COURSE IN MIRACLES SOCIETY
(non-profit)
Please Support this Mailing with a
|
|
For the
separate union
excludes the universe.
Graphic by ©Deposit Photos
|
|
“On this side of the bridge, you see the world of separate bodies seeking to join each other in separate unions and to become one by losing. When
two individuals seek to become one, they are trying to
decrease their magnitude. Each would deny his power, for the
separate union excludes the universe.
”
Par 62
|
ACIM OE TEXT
CH 16 THE FORGIVENESS OF ILLUSIONS
|
|
Workbook for Students
Part I
Introduction to Lessons 181-200
|
1 Our next few lessons make a special point of firming up your willingness to make your weak commitment strong, your scattered goals blend into one intent. You are not asked for total dedication all the time, as yet. But you are asked to practice now in order to attain the sense of peace such unified commitment will bestow, if only intermittently. It is experiencing this which makes it sure that you will give your total willingness to following the way the course sets forth.
|
Continue to Read Online
here
Audio, Music, and Video
by CIMS SonShip Radio
Lesson ARCHIVE
|
|
Workbook for Students
Part I
Lesson 185
I want the peace of God.
|
1 To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything. If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further sorrow possible for you in any form, in any place or time. Heaven would be completely given back to full awareness, memory of God entirely restored, the resurrection of all creation fully recognized.
2 No one can mean these words and not be healed. He cannot play with dreams nor think he is himself a dream. He cannot make a hell and think it real. He wants the peace of God, and it is given him. For that is all he wants, and that is all he will receive. Many have said these words. But few indeed have meant them. You have but to look upon the world you see around you to be sure how very few they are. The world would be completely changed should any two agree these words express the only thing they want.
3 Two minds with one intent become so strong that what they will becomes the Will of God. For minds can only join in truth. In dreams no two can share the same intent. To each the hero of the dream is different—the outcome wanted not the same for both. Loser and gainer merely shift about in changing patterns, as the ratio of gain to loss and loss to gain takes on a different aspect of another form.
4 Yet compromise alone a dream can bring. Sometimes it takes the form of union, but only the form. The meaning must escape the dream, for compromising is the goal of dreaming. Minds cannot unite in dreams. They merely bargain. And what bargain can give them the peace of God? Illusions come to take His place. And what He means is lost to sleeping minds intent on compromise, each to his gain and to another's loss.
5 To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams. For no one means these words who wants illusions and who therefore seeks the means which bring illusions. He has looked on them and found them wanting. Now he seeks to go beyond them, recognizing that another dream would offer nothing more than all the others. Dreams are one to him. And he has learned their only difference is one of form, for one will bring the same despair and misery as do the rest.
6 The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with other minds, for that is how peace is obtained. And when the wish for peace is genuine, the means for finding it are given in a form each mind which seeks for it in honesty can understand. Whatever form the lesson takes is planned for him in such a way that he can not mistake it if his asking is sincere. And if he asks without sincerity, there is no form in which the lesson will meet with acceptance and be truly learned.
7 Let us today devote our practicing to recognizing that we really mean the words we say. We want the peace of God. This is no idle wish. These words do not request another dream be given us. They do not ask for compromise nor try to make another bargain in the hope that there may yet be one which can succeed where all the rest have failed. To mean these words acknowledges illusions are in vain, requesting the eternal in the place of shifting dreams which seem to change in what they offer, but are one in nothingness.
8 Today devote your practice periods to careful searching of your mind to find the dreams you cherish still. What do you ask for in your heart? Forget the words you use in making your requests. Consider but what you believe will comfort you and bring you happiness. But be you not dismayed by lingering illusions, for their form is not what matters now. Let not some dreams be more acceptable, reserving shame and secrecy for others. They are one.
9 And being one, one question should be asked of all of them: "Is this what I would have, in place of Heaven and the peace of God?" This is the choice you make. Be not deceived that it is otherwise. No compromise is possible in this. You choose God's peace, or you have asked for dreams. And dreams will come as you requested them. Yet will God's peace come just as certainly and to remain with you forever. It will not be gone with every twist and turning of the road to reappear unrecognized in forms which shift and change with every step you take.
10 You want the peace of God. And so do all who seem to seek for dreams. For them as well as for yourself you ask but this when you make this request with deep sincerity. For thus you reach to what they really want and join your own intent with what they seek above all things, perhaps unknown to them, but sure to you. You have been weak at times, uncertain in your purpose and unsure of what you wanted, where to look for it, and where to turn for help in the attempt. Help has been given you. And would you not avail yourself of it by sharing it?
11 No one who truly seeks the peace of God can fail to find it. For he merely asks that he deceive himself no longer by denying to himself what is God's Will. Who can remain unsatisfied who asks for what he has already? Who could be unanswered who requests an answer which is his to give? The peace of God is yours.
12 For you it was created, given you by its Creator and established as His own eternal gift. How can you fail when you but ask for what He wills for you? And how could your request be limited to you alone? No gift of God can be unshared. It is this attribute that sets the gifts of God apart from every dream that ever seemed to take the place of truth.
13 No one can lose and everyone must gain whenever any gift of God has been requested and received by anyone. God gives but to unite. To take away is meaningless to Him. And when it is as meaningless to you, you can be sure you share one Will with Him, and He with you. And you will also know you share one Will with all your brothers, whose intent is yours.
14 It is this one intent we seek today, uniting our desires with the need of every heart, the call of every mind, the hope that lies beyond despair, the love attack would hide, the brotherhood that hate has sought to sever, but which still remains as God created it. With help like this beside us, can we fail today as we request the peace of God be given us?
|
Audio, Music, and Video
by CIMS SonShip Radio
Lesson ARCHIVE
|
|
Course in Miracles
Original Edition
TEXT
Chapter 16
The Forgiveness of Illusions
VII. The Bridge
to the Real World
Par 59-69
[READING PAUSED FOR WEEKEND]
|
59 The search for the special relationship is the sign that you equate yourself with the ego and not with God. For the special relationship has value
only to the ego. To the ego
unless a relationship has special value, it has
no meaning, and it perceives
all love as special. Yet this
cannot be natural, for it is unlike the relationship of God and His Son, and all relationships that are unlike this one
must be unnatural. For God created love as He would have it be and gave it as it
is. Love has no meaning except as its Creator defined it by His Will. It is impossible to define it otherwise and
understand it.
60 Love is
freedom. To look for it by placing yourself in bondage is to
separate yourself from it. For the love of God, no longer seek for union in separation nor for freedom in bondage! As you release, so will you be released. Forget this not, or love will be unable to find you and comfort you. There is a way in which the Holy Spirit asks your help if you would have His. The holy instant is His most helpful tool in protecting you from the attraction of guilt, the real lure in the special relationship. You do not recognize that this
is its real appeal, for the ego has taught you that
freedom lies in it. Yet the closer you look at the special relationship, the more apparent it becomes that it
must foster guilt and therefore
must imprison.
61 The special relationship is totally without meaning without a body. And if you value it, you must
also value the body. And what you value, you
will keep. The special relationship is a device for limiting
your self to a body and for limiting your perception of others to
theirs. The Great Rays would establish the total
lack of value of the special relationship if they were seen. For in seeing them, the body would disappear because its
value would be lost. And so your whole investment in seeing it would be withdrawn from it. You see the world you
value.
62 On this side of the bridge, you see the world of separate bodies seeking to join each other in separate unions and to become one by losing. When
two individuals seek to become one, they are trying to
decrease their magnitude. Each would deny his power, for the
separate union excludes the universe. Far more is left outside than would be taken in. For God is left without and
nothing taken in. If
one such union were made in perfect faith, the universe
would enter into it. Yet the special relationship which the ego seeks does not include even one whole individual. For the ego wants but
part of him and sees
only this part and nothing else.
63 Across the bridge, it is so different! For a time the body is still seen but not exclusively, as it is seen here. For the little spark which holds the Great Rays within it is
also visible, and this spark cannot be limited long to littleness. Once you have crossed the bridge, the value of the body is so diminished in your sight that you will see no need at all to magnify it. For you will realize that the only value which the body has is to enable you to bring your brothers to the bridge
with you and to be released
together there.
64 The bridge itself is nothing more than a transition in your perspective of reality. On this side, everything you see is grossly distorted and completely out of perspective. What is little and insignificant is magnified, and what is strong and powerful cut down to littleness. In the transition there is a period of confusion in which a sense of actual disorientation seems to occur. But fear it not, for it means nothing more than that you have been willing to let go your hold on the distorted frame of reference which seemed to hold your world together. This frame of reference is built around the special relationship.
Without this illusion, there can
be no meaning you would still seek here.
65 Fear not that you will be abruptly lifted up and hurled into reality. Time is kind, and if you use it
for reality, it will keep gentle pace with you in your transition. The urgency is only in dislodging your minds from their fixed position here. This will not leave you homeless and without a frame of reference. The period of disorientation which precedes the actual transition is far shorter than the time it took to fix your minds so firmly on illusions. Delay will hurt you now more than before only because you realize it
is delay and that escape from pain is really possible. Find hope and comfort rather than despair in this: You could no longer find even the
illusion of love in any special relationship here. For you are no longer wholly insane, and you would recognize the guilt of self-betrayal for what it
is.
66 Nothing you seek to strengthen in the special relationship is
really part of you. And you cannot keep part of the thought system which taught you it was real and understand the Thought that
really knows what you are. You
have allowed the Thought of your reality to enter your minds, and because you invited it, it
will abide with you. Your love for it will not allow you to betray yourself, and you could not enter into a relationship where it could not go with you, for you would not
be apart from it.
67 Be glad you have escaped the mockery of salvation which the ego offered you and look not back with longing on the travesty it made of your relationships. Now no one need suffer, for you have come too far to yield to the illusion of the beauty and holiness of guilt. Only the wholly insane could look on death and suffering, sickness and despair and see it thus. What guilt has wrought is ugly, fearful, and very dangerous. See no illusion of truth and beauty there. And be you thankful that there
is a place where truth and beauty wait for you. Go on to meet them gladly, and learn how much awaits you for the simple willingness to give up nothing
because it is nothing.
68 The new perspective you will gain from crossing over will be the understanding of where Heaven
is. From here it seems to be outside and across the bridge. Yet as you cross to join it, it will join with
you and become one with you. And you will think in glad astonishment that for all this you gave up
nothing! The joy of Heaven, which has no limit, is increased with each light that returns to take its rightful place within it. Wait no longer, for the love of God and
you. And may the holy instant speed you on the way, as it will surely do if you but let it come to you.
69 The Holy Spirit asks only this little help of you. Whenever your thoughts wander to a special relationship which still attracts you, enter with Him into a holy instant and there let Him release you. He needs only your willingness to
share His perspective to give it to you completely. And your willingness need not be complete because
His is perfect. It is His task to atone for your unwillingness by His perfect faith, and it is His faith you share with Him there. Out of your recognition of your unwillingness for your release, His
perfect willingness is given you. Call upon Him, for Heaven is at His call. And
let Him call on Heaven
for you.
|
Audio, Music, and Video
by CIMS SonShip Radio
ONLINE
SEARCHABLE Original Edition
Current Schedule of
|
|
Join ACIM Students
on Free Conference Calls
|
|
|
ACIM Edmonton
Sarah's Reflections
Lesson 185
I want the peace of God.
|
|
Sarah's Commentary:
This is another interesting Lesson that contrasts special and holy relationships. This Lesson is long, and so much could be said about each paragraph. Basically, in our special relationships, our interests are separate. Each one tries to benefit at the expense of the other.
"In dreams, no two can share the same intent
." (W.185.3.3) In the special relationship, what one gains the other loses. The happiness of each one takes primacy over the other. In other words, I want my needs met at your expense. The relationship reflects the ego's principle of one or the other.
"To each, the hero of the dream is different; the outcome wanted not the same for both."
(W.185.3.4) In other words, if my needs are being met, you will have to sacrifice something of yours.
Continue to Read in PDF
Here
[To View PDF, turn device lengthwise and enlarge screen]
Love and blessings, Sarah
Please send gifts of gratitude for these Reflections via PayPal to
huemmert@shaw.ca
|
|
Allen Watson's
Workbook Commentaries
Allen Watson
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:
|
|
ACIM OE on TWITTER
Click picture below
|
|
COURSE IN MIRACLES SOCIETY
(non-profit)
Tax-Deductible Donation
|
Presently CIMS projects are supported by free will gifts of time, talent, and money. If you would like to support any of the activities of the Society in any way, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
To make a Tax-Deductible Donation
in support of the Daily Lessons
Also, by means of your will or other estate plan, you can name "
Course in Miracles Society
" as the beneficiary of a portion of your estate, or of particular assets in your estate. In this way, you are honoring your loved ones while also providing critical support to the extension of LOVE.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
