and thanks today" (2:3), and only these will I
welcome into my holy mind.

WHAT IS THE EGO?

Part 10: W-pII.12.5:2

    And peace will be restored forever to the holy
   minds which God created as His Son, His dwelling
   place, His joy, His love, completely His, 
   completely one with Him.

How is it that simple forgiveness can do this? The guilt and fearinduced by
our belief in the ego's reality is the cause of all oursuffering. It is our
mad wish to be a separated self that has causedus to see God, and all the
universe, as our enemies, and filled uswith nightmares of punishment.
Forgiveness shows us that what we thinkwe did to ourselves has not occurred.
There is no cause for our guilt.Forgiveness releases us from the dread of
punishment, and brings us torealize that our oneness with God is
undisturbed. We are still "Hisdwelling place, His joy, His love, completely
His, completely one withHim." And in that knowledge, peace is restored
forever.

When forgiveness washes over us, we realize that "I can be free ofsuffering
today" (W-pII.340.Heading). It is the ego thought in ourmind that paints
unrest over the eternal calm of our mind as Godcreated it. Letting go of
that thought, even for an instant, bringsimmediate peace. The thought of
separation, of an independentidentity, was the original mistake:


    That one error, which brought truth to illusion, infinity
    to time, and life to death, was all you ever made. Your
    whole world rests upon it. Everything you see reflects it...

    ...You do not realize the magnitude of that one error.
    It was so vast and so completely incredible that from
    it a world of total unreality had to emerge.       (T-18.I.4:4-6; 5:2-3)


Forgiveness shows us that what we think we have done has no realconsequence.
It removes the barriers to our awareness of God. Thatterrible mistake, upon
which our whole world rests, wasinconsequential; our union with God remains
forever uninterrupted. Werest, now and ever, in His peace.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Mon Dec  8 05:00:58 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 05:00:58 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 343 - December 9
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAJLNVVd0NzhJm+kDPwhqjZ8BAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 343 - DECEMBER 9

"I am not asked to make a sacrifice 
To find the mercy and the peace of God."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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

The whole idea of loss or sacrifice is foreign to the Course. It tells us,
"Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God" (T-3.I.4:1). As the first
line of the lesson points out, how could ending suffering be a loss? How can
happiness be gained by sacrificing? It's ridiculous when you look at it, and
yet for centuries many religions have believed that in order to find God's
mercy you have to give up something, usually something really valuable. You
have to suffer to attain Heaven. You have to pay for your mistakes.

Heaven, or salvation, must be only gain. How could it be a loss and still be
Heaven? Let me affirm to my Father: 

	You only give. You never take away. And You created
	me to be like You, so sacrifice becomes impossible for
	me as well as You. I, too, must give.	(1:3-6)

Someone just today was telling me how they got trapped in a mental loop of
feeling as though God had given them a dirty deal by creating them capable
of experiencing this dream of suffering; it was as if God was putting us
through all this for selfish reasons, or at least allowing us to go through
this for selfish reasons, for what He can get out of it. But God only gives;
He does not take away. Let me not think otherwise.

And what God gives is given forever: 

	As I was created I remain. Your Son can make no
	sacrifice, for he must be complete, having the
	function of completing You.	(1:8-9) 

I can't lose what I am; I can't sacrifice something of value and become
incomplete, because that would be contrary to my function of completing God.
For God to be complete (which of course He must be, being God), I must be
complete, for He created me to complete Himself! Therefore, I cannot
sacrifice; I must remain complete.

We are beset with the notion that somehow we have to earn the mercy and the
peace of God. Especially when I've been off on some ego detour, I always
feel as if I have to "go through" something to find my way back. I need to
have a proper period of remorse and feeling guilty. At least I have to sleep
it off! It just doesn't seem right to snap instantly from ego madness to a
state of peace and joy without paying some kind of penalty first. Yet:

	The mercy and the peace of God are free. Salvation
	has no cost. It is a gift that must be freely given
	and received. And it is this that we would learn today.
	(2:1-4) 

Because they have no cost, mercy and peace are immediately available in
every instant. I need only to be willing to freely give them and receive
them.

In this instant, right now, let me give mercy to myself. Let me see my
childish heart in pain over what it thinks it has done, and let me spread
mercy across it like a warm blanket. Let me embrace myself with love and
affirm my own innocence again. Have I forgotten who I am? That's okay. Have
I been angry at a brother? I still merit mercy and peace. Have I betrayed a
friend? God still counts me as His own. No sacrifice is asked; no penance;
no "decent" period of mourning. I can simply, trustingly open my mind to my
Friend and find welcome. I can come home to God. What am I waiting for? Let
me come to Him now.

WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

Part 3: W-pII.13.2:1-2

One of the most frequently repeated lessons of the entire Course is that
giving and receiving are the same: "To give and to receive are one in truth"
(W-pII.108.Heading). This lesson, one of the most basic the Holy Spirit
wants to teach us (it is the first lesson of the Holy Spirit in Chapter 6:
"To have, give all to all"-T-6.V(A).5:13), is also one of the hardest for us
to learn because it is the antithesis of our normal way of thinking.

	A miracle contains the gift of grace, for it is given and
	received as one.	(2:1)

To receive a miracle, we must give it; to give it, we must receive it.
Receiving a miracle and giving a miracle are one thing, not two. Many of us
get wrapped up in trying to figure out whether I must forgive myself first
to forgive someone else, or whether I have to forgive the other person
before I can forgive myself. The answer is, neither and both. To forgive
yourself you must forgive the other person, but to forgive the other person,
you must forgive yourself. They are one. They seem to be two distinct
actions but they are not; they are one action because my brother and I are
one Self. It may often seem, within time, that one precedes the other, but
in reality, both happen simultaneously.

"And thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because
it fails entirely to understand its ways" (2:2). The "law of truth" is, I
think, the same as the "law of love" mentioned in the title of Lesson 344:
"What I give my brother is my gift to me." Were we to completely appropriate
this one thought, we would be out of here, done with the curriculum. A
miracle illustrates this law; it gives a pictorial representation of it, a
demonstration of it. When I give a miracle to a brother, I am looking on his
devastation and realizing that what I see is false (1:3). I am seeing his
wholeness rather than the illusion of his lack. My seeing that for someone
else reminds them to see it for themselves, if they wish to. And when they
receive the miracle, <I> am blessed. I am reminded of who I am.

The world does not obey this law, nor understand it. Unlearning the world's
way of thinking about this is what the Course calls "undoing the getting
concept" (T-6.V(B).3:1). It calls this the first step in the reversal of our
ego's thinking. Miracles are important to us because they illustrate this
law; they help us know, by experience, that giving is receiving; that I keep
what I want by giving it away.




From suelegal at gmail.com  Tue Dec  9 05:00:08 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 05:00:08 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 344 - December 10
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAO/YrPWSgY9IhksDSaL/z0sBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 344 - DECEMBER 10

"Today I learn the law of love; that what 
I give my brother is my gift to me."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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

What if we realized that only what we give away to others will be left to us
in the end? What if we recognized that everything we try to hold onto for
ourselves alone will be lost? How would that change the way we live?

The lesson is referring to our gifts of love and forgiveness more than to
anything physical, although the physical often symbolizes that love. "Yet he
whom I forgive will give me gifts beyond the worth of anything on earth"
(1:6). The Course teaches us that everything is an idea, and ideas, when
given away, only increase; we lose nothing in the giving. On the other hand,
when we try to save our affection for ourselves alone, we wind up
empty-handed: "And as I looked upon the treasure that I thought I had, I
found an empty place where nothing ever was or is or will be" (1:3). Only
what is shared is real because only oneness is reality, and separateness is
illusory. We can't have something for ourselves alone because we are not
alone.

How do we arise and return to God (1:9)? Through forgiving our brothers
(1:6-8). Each one we welcome "fills my store with Heaven's treasures, which
alone are real" (1:7). There was a short poem I learned back in my
fundamentalist Christian days that seems applicable here:

	Only one life, 'twill soon be past; 
	Only what's done for Christ will last.

 Only the love is real; only the love is eternal.

	How near we are to one another, as we go to God.
	How near is He to us. How close the ending of the 
	dream of sin, and the redemption of the Son of God.	(2:1-3)

I don't think that as yet we have any idea how inextricably we are all
linked to one another, or how near we really are to one another. Each time
you choose to listen to God's Voice instead of your ego, in however little a
way, you help me on my way to God. Each time I open my eyes to Christ's
vision, you see a little better. You and I and all of us are really one. "I
am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts," says Lesson 19.
If, through my willingness to see another as whole today, I help her or him
on the way to God by reminding them of who they really are, I have literally
helped myself equally, because our minds are joined. How many opportunities
await each of us today! How eager I should be to spread forgiveness over all
the world!

WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

Part 4: W-pII.13.2:3-5

	A miracle inverts perception which was upside down
	before, and thus it ends the strange distortions
	that were manifest.	(2:3)

So the perceptions we have learned from the ego are upside down; a miracle
inverts those perceptions and makes them right-side up again. Perhaps this
is a reference to the way that physical sight works. In physical sight, the
image projected by the lens of our eyes upon the retina is actually upside
down. The mind literally learns to see the upside down image as right-side
up. In an experiment in which people were given glasses to wear that
inverted the image, so that it was right-side up on the retina, the mind saw
everything as upside down. After a number of days, however, the mind
adjusted and saw everything again as the right way. When the glasses were
removed, people now saw things as being upside down!

The perception that what I give, I lose, for instance, is entirely upside
down; true perception shows me that what I give I keep. We perceive what is
false, but our minds have learned to interpret it as truth. We see illusions
and think them real; we believe that reality is the illusion. We fear love,
and love fear. We think guilt is good, and innocence is guilty. A miracle
inverts all this; it corrects our perception, inverting our understanding.
The change in perception is what ends the distortion in what is being
manifested (that is, showing up in form).

"Now is perception open to the truth" (2:4). When the miracle inverts my
perception, and ends the distortion, I am again capable of perceiving the
truth (or its accurate reflection). Until perception is corrected, truth
cannot enter.

"Now is forgiveness seen as justified" (2:5). This is perhaps the most
dramatic reversal of all. One of the most radical ideas in the Course is
that forgiveness is <justified>. If we think of forgiveness at all from the
ego perspective, we think of it as someone's being let off the hook for no
reason, "out of the goodness of our hearts." The Course says that there is
every reason to forgive. It is fully justified (see T-30.VI.2:1). What is
unjustifiable is judgment, condemnation, and anger (see T-30.VI.1:1). This
is simply not something that can be learned or arrived at through logic
(although it is entirely logical). When we see our condemnation of someone
as just, that is just how we see it. Trying to reason ourselves into seeing
it differently doesn't work. Nor can we "should" ourselves into it. If we
try to force ourselves to "forgive" while still seeing guilt, we feel as
though we are being untrue to ourselves.

When you give your perception to the Holy Spirit and ask to see as He sees,
He gives you His perception. It simply springs into the mind. Suddenly you
literally no longer see any reason to condemn, and every reason to give
love. Your anger, perfectly justified a moment ago, now seems unthinkable.
It is like the shift that occurs in looking at a Magic Eye illustration
(where a 3-D picture is hidden in a two-dimensional one) or a figure-ground
optical illusion (such as the one that can be seen either as a wine goblet
or as two faces looking at one another). You are seeing it one way; suddenly
you are seeing it another way. And when you see it one way you cannot see
the other way. Just so is the miracle. It inverts your perception. You were
seeing one way; now you see the other. You can't "make" it happen, but when
it happens, you know it.




From suelegal at gmail.com  Wed Dec 10 05:00:05 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:00:05 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 345 - December 11
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAABxb5re4gOxLiIk/mISDslABAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 345 - DECEMBER 11

"I offer only miracles today, 
For I would have them be returned to me."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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

The basic thought is similar to yesterday's: what I give is returned to me.
Realizing this is so, let me decide as this day starts, and as every day
starts, to offer only what I want. Miracles. To give a miracle means to see
past the illusions of my brothers, and to see them as they really are, as
God's creations. It means not to accept and support the image my brother has
of himself as a limited ego, a tiny fragment of mind trapped in a body.
Instead, I see him as an unlimited being of spirit, magnificent in glory. In
Chapter 8 of the Text we are told:

	But when you look upon a brother as a physical entity,
	his power and glory are "lost" to you and so are
	yours...Do not see him this way for your own salvation,
	which must bring him his. Do not allow him to belittle
	himself in your mind, but give him freedom from his
	belief in littleness, and thus escape from yours.
(T-8.VII.5:3, 5-6)

That is giving a miracle. Refusing to see my brother in the limited way he
sees himself; seeing the Christ in him, for him. The miracle thus blesses
both me and my brother, for as my mind is healed of illusions, it reflects
on him as well and brings light to his mind. I give him the opportunity to
see himself as God sees him.

	The law of love is universal. Even here, it takes a form
	which can be recognized and seen to work.	(1:2-3) 

The "law of love" was stated yesterday: "that what I give my brother is my
gift to me." The form this law takes here is something I can recognize. It
isn't merely abstract; it takes form, it becomes concrete. When I offer
miracles to those around me, they return to me, not in exactly the form in
which I offered them, but in just the form I need to meet my needs as I
perceive them (1:4). In Heaven there are no needs (1:5); here on earth, I do
perceive needs, and the law of love adapts to my perception (1:6).

I can offer a miracle with a profound act of forgiveness, or I can offer a
miracle with a smile to a passerby that tells him, "You are loveable." I
offer a miracle with every gesture of kindness, every token of courtesy,
every expression of respect, and every act of caring. Whatever the form, if
the content of the message is "You are loveable. You are worthy. You are
innocent," I have offered the miracle, and it will return to me.

Let me choose, Father, to enter into my day determined to offer nothing but
miracles to those around me. May I say, from the depth of my heart:

	Peace to all seeking hearts today. The light has come
	to offer miracles to bless the tired world.	(2:1-2)

And before I step out into the bustle of today, let me pause for a few
minutes and spend them simply offering peace to every seeking heart that
comes to mind. No such effort is ever wasted, and I will receive as much as
I am willing to give.

WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

Part 5: W-pII.13.3:1-3

	Forgiveness is the home of miracles. The eyes of
	Christ deliver them to all they look upon in mercy
	and in love. Perception stands corrected in His
	sight, and what was meant to curse has come to bless.	

A miracle corrects perception, and miracles live in forgiveness. When we
look with the eyes of Christ, we see with mercy and in love; we see with
forgiveness. And we then "deliver" miracles to everyone we see with that
corrected perception. It is not just that something changes within our
minds, not just that our perception is altered; something gets communicated
or "delivered" from us to those we look upon. A miracle here, and in many
places in the Course, seems to include an aspect in which something passes
from my forgiving mind to the minds of others. Miracles are said to be
"interpersonal" (T-1.II.1:4). When I accept forgiveness within my mind, for
myself or another, it extends to others. Indeed it is by extending it that I
accept it:

	Miracles are natural signs of forgiveness. Through
	miracles you accept God's forgiveness by extending
	it to others.	(T-1.I.21:1-2)

The phrase "and what was meant to curse has come to bless" reminds me of the
Bible story of Joseph and his brothers. Because Joseph was the favorite of
his father, his brothers, jealous of him, sold him into slavery in Egypt.
But Joseph, because of his ability to interpret the Pharaoh's dreams, rose
to great power in Egypt. Years later, in a famine, his family came to Egypt
seeking food, and Joseph was the man in control of the food supply. Instead
of taking vengeance on them, Joseph told them:

	God sent me before you to preserve life...it was not
	you who sent me here, but God..You meant evil against
	me, but God meant it for good.	(Gn 45:5, 8; 50:20)

When we have truly received forgiveness into our hearts, we will be able to
see the blessing even in actions that others intend for our harm. "What was
meant to curse has come to bless." We find that, as the Text says: 

	Gratitude is due him for both his loving thoughts and his
	appeals for help [that is, what we normally see as his
	attacks], for both are capable of bringing love into
	your awareness if you perceive them truly.	(T-12.I.6:2)

And <that> kind of perception is, indeed, a miracle.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Thu Dec 11 05:00:25 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:00:25 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 346 - December 12
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAFZr5YHFxelGivlm85pi9rABAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 346 - DECEMBER 12

"Today the peace of God envelops me, 
And I forget all things except His Love."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion: This is one of the most beautiful prayers in the
Workbook. It speaks of a day in which I am so caught up in the experience of
God's Love that I forget everything else. The things of time fade away and
the laws of time no longer bind me. This prayer is very similar to the
prayers for Lesson 232 ("Be in my mind, my Father, through the day") and
Lesson 310 ("In fearlessness and love I spend today"). All three speak of
spending our day with God rather than with all our earthly tasks and
happenings. I highly recommend taking some time this morning and praying
this prayer over and over. Let it usher you into the joyous day of which it
speaks. Fix a line in your mind, close your eyes, and say that line to God,
as sincerely as you can. Then open your eyes and do the same with the next
line. You may want to write the prayer down on a card so you can use it each
hour. You may even want to memorize it. The beauty of memorization is that
it enables you to use the prayer anytime, anywhere, and do so without
opening your eyes to read each line, thus allowing you to absorb yourself in
the prayer more fully.

COMMENTARY

Before I begin to comment on the lesson, let me share a few thoughts in
preparation.

Many of the lessons in the latter part of the Workbook, particularly this
one, are coming to us from a state of right-mindedness. That state is the
goal of the Course's curriculum. Therefore, for most of us, probably all of
us, it represents a state of mind we do not normally live in. I know there
is a part of me that resonates in perfect harmony with this lesson, but
there is also another part that stands off cynically and says to me, "Forget
all things except His Love? Hah! More likely you will remember everything
except His Love. How long will this high-falutin' attitude last after you
walk out the door?" And if this is so, why bother with the lesson at all?

Why bother? Because there is a part of my mind that sings in harmony with
the lesson, and it is the only "part" that is real. Each time I seek to
align myself with thoughts like these, and to let the significance of them
wash over me and draw me with them, something happens. Even if after reading
and quietly meditating on them I feel as though nothing has happened,
something <has> happened. And if, even for an instant, I can harmonize my
mind with them so that, just for that instant, I mean the words as I say
them, I may have saved as much as a thousand years in my spiritual
development. Truly, truly, it is worth the effort. <We> are worth the
effort.

So as we read this lesson now, let us simply attempt to suspend our
disbelief for just an instant, and let these words be true for us. Let us
believe that what we say represents our true Self, for it does. Let us be in
the spirit of these words.

It all seems so simple sometimes. All there is to do is to be happy.
Sometimes I feel as if I could simply "be there" right now, with no more
effort or struggle. All the strain and struggle comes from resistance, not
from any effort to be enlightened or holy. Simply forget all things except
His Love. Simply remember nothing but the peace of God.

When those thoughts come to me, I notice, still, a fear of loss. It feels as
if I am giving up something valuable when I give up struggle. Yet all I am
giving up is pain.

What if I simply started being happy all the time? What if I let go of all
insistence that anything be different?

	Father, I wake today with miracles correcting my
	perception of all things. And so begins the day I
	share with You as I will share eternity, for time
	has stepped aside today.	(1:1-2)

I can share this day with God just as I will share eternity with Him. There
is nothing to do, nothing to achieve. Salvation asks nothing of me that I
cannot give <right now>.

	I do not seek the things of time, and so I will not look
	upon them. What I seek today transcends all laws of time
	and things perceived in time. I would forget all things
	except Your Love.	(1:3-5)

In all my seeking, Father, what I seek is really Your Love. The things of
time will never satisfy me; in this moment I gladly forget them all. I come
to You, needing only Your Smile to fill my heart to overflowing.

	I would abide in You, and know no laws except Your
	law of love. And I would find the peace which You 
	created for Your Son, forgetting all the foolish toys 
	I made as I behold Your glory and my own.	(1:6-7)

Only my belief that I am not worthy of Your Love keeps me from enjoying it
in every moment. Your Love is not lacking. I let myself relax in It and lean
back on It. I am sustained by Your Love. There is nothing else. In Your
Love, I behold not only Your glory, but my own glory as well, for Love is
what I am.

	And when the evening comes today, we will 
	remember nothing but the peace of God. For we 
	will learn today what peace is ours, when we 
	forget all things except God's Love.	(2:1-2)

What is there to prevent me from having a day like this? Nothing. I open my
heart to Love. The Love of God rolls over me like a mighty ocean, and I am
carried in Its current, surrounded by It, afloat in It.

WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

Part 6: W-pII.13.3:4-5

	Each lily of forgiveness offers all the world
	 the silent miracle of love.	(3:4)

Love is the real miracle. 

	Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.
	The real miracle is the love that inspires them. 
	In this sense everything that comes from love is
	a miracle.	(T-1.I.3:1-3) 

The symbol of the lily represents a gift of forgiveness I give to a brother
or sister. Each time I offer this gift, I am offering God's Love to the
entire world. I am opening a floodgate and allowing that Love to flow into
the world through me. Wherever that river of Love comes, life springs up;
and that is the miracle.

	And each [lily] is laid before the Word of God, upon the
	universal altar to Creator and creation in the light of
	perfect purity and endless joy.	(3:5) 

My gift of forgiveness given to my brother is also a gift to God. My
gratitude to my brothers is my gift to God. In acknowledging His creation, I
acknowledge Him. Opening to this current of Love is the source of perfect
purity and endless joy. There is nothing so joyful as a loving heart.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Fri Dec 12 05:00:41 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:00:41 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 347 - December 13
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAMB4op7AzLFPgTUjKEWI8tMBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 347 - DECEMBER 13

"Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is 
The weapon I would use against myself, 
To keep the miracle away from me."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion: Today the ideas for the day go from two lines to three
lines, which means they have tripled in length since just seven lessons ago.
I confess that I find it harder to repeat these longer ideas throughout the
day. If you're the same, here are some suggestions that might make it
easier:

	* Write the idea down on a notecard and pull the card out
	  for practice periods.
	
	* Find a part of the idea that speaks the most to you, and focus on
	  repeating that part.
	
	* Spend time in the morning memorizing the idea so fully that it
just
	  rolls off your tongue the rest of the day.
	
	* Reword the idea in a way that captures the gist of it but is
shorter
	  and speaks to you personally.

On that last point, don't be afraid to reword the idea, as long as you stay
reasonably faithful to the meaning. The Course reminds us of this more than
once, saying, "You need not use these exact words" (W-pI.65.6:5) and "It is
not the particular words you use that matter" (W-pI.rI.In.6:4).

COMMENTARY

>From the sublime heights of yesterday's lesson ("I would forget all things
except Your Love"), we return to the level of our split mind, in which we
attack ourselves, keeping away the miracle with judgment and attack. The
previous lesson was miracle-mindedness; here we see why we do not always
experience that state of mind: We actively keep it away from ourselves with
judgment and attack. The process of the Course involves learning complete
honesty with ourselves. We learn to recognize and admit the duplicity of our
own minds:

	Father, I want what goes against my will, and do not
	want what is my will to have.	(1:1)

"My will" is my right-mindedness, forgetting everything except God's Love.
And yet we seem to want something else, and to actively resist having the
Love of God flooding our minds.

I love the next couple of lines:

	Straighten my mind, my Father. It is sick.	(1:2-3)

I love those lines because of their stark simplicity, and because of the
contrast they offer to the frothy denial of our inner darkness that is
prevalent in so many circles. The Course does not pull any punches. It does
not whitewash our problems. There are times when no other assessment fits:
Our minds are sick! It is sick to want what goes against my true will, and
to actively resist my own well-being. Self-destruction is always
pathological. When we look honestly at the fact that we are literally
pushing away our own peace of mind, by active choices we make, it ought to
be repugnant. When we see what we have been doing, our saner self will say,
"This is sick!"

And so we ask the Father to "straighten my mind." That always reminds me of
a science fiction book by Zenna Henderson that I read as a young man, called
The People: No Different Flesh.**  In it there were certain persons who
could telepathically enter into another person's mind and "sort" their
thoughts, soothing their inner turmoil and pain. The idea appealed to me so
much that I used to pray, "Sort me, Father," when I felt my thoughts in
chaos and confusion. And it seemed to work! I was pleasantly surprised to
see this similar phrase here, validating my early experience. "Straighten my
mind."

We enable the straightening of our minds by giving all our judgment to the
Holy Spirit and asking Him to judge for us (1:5). He sees what we see, "and
yet He knows the truth" (1:6). He is looking at the same evidence I am
looking at, but He knows the pain is not real; the evidence means something
entirely different to Him. To me, the evidence of my eyes seems to prove
that separation, pain, loss, and death are real. When I bring all this to
Him and ask Him to straighten my mind, He will show me that what I see does
not mean what I think it means; He will use what I thought proved my guilt
to reveal my innocence.

	He gives the miracles my dreams would hide from my
	awareness.	(1:8)
	
	Listen today. Be very still, and hear the gentle Voice
	for God assuring you that He has judged you as the Son 
	He loves.	(2:1-2)

WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

Part 7: W-pII.13.4:1

	The miracle is taken first on faith, because to ask for
	it implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of
	what it cannot see and does not understand.

Faith. Yes, A Course in Miracles asks for faith, at least at the beginning.
"The miracle is taken <first> on faith." This is a fairly traditional
meaning for the word "faith." The American Heritage Dictionary defines faith
as "Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence." And
that is what is being asked of us. We are being asked to receive the miracle
(the change of perception, the vision of our brother's innocence) without
any "proof or material evidence." We are being asked to look on devastation
(such as sickness, or the harm done by someone's unloving actions) and to
believe that what we see is false-without "material evidence."

This is not an easy thing to do, to believe in something we cannot see. And
yet, if our false perception has blinded us to reality, and we are now
perceiving the projections of our own minds in place of truth, then
obviously the truth is now something we do not see. And since what our mind
chooses to see is what we see, the mind <must> change before we can perceive
truly. We have to choose to change our mind <before we see the evidence>,
because, in order for the miracle to manifest, our minds must first be "made
ready to conceive of what [they] cannot see and [do] not understand." In
other words, we must make a choice on faith; we must decide that we desire
to see something we cannot now see and something we do not understand.

This reminds me very much of those very early lessons in the Workbook,
Lessons 27 and 28: "Above all else I want to see" and "Above all else I want
to see things differently." That choice has to be made before we can see
anything. We must <want> to see in order to see. That is the faith being
talked about here. It is a choice, a decision we must make. We must <want>
to see our brother innocent. We must <want> only love. We must be willing to
see things differently. Only then will we see miracles.

___
**  This is the title of one of the two original collections of stories
about the People. All of Henderson's wonderful stories have been recently
republished in a single volume, titled Ingathering: The Complete People
Stories of Zenna Henderson (Framingham, Mass.: Nesfa Press, 1995).






From suelegal at gmail.com  Sat Dec 13 05:00:05 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:00:05 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 348 - December 14
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAGSjneORZcBNl6tvdkFdfnUBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 348 - DECEMBER 14

"I have no cause for anger or for fear, 
For You surround me. And in every need 
That I perceive, Your grace suffices me."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See complete 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

"You surround me." Close your eyes and be quiet, and think of the Love or
Presence of God as a golden light. Imagine that light shining on the front
of you. Feel its warmth, its golden glow, like the radiance of the sun on a
bright, summer day.

Now, become aware of that same light behind you. The Love of God is shining
on you, front and back. Let yourself feel the safety of it.

The Presence of God is also on your right, and on your left. It is all
around you, above you and below you. You are surrounded by this golden
light, immersed in it. You are surrounded by perfect safety (1:5), perfect
benevolence. Allow yourself to feel what that is like.

In this Love there is no cause for anger or for fear. There is no cause for
anything except the perfect peace and joy you share with God.

	God's grace suffices us in everything that He would
	have us do. And only that we choose to be our will as
	well as His.	(2:1-2)

Whenever you can today, stop for a moment or two and visualize yourself
surrounded by the Love of God.

WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

Part 8: W-pII.13.4:2-3

There must be faith before a miracle: the desire to see it, the choice to
ask for what we cannot now see, and to believe that what our ego-generated
perception shows us is false. But when that faith arises, when we become
miracle-minded, that faith will produce its own vindication:

	Yet faith will bring its witnesses to show that
	what it rested on is really there.	(4:2)

When I place my faith in a miracle, there will be evidence-witnesses-to
prove that what I put my faith in truly exists. When, for instance, I am
willing to look past my brother's ego and to see the call for God in him,
something will happen that will witness to me that the call for God in him
is really there. Perhaps my forgiveness will be met with gratitude. Perhaps
my response of love will be met with love returning. Perhaps, in someone of
whom I never believed it possible, I will see a spark of light. Faith will
bring its witnesses.

	And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it,
	and show it rested on a world more real than what you
	saw before; a world redeemed from what you thought was
	there.	(4:3) 

My willingness to believe in love's presence will show me love's presence. I
will see what I choose to see. I will see that the world of spirit is more
real than the world of mere matter. Sickness will give way to health.
Sadness will be replaced with joy. Fear will be transformed to love. And
where I thought I saw sin and evil, I will see holiness and good.

It is the transformation of my mind that brings about a different world. It
is my readiness to invite the miracle that opens the way for it. The changes
in the world I see are not the miracle; they are its results. The miracle
<brings> witnesses; it reveals a world different from what I thought it was.
First, though, the change of mind, the faith. Then the witness to faith,
justifying it, validating it.





From sue at circleofa.org  Sun Dec 14 11:53:45 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 11:53:45 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 349 - December 15
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAOKKMIBSAxZJm8GNp98ORIUBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




LESSON 349 - DECEMBER 15

"Today I let Christ's vision look upon 
All things for me and judge them not, but give 
Each one a miracle of love instead."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion:

* Think of a person you know. 

* Once you have chosen someone, imagine your mind stepping back and
withdrawing all judgment of this person, all evaluation of any kind. 

* Then imagine Christ looking through you at this person. As He looks, He
does not judge, He simply loves. He does not strain this person through your
filters of suspicion. His only concern is to give him or her a miracle. Try
to let Christ actually look through you, so that it's more than just your
imagination.

COMMENTARY

"The law of love," mentioned in the second sentence, has been referred to in
lessons 344, 345, and 346. We are likely to forget how Lesson 344 defines
it: "Today I learn the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift
to me." The law of love is the law that giving and receiving are the same,
that generosity and loving extension is a practical way of life because what
I give, I receive. Understanding what the law of love is, the words of this
lesson make perfect sense:

	So [by not judging, but giving a miracle of love
	instead] would I liberate all things I see, and
	give to them the freedom that I seek. For thus do
	I obey the law of love, and give what I would find
	and make my own.	(1:1-2)

Do I want others to refrain from judging me, forgive my mistakes, and offer
me miracles of love? Let me give what I seek; let me give what I want to
find for myself.

Each time I accept a gift of God, I have added to my repertoire of miracles
I can give (1:4-5). Each time I give that miracle to another, I have
solidified my learning that the miracle belongs to me (1:6). And thus I
remember God.

Let me not judge today, but offer miracles of love instead. Let me give what
I want to receive.

WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

Part 9: W-pII.13.5:1-3

In stark imagery, this section refers to our world as "a dry and dusty
world, where starved and thirsty creatures come to die" (5:1). The Course
says, more than once, that we came to this world in order to die; we sought
death by coming to a place where everything dies. For instance, "You came to
die, and what would you expect but to perceive the signs of death you seek?"
(T-29.VII.5:2). "It is not will for life but wish for death that is the
motivation for this world" (T-27.I.6:3). We came out of guilt, believing in
our own sin and seeking our own punishment. We came because somehow, in the
twisted logic of the ego, death is the ultimate proof of our success at
separating from God. We made this world as a place to die in, and then we
came to die in it.

But "miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven" on this parched
land we have made, and the miracles turn it into a paradise.

	Now they [the starved and thirsty creatures, which are
	ourselves] have water. Now the world is green.	(5:2-3) 

Miracles, then, transform the world of death we made into a place of life.
Chapter 26 of the Text, in Section IX ("For They Have Come") extends the
same images:

	The blood of hatred fades to let the grass grow green
	again, and let the flowers be all white and sparkling 
	in the summer sun What was a place of death has now
	become a living temple in a world of light. Because of
	Them. It is Their Presence which has lifted holiness 
	again to take its ancient place upon an ancient throne.
	Because of Them have miracles sprung up as grass and
	flowers on the barren ground that hate had scorched 
	and rendered desolate. What hate has wrought have They
	undone. And now you stand on ground so holy Heaven
	leans to join with it, and make it like itself. The
	shadow of an ancient hate has gone, and all the blight
	and withering have passed forever from the land where
	They have come.	(T-26.IX.3:1-8)

We open to miracles when we open to forgiveness and love, when we open to
God. "They" and "Them" in this Text section refer to the face of Christ (the
sight of our brothers' innocence) and the memory of God. When we allow
ourselves to see the face of Christ in our brothers, the memory of God
returns to us. When that happens, the "scorched and...desolate" ground of
this world becomes a garden, a reflection of Heaven.





From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Dec 15 05:43:15 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:43:15 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 350 - December 16
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAGZjTwbtjOBJnHT1xFp5HdUBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



LESSON 350 - DECEMBER 16

"Miracles mirror God's eternal Love. 
To offer them is to remember Him, 
And through His memory to save the world."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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

To offer a miracle is to remember God, and through offering miracles we
literally save the world. We reincorporate the Son of God as God created him
(1:2). The theme of miracles has run through these last ten lessons, and the
page of teaching that preceded them.

	A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor
	really change at all. It merely looks on devastation,
	and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It
	undoes error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception,
	nor exceed the function of forgiveness.	(W-pII.13.1:1-4)
	
In other words, a miracle and forgiveness are alike; both simply remind "the
mind that what it sees is false." To offer a miracle is to look beyond the
illusions and to see the truth. It is a refusal to share the littleness in
which others see themselves. I offer a miracle when I refuse to believe that
my brother is identified with and limited to his body and his ego. I refuse
to believe that anyone is defined by their behavior, and offer everyone the
opportunity to see themselves as more than they think they are, more
loveable and more loving than they think they are. That is a miracle, and
that also is forgiveness.

	What we forgive becomes a part of us, as we
	perceive ourselves. The Son of God incorporates
	all things within himself as You created him.
	(1:1-2)

That is an amazing statement! When we forgive something or someone, it or
she "becomes a part of us." It is almost as if by forgiving things and
people, we are regathering the fragmented parts of the Sonship back into our
Self. We are acknowledging that they are not separate, as they appear to be,
but actually part of our being. Each miracle we offer helps reconstitute the
Son of God.

In reality of course, the Son is eternally one; there is no need to
reconstitute what is already whole. What we are is not affected by our
thoughts. The reality of our being remains inviolate (1:4). But what we
"look upon," what we perceive, is the direct result of our thoughts (1:5).

	Therefore, my Father, I would turn to You.
	Only Your memory will set me free.	(1:6-7)

Today, Father, heal my thoughts. "Straighten my mind" (W-pII.347.1:2). I
want the memory of God to return to my mind, and "only my forgiveness
teaches me to let Your memory return to me, and give it to the world in
thankfulness" (1:8). To have the memory of God return, I must forgive. I
must offer miracles to everyone and everything.

As I remember God (through my forgiveness), "His Son will be restored to us
in the reality of Love" (2:2). There is the thought again that forgiveness
"restores" the Son, rejoining the separated fragments by an acknowledgment
of love and unity.

May we watch today for opportunities to offer miracles.

WHAT IS A MIRACLE?

Part 10: W-pII.13.5:4

As we open our lives to miracles, the world is transformed. 

	And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show
	that what is born can never die, for what has life
	has immortality.	(5:4) 

Miracles demonstrate immortality. Not immortality of the body, but
immortality of love, which is what we are ("Teach only love, for that is
what you are" [T-6.I.13:2]; "Only the eternal can be loved, for love does
not die" [T-10.V.9:1]). It is the immortality of thought, and the Course
also teaches that we are the eternal Thought of God, unchangeable. The
Course asserts boldly that there is no death, that life and immortality are
synonymous ("what has life has immortality"). By that logic, then, the body
must not have life, because it is not immortal, and so the Course teaches:
"It [the body] is not born and does not die" (T-28.VI.2:4). "The body
neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you who are life"
(T-6.V(A)1:4).

Miracles show us that we are not bodies, that mind is stronger than or
primary to the body: 

	If the mind can heal the body, but the body cannot
	heal the mind, then the mind must be stronger than
	the body. Every miracle demonstrates this.
	(T-6.V(A).2:6-7)

It shows us that what we are-mind, thought, idea, love-has life and is
immortal.





From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Dec 16 05:14:23 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 05:14:23 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 351 - December 17
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAEUfRD9BzkdNgkHm1fYwJdIBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



LESSON 351 - DECEMBER 17

"My sinless brother is my guide to peace. 
My sinful brother is my guide to pain. 
And which I choose to see I will behold."

Practice instructions 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion: Here is a longer, more specific form of today's idea.
Choose someone to focus on and then repeat:

	My sinless brother [name] is my guide to peace,
	He shows me that I am sinless,
	that my Comforter and Friend walks beside me,
	that I walk home along a way that is secure and clear.
	My sinful brother [name] is my guide to pain.
	He proclaims that I am a sinner,
	that I am alone and friendless,
	that I wander in danger in a fearful world.
	Which I choose to see determines my whole journey.
	Father, choose for me which I will see.

COMMENTARY

I once read an article by Jon Mundy in On Course magazine about Bill
Thetford (the man who transcribed the Course from Helen's Schucman's
shorthand notes). Bill once said that the entire Course could be summed up
in a single sentence: Are you willing to see your brother sinless? Jon
relates the following story:

	Judy Skutch Whitson tells an interesting story about 
	Bill. There was one occasion on which Judy experienced
	a monumental ego attack which was focused on her 
	friend, Dr. Gerry Jampolsky. In an effort to find some
	peace of mind she called Bill Thetford and proceeded to
	describe for him all of what she perceived to be Gerry's
	faults. Bill listened till Judy ran out of breath and then
	he said quietly, "You know, Judy, the Course can be summed
	up in just eight words. Are you willing to see your brother
	sinless?"
	
	"No!" Judy screamed. "Well, dear," he replied, "when
	you are, you will feel much better." And he hung up.

The perception of my brother as sinful is a choice I am making. It is not
based on fact. It is not caused by something in my brother; it is purely my
chosen perception. Choosing to see my brother as sinful will always lead to
inner pain. And truly, when we are willing to see our brother, or sister, as
sinless, we really will feel much better. The power of the question Bill
asked (and which the Course asks us all) lies in the fact that it reveals
the often hidden fact that we are choosing this perception, and that we are
not willing to let it go. Until we are, there is nothing the Holy Spirit can
do for us. He will not oppose our will. Love does not oppose. We can stay in
the pain of unforgiveness as long as we wish.

But when we are willing, when we have recognized that we are choosing how to
see our brother, when we have realized that we do not like how we feel when
we are choosing to see his sin, and we are willing, at least, to change that
perception, then we can pray: 

	Choose, then, for me, my Father, through Your Voice.
	For He alone gives judgment in Your Name.	(1:6-7)

WHAT AM I?

Part 1: W-pII.14.1:1-3

This section is one of the most powerful statements in the Course of its
vision of our true nature, of how it can be realized within this world of
time and space, and of the function that follows naturally from the fact of
what we are. The opening paragraph is an extremely potent declaration, in
the first person, of our real Identity. Often I find that reading something
like this aloud, by myself, helps me to focus on it and to feel what it is
saying. An interesting side effect is that making these statements firmly,
saying them as if I truly believed them (even if I do not yet), arouses
opposing thoughts in my mind. Noting those opposing thoughts and writing
them down can be a very useful exercise in uncovering the hidden beliefs of
the ego that have lodged in my mind, so that I can recognize their presence
and decide that I do not want them.

For instance, in the first sentence we read, "I am.complete and healed and
whole." I find opposing thoughts that arise, such as: "I am far from
complete; I have a long way to go." "I am fragmented, not whole." "I wish I
were healed but I'm not." These are lessons the ego has taught me, and they
are not true. I can recognize that these thoughts are blocking my acceptance
of the Course's message, and I can choose against them. For example, I might
say, "I feel incomplete and I believe in my incompleteness, but in reality I
am already complete. I want to know my own completion."

	I am God's Son&shining in the reflection of His
	Love.	(1:1)

The light in me is the reflection of God's Light and God's Love. I shine,
but my glory is a reflected glory, as the moon's light is completely
dependent on that of the sun. It is something that emanates from God and
radiates <through> me but not <from> me, and unless I acknowledge my
connection with my Creator, I mask that shining.

	In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal
	life.	(1:2)

This sounds like something that, in traditional Christianity, Jesus might
say, similar to "I am the way, the truth, and the life." And indeed, Jesus
might say this. But so can we! We are all what he was and is; that is what
he is telling us in this Course. Creation is "sanctified" (made holy) in me.
What I am, my very being, is what makes creation holy. I do not need to be
made holy or to become holy; I am the source (a reflected source, but still
a source) of holiness. And what I am guarantees eternal life for all
creation, because all creation is what I am. I am <God's Son>, the radiance
of His Love which has shined out and become me; that is also what all
creation is, the extension of His Love. The fact that I am God's Son, an
emanation of His Being, like a sunbeam to the sun, guarantees eternal life
because what God is, is eternal, and if I am simply an effect of God, Who is
eternal, then I, too, must be eternal, "forever and forever" His effect.

	In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy 
	established without opposite.	(1:3)

We find it very difficult to believe that perfect love is in us. "You have
so little faith in yourself because you are unwilling to accept the fact
that perfect love is in you" (T-15.VI.2:1). So it isn't really that
believing this is <difficult>; it is that we are unwilling to accept it! Our
ego identity depends on its not being true. If perfect love from God is in
us, then what we are derives from God and not from ourselves alone, which is
what the ego wants to believe. We would rather be fear than be love, because
we made fear. The truth is still the truth; perfect love is in us, whether
or not we believe it, whether or not we think we want it. What we believe
cannot change God's creation.

Fear is impossible in me. Now that generates a lot of negative feedback,
doesn't it? "If fear is impossible, then what the hell is this thing I am
feeling?" What is it? The Course would reply that what we feel is an
illusion, a nonexistent nothing, a figment of our imagination. What it is is
meaningless. What if, when I felt afraid, I told myself, "I think I am
feeling fear, but fear in me is impossible"? What if I realized that what I
think I am feeling <is not in me>, but in a delusional concept of myself I
have mistaken for myself?

"And joy established without opposite." That is my reality. I don't
experience it that way now, probably. Even when I do feel joy, there is
always an opposite lurking in the shadows. But that opposite, that fear,
that dark presence, is unreal. It is nothing to be afraid of and does not,
in reality, exist.





From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Dec 17 05:08:55 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:08:55 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 352 - December 18
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAABLxdbiyLQhAjfKoZ5YgrgsBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



LESSON 352 - DECEMBER 18

"Judgment and love are opposites. From one 
Come all the sorrows of the world. But from 
The other comes the peace of God Himself."

Practice instructions 

See complete 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

In the introduction to the Text, Jesus says, "The opposite of love is fear,
but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite" (T-In.1:8). Here, he says
that love's opposite is judgment. If you relax your mind and let your
thinking go loosely associative, it is fairly easy to see that judgment and
fear are the same thing. If I judge something as bad, dangerous, or evil, I
will fear it. If I fear something I will judge it as bad. In "The Two
Emotions" (T-13.V), it is clear that both love and fear are "a way of
seeing," and that "different worlds arise from their different sights"
(T-13.V.10:2). The same thought is expressed here about judgment and love.
And in the surrounding sections of Chapter 13 it is very clear that in
giving up the past, we are being asked to give up judgment. The same network
of thoughts is there that is found here.

I think in this lesson, the Holy Spirit is viewing two <attitudes> or two
<activities> rather than two <emotions>. It is the attitude I have towards
others that is in focus, and how I extend myself towards them. Do I love, or
do I judge? Rather than how the other person impacts on me, which is the
focus in the "Two Emotions" section, the focus here is on how I impact on
the other person. The difference is in the direction of the flow of energy;
here, the flow being considered is from me to the other person.

All the sorrows of the world come from judgment; no wonder the Course asks
us to relinquish it. To love is not to judge; to judge is not to love.
Loving brings us peace; judging only sorrow. How to find peace? Give love.

	Forgiveness looks on sinlessness alone, and judges
	not. Through this I come to You.	(1:1-2)

Forgiveness means not judging; how can you judge and forgive at the same
time? Forgiveness sees only sinlessness, because only sinlessness is what we
are (see W-pII.14.1:6). And through such forgiveness we approach God.

	Judgment will bind my eyes and make me blind. Yet love,
	reflected in forgiveness here, reminds me You have
	given me a way to find Your peace again.    (1:3-4)

The Course makes a point, several times, of what is implied here by the
phrase "love, reflected in forgiveness here." Love in purity is impossible
in this world. "No love in this world is without.ambivalence" (T-4.III.4:6).
The closest reflection of love in this world is forgiveness. So the contrast
here is really between judgment and forgiveness. By choosing to forgive my
brothers rather than to judge them, I find my own peace again, the peace of
God.

Peace is lost to us through judgment; it blindfolds us to the truth. Love,
which is perfect only in Heaven, is still reflected perfectly here in
forgiveness. There is a way to find our way out of blindness, and the way is
forgiveness. It is affirming the unreality of our perception of sin in
anyone and everyone.

	I am redeemed when I elect to follow in this way. You
	have not left me comfortless. I have within both the
	memory of You, and One Who leads me to it.	(1:5-7)

We were lost, "sold" into slavery by our own hand. But God did not abandon
us. He gave us two things. It's interesting to notice the distinction here.
He gave us 1) the memory of God in our minds, and 2) the Holy Spirit Who
leads us to discover that memory. Many times I've heard people say that the
Holy Spirit is the memory of God within us; that isn't how it appears here.
The memory of God is something that is truly my own, part of me; my own
right mind remembers God. The Holy Spirit is the Guide Who leads me back to
rediscover the hidden treasure within my Self.

	Father, I would hear Your Voice and find Your peace
	today. For I would love my own Identity, and find in
	It the memory of You.	(1:8-9)

The memory of God lies in my own Identity. In remembering my Self I remember
God. Let His Voice lead me to that remembrance as I sit, quietly, with Him
today. I have very powerful help. And where that help leads me is to the
point of loving my own Identity. I cannot love what I am unless I love-in
the form of forgiveness-everyone else. That is so because what I am is
identical to what everyone is; we are all the Son of God, the Christ. If I
judge others I am judging myself, because I am what they are.

WHAT AM I?

Part 2: W-pII.14.1:4-6

	I am the holy Home of God Himself.	(1:4)

Wow! That makes more of an impact on us, put that way, than simply saying,
"God is in me." I am God's Home. Home is not just some place God happens to
be; it is where He resides, where He chooses to be, where He can make
Himself comfortable, so to speak. In Psalm 132:14, God is said to have
proclaimed about Zion, or Jerusalem, "This [is] my rest for ever: here will
I dwell; for I have desired it." Now, <we> are His home. Now, He speaks to
you, and to me, saying that we are His rest forever, that He will dwell in
us because He has desired it. That was His intention all along when He
created us.

	I am the Heaven where His Love resides.	(1:5) 

We may have naively believed that God lives in Heaven and not in us. Here,
we see that, yes, God lives or resides in Heaven, but <we are Heaven>. What
a mind-blower that is! I'll bet you have thought, for most of your life,
that if you were good enough, or if you were holy enough, or if you had
enough faith, you'd get to go to Heaven. Sorry, no go. You can't <go> to
Heaven because you <are> Heaven, where God's Love resides.

	I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity
	abides His own.	(1:6) 

Did you notice that all three of these sentences use words about God's place
of residence? "...the holy Home...where His Love resides.in my purity abides
His own." God isn't just passing through! He isn't just visiting. He <lives>
here, in me, in you; this is His home. He <abides> [stays, remains] here, in
us.

I have to confess that I can't quite yet wrap my mind around the idea that I
<am> God's holy Sinlessness. "Sinlessness" seems like a rather abstract
concept; I have a little trouble understanding how I can <be>. sinlessness.
The second half of the sentence helps me out a little: "for in my purity
abides His own." 

I can sort of grasp it by an analogy. A parent who gives his or her time and
energy to raising a child, teaching it all they know, finds their own
success and happiness in that child's success and happiness. "My child's
happiness is my own. My child's success is my own." I think it is similar to
that. God extended Himself as us. What we are is His extension. Our purity
<is> His; if we are not sinless, no more is He. We are what He is, extended
outward. If I am not pure, He is not, for our nature is His. If we are what
He is, then it is true in reverse; He is what we are. Therefore, "I am His
holy Sinlessness Itself."





From sue at circleofa.org  Thu Dec 18 06:04:24 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:04:24 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 353 - December 19
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAAvusE1UcetGq1tiVE76HigBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 353 - December 19

"My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today 
Have but one purpose; to be given Christ 
To use to bless the world with miracles."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion: I enjoy going through the body parts listed in the
lesson one at a time, and then adding on some other things at the end:

	I give my <eyes> to Christ today, to use to bless the world with
miracles.
	I give my <tongue> to Christ today, to use to bless the world with
miracles.
	I give my <hands> to Christ today, to use to bless the world with
miracles.
	I give my <feet> to Christ today, to use to bless the world with
miracles.
	I give my <time> to Christ today, to use to bless the world with
miracles.
	I give my <money> to Christ today, to use to bless the world with
miracles.
	I give my <car> to Christ today, to use to bless the world with
miracles.

COMMENTARY

These last ten lessons (not counting the final one) represent the state of
mind to which the Course seeks to bring us. In this lesson we see the final
outworking of the Course?s thoughts about the body. Not that the body
becomes ignored, despised, or neglected, but rather that its every part be
used to bless the world with miracles. The body is not attacked or
belittled; rather, it is given a new purpose, shared with Christ.

	Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use
	in any way that best will serve the purpose that I share
	with Him. Nothing is mine alone, for He and I have 
	joined in purpose.	(1:1-2)

In Heaven our function is creation, something that apparently we can?t quite
fully understand until our mind awakens to Heaven, but here our function is
the pure reflection of creation: the giving of miracles, the extension of
forgiveness. We might say our function here is recognizing creation, since
to forgive is to acknowledge our brother as God created him, and not as we
have made him through the projection of our own guilt.

Let me, then, with all the determination I can muster, this day join myself
with Christ?s purpose. Let me give my hands, my eyes, my tongue, my feet to
Him. Why not silently pray and, very specifically, do exactly that? "Father,
I give my hands to Christ today to be used only for the purpose I share with
Him: to bless the world with miracles." Then repeating the same thing for
other parts of my body. Remember this thought through the day and renew your
gift to Christ, calling your mind back to its true purpose every time you
can remember.

	Thus has learning come almost to its appointed end. A
	while I work with Him to serve His purpose. Then I lose
	myself in my Identity, and recognize that Christ is but
	my Self.	(1:3-5)

When we have reached the point where we truly have given everything we have
to Him to be used for His purpose, we have almost completed the curriculum.
All that is left is to stay a little while longer, serving His purpose,
sharing the light with minds that still are clouded. This is almost
descriptive of an avatar, an enlightened master who is on earth only to
serve those not so far along.

When that time of service is over, I will "lose myself in my Identity, and
recognize that Christ is but my Self." The ego self will dissolve and
disappear; the individual will cease as a separate thing--which it never was
in reality--and expand into the One Self of Christ. Nothing will be lost in
this process except our separateness.

My heart, do not despair if this seems far beyond you now. It is much nearer
than you dare believe. You are much more than you think you are. Simply, in
gladness, give yourself to this purpose. The Holy Spirit will provide the
means. Be willing simply to move in this direction, and do not judge how
near or far you are, how easy or how difficult you think the way. Simply be
willing for it to be. Be not anxious or restless if it seems to elude you;
restlessness is only a delaying tactic. Rest, my heart. Trust. Angels watch
with you, awaiting the birth of the Christ in you. Have no fear. Rejoice!

What Am I?

W-pII.14.2:1-3

Our use for words is almost over now.	(2:1)

Throughout the Workbook, words have been used to instruct and inspire us,
and we have used the words given to us in our practicing. When we are truly
ready to "graduate" from the Workbook and its level of training, we will be
ready to leave specific words behind. We will be ready to spend our days in
constant communication with the Holy Spirit, with no need for any special
saying to act as a trigger, to entrain our minds along the lines of the
Course, because, at that point, our minds will be fully trained. We will
habitually practice holy instants and spend time often each day renewing our
minds in God?s Presence.

Few, if any, of us are truly at that point. I know, regretfully, that I am
not. I have not followed the training program given to us faithfully, and so
I still need more training, in which the use of words is still essential. I
still need the crutch of words; or a better analogy than "crutch"--training
wheels. I will be repeating the Workbook again next year.** Not with
reluctance or with a sense of defeat, oh no! I have made a great deal of
progress in this last year, I think. The lessons stick with me during the
day much more than ever before, and my mind does remember to apply them in
response to "temptation." Not always, but more frequently.

	Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God
	together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we
	shared.	(2:2) 

Surely this is one of the goals of the Workbook, that we would come to
realize that we share a common purpose with Jesus; we are saviors (see
paragraph 3). We have begun to remember, not only our own guiltlessness, but
our purpose, what we were created for: to extend love to others, as God
created us by extending His Love.

	And this, our gift, is therefore given us.	(2:3) 

<Because> we have learned that we are here to give blessing to the world,
blessing is given to us. Because we have learned to forgive, we receive our
own forgiveness. This is the law of love. This is the way love works.

When the training goal of the Workbook is fully achieved in us, we have not
only found our own individual salvation, we have found that our salvation
lies in bringing release to others. We are saved by saving others, forgiven
by forgiving others, healed by healing others. "I will be healed as I let
Him teach me to heal" (T-2.V(A).18:6).

** This refers to 1996, since the commentary was written in 1995.




From sue at circleofa.org  Fri Dec 19 06:23:06 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:23:06 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 354 - December 20
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAJCVZnRjaLFHngnL18phd2ABAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



LESSON 354 - DECEMBER 20

"We stand together, Christ and I, in peace 
And certainty of purpose. And in Him 
Is His Creator, as He is in me."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion: I have found it helpful to make this lesson more
specific:

	 "In this situation, we stand together, Christ and I..." 
	
	I have also found it helpful to reword it:
	
	 "I take my stand with Christ today, united with Him in purpose. 
	And God is in both of us."

COMMENTARY

This lesson expresses the awareness of my identity with Christ. The Creator
is in Christ and also in me; God is in me as He is in Christ. Identical. "I
have no self except the Christ in me" (1:2). This awareness of identity is
where the Course is leading us. All our study of the Text, our practice of
the Workbook, and our application of forgiveness in all our relationships is
bringing us to this final awareness: "I have no self except the Christ in
me." "And what am I except the Christ in me?" (1:7).

As we arrive at these final lessons, we may feel as though somewhere along
the line the Course has passed us by. Somewhere we missed the boat, or more
likely, got off the boat and stayed behind. I know that I have often felt
that way; I also know that, if I continue to practice what the Course has
taught me, that will not always be true. One day the realization that I have
no self except the Christ in me will resonate in my mind without any
resistance or doubt.

I believe deeply that these words I've just quoted are true, yet I am aware
there is a part of my mind that, as yet, does not believe them. My
experience has not caught up to my understanding. My mind still believes
that I am not identical to the Christ, and so my experience follows my
belief, and I experience myself, or at the very least parts of myself, that
seem to be other than this perfect Self, Who is wholly like His Father.

Does this mean the Course has failed, or that I have failed the Course? No,
I don't think so. In the epilogue, which follows Lesson 365, Jesus speaks of
how the Holy Spirit will be our "Guide through every difficulty and all pain
that you may think is real" (W-Ep.4:1). So he expects that everyone, having
finished the Workbook, will still experience difficulties, and, sometimes,
still mistakenly think that pain is real. He says there, "Whatever troubles
you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if
you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him" (W-Ep.1:5). Even after all this,
we will still experience troubles. "This course is a beginning, not an end"
(W-Ep.1:1). The Text and Workbook are meant not to bring us to the end of
our journey, but to train us in the proper way to travel, to develop proper
habits of spiritual practice. They introduce us to our Teacher and instill
the habit of listening to Him. That is all, and that is enough.

And yet these latter lessons put words in our mouths and have us speak as if
we have already arrived. Think of them as foretastes of what your mind will
be like when you have finished your journey. Immerse your mind in them and
let them soak in, transforming you as they do. Whatever you may feel like
today, whatever you may think about yourself, these words are still the
truth.

Who we are is beyond the reach of time and free of every law but God's
(1:1). We have no purpose but Christ's purpose (1:3). We are one with God,
just as Jesus was and is (1:5). And all our learning is designed to help us
unlearn everything that tells us anything different.

WHAT AM I?

Part 4: W-pII.14.2:4-5

	The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor 
	describe.	(2:4) 

Words can only take us so far. They can bring us to the door of Heaven, but
cannot bring us in. All the words of the Course itself, as wondrous as they
are, can do no more than that. That is not a deficiency in the Course, nor a
deficiency in words as such. Words are merely symbols. They can do no more
than symbols can do, and that is quite a lot, and all that is necessary. The
truth of what we are will, itself, do the rest.

That truth, and the complete knowing of it, is beyond the reach of words,
and therefore, beyond our reach within this world, which is a world of
symbols and not of realities. Still, there is no reason for despair at that.
What we are cannot be here, any more than a "real," physical person can
exist within a dream, any more than a three-dimensional figure could enter a
two-dimensional world. (Another example: An actual cube, with three
dimensions, cannot exist on a sheet of paper; the best that can be done is a
perspective drawing that <suggests> three dimensions.)

	Yet we can realize our function here, and words can
	speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the
	words in us.	(2:5) 

Even though we cannot fully <know> the truth of what we are, here in this
world, we can express it; we can, as it were, create a perspective drawing
that suggests that truth. How? By fulfilling the function God has given us,
the function which the Course has repeatedly stated in various ways:
forgiveness; to be happy; extension; to fulfill the Will of God; giving of
ourselves; filling our part in God's plan; adding to God's treasure by
creating our own; giving and receiving healing; using the Atonement. This is
something words <can> speak of, and words can also <teach> forgiveness, if
(at the same time) "we exemplify the words in us." If the words we speak run
through our very beings like watermarks through a banknote, the words can
convey what forgiveness is. If our lives are examples of what we are talking
about, our words have power. In other words, if we fulfill our function of
forgiveness, we can teach forgiveness. And that is our "perspective drawing"
of the truth of our being. That is the reflection, in this world, of the
Love that we are.

Consider the Course as an example of the very thing it is telling us here.
Why are its words so powerful? I think that the reason is that they are
spoken by one who exemplifies the words he speaks. Even in the way Jesus
(the author) speaks to us, and deals with our flaws, our stubbornness and
thick-headedness, our doubts and our vacillation, we can sense the reality
behind the words he is giving us. Never once does he seem to become
impatient with us. Never once does he belittle us or verbally snort in
disgust at our stupidity. When he speaks of forgiveness, there is a spirit
of forgiveness that runs through the very words themselves and conveys
itself to us. When he tells us to look on everyone as our equal, we get the
sense that <he> is looking on <us> as his equal. When he says we can see
everyone without seeing any sin, we can tell that this is how <he> sees
<us>.

That is where he is leading us, each and every one of us. It is what the
Manual for Teachers, in the section on the characteristics of God's
teachers, calls <honesty>.

	Honesty does not apply only to what you say. The term
	actually means consistency. There is nothing you say that
	contradicts what you think or do; no thought opposes any
	other thought; no act belies your word; and no word lacks
	agreement with another.	(M-4.II.1:4-6)

Only in fulfilling our function, only in making ourselves into an
incarnation of the Course, can we come to realize and recognize its message
for ourselves. Only in giving it to others, in word and in deed, can we come
to receive it fully for ourselves.





From sue at circleofa.org  Sat Dec 20 08:02:14 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:02:14 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 355 - December 21
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAANGzwKg2/IhChPa8ycv47SABAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



LESSON 355 - DECEMBER 21

"There is no end to all the peace and joy, 
And all the miracles that I will give, 
When I accept God's Word. Why not today?"

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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

"God's Word," to me, is speaking here of what Jesus, in the Course, is
telling me about my own Identity. It is the truth about what I am. 

	It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You. 
	Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father
	and Creator, and his Love.	(1:7-8)

A Christian lecturer who inspired me years ago, Major Ian Thomas, used to
say that man's purpose, my purpose as an individual, is to be "the human
vehicle of the divine content." That is what I am here for. Christ wants to
be Himself in me, in the form of me. I have no other reason for being here,
although the ego thinks I am here to forget God.

The Course teaches that the ego made the world and the body as an attack
against God. It wants to use the world to forget God. The Holy Spirit wants
to use it as a vehicle to remember God. There is no real purpose to anything
except one of those two.


I am here, today as always, to reflect God's Love. I am here to see
innocence. I am here to "look on everyone as brother, and perceive all
things as kindly and as good." (W-pII.14.3:4). I am here to bless my
brothers and to ask them to share my peace and joy.

"Why not today?" Why should I wait? These are the questions the lesson asks.

	I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but
	reach out my hand to find it. Even now my fingers
	touch it. It is very close. I need not wait an
	instant more to be at peace forever.	(1:3-6)

There is no answer to why we wait, because there are no reasons to wait. Nor
has there ever been a reason. All there is to do in response is to let the
constriction in our hearts unknot, to quell the resistance to the flow of
love, and to open our hearts fully to every living thing. To let ourselves
be love; to let love be us. To desist from the belief that we are anything
else but love.

The resistance that feels so great, like a stone wall, is nothing more than
a cloud, unable to stop a feather. Only my belief in its impenetrability
makes it a barrier, like an elephant staked to a tiny peg in the ground,
believing it cannot move because it has been trained to think it is chained
to a tree. We think we are without love; we believe we are unloving. We
think the ego stands like a granite battlement between us and God, keeping
Him out.

The ego is a cloud. It could not stop a ping-pong ball. It is totally
without strength to resist the Love of God, and it cannot and will not
resist. God's Love stands at the end of time, having already won. Oh, my
heart! Open to that Love today! Receive it; give it. Receive it by giving
it, and give it by receiving it. See it everywhere for it is everywhere, in
everyone.

WHAT AM I?

Part 5: W-pII.14.3:1-4

What is "our function," spoken of at the end of paragraph 2? "We are the
bringers of salvation" (3:1). Have I really considered that this is my
function? Have I begun to realize that, each day as I live my life, this is
what I am really living for-to bring salvation to the world? We are not
talking here about rescuing people; we are talking about seeing them as God
created them, and seeing them that way so clearly and so strongly that our
vision of them begins to open their eyes to the same thing. We are talking
about holding such an unambiguous picture of their innocence that they can
see their own innocence reflected from us.

	We accept our part as saviors of the world, which
	through our joint forgiveness is redeemed.	(3:2)

We save the world by forgiving it. And we exercise this forgiveness as joint
forgiveness, along with Jesus. We join with him in lifting guilt and blame
from each person we interact with. This is how the world is "redeemed,"
bought back from its slavery to guilt and fear.

	And this, our gift, is therefore given us.	(3:3)

Once again the oft-repeated theme: We receive forgiveness as we give it.

	We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things
	as kindly and as good.	(1:4) 

This is the vision of a savior. This is how a savior sees things. To see
everyone as brother is to see them as our equal, sharing in the
guiltlessness of God's creation. To see all things as kindly is to realize
that even what appears to be attack does not make the "attacker" unkind;
behind the fear that drives the apparent attack is still a kind and gentle
heart. Some of us, perhaps, have begun to realize this about ourselves and
about others. We acknowledge that we have made mistakes, and that we have
acted unlovingly, and yet we know that underneath that mask of anger and
selfishness our hearts are kind. We do not want to hurt but we feel driven
to it by circumstance; it seems the only way we can survive. That is the
ego's lie to us, that attack is necessary for survival. The Course asks us:

	Do you not think the world needs peace as much as
	you do? Do you not want to give it to the world as
	much as you want to receive it? For unless you do,
	you will not receive it. If you want to have it of
	me, you must give it. Healing does not come from
	anyone else.	(T-8.IV.4:1-5)

	There is no living thing that does not share the
	universal Will that it be whole.	(T-31.I.9:1)

Our path to salvation lies in coming to realize that all living things share
the universal Will to be whole, that everyone wants peace just as we do, and
that, beneath all the masks we wear so faithfully, what we are, all of us,
is love.





From sue at circleofa.org  Sun Dec 21 11:14:26 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 11:14:26 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 356 - December 22
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAI2R4mBKqdpJsM8i0dXM6AcBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



LESSON 356 - DECEMBER 22

"Sickness is but another name for sin. 
Healing is but another name for God. 
The miracle is thus a call to Him."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion: I have found it helpful to reword the final line.
Instead of "The miracle is thus a call to Him," I say, "To heal is thus to
speak His Name."

COMMENTARY

It seems to me the Course is always equating things you don't expect to be
equated, like it does here: Sickness is another name for sin; healing is
another name for God. And toward the end of the lesson, "To call Your Name
is but to call his own" (1:6), that is, the Son's own name, or my own name.
The Course suggests that when we find God we will have found our Self, and
when we find our Self, we will have found God; we and God share the same
Name. It seems to be constantly saying that things we believe are quite
different are in reality the same. Its advice for a new year is "Make this
year different by making it all the same" (T-15.XI.10:11). The Course is
constantly boiling everything down to just one problem, the separation, and
one solution, the Atonement. And it tells us that complexity is of the ego;
therefore, simplicity is of God.

How are sickness and sin the same thing? First, dispense with what this does
<not> mean: that being sick is a sin. Anyone who has gone through the entire
Workbook and studied the Text cannot possibly hold that mistaken
understanding; that is most definitely not the meaning here. There is no
such thing as sin; we only imagine there is. This lesson is most
emphatically not saying that if you are sick it is because you are a sinful
person, or that being sick makes you a sinner. Being sick is nothing to be
guilty about! If you are sick, and anyone even suggests to you that "you
must be doing something wrong because spiritual people don't get sick," stop
listening to that person. The thoughts of our minds do indeed cause
sickness. "All sickness is mental illness" (P-2.IV.8:1), according to the
Psychotherapy supplement. But mistaken thoughts are not "sin"; they are
simply mistaken.

When the lesson says that sickness is another name for sin, it means that
the sickness of the body is a reflection or manifestation of the mind's
belief in the reality of sin. Sickness, says the Course, can be a kind of
self-punishment, in which we attack ourselves because of our guilt, hoping
thereby to avert the punishment of God we are expecting. "Sickness is anger
taken out upon the body, so that it will suffer pain" (T-28.VI.5:1).

I believe that when the Course uses the word sickness it is usually
referring to the thought of sickness and not to the physical symptoms.
("Sickness is of the mind, and has nothing to do with the body"
[M-5.II.3:2].) A crippled limb, for instance, can be used by the ego to
further thoughts of inadequacy, guilt, and separation, or it can be used by
the Holy Spirit to break a person's identification with the body and to turn
them to God. It is the thought, and only the thought, which is important.

Sickness is "a defense against the truth" (W-pI.136.Heading). We have to
remember that in the thought system of the Course everything, including
sickness, is a choice we have made, and that choices must have some purpose
behind them. The important thing is not the physical symptom. The important
thing is the choice, and the purpose behind it.

When we choose to be sick, at some level we are choosing to identify
ourselves as a body rather than a spirit or mind. The "truth" we are
defending against is that we are a spirit or mind. We are defending against
the realization that we are one with God and with everyone else, in God.
"The strange, haunting thought that [we] might be something beyond this
little pile of dust [is] silenced and stilled" (W-pI.136.8:4) when we are
sick. Sickness makes the body seem very real, the only real thing. It seeks
to let the illusion of the bodily identity take the place of the truth of
our mind, our spiritual identity.

How is that like sin? According to the Workbook, sin "is the means by which
the mind.seeks to let illusions take the place of truth" (W-pII.4.1:2). That
is exactly what sickness does! When I see "sin" in myself or in a brother,
it proves the "sinner" is evil, and therefore separate from God. When I see
"sickness" in myself or in another, it proves the body is real and therefore
separate from God.

Sin and sickness are the same in that both are means that the mind uses to
try to prove that the separation is real. They are not the same in form, but
they are identical in purpose. They are both the ego's attempt to prove that
I am what I am not. It is the thought of separation which the Course aims to
heal, not the physical symptom of sickness, and not the specific behavior of
a person. The Course is concerned with the cause and not the effect.

I do believe that if the mind is healed-if the person is healed on the level
of thought (which is the level of cause)-it will often result in changes in
the form of the person's life. Behavior will often change when thoughts
change; physical health will often improve when thoughts change. The change
on the level of the body, however, is never the concern of the Course. The
body is insignificant (M-5.II.3:12), which means it is without meaning. If
the body is insignificant, it means that the body signifies nothing. If our
thoughts align with God's Thought, the body will serve the purpose of the
Holy Spirit whatever its form. Even if the body dies. The Course is
concerned only with healing the mind because the body does not matter.

"Healing is but another name for God." To heal the mind, therefore, means to
recognize the identity of my mind and God's mind. To be healed is to
recognize that I share God's nature. When the Course talks of healing, it is
not talking about getting over the flu! It is talking about letting go of my
identification with this body that appears to be suffering chills and fever,
recognizing that the body is not my Self, but that I am the eternal Son of
God. It is speaking, as always, of a change of mind. When the identity of
myself and my body is broken, I will know that what happens to the body does
not affect who I really am; therefore, what happens to the body does not
matter to me. It may get well and it may not; if I am no longer identified
with it, I don't care which it is.

Sin and sickness are the same thing in the sense that both are
manifestations of our belief in separation and our resulting (but mistaken)
guilt. They are both healed through the miracle of forgiveness. Healing is a
return to wholeness, a return to our true Self, and since our Self is one
with God, all healing is a return to God. To offer a miracle of forgiveness
or healing is "thus a call to Him." 

Another way of putting this is that all healing leads to God in the end,
even if we are not thinking of or believing in God as we experience it. If
it is healing, it is of God. The Psychotherapy supplement says, "The patient
need not think of truth as God in order to make progress in salvation"
(P-1.5:1). If there is healing, and if there is forgiveness instead of
condemnation, God is there, even if He is not named or acknowledged.
Everyone who learns to forgive will remember God.

	It does not matter where he is, what seems to be his
	problem, nor what he believes he has become.	(1:2) 

God answers when we call, even when we don't realize we are calling Him. He
answers even when we think we do not deserve an answer. I believe there are
hundreds of times we have called on God, and He has answered, and we never
made the connection. We failed to recognize Him even as we received His
help. Our very pain and fear, the Course says, is a call for help. Do you
imagine that if the Holy Spirit recognizes all calls for help as what they
are, that He does not answer every one of them?

	He is Your Son, and You will answer him.	(1:3)

He answers us with His Name, which is a shorthand way of saying His Being or
His Nature. We are answered by what God is, because what He is is what we as
His Son are. God is without sin, and so are we; without sin we cannot be
sick, because sickness comes from belief in sin. When I realize my total
innocence I "cannot suffer pain" (1:5). God's Name is what speaks to me of
that innocence and tells me it must be so. How could God's offspring be
unholy?

Let me learn, then, to call on God (whether I use that word or not). Let me
open my heart to innocence, gentleness, and mercy. Let me make healing my
aim, for myself and for others. In every encounter today let me remember: I
am here to heal; I am here to offer miracles; I am here to release from
guilt.

WHAT AM I?

Part 6: W-pII.14.3:5-7

Our function, then, is to bring salvation to the world. "We do not seek a
function that is past the gate of Heaven" (3:5). In other words, we do not
disdain this "lowly" calling of bringing healing to this world of form; we
do not try to claim that we are fulfilling our function of creating (which
is our function in Heaven), and cannot be bothered with the base forms
within the illusion. Doing that is what one of my old Christian teachers
used to call "being too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use."

	Knowledge will return when we have done our part.	(3:6)

"Knowledge" refers to the perfection of Heaven, to direct knowing of the
truth, rather than the lower avenue of perception of forms. "Our part" is to
purify our perception of forms. Our part is to work within the illusion, to
turn the nightmare into a happy dream; only when we have done this will
knowledge return.

	We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth.
	(3:7) 

We are not trying to directly apprehend the truth. We are not focused on
having mystical experiences of God, on bypassing the world of form and
leaving it behind, although, to be sure, we do seek to enter the holy
instant frequently to renew our vision of Heaven. Our primary concern,
however, is on "giving welcome to the truth"; that is, preparing ourselves
for it, making things ready for it, educating ourselves to accept it. And
that is something that goes on within this world, within this illusion we
call physical life. Here, the many holy instants we experience (and which we
desire to experience above all things) lead to a result: the Holy Spirit
sends us out in "busy doing" here within the world, carrying with us the
quiet center we have found in the holy instant, and sharing it with the
world (see T-18.VII.8:1-5).







From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Dec 22 06:06:38 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 06:06:38 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 358 - December 24
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAPkQxV/yQjhLtPdJP9Tw2ckBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




LESSON 358 - DECEMBER 24

"No call to God can be unheard nor left 
Unanswered. And of this I can be sure; 
His answer is the one I really want."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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.

Practice suggestion: I have had difficulty relating to the wording of
today's lesson, so I have used this rewording:

God loves me so much that He always hears
And always answers
And gives me the answer I really want.

COMMENTARY

The ego is constantly working to convince us that we want many different
things, things that often compete with one another. We have listened to our
egos for so long that we are quite confused about what we want. An early
Workbook lesson tells us, "I do not perceive my own best interests"
(W-pI.24.Heading).

Since I am so confused about what I really want, it is far better to leave
that choice in the hands of the Voice for God. 

	You Who remember what I really am alone
	remember what I really want.	(1:1)

I need to remind myself of this fairly often-usually any time I get caught
up in thinking that I want something very much. "I want that new computer."
"I want a loving, intimate, and committed sexual relationship." "I want a
better job." I need to remind myself, "Wait a minute, Allen. Remember! You
don't clearly remember who you really are, so how can you know what you
really want?"

Part of the learning the Course is taking us through is learning to listen
to the Holy Spirit. And part of that lesson is realizing that He speaks <for
us>, and not just for God. I may think that what I want conflicts with what
He seems to be wanting for me, and I need to realize that what He wants for
me is what I really want, even if my ego is telling me differently. 

	Your Voice, my Father, then is mine as well, and all I
	want is what You offer me, in just the form You choose
	that it be mine.	(1:4)

So often I am inclined to think that I want what God wants to give, but then
I dictate the form in which that must come to me. I hear that God's Will for
me is perfect happiness, and then I decide the form that happiness must
take. I need to take it a step further, as this lesson does: I want what God
wants, and whether I can see it or not at the moment, I want it in just the
form He chooses to give it, and not the form I think it must take.

I am reminded of many times, as a parent, when I tried to convince one of my
sons that he didn't really want what he thought he wanted. Perhaps he was
saying, "I want the red gumball!" And I would say, "No, Ben, the red one
isn't sweet; it's hot cinnamon and you won't like it." And he would say, "I
want the red one!!" We do exactly the same sort of thing with God, far more
often than we care to admit.

	Let me remember all I do not know, and let my voice be
	still, remembering.	(1:5) 

Let me realize, when I think I know what I want, that I don't really know.
And let me simply shut up and stop throwing a tantrum; let me be quiet, and
listen to my Father's Voice. He speaks for me as well as for God; He knows
what I really want, and wisdom is taking His advice. He loves us; He cares
for us; He has promised always to be with us. Let me trust Him even when I
don't understand, knowing that (Oh! It seems awful sometimes to say these
words; so belittling!) Father knows best.

	Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all.
(1:7)

The little, individual ego "I" is nothing; Who I really am is everything.
The Holy Spirit always speaks from the perspective of that larger Self. He
does not seek to benefit and coddle the little "I." He is always working
with us to bring us to full awareness of Self. At times what He gives may go
contrary to the little "I," while leading us on to full realization of the
Self. That is why our picture of what we want is so often distorted, and
what He wants for us seems at times to be something we do not want. We are
confused about who we are. He is not. So let us trust His wisdom, be still,
and know that He is God.

WHAT AM I?

Part 8: W-pII.14.4:4

	And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all
	our brothers, asking them to share our peace and 
	consummate our joy.

We attain oneness gradually. In reality we don't strictly "attain" oneness;
we remember it, we become aware of what has always been. But, in time, it
<seems> as though we attain it bit by bit. We begin with very brief holy
instants, flashes of remembrance, like a forgotten dream we are struggling
to recall. Those moments of memory come more and more frequently, more and
more clearly, and last longer and longer, until one day we remember fully
and forever. Each instant we are in that oneness, we recognize that we are
not there alone, and cannot be there alone. We experience peace and joy, and
yet our joy cannot be <consummated> until everyone shares it with us, and
wakes up to the reality of who and what they are. So we call to them, we
reach out to them.

The state of mind we are seeking, which we might call the enlightened state
of mind, is one which perceives its connection to all of God's creations,
and is moved irresistibly to re-establish the full communication of that
perfect oneness in all its parts. As the "bodhisattva" of Buddhist tradition
foregoes Nirvana to save others, being unwilling to pass into that state of
perfect bliss until "every blade of grass is enlightened," so the
right-minded continually call out to all their brothers, asking them to
share their peace. Jesus exemplifies this attitude as he speaks in the
"Circle of Atonement" section in the Text:

	I stand within the circle, calling you to peace. Teach
	peace with me, and stand with me on holy ground. Remember
	for everyone your Father's power that He has given him. 
	Believe not that you cannot teach His perfect peace. Stand
	not outside, but join with me within. Fail not the only
	purpose to which my teaching calls you. Restore to God 
	His Son as He created him, by teaching him his innocence.
	(T-14.V.9:4-10) 

	Stand quietly within this circle, and attract all tortured
	minds to join with you in the safety of its peace and
	holiness.	(T-14.V.8:6)






From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Dec 22 20:10:51 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:10:51 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 357 - December 23
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAIMvzVlD5UhAk1reviWx93gBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



LESSON 357 - DECEMBER 23

"Truth answers every call we make to God, 
Responding first with miracles, and then 
Returning unto us to be itself."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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

An idea is conveyed here, one that is a running theme through the Course,
that we find our way to God through others; we see Christ first in our
brothers, and then in ourselves (1:2). When we call to God, truth always
responds. The first response is "miracles," which we offer to others through
our forgiveness. Then, truth returns to us "to be itself."

	Your holy Son is pointed out to me, first in my brother;
	then in me.	(1:2)

This is the way of A Course in Miracles. "As I look upon Your Son today,"
that is, as I see the Christ in those around me, "I hear Your Voice
instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall
be" (1:4). We hear the Voice that directs us to God as we look on Christ in
others. Another way of stating this theme is that we see the face of Christ,
and then remember God.

The two stages of the answer are 1) miracles, and 2) the apprehension of
truth as itself.

Miracles, in the form of forgiveness offered to my brothers, are only a
symbol of the truth. Forgiveness is only "truth's reflection" (1:1). In the
miracle I see the Son of God, first in my brother and then in myself.

As miracles accumulate and our mind is trained, truth itself begins to dawn,
which is the realization of our Identity with God. That isn't our worry,
says the Course. We don't need to work to make that happen. Concentrate on
the first step, and the second will come of itself. It is God's gift to us.

Many spiritual paths, I think, make a mistake in focusing on God-realization
directly. The effort may eventually work because the purpose is right, but
it takes a long time, and enormous effort (see T-18.VII.4:9-11). The effort
to do what is not doable, to make happen what has already happened, to find
what we have never lost, can become a struggle of endless frustration, a
perfect vehicle for the continuation of the ego. This kind of spiritual
seeking results in the type of person who is "too heavenly minded to be of
any earthly use." Here we find the Pharisee who passes by the injured
traveler because he does not want to be tainted. The religious bigot. The
self-righteous fundamentalist. His prayers are so important that he ignores
his family and its needs.

The Course is saying that the path to heaven is "through forgiveness here"
(W-pII.256.1:1). Don't get lost in the search for an abstract experience of
union with God. Rather, practice forgiveness. Pay attention to the
practical. Concentrate on union with your brother, and union with God will
be given you. Work with the material given you, the relationships that are
at hand. Don't try to run away in some spiritual retreat; it will fail. You
will be attempting to grasp at something you are not capable of grasping
now. You can't skip over this process. The way to God is through your
brother; he is your savior. There is no other way.

The path of the Course is anything but narcissistic or solitary. It teaches
us clearly that we cannot find God alone, or in ourselves alone; and we
cannot find God anywhere unless we find Him everywhere. "He is approached
through the appreciation of His Son" (T-11.IV.7:2). By learning to see those
around us as the Son of God, as God's perfect creation, we learn that we are
part of that creation as well. This leads us to the memory of God Himself.
The way to God lies through the person next to us:

	"Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed." (1:5)

WHAT AM I?

W-pII.14.4:1-3

This passage is reminiscent of the paragraph in the introduction to Review
V:

	Let this review be then your gift to me. For this alone
	I need; that you will hear the words I speak, and give
	them to the world. You are my voice, my eyes, my feet,
	my hands through which I save the world. The Self from
	which I call to you is but your own. To Him we go
	together. Take your brother's hand, for this is not a way
	we walk alone. In him I walk with you, and you with me.
	Our Father wills His Son be one with Him. What lives
	but must not then be one with you?	(W-pI.rV.In.9:1-9)

Christ sees through our eyes. Our ears are those that hear the Voice for
God. Our minds are the minds that join together. As bringers of salvation,
we have only one single function: to hear the words Jesus speaks, and give
them to the world. And what is the kernel of those words? Seeing the world
with no thought of sin; hearing the message that the world is sinless;
joining in union to bless the world.

Am I a blessing to those around me, or a burden? Do I lift guilt from them,
or do I lay it on them? I have not really grasped the message of the Course
until I have realized that I am here to be a channel of God's grace to the
world and to release everyone I come in contact with from their guilt, most
especially from the guilt that I have laid upon them.

 



From suelegal at gmail.com  Wed Dec 24 05:00:03 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:00:03 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 359 - December 25
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAALtu8nQXiJZDo0/b3r2ZIVcBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 359 - DECEMBER 25

"God's answer is some form of peace. All pain 
Is healed; all misery replaced with joy. 
All prison doors are opened. And all sin 
Is understood as merely a mistake."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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

Today I want to share some thoughts just on the first line of this lesson.
Yesterday we were reminded that "no call to God can be unheard nor left
unanswered" and that "His answer is the one I really want"
(W-pII.358.Heading). Today we are told that when God answers, the answer "is
some form of peace." So the answer that I want is peace. Every call to God
is answered with some form of peace, and that is what I really want, despite
what I may think to the contrary.

I think that when we begin to grasp that what we really want is peace-in
every situation-things start to fall into proper perspective. Say it looks
like I may lose my job, or a relationship that I believe I need. Say it
looks as if I don't have enough money. I find myself, more or less, praying
for that job, or that relationship, or that money. Or perhaps I'm not up to
prayer so I just obsess about the situation. I'm thinking this is what I
want.

If, when that happens, I can begin to recognize that what I really want is
some form of peace, I've made a giant step. It isn't the job I want; it's
the form of peace I think it brings. It isn't the relationship I really
want; it's the peace I think lies in it. It isn't the money I need; it is
the peace of mind I think it buys me.

	The prayer of the heart does not really ask for concrete
	things. It always requests some kind of experience, the
	specific things asked for being the bringers of the desired
	experience in the opinion of the asker.	(M-21.2:4-5)

When I begin to realize that I am not really asking for things but for the
experience of peace I think they bring me, I can start to ask for peace
directly, bypassing my (perhaps) mistaken opinion that a certain "thing"
will bring me that experience. I can open my mind to the possibility that
God will bring me the peace of mind I seek through another avenue than the
one I see.

Once I can begin to let go of my insistence that the answer must come in a
certain form, I will much more quickly be aware of God's answer. I may find
I can experience the peace of God completely independent of form. I may find
that the peace comes to me in a form I could never have anticipated. I will
lose my anxiety over whether or not the form I first envisioned as what I
needed ever comes to me at all. If peace of mind comes, I am satisfied
because this is all I really ever want.

To tie this in with the rest of the lesson, just briefly, "Help us forgive,
for we would be at peace" (1:9). Peace is impossible if my mind is blinded
by unforgiveness. Peace is incompatible with anger. A lack of peace is
always some kind of unforgiveness, although often it is difficult to see how
that could be. When I ask for peace I am asking to be taught to forgive,
whether I recognize it or not. If I make peace my goal above all else, I
will learn forgiveness.

WHAT AM I? 

Part 9: W-pII.14.5:1-2

Whether we really know it or not, "We are the holy messengers of God" (5:1).
That is our function; it is what we were created to do-express God. This is
our job here, and we won't be completely happy until we are carrying it out.
The way this is worded here seems significant; we are "carrying His Word to
everyone whom He has sent to us" (5:1); it does not say, "to whom we are
sent." It is not so much that we go out looking for people to give the
message to; rather, they come looking for us. That is a different attitude
than the one which says, "Let us go out and convert the world." This is
simply a passing along of the message of peace and the fact of forgiveness
to everyone who comes into our lives. People don't just "happen" to show up
in our lives; they are sent. And they are sent because we have something to
give to them.

Let me begin to learn to ask myself, when someone shows up in my life, in my
time, or perhaps in my face: "What do I have to give to this person? What is
the Word of God I can communicate to her? What does God want to say to this
person through me?" Or, in much simpler terms, "How can I be truly helpful
to this person?"

Doing this-actually doing it, not just thinking about it-is how I learn that
the Word of God is written on my heart (5:1). And doing this is <how my mind
is changed> about what I am and what I am doing here. My mind won't be
changed just by trying to change my mind; it is changed by carrying God's
Word to everyone He sends to me. When I engage in that kind of active
serving and forgiving of my brothers and sisters, I begin to form a new
opinion of myself. I begin to see myself in a different light. That is the
Holy Spirit's plan of salvation.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Thu Dec 25 05:00:09 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:00:09 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 360 - December 26
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAGG/RZ1/4H9Lt9xPs1zejjYBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>


LESSON 360 - DECEMBER 26

"Peace be to me, the holy Son of God. 
Peace to my brother, who is one with me. 
Let all the world be blessed with peace through us."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete 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

This is for all practical purposes the last "regular" lesson of the
Workbook. The last five days of the year will be spent on a single lesson,
which gives us an idea of how every day can be spent by a Course "graduate,"
if we can use that term. This final lesson, then, sums up and concludes the
practice of the Workbook.

Peace be to me; peace be to my brother; peace be to all the world through
us. That is one way of summarizing what the Course is all about: finding
peace within ourselves, sharing that peace with another, and together
sharing it with all the world. Finding it within ourselves is the basis.
Sharing it with another confirms it within us, and the relationship gives us
a microcosm in which to learn to extend that peace. Having learned to share
together, we then extend the peace to all the world.

	Father, it is Your peace that I would give, receiving
	it of you.	(1:1)

The peace we receive and give is God's peace. It is the peace that comes of
knowing we are God's creation: "In holiness were we created, and in holiness
do we remain" (1:5). "I am Your Son, forever just as You created me, for the
Great Rays remain forever still and undisturbed within me" (1:2). Nothing
God placed in me in creation has been lost. God, eternally at peace,
extended Himself to create me, and His peace extended into me and included
me in its stillness. That stillness always exists. There is a place in you,
and in me, that is at perfect peace always. We can find that peace at any
instant we choose to do so. To find it all we need do is to be still, to
stop our interference. The peace is always there.

	I would reach to them [the Great Rays] in silence and
	in certainty, for nowhere else can certainty be found. 
	Peace be to me, and peace to all the world.	(1:3-4) 

This morning, close your eyes for a time-for as long as it takes. Let the
thoughts that have been occupying your mind just float away, detached. Do
not push them away; do not hold on to them. Just let them go, and try to
become aware of that place within yourself that is always at peace. Do not
strive to find it; let it find you. Simply be still. Simply make yourself
receptive to the peace and it will appear, because it is always there. Sit
in silence. If a noise comes to your attention, don't let your mind "stick"
to it. You have no other purpose than to be still. You have no other goal
right now but to say, "Peace be to me."

And when you touch that peace, or when it touches you, however briefly, let
yourself add, "and peace to all the world." Gently wish that peace for all
your brothers and sisters. That is all we are here for. That is all that
really needs to be done. It will be enough.

	Your Son is like to You in perfect sinlessness. And with
	this thought we gladly say "Amen."	(1:6-7)

The thought of perfect sinlessness brings the Course to its conclusion; that
is its goal. 

	But the content of the course never changes. Its central
	theme is always, "God's Son is guiltless, and in his
	innocence is his salvation."	(M-1.3:4-5)

When I have accepted my own perfect sinlessness, and have extended that
thought to include the entire world, salvation is accomplished. To do so is
to perfectly forgive all things. Sinlessness and peace go together. Only the
sinless can be at peace; only the peaceful are sinless. The message of the
Course is one of radical innocence. All are innocent, and no one must be
condemned for others to be free.

WHAT AM I?

Part 10: W-pII.14.5:3-5


Our function here is to "bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought
he suffered" (5:3). The Son of God who thought he suffered is you, me, and
everyone who comes into our life. What a wonderful calling! To announce, as
the prophet Isaiah said in the Old Testament:


 	...to preach good tidings unto the meek; ...to bind up the
	brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the
	opening of the prison to [them that are] bound; ...to
	comfort all that mourn; ...to give unto them beauty for
	ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
	for the spirit of heaviness.	(Is 61:1-3)


This season of Christmas is said in the Gospels to be a time of "great
joy...to all people" (Lk 2:10). In the Course we have a continuation of that
message, and we are its heralds. We can announce, "Now is [the Son of God]
redeemed" (5:4). The way is open for every one of us to find our way home,
and to know first our perfect forgiveness, and then the immensity of God's
Love.


	And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him,
	he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God.
	(5:5)

As these "glad tidings" are received, we will all, in the end, enter in
through the heavenly gates, symbolic of entering into the awareness of
perfect Oneness. In that Oneness we will disappear into the Heart of God.
That word "disappear" does not, in any sense, mean that we shall cease to
exist, or that we will be absorbed and somehow blotted out by the
absorption. It is just that all sense of difference and separateness will be
gone, along with all desire for it. We will disappear in the Oneness, but we
will be in that Oneness, profoundly a part of it, radiantly fulfilling our
function, shining forever in the eternal glory of God.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Thu Dec 25 17:00:49 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:00:49 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] [RESEND] The Practice Instructions to Part II
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAKYW96wRaClOsYvapy4jBV4BAAAAAA==@gmail.com>




The Practice instructions to Part II

PURPOSE: The introduction to Part II talks as if, in the remaining part of
this year, we are trying to reach the end of our spiritual journey: "This
year has brought us to eternity" (10:8). However, the Manual, in Section 16
("How Should the Teacher of God Spend His Day?") implies a more modest goal:
to reach a place where we practice because of our own motivation and
inspiration, rather than because a book is telling us to. This would
transform our practicing from a special assignment into a way of life. Part
II of the Workbook, with its absence of daily practice instructions, is an
important step in this direction. If here, in the relatively formless
landscape of Part II, your practice can blossom, rather than wither, you are
close to graduating from the Workbook.

I think we need to combine these two goals: We should aim for eternity,
realizing that by aiming high we will carry ourselves farther than if we
didn't, even though we may only get as far as weaning ourselves from the
Workbook's support. In other words, we should aim to graduate from time and
space, <so that> we can reach the more realistic goal of graduating from the
Workbook.

Reading the lesson: The lessons in Part II take a very different form than
in Part I. After the day's idea, we find just two paragraphs, both worded in
the first person, which expand and comment on the idea. This makes the Part
II lessons look much like what we see in most of the reviews, where the idea
for the day is followed by a series of "related comments" (W-pI.rI.In.2:3;
3:3) which are worded in the first person and expand on the idea. In the
reviews, these related comments become part of the exercises. We read them
over several times, we think about them, we repeat them to ourselves, we
savor each word. We make them our own, which is why they are worded <as if>
they are our own. We so fully engage them that reading them becomes more
like a practice than a simple act of reading.

It makes sense that we should use the comments in the Part II lessons in the
same way that we used the comments in the reviews, simply because the two
are so similar. And the introduction hints at this. For it speaks of our
reading of those paragraphs as an "exercise" (2:1) that is meant to induct
us (1:4) into "the periods of wordless, deep experience which should come
afterwards" (11:2). Let's look at how we can turn the reading of those two
paragraphs into a genuine exercise.

First, the< commentary paragraphs> (the nonitalicized paragraphs). I
recommend that you read these over slowly, perhaps several times, and
imagine that these really are your own thoughts (which is how they are
worded). To facilitate this, you may want to emphasize words like "I," "me,"
"my," and "mine."

Second, the< prayers>. These read as if you yourself are praying them to
God, and I recommend doing just that. Fix one sentence at a time in your
mind and then close your eyes and say that sentence to God. Try to really
mean it and expect Him to hear you. These appear to be designed to carry you
into the meditative state, and many of them virtually say that. Lesson 307
says of its prayer, "And with this prayer we enter silently into a state
where conflict cannot come" (W-pII.307.2:1). To enhance this effect, you may
want to pray the prayer several times.

Morning/evening quiet time: As long as you need for the effect you want.

The longer practice periods are meant to consist of Open Mind Meditation.
Begin by repeating the idea for the day, but in a special way: as an
invitation to God to come to you. "We say the words of invitation that His
Voice suggests, and then we wait for Him to come to us" (4:6). After
repeating these words, go into a time of expectant, wordless waiting (the
word "wait" here occurs six times). To wait normally means to stay
physically still in anticipation of some event. Here it means to stay
<mentally> still in anticipation of a wondrous event: the dawning of God on
your mind. Wait as if holding your breath for this event. Wait with an
attitude that "the memory of God is shimmering across the wide horizons of
our minds" (9:5). Your waiting, then, though motionless, should be very much
alive. It should be filled with expectancy: "We...expect our Father to
reveal Himself, as He has promised" (3:3). The basis for your expectancy, in
other words, is your trust that God will keep His promises. He promised to
come to you when you asked. You are asking; He will come. Hold this state
without the aid of repeating words. However, whenever your mind wanders, you
should use words--repeat the idea to draw yourself back to this nonverbal
waiting. "We will use that thought...to calm our minds at need" (3:1).

If you find Open Mind Meditation either too challenging or too unrewarding,
I would recommend using either of the other two methods the Workbook has
taught: Down-and-Inward Meditation or Name of God Meditation. In fact,
Lesson 222 clearly instructs you to use Name of God Meditation: <"Father, we
have no words except Your Name upon our lips and in our minds, as we come
quietly into Your Presence now"> (W-pII.222.2:1).

Hourly remembrance: One or two minutes as the hour strikes (reduce if
circumstances do not permit).

Do a miniature version of the morning practice. Repeat the idea as an
invitation to God, and then wait in wordless silence for Him to come to you.

Frequent reminder: As often as possible within each hour.

"Repeat [the idea], and allow your mind to rest a little time in silence and
in peace" (W-pI.rIII.In.10:5).

Response to temptation: When you are tempted to let upset cause you to
forget your goal.

Repeat the idea as a way of calling on God to dispel your upset (see 2:9 and
10:2).

Reading the "What Is" section: Before one of the day's practice periods (not
necessarily the morning one), read the relevant "What Is" section. Don't
just read it casually. Read it slowly and think about it "a little while"
(11:4).

* * *

LET US PRAY

What are we supposed to do with the prayers in Part II of the Workbook for
<A Course in Miracles>? There are 140 of them, one for each lesson. This has
puzzled many a Course student who, upon reaching Part II, finds himself
confronted each day with an italicized prayer directed at God. Is this
prayer offered by the author of the Course on our behalf? Do we simply read
it? Do we actually pray it? If so, why?

Actually, I am only <assuming> that this issue has puzzled Course students.
I have never really heard much discussion about these prayers. They sit
there on the page, staring at us every day for five straight months, but we
don't seem to talk much about them. The only perspective I recall hearing is
that they must be metaphorical because God can't hear our prayers.

Having done the Workbook several times, I too didn't know what to do with
these prayers. Yet, to be honest, I hadn't really confronted the question. I
would just dutifully open my book and read the prayer attached to that day's
lesson. The prayers generally struck me as being a kind of Course word
salad: a series of typical Course words--Christ, peace, joy, Heaven,
etc.--tossed together as one would toss a salad.

Then one day a few years ago, all that changed for me. I was on a short
retreat and, for some reason, the first thing I did was sit down and try to
discover what the Course wants us to do with its prayers. Having spent many
years studying the Workbook's practice instructions, I had learned that
virtually all our questions about practice are answered right in the
Workbook, if we pay careful attention. Now, for the first time, it occurred
to me that this ought to be true for those prayers; we should expect there
to be instructions for what to do with them.

The logical place for those instructions was the introduction to Part II,
since that is where we find the practice instructions for the entirety of
Part II, where the prayers are found. Within minutes I found two sentences
that ended my search and changed my relationship with the Course and with
God. Here they are:

We say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father to reveal
Himself, as He has promised. (WpII.In.3:3)

We say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait for
Him to come to us. (WpII.In.4:6)

>From these sentences and the paragraphs around them I obtained the following
picture:

The Course has given us words (from the Holy Spirit) which we are to say to
God as words of invitation and welcome. Once we invite Him with these words,
we sit in a state of silent expectancy, waiting for Him to come and reveal
Himself to us in direct wordless experience.

What are these "words"? In this context, they are definitely the thought for
the day, the lesson title. But are they confined to that? Don't these
"simple words of welcome" also sound like they could be the prayers? After
all, like these words, the prayers are words given us by the Course which
are written as if we are saying them to God.

So I turned the page and looked at the first prayers in Part II. They
resoundingly confirmed what I was thinking. This is how the first prayer
begins:

<Father, I come to You today to seek the peace that You alone can give. I
come in silence>. (W-pII.221.1:1-2)

Just as the introduction described, in this prayer we state our intention to
have an encounter with God in the silence of our minds. The comments that
follow this prayer continue along the same lines: "Now [that we have said
this prayer] do we wait in quiet....We wait with one intent...[for God] to
reveal Himself unto His Son" (W-pII.221.2:1, 6). Here is exactly what the
introduction said: Once we say these words of welcome, we wait in silence
for God to reveal Himself to us.

The next prayer was very similar. In it we state our intention to silently
enter into an experience of God's Presence:

<Father, we have no words except Your Name upon our lips and in our minds,
as we come quietly into Your Presence now, and ask to rest with You in peace
a while>. (W-pII.222.2:1)

This was a very intellectual process of detective work, but its results were
extremely practical: At last I felt I knew what to do with those prayers! I
am to say them directly to God as preparation for a direct wordless
encounter with Him.

So I immediately tried this out. I spent the next hour or so going through
the first twenty prayers in Part II, praying them as I had just discovered I
should. I will never forget that time. It was a pivotal moment in my journey
with the Course. Until that moment, I had no idea how much richness was in
those prayers. What seemed like word salad when read as information became a
wealth of emotional experience when repeated as prayer, when spoken to God.

I was astonished by the sense of loving intimacy with God that shone through
these prayers. I had never realized that <this> was how the Course wanted me
to think about God. God came across not as a remote metaphysical
abstraction, an impersonal essence that is completely unaware of us.
Instead, He came across as near and dear, as the most attentive, loving
Father one could possibly imagine, always there, always listening, always
answering, wanting only to lavish all of His Love upon us. "He covers me
with kindness and with care" (W-pII.222.1:4), one of the lessons said. And
that is exactly how I felt, blanketed in His kindness and care.

Since that day, these prayers have become a staple in my daily life. There
are few things I enjoy doing more than sitting down and spending time with
them. They have literally transformed my relationship with God. My sense of
God before was somewhat remote and abstract. Yet increasingly these prayers
have implanted in me <their> sense of God, so that my feeling for Him has
become a deep well of sustenance and comfort that I draw from daily.

As time went on, I fell into the habit of using these prayers before my
meditation time, because I found them to be the ideal way to prepare my mind
for seeking God in meditation. They gathered the scattered and chaotic
threads of my thought into a single desire to be with God. After I had been
using them in this way for some time, I remembered something: <This is
exactly what they are for>. This is what the instructions in the Workbook
say is their purpose. We are to use the words of these prayers to prepare
our minds for a direct, wordless encounter with God. I can attest to the
fact that they serve their intended purpose very well indeed.

I therefore encourage every student of the Course to avail him- or herself
of the great benefit of these prayers. Try them out and see if you are not
drawn to return to them. Here are some tips for getting the most out of
them:

1. <Focus on one line at a time>. Dwell on each line and let it sink in
before going on to the next.

2. <Say it directly to God>. When the prayer says "Father," have a sense of
speaking directly to God, and of Him in some sense hearing you.

3. <Make it from you>. When the prayer says "I" or "me," have a sense of you
being the one saying the prayer.

4. <Mean it>, as much as you can. Try to make it the prayer of your own
heart.

5. <Make it specific>. For instance, when the prayer we will use below says
"a something I have called by many names," list some of the names you have
given what you seek.

6. <Feel free to elaborate> on the prayer as it evokes additional thoughts
and feelings in you.

To try out this method of using these prayers, I would like to utilize the
following prayer from Lesson 231, "Father, I will but to remember You." My
suggestion is for you to repeat each line slowly, with concentration and
sincerity. Try to see the fullness of meaning contained in each line. Try
also to go through the prayer twice or more.

1. What can I seek for, Father, but Your Love?

2. Perhaps I think I seek for something else; a something I have called by
many names.

3. Yet is Your Love the only thing I seek, or ever sought.

4. For there is nothing else that I could ever really want to find.

5. Let me remember You.

6. What else could I desire but the truth about myself?

What was your experience in repeating these lines? Was it an experience you
want more of? I sincerely hope that the prayers in the Workbook will become
the blessing in your life that they continue to be in mine.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Fri Dec 26 05:00:40 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:00:40 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 361 - December 27
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAMHxbvn/HS1HiX9+ZHYR5igBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 361 - DECEMBER 27

"This holy instant would I give to You. 
Be You in charge. For I would follow You, 
Certain that Your direction gives me peace."
Practice instructions

See instructions for Lessons 361-365.

COMMENTARY


I will be doing COMMENTARY on the "Final Lessons" and "Epilogue" sections
intermingled with the daily COMMENTARY for the next five days, since the
actual lesson is the same for all five days.


So we come to the final lessons of the year. Today and for the next four
days we have the same lesson, which gives us the very simple directions by
which we are to live the rest of our lives. The intent of the Workbook is to
aid us in forming the very habit portrayed by this lesson: to give each
instant to the Holy Spirit, asking Him to be in charge, committing ourselves
to follow His direction in everything, knowing that He always leads us
towards peace.

The introduction to this simple lesson ("Final Lessons") is one that we
would do well to read each day for these five days. Each day as we read this
over, along with the lesson, we follow the reading with a time of quiet in
which we seek a holy instant of communion with our Father and His Voice.

We are not seeking for words: 

	Our final lessons will be left as free of words as
	possible. We use them but at the beginning of our
	practicing, and only to remind us that we seek to go
	beyond them. Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and
	makes our footsteps sure.	(W-pII.fl.1:1-3).** 

What we are seeking is that communion with Him. We open ourselves to the
experience of peace. We give our lives to Him, asking to be directed in "all
our thoughts to serve the function of salvation" (W-pII.fl.3:1). We are here
to remember God through forgiving our brothers, through sharing His reality
with everyone.

We are as free of words as possible in these times of practice, and yet "if
I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that
will He also give" (W-pII.361-365.1:1-2). He will give whatever I need.
Sometimes there will be words; sometimes, thoughts. And sometimes, nothing
but "stillness and a tranquil, open mind" (W-pII.361-365.1:3). We present
ourselves to Him and wait for Him to give whatever we need. We do not tell
Him what we need; we leave that to Him.

Each day we can begin like this. And during the day, often, whenever we can,
we stop and once again renew the set of our minds, our determination to make
no decision by ourselves, without Him. These lessons have been, as the
Workbook's epilogue says, "a beginning, not an end" (W-Ep.1:1). They have
trained us in a practice that is meant to continue for the rest of our lives
until our entire life has become a holy instant.

Whenever you can today, remember these words and repeat them: "This holy
instant would I give to You." He will never fail to hear you.

___
**   The reference translates as Workbook, Part II, Final Lessons
(introduction), paragraph 1, sentences 1 to 3.




From suelegal at gmail.com  Sat Dec 27 05:00:27 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:00:27 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 362 - December 28
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAADy7Pl43qWtImB7sisqLbLEBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



LESSON 362 * DECEMBER 28

"This holy instant would I give to You. 
Be You in charge. For I would follow You, 
Certain that Your direction gives me peace."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Practice Instructions for Lessons 361-365.

COMMENTARY

The Workbook leads us to this point: "to Him we give our lives henceforth"
(W-pII.fl.1:4). If the idea of giving our lives to God seems unappealing,
consider the alternative: "For we would not return again to the belief in
sin that made the world seem ugly and unsafe, attacking and destroying,
dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the hope of trust and the
escape from pain" (W pII.fl.1:5).

The idea that we want something other than God is what made all this mess.
There is nothing other than God. "The belief in sin" referred to is nothing
more than our belief that we succeeded in making something separate from
Him. We don't really want this, although we have believed we did. This
belief is the source of all our pain, so let us return our lives to the
Source of all joy instead. Let us give our lives to be directed by His
Voice, the Holy Spirit.

Let us give this holy instant and every instant into His hands. 

	His is the only way to find the peace that God has
	given us. It is His way that everyone must travel in
	the end, because it is this ending God Himself appointed.
	(W-pII.fl.2:1-2)

Don't let those words "the only way" scare you off. This isn't saying A
Course in Miracles is the only way to God; it is saying that the route of
forgiveness, the truth that we are all innocent before God, is the only way,
whatever the form it may take. God created us all to be His expression, and
His Will will be done in the end. As it says in the Text introduction, we
don't have any choice about the content of the curriculum, just about when
we learn it.

	In the dream of time it seems to be far off. And yet, in
	truth, it is already here; already serving us as gracious
	guidance in the way to go.	(W-pII.fl.2:3-4)

Robert wrote an article for our newsletter on the topic "How Long Until We
Are Out of Here?" or in other words, "How long until we reach the end of the
journey?" The Course is full of the paradox stated baldly in this sentence:
The truth is already here, and yet-in time-it seems to be far off. Both are
true, each in its proper context. A dream that lasts only a few seconds can
seem, within the dream, to last for years. Isn't it possible that a dream
that lasts only for a "tiny tick of time" (T-26.V.3:5) can seem to last
billions of years? Within the dream of time, our journey home seems to be
taking a very long time. In reality it is already over, and the power of its
ending is present now, guiding us through the dream.

So what should we do? How, then, should we live? Should we proclaim, "It's
all over!" and just kick back and relax? No; to us the dream is still real.
Therefore: 

	Let us together follow in the way that truth points out to 
	us. And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are 
	seeking for the way, but find it not.	(W pII.fl.2:5-6)

In his article, Robert reaches the conclusion that "how long" is an
irrelevant question, and that we should be equally content whether we go
home tomorrow or in 10,000 AD. Our function in the meantime is to be the
light of the world as long as we are in it. We are to lead home all our
brothers who are still lost, still floundering. We are to forgive the world;
to bring the message of guiltlessness to everyone; to extend the peace and
love we have found to all the world.

This is what we do when we say, "For I would follow You, certain that Your
direction gives me peace." What direction? The direction of forgiveness, the
direction of forgiving the world. That is the direction which "gives me
peace." Working out our forgiveness of the world becomes the content of our
days. It is when we have accepted this as the one function that we want to
fulfill that the Holy Spirit will arrange everything for us, providing
everything we need as we go.




From suelegal at gmail.com  Sun Dec 28 05:00:06 2008
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:00:06 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 363 - December 29
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAIuvfZbMSwZAr7VLivdTcX0BAAAAAA==@gmail.com>


LESSON 363 - DECEMBER 29

"This holy instant would I give to You. 
Be You in charge. For I would follow You, 
Certain that Your direction gives me peace."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Practice Instructions for Lessons 361-365.

COMMENTARY

Once again we repeat this "holy instant" lesson. It seems as if the author
is telling us, "Having received all the thoughts we have given you, there is
really nothing left for you to do except to put your life into the hands of
the Holy Spirit." Helen Schucman, who wrote the first parts of the preface
to the Course some time after completing the Course itself (the final
section of the preface, "What It Says," was taken down from the same inner
dictation as the rest of the books), said there:

	The Course makes no claim to finality, nor are the 
	Workbook lessons intended to bring the student's 
	learning to completion. At the end, the reader is left 
	in the hands of his or her own Internal Teacher, Who will
	direct all subsequent learning as He sees fit.
	(preface, pp. ix-x) 

That is exactly what these final five days are reinforcing, leaving us in
the hands of the Holy Spirit for our further instruction.

The Workbook is a primer, one that is intended to ready us for the ongoing
instruction of the Holy Spirit. It serves as a kind of crutch while we are
too weak to stand on our own. I sometimes like to think of the Workbook as
training wheels on our spiritual bicycle. The training wheels are there to
keep the child who is learning to ride from falling over. Once he learns to
keep his balance, the wheels become unnecessary, while the rider continues
to learn to ride his bike better and better, perhaps learning to do
wheelies, ride with no hands, or even do off-road dirt bike maneuvers. The
learning isn't over when we are done with the Workbook; there is much yet to
learn.

The training of the Course is a mind training. The Workbook offers mental
"training wheels," the structure of daily thoughts and suggested practice
exercises. Its purpose is to initiate us into the Course's form of spiritual
practice, which consists of mentally engaging with God, morning, evening,
and moment to moment throughout the day. Its words give us something to
grasp while we try to form this new habit. In the beginning it is very
structured, and the structure gets fairly demanding. Over time it eases off,
in the assumption that we have begun to form the habits it is attempting to
impart. Here, in the final lessons, the structure is about to fall
completely away; the training wheels are being removed. We are left in the
hands of the Holy Spirit alone, with no book to guide us.

Some, perhaps, may be motivated enough to apply themselves diligently
throughout the entire first year they do the Workbook, following its
instructions (or trying to) every day. If indeed one were to do this, a
single year would be enough to form the habits of spiritually engaging with
God. For most of us, however, once is not enough.

I have to confess at this writing, this next year (1997) will be, I think,
my ninth pass through the Workbook. My first took me most of three years.
Since then I've done it once a year except for one year I decided I wanted
to do something different for a while. I'm a slow learner; as this year
ends, I still haven't formed the daily habits the Workbook is trying to
teach us. I'm doing much better each year, but it is still a rare day I
remember to practice my lesson every hour, much less recall it briefly five
or six times in between the hours-and that is what the practice instructions
consist of once we are several months into the book. So I am doing it again,
not just so that I can share daily comments with you folks, but because I
still have much to learn myself.

Yet even though I don't feel I can take this lesson as fully as it is meant,
letting go of the Workbook to go on in my private instruction with the Holy
Spirit, I can still take it for each time of practice and remembrance
through the day. "This holy instant would I give to You." Every instant can
be a holy one. Let's try to remember, today, as often as we can. Each time
we do, let's give the instant to Him to be made holy. Or rather, let's give
it to Him for His purposes in recognition that it is holy.

As the introduction to this lesson stressed:

	Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. 
	It is the goal that God has given us.
		(W-pII.fl.3:2-3)

That is the purpose the Holy Spirit has, and each instant given to Him is
used for that purpose: forgiving the world. "It is our function to remember
Him on earth" (W-pII.fl.4:1). We remember Him by forgiving: "For all that we
forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself"
(W-pII.fl.3:5). Our brothers are our saviors; through our forgiveness of
them, we remember God.





From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Dec 29 06:13:24 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:13:24 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 364 - December 30
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAP19hRasy6xCuHKQvykup6IBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>


LESSON 364 - DECEMBER 30

"This holy instant would I give to You. 
Be You in charge. For I would follow You, 
Certain that Your direction gives me peace."
Practice instructions

See Practice Instructions for Lessons 361-365.

COMMENTARY

I'm going to suggest that for the last two days of this year you read
through the epilogue following the last lesson, as well as the lesson. I
will share a few comments based on the epilogue over the next two days (all
of the Course quotes that follow are from the epilogue unless otherwise
indicated); however, your practice should still be of the final lesson.

The epilogue echoes two of the themes of this final lesson: <following> the
Holy Spirit as our Teacher and Friend on the path, and the <certainty> of
our reaching the end of the path successfully. 

Your Friend goes with you. You are not alone.	(1:2-3) 

	You are as certain of arriving home as is the pathway
	of the sun laid down before it rises-Indeed, your
	pathway is more certain still.	(2:1-2)

Today I will discuss the theme of following, and tomorrow, the certainty of
arriving home.

The epilogue makes it clear that even when we complete the Workbook and have
achieved the purpose it sets for us, having developed a daily habit of
giving our lives over to the direction of the Holy Spirit, we have only
begun our journey, and there is more to go. The path ahead may yet be long.
There will yet be difficulties along the way. Why else would Jesus emphasize
the certainty of the ending unless we believed we still have reason to
doubt?

We are told this course is a beginning, not an end (1:1). We can expect
troubles (1:5) and problems (1:7). We will still be going through lessons,
although not the "specific" ones of the Workbook (3:1). "Efforts" will still
be required (3:3). We will experience "difficulty" and will still have times
in which we think that pain is real (4:1). We are still on the way to
Heaven, but not there yet (5:4). We need guidance (5:5), so there must be
obstacles or a path that at times seems unclear. We are still on the road
towards home (5:7). "We will continue in His way" (6:2). Jesus says he will
never leave us without comfort, so comfort will still be needed (6:8).

I am pointing out all the indications that a major portion of our journey is
still ahead, because we are so easily inclined to think otherwise; we get
impatient and want the journey to be over. The positive themes of this
epilogue are designed to counteract the discouragement that may come over us
when we realize that there is a long way yet to go.

First, we have a Friend Who goes with us. A "Friend!" Has my experience with
the Workbook taught me that? The Holy Spirit is my Friend. (Perhaps, for
some of us, that Friend has personalized as Jesus.) Has my interaction with
Him been enough that He has earned my trust, "by speaking daily to you of
your Father and your brother and your Self" (4:4)? There are such wonderful
promises given to us here of His helpfulness. We cannot call on Him in vain.
He has the answers for everything we might ask, and He won't withhold them.
All we need to do is ask. He speaks to us of what we "really want and really
need" (2:4). 

	He will direct your efforts, telling you exactly what to
	do, how to direct your mind, and when to come to Him in
	silence, asking for His sure direction and His certain
	Word.	(3:3)

We do not need to worry about the length or complexity of our journey. We
have a Guide. The Workbook is not the journey; it is a training camp that
prepares us for it, introduces us to our Guide, and teaches us to trust Him.
By doing the Workbook we have learned how reliable and knowledgeable He is;
now, we are ready to set out on the journey itself, walking with Him in
confidence that He knows how to bring us home.






From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Dec 30 05:53:52 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:53:52 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 365 - December 31
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAFfBtlUfh3hEqYD5eCIj7KoBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>


 
LESSON 365 - DECEMBER 31

"This holy instant would I give to You. 
Be You in charge. For I would follow You, 
Certain that Your direction gives me peace."

Practice instructions

See Practice Instructions for Lessons 361-365.

COMMENTARY

The last lesson of the year! But certainly not, I hope, our last holy
instant. I find myself, as the New Year approaches, thinking of this lesson
in terms of "This holy <year> would I give to You." Ah, I really feel that
resonating within, finding a common tone echoing from a deep, perpetual
longing.

The epilogue, as I was saying yesterday, talks about how our journey
continues after the formal study of the Workbook with a continuing walk with
the Holy Spirit as Guide through what may yet be a very long journey. The
second point that the epilogue makes strongly is that the end of the journey
is certain: 

	You are as certain of arriving home as is the pathway
	of the sun laid down before it rises, after it has set,
	and in the half-lit hours in between. Indeed, your pathway
	is more certain still.	(2:1-2)

We can "walk with Him, as certain as is He of where you go; as sure as He of
how you should proceed; as confident as He is of the goal, and of your safe
arrival in the end" (4:6). I think that often my feelings of "How much
longer is this going to take?" really translate into suppressed fears of "Am
I ever going to arrive home?" We convert the length of time into a witness
to the idea that we'll never make it. If I <really knew> that my pathway is
as certain as the sun, and more, I could "travel light and journey lightly"
(T-13.VII.13:4) no matter how long it takes.

I think the attitude the Course encourages in us is:

	1. To hold on to this certainty that arriving home is guaranteed,

	2. While at the same time being completely unconcerned with how 
	   long it may take.

The Text tells us that how long is only a matter of time, and time is just
an illusion. It asks us not to be restless, and points out that being
restless on a journey to peace is rather inconsistent.

	The end is certain, and the means as well. To this we 
	say "Amen."	(5:1-2) 

Let <me> say "Amen" as well. "Yes, so be it, and so it is." Why is the end
so sure? We have the Holy Spirit with us. "And He will speak for God and for
your Self, thus making sure that hell will claim you not, and that each
choice you make brings Heaven nearer to your reach" (5:4). He is the
guarantee. His presence makes the ending sure. And He is certain because He
knows the end depends on us, and nothing is more certain than a Son of God.

	We go homeward to an open door which God has held 
	unclosed to welcome us.	(5:7)

Ah, what a beautiful picture! I could have called my booklet The Journey
Home by that title: Homeward to an Open Door. Thank You, God, for the open
door.

	God's angels hover near and all about. His Love
	surrounds you, and of this be sure; that I will
	never leave you comfortless.	(6:7-8)

What more do we need? The Holy Spirit is in us. Angels hover near and all
about. God's Love surrounds us, and Jesus promises: I will never leave you
comfortless. 

Can you get a sense of that as this year comes to a close? Can you close
your eyes for a moment and feel Them all around you? Can you realize the
holiness of this moment, the birth of Christ in you now moving out into the
world to transform it with light? They are here, and They are watching, and
as Jesus often says in the Course, They give you thanks for your willingness
to open to the light. Let us, then, as the year ends, give Them thanks for
giving this light to us.





From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Dec 30 05:55:10 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:55:10 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS FOR LESSONS 361-365
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAHXzovIU7Q5Aq1f2fgS1H6MBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS FOR LESSONS 361-365

Purpose: To place your practice and your life in the hands of the Holy
Spirit, so that from here on, He becomes for you what the book has been. He
becomes the Guide for your practice and for your entire walk through life.
>From now on, you follow in His way, and lead your brothers along that same
way. The keynote of this way is extending forgiveness to others and thereby
learning that you are forgiven.

Morning/evening quiet time: As long as you need for the effect you want.

Repeat the words of the lesson at the beginning. As you do, realize that
these words are an acknowledgment that you have not understood
(W-pII.fl.6:1), that your belief in a sinful world has been mistaken
(W-pII.fl.1:5). So now you come before God's Voice with empty hands and ask
to be shown, to be taught how to love (W-pII.fl.6:1). 

The words	
	This holy instant would I give to You.	

The meaning
	I set my past beliefs aside and give this practice period to You,
	so that it may become a holy instant.

The words
	Be You in charge.

The meaning
	I set my thoughts and words aside and place You in full charge 
	of this practice period.


The words
	For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

The meaning
	I do this because then You can come in and lead me along Your way,
	Your way of love. And only on that way 	will I find peace.


After repeating the words, enter into Open Mind Meditation. Simply open your
mind to the presence of the Holy Spirit, and hold that openness without the
aid of words. For this purpose, I find it helpful to imagine that your mind
is His holy temple. Normally, it is your bedroom, to fill with clutter as
you please. But during this practice period, it is His temple, to be filled
only with His presence. He is in charge. This means that you leave the shoes
of your thoughts and words at the door. Whenever you forget and bring your
dirty shoes into His temple, repeat "Be You in charge." Aside from those
times, hold the awareness that your mind is His temple <wordlessly>. Be
filled with confidence that He will hear and will come into this holy place.

When He comes, He may give you a word to repeat. He may give you a thought
to dwell on. He may speak to you. You may hear God's Voice tell you, "You
are My Son, and all I have is yours" (see W-pII.fl.6:3). Or He may simply
grant you "stillness and a tranquil, open mind" (W-pII.361-365.1:3). However
He shows up, He has come to lead you into a life based on following Him
along His pathway of forgiveness.

Hourly remembrance: One or two minutes as the hour strikes (reduce if
circumstances do not permit).

Do a miniature version of the morning practice. Repeat the idea as an
invitation to the Holy Spirit, and then wait in wordless silence for Him to
come to you.

Frequent reminder: As often as possible within each hour.

"Repeat [the idea], and allow your mind to rest a little time in silence and
in peace" (W-pI.rIII.In.10:5).

Response to temptation: Whenever you feel upset.

Repeat the idea as a way of calling on the Holy Spirit to dispel your upset.




From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Dec 30 05:56:27 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:56:27 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Where Do I Go From Here?
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAK5jIuujGPlFsT4fsvuubvwBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?

Congratulations! You have finished the entire Workbook. If you are new to
the Course in this last year, you may not realize how many students begin
the Workbook and don't finish it, so finishing is no minor accomplishment.
It really deserves congratulations.

Having completed a pass through the Workbook, there are two questions that
might occur to you now:

	*  Should I repeat the Workbook lessons, or is one time through 
	   enough?

	*  If I feel I am done with the lessons, what should I do now
	   to continue my work with A Course in Miracles?

SHOULD I REPEAT THE WORKBOOK?

I believe the answer to this question is very much up to you. Yet, in a
general way, I can give you an answer. This answer is my opinion, but it is
based on some objective observations about the Workbook and its training
goal, and some common sense.

The common sense portion is this: How do you determine whether or not to
repeat any class, in any subject? You ask yourself, "Have I learned what the
course was intended to teach?" If you have, you don't need to repeat it. If
you haven't, you could very likely profit from repeating the class.

When I was in high school I took three years of French. The last two of
those years were from an absolutely awful teacher. When I entered college, I
took a placement test in French to answer the question "How much French did
the high school classes teach me?" The answer turned out to be "Almost
none." I placed in French 1 at the college level; I started all over. There
was no shame in that. It did not mean I was an incompetent French student.
In fact, I ended up majoring in French, spending a year living in France,
and being mistaken for French by a French student at the university!

We don't happen to have a simple, written test you can take to determine if
you have learned what the Workbook set out to teach you. There is no shame
if you haven't learned it yet. I would say, to be perfectly honest, that I
do not know one single person who has ever really gotten all there is to get
out of the Workbook in just one year. My personal opinion-and there is
absolutely no support for this in the words of the Course itself-is that
everyone could benefit from doing the Workbook two, three, four, or even
more times.

The key piece of information you need to answer the question "Have I learned
what the Workbook was intended to teach me?" is: What does the Workbook try
to teach us? What is its main goal for us? If you know the answer to that
question, it is fairly easy to determine whether or not you have learned it,
whether or not the purpose of the Workbook has been achieved in your case.

If you have been reading these commentaries and Robert's practice
instructions with understanding, you already know the answers. Whereas the
ultimate goal of the spiritual practice given to us by the Workbook is to
train our minds to look on everyone and everything in the world differently,
to always think with God, to listen always to the Voice for God, and to
forgive the entire world, the immediate goal of the Workbook is much more
attainable and practical. 

That immediate goal is to train us in daily spiritual practice, to establish
in our lives the <habit> of spending time every morning and evening to meet
with God and to set our minds on His truth, the <habit> of turning our minds
within to God every hour or so for a minute or two, the <habit> of thinking
frequently of God or of spiritual thoughts in between those hourly
remembrances, and the <habit> of responding immediately to temptation with
some thought of God, some tool from the problem-solving repertoire that we
have developed over the year of our Workbook practice.

So the answer to "Should I repeat the Workbook?" is: If you have established
these habits of daily spiritual practice to the degree that you can and will
carry them on, daily, without the continuing support of the Workbook, then
you do not need to repeat the Workbook. You may still <choose> to repeat it,
but you do not need to. If, however, you <have not> established these daily
habits of spiritual practice, then you should re-enroll yourself in the
program that is designed to help you form such habits-the Workbook!

You probably can fairly easily answer the question for yourself about how
strongly you have formed the habits of spiritual practice. If you are still
missing your quiet time lots of mornings or evenings; if you rarely remember
the lesson every hour, and even more rarely remember it between the hours;
if your ego often rises up and seizes control of your mind without being
challenged by your right mind, refusing to listen to the ego; then you
surely can benefit from doing the Workbook again.

If, on the other hand, you <have> formed strong habits of spiritual
practice-not necessarily perfect habits, but real habits, fairly
consistent-then you may be ready to set the Workbook aside. Just like when
you have been using training wheels to learn to ride a bicycle, the only way
to know for sure if you are ready is to try it without the training wheels.
The first time I tried continuing my spiritual practice without the
Workbook, it was a dismal failure, the equivalent on a bicycle of falling
over within one hundred feet. I'd read through the Workbook about six times
by then, too! (I had not really tried to follow the practice instructions,
however, so it is no wonder that I hadn't formed good habits of practice.)
Within a few weeks, I wasn't doing any spiritual practice at all! I realized
that I wasn't yet ready to set aside the "training wheels," and I resumed
doing the Workbook lessons.

WHAT DO I DO AFTER THE WORKBOOK?

The Manual for Teachers offers very clear instructions for continuing our
daily spiritual practice after we have completed the Workbook, in a section
titled "How Should the Teacher of God Spend His Day?" (M-16). If you think
you are ready to move on without the Workbook, this is where to find your
instructions. And if you are wondering whether or not you are ready, reading
over these instructions and asking yourself, "Am I ready to do this?" will
help you make up your mind.

The section begins by talking about an <advanced> teacher of God. It says,
basically, that an advanced spiritual teacher does not need any structure or
program; the question of how to spend his day is meaningless, because the
advanced teacher lives in constant contact with the Holy Spirit, and simply
follows His guidance moment to moment.

However, it goes on to say, the <ordinary> teacher of God-for instance,
someone who has just completed the Workbook (and completing the Workbook is
a prerequisite to bearing the title "teacher of God")-still <does> need
structure. Not as much structure as someone doing the Workbook, but not as
little as an advanced teacher. Something in between. This person is not yet
ready to live without structure; she or he is still in training, still
learning to listen to the Holy Spirit in every moment. The Manual then goes
on to tell us what that structure should be, in some detail.

As we have pointed out in our introduction to Part II of the Workbook, and
also in "Preliminary Notes on Workbook Practice" in A Workbook Companion,
Volume I, the instructions given here in the Manual sound remarkably like
the fully matured pattern of practice established toward the end of Part I
in the Workbook, and carried on through all of Part II. Here they are, as I
presented them in Volume I:

The post-Workbook practice, in simple outline, is this: 

	1.	Begin the day right, as soon as possible after waking. 
		"As soon as possible after waking take your quiet time,
		continuing a minute or two after you begin to find it
		difficult" (M-16.4:7). The goal in this time is to
		"join with God." We should spend as long as it takes
		to do that until it becomes difficult; the length of
		time is not a major concern (4:4-8). 

	2.	Repeat the "same procedures" at night; just before sleeping
if possible (5:1). 

	3.	Remember God all through the day (6:1-14). 

	4.	Turn to the Holy Spirit with all your problems (7:4-5). 

	5.	Respond to all temptations by reminding yourself of the
truth (8:1-3; 10:8; 11:9).

It would be good to read over all of Section 16 of the Manual if you are
considering post-Workbook practice, and to spend some time carefully
studying what it has to say in detail. The outline I have given here just
gives the general ideas. It may be enough to let you decide whether you feel
ready for carrying out this program.

Are you ready to spend as much time as it takes to join with God every
morning and evening? It might be just a few minutes; it might be an hour. Do
you feel confident you know what to do in that time, without the Workbook at
hand to give you some specific practice instruction? Are you comfortable
enough with the basics of Course meditation to undertake it on your own?

Do you feel you have a habit of remembering God all through the day, and
will be able to do that without having a specific thought from the lesson
for the day to call to mind? (You may pick some thought for yourself from
the Text or Workbook, to use like a lesson thought.)

Have you begun to turn to the Holy Spirit with all your problems as a matter
of course, as a habit?

Are you able to respond to temptation with the truth on your own? Or would
it still be more helpful to you to have a Workbook lesson that gives you
some suggestions about doing that?


If your answers to these questions are mostly positive, then you are ready
to leave the Workbook behind. If you find yourself mostly answering "No,"
then you can probably benefit from repeating the Workbook.

HINTS FOR POST-WORKBOOK PRACTICE

Let me offer some practical hints, if you have decided to move on to
post-Workbook practice. I have found it helpful to make a list of useful
thoughts from the Course (not just the Workbook), thoughts that I have found
effective in responding to temptation, or thoughts that have helped me, in
meditation, to move more quickly into that "quiet center." Some people have
begun to compile a notebook containing such thoughts or passages from the
Course. You may want to categorize these, for instance, passages useful in
working on forgiveness; passages useful when in fear; and so on.

If you look through the Text you will find a number of passages that are in
italic type. These passages are nearly all different forms of suggested
spiritual practices. They will all say something like this: Whenever you
feel troubled by anything, say to yourself.and then comes the part in
italics. You may want to make a collection of these passages and then spend
several days working with each of them.

You may be studying the Text and be struck by something you are reading,
seeing how it applies to a situation in your life. Take that passage and
turn it into your own, personalized spiritual practice. Use it to lead in to
your meditations; use it for hourly remembrance and for response to
temptation.

Speaking of studying the Text, by all means, do study it! Don't just read
it, study it. Give yourself plenty of time for such study. I don't really
think you can carefully study the entire Text in much less than three years
of daily reading and study. I once read the entire Text in about two months,
but it has taken me the last four years to <carefully study> every chapter.

Just because you are not going through the Workbook lessons day after day,
don't think that you can't do a lesson every now and then. Sometimes, a
particular lesson from the Workbook will come to mind; follow your instinct,
and do the lesson. 

Do you remember a few lessons, as you went through the Workbook, that seemed
particularly effective or powerful for you, so that, perhaps, you wanted to
stop and spend a week or two on just one of them? Well, now you can do that!
You can set your own program. The point now is to maintain a habit of
consistent, daily practice, but you, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit,
are now setting your own individualized curriculum.

One of the techniques we practice with in the Workbook is coming up with
related thoughts. Often, the thought you choose to practice with may be one
of those related thoughts, rather than words that come directly out of the
book.

Some days, you may not have any particular words at all to practice with;
you may simply use the day to practice constantly seeking and finding the
peace of God.

The basic idea for post-Workbook practice is that you can use any of the
techniques and practices given anywhere in the Course, and you can focus on
whatever you feel you most need, or whatever works best for you.

And remember, the point is to continue with such practices indefinitely
until, like the Workbook itself, you no longer need them. Your life will be
a continuous holy instant. It may seem impossible, but the Course promises
that God will make it possible for you:

	In time, with practice, you will never cease to think of
	Him, and hear His loving Voice guiding your footsteps into
	quiet ways, where you will walk in true defenselessness. 
	For you will know that Heaven goes with you. Nor would you 
	keep your mind away from Him a moment, even though your time
	is spent in offering salvation to the world. Think you 
	He will not make this possible, for you who chose to carry
	out His plan for the salvation of the world and yours?
		(W-pI.153.18:1-4)





From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Dec 31 05:37:07 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:37:07 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] The Introduction to the Workbook
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAOheuKY/3O5HkyJ8HASiwWQBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



THE INTRODUCTION TO THE WORKBOOK

Comments by Allen Watson 

The Workbook's Introduction is something everyone doing the Workbook should
definitely read thoughtfully. In my opinion, we could profit from reading it
over once a month or so as we do the Workbook to remind ourselves of its
basic instructions. If you think you would like to do that, you might want
to go through the Workbook (or this book) now and mark a large symbol,
perhaps a star, on every thirtieth lesson--30, 60, 90 and so on--to remind
you to re-read the Introduction. 

The first paragraph explains the interrelationship of the Text and the
Workbook. Both are essential for anyone doing the Course. Without the
"theoretical foundation" of the Text, we will not have enough background to
understand what the exercises of the Workbook are trying to accomplish (1:1)
. We should all pay careful attention to the Text; it is necessary to do so
if we want the benefits of the Workbook exercises. Does that mean that one
should study the Text before doing the Workbook? Not necessarily. The Manual
discusses the order in which the volumes should be used, and says it differs
from person to person. Some, it says, should postpone reading the Text and
Workbook, and go straight to the Manual, which--for many people--is the most
clear and concise of the three volumes (M-29.1:6). Other people have found
that what works best for them is starting right in with the Workbook
lessons. It is evident from this Introduction, however, that if one begins
with the Workbook, the Text should follow, or perhaps be read along with the
Workbook. Several lessons make the assumption that the reader is already
familiar with the Text. 

On the other hand, studying the Text without doing the Workbook is equally
useless because "doing the exercises [is what makes] the goal of the course
possible" (1:2). To simply study the theoretical foundation without
practical application results in little more than empty head knowledge. You
may understand intellectually what the goal is, but you will not be able to
attain it without the exercises. In Chapter 30 of the Text, the Course puts
forth this same idea. At this point the Text is almost complete. All of its
basic ideas have been presented, many of them repeatedly, so anyone having
read this far should have a fairly clear idea of what the Course wants to
accomplish. Having that clear idea, however, is not enough. It says that we
need "specific methods" for attaining our goal (referring, I believe, to the
exercises given in the Workbook) (see T-30.Int.1:2-5). The "one thing alone"
that determines how fast we reach the goal is our "willingness to practice
every step" (T-30.In.1:3). 

In terms of doing the Workbook I think this can be aptly applied to how
willing we are to practice the daily exercises as instructed. If the lesson
calls for four or five repetitions during the day, how willing are we to
actually do that? Each time we remember to practice it may not seem as if
much is happening, but every time helps a little. In the Course's method,
enlightenment does not come all at once. It is all the little, repeated
times of practice that, when added together, will eventually lead us home
(T-30.In.1:4:5). The Workbook does not promise to change us overnight;
rather, it says that if we will make the effort to do the simple practices
the lessons ask of us, each such attempt will, little by little, purify our
minds of the ego's darkness. 

The Workbook is designed to take you beyond mere intellectual understanding
to the point where the ideas of the Course take you over and dominate your
way of thinking (1:4) The word train in sentence 1:4 calls to mind things
like piano practice, sports exercises and drills, and even military
training. It definitely carries with it the idea of manifold repetitions, of
disciplined effort, of pushing beyond the envelope of our present abilities.
When you train in a gym or health club the whole idea involves pushing past
the limits you now have and learning to do things you cannot now do. Yet at
the same time it also carries with it the idea that what is being developed
is something latent, the calling out of an undeveloped potential, and not
the addition of something heretofore entirely lacking. 

What is being trained is our minds. The separation is nothing more than a
mistaken mind-set, and since the mistake is on the level of the mind, that
is where it must be corrected (T-2.IV.2:3-4; T-2.V.1:7; and W-Int.4:1). 

So this is a very thorough mind training, intended to affect the way you
perceive literally everything. That we are learning a different perception
clearly implies that our existing perception is mistaken. 

Notice some of the very simple rules for doing the Workbook. 

	1. Do only one lesson-worth of exercises each day (W-In.2:6). 

	2. Practice "with great specificity" (one of those words I never
	   used until I began studying the Course) (W-In.6:1). This means
	   that we are to pay great attention to details, and to applying
	   the general ideas of the lessons specifically to many different
	   things in our lives. The purpose is to help us generalize the
	   ideas and to see that they apply to "everyone and everything
	   in the world" (W-In.4:1). 

	3. Do not deliberately refrain from applying the ideas to anything
	   (W-In.6:3). Everything is fair game; exclude nothing. 

Having 365 lessons, one for each day of the year, implies that we should do
the lessons in order. (There is nothing wrong with doing some out of order
at random times, but in following the training program, they should be done
in order.) As you move through the lessons, it becomes obvious that the
later lessons build quite squarely on earlier ones; doing them in order is
the most effective way, therefore, to learn. 

Some people wonder about doing one lesson per day. They wonder if, perhaps,
they should repeat a lesson if they feel they did not "get" it, or did not
do the practice correctly. The wisdom of many students who have worked with
the book can be summed up like this: Don't "guilt yourself" about the
lessons. In general, there is no need to repeat. Later lessons will repeat
the same concepts in many cases. If you want to repeat a lesson because you
found it beneficial, by all means do so. If you are repeating because you
are trying to do it perfectly, you may be subconsciously resisting moving on
to the next lesson, which may be the one that will free you. It is usually
better to forgive yourself and move on. 

I'd like to linger a little on the words, "exercises" and "practicing" in
sentence 7:1. We are not just reading these ideas. "Doing the Workbook" is
not just reading the lessons. It is practicing the lessons. Each lesson
gives "specific procedures by which the idea for today is to be applied"
(W-In.3:3). Practicing means following those procedures, and practicing is
"doing the Workbook." How much chemistry would you learn if all you did was
read the lab manual but never performed the experiments? 

If we do the exercises, the results are guaranteed. Our part is to do the
exercises; the extension of the benefits derived from exercise will happen
automatically (W-In.7:2-3). You may practice with certain specific things or
individuals or thoughts; the benefits of that practice will extend, without
your effort, to everything in your world. 

Like working out in a health club, you don't have to even like the program.
If you work out, your body will benefit whether or not you like working out.
So here, in doing these mental exercises, it isn't necessary that we believe
the ideas at first, or like them, or accept them, or welcome them. You can
even actively resist them (9:2). It doesn't matter what we think about the
ideas; just use them (W-In.8:5). "Nothing more than that is required"
(W-In.9:5). That is, apply them to your life as instructed. Notice that
applying the ideas is "required" for the program to work. If we apply them
they will transform our minds; if we don't, ours mind will shed them like
Teflon sheds water. Only if we use the ideas will we become fully convinced
of their truth (8:6). 

No one can read this carefully without realizing what is being asked of us.
Reading the Text isn't enough to reach the goal of the Course. Reading the
Workbook as well is also not enough. We have to carry out the instructions
in each lesson, the specific procedures for applying the idea during the
day. It is our willingness to practice every step, to follow every
instruction, and to do the exercises, that will determine the speed with
which we reach the goal. 





From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Dec 31 05:37:16 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:37:16 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Workbook Practice
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAFeTD6AAk8hOuGIk4cSsnmIBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



WORKBOOK PRACTICE

PRELIMINARY NOTES ON WORKBOOK PRACTICE 

To begin with, I'd like to share some thoughts about what Workbook practice
really is, and what it is intended to accomplish. From my study of the
Course, I believe the Workbook is intended to train us in the formation of a
habit of spiritual practice. This habitual practice is meant to continue
until we have nearly completed our spiritual journey. Let me try to explain
what I mean by this habit of spiritual practice. 

In the Manual for Teachers, Chapter 16, the Course discusses what daily
practice should be like for those who have completed the Workbook. It gives
us a clear picture of what sort of spiritual practice is meant to result
from completing the Workbook's training program. 

The discussion of daily practice in this chapter becomes more understandable
if we set it in the context of the various categories the Course discusses
within its curriculum: 

	pupils 
	teachers of God 
	advanced teachers of God 
	teachers of teachers 

We begin as pupils or students, those who have begun to study the Course.
Next, after a certain level of "accomplishment," we become "teachers of God"
(M-1.1:1). What qualifies us as a teacher of God? The opening lines of the
first section of the Manual for Teachers make the qualifications rather
broad (please read M-1.1:1-3, 6-8). 

By the definition given here, it appears that all it takes to become a
teacher of God is a moment in which my heart unites with the heart of
another person in pursuit of the shared goal of salvation. Another way of
seeing this, perhaps, is that I have experienced a holy instant, or a moment
of true forgiveness. I believe that the mutual goal is salvation because
sentence 7 implies it, yet clearly that aspect of the goal need not be
conscious. Merely making a choice to see my interests as co-mingled with or
identical to those of another person suffices. 

And yet, in Chapter 16, there seems to be a different set of criteria. The
Manual states clearly that a teacher involved with teaching the Course must
have completed the Workbook (M-16.3:7). So, although in general a teacher of
God can be said to be anyone who has made a decision that involved common
interests with another, within this particular spiritual curriculum
completing the Workbook for Students is also required.. 

The Course appears to be making a distinction between a teacher of God in
the general sense, and a teacher of God who is sharing with another person
the specific goal of learning the Course. To be a teacher in that special
sense you must complete the Workbook. Since the Workbook in many places
assumes we have studied the Text (for example, W-pI.153.6:3 and
W-pI.156.1:3), we can therefore deduce that completing the Workbook also
includes completing the Text. To be a teacher of God whose form of teaching
is the Course, therefore, means having completed both volumes. It seems only
common sense that one should complete a course--any course--before claiming
to teach it. 

I should note, for people unfamiliar with the Course, that it is all right
to do the Workbook before reading all of the Text, if you feel guided to do
that. I would say that the "normal" order would be to read the Text first,
or at least most of it, before doing the Workbook, but that is by no means a
strict rule. If you have been led to begin the Workbook, it isn't necessary
to read all of the Text first. I would recommend beginning to read it as
soon as possible, however. 

Beyond the level of teacher of God lies "the advanced teacher of God"
(M-16.1:1). That phrase describes someone who is nearing the end of his or
her personal journey, living on the verge of or within the real world--that
is, with spiritually clarified perception of the world--as Jesus lived while
on earth. Every student of the Course is in training to become an advanced
teacher of God; Chapter 4 of the Manual describes the characteristics of an
advanced teacher (M-4:2:2), a list of ten very fundamental character traits,
such as trust, honesty, gentleness, patience, and defenselessness. This
chapter also tells of the often-long process a person goes through in
developing these characteristics. 

And even beyond that exalted level are the "Teachers of teachers";
enlightened beings like Jesus or Buddha who, having remembered who they
really are, have left behind the limitations of bodily existence. Although
these teachers have left physical existence behind, they in some sense
remain in the world, like the bodhisattva of Buddhism, to help others who
have not yet been enlightened. The Manual says they can re-appear whenever
helpful (presumably in the flesh) (M-26.2:1-3; 3:9). 

With this understanding of the various levels of teachers, let's turn back
to Chapter 16. It begins with describing what the day is like for an
advanced teacher of God; to such a person, the question of how to spend the
day "is meaningless." His life is not externally structured; instead,
because he is in constant communion with the Holy Spirit, he is told, moment
to moment, what to do (1:1-10). Of course, we all aspire to such a state,
but few have yet attained it. I don't know of anyone who has. 

So the chapter then addresses itself to the more common level of the
less-than-advanced teacher of God, who is still in the process of developing
those ten characteristics and lacks that clarity of communion (M-16.2.1).
This is more applicable to us. Jesus begins to discuss how a teacher of God
(as opposed to an advanced teacher) should conduct his or her spiritual
practice. Unlike the advanced teacher, a teacher of God still requires some
structure in his day (M-16.2:2). What is going to be described here is what
I call post-Workbook practice, the habit of practice that the Workbook is
designed to teach us. This practice is meant to continue for teachers of God
until we become advanced teachers of God, where structure becomes
meaningless and we live in a spontaneous partnership with the Holy Spirit.
Even after completing the Workbook, we are not yet ready for complete lack
of structure. 

Workbook practice is very structured. Post-workbook practice is loosely
structured. And the practice of an advanced teacher is characterized by lack
of structuring. 

The post-Workbook practice, in simple outline, is this: 

	1. Begin with a morning quiet time (see M-16.4:7). 
	The goal in this time is to "join with God," and we should spend 
	as long as it takes (the length of time is not a major concern) 
	until it becomes difficult (M-16.4:4-8). 
	
	2. Have a similar evening quiet time, as near as you can to just 
	before going to bed. Settle your mind on God as you go to sleep
	(M-16.5:1). 
	
	3. Remember God all through the day (M-16.6:1-14). 
	
	4. Turn to the Holy Spirit with all your problems (M-16.7:4-5). 
	
	5. Respond to all temptations by reminding yourself of the truth
	(M-16.8:1-3; 10:8; 11:9). 

Developing the habit of this five-fold practice is the purpose of the highly
structured practice of the Workbook. The practice given in its lessons
begins very easily, with just a minute or two in the morning. Very quickly,
it introduces the other practices: morning and evening times; hourly
remembrances; frequent reminders between the hours; listening to the Holy
Spirit for guidance; and responding to every temptation with the day's
lesson. The Workbook verbally sounds a trumpet each time it introduces a new
practice. The duration and intensity of these practices steadily increases
as we progress. We meet first one, then another. There will be a brief
period of intense practice, than an easing up, letting us catch our breath,
before the pace picks up again. 

If we follow the instructions of the Workbook carefully we will, at the end
of the year, have formed the steady habit of daily practice the Manual
speaks about. If we do not follow the instructions of the Workbook
carefully, and simply "do it" however we feel like doing it, we will not
develop that habit. Habits are formed by disciplined repetition, and no
other way. Therefore, watch, as you read, for both the instructions for
practice and for the passion with which Jesus urges us to really do the
practice. He isn't casual about it at all! He pleads with us; he cajoles us;
he sympathizes with our difficulties but calls us back to a renewed effort
after failure. And at one point in the Introduction he tells us that "It is
doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible"
(W-IN.1:1-2). 

In the Text, in a section talking about daily practice, he tells us that our
willingness to practice controls the speed of our progress toward the goal
(T-30.Int.1:3). In the Introduction to the Workbook, he says that the ideas
will become more relevant to you as you put them into practice and
experience the way in which they apply to specific situations. You will put
the ideas to the test, and this will validate them for you, taking them
beyond theory into certainty (W-pI.In.8:6). 

And in a passage that is reminiscent of a TV pitchman trying to sell us an
amazing slicer/dicer along with a set of knives, he tries to impress on us
the importance and value of the disciplined practice to which he calls us.
Take a moment to read (aloud if you can) W-pI.98.5-6 and you will have no
further doubts about the importance Jesus attaches to our actually doing the
Workbook exercises. 

Beyond any doubt, the author of the Workbook really desires and expects us
to make every effort to follow his instructions. 

As an aid to those who want to follow the practice of the Workbook, along
with each lesson this book includes a condensed summary of the practice
instructions that apply to the day. (Often a set of instructions is given in
one lesson and carries over for several weeks, without being restated
daily.) Robert Perry wrote these summaries. 

Many people jot the idea for the day on a card to carry with them. I advise
you to also jot down the day's practice instructions so you remember just
how you are supposed to apply that day's idea. 

Now, I'm not saying that everyone who reads the Workbook must practice the
Workbook in a rigid, disciplined manner. I don't presume to know what you
should do; that is a matter of individual guidance. But I do mean to point
out that, if you want to make the Course your path, these are the
instructions given by the author, and he heavily stresses their importance
within the curriculum he gives us. 

I firmly believe that the Workbook lessons were written in a particular
order for a reason, and that there is an intelligently planned approach in
the way they work cumulatively to transform our thoughts as we study them.
Therefore I always recommend that people do the lessons in order, 1 to 365.
Nevertheless, if the imposition of such minimal "structure" or the
submitting of oneself to this very slight amount of authority raises the
level of fear in you, then a compromise approach, doing it however you
please, may be better. 

I believe that the resistance we have to following Jesus' instructions in
the book is nothing more than a manifestation of the basic "authority
problem" that is said, in the Text, to be the root of all "evil"
(T-3.VI.7:2-3). Even so, doing the lessons out of order, or ignoring the
instructions for practice to do them in a way in which we feel comfortable,
is certainly better than not doing them at all! And, if trying to force
ourselves to follow the practice instructions disturbs us so much it
threatens to cause us to stop altogether, then let's throw that approach out
the window. In such circumstances, the Course advises us: 

You are not ready. Do not fight yourself (T-30.I.1:6-7). 

To summarize: I believe that the instructions in the lessons are very
explicit for a reason. We are meant to follow these instructions to the
letter, as much as we possibly can. We will not be able to do so, especially
in the beginning, but the whole intent of the exercises is to form a habit
of spiritual practice that will endure for a lifetime. You can't do that
without some persistent effort over a long period of time. 

The Introduction to Chapter 30 of the Text is meant to lead into the
disciple of Workbook practice. I encourage you to read it now, particularly
T-30.In.1:2-5,7-8. 




From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Dec 31 05:37:22 2008
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:37:22 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 1 - January 1
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAKLPIHd5UVZCnYwWochC/OoBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



LESSON 1 - January 1

"Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this
place] means anything."


PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: to teach that everything you see is equally meaningless, that no
real differences exist between any of the things you see.

Exercise: 2 times-morning and evening, preferably, for 1 minute (but do not
hurry)
Look leisurely about you, applying the idea specifically and
indiscriminately to whatever you see, first in your immediate area and then
farther. Say, for example, "This table does not mean anything."

Remarks: It is essential to specifically exclude nothing. Do not, however,
try to include everything. Do not hurry; leisure is essential.

COMMENTARY

The early lessons do not seem particularly inspiring to most people, but
they are carefully planned to begin undermining the ego thought system.
"Nothing I see...means anything." We are so certain, in our ego arrogance,
that we really understand a lot of things. The lesson is trying to plant the
idea that we don't really understand anything we see, that our vaunted
understanding is an illusion. As long as we think we understand what
something is and what it means, we will not begin to ask the Holy Spirit for
its true meaning. Our belief that we understand closes our mind to any
higher understanding. We need to become like little children, who realize
they do not know, and ask someone who does know.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is the title of a wonderful little book that
introduces Zen thought. The idea is that we grow most rapidly and reliably
when we admit we are beginners that do not know, and need instruction in
everything. A "beginner's mind" is an open mind, ready to find unrecognized
meaning in everything.