[acimlessons_list] Lesson 87, Review II - March 28

[Sue Roth]

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."