ACIM Lesson 95 I am one Self united with my Creator

Lesson 95
(beginning day 95)

I am one Self, united with my Creator.


Today's idea accurately describes you as God created you. You are one within yourself, and one with Him. Yours is the unity of all creation. Your perfect unity makes change in you impossible. You do not accept this, and you fail to realize it must be so, only because you believe that you have changed yourself already.


You see yourself as a ridiculous parody on God's creation; weak, vicious, ugly and sinful, miserable and beset with pain. Such is your version of yourself; a self divided into many warring parts, separate from God, and tenuously held together by its erratic and capricious maker, to which you pray. It does not hear your prayers, for it is deaf. It does not see the oneness in you, for it is blind. It does not understand you are the Son of God, for it is senseless and understands nothing.


We will attempt today to be aware only of what can hear and see, and what makes perfect sense. We will again direct our exercises towards reaching your one Self, which is united with Its Creator. In patience and in hope we try again today.


The use of the first five minutes of every waking hour for practicing the idea for the day has special advantages at the stage of learning in which you are at present. It is difficult at this point not to allow your mind to wander, if it undertakes extended practice. You have surely realized this by now. You have seen the extent of your lack of mental discipline, and of your need for mind training. It is necessary that you be aware of this, for it is indeed a hindrance to your advance.


Frequent but shorter practice periods have other advantages for you at this time. In addition to recognizing your difficulties with sustained attention, you must also have noticed that, unless you are reminded of your purpose frequently, you tend to forget about it for long periods of time. You often fail to remember the short applications of the idea for the day, and you have not yet formed the habit of using the idea as an automatic response to temptation.


Structure, then, is necessary for you at this time, planned to include frequent reminders of your goal and regular attempts to reach it. Regularity in terms of time is not the ideal requirement for the most beneficial form of practice in salvation. It is advantageous, however, for those whose motivation is inconsistent, and who remain heavily defended against learning.


We will, therefore, keep to the five-minutes-an-hour practice periods for a while, and urge you to omit as few as possible. Using the first five minutes of the hour will be particularly helpful, since it imposes firmer structure. Do not, however, use your lapses from this schedule as an excuse not to return to it again as soon as you can. There may well be a temptation to regard the day as lost because you have already failed to do what is required. This should, however, merely be recognized as what it is; a refusal to let your mistake be corrected, and an unwillingness to try again.


The Holy Spirit is not delayed in His teaching by your mistakes. He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go. Let us therefore be determined, particularly for the next week or so, to be willing to forgive ourselves for our lapses in diligence, and our failures to follow the instructions for practicing the day's idea. This tolerance for weakness will enable us to overlook it, rather than give it power to delay our learning. If we give it power to do this, we are regarding it as strength, and are confusing strength with weakness.


When you fail to comply with the requirements of this course, you have merely made a mistake. This calls for correction, and for nothing else. To allow a mistake to continue is to make additional mistakes, based on the first and reinforcing it. It is this process that must be laid aside, for it is but another way in which you would defend illusions against the truth.


Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. They are attempts to keep you unaware you are one Self, united with your Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace. This is the truth, and nothing else is true. Today we will affirm this truth again, and try to reach the place in you in which there is no doubt that only this is true.


Begin the practice periods today with this assurance, offered to your mind with all the certainty that you can give:


I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace.


Then close your eyes and tell yourself again, slowly and thoughtfully, attempting to allow the meaning of the words to sink into your mind, replacing false ideas:


I am one Self.


Repeat this several times, and then attempt to feel the meaning that the words convey.


You are one Self, united and secure in light and joy and peace. You are God's Son, one Self, with one Creator and one goal; to bring awareness of this oneness to all minds, that true creation may extend the allness and the unity of God. You are one Self, complete and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the world, and let the light in you come through to teach the world the truth about yourself.


You are one Self, in perfect harmony with all there is, and all that there will be. You are one Self, the holy Son of God, united with your brothers in that Self; united with your Father in His Will. Feel this one Self in you, and let It shine away all your illusions and your doubts. This is your Self, the Son of God Himself, sinless as Its Creator, with His strength within you and His Love forever yours. You are one Self, and it is given you to feel this Self within you, and to cast all your illusions out of the one Mind that is this Self, the holy truth in you.


Do not forget today. We need your help; your little part in bringing happiness to all the world. And Heaven looks to you in confidence that you will try today. Share, then, its surety, for it is yours. Be vigilant. Do not forget today. Throughout the day do not forget your goal. Repeat today's idea as frequently as possible, and understand each time you do so, someone hears the voice of hope, the stirring of the truth within his mind, the gentle rustling of the wings of peace.


Your own acknowledgment you are one Self, united with your Father, is a call to all the world to be at one with you. To everyone you meet today, be sure to give the promise of today's idea and tell him this:


You are one Self with me, united with our Creator in this Self. I honor you because of What I am, and What He is, Who loves us both as one.

(end day 95)

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ACIM Lesson 94

Lesson 94
(beginning day 94)

I am as God created me.


Today we continue with the one idea which brings complete salvation; the one statement which makes all forms of temptation powerless; the one thought which renders the ego silent and entirely undone. You are as God created you. The sounds of this world are still, the sights of this world disappear, and all the thoughts that this world ever held are wiped away forever by this one idea. Here is salvation accomplished. Here is sanity restored.


True light is strength, and strength is sinlessness. If you remain as God created you, you must be strong and light must be in you. He Who ensured your sinlessness must be the guarantee of strength and light as well. You are as God created you. Darkness cannot obscure the glory of God's Son. You stand in light, strong in the sinlessness in which you were created, and in which you will remain throughout eternity.


Today we will again devote the first five minutes of each waking hour to the attempt to feel the truth in you. Begin these times of searching with these words:


I am as God created me.


I am His Son eternally.


Now try to reach the Son of God in you. This is the Self that never sinned, nor made an image to replace reality. This is the Self that never left Its home in God to walk the world uncertainly. This is the Self that knows no fear, nor could conceive of loss or suffering or death.


Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all idols and self-images aside; go past the list of attributes, both good and bad, you have ascribed to yourself; and wait in silent expectancy for the truth. God has Himself promised that it will be revealed to all who ask for it. You are asking now. You cannot fail because He cannot fail.


If you do not meet the requirement of practicing for the first five minutes of every hour, at least remind yourself hourly:


I am as God created me.


I am His Son eternally.


Tell yourself frequently today that you are as God created you. And be sure to respond to anyone who seems to irritate you with these words:


You are as God created you.


You are His Son eternally.


Make every effort to do the hourly exercises today. Each one you do will be a giant stride toward your release, and a milestone in learning the thought system which this course sets forth.

(end day 94)

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ACIM Lesson 93 Light, Joy and Peace abide in me.

Lesson 93
(beginning day 93)

Light and joy and peace abide in me.


You think you are the home of evil, darkness and sin. You think if anyone could see the truth about you he would be repelled, recoiling from you as if from a poisonous snake. You think if what is true about you were revealed to you, you would be struck with horror so intense that you would rush to death by your own hand, living on after seeing this being impossible.


These are beliefs so firmly fixed that it is difficult to help you see that they are based on nothing. That you have made mistakes is obvious. That you have sought salvation in strange ways; have been deceived, deceiving and afraid of foolish fantasies and savage dreams; and have bowed down to idols made of dust,--all this is true by what you now believe.


Today we question this, not from the point of view of what you think, but from a very different reference point, from which such idle thoughts are meaningless. These thoughts are not according to God's Will. These weird beliefs He does not share with you. This is enough to prove that they are wrong, but you do not perceive that this is so.


Why would you not be overjoyed to be assured that all the evil that you think you did was never done, that all your sins are nothing, that you are as pure and holy as you were created, and that light and joy and peace abide in you? Your image of yourself cannot withstand the Will of God. You think that this is death, but it is life. You think you are destroyed, but you are saved.


The self you made is not the Son of God. Therefore, this self does not exist at all. And anything it seems to do and think means nothing. It is neither bad nor good. It is unreal, and nothing more than that. It does not battle with the Son of God. It does not hurt him, nor attack his peace. It has not changed creation, nor reduced eternal sinlessness to sin, and love to hate. What power can this self you made possess, when it would contradict the Will of God?


Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. Over and over this must be repeated, until it is accepted. It is true. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. Nothing can touch it, or change what God created as eternal. The self you made, evil and full of sin, is meaningless. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light and joy and peace abide in you.


Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought;--you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself. Whatever evil you may think you did, you are as God created you. Whatever mistakes you made, the truth about you is unchanged. Creation is eternal and unalterable. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. You are and will forever be exactly as you were created. Light and joy and peace abide in you because God put them there.


In our longer exercise periods today, which would be most profitable if done for the first five minutes of every waking hour, begin by stating the truth about your creation:


Light and joy and peace abide in me.


My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.


Then put away your foolish self-images, and spend the rest of the practice period in trying to experience what God has given you, in place of what you have decreed for yourself.


You are what God created or what you made. One Self is true; the other is not there. Try to experience the unity of your one Self. Try to appreciate Its Holiness and the love from which It was created. Try not to interfere with the Self which God created as you, by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sinfulness you have made to replace It. Let It come into Its Own. Here you are; This is You. And light and joy and peace abide in you because this is so.


You may not be willing or even able to use the first five minutes of each hour for these exercises. Try, however, to do so when you can. At least remember to repeat these thoughts each hour:


Light and joy and peace abide in me.


My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.


Then try to devote at least a minute or so to closing your eyes and realizing that this is a statement of the truth about you.


If a situation arises that seems to be disturbing, quickly dispel the illusion of fear by repeating these thoughts again. Should you be tempted to become angry with someone, tell him silently:


Light and joy and peace abide in you.


Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.


You can do much for the world's salvation today. You can do much today to bring you closer to the part in salvation that God has assigned to you. And you can do much today to bring the conviction to your mind that the idea for the day is true indeed.

(end day 93)

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Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life

Good evening.  And welcome to everyone who’s joining us on the Internet.
Good evening you holy Sons and Daughters of God.  It is the acknowledgement of your holiness, your willingness to embrace it that actively reconnects you with your Father and sets the scene for returning to your right Mind or, might I say, letting your right Mind be returned to you by virtue of your not holding yourself apart from It any longer.
We’ve talked about the fact that you travel with mighty companions, not the least of which is your Self—the Holy Spirit.  Not only that, you are companioned with by all of your creations and they all wait for you on the other side of the bridge, as it were, that goes across the little gap between illusion and Reality.  In fact, they are mighty enough that they constitute an attraction that will help bring you across the bridge once you have decided to bring the necessary amount of self-discipline and determination to cross it and follow through with commitment.
Now there’s a reason you’re not on the other side of the bridge right now.  And in order to cross the bridge, you’re going to have to look squarely at it so that you may release it, because it is the energizing—the reinforcement of it—that has kept you ignorant of your Father and of your Self. 
This something is called “The special hate relationship.”
I know we’ve been talking about the beautifulness of you as the holy Son or Daughter of God.  And there’s a reason for it.  Not only is it true of you, not only is it the truth about you, the knowledge of it is what gives you the impetus, as it were, to reach for it, to be willing to re-embrace it.
Now, there’s only one . . . there is only one special hate relationship.  And you’re likely to be surprised at who it’s with.  It’s with God.  Strong words . . .  special hate relationship with your Father?  It’s not too strong a word. 
When you decided you would rather see things your way, when you decided you would rather define what things are and you got a divorce from your Father, you stood in flat denial of His Place in your existence—the fact that He actually is the Source of your Being.  You also separated yourself from your Birthright, which caused you, as we have discussed many times, to immediately experience fear and guilt.
Now, you took on the challenge that fear and guilt represented.  You didn’t take it as your sanity telling you, you were in unreal territory, that you were doing something impossible to do . . . and to stop.  And so fear and guilt became forever present with you as a part of existence.
Now, fear of what?  What would the fear be about?  There’s only one thing at this point that the fear could be about and that would be that you would be found out that you had denied your Father.  That in fact, you were in a hate relationship with Him because you said, “I have nothing to do with Him.  I want nothing to do with Him.  I want nothing to do with whatever it is I might deserve in terms of inheritance from Him because I want to experience my independence.”
When you’re in denial of your Source, and subsequently in denial of who you Are because you lose the direct experience of who you Are and your divine Birthright, that is an act of hate.  Self-denial is the most intense form of delusion and it has negative effects.
So, let’s go into the book.  New section:

ILLUSION AND REALITY OF LOVE¹

Be not afraid to look upon the special hate relationship, . .

Now this might seem to be an abrupt shift, after talking for awhile about the holy Son of God that you Are and the mighty companions and your creations and so on and so forth, and the availability you have of the holy instant to access your holiness, to access the direct experience of the Father and to come back into your right Mind.  But this step is the next step once you decide to engage in the holy instant, once you decide to engage in reclaiming your divinity—this must be looked at. 

Be not afraid to look upon the special hate relationship for freedom lies in looking at it.

If you don’t look at it, you won’t realize it’s there.  You don’t go around thinking, “I hate God . . . I hate God!”  But the fact that you won’t let God direct your paths on an ongoing daily basis in every instance, is a demonstration of the fact that you’re in an oppositional relationship.  It’s that simple.
So, you’re unaware of it.  You can’t possibly come Home as long as you’re unaware of it.  Which is why we’ve been talking . . . and talking and talking about coming Home, and how to come Home, and the steps.  And now we’ve come to this place where the step is to acknowledge that you Are a holy Son of God. 
Well, this experience of dissonance caused by fear and guilt, cause you to not like yourself.  So a secondary aspect of this special hate relationship, which is the only one there is with God, is that you end up hating yourself.
Once again you think, “Well, as a general rule, I don’t go around hating myself.  As a general rule, the majority of my life I’ve liked myself.  It’s only when I’ve been depressed that I haven’t liked myself.”
But let me ask you this: “Do you like yourself, you holy Son of God?  Do you like yourself, you holy Daughter of God?”
“Oh-h, there ya go again, bringing that up!  Well, I don’t mind embracing in my head the idea that I’m a holy Son of God, but no, I don’t want it to be public!  I don’t want to claim it and live it and Be it!”
“. . . Oh, so you don’t like yourself, huh?”
That’s what that means.  Don’t be afraid to look at it.  If you don’t want to know of your holiness, then be aware of it.  Because in being aware of it, instead of unconscious of it, you have a choice available to you.  And so you are further ahead of the game. 
It’s essential for you to know that you have a choice in order to cross the bridge, in order to Wake up, in order to come back into your right Mind.

Be not afraid to look upon the special hate relationship for freedom lies in looking at it. It would be impossible not to know the meaning of love, except for this. For the special love relationship, in which the meaning of love is LOST, is undertaken solely to offset the hate, but NOT to let it go.

You see? 
“. . . Oh No, I’m not gonna let it go if it means I have to acknowledge that I’m holy—I’m a holy Son of God . . . I don’t want to let it go.  No, I’m enjoying the intensity and the high I get from attempting to overcome the impossible and in some ways, fool myself into believing that I’m accomplishing it.  No-no!”
But . . .

Your salvation will rise clearly before your open eyes as you look on this. You cannot LIMIT hate. The special love relationship will not offset it, . .

. . . it can’t be changed, it can’t be limited, it can’t be minimized . . .

. . . but will merely drive it underground and out of sight. It is essential to bring it INTO sight, and to make no attempt to hide it. For it is the attempt to balance hate with love that MAKES love meaningless to you. The extent of the split that lies in this you do not realize. And UNTIL you do, the split will remain unrecognized, and therefore unhealed.

So, as you move across the bridge, this is the last thing to be healed—it’s the last thing to be healed because it’s the first unhealed act you engaged in.  Your dissociation from the Father and from your conscious experience of your own holiness was your first act in stepping away from the conscious experience of Reality.  The undoing of it therefore, is going to be the last thing you do as you return Home.
And so, although it might not seem a pleasant thing to do, especially when we’ve had such wonderful talks about your holiness, it nevertheless must be looked at clearly.
Now, what’s “a special love relationship?”  Well, I’m going to put it this way:  A special love relationship is a relationship that covers up a special hate relationship. 
And what’s a special hate relationship . . . humanly speaking?  It’s any relationship you have with a Brother or Sister where you haven’t engaged in the two-step, moved into the holy instant and desired to Know the holy truth about your Brother or Sister.  And then having been infilled with it, relating to your Brother or Sister from the new vantage point revealed to you—a vantage point that is yours because you decided to join with the Father.
Now, as along as you are pretending to be an orphan, in an orphanage, having an orphan mindset, all of your relationships will be unconscious relationships.  And what I mean by that is, that you will be having a relationship with someone Real, but you will be unconscious of who they really Are.  Why?  Because in the orphan mindset, your Brother or Sister is a means to an end,  not a Brother or Sister.  Not Family.  Not someone sharing the same Birthright—the same holy Birthright as you. 
Being a means to an end, all relationships are there to be used—to be used to  your benefit.  And I’m going to say, to be used to help you forget the hate you’re feeling for yourself.
Therefore, you will do anything . . . you will use your Brother or Sister in any way necessary to cover up the fact that you don’t like yourself. 
Every act you engage in is an attempt to overcome the fact—temporary though it might be—the fact that you don’t like yourself, the fact that you don’t feel good about yourself.  You will use your Brothers and Sisters to build yourself up into something worthwhile . . . you hope.  That is your goal.
Now, what does that mean?  It means that you’re seeing your Brother or Sister as an object, as I said, “a means to an end.”  So you’re denying their holiness as well.  And you know what?  You miss connection with them, just as they miss connection with you because they’re seeing you as “a means to an end.” 
And so, existence becomes a dance between people who are not connected with each other, who do the best they can to fool each other into believing that they’re confirming each other’s worth and integrity and value.  And all the time that this is going on, not one of you have stopped to do the two-step so that you might ask of the Father, “What is the truth here about my Brother?  Show me my Brother’s holiness.”
It is amazing that you all get along as well as you do because of the usury nature of relationships as you are practicing them. 
If you don’t see . . . if you don’t dare to look at the fact that the way you are relating to each other as orphans, from an orphan mindset, is cruel and harsh and mean-spirited and destructive, you are not likely to have the impetus necessary to step on across the bridge . . . to reach for the mighty companions Who are with you, as well as all of your creations and the Father Who wish for you to come back into your sanity—your right Mind—where all relationships are holy relationships.

The symbols of hate against the symbols of love play out a conflict which does not exist.

Well, what does it mean “the symbols of hate and the symbols of love?”
Well, as orphans relating to each other as objects, you act in loving ways and you act in unloving ways. 
Behaving lovingly is not being the Presence of Love.
And so all of your behavior constitutes symbols of love, mutually-agreed definitions about what love is and mutually-agreed definitions about what hate is—both of which are false because love is not love and love can be interpreted as hate. 
In other words, if you have mutually-agreed-upon definitions of hate and someone comes along and confronts you with the truth—the real truth about yourself—and says, “You’re the holy Son of God, come join me in the conscious experience of your holiness.”  . . . Oh-boy, that is an unkind thing.
The one who Knows the truth, standing with the Father, says, “You’re indulging in hate relationships, even your special love relationship is a cover-up for your special hate relationship.” 
You say, “This can’t possibly be the truth.  This is a lie.  You are misleading me.  You are hating me . . . because if I were to believe you, I would think I was insane!”  And the one Who Knows the truth, gently says, “But you are insane, but you are not seeing things clearly and there is a clear way to see it and I will show you the clear way to see it.
But, no, this doesn’t add up with the mutually-agreed-upon definitions.  And so it’s misinterpreted.

The symbols of hate against the symbols of love play out a conflict which does not exist.

It’s not happening in Reality.  It’s only happening in minds misunderstanding.

The symbols of hate against the symbols of love play out a conflict which does not exist. For symbols stand for something ELSE, and the symbol of love is without meaning if love is everything. You will go through this last undoing . . .

. . . this undoing of looking at the special hate relationship and the special love relationship, to see that they’re both hateful so that it’s clear to you that there’s no value in holding onto them at all.

You will go through this last undoing quite unharmed, and will at last emerge as . . .

. . . what?

. . .  yourself.

You will come back into your right Mind.  Your right Mind will come back into you, you might say.  And there you, the real You will be.

Be not unwilling now, you are too near, and you will cross the bridge in perfect safety, translated quietly from war to peace. For the illusion of love will NEVER satisfy, but its reality, which awaits you on the other side, will give you everything.

Remember, I said the other side of the bridge is on the other end of your attention.  So we’re not once again talking about going on an internal witch-hunt to find out all the awful things about yourself.  But we are talking about taking an honest look so that you can clearly see that as long as you’re practicing special relationships, as long as you are engaging in them, nurturing them and reinforcing them, you are keeping yourself ignorant of who you Are.  You are keeping yourself unconscious of the Kingdom of Heaven that you’re in the middle of, and you are bound to the trinity of sin, sickness and death.
If you’re looking at this squarely, you’ll see that it doesn’t make sense and that it is at least worthwhile for you to make a determination to cross the bridge.
Now, crossing the bridge is not a matter of growth.  It’s not a process of becoming anything.  Remember, you are neither behind the point of perfection nor advancing toward it.  You are at that point and must understand yourself therefrom.  That’s a journey without distance.  But it’s a giving of your attention where it’s essential for it to be in order for you to be sane.
So as we read, don’t imagine that  this  is  going  to  be  a terrible  amount of work, it’s going to take a long time.  [snaps fingers]  The holy instant . . . that’s it!  Hesitate . . . stop dead in your tracks . . . abandon your conditioned responses.  Be still and say, “Father, what is the truth here?  Holy Spirit, what is the truth here?  My Guide, what is the truth here?”  And then listen for it . . . genuinely, sincerely be the presence of mind that has no other agenda than to have the truth register.
So we’re still talking about something simple.  The reason you’re not on the other side of the bridge is because you still like being an orphan and you don’t see how awful it is, you don’t see how hateful it is, you don’t see how destructive it is.  The destructiveness just seems to be a challenge for you to take on, with an assurance that comes from somewhere telling you that you can take it on and succeed—when it isn’t true.

Be not unwilling now, you are too near, . .

. . . you really are too near . . .

. . . and you will cross the bridge in perfect safety, translated quietly from war to peace.

You could say also, translated quietly from “getting” to “giving.”

For the illusion of love will NEVER satisfy, but its reality, which awaits you on the other side, will give you everything.

. . . on the other side, at the other end of your attention.  That’s all.  Don’t think so much in terms of space, “Well, is it a short bridge or is it a long bridge?  How far is it to the other side?”  No, it’s just to the other end of your attention.

The special love relationship is an attempt to limit the destructive effects of hate by finding a haven in the storm of guilt.

Um-m . . . dramatic words, but they’re just describing the state of being as an orphan, where guilt and fear go hand-in-hand, are ever-present and seem to be the impetus for expressions of will that have the securing of safety and success as their goal.  Seems rather reasonable to you, doesn’t it?  Sure, but it’s not.  It’s a process that keeps you unconscious, because it never gets you outside the orphanage.  It never even suggests that you look to the horizon.

The special love relationship is an attempt to limit the destructive effects of hate by finding a haven in the storm of guilt.

A soft, caressing, nurturing place, where both of you have found ways to provide each other with some form of encouragement that allows you to let down and not energize your fears so much.  You’re together to get, and you demand of each other to give, “Give me more, give me more!  I’m nervous, I’m upset . . . give me more!  I’m afraid . . . comfort me!” 
And then because the other provides some attention that you define as comforting, you set down some of your fear and experience more peace.  And you fool yourself into believing that your lover has comforted you.  And you fool your lover into believing that he or she has comforted you.  And both of you are still in the mist of delusion and nothing has been accomplished except a temporary lull—a mutual process of fooling each other.

The special love relationship is an attempt to limit the destructive effects of hate by finding a haven in the storm of guilt.

And I’m going to add:  Without making any attempts to leave it . . .

. . . the storm of guilt. It makes no attempt to rise ABOVE the storm, into the sunlight.

I would say:  It makes no attempt to walk out of the orphanage and onto the horizon and beyond the horizon.

On the contrary, it emphasizes guilt OUTSIDE the haven by attempting to build barricades against it, and keep within them.

“Um-m, you’re my salvation, you’re the one who gives me peace.  You make me feel secure.  I’m not going to look outside of you for my good and I’m not going to let you look outside of me for your good.  We will imprison each other in the security of the caring that we’re willing to extend to each other in order to make us feel some measure of peace . . .”
Wow, . . get, get, get!  No love, . . no love!

The special love relationship is not perceived as a value in itself, but as a place of safety from which hatred is split off, and kept apart.

Well, you know what?  There may be a certain degree or level of comfort that two lovers can achieve, but if the trinity of sin, sickness and death prevails then no security, no safety has been achieved and the victory of love is a hollow victory. 
And I’m telling you and have been telling you that your Birthright is more than that.  I could say you deserve more than that, but it’s a matter of your Birthright, it’s a matter of Who you Are and the fact that as the holy Son of God or the holy Daughter of God you already are eternal.  And it’s your Birthright to be experiencing that without the so-called threat—the imagined threat—of sin, sickness and death.  That is no part of the conscious experience of your Birthright and it’s time for you to be finished with it.

The special love partner is acceptable only as long as he serves this purpose. Hatred can enter, and indeed is welcome in SOME aspects of the relationship, but it is still held together by the illusion of love.

Illusions holding each other together, or one illusion holding another illusion at bay, it’s still insanity.  It’s still not your Birthright.  It’s still not you in your whole Mind.  It’s not the holy Son of God that you Are at this moment, even though you’re not experiencing it in its Totality.  But you will not shift from the partial experience of it into its Totality if nobody points out to you where illusion is happening, where a special hate relationship is happening, where a special love relationship is happening that doesn’t constitute sanity at all.   If no one points it out to you, you won’t look elsewhere, you’ll just work within the already established parameters.

Hatred can enter, and indeed is welcome in SOME aspects of the relationship, . .

After all, a little bit of it invigorates the relationship, brings some life to it, gets you closer and after all, making up is so wonderful.

Hatred can enter, and indeed is welcome in SOME aspects of the relationship, but it is still held together by the illusion of love. If the illusion goes, the relationship is broken or becomes unsatisfying on the grounds of disillusionment.

Disillusionment simply means: That the illusions you were under have been shown for what they are—illusions.

Love is NOT an illusion. It is a fact. Where disillusionment is possible, there was not love but hate.  For hate IS an illusion, and what can change was NEVER love.  It is certain that those who select certain ones as partners in any aspect of living, and use them for any purpose which they would not share with others, are trying to LIVE with guilt rather than DIE of it.

You see?  You use your special relationships to find ways to live comfortably in the uncomfortable state of guilt by providing a distraction from it.  Um-m, we’ll say, a sweet distraction from it.  But the sweet distraction is an illusion also.  So you try . . .

. . . to LIVE with guilt rather than DIE of it.

Well, here’s the thing:  If you didn’t have the sweet illusion to make you comfortable in the experience of guilt, you would be just simply faced with guilt.  Guilt is unyielding.  Guilt doesn’t give the benefit of the doubt.  Guilt is harsh.  Guilt is cruel.  Guilt is mean.  To live with it would be to die.  But if you are willing to face it, you will realize, without the cover-up of the sweet special love relationship, you will see it for what it is and you will make a choice.  You won’t die of it, because in the honest appraisal of what it truly is you will make a choice.  [chucks]  You will get across that bridge.  You will find it justifiable to hesitate, become still, ask the Father or the Holy Spirit, “What is the truth here?,” and become undefended enough and uncontrolling enough to let yourself be filled from some place other than your best judgments.

This is the choice they see.

You know, . .

. . . to LIVE with guilt rather than DIE of it.

And love, to them, is only an escape from death. They seek it desperately, but not in the peace in which it would gladly come quietly TO them.

[Repeats] They seek it desperately, but not in the peace in which it would gladly come quietly TO them.

You see?  It’s the difference between getting and letting.  It’s the difference between controlling and allowing.

And when they find the fear of death is still upon them, the love relationship LOSES the illusion that it is what it is not. For then the barricades against it are broken, fear rushes in and hatred triumphs.

“Oh, please . . . give me the sweetness of a special relationship to undo hatred’s triumph.”  You see?  And so you scramble again, instead of looking at it squarely and saying, “There has to be another way to look at this.”  To have enough humility to shut up and ask for help from Something outside yourself. That’s the way you undo the divorce.  That’s the way you start across the bridge . . . to where? . . the other end of your attention.

There are no triumphs of love. Only hate is concerned with the "triumph of love" at all. The illusion of love CAN triumph over the illusion of hate, but always at the price of making BOTH illusions.

Meaning that you’re still trapped, you’re still stuck.  The trinity:  sin, sickness and  death  still  governs.

As long as the illusion of hatred lasts, so long will love be an illusion to you.

So . . .

. . . long as the illusion of hatred lasts, . .

. . . well, remember now, your Brothers and Sisters didn’t cause the hatred you feel.  No circumstances out there caused it.  And not even a flaw in your character caused it.  The illusion of hatred is being experienced for a simple reason.  You’ve said, “Father, I want a divorce.  Father, I’m going to ignore you.  Father, I am disinheriting myself, not only of all the abundance that’s mine, but I’m disinheriting myself from my awareness of Who I really Am.”  As long as that is in place, hatred lasts—the illusion of hatred lasts.

As long as the illusion of hatred lasts, so long will love be an illusion to you. And then the only choice which remains possible is which illusion you prefer.

Well, today you’ll prefer a little bit of hate, tomorrow you’ll prefer a little bit of love, and you play both sides of the fence depending upon what it will get for you in terms of securing a so-called safety and security from sin, sickness and death.  That’s a security and safety you can’t ever actually have until you abandon the orphanage.  Until you reclaim your holiness by saying, “Hey, you know what?  Might not be so bad to be holy, especially if I already am.  I am going to clearly look at the awfulness of hate and the awfulness of special love relationships and I’m going to be willing to look at the destructiveness of them and to see that there are no circumstances under which they can be construed as constructive and therefore my intelligence tells me that there’s no profit whatsoever in pursuing them or engaging with them or nurturing them any further.  I will, with commitment and determination, cross the bridge.

There IS no conflict in the choice between truth and illusion.

And that’s a very important point.  Don’t imagine that this is going to be a horrendous process.

There IS no conflict in the choice between truth and illusion. Seen in THESE terms, no one would hesitate. But conflict enters the instant the choice seems to be one between ILLUSIONS, for this choice does not matter.

Why doesn’t it matter?  Because the choice has no effect—a choice of one illusion over another illusion is still illusion.  Nothing is accomplished.  No healing is accomplished.  No return of sanity occurs.  And it’s the futility of choosing between illusions, and the fact that you have been choosing between illusions that needs to become very clear in order for it to be utterly logical to you to see the wisdom of deciding for crossing the bridge.

Where one choice is as dangerous as the other, the decision MUST be one of despair.

[Repeats] Where one choice is as dangerous as the other, the decision MUST be one of despair.

Despair you’re already familiar with, because you’re already making choices between one that’s as dangerous as another.  And you’re ready for more than that . . . you holy Son of God . . . you holy Daughter of God.  You are ready for more than that.
This week, pay attention to how you’re behaving.  Pay attention to whether you’re leveraging your Brother for this, that or the other thing.  Maybe you’re just leveraging that one to feel better or happier because you really care as well as because you want to be important to that one—you want to get something out of it.  Watch what kind of trips you lay on them, whether they’re guilt trips or trips of honor—bestowing honor on him or her, again, so that you can get something.
You know what?  Stop looking for a messiah so that you might give your allegiance and follow him or her.  After all, you don’t want to sidetrack someone from his or her divinity by trying to prove to them that they are a messiah that they’re not, so that you might do a couple of things:  Maybe rub shoulders with that one and be seen as important or maybe get that one to do something for you, to lift you out of your problems without your having to build the bridge yourself.  You see?
There are many ways to be unkind to your Brother.  There are many ways to express hate.  And even love is one of them.  Not real Love, but special love.
Crossing the bridge is the point.  Remember that.  I love you all.

ACIM Lesson 92 Miracles are seen in light and light and strength are one

Lesson 92
(beginning day 92)

Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.


The idea for today is an extension of the previous one. You do not think of light in terms of strength, and darkness in terms of weakness. That is because your idea of what seeing means is tied up with the body and its eyes and brain. Thus you believe that you can change what you see by putting little bits of glass before your eyes. This is among the many magical beliefs that come from the conviction you are a body, and the body's eyes can see.


You also believe the body's brain can think. If you but understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea. It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun and gives it all its warmth; or that you held the world within your hand, securely bound until you let it go. Yet this is no more foolish than to believe the body's eyes can see; the brain can think.


It is God's strength in you that is the light in which you see, as it is His Mind with which you think. His strength denies your weakness. It is your weakness that sees through the body's eyes, peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself; the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless. These are seen through eyes that cannot see and cannot bless.


Strength overlooks these things by seeing past appearances. It keeps its steady gaze upon the light that lies beyond them. It unites with light, of which it is a part. It sees itself. It brings the light in which your Self appears. In darkness you perceive a self that is not there. Strength is the truth about you; weakness is an idol falsely worshiped and adored that strength may be dispelled, and darkness rule where God appointed that there should be light.


Strength comes from truth, and shines with light its Source has given it; weakness reflects the darkness of its maker. It is sick and looks on sickness, which is like itself. Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply. It sees that lack in anyone would be a lack in all. And so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one. Its strength is shared, that it may bring to all the miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love.


Weakness, which looks in darkness, cannot see a purpose in forgiveness and in love. It sees all others different from itself, and nothing in the world that it would share. It judges and condemns, but does not love. In darkness it remains to hide itself, and dreams that it is strong and conquering, a victor over limitations that but grow in darkness to enormous size.


It fears and it attacks and hates itself, and darkness covers everything it sees, leaving its dreams as fearful as itself. No miracles are here, but only hate. It separates itself from what it sees, while light and strength perceive themselves as one. The light of strength is not the light you see. It does not change and flicker and go out. It does not shift from night to day, and back to darkness till the morning comes again.


The light of strength is constant, sure as love, forever glad to give itself away, because it cannot give but to itself. No one can ask in vain to share its sight, and none who enters its abode can leave without a miracle before his eyes, and strength and light abiding in his heart.


The strength in you will offer you the light, and guide your seeing so you do not dwell on idle shadows that the body's eyes provide for self-deception. Strength and light unite in you, and where they meet, your Self stands ready to embrace you as Its Own. Such is the meeting place we try today to find and rest in, for the peace of God is where your Self, His Son, is waiting now to meet Itself again, and be as One.


Let us give twenty minutes twice today to join this meeting. Let yourself be brought unto your Self. Its strength will be the light in which the gift of sight is given you. Leave, then, the dark a little while today, and we will practice seeing in the light, closing the body's eyes and asking truth to show us how to find the meeting place of self and Self, where light and strength are one.


Morning and evening we will practice thus. After the morning meeting, we will use the day in preparation for the time at night when we will meet again in trust. Let us repeat as often as we can the idea for today, and recognize that we are being introduced to sight, and led away from darkness to the light where only miracles can be perceived.

(end day 92)

---

ACIM Lesson 91 Miracles are seen in light

Lesson 91
(beginning day 91)

Miracles are seen in light.


It is important to remember that miracles and vision necessarily go together. This needs repeating, and frequent repeating. It is a central idea in your new thought system, and the perception that it produces. The miracle is always there. Its presence is not caused by your vision; its absence is not the result of your failure to see. It is only your awareness of miracles that is affected. You will see them in the light; you will not see them in the dark.


To you, then, light is crucial. While you remain in darkness, the miracle remains unseen. Thus you are convinced it is not there. This follows from the premises from which the darkness comes. Denial of light leads to failure to perceive it. Failure to perceive light is to perceive darkness. The light is useless to you then, even though it is there. You cannot use it because its presence is unknown to you. And the seeming reality of the darkness makes the idea of light meaningless.


To be told that what you do not see is there sounds like insanity. It is very difficult to become convinced that it is insanity not to see what is there, and to see what is not there instead. You do not doubt that the body's eyes can see. You do not doubt the images they show you are reality. Your faith lies in the darkness, not the light. How can this be reversed? For you it is impossible, but you are not alone in this.


Your efforts, however little they may be, have strong support. Did you but realize how great this strength, your doubts would vanish. Today we will devote ourselves to the attempt to let you feel this strength. When you have felt the strength in you, which makes all miracles within your easy reach, you will not doubt. The miracles your sense of weakness hides will leap into awareness as you feel the strength in you.


Three times today, set aside about ten minutes for a quiet time in which you try to leave your weakness behind. This is accomplished very simply, as you instruct yourself that you are not a body. Faith goes to what you want, and you instruct your mind accordingly. Your will remains your teacher, and your will has all the strength to do what it desires. You can escape the body if you choose. You can experience the strength in you.


Begin the longer practice periods with this statement of true cause and effect relationships:


Miracles are seen in light.


The body's eyes do not perceive the light.


But I am not a body. What am I?


The question with which this statement ends is needed for our exercises today. What you think you are is a belief to be undone. But what you really are must be revealed to you. The belief you are a body calls for correction, being a mistake. The truth of what you are calls on the strength in you to bring to your awareness what the mistake conceals.


If you are not a body, what are you? You need to be aware of what the Holy Spirit uses to replace the image of a body in your mind. You need to feel something to put your faith in, as you lift it from the body. You need a real experience of something else, something more solid and more sure; more worthy of your faith, and really there.


If you are not a body, what are you? Ask this in honesty, and then devote several minutes to allowing your mistaken thoughts about your attributes to be corrected, and their opposites to take their place. Say, for example:


I am not weak, but strong.


I am not helpless, but all powerful.


I am not limited, but unlimited.


I am not doubtful, but certain.


I am not an illusion, but a reality.


I cannot see in darkness, but in light.


In the second phase of the exercise period, try to experience these truths about yourself. Concentrate particularly on the experience of strength. Remember that all sense of weakness is associated with the belief you are a body, a belief that is mistaken and deserves no faith. Try to remove your faith from it, if only for a moment. You will be accustomed to keeping faith with the more worthy in you as we go along.


Relax for the rest of the practice period, confident that your efforts, however meager, are fully supported by the strength of God and all His Thoughts. It is from Them that your strength will come. It is through Their strong support that you will feel the strength in you. They are united with you in this practice period, in which you share a purpose like Their Own. Theirs is the light in which you will see miracles, because Their strength is yours. Their strength becomes your eyes, that you may see.


Five or six times an hour, at reasonably regular intervals, remind yourself that miracles are seen in light. Also, be sure to meet temptation with today's idea. This form would be helpful for this special purpose:


Miracles are seen in light. Let me not close my eyes because of this.

(end day 91)

AN EASTER MESSAGE

AN EASTER MESSAGE
From RAJPUR
as received by Paul Tuttle*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On this day, I bring you confirmation of my love for you - not ringing down through the centuries in the remembrance of a single transforming event, but as a current demonstration that I am always with you.

Let gladness and joy flow from you because our relationship is real, right now - alive and well

In every moment, I am with you. Nothing about you escapes my attention, no matter how great your darkness and fear, your grief or suffering. My recognition of your purity and innocence embraces you, no matter how you see yourself, and patiently awaits your willingness to see yourself with me and with my sight.

Rejoice today - not that you have a distant sign to give you hope on a weary journey Home, but rather that the journey is already over, awaiting your notice.



This day memorializes the demonstration of three things:

That Life is deathless, . .

. . . that Love is the master of hate, . .

. . . and that what you call "time" is Eternity — misperceived but not altered by your misperception.


You think that God entered "the human condition" and walked with man, when just the reverse is true. Man found himself walking with God. Catch the vision of this fact! Even now, you are walking with God in the Kingdom of Heaven — already Home.


Eternity, Reality, did not imprint Itself on time by virtue of my birth, crucifixion and resurrection, but demonstrated that right where you experience time, Eternity/Reality is awaiting your recognition of It. Man's experience of me was not a result of my coming where man was, but of sleeping Christs, with fluttering eyelids, seeing their Brother in the Kingdom of Heaven from the Kingdom of Heaven, in spite of the persistent belief that they were still in "the human condition" somewhere else.


Rejoice today because there is nothing to overcome. Now are we the Sons and Daughters of God. Release your commitment to contrary imaginings and open your eyes!

Rajpur
Kingston, Washington
April 20, 2003

*Visit Northwest Foundation for "A Course in Miracles", to access transcripts of past Gatherings, Raj Contemplations, audio files of Raj Study Groups; join in Live Chats and the Discussion Forum; download Raj's books, "You Are the Answer" and "Graduation".

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