[acimlessons_list] Lesson 253 - September 10

[Sue Roth]

Lesson 253 * September 10

"MY SELF IS RULER OF THE UNIVERSE."

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 suggestion: Pick an event where you felt powerless. Then say the
following lines to yourself:

<What happened is what I desired, on some level.

Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny.

For in Heaven, my Self is ruler of the universe>.

COMMENTARY

Today's lesson is perhaps the most "outrageous" in the ego's eyes. There is
an odd paradox about the ego. Wanting to be ruler of the universe, it views
the actual assertion of that function to be the height of blasphemy.
Asserting that I am the ruler of the universe actually cuts the legs out
from under the ego, and destroys everything it stands on. The whole idea of
projection, or of finding blame for what is wrong outside myself, is done
away with.

Nothing comes to me that I have not asked for. "It is impossible" (1:1).
That seems a harsh truth. Lest we try to water it down, the lesson
immediately adds, "Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny" (1:2).
Our fear of this truth is that it seems to make us incredibly guilty. The
Course is always asking that we take one hundred percent responsibility with
zero percent guilt.

What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to
happen. (1:3-4)

There is just no way to squirm out of what the Course is saying here. The
ego tells us that it makes us very guilty if we do this. In reality, it
gives us complete power over our lives. Consider what the alternative is to
these statements: "Things can happen no matter what I want. What does not
happen is not under my control." This belief system, which we all live by,
leaves us powerless, hopeless victims of things beyond our control. It is
the belief system of guilt, the attempt to avoid the reality of our Self,
which is all-powerful. It is the voice of the ego trying to place the blame
elsewhere, anywhere but within our own minds.

"My Self is ruler of the universe." This way lies freedom. "This must I
accept" (1:5). Please note that this does not speak of our "individual
self," the illusion of ourselves we all have made. It speaks of the "Self"
with a capital "S," the Self we share with all creation. It is our
collective Mind we speak of, the Mind of all of us. It is the individual
responsibility of each one of us to choose differently, to reverse the trend
within the Mind of the Sonship. In this view there is no one but Me, the one
Son of God. Each of us is responsible for the whole. Each of us <is> the
whole, for the whole is in every part.

We <must> accept the truth of today's lesson; it is the only way out of
hell. Anything less is the denial of our divinity, the assertion of the
reality of separation. Only in accepting this truth can we be "led past this
world to [our] creations" (1:6).

In the closing prayer, spoken to God, we say, "You are the Self Whom You
created Son, creating like Yourself and one with You" (2:1). God Himself is
our Self. We are His extension, more of Him, like Him, one with Him. My true
Self is simply my will in perfect union with God's, assenting to God's own
extension in me and through me (2:2). If God is my Self, and God is ruler of
the universe, so am I.

What does this mean in a practical sense? It means that I have to begin to
accept that I am responsible for everything I see, choosing my feelings,
asking for what happens to me (see T-21.II.2:3-5). It means that I see, in
every moment, it is up to me to choose to either suffer, or to be happy. It
means that I begin to deny the power of all things outside of me to affect
me. It means I accept my role as ruler of my own mind, first of all. I begin
to acknowledge the power of my wanting, and to know that "what is strong
enough to make a world can let it go" (see T-21.II.2-4).

What is Sin?

PART 3: W-PII.4.2:1-4

As we have seen already, "The body is the instrument the mind made in its
efforts to deceive itself" (2:1). The purpose of the body, as seen by the
ego, is "to strive" (2:2). To be in conflict and competition with other
bodies, often for other bodies. The body struggles, it carves out its
existence from the world through the sweat of its brow and through attack on
other bodies. Its law is the law of the jungle, "Kill or be killed"
(M-17.7:11).

Does this mean that the body is a hateful, evil thing, to be despised and
subdued? No. The <goal> of the body's striving can change (2:3). Given to
the ego, the goal is strife itself, with no real end. Strife keeps the ego
going. But given to the Holy Spirit, our striving can take on the goal of
truth, instead of lies.

The Holy Spirit can use everything the ego made to undo the purposes of the
ego. He can use our special relationships, our words and thoughts, the world
itself, and our bodies, all to serve the purposes of the truth. The key lies
in the changing of the goal, the purpose which the body, and everything
associated with it, serves. A special relationship becomes holy when its
purpose is changed from sin to holiness, from trying to find a completion we
think is lacking to striving to remember a completion we already have.

In the words of an old Christian hymn by Frances Ridley Havergill, we can
pray:

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing
Ever, only, of my King.