Lesson 96

Lesson 96

Salvation comes from my one Self.

Although you are one Self, you experience yourself as two; as both good and evil, loving and hating, mind and body. This sense of being split into opposites induces feelings of acute and constant conflict, and leads to frantic attempts to reconcile the contradictory aspects of this self-perception. You have sought many such solutions, and none of them has worked. The opposites you see in you will never be compatible. But one exists.

The fact that truth and illusion cannot be reconciled, no matter how you try, what means you use and where you see the problem, must be accepted if you would be saved. Until you have accepted this, you will attempt an endless list of goals you cannot reach; a senseless series of expenditures of time and effort, hopefulness and doubt, each one as futile as the one before, and failing as the next one surely will.

Problems that have no meaning cannot be resolved within the framework they are set. Two selves in conflict could not be resolved, and good and evil have no meeting place. The self you made can never be your Self, nor can your Self be split in two, and still be what It is and must forever be. A mind and body cannot both exist. no attempt to reconcile the two, for one denies the other can be real. If you are physical, your mind is gone from your self-concept, for it has no place in which it could be really part of you. If you are spirit, then the body must be meaningless to your reality.

Spirit makes use of mind as means to find its Self expression. And the mind which serves the spirit is at peace and filled with joy. Its power comes from spirit, and it is fulfilling happily its function here. Yet mind can also see itself divorced from spirit, and perceive itself within a body it confuses with itself. Without its function then it has no peace, and happiness is alien to its thoughts.

Yet mind apart from spirit cannot think. It has denied its Source of strength, and sees itself as helpless, limited and weak. Dissociated from its function now, it thinks it is alone and separate, attacked by armies massed against itself and hiding in the body’s frail support. Now must it reconcile unlike with like, for this is what it thinks that it is for.

Waste no more time on this. Who can resolve the senseless conflicts which a dream presents? What could the resolution mean in truth? What purpose could it serve? What is it for? Salvation cannot make illusions real, nor solve a problem that does not exist. Perhaps you hope it can. Yet would you have God’s plan for the release of His dear Son bring pain to him, and fail to set him free?

Your Self retains Its Thoughts, and they remain within your mind and in the Mind of God. The Holy Spirit holds salvation in your mind, and offers it the way to peace. Salvation is a thought you share with God, because His Voice accepted it for you and answered in your name that it was done. Thus is salvation kept among the Thoughts your Self holds dear and cherishes for you.

We will attempt today to find this thought, whose presence in your mind is guaranteed by Him Who speaks to you from your one Self. Our hourly five-minute practicing will be a search for Him within your mind. Salvation comes from this one Self through Him Who is the Bridge between your mind and It. Wait patiently, and let Him speak to you about your Self, and what your mind can do, restored to It and free to serve Its Will.

Begin with saying this:

Salvation comes from my one Self. Its Thoughts are mine to use.

Then seek Its Thoughts, and claim them as your own. These are your own real thoughts you have denied, and let your mind go wandering in a world of dreams, to find illusions in their place. Here are your thoughts, the only ones you have. Salvation is among them; find it there.

If you succeed, the thoughts that come to you will tell you you are saved, and that your mind has found the function that it sought to lose. Your Self will welcome it and give it peace. Restored in strength, it will again flow out from spirit to the spirit in all things created by the Spirit as Itself. Your mind will bless all things. Confusion done, you are restored, for you have found your Self.

Your Self knows that you cannot fail today. Perhaps your mind remains uncertain yet a little while. Be not dismayed by this. The joy your Self experiences It will save for you, and it will yet be yours in full awareness. Every time you spend five minutes of the hour seeking Him Who joins your mind and Self, you offer Him another treasure to be kept for you.

Each time today you tell your frantic mind salvation comes from your one Self, you lay another treasure in your growing store. And all of it is given everyone who asks for it, and will accept the gift. Think, then, how much is given unto you to give this day, that it be given you!

 

Journal

“Spirit makes use of mind as means to find its Self expression. And the mind which serves the spirit is at peace and filled with joy. Its power comes from spirit, and it is fulfilling happily its function here. Yet mind can also see itself divorced from spirit, and perceive itself within a body it confuses with itself. Without its function then it has no peace, and happiness is alien to its thoughts.”

 For most of my life my mind has served ego and because of this I have tried to see myself as two; “as both good and evil, loving and hating, mind and body.” This has caused so much conflict that I have never been completely peaceful. It is not possible to reconcile opposites and so it is like there has been a war raging within.

For a while now, my mind has been wavering in its fidelity. I still hear the ego and I still sometimes believe the ego, but I have come to understand that I will never find peace with the ego and so I am learning to turn to the Holy Spirit for my advice and guidance. This is not the unreserved allegiance to my true Self that I must have if I am to experience the peace of God, but it is going to be.

We have been seeking that Self for the last several lessons as we give our commitment to the single choice for God and in stillness seek Its Thoughts and claim them as our own. I have not succeeded yet, but I feel differently about the process. I know, now, that I am not alone in this. I do all things with my Creator because we are One. I feel Its strength within me as I do my practice.

I see the ego efforts to distract me, showing me problems and making false promises to provide solutions. These problems are not of interest to me at this moment and I recognize the senselessness of seeking solutions where they cannot be found. The ego has one directive, seek and do not find. So even if the problem could be found in time, it would not be solved there. The ego has no interest or ability to solve problems. Its purpose is only to keep me interested in them.

Something I really liked from Regina’s tips from yesterday’s lesson is that we are steadily raising our vibration as we consistently make higher choices. Raising my level of vibration feels simple and doable. So, I am doing two things. I am paying attention to my thoughts and releasing lower thoughts as I choose higher thoughts. I am also giving time to stillness so that I can put my attention on the desire to know my Self.

“Your Self knows that you cannot fail today. Perhaps your mind remains uncertain yet a little while. Be not dismayed by this. The joy your Self experiences It will save for you, and it will yet be yours in full awareness.” 

Regina’s Tips

These tips speak for themselves and only need to be followed.

There are some other fun little games you can play that will help bring Self-realization into your experience.

~ When you are with another person, contemplate their awareness. No matter what they are saying or doing, contemplate the fact that underneath personality and individual thoughts, their awareness is exactly the same as yours.

~ When you are with a pet, contemplate its awareness. Notice as your pet looks out of its eyes. Realize the awareness looking out through the pet’s eyes is the same awareness that looks out through your eyes.

~ When you are with nature, contemplate life. Contemplate the aliveness in a tree, an insect, a bird, a flower, grass, etc. Realize that the aliveness in nature is the same life-force that is in you, and then contemplate Life as what you are.

Today’s workbook lesson says, “Spirit makes use of mind as means to find its Self expression. And the mind which serves the spirit is at peace and filled with joy.”

As you look at awareness, contemplate awareness, and contemplate life, you will come to see life-awareness-intelligence as what you are. This is what the Course calls spirit. You will come to see it as playing through the human body and mind just like the air from the musician’s breath plays through the flute. Seeing yourself as life-awareness-intelligence playing through the human is much different than thinking you are the human, the body or the mind. When you see in this way, you know the difference between the real and unreal. You also see your Self in other people, in animals, and in nature. You begin to sense your eternal ongoing nature, and you experience happiness that unattached; happiness that simply is.

Today as we practice “Salvation comes from my one Self,” embrace every opportunity to contemplate our one Self, and “you lay another treasure in your growing store” of Self-realization.

Past Entry

In this lesson, Jesus tells me that I am not a body no matter that it seems to me that I am. I am not this body, nor in this body. At no time does the body exist. I use the idea of this body, but I am not it.  “A mind and body cannot both exist.” So how is it that I seem to have this body and I seem to have a mind? I am dreaming of a body. It is an illusion. It is a thing of play, an avatar that allows me to pretend I am something I am not.

Within the illusion, the body plays a part, but it is not real. It does not truly exist. The degree that one resists this very clear message is the degree to which that one still identifies with the body as self, and this is the problem, the reason we are still dreaming of separation. It is the purpose of today’s lesson and all lessons to help us let go of the body identity and accept that we are spirit. “If you are spirit, then the body must be meaningless to your reality.”

We are spirit, and we have a mind. “Spirit makes use of mind as means to find its Self expression.” We can use mind to serve the spirit and we will be joyful and peaceful even here. But the mind can also imagine that it is separate from spirit and confuse itself with a body. Then it sees itself as weak and suffering.

Mind that believes it is the body will experience many problems, pain, suffering, and death. The problems it perceives are not the problems to be solved. These problems are merely indications of a confused mind. It is the confusion that must be resolved if we are to find peace. If we find our story to be one of physical pain and sickness, the solution will not be found in medicine, though we may have to lean on that temporary magical solution until we are able to finally accept the truth that the body is not real and the mind is made to serve spirit.

If our story is one of poverty, the solution is not in getting more money, but in releasing the belief in poverty, in loss and lack. If our story is one of broken and unholy relationships, the solution is not finding a better partner or a better friend. Our solution is not even learning to be a better friend. Depression is the inevitable outcome of having a split mind, one that believes it is a body and at the same time remembers itself as spirit. Therapy and pills are not the solutions, though, again one may have to lean on those solutions until true healing becomes attractive.

The solution to all these problems is the same because all these problems are the same. The mind is split and is trying to serve two masters. The solution is to choose to remember that our identity is not divided. We are spirit and we are nothing else. We can find that true identity because it has not and could not be lost to us. Today’s lesson offers us an opportunity to do this, or to at least attempt it. Either way, we are moving toward God when we do, thus toward happiness and peace.

“Yet mind apart from spirit cannot think.” So all that chatter that goes on in the mind is not real thoughts. But we do have real thoughts and we can find those thoughts. “Your Self retains Its Thoughts, and they remain within your mind and in the Mind of God.” One of those Thoughts is the thought of salvation. So, “Halleluiah!” We are saved! Our salvation is in our mind, a part of our Self. It is a thought we share with God, and it is awaiting our discovery. It will come to us through the bridge between It and us, the Holy Spirit. Once we find that thought in our mind, we share it with all our brothers. “Restored in strength, it will again flow out from spirit to the spirit in all things created by the Spirit as Itself. Your mind will bless all things.”

What problem do I think I have right now? Whatever it is it is not my problem. My problem is a mind split, a mind that follows these imagined problems everywhere they lead, finding imagined solutions. Today, Spirit, help me to find the true Thoughts in my mind, the Thoughts from my Self, the Thoughts I share with God. I want the true solution, the only solution. I have no prayers to heal my body, my bank account, my relationships, my emotional distress. I have but one prayer; heal my mind.