Daily Lesson

  

   L e s s o n  36

My holiness envelops everything I see.  

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< GUIDANCE from ELDER BROTHER >

¹ Today's idea extends the idea for yesterday from the perceiver to the perceived. You are holy because your mind is part of God's. And because you are holy, your sight must be holy as well. "Sinless" means without sin. You cannot be without sin a little. You are sinless or not. If your mind is part of God's, you must be sinless or a part of His Mind would be sinful. Your sight is related to His holiness, not to your ego and therefore not to your body.

² Four three- to five-minute practice periods are required for today. Try to distribute them fairly evenly, and make the shorter applications frequently to protect your protection throughout the day. The longer practice periods should take this form:

³ First, close your eyes and repeat the idea for today several times slowly. Then open your eyes and look quite slowly about you, applying the idea specifically to whatever you note in your casual survey. Say, for example:

⁴ My holiness envelops that rug.
My holiness envelops that wall.
My holiness envelops these fingers.
My holiness envelops that chair.
My holiness envelops that body.
My holiness envelops this pen.

⁵ Several times during these practice periods, close your eyes and repeat the idea to yourself. Then open your eyes and continue as before.

⁶ For the shorter exercise periods, close your eyes and repeat the idea; look about you as you repeat it again; and conclude with one more repetition with your eyes closed. All applications should, of course, be made quite slowly, as effortlessly and unhurriedly as possible.

Workbook - Part 1
 Introduction 

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¹ A theoretical foundation such as the text is necessary as a background to make these exercises meaningful. Yet it is the exercises which will make the goal possible. An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. It is the purpose of these exercises to train the mind to think along the lines which the course sets forth.

² The exercises are very simple. They do not require more than a few minutes, and it does not matter where or when you do them. They need no preparation. They are numbered, running from 1 to 365. The training period is one year. Do not undertake more than one exercise a day.

³ The purpose of these exercises is to train the mind to a different perception of everything in the world. The workbook is divided into two sections, the first dealing with the undoing of what you see now and the second with the restoration of sight. It is recommended that each exercise be repeated several times a day, preferably in a different place each time and, if possible, in every situation in which you spend any long period of time. The purpose is to train the mind to generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is as applicable to one situation as it is to another.

⁴ Unless specified to the contrary, the exercise should be practiced with the eyes open, since the aim is to learn how to see. The only rule that should be followed throughout is to practice the exercises with great specificity. Each one applies to every situation in which you find yourself and to everything you see in it. Each day's exercises are planned around one central idea, the exercises themselves consisting of applying that idea to as many specifics as possible. Be sure that you do not decide that there are some things you see to which the idea for the day is inapplicable. The aim of the exercises will always be to increase the application of the idea to everything. This will not require effort. Only be sure that you make no exceptions in applying the idea.

⁵ Some of the ideas you will find hard to believe, and others will seem quite startling. It does not matter. You are merely asked to apply them to what you see. You are not asked to judge them, nor even to believe them. You are asked only to use them. It is their use which will give them meaning to you, and show you they are true. Remember only this-you need not believe them, you need not accept them, and you need not welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter nor decrease their efficacy. But allow yourself to make no exceptions in applying the ideas the exercises contain. Whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than this is required.

ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 

Lesson  36 
My holiness envelops everything I see.       

Sarah's Commentary:        

The lesson yesterday was about our inner thoughts. But we have already seen that there is no difference between our inner thoughts and how we perceive the outer world. So today Jesus says that "today's idea extends the idea from yesterday from the perceiver to the perceived." (1.1) So in essence he is saying that what we choose within, we will interpret without. It is all about the content of our thoughts and nothing to do with the forms of this world. The inner and outer are the same. In other words whatever we think about ourselves, we will believe that we are seeing in the world. It is the meaning or interpretation that we are giving to what is neutral. Thus to know our holiness, is to perceive only holiness in everything. Jesus says that when we know ourselves this way we will see everything as an expression of love or a call for love. What I find most instructive is to recognize that how I see anyone in my life shows me the thoughts that I have identified with within my own mind. If I don't see everyone as an expression of love or calling for love and understanding, then I am blocking my sight with my own judgments. I am projecting on my brother only what is in my own mind.

It is not that the rug, wall, chair, arm, body are holy. But if holiness is in my mind (the cause) then I project what is in my mind on the world I see. (the effect). Holiness is indeed our very nature. But when we chose to separate from God, we chose to identify with the ego and the body. But just because we are not aware of our holiness, it is still in our right minds. With separation, our minds became split.  The part of our mind where holiness resides is our right mind. As the lesson states, "if your mind is part of God's you must be sinless, or a part of His Mind would be sinful". (1.5) This can't be otherwise if we accept that God is total love and holiness Himself. Thus if we are His Son created in His likeness then we must be exactly as He is. Thus if we have sin, then we cannot be part of God because then part of His Mind would also hold that sin. It is compelling logic that Jesus presents to us.

When, the blocks to love are healed, which are all of our demeaning thoughts, the connection with the holiness in our minds is re-established. And then we will see the world and everything in it as blessed.   This lesson is similar to lesson 30: "God is in everything I see because God is in my mind." Because God is in my mind, and He is holy, I am very holy. Holiness is a state of perfection, goodness and innocence . It is perfect in its loving and giving. Sinfulness is a mistaken notion about ourselves.  A  mind that wakes up from its wrong-minded belief that what it knows is the truth, experiences this state of holiness when the personal self melts away.

This state of innocence is total. We are innocent or we are not. It is one state or the other. There is no compromise between the two, meaning there is no compromise between duality and non duality. But if we are part of God and God is perfect holiness then there can be no evil. The experience we have of sin in this world is an illusion. It is the experience of duality but is not the truth. If it were the truth then evil would have to be a part of God.

When we experience our holiness, it is a beautiful state that radiates love to the universe. When we are in this state, all is perfect. Nothing can go wrong.  But we, so often, throw away this moment of joy and peace when we swing back into the ego and when this happens, it is as if the glorious experience we had never happened. This is how we play out the separation over and over.   

To experience holiness, is to experience joy and peace, even for an instant. It is an experience of the miracle showing up where judgment has left. It does not seem like we are very holy when our days are not spent in perfect peace and joy.  But it is important to remember when we are not at peace we are actually experiencing something that is alien to who we really are. Because our nature IS holy. We resist this experience because holiness is a threat to our image. We are invested in the body, our independence and our specialness.  Our personal identity, as we know it, is threatened by the presence of the divine.  Our reality as the Son of God is one of  innocence, purity and spiritual perfection. Our sinfulness is a totally mistaken notion about ourselves that has been reinforced by our belief that we are in this world. But as we saw in the lesson yesterday,  we think we are in this world because we currently don't believe in our divine innocence. Yet we hunger for this kind of purity and goodness. We hunger to know it in ourselves and to experience our divine nature in a more consistent way. But until we get in touch with this deep desire of the heart, our motivation will be very inconsistent. Until we want to see above all else, we will have other goals that we believe serve our own determined self interests.

Change happens when we are willing to look at our blocks to love and take responsibility for our projections so that we can see with vision and not with what our eyes, ears, and brain interpret. I can always tell what choice I have made by looking at what I am perceiving. This is a direct mirror of what is going on inside of me. It means that I am seeing what I have chosen within. The thoughts I have about people and circumstances are my guide to what is going on in me. And so it is very helpful when we take absolute and complete responsibility for our own thoughts rather than justifying our responses by what we are  perceiving and interpreting "out there." To affirm out holiness, is important because it is the truth about ourselves but we will only know it when we bring all of our ego thoughts to the light of truth.

So while we probably don't believe what we are saying right now in this lesson, it is all part of the mind training.  Through our forgiveness practice, the door is slowly being opened. It is not important if we don't believe these statements totally because we won't. But with practice and willingness it will come. The means are provided to us every day through the application of these lessons both in affirming the truth and doing the work of healing the mind.  

The exercises we are doing today affirm the truth while others have us look at our mistaken thoughts and help us to release the thoughts that keep us from recognizing our holiness. So maintain the practice as described here if you can. And remember, it is not what your eyes are seeing when you say "My holiness envelops that rug, that wall, these finger, that chair, that body, that pen" or anything else your eyes light upon. The idea is the same as in lesson 34 where if peace is in your mind then it must extend to everything. In the same way, if holiness is who we are then we can't see apart from what is in our minds.  Your holiness radiates from you and must extend to everything. Nothing can be separate from it. It becomes a world pervaded by holiness seen through the lens of your own. So the world does not change but how you see it does.

So the practice today requires:  

 1. Four three-to-five-minute practice periods spaced out evenly throughout the day. 

2. repeat the idea, "my holiness envelops everything I see", several times, slowly

 3. Then open your eyes and look quite slowly about you, applying the idea specifically to whatever you see in your casual survey. 

4. Several times during these longer practice periods, close your eyes and repeat, my holiness envelops everything I see. Then   open your eyes, and continue as before.

5. Also short practice applications today to "protect your protection", (your holiness), throughout the day, slowly, effortlessly and with no sense of hurry.  

It is a day of vigilance where we focus on what we are thinking and what we are perceiving recognizing that there is no difference between the inner and the outer. How I see anyone is determined by how I see myself. But it is also important again, to see that Jesus is not forcing us and in fact, encouraging us to undertake this practice with no hurry or effort. If we undertake this lesson on a fairly distributed timeline during the day we are bringing the protection of holiness to our day by remembering the truth of who we are.  

Love and blessings, Sarah

Sarah's Home Page

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A Course in Miracles   
TEXT  

Chapter Three     

Retraining the Mind 

VIII. Judgment and the Authority

Problem            

⁶¹ We have already discussed the Last Judgment in some though insufficient detail. After the Last Judgment there will be no more. This is symbolic only in the sense that everyone is much better off without judgment. When the Bible says, "Judge not that ye be not judged" it merely means that if you judge the reality of others at all, you will be unable to avoid judging your own. The choice to judge rather than to know was the cause of the loss of peace. Judgment is the process on which perception, but not cognition, rests. We have discussed this before in terms of the selectivity of perception, pointing out that evaluation is its obvious prerequisite.

⁶² Judgment always involves rejection. It is not an ability which emphasizes only the positive aspects of what is judged, whether it be in or out of the self. However, what has been perceived and rejected-or judged and found wanting-remains in the unconscious because it has been perceived. One of the illusions from which man suffers is the belief that what he judged against has no effect. This cannot be true unless he also believes that what he judged against does not exist. He evidently does not believe this, or he would not have judged against it. It does not matter in the end whether you judge right or wrong. Either way, you are placing your belief in the unreal. This cannot be avoided in any type of judgment because it implies the belief that reality is yours to choose from.

⁶³ You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from meeting yourselves and your brothers totally without judgment. When you recognize what you and your brothers are, you will realize that judging them in any way is without meaning. In fact, their meaning is lost to you precisely because you are judging them. All uncertainty comes from a totally fallacious belief that you are under the coercion of judgment. You do not need judgment to organize your life, and you certainly do not need it to organize yourselves. In the presence of knowledge, all judgment is automatically suspended, and this is the process which enables recognition to replace perception.

⁶⁴ Man is very fearful of everything he has perceived but has refused to accept. He believes that, because he has refused to accept it, he has lost control over it. This is why he sees it in nightmares or in pleasant disguises in what seem to be his happier dreams. Nothing that you have refused to accept can be brought into awareness. It does not follow that it is dangerous, but it does follow that you have made it dangerous.

⁶⁵ When you feel tired, it is merely because you have judged yourself as capable of being tired. When you laugh at someone, it is because you have judged him as debased. When you laugh at yourself, you are singularly likely to laugh at others, if only because you cannot tolerate the idea of being more debased than they are. All of this does make you feel tired because it is essentially disheartening. You are not really capable of being tired, but you are very capable of wearying yourselves. The strain of constant judgment is virtually intolerable. It is a curious thing that any ability which is so debilitating should be so deeply cherished.

⁶⁶ Yet, if you wish to be the author of reality, which is totally impossible anyway, you will insist on holding onto judgment. You will also use the term with considerable fear, believing that judgment will someday be used against you. To whatever extent it is used against you, it is due only to your belief in its efficacy as a weapon of defense for your own authority. The issue of authority is really a question of authorship. When an individual has an "authority problem," it is always because he believes he is the author of himself, projects his delusion onto others, and then perceives the situation as one in which people are literally fighting him for his authorship. This is the fundamental error of all those who believe they have usurped the power of God.

⁶⁷ The belief is very frightening to them but hardly troubles God. He is, however, eager to undo it, not to punish His Children, but only because He knows that it makes them unhappy. Souls were given their true Authorship, but men preferred to be anonymous when they chose to separate themselves from their Author. The word "authority" has been one of their most fearful symbols ever since. Authority has been used for great cruelty because, being uncertain of their true Authorship, men believe that their creation was anonymous. This has left them in a position where it sounds meaningful to consider the possibility that they must have created themselves.

⁶⁸ The dispute over authorship has left such uncertainty in the minds of men that some have even doubted whether they really exist at all. Despite the apparent contradiction in this position, it is in one sense more tenable than the view that they created themselves. At least it acknowledges the fact that some true authorship is necessary for existence.

⁶⁹ Only those who give over all desire to reject can know that their own rejection is impossible. You have not usurped the power of God, but you have lost it. Fortunately, when you lose something, it does not mean that the "something" has gone. It merely means that you do not know where it is. Existence does not depend on your ability to identify it nor even to place it. It is perfectly possible to look on reality without judgment and merely know that it is there.

⁷⁰ Peace is a natural heritage of the Soul. Everyone is free to refuse to accept his inheritance, but he is not free to establish what his inheritance is. The problem which everyone must decide is the fundamental question of authorship. All fear comes ultimately and sometimes by way of very devious routes from the denial of Authorship. The offense is never to God, but only to those who deny Him. To deny His Authorship is to deny themselves the reason for their own peace, so that they see themselves only in pieces. This strange perception is the authority problem.

⁷¹ There is no man who does not feel that he is imprisoned in some way. If this is the result of his own free will, he must regard his will as if it were not free, or the obviously circular reasoning involved in his position would be quite apparent. Free will must lead to freedom. Judgment always imprisons because it separates segments of reality according to the highly unstable scales of desire. Wishes are not facts by definition. To wish is to imply that willing is not sufficient. Yet no one believes that what is wished is as real as what is willed. Instead of, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven" say, "Will ye first the Kingdom of Heaven," and you have said, "I know what I am, and I will to accept my own inheritance."