SATURDAY MARCH 26, 2016
Extend God's Being
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 7 "THE CONSISTENCY OF THE KINGDOM"
X. THE EXTENSION OF THE KINGDOM

The Soul yearns to share its being as its Creator did. Created by sharing, its will is to create. It does not wish to contain God but to extend His Being. The extension of God's Being is the Soul's only function. Its fullness cannot be contained any more than can the fullness of its Creator. Fullness is extension. The ego's whole thought system blocks extension and thus blocks your only function. It therefore blocks your joy, and that is why you perceive yourselves as unfulfilled. Unless you create, you are unfulfilled; but God does not know of unfulfillment, and therefore you must create. You may not know your own creations, but this can no more interfere with their reality than your unawareness of your Soul can interfere with its being.  
 
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 85 ~ Review II
[Review Lesson 69 and Lesson 70]  
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio 

1 Today's review will cover these ideas: 
 
[69] My grievances hide the light of the world in me.
 
2 My grievances show me what is not there and hide from me what I would see. Recognizing this, what do I want my grievances for? They keep me in darkness and hide the light. Grievances and light cannot go together, but light and vision must be joined for me to see. To see, I must lay grievances aside. I want to see, and this will be the means by which I will succeed. 
 
3 Specific applications of this idea might be made in these forms: 
 
4 Let me not use this as a block to sight.
  The light of the world will shine all this away.
 
  I have no need for this. I want to see.
 
[70] My salvation comes from me.
 
5 Today I will recognize where my salvation is. It is in me because its Source is there. It has not left its Source, and so it cannot have left my mind. I will not look for it outside myself. It is not found outside and then brought in. But from within me it will reach beyond, and everything I see will but reflect the light that shines in me and in itself. 
 
6 These forms of the idea are suitable for more specific application: 
 
7 Let this not tempt me to look away from me for my salvation.
  I will not let this interfere with my
  awareness of the Source of my salvation.

  This has no power to remove salvation from me.
 
          ~ Original Hand Script of ACIM  

  
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 
ACIM Edmonton, CA
Lesson 85
Review II ~ Lessons 69 and 70

Sarah's Commentary: 

It is important to look at every Lesson in Review II as a response to any temptation to throw away our peace. It means when anything, anyone, or any situation tempts us to become angry or distressed, we could be applying the Lesson of the day. For example, when you are focusing on the Lesson, "My grievances hide the light of the world in me," (W.69) you could respond with any of the three thoughts that follow in the lesson.
 
If someone cuts you off in traffic, you could respond with the thought, "Let me not use this as a block to sight." (W.85.2.2) Or if someone upsets you today with how they are behaving, you might hold the thought, "I have no need for this. I want to see." (W.85.2.4) If another version of a thought suits you better, feel free to use it. Remind yourself that when you are seeing someone do something you judge as inappropriate, you are making a decision to throw away your peace and thus stay blind to the truth. In effect, your judgment is based on something that is not even there and keeping you from vision. "My grievances show me what is not there, and hide from me what I would see." (W.85.1.2) Grievances keep us from the light.
 
Similarly, in our afternoon practice, we focus on the idea "My salvation comes from me," (W.70) meaning nothing outside us will ever bring us happiness. In fact, there is nothing outside us. Only in uncovering the light in us and recognizing that we are not separated from our Source can we experience peace and joy.
 
What interferes with that recognition? The interference comes when we give our power to something from outside our own minds that has seemingly taken our peace from us. Nothing outside our own minds has that kind of power unless we choose to allow it. Our grievances will come in the form of various judgments we make throughout the day. Try to go through the day and, with each temptation to give up your peace, respond with a thought such as, "Let this not tempt me to look away from me for my salvation." (W.85.4.2)
 
If the words do not resonate with you, choose another of the phrases offered or change the words to suit you. If you stumble on words such as salvation, you can substitute words such as peace or happiness. Jesus tells us, "words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality." (M.21.1.9-10) If we stumble on the symbol, we can substitute something that resonates with us. The important thing to always remember is, if we don't apply this teaching to our daily lives, there will be no change. The words and ideas may resonate and feel good when we read them, but that is not enough. Application is essential.
 
In the text, Jesus tells us, "I have made every effort to use words that are almost impossible to distort, but it is always possible to twist symbols around if you wish." (T.3.I.3.11)(ACIM OE T.3.III.16) Notice how we even have grievances around words themselves. We get upset with masculine terminology. We have negative views on the symbol of Jesus. We have negative connotations with words like salvation, atonement, forgiveness, last judgment, God and many others. It is all part of our past conditioning. The words themselves are neutral. The meaning we give to that which is meaningless is what upsets us.
 
The only appropriate response to attack is forgiveness, so we can experience the peace and love we are. It is not what the ego counsels us to do. The ego wants us to retaliate, which keeps us from the awareness of our divinity. This is the ego's vicious cycle that keeps us on the hamster wheel of sin, guilt, fear, and attack, which is mostly how life is experienced in this world. But we are not of this world, even though we seem to be in it.
 
Our morning practice is all about the importance of releasing grievances, so we can know the truth about ourselves as the light we are. "Grievances and light cannot go together, but light and vision must be joined for me to see. To see, I must lay grievances aside." (W.85.1.5-6) Grievances darken our minds and our sight so we become blind to the truth. Instead of seeing innocence in our brothers, we see their guilt, and thus we "make of love an enemy." (T.19.IV.D.13.8)(ACIM OE T.19. V.d.102) Now we are being motivated to make a choice by declaring, "I want to see, and this will be the means by which I will succeed." (W.85.1.7)
 
In the afternoon practice, we are reminded "It (my salvation) is in me because its Source is there." (W.85.3.3) What is there to look for outside ourselves? We keep thinking there is an answer out there in some new book, another workshop, or another guru. Yet the answer is within. There is no one who can save us and no one to look to outside ourselves. Similarly, there is nothing we need outside ourselves as God is in our minds. We look outside all the time for our happiness, yet it is not there. When you are tempted today to look for something from a situation that does not seem to be delivering what you want, remember to affirm, "This has no power to remove salvation from me." (W.85.4.4) In fact, nothing outside us has that power. It is all within." (W.85.1.7)
 
There is a part of our minds that really does want the truth, but we still have resistance, as another part of the mind is afraid of the truth. Increasingly, as we do these Lessons, we become aware of our split mind, where part of us wants God and another part does not want to wake up. We are always making a choice as to which teacher we turn to, the ego or the Holy Spirit. If we look for salvation outside, whether for our happiness or for suffering, we are giving our power away. Nothing outside the mind can bring pain or suffering, or even true happiness. Everything rests on the power of our minds to choose the Holy Spirit where our happiness resides, rather than in anything external.  

Love and blessings, Sarah
 
 
PAUSED FOR WEEKEND
X. The Extension of the Kingdom      

91
Only you can limit your creative power, but God wills to release it. He no more wills you to deprive yourself of your creations than He wills to deprive Himself of His. Do not withhold your gifts to the Sonship, or you withhold yourself from God. Selfishness is of the ego, but self-fullness is of the Soul because that is how God created it. The Holy Spirit is the part of the mind that lies between the ego and the Soul, mediating between them always in favor of the Soul. To the ego, this is partiality, and it therefore responds as if it were the part that is being sided against. To the Soul, this is truth because it knows its fullness and cannot conceive of any part from which it is excluded.
 
92 The Soul knows that the consciousness of all its brothers is included in its own, as it is included in God. The power of the whole Sonship and of its Creator is therefore the Soul's own fullness, rendering its creations equally whole and equal in perfection. The ego cannot prevail against a totality which includes God, and any totality must include God. Everything He created is given all His power because it is part of Him and shares His Being with Him. Creating is the opposite of loss, as blessing is the opposite of sacrifice. Being must be extended. That is how it retains the knowledge of itself.
 
93 The Soul yearns to share its being as its Creator did. Created by sharing, its will is to create. It does not wish to contain God but to extend His Being. The extension of God's Being is the Soul's only function. Its fullness cannot be contained any more than can the fullness of its Creator. Fullness is extension. The ego's whole thought system blocks extension and thus blocks your only function. It therefore blocks your joy, and that is why you perceive yourselves as unfulfilled. Unless you create, you are unfulfilled; but God does not know of unfulfillment, and therefore you must create. You may not know your own creations, but this can no more interfere with their reality than your unawareness of your Soul can interfere with its being.
 
94 The Kingdom is forever extending because it is in the Mind of God. You do not know your joy because you do not know your own self-fullness. Exclude any part of the Kingdom from yourself, and you are not whole. A split mind cannot perceive its fullness and needs the miracle of its wholeness to dawn upon it and heal it. This reawakens the wholeness in it and restores it to the Kingdom because of its acceptance of wholeness. The full appreciation of its self-fullness makes selfishness impossible and extension inevitable. That is why there is perfect peace in the Kingdom. Every Soul is fulfilling its function, and only complete fulfillment is peace.
 
95 Insanity appears to add to reality, but no one would claim that what it adds is true. Insanity is therefore the non-extension of truth, which blocks joy because it blocks creation and thus blocks self-fulfillment. The unfulfilled must be depressed because their self-fullness is unknown to them. Your creations are protected for you because the Holy Spirit, Who is in your mind, knows of them and can bring them into your awareness whenever you will let Him. They are there as part of your own being because your fulfillment includes them. The creations of every Son of God are yours since every creation belongs to everyone, being created for the Sonship as a whole.
 
96 You have not failed to add to the inheritance of the Sons of God and thus have not failed to secure it for yourselves. If it was the Will of God to give it to you, He gave it forever. If it was His Will that you have it forever, He gave you the means for keeping it, and you have done so. Disobeying God's Will is meaningful only to the insane. In truth it is impossible. Your self-fullness is as boundless as God's. Like His, it extends forever and in perfect peace. Its radiance is so intense that it creates in perfect joy, and only the whole can be born of its wholeness.
 
97 Be confident that you have never lost your identity and the extensions which maintain it in wholeness and peace. Miracles are an expression of this confidence. They are reflections both of your own proper identification with your brothers and of your own awareness that your identification is maintained by extension. The miracle is a lesson in total perception. By including any part of totality in the lesson, you have included the whole. You have said that when you write of the Kingdom and your creations which belong in it, you are describing what you do not know. That is true in a sense, but no more true than your failure to acknowledge the whole result of the ego's premises. The Kingdom is the result of premises, just as this world is.
 
98 You have carried the ego's reasoning to its logical conclusion, which is total confusion about everything. Yet you do not really believe this, or you could not possibly maintain it. If you really saw this result, you could not want it. The only reason why you could possibly want any part of it is because you do not see the whole of it. You are willing to look at the ego's premises but not at their logical outcome. Is it not possible that you have done the same thing with the premises of God? 
 
99 Your creations are the logical outcome of His premises. His thinking has established them for you. They are therefore there, exactly where they belong. They belong in your mind as part of your identification with His, but your state of mind and your recognition of what is in your mind depends at any given moment on what you believe about your mind. Whatever these beliefs may be, they are the premises which will determine what you accept into your mind. It is surely clear that you can both accept into your mind what is not really there and deny what is. Neither of these possibilities requires further elaboration here, but both are clearly indefensible, even if you elect to defend them.
 
100 Yet the function which God Himself gave your minds through His you may deny, but you cannot prevent. It is the logical outcome of what you are. The ability to see a logical outcome depends on the willingness to see it, but its truth has nothing to do with your willingness at all. Truth is God's Will. Share His Will, and you share what He knows. Deny His Will as yours, and you are denying His Kingdom and yours. The Holy Spirit will direct you only so as to avoid pain. The undoing of pain must obviously avoid pain. Surely no one would object to this goal if he recognized it. The problem is not whether what the Holy Spirit says is true, but whether you want to listen to what He says.

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