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A Course in Miracles is a self-study course. In the beginning it tells us, "This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean you can establish the curric...
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Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) is an international group of Course students and teachers organized to discover, authenticate and propagate the Divine Teachings of A Course in Miracles.
As students, we seek to increase our knowledge of Jesus' words and to deepen our experience of His teachings.
As teachers, we work to circulate the message of
A Course in Miracles throughout the world by our words, by our deeds, and by the example of our lives. COURSE IN MIRACLES SOCIETY Omaha, NE USA 800-771-5056 402-315-3607[email protected]
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"THE INNER PICTURE"
IX. "The Inner Shift" 90 What is the holy instant but God's appeal to you to recognize what He has given you? Here is the great appeal to reason; the awareness of what is always there to see, the happiness that could be always yours. Here is the constant peace you could experience forever. Here is what denial has denied revealed to you. For here the final question* is already answered and what you ask for given. Here is the future now, for time is powerless because of your desire for what will never change. For you have asked that nothing stand between the holiness of your relationship and your awareness of its holiness. *And do I want to see what I denied because it is the truth?
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<AUDIO><VIDEO> Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
The world is false perception. It is born
of error, and it has not left its source.
It will remain no longer than the thought
that gave it birth is cherished. When the thought
of separation has been changed to one
of true forgiveness, will the world be seen
in quite another light; and one that leads
to truth, where all the world must disappear,
and all its errors vanish. Now its source
has gone, and its effects are gone as well.
The world was made as an attack on God.
It symbolizes fear. And what is fear
except love's absence? Thus the world was meant
to be a place where God could enter not,
and where His Son could be apart from Him.
Here was perception born, for knowledge could
not cause such insane thoughts. But eyes deceive,
and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become
quite possible, for certainty has gone.
The mechanisms of illusion have
been born instead. And now they go to find
what has been given them to seek. Their aim
is to fulfill the purpose which the world
was made to witness and make real. They see
in its illusions but a solid base
where truth exists, upheld apart from lies.
Yet everything which they report is but
illusion which is kept apart from truth.
As sight was made to lead away from truth,
it can be redirected. Sounds become
the call of God. And all perception can
be given a new purpose, by the One
Whom God appointed Saviour to the world.
Follow His light, and see the world as He
beholds it. Hear His Voice alone in all
that speaks to you. And let Him give you peace
and certainty, which you have thrown away,
but Heaven has preserved for you in Him.
Let us not rest content until the world
has joined our changed perception. Let us not
be satisfied until forgiveness has
been made complete. And let us not attempt
to change our function. We must save the world.
For we who made it must behold it through
the eyes of Christ, that what was made to die
can be restored to everlasting life.
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DAILY LESSON
L e s s o n 241
This holy instant is salvation come.
<AUDIO><VIDEO>
What joy there is today! It is a time
of special celebration, for today
holds out the instant to the darkened world
where its release is set. The day has come
when sorrows pass away, and pain is gone.
The glory of salvation dawns today
upon a world set free. This is the time
of hope for countless millions. They will be
united now, as you forgive them all,
for I will be forgiven by you today.
We have forgiven one another now,
and so we come at last to You again.
Father, Your Son, who never left, returns
to Heaven and his home. How glad are we
to have our sanity restored to us,
and to remember that we all are one.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM October 17, 1970
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
Lesson 241
This holy instant is salvation come.
The quotes in this article are from the Foundation for Inner Peace edition, with the reference cited. There is also the quote references for similar quotes in the ACIM Original Edition.
Sarah's Commentary:
We are now looking at the question "What is the World?" It is so important for us to understand this because our current perceptions are based on the belief that the world is real and that it is the cause of our difficulties, making us its effect and thus at its mercy, but the world is illusory. Its origin is in the ego's thought system of separation, which contains the belief in sin, guilt and fear. Sin, guilt and fear projected out from the wrong mind becomes a world of time and space. Sin reflects the belief that we have done something wrong in the past. Now we have guilt in the present and fear retribution in the future, believing that we must atone for our sins. This is important for us to understand. But, more important, Jesus tells us the world can serve a different purpose than the one we gave it. We can see it as a classroom for undoing our false perceptions. Now everything in the world has an important purpose for undoing our misperceptions instead of reinforcing our wrong minded beliefs about ourselves.
"The world is false perception. It is born of error and it has not left its source." (W.PII.Q3.1.1-2) What that means is Jesus teaching us that ideas have not left their source in the mind. So the source of this world is the false idea that we hold in our minds that we have left our home in Heaven and are now separate from God, wandering lost and alone in an illusory world of time and space. That is a mistaken thought because we cannot leave the mind of God since ideas leave not their source. As an idea in the mind of God, we cannot leave our source except in dreams. Believing we have left our Source, we have become lost in our dream, forgetting that we are the dreamer. Now everything that arises in our minds is no longer true. Thus the world that has been projected from our belief in a separated state has no foundation that is real. It is nothing but a projection of the thought system of separation. In reality, the separation never happened. We are still at home in God only dreaming there is a world, where we see ourselves and others as dream figures, playing out parts that are make- believe. The source of this dream is our own mind, and thus it is an illusion that will not last past the thought that gave rise to it. It reflects our belief in sin and guilt and is healed through the process of withdrawing belief in what was never real. "When the thought of separation has been changed to one of true forgiveness, will the world be seen in quite another light; and one which leads to truth, where all the world must disappear and all its errors vanish." (W.PII.Q3.1.4)
It is not unlike a nighttime dream where we wake up and realize that nothing that seemed to happen in the dream was true. Everything in the dream came from our own minds. When we wake up and are now outside of the nighttime dream, we look at it from another perspective and see that we are still as we were before we fell into this dream state. This is a good analogy for how we can look at the dream of this separated world where we think we are bodies with unique characteristics as individuals, all different and separate from each other and separate from God. When we completely step out of this dream that we take so very seriously, then the world will vanish. This is then the happy dream of the awakened mind. In the state of the happy dream, we are still in the world but experience it from outside of the dream. To the extent that we can step outside of it, as we increasingly withdraw meaning from it, is the extent to which we see that it is an illusion. That is why, as part of our healing, we are called more and more to be the witness of the process of our lives. As a witness, we can go through experiences that are painful, disturbing, distressing, and elicit all kinds of feelings while still watching the experience from above the battle ground. We become the witnesses to our experiences, without judging them or ourselves. We simply watch it. Ultimately the world will vanish for us when we completely awaken from this dream and God takes the last step.
The content of this world is fear, no matter how pretty the illusion can seem to us at times. The ground beneath our feet seems solid, but there is nothing solid about the world. It is a place of decay and destruction where death prevails and all things ultimately rot and disappear. It is a world where we all believe that we need protection through the defenses that we erect. It is a world of attack. "The world was made as an attack on God. It symbolizes fear. And what is fear except love's absence." (W.PII.Q3.2.1-3) It is not real. Jesus says, "There is no life outside of Heaven." (T.23.II.19.1)(ACIM OE T.23.III.37) If we accept this, then there must be no life in this world! "Life not in Heaven is impossible, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven, only the conflict of illusion stand; senseless, impossible and beyond all reason, and yet perceived as an eternal barrier to Heaven." (T.23.II.19.6-7)(ACIM OE T.23.III.37)
We take the forms in the world as reality and do not recognize the content of guilt and hate that they contain. If we did, would we still want them? Jesus asks us, "Can you paint rosy lips upon a skeleton, dress it in loveliness, pet it and pamper it, and make it live?" (T.23.II.18.8)(ACIM OE T.23.III.36) This is what we apparently do, being fooled by the appearance and losing sight of the content of hate. We try to make believe that it is a beautiful world with lovely sentiments in songs like "It's a Wonderful World." Instead we are being told that it is a world born of error. The cause of the world is the error in the mind. It is therefore not a creation of God and there is no way of reconciling our false perception based on our guilt with the glory we want to see in the world. The world will simply remain no longer than the thought that gave it birth. When that thought of separation is no longer cherished, then the world will be no more. It must then vanish. Healing the guilt in the mind that gave the world birth brings about its end.
The world was born in the choice that was made by the Son of God for the ego rather than the Holy Spirit. When this choice was made, the memory of God, as reflected by the Holy Spirit, was buried in our minds. Now we feel separate from our Source, and the world that arose from this choice has all the attributes of the thought system of the ego, which is all about self-interest. This means we want our separate, individual self, and fear that God will punish us for this. So we continue to hide out in the world, fearing His punishment, but God is only love. Yet we identify with the fear because it keeps His Love out. In fact, we fear love, because we fear the annihilation of our separate self.
Now instead of the Oneness of Heaven symbolized in the Course by Knowledge where there is nothing to perceive, we have a world of duality instead where "The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead." (W.PII.Q3.3.1) These mechanisms are our senses, which report the world as real. God did not create our bodies nor our bodily senses. "But eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has gone." (W.PII.Q3.2. 6-7) The purpose is to deceive us by witnessing to something that is not real. It seems real to us because the eyes and ears bring back information to the brain that convinces us that what we see is out there rather than a projection or hallucination of our own minds. It seems so very convincing. It seems very solid. "They see in its illusions but a solid base where truth exists, upheld apart from lies." (W.PII.Q3.3.4) The truth now seems like a lie and the illusion feels to us to be real and solid.
So our choice for our mistaken thought system resulted in guilt because of our belief that we have left our Source and made a world of differences. Now we can see our guilt projected onto others and seen outside of our own minds. Very convenient! It keeps us believing in our own innocence at the expense of others. It keeps us thinking we are victims of the world. It keeps us invested in our bodies and our individuality. Thus our mistakes are now elevated to reality and God's love is seen as the illusion.
The lesson today is all about our responsibility to set ourselves and the world free through forgiveness. It takes faith to accept that through forgiveness we can change the world. In fact, that is the only change that is possible. That is why Jesus tells us, "This is the time of hope for countless millions." (W.241.1.6) The impact of choosing to forgive our false perceptions is beyond our ability to perceive. It only makes sense from the perspective that there is only One Mind and that we are One.
When Jesus says "For I will be forgiven by you today," (1.8) my first reaction is to wonder what we are to forgive him for? In effect, with each brother we forgive, Jesus, as part of the one mind, is also being forgiven, as we all are. Every act of forgiveness with anyone brings forgiveness to all. Our function is to overcome the world as Jesus did, not to try to change it. As David Hawkins says, the world is a place of maximum karmic opportunity where we can go all the way to enlightenment. The opportunity is maximum in the world for our awakening, meaning that in every event and every circumstance in our lives, no matter how challenging it seems, there is maximum potential for healing. And in the holy instant, when we enter the quiet space within the mind where truth abides, there is no time, there are no demands, there is no body, and there is no world.
The lesson today is of hope and of release from this belief in victimhood and in karma. We can wake up from this dream now. There is no need to delay as it only causes more suffering. This is a day where we can choose to bring release to this darkened world so that indeed sorrows can pass away and pain is gone. Our healing can thus make a tremendous difference in the world. It is up to us to accept the gift of healing and be an example of healing. This is how we come back to God. "We have forgiven one another now, and so we come at last to You again." (W.241.2.1) That is our way back home. And yes, we need not wait. Everything changes when our entire purpose is focused on healing through forgiveness. We choose Heaven or hell in every moment and in every decision. The way out is by forgiving, which is a choice for joy as we release our grievances. It is a decision for peace instead of war. It offers us a profound leap forward.
Accept the gift of healing today. This is the gift we accept for the world. This is the hope for us all. Let's focus on this deep desire for reconciliation today. Who are you having a struggle with? Who do you have grievances with today? Remind yourself, "This holy instant is salvation come," because I have forgiven you (name). We remind ourselves today that we hold the desire for peace as more important than any conflict. Each time we choose forgiveness, we bring more illumination to this tired world. We recognize the love that we are when we leave the hell made by our belief in the ego story.
Love and blessings, Sarah
[email protected]
The quotes in this article are from the Foundation for Inner Peace edition, with the reference cited. There is also the quote references for similar quotes in the ACIM Original Edition.
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85 Are thoughts then dangerous? To bodies, yes! The thoughts that seem to kill are those which teach the thinker that he can be killed. And so he dies because of what he learned. He goes from life to death, the final proof he valued the inconstant more than constancy. Surely he thought he wanted happiness. Yet he did not desire it because it was the truth and therefore must be constant.
86 The constancy of joy is a condition quite alien to your understanding. Yet if you could even imagine what it must be, you would desire it although you understand it not.
87 The constancy of happiness has no exceptions-no change of any kind. It is unshakable as is the love of God for His creation. Sure in its vision as its Creator is in what He knows, it looks on everything and sees it is the same. It sees not the ephemeral, for it desires that everything be like itself and sees it so. Nothing has power to confound its constancy because its own desire cannot be shaken. It comes as surely unto those who see the final question is necessary to the rest, as peace must come to those who choose to heal and not to judge.
88 Reason will tell you that you cannot ask for happiness inconstantly. For if what you desire you receive and happiness is constant, then you need ask for it but once to have it always. And if you do not have it always, being what it is, you did not ask for it. For no one fails to ask for his desire of something he believes holds out some promise of the power of giving it. He may be wrong in what he asks, where, and of what. Yet he will ask because desire is a request, an asking for, and made by one whom God Himself will never fail to answer. God has already given him all that he really wants. Yet what he is uncertain of, God cannot give. For he does not desire it while he remains uncertain, and God's giving must be incomplete unless it is received.
89 You who complete God's Will and are His happiness, whose will is powerful as His, a power that is not lost in your illusions, think carefully why it should be you have not yet decided how you would answer the final question. Your answer to the others has made it possible to help you be but partially insane. And yet it is the final one that really asks if you are willing to be wholly sane.
90 What is the holy instant but God's appeal to you to recognize what He has given you? Here is the great appeal to reason; the awareness of what is always there to see, the happiness that could be always yours. Here is the constant peace you could experience forever. Here is what denial has denied revealed to you. For here the final question is already answered and what you ask for given. Here is the future now, for time is powerless because of your desire for what will never change. For you have asked that nothing stand between the holiness of your relationship and your awareness of its holiness.
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To GIVE and to RECEIVE are One in Truth. Lesson 108
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