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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 8 "THE JOURNEY BACK"
V. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
27 Light does not attack darkness, but it does shine it away. If my light goes with you everywhere, you shine it away with me. The light becomes ours, and you cannot abide in darkness any more than darkness can abide wherever you go. The remembrance of me is the remembrance of yourself and of Him Who sent me to you. You were in darkness until God's Will was done completely by any part of the Sonship. When this was done, it was perfectly accomplished by all. How else could it be perfectly accomplished? My mission was simply to unite the will of the Sonship with the Will of the Father by being aware of the Father's Will myself. This is the awareness I came to give you, and your problem in accepting it is the problem of this world. Dispelling it is salvation, and in this sense I am the salvation of the world.
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK Part I ~ REVIEW II
INTRODUCTION
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1 We are now ready for another review. We will begin where our last review left off and cover two ideas each day. The earlier part of each day will be devoted to one of these ideas, and the latter part of the day to the other. We will have one longer exercise period and frequent shorter ones in which we practice each of them.
2 The longer practice periods will follow this general form: take about 15 minutes for each of them, and begin by thinking about the idea and the comments which are included in the assignments. Devote about three or four minutes to reading them over slowly, several times if you wish, and then close your eyes and listen. Repeat the first phase if you find your mind wandering, but try to spend the major part of the practice period listening quietly but attentively.
3 There is a message waiting for you. Be confident that you will receive it. Remember that it belongs to you and that you want it. Do not allow your intent to waver in the face of distracting thoughts. Realize that, whatever form they take, they have no meaning and no power. Replace them with your determination to succeed. Do not forget that your will has power over all fantasies and dreams. Trust it to see you through and carry you beyond them all.
4 Regard these practice periods as dedications to the way, the truth, and the life. Refuse to be side-tracked into detours, illusions, and thoughts of death. You are dedicated to salvation. Be determined each day not to leave your function unfulfilled.
5 Reaffirm your determination in the shorter practice periods as well, using the original form of the idea for general application and a more specific form when needed. Some specific forms will be included in the comments. These, however, are merely suggestions. It is not the particular words you use that matter.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSONS
L e s s o n 88 ~ Review II
[Review Lesson 75 and Lesson 76]
<
AUDIO
><VIDEO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1 Today we will review these ideas:
[75] The light has come.
2 In choosing salvation rather than attack, I merely choose to recognize what is already here. Salvation is a decision made already. Attack and grievances are not there to choose. That is why I always choose between truth and illusion, between what is there and what is not. The light has come. I can but choose the light, for it has no alternative. It has replaced the darkness, and the dark is gone.
3 These would prove useful forms for specific applications of this idea:
4
This cannot show me darkness, for the light has come.
The light in you is all that I would see, [name].
I would see in this only what is there.
[76] I am under no laws but God's.
5 Here is the perfect statement of my freedom. I am under no laws but God's. I am constantly tempted to make up other laws and give them power over me. I suffer only because of my belief in them. They have no real effect on me at all. I am perfectly free of the effects of all laws save God's. And His are the laws of freedom.
6 For specific forms in applying this idea, these would be useful:
7
My perception of this shows me I believe in laws which do not exist.
I see only the laws of God at work in this.
Let me allow God's laws to work in this and not my own.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 88
Review II ~ Lesson 75 and Lesson 76
Sarah's Commentary:
The common thread in these two Lessons is that the only reality is God. We recognize the light when we choose "salvation (healing, forgiveness) rather than attack." (W.88.1.2) The light is always within us, but when we block it with our thoughts, we are not aware of its presence in our minds. We block the light from our awareness when we choose the ego's darkness. When the blocks to love (our judgments and grievances) are gone, we see what is already there and has always been there (the light in our right minds). That is all that is real. It is our divine Self. In choosing to forgive, we indicate our willingness and desire to know the truth that has always been in our minds. The pristine truth about ourselves is revealed to us through our decision to choose forgiveness rather than attack. Illusion is darkness and has no power in reality.
When we choose illusions, we are choosing nothing. While we are free to choose illusions, they have no real effect. The only meaningful choice we can make in the dream is for the miracle. There is nothing in opposition to God; therefore, there is no real effect on reality from choosing things we think we want in the dream. Nothing here has any power except for the power we give it through our belief. There is no real alternative to the light. When we choose the light, darkness simply must go because it is nothing.
Our salvation is already accomplished. We are only reviewing what has already gone by. We are with God now, having never left except in dreams. It is a dream where we believe we are exiled from God so we feel like He has abandoned us. In fact, we are the ones who have chosen to abandon our true Home. We are dreaming this whole journey of life in this world. There is nowhere for us to arrive. The only thing needed is the recognition that we already are at the place where we have never left. We are already home. The light has come, but until we are aware this is so, we will believe in the reality of the dream we are dreaming. We will only know it is a dream when we wake up. We awaken when we recognize that the only meaningful choice available to us is the choice for salvation. Happiness is a choice. When we choose grievances, we are choosing against our happiness, but the choice we make for illusions is the choice for nothing at all.
We will be motivated to forgive when we see no benefit in attack. As we see how attack brings us more guilt and suffering, which blocks the light, we become increasingly willing to let it go. When we truly see we are only hurting ourselves, we recognize the insanity of our choice to attack. We are always choosing in each moment "between truth and illusion; between what is there and what is not." (W.88.1.5) The ego, with all its dark motives and emotions, is not a real option. In other words, while we may think we are attacking and our attacks have a real effect, the reality is that nothing is really happening. The end of this dream is certain and inevitable because it has already happened.
Today, we practice forgiveness by bringing our attack thoughts of guilt, judgments, hate, and fear to our awareness. We can't heal what we don't acknowledge in ourselves. When we are committed to the healing of these self-attacking thoughts, we place them on the altar of truth where the Holy Spirit resides in our minds. As our dark thoughts are brought to the light, space is made in our minds for the truth so we can see who our brother is. He is innocent, and as we see this in him, we accept that same innocence within ourselves. We see that we are the same Self. "The light in you is all that I would see, [name]," (W.88.2.3) because in reality that is the only thing there is; but we won't see it without releasing all that blocks it. We won't see it until the judgments we put on others are released.
For our afternoon practice, we recognize that the laws of the world only have an effect because we believe we are bodies, living in the world. In truth, "I am under no laws but God's," (W.88.3.1) because there is only God's Will and no other. Having chosen separation, the laws of the world seem to have an effect on us because we believe in the reality of the body. However, outside of the illusion, the laws of the world have no effect. These laws seem to have control over us while we still believe in the world. They are the rules and laws by which we live and expect others to live as well. We place our belief in these laws. We also think that investing in these laws is where our salvation lies. We think that if we are exposed to germs, we will get sick. We think if that we don't eat the right foods and don't take certain vitamins, we will not be healthy. We think that if another body leaves us, we will be lonely. All our laws are focused on our body, personality, well-being, and safety, but the laws of this world are not immutable. When we question their hold on us, we loosen our investment in them.
These laws literally include everything we do in the world such as: what we eat, how much sleep we say we need, what our rules are for relationships, what we demand and require of family members and friends, how holidays should be celebrated, how the dishes should be washed, which way the toilet paper should hang, and simply a myriad of laws that rule our lives. They are not bad. We are not guilty because we invest in them. They are simply laws we live by. What is important are not the laws, but our investment in them for our happiness and safety. Jesus is not saying we should feel guilty because we choose to eat foods we consider not good for our health. He is only saying that when we don't feel well, we must recognize the source of our suffering is not the food we have or have not eaten. He simply reminds us that all suffering originates in our minds.
Think about what happens to your peace of mind when someone is in the express line at the grocery store with a full basket. "They aren't following the rules," the ego screams. Crucify! We have just given ourselves a reason for anger and attack. Yet we are reminded in the Course that anger is never justified. It is not that we will not get angry, but the story we tell ourselves about why we are angry is not the truth. We attack because we want to maintain our individuality and our differences. We want to make others responsible for our lack of peace. In other words, the reason we attack is because we want to. We actually want others to betray us; but while we justify our anger, Jesus does not want us to see our experience of anger as a reason for guilt. He is only saying there is never a reason for us to be angry. It is always a choice made by the wrong mind to see the cause for anger as outside of ourselves because we want to see it that way.
If our laws are broken, we believe that our happiness is sacrificed. We get upset when our laws are not "revered," or at least respected and maintained. The ego is summarized in these two thoughts: "I am me and you are not," (my needs are important) and "I am end and you are means" (your function is the means for the fulfillment of my needs or my laws).
Because we carry this dual thought system, it is natural that conflict will happen, especially since everyone carries the same thought system of "one or the other." We are always vying for ways to have our needs met at someone else's expense, and this is the reason spouses, nations, religions, and various groups don't get along. What is the answer? We need to give up this entire thought system. We need to bring our awareness to all the laws we hold sacred and recognize that they are there to serve the body, but we are not our bodies. The basis for our real pain is the choice for our ego, individuality, and specialness, which will always have us looking outside of ourselves for happiness.
"Here is the perfect statement of my freedom. I am under no laws but God's."
(W.88.3.2) I commit today to join with God's Will so it may prevail in every situation, rather than my own. I can give up my belief in laws that I have made. I do not have to give them power over me. "I suffer only because of my belief in them." (W.88.3.5) Our true source of pain has nothing to do with the world and its laws. Our true source of pain comes from separation and the guilt in our minds. The only happiness we will experience is through healing the guilt we hold.
Imagine making up our own laws and submitting to the power they exert on us! We are now enslaved by them. We suffer as a result of our belief in them. Does this sound like insanity? Our belief in these Laws of Chaos, (T.23.II) (ACIM OE T.23.III) based on guilt, fear, punishment, and separation, can all be healed by bringing our grievances to the truth. Healing is inevitable because God's laws assure our freedom, and freedom assures our Oneness.
What are God's laws? They are love, extension, sharing, giving, and joining while the ego's laws are about taking, bargaining, attacking, defending, and separation. In fact, the belief in separation leads to all the laws of the ego, which are based on differences and thus place us in competition with each other.
The healing of every relationship is inevitable because God assures us of this happy fact, and what God assures us of is inevitable because we have the same will. It is just a matter of time before we agree to choose for God and give up our suffering. The end is certain. "Salvation is a decision made already." (W.88.1.3) It was made the moment the separation came about. However, the Atonement Principle established that the separation is not real and could never be accomplished because it is impossible to leave God.
Today, "The light in you is all that I would see, [name]" (W.88.2.3) and "Let me allow God's laws to work in this, and not my own." (W.88.4.4)
Love and blessings, Sarah
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Chapter Eight
The Journey Back
<TEXT AUDIO>
Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
V. The Light of the World
25 If God's Will for you is complete peace and joy, unless you experience
only this you must be refusing to
acknowledge His Will. His Will does not vacillate, being changeless forever. When you are not at peace, it can only be because you do not believe you
are in Him. Yet He is all in all. His peace is complete, and you
must be included in it. His laws govern you, because they govern
everything. You cannot exempt yourself from His laws, although you can disobey them. Yet if you do, and
only if you do, you
will feel lonely and helpless, because you are denying yourself everything.
26 I am come as a light into a world that
does deny itself everything. It does this simply by dissociating itself
from everything. It is therefore an illusion of isolation, maintained by fear of the same loneliness which
is its illusion. I have told you that I am with you always, even to the end of the world. That is
why I am the light of the world. If I am with you in the loneliness of the world,
the loneliness is gone. You
cannot maintain the illusion of loneliness if you are
not alone. My purpose, then,
is to overcome the world. I do not attack it, but my light must dispel it because of what it
is.
27 Light does not attack darkness, but it
does shine it away. If my light goes with you everywhere,
you shine it away
with me. The light becomes
ours, and you cannot abide in darkness any more than darkness can abide wherever you go. The remembrance of me
is the remembrance of yourself and of Him Who sent me to you. You were in darkness until God's Will was done completely by
any part of the Sonship. When this was done, it was perfectly accomplished by
all. How else could it
be perfectly accomplished? My mission was simply to unite the will of the Sonship with the Will of the Father by being aware of the Father's Will myself. This is the awareness I came to give
you, and your problem in accepting it
is the problem of this world. Dispelling it is salvation, and in this sense I
am the salvation of the world.
28 The world must despise and reject me, because the world
is the belief that love is impossible.
Your reactions to me are the reactions of the world to God. If you will accept the fact that I am with you, you are
denying the world and
accepting God. My will is His, and
your will to hear me is the decision to hear His Voice and abide in His Will. As God sent me to you, so will I send you to others, and I will go to them
with you so we can teach them peace and union.
29 Do you not think the world
needs peace as much as you do? Do you not want to
give it to the world as much as you want to
receive it? For unless you do, you will
not receive it. If you will to have it of me, you
must give it. Rehabilitation does not come from anyone else. You can have guidance from without, but you must
accept it from within. The guidance must be what
you want, or it will be meaningless to you. That is why rehabilitation is a collaborative venture.
30 I can tell you what to do, but this will not help you unless you collaborate by believing that I
know what to do. Only then will your mind choose to follow me. Without
your will, you cannot
be rehabilitated.
Motivation to be healed is the crucial factor in rehabilitation. Without this you are deciding
against healing, and your veto of my will for you
makes healing impossible. If healing
is our joint will, unless our wills
are joined you
cannot be healed. This is obvious when you consider what healing is
for. Healing is the way in which the separation is overcome. Separation is overcome by
union. It cannot be overcome by separating.
31 The
will to unite must be unequivocal, or the will
itself is divided or not whole. Your will is the means by which you determine your own condition, because will is the
mechanism of decision. It is the power by which you separate or join and experience pain or joy accordingly. My will cannot
overcome yours, because yours is as powerful as mine. If it were not so, the Sons of God would be unequal. All things are possible through our
joint will, but my will alone cannot help you. Your will is as free as mine, and God Himself would not go against it.
I cannot will what God does
not will. I can offer you my will to make
yours invincible by this sharing, but I cannot
oppose yours
without competing with it and thereby violating God's Will for you.
32 Nothing God created can oppose your will, as nothing God created can oppose His. God
gave your will its power, which I can only acknowledge in honor of
His. If you want to be like me, I will help you, knowing that we
are alike. If you want to be different, I will wait until you change your mind. I can
teach you, but only you can choose to
listen to my teaching. How else can it be, if God's Kingdom
is freedom? Freedom cannot be learned by tyranny of any kind, and the perfect equality of
all God's Sons cannot be recognized through the dominion of one will over another. God's Sons are equal in will, all being the Will of their Father. This is the
only lesson I came to teach, knowing that it is true.
33 When your will is
not mine, it is not our Father's. This means that you have imprisoned
yours and have not
let it be free. Of yourselves you can do nothing, because of yourselves you
are nothing. I am nothing without the Father, and
you are nothing without
me, because by denying the Father you deny
yourself. I will
always remember you, and in
my remembrance of you lies your remembrance of
yourself. In our remembrance of
each other lies our remembrance of God, and in this remembrance lies your freedom because your freedom
is in Him. Join then with me in praise of Him
and you whom He created. This is our gift of gratitude to Him, which He will share with
all His creations to whom He gives equally whatever is acceptable to Him.
Because it is acceptable to Him, it is the gift of freedom, which
is His Will for all His Sons. By
offering freedom,
you will be free.
34 Freedom is the only gift you can offer to God's Sons, being an
acknowledgment of what
they are and what
He is. Freedom is creation because it is love. What you seek to imprison you do
not love. Therefore, when you seek to imprison anyone, including
yourself, you do
not love him, and you cannot identify
with him. When you imprison
yourself, you are losing sight of your true identification
with me and with the Father. Your identification
is with the Father and with the Son. It
cannot be with one and not the other. If you are part of one, you must be part of the other because they
are one.
35 The Holy Trinity is holy
because it is one. If you exclude
yourself from this union, you are perceiving the Holy Trinity as separated. You must be included
in It because It
is everything. Unless you take your place in It and fulfill your function as
part of It, It is as bereft as
you are. No part of It can be imprisoned if Its truth is to be known. Can you be separated from your identification and be at peace? Dissociation is not a solution; it is a
delusion. The delusional believe that truth will assail them, and so they do not
see it because they
prefer the delusion. Judging truth as something they do
not want, they perceive deception and block knowledge.
36 Help them by offering them
your unified will on their behalf, as I am offering you mine on
yours. Alone we can do nothing, but
together our wills fuse into something whose power is far beyond the power of its separate parts. By
not being separate, the Will of God is established
in ours and
as ours. This Will is invincible
because it is undivided. The undivided will of the Sonship is the perfect creator, being wholly in the likeness of God, Whose Will it
is.
You cannot be exempt from it if you are to understand what
it is and what
you are. By separating your will
from mine, you are exempting yourself from the Will of God, which
is yourself.
37 Yet to heal is still to make whole. Therefore, to heal is to
unite with those who are like you, because perceiving this likeness
is to recognize the Father. If
your perfection is in Him and
only in Him, how can you
know it without recognizing Him? The recognition of God
is the recognition of yourself. There
is no separation of God and His creation. You will learn this as you learn that there is no separation of
your will and
mine. Let the love of God shine upon you by your acceptance of me.
My reality is yours
and His. By joining your will with mine, you are signifying your awareness that the Will of God is one.
38 God's Oneness and ours are not separate, because His Oneness
encompasses ours. To join with me is to restore His power to you,
because we are sharing it. I offer you only the
recognition of His power in you, but in that lies
all truth. As
we unite, we unite with Him. Glory be to the union of God and His holy Sons! All glory lies in them
because they are united. The miracles we do bear witness to the Will of the Father for His Son and to our joy in uniting
with His Will for us.
39 When you unite with me, you are uniting
without the ego, because I have renounced the ego in myself and therefore
cannot unite with yours.
Our union is therefore the way to renounce the ego in
yourself. The truth in both of us is
beyond the ego. By willing that, you
have gone beyond it toward truth. Our success in transcending the ego is guaranteed by God, and I can share [my perfect confidence in His promise because I know He gave me] this confidence for both of us and
all of us. I bring God's peace back to all His Children because I received it of Him for us all. Nothing can prevail against our united wills because nothing can prevail against God's. Would you know the Will of God for
you? Ask it of me who knows it
for you, and you will find it. I will deny you nothing, as God denies
me nothing.
40 Ours is simply the journey back to God, Who is our home. Whenever fear intrudes anywhere along the road to peace, it is
always because the ego has attempted to join the journey with us
and cannot do so. Sensing defeat and angered by it, the ego regards itself as rejected and becomes retaliative. You are invulnerable to its retaliation
because I am with you. On this journey, you have chosen me as your companion
instead of the ego. Do not try to hold on to both, or you will try to go in different directions and will lose the way.
41 The ego's way is not mine, but it is also
not yours. The Holy Spirit has
one direction for
all minds, and the one He taught me is
yours. Let us not lose sight of His direction through illusions, for only illusions of another direction can obscure the one for which God's Voice speaks in all of us. Never accord the ego the power to interfere with the journey because it
has none, since the journey is the way to what is true. Leave
all deception behind and reach beyond all attempts of the ego to hold you back. I go before you because I
am beyond the ego. Reach therefore for my hand because you
want to transcend the ego. My will will
never be wanting, and if you
want to share it you
will. I give it willingly and gladly because I need you as much as you need me.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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