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THURSDAY FEBRUARY 25, 2016
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Graphic by ©Deposit Photos
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 5 "HEALING AND WHOLENESS"
VI. THERAPY AND TEACHING
Truth is beyond your ability to destroy but entirely within your grasp. It belongs to you because you created it. It is yours because it is a part of you, just as you are part of God because He created
you.
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK Part I ~ REVIEW I
INTRODUCTION
<AUDIO><VIDEO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1 Beginning with today, we will have a series of review periods. Each of them will cover five of the ideas already presented, starting with the first and ending with the fiftieth. There will be a few short comments after each of the ideas which you should consider in your review. In the practice periods, the exercises should be done as follows:
2 Begin the day by reading the five ideas, with the comments included. Thereafter, it is not necessary to follow any particular order in considering them, though each one should be practiced at least once. Devote two minutes or more to each practice period, thinking about the idea and the related comments. Do this as often as possible during the day. If any one of the five ideas appeals to you more than the others, concentrate on that one. At the end of the day, however, be sure to review all of them once more.
3 It is not necessary to cover the comments that follow each idea literally or thoroughly in the practice periods. Rather, try merely to emphasize the central point and think about it as part of your review of the idea to which it relates.
4 The review exercises should be done with your eyes closed and when you are alone in a quiet place if possible. This is emphasized particularly for reviews at your stage of learning. It will be necessary, however, that you learn to require no special settings in which to apply what you have learned. You will need it most in situations which appear to be upsetting, rather than in those which already seem to be calm and quiet.
5 The purpose of your learning is to enable you to bring the quiet with you and to heal distress and turmoil. This is not done by avoiding them and seeking a haven of isolation for yourself. You will yet learn that peace is part of you and requires only that you be there to embrace any situation in which you are. And finally you will learn that there is no limit to where you are, so that your peace is everywhere, as you are.
6 You will note that for review purposes the ideas are not always given in quite their original form of statement. Use them as they are given here. It is not necessary to return to the original statements nor to apply the ideas as was suggested then. We are now emphasizing the relationships among the first fifty of the ideas we have covered and the cohesiveness of the thought system to which they are leading you.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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DAILY LESSON
L e s s o n 56 ~ Review I
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1 Our review for today covers the following:
[26] My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.
2 How can I know who I am when I see myself as under constant attack? Pain, illness, loss, age, and death seem to threaten me. All my hopes and wishes and plans appear to be at the mercy of a world I cannot control. Yet perfect security and complete fulfillment are my inheritance. I have tried to give my inheritance away in exchange for the world I see. But God has kept my inheritance safe for me. My own real thoughts will teach me what it is.
[27] Above all else I want to see.
3 Recognizing that what I see reflects what I think I am, I realize that vision is my greatest need. The world I see attests to the fearful nature of the self-image I have made. If I would remember who I am, it is essential that I let this image of myself go. As it is replaced by truth, vision will surely be given me. And with this vision, I will look upon the world and upon myself with charity and love.
[28] Above all else I want to see differently.
4 The world I see holds my fearful self-image in place, and guarantees its continuance. While I see the world as I see it now, truth cannot enter my awareness. I would let the door behind this world be opened for me that I may look past it to the world that reflects the Love of God.
[29] God is in everything I see.
5 Behind every image I have made, the truth remains unchanged. Behind every veil I have drawn across the face of love, its light remains undimmed. Beyond all my insane wishes is my will united with the Will of my Father. God is still everywhere and in everything forever. And we who are part of Him will yet look past all appearances and recognize the truth beyond them all.
[30] God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.
6 In my own mind, behind all my insane thoughts of separation and attack, is the knowledge that all is one forever. I have not lost the knowledge of who I am because I have forgotten it. It has been kept for me in the Mind of God, Who has not left His Thoughts. And I, who am among them, am one with them and one with Him.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
Sarah's Commentary:
God is holding our inheritance safely for us. (W.56.1.7) What is that inheritance? It is "perfect security and complete fulfillment." (W.56.1.5) In order to return to our home and know our inheritance, we need to be willing to look at what we have made of ourselves in our determination to be self-reliant, independent, and a unique individual. The word 'indivi-dual' reflects the duality of our lives. It contains the very nature of our problem, which is the separation from Oneness. In that separation, a veil was drawn over the face of Love. (W.56.4.3) While our inheritance is safely held for us, the light of truth remains undimmed (W.56.4.3), and our will is still united with the Will of our Father (W.56.4.4), we have forgotten it all. Now we are reclaiming our inheritance, because while it is forgotten, it is not lost and that is a relief.
We think we have left our beautiful home and cannot return. We are like the Prodigal Son who believed when he left his home he could never return because he feared he had squandered his father's treasure, but when he finally returned home, his father embraced him. His father told him that he was his Father's treasure. In the same way, we are afraid to return to the love we are, forgetting our Father's Love awaits us on our return.
What is keeping us from this place of peace, truth, vision, safety, joy and love within us in our right minds? How are we sabotaging ourselves? What dirge are we singing to ourselves every day? "Healing occurs as a patient begins to hear the dirge he sings, and questions its validity." (Psychotherapy Pamphlet.2.VI.1.5) What do we believe about ourselves, life, our existence, and this world? Jesus talks about this dirge of sorrow we sing to ourselves when he says, "God is everywhere, and His Son is in Him with everything. Can he sing the dirge of sorrow when this is true?" (T. 14.II.8.7-8)(ACIM OE T.13.VII.63) And yet we do.
We try so desperately to be in control. We work so hard to build our self-image and hold onto our self-concepts. We see ourselves constantly under attack. "Pain, illness, loss, age and death seem to threaten me." (W.56.1.3) That is what we have received in trade in blocking our inheritance given us by God in our creation. It does seem crazy and it is, so what do we do now to return to our inheritance? This Lesson tells us quite a bit about that.
It starts with willingness. No one, not even God, the Holy Spirit or Jesus will change our minds for us. Our agreement is needed to "let the door behind this world be opened for me, that I may look past it to the world that reflects the Love of God." (W.56.3.4) It is there for us to experience. We just need to allow it. We just need to be willing to let our blocks go. We need to become aware of the insanity of our thoughts and release them as they show up in our awareness. We don't need to pry the door open. In fact, our efforts will not help. It is not about trying to make ourselves holy. We need do nothing. The door is already open. We already are what we are searching for. It is about letting go, about surrendering our way. The events and circumstances of our lives reveal our thoughts and feelings to us. They are a mirror reflecting back at us what is in our minds. All we need is to take responsibility for what is reflected in the mirror, keep watching our minds, and keep bringing our misperceptions to the truth.
We have truly forgotten who we are. Those people in our lives who seem to torture us, who seem to challenge us, with whom we engage in power struggles, are the ones who are our saviors in this process. They are a mirror of the insane thoughts in our own minds. No one has done anything to us that we haven't asked for. Astounding as this may sound, our minds are the only cause of what seems to happen to us. We have the power to change these thoughts of persecution. We are our own persecutors as a result of the attack thoughts in our own minds. How we bring persecution into our lives is by holding onto our self attacks. We must now commit ourselves to release these insane thoughts to be healed. "The ego always speaks first," (T.5.VI.3.5)(ACIM OE T.5.VIII.73) so that the first thought is always a judgment or an opinion to which the Answer is given by the Holy Spirit to the ego's wrong-minded interpretations. Thus, vision replaces judgment and allows us to see a world of peace and love regardless of appearances.
Today, I am reminding myself that anger is never justified. It seems it is justified by what I see happening 'outside', but it all comes from my mind. It all starts with my own attack thoughts. Attack thoughts I hold show me a false and vulnerable self that deserves attack in return. The good thing is when I recognize that my anger keeps me from peace, I am more willing to consider the possibility that I made it all up. "Above all else I want to see differently." (W.56.3.1) My greatest need is vision. It is a greater need than the needs I think I have. I think I need recognition, power, control, money, my home, family, and physical comforts, yet Jesus really speaks to our deep hunger for vision, which is to know our invulnerable selves as we were created. To have vision, I have to let go of this image I have made of myself.
Of course, the purpose of this world I have projected is to keep this image intact. "The learning of the world is built upon a concept of the self adjusted to the world's reality." (T.31.V.1.1)(ACIM OE T.31.V.43) Jesus tells us, "The building of a concept of the self is what the learning of the world is for." (T.31.V.1.5)(ACIM OE T.31.V.43) Now we are called to question it. As long as we are trying to perfect the self-concept, we are not willing to look at the "treachery it hides." (T.31.V.5.2)(ACIM OE T.31.V.47) Only by looking at the false thoughts we have made up about ourselves can we release them and see what they hide, which is the love we are. "Behind every image I have made, the truth remains unchanged." (W.56.4.2) "God is still everywhere and in everything forever. And we who are part of Him will yet look past all appearances, and recognize the truth beyond them all." (W.56.4.5-6)
Today, we remember that God's Love is ever present in our minds. There is nothing we can do or have done that can change the truth of that. The Holy Spirit is the memory of God and His love for us, held in our right minds. It is held there until we recognize it has always been there behind our dark thoughts. "God is in everything I see because God is in my mind." (W.56.5.1) He is fully present to us in this moment, now.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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44 You must have noticed how often I have used your own ideas to help you. You have learned to be a loving, wise, and very understanding therapist
except for yourself. That exception has given you more than perception for others because of what you saw in
them but less than knowledge of your real relationships
to them because you did not accept them as
part of you. Understanding
is beyond perception because it introduces meaning. It is, however, below knowledge even though it can grow
towards it. It is possible, with great effort, to understand someone else to some extent and to be quite helpful to him, but the effort is misdirected. The misdirection is quite apparent; it is directed away from
you.
45 This does not mean that it is
lost to you, but it
does mean that you are not aware of it. I have saved all your kindnesses and every loving thought you have had. I have purified them of the errors which hid their light and have kept them for you in their own perfect radiance. They are beyond destruction and beyond guilt. They came from the Holy Spirit within
you, and we know what God creates is eternal. What fear has hidden still is part of you.
46 Joining the Atonement, which I have repeatedly asked you to do, is always a way
out of fear. This does not mean that you can safely fail to acknowledge anything that is true. However, the Holy Spirit will not fail to help you reinterpret everything that you perceive as fearful and teach you that
only what is loving
is true. Truth is beyond your ability to destroy but entirely within your grasp. It belongs to you because you created it. It is yours because it is a part of you, just as you are part of God because He created
you.
47 The Atonement is the
guarantee of the safety of the Kingdom. Nothing good is lost because it comes from the Holy Spirit, the Voice for creation. Nothing that is
not good was ever created and therefore
cannot be protected. What the ego makes, it
keeps to itself, and so it is without strength. Its unshared existence does not die; it was merely never born. Real birth is not a beginning; it is a
continuing. Everything that can continue has
been born, but it can
increase as you are willing to return the part of your mind that needs healing to the higher part and thus render your creating undivided.
48 As a therapist, you yourself tell your patients that the real difference between neurotic and "healthy" guilt feelings is that neurotic guilt feelings
do not help anyone. This distinction is wise though incomplete. Let us make the distinction a little sharper now. Neurotic guilt feelings are a device of the ego for "atoning" without sharing and for asking pardon without change. The ego
never calls for
real Atonement and cannot tolerate forgiveness, which
is change.
49 Your concept of "healthy guilt feelings" has merit, but without the concept of the Atonement, it lacks the healing potential it holds. You made the distinction in terms of feelings, which led to a decision not to
repeat the error, which is only
part of healing. Your concept lacked the idea of
undoing it. What you were really advocating, then, was adopting a policy of sharing without a real
foundation. I have come to
give you the foundation, so your own thoughts can make you
really free. You have carried the burden of the ideas you did not share and which were therefore too weak to increase, but you did not recognize how to undo their existence
because you had made them.
50 You
cannot cancel out your past errors alone. They will
not disappear from your mind without remedy. The remedy is
not of your making, any more than
you are. The Atonement cannot be understood except as a
pure act of sharing. That is what is meant when we said it is possible even in this world to listen to
one voice. If you are part of God and the Sonship is one, you
cannot be limited to the "self" the ego sees. Every loving thought held in
any part of the Sonship belongs to every part. It is shared
because it is loving. Sharing is God's way of creating and also
yours. Your ego can keep you in exile
from the Kingdom, but in the Kingdom itself it has no power.
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