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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 8 "THE JOURNEY BACK
VI. THE POWER OF JOINT DECISION
We are the joint will of the Sonship, whose wholeness is for all. We begin the journey back by setting out
together and gather in our brothers as we
continue together. Every gain in our strength is offered for all, so they too can lay aside their weakness and add their strength to us. God's welcome waits for us all, and He will welcome us as I am welcoming you.
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DAILY LESSON
L e s s o n 92
Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1 The idea for today is an extension of the previous one. You do not think of light in terms of strength and darkness in terms of weakness. That is because your idea of what seeing means is tied up with the body and its eyes and brain. This is why you believe that you can change what you see by keeping little bits of glass or other clear material before your eyes held in a frame or placed against the eye.
2 These are among the many magical beliefs that come from the conviction you are a body and the body's eyes can see. You also believe the body's brain can think. If you but understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea. It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun and gives it all its warmth or that you had the universe imprisoned in your hand, securely bound until you let it go. Yet this is no more foolish than to believe the body's eyes can see, the brain can think.
3 It is God's strength in you that is the light in which you see, as it is His Mind with which you think. His strength denies your weakness. It is your weakness that sees through the body's eyes, peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself-the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving, and the joyless. These are seen through eyes which cannot see and cannot bless.
4 Strength overlooks these things by seeing past appearances. It keeps its steady gaze upon the light that lies beyond them. It unites with light, of which it is a part. It sees itself. It brings the light in which your Self appears. In darkness you perceive a self that is not there.
5 Strength is the truth about you; weakness is an idol falsely worshipped, and adored that strength may be dispelled and darkness rule where God appointed that there should be light. Strength comes from truth and shines with light its Source has given it; weakness reflects the darkness of its maker. It is sick and looks on sickness, which is like itself.
6 Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply. It sees that lack in anyone would be a lack in all, and so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one. Its strength is shared that it may bring to all the miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love.
7 Weakness, which looks in darkness, cannot see a purpose in forgiveness and in love. It sees all others different from itself and nothing in the world that it would share. It judges and condemns but does not love. In darkness it remains to hide itself and dreams that it is strong and conquering, a victor over limitations that but grow in darkness to enormous size. It fears and it attacks and hates itself, and darkness covers everything it sees, leaving its dreams as fearful as itself. No miracles are here, but only hate. It separates itself from what it sees, while light and strength perceive themselves as one.
8 The light of strength is not the light you see. It does not change and flicker and go out. It does not shift from night to day and back to darkness till the morning comes again. The light of strength is constant, sure as love, forever glad to give itself away because it cannot give but to itself. No one can ask in vain to share its sight, and none who enters its abode can leave without a miracle before his eyes and strength and light abiding in his heart.
9 The strength in you will offer you the light and guide your seeing, so you do not dwell on idle shadows that the body's eyes provide for self-deception. Strength and light unite in you, and where they meet, your Self stands ready to embrace you as Its own. Such is the meeting place we try today to find and rest in, for the peace of God is where your Self, His Son, is waiting now to meet itself again and be as one.
10 Let us give 20 minutes twice today to join this meeting. Let yourself be brought unto your Self. Its strength will be the light in which the gift of sight is given you. Leave, then, the dark a little while today, and we will practice seeing in the light, closing the body's eyes and asking truth to show us how to find the meeting place of self and Self, where light and strength are one.
11 After the morning meeting, we will use the day in preparation for the time at night when we will meet again in hope and trust. Let us repeat as often as we can the idea for today and recognize that we are being introduced to sight and led away from darkness to the light, where only miracles can be perceived.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
Lesson 92
Miracles are seen in light, and light
and strength are one.
Sarah's Commentary:
The cost of our independence, what we call our free will, is that we have cut ourselves off from the source of real power and strength. We now feel small, weak, sickly, needy, helpless, afraid, sad, poor, joyless, ultimately lacking, vulnerable and deprived. We see ourselves in a world of suffering we made, ending in our death, which we see as our release. This is insanity, Jesus tells us. He says this insanity comes from our belief that we are bodies, different and separate from each other. Feeling our weakness, we puff ourselves up into a show of ego strength, but all the time it is just an attempt to hide our underlying weakness. When we feel weak, we are fearful, but we try to hide our fear and weakness. This makes us feel even more vulnerable and fearful that our weakness will be seen, so we create defenses and now fear attack. Attack comes out of weakness. "Weakness reflects the darkness of its maker." (W.92.5.1) Strength sees no need to attack, for it "overlooks these things by seeing past appearances." (W.92.4.1)
"His strength denies your weakness."
(W.92.3.2) Jesus says, "you always choose between your weakness and the strength of Christ in you." (T.31.VIII.2.3)(ACIM OE T.31.VIII. 86) When we think we are a separated, individual self, what keeps us feeling strong is our specialness. If we were to let our specialness go and experience the light, it would render the ego identity weak. That is the reason for our fear of the light while we identify with the body and personality. When we rely on our eyes and our brain, and focus on our uniqueness and individuality, we will be threatened by the light. This Lesson tells us, light is where our true strength is because the ego's strength is built only on the illusion of strength.
Jesus makes it clear, our version of seeing is tied in with the body's eyes, and our version of thinking is about the body's brain. Clearly, this is what we think, but Jesus makes it sound like such a ridiculous idea that we should simply laugh at is. This puts everything we think we know in question. Who is thinking and reading these words on the page? What we are being asked to do is question who we think we are and what we believe the darkness of the ego offers us.
Only when we plug into the Source of our real strength, God, can we know the Christ Self. Strength looks past appearances. With strength, we think with God's mind and call upon His strength. When we do, we question the beliefs we hold, the thoughts we think with our brain, and the images we see with our eyes. This is terrifying if we really accept it, since it means we don't know what and who we are. "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) When we recognize and are willing to admit this, we show willingness to be taught. When we think we know and have everything figured out, our arrogance and our investment in our identity as separate individuals will not allow for this questioning.
Jesus even looks with amusement at our belief that wearing glasses helps us to see. We are learning that true vision is not of the eyes, and when we think with the Mind of God, we have true perception. With true perception, we see with vision, while with the ego, we see only the separate and the different. With separation comes judgment and attack. "Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply." (W.92.5.3-4)
When we look through the body's eyes, we see "the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless." (W.92.3.3) This is not seeing because these observations are what actually stop seeing. If we could see truly, we would see beyond these appearances. Real sight would keep "its steady gaze upon the light that lies beyond them." (W.92.4.1) Instead of seeing the differences between ourselves and our brothers, we would be joined in the one light, where there are no differences. This does not mean we don't see what the body's eyes report, but we realize our perceptions need not block our vision. When we ask for help to see beyond appearances, we will be helped to release our judgments and interpretations and see the truth of who our brothers are. It is not about what our eyes show us in form (behavior), but about the content of love, beyond the form, that we all share.
The ego thought system is kept intact by seeing differences. It judges others as guilty while seeing ourselves as special and better than those we see as sinners. When we look with vision on our brothers, we are joined in the One Self we truly are. The weakness of the ego identity is not the truth about us. It is just an "idol falsely worshipped and adored that strength may be dispelled, and darkness rule." (W.92.4.7) Why would we want that? We want it because we are attached to the belief we are bodies and personalities. We accept this weakness because we still value our separate self. We accept the darkness and affirm that is what we are. We choose this instead of vision as a way to keep our special identity. It is a way we keep our specialness, separateness and uniqueness and thus stay invested in this illusion. From this perspective, we can only judge and condemn, but we cannot truly love. Even under the guise of thinking we are loving beings, there is the underlying judgment of separation, where we see others as not as loving as ourselves.
Every day, as we focus on the Lessons, we change our thoughts bit by bit, until we take in a whole new thought system. Increasingly, as we build this thought system, we connect with the truth of who we are. Today is a big step in undoing our belief in the self we have made. It is encouraging to know, strength is the truth of who we really are. (W.92.4.7) However, we will experience anxiety at the thought of releasing our identity and our investment in the world, but we are not asked to give up anything. We are only asked to question who we think we are and join with the Holy Spirit with willingness to look at what we have made of ourselves. When we take that step, we can't fail. "No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth, and it is truth we seek to reach today." (W.131.10.2) Jesus won't do it for us. We must be in agreement with him and ask for his help. We must join with him so he can help us to awaken to the truth of our reality. That is why he came. Now we can avail ourselves of his help.
"The light of strength is not the light you see. It does not change and flicker and go out. It does not shift from night to day, and back to darkness till the morning comes again."
(W.92.7.4-6) Jesus is challenging the way we see light, which is constantly changing and shifting, whether it be candle light, incandescent bulbs, firelight, or sunlight. The light of strength he is talking about is "constant, sure as love, forever glad to give itself away, because it cannot give but to itself." (W.92.8.1) This light is available to anyone who asks for it with sincerity and, once experienced, everything changes. It is the light of forgiveness, which brings the miracle and changes us by abiding in our hearts. Now we see the impermanent world of darkness as valueless.
Today, we spend a longer time in quiet meditation in the morning and evening. What we are doing is asking for help in bringing our little self to the Self we are. We are bringing our darkness to the light. We are bringing our weakness to strength. We are watching our thoughts and placing them on the altar within. We are bringing the match we think lights the sun to the Sun. In this we recognize our Source. We affirm our true power as a channel for miracles. We do this by "closing the body's eyes and asking truth to show us how to find the meeting place of self and Self, where light and strength are one." (W.92.10.4)
We must ask for this help. Without this sincere desire of the heart, we can't be helped. In the process, we leave the darkness for a while and question our investment in what our uniqueness and our specialness have brought us. We are not asked to go there permanently. Jesus is encouraging us to just leave the dark for a while. (W.92.10.4) As we do, we can see more clearly that the body will never protect us. Our only protection is in the truth of who we are.
"Morning and evening we will practice thus. After the morning meeting, we will use the day in preparation for the time at night when we will meet again in trust. Let us repeat as often as we can the idea for today, and recognize that we are being introduced to sight, and led away from darkness to the light where only miracles can be perceived.
For the shorter practice periods throughout the day, repeat the idea for the day as often as you can, with the reminder to yourself that you "are being introduced to sight, and led away from darkness to the light where only miracles can be perceived." (W.92.11.3) Thus, we welcome every opportunity throughout the day to choose the miracle that leads us from darkness to the light.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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PAUSED FOR WEEKEND
VI. The Power of Joint Decision
42
We are the joint will of the Sonship, whose wholeness is for all. We begin the journey back by setting out
together and gather in our brothers as we
continue together. Every gain in our strength is offered for all, so they too can lay aside their weakness and add their strength to us. God's welcome waits for us all, and He will welcome us as I am welcoming you. Forget not the Kingdom of God for anything the world has to offer. The world can add nothing to the power and the glory of God and His holy Sons, but it
can blind the Sons to the Father if they behold it. You cannot behold the world and know God. Only one is true.
43 I am come to tell you that the choice of which is true is not yours. If it were, you would have destroyed yourselves. Yet God did not will the destruction of His creations, having created them for eternity. His Will has saved you, not from yourselves, but from your
illusions of yourselves. He has saved you
for yourselves. Let us glorify Him whom the world denies, for over His Kingdom, it has no power. No one created by God can find joy in anything
except the eternal. That is not because he is deprived of anything else, but because nothing else is
worthy of him. What God and His Sons create
is eternal, and in this and this only is their joy.
44 Listen to the story of the prodigal son, and learn what God's treasure is and
yours: This son of a loving father left his home and thought he squandered everything for nothing of any value, although he did not know its worthlessness at the time. He was ashamed to return to his father because he thought he had hurt him. Yet when he came home, the father welcomed him with joy because only the son himself
was his father's treasure. He
wanted nothing else.
45 God wants only His Son because His Son is His only treasure. You want
your creations as He wants
His. Your creations are your gift to the Holy Trinity, created in gratitude for
your creation. They do not leave you, any more than you have left
your Creator, but they
extend your creation as God extended Himself to
you. Can the creations of God Himself take joy in what is not real? And what
is real except the creations of God and those which are created like His?
Your creations love you as your Soul loves your Father for the gift of creation. There
is no other gift which is eternal, and therefore there is no other gift which is
true.
46 How, then, can you
accept anything else or
give anything else and expect joy in return? And what else but joy would you
want? You made neither yourself nor your function. You made only the
decision to be unworthy of both. Yet you could not make
yourself unworthy because you are the treasure of God. What
He values
is valuable. There can
be no question of its worth because its value lies in God's sharing Himself with it and
establishing its value forever.
47
Your function is to add to God's treasure by creating
yours. His Will
to you is His Will
for you. He would not withhold creation from you because
His joy is in it. You cannot find joy
except as God does.
His joy lay in creating
you, and He extends His Fatherhood to you so that you can extend yourself as He did. You do not understand this because you do not understand
Him. No one who does not know his function can understand it, and no one
can know his function unless he knows who he
is. Creation is the Will of God. His Will created you to create. Your will was not created separate from His, and so it wills as
He wills.
48 An "unwilling will" does not mean anything, being a contradiction in terms which actually leaves nothing. When you
think you are unwilling to will with God,
you are not thinking. God's Will
is thought. It cannot be contradicted
by thought. God does not contradict
Himself, and His Sons, who are like Him, cannot contradict themselves
or Him. Yet their thought is so powerful that they can even imprison the minds of God's Sons
if they so choose. This choice
does make the Son's function unknown to
him, but
never to his Creator. And
because it is not unknown to his Creator, it is forever knowable to him.
49 There is no question but one you should ever ask of yourself- "Do I
want to know my Father's Will for me?"
He will not hide it. He has revealed it to me because I asked it of Him and learned of what He had already given. Our function is to function together because
apart from each other we cannot function at all. The whole power of God's Son lies in all of us, but not in any of us alone. God would not have us be alone because
He does not will to be alone. That is why He created His Son and gave him the power to create with Him.
50 Our creations are as holy as we are, and we are the Sons of God Himself and therefore as holy as He is. Through our creations, we extend our love and thus increase the joy of the Holy Trinity. You do not understand this for a very simple reason. You who are God's own treasure do not regard yourselves as valuable. Given this belief, you cannot understand
anything. I share with God the knowledge of the value
He puts upon you. My devotion to you is of Him, being born of my knowledge of myself
and Him. We cannot
be separated. Whom God has joined cannot be separated, and God has joined all His Sons with Himself. Can you be separated from your life and your being?
51 The journey to God is merely the reawakening of the knowledge of
where you are always and
what you are forever. It is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed. Truth can only be
experienced. It cannot be described, and it cannot be explained. I can make you aware of the
conditions of truth, but the experience is of God. Together we can meet its conditions, but truth will dawn upon you of itself.
52 What God has willed for you
is yours. He has given His Will to His treasure, whose treasure it is. Your heart lies where your treasure is, as His does. You who are beloved of God are wholly blessed. Learn this of me, and free the holy will of all those who are as blessed as
you are.
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