Lesson 110

I am as God created me.

We will repeat today’s idea from time to time. For this one thought would be enough to save you and the world, if you believed that it is true. Its truth would mean that you have made no changes in yourself that have reality, nor changed the universe so that what God created was replaced by fear and evil, misery and death. If you remain as God created you fear has no meaning, evil is not real, and misery and death do not exist.

Today’s idea is therefore all you need to let complete correction heal your mind, and give you perfect vision that will heal all the mistakes that any mind has made at any time or place. It is enough to heal the past and make the future free. It is enough to let the present be accepted as it is. It is enough to let time be the means for all the world to learn escape from time, and every change that time appears to bring in passing by.

If you remain as God created you, appearances cannot replace the truth, health cannot turn to sickness, nor can death be substitute for life, or fear for love. All this has not occurred, if you remain as God created you. You need no thought but just this one, to let redemption come to light the world and free it from the past.

In this one thought is all the past undone; the present saved to quietly extend into a timeless future. If you are as God created you, then there has been no separation of your mind from His, no split between your mind and other minds, and only unity within your own.

The healing power of today’s idea is limitless. It is the birthplace of all miracles, the great restorer of the truth to the awareness of the world. Practice today’s idea with gratitude. This is the truth that comes to set you free. This is the truth that God has promised you. This is the Word in which all sorrow ends.

For your five-minute practice periods, begin with this quotation from the text:

I am as God created me. His Son can suffer nothing.
And I am His Son.

Then, with this statement firmly in your mind, try to discover in your mind the Self Who is the holy Son of God Himself.

Seek Him within you Who is Christ in you, the Son of God and brother to the world; the Savior Who has been forever saved, with power to save whoever touches Him, however lightly, asking for the Word that tells him he is brother unto Him.

You are as God created you. Today honor your Self. Let graven images you made to be the Son of God instead of what he is be worshipped not today. Deep in your mind the holy Christ in you is waiting your acknowledgment as you. And you are lost and do not know yourself while He is unacknowledged and unknown.

Seek Him today, and find Him. He will be your Savior from all idols you have made. For when you find Him, you will understand how worthless are your idols, and how false the images which you believed were you. Today we make a great advance to truth by letting idols go, and opening our hands and hearts and minds to God today.

We will remember Him throughout the day with thankful hearts and loving thoughts for all who meet with us today. For it is thus that we remember Him. And we will say, that we may be reminded of His Son, our holy Self, the Christ in each of us:

I am as God created me.

Let us declare this truth as often as we can. This is the Word of God that sets you free. This is the key that opens up the gate of Heaven, and that lets you enter in the peace of God and His eternity.

Initial Insight: “The healing power of today’s idea is limitless. It is the birthplace of all miracles, the great restorer of the truth to the awareness of the world.”

The reason this lesson is so powerful is that the world we see, the body we believe we inhabit, all the effects of separation are only in our mind. There is no world outside of our mind. So, if we remember who we are, we will have no interest in thinking the world into being. Without our desire for the world, it will cease to be.

From other things in the Course that we have read, it is clear that this will happen in stages, beginning with awakening to the truth and as more and more awaken, the world we made takes on a different aspect, one without guilt and fear so we have a happy dream, after which, we will return our awareness to the Mind of God.

I focus on my part of this process because the rest is out of my hands. We are told to meditate so that we can discover in our minds the Self Who is the holy Son of God Himself. I see my part as two-fold. I am still watching my mind for untrue thoughts and letting them be removed for me. There are not that many, but a few still show up and there are a couple that I am still sometimes tempted to believe, though none that I am not willing to give up.

The second part, equally, if not more important, is the meditation and in that part, I am still a baby, taking small steps. And, oh yes, there is a third essential part. “We will remember Him throughout the day with thankful hearts and loving thoughts for all who meet with us today. For it is thus that we remember Him.” I awaken through loving and honoring my brother.

Daily Application: For a long time after I started studying the Course, this lesson and those like it, caused confusion because the world offered so much proof that I am more body than spirit and this body was certainly not living up to His promises. Then I would feel guilty that I could not do better. It started to get better because I did the practices even when I doubted myself. A few years ago, I wrote this. I had become more certain that someday things would change but I still felt guilty that they had not changed yet. Jesus helped me to understand it differently.

Here is my journal entry of that time.

I am tired. That is just a fact. I have an experience of pain. That is just a fact. Maybe – no, certainly – one day that will not be part of my experience, but right now it is. No problem. But then I start feeling guilty that I am not the Course student I want to be. I feel bad that I still get tired and have pain. I feel disappointed in myself. I feel like I am not as God created me.

Doing this lesson reminds me that these thoughts and these beliefs are not reality. They do not change what God created unchangeable. These thoughts are just a reflection of a false belief I hold in my mind. These thoughts are meaningless unless I choose to accept them and react to them. Believing that I have altered the unalterable through my beliefs is what causes all the suffering associated with this experience.

Jesus reminds me that the tiredness and the pain are just an image I made and reflected outward because I want this punishing experience. I want to remain a body in this story and remembering what I am will totally screw that up. So, from my desire to remain a body, I make an image that proves I am a body and not spirit. Then I defend that image by making up justifications for the exhaustion and pain. I use fear and guilt to bolster the whole thing.

But I also want to wake up. I know that I am as God created me even as I deny it. Yes, I am still conflicted, but I am leaning heavily toward the truth. I want to awaken more than I want to continue the story. So, I do my work with this situation. I remind myself of the truth. I remind myself that I am not alone in this undoing business. The Holy Spirit will do all the heavy lifting. I just give Him my willingness, my desire to return to my Father. He takes care of the rest.

A little later I had this experience.

I have let go of so much separation thinking, and I can actually imagine freedom. There is so much less guilt, and so much less desire for the story. It is manifested in less pain and exhaustion, less sickness, and less unhappiness. I didn’t get to the hotel until 10:30 tonight. I drove through storms to get here and in the dark, which is a problem because my night vision is not so good. I am tired but I am happy. I noticed a couple of thoughts about my room not being what I expected and I pegged those as attack thoughts and let them go. The silent prayer in my mind was that I didn’t want darkness in my holy mind and so asked that it be removed. Living like this is not complete freedom but it feels so much better than before and I know that as I let go of grievances, I am brought closer to the real world, the world without ego.

And then finally, my continued practice of the Course began to change my mind in a significant way.

Last year, I gave up the belief in guilt and evidently that created enough light in my mind to see everything more clearly. Jesus is working with me on the few remaining beliefs that must be undone and it is easier because I don’t feel guilty for my lapses. I just notice them and let them go without judging myself. I am working on the belief in sickness now. Holy Spirit, please guide me as I do this.

Insights from Holy Spirit: I have sent you more help; use it. Spend more time resting in God, sinking into your Self. You think there are things to be done and you put those things first. Put first your desire to know what it means to be as God created you. Make that your priority. Desire this more than anything else in your life. Do it now.

You have been reminding yourself that you can give your body to Jesus; do that. You will understand what that means as you become certain it is what you want to do. I cannot guide you if you are sitting still. Start walking in the direction you want to go and I will guide your steps.

Gratitude: Ok. I will do that today.