From sue at circleofa.org Fri May 1 06:05:27 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Fri, 1 May 2009 06:05:27 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 122 - May 2 Message-ID: LESSON 122 - MAY 2 "Forgiveness offers everything I want." Practice instructions Purpose: "To feel the peace forgiveness offers, and the joy the lifting of the veil holds out to you" (11:2). Morning/evening practice: Two times, for fifteen minutes. Sink into the place in your mind where the gifts of forgiveness abide. Try to experience the happiness, peace, and joy that forgiveness offers you. Seek that place in you earnestly, and with gladness and hope. This practice seems to be an example of Workbook meditation. It seems very similar to the practice in the early 100s, where you quieted your mind and tried to experience the happiness and joy that God has placed deep within you. Based on past lessons, you probably should begin by repeating the idea for the day, and then use that idea from time to time to pull your mind back from wandering. Remarks: Approach these practice periods filled with hope, because you have reached a crucial turning point in your journey. After this, the road will be much smoother and easier. Practice "earnestly and gladly" (9:2), with confidence that today salvation can be yours. Frequent reminders: Every fifteen minutes, for at least one minute. Say, "Forgiveness offers everything I want. Today I have accepted this as true. Today I have received the gifts of God." Remarks: These shorter practice periods are obviously extremely important. Practicing at least a minute four times an hour is no small feat for most of us. The purpose of these shorter practice periods is to keep in our minds the gifts we accepted in the morning practice. Those gifts will fade away unless we renew them throughout each hour. I suggest repeating these lines as a genuine, heartfelt dedication to accepting the truth of today's idea. When repeating these lines you may want to make them specific: "Forgiving [name] offers everything I want [happiness, peace, safety]. Today [day of week] I have accepted this as true. Today [date] I have received the gifts of God." Commentary There is a phrase near the end of this lesson that never fails to stand out to me. It speaks of how forgiveness enables me to "see the changeless in the heart of change" (13:4). For me, this phrase has become a whole other way to look at what forgiveness is. Behind every appearance lies something that does not change. Appearances change, and rapidly. This is true both physically and in more subtle perceptions. But the spirit within us does not change, having been created by the eternal. Forgiveness is a way of looking past the appearances to the unchanging reality. It disregards the temporary picture of the ego's mistakes and sees the Son of God. As Mother Teresa said of each one she helped, we see "Christ, in his distressing disguises." Forgiveness lets the veil be lifted up that hides the face of Christ from those who look with unforgiving eyes upon the world. (3:1) Forgiveness is giving up all the reasons we have built up for withholding love. The veil of all our judgments is lifted, and we behold something marvelous, something wonderful, something indescribable. "What you will remember then can never be described" (8:4). (So I won't try!) When forgiveness has removed the blocks to our awareness of love's presence, we see love everywhere. Love is unchanging and unchangeable. There is no wonder, then, that forgiveness offers everything we want, bringing peace, happiness, quietness, certainty, and "a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world" (1:4). When you see the changeless in the heart of change, distress drains right out of your heart because there is no reason for it. Why are our moods and feelings such a problem to us? Because we identify with them, because as the moods and feelings change we believe we have changed. The Course is teaching us to learn to identify with something beyond change, with the Mind of Christ within ourselves that never changes and never will. Here is a very simple rule of thumb: What changes is not me. My Self is "unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable" (W-pI.190.6:5). This is starting to take better shape in my mind as I began to see that forgiveness is simply to see the changeless in the heart of change. It is to recognize that the only thing that needs to be changed is the thought that it is possible to change the Mind of the Son of God. It is to realize that all my ego "thoughts" have changed nothing, and all my brother's ego "thoughts" also change nothing. It is to realize that what is changeable is not me; to cease to identify with that which changes, and to cease to believe that my brother is my changing perceptions of him. Forgiveness means looking beyond what is changeable to that which is changeless. Our pain comes from identifying with the ephemeral. Our peace comes from identifying with the eternal. Nothing that changes is created by God. Nothing that changes is really me. What is changeable is threatened by change, and "nothing real can be threatened" (T-In.2:2). Therefore, nothing that changes is real. All that changes is nothing but a passing landmark on the journey to the eternal. It is nothing to be held on to. Think of a line of stones by which you cross a creek; you do not cling to each stone as you pass it. You appreciate its value in moving you toward the other side, but you do not lament its passing. Your goal is the other side. That is the only value of things in this world, things which include our own bodies and the bodies of our loved ones as well as material things, or even concepts in our thought system. Changing things are to be valued only as stepping stones to that which is eternal, to be gently released as we take the next step toward the changeless, which is always with us, always the reality of our being, even as we appear to journey towards it. From sue at circleofa.org Sat May 2 12:17:00 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Sat, 2 May 2009 12:17:00 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 123 - May 3 Message-ID: LESSON 123 - MAY 3 "I thank my Father for His gifts to me." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: The Workbook is assuming you have made some real progress on your journey to God, with the result that your journey will now be smoother because much of your resistance has subsided. You are to devote today to giving thanks for these gains. You do not realize their full extent. Only by giving thanks for them will you appreciate how great they really are. Morning/evening practice: Two times, for fifteen minutes. You spend these fifteen minutes giving thanks to God and receiving His thanks to you. What exactly are the things for which you give thanks? I detect three classes of things. First, God's gifts to you in Heaven: His eternal Love for you; the fact that He created you changeless, so that none of your mistakes can taint your Identity. Second, His gifts to you on earth: that He has not abandoned you but is always with you, speaking His saving Word to you; that he has given you a special function in His plan. Third, the gains you have made as a result of His gifts: the fact that the Holy Spirit is gradually saving you from your ego. You also spend time receiving God's thanks to you. What exactly is He thanking you for? He is thanking you for hearing His message, applying it, and speaking it to others. He is thanking you for healing others through your demonstration of greater sanity, health and security. He, in other words, is thanking you for your application of His truths, just as you are thanking Him for this same thing. Take time to open your mind to the idea that God is not judging you, but thanking you, wholeheartedly and with total sincerity, and that His thanks to you and yours to Him join as one. Remarks: God will take your gift of thanks to Him, multiply it hundreds of thousands of times, and return it as His immeasurable thanks to you. This multiplication of your gift will give it vastly increased power to save you and the world. Each second that you give will be returned to you in the form of years of progress, enabling you to take eons off the world's journey to God. Frequent reminders: Every hour, for an unspecified time. Repeat the idea and spend some time thanking God for all His gifts to you. COMMENTARY Today's lesson causes me to reflect on all my Father's gifts to me, personally. I think that is what it is intended to do for each of us, sort of a day to count your blessings. So bear with me as I share some of my personal reflections with you, and take it as inspiration to do the same for yourself. I think I've been on a spiritual journey most of my life, perhaps all of it. I can remember certain incidents as a very young boy that seemed to say my direction was already set, way back then. I wrote a poem once for my babysitter; I think I was in second grade at the time. I can still recall the words: Thank Thee for the sun and fields, Thank Thee for the bush and tree, Thank Thee for the things we eat. Thank Thee, Lord, Thank Thee. I remember one Monday after school, when I was about ten, gathering three of my friends around me on a street corner and trying to explain to them why I was so impressed with the Sunday School lesson I'd heard the day before. It was a lesson on Ecclesiastes 11:1, "Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days." I was so struck by the principle involved, that what you give comes back to you, and that our wealth could be measured by how much we give, rather than what we acquire. It is a message that I heard again, very clearly, many years later in the Course. I had a deep spiritual hunger and desire for God all through childhood, although I veered off in other directions for some time, getting into trouble for youthful pranks, even police trouble, and being horribly embarrassed at being caught shoplifting by a store owner who had offered me a summer job (which of course I did not get). I had experiences of what I would now call a holy instant several times, a sense of the nearness of God, and yet I couldn't seem to find Him most of the time. At sixteen I had a "born again" experience, and I became, for the next twenty-two years, a fundamentalist Christian, although never firmly aligned with any religious denomination. Something kept me breaking out of all the molds people tried to cast me into. I read the mystics, I read the heretics, as well as the Bible. I didn't want anyone to draw me a map of the New Jerusalem; I wanted to walk its streets for myself. I spent years in a typical Western religious pattern, "fighting against sin" as Jesus calls it in the Course (T-18.VII.4:7). As he says in that sentence, "It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement" that way! All through those twenty-two years, I hungered for God. All through those twenty-two years, I was miserable most of the time, disgusted with myself. All through those twenty-two years, I wondered if I would ever "make it." Finally, at the end of those years, I gave up. I laid aside my Bible and let it gather dust. I decided that Christianity was, for me, a dead end. I despaired of ever "crossing Jordan" and "entering the promised land." I decided I was just going to have to accept life as it was, and learn to live with it. About six years went by. I was still seeking something, but no longer seeking anything spiritual. Or so I told myself. My relationship with God was in a holding pattern, and we weren't talking. I read psychology. I did the est training. I read Zen books and tried meditating a bit. I studied Science of Mind. I also enjoyed the world thoroughly, as I'd never allowed myself to do before, including some great sex, and making more money than I'd ever had in my life. I began to realize that the things which spoke to me in the psychology, secular philosophies, and Eastern religious writings that I was studying were all exactly the same things that had really spoken to me in Christianity. There was a "perennial philosophy," as Aldous Huxley called it, that ran through everything, a central core of truths that everyone who ever "made it," regardless of their religious background or lack of one, seemed to agree on. And the more I got clear about it, the more I realized it was all stuff I'd always known somehow. Like "cast your bread upon the waters." Then, in January 1985, I found A Course in Miracles. Ever since, I've been reading and studying these books, and practicing as best I can what they say. And as I look at my life today, I can see that somewhere along the line my life underwent a major shift. I moved from a gloomy certainty that I would never find real happiness to a steady conviction that I have found it. So as I read today's lesson, a deep sense of gratitude washed over me. As I read the first paragraph, I felt I could honestly say it applied to me very well: There is no thought of turning back, and no implacable resistance to the truth. A bit of wavering remains, some small objections and a little hesitance, but you can well be grateful for your gains, which are far greater than you realize. (W-pI.123.1:3-4) A few days ago (in 1995) a friend of ours, Allan Greene, passed away at 51. He was a quadriplegic who moved to Sedona just over a year ago to take part in the ACIM classes and support groups of the Circle of Atonement. Our support group met in his home, since he was almost completely immobile. He could move nothing but his head and his shoulders, the latter just slightly. Within the last two years, a leg and a hand had to be amputated. He used to say that he was giving up his identification with his body piece by piece. Allan was a long-time student of the Course, one of the very few I know who actually knew the Course's scribe, Helen Schucman. He argued with it for a long time, but had settled in to a steady determination to realize all that it taught. Under adversity far greater than most of us can imagine, Allan maintained an amazing sense of humor and a joyful determination to heal his mind, whatever happened to his body. Miracles happened around him regularly; he took them as a matter of course. Last month, when he was having his gall bladder removed, he took no anesthesia because he had no feeling in his lower body at all, but a nurse held a screen during the operation so he would not have to watch himself being cut open. During the whole operation, Allan was conversing with the nurse about A Course in Miracles! Last night (May 2, 1995) we had a memorial meeting for Allan. A very large number of people attended, and one after another shared how Allan had touched their lives, including a half dozen or so of the professional caretakers who had administered to him over the last year. It became evident that Allan's life had impacted scores and scores of people. I am sure his gains were, as our lesson tells us, far greater than he realized. I know Allan did not think of himself as particularly advanced. He lamented almost to the end about what a slow learner he was. He often argued with his caretakers, and had one or two walk out on him in a rage. He had his doubts. But from the evidence tonight in people whom he loved and people who loved him, he had advanced much farther than he thought. I hope that is true of me; I believe it is true of all of us. We cannot know now, although I'm sure we shall at some point, all the positive impacts we have had on those around us with things as little as a smile, a small act of kindness, or a gentle, loving touch at the right moment. Perhaps, as it often was with Allan, nothing more than our laughter, or making someone else laugh. Last Thursday, when Allan was in the hospital, we paused in our ACIM evening class and had a few minutes of silence for him. The next day, the day before he died, one of our students phoned him in the hospital and told him about our minutes of silence. Allan said, "It would have been more appropriate if you'd had a few minutes of telling jokes." Let me then, today, take time to express my gratitude to God for all His gifts to me. I thank Him for this Course, which has become my certain way home. I thank Him for the relief from all those years of quiet desperation. I thank Him that, when I wandered off, He never deserted me. I am so grateful for His Spirit within me, my Guide and Teacher, and for all the loving friends and companions on the journey He has brought my way (especially, tonight, for Allan). I am so grateful for all of you, and for the opportunity He has given me to share with you all, and to receive from all of you. I thank Him that I am beginning to remember my Self. I thank Him for the steadily increasing assurance that I will find my way all the way home. I thank my Father for His gifts to me! From sue at circleofa.org Sun May 3 11:47:19 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Sun, 3 May 2009 11:47:19 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 124 - May 4 Message-ID: LESSON 124 - MAY 4 "Let me remember I am one with God." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To practice and experience the idea that you are one with God, and to thereby lay hold of your own peace and also free the world. Today is a turning point in the Workbook, your first half hour practice time, and also your first longer practice in which you are given no instructions and are left to fly on your own-a preview of things to come. The practice is deepening-getting longer as well as less structured. Longer: One-whenever it seems best, for thirty minutes. There are no specific words or guidelines for this meditation. You are simply meant to devote the practice period to today's idea, to abiding in oneness with God, to trying to experience that oneness, and to letting His Voice direct your practicing. Jesus is clearly trusting that you have learned enough from the lessons thus far to spend this quiet time profitably, without getting hopelessly lost in mind wandering. You therefore should draw upon all the training you have received up until now, and should also be open to the Holy Spirit's promptings during this time. Encouragement to practice: Paragraphs 9-11 are there to provide incentives to really do the practice and to appreciate how important it is. They teach us to see this half hour as a mirror, surrounded by a golden frame, set with thirty diamonds, one for each minute. During this half hour we will look into this mirror and see our face transfigured into holy the face of Christ-our true Self, Who is at one with God. In this mirror, we will recognize ourselves as Who we really are. Even if nothing of the kind seems to happen during this time, we can be confident that sometime, "perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow" (10:1, 11:1, 3), this experience will come to us as a result of this half hour. Frequent reminders: Hourly. Repeat, "Let me remember I am one with God, at one with all my brothers and my Self, in everlasting holiness and peace." Doing so will add yet more diamonds to the frame around the mirror in which you see your true Self. I suggest either memorizing this sentence (which is composed of three lines of iambic pentameter) or writing it down on a note card. I also recommend that, while repeating it, you try to feel each kind of oneness individually-first oneness with God, then oneness with your brothers, then oneness with your true Self. COMMENTARY This lesson holds forth a very high view; it comes from an elevated state of mind. Basically, in the first part of the lesson it seems to assume we are enlightened already. And, of course, from the perspective of this state of mind, we are. "Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all" (W-pI.188.1:4). If it is not a change, then enlightenment must mean recognizing what is always so. This lesson, then, is simply stating the truth about us, the truth that we have been hiding from ourselves. To pray, to give thanks for the truth as God sees it, the truth about us as He sees us, can be a very profitable exercise. Try taking a paragraph of this lesson (or the whole lesson) and turning it into thanksgiving, verbalizing your thanks as you read. For example, from the second paragraph, I might say: Thank You for the holiness of our minds! Thank You that everything I see reflects the holiness of my mind, which is at one with You, and at one with itself. Thank You for being my Companion as I walk this world; for the privilege of leaving behind shining footprints that point the way to truth for those who follow me. This indeed is our calling; it is why we are here. Perhaps most of the time we don't remember our Identity in God. All the more reason to set aside a day given to remembering, for reminding ourselves. We could understand this lesson as a portrait of an advanced teacher of God. Everywhere she walks, light is left behind to illuminate the way for others. The teacher walks in constant awareness of God's Presence. She feels God within. God's thoughts fill her mind, and she perceives only the loving and the lovable. This teacher of God heals people in the past, the present, and the future, at any distance. Slip into that mindset for a while today, my heart. Be the Christ; let all the obstacles to it that your mind throws up be brushed aside. Practice awareness of oneness with God. In the latter part of the lesson it is clear that the author hasn't flipped out and isn't living in a dream world. He knows very well that we might sit for our half hour and get up thinking that nothing happened. He knows that, for most of us, what he is talking about is so far from our conscious awareness that we might devote thirty minutes to trying to recognize it and not find a glimmer of it. He doesn't care. He doesn't care because, from where he sits and how he sees, he knows with total certainty that what he is saying about us is the truth. And he tells us not to let it bother us: You may not be ready to accept the gain today. Yet sometime, somewhere, it will come to you, nor will you fail to recognize it when it dawns with certainty upon your mind. (9:2-3) Even though we experience nothing, he tells us that "no time was ever better spent" (10:3). The practice for today of a single half hour given to remembering oneness is unusual in the Workbook. The routine goes back to two fifteen-minute periods, or three ten-minute periods, in the coming days. But what is more significant, actually, is the lack of "rules [and] special words to guide your meditation" (8:4). He's leaving us on our own today. If we have been doing the exercises all along, we should have a pretty good idea of some of the "techniques" we might want to use, and we can use any of them, or anything that comes to us. Actually he isn't leaving us "on our own"; he's leaving us in the hands of "God's Voice," our inner Guide. Ask how to spend this half hour of meditation, and listen to what comes to you. Abide with Him this half an hour. He will do the rest. (8:6-7) You can be sure someday, perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will understand and comprehend and see. (11:3) From sue at circleofa.org Mon May 4 05:56:17 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 05:56:17 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 125 - May 5 Message-ID: LESSON 125 - MAY 5 "In quiet I receive God's Word today." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To hear God speak to you, to receive His Word. Longer: Three times (at times best suited to silence), for ten minutes. Yesterday we were told that we needed no special instructions for our longer practice period. In keeping with this, we are told today that all we need is to still our minds. "You will need no rule but this" (9:2). The lesson, however, does tell us a little more than this. We can arrange its instructions into three steps. 1. Still your mind. Still your chaotic thoughts, meaningless desires, and all your judgments. 2. Go to that deep, "quiet place within the mind where He abides forever" (4:3), the throne of God within your mind, the quiet center. 3. Wait and listen. Once you reach that place of stillness in your mind, your task is over. You merely wait and listen, in confidence that your Father will come to you and speak His Word to you. Hearing this Word, of course, can take many different forms, from hearing actual words to receiving ideas, pictures, or just feelings. During this time, you will need to frequently clear your mind of all those petty thoughts and desires that try to intrude. For this purpose, I suggest using today's idea, or picking a phrase, such as "only be still and listen" (9:3). As usual, begin the practice time with a slow repeating of the idea. Frequent reminders: Hourly, for a moment. Repeat the idea. Realize that by doing so you are reminding yourself of today's special purpose-to receive God's Word. Then spend some time listening in stillness. COMMENTARY All we are being asked to do today is to be quiet for ten minutes, three times during the day and for a moment each hour. Just to be quiet. "Only be quiet. You will need no rule but this" (9:1-2). "Only be still and listen" (9:3). "His Voice awaits your silence, for His Word can not be heard until your mind is quiet for a while, and meaningless desires have been stilled" (6:2). Isn't it amazing how much practice it takes to learn to be quiet? I can't tell you how many times I've sat down to meditate and be quiet only to find myself, sometimes only a few minutes later, so distracted by some passing thought that I open my eyes and start to get up to "do something" before I've even realized what I'm doing. I plop back down in my chair muttering "Good grief!" to myself at the distractedness of my mind. Draw a deep breath, think to myself, "Quiet, Allen. Quiet. Peace, be still." The difficulties I have with being quiet, rather than standing as an insurmountable obstacle to me, have simply become indicators of how much I need this practice. Clearly, the Course is teaching us that a quiet mind is essential. "The memory of God comes to the quiet mind" (T-23.I.1:1). We can't hear His Voice until we are quiet for a while. The Course describes the voice of the ego in various colorful phrases: "senseless shrieks," "raucous shrieks," "loud discordant shrieks," "the senseless noise of sounds that have no meaning," "frantic, riotous thoughts," "raucous screams and senseless ravings," "a loud, obscuring voice," "a frantic rush of thoughts that made no sense."1 Our ego is a constant noise machine trying to cover up the Voice for God; we need to learn to still our mind, to cease to pay attention to the ego's loudness. The ego is noise; the Spirit is quiet. There is merit, then, simply in being quiet, even if nothing else seems to happen. Let me, then, remember to take this time to be quiet, to be still, and to listen. From sue at circleofa.org Tue May 5 07:16:37 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 07:16:37 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 126 - May 6 Message-ID: LESSON 126 - MAY 6 "All that I give is given to myself." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To understand the idea that giving is not loss, but receiving. Longer: Two times, for fifteen minutes. Today's idea is so alien to our normal way of thinking that we need inner help from the Holy Spirit to really understand it. It cannot be done with the intellect alone. To seek this help, "close your eyes...and seek sanctuary in the quiet place" (10:1) where you go in meditation. Once you reach that place, "repeat today's idea, and ask for help in understanding what it really means" (10:2). Be willing to lay aside your false belief that giving is loss, and to gain a whole new understanding, in which you realize that giving is a gift to yourself. See the Holy Spirit as present in your practice period, and be prepared to repeat your request for true understanding until you receive that understanding. Remarks: If you "only catch a tiny glimpse" (8:5) of the idea, of the real meaning of giving, it is a glorious day for you and for the world. For this idea would make forgiveness no longer a strain, but something you would be naturally compelled to give all the time, as a way of giving to yourself. Frequent reminders: As often as you can (do not forget for long), for a moment. Repeat, "All that I give is given to myself. The Help I need to learn that this is true is with me now. And I will trust in Him." Then do a miniature version of the longer practice period: quiet your mind and open it to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to replace your false beliefs about giving with the truth. Through these practice periods, you can keep the sense alive all day long that your goal today is of great importance. COMMENTARY This is a lesson that clearly aims at thought reversal (1:1). It begins with the presumption that we have false ideas about forgiveness: "You do not understand forgiveness" (6:1). In the sixth paragraph it explains that our false understanding of forgiveness is the reason we cannot understand how forgiveness brings us peace, how it is a means for our release, nor how forgiveness can restore our awareness of unity with our brothers. Our misunderstanding of forgiveness is the reason that we may have had trouble really entering in to Lessons 121 and 122, which told us that forgiveness is the key to happiness and offers us everything we want. The idea that "all that I give is given to myself" is crucial to reversing our thought; understanding it would make forgiveness effortless. Paragraph 2 goes through a list of "what you do believe, in place of this idea" (2:1). So, let's practice some thought reversal, and reverse the meaning of this paragraph to see what is implied by this key idea for the day. If we understood that everything we give is given to ourselves, we would realize that other people are not apart from us. Their behavior does have bearing on our thoughts, and our behavior has bearing on their thoughts. Our attitudes affect other people. Their appeals for help are intimately related to our own. They cannot be seen as "sinners" without affecting our perception of ourselves. We cannot condemn their sin without condemning ourselves and losing our peace of mind. If we understood all this and believed it, forgiveness would happen naturally. We would realize that judging someone as sinful causes our own guilt and loss of peace, and we would not choose to do it. We would realize that how we see the other person is how we see ourselves, and we would not want to see ourselves that way. We would learn very quickly to perceive that their ego actions are not sins but calls for help, closely tied to our own calls for help, and we would respond accordingly. We would know that our judgmental attitude has an adverse effect on the behavior of others, and would choose to change our attitude. We would adjust our thoughts so as to have a beneficial effect on their behavior instead of a detrimental effect. We would recognize that we are not separate and apart, but share in the same struggle with fears and doubts, as well as sharing in the release from those things. Given all this, we could understand how forgiveness is the key to happiness. We would see that if judging causes loss of peace, then forgiveness could bring us to peace again. We would understand how forgiveness restores our awareness of unity with one another. We could see how forgiveness can release us from what seems to be a problem with someone else. The practice today is really a kind of thinking meditation. We are asked to come to the Holy Spirit with today's idea, "All that I give is given to myself," and to open ourselves to His help in learning that it is true, "opening your mind to His correction and His love" (11:6). We are asking for help in understanding what today's idea means (10:2), and what forgiveness really means. We are reflecting on the ideas with His assistance, asking for new insights, new understandings. Our behavior, our attitudes, and our painful experiences in this world are all evidence that we do need to have our thoughts corrected. If we truly believed what today's idea says, we would not be having these painful experiences. We must have false ideas still lodged in our minds, and we need to be healed. Perhaps we think we understand what is being said, and no doubt there is a part of us that resonates with them or we would not be studying these lessons. It is the other part we are concerned about, the hidden warriors, the contrary beliefs we have dissociated and even hidden from conscious awareness. If we ask for help sincerely, help will be given (8:3). Today will bring new understanding. Perhaps it will come in the form of new insights as we meditate. Perhaps it will come in the laboratory of life, as circumstances shock us into awareness of how we still believe one or another of the ideas this lessons mentions in describing what we do believe in place of today's idea. But it will come. The help I need to learn that this is true is with me now. And I will trust in Him. (11:4-5) From sue at circleofa.org Wed May 6 06:02:03 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 06:02:03 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 126 - May 6 Message-ID: LESSON 126 - MAY 6 "All that I give is given to myself." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To understand the idea that giving is not loss, but receiving. Longer: Two times, for fifteen minutes. Today's idea is so alien to our normal way of thinking that we need inner help from the Holy Spirit to really understand it. It cannot be done with the intellect alone. To seek this help, "close your eyes...and seek sanctuary in the quiet place" (10:1) where you go in meditation. Once you reach that place, "repeat today's idea, and ask for help in understanding what it really means" (10:2). Be willing to lay aside your false belief that giving is loss, and to gain a whole new understanding, in which you realize that giving is a gift to yourself. See the Holy Spirit as present in your practice period, and be prepared to repeat your request for true understanding until you receive that understanding. Remarks: If you "only catch a tiny glimpse" (8:5) of the idea, of the real meaning of giving, it is a glorious day for you and for the world. For this idea would make forgiveness no longer a strain, but something you would be naturally compelled to give all the time, as a way of giving to yourself. Frequent reminders: As often as you can (do not forget for long), for a moment. Repeat, "All that I give is given to myself. The Help I need to learn that this is true is with me now. And I will trust in Him." Then do a miniature version of the longer practice period: quiet your mind and open it to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to replace your false beliefs about giving with the truth. Through these practice periods, you can keep the sense alive all day long that your goal today is of great importance. COMMENTARY This is a lesson that clearly aims at thought reversal (1:1). It begins with the presumption that we have false ideas about forgiveness: "You do not understand forgiveness" (6:1). In the sixth paragraph it explains that our false understanding of forgiveness is the reason we cannot understand how forgiveness brings us peace, how it is a means for our release, nor how forgiveness can restore our awareness of unity with our brothers. Our misunderstanding of forgiveness is the reason that we may have had trouble really entering in to Lessons 121 and 122, which told us that forgiveness is the key to happiness and offers us everything we want. The idea that "all that I give is given to myself" is crucial to reversing our thought; understanding it would make forgiveness effortless. Paragraph 2 goes through a list of "what you do believe, in place of this idea" (2:1). So, let's practice some thought reversal, and reverse the meaning of this paragraph to see what is implied by this key idea for the day. If we understood that everything we give is given to ourselves, we would realize that other people are not apart from us. Their behavior does have bearing on our thoughts, and our behavior has bearing on their thoughts. Our attitudes affect other people. Their appeals for help are intimately related to our own. They cannot be seen as "sinners" without affecting our perception of ourselves. We cannot condemn their sin without condemning ourselves and losing our peace of mind. If we understood all this and believed it, forgiveness would happen naturally. We would realize that judging someone as sinful causes our own guilt and loss of peace, and we would not choose to do it. We would realize that how we see the other person is how we see ourselves, and we would not want to see ourselves that way. We would learn very quickly to perceive that their ego actions are not sins but calls for help, closely tied to our own calls for help, and we would respond accordingly. We would know that our judgmental attitude has an adverse effect on the behavior of others, and would choose to change our attitude. We would adjust our thoughts so as to have a beneficial effect on their behavior instead of a detrimental effect. We would recognize that we are not separate and apart, but share in the same struggle with fears and doubts, as well as sharing in the release from those things. Given all this, we could understand how forgiveness is the key to happiness. We would see that if judging causes loss of peace, then forgiveness could bring us to peace again. We would understand how forgiveness restores our awareness of unity with one another. We could see how forgiveness can release us from what seems to be a problem with someone else. The practice today is really a kind of thinking meditation. We are asked to come to the Holy Spirit with today's idea, "All that I give is given to myself," and to open ourselves to His help in learning that it is true, "opening your mind to His correction and His love" (11:6). We are asking for help in understanding what today's idea means (10:2), and what forgiveness really means. We are reflecting on the ideas with His assistance, asking for new insights, new understandings. Our behavior, our attitudes, and our painful experiences in this world are all evidence that we do need to have our thoughts corrected. If we truly believed what today's idea says, we would not be having these painful experiences. We must have false ideas still lodged in our minds, and we need to be healed. Perhaps we think we understand what is being said, and no doubt there is a part of us that resonates with them or we would not be studying these lessons. It is the other part we are concerned about, the hidden warriors, the contrary beliefs we have dissociated and even hidden from conscious awareness. If we ask for help sincerely, help will be given (8:3). Today will bring new understanding. Perhaps it will come in the form of new insights as we meditate. Perhaps it will come in the laboratory of life, as circumstances shock us into awareness of how we still believe one or another of the ideas this lessons mentions in describing what we do believe in place of today's idea. But it will come. The help I need to learn that this is true is with me now. And I will trust in Him. (11:4-5) From sue at circleofa.org Thu May 7 05:45:24 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 05:45:24 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 127 - May 7 Message-ID: LESSON 127 - MAY 7 "There is no love but God's." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: This is an extremely significant lesson, for it asks you to "take the largest single step this course requests in your advance towards its established goal" (6:5). You take this step by releasing your beliefs that limit love and opening your mind to God so that He can teach you love's true meaning. Longer: Two times, for fifteen minutes. This exercise is very similar to yesterday's, in which you went to the quiet center in your mind and asked God's Voice to correct your false beliefs about giving. Today, you do the same, only asking God to correct your false beliefs about love. Repeat the idea and then "open your mind and rest" (8:2). Now let go of your beliefs-one after another-in the laws and limits of this world, for all of them justify limited and changing love. Let go of your beliefs in partial love, selective love, and changing love. As you give up each such belief, God will replace it with "a spark of truth" (9:3), an understanding of what love really means. Call to Him and ask Him to illuminate your mind on the true meaning of love. That is the essence of this practice period: to open your mind, let go of your beliefs that limit love, and ask God to teach you the real meaning of love, which is far greater and more sublime than your mind alone could ever understand. Remarks: Gladly give this time. It is the best use of time you could ever make. For if you gain the tiniest glimpse of love's real meaning, you truly have taken a giant stride. You have gone forward in your journey countless years and have brought freedom to everyone who comes here. Frequent reminders: Three times per hour, at least. Think of someone you know and silently repeat to him these lines: "I bless you, brother, with the Love of God, which I would share with you. For I would learn the joyous lesson that there is no love but God's and yours and mine and everyone's." Like the longer practice, this is a powerful technique for opening your mind to the real meaning of love. COMMENTARY "Perhaps you think that different kinds of love are possible" (1:1). To my mind there is no "perhaps" about it; we all think that there are different kinds of love, varying from friend to family to children to lover, from person to animal to thing. The lesson asserts that there is only one Love-God's Love. To think that love changes depending upon its object, says the lesson, is to miss the meaning of love entirely (2:1). "It [love] never alters with a person or a circumstance" (1:6). To us, this can seem to be a very intimidating description of love, because what we call love does not fit this picture. Our "love" comes and goes, waxes and wanes, varying with the person or the circumstance like a thermometer to the temperature. Love, as described in this lesson, is wholly unaffected by anything outside itself. This is truly unconditional love. I am uplifted today by the idea that, if this is God's Love, and this is the only love there is, then His Love for me never alters, and has "no divergencies and no distinctions" (1:4). Nothing I do, or do not do, modifies His Love for me in the slightest. God's Love just is, eternally, endlessly. It has no opposite (3:7). It is the glue that holds everything together (3:8). It is the substance of the universe. It can be comforting when we think of God's Love for us being like this. It can be intimidating, however, when we realize that we are being asked to love one another in the same way. It seems beyond us, and if we are judged on whether or not we match up to this love, it would appear that we all "come short of the glory of God," as the Bible says in Romans 3:23. The lesson, however, meets this fear in us head on, and meets it with an incredible assertion: "No course whose purpose is to teach you to remember what you really are could fail to emphasize that there can never be a difference in what you really are and what love is" (4:1). In short sentences, this is telling us: "Love is eternal, unconditional, and unalterable. You are that love." You know this love we're talking about, that seems so foreign to us, so beyond our capabilities? Well, this is what you really are! It is the other image of yourself, incapable of such love, shifting and changing with every circumstance, that is the lie. This love-this is the truth, this is you. There is absolutely no difference between this love and what we are! What you are is what He is. There is no love but His, and what He is, is everything there is. (4:3-4) We aren't going to see this about ourselves by looking at the world (6:1). It isn't something that can be seen with the body's eyes; yet it is perfectly apparent to the eyes and ears that see and hear love (what is called elsewhere the vision of Christ). That is the goal of today's lesson: to see that love in ourselves, to catch even "the faintest glimmering of what love means" (7:1), to "understand the truth of love" (9:4). This attempt to quiet our minds, to free our minds of all the laws we think we must obey, all the limits we have placed on ourselves, and all the changes we believe we have made in ourselves, and to find our Self, Who is Love-this attempt is called "the largest single step this course requests in your advance towards its established goal" (6:5). If we succeed, we will "have advanced in distance without measure and in time beyond the count of years to your release" (7:1). This is no small thing! To be able, even in a very small degree, to perceive ourselves as this love; to catch a hint of the fact that love is everything there is, including ourselves. This is a quantum leap indeed! To spend a little time for this purpose is worth it. "There is no better use for time than this" (7:2). As we begin to realize that love is all there is, that this love is everything including ourselves, we will realize that it includes everyone else as well. The only way love can be everything is if it includes everyone! So we begin to see not only ourselves, but the world, in a new way: The world in infancy is newly born. (11:1) Now are they all made free, along with us. Now are they all our brothers in God's Love. (11:3-4) We cannot leave a part of us outside our love if we would know our Self. (12:1) And so, three times an hour, we are asked to remember a brother or sister who is making this journey with us, and to mentally send them this message, as I now send it to you: I bless you, brother, with the Love of God, Which I would share with you. For I would learn The joyous lesson that there is no love But God's and yours and mine and everyone's. (12:4-5) From sue at circleofa.org Thu May 7 05:46:18 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 05:46:18 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 128 - May 8 Message-ID: LESSON 128 - MAY 8 "The world I see holds nothing that I want." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To let go of the value we have placed on the things of the world, so that our mind is free to experience what is truly valuable-our home in God. Longer: Three times, for ten minutes. This practice is one of unchaining our mind so that it can fly home to God. We can see it as having two phases. In the first phase, we withdraw the value we have placed upon the world. We withdraw all the purposes we have given things in the world, the purpose of satisfying our personal interests (as Lesson 25 said). This is likened to taking the chains off our mind. Unchained, it will then be free to spread its wings and fly inward to where it belongs, to its home in God. The second phase of the practice period, then, is this process of our mind flying to its home. It is a process of stilling and opening our mind, and letting it be guided to its resting place in God. Throughout this process, we will need to be letting go of our wandering thoughts, which, of course, almost always relate to things we value in the world. To pull our minds back from these thoughts we can repeat the idea for the day. Remarks: Every practice period will shift your whole perspective a little-it will withdraw some of the value you have placed upon the world. Response to temptation: Whenever you feel yourself valuing something in the world. Realize that doing so will lay a chain upon your mind. Instead, protect your mind by saying, with quiet certainty, "This will not tempt me to delay myself. The world I see holds nothing that I want." If you really watch your mind, you will find no shortage of subjects for practice. I also highly recommend taking some time to memorize these two lines. If you are really going to use them frequently, having them memorized is almost a requirement. COMMENTARY The general thought of this lesson is similar to the first three of Buddha's Four Noble Truths: that life is suffering; that the cause of suffering is tanha, or desire for self at the expense of others; and that the way out of suffering is through the relinquishment of such desires. "Believe this thought, and you are saved from years of misery" (1:2). The lesson is asking us to give up all attachment to things of this world, to put an end to suffering by putting an end to craving anything the world offers. It can seem to be a harsh lesson, and yet it is eminently sensible: if you do not desire anything, you cannot be disappointed. The things of the world act as chains when we value them (2:1). What is perhaps harder to grasp is that this is the purpose for which we made them: they "will serve no other end but this. For everything must serve the purpose you have given it, until you see a different purpose there (2:1-2). When we assign to the things of the world a purpose in time, usually some form of gratification or self-aggrandizement, we chain ourselves to this world. Inevitably, since everything in the world must have an end, this causes us untold pain. All our mistaken valuing accomplishes is to tie us to the world and to keep us from our final healing. To the Holy Spirit, the only purpose of this world is the healing of God's Son (see T-24.VI.4:1). There is nothing in the world worth striving for. "The only purpose worthy of your mind this world contains is that you pass it by, without delaying to perceive some hope where there is none" (2:3). This is similar to this statement in the Text: "The Holy Spirit interprets time's purpose as rendering the need for time unnecessary" (T-13.IV.7:3). The Holy Spirit appropriates time, the world, and everything in the world for the purpose of salvation and the healing of our minds. To Him, nothing here has any other purpose. Therefore, the world itself holds nothing that we want. All of it is, to borrow from the title of a book by Ram Dass, "grist for the mill." All of it becomes the means to an end-our awakening to life, our return to God. There is nothing in the world that is an end in itself. When the lesson advises us, "Let nothing that relates to body thoughts delay your progress to salvation" (4:1), it is saying the same thing in other words. "Body thoughts" refers to our mistaken identification with our bodies. It is everything that stems from the idea that "I am a body, and to benefit and protect myself I must make taking care of my body a number one priority." Our cravings for bodily pleasure, bodily comfort, bodily protection, bodily longevity, and bodily beauty all fall into the category of body thoughts. Making such things our primary concern can only delay our progress. The lesson is asking us to practice mentally letting go of all thoughts of values we have given to the world (5:1). We are asked to "loosen it [the world] from all we wish it were" (5:3). That is a tall order, isn't it? We spend so much of our time wishing things were different and trying to make them be that way. In fact, if we look at our lives honestly, wishing something or someone were different and trying to bring about that change is the activity that occupies most of our lives. For the purposes of this lesson, then, practice taking a few minutes to let your mind rest from such activity: "Pause and be still a while, and see how far you rise above the world, when you release your mind from chains and let it seek the level where it finds itself at home" (6:1). Your mind, the lesson tells us, "knows where it belongs" (6:3). If you loosen the chains of your desires, it will "fly in sureness and in joy to join its holy purpose" (6:4). Each time you practice such an exercise for only ten minutes, "your whole perspective on the world will shift by just a little" (7:3). Let your mind rest, then, from its constant craving, and relax as its homing instinct takes over and brings you to where you really belong. Throughout the day, the lesson is asking us to notice when we think we see some value in the world, and when we do, to mentally correct the notion with these words: This will not tempt me to delay myself. The world I see holds nothing that I want. (8:3-4) From suelegal at gmail.com Fri May 8 05:00:01 2009 From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth) Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 05:00:01 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 129 - May 9 Message-ID: LESSON 129 - MAY 9 "Beyond this world there is a world I want." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To have a day of grace in which you see the world you really want. Through this you will realize that giving up the world you do not want is a giving up of nothing in order to gain everything. Longer: Three times-morning, evening and once in between-for ten minutes. Begin by repeating, "Beyond this world there is a world I want. I choose to see that world instead of this, for here is nothing that I really want." Try to say these lines with feeling. They are trying to inspire in you a real desire to exchange this world for the real world, and a genuine choice resulting from that desire. Feel the desire. Make the choice. Then close your eyes and watch and wait expectantly for an experience of true vision, a glimpse of the real world. I see this practice as very similar to Lesson 75. You might want to read paragraphs 6-8 in that lesson. The main difference in this lesson is that we are seeking an eyes-closed (rather than eyes-open) experience of vision. We are seeking to see a light of meaning and holiness that our eyes cannot see, only our mind. While you sit and watch and wait, feel your desire to see a world of meaning that is totally harmless, peaceful, benign, and loving, without a trace of pain or loss. You may want to repeat the idea from time to time, to renew your focus and to clear your mind of wandering thoughts. Frequent reminders: Once per hour, for a moment. Clear your mind and dwell on these lines: "The world I see holds nothing that I want. Beyond this world there is a world I want." Make this repetition a confirmation of the choice you made in the longer practice periods-to exchange this world for the real world. COMMENTARY The Course is so down-to-earth sometimes! "You cannot stop with the idea the world is worthless, for unless you see that there is something else to hope for, you will only be depressed" (1:2). So true! The statement that "the world is worthless" is pretty blunt; there can't be much debate about what it means. And I have to confess that even after ten years of studying the Course and, over time, coming to agree with its ideas, I still find that wording a little jarring. I can almost hear myself replying, "Uhhh...that isn't exactly how I'd put it." Because there is still something in me that wants to find some value here, something worthwhile, something worth preserving and striving for. The emphasis of the Course, however, isn't on "giving up the world, but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying, filled with joy, and capable of offering you peace" (1:3). Well, that's not such a bad deal, is it? It begins to look especially good if we take a hard look at the world we're trying to hang on to-"merciless,...unstable, cruel, unconcerned with you, quick to avenge and pitiless with hate" (2:3). Events such as the 1995 bombing of a government building in Oklahoma City, and the rabid rage against the bomber, are both testimony to this. The bomber was thought to be "avenging" the government's actions against David Koresh in Waco, and then people wanted vengeance on the bomber. The many wars motivated by racial, religious, or ethnic differences are vengeance cycles that have been going on for centuries. This is the way the world is. "No lasting love is found, for none is here. This is the world of time, where all things end" (2:5-6). That, perhaps, is the cruelest part of all about this world. Even when you do find love, it can't last forever. So-wouldn't you rather find a world where it is impossible to lose anything? Where vengeance is meaningless? (3:1). "Is it a loss to find all things you really want, and know they have no ending and they will remain exactly as you want them throughout time?" (3:2). It's speaking here of what the Course calls "the real world," and the following sentence-"you go from there to where words fail entirely" (3:3)-is talking about Heaven, a nonphysical existence in eternity. What is it talking about when it speaks of "all things you really want"? If they are things that have no ending and don't change over time, they can't be anything physical; certainly not bodies. It is speaking of Love Itself; it is speaking of our Self which is spirit, and which we share with everyone. We are here to find the changeless in the midst of the changeable, and to learn to value what is changeless and to let go of what is changeable. When we choose the changeless, and value the real world of spirit instead of what changes and decays, it brings us very close to Heaven, and prepares us for it. Loosing our grasp on the world makes the transition to Heaven easy. Holding on to the world brings loss. When you try to cling to the perishable you doom yourself to suffering. As we saw in yesterday's commentary, Buddhism has long taught a similar lesson. Doing the practice exercises for today has a remarkable effect. When I say, "The world I see holds nothing that I want. Beyond this world there is a world I want" (9:4-5), I find myself noticing all the attachments I still have to things in this world; I find myself noticing that my conception of what it is beyond this world that I "really want" is a bit vague. And so I bring that attachment and that unclarity to the Holy Spirit, and ask that He help me in those areas. I know He will. From suelegal at gmail.com Sat May 9 05:00:03 2009 From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth) Date: Sat, 9 May 2009 05:00:03 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 130 - May 10 Message-ID: LESSON 130 - MAY 10 "It is impossible to see two worlds." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To realize that you cannot have a little bit of this world and still see the real world, that you must choose one or the other. To make the choice for the real world by letting go of all value given this world. This is another of the Workbook's giant steps (see 9:2). Longer: Six times, for five minutes. Today's practice is extremely similar to the last two days, especially Lesson 128. Begin by repeating the opening lines: "It is impossible to see two worlds. Let me accept the strength God offers me and see no value in this world, that I may find my freedom and deliverance." You are asking for God's strength to uphold you and help you make a definitive choice of the real world over this world. Try to really mean this request. Then close your eyes and spend some time "emptying your hands of all the petty treasures of this world" (8:3). Then reach out for an experience of true perception, the kind of seeing which your eyes alone cannot see. Desire to see only the other world, the world of love. During this time, "wait for God to help you" (8:4). Trust that He will be there, helping you make the choice to value only the real world. While you wait, you may want to repeat, "Help me see only the real world." Response to temptation: Whenever you find yourself valuing anything in the world. Remember that by valuing a little part of hell you are really choosing all of hell, and blocking out Heaven entirely. Say, "It is impossible to see two worlds. I seek my freedom and deliverance, and this [thing I feel attracted to] is not a part of what I want." You will need to watch your mind carefully all day, because today you are watching not for disturbances and upsets, but attractions. COMMENTARY Today's lesson is extremely uncompromising. The first two paragraphs are as clear a statement of the Course's understanding of perception as there is in all three volumes. What we value we want to see, what we want to see determines our thinking, and what we see simply reflects our thinking. "No one can fail to look upon what he believes he wants" (1:6). Or, as it is twice stated succinctly in the Text, "Projection makes perception" (T-13.V.3:5; T-21.In.1:1). On top of that, since we can't hate and love simultaneously, we can't project totally opposite worlds simultaneously. We project the world of fear or the world of love. And "the world you see is proof you have already made a choice as all-embracing as its opposite" (6:2). In other words, the world we see proves that our minds have made an all-embracing choice for fear. "Fear has made everything you think you see" (4:1). As I said, this is very uncompromising. It does not allow for any part of this world to be excluded from the category of "projection of fear." The world we see is quite consistent from the point of view from which you see it. It is all a piece because it stems from one emotion [fear], and reflects its source in everything you see. (6:4-5) If we try to exclude part of it from this portrait, maintaining that "surely this part is good," we are trying to "accept a little part of hell as real" (11:1). It guarantees that the whole picture will be "hell indeed" (11:1). On the other hand, the Course does not try to foster any rejection of the world. It tells us that only the part of it we look upon with love is real (see T-12.VI.3:2-3). Therefore we are urged to love all of it equally, and thus "make the world real unto yourself" (T-12.VI.3:6). Our attempts at salvaging "parts" of the world as real are mistaken in that they separate and make certain parts special, more loveable than the rest. As we see it, through eyes of fear, this world is without any value whatsoever. Let us accept God's Strength and "see no value in the world" (8:6). If we are willing to do this we will see another world, with sight that "is not the kind of seeing that your eyes alone have ever seen before" (9:4). "When you want only love you will see nothing else" (T-12.VII.8:1). To be a little more practical for a moment: I have found the final words of this lesson to be an incredibly useful phrase in times of distress of all kinds: "This is not a part of what I want" (11:5). If I see only what I want to see, and I am seeing something distressing, let me affirm my choice to change my mind: "I don't want this any more." Although my application of it is still very inconsistent, I have seen this simple affirmation make separateness in a relationship evaporate. I have seen it make a sense of poverty evaporate. I have seen it change my body, and give it an energy I thought I had lost. I have watched it reverse impending illnesses. I recommend it highly to you all. From suelegal at gmail.com Sun May 10 06:00:44 2009 From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth) Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 06:00:44 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 131 - May 11 Message-ID: LESSON 131 - MAY 11 "No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: God made an ancient promise to you, and you did to Him, that you would one day go beyond the door in your mind and find the real world. Today that promise will be fulfilled. Longer: Three times, for ten minutes. The instructions in paragraphs 11-13 are so clear that I have merely laid the sentences out on separate lines: Begin with this: I ask to see a different world, and think a different kind of thought from those I made. The world I seek I did not make alone, the thoughts I want to think are not my own. For several minutes watch your mind and see, although your eyes are closed, the senseless world you think is real. Review the thoughts as well which are compatible with such a world, and which you think are true. Then let them go, and sink below them to the holy place where they can enter not. There is a door beneath them in your mind, which you could not completely lock to hide what lies beyond. Seek for that door and find it. But before you try to open it, remind yourself no one can fail who seeks to reach the truth. And it is this request you make today. Nothing but this has any meaning now; no other goal is valued now nor sought, nothing before this door you really want, and only what lies past it do you seek. Put out your hand, and see how easily the door swings open with your one intent to go beyond it. Angels light the way, so that all darkness vanishes, and you are standing in a light so bright and clear that you can understand all things you see. A tiny moment of surprise, perhaps, will make you pause before you realize the world you see before you in the light reflects the truth you knew, and did not quite forget in wandering away in dreams. (W-pI.131.11:2-13:3) Shorter: Often. Repeat the idea, while keeping in mind that today you will go beyond the door and find the truth, and that today is therefore a day of grace, a time for gladness and celebration. I highly recommend really reminding yourself of this latter fact. It will change your mood during the day if you remember. Response to temptation: If you forget what a special day it is and fall into depression or complaining. Remind yourself of the true nature of this day by repeating, "Today I seek and find all that I want. My single purpose offers it to me. No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth." How can you feel dismal when you realize that you are finding all you ever wanted? I recommend either writing down those lines on a card and keeping them handy or, better yet, memorizing them. COMMENTARY At times it seems to nearly everyone that the search for truth is one that will never succeed. It seems that we seek, and seek, and seek some more, and never arrive at certainty. Today's lesson comes as a welcome reassurance that the search for truth is the only search that will inevitably succeed. "Searching is inevitable here" (3:1). It's the nature of the world, the nature of the predicament we've put ourselves into. Searching is why we came here, and so "you will surely do the thing you came for" (3:2). If we're going to search, then, we may as well search for something worth finding: "a goal that lies beyond the world and every worldly thought.an echo of a heritage forgot" (3:4). What we are searching for is Heaven, "a heritage forgot." What we are searching for is the home we left behind and almost put out of our minds, although to do so entirely is impossible. That's why we are driven to search. "Behind the search for every idol lies the yearning for completion" (T-30.III.3:1). What we are seeking for is what we are; that is why finding it is inevitable. "No one can fail to want this goal and reach it in the end" (4:3). Sometimes it may seem as though truth has deserted you. I think some experience of that is almost inescapable for all of us, a last-ditch effort of the ego to dissuade us from the search when we are getting too close. I know it has happened to me, and all I can tell you is, "Hang in there." Your search cannot fail, even though you may think it has already failed. I know I came through that dark period of my life. I don't know how I did because I didn't seem to have anything to do with it, which is part of what convinces me that my "coming out of it" is real and lasting. I still dip into despair from time to time, but I will never again live there. "No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth." What we are looking for, and perhaps can find today, is something that is beneath all the thoughts in our minds that are compatible with this senseless world-"a door beneath them in your mind" (11:8). A door in our minds! Past that door is "a light so bright and clear that you can understand all things you see" (13:2). Today's exercise is wonderful for visualization, actually picturing that door, seeing ourselves standing before it, and with one intent, pushing it open to pass through, out of this world and into another, like the wardrobe doorway into Narnia in C. S. Lewis's fantasy books. These exercises are like rehearsals, and as we repeat them, they grow more and more real to us, engaging our minds and training them in a pattern that leads to real discovery of the real door, within our minds, to Heaven. From suelegal at gmail.com Mon May 11 05:00:20 2009 From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth) Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 05:00:20 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 132 - May 12 Message-ID: Lesson 132 - May 12 "I loose the world from all I thought it was." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: "To free the world from all the idle thoughts we ever held about it, and about all living things we see upon it..that we may be free" (14:1, 5). Longer: Two times, for fifteen minutes. Begin by repeating, "I who remain as God created me would loose the world from all I thought it was. For I am real because the world is not, and I would know my own reality." The rest of the practice period sounds like Workbook meditation to me, in which we place our minds in a state of rest, "alert but with no strain" (15:4). Based on the lines we repeat, this exercise reminds me of a couple of other lessons-128 and 188-in which we have a sense of withdrawing our mind from its focus on the outer world and drawing it inward to the quiet center, where we rest, where our thoughts are transformed, and where we experience our true reality. Remarks: You will sense your own release, but you may not realize that your release will also free the world, bringing healing to many brothers far and near. Response to temptation: Whenever you believe that your thoughts have no power to help the troubling situations we see around us. When you notice such a thought, repeat, "I loose the world from all I thought it was, and choose my own reality instead" (it will be helpful to memorize it), realizing that by doing so you are unleashing your mind's power to free the world, and adding to the freedom you gave in the longer practice period. COMMENTARY To me, today, the point of this lesson is: I have the power to do that. I can loose the world from all I thought it was, simply by changing my own mind. This lesson contains what is perhaps the most startling statement in the Course: There is no world! This is the central thought the course attempts to teach. (6:2-3) The lesson admits that not everyone is ready to accept this idea, although it makes it clear that all of us will, eventually, accept it. (Such acceptance could take many lifetimes, I think, and doubtless we have gone through many already to get wherever we are; this is my own opinion, not necessarily that of the Course.) In speaking of this in the analogy of a madman, the first paragraph says that no madman can be "swayed by questioning his thoughts' effects" (1:6). >From the perspective of the Course, it is the world that is the effect of our thoughts. So the approach that will lead us, eventually, to understand that there is no world does not follow the path of directly questioning the reality of the world. That is a fruitless approach, as fruitless as trying to persuade a madman that his hallucinations are not real. The approach that bears fruit is raising the source to question-that is, in questioning the thoughts that produce the hallucinations. "Change but your mind on what you want to see, and all the world must change accordingly" (5:2). As we begin to allow thoughts of healing to flow through us, we open ourselves to learn the lesson. "Their readiness will bring the lesson to them in some form which they can understand and recognize" (7:2). The focus for us, then, is not on denying the reality of the world, but on opening our minds to bring healing to the world we see. Doing so will bring us experiences that will convince us that the world is not as real as we supposed. We may have a near-death experience. We may undergo some experience of enlightenment that shows us an incontrovertible reality that contradicts all that we have believed to be reality up until that time. We may, in fact, experience something in doing today's exercises that will bring us our awakening. The unreality of the world dawns upon us as we begin to grasp the reality of our Self: "To know your Self is the salvation of the world" (10:1). If we are as God created us, then what appears to change us cannot exist, it cannot be real; there cannot be a place where we can suffer, or time to bring change to us. The world is the effect of our thoughts, and nothing more: "You maintain the world within your mind in thought" (10:3). As we discover what we truly are by allowing love to move through us in healing, we realize that "If you are real the world you see is false, for God's creation is unlike the world in every way" (11:5). We release the world from what we thought it was by accepting our oneness with God, and realizing that the world, as we see it, cannot be real because it does not reflect this truth: "What He creates is not apart from Him, and nowhere does the Father end, the Son begin as something separate from Him" (12:4). To "loose the world" is to heal it. The meditation for today is one in which we "send out these thoughts to bless the world" (16:1). "I loose the world" means that I extend healing to all the world, I free it from suffering, I absolve it from guilt, I heal it of sickness, I lift all thoughts of vengeance from it. It is taking this role as savior to the world that reveals our Self to us, and transforms our thoughts and, in turn, the world that is their effect. This is "the power of your simple change of mind" (17:1). From suelegal at gmail.com Tue May 12 05:30:39 2009 From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth) Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 05:30:39 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 133 - May 13 Message-ID: LESSON 133 - MAY 13 "I will not value what is valueless." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To empty our hands of all the things we value in this world and to reach the state of Heaven. Longer: Two times, for fifteen minutes. Repeat, "I will not value what is valueless, and only what has value do I seek, for only that do I desire to find." Then try to find the valuable within yourself. Hold in mind an honest willingness to not deceive yourself about what is valuable. Refuse to fool yourself into thinking that the things of this world can bring you real, lasting happiness. Try instead to value only the eternal, in your brothers and in yourself. Empty your hands of the treasures of this world. Open your mind and let go of its usual attachments. In this empty, open state, come before the gate of Heaven within you, and it will swing open, offering you the gift of everything. Response to temptation: Whenever you feel burdened or feel confronted with a difficult decision. Immediately respond by repeating, "I will not value what is valueless, for what is valuable belongs to me." This will remind you that no decision can be difficult, because you choose between the infinitely valuable and the totally worthless. COMMENTARY The laws that govern choice are two: * There are only two alternatives: everything or nothing. * There is no compromise; there is no in-between. The criteria for judging what is worth desiring are: * Will it last forever? (If not, it is nothing.) * Is it a choice in which no one loses? (If not, you are left with nothing.) * Is the purpose free of the ego's goals? (If not, there is compromise.) * Is the choice free of all guilt? (If not, the real alternatives have been obscured.) These are stringent rules! They are clear, but not easily learned. How can we know whether or not the ego's goals are intruding, for instance? "Here it is easiest of all to be deceived" (8:5). The ego masquerades in innocence. Yet the lesson asserts that the ego's camouflage is only "a thin veneer, which could deceive but those who are content to be deceived" (9:1). "Its goals are obvious to anyone who cares to look for them" (9:2). We need only to be willing to look, and the ego detector is quite simple: guilt. "If you feel any guilt about your choice, you have allowed the ego's goals to come between the real alternatives" (11:2). If I apply these criteria for choice to the decisions in my life, my life will be constantly revolutionized. The first criterion alone rules out absolutely every goal involving anything material, including bodies and ordinary human relationships. Will it last forever? What lasts forever in this world? Only love. And not all that we call love lasts forever; we've all demonstrated that for ourselves, in all likelihood, or seen it all around us. The assertion of the Course, by the way, is that if it doesn't last, it wasn't love to begin with: Where disillusionment is possible, there was not love but hate. For hate is an illusion, and what can change was never love. (T-16.IV.4:3-4) But there is a love not of this world; a light we cannot find in the world but which we can give to the world (see T-13.VI.11:1-2). As Stephen Levine has written, we cannot own love, but we can be owned by it. And that is what is being said here. We may think that most of our choices are not so monumental as all this. But they are all this very choice. In every moment we are choosing to give ourselves to love, to be taken over by it and used by it, or we are choosing to withhold ourselves from it, in fear. To choose love is the only guiltless choice. It isn't complex. "Complexity is nothing but a screen of smoke, which hides the very simple fact that no decision can be difficult" (12:3). It is the decision: "Let me be love in this situation and nothing else." No, we don't know how to do that. That is why we must come "with empty hands and open minds" (13:1). Holding on to nothing, unencumbered (14:1) by any lesser values. And with no preconceptions about what being love means-open minds. In the words of a poem by the Christian poetess Amy Carmichael: Love through me, Love of God. Make me like Thy clear air, Through which, unhindered, colors pass As though it were not there. From sue at circleofa.org Wed May 13 05:38:07 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 05:38:07 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 134 - May 14 Message-ID: LESSON 134 - MAY 14 "Let me perceive forgiveness as it is." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To practice true forgiveness, that you may free your brother, free yourself from the chains you've wrapped around you, and lay down footsteps to light the way for those who follow you. Longer: Two times, for fifteen minutes. This exercise requires some explanation. First, "Would I condemn myself for doing this?" does not mean "If I did this, would I condemn myself?" Rather, it means "Do I really want to condemn myself for doing this (because if I condemn him I will condemn myself)?" This sort of "would you?" is found throughout the Course. For instance, "Would you know the Will of God for you?" (T-8.V.5:1), which means "Do you want to know the Will of God for you?" * Ask the Holy Spirit, Who understands the meaning of forgiveness, "Let me perceive forgiveness as it is." * Then choose a brother to forgive, under His direction. * Now catalogue this person's "sins," one by one (but keep from dwelling on any one of them). With each one, ask yourself, "Would I condemn myself for doing this?"-because when you condemn this brother for this specific "sin," you hold yourself to the same standard. You search your mind for a similar "sin" in you, and then condemn yourself for it, just as you condemned him. To really make this meaning go in, you may want to do an expanded version of the question. Say, "Do I want to condemn myself for [name the 'sin' you see in him; e.g., being overly judgmental of others]? I will not lay this chain upon myself. I will not condemn him for doing this." As you name his particular sin, make it general enough that it covers something you tend to do. * If you practice well, you will feel a burden lifting from you, perhaps even from your chest, as if chains are being lifted from your chest. Spend the remainder of the practice period feeling liberated from the chains you tried to lay on your brother, but laid instead on yourself. Frequent reminders: In everything you do. Remember, "No one is crucified alone, and yet no one can enter Heaven by himself." This means, when you crucify your brother, you crucify yourself as well. And when you set him free, you open the gates of Heaven to both of you. Response to temptation: Whenever you are tempted to attack yourself by condemning another. Say, "Let me perceive forgiveness as it is. Would I accuse myself of doing this? I will not lay this chain upon myself." This is obviously a miniature version of the longer practice period. COMMENTARY This lesson contains a very focused discussion about what it means to "forgive." It deserves not only careful practice as a Workbook lesson, but careful study, as a separate exercise when you have more time. Several of these longer Workbook lessons fall into that category. The main teaching of this lesson is that forgiveness, to be true, must be fully justified. It applies only to what is false. Sin, if real, cannot be forgiven (5:3-4). True forgiveness sees the nothingness of sins. "It looks on them with quiet eyes, and merely says to them, 'My brother, what you think is not the truth'" (7:5). The lesson itself explains that main idea very well. I want to focus instead on the results of forgiveness: the relief it brings to us. Forgiveness is "a deep relief to those who offer it" (6:1). It wakens us from our own dreams. Even if you don't understand all the Course theory behind forgiveness, when you forgive, when you let go of your grievances against someone, you can experience the lifting of a tremendous burden from your own heart. You may not understand why that happens, but you can know that it is true. As the lesson puts it: "You will begin to sense a lifting up, a lightening of weight across your chest, a deep and certain feeling of relief" (16:3). Forgiving is a very happy feeling. Why is that? Because, without realizing it, when we condemn someone else for their sins we are secretly condemning ourselves. By condemning another, I am saying, "Sin is real and deserves to be punished." If I subscribe to that principle, then I must also believe that when I sin, I too deserve to be punished. My form of "sin" may not be the one I condemn in my brother; indeed, I may be accusing him, or her, of something I think I would never do, and I imagine that because I am free from that particular fault, somehow my condemnation of another will purchase my salvation. But I have supported the principle that sin is real and deserves punishment. Inevitably I know, deep within me, that I, too, have "sinned" in some way. And if I have, I have nothing to hope for but punishment. What I apply to my brother applies to me as well. When we are tempted to condemn someone, the lesson advises us to ask ourselves, "Would I accuse myself of doing this?" (9:3) or "Would I condemn myself for doing this?" (15:3). The words "would I" are meant in the sense of "do I want to?" The question is not "If I did what this person has done, would I judge myself for it?" Because, if I am judging the other for it, I definitely would judge myself if I did the same thing. We usually reserve our sternest judgment for things we think we would never do, precisely because we would condemn ourselves for doing them. When we read this question, for instance, and think of a child molester, if we understand the question incorrectly we may answer, "I certainly would condemn myself if I did that!" What the question is really asking is, "Do I want to make sin real and insist it must be punished? Because if I do, I am condemning myself to punishment also." We are laying chains of imprisonment on ourselves when we lay them on anyone (17:5; 16:4). This is why releasing my brother from his chains brings relief to me. I am liberating myself from the principle that "sin is real and must be punished" when I liberate this other. And what a relief it is! The one who forgives, and offers escape to this other, now sees that escape is possible for himself as well: He does not have to fight to save himself. He does not have to kill the dragons which he thought pursued him. Nor need he erect the heavy walls of stone and iron doors he thought would make him safe. He can remove the ponderous and useless armor made to chain his mind to fear and misery. His step is light, and as he lifts his foot to stride ahead a star is left behind, to point the way to those who follow him. (12:1-5) Forgiveness is a deep relief. From sue at circleofa.org Thu May 14 06:03:36 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 06:03:36 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 135 - May 15 Message-ID: LESSON 135 - MAY 15 "If I defend myself I am attacked." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To lay aside your plans and learn your part in God's plan; to bring closer the time when your light, joined with the light of your followers, will light up the world with joy. This is a crucial day in your awakening; it is Eastertime in your salvation. This is another of the Workbook's giant strides (26:4). Longer: Two times, for fifteen minutes. * Repeat, "If I defend myself I am attacked. But in defenselessness I will be strong, and I will learn what my defenses hide." * Then rest from all planning and all thought. Your plans have been walls that you erected to shut out the Holy Spirit's plan for your life. His plan is that you "become a light" (20:1) whose "followers" (20:3) light up the world. So let go of your ideas about your life and open your mind to His. Come without defenses and listen as He reveals to you "the part for you within the plan of God" (25:5). He may just tell you plans for today, but those plans will be part of His larger plan for you. Do not fear that these plans will ask sacrifice from you. They are the way to your release. And everything you need to accomplish them will be given you. Since this is an exercise in listening to God's Voice, remember the training you've received in listening for guidance: wait in mental silence, wait in confidence, and periodically repeat your request. Response to temptation: Whenever you feel tempted to make your own plans. Repeat, "This is my Eastertime. And I would keep it holy. I will not defend myself, because the Son of God needs no defense against the truth of his reality." This is long enough that you'll probably need to write it on a card if you're going to use it. Remarks: As you go through the day, try not to shape and organize it according to what you see as your needs. Instead, if you listen to His plans and follow them, you will find inconceivable happiness, and the whole world will "celebrate your Eastertime with you" (26:4). COMMENTARY "If I defend myself I am attacked." The general thought that heads this lesson states that all forms of defense are actually witnesses to attack, or to your belief in attack. If you see a need for a defense, you must be perceiving an attack. The self you think you are is something so weak it needs defense; your true Self, which is mind or spirit, needs no defense. This lesson shows that when you make plans whose purpose is to defend your small "self" (the image you have made of yourself, comprised of your ego and its expression, the body), you are indirectly attacking your true Self, because you perceive that Self as attacking "you." The Course continually teaches us that "all attack is self-attack" (T-10.II.5:1; line not in First Edition). It says we constantly attack ourselves, but we are blind to the fact. We think the attack comes from somewhere outside ourselves, and never realize that it stems from our own thoughts of guilt. Over and over, the Course tells us to look at what we are doing and thinking, to recognize the self-attack, and to choose to let go of it. Lesson 135 applies this general principle to a particular area of our lives that we have probably not thought of as self-attack: planning. First, it points out that all defenses are a form of self-attack because they make the illusion of threat real, and then attempt to handle "threats" as if they were real. It asks us to look closely at what we think we are defending, how we defend it, and against what. Second, it identifies our plans as a form of defense. Plans are a form of defense against anticipated future threats. If that is so, the reverse is true: All "defenses are the plans you undertake to make against the truth" (17:1). In other words, defenses and plans are the same thing. When you set up a defense, you are making plans. All defenses are plans, and all self-initiated plans are defenses. In sum, making plans is a form of defense, and all defenses are attacks on myself. Therefore, making plans is just another form of self-attack, to be noticed and abandoned. Finally, the lesson discusses how "a healed mind" (11:1; 12:1) approaches life: not making plans, but receiving plans from the Holy Spirit, with full present trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and with confidence in His plan. Only this approach allows for change, healing, and miracles to take place in the present moment. A healed mind does not plan. It carries out the plans that it receives through listening to Wisdom that is not its own. (11:1-2) This does not mean that a healed mind does not follow a plan. It follows a plan; it just doesn't make the plan. It receives the plan through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In simple language, the healed mind listens to the Holy Spirit and does what He directs, instead of listening to the ego's plans, which are always based on fear and take a defensive posture. The ego's plans are always trying to protect and preserve the body; often, the plans of the Holy Spirit seem to be unconcerned about the body at all. The Holy Spirit has very different priorities. When the Course is talking about "a healed mind" it is talking about the goal of the Course-the state your mind will be in after you graduate from the Course. This isn't something you simply step into after reading a few lessons; this is what you will be like after working with the Course and completely integrating it into your life.* * The thoughts expressed above have been taken almost directly from a booklet I wrote, A Healed Mind Does Not Plan, published by Circle Publishing. This is a booklet that deals entirely with the subject of planning and decision making as taught in the Course. From sue at circleofa.org Fri May 15 06:03:57 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 06:03:57 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 136 - May 16 Message-ID: LESSON 136 - MAY 16 "Sickness is a defense against the truth." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Longer: Two times, for fifteen minutes. * Begin with this healing prayer: "Sickness is a defense against the truth. I will accept the truth of what I am, and let my mind be wholly healed today." With this prayer, you are asking that your mind no longer employ sickness to "prove" to you that you are a body. Instead, you ask for the realization of who you really are, which is spirit. * After making this invitation, keep your mind silent and alert, poised to receive the answer to your request. Open your mind and let healing flash across it. Let all the purposes that you gave the body be wiped clean, as the truth of who you are dawns upon your clear and open mind. Remarks: If you practiced well, your body will have no feeling. It will feel neither ill nor well, neither good nor bad. It will have no power to tell the mind how to feel. Only its usefulness will remain. Indeed, its usefulness will increase, for it was the purposes you laid on it that made it weak, vulnerable, and sickly. "As these are laid aside, the strength the body has will always be enough to serve all truly useful purposes" (18:2). You must, however, protect this state with careful watching, responding quickly to any thoughts which imply that you are a body. For these thoughts make the mind sick, and it will then attack the body with sickness. Response to temptation: Whenever you have attack thoughts, judgments, or make plans. "Give instant remedy" (20:1) by saying, "I have forgotten what I really am, for I mistook my body for myself. Sickness is a defense against the truth. But I am not a body. And my mind cannot attack. So I cannot be sick." The last lines hearken back to a Text passage, which says that there are two premises necessary for sickness to occur: "that the body is for attack, and that you are a body" (T-8.VIII.5:7). If you can truly accept that you are unable to attack, and that you are not a body, then "sickness is inconceivable" (T-8.VIII.5:8). COMMENTARY This is another of those lessons that will repay careful study; there is a lot of good stuff in here! The main thought is plainly stated: Sickness is a means we use to defend ourselves against the truth. It is a decision we make, chosen quite deliberately when truth gets too close for comfort, in order to distract ourselves and root ourselves once again in the body. On the bright side, then, when we get sick we can congratulate ourselves that we must have been letting in the truth if the ego is getting this scared of it! For instance, in 1995 Robert and I gave a weekend intensive on "We Are the Light of the World: Accepting Our Function." During that weekend I found myself being deeply impressed by the message the Course was conveying to us all. The day after the intensive I got diarrhea. Now, there is little that brings you down to a body level like having to run to the toilet all the time! But I actually found myself being amused by it. "How like my ego!" I thought. "What a predictable reaction!" Instead of having the desired (by the ego) effect, it had the opposite; it served to remind me of the truth instead of distracting me from it. And guess what? It very quickly went away. "Defenses that do not work at all are automatically discarded" (T-12.I.9:8). Most people react to being told that they choose sickness by flatly denying it. This is not something that is easy to discover. The lesson says our choice is "doubly shielded by oblivion" (5:2). We choose first to hide the pesky truth that has been nibbling away at our delusions of separation and of the physical nature of our identity by making ourselves sick; that is the original decision we made. We then choose to forget we did it; the first shield of oblivion. Finally, we forget that we chose to forget, the second shield. All of this happens in a split second (see 3:4; 4:2-5:1). In that split second we are conscious of what we are doing, but the shields are up so quickly that the whole process seems to be unconscious (3:3). We need to remember what we have forgotten, the deliberate forgetting of our choice. We can remember if we are willing "to reconsider the decision which is doubly shielded" (5:2), that is, the decision to run away from the truth, the decision that truth is something against which we need to defend ourselves. This is why the exercise for the day is: Sickness is a defense against the truth. I will accept the truth of what I am, and let my mind be wholly healed today. (15:6-7) The antidote to the whole process is not attempting to heal the sick body, but to accept the truth about myself, to let my mind be healed. Sickness is a side effect of rejecting the truth about myself; the cure is to accept the truth instead, to reconsider the original decision which, although veiled from conscious awareness, must be there for sickness to have occurred. The lesson warns us, in the final paragraph: "Do not be confused about what must be healed" (20:2). It isn't the body that needs healing; it is the mind. This agrees with the Text, which tells us: When the ego tempts you to sickness do not ask the Holy Spirit to heal the body, for this would merely be to accept the ego's belief that the body is the proper aim of healing. Ask, rather, that the Holy Spirit teach you the right perception of the body, for perception alone can be distorted. (T-8.IX.1:5-6) It is that original decision to reject the truth of what we are, because it seems to threaten what we think we are, that must be questioned and reversed. The lesson says some rather incredible things about the body of a person whose mind is healed, and whose body has been accepted as nothing but a tool to be used to heal the world. The body's strength "will always be enough to serve all truly useful purposes. The body's health is fully guaranteed, because it is not limited by time, by weather or fatigue, by food and drink, or any laws you made it serve before" (18:2-3). If a body is not limited by time it does not age. Not limited by weather means it needs no clothing or shelter. Not limited by fatigue, it needs no sleep. Not limited by food or drink, it does not need to eat. Who of us can say this is true of us? Perhaps we have experienced a few glimmers of such brilliant light, fatigue thrown off, lack of food overlooked for a time. But no one I know is at this stage of perfect trust. We have a ways to go, you and I. So I do not think we need be surprised when a cold attacks, or the flu gets us down, or even if something "more serious" happens. We're still afraid of the truth-big surprise! Rather than thinking, "Oh, why did I do this to myself? What is wrong with me that I am still getting sick?" let me say, "Oops! I made a mistake. I forgot what I really am and mistook my body for myself. Silly me! I just need to remember that I am not a body; this isn't what I am." The "sickness" of the body can then become a catalyst for the healing of my mind, instead of a defense against the truth. From suelegal at gmail.com Sat May 16 05:00:11 2009 From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth) Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 05:00:11 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 137 - May 17 Message-ID: LESSON 137 - MAY 17 "When I am healed I am not healed alone." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To let your mind be healed, that you may send healing to the world, aware that you and the world are healed as one. Longer: Two-morning and evening, for ten minutes. * Say, "When I am healed I am not healed alone. And I would share my healing with the world, that sickness may be banished from the mind of God's one Son, Who is my only Self." * Then rest in stillness. And as you rest, let the Word of God come in to heal your insane thoughts, so that this healing can go forth from you to the world. Once the healing comes into your mind, you may try to muster a general feeling of giving it out to everyone, or you may pick particular people to send it to. You may even feel that certain individuals are being placed in your mind to send healing to, perhaps even total strangers. Remarks: This exercise will prepare you for the hourly practice. Shorter: Every hour on the hour, for one minute. Remember your purpose today by repeating, "When I am healed I am not healed alone. And I would bless my brothers, for I would be healed with them, as they are healed with me." Remarks: Is it not worth a minute to receive the gift of everything? COMMENTARY Although this lesson has a great deal to say about healing in general, its primary message is that healing, which is our function in the world, is essentially a phenomenon that is shared, and that to heal is to share. Healing restores oneness. "Those who are healed become the instruments of healing" (11:1). "Sickness is a retreat from others, and a shutting off of joining" (1:3). It is isolation (2:1). Healing reverses that; it is a move toward others, a joining, and a union. The healing being spoken of in this lesson is a healing of the mind, and not necessarily of the body. "Our function is to let our minds be healed, that we may carry healing to the world, exchanging...separation for the peace of God" (13:1). Whatever the state of my body, it cannot interfere with this function. My body cannot restrain or limit my mind. "Minds that were walled off within a body [become] free to join with other minds, to be forever strong" (8:6). My task today, and every day, is to allow my mind to be healed, and to allow healing to flow through my mind to other minds, carrying healing to the world. That can occur whatever state my body is in. I do not normally realize how powerful my mind is, and how extensive the effects of its healing can be. "And as you let yourself be healed, you see all those around you, or who cross your mind, or whom you touch or those who seem to have no contact with you, healed along with you" (10:1). As I open my mind to healing today, I realize that whatever the state of my body, "what is opposed to God does not exist" (11:3). When I refuse to accept sickness as my reality, my mind "becomes a haven where the weary can remain to rest" (11:3). Sickness is just a special case of "I am my body." So what we are called on to do is not just to refuse the limitations of sickness, but to refuse the limits of the body altogether. Today, I choose to let "thoughts of healing...go forth from what is healed to what must yet be healed" (12:6). I set aside some time, ten minutes in the morning and evening, and a minute every hour, to give my mind over to its function of sharing healing thoughts with the world. "Reach out to all your brothers, and touch them with the touch of Christ" (T-13.VI.8:2). Today, I want to let healing be through me (15:1). I want to be a channel, a channel of blessing to the world. What other purpose could bring me such joy? From suelegal at gmail.com Sun May 17 05:00:39 2009 From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth) Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 05:00:39 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 138 - May 18 Message-ID: LESSON 138 - MAY 18 "Heaven is the decision I must make." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To make the choice for Heaven, "the choice that time was made to help us make" (7:1). Longer: Two-the first and last moments of your day, for five minutes. Use these five minutes to make a firm, definitive choice for Heaven. Begin by saying, "Heaven is the decision I must make. I make it now, and will not change my mind, because it is the only thing I want." Then spend the rest of the time bringing your mind to a place where you truly mean these words. This will probably involve bringing to light unconscious beliefs that life is a terrifying exercise in which all hope is finally swallowed up in death, and in which death is, sadly, the only escape from conflict. Bring this belief system to light and call on Heaven's help, and you will see that this view is totally invalid, "nothing but an appearance of the truth" (11:2). Then set this hellish view of life, divested of all reality, next to the alternative: Heaven. If you do, you will see that choosing Heaven is so obvious and natural that it is no choice at all. Shorter: Hourly, for a brief quiet time. Consciously reaffirm the choice you made in the morning by saying, "Heaven is the decision I must make. I make it now, and will not change my mind, because it is the only thing I want." There is a real emphatic note in these lines, so you might want to emphasize "must" and "now" and "will not." Remarks: Devote the evening practice to reaffirming the choice you made at the beginning of the day and reinforced every hour of the day. By ending in this way, you make the entire day about the choice for Heaven. COMMENTARY The lesson makes some stark contrasts between this world and creation. One is a realm of duality, in which "opposition is part of being 'real'" (2:2). The other is a realm of unity, of perfect oneness: "Creation knows no opposite" (2:1). This is a classic discussion about what can be called duality and nonduality. Nonduality, or oneness, is what is real. Where there is only oneness there can be no choice, because there is nothing between which to choose. If oneness is reality, then choice, any choice, is an illusion and nothing more. Choice is impossible, inconceivable. That is the reality. Within our dream, however, choice is not only possible; it is inevitable, it is life. Within this world, truth cannot enter because it would be met only with fear; the choicelessness of oneness seems the ultimate threat to a mind that thinks duality is all there is. Therefore, in this world, we are learning to make one, final choice. It is a choice to end all choices, the choice between illusion and reality. Time exists for nothing but this choice, to "give us time" to make it. We are being asked to choose Heaven instead of hell. Years ago, before I encountered the Course, I had been through a lot of things, read a lot of books, and attended a lot of seminars. I sat down one day to try to distill, in writing, what I had learned from life. I was writing for my sons, then in their teens. I recall quite clearly that at that point in my life, I felt I was only sure of two things: One, you can trust the Universe. Two, happiness is a decision I make. I won't bother to comment on the first item here, but the second is something very fundamental to the Course, the realization that nothing outside my mind makes me happy or unhappy; my happiness is entirely the result of my own choice. When I first read this lesson in the Workbook I was stunned by the similarity of the concept, even the very words. "Heaven is the decision I must make." Perhaps the fact that I had arrived at this conclusion on my own was one of the reasons I took so rapidly to the Course; it confirmed what, to me, was the essence of my own personal wisdom, words that as far as I knew were entirely my own. Here was this book, saying the same thing. In saying that we must choose Heaven, and that this is "the decision" we have to make, the Course is saying that learning this is what life is all about. It is "the choice that time was made to help us make" (7:1). It is a choice, a decision, that accepts the total responsibility of the mind for the way it perceives reality. But the lesson is saying far more than this. The discussion of duality and nonduality in this lesson explains clearly why so many of us, indeed most of us, experience such tearing, inner conflict over accepting the simple truth. We have become convinced that opposites and conflict are not simply part of life, they are life. They are reality to us. "Life is seen as conflict" (7:4). This belief shows up, for instance, in the somewhat frivolous objection that Heaven, where nothing changes and there are no opposites, sounds boring. We are addicted to the drama, devoted to the delicious agony of indecision. To be without choices, to us, seems like death. To finally and completely resolve the conflict appears to us like the end of life itself. Yet that is what the Course promises and asks of us: the end of all conflict. When this truly dawns on our minds, we often recoil in mortal terror. These mad beliefs can gain unconscious hold of great intensity and grip the mind with terror and anxiety so strong that it will not relinquish its ideas about its own protection. It must be saved from salvation. (8:1-2) It is unconscious; we do not realize what is going on. But we literally run away from the truth, and shrink from total love, not knowing what we are doing. Virtually everyone who works with the Course over any length of time experiences something like this in their life. It seems as though we are being asked to die. And in a sense, we are: die to life as we have known it. The only way out is through. Through fear to love. "Heaven is chosen consciously" (9:1). For a decision to be conscious, both alternatives must be seen clearly. We have to see hell in the plain light of day, as well as Heaven. Our fear of hell, our terror of destruction, our agony of guilt must be "raised to understanding, to be judged again, this time with Heaven's help" (9:3). It was our own mind's desire for an alternative to Heaven that made hell, and we must understand that duality is a beast of our own making-and that our desire had no real effect. "Who can decide between the clearly seen and the unrecognized? Yet who can fail to make a choice between alternatives when only one is seen as valuable; the other as a wholly worthless thing, a but imagined source of guilt and pain?" (10:2-3). Our making of duality has seemed like such a monstrous thing; buried in our unconscious, it was "made enormous, vengeful, pitiless with hate" (11:4), but when it is brought into conscious awareness, "now it is recognized as but a foolish, trivial mistake" (11:5). Our guilt over it is all that holds it in place. When we look at it again, "this time with Heaven's help," the choice to let it go becomes the only possible decision we can make. And in that decision, we are released. From suelegal at gmail.com Mon May 18 05:00:36 2009 From: suelegal at gmail.com (Sue Roth) Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 05:00:36 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 139 - May 19 Message-ID: LESSON 139 - MAY 19 "I will accept Atonement for myself." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: "To accept the truth about yourself, and go your way rejoicing in the endless Love of God" (10:2). Longer: Two times-morning and evening-for five minutes. * Begin by reviewing your mission: "I will accept Atonement for myself. For I remain as God created me." * Then go into a meditation aimed at reconnecting with the knowledge of who you are. You haven't lost this knowledge. It is still there, deep within your memory. You may want to picture this knowledge as a light at the very center of your mind, and then focus on sinking down and inward to make contact with it. Increase your motivation to reach this knowledge by realizing that you can remember it for everyone (11:5). Whenever your mind wanders off, be sure to call it back by repeating the opening lines. Shorter: Hourly, for several minutes. Do a shorter version of the longer practice (begin by repeating, "I will accept Atonement for myself. For I remain as God created me"). Lay aside all distracting thoughts. Let all false beliefs about yourself be cleared away, and learn that the chains that would hide your Self from your awareness are nothing but fragile cobwebs. COMMENTARY What does it mean to accept the Atonement for myself? This lesson puts an end to any idea that this is a selfish notion, or that it means my only concern is myself, or my personal happiness. Nothing could be clearer than this: "It is more than just our happiness alone we came to gain. What we accept as what we are proclaims what everyone must be, along with us" (9:4-5). To accept the Atonement for myself means to accept the truth of what I am, to decide to "accept ourselves as God created us" (1:2). And what am I? I already know, in my heart of hearts, but I resist knowing. This lesson is magnificent in its trenchant dissection of the insanity of the way we question our Identity. It questions all our questioning. It raises all our doubts to doubt. It denies the possibility of denial. It belittles our thoughts of littleness. How can we be anything except what we are? How can we not know what we are? "The only thing that can be surely known by any living thing is what it is" (2:3). God created us as extensions of His Love. That is our mission; it is what we are. To accept the Atonement is to accept this truth about ourselves. To accept the Atonement is to begin to function as God's Love in the world. Every time we refuse to see the magnificence in another we are denying our own. We look on others with less than love because we refuse to see how much we merit it. We are God's representatives on earth; accepting the Atonement is to accept our mission. We are here to restore the grandeur of what we all are to every mind-not just to our own. This grandness, this magnificent inclusiveness, this divine generosity is our very being. We are the open heart that embraces the world, remembering "how much a part of us is every mind" (11:6). In us our Father's Love can contain them all. Our heart is big enough for all the world. This is Who we are. Today, let me remember. Today, let me accept my holy aim. Today, let me know myself as part of this great throbbing, all-embracing Heart of God. From sue at circleofa.org Tue May 19 06:07:41 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 06:07:41 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 140 - May 20 Message-ID: LESSON 140 - MAY 20 "Only salvation can be said to cure." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To seek healing for the mind, not the body, by hearing the Voice of healing, which God placed inside you, so close that you cannot lose it. Longer: Two times-at beginning and end of day-for five minutes. * Let all your interfering thoughts be laid aside as one, for there are all equally meaningless. * With empty hands, lifted heart and listening mind, pray, "Only salvation can be said to cure. Speak to us, Father, that we may be healed." You are asking that the Voice of healing speak to you, to heal your mind, the source of all sickness. * Then, in the silence of all thought, listen for God's Voice, Which will cure all ills, regardless of their size or shape. Feel His salvation blanket you with protection and deep peace, allowing no illusion to disturb your holy mind. Remarks: You will succeed to the degree you realize there are no meaningful distinction among illusions. They are all unreal. That is why they can be cured. Shorter: As the hour strikes, for a minute. Do a short version of the longer practice period. Say, "Only salvation can be said to cure. Speak to us, Father, that we may be healed." Then listen in joyous silence, and hear God's answer. COMMENTARY The "cure" that the Course is talking about is a healing of the mind, not of the body. The body needs no healing. But the mind that thinks it is a body is sick indeed! (T-25.In.3:1-2) The lesson is the mind was sick that thought the body could be sick. (T-28.II.11:7) To seek a cure in the physical realm, by any means (even New Age means) is what the Course would call "magic." (Calling it "magic" doesn't mean we can't use it if our fear level requires it; the Course advocates a compromise approach in such circumstances. See T-2.IV.4-5 and 2.V.2, which I discuss a bit later.) The Atonement heals the mind that thinks the body can be sick. "This is no magic" (6:4). This lesson applies to bodily sickness, but it applies equally to any apparent "problem" in this material world: financial lack, loneliness, and so on. These problems all occur within the dream, and finding "a magic formula" within the dream is never the solution (2:2). We are "curing" the symptom and not the disease. The root of the problem is within the mind. "Let us not try today to seek to cure what cannot suffer sickness" (7:1). Our problems are not physical in nature. "We will not be misled today by what appears to us as sick" (9:1). "So do we lay aside our amulets [crystals? religious medallions?], our charms and medicines, our chants and bits of magic in whatever form they take" (10:1). Early in the Text, Jesus makes it clear that magic is not evil. It just doesn't really work. It is only a stop-gap, an attempt to rid ourselves of symptoms without really curing the disease. Yet sometimes that is the best we can do. We have a headache, and with a splitting headache it is often difficult to quiet the mind and peacefully meditate ourselves well. So we use magic. We take the aspirin; there is no shame in this. Only let us not deceive ourselves that we have really done anything to cure the disease; we have simply masked the symptom. "If you are afraid to use the mind to heal, you should not attempt to do so" (T-2.V.2:2). If our fear level is high, a "compromise approach" may be necessary (T-2.IV.4:4-7). "Only salvation can be said to cure." The magic of this world can mask symptoms but not cure. "The mind that brings illusions to the truth is really changed. There is no change but this" (7:4-5). Today we are asked to practice just this: bringing our illusions to the truth, allowing our guilt to be removed from our minds. This cures, and nothing else. "There is no place where He [God] is not" (5:5), and this includes our minds. Sin would keep Him out, but since He is everywhere, sin cannot be anywhere (see 5:1-7); sin cannot be in our minds. "This is the thought that cures" (6:1). Sin, and therefore sickness, cannot be real because God is in us; He has not left us, and what we think is sin cannot be so. In our awareness of His presence, guilt disappears, and with it, the cause of sickness. From sue at circleofa.org Wed May 20 04:47:52 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 04:47:52 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review IV Practice Instructions Message-ID: Review IV Practice Instructions Purpose: To prepare for Part II of the Workbook (which does not begin for another eighty lessons). The next review (Review V) announces this same preparation. The Workbook seems to assume that we have gotten over some kind of hump (see, for instance, W-pI.122.10:2), and that now, with much of our resistance behind us, we can focus on getting ready for the pinnacle of the Workbook: Part II. Longer: Two-beginning and ending of the day-for about seven minutes. First, spend five minutes dwelling on the central idea of the review: "My mind holds only what I think with God." Quiet your mind, and repeat the idea over and over, very slowly, focusing on its meaning. Let it clear out and replace all of your normal thinking. Your usual thoughts (as paragraphs 3 and 4 explain) are really unforgiveness in disguise. Since these thoughts are not of God, they obscure the truth that your mind holds only what you think with God. By clearing them out and thinking only this one thought from the Course, you get in touch with your mind's true state, in which it thinks only Thoughts from God. This will prepare you for a day which reflects that true state, in which the thoughts that occur to you come from God (see 6:1-2). If your normal thoughts try to intrude, dispel them with the central thought. One suggestion for this time is to use the imagery of 4:3. Picture your mind as the ocean. Placing one of your normal thoughts in your mind is like a child throwing a stick into the ocean. How can that change the grand rhythms of the ocean (the tides, the sun warming the water, the moon reflecting on the surface)? How can that change the grand thoughts you share with God? After these five minutes, move on to the second phase. Read the two review ideas, close your eyes, and repeat them silently to yourself-very slowly. God placed a gift inside each word. Let your mind receive that gift. "Let each word shine with the meaning God has given it" (7:4). Receive the thought He placed in there for you, for such receiving is the true condition of your mind. The purpose of the first phase is to prepare you for this second phase. By spending five minutes dwelling only on a thought from God, you prepare yourself to see in the two review ideas only the meaning placed in them by God. Remarks: In the evening, repeat the same practice. Realize that the central thought has "made the day a special time of blessing" (9:3), both for you and for the world through your faithful practicing. Realize also that you drop off into sleep surrounded by God's gratitude for your practicing. For you are now learning to reclaim the inheritance He gave you. Shorter: Hourly, for a quiet moment. This is a miniature version of the morning and evening practice. Spend a quiet moment with the central thought, and then repeat the two review ideas, slowly, giving yourself time to see the precious gifts of meaning that God placed in them for you. From sue at circleofa.org Wed May 20 04:47:49 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 04:47:49 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review IV Introduction Message-ID: Review IV: Introduction If you will recall, back in the Workbook introduction we were told, "The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with the undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the acquisition of true perception" (W-In.3:1). Although Part II does not begin for another eighty lessons, the introduction to Review IV announces that we are entering a transition stage of the Workbook, "preparing for the second part of learning how the truth can be applied" (1:1). Part II of the Workbook, if you will look at it, consists of lessons that are a half page long, or less. They give very few specific practice instructions, and offer us a great deal more latitude in exactly how we practice. They are geared to students who have begun to make the truths of the Course their own, and who are ready to apply them independently. This review gives us some preliminary exercises in that kind of independent practice. In Lesson 153, shortly after we complete this review, there will be a major shift in practice, as we shall see, which will set the pattern for the practice during the rest of Part I of the Workbook. Therefore, following the practice instructions for this review is quite important, if we want to be prepared for what is to come. You'll notice that the reviews give us nothing but the theme thought for the review and the two theme ideas being reviewed; there is no additional commentary. In a sense, we are meant to supply that commentary for ourselves. We are meant to take the ideas and let the Holy Spirit open their meaning in our own minds, without the prop of printed words to help us. "Let each word shine with the meaning God has given it, as it was given to you through His Voice" (7:4). Perhaps you do not feel ready for this. I confess that when I first did the Workbook I pretty much lost interest after Part I; I did the lessons but really all I did was read them, think about them for a minute or two, and then forget them. The reviews such as this one seemed particularly pointless to me. Two or three sentences wasn't enough to stimulate my mind, and I was not ready, apparently, to allow the Holy Spirit to "let each word shine" in my mind. You may find yourself in the same boat. Still, I would say, try to follow the instructions. Take the few lines given for each day, and ruminate on them. Chew them over. Think about what you know of their meaning, and ask to be shown more. If it works for you, try to initiate a dialogue with the Holy Spirit about the ideas. Turn them into prayers. Think how they can apply to your life. Be still before God and let the feeling of the ideas wash over you. Do whatever seems to work for you. Maybe you won't feel that you're doing very well, but what is the purpose of practice, if not to learn to do something you don't know how to do well? Notice the theme thought for the review: "My mind holds only what I think with God" (2:2; 5:3). The instructions tell us to spend five minutes letting this one thought, and this alone, engage our minds, and remove all other thoughts. What we are doing is clearing the stage, making way for the Holy Spirit to teach us. The five minutes spent with this idea each day is our warm-up period. We are making ourselves ready to receive the thoughts of God, through His Holy Spirit. We are preparing ourselves to hold communion with God. Only after this five-minute warm up are we instructed to take the two thoughts for review, and let their meaning illuminate our minds. There is no time limit given here; we are to review them "slowly" (7:2) and with "no hurry" (7:3). Surely this will be more than a few seconds! More like several minutes, at the least. The best way is to be able to do this review without concern about time; if we take five minutes or twenty-five, it does not matter. The important thing is that we commune with God, and let His Thoughts fill our minds. As the review says of our hourly review sessions, we should take "time enough to see the gifts that they [the two ideas] contain for you, and let them be received where they were meant to be" (8:2). The exact amount of time you spend is left to you. From sue at circleofa.org Wed May 20 04:47:55 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 04:47:55 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review IV, Lesson 141 - May 21 Message-ID: Review IV, Lesson 141 - May 21 "My mind holds only what I think with God." "Forgiveness is the key to happiness." "Forgiveness offers everything I want." PRACTICE SUMMARY See Practice Instructions for Review IV COMMENTARY Forgiveness really does offer us everything we want, and without true forgiveness, happiness just isn't possible. We may not consciously and completely believe this as yet, but our right mind believes it, and always has. Forgiveness operates not just on what I think the world did to me (in reality it did nothing to me), but also on what it do that I wanted it to. The older one gets, the more disillusioned one becomes about the world. We speak of people becoming "world-weary" and cynical as they age, because despite the high hopes we had when younger, despite the brilliant promises the world seemed to make to us, it disappointed us. It did not make us happy. We discover that the world isn't fair, that good people don't always succeed, that we don't always get what we want. And even when we do, it isn't as good as we had hoped. Forgiveness involves recognizing that we are the ones who laid these expectations on the world, and we are the ones who made it to disappoint us. We asked the impossible; nothing in this world will ever satisfy us or make us happy. Happiness is to be found in our native state and there alone, that is, in union with God and with the Sonship. To forgive the world means to stop begrudging its imperfections. We cannot blame the world for our pain, nor can we blame it for its failure to make us happy. We cannot blame it at all. When at last our teeth unclench, our fists relax, and our breath eases as we release these deep-seated grievances, what we discover is our own inherent happiness, there all along, but masked by our unforgiveness. From sue at circleofa.org Thu May 21 06:01:51 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 06:01:51 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review IV, Lesson 142 - May 22 Message-ID: Review IV, Lesson 142 - May 22 "My mind holds only what I think with God." (123) "I thank my Father for His gifts to me." (124) "Let me remember I am one with God." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS See Review IV practice instructions. COMMENTARY That my mind holds only what I think with God is not something I have to work at to attain. It is not a thought to be repeated like a purgative, to drive out opposing thoughts, with the undertone of "I have to my mind have only God's thoughts in it." That my mind holds only what I think with God is "a fact, and represents the truth of What you are and What your Father is" (W-pI.rIV.In.2:3). As we were told early in the Workbook, when we think that we are thinking without God, we are not really thinking at all; our mind is actually blank. "While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision" (W-pI.8.3:2-3). "Now we are emphasizing that the presence of these 'thoughts' means that you are not thinking" (W-pI.10.3:2). The Thoughts of God that fill my mind in reality are my Father's gift to me. I am opening my mind, today, to His Thoughts. What I ordinarily think of as thoughts that interfere or conflict with God's Thoughts are like the static on a radio that interferes with the actual signal. They are not thoughts; they are static, they are noise. The signal is still there, but the static needs to be tuned out so that the signal can come through. The truth about me is that I am one with God; His Mind is my mind, His Thoughts are my thoughts. I am not something other than what He is. This is "the truth of What you are and What your Father is." To say that my mind holds only what I think with God can be a joyous affirmation of the truth. It can remind me of His gifts to me, and remind me that I am one with Him. That in me which seems contrary to God, distant from God, or opposed to God, is not who I am; it is not my reality. It is without meaning. There is nothing opposed to God in my mind. Another way of putting that is that what seems to be in me, opposing God, is actually nothing; it is an illusion or a hallucination, with no power and no strength of its own. It is empowered only when I believe in it. Today, I choose to deny that anything not of God has any power over me. I choose to remember what my reality is. I choose to remember that I am one with God. From sue at circleofa.org Fri May 22 05:41:37 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 05:41:37 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review IV, Lesson 143 - May 23 Message-ID: Review IV, Lesson 143 - May 23 "My mind holds only what I think with God." (125) "In quiet I receive God's Word today." (126) "All that I give is given to myself." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS See Review IV practice instructions. COMMENTARY God's Thought creates. We were created when God thought of us; His Mind extended outward, and what was in His Mind extended into and became our mind. Speaking of the main theme thought, "My mind holds only what I think with God," the review introduction says, "It is this thought by which the Father gave creation to the Son, establishing the Son as co-creator with Himself" (W-pI.rIV.In.2:4). Our minds must therefore be like His, creating like His by extending our thoughts outward. We are God's Thoughts, and His Thoughts have His nature: As God's creative Thought proceeds from Him to you, so must your creative thought proceed from you to your creations. Only in this way can all creative power extend outward. God's accomplishments are not yours, but yours are like His. He created the Sonship and you increase it. You have the power to add to the Kingdom, though not to add to the Creator of the Kingdom. You claim this power when you become vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. By accepting this power as yours you have learned to remember what you are. (T-7.I.2:3-9) As we receive God's Word today, so we must give it. If we receive it we give it, because what we receive is a thought of sharing. We were created by this sharing of thought, this extending of God's Self; sharing, or giving ourselves, is our heritage, the essence of what we are. In the first thought we review for today are the words "I receive"; in the second thought are the words "I give." Accepting or remembering what we are means realizing we are beings who extend, who give, who share. Created by Love, we are lovers. This is why the Course places such stress on accepting our as saviors of the world; in accepting this, we are accepting our Self as God created It. We are merely taking our place in the creative process, choosing no longer to block the flow of love from God to us, and through us to the world. To create is to love. Love extends outward simply because it cannot be contained. (T-7.I.3:3-4) In quiet today I receive God's Word, which is the affirmation of His Love for all His creations. I open myself to acknowledge that Love, receiving it for myself. And then I step forth to give as I have received, knowing that in giving to my sisters and my brothers, I am indeed giving that Love to myself. My giving of it my receiving of it. By my words, my thoughts, my expressions, and my attitudes I communicate to all around me the Word I have received: "You, too, are loved. You, too, are loving. You, too, are the expression and channel of the Love of God." From sue at circleofa.org Sat May 23 08:45:00 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 08:45:00 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review IV, LESSON 144 - MAY 24 Message-ID: Review IV, LESSON 144 - MAY 24 "My mind holds only what I think with God." (127) "There is no love but God's." (128) "The world I see holds nothing that I want." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS See Review IV practice instructions. COMMENTARY How is it that the theme thought for the review, that my mind holds only what I think with God, "fully guarantees salvation to the Son" (W-pI.rIV.In.2:5)? It means that there is nothing in my mind that opposes God. It means that what seems to be contrary to God's thoughts, the things I see within myself that are ungodlike or unloving, are misperceptions of myself. It means that there is nothing in reality that can keep me from completion as God's offspring. The enemies and obstacles that seem to stand in the way-most especially the ones that seem to be part of me-are not real, and have no substance. If there is no love but God's, and my mind holds only what I think with Him, then the emptiness I sometimes feel within myself, the lack of love, the longing for a fully satisfying love that never fails and is always there, something I can depend upon in every situation, will be fulfilled. Thinking that I am seeking for love in this world is simply a mistake. The love I am looking for is within me, right in my own mind. I am not looking for anything in this world, although I so often think I am. I am looking for something I already have, but have denied. And the way to find it is to give it. To it. Love is not something I can possess. Love is something that can possess me, and in that possession is satisfaction. The attempt to collect love, to possess it and to hoard it brings me pain. My joy can be found in pouring love out, sharing it, blessing the world with it. To recognize that my mind holds only this love, and to open it to the world, is all that I truly want. This, and only this, will bring me happiness. The words "The world I see holds nothing that I want" could be spoken in despair. The unspoken thought behind them might be, "Nothing here is good enough for me. Nothing here satisfies, and I will therefore never be satisfied." Or, these words can be spoken with joy. If I am driving a brand new car, exactly the kind I most want, equipped with every accessory I have ever desired, and I pass an auto junkyard, I can look at that junkyard and say, "That junkyard holds nothing that I want." I can speak the words with satisfaction. I can say the same thing as I pass a luxury car dealership, because I already have what I want. Likewise, if I already have what I want in God, there is no despair in the words "This world holds nothing that I want." My wants are all filled. If there is no love but God's, and He has imparted Himself, His very Thought, to my mind, I can look calmly at the world and realize that there is nothing in it to compare with what I have. I have an artesian well of love springing up in my heart. I can never lack for love. I am that very love, and I see that same love in every being around me, springing from the same Source. Love is all around me and within me, if I am only willing to see it. Let me look for God's Love today in everything I see, and let me rejoice every time I find it. Let me acknowledge it in every smile. Let me give it every chance I have to do so. Let me encourage every spark of it in others, and in myself. This is where salvation lies. This is my function and my happiness. And it is guaranteed, because my mind holds only God's loving Thoughts. From sue at circleofa.org Sun May 24 11:07:09 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Sun, 24 May 2009 11:07:09 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review IV, LESSON 145 - MAY 25 Message-ID: Review IV, LESSON 145 - MAY 25 "MY MIND HOLDS ONLY WHAT I THINK WITH GOD." (129) "BEYOND THIS WORLD THERE IS A WORLD I WANT." (130) "IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE TWO WORLDS." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS See Review IV practice instructions. COMMENTARY Though the mind of God's Son holds only what he thinks with God, "Lack of forgiveness blocks this thought from his awareness" (W-pI.rIV.In.2:7). Therefore, the world I see is a world shown to me by unforgiveness. It is "the delusional system of those made mad by guilt" (T-13.In.2:2). The only thing that keeps up the illusion of this world's reality, with its seeming punishment, pain, sorrow, separation, and death, is a lack of forgiveness. Why does my body seem to be what I am? Why does the pain I experience, mental, emotional, and physical, seem so real? Why does loss seem so real? All of its reality originates and is sustained by a lack of forgiveness in my mind. This is why, as Lesson 121 says, "Forgiveness is the key to happiness" (W-pI.121.Heading). There is a world I truly want, a world that lies beyond this world. The Course calls it the real world. "The real world is the state of mind in which the only purpose of the world is seen to be forgiveness" (T-30.V.1:1). "The real world is attained simply by complete forgiveness of the old, the world you see without forgiveness" (T-17.II.5:1). My perception shifts from seeing the world of pain to seeing the real world by means of one thing: forgiveness. This is why it is impossible to see two worlds. Either my mind is forgiving, or it is not. Either it condemns what it sees, or it accepts in merciful forgiveness. Let me begin within myself: how unkind I am to myself in the way I think of myself! How merciless I am in judging my mistakes! This harshness with myself is the origin of the harsh world I see. There is within me, and within us all, a vast space of kindness, an enormity of heart that embraces everything in love. This is the Mind I share with God. Within me, too, is a fearful child, awash in pain, believing it has eternally damaged the universe. Let me turn with love to that hurt part of myself and open my arms in comfort and gentle loving-kindness. My heart is big enough to hold this pain instead of rejecting it. The love I share with God is vast enough to grant mercy to myself. Let me not shut myself out of my own heart any longer. Let me take myself in, in warmth and gentle welcome. Let me look on the ones close to me, as well, with this same gentle, kind acceptance. Here is the cure for my loneliness and pain, for there is nothing so painful as a closed heart. Indeed there is no pain but this. Pain is constricting the heart. Pain is denying the love that I am. In this subtle, internal gesture of rejection lies the origin of the world I see. In the undoing of this contraction of pain is my salvation, and the salvation of the world. Here is the entry to the real world, a world bright with love, radiant with hope, certain in its joyfulness. Beyond this world, there is a world I want, and the key to open the door is forgiveness. From sue at circleofa.org Mon May 25 10:35:02 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 10:35:02 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] REVIEW IV, LESSON 146 - MAY 26 Message-ID: REVIEW IV, LESSON 146 - MAY 26 "My mind holds only what I think with God." (131) "No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth." (132) "I loose the world from all I thought it was." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS See Review IV practice instructions. COMMENTARY Continuing to develop some ideas from the review about the theme thought, I was struck by these words, from paragraphs 2 and 4 of the introduction: Yet it is forever true [that my mind holds only what I think with God]. (W-pI.rIV.In.2:8) And yet, your mind holds only what you think with God. Your self-deceptions cannot take the place of truth. No more than can a child who throws a stick into the ocean change the coming and the going of the tides, the warming of the water by the sun, the silver of the moon on it by night. (W-pI.rIV.In.4:1-3) It is "forever true" that my mind holds only what it thinks with God. It was true when God created me. It will be true when the journey is over and I am home with God. And it is true . "Forever true." The third paragraph talks about the many forms of unforgiveness, the way unforgiveness is "carefully concealed" in my mind, the defenses of the ego, its illusions, its use of self-deception to keep the mindless game going. Yet, despite this, "My mind holds only what I think with God." Nothing I do affects this fact. All the self-deception in the world can only hide the truth, not change it. "Your self-deceptions cannot take the place of truth" (W-pI.rIV.In.4:2). The image of the child throwing a stick into the ocean is just perfect. I remember as a very young boy I used to go to Cape Cod. I would stand in the surf, with waves perhaps two or three feet high breaking before me, and I would punch the waves, battling with them, driving my fist through them. To me at the time, I was like a warrior, fighting against the ocean. I'm sure the ocean was deeply concerned! I'm sure my mighty efforts slowed down the tide a bit, at least. Sure they did. Right, of course. Our "rebellion" against God has had about that much effect. In other words, none. The very idea that we could alter God's creation is as ludicrous as the child with the stick seriously believing he had damaged the ocean when he threw the stick in. This is why "no one can fail who seeks to reach the truth." Because the truth is right there, in my mind, where it always has been and forever will be. I can't fail to find it because I haven't lost it! I've still got it. I have looked upon this world and believed it to be a place where God is not. I've seen what appears to be an outrageous lack of love. I've been deeply disappointed with the world. Well, "I loose the world from all I thought it was." I let all those impressions of the world drop away, because it can't be what I thought it was, not if all of our minds still hold only what we think with God. Something is wrong with this picture! Just when I thought I had begun to figure out the world, along comes the Course and says, "Not even warm." So I let my judgments about the world fall away, and open my mind to be taught anew. Maybe, just maybe, the way I've seen it had something to do with what I was thinking about myself, with my belief that my mind was at war with God. Maybe I've seen a world at war with God because that is how I imagine my mind to be, and I've projected that onto the world. And maybe, if I let go of my foolish ideas about myself, my image of the world will change, too. I'm willing to give it a try. From sue at circleofa.org Tue May 26 05:25:53 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Tue, 26 May 2009 05:25:53 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review IV, Lesson 147 - May 27 Message-ID: Review IV, Lesson 147 - May 27 "My mind holds only what I think with God." (133) "I will not value what is valueless." (134) "Let me perceive forgiveness as it is." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS See Review IV practice instructions. COMMENTARY Let me, today, look at the things I value and reconsider them all. Why am I doing this particular thing? What is it I am valuing here? The things we value are often quite foolish when we look at them. For instance, when I have begun to experience the nourishing warmth of true intimacy in relationship, nothing seems worth the closing off of that warmth. I recall reading about a fundamentalist church that split up over the issue of whether or not it was sinful to plug in a guitar. How, I wondered, could anyone value like that enough to shut out from their hearts people who had once been close friends? So many relationships break up over issues that seem just as trivial. Forgiveness sees that nothing is worth shutting another child of God out of my heart. We have so many absolutes in our consciousness, things we consider more important than love, more important than unity, more important than our own peace of mind. Have I come, yet, to value peace of mind above everything else? Have I come to the point where anything that interferes with the flow of love through me is quickly discarded? We need to become aware of the source of our own pain. We ache when we close down our hearts. We ache when we refuse to forgive, when we latch on to the wrongs that have been done to us and fondle them over and over, refusing to let them go. "Love holds no grievances" (W-pI.68.Heading). Forgiveness is a gift to myself; it is a release from my own pain. What am I valuing above the free flow of love, the warmth of union with my brother or sister? Let me choose to no longer value this valueless thing, and choose to forgive. Let me take five minutes this morning, and five minutes tonight, to open my mind and clear it of all thoughts that would deceive (W-pI.rIV.In.5:2). Let me brush aside lesser values, and remember that my mind holds God's own thoughts. Let me value these thoughts above all else. Let me rejoice in the congruence of my mind and God's Mind, and recognize that this blending of my mind with God's, this sharing of His thoughts, is all that is truly valuable to me. From sue at circleofa.org Wed May 27 05:52:02 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 05:52:02 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Review IV, LESSON 148 - MAY 28 Message-ID: Review IV, LESSON 148 - MAY 28 "MY MIND HOLDS ONLY WHAT I THINK WITH GOD." (135) "IF I DEFEND MYSELF I AM ATTACKED." (136) "SICKNESS IS A DEFENSE AGAINST THE TRUTH." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS See Review IV practice instructions. COMMENTARY What seem to me to be obstacles within my mind, out-of-control thoughts that hinder me on my spiritual path, are my defenses against the truth. Nothing enters my mind without my permission. No one is thinking thoughts in my mind except me (and God). As Lesson 26 taught us, my attack thoughts are attacking my own invulnerability. I may think I am attacking someone else, but I am really attacking my own Identity with God. My ego has built up a clever, multi-layered defense system against the truth, and has hidden it in obscurity and disguise. The process the Course sets before me is one of uncovering these defenses, becoming aware of them, judging them as insane, and letting them go. All of them are false, and what is false cannot affect what is true. Beneath all the camouflage of the ego, my mind still holds only what I think with God. The rest is elaborate illusion with no real power to cause any effects whatsoever. Sickness is one very prominent and very effective defense system of the ego. In sickness, something my mind has caused appears to be an attack from the outside, a visible or invisible enemy with very visible effects on my body. It is something I must continually defend against, and fight with every resource when it strikes. As soon as one disease is conquered, another seems to arise with even more devastating effects. Most of mankind is not ready to accept that sickness is only of the mind. I have not fully accepted it myself; my level of fear is still too high. So there is every reason to continue to alleviate diseases in the ways we have been doing, yet we must realize that we are only muting the symptoms and not eradicating the cause. Only as more and more of us begin to realize that our minds hold only what we think with God, and that everything which seems to be other than from God is an illusion of our creation, will the need for the compromise approach of physical medicine begin to disappear. Today in my practice I am contributing to the ultimate cure of every disease. As I search out my own inner defenses, which are actually forms of self-attack, and let them go, I am collaborating with the power of God to free mankind from disease, and not only disease, but every such ego-based system of defense against the truth. As I clear my mind of all thoughts that would deceive (W-pI.rIV.In.5:2), and place God's Mind in charge of the thoughts I receive (W-pI.rIV.In.5:4), I am not working alone. "They [the thoughts] will not come from you alone, for they will all be shared with Him" (W-pI.rIV.In.6:1). Let me, then, take the assigned times today to remember the true Source of all my thoughts, and to allow the Holy Spirit to clear the cobwebs of deception from my mind. Let me take five minutes in the morning to "set the day along the lines which God appointed" (W-pI.rIV.In.5:4). Each time I do so, each day I remember my practice, I bring myself and all the world nearer the day when all deception will vanish in the light. From sue at circleofa.org Thu May 28 05:30:20 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 05:30:20 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] REVIEW IV, LESSON 149 - MAY 29 Message-ID: REVIEW IV, LESSON 149 - MAY 29 "My mind holds only what I think with God." (137) "When I am healed I am not healed alone." (138) "Heaven is the decision I must make." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS See Review IV practice instructions. COMMENTARY More and more, as we progress through the Workbook, what we are being asked to do is really to commune with God. Or, to put it in more mundane terms, to get back into communication with Him: You taught yourself the most unnatural habit of not communicating with your Creator. Yet you remain in close communication with Him, and with everything that is within Him, as it is within yourself. Unlearn isolation through His loving guidance, and learn of all the happy communication that you have thrown away but could not lose. (T-14.III.18:1-3) As we clear our minds of lesser thoughts and tune in to the thoughts we share with God, thoughts will come to our minds, and they won't be from ourselves alone: And so each one will bring the message of His Love to you, returning messages of yours to Him. So will communion with the Lord of Hosts be yours, as He Himself has willed it be. (W-pI.rIV.In.6:2-3) Connecting in my mind with God connects me, as well, with my brothers and sisters, because all of us are connected to the Source. I am not healed alone. I could use a "message of His Love" today; how about you? And I wouldn't mind returning my message of love to Him, as well. There are moments in a loving relationship where the love just seems to be ping-ponging back and forth so fast you can't follow it, you can't even be sure whose love is whose. It outstrips ping-ponging, in fact; it transcends the back-and-forth motion implied by that analogy and becomes a constant, cyclical current of love, going both ways simultaneously. You don't even feel as though you are anything; you are just caught in the current, possessed by love. Sort of the way you might feel when you look into your beloved's eyes and feel you are falling in, when the love coming back at you is almost too much to bear, and the love you are feeling threatens to blow your circuits. I'd like a moment like that today with my Beloved. Well, I'd like a moment like that . I've had such moments, but they are rare. Why are they rare? Having those moments of communion, which are a foretaste of Heaven, is up to me. It's a decision I must make; no, decision I must make: The instant in which magnitude dawns upon you is but as far away as your desire for it. As long as you desire it not and cherish littleness instead, by so much is it far from you. By so much as you want it will you bring it nearer. (T-15.IV.2:2-4) It is nearer than my own heart, so close. This ecstasy of love, this communion with God, is actually going on right now. My right mind has never ceased to be in perfect communication with Him (see T-13.XI.8). "The part of your mind in which truth abides is in constant communication with God, whether you are aware of it or not" (W-pI.49.1:2). So all that is necessary is to decide that I want it, and it is there. I just plug in to it. What is it that prevents me from choosing it? What keeps me from letting myself fall in love with God? What holds me back? Am I willing to be in love with everyone, or am I afraid of appearing too "mooshy"? Am I afraid of being out of control? Am I afraid of being too vulnerable? What holds me back? Let me look at myself today and ask myself, "Why am I not experiencing being in Heaven right now?" When you realize that you could just "switch over" at any instant-and that you don't!-it is a sobering moment. All of a sudden you can't blame anyone or anything for experiencing anything less than Heaven. You recognize that you are choosing it; "I am doing this to myself" (see T-27.VIII.10:1). There is literally nothing to prevent me from experiencing the holy instant right now. Nothing but my refusal to accept it; nothing but my fear. "So we begin today considering the choice that time was made to help us make" (W-pI.138.7:1). There is no rush; we have all of time to make this choice. But why wait? Why not now? From sue at circleofa.org Fri May 29 05:30:01 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 05:30:01 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] REVIEW IV, LESSON 150 - MAY 30 Message-ID: REVIEW IV, LESSON 150 - MAY 30 "MY MIND HOLDS ONLY WHAT I THINK WITH GOD." (139) "I WILL ACCEPT ATONEMENT FOR MYSELF." (140) "ONLY SALVATION CAN BE SAID TO CURE." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS See Review IV practice instructions. COMMENTARY Accepting Atonement for myself means, to me, allowing God to release me from all kinds of guilt. Letting go of all my judgments against myself, all my diminishing self-evaluations. It means accepting that I am not my thoughts and, above all, I am not my ego. I am not what I have thought I am. I am not what I am afraid I am. Accepting the Atonement for myself means that I can look upon my own ego without condemnation, recognizing it as no more than a foolish mistake about myself that can be corrected. When I accept Atonement for myself, I stop measuring myself against arbitrary standards and accept myself just as I am. I am able to look upon myself with love, to view myself with merciful acceptance. In the holy instant, I accept the Atonement, and to enter such a moment it is not necessary that I have no thoughts that are not pure, only that I have no thoughts that I want to keep (see T-15.IV.9:1-2). I recognize that I have made mistakes, but I am willing for every mistake to be corrected, and I accept no guilt concerning those mistakes. I do not allow my mistakes to keep me from the holy instant, because the holy instant is the place those mistakes can be corrected, and their consequences undone. This is salvation. This is the undoing of errors, the correction of mistakes. Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing, failing to support the world of dreams and malice. Thus it lets illusions go. By not supporting them, it merely lets them quietly go down to dust. (W-pII.2.3:1-3) This is the only thing that can be said to truly cure. Anything less than this is mere alleviation of symptoms, mere shifting of form without any change in content. The root cause of guilt must be undone. "The Holy Spirit knows that all salvation is escape from guilt" (T-14.III.13:4). To know that my mind holds only what I think with God is to escape from guilt. To know that my mind holds only what I think with God is salvation, and truly cures my ills. Atonement is God's answer to everything within my mind that appears to be other than God. It erases every thought opposed to truth and leaves me with the clean, crisp truth of my own innocence. I can bring every impure thought, every unworthy thought, every guilty thought, every thought of isolation and separateness, every thought of pain and vengeance and despair to this miraculous place of Atonement, lay it there on the altar, and watch it disappear: This is the shift that true perception brings: What was projected out is seen within, and there forgiveness lets it disappear. For there the altar to the Son is set, and there his Father is remembered. Here are all illusions brought to truth and laid upon the altar. What is seen outside must lie beyond forgiveness, for it seems to be forever sinful. Where is hope while sin is seen as outside? What remedy can guilt expect? But seen within your mind, guilt and forgiveness for an instant lie together, side by side, upon one altar. There at last are sickness and its single remedy joined in one healing brightness. God has come to claim His Own. Forgiveness is complete. (C-4.6:1-10) From sue at circleofa.org Sat May 30 09:19:11 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Sat, 30 May 2009 09:19:11 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] LESSON 151 - MAY 31 Message-ID: LESSON 151 - MAY 31 "All things are echoes of the Voice for God." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Morning/evening practice: Fifteen minutes. Repeat the idea slowly, just once. Then watch your mind; observe your thoughts. As each thought crosses your mind, give it to the Holy Spirit. Then listen as He gives it back in purified form. What He will do is take your thought and strip away all the egoic elements in it, leaving only whatever light that was contained in it: the love, the kindness, the pure intentions, your desire for peace and for God (for teaching on this idea, see T-5.IV.8:1-6). For example, let's say the thought you give Him is "I'm running out of time to get this task done." The purified version that you receive back from Him might be "I really want to do this right. I want to do right by the people this affects." In other words, you will be giving Him thoughts that are very mixed bags-patterns of darkness interlaced with threads of light. When He gives them back, however, only the threads of light will be left. They will be pure light, and so will reveal the light in you. And you will see them come together into a single, perfect thought, which will shed its blessing on everyone. Remarks: This process of purification of your thoughts will resurrect your mind, making today your personal Eastertime. It will also inaugurate your ministry. For your ministry is simply to extend your purified thoughts, which will release everyone from guilt and teach them their sanctity. Shorter: Hourly. Repeat the idea (which basically means that you can see in all things-in the world and in your mind-the interpretation that the Holy Spirit has given that thing. You can experience all things as echoes of the Voice for God). Thank the Holy Spirit for the purified thoughts He gives you, and trust that the world will happily accept those thoughts as its own. This seems to imply that on the hour you will do a miniature version of the longer practice-perhaps giving a thought to the Holy Spirit and listening for Him to give you back a purified version of that thought. COMMENTARY The world as we see it seems to bear unrelenting witness to separation, sin, death, hatred, and the transient nature of everything. The world seen with the vision of Christ, as the Holy Spirit sees it, bears witness to the truth, to unity, holiness, life, love, and the eternal nature of everything. is echoing the Voice for God, all the time, but we do not hear it. We hear the ego's voice with relentless consistency. The two views could not be more stark in their contrast. Why do we display such a prejudice for the ego's view? The early part of this lesson points out that the reason the world so often seems so solidly real to us is because of our underlying doubt of its reality. It asks us to look at the fact that the ego goes too far in its stubborn insistence that what our eyes and ears show us is solidly reliable. It says that, although we know very well from our experience that our senses often deceive us, and our judgments are often wide of the mark, we irrationally continue to believe them down to the last detail. We show surprise whenever we discover that what we thought was true is not, in fact, true, even though we have had this experience hundreds or thousands of times. And it asks: Why would you trust them [your senses] so implicitly? Why but because of underlying doubt, which you would hide with show of certainty? (2:5-6) It is like the line in Shakespeare's : "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." It is the behavior of someone who is trying to shout down their doubts with protestations of absolute certainty. So, to the Holy Spirit, our very "certainty" of the world's reality is a proof of underlying doubt! We are certain even when it is unreasonable to be certain, and that is a certain evidence of hidden uncertainty. We who study the Course are used to the idea that we project our guilt and anger onto others. Here, however, the Course introduces the idea that there is a way in which our egos project themselves onto us. The ego doubts. The ego condemns itself. The ego alone feels guilt. Only the ego is in despair (see 5:1-6). But it projects all of these things onto us, and tries to convince us "its evil is your own" (6:2). It plays this trick on us by showing us the world through its eyes, and introducing the things of the world as witnesses to our evil, our guilt, our doubt and despair. The ego is desperate for us to see the world as it wants us to because the ego's world is what proves to us that we are identical with the ego. For instance, it leads us to evaluate our own spiritual progress and to find ourselves wanting; it induces us to despair. Why? Because [the ego] is feeling despair. It knows (without admitting it) that it is going to lose. This is why spiritual despair so often strikes after a major spiritual advance. The ego feels despair, and projects that despair onto our minds, trying to convince us the despair is rather than . This is why the ego is so insistent on convincing us of the world's reality. It needs the world to build its case. The lesson asks us to raise all our evaluations, which we have learned from the ego, to question, and to doubt the evidence of our senses. It asks us to let the Holy Spirit be the Judge of what we are, and of everything that seems to happen to us (8:1; 9:6). If we try to judge things by ourselves, we will be deceived by our own egos, and the way in which we see ourselves and the world will become a witness to the ego's reality. If, however, we let go of our judgments and accept the judgment of the Holy Spirit, He will bear witness to our beautiful creation as God's Son. Everything we see, if we look with Him, will show us God. Read the eleventh paragraph; it describes perfectly just how the Holy Spirit accomplishes this retranslation of everything. When we give Him our thoughts, He gives them back as miracles (14:1). Let me, then, give my thoughts to Him today. Let me not hide my thoughts from Him, nor try to alter them myself before I expose them to His sight. Let me ask Him to work His alchemy on them, to transmute the lead into gold before my eyes. That is His job. Every thought has elements of truth in it, to which we have added falsehood and illusion. The Holy Spirit strips away the false, and leaves the golden kernel of truth. He does not attack our thoughts; He purifies them. He shows "the love beyond the hate, the constancy in change, the pure in sin" (11:3). He does this with our very thoughts, and so reveals to us the gentle face of Christ as our very Self. From sue at circleofa.org Sun May 31 07:50:46 2009 From: sue at circleofa.org (Sue Roth) Date: Sun, 31 May 2009 07:50:46 -0400 Subject: [acimlessons_list] Lesson 152 - June 1 Message-ID: LESSON 152 - JUNE 1 "THE POWER OF DECISION IS MY OWN." PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Purpose: To be truly humble and lay aside my self-concepts, which arrogantly claim that I am weak and sinful, and accept the power of my true Self. Morning/evening practice: Five minutes. * Repeat these lines: <"The power of decision is my own. This day I will accept myself as what my Father's Will created me to be."> You could rephrase this as: <"With the unlimited power of my decision, I will accept the unlimited power of my Self."> * Then spend some time giving up your self-concepts, which are just lies you've told yourself about who you are. They say that you are weak, at the mercy of a world you did not make. They say that you are sinful, and should be ashamed of what you are. Lay aside all of these self-concepts, recognizing that their littleness is actually arrogant, since they imply that God is wrong about you. * Then wait in silence, as you humbly ask your Self to reveal Himself to you in all His mightiness, changelessness, and wholeness. Lift your heart in true humility to your Creator, and allow Him to show you the infinite Son that He created as you. Expect His Voice to respond, and to replace your false self-concepts with the realization of your true Self. Whenever your mind wanders, repeat the opening lines again, and return to waiting. Shorter: Hourly. Do a miniature version of the longer practice, inviting the realization of your Self with these words: <"The power of decision is my own. This day I will accept myself as what my Father's Will created me to be."> COMMENTARY The central appeal of this lesson is to get me to "accept [my] rightful place as co-creator of the universe" (8:3). It attempts, through its logical arguments, to persuade me to accept the fact that I made the world I see (6:1). "Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose" (1:5). If that is true, and I accept it, then the main thought of the lesson makes sense: "The power of decision is my own." My choice makes the world. What grants our illusion of pain, sin, and death such apparent solidity is that we believe it exists outside of our power; that we are responsible for it. If, however, I can accept that I made it what it is, then I can recognize the possibility of exercising the same power of choice to make it disappear. If I deny that I made it I cannot unmake it. If, however, I recognize that I have made the world I see, I am accepting at the same time that God did make it. The absurdity of the idea that God created this world is clearly stated here: To think that God made chaos, contradicts His will, invented opposites to truth, and suffers death to triumph over life; all this is arrogance. Humility would see at once these things are not of him. (7:1-2) If they are not of Him, they must be of me-my fabrications, the results of my power of decision, and therefore things that I can undo. Applied to myself, these ideas mean that I must be still whole, unchanged by mistakes: As God created you, you must remain unchangeable, with transitory states by definition false. And that includes all shifts in feeling, alterations in conditions of the body and the mind; in all awareness and in all response. (5:1-2) I love those words "transitory states by definition false." If it changes, it is not real. Wow! What does that do to any concerns I might have about mood swings? About aging? About sickness? About the level of my income? ("Transitory" seems so apropos in regard to income!) How about alterations in awareness? Transitory, therefore false. Alterations in my response to the Course? Transitory, therefore false. Truth is true, and only truth is true; any and all alterations are "contradictions introduced by [me]" (4:4). I have begun to learn that when I feel bummed out, for any reason, I can remind myself that this feeling is transitory and therefore false; nothing to be concerned about. This doesn't always immediately dispel my feeling bummed out, but it prevent me from feeling guilty about feeling bummed out, or feeling anxious that something is seriously wrong with me. As a result, the negative feeling does not last as long as it used to, because I am no longer adding additional layers of self-condemnation on top of the original feeling. Such an attitude somehow distances me from the transitory feelings or shifts in my awareness. Instead of relating the feeling I begin to relate it, with gentleness and merciful forgiveness. Some have expressed the difference in words by saying things like "My body is sick" instead of "I am sick," or "I am experiencing a depression" instead of "I am depressed." Instead of the passing thought or feeling being mistaken for "me," I am aware of "me" over here, consistent and unchanging, but experiencing this transitory state of mind. "I" am distinct from, and not identified with, the passing show of my mind. And in that situation, I can recognize: "The power of decision is my own."