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Lesson 147 ~ Review IV
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Introduction of Truth
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   A COURSE IN MIRACLES
  CH 13 "FROM PERCEPTION TO KNOWLEDGE"
VI. THE TESTIMONY OF MIRACLES
     
53 The Holy Spirit, therefore, must begin His teaching by showing you what you can never learn. His message is not indirect, but He must introduce the simple truth into a thought system which has become so twisted and so complex that you cannot see that it means nothing. He merely looks at its foundation and dismisses it. But you, who cannot undo what you have made [nor escape the heavy burden of its dullness that lies upon your minds], cannot see through it. It deceives you because you chose to deceive yourselves. Those who choose to be deceived will merely attack direct approaches, which would seem but to encroach upon deception and strike at it.      
 
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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  147 ~ REVIEW IV
  [Review Lesson 133 and Lesson 134]

<AUDIO>
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* IAMBIC PENTAMETER BEGINS*


My mind holds only what I think with God. 
  
   [133] "I will not value what is valueless."
 
   [134] "Let me perceive forgiveness as it is."  
 
     

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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 
ACIM Edmonton, CA
LESSON 147
Review IV ~ Lesson 133 and Lesson 134
 
Sarah's Commentary:

What is it that I give value to? What bodily concerns do I have that seem important to my well-being, my safety, and my image? What do I believe will bring satisfaction? Today, we not only evaluate such things in our lives, but we also evaluate what draws our attention. Why we do what we are doing? What is the purpose? How are we choosing to use our time? What do we strive for? What do we really want? What do we believe will make us happy? Where are our attachments? What do we deem important? Most of all, what is it all for?
 
These and other questions are part of how we examine our lives when we are not on autopilot, simply putting one foot in front of the other and never asking about the purpose behind anything and everything. It is our questions that got us on this path in the first place. It is our searching that motivated us to question what is valuable and what is valueless to our awakening. Everything can be used to contribute to our awakening. Our disappointments, hurts, and heartbreaks contribute to our journey as much or perhaps even more than our deemed successes. Jesus teaches that we don't know the difference between what is helpful and what sets us back. We think our heartaches are defeats when, in fact, they can offer the greatest gains in our spiritual advancement. Acceptance of it all can alleviate our suffering. Only the ego insists, "I want it thus!" (T.18.II.4.1) (ACIM OE T.18.III.17) Everything that serves the ego's purposes can be used by the Holy Spirit when we choose to turn it over to Him for healing.
 
How many trivial things are occupying your mind today? Jesus says that being drawn into the things of this world is asking for sorrow. We ask for too little of life. We are not asked to sacrifice what we value but only to realize that it is indeed valueless. There can never be satisfaction in seeking the valueless. The power we have is in the choices we make, but there are not many choices to be made. There are only two choices. We choose the valuable or the valueless with each decision we make. We choose everything or nothing. Everything offers us the eternal where no one loses, there is no compromise, and there is no guilt. Guilt is the measure by which we can tell what we have chosen. When we gain at our brother's expense, we too feel that we should have nothing. We give loss and get loss for ourselves. We receive what we give because we always only give to ourselves.
 
We now have criteria, where we can apply these four tests and ask, "What purpose does it serve?" (W.133.8.4) Is my goal to know the Eternal Self where I have everything with no guilt, or for the world of the ego where guilt is reinforced? This choice is there for us in every situation. Do I want to know my Eternal Self and ensure benefit for all my brothers, or do want to look only for my personal benefit, which is always at the expense of my brothers. It is important to look honestly at our motives as we may be deceived about them in our effort to maintain an image of innocence.
 
Jesus asks us to consider carefully why the choice we make has value to us and what attracts our minds to it? What purpose does it serve? Unless we are able to really look at these questions honestly, we will be deceived. The ego is devious. We do everything we can in order to look innocent and pretend that our intentions are noble and honest when, indeed, they are anything but when guided by the ego. The guilt in our minds is protected by our projections. Thus, we blame others for our lack of peace that we ourselves have chosen to throw away. Though we threw the peace away ourselves, we blame others for taking it from us.
 
We are cautioned by Jesus not to make mistakes into sins, but just to notice that ". . . the one who is deceived will not perceive that he has merely failed to gain" (W.133.9.3) by the choice he has made for the ego. The ego is maintained through guilt, which leads to our punishing ourselves, accepting ourselves as unworthy, and attacking ourselves and others. Thus, the cycle of guilt and fear is continued. Jesus reminds us that nothing real has happened, and thus, there is no cause for guilt. Each time we choose attack, we have merely failed to gain. It is just a mistake. The ego wants us to condemn ourselves and feel guilty, but Jesus asks us to be gentle with ourselves and simply notice our mistakes and correct them. When we recognize that our plans for our happiness will always fail, we are ready to turn to the Holy Spirit to be taught the nature of true happiness. "How could this readiness be reached save through the sight of all your misery, and the awareness that your plan has failed, and will forever fail to bring you peace and joy of any kind?" (T.24.II.14.2) (ACIM OE T.24.III.25)
 
Through forgiveness, Jesus teaches that all thoughts not of God can be undone. This involves looking at the ego without judgment and recognizing the cost to us in holding onto what it tells us to think and feel. They are thoughts of fear, guilt, anxiety, depression, hate, special love, anger, upset, vulnerability, and anything that keeps us separate from the love we are. Any blame we project onto others for how we are feeling is an indication that we are not prepared to take responsibility for our own minds as the cause of our distress, whatever form it takes. Forgiveness requires that we look at the thoughts that show up in our experience without judging ourselves for them. When we are willing to recognize, "I am never upset for the reason I think." (W.5) we are shown that all our upsets originate with ourselves. Behind any upset is some kind of wound. Radical inquiry is helpful in uncovering the wound. To inquire is to look beyond the surface of the story of our upset, recognize that a healed mind would not be upset, and wonder what thoughts, beliefs, self-concepts, and values are being held in the mind that are creating the upset. When the beliefs are uncovered, they can be questioned and released.
 
"I am responsible for what I see. I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the goal I would achieve. And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for, and receive as I have asked." (T.21.II.2.3-5) (ACIM OE T.21.III.15) When we recognize our responsibility for the guilt in our minds, we are given an opportunity to make a choice to let the Holy Spirit take our misperceptions and offer us a new interpretation for the ones we have made. He shows us that no one is guilty, including ourselves. He shows u that, in letting go of guilt and blame, peace returns to our minds. Thus, with forgiveness, we are making a choice for our happiness. Now we feel worthy of Heaven's Love. Only this love is true. Our thoughts about everything are false. Holy Spirit, help me to recognize that what I see is always my wrong interpretation. The Son of God is innocent. Nothing he thinks he has done is worthy of condemnation. "Let me perceive forgiveness as it is." (W.134) To forgive is to not overlook something that is real.
 
All behavior either reflects love or is a call for love. It is in our own call for understanding that we recognize our sameness. Our brother is our Self. We forgive in order to release ourselves from the judgments we have placed on ourselves and projected onto our brothers. When we project guilt onto our brother, we see our sins in him. It is really just our own self-condemnation that we see. Forgiveness removes the chains we have laid on ourselves. By our willingness to release our brothers, we are freeing ourselves because only our own mind is making it all up. Thus, I ask for help in forgiving myself for projecting my own unconscious guilt onto you, which keeps me from knowing the truth about myself as a being of light and love.
 
Forgiveness is the only way out of the suffering that is incurred every time we judge something as not the way it should be. When we have expectations of how a situation or an event should be, or how others should meet our requirements, we are railing against our reality as the light and love of God. We are saying that we are right about the way we see things and right about the way we require things to be in order for us to be happy. We are telling God that His Love is not enough, and that there is something else we have established as a requirement for our happiness. It is this we need to bring to mind and see that we are wrong about the way we have judged the situation. Now we have an opportunity to bring our misperceptions to the Holy Spirit and choose to see them differently. When we agree to surrender our way and give over our positions, we have taken an important step in forgiveness.
 
A friend was speaking to her daughter about an incident that had happened a few years ago when her daughter was much younger. My friend had taken her daughter to a dance rehearsal and judged the teacher for being unnecessarily harsh and domineering with the young students. She chastised the teacher in front of the students. The teacher was very upset and quit her job and told my friend to take over if she felt she could do it better. My friend was not about to take this role and apologized profusely for what she had done. Her daughter expressed how embarrassed she was at what had happened. Recently, they were again recalling this situation. The daughter shared with her mother how much she loved the structure and the discipline, having been raised in a home where there were few restrictions. What came to light was how mistaken my friend was in her perception of the teacher. She was dealing with her own unhealed wound of her own past by trying to change things in form that she believed were hurtful to her daughter. Now she had another opportunity to look at this situation with new awareness. She was able to recognize that she was projecting her own unhealed past onto the present situation.
 
When we experience uncomfortable feelings, the ego immediately wants us to be rid of them as quickly as possible. If informs us that there is nothing wrong with us, there is something wrong with the other person, and we are being unfairly treated and victimized. We become angry, and so, the ego counsels us to attack the other person and make them the guilty ones. Our wish is that their guilt will result in their willingness to change their behavior so we will feel better. For example, if they will at least apologize to us, it declares their fault, which is what we desire. All the time, though, we know our attack on them is never justified. Thus, it is always a dishonest act on our part. The person we have chosen to attack is actually showing us the guilt and self-attack we are holding in our own minds. Thus, they are doing us a favor!
 
Forgiveness recognizes that if love is the only reality, anything distressing or disturbing to our minds cannot be real. When we insist on holding onto distressing thoughts and justifying them, we suffer. Yet through our decision to take responsibility for them, we can choose again. Thus, we can see that our self-induced decision to suffer need not be. We can now bring all thoughts that keep us in a state of suffering to the light. Forgiveness makes space for the love that is in us but is being blocked by our choice for the ego.
 
We continue our practice as before, beginning and ending the day with time devoted to the preparation of our minds to learn what each idea can offer us in freedom and in peace. Let us commit today to raising every judgment, every belief, and every concept we hold, to doubt. Open your mind and clear it of all thoughts that would deceive. Continue with the hourly remembrance and whenever you feel triggered by anything today, do the practice of letting go of the false and remembering the truth.

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

From Perception to Knowledge   

   Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
VI. The Testimony of Miracles                   
 
47 Yes, you are blessed indeed. Yet in this world, you do not know it. But you have the means for learning it and seeing it quite clearly. The Holy Spirit uses logic as easily and as well, as does the ego, except that His conclusions are not insane. They take a direction exactly opposite, pointing as clearly to Heaven as the ego points to darkness and to death. We have followed much of the ego's logic and have seen its logical conclusions. And having seen them, we have realized that they cannot be seen but in illusions, for there alone their seeming clearness seems to be clearly seen. Let us now turn away from them and follow the simple logic by which the Holy Spirit teaches you the simple conclusions that speak for truth and only truth.
 
48 If you are blessed and do not know it, you need to learn it must be so. The knowledge is not taught, but its conditions must be acquired, for it is they that have been thrown away. You can learn to bless and cannot give what you have not. If, then, you offer blessing, it must have come first to yourself. And you must also have accepted it as yours, for how else could you give it away?
 
49 That is why your miracles offer you the testimony that you are blessed. If what you offer is complete forgiveness, you must have let guilt go, accepting the Atonement for yourself and learning you are guiltless. How could you learn what has been done for you, but which you do not know, unless you do what you would have to do if it had been done unto you? Indirect proof of truth is needed in a world made of denial and without direction. You will perceive the need for this if you will realize that to deny is the decision not to know. The logic of the world must therefore lead to nothing, for its goal is nothing.
 
50 If you decide to have and give and be nothing except a dream, you must direct your thoughts unto oblivion. And if you have and give and are everything, and all this has been denied, your thought system is closed off and wholly separated from the truth. This is an insane world, and do not underestimate the actual extent of its insanity. There is no area of your perception that it has not touched, and your dream is sacred to you. That is why God placed the Holy Spirit in you, where you placed the dream.
 
51 Seeing is always outward. Were your thoughts wholly of you, the thought system which you made would be forever dark. The thoughts which the mind of God's Son projects have all the power that he gives to them. The thoughts he shares with God are beyond his belief, but those he made are his beliefs. And it is these, and not the truth, that he has chosen to defend and love. They will not be taken from him. But they can be given up by him, for the Source of their undoing is in him. There is nothing in the world to teach him that the logic of the world is totally insane and leads to nothing. Yet in him who made this insane logic, there is One Who knows it leads to nothing, for He knows everything.
 
52 Any direction which will lead you where the Holy Spirit leads you not goes nowhere. Anything you deny which He knows to be true, you have denied yourself, and He must therefore teach you not to deny it. Undoing is indirect, as doing is. You were created only to create, neither to see nor do. These are but indirect expressions of the will to live, which has been blocked by the capricious and unholy whim of death and murder that your Father shared not with you. You have set yourselves the task of sharing what cannot be shared. And while you think it possible to learn to do this, you will not believe all that is possible to learn to do.
 
53 The Holy Spirit, therefore, must begin His teaching by showing you what you can never learn. His message is not indirect, but He must introduce the simple truth into a thought system which has become so twisted and so complex that you cannot see that it means nothing. He merely looks at its foundation and dismisses it. But you, who cannot undo what you have made [nor escape the heavy burden of its dullness that lies upon your minds], cannot see through it. It deceives you because you chose to deceive yourselves. Those who choose to be deceived will merely attack direct approaches, which would seem but to encroach upon deception and strike at it.
      
 
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