ACIM Lesson 299 Eternal holiness abides in me.
Eternal holiness abides in me.
1. My holiness is far beyond my own ability to understand or know. ²Yet God, my Father, Who created it, acknowledges my holiness as His. ³Our Will, together, understands it. ⁴And Our Will, together, knows that it is so.
2. Father, my holiness is not of me. ²It is not mine to be destroyed by sin. ³It is not mine to suffer from attack. ⁴Illusions can obscure it, but can not put out its radiance, nor dim its light. ⁵It stands forever perfect and untouched. ⁶In it are all things healed, for they remain as You created them. ⁷And I can know my holiness. ⁸For Holiness Itself created me, and I can know my Source because it is Your Will that You be known.
Finding and Releasing Ego Thoughts
I wonder how many of us contemplate our holiness and what that means? I had always been more interested in what needed to be undone in my mind. Firstly, what I thought of as ‘bad’ stuff was something I did believe in. My holiness, not so much. So, finding and releasing ego thoughts was something I could get behind. After a bit of practice, it became obvious to me which thoughts needed to go. More importantly, the happy effects of mind being cleared of ego thinking convinced me to remain vigilant.
Holiness Just Is
The idea that I am very holy, however lovely it sounds, left me stumped. I couldn’t figure out how to do anything with this. I didn’t feel holy and nothing I said or did made me feel holy. As it turns out, evidently there is nothing to do about holiness. It just is. I can acknowledge it or I can pretend it is not true. That seems to be the two options from which I must choose.
Holiness Is Not of Me So I Can’t Change It
Pretending that holiness doesn’t exist in me doesn’t affect my holiness at all. Behaving in a very unholy way doesn’t affect it. Actively denying my holiness doesn’t change it. Feeling embarrassed at the idea of saying I am very holy doesn’t negate the fact that I am. Someone berating me for my grandiose claims does nothing to change my holiness.
My holiness is in me but not of me so it is not possible for me to affect it. My holiness is God’s holiness. Only our will together understands it and only our will together knows that it is so. Consequently, I choose to simply accept it is truth. In this lesson, Jesus says, ⁶In it are all things healed, for they remain as You created them. All of this tells me that I am holy and that my holiness matters. I can continue to do what I have been doing, bringing darkness to the light, that is, to my holiness.
I Don’t Need to Understand
I’m still stumped as to understanding holiness and what to do with this. Luckily, I don’t need to understand. In Chapter 18, Jesus is very clear on that point. ⁵You are still convinced that your understanding is a powerful contribution to the truth, and makes it what it is. ⁶Yet we have emphasized that you need understand nothing. ⁷Salvation is easy just because it asks nothing you cannot give right now. (ACIM, T-18.IV.7:5-7) “Holy Spirit, I accept that I don’t need to understand and I ask You to guide me in what I can give now.”
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