Lesson 142 ~ Review IV
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Unity in the Eternity of God
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   A COURSE IN MIRACLES
  CH 13 "FROM PERCEPTION TO KNOWLEDGE"
II. THE ROLE OF HEALING
     
8 When you have seen your brothers as yourself, you will be released to knowledge, having learned to free yourself of Him Who knows of freedom. Unite with me under the holy banner of His teaching, and as we grow in strength, the power of God's Son will move in us, and we will leave no one untouched and no one left alone. And suddenly time will be over, and we will all unite in the eternity of God the Father. The holy light you saw outside yourself in every miracle you offered to your brothers will be returned to you. And knowing that the light is in you, your creations will be there with you, as you are in your Father.  
 
 
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK Part I ~ REVIEW IV
INTRODUCTION
ACIM Review IV 
<AUDIO><VIDEO>
 
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
  
* IAMBIC PENTAMETER BEGINS*
   
   Now we review again, this time aware
   we are preparing for the second part
   of learning how the truth can be applied.
   Today we will begin to concentrate
   on readiness for what will follow next.
   Such is our aim for this review and for
   the lessons following. Thus we review
   the recent lessons and their central thoughts
   in such a way as will facilitate
   the readiness which we would now achieve.|
 
   There is a central theme which unifies
   each step in the review we undertake.
   It can be simply stated in these words:
 
   " My mind holds only what I think with God."
 
   This is a fact. And represents the truth
   of What you are and What your Father is.
   It is this Thought by Which the Father gave
   creation to the Son, establishing
   the Son as co-creator with Himself.
   It is this Thought Which fully guarantees
   salvation to the Son. For in his mind
   no thoughts can dwell but those his Father shares.
   Lack of forgiveness blocks this Thought from his
   awareness. Yet It is forever true.|
 
   Let us begin our preparation with
   some understanding of the many forms
   in which the lack of true forgiveness may
   be carefully concealed. Because they are
   illusions, they are not perceived to be
   but what they are; defenses which protect
   your unforgiving thoughts from being seen
   and recognized. Their purpose is to show
   you something else, and hold correction off
   through self-deception made to take its place.|
 
   And yet your mind holds only what you think
   with God. Your self-deceptions cannot take
   the place of truth. No more than can a child
   who throws a stick into the ocean change
   the coming in and going out of tides,
   the warming of the water by the sun,
   the silver of the moon on it by night.
   So do we start each practice period
   in this review with readying our mind
   to understand the lessons that we read
   and see the meaning which they offer us.|
 
   Begin each day with time devoted to
   the preparation of your mind to learn
   what each idea you will review that day
   can offer you in freedom and in peace.
   Open your mind and clear it of all thoughts
   that would deceive, and let this Thought alone
   engage it fully and remove the rest:
 
   " My mind holds only what I think with God."
 
   Five minutes with this Thought will be enough
   to set the day along the lines which God
   appointed, and to place His Mind in charge
   of all the thoughts you will receive that day.|
   They will not come from you alone, for they
   will all be shared with Him. And so each one
   will bring the message of His Love to you,
   returning messages of yours to Him.
   So will communion with the Lord of Hosts
   be yours, as He Himself has willed it be.
   And as His Own completion joins with Him,
   so will He join with you who are complete
   as you unite with Him and He with you.|
 
   After your preparation, merely read
   each of the two ideas assigned to you
   to be reviewed that day. Then close your eyes
   and say them slowly to yourself. There is
   no hurry now, for you are using time
   for its intended purpose. Let each word
   shine with the meaning God has given it
   as it was given to you through His Voice.
   Let each idea that you review today
   give you the gift which He has laid in it
   for you to have of Him. And we will use
   no format for our practicing but this:|
 
   Each hour of the day, bring to your mind
   the Thought with which the day began, and spend
   a quiet moment with It. Then repeat
   the two ideas you practice for the day
   unhurriedly, with time enough to see
   the gifts which they contain for you, and let
   them be received where they were meant to be.|
   We add no other thoughts, but let them be
   the messages they are. We need no more
   than that to give us happiness and rest
   and endless quiet, perfect certainty,
   and all our Father wills that we receive
   as the inheritance we have of Him.
 
   Each day of practicing, as we review,
   we close as we began, repeating first
   the Thought that made the day a special time
   of blessing and of happiness for us;
   and through our faithfulness restored the world
   from darkness to the light, from grief to joy,
   from pain to peace, from sin to holiness.|
   God offers thanks to you who practice thus
   the keeping of His Word. And as you give
   your mind to the ideas for the day
   again before you sleep, His gratitude
   surrounds you with the peace wherein He willed
   you be forever, and are learning now
   to claim again as your inheritance.
 
   ~ Original Handscript of ACIM
  
  ACIM OE WORKBOOK LESSON REVIEW IV

CIRCLE OF ATONEMENT ~ COMMENTARY
          
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSONS
SonShip Workbook
L e s s o n  142 ~ REVIEW IV
  [Review Lesson 123 and Lesson 124]

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

* IAMBIC PENTAMETER BEGINS*


My mind holds only what I think with God. 
  
   [123] "I thank my Father for His gifts to me."
 
   [124] "Let me remember I am one with God."  
 
     

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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 
ACIM Edmonton, CA
LESSON 142
Review IV ~ Lesson 123 and Lesson 124
 
Sarah's Commentary:

When coming to a review, some have a harder time staying with the Lessons because there is no commentary provided. We just have two lines for each Lesson, introduced by the statement: "My mind holds only what I think with God." On the other hand, it can be a time of deeper reflection, with only a few words that point to the truth. In our time of contemplation and extended silence, we can experience a profound communion with God.
 
This is part of the preparation for the second part of the Course, where we will no longer have the detailed instructions for the practice, but instead, it is a time of listening, communion, prayer, and really opening our hearts to experience joy. There is no longer any prescribed amount of time given for the practice. We are continuing to learn how we can apply the Lessons and this teaching to our lives with regard to the situations, people, and circumstances that we encounter. It is all about watching our minds and letting go of interfering, unforgiving thoughts.
 
Our distracted monkey-minds, full of random thoughts, seem not to be easily brought to stillness. We need a lot of mind training, staying very vigilant with regard to our thoughts. The theme we are given for this practice is, "My mind hold only what I think with God."
 
It is not a thought to be practiced as a mantra. We are not being asked to force our minds to drive out opposing thoughts; we need to bring consistent awareness to our thoughts and recognize that they come from the false self and have no reality. The only real thoughts are those we think with God. While they are referred to as thoughts, in my understanding, they are more of a state of love, of peace, and of a deep connection with Source. All our other thoughts, except those we think with God, mean that we are not really thinking at all. Jesus says that when we think we are thinking thoughts other than those we think with God, our minds are actually blank. Our own thoughts are just noise in the mind, keeping us feeling anxious, angry, fearful, frustrated, and distracted. These are all basically hallucinations of the egoic mind, which increase our guilt and fear.
 
We recognize some thoughts as attacking and judgmental, while we deceive ourselves about our intentions with the thoughts we believe are good, nice, kind, and helpful. We may see them as well intended, but they may actually cover over the deep fear in the deceived mind. Therefore, they can be characterized as unforgiving in that they block our remembrance of our Oneness with God. While our thoughts keep the Voice for God at bay, they nevertheless do not change our reality any more than the sticks the child throws in the ocean change the ocean. We are still as God created us. We are still innocent and whole.
 
A common theme among almost everyone I know, and I include myself in that, is how very busy we are in our lives. A high level of activity seems much more acceptable in our world than to affirm the value of quiet and rest. As a friend of mine often says after we have spent time in some activity, "It was a wonderful way to kill some time." The ego makes judgments about quietness as boring or as an unproductive use of time. As David Hawkins says, the ego needs constant experience. It keeps us distracted with activity and "to-do lists" that make us feel that we are important. Consider giving up your "to-do list" for a day and watch what happens. What we think needs our attention may not need it at all.
 
Jesus says that we need to stay busy because of our fear of redemption. "Under the ego's dark foundation is the memory of God, and it is of this that you are really afraid." (T.13.III.2.1) (ACIM OE T.12.III.11) The ego throws in all kinds of tricks and games to distract us from the pain we hold in our minds; these tricks and games are the offerings that distract us from recognizing our deep desire for God. While the mind weeps, we throw money, sex, status, work, and fame at it. We give it anything that will keep it preoccupied with the things of the world. It has actually made us believe that we have lost our beautiful divine nature. "How long, O Son of God, will you maintain the game of sin? Shall we not put away these sharp-edged children's toys? How soon will you be ready to come home? Perhaps today? There is no sin. Creation is unchanged. Would you still hold return to Heaven back? How long, O holy Son of God, how long?" (W.PII.Q4.What is Sin.5.1-8) This is a very poignant question. These questions are there not to increase our guilt but to have us look more deeply at our purpose as to what we really want from this life. "Our emphasis is not on giving up the world, but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying, filled with joy, and capable of offering you peace." (W.129.1.3)
 
I have a friend who recently inherited a huge sum of money but could not even think about letting go of the crazy work-life that consumes him. How would it feel simply to experience your life as a quiet, peaceful existence? For some, this can be exceedingly threatening. "In peace he needed nothing and asked for nothing. In war he demanded everything and found nothing." (T.13.III.11.1-2) (ACIM OE T.12.III.21) Yet how do we empty our minds of all the distracting thoughts if we never stop to take a look at what is driving us? Isn't this what the ego wants? It is happy to see us just keep going and going, like the energizer bunny, so we don't notice that its purpose is its own existence and not our happiness.
 
Today, let's take the time to express our gratitude to our Father for His gifts to us and to remember that we are one with Him. We are asked today to receive His gratitude. "And as you give your mind to the ideas for the day again before you sleep, His gratitude surrounds you in the peace wherein He wills you be forever, and are learning now to claim again as your inheritance." (W.RIV.IN.10.2) (ACIM OE RIV.12) The self that we made can offer us nothing of value, nothing eternal, and nothing that can deliver anything but pain. Only love is eternal and that is my Father's gift to me. That is why I feel this deep gratitude in being told that this world is not my reality and that I am eternally loved and blessed. I remind myself of who I really am as a divine being. When truth dawns on my mind, even briefly, the light in me shines forth and blesses everyone in my life in ways I cannot even fathom. I am not personally responsible for anyone. I give them over for His care.
 
We must allow all interferences to be released as they show up. He urges us, "Do not hide suffering from His sight, but bring it gladly to Him. Lay before His eternal sanity all your hurt, and let Him heal you. Do not leave any spot of pain hidden from His light, and search your mind carefully for any thoughts you may fear to uncover. For He will heal every little thought you have kept to hurt you and cleanse it of its littleness, restoring it to the magnitude of God." (T.13.III.7.3-6) (ACIM OE T.12.III.17) Today, I will release all meaningless anxieties and will not doubt His protection and care for me. "As we deny our separation from our Father, it is healed along with us." (W.124.7.7)
 
Remember, we are already awake in God. When we accept the perfection of the orchestration of our lives, we see that nothing is wrong with what is happening. It is all for our awakening. Any frustration we feel is a demand or expectation that something be different than it is right now. Yet everything is perfect for our highest good, in this moment. If God could reach out and lay His Hands on us and zap us into seeing our own Divinity, He would be making us a victim, showing us there is a power outside of our own minds that could bring us something we don't already have. This would mean God made us a captive rather than a free soul, capable of making our own choices and decisions. To choose is our one remaining freedom in this world. Right now, aspects of the dream are still attractive to us, even if they bring pain. We have been given the freedom to choose those aspects until we see that we don't want them any longer.
 
We are God's Child, and as such, we can do whatever we choose. We came here to experience, and that is what we will do until we find that it no longer serves our deeper need. As long as we still believe that there is pleasure to be found here, we will pursue it. Until we realize that when we reach for what we think will bring us pleasure, we are actually reaching for more pain, we will not be completely motivated to give it up. Whatever specialness still attracts us can be used by the Holy Spirit. and so, we need not avoid the attraction it has for us.
 
On this journey that we take to God, we still have desires for things in this world. We still want our independence, our individuality, and our special unique selves. We still fear our surrender to God and what it might entail. We are now learning to turn those desires over for a deeper desire---our desire for awakening to the truth of who we are. Father, help me to remember today what I truly want. Thank you for giving me the Holy Spirit in this dream. Thank you for my Brother Jesus, who has shown me the way and stays with me to help me in the undoing of this dream. Thank you for reminding me that only what is of God has power, and what is not of Him has no power to do anything.
 
There is a gift in each painful situation that we seem to experience. It is up to us as to when we will choose to receive this gift. The gift is the miracle. When we feel that we have lost our connection with love, or when we have any negative feelings, we can ask for help, recognizing we have chosen with the ego. Now we have another choice that we could make. We could call on the Holy Spirit to help us look at our difficulties with compassion for ourselves. There is no need for guilt. He reminds us that we have not sinned. We can now look at our painful feelings with His Love beside us, reminding us who we are. He tells us nothing of importance has happened. It is just a momentary dream. We are still God's creation. Having negative feelings does not change who we are.
 
Jesus tells us that if we are still asking: "What am I, what is the meaning of life, and what is my purpose here?" we are actually demonstrating our refusal to accept the truth in our right minds. The answer is given. It is just a question of its acceptance. Let us stay focused today on our goal. The means have been given us to reach it. This Course is not about rote learning but a deep willingness for communion with God and our openness to hear His message of love and completion, which is given here. We change the nature of our day entirely when we change the nature of our thoughts and allow our mind to hold only what we think with God. When we do, everyone we meet and every situation we encounter brings a message of His Love for us. Let us remember to be grateful throughout the day and as the evening comes.  

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

From Perception to Knowledge   

   Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
I. Introduction               

1 All therapy is release from the past. That is why the Holy Spirit is the only therapist. He teaches that the past does not exist, a fact which belongs to the sphere of knowledge and which therefore no one in the world knows. It would indeed be impossible to be in the world with this knowledge. For the mind that knows this unequivocally knows also that it dwells in eternity and utilizes no perception at all. It therefore does not consider where it is because the concept "where" does not mean anything to it. It knows that it is everywhere, just as it has everything, and forever.
 
2 The very real difference between perception and knowledge becomes quite apparent if you consider this: There is nothing partial about knowledge. Every aspect is whole, and therefore no aspect is separate. You are an aspect of knowledge, being in the Mind of God, Who knows you. All knowledge must be yours, for in you is all knowledge. Perception at its loftiest is never complete. Even the perception of the Holy Spirit, as perfect as perception can be, is without meaning in Heaven. Perception can reach everywhere under His guidance, for the vision of Christ beholds everything in light. Yet no perception, however holy, will last forever.


II. The Role of Healing 
 
3 Perfect perception, then, has many elements in common with knowledge, making transfer to it possible. Yet the last step must be taken by God because the last step in your redemption, which seems to be in the future, was accomplished by God in your creation. The separation has not interrupted it. Creation cannot be interrupted. The separation is merely a faulty formulation of reality with no effect at all. The miracle, without a function in Heaven, is needful here. Aspects of reality can still be seen, and they will replace aspects of unreality. Aspects of reality can be seen in everything and everywhere. Yet only God can gather them together by crowning them as one with the final gift of eternity.
 
4 Apart from the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit has no function. He is not separate from either, being in the mind of both and knowing that Mind is one. He is a Thought of God, and God has given Him to you because He has no Thoughts He does not share. His message speaks of timelessness in time, and that is why Christ's vision looks on everything with love. Yet even Christ's vision is not His reality. The golden aspects of reality which spring to light under His loving gaze are partial glimpses of the Heaven that lies beyond them.
 
5 This is the miracle of creation; that it is one forever. Every miracle you offer to the Son of God is but the true perception of one aspect of the whole. Though every aspect is the whole, you cannot know this until you see that every aspect is the same, perceived in the same light and therefore one. Everyone seen without the past thus brings you nearer to the end of time by bringing healed and healing sight into the darkness and enabling the world to see. For light must come into the darkened world to make Christ's vision possible even here. Help Him to give His gift of light to all who think they wander in the darkness, and let Him gather them into His quiet sight that makes them one.
 
6 They are all the same; all beautiful and equal in their holiness. And He will offer them unto His Father as they were offered unto Him. There is one miracle, as there is one reality. And every miracle you do contains them all, as every aspect of reality you see blends quietly into the One Reality of God. The only miracle that ever was is God's most holy Son, created in the One Reality that is his Father. Christ's vision is His gift to you. His Being is His Father's gift to Him.
 
7 Be you content with healing, for Christ's gift you can bestow, and your Father's gift you cannot lose. Offer Christ's gift to everyone and everywhere, for miracles offered the Son of God through the Holy Spirit attune you to reality. The Holy Spirit knows your part in the redemption and who are seeking you and where to find them. Knowledge is far beyond your individual concern. You, who are part of it and all of it, need only realize that it is of the Father, not of you. Your role in the redemption leads you to it by reestablishing its oneness in your minds.
 
8 When you have seen your brothers as yourself, you will be released to knowledge, having learned to free yourself of Him Who knows of freedom. Unite with me under the holy banner of His teaching, and as we grow in strength, the power of God's Son will move in us, and we will leave no one untouched and no one left alone. And suddenly time will be over, and we will all unite in the eternity of God the Father. The holy light you saw outside yourself in every miracle you offered to your brothers will be returned to you. And knowing that the light is in you, your creations will be there with you, as you are in your Father.
 
9 As miracles in this world join you to your brothers, so do your creations establish your fatherhood in Heaven. You are the witnesses to the Fatherhood of God, and He has given you the power to create the witnesses to your fatherhood in Heaven. The miracle which God created is perfect, as are the miracles which you created in His name. They need no healing, nor do you when you know them.
 
10 Yet in this world, your perfection is unwitnessed. God knows it, but you do not, and so you do not share His witness to it. Nor do you witness unto Him, for reality is witnessed to as one. God waits your witness to His Son and to Himself. The miracles you do on earth are lifted up to Heaven and to Him. They witness to what you do not know, and as they reach the gates of Heaven, God will open them. For never would He leave His own beloved Son outside them and beyond Himself.
  
 
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