CIM Lessons 138-144 and Miracles Principle #21

Miracles Principle #21: “Miracles are natural signs of forgiveness. Through miracles you accept God’s forgiveness by extending it to others.” God does not forgive because God never judged. When CIM talks about the forgiveness of God, it’s talking about the unconditional Love of God. Forgiveness, as CIM describes it, is forgiving your brother for what he has not done. (Text, Ch. 17, Section III, par. 1)You realize nothing has been done to you; it’s all something you’ve done to yourself. In miracles, we shift from the ego’s hate and blame to Spirit’s Love, which then becomes the extension of God’s love to us and through us. Jesus says we demonstrate he did not die in vain by demonstrating that he lives in us, which means living according to the same principles of love and forgiveness he did. The more we practice his example, the closer we come to the Christ within and, thereby, to remembering God.

Lesson 138—“Heaven is the decision I must make.” The physical realm is a world of duality, of opposites. In this world, choice is not only possible, it’s life. God’s creation is one of non-duality, of perfect oneness. If reality is oneness, choice is impossible, inconceivable. A place where nothing changes and there are no opposites sounds boring! We are addicted to drama, devoted to the delicious agony of indecision. To be without decisions seems to us like death. Yet this is what the Course offers.  When this truly dawns upon our minds, we recoil in mortal terror. It’s unconscious; we don’t realize what’s going on, but we literally run away from truth and from total love, not knowing what we’re doing. It seems as if we’re being asked to die. And, in a sense, we are: to die to life as we have known it. The only way out is through—through fear to love. Through fear to faith that our Creator would not “stick it to us,” but rather wills to give us all there is in place of nothing. Our guilt is the only thing holding this all from us. When we look at this choice “with Heaven’s help,” we see that purpose of this world is to make one final choice—the choice for heaven, the choice between illusion and reality. Time exists only for this—to “give us time” to make this choice.

Lesson 139—“I will accept Atonement for myself.” To accept the Atonement for myself means to accept the truth of what I am—and what everyone else is as well. And what am I? God created me as an extension of His Love. That is my purpose. To accept the Atonement is to begin to function as God’s Love in the world. This lesson is magnificent in its dissection of the insanity of the way we question our identity. It questions our questioning. It raises our doubts to doubt. It belittles our thoughts of littleness. How can we be anything except what we are. And how can we not know what we are? God’s grandness, this magnificent inclusiveness, this divine generosity is our very being! Every time we refuse to see the magnificence in another, we deny our own. When we look on others with less than love, it’s because we refuse to accept how much we merit unconditional love. We are here to restore the grandeur of what we all are to every mind. Through us our Father’s Love can contain all minds. Our heart is big enough for all the world. Think of this the next time you’re inclined to think your life has no purpose!

Lesson 140—“Only salvation can be said to cure.” The “cure” CIM is talking about here is a healing of the mind, not the body. This lesson applies to bodily sickness, but it also applies equally to any apparent “problem” in this world—financial lack, loneliness, etc. To seek a cure by any means in the physical realm is what CIM calls “magic.” Finding a magic formula within the dream is never the solution because we are curing the symptom rather than the cause. The root of the problem is in the mind. Early in the Text, Jesus makes it clear, however, that the use of magic isn’t evil. It just doesn’t really work. Yet sometimes it’s the best we can do. If we have a splitting headache, we take an aspirin. There is no shame in this. Only let us not deceive ourselves that we have really done anything to cure the dis-ease. The magic of this world can mask symptoms but cannot cure. Bringing our illusions to truth, allowing our guilt to be removed from our minds—this cures and nothing else. Sin, and therefore sickness, cannot be real because God is everywhere present. He has not left us and, therefore, what we think is sin cannot be so. In our awareness of His presence, guilt disappears, and with it, the cause of sickness.

Lessons 141-144 are review lessons with the theme of “My mind holds only the thoughts I think with God.” What does this mean? Does it mean all the thoughts I have somehow mysteriously come from God no matter how meaningless or ugly they seem? No. It means that the mind of which I’m aware is not my real mind. My conscious mind, filled with erratic private thoughts, is an illusion of a mind—a mirage floating over my real mind. My real mind is a limitless domain, at one with the Mind of God. In that mind, my thoughts are not petty or fleeting, but stable, eternal realities. The thoughts in my real mind are not self-initiated but rather stream from God through me. The “self-deceptions” mentioned in this review material are all the thoughts of which you’re currently aware. They are self-deceptions because they deceive you into thinking your mind is not that infinite mind which thinks in unison with God. These self-deceptive thoughts affect Reality “No more than can a child who throws a stick into the ocean change the coming and the going of the tides.”

Assignment: Miracles Principle #22; Lessons 145-151; Text Chapter Two, pp. 23-28—“Healing as Release from Fear” (First words: “Our emphasis is now on healing.”); The Function of the Miracle Worker (First words: “Before miracle workers are ready to undertake, etc.”; and “Special Principles of Miracle Workers” (First words: “The miracle abolishes the need, etc.”)

Practical Application: This week, as you make the many choices you will undoubtedly make, ask yourself as you make each choice, “What is it for?” What is the motive behind your choice? Is the motive or intent one of love or one of fear? Is it one of eternality or one of passing importance or value? As you choose what you will wear for the day, is it to impress or is it to bring comfort and joy? As you choose what to eat, is it a choice of fear (Oh! The calories!) or is it a choice of mindful engagement and gratitude. As you choose what activities to do or not to do, be consciously aware of how the activity blesses you and others or not. Remember, as you engage in this “exercise,” that salvation is happiness.

CIM Lessons 131-137 and Miracles Principle #20

CIM Lessons 131-137 and Miracles Principle #20

Miracles Principle #20: “Miracles reawaken the awareness that the spirit, not the body, is the altar of truth. This is the recognition that leads to the healing power of the miracle.” The temple of the Holy Spirit (aka Higher Self or Voice for God) is not in the body; it is in the relationship (T-20.VI.5:1). Spirit cannot be in the body because there is no body. God wouldn’t place the Holy Spirit in a place that doesn’t exist and where there is no problem. Bodies don’t get sick. Only the mind can be sick, and only the mind can heal. Spirit is not needed out in the world, because the world isn’t the problem. Spirit is needed in the mind, where the altar of truth is. The body is not the temple of Spirit; it is the use of the body that is, which is always found in terms of a relationship: joining in a common purpose. Spirit is made manifest in relationships.

In Chapter 19, Jesus says Christ stands within the holy relationship. This doesn’t mean Christ is not present in an unholy relationship, which CIM calls a “special relationship.” But in a special relationship, where guilt is the goal and separation is the principle, Spirit is obscured.

Lesson 131—“No one can fail who seeks to find the truth.” Searching, looking outside for oneself for one’s Self, is the nature of the world. At times it seems that search will never succeed. Yet God made an ancient promise to you that you would go back through the door in your mind to the real world. These exercises are like rehearsals, engaging our minds and training them in a pattern that leads to the discovery of the door to Heaven in our minds.

Lesson 132—“I loose the world from all I thought it was.” This lesson contains perhaps the most startling statement in CIM: “There is no world!” Most of us are not ready to accept this idea. As this lesson says, no madman can be “swayed by questioning his thoughts’ effects.” The approach that will lead us to understand there is no world does not follow the path of directly questioning the real world. That is a fruitless approach—as fruitless as trying to convince a madman his hallucinations aren’t real. So the focus of CIM is not on denying the reality of the world, but on opening our minds to bring healing to the world we see. The unreality of the world dawns naturally on us as we begin to grasp the reality of our Self. If we are as God created us, we cannot suffer. To “loose the world” is to heal it. Absolving the world of guilt and thoughts of vengeance manifests our true Self to us, transforms our thoughts and, in turn, transforms the world that is their effect.

Lesson 133—“I will not value what is valueless.”

This lesson provides the criteria by which we can decide when we are choosing the valuable and when we are choosing the valueless.

Two laws govern all choice:

1) There are only two alternatives to choose between: everything and nothing.

2) There is no compromise, no in-between.

The following four criteria determine what is of value:

Will it last forever?

 Is it a choice in which no one loses? (Where anyone loses, all lose.)

 Is the purpose free of the ego’s goals?

 Is the choice free of all guilt?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no” then it is valueless.

How can we know whether or not the ego’s goals are intruding? The ego’s favorite masquerade is innocence. The ego detector is quite simple: guilt. If we feel any guilt about our choice, we are not being Spirit led. If we apply these criteria to the decisions of our lives, our lives will be transformed.

The first criteria alone rules out anything material, including bodies and ordinary human relationships. What lasts forever in this world? Only love. And not all that we call love lasts forever. But there is a love not of this world. In every moment, we are choosing to be taken over by and to extend this love, or we are choosing to withhold ourselves from it, in fear. To choose love is the only guiltless choice. It isn’t complex.

Let’s take an everyday example. I decide to go out to dinner with someone. I go to a favorite restaurant, expecting great food and great service. The food isn’t so good, and our server is inattentive. Since neither the food nor the evening’s service will last forever, I choose not to let either bother me. What I choose to focus on instead is seeing the eternal in my dinner partner—and in the inattentive server—and in conveying this vision through my kind words, loving attitudes, and generous actions. Now what I’m seeking will last forever.  

Lesson 134—“Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.” Forgiveness, to be true, must be absolutely justified. Sin, if real, can’t be justified. True forgiveness sees the nothingness of sin—that it never happened in God’s Reality. Since this concept is so foreign to the human mind, CIM wants me to experience the results of forgiveness, which is relief, which is freedom. Even if I don’t understand or believe CIM’s theory behind forgiveness, I can forgive and experience the lifting of a tremendous burden from my heart. When I condemn someone else for his sins, I condemn myself. By condemning another, I’m saying, “Sin is real and deserves to be punished.” My form of “sin” may not be the one I condemn in my brother, indeed I may be accusing him of something I think I’d never do, and I think that because I’m free from that particular fault, somehow my condemnation of him will purchase my salvation. But I’ve supported the principle that sin is real and deserves punishment. And I know, deep within me, that I, too, have “sinned,” and if I have, I have nothing to hope for but punishment. What I apply to my brother, applies to me as well. Releasing my brother from his chains releases me at the same time.

Now, if everything is instantly forgiven, what’s to keep us straight? Why wouldn’t I just run out and steal everyone blind? Through forgiveness, I experience my true Self, which is unconditional Love, which is All That Is. When I remember Who I Am, I realize that I have all because God created me as all. I (Capital “I” aka I Am) have no needs and therefore no desire to “steal.” Everything that is, in God’s Reality, is already mine.

Lesson 135—“If I defend myself, I am attacked.” If you see a need for defense, you must perceive attack. Only the body can be attacked. The physical self you think you are is very vulnerable indeed and needs continual defense. The Self that you are in Reality, needs no defense. CIM teaches that all attack is self-attack. We delude ourselves into thinking that attack comes from somewhere outside ourselves, but all “attack” is generated by our own sense of guilt. I make the world I see. Does that mean one generates the experience of being raped? Certainly not on a conscious level. But if I feel deserving of punishment, I will experience that punishment in myriad forms until I release the guilt that is making this “request” of the universe. It’s like wearing a sign that says, “Kick me.” And since the universe obeys our every command, stand by!

This lesson also identifies our plans as a form of defense—defense against perceived future threats. Again, it’s like wearing a “Kick Me” sign. CIM says a healed mind doesn’t plan. But how can I survive in this cruel world without a plan? The healed mind follows a plan; it just doesn’t make the plan. Rather than receiving the plan from the ego, which operates on fear, it receives the plan from Spirit, Who sees the Big Picture, in which we are always safe, always loved, always invincible.

Lesson 136—“Sickness is a defense against the truth.” Sickness is a decision we make to distract ourselves when the truth gets too close for comfort. It’s a decision to root ourselves firmly back into our body. Most of us react to being told that we choose sickness with flat denial. The lesson says our choice is “doubly shielded by oblivion.” We choose to push away the pesky truth that has begun to nibble at our sense of separateness and of the physical nature of our bodies by making ourselves sick. (“Of course my body is real. It’s sick!”)) We then choose to forget we made that choice—the first shield of oblivion. Then we forget that we chose to forget—the second shield. But this all happens in a split second, so the shields are up so quickly the whole process seems to be unconscious. CIM says nothing can ever happen to you without your consent. Even your so-called death. So we can remember, if we are willing, that illness is a choice. Then we can chose again. The antidote to the whole process, however, is not attempting to heal the sick body but rather to accept the truth about myself (“I am not a body.”), to let my mind be healed.

Lesson 137—“When I am healed I am not healed alone.” Healing, which is our function in the world, is a phenomenon that is shared. To heal is to share. Healing restores Oneness. Sickness is a secret desire to separate oneself. Healing reverses that. It’s a move toward others, a joining. We are speaking here of healing the mind. Physical healing may or may not follow, but whatever the seeming state of my body, if I refuse to accept sickness as my reality, my mind becomes a “haven where the weary can remain to rest.” Sickness is a demonstration of “I am a body.” So what we’re called on to do is not just to refuse the limitation of sickness, but to refuse the limits of the body altogether. What is opposed to God, what is opposed to perfection or eternality, does not exist.

Assignment: Read Miracles Principle #21 and Lessons 138-144. Read Text, Chapter 28, The Undoing of Fear, at your own pace.

Practical Application: Next Tuesday night, if you are so inclined, bring to class a CIM quote or passage that has been especially meaningful and helpful to you. Be prepared to share your thoughts on this passage.

CIM Lessons 124-130 and Miracles Principle #19

Miracles Principle #19: Miracles make minds one in God. They depend on cooperation because the Sonship is the sum of all that God created. Miracles therefore reflect the laws of eternity, not of time. Miracles don’t make us one in God. They remind us we are one in God. Separation is the key idea in the ego’s belief system. The body is an illusion, a means to “prove” we’re separate. If I believe my body is sick, then I’m making my body real and reinforcing the ego’s purpose. If I am upset because you are sick, I’m doing the same thing. Because we are all One on the level of our minds, all people are the same—whole and perfect, as God created them. Therefore the solution to all so-called problems or “dis-eases” is the same: ownership of our Reality, the Oneness, which is Perfect Love.

Lesson 124—“Let me remember I am one with God.” This lesson tells us enlightenment is not a change but a recognition. To pray, to give thanks for the Truth about me as God created me is a very profitable exercise. We spoke in class recently of another CIM quote that basically says, if I but realized Who walks with me, I’d never have reason for concern. This lesson is a portrait of a teacher of God. Everywhere he walks, light is left behind to illuminate the way for others. The teacher walks in constant awareness of God’s Presence. He feels God within. God’s thoughts fill his mind, and he perceives only the loving and lovable. This teacher heals people in the past, the present, and the future—at any distance. The latter part of the lesson reminds us that Jesus knows very well that most of us are so far from this conscious awareness that we may spend a half hour trying to get in touch with this Truth and never get even a glimmer of it. And he tells us not to worry about that. Even though we may experience nothing in practicing this lesson, he assures us “no time was ever better spent.”

Lesson 125—“In quiet I receive God’s word today.” All we’re asked to do today is to be quiet for ten minutes three times during the day and for a moment each hour. Our ego is a constant noise machine, trying to drown out the Voice for God. The difficulties I have being quiet are indicators of how much I need this practice. As soon as I sit down to meditate, the ego reminds me of something I’ve left undone or takes me on a distracting detour, a “frantic rush of thoughts.” Clearly, CIM is teaching me that a quiet mind is essential to our goal. “The memory of God comes to the quiet mind.”

Lesson 126—“All that I give is given to myself.” This lesson aims at thought reversal. Our false understanding of forgiveness is the reason we can’t understand how forgiveness brings us peace nor how it restores our unity with our brothers. The idea that “all that I give is given to myself” is crucial. Understanding it makes forgiveness effortless. The “cries for love” of others are my own, and I cannot condemn another without condemning myself and losing my peace of mind. If I understood this and believed it, forgiveness would happen naturally. I would realize that how I see another person is how I see myself. I would learn to perceive that ego actions are not sins but cries for help and would respond accordingly. I would realize that my judgmental attitude has an adverse affect on the behavior of others and on myself. I would see that I’m not separate but that we all share the same fears and doubts, and we share the same longing for release from them. How wise of my Father to gently teach me by holding a mirror before my eyes! If I ask for understanding sincerely, it will come.

Lesson 127—“There is no love but God’s love.” This is an extremely important lesson. It asks me to “take the largest single step this course requests in [my] advance towards its established goal.” Contrary to what I believe, there are no different kinds of love—romantic, maternal, fraternal, etc. Nor are there different degrees of love. I merely torment myself looking for these different kinds of love outside myself. They aren’t out there to be found. God is Love and God is all there is. This Love is truly unconditional and is not affected by anything outside Itself, outside my Self. I am what God is. I am unconditional love. The goal of today’s lesson is to catch even the faintest glimpse that this is my true nature. This is an attempt to free my mind of all the limits I have placed on myself and all the changes I believe I’ve made in myself, and to find my true Self, Who is Love. To be able, even in a very small degree, to perceive myself as this Love is a quantum leap indeed. To spend a little time for this purpose is well worth it. “There is no better use for time than this.”

Lesson 128—“The world I see holds nothing that I want.” The purpose of this lesson is to learn to let go of the value I place on things of the world so that I may free my mind to experience what is truly valuable—my home in God. This seems like a harsh and scary teaching, but it’s the key to our ultimate freedom. It’s similar to the first three of Buddha’s Four Noble Truths: life is suffering; the cause of suffering is desire for self at the expense of others; and the way out of suffering is the relinquishment of all such desires. When I assign value to things of this world, I chain myself to heartache because everything in the world must have an end. My cravings for bodily possessions, protection, longevity, etc., only divert my attention from my purpose here. To the Holy Spirit, this world and everything in it has only one purpose—to heal my mind, to remember Who and What I am.

Lesson 129—“Beyond this world there is a world I want.” Jesus realizes that to ask us to release this world without offering something of more value in return will only cause us to dig in our heels. The statement that this world is “worthless” is pretty blunt. My ego desperately clings to the idea that there is something worth preserving and striving for here. 

The emphasis of CIM is not on “giving up the world but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying, filled with joy, and capable of offering [me] peace.” This begins to look a tad more enticing when I take a hard look at the world I’m trying to hang onto. Terrorism, starvation, disease, apathy . . . In this world, even when I do find peace or love, I know it can’t last forever. So why wouldn’t I want to consider a world where it is impossible to lose anything? I drag my feet because this other world is as yet far too vague to me. (What will I do all day if I don’t have a body?) Such fears stem from the root fear that God intends to punish us—to bait and switch, to trick us. CIM tells us we give up “nothing” for “everything” in this process. 

Do I personally know what that “everything” looks like? I do not. One thing that gives me some glimmer of this “other world” is my dreams at night. I don’t have a body in these dreams yet my experience is vivid and “palpable.” In my dreams, I am ageless, limitless, and invincible. The bottom line, however, is that even though I don’t know exactly what this world will be like I’m getting in exchange, I do know I can trust Unconditional Love not to “shaft” me. I can trust Unconditional Love to exceed my wildest dreams for joy.

Lesson 130—“It is impossible to see two worlds.” The first two paragraphs of this lesson are as clear a statement of CIM’s teaching on the workings of perception as there is in all three volumes. What I value, I want to see. What I want to see determines my thinking. And what I see reflects my thinking. Believing is seeing! Since I can’t hate and love simultaneously, I can’t project totally opposite worlds simultaneously. Through my thinking, I project either a world of fear or a world of love. If I try to exclude part of my projection, thinking“ surely this is good,” I’m trying to “accept a little part of hell as real.” 

At the same time, Course does not try to foster a rejection of the world. It tells me that only the part of it I look upon with love is real. Therefore, I’m urged to love all equally and thereby to “make the world real unto myself.” If I’m willing to do this, I will see another world with sight that “is not the kind of seeing that [my] eyes alone have ever seen before.” When I want only love, I will see nothing else. This is very literal.

Assignment: Miracles Principle #20; Workbook lessons 131-137; Text, pp. 227-229, The Vision of Christ. (First words: “The ego is trying to teach you how to gain the whole world,” etc.)

Practical Application: This assignment has been made previously, but you may wish to give it another try. Resolve to go this full week without watching TV or reading a newspaper. Also avoid “inflammatory” books, music, and movies. In some of the spare time this frees up for you, journal. You may wish to use the day’s lesson, or a line or lines from it, as your starting point. Try to journal at least 5 minutes, preferably 10-15. One technique for really getting thoughts flowing is to write non-stop, without lifting your pen or pencil for that period of time. Do not stop to erase or scratch out. Suppress the urge to self-edit. At the end of the week, re-read and reflect on what you’ve written. 

CIM LESSONS 117-123 AND MIRACLES PRINCIPLE #18

Miracles Principle 18: “A miracle is a service. It is the maximal service you can render to another. It is a way of loving your neighbor as yourself. You recognize your own and your neighbor’s worth simultaneously.” A miracle is a service because it brings love to one who is in fear, and by being a channel of love to another, I’m also bringing love to myself. This principle reminds me we are one and the same and that God establishes our worth. If I see you as more or less worthy than me—as victim or victimizer—that is an attack. It’s an attack on the Sonship and, therefore, an attack of the Creator of the Sonship. The miracle is not behavioral, despite what may appear as behavioral effects. It is only on the level of the mind. It is joining with each other through forgiveness—through love and acceptance.

(Lessons 117—120 are review lessons and so not expanded upon here.)

Lesson 121—“Forgiveness is the key to happiness.” Notice this doesn’t say “a” key but rather “the” key to happiness. When I admit that the descriptions in this lesson describe me, that I find myself in these miserable states of mind, the very word “forgiveness” sounds like an oasis in the Sahara. Lesson 79 says I have to recognize the problem before I can solve it. Though it manifests in myriad ways (attack, fear, illness, death), there is only one problem: the belief in separation. And there is only one solution: forgiveness of that error in myself and everyone else. Since forgiveness is acquired, not inherent, a methodology is necessary to achieve the transition between where I think I am and where I am in Truth. Forgiveness wasn’t a part of my mind as God created it. There was no need for it. Without the thought of sin, the concept of forgiveness is meaningless. Because I taught myself the idea of sin, the antidote is needed. The unforgiving mind can’t teach itself forgiveness. Why? Because it believes in the reality of sin, and on that basis, forgiveness is not rational. This is why I need the Holy Spirit. He teaches me to forgive and through forgiveness my mind is returned to my Self. The only thing standing between me and perfect peace and happiness, perfect well-being and abundance is my grudges. And all I’m asked to do is to turn them over to Spirit for healing. If I’m not whole and completely happy, I’ve still got forgiveness work to do.

Lesson 122—“Forgiveness offers everything I want.” Again, this doesn’t say forgiveness offers some benefits to me. It says it offers everything I want. Appearances change, but the Spirit within me, having been created by the eternal, is changeless. Forgiveness is a way of looking past appearances to the unchanging reality. It disregards the temporary picture of the ego’s mistakes and sees the Son of God. Forgiveness lifts the veil that hides the face of Christ within us all. It removes the blocks to love, the reasons we’ve built up for withholding love. We then experience love everywhere, in everyone.  My ego thoughts and actions have changed nothing. Nor have my brother’s. My brother is not my changing perceptions of him. My brother and I are still as God created us. My pain comes from identifying with my changing perceptions. My peace comes from identifying with God’s eternal reality. Nothing that changes was created by God. Therefore, nothing that changes is real. Herein lies the peace of God.

Lesson 123—“I thank my Father for His gifts to me.” Let me take time today to express my gratitude to God for His gifts to me. Praise awakens and magnifies the power of Divine Life within me. I thank my Father for this Course, which has become my way home. I thank Him for relief from all those years I lived in quiet desperation. I thank Him that, when I wandered off, He never deserted me. I thank Him for never giving up on me, even when I gave up on myself. I thank Him for not allowing me to destroy myself. I am grateful for His Spirit within me, my Guide and my Faithful Friend. I am grateful for all the loving friends and companions He has brought my way on this journey without distance, this journey Home.

Assignment: Miracles Principle # 19. Lessons 124-130. Text pp.168-170, The Holy Spirit’s Plan of Forgiveness. Manual for Teachers, pp.27-28, How Is Judgment Relinquished?

Practical Application: Think of 3 things you want most in life. CIM says, “Forgiveness offers everything I want.” Can you see how that might relate to the 3 things you desire? How might forgiveness forge the way for these things to manifest in your life? 

CIM LESSONS 110-116 AND MIRACLES PRINCIPLE #17

Miracles Principle #17: “Miracles transcend the body. They are sudden shifts into invisibility, away from the bodily level. That is why they heal.” “Shifts into invisibility” simply means shifting focus from the body, or the external, to the mind, the source of all problems. The body is never the problem. Lesson 76 says, “I am under no laws but God’s laws.” CIM teaches that God did not make this world. We did. The mind made up physical laws—laws of gravity, of nutrition, of genetics, etc.—and we give those laws power by virtue of our individual and joint allegiance to them. Jesus says our faith can move mountains. Since our mind made up the mountain in the first place, why could we not move it? Many people are able to train their minds to move a glass or cup to another part of the table. If a cup can be moved, why not a mountain? Such mastery, however, does not give you peace of mind, nor does it bring you closer to God. All it does is enable you to get back in touch with the power of your mind. But it is the misuse of the mind that got us in trouble in the first place. That’s why CIM says it’s imperative to place our mind under the guidance of the One Who will never misuse it.

Lesson 110—“I am as God created me.” This is the Workbook’s premier lesson. We are reminded repeatedly that today’s idea is “enough” to save you; that it is “all you need.” This one thought, we are told, is not only enough to save ourselves but also to save the world. The primary idea is this: Nothing I have done has changed anything. Fear and evil, misery and death, have not occurred except in the dreams of the ego mind. I have not damaged anything. The tiny, mad idea to replace God on His throne accomplished nothing. I am still innocent, perfect love. I can trust my brothers, who are one with me, because I am as God created me and have never split from them. What I find within myself when I listen to the Voice for God is what all others are as well. Let me simply become aware of any thought that says different and allow Spirit to take that thought from me and return it to me anew. Again, this is how Heaven manifests on earth. Now I see through a glass darkly, but as I allow Spirit to cleanse my error thoughts, what I “see” and experience quite literally changes simultaneously.

Lessons 11-120 are review lessons.

Assignment: Read Introduction to Review III, Workbook pages 201-203, and Lessons 117-123. Read Text pp. 382-83 (The Happy Dream).

Practical Application: What we’re attempting as the practice time requirement continues to increase is to develop the habit of prayer without ceasing—noting when the mind is on “ego autopilot” and deliberately turning it back over to Spirit. A helpful question to ask in this process is, “What is it for?” As you make decisions throughout your day, check in with Spirit. Is the motivation behind your choice love or is it fear?

CIM Lessons 103-109 and Miracles Principle # 16

Miracles Principle # 16: “Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating it is as blessed to give as to receive. They simultaneously increase the strength of the giver and supply strength to the receiver.” This is the same idea as Principle # 9. You will see that a lot of the principles are now going to repeat themselves. Like time, the miracle is a teaching device. It teaches that “to give and to receive are one in truth.” We are all the same—teacher and pupil; therapist and patient. The error the miracle has to correct is the error of thinking we are separate. The miracle, then, becomes an expression of our joining. Grasp this one, and your life instantly transforms!

Lesson 103—“God, being Love, is also happiness.” Happiness is an attribute of Love. They come or go together. The denial of happiness is the denial of God.  The Text (T-10.V.12:3-4) says that depression is blasphemy. The point of this is not to make us feel guilty. It’s just saying I’m hurting because I’m turning my back on God, on Love, on happiness. It’s not something outside myself that’s doing this to me. I’m sad because I think what I’ve made is real. I’m sad because I believe Love has limits. I’m afraid of Love’s “conditions.” I’m afraid Love will be withdrawn if I misstep somehow. How can I be joyful, even when things are “good,” if the rug can be pulled out from under me at any moment? Know this: Right now, without a single thing changing, the Love of God radiates to you without limit, without reservation or question. To know this is happiness.

Lesson 104—“I seek but what belongs to me in truth.” Today, I set aside the complex and focus on two very simple things: the joy and peace of mind by right of who I am. Today, I will not concern myself with profound metaphysical truths. I set aside the urgency of self-made goals, the self-imposed importance of everything I think I must do. I ignore the man-made standards by which I so often judge myself or allow others to judge me. Today, I reflect on my many blessings. I open myself with gratitude to God Who gave me these gifts. I honor Him by enjoying them.

Lesson 105—“God’s peace and joy are mine.” Today’s lesson expands yesterday’s by adding the thought that I receive my gifts by giving them. This idea runs all through CIM, but this lesson specifically identifies it as “a major learning goal.” By accepting God’s peace and joy as mine, I allow God to “complete Himself as He defines completion.” I experience this myself, in some small way, in giving to another. When I give in love, and it is received in joy, our love is strengthened. Shared love is a great joy. This is how God’s giving works, and we are meant to be part of it. This kind of giving is how we create and how we complete ourselves. To truly experience that God’s peace and joy are mine, I must open my heart to share peace and joy with others. And it begins with that person to whom my heart has been most closed. If I will open my heart for love to flow out, it will also flow in. As I open my heart, allowing peace, joy and love to flow out, what I’m doing is “letting what cannot contain itself fulfill its aim of giving everything it has away, securing it forever for itself.”

Lesson 106—“Let me be still and listen to the truth.” At first, today’s lesson doesn’t seem to follow yesterday’s theme on giving and receiving, but then it switches midway back to that theme. The first part of the lesson talks about what I’m listening for—the Voice for God correcting the error thinking of God’s “dear Son, whose other name is YOU.”  The thinking of the world tells me that to give is to lose. The Word of God tells me to give is to receive. To extend that same message to the world is the “ministry for which you came.” Again, as we’ve discussed, this does not mean banging on doors and evangelizing. This means living the principle day to day. This lesson also tells me that every time I pause for five minutes to be still and listen to the truth, one thousand minds are opened to the truth. Five minutes! Suppose I took that seriously and paused every hour as instructed. In the course of a day, fifteen thousand minds would open to the truth. What better investment of my time could I possibly make?

Lesson 107—“Truth will correct all errors in my mind.” This is the promise that gives me courage. An illusion that isn’t recognized as illusion causes me to react as if it were real. If I see an illusory “enemy,” that doesn’t make me bad or stupid. The reaction is appropriate, given what I believe to be the truth. But when I look at the illusion with Spirit, it disappears. The “holy instant” is that moment of unquestioned peace; a moment in which I realize the trials and fears I seem to go through are all part of the illusion. Jesus says it (salvation/happiness) will be mine; it already is mine. It is guaranteed. I am safe. I am steady. I am whole. Today I will bring to Spirit for correction any thought that tells me anything different.

Lesson 108—“To give and to receive are one in truth.” This lesson describes the state of One-mindedness where all opposites are resolved into “once concept that is wholly true.” When that occurs, the concept will disappear because “the Thought behind it will appear instead to take its place.” This is how Heaven manifests on earth. This is “a state of mind so unified that darkness cannot be perceived at all.” It is the Christ mind, and from it comes my peace of mind. One of the most useful lessons we can learn while drawing on this state of mind is that giving and receiving are one and the same. Like all opposites, they aren’t truly opposite at all; they are a part of a unified spectrum of reality. Neither precedes the other. Both occur simultaneously. Quite literally, what we give, we receive. Immediately. There is no pause or delay. There is one act, and it contains both things. Cause and effect are one in Truth. 

We think of cause and effect in a linear fashion. I think what I do today will impact me in the future. That is an incomplete picture. In fact, there is no time delay at all. My thought of attack impacts on me now, just as my thought offering peace immediately makes me peaceful. I am constantly giving birth to the universe of my experience. There is nothing outside my mind. The world I see is just my thoughts given form.

Lesson 109—“I rest in God.” This lesson epitomizes what so many CIM lessons are trying to get me to do: simply take a little time out of my day to rest in God. The lesson tells me of wondrous things that come from willingness to take these times of rest. These moments of quiet are not for me alone. They are my mission for the world. Through them I am brining peace to every mind, including those who came in the past or haven’t yet come (see 2:5 and 9:5). Every time we rest in God, we heal the world. 

I envision myself as a cell in a cosmic body, a body that has been invaded by a deadly virus of disharmony, hatred, envy, sorrow and pain. As I take my time of rest, this cell produces antitoxins, the remedy for the virus: the peace of God. And the connecting current of our shared thoughts is the bloodstream that carries this antitoxin to other cells, who absorb it and begin, in turn, to produce more antitoxin. What greater purpose could I have?

Assignment: Miracles principle #17 (Text p.4); Workbook Lessons 110-116. Text read pp. 189-192—“The Denial of God.”

Practical Application: Here’s an experiment to test the truth of giving and receiving being one. Sit quietly, and mentally begin to send peace to everyone. Go through your list of family, of friends, and of “enemies,” sending peace to each and every one. Offer it to the world at large. “I offer you quietness. I offer you peace of mind. I offer you gentleness.“ (Based on Lesson 108). What we find as we do this is that, as we offer peace to others, we experience it ourselves.

What Jesus is telling us throughout CIM is that as long as we listen to the voice of ego, we will “see” and experience sin, attack, pain, sorrow and death. That is the ego’s method of convincing us there is no God—or that God has turned His back on us or is punishing us. Seeing is believing, right? I see “sin” on the 5:00 news and in the newspapers everyday. CIM tells us our physical eyes do not see at all. In fact, it tells us that believing is seeing. Take that quite literally and ponder it a while.

As we begin to turn over each unloving or troublesome thought to Spirit, what happens is that we literally begin to see a different world—a more loving and peaceful world. CIM calls this the Happy Dream. It is the state of mind preceding Heaven—the remembrance of Oneness.

Because each of us is a hologram—a “universe unto itself” within the All-ness—I can stand beside a man who is totally enmeshed in the hell of his ego and experience the Happy Dream. Where he sees murderers and pedophiles, I see wounded “children,” crying out, seeking the Love they believe they have lost forever. Like attracts like. If I believe the world is full of “low-lifes,” the universe will bring me witnesses to that belief, blessed and multiplied. I will see them everywhere I look. If, on the other hand, I believe in the inherent goodness of my fellow man, the Christ within each one, then that is what I will see and experience in my world. The more of us who focus on the latter, the more antitoxin we supply in the broken Body of the Son—the closer we bring it to healing.

CIM Lessons 96-102 and Miracles Principle #15

Miracles Principle #15: “Each day should be devoted to miracles. The purpose of time is to enable you to learn how to use time constructively. It is thus a teaching device and a means to an end. Time will cease when it is no longer useful in facilitating learning.” This principle talks about the fundamental goal of CIM, which is to help us spend every hour of our day, all the days of our lives, continually seeing things as Spirit would have us see them.

The third lesson of the Holy Spirit (Chapter 6) is “Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom.” CIM is mind re-training. We are choosing to give up the petty battles of the ego. We are seeking another way of looking at life—the joy of Spirit’s miracle instead of the gloom and doom of the ego’s grievance.

The purpose of time is to teach me there is no time. It is thus a teaching device and a means to an end. Nothing in the world is an end in itself because nothing in the world is real in itself. It is merely a teaching device. But don’t try to deny the world; that’s not what the Course teaches. Rather, our goal is to look at the world differently, through the eyes of the Christ within us all. Everything that occurs, to the extent that it pushes our buttons or upsets us in any way, becomes an opportunity to learn. The world is a classroom. Our individual lives are individual classes we take within the university. This whole path then becomes like a curriculum, and our individual experiences become specific classes we take to undo the guilt we have made specific. This is the purpose of the world, the purpose of time.

Lesson 96: “Salvation comes from my one Self.” Experiencing myself as divided is a universal experience. On one hand, I want to do the CIM practice because I want the peace and freedom it promises. On the other, I resist doing the hourly five-minute remembrances. It seems as if there are two selves in me, one wanting the light, the other holding onto the darkness.

My mind has duped itself into believing the reality of separation, of physical being. To this end, my mind has become the servant of my body, trying to devise ways to make my body comfortable, to pleasure it, to make it last forever, to keep it safe from harm. In doing this, my mind has lost its true function, which is magnifying Spirit. Through CIM, I am rediscovering myself as an extension of God. The Self CIM refers to isn’t something apart from me. It IS me!

You may ask, “What is it I’m waiting to hear as I sit for 5 minutes?” I can’t tell you. No one can. Remember the hologram. Though we are One, there is no One exactly like you-- no One with exactly the gift you bring. You are as unique within the whole as a fingerprint or eyeprint. Relax. Be patient. You will know your message when you hear it.

Lesson 97: “I am spirit.”  The One Self that CIM speaks of is spirit. To affirm, “I am sprit,” is to let go of all illusions of a split identity, of a good and bad self, and of all attempts I might make to reconcile the ego self that is bound to a body with the spiritual Self this is unlimited by a body.

CIM doesn’t attempt to unite so-called opposites—the seeming evil of Hitler and the seeming holiness of Mother Teresa. The “nondualism” of CIM affirms unity by declaring that all that seems to be opposed to holiness is illusion.

I love the part of this lesson that says that by doing this practice, “a thousand years or more are saved.” The Course presents itself as a means of saving time as we see it, and clearly teaches that any of us could wake up at any moment we choose. The attitude towards time that’s encouraged by Course is unconcern about it, since it is ultimately part of the illusion.

When we make our effort of 5 minutes for God, Spirit joins all of His strength with us. He takes the little we give and carries it around the world to every open mind. The gifts we give to Him are multiplied by a thousandfold or more. Take that literally or as a figure of speech. It doesn’t natter. The meaning is the same. What we give to Spirit is multiplied and spread to all minds because our minds are all joined.

Lesson 98: “I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.” How can I say doubts are gone? Of course, doubts are there, and Jesus knows that. He’s only suggesting that in these five minutes I spend with him, I lay them aside—see what it’s like. There is One within me that is always certain, and He is me. I have forgotten that. Today, I will allow myself, however briefly, to identify with His certainty. This is surrender. This is all I’m asked to do. It’s that simple. I just need to stop trying to make it on my own. I just need to let go and let God do His perfect work in and through me.

Lesson 99: “Salvation is my only function here.” Remember that CIM defines salvation as happiness. Separation, pain, grief, and death are not God’s Will for me. Such a belief stems from a subconscious fear that God is punishing me. Sometimes I’ve agreed that I deserve punishment. Sometimes I’ve denied I deserved it and accused Him of being unfair. Most often, I’ve simply been bewildered, wondering what I did to deserve my pain. Sure, I must have done something, but I’m at a loss as to what it might be. I’ve dissociated myself from the shame of “running away from Home.” I’ve forgotten this was a choice I made and that I’m free to choose again.

What lends my pain such sharpness is the underlying thought that He Whom my heart loves uncontrollably has not only turned His back on me but actively seeks vengeance. Because I believe my pain is His will, I can’t even take it to Him for comfort. Instead, I flee from Him. If I but let down my unwarranted defenses against God, I find the doorway to my release. God is not angry. Remember the story of the Prodigal. God is overjoyed at the prospect of my choosing to go Home.

Lesson 100: “My part is essential in God’s plan for salvation.” My part is God’s plan for salvation  (happiness) is to be happy. A good affirmation for today would be, “My joy heals.” I teach through my happiness. Nothing has to change for this to happen, because happiness does not depend on anything outside my mind.

Sometimes, I mistakenly think my happiness enables the errors of others. If someone is being cruel, and I continue to be happy, I seem to condone his cruelty. However, to be upset by cruelty doesn’t heal it. It makes it seem real. It’s far more healing to see cruelty as a cry for love. Within that “cruel” person is a longing he shares with me—an overpowering longing for God. My happiness in the face of cruelty teaches that the grounds for cruelty don’t exist. It doesn’t attack the symptoms of the cruelty; it undoes cruelty at its source. That source is fear. Fear that I’m not worthy. My job today is to release myself and everyone else from the heavy burden of thinking I’m more powerful than God—that I have defiled the eternal perfection God created me to be. 

My job today is to be happy. I am essential to God’s plan because my smile is the healing light of the world.  

Lesson 101: “God’s will for me is perfect happiness.” In CIM, salvation and happiness are synonymous. How starkly this contrasts with the common view of salvation—that I must pay for my sins. The notion of paying for sins is imbedded in my consciousness. One of the most subtle ways I know this is true is that I feel guilty when I’m happy. When a friend or family member is upset, I feel obligated to join them in their misery. Somehow it just doesn’t feel right or safe to be “too happy.”

Thinking, “This is too good to last” is also a symptom of this syndrome. The idea that I could be happy all the time seems ridiculous. Misery is a part of living, right? Wrong. Misery’s a choice. There is no need for penance because there is no sin. Instantly, the ego says, “If there’s no price to pay, sinners will go wild! Punishment is necessary to control evil!” Amazingly, what I learn when I refuse to participate in the ego’s game of sin and punishment is that it quietly fades away. Because everyone’s natural function and desire is to love and be loved. It is only in the face of perceived threat that the thought of attack emerges.

Lesson 102: “I share God’s Will for happiness for me.” The Self within me is always happy because God created it happy. So in these exercises, I’m not trying to “make myself happy” but rather to reach a preexistent happiness. Unfortunately, I still believe in the values of suffering. The lesson doesn’t expect us to be totally free of these beliefs at this point. But deep inside, I do at least question this belief. I don’t want to suffer. Yet, if I do, I realize I’ve chosen it on some level and have seen some value to me in that suffering. The message of this lesson in this regard is that pain is purposeless and without power to accomplish anything.

Unhappiness is my excuse for being less loving than God. How can I open my heart to you when I am unhappy? By being happy, I enable myself to wholly love.

Assignment: Lessons 103-109; Miracles Principle # 16; Text, pp. 272-274, “The Happy Learner.”

Practical Application: This week, pay attention to the message you are sending, both to yourself and others, through your facial and bodily expressions. Take a moment through out the day to inventory your body. Remind yourself to turn up the corners of your mouth. Studies have proven that the simple act of upturning the corners of our mouth releases healing endorphins, natural painkillers and mood elevators. When you notice your shoulders are slumped, pull them back. When your hands are clenched into fists, open them. If you’re leaning forward in an aggressive stance, fall back. No eye rolling. No sucking teeth.  ;--D