[acimlessons_list] LESSON 256 - SEPTEMBER 13

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 256 - SEPTEMBER 13

"GOD IS THE ONLY GOAL I HAVE TODAY."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See complete Part II Practice Instructions in a separate document. 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.

COMMENTARY

The title of the lesson talks about our goal. The first two sentences speak
of the <means> to the goal:

The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way. (1:1-2)

We are speaking of means and end. Just the other day I read the Text section
on "Consistency of Means and End" (T-20.VII), which reasons how, if we
accept the goal, we must accept the means for getting there.

The means is forgiveness, and the Course continually insists that
forgiveness is not difficult and cannot be difficult, because all it asks is
that we recognize that what has never been has not occurred, and only the
truth is true. How can it be difficult to be what you already are? If we
experience forgiveness as difficult, there can only be one reason: we do not
want the means because we still do not want the goal.

In other words, any difficulty stems not from something inherent in
forgiveness, but from my unwillingness. It points me right back to
recognizing what I am choosing, back to recognizing that I always have
exactly what I want. Forgiveness seems difficult because I want it to seem
difficult, and I want the means to appear difficult so I can project my
unwillingness out onto the means God provided, blaming that means instead of
recognizing myself as the cause of the problem.

"There is no other way" (1:2). If the problem is sin and the whole idea of
sin, the only solution must be forgiveness. "If sin had not been cherished
by the mind, what need would there have been to find the way to where you
are?" (1:3). We are trying to find our way to God and we're already there!
There would have been no need for such foolishness if we had not "cherished"
sin. We (in listening to our ego thoughts) wanted to find a reason for
separation, and sin, guilt, and fear provided the reason. We made it all up,
and we must be the ones to let it go.

If we simply woke up, the dream of sin would be over. But we are too
terrified to wake up, and the dream of sin and guilt has seemingly become
self-sustaining. There seems to be no way out. "Here we can but dream"
(1:7). But--and this is a big "but"--"we can dream we have forgiven him in
whom all sin remains impossible, and it is this we choose to dream today"
(1:8).

So I spend my days, noticing the dream of sin and forgiving it, over and
over, more and more, until there is nothing left to forgive. At that point,
my fear of God will be gone, and I will awake.

As I notice fear or guilt in myself today, or judging thoughts about those
around me, let me look at those thoughts and recognize how insignificant
they are, how meaningless. Let me be undisturbed by it all, and know my
peace is inviolate. Let me understand that none of it matters, and I am
still at rest in God. It is not this I want; I have no goal except to hear
God's Voice.

WHAT IS SIN?

PART 6: W-PII.4.3:3-4

If "sin" is something real, the implications are enormous. And quite
impossible. What does the reality of sin seem to prove? "Sin 'proves' God's
Son is evil; timelessness must have an end; eternal life must die" (3:3). If
the Son created by God has sinned in truth, then God's Son must be evil. Is
that possible? If the Son of God is evil, then what was created eternal must
now be brought to an end; the eternal Son of God must die. "Justice" would
demand it. Is it possible for something timeless to end, for something
eternal to die? Of course not; these things are absurd. Therefore, sin also
must be absurd. It cannot be.

Sin also "proves" that "God Himself has lost the Son He loves, with but
corruption to complete Himself, His Will forever overcome by death, love
slain by hate, and peace to be no more" (3:4). The thought that God would
lose what He loves always seemed impossible to me; it made the whole idea of
hell and eternal damnation seem completely inexplicable. I used to think,
"If I go to Heaven, and my father [who did not believe in God] goes to hell,
how could I ever be eternally, blissfully happy in Heaven, knowing my father
is suffering eternally in hell? If I could not be happy with this, how could
I be in Heaven? And if I could not be happy with this, how could God?"

If sin is real, the Son created to be God's own completion is now corrupt;
God has only corruption to complete Himself. His Will has been totally
thwarted. Evil wins. There can nevermore be peace.

Therefore, sin simply cannot be real. Guilt and fear follow sin into the
unreality. If there is no sin, there is no guilt. If there is no guilt,
there is no fear. How else could peace exist? "Sin is insanity" (1:1). It
simply cannot be, if God is God, if His Will is to be done, if His creation
is eternal. This is what forgiveness shows us:

Sin remains impossible, and it is this we choose to dream today. God is our
goal; forgiveness is the means by which our minds return to Him at last.
(W-pII.256.1:8-9)