Lesson 69
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HS Sorts Out True from False
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
  CH 6 "ATTACK AND FEAR"
V.c. BE VIGILANT ONLY FOR GOD AND HIS KINGDOM  

82 For your own salvation you must be critical since your salvation is critical to the whole Sonship. We said before that the Holy Spirit is evaluative and must be. Yet His evaluation does not extend beyond you, or you would share it. In your mind, and your mind only, He sorts out the true from the false and teaches you to judge every thought that you allow to enter your mind in the light of what God put there. Whatever is in accord with this light, He retains to strengthen the Kingdom in you. What is partly in accord with truth, He accepts and purifies. But what is out of accord entirely, He rejects by judging against. This is how He keeps the Kingdom perfectly consistent and perfectly unified.  
   
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSONS
SonShip Workbook
L e s s o n 69
My grievances hide the light of the world in me. 
♫ ♪ ♫ LOVE HOLDS NO GRIEVANCES ♫ ♪ ♫
music by Oman Ken

<
AUDIO ><VIDEO>
 Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio  

1 No one can look upon what your grievances conceal. Because your grievances are hiding the light of the world in you, everyone stands in darkness, and you beside him. But as the veil of your grievances is lifted, you are released with him. Share your salvation now with him who stood beside you when you were in hell. He is your brother in the light of the world which saves you both. 
 
2 Today let us make another real attempt to reach the light in you. Before we undertake this in our more extended practice period, let us devote several minutes in thinking about what we are trying to do. We are literally attempting to get in touch with the salvation of the world. We are trying to see past the veil of darkness that keeps it concealed. We are trying to let the veil be lifted and see the tears of God's Son disappear in the sunlight. 
 
3 Let us begin our longer practice period today with the full realization of all this and real determination to reach what is dearer to us than all else. Salvation is our only need. There is no other purpose here and no other function to fulfill. Learning salvation is our only goal. Let us end the ancient search today by finding the light in us and holding it up for everyone who searches with us to look upon and rejoice. 
 
4 Very quietly now, with your eyes closed, try to let go of all the content which generally occupies your consciousness. Think of your mind as a vast round area, surrounded by a layer of heavy dark clouds. You can see only the clouds because you seem to be standing outside the whole area, and quite apart from it. 
 
5 From where you stand, you can see no reason to believe there is a brilliant light hidden by the clouds. The clouds seem to be the only reality. They seem to be all there is to see. Therefore you do not attempt to go through them and past them, which is the only way in which you would be really convinced of their lack of substance. We will make this attempt today. 
 
6 After you have thought about the importance of what you are trying to do for yourself and the world, try to settle down in perfect stillness, remembering only how much you want to reach the light in you today-now. Determine to go past the clouds. Reach out and touch them in your mind; brush them aside with your hand; feel them resting on your cheeks and forehead and eyelids as you go through them. Go on; clouds cannot stop you. 
 
7 If you are doing the exercises properly, you will begin to feel a sense of being lifted up and carried ahead. Your little effort and small determination call on the power of the universe to help you, and God Himself will raise you from darkness into light. You are in accord with His Will. You cannot fail because your will is His. 
 
8 Have confidence in your Father today. And be certain that He has heard you and has answered you. You may not recognize His answer yet, but you can indeed be sure that it is given you, and you will yet receive it. Try, as you attempt to go through the clouds to the light, to hold this confidence in your mind. Try to remember that you are at last joining your will to God's. Try to keep the thought clearly in mind that what you undertake with God must succeed. Then let the power of God work in you and through you, that His Will and yours may be done. 
 
9 In the shorter practice periods, which you will want to do as often as possible in view of the importance of today's idea to you and your happiness, remind yourself that your grievances are hiding the light of the world from your awareness. Remind yourself also that you are not searching for it alone and that you do know where to look for it. Say, then: 
 
10 My grievances hide the light of the world in me
   I cannot see what I have hidden.
   Yet I want to let it be revealed to me
   for my salvation and the salvation of the world.
 
11 Also, be sure to tell yourself: 
 
12 If I hold this grievance, the light of the world
    will be hidden from me,
 
13 if you are tempted to hold anything against anyone today.
 
    ~ Original Hand Script of ACIM   
          
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 
ACIM Edmonton, CA
LESSON 69
  My grievances hide the light of the world in me.
 
Sarah's Commentary:
 
In order to know our true nature as given us by God, we need to release the blocks that conceal the truth of who we are. By holding grievances, we have chosen to forget our true nature. How motivated are we in remembering God's love that has never left us? His memory is still in our minds, but as long as we side with the ego, we will hold grievances, which is what the ego bids us do. Its existence depends on our agreement to blame others and see them as responsible for our unhappiness and lack of peace.
 
We are not who we think we are, but as long as we hold grievances, we won't know our true identity. As was pointed out in the Lesson yesterday, "Shut off from your Self, which remains aware of Its likeness to Its Creator, your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves illusions in its sleep appears to be awake." (W.68.2.1) The only way to connect with the Christ Self is ". . . to see past the veil of darkness that keeps it concealed." (W.69.2.4) The meditation practice offered in this Lesson is to help us experience the light that we are behind the clouds of illusion that keep the light hidden from our awareness.
 
The practice starts with a mind-set of "real determination to reach what is dearer to us than all else." (W.69.3.1) We must come to recognize there is no other purpose and no other function here to fulfill. (W.69.3.3) You need to see the "importance of what you are trying to do for yourselves and the world," (W.69.6.1) and "Have confidence in your Father today, and be certain that He has heard you and answered you." (W.69.8.1) There must be a deep and profound sense of the value we give to this activity. He uses the word "try" because he recognizes that we are still practicing something not easy for us.
 
Jesus knows this is a process for us. Until we experience the light behind the clouds, "From where you stand, you can see no reason to believe" it is there. (W.69.5.1) Until we have some experience of the peace, joy, and limitless love, our motivation will not be strong. When we have some experiences of this state of peace, our motivation will be enhanced. Right now, Jesus acknowledges, "The clouds seem to be the only reality. They seem to be all there is to see." (W.69.5.2-3) Until we have the experience of going ". . . through them and past them," we won't "be really convinced of their lack of substance." (W.69.5.4) Faith and trust will lead us back to ourselves.
 
What are these clouds? They are our mistaken thoughts about ourselves and the world, based on the belief that we left our home in God, and now we are guilty. We established our own kingdom and with that decision came uncertainty and fear. We hold others responsible for our condition and expect to be betrayed in turn by them. This is the basis for the grievances we hold against them. We don't realize it all starts in our own minds.
 
The stories we hold about ourselves and the world make up the clouds, which cover over the truth. The clouds are all illusory. Our minds try to bring order to chaos. We try to bring some explanation as to why we are the way we are, and why our lives look as they do, but it is all make-believe storytelling. We are making it all up. When we have some realization of this, there is a sense of disorientation. The ground we seem to be standing on no longer feels as solid. The beliefs and opinions we once held dear are no longer as important. Doubt has entered our minds. We have begun to see our thoughts have no reality. We are actually making progress. We are vibrating at a higher frequency and everything at a lower frequency starts to fall away. In this process, we may seem to lose what we value until we learn it is valueless. Our friends may fall away, our jobs may no longer be there, our relationships may be over, we may experience financial loss, and other changes may show up that no longer serve us. This can feel painful until we look back and see how everything was perfect for our journey.
 
Who we think we are as bodies and personalities and what this world is all about, all seem so very convincing, which is why the experience of going past the clouds is such a challenge for us, yet so important. "After you have thought about the importance of what you are trying to do for yourself and the world, try to settle down in perfect stillness, remembering only how much you want to reach the light in you today---now!" (W.69.6.1) This world does not actually exist, but it is the world we believe in and is a projection of the thought system we hold in our minds. It is a thought system of sin, guilt, and fear. What we are letting go of are the grievances of the past, the guilt that comes from what we think we have made of ourselves, and the fear of retaliation in the future.
 
We have a purpose here that Jesus says is "dearer to us than all else." (W.69.3.1) We only have one need and that is our salvation. What that really means is our healing. More than anything, there is a part of the mind that wants to feel healed and whole. Yes, there is resistance because there is another part of the mind that has chosen separation and is still invested in being right about what we are and the nature of the world. This part still thinks it knows how to find its own happiness, but ultimately, we are taking this course because we have heard the calling in us for our home. This part of us no longer wants to walk in fear, nor to experience lack and the loneliness of separation with its "gifts" of specialness and individuality. "You who are part of God are not at home except in His peace." (T.5.III.10.7) (ACIM OE T.5.V.42) "You will undertake a journey because you are not at home in this world." (T.12.IV.5.1) (ACIM OE T.11.V.40)
 
"Think of your mind as a vast circle, surrounded by a layer of heavy, dark clouds." (W.69.4.2) These clouds surround our minds to conceal the memory of God's love. All we see in this place are the clouds because we are in the clouds. "You can see only the clouds because you seem to be standing outside the circle and quite apart from it." (W.69.4.3) Looking from where we think we are, we do seem to be outside of the circle of light and quite separate from it. This circle of light is all around us, yet we don't see it because our eyes were made not to see. All we see, instead, are the heavy and dark clouds, which are the ego's clouds of guilt, fear, anxiety, and depression.
 
As we do the work of forgiveness by bringing awareness to how we are invested in our specialness, space is made in our minds for the light of our Being to come through. We release our brothers with us because we are all One, and thus we ". . . see the tears of God's Son disappear in the sunlight," (W.69.2.5) which is a metaphor for the beauty that comes with recognition of our innocence and that of our brothers.
 
We have come to think of the ego identity as our reality. We think the idols of this world (money, special relationships, bodies, things of the world) will make us happy. The ego tries to convince us that this is our reality, and there is nothing else. The ego resists having us remember who we are because if we really knew our holiness, we would have no more investment in the ego. It is of significant threat to the ego, but it would end our ancient search.
 
As we do the practice, remember the clouds are not external. They are our thoughts about our experiences in this world and the grievances we hold. They are all illusions, but it is important to see they have no power, which is why we can go past them. In order to enhance our motivation, it is important to recognize that judgments and grievances always bring us pain. Trying to solve problems by rearranging the clouds does nothing. It will not bring us to the light. Yet this is where we put most of our attention by trying to fix things in the world of form.
 
I have always been a very responsible person who has taken care of people in my life. This role reflects a need to make things better for people in my life by sacrificing for them. In this role, I give to others, yet I do not readily receive. I have worked with this vigilantly for many years and have given up much of the people-pleasing behaviors that have not served me. As I do so, my relationships become more authentic and wholesome. I recognize the root of this conspiracy against myself has been self-betrayal. It is about betraying my authentic Self and leaving my true essence. I clearly remember a childhood of innocent awareness, knowing I was not meant for the role I had taken on. As I become aware of what I am doing that does not serve me and how I am hurting myself, my motivation for healing the mind is enhanced. I am more willing to forgive myself for my misperceptions. Only as I recognize the equality in everyone can I heal my feelings of self-betrayal. This opportunity has been given to me in my caregiving of my elderly mother whom I was never close to. She is in my life to help me to see my past roles and to give over the expectations I place on myself. She is a wonderful mirror for me of what needs healing in my own mind.
 
Today, "Very quietly now, with your eyes closed, try to let go of all the content that generally occupies your consciousness." (W.69.4.1) This takes practice. It takes a level of concentration, discipline, and attentiveness that we are not used to. Thus, this meditation practice as introduced in Lesson 41 and continued here is not one of dissociation, nor allowing our mind to become lazy. This Lesson is about focus and attentiveness. It takes "real determination to reach what is dearer to us than all else." (W.69.3.1) Let us be determined today in our practice by recognizing we are investing in our happiness through this practice. Our happiness lies beyond the clouds and is in what we are in truth.
 
Let us not be tempted to hold anything against anyone today. This is not about trying to feel loving to everyone but about honestly looking at our thoughts, grievances, opinions we hold, stories we tell about ourselves and others, needing to be right, relying on ourselves to figure things out, and trying to go past all of that. It is recognizing I don't know anything. This is the veil of darkness we are trying to see past. This is what conceals the truth of who we are.
 
Make a commitment to yourself that you will use this day as a classroom for your awakening to the truth of who you are. Every person and every situation are in your classroom today to help you do just that. We have no other purpose or function here. We are here for no other reason. Reaching this place of light and peace in us is our only goal. It is the only way you can "Then let the power of God work in you and through you, that His Will and yours be done." (W.69.8.6)
 
All the power of the universe is available to help you with this. "Your little effort and small determination call on the power of the universe to help you, and God Himself will raise you from darkness into light." (W.69.7.2) His power is behind every effort we make. We are assured that we can have confidence in our ability to experience the light in us. As you enter this practice, hold this confidence in mind. We are joining our will with God's. Thus, we are certain to succeed. Will we immediately achieve success? It is possible, but for most of us, it will probably be more of a process of undoing, and yet with every effort we make, we move closer to our goal.

Love and blessings, Sarah 
 
A Course in Miracles
TEXT
ACIM Original Edition
 
Chapter Six: Attack and Fear
 
<TEXT AUDIO>
Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
   
V.c. Be Vigilant only for God and His Kingdom 
 
82 For your own salvation you must be critical since your salvation is critical to the whole Sonship. We said before that the Holy Spirit is evaluative and must be. Yet His evaluation does not extend beyond you, or you would share it. In your mind, and your mind only, He sorts out the true from the false and teaches you to judge every thought that you allow to enter your mind in the light of what God put there. Whatever is in accord with this light, He retains to strengthen the Kingdom in you. What is partly in accord with truth, He accepts and purifies. But what is out of accord entirely, He rejects by judging against. This is how He keeps the Kingdom perfectly consistent and perfectly unified.
 
83 What you must remember, however, is that what the Holy Spirit rejects the ego accepts. This is because they are in fundamental disagreement about everything, being in fundamental disagreement about what you are. The ego's beliefs on this crucial issue vary, and that is why it promotes different moods. The Holy Spirit never varies on this point, and so the one mood He engenders is joy. He protects it by rejecting everything that does not foster joy, and so He alone can keep you wholly joyous.
 
84 The Holy Spirit does not teach your mind to be critical of other minds because He does not want you to teach errors and learn them yourselves. He would hardly be consistent if He allowed you to strengthen what you must learn to avoid. In the mind of the thinker, then, He is judgmental, but only in order to unify the mind so it can perceive without judgment. This enables the mind to teach without judgment and therefore to learn to be without judgment. The undoing is necessary only in your mind so that you cannot project falsely. God Himself has established what you can project with perfect safety. Therefore, the Holy Spirit's third lesson is:
 
85 Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom.
 
86 This is a major step toward fundamental change. Yet it is still a lesson in thought reversal since it implies that there is something you must be vigilant against. It has advanced far from the first lesson, which was primarily a reversal and also from the second, which was essentially the identification of what is more desirable. This step, which follows from the second as the second follows from the first, emphasizes the dichotomy between the desirable and the undesirable. It therefore makes the ultimate choice inevitable.
 
87 While the first step seems to increase conflict and the second step still entails it to some extent, this one calls for consistent effort against it. We said already that you can be as vigilant against the ego as for it. This lesson teaches not only that you can be, but that you must be. It does not concern itself with order of difficulty but with clear cut priority for vigilance. This step is unequivocal in that it teaches there must be no exceptions, although it does not deny that the temptation to make exceptions will occur. Here, then, your consistency is called on despite chaos. Yet chaos and consistency cannot coexist for long since they are mutually exclusive.
 
88 As long as you must be vigilant against anything, however, you are not recognizing this mutual exclusiveness and are holding the belief that you can choose either one. By teaching what to choose, the Holy Spirit will ultimately be able to teach you that you need not choose at all. This will finally liberate your will from choice and direct it towards creation within the Kingdom. Choosing through the Holy Spirit will lead you to the Kingdom. You create by what you are, but this is what you must learn. The way to learn it is inherent in the third step, which brings together the lessons implied in the others and goes beyond them towards real integration.
 
89 If you allow yourselves to have in your minds only what God put there, you are acknowledging your mind as God created it. Therefore, you are accepting it as it is. Since it is whole, you are teaching peace because you believe in it. The final step will still be taken for you by God, but by the third step the Holy Spirit has prepared you for God. He is getting you ready for the translation of having into being by the very nature of the steps you must take with Him.
 
90 You learn first that having rests on giving and not on getting. Next you learn that you learn what you teach and that you want to learn peace. This is the condition for identifying with the Kingdom since it is the condition of the Kingdom. You have believed that you are without the Kingdom and have therefore excluded yourself from it in your belief. It is therefore essential to teach you that you must be included and that the belief that you are not is the only thing that you must exclude.
 
91 The third step is thus one of protection for your minds, allowing you to identify only with the center, where God placed the altar to Himself. We have already said that altars are beliefs, but God and His creations are beyond belief because they are beyond question. The Voice for God speaks only for belief beyond question, which is the preparation for being without question. As long as belief in God and His Kingdom is assailed by any doubts in your minds, His perfect accomplishment is not apparent to you. This is why you must be vigilant on God's behalf. The ego speaks against His creation and therefore does engender doubt. You cannot go beyond belief until you believe fully.
 
92 Transfer, which is extension, is a measure of learning because it is its measurable result. This, however, does not mean that what it transfers to is measurable. On the contrary, unless it transfers to the whole Sonship, which is immeasurable because it was created by the Immeasurable, the learning itself must be incomplete. To teach the whole Sonship without exception demonstrates that you perceive its wholeness and have learned that it is one. Now you must be vigilant to hold its oneness in your minds because, if you let doubt enter, you will lose awareness of its wholeness and will be unable to teach it.
 
93 The wholeness of the Kingdom does not depend on your perception, but your awareness of its wholeness does. It is only your awareness which needs protection since your being cannot be assailed. Yet a real sense of being cannot be yours while you are doubtful of what you are. This is why vigilance is essential. Doubts about being must not enter your mind, or you cannot know what you are with certainty. Certainty is of God for you. Vigilance is not necessary for truth, but it is necessary against illusions.
 
94 Truth is without illusions and therefore within the Kingdom. Everything outside the Kingdom is illusion, but you must learn to accept truth because you threw it away. You therefore saw yourself as if you were without it. By making another Kingdom which you valued, you did not keep only the Kingdom of God in your minds and thus placed part of your mind outside it. What you have made has thus divided your will and given you a sick mind which must be healed. Your vigilance against this sickness is the way to heal it. Once your mind is healed, it radiates health and thereby teaches healing. This establishes you as a teacher who teaches like me. Vigilance was required of me as much as of you, but remember that those who will to teach the same thing must be in agreement about what they believe.
 
95 The third step, then, is a statement of what you want to believe and entails a willingness to relinquish everything else. I told you that you were just beginning the second step, but I also told you that the third one follows it. The Holy Spirit will enable you to go on if you follow Him. Your vigilance is the sign that you want Him to guide you. Vigilance does require effort, but only to teach you that effort itself is unnecessary. You have exerted great effort to preserve what you made because it was not true. Therefore, you must now turn your effort against it. Only this can cancel out the need for effort and call upon the being which you both have and are. This recognition is wholly without effort since it is already true and needs no protection. It is in the perfect safety of God. Therefore inclusion is total and creation is without limit.

    ~ Original Hand Script of ACIM 
 
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