Graphic by ©Deposit Photos
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 27 "THE BODY AND THE DREAM"
VI. THE HEALING EXAMPLE
49 Thus is your healing everything the world requires that it may be healed. It needs one lesson which has perfectly been learned. And then when you forget it will the world remind you gently of what you have taught. No reinforcement will its thanks withhold from you who let yourself be healed that it might live. It will call forth its witnesses to show the face of Christ to you who brought the sight to them by which they witnessed it. The world of accusation is replaced by one in which all eyes look lovingly upon the Friend who brought them their release. And happily your brother will perceive the many friends he thought were enemies.
CHAPTER 27 VI, 44-53
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
|
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSON
WHAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
<VIDEO>
The Holy Spirit mediates between
illusions and the truth. As He must bridge
the gap between reality and dreams,
perception leads to knowledge through the grace
that God has given Him, to be His gift
to everyone who turns to Him for truth.
Across the bridge that He provides, are dreams
all carried to the truth, to be dispelled
before the light of knowledge. There are sights
and sounds forever laid aside. And where
they were perceived before, forgiveness has
made possible perception's tranquil end.
The goal the Holy Spirit's teaching sets
is just this end of dreams. For sights and sounds
must be translated from the witnesses
of fear to those of love. And when this is
entirely accomplished, learning has
achieved the only goal it has in truth.
For learning, as the Holy Spirit guides
it to the outcome He perceives for it,
becomes the means to go beyond itself,
to be replaced by the Eternal Truth.
If you but knew how much your Father yearns
to have you recognize your sinlessness,
you would not let His Voice appeal in vain,
nor turn away from His replacement for
the fearful images and dreams you made.
The Holy Spirit understands the means
you made, by which you would attain what is
forever unattainable. And if
you offer them to Him, He will employ
the means you made for exile to restore
your mind to where it truly is at home.
From knowledge, where He has been placed by God,
the Holy Spirit calls to you, to let
forgiveness rest upon your dreams, and be
restored to sanity and peace of mind.
Without forgiveness will your dreams remain
to terrify you. And the memory
of all your Father's Love will not return
to signify the end of dreams has come.
Accept your Father's gift. It is a call
from Love to Love, that It be but Itself.
The Holy Spirit is His gift, by Which
the quietness of Heaven is restored
to God's beloved Son. Would you refuse
to take the function of completing God,
when all He wills is that you be complete.
|
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSON
L e s s o n 286
The hush of Heaven holds my heart today.
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
Father, how still today! How quietly
do all things fall in place! This is the day
that has been chosen as the time in which
I come to understand the lesson that
there is no need that I do anything.
In You is every choice already made.
In You has every conflict been resolved.
In You is everything I hope to find
already given me. Your peace is mine.
My heart is quiet, and my mind at rest.
Your Love is Heaven, and Your Love is mine.
The stillness of today will give us hope
that we have found the way, and traveled far
along it, to a wholly certain goal.
Today we will not doubt the end that God
Himself has promised us. We trust in Him,
and in our Self Who still is one with Him.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
|
ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 286
The hush of Heaven holds my heart today.
Sarah's Commentary:
What is it that causes us to experience a frenetic day, rather than one where we rest in God in the quiet center of our Being where "The hush of Heaven holds my heart today"? It is related to the belief that we hold about the concept of time. As David Hawkins wrote in the Eye of the I:
"
Once the pressure of time ceases, it is recognized to have been perhaps one of the primary sources of distress that accompanies the human condition. The sense of time creates stress, pressure, anxiety, fear and endless disgruntlement in a myriad of ways. The 'time stress' accompanies all activities and pursuits, creating the illusion of sequence and cause. Every human action is couched in an unspoken pressure cooker of time and the mind constantly calculates how much 'time' can be 'spent' at every activity. This results in panic, fear or worry as well as guilt, shame and anger. 'Too much time spent on this. Not enough time spent on that. There are many things we would like to do but we don't have enough time. Time will run out.' Until the sensation of time stops, one does not have any possibility of knowing what real freedom or peace feels like.
"
And that is what Eckhart Tolle talks about as well in, The Power of Now. In the present moment, there is no story to tell, there is nothing to do, there is nowhere to go, and all is perfect. All suffering ceases when we return to our Source---to the Self. In this place, we are released from the dream, all fears are seen as groundless, and all worries are foolish imaginings. With no future, there can be no fear, and with no past, there can be no regret. Whatever appears to be happening in the illusion, where the storms appear to assault us, Jesus assures us, "In You has every conflict been resolved." (W.286.1.5) It doesn't feel this way in the apparent upheavals of our lives. It seems to us that there is a lot to do to address what seems to be happening. Yet, "In You is every choice already made," (W.286.1.4) and so we can rest in the assurance that everything has already been addressed, and all we are called to do is to choose peace and rest in God.
Jesus reminds us over and over that we are home in Heaven right now, and that we never left our home. All that happened is that we went to sleep and are dreaming that we have been exiled from our home and cast into the world. Instead of seeing that we are the ones who left our home, we feel abandoned by God, but the whole story is already over. We are just reviewing it in our minds, believing in the sequence of time. It is all already over. The moment we had a thought of separation, the Holy Spirit healed it. Nothing happened in reality.
We are still pristine extensions of God. Everything that seems to have happened in our dream has no reality. There is nothing to atone for and nothing to fix. If we are watching a movie of blood and gore, when it is over, we don't run up to the screen and try to clean it. Nothing has happened on the screen and, in the same way, nothing has happened that could mess up our pristine nature in the movie of our lives. We don't have to fix anything from the past, as there is no past. Now we are called to respond to circumstances as they appear to confront us and choose to respond with peace and forgiveness. In that choice, the past is undone.
Today, we take the time to enter the quiet of our minds and make a choice not to listen to the voice of the ego. In the quiet, we feel the safety of our Father's love. Nothing can touch us here. "You maker of a world that is not so, take rest and comfort in another world where peace abides. This world you bring with you to all the weary eyes and tired hearts that look on sin and beat its sad refrain. From you can come their rest. From you can rise a world they will rejoice to look upon, and where their hearts are glad. In you there is a vision that extends to all of them, and covers them in gentleness and light. And in this widening world of light the darkness that they thought was there is pushed away, until it is but distant shadows, far away, not long remembered as the sun shines them to nothingness. And all their 'evil' thoughts and 'sinful' hopes, their dreams of guilt and merciless revenge, and every wish to hurt and kill and die, will disappear before the sun you bring." (T. 25.IV.3.1-7) (ACIM OE T.25.V.34)
The light of our Being brings peace to tired hearts. It is the truth in all of us. We are all the same. Here, in the stillness, we have the hope of the attainment of our goal. "The stillness of today will give us hope that we have found the way, and travelled far along it to a wholly certain goal." (W.286.2.1) We only have one goal in this classroom of life, which is to wake up from this dream and remember who we are. As Lesson 287 says, "You are my goal, My Father. Only You." Where would we go but to Heaven, and why would we substitute any other goal?
There is nothing we need to do because we are already the Christ. We are already perfection. Sure, we have forgotten our reality. We are convinced that we are less than perfect and that now we need to clean up our act to make ourselves holy. But this is not the truth. We experience our holiness when we let go of the noise of the ego. We just need to let go of our own thinking so we can hear the truth spoken to us by the Holy Spirit, Who is in our right minds. We are called to spend more time with God today in the silence of our hearts and in contemplation of the truth of what we are. The truth will dawn on our minds when we are ready, but it takes discipline and preparation. There is no need to put more pressure or expectations on ourselves. Everything is given perfectly and whatever happens is perfect for our awakening. There is no need for impatience. It is important to be as gentle with ourselves as Jesus is with us in our process while still maintaining rigor in watching our thoughts and continuing to do the practice.
When we keep listening to the raucous noise in our minds it is only because we don't want to know the truth. "The memory of God comes to the quiet mind. It cannot come where there is conflict, for a mind at war against itself remembers not eternal gentleness." (T.23.I.1.1) (ACIM OE T.23.II.7) That is the current state of our minds. The Holy Spirit speaks to us all day, but it is by our own decision whether we choose to listen. In the moments of stillness where we experience the peace and where the mind is at rest, we are given "hope that we have found the way, and traveled far along it to a wholly certain goal." (W.286.2.1) We are asked to trust in this process and trust in Him.
The question is, "Which voice will we listen to---The voice of attack and grievances or the Voice for love?" When we listen to the ego, it is because we don't want to release our anger and our grievances. We tell stories about why we are justified in our positions. We refuse to forgive. "I have told you to think how many opportunities you have had to gladden yourself, and how many you have refused." (T.5.IN.1.2) (ACIM OE T.5.I.1) Isn't that so? We know the way to choose happiness, but we prefer to hold onto grievances, which is simply a decision to hold onto suffering. In refusing to forgive, we are refusing our own happiness. We are choosing instead to keep our suffering, thinking that in doing so we will ensure that our brothers accept accountability for what they have seemingly done to us. But while we hold this position, we keep ourselves in hell.
A friend was recently sharing with me why his life was going so badly. Everything he said was a litany of problems in his relationship, issues with money, a boss that had it in for him, his lack of energy, why the Course wasn't working for him, and on and on. In that story, the evidence seemed so clear to him that the cause of his suffering was all outside of his mind. He was seeing himself as the victim of it all and refused to make room for the idea that maybe the cause was in his own mind and not in the world. Just maybe, it was the way he was interpreting the events of his life. Once the mind gets locked into its way of seeing, the ego stubbornly holds onto its version of events and there is no space made for another way. We have to start with simple acceptance that we may be wrong about the way we see every situation. We need to actively choose against our way of seeing and ask with sincerity and desire to be shown another way. It is the way of transformation, and it is a radical process. It is not about adding a spiritual dimension to our lives as they are now. We resist transformation because we still fear letting go of control over our own lives. As a friend recently reminded me, we really don't want to be the butterfly. We'd rather be the caterpillar with wings.
The lowest point in my life, after I had tried everything I knew to make my life better and none of it was working, was when I asked to be shown. It was then that the Course came to life for me. The message I was given was that my relationship would be transformed from specialness to holiness, but in the process, I could expect a lot of conflict as a result of the goal for the relationship being shifted from specialness to holiness. I had received the Course a few years prior, but it was at this point of desperation that I was ready to really embrace it and to commit to the practice. I now put my trust in the teachings and invested in making this a priority in my life. "The goal of truth requires faith." (T.17.VI.6.1) (ACIM OE T.17.VII.62) In spite of outward appearances and indeed the evidence of even more conflict, there was an inner knowing that this was the path for me. I chose peace over and over and kept my focus on the Lessons in deep trust. The result was a series of miraculous events that undeniably strengthened my commitment and dedication to this teaching. "The power set in you in whom the Holy Spirit's goal has been established is so far beyond your little conception of the infinite that you have no idea how great the strength that goes with you." (T.17.VII.7.1) (ACIM OE T.17.VIII.70)
The Lesson today is all about accepting the gift of the love so that the quietness of Heaven can be restored to God's beloved Son. "The Voice of the Holy Spirit does not command, because It is incapable of arrogance. It does not demand, because It does not seek control. It does not overcome, because It does not attack. It merely reminds. It is compelling only because of what It reminds you of." (T.5.II.7.1-5) (ACIM OE T.5.IV.24) That is the sweet, quiet, gentle, and patient love of the Holy Spirit that stands behind every problem we can perceive, waiting for our agreement to turn it all over to Him, but we need to want to do this more than we want the judgments and grievances.
|
Chapter Twenty Seven
The Body and the Dream
CHAPTER 27 VI, 44-53
Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
44 The only way to heal is to be healed. The miracle extends without your help, but you
are needed that it can begin. Accept the miracle of healing, and it will go forth because of what it
is. It is its nature to extend itself the instant it is born. And it is born the instant it is offered and
received. No one can ask another to be healed. But he can let
himself be healed and thus offer the other what he has received. Who can bestow upon another what he does not have? And who can share what he denies himself? The Holy Spirit speaks to
you. He does not speak to someone else. Yet by your listening, His Voice extends because you have
accepted what He says.
45 Health is the witness unto health. As long as it is unattested, it remains without conviction. Only when demonstrated has it been proved and
must compel belief. No one is healed through double messages. If you wish only to be healed, you heal. Your
single purpose makes this possible. But if you are afraid of healing, then it cannot come through you. The only thing that is required for a healing is a lack of fear. The fearful are not healed and cannot heal. This does not mean the conflict must be gone forever from your mind. For if it were, there would be no need for healing then. But it
does mean, if only for an instant, you love without attack. An instant is sufficient. Miracles wait not on time.
46 The holy instant is the miracle's abiding-place. From there each one is born into this world as witness to a state of mind which has transcended conflict and has reached to peace. It carries comfort from the place of peace into the battleground and demonstrates that war has no effects. For all the hurt that war has sought to bring---the broken bodies and the shattered limbs, the screaming dying and the silent dead---are gently lifted up and comforted. There
is no sadness where a miracle has come to heal. And nothing more than just
one instant of your love without attack is necessary that all this occur. In that one instant are you healed, and in that single instant is all healing done.
47 What stands apart from you when you accept the blessing that the holy instant brings? Be not afraid of blessing, for the One Who blesses you loves all the world and leaves nothing within the world that could be feared. But if you shrink from blessing will the world indeed seem fearful, for you have withheld its peace and comfort, leaving it to die. Would not a world so bitterly bereft be looked on as a condemnation by the one who could have saved it but stepped back because he was afraid of being healed? The eyes of all the dying bring reproach, and suffering whispers, "What is there to fear?" Consider well its question. It is asked of you on your behalf. A dying world asks only that you rest an instant from attack upon yourself, that it be healed.
48 Come to the holy instant and be healed, for nothing that is there received is left behind on your returning to the world. And being blessed, you will bring blessing. Life is given you to give the dying world. And suffering eyes no longer will accuse, but shine in thanks to you who blessing gave. The holy instant's radiance will light your eyes and give them sight to see beyond all suffering and see Christ's face instead. Healing
replaces suffering. Who looks on one cannot perceive the other, for they cannot both be there. And what you see the world will witness, and will witness
to.
49 Thus is your healing everything the world requires that it may be healed. It needs
one lesson which has perfectly been learned. And then when you forget it will the world remind you gently of what you have taught. No reinforcement will its thanks withhold from you who let yourself be healed that it might live. It will call forth its witnesses to show the face of Christ to you who brought the sight to them by which they witnessed it. The world of accusation is replaced by one in which all eyes look lovingly upon the Friend who brought them their release. And happily your brother will perceive the many friends he thought were enemies.
50 Problems are not specific, but they take specific forms, and these specific shapes make up the world. And no one understands the nature of his problem. If he did, it would be there no more for him to see. Its very nature is that it is
not. And thus while he perceives it, he
can
not perceive it as it is. But healing is apparent in specific instances and generalizes to include them all. This is because they really are the same despite their different forms. All learning aims at transfer, which becomes complete within two situations which are seen as one, for
only common elements are there. Yet this can only be attained by One Who does not see the differences you see. The total transfer of your learning is not made by you. But that it has been made in spite of all the differences you see convinces you that they could not be real.
51 Your healing will extend and will be brought to problems that you thought were not your own. And it will also be apparent that your many different problems will be solved as any one of them has been escaped. It cannot be their differences which made this possible, for learning does not jump from situations to their opposites and bring the same results. All healing must proceed in lawful manner in accord with laws which have been properly perceived but never violated. Fear you not the way that you perceive them. You are wrong, but there is One within you Who is
right.
52 Leave, then, the transfer of your learning to the One Who really understands its laws and Who will guarantee that they remain unviolated and unlimited. Your part is merely to apply what He has taught you to
yourself, and He will do the rest. And thus the power of your learning will be proved to you by all the many different witnesses it finds. Your brother first among them will be seen, but thousands stand behind him, and beyond each one there are a thousand more. Each one may seem to have a problem which is different from the rest. Yet they are solved together. And their common answer shows the questions could not have been separate.
53 Peace be to you whom is healing offered. And you will learn that peace is given you when you accept the healing for yourself. Its total value need not be appraised by you to let you understand that you have benefited from it. What occurred within the instant which love entered in without attack will stay with you forever. Your healing will be one of its effects, as will your brother's. Everywhere you go will you behold its multiplied effects. Yet all the witnesses that you behold will be far less than all there really are. Infinity cannot be understood by merely counting up its separate parts. God thanks you for your healing, for He knows it is a gift of love unto His Son, and therefore is it given unto Him.
*Paragraphs 22, 23, and 24 were in the handscript notes, but did not appear in the final typing of the Original Edition manuscript. This content was restored in the 2009 Revision from an earlier manuscript and numbered 21a, 21b and 21c. However, starting with the 2012 Revision, the paragraph were renumbered and set off by brackets. Subsequently, all the following paragraphs, through the end of Chapter 27, have been renumbered. -Ed.
Hope you will click Heart to LIKE Us
Click this Heart and then click heart on SoundCloud page
to LIKE Us
|
|
To UNSUBSCRIBE, Open email sent to you and scroll to bottom. Click where it says:
[Message clipped]
View entire message
Scroll to the bottom and click the "UnSubscribe Button"
|
|
|
