[acimlessons_list] Lesson 74 - March 15

[Sue Roth]

Lesson 74 - March 15

"There is no will but God's."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

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

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMENTARY

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

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

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

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

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

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