L e s s o n  334

Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives. 
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IAMBIC PENTAMETER 
format from URTEXT by Lee Flynn 

   I will not wait another day to find

   the treasures that my Father offers me.

   Illusions must be vain, and dreams are gone

   even while they are woven out of thoughts

   that rest on false perception. Let me not

   accept such meager gifts again today.

   God's Voice is offering the peace of God

   to all who hear and choose to follow Him.

   This is my choice today. And so I go

   to find the treasures God has given me.

   "I seek but the eternal. For Your Son

    can be content with nothing less than this.

    What, then, can be his solace but what You

    are offering to his bewildered mind

    and frightened heart, to give him certainty

    and bring him peace? Today I would behold

    my brother sinless. This Your Will for me,

    for thus will I behold my sinlessness."

         ~ Original Handscript of ACIM 
 

In an interview, Seinfeld said that he had never thought that he wanted to marry. Then he came to a place where he realized that he had everything in the world that money could buy which brought him to wonder "what do I do now?" Since marriage wasn't on his agenda, there seemed nothing else in the world to have and life, although abundant in the material realm, and in power and prestige, lost its luster. He had everything yet felt very alone and unfulfilled. Since then, of course, he has a wife and family and has expanded his interests to include others. I'm not saying that the a special relationship is the answer to this feeling of emptiness...only that when we get what we think we want in this world, which can include the special relationship, the sense of lack of fulfillment continues until we get on the path of awakening from this dream. "Illusions are all vain, and dreams are gone even while they are woven out of thoughts that rest on false perceptions.   Let me not accept such meager gifts again today". (1.2-3)

We think we would be happy if all of our dreams were met and we got everything we wanted, yet as Seinfeld illustrated in this interview, eventually  disillusionment sets in. Eventually  "illusions are all vain, and dreams are gone even while they are woven out of thoughts that rest on false perceptions." (1.2). The reason is that the ego is about having more. There is never enough. More can refer to things but also to power, prestige, attention, adventure, thrills, or it can even mean more distress, victimhood, illness hard as that is to believe. The ego mind  is never satisfied. It is always restless and wanting to pursue more. But until we seek the eternal, we can never be content. And we will wonder what is wrong until we find our way to the only answer that brings certainty and peace which is to know our sinlessness.

There is an emptiness within when we identify with the body and personality. This emptiness needs to be filled with something. It may be food, drugs, sex, power, fame, prestige, attention etc. The ego is a wanting machine. I recall in the book "A Million Little Pieces" about James Frey's recovery from drug use. He says how he simply could not put enough food into him to fill the empty void. No matter how much he ate, and he ate a lot, there was still this empty place in him, yearning for fulfillment. This place cannot be filled by anything except God.  We all have this yearning for spiritual fulfillment. 

This lesson says that the true gifts we need to claim are the eternal. Imagine how beautiful the gift of innocence is, where we feel totally clean of all negative thoughts, all grievances, all issues, all guilt. When we know that we are on the right path and have chosen the right teacher then we are no longer  wondering all the time about our future, our goals, and our direction in life.  More and more we experience the flow, where everything that shows up is for the purpose of waking up from this dream. Increasing contentment, solace, and peace becomes more of our experience as we do the work of forgiveness by bringing the blocks to love to awareness. 

Jesus teaches that we are actually incapable of wanting less than the eternal. Everything else is a very poor substitute.   When we realize that they ARE just substitutes, we will naturally want the authentic, the real, and the substantial which is the eternal. Once we realize that we have the power to choose then we become discerning about that which has eternal value and that which is useless and false, offering us fleeting meager gifts of the ego. With that awareness we open up to the call that is in us to "choose to follow Him". (1.4) How do we do that? We do that through forgiveness. Only by releasing our expectations, issues, grievances...in fact all of the thoughts we have that block awareness of who we are in truth, can space open up for the gifts of God to come shining through. And that does take surrender and humility by admitting that we truly don't know what will make us happy; we have been wrong about ourselves. We are as God created us, not what we have made of ourselves. So forgiveness, as defined in the Course, is the release of all false beliefs. What gives them power is only our investment in the false as true. It is the power of our mind as to what we accept as true. 

Like lesson 231 says, "what else would I seek but the Father's Love?"  What we truly want is to know our own will which is one with God's.  But to know that,we must see that we are all the same. We all share in the same One Will. To see our sameness is a reflection of the Oneness that we share.  If we are crucifying our brother in any way today, we are believing in differences and separation. This is how we reinforce our specialness and our false innocence seeing ourselves as better than those we are judging. It is how we express our individuality when we believe that we can hurt our brother and maintain our innocence. But all that happens is that we  accumulate more guilt. 

We simply can't change who we are as God created us no matter how much we avoid, distract, pursue our own goals, or hold onto our beliefs. As the Course says in Chapter 29.V "The Changeless Dwelling Place:" "The changelessness of Heaven is in you, so deep within that nothing in this world but passes by, unnoticed and unseen. The still infinity of endless peace surrounds you gently in its soft embrace, so strong and quiet, tranquil in the might of its Creator, nothing can intrude upon the sacred Son of God within." 

Wow, those words really affirm the truth. If we open up to the truth of who we are and ask for help, the obsessive voice of the ego becomes silenced.  This is the voice that is loud and raucous yet if we aren't vigilant watching our thoughts and tuning into them, they run like software in the conditioned mind. We have become so accustomed to it that we don't even hear it anymore.  All of these thoughts and beliefs of the unwatched mind get dumped into the unconscious mind and run  our lives. Now our lives seem to be on autopilot where we react without even thinking.

But as Jesus says, truth comes to the silent mind. And by keeping the mind in constant turmoil we ensure that truth can't reach us. Now we need to allow space for the gentle, changeless peace to envelop us in its embrace which can only happen when we bring awareness to our thoughts and are willing to bring them to the truth. 

"The bridge that He would carry you across lifts you from time into eternity. Waken from time , and answer fearlessly the call of Him Who gave eternity to you in your creation. On this side of the bridge to timelessness  you understand nothing. But as you step lightly across it, upheld by timelessness, you are directed straight to the Heart of God. At its center, and only there, you are safe forever, because you are complete forever. There is no veil the Love of God in us together cannot lift. The way to truth is open. Follow it with me." (T. 16.IV.13 "The Illusion and Reality of Love") 

So again we try to find in the world of time, what can only be found in eternity. And what we find are only substitutes for the real thing. Our special relationships hold us in time but if we open to the holy instant we begin to allow the Holy Spirit to use all of our relationships for healing of our minds. Through forgiveness we see our brothers as innocent. 

Today, I am looking at all of the things that are keeping me from claiming my gifts. I value the way I see things; I value my own point of view. This keeps me from asking for His guidance. I want things to go the way I set them up for myself. I want things to go according to my plan in the world. I see an unwillingness to give up my authority. I trust in my own judgment. I believe that my preferences are important. I have all of these concepts and ideas of how things should be. That is why today, I affirm that "I will not wait another day to find the treasures that my Father offers me." I increasingly recognize that my way will never bring me the happiness I seek. Through forgiveness the memory of my own innocence is awakened. By undoing my perception of guilt in others, I can access my own eternal gifts.

Check out the Rules of Decision, Chapter 30. It is important to start the day with a focus on what kind of day you want and to remind yourself that "if I make no decisions by myself then this is the kind of day that will be given to me". And this can be a day that we claim the eternal gifts of peace, innocence, and certainty. Is any argument, any disagreement, any conflict of any kind worth giving up my peace for? Are my judgments, grievances, issues with anyone worth trading for His eternal gifts? Do I really want to hurt myself in this way?  We recognize today that all of the aspects of our lives are perfect for making new choices by being willing to replace grievances, judgments, neediness, demands with willingness to receive the miracle and thus perceive our brother as one with us.

Love and blessings, Sarah

Sarah's Home Page

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  
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^{A Course in Miracles
 TEXT
 Chapter Thirty One
The Simplicity of Salvation}

VIII. Choose Once Again