ACIM Workbook Daily Lesson 64, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 64 Let me not forget my function.

Lesson 64

Let me not forget my function.

1. Today’s idea is merely another way of saying “Let me not wander into temptation.” ²The purpose of the world you see is to obscure your function of forgiveness, and provide you with a justification for forgetting it. ³It is the temptation to abandon God and His Son by taking on a physical appearance. ⁴It is this the body’s eyes look upon.

Later in the Workbook, Jesus is going to tell us this. “We are creation; we the Sons of God.” (ACIM, W-pII.11.4:1) When we took on a physical appearance, it was the temptation to abandon God and creation. This sentence from the Workbook creates a longing in me to return my awareness to Reality. It awakens something in me that remembers what it means to be of the Sons of God and I want to return to that.

I am not being held prisoner here except through my own desires, so return is possible. No, it is inevitable, being the Will of God. The world is made to distract and obscure, but I can choose not to be distracted. I can choose to forgive what is happening in the world rather than allow it to obscure my function. Sometimes it takes determination to make the choice for God. Most importantly, no matter how many times I forget my purpose, I can always choose again.

A Place to Learn Forgiveness

2. Nothing the body’s eyes seem to see can be anything but a form of temptation, since this was the purpose of the body itself. ²Yet we have learned that the Holy Spirit has another use for all the illusions you have made, and therefore He sees another purpose in them. ³To the Holy Spirit, the world is a place where you learn to forgive yourself what you think of as your sins. ⁴In this perception, the physical appearance of temptation becomes the spiritual recognition of salvation.

Last night I received a disturbing phone call about someone I love very much. To the ego this was a useful distraction, a way to bring my attention back to the world. I had to pull myself out of the story several times before I remembered my purpose. Using the world to convince me that what I see with my eyes is real is the ego’s use for the world. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit sees the world as a place where I can learn to forgive. I began with listening to the ego’s interpretation of the situation which called for judgment. But I know better, and so I turned my awareness to the Voice for God and chose to forgive instead.

Salvation Awaits My Forgiveness

3. To review our last few lessons, your function here is to be the light of the world, a function given you by God. ²It is only the arrogance of the ego that leads you to question this, and only the fear of the ego that induces you to regard yourself as unworthy of the task assigned to you by God Himself. ³The world’s salvation awaits your forgiveness, because through it does the Son of God escape from all illusions, and thus from all temptation. ⁴The Son of God is you.

When I received that phone call last night, I temporarily lost sight of my function. As I forgave the situation and my fear for those involved, the darkness was lifted, and I was again, the light of the world. Once more, I accepted my function as given me by God. I could have fallen into unworthiness, thinking that I would never stop falling for the ego’s lies. But it’s too late for that ploy. I have fallen and risen too many times for me to take it seriously. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself or to be afraid of my ego thoughts. The Son of God is waiting for me to forgive our illusions. And the Son of God is me. And is you.

Forgiveness=Happiness

4. Only by fulfilling the function given you by God will you be happy. ²That is because your function is to be happy by using the means by which happiness becomes inevitable. ³There is no other way. ⁴Therefore, every time you choose whether or not to fulfill your function, you are really choosing whether or not to be happy.

In sentence one, Jesus makes an uncompromising statement. He tells us that only by fulfilling the function of forgiveness will we be happy. This is the only way to achieve happiness and it is inevitable that it will bring us to happiness. I’ve learned for myself that this is true. Last night when I first got the phone call, my mind went into a spin cycle. My thoughts were going round and round with one eventually popping up for me to look at. Then around and around all over again until another popped up.

It was late and I was tired and so I reminded myself that my goal is peace not changing my little piece of the world. I asked for healing to occur while I slept and this happened. This morning, I felt the spin cycle start again and quickly stopped it. My mind was clearer and I was able to surrender fully to the miracle. As the day goes on joy has filled me again. Only forgiveness can do this for me.

A Simple Decision

5. Let us remember this today. ²Let us remind ourselves of it in the morning and again at night, and all through the day as well. ³Prepare yourself in advance for all the decisions you will make today by remembering they are all really very simple. ⁴Each one will lead to happiness or unhappiness. ⁵Can such a simple decision really be difficult to make? ⁶Let not the form of the decision deceive you. ⁷Complexity of form does not imply complexity of content. ⁸It is impossible that any decision on earth can have a content different from just this one simple choice. ⁹That is the only choice the Holy Spirit sees. ¹⁰Therefore it is the only choice there is.

If I think with the ego about the situation that upset me last night, I could go back into distress. But what good would that do? It wouldn’t change anything nor would it make anyone happy. I love this person but being worried about him or suffering with him isn’t helping anyone. Not worrying about him doesn’t make the situation worse. It is just pointless.

Any decision I make about it will have only one of two outcomes. It will either bring happiness or unhappiness. If there is something to be done or said, with a mind cleared of distress, I will know what that is. If nothing is to be done, I will follow Ramana Maharshi’s decision. I will not mind what happens. I can afford to do that since I know that minding what happens doesn’t change the situation. All it does is keep me from fulfilling my function of forgiveness and thus robs me of happiness.

Form Varies but Content Remains the Same

If I were upset about the Russian Ukraine situation, or about getting my taxes in order, the content is the same. It is an opportunity to forgive the upset and that is all. My choice will determine whether I am happy or unhappy. Only in our split minds do we see a hierarchy of illusions. In reality, they are all the same, either real or unreal. God did not create war or taxes and so they are not real. In the world of our imagination, they both continue to play out and I can’t stop either one. What I can do is choose to remember my function regardless of what is taking place in the dream.

Practice

6. Today, then, let us practice with these thoughts:

²Let me not forget my function.
³Let me not try to substitute mine for God’s.
⁴Let me forgive and be happy.

⁵At least once devote ten or fifteen minutes today to reflecting on this with closed eyes. ⁶Related thoughts will come to help you, if you remember the crucial importance of your function to you and to the world.

7. In the frequent applications of today’s idea throughout the day, devote several minutes to reviewing these thoughts, and then thinking about them and about nothing else. ²This will be difficult, at first particularly, since you are not proficient in the mind discipline that it requires. ³You may need to repeat “Let me not forget my function” quite often to help you concentrate.

8. Two forms of shorter practice periods are required. ²At times, do the exercises with your eyes closed, trying to concentrate on the thoughts you are using. ³At other times, keep your eyes open after reviewing the thoughts, and then look slowly and unselectively around you, telling yourself:

⁴This is the world it is my function to save.

²Let me not forget my function.

No Substitute

Let me not forget that it is my function to forgive the situation my friend finds himself facing. I will forgive the past similar situation that tends to intrude upon my thoughts of him now. I will forgive my temptation to think I need things to be different for him.

³Let me not try to substitute mine for God’s.

I think periodically that I should say this or that and make things better for him, or even to impose my solution on his life. Strange that this idea would even occur to me having proven to myself more than once that it is a bad choice. Certainly, I now see that this is a poor substitute for the function God gave me which will save the world, the Sonship, me.

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 64 click here.

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