ACIM Workbook Part II, Introduction, Year 2022

ACIM Part II of the Workbook: Introduction

Part II Introduction

¹ Words will mean little now. We use them but as guides on which we do not now depend. For now we seek direct experience of truth alone. The lessons that remain are merely introductions to the times in which we leave the world of pain, and go to enter peace. Now we begin to reach the goal this course has set, and find the end toward which our practicing was always geared.

Before today, the emphasis has been on learning. But starting now, the emphasis is on the experience. We are going to give time during the morning and evening in quiet as we receive a direct experience of the truth. We will call to God, and He will reveal Himself to us. Our will, in union with the Father’s Will, makes this possible. And Jesus will be with us, holding our hand as we do this. How very sacred will be our moments of meditation now!

We Wait in Quiet Expectation

² Now we attempt to let the exercise be merely a beginning. For we wait in quiet expectation for our God and Father. He has promised He will take the final step Himself. And we are sure His promises are kept. We have come far along the road, and now we wait for Him. We will continue spending time with Him each morning and at night, as long as makes us happy. We will not consider time a matter of duration now. We use as much as we will need for the desired result. Nor will we forget our hourly remembrance in between, calling to God when we have need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal.

In the first part of the Workbook, the emphasis was on learning so there were a lot of words and very specific practices. We were told how often and how long to practice. But now the emphasis has changed to experience, there are not many words. Nor are we told how long to be with the Father. In fact, he says that we should stay as long as it makes us happy. We are asked to spend time with God morning and evening and are reminded to call on Him when we are tempted to forget our goal.

We Have Called on Him and He Will Answer

³ We will continue with a central thought for all the days to come, and we will use that thought to introduce our times of rest, and calm our minds at need. Yet we will not content ourselves with simple practicing in the remaining holy instants which conclude the year that we have given God. We say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father to reveal Himself, as He has promised. We have called on Him, and He has promised that His Son will not remain unanswered when he calls His Name.

What a wonderful thought! We are calling on God to reveal Himself and are assured that He will answer as He promised. What will our experience be? We will have to wait and see.

We Come to Him

⁴ Now do we come to Him with but His Word upon our minds and hearts, and wait for Him to take the step to us that He has told us, through His Voice, He would not fail to take when we invited Him. He has not left His Son in all his madness, nor betrayed his trust in Him. Has not His faithfulness earned Him the invitation that He seeks to make us happy? We will offer it, and it will be accepted. So our times with Him will now be spent. We say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait for Him to come to us.

There is little for us to do. That might be a problem for the ego mind. It really likes to think and to do, but we can instruct our minds to see this differently. This is what the Introduction is helping us to do. We are being told that this time with our Father will make us happy. And we are being reminded that He is good for His word. We begin each day with the few words that are offered, and then we wait in silence for the experience trusting it to come. I have learned that it is best not to choose an experience or expect something specific. I just wait to see what happens.

The Prophesy and Ancient Promises

⁵ Now is the time of prophecy fulfilled. Now are all ancient promises upheld and fully kept. No step remains for time to separate from its accomplishment. For now we cannot fail. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do so. And you could have never come this far unless you saw, however dimly, that it is your will.

I fully accept that my true will is the same as God’s Will. I also recognize that there is still some desire to experience the ego will, but I am letting that go as quickly as I can. Experience has proven to me that the ego will does not bring me success or happiness.

Jesus Is with Us

⁶ I am so close to you we cannot fail. Father, we give these holy times to You, in gratitude to Him Who taught us how to leave the world of sorrow in exchange for its replacement, given us by You. We look not backward now. We look ahead, and fix our eyes upon the journey’s end. Accept these little gifts of thanks from us, as through Christ’s vision we behold a world beyond the one we made, and take that world to be the full replacement of our own.

Jesus is reminding us that he is with us and will support our efforts so that we cannot fail. In gratitude, I leave behind all I believed before that hurt me. I look forward to the journey’s end. There is a world that is beyond the world we made and I have begun to see it. Not consistently and not with absolute clarity, but enough that I am dedicated to awakening fully. I think of this as a world without fear and guilt. I think that maybe, judging by the reports of those who have gone before me, it is a world of light and love and union with all things.

The Father and the Son

⁷ And now we wait in silence, unafraid and certain of Your coming. We have sought to find our way by following the Guide You sent to us. We did not know the way, but You did not forget us. And we know that You will not forget us now. We ask but that Your ancient promises be kept which are Your Will to keep. We will with You in asking this. The Father and the Son, Whose holy Will created all that is, can fail in nothing. In this certainty, we undertake these last few steps to You, and rest in confidence upon Your Love, which will not fail the Son who calls to You.

⁸ And so we start upon the final part of this one holy year, which we have spent together in the search for truth and God, Who is its one Creator. We have found the way He chose for us, and made the choice to follow it as He would have us go. His Hand has held us up. His Thoughts have lit the darkness of our minds. His Love has called to us unceasingly since time began.

The Experience Is Our Goal

Jesus is emphasizing that we are to have an experience of His coming and that we can depend on this. It is the result of the first half of the year in which we practiced our lessons and built on our willingness. It is also the result of learning to trust God and to know He loves us, so fear will not be a barrier to this experience.

This is God’s Will and also our will, so how could we fail? We lost our way and needed a Guide to bring us Home, and God gave us this Guide. We have been following Him, so we can ask for God to take the last step in the certainty that He will answer. Maybe today, maybe later, but it will happen and in perfect timing.

God Will Not Fail Us

⁹ We had a wish that God would fail to have the Son whom He created for Himself. We wanted God to change Himself, and be what we would make of Him. And we believed that our insane desires were the truth. Now we are glad that this is all undone, and we no longer think illusions true. The memory of God is shimmering across the wide horizons of our minds. A moment more, and it will rise again. A moment more, and we who are God’s Sons are safely home, where He would have us be.

I am so thankful that my wishes are not truth. I have let go of the arrogance that made me believe I could change creation and that I could change the Creator. I am as God created me and that is all I want to be. Will the full memory of God dawn upon my mind in a moment? Well, maybe not as I count the moments, but when it is done, it will feel as if only a moment has passed, and even that will be forgotten, and nothing will have happened.

Need Only Call to God

¹⁰ Now is the need for practice almost done. For in this final section, we will come to understand that we need only call to God, and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed. We will accept the way God’s plan will end, as we received the way it started. Now it is complete. This year has brought us to eternity.

I think this is my favorite paragraph. I had a temptation yesterday, and instead of giving into it, I called on God. This morning when I had to act on the problem, I found myself thinking about what to do, making plans, deciding what to say. I stopped myself by remembering if I decide on my own, there will be no room for God in the answer.

I used to pray for this thing or that solution. Now I just call on my Father when I am confused or upset. I trust He knows what is needed, and I know that I don’t. Sometimes I receive inspiration, but sometimes, the answer is just this miraculous peace that enfolds me. This is God’s Love, I think. When I think something is wrong and needs to change, I let go of the judgment. I let go and let God, and all things are healed.

A Theme of Special Relevance

¹¹ One further use for words we still retain. From time to time, instructions on a theme of special relevance will intersperse our daily lessons and the periods of wordless, deep experience which should come afterwards. These special thoughts should be reviewed each day, each one of them to be continued till the next is given you. They should be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of the holy and blessed instants in the day. We give the first of these instructions now.

I really like these special themes and look forward to using them as he says we should. The first one is forgiveness, and I think that forgiveness is the most important thing I have learned in A Course in Miracles. I came to understand that forgiveness is an illusion but the illusion that undoes all other illusions. It is the end of the road illusion. The most helpful way for me to think of illusion is to see it as letting go. I let go of those beliefs that are not true. It is my daily practice and the practice that will end the need for all other practices, I think.

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