From sue at circleofa.org  Sun Mar  1 09:03:43 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2009 09:03:43 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 61 - March 2
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Lesson 61 - March 2

"I am the light of the world."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: "a beginning step in accepting your real function on earth" (3:2).
This lesson is a continuation of what began in Lesson 37 ("My holiness
blesses the world"), which contained "the first glimmerings of your true
function in the world, or why you are here" (37.1:1).

Exercise: as many as possible (suggestion: every hour on the hour), for no
more than 1 or 2 minutes
*	Tell yourself, "I am the light of the world. That is my only
function. That is why I am here."
*	Then think about these statements. Let related thoughts come. If you
can, close your eyes for this. If your mind wanders (rather, when it
wanders), repeat the idea. This is the same kind of practice that you did in
Lesson 50 and throughout Review I. By actively thinking about the idea, you
make it your own.

Remarks: Begin and end the day with a practice period. These can be longer
than the rest if you want. These practices will make your day one that
begins, ends, and is filled throughout with affirmation of the truth about
yourself. This is the day the Workbook is leading us into, one in which we
practice morning, evening, and throughout the day.
This is the first of the Workbook's seven "giant strides"-giant steps ahead
in your journey home. Try to make today exactly that. Use it "to build a
firm foundation" (7:4) for the giant strides to come.


COMMENTARY

Probably most days, if you're like me, you don't feel like the light of the
world. Some days I feel more like the last dying ember in the fireplace. But
this lesson isn't talking about how I feel; it is talking about what I am in
truth. "It does not refer to any of the characteristics with which you have
endowed yourself. It refers to you as you were created by God" (1:5-6). It
isn't about who I think I am; it is about my original design specs, straight
from the hand of the Creator.

In traditional Christian teaching, Jesus is the light of the world and the
rest of us are the blind people who need his light. To say, "I am the light
of the world," can seem like quite a stretch. It can seem arrogant, full of
pride, even egotistical. Perhaps even delusional. Actually, refusing to say
it is what is egotistical. What is more arrogant, when God has made you the
light of the world, to say, "Sorry, Boss, You were wrong. I'm really a poor
miserable sinner."

You and I are here to be conduits of God's light. Being the light of the
world is our only function, and the only reason we are here (5:3-5). We are
bringers of salvation; there is no other way for salvation to come into this
world except through us--all of us!

The lesson calls our acceptance and practice of this idea "a beginning step
in accepting your real function on earth" (3:2); "a giant stride" (3:3); "a
positive assertion of your right to be saved" (3:4). It isn't just another
lesson; this is a big deal! Getting off the "poor me, I need to be saved"
bandwagon and onto the "bringer of salvation" track can be a major turning
point for us. The general tenor of the idea is reflected in the old Sixties
saying, "Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?"

At first it may seem that this idea asks too much of you. "Who, me save the
world? Are you kidding? I can't even save myself!" But that belief about
ourselves is <exactly> where our problem lies. Try giving love to someone
today and you will find that you <can> bring light into someone else's life.
Do this enough times and your opinion about yourself will begin to change.
Your true sense of self-worth as a loving being will begin to blossom. In
giving help, you will be helping yourself. In recognizing that being
helpful, giving love, spreading kindness, and showing mercy is the very
reason you are here, you affirm the divinity of your Source, you acknowledge
yourself as a child of God.




From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Mar  2 06:29:33 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 06:29:33 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 62 - March 3
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Lesson 62 - March 3

"Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Exercise: as frequently as possible (suggestion: every hour on the hour),
for 1-2 minutes

*	Tell yourself (with eyes closed if the situation permits):
"Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. I would fulfill my
function that I may be happy."

*	Then use the practice that you have been doing recently: Think about
these statements (in this case, dwelling particularly on the happiness your
function will bring you). Let related thoughts come. If your mind wanders,
repeat the idea and add: "I would remember this because I want to be happy."
This extra thought will motivate your mind to come back to and stay on
focus.

Remarks:

Notice the emphasis on having a happy day. This is so much of why we
practice, because it will help make our day happy. It will also bring
happiness to people around us, and even to people in distant times and
places! This is not a selfish practice we are doing.

Notice also that this lesson mentions the Workbook's formula of practicing
morning, evening, and throughout the day (4:1). We can assume today that,
like yesterday, we can make the morning and evening practice periods longer
if we like.

Finally, note why it is that related thoughts can flow freely: because "your
heart will recognize these words, and in your mind is the awareness they are
true" (4:5). Related thoughts, in other words, come from a deep well in our
mind, in which we already understand these ideas. They draw that well's
wisdom up to the surface and make it our own.

COMMENTARY

What does the light of the world do? It forgives. As the light of the world
my function isn't to teach them new ideas, to straighten out people's
misunderstandings, or to be their knight in shining armor. My function is
simply to forgive them.

"Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world.
Through your forgiveness does the truth about yourself return to your
memory" (1:3-4). Forgiveness not only brings light into the minds of those
around me, it enables me to remember the light in myself; it reminds me of
the truth about myself. Forgiveness is what saves <me.> Doing what I am here
to do reminds me of what I really am.

Why? Because "Illusions about yourself and the world are one" (2:1). If I
see the illusion of sin in a brother, I am really seeing my own illusions
about myself. When I forgive that brother, I am forgiving myself, seeing
through the illusion that has obscured the truth about both him and me. When
thoughts of attack are replaced with thoughts of forgiveness, I am replacing
death with life.

Forgiveness is the means the Course sets forth as our way out of hell,
because the hell we are in was made by our judgments and thoughts of attack.
Forgiving calls upon the Christ in me, while attacking calls upon my own
weakness. As I call upon the Christ in me, the Christ comes forward, and I
begin to recognize the Christ as my true Self. Forgiveness restores "the
invulnerability and power God gave His Son" (3:5).

Where is forgiveness needed? Not just in what we think of as the big things:
betrayal, deceit, or obvious intent to harm. Any thought in my mind that
separates me from another and makes me different is a thought of attack, and
needs to be replaced with forgiveness. Any thought that belittles another,
demeans him or her, sees the other as "less than," views them as less worthy
of love for any reason, pushes them away, views them with dislike, sees
myself gaining at the other's loss, wishes for their injury or loss in some
way, or lacks faith in the love in their heart, is a thought of attack, and
needs to be replaced with forgiveness.

That is my function, today and every day. Let me release the world from the
bondage in which I have placed it. Let me lift my judgment from it, and so
rediscover the miraculous truth of my own divine nature by my willingness to
see it in everyone around me.





From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Mar  3 05:55:14 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 05:55:14 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 63 - March 4
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Lesson 63 - March 4

"The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness."

PRACTICE SUMMARY:

Purpose: to get in touch with your power to bring peace to everyone, to
recognize the means by which you can do this, and to experience the
happiness that comes from this.

Exercise: as often as you can (suggestion: every hour on the hour), for 1-2
minutes

*	Tell yourself: "The light of the world brings peace to every mind
through my forgiveness. I am the means God has appointed for the salvation
of the world." 

*	Then do the practice that you've been doing recently: Think about
these statements and let related thoughts come. If your mind wanders, repeat
the idea.

Remarks: 

The remarks about closing your eyes hold for all the shorter practice
periods in the Workbook (except the open-eyed ones). The principle is
simple. One the one hand, you'll benefit more if you close your eyes,
because it will allow for greater focus. On the other hand, if you wait
until the situation lets you close your eyes, that will hurt the frequency
of your practice. So close your eyes if the situation permits; if not, go
ahead and practice with eyes open.

Just like yesterday we are told to be happy to practice morning, evening,
and throughout the day. That is because this practice will get us in touch
with our function, and our function is the source of our happiness. As with
Lesson 61, the practice periods at the beginning and end of the day can be
longer if you like.

COMMENTARY

Have you ever been the recipient of real forgiveness? There is nothing quite
so liberating, nothing that eases the mind, so much as being truly forgiven.
If I think I may have hurt someone or injured them by what I have said or
done, and they turn around and truly forgive me, letting me know that they
were <not> hurt, that they understand me and see me in a light perhaps even
better than I could see myself, it brings incredible peace to my mind. It
relieves the pangs of guilt. There is a sense of love for the other person,
a joy that our intimacy has not been impaired but perhaps even improved.

You and I have the power to bring that kind of peace to every mind. That is
what our function is. We can allow this to be done through us (1:2). What a
marvellous purpose this gives to our lives--bringing peace to every mind
through our forgiveness. We can liberate everyone around us from the hell of
their own guilt.

"Accept no trivial purpose or meaningless desire in its place, or your will
forget your function and leave the Son of God in hell." (2:4) When we accept
a lesser purpose, we inevitably forget the primary one. Trying to get
someone to act in a way that pleases us, for our personal pleasure, for
instance, --having expectations--can cause us to completely overlook many
opportunities for forgiveness, and instead to heap more guilt upon the
person if they fail to meet our expectations.

We need to practice this idea diligently, as often as we can, to reinforce
it in our minds. "I am the means God has appointed for the salvation of the
world." Forgiveness flows through me and brings peace to every mind I
encounter today; let me remember not to block the flow.




From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Mar  4 05:40:23 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 05:40:23 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 65 - March 6
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Lesson 65 - March 6

"My only function is the one God gave me."

PRACTICE SUMMARY:

Purpose: to let go of your usual goals, even if only for a little while, so
you can focus on accepting the function God gave you as your only function.

Longer: 1 time, for 10-15 minutes

*	Repeat the idea, then close your eyes and repeat it again. 

*	Watch your mind carefully for what you would consider normal
thoughts passing across it. Observe each one dispassionately (as you were
taught to do in earlier lessons) and say, "This thought reflects a goal that
is preventing me from accepting my only function." When you start to run out
of such thoughts, try for another minute or so to catch any remaining
thoughts, though don't strain to find them. The point of this phase is to
clear your mind of your usual goals and functions.

*	Then say, "On this clean slate let my true function be written for
me" --or words to that effect. Be willing to have your self-assigned
functions be replaced by God's.

*	Repeat the idea again and spend the remainder doing the now familiar
practice of thinking about the idea and letting related thoughts come.
Having cleared out your usual functions, you are now trying "to understand
and accept" (3:1) your true function, to actively reflect on it so that it
becomes more your own. Focus particularly on the importance and desirability
of your function, and the resolution and relief it will bring. When
wandering thoughts arise, I suggest dispelling them with the line you have
just used: "This thought reflects a goal..."

Remarks: When he says that you need to pick a time for the longer practice
period, one that you'll stick to today and for several days to come, that
may very well sound threatening. Yet it makes perfect sense. You are on the
road to giving your whole life to your true function. Giving it one time
during the day, a time that is devoted only to it, a time that is like an
unmoving boulder in the flowing stream of your trivial pursuits, is a start,
a foot in the door. If you can't let your true function have even a foot in
the door, how will you ever reach the point where you give your whole life
to it?

Frequent reminders: at least 1 per hour

Sometimes use the first form, at others times, the second.

1.	Close your eyes and say: "My only function is the one God gave me. I
want no other and I have no other."

2.	Look about you and say the same line, realizing that what you see
will look completely different when you truly accept what you are saying. (I
suggest giving this a try now and seeing the effect it has on you.)

COMMENTARY

What I noticed as I read was the last sentence of the first paragraph:

"The full acceptance of salvation as your only function necessarily entails
two phases; the recognition of salvation as your function, and the
relinquishment of all the other goals you have invented for yourself."

Some of us may be yet having trouble with the first phase, recognizing
salvation as our function. It isn't a simple matter. To say, "My job is to
heal and be healed," requires a major shift of mind for most people. To see
ourselves as the light of the world is not something that comes easily to
us. That is why the preceding few lessons have dwelt on that fact, and why
it will come up again in later lessons.

This lesson advances beyond simply recognizing that salvation is our
function; it adds the thought that this is our <only> function. It makes it
very plain that for this to be so, every other goal must be relinquished.
God gave us this one goal, and no other. The others we invented for
ourselves, and every other goal in some way competes with and detracts from
this one.

As I go through my day, I watch how my "trivial purposes and goals"
interfere with my pursuit of this one goal. I can watch it in the simple
practice proposed for the next several days, taking ten to fifteen minutes
to try to understand and accept the idea for the day. The lesson asks me to
arrange my day so that I have this time set apart for God. Setting apart
these fifteen minutes will necessitate setting aside every other goal for
those minutes. It will bring up the very issue addressed by this lesson, the
way in which my other goals compete with the goal given me by God.

In my understanding of the Course the matter of recognizing my true goal can
come fairly early in the journey I am on; the process of relinquishing all
my lesser goals until I have no goal but God can take a fairly long time. At
the start, we have no idea of how many competitive goals we have set up for
ourselves. It takes time to discover and relinquish them all. Today is but a
beginning, but the more seriously I take this idea, the more effective
today's practice can be.




From sue at circleofa.org  Thu Mar  5 06:08:45 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 06:08:45 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 64 - March 5
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAALDoo3zCUthApXNmJJWWGl8BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 64 - March 5

"Let me not forget my function."

PRACTICE SUMMARY:

Purpose: to remind yourself to constantly choose your happiness by choosing
to fulfill your function. To resist the temptation to let the world you see
lull you into forgetting your function.

Longer: at least 1for 10-15 minutes

* Close your eyes and repeat these thoughts: "Let me not forget my function.
Let me not try to substitute mine for God's. Let me forgive and be happy." 

* Then again do the recent practice of reflecting on these statements. Think
about them. Let related thoughts come (it will help if you remember how
important your function is to you and others).

Remarks: It is easy for lengthy reflection like this to turn into a big mind
wandering-fest for the simple reason that "you are not proficient in the
mind discipline that it requires" (7:2). So be on the lookout for irrelevant
thoughts. When they come repeat the idea (you might even want to repeat all
three statements). Even if you have to do so twenty timesthat is better than
just letting your mind float off into never-never land.

Frequent reminders: frequentlyfor several minutes

At different timesuse one or the other of the following:

1. A shorter version of the longer practice. Repeat the three "let me"
statements and then think only about them. Your mind will wanderwhen it does
repeat the idea to bring it back.

2. Repeat the same statements then look slowly and unselectively about
yousaying: "This is the world it is my function to save."


COMMENTARY

Lesson 62 told me that forgiveness is my function so this lesson expresses a
determination not to forget what I am here for: To forgive the world
bringing peace to every mind.

What causes me to forget? The entire world. Everything my body's eyes see is
"a form of temptation since this was the purpose of the body itself" (2:1).
The ego made the world and the body with a certain purpose in mind:

 1) To obscure my function of forgiveness 
 2) To justify my forgetting my function 
 3) To entice me to abandon God and His Son by taking form in a body.

The ego's continuation depends on my identifying with a bodily form. The
"wickedness" and "incompletion" of the world around me justify my
unwillingness to forgive. My involvement in the worldmaking it the scope of
my goals and even my life obscures my true function (in Heaven creating here
forgiving). The ego's plan seems to have worked pretty well.

The Course's cosmology is fairly unique and extreme. As it says later in the
Workbook the Course's teaching is that "The world was made as an attack on
God" (W-pII.3.2:1). It was not created by God but made by the ego to abandon
Godtaking on physical form to obscure our spiritual reality.

If it seems difficult for me to accept this understandingI am not alone. The
Course is quite aware this is a difficult concept. But when I begin to
detect the way my mind works it becomes a little easier to accept. Because I
begin to notice ways in which my mind uses the world and uses everything I
see with my eyes to maintain the illusion of separation. As I am moved to
forgive I also find something in my mind resisting with tooth and nail
trying to justify withholding forgiveness trying to get me simply to forget
forgiveness entirely. And I begin to recognize that what the Course is
saying here bears a curious similarity to what is going on within my mind.
Perhaps what it is sayingthen expresses truth a truth I am perhaps reluctant
to accept but which seems to be borne out by my own experience.

The Holy Spirit has another purpose however for everything in the world. "To
the Holy Spirit the world is a place where you learn to forgive yourself
what you think of as your sins" (2:3). That's what we're doing as we forgive
"others." Fulfilling this function is what brings us happiness (I can
testify to that!).

The connection between forgiveness and happiness is interesting. If you
think about it for a moment you'll realize that when you are unforgiving you
are unhappy about something. To say "I'm not happy about the way you are
acting in our relationship" for instance is equivalent to saying "I have
judged you and found you wanting I am unforgiving." To forgive someone is to
be happy with them. To forgive means to let go of your justification for
being unhappy. When you forgive "happiness becomes inevitable" (4:2). And
"There is no other way" (4:3). Unforgiveness is precisely a choice to remain
unhappy without forgiveness you cannot be truly happy. That is the reasoning
behind this statement: "Therefore every time you choose whether or not to
fulfill your function [that is to forgive] you are really choosing whether
or not to be happy" (4:4).

The lesson then goes on to point out that every single decision we make in a
day can all be boiled down to this simple choice: Will I be happy or
unhappy? When you can begin to view your choices in life from this
perspective the choice becomes no choice at all. Who would knowingly choose
unhappiness? When you begin to notice yourself actually doing that you begin
to understand why the Course refers to us so often as "insane."

"Let me not forget my function. Let me not try to substitute mine for God's.
Let me forgive and be happy."

Let's try to remember to do the actual practice today (I have to confess
I've been skimping on the practice). One thing to notice is the ten to
fifteen minute practice period that is called for today that's something
new. If nothing else try to fit that one in.




From sue at circleofa.org  Fri Mar  6 20:43:36 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 20:43:36 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 66 - March 7
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAJbaoZQMxHBJm+ViuTSouwcBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 66 - March 7

"My happiness and my function are one."

PRACTICE SUMMARY:

Purpose: To accept that your happiness and your God-given function are not
only connected, but are actually the same thing, regardless of different
appearances; and to accept that they are different in every way from all of
the functions your ego has given you.

Longer: 1 time, for 10-15 minutes

*	Spend the time actively reflecting on the following logical
syllogism: "God gives me only happiness [premise 1]. He has given my
function to me [premise 2]. Therefore my function must be happiness
[conclusion]." Notice how the conclusion logically follows from the
premises, so that if the premises are right, the conclusion has to be.

*	Therefore, spend a while thinking about the first premise ("God
gives me only happiness"). Use paragraph 6 as a guide. It says that, in the
end, you must either accept the first premise or accept that God is evil.

*	Then spend some time thinking about the second premise ("He has
given my function to me"). Use paragraphs 7 and 8 as a guide. They say that
your function must have been given by either God or the ego, but the ego
does not really give gifts. It is an illusion that offers illusions of
gifts.

*	Then spend some time thinking about how your life has reflected an
alternative syllogism, which goes something like this: "My ego has given me
many functions (think about some of those). None of them has been happy
(reflect on this). Therefore, my ego never gives me happiness." Isn't this
the only logical conclusion? Doesn't this conclusion make you want to choose
the function God has given you instead?

*	Finally, try to pour all of this reflection into an acceptance of
the conclusion ("Therefore my function must be happiness"). Use the
reflection to bring you to a point where you really embrace the conclusion.

Remarks: This lesson is yet another giant stride (our first was Lesson 61),
but it will only be a giant step forward for you if you really give your
mind to it. So do so, for your own sake. Give the longer practice your full
concentration, and give the shorter practice your frequency.

Frequent reminders: 2 per hour, for 1 minute or less
Say, "My happiness and my function are one, because God has given me both."
Repeating this slowly and thinking about it will make all the difference.

COMMENTARY

I find this lesson interesting in the way it makes use of ordinary logic,
applied to extraordinary ideas. The longer practice period is supposed to be
spent in thinking about the premises in the syllogism given in paragraph 5
(5:7, 9:1). In other words, the lesson asks us to test out the logic of its
proposal with our minds. Quite evidently the Course sees a good deal of
value in thinking and reasoning; it is not a Course in mindlessness, as some
people seem to believe. Nor is it only a course in experience. It is solidly
laced with reasoning, and expects us to know how to use that faculty of our
minds. I find that a good aid in this kind of practice is writing down the
ideas that come to me as I do it.

The central idea today is one we've seen before: happiness and our function
are, at the core, the same thing. The two premises are fairly simple,
especially the first: God gives me only happiness. If God is a God worthy of
our allegiance, a God of love, this must be so. Why follow a god who makes
you unhappy? If God gives unhappiness, He must be evil (6:5). And if God is
evil we may as well quit now; we'll never find happiness living in the
clutches of a sadistic god, who gives his creations unhappiness.

Second, God has given my function to me. This is a little less obvious.
"Function" could be understood as meaning "nature." In simple terms, God
created me, and in so doing, defined what I am. What I am defines what I do.
What alternative is there? If God did not define me, what did? The only
alternative is the ego (8:3). Or, we might say, we made ourselves (which is
really the same thing). But how can anything create itself? What created its
power to create? Is it really possible that the ego made me, or I defined
myself? No. Therefore this second premise must also be true: God has given
my function to me.

Now if God gives me only happiness, and God gave me my function, what is the
logical conclusion? My function must be happiness. My reason for being is to
be happy. Fulfilling my function is what brings me happiness.

If we think about all the ways we've tried to find happiness following our
egos--as we are instructed to think, here in the lesson--we must admit, if
we are perfectly honest, that none of them have worked.

The lesson is trying to bring us to the point where we make a choice, the
choice between madness and truth, between listening to the ego or to the
Holy Spirit. It is asking us to realize that everything the ego tells us is
a lie, and that only the truth is true; only what God has given us has
reality.

This lesson is the second one called a "giant stride." The first was Lesson
61. We'll see the term again in Lessons 94, 130, 135, and 194. Lesson 61
told us, "I am the light of the world," which is "a beginning step in
accepting your real function on earth," "...a giant stride toward taking
your rightful place in salvation." We are light-bearers, designed by God to
beam His light to the universe; that is our function. Accepting that is a
giant step, a strong beginning. Now, we are told, "My happiness and my
function are one." Bringing light to the world is what happiness is; being
the light of the world is fulfilling our function, and fulfilling our
function is happiness.





From sue at circleofa.org  Sat Mar  7 08:41:28 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2009 08:41:28 -0500
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 67 - March 8
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAD3HCmws+KNEpsYajtXBbzUBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




Lesson 67 - March 8

"Love created me like Itself."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: To experience the blazing light of your changeless reality, if only
for a moment. To redefine God as Love and realize you are included in His
definition of Himself.

Longer: 1 time, for 10-15 minutes

*	Repeat the idea. 

*	Then spend a few minutes adding related thoughts, along the
following lines: "Holiness created me holy. 
Helpfulness created me helpful." Use only attributes that fit the Course's
teachings about God.

*	For a brief interval, try to let go of all thoughts. 

*	The remainder is a meditation exercise, using the method you were
taught in the 40's:

1.	Reach past the thick cloud of all your self-images to the light of
your true Self. Sink past illusions about you and reach down to the truth in
you.

2.	When you get distracted, repeat the idea. If this is not enough, add
more related thoughts, as in the earlier phase.

3.	Hold in mind the confidence that the light of your true Self is
there and can be reached, and that even if you don't reach it now, you will
succeed in bringing that experience closer.

Frequent reminders: 4 or 5 per hour, maybe more

Repeat the idea. As you do, be aware that this is not your tiny voice
telling you this, but the Voice of truth telling you Who you really are. I
recommend repeating it once in this fashion now, so you can see the effect
it has.

Remarks: The comment in 5:2 is very important. The 60's and 70's really
focus on frequency, and this sentence explains why that is so crucial. You
need to frequently practice the truth because you so frequently practice
illusion. Specifically, "your mind is so preoccupied with false self-images"
(5:2). Contained in each normal thought is a false self-image. That is why
you need to inject as many thoughts as you can that contain the truth about
you.

COMMENTARY

The Course spends a disproportionate amount of space telling us what we are,
how we were created like God, Who created us, and how that reality is
"unchanged and unchageable" (2:1). Lesson 229 virtually duplicates today's
thought: "Love, Which created me, is what I am." Review V has us repeat the
thought, "God is but Love, and therefore so am I," every day for ten days.
And then there are all the lessons on the theme, "I am as God created me;"
three lessons with that direct topic (the only lesson given more than once
in the same words, in 94, 110, and 162), several others in which the idea is
repeated (132, 139, 237, and 260), and twenty review lessons (201 to 220) in
which we repeat the words, "I am still as God created me," daily. Evidently
the Course thinks this idea is worth repeating!

In fact, today's lesson tells us exactly why this thought is so important,
and why repetition of it is so necessary:

"It will be particularly helpful today to practice the idea for the day as
often as you can. You need to hear the truth about yourself as frequently as
possible, because your mind is so preoccupied with false self-images. Four
or five times an hour, and perhaps even more, it would be most beneficial to
remind yourself that Love created you like Itself. Hear the truth about
yourself in this." (Paragraph 5)

We need to hear the truth about ourselves as often as we can because we have
taught ourselves a false self-image, and we have taught ourselves very, very
well. "Teach only love, for that is what you are" (T-6.I.13:2) is one of the
most famous sayings in the Course, and emphasizes the same thing: What we
are is Love, because Love created us like Itself.

How many of us, if asked "What are you?" would find the word "love"
springing immediately to our minds? For most of us, to think of ourselves as
being love and only love is, to be kind, a stretch. We may think we have
<some> love in us, but to think that Love is what we are? Not hardly. That's
why we need to hear it as often as possible, why we need to repeat the idea
today four or five times an hour or more (5:3) during the day. That's
something like eighty times today, if we are awake sixteen hours.

Love is what I am. That is why I am the light of the world. That is why I am
the world's savior, and why the Christ in everyone looks to me for
salvation--because what I am <is> the salvation of the world. (1:2-5) How
differently would I live today if I knew this about myself?

Notice that the lesson does not expect us to "get" this idea all at once. If
we were expected to grasp it right away, we wouldn't have to repeat it
eighty times. All we are looking for is to "realize fully, <if only for a
moment,> that it is the truth" (1:6) Love is in us as our true Self, and we
and attempting to get in touch with the Love within ourselves (3:2,3). We
may not contact It directly today, but even the effort is worth it, although
we may not feel we have succeeded: "Be confident that you will do much today
to bring that awareness nearer, whether you feel you have succeeded or not"
(4:4).

Some day, though, some time, we will succeed; perhaps even today. It's
inevitable because we cannot hide forever from what we are, we cannot escape
from what is within us. At some point it will happen: "You will succeed in
going...through the interval of thoughtlessness to the awareness of a
blazing light in which you recognize yourself as Love created you" (4:3).

"You were created by Love like Itself." (6:4)




From sue at circleofa.org  Sun Mar  8 07:35:38 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 07:35:38 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 68 - March 9
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAEq9dVvjuI9CrhhyiJvamJgBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 68 - March 9

"Love holds no grievances."

PRACTICE SUMMARY:

Purpose: to feel the profound sense of peace and safety that comes from
being free of grievances. This will provide the motivation you need to free
yourself of them more and more.

Longer: 1 time, for 10-15 minutes

*	Search your mind for those you hold major grievances against, then
for those you hold seemingly minor grievances against. Notice how no one is
completely exempt, and how alone this has made you feel.

*	Resolve to see them all as friends. Say to each one in turn: "I
would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of me and come
to know myself." Note the progression through three stages (friend / part of
me / know myself). Try to mean each stage.

*	For the remainder, think of yourself as being at peace with a world
that is truly your friend, a world that loves and protects you, and that you
love in return. Try to actually feel safety surrounding you like a blanket,
hovering over you like wings of an angel, and holding you up like solid rock
beneath your feet. 

*	Conclude by saying: "Love holds no grievances. When I let all my
grievances go I will know I am perfectly safe."

Frequent reminders: several (at least three) per hour

Say, "Love holds no grievances. I would wake to my Self by laying all my
grievances aside and wakening in Him." 

Response to temptation: whenever you feel a grievance against anyone

Quickly apply the idea in this form: "Love holds no grievances. Let me not
betray my Self." The idea, of course, is that, because your Self is love,
holding grievances is an act of Self-betrayal. Think about that.

COMMENTARY

This lesson is a powerful teaching on the effect that holding grievances has
on our minds and our thinking.

To hold a grievance is to wish harm on someone; it is, whether we think of
it that way or not, to "dream of hatred" (2:5). Some of us--perhaps most of
us--have, at times, literally dreamed of revenge on someone we perceive as a
victimizer. We have, possibly, consciously wished someone were dead.
Probably, however, we have repressed conscious awareness of such thoughts
and have deliberately forgotten we had them. Yet even "minor" grievances are
the same thing, just in milder form. To hold a grievance is to feel you have
been wronged, and the victimizer deserves to be punished for his or her
wrong-doing. To wish someone would "get what s/he deserves" is no less
hatred than to wish them dead.

"Love holds no grievances." Holding a grievance is the converse of love;
love and grievances are mutually exclusive. Yesterday's lesson taught us
that "Love created me like Itself." To hold a grievance, then, is to *deny*
that truth; it is an assertion that I am something other than love. We
cannot know our Self as Love if we hold any grievances because holding a
grievance is teaching us the exact opposite.

"Perhaps you do not yet fully realize just what holding grievances does to
your mind" (1:5). The teaching in the next several lines is meaty. Our
Source is Love, and we are created like that Source. When we hold a
grievance, we *seem* to be different from our Source, and therefore seem to
be cut off from Him (1:6). We are not Love, and God is; we *must* be
separate.

However, the mind cannot quite conceive of a source and its effect as being
totally different; therefore, to cope with the logical dilemma, our mind
conceives of God in our own imagined image: "It makes you believe that He is
like what you think you have become" (1:7). We think God holds grievances,
and dream up religions that speak of "sinners in the hands of an angry God."
We make an image of a vengeful, punitive God, and cower in terror away from
His presence, fearful of our very existance.

The effects of grievances do not stop with seeming to split us off from God,
making us different and separate, and then remaking God Himself into a
terrifying, vindictive demon. Within us, our true Self seems to fall asleep
and thus to disappear from active participation, while the part of us that
"weaves illusions in its sleep appears to be awake." We lose sight of our
Self and imagine we are something else, a grievance-holding, petty "self,"
angry at the world.

"Can all this arise from holding grievances? Oh, yes!" (2:2,3) We have
redefined God in our own image. We suffer guilt. We have forgotten who we
are. All this was inevitable for those that hold grievances.

We have not realized what damage we are doing to our own minds by holding
grievances. This is why the Course teaches that forgiveness is not something
we do for the sake of others; we do it for our own well-being.

It may not seem possible to give up all grievances; that's understood by the
lesson (4:2). It isn't really a matter of possible or impossible, however;
it's just a matter of motivation. We *can* give up any grievance; the
question is, do we *want* to? So this lesson sets out to increase our
motivation by asking us to perform an experiment. Basically, it asks us to
"try to find out how you would feel without them." The idea is, quite
simply, that if we can get a taste of what it feels like to be *without*
grievances, we will prefer the new feeling. "Try it; you'll like it!" as the
commercial says. And once we are motivated, once we *want* to let grievances
go--we will. Our minds have that much power.

Notice the use of the words "trying" and "try" in paragraph 6. We are
basically doing an exercise in imagination here. Imagine being at peace with
everyone. Imagine feeling completely safe, surrounded by love and loving all
that surrounds you. Imagine--even just for an instant--that nothing can harm
you; that you are invulnerable and totally secure, and that what's more,
there is nothing that wants to harm you even if it could. If you can
"succeed even by ever so little, there will never be a problem in motivation
ever again" (4:5).

Once you get a taste of what this state of mind feels like you are going to
*want* it. Because it feels *really* good! You are going to become willing
to do whatever it takes to experience this more and more, for longer and
longer, until it becomes permanent.

I want to emphasize that today's lesson isn't telling us, "Get rid of all
your grievances." It isn't laying down a law and making us guilty for having
grievances. It is simply trying to *motivate* us to *want* to let them go,
first by showing us how much pain (illusory harm, but real in our
experience) our grievances are bringing to our minds, and then by getting us
to experience what a mind without grievances feels like. It is getting us to
recognize that holding a grievance is a betrayal--not of God, not of anyone
else, but a betrayal of *ourselves* as Love. Grievances make us believe we
are something we are not, and that we are not what we really are.




From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Mar  9 05:15:14 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 05:15:14 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 69 - March 10
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAMkPBJdrB59CiwKJTUKDOkYBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>


Lesson 69 - March 10

"My grievances hide the light of the world in me."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: to lift the veil of grievances that has hidden the light of the
world in you, so that you can experience that light and let it shine
salvation onto the world. This is yet another attempt to experience the
light in you (see 41.5:3 and 44.3:1).

Longer: 1 time, for 10-15 minutes

* Spend several minutes cultivating the heightened attitude that is so
crucial to Course-based meditation. Think about what you are about to
attempt, about its importance to you and to the world. You are trying to
lift the veil and get in touch with the light of the world, so you can hold
it up for all to see and be blessed by. You are trying to reach your only
need, your only function, goal, and purpose. Be determined to reach it. 

* Then, with eyes closed, let go of all your thoughts. Picture your true
mind as a vast sphere of radiant light, totally engulfed by a layer of dark
clouds (your grievances). From your vantage point outside the sphere, all
you can see are clouds. 

* Now begin the meditation. As before, you can see it as having three
aspects:
   1.	The basic motion is one of traveling through the clouds and into the
light. 
	"Reach out and touch them in your mind. Brush them aside with your
hand; 
	feel them resting on your cheeks, and forehead and eyelids as you go
through them" (6:3-4).
   2.	If your mind wanders, repeat the idea and then continue your journey
through the clouds.
   3.	Most of all, hold that heightened attitude you cultivated in the
first phase, 
	an attitude of desire (remember how much you want to reach the
light), 
	determination (be determined to get there), and confidence 
	(realize you cannot fail, because this is in accord with God's
Will).

* If you do your part properly, the power of God will do the rest. You will
feel His power lifting you up and carrying you into the light.

Frequent reminders: as often as possible (suggestion: several times an hour)
Say, "My grievances hide the light of the world in me. I cannot see what I
have hidden. Yet I want to let it be revealed to me [meaning, by God], for
my salvation and the salvation of the world."

Response to temptation: whenever you are tempted to hold a grievance
Say, "If I hold this grievance the light of the world will be hidden from
me."

COMMENTARY

I am the light of the world, but the light cannot shine out because my
grievances hide it. When I let my grievances go, the light is released, and
releases my brother and myself. My job with everyone I meet is to share my
salvation with him.

Today's practice is another time of attempting to "reach the light in you,"
or in other words, to become aware of my Self as God created It, wholly
loving and wholly loveable. Notice how the form of this practice is similar
to what we've seen before; it is a pattern that is repeated often in the
Workbook in different forms. In general, the pattern is one of attempting to
move past, or move through, or let go of the thoughts that normally occupy
my mind, settling down in deep stillness, and reaching beyond my surface
thoughts to something deep within myself, a Self I am not normally aware of.
This could be called the Course method of meditation. It is one of the tools
given to us by the Workbook, and should be learned and used even after
Workbook practice per se has ended.

What we are trying to reach is "dearer to us than all else" (3:1). Reaching
it, finding it, and releasing it to the world is our only purpose and only
function on earth. "Learning salvation is our only goal" (3:4). I love the
poignant imagery of this sentence: "We are trying to let the veil be lifted,
and to see the tears of God's Son disappear in the sunlight" (2:5). Can you
feel that tug with me, that longing to release the light of the world that
is in you?

"There is a light that this world cannot give. Yet you can give it, as it
was given you. And as you give it, it shines forth to call you from the
world and follow it. For this light will attract you as nothing in this
world can do." (T-13.VI.11:1-4)





From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Mar 10 06:06:15 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:06:15 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 70 - March 11
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAADjtuyHVclVLtdjWL/ctCjQBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 70 - March 11

"My salvation comes from me."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: To realize that your salvation is not outside you, that both the
sickness and the remedy are within, and that you are joined with God in
wanting the remedy for yourself.

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes
* Repeat, "My salvation comes from me," and add a statement to the effect
that it does not come from outside you, such as, "It cannot come from
anywhere else." 
* Close your eyes and for several minutes review external places in which
you have sought salvation-people, possessions, situations, events,
self-concepts. Say, "My salvation cannot come from any of these things [try
to really see this]. My salvation comes from me and only from me." 
* Then enter again into meditation, trying once more to travel through the
clouds to the light in you. Use the same technique as you did yesterday (you
may want to review those instructions). The difference today is that the
clouds, rather than being your grievances, are the external things in which
you've sought salvation. Since these cloud patterns are where your mind has
been fixated, it may be challenging to not get stuck there. The particular
method you use for getting past the clouds is not important; what is
important is your desire and determination to get past them. One method you
might find helpful is to imagine Jesus leading you by the hand through the
clouds and into the light. He says that if you do this, it will be more than
just your imagination.

Remarks: Now that we are going up to two longer practice periods a day, he
wants you to do the same thing as before-decide in advance when you'll do
the longer practice periods and then do your best to adhere to that
decision. To refresh your mind about why this is important, read the
"remarks" section in Lesson 65.

Frequent reminders: frequent
Say, "My salvation comes from me. Nothing outside of me can hold me back.
Within me is the world's salvation and my own." While saying this, remember
that only your own thoughts can hold you back. This leaves you in charge.

COMMENTARY

The message of this lesson is really one of the central teachings of the
Course. Guilt and salvation are in my own mind and nowhere else. "All guilt
is solely an invention of your mind" (1:5).

It is severely tempting to lay the blame for my problems somewhere outside
of me. I instinctively shun taking responsibility for any of my problems,
and the idea that all of them are in my mind and nowhere else seems
devastating. However, consider the consequences of the alternative view:
that the source of my problems and the source of my guilt lies outside of
me. If that is the case, I am the helpless victim of these outside forces. I
cannot do anything about them except to rant and rave at them, hurling
invectives of blame and begging for mercy from uncaring powers.

If, however, the problem lies solely in my own mind, then I am capable of
doing something about them. In fact, <only> I can do anything about them,
and nothing outside of me can prevent me from doing it. "Nothing outside of
me can hold me back" (10:8). I am in complete control; my salvation comes
from me and me alone. I am not dependent on anything outside myself, and
therefore I am already free.

The "cost" of recognizing that my salvation comes from me and nowhere else
is that I have to give up any idea that the "cavalry" is going to show up to
rescue me. "Nothing outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself
can give you peace" (2:1). Nothing and nobody can do it for me. It's up to
me. My partner in romantic love isn't going to do it for me. My wealth and
position isn't going to do it for me. My analyst isn't going to do it for
me, nor my guru. Not even Jesus will do it for me. The Course won't do it
for me. Any or all of these may support me, help me, encourage me; in the
end, however, my salvation will come from myself, from the choices of my own
mind. "Today's idea places you in charge of the universe, where you belong
because of what you are" (2:3). Awesome, and a bit frightening. I don't want
to believe I have that much power, but not believing it is what got me into
this mess in the first place. Therein lies my sickness.

Good news! God want us to be healed and happy; so do we. Therefore our will
is one with God's. We have been choosing this sickness but we don't <really>
want it, because it makes us unhappy. So we can agree with God and choose
again, choose to be well rather than sick.

In today's exercise we picture ourselves pushing past the clouds again
towards the light. Yesterday the clouds represented our grievances; today,
they represent the things we have looked to for salvation. "You cannot find
[salvation] in the clouds that surround the light, and it is in them you
have been looking for it" (8:2). Oddly, objects of salvation and grievances
are not all that different; a grievance against a brother is also an
assertion that something in that brother is making me unhappy, which is also
making him a potential source of salvation: I would be happy if he would
change. To see salvation outside myself, or to see a grievance, are both
means by which I give away my power and deny my sole responsibility for the
universe of my mind.

In the exercise of pushing past the clouds, we are told, "If it helps you,
think of me holding your hand and leading you. And I assure you it will be
no idle fantasy" (9:3). For some of us, it will be helpful to picture
ourselves taking the hand of Jesus and being led through the clouds. For
others, the picture would be more disconcerting than helpful; there is,
perhaps, healing needed in our relationship with him before we could find
that image appealing. I, for one, find it immensely helpful to envision one
who has already been there and back, and who is willing to lead me through.
He can't do it for me, but he sure can help.

Sometimes I think of Jesus as simply the part of my mind that has already
wakened. And he <is> part of me, just as you are, and as everyone is. He is
not some awesome divine being I cannot ever hope to be like. He is me,
remembering. He is me, awake. To take his hand is to identify with the
Christ in myself.

Go for the light today!




From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Mar 11 05:57:15 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:57:15 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 71 - March 12
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAAKC8bFZZtRNkKW7UzAh7+cBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 71 - March 12

"Only God's plan for salvation will work."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: to truly recognize that only God's plan will work and to rejoice in
this, for it means escape from the hopelessness of the ego's plan and from
the pointlessness of trying to follow both plans at once.

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

*  The first part is another exercise in thinking about the idea.
Specifically, reflect on the two parts of the idea. Part one: God's plan
will work. According to recent lessons, God's plan involves contacting the
light within and letting go of grievances, both of which mean changing your
mind. Part two: other plans won't work. This lesson tells us that the ego's
plan involves seeking outside yourself for happiness, holding grievances
when the outside doesn't cooperate, and refusing to change your mind. Try to
reach the conclusion, based on logic and your experience, that only God's
plan holds any hope of delivering actual happiness.

*  The second part is the Workbook's first exercise in asking for guidance.
Ask God to reveal His plan for you for today. Ask, "What would You have me
do? Where would You have me go? What would You have me say, and to whom?"
The willingness you are demonstrating just by doing this entitles you to an
answer, so listen with confidence. "Refuse not to hear" (9:8). Once you ask,
listen for the subtlest inner promptings-it doesn't need to come in words.
If you don't hear anything, you might want to repeat the questions, making
them more specific: "What would You have me do today?" or "Where would You
have me go after lunch?"

Frequent reminders: 6 or 7 per hour, for half a minute or less.
Repeat the idea as an affirmation of where your salvation really comes from.

Response to temptation: whenever you are tempted to hold a grievance 
Be alert all day to grievances. Respond to each one by saying, "Holding
grievances is the opposite of God's plan for salvation. And only His plan
will work."

COMMENTARY

After being told yesterday that salvation comes from me and only from me, it
is a little annoying the next day to be told that only God's plan will work
and that the plan I believe in (which is the ego's) isn't worth anything. It
kind of seems like give and then take away, doesn't it? But it isn't really
saying anything different. The ego's plan involves looking for salvation
outside of myself; God's plan is wholly centered on my change of mind. In
God's plan, salvation comes from me; in the ego's plan, it comes from any
place <except> me.

To the ego, salvation means "that if someone else spoke or acted
differently, if some external circumstance or event were changed, you would
be saved." In the ego's view, basically I'm OK, I am the innocent victim;
the problem is with something outside of me. Whenever I am thinking, "If
this were different, I'd be OK," I am believing in the ego's plan of
salvation because I am demanding "the change of mind necessary for
salvation...of everyone and everything except" myself.

Don't get tripped up by the religious sounding phrase, "plan for salvation."
It may remind you of some cheap Bible tract announcing "God's plan of
salvation." What salvation boils down to here is simply, "I'd be OK; my
problems would be solved." And the ego's plan, simply stated, is "If this
were different, I would be saved."

In the ego's plan, the mind's only purpose is to figure out <what> has to
change for me to be saved (which presupposes that it <isn't me> that has to
change). The ego will let us pick anything that won't work (which includes
everything in the class of things I am looking at--things outside of
myself--, since salvation comes from me and not something outside me). The
ego has me look everywhere but in the one place in which the answer lies--my
own mind.

God's plan for salvation is that I look for it where it is: in myself.

For this plan to work, however, there is a condition: I have to look in
myself <and nowhere else.> I can't be looking for salvation in myself <and>
from outside. This just divides my efforts between two different plans.
There are two parts to today's idea:

1) God's plan will work 2) Other plans (i.e. the plans I make up) won't work

The second part, the lesson implies, may seem depressing. We may feel a
flare of anger. In fact what keeps us from simply accepting God's plan is
that we want to be right; we want our plans to work. In fact we'd rather be
right than happy, most of the time, although we don't consciously think
that. But the ego's plan consists of holding grievances. Haven't you ever
had the experience of realizing that you <could> just let a grievance go and
be happy, but that somehow it seems to feel good to be angry? You don't want
to let go. You'd rather be <right> than happy.

The lesson is saying, "You can be saved simply by changing your mind.
Nothing outside you has to change in order for you to be happy. You can
simply choose happiness, right now." And our response, typically? "Hell, no!
I won't be happy unless s/he changes first." We're holding on to our plan
for salvation and refusing God's.

The practice for today, then, is surprisingly not mainly about letting go of
grievances, or looking within for salvation. It is about listening. It is
about asking guidance from God. The emphasis is on taking our hands off the
reins of our lives and giving them over to God. If we can learn to do that,
we may begin to learn that His plans work better than our own.





From sue at circleofa.org  Thu Mar 12 05:59:43 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:59:43 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 72 - March 13
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAGM3aND+5YBAuRpYhly/2SQBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 72 - March 13

"Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: to stop attacking God's plan by miscasting it as something it's
not. To instead welcome it as it is, and realize it has already been
accomplished in you.

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes
This is another exercise in trying to hear God's Voice. This time you are
asking God what His plan for salvation is, in order to replace your
assumptions about what it is. Your grievances have depicted God in your
image, as a separate body who feels wronged by the misbehavior of others
(which includes your misbehavior). In this view, for you to become
reconciled with Him, He demands (like any ego) that you sacrifice your
pleasures on His behalf and pay the price for your misdeeds. Can't you see
that this view of His plan is why you've pushed it away? In the practice
period, lay aside your assumptions about what God's plan is and ask Him what
it is. Ask, "What is salvation, Father? I do not know [try to mean this].
Tell me, that I may understand." While listening, the attitude you hold is
everything. Be confident that He will answer. "Be determined to hear"
(12:6). When you feel your confidence wane, repeat the question again,
consciously "remembering that you are asking of the infinite Creator of
infinity, Who created you like Himself" (12:1). It may help to vary the
wording of the sentences. For instance, "What is Your plan for salvation? I
let go of my assumptions. I really want to understand it." Listen for the
faintest promptings. Trust what you hear. You may want to write it down
afterwards.

Frequent reminders: 1, maybe 2, per hour, for a minute or so
Say, "Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation. Let me
accept it instead. What is salvation, Father?" Then wait in silence and
listen for His answer, preferably with eyes closed.

COMMENTARY

This is a long lesson, and a tough one. The scope of ideas presented here is
daunting even to an experienced student of the Course (including me). There
is no way I can give any detailed explanation of all the ideas in this brief
commentary, so I am mainly going to focus on a few interesting ideas.

The general thrust of the argument here is that holding grievances is always
concerned in some way with the behavior of a body. Grievances thus confuse
the person with his body; they are based on the assumption that bodies are
what we are, and bodies are what God created. Since bodies die, God is a
liar when He promises life. Death is the ultimate punishment for our sins,
and that is what God gives us.

The ego then comes into the picture in the role of "savior," telling us,
"OK, you're a body. So take the little you can get" (6:6). We see salvation
as some kind of bodily function. Either we hate our bodies and humiliate
them or we love them and try to exalt them (7:2-3).

As long as "the body stands at the center of your concept of yourself, you
are attacking God's plan for salvation" (7:4). Because God's plan has
nothing to do with the body; it concerns the mind, the being you are.

One primary thing the lesson is trying to get across is that we are not
bodies. "It is the body that is outside us, and is not our concern. To be
without a body is to be in our natural state" (9:2-3). This flies in the
face of our common perception. The nearly universal assumption of man is
that we are <inside> our bodies. To say the body is <outside> us seems to
make no sense at all. But actually, it isn't an entirely inconceivable idea.
There is a way of understanding how our awareness can <appear> to be in the
body when in fact it is elsewhere.

You are all, to some degree, computer folks, so probably you are at least
familiar with the idea of virtual reality. My son, Ben, is getting his Ph.D.
at Georgia Tech in virtual reality. Not long ago he visited VR laboratories
in Japan, where they were experimenting with VR in connection with robots.
He put on a VR helmet (so his eyes and ears now beheld and heard what was
projected on the screen of the helmet or played through its speakers); he
wore a VR sleeve on his arm and hand. These were connected to a robot, which
had a camera and microphone on its "head" and whose mechanical arm and hand
responded to the movements of Ben's arm and hand. He was seeing what the
robot "saw," hearing what it "heard," and picking up objects with its hand.

Then, he had a very odd experience. He turned his (the robot's) head, looked
across the room, and saw his fleshly body sitting on the other side, wearing
all this weird-looking gear. Ben's awareness was inside the robot, although
his body was on the other side of the room. He seemed to be separate from
his body.

Our bodies, I believe, are very much like that VR robot. Our minds receive
only the input of the body's eyes and ears, and so we are fooled into
thinking we are inside of it. In reality we are "somewhere else," not inside
the body at all. What we are seeing in our bodies is, in truth, only
"virtual reality." The body is "outside" of us in fact, and being without a
body is our natural state.

One of the aims of the Course is to help us "see our Self as separate from
the body" (9:5). I hope these thoughts provide a little help in
conceptualizing that possibility.

The practice periods have us focusing on asking, "What is salvation, Father?
I do not know" (10:6-7). The intent is to get us to let go of our existing
ideas of "salvation," which are all focused on the body, either exalting it
or abasing it, so that something else can take the place of those ideas.
Salvation lies in acceptance of what we are--and what we are is <not> a
body. The lesson leaves the answering of the question about salvation to our
inner listening. If we ask, it says, something will answer us (11:3; 12:5).

<Explanatory note: The logic behind the first two sentences of paragraph
five is particularly difficult to grasp. Why, if God is a body, must His
plan for salvation be death? Robert and I puzzled over this one morning and
decided that the meaning seems to be that, if God is a body as we are (in
the ego's eyes), then any plan of salvation such as God's real plan which
involves dis-engaging from the body and identifying with spirit must really
be an attempt to kill us--to remove us from our bodies which are our
identity.>





From sue at circleofa.org  Fri Mar 13 06:00:38 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:00:38 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 74 - March 15
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAILgg3vpt5RJv/DgVHX5ZYUBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 74 - March 15

"There is no will but God's."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: To realize that you cannot be in conflict, because your will and
every will is really God's Will. To experience the peace that comes from
this fact. 

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

* Say, <There is no will but God's. I cannot be in conflict.> Repeat these
sentences in a special way: <several times, slowly and with firm
determination to understand what they mean, and to hold them in mind> (3:1).


* Then for several minutes let related thoughts come. Remember your training
in this. 

* If thoughts intrude about conflicts in your life, quickly dispel them by
saying, <There is no will but God's. These conflict thoughts are
meaningless.> If a particular conflict keeps intruding, single it out.
Briefly identify the person(s) and situation(s) involved and say, <There is
no will but God's. I share it with Him. My conflicts about_____cannot be
real.> You'll probably need to keep your eyes open for this part to consult
the sentences you need to repeat.

* At this point, your mind should be clear and ready to turn inward. The
rest of the exercise is a meditation in which you sink down and inwards,
into the peaceful place where God's Will is your will. If you are
succeeding, you will feel an alert, joyful peace. Do not let yourself slip
off into a drowsy pseudo-peace. Repeat the idea as often as you need to in
order to draw yourself back from this.

Remarks: The comments in paragraphs 5 and 6 are among the most important
remarks on meditation in the Workbook. You should carry their counsel into
every meditation. On the one hand, they tell you not to mistake meditation
for withdrawal from life's conflicts into a mental fantasyland. On the other
hand, they urge you to do everything in your power to avoid such withdrawal.
This means: Do not let yourself float off into that sleepy pseudo-peace that
meditation can so easily turn into. Real peace is alert and joyful, not
sleepy and sluggish. When you start to go off into withdrawal, repeat the
idea to draw your mind back. "Do this as often as necessary" (6:4). It is
better to do this over and over, and never find the peace you seek, than to
drift off into that drowsy haze (see 6:5).

Frequent reminders: at regular intervals that you predetermine (suggestion:
every half hour), for 1 or 2 minutes

* Say: <There is no will but God's. I seek His peace today.> 

* Then do a brief meditation in which you try to find that peace, with eyes
closed, if possible.

COMMENTARY

The lesson states that this idea "can be regarded as the central thought
toward which all our exercises are directed" (1:1) The Course makes similar
claims about ideas that seem quite different from this one, for instance,
<There is no world> (W-pI.132.6:2,3). All of the ideas so identified,
however, boil down to what we can call <non-dualism.> That is, God is
unopposed; nothing apart from Him and His creations exists. There is no
devil, no power that opposes God, nothing that exists independent of Him and
therefore capable of having a differing will.

To say that nothing can have a will that differs from God's must include
ourselves. The result of believing this is that conflict leaves our minds.
How could our mind be in conflict if we have no will that can conflict with
God's?

What, though, can we say of our common experience of wanting things that we
think are opposed to God, or of wanting to do what He does not want us to
do? Or even more down to earth, the experiencing of being torn between
conflicting desires? If there is no will but God's, how is such experience
possible?

The real answer is, it is not possible, unless there are illusions involved:
<Without illusions conflict is impossible> (2:4). Conflict exists only
between two illusions. In Reality there is no conflict, and Reality does not
conflict with illusions, either. <The war against yourself is but the battle
of two illusions...There <is> no conflict between them and the truth...Truth
does not fight against illusions, nor do illusions fight against the truth.
Illusions battle only with themselves> (T-23.I.6:1-2, 7:3-4). When there
seems to be a will opposed to God, whether outside of us or within us, we
are seeing illusions.

<There is no will but God's. I cannot be in conflict> (3:2-3). This is the
truth. I have often found that conflict thoughts in my mind can be defused
simply by recognizing that they are meaningless, and that the conflict
cannot be real. No peace is possible if I believe that my mind can be in
conflict, but when I realize I cannot be in conflict, incredible peace
results.

There is a very interesting observation about discerning the reality of
peaceful feelings as opposed to false peace resulting from withdrawal and
repression. True peace brings <a deep sense of joy and an increased
alertness.> False peace brings <drowsiness and enervation.> (5:3-4) In our
attempts to enter the quiet and feel our peace, we are admonished to avoid
withdrawal and to pull ourselves back to alertness by repeating today's
idea. <There is definite gain in refusing to allow retreat into withdrawal,
even if you do not experience the peace you seek> (6:5). From this we can
surmise that even conscious conflict is better than repressed conflict,
although the goal is to realize the unreality of the conflict and thus
experience peace. Another thought: These are really very detailed meditation
instructions, and demonstrate that students are really expected to be trying
to do these exercises for ten or fifteen minutes twice daily.





From sue at circleofa.org  Fri Mar 13 21:11:41 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:11:41 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 73 - March 14
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAABcNJzCu7MdGsT+nCGwhXAwBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 73 - March 14

"I will there be light."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: another attempt to reach the light in you, which will show you the
real world.

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

I see this lesson as very similar to Lesson 69, where you spent a beginning
phase reflecting on how much you want to find the light in you, and then, in
the ending phase, entered a meditation in which you tried to actually reach
that light.

*	Spend several minutes thinking about how salvation is your true
will, what you really want. (To prepare yourself, I recommend re-reading
paragraphs 6-9, frequently inserting your name while you do so.) Think about
how you truly want to reach the light in you. Think about how salvation is
your will, not an alien purpose thrust upon you. Since reaching the light is
your will, you can be confident in your attempt to find it today. Carry this
attitude of "reaching the light is my will" into your meditation.

*	Then, "with gentle firmness and quiet certainty" (10:1), tell
yourself, "I will there be light. Let me behold the light that reflects
God's Will and mine." 

*	The rest of the practice period is a meditation in which you try to
reach the light in you. Hold your true will in mind and let it, joined with
God and your Self, lead you to that radiant light at the center of your
mind. Remember to respond to wandering thoughts with the idea, and most of
all, remember to stay in touch with your will to experience the light.

Frequent reminders: several per hour
Say, "I will there be light. Darkness is not my will." If you say it as a
genuine "declaration of what you really want" (11:1), you will get more out
of it.

Response to temptation: whenever you are tempted to hold a grievance
It is important to immediately say, "I will there be light. Darkness is not
my will." <Remembering that it is not your will to have grievances will
release your grip on them.>

COMMENTARY

This is a lesson about our will, "the will you share with God" (1:1). I'd
like to focus just on what is specifically said in this lesson about our
will.

First, it is a will we share with God. That is, what the Course calls our
will is identical to God's Will. We want the same thing God wants for us,
because we were created as extensions of His Will; what else could our will
be except the same as His?

"Your fatherhood and your Father are one. God wills to create, and your will
is His. It follows, then, that you will to create, since your will follows
from His. And being an extension of His Will, yours must be the same"
(T-11.I.7:8).

Our "true" will (which by the Course's definition is our only will) is not
the same as the ego's wishes, the manifold variety of thoughts that seem to
conflict with God's Will and with each other. From the Course's standpoint
these are <not> our will, just ego wishes. A desire to attack, no matter how
strongly we may consciously identify with it, cannot be our will; it can
only be an idle wish of the ego. Our will represents our Self as God created
us; anything that seems to come from a different source is not <will> but
<wish>. What this means in practical terms is that our ego thoughts are not
part of our true Self, and in reality we do not will them.

"The will you share with God has all the power of creation in it" (1:3). Our
will therefore must be realized; nothing can oppose it. We will have what we
truly want because our will has all the power of creation, while the ego's
wishes have no power at all. We exist in the illusion that our ego's wishes
are almost all-powerful, and our "higher" will often seems weak by
comparison. This is simply not true. It can only appear to be true for a
limited time; eventually, inevitably, the will of our Self must be done.


"Your will is lost to you in this strange bartering" (3:1). Our conscious
awareness is out of touch with the will of our Self. Our ego's need for
grievances has created shadow figures in our minds ("figures that seem to
attack you," 2:2), images from the past that we superimpose over our
perceptions in the present, so that we react to people in the present as if
they were these figures from our past. This traffic in grievances has
blocked our real will from our awareness, covering it with the wishes of the
ego until those wishes seem to be our will. We are no longer aware of what
it is we really want.

"Can such a world have been created by the Will the Son of God shares with
his Father?" (3:2) The obvious answer is, "No." How could we have willed a
world of attack and judgment? This is obviously not something anyone would
want. The world we see reflects the ego's wishes, not our will.

"Today we will try once more to reach the world that is in accordance with
your will" (4:1). This is the "real world," as the Course defines that term.
There <is> a world in accord with our will. We are not seeing it now, but we
can.

"Yet the light that shines upon this world reflects your will, and so it
must be in you that we will look for it" (4:6). The real world reflects our
true will, what we truly want in our eternal Self. The light that shines on
it is in us, and we can find that world by looking within ourselves for the
light.

"Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts your will, and lets you look upon
a world of light" (5:4). Forgiveness lets go of grievances, thus removing
the dark spots on our mind that are being projected as black blotches of
darkness on the world, just as a dust mote in a movie projector throws a
black spot on the screen. Forgiveness allows us to see the world as our Self
truly wants to see it; it reasserts our will.

"Suffering is not happiness, and it is happiness you really want. Such is
your will in truth" (6:5). It seems silly to say something like, "Suffering
is not happiness," and yet we often treat it as if it were happiness. We
seem to prefer our pain over risking something new; at least we <know how>
to suffer, and we are oddly afraid that we won't know how to function if we
are happy. But we don't really want suffering; how could we? How could
anyone? Our will, in truth, is happiness.

"And so salvation is your will as well" (6:7). If we want happiness, we want
salvation, because salvation is happiness. Salvation means happiness. We
want to be relieved of suffering; we want to be happy.

It amazes me sometimes how powerful a message this can be. Most of the time
it seems as if I have a split mind; part of me wants to be happy, and part
of me sabotages my every effort. Isn't it peculiar how common is this
thought: "It's too good to last"? Or, "Nothing lasts forever." "Into each
life a little rain must fall." Something in us tells us that we <can't> be
happy all the time, that we don't deserve it, or even that we couldn't stand
it. Ridiculous ideas! The will of our true Self, with all the power of
creation behind it, is that we be happy. Therefore--we will be. It must be
so.

"You want to accept God's plan because you share in it. You have no will
that can really oppose it, and you do not want to do so" (7::2-3). I really
do want the Will of God; my will is the same as His! I want to accept
salvation. There is no part of my will that opposes it; only idle, paltry
ego wishes seem to.So I can't miss; I can't fail. My will is NOT different
from God's.


"Above all else, you want the freedom to remember Who you really are. Today
it is the ego that stands powerless before your will. Your will is free, and
nothing can prevail against it" (7:5-7).

The power of your will and mine can bring light to this world if we simply
choose to assert it. We simply realize what we truly want, and say, "I will
there be light." And there will be light. Just as God said, "Let there be
light," and there was light. Because our will is creative, as His is.






From sue at circleofa.org  Sun Mar 15 10:29:58 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 10:29:58 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 75 - March 16
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAPis2lBcP0xPuNdpTc7ZpaoBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 75 - March 16

"The light has come."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: to set aside your unforgiving perceptions of the world and look
with vision upon the real world. Today is cause for special celebration, for
it will be a new beginning, "the beginning of your vision and the sight of
the real world" (11:2). 

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

* Tell yourself, as if announcing "the glad tidings of your release" (5:3),
"The light has come. I have forgiven the world." 

* The rest of the practice period is an exercise in trying to see the world
that vision shows you. Begin by consciously withdrawing all the meanings you
have put on the world. Imagine that your mind is "washed of all past ideas
and clean of every concept you have made" (6:2). Imagine that "you do not
know yet what [the world] looks like" (6:5). This act of wiping off the
meanings you have written on the world is also an act of forgiving the
world, and this is what grants you vision.

* Then wait, with eyes open, to have vision dawn upon you. While doing so,
occasionally repeat, slowly and patiently, "The light has come. I have
forgiven the world." The main attitude to hold while you wait is confidence,
that you will experience vision because "your forgiveness entitles you to
vision" (7:1), and because the Holy Spirit will be there with you and will
not fail to give you the gift of vision. Tell these things to yourself and
to the Holy Spirit while you wait, and thereby give yourself the confidence
you need. And when your confidence fades, repeat again the lines with which
you began, and then continue waiting for vision to dawn.

Frequent reminders: every 15 minutes

Joyfully remind yourself that today is a time to celebrate by saying, "The
light has come. I have forgiven the world." Say it with a sense of
thankfulness to God. Say it as a rejoicing in the healing of your sight. Say
it in the confidence "that on this day there is a new beginning" (9:5).

Response to temptation: Whenever you are tempted to be upset with someone
Do not let this person pull you back to darkness. Say to him instead, "The
light has come. I have forgiven you."

COMMENTARY

In this lesson, as in several others, the Course speaks of me as though I
have accepted its message and have forgiven the world; as though I am ready,
this very day, to see the real world; as though I have attained its goal of
peace. Perhaps today I do not feel quite worthy of such confidence. Yet, if
what we have been reading the past two days is true, any impression that I
may have that my will differs from God's is only an illusion. My true Self,
which in my right mind I am aware of, is exactly as this lesson depicts me.
This lesson is the truth about myself, whether or not I have yet recognized
it.

If I feel a little hypocritical in practicing this lesson exactly as
instructed, so be it. If I have self-doubts that arise when I say, "I have
forgiven the world," I let them be there; I attribute no power to them to
disturb me. I am simply affirming the truth about myself. Today, I am at
peace, and I bring peace with me wherever I go (1:5). "The light has come."
I let myself believe it; I let myself enter into knowing that frame of mind.

Whatever my experience today, this lesson is the truth. I cannot stand
against what is within me; I cannot be other than what God created me to be.
"The outcome is as sure as God," as the Text says (T-2.II.3:18). "Our single
purpose makes the goal inevitable" (4:3). I <will> see the real world; I
will see Heaven's reflection everywhere.

Do I feel I lack the certainty of this lesson's words? That is exactly why I
need to practice saying them. Perhaps if I give my little willingness to
speak them, affirming that this is what I want to be true, the Holy Spirit
will add His strength to my words and make them true for me. Perhaps even
today. "The light has come." It is here, right now, with me, available to
me.

The Holy Spirit "will be with you as you watch and wait. He will show you
what true vision sees. It is His Will, and you have joined with Him. Wait
patiently for Him. He will be there" (7:5-9). So I wait. I wait "patiently"
and not anxiously. It may take time to manifest, but I wait patiently,
confidently, knowing that His promise cannot fail. The vision I seek will
come to me. "He will be there."

We are told to "tell Him you know you cannot fail because you trust in Him"
(8:1). So I say it; I pray, "Holy Spirit, I know I cannot fail because I
trust in You." I affirm my confidence in my Self; I affirm the truth about
me, and put aside the lies I have believed. I can be confident that this day
is a new beginning for me. Something has shifted within me and I know that I
want the peace and the light this lesson speaks of; I know that if I want
it, because of what I am, and because I am joined with the power of the Holy
Spirit in wanting it, in agreement with the Will of God, I cannot fail.

Today is dedicated to serenity (11:1). Today is for celebration of the
beginning of my vision. I accept myself as God created me. "The light has
come."


From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Mar 16 06:05:54 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 06:05:54 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 76 - March 17
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAHwrETqvR7hDqs0KbzBqpC8BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 76 - March 17

"I am under no laws but God's."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: To really understand that you are under no laws but God's, to see
the freedom in this idea, and to rejoice that it is so.

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

* In the first phase, briefly review the different "laws" you believe in.
These include bodily laws, such as laws of nutrition, medicine, and
economics; social laws, such as laws of reciprocity and good relationship;
and religious laws, which set forth what you must give to God in order for
Him to grant you His gifts.

* Dismiss these "laws" with the thought that there are no laws but God's.
Then wait in receptive silence to hear God's Voice (this is another exercise
in listening to the Holy Spirit). While listening, from time to time repeat
the idea, as an invitation to God's Voice to help you really understand the
idea. When you hear the Holy Spirit, He may tell you that God's laws, in
contrast to the world's "laws," only give. They do not ask for payment
before they deliver you their endless blessings. He may go on to tell you of
all the blessings these laws offer you, including the limitless joys of
Heaven, all of which stem from God's infinite Love for you. Remember to
listen in confidence, knowing that even if you hear nothing now, God's Voice
is still speaking to you, and that your listening today will bring you
closer to really hearing. If you do hear something, you may want to write it
down afterwards.

* Conclude by repeating the idea.

Frequent reminders: 4-5 per hour (at least)

Repeat the idea as a declaration of freedom from all the tyrannical laws of
this world and an acknowledgment that you live only under the blessing of
God's Love. 

Response to temptation: whenever you feel subject to the laws of this world

Repeat the idea. Because we usually take the laws of the world for granted,
we don't always realize when we feel oppressed by them. Therefore, you may
want to periodically scan your mind for the things that are weighing on you
and identify the laws behind them. At any given moment, for instance, you
might find that you feel oppressed by the laws of hunger, of time (you may
be working against a deadline), of money (you may feel a shortage), and of
social dynamics (you may be in a politically delicate situation). Note the
laws you feel oppressing you and respond by repeating the idea as a real
declaration of your freedom from them.

COMMENTARY

This is perhaps one of the most challenging lessons in the Workbook. It
confronts, head on, a whole panoply of security blankets and substitutes for
salvation that we have developed, and that we have convinced ourselves we
depend on. It shocks us by its radical assertions. If we are open to what it
says, we will begin to see that the Course is challenging all of our basic
assumptions about life and about ourselves. We are far more entrenched in
the ego's illusions than we have heretofore realized.

The following scenario forms the background to this lesson:

1) We are perfect, formless mind, each of us parts of a seamless Whole, but
we have wished to separate off and fragment a small piece of mind to call
"me." Moreover, we have not only wished to do so, we have convinced
ourselves that we have actually done it. Our sense of identity has become
restricted to this little fragment of mind. Our mind has felt enormous guilt
because of this belief, which is false.

2) We have made up a world filled with bodies for two reasons: first, to
support our illusions of separateness; and second, to escape from the guilt
in our minds by projecting that guilt onto the world and the "others" who
fill it. We have become primarily identified with our own body, rather than
even with the fragment of mind we perceive as being "within" the body.

3) Believing we are the body, and that we (our bodies) are endangered by
many things in the world, we have devised an endless list of means for
protecting and preserving our bodies. These are the "laws" of the world
spoken of in this lesson.

Lesson 76 begins (1:1) by referring to an earlier statement, in Lesson 71,
the first three paragraphs, that pointed out how many senseless things we
have looked to for our salvation (which can be understood as protection, or
safety, or even happiness). In Lesson 71, the key factor about each of these
things was the thought, "If this were different, I would be saved"
(W-pI.71.2:4). Lesson 76 now adds the thought that, "Each (of these things)
has imprisoned you with laws as senseless as itself" (1:2). For example, if
we look to good physical health to "save" us, we become bound by a myriad of
laws governing health: nutrition, medicine, and so on.

The lesson identifies many of the so-called laws we believe ourselves to be
subject to: the need for money (paper strips and metal discs); the use of
medicine to ward off disease; the need for physical interaction with other
bodies (sex, companionship); laws of medicine, economics, and health
(nutrition, exercise, sleep, vitamins); any way we try to protect the body;
"laws" of friendship, of "good" relationships, and reciprocity (being fair);
even "religious" laws.

We are not actually bound by any of these laws. That is a stunning and
almost unbelievable statement (1:3).  In order to understand our freedom
from these laws, however, we "must first realize salvation lies not there"
(1:4). In other words, we have to realize that our bodies and our egos are
not what need preservation. We have to undo the mistake we have made in
identifying what and who we are. That undoing, of course, is what the entire
Course in Miracles is all about.

In saying that we "bind" ourselves "to laws that make no sense" (1:5) as
long as we are seeking for salvation by attempting to change
something--anything--other than our minds, the Course is telling us that our
subjugation to these laws of the world is something that we have <chosen>
and are continuing to choose, moment to moment. Following the dictates of
our own ego in its attempts to preserve itself at the expense of our
reality, we blindly continue to look for salvation outside of ourselves.
That blind pursuit is what binds us to the laws of the world. By
implication, ending that mistaken pursuit will <free> us from the laws of
the world.

We think "miracles" means sudden healing of the body, or the arrival of
money from an unexpected source, or the appearance of someone or something
we believe will bring us happiness. To believe this is still to seek for
salvation from outside of our own minds, and will continue to bind us to the
laws of the world. What's worse, it also continues to make our separated,
ego identity seem real to us.

The idea of living without any need for money, or medicine, or physical
means of protection appeals to everyone. That state can be ours, but
paradoxically, not by seeking for it. The world and its laws is not where
freedom lies. Having all the money we need magically provided is not
freedom. Having perfect physical health is not freedom. Having "good"
relationships is not freedom. Freedom has nothing to do with our bodies.
Freedom can be found only within ourselves.

"The body is endangered by the mind that hurts itself" (5:2). All of our
physical lack and suffering is unconsciously engendered by our minds, in an
attempt to keep the mind from consciously realizing that it is its own
victim (5:3-5). Because of our primal guilt, caused by our belief in the
reality of separation, our mind "attacks itself and wants to die" (5:5).
This is why we think we are  bodies (which do die). The "laws" we think we
must obey in order to save our bodies are just the mind's attempt to
camouflage the real problem, which is its own thoughts of guilt and
separation.

"God's laws forever give and never take" (9:6). The "laws" we see are not
like this; therefore they cannot be real, because they do not come from God.
And "There are no laws but God's" (9:1).  In today's practice we are asked
to consider our foolish laws, and then to listen, deep within, to "hear the
Voice That speaks the truth to you" (9:2). This Voice will tell us of God's
undying Love, His desire that we know "endless joy" (10:5), and His yearning
to use us as channels for His creation (10:6). If we hear this message of
Love within ourselves, our thoughts of guilt and separation will vanish. We
will realize Who we are. And in so doing, our insane desire to attack and
kill ourselves will be over. The <cause> of our false seeking will go, and
with it, our bondage to the "laws" that govern these idols we have made.

By bringing our imaginary "laws" into direct confrontation with what the
laws of God must be--laws in which there is no loss, no giving and receiving
of payment, no exchanges nor substitutions, but only God's unconditional
Love--we are bringing our illusions to the truth. (See the Text, 14.VII.1-4,
for an excellent discussion of just why our two systems of belief need to be
brought together so that the falsehoods will vanish in the light of the
truth.)





From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Mar 17 05:45:18 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 05:45:18 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 77 - March 18
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAPavXsrUVMBHj3ZAOxQCrlwBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




Lesson 77 - March 18

"I am entitled to miracles."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: To claim the miracles that belong to you, to claim the assurance
that they really are yours, and to refuse to be content with anything less.

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

*  Repeat the idea as a confident request for the miracles that God has
promised you. Close your eyes and remind yourself (1) that you are
requesting what belongs to you, and (2) that by accepting miracles you
uphold everyone's right to miracles.

*  For the remainder, wait in silent expectancy for the Holy Spirit to
assure you that your request is granted, that you really are entitled to
miracles. This, in other words, is yet another exercise in waiting for
something from the Holy Spirit. In previous lessons (71, 72, 75, 76), you
waited for guidance, understanding, or an experience of vision. Here you are
waiting for the assurance that the storehouse of miracles really is open to
you, really is yours. The same things apply here as in the previous lessons:

1.  Wait in mental silence and expectancy.

2.  Wait in confidence. Since you are asking for the assurance of something
that is already true, you can ask without any doubt or uncertainty.

3.  Periodically renew your request and your confidence by repeating the
idea.

Frequent reminders: frequent

Repeat the idea. Throughout the day, be on the lookout for situations in
which miracles are called for. "You will recognize these situations" (7:5).
Then ask confidently for a miracle by repeating the idea.

Response to temptation: whenever you are tempted to hold a grievance

Say quickly, "I will not trade miracles for grievances. I want only what
belongs to me. God has established miracles as my right." Refuse to be
satisfied with anything less than miracles.

COMMENTARY

What we celebrate today is our true Identity as beings who are one with God
(1:3, 5, 6). The key to what the Course calls "salvation" is simply
remembering what we are. I like the three-fold summary that opens the
lesson. Just rearranging the words a little, the three items are:

-- What we are entitles us to miracles.

-- What God is guarantees we will receive miracles.

-- Our oneness with God means we will offer miracles to others.

Nothing we think about ourselves, no special powers we may believe we have,
and no rituals we observe bring miracles to us. They come to us because of
what we are, because of something inherent in our being. The qualifications
for miracles are built in at creation; we don't have to earn them.

The Holy Spirit "will never ask what you have done to make you worthy of the
gift of God. Ask it not therefore of yourself. Instead, accept His answer,
for He knows that you are worthy of everything God wills for you. do not try
to escape the gift of God He so freely and so gladly offers you. He offers
you but what God gave Him for you. You need not decide whether or not you
are deserving of it. God knows you are" (T-14.III.11:4-10)

The lesson affirms that we have been "promised full release from the world
[we] made," from all the darkness, pain, suffering and death resulting from
our attempts at separateness. Beyond that we have been "assured that the
Kingdom of God is within you, and can never be lost" (3:2, 3). Today we are
deciding not to question those premises, but to accept them as given facts.
The darkness <can> be escaped, and the light has never been lost. And so,
today, we set our minds in determination "that we will not content ourselves
with less" (3:5).

The longer practice periods begin with a brief time of affirmation,
reminding ourselves that we have a <right> to miracles, and that miracles
are never given to one at the expense of another; they benefit everyone
equally. In asking for myself, I am asking for everyone. After that brief
reminder, the time of practice is to be spent in quiet, waiting for an inner
sense of assurance that the miracles we have asked for <have been given>.
Since we are asking exactly what God's Will is, for the salvation of the
world, there is every reason to believe that He will respond favorably to
our requests.

Actually, asking for miracles isn't really asking for anything. It is a
statement of fact. It is an affirmation of what is always already true. The
Holy Spirit can't help assuring us our request is granted! (6:1-3) How can
He possibly respond differently? He cannot deny our prayer without denying
the Truth, and He speaks <only> for the Truth. "Nothing real can be
threatened. Nothing unreal exists" (Text, Introduction). That is what this
kind of prayer affirms.

In describing the short practice periods, we are told to ask "whenever a
situation arises in which they are called for" (7:4). And then it says, "You
will recognize these situations." There is no question here, not even a need
to give a reason or to explain how. "You <will> recognize these situations."
Something in us simply <knows> when it is appropriate to ask for a miracle.
Notice also that we are not trying to generate the miracle ourselves, out of
our own resources; we are asking the Holy Spirit. We are turning with our
need to the Source of miracles; we are not trying to take the place of the
Source. We do depend on what we are as our entitlement to miracles, but we
are not relying on ourselves to find them (7:6).

Let's remember that a "miracle" as the Course understands it does not
necessarily mean any kind of visible changes. Miracles are thoughts
(T-1.I.12:1). They are shifts <away> from the bodily level, a way in which
we recognize our own worth and our brother's at the same time (T-1.I.17:2;
18:4). A miracle is a correction of false thinking (T-1.I.37:1). Miracles
are always expressions of love, "but they may not always have observable
effects" (T-1.I.35:1).

Let's remember, also, that "may not always" does not mean "will never." If I
say, "I often eat Wheaties for breakfast but I may not always eat them," the
implication is that a lot of the time I <do> eat Wheaties. So when the
Course says that miracles may not always have observable effects, it clearly
implies that most of the time they <do> have observable effects. We should
not mistakenly think a miracle has not happened if there are no observable
effects, but neither should we mistakenly set aside <any> expectation of
observable effects. The essential ingredient, however, is not anything in
the material world, but the freeing of our minds from illusions.





From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Mar 18 05:50:41 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:50:41 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 78 - March 19
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAO5b07G/5YpKhPvL7h+grVcBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 78 - March 19

"Let miracles replace all grievances."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: to lay down the dark shield of our grievances and "and gently lift
our eyes in silence to behold the Son of God" (2:3).

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

* Select a person about whom you have grievances. Read the list in paragraph
4 and choose the person who comes to mind while reading that list. 

* Close your eyes and review how you currently see this person, in two ways.
First, review his negative deeds and traits: his faults, his mistakes, his
"sins," and all the ways in which he has caused you difficulty and pain.
Second, review his body, both "its flaws and better points" (6:4).
Visualizing his body is a great way to get in touch with the grievances you
carry toward him. 

* Then ask the Holy Spirit to show you the shining savior this person really
is, beyond your grievances. Say, "Let me behold my savior in this one You
have appointed as the one for me to ask to lead me to the holy light in
which he stands, that I may join with him." This very long sentence is a
powerful reversal of how you currently see this person. Now, you see him as
an attacker who stands apart from you. This sentence, however, depicts him
as your savior, whose holiness will lead you into the radiance of his true
reality, where you will discover that you and he are one. The only thing
needed for him to fulfill this role is for you to see him truly, which is
what the sentence invites. So don't just say the sentence once. Repeat it
many times during the practice period. 

* This sentence invites an actual experience from the Holy Spirit. It
invites Him to reveal to you this person's shining reality, which lies past
your grievances. So this is yet another exercise in asking for some inward
thing from the Holy Spirit. Remember the training you've received in this:

	1. Wait in stillness. "Be very quiet now, and look upon your shining
savior" (8:6).
	2. Wait in confidence. "What you have asked for cannot be denied"
(8:1).
	3. Periodically renew your request by repeating the sentence. 

Frequent reminders/response to temptation: whenever you meet or think of or
remember someone
Pray, "Let miracles replace all grievances." This means, "Let the miracle of
Who you really are replace my grievances about you." Realize that this
releases both of you, along with everyone else.

COMMENTARY

If I did not have grievances everything would be miraculous to me. The
contention of the Course is that the truth is obvious, and only seems
difficult to see because we block it from our awareness with our grievances.
The very purpose of grievances is to conceal the miracle hiding beneath it
(1:2). The miracle is still there, nevertheless.

Today we want to look on miracles. "We will reverse the way you see by not
allowing sight to stop before it sees" (2:2). That is what we are in the
habit of doing--allowing our sight to stop at the external appearance,
without moving our perception beyond that to what the appearance is hiding.
What we see at first, the external appearance, is our "shield of hate" (1:2,
2:3). It always shows us things that bring us grief in one way or another.
We do not want to stop at that today; we want to lay down the shield and
"lift our eyes in silence to behold the Son of God" (2:3).

The Son of God is hidden in every one of us. Only our grievances prevent us
from seeing him everywhere.

Some of us may be very aware of grievances; others of us may wonder what on
earth is being talked about. But if we look honestly at the thoughts in our
minds, unless we live in perfect true perception already, free from all
suffering, wholly joyful always, we will find grievances there. We often do
not recognize them for what they are. There is a real need for honest
self-assessment to recognize the shields in our minds that block the light
from our sight.

Look at some of the suggestions for picking a person with whom to practice
this lesson (4:5). Someone we fear and even hate is probably obvious to us,
if we have such a person in our lives; we can recognize this as a grievance
easily. "Someone you love who angered you" is probably also quite clear;
yes, that is a grievance. A friend "whom you see as difficult at times;" is
<that> a grievance that blocks light from me? Yes, indeed. Someone "hard to
please?" Someone we see as demanding? or who we view as being "irritating?"
Are these grievances? Yes! And even someone "untrue to the ideal he should
accept as his, according to the role you set for him." How many of us, who
tend to view ourselves as spiritual students of the Course, would have
recognized this subtle judgment as a grievance?

Yes, that opinion you hold about that person who hasn't lived up to his or
her potential, the one you think you love and care for and show so much
concern about--that is also a grievance, blocking the light of the Son of
God from your vision.

I love the way Jesus says, "You know the one to choose; his name has crossed
your mind already." He so often seems to be intimately familiar with the
inside of our minds, doesn't he?

This exercise is a powerful one. It is also very practical and down to
earth, dealing with one specific person in our lives. "Let him be savior
unto you today" (5:5).

Him? Savior? You want me to let <that person> be savior to me? How can I
possibly see him like that?

If questions like that come to me, they only demonstrate the illusory
solidity of the shield of grievance in my mind. The Son of God is evident in
"that one" if I am willing to let go of my grievances.

Now remember: We're just doing an exercise here. Maybe you don't feel ready
yet to entirely let go of all grievances, to relinquish your judgment of
this person forever. OK. How about just practicing it for ten or fifteen
minutes? Just try it on for size, see what it feels like. That's all that is
being asked.

This is how we save the world--by just this kind of practice. Christ is
waiting in each of us to be released. You have the power to release him in
everyone around you today, simply by looking past your grievances and seeing
Christ in them. The Holy Spirit in your brothers and sisters "leans from
[them] to you, seeing no separation in God's Son" (8:4). By allowing your
brother to play the role of savior in your mind, you have "allowed the Holy
Spirit to express through him the role God gave Him that you might be saved"
(8:8). You have seen him as he is, and that vision in your mind will awaken
his to see the truth about himself. You will call it out of him through your
faith. This is how we play the role of savior ourselves; as you draw it
forth from your brothers, their gratitude will teach you the truth about
yourself, and you will realize that something in you has manifested in
saving grace to lift your brother. What you have given, you must have had in
order to give it. The salvation you have given him is yours, and you
recognize it because you gave it. That is how this process works. We can
practice it even in our minds with people from our past (10:3).

So I take the role assigned me by God. I choose today to let miracles
replace all grievances in my mind. Whenever I notice a grievance, I will ask
that a miracle replace it. Let me see you, my friend, as my savior today.
Thank you for being there. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to give.





From sue at circleofa.org  Thu Mar 19 05:47:29 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:47:29 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 79 - March 20
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAAgJ7b5y1cdAtO80uXk7I2MBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 79 - March 20

"Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

* Try to free your mind of your perception of your problems. Do your best to
"entertain some doubt about the reality of your version of what your
problems are" (8:3). Try to realize that the many-ness of your problems is a
smokescreen, hiding the fact that you have only one problem. Do not,
however, define what this one problem is.

* Then ask what your one problem is and wait for the answer. Even though the
lesson has said your problem is separation, set that aside and listen for an
answer that genuinely comes from within you. 

* Then ask what is the answer to the one problem. In asking about the
problem and the answer, apply your training in how to listen to the Holy
Spirit: wait in mental silence; wait in confidence ("we will be told"-7:6);
and periodically repeat your request while you wait.

Response to temptation: whenever you see a problem

* Recognize that this is simply the one problem showing up in disguise. Say
immediately: "Let me recognize this problem so it can be solved." 

* Then try to lay aside what you think the problem is. If you can, close
eyes and ask what it is. You will be told.

COMMENTARY

This lesson, with the next, presents one of the clearest statements of an
important Course principle: "One problem, one solution," as it is stated in
Lesson 80 (1:5). They merit repeated re-reading until the concept they teach
become imbedded in our thought processes.

I seem to be faced with a multitude of problems, overwhelming in number and
complexity, ranging from tiny to titanic, constantly shifting, changing,
appearing and disappearing in the moments of my life. If I pause to consider
things objectively from this viewpoint the only possible response is blind
panic. Attention paid to one problem obliterates dozens of others, equally
deserving of my attention, from conscious consideration. Like Lucy and Ethel
on the pie conveyor, as things speed up I can only start stuffing some of
the "pastries" down my shirt, trying to hide them before my failure to
handle them becomes evident.

Seen from the perspective of specialness, our problems doom me to failure
after failure, with every moment increasing my overwhelming sense of
inadequacy.

What if all of these problems were really just one? What if I already had
the solution to that one problem? I can scarcely imagine the universal sense
of relief that would run through my being if I could grasp that this were
true: All of my problems are one, and that one has already been solved.

Could this be? Yes. If I think my problems are many and separate, if I have
failed to recognize the one problem in them all, I could already have the
answer and not know it. I could even be aware of the answer without
realizing its application to what seem to me to be very different problems.
"This is the situation of the world. The problem of separation, which is
really the only problem, has already been solved. Yet the solution is not
recognized because the problem is not recognized" (1:3-5).

To break free of this illusory imprisonment, then, my first step must be to
recognize THE problem in every problem. I have to become aware of what the
problem is before I can realize that I already hold the solution to it. As
long as I think the problem is something other than my separateness from God
(which has already been so completely resolved that it has become a
non-issue), I will continue to think I have problems and lack the solution.
I will look for "salvation" from my problems everywhere but where the answer
is because I have already discounted the answer as irrelevant to the problem
at hand. "Who can see that a problem has been solved if he thinks the
problem is something else?" (2:3)

The seeming complexity of the world is nothing more than my mind's attempt
to <not> recognize the single problem, thus preventing its resolution (6:1).
My greatest initial need, therefore, is to perceive "the underlying
constancy in all the problems" (6:3). If I can see the separation at the
root of every problem I would realize that I already have the answer, and I
would <use> the answer. I would be free.

Again, this lesson is so wonderfully forgiving. Even the idea of seeing
<all> my problems as variations on the theme of separation may seem an
impossibly daunting task. So the lesson tells me, "that is not necessary.
All that is necessary is to entertain some doubt about the reality of your
version of what your problems are" (8:2, 3). The only thing I have to do is
to doubt? Hey, I can handle that; I'm pretty good at doubting.

All I am being asked to do is to "suspend all judgment about what the
problem is" (10:4). "Suspend" means to temporarily abate; the lesson does
not even ask me to lay aside my judgments forever. Just for an instant. Just
allow myself to doubt my personal perspective on things and consider that
there might be another way of looking at it.

So today I am called to doubt. To doubt my version of what my problems are.
To think to myself, "I'm probably not seeing this with complete clarity. I'm
probably muddling the issues here somewhere." And then to ask, "What <is>
the real problem here?" That kind of practice <even I> can handle. Thank
You, God, for such a simple Course!





From sue at circleofa.org  Fri Mar 20 05:58:28 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2009 05:58:28 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 80 - March 21
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAC/QaIwOKNFCs0UQmmwsBo0BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 80 - March 21

"Let me recognize my problems have been solved."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: to claim the peace to which you are entitled by the fact that God
has solved your only problem.

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

* This is an exercise in just basking in the awareness that you are
problem-free. I see it as being much like Lesson 50 (you may want to review
those instructions now), where you thought about the idea and rested in the
peace that it provided. So do that here. 

* Close your eyes and realize that, having recognized the problem
(yesterday), you have also accepted the answer. This means that your one
problem has been solved. Reflect on this. Think about the fact that all your
problems are gone. Reflect on the fact that you are totally conflict-free.
You have only one problem and God has solved it. Use these thoughts to claim
the peace that now belongs to you. Lean back and relax in that peace. Rest
in the feeling of being carefree.

Frequent reminders: as frequently as possible
* Repeat the idea (you may want to shorten it to, "My problems have been
solved"), with gratitude and with deep conviction. If you will, try now
repeating it once with gratitude, and then try repeating it with deep
conviction.

Response to temptation: Whenever a specific problem arises, especially an
interpersonal one
* Immediately say, "Let me recognize this problem has been solved." Be
determined not to saddle yourself with problems that don't exist.

COMMENTARY

"One problem, one solution" (1:5). "The problem must be gone, because God's
answer cannot fail" (4:2). So I must be at peace--whether I know it or not.
I have no more problems. Seeing and understanding this, accepting it wholly,
is the essence of salvation (1:8; 2:5; 5:6).

To see a problem as unresolved is to accumulate another grievance and to
block the light from my awareness. An unresolved problem is an occasion of
unforgiveness. It represents something I do not like or do not approve of, a
cause of judgment in my mind. "Certain it is that all distress does not
appear to be but unforgiveness. Yet that is the content underneath the form"
(W-pI.193.4:1,2). When the Course speaks of our forgiving the world, it
means the same thing as our recognizing that all forms of problems are only
separation, which has already been resolved. The answer to every problem,
therefore, is forgiveness. The answer is accepting the Atonement,
recognizing that nothing, whatever form nothing takes, can separate me from
the love of God; nothing can take away my peace.

I have spent this past weekend (1995) sleeping on an air mattress at my
son's home in California. I am writing this on my last day here. Last night,
the air mattress sprang a leak, and I woke about five o'clock with most of
my body on the ground and my arms and legs still half floating several
inches higher, a most uncomfortable position. I never got back to sleep and
got up feeling short of sleep and worrying a bit about driving from Phoenix
to Sedona late tonight, two hours in the dark desert, alone, and sleepy.

That seemed to be a potential problem. How is that a form of unforgiveness?
How is this problem of short sleep a manifestation of separation?

If I recognize that my only problem is separation and that it has been
solved, I can realize that a lack of sleep cannot separate me from God's
love and peace. I can forgive the air mattress, or forgive my son for
providing a flawed bed. I can forgive myself for worrying about the drive. I
can accept that nothing is wrong and that my life is in the hands of God,
and all will work out just as it should. Perhaps my body will be energized
enough that I will not be sleepy as I drive home. Perhaps I will spend the
night with friends in Phoenix even though that is not "my" plan. Perhaps I
will pull off the road and sleep in my truck. Whatever happens, I do not
need to be pulled out of peace by this event; my problem has been solved. I
can be at peace NOW.

Or, if I so choose, I can destroy my last day with my son and grandchildren
by obsessing about my problem. I can worry about falling asleep at the
wheel. I can be upset because I may be forced to change my plan. I can be
grumpy and grouchy and miss out on the love that is around me with my
grandchildren. Is that really a choice I want to make?

A collapsing air mattress is not my problem. The only problem is allowing
that, or anything like it, to disturb the peace of God that is always mine
if I choose to have it. The only problem is separation from God. The events
in our lives do not, and cannot, cause us to separate from Him. When we seem
to be upset it is always a choice we make; the events we connect to that
loss of peace are only a convenient excuse. Forgiveness involves recognizing
our responsibility and lifting the blame for loss of peace from the persons
and events of our lives and accepting that the peace of God has not been
taken from us, cannot be taken from us, and indeed has never left us. We
have merely closed our eyes to it. And we can open them again at any instant
we choose to do so.

The events and persons may or may not change as a result. The Atonement does
not plug the leak in the mattress, necessarily. It may or may not supply me
with more energy to make the drive to Sedona. Sometimes those things happen,
sometimes they don't; it depends on what plan the Holy Spirit has for me.
What happens externally is not the problem, and the solution lies not in
externals, but within me. Will I choose peace, or choose upset? Will I
forgive, or will I project my rejection of peace onto the external things
and blame them?

Peace lies in acceptance. I accept God's peace <whatever> happens. I refuse
to believe that anything can separate me from the love of God. I refuse to
deceive myself about what the problem really is. I recognize the problem is
within me, and I bring the problem to the answer. And I rest, trusting the
Holy Spirit to arrange the circumstances as He sees fit, not as I think they
should be. I am out of conflict; I am free and at peace.





From sue at circleofa.org  Sat Mar 21 11:56:00 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:56:00 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II Introduction
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAHIsdVzhblpGoApPmX/Qer0BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



REVIEW II INTRODUCTION

A brief word on the Review instructions. There is one longer practice period
of about 15 minutes, in which we read over the two ideas and the associated
comments, and then spend the bulk of the time with our eyes closed
"listening quietly but attentively" for a message. Most long-time students
of the Course agree that this does not mean we should expect to hear a
voice, as Helen Schucman did, although some may. Messages can come in many
forms: a feeling; an idea; an awareness without words. We are not used to
sitting quietly just listening, and this is practice in doing so.

During the first half of the day we are to work with the first idea, and in
the second half, the second idea. The shorter periods are not assigned any
number; we are to continue the "frequent" applications of the previous
lessons. If you take all the lessons in which a number is mentioned in
regard to these shorter practices, the numbers average out to five per hour;
I think we can assume that is about what is intended during these days of
review.

Notice the seriousness attached to both the longer and shorter practices. I,
for one, am going to try to avoid the temptation to treat the review period
as a time to slack off. This is what he says:

"Regard these practice periods as dedications to the way, the truth and the
life. Refuse to be sidetracked into detours, illusions and thoughts of
death. You are dedicated to salvation. Be determined each day not to leave
your function unfulfilled" (W-pI.rII.In.5:1-4). This is a course in
mind-training. Our minds will not be trained if we do not practice. We will
not learn listening if we do not practice. This is what doing the Workbook
is all about.




From sue at circleofa.org  Sat Mar 21 11:56:07 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:56:07 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II Practice Instructions
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAHZ+lBkBq1ZCgE6do/D56/sBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



REVIEW II PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

LONGER: Two times (once for each of the ideas), for about fifteen minutes.

* For three or four minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments
(repeatedly if you wish) and think about them.

* Close your eyes and spend the remainder of the practice period listening
for the message the Holy Spirit has for you. We can see this time of
listening as having the following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

FREQUENT REMINDERS: Frequent.

Repeat the idea as a way of reaffirming your determination to succeed.

 First half of day: first lesson
 Second half of day: second lesson

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION: Whenever you are tempted to be upset.

Repeat some variation on the idea, modified to apply to this particular
upset. 

* You may use one of the three "specific forms" (W-pI.rII.In.6:1) suggested
after each lesson. Notice how they are directed at a specific upset.
Virtually every one is aimed at an upsetting "this" or an upsetting "name."

* Or you may generate one of your own specific forms, by using a variation
on the practice of letting related thoughts come. Simply lean back and let
your mind come up with a sentence that applies the essence of the idea to
your current upset. For examples, see the specific forms suggested after
each lesson.






From sue at circleofa.org  Sat Mar 21 11:56:12 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:56:12 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II, Lesson 81 - March 22
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAHkb3on2ZC1AtmDFPHAg80ABAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review II, Lesson 81 - March 22

"I am the light of the world." (1st half of day) 

"Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world." (2nd half)

 PRACTICE SUMMARY

LONGER: 1 time, about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, read over the ideas and comments slowly (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them.

* Close eyes and spend remainder listening quietly and attentively. There is
a message for you. Be confident you will receive it, for it belongs to you
and you want it. If you have distracting thoughts realize they have no
meaning or power. Replace them with your will to succeed. Trust it to carry
you past distractions. If your mind still wanders, repeat first phase of
exercise.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "I am the light of the world."

Second half of day: "Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION:

You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "Let me not obscure the light of the world in me." "Let
the light of the world shine through this appearance." "This shadow will
vanish before the light."

Second half of the day: "Let this help me learn what forgiveness means."
"Let me not separate my function from my will." "I will not use this for an
alien purpose." 

COMMENTARY

"I am the light of the world." Lighting up the world is my function. The
Course is teaching us to remember Who we are, and to begin to live as Who we
are. We are lights, and we can live as lights in this world, by our
forgiveness sharing the happy news of freedom from all guilt. As St. Francis
of Assissi prayed, "Lord, make me the instrument of Thy peace." May I leave
everyone I meet a little brighter today. May the world seem a little less
dark for everyone I encounter. May each one I touch feel more loveable as a
result of meeting me. May I ask to see the light in every situation; may I
respond to darkness with light.

"Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world." If I do not feel
like the light of the world this day, let me forgive another; everyone I
forgive will show me the light in myself. It's even OK that I don't yet
understand what true forgiveness really is; that can't stop me if I am
willing to learn, and <I am willing>. Every situation that seems to bring
distress is a chance to learn what forgiveness really is. I don't want to
use the circumstances of my day for any purpose other than God's. Let
everything be grist for the mill.

*********** Additional Review Notes **************

Subject: One or two?

A few of you have written to me questioning whether this review calls for
one or two longer practice periods. The review's Introduction can be
understood either way. Robert Perry, who wrote the practice summaries, sees
only one longer period devoted to both ideas for review. Those who have
questioned see it calling for two 15-minute periods, one in the morning for
the first idea, one later in the day for the second idea. For a long time I
saw it that way, too.

The relevant portions of the review instructions are these:

"1. 2 We will begin where our last review left off, and cover two ideas each
day. 3 The earlier part of each day will be devoted to one of these ideas,
and the latter part of the day to the other. 4 We will have one longer
exercise period, and frequent shorter ones in which we practice each of
them.

2. 1 The longer practice periods will follow this general form: Take about
fifteen minutes for each of them, and begin by thinking about the ideas for
the day, and the comments that are included in the assignments. 2 Devote
some three or four minutes to reading them over slowly, several times if you
wish, and then close your eyes and listen."

1:4 seems to imply a single long practice period, and "frequent" short ones.
But 2:1 speaks of "longer practice periods," plural. It could be referring
to the ten periods, one per day, over the days of review. Frankly, until I
talked with Robert last year, I thought these instructions meant for us to
do two longer periods daily. It made sense, one idea for each longer review.
However, in 2:1, the instructions for "each of them," that is for each
longer review, tell us to think about "the ideas [plural] for the day." So
this seems to be speaking of a single period in which we think about both
ideas.

I don't think it matters a whole lot. If you want to do one, review both
ideas in it. If you want to do two, review one idea for each period. The
bulk of each period, after the first 3 or 4 minutes, are to be spent simply
listening quietly for a message. One time, two times; hey, do it five times
if you are up to it! We can use all the practice we can get!  





From sue at circleofa.org  Sun Mar 22 08:10:22 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 08:10:22 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II, Lesson 82 - March 23
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAPVNBEkshApFm7FB1Z5bdc4BAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




REVIEW II, LESSON 82 - March 23

"The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness."

"Let me not forget my function."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas)for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutesslowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them.

* Close your eyes and spend the remainder listening for the message the Holy
Spirit has for you. We can see this time of listening as having the
following components:

  1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in 
 stillness and with all your attention.

  2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me")desire ("I
want this message")and determination 
  ("I'm determined to succeed").

  3.  Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation
   to mind wandering and so the majority of instruction for this
   exercise deals with this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering go back
and repeat the first phase. For more minor wandering realize the distracting
thoughts have no power and that your will
   has all the powerand then replace the thoughts with your will to 
  succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to waver" (4:1).
   "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say for instance "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "The light of the world brings peace to every mind
through my forgiveness."

Second half of day: "Let me not forget my function."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION:

You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day:

"Let peace extend from my mind to yours[name]."

"I share the light of the world with you [name]."

"Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is."

Second half of the day:

"Let me not use this to hide my function from me."

"I would use this as an opportunity to fulfill my function."

"This may threaten my ego but cannot change my function in any way."

COMMENTARY

My forgiveness serves three primary purposes according to this review:

 1. The light of the world is expressed through mein this world by means of
forgiveness.

In Part II of the Workbookit says that forgiveness is the reflection of love
in this world (W-pII.352.1:4) it also refers to it as "truth's reflection"
(W-pII.357.1:1). The full reality of love cannot be known in this world but
we can know its reflection which is forgiveness. The reality of what I am is
reflected here as I forgive.

 2. I become aware of my own reality the light of the worldby means of my
forgiveness.

What comes through me shows me what I am. I become increasingly aware of the
Holy Spirit in me and the Christ of which He speaks by seeing His effects
through me (T-9.IV.5:5). To learn that I am love I must teach love.
Forgiveness love's reflectionis how I do that in this world.

 3. The world is healed by means of my forgiveness and so am I.

As I forgive those around me they see love reflected through me and they see
themselves in the light of love and are healed.

It is easy to see why forgiveness plays such a major role in the Course. It
is easy to feel motivated to "forgive the world that it may be healed along
with me."

I like practicing the line"Let peace extend from my mind to yours [name]." I
will practice it now as I write this thinking of all of you who will be
receiving this message: May peace extend from my mind to yours.

With forgiveness as my function and with forgiveness having so many profound
effects I do not want to forget it today. It helps me become aware of my
Self and so I want to practice it today. Let me use everything today as an
opportunity to learn forgiveness.




From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Mar 23 06:04:15 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:04:15 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II, Lesson 83 - March 24
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAK27m8nNqP9LhzkZ2a2Y7rEBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




Reveiw II, Lesson 83 - March 24

"My only function is the one God gave me."

"My happiness and my function are one."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas), for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them. *	Close your eyes and spend the
remainder listening for the message the Holy Spirit has for you. We can see
this time of listening as having the following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)..listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and  determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "My only function is the one God gave me." 

Second half of day: "My happiness and my function are one."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION:

You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "My perception of this does not change my function."
"This does not give me a function other than the one God gave me." "Let me
not use this to justify a function God did not give me."

Second half of the day: "This cannot separate my happiness from my
function." "The oneness of my happiness and my function remains wholly
unaffected by this." "Nothing, including this, can justify the illusion of
happiness apart from my function."

COMMENTARY

To be without conflicting goals in life is a wonderful blessing. Most of the
time, I feel stressed out with conflicting goals. I want to exercise but I
have a deadline to meet for work. I want to spend time with my friends but
my favorite TV program is on. And so on. When I am able to realize that my
only function is the one God gave me -- forgiveness, or simply being happy
instead of being angry or upset -- things become marvelously clear. My goal
becomes to be at peace, to be happy, to be serene and unaffected by what
surrounds me. "What to do, what to say and what to think" (1:4) simply comes
to me. Perhaps I realize that it makes no real difference whether I exercise
or write. Perhaps I realize that one or the other can wait. Remembering my
one and only true goal somehow sorts out everything else.

I used to think that when I had a conflict, the only way to become peaceful
again was to make a decision, to resolve the conflict. It rarely worked.
Usually, when I made my choice, I felt some distress at what I was leaving
undone, or some loss at what I could not do because of my choice (e.g. watch
TV or be with my friends; one or the other had to be "sacrificed"). Lately
I've begun to realize that if I put becoming peaceful at the top of the
list, if I choose to be peaceful <first>, before making my decision (perhaps
taking a minute just to close my eyes and be quiet, remembering Who is with
me), the decision becomes simple, and there is no sense of sacrifice. I just
know what to do.

This is the way to be happy. My function is one with my happiness. If I can
be at peace, letting go of my grievances, the little demands I constantly
make of life, I am happy. Like forgiveness, happiness is a choice I can make
at any time.

I notice today that the examples given of different ways to apply the ideas
in specific situations seem to emphasize a kind of negation. They stress
that the situation, or the way we perceive things, can <not> affect us if we
so choose. The way I perceive this doesn't change my function, give me a
different function, or justify selecting a goal other than the one God gave
me. No matter what I see, no matter what happens, nothing will alter the
fact that the only way I will find happiness is if I fulfill my function of
forgiveness, blessing, and peace. There is no happiness apart from my
function, and I am deceived by an illusion whenever I think there is. Do I
expect to find happiness by indulging worry, justifying my anger, indulging
my appetites, or licking my wounds of pain? It will never happen. Only in
forgiveness, only in releasing everyone and everything from all my demands
and expectations, only in quiet peacefulness of mind will I ever find my
happiness. 




From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Mar 24 06:08:26 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:08:26 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II, Lesson 84 - March 25
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAANglIVgEASpLr/aeVsyDtAABAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review II, Lesson 84 - March 25

"Love created me like Itself."

"Love holds no grievances."

PRACTICE SUMMARY:

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas), for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them. *	Close your eyes and spend the
remainder listening for the message the Holy Spirit has for you. We can see
this time of listening as having the following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "Love created me like Itself." Second half of day: "Love
holds no grievances."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION:

You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "Let me not see an illusion of myself in this." "As I
look on this, let me remember my Creator." "My Creator did not create this
as I see it."

Second half of the day: "This is no justification for denying my Self." "I
will not use this to attack love." "Let this not tempt me to attack myself."

COMMENTARY

If I am created in the likeness of my Creator, then "I cannot suffer, I
cannot experience loss and I cannot die. I am not a body" (1:3-4). That just
makes sense. God cannot suffer, experience loss or die, and He is not a
body. He created me like Himself (1:7); therefore these things must be true
of me. My reality is completely unlike what I believe about myself, for
assuredly I have believed that I can suffer, experience loss and die, and I
have identified almost entirely with my body.

What is it that makes and reinforces this illusion about myself? Grievances.
"Love holds no grievances" (3:1). I am love, in the likeness of Love which
created me, but when I choose to hold a grievance I am denying my own
reality, I am affirming I am not love, because "grievances are completely
alien to love" (3:2). In so doing, I am re-affirming that I am what I think
I have made of myself, and I am choosing, without conscious awareness, to
suffer, lose, and die. The only way I can rediscover my own reality is to
stop holding grievances. A grievance is an attack on my Self (3:6, 4:4). It
affirms that I am something I am not.

If I see ugliness, unloveliness or evil in my brothers I am attacking
myself. Deny what they are and I am denying what I am. Today I choose to see
others as I would see myself, and as I would have God see me. I have the
power to make this choice. I see what I desire to see, and today I desire to
see my Self, in myself and in everyone. 





From sue at circleofa.org  Wed Mar 25 06:04:25 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:04:25 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II, Lesson 85 - March 26
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAALV3K18MCohMkDMaryFIVbQBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review II, Lesson 85 - March 26

"My grievances hide the light of the world in me."

"My salvation comes from me."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas), for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them. 
* Close your eyes and spend the remainder listening for the message the Holy
Spirit has for you. We can see this time of listening as having the
following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "My grievances hide the light of the world in me."

Second half of day: "My salvation comes from me."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION:

You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "Let me not use this as a block to sight." "The light of
the world will shine all this away." "I have no need for this. I want to
see."

Second half of the day: "Let this not tempt me to look away from me for my
salvation. "I will not let this interfere with my awareness of the Source of
my salvation." "This has no power to remove salvation from me."

COMMENTARY

What is the "this" referred to in the six specific applications in this
lesson? What is it that might block my sight, that the light will shine
away? What is it that I have no need for, and which tempts me to look away
from me for my salvation? What is "this" that could interfere with my
awareness of the Source of salvation, and which seems to have power to
remove salvation from me?

"This" is grievances: anything I react to with less than the perfect love
which is my reality. Anything I do not like, or push away from me, or blame
for my problems, or look upon as less than God's creation. Anything within
myself I hold with something other than compassion and forgiveness. "My
grievances show me what is not there" (1:2). They cause me to see something
that is not real, and I react with fear or hatred or anger. My reactions are
as inappropriate as the fear of a child in the dark at a flapping curtain. I
am seeing something that isn't there, because only what God created is real.
I am jumping at shadows when the reality is sheer beauty. The grievances not
only show me things that aren't real, they hide what I really want.

If this is what my grievances really do, why would I want them? I do not
really want them; I have used them in a mistaken attempt to protect myself,
but I can recognize now that I no longer want them nor need them. I do not
blame myself for having chosen them in the past but I do not need to
continue to choose them now. <I want to see> and so I lay them aside
joyfully, without guilt, without regret.

What I am looking for is in my Self (3:3). I won't look outside of myself
today. "It is not found outside and then brought in. But from within me it
will reach beyond, and everything I see will but reflect the light that
shines in me and in itself" (3:6-7). My grievances tempt me to look outside
for salvation, thinking I know what must change out there to bring me peace,
feeling anger or sorrow or betrayal as I look on the things I blame for my
loss of peace. But I recognize today that the answer is in my Self. Rather
than seeking for the light, I will <be> the light today, and lighten my
whole world. 




From sue at circleofa.org  Thu Mar 26 06:07:38 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:07:38 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II, Lesson 86 - March 27
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAABI8FOkYCthOvMrSKI0bXqEBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>




Review II, Lesson 86 - March 27

"Only God's plan for salvation will work."

"Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation."

PRACTICE SUMMARY 

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas), for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them. 
* Close your eyes and spend the remainder listening for the message the Holy
Spirit has for you. We can see this time of listening as having the
following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "Only God's plan for salvation will work." 

Second half of day: "Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for
salvation."

Response to temptation: whenever you are tempted to be upset Repeat some
variation on the idea, modified to apply to this particular upset.  *	You
may use one of the three "specific forms" suggested after each lesson.
Notice how they are directed at a specific upset. Virtually every one is
aimed at an upsetting "this" or an upsetting "name." *	Or you may generate
one of your own specific forms, by using a variation on the practice of
letting related thoughts come. Simply lean back and let your mind come up
with a sentence that applies the essence of the idea to your current upset.
For examples, see the specific forms suggested after each lesson.

COMMENTARY

I find it really interesting the way the lessons seem to alternate between
seeing grievances, and where we see salvation. I'm beginning to get the
idea, I think: When my ego wants to keep me from finding God's salvation
within my own Self, it distracts me with some kind of grievance outside
myself. Seeing the cause of my distress outside, I naturally look for the
solution outside. I seek salvation outside myself.

It's never what is outside that is the problem. "Those whom you see as
guilty become the witnesses to guilt in you, and you will see it there, for
it <is> there until it is undone. Guilt is always in your mind, which has
condemned itself. Project it not, for while you do, it cannot be undone"
(T-13.IX.6:6-8). What we are seeing out there, the object of our grievances,
is only the projection of self-condemnation. We may change the name of the
sin to protect the guilty (ourselves), but it is our sin we are seeing out
there in the world. That is why seeing grievances <outside> keeps us from
finding salvation <inside>.

As the review says, we have sought salvation in many different places and
things, and it was never where we looked for it (1:3). We can't find it out
there because it isn't out there, anywhere. There is no hope for salvation
in the world--and that is <good> news. It's good news because we no longer
have to depend on someone or something outside of ourselves to play its
proper role, to arrive at the right time to meet our needs, or to do
anything. We can let go of expecting someone else to save us, and we can
turn to the only place and thing we can absolutely depend on: ourselves, our
real Self. We can let everyone else off the hook we've been holding them on
for our entire lives. We can tell the world, "You are freed from being
responsible for me. I no longer hold you accountable for my unhappiness.
I've realized that is my own job, not yours."

I remember how odd I felt, but how happy, to tell my dear friend Lynne,
years ago, "I've realized that I don't need you." She was delighted, being
far wiser than I was at the time. I was afraid she would be insulted; how
"unromantic" a thing to say to a partner in love! "I don't need you." She
understood exactly what I meant, though. I was telling her that she was no
longer expected to make me happy; she was no longer saddled with the
unbearable burden of my happiness. Thinking that our love partner is
responsible for our happiness is exactly what makes special relationships
into hell, because when I am not happy, I have a grievance, just like in a
labor union: "Hey! You're not living up to your part of the bargain. You're
supposed to make me happy." And the grievance against our partner keeps us
from seeing the salvation in our own hearts.

I've always liked the last line in today's lesson: "This calls for
salvation, not attack" (4:4). It reminds me of the old line in the ancient
Superman TV series (the one with George Reeves--guess I'm really dating
myself here!). Clark Kent looks at some crime or disaster in progress, and
says, "This is a job for...[in a totally different, 'super-sounding' voice]
Superman!" Instead of looking at the events in our lives and thinking, "This
is a job for the ego. Let's attack! Let's form and hold a grievance!", we
can look at the situation and say, "This is a job for God! Let's forgive!
Let's respond with love to the call for love." When some need arises around
me, which power will I call on: God, or the ego?

The choice is "between misperception and salvation" (4:2). The only
alternative to salvation is something unreal, an illusion, a misperception.
The only way I can avoid being happy is to misperceive my brother; if I see
him or her truly, I will always find salvation. "By holding grievances, I am
therefore excluding my only hope of salvation from my awareness" (3:4). What
a silly thing to do! I think I'll stop!

"I would accept God's plan for salvation and be happy" (3:6).

PRACTICE SUMMARY

LONGER:1 time (or 2) for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, read over the ideas and comments slowly (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them.

* Close your eyes and spend the remainder of the time listening quietly and
attentively. There is a message for you. Be confident you will receive it,
for it belongs to you and you want it. If you have distracting thoughts
realize they have no meaning or power. Replace them with your will to
succeed. Trust it to carry you past distractions. If your mind still
wanders, repeat first phase of exercise.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "Only God's plan for salvation will work."

Second half of day: "Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for
salvation."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION: You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "God's plan for salvation will save me from my perception
of this." "This is no exception in God's plan for my salvation." "Let me
perceive this only in the light of God's plan for salvation."

Second half of the day: "I am choosing between misperception and salvation
as I look on this." "If I see grounds for grievances in this, I will not see
the grounds for my salvation." "This calls for salvation, not attack." 





From sue at circleofa.org  Fri Mar 27 05:47:09 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:47:09 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 87, Review II - March 28
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAJZ7tGb0/NtMpR0tNhHonrEBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 87, Review II - March 28

"I will there be light."

"There is no will but God's."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas), for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them.
* Close your eyes and spend the remainder listening for the message the Holy
Spirit has for you. We can see this time of listening as having the
following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "I will there be light."

Second half of day: "There is no will but God's."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION: You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "This cannot hide the light I will to see." "You stand
with me in light, [name]." "In the light this will look different."

Second half of the day: "Let me perceive this in accordance with the Will of
God." "It is God's Will you are His Son, [name], and mine as well." "This is
part of God's Will for me, however I may see it."


COMMENTARY

Today's review deals with <will>--ours and God's, which are one.

The Course encourages us to make use of the power of our will. It constantly
encourages us to choose again, and says that "the power of decision is your
one remaining freedom as a prisoner of this world" (T-12.VII.9:1). We can
will, or choose, that there be light. Naturally this accords with God's
Will. You could say, I suppose, that our one true choice is to decide to
agree with God's Will, and we must make this choice over and over until we
realize there <is> no other will, and therefore, no actual choice except
that between reality and illusion.

In the review of "There is no will but God's" there is an interesting
summary of the progression of the ego's error:

- I believe there is another will besides God's.

- Because of this I become afraid.

- Because of fear, I try to attack.

- Because I attack, I fear my own eternal safety (thinking God will attack
me for being an attacker).

The solution is simply to recognize that none of this has occurred. Knock
down the basic premise--realize there is no will but God's--and the rest of
the progression disappears.

I like the way both ideas are applied to how I see the other people around
me: "You stand with me in light, [name]" (2:3) and "It is God's Will you are
His Son, [name], and mine as well" (4:3). One night in our study group in
Sedona we were studying Chapter 14 Section V, "The Circle of Atonement." The
whole section is about seeing other people as within the circle of peace,
seeing them as included, or seeing them standing with me in light, as it is
put here.In that section Jesus urges us, "Stand quietly within this circle,
and attract all tortured minds to join with you in the safety of its peace
and holiness" (T-14.V.8:6). It says that this is "the only purpose to which
my teaching calls you" (T-14.V.9:9).

Our only purpose here is to awaken everyone to the fact that they are
included in God's peace and safety because there is no other will than His.
Imagine mentally greeting everyone you meet today by saying, "You stand with
me in light." What kind of effect would that have on you? Or on them?

Lesson 109 says it has a profound effect, not just on people you actually
meet, but on everyone in the world, even those who have passed on beyond the
world, and those still to come to it:

6:1--Each hour that you take your rest today, a tired mind is suddenly made
glad,...

7:1--With each five minutes that you rest today, the world is nearer waking.

8:1-3--You rest within the peace of God today, and call upon your brothers
from your rest to draw them to their rest, along with you. You will be
faithful to your trust today, forgetting no one, bringing everyone into the
boundless circle of your peace, the holy sanctuary where you rest. Open the
temple doors and let them come from far across the world, and near as well;
your distant brothers and your closest friends; bid them all enter here and
rest with you.

9:1-6--You rest within the peace of God today, quiet and unafraid. Each
brother comes to take his rest, and offer it to you. We rest together here,
for thus our rest is made complete, and what we give today we have received
already. Time is not the guardian of what we give today. We give to those
unborn and those passed by, to every Thought of God, and to the Mind in
which these Thoughts were born and where they rest. And we remind them of
their resting place each time we tell ourselves, "I rest in God."





From sue at circleofa.org  Sat Mar 28 10:03:20 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:03:20 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II, Lesson 88 - March 29
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAF2uCzJSh8RNojHS5dJwG/sBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review II, Lesson 88 - March 29

"The light has come."

"I am under no laws but God's."


PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas), for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them.
* Close your eyes and spend the remainder listening for the message the Holy
Spirit has for you. We can see this time of listening as having the
following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "The light has come."

Second half of day: "I am under no laws but God's."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION: You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "This cannot show me darkness, for the light has come."
"The light in you is all that I would see, [name]." "I would see in this
only what is there."

Second half of the day: "My perception of this shows me I believe in laws
that do not exist." "I see only the laws of God at work in this." "Let me
allow God's laws to work in this, and not my own."


COMMENTARY

The ideas being reviewed today, seemingly concerned with very different
concepts, yet have a certain common ground that is brought out in this
review. That common ground could be expressed in this thought: Only what is
of God is real; what appears to be in opposition is only an illusion without
power, except that given it through my belief.

The light of salvation has <already> come. "I always choose between truth
and illusion" (1:5), and "Attack and grievances are not there to choose"
(1:4). I really have no alternative to the light because there <is> no
alternative. My entire experience of darkness is an adventure in delusion
and nothing more; there is no darkness."I can but choose the light, for it
has no alternative" (1:7). This is why the Text tells me that the outcome of
my drama here on earth is inevitable. "God is inevitable, and you cannot
avoid Him any more than He can avoid you" (T-4.I.9:11). In seeking that my
perception be changed, I are only seeking to see what is already there, and
what is the only thing there.

God's laws alone rule me. The other laws that I think have power over me are
laws that I made up. "I suffer only because of my belief in them. They have
no real effect on me at all" (3:5-6). The laws of the ego cannot constrain
me; I can be free of them <now> because I am, in reality, always free of
them; they have no power. My ego at times seems so very powerful, the
knee-jerk reaction of hurt and anger seems beyond my control and in control
of me, but it is not so. I am free of these "laws" of chaos, of sin and
guilt and punishment and separation. The healing of every relationship is
inevitable because God's laws make us one, not separate. "A happy outcome to
all things is sure" (Lesson 292) because there are no laws but God's, no
will but God's. Only my belief in it gives power to the appearance of an
opposing will, with opposing laws.

Let me then, today, look on everything with this insight. Where I seem to
see darkness, let me proclaim the reality of light. Where I see laws opposed
to God at work, let me declare them powerless. Thank You, Father, for the
certainty of Your plan, the present reality of Your light.




From sue at circleofa.org  Sun Mar 29 08:53:55 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:53:55 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II,  Lesson 89 - March 30
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAPY9pOEzBNtJkQ8CrvnPuxgBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review II,  Lesson 89 - March 30

"I am entitled to miracles."

"Let miracles replace all grievances."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas), for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them.

* Close your eyes and spend the remainder listening for the message the Holy
Spirit has for you. We can see this time of listening as having the
following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "I am entitled to miracles."

Second half of day: "Let miracles replace all grievances."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION: You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "Behind this is a miracle to which I am entitled." "Let
me not hold a grievance against you, [name], but offer you the miracle that
belongs to you instead." "Seen truly, this offers me a miracle. "

Second half of the day: "I would not hold this grievance apart from my
salvation." "Let our grievances be replaced by miracles, [name]." "Beyond
this is the miracle by which all my grievances are replaced."

COMMENTARY

Because I am under no laws but God's (the laws of love and of extension,
sharing and giving) I am entitled to miracles (1:2). Giving of miracles is
what God does, in accordance with His laws. The laws of grievances tell me I
am not entitled to miracles. Every grievance I hold on to against a brother
or sister is really my own mind telling me I do not deserve miracles; the
very act of mental attack involved in holding a grievance makes me feel
unworthy of them. Every grievance is hiding a miracle, and by letting the
grievance go I release the miracle to happen.

There is a reason why God gives me miracles; He gives them so that I can
fulfill the function He has given me (1:5), to continue His extension, to
allow Him to love through me. The Course is emphatic on the fact that only
in finding my true function as God's extension and fulfilling it can I be
happy. My goal isn't being blissed out; it is to receive so that I can give,
to accept love so I can share love with others. Like a light bulb that
receives electric current only so that it can shine forth with light, I
receive the miracles of God to extend them to others.

"I unite my will with the Holy Spirit's" (3:2) today; I declare, "Let
miracles replace all grievances" (3:1). I want all of my illusions to be
replaced with truth. I want my grievances to be banished forever from my
mind and replaced with miracles. As I sit quietly this morning I call people
I know to mind and tell them, "Let our grievances be replaced by miracles"
(4:3). I think of war-torn spots on the globe and say, "Let our grievances
be replaced by miracles." Today, I want to offer miracles to each one I
meet. I want to be a channel of miracles; let me not block them with my
grievances, Father.

When something arises in my perception that seems like a cause for grievance
or grief, let me remember: "Behind this is a miracle to which I am entitled"
(2:2). Let me tell myself: "Seen truly, this offers me a miracle" (2:4).
Everything is miracle fodder; nothing is without use in this classroom of
miracles.





From sue at circleofa.org  Mon Mar 30 06:00:53 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:00:53 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review II, Lesson 90 - March 31
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAJ01jhdZB6NLhe3XYf/txgsBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Review II, Lesson 90 - March 31

"Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved."

"Let me recognize my problems have been solved."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas), for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them.
* Close your eyes and spend the remainder listening for the message the Holy
Spirit has for you. We can see this time of listening as having the
following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)..listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved."
Second half of day: "Let me recognize my problems have been solved."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION:

You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "This presents a problem to me which I would have
resolved." "The miracle behind this grievance will resolve it for me." "The
answer to this problem is the miracle that it conceals."

Second half of the day: "I need not wait for this to be resolved." "The
answer to this problem is already given me, if I will accept it." "Time
cannot separate this problem from its solution."

COMMENTARY

This review places a different slant on these two ideas than in the original
lessons. There, the only problem was defined as separation. Here, more
directly in synch with the preceding lessons about grievances, "the problem
is always some form of grievance that I would cherish" (1:2). Of course
there is a close relationship between separation and grievances. A grievance
separates me from whatever or whoever I hold the grievance against. So we
could see a grievance as a thought or belief that separates me from my
brothers.

Later in the Workbook the same thought is stated slightly differently, in
terms of forgiveness or unforgiveness: "Certain it is that all distress does
not appear to be but unforgiveness. Yet that is the content underneath the
form" (W-pI.193.4:1-2). The problem is a grievance, or an unforgiveness. And
it doesn't always seem that way to us. Sometimes, when I feel distress of
some sort, or experience what seems to me to be a problem, I cannot for the
life of me see any grievance or unforgiveness in it. The ego is an expert at
camouflage. It survives by trickery and misdirection: "How can it maintain
the trick of its existence except with mirrors?" (T-4.IV.1:7) Its
temptations to attack or unforgiveness are often so well disguised I don't
detect them as such, although it is "certain" that is what they are. The
form deceives; the content is the same.

When I come to the Holy Spirit with my problems or my distress, I must be
willing to be shown the grievance or unforgiveness lurking in them. For me,
so often, what I find is a form of grievance against <myself>, some form of
self-judgment. Other times, I don't understand the connection between my
form of problem and forgiveness, but I assert my willingness to be shown,
and I consciously choose a miracle for all concerned, including myself. "The
problem is a grievance; the solution is a miracle" (1:5). If I can't see the
exact instance of unforgiveness in what I perceive as a problem, at least I
can choose a miracle instead of the problem. That willingness is enough.

The idea that the problem and the answer are "simultaneous in their
occurrence" (3:4) seems strange. It seems "natural" to separate them by
time: first the problem, then the answer. But if the problem is separation,
or a grievance, the concept becomes easier to understand. God answered the
separation with the Holy Spirit the instant the separation entered the mind
of God's Son (M-2.2:6). Every problem I perceive, therefore, has already
been resolved before I perceive it. "It is impossible that I could have a
problem which has not been solved already" (3:7), because separation--the
only problem there ever is--has already been resolved. Therefore I don't
have to wait for circumstances to change; I can accept the peace of complete
resolution <now>, without anything changing at all. "I need not wait for
this to be resolved" (4:2).

I have a long-standing relationship problem that, in time, has been going on
for over fifteen years (even longer), and which shows no outward signs of
resolution. The other party has absolutely no interest in--more properly,
has an aversion to--talking with me, so resolution, within time, seems
impossible. Yet I can let go of the tension this could produce in me. I can
be free of the stigma of "an unhealed relationship." In the holy instant I
can know that problem, that rift in relationship, has already been healed.
Down at the core of my mind and her mind, we are already one in love;
everything has been forgiven. The disease of separation has already been
innoculated, and the medicine of forgiveness is slowly and inexorably
spreading through both of our minds, moving from the invisible sphere of
spirit into the more concrete, thicker sphere of manifestation in the
material world. There is no cause for concern. "It is the destiny of all
relationships to become holy" (M-3.4:6). Today, I can recognize that this
problem has already been solved. I believe my doing so speeds the day that
healing will manifest in form. It may not be in this lifetime; what does
that matter? The healing has already taken place.

One thing I notice as I think this way about this relationship, even as I
write: Accepting that the problem is already solved frees me from the
temptation to blame the other person for her refusal to make peace. Aha! a
grievance was there, wasn't it, Allen? I accept a miracle in its place;
thank You.





From sue at circleofa.org  Tue Mar 31 06:16:11 2009
From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth)
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:16:11 -0400
Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 91 - April 1
Message-ID: <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAf2g1WykBJEsaWMEdkqQZvCgAAAEAAAAIBcQ4HPpstJtLX6dz5gUuEBAAAAAA==@circleofa.org>



Lesson 91 - April 1

"Miracles are seen in light."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: to briefly leave your weak, body-based image of yourself behind and
have an experience of your real strength. In its light you will perceive the
miracles that have always been there, waiting for you to see.

Longer: 3 times, for 10 minutes

*	Begin by repeating: "Miracles are seen in light. The body's eyes do
not perceive the light. But I am not a body. What am I?" Ask this final
question in real honesty. With this question, you are calling on the
strength in you to give you an experience of your reality, beyond the body.
So ask with that intention.

*	Then spend several minutes listing your attributes as you see them,
and allowing them to be replaced by their opposite. Say, for example, "I am
not weak, but strong. I am not helpless, but powerful. I am not doubtful,
but certain," and so on. Focus specifically on attributes that involve
weakness.

*	Then try to experience these truths about you, especially the
experience of strength. Try to lift your faith in your body as central to
your reality, for that is what makes you feel weak. Instruct your mind to
instead go to the place of strength in you (this exercise appears to be a
kind of meditation). Remember that your will has the power to do this. "You
can escape the body if you choose. You can experience the strength in you"
(5:5-6). You might want to use the beginning question "What am I?" as a kind
of mantra to take you to this place in you.

*	For the remainder, relax in the confidence that your weak efforts
are fully supplemented by God's strength, which joins you in your practice.
His strength will carry you to the deep place in you where your strength and
His light abide.

Frequent reminders: 5 or 6 per hour, at fairly regular intervals (every 10
to 15 minutes)
Repeat the idea, which means that the miracle is always there if you will
just open your eyes. This is a central idea in the thought system you are
learning. That is why it needs such frequent repeating today.

Response to temptation: whenever you are tempted to be upset
Repeat, "Miracles are seen in light. Let me not close my eyes because of
this."

COMMENTARY

As the Workbook lessons get longer it won't be practical to try to comment
on everything in each lesson. That could be more than a person could write
in a day; in fact, I have written a 48-page booklet on Lesson 135, for
instance ("A Healed Mind Does Not Plan" is the booklet title). So I will be
picking some aspect of the lesson that particularly speaks to me, and
writing about that.

The first idea, central to the lesson, is that "miracles and vision
necessarily go together" (1:1). We are told this bears frequent repetition,
and that it is central to our new thought system. The whole nature of what
the Course means by a miracle is touched on here. A miracle is not really a
change in anything outside of our mind; it is a change in perception, a
"shift to vision."

"As the ego would limit your perception of your brothers to the body, so
would the Holy Spirit release your vision and let you see the Great Rays
shining from them, so unlimited that they reach to God. It is this shift to
vision that is accomplished in the holy instant." (T-15.IX.1:1-2)

"The miracle is always there" (1:4). What changes is our acceptance or
rejection of vision; we either see it or we don't. It is always present.
What changes is our awareness. So to experience the miracle, we must have
vision. We must let go of darkness in order to see the light. As the section
titled "What is a Miracle?" puts it (Workbook page 463/473):

"A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all. It
merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is
false."

The devastation is what we see with our eyes. The Course is very
plain-spoken about physical sight: "The body's eyes do not perceive the
light" (6:3). "You do not doubt that the body's eyes can see. You do not
doubt the images they show you are reality" (3:3,4). And yet the lesson is
clearly asking us to do just that, to doubt that our eyes really see, and to
doubt that what they see is real. We have to let go of the darkness to see
the light, and what they body's eyes show us is not light; therefore it must
be darkness. We need a shift to a new kind of vision.

This need to undo our faith in our eyes and what they see is part of the
reason this lesson turns to a second idea: "I am not a body" (6:4ff). We are
told to <instruct> our minds that we are not bodies. We are to <will>
ourselves to realize that we are something else, something that does not see
with the eyes, but in a different way.

The exercises today are designed to help us realize that we are something
other than a body; we are looking for a very concrete experience. In
paragraph 7 we are told: "You need to be aware of what the Holy Spirit uses
to replace the image of a body" (7:2); "You need to feel something to put
your faith in" (7:3); "You need a real experience of something else" (7:4).
An awareness, a feeling, an experience. There is something within us, a
certain strength, "which makes all miracles within your easy reach" (4:4).
We don't realize how strong we are! And more than that: "Your efforts,
however meager, are fully supported by the strength of God and all His
thoughts" (10:1). I always think of this by an analogy, something akin to
sound waves or radio waves. When my little willingness strikes the right
wavelength, I suddenly find myself joined by the harmony of the universe, a
powerful beam of divine energy that resonates with me. If we can strike the
right frequency of thought today, we will find that awareness, sense that
feeling, and have that experience that takes us beyond the body, and into
vision.

Isn't this worth ten minutes of effort, three times today? I know I think it
is.

Don't be discouraged if you don't feel anything, however. You will find
vision. Your efforts today are not wasted, and do not think that if nothing
seems to happen that you have "failed." I remember learning to roller skate.
I started out by falling down a lot. If I had stopped then, thinking I'd
failed, I would never have learned to skate. But I didn't. I kept on falling
down, and falling down again, until one day I didn't fall down. With
spiritual vision, I'm still pretty much in the falling down stage myself.
I've had some incredible experiences, holy instants, just as in the early
days of skating there were times I went for blocks (skating on the sidewalk,
jumping over the cracks) without falling, before I suddenly fell again.
Consistent spiritual vision I don't have as yet. But the miracle is always
there, whether or not I see it! And my vision is improving each time I
practice.