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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 10 "GOD AND THE EGO"
V. THE INHERITANCE OF GOD'S SON
31 Never forget that the Sonship is your salvation, for the Sonship is your Soul. As God's creation, it is yours, and belonging to you, it is His. Your Soul does not need salvation, but your mind needs to learn what salvation
is. You are not saved
from anything, but you are saved
for glory. Glory is your inheritance, given your Soul by its Creator that you might
extend it. Yet if you hate part of your own Soul,
all your understanding is lost because you are looking on what God created as
yourself without love. And since what He created is part of Him, you are denying Him His place in His own altar.
ACIM.OE.TX.CH 10.V.31
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK Part I ~ REVIEW III
INTRODUCTION
<AUDIO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
*
IAMBIC PENTAMETER BEGINS*
Our third review begins today. We will
review two of the last twenty ideas
each day, until we have reviewed them all.
We will observe a special format for
these practice periods, which you are urged
to follow just as closely as you can.
We understand, of course, that it may be
impossible for you to undertake
what is suggested here as optimal
each day and every hour of the day.
Learning will not be hampered when you miss
a practice period because it is
impossible at the appointed time.
Nor is it necessary that you make
excessive efforts to be sure that you
catch up in terms of numbers. Rituals
are not our aim, and would defeat our goal.
But learning will be hampered when you skip
a practice period because you are
unwilling to devote the time to it
which you are asked to give. Do not deceive
yourself in this. Unwillingness can be
most carefully concealed behind a cloak
of situations you cannot control.
Learn to distinguish situations which
are poorly suited to your practicing
from those which you establish to uphold
the camouflage for your unwillingness.
Those practice periods which you have lost
because you did not want to do them for
whatever reason should be done as soon
as you have changed your mind about your goal.
You are unwilling to cooperate
in practicing salvation only if
it interferes with goals you hold more dear.
When you withdraw the value given them,
allow your practice periods to be
replacements for your litanies to them.
They gave you nothing. But your practicing
can offer everything to you. And so
accept their offering, and be at peace.
The format you should use for these reviews
is this: Devote five minutes twice a day,
or longer if you would prefer, to
considering the thoughts that are assigned.
Read over the ideas and comments which
are written first in each day's exercise.
And then begin to think about them while
letting your mind relate them to your needs,
your seeming problems and all your concerns.
Place the ideas within your mind, and let
it use them as it chooses. Give it faith
that it will use them wisely, being helped
in its decisions by the One Who gave
the thoughts to you. What can you trust but what
is in your mind? Have faith, in these reviews,
the means the Holy Spirit uses will
not fail. The wisdom of your mind will come
to your assistance. Give direction at
the start, and then lean back in quiet faith,
and let the mind employ the thoughts you gave
as they were given you for it to use.
You have been given them in perfect trust;
in perfect confidence that you would use
them well; in perfect faith that you would see
their messages, and use them for yourself.
Offer them to your mind in that same trust
and confidence and faith. It will not fail.
It is the Holy Spirit's chosen means
for your salvation. Since it has His trust,
His means must surely merit yours as well.
We emphasize the benefits to you
if you devote the first five minutes of
the day to your review and also give
the last five minutes of your waking day
to it. If this cannot be done, at least
try to divide them so you undertake
one in the morning, and the other in
the hour just before you go to sleep.
The exercises to be done throughout
the day are equally important, and
perhaps of even greater value. You
have been inclined to practice only at
appointed times and then go on your way
to other things, without applying what
you learned to them. As a result, you have
gained little reinforcement, and have not
given it the opportunity to prove
how great are its potential gifts to you.
Here is another chance to use it well.
In these reviews we stress the need to let
your learning not lie idly by between
your longer practice periods. Attempt
to give your daily two ideas a brief
but serious review each hour. Use
one on the hour, and the other one
a half an hour later. You need not
give more than just a moment to each one.
Repeat it, then allow your mind to rest
a little time in silence and in peace.
Then turn to other things, but try to keep
the thought with you, and let it serve to help
you keep your peace throughout the day as well.
If you are shaken, think of it again.
These practice periods are planned to help
you form the habit of applying what
you learn each day to everything you do.
Do not repeat it and then lay it down.
Its usefulness is limitless to you.
And it is meant to serve you in all ways,
all times and places, and whenever you
need help of any kind. Try, then, to take
it with you in the business of the day,
and make it holy, worthy of God's Son,
acceptable to God and to your Self.
Each day's review assignment will conclude
with a restatement of the thought to use
each hour, and the one to be applied
on each half hour as well. Forget them not.
This second chance with each of these ideas
will bring such large advances that we come
from these reviews with learning gains so great
that we begin again on solid ground
with firmer footsteps and with stronger faith.
Do not forget how little you have learned.
Do not forget how much you can learn now.
Do not forget your Father's need of you,
as you review these thoughts He gave to you.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSON
L e s s o n 115 ~ REVIEW III
[Review Lesson 99 and Lesson 100]
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
*
IAMBIC PENTAMETER BEGINS*
1 For morning and evening review:
[99] Salvation is my only function here.
2
My function here is to forgive the world
For all the errors I have made. For thus
Am I released from them with all the world.
[100] My part is essential to God's plan for salvation.
3
I am essential to the plan of God
For the salvation of the world. For He
Gave me His plan that I might save the world.
4
On the hour:
5
Salvation is my only function here
.
6
On the half hour:
7
My part is essential to God's plan for salvation
.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 115
Review III ~ Lesson 99 and Lesson 100
Sarah's Commentary:
The focus of this Course is on forgiveness but not in the traditional way we think of forgiveness. It is, instead, as this first line says, "My function here is to forgive the world for all the errors I have made." (W.115.(99).1.2) Thus, in Course-based forgiveness, I do not forgive you for your mistakes but only for my own. How can that be? We need to understand that when we thought we had separated from God, we brought with us a load of guilt, which we still carry. The ego offered us a plan on how we might avoid responsibility for the guilt and simply "off-load" it. The ego sold us on an arrangement where we would not need to carry this guilt, as it is overwhelming to us. The ego proposal was for us to project the guilt onto the world with the assurance that this is how we would get rid of it, but that makes others responsible for how we feel. The ego's plan was for us to blame others for our condition, which meant we give power to the illusion to victimize us. With the projection of our guilt onto others, the ego convinced us that now the guilt would no longer be ours. What the ego does not tell us is that projecting our guilt is actually how we keep it, and not only that, we actually attract even more guilt if we follow its program.
Our minds are like a movie projector, so what we see in the world (on the screen) is like the projection of the film in a projector. Think of the film running through the projector as the guilt in your wrong mind. The light coming through the projector is coming from your right mind and shines pure and clean of any images. It is like the light of your pristine, innocent being. But when there is guilt in the mind, this light is now obscured by dark images. When these dark, shadowy images are projected onto the screen, we experience fear. But when they are cleared away, the pure light can once again come through the projector.
When we think about suicide bombers, murderers, politicians we love to hate, parents who have abused us, and all the many ways "others" seem to cause pain, anger, distress, frustration, revenge, and loss of peace, it is challenging to imagine that they are all innocent. Instead, there may be a desire to retaliate, to make right, and to avenge the hurts we see and experience. Yet it is only our own thoughts about any situation that create pain for us. We project these thoughts of guilt onto others, who have conveniently provided us with the perfect situation to unload our guilt and make them responsible for our misery. Now the ego tells us that they have the guilt while we are innocent. We hope that the God we fear is taking note of these evil-doers, so they will be appropriately punished, and we will be off the hook. Our hope is that He will see who the guilty ones are and accept our innocence. After all, we tell ourselves that we tried so hard in the face of all the attacks we have experienced. "This sickly picture of yourself is carefully preserved by the ego, whose image it is and which it loves, and placed outside you in the world." (T.20.III.5.6) (ACIM OE T.20.IV.20)
It does seem that there are some situations and people that are more difficult and thus more challenging for us to release our anger and wish for revenge. The ego does not love us and urges us to keep this cycle of guilt going, even though this keeps us in hell. Jesus reminds us that there is no order of difficulty in the illusion. In other words, there are not some situations worse than others. I like to think of it as similar to my nighttime dreams. If someone robs me and burns down my house in my dream, has anything real happened? If they say an unkind word to me in my dream, would it be any different than my house being burned down? In the dream, it is all the same. It is all illusory. One problem is no bigger than another because neither of them is real. When we wake up, we can easily let it all go. That is what forgiveness does in this worldly dream. Any thought I hold that obscures the love in me from my awareness is painful and creates suffering.
Forgiveness is the only thing that breaks the cycle of sin, guilt, and fear. When we take responsibility for our murderous thoughts, our attacks, our hatred, and all emotions arising in us as a result of what we perceive "outside" ourselves, we take our first step in healing. When we hang onto grievances and see others as responsible for how we feel, we give all our power away. Forgiveness depends on understanding that nothing is happening outside of our own minds. "It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition." (T.21.IN.1.5) (ACIM OE T.21.I.1) Yet we have made an adjustment to this world that we believe is real and solid. "And to this world must you adjust as long as you believe this picture is outside, and has you at its mercy." (T.20.III.5.7) (ACIM OE T.20.IV.20) There is no world. Thus, forgiveness requires that we recognize we are forgiving nothing except our own interpretations.
Since there is just one mind and we all participate in this one mind, when we heal our thoughts, we are healing the world. The events that trigger our emotions and seem to cause us to lose our peace are precisely where our healing lies. We must look at our thoughts and emotions without judgment. See them for what they are---just thoughts. They have no power over us. For example, if I hate anyone whom I see as an enemy or wicked person and want him or her dead, I have an opportunity to look at the vengeance that is in my mind. As I release my judgments and my guilt, I can know peace.
This is what Jesus means by accepting the Atonement for myself. It is all about accepting the healing of my mind and opening to the miracle. To accept the Atonement is to accept the correction. We are not responsible for the error, but only for the correction. That is the only place where change can happen. This is how I learn about my true nature and know my true innocence. False innocence is what we try to achieve when we blame others for our loss of peace by seeing them as the guilty ones. We hope God sees how they are victimizing us and punishes them so we can get off scot-free! With true innocence, healing is extended through us to everyone. Rather than judging anyone for their misbehavior, we now see a call for love and understanding. It is our own inner call to recognize that there is nothing but love, no matter what it looks like.
"My function here is to forgive the world for all the errors I have made. For thus am I released from them with all the world
.
"
(W.115.(99).1.2-3) It is only my errors I need to have removed from my mind. I have simply diverted blame from myself to others. All that I need to forgive is what I am holding in my own wrong mind. This Lesson is giving us another opportunity to look at our needs, concerns, and problems as coming from our own minds. Since the cause is in the mind, so is the solution. We are responsible for our own happiness. We have the power within us to heal our judgments and release the blocks to love through forgiveness. We cannot do this if we judge ourselves for our errors. Look at your mistakes with non-judgment. Look with the loving presence of Jesus, who will never judge you but will support your journey of healing every step of the way.
Getting in touch with our own innocence is a beautiful gift that we all yearn for. Guilt is a heavy burden on our minds. The only way to release it is to recognize our errors by being vigilant in watching our minds. When we ever have forgiven anyone even partially, we recognize what a burden is lifted from the mind. It releases us from the chains that bind us to the person we have not forgiven. Our mood lightens, our joy bubbles up, peace is restored, and stress is released. It is a wonder we don't commit to forgiving all the time with such gifts that we receive.
We need to stay vigilant to opportunities presented to us to forgive. These come up when we stand in line at the grocery store and get impatient, when we watch the news and get angry at events we see, when we get cut off in traffic, when a telemarketer calls at dinner time, when our investments crash, when the coke machine keeps our money and the coke as well, when a friend is always late, when our children disappoint us, and on and on. That is the nature of this classroom we call our lives. We become happy learners when we use these opportunities for forgiveness. We get to the point where we even welcome them. This Lesson reminds us that we are forgiving someone for what they did not do precisely because nothing here is real. It is our dream that we are dreaming. It is all coming from our own minds.
Imagine, no matter what we think we are doing on this planet, no matter what we think our function is, whatever role we play, nurse, teacher, lawyer, student, parent, daughter, son, computer analyst, hairdresser -- none of these are reasons for why we are here. They are just the backdrop for healing the mind and recognizing our own power. We are only here to learn forgiveness, which is our only function. The world is a classroom for this learning and serves no other purpose.
Jesus tells us that when our unconscious guilt is brought to the light and healed, we will see a different world. It is the world that vision will reveal to us. "When you perceive yourself without deceit, you will accept the real world in place of the false one you have made." (T.11. VIII.15.4) (ACIM OE T.10.VIII.90) When the guilt is released, the real world will be revealed.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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Chapter Ten
God and the Ego
Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
V. The Inheritance of God's Son
31 Never forget that the Sonship is your salvation, for the Sonship is your Soul. As God's creation, it is yours, and belonging to you, it is His. Your Soul does not need salvation, but your mind needs to learn what salvation
is. You are not saved
from anything, but you are saved
for glory. Glory is your inheritance, given your Soul by its Creator that you might
extend it. Yet if you hate part of your own Soul,
all your understanding is lost because you are looking on what God created as
yourself without love. And since what He created is part of Him, you are denying Him His place in His own altar.
32 Could you try to make God homeless and know that
you are at home? Can the Son deny the Father
without believing that the Father has denied
him? God's laws hold only for your protection, and they never hold in vain. What you experience when you deny your Father is still for your protection, for the power of your will cannot be lessened without the intervention of God
against it, and any limitation on your power is not the Will of God. Therefore, look
only to the power that God gave to save you, remembering that it is yours
because it is His, and join with your brothers in His peace.
33 The peace of your Soul lies in its limitlessness. Limit the peace you share, and your own Soul
must be unknown to you. Every altar to God is part of your Soul because the light He created is one with Him. Would you cut off a brother from the light that is yours? You would not do so if you realized that you can only darken your
own mind. As you bring
him back, so will
your mind return. That is the law of God for the protection of the wholeness of His Son.
34
Only you can deprive yourself of anything. Do not oppose this realization, for it is truly the beginning of the dawn of light. Remember also that the denial of this simple fact takes many forms, and these you must learn to recognize and to oppose steadfastly and
without exception. This is a crucial step in the reawakening. The beginning phases of this reversal are often quite painful for, as blame is withdrawn from without, there is a strong tendency to harbor it within. It is difficult at first to realize that this is
exactly the same thing, for there
is no distinction between within and without.
35 If your brothers are part of you and you blame
them for your deprivation, you
are blaming yourself. And you cannot blame yourself
without blaming them. That is why blame must be undone,
not re-allocated. Lay it to yourself and you cannot
know yourself, for
only the ego blames at all. Self-blame is therefore ego identification and as strong an ego defense as blaming others.
You cannot enter God's Presence if you attack his Son. When His Son lifts his voice in praise of his Creator, he
will hear the Voice of his Father. Yet the Creator cannot be praised
without His Son, for their glory is shared, and they are glorified together.
36 Christ is at God's altar, waiting to welcome His Son. But come wholly without condemnation, for otherwise you will believe that the door is barred and you cannot enter. The door is
not barred, and it is impossible for you to be unable to enter the place where God would have you be. But love yourself with the love of Christ, for so does your Father love you. You can
refuse to enter, but you
cannot bar the door which Christ holds open. Come unto me who holds it open
for you, for while I live it cannot be shut, and I live forever. God is my life
and yours, and nothing is denied by God to His Son.
37 At God's altar Christ waits for the restoration of Himself in
you. God knows His Son as wholly blameless as Himself, and He is approached through the appreciation of His Son. Christ waits for your acceptance of Him as
yourself and of His wholeness as
yours. For Christ is the Son of God who lives in his Creator and shines with His glory. Christ is the extension of the love and the loveliness of God, as perfect as his Creator and at peace with Him.
38 Blessed is the Son of God, whose radiance is of his Father and whose glory he wills to share as his Father shares it with him. There is no condemnation in the Son, for there is no condemnation in the Father. Sharing the perfect love of the Father, the Son must share what belongs to Him, for otherwise he will not know the Father
or the Son. Peace be unto you who rest in God and in whom the whole Sonship rests.
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