A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 318, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 318 In me salvation’s means and end are one. 1. In me, God’s holy Son, are reconciled all parts of Heaven’s plan to save the world.

Lesson 318

In me salvation’s means and end are one.

1. In me, God’s holy Son, are reconciled all parts of Heaven’s plan to save the world. ²What could conflict, when all the parts have but one purpose and one aim? ³How could there be a single part that stands alone, or one of more or less importance than the rest? ⁴I am the means by which God’s Son is saved, because salvation’s purpose is to find the sinlessness that God has placed in me. ⁵I was created as the thing I seek. ⁶I am the goal the world is searching for. ⁷I am God’s Son, His one eternal Love. ⁸I am salvation’s means and end as well.

2. Let me today, my Father, take the role You offer me in Your request that I accept Atonement for myself. ²For thus does what is thereby reconciled in me become as surely reconciled to You.

We Must Forget in Order to Remember

We are the Sons of God. That hasn’t changed just because we can’t, at present, remember this is true. Do you want to remember Who you are? Then you must forget who you are not. ⁵You forget in order to remember better. ⁶You will not understand His translations while you listen to two ways of interpreting them. ⁷Therefore you must forget or relinquish one to understand the other. (ACIM, T-7.II.6:5-7)

In order to do this, we must first notice what we now believe about ourselves and each other. As we watch our thoughts with the Holy Spirit, we will see that we hold a lot of beliefs that are not true. Letting those beliefs go, the truth becomes apparent. As a result, we begin to remember our true Identity. If we try to hold onto conflicting ideas about ourselves, we will not know Who we are in truth.

We Are the Goal. What we will discover is that we are what we seek. Yes, we are the goal the world is searching for. How funny our past confusion will all seem to us when we discover this truth for ourselves. This isn’t hard to do either. The process is very simple. Realizing that all form is the result of thought, we look at our thoughts as cause. Having noticed the thought errors, we ask for correction and then accept that correction. That’s all.

This process is simple and easy.

The ego-mind insists this is hard but it feels hard only when we don’t altogether want the solution. My experience has been that I did it anyway, complaining the whole time about how hard it is. Hahaha. Still, I didn’t stop. I watched my thoughts for guilt and fear, for anger and hatred. In addition, I caught the grievances and attack thoughts. Further, I remembered that my defenses were not helping me.

Eventually, I began to experience longer periods of peace of mind for the first time in my life and I stopped complaining. As a result, I had to acknowledge that I was succeeding as I used this simple process from A Course in Miracles. I look at my thoughts with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to correct them for me. What could be simpler?

I discovered that I really am salvations means and end. In relinquishing these untrue thoughts, I began to remember the truth. This is what Awakening is. We forget in order to remember. To forgive is another way we say that we are forgetting guilt in order to remember that we are innocent. We forget (forgive) separation in order to remember that we are One not many. I forgive and therefore I am the means to salvation. As I forgive, I remember what I am and therefore I am the end as well. All along, I have been what I sought to find.

All that is asked of me is that I accept myself as God created me.

To do that, I must release all that I made up as a “me” that is different than creation. This is the purification process.

I know that I am not Myron or any other body that I might have played out in this long dream, but while dreaming of Myron it can be easy to become confused about this.

Even now with more clarity than I have ever had in this life, the ego-mind tugs at me with every idea I have held dear. I feel the tug but I am not interested. What the ego mind wants most is to return to the dramas of everyday life in the world and what I want most is to remain in it but not of it. I am the dreamer of the dream and so I decide, not the ego-mind.

The world seeks salvation and I am that. I am the means to salvation and I am salvation’s end as well.

Regina’s Tips

Regina quoted from Matthew 20 and at the end of it this is what it said:

“Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This reminded me of Regina at the retreat. Regina is awakened and has achieved a deepening of that state and yet, she was there to be used; she was there to serve us. She was in submission to those who came to her. I think that this is what Jesus is telling us in Matthew. I find myself irresistibly drawn to that calling. Maybe that is why I was called to the ministry in the first place, and the clearer my mind becomes the more effective I am in this position.

She also said this:

Please contemplate today’s workbook lesson as you consider this question:

Is your contribution to the world’s salvation any less than that of Buddha or Jesus?
Is there anything different about your decision to awaken and theirs?

Also, continue to look carefully at the judgments that arise today. Inquire into them, look to your heart to discover your true desire, and then let the judgments go in light of your true desire.

My Thoughts

I know that my contribution to the world’s salvation is as important as was the contributions of Buddha and Jesus. It might not seem that way because what they accomplished was so important to so many. But what I accomplish on my path is just as important and absolutely essential. It may not seem to affect so many, but the many are one in that we share the same mind and so what I give is given to all and helps all. Most important I think is the fact that each of us is essential to the whole. Not one of us is done until all of us are done. I would not leave my brother’s incomplete by not doing my part.

I got to where I am on my path by watching my mind like a hawk. And I continue to do so. The ego-mind was designed to keep us in the illusion and does not stop doing its job. I see thoughts that used to interest me, and I don’t ignore them and think I don’t need to catch and release anymore. I am as persistent in this work as I ever was. It’s just easier now because now I am not defending any of my dark thoughts.

Past Entry

In this lesson, Jesus talks about reconciling all the parts of the Sonship. I talk about all of us being one, one mind, one Son, but I don’t always experience us as one. I guess that, really, I don’t ever experience us as one. But I believe I can and maybe soon. Right now, I say a name and that name conjures up the definition I have given the object, the person, the situation.

In naming or defining I have created separation. They are, at the very least, quick references for the differences I perceive in each one. For instance, if you were to say to me, “Wait, which daughter are you talking about?” I would say, “You know, the one who is the mother of my grandchildren.” “My other daughter is the writer and the one who teaches English at a junior college.” Definitions of separation.

As we discuss meditation it becomes clear that not everyone defines meditation in the same way. We also see that the definitions are sometimes charged with judgment and comparisons. “He meditates better than me.” “There must be something wrong with me, I cannot meditate.” There must be a million ways in which we define ourselves as separate.

Time defines one moment as separate from another. Space defines one object as here and another as there, clearly marking them as different. We categorize events as good and bad, happy and sad, exciting and boring, again defining each event as separate from the other.

What can I do with this?

I cannot exist in the world without defining and differentiating. Could I recognize Sheryl as the mother of my grandchildren without defining her thus? I think that it is good to remember that I am not being asked in the Course to “be” different. I am asked to be aware and to be willing to “see” differently. Behind the definitions I give all things is the radiant, loving Light that is God. And I am beginning to see that instead of what my current ego beliefs are showing me.

I realize now that it is possible to see each person as so much more than the definition I give them. I know they are not what I see with the body’s eyes, that their body is just a tool they are using to help them awaken. But I still slip back into seeing them as a picture of my projections. And then I shake myself back to wakefulness and I am again aware of reality, at least to some degree.

If I am willing to be wrong about absolutely everything I currently believe, could the Holy Spirit take me past all my judgments and errors in thought, all my definitions; could He bring me to the Oneness that is All There Is? The better question is, would I be willing to go there with Him?

Or do I cherish my separate identity more than I long for my Father?

This question is answered each time I look at a separate brother, each time I make someone special. But each moment is another opportunity to make a different choice, and all I need do is be aware of that moment, and be willing to see differently.

Holy Spirit, yesterday I intended to give each person my complete attention as a way of extending love. I sometimes did and sometimes not. Sometimes the ego mask they wore confused me and I thought one or another was more or less deserving of my attention.

Please help me to see not separate individuals, but only another aspect of my Self. Help me to look through the seeming differences to see the sameness. I am willing to be aware and willing to see with You this day. I am deeply grateful for this opportunity.

2014

Every day I read what I have written in the past about the lesson, sometimes making changes and sometimes adding a postscript. Today I posted what I had written before with only minor adjustments and I thought I was through, but I kept being called back to it. Finally, I opened it again and I read it carefully asking Jesus what else he wanted me to know. I wrote what came to me and as I read it, I realized it was helpful to me on more than one level.

For one thing, I spent several days in a rarified state while I was in Santa Fe at the workshop with Nouk and John Mark. During those days my everyday story was suspended and I existed without the usual ego concerns. I was also being uplifted by the joining that was occurring. I had many moments of enlightenment in which I felt my reality. And, I had moments when I was so infused with joy that I didn’t even want to do anything but experience this light and this reality.

Then I came home and without any period of readjustment, I found myself thrown back into my story. It was jarring and I have been asking how to get back to the light in which I existed for so much of that time. I think that Jesus called me back to this lesson because he is answering my question and reminding me that the story is a device, and it is an experience I asked for, but it is not what I am.

What stands out to me today is that I am what I seek; I am God’s holy Son.

Again and again, Jesus tells us that we already are what God created. The only thing remaining to do is to accept what we are. The way to do that is to release our belief in what we are not. Each person, in whatever story they are experiencing right now, has the means to do their part to help the Son awaken.

The person who seems to think that life is a big party boat and they are here to have fun is playing out their part just as much as anyone else. The one who thinks they are in a nightmare is playing out his part just as much as anyone else. I started out in a party boat, realized it was an attempt to escape from a nightmare and then found this path.

My part in the awakening is neither more nor less than anyone else’s. Each separate individual is a part of a whole and each part is equally essential. If there was a tapestry with a huge scene woven into it that told many stories and one very tiny scene was removed, there would be a hole in the tapestry and it would no longer be complete. Each of us is crucial in the same way and to the same degree as any other.

Regardless of what seems to be happening in the story today, I have one goal.

My job today is to accept the Atonement for myself. In this way, I complete my part and am reconciled within myself and also within the whole of the Sonship. The reason one person’s part is no more or less than another is that we are the Sonship. We are the Christ.

I think of it this way: I am Christ and I had the thought that I would like to experience something not-God, something different than All That Is. So I fell asleep and had that dream of being many instead of one. We are the dream, and we are the dreamer and as I accept the Atonement we are reconciled, we are merged, we are reunited, dreamer and dream, many and one. I am God’s Son, His one eternal Love. I am salvation’s means and end as well.

Contemplation 2025