[acimlessons_list] LESSON 331 - NOVEMBER 27

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 331 - NOVEMBER 27

"There is no conflict, for my will is Yours."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete instructions in 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

In a study group recently, I said that our fundamental problem is that we
really believe that we are terrible people. We don't trust our own love. A
fellow was expressing his concern that the material of the Course could be
used to justify just about any behavior. "I could go rob a liquor store
because the world is just illusion and nobody would really be hurt except in
the illusion. Nothing I do affects my relationship to God negatively."

The direct answer to that question is that you only do such things in the
world when you believe the world is real. If you <truly> believed that the
world is an illusion, you could not be doing such things and would have no
desire to do them.

The fear that he would do terrible things if he believed no one would really
be hurt belied a belief that he could not be trusted with the truth. The
Course is saying that we don't believe that what we truly want is good. The
truth is, we can trust ourselves. Even if we are still confused and bemused
by illusion, we are not going to make terrible mistakes. It is safe to let
go of the constraints of guilt because we truly are extensions of God. We
think we need the guilt to restrain the monster within us; A Course in
Miracles is saying guilt serves no useful function (see T-14.III.1:4), and
in fact keeps us locked into the illusion of our sinfulness. That illusion
about ourselves is the fundamental error. And it goes on to say that
thinking the self has usurped the throne of God is nothing to be guilty
about:

	Seek not to appraise the worth of God's Son whom 
	He created holy, for to do so is to evaluate his 
	Father and judge against Him. And you <will> feel 
	guilty for this imagined crime, which no one in 
	this world or Heaven could possibly commit. 
	The Holy Spirit teaches only that the "sin" of 
	self-replacement on the throne of God is not a 
	source of guilt.	(T-14.III.15:1-3)

It is just a "trivial mistake" (W-pI.138.11:5). Love has not left Itself. I
share God's nature as Love. I could not leave Him, nor He me (1:5).

It is "foolish" (1:1) to believe that I could in reality oppose the Will of
God, and corrupt myself. Any apparent corruption or conflict between me and
God must be an illusion, evidence of nothing except that I am asleep and
dreaming of the impossible (1:7-8).

"To know reality is not to see the ego" (W-pII.12.4:1). Yet paradoxically we
must see the ego first in order to overlook it. It operates in a hidden
fashion, secretly, stealthily. It hides behind all kinds of cover. We must
unmask it, see it for what it is, and then overlook it, ignore it. As long
as we don't know what our imagined enemy is we will be run by fear. We have
to get to the place where we can see clearly, "Oh! It's just the ego, it's
just me thinking I'm separate." Then we can let it go. 

	When you have at last looked at the ego's foundation
	without shrinking, you will have also looked upon ours.
	 (T-11.In.4:2)

Let us look at our ego, then, without shrinking, without being afraid of it,
able to see that it is just a "trivial mistake."

WHAT IS THE EGO?

Part 1: W-pII.12.1:1-2

"The ego is idolatry" (1:1). Idolatry is the worship of an idol, a false
god. That is what the ego is; the insane attempt to make real an identity
that is apart from God, and intended to replace Him in our awareness. The
ego is "the sign of limited and separated self, born in a body, doomed to
suffer and to end its life in death" (1:1).

Let's pay attention here. The ego is not some "thing" inside of us, some
sort of evil twin, the dark side of our soul. The ego <is> the whole concept
of a separated self that is set apart from "other selves." Isn't that
exactly what we think we are? A distinct soul, born in a body, struggling
through this life and sure to end this life in death? Doesn't that describe
what we think we are? In other words, the "me" that I think I am, a thing
separate from and different from you, <that> is the ego! Changing our
self-concept from ego to spirit doesn't just mean that this separate self,
which was black, becomes white. It means that this separated self is
completely replaced by something far more inclusive, in fact, by something
all-inclusive. I cease to be "I" in the way I thought I was.

The ego "is the 'will' that sees the Will of God as enemy, and takes a form
in which it is denied" (1:2). If what I think of as "I" is to be separate
and independent, it cannot be united with the Will of God. The ego <must>
see God's Will as enemy because, to the ego, God is "other," something
different from and separate from itself. Since God is a very powerful
"other," His Will represents a threat, a challenge to the ego's "will."
Therefore, the form the "will" of the ego takes will always be some form of
denial of God's Will. For instance, you know that a child is beginning to
develop a psychological ego when he or she begins to say "no" every time you
say "yes" (otherwise known as "the terrible two's"). The ego is a big "no"
to God and His Will.

This ego is precisely what we are <not>. "You are not an ego" (T-14.X.5:5).
As we look at what the ego is (or appears to be), let us not be discouraged
or depressed by the picture. What we are looking at is not what we are; in
fact, it is what we are <not>. This imagined self is the source of all our
guilt-and it is unreal, and does not exist.