In this Lesson, Jesus addresses what we should do when we forget to do the practice as outlined. Clearly he knows that we will lapse from the schedule, but the question is, when we do lapse, will we use this as an excuse not to return to the Lesson as soon as we have noticed we have lapsed? He says we will be inclined to feel guilty about our lapse rather than correcting the mistake, and in fact we will use this lapse as an excuse to regard the day as lost. Yet he does not want us to feel guilty. That is what the ego would have us do. Instead, he wants us to see it for what it is, " a refusal to let your mistake be corrected, and an unwillingness to try again." (W.95.7.5) He knows we will be forgetful. If we did not need this mind training and this kind of discipline, we would not need this Course, but beating up on ourselves is falling into the ego's game. To berate ourselves for being bad Course students, and feeling discouraged and angry with ourselves, is never helpful. Jesus thus encourages us to see our mistake and try again.

The problem is not really our lack of mental discipline as much as it is the guilt that we take on when we judge our lack of discipline. When you allow the guilt to be brought to awareness, you can give it over for healing. Looking at the guilt from outside of the dream, with the eyes of love, is how we can see its unreality.

" The Holy Spirit is not delayed in His teaching by your mistakes. He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go. Let us therefore be determined, particularly for the next week or so, to be willing to forgive ourselves for our lapses in diligence, and our failures to follow the instructions for practicing the day's idea." (W.95.8.1-3) If we don't forgive ourselves, what we are doing is reliving that instant when we made the original mistake in the separation and chose to forget about God and make our own identity separate from Him. Now we are just re-living this mistake and continuing to feel guilty about our choice, instead of being willing to have this mistake corrected. " Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. They are attempts to keep you unaware you are one Self, united with your Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace," (W.95.10.1-2) and this is what keeps the ego going. We want to prove that our separate self is the truth about us. What holds it in place is guilt. Guilt is the superglue of the ego. We hold onto the guilt in order to reaffirm our individual, separate self, which keeps us invested in the illusion and unaware of the truth of our reality, that we are as God created us.

Jesus is telling us that these repetitions are necessary for us at this stage because of our undisciplined minds. Again, this rings true for most of us doesn't it? The practice may still feel like a chore much of the time because our minds are still in resistance, but he says, if we schedule these frequent practice periods throughout the day, we will be less likely to forget for long periods of time. We do this to remind ourselves of our purpose. We are here to wake up from this dream. We are here to remember who we are.

I was listening to a near death experience reported by Thomas Mellon Benedict, who said that when we leave the body, it is in our interests to be at a high level of consciousness. When our lives here are used as an opportunity to raise our consciousness to this high level, they are being used for a mighty purpose. We are asleep in this dream, believing we are something we are not. Jesus tells us that it is tragic to use time for any other purpose than to awaken." Delay does not matter in eternity, but it is tragic in time." (T.5.VI.1.3)(ACIM OE T.5.VIII.71) Why? Because we are basically living in a state of fear, chasing after things that will never bring us any joy. That is why we are urged to remember our purpose, which can only be achieved with a highly disciplined mind. But when we see that the mind is not as disciplined as it needs to be, it should not be something for which we beat up on ourselves. We just need to recognize that we are pushing God away because of our fear of Him. It is our fear of our Self, the love that we are, because in the face of that love, our specialness, uniqueness and individuality are threatened. We want to keep our investment in that individual self, and it is this investment in the separate self that is the reason for our wandering thoughts and our forgetting to do the Lesson. Recognize that this is the case. You are not guilty because you forgot. Just recognize your fear of giving up your individuality and be willing to bring this to the light.

While he asks us to set up a structure of regularity in terms of time, he acknowledges that this is not the most ideal, but necessary at our stage of practice. What would be ideal is that the motivation for practice comes from within, but as long as it is not there, we are encouraged to set up a practice schedule on the hour until our motivation is consistent. Again, when we forget to keep to this schedule, it is our resistance and fear showing up. When this happens, just ask for help. Forgive yourself.

The three things that are proposed here for our practice are: 1) shorter amount of time, five minutes 2) more repetitions with the first five minutes of practice on the hour and briefly repeating the Lesson throughout the day as much as possible and 3) regularity by structuring our day for practice on the hour. For some it may include post-it notes, setting the computer with an alarm, carrying a vibrating timer set to go off every hour, or whatever might work for you. While Jesus is introducing the value of structure, he knows it is difficult for us and that we will forget. Using these aids can be helpful, but it is also important that we don't do this simply as a rote activity, so if this is what it becomes for you, it is probably more helpful just to watch how your day goes without these aids. For me, the aids have been more irritating than helpful, so I don't use them as my resistance seems to increase with their use. So do what is helpful to you. Despite your best efforts, you will probably still lapse, but he says don't worry if you do, and don't beat up on yourself. The real problem is guilt and bringing more of it on is definitely not helpful and not something Jesus wants for us.

An aspect of my self-concept that I notice with use of aids is about "being spontaneous", which is actually a resistance to being told what to do. It is my resistance to structure. I know how much I have given value to going with the flow, being open to whatever shows up, and resisting control. After all, that is what the 60's were about for me. This is what we called freedom. Yet Jesus gently reminds us that our own will is never free. Our only freedom lies in knowing our true reality and the way to awakening from this dream is through this kind of mind training. If we truly want to know who we are, to experience joy and to know true peace, he shows us the way. The question is, how willing are we?

Now, just a few words about today's Lesson, since all of the commentary so far is about the importance of this practice. In this Lesson, he tells us that rather than experiencing ourselves as one Self, we have many warring parts in us. Certainly that is not hard to see, even though we may defend against concepts of ourselves as " weak, vicious, ugly, sinful, miserable, and beset with pain." (W.95.2.1) Certainly, if we look honestly, we have felt our own weakness, seen ourselves as ugly, experienced our viciousness and sinfulness, and felt misery and pain. Who of us has escaped such experiences? But this is saying more than that. It is saying that that is our current state no matter how much we cover up with an inflated sense of self. What the inflated ego does is cover up the deeply held negative beliefs about ourselves that we defend so strongly. Now we have to hold these warring parts together somehow. How do we do that? We turn to our " erratic and capricious maker," (W.95.2.2) the ego, to hold together these parts of ourselves. Jesus says it is the ego to whom we look for help. It offers us some kind of identity, but it is a shifting, changing identity depending on circumstances outside of us that can trigger all of these fearful feelings and beliefs within ourselves. Yes, it is capricious, uncertain, confused and tenuous. Only the Self that we are, behind this parody is the truth. We try to reach that Self through our five-minute practices and we do it by being willing to look at the ego and bring it to the light.

We are trying to experience the united, secure, joyful, and peaceful Self, the One mind that we all are, the complete, healed and whole Self, and the One in perfect harmony with all there is and all that there will be. This is the one Self that " will shine away all your illusions and your doubts." (W.95.13.3) This is the innocent Self that is the truth about us. The illusion is the one who plays the roles in the world, who thinks it is good or bad depending on the situation, and who has a concept of itself in the world as a conqueror as well as a victim. It is the self who is a player in the illusive world and believes that this illusion is so very real, when in fact it is just a dream state, a movie, a cast of characters made up by this player (ourselves). Now we can see where we have given power away to outside circumstances and to others in the dream. Now we have an opportunity to take responsibility for everything that we are feeling and experiencing and bring it all to the light. Today, Jesus urges us to remember how important this practice is to our happiness. Let us use every opportunity today for the purpose of undoing the ego's misperceptions, so we can remember who we are.

TEXT

⁶⁹ Attitudes toward the body are attitudes toward attack. The ego's definitions of everything are childish and always based on what it believes a thing is for. This is because it is incapable of true generalizations and equates what it sees with the function it ascribes to it. It does not equate it with what it is. To the ego, the body is to attack with. Equating you with the body, it teaches that you are to attack with, because this is what it believes. The body, then, is not the source of its own health. The body's condition lies solely in your interpretation of its function.

 

⁷⁰ The reason why definitions in terms of function are inferior is that they may well be inaccurate. Functions are part of being since they arise from it, but the relationship is not reciprocal. The whole does define the part, but the part does not define the whole. This is as true of knowledge as it is of perception. The reason to know in part is to know entirely is because of the fundamental difference between knowledge and perception. In perception the whole is built up of parts, which can separate and reassemble in different constellations. Knowledge never changes, so its constellation is permanent. The only areas in which part-whole relationships have any meaning are those in which change is possible. There is no difference between the whole and the part where change is impossible.

 

⁷¹ The body exists in a world which seems to contain two voices which are fighting for its possession. In this perceived constellation, the body is regarded as capable of shifting its control from one to the other, making the concept of both health and sickness possible. The ego makes a fundamental confusion between means and ends, as it always does. Regarding the body as an end, the ego has no real use for it because it is not an end. You must have noticed an outstanding characteristic of every end that the ego has accepted as its own. When you have achieved it, it has not satisfied you. This is why the ego is forced to shift from one end to another without ceasing, so that you will continue to hope that it can yet offer you something.

 

⁷² It has been particularly difficult to overcome the ego's belief in the body as an end, because this is synonymous with the belief in attack as an end. The ego has a real investment in sickness. If you are sick, how can you object to the ego's firm belief that you are not invulnerable? This is a particularly appealing argument from the ego's point of view because it obscures the obvious attack which underlies the sickness. If you accepted this and also decided against attack, you could not give this false witness to the ego's stand.

 

⁷³ It is hard to perceive sickness as a false witness because you do not realize that it is entirely out of keeping with what you want. This witness, then, appears to be innocent and trustworthy because you have not seriously cross-examined him. If you did, you would not consider sickness such a strong witness on behalf of the ego's views.

 

⁷⁴ A more honest statement would be as follows:  Those who want the ego are predisposed to defend it. Therefore, their choice of witnesses should be suspect from the beginning. The ego does not call upon witnesses who would disagree with its case, nor does the Holy Spirit. We have said that judgment is the function of the Holy Spirit and one which He is perfectly equipped to fulfill. The ego as a judge gives anything but an impartial judgment. When the ego calls on a witness, it has already made the witness an ally.

 

⁷⁵ It is still true that the body has no function of itself, because it is not an end. The ego, however, establishes it as an end because as such it will lose its true function. This is the purpose of everything the ego does. Its sole aim is to lose sight of the function of everything. A sick body does not make any sense. It could not make sense, because sickness is not what the body is for. Sickness is meaningful only if the two basic premises on which the ego's interpretation of the body rests are true. Specifically, these are that the body is for attack and that you are a body. Without these premises, sickness is completely inconceivable.

 

⁷⁶ Sickness is a way of demonstrating that you can be hurt. It is a witness to your frailty, your vulnerability, and your extreme need to depend on external guidance. The ego uses this as its best argument for your need for its guidance. It dictates endless prescriptions for avoiding catastrophic outcomes. The Holy Spirit, perfectly aware of the same data, does not bother to analyze them at all. If the data are meaningless, there is no point in considering them. The function of truth is to collect data which are true. There is no point in trying to make sense out of meaningless data. Any way you handle them results in nothing. The more complicated the results become, the harder it may be to recognize their nothingness, but it is not necessary to examine all possible outcomes to which premises give rise to judge them truly.

 

⁷⁷ A learning device is not a teacher. It cannot tell you how you feel. You do not know how you feel because you have accepted the ego's confusion, and you think that a learning device can tell you how you feel. Sickness is merely another example of your insistence on asking the guidance of a teacher who does not know the answer. The ego is incapable of knowing how you feel. When we said that the ego does not know anything, we said the one thing about the ego that is wholly true. But there is a corollary; if knowledge is being and the ego has no knowledge, then the ego has no being.

 

⁷⁸ You might well ask how the voice of something which does not exist can be so insistent. Have you seriously considered the distorting power of something you want, even if it is not true? You have had many instances of how what you want can distort what you see and hear. No one can doubt the ego's skill in building up false cases. Nor can anyone doubt your willingness to listen until you will not to tolerate anything except truth. When you lay the ego aside, it will be gone. The Holy Spirit's Voice is as loud as your willingness to listen. It cannot be louder without violating your will, which the Holy Spirit seeks to free but never to command.

 

⁷⁹ The Holy Spirit teaches you to use your body only to reach your brothers, so He can teach His message through you. This will heal them and therefore heal you. Everything used in accordance with its function as the Holy Spirit sees it cannot be sick. Everything used otherwise is. Do not allow the body to be a mirror of a split mind. Do not let it be an image of your own perception of littleness. Do not let it reflect your will to attack. Health is the natural state of anything whose interpretation is left to the Holy Spirit, Who perceives no attack on anything. Health is the result of relinquishing all attempts to use the body lovelessly. Health is the beginning of the proper perspective on life under the guidance of the one Teacher Who knows what life is, being the Voice for Life Itself.

 

 

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