Daily Lesson

 

 Lessons 266

My holy Self abides in you, God's Son.

*IAMBIC PENTAMETER*

What is 'Iambic Pentameter'?

ORIGINAL HAND SCRIPT       

    Father, You gave me all Your Sons, to be

What is the Body?

*IAMBIC PENTAMETER*

What is 'Iambic Pentameter'?

ORIGINAL HAND SCRIPT   

   The body is a fence the Son of God

   imagines he has built to separate

   parts of his Self from other parts. It is

   within this fence he thinks he lives, to die

   as it decays and crumbles. For within

   this fence he thinks that he is safe from love.

   Identifying with <its safety>, he

   regards himself as <what his safety is>.

   How else could he be certain he remains

   within the body, keeping love outside?

   The body will not stay. Yet this he sees

   as double safety. For the Son of God's

   impermanence is "proof" his fences work,

   and do the task his mind [assigned] to them.

   For if his oneness still remained untouched,

   who could attack and who could be attacked?

   Who could be victor? Who could be his prey?

   Who could be victim? Who the murderer?

   And if he did not die, what proof is there

   that God's eternal Son [has] been destroyed?

   The body is a dream. Like other dreams,

   it sometimes seems to picture happiness,

   but can quite suddenly revert to fear,

   where every dream is born. For only love

   creates in truth, and truth can never fear.

   Made to be fearful, must the body serve

   the purpose given it. But we can change

   the purpose [which] the body will obey

   by changing what we think that it is for.

   The body is the means by which God's Son

   returns to sanity. Though it was made

   to fence him into hell without escape,

   yet has the goal of Heaven been exchanged

   for the pursuit of hell. The Son of God

   extends his hand to reach his brother, and

   to help him walk along the road with him.

   Now is the body holy. Now it serves

   to heal the mind that it was made to kill.

   You will identify with what you think

   will make you safe. Whatever it may be,

   you will believe that it is one with you.

   Your safety lies in truth and not in lies.

   Love is your safety. Fear does not exist.

   Identify with love, and you are safe.

   Identify with love, and you are home.

   Identify with love, and find your Self.

ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 

 LESSON 266
My holy Self abides in you, God's Son.

What an amazing lesson when we focus fully and deeply on what is being communicated here! Jesus is telling us that everyone who shows up on our path is not only a savior to us but also a counselor. Everyone!! No exceptions. It certainly does not feel like that with those who seem to attack me and those who I deem have betrayed me. Yet we learn that when we see a brother as hurting us, we are not seeing him correctly. What we are doing instead, is seeing our own sins in him while claiming innocence for ourselves. Yet here Jesus tells us that our brothers are all the bearers of God's holy Voice back to us. It reminds me of the passage that says,  "If he speaks not of Christ to you, you spoke not of Christ to him," (T.11.V.18.6) again meaning that if we don't see the Christ in our brother then it is because we chose to put our sins on him instead.

Yes, I remind myself that the guy who would not take my VISA over the phone which required a trip across town to pay for supplies needed by my son in Vancouver, is actually my savior and yes, a counselor in my sight. This means that this brother has given me an opportunity to see who he really is as the Christ, if I am willing to release my judgments of him. This then, is my gift to my own mind as I receive whatever it is that I give. Our saviors are everywhere! The person who committed fraud with my investment; my sister who criticized me; the man who showed up on our doorstep who was living in his car, broke and looking for a spiritual group on his way to Vancouver; my young friend who called in the late evening from 60 km away who needed to be picked up and taken to hospital; as is my partner who shared the lesson with me this morning; and a friend who showed up for ten days sharing our space....everyone brings gifts to help me to heal my mind. They all provide a mirror for me of my inner condition that I see in each one. They all give me another opportunity to heal my specialness. They all point the way to Heaven for me. It is a path of healing through our relationships.

Yes I do forget daily that this is the case. I do think of people who get in the way of my self-imposed goals, as obstructing my path and causing me grief. I do complain and see myself as being unfairly treated at times, not recognizing that I have drawn all of these events into my life-not recognizing that if I feel betrayed or imposed upon, it is because I want this. Why would we want it, you might ask? It is because we believe we have betrayed God and now we don't want to take responsibility for our own betrayal and thus project it out on others and see them as the betrayers so we can be the innocent ones.

We are being reminded daily, that there is another way of seeing people who we think of as protagonists standing in the way of our joy and peace.  We can choose instead, to see them as our saviors. They have been given to us for this purpose as part of our own script, made outside of this dream. And now, instead of seeing them as interfering with our path to God, we can see them as helping us on the way. So everyone is a symbol for what is going on in our own minds. I can see in those I consider innocent, beautiful, full of grace as a symbol of what is in my mind equally as those I see as obstructive and difficult, stubborn and judgmental.

How we see anyone truly has nothing to do with them. It is all about our own thoughts projected on them, just as was discussed in the lesson yesterday. It is all about our sins projected on them, obscuring the light of Heaven that is in them and in us. "The images I see reflect my thoughts."  (W.PII.265.1.8) So I am seeing only my thoughts everywhere and in everyone. I see thoughts of beauty and innocence reflected from my mind and I see thoughts of destruction and conflict. Both are in my mind and both give me an opportunity to release the obstacles to the truth of who I am, and to also see the beauty and innocence that is already in my mind.

I am the one that gives power to my thoughts. When I recognize this, I bring awareness to the power I am giving these thoughts and offer my willingness to withdraw this power by reaching for the hand of Jesus and asking for his help to see this person, this event, this situation in another way. But first I must take responsibility by looking inward and not denying that these are all MY interpretations and simply hallucinations of the past based on my conditioned mind. We have deceived ourselves as to who we are.

I hold this thought in my mind today, "My holy Self abides in you," as I encounter each   brother who is in front of me at this moment, or everyone I think about today. Everyone is me and I am everyone. We are the same ego and the same Self.  We can only heal our guilt by reclaiming what we project on our brothers.  It is not helpful to judge ourselves for our projections. Judging ourselves keeps us bound in chains of guilt. We just need to withdraw our investment in maintaining our image and instead, commit to reclaiming the truth of who we are. Every single person on our path is helping us to wake up.  They are pointing the way home for us. When we see it this way, we can be grateful to our parents who did not love us as we thought they should; our teachers who demeaned us; our ministers who affirmed our sin and guilt; our partners who betrayed us; and, indeed everyone on our path. They are all there for the purpose of healing, should we choose to see it that way.

Our relationships are the means that this Course provides us to find the way home. Our saviors are thus everywhere. "He has filled the world with those who point to Him." (2.2) In every encounter we can find these saviors who point our way to Him. It is therefore impossible to lose the way to Him when we decide to truly apply these lessons. It is not really God who has put these people on our path as He does not know of this world. It is our own script that has brought the perfect saviors on our journey to awakening.

Yes we can delay; we can procrastinate; we can rebel; we can project anger onto the world; we can see the cause of everything outside of our own minds; but when we know that this keeps us in hell, we will ultimately put away these "sharp-edged children's toys."   (W.PII.Q4.5.2)

Ask for help to enter into paradise knowing that time is given us for this purpose. We are here to let go of the past; let go of what our brother did not do to us; let go of all thoughts of lack; all grievances; and all beliefs that there is something in the world that will provide us with love, security and future happiness. We need not torture ourselves any longer than we choose. It is all up to us. Every decision we make is either for peace and joy or for Heaven or hell. Our only confusion is confusion about who we are. It is about our identity. The question is whether the truth about us is what God says we are or our own self constructed image.  Our saviors will help us to discover the truth and show us who we are as God's Son. "In them are You (God) reflected and in them does Christ look back upon me from my Self."(1.2) So, in other words, I see my own reflection as the Christ Self when I see the Christ in my brothers. 

There is an interesting reference here to the Bible. It is in the words "this day we enter into paradise." (2.1) In the lesson it is about joining with our brother in the acknowledgment of the One Christ Self. The reference from the Bible is related to the two thieves on either side of Jesus at his crucifixion. One of the thieves taunted Jesus but the other one said "Lord remember me when you come into the Kingdom." And Jesus responded by saying "this day we enter into paradise."  Of course the meaning, as related to this lesson is that the thief recognized in Jesus, the Christ which is the way we all enter paradise. As we see the Christ in our brothers so too do we enter paradise. So today, we are called to see the Christ in all of our brothers by forgiving anything that stands in the way of that vision. Let anyone who comes to mind today or crosses your path be the focus in applying this lesson. 

Love and blessings, Sarah 

huemmert@shaw.ca

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    

A Course in Miracles   
TEXT  

Chapter Twenty Five                

The Remedy 

III. The Savior from the Dark                         

¹² Is it not evident that what the body's eyes perceive fills you with fear? Perhaps you think you find a hope of satisfaction there. Perhaps you fancy to attain some peace and satisfaction in the world as you perceive it. Yet it must be evident the outcome does not change. Despite your hopes and fancies, always does despair result. And there is no exception, nor will there ever be. The only value that the past can hold is that you learn it gave you no rewards that you would want to keep. For only thus will you be willing to relinquish it and have it gone forever.

¹³ Is it not strange that you should cherish still some hope of satisfaction from the world you see? In no respect at any time or place has anything but fear and guilt been your reward. How long is needed for you to realize the chance of change in this respect is hardly worth delaying change that might result in better outcome? For one thing is sure-the way you see, and long have seen, gives no support to base your future hopes and no suggestions of success at all. To place your hopes where no hope lies must make you hopeless. Yet is this hopelessness your choice, while you would seek for hope where none is ever found.

¹⁴ Is it not also true that you have found some hope apart from this-some glimmering, inconstant, wavering, yet dimly seen, that hopefulness is warranted on grounds that are not in this world? And yet your hope that they may still be here prevents you still from giving up the hopeless and unrewarding task you set yourself. Can it make sense to hold the fixed belief that there is reason to uphold pursuit of what has always failed on grounds that it will suddenly succeed and bring what it has never brought before?

¹⁵ Its past has failed. Be glad that it is gone within your mind to darken what is there. Take not the form for content, for the form is but a means for content. And the frame is but a means to hold the picture up so that it can be seen. A frame that hides the picture has no purpose. It cannot be a frame if it is what you see. Without the picture is the frame without its meaning. Its purpose is to set the picture off and not itself.

¹⁶ Who hangs an empty frame upon a wall and stands before it, deep in reverence, as if a masterpiece were there to see? Yet if you see your brother as a body, it is but this you do. The masterpiece that God has set within this frame is all there is to see. The body holds it for a while without obscuring it in any way. Yet what God has created needs no frame, for what He has created He supports and frames within Himself. His masterpiece He offers you to see. And would you rather see the frame instead of this? And see the picture not at all?

¹⁷ The Holy Spirit is the frame God set around the part of Him that you would see as separate. Yet its frame is joined to its Creator, one with Him and with His masterpiece. This is its purpose, and you do not make the frame into the picture when you choose to see it in its place. The frame that God has given it but serves His purpose, not yours apart from His. It is your separate purpose that obscures the picture and cherishes the frame instead of it. Yet God has set His masterpiece within a frame that will endure forever when yours has crumbled into dust. But think you not the picture is destroyed in any way. What God creates is safe from all corruption, unchanged and perfect in eternity.

¹⁸ Accept God's frame instead of yours, and you will see the masterpiece. Look at its loveliness, and understand the Mind that thought it, not in flesh and bones, but in a frame as lovely as Itself. Its holiness lights up the sinlessness the frame of darkness hides and casts a veil of light across the picture's face, which but reflects the light that shines from it to its Creator. Think not this face was ever darkened because you saw it in a frame of death. God kept it safe that you might look on it and see the holiness that He has given it.

¹⁹ Within the darkness, see the savior from the dark and understand your brother as his Father's Mind shows him to you. He will step forth from darkness as you look on him, and you will see the dark no more. The darkness touched him not, nor you who brought him forth for you to look upon. His sinlessness but pictures yours. His gentleness becomes your strength, and both will gladly look within and see the holiness that must be there because of what you looked upon in him. He is the frame in which your holiness is set, and what God gave him must be given you. However much he overlooks the masterpiece in him and sees only a frame of darkness, it is still your only function to behold in him what he sees not. And in this seeing is the vision shared that looks on Christ instead of seeing death.

²⁰ How could the Lord of Heaven not be glad if you appreciate His masterpiece? What could He do but offer thanks to you who love His Son as He does? Would He not make known to you His love if you but share His praise of what He loves? God cherishes creation as the perfect Father that He is. And so His joy is made complete when any part of Him joins in His praise, to share His joy. This brother is His perfect gift to you. And He is glad and thankful when you thank His perfect Son for being what he is. And all His thanks and gladness shine on you who would complete His joy along with Him. And thus is yours completed. Not one ray of darkness can be seen by those who will to make their Father's happiness complete and theirs along with His. The gratitude of God Himself is freely offered to everyone who shares His purpose. It is not His Will to be alone. And neither is it yours.

²¹ Forgive your brother, and you cannot separate yourself from him nor from his Father. You need no forgiveness, for the wholly pure have never sinned. Give then what He has given you that you may see His Son as one and thank his Father as He thanks you. Nor believe that all His praise is given not to you. For what you give is His, and giving it you learn to understand His gift to you. And give the Holy Spirit what He offers unto the Father and the Son alike. Nothing has power over you except His Will and yours, who but extend His Will. It was for this you were created and your brother with you and at one with you.

²² You are the same, as God Himself is one and not divided in His Will. And you must have one purpose, since He gave the same to both of you. His Will is brought together as you join in will that you be made complete by offering completion to your brother. See not in him the sinfulness he sees, but give him honor that you may esteem yourself and him. To each of you is given the power of salvation that escape from darkness into light be yours to share; that you may see as one what never has been separate nor apart from all God's love as given equally.

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