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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 26 "THE TRANSITION"
VIII. REVIEW OF PRINCIPLES
66 Abide in peace, where God would have you be, and be the means whereby your brother finds the peace in which your wishes are fulfilled. Let us unite in bringing blessing to the world of sin and death. For what can save each one of us can save us all. There is no difference among the Sons of God. The unity that specialness denies will save them all, for what is one can have no specialness. And everything belongs to each of them. No wishes lie between a brother and his own. To get from one is to deprive them all. And yet to bless but one gives blessing to them all as one.
CHAPTER 26 VIII, 59-67 Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSON
WHAT IS THE CHRIST?
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio <VIDEO>
Christ is God's Son as He created him.
He is the Self we share, uniting us
with one another, and with God as well.
He is the Thought Which still abides within
the Mind Which is His Source. He has not left
His holy home, nor lost the innocence
in which He was created. He abides
unchanged forever in the Mind of God.
He is the link that keeps you one with God,
and guarantees that separation is
no more than an illusion of despair,
for hope forever will abide in Him.
Your mind is part of His, and His of yours.
He is the part in Which God's Answer lies;
where all decisions are already made,
and dreams are over. He remains untouched
by anything the body's eyes perceive.
For though in Him His Father placed the means
for your salvation, yet does He remain
the Self Who, like His Father, knows no sin.
Home of the Holy Spirit, and at home
in God alone, does Christ remain at peace,
within the Heaven of your holy mind.
This is the only part of you that has
reality in truth. The rest is dreams.
Yet will these dreams be given unto Christ,
to fade before His glory, and reveal
your holy Self, the Christ, to you at last.
The Holy Spirit reaches from the Christ
in you to all your dreams, and bids them come
to Him to be translated into truth.
He will exchange them for the final dream
which God appointed as the end of dreams.
For when forgiveness rests upon the world
and peace has come to every Son of God,
what could remain to keep things separate,
for what remains to see except Christ's face?
And how long can this holy face be seen,
when it is but the symbol that the time
for learning now is over, and the goal
of the Atonement has been reached at last?
So therefore let us seek to find Christ's face,
and look on nothing else. As we behold
His glory, will we know we have no need
of learning or perception or of time,
or anything except the holy Self,
the Christ Whom God created as His Son.
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSON
L e s s o n 278 If I am bound, my Father is not free.
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
If I accept that I am prisoner
within a body, in a world in which
all things that seem to live appear to die,
then is my Father prisoner with me.
And this do I believe, when I maintain
the laws the world obeys must I obey;
the frailties and the sins which I perceive
are real, and cannot be escaped. If I
am bound in any way, I do not know
my Father or my Self. And I am lost
to all reality. For truth is free,
and what is bound is not a part of truth.
Father, I ask for nothing but the truth.
I have had many foolish thoughts about
myself and my creation, and have brought
a dream of fear into my mind. Today
I would not dream. I choose the way to You
instead of madness, and instead of fear.
For truth is safe, and only love is sure.
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 278 If I am bound, my Father is not free.
Sarah's Commentary:
In Chapter 30, we read the following, which relates to this Lesson: "What cause have you for anger in a world that merely waits your blessing to be free? If you be prisoner, then God Himself could not be free. For what is done to him whom God so loves is done to God Himself. Think not He wills to bind you, Who has made you co-creator of the universe along with Him. He would but keep your will forever and forever limitless. This world awaits the freedom you will give when you have recognized that you are free." (T.30.II.4.1) (ACIM OE T.30.III.36-37)
We are not separate from God or from our brothers. We believe that we are imprisoned in our body and that our body is our reality. We think that it contains us and defines us. Jesus says that if this were really the case, God must be a prisoner with us and, just like us, will die. If God could be imprisoned, the "frailties and the sins which I perceive are real, and cannot be escaped." (W.278.1.2) In other words, if sin is real, we can never wake up from this dream of fear, which would be made real too. The dream of separation would be a fact instead of just an illusion.
The true power of our will is in our Oneness with God. We experience a reflection of this Oneness when we see that we are not different from each other. There is only mind. When I see separation and differences, I make the illusion real. I believe in the separation, and I no longer experience the love that I am. To love our brothers is to love God. To hate a brother is to hate a part of myself. I take the part that I am judging in myself and see it in my brother and then hate it and judge it there.
We limit ourselves by the laws we believe in. We are not asked to deny the belief in our bodily identity living in this world and obeying its laws. If we deny the body and the world, we are denying the power of the mind that made it all. What we are being asked to do is to investigate our thoughts so we can learn to see that we are only bound by our belief in them. Fear motivates us to invest in the laws we hold to be true. For example, look at how much fear there is around what we eat. All of the focus on organics, GMO's, pesticides, meat, sugar, food safety, and vitamins can become a religion, increasingly based on fear. "And would you not have faith in what you have so diligently taught yourself to believe?" (T.16.III.2.7) (ACIM OE T.16.IV.22) "Are you really safer in maintaining the reality of illusions than you would be in joyously accepting truth for what it is, and giving thanks for it?" (T.16.II.5.2) (ACIM OE T.16.III.15) We are dreaming this dream of fear and limiting ourselves by our investment in it and our belief in our bodily existence. In this way, we keep ourselves imprisoned to what is outside of the mind. We are not guilty because we believe in any of these laws, but we need to recognize that they keep us bound to certain beliefs about who we are and where our safety lies.
We now have a choice as to which voice to listen to. The ego is the choice for fear. We chose fear when we believed we had separated from love and left our home in Heaven. We continue to make this choice when we listen to the ego. We are not guilty of listening to the ego, and we are not required to suffer for this decision. Jesus simply urges us to see that we are making a mistake that can be corrected. We can choose the Correction, which we will be motivated to do when we see this is the Source of our happiness.
The simplicity of salvation is that there are only two choices. "The Holy Spirit and the ego are the only choices open to you. God created one, and so you cannot eradicate it. You made the other, and so you can. Only what God creates is irreversible and unchangeable. What you made can always be changed because when you do not think like God, you are not really thinking at all. Delusional ideas are not real thoughts, although you can believe in them. But you are wrong." (T.5.V.6.8-14) (ACIM OE T.5.VII.67)
Jesus reminds us, "The truth in you remains as radiant as a star, as pure as light, as innocent as love itself. And you are worthy that your will be done!" (T.31.VI.7.4) (ACIM OE T.31.VI.67) How beautiful is that? We have covered up this truth and its radiance with our false beliefs about ourselves, with our fear thoughts, with our false self-concepts, and with the laws we uphold. It is about seeing what we are thinking and believing, and bringing these beliefs to the light of truth, where they will dissipate. It is about staying vigilant of the thoughts we think apart from God and reminding ourselves that they are not the truth. All we are asked to recognize is what is false. Kirsten Buxton writes in her book, I Married a Mystic, that the Holy Spirit told her she should put everything she sees into opposing categories-true or false, the real or the unreal. It is something we can practice throughout the day. He explains, "The body's eyes may report differences in shape, size, and actions, so these are put in the false or unreal category. The experience of the present moment-seeing the Christ, feeling the connection of love between you and your brother-is put in the true or real category." Kirsten used the example of her cat, with its body, size, movements, and sounds as unreal but the enjoyment and bliss she felt in its presence as real.
When we say today, "Father, I ask for nothing but the truth," (W.278.2.1) they are just words unless we truly mean them. How much do I want the truth? How strong is my desire for it? If we really wanted the truth, we would have it now because the Kingdom of God is here now. The dream of fear has become our reality as bodies living in this world. We have forgotten who we are and keep choosing to forget every time we turn to the ego. We have invited a stranger (the ego) in and adjusted to its insanity, but we are reminded that this stranger, who came without a purpose, cannot remain "before the shining light the Holy Spirit offered and you accepted." (T.20.III.7.3) (ACIM E T.20.IV.22)
We have agreed to choose a better way and to be set free with the help of the Holy Spirit. We do this step-by-step as the fear of being hurled into reality would be too overwhelming for us. We now choose truth instead of madness and love instead of fear with each decision we make. Truth is the only place of safety. This is the only place in our mind where we are totally secure, totally free of fear, and released from the belief in lack and needs. And it is from this place within us, where truth resides, that we can be taught what we are. "This is a course in how to know yourself. You have taught what you are, but have not let what you are teach you." (T.16.III.4.2) (ACIM OE T.16.IV.24) The truth is within. Turn to that truth daily. We do not need gurus; although teachers, who point us to the truth, are helpful.
"I sought for many things, and found despair."
(W.251.1.1) We think we wanted the things we sought for, but these things were all just substitutes for truth. We seek them until we recognize that they bring us nothing. Peace can only be found when dreams are gone. In this awareness, we are free, but we don't know it yet. Today we commit to bringing to awareness our false beliefs that keep us bound to this dream so we can be set free. We choose to take this course of action on behalf of our own happiness. It is how our suffering is released when we live in the flow of inspiration rather than the demands and requirements of the ego. It is not about adding spirituality to our ego, but rather undoing the false. It is not about trying to change ourselves to become a better person, but about undoing our identification with personhood through forgiveness and recognizing that we are only limitless mind, bound by nothing.
How do we do this? Jesus tells us, "If you are willing to renounce the role of guardian of your thought system and open it to me, I will correct it very gently and lead you back to God." (T.4.I.4.7) (ACIM OE T.4.II.11) We must first see that we are wrong about everything that we currently think, because only then will we be willing to give over the "I know mind" and be open to receive the truth
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Chapter Twenty Six
The Transition
CHAPTER 26 VIII, 59-67 Voice and Music by Martin Weber, CIMS SonShip Radio
VIII. Review of Principles
[continued]
59 Sin is belief attack can be projected outside the mind where the belief arose. Here is the firm conviction that ideas
can leave their source made real and meaningful. And from this error does the world of sin and sacrifice arise. This world is an attempt to prove your innocence while cherishing attack. Its failure lies in that you
still feel guilty, though without understanding
why. Effects are seen as separate from their source and seem to be beyond you to control or to prevent. What is thus
kept apart can never join.
60 Cause and effect are one, not separate. God wills you learn what always has been true-that He created you as part of Him, and this must still be true
because ideas leave not their source. Such is creation's law-that each idea the mind conceives but
adds to its abundance,
never takes away. This is as true of what is idly wished as what is truly willed, because the mind can wish to be deceived but cannot make it be what it is not. And to believe ideas can leave their source is to invite illusions to be true,
without success. For never will success be possible in trying to deceive the Son of God.
61 The miracle is possible when cause and consequence are brought together, not kept separate. The healing of effect without the cause can merely shift effects to other forms. And this is
not release. God's Son could never be content with less than full salvation and escape from guilt. For otherwise he still demands that he must make some sacrifice and thus denies that everything is his, unlimited by loss of any kind. A tiny sacrifice is just the same in its effects as is the whole idea of sacrifice. If loss in any form is possible, then is God's Son made incomplete and not himself. [Nor will he know himself nor recognize his will.] He has forsworn his Father
and himself and made them both his enemies in hate.
62 Illusions serve the purpose they were made to serve. And from their purpose, they derive whatever meaning that they seem to have. God gave to all illusions that were made
another purpose that would justify a miracle, whatever form they took. In every miracle all healing lies, for God gave answer to them all as one. And what is one to Him must be the same. If you believe what is the same is different, you but deceive yourself. What God calls one will be forever one, not separate. His Kingdom
is united-thus it was created, and thus will it ever be.
63 The miracle but calls your ancient name, which you will recognize because the truth is in your memory. And to this name, your brother calls for his release and yours. Heaven is shining on the Son of God. Deny him not, that you may be released. Each instant is the Son of God reborn, until he chooses not to die again. In every wish to hurt, he chooses death instead of what his Father wills for him. Yet every instant offers life to him because his Father wills that he should live.
64 In crucifixion is redemption laid, for healing is not needed where there is no pain or suffering. Forgiveness is the answer to attack of any kind. So is attack deprived of its effects, and hate is answered in the name of love. To you to whom it has been given to save the Son of God from crucifixion and from hell and death, all glory be forever. For you have power to save the Son of God because his Father willed that it be so. And in your hands does all salvation lie, to be both offered and received as one.
65 To use the power God has given you as He would have it used is natural. It is not arrogant to be as He created you or to make use of what He gave to answer all His Son's mistakes and set him free. But it
is arrogant to lay aside the power that He gave and choose a little senseless wish instead of what He wills. The gift of God to you is limitless. There is no circumstance it cannot answer and no problem which is not resolved within its gracious light.
66 Abide in peace, where God would have you be, and be the means whereby your brother finds the peace in which your wishes are fulfilled. Let us unite in bringing blessing to the world of sin and death. For what can save each one of us can save us all. There is no difference among the Sons of God. The unity that specialness denies will save them all, for what is one can have no specialness. And everything belongs to each of them. No wishes lie between a brother and his own. To get from one is to deprive them all. And yet to bless but one gives blessing to them all as one.
67 Your ancient name belongs to everyone, as theirs to you. Call on your brother's name and God will answer, for on Him you call. Could He refuse to answer when He has
already answered all who call on Him? A miracle can make no change at all. But it
can make what always has been true be recognized by those who know it not. And by this little gift of truth but let to be itself-the Son of God allowed to be himself and all creation freed to call upon the Name of God as one.
*Paragraph 36 in Section VI does not appear in the Original Edition
manuscript. This content was restored in the 2009 Revision from an earlier manuscript and was numbered 35a. However, starting with the 2012 Revision, paragraph 35a was changed to 36 and therefore all of the following paragraphs, through the end of Chapter 26, have been renumbered. -Ed.
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