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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 12 "THE PROBLEM OF GUILT"
V. THE TWO EMOTIONS
43 You have but two emotions, and one you made and one was given you. Each is a way of seeing, and different worlds arise from their different visions. See through the vision that is given you, for through Christ's vision He beholds Himself. And seeing what He is, He knows His Father. Beyond your darkest dreams, He sees God's guiltless Son within you, shining in perfect radiance, which is undimmed by your dreams. And this you will see as you look with Him, for His vision is His gift of love to you, given Him of the Father for you.
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DAILY LESSON
L e s s o n 139
I will accept Atonement for myself.
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
Here is the end of choice. For here we come
to a decision to accept ourselves
as God created us. And what is choice
except uncertainty of what we are?
There is no doubt that is not rooted here.
There is no question but reflects this one.
There is no conflict that does not entail
the single simple question, "What am I?"|
Yet who could ask this question except one
who has refused to recognize himself?
Only refusal to accept yourself
could make the question seem to be sincere.
The only thing that can be surely known
by any living thing is what it is.
From this one point of certainty it looks
on other things as certain as itself.|
Uncertainty about what you must be
is self-deception on a scale so vast
its magnitude can hardly be conceived.
To be alive and not to know yourself
is to believe that you are really dead.
For what is life except to be yourself?
And what but you can be alive instead?
Who is the doubter? What is it he doubts?
Whom does he question? Who can answer him?|
He merely states that he is not himself
and therefore, being something else, becomes
a questioner of what that something is.
Yet he could never be alive at all
unless he knew the answer. If he asks
as if he did not know, it merely shows
he does not want to be the thing he is.
He has accepted it because he lives;
has judged against it and denied its worth;
and has decided that he does not know
the only certainty by which he lives.|
Thus he becomes uncertain of his life,
for what it is has been denied by him.
It is for this denial that you need
Atonement. Your denial made no change
in what you are. But you have split your mind
into what knows and does not know the truth.
You are yourself. There is no doubt of this,
and yet you doubt it. But you do not ask
what part of you can really doubt yourself.
It cannot really be a part of you
that asks this question, for it asks of one
who knows the answer. Were it part of you,
uncertainty would be impossible.|
Atonement remedies the strange idea
that it is possible to doubt yourself
and be unsure of what you really are.
This is the depth of madness. Yet it is
the universal question of the world.
What does this prove except the world is mad?
Why share its madness in the sad belief
that what is universal here is true?|
Nothing the world believes is true. It is
a place whose purpose is to be a home
where those who claim they do not know themselves
can come to question what it is they are.
And they will come again until the time
Atonement is accepted, and they learn
it is impossible to doubt yourself
and not to be aware of what you are.|
Only acceptance can be asked of you,
for what you are is certain. It is set
forever in the holy Mind of God
and in your own. It is so far beyond
all doubt and question that to ask what it
must be is all the proof you need to show
that you believe the contradiction that
you know not what you cannot fail to know.
Is this a question or a statement which
denies itself in statement? Let us not
allow our holy minds to occupy
themselves with senseless musings such as this.|
We have a mission here. We did not come
to re-inforce the madness which we once
believed in. Let us not forget the goal
which we accepted. It is more than just
our happiness alone we came to gain.
What we accept as what we are proclaims
what everyone must be along with you.
Fail not your brothers, or you fail yourself.
Look lovingly on them that they may know
that they are part of you and you of them.|
This does Atonement teach, and demonstrates
the oneness of God's Son is unassailed
by his belief he knows not what he is.
Today accept Atonement, not to change
reality, but merely to accept
the truth about yourself, and go your way
rejoicing in the endless Love of God.
It is but this that we are asked to do.
It is but this that we will do today.|
Five minutes in the morning and at night
we will devote to dedicate our minds
to our assignment for today. We start
with this review of what our mission is:
"I will accept Atonement for myself,
For I remain as God created me
."
We have not lost the knowledge that God gave
to us when He created us like Him.
We can remember it for everyone,
for in creation are all minds as one,
and in our memory is the recall
how dear our brothers are to us in truth,
how much a part of us is every mind,
how faithful they have really been to us,
and how our Father's Love contains us all.|
In thanks for all creation, in the Name
of its Creator and His Oneness with
all aspects of creation, we repeat
our dedication to our cause today
each hour, as we lay aside all thoughts
which would distract us from our holy goal.
For several minutes let your mind be cleared
of all the foolish cobwebs which the world
would weave around the holy Son of God.
And learn the fragile nature of the chains
which seem to keep the knowledge of yourself
apart from your awareness, as you say:
"I will accept Atonement for myself,
For I remain as God created me
."
~ From Original Hand Script Notes
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 139
I will accept Atonement for myself.
Sarah's Commentary:
The Lesson yesterday talked of the thousand choices we seem to have in the world of illusion, with many conflicting goals in front of us. In Lesson 138, Jesus also reminded us there really is only one choice to make and even that choice is already made, though to us it does seem we are making many choices. The one choice there is to make depends on learning. We are learning that the many forms we seem to choose among conceal the fact there is only one choice. It is the choice for Heaven and for truth. When we made the choice for the ego, we also made a choice for the false self, which is why the Atonement is needed. The Atonement is a correction of our mistaken choice.
Now, we have time we can use for the purpose of correcting our mistaken choice for the separation and our individuality. When we use time for learning it is because we really do want to know again our Eternal One Self. Now, time is being well used. We are using time to learn to accept the Correction. As long as the illusion seems to offer us what we deem as satisfaction, we will continue to choose its offerings until we recognize it offers us nothing but pain. Today's Lesson says, when we decide to accept the Atonement, it marks the end of choice. It is when we come to accept ourselves as God created us. Until we come to total acceptance of our reality, we keep questioning, seeking, doubting, denying, and keeping ourselves small. We keep asking, "What am I?" "Why am I here?" "What is the purpose and meaning of my life "
Why would we ask these questions if God has already answered them? Why do we stay in this confusion about our identity? He says, "Uncertainty about what you must be is self-deception on a scale so vast, its magnitude can hardly be conceived." (W.139.3.1) We are living in denial of the truth about ourselves. We must learn to stop denying the denial of truth. "The task of the miracle worker thus becomes to deny the denial of truth." (T.12.II.1.5)(ACIM OE T.11.III.14) Our minds are split into a part that knows the truth about ourselves (the right mind) and another part that does not know. We hold beliefs and concepts about ourselves that are not true.
Our journey of awakening is not supported by the world. It can't be otherwise because "It is a place whose purpose is to be a home where those who claim they do not know themselves can come to question what it is they are." (W.139.7.2) It is an insane world based on an insane thought. "The ego made the world as it perceives it, but the Holy Spirit, the reinterpreter of what the ego made, sees the world as a teaching device for bringing you home." (T.5.III.11.1)(ACIM OE T.5.V.42) All our past learning, when used for the purpose of awakening, can now become a classroom for its undoing with the help of our inner Teacher.
Apparently, we will keep coming here until we give up all these questions and all our doubt thoughts and accept the truth about ourselves when we are willing to accept the Atonement. This is the correction of our mistaken perceptions. It is a correction for our wrong-minded beliefs. To accept the Atonement is to come to accept we are not bodies living in this world. To accept the Atonement is to heal the mind of all its misconceptions, all its self-concepts, and all the values it holds. It is a process of undoing everything we have come to accept as true about ourselves, and the world until we come to the place where we no longer question who we are. We are no longer deceived about our true Identity as the Christ. We come to the place where we know ourselves as eternal rather than bodies living a life that ends in death. "To be alive and not to know yourself is to believe that you are really dead." (W.139.3.2) The truth is, we have never left God and are still one with Him. It is only in the insanity of the illusion that we believe life consists of our experience in the body and the world. Life can only be truly known when we know what we are as the Christ. We did not destroy this life when we remembered not to laugh at the tiny mad idea, we could separate from God. Not one note in Heaven's song was missed. We are still one with our Father.
"Who is the doubter? What is it he doubts? Whom does he question? Who can answer him?"
(W.139.3.4-7) I love these questions, which show the parts of our minds. When I say, "I ask myself," who is the "I" that asks the "self?" This internal dialogue goes on between what seem to be the different parts of the mind. The questioner is the part that has chosen the ego. What he doubts is what he is. Whom he questions is himself. Who can answer him is only the Holy Spirit in the right mind. "For it asks of one who knows the answer." (W.139.5.10) We won't hear the answer as long as we listen to the ego. The Self is in the right mind, but it seems to be a separate part of ourselves. The one questioning is not who we are. "Were it part of you, then certainty would be impossible." (W.139.5.11) We are not two parts in conflict. There is only One Self. The doubter is the one who has chosen to identify with the wrong mind. Again, it is the choice made for our individuality that brought about all our doubt thoughts. We now doubt who we are. Yet the answer is within, in the right mind. If we do not hear, it is because we are listening to the part that does not know.
This Lesson helps us to see how we can end the uncertainty of this constant questioning of ourselves. Sanity is in our minds at this very moment, and we do have the answer within. "We have not lost the knowledge that God gave us when He created us like Him." (W.139.11.4) If we don't hear the answer, it is because we don't want to be what we are. We are actively resisting the truth, believing there will be a high cost to its acceptance. It is the acceptance of the truth within. The Holy Spirit is the symbol of the memory of everlasting life. He is our assurance we can't die. Yet because we have ". . . judged against it [the truth of our being] and denied its worth," (W.139.4.4) we think we don't know what we are; and this is the source of all our uncertainty. Just because we have denied the truth of what we are does not change what we are. "Your denial made no change in what you are." (W.139.5.3) Part of us knows the truth about ourselves and the other part keeps denying this truth. This is the split mind.
The ego is nothing but a doubt thought we hold about ourselves. It is madness. It has occupied the mind that now doubts itself and has become unsure of what it is. "Atonement remedies the strange idea that it is possible to doubt yourself, and be unsure of what you really are." (W.139.6.1) Thus, Atonement is the acceptance of the truth about ourselves. It releases the question from our minds of what we are. It is the acceptance of the Answer. It is the recognition, "I remain as God created me." (W.139.11.3) The truth is already in our minds. (W.139.8.2) It is not something we have to seek. We can choose to stop our minds from occupying ". . . themselves with senseless musings." (W.139.8.5) "We have not lost the knowledge that God gave to us when He created us like Him." (W.139.11.4) That knowledge is still in our minds to be accessed there.
What is stopping us? The only thing stopping us is our own fear and our distractions from this holy aim. All the things of this world that distract us are the ". . . foolish cobwebs which the world would weave around the Holy Son of God." (W.139.12.2) They have no substance, but only appear to be a complex web that cannot hold us back. "And learn the fragile nature of the chains that seem to keep the knowledge of yourself apart from your awareness. . ." (W.139.12.3) They cannot hold back our awareness of the truth about ourselves if we don't let them. When we let them hold us back, they do indeed feel powerful and strong to us. In this dream, they seem to have a very strong hold only because we give them power.
We have an important assignment given us by Jesus today. The assignment is to remind ourselves hourly that we remain as God created us. It will never be affirmed by what the world values and what we value in the world. Whenever we experience doubt, confusion, or distress of any kind, we can look at our thoughts without judgment by looking at them with the Holy Spirit. We need to tell ourselves the truth often; we were created perfect, whole and totally innocent. Everything we think we have done to destroy the truth about ourselves is simply a dream. While we may acknowledge this to be the case, the only way we can experience it is to be vigilant of our thoughts. Our thoughts are blocking the truth. These are thoughts of anger, despair, worry, fears, demands, expectations, specialness, judgment, arrogance, and more. Jesus can't change our thoughts for us. We must do the work ourselves because we are the ones who gave power to these senseless thoughts. He tells us, since we made them, we must be the ones to bring them to the light.
When we release the blocks to love by accepting Atonement for ourselves, we do it for the whole Sonship, as there is only One Mind. Every brother is a part of the One Mind. We will know our magnificence when we see it everywhere and in everyone. In this endless love available to us in every moment, we will rejoice as we join with our brothers and sisters in Oneness. So let us look with kindness on everyone, extend blessings to those who cross our path today, and refrain from analyzing the motives of others or correcting our brothers. Our acceptance of our own joy and peace is the gift we give and thus receive for ourselves, and we do this in gratitude and joy.
He asks us to lay aside all thoughts that would distract us from our holy aim. Today, anytime you witness your unhappiness, your pain and distress, or even happiness, coming from something outside you, realize you deny the truth of who you are and thus deny the healing. By taking responsibility for our judgments and our attacks perceived to be coming from within ourselves or from the world, we take the first step in healing. We need to spend the day being vigilant with regard to mind watching. All our doubts, confusion, and uncertainties are opportunities to question then. They are not the truth.
"For several minutes let your mind be cleared of all the foolish cobwebs which the world would weave around the holy Son of God. And learn the fragile nature of the chains that seem to keep the knowledge of yourself apart from your awareness, as you say: I will accept Atonement for myself, for I remain as God created me."
(W.139.12.2-3) These fragile chains are the ego's thought system of sin, guilt, fear, suffering and death. To us, they do not seem fragile at all.
We can only recognize the nothingness of these illusions when we question them and bring them to the light of truth. It is the process of forgiveness as described in the Course. It is a process of looking without judgment at the ego thought system, which can only be done when we look with the Holy Spirit.
Bring forth the memory of how dear your brothers are in truth, and how much a part of you is every mind, how faithful they have been to you, and how your Father's love contains them all. Bring them all into the circle of light and love, leaving no one outside of your loving embrace. Notice whenever you try to separate from your brothers with your judgments, or by seeing differences and making comparisons. Any thoughts we hold that separate us from any of our brothers is how we deny our Identity. We make judgments all the time, so do not judge yourself for making them. Just be willing to release them once they are seen.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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33 We have said that you have but two emotions, love and fear. One is changeless but continually exchanged, being offered by the eternal to the eternal. In this exchange it is extended, for it increases as it is given. The other has many forms, for the content of individual illusions differs greatly. Yet they have one thing in common-they are all insane. They are made of sights which are not seen and sounds which are not heard. They make up a private world which cannot be shared. For they are meaningful only to their maker, and so they have no meaning at all. In this world their maker moves alone, for only he perceives them.
34 Each one peoples his world with figures from his individual past, and it is because of this that private worlds do differ. Yet the figures that he sees were never real, for they are made up only of his reactions to his brothers and do not include their reactions to him. Therefore he does not see that he made them and that they are not whole. For these figures have no witnesses, being perceived in one separate mind only.
35 It is through these strange and shadowy figures that the insane relate to their insane world. For they see only those who remind them of these images, and it is to them that they relate. Thus do they communicate with those who are not there, and it is they who answer them, and no one hears their answer save him who called upon them, and he alone believes they answered him. Projection makes perception, and you cannot see beyond it. Again and again have men attacked each other because they saw in them a shadow figure in their own private world. And thus it is that you must attack yourself first, for what you attack is not in others. Its only reality is in your own mind, and by attacking others, you are literally attacking what is not there.
36 The delusional can be very destructive, for they do not recognize that they have condemned themselves. They do not wish to die, yet they will not let condemnation go. And so they separate into their private worlds, where everything is disordered and where what is within appears to be without. Yet what is within they do not see, for the reality of their brothers they cannot see.
37 You have but two emotions, yet in your private world you react to each of them as though it were the other. For love cannot abide in a world apart, where when it comes it is not recognized. If you see your own hatred as your brother, you are not seeing him. Everyone draws nigh unto what he loves and recoils from what he fears. And you react with fear to love and draw away from it. Yet fear attracts you, and believing it is love, you call it to yourself. Your private world is filled with the figures of fear you have invited into it, and all the love your brothers offer you, you do not see. As you look with open eyes upon your world, it must occur to you that you have withdrawn into insanity.
38 You see what is not there, and you hear what is soundless. Your behavioral manifestations of emotions are the opposite of what the emotions are. You communicate with no one, and you are as isolated from reality as if you were alone in all the universe. In your madness, you overlook reality completely, and you see only your own split mind everywhere you look. God calls you and you do not hear, for you are preoccupied with your own voice. And the vision of Christ is not in your sight, for you look upon yourself alone.
39 Little children, would you offer this to your Father? For if you offer it to yourself, you are offering it to Him. And He will not return it, for it is unworthy of you because it is unworthy of Him. Yet He would release you from it and set you free. His sane answer tells you that what you have offered yourself is not true, but His offering to you has never changed. You who know not what you do can learn what insanity is and look beyond it. It is given you to learn how to deny insanity and come forth from your private world in peace.
40 You will see all that you denied in your brothers because you denied it in yourself. For you will love them, and by drawing nigh unto them, you will draw them to yourself, perceiving them as witnesses to your reality, which you share with God. I am with them as I am with you, and we will draw them from their private worlds, for as we are united, so would we unite with them. The Father welcomes all of us in gladness, and gladness is what we should offer Him. For every Son of God is given you to whom God gave Himself. And it is God to Whom you must offer them to recognize His gift to you.
41 Vision depends on light, and you cannot see in darkness. Yet in the darkness in the private world of sleep, you see in dreams, although your eyes are closed. And it is here that what you see you made. But let the darkness go, and all you made you will no longer see, for sight of it depends upon denying vision. Yet from denying vision, it does not follow that you cannot see. But this is what denial does, for by it you accept insanity, believing you can make a private world and rule your own perceptions. Yet for this, light must be excluded. Dreams disappear when light has come and you can see.
42 Do not seek vision through your eyes, for you made your way of seeing that you might see in darkness, and in this you are deceived. Beyond this darkness and yet still within you is the vision of Christ, Who looks on all in light. Your vision comes from fear, as His from love. And He sees for you as your witness to the real world. He is the Holy Spirit's manifestation, looking always on the real world and calling forth its witnesses and drawing them unto you. For He loves what He sees within you, and He would extend it. And He will not return unto the Father until He has extended your perception even unto Him. And there perception is no more, for He has returned you to the Father with Him.
43 You have but two emotions, and one you made and one was given you. Each is a way of seeing, and different worlds arise from their different visions. See through the vision that is given you, for through Christ's vision He beholds Himself. And seeing what He is, He knows His Father. Beyond your darkest dreams, He sees God's guiltless Son within you, shining in perfect radiance, which is undimmed by your dreams. And this you will see as you look with Him, for His vision is His gift of love to you, given Him of the Father for you.
44 The Holy Spirit is the light in which Christ stands revealed. And all who would behold Him can see Him, for they have asked for light. Nor will they see Him alone, for He is no more alone than they are. Because they saw the Son, they have risen in Him to the Father. And all this will they understand because they looked within and saw beyond the darkness the Christ in them and recognized Him. In the sanity of His vision, they looked upon themselves with love, seeing themselves as the Holy Spirit sees them. And with this vision of the truth in them came all the beauty of the world to shine upon them.
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