Lesson 124
Release those thoughts!
Let me remember I am one with God.
1. Today we will again give thanks for our Identity in God. ²Our home is safe, protection guaranteed in all we do, power and strength available to us in all our undertakings. ³We can fail in nothing. ⁴Everything we touch takes on a shining light that blesses and that heals. ⁵At one with God and with the universe we go our way rejoicing, with the thought that God Himself goes everywhere with us.
Jesus starts off by telling us what our life is like when we remember that we are one with God. We are protected and powerful in our undertakings. Everything we do is both a blessing and a healing to those involved. We cannot fail. Being at one with God is also being at one with the universe and we can go our way rejoicing. These words are lovely and inspiring but maybe not believable if we are not yet ready to release our hold on the world we have chosen as our home.
It seems odd we would hold onto the dream when we could return our minds to God and live as God in eternal bliss. No more fear and guilt. No more suffering, sickness, and no more death. Only love. Sound awful? And yet, we deny ourselves our inheritance as a child of God so that we don’t have to give these things up.
I wondered if I still did this and realized that while not nearly as often, yes, I do. Those casual judgments, the fear thoughts that don’t seem important, and the desire to protect this body in all sorts of ways. Ken Wapnick is quoted as saying that if we don’t smile at whatever is happening, we still believe it is real. Sickness is a defense against God.
There are all sorts of subtle ways to attack myself and others and I notice I do this at times. All of these and more are ways that I declare my independence from God and so believe I am not one with Him. But they are all being undone in my mind because I do want to remember my oneness with my Creator.
2. How holy are our minds! ²And everything we see reflects the holiness within the mind at one with God and with itself. ³How easily do errors disappear, and death give place to everlasting life. ⁴Our shining footprints point the way to truth, for God is our Companion as we walk the world a little while. ⁵And those who come to follow us will recognize the way because the light we carry stays behind, yet still remains with us as we walk on.
In spite of all the garbage in the ego thought system, my mind remains holy. And when I turn from the ego and view the world through my holy mind, I see only holiness reflected. I become aware of someone acting from their ego in cruel ways and I see my brother in confusion but I know that this is just the story he came to learn from and not who he is. I look deeper and I see the Son of God and my heart sings in joy at joining with my dear brother. My forgiveness of this error in the mind lights the way for my brother and I leave with light even brighter.
3. What we receive is our eternal gift to those who follow after, and to those who went before or stayed with us a while. ²And God, Who loves us with the equal love in which we were created, smiles on us and offers us the happiness we gave.
What an incredible paragraph this is! When we forgive we are giving forgiveness and we receive forgiveness. This is the holy instant in which we are one. Jesus says here is that this is an eternal gift. How can this be? It is true because the holy instant is a reflection of our oneness and of eternity in which there is no time, so what is true is true and there is nothing else. In the world of time, this is reflected as now, in the past, and in the future, and forever.
4. Today we will not doubt His Love for us, nor question His protection and His care. ²No meaningless anxieties can come between our faith and our awareness of His Presence. ³We are one with Him today in recognition and rememberance. ⁴We feel Him in our hearts. ⁵Our minds contain His Thoughts; our eyes behold His loveliness in all we look upon. ⁶Today we see only the loving and the lovable.
This is the experience we have as we awaken. We begin to realize that nothing is really happening and that we are all innocent and still as we were created. The ego thinking falls away and there is no more guilt and fear in the mind so there is no desire to defend or attack, no desire to win. One realizes that the only way to win is for everyone to win. As the ego thinking falls away, love becomes apparent and peace consistent. No matter what seems to be happening around us, we are aware of the perfect peace and love that exists beyond the illusion of pain and suffering. These simple lessons and the practices of forgiveness brings us to this day.
5. We see it in appearances of pain, and pain gives way to peace. ²We see it in the frantic, in the sad and the distressed, the lonely and afraid, who are restored to the tranquility and peace of mind in which they were created. ³And we see it in the dying and the dead as well, restoring them to life. ⁴All this we see because we saw it first within ourselves.
Our only function is to accept the Atonement for ourselves. As we accept it, the world begins to look very different. And those around us begin to see things differently as well, maybe not in the way we see but they, too, rise up. And what we receive is given throughout the Sonship and others who are ready to receive experience healing. Those who are not ready to receive will receive it when they are ready.
6. No miracle can ever be denied to those who know that they are one with God. ²No thought of theirs but has the power to heal all forms of suffering in anyone, in times gone by and times as yet to come, as easily as in the ones who walk beside them now. ³Their thoughts are timeless, and apart from distance as apart from time.
Our choice is simple. Do we want to continue to exist as if we are bodies, frail and sickly, destined to die, separate and alone, fearful and guilt-ridden? Or do we want to awaken to the truth, that none of this exists and that we are simply still as God created us, in Him, part of Him, created as an extension of Him? It’s very strange the ideas we are not willing to forfeit in order to return to knowing ourselves as the Son of God that we are.
Every time we choose to see someone as guilty or believe we are guilty ourselves, we make the choice for death. Every time we give up our peace because we need to be right, we choose ego over God. The simple practice of releasing these thoughts to the Holy Spirit and accepting His healing and the gifts of God in their place will give us paradise instead of hell. It is not hard to do at all and the payoff is beyond words.
I used to fight against my own salvation, but I don’t do that anymore. What changed was that I practiced forgiveness until forgiveness was the only thing I wanted to do. The happier I became the less interest I had in grievances and the more determined I was to do what needed to be done to receive the miracle of a healed mind and to know myself as one with God. Each time I chose God, each time I forgave, each time I asked for and accepted Christ Vision is a gift I gave and that continues to give. It is outside of time and space and is limitless in its power to heal.
7. We join in this awareness as we say that we are one with God. ²For in these words we say as well that we are saved and healed; that we can save and heal accordingly. ³We have accepted, and we now would give. ⁴For we would keep the gifts our Father gave. ⁵Today we would experience ourselves at one with Him, so that the world may share our recognition of reality. ⁶In our experience the world is freed. ⁷As we deny our separation from our Father, it is healed along with us.
Jesus has told us before and in many ways that giving and receiving are the same. We give and receive what we gave. This is true in all things that are real. I love my work because it involves the study and practice of the Course. I join with others in this practice and we give and receive from each other and it becomes very strong in my mind. In the world we hold onto the things we want, the material objects, the money, even to the people we love, not wanting to share any of this because sharing the material is losing the material. But love is love only if it is shared. We know we are loved when we give love, freely and without conditions. The more we give it the more loved we feel and the more we begin to understand that we are Love. This kind of healing is shared with all.
8. Peace be to you today. ²Secure your peace by practicing awareness you are one with your Creator, as He is with you. ³Sometime today, whenever it seems best, devote a half an hour to the thought that you are one with God. ⁴This is our first attempt at an extended period for which we give no rules nor special words to guide your meditation. ⁵We will trust God’s Voice to speak as He sees fit today, certain He will not fail. ⁶Abide with Him this half an hour. ⁷He will do the rest.
Some people do this easily and some people have interesting experiences. Others have the experience that Jesus describes. Don’t judge yourself. Don’t assume that your experience is not valid because it is not like someone else’s. In fact, I suggest that you have no real expectations at all. Just sit and let it unfold. If you have a lot of resistance, just accept that this is resistance and don’t judge it. As this practice is repeated this resistance will start to fall away on its own if you don’t fight with it. Trust that your desire to succeed will bring success whether you are aware of it or not.
9. Your benefit will not be less if you believe that nothing happens. ²You may not be ready to accept the gain today. ³Yet sometime, somewhere, it will come to you, nor will you fail to recognize it when it dawns with certainty upon your mind. ⁴This half an hour will be framed in gold, with every minute like a diamond set around the mirror that this exercise will offer you. ⁵And you will see Christ’s face upon it, in reflection of your own.
Again, don’t fight yourself. Trust that your efforts matter and that they have effects whether you are aware of them or not. One day, you will have a different experience of it, but in the meantime, much is happening.
10. Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will see your own transfiguration in the glass this holy half an hour will hold out to you, to look upon yourself. ²When you are ready you will find it there, within your mind and waiting to be found. ³You will remember then the thought to which you gave this half an hour, thankfully aware no time was ever better spent.
Jesus is telling us that if we continue to do this practice that one day we will see our own transfiguration. Again, it is better, in my opinion, not to think what this would be like, but to just wait to see. You will recognize it when it happens. There is no better use of time.
11. Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will look into this glass, and understand the sinless light you see belongs to you; the loveliness you look on is your own. ²Count this half hour as your gift to God, in certainty that His return will be a sense of love you cannot understand, a joy too deep for you to comprehend, a sight too holy for the body’s eyes to see. ³And yet you can be sure someday, perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will understand and comprehend and see.
12. Add further jewels to the golden frame that holds the mirror offered you today, by hourly repeating to yourself:
²Let me remember I am one with God, at one with all my brothers and my Self, in everlasting holiness and peace.
This is quite a promise and strong motivation for doing the practice. Here is what we will receive when we give God the gift of 30 minutes.
- A sense of love you cannot understand
- A joy too deep for you to comprehend
- A sight too holy for the body’s eyes to see
- And yet, one day you will understand and comprehend and see.
- Everlasting holiness and peace