CH 18 "THE DREAM AND THE REALITY"
VIII. I NEED DO NOTHING
70 Yet there will always be this place of rest to which you can return. And you will be more aware of this quiet center of the storm than all its raging activity. This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly. It is this center, from which the body is absent, that will keep it so in your awareness of it.
ON LINE: ACIM.OE.TX.CH 18.VIII
AUDIO: TEXT CH 18, VIII
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK Part I
REVIEW VI
<AUDIO><VIDEO> Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
With this review, we take but one idea
each day, and practice it as often as
is possible. Besides the time we give
morning and evening, which should not be less
than fifteen minutes, and the hourly
remembrances we make throughout the day,
use the idea as often as you can
between them. Each of these ideas alone
would be sufficient for salvation, if
it is learned truly. Each would be enough
to give release to you and to the world
from every form of bondage, and invite
the memory of God to come again.
With this in mind, we start our practicing
in which we carefully review the thoughts
the Holy Spirit has bestowed on us
in our last twenty lessons. Each contains
the whole curriculum, if understood,
practiced, accepted and applied to all
the seeming happenings throughout the day.
One is enough. But for that one there must
be no exceptions made. And so we need
to use them all, and let them blend as one
as each contributes to the whole we learn.
These practice lessons, like our last review,
are centered round a central theme with which
we start and end each lesson. It is this:
"
I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me."
The day begins and ends with this. And we
repeat it every time the hour strikes,
or we remember, in between, we have
a function that transcends the world we see.
Beyond this and a repetition of
the special thought we practice for the day,
no form of exercise is urged, except
a deep relinquishing of everything
that clutters up your mind, and makes it deaf
to reason, sanity and simple truth.
We will attempt to get beyond all words
and special forms of practicing for this
review. For we attempt this time to reach
a quickened pace along a shorter path
to the serenity and peace of God.
We merely close our eyes, and then forget
all that we thought we saw and understood.
For thus is freedom given us from all
we did not know and failed to understand.
There is but one exception to this lack
of structuring. Permit no idle thought
to go unchallenged. If you notice one,
deny its hold and hasten to assure
your mind that this is not what it would have.
Then gently let the thought which you denied
be given up in sure and quick exchange
for the idea we practice for the day.
When you are tempted, hasten to proclaim
your freedom from temptation, as you say:
"
This thought I do not want. I choose instead..."
And then repeat the idea for the day,
and let it take the place of what you thought.
Beyond such special applications of
each day's idea, we will add but few
formal expressions for specific thoughts
to aid your practicing. Instead we give
these times of quiet to the Teacher Who
instructs in quiet, speaks of peace, and gives
our thoughts whatever meaning they may have.
To Him I offer this review for you.
I place you in His charge, and let Him teach
you what to do and say and think each time
you turn to Him. He will not fail to be
available to you each time you call
to Him to help you. Let us offer Him
the whole review we now begin, and let
us also not forget to Whom it has
been given, as we practice, day by day,
advancing toward the goal He set for us;
allowing Him to teach us how to go,
and trusting Him completely for the way
each practice period can best become
a loving gift of freedom to the world.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM September 1, 1970
ACIM OE WORKBOOK REVIEW VI
CIRCLE OF ATONEMENT ~ COMMENTARY on INTRODUCTION
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSONS
L e s s o n 204
<AUDIO><VIDEO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
[184] The Name of God is my inheritance.
God's Name reminds me that I am His Son,
not slave to time, unbound by laws which rule
the world of sick illusions, free in God,
forever and forever one with Him.
I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me
.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 204 Review VI [184] The Name of God is my inheritance.
Sarah's Commentary:
The idea in the Lesson today is that when we name things in the world, we assume a space between things that does not exist in the unity behind all forms, and unity is the only truth. Thus, naming things is further validation for the mind that this is indeed a world of separation and fragments. However, the truth is that there is only the state of Oneness, and we are all part of that Oneness. "God's Name reminds me that I am His Son, not slave to time, unbound by laws which rule the world of sick illusions, free in God, forever and forever one with Him." (W.204.1.2)
This means that everything God is, I am: purely loving, non-judging, perfect, unchanging, exquisite, pure, unlimited, free, totally innocent, and any other attribute of God that we are called to accept for ourselves. Of course, to the ego, it all sounds very arrogant. Who do you think you are? Mostly, we think that we are this image we have made and try to change and improve because we do not feel innocent. Yet Jesus tells us that we are wrong.
Arrogance is of the ego that argues with God and says, "I am not what You, God, say I am; look at me. I am a lowly, guilty, judging, unworthy, bad, and angry special-self, alone and doing the best I can in a challenging world." The truth is that we are perfect, unlimited, and not lacking in anything. The bodily identity, with its senses made to deceive us, is not who we are. We are God's One Son. Can we allow God His truth today and affirm it for ourselves? Can we accept that maybe we have made something of ourselves that we are not? When we connect with the awareness behind the thoughts we think, we glimpse the reality of this One Son. Can we acknowledge that maybe we have been wrong about everything, and now we are willing to learn what Jesus is teaching?
Our part is to continually bring awareness to our thoughts and beliefs and to be willing to let them go. The Holy Spirit will do the rest. Our journey of awakening to who we are is about denying the ego's denial of the truth. That is quite a statement. It simply means we choose to listen to the ego's story, which tells us we have messed up and therefore need to run from God's punishment. We thus bought into the ego's myth that we have killed off God, which results in sin, guilt, and fear. This becomes linear time where sin is the past, guilt is the present, and fear is the future.
This whole process was hidden from us, as a shield of oblivion descended on the mind. In other words, we can
'
t hold this thought system and still remember who we are. When we took this myth of the ego into the mind, it then immediately created other shields of oblivion, which are the body and the world. We now believe we have been cast out from the Kingdom, on our own, separate from everyone else, living in the world, and struggling for whatever scraps of happiness we can find. We feel that we must get for ourselves, at the expense of everyone else. It is a state of competition, which is based on the belief in "one or the other." This belief originated with the separation where it had to be either God or I that could exist, but not both.
At some point in our lives, often out of desperation, we declared that there must be more to life and there must be a better way. We were now ready to respond to the Call in the mind to come home. This started the healing that is taking us back to our right minds where truth resides. By looking at our thoughts with honesty and not denying our feelings of distress, we can now choose to let them go. By bringing them to awareness and looking at them without judgment from outside of this dream from above the battleground, they are dissolved, and now the truth can shine through.
When we express our upsets, without attacking ourselves or others, and are honest about our fears, we are no longer in denial. Jesus invites this kind of honesty and authenticity, as it is a requirement for healing. We cannot heal what we are not willing to see. We must then take responsibility for our projections. We are not what we seem to have made of ourselves. We are eternal Spirits. The Name of God is truly our inheritance. We can't change this about ourselves. The Atonement principle is our guarantee that we remain as we were created. We have lost awareness of this truth, but we can't lose what we are.
We are not the product of our past. We are not slaves to time. We do not have to put off our awakening. It does not have to be a long road if we truly desire to awaken from the dream. We do not have to buy into the laws of this world. We are slave to them only when we give them power. We can choose to withdraw the power we have given to the ego anytime we choose. It does not depend on time, but only on willingness. It is a choice we make in every moment whether we align with fear or love, hell or Heaven. We are not bodies and personalities. We are free of the limitations we place on our own minds. We are continually invited, in each moment, to release our false beliefs and choose to open our eyes to the truth of who we really are.
We start our day by reminding ourselves of the truth, withdrawing from the world in quiet contemplation of the truth, and in meditation, letting thoughts go by, without attaching to them, and entering into the stillness where the truth abides. This is an experience of leaving the prison house of this world of illusion and breathing holy air as we spend time in stillness. It is here where the truth abides, and when we return, we recognize, "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." (W.155.1.1-5)
It is important to remember to start each day right with quiet time. Keep the thought for the day at the forefront and set the goal for the day. When there is any temptation to get upset about anything in the day, remember to ask for help to see it differently. Remember that this world is a classroom to undo what we have come to believe we are, and if that is the case, everything showing up in our day is a perfect learning opportunity for undoing the wrong mind.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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PAUSED FOR WEEKEND
A Course in Miracles
TEXT
Chapter Eighteen
The Dream and the Reality
Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
VIII. You Need Do Nothing
63 You still have too much faith in the body as a source of strength. What plans do you make that do not involve its comfort or protection or enjoyment in some way? This makes it an end and not a means in your interpretation, and this always means you still find sin attractive. No one accepts Atonement for himself who still accepts sin as his goal. You have thus not met your
one responsibility. Atonement is not welcomed by those who prefer pain and destruction.
64 You have made much progress and are really trying to make still more, but there is one thing you have never done-not for one instant have you utterly forgotten the body. It has faded at times from your sight, but it has not yet completely disappeared. You are not asked to let this happen for more than an instant, yet it is in this instant that the miracle of Atonement happens. Afterwards, you will see the body again, but never quite the same. And every instant that you spend without awareness of it gives you a different view of it when you return.
65 At no single instant does the body exist at all. It is always remembered or anticipated, but never experienced just
now. Only its past and future make it seem real. Time controls it entirely, for sin is never present. In any single instant, the attraction of guilt would be experienced as pain and nothing else and would be avoided. It has no attraction
now. Its whole attraction is imaginary and therefore must be thought of in the past or in the future.
66 It is impossible to accept the holy instant without reservation unless just for an instant you are willing to see
no past or future. You cannot prepare for it without placing it in the future. Release is given you the instant you desire it. Many have spent a lifetime in preparation and have indeed achieved their instants of success. This course does not attempt to teach more than they learned in time, but it does aim at
saving time. You are attempting to follow a very long road to the goal you have accepted. It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin. [Enormous effort is expended in the attempt to make holy what is hated and despised.] Nor is a lifetime of contemplation and long periods of meditation aimed at detachment from the body necessary. All such attempts will ultimately succeed because of their purpose. Yet the means are tedious and very time consuming, for all of them look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness and inadequacy.
67 Your way will be different, not in purpose but in means. A holy relationship is a means of
saving time. One instant spent together restores the universe to both of you. You
are prepared. Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do. When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation and fight against the giving in to sin; when the light comes at last into the mind given to contemplation; or when the goal is finally achieved by anyone, it
always comes with just one happy realization: "I need do nothing."
68 Here is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way, at his own time. We do not need this time. Time has been saved for you because you are together. This is the special means this course is using to save you time. You are not making use of the course if you insist on using means which have served others well, neglecting what was made for
you. Save time for me by only this one preparation and practice, doing nothing else. "I need do nothing" is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation or of struggle against temptation.
69 To
do anything involves the body. And if you recognize you need do nothing, you have withdrawn the body's value from your mind. Here is the quick and open door through which you slip past centuries of effort and escape from time. This is the way in which sin loses all attraction right now. For here is time denied and past and future gone. Who need do nothing has no need for time. To do nothing is to rest and make a place within you where the activity of the body ceases to demand attention. Into this place the Holy Spirit comes and there abides. He will remain when you forget and the body's activities return to occupy your conscious mind.
70 Yet there will always be this place of rest to which you can return. And you will be more aware of this quiet center of the storm than all its raging activity. This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly. It is this center, from which the body is absent, that will keep it so in your awareness of it.
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