Lesson 107
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Creation is Inclusive
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
  CH 9 "THE CORRECTION OF ERROR"
VIII. THE INCLUSIVENESS OF CREATION        
 
60 God created nothing beside you, and nothing beside you exists, for you are part of Him. What except Him can exist? Nothing beyond Him can happen because nothing except Him is real. Your creations add to Him as you do, but nothing is added that is different because everything has always been. What can upset you except the ephemeral, and how can the ephemeral be real if you are God's only creation, and He created you eternal? Your holy will establishes everything that happens to you. Every response you make to everything you perceive is up to you because your will determines your perception of it.    
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSONS
SonShip Workbook
L e s s o n  107
  Truth will correct all errors in my mind.


* IAMBIC PENTAMETER BEGINS*
 
< AUDIO> <VIDEO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio

   What can correct illusions but the truth?
   And what are errors but illusions which
   remain unrecognized for what they are?
   Where truth has entered errors disappear.
   They merely vanish, leaving not a trace
   by which to be remembered. They are gone
   because without belief they have no life,
   and so they disappear to nothingness,
   returning whence they came. From dust to dust
   they come and go, for only truth remains.
 
   Can you imagine what a state of mind
   without illusions is? How it would feel?
   Try to remember when there was a time,
   - perhaps a minute, maybe even less, -
   when nothing came to interrupt your peace;
   when you were certain you were loved and safe.
   Then try to picture what it would be like
   to have that moment be extended to
   the end of time and to eternity.
    
  Then let the sense of quiet that you felt
   be multiplied a hundred times, and then
   be multiplied another hundred more.
   And now you have a hint, not more than just
   the faintest intimation of the state
   your mind will rest in when the truth has come.
    
   Without illusions there could be no fear,
   no doubt and no attack. When truth has come
   all pain is over, for there is no room
   for transitory thoughts and dead ideas
   to linger in your mind. Truth occupies
   your mind completely, liberating you
   from all beliefs in the ephemeral.
   They have no place because the truth has come,
   and they are nowhere. They cannot be found,
   for truth is everywhere forever now.
 
   When truth has come it does not stay a while
   to disappear or change to something else.
   It does not shift and alter in its form,
   nor come and go and go and come again.
   It stays exactly as it always was,
   to be depended on in every need,
   and trusted with a perfect trust in all
   the seeming difficulties and the doubts
   which the appearances the world presents
   engender. They will merely blow away
   when truth corrects the errors in your mind.
 
   When truth has come it harbors in its wings
   the gift of perfect constancy, and love
   which does not falter in the face of pain
   but looks beyond it, steadily and sure.
   Here is the gift of healing, for the truth
   needs no defense, and therefore no attack
   is possible. Illusions can be brought
   to truth to be corrected. But the truth
   stands far beyond illusions, and can not
   be brought to them to turn them into truth.
 
   Truth does not come and go nor shift nor change,
   in this appearance now and then in that,
   evading capture and escaping grasp.
   It does not hide. It stands in open light,
   in obvious accessibility.
   It is impossible that anyone
   could seek it truly and would not succeed.
   
   Today belongs to truth. Give truth its due,
   and it will give you yours. You were not meant
   to suffer and to die. Your Father wills
   these dreams be gone. Let truth correct them all.
    We do not ask for what we do not have.
   We merely ask for what belongs to us,
   that we may recognize it as our own.
   
   Today we practice on the happy note
   of certainty which has been born of truth.
   The shaky and unsteady footsteps of
   illusion is not our approach today.
   We are as certain of success as we
   are sure we live and hope and breath and think.
   We do not doubt we walk with truth today,
   and count on it to enter into all
   the exercises that we do this day.
 
   Begin by asking Him Who goes with you
   upon this undertaking that He be
   in your awareness as you go with Him.
   You are not made of flesh and blood and bone,
   but were created by the self-same Thought
   Which gave the gift of life to Him as well.
   He is your Brother, and so like to you
   your Father knows that you are both the same.
   It is your Self you ask to go with you,
   and how could He be absent where you are?
 
   Truth will correct all errors in your mind
   which tell you you could be apart from Him.
   You speak to Him today, and make your pledge
   to let His function be fulfilled through you.
   To share His function is to share His joy.
   His confidence is with you as you say:
 
   Truth will correct all errors in my mind,
   And I will rest in Him who is my Self .
 
   Then let Him lead you gently to the truth
   which will envelop you and give you peace
   so deep and tranquil that you will return
   to the familiar world reluctantly.
 
   And yet you will be glad to look again
   upon this world. For you will bring with you
   the promise of the changes which the truth
   that goes with you will carry to the world.
   They will increase with every gift you give
   of five small minutes, and the errors which
   surround the world will be corrected as
   you let them be corrected in your mind.
 
   Do not forget your function for today.
   Each time you tell yourself with confidence,
   "Truth will correct all errors in my mind,"
   you speak for all the world, and Him Who would
   release the world as He would set you free.
  
     ~ Original Handscript of ACIM   
 
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 
ACIM Edmonton, CA
LESSON 107
Truth will correct all errors in my mind.
 
Sarah's Commentary:

This Lesson contrasts truth and illusion and makes it clear that we cannot really know truth in this world, but we can experience its reflection. The Lesson provides clarification on how living in this state of reflection of truth would feel compared to staying invested in the world of illusion. We are provided with a very clear perspective on the ego thought system, which is designed to keep us from seeing the guilt in our minds. The guilt in the mind shields us from the truth, and the world shields us from looking at the guilt. The world becomes a screen onto which we project our guilt. Yet with courage to really look at our thoughts and take responsibility for them, they can be exposed and given over to be healed.
 
Jesus encourages us to see that the errors in our minds are not sins. They are simply mistakes to be corrected. Nothing we believe about ourselves can change the fact that truth is still in our minds, simply blocked by our resistance to its acceptance. It means that if we want to heal, we must look at how we misperceive everything. Our misperceptions keep us from experiencing the truth of our being as a Child of Love. Our focus is kept on the body and the world, thus distracting us from looking within where truth resides.
 
Jesus tells us that when we withdraw belief from the error, from the illusion, and from this dream, "They are gone because, without belief, they have no life." (W.107.1.5) It is like turning on the light in a dark room. The darkness immediately disappears. The only power the illusion has is our belief in it. We are making the decision in each moment for the crucifixion or the resurrection; for the ego's thought system or the truth. There is nothing that is too small or insignificant in the mind to pay attention to. We must be attentive to the slightest nuance of a suffering self, for what we think is what we experience, and it is literally a choice for life or for death. We will experience pain, anxiety, and depression, or joy, happiness, and peace accordingly.
 
We are not meant to suffer. The way out of suffering is to bring all our misperceptions to the truth. Remember that the errors in our minds are not flaws. They are simply errors to be corrected. It requires vigilance on our part to look at our false beliefs. We see them when we take back our projections of the guilt that we put onto others. We believe that we are bodies, that we can be hurt, that we can be lonely, disconnected, unhappy, suffer and die, and that others are responsible for how we feel. This is not the truth. The truth is that we are eternal beings of light and love.
 
No matter how real and solid anything appears to be in the illusion, it is all nothing and will all disappear. "From dust to dust they come and go, for only truth remains," (W.107.1.7) which means that when all illusions go, the only thing real that remains is the truth of who we are. "Where truth has entered errors disappear." (W.107.1.3) Everything we currently see and believe is then gone, and only the light remains.
 
We are asked to look at what this state without illusions would look like. We can perhaps, "Try to remember when there was a time,---perhaps a minute, maybe even less---when nothing came to interrupt your peace; when you were certain you were loved and safe." (W.107.2.3) It may have been a time when you were a child, perhaps with someone you really loved, a time in deep meditation, or in nature. Whatever the moment is for you, try to picture it. Then take some time to go back to the feelings you were experiencing at the time and try to imagine what it would be like to have this moment extend to the end of time. But wait, he tells us it goes far beyond what we can imagine, with the feeling multiplied a hundred times and then a hundred more. Any memory we hold of such a state of peace is only a minute glimmer of what Jesus is talking about here. It is a state impossible to describe but must be experienced. Our Lessons are taking us to this kind of experience. These glimmers of peace give us a foretaste of what is to come. It is an experience of our true state. It is what the holy instant offers us. It is what Heaven is, and when we experience it, we will ". . . return to the familiar world reluctantly." (W.107.9.6) It is to be in the world, yet not of it. It is to be in the world while knowing our reality is not here.
 
"And yet you will be glad to look again upon this world ." (W.107.10.1) We are glad because we bring the gifts we have received in the holy instant back to the world. Our function is to give what we have received. Thus, our practice periods are not merely for ourselves alone because we are one with our brothers. When our misery and suffering are given over to be healed by the Holy Spirit, we become a demonstration of His love. Thus, we bring this changed perception to the world and receive the gifts we give. We demonstrate that peace and joy are ours, and the same choice can be made by everyone.
 
We all have times in our lives when we feel totally assaulted by the world. We feel like victims of people and situations that seem to be assaulting us, and our thoughts about these people and events rob us of peace. These are precisely the thoughts we need to bring forward for correction. They are not the truth, yet we respond to them as if they were. When I feel lonely, I believe what I am feeling, and I try to find ways to alleviate it. However, the thought, "I am lonely," is an illusion. I am responding to something that is not true. If we observe all our thoughts and emotions from outside this dream, we can see none of them are true. The observer is the one witnessing the dream figure that we think we are.
 
We need not judge any of our experiences, only recognize their lack of reality. All the thoughts and emotions come from one belief, which is the belief in separation. Now we have started to recognize that we have been wrong about ourselves and the world and with it comes a willingness to be taught.
 
It is clear, Jesus is not talking about having no needs as long as we are here. We will still experience problems, challenges, and pain that are all part of our experience in the world; but we are now being reminded that as we bring our needs, our problems, and our issues to the truth, the miracle is available to us. In other words, we are shown another way to see everything. We may still need to address the issues and problems of the world by taking some kind of action, but we can approach the situation with peace and trust that all will be resolved. Through these situations, we are given an opportunity to learn that the cause of our pain is never external. It is simply a decision that we have made to listen to the wrong teacher in our minds. When we bring our pain to the light of truth, healing becomes available. It is the only way to heal from the difficulties we experience here.
 
We are asking Jesus/the Holy Spirit today to help to shift our identification with the vulnerable self we think we are. It requires that we bring our weakness, helplessness, emptiness, anger, frustration, and fear to Him so we can experience His healing light. In other words, we experience the miracle. We lean on Him for support and trust that He is always there to remove the illusory demons that seem very real to us because we have given them reality. Yes, it does take effort to withdraw the belief in the illusion, but we have Mighty Help available to us. We just need to open to this Help with confidence and certainty that the only problem we have is the decision to forget who we really are.
 
This is about confidence. Jesus tells us that we can depend on his help in every need and trust that he is always there for us. "It [truth] stays exactly as it always was, to be depended on in every need, and trusted with a perfect trust in all the seeming difficulties and the doubts that the appearances the world presents engender." (W.107.4.3) All your doubts and difficulties ". . . will merely blow away, when truth corrects the errors in your mind." (W.107.4.4) The truth of his loving presence wants to reach us in our despair and sadness. "When truth has come it harbors in its wings the gift of perfect constancy, and love which does not falter in the face of pain, but looks beyond it, steadily and sure." (W.107.5.1) We can be confident, trusting the truth. It is here that our safety lies, where there is no need for defense because no attack is possible. When the guilt and fear are gone from our minds, we come to know we are invulnerable. Now there is nothing to protect and nothing to defend against.
 
Truth already belongs to us. There is nothing to ask for. It is within our minds and thus always accessible. Jesus says if we truly and sincerely seek it, we will find it. It is not elusive. God is not hiding from us. He is in plain sight. We just need to be confident and trust this is so. "Truth does not come and go nor shift nor change, in this appearance now and then in that, evading capture and escaping grasp. It does not hide. It stands in open light, in obvious accessibility. It is impossible anyone could seek it truly, and would not succeed." (W.107.6.1-4) If we think we have truly and sincerely sought the truth and not found it, we must look at how we are deceiving ourselves. Sometimes, we are more enamored by the steps we take in the journey than we are with the destination. Given a choice of a journey to God or the destination itself, we may still be happier to choose the journey. This is because we still want the experience of living in this world, and we still choose to invest in the self we are attached to, which is this illusory self. We made it, and we like what it offers. This is what our resistance to the truth is all about.
 
I am aware of the resistance in my mind and how much I find distractions to occupy my time. I see my resistance when I forget to do the Lessons. We can't say we want truth more than anything, yet not do what is asked of us in order to reach it. This is all about readiness and willingness to do this practice because discipline is essential. All we need to do is to notice the resistance, rather than fight ourselves and feel guilty. When we find resistance strong, we can always ask for help to know, "The shaky and unsteady footsteps of illusion are not our approach today." (W.107.7.4) We can decide that we want to be taken farther down this path to truth today and know with confidence that we cannot fail because what we are seeking we already have. With motivation and confidence, we can make great strides today. When we ask "Him Who goes with you upon this undertaking," (W.107.8.1) we are asking for our Guide to go with us into the day. We set the goal and decide on the kind of day we want and recognize that the practice of the Lesson will support our goal.
 
When we call on the Holy Spirit, we are really connecting to the Christ Self, which is our true reality and totally unalterable. All my moods, my excitement, my boredom, my anger, my impatience, and my total identity as a body, as Sarah, as a woman, offer nothing but vulnerability, changeability, uncertainty, and ultimately death. When I think of my imperfection, it shows me I am thinking of myself in illusory terms. I am identifying with the ego. The ego is not who I am. This false identity is what needs to be brought to the truth. The presence of the Holy Spirit is in my mind.
 
The way to peace is so simple it is bound to be overlooked when we experience suffering. All we need to do is make the decision to keep practicing what Jesus is teaching; it is not difficult or ambiguous unless we want it to be so. Step back and let Him lead the way in each moment, with each thought and action, and when we do, happiness and peace of mind are assured.
 
When we merge with Self, it is indeed difficult to return to the world. A part of us will be reluctant because the experience of truth is so deep and powerful. By contrast, being in the world of limitation feels very constricted. Yet we are told that we do have an important function in the world because we bring the promise of this unchangeable truth back with us. We bring back certainty and safety, knowing, as Jesus did, the certainty of resurrection. Ultimately, he is not telling us not to function in the world, but only to bring him with us in our awareness. We are integrating the truth in our minds with our functioning in the world.
 
We are asked to recognize our lives were really not happy before we undertook this spiritual journey. This was the motivation to start on this spiritual journey in the first place. We felt like victims of the world. Now we are undergoing a change. We look to this teaching and witness more peace and contentment in our lives as we apply the Lessons to the events of the day. Thus, we demonstrate that we are not the victims of external events and the things of the world no longer disrupt us to the same extent. We become examples of peace and happiness in this world, with our external lives reflecting the internal changes.

Love and blessings, Sarah
A Course in Miracles
TEXT
ACIM Original Edition
 
Chapter Nine

The Correction of Error   

<TEXT AUDIO>
 
Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio

VIII. The Inclusiveness of Creation 

59
Nothing beyond yourself can make you fearful or loving because nothing is beyond you. Time and eternity are both in your mind and will conflict until you perceive time solely as a means to regain eternity. You cannot do this as long as you believe that anything which happens to you is caused by factors outside yourself. You must learn that time is solely at your disposal, and that nothing in the world can take this responsibility from you. You can violate God's laws in your imagination, but you cannot escape from them. They were established for your protection and are as inviolate as your safety.
 
60 God created nothing beside you, and nothing beside you exists, for you are part of Him. What except Him can exist? Nothing beyond Him can happen because nothing except Him is real. Your creations add to Him as you do, but nothing is added that is different because everything has always been. What can upset you except the ephemeral, and how can the ephemeral be real if you are God's only creation, and He created you eternal? Your holy will establishes everything that happens to you. Every response you make to everything you perceive is up to you because your will determines your perception of it.
 
61 God does not change His Mind about you, for He is not uncertain of Himself. And what He knows can be known because He does not know only for Himself. He created you for Himself, but He gave you the power to create for your self so you could be like Him. That is why your will is holy. Can anything exceed the love of God? Can anything, then, exceed your will? Nothing can reach you from beyond it because, being in God, you encompass everything. Believe this, and you will realize how much is up to you. When anything threatens your peace of mind, ask yourself,
 
62 Has God changed His Mind about me?
 
63 Then accept His decision, for it is indeed changeless, and refuse to change your mind about yourself. God will never decide against you, or He would be deciding against Himself.
 
64 The reason you do not know your creations is simply that you would decide against them as long as your minds are split, and to attack what you have created is impossible. But remember that it is as impossible for God. The law of creation is that you love your creations as yourself because they are part of you. Everything that was created is therefore perfectly safe because the laws of God protect it by His Love. Any part of your mind that does not know this has banished itself from knowledge because it has not met its conditions.
 
65 Who could have done this but you? Recognize this gladly, for in this recognition lies the realization that your banishment is not of God and therefore does not exist. You are at home in God, dreaming of exile but perfectly capable of awakening to reality. Is it your will to do so? You know from your own experience that what you see in dreams you think is real as long as you are asleep. Yet the instant you waken, you know that everything that seemed to happen did not happen at all. You do not think this mysterious, even though all the laws of what you awakened to were violated while you slept. Is it not possible that you merely shifted from one dream to another, without really wakening?
 
66 Would you bother to reconcile what happened in conflicting dreams, or would you dismiss both together if you discovered that reality is in accord with neither? You do not remember being awake. When you hear the Holy Spirit, you merely feel better because loving seems possible to you, but you do not remember yet that it once was so. And it is in this remembering that you will know it can be so again. What is possible has not yet been accomplished. Yet what has once been is so now if it is eternal. When you remember, you will know what you remember is eternal and therefore is now.
 
67 You will remember everything the instant you desire it wholly, for if to desire wholly is to create, you will have willed away the separation, returning your mind simultaneously to your Creator and your creations. Knowing them, you will have no wish to sleep but only the will to waken and be glad. Dreams will be impossible because you will want only truth, and being at last your will, it will be yours.


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