[acimlessons_list] Lesson 235 - August 23

[Sue Carrier Roth]

Lesson 235 * August 23

"God in His mercy wills that I be saved."

Practice instructions

See complete Part II practice instructions.
A short summary:

* Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.

* Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.

* Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open
Mind Meditation.

* Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in
meditation.

* Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea often within each hour.

* Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.

* Read the "What Is" section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.

Practice comments: Notice the response to temptation instructions.
Whenever something seems to hurt you, assure yourself with certainty,
<"God wills that I be saved from this,"> and you can watch it
disappear. Of course, the physical situation itself may not change,
but what will disappear is the power it has over your emotions.

Commentary

If we look at our own thoughts honestly we will be able to see many
ways in which we believe the direct opposite of today's lesson. We
think, "God in His anger wills that I be punished." Somewhere in each
of us is a pathetic voice telling us that we must deserve whatever we
get in the way of pain, or that what joy we have may be taken from us
because we are undeserving of it.

To those who begin to list their complaints about the world and how it
mistreats them, the Course has very abrupt advice: "Give up these
foolish thoughts!" (M-15.3:1). It is in my power to reverse these
things. All I need to do is to assure myself, "God wills that I be
saved from this" (1:1). God does not will my pain, my sadness, or my
loneliness. By changing the way I think of all this, I can change the
world.

We think our hurt and sadness is caused by the events of the world;
the Course is teaching us that it is the other way around. Our belief
in God's anger is what brings us suffering; our belief in His mercy
and Love can transform our lives. What needs changing is not out there
in the world, but here, in my own mind. Let me today remember, Father,
that I am "safe forever in [Your] Arms" (1:3). Let the thought that
You will my happiness fill my mind today. If You are Love, if You love
me, what else could You want for me?

WHAT IS SALVATION?

Part 5: W-pII.2.3:1-3

Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing, failing to
support the world of dreams and malice. Thus it lets illusions go.
(3:1-2)

To participate in salvation is not the addition of a new activity, but
the letting go of our ancient drama of dreams and malice. To be saved
is to <stop> supporting our illusions, to cease adding fuel to the
fire of anger, attack, and guilt that has ravaged our minds for eons.
Salvation is not a doing but an undoing. It is to end our resistance
to the flow of love, both the flow from God to us, and the flow from
us to God and to our brothers. Salvation means we stop inventing
excuses not to love. It means we stop inventing reasons why we are not
worthy of it.

"The ego has no power to distract you unless you give it the power to
do so" (T-8.I.2:1). The only power the ego has is what we give to it;
it uses our own power against us. All ego illusions are funded by our
investment in them. When we withdraw that power, and stop our support
of the ego's illusions, they "quietly go down to dust" (3:3). How is
the ego undone? By our choice to no longer support it.

"The secret of salvation is but this: That you are doing this unto
yourself" (T-27.VIII.10:1).