From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Jun  1 05:49:00 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 05:49:00 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 153 - June 2
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LESSON 153 - JUNE 2

"In my defenselessness my safety lies."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose: To learn that "defenselessness is strength" (6:1), for it rests on
awareness of Christ's strength in us, a strength so great that it can never
be attacked.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

This practice sounds the same as yesterday's, where you laid aside the
self-concepts that portray you as weak, and let the awareness of your true
Self arise in you. Here, you do the same thing, with special emphasis on
getting in touch with His strength in you. If you succeed, you will realize
that you have no need for defense, for you were created unassailable. Let
the morning time be your preparation for a day of defenselessness. Clothe
yourself in the strength of Christ.

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

* Repeat the idea, remembering while you do that Christ remains beside you,
giving you His strength, making defending yourself unnecessary.

* Then sit quietly and wait on God. Thank Him for His gifts in the previous
hour. And let His Voice tell you what He wants you to do in the coming hour.

Response to temptation: Whenever you feel tempted to defend yourself.

Repeat the idea as a way of calling upon the strength of Christ in you. Then
pause a moment and listen for Him saying, "I am here" (19:6).

Overall remarks: The Workbook clearly considers this lesson a turning point.
We are given here our practice instructions for the next <forty-eight
lessons>! And we are told (in paragraph 20), that our "practicing will now
begin to take the earnestness of love" (20:1). Rather than being a
fulfillment of duty, it will be a sincere and natural expression of our
heart. Let us take this step forward in confidence. Jesus asks us to "be not
afraid or timid" (20:2), because we simply cannot fail. God will make sure
that we make it to our goal.

COMMENTARY

In regard to our practice, notice that this lesson presents instructions
that are to be followed "for quite a while" (15:1). Specifically, the form
of practice given today continues for every lesson through Lesson 170. They
are given this once and not referred to again except in brief mentions; we
are supposed to remember the instructions from this lesson. Notice, too,
that the instructions about what we are to do in this five- to thirty-minute
period each day are rather vague. Mostly they are summed up as "giving our
attention to the daily thought as long as possible" (15:2). We are told that
our "practicing will now begin to take the earnestness of love" (20:1). The
longer practice periods have become "a time to spend with God" (15:5); we
enjoy His loving Presence so much that half an hour seems too short! To some
degree, by this time, our practicing has switched from sessions with a drill
sergeant to a rendezvous with our Lover. If that hasn't happened for us yet,
it will: "There can be no doubt that you will reach your final goal" (20:3).

The lesson opens by pointing out that this world is <not> a safe place: "It
is rooted in attack" (1:3). Peace of mind in <this> world is impossible
(1:5). On every side are things that provoke us to defensiveness (2:1-2).
But defenses affect not only what is outside of us; they affect ourselves.
They reinforce our sense of weakness (2:4), and since they ultimately do not
work (2:4), they betray us. We are betrayed by the world outside and by our
own defenses within (2:5-6).

It is as if a circle held it [the mind] fast, wherein another circle bound
it and another one in that, until escape no longer can be hoped for nor
obtained. (3:1)

We are trapped in concentric vicious circles of attack and defense; we find
ourselves unable to break out of the attack-defense cycle (3:2-3).

We do not realize how profoundly our minds are threatened by the world
around us. If we try as hard as we can to conceive of someone caught deep in
a frenzy of intense fear, "The sense of threat the world encourages is so
much deeper, and so far beyond the frenzy and intensity of which you can
conceive, that you have no idea of all the devastation it has wrought"
(4:3). All of us, the Course is saying, are living in blind panic masked by
a superficial act of being calm. Panic is always there, just below the
surface. Think of the things that threaten us constantly, and the attention
that is paid to them in our personal lives and in the media. Nuclear
holocaust. Street gangs. Drunk drivers. <All> drivers. Corrupt politicians.
The greedy power structure. Threatening economic collapse. Food additives,
depletion of the ozone layer, vitamin-depleted foods, growth hormones in our
milk, nitrates in the bacon, cholesterol, saturated fat, sugar, polluted
water supplies, drought, heat waves, blizzards, floods, hurricanes,
tornados, earthquakes, alien invasion, lying news media, insects in our
homes, aging bodies, untrustworthy love partners or business partners, AIDS,
cancer, heart disease-the list could go on and on. And we have not begun to
speak of the threat of foreign invasion or economic takeover, racial
animosities, or religious intolerance.

We are slaves of the world's threat (5:1). "You do not know what you do, in
fear of it. You do not understand how much you have been made to sacrifice,
who feel its iron grip upon your heart" (5:2-3). Try to imagine, for a
moment, what it would be like to be completely <without> any and all fear
concerning the things we have mentioned. If you are like me, you can't even
<imagine> it. We have become so accustomed to the subliminal hum of fear!
Nor do we realize how much we have sabotaged our own peace by our stance of
constant defensiveness (5:4).

The choice this lesson presents to us (6:3) is between two things: the
"silly game" (6:4) of defensiveness, played by tired children too sleepy to
remember what they want (a bit like how I feel right now!), and the "game
that happy children play" (12:1), a joyous game that teaches us that the
game of fear is gone. The happy game is "salvation" (12:1), or functioning
as a minister of God in the world, offering the light to all our brothers.
In brief, we can spend our time trying to defend ourselves, or we can drop
our defenses and reach out in love to the world. Those are the only options.

The game of defensiveness is a deadly one. In defensiveness "lies madness in
a form so grim that hope of sanity seems but to be an idle dream, beyond the
possible" (4:2). Defenses bind us into an attack-defense cycle that never
ends.

Defenselessness is based on the reality of what we are. "We need no defense
because we are created unassailable" (9:1). It witnesses to our strength. As
God's ministers we are protected. We need no defense <because> we are "the
ones who are among the chosen ones of God, by His election and [our] own as
well" (10:6).

To choose defenselessness is to choose the strength of Christ, instead of
our own weakness. To reach out to heal, instead of contracting inward in
self-defense, puts us in an unassailable position. Our true safety lies, not
in protecting what we have, but in giving it away, because this firmly
identifies us with the Christ.





From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Jun  2 05:24:20 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 05:24:20 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 154 - June 3
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LESSON 154 - JUNE 3

"I am among the ministers of God."

Practice instructions

Purpose: To be God's minister in this world, to give Him our voice, hands,
and feet. Through this we unite with His Will and thus unite with all the
gifts contained in His Will.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Repeat, "I am among the ministers of God, and I am grateful that I have the
means by which to recognize that I am free." "The means" refers to giving
God's messages to your brothers. Spend the practice period letting the truth
of these words sink into your mind. Let the world recede as you focus
totally on these words. Let them light up your mind; let them change your
mind. Do this in whatever way works for you.

The purpose of this practice period is to prepare you to use those
"means"-to go out and minister to your brothers. Unlike other lessons, the
main focus in this lesson is on what you will do <after> the practice
period. During the day, show you understood the words you practiced by
giving God your voice, so that He can speak words of love through you to
your brothers. Give Him your hands, so that He can use them to deliver
messages of love to your brothers. Give Him your feet, so that He can direct
them to wherever someone is in need.

By doing this, you will be uniting your will with God's Will. And when His
Will is yours, all the gifts contained in His Will will be yours as well. By
being His instrument you will gain His treasures.

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

Repeat the idea and then sit silently and wait on God. Ask Him how He would
have you minister to your brothers in the hour to come, and then listen
intently for the answer of His Voice.

Commentary

As I see it, this lesson has two main things to say to me:

1) My function on earth is to be a minister (or messenger) of God, and the
specific form that function takes is determined, not by me, but by the Holy
Spirit.

2) As a messenger, my function is to receive God's messages for myself, and
then to give them away, as directed by the Holy Spirit. By giving away the
messages I will recognize and understand the messages I have received.

The Holy Spirit knows me to the core. He knows my individual strengths and
weaknesses; He knows the "larger plan" (1:5) I cannot possibly know; He
knows how best to use my particular strengths, "where they can best be
applied, for what, to whom, and when" (2:2). Therefore, it is unwise to try
to evaluate myself or to direct my own functioning in this world, and far
wiser to place myself in His hands. Because of this, I will "choose no roles
that are not given [me] by His authority" (7:3). He chooses my function for
me, tells me what it is, gives me strength to do it and to succeed in
everything related to it (3:2).

A major part of the training program in the Workbook is learning to hear His
Voice and to submit to Its authority. Learning to hear His Voice isn't
something that comes without any effort. Indeed, it takes effort and great
willingness (T-5.II.3:9-10). I may feel at first that I don't know how to
hear His Voice, but that is <exactly> why I need this practice. I don't
know, as I begin, how to tell the Voice of the Holy Spirit apart from my own
ego's voice; I need training in that discernment, and some of it will be
trial and error. But if I will follow the instructions in this book, I will
learn.

The second point is really an encouragement to take up the function given me
by God, which in a generic sense is to be His messenger:

He needs our voice that He may speak through us. He needs our hands to hold
His messages, and carry them to those whom He appoints. He needs our feet to
bring us where He wills, that those who wait in misery may be at last
delivered. And He needs our will united with His Own, that we may be the
true receivers of the gifts He gives. (11:2-5)

Clearly, He directs me very specifically, choosing where I go physically,
whom I speak to, and what I say. Yet the main thing is that I accept this
overall function of "messenger" for my life; if I accept that, the specifics
will follow.

There is a three-step process clearly delineated in this lesson: 1)
<receive>, 2) <give>, and 3) <recognize>.

First, I receive the message for myself, accept it, and apply it to my own
life. I accept the Atonement for myself, seeing that the appearance of guilt
within me is an illusion, and recognizing the innocence it hides. I accept
my acceptance with God. I let go of my false and guilty self-concept.

Second, I give this message to those to whom the Holy Spirit sends me. This
can be with words, with actions, or simply with the attitude of mercy and
acceptance I show to those I meet. I give the message I have received. I
show them the mercy God has shown to me. I see in them what I have begun to
see in myself.

Third, as a result of giving, I recognize the reality of what I have
received. "No one can receive and understand he has received until he gives"
(8:6). Giving away the message cements it and validates it in my own mind.
"We will not recognize what we receive until we give it" (12:1).

The second step is an essential part of the whole process. Without giving
away the message, the cycle cannot be completed; my own recognition of
salvation cannot become complete. It is not enough simply to receive the
messages of God. "Yet another part of your appointed task is yet to be
accomplished" (9:4). The messages must be given away, shared, in order to be
fully received. I must take up my function as the messenger of God if I am
to understand what I have been given.

Notice that the practice instructions are adapted from Lesson 153, where we
were told "we practice in a form we will maintain for quite a while"
(W-pI.153.15:1). These instructions will be followed until new ones are
given in Lesson 171 (Review V), and apply to Lessons 181-200 as well.






From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Jun  3 05:56:07 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 05:56:07 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 155 - June 4
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAALz/brX4AyVEp6fVH92Y+eIBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 155 - June 4

"I will step back and let Him lead the way."

Practice instructions

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

We are obviously getting fewer instructions for what to do during the longer
practice periods. We are meant to increasingly rely on what has worked for
us before and what the Holy Spirit inspires us to do in the moment. During
today's longer practice, we are meant to mentally link up with God, Who will
speak to us, telling us how much He loves us and how He has entrusted our
brothers to us, trusting perfectly that we will lead them home to Him. So
repeat the words given ("I will step back and let Him lead the way, for I
would walk along the road to Him."), and then enter deeply into your mind,
listening quietly for His Voice. Remember your training in how to do this:
listen in stillness, in confidence, and in patience, repeating the lines
when your mind wanders.

The purpose of the morning practice is to firmly take hold of His Hand, so
that He can lead you, while you in turn lead your brothers. By preparing you
to serve your brothers, the purpose of today's practice is essentially the
same as that of yesterday's.

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

Repeat the idea and then listen quietly for God's Voice. Ask Him how He
would lead you in the coming hour, how He wants you to guide your brothers
along the way to Him. And thank Him for His leading in the hour gone by.

COMMENTARY

"There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems
to be" (1:1). And to this way of living we all aspire. The remarkable thing
about the Course is that it offers what might be called a middle way between
renouncing the world and diving into it. Many, perhaps the majority, of
spiritual seekers make the mistake of thinking that a spiritual life must
somehow look different. Some dress differently; some abjure the modern
conveniences; some find spirituality in vegetables; some fill their homes
with incense; some live in poverty, or apart from normal worldly concourse.

This lesson is one of the clearest statements in the Course that a good
Course student does not change appearance--except that perhaps he smiles
more frequently. There are spiritual paths that demand a changed
appearance--a shaved head, difference in dress--and this is not to put down
these other paths. But they are not the way of the Course. One of the more
difficult lessons for students of the Course, in my observation, seems to be
learning to be normal. A true student of the Course is like anyone else, so
much so that "those who have not yet perceived the way will...believe that
you are like them, as you were before" (1:5).

Yet we are different. The difference is inward; we have stepped back, taken
our hands off the controls of our lives, and we are letting our Inner Guide
lead the way to God. Everyone, including ourselves, came to this world by
choice, "seeking for a place where they can be illusions, and avoid their
own reality" (2:2). But we have discovered that we cannot escape our
reality, and we have chosen to place diminishing importance on the
illusions, and to follow the truth. We have taken up our function, and we
recognize that we are here now, not for ourselves alone, but to serve those
around us as we serve ourselves (5:4). We walk to God, and we lead the world
to God with us (12:1; 13:1). We step back, and let Him lead the way.





From sue at circleofa.org  Thu Jun  4 05:46:15 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 05:46:15 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 156 - June 5
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Lesson 156 - June 5

"I WALK WITH GOD IN PERFECT HOLINESS."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Although we are not given specific instructions for particular practice
periods, we are told how to practice generally today. Before we set our feet
on the path, we walked around unconsciously believing that we walked alone,
accompanied only by our sinfulness. We carried the weight of what we thought
we had done like a heavy rock on our shoulders. Once we stepped onto the
path, we opened our mind to the idea that God was walking with us, that His
Being was inseparable from our being, and that therefore we carried holiness
with us, not sinfulness. Now we are of <two> minds, at times believing we
walk alone in sinfulness, at times believing we walk with God in holiness.

Our practice, then, consists in asking ourselves, <"Who walks with me?">
Meaning, is it God or sin? As we ask, we need to realize this is a genuine
question; we are really not sure yet what the answer is. And then we need to
answer with these words: <"I walk with God in perfect holiness. I light the
world, I light my mind and all the minds which God created one with me."> As
we say these words, we need to realize that they are not just our own words
trying to answer our question. They are the words that God has given us;
they are Him answering for us (8:4).

If we can truly embrace this answer, then our holiness will shine forth for
all to see. As paragraph 4 says, even the waves, flowers, trees, and wind
will respond to us as if we are visiting royalty (bowing down in front of
us, laying a carpet before us, shielding our head from the heat, filling the
air with sweet-smelling incense), for they will innately sense the heavenly
King walking with us.

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

* Ask the question: <"Who walks with me [God or sin]?"> And then answer with
the lines, <"I walk with God in perfect holiness. I light the world, I light
my mind and all the minds which God created one with me.">

* Then thank God for walking with you in the hour gone by. You might even
think of events from that hour that were evidence of Him walking with you.

* And finally, ask Him for guidance for the coming hour: where He wants you
to walk and what He wants you to do.

Suggestion: You may want to do this practice of asking the question ("Who
walks with me?") and repeating the response (<"I walk with God...">) many
times during each hour. The lesson mentions doing it a thousand times a day,
or approximately once every waking minute. This remarkable frequency is
perhaps a bit beyond our current level of discipline. We will experience
powerful benefits even if we do it a few times each hour.

COMMENTARY

"Ideas leave not their source" (1:3). When a mind thinks an idea, that idea
stays in the mind; it does not become a separate thing, apart from the mind
that thought it. And I am a Thought of God; therefore, I cannot possibly be
apart from Him. I have thought I was separate. Indeed, much of the time I
still think and behave as though I were separate from God. But I am not; I
cannot be.

To be apart from God is impossible. God <is> Being; He is Existence.
Whatever exists is in Him. He is Life; whatever lives, lives in Him. "He is
what your life is. Where you are He is. There is one life. That life you
share with Him. Nothing can be apart from Him and live" (2:5-9).

God is also holy. If God is holy, and I am in him, I am holy, too. "What
lives is holy as Himself" (3:3). Therefore, "I walk with God in perfect
holiness." I could "no more be sinful than the sun could choose to be of
ice" (3:3). This is not a feeble hope; it is a fact. It is the truth about
me, and about you, and about everyone who lives.

Yet we have taught ourselves that this truth is not true. It fascinates me
to see what contradictory ideas arise in my mind when I repeat this
statement. It would be a useful exercise to write today's idea as an
affirmation, ten times or more, and in a second column, write down the
response of the mind to this idea. You might get things like this:

"I walk with God in perfect holiness." "I'm not so holy." "I walk with God
in perfect holiness." "I have a long way to go to be holy." "I walk with God
in perfect holiness." "I don't like being called holy." "I walk with God in
perfect holiness." "Most of the time I walk alone."

And so on. What's interesting about such an exercise is that it reveals the
train of thought that dominates my mind, that opposes today's idea and
constantly counteracts it. It is this chain of negative thought that blocks
the light in me. All the responses are some form of the idea "I am a
sinner," which I would probably vehemently deny that I believe, if anyone
asked me. And yet, faced with the affirmation that I walk with God in
perfect holiness, these forms of that idea arise "spontaneously." Where are
they coming from? Obviously from a backlog of very careful mind training by
the ego, very effective brainwashing, so well done that I don't even realize
my mind has been programmed.

Do I believe I am a sinner? "You have wasted many, many years on just this
foolish thought" says the lesson (7:1). Yes, indeed I do. But when I am made
aware of these negative thoughts about myself, I can let them go. I can
"step back," and stop accusing myself. When I do, "the light in you steps
forward and encompasses the world" (6:2).

How can we counter the programming of the ego? One way, clearly recommended
by this lesson, is explicit counter-programming. It recommends that a
thousand times a day we ask ourselves the question "Who walks with me?" And
then, that we answer it by hearing the Voice for God, saying for us:

<I walk with God in perfect holiness. I light the world, I light my mind and
all the minds which God created one with me>. (8:5-6)

Certainty of our holiness does not come with a single repetition of today's
idea. We need thousands of repetitions. We need to keep repeating it until
we <are> certain of it. If we took this literally, repeating the idea a
thousand times would mean repeating it a little more often than once per
minute, all day long, assuming we are awake sixteen hours. That's a lot of
repetition!

Let me today see the "quaint absurdity" (6:4) of the idea of sin, and laugh
at the thought. Let me begin to absorb the wonderful teaching of the Course
that sin "is a foolish thought, a silly dream, not frightening, ridiculous
perhaps" (6:5). And let the wonder of it steal over me: "I walk with God in
perfect holiness."





From sue at circleofa.org  Fri Jun  5 05:13:24 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 05:13:24 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 157 - June 6
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAABkE66/F0oVLp5UK9Cdd3YUBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 157 - June 6

"Into His Presence would I enter now."

Practice instructions

Purpose: To usher in our first direct experience of Heaven. This is a holy
day, a crucial turning point in the curriculum, the beginning of a new
journey. Today will launch your ministry. Your only purpose now will be to
bring to the world the vision that reflects what you experience today. And
you will be given power to touch everyone with that vision.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Approach this practice with a sense of sanctity, for you are attempting to
pass beyond the veil of the world and walk into Heaven. Repeat the idea (you
may want to repeat it over and over again), and let it bring you into that
deep place in your mind, the place of stillness and rest. Then wait there
"in still anticipation and in quiet joy" (4:3), for the experience promised
you. Trust that your Self will carry you to where you need to go. He will
lift your mind to the highest reaches of perception, to the holiest vision
possible. Here at "the door where learning ceases" (2:3), you will pause for
a moment, and then walk through that doorway into eternity. You will pass
beyond all form and briefly enter Heaven.

Today is meant to be your first experience of what the Text calls
revelation, direct union with God and your Self. Yet if it happens (and
tomorrow's lesson will seem to acknowledge the obvious fact that it may not;
see W-pI.158.11:1), it will not be your last. You will come into this
experience increasingly. Each time will bring both you and the world closer
to the day when this experience will be yours for all eternity.

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

Repeat the idea and spend a quiet moment with it, seeking to enter into the
Presence of your Self. Then thank God for His gifts to you in the previous
hour, and let His Voice tell you what He wants you to do in the next hour.

Commentary

Experience and Vision

Today I'd like to share some thoughts based mainly on Lesson 157, but with
some references to Lesson 158 also. This lesson introduces a series of
lessons designed to lead us into the holy instant, which is a major goal of
the Workbook. From this point on, "Every lesson, faithfully rehearsed,
brings you more swiftly to this holy place" (3:3).

The Course talks here of both an <experience> and of <vision> which results
from the experience. The holy instant contains a moment of
knowledge--something beyond all perception--from which we return with the
vision of Christ in our minds, which we can offer to everyone.

The experience spoken of here is simply entering the Presence of God. It is
"a different kind of feeling and awareness" (1:4) in which we "learn to feel
the joy of life" (1:6). It is called elsewhere the holy instant. Lesson 157
calls it "a touch of Heaven" (3:1) and a moment in which we are left to our
Self. It is an instant in which "the world is quietly forgot, and Heaven is
remembered for a while" (6:3). We leave time for a moment and walk into
eternity (3:2). It is not something we do ourselves; the Holy Spirit, the
"Giver of the happy dreams of life" and "Translator of perception into
truth," will lead us (8:2).

The vision spoken of is the result of the experience. This is not "a
vision," something that is seen, but "vision," a way of seeing. We are not
talking of some trance state, some appearance within our minds of mystical
sights. We are talking about a different way of seeing the world, a
different mechanism of sight, something other than the physical senses.
Eastern religion might talk about opening the Third Eye to indicate the same
sort of thing.

In experiencing the holy instant, we have awakened a different way of
seeing. That new sort of vision does not disappear when we "come back to the
world," so to speak (7:1). It is only a figure of speech to say we come
back. We never left. Or perhaps better, since Heaven is what is real and
this world is the illusion, we never came here at all. What "comes back"
with us, into the dream, is the remembrance of God and Heaven, the
remembrance of what we saw in that holy instant. We continue to see glimpses
of it beyond the sight of the world, seeing the "real world" beyond the
world, and beyond that, Heaven.

Each (apparently separate) holy instant we experience strengthens this new
vision, this new mechanism of seeing. This is the purpose of the Workbook's
recommendations for daily morning and evening periods of meditation; they
are practice sessions, exercises to develop our new vision. We are meant, of
course, to exercise this vision constantly during the day, to have repeated
holy instants all day long. If we compare this to learning a language, the
meditation sessions are like language labs and grammar studies. The
concentrated language exercises are not an end in themselves but are meant
to prepare us and improve our speech and understanding as we go out and
actually use the language. Likewise, meditation is not an end in itself. It
is an exercise to strengthen spiritual vision, but the purpose is to go out
into daily life and begin using that new vision as often as possible.

Lesson 157 says, "We cannot give experience like this directly. Yet it
leaves a vision in our eyes which we can offer everyone" (6:2-3). I can't
give you a holy instant directly. I can tell you about it, but you have to
do the work yourself and have the experience yourself.

What I can give you or offer to you is the new vision, the new way of seeing
the world. The vision we can all teach, as fledgling teachers of God, is
that of forgiveness and love within the world. I can teach you that it is
possible to see the invisible beyond the visible, to see the undimmed truth
behind the clouds of doubt, fear and defense. I can teach you to "see no one
as a body. Greet him as the Son of God he is, acknowledging that he is one
with you in holiness" (W-pI.158.8:3-4). By seeing you without guilt I teach
you that seeing without guilt is possible.

And in willingness to practice the vision, willingness to ask to be shown a
different way of seeing, the experience of the holy instant comes.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Sat Jun  6 05:00:20 2009
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2009 05:00:20 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 158 - June 7
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAKFpEHCjrxNDhIjLlRCOEH8BAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



Lesson 158 - June 7

"Today I learn to give as I receive."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose: To practice seeing your brothers with Christ's vision, seeing past
their bodies, their mistakes, and their fearful thoughts, to the pure,
untainted holiness of their true Identity.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Begin, as always, by repeating the idea for the day. Its meaning can seem
vague, but the lesson makes it clear. It means: <"Today I learn to give my
brothers a vision of Who they really are, as I receive from God the
knowledge of Who I really am."> The <knowledge> God gives you cannot be
given directly; you can only give it in reflected form, by giving to others
your <vision> of their holiness.

Then use the rest of the time as the Spirit moves you and as the Workbook
has taught you to do. The main thing you have been taught to do during these
longer practice periods is to quiet your mind and sink down and inward to
the deep sanctuary within you, keeping your focus and drawing your mind back
from wandering by repeating the idea for the day.

Today, do this with the intent of getting in touch with the knowledge of Who
you are, so that you will have something to give your brothers. By dipping
into this deep well within you, you will gain the awareness that we are not
our bodies, and this is the awareness you are to give your brothers today.

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

* Repeat the idea and then (this is my recommendation) spend some time
trying to see a particular brother through the eyes of Christ. Consciously
try to see past his body and personality to the holy light of his true
reality.

Then thank your Father for the gifts He gave in the previous hour--perhaps
gifts of seeing past a certain brother's appearance to his reality.

* Finally, ask for guidance for the coming hour. You may want to think of
people whom you might meet up with, and prepare yourself for those meetings
by intentionally seeing past each person's body to the holiness that shines
beyond.

Frequent reminder: Whenever you encounter someone.

Remember to see each brother you meet with the Christ's vision. See him as
God's Son, at one with you, not as a separate mind housed in a separate
body. To motivate yourself, remember that whatever you see in him you see in
yourself. If you see him with Christ's vision, then that vision will shine
on you.

COMMENTARY

This lesson has a lot of profound metaphysics in it, particularly the stuff
about time. If you'd like to dig into the Course's concept of time, a
terrific starting place is Ken Wapnick's book <A Vast Illusion: Time in 'A
Course in Miracles.'> I can't write a book tonight and you probably don't
want to read one right now! So I'm going to skip over most of that stuff.

The practical point this lesson is trying to make is that "knowledge," which
lies in the sphere of Heaven, is outside the scope of this Course. We <all>
received knowledge when we were created; every living thing knows,
inherently, that it is still connected to its Source: "a mind, in Mind and
purely mind, sinless forever, wholly unafraid because you were created out
of love" (1:2). It may seem to us that this is something we do <not> have,
and that it is this we are trying to give to others and to receive for
ourselves. But we can't give it because everyone already has it. It exists
outside of time entirely. The point in time at which the experience of this
knowledge reveals itself to us is already determined, by our own minds
(2:9). When it happens, it will happen.

Within time--which is an illusion--what we can give, and receive, is
forgiveness. Forgiveness is the gift that reflects true knowledge "in a way
so accurate its image shares its unseen holiness" (11:2). What we can give
is a vision of sinlessness, "Christ's vision." We can look past the body and
see a light; look past what can be touched and see an idea; look past the
mistakes and fears in our brothers and sisters, and see their inherent
purity. We can greet one another and in each one, see him "as the Son of God
he is, acknowledging that he is one with you in holiness" (8:4).

We are not giving knowledge. When we meet someone, we can give them our
vision of themselves as sinless. In the way that we perceive them, they can
find a new perception of themselves, one they have not found on their own.
As they respond to our merciful vision, they will reflect that vision back
to us, enabling us to perceive the Love of God within ourselves. When we
forgive another, we have simultaneously forgiven our own sins, because "in
your brother you but see yourself" (10:3).

We cannot know when revelation of truth, the experience of our reality, will
come to us. The time is set; the drama is being played out; there is not one
step we take only by chance (3:1-3). And yet, each act of forgiveness brings
the day nearer. Our concern, then, is not with the final experience, but
with the practice of vision, seeing with the eyes of Christ. This is
something we can attain; this is something we can do something about. And we
can do so <today>. Right now.

"This can be taught; and must be taught by all who would achieve it" (8:1).
The way to learn the vision of Christ is to give it. The way to achieve the
vision of ourselves as Christ sees us is to practice seeing others with His
eyes. We give it to have it. This is the whole plan of the Course.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Sun Jun  7 05:00:57 2009
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 2009 05:00:57 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 159 - June 8
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAALc++Wg+/tBIu9w0UZD9amcBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



Lesson 159 - June 8

"I GIVE THE MIRACLES I HAVE RECEIVED."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose: To open Christ's treasure house deep in your mind, gather lilies of
forgiveness from it, and then give them away to your brothers. Only by
giving them away will you realize that you have received them.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

As is usual at this stage, we are not given explicit instructions for what
to do during our practice periods. So what follows is a suggestion based on
the content of the lesson.

Close your eyes, repeat the idea, and sink down deep into your mind. As you
approach the quiet center of your mind, you see a treasure house, a
beautiful, gleaming structure that radiates a sense of holiness. You
approach the massive doorway, wondering if you will be able to get in. Yet
the lesson reminds us, "No one will be turned away from this new home, where
his salvation waits" (7:4). The door swings silently open before you, and as
you enter in you behold the treasure that is stored in this place. Rather
than gold and silver, you see a sacred garden of the most amazing lilies you
have ever laid eyes on. They literally shine with holiness. You can swear
you hear the faint singing of heavenly choirs in the air around them. You
realize that these are the lilies of forgiveness. These are miracles. You
also realize that the soil they are growing in is Christ's vision, "the
miracle in which all miracles are born" (4:1).

You are here to gather these miracles and take them back to the world. So
walk into the garden and begin to pick the lilies. Don't be shy; that is
what they are for. As you pick each one, notice that two more spring up in
its place. Now, with an armful of lilies, you are ready to go out into your
day, ready to give these miracles to everyone you encounter.

After the practice period, as you go through your day, imagine yourself
giving one of these lilies to each person you meet. Your lily is your
acknowledgment that this person is the Christ, washed clean of his past,
ready to arise from the tomb of his sins and be reborn. So as you give the
lily, you might say silently, <"You are forgiven. This is your Eastertime.">

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

I suggest repeating the idea and then choosing one person. Then imagine
giving this person a lily, while you say, <"You are forgiven. This is your
Eastertime."> Then ask God what lilies He would have you give in the coming
hour, and thank Him for the lilies He gave through you in the hour gone by.

COMMENTARY

You might notice that today's lesson title is almost the same as
yesterday's: "Today I learn to give as I receive." There is definitely a
commonality of thought that runs through these two lessons, even extending
two lessons back. They all talk of Christ's vision. They are all presenting
a picture of the holy instant as a key part of our spiritual practice,
although that term is not specifically mentioned in every lesson.

The general picture being presented is of our ongoing spiritual practice. It
is this: We enter frequently into a holy instant. There, we experience a
touch of eternity or Heaven, a taste of the knowledge of the truth. While we
cannot carry this experience back with us to the world, we can carry back
what that experience is like, translated into perception; this is called
"the vision of Christ," which is manifested in forgiveness.

In this lesson, the holy instant is only hinted at by such phrases as "Let
us an instant dream with Him" (10:6), or "Receive them now by opening the
storehouse of your mind, where they are laid" (2:5). The Holy Instant is the
"treasure house" we come to, the place in which we receive the gifts of
Christ's vision. We must receive before we can give.

But we cannot recognize, or become fully aware of, what we have received
until we give it away: "To give is how to recognize you have received. It is
the proof that what you have is yours" (1:7-8). The extension of Christ's
vision is an integral part of the plan of salvation presented by the Course.
It is what brings us to certainty. This is quite similar to the principle
taught by AA, that you stay sober by helping someone else to stay sober.
Here,

You understand that you are healed when you give healing. You accept
forgiveness as accomplished in yourself when you forgive. (2:1-2)

It is only as we bring the "lilies" of forgiveness from the holy instant,
where we received them, and distribute them into the world that we truly
know we are forgiven. It is in giving away miracles that we receive them.

Father, help me today to realize that I am rich. The storehouse of my mind
is filled with miracles. I can come to this storehouse and, in this holy
instant, receive them. You entrust them to me for the giving. Let me pause
often today, to meet here with You, and then carry these treasures forth to
offer them to the world. This is my whole purpose in life; this is why I am
here.





From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Jun  8 06:11:31 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2009 06:11:31 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 160 - June 9
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAMdQVrNjOAhIlA/QeCW2AQ0BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>


Lesson 160 - June 9

"I AM AT HOME. FEAR IS THE STRANGER HERE."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

My suggestion: Begin by realizing that the experience of <fear> and the
experience of <home> are mutually exclusive. When you feel truly at home,
you feel a sense of shelter and safety, a sense of joining and belonging, a
sense of comfort and peace. When you feel afraid, you feel the absence of
all these things. In essence, you feel homeless.

Now spend some time trying to get in touch with each state. First, imagine
feeling completely at home inside yourself, regardless of what goes on
outside you. Imagine knowing who you are, feeling at home with yourself.
Imagine feeling at home with God, enfolded in His Love. Imagine fear being a
thought loitering on the periphery of your mind, trying to invade the peace
of this inner home, knocking on the door, tapping at the window, but unable
to get in.

Then switch to getting in touch with the state of fear, the state that we
all live in. Notice how in this state, fear, anxiety, and worry are your
most natural reactions to the happenings of the world, so natural as to be
automatic reflexes. This leaves you feeling that you have no safe harbor, no
true shelter. You feel separate from God and alienated from yourself. It is
as if <you> are loitering on the outside, while fear sits unchallenged on
the throne of your mind.

Now ask yourself with real sincerity, "Who is the stranger?" Is it fear or
is it you? Who sits at home in your mind, and who is on the outside,
wandering homeless? Is it fear or is it you? Which of the states you just
reviewed is the truth and which is the lie?

Now answer with the words that God has given you: "I am at home. Fear is the
stranger here." Realize that this answer is true because it comes from God.
Repeat it over and over. Try to feel the truth in it.

Finally, let this idea draw you down into your mind, to the place where you
are at home and where fear has no place. Feel the attraction of home drawing
you deep within. Sink down to where you are at one with your Self, at home
in your Creator. To renew your focus, from time to time repeat, <"I am at
home."> And whenever a thought wanders into this holy home, say, <"I am at
home. This thought is the stranger here.">

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

Repeat the idea, letting it draw you to a place in your mind where you feel
truly at home. Thank your Father for the letters from home He sent you in
the previous hour, in the form of loving interactions and shifts in
perception. And ask Him what to do in the coming hour.

Response to temptation: When you are tempted to be afraid or to see a
brother as a stranger.

1.When you tempted to be afraid, say, "I am at home. This thought of fear is
the stranger here." While you do, imagine yourself at home within your mind
while the thought of fear loiters outside, powerless to get in.

2.When you are tempted to see a brother as a stranger, remember that he is
part of your Self. You might say silently to this brother, "You are at home
with me. There are no strangers here."

COMMENTARY

Fear in this lesson is virtually synonymous with "ego." The picture being
given is that we have invited fear, personified as a stranger, into our
house, and the stranger has taken over and declared that he is us. He has
taken over our identity almost completely. And the insane part of it all is
that we have gone along with the stranger. We have accepted that this
stranger is really us, and we have given our home over to him completely. We
have been dispossessed.

Who is the stranger? You, or the ego? It is so easy, when thoughts of fear
occupy our minds, to believe that the fear is us. The anger is us. The
loneliness is us. The sense of helplessness is us. We have habituated
ourselves to identifying with our thoughts and feelings of fear; we believe
they are us. The thrust of this lesson is that all of these manifestations
of fear are an interloper, not a genuine part of us at all. You are not the
ego; the ego is not you.

Stephen Levine, in several of his books, talks about relating <to> our fear
rather than relating <from> it. The distinction he is making is between
identifying with the fear (relating from it) or distinguishing our self from
it (relating to it). When I relate from my fear, I am in its grips. The fear
runs me; the fear is me. When I relate to my fear, however, I can look on it
with dispassionate mercy. I can react to it with mercy, and heal instead of
go into panic. It is the difference between saying, "I am afraid," and
saying, "I am having thoughts of fear" or "I am experiencing fear." My
thoughts are not me. I am the thinker who is thinking the thoughts, but I am
not the thoughts.

When we can separate ourselves from the fear we feel, we already have
identified with our true Self. Our Self is certain of Itself, and It
operates to heal our minds, to call us home. As we give this Self welcome in
our minds, we remember who we are.

Yet this new vision of ourselves, of necessity, includes everyone. It is as
though God were offering us a pair of glasses and saying, "If you put these
on, you will see your true Self." But when we discover that, in putting them
on, we see not only ourselves in a new light, but everyone, we rebel. We
want to see ourselves as innocent, but we are unwilling to see everyone that
way. If we refuse to see those around us as innocent, we will put down the
glasses, refuse the vision of Christ, and we will not be able to recognize
ourselves (10:5). "You will not remember Him [God] until you look on all as
He does" (10:4).

When thoughts of fear enter my mind today, let me recognize that they are
the stranger, the interloper, and that I am the one who is at home--not
fear. Fear does not belong. I do not need to accept it in my mind. But let
me not fight against it; let me look on my own thoughts of fear with
compassion and understanding, recognizing them as merely a mistake, and not
a sin. There is no guilt in feeling fear, or there need not be. I can step
back from these thoughts, step back into my Self, and see them as the
illusions that they are. I can look upon myself with love. And from this
same place of merciful awareness, I see all my brothers in the same light:
caught in fear, mistaking the fear for themselves, and needing not judgment
and attack, but forgiveness, kindness, and mercy.





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From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Jun  9 06:11:04 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 2009 06:11:04 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 161 - June 10
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAADC0OTEsO+lCrtUax3/b5w8BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>


Lesson 161 - June 10

"Give me your blessing, holy Son of God."

Practice instructions

Purpose: To "take a stand against our anger" (1:1). To remove the fears we
have projected onto our brothers and see the divine savior that they really
are.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Select one brother as a symbol of all brothers. Through forgiving him, you
forgive everyone.

Visualize him as clearly as you can: his face, hands, feet, and clothing,
his smile, his familiar gestures. Doing this gets you in touch with all the
negative meanings you have projected onto him. As the lesson said earlier,
the body of another is a great projection screen.

Then realize that what you are seeing blocks the vision of your savior. Deep
inside this person is a holy being who, like a great spiritual master, can
enlighten you with his blessing, can free you from your self-imposed chains.
If you saw him for Who he really is, you would be tempted to kneel at his
feet.

Ask this holy being to set you free. Say, <"Give me your blessing, holy son
of God. I would behold you with the eyes of Christ, and see my perfect
sinlessness in you."> Repeat these lines over and over, in the same spirit
in which you would ask the blessing of an enlightened master.

You have called on the Christ in him, and the Christ in him will answer you.
The scales will fall off your eyes and you will realize that you have been
completely wrong about who this person is. "Behold him now, whom you have
seen as merely flesh and bone, and recognize that Christ has come to you"
(12:3)--come to you to reveal the Christ in <you>.

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

Repeat the idea, perhaps applying it to a particular person. Then thank God
for the blessings He has given you in the hour gone by. And ask Him for His
direction for the hour to come

Response to temptation: Whenever you are tempted to attack a brother.

Use the idea instantly. Let it help you see past the appearance of a devil
(12:6), or a wild animal itching to rip you apart (8:2-4), to the reality
that here before you is the Christ.

Commentary

[Today's comments are something I wrote several years back while I was
working as a computer consultant in New York City. On this particular day, I
had expected to be able to work from home, via modem, but my client had
insisted I come into the office. This threw off my plans for a long "quiet
time." The comments that follow were what came to me as I read over the
lesson.]

"Today we...take a stand against our anger, that our fears may disappear and
offer room to love" (1:1). How "coincidental" that I begin this lesson with
flares of anger at having to rush off to work! When a brother or a
circumstance seems to cause anger in me, instead of listening to the ego and
agreeing that the brother or circumstance is the cause of my anger, let me
see that the brother is giving me a blessing by revealing to me that I am
angry, that I have dropped the hand of Jesus.

Think about it logically for a moment. If I am totally connected to the Love
of God in my heart, nothing will be able to disturb my peace. If something
comes along that does (seemingly) disturb my peace, something must have
happened beforehand. I must have disconnected from God's Love first, in
order to react as I do. That something, then, instead of causing my upset,
is merely revealing it to me. I can therefore see my brother's action, or
the circumstance, as a blessing, a message from God, a lesson God would have
me learn.

"Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind" (2:1).
Abstraction is the concern with content rather than form. It separates the
inherent qualities or properties of something from the actual physical
object to which they belong. The natural state of mind considers content
"apart from concrete existence" (American Heritage Dictionary).

Part of the mind, says Jesus here, has become concrete and specific rather
than abstract. It sees fragments of the whole, rather than the whole. This
is the only way we could see "the world." "The purpose of all seeing is to
show you what you wish to see" (2:5). If I am seeing something that "makes
me" angry or upset, it is because I wish to see it. The mind, dealing in the
abstract, has already separated from the Love of God (or thinks it has, or
wishes to, since that separation is inherently impossible). Therefore, it
splinters reality, sees specific forms that seem to justify its separation,
upset and anger. It creates illusions that seemingly give valid reasons for
being upset.

It accomplishes this only by seeing fragments instead of the Whole. If I
could see the whole picture, as God does, including things I cannot even
imagine from my limited perspective, I would never be upset. I have made up
those specifics. Since I have made them up, and am immersed in specifics
that were made for the purpose of justifying my separation from God, "now it
is specifics we must use in practicing" (3:2). The Holy Spirit will take the
specific circumstances I have made as an attack on God and use them to bring
me back. How?

We give them to the Holy Spirit, that He may employ them for a purpose which
is different from the one we gave to them. Yet He can use but what we
made... (3:3-4)

(In other words, all we have to work with are the specifics we've made up,
so He will use them.)

...to teach us from a different point of view, so we can see a different use
in everything. (3:4)

"The mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer grasp
abstraction in the sense that it is all-encompassing" (4:7). Ideas like "All
minds are joined" and "One brother is every brother" mean absolutely nothing
to us! We cannot grasp them. These abstract statements simply don't help us,
immersed in the illusion as we are.

We cling to the specifics, to symbols like the body, because our egos want
fear, and that is the only way fear can seem real. There is no reality to
fear itself, but the symbol of fear can seem very real. So we focus on the
symbols, the specifics, the body. We feel limited by our own body, and by
other bodies; we see bodies as attacking us.

What I see, when I see a brother as a body attacking me, is my own fear
external to myself, poised to attack (paragraph 8). We tend to think that
when we project fear, we see people who are afraid; not so, what we see are
people who seem to be <making us> afraid. We see a monster that "shrieks in
wrath, and claws the air in frantic hope it can reach to its maker and
devour him" (8:4). When I am upset and angry at my client for "forcing me"
to come to in to the office, that external specific is actually revealing to
me my own fear of God's Love! It is giving me the opportunity to see beyond
the apparent attack and to ask him for a blessing, to show me my own perfect
sinlessness.

If I allow the Holy Spirit to show me my brother as he is, instead of how my
fear has made him, what I see will be so awesome that I will hardly be able
to keep from kneeling at his feet in adoration (9:3). And yet what he is, I
am, and so I will, instead of kneeling, take his hand (9:4).

I call upon the Christ in him [my client] to bless me. I am seeing only a
symbol of my own fear of God. I bring that fear to the Holy Spirit now. And
as I do, I begin to feel a spark of true gratitude to my brother for
offering me this salvation from fear. I feel the resentment about having to
commute into the city melting away. This, too, is a lesson, and a very good
one. Thank you, Jesus, for this lesson. And thank you, my brother.






From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Jun 10 06:45:18 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:45:18 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 162 - June 11
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAMlDwjTb2hRFuUFX+sbsSt0BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 162 - June 11

"I AM AS GOD CREATED ME."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose: To accept the perfect holiness that is your right, to recognize the
Son of God in you. And to thereby bring this acceptance and recognition to
everyone.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

My suggestion: Spend this time in deep meditation. Let the power of these
sacred words ("I am as God created me") carry you to the place in your mind
where you experience the Self that God created as you. You might want to
begin this meditation by reviewing the various images you hold of yourself,
stating each one in the form "I see myself as..." and letting each one go by
affirming, "But I am as God created me."

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

Dwell on the idea and let it carry your mind to stillness. Then thank your
Father for His gifts in the hour gone by. And ask His guidance for the hour
to come.

Overall remarks: I recommend making a conscious decision to steep your mind
in these words today. Begin the day with them, end the day with them, and
try to keep them with you all the time in between. If you do so, you will
experience their power to uplift your condition. They can transform your
mind into the treasure house in which all of God's gifts are stored, ready
for you to distribute them to the world. Today's lesson assumes that your
understanding of this idea has deepened, for whereas in earlier occurrences
of it (94 and 110), you were given additional lines to repeat, this lesson
says you need no extra thoughts to draw out its meaning (4:2).

COMMENTARY

For the third time we encounter as the main thought of a lesson what may be
the single most repeated thought in the Course. (The first two lessons were
94 and 110; the idea was featured in Lesson 93 as well.) The phrase "as God
created" occurs 105 times in the Course. We will see it as a focus of our
Workbook review period in another twenty lessons, 201-220.

Why is this idea so important and repeated so often? "This single thought,
held firmly in the mind, would save the world" (1:1). In the Text, our
entire spiritual journey is characterized in terms of this idea: "You but
emerge from an illusion of what you are to the acceptance of yourself as God
created you" (T-24.II.14:5). If these statements are true, it is reason
enough to memorize this idea and repeat it over and over until it becomes
part of our pattern of thought. We might say that the entire Course is aimed
at nothing more, and nothing less, than bringing us to the point where we
hold this thought firmly in our minds.

In paragraph 4 our practice for the day is described as a very simple
practice. All we need are the words of the main idea: "They need no thoughts
beyond themselves to change the mind of him who uses them" (4:2). The change
of mind the Course aims at is simply the acceptance of ourselves as God
created us. By focusing on this thought, meditating on it, repeating it, and
chewing it over in our minds, we accelerate this change of mind. "And thus
you learn to think with God. Christ's vision has restored your sight by
salvaging your mind" (4:4-5).

In Lesson 93, there was a useful addition to the words that helped clarify
their meaning for me:

Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought;--you are as God
created you, not what you made of yourself. Whatever evil you may think you
did, you are as God created you. Whatever mistakes you made, the truth about
you is unchanged. Creation is eternal and unalterable. (W-pI.93.7:1-4)

We are not what we made of ourselves. Our mistakes have not changed the
truth about us. That is what accepting this idea means: the recognition that
nothing we have done has been able to alter our relationship to God in the
slightest, nor to change our nature, given us by God in creation. Our most
shameful acts, the thoughts we would never want exposed to the world, have,
none of them, changed God's creation in the slightest. There is no reason
for guilt, no cause to shrink from God in fear; our imagined "sins" have had
no effect. We are still safe, and complete, and healed, and whole.

How are we to use this thought? "Holy indeed is he who makes these words his
own; arising with them in his mind, recalling them throughout the day, at
night bringing them with him as he goes to sleep" (3:1). It reminds me of
the words written about the words of God in the Old Testament: "And thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when
thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou
liest down, and when thou risest up" (Deut 6:7). In other words, make them a
part of your entire life, especially on rising in the morning and when going
to bed.

To acknowledge that "I am as God created me" is to recognize the Son of God.
It is to be free of guilt. It is to know the innocence of every living
thing. It is to acknowledge God as perfect Creator. It is to release the
past. It is to forgive the world. In these words is everything we need: "I
am as God created me."





From sue at circleofa.org  Thu Jun 11 06:02:29 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:02:29 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 163 - June 12
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAFaifT1T5RhGk1369UzbMrEBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>


Lesson 163 - June 12

"There is no death. The Son of God is free."

Practice instructions

Purpose: To take a stand against every form of death; to realize that,
unless God is dead, death itself must be unreal. To look past the outward
appearance of death (which is all around us), and see the true life which
shines in all things. Thus we release all those who worship the idea of
death.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Begin with the prayer at the end of the lesson (this is the Workbook's first
prayer). Make it your prayer for the day. It asks that God bless your eyes,
to give them power to see beyond the illusion of death that confronts you
everywhere, and to see the eternal life that shines in all things. Through
this sight, you abandon the religion of worshipping death, and you rescue
others from this same dangerous cult.

After the prayer, do whatever you feel guided to do with the practice
period. Since the prayer focuses on seeing with Christ's vision, you may
want to try to sink down in your mind and join with the Christ in you, so
that His eyes become your eyes.

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

Repeat the idea. You may also want to pray the prayer again; I highly
recommend that. Then thank God for His gifts in the previous hour, and let
His Voice tell you what He wants you to do in the next hour.

Response to temptation: Whenever you are tempted to believe in a form of
death.

Forms of death include anything where life--in the broadest sense of the
word--appears to be losing the battle. This would include sadness, fear,
anxiety, doubt, anger, envy; in short, any negative emotion (see 1:2), as
well as sickness and physical death. In the face of these, immediately
repeat the idea for the day. Realize it means that life and death cannot
both be real, since they contradict each other. And since life is of God and
God can't be killed, unlimited life is the only reality there can be. We are
not imprisoned by the power of death. We are free in God's unlimited life.

Commentary

When the Course says, "There is no death," it is not talking about the death
of the body. In fact, elsewhere it states that the body does not die, for
the simple reason that it never has lived (T-28.VI.2:4; T-6.V(A).1:4). To
talk of physical immortality and to base it on ACIM is foolishness. How
could what never lives live forever?

"Death," says the lesson, "is a thought" (1:1). Not an event in the physical
world, but a thought. In its simplest form it is the thought "Life ends." It
is from this root thought that many different forms spring forth. Sadness is
the thought of death. Fear is the thought of death. Anxiety is the thought
of death. Lack of trust is the thought of death. Concern for the body is the
thought of death. Even "all forms in which the wish to be as you are not"
are really variants on the thought of death (1:2). My concern with my body
and wishing to lose weight is a veiled form of a death thought. Part of the
motivation to avoid being overweight is to "live longer." But if the body is
not alive at all, what are we talking about?

Even the apparently spiritual thought of desiring to leave the body behind
and to be free of it is a way of seeing physical death as some sort of
salvation. "My body is a wholly neutral thing" (W-pII.294.Heading). It is
neither a holy thing, destined to exist forever if we become sufficiently
spiritual, nor is it a trap, prison, or real limitation on spirit. Being in
a body does not keep me from being completely spiritual. Being in a body
does not make me an ego. Rather, it is being an ego that makes the body!

In the world's way of thinking, death is the only certainty. Everything else
is "too quickly lost however hard to gain" (3:1). As the Preacher of
Ecclesiastes cries, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity, futility and
striving after wind" (Eccl 1:2, 14, paraphrased). Wealth, luxury, family,
friends, nothing satisfies, and nothing lasts forever. Death takes them all
in the end. Death never fails to triumph over life.

The Course says that to accept this thought system--which we all do to a
greater or lesser degree, and far more extensively than any of us
recognize--is to proclaim the opposite of God (death) "as lord of all
creation, stronger than God's Will for life" (4:3). Each apparent triumph of
death is a witness that God is dead (5:1-3). He Whose Will is life could not
stop this death, so He must be dead. And as we watch the deadly drama, we
"whisper fearfully that it is so" (5:4).

We may respond by saying we don't want to believe it. We don't want to
worship death; we don't want to die; we want to believe in God and believe
in life. In fact, however, we do want to believe in death, at least in
certain forms of it. We've already pointed out that anger is a death
thought. In anger, we want something or someone to "go away" or "not be,"
which in its essence means we want them to die. We actually hold on to guilt
because we think guilt is useful; we are afraid that without guilt
everything would be chaos. Guilt or condemnation is a judgment that some
certain aspect of things does not deserve to exist. It is a wish for death,
death of part of ourselves or of another. And certainly we hold on
tenaciously to "the wish to be as you are not" (1:2).

We try to compromise. We want to hold on to certain death thoughts while
letting others go. The lesson says this is impossible. You can't "select a
few [forms of the death thought] you would not cherish and would yet avoid,
while still believing in the rest" (6:1). Why? Because "death is total.
Either all things die, or else they live and cannot die. No compromise is
possible" (6:2-4).

If death exists at all, it totally contradicts life. It is life's opposite;
surely that is clear. The lesson says, "What contradicts one thought
entirely can not be true, unless its opposite is proven false" (6:5). In
concrete terms we could paraphrase these words in this way: Death
contradicts life entirely, and cannot be true unless life is proven false.
The reverse is also true: Life contradicts death entirely, and cannot be
true, unless death is proven false.

If God is the Will to life, how can death exist? Something must be there
contradicting His Will, something more powerful than God. Anything more
powerful than what we call God must actually be God, the real God. So if we
are saying death is real in any form--physical death, or anger, or envy, or
fear--we are saying death is God, and the God of life is dead.

Here again we find an echo of the profound words from the Text's
introduction: "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists"
(T-In.2:2-3). Life cannot be threatened. Death does not exist.

"The idea of the death of God is so preposterous that even the insane have
difficulty in believing it" (7:1). It is absurd to believe that God died!
Yet, the point the Course is making here is that this is what we <must>
believe if we believe in death in any form.

"Death's worshippers may be afraid" (8:1). He's speaking about us, about you
and me. We are afraid of death, let's be honest about that.

And yet, can thoughts like these be fearful? If they saw that it is only
this which they believe, they would be instantly released. (8:2-3)

In other words, can the thought that God died be fearful? It is so patently
absurd, so utterly ridiculous, so absolutely, obviously untrue. If we saw
that this is what we are believing, when we believe in death in any of its
myriad forms, we would be instantly released. We would laugh at ourselves!

Belief in death is just another form of the "tiny, mad idea" at which "the
Son of God remembered not [i.e. forgot] to laugh" (T-27.VIII.6:2). If we
truly saw that worry about physical death, sadness, anger, envy, anxiety,
fear, doubt, mistrust, concern for bodies, and the desire for change are all
just forms of the idea "God is dead," we would laugh at them! We would see
that all of this is no big deal, all of it is just a silly idea that is
downright impossible and therefore nothing to worry about at all.


And so,

There is no death, and we renounce it now in every form, for their salvation
[those around us who believe in death] and our own as well. God made not
death. Whatever form it takes must therefore be illusion. This is the stand
we take today. And it is given us to look past death, and see the life
beyond. (8:5-9)

No one is saying this is easy. In the illusion of time it does not happen
overnight. In practice, it takes countless repetitions, constant vigilance
of the mind, until we learn to uproot and deny all the forms that denial of
truth has taken in our minds. To believe in death in any form is to deny
life and thus deny truth. Our function here is "to deny the denial of truth"
(T-12.II.1:5). It is to recognize the thoughts based on death and see they
are simply silly and meaningless.

When I find myself being worried, anxious, or sad, I can ask myself, "Is God
dead?" Somehow I find that helps me see the absurdity of it all. I lift a
bag of groceries and the bottom falls out, spilling food all over the floor,
and I am flushed with anger and deep sadness, in the form of feeling sorry
for myself. Suppose in that moment I ask myself, "Is God dead?" For that is
what my anger and sadness is proclaiming: God is dead. It suddenly seems so
absurd for me to leap from spilled groceries to the death of God, so absurd
I can laugh. And pick up the groceries.

More seriously, perhaps I experience "a great loss." My loved one dies, or
perhaps I go through a wrenching divorce. The sorrow seems unending, and I
feel as if life is over. "Is God dead?" In contrast to the magnitude of God,
my personal [and illusory] loss is as nothing. Do I really believe that what
happens in my little life can destroy the reality of God? Of course not.
Especially if what I believe happened isn't even real.

Naturally in such profoundly disturbing circumstances I don't recover as
quickly as I might over a bag of spilled groceries. Yet the same thoughts
suggested by this lesson can be of immense comfort. Nothing dies. Nothing
real can be threatened. Whatever form death takes must be illusion. When a
body "dies" nothing really dies. When a divorce rips a beloved body out of
my experience, nothing has truly been lost. I've been attached to an
illusion, but God is still alive.

The pain and agony of loss through death or divorce can continue for months.
Denying what I feel is simply not healthy, and I do not mean to suggest that
we should attempt to stuff our grief with idealistic affirmations that
"Death isn't real" and "Nothing has been lost." Rather, as the Course so
often suggests, I can simply look at what I am thinking and feeling and
recognize that, however real it feels, it is based on a denial of the truth.
I can remind myself, "I'm believing that death is real, and loss is real.
I'm believing that God is dead, and that's just a foolish notion. This pain,
which I am indeed feeling, is therefore not real and is nothing to be
concerned about. I'm okay, and God is still alive."

You might call it lucid living, similar to lucid dreaming. Although the
experience you are going through seems terribly real, and the grief and
sadness are real in proportion to your belief in the reality of the loss,
there is still a part of you that is aware that you are dreaming, that you
are being fooled by an illusion. You are fooled by the illusion, you do
suffer the grief and sadness, but part of you knows it isn't really real.

That's all the Course is asking us to do. We're not being asked to abruptly
jettison our feelings and our misthoughts. All the Course asks is that we
recognize that they are based on a lie, that really they are proclaiming God
is dead, and that simply isn't true. If we do that, the Holy Spirit will do
the rest. Bit by bit, gradually (so it seems to us), the shadows of illusion
will begin to lift from our minds. The form of "life beyond" the death we
see will begin to take on definition and shape in our minds, and the
illusion will become more and more shadowy. Our belief in death's many forms
will weaken, and our belief in life will strengthen. The events of the
illusion will have less and less effect on us, and we will experience the
second phrase of this lesson's title: "The Son of God is free." We will know
that we are eternally alive, and always have been, and there is nothing to
fear.






From sue at circleofa.org  Fri Jun 12 06:20:16 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:20:16 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 164 - June 13
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAMm2eat0mv5HgwsmLbBospgBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 164 - June 13

"NOW ARE WE ONE WITH HIM WHO IS OUR SOURCE."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Enormous promises are attached to today's practice, if we do it faithfully
(4:5), if we "practice in earnest" (9:5). So let's bring every ounce of
willingness we have to this practice today.

Begin by going through a process of "letting go all things you think you
want" (8:1). Go through a list of things your ego is attached to, and with
each one, be willing to consider, just for the duration of this practice
period, that it has no real value. You might imagine that you are inside the
room of your mind, a room cluttered up with all the "trifling treasures"
(8:2) you are attached to. One by one, clear out those worthless "treasures"
from this room.

Now you have a clean and open room, ready to receive real treasure from
Christ, "the treasure of salvation" (8:2). Let this room fill with "an
ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost" (4:2). Let it be
pervaded by "a sense of holiness in you the thought of sin has never
touched" (4:3). Hear your Father calling to you, and then hear the Christ in
you answer for you. Most of all, try to let in Christ's vision. Open the
curtains in this room; let in the light. Through these open windows, you now
can "see the world anew, shining in innocence, alive with hope"
(W-pI.189.1:7).

Now the room of your mind has become His treasure house, filled with the
gold and silver of His miracles. Now, wherever you look, your eyes deliver
these miracles, as you bless what you see with your loving gaze. Step out
into your day knowing that this is your job, to heal everyone you see by
looking on them with "His forgiving vision" (7:6).

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

Repeat the idea as a way of entering the treasure house of your mind and
feeling your oneness with God. Then thank Him for the treasures He bestowed
on you in the last hour. And ask Him what He would have you do in the next
hour.

COMMENTARY

To anyone who has done the Workbook lessons to this point, it is clear that
the recent lessons are reaching for some new kind of level. There is a
consistent emphasis on what the Course calls the holy instant, although many
of the lessons do not use the term. But when a lesson, as this one, speaks
of "this instant, now" as the time in which we come "to look upon what is
forever there" (1:3), or of the time we give to spend in quiet "with Him,
beyond the world" (3:2), it is clearly indicating times in which we enter
the holy instant, a moment of eternity within time.

The practice being asked of us (since Lesson 153), day after day, is to set
aside times of no less than five minutes, and as much as a half hour or
more, morning and evening, to exercise our spiritual sight and hearing. We
are being asked to listen to "the song of Heaven" (1:6) that is continually
sounding beyond all the sounds of this world. This "melody from far beyond
the world" (2:3) is the song of love, the call of our hearts to Him, and of
His to ours.

These times are periods in which we forget all our sins and sorrows (3:3),
and remember the gifts of God to us (3:4). We practice setting aside the
sights and sounds of the world that constantly witness to us of the ego's
message of fear, and we listen to the song of Heaven. We quiet ourselves,
still our minds, and try to get in touch with the "silence into which the
world can not intrude" (4:1), the "ancient peace you carry in your heart and
have not lost" (4:2), and the "sense of holiness in you the thought of sin
has never touched" (4:3). All of this, as the first paragraph says, "is
forever there; not in our sight, but in the eyes of Christ" (1:3). We are
not creating it; we are not making it happen; we are brushing away
everything within our minds that veils it from our sight. "Now is what is
really there made visible, while all the shadows which appeared to hide it
merely sink away" (5:2).

Such practicing puts our minds in a state in which we feel pure joy. Joy is
the word that comes to my mind to describe what a holy instant "feels like."
There is a sense of contentment, an assurance that, despite all evidence to
the contrary, all is well. There is a peaceful relaxation into the mind of
God. Our minds naturally reach out in love to all the world from within this
holy place, blessing rather than judging.

It may be difficult for us at this juncture to fully understand how such
quiet practice, something that takes place completely within our own minds,
can "save the world" (6:3). The lesson states in no uncertain terms that, by
means of this practice, "We can change the world" (9:2). How can that be? It
is so because all minds are joined, and while we may understand the concept,
our sense of its reality may be very weak. That is normal; the effect on the
world proceeds whether we are aware of it or not. We can, for the time
being, focus on the personal benefit: "But this you can surely want; you can
exchange all suffering for joy this very day" (9:4).

If you are like me, the reality and importance of this practice grows
slowly. There are many days we let "slip by" without taking the time to do
the work on our minds the Workbook calls for. The details of life, the press
of business, the daily crises shriek for our attention, drawing us away, as
they are meant to do. It takes some determination to put this "quiet time"
with God first, above all else. But when we do so, an amazing thing happens.
As Lesson 286 puts it: "Father, how still today! How quietly do all things
fall in place!" (W-pI.286.1:1-2). I recall, long ago, reading how Martin
Luther once wrote, "I have so many things to do today, I must spend three
hours in prayer to prepare myself." There was a man who understood, within
his own context, that preparing his mind with God was the most important
thing, and that the more pressing the world seemed, the more he needed that
quiet time in God's presence.






From sue at circleofa.org  Sat Jun 13 07:11:26 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:11:26 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 165 - June 14
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAIJ1mRrK4FdKkB7O7q0goVkBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 165 - June 14

"Let not my mind deny the Thought of God."

Practice instructions

Purpose: To stop denying the Thought of God; to experience it and then
abandon all else as worthless in comparison.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Practice in whatever way the Holy Spirit inspires you to, but the essence of
it should be undoing your denial of the Thought that created you and
sustains you, and asking to know that Thought. Thus, there should be both a
<negative> focus on letting go of your denial, your resistance, and a
<positive> focus on asking for the experience of the Thought of God, the
experience of Heaven. "Ask with desire" (5:1) and with hope (7:1). It is all
right if you doubt how much you want this. Certainty will only come through
experiencing what you ask for. This will carry you past all your doubts, to
where you know that this experience is indeed the only thing you want.

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

Repeat the idea, trying to let go of your denial and inviting the awareness
of Heaven. Then thank God for His gifts in the hour gone by, and ask for His
guidance for the hour to come.

Commentary

Today's lesson, tomorrow's, and those just before and after, are a strong
encouragement to move forward. The Course, in these days, is trying to draw
us past the point of hesitation and into a firm commitment.

What makes this world seem real except your own denial of the truth that
lies beyond?...What could keep from you what you already have except your
choice to see it not, denying it is there? (1:1, 4)

Ken Wilber, the author of many books on transpersonal psychology and
spiritual growth, points out that, viewed as evolution, spiritual growth
proceeds to the degree we are willing to die to the lower level of life in
order to transcend it and remember (or re-member) the higher level. The fact
that our experience is on an ego level is not because the higher is not
already here, it is because we have chosen the lower as a substitute for the
higher, and we do so in every instant. It is not until the lower level is
lived out, tried to the fullest, in a sense, and found lacking, that
motivation exists to move us higher.

We need to become disillusioned with the ego to the point that we begin to
see through its illusions. The degree to which the ego seems real to us is
the measure of our denial of "the truth that lies beyond" (1:1). We can't
see the real world because <we don't want to>. We are actively denying it.
The reality of the real world, if perceived and accepted, will mean the end
of reality as we now know it. Heaven appears to us as a threat to our
imagined comfort on the ego level.



Jesus appeals to us,

Deny not Heaven. It is yours today, but for the asking. Nor need you
perceive how great the gift, how changed your mind will be before it comes
to you. Ask to receive, and it is given you. Conviction lies within it. Till
you welcome it as yours, uncertainty remains. Yet God is fair. Sureness is
not required to receive what only your acceptance can bestow. (4:1-8)

You don't have to be sure before asking for Heaven. You don't have to be
certain. "Sureness is not required" (4:8). In fact, you cannot be sure or
certain before asking because "conviction lies within it" (4:5); that is,
you don't find the conviction, the sureness, the certainty until you have
Heaven, and you can't know you have it until you ask.

As we live thinking we are egos, considering moving forward, considering
leaving the ego behind, the ego fights for its own existence. "You don't
know what you are getting into here," it tells us. "How can you be sure
you'd like it? You'd better make sure before you make a move."

Certainty, sureness, and conviction come from experience. When you have
experienced the real world, even a glimpse, you will know you want it, you
will know it is what you want and what you have mistakenly been seeking in
the shadow world of the ego's illusions. So ask for Heaven.

Another comfort is that we don't have to understand all that Heaven, or the
real world, is, before we experience it. You don't have to have a clear idea
of what you're asking for, of "how changed your mind will be" (4:3). That
change of mind does not precede the decision to ask, it follows it. It is
the desire that allows it to come.

You don't even need to be sure that Heaven is the only thing you want!

You need not be sure that you request the only thing you want. But when you
have received, you will be sure you have the treasure you have always
sought. (5:2-3)

It's all right to go into this with reservations, such as "Maybe I can have
the real world and still hold onto my special relationships. Or maybe I can
have inner peace and still enjoy my little pleasures." Those reservations
will vanish once you taste the real thing. A very poor analogy, but one that
makes the point: "How can you keep them down on the farm after they've seen
Paris?" Once you taste "the treasure you have always sought" why would you
go back to lesser things?

We already have the certainty within ourselves, in reality. That's part of
what we've covered over with ego illusions. When we find the Self, we find
it complete with certainty. The process of the Course, of "removing blocks
to the awareness of love's presence" (T-In.1:7), is restated here in terms
of that inner certainty: "This course removes all doubts which you have
interposed between Him and your certainty of Him" (7:6).

The process consists of becoming aware of our doubts, owning them,
acknowledging them, and then not taking them seriously. This is exactly the
same process we go through with other such blocks, like anger and sadness
and pain. See them clearly so you can see that the doubts, too, are part of
the illusion. They are "meaningless, for God is certain" (7:3). "His
sureness lies beyond our every doubt" (8:3).

Certainty is not something we can generate for ourselves. "We count on God,
and not upon ourselves, to give us certainty" (8:1). But for that to happen,
we must be willing to move forward, to be willing to "die" to the level of
life we know now and to ask for something more, a different way of seeing, a
different kind of vision. We need to be willing to ask that "the Thought of
God" enter our minds and displace the distorted thinking we have been doing.
We need to "follow the instructions," so to speak, given in the Course; if
we do, certainty is sure to come to us.





From sue at circleofa.org  Sun Jun 14 07:43:13 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:43:13 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 166 - June 15
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAKIOV7TqMXJLodhQ/n5Rdu8BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 166 - June 15

"I AM ENTRUSTED WITH THE GIFTS OF GOD."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose: To give the gifts of God to those who still walk the lonely road
you are escaping. To demonstrate through your happiness what it means to
receive the gifts of God.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

My suggestion: Spend time feeling the touch of Christ. You have made a false
self that is akin to a mentally ill homeless person (see 4:4). As a result,
you wander about feeling alone and impoverished. In your meditation, let
Christ tap you on the shoulder and give you the awareness that you are not
alone and you are not impoverished. Experience the joy that comes from
feeling His touch.

This will prepare you for a day in which "your hand becomes the giver of
Christ's touch" (14:5), in which you become the reminder to the "homeless"
people around you that <they> are not alone and are not impoverished. You do
this primarily by demonstrating the joy you have received from Christ. "Be
witness in your happiness to how transformed the mind becomes which chooses
to accept His gifts and feel the touch of Christ" (15:4).

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

Repeat the idea and try to feel the touch of Christ. Then thank God for the
gifts He placed in your hands in the past hour. And ask Him how He would
have you give these gifts in the coming hour.

Response to temptation: Whenever you are tempted to be sorrowful, fearful,
tearful, or sick.

My suggestion: Repeat the idea in order to dispel these feelings, for they
betray your trust, your mission. Whenever you are afraid, hear Christ reply
with, "It is not so" (11:3). When you feel poor, let Him point out His gifts
to you. When you feel lonely, let Him speak of His companionship.

COMMENTARY

This lesson carries on the general tone of the previous one, attempting to
persuade us to keep moving forward, past the illusion of ourselves we have
been content to live with. It opens with the idea that God trusts us so much
He has given everything to us. Everything. He knows His Son, and just
because He knows us, He gives us everything without exception. His trust in
us is limitless. We doubt our own certainty, but God's we can depend on.

I trust God's trust in me.

What we fear is that trust in God is "treachery" to ourselves (3:2). We are
attached to this world we made.

To admit it is not real is to betray myself. If I have progressed beyond the
point of believing that I can create like God, that I can make a world that
is perfect somehow, at least I want to cling to the notion that I can unmake
what God made, that I can destroy the world and shatter its perfection. To
be told my actions, my sins, my denials, my doubts, and all their like are
without effect is demeaning to my ego self. So I contradict the truth of
Heaven to preserve what I have made.

There is a part of each of us that wants to be "a tragic figure," like some
hero or heroine in an opera (6:1 and following). We want to be able to say,
"Behold how nobly I withstand the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."
We think, all unconsciously, that without the "outrageous fortune" our
nobility would be lost.

When I listen to my ego, this is how I want to see myself. Such a tragic
figure! Poor thing, so weary and worn. Look at his threadbare clothing! How
he must have been deprived! And his feet--Oh! Poor thing! They are bleeding.

We can all identify with this figure. "Everyone who comes here [to this
world] has pursued the path he follows, and has felt defeat and hopelessness
as he is feeling them" (6:2). You know what this is talking about. You've
been there, maybe you are there now. You know what "defeat and hopelessness"
means, you've felt it too.

Yet is he really tragic, when you see that he is following the way he chose,
and need but realize Who walks with him and open up his treasures to be
free? (6:3)

Is "he," the tragic hero [who is you and me], really tragic? Or is he just
foolish? Is he just making a silly mistake? When you see that he is
<choosing> his path and could choose otherwise, can you consider his
suffering tragic?

"This is your chosen self, the one you made as a replacement for reality"
(7:1). This, folks, is the ego self we have chosen to be. It's how we've
seen ourselves. This is the self we are defending. This is the person we
have become, and we resist all the evidence and witnesses that prove that
this is not us.

Jesus calls on us to drop the victim act and recognize that "I am not the
victim of the world I see" (W-pI.31.Heading), that

<I> am< responsible for what I see. I choose the feelings I experience, and
I decide upon the goal I would achieve. And everything that seems to happen
to me, I ask for and receive as I have asked>. (T-21.II.2:3-5)

You see yourself as this tragic figure, but Jesus' response is: "[Christ]
would make you laugh at this perception of yourself" (8:3).

I'd like to meditate on that a while. Jesus wants to make me laugh! Jesus is
a frustrated comedian. Well, maybe not frustrated; look at what he
accomplishes through Marianne Williamson. He wants us to laugh at our egos!
He wants me to see the humor of my position, pleading tragedy when I've
deliberately chosen to be what I am.

Where is self-pity then? And what becomes of all the tragedy you sought to
make for him whom God intended only joy? (8:4-5)

The self-pity and the tragedy just disappear, that's what happens. When you
laugh at the "sorry figure" of the ego, the tragedy vanishes.

The next paragraph describes very well where some of us are right now, just
starting to realize that we are not the ego. This lesson is written on many
levels, addressing first, as we've seen, the person hiding in the ego
illusion of tragedy; then, in these next sentences, the person who has begun
to realize that the miserable ego is not his true Identity; and finally, in
paragraph 11 on, the person who has clearly seen and accepted that "you are
not what you pretend to be" (11:2).

In paragraph 9 we see the person in the middle--feeling torn, afraid, almost
under attack by God, Whom he has habitually avoided all his life. Let's
listen in to our responses as Jesus tries to make us laugh, and see
alongside it the humorous truth.

First, we sense the presence of God, Whom we have been hiding from: "Your
ancient fear has come upon you now, and justice has caught up with you at
last" (9:1).

Our reaction: <Oh, rats! It's God! Now I'm going> <to get it>.

Jesus: It's silly to be afraid of God, silly to think He is your Enemy and
wants to hurt you. What a laughable idea, to be afraid of God!

The lesson: "Christ's hand has touched your shoulder..." (9:2).

Our reaction: <What was that really weird feeling? Oh, Christ--was it
Christ? Is that His Voice in my mind? I must be losing it>.

Jesus: It is your brother, and he wants to bring you home. How foolish to
fear him!

The lesson: "...and you feel that you are not alone" (9:2).

Our reaction: <And I'm not sure I like the idea of someone always with me,
looking over my shoulder>.

Jesus: What a funny reaction! I am your Comforter and Teacher, not your
judge. It's silly to think you prefer being alone.

The lesson: "You even think the miserable self you thought was you may not
be your Identity. Perhaps God's Word is truer than your own" (9:3-4).

Our reaction: <I can't believe I've started to doubt these things I've
believed all my life! I must be insane!>

Jesus: On the other hand, who has more chance of being right: you, or God?
Be real!

The lesson: "Perhaps His gifts to you are real" (9:5).

Our reaction: <Yeah, and maybe it's just my imagination>.

Jesus: But what if they really are real, these gifts? Isn't it foolish not
to find out?

The lesson: "Perhaps He has not wholly been outwitted by your plan to keep
His Son in deep oblivion, and go the way you chose without your Self" (9:6).

Our reaction: <Yeah, and maybe He has. Maybe I've screwed it up so bad that
even God can't fix it>.

Jesus: Now that's truly funny! You, outwitting God? Right, sure, that's
really brilliant thinking. God decides He wants something and you are going
to keep it from happening?

Our reaction: <But if I didn't outwit Him, then I must still be what He made
me to be. I'm not sure I want to give up believing in what I've always
thought I am. I feel threatened>.

Jesus: So, okay. Hold on to the picture of yourself you've always had; I'm
sure you've really enjoyed being you, that way. Right? God isn't fighting
it.

The lesson: "God's Will does not oppose. It merely is" (10:1-2).

You're not fighting with God, and He is not fighting with you. He doesn't
fight, He doesn't oppose. He merely is. What you are fighting (and this is
fall-down, bust-a-gut funny) is reality itself. Thinking you are separate
from God is about as smart as a drop of water deciding it's not in the ocean
any more. It's like a lion deciding it wants to be a mouse. You're trying to
be what you are not; that's what causes all the strain, when it should cause
nothing but laughter. The fight is all on your side against an imagined
enemy. You are the Answer to all your own questions. There is nothing to be
afraid of here. The truth about yourself is wonderful, not frightening.

In the remainder of the lesson, Jesus talks of three things we need to know.
First, all the gifts that God has given us, that is, the real Self that we
are, whole, healed, and abundant. Second, His Presence with us, our
Companion on the journey. And third, that the gifts we have are made for
giving away; we have a purpose here, to give these gifts to "all who chose
the lonely road you have escaped" (13:1).

In a sense those are the three main thrusts of <A Course In Miracles>.
First, learning the true nature of Self, the holiness and joy of our own
being. Second, and equally important until we leave this world, is the sure
knowledge of His Companionship on the way, the help we need to make it
through. And finally, that the nature we have realized is that of Giver and
Lover; to know we have the gift, we must give it. We must teach the world by
showing it "the happiness that comes to those who feel the touch of Christ"
(13:5).

Our mission is just that: to be happy. "Your change of mind becomes the
proof that who accepts God's gifts can never suffer anything" (14:5). We are
here to

become the living proof of what Christ's touch can offer everyone...Be
witness in your happiness to how transformed the mind becomes which chooses
to accept His gifts, and feel the touch of Christ. Such is your mission now.
(15:2, 4-5)

Recognize His gifts. Feel His touch. And share His gifts with the world
through our happiness (not through beating people over the head with them).
Those are the three stages of moving forward.

Another way to put it: Drop the victim act and take responsibility as the
source of your life. Choose Heaven instead of hell, ask your Companion for
His help. And be the proof of Heaven's reality by your radiant joy and
refusal to suffer anything.






From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Jun 15 06:07:49 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:07:49 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 167 - June 16
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAKduenvgsfZPnLjMcdcLOCMBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 167 - June 16

"THERE IS ONE LIFE, AND THAT I SHARE WITH GOD."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose: To accept that the life God gave us has no opposite, cannot change,
cannot die, and cannot even sleep. To strive to keep our mind as He created
it, to let Him be Lord of our thoughts today. This is a companion lesson to
163, "There is no death. The Son of God is free."

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Remember that during the longer practice periods, at this point in the
Workbook, you are supposed to do what you feel guided to do and what has
worked for you up until this point.

My suggestion for today is to try to get in touch with "mind awake" (8:1).
This lesson teaches that our experience of death is not thrust upon us from
the outside, but is solely the result of our "idea of death" (2:3). Under
the sway of this idea, it says, our mind seems to fall asleep in Heaven and
dream of a life separate from God, a life in this world. And yet, says this
lesson, the mind "merely <seems> to go to sleep" (9:2; italics mine). In
fact, the mind "cannot change what is its waking state" (6:2). Thus, the
appearance of your mind as a volatile, changing field, with thoughts of fear
and hope constantly sweeping across it, is an illusion. Your mind is really
eternally awake, and as such is completely changeless and unlimited. That is
the reality of your mind. Try, then, in your meditation, to get in touch
with this reality. Try to leave behind the illusion of your mind as a
restless sea, and experience its reality as a boundless and steady light.

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

Repeat the idea and then spend a moment resting in the wakefulness that is
the reality of your mind. Then thank God for His gifts in the last hour. And
ask Him how you can express the truth that there is no death in the hour to
come.

Response to temptation: (Suggestion) whenever you feel tempted to
acknowledge death in any form--as sorrow, anxiety, weariness, discomfort.

Repeat the idea immediately. Realize that your negative emotion is a denial
of life, and use the idea to remind yourself that life is the only reality.

COMMENTARY

There is a repetition here, or perhaps a statement that I anticipated when,
in writing about Lesson 163, I said, "Belief in death is just another form
of the 'tiny, mad idea' at which 'the Son of God remembered not [i.e.
forgot] to laugh.'" This lesson says that death "is but an idea, irrelevant
to what is seen as physical" (3:2). Later it says, "Death is the thought
that you are separate from your Creator" (4:1). That is the essence of the
idea of death: separation from Life.

This is why we can say, "There is no death." It is simply impossible. God is
Life, and what He creates must be living. To cease living would be to
separate from God, to become His opposite. Since God has no opposite, there
is no death.

There is no death because what God created shares His Life. There is no
death because an opposite to God does not exist. There is no death because
the Father and the Son are one. (1:5-7)

"Ideas leave not their source" (3:6). That idea is central to the Course.
Ideas exist only in the mind that thinks them. Ideas do not exude out from
mind, take on an independent existence, become self-sustaining, and become
capable of opposition to the mind that created them. They simply don't do
that.

I am an idea in God's Mind. I am the thought of "me." I cannot depart from
God's Mind, live independently of Him, dependent only on myself, capable of
a will that opposes God's. I simply cannot do it. I can only imagine I am
doing it.

[Death] is the fixed belief ideas can leave their source, and take on
qualities the source does not contain, becoming different from their own
origin, apart from it in kind as well as distance, time and form. (4:3)

I cannot do that; I cannot leave my Source and take on qualities not
contained in that Source. Therefore, I cannot die.

We need to see that, as Lesson 163 (paragraph 1) said, death takes many
forms. The "attraction of death" spoken of in the "Obstacles to Peace"
section (T-19.IV) reflects all those forms. This lesson lists a few more:

Yet we have learned that the idea of death takes many forms. It is the one
idea which underlies all feelings that are not supremely happy. It is the
alarm to which you give response of any kind that is not perfect joy. All
sorrow, loss, anxiety and suffering and pain, even a little sigh of
weariness, a slight discomfort or the merest frown, acknowledge death. And
thus deny you live. (2:3-7)

What is death? Any feeling that is not supremely happy. Any response to
anything in our life that is not perfect joy. Can we see how anything less
than supreme happiness and perfect joy is a denial of life and an
affirmation of death? To be less than perfectly joyful is to assert there is
something other than God, other than Life, other than Love; something
"other" that dilutes the radiant Being of God.

I am not advocating becoming a bliss idiot, walking around in total denial
of the pain and suffering of our lives and of those around us, frantically
asserting, "Everything is perfect. None of this is real. It's all illusion,
ignore it. Only God exists."

Rather, I am encouraging the exact opposite. I am suggesting that we need to
start noticing just how much the idea of death influences us. We need to
notice those little sighs of weariness, those twinges of anxiety, and
recognize that the idea of death underlies them all, the idea that
separation from God is real, that something other than God exists, opposing
and nullifying His radiance. We need to notice how we believe we are that
"something other," or at least part of it. Notice, and say to God, "I'm
believing in death again. I'm feeling separated from You. And I know,
therefore, this feeling doesn't mean anything, because there is one life,
and I share it with You."

It is only when you recognize that you are responsible for those death
thoughts that you can truly understand they have no reality except in your
own mind. To affirm they have no reality without first taking responsibility
for them is unhealthy denial. It leaves them without a source, and they must
have a source. So your mind supplies an imagined source in God or somewhere
outside yourself, and you are back to the separation thought again, because
there is nothing outside God nor outside you. By screaming, "It's all
illusion!" without truly knowing that you are the illusionist, you make the
idea of death into something real, something to be fought against and
repressed.

To recognize death thoughts as illusion does not require that you do
violence to your mind. Seeing beyond illusion is the most natural thing in
the world when it happens naturally, as the result of taking responsibility
for the illusion. To see the world as illusion does not require concerted
and sustained effort. It is not something you can try to do. If you are
trying, you're doing it backwards.

The same principle operates when people say, "I'm trying to see the Christ
in him." You can't try to see Christ in a person; you either do or you
don't. When your eyes are open and nothing is in the way you don't have to
try to see! You just see.

Spiritual vision is the same. Christ is there, in every person, and you are
quite capable of seeing Him there. The problem is, you've erected many
barriers, many screens, that block your sight. You're seeing the reflection
of your own ideas instead of seeing who the person really is, which is
Christ.

The way to spiritual sight, the way to see Christ in a brother, therefore,
is to become aware of all the screens you are throwing up, all the illusions
you are projecting from your own mind, blocking true vision. Paradoxically,
you don't see Christ in a brother by looking at him, squinting and trying to
pretend he is a loving being; you see Christ in him by looking at your own
mind, your own thoughts, which are the barrier to vision.

Perhaps you are afraid of the person in some way. He appears to you as a
threat of some sort, perhaps prone to attack you physically, or to take your
money. Instead of trying to see through that picture of him as a bad person,
a threat to yourself, look at that picture itself and ask where it came
from. With the Holy Spirit's help, you will see that it originated entirely
in your own mind. It is the sum of your own judgments solidified into an
opinion. It is how you have taught yourself to see your brother. And that is
all.

You know, or you should, that you are not capable of judgment. You cannot
possibly have all the evidence. So you can turn to the Holy Spirit and say,
"I recognize that my opinion of my brother is my own creation. It is based
on the idea of death, of something separate from and other than God. As
such, I know it is only a bad dream. It has no meaning. My brother is not
what I think he is, and I am not a bad person for having this thought; I'm
just making a mistake. I am willing to let go of it, and since I am its only
source, I can let go of it."

You may go on feeling afraid. The key difference is not whether or not the
fear disappears, as it sometimes will. The key difference is that, if the
fear (or whatever feeling or judgment it may be) is present, you are aware
that you are making it up and it isn't real. This opens the way for a
different vision to dawn on you. If what you have been seeing is illusion,
there must be something else, some other way of seeing, that is real.

The vision of Christ, which is what the Course calls this different way of
seeing, may not burst on your sight after one application of this mental
process. It probably won't. We've got lots and lots of barriers to that
vision, and you may have recognized only one of many things preventing you
from seeing Christ in your brother. That's okay. You've understood that this
particular barrier is an illusion, and affirmed there is another way of
seeing your brother. That's all you have to do. You don't have to try to
find the other way! When you are ready, when the barriers are recognized as
something you make up, the vision will just be there.

It will "just be there" because it is already there. The Christ in you
already recognizes Himself in your brother. The process is similar to tuning
out static in a radio with electronic filters. There is a signal you want to
hear, but too much noise and static prevents its being heard. You identify
the static, isolate it, electronically "instruct" your equipment to ignore
it, and eventually, the clear signal comes through.

What you are doing in the process the Course recommends--looking at the ego
and its thoughts of death, identifying them, and deciding to ignore them
because they come from an undependable source--is tuning out the static.
Keep doing that, and the clear signal of Christ's vision will come through.
It is there, in you, right now. You just can't "hear" it for all the noise
the ego is making.






From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Jun 16 06:13:24 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:13:24 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 168 - June 17
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAOvZ3svwxTFEgP/j1132JAkBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




Lesson 168 - June 17

"Your grace is given me. I claim it now."

Practice instructions

Purpose: To ask for and experience the gift of God's grace, which will give
us first the gift of vision, and then eternal knowledge. This will
momentarily lift us into Heaven, restore all forgotten memories and give us
certainty of Love. This is a new and holy day.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Begin with the prayer at the end of the lesson: "Your grace is given me. I
claim it now. Father, I come to You. And You will come to me who ask. I am
the son You love." Make this prayer as heartfelt as you can. In it, you are
lifting your heart to God and asking Him for the gift of grace, in which He
leans down to you and raises you up to Him, restoring you to full awareness
of Him and His Love. The next lesson will explain that such moments will
only "replace the thought of time but for a little while" (W-pI.169.12:3),
but this little while can change your life forever. So ask for it with all
the desire you can, and then hold your mind in silent expectancy, poised,
motionless, waiting for the descent of His grace. And when your mind
wanders, repeat the prayer again to bring it back to that motionless
waiting.

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

Repeat the prayer and spend a moment waiting in stillness for God's grace.
Then thank Him for the reflections of grace you experienced in the hour gone
by. And ask Him what He would have you do in the hour to come.

COMMENTARY

What is grace?

This lesson answers not in the impassive terms of a formal definition, but
in the picture of a warm, personal conversation with God. "God speaks to us.
Shall we not speak to Him?" (1:1-2). Grace is the concomitant of God's Love,
something that comes along with it as part of the package. He has always
loved us (1:7-11). Grace is the effect or application of that love which
guarantees His Love will be fully recognized and received. Grace is whatever
it takes to bring us out of our sleep. It is the movement of love that woos
us back to Him, the quiet whisper of His Voice in our minds that will not
let us go, the careful planning of our curriculum to help us unlearn
everything we have taught ourselves of fear, the activity of Spirit that
works constantly to win back our trust, restore our joy, assuage our guilt.
It is His answer to our despair. It is the means by which we recognize His
Will (2:3-4).

His grace is given me. His grace is "a given," a certainty, part of what it
means that God is Love. It is a gift, always available, always being given,
awaiting only my acknowledgment (2:5). It is "the gift by which God leans to
us and lifts us up" (3:2). And ultimately, grace is that aspect of His Love
in which "finally He comes Himself, and takes us in His Arms and sweeps away
the cobwebs of our sleep" (3:4).

Shall I not, then, today, sit down for a few minutes of quiet conversation
with this God of Love? Can I not take the time even to ask Him to grant me
this grace, which He has already granted? Can I not express my willingness
to receive it, to allow this sorry world to disappear from my sight,
replaced by true vision? Can I not tell Him that I long, at least in part of
myself, to be swept into His Arms? I may feel as though I am making some
kind of surrender or concession; I may believe I am giving something up, or
losing something dear to me. Yet if this opening to grace is surrender at
all, it is surrender only to Love. It is a sigh of lost resistance to what I
have always, always wanted. It is a loss of pretense, a falling back into
what I have always been. It is surrender to my Self. It is capitulation to
my Beloved; nothing more than that, and nothing less. It is the ultimate
manifestation of "falling in Love."

Do I doubt my own capacity to love, and to respond adequately to God's
immaculate, eternal Love? "Our faith lies in the Giver, not our own
acceptance" (5:2). It is not the power of my choice or my faith that works
the miracle, it is the power of Him Who gives it. His grace gives me the
means to lay down all my errors (5:3), even when I doubt my own ability to
do so. That is what grace is for. Grace supplies everything I think I lack.
As God once said to the Apostle Paul, "My grace is sufficient for thee" (2
Cor 12:9). What is grace? Everything we need to bring us home to God,
whatever form that might take.






From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Jun 17 06:11:39 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:11:39 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 169 - June 18
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAIn17sQ687BPkNuQyXb6g/4BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 169 - June 18

"By grace I live. By grace I am released."

Practice instructions

Purpose: To ask for grace, and the temporary experience of Heaven that comes
from grace. And then to return and bring to others the gifts that you
received from grace.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Today you are again asking for the gift of grace, which will momentarily
lift you into the knowledge of Heaven. Begin with this prayer: <"By grace I
live. By grace I am released. By grace I give. By grace I will release.">
The first half of this prayer asks that your mind be raised up into the
daylight of reality, where you will experience pure oneness. This is the
"experience we try to hasten" (7:1). This is not the final revelation that
will one day come to you, in which you finally disappear from time and space
altogether, but it does signify that that day is coming. This is essentially
a meditation in which you are going for it all, so bring to it all that you
have learned about meditation, as well as all of your desire for God.

The second half of the prayer speaks of the aftereffects of the moment of
grace. Once you emerge from your instant of timelessness, people will "see
the light that lingers in your face" (13:2), and you will give them the
miracles that were laid in your mind in that holy instant.

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

Repeat the prayer used in the longer practice, asking again for God's grace.
And then thank God for whatever reflections of grace came your way in the
previous hour. And ask Him how, in the coming hour, He would have you give
the gifts you received in your meditation.

COMMENTARY

Grace, Jesus tells us, "is an aspect of the Love of God which is most like
the state prevailing in the unity of truth" (1:1).

I suppose one might say that to live by grace means to live with full,
conscious awareness of Love's Presence while in the world. In that sense, it
is equivalent to living in the real world.

This fits in with the rest of the first paragraph. The state of grace, or
living by grace and constantly receiving grace, is something beyond
learning. Learning only prepares us for it, for learning is purely in this
world. Really, what we are doing is unlearning all our denial of the truth
about our Self.

"It is...the goal of learning, for grace cannot come until the mind prepares
itself for true acceptance" (1:3). Learning prepares us to accept grace. It
does not give us grace, but it prepares us to receive it, to accept it,
which implies that grace is already available but we are not able to accept
it.

"Grace becomes inevitable instantly in those who have prepared [a place in
themselves where it can be] willingly received" (1:4). Grace is simply
there, instantly, whenever we are ready to receive it. Learning is necessary
to produce the state of willingness; then the grace just pours in. We don't
have to do anything to bring it, but we do have to progress through
(un)learning to remove our unwillingness to receive.

There then follows what is perhaps the best definition of grace in the
lesson: "Grace is acceptance of the Love of God within a world of seeming
hate and fear" (2:1).

Grace means seeing through the illusion. I am still in this world of
"seeming hate and fear" and yet, somehow, I accept the Love of God. I accept
that He is wholly Love, not angry and vengeful, not something to be feared
because of my sin, not someone to be blamed for the seeming ills of the
world: God is Love. Instead of seeing the world as solid and real, and
wondering how God can be loving when all this is going on, "those whose
minds are lighted by the gift of grace can not believe the world of fear is
real" (2:2). Those who know grace know that God is real, love is real, and
it is the world of fear that is the illusion.

Grace is not learned. The final step must go beyond all learning. (3:1-2)

This is not something you learn. It cannot be learned. It must come from
outside the context in which learning occurs, which is purely the ego
context. The Course often says there is no learning in Heaven, or in God.
How could there be learning where everything is known?

Grace is not the goal this course aspires to attain. Yet we prepare for
grace in that an open mind can hear the Call to waken. It is not shut tight
against God's Voice. It has become aware that there are things it does not
know, and thus is ready to accept a state completely different from
experience with which it is familiarly at home. (3:3-6)

So, since learning is the goal of the Course, grace is not; it is beyond
what the Course teaches because it cannot be taught. But the learning of the
Course, which is really unlearning, prepares us for grace by loosening the
tight grip of the ego on our minds. The goal of the Course, as seen in this
paragraph, is an open mind and an awareness that there are things we don't
know.

We do not realize the extent to which our minds have been closed, "shut
tight against God's Voice." That is what we must learn. What we learn is all
the ways we shut God out. When we learn that completely, there is nothing
left to shut Him out and He is simply there, as He has always been.

The lesson then goes on to talk of the state of Heaven or oneness. I don't
have time to comment on it here; the lesson speaks for itself when it says,
"We cannot speak nor write nor even think of this at all" (6:1).

Yet forgiveness, taught and learned, brings with it the experiences which
bear witness that the time the mind itself determined to abandon all but
this is now at hand. (7:2)

In other words, forgiveness is what we now teach and learn, not grace.
Forgiveness is the learning process, the preparation for grace, and it gives
us witness experiences, foretastes of what it is like to live in grace.

Now we have work to do, for those in time can speak of things beyond, and
listen to words which explain what is to come is past already. Yet what
meaning can the words convey to those who count the hours still, and rise
and work and go to sleep by them? (10:3-4)

We are still in time. Let's be real and practical here. Talking about
"things beyond" and trying to understand how "what is to come"
(enlightenment or awakening, which is in our future, as we perceive it) "is
past already" (that is, the journey is already over, we're already
enlightened, and oneness is a constant state which is here now, forever as
it always was)--talking about these things can be fascinating, a little
encouraging perhaps, but how on earth can we understand it? We can't! The
words convey very little meaning to us while we live and order our lives by
time, by counting the hours.

It is good to think of these things a little, but to do so is not our main
task. In fact, it can be a waste of time if it distracts us from the fact
that "we have work to do" here, now. Forgiveness work. Sitting around
discussing what it means to live constantly by grace, in the real world, or
what follows in the experience of Heaven, is meaningless without that very
real and practical work of forgiveness going on in our lives.

We won't understand Heaven until we get there. Grace foreshadows Heaven, and
we can't even understand that yet, not fully. We can have tastes of it,
though, in the holy instants in which we connect with God and with Love in
our minds. So,

now we ask for grace...Experience that grace provides will end in time...[it
does] not replace the thought of time but for a little while. (12:2-3)

The experiences of grace come, and they go. We experience being outside of
time "but for a little while." These experiences, which come in moments of
true forgiveness, are all we need for now. "The interval suffices" (13:1).
The holy instants, the "little while" of each forgiveness experience, is
enough. It is all we need.

"It is here that miracles are laid" (13:2). In other words, the holy instant
opens us to miracles. It is the way that miracles flow into our lives, "to
be returned by you from holy instants you receive, through grace in your
experience, to all who see the light that lingers in your face" (13:2). When
you "come back" from the holy instant, there is a light that lingers in your
face. Other people see it, and to them, you bring the miracles you received
in that moment.

What is the face of Christ but his who went a moment into timelessness...
(13:3)

This is talking about you and me. The face of Christ is your face, my face,
when we have received a holy instant and "return" to the world of time; our
faces glow with the light of Heaven.

...and brought a clear reflection of the unity he felt an instant back to
bless the world? (13:3)

That is our function here in the world: to bring a clear reflection of
Heaven's unity back to bless the world. To ask for grace, to open our mind
to receiving grace from God, to choose, as often as we can, to "go" into
that holy instant in which we feel the unity of Heaven, and then to return
with a reflection of that to bless the world. Notice that the unity is
"felt" and not just intellectually accepted and understood. It is felt. That
is what happens in a holy instant.

We hear about living the in the real world, or what it must be like to live
in a constant state of oneness (Heaven), and we want it. We want it now. We
get frustrated because the holy instants come and go, they last "but for a
little while" and we find that disappointing. Jesus is explaining here that
the learning stage is absolutely necessary, and we should not feel
frustrated, we should not think we are failing in our work if the holy
instants don't last.

How could you finally attain to it forever, while a part of you remains
outside, unknowing, unawakened, and in need of you as witness to the truth?
(13:4)

Your brothers around you in the world, "unknowing, unawakened," are your own
thoughts in form. They are "a part of you" which "remains outside." You have
a mission here, a purpose to fulfill. Awakening must be communicated. You
want a steady state of "holy instant-ness," but Jesus asks, "How could you
attain that if part of you is outside that state of oneness, unknowing,
unawakened, unaware?" Your oneness must include them.

Jesus says we should actually be grateful to "come back" from these holy
instants, back to the world of time. Listen:

Be grateful to return, as you were glad to go an instant, and accept the
gifts that grace provided you. You carry them back to yourself. (14:1-2)

If the holy instant is a moment in which you are aware of oneness, in a
sense you have to come back. You have to come back because you are aware of
your oneness with those who haven't seen yet. They are part of you, and so
you have to "go back" to bring the gifts of grace to that part of yourself
that is still not awake, as you see that reflected in your brothers.

Jesus tells us clearly to be content with this, to "not ask for the
unaskable" (14:7). To want Heaven for myself while leaving my brothers
behind is to fly in the face of what Heaven is: the awareness of oneness. A
private salvation is unaskable. We go together or we go not at all.

Some might react to this as though the mass of humanity is holding us back
and preventing our full enlightenment. Such a thought is still based on a
consciousness of separation and so is totally alien to grace and Heaven. The
world you see is not a force separate from you, restraining you. It is a
reflection of your own self-restraint, your own resistance which has yet to
be overcome or unlearned. The world is not outside your mind, but in it. You
are the world, that is what you are learning.

You become what you always have been by accepting your role as savior to the
world. Your salvation is the world's salvation. They are not two things,
they are the same.

We "come back" to save the world. That doesn't mean that we have our little
moment of bliss and then come back to preach to the world about it and tell
them how enlightened we are, and why don't they get with it? If your
salvation is the world's salvation, the reverse is true: the world's
salvation is your own. You save the world by working on yourself. "The sole
responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself"
(T-2.V.5:1). You save the world by changing your own mind, because that is
where the world is, in your mind. There is only one mind, only one of us
here.

When you are at a movie, if there is a problem on the screen you don't run
to the screen to fix it; you find the projector and fix that. Those
"unenlightened people" you see out there are parts of your own mind that you
haven't recognized as part of you; you don't bring them with you by trying
to work to fix the screen (those separate people out there), you do it by
working with the projector, the cause (your own mind).

Be glad to go an instant, and be grateful also to return, to bring the light
of God to the world. You bring it to yourself. It is in seeing that fact
that you will be saved. The returning is not a step back into time. No, it
is a step forward in your own awakening, the means by which you bring all
the world with you into timelessness, there to be the oneness you have
touched and known.






From suelegal at gmail.com  Thu Jun 18 05:48:45 2009
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:48:45 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 170 - June 19
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAKESmO9ha0xJiXe/thQ338EBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>




Lesson 170 - June 19

"There is no cruelty in God and none in me."

Practice instructions

Purpose: To stand before your devotion to cruelty as a means of safety, see
it as a meaningless idol, and choose to serve this idol no longer.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

We need to look honestly at our belief that attacking others in self-defense
keeps us safe. This amounts to a belief that <cruelty> keeps us safe, since
all attack intends to hurt and the intent to hurt is cruel. This has
enthroned cruelty as a god in our mind, a god we dare not question.

Yet today, we must question this god. We must look dispassionately at our
belief that cruelty means safety. So first, get in touch with this belief in
you. Note how you do believe that, when attacked, your attack in return will
keep you safe. Then be willing to question this belief. Consider the
possibility that your own defense against an attack is what gives it power
in your eyes. Consider the possibility that your own cruelty is ultimately
what makes you afraid. And consider that this belief that cruelty equals
safety is just that--a belief, an idea to be calmly re-examined, not a god
to be worshipped.

Now turn to another aspect of this belief. You realize that God wants you to
lay down your arms, to give up attack and defense. This makes Him appear to
be cruel, for He seems to want to strip you of your protection. He
apparently wants you to be all meek and saintly while you get run over. As
soon as you see cruelty as the god that protects you, then the real God of
Love will seem cruel, as if your protection does not matter to Him. Look at
this belief. Be willing to question it. Is it possible that He wants your
safety more than you do? Is it possible that "love is your safety"
(W-pII.5.5:4)?

In looking at both beliefs--that cruelty is your god and that God is
cruel--you are standing before the same idol, and making a choice. "Will you
restore to love what you have sought to wrest from it and lay before this
mindless piece of stone?" (8:4). While trying to make this choice, keep
repeating the idea <"There is no cruelty in God and none in me."> Consider
that God is only Love and that your nature is like His, that cruelty is
quite simply unnatural for you. Genuinely try to "look for the last time
upon this bit of carven stone you made, and call it god no longer" (11:2).

If you succeed, you will walk out upon a new world, which you will see
through new eyes. You will look on the same people, but whereas before you
saw danger in them, now you will see God's glory in them. Where before your
heart was filled with fear and cruelty, now it will be filled with nothing
but love.

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

Repeat the idea, trying to renounce your allegiance to cruelty and to accept
the love that is your true nature. Then thank God for the gifts of His Love
that came your way in the hour gone by. And let Him tell you how to express
the newfound love in your heart in the hour to come.

Commentary

The basic thought today's lesson contains is that our attempts at defending
ourselves are what make external attack seem real to us.

We fear because we believe, somewhere deep in our hearts, that we have
attacked, and deserve punishment for our attack. We sense within ourselves a
belief that "to hurt another brings [us] freedom" (1:4). This belief lies
behind every attack we attribute to self-defense. No matter how hard we try
to justify our attacks, something in us knows that our intent is to hurt the
other person because we believe that hurting them will somehow free us from
something. In a nutshell, we believe that we are inherently cruel.

We project our belief in attack onto something external; we see the attack
as coming from outside of our own mind. In reality, there is nothing outside
of our mind; we are the ones who attack ourselves by our guilt, but we
believe we see the attack external to ourselves, justifying further attack
on our part. Thus fear and defense become the means of preserving ourselves.
And "love is endowed with the attributes of fear" (5:3); that is, because
love would counsel us to lay down our defenses, it becomes something to
fear. Love becomes dangerous.

>From this perspective, fear and cruelty become a "god," an idol, something
to be preserved at all costs. To let go of fear becomes the ultimate danger.
We fear being without fear more than anything else; we cling to our fear,
believing that it protects us.

Taken to the extreme, this "worship" of fear and cruelty ends up being
projected onto God Himself; we see Him as a vengeful God, breathing fire,
threatening us with hell, ready to dupe us with His talk of love, laughing
with savage glee as we go down to defeat. In fact, it is our fear of God,
buried as well as we can bury it, disguised in many forms when it leaks out
of our unconscious, but ever present, that is "the basic premise which
enthrones the thought of fear as god" (9:4). Ultimately, all our defenses
are defenses against God. Buried deep in our psyche is our conviction that
the universe is out to get us. Most of our lives, if we look at them with
honesty, are spent in buttressing our fortifications against "things" that
seem to threaten us.

The Course calls on us to lay down our defenses as the only way of
discovering that the threat is unreal (2:6-7). God is not angry. The
universe is not out to get us. If God appears to us to be separate from us,
only the walls we have erected make it seem so. We are the victims only of
our own defenses.

We have no reason to fear. We are not cruel; we cannot be, for God Who
created us has no cruelty in Him. There is no punishment hanging over our
heads. We are the innocent Son of God, the Son He loves. Without that primal
fear, there is nothing to project upon others; when we cease to project our
fear, there is no perception of attack from without; when no attack is
perceived without, there is no need for defense.

If we assess our "god" of fear and defense honestly we have to see that it
is made of stone. It has no life; it cannot save us. Fear begets fear;
attack begets attack. The wars of the world testify to this endlessly.
Hurting others <never> makes us safe; it only adds to the cycle of fear and
attack.

To realize that our trusted method of securing safety is worthless, that our
champion warrior is a traitor, can be a terrifying moment. The missile silos
in which we have placed all our trust are pointed at our own hearts! "This
moment can be terrible. But it can also be the time of your release from
abject slavery" (8:1-2). To think of giving up defense entirely can
momentarily paralyze us with fear. But it can be the moment in which we are
free to recognize that what we fear does not exist, and the "enemy" we have
striven to keep out is allowed to enter, bringing His peace with Him.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Fri Jun 19 06:54:43 2009
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:54:43 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] REVIEW V, LESSON 171 - JUNE 20
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAACLhFGpq5sdJhv8BhkfCR80BAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



REVIEW V, LESSON 171 - JUNE 20

CENTRAL THEME:

God is but love and therefore so am I

REVIEW OF:

(151) All things are echoes of the Voice for God.
(152) The power of decision is my own.


PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Practice Instructions Review V

COMMENTARY

REVIEW INRODUCTION:

The introduction to our review opens with a powerful appeal to us to take
our practicing seriously, to "give more effort and more time to what we
undertake" (1:2). Once again, as in Review IV, we are reminded that this
series of lessons is meant to help us in "preparing for another phase of
understanding" (1:3). Review IV made it clear that this is a reference to
the second part of the Workbook: "This time-we are preparing for the second
part of learning how the truth can be applied" (W-pI.rIV.In.1:1). The
realization that we are preparing for something more, a shift into another
phase, is meant to motivate our efforts so that we "take this step
completely, that we may go on again more certain, more sincere, with faith
upheld more surely" (1:4). One gets the sense that the effectiveness of the
second half of the Workbook depends, in large measure, on how much time and
effort we are willing to put into our practicing right now.

I remember the first few times I did the Workbook, I always felt the second
half was a bust. Anticlimactic. I also remember that I made no serious
effort to follow the practice instructions; I just read the lesson every
morning. I am absolutely certain that there is a direct connection between
those two facts: my feeble practice, and my sense of anticlimax.

The Workbook recognizes that we have been wavering, and that we have had
doubts that caused us to be less than diligent in practicing. It does not
berate us over this, but it does make clear that if we want the results, we
have to follow the program. The reward will be "a greater certainty, a
firmer purpose and a surer goal" (1:6).

Paragraph 2 and 3 of the review inroduction:

The prayer in paragraphs two and three would be, in my opinion, a good one
to use every day during this review. It needs no comment; the meaning of
every line is quite clear. It is a prayer for diligence in practicing. It is
an affirmation of faith that, even if we forget, stumble, or wander off, God
will remember for us, raise us up, and call us back.

Today's two thoughts connect easily to the theme idea. If God is only Love,
and I am also only love, then everything echoes His Voice. Everything is
nothing but an aspect of Him. The decision I face, today and every day, is
whether or not to accept this fact. Will I live today as an expression of
the Love of God, or will I choose to attempt what must be impossible: to be
something else?






From suelegal at gmail.com  Fri Jun 19 06:58:03 2009
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:58:03 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] INTRODUCTION REVIEW V
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAItfpoVdQfRFsk6ViiRR5Y8BAAAAAA==@gmail.com>




INTRODUCTION REVIEW V

Another review! 

As you read through the Introduction to the Review, you will notice that
there are no detailed practice instructions. The summary, given in paragraph
11, is the only reference to the actual practice we are meant to follow. A
morning time, an evening time, and keeping the idea in our remembrance
throughout the day-that's all the instruction we are given. Actually, the
full instructions were given in Lesson 153, paragraphs 15-18. There, we were
told that we would keep up this particular regimen "for quite a while." That
"while" is still continuing.

In the ten days of review, I will be commenting mainly on the Review
Introduction, rather than the daily ideas being reviewed. The first day I'll
cover the first three paragraphs, and then one paragraph a day for the
remaining nine review lessons. The theme idea for the review is: "God is but
Love, and therefore so am I." This central idea apparently contains in
implicit form all of the ideas we will review. As a result, each of the
review ideas, like a spotlight shining on one part of a mountain, illumines
some portion of the central idea. I will attempt to point out some ways the
theme is connected to each day's two thoughts.





From suelegal at gmail.com  Fri Jun 19 06:54:43 2009
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:54:43 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS REVIEW V
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAK7qrPXkSktAtQVUp8iARqEBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>



PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS REVIEW V

PURPOSE: 

To prepare for Part II of the Workbook. To give more time and effort to
practicing, that you may pick up your pace on the journey to God. To
recognize the truth in the central idea ("God is but Love, and therefore so
am I"). Make this review a gift to Jesus and a time in which you share with
him a new yet ancient experience.

THE PRAYER: 

Use the prayer in paragraphs 2 and 3 to dedicate the review to God. It asks
God to lead your practicing and to call you back to it when your practice
lags, so that you can make quicker progress on the road to Him.

THE CENTRAL THOUGHT: 

The review really revolves around this idea ("God is but Love, and therefore
so am I"). The purpose of the review is to bring us to a place where truly
understand and experience the truth of the idea. And the purpose of the
ideas being reviewed is to support the central idea, draw out different
aspects of it, and make it "more meaningful, more personal and true"
(W-pI.rV.In.4:2). Therefore, have this idea pervade every day of this
ten-day review. Start and end the day with it, start and end each practice
period with it, and surround every repetition of the review ideas with it.

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

Spend a moment repeating the central thought ("God is but Love, and
therefore so am I") and the two review ideas. Surround each review idea with
the central idea. Use the review ideas to illumine some aspect of the
central thought and make it more meaningful to you.

Then enter what I call "open mind meditation." Hold your mind still and
quiet, empty of all words. Words are like signposts-they point to meaning,
but now you are seeking the direct experience of meaning, and for this,
words only get in the way. In this verbal void, simply wait in "silent
expectancy" (W-pI.94.4:1) for the experience of what the words speak of, the
experience of your true Self. Your whole focus is on waiting "in still
anticipation" (W-pI.157.4:3). Your mind is at rest, yet also poised. Your
whole awareness is waiting for the dawn of realization to spread over it.
Hold this focus wordlessly. However, when your mind wanders, which will
happen regularly, repeat the central thought to remind you of what you are
waiting for-the realization of your true Self-and then return to your
wordless waiting.

Close by repeating the central thought once again.

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

Suggestion: Repeat the two review thoughts, surrounding each one with the
central thought. Then thank God for his gifts in the previous hour and ask
His guidance for the coming hour. Close with the central thought.






From suelegal at gmail.com  Sun Jun 21 20:28:29 2009
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:28:29 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review V, Lesson 172 - June 21
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAEs8Ogp1SH5InYO76c5fofYBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>




Review V, Lesson 172 - June 21

"GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I."

(153) "IN MY DEFENSELESSNESS MY SAFETY LIES."

(154) "I AM AMONG THE MINISTERS OF GOD."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Review V practice instructions.

COMMENTARY

Paragraph 4 of the review introduction:

"This is the thought..." (4:1). The words refer to sentence 3 of the
paragraph, the theme thought for the review. As we review, we are to dwell
on this thought first, every day, every morning and evening, and often
through the day. Each additional thought from the previous lessons
"clarifies some aspect of this thought, or helps it be more meaningful, more
personal and true, and more descriptive of the holy Self we share and now
prepare to know again" (4:2). It would be good, in our reviewing, to
meditate on how this central thought relates to the other two ideas. The
focus is on the theme thought; the additional thoughts are meant to clarify
it or expand on it.

Notice the word "prepare" used again in sentence 2. The new "phase of
understanding" (1:3) that we are preparing for will have something to do
with once again coming to know our true Self. The first half of the Workbook
has concentrated on undoing our old thought system; the second half will
move us on into reclaiming the knowledge of the Self we thought we had lost.

The holy Self we are is simply an extension of God. He is Love; so are we.
We are what He is, extended. That is what we are preparing to remember; more
than simply to remember, to <know>. That one word implies worlds. I can
write the words, I can agree with them, but do I <know> what I am saying?
Knowing that I am an extension of God's Love will change everything about my
life, banish all fear, and give me a sense of holy purpose unparalleled by
anything I have ever before experienced.

What is this Self, which I am, like? It is "perfectly consistent in Its
thoughts; knows Its Creator, understands Itself, is perfect in Its knowledge
and Its love, and never changes from Its constant state of union with Its
Father and Itself" (4:5). This is a description of me and you as God created
us. This is what our practicing is preparing us to "know again."

Isn't this a goal worth "more effort and more time"? (1:2). Try to imagine
what it will be like (not "would be" but "will be") to be perfectly
consistent in all your thoughts. Try to get a sense of what it will be like
to know God and yourself perfectly. Try to imagine living in a constant
state of union with the Father, and with your Self, without variation or
change in that state of union.

Today's two review ideas help us to see the way to our goal, negatively and
positively. If I am Love, how can I be defensive? To be what I am in truth,
I must lay down my defensiveness. And if I am Love, what can I be but a
minister of God? What can my purpose here be but to extend His Love, to
reach out and touch my brothers with the touch of Christ?




From suelegal at gmail.com  Sun Jun 21 20:28:29 2009
From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:28:29 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review V, Lesson 173 - June 22
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAFEAT1BXyKlLkDn3HoSIPvcBAAAAAA==@gmail.com>




Review V, Lesson 173 - June 22

"GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I."

(155) "I WILL STEP BACK AND LET HIM LEAD THE WAY."

(156) "I WALK WITH GOD IN PERFECT HOLINESS."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Review V practice instructions.

COMMENTARY

<Paragraph 5 of the review introduction:>

The Self that is only Love, perfectly consistent in Its thoughts, is what
"waits to meet us at the journey's ending" (5:1). I often need to remind
myself of what it is I am "going for" in this spiritual walk. Sometimes it
seems like such a long journey--"countless situations...through time that
seems to have no end" (T-24.VI.7:2). Keeping the goal in view, in the
forefront of my mind, is a necessity for me. "This," with a capital "T" (at
least in some editions of the Course), "is promised us" (5:4). I am on a
journey to find my Self, and at the end of the journey, it is promised, I
will find It. A Self in constant union with God. A Self at perfect peace
within Itself. This is worth "going for."

The journey seems long, but every step brings me a little nearer (5:2). Each
time I pause for a minute to remember brings me nearer. Each time I open my
heart in love to a brother brings me nearer. Each morning or evening I take
the time to practice, sitting in silence, listening, brings me nearer. The
path offered by the Course is not a flashy one. It is not, sometimes, a very
exciting one. But it works. It is so clear to me that this work <must> be
done somehow; the twisted thoughts of my ego must be undone and replaced
with something else. The multitude of fear's disguises must be unmasked and
replaced with love. Sometimes I wish it could happen overnight. Sometimes I
wonder why it seems to take so long and proceed so slowly. And then I catch
my own thoughts, turning me away, delaying me, and I know why. Occasionally
I even feel gratitude that God does not force anything on me against my
will, because, when at last I end the journey, there will be not one shred
of uncertainty that it is my will, as well as His. And I return to the
steady work the Course sets forth, knowing that--for me, at least--this is
the only way I have found that works.

"This review"--done as we are asked to do it, of course--"will shorten time
immeasurably" (5:3). So if I feel impatient, here is the means to shorten
the time it takes. The means are being given to me, handed to me on a silver
platter, put before my eyes day after day. Will I take them? Will I use the
means given me to shorten time? I say so often that I want the journey to
proceed more quickly. Yet if, given the means to shorten the time, I do not
use them, what does that say about my wanting? My regularity in practice is
the measure of my true desire.

If I practice with the goal in mind, if I remember why I am doing it, the
benefit will be maximal. If, however, I trudge through the practice as if it
were some kind of duty being imposed on me, a tedious chore, I will benefit
less.

Today let me raise my heart from dust to life as I remember (5:4). Let me
lift up my eyes and recall the glorious goal, the completeness of my Self
that awaits my remembering. Let the inner hunger that never leaves me have
its way and draw me onward.

Today's two review ideas dovetail nicely with the ideas in the paragraph
from the review introduction. I "step back and let Him lead the way,"
willingly following His direction. And I am encouraged on my journey in
knowing that as I go, "I walk with God in perfect holiness."

This course was sent to open up the path of light to us, and teach us, step
by step, how to return to the eternal Self we thought we lost. (5:5)

Thank You, Father, for this course. Thank You for its step-by-step
instructions. Thank You for this time of review, for the times I can spend
with You, quietly, listening, waiting, knowing that every minute draws me
nearer to my goal, every minute saves immeasurable time. Thank You for
opening up the path of light.





From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Jun 22 06:41:02 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:41:02 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review V, Lesson 174 - June 23
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAA7wQFi1u79KjfA0qzsMDbMBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review V, Lesson 174 - June 23

"GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I."

(157) "INTO HIS PRESENCE WOULD I ENTER NOW."

(158) "TODAY I LEARN TO GIVE AS I RECEIVE."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Review V practice instructions on page XXX.

COMMENTARY

<Paragraph 6 of the review introduction:>

In this paragraph, Jesus speaks in the first person: "I take the journey
with you" (6:1). One aspect of the Course that seems to get less attention
than many others is the personal presence of the author in our lives. No
doubt many of us, feeling we have "escaped" from what we perceived as
restrictive Christian backgrounds, many of which emphasized a "personal
Savior" and the actual worship of Jesus as God's only Son, find ourselves
uncomfortable with the notion of having Jesus by our side as we make this
journey. It is too much like what we left behind.

In the Clarification of Terms section in the Manual for Teachers, we are
reminded that "some bitter idols have been made of him who would be only
brother to the world" (C-5.5:7). One relationship that may need healing is
our relationship with him; we may carry with us many "shadow figures" from
the past that distort our perceptions of him. We are asked, here in the
Manual, to "forgive him your illusions, and behold how dear a brother he
would be to you" (C-5.5:8). Yet the Course takes this issue, as it does all
such issues, gently. "It is possible to read his words and benefit from them
without accepting him into your life. Yet he would help you yet a little
more if you will share your pains and joys with him" (C-5.6:6-7). So if you
find this idea of relating with him a little unsettling or even distasteful,
be at peace; it's okay.

Jesus offers to share our doubts and fears in order to make himself
accessible to us. We can know he understands what we go through because he
has been this way before. Even though he has reached a place where
uncertainty and pain have no meaning, he understands them when we experience
them. We don't have to feel that we are approaching some remote figure, high
and mighty, who will dismiss our uncertainty as irrelevant with a wave of
his hand. He sees what we see. He is aware of all the illusions that terrify
us, and the reality they seem to have to us. But he holds in his mind "the
way that led him out, and now will lead you out with him" (6:5). He is like
an elder brother who has finished the journey, but has come back now to lead
us home with him. He knows that the Sonship is not complete until we have
walked the same way he walked. He is with us now, leading the way for us.

In my quiet time today, then, let me be aware of his presence. As I enter
into God's Presence, let me be conscious of one who is at my side, perhaps
holding my hand if I feel fearful. Let me be willing to bring my uncertainty
and pain to him, so that he can help me overcome them. As I receive the
grace from him enabling me to set aside my fears and doubts, let me learn to
give as I receive. Let me come forth from this time with him to share what I
have received with those around me. Let me act as God's representative in
the world, to forgive the "sins" of those around me, ease their minds, and
offer them the peace that has been given me.






From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Jun 23 06:09:44 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:09:44 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review V, Lesson 175 - June 24
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAF+7KUTuf0dHhwoo84DL0b4BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review V, Lesson 175 - June 24

"GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I."

(159) "I GIVE THE MIRACLES I HAVE RECEIVED."

(160) "I AM AT HOME. FEAR IS THE STRANGER HERE."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Review V practice instructions.

COMMENTARY

<Paragraph 7 of the review introduction:>

You know, from the way Jesus talks in the first sentence, it sounds like
this is something he has experienced more than once! "My resurrection comes
again each time I lead a brother safely to the place at which the journey
ends and is forgot" (7:1). I'd certainly like to think that there have been
more than just him; it would be disheartening if he were the only one so
far. I think, today, that there have probably been far more than we realize
who have reached the journey's end with him. Sometimes we wonder why there
seem to be so few in this world who seem to have "made it," but if I think
about it, it seems to me that "this world" is the last place we are likely
to find such people! I'm just glad that Jesus, at least, has decided to hang
around and be a "savior...with those he teaches" (6:5). (Actually, the
Course implies that there are others as well; see Section 26 of the Manual,
"Can God Be Reached Directly?" first two paragraphs.)

There is something uplifting about the idea that when I learn, in some
circumstance, the way out of "misery and pain" (7:2), that Jesus is
"renewed." Actually, of course, that is true of all of us; every one of us
is renewed when a brother learns the way out of pain. Everyone we touch with
a miracle enriches us when they receive it. When anyone shares an account of
a miracle in their life, everyone who hears is renewed; that is what makes
the sharing so refreshing. My own walk with God is strengthened every time I
realize that something I have said helped someone. The Course often says
that those we help help us, that our brothers see in us more than we can see
in ourselves; that is how we learn to remember what we are.

Let me remember, today, that every time I turn my mind to the light within
myself, and look for Him, Christ is reborn. This is how the Second Coming
happens (see W-pII.9.3:2, "What Is the Second Coming?"). When we all have
given our minds wholly to Christ, the Second Coming will be complete. Each
time I turn to the light within, I bring it nearer. Each time today that I
remember "God is but Love, and therefore so am I," I hasten that day. Each
time I choose to give the miracles I have received, each time I remember
that my Self, and not fear, is at home in me, Christ is reborn in the world.

No one has been forgotten. I love Marianne Williamson's line, "God hasn't
lost your file." I like to imagine the hustle and bustle in the "heavenly
office," with all sorts of entities working on my behalf, all unknown to me.
Planting little clues where I'll find them. Arranging for me to meet the
right people, stumble over the right books, and go through the experiences I
need to go through.

But all of this needs my cooperation. The last sentence is almost
paradoxical, stating that Jesus needs <my help> to lead me back to where the
journey was begun. But it makes sense, for as the Course says all along, the
one essential is my willingness. He <leads> me, he doesn't force me. My help
consists in being willing to follow, stopping now and then to listen for
directions. And in doing the practice he gives me to do.

I notice that he is leading me backwards (!) to where the journey began, in
order that I can make "another choice" (7:5). All of his work with me is to
take me back to that moment when I made the wrong choice, so that I can make
it differently. Nothing, then, is irrevocable. Even the pivotal choice that
began the nightmare can be undone, and will be undone, and <has been>
undone. He is leading us up the ladder that separation led us down
(T-28.III.1:2). Each mistaken choice that I allow him to undo today is
another step back up the ladder to the memory of my original state, to the
memory of the fact that "God is but Love, and therefore so am I."

We give the miracles we have received, and as we do, we remember we are at
home, and it is fear that is the stranger.






From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Jun 24 06:10:37 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:10:37 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review V, Lesson 176 - June 25
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAFr8I/ylY3JElYxPJ42UHqUBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review V, Lesson 176 - June 25

"GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I."

(161) "GIVE ME YOUR BLESSING, HOLY SON OF GOD."

(162) "I AM AS GOD CREATED ME."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Review V practice instructions.

COMMENTARY

Paragraph 8 of the review introduction:

Our practicing somehow releases Christ to the world. Opening our minds to
the Holy Spirit makes us available as channels to those around us. The Holy
Spirit, of course, is "Him Who sees your bitter need, and knows the answer
God has given Him" (8:1). One of the things that makes the Course so unique,
I think, is the way in which it both acknowledges our "bitter need" and yet
affirms that in reality we have no needs. It is as if He is saying to us, "I
know that the world of pain and loss is only an illusion and nothing to be
disturbed about, but I also know that, to you, it is very, very real, and I
am ready to work with you on that basis."

Quite clearly, we are being encouraged to develop a relationship with Jesus
and the Holy Spirit. We review "together" (8:2). We devote our time and
effort to these review thoughts "together" (8:3). We are not simply
individuals practicing some kind of mind manipulation; we are engaging in a
relationship, a collaborative venture:

Healing does not come from anyone else. You must accept guidance from
within. The guidance must be what you want, or it will be meaningless to
you. That is why healing is a collaborative venture. I can tell you what to
do, but you must collaborate by believing that I know what you should do.
(T-8.IV.4:5-9)

So we are reviewing these thoughts <with him>. We are not just mulling them
over by ourselves, but listening to that guidance from within as we do so.

"And together we will teach them to our brothers" (8:4). Have you noticed
how nearly every time the Course talks about the process we are going
through, it ends up with some aspect of sharing or extension, some kind of
giving what we have received to our brothers? The Course is not a personal
path of salvation. Indeed it teaches there <is> no such thing as individual
salvation, because "individual" is an illusion. We are not alone. We are not
separate individuals who can be individually saved. We are part of a whole,
and when we begin to receive what the Holy Spirit has to teach, we <must>
share it, because sharing is what He is teaching. We teach "by actions or
thoughts; in words or soundlessly; in any language or in no language; in any
place or time or manner" (M-1.3:6).

We share precisely because the whole is not whole until everyone is
included. As Jesus is incomplete without us, we are incomplete without our
brothers. We, like Jesus, may recognize the wholeness in ourselves and in so
doing, recognize it in our brothers. The wholeness is already there, but
unacknowledged and unrecognized: "I am as God created me," as one of our
thoughts for review reminds us. Our "ancient home" is being "kept unchanged
by time, immaculate and safe" (8:8). We cannot lose it, but we <have> lost
awareness of it, and that awareness is what we share with each other.

As we begin to accept our own wholeness we become reminders to the world of
the wholeness that is also theirs, and that we share with them. There is no
"preaching" quality, no spiritual elite telling the rest of the world "how
it is." It is the happy communication that "You are whole, as I am. I am as
God created me, and you are as God created you." We come to our brothers not
as superiors, but asking their blessing on us, acknowledging them as the
holy Son of God, along with us: "Give me your blessing, holy Son of God."

Your holiness is the salvation of the world. It lets you teach the world
that it is one with you, not by preaching to it, not by telling it anything,
but merely by your quiet recognition that in your holiness are all things
blessed along with you. (W-pI.37.3:1-2)





From sue at circleofa.org  Thu Jun 25 05:55:23 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:55:23 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review V, Lesson 177 - June 26
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAMZD403zGHVKv2u68f23hJoBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




Review V, Lesson 177 - June 26

"GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I."

(163) "THERE IS NO DEATH. THE SON OF GOD IS FREE."

(164) "NOW ARE WE ONE WITH HIM WHO IS OUR SOURCE."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Review V practice instructions.

COMMENTARY

<Paragraph 9 of the review introduction:>

Four more days of this review; four more days of our "gift" to him. Of
course, every moment we connect with our right mind, every moment we taste
the one holy instant, is a gift as well. This paragraph has a wonderful
flavor to it: our hearing his words; us giving them to the world; Christ
working through us to save the world; walking together to God with him;
taking the hand of our brother as we go. A wonderful connective energy, all
part of a magnificent whole which is our Self, sourced from God. The energy
flows to us and through us, from us to our brothers and from them to us,
weaving us all together in the divine fabric. We are one with Him Who is our
Source.

"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" (9:2-3). This is the real purpose of my existence and my
experience here in the world. I may feel confusion, day to day, about my
purpose and the form it is taking. I may have my doubts about those with
whom my life is now interacting, wondering how in Heaven's name they could
ever be part of any divine plan. I may wonder the same about myself. But
Jesus speaks in these words from the Course saying, in effect, "My only need
is you. I need your physical presence to reach through you to the others who
are lost in the illusion of bodies."

How can this be? How, in the mess I find myself in, can this happen? I don't
know. But I believe that the Holy Spirit knows. All I can do is to make
myself available, to be willing for it to happen. Let me remember that these
thoughts of anxiety, doubt, lack of trust, and sadness are all just forms of
the belief in death, and let them go, placing them in His hands. Let me
place myself in His hands as well, remembering that I am one with Him Who is
my Source; I am Love as God is, I am the extension of His Being, as are we
all. If I can believe this I am free.

Donna Cary has written a wonderful song, one of many based on her experience
with the Course. The chorus of it repeats over and over, "He's asking me to
give myself to Him, Calling me to give myself to Him." The song speaks of
the fear that arises when we hear this call. Can I say, today, "He needs me.
He wants my hands, my feet, my eyes and my voice. Father, I am frightened,
but here I am. Use me"? Let me be the instrument of His peace. Or, in the
words of a Christian poet of the last century, Amy Carmichael:

<Love through me, Love of God.

Make me like Thy clear air,

Through which, unhindered, colors pass

As though it were not there>.

God is nothing but Love, and "therefore, so am I." Let that Love flow
through me, unhindered by anything. Let me be clear and clean. Remind me,
God, that I am free today; there is no death, there is no opposite to Love,
or to life. Let my life be an expression of that truth.






From sue at circleofa.org  Fri Jun 26 06:07:13 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:07:13 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review V, Lesson 178 - June 27
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAL+lPCUNg5xInSJceO7HMPkBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




Review V, Lesson 178 - June 27

"GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I."

(165) "LET NOT MY MIND DENY THE THOUGHT OF GOD."

(166) "I AM ENTRUSTED WITH THE GIFTS OF GOD."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Review V practice instructions.

COMMENTARY

<Paragraph 10 of the review introduction:>

The practice of the Workbook is meant to induce not just new thoughts and
new permutations of thoughts, but an experience: "a new experience for you,
yet one as old as time and older still" (10:1). How can an experience be
older than time? How but in being part of eternity? "The holy instant
reaches to eternity, and to the Mind of God" ( T-15.V.11:5). "The holy
instant is a miniature of eternity" (T-17.IV.11:4). These times spent in
quiet with God are occasions when we step out of time and into timelessness;
what we experience here is older than time, incredibly ancient and yet
immediately present, always present.

We are experiencing our Self. "Hallowed your name. Your glory undefiled
forever" (10:2-3). These are words that sound to us (if our background is
Christian, at any rate) as if they should be spoken of God. Yet here they
are spoken of <you> and of me. What is it like to experience such a thing?
What is it like to know yourself as one of whom these words can be spoken,
one who is entrusted with the gifts of God? I do not think words can convey
it, although many have attempted to do so. What is required is an
experience; then, words become unnecessary and even unwanted.

"There is a kind of experience so different from anything the ego can offer
that you will never want to cover or hide it again" (T-4.III.5:1). That is
what we are seeking in these quiet times. Not desperately or anxiously, not
with concern or fear that it will not come to us, but peacefully, quietly,
trustingly. We cannot force it to happen, we can only "let" it happen. We do
not seek to add anything to ourselves, we simply seek to stop <denying> the
Thought of God, which is the whole truth about us.

In this moment we can experience our "wholeness now complete, as God
established it" (10:4). Once you have known your own wholeness, why would
you ever again want to cover or hide it? Only the lie that what you are is
something you do not want to know could have ever persuaded you to hide it.
Outside the holy instant our Self is surrounded by a ring of fear; we shy
away from approaching the Self because we have been tricked into believing
that what we will find is fearful.

The time it seems to take to find the holy instant is not because it is
mysterious and inaccessible; the time is only the measure of our fear of our
Self. It takes this time to gently still our fears, until we are ready to
find the Self that lies outside of time, older than time itself, whole and
complete as God created It. This Self is the Thought of God. Our unawareness
of it is only our denial of this Thought. Our experience of it is only the
ending of our denial. The Self does not change, nor come and go. It <is>.

In this Self we are "completing His extension in [our] own" (10:5). The
creative extension of God is made complete as we, in turn, extend ourselves.
The Love that made us flows through us to enliven others. We are practicing
what we have always known; we knew it before the ancient truth seemed to
disappear into illusion, and we will know it again. In the holy instant we
know it now. And what we know is this: We are entrusted with the gifts of
God. Our giving of them completes His giving. "We remind the world that it
is free of all illusions every time we say: <God is but Love, and therefore
so am> <I>" (10:7-8).






From sue at circleofa.org  Sat Jun 27 10:28:10 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:28:10 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review V, Lesson 179 - June 28
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAM4BCGryGExAlLxTUF0eF2MBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review V, Lesson 179 - June 28

"GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I."

(167) "THERE IS ONE LIFE, AND THAT I SHARE WITH GOD."

(168) "YOUR GRACE IS GIVEN ME. I CLAIM IT NOW."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Review V practice instructions.

COMMENTARY

<Paragraph 11 of the review introduction:>

The paragraph is once again about specifics of Workbook practice. I don't
mean to belabor this point, but since I am simply following the content of
this introduction, the emphasis is really not mine but that of the Course
itself.

The Workbook places a great emphasis on repetition of the ideas it presents.
Repetition is one of the primary techniques for mind training that it
encourages. If we are doing it as directed--and I am the first to admit that
I am still far short of doing so--we will be meditating on this theme
thought for a minimum of five minutes in the morning and evening, with up to
half an hour each time being even better. We will be recalling it every
hour, and using the theme idea, "God is but Love, and therefore so am I," to
frame the two additional thoughts we are reviewing for the day.

This is not a radical or strange idea. Repetition of spiritual thoughts is
common in many religions. I even ran into it in fundamentalist Christianity.
A teacher at an evening class I once attended at Moody Bible Institute in
Chicago, in 1959, taught his students what he called Bible meditation. The
general idea was to memorize verses from the Bible so as to have them handy
in one's mind, and to meditate on them all during the day--upon arising, as
you walked from place to place, whenever you sat waiting for anything,
riding the bus or the train, and again at night just before sleeping. He
defined meditation as "Sharing with the Lord His own Word, prayerfully, and
with personal application." This teacher claimed that such meditation had
revolutionized his life.

It revolutionized my life as well. In time I memorized more than a thousand
Bible verses. I knew entire chapters by heart, word for word. I'm sure that
the practice is a good part of what took me, eventually, beyond the confines
of fundamentalism.

I still remember one of the first times that I set aside time right before
sleeping to meditate. I sat up for five or ten minutes, ruminating on the
verses for that day, turning them into prayer, communing with God over them,
applying them to my life. Then I fell asleep with the words still going
through my mind.

The next morning, I woke up and lay in that half-awake state just before you
open your eyes. And there in my mind, like a mantra, the words were still
being repeated. I believed then, and do now, that they had been playing over
and over like a tape loop in my mind all during the night. I woke that
morning with a joyful burst of faith, realizing that I was truly feeding my
mind with nourishing thoughts.

It is a wonderful thing to find the words of the Course springing into your
mind spontaneously during the day, or as you wake up. But that doesn't
happen without a lot of repetition. Without practice of these thoughts, the
tape loops running in our minds are something very different, because we
have already trained our minds very well, but with the wrong thoughts. It
takes a conscious effort, repeated choices to remember the thoughts for the
day and to repeat them, to meditate on them, and to apply them to our lives.
This is a course in mind training, and "training" means "training."

When we enter wholeheartedly into the training, there will be results. "We
will have recognized the words we speak are true" (11:5). So let us remember
today, and often, that "there is one life, and that I share with God." Let
us affirm to ourselves, constantly, every time we can, "Your grace is given
me. I claim it now."

Don't be discouraged if you forget. I still forget often. But I remember
more often than I used to. If you have done nothing more before today than
read over the lesson in the morning, then if today you remember just one
time during the day, or take a few minutes before sleeping, thank God. Try
to remember today just one more time than yesterday. If, yesterday, you
forgot entirely, then resolve today to remember at least once. Every time
you remember is a great step forward.

The paragraph we will cover tomorrow reminds us that the words are only
aids, and the practice is just a means to produce an experience. Don't make
a ritual out of the practice; the experience is what counts.






From sue at circleofa.org  Sun Jun 28 10:08:11 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:08:11 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review V, Lesson 180 - June 29
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAPza0PQXmGRDtWAYRDniGAIBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review V, Lesson 180 - June 29

"GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I."

(169) "BY GRACE I LIVE. BY GRACE I AM RELEASED."

(170) "THERE IS NO CRUELTY IN GOD AND NONE IN ME."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See Review V practice instructions.

COMMENTARY

Paragraph 12 of the review introduction:

Yesterday we thought again about the means of practice that we are being
taught, the frequent repetition of the thoughts for the day. Today's
paragraph reminds us that the words are only aids. Their purpose is simply
to "recall the mind, as needed, to its purpose" (12:1). The purpose is in
the experience, the communion with God experienced during the holy instants
we spend. "We place faith in the experience that comes from practice, not
the means we use" (12:2).

What is the mind's purpose to which we are being recalled? It is remembering
Who we are, and sharing that with the world, reminding others of their true
Self, shared with us. The repetition of words only brings us back to this
memory of a Self that is in constant union with Its Father and Itself, His
natural extension. The goal of our practice is to experience that state of
right-mindedness, even if only for a brief moment. We are remembering that
what we are is only Love, because that is all that God is. If that is so,
there can be no cruelty in God, nor any cruelty in us.

The experience of the Self is what brings conviction (12:3). The words "God
is but Love, and therefore so am I" or "By grace I live" cannot bring
conviction or certainty. The experience of it not only <can> bring
conviction, it <does> bring conviction. The goal of practice is to go beyond
the words to the experience, to their meaning, "which is far beyond their
sound" (12:4).

How does that happen? I can't tell you; no one can. But I can tell you that
it does happen. It won't happen without practice. Practice does not make it
happen, but it prepares the mind. It opens the door. It washes the mind
clean with crystal pure thoughts, and readies it for the experience that is
always there, always waiting. And in that experience, we find our rest.






From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Jun 29 06:11:00 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:11:00 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] INTRODUCTION TO LESSONS 181-200
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAFcNLPPFg1hAtSIxPRy1/t4BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



INTRODUCTION TO LESSONS 181-200

You'll recall that we have twice been told we're now in preparation for the
second part of the Workbook. This introduction is telling us a little more
specifically how the next twenty lessons are meant to prepare us.

First of all, the overall goal is to strengthen our commitment and unify our
goals into one intent.

The immediate goal of our practicing these lessons is EXPERIENCE of the
peace, liberation, and freedom that unified commitment can bring; holy
instants when we have a foretaste of right-mindedness.

The method of making such experience available is a focus on the remaining
blocks to it, with the intent of, even if just briefly, lifting those
blocks.

If the OVERALL GOAL is to firm up our willingness to commit ourselves more
strongly to the Course's path, then obviously the Workbook is recognizing
that at this point, about halfway through the Workbook, our willingness is
probably still a bit irresolute, and our commitment less than complete. "You
are not asked for total dedication all the time as yet> (1:2). There are
probably a few of us that are quite relieved to hear that. I think it is
likely that, if the Course is not yet asking for total, continual dedication
at this stage, it would be unwise and counterproductive to be asking it of
ourselves. We have to bear in mind those two little words "as yet,>
indicating that "total dedication all the time> lies somewhere in our
future; it is where we are being led. But we should not berate ourselves for
not having that total dedication NOW.

What <is> being asked of us is to practice. The experience of the holy
instant at this point in our spiritual growth is not expected anything more
than "intermittently> (1:3). Notice how that idea is repeated several times
in these three paragraphs. We are lifting the blocks "however briefly>
(2:2). We aim to go past our defenses "for a little while each day> (3:4).
We are practicing, each day, to bypass one major block to the awareness of
love's presence, just for a short time. We aren't supposed to be worrying
about making this our permanent mental state-not yet. It is the cumulative
experience of these holy instants that will provide the motivation to make
that total dedication; we aren't sufficiently motivated without that. 

It is experiencing this that makes it sure that you will give your total
willingness to following the way the course sets forth.(1:4) 

Your motivation will be so intensified that words become of little
consequence. You will be sure of what you want, and what is
valueless.(2:5-6) 

No more than this (little while each day) is asked, because no more than
this is needed. It will be enough to guarantee the rest will come.(3:5-6)

In Chapter 13 of the Text we are admonished: "Be you content with healing>
(T-13.VIII.7:1). And as we progress through the Workbook we need to be
content with practicing-same thing. Our experience of grace at this stage
may still be intermittent, just a little while each day; that's okay, and we
can be at peace with its being so. Just that little while each day will be
enough to GUARANTEE the rest will come, so there need be no panic nor
discouragement. Just do the practice and full enlightenment will surely
follow; that is the promise being made here. 






From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Jun 29 06:11:37 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:11:37 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 181 - June 30
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Lesson 181 - June 30

I TRUST MY BROTHERS, WHO ARE ONE WITH ME.

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

PURPOSE: To go past the special block of focusing on the mistakes of others,
and so experience your own sinlessness. This experience will intensify your
motivation and strengthen your commitment.
Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

The practice is a meditation aimed at experiencing the sinlessness in you.
Close your eyes and hold in mind nothing but your great desire to see your
own sinlessness, to experience the pure goodness that is your reality. Make
this focus your only intent.

To do this, you will need to set aside your focus on the mistakes of others.
This focus has been disastrous. It has caused those mistakes to fill your
vision and show you a sinful world. This sinful world has then acted as a
constant witness to the sinfulness in you. To see the sinlessness in you,
then, you will have to banish from your mind any thought of the errors of
others. If, during your meditation, your mind starts dwelling on someone's
wrongdoing, quickly repeat, <It is not this that I would look upon. I trust
my brothers, who are one with me.>

You will also need to set aside all concerns about past and future. Don't
let your ego tell you that the goal of seeing your sinlessness is just too
different from your past goals and that this new goal, by eclipsing your old
goals, will threaten your happiness. Don't let it tell you that, even if you
should gain a glimpse of your holiness, "you will inevitably lose your way
again> (4:3). Such concerns about past and future are really just subtle
defenses against <present change> (5:3).

Refuse to let your mind be drawn off into these defenses. Hold an absolutely
single focus. <We enter in the time of practicing with one intent; to look
upon the sinlessness within> (5:7).

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

Do a short version of morning/evening meditation, aimed at experiencing the
sinlessness in you. Then thank God for His gifts in the previous hour and
ask Him for His guidance in the coming hour.

Response to temptation: Whenever you want to focus on someone's mistakes.

Repeat, <It is not this that I would look upon. I trust my brothers, who are
one with me.> Realize that your focus on his mistakes is an obstruction
blocking the vision of your own sinlessness (7:3). Dispel this obstruction
not for any long-range purpose, but simply to relieve the misery that comes
from focusing on sin.

COMMENTARY

This lesson is not encouraging naive blindness to people's flaws. It isn't
saying that you should unlock your house and car and leave your money lying
in the street, trusting no one will steal it. It is talking about looking
BEYOND others' errors and mistakes (their egos) to see their sinlessness. It
is speaking of being aware of a person's mistakes (and taking them into
practical account), while at the same time looking past them to their
perfect innocence. Not seeing the mistakes as SINS to be condemned and
punished. As my friend Lynne once said of a man who had previously been
abusive to her, <I may love a rattlesnake, but that doesn't mean I sleep
with it.>

The <block> this lesson is helping us to lift (however briefly) is our focus
on the sins of our brothers and sisters. The lesson is telling us not to
look for what is wrong in people, but what is right. The point behind this
is that by focusing on the sins of others, we block their true Self from our
sight, and thereby block the Self within us from our sight as well. If I
cannot overlook the mistakes of my brothers, I cannot overlook my own.
<Perception has a focus> (2:1). We need to change our focus. <Remove your
focus on your brother's sins, and you experience the peace that comes from
faith in sinlessness> (2:5). Remember the aim of these twenty lessons: to
remove a block and thus EXPERIENCE something different; in this case, <faith
in sinlessness.>

As the introduction said, we are not trying to do this for all time! (Not
yet anyhow.) Not even for all day; just for a brief period. Do you have
someone you feel you cannot forgive? How about trying to <practice>
forgiving them, just for five minutes? Just for a brief period, be willing
to let go of your judgments about them, to forget the past and to forget the
future, and to look for the innocence in them, to see them as a holy child
of God, deserving of His Love. How about trying, even for five minutes, just
to be willing for this kind of experience? Don't worry about the fact that
for the last month, or year, or however long, you've wanted to kill them;
don't worry about the fact that ten minutes from now you will be fantasizing
about how they will get what is coming to them. Maybe so. <How could this
matter?> (5:1). The concerns we have about the past or the future <are but
defenses against present change of focus in perception> (5:3). If we can let
ourselves experience, even for a brief moment, what it feels like to see
past their sins to innocence, that experience will be enough to motivate us
to go all the way.

I encourage us all to bear these instructions in mind, not just for today's
lesson, but for all the rest of the Workbook. When you sit down for a quiet
time, put aside how you felt just before, and don't worry about how you will
feel afterwards. <We do not seek for long-range goals> (7:2). All we are
looking for is the experience of an instant of release, because that is all
that is needed. At any moment during the day we can stop and say, <This
instant is our willing one with His> (9:8). That instant is all we need.

Somehow, we seem to think that we can shift from total egoity to immediate
spirituality. We think that if we spend five minutes with God in the
morning, the rest of the day ought to be totally transformed, immediately.
Our resistance is simply too great for that to happen; we have OVERLEARNED
the ego's lessons, and unlearning them will take some effort. The ego tells
us, <It isn't working,> because we <forgave> our brother in those five
minutes in the morning and spent half the rest of the day dreaming up ways
to make him, or her, suffer. But something is happening; the ego is trying
to make us guilty because it KNOWS something is happening. Those five
minutes when we lay our judgment aside bring us an experience of inner peace
that we have never known before, and we know a good thing when we see it.
Our motivation to forgive will grow, and grow, and grow. The experience of
<surcease an instant from the misery the focus upon sin will bring> (7:3)
will be such a relief that we will seek it again and again, until it grows
to encompass our entire mind, all the time. All it takes is the willingness
to practice.





From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Jun 30 06:17:45 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:17:45 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 182 - July 1
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAALulVwcLjlBCry4ZYUODNRwBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 182 - July 1

I will be still an instant and go home.

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose: To go past your defensiveness and briefly go home with the Christ
Child in you. To have an experience of the eternal innocence in you. This
experience will firm up your willingness to follow <the way the course sets
forth> (W-pI.In.181-200.1:4).

Morning/evening quiet time: At least five minutes; ideally, thirty or more.

The exercise today is clearly a meditation. Begin by repeating the idea and
then stilling your mind. Lay aside all your sense of defensiveness, all your
need to protect yourself against an alien world that cares not about your
needs. Throughout the meditation, whenever your thoughts wander, respond by
repeating the idea.

The more you still your mind, the more, perhaps, you get in touch with a
call in you, an inner pull to experience a sense of home that nothing in
this world can provide. This pull is actually the call of the Christ Child
in you, an element of your true Self Who feels dragged down into this
world's smoggy atmosphere by the weight of your sleeping mind, and Who
<desires to go home so deeply, so unceasingly, His voice cries unto you to
let Him rest a while> (5:3).

Let this inner pull draw you to your real home, which lies deep within. As
the Text says, <You do not remember how to look within for you do not
believe your home is there> (T-12.IV.5:4). Let this Child take you there.
Let Him carry you to your Father's house, and then rest there with Him <in
perfect stillness, silent and at peace, beyond all words, untouched by fear
and doubt, sublimely certain that you are at home> (8:3).

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

Do a brief version of the longer practice. Be still an instant and go home
with the Christ Child. You may also want to ask for guidance for the next
hour and thank God for His gifts in the last hour.

COMMENTARY

Another lesson about the holy instant. Notice how the thread about
<instants,> <moments,> and <intervals> of stillness, quiet, and withdrawal
from the world, begun in the introduction to this series of lessons and in
Lesson 181, carries through nearly every lesson up to Lesson 200, the end of
this series. It wasn't until my third or fourth time through these lessons
that I realized they were all instructions in consciously setting aside
short periods every day and attempting to enter the holy instant. The themes
seem to differ, but all the difference lies in which block to our awareness
of love's presence is being considered. The aim is always the same: a short
suspension of that block, and the experience of a new awareness that comes
when the block is momentarily removed.

The block being considered today is simply the temptation to find
satisfaction, or to feel at home, in this world. We spend most of our lives
in an attempt to adjust to the world, or to adjust the world to ourselves.
It seems quite natural to us to try to be comfortable here, and we expend a
great deal of effort trying to do so. This lesson appeals to us to set that
effort aside, just for a brief while, and to recognize the childlike voice
within us that is crying to go home - home to Heaven. We need to acknowledge
that <this world you seem to live in is not home to you> (1:1). And,
recognizing this is so, to take time each day to allow this Child within us
to <rest a while> (5:3) and, for <just a few instants of respite.[to] return
to breathe again the holy air that fills His Father's house> (5:4).

This lesson is perhaps the most poetically beautiful lesson in the entire
Workbook. Some of you have heard, perhaps, the poignant reading of most of
this lesson by Beverly Hutchinson on the tape The Forgotten Song. It is hard
for me to listen without tears, and I don't bother trying. Tears are fine,
but not enough; we need to hear the appeal and to act upon it: <Rest with
Him frequently today> (9:1). <Go home with Him from time to time today>
(10:3). <Be still an instant and go home with Him, and be at peace a while>
(12:9).

The thought of this lesson has had a powerful effect in my life. Sometimes
when I am feeling my lowest - dry, dull, and discouraged - just quietly
closing my eyes and saying, <I want to go home> is enough to break the spell
and allow the peace of God into my mind.

Another passage, towards the end of the lesson, has had an equally powerful
effect on me:

You have not lost your innocence. It is for this you yearn. This is your
heart's desire. This is the voice you hear, and this the call which cannot
be denied.	(12:1-4) 

When I remember these words, I seem to be always surprised at the soothing
effect they have. I had not realized, until I repeated them, how deeply I
was feeling that I had lost my innocence, how much the source of my
depression was a hidden belief in my own loss of innocence. I suddenly
realize that, yes, this is what I am yearning for; this is my heart's
desire.

If you can, right now as you read this, stop, and be still and instant, and
go home with me. It is so easy to do. Why delay an instant longer?