Lesson 106
Let me be still and listen to the truth.
1. If you will lay aside the ego’s voice, however loudly it may seem to call; if you will not accept its petty gifts that give you nothing that you really want; if you will listen with an open mind, that has not told you what salvation is; then you will hear the mighty Voice of truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in Its messages.
Jesus assures us that we will hear the Voice for God in our mind. Please don’t think it must come as an actual voice that you hear with your ears. It is very unlikely that will happen. It will come as inspired ideas, thoughts that seem to be in words, some people have visions or see colors. When I have talked to the Holy Spirit about a problem releasing an idea and asked for help, what I have sometimes received as an answer was the release. The problem simply disappeared, sometimes it disappeared so completely that I couldn’t remember what the problem was.
At other times the answer comes as feelings. Yesterday as part of a course I am taking, I was asked to receive a message and share it with my mind healing partner. I closed my eyes and rested a moment in silence. I received a message of love that came as a feeling of being loved. Since I usually receive thoughts or ideas, I did this three times and each time, it was the same blissful feeling of being loved and being at peace.
2. Listen, and hear your Father speak to you through His appointed Voice, which silences the thunder of the meaningless, and shows the way to peace to those who cannot see. ²Be still today and listen to the truth. ³Be not deceived by voices of the dead, which tell you they have found the source of life and offer it to you for your belief. ⁴Attend them not, but listen to the truth.
Again, we are being encouraged to stop listening to the ego chatter in our mind. The less attention we pay to it, the less it influences us, and the less chatter there is. When he tells us not to be deceived by the voices of the dead, he means don’t listen to the voices of the world. He has told us that what is happening here is not reality. ‘Living’ as a body is not living. When I was involved in religion, I learned to fear God and to feel guilty. I had to stop listening to the world so that I could learn to love God and to remember my innocence.
3. Be not afraid today to circumvent the voices of the world. ²Walk lightly past their meaningless persuasion. ³Hear them not. ⁴Be still today and listen to the truth. ⁵Go past all things which do not speak of Him Who holds your happiness within His Hand, held out to you in welcome and in love. ⁶Hear only Him today, and do not wait to reach Him longer. ⁷Hear one Voice today.
I have learned to listen to just the one Voice and to disregard all other voices. And still, I sometimes allow the world to catch my attention and then I am off and running with its tales of woe for a bit until I come to my senses. Today, I am determined to hear only one Voice.
4. Today the promise of God’s Word is kept. ²Hear and be silent. ³He would speak to you. ⁴He comes with miracles a thousand times as happy and as wonderful as those you ever dreamed or wished for in your dreams. ⁵His miracles are true. ⁶They will not fade when dreaming ends. ⁷They end the dream instead; and last forever, for they come from God to His dear Son, whose other name is you. ⁸Prepare yourself for miracles today. ⁹Today allow your Father’s ancient pledge to you and all your brothers to be kept.
This is why I am determined to hear only His Voice. He loves me and He wants only my happiness. I am His Child; I belong to God. Today, He offers me miracles, gifts that will not fade with the dream but will last forever. He offers me love and peace and joy so sublime that I cannot even imagine it. What do I do to prepare for myself for Your ancient pledge to be kept, Father? I think that it must be that I look within my mind for the beliefs that prevent my acceptance of all you offer me.
5. Hear Him today, and listen to the Word which lifts the veil that lies upon the earth, and wakes all those who sleep and cannot see. ²God calls to them through you. ³He needs your voice to speak to them, for who could reach God’s Son except his Father, calling through your Self? ⁴Hear Him today, and offer Him your voice to speak to all the multitude who wait to hear the Word that He will speak today.
I do offer my voice today, Father. What would you have me say and to whom? Here I am, God. I will do my best to keep my mind clear of all that distracts from this holy purpose. I will do my best to keep my mind clear of ego nonsense that blocks Your Presence from my awareness. I dedicate myself to my part in readying myself to be used by You.
6. Be ready for salvation. ²It is here, and will today be given unto you. ³And you will learn your function from the One Who chose it in your Father’s Name for you. ⁴Listen today, and you will hear a Voice which will resound throughout the world through you. ⁵The bringer of all miracles has need that you receive them first, and thus become the joyous giver of what you received.
Ah, yes, I see that before I can give, I must receive. I open my heart to all that you would give me. I wait in joy for You to fill my mind with truth so that I might give truth wherever you send me.
7. Thus does salvation start and thus it ends; when everything is yours and everything is given away, it will remain with you forever. ²And the lesson has been learned. ³Today we practice giving, not the way you understand it now, but as it is. ⁴Each hour’s exercises should begin with this request for your enlightenment:
⁵I will be still and listen to the truth.
⁶What does it mean to give and to receive?
I think I know what it means to give and to receive. But I will not be arrogant. I will ask for my enlightenment and open my mind for whatever is to come. What I have discovered after 40 years of study and practice of the Course is that I continue to go deeper and deeper into it with each passing year. I go deeper and deeper into my understanding of it, but more than understanding, I go deeper into my self. I seek to remember the Self that is as God created it, that has never changed, never been affected by the stories of the search for specialness.
8. Ask and expect an answer. ²Your request is one whose answer has been waiting long to be received by you. ³It will begin the ministry for which you came, and which will free the world from thinking giving is a way to lose. ⁴And so the world becomes ready to understand and to receive.
That is the glorious thing, there is an answer and it is not being hidden from me. Each year I do these lessons and continue my practice of these principles, I am answered and each answer brings me closer to my Self. And what I receive, I give. Jesus says that we are to be the saviors of the world. He says that we are his teachers and ministers. Let us not shrink from our destiny.
9. Be still and listen to the truth today. ²For each five minutes spent in listening, a thousand minds are opened to the truth and they will hear the holy Word you hear. ³And when the hour is past, you will again release a thousand more who pause to ask that truth be given them, along with you.
This is the brilliance of the plan of Atonement. We each accept the Atonement for ourselves, and in receiving it, it is given. As I accept the Atonement the mind is healed. This healing I accepted is brought to all who are ready to receive healing. Thousands are released and then those thousand release thousands more.
10. Today the holy Word of God is kept through your receiving it to give away, so you can teach the world what giving means by listening and learning it of Him. ²Do not forget today to reinforce your choice to hear and to receive the Word by this reminder, given to yourself as often as is possible today:
³Let me be still and listen to the truth.
⁴I am the messenger of God today, my voice is His, to give what I receive.
Thank you, God. I love you, God. (ACIM, W-106.1:1–10:4