Now we review again the Lessons of the last twenty days. This time we do one Lesson, " I am the light of the world," (W.61) in the morning and " Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world," (W.62) in the afternoon. The focus of the review is to read the thoughts over slowly for three or four minutes and then close your eyes and listen " quietly but attentively." (W.PI.RII.IN.3.1) We are asked to be confident that we will hear it. Set your intention and determination to succeed in hearing the message waiting for you. " Do not forget that your will has power over all fantasies and dreams." (W.PI.RII.IN.4.4) We are also asked to, " Regard these practice periods as dedications to the way, the truth and the life. Refuse to be sidetracked into detours, illusions and thoughts of death." (W.PI.RII.IN.5.1-2) Each day we focus on our function of forgiveness.
         

And finally, he reminds us that in our review of the comments that follow each idea for the day, " It is not the particular words you use that matter." (W.PI.RII.6.4) This is important in that we are not trying to be good students who do what the teacher asks. There are no tests to pass and ritualistic study is not helpful. It is all about relevance and sincerity in approaching these lessons. Our focus now is to be on our purpose. Jesus says that the resurrection " is the relinquishment of all other purposes, all other interests, all other wishes and all other concerns." (M.28.1.9) What this means is that it is important to clear away distractions in our lives. Desire is what is important. If our desires are still for the things of this world, our attention will not be focused. So, to the extent that you can, recognize the importance of what you are doing and just keep your focus on your goal of awakening. I recently read an account by a friend who said that this process was like churning butter. It seems that in the process of churning, nothing is happening, but you keep doing the churning and one day, all of a sudden, you have butter.
 

Our focus in the morning is the reminder that " I am the light of the world." (W.61) If this is demonstrated, everyone we encounter could be made happier by our presence, but the light can only shine through, when we bring the blocks to love for forgiveness. In the Prayer of St. Francis, we read, "make me a vessel of your peace; where there is darkness let me bring light." It is our own darkness that keeps the light away. The light is always there behind our dark ego thoughts. We let our light shine through when we focus daily on our function of forgiveness. It is our only reason to be here, and in this, we remember who we really are! " How holy am I, who have been given the function of lighting up the world!" (W.81.1.2) Then, " Let me be still before my holiness." (W.81.1.3) It is like coming before a vision of a great spiritual being yet it is our own holiness that we come before with a sense of humility and receptiveness. And this holiness shines its calm light and brings a deep peace within our own minds, where all conflicts that we hold in the mind disappear. And it is from that place of truth within that we see a reflection of God's Love in the world.

We are given " some specific forms for applying the idea when difficulties seem to arise." (W.81.2.1) When difficulties arise, we often give them a lot of power to keep us in hell, but we have been given a remedy here, which is to bring our perceptions of darkness to the truth where they are shined away. We are reminded that they cannot obscure the light that is in us, because they have no power when we choose the truth. Difficulties are illusions, and thus they are nothing unless we make them into something.

And for the second part of the day, we focus on Lesson 62, " Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world." " It is through accepting my function that I will see the light in me." (W.81.3.2) It is only by bringing illusions to the truth that we can experience the light that is in our minds all the time. If we get distressed about anything today, we are reminded that every distress is just another opportunity to forgive. The world is our classroom to remember who we are, which we can only do when we bring the darkness in our minds to the light of truth. " Realize that, whatever form such [distracting] thoughts may take, they have no meaning and no power." (W.PI.RII.IN.4.2) We are asked to replace these distractions with our determination to succeed. The power of our mind that is aligned with God's power " has power over all fantasies and dreams." (W.PI.R.2II.IN 4.4) It is not our own power, but the power of truth. Every irritation, every frustration, every distraction, is just another opportunity to forgive.

Jesus says that we do not yet understand forgiveness, yet eventually " Yet I will trust that, in the light, I will see it as it is." (W.81.3.5) Meanwhile, we just need to look at every difficult situation in our lives and let each one teach us what forgiveness means by just being willing to do the practice. Why we don't really get it is that we think forgiveness means overlooking something that is real that someone has actually done. We do not yet recognize that nothing real has happened and that we only apply forgiveness to our own misperceptions of what we see and experience. When we experience the light and fully understand forgiveness, based on the recognition that nothing is outside of our own minds, then we will have made great progress in our awakening. Jesus reminds, " You are still convinced that your understanding is a powerful contribution to the truth, and makes it what it is." (T.18.IV.7.5) (ACIM OE T.18.V.39) He reminds us that, not only do we not need to understand, but that our attempts to do so can actually get in the way. "Salvation is easy just because it asks nothing you cannot give right now." (T.18.IV.7) And what we can give right now is the appreciation of every event and circumstance as another opportunity to learn how to forgive.
 

I was doing this Lesson some time ago when a situation came up that really brought it home for me. I got up very early for an appointment with the dentist, which I was really happy about as I was anxious to finally get the final stages of dental work done after having fallen and broken several teeth. I had gone through a long and arduous, not to mention expensive, process to get all the work done and was at my final appointment when I could finally have the temporary teeth replaced with implants, which would conclude this seemingly long and difficult process. It would have been like an anniversary as I had fallen in April, three years prior. I got to the office, but was kept waiting, which was very unusual. I started to sense that something was wrong and finally was told that the implants were not ready.  Furthermore, I could not get another appointment until late May!

There was no explanation as to how the mistake was made, but I was, having waited for this day for a long time, and now I had to wait some more. As the frustration arose in me, I remembered the Lesson, " Let me recognize my problems have been solved." (W.80) I thought about how only I could determine it to be a problem by giving it whatever meaning I chose. When moments of irritation came up about my early morning, driving all the way downtown and paying for parking, I chose to let it go and wondered what the day might bring. Having missed breakfast, I decided to go to a diner and then I asked the Holy Spirit to help me see everything in the light of love, and to extend that through whatever holy encounters were to be brought into my day.

I ordered breakfast and chatted with a lovely server and started to read Chapter 8 III (ACIM OE T.8.IV) " The Holy Encounter." Shortly after ordering breakfast, a couple walked in whom I had not seen for perhaps 15 years or so. They are two practicing psychologists who wanted to know what I was doing these days. I mentioned the Course and the 'Power of Clearing' sessions that I do, and they wanted to know more and asked for my phone number. It was a lovely encounter that I would have missed if my implants had not been delayed. I reminded myself of the many times I chose to stay in distress rather than making a choice for forgiveness and applying the Lesson immediately. I wondered what the meaning of this encounter was and its importance, but recognized that I had no idea. Everything is in His hands. I don't need to try to figure it out.

It is in every situation that we can choose to remember who we are and what our function is in this world. These are the kinds of events that give us the opportunities we need to practice remembering the truth. What situations or difficulties do you face today that can be transformed in the light of truth? What expectations do you need to release in order to experience peace?

In the introduction to our practice, we have some very specific instructions on how to do these review Lessons. First, we do one idea in the morning and the other one in the afternoon. It is good to pick a time of day when you plan to start the second review Lesson, or you might find that the day just slips by and you haven't given it the attention it requires. We continue with the process we have been using in our practice periods so far, where we take a longer practice period twice a day. Now we will be focusing one of our longer practice periods on the morning Lesson and the second one in the afternoon. Watch how your days go during this review period and notice how often you forget, which is an indication of how much resistance there is in the mind. But don't judge yourself when you forget. It is just another opportunity to notice the fear of awakening.

TEXT

⁵⁴ Although you can love the Sonship only as one, you can perceive it as fragmented. It is impossible, however, for you to see something in part of it that you will not attribute to all of it. That is why attack is never discrete and why attack must be relinquished entirely. If it is not relinquished entirely, it is not relinquished at all. Fear and love are equally reciprocal. They make or create, depending on whether the ego or the Holy Spirit begets or inspires them, but they will return to the mind of the thinker, and they will affect his total perception. That includes his perception of God, of His creations, and of his own. He will not appreciate any of them if he regards them fearfully. He will appreciate all of them if he regards them with love.

 

⁵⁵ The mind that accepts attack cannot love. That is because it believes that it can destroy love and therefore does not understand what love is. If it does not understand what love is, it cannot perceive itself as loving. This loses the awareness of being, induces feelings of unreality, and results in utter confusion. Your own thinking has done this because of its power, but your own thinking can also save you from this because its power is not of your making. Your ability to direct your thinking as you will is part of its power. If you do not believe you can do this, you have denied the power of your thought and thus rendered it powerless in your belief.

 

⁵⁶ The ingeniousness of the ego to preserve itself is enormous, but it stems from the power of the mind, which the ego denies. This means that the ego attacks what is preserving it, and this must be a source of extreme anxiety. That is why the ego never knows what it is doing. It is perfectly logical but clearly insane. The ego draws upon the one source which is totally inimical to its existence for its existence. Fearful of perceiving the power of this source, it is forced to depreciate it. This threatens its own existence, a state which it finds intolerable.

 

⁵⁷ Remaining logical but still insane, the ego resolves this completely insane dilemma in a completely insane way. It does not perceive its existence as threatened by projecting the threat onto you and perceiving your being as nonexistent. This ensures its continuance if you side with it by guaranteeing that you will not know your own safety. The ego cannot afford to know anything. Knowledge is total, and the ego does not believe in totality. This unbelief is its origin and, while the ego does not love you, it is faithful to its own antecedents, begetting as it was begotten.

 

⁵⁸ Mind always reproduces as it was produced. Produced by fear, the ego reproduces fear. This is its allegiance, and this allegiance makes it treacherous to love, because you are love. Love is your power, which the ego must deny. It must also deny everything which this power gives you because it gives you everything. No one who has everything wants the ego. Its own maker, then, does not want it. Rejection is therefore the only decision which the ego could possibly encounter, if the mind which made it knew itself. And if it recognized any part of the Sonship, it would know itself.

 

⁵⁹ The ego therefore opposes all appreciation, all recognition, all sane perception, and all knowledge. It perceives their threat as total because it senses the fact that all commitments the mind makes are total. Forced, therefore, to detach itself from you who are mind, it is willing to attach itself to anything else. But there is nothing else. It does not follow that the mind cannot make illusions, but it does follow that if it makes illusions it will believe in them, because that is how it made them.

 

⁶⁰ The Holy Spirit undoes illusions without attacking them merely because He cannot perceive them at all. They therefore do not exist for Him. He resolves the apparent conflict which they engender by perceiving conflict as meaningless. We said before that the Holy Spirit perceives the conflict exactly as it is, and it is meaningless. The Holy Spirit does not want you to understand conflict; He wants you to realize that because conflict is meaningless it cannot be understood. We have already said that understanding brings appreciation, and appreciation brings love. Nothing else can be understood because nothing else is real, and therefore nothing else has meaning.

 

⁶¹ If you will keep in mind what the Holy Spirit offers you, you cannot be vigilant for anything but God and His Kingdom. The only reason you find this difficult is because you think there is something else. Belief does not require vigilance unless it is conflicted. If it is, there are conflicting components within it which have engendered a state of war, and vigilance therefore has become essential. Vigilance has no place at all in peace. It is necessary against beliefs which are not true and would never have been called upon by the Holy Spirit if you had not believed the untrue. You cannot deny that, when you believe something, you have made it true for you.

 

⁶² When you believe what God does not know, your thought seems to contradict His, and this makes it appear as if you are attacking Him. We have repeatedly emphasized that the ego does believe it can attack God and tries to persuade you that you have done this. If the mind cannot attack, the ego proceeds perfectly logically to the position that you cannot be mind. By not seeing you as you are, it can see itself as it wants to be. Aware of its weakness, the ego wants your allegiance, but not as you really are. The ego therefore wants to engage your mind in its own delusional system, because otherwise the light of your understanding would dispel it.

 

⁶³ The ego wants no part of truth because the truth is that the ego is not true. If truth is total, the untrue cannot exist. Commitment to either must be total, since they cannot coexist in your minds without splitting them. If they cannot coexist in peace and if you want peace, you must give up the idea of conflict entirely and for all time. [This requires vigilance only as long as you do not recognize what is true.] While you believe that two totally contradictory thought systems share truth, your need for vigilance is apparent. Your minds are dividing their allegiance between two kingdoms, and you are totally committed to neither.

 

⁶⁴ Your identification with the Kingdom is totally beyond question, except by you when you are thinking insanely. What you are is not established by your perception and is not influenced by it at all. All perceived problems in identification at any level are not problems of fact. They are problems of understanding, since they mean that you believe what you can understand is up to you to decide. The ego believes this totally, being fully committed to it. It is not true. The ego therefore is totally committed to untruth, perceiving in total contradiction to the Holy Spirit and to the knowledge of God.

 

⁶⁵ You can be perceived with meaning only by the Holy Spirit because your being is the knowledge of God. Any belief that you accept which is apart from this will obscure God's Voice in you and will therefore obscure God to you. Unless you perceive His creation truly, you cannot know the Creator, since God and His creation are not separate. The Oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity, and your limitless power. This limitless power is God's gift to you, because it is what you are. If you dissociate your mind from it, you are perceiving the most powerful force in the universe as if it were weak because you do not believe you are part of it.

 

⁶⁶ Perceived without your part in it, God's creation is perceived as weak, and those who see themselves as weakened do attack. The attack must be blind, however, because there is nothing to attack. Therefore, they make up images, perceive them as unworthy, and attack them for their unworthiness. That is all the world of the ego is-nothing. It has no meaning. It does not exist. Do not try to understand it, because if you do you are believing that it can be understood and is therefore capable of being appreciated and loved. That would justify it, and it cannot be justified. You cannot make the meaningless meaningful. This can only be an insane attempt.

 

⁶⁷ Allowing insanity to enter your minds means that you have not judged sanity as wholly desirable. If you want something else, you will make something else, but because it is something else, it will attack your thought system and divide your allegiance. You cannot create in this divided state, and you must be vigilant against this divided state, because only peace can be extended. Your divided minds are blocking the extension of the Kingdom, and its extension is your joy. If you do not extend the Kingdom, you are not thinking with your Creator and creating as He created.

 

⁶⁸ In this depressing state, the Holy Spirit reminds you gently that you are sad because you are not fulfilling your function as co-creators with God and are therefore depriving yourselves of joy. This is not God's Will but yours. If your will is out of accord with God's, you are willing without meaning. Yet because God's Will is unchangeable, no real conflict of will is possible. This is the Holy Spirit's perfectly consistent teaching.

 

⁶⁹ Creation, not separation, is your will because it is God's, and nothing that opposes this means anything at all. Being a perfect accomplishment, the Sonship can only accomplish perfectly, extending the joy in which it was created and identifying itself with both its Creator and its creations, knowing they are one.

 

 

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