DAILY LESSON

 

L e s s o n  31

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¹Today's idea is the introduction to your declaration of release. Again, the idea should be applied to both the world you see without and the world you see within. In applying the idea, we will use a form of practice which will be used more and more, with changes as indicated. Generally speaking, the form includes two aspects, one in which you apply the idea on a more sustained basis, and the other consisting of frequent applications of the idea throughout the day. 

²Two longer periods of practice with the idea for today are needed, one in the morning and one at night. Three to five minutes for each of them are recommended. During that time, look about you slowly while repeating the idea two or three times. Then close your eyes and apply the same idea to your inner world. You will escape from both together, for the inner is the cause of the outer. 

³As you survey your inner world, merely let whatever thoughts cross your mind come into your awareness, each to be considered for a moment and then replaced by the next. Try not to establish any thought of hierarchy among them. Watch them come and go as dispassionately as possible. Do not dwell on any one in particular, but try to let the stream move on evenly and calmly, without any special investment on your part. As you sit and quietly watch your thoughts, repeat today's idea to yourself as often as you care to, but with no sense of hurry. 

⁴In addition, repeat the idea for today as often as possible during the day. Remind yourself that you are making a declaration of independence in the name of your own freedom. And in your freedom lies the freedom of the world. 

ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 

 LESSON 31

I really love this lesson. It has been one of the most helpful ones to me in changing my mind about the way I have seen myself in the world. There are many ways in which we feel victimized and so we set up defenses against the pain of victimization. Everyday there is something we defend against. We feel victimized by many things be it weather, viruses, slow service, crime, traffic, politics, wars, bills, high costs, challenging relationships, unfair practices, abuse by authority figures, or sickness.   But what is it that gives power to these circumstances and events which are in and of themselves just neutral, illusory events? Obviously it is our thoughts about them. The events are neutral but our thoughts about them are not. Of course this statement can be an outrage to the ego and thus create anxiety for us because we may have suffered some very painful events in our lives.

"The idea should be applied to both the world you see without and the world you see within." (1.2) Jesus is telling us that the inner and outer is both the same. When we survey our inner world, we are victimized by our own self doubts, fears, anger, feelings of helplessness, perfectionism, competition, jealousy, possessiveness, unworthiness, betrayal, manipulation, control, revenge for old wounds, depression, anxiety and expectations. But we can escape from both the inner and outer together because the inner is the cause of the outer. "You will escape from both together, for the inner is the cause of the outer." (3.5)

Being a victim serves the ego. We set things up exactly as we want them. The question is why would we do that? Why would we want to be betrayed? Well, it allows us to do certain things and there are other things that we then don't have to do. It is a way we hide from ourselves, and our purpose. It is an empowering idea to see that we are not a victim of the world we see. The world I see is coming from my own thoughts, and these thoughts can be healed when I choose the miracle, which comes about when I choose to forgive.   My healing depends on my willingness to bring my mistaken perceptions to the light of Truth. If I am truly a victim of outer events then I really am helpless because there is very little that I can do to change anything. I may have the illusion of having some control but mostly we don't have any. Events just seem to happen to us.

It is like at out birth when the story of our victimhood took hold. We all feel like we didn't ask to be born and that the painful experiences of our childhood made us feel victimized. Our whole life story is based on this thought and thus we have set up a lot of defenses to protect ourselves from the pain of these past experiences. Have you thought about what your life would be like without these defenses? Have you thought what your life would be like without your story? There would be ease, grace and a sense of empowerment. But victimhood is a position that is very much supported in the world and even honored. Thus to be a victim has its own rewards. But what this lesson does is undermines everything we currently believe about ourselves and the meaning that we have given to everything in our lives. Now Jesus tells us that if we accept the truth that we are not a victim of the world we see, it is a declaration of release from our ego. It is not initially a welcome idea when our story of victimhood seems so justified. 

 In Text. 27.VII there is a very powerful section entitled "The Dreamer of the Dream."   It is about our belief that we gain salvation through suffering. It is the "world's demented version of salvation." We are believing that our suffering is as a result of being unjustly attacked and we refuse to see that we, ourselves, brought about the attack. We take no responsibility for the attack, and see it as "a thing outside of ourselves." And if the source is seen outside of ourselves, then obviously there is no escape. But of course, there is an escape when we choose Jesus instead of the ego as our teacher. An important step in this process is to see that it is ultimately our decision-making minds that set it up this way. It is not a conscious choice that we have made but part of the script we have chosen for ourselves. It clearly looks like it is the world that is hurting us. It seems so obvious which is exactly how the ego has set it up so that we would see the world as the cause and ourselves as the effect. It is the guilt in our wrong minds that we project on the world and now see others as the guilty ones. Jesus is showing us, in this teaching, that the mind is the cause and the world is the effect. We have reversed cause and effect so that we feel like the world is causing us all of our grief instead of our own thoughts being the cause.

The glory of being the victim is that we get to be innocent. But it is a false innocence that requires someone to be guilty and it comes at a high cost to ourselves. The cost is that we stay in the prison of our own lives as we have defined them through the ego thought system and we keep others bound to the guilt that we put on them. But in our suffering we believe that we are atoning for our sin against God. If we suffer enough, the idea is that we will administer our own punishment on ourselves and do His job for Him. It demonstrates as misdirected idea that suffering is demanded by God and our love for Him can be demonstrated by how much we have suffered. But the victim stance requires that someone pay. And thus the victim becomes the victimizer.

 Jesus says that "suffering is an emphasis upon all that the world has done to injure you. Here is the world's demented version of salvation clearly shown. Like to a dream of punishment, in which the dreamer is unconscious of what brought on the attack against himself, he sees himself attacked unjustly and by something not himself. He is the victim of this 'something else', a thing outside himself, for which he has no reason to be held responsible. He must be innocent because he knows not what he does, but what is done to him. Yet is his own attack upon himself apparent still for it is he who bears the suffering. And he cannot escape because its source is seen outside himself."  (T.27.VII.1)

Further, in Chapter 26.X "The End of Injustice" Jesus is basically saying that 1) it was our decision to separate from God meaning that we chose to throw away God's love. 2) now we feel guilty 3) we desperately want to feel innocent 3) so if I say that I didn't throw away God's love but you took it from me then 4) I can take revenge on you for what I did and 5) by blaming you I give my guilt to you and achieve my innocence. Whenever I feel unfairly treated by anyone, it is because I want to make my brother guilty. I can't be unfairly treated! "Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated."  (T. 26.X.4) And it is such a huge temptation isn't it? 

I remember this beautiful example of what is being talked about here in my own life recently when I became involved in our health care system while trying to have my mother attended to in the emergency ward. It would have been so easy to get outraged about the seeming chaos which continued for twelve hours. Paramedics delivered her to the emergency ward, and they were required to wait with her for more than two hours before a hand-off  to the nursing staff was possible. So the opportunity was clearly there to feel imposed upon and thus victimized by this situation. And further this was an opportunity to attack those who were not undertaking their role in the way I deemed they should. But I chose to notice my thoughts about this situation and to bring them to the presence of the Holy Spirit in my mind. I was asking to see this situation through His eyes. And in that process I recognized that the events were simply neutral but only my thoughts about them were hurting me. "I am not the victim of the world I see." With a shift in perception there opened up some amazing holy encounters with the paramedics who had nothing else to do while waiting except to engage in friendly banter. I left feeling blessed by the experience rather than outraged.

Then I had forgotten my cell phone and felt I needed to let everyone know where I was after an absence of about five hours at this point. Having found an available phone there was a request posted that people not use it for more than three minutes. I was waiting for at least fifteen minutes while someone was on hold on the phone. I cooled my heels but my thoughts were racing with all kinds of judgments. Finally I was able to make my call and then I saw the person who had been on the phone experiencing a state of distress. Again I asked to see the situation through peace rather than attack.  I approached her to ask if there was anything I could do for her and she said that she had been on hold waiting to call a cab but never got through. So I offered to drive her home and again there was another opportunity to join in a blessed time together. Clearly the temptation was to see myself as a victim and thus become a victimizer in this situation.  When there was a willingness to let go of my way of seeing the situation, space was made for the miracle instead.

Every situation can be used by the Holy Spirit for His purpose when we open to that. Our purpose is of self interest as we define it, yet we don't know our own best interests. I looked around and saw people that seemed to be suffering and I felt saddened by the seeming inefficiencies of the system but reminded myself that the world was made to keep our guilt and fear intact and problems would always prevail. The script for each of our lives is perfect for our own salvation and my job is to mind my own mind using every situation as an opportunity for forgiveness and healing.

That is what this lesson is about today. It is about looking at our thoughts. Being vigilant in looking at our thoughts is such an important part of mind training. It is important  to look at our thoughts without judgment. "Try not to establish any kind of hierarchy among them.   Watch them come and go as dispassionately as possible." (3.2-3)  We just need to look at them and that is enough. When we are willing to look at them without judgment then we have already called in the Holy Spirit. We are neither expressing our thoughts nor repressing them in looking at them. We watch them calmly, with no sense of hurry. We stand back from them because they are only thoughts and do not define us. Some are not better than others. When we say "I am ashamed of that event, or I am upset at my anger," then I am judging what I am thinking and feeling and I am taking my thoughts personally. Look at your thoughts with no special investment in them. Watch them quietly without hanging onto to any thought. They are not personal. They are just thoughts passing through the mind.

Notice how much we hang onto some thoughts like worry, upsets, anger etc. The idea here is to see your thoughts come and go and recognize that they don't matter. They are meaningless. Be the witness. Stand back from them. I find that as I am able to do that then I don't get distressed when a thought of hate crosses my mind. "Oh, you might say, but I don't have any hate thoughts. I am spiritual." When you get really aware of your thoughts you will see that indeed there are all kinds of thoughts in your mind that you are constantly in denial about. And when we deny our thoughts they get dumped into the unconscious and then they become the ruler of our experiences. Then we wonder why we are not at peace. Remember Lesson 21 where Jesus said "You will become increasingly aware that a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury."  (21.2.5)  Oh, but we dismiss these "little" irritations and tell ourselves that they are nothing. But indeed they create the pattern of our ego 'existence' which is precisely what we are undoing with these lessons.

When you are watching your thoughts, think about who is the you that is doing the watching? Ken Wapnick calls this watcher, the decision maker. It is the part of the mind that is choosing the ego or the Holy Spirit. This watcher is not the 'you' that you think of when you think of yourself. Thus you are watching your ego in action. The "I" that is watching is not the "I" that you think you are.

The thing is that we do identify with the ego and that is the problem because the ego is not who we are. And this ego identity will not go along willingly as you proceed on this path. Thus you might get very anxious as you are being told that what you have believed about yourself and life is not the truth. At first, the questions that come up in your mind about this path are simply suspicious. Is this the right spiritual path for me? Can I really believe what is being taught here? What will happen if I continue on this road? Then when you start experiencing more peace and calm in your life, as a result of doing this work, the ego simply rides along until you get serious about giving it up and then it gets vicious. And this can feel terrible when you are that far along in the spiritual journey. This is sometimes when you want to leave this teaching. But once called to awakening, we can't go back. As we go into these dark places, the beauty of it is that we are not going there alone. And we will be taken to the other side of the darkness where the love is. Courage is called for to expose the hatred, anger, rage, unworthiness because you can't let it go if you don't look there.

Yet, just as this lesson affirms, we need only look calmly even at these vicious thoughts and not judge them or try to fix ourselves. Otherwise, we might start wondering if this course is really working for us and be tempted to give up. From this point on, the lessons will continually remind us to look at our thoughts, whatever comes up, and do so without blame or judgment and to do so calmly. We are making progress but the ego will not go without a fight. And as long as your identify with your ego, neither will you. There will be resistance.

Practice requirements are set out as follows: 1) a morning and evening period of 3-5 minutes focusing on the idea for the day. Repeat the idea two to three times while looking slowly about you. Then close your eyes and apply the idea to your inner world. 2) frequent reminders throughout the day as often as possible 3) use the lesson when you are feeling under attack of any kind. Anytime you feel like anything in the world is victimizing you, then repeat the idea. You will get more out of it if you say it as a declaration that you refuse to be a slave to "outer events" or to your own ego thoughts. The idea for today is also a particularly useful one to use as a response to any form of temptation that may arise.   It is a declaration that you will not yield to it, and put yourself in bondage. (5.1-2).

This practice is truly a declaration of release from the bondage of the idea of victim and victimizer. Since the outer world and the inner world are the same, we apply the idea to both. We are simply watching our thoughts. "Watch them come and go as dispassionately as possible." (3.3)

"And in your freedom lies the freedom of the world."

(4.3)Recognize that the world is a product of your thoughts. If your thoughts change, your world will change. You are not here to save the world but to change your mind about the world and thus your world will change. Yes, the events may be the same, but the way you see them won't.  

Love and blessings, Sarah 

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Quotes in this article are from Foundation for Inner Peace edition; To locate the same quotes in the 'Original Edition', use this link:  http://www.jcim.net/acim_us/Acim.php    

A Course in Miracles   
TEXT 

Chapter Three

Retraining the Mind

VI. Conflict and the Ego  

³⁸ The abilities man now possesses are only shadows of his real strengths. All of his functions are equivocal and open to question or doubt. This is because he is not certain how he will use them. He is therefore incapable of knowledge, being uncertain. He is also incapable of knowledge because he can perceive lovelessly. He cannot create surely because his perception deceives. Perception did not exist until the separation had introduced degrees, aspects, and intervals. The Soul has no levels, and all conflict arises from the concept of levels. Only the levels of the Trinity are capable of unity. The levels which man created by the separation cannot but conflict. This is because they are essentially meaningless to each other.

³⁹ Freud realized this perfectly and that is why he conceived the different levels in his view of the psyche as forever irreconcilable. They were conflict-prone by definition because they wanted different things and obeyed different principles. In our picture of the psyche, there is an unconscious level which properly consists only of the miracle ability and which should be under my direction. There is also a conscious level, which perceives or is aware of impulses from both the unconscious and the superconscious. Consciousness is thus the level of perception but not of knowledge. Again, to perceive is not to know.

⁴⁰ Consciousness was the first split that man introduced into himself. He became a perceiver rather than a creator in the true sense. Consciousness is correctly identified as the domain of the ego. The ego is a man-made attempt to perceive himself as he wished to be rather than as he is. This is an example of the created-creator confusion we have spoken of before. Yet man can only know himself as he is because that is all he can be sure of. Everything else is open to question.

⁴¹ The ego is the questioning compartment in the post-separation psyche which man created for himself. It is capable of asking valid questions but not of perceiving valid answers because these are cognitive and cannot be perceived. The endless speculation about the meaning of mind has led to considerable confusion because the mind is confused. Only One-Mindedness is without confusion. A separated or divided mind must be confused; it is uncertain by definition. It has to be in conflict because it is out of accord with itself.

⁴² Intrapersonal conflict arises from the same basis as interpersonal conflict. One part of the psyche perceives another part as on a different level and does not understand it. This makes the parts strangers to each other, without recognition. This is the essence of the fear-prone condition in which attack is always possible. Man has every reason to feel afraid as he perceives himself. This is why he cannot escape from fear until he knows that he did not and could not create himself. He can never make his misperceptions valid. His creation is beyond his own error, and that is why he must eventually choose to heal the separation.

⁴³ Right-mindedness is not to be confused with the knowing mind because it is applicable only to right perception. You can be right-minded or wrong-minded, and even this is subject to degrees, a fact which clearly demonstrates a lack of association with knowledge. The term "right-mindedness" is properly used as the correction for "wrong-mindedness," and applies to the state of mind which induces accurate perception. It is miraculous because it heals misperception, and this is indeed a miracle in view of how man perceives himself.

⁴⁴ Perception always involves some misuse of will because it involves the mind in areas of uncertainty. The mind is very active because it has will-power. When it willed the separation, it willed to perceive. Until then, it willed only to know. Afterwards it willed ambiguously, and the only way out of ambiguity is clear perception. The mind returns to its proper function only when it wills to know. This places it in the Soul's service, where perception is meaningless. The superconscious is the level of the mind which wills this.

⁴⁵ The mind chose to divide itself when it willed to create both its own levels and the ability to perceive, but it could not entirely separate itself from the Soul because it is from the Soul that it derives its whole power to create. Even in miscreation will is affirming its Source or it would merely cease to be. This is impossible because it is part of the Soul which God created and which is therefore eternal.

⁴⁶ The ability to perceive made the body possible because you must perceive something and with something. This is why perception involves an exchange or translation, which knowledge does not need. The interpretive function of perception, actually a distorted form of creation, then permitted man to interpret the body as himself, which, though depressing, was an attempt to escape from the conflict he had induced. The superconscious, which knows, could not be reconciled with this loss of power because it is incapable of darkness. This is why it became almost inaccessible to the mind and entirely inaccessible to the body.

⁴⁷ Thereafter, the superconscious was perceived as a threat because light does abolish darkness merely by establishing the fact that it is not there. The truth will always overcome error in this sense. This is not an active process of destruction at all. We have already emphasized that knowledge does not do anything. It can be perceived as an attacker, but it cannot attack. What man perceives as its attack is merely his own vague recognition of the fact that it can always be remembered, never having been destroyed.

⁴⁸ God and the Souls He created remain in surety, and therefore know that no miscreation exists. Truth cannot deal with unwilling error because it does not will to be blocked out. I was a man who remembered the Soul and its knowledge, and as a man I did not attempt to counteract error with knowledge so much as to correct error from the bottom up. I demonstrated both the powerlessness of the body and the power of the mind. By uniting my will with that of my Creator, I naturally remembered the Soul and its own real purpose.

⁴⁹ I cannot unite your will with God's for you, but I can erase all misperceptions from your mind if you will bring it under my guidance. Only your misperceptions stand in your own way. Without them your choice is certain. Sane perception induces sane choosing. The Atonement was an act based on true perception. I cannot choose for you, but I can help you make your own right choice. "Many are called, but few are chosen" should read, "All are called, but few choose to listen. Therefore, they do not choose right."

⁵⁰ The "chosen ones" are merely those who choose right sooner. This is the real meaning of the celestial speed-up. Strong wills can do this now, and you will find rest for your Souls. God knows you only in peace, and this is your reality.

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