"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.
Herein Lies the peace of God."
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Course in Miracles
MANUAL for TEACHERS
18. How is Correction Made?
1 Correction of a lasting nature—and only this is true correction—cannot be made until the teacher of God has ceased to confuse interpretation with fact or illusion with truth. If he argues with his pupil about a magic thought, attacks it, tries to establish its error or demonstrate its falsity, he is but witnessing to its reality. Depression is then inevitable, for he has "proved," both to his pupil and himself that it is their task to escape from what is real. And this can only be impossible. Reality is changeless. Magic thoughts are but illusions. Otherwise salvation would be only the same age-old impossible dream in but another form. Yet the dream of salvation has new content. It is not the form alone in which the difference lies.
2 God's teachers' major lesson is to learn how to react to magic thoughts wholly without anger. Only in this way can they proclaim the truth about themselves. Through them, the Holy Spirit can now speak of the reality of the Son of God. Now He can remind the world of sinlessness, the one unchanged, unchangeable condition of all that God created. Now He can speak the Word of God to listening ears and bring Christ's vision to the eyes that see. Now is He free to teach all minds the truth of what they are, so they will gladly be returned to Him. And now is guilt forgiven, overlooked completely in His sight and in God's Word.
3 Anger but screeches, "Guilt is real." Reality is blotted out as this insane belief is taken as replacement for God's Word. The body's eyes now "see"; its ears alone are thought to hear. Its little space and tiny breath become the measure of reality. And truth becomes diminutive and meaningless. Correction has one answer to all this and to the world that rests on this:
4
You but mistake interpretation for the truth. And you are wrong. But a mistake is not a sin, nor has reality been taken from its throne by your mistakes. God reigns forever, and His laws alone prevail upon you and upon the world. His love remains the only thing there is. Fear is illusion, for you are like Him.
5 In order to heal, it thus becomes essential for the teacher of God to let all his own mistakes be corrected. If he senses even the faintest hint of irritation in himself as he responds to anyone, let him instantly realize that he has made an interpretation that is not true. Then let him turn within to his Eternal Guide, and let Him judge what the response should be. So is he healed, and in his healing is his pupil healed with him. The sole responsibility of God's teacher is to accept the Atonement for himself. Atonement means correction, or the undoing of errors. When this has been accomplished, the teacher of God becomes a miracle worker by definition. His sins have been forgiven him, and he no longer condemns himself. How can he then condemn anyone? And who is there whom his forgiveness can fail to heal?
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A
Course in Miracles
MANUAL for TEACHERS
19. What is Justice?
1 Justice is the divine correction for injustice. Injustice is the basis for all the judgments of the world. Justice corrects the interpretations to which injustice gives rise and cancels them out. Neither justice nor injustice exists in Heaven, for error is impossible and correction meaningless. In this world, however, forgiveness depends on justice since all attack can only be unjust. Justice is the Holy Spirit's verdict upon the world. Except in His judgment, justice is impossible, for no one in the world is capable of making only just interpretations and laying all injustices aside. If God's Son were fairly judged, there would be no need for salvation. The thought of separation would have been forever inconceivable.
2 Justice, like its opposite, is an interpretation. It is, however, the one interpretation that leads to truth. This becomes possible because, while it is not true in itself, justice includes nothing that opposes truth. There is no inherent conflict between justice and truth; one is but the first small step in the direction of the other. The path becomes quite different as one goes along. Nor could all the magnificence, the grandeur of the scene and the enormous opening vistas that rise to meet one as he travels on, be foretold from the outset. Yet even these, whose splendor reaches indescribable heights as one proceeds, falls short indeed of all that awaits one when the pathway ceases and time ends with it. But somewhere one must start. Justice is the beginning.
3 All concepts of your brothers and yourself, all fears of future states, and all concern about the past stem from injustice. Here is the lens which, held before the body's eyes, distorts perception and brings witness of the distorted world back to the mind that made the lens and holds it very dear. Selectively and arbitrarily is every concept of the world built up in just this way. "Sins" are perceived and justified by this careful selectivity in which all thought of wholeness must be lost. Forgiveness has no place in such a scheme, for not one "sin" but seems forever true.
4 Salvation is God's justice. It restores to your awareness the wholeness of the fragments you perceive as broken off and separate. And it is this that overcomes the fear of death. For separate fragments must decay and die, but wholeness is immortal. It remains forever and forever like its Creator, being one with Him. God's Judgment is His justice. Onto this—a judgment wholly lacking in condemnation, an evaluation based entirely on love—you have projected your injustice, attributing to God the lens of warped perception through which you look. Now it belongs to Him and not to you. You are afraid of Him and do not see you hate and fear your Self as enemy.
5 Pray for God's justice, and do not confuse His mercy with your own insanity. Perception can make whatever picture the mind desires to see. Remember this. In this lies either Heaven or hell, as you elect. God's justice points to Heaven just because it is entirely impartial. It accepts all evidence that is brought before it, omitting nothing and assessing nothing as separate and apart from all the rest. From this one standpoint does it judge, and this alone. Here all attack and condemnation becomes meaningless and indefensible. Perception rests, the mind is still, and light returns again. Vision is now restored. What had been lost has now been found. The peace of God descends on all the world and we can see. And we can see!
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A Course in Miracles
WORKBOOK
Part II
What Am I?
1
I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His holy sinlessness itself, for in my purity abides His own.
2
Our use for words is almost over now. Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared. And thus you joined with me. So what I am are you as well. The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us.
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We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. And this, our gift, is therefore given us. We look on everyone as brothers and perceive all things as kindly and as good. We do not seek a function that is past the gates of Heaven. Knowledge will return when we have done our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth.
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Ours are the eyes through which Christ's vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. Ours are the ears that hear the Voice of God proclaim the world as sinless. Ours the minds which join together as we bless the world. And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy.
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We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came and which we seek to serve. We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God.
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A Course in Miracles
WORKBOOK
Lesson 358
No call to God can be unheard nor left
Unanswered. and of this I can be sure---
His answer is the one I really want.
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You Who remember what I really am alone remember what I really want. You speak for God, and so You speak for me. And what You give me comes from God Himself. Your Voice, my Father, then is mine as well, and all I want is what You offer me, in just the form You chose that it be mine. Let me remember all I do not know, and let my voice be still, remembering. But let me not forget Your Love and care, keeping Your promise to Your Son in my awareness always. Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all.
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ACIM Edmonton
Sarah's Reflections
Lesson 358
No call to God can be unheard nor left
Unanswered. and of this I can be sure---
His answer is the one I really want.
Sarah's Commentary:
The Course talks about healing the mind. It talks about healing our misguided thoughts, so we can know our innocence, but here, as in Lesson 345, we are told that miracles can show up in form. In Lesson 345, he says,
"The miracles I give are given back in just the form I need to help me with the problems I perceive."
(W.345.1.4) In this Lesson, we are told,
"Your Voice, my Father, then is mine as well, and all I want is what You offer me, in just the form You choose that it be mine."
(W.358.1.4)
The important part of this line for me is that we don't know what is in our own best interests or what will bring us peace and happiness. Therefore, we are invited to allow Him to choose. When we make our own choices based on the ego's directions, we will be hurt. We can’t know our own best interests if we don’t know who we are.
In Chapter 30 IV, Jesus says that what we think we want in this illusory world, including events, circumstances, people, relationships, jobs, toys, and other material things, may serve us for a while, but inevitably, they disappoint us. The ego set it up this way to keep us in its game. It has us continually looking for what would satisfy us in the illusion, yet nothing ever will. These "toys" may "dance a little while, according to the rules we set for them," (T.30.IV.4.4) (ACIM OE T.30.V.52) but at some point, we get disillusioned with them. We attack them for not meeting our expectations, and then we say that life sucks because it hasn't turned out our way.
That is when we become motivated to allow the Holy Spirit to choose for us. Only He knows what we truly want. We may think we really want what God wants for us, but so often, we end up taking our own initiative instead. Giving up control to Him is what we are learning to do. In Chapter 30,
"The Rules for Decision,"
we are asked to commit to making no decisions by ourselves.
"Today I will make no decisions by myself."
(T.30.I.2.2) (ACIM OE T.30.II.4) We are called to take the time in the morning, before we get into the events of the day, and set this intention for ourselves. Humility helps me to acknowledge that the "little self" that I think I am doesn't have a clue.
It is important to look at what humility really is. To do that, we should perhaps look at what it is not. It is not about diminishing ourselves or accepting unworthiness as a value. Instead, it is to
"accept of Him that which we are, and humbly recognize the Son of God."
(W.152.10.2) In other words, we accept our greatness, not as a self-concept, but as what we are. Thus, our ideas about ourselves must be seen as false, and we ask in humility to be shown the truth of our Self. We acknowledge
"I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself."
(T.31.V.17.7) (ACIM OE T.31.V.60)
Humility accepts our grandeur and not the grandiosity of the ego. It is our holiness that we acknowledge. Our beloved teacher is gently showing us the way to remember who we really are. The Christ Self is our reality. Our self-image may seem humble, but it is actually arrogant, masking as humility. Anything of our own making is a false image, no matter what it may look like. In the Manual for Teachers, Jesus talks of our "guilty embarrassment coming from false humility." (M.7.5.6) This comes from the self-image, which has been socialized by the norms of the world. Now we are called to accept the truth of who we are beyond the image. When we recognize that "His answer is the one I really want," (W.358) we become willing to release our own answers and humbly depend on His guidance for everything.
In Chapter 9, Sections I and II, Jesus discusses the reason prayer is not answered in the way we might expect. In one instance, we may not get an answer because we are asking for nothing; and in another instance, it is because we are asking for something that might hurt us or bring on more fear. Since the Course is about escape from fear, the Holy Spirit will not give us anything that will increase our fear or threaten our thought system. Further, there are many answers he says that we have received, but we have not yet heard. While all prayers are answered, they are not all accepted due to our own resistance.
That is why the Holy Spirit must look out for our interests.
"You speak for God, and so You speak for me. And what You give me comes from God Himself."
(W.358.1.2-3) Thus, God will only give us what is good for us, since we really have no idea of our own needs and wants. How can we, since we don’t know what we are? When we listen to the ego, we reach out for pleasure, but we always receive pain.
What are we looking for when we ask for idols? Don’t we all want happiness, peace, and joy? We think the things we are asking for will make us happy, yet they won’t. Until we get that, we will keep seeking and will never find. It is interesting to watch the mind at this time of year when we see the commercial aspects of Christmas and perhaps express our desires for certain things. We may also hold expectations of how our family gatherings should be. This can create tension and bring about disappointments. What a wonderful opportunity to watch what is in the mind and place our unhealed perspectives on the inner altar for forgiveness.
We ask for His help and guidance in all things, and we trust that our deep call of the heart is heard and answered when we ask for healing. Why can we be so sure about this? We can be sure because the answer is already in our own mind, and we can choose it at any time we turn to the Voice that speaks for God and not the voice of the ego. The ego has written the script for our special relationships, and now we make the choice to forgive these relationships. Our function is to remember Jesus’ teaching in every moment and apply what we have learned.
I recently read Michael Singer’s book,
The Surrender Experiment
, where he shares his extraordinary journey of his deep spiritual awakening when he was in his twenties and then decided to no longer let his personal fears dictate his life, but rather to surrender to everything. In order not to stop the flow of his life, he decided to say "yes" to everything. In the process, he could see how much the ego resisted what was being presented to him. He looked past the resistance and chose to live in constant acceptance, letting go of personal preferences. This book shifted my mind and the message fits in very well with this lesson.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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