Lesson 162
I am as God created me.
This single thought, held firmly in the mind, would save the world. From time to time we will repeat it, as we reach another stage in learning. It will mean far more to you as you advance. These words are sacred, for they are the words God gave in answer to the world you made. By them it disappears, and all things seen within its misty clouds and vaporous illusions vanish as these words are spoken. For they come from God.
Here is the Word by which the Son became his Father’s happiness, His Love and His completion. Here creation is proclaimed, and honored as it is. There is no dream these words will not dispel; no thought of sin and no illusion which the dream contains that will not fade away before their might. They are the trumpet of awakening that sounds around the world. The dead awake in answer to its call. And those who live and hear this sound will never look on death.
Holy indeed is he who makes these words his own; arising with them in his mind, recalling them throughout the day, at night bringing them with him as he goes to sleep. His dreams are happy and his rest secure, his safety certain and his body healed, because he sleeps and wakens with the truth before him always. He will save the world, because he gives the world what he receives each time he practices the words of truth.
Today we practice simply. For the words we use are mighty, and they need no thoughts beyond themselves to change the mind of him who uses them. So wholly is it changed that it is now the treasury in which God places all His gifts and all His Love, to be distributed to all the world, increased in giving; kept complete because its sharing is unlimited. And thus you learn to think with God. Christ’s vision has restored your sight by salvaging your mind.
We honor you today. Yours is the right to perfect holiness you now accept. With this acceptance is salvation brought to everyone, for who could cherish sin when holiness like this has blessed the world? Who could despair when perfect joy is yours, available to all as remedy for grief and misery, all sense of loss, and for complete escape from sin and guilt?
And who would not be brother to you now; you, his redeemer and his savior. Who could fail to welcome you into his heart with loving invitation, eager to unite with one like him in holiness? You are as God created you. These words dispel the night, and darkness is no more. The light is come today to bless the world. For you have recognized the Son of God, and in that recognition is the world’s.
INITIAL INSIGHT: A Course in Miracles tells us that we are as God created us. It tells us this over and over in many different ways. Jesus reminds us that God created us and that what He creates is eternal and unchanging. And yet, we continue to believe what the body’s senses show us, even though they were made to show us only what we want to believe.
The entire Course is aimed at convincing us to accept this one simple truth. Everything in it is for this one purpose. I would not judge or fear or think myself guilty if I knew that I am as God created me. I would never blame anyone for anything. I would recognize God in all I see if I remembered who I am. This would be Heaven on earth, the happy dream.
Something I read in A Course of Love (Mari Perrone) was very helpful to me. Here is what Jesus said about the separation.
“As near as words can describe the separation, this is what occurred”: An idea of separation entered the mind of God’s son. Like any idea of yours, this idea did not leave its Source nor change the essence of its Source in any way.”
He goes on to add more helpful explanations, but this first paragraph helped me to understand something Jesus has been telling me for these many years. We had an idea. Ideas do not leave their Source so everything that unfolded from that idea remained within me, not somewhere else, not some “outside” me. The idea did not change the essence of the Source. The idea of separation added experience, an external aspect of life. Things seemed to happen, and though these happenings were not real, they seemed real. But the Source (us, the Son of God) was not changed by these experiences. Nor was the Source (God) changed by our idea or its effects.
We had an idea and as we considered this idea it began to unfold and take form, and to become our experience and so is real to us. But it is only an external change. The essence of who we are, our real Self, remains exactly as it was created and nothing changes or could change that. What we are is what God is. God does not change in creation, It merely extends, that is, becomes more. What is true for God is true for us, because we are like God.
We are not the separation idea we thought of. We are not the body, the personality, the little self, and little life and inevitable death we dream of. No matter how elaborate the story we make, it is still only a story about something; it is not what we are. We are not separate from each other or from God. We are still as God created us, part of Him, and powerful creators because we create through the power of God that is in us and is us.
But separation is not creation. It is dreaming of something different than creation, and a dream is not reality and it does not change the dreamer. Just so, this life we experience is rich in stories and emotions, and because we agreed to forget that we made it all up, it seems more than real to us. This is why it is so hard to see it as the illusion it is. While it is not real because it is not creation, it has all the power of creation behind it and an agreement to pretend it is real, what Jesus refers to as the great amnesia.
In spite of that, we are remembering the truth. Because our essence was unaffected by our thought and our thought-forms, we remain as God created us and that Self is waking up from the dream. Just as we chose to forget reality so that we could explore the thought of separation, we are now choosing to remember God.
This is why the lesson today is so important that it is repeated in the lessons and in the Text. It is the undoing of what we have done. Not because we have done something wrong, but because we have done what we set out to do, and now we are through with it. We are ready to return to Reality. We are as God created us. This is why we can return to Reality. We are as God created us. Always and forever.
DAILY APPLICATION: I am absolutely convinced that this is the only thing we need to know in order to awaken. If this is completely and without exception accepted into the mind, awakening would be inevitable. What is there to forgive when you know who you are and who your brother is? What is there to defend and who would we as divine beings attack if we knew we were part of one Whole and that Whole was God Itself? Everything we are learning from studying and practicing the Course is leading to this one thing, remembering that we are as we were created, nothing more and nothing less.
I think this is beginning to sink in for me. I have had a couple of occasions to recognize a shift. For instance, I have noticed that I am enjoying watching shows and reading books where there are couples loving each other. I was a little surprised to see this in myself. It is not something that interests me much, but now I am feeling happy when I see this on the screen or read about it. Maybe that means a lot of old stuff from past relationships in this life and maybe others have been truly and finally released.
So, the other night I am watching this show where a couple falls in love and they are feeling so close to each other and so happy and I began to feel lonely. The feeling I had was that this part of my life was probably over. I have been celibate for nearly 20 years now and have not even had a date in all that time. I haven’t been interested and am not interested now, but here I was grieving the loss of something I don’t even want. I guess that’s why it is we keep returning to this world, we like some of it and want to try again.
I went with the feelings that were coming up and sat there crying for a little while just letting the sadness and regret wash over me. Then I asked the Holy Spirit to help me see this differently. I know the solution to any problem I have is not going to be found in the world. I want the real solution. Suddenly, a thought dropped into my mind. “I am not this 70-year-old woman sitting alone in her living room feeling lonely.”
It was an absolute revelation! I mean, sure, I understand this concept and even believe it, but receiving it like that I knew it. I just laughed out loud. Of course, I am not that. I am watching and participating in a virtual reality show, but I am the one who is aware of the woman sitting in the chair. I am not a human being, woman, or otherwise. I am not alone. I could never be lonely. I am as God created me. I have been floating on a cloud of peaceful happiness ever since. I wonder what happens next.
INSIGHTS FROM HOLY SPIRIT: Holy Spirit: “You are indeed as God created you. You are His Thought, pure spirit. There is no “and”; you are not what He created and something else, you are only what He created. Think for a moment of all you would add to that, and then let yourself know that none of it is true. The reluctance you feel to let go of those other thoughts is because you have placed value where there is none. There is no value in being a body, or a mom, or a minister. There is no value in being special, in being right, and there is no value in entertaining an endless stream of thoughts, and engaging in the dramas you think of as your life.
You believe that you will cease to exist if you give up all of those definitions of yourself, but you will, only then, realize what it means to live. Existing without fear, guilt, conflict, sin, that is, existing in a state of non-duality, is hard for you to imagine, but only because you are afraid to do so. This state of perfection is in your mind and has never been absent from it. You have turned your face from Love and this is why you are unaware of it. Turn from the ego thoughts and you will know the Thought of God.”
GRATITUDE:
REGINA’S TIPS
There are two sides to the coin of awakening. One is letting go of the false self through self-inquiry, which is questioning the false self in order to recognize that it isn’t you; it is merely attachment to thought. The other is recognizing and embracing the true Self through Self-inquiry, a form of devotion where you repeatedly focus on the true Self until it is your only experience.
Yesterday we focused on self-inquiry by looking at our anger. Today we will focus on Self-inquiry.
The lessons says, “I am as God created me. This single thought, held firmly in the mind, would save the world. …. There is no dream these words will not dispel; no thought of sin and no illusion which the dream contains that will not fade away before their might. They are the trumpet of awakening that sounds around the world. … And those who live and hear this sound will never look on death.”
The single thought that has the power the Course speaks of is not the intellectual idea, ‘I am as God created me.’ It is the realization ‘I am as God created me.’ Today we seek to have many glimpses of this realization. “Holy indeed is he who makes these words his own; arising with them in his mind, recalling them throughout the day, at night bringing them with him as he goes to sleep.”
Take many pauses today to notice life-presence in yourself. Pause and ask yourself, “Do I exist now?” And then relax and notice that you do. Ask, “Am I aware now?” And then relax and notice that you are.
When you have a few minutes for a little deeper practice, sit quietly and notice how much awareness can be aware of at once. Notice that it is aware of sounds ahead of you, behind you and to each side simultaneously. Notice it is aware of sensations in the body. It is aware of thoughts in the mind. Notice it is aware of both the outer world (sights & sounds) and the inner world (sensations and thoughts) simultaneously. And as you notice this, notice you are awareness. You are that which is aware of the outer and inner world. Stay a few moments more, resting as awareness.
If you would like some coaching about how to experience many glimpses of the Self throughout the day, consider watching this 11-minute video by Bentinho Massaro. This is a video that I have shared before, but you may be ready to notice more in it now: