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LESSON 248 SEPT 5 SATURDAY
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What is the World?
Daily Lesson 248
Sarah's Reflections
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Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) is an international group of Course students and teachers organized to discover, authenticate and propagate the Divine Teachings of A Course in Miracles.

 

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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 22 "SALVATION AND THE HOLY RELATIONSHIP"
V. "THE BRANCHING OF THE ROAD"

And so you stand, here in this holy place, before the veil of sin that hangs between you and the face of Christ. Let it be lifted! Raise it together, for it is but a veil that stands between you. Either alone will see it as a solid block, nor realize how thin the drapery that separates you now. Yet it is almost over in your awareness, and peace has reached you even here before the veil. Think what will happen after! The love of Christ will light your faces and shine from them into a darkened world that needs the light. And from this holy place He will return with you, not leaving it nor you. You will become His messengers, returning Him unto Himself.

WHAT IS WORLD?    
What Is the World?  
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  The world is false perception. It is born
   of error, and it has not left its source.
   It will remain no longer than the thought
   that gave it birth is cherished. When the thought
   of separation has been changed to one
   of true forgiveness, will the world be seen
   in quite another light; and one that leads
   to truth, where all the world must disappear,
   and all its errors vanish. Now its source
   has gone, and its effects are gone as well.
 
   The world was made as an attack on God.
   It symbolizes fear. And what is fear
   except love's absence? Thus the world was meant
   to be a place where God could enter not,
   and where His Son could be apart from Him.
   Here was perception born, for knowledge could
   not cause such insane thoughts. But eyes deceive,
   and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become
   quite possible, for certainty has gone.
 
   The mechanisms of illusion have
   been born instead. And now they go to find
   what has been given them to seek. Their aim
   is to fulfill the purpose which the world
   was made to witness and make real. They see
   in its illusions but a solid base
   where truth exists, upheld apart from lies.
   Yet everything which they report is but
   illusion which is kept apart from truth.
 
   As sight was made to lead away from truth,
   it can be redirected. Sounds become
   the call of God. And all perception can
   be given a new purpose, by the One
   Whom God appointed Saviour to the world.
   Follow His light, and see the world as He
   beholds it. Hear His Voice alone in all
   that speaks to you. And let Him give you peace
   and certainty, which you have thrown away,
   but Heaven has preserved for you in Him.
 
   Let us not rest content until the world
   has joined our changed perception. Let us not
   be satisfied until forgiveness has
   been made complete. And let us not attempt
   to change our function. We must save the world.
   For we who made it must behold it through
   the eyes of Christ, that what was made to die
   can be restored to everlasting life.
   
    ~ Original Hand Script
 
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 L e s s o n 248
Whatever suffers is not part of me.   
      
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   I have disowned the truth. Now let me be
   as faithful in disowning falsity.
   Whatever suffers is not part of me.
   What grieves is not myself. What is in pain
   is but illusion in my mind. What dies
   was never living in reality,
   and did but mock the truth about myself.
   Now I disown self-concepts and deceits
   and lies about the holy Son of God.
   Now am I ready to accept him back
   as God created him, and as he is.
 
    Father, my ancient love for You returns,
    and lets me love Your Son again as well.
    Father, I am as You created me.
    Now is Your Love remembered, and my own.
    Now do I understand that they are one
 
      
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LESSON 248
Whatever suffers is not part of me. 

Sarah's Commentary:


We believe we have committed a dreadful sin in having separated from God, we had to run away from His punishment for our sin, we saw our escape in the body and the world where God could not enter, and we are now in competition with all other bodies trying to get our needs met. We have bought into the deception of the ego, which gives rise to all desiring and manifesting. But this "me" that I identify with is nothing more than long held beliefs and concepts that have not been fully investigated and questioned. It is truly a mistaken identity according to Jesus' teaching in this Course. Yet this mistaken identity, with all of its bundle of thoughts, values, concepts and beliefs, runs our lives. It is how we have been conditioned. This ego that has taken up residence in our holy, pristine minds is described by Jesus as the stranger who has walked into our holy home, with our full permission! "There is a stranger in him, who wandered carelessly into the home of truth and who will wander off." (T.20.III.7.2)(ACIM OE T.20.IV.22) That is the good news because we won't tolerate the ego when we see what it is up to. It is a cruel master. Listen to how this voice speaks to you, berating you for all your mistakes, crucifying you for not doing things right and obsessively driving you to distraction with its chatter.

Yet we are the ones who gave it permission to enter our minds, so we could ask it to leave. Until we do, this stranger seems to have a powerful hold on us because we have invested belief in it, thinking this is who we are. "Ask not this transient stranger, 'What am I?'" (T.20.III.7.5) (ACIM OE T.20.IV.23) The stranger does not know. What it does know is it it has an 'enemy', which is the threat that we can change our minds and let it go, and we will surely do this when we see the ego is the basis for all our suffering. Jesus reminds us faith can move mountains, but that is nothing compared to the power we have used to imprison ourselves by identifying with this stranger. That kind of power can now be used to release the stranger, reclaim our holy home and free the imprisoned Self.

We all want happiness, peace and love and  this desire has kept us searching, but we have been searching where the peace we are looking for can't be found. We have been searching outside of ourselves in the things of this world, hoping it might be found in our special relationships, a new job, or new house, prestige and power in the world, or in our accomplishments. Achieving what we think we want in the world will give us temporary pleasure and moments of satisfaction, but ultimately it all leads to suffering. We suffer because pleasure can't last and we end up chasing more and greater pleasures until we recognize the cost to us. Pleasure seeking is what the ego would have us pursue endlessly to keep us rooted in this illusion. We seek things outside of ourselves in order to feel complete. Because we believe we are lacking, we try to fill that sense of lack with whatever we can.

The ego has an agenda kept from our awareness. It is,  "Seek but do not find." (T.16.V.6.5)(ACIM OE T.16.VI.48) I had so many hopes and dreams in my youth of what a happy life would look like, yet everything I tried to do ended the same way---in disillusionment. No matter what success I found, I was not feeling the happiness I was seeking. Yes, in the eyes of the world, I had many reasons to be happy, but I never experienced the deep peace that can only come from getting in touch with the truth within, and what a gift that truly was! Oh, yes, it was painful along the way to this discovery. To discover that special relationships start out beautifully but lose their luster and attractiveness was a hard and painful lesson, but that is what this spiritual journey is about.
 
We have events and circumstances that arise in our lives that bring us to a place of deep inquiry and questioning about the meaning of this life, and in the questioning, ultimately the answers are provided. When we think we know, we are not open to a new way of seeing. For some of us it requires a great deal of pain to come to this place of readiness. Whatever amount of pain it takes to open the mind to calling out for help is whatever is in our script. Thus, it is ultimately all perfect. No, the ego does not see it this way since the soul is being served.

When life brings us to our knees, or at least some level of disillusionment, we are ready to listen to another Voice.

Throughout this journey, the Holy Spirit is in constant communication with us, but our own voice has been drowning out His quiet call within. Jesus affirms, throughout this Course, we are unlimited, have never sinned, we are eternal beings who cannot die, and the truth about us is wholly powerful and glorious. The decision maker in our minds listens to the ego or the Holy Spirit and chooses which it will believe. When we read, "Whatever suffers is not a part of me," (W.248) it means I can withdraw my belief in suffering, grief and pain, but do I want to? That does seem like a silly question. I think I don't want to suffer, yet if I am suffering, there is some payoff I am getting from the suffering. I get to be right about my belief that I truly am a victim of the world I see. I can pretend the suffering I am experiencing comes from outside of me.

The most clear example for me of this came when my husband died and I was feeling a lot of grief. Then at some point when the pain of grief had been lived for some time, I turned to the Holy Spirit in my mind and had the realization that this grief was a decision I was making and could choose otherwise. I realized I had a choice to be happy in spite of his death. I realized from outside of the dream there is no death. Death is a mockery of God, proving Him wrong. Yes, the body can die, but who we are can't. That was quite a revelation for me. I could withdraw my investment in sadness any time I decided to do so. It felt very empowering to feel the attachment to my husband, to feel the loss, yet make a choice to be happy. When I found moments of happiness during this time, the ego would tell me I should feel guilty about being happy. Its version of events was that if I did not mourn, it was an indication I did not love him. But now I could look at the guilt with the love of Jesus and see it was the trickery of the ego to keep me in despair. The ego gives us so many reasons to maintain our suffering.

Some might say this is denial, and indeed we are denying that the sadness and grief are a part of something true about us. What we are disowning is the falsity of the belief in suffering. We are disowning "self-concepts and deceits and lies about the holy Son of God." (W.248.1.7) We have long denied the truth about our reality as the Son of God. We have denied it by accepting falsity into our minds. We have come to believe the false is true---suffering, sadness, grief, worry, jealousy, insecurity, unworthiness, self-judgment and self-hate are all aspects of something true and must be accepted as part of the human condition.

We are not asked to deny whatever we are feeling, only to deny that these feelings define who we are. We are asked to recognize they are ultimately not the truth about us. So we look at the feelings we are experiencing and free ourselves by bringing awareness to them. The light of the Holy Spirit will bring us release from them when we willingly bring them to His gentle love.

Not only do the big events in our lives bring about suffering and sadness, but we are told by Jesus, "It is not you who are so vulnerable and open to attack that just a word, a little whisper that you do not like, a circumstance that suits you not, or an event that you did not anticipate upsets your world, and hurls it into chaos." (T.24.III.3.1)(ACIM OE T.24.IV.28) Isn't that how it is? Don't we so often suffer, worry, agitate and obsess about the seemingly small things that come our way? But it does not matter. Anything that takes away from our peace is the same. All problems are the same. There is no order of difficulty in the illusion. All illusion no matter how big or small holds back the light of truth in us when we give it the power to do so.

We are called to be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom, (T6.V.C.2.8) and to be as vigilant against the ego as we are for God. Jesus tells us we have to be "faithful in disowning falsity." (W.248.1.2) Who we are in truth is not what we have made of ourselves. It is worth reading "Self-Concept versus Self," (T.31.V)(ACIM OE T.31.V) where Jesus describes how the self-concept got developed. We have worked very hard to develop a concept of ourselves that can "meet the world on equal terms." (T.31.V.1.7)(ACIM OE T.31.V.43) In the world, when we do this well, we are considered mature. Yet now we are working on the undoing of this self-concept as it is a lie about who we really are and aims to keep us deceived trying to convince us we are something we are not.

There is no statement that the world we are more afraid to hear than this: "I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself." (T.31.V.17.7) (ACIM OE T.31.V.60) Yet in this recognition is when we come to know the truth about ourselves.  "I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own." (W.PII.Q14.1.1-6)

It frightens us to let go of the self-concepts we have made. Surrendering to love means letting go of who we currently think we are. It is to become the observer of our pain and suffering and choose to withdraw belief in it. We fear this loss of self, but Jesus assures us we will not be hurled into reality. It is a process of opening up to the truth as quickly or slowly as our fear will allow. There is no need to rush. In fact, if we think we are not going fast enough, it is a judgment on ourselves that is not helpful. We are in charge of the process. Jesus is our guide and helper. The process begins to loosen the identification we have with the ego and gives welcome to the Self we have disowned. (W.248.1.1) Choosing to suffer blocks our "ancient love" for our Father (W.248.2.1) which is always there, but not in our awareness. In fact, when we are suffering, sad, or grieving, we blame God. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we make Him responsible for bringing this turmoil into our lives. In this Lesson, we are being reminded God has never wanted this for us. It is the choice we have made to make something of ourselves we are not.

"You are wholly lovely. A perfect shaft of pure light. Before your loveliness the stars stand transfixed and bow to the power of your will. What do children know of their creation, except what their Creator tells them? You were created above the angels, because your role involves creation as well as protection. You who are in the image of the Father need bow only to Him before Whom I [Jesus] kneel with you." [from "Absence from Felicity", pg. 19] Our love for God is so powerful we are actually afraid of it. We cover it over with distractions, deceits and lies. We truly are afraid of our redemption. [Fear of Redemption T.13.III] The pull of this attraction is so strong in us it actually takes effort to resist.

I am as I was created, perfect and serene and whatever suffers is not a part of me. Today we loosen our minds from identification with lies and deceits about ourselves. Let us feel the power of our ancient love for God, as His for us, as we pray: "Father, my ancient love for You returns, and lets me love Your Son again as well. Father, I am as You created me. Now is Your Love remembered, and my own. Now do I understand that they are one." (W.248.2.1-4)

This same love in us is extended to our brothers when the ego blocks are released. We will not recognize what we have received until we share it and extend it. This is the only way what we have received is grounded in us.
 
Love and blessings, Sarah
   
TEXT Paused for Weekend
 
Chapter Twenty Two  

V. The Branching of the Road  

38 When you come to the place where the branch in the road is quite apparent, you cannot go ahead. You must go either one way or the other. For now if you go straight ahead, the way you went before you reached the branch, you will go nowhere. The whole purpose of coming this far was to decide which branch you will take now. The way you came no longer matters. It can no longer serve. No one who reaches this far can make the wrong decision, but he can delay. And there is no part of the journey that seems more hopeless and futile than standing where the road branches and not deciding on which way to go.
 
39 It is but the first few steps along the right way that seem hard, for you have chosen, although you still may think you can go back and make the other choice. This is not so. A choice made with the power of Heaven to uphold it cannot be undone. Your way is decided. There will be nothing you will not be told if you acknowledge this.
 
40 And so you stand, here in this holy place, before the veil of sin that hangs between you and the face of Christ. Let it be lifted! Raise it together, for it is but a veil that stands between you. Either alone will see it as a solid block, nor realize how thin the drapery that separates you now. Yet it is almost over in your awareness, and peace has reached you even here before the veil. Think what will happen after! The love of Christ will light your faces and shine from them into a darkened world that needs the light. And from this holy place He will return with you, not leaving it nor you. You will become His messengers, returning Him unto Himself.
 
41 Think of the loveliness that you will see who walk with Him! And think how beautiful will each of you look to the other! How happy you will be to be together after such a long and lonely journey where you walked alone. The gates of Heaven, open now for you, will you now open to the sorrowful. And none who looks upon the Christ in you but will rejoice. How beautiful the sight you saw beyond the veil which you will bring to light the tired eyes of those as weary now as once you were. How thankful will they be to see you come among them, offering Christ's forgiveness to dispel their faith in sin.
 
42 Every mistake you make the other will gently have corrected for you, for in his sight your loveliness is his salvation which he would protect from harm. And each will be the other's strong protector from everything that seems to rise between you. So shall you walk the world with me, whose message has not yet been given to everyone. For you are here to let it be received. God's offer still is open, yet it waits acceptance. From you who have accepted it is it received. Into your joined hands is it safely given, for you who share it have become its willing guardians and protectors.
 
43 To all who share the love of God, the grace is given to be the givers of what they have received. And so they learn that it is theirs forever. All barriers disappear before their coming, as every obstacle was finally surmounted which seemed to rise and block their way before. This veil you lift together opens the way to truth to more than you. Those who would let illusions be lifted from their minds are this world's saviors, walking the world with their Redeemer and carrying His message of hope and freedom and release from suffering to everyone who needs a miracle to save him.
 
44 How easy is it to offer this miracle to everyone! No one who has received it for himself could find it difficult. For by receiving it, he learned it was not given him alone. Such is the function of a holy relationship-to receive together and give as you received. Standing before the veil, it still seems difficult. But hold out your joined hands and touch this heavy-seeming block, and you will learn how easily your fingers slip through its nothingness. It is no solid wall. And only an illusion stands between you and the holy Self you share.
 

VI. Weakness and Defensiveness

45 How does one overcome illusions? Surely not by force or anger nor by opposing them in any way. Merely by letting reason tell you that they contradict reality. They go against what must be true. The opposition comes from them and not reality. Reality opposes nothing. What merely is needs no defense and offers none. Only illusions need defense because of weakness. And how can it be difficult to walk the way of truth when only weakness interferes? You are the strong ones in this seeming conflict. And you need no defense. Everything that needs defense you do not want, for anything that needs defense will weaken you.
 
46 Consider what the ego wants defenses for-always to justify what goes against the truth, flies in the face of reason, and makes no sense. Can this be justified? What can this be except an invitation to insanity to save you from the truth? And what would you be saved from but what you fear? Belief in sin needs great defense and at enormous cost. All that the Holy Spirit offers must be defended against and sacrificed. For sin is carved into a block out of your peace and laid between you and its return. Yet how can peace be so fragmented? It is still whole, and nothing has been taken from it.
 
47 See how the means and the material of evil dreams are nothing. In truth you stand together with nothing in between. God holds your hands, and what can separate whom He has joined as one with Him? It is your Father Whom you would defend against. Yet it remains impossible to keep love out. God rests with you in quiet, undefended and wholly undefending, for in this quiet state alone is strength and power. Here can no weakness enter, for here is no attack and therefore no illusions. Love rests in certainty. Only uncertainty can be defensive. And all uncertainty is doubt about yourself.
 
48 How weak is fear-how little and how meaningless! How insignificant before the quiet strength of those whom love has joined! This is your "enemy"-a frightened mouse that would attack the universe. How likely is it that it will succeed? Can it be difficult to disregard its feeble squeaks that tell of its omnipotence and would drown out the hymn of praise to its Creator which every heart throughout the universe forever sings as one? Which is the stronger? Is it this tiny mouse or everything that God created? You are not joined together by this mouse but by the Will of God. And can a mouse betray whom God has joined?
 
49 If you but recognized how little stands between you and your awareness of your union! Be not deceived by the illusions it presents of size and thickness, weight, solidity, and firmness of foundation. Yes, to the body's eyes it looks like an enormous solid body, immovable as is a mountain. Yet within you there is a Force which no illusions can resist. This body only seems to be immovable; this Force is irresistible in truth. What, then, must happen when they come together? Can the illusion of immovability be long defended from what is quietly passed through and gone beyond?
 
50 Forget not, when you feel the need arise to be defensive about anything, you have identified yourself with an illusion. And therefore feel that you are weak because you are alone. This is the cost of all illusions. Not one but rests on the belief that you are separate. Not one that does not seem to stand, heavy and solid and immovable, between you and your brother. And not one that truth cannot pass over lightly and so easily that you must be convinced, in spite of what you thought it was, that it is nothing. If you forgive each other, this must happen. For it is your unwillingness to overlook what seems to stand between you that makes it look impenetrable and defends the illusion of its immovability.
 
   

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