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24 An instant spent without your old ideas of who your great companion is and what he
should be asking for will be enough to let this happen. And you will perceive his purpose is the same as yours. He asks for what
you want and needs the same as
you. It takes perhaps a different form in him, but it is not the form you answer to. He asks and you receive, for you have come with but one purpose—that you both may learn you love each other with a brother's love. And as a brother, must his Father be the same as yours, as he is like yourself.
CHAPTER 31:
THE SIMPLICITY OF SALVATION
II. THE ILLUSION OF AN ENEMY
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Workbook for Students
Part II
What is Creation?
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1 Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts, in number infinite and everywhere without all limit. Only Love creates and only like Itself. There was no time when all that It created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that It created suffers any change. Forever and forever are God's Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done.
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Workbook for Students
Lesson 327
I need but call
and You will answer me.
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1 I am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith. For God has promised He will hear my call and answer me Himself. Let me but learn from my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to me. This is the faith that will endure and take me farther and still farther on the road that leads to Him. For thus I will be sure that He has not abandoned me and loves me still, awaiting but my call to give me all the help I need to come to Him.
2
Father, I thank You that Your promises will never fail in my experience if I but test them out. Let me attempt therefore to try them and to judge them not. Your Word is one with You. You give the means whereby conviction comes, and surety of Your abiding Love is gained at last.
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Lesson ARCHIVE
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Course in Miracles
Original Edition
Text
Chapter 31
The Simplicity of Salvation
II. The Illusion of an Enemy
par 13-25
[TEXT READING PAUSED FOR WEEKEND]
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13 An ancient lesson is not overcome by the opposing of the new and old. It is not vanquished that the truth be known nor fought against to lose to truth's appeal. There is no battle which must be prepared, no time to be expended, and no plans that need be laid for bringing in the new. There
is an ancient battle being waged
against the truth, but truth does not respond. Who could be hurt in such a war unless he hurts himself? He has no enemy in truth. And can he be assailed by dreams?
14 Let us review again what seems to stand between you and the truth of what you are. For there are steps in its relinquishment. The first is a decision that
you make. But afterwards the truth is
given you. You would
establish truth. And by your wish, you set two choices to be made each time you think you must decide on anything. Neither is true. Nor are they different. Yet must we see them both before you can look past them to the one alternative that
is a different choice. But not in dreams you made that this might be obscured to you.
15 What
you would choose between is not a choice and gives but the illusion it is free, for it will have one outcome either way. Thus is it really not a choice at all. The leader and the follower emerge as separate roles, each seeming to possess advantages you would not want to lose. So in their fusion there appears to be the hope of satisfaction and of peace. You see yourself divided into both these roles, forever split between the two. And every friend or enemy becomes a means to help you save yourself from this.
16 Perhaps you call it love. Perhaps you think that it is murder justified at last. You hate the one you gave the leader's role when you would have it, and you hate as well his not assuming it at times you want to let the follower in you arise and give away the role of leadership. And this is what you made your brother
for and learned to think that this his purpose
is. Unless he serves it, he has not fulfilled the function that was given him by you. And thus he merits death because he has no purpose and no usefulness to you.
17 And what of him? What does he want of you? What could he want, but what you want of him? Herein is life as easily as death, for what you choose, you choose as well for him. Two calls you make to him, as he to you. Between
these two
is choice because from them there
is a different outcome. If he be the leader or the follower to you, it matters not, for you have chosen death. But if he calls for death or calls for life, for hate or for forgiveness and for help, is not the same in outcome. Hear the one, and you are separate from him and are lost. But hear the other, and you join with him, and in your answer is salvation found. The voice you hear in him is but your own. What does he ask you for? And listen well! For he is asking what will come to you because you see an image of
yourself and hear
your voice requesting what you
want.
18 Before you answer, pause to think of this:
19
The answer that I give my brother is what I am asking for. And what I learn of him is what I learn about myself.
20 Then let us wait an instant and be still, forgetting everything we thought we heard; remembering how much we do not know. This brother neither leads nor follows us but walks beside us on the selfsame road. He is like us, as near or far away from what we want as we will let him be. We make no gains he does not make with us, and we fall back if he does not advance. Take not his hand in anger but in love, for in his progress do you count your own. And we go separately along the way unless you keep him safely by your side.
21 Because he is your equal in God's love, you will be saved from all appearances and answer to the Christ Who calls to you. Be still and listen. Think not ancient thoughts. Forget the dismal lessons that you learned about this Son of God who calls to you. Christ calls to all with equal tenderness, seeing no leaders and no followers and hearing but one answer to them all. Because He hears one Voice, He cannot hear a different answer from the one He gave when God appointed Him His only Son.
22 Be very still an instant. Come without all thought of what you ever learned before and put aside all images you made. The old will fall away before the new without your opposition or intent. There will be no attack upon the things you thought were precious and in need of care. There will be no assault upon your wish to hear a call that never has been made. Nothing will hurt you in this holy place to which you come to listen silently and learn the truth of what you really want. No more than this will you be asked to learn. But as you hear it, you will understand you need but come away without the thoughts you did not want and that were never true.
23 Forgive your brother all appearances, which are but ancient lessons that you taught yourself about the sinfulness in
you. Hear but his call for mercy and release from all the fearful images he holds of what he is and of what you must be. He is afraid to walk with you and thinks perhaps a bit behind, a bit ahead, would be a safer place for him to be. Can
you make progress if you think the same, advancing only when he would step back and falling back when he would go ahead? For so do you forget the journey's goal, which is but to decide to walk
with him, so neither leads nor follows. Thus it is a way you go
together, not alone. And in this choice is learning's outcome changed, for Christ has been reborn to both of you.
24 An instant spent without your old ideas of who your great companion is and what he
should be asking for will be enough to let this happen. And you will perceive his purpose is the same as yours. He asks for what
you want and needs the same as
you. It takes perhaps a different form in him, but it is not the form you answer to. He asks and you receive, for you have come with but one purpose—that you both may learn you love each other with a brother's love. And as a brother, must his Father be the same as yours, as he is like yourself.
25 Together is your joint inheritance remembered and accepted by you both. Alone it is denied to both of you. Is it not clear that while you still insist on leading or on following, you think you walk alone with no one by your side? This is the road to nowhere, for the light cannot be given while you walk alone, and so you cannot see which way you go. And thus there is confusion and a sense of endless doubting as you stagger back and forward in the darkness and alone. Yet these are but appearances of what the journey is and how it must be made. For next to you is One Who holds the light before you so that every step is made in certainty and sureness of the road. A blindfold can indeed obscure your sight but cannot make the way itself grow dark. And He Who travels with you
has the light.
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Sarah's Reflections
Lesson 327
I need but call
and You will answer me.
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Sarah's Commentary:
Jesus says,
"We have attacked God's plan for salvation without waiting to hear what it is."
(W.72.10.10) Well, we might ask: How did we do that? Jesus says,
"We have shouted our grievances so loudly that we have not listened to His Voice."
(W.72.10.11) He says,
"We have used our grievances to close our eyes and stop our ears."
(W.72.10.12) While we have done all this, Jesus assures us that despite the fact we still do listen to the ego and express grievances, nevertheless we have heard and answered the Call of the Holy Spirit. The fact that we can decide to release our grievances anytime we choose gives the mind amazing power of decision. Yet we may question, why am I holding onto any grievance in this moment? What do I get to be right about?
It is encouraging to read,
"I am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith."
(W.327.1.1) That idea serves us well. He invites us to test out what he tells us. We learn that this is the truth through our own experience, and with each experience, our trust and faith grows. That is so reassuring and, in my experience, so very true. The more I get out of the way and listen to His answers, without setting limitations on what I need or what I think my problem is, the more I have found that His answers have always shown me that my trust in Him is warranted. Yes, doubts come up when new situations arise, and the temptation is to go back to the ego for the answers, but as trust grows so does my confidence in Him.
Some time ago, I was facing a situation of having to find my way through a maze of long-term care arrangements for my mother in a system that is highly bureaucratic and has a limited supply of open beds. I faced the possibility of her having to go into a difficult transitional situation until a bed could be found. The hospital wanted her out as soon as possible. Fear came up in my mind on how I could possibly address this situation. When this happens, there is always an inclination to rush about, finding answers. Yet I find, when I refuse to allow ego thoughts to take over my mind, with the recognition that no answers are possible in a state of conflict, I allow the fear thoughts to be released, ask for help to maintain a state of peace, and then immediately there is a knowing and deep trust that all would be well. In the end, everything turned out miraculously. I had put my trust in the Holy Spirit and felt His support. I actively refused to listen to the ego that kept nattering in the background. Everything truly does work together for good and if it is not yet good, it is not the end as we learn in the marvelous movie,
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
.
Purification of ego thoughts is necessary for miracles to be experienced.
"Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind, or a state of miracle-readiness."
(T.1.I.43.1) (ACIM OE T.1.I.71) It is not that we don’t act in circumstances that arise, but we stay attentive to Him to guide our actions. Then He can send us on our busy doings from a quiet state of mind.
"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."
(T.18.VII.8.3) (ACIM OE T.18.VIII.70)
"And now in all your doings be you blessed."
(Manual for Teachers.29.8.1) It is about choosing which guide we follow in each moment---the ego or the Holy Spirit.
This path is not one of blind faith where we are asked to give our loyalty and our allegiance blindly to God, hoping that one day He will reward us for our faith. He invites us to test Him, and when we do, we get to experience the benefits of turning to Him. When we look at our lives as a result of our application of these teachings, we can see our peace has increased. Our relationships have been transformed through forgiveness. We have met challenges with more grace and trust, and we have had examples of guidance in situations where we have stepped back and let Him lead the way with happy results. Our minds have shifted with more ease, openness, and trust. Challenges don't go away, but we are ready for them, feeling stronger and more confident with actual evidence that we are supported. I have increasingly become a happier learner. I’m more motivated to do the work of watching my mind and of taking responsibility for my thoughts.
We have experienced miracles, but we don't always recognize them, or we may even deny the evidence. The ego will deny our experience, question it, dismiss it, or judge it as just a coincidence or a fluke. Part of the process, in my opinion, is simply to take notice. Stay aware of the events and symbols around you and be grateful for them all. This Lesson invites us not to judge the answers we receive when we ask. In other words, we need to trust that the answer we get is exactly what we need. It may not always be apparent that this is so, especially when it comes in a form other than what we expected, or it comes later where patience is called for. The answer is given immediately, but we are not always ready to receive it. The point is, we are asked to look for evidence of His Love and His Word (His Promise) constantly, and we can trust Him to always have an answer for us. He wants us to come to trust Him so we will not delay our return to our Self. He waits with open arms for us to turn toward Him.
"This is the faith that will endure, and take me farther and still farther on the road that leads to Him."
(W.327.1.4) We will not fear our return when we know His Love awaits us.
"Let me but learn from my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to me."
(W.327.1.3) As we grow in faith and trust, we rely more and more on the Holy Spirit until we step entirely out of the conflict that arises when we listen to two different teachers that take diametrically opposed directions. There is no meeting place between the Holy Spirit and the ego.
"And thus are two sons made, and both appear to walk the earth without a meeting place and no encounter. One do you perceive outside yourself, your own beloved son. The others rests within, his Father’s Son, within your brother as he is in you."
(T.24.VII.11.1-3) (ACIM OE T.24.VIII.72)
We must be willing to let go of all littleness. We garner trust when we see our brothers on the path, glowing with the light of His Love. It is truly beautiful to witness changes in those around us who reflect His gifts as they are given and received. Their gifts and their progress are mine as well because we are One. Sharing our experiences is how we encourage each other in testing out the truth of God's promises. It is not about trying to have belief, but about actually experiencing the results of our trust in the Divine Spirit within each of us.
When I started with the Course, my obstacle to embracing it, immediately, was the Christian language. I was motivated to give it a try because of the way it came into my life through a friend for whom I had great respect. Dr. Willis Harmon, then the CEO of the Stanford Research Institute, brought the Course into my life. It was my trust in his recommendation that got me started on this learning path in my early days of study. At that time, I had no belief and faith in God and a lot of resistance to any religious teaching. However, by applying the Lessons to my life, I started to see amazing changes despite limited understanding since I had not yet read the Text. I started to trust more and more that something was working in my mind that was not of me, nor of my limited thinking, and through this, my faith grew.
Interestingly enough, Jesus says,
"Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty."
(W.P.II.Q11.What is Creation?4.3)
"For love remains with all its Thoughts, its sureness being theirs. God's memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their Creator."
(W.P.II.Q11.4.4-5) While our physical experience in the body seems so real, and our doubts and fears seem to us to be what life is about, behind all of this and deep within our minds, the certainty exists for all of us. We recognize more and more how lost and split off we have felt and how much we have been lacking in the awareness that there is another way of seeing. Jesus assures us that conviction comes through testing out God
'
s promises to us.
"Father, I thank You that Your promises will never fail in my experience, if I but test them out. Let me attempt therefore to try them, and to judge them not. Your Word is one with You. You give the means whereby conviction comes, and surety of Your abiding Love is gained at last."
(W.327.2.1-4) Amen.
We are encouraged by Jesus to keep testing out His promises, so we can know that we have not been abandoned and are truly loved. He is there to give us the help that we need, so we are encouraged to ask in everything and follow the guidance. Remember, when we ask for things of the ego, we ask for nothing but more pain. Ask instead for what is in line with God's Will for us-‑- healing, happiness, guidance, release from guilt, and to see a situation differently. It is all about the prayer of the heart to open to our divine, holy minds more fully. It is to ask with desire and wait for the answer with confidence. It may not come in the form we expect nor in the timeline we set, but it will come.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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Allen Watson's
Workbook Commentaries
Allen joined Robert Perry in forming the Circle of Atonement in 1993 in Sedona, Arizona where Allen led retreats and workshops and authored many books based on “A Course in Miracles.” One of his most popular books is:
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