<AUDIO>

Voice & Music by CIMS SonShip Radio

<GUIDANCE from ELDER BROTHER>

 

*IAMBIC PENTAMETER*     

 

    

   Learning will not be hampered when you miss
   a practice period because it is
   impossible at the appointed time.
   Nor is it necessary that you make
   excessive efforts to be sure that you
   catch up in terms of numbers. Rituals
   are not our aim, and would defeat our  goal.   

But learning will be hampered when you skip

 

   a practice period because you are
   unwilling to devote the time to it
   which you are asked to give. Do not deceive
   yourself in this. Unwillingness can be
   most carefully concealed behind a cloak
   of situations you cannot control.
   Learn to distinguish situations which
   are poorly suited to your practicing
   from those which you establish to uphold
   the camouflage for your unwillingness. 

    

   Those practice periods which you have lost
   because you did not want to do them for
   whatever reason should be done as soon
   as you have changed your mind about your goal.
   You are unwilling to cooperate
   in practicing salvation only if
   it interferes with goals you hold more dear.
   When you withdraw the value given them,
   allow your practice periods to be
   replacements for your litanies to them.
   They gave you nothing. But your practicing
   can offer everything to you. And so
   accept their offering, and be at peace. 

    

   The format you should use for these reviews
   is this: Devote five minutes twice a day,
   or longer if you would prefer, to
   considering the thoughts that are assigned.
   Read over the ideas and comments which
   are written first in each day's exercise.
   And then begin to think about them while
   letting your mind relate them to your needs,
   your seeming problems and all your concerns. 

    

   Place the ideas within your mind, and let
   it use them as it chooses. Give it faith
   that it will use them wisely, being helped
   in its decisions by the One Who gave
   the thoughts to you. What can you trust but what
   is in your mind? Have faith, in these reviews,
   the means the Holy Spirit uses will
   not fail. The wisdom of your mind will come
   to your assistance. Give direction at
   the start, and then lean back in quiet faith,
   and let the mind employ the thoughts you gave
   as they were given you for it to use. 

    

   You have been given them in perfect trust;
   in perfect confidence that you would use
   them well; in perfect faith that you would see
   their messages, and use them for yourself.
   Offer them to your mind in that same trust
   and confidence and faith. It will not fail.
   It is the Holy Spirit's chosen means
   for your salvation. Since it has His trust,
   His means must surely merit yours as well. 

    

   We emphasize the benefits to you
   if you devote the first five minutes of
   the day to your review and also give
   the last five minutes of your waking day
   to it. If this cannot be done, at least
   try to divide them so you undertake
   one in the morning, and the other in
   the hour just before you go to sleep. 

    

   The exercises to be done throughout
   the day are equally important, and
   perhaps of even greater value. You
   have been inclined to practice only at
   appointed times and then go on your way
   to other things, without applying what
   you learned to them. As a result, you have
   gained little reinforcement, and have not
   given it the opportunity to prove
   how great are its potential gifts to you. 

     

   Here is another chance to use it well.
   In these reviews we stress the need to let
   your learning not lie idly by between
   your longer practice periods. Attempt
   to give your daily two ideas a brief
   but serious review each hour. Use
   one on the hour, and the other one
   a half an hour later. You need not
   give more than just a moment to each one. 

     

   Repeat it, then allow your mind to rest
   a little time in silence and in peace.
   Then turn to other things, but try to keep
   the thought with you, and let it serve to help
   you keep your peace throughout the day as well.
   If you are shaken, think of it again.
   These practice periods are planned to help
   you form the habit of applying what
   you learn each day to everything you do. 

     

   Do not repeat it and then lay it down.
   Its usefulness is limitless to you.
   And it is meant to serve you in all ways,
   all times and places, and whenever you
   need help of any kind. Try, then, to take
   it with you in the business of the day,
   and make it holy, worthy of God's Son,
   acceptable to God and to your Self. 

     

   Each day's review assignment will conclude
   with a restatement of the thought to use
   each hour, and the one to be applied
   on each half hour as well. Forget them not.
   This second chance with each of these ideas
   will bring such large advances that we come
   from these reviews with learning gains so great
   that we begin again on solid ground
   with firmer footsteps and with stronger faith. 

     

   Do not forget how little you have learned.
   Do not forget how much you can learn now.
   Do not forget your Father's need of you,
   as you review these thoughts He gave to you.

 

   ~ Original Handscript of ACIM

Quotes in this article are from Foundation for Inner Peace edition; To locate the same quotes in the 'Original Edition', use this link:  http://www.jcim.net/acim_us/Acim.php    
Sarah's Commentary:

The introduction here is very important and makes some suggestions that we need to give serious thought to. First, the importance of not ritualizing our practice periods is stressed. They should not be rote activities where we make excessive efforts or when we miss a practice to try to catch up "in terms of numbers." (2.5) Instead what is stressed here is willingness. There are many places in the course that emphasize the importance of being willing. Our learning will not be hampered if we miss a practice because for some reason it is impossible to do what is suggested, however, learning will be hampered if we miss a practice period because we are unwilling to devote the time to it.

Now that is interesting because Jesus is helping us to see our resistance to this learning. "Yet the wish for other experience will block its accomplishment, because God's Will cannot be forced upon you, being an experience of total willingness." (T. 8.III.2.3) How important is this journey to peace for you? How devoted are you to your awakening to the truth of who you are? The answer will be reflected in how willing you are to do this practice. How willing are you to give time to it?

In the introduction Jesus talks about how we can hide our unwillingness, telling ourselves it is just not convenient to practice. And sometimes Jesus does acknowledge that that is true. There are, however, other times when we lie to ourselves to "camouflage our unwillingness." (3.4) This is something to really look at, not only with our practice, but in other ways that we lie to ourselves and rationalize our behavior due to self betrayal and self deception.

He also talks about application here. That is the essential part of these lessons. If we just diligently do our lessons, which is great, but then when things come up during the day we don't apply them, then he says we will never have the opportunity to "prove how great are its gifts." (9.5) Having said this though, it is clear that we are never made to feel guilty. On the contrary, Jesus is very gentle and patient with us, as he wants us to be with ourselves while still maintaining discipline. He knows how much guilt we put on ourselves and the mountain of unconscious guilt we hold in our minds. His goal is not to add to that but only to show how much he loves us and wants us to have the gifts in our lives that the lessons offer. He wants us to see the benefits and to see how great are the gifts that we receive in applying these lessons. We get additional reinforcement in using the lessons throughout the day by applying what we have learned so that we can have the experience of peace in our lives and not just do these lessons as an intellectual exercise. Every benefit we receive is in the application.

We do get off course regularly, but it is reassuring to remember that we need not beat up on ourselves or get discouraged because once on the path, we can't turn back. In Gary Renard's book, "Disappearance of the Universe," Pursah says "You should keep in mind that each of the four major attitudes of learning are long roads in themselves, and you will sometimes bounce around like a ping pong ball between them. The Holy Spirit will correct you along the way and set you back in the right direction. Do not feel bad when you temporarily lose your way. There is no one who has ever walked this earth, including Jesus, who did not give into temptation in some way. The myth of living a perfect life in terms of behavior is self-defeating and unnecessary. All that is necessary is to be willing to receive correction."

Pursah goes on to say that "Just as a navigator or computer constantly corrects the course of a jet airliner along its route, the Holy Spirit is always correcting you, no matter what you may appear to do or on what level of spiritual awareness you may appear to be. It may be possible to ignore Him, but it is never possible to lose Him. The jet airliner is always going off course, but through constant correction it arrives at its destination. So will you arrive at your destination. It's a done deal. You couldn't screw up if you tried. The real question is, how long do you want to prolong your suffering?"

I've had lots of examples in my life, when I'd been willing to look at the grievances and asked for help in offering forgiveness, that miracles showed up. When we do the work by being willing to look at thoughts that come up and see that they are not the truth, the miracle is born there. How would we ever learn this if we weren't motivated to change our minds as a result of seemingly difficult events in our lives? It is the events of our lives that are our classroom helping us to get the validation that Jesus truly is holding our hand through every tribulation if we will reach out for him. We will, from time to time, lose faith in the process, especially during turbulent times in our lives, but knowing we can always bring our thoughts back to truth brings sanity in the midst of the chaos.

I am feeling deep gratitude, once again, that whenever I am open to His presence in my life, miracles abound. I can choose this experience and I do so by being willing to let go of the obstacles to peace that I hold in my mind. These obstacles show up as judgment, anger, worry, depression, attack, grievances, expectations, feelings of unworthiness, fear etc. And each time that I am willing to look at these blocks, without judgment from outside of the dream (above the battleground) I can smile at the dream figure (the image of Sarah) that has taken all of this drama so seriously. Thus grace can flow in, and with each experience my faith is strengthened. Even in the midst of turmoil, I know that I have just been given another opportunity to look deeper in my mind at another level that is coming up for healing. When I accept that my life is just a reflection of the thought system that I am choosing in my mind, then I am motivated to do this work. And with willingness and readiness, I can take responsibility for everything that seems to be happening to me and remind myself that I have chosen it all. I am not the victim of any experience.

It is easy, in my experience, to dismiss review lessons as having very little that is new to chew on since there is very little information included in the lesson. However, having said that, my experience is that when we do the review as instructed, we have great opportunity to get very valuable guidance using the thoughts provided in the lesson and the process for the practice, - I will go over here.

In the introduction Jesus reminds us how to let the Holy Spirit use our minds. "Read over the ideas and comments that are written down for each day's exercise. And then begin to think about them, while letting your mind relate them to your needs, your seeming problems and all your concerns." (5.2-3)

Thus it is important not to let our egos to manage this process, the reason being that the ego will never undo itself. We need the Holy Spirit for that. "Place the ideas within your mind, and let it use them as it chooses. Give it faith that it will use them wisely, being helped in its decisions by the One Who gave the thoughts to you. What can you trust but what is in your mind?" (6.1-3) So today we are asked to step back from the ego and simply try to release the mind to the Holy Spirit, letting related thoughts come on their own. These are the healing thoughts that are now in our minds as a result of our work with the course. We now let these thoughts come to mind to address our needs, problems and concerns. "The wisdom of your mind will come to your assistance." (6.5) Allow the part of your mind that is sane come to your assistance in the face of any temptation to become distressed.

Today, related thoughts that come to mind with these two lessons "Miracles are seen in light," (91) and, "Miracles are seen in light and light and strength are one," (92) are all from a grateful heart. I am thankful that this course is in my life and I have a way to get to peace by bringing my needs, my seeming problems and all my concerns to His healing light, so that I can know the beauty of my own innocence and the innocence of others.

I am so grateful that I don't need to rely on my own puny strength to try to figure a way through this illusion and all its seeming problems. Instead, God's strength and guidance are available to me. I do not need to be strong to come to the light. I simply bring my weakness to Him. I give him all my murderous, angry, bitter, despairing thoughts as well as my beliefs in my specialness. And by releasing them I gain strength by connecting with the light in me. If I don't like what I am feeling now, then I can use these feelings as a motivation to find my way to peace by applying this lesson. It is in the doing of it, in every distressful situation, that the lesson has value.

These lessons are not meant as pretty, inspirational words to be set aside. I know that the only way to happiness is by getting in touch with my Self, the purely loving being that I am. That is my motivation for doing the lessons and applying them as often as I can to every situation in my life. Jesus says that if we really remember to do these lessons in this review, it is our second chance with each of these ideas to bring us such large advances that our learning gains will be great and will put us "on more solid ground, with firmer footsteps and with stronger faith." (12.3)

[Use 'Advanced Search' and Exact Phrase' option]