[acimlessons_list] Review VI, Lesson 205 July 24

[Sue Carrier Roth]

Review VI, Lesson 205  July 24

Central theme:
"I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me."

Review of:
(185) "I want the peace of God."
Practice instructions

See instructions in separate document.

Commentary

The introduction to Review VI says that "each of these ideas alone
would be sufficient for salvation, if it were learned truly"
(W-pI.rVI.In.1:3). It adds, "Each contains the whole curriculum if
understood, practiced, accepted, and applied to all the seeming
happenings throughout the day" (W-pI.rVI.In.2:2). I find that easy to
believe about today's lesson. If you are into memorization (as I am),
this lesson is an excellent one to add to your repertoire.

It's worth noticing the list of four verb forms that are identified as
steps in making any of these ideas into "the whole curriculum":

Understood: No matter how strongly the Course advocates experience,
and points out that a universal theology is impossible (see C-In.2:5),
you cannot get around the fact that it makes understanding very
important. How can we enter into the experience of an idea if we do
not understand it? Understanding is here presented as the fundamental
step. Before we can really utilize the idea "I want the peace of God,"
we have to understand it. Implied in the idea (and clearly presented
in Lesson 185) is the fact that there is a very strong thought in my
mind, perhaps unacknowledged, that I do not want the peace of God, and
this is demonstrated by the fact that I do not experience it. That
contrary thought, however, is a mistaken one, to be dismissed whenever
we become aware of it, and replaced with the truth: I do want the
peace of God.

Practiced: That is what we are doing in these Workbook lessons.
Practicing. Repeating frequently. Spending some extended time allowing
the thought to soak in and penetrate the recesses of our minds.

Accepted: Notice that acceptance comes after practice. Our minds do
not accept the idea at the start, even after we understand the idea.
When we begin to practice, we do not truly accept that we want the
peace of God. We think we want something else, something more,
something besides peace. It takes a good deal of practice to retrain
our minds, until we begin to realize that "the peace of God is
everything I want" (1:2).

Applied: Having accepted the idea, we can now begin to apply it to
each different "seeming happening" during the day. When the car cuts
us off in traffic: "I want the peace of God." When we find ourselves
wistfully longing for a more fulfilling relationship: "The peace of
God is everything I want." When we begin to feel driven to obtain some
earthly goal at any cost: "The peace of God is my one goal" (1:3).
When we start to think we don't know what to do or where to go: "The
peace of God is the aim of all my living here." And when we start to
feel impelled to fulfill some need of our bodies: "I am not a body.
The peace of God is everything I want. I am free."

Thank You, Father, for today's reminder of Your peace. There is
nothing else I need, and nothing else I want. Oh, may today's lesson
become the keynote of my life, so that I can say and truly mean: "The
peace of God is my one goal."