[acimlessons_list] LESSON 126 - MAY 6

[Sue Roth]

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)