Lesson 93
W-pI.93.1. You think you are the home of evil, darkness and sin. 2 You think if anyone could see the truth about you he would be repelled, recoiling from you as if from a poisonous snake. 3 You think if what is true about you were revealed to you, you would be struck with horror so intense that you would rush to death by your own hand, living on after seeing this being impossible.
Light and joy and peace abide in me.
At first, this seemed a bit dramatic. I didn’t think I ever hated myself this much, but I was willing to consider these words. Now that my mind has been healed a great deal, I am able to see how it was for me before the healing. It is an interesting phenomenon that we don’t really see things clearly until we are past them. When I compare how I feel now to how I felt before, I realize that the difference is so glaring that I can hardly believe I didn’t notice how frightened and repelled I was by what I believed about myself. At the time, it was just reality and I hid my revulsion by projecting onto others what I saw in myself and then pretending it was gone.
W-pI.93.2. These are beliefs so firmly fixed that it is difficult to help you see that they are based on nothing. 2 That you have made mistakes is obvious. 3 That you have sought salvation in strange ways; have been deceived, deceiving and afraid of foolish fantasies and savage dreams; and have bowed down to idols made of dust,—all this is true by what you now believe.
I am doing a Healing Inner Child course with someone right now and I am looking back at my earlier years and forgiving some of the people, situations, and beliefs from that time. I think about that child and that young woman who was trying to make the best of some very difficult experiences and I feel such compassion for her. All those mistakes she made, all those foolish fantasies and savage dreams, and she had no idea there was a better way. She would never have been able to accept that her beliefs were based on nothing. What a burden she carried! How wonderful to be free at last!
W-pI.93.3. Today we question this, not from the point of view of what you think, but from a very different reference point, from which such idle thoughts are meaningless. 2 These thoughts are not according to God’s Will. 3 These weird beliefs He does not share with you. 4 This is enough to prove that they are wrong, but you do not perceive that this is so.
W-pI.93.4. Why would you not be overjoyed to be assured that all the evil that you think you did was never done, that all your sins are nothing, that you are as pure and holy as you were created, and that light and joy and peace abide in you? 2 Your image of yourself can not withstand the Will of God. 3 You think that this is death, but it is life. 4 You think you are destroyed, but you are saved.
I am still amazed at how long I resisted the idea that I was innocent even after studying the Course for years. I read the words and understood them, but then I would remember something ‘unforgivable’ that I had done and I was off and running with the ego again, berating myself and suffering. But I kept doing the forgiveness work, if not fully accepting my forgiveness, at least being vigilant for my thoughts and persistent in my practice and, slowly, my mind healed, and finally, I accepted that I cannot withstand the Will of God. How strange that we believe the loss of this ego-self is death when it is salvation.
W-pI.93.5. The self you made is not the Son of God. 2 Therefore, this self does not exist at all. 3 And anything it seems to do and think means nothing. 4 It is neither bad nor good. 5 It is unreal, and nothing more than that. 6 It does not battle with the Son of God. 7 It does not hurt him, nor attack his peace. 8 It has not changed creation, nor reduced eternal sinlessness to sin, and love to hate. 9 What power can this self you made possess, when it would contradict the Will of God?
This paragraph clarifies the situation. The ego-self, that sense of being a personal separate self is not the Son of God and so it does not exist. Myron does not exist. This body that I call Myron does not exist. This world in which these separate selfs seem to live does not exist. What has been done with these ego selfs does not change creation in any way.
What could something that does not exist do that would make the Son of God guilty? This is an absurd notion. Realizing this, we can release all belief in guilt. It might seem impossible, but I did and so can everyone. Thoughts of guilt will still show up in my mind sometimes, but I know they are not true and so they do not distract me long and are easily released.
W-pI.93.6. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. 2 Over and over this must be repeated, until it is accepted. 3 It is true. 4 Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. 5 Nothing can touch it, or change what God created as eternal. 6 The self you made, evil and full of sin, is meaningless. 7 Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light and joy and peace abide in you.
This is the answer to all suffering. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. Everything opposed to this thought is not true. Light and joy and peace abide in you and you can experience this right now if you turn from the dark ego thoughts in your mind and accept that you are the light of the world. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God and there is nothing you can do to change that.
W-pI.93.7. Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought;—you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself. 2 Whatever evil you may think you did, you are as God created you. 3 Whatever mistakes you made, the truth about you is unchanged. 4 Creation is eternal and unalterable. 5 Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. 6 You are and will forever be exactly as you were created. 7 Light and joy and peace abide in you because God put them there.
Jesus is repeating this over and over because we don’t believe it and he wants us to accept this one thing. This one truth if accepted can save us thousands of years of suffering, and not just our self but the whole Sonship will be helped by our acceptance. Don’t resist your innocence. Of course, innocence must be for everyone if it is for you.
Perhaps the idea that everyone else is innocent and pure is the reason some do not automatically accept the good news. For a long time even after I was willing to accept my own innocence, I kept running into this wall of grievances I had against others. It seemed like each grievance was different and each one was impossible to release because they did it.
But eventually, I forgave enough and thus got enough peace and happiness that I stopped resisting forgiveness. I stopped needing to be right. And once that was done, love and gratitude filled my heart and I wanted everyone to know how perfect and lovely they are and how innocent.
W-pI.93.8. In our longer exercise periods today, which would be most profitable if done for the first five minutes of every waking hour, begin by stating the truth about your creation:
2 Light and joy and peace abide in me.
3 My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
4 Then put away your foolish self-images, and spend the rest of the practice period in trying to experience what God has given you, in place of what you have decreed for yourself.
W-pI.93.9. You are what God created or what you made. 2 One Self is true; the other is not there. 3 Try to experience the unity of your one Self. 4 Try to appreciate Its Holiness and the love from which It was created. 5 Try not to interfere with the Self which God created as you, by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sinfulness you have made to replace It. 6 Let It come into Its Own. 7 Here you are; This is You. 8 And light and joy and peace abide in you because this is so.
You may not feel like you are succeeding in this but every attempt brings us closer to feeling our Self and our Holiness.
W-pI.93.10. You may not be willing or even able to use the first five minutes of each hour for these exercises. 2 Try, however, to do so when you can. 3 At least remember to repeat these thoughts each hour:
4 Light and joy and peace abide in me.
5 My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
6 Then try to devote at least a minute or so to closing your eyes and realizing that this is a statement of the truth about you.
Life can feel hectic and you might feel like this is just too much, that you cannot do this every hour, but maybe you can spend a couple of minutes every hour just opening to the truth of yourself and letting It soothe and comfort you, letting It remind you of who you are.
W-pI.93.11. If a situation arises that seems to be disturbing, quickly dispel the illusion of fear by repeating these thoughts again. 2 Should you be tempted to become angry with someone, tell him silently:
3 Light and joy and peace abide in you.
4 Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
5 You can do much for the world’s salvation today. 6 You can do much today to bring you closer to the part in salvation that God has assigned to you. 7 And you can do much today to bring the conviction to your mind that the idea for the day is true indeed.
Wow! Can we turn our backs on this? We can help save the world today by doing this exercise as often as we can and by using these ideas when we are disturbed. This is will bring us closer to the part in salvation that God assigned us. What a wonderful thought! And, as if that is not enough, doing these exercises and using them to quickly dispel the illusion of fear will not only make for a peaceful and happy day, it will help us come to believe in our innocence.