[acimlessons_list] LESSON 340 - DECEMBER 6

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 340 - DECEMBER 6

"I can be free of suffering today."

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

The Workbook lessons from 221 on are meant to be used as brief introductions
to holy instants of direct experience of the truth. As the introduction to
Part II of the Workbook says:

    Now we attempt to let the exercise be merely
   a beginning. For we wait in quiet expectation
   for our God and Father.     (W-pII.In.2:1-2)

   We say some simple words of welcome, and
   expect our Father to reveal Himself, as He has promised.
       (W-pII.In.3:3)

    We say the words of invitation that His Voice
    suggests, and then we wait for Him to come to us.
       (W-pII.In.4:6)

 The 
"words of invitation" seem to refer to the prayers in each lesson. The idea
is that we read the lesson over and perhaps think on it a minute or two.
Then, we repeat the prayer that invites God to join us. More and more, as I
have worked with these lessons, I have found increasing benefit from really
focusing on these prayers, and making them very personal. Then we wait,
quietly, until we are aware of God's presence with us. That is the whole
purpose of the exercises.

   I can be free of suffering today.

So let me remind myself of this. Freedom from suffering is my choice. I have
the option, today, to be free. As I listen to God's Voice directing me to
find Christ's vision through forgiveness, I will be free forever from all
suffering (1:4). Let me think on that a moment, pray the prayer given here,
and then sit quietly and wait, listening, opening my mind to that vision.

I do not live in that vision yet, or only sporadically. To me it seems I
have some way to go. So I wait. I make my mind empty, available to Him, and
ask Him to fill me with this vision and to enlarge it in my mind.

    I was born into this world but to achieve this day,
    and what it holds in joy and freedom for Your holy
    Son and for the world he made.     (1:6)

Achieving Christ's vision fully is all that I am here for; I was born for
this. Perhaps today! I open myself to it, I loose my mind from all lesser
thoughts and offer it to You. In this holy instant I can find that release.
Perhaps it won't last more than a few minutes, a few seconds. Perhaps it
will lodge in my mind and stay with me all through the day. Salvation is
already accomplished, and I can tap into that awareness right now. Even if I
forget in ten minutes, even if I "lose" the awareness, the memory will
remain and will sustain me, transforming my day from what it would have been
had I not spent these moments with You. So I give myself to this time, this
remembering.

We all will remember. God will gather us all to Himself, and together we
shall all awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love (2:5-6). Take heart, my soul!
The outcome is as inevitable as God. The way may seem long at times, but the
ending is sure, and no anxiety need touch my heart. I am content in this
moment simply to be with You. There is nothing more that I need. "There is
no room for anything but joy and thanks today" (2:3), and only these will I
welcome into my holy mind.

WHAT IS THE EGO?

Part 10: W-pII.12.5:2

    And peace will be restored forever to the holy
   minds which God created as His Son, His dwelling
   place, His joy, His love, completely His, 
   completely one with Him.

How is it that simple forgiveness can do this? The guilt and fearinduced by
our belief in the ego's reality is the cause of all oursuffering. It is our
mad wish to be a separated self that has causedus to see God, and all the
universe, as our enemies, and filled uswith nightmares of punishment.
Forgiveness shows us that what we thinkwe did to ourselves has not occurred.
There is no cause for our guilt.Forgiveness releases us from the dread of
punishment, and brings us torealize that our oneness with God is
undisturbed. We are still "Hisdwelling place, His joy, His love, completely
His, completely one withHim." And in that knowledge, peace is restored
forever.

When forgiveness washes over us, we realize that "I can be free ofsuffering
today" (W-pII.340.Heading). It is the ego thought in ourmind that paints
unrest over the eternal calm of our mind as Godcreated it. Letting go of
that thought, even for an instant, bringsimmediate peace. The thought of
separation, of an independentidentity, was the original mistake:


    That one error, which brought truth to illusion, infinity
    to time, and life to death, was all you ever made. Your
    whole world rests upon it. Everything you see reflects it...

    ...You do not realize the magnitude of that one error.
    It was so vast and so completely incredible that from
    it a world of total unreality had to emerge.       (T-18.I.4:4-6; 5:2-3)


Forgiveness shows us that what we think we have done has no realconsequence.
It removes the barriers to our awareness of God. Thatterrible mistake, upon
which our whole world rests, wasinconsequential; our union with God remains
forever uninterrupted. Werest, now and ever, in His peace.