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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    
Sarah's Commentary:

Again as a reminder, these lessons are preparing us for a transition into Part II of the workbook. In the second part of the workbook, the lessons are much shorter and practice instructions are fewer. So now we are in a preparation stage to make this transition.

In lesson 153 to come, we are encouraged to set our intent. "Your practicing will now begin to take the earnestness of love, to help you keep your mind from wandering from its intent." (W.153.20.1) Be not afraid or timid. It is also a time to express gratitude in every moment. Overall our process is enhanced when we are observant, dedicated and committed to the practice, without getting a lot of structure and direction, which was available throughout the first part of the workbook.

We have only three lines of practice. We are supplying our own commentary as we listen to the Holy Spirit and let Him open up the meaning for us. We are to: "Let each word shine with the meaning God has given it, as it was given you through His Voice." (W.Review IV.I.7.4) The words are to light up our minds. The words can symbolize for us the end of the ego thought system, when we connect with their deeper meaning. This can only happen when we bring our thoughts of guilt and judgment to the light. It is all about the investment that we are prepared to give to this practice. What does it mean to me to look at the words of today's lesson and to really take them in. "There is no love but God's," and "The world I see holds nothing that I want." What would I be thinking, being, doing, if I really got the intent of these words? How do I apply them in my life? It is important for me to be very honest and notice my thoughts about what Jesus is telling me. I do think there are other kinds of love and there are things in this world that I still want. I am still invested in my individuality and self concepts and values that I hold. So it helps me to notice where I resist the message. It is helpful for me to notice my attachments without inducing more guilt or self judgment. I need to be very honest with myself while staying open to the truth in my mind. I continue to look at my investments in my special relationships and attachments to the things of this world while being open and willing to be shown another way. It is in recognizing that my perceptions are wrong that I become willing to change my mind about the way I see things.

Use the thoughts offered here to make it a time of communion with God. We are told we should not hurry with the lesson. Be aware of the voice of the ego that may be hurrying you. What is it saying? Pay attention to these ego thoughts so that you can bring your awareness to what you are holding in your mind. The fact is that our minds do hold only what we think with God. That is irrefutable. It is not something that we have to convince ourselves about. It is the truth. (2.3) It is the raucous shrieks of the ego's voice that drowns out the truth. Our salvation is fully guaranteed. Why can I say this? Because we have already been saved. We are simply refusing to acknowledge this. The thoughts that distract our minds from the truth are not real. They absolutely have no substance. They are not the truth of who we are, yet it is these thoughts that block our awareness that we are One with God. It is these thoughts that keep us in the illusion.

We will never find in the world the love that we are looking for. The love we are looking for is right in our own minds. We are looking for something that we already have. We are the love of God and we have the love of God. "To have, give all to all." (T.6.V.A.5.13) So why don't we feel it all of the time? Because we have covered up the truth about ourselves with thoughts of specialness, based on our concepts of ourselves as separate beings. We are deceiving ourselves about who we are. We took on this deception when we turned to the ego and left our right minds. With this choice came sin, guilt and fear. It does not seem like the thoughts I think are unloving. Yet, when I look at my investment in my opinions, my judgments, pride in my independence, the importance of being in control, I see all of these are a massive defense against our burning love for God. "For still deeper than the ego's foundation, and much stronger than it will ever be, is your intense and burning love of God, and His for you." (T.13.III.2.8) Our defenses against this love keep us in bondage to the ego rather than surrendering into God's Arms. We still fear this love as we still value our individuality.

Our self serving thoughts cover our overpowering love for God. The natural state of love, in which we exist in truth, has been covered over with a mind that thinks it has turned itself into something sinful. We think we need to atone for that sinful self and we think we need to wait for that time to come in the future. Yet it is only in the present that we can know the truth of who we are. There is nothing to atone for. The loving mind is in agony over what it thinks is has done and it is full of guilt. (See Chapter 13. III The Fear of Redemption) It weeps, but we keep it distracted with the things of this world until the pain is no longer tolerable and the call goes out from our soul for another way. As a result, our desire and willingness to detach our investment in the world increases until eventually we really do get that there is nothing in this world that we want.

The key to happiness is not another car, more money, recognition, finding a romantic partner with all of the promise that goes with it of a happier life. These things can keep us in a state of searching for a seemingly long time. Even when we think we have found the one seemingly perfect one, we wonder if this is the right one. There is no certainty in the illusion. The initial attraction fades over time. Love is not something that we can find outside of ourselves. The lesson today reminds us that there is no love but God's. We can know this love that we truly are. It cannot be found outside of ourselves, yet if we still choose to continue this search, it does not make us guilty. When the blocks to the awareness of love's presence are removed by the grace of the Holy Spirit, then we become the givers of love and through that we learn that we are the love we are looking for. We do that by recognizing our sameness, which is a reflection of Oneness. So when we look for love in the world, when we try to take it, possess it, we just experience more pain. When we pour out our love, bless the world, give it out, it brings us joy. We are the source of it. The love is there, covered over with the obstacles we put in its way.

In lesson 127 we are told that this lesson is the biggest step in the workbook. It is another giant stride lesson, but one that is exceedingly important because it is the truth of who we are and who God is. It is about accepting Atonement for ourselves so that we can know who we really are. Let us not close ourselves to this love with our own perspectives. Once we get that we are love, God is love and there is no separation, there is nothing else. So the challenge is to look at the way we think of love in the world having different qualities, loving different people differently, loving things, having more loving thoughts one day than another, all misinterpretations of what love is. In fact there really is nothing in the world that teaches us what love is. Love is single, total and constant with no change and no limits. It is who we are.

How do you feel when you read the words of today's lesson that says: "The world I see holds nothing that I want?" Do you feel joy or despair? Think about it. If you have everything already, then you are not looking to the world for anything. You already have it. We can't see two worlds. When forgiveness is total, we will see the real world. "Forgiveness literally transforms vision, and lets you see the real world reaching quietly and gently across chaos, removing all illusions that had twisted your perception and fixed it on the past. The smallest leaf becomes a thing of wonder, and a blade of grass a sign of God's perfection." (T. 17.II.6.2-3) The only way to forgive what is within is to forgive what appears to be without, which is our own "secret sins and hidden hates," (T.31.VIII.9.2) reflected back to us from the world. "How much do you want salvation? It will give you the real world, trembling with readiness to be given you. The eagerness of the Holy Spirit to give you this is so intense He would not wait, although He waits in patience. Meet His patience with your impatience at delay in meeting Him. Go out in gladness to meet with your Redeemer, and walk with Him in trust out of this world, and into the real world of beauty and forgiveness." (T.17.II.8.1-5)

So if we are unforgiving with ourselves, judging our mistakes, beating up on ourselves, that is what we project on others and is the origin of the harsh world we see. All of our pain, all of our loneliness comes from our choice for the ego, and with it for our specialness. We have shut ourselves off from the heart of love. We have shut ourselves off from our Self, from the Source of Love. Instead of seeing that we have made this choice, we feel abandoned by God when we are the ones that did the abandoning. We are the Prodigal Son who believes he stole his Father's treasure and now is full of guilt and afraid to go home. All the time the Father waits with open arms watching for the return of His Son who is the Father's treasure.

"The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God." (C.5.2.1) (Clarification of Terms) That is ultimately what our own journey is about. Every brother offers us another opportunity to see the truth of who we are. We do it by seeing that there are no differences. We do it by recognizing that what needs forgiveness is our own sin that we put on our brother, and we let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Our part is only to bring awareness to our thoughts and bring them to the light of His healing. It is not up to us to fix ourselves or undo the ego.

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