ACIM: Forgiveness can elevate us beyond our current circumstances.
Forgiveness Lifts Us Above the Battleground
Forgiveness Lifts Us Above the Battleground
I have been particularly vigilant for the battlegrounds of my life. There are not so many as there used to be, and the battles are not so fierce. For a little while this morning, as I prepared to write on this subject, I couldn’t think of any going on right now in my life. However, for a year, I had been in the middle of the battleground and often fully engulfed by the battle of addiction in someone I love dearly and its effect on my life.
Even as he recovered and the battle no longer raged, my mind had formed the habit of anxiety, and it seemed to take all that I had to pull myself away from worry over him. I used the section of the Course called Rules for Decision to get above that battleground. When I would have a “what if” thought or any fear thought about him, I would feel the pull of the story and realize I was about to get sucked in again.
I would realize that the only thing happening is that I asked the ego what the situation meant, and then I would ask for the Holy Spirit’s interpretation instead. I did this for a couple of weeks, and then one day, I was above the battleground. From there, I realized I was no longer interested in the story, so I quit writing it.
Many Battlegrounds
In the end, it was very simple; I only needed to forgive my story. It only seemed hard because I had let myself get used to this drama and temporarily forgot that I long for the peace of God. I can’t be in the battle and at the same time be at peace. Forgiveness is the key to happiness, but I must employ that key if I want peace and joy in my life. As I forgive the conflict in my life, I start experiencing a happier dream.
I also realized this morning that there are many battlegrounds that I sometimes don’t identify. This is because they don’t seem so important to me or don’t cause me so much distress. An example occurred a few minutes ago as I was putting my clothes on to wash. I noticed that my mind was replaying a defensive conversation over and over in my mind.
It had never actually occurred anywhere other than in my mind. But obviously, I felt the need to defend myself over something that had not yet and probably never would happen. Suddenly, I had a different thought; in my defenselessness my safety lies. With that true thought, I had no trouble forgiving the battle going on in my mind. Thanks, Holy Spirit! I had not immediately identified this as a battleground because it didn’t seem important to me.
The Peace of God
But before I had the thought of defenselessness, I had an uncomfortable feeling of being out of peace. The peace of God is my purpose, and lack of peace is always caused by a battleground of one sort or another. The apparent size or intensity is unimportant. I am either at peace or I am not. I cannot be a little peaceful. If I pay attention to my thoughts, I will see the direction they are taking in time to forgive them. I can let them be purified before they turn into something harder to deal with.
Here is another example. I have had some plumbing problems recently. I have had the plumbers out three times in a month. This morning I noticed that the toilet was draining slowly, showing signs of being clogged again. I started having this imaginary conversation with the plumbers in which I berate them for not doing a good job and for costing me so much money.
This is another battlefield; if I do not get above it, I will soon witness it taking form in my life. Actually, I see that the whole situation is a battlefield that began with a belief in my mind. Could it be that I had thoughts of victimhood that, unchecked, led to the formation of a battlefield in my mind, and these thoughts produced form at the level of the story? I suspect so. This is how it is explained in Lesson 325.
Lack Is Another Battleground
I have also had fearful thoughts about lack when I think about the money this has cost me and that it will cost me. There are fearful thoughts about the problem worsening over the Christmas holiday with company coming. This fear will produce more stories if I continue making a battleground of my mind. What should I do about this? Clearly, I need to forgive this situation and everyone involved in it.
I know I need to get above the battleground, and I know that is not done by correcting the problem at the level of form. Yes, I may have to do something within my story, but the cause is in my mind, not in my story. So, I recognize that I have done this to myself, and now I choose to undo it through forgiveness. I give my thoughts of victimhood and lack and fear to the Holy Spirit, and I ask Him to correct my thinking and purify my thoughts. I surrender the problem to Him and trust that He will heal and direct me.
Sickness Is a Battleground
Another battleground is sickness. Lesson 140 says this:
Sickness where guilt is absent cannot come, for it is but another form of guilt.
Sometimes the mind chooses ego stories of guilt, and I believe these stories. The guilt often winds up being projected onto the body as sickness and pain. I can fight it out on the battlefield of the body, a choice that, at best, works only sometimes and is never a permanent solution. Or I can rise above the battlefield as I turn to the cause: the belief that guilt is real. I can believe that thought and suffer, or I can forgive that thought and let it be corrected.
Most of my battlegrounds these days are created by idol chatter in my mind. They come and go with hardly a notice unless I deliberately choose to be aware of them. Those idle thoughts are producing form on some level. If they are defensive in nature or even mildly fearsome, they will give form to a battlefield I will regret. So I have learned to be vigilant for the chatter. If it is something that needs to be undone, it is far better to nip it in the bud before it becomes an image I have made and must then deal with.
Pathways of Light has excellent insights into the Daily Lessons. CLICK HERE to read them.