Lesson 189

I feel the Love of God within me now.

There is a light in you the world can not perceive. And with its eyes you will not see this light, for you are blinded by the world. Yet you have eyes to see it. It is there for you to look upon. It was not placed in you to be kept hidden from your sight. This light is a reflection of the thought we practice now. To feel the Love of God within you is to see the world anew, shining in innocence, alive with hope, and blessed with perfect charity and love.

Who could feel fear in such a world as this? It welcomes you, rejoices that you came, and sings your praises as it keeps you safe from every form of danger and of pain. It offers you a warm and gentle home in which to stay a while. It blesses you throughout the day, and watches through the night as silent guardian of your holy sleep. It sees salvation in you, and protects the light in you, in which it sees its own. It offers you its flowers and its snow, in thankfulness for your benevolence.

This is the world the Love of God reveals. It is so different from the world you see through darkened eyes of malice and of fear, that one belies the other. Only one can be perceived at all. The other one is wholly meaningless. A world in which forgiveness shines on everything, and peace offers its gentle light to everyone, is inconceivable to those who see a world of hatred rising from attack, poised to avenge, to murder and destroy.

Yet is the world of hatred equally unseen and inconceivable to those who feel God’s Love in them. Their world reflects the quietness and peace that shines in them; the gentleness and innocence they see surrounding them; the joy with which they look out from the endless wells of joy within. What they have felt in them they look upon, and see its sure reflection everywhere.

What would you see? The choice is given you. But learn and do not let your mind forget this law of seeing: You will look upon that which you feel within. If hatred finds a place within your heart, you will perceive a fearful world, held cruelly in death’s sharp-pointed, bony fingers. If you feel the Love of God within you, you will look out on a world of mercy and of love.

Today we pass illusions, as we seek to reach to what is true in us, and feel its all-embracing tenderness, its Love which knows us perfect as itself, its sight which is the gift its Love bestows on us. We learn the way today. It is as sure as Love itself, to which it carries us. For its simplicity avoids the snares the foolish convolutions of the world’s apparent reasoning but serve to hide.

Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.

Is it not He Who knows the way to you? You need not know the way to Him. Your part is simply to allow all obstacles that you have interposed between the Son and God the Father to be quietly removed forever. God will do His part in joyful and immediate response. Ask and receive. But do not make demands, nor point the road to God by which He should appear to you. The way to reach Him is merely to let Him be. For in that way is your reality proclaimed as well.

And so today we do not choose the way in which we go to Him. But we do choose to let Him come. And with this choice we rest. And in our quiet hearts and open minds, His Love will blaze its pathway of itself. What has not been denied is surely there, if it be true and can be surely reached. God knows His Son, and knows the way to him. He does not need His Son to show Him how to find His way. Through every opened door His Love shines outward from its home within, and lightens up the world in innocence.

Father, we do not know the way to You. But we have called, and You have answered us. We will not interfere. Salvation’s ways are not our own, for they belong to You. And it is unto You we look for them. Our hands are open to receive Your gifts. We have no thoughts we think apart from You, and cherish no beliefs of what we are, or Who created us. Yours is the way that we would find and follow. And we ask but that Your Will, which is our own as well, be done in us and in the world, that it become a part of Heaven now. Amen.

INITIAL INSIGHT: “What would you see? The choice is given you. But learn and do not let your mind forget this law of seeing: You will look upon that which you feel within. If hatred finds a place within your heart, you will perceive a fearful world, held cruelly in death’s sharp-pointed, bony fingers. If you feel the Love of God within you, you will look out on a world of mercy and of love.”

Jesus is telling us that how we experience the world depends on what we believe is true about ourselves. If we want to see a loving world, we must see the Love of God within ourselves. Clearly, the world is a neutral event and we decide its meaning according to our beliefs. How is it that we see past the world of sin and grief and see instead a world of mercy and of love?

“Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.”

Does it seem impossible to lay everything aside, all you currently believe about yourself, about the world, and about God? That is the problem, I think. We seem to love our choices. We love deciding what is what. We love to judge and make decisions on our own. It often takes a lot of painful experiences to convince us that maybe we should surrender these “rights” and allow our higher Self to lead us out of the world we know.

Something happened to me today that almost never happens anymore. I woke up feeling unhappy. I must have given my sleep the ego. I continued to do the things I needed to do, but it was like I was really tired, like I was fighting the fatigue. But I know there was nothing wrong with me and I know that I don’t have to accept a mood just because I feel it.

I know that it is not helpful to look in my mind for a reason. The ego will just make up a story to explain it and that won’t be true or helpful. The world is not the cause of my feelings, my feelings are the cause of the world. So finally, I stopped struggling against the mood and gave it to the Holy Spirit. I said that I didn’t know what this was all about but that He does. I surrendered it to Him.

There is a light in me whether I can see that light or not. The eyes can’t show it to me, but Christ can. I asked for vision to see truly. This is all it takes, just a decision to lay aside all I think I know, to lay aside the image I have made of myself. I don’t care about any of that. I’m not interested in judging myself or in finding someone else to be guilty in my place.

I came to God with empty hands. I didn’t know what the outcome should be, if there would something for me to know, something for me to do, but I knew my part is to trust. I can always do that. And the mood evaporated, just like that. I think it was important that I didn’t just give in and sit down in front of the TV to distract my mind. I think we are more easily led if we are moving. So, I moved in the direction of light and the rest was done for me.

“SIMPLY DO THIS” FROM A PAST ENTRY: The following passage is of the utmost importance to us if we are to extricate ourselves from the complex web of illusions we have made in our fruitless search for salvation.

“Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.”

Simply do this. And as you make this attempt, notice what pops into your head. Notice what it is that you think you need in order to be saved. Notice how reluctant you are to walk away from your favorite needs. My mind can be a jumbled mess of things I think I need to get right and if I just make up for my past mistakes, if I just become a more spiritual person, I would be happy. This is saying that I need these things in order to be saved.

Other needs can pop into my head. If I could just lose some weight, be a better friend, present to the world a better persona, undo the mistakes I made in the past that hurt someone. When I get sucked into this ego distraction, needs that must be met flood my mind demanding attention, demanding I do something about these things, and then I will be ok. I will be saved.

Thank goodness, this doesn’t happen as often or as painfully as it used to, and this is a result of doing these lessons and of opening my heart to the Holy Spirit and letting Him heal me. I am glad to know what Jesus is telling me here. He is saying that I don’t actually need any of these things, that salvation does not lie in making a better illusion, that my illusion does not condemn me, nor does it save me.

He is telling me that salvation requires only that I walk away from it all. That I turn from everything I think I need and simply allow God to be God. I don’t know the way to God, but He knows the way to me.

“Your part is simply to allow all obstacles that you have interposed between the Son and God the Father to be quietly removed forever.”

Can you imagine this? Can you imagine the freedom of just walking away from it all? Just leaving behind the mess we have made of the world as if it doesn’t matter at all, knowing that this is the truth, it simply doesn’t matter. I giggle as I have this vision of myself breaking a vase, and here I am scrambling around trying to gather all the pieces and assemble them again before my Father gets home and sees what I have done. My brother keeps telling me that Father has no interest in the vase, but I stubbornly insist that I can do this, and I must. And, by the way, I don’t need any help.

I have another vision that I am trying to step into. I see myself heavily burdened with needs, and I imagine walking away from the world, shedding those needs as I go. My burden becomes lighter and lighter as I do this. At first, I feel anxious. What about all these problems? Who is going to solve them? Then I feel the joy of being unburdened, and as my vision clears I begin to remember what it is like to be my Father’s Son. I imagine throwing off the rest, removing all that I had used to keep my Father’s Love at bay.

As I think about letting it all go, the ego-mind keeps calling me back. It insists that I need these things, that I must make amends, that my illusion needs me. The ego-mind says I don’t have time to just sit here, I have writing to do, people to talk to. I have kids who still need me, obligations to fulfill, the conflict of choosing is giving me a headache and I want to cry. But Jesus is reassuring me that this is just the ego making this sound difficult. He says that I don’t need to worry about how anything is going to work. In fact, that is just another ego self-salvation tactic.

Jesus: Sit for a moment without your burdens and then get on with your day. Do this often during the day. Lay aside everything and just be with your God. For the moments you do this, let nothing intrude on your holy mind, and allow the Love of God to soothe you and heal you. A minute, two minutes, five; allow yourself what respite you feel you can. Trust me when I tell you, this will be time well spent.

INSIGHTS FROM HOLY SPIRIT: Here is a sweet message from Holy Spirit from a time when I let myself go far down the rabbit hole.

Holy Spirit: Myron, when you experience yourself as ego, as will inevitably happen as long as you experience yourself in the body, know that you are joined with Me in the depth of your soul, in the Heart of Christ. I am the Light of God, and you are one with Me. The Light is not something you need seek; it is who you are. Look away from the ego-mind that seeks to convince you that you are less than the perfect creation of a perfect God. Join Me in peace and love; rest in Me awhile and know that you rest in your Self as well. The more often you allow yourself to experience this the more you will think of yourself as God’s Son, holy beyond anything you can imagine in this world you made; perfect peace, perfect love, and perfect joy.

Look on those thoughts of neediness and laugh at them. I will laugh with you.

REGINA’S TIPS

Yesterday’s Course lesson told us, “Sit quietly and close your eyes. The light within you is sufficient. It alone has the power to give the gift of sight to you. Exclude the outer world, and let your thoughts fly to the peace within.”

Today’s lesson gives us more specific instructions:

“Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.”

Our job is to let go of “all obstacles that you have interposed between the Son and God the Father … And with this choice we rest.”

That’s it. Nothing more. The Course calls this “simplicity.”