Lesson 56
Our review for today covers the following:
W-pI.56.1. (26) My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.
2 How can I know who I am when I see myself as under constant attack? 3 Pain, illness, loss, age and death seem to threaten me. 4 All my hopes and wishes and plans appear to be at the mercy of a world I cannot control. 5 Yet perfect security and complete fulfillment are my inheritance. 6 I have tried to give my inheritance away in exchange for the world I see. 7 But God has kept my inheritance safe for me. 8 My own real thoughts will teach me what it is.
It is a sad world that we have made to take the place of our inheritance. We made the world that seems to attack us and then we strive to control what we made as if it were the problem. It is like we are in a video game that we developed. We made all the challenges and all the tools to overcome them. Then we decided to forget that we did this to ourselves and that we have all the solutions right in our own minds. Instead, we try and try to overcome the challenges, to control the program, to win, and failing to do that, to die, and then start again from the beginning as if we don’t remember anything that went before.
W-pI.56.2. (27) Above all else I want to see.
2 Recognizing that what I see reflects what I think I am, I realize that vision is my greatest need. 3 The world I see attests to the fearful nature of the self-image I have made. 4 If I would remember who I am, it is essential that I let this image of myself go. 5 As it is replaced by truth, vision will surely be given me. 6 And with this vision, I will look upon the world and on myself with charity and love.
In this video game, everything that shows up is a reflection of the maker of the game. Where else could it have come from except the mind of the developer? We made the hero of the game and now we think of it as who we are. Myron seems to be my hero in this story and for a long time, I thought that I was Myron. Since I saw myself in this way, what I needed was vision, a different way to see myself.
This new way of seeing has changed everything for me. It took me out of the game mentally, at least for most of the time. Sometimes the game engages me briefly, and I start acting like I need to do something in the game to save myself or someone else. But now that I have found the ultimate key to the game, I quickly use it to come back to reality. Then I stop seeing the world as something to conquer and the other players as enemies to overcome. I remember, if not who I am, exactly, then at least I know who I am not. This is leading me ever closer to my Self.
W-pI.56.3. (28) Above all else I want to see differently.
2 The world I see holds my fearful self-image in place, and guarantees its continuance. 3 While I see the world as I see it now, truth cannot enter my awareness. 4 I would let the door behind this world be opened for me, that I may look past it to the world that reflects the Love of God.
Just as I can be deeply involved in a video game and still be aware of what is going on around me, I can be aware of the world as we made it, and yet also be aware of the world that reflects the Love of God. Sometimes I see this very clearly. For instance, when my daughter said that she had Covid, I was aware of both the story of my daughter sick, and the reality of my daughter not being that sick body. I said the appropriate things to her so she knew she was loved, but I was not afraid for her. I want her and all my children to stay in the dream longer than me and that is perfectly normal. But I also know that no matter what happens in the dream, my children are safe and so am I. To retain this awareness, I have to be vigilant for the ego fear thoughts so that I can release them and accept correction.
W-pI.56.4. (29) God is in everything I see.
2 Behind every image I have made, the truth remains unchanged. 3 Behind every veil I have drawn across the face of love, its light remains undimmed. 4 Beyond all my insane wishes is my will, united with the Will of my Father. 5 God is still everywhere and in everything forever. 6 And we who are part of Him will yet look past all appearances, and recognize the truth beyond them all.
Sometimes it is hard to imagine being okay if something happens that causes intense pain or sorrow, but what helps me is to remember that God’s Will is eternal. That means it cannot change or be changed, nor can it end. There is no pause button on God’s Will that allows me to be something outside His Will for a little while. Everything that is not God’s Will does not exist. If I think I am something God did not create, I must be dreaming.
W-pI.56.5. (30) God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.
2 In my own mind, behind all my insane thoughts of separation and attack, is the knowledge that all is one forever. 3 I have not lost the knowledge of Who I am because I have forgotten it. 4 It has been kept for me in the Mind of God, Who has not left His Thoughts. 5 And I, who am among them, am one with them and one with Him.
I was thinking about how I would explain our minds to someone who was not interested in Spirituality. I think I would tell this person that there is far more to her mind than she realizes. There is the very outer edge of her mind that she is most familiar with. This part of the mind deals with everyday activities. It thinks about things and stores memories and information. It reasons out the present according to what it has stored from the past.
This is not the only part of the mind, and in fact, is the smallest part. There is another part of the mind that is vast and has access to all knowledge. Sometimes it seems, people learn to access that part of their mind and they have brilliant insights. I think about people like Einstein and Neils Bohr, for instance. We call them geniuses, but I think they simply peek behind all the nonsense of the outer mind into the infinite knowledge that is creation.
We can do this, too. We may not look into that part of the mind and find truths that our outer mind translates into scientific advancements. I have peeked behind the veil and what I have discovered is that God is in my mind and that translates into a peaceful, happy existence in which I see love in everyone. Even when I slip back into the outer mind, I know what has happened and I know how to shift my awareness to something closer to what is real.
Because God is in my mind, I can see God in everything and everyone. In fact, the only way I can see the bland and dark world is to take my eyes off God and look the other way, so to speak. Why would I ever do that? I don’t know. But I do know that I can always turn inward again and I can do that without losing my ability to navigate the world we made. What a surprise that was! I long to perfect this awakened state, to go more deeply into it to rediscover what we left behind in order to live as frail and vulnerable bodies in an often scary landscape. What were we thinking?