ACIM Lesson 248. Whatever suffers is not part of me. I have disowned the truth. ²Now let me be as faithful in disowning falsity.
Whatever suffers is not part of me.
Lesson 248
Whatever suffers is not part of me.
1. I have disowned the truth. ²Now let me be as faithful in disowning falsity. ³Whatever suffers is not part of me. ⁴What grieves is not myself. ⁵What is in pain is but illusion in my mind. ⁶What dies was never living in reality, and did but mock the truth about myself. ⁷Now I disown self-concepts and deceits and lies about the holy Son of God. ⁸Now am I ready to accept him back as God created him, and as he is.
2. Father, my ancient love for You returns, and lets me love Your Son again as well. ²Father, I am as You created me. ³Now is Your Love remembered, and my own. ⁴Now do I understand that they are one.
My focus now is on disowning falsity.
I remind myself often of what I am not and also of what I am. These lessons in the second half of the Workbook are particularly helpful. The first half of the workbook was dedicated to showing me what I believed about myself and helping me let it go. Now it is time to claim what is true as my own.
I am, with you, the Christ. I used to say this but with some reluctance as I certainly didn’t feel like or act like this could be true, and it felt strange on my tongue. Now I say it with confidence. I know there is still more to release from my mind, but my conviction is stronger, and I feel that. Not only is it possible for me to claim the truth of who I am, it feels right. That there is more to release doesn’t change that.
The character I play in this story has a lot of problems, and that is so perfect.
All those problems were opportunities. They made it clear what beliefs needed to be released to uncover my true identity. Through this life story, they showed me how these untrue beliefs caused certain unwanted effects. So the story motivated the work needed to clear the mind. I’m grateful for the story even when it is unpleasant, maybe especially when it is not pleasant. Those are the times with the greatest opportunities for healing.
What makes the lessons easier to learn now is that with time, I have come to understand that I am not the dream character. Myron tends to be critical and also is extremely hard on herself. She has an undisciplined mind that spends way too much time in the past or the future. She has suffered in her life and experienced pain and depression.
But I am not Myron, and none of this is part of me.
I am the watcher of the show, the decision-maker, the sleeping Son of God awakening. I cannot suffer. I can only be aware of how the belief in suffering affects the believer and decide to let that belief go. It is, after all, not reality, only a perception. I know that the story of Myron is just another of the multitude of occurrences sourced by us as part of the tiny mad idea. I realize that it is an ancient memory I placed before the body’s eyes so that it could be forgiven. That is what I am doing with it, and now that I understand what is going on, it is easier to do.
I am the Son of God, but only with everyone else. Now that I know I am not the dream character, I know that no one else is their character either. This understanding makes it a simple matter to overlook their errors. They are simply doing the same thing I am doing, watching the show, deciding if they are ready to walk off this giant stage. If I slip back into thinking that someone is a sinner, I realize that means I slipped back into the human identity. I forgive it and let it go again. It’s really that simple when I am certain of what I want.
The ego loves our stories of being sick.
Sickness seems to prove its point that we are bodies after all, so it emphasizes those moments in our minds. It tells the story of being sick over and over. Once I noticed what is going on, I stopped this from happening. One of the things I did was to remind myself of the truth. I say, “This day I will accept God’s peace and joy, in glad exchange for all the substitutes that I have made for happiness and peace.”
I reminded myself of the truth despite appearances to the contrary. I reminded myself of this because I don’t want to become confused and start thinking the body and its ills are the truth. This is a perfect lesson to reinforce that decision for today and in the future. I will not disown the truth no matter what is happening in the illusory story of Myron right now.
Regina’s Tips for “What is the World?
Our special theme says, “Let us not rest content until the world has joined our changed perception. Let us not be satisfied until forgiveness has been made complete.”
If you continue to read the last paragraph of our special theme, it appears to have an outward focus. It says, “We must save the world.” However, an outward focus that attempts to save others, possibly by converting them to the teachings that we study and practice, ignores the teaching itself.
Remember, “Inward problems cannot be solved by looking outward. Inward problems can only be solved by looking inward.”
Or, as A Course in Miracles puts it, “The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the atonement for himself.” (T-2.V. 5:1)
What is meant by, “Let us not rest content until the world has joined our changed perception … ”?
The desire to end suffering for one’s self can be highly motivating for a time. However, it is not enough motivation to keep one determined until the ego has ended. A motivation that continues beyond the desire to end one’s own suffering is the desire to end suffering for everyone. This was Buddha’s motivation. This was also Jesus’ motivation.
My Thoughts
Ending the ego’s reign over the mind is my goal, not just for myself, but for the entire mind. I am not free until everyone is free.
Regina’s Tips for “Whatever suffers is not part of me.”
The proper way to deny suffering is to look at awareness, recognize it as my true Self and recognize that awareness is forever unaffected by perception. In other words, I reclaim my true Self and disown the false self.
As today’s lesson says, “What is in pain is but illusion in my mind. What dies was never living in reality, … Now I disown self-concepts and deceits and lies …”
Many people have been confused about the proper use of denial. Do not deny the suffering that others experience. Have compassion for their suffering. The suffering that you deny is your own. You deny your suffering by noticing that your true Self does not suffer. It never has.
Because the Holy Spirit is always gentle with me, I am learning to be gentle.
I am learning to be gentle both with myself and others. My vigilance in mind watching and my willingness to change bring me back to the reality of who I am. My practice is helping me release my belief in the ego identity and accept my identity as the Son of God.
I am using every opportunity to deny anything in my mind that is not true. If I am in pain, I may take something to relieve the pain, but first, I deny pain as the result of a false belief. Pain is not real. I remind myself of the truth each time I feel pain in the body or if I feel emotional pain. It doesn’t matter what form it takes, as all pain is unreal. God is not pain, so pain cannot exist.
I deny grief in all its forms.
I don’t try to suppress the feeling when I feel grief, such as when my mom died. But, I remind myself that it is not real either. God is not grief, so grief cannot exist. Loss cannot exist. No matter how much I believe I can experience loss, I cannot. I deny its ability to affect me. The same is true for anything that does not exist in God. God is all there is. If it is not a part of God, it does not exist.
Because I have embraced the idea of separation and have made a world that embodies this strange belief, I will see a lot of apparent proof that separation effects do, in fact, exist. Of course, I will since I put the effects there through my beliefs and my desire to experience. I am learning to look through those appearances and to open my mind to the truth instead. The truth is there. It remains untouched by the illusions I have chosen to experience, and so when I choose differently, I will see reality.
Holy Spirit, help me today as I remain vigilant for the truth. I know I can be vigilant because I spend each moment of my life supporting a system of belief that has no foundation in truth. I have effectively kept the world of illusion in place with my vigilance. Today I choose to use my vigilance to let go of that false idea and to bring my focus to the only true thing.
This is something I wrote in 2016.
I am being very specific now as I continue the process of letting go of thoughts that are not part of God and therefore are not part of me. Any thoughts of anger, fear, guilt, loss or lack, dread, anxiety, or even a slight concern go out the door. Here is an example. I have some free time this morning and spent some of it amusing myself on Facebook. I began to notice slight anxiety creeping in. When I looked for the thought that made this feeling, I saw this; I had squandered my time uselessly. I went from a lovely peace to guilt, just like that!
It was possible just to dismiss this and get on with my morning. But I have discovered that pushing away these little thoughts just allows them to grow into larger, more uncomfortable stories. Instead, I looked right at it and decided it was too ridiculous to hold onto. Why would I want to think about being guilty of wasting time? Why would I give that concept my attention and let it grow into something worse? It was at least fun to waste time on Facebook. But wasting time on guilt stories is only painful and leads only to more pain. I let it go, and now it is gone. I am peaceful, and I wonder why I used to find this so hard to do.
Here is another from this morning.
As I was enjoying my free time this morning, I had the thought that I am going to enjoy retirement very much. Maybe every morning will feel like this. I was making some breakfast, and I noticed another thought. When I retire, I won’t be able to afford this fancy coffee I like so much. Immediately I felt some anxiety. There was a time, (A week ago, maybe. LOL) when I would have followed that thought with other concerns about money. I would have begun to make elaborate plans about how to be frugal.
That thought was just taking hold when I noticed what I was doing. I was actually planning how to be poor. I was worried about what would happen and how I would deal with it. Like I knew what would happen and what I was supposed to do with it. In the process, I was taking myself out of peace and happiness and going into fear and dread. Why would I want to do this? Nothing has happened, and no decisions are required of me right now. I was deliberately scaring myself.
As it happens, I did have a decision to make after all.
I decided that I had asked the ego what something meant, and I decided that was a bad idea. So, I let it all go. I will not spend my life encouraging disturbing thoughts and watching them grow in my mind. Lack and loss are not in God and not in me unless I want to have that experience, and I don’t. That whole scenario went up in smoke, and I laughed at myself for my foolishness in entertaining it even for those few moments. Why would I want to do that? And look how easy it is just to say no. I desire abundance and happiness and peace. As Jesus says, every thought becomes form on some level. I want my thought forms to represent truth, not falsity.
Contemplation 2025
To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 248 click here.
If you found this content helpful, please share on social media so more people can read and learn.