Lesson 151

Lesson 151

All things are echoes of the Voice for God.

No one can judge on partial evidence. That is not judgment. It is merely an opinion based on ignorance and doubt. Its seeming certainty is but a cloak for the uncertainty it would conceal. It needs irrational defense because it is irrational. And its defense seems strong, convincing, and without a doubt because of all the doubting underneath.

You do not seem to doubt the world you see. You do not really question what is shown you through the body’s eyes. Nor do you ask why you believe it, even though you learned a long while since your senses do deceive. That you believe them to the last detail which they report is even stranger, when you pause to recollect how frequently they have been faulty witnesses indeed! Why would you trust them so implicitly? Why but because of underlying doubt, which you would hide with show of certainty?

How can you judge? Your judgment rests upon the witness that your senses offer you. Yet witness never falser was than this. But how else do you judge the world you see? You place pathetic faith in what your eyes and ears report. You think your fingers touch reality, and close upon the truth. This is awareness that you understand, and think more real than what is witnessed to by the eternal Voice for God Himself.

Can this be judgment? You have often been urged to refrain from judging, not because it is a right to be withheld from you. You cannot judge. You merely can believe the ego’s judgments, all of which are false. It guides your senses carefully, to prove how weak you are; how helpless and afraid, how apprehensive of just punishment, how black with sin, how wretched in your guilt.

This thing it speaks of, and would yet defend, it tells you is yourself. And you believe that this is so with stubborn certainty. Yet underneath remains the hidden doubt that what it shows you as reality with such conviction it does not believe. It is itself alone that it condemns. It is within itself it sees the guilt. It is its own despair it sees in you.

Hear not its voice. The witnesses it sends to prove to you its evil is your own are false, and speak with certainty of what they do not know. Your faith in them is blind because you would not share the doubts their lord can not completely vanquish. You believe to doubt his vassals is to doubt yourself.

Yet you must learn to doubt their evidence will clear the way to recognize yourself, and let the Voice for God alone be Judge of what is worthy of your own belief. He will not tell you that your brother should be judged by what your eyes behold in him, nor what his body’s mouth says to your ears, nor what your fingers’ touch reports of him. He passes by such idle witnesses, which merely bear false witness to God’s Son. He recognizes only what God loves, and in the holy light of what He sees do all the ego’s dreams of what you are vanish before the splendor He beholds.

Let Him be Judge of what you are, for He has certainty in which there is no doubt, because it rests on Certainty so great that doubt is meaningless before Its face. Christ cannot doubt Himself. The Voice for God can only honor Him, rejoicing in His perfect, everlasting sinlessness. Whom He has judged can only laugh at guilt, unwilling now to play with toys of sin; unheeding of the body’s witnesses before the rapture of Christ’s holy face.

And thus He judges you. Accept His Word for what you are, for He bears witness to your beautiful creation, and the Mind Whose Thought created your reality. What can the body mean to Him Who knows the glory of the Father and the Son? What whispers of the ego can He hear? What could convince Him that your sins are real? Let Him be Judge as well of everything that seems to happen to you in this world. His lessons will enable you to bridge the gap between illusions and the truth.

He will remove all faith that you have placed in pain, disaster, suffering and loss. He gives you vision which can look beyond these grim appearances, and can behold the gentle face of Christ in all of them. You will no longer doubt that only good can come to you who are beloved of God, for He will judge all happenings, and teach the single lesson that they all contain.

He will select the elements in them which represent the truth, and disregard those aspects which reflect but idle dreams. And He will reinterpret all you see, and all occurrences, each circumstance, and every happening that seems to touch on you in any way from His one frame of reference, wholly unified and sure. And you will see the love beyond the hate, the constancy in change, the pure in sin, and only Heaven’s blessing on the world.

Such is your resurrection, for your life is not a part of anything you see. It stands beyond the body and the world, past every witness for unholiness, within the Holy, holy as Itself. In everyone and everything His Voice would speak to you of nothing but your Self and your Creator, Who is One with Him. So will you see the holy face of Christ in everything, and hear in everything no sound except the echo of God’s Voice.

We practice wordlessly today, except at the beginning of the time we spend with God. We introduce these times with but a single, slow repeating of the thought with which the day begins. And then we watch our thoughts, appealing silently to Him Who sees the elements of truth in them. Let Him evaluate each thought that comes to mind, remove the elements of dreams, and give them back again as clean ideas that do not contradict the Will of God.

Give Him your thoughts, and He will give them back as miracles which joyously proclaim the wholeness and the happiness God wills His Son, as proof of His eternal Love. And as each thought is thus transformed, it takes on healing power from the Mind which saw the truth in it, and failed to be deceived by what was falsely added. All the threads of fantasy are gone. And what remains is unified into a perfect Thought that offers its perfection everywhere.

Spend fifteen minutes thus when you awake, and gladly give another fifteen more before you go to sleep. Your ministry begins as all your thoughts are purified. So are you taught to teach the Son of God the holy lesson of his sanctity. No one can fail to listen, when you hear the Voice for God give honor to God’s Son. And everyone will share the thoughts with you which He has retranslated in your mind.

Such is your Eastertide. And so you lay the gift of snow-white lilies on the world, replacing witnesses to sin and death. Through your transfiguration is the world redeemed, and joyfully released from guilt. Now do we lift our resurrected minds in gladness and in gratitude to Him Who has restored our sanity to us.

And we will hourly remember Him Who is salvation and deliverance. As we give thanks, the world unites with us and happily accepts our holy thoughts, which Heaven has corrected and made pure. Now has our ministry begun at last, to carry round the world the joyous news that truth has no illusions, and the peace of God, through us, belongs to everyone.

 

Journal

“You cannot judge. You merely can believe the ego’s judgments, all of which are false.”

I read this lesson then stopped to do my meditation. I began the meditation by asking to be enlightened to how this lesson helps me to know my Self. This is how I begin all my meditations, with a request to know my Self. I used a guided meditation to lead me into the process. This meditation guided me to rest and was very effective in doing so.

When I was fully rested, it was pointed out that this is my natural state and is my presence that I was experiencing. From there I sat in silence for a while. At one point, a disturbing thought crossed my mind and I felt myself contracting. Because I had been at rest, this contraction was apparent in a way that I might not have immediately noticed otherwise. I let the thought go and I went back into rest. This showed me how different it is to experience the ego as opposed to the presence.

Jesus begins this lesson by pointing out that we judge on partial evidence which is not really judgment and that we protect this judgment because we know it is wrong. The Bible has told us that we must not judge and now we know why. We cannot judge. We don’t have complete information on which to judge. What is actually happening is that we are asking the ego for an interpretation of what seems to be happening and then we believe the ego’s judgment, all of which are false.

The ego has an agenda and its agenda is to prove that we are sinful, helpless and afraid. It uses the body senses to convince us that this is true. And in spite of the fact that we have ample evidence that this proof is unreliable, we just keep believing it. Again, we believe it because we have this underlying doubt and are afraid of this doubt. There is a memory of something else in our mind and that memory, though nearly hidden is what sources the doubt. It is the Voice for God.

This sad being that the ego shows us as ourselves is really just the ego itself. We are not the ego. That is a fact and that fact, when we accept it, undoes all the ego tries to project onto us. The ego continues to convince us that it is us and we keep falling for it, but that does not have to continue. We can learn to recognize our Self, to remember and know our Self and this is why every day now I ask to know my Self.

This lesson is to be done for two days so I am going to stop here and look at it again tomorrow. In the meantime, I will look at Regina’s tips.

Regina’s Tips

Regina said that she read some paragraphs from Chapter 14 of “The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss.” Part of that reading was a story about a planet where people are born and raised in a movie theatre, and they never question if the movie on the screen is reality; they simply assume it is. The story tells the different reactions to this and to the first person to bravely find the projector. It’s a good story.

After relating the whole story she says this:

“You do not seem to doubt the world you see. You do not really question what is shown you through the body’s eyes. Nor do you ask why you believe it …”

We do well to contemplate Michael Langford’s analogy of the movie theatre and today’s Course lesson together. Isn’t it true that ever since we can remember our attention has been focused outward on thought and the world? Isn’t that like the people in the movie theatre who were born and raised with their attention on the movie screen? Isn’t it true that, just as they did not question the reality of the movie, we have not questioned the reality of our thoughts and perceptions? Isn’t it at least possible that what we have always believed to be reality is not reality? Doesn’t this possibility deserve genuine investigation? Isn’t it worth our time to find out what is true?

My Thoughts

I understand why Regina wants us to do this lesson for two days. This is the crux of the Course. We have listened to the ego for eons and believed everything it said to us and even believed it when it said the voice in our head was our own when really it was the ego. Now it is time to remember the truth. We are not the voice in our head and we are not the body with its senses that lie to us.

It is time to remember that the body is no more real than anything else in the world of form, so we are using an illusion to convince our self that illusions are real. It is time to wake up and look around for the “projector” that has a convinced us of the reality of illusions.

We can begin by questioning the ego voice and by meditating on our Self to help bring it into our awareness. We can practice placing our attention on what we truly want rather than on where the ego mind says we should place it. It is time for a rebellion, time to throw off the chains that we have allowed to imprison our minds.

Day 2 Lesson 151

“And then we watch our thoughts, appealing silently to Him Who sees the elements of truth in them. Let Him evaluate each thought that comes to mind, remove the elements of dreams, and give them back again as clear ideas that do not contradict the Will of God.”

I read the lesson and then I sat in meditation. I noticed how I felt the tension in my body as I began to rest in God. I was reminded of my lemon tree. A whitefly infestation had left the leaves with a black coating that interferes with light penetrating them. There is also a vine that is entangled in the branches and is very hard to remove and that further blocks the light.

With this picture in mind, I watched the thoughts that represent the obstruction to love’s presence within me. I noticed my hands and knew they were not free to reach out to my brother, that doubt and uncertainty kept them closed to the love offered me and the possibility of giving love that might be rejected. I lifted them to God and everything that was not true fell away and my hands were opened and could rest.

I noticed a pain in my foot and saw that they were bound with a reluctance to move forward even though that is the purpose for which I came. It was a sharp pain that then disappeared only to pop up again when I was focused elsewhere. It was tempting to ignore it because it made no sense. Forward is where I want to go, but not knowing what comes next is disconcerting. I gave my feet to Him and He saw only what really existed there and all the bindings fell away, and as with my hands, there was the most brilliant light shining through.

Encouraged, I waited for the next nudge and was guided to my head. What a dark and twisted mess that was with all the wriggling and entangled thoughts, foolish, absurd, contradictory, silly, frightening and all stuck together with the ugly glue of guilt. I thought what a big job this will be, but of course, He doesn’t see the mess and because He doesn’t see it, it doesn’t exist. All that was left was light shining brightly. My rest was nearly complete.

Next, we looked at my torso which felt contracted around its core held tight by strands of dread. I started looking at the individual sources of dread but that wasn’t necessary as they had a single cause, and once I was shown that they all represented the fear that I had finally and forever lost my Self, the strands fell away to reveal more of the light. All that I ever was is what I am now and always have been. Darkness can obscure reality but cannot affect it and the Holy Spirit can see right through it because He knows the darkness does not actually exist. What the Holy Spirit knows I can know because that Spirit is my holy Self.

“Give Him your thoughts, and He will give them back as miracles which joyously proclaim the wholeness and the happiness God wills His Son, as proof of His eternal Love.”

As I was experiencing this process, specific thoughts would come into my mind from time to time. With my desire to be purified the Holy Spirit looked through them to the truth and those troubled thoughts just dissolved. The brilliant truth was all that remained, sometimes leaving behind an echo of the miracle, a truer thought. But mostly, it just disappeared and only peace remained. I can do this all the time now. When an untrue thought catches my attention, instead of following it to see what dark alley it leads me up, I can just look at it know He looks with me, and I can see right through it to the only thing there, the Love that is all things.

“Your ministry begins as all your thoughts are purified. So are you taught to teach the Son of God the holy lesson of his sanctity.”

 Past Entry

The first part of this lesson tells us that everything we experience is an illusion, is not the truth at all, and bears no resemblance to reality. It then brings into question our ability to judge anything. If we cannot trust our senses to report to us reality, how can we then judge anything based on what we think is real? Jesus then assures us that if we will ignore the ego’s judgment and turn from it to our real mind, the Holy Spirit will judge for us, and He will judge truly, with a judgment we can trust. He will always judge us as innocent.

Have I gossiped about a co-worker? The ego mind says this is a righteous judgment based on her behavior. Then it reminds me that gossip is at least a minor evil and sometimes worse, therefore, obviously I am guilty as well. I go within, bringing this situation to the Holy Spirit, asking for His judgment. He says that I am innocent as the day I was created and that nothing said or done can alter this. He says my co-worker is as innocent as she was created, and nothing she can do can change this.

The desire to believe the ego mind represents the original error. It says that I want to be autonomous, to make decisions based on the self I made to take the place of the Self that God created. I can do this for as long as I can stand the pain, and I am still innocent because I can only pretend to be something I am not. I cannot actually undo God, and can only make more false guilt in my attempt.

When I choose to accept the truth, the judgment of the Holy Spirit, I am cleansed of guilt and that much closer to remembering my God and my Self. The ego mind will argue that I am being ridiculous and bring me proof that the world is real, often in painful ways because that part of me wants to make its point. It wants me to sit up and take notice and pain can be riveting. The best way to undo the ego mind is to stop accepting its judgments. I sit with God in quiet, and this does not have to be a protracted sitting. Even a few minutes will do if my desire for healing is strong. I sit in quiet and I wait for my healing. It is that simple, truly. I ignore the ego rantings and I wait for the Word of God to be spoken into my Heart. I accept the Holy Spirit’s judgment. I am innocent and with me, all others are innocent.

Holy Spirit: Myron when you experience the slightest discomfort, any lack of peace or joy in your life, it is because you are listening to the ego voice in your mind. It matters not that this voice is not real. Your belief in it colors your experience. In fact, your experience is always an echo of the voice you are listening to in any particular moment. Yesterday when Frankie walked by without acknowledging your greeting, you wondered if he was mad at you for some reason, and felt a pang of anxiety. This uncomfortable feeling of anxiety and self-doubt was an echo of the ego voice you were listening to.

If you choose to listen only to My Voice, not even a pin prick of anxiety will come to mar your peace and joy. This seems hardly possible to you, and yet I assure you this is your destiny, the way you are meant to live. It is altogether possible for you to achieve this even in the dream. You have asked me to help you do this, and I will do so unless you change your mind. Be vigilant, Myron, for those times when you do not want me to speak. It will be clear to you when you are choosing the ego voice to listen to because your life will echo what you hear, and you will not be happy.

Me: Holy Spirit, at times it does not seem possible there is a good spin to put on what is happening.

Holy Spirit: Myron, there is always another way to see. It seems impossible to you because you are listening to the ego, and for the ego it is impossible. Bring that false thought to Me and allow Me to correct it. Do not bring it to the ego who will only dress up the error in more acceptable lies. The ego cannot tell you the truth because the ego does not know the truth. Do not judge whether there is another way to see, but only come to Me for correction. When your resistance to seeing differently takes on the form of doubt ask yourself if you are willing to be wrong. That small willingness will lead you to salvation.

Thank you so much, Holy Spirit for your help. I will be vigilant and willing today.
Last night I was feeling anxiety about a seemingly impossible situation and the first thing I did was decide who was guilty. If you look at the facts it would seem I was absolutely right. The ego argued that its judgment, in this case, was flawless. But two things prompted me to look again. First, I cannot see guilt and see God. It is not possible because there is no guilt in God. Also, it doesn’t matter where I see the guilt. Judging someone else as guilty is exactly the same as judging myself as guilty. Everyone must be innocent if I am to be saved.

And secondly, the best news of all is that the guilt is not real anyway. It is something made by the ego to keep the separation idea going. If I am judging someone guilty, I am not guilty myself for doing so, I am simply listening to bad advice. I can listen to Holy Spirit instead and accept His judgment, which makes more sense.

It took about three times to firmly set aside my need for her to be guilty, and to realize that the only reason I needed to judge her in this way is that the ego says that someone must be guilty and it is important that the guilt not fall on me. The ego says that my salvation lies in finding someone else guilty and Holy Spirit says my salvation lies in not judging at all and allowing Him to show me our innocence.