L e s s o n  341

I can attack but my own sinlessness,
And it is only that which keeps me safe.    

<AUDIO>     

Hear Today's Lesson~Voice & Music by Martin Weber-Caspers[maz] 

IAMBIC PENTAMETER 
format from URTEXT by Lee Flynn 

Notice how there are so few words now and each lesson starts with a prayer. It is a time of deep reflection, reverence, quiet and communion. It is the stillness before the birth. It is a feeling of gratitude that we are not alone; that we have a Guide to take us out of our nightmares and to deliver the miracle instead. 

But first let's start with some commentary on the question 13. What is the miracle? Basically it is like forgiveness in that it is simply a correction. What does it correct? It corrects our wrong perceptions. What are these? They are all of the thoughts we have that bring us anything but happiness, peace and joy. They come from our judgments. The miracle does nothing. "It merely looks on devastation and reminds the mind that what it sees is false". As lesson 341 says, we already are innocent. We can do nothing to change that. Again, as has been said many times, this is what the Atonement Principle is all about. We do not have to do anything to become sinless. It is all about undoing our blocks to the awareness of the truth of who we are.

The miracle establishes that the cause of this illusion is the mind and nothing else. So a miracle helps us to recognize that the world we see is a reflection of our internal dream. And when that is seen, nothing changes except our own false perception. Thus a miracles shifts our perception from the wrong mind to the right mind and now we perceive everything differently.  Thus the miracles corrects the thought system of the ego that is based on our belief in sin, guilt and fear.

When I react to anyone with anger, judgment and condemnation, it is because I saw something out there that I have given power to which triggered my reaction. But what I have condemned is what I have first judged within me and projected out.  When I am willing to take full responsibility for that anger and see that it started in my own mind, then instead of trying to justify my attack, I recognize that the way I am seeing is false. Now I can make another choice. I can choose to see love or a call for love from my brother instead of attack. I can thus experience peace. Yes, I need help from the Holy Spirit with the healing of my mind. I need help to step outside of the dream so I can look upon the devastation of the world and recognize that what I see is not the truth. It looking from above the battleground recognizing that we are the dreamer of this dream and not the character in the dream. And each time we are willing to look gently at our thoughts and take responsibility for them as ours, rather than putting responsibility for them outside of our own mind, then we can see that there is always another way of seeing. Thus, the miracle "paves the way for the return of timelessness and love's awakening, for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings." (1.6)  

And each miracle builds a strong chain of healed perception until we no longer need time. Time was only made for the purpose of healing. Until we realize this, we spend our time in distractions, pursuing idols until we see that they no longer serve us but only bring more pain.

"A miracle contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one". (2.1) So, like forgiveness, in letting go of my false perception of my brother, I receive the same gift for myself. We are one. "And thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it fails entirely to understand its ways". (2.2 ) The law of truth is that the Source of everything is God's Love whereas in the world we think the source is outside of our minds and  coming at us from the world. Thus we have come to believe that the world determines our reactions. No wonder that Jesus says later that when we start on this path everything is turned upside down." A miracle inverts perception which was upside down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions that were manifest." (2.3) Now everything is given a different interpretation. It can seem a little disorienting to us. Perhaps you feel some of that where the mind becomes confused and nothing is as it was before. But all that has happened is that the mind has been made ready for the truth because there has been a recognition that we have been wrong about everything. "Now is perception open to the truth." (2.4) This was beautifully illustrated in the movie I saw recently called "Fair Game" that  illustrated the power of forgiveness when wrong perception was shifted to a new perception.   Forgiveness is what makes miracles possible. What was made to curse can now become a blessing because it serves a different purpose. Watching this movie with the Holy Spirit made me realize that I too could see the characters in this movie as an opportunity to bless instead of judge when I brought my misperceptions to the light.

Vigilance is required in order to do this work. We need to watch our thoughts and our reactions. With the choice for the ego thought system has come all of the suffering that we experience. But now we are shown a way to peace. Nothing will be taken from us. We must be willing to release that which does not serve us. But first we must see it for what it is.

"The miracle is taken first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand." (4.1)  Clearly Jesus tells us that he knows we don't understand  yet and don't even believe of the possibilities that he holds out to us. He helps us to see just how the egoic mind works. The most important thing for us to see  is that our happiness need not rest on anything outside of our own minds. It does not matter what the external circumstances are.  The foundation on which we stand is now firmer ground because we no longer see ourselves entirely as the dream figure in someone else's drama. We are learning to bring every perceived problem back into the mind where the power to change is within us. Do I want a day of miracles, trust, joy, holy encounters, deep and abiding peace, silence, acceptance, and love? If so, such a day is available when we  our minds are changed through the power of the miracle. "Yet faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really there.  And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed from what you thought was there." (4.2-3)

"Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and thirsty creatures come to die.   Now they have water.   Now the world is green.  And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is born can never die, for what has life has immortality." (5.1-4) Jesus is talking to us about this world. The world reflects thoughts of death rather than immortal life. All this will end  but we do not. Yes, the body will go, but our reality is not a body. Miracles will take us back to where we never left and with this will be the realization that we are the Christ.

  The prayer in lesson 341 reminds us of who we are outside of this dream.   "We are wholly lovely. A perfect shaft of pure light. Before our loveliness the stars stand transfixed, and bow to the power of our will." (From the Urtext). And from Text 31.VI. 7  "What my Father wills for me can never change. The truth in me remains as radiant as a star, as pure as light, as innocent as love itself"

Jesus invites us to let go of our unconscious guilt which results in self hatred, a feeling that we have done something wrong and in fact, that we are wrong. This is expressed in self attack whereby we bring punishment into our lives and feel very vulnerable and insecure. When we are willing to bring all of our these blocks to the feet of Truth, we can become a spotless mirror of the love of God. And with that the world reflects back that we are safe. God promises us our redemption and we thank Him for that. We are no longer stuck in the world of illusion. We truly have a way out. We have a process to apply to our day today and every day until we no longer need it..when we know we are totally innocent and  no longer have any use for time.

Love and blessings, Sarah

^{A Course in Miracles}     

^{MANUAL FOR TEACHERS}

4. What Are The Characteristics of God's Teachers?

On-Line Searchable Edition of Original Edition

 2011 Study Guide Schedule