WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2016
One Teacher in All Minds
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 7 "THE CONSISTENCY OF THE KINGDOM"
VIII. THE TOTAL COMMITMENT

One Child of God is the only teacher sufficiently worthy to teach another. One Teacher is in all your minds, and He teaches the same lesson to all. He always teaches you the inestimable worth of every Son of God, teaching it with infinite patience born of the infinite love for which He speaks.

Every attack is a call for His patience, since only His patience can translate attack into blessing. Those who attack do not know they are blessed. They attack because they believe they are deprived. Give therefore of your abundance and teach your brothers theirs. Do not share their delusions of scarcity, or you will perceive yourself as lacking.

A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK Part I ~ REVIEW II
INTRODUCTION
SonShip Video Review II
<AUDIO><VIDEO>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
  
1 We are now ready for another review. We will begin where our last review left off and cover two ideas each day. The earlier part of each day will be devoted to one of these ideas, and the latter part of the day to the other. We will have one longer exercise period and frequent shorter ones in which we practice each of them. 
 
2 The longer practice periods will follow this general form: take about 15 minutes for each of them, and begin by thinking about the idea and the comments which are included in the assignments. Devote about three or four minutes to reading them over slowly, several times if you wish, and then close your eyes and listen. Repeat the first phase if you find your mind wandering, but try to spend the major part of the practice period listening quietly but attentively. 
 
3 There is a message waiting for you. Be confident that you will receive it. Remember that it belongs to you and that you want it. Do not allow your intent to waver in the face of distracting thoughts. Realize that, whatever form they take, they have no meaning and no power. Replace them with your determination to succeed. Do not forget that your will has power over all fantasies and dreams. Trust it to see you through and carry you beyond them all. 
 
4 Regard these practice periods as dedications to the way, the truth, and the life. Refuse to be side-tracked into detours, illusions, and thoughts of death. You are dedicated to salvation. Be determined each day not to leave your function unfulfilled.  
 
5 Reaffirm your determination in the shorter practice periods as well, using the original form of the idea for general application and a more specific form when needed. Some specific forms will be included in the comments. These, however, are merely suggestions. It is not the particular words you use that matter. 
 
 
  ~ Original Hand Script of ACIM    

  
CIRCLE OF ATONEMENT ~ COMMENTARY
          
LESSON AUDIO RECORDINGS
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DAILY LESSON
SonShip Workbook 
 L e s s o n 82 ~ Review II
[Review Lesson 63 and Lesson 64]  
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio 
   
1 We will review these ideas today: 
 
[63] The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.
 
2 My forgiveness is the means by which the light of the world finds expression through me. My forgiveness is the means by which I become aware of the light of the world in me. My forgiveness is the means by which the world is healed, together with myself. Let me, then, forgive the world that it may be healed along with me. 
 
3 Suggestions for specific forms for applying this idea are: 
 
4 Let peace extend from my mind to yours, [name].
  share the light of the world with you, [name]. 
  Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is.
 
[64] Let me not forget my function.
 
5 I would not forget my function because I would remember my Self. I cannot fulfill my function by forgetting. And unless I fulfill my function, I will not experience the joy that God intends for me. 
 
6 Suitable specific forms of this idea include: 
 
7 Let me not use this to hide my function from me. 
  I would use this as an opportunity to fulfill my function. 
  This may threaten my ego but cannot change my
  function in any way.
 
          ~ Original Hand Script of ACIM  

  
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 
ACIM Edmonton, CA
Lesson 82
Review II ~ Lessons 63 and 64

Sarah's Commentary:

How can we know ourselves as the light of the world? The only way is through forgiveness. It is the means by which we can come to experience the light of who we really are. By releasing our grievances, peace can truly extend from my mind to yours. That is how we know it is in us to give.
 
We can't know love in this world. The closest reflection we have of it is forgiveness. It is quite a revelation to know that what we call love in the world is not love at all. As Jesus says, quite clearly, "You do not know the meaning of love, and that is your handicap. Do not attempt to teach yourself what you do not understand..." (T.12.V.6.1-2)(ACIM OE T.11.VI.48) While we tell ourselves we love, and we tell ourselves we are in love, or that we are loving, it is pretty clear we don't have a clue what love is. The best we can do is to let forgiveness remove all of the obstacles to love that we hold in our minds, so the love that is always there in our right minds can flow through us. Thus, we need the Holy Spirit to help us with this, as it is not in the best interests of the ego to undo itself.

Let's face it. We are still attached to doing it our way and to our perspectives. As we do the work of this course, the ego is threatened, which explains our resistance. The closer we come to the truth, the more fear and resistance come up. But we have mighty help from outside of the closed system of the ego, which keeps us fully invested in the illusion. The part of our minds which is still connected to the love we are has made the decision for healing. It has heard the call within and responded with a willingness to awaken. We can decide to use the means given us for undoing the blocks to love that keep us from the awareness of our reality.
 
Forgiveness allows me to see that light is my reality and allows for my healing, as well as the healing of the world. Any little irritation or discontent with anyone today is just another opportunity to let go of judgment and to forgive. We don't generally look at the perceived difficulties in our lives as opportunities, but that is exactly what they offer us---another chance to see differently, to look at everyone as our friend, recognizing that we are not different from each other. We share the same nature. We meet our Self wherever we go. There truly is no separation. We are all the same, with the same ego reflected in us and the same Christ Self.
 
Letting go of the judgments and grievances we hold against anyone is such an important aspect of the Course. Forgiveness is the answer to all our misery and suffering. We need to make forgiveness the central focus of our lives, on behalf of our own happiness. In fact, that is what time was made for. That is why we are here. This is the only way to our salvation and the salvation of the world.
 
It seems as if we will be sacrificing our rights and our boundaries when we forgive. Aren't we letting the other person off the hook? I felt this last night when Don brought home a large TV that did not fit our armoire, so the doors had to be removed. I had specifically asked for him to buy a TV that would fit, but his desire was for something much bigger! So he did what he wanted and had no intention of changing his mind about it. I expressed my feelings to him. I felt coerced, overpowered, unimportant, etc., which resulted in a defensive response and a suggestion from him that, if I were really a good student of the Course, what I needed to do was to forgive. Needless to say, this did not go over well at the time! It seemed to me, in forgiving, I would lose and he would win. The battle could continue in this way if I chose to let it. Yet, though I could have my way through manipulation and coercion, what would be won? No, it is not easy to let go in this kind of situation, but isn't my peace more important than how things look in the illusion?

This is how it always seems in the world. It is about one or the other. In the illusion, there is an appearance of loss for me, as he has what he wants and won't budge, but what have I lost? Yes, in this world of illusion, it does feel like he won. In releasing the situation, which I was able to do when I went to the Holy Spirit and asked for help, I felt I had reconnected to the divine in me, which is much more important than winning some argument. The ego has no interest in peace. It is invested in the battle. It just wants to be right. Was this difficult for me? Oh, yes! But not for long, because I was determined and willing to find my way out of this hell. Other issues like this in my relationships, where I held grievances for a long time, have kept me in hell together with my partner. It is never worthwhile when it costs me my joy. Yes, it seems worth it to the ego, so much so that some will give their lives to be right. But the sooner we can bring any problem to the answer, the sooner we take ourselves out of hell.
 
To remind myself today, "I share the light of the world with you, [name]," (W.82.2.3) is to be reminded of the truth of my reality. As we hold this thought in our minds, we bring a powerful healing, so profound we have no idea of its ultimate impact. It is a benediction we give, not unlike that which Jesus gave to his disciples when he appeared to them after his resurrection and said, "Peace be with you."
 
Now we are given specific forms of that thought. "Let peace extend from my mind to yours, [name]. I share the light of the world with you [name]," and "Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is." (W.82.2.3-4) Remember, these specific thoughts, after each review Lesson, are intended to be used when we have a problem or issue with anyone. We prepare our minds for the day using these specific forms, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, so we can remember that the purpose of each day is to bring our unforgiving thoughts to the truth presented here in each of these ideas.
 
For the later part of the day, we are urged not to forget our function if we want to remember our true reality. Remembering my function is the only way I can "experience the joy that God intends for me." (W.82.3.4) If I let a grievance darken my mind today, I am using that situation to hide my function and my joy from me. We were made to extend love, and we do this through forgiveness by bringing our dark thoughts to the truth. Peace and joy are the truth about us. Anything else is simply unnatural.
 
There truly is a simplicity in the teaching of the Course, no matter how much it appears to confound us. When we don't want the truth, we will find great resistance to understanding what Jesus is telling us. We will continue to hold our grievances, no matter what it costs us. Think of the simplicity of going through the day and remembering that the most important thing is to find our way to peace, so that we can "Let peace extend from my mind to yours," (W.82.2.2) simply by not blocking it with our judgments and grievances. The interesting thing is we will often forget. Forgetting is just another form of resistance, which we can bring to our awareness and realize the ego is threatened by the light. Remember, we are not responsible for the error, but only for the correction.
 
The reason our resistance comes up is we are actually choosing to forget what we came here to be and do. In other words, the whole world was made to escape from our own reality. We have run away to hide from God, and have become convinced we are bodies, living in a world of time and space, and this is the only reality. Our spiritual reality seems like an illusion, while this world seems real and tangible. Jesus shows us, increasingly, as we apply the Lessons, what we have made, our bodies and the world of form, are the illusion. We see this when we experience the power there is in the miracle.
 
The reason we hold grievances is because they uphold our belief and investment in the illusion. We believe the way we have set things up, as a result of the separation, is true. That is how we continue to choose to be right rather than to be happy. We believe forgiveness lets people off the hook. We want to hold onto our way of seeing things. Yet think about what forgiveness offers. It opens us to the power of the miracle. It opens us to the immensity of love. It opens us to the truth of who we are. Such power is released through forgiveness! That is what we are reminded of. We are encouraged not to forget our function, so we can know the gifts available to us through forgiveness.
 
Do I really want to continue to drink from this poisonous well of grievances, which will only hurt me? I only need to make the choice. I only need the willingness and the passion to do the healing of my mind and see every perceived problem, situation, and issue as simply grist for the mill for forgiveness, which is what brings release.
 
I just finished reading the book by Brandon Bays, called "The Journey", in which she learns to release her cancer, her home, which burned down during the fires in Malibu, and her husband, who left her for another woman. In her healing, she accepted that it was she alone who had betrayed herself, because she said she mistakenly "believed that fairy tales can come true." She hated the part that had made up the story in the first place, then took up residence and lived in the fairy tale. In that process, she was left in the "tender sweet wake of reality itself." The realization for her in the end was, "Nothing you can do can give you this love. No career can give it to you. No amount of service can make you know it. No love partner or family can make it happen. No house, car or material belongings can buy it for you. Nothing and no one can give it to you, for it is who you already are. You are the love that you have been seeking for." Sometimes, we seem to need to experience these grave difficulties in order to bring us back to our minds, which is where we can find our way back to the love we are. Not getting my way with the TV set was well worth exchanging for the realization of the truth about myself. Yes, to the ego, it looks like capitulation, but to the Spirit, it is freedom.
 
Every experience, situation and person we encounter offers us one more opportunity to release our attack thoughts and to be still in the presence of our Creator.
 
Let us choose our release in every moment today, asking for help to remember, whenever we make judgments, whenever we try to get something at anyone's expense, we are saying we do not want peace and joy, and are choosing our specialness instead of God's love. When we do this, we bring more guilt to our minds. Projecting that guilt onto others by blaming them for how we feel has a tremendous cost to us. It costs us our peace and joy. Let us not use anyone or any situation today to keep the joy of God away. That is how we remember our function today. We cannot fulfill our function if we go through the day having forgotten we are here only to forgive, so any situation that arises today is to be used for forgiveness.
 
"Let me not use this to hide my function from me.
 I would use this as an opportunity to fulfill my function.
 This may threaten my ego, but cannot change my function in any way." (W.82.4.2-4)  

Love and blessings, Sarah  
VIII. The Total Commitment     

70
Whenever you deny a blessing to a brother, you will feel deprived. This is because denial is as total as love. It is as impossible to deny part of the Sonship as it is to love it in part. Nor is it possible to love it totally at times. You cannot be totally committed sometimes. Remember a very early lesson-"Never underestimate the power of denial." It has no power in itself, but you can give it the power of your mind, whose power is without limit of any kind. If you use it to deny reality, reality is gone for you. Reality cannot be partly appreciated. That is why denying any part of it means you have lost awareness of all of it.
 
71 That is the negative side of the law as it operates in this world. Yet denial is a defense, and so it is as capable of being used positively as it is of being used destructively. Used negatively it will be destructive because it will be used for attack, but in the service of the Holy Spirit, the law requires you to recognize only part of reality to appreciate all of it. Mind is too powerful to be subject to exclusion. You will never be able to exclude yourself from what you project.
 
72 When a brother acts insanely, he is offering you an opportunity to bless him. His need is yours. You need the blessing you can offer him. There is no way for you to have it except by giving it. This is the law of God, and it has no exceptions. What you deny you lack, not because it is lacking, but because you have denied it in another and are therefore not aware of it in you. Every response you make is determined by what you think you are, and what you want to be is what you think you are. Therefore, what you want to be determines every response you make.
 
73 You do not need God's blessing since that you have forever, but you do need yours. The picture you see of yourselves is deprived, unloving, and very vulnerable. You cannot love this. Yet you can very easily escape from it or, better, leave it behind. You are not there, and that is not you. Do not see this picture in anyone, or you have accepted it as you. All illusions about the Sonship are dispelled together, as they were made together. Teach no one that he is what you would not want to be. Your brother is the mirror in which you will see the image of yourself as long as perception lasts. And perception will last until the Sonship knows itself as whole.
 
74 You made perception, and it must last as long as you want it. Illusions are investments. They will last as long as you value them. Values are relative, but they are powerful because they are mental judgments. The only way to dispel illusions is to withdraw all investment from them, and they will have no life for you because you have put them out of your mind. While you include them in it, you are giving life to them, except there is nothing there to receive your gift.
 
75 The gift of life is yours to give because it was given you. You are unaware of your gift because you do not give it. You cannot make nothing live since it cannot be enlivened. Therefore, you are not extending the gift you both have and are, and so you do not know your being. All confusion comes from not extending life, since that is not the Will of your Creator. You can do nothing apart from Him, and you do do nothing apart from Him. Keep His way to remember yourselves and teach His way, lest you forget yourselves. Give only honor to the Sons of the living God and count yourselves among them gladly.
 
76 Only honor is a fitting gift for those whom God Himself created worthy of honor and whom He honors. Give them the appreciation which God accords them always because they are His beloved Sons in whom He is well pleased. You cannot be apart from them because you are not apart from Him. Rest in His love and protect your rest by loving. But love everything He created of which you are a part, or you cannot learn of His peace and accept His gift for yourself and as yourself. You cannot know your own perfection until you have honored all those who were created like you.
 
77 One Child of God is the only teacher sufficiently worthy to teach another. One Teacher is in all your minds, and He teaches the same lesson to all. He always teaches you the inestimable worth of every Son of God, teaching it with infinite patience born of the infinite love for which He speaks. Every attack is a call for His patience,  since only His patience can translate attack into blessing. Those who attack do not know they are blessed. They attack because they believe they are deprived. Give therefore of your abundance and teach your brothers theirs. Do not share their delusions of scarcity, or you will perceive yourself as lacking.
 
78 Attack could never promote attack unless you perceived it as a means of depriving you of something you want. Yet you cannot lose anything unless you did not value it and therefore did not want it. This makes you feel deprived of it, and by projecting your own rejection, you believe that others are taking it from you. One must be fearful if he believes that his brother is attacking him to tear the Kingdom of Heaven from him. This is the ultimate basis for all of the ego's projection.
 
79 Being the part of your mind which does not believe it is responsible for itself and being without allegiance to God, the ego is incapable of trust. Projecting its insane belief that you have been treacherous to your Creator, it believes that your brothers, who are as incapable of this as you are, are out to take God from you. Whenever a brother attacks another, this is what he believes. Projection always sees your will in others. If you will to separate yourself from God, that is what you will think others are doing to you.
 
80 You are the Will of God. Do not accept anything else as your will, or you are denying what you are. Deny this and you will attack, believing you have been attacked. But see the love of God in you, and you will see it everywhere because it is everywhere. See His abundance in everyone, and you will know that you are in Him with them. They are part of you, as you are part of God. You are as lonely without understanding this as God Himself is lonely when His Sons do not know Him. The peace of God is understanding this. There is only one way out of the world's thinking, just as there was only one way into it. Understand totally by understanding totality.
 
81 Perceive any part of the ego's thought system as wholly insane, wholly delusional, and wholly undesirable, and you have correctly evaluated all of it. This correction enables you to perceive any part of creation as wholly real, wholly perfect, and wholly desirable. Wanting this only, you will have this only, and giving this only you will be only this. The gifts you offer to the ego are always experienced as sacrifices, but the gifts you offer to the Kingdom are gifts to you. They will always be treasured by God because they belong to His beloved Sons who belong to Him. All power and glory are yours because the Kingdom is His.

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