Lesson 157

Into His Presence would I enter now.

This is a day of silence and of trust. It is a special time of promise in your calendar of days. It is a time Heaven has set apart to shine upon, and cast a timeless light upon this day, when echoes of eternity are heard. This day is holy, for it ushers in a new experience; a different kind of feeling and awareness. You have spent long days and nights in celebrating death. Today you learn to feel the joy of life.

This is another crucial turning point in the curriculum. We add a new dimension now; a fresh experience that sheds a light on all that we have learned already, and prepares us for what we have yet to learn. It brings us to the door where learning ceases, and we catch a glimpse of what lies past the highest reaches it can possibly attain. It leaves us here an instant, and we go beyond it, sure of our direction and our only goal.

Today it will be given you to feel a touch of Heaven, though you will return to paths of learning. Yet you have come far enough along the way to alter time sufficiently to rise above its laws, and walk into eternity a while. This you will learn to do increasingly, as every lesson, faithfully rehearsed, brings you more swiftly to this holy place and leaves you, for a moment, to your Self.

He will direct your practicing today, for what you ask for now is what He wills. And having joined your will with His this day, what you are asking must be given you. Nothing is needed but today’s idea to light your mind, and let it rest in still anticipation and in quiet joy, wherein you quickly leave the world behind.

From this day forth, your ministry takes on a genuine devotion, and a glow that travels from your fingertips to those you touch, and blesses those you look upon. A vision reaches everyone you meet, and everyone you think of, or who thinks of you. For your experience today will so transform your mind that it becomes the touchstone for the holy Thoughts of God.

Your body will be sanctified today, its only purpose being now to bring the vision of what you experience this day to light the world. We cannot give experience like this directly. Yet it leaves a vision in our eyes which we can offer everyone, that he may come the sooner to the same experience in which the world is quietly forgot, and Heaven is remembered for a while.

As this experience increases and all goals but this become of little worth, the world to which you will return becomes a little closer to the end of time; a little more like Heaven in its ways; a little nearer its deliverance. And you who bring it light will come to see the light more sure; the vision more distinct. The time will come when you will not return in the same form in which you now appear, for you will have no need of it. Yet now it has a purpose, and will serve it well.

Today we will embark upon a course you have not dreamed of. But the Holy One, the Giver of the happy dreams of life, Translator of perception into truth, the holy Guide to Heaven given you, has dreamed for you this journey which you make and start today, with the experience this day holds out to you to be your own.

Into Christ’s Presence will we enter now, serenely unaware of everything except His shining face and perfect Love. The vision of His face will stay with you, but there will be an instant which transcends all vision, even this, the holiest. This you will never teach, for you attained it not through learning. Yet the vision speaks of your remembrance of what you knew that instant, and will surely know again.

INITIAL INSIGHT: Jesus is telling us that we may still be in the learning stage, but that today is going to be special. Today we will get a touch of Heaven; we will walk in eternity for a while. He will direct our practicing and we will rise above the laws of the world and leave it behind. The ego-mind will doubt this and will choose otherwise, but surely, we know by now that we are not the ego. We have learned that we can listen to the ego, or not listen to it, believe it or not believe it.

Jesus is making some extraordinary statements in this lesson as he did in yesterday’s lesson. He says that from this day forth, your ministry takes on a genuine devotion. He says that your experience will so transform your mind that it becomes the touchstone for the holy Thoughts of God. Wow! And not just the mind, but the body is sanctified today because we will be using it for its true purpose. Soon we will have no use for a body but for now, we will use it for its purpose and it will serve it well.

DAILY APPLICATION: When I read the lesson today, it felt different to me than it has in the past when I was feeling the possibilities but also feeling the frustration borne of my resistance. Today, I cried tears of joy as I read the lesson. I felt no need to do anything other than to give all the willingness I have to today’s practice, and to open my heart to whatever the Holy Spirit would have me do. I look forward to this day, to seeing what it looks like, to experiencing whatever I am to experience. It is easier now because I don’t judge the apparent experience as good or bad. I don’t think in terms of success or failure. Or at least when I do, I remember to laugh.

What stood out to me when I read it was that this is not personal. I have begun to realize this and so it was not a surprise but just a reminder. Stepping back from my temporary identity I see that whatever I do today I do for the Sonship, rather than for Myron. Myron doesn’t really exist except as a useful concept for awakening.

From this vantage I see Myron as representative of certain errors in the mind, an action figure so to speak, that allows me to see what happens when these errors are manifested in the illusion. Myron makes different choices and I witness the results and through Myron make other choices based on those results. Or something like that. As I step back into character I become interested in the life of Myron and in what happens to her, but I also retain a degree of detachment so that I know what Myron does has far-reaching effects; effects that are helping all of the Sonship to awaken to its true identity.

This was such a perfect lesson this morning because I had an experience over the last couple of days that kept me riveted on the body. When I began reading this lesson, I felt like I was being lifted from that experience, but I could feel the pull of ego at the same time. I heard the voice of ego in my mind saying that I can’t just turn away from this body experience.

I imagine Myron saying, “Wait a minute, where are you going? This is reality. This is something that is really happening. You can’t just walk out on this.” And yet, that is the whole point. I can. What is reality to the character of Myron is nothing to me. And suddenly I feel like I have been in a dream state for two days and finally, I am waking up. Oh. That’s exactly what happened.

INSIGHTS FROM HOLY SPIRIT: As I read this lesson, I was aware that it seems to be speaking to the personal self but that is because we think we have a personal self, that we are the personal self. But I also realize that there is no personal self. My message is to let today unfold in the way it will without expectations of what that should look like. I can just be quiet and still even when I am doing what needs to be done today. Even as I speak to people, run my errands or not since I know only my plans not what is to happen. But in the midst of the activity that occurs, I can still have a quiet mind that doesn’t plan or make decisions, but in the silence of that mind, I will receive instructions as needed, words as needed.

GRATITUDE: I am interested to see if I remember this all through the day. It feels simple as I sit her in the silence of the morning, but how will it feel as I go about my day? I am willing to experience this day as Holy Spirit suggests.

REGINA’S TIPS

If one is to awaken to truth, it is important to let go of concepts, because concepts are not truth.

Today we will let go of our concepts about God. We will let go of the idea of a “Him” who seems different and separate from us. Although these terms will continue to be used, we will realize the truth. God is the life that we are.

Today’s workbook lessons says, “This day is holy, for it ushers in a new experience; a different kind of feeling and awareness. … Today you learn to feel the joy of life.”

Today, stay focused on the thought, “Into His Presence would I enter now,” and let the inner vision teach you to notice and celebrate life. You will see it in yourself. You will see it in others. You will see it in birds, animals and insects. You will see it in trees and plants. You will notice it in the sun, the wind and in rocks and soil and water. “Nothing is needed but today’s idea to light your mind, …” Reflect on today’s idea. Let it show you that you are the joy of life, living within and amongst joy and life, which are one.

MY THOUGHTS

Regina likes to remove the spiritual language, perhaps because of all the concepts we have picked up around terms like God, but I just don’t relate to the idea of Life as opposed to God. Life just doesn’t evoke in me the kind of loving, joyful feeling that God does. But, because it is used so much in this study and in other writings and meditations that I use, I am slowly letting my mind shift a bit to accept other ways of naming my Creator.

What I do know is that the concepts of God I have learned in my life are not real. God is not a gender, a person, not a body at all. I don’t know what God is at all. I have thoughts about this but they are just more concepts. God is not knowable to this concrete mind with which I must work at this time. I am told by Jesus that I am in God and part of God and yet God has no parts, so I am God. But I am also told that I did not create myself so there must be God before I was created and yet time does not exist and so there is no such thing as before and after.

So, you get the problem. I cannot understand or know Creator at this time. I accept that and I continue to use the words we have always used because it makes it possible to communicate without a ridiculous awkwardness. I will even hold onto my latest concept, not because I believe it is true, but because my mind needs some sort of anchor. Even so, I know that God/Creator is a mystery.