ACIM Chapter 11. III. From Darkness to Light P 4-6

ACIM Chapter 11. III. From Darkness to Light P 4-6

III. From Darkness to Light P 4

4 The way is not hard, but it is very different. Yours is the way of pain, of which God knows nothing. That way is hard indeed, and very lonely. Fear and grief are your guests, and they go with you and abide with you on the way. But the dark journey is not the way of God’s Son. Walk in light and do not see the dark companions, for they are not fit companions for the Son of God, who was created of light and in light. The Great Light always surrounds you and shines out from you. How can you see the dark companions in a light such as this? If you see them, it is only because you are denying the light. But deny them instead, for the light is here and the way is clear.

Again, Jesus is telling us we can do this.

He tells us that we have all we need because what we are is all we need. The light that will guide us and awaken us is in us. It shines out from us. So, I ask myself how I manage to see the darkness in all this light. I must be really determined to walk with these dark companions, or rather, the ego part of my mind is determined. ‘I’m determined to walk in light.

This determination keeps me looking at my thoughts and releasing them to the Holy Spirit. It keeps me from running and from choosing denial over honesty. I believe Jesus when he tells me that I can do this and that the light is already available to me. It makes my heart beat a little faster when I think of that!

Jesus began this paragraph by telling us that this is not difficult, just very different. We have become accustomed to pain, suffering, and death. We think that guilt and fear are natural and fully justified. What we refuse to see is that we find justification because we are looking for it. We look for it in the dark, and we find it there because we put it there. We are the authors of our sad and fatalistic stories. We write the story, project it outward, and seek to find it. We then pretend we don’t know where it came from, but it definitely proves our point.

Today, if my thoughts wander into the darkness, I will remember this.

I am going to remind myself that I see dark images because I am looking in the dark. I can as easily see the joy and the peace and the love that is God and so is me as well. I can look at the light instead. It is a simple choice. I am going to use my favorite mantras to remind me and help me turn to the light.

The peace of God is everything I want. God does not will this, so it cannot be. God’s Will is my will.  Then, I will let the Holy Spirit give me whatever thoughts He knows will help me.

III. From Darkness to Light P 5

5 God hides nothing from His Son, even though His Son would hide himself. Yet the Son of God cannot hide his glory, for God wills him to be glorious, and gave him the light that shines in him. You will never lose your way, for God leads you. When you wander, you but undertake a journey that is not real. The dark companions, the dark way, are all illusions. Turn toward the light, for the little spark in you is part of a Light so great that it can sweep you out of all darkness forever. For your Father is your Creator, and you are like Him.

Jesus is just stating facts here. Regardless of appearances, regardless of the illusions I have made, certain things are immutable. They are true right now and will always be true. This is all the Course is trying to help me understand and accept. All the lessons, all the concepts, all the many, many words, are just bringing me to this one thing. I am as God created me. And He created me out of Himself, and so that is what I am. I am Light. I am of God.

Last night, I had the strangest dreams. I woke up thinking about them and wondering what they meant if anything, then I forgot about them. But the one thing I can tell you is that while I dreamed of being something strange last night, my dream changed nothing. On awakening this morning, I was still what I was when I went to sleep. While I was dreaming that I was this strange being, I remained exactly what I am now. Even in the midst of the dream of being different, I was not.

This is the same in my waking dream experience.

I dream of being a body and having all these strange experiences, but even in the midst of this dream, I haven’t changed. I remain what I have always been: the Son of God. Dreaming I am something else does not make me something else. When I wake up, I will probably have the feelings that I had this morning, thinking, “What a strange dream that was.” Will I wonder what it all meant? Or will I simply allow the remnants of the dream to fade away.

III. From Darkness to Light P 6

6 The children of light cannot abide in darkness, for darkness is not in them. Do not be deceived by the dark comforters, and never let them enter the mind of God’s Son, for they have no place in His temple. When you are tempted to deny Him remember that there are no other gods to place before Him, and accept His Will for you in peace. For you cannot accept it otherwise.

I see that Jesus is stating a simple truth. “The children of light cannot abide in darkness, for darkness is not in them.” If I am in darkness, in hatred, in rage, in depression, fear, guilt, in suffering of any kind, it can only be that I don’t remember what I am. I am a child of light, and I am only dreaming of darkness. This is all that is happening. In my dark dreams I seem to suffer, and so I am ready to awaken from the dream.

Dreamers do not succumb to their dreams. I am suffering, but I am safe. I will wake up when I choose to see. Vision has shown me the darkness and deceptiveness of ego, and I will continue my vigilance to bar them from the mind of God’s Son. I understand now that this is not a personal quest to make a happier version of Myron’s story. I see that there is no personal. This is holy work. It is work done for the mind that we all are.

I have been conflicted about my purpose.

I have thought that my purpose was to achieve certain things, to defend and protect my little goals. But I also know that this is not right. So, I have also been looking at my reactions to the world I made through my conflicted beliefs and asking that the Holy Spirit heal my mind and restore my peace. I have been allowing my awareness to return to the truth that the only will I have is the will I share with God.

The period of conflict that I have been experiencing is unpleasant, but as I remember that my purpose, my one purpose, and my only goal is the peace of God, conflict eases and then falls away. As the chaotic ego thinking is released, it is inevitable that the truth becomes clear to me that all my separate and personal goals were the false gods I made. As I let these illusory gods (goals) go, my mind is more peaceful, and in peace, I remember that there is no other God and that God’s Will is my will.