Lesson 99
Salvation is my only function here.
W-pI.99.1. Salvation and forgiveness are the same. 2 They both imply that something has gone wrong; something to be saved from, forgiven for; something amiss that needs corrective change; something apart or different from the Will of God. 3 Thus do both terms imply a thing impossible but yet which has occurred, resulting in a state of conflict seen between what is and what could never be.
When Jesus uses the terms salvation and forgiveness, we can see them as meaning the same thing. Here he explains why that is true. Both terms imply that something has gone wrong and needs correction. It is implied that something exists that is not the Will of God. Of course, this cannot be true and yet it has happened. We need correction.
W-pI.99.2. Truth and illusions both are equal now, for both have happened. 2 The impossible becomes the thing you need forgiveness for, salvation from. 3 Salvation now becomes the borderland between the truth and the illusion. 4 It reflects the truth because it is the means by which you can escape illusions. 5 Yet it is not yet the truth because it undoes what was never done.
In the world of our imagination, both truth and illusions seem to equally exist, and yet, how could that be true? It cannot, but because we believe it is so, it becomes true for us. So we need forgiveness for and salvation from what we made even though what we made is impossible. What a bizarre situation we have placed ourselves in. Jesus describes salvation as a borderland between truth and illusion. Salvation reflects the truth and is the way we escape our illusions, this even though it is undoing what never happened.
This all seems very strange and convoluted, but really, it is not. My favorite metaphor for our lives is that we are dreaming. Within the dream, we dream each night and, in those dreams, sometimes strange and impossible things happen and yet, we do not question them. We expect this of a dream. This experience of life in time and space where God is not is just another strange dream. It feels very real to us but so do the nighttime dreams we have feel very real until we awaken. When we wake up from this very long dream of separation, it will be as unreal and unimportant as any night dream we have ever had. Jesus is helping us to wake up and return to reality through the practice of A Course in Miracles.
W-pI.99.3. How could there be a meeting place at all where earth and Heaven can be reconciled within a mind where both of them exist? 2 The mind that sees illusions thinks them real. 3 They have existence in that they are thoughts. 4 And yet they are not real, because the mind that thinks these thoughts is separate from God.
When we asked our Father for special favor and discovered that this could not occur within Perfect Oneness, we had the thought of specialness outside God. This is not possible because there is no outside God, but our minds are as creative as is our Creator’s Mind, and so we now have that experience. The mind that thought of separation made an experience of separation but it is not real. And thank God for that.
W-pI.99.4. What joins the separated mind and thoughts with Mind and Thought which are forever One? 2 What plan could hold the truth inviolate, yet recognize the need illusions bring, and offer means by which they are undone without attack and with no touch of pain? 3 What but a Thought of God could be this plan, by which the never done is overlooked, and sins forgotten which were never real?
What if your child was having a nightmare and was terrified because he did not understand that dreams are not real? Would you seek for words of reassurance and words that would help the child tell the difference between a dream and reality? I would. I would want to do so without causing more fear and more pain. Maybe I would look for a children’s book written in a child’s language and on the level a child could understand and relate to, and I would read the book with the child. This is what we are doing right now with each other. We are reading a book that helps us to see the dream as a dream and not reality, and it does so without bringing more fear and pain into our lives.
W-pI.99.5. The Holy Spirit holds this plan of God exactly as it was received of Him within the Mind of God and in your own. 2 It is apart from time in that its Source is timeless. 3 Yet it operates in time, because of your belief that time is real. 4 Unshaken does the Holy Spirit look on what you see; on sin and pain and death, on grief and separation and on loss. 5 Yet does He know one thing must still be true; God is still Love, and this is not His Will.
The Holy Spirit has a plan that He received from God and He holds that plan within His mind and in our mind. This plan is apart from time and yet it operates in time. If we go back to our metaphor of a loving parent helping a child understand his nightmares are not reality, this is very much how it works between the Holy Spirit and us.
When a child has a nightmare, the parent can listen to the details of the dream calmly and with compassion without believing in the dream. The Holy Spirit is aware of the details of our dream story and is not confused by them. He does not believe in our dream any more than we would believe in our child’s dream. He holds only one thought regardless of what we believe is happening, regardless of what form the dream takes or how frightening it is to us. He knows this one thing to be true; God is still Love, and this is not His Will.
W-pI.99.6. This is the Thought that brings illusions to the truth, and sees them as appearances behind which is the changeless and the sure. 2 This is the Thought that saves and that forgives, because it lays no faith in what is not created by the only Source it knows. 3 This is the Thought whose function is to save by giving you its function as your own. 4 Salvation is your function, with the One to Whom the plan was given. 5 Now are you entrusted with this plan, along with Him. 6 He has one answer to appearances; regardless of their form, their size, their depth or any attribute they seem to have:
7 Salvation is my only function here.
8 God still is Love, and this is not His Will.
How simple is salvation. This is our function here. We are to look on our mind’s beliefs and remember that God is still Love, and this is not His Will. As we accept this simple solution, the mind begins to clear and peace is restored. It seems too simple to the mind that has obscured the truth with complexities. For this reason, one might be tempted to overlook the solution, thinking that more is needed to correct this terrible error. This objection is coming from the mind that made the world and believes in it. Better to turn to salvation where a solution can be found.
W-pI.99.7. You who will yet work miracles, be sure you practice well the idea for today. 2 Try to perceive the strength in what you say, for these are words in which your freedom lies. 3 Your Father loves you. 4 All the world of pain is not His Will. 5 Forgive yourself the thought He wanted this for you. 6 Then let the Thought with which He has replaced all your mistakes enter the darkened places of your mind that thought the thoughts that never were His Will.
Let us not make the mistake of thinking the world is real and that God wants this for us. God loves us and wants only our happiness. This world is not His Will, so this world cannot exist and yet, if this is our desire, if we believe in this world, it will exist for us even though it does not exist. We alone hurt ourselves, and we must choose to stop. Once that choice is made, we receive the plan and all the help we need to accept it and use it. We use it as we let the Thought with which He has replaced all your mistakes enter the darkened places of your mind that thought the thoughts that never were His Will. This is why I watch my thoughts and feelings with great vigilance and allow the Holy Spirit to replace my mistaken thoughts.
W-pI.99.8. This part belongs to God, as does the rest. 2 It does not think its solitary thoughts, and make them real by hiding them from Him. 3 Let in the light, and you will look upon no obstacle to what He wills for you. 4 Open your secrets to His kindly light, and see how bright this light still shines in you.
I remember when I started the Course, there were things I did or said, thoughts I had that I didn’t want to share with the Holy Spirit. As if I could hide anything from the Holy Spirit when It is in my mind, part of me, but that was the way I thought back then. Later, I realized that my way out was to look with the Holy Spirit and I stopped pretending I could hide anything. But I did still sometimes choose not to face my thoughts and would not ask for healing of some things. That resistance fell away, too. Now, I happily open my mind to Him and ask for healing of all wrong minded thinking.
W-pI.99.9. Practice His Thought today, and let His light seek out and lighten up all darkened spots, and shine through them to join them to the rest. 2 It is God’s Will your mind be one with His. 3 It is God’s Will that He has but one Son. 4 It is God’s Will that His one Son is you. 5 Think of these things in practicing today, and start the lesson that we learn today with this instruction in the way of truth:
6 Salvation is my only function here.
7 Salvation and forgiveness are the same.
8 Then turn to Him Who shares your function here, and let Him teach you what you need to learn to lay all fear aside, and know your Self as Love which has no opposite in you.
It is God’s Will that I am His Son and it is my will that I know myself as His Son. I am Love and there is no opposite to Love in me.
W-pI.99.10. Forgive all thoughts which would oppose the truth of your completion, unity and peace. 2 You cannot lose the gifts your Father gave. 3 You do not want to be another self. 4 You have no function that is not of God. 5 Forgive yourself the one you think you made. 6 Forgiveness and salvation are the same. 7 Forgive what you have made and you are saved.
I am not afraid of or ashamed of what I made. I simply have no interest in it anymore. Sometimes it feels like I do, but when I notice something in my mind that remains unforgiven, I am happy to look at it with the Holy Spirit so it can be forgiven. There is little that can tempt me and nothing that can sustain my interest for long. There is nothing that opposes God that I will not forgive and release.
W-pI.99.11. There is a special message for today which has the power to remove all forms of doubt and fear forever from your mind. 2 If you are tempted to believe them true, remember that appearances can not withstand the truth these mighty words contain:
3 Salvation is my only function here.
4 God still is Love, and this is not His Will.
W-pI.99.12. Your only function tells you you are one. 2 Remind yourself of this between the times you give five minutes to be shared with Him Who shares God’s plan with you. 3 Remind yourself:
4 Salvation is my only function here.
5 Thus do you lay forgiveness on your mind and let all fear be gently laid aside, that love may find its rightful place in you and show you that you are the Son of God.
Jesus, be with me all through the day and help me to see what I need to see in order to be fully healed. You are my Brother and I love you and appreciate you. I open my mind to healing. I accept salvation as my only function. I accept that forgiveness is salvation and I gladly forgive myself and all my brothers.