[acimlessons_list] Lesson 254 - September 11

[Sue Roth]

Lesson 254 - September 11

"Let every voice but God's be still in me."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See complete Part II practice instructions.

A short summary:

* Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.

* Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.

* Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind
Meditation.

* Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in
meditation.

* Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea often within each hour.

* Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.

* Read the "What Is" section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.

Practice comments: The prayer for this lesson is simply beautiful. It is one
of those prayers which, as in Lesson 221, announces an intention to come in
mental silence before God, asking to experience only the truth. I suggest
praying it many times as a way of entering into that state of quiet
meditation.

Notice the response to temptation instructions in paragraph 2. Throughout
the day, whenever you notice an ego thought, quietly step back and look at
it. Then let it go by declaring, <"Let every voice but God's be still in
me."> You don't want the effects of this thought, and so you choose to let
it go. With thoughts like this out of the way, you can then enter into
silence, where God speaks to you and tells you what you <really> want.

COMMENTARY

Silence. Inner silence as well as outer silence is something most of us are
not used to. When I lived in New Jersey, one of the things I used to notice
when I visited a rural area was the silence, particularly in the morning
around dawn. I was not aware of how continual the noise was where I lived
until it was absent. Trucks passing on a nearby highway, dogs barking,
televisions playing, boom boxes, sirens. Even the constant hum of air
conditioning or refrigerators. I was used to having a TV or radio or stereo
playing most of the time.

Even more difficult to tune out is the constant inner chatter of the mind.

The Course is constantly engaging us in the practice of silence. "In deepest
silence I would come to You" (1:2). Mental silence is an acquired habit; it
takes a great deal of practice, at least in my experience. Even when I
meditate my inclination is to use some words; perhaps to repeat a thought
from a lesson; or to invent some kind of mental instruction for myself, such
as "Breathing in love, breathing out forgiveness." My mind wants to engage
in a running commentary on my "silent" meditation. Lately, however, I have
found myself beginning with a simple instruction to myself, such as "Now let
me be silent," or "Peace to my mind. Let all my thoughts be still." And then
just sitting for fifteen minutes or so, attempting to be completely still
and silent.

In silence, the lesson says, we can hear God's Voice and receive His Word.
If I seldom seem to receive anything concrete, the odds are that it is
because my attempts at silence are not yet terribly successful. But I am
practicing.

The lesson contains some specific instructions that seem to me to apply to
the question "What do I do with the thoughts that arise while I am
meditating?" The instructions are quite simple: "step back and look at them,
and then...let them go" (2:2). In mentally "stepping back" from my thoughts,
I am holding my awareness still in the silence. I am watching the thoughts
rather than engaging with them. This practice of <disengaging> ourselves
from our egos is a key practice. The thoughts arise. Rather than identifying
with them and playing with them, I step back. Rather than fighting against
them and resisting them, I simply step back. I recognize that I

do not want what they would bring with them. And so [I] do not choose to
keep them. (2:3-4)

"They are silent now" (2:5). When you simply disengage from the thoughts,
not condemning them or approving them, simply noting them as of no
consequence, as something unwanted at the moment, they really do begin to
fall silent. I discover that I am really in charge of my own mind (who else
would be?). As the thoughts fall away, "in the stillness, hallowed by His
Love, God speaks to us and tells us of our will, as we have chosen to
remember Him" (2:6).

One final note. As we begin to learn this practice of silence, it starts to
spill over into our lives during the day. We discover that we are able, in
the throes of some disturbing situation, to "step back" from the reactive
thoughts of our minds, note the reactions, and simply choose, with His help,
to let them go. The place of silence we have found in our special times of
quiet comes with us into our day. "This quiet center, in which you do
nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy
doing on which you are sent" (T-18.VII.8:3).

WHAT IS SIN?

PART 4: W-PII.4.2:4-7

When we have changed the goal of our striving, and set a new purpose for our
body with its senses, it begins to "serve a different aim" (2:4). The aim
now is holiness rather than sin; forgiveness rather than guilt. Our minds
were trying, through the body and the senses, to deceive themselves (2:5;
2:1). Our minds were trying to make their illusions of separation real. Now
our aim is to rediscover the truth. When our mind selects a new goal, the
body follows. The body serves the mind, and not vice versa (see T-31.III.4).
It always does what the mind directs. So when we consciously select a new
goal, the body begins to serve that goal (see T-31.III.6:2-3).

"The senses then will seek instead for witnesses to what is true" (2:7).
Simply put, we will start to see things differently. The Text explains in
some detail how this works (see T-11.VIII.9-14 and T-19.IV(A).10-11). We
begin to look for our brothers' loving thoughts instead of their sins. We
are seeking to learn of their reality (which is the Christ) instead of
trying to discover their guilt. We look past their egos, their "variable
perception" of themselves (T-11.VIII.11:1), and past their offenses. We ask
the Holy Spirit to help us see their reality, and He shows it to us. "When
you want only love, you will see nothing else" (T-12.VII.8:1).

What we see depends on what we <choose>, in our minds, to look for. Choose
love, and the body will become the instrument of a new perception.