[acimlessons_list] Review II, Lesson 88 - March 29

[Sue Roth]

Review II, Lesson 88 - March 29

"The light has come."

"I am under no laws but God's."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Longer: 2 times (once for each of the ideas), for about 15 minutes

* For 3 or 4 minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if
you wish) and think about them.
* Close your eyes and spend the remainder listening for the message the Holy
Spirit has for you. We can see this time of listening as having the
following components:

1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in stillness and with all
your attention.

2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I
want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").

3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind
wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with
this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first
phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no
power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts
with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to
waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).

This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to
actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically
throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?"
You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling
wandering thoughts.

REMARKS: Regard these exercises as dedication to God. Refuse to be
distracted. Be determined to assume your function today.

SHORTER: Frequent

First half of day: "The light has come."

Second half of day: "I am under no laws but God's."

RESPONSE TO TEMPTATION: You may use these specific forms or your own words:

First half of day: "This cannot show me darkness, for the light has come."
"The light in you is all that I would see, [name]." "I would see in this
only what is there."

Second half of the day: "My perception of this shows me I believe in laws
that do not exist." "I see only the laws of God at work in this." "Let me
allow God's laws to work in this, and not my own."


COMMENTARY

The ideas being reviewed today, seemingly concerned with very different
concepts, yet have a certain common ground that is brought out in this
review. That common ground could be expressed in this thought: Only what is
of God is real; what appears to be in opposition is only an illusion without
power, except that given it through my belief.

The light of salvation has <already> come. "I always choose between truth
and illusion" (1:5), and "Attack and grievances are not there to choose"
(1:4). I really have no alternative to the light because there <is> no
alternative. My entire experience of darkness is an adventure in delusion
and nothing more; there is no darkness."I can but choose the light, for it
has no alternative" (1:7). This is why the Text tells me that the outcome of
my drama here on earth is inevitable. "God is inevitable, and you cannot
avoid Him any more than He can avoid you" (T-4.I.9:11). In seeking that my
perception be changed, I are only seeking to see what is already there, and
what is the only thing there.

God's laws alone rule me. The other laws that I think have power over me are
laws that I made up. "I suffer only because of my belief in them. They have
no real effect on me at all" (3:5-6). The laws of the ego cannot constrain
me; I can be free of them <now> because I am, in reality, always free of
them; they have no power. My ego at times seems so very powerful, the
knee-jerk reaction of hurt and anger seems beyond my control and in control
of me, but it is not so. I am free of these "laws" of chaos, of sin and
guilt and punishment and separation. The healing of every relationship is
inevitable because God's laws make us one, not separate. "A happy outcome to
all things is sure" (Lesson 292) because there are no laws but God's, no
will but God's. Only my belief in it gives power to the appearance of an
opposing will, with opposing laws.

Let me then, today, look on everything with this insight. Where I seem to
see darkness, let me proclaim the reality of light. Where I see laws opposed
to God at work, let me declare them powerless. Thank You, Father, for the
certainty of Your plan, the present reality of Your light.