Lesson 155
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Let the Light In
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   A COURSE IN MIRACLES
  CH 14 "BRINGING ILLUSIONS TO TRUTH"
III. OUT OF DARKNESS
      
23 The Holy Spirit's function is entirely communication. He therefore must remove whatever interferes with it in order to restore it. Therefore, keep no source of interference from His sight, for He will not attack your sentinels. But bring them to Him, and let His gentleness teach you that in the light they are not fearful and cannot serve to guard the dark doors behind which nothing at all is carefully concealed. We must open all doors and let the light come streaming through. There are no hidden chambers in God's temple. Its gates are open wide to greet His Son. No one can fail to come where God has called him if he close not the door himself upon his Father's welcome.  
 
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSONS
SonShip Workbook
L e s s o n  155
I will step back and let Him lead the way.  
<AUDIO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio

*IAMBIC PENTAMETER*
WHAT IS IAMBIC PENTAMETER?  

  There is a way of living in the world 
   that is not here, although it seems to be.
   You do not change appearance, though you smile
   more frequently. Your forehead is serene,
   your eyes are quiet. And the ones who walk
   the world as you do recognize their own.
   Yet those who have not yet perceived the way
   will recognize you also, and believe
   that you are like them, as you were before.
 
   The world is an illusion. Those who choose
   to come to it are seeking for a place
   where they can be illusions, and avoid
   their own Reality. Yet as they find
   their own Reality is even here,
   then they step back and let It lead the way.
   What other choice is really theirs to make?
   To let illusion walk ahead of truth
   is madness. But to let illusion sink
   behind the truth, and let the truth stand forth
   as what it is, is simple sanity.
 
   This is the simple choice you make today.
   The mad illusion will remain awhile
   in evidence, for those to look upon
   who chose to come, and have not yet rejoiced
   to find they were mistaken in their choice.
   They cannot learn directly from the truth
   because they have denied that it is so.
   And so they need a teacher who perceives
   their madness, but who still can look beyond
   illusion to the simple truth in them.
 
   If truth demanded they give up the world,
   it would appear to them as if it asked
   the sacrifice of something that is real.
   Many have chosen to renounce the world
   while still believing its reality,
   and they have suffered from a sense of loss
   and have not been released accordingly.
   Others have chosen nothing but the world,
   and they have suffered from a sense of loss
   still deeper, which they did not understand.
 
   Between these paths there is another road
   which leads away from loss of every kind,
   for sacrifice and deprivation both
   are quickly left behind. This is the way
   appointed for you now. You walk this path
   as others walk, nor do you seem to be
   distinct from them, although you are indeed.
   Thus can you serve them while you serve yourself,
   and set their footsteps on the way which God
   has opened up to you, and them through you.
 
   Illusion still appears to cling to you
   that you may reach them. Yet it has stepped back,
   and it is not illusion that they hear
   you speak of, nor illusion which you bring
   their eyes to look on and their minds to grasp.
   Now can the truth, which walks ahead of you,
   speak to them through illusion, for the road
   leads past illusion now, while on the way
   you call to them that they may follow you.
 
   All roads will lead to this one in the end.
   For sacrifice and deprivation are
   paths which lead nowhere, choices for defeat,
   and aims which will remain impossible.
   All this steps back as truth comes forth in you,
   to lead your brothers from the ways of death,
   and set them on the way to happiness.
   Their suffering is but illusion. Yet
   they need a guide to lead them out of it,
   for they mistake illusion for the truth.
 
   Such is salvation's call, and nothing more.
   It asks that you accept the truth, and let
   It go before you, lighting up the path
   of ransom from illusion. It is not
   a ransom with a price. There is no cost,
   but only gain. Illusion can but seem
   to hold in chains the holy Son of God.
   It is but from illusions he is saved.
   As they step back he finds his Self again.
 
   Walk safely now yet carefully, because
   this path is new to you. And you will find
   that you are tempted still to walk ahead
   of truth, and let illusion be your guide.
   Your holy brothers have been given you
   to follow in your footsteps, as you walk
   with certainty of purpose to the truth.
   It goes before you now that they may see
   something with which they can identify;
   something they understand to lead the way.
  
   Yet at the journey's ending will there be
   no gap, no distance between truth and you.
   And all illusions, walking in the way
   you traveled, will be gone from you as well,
   with nothing left to keep the truth apart
   from God's completion, holy as Himself.
   Step back in faith, and let truth lead the way.
   You know not where you go. But One Who knows
   goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest.
 
   When dreams are over, time has closed the door
   on all the things that pass, and miracles
   are purposeless, the holy Son of God
   will make no journeys. There will be no wish
   to be illusion rather than the truth.
   And we step forth towards this, as we progress
   along the way that truth points out to us.
   This is our final journey, which we make
   for everyone. We must not lose our way.
   For as truth goes before us so it goes
   before our brothers, who will follow us.
 
   We walk to God. Pause and reflect on this.
   Could any way be holier, or more
   deserving of your effort, of your love,
   and of your full intent? What way could give
   you more than everything, or offer less
   and still content the holy Son of God?
   We walk to God. The truth that walks before
   us now is One with Him, and leads us to
   where He has always been. What way but this
   could be a path that we would choose instead?
 
   Your feet are safely set upon the way
   that leads the world to God. Look not to ways
   which seem to lead you elsewhere. Dreams are not
   a worthy guide for you who are God's Son.
   Forget not He has placed His hand in yours,
   and given you your brothers' in His Trust
   that you are worthy of His Trust in you.
   He cannot be deceived. His Trust has made
   your pathway certain and your goal secure.
   You will not fail your brothers nor your Self.
 
   And now He asks but that you think of Him
   a while each day, that He may speak to you
   and tell you of His Love, reminding you
   how great His Trust, how limitless His Love.
   In your name and His Own, which are the same,
   we practice gladly with this thought today:
  
   "I will step back and let Him lead the way,
    For I would walk along the road to Him ."
       

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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 
ACIM Edmonton, CA
LESSON 155
I will step back and let Him lead the way.
 
Sarah's Commentary

"I will step back and let Him lead the way." (W.155) This is a favorite Lesson for many, including myself. It is a way of living where we are in tune with Spirit, where the ego is out of the way, and we are in the flow of divine guidance. The burden of making it on our own has been lifted, even though it may be only for the moment. Clearly, making decisions and determining what to do is a burden as we are always deciding on the basis of very limited information. When I feel in the flow, when I experience holy encounters, and meet anger and frustration with peace, then I know I am in sync with Him and have stepped back and followed His way. Just knowing there is nothing we have to do and nowhere we have to be, and all is perfect as a classroom for our healing, allows us to accept everything that shows up. All our brothers and sisters we are to meet, and those in our lives now, are perfect mirrors for our awakening. "Forget not He has placed His Hand in yours, and given you your brothers in His trust that you are worthy of His trust in you." (W.155.13.4) When we realize whose Hand we hold, our pathway is certain and our goal secure.
 
And what does He ask of us? "And now He asks but that you think of Him a while each day, that He may speak to you and tell you of His Love, reminding you how great His trust; how limitless His Love." (W.155.14.1) Can you imagine not taking the time to listen to someone who wants to let you know how absolutely perfect and loved you are? Yet we do just that! We get so involved in the distractions of the world that we ignore the song of love we can only hear when we take the time to still our minds. The resistance, still there, is what keeps us from taking the time for doing the practices laid out in these Lessons. We may still find ourselves compartmentalizing our lives into all of the things that are keeping us occupied: family, friends, recreation, job, finances, body, health, children, and general interests. And then we add another compartment called spirituality. In other words, we are bringing God to the illusion, rather than the illusion to God, when we put a priority on the forms of this world. Our part is to go where the truth resides in the right mind, rather than trying to bring truth into the illusion. It is not about giving up on our other activities but more about looking at what the purpose is for what we are doing. When everything in our day becomes a backdrop for forgiveness, the world becomes a classroom for undoing our wrong-minded perceptions.
 
Jesus is not saying that we should give up this world; And if he were, we would see it as a sacrifice because we still value it. No sacrifice is being asked of us, "For sacrifice and deprivation are paths that lead nowhere, choices for defeat, and aims that will remain impossible." (W.155.7.2) Jesus wants us to understand that when we follow the direction the ego takes us, we will go nowhere. When we listen to what it tells us about what we need for our happiness, it always ends in defeat. He is not asking us to renounce the world "while still believing its reality." (W.155.4.2) He is not asking us to give up the things we are currently undertaking that we still value, but only to turn our minds to the Holy Spirit for guidance rather than listening to the ego.
 
To renounce something is to believe it is real. When the body is seen as sinful, it is made real. If we give up things that we still believe would bring us happiness, as spiritual to do so, then it would feel like a sacrifice. Thus, if the pleasures we still enjoy in the world are seen as wrong and bad, rather than as leading us nowhere, we will feel that sacrifice is being asked of us. We would feel like we are giving up something real and still important to us. "If truth demanded they give up the world, it would appear to them as if it asked the sacrifice of something that is real." (W.155.4.1) God asks no sacrifice of us. We are not asked to fight ourselves. "It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin." (T.18.VII.4.7) (ACIM OE T.18.VIII.66)
 
It is interesting to hear that the sense of loss is even deeper for those who have "chosen nothing but the world." (W.155.4.4) When the world is seen as a wonderful place, and we make our lives a substitute for Heaven on Earth, at some point, it will end. Yes, for a while everything might look perfect, and we experience happiness, but it can't be counted on because it won't last. All things here change. Furthermore, if what we truly value in the world is taken away or lost, there is an immense feeling of deprivation, pain, and deep disappointment. These substitutes for love, where we seek for our salvation in this world and in our special relationships, can never deliver the deep peace and happiness we seek in them. As Jesus says, "The body can bring you neither peace nor turmoil; neither joy nor pain. It is a means, and not an end. It has no purpose of itself, but only what is given to it. The body will seem to be whatever is the means for reaching the goal that you assign to it. Only the mind can set a purpose, and only the mind can see the means for its accomplishment, and justify its use." (T.19.IV.B.i.10.4-8) (ACIM OE T.19.V.b.69)
 
The way appointed for us is the path of moderation. It stands between the paths of renunciation of the world and that of seeing the world as a wonderful place. On the path of moderation, the body is simply regarded as a tool for the mind's chosen purpose. It is neither an object of pleasure nor pain, but simply a communication tool. The world is seen as a classroom for waking up from this dream, where the body is simply the means to this end, as is everything in the world. It becomes a problem when we make the body the focus of all our activity. Jesus asks, " What plans do you make that do not involve its comfort or protection or enjoyment in some way? " (T.18.VII 1.2) (ACIM OE T.18.VIII.63) He asks us to "make a place within you where the activity of the body ceases to demand attention." (T.18.VII.7.7) (ACIM OE T.18.VIII.69)
 
Jesus says that we came to this illusory world to avoid our reality and to reinforce our concept as a body. "Yet when they find their own reality is even here, then they step back and let it lead the way." (W.155.2.3) It is the only choice to be made because he says, "To let illusions walk ahead of truth is madness." (W.155.2.5) It is a decision for our happiness and thus the only choice to make. While it is a simple choice, it does seem to take us a while to come to the place where we decide for God as our only goal, and thus, it is a process for us. As we forgive more and more and experience the results, we are more and more willing to make this decision. We are not being hurled into Heaven, where the fear would be overwhelming. While "The mad illusion will remain awhile in evidence," (W.155.3.2) eventually, with practice and vigilance, we will willingly release all that no longer serves us. It will all drop away naturally.
 
As we read in the Lesson yesterday, we are being called to be among the ministers of God, but not in the traditional sense. This Lesson elaborates this further by saying, "There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be." (W.155.1.1) It is knowing that the world is nothing but a dream and that our reality is outside of this dream. Jesus tells us it is neither about outward appearances, as reflected in many spiritual paths and religions, nor is it about behavior. It is about an inner change where there is recognition that nothing in this world need be taken seriously. We appear "normal" and fit in, rather than stand out. We have no need to call special attention to ourselves. Our lifestyle is one of looking like everyone else. We have no outward appearances that signal to others that we are walking a spiritual path. While the content of our minds is one that reflects the truth, what we do in the world of form only becomes a backdrop for the expression of that content. The difference is all inward. We trust more, manage less, worry less, plan less, let go of trying to control all aspects of our lives, and give it over for His guidance. We believe we are where we are supposed to be, and people in our lives are brought to us. We have less interest in the things of the world, and we increasingly know that we can be at peace and need not be in fear, regardless of what the circumstances of our lives look like.
 
Those who are ready to receive the message we have received feel something in us that draws them to us. It is a gentle call they hear through us. As His messengers, we only bring His message of love and acceptance, rather than our own. The choice we have made is a demonstration of the peace and joy available to everyone, and it is recognized. "And the ones who walk the world as you do recognize their own." (W.155.1.4)
 
"We walk to God. Pause and reflect on this. Could any way be holier, or more deserving of your effort, of your love and of your full intent? " (W.155.12.1-3) We let Love lead the way. It is a time of faith because "You know not where you go. But One Who knows goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest." (W.155.10.4-6) "The mad illusion will remain awhile in evidence, for those to look upon who chose to come, and have not yet rejoiced to find they were mistaken in their choice." (W.155.3.2) Thus, we are called to be messengers with a ministry. We teach through demonstration of the love and the joy and peace in us; and those who are meant to be in our lives are brought to us, not by God, but through the script that we have chosen.
 
Jesus recognizes the path is new to us and we will be "tempted still to walk ahead of truth, and let illusions be your guide." (W.155.9.2) When temptation arises to listen to the ego and walk with guilt and fear as our companions, we will be called to step back, reevaluate how we feel, and choose again to let Him lead the way. To do this, we must be vigilant when we become aware that we have chosen the ego as our guide. It is a process. We will find that we fall back daily into the ego thought system, as we proceed on this path. It can be very subtle and requires vigilant mind watching to see how we are still tempted to believe that the illusion has something to offer us.
 
Jesus reminds us that many are looking to us for the guidance and support to "lead them out of it [illusion], for they mistake illusion for the truth," (W.155.7.5) just as we do. Yet we can be an example of having made a choice for the Holy Spirit, which is the same choice available to all our brothers. Our brothers are given to us in trust, as we walk with Him whose Hand we hold. We lead our brothers "from the ways of death, and set them on the way to happiness." (W.155.7.3) And this requires we recognize: "Their suffering is but illusion." (W.155.7.4) When we are able to see their suffering as not real, we can know this for ourselves. We recognize that we are the same as our brothers, and thus, we maintain equality with them. This recognition of shared interests is a reflection of the Oneness of Heaven. Thus, we can walk together with "certainty of purpose to the truth." (W.155.9.3)
 
Jesus challenges us by asking what we would rather do? Is anything else but this worth our effort? Are we willing to give it our full intent? What else would offer us what this path offers? The ego warns us that we have to give up something, pay a ransom, or experience sacrifice to walk this path. Yet all that is sacrificed is the ego's thought system, which has never brought any happiness, only more guilt.
 
To be an advanced teacher of God is to be far enough along this path to be increasingly unaffected by the events and circumstances of the world. It is to be above the battleground, outside of the dream and seeing the unreality of the world. Jesus asks, "What if you recognized this world is an hallucination? What if you really understood you made it up? What if you realized that those who seem to walk about in it, to sin and die, attack and murder and destroy themselves, are wholly unreal? Could you have faith in what you see, if you accepted this? And would you see it?" (T.20.VIII.7.3-7) (ACIM.OE T.20.IX.73) The advanced Teachers of God are those whose minds have been mostly healed, but it is not apparent in their appearance. It is those who still appears to be here, but know they are just figures in the dream. It is about still being in the world, but unaffected by the events and circumstances of the world.
 
I hope you find inspiration in your day as you step back and let Him be your guide today. Remember that practice instructions were given to us in Lesson 153 for these twenty Lessons. We begin each day by giving our attention to the Lesson for as long as possible, for at least five minutes and up to fifteen or longer. And in the evening we again turn to Him in gratitude and joy. We try to remember the Lesson hourly and ask for guidance for the next hour while thanking Him for the gifts of the previous hour. "Your practicing will now begin to take the earnestness of love, to help you keep your mind from wandering from its intent." (W.153.20.1) These Lessons are to be a sincere and natural expression of our heart to the extent possible for us. Let us take this step forward in confidence. Jesus asks us to "Be not afraid or timid," (W.153.20.2) because we simply cannot fail. The end is certain. We will achieve our goal to return home to God.
 
Practice vigilance today in watching your thoughts so you can see how much the ego thought system rules your day with thoughts of guilt, fear, vulnerability, anger, attack, and specialness. Today, we practice gladly with this thought:
 
"I will step back and let Him lead the way,
For I would walk along the road to Him ." (W.155.14.3)
 
Love and blessings, Sarah
PAUSED FOR WEEKEND 
A Course in Miracles
TEXT
ACIM Original Edition
Chapter Fourteen

Bringing Illusions to Truth    

   Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
III. Out of Darkness                         
 
16 The journey that we undertake together is the exchange of dark for light, of ignorance for understanding. Nothing you understand is fearful. It is only in darkness and in ignorance that you perceive the frightening, and you shrink away from it to further darkness. And yet it is only the hidden that can terrify, not for what it is, but for its hiddenness. The obscure is frightening because you do not understand its meaning. If you did, it would be clear, and you would be no longer in the dark. Nothing has hidden value, for what is hidden cannot be shared, and so its value is unknown. The hidden is kept apart, but value always lies in joint appreciation. What is concealed cannot be loved, and so it must be feared.
 
17 The quiet light in which the Holy Spirit dwells within you is merely perfect openness in which nothing is hidden and therefore nothing is fearful. Attack will always yield to love if it is brought to love, not hidden from it. There is no darkness that the light of love will not dispel, unless it is concealed from love's beneficence. What is kept apart from love cannot share its healing power, because it has been separated off and kept in darkness. The sentinels of darkness watch over it carefully, and you who made these guardians of illusion out of nothing are now afraid of them.
 
18 Would you continue to give imagined power to these strange ideas of safety? They are neither safe nor unsafe. They do not protect; neither do they attack. They do nothing at all, being nothing at all. As guardians of darkness and of ignorance, look to them only for fear, for what they keep obscure is fearful. But let them go, and what was fearful will be so no longer. Without protection of obscurity, only the light of love remains, for only this has meaning and can live in light. Everything else must disappear.
 
19 Death yields to life simply because destruction is not true. The light of guiltlessness shines guilt away because, when they are brought together, the truth of one must make the falsity of its opposite perfectly clear. Keep not guilt and guiltlessness apart, for your belief that you can have them both is meaningless. All you have done by keeping them apart is lose their meaning by confusing them with each other. And so you do not realize that only one means anything, and the other is wholly without sense of any kind.
 
20 You have interpreted the separation as a means which you have made for breaking your communication with your Father. The Holy Spirit reinterprets it as a means of reestablishing what has not been broken but has been made obscure. All things you made have use to Him for His most holy purpose. He knows you are not separate from God, but He perceives much in your mind that lets you think you are. All this, and nothing else, would He separate from you. The power of decision, which you made in place of the power of creation, He would teach you how to use on your behalf. You who made it to crucify yourselves must learn of Him how to apply it to the holy cause of restoration.
 
21 You who speak in dark and devious symbols do not understand the language you have made. It has no meaning, for its purpose is not communication, but rather the disruption of communication. If the purpose of language is communication, how can this tongue mean anything? Yet even this strange and twisted effort to communicate through not communicating holds enough of love to make it meaningful if its interpreter is not its maker. You who made it are but expressing conflict, from which the Holy Spirit would release you. Leave what you would communicate to Him. He will interpret it to you with perfect clarity, for He knows with Whom you are in perfect communication.
 
22 You know not what you say, and so you know not what is said to you. Yet your Interpreter perceives the meaning in your alien language. He will not attempt to communicate the meaningless. But He will separate out all that has meaning, dropping off the rest and offering your true communication to those who would communicate as truly with you. You speak two languages at once, and this must lead to unintelligibility. Yet if one means nothing and the other everything, only that one is possible for purposes of communication. The other but interferes with it.
 
23 The Holy Spirit's function is entirely communication. He therefore must remove whatever interferes with it in order to restore it. Therefore, keep no source of interference from His sight, for He will not attack your sentinels. But bring them to Him, and let His gentleness teach you that in the light they are not fearful and cannot serve to guard the dark doors behind which nothing at all is carefully concealed. We must open all doors and let the light come streaming through. There are no hidden chambers in God's temple. Its gates are open wide to greet His Son. No one can fail to come where God has called him if he close not the door himself upon his Father's welcome.
 
 
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