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<GUIDANCE from ELDER BROTHER>

*IAMBIC PENTAMETER* Example MP3  

What is 'Iambic Pentameter'? 

*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 

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Here we are on lesson 200, ending the twenty lessons which "make a special point of firming up your willingness to make our weak commitment strong; your scattered goals blend into one intent." (Intro to lessons 181-200.1.1) Total dedication is not asked for yet, but practice will lead us to greater peace, if only intermittently. It is a journey now beyond words. We continue to look at how we defend ourselves against the truth. We continue to apply these lessons to our daily lives. Great willingness and vigilance are called for in watching our thoughts and going past them to the light of truth. Perhaps you have become aware of more moments of peace, glimpses of the holy instant, awareness of miracles, more willingness to let go of grievances and the relief that this brings. Perhaps you are also aware of the resistance that shows up as you get closer to the truth. We still fear the perceived sacrifice of taking this path. The voice of the ego tells you of the folly of using your time in this way. You may feel that you that you will never "get it."

We are now at a stage in the process where we listen both to the ego voice and to the Voice of the Holy Spirit. While these two conflicting voices are there, we will feel the inner conflict and confusion, which will continue until we choose to step fully into the truth and listen only to the Voice of the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us that, when God calls for us to, "Come home," (4.1) we will hear (9.6), because we cannot stray forever from our home with Him. (9.5). The body is not our home. There is no certainty in this world, only hopelessness and despair, but the Call in our minds is certain and within that certainty is where we are at home in God.

This lesson is a beautiful conclusion to Part I of the workbook. The theme of this lesson is remembering who we are as beings of light and love, given us in our creation by our Father. This is where our true peace and happiness come from. It is in remembering that there is nothing to seek in the world that is of any value. The world brings pain and misery, no matter how intermittent 'pleasures' distract us. We must remember that the world is about seeking and never finding. It keeps us on this gerbil wheel of incessant activity with no real purpose. The only purpose that has any value here is that it is a classroom that can bring us back to acknowledging who we are when we use everything in our lives for that purpose. To do that, we have to realize we have been wrong about everything and are now willing to be taught.

We do stray in this world, taking this path and that path, always looking for our happiness in idols, but Jesus says that it is all to no avail. We will all finally come to the realization that everything in the world that we seek ultimately ends in despair, hopelessness, and doubt, because we look for happiness where it can never be found. (2.1) We put a lot of time and effort in pursuits that ultimately end in defeat. They all end that way, no matter how effusive we may feel about that new car, new job, new relationship, new friends, recognition, new romance, new home, good sex, great holiday, etc. It all ends ultimately in misery and pain and the certainty of death. No matter how successful we may feel, and what course of action we follow, and how hard we try to hang onto the health and well-being of this body, it will all fail. The game of the world ultimately ends in defeat. (2.3)

"Seek you no further. You will not find peace except the peace of God. Accept this fact, and save yourself the agony of yet more bitter disappointments, bleak despair, and sense of icy hopelessness and doubt." (1.1-3) How often have we come to this place of deep disappointment? The unhappiest times in my life have been when I have looked to a relationship to bring me the happiness and peace that seemed to elude me. All the promise of happiness that seemed to be there at the beginning, evaporated. Do we suffer because of the loss of the relationship or the loss of our dream with all the expectations of how things should look in form? If we could turn those times into opportunities to forgive, and to find the answer to our lack which we try to fill from the outside, then we could begin the healing process from specialness to holiness. Relationships would take on a whole new purpose and meaning. Without these seeming setbacks in our lives, what would motivate us to look inside ourselves for another way? It can all be used for healing and it is all helpful.

To keep looking outside for our happiness is to spend a lot of time in trivial pursuits that waste a lot of time. Jesus is not trying to deny us happiness by telling us it is not out there. He is simply reminding us that we will never find it there. We are not coerced to buy into this thought system. We can continue to exhaust all possibilities in the world and keep looking and trying to find happiness there for as long as we want, but why seek for answers where they don't exist? Jesus wants happiness for us in that he wants to save us time. All we have to do is look honestly at our lives and realize that, "To ask that what is false be true can only fail." (3.4) Yet "To ask for what you have already must succeed." (3.3) Peace and joy are already in us and they are what we really want. We have just blocked them from our awareness.

Jesus says, "There is a tendency to think the world can offer consolation and escape from problems that its purpose is to keep. Why should this be? Because it is a place where the choice among illusions seems to be the only choice. And you are in control of outcomes of your choosing. Thus do you think, within the narrow band from birth to death, a little time is given you to use for you alone; a time when everyone conflicts with you, but you can choose which road will lead you out of conflict, and away from difficulties that concern you not." (T.31.IV.1-5)

This is how we "win through losing," (2.2) by trying so hard to make our time in this illusion one of fulfillment of our hopes and dreams. Can we ever win at a game that keeps us seeking and seeking the peace and joy we think are there and never finding? That is truly the ego's game, but so skillfully camouflaged that we don't see it until it is exposed.

It seems to us that we have a lot of choices in the world, "but the time must come when everyone begins to see how like they are to one another." (T.31.IV.3.3) Eventually we all get world weary, some to the point of wanting to commit suicide, because of the belief that there are no other paths to take except those of the world that have not worked. Jesus urges us not to despair about the fact that there is "no hope of answer in the world." (T.31.IV.4.3) It is often at this low point that people do search for another answer and may have been brought to the Course as a result. "For from this lowest point will learning lead to heights of happiness" (T.31.IV.4.8) when we get this lesson, but giving up on searching in the world for happiness is not something we do readily. We are not easily convinced, and cling to the hope that happiness can still be found here.

There is no point in continuing to look in the darkness to find the light. We are on the wrong track when we look for happiness in the world. We look at what is false and hope for truth. What we try to get is our own version of peace and happiness. It is just another useless journey, and yet we don't have to give it up. We are not asked to sacrifice the little that we have. When we are ready, it just starts to fall away. Now I find more and more I am asking, 'what is it really for', in everything I do. 'What is the purpose'?

Having said all of this, there is a purpose in the world, which does bring peace and happiness. Our ego purpose is to keep us rooted in this dream, but we can choose to serve the Holy Spirit's purpose, which is to wake up from this dream. It is to do the healing work by choosing forgiveness. It is to see the world as a classroom for undoing the ego thought system. Every relationship can be a perfect mirror for what needs healing in us. That is our escape from all of this. (5.2) We can now look at the world in another way than how we have been seeing it. "But peace begins within the world perceived as different, and leading from this fresh perspective to the gate of Heaven and the way beyond." (8.2) Now everything in the world can be used to heal our misperceptions through forgiveness and experience the miracle that ultimately takes us back to our true Self.

"What does forgiveness do? In truth it has no function, and does nothing. For it is unknown in Heaven. It is only hell where it is needed, and where it must serve a mighty function." (6.1-4) It does nothing because the world is illusory and nothing real has happened. It is an illusion, but an illusion that undoes the illusions of this world.

Through forgiveness we find the peace of God. (7.6) We know that when our obsessive thoughts take over, our peace is gone. It is only our thoughts that keep us from peace. Our thoughts deceive us. We think we get what we want from this world, but the only thing we truly want is the peace of God. Our thoughts about how to achieve peace keep leading us into hell. Only forgiveness brings us to what we really want, which is to escape the misery, pain and death that are part of 'life' here.

Let's stay very aware of our thoughts today. If you are willing to see everything that seems to happen to you as an opportunity for forgiveness, then you will see everyone in your life as a teacher in helping you to unveil the happiness and peace that is already in you. They are there for a purpose. They show you the way home by revealing to you the unhealed places in your mind. A sure way to know that guilt has come up is when you are not at peace. This is the opportunity to look at what is going on in your mind and bring your awareness there and be willing to choose otherwise. When Jesus talks about leaving the world behind, he is not talking of death, but of making new choices and setting a new goal for ourselves. Yes, we can continue to waste time, lose our way, delay and wander off, but we will return because there is nowhere else to go. While we may still hold out hope that there is something in this world we want, we can certainly continue to pursue it. Eventually we will all come to the place where our motivation, to know the deep peace that can only be found in the truth of who we are, will be so strongly reinforced that there will be no turning back.

"There is no peace except the peace of God. And I am glad and thankful that it is so." (11.9) As Jesus told us in lesson 185, to say these words is nothing but to mean them is everything. Today take a stand for peace by being vigilant with your thoughts and staying mindful. "For we have found a simple, happy way to leave the world of ambiguity, and to replace our shifting goals and solitary dreams with single purpose and companionship. For peace is union, if it be of God. We seek no further. We are close to home, and draw still nearer every time we say: "There is no peace except the peace of God. And I am thankful that it is so." (11.5-9)