ACIM Daily Lessons Epilogue
A Course in Miracles Workbook Epilogue
Epilogue
1. This course is a beginning, not an end. ²Your Friend goes with you. ³You are not alone. ⁴No one who calls on Him can call in vain. ⁵Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him. ⁶He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you. ⁷He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts. ⁸His certainty is yours. ⁹You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you.
It may seem to you that this is not true, that you have asked and have not been answered. But I can assure you, you have been answered. The answer is waiting for you to notice it or to be ready to accept it. I know this from my own personal experience. We should not underestimate the level of our resistance to God. But not to worry, we will overcome this resistance.
Your Way Is Certain
2. You are as certain of arriving home as is the pathway of the sun laid down before it rises, after it has set, and in the half-lit hours in between. ²Indeed, your pathway is more certain still. ³For it can not be possible to change the course of those whom God has called to Him. ⁴Therefore obey your will, and follow Him Whom you accepted as your voice, to speak of what you really want and really need. ⁵His is the Voice for God and also yours. ⁶And thus He speaks of freedom and of truth.
We cannot fail to return Home. This has been said in the lessons and in the Text, but here, Jesus is uncompromising in this statement. We cannot change what we are or what God has set in motion. To think we can undo reality and oppose God is arrogance that borders on absurdity. No, it doesn’t border on it; it is absurd. It is insane. What I understand now is that what God wills for me is also what I will for myself. It is the ego construct that thinks otherwise, and I am not that.
His Is the Word God Gave to You
3. No more specific lessons are assigned, for there is no more need of them. ²Henceforth, hear but the Voice for God and for your Self when you retire from the world, to seek reality instead. ³He will direct your efforts, telling you exactly what to do, how to direct your mind, and when to come to Him in silence, asking for His sure direction and His certain Word. ⁴His is the Word that God has given you. ⁵His is the Word you chose to be your own.
Again, we are in agreement with God. He gave us His Word to direct us, and we chose His Word as our director. I highly recommend strengthening your communication channel with the Holy Spirit. This is essential since He is the Voice for God in your mind. He is the Voice for your Self. Leaving the ego behind, along with the misery and suffering it brought into our awareness, is our purpose here. The Holy Spirit is our Helper and our Guide out of the illusion. You want to be able to hear Him clearly. I developed this channel of communication through meditative writing. You will find your own way. My advice is not to waste any time doing so.
And Now I Place You in His Hands
4. And now I place you in His hands, to be His faithful follower, with Him as Guide through every difficulty and all pain that you may think is real. ²Nor will He give you pleasures that will pass away, for He gives only the eternal and the good. ³Let Him prepare you further. ⁴He has earned your trust by speaking daily to you of your Father and your brother and your Self. ⁵He will continue. ⁶Now you walk with Him, as certain as is He of where you go; as sure as He of how you should proceed; as confident as He is of the goal, and of your safe arrival in the end.
Thank you, Brother. I know you won’t mind if I cling to the idea of Jesus for a while longer. I know that we are one and that there is no real difference between us, but I have come to love you so much. And though I realize that you are now the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the image I have of you in my mind is comforting.
The Only Moment
Once the mind is purified to the point that it is awakened to the truth that the world is a temporary experience, we are left by Jesus to the Holy Spirit to guide us the rest of the way home. I ask about everything now. I don’t ask for further guidance than what to do right now because I have been well trained that this is the only moment there is and the only time that I need be mindful. So far, so good.
I am curious, of course, and I am given enough information to satisfy my curiosity. But my guidance is on what I am supposed to be doing right now. I am gaining faith in my ability to hear clearly what I am being told and to disregard what others are told. Their guidance is for them, and my guidance is for me. I have also gained the wisdom to hold what I believe to be true very lightly. I see that I am also told only what I can absorb at any particular time and that there may be a different way to see when I am ready to go deeper. If I hold onto my beliefs too tightly, I will not be open to more.
The End Is Certain
5. The end is certain, and the means as well. ²To this we say “Amen.” ³You will be told exactly what God wills for you each time there is a choice to make. ⁴And He will speak for God and for your Self, thus making sure that hell will claim you not, and that each choice you make brings Heaven nearer to your reach. ⁵And so we walk with Him from this time on, and turn to Him for guidance and for peace and sure direction. ⁶Joy attends our way. ⁷For we go homeward to an open door which God has held unclosed to welcome us.
6. We trust our ways to Him and say “Amen.” ²In peace we will continue in His way, and trust all things to Him. ³In confidence we wait His answers, as we ask His Will in everything we do. ⁴He loves God’s Son as we would love him. ⁵And He teaches us how to behold him through His eyes, and love him as He does. ⁶You do not walk alone. ⁷God’s angels hover near and all about. ⁸His Love surrounds you, and of this be sure; that I will never leave you comfortless.
Angels Hover Near and All About
I have also gained in confidence that when I ask, I will be answered. I ask now as one who is part of the Sonship rather than as a lost and wandering supplicant unsure she is yet worthy of being heard answered. And I expect an answer when I ask. I wish I could just get a dialogue clear and complete, but for whatever reason, it doesn’t come like that. I get inspired thoughts and ideas, and sometimes it takes a while for every clue to come together into a coherent picture that answers my question. Perhaps this communication will improve over time.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. And I love the idea of God’s angels hovering near and all about. I am so filled with gratitude for this year through the lessons and for His continued love and guidance.
Regina’s Tips
As we move forward with Gentle Healing, let’s embrace the opportunity for purification and clarity. Whenever you are upset, turn to your inner teacher. Ask questions in trust that you will receive answers from within. Even if an answer does not come right away, trust that it will, and wait for it. You might sit and wait, as Adyashanti did when he wrote with inner wisdom, or you might go to other things while leaving the question open in your heart, knowing an answer will come in a form that you will recognize. Do not try to figure out or think up an answer for yourself. Wait for the gift of an answer, and an answer will come that is beyond the limited mental self, an answer that will take you further into healing and awakening.
Also:
You will be told exactly what God wills for you each time there is a choice to make.
We do not need to make choices anymore. This is good news! However, if you are anything like me, you will need to learn not to make choices. We were taught how to think and make choices; no one taught us how to not make choices. However, the universe will take care of itself, and our role will be given to us through intuition if we give up making choices and become the observer of everything that unfolds.
… ask His Will in everything we do.
Of course, to move beyond choice completely, this is the habit we need to cultivate. We need to remember to ask, “What am I to do now?” Guidance can become a new habit, but we need to put effort into cultivating that habit first.
My Thoughts
This is excellent advice. I am good at purification and asking for and receiving clarity. And I am pretty good at remembering to ask instead of deciding for myself, but making my own choices is a hard habit to break. I am continuing to practice this and am grateful for Regina’s emphasis here.
Past Entry
If you have gone all the way through the lessons, doing them to the best of your ability, then congratulations to you! This is a graduation of sorts. It is not necessary that you do them again. So why is it I do them over and over again? Well, I don’t, really. After following the directions as close as I was able with the help of a group similar to the one we have here, I did not do that again. But I find the lessons are a wonderful anchor, a way to start my day with God, and a way to stay with God during the day.
So I started a journal. I read the lesson, and I asked the Holy Spirit what He would have me know about the lesson. Now every year, for a long time, I have gone back to Lesson 1 and begun again. I decided to share this journal… let me rephrase that. I was guided by Him to share my journal, and I am glad I followed that guidance. It took a group to get me all through the lessons, and I was given the thought that I should pay that forward, so I did.
Promises
In the Epilogue, we are given some promises. We are told that we are never going to be alone, that we are going to be guided, all our troubles are answered. All we have to do is turn to Him and ask. I have continued over the years to develop that habit to the point that it occurs naturally for me now. The Holy Spirit speaks to me all through the day, and I have learned to listen more and more, and speaking to Him is as natural as breathing is for me. Every upsetting feeling has me turning to Him to ask for a different way to see. I highly recommend this kind of living.
Jesus is encouraging us to retire from the world and seek reality instead. He says the Holy Spirit will direct us, telling us exactly what to do. We are still in the world, and doing the lessons did not change that. But, we are learning how to be in the world but not of it. Instead of seeking to control and manipulate matter to our liking, we are now focused on seeking reality instead. Jesus said, “His is the Word that God has given you. His is the Word you chose to be your own.” This brought tears to my eyes.
We Are Not Alone
We have been given to the Holy Spirit now, and again Jesus assures us that we will be told exactly what to do and how to think each time there is a choice to make. I have found this to be true. I don’t always listen the first time, but eventually, usually, when I have had enough suffering, I listen, and His Voice is always there. We can be certain of the direction to go and certain of our arrival. We are not alone. Jesus says, “And so we walk with Him from this time on, and turn to Him for guidance and for peace and sure direction. Joy attends our way. For we go homeward to an open door which God has held unclosed to welcome us.”
Jesus is using the Epilogue to tell us in different ways that we are still being guided and that we can know this guidance. He wants us to know that we will succeed and that we can do this joyfully and in full confidence. I didn’t do it joyfully or confidently at first, but as I persisted and kept listening, this became truer and truer for me. Now it is true more than it isn’t. The other thing Jesus keeps emphasizing is that we are not left alone. We are guided, and this guidance is specific. I am thankful for this.
We will Not Be Left Comfortless
My favorite passage from the Epilogue is this one: “You do not walk alone. God’s angels hover near and all about. His Love surrounds you, and of this, be sure; that I will never leave you comfortless.” Thank you, Brother Jesus. My gratitude for your dedication to us is boundless. I have no adequate words to express how much I appreciate and love you.