Lesson 74 – There is no will but God’s.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

Conceding that there is no will but God’s is claiming all that I am.  I am the Soft Golden Expansion naturally extending.  I am That which is beyond the body, beyond the breath, beyond the silly idea of death.

It is very peaceful being in communication with my Source.  In fact, there is no “my,” just Source, and it is this which is peacefulness Itself.

The power of decision is my own.  I am co-Creator with God, unless I choose to deceive myself and believe otherwise.  The little will is the umbilical cord to the Source Will.  Once the blocking is recognized as deliberate and ridiculous, the Truth of undying connection is obvious.

LESSON 74

There is no will but God’s.

The idea for today can be regarded as the central thought toward which all our exercises are directed.  God’s is the only Will.  When you have recognized this, you have recognized that your will is His.  The belief that conflict is possible has gone.  Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals.  As an expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but His.

There is great peace in today’s idea, and the exercises for today are directed towards finding it.  The idea itself is wholly true.  Therefore it cannot give rise to illusions.  Without illusions conflict is impossible.  Let us try to recognize this today, and experience the peace this recognition brings.

Begin the longer practice periods by repeating these thoughts several times, slowly and with firm determination to understand what they mean, and to hold them in mind:

There is no will but God’s.
I cannot be in conflict.

Then spend several minutes in adding some related thoughts, such as:

I am at peace.
Nothing can disturb me.  My will is God’s.
My will and God’s are one.
God wills peace for His Son.

During this introductory phase, be sure to deal quickly with any conflict thoughts that may cross your mind.  Tell yourself immediately:

There is no will but God’s.  These conflict thoughts are meaningless.

If there is one conflict area that seems particularly difficult to resolve, single it out for special consideration.  Think about it briefly but very specifically, identify the particular person or persons and the situation or situations involved, and tell yourself:

There is no will but God’s.  I share it will Him.
My conflicts about _______ cannot be real.

After you have cleared your mind in this way, close your eyes and try to experience the peace to which your reality entitles you.  Sink into it and feel it closing around you.  There may be some temptation to mistake these attempts for withdrawal, but the difference is easily detected.  If you are succeeding, you will feel a deep sense of joy and an increased alertness, rather than a feeling of drowsiness and enervation.

Joy characterizes peace.  By this experience will you recognize that you have reached it.  If you feel yourself slipping off into withdrawal, quickly repeat the idea for today and try again.  Do this as often as necessary.  There is definite gain in refusing to allow retreat into withdrawal, even if you do not experience the peace you seek.

In the shorter periods, which should be undertaken at regular and predetermined intervals today, say to yourself:

There is no will but God’s.  I see His peace today.

Then try to find what you are seeking.  A minute or two every half an hour, with eyes closed if possible, would be well spent on this today.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 73 – I will there be light.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

The light that shines upon this world reflects my will.  If the light trail of my will is followed the discovery of True Self must lie within it.  Following this trail undoes time and the world.

Willingly said: I will there be light.  Let me behold the light that reflects God’s Will and mine.  It is not an outside light as from the sun.  This is True Light, Inner Illumination.  And this “inner” is not inside the body.  The idea of the body is inside this Illuminated Truth within which all falsehood withers away to nothing leaving behind no residue.  All that remains Is …

LESSON 73

I will there be light.

Today we are considering the will you share with God.  This is not the same as the ego’s idle wishes, out of which darkness and nothingness arise.  The will you share with God has all the power of creation in it.  The ego’s idle wishes are unshared, and therefore have no power at all.  Its wishes are not idle in the sense that they can make a world of illusions in which your belief can be very strong.  But they are idle indeed in terms of creation.  They make nothing that is real.

Idle wishes and grievances are partners or co-makers in picturing the world you see.  The wishes of the ego gave rise to it, and the ego’s need for grievances, which are necessary to maintain it, peoples it with figures that seem to attack you and call for “righteous” judgment.  These figures become the middlemen the ego employs to traffic in grievances.  They stand between your awareness and your brothers’ reality.  Beholding them, you do not know your brothers or your Self.

Your will is lost to  you in this strange bartering, in which guilt is traded back and forth, and grievances increase with each exchange.  Can such a world have been created by the Will the Son of God shares with his Father?  Did God create disaster for His Son?  Creation is the Will of Both together.  Would God create a world that kills Himself?

Today we will try once more to reach the world that is in accordance with your will.  The light is in it because it does not oppose the Will of God.  It is not Heaven, but the light of Heaven shines on it.  Darkness has vanished.  The ego’s idle wishes have been withdrawn.  Yet the light that shines upon this world reflects your will, and so it must be in you that we will look for it.

Your picture of the world can only mirror what is within.  The source of neither light nor darkness can be found without.  Grievances darken your mind, and you look out on a darkened world.  Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts your will, and lets you look upon a world of light.  We have repeatedly emphasized that the barrier of grievances is easily passed, and cannot stand between you and your salvation.  The reason is very simple.   Do you really want to be in hell?  Do you really want to weep and suffer and die?

Forget the ego’s arguments which seek to prove all this is really Heaven.  You know it is not so.  You cannot want this for yourself.  There is a point beyond which illusions cannot go.  Suffering is not happiness, and it is happiness you really want.  Such is your will in truth.  And so salvation is your will as well.  You want to succeed in what we are trying to do today.  We undertake it with your blessing and your glad accord.

We will succeed today if you remember that you want salvation for yourself.  You want to accept God’s plan because you share in it.  You have no will that can really oppose it, and you do not want to do so.  Salvation is for you.  Above all else, you want the freedom to remember Who you really are.  Today it is the ego that stands powerless before your will.  Your will is free, and nothing can prevail against it.

Therefore, we undertake the exercises for today in happy confidence, certain that we will find what it is your will to find, and remember what it is your will to remember.  No idle wishes can detain us, nor deceive us with an illusion of strength.  Today let your will be done, and end forever the insane belief that it is Hell in place of Heaven that you choose.

We will begin our longer practice periods with the recognition that God’s plan for salvation, and only His, is wholly in accord with your will.  It is not the purpose of an alien power, thrust upon you unwillingly.  It is the one purpose here on which you and your Father are in perfect accord.  You will succeed today, the time appointed for the release of the Son of God from hell and from all idle wishes.  His will is now restored to his awareness.  He is willing this very day to look upon the light in him and be saved.

After reminding yourself of this, and determining to keep your will clearly in mind, tell yourself with gentle firmness and quiet certainty:

I will there be light.  Let me behold the light that reflects God’s Will and mine.

Then let your will assert itself, joined with the power of God and united with your Self.  Put the rest of the practice period under Their guidance.  Join with Them as They lead the way.

In the shorter practice periods, again make a declaration of what you really want.  Say:

I will there be light.  Darkness is not my will.

This should be repeated several times an hour.  It is most important, however, to apply today’s idea in this form immediately you are tempted to hold a grievance of any kind.  This will help you let your grievances go, instead of cherishing them and hiding them in darkness.

You may enjoy You Are the Light of the World.  Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 72 – Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

From 2011:  What is salvation, Father?  I do not know.  Tell me, that I may understand. I lay down to do my long practice period.  I always seem to concentrate best laying on my back in savasana (corpse pose).  I quiet down and sincerely ask, “What is salvation, Father? I do not know.  Tell me, that I may understand.”  I am willing to become aware that God’s plan for salvation has already been accomplished in us and to receive that knowledge into my awareness.  My thoughts wander.  I draw them back and ask again.  My thoughts stray.  I gently draw them back again.  I become quieter.  More peaceful.

The cat enters the room, walks all over me, then settles and sits near my root chakra.  I’ve heard it said that pets disrupt meditation, but I find her presence grounding, calming and helpful.  My body is less apparent to me, and God’s Light glows gently in my mind, first as the purple spiritual eye … then as the softest golden aura … I stay there awhile in perfect peace and happiness.

Now:  The ego “me” will never know what salvation is, because it does not want to know.  Salvation is only necessary because the ego does not want to know.  Salvation only reveals what already is.  When unimpeded, Quiet Joy is Known.

LESSON 72

Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.

While we have recognized that the ego’s plan for salvation is the opposite of God’s, we have not yet emphasized that it is an active attack on His plan, and a deliberate attempt to destroy it.  In the attack, God is assigned the attributes which are actually associated with the ego, while the ego appears to take on the attributes of God.

The ego’s fundamental wish is to replace God.  In fact, the ego is the physical embodiment of that wish.  For it is that wish that seems to surround the mind with a body, keeping it separate and alone, and unable to reach other minds except through the body that was made to imprison it.  The limit on communication cannot be the best means to expand communication.  Yet the ego would have you believe that it is.

Although the attempt to keep the limitations that a body would impose is obvious here, it is perhaps not so apparent why holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.  But let us consider the kinds of things you are apt to hold grievances for.  Are they not always associated with something the body does?  A person says something you do not like.  He does something that displeases you.  He “betrays” his hostile thoughts in his behavior.

You are not dealing here with what the person is.  On the contrary, you are exclusively concerned with what he does in a body.  You are doing more  than failing to help in freeing him from the body’s limitations.  You are actively trying to hold him to it by confusing it with him, and judging them as one.  Herein is God attacked, for if His Son is only a body, so must He be as well.  A creator wholly unlike his creation is inconceivable.

If God is a body, what must His plan for salvation be?  What could it be but death?  In trying to present Himself as the Author of life and not of death, He is a liar and a deceiver, full of false promises and offering illusions in place of truth.  The body’s apparent reality makes this view of God quite convincing.  In fact, if the body were real, it would be difficult indeed to escape this conclusion.  And every grievance that you hold insists that the body is real.  It overlooks entirely what your brother is.  It reinforces your belief that he is a body, and condemns him for it.  And is asserts that his salvation must be death, projecting this attack onto God, and holding Him responsible for it.

To this carefully prepared arena, where angry animals seek for prey and mercy cannot enter, the ego comes to save you.  God made you a body.  Very well.  Let us accept this and be glad.  As a body, do not let yourself be deprived of what the body offers.  Take the little you can get.  God gave you nothing.  The body is your only savior.  It is the death of God and your salvation.

This is the universal belief of the world you see.  Some hate the body, and try to hurt and humiliate it.  Others love the body, and try to glorify and exalt it.  But while the body stands at the center of your concept of yourself, you are attacking God’s plan for salvation, and holding your grievances against Him and His creation, that you may not hear the Voice of truth and welcome It as Friend.  Your chosen savior takes His place instead.  It is your friend; He is your enemy.

We will try today to stop these senseless attacks on salvation.  We will try to welcome it instead.  Your upside-down perception has been ruinous to your peace of mind.  You have seen yourself in a body and the truth outside you, locked away from your awareness by the body’s limitations.  Now we are going to try to see this differently.

The light of truth is in us, where it was placed by God.  It is the body that is outside us, and is not our concern.  To be without a body is to be in our natural state.  To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are.  To see our Self as separate from the body is to end the attack on God’s plan for salvation, and to accept it instead.  And wherever His plan is accepted, it is accomplished already.

Our goal in the longer practice periods today is to become aware that God’s plan for salvation has already been accomplished in us.  To achieve this goal, we must replace attack with acceptance.  As long as we attack it, we cannot understand what God’s plan for us is.  We are therefore attacking what we do not recognize.  Now we are going to try to lay judgment aside, and ask what God’s plan for us is:

What is salvation, Father?  I do not know.  Tell me, that I may understand.

Then we will wait in quiet for His answer.  We have attacked God’s plan for salvation without waiting to hear what it is.  We have shouted our grievances so loudly that we have not listened to His Voice.  We have used our grievances to close our eyes and stop our ears.

Now we would see and hear and learn.  “What is salvation, Father?”   Ask and you will be answered.  Seek and you will find.  We are no longer asking the ego what salvation is and where to find it.  We are asking it of truth.  Be certain, then, that the answer will be true because of Whom you ask.

Whenever you feel your confidence wane and your hope of success flicker and go out, repeat your question and your request, remembering that you are asking of the Infinite Creator of infinity, Who created you like Himself:

What is salvation, Father?  I do not know.  Tell me, that I may understand.

He will answer.  Be determined to hear.

One or perhaps two shorter practice periods an hour will be enough for today, since they will be somewhat longer than usual.  These exercises should begin with this:

Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.  Let me accept it instead.  What is salvation, Father?

Then wait a minute or so in silence, preferably with your eyes closed, and listen for His answer.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 71 – Only God’s plan for salvation will work.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary

From 2011:  Today’s meditation clearly instructs us to ask God, “What should I do?  Where should I go?  What should I say and to whom?”  I asked and received some specific information but even though it was specific, it was simultaneously translated to this:

One is the Same as Another.
Everything is Easy.

God explained:  Your questions need to be specific for now, so my Answer may seem to be specific so you can understand it, but ultimately all people are the same (One Unified Creation) and all answers are the same (Love).  However, we will practice in form for a while longer using your body and the concept of time until your fear dissolves enough that generalization occurs naturally.

Marinating in the Self since that 2011 blogpost now has me here:  Lesson 71 directs us very specifically, “… let us devote the remainder of the extended practice periods to asking God to reveal His plan to us.  Ask Him very specifically:

1. What would you have me do?
2. Where would You have me go?
3. What would You have me say, and to whom?”

In the Epilogue to the Workbook for Students, Jesus say, “No more specific lessons are assigned, for there is no more need of them.  Henceforth, hear but the Voice for God and for your Self when you retire from the world, to seek reality instead.”  What is clear now is that consciousness is streaming through everyone and everything everywhere.  Therefore, the answers are (1) Love, (2) Wherever I am, (3) What You Would Say through me to everyone.

Shapes and forms appear different, but consciousness is the same.  This consciousness is the right-minded choosing point where one decides for unconscious guilty separation, or reabsorption into the Oneness from which we seemed to emerge.  Source has no opposite, no description, no comparisons, no mission.  God is and then we cease to speak.

LESSON 71

Only God’s plan for salvation will work.

You may not realize that the ego has set up a plan for salvation in opposition to God’s.  It is this plan in which you believe.  Since it is the opposite of God’s, you also believe that to accept God’s plan in place of the ego’s is to be damned.  This sounds preposterous, of course.  Yet after we have considered just what the ego’s plan is, perhaps you will realize that, however preposterous it may be, you do believe in it.

The ego’s plan for salvation centers around holding grievances.  It maintains that, if someone else spoke or acted differently, if some external circumstance or event were changed, you would be saved.  Thus, the source of salvation is constantly perceived as outside yourself.  Each grievance you hold is a declaration, and an assertion in which you believe, that says, “If this were different, I would be saved.”  The change of mind necessary for salvation is thus demanded of everyone and everything except yourself.

The role assigned to your own mind in this plan, then, is simply to determine what, other than itself, must change if you are to be saved.  According to this insane plan, any perceived source of salvation is acceptable provided that it will not work.  This ensures that the fruitless search will continue, for the illusion persists that, although this hope has always failed, there is still grounds for hope in other places and in other things.  Another person will yet serve better; another situation will yet offer success.

Such is the ego’s plan for your salvation.  Surely you can see how it is in strict accord with the ego’s basic doctrine, “Seek but do not find.”  For what could more surely guarantee that you will not find salvation than to channelize all your efforts in searching for it where it is not?

God’s plan for salvation works simply because, by following His direction, you seek for salvation where it is.  But if you are to succeed, as God promises you will, you must be willing to seek there only.  Otherwise, your purpose is divided and you will attempt to follow two plans for salvation that are diametrically opposed in all ways.  The result can only bring confusion, misery and a deep sense of failure and despair.

How can you escape all this?  Very simply.  The idea for today is the answer.  Only God’s plan for salvation will work.  There can be no real conflict about this, because there is no possible alternative to God’s plan that will save you.  His is the only plan that is certain in its outcome.  His is the only plan that must succeed.

Let us practice recognizing this certainty today.  And let us rejoice that there is an  answer to what seems to be a conflict with no resolution possible.  All things are possible to God.  Salvation must be yours because of His plan, which cannot fail.

Begin the two longer practice periods for today by thinking about today’s idea, and realizing that it contains two parts, each making equal contribution to the whole.  God’s plan for your salvation will work, and other plans will not.  Do not allow yourself to become depressed or angry at the second part; it is inherent in the first.  And in the first is your full release from all your own insane attempts and mad proposals to free yourself.  They have led to depression and anger; but God’s plan will succeed.  It will lead to release and joy.

Remembering this, let us devote the remainder of the extended practice periods to asking God to reveal His plan to us.  Ask Him very specifically:

What would you have me do?
Where would You have me go?
What would You have me say, and to whom?

Give Him full charge of the rest of the practice period, and let Him tell you what needs to be done by you in His plan for your salvation.  He will answer in proportion to your willingness to hear His Voice.  Refuse not to hear.  The very fact that you are doing the exercises proves that you have some willingness to listen.  This is enough to establish your claim to God’s answer.

In the shorter practice periods, tell yourself often that God’s plan for salvation, and only His, will work.  Be alert to all temptation to hold grievances today, and respond to them with this form of today’s idea:

Holding grievance is the opposite of God’s plan for salvation.  And only His plan will work.

Try to remember today’s idea some six or seven times an hour.  There could be no better way to spend a half minute or less than to remember the Source of your salvation, and to see It where It is.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 70 – My salvation comes from me.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

All guilt is solely an invention of the ego mind.  The power of decision is my own — not “Amy’s” but the choosing ability that pre-dates ego mind.  This free will to choose, choose the memory of God within, rather than choosing the imaginary ego game of separation, is salvation.

Salvation is in the mind, right where God put it — salvation is the umbilical cord to the Self we’ve never left.  All we need do is walk through the clouds and into the Light.

Accept Jesus’ offer and take His hand … with both your hands, so temptation to hold onto insane dreams does not prevail.  His hand is really there, unlike all the ego’s idle fantasies.  “Then let the power of God work in you and through you, that His Will and yours be done.”

Body is only used for the Holy Spirit’s purpose now.  It is necessary to go through the clouds before reaching the light.  But cloud patterns cannot endure and have nothing truly of value.  Mouth smiles.  Heart opens.  Ego undone; clouds disappear when The Light has come.

LESSON 70

My salvation comes from me.

All temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not to believe the idea for today.  Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you.  So, too, does the source of guilt.  You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own mind and nowhere else.  When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place.  In understanding this you are saved.

The seeming cost of accepting today’s idea is this:  It means that nothing outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself can give you peace.  But it also means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you, or disturb your peace or upset you in any way.

Today’s idea places you in charge of the universe, where you belong because of what you are.  This is not a role that can be partially accepted.  And you must surely begin to see that accepting it is salvation.

It may not, however, be clear to you why the recognition that guilt is in your own mind entails the realization that salvation is there as well.  God would not have put the remedy for the sickness where it cannot help.  That is the way your mind has worked, but hardly His.  He wants you to be healed, so He has kept the Source of healing where the need for healing lies.

You have tried to do just the opposite, making every attempt, however distorted and fantastic it might be, to separate healing from the sickness for which it was intended, and thus keep the sickness.  Your purpose was to ensure that healing did not occur.  God’s purpose was to ensure that it did.

Today we practice realizing that God’s Will and ours are really the same in this.  God wants us to be healed, and we do not really want to be sick, because it makes us unhappy.  Therefore, in accepting the idea for today, we are really in agreement with God.  He does not want us to be sick.  Neither do we.  He wants us to be healed.  So do we.

We are ready for two longer practice periods today, each of which should last some ten to fifteen minutes.  We will, however, still let you decide when to undertake them.  We will follow this practice for a number of lessons, and it would again be well to decide in advance when would be a good time to lay aside for each of them, and then adhering to your own decisions as closely as possible.

Begin these practice periods by repeating the idea for today, adding a statement signifying your recognition that salvation comes from nothing outside of you.  You might put it this way:

My salvation comes from me.  It cannot come from anywhere else.

Then devote a few minutes, with your eyes closed, to reviewing some of the external places where you have looked for salvation in the past;–in other people, in possessions, in various situations and events, and in self-concepts that you sought to make real.

Recognize that it is not there, and tell yourself:

My salvation cannot come from any of these things.  My salvation comes from me and only from me.

Now we will try again to reach the light in you, which is where your salvation is.  You cannot find it in the clouds that surround the light, and it is in them you have been looking for it.  It is not there.  It is past the clouds and in the light beyond.  Remember that you will have to go through the clouds before you can reach the light.  But remember also that you have never found anything in the cloud patterns you imagined that endured, or that you wanted.

Since all illusions of salvation have failed you, surely you do not want to remain in the clouds, looking vainly for idols there, when you could so easily walk on into the light of real salvation.  Try to pass the clouds by whatever means appeals to you.  If it helps you, think of me holding your hand and leading you.  And I assure you this will be no idle fantasy.

For the short and frequent practice periods today, remind yourself that you salvation comes from you, and nothing but your own thoughts can hamper your progress.  You are free from all external interference.  You are in charge of your salvation.  You are in charge of the salvation of the world.

Say, then:

My salvation comes from me.  Nothing outside of me can hold me back.  Within me is the world’s salvation and my own.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 69 – My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

The veil is lifted and the tears of God’s Son evaporate in the Light.  Clouds seem to be the only reality.  Yet, beyond the clouds is Light brighter than any celestial bodies.

Detach from the content that generally occupies consciousness … rise and expand … emerge from the binding limits of the ego and discover you are within a spacious freedom of Mind.

Lifted up and carried ahead, the wind at your back and your sails full of Spirit … God meets you here and carries you Home.

LESSON 69

My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

No one can look upon what your grievances conceal.  Because your grievances are hiding the light of the world in you, everyone stands in darkness, and you beside him.  But as the veil of your grievances is lifted, you are released with him.  Share your salvation now with him who stood beside you when you were in hell.  He is your brother in the light of the world that saves you both.

Today let us make another real attempt to reach the light in you.  Before we undertake this in our more extended practice period, let us devote several minutes to thinking about what we are trying to do.  We are literally attempting to get in touch with the salvation of the world.  We are trying to see past the veil of darkness that keeps it concealed.  We are trying to let the veil be lifted, and to see the tears of God’s Son disappear in the sunlight.

Let us begin our longer practice period today with the full realization that this is so, and with real determination to reach what is dearer to us than all else.  Salvation is our only need.  There is no other purpose here, and no other function to fulfill.  Learning salvation is our only goal.  Let us end the ancient search today by finding the light in us, and holding it up for everyone who searches with us to look upon and rejoice.

Very quietly now, with your eyes closed, try to let go of all the content that generally occupies your consciousness.  Think of your mind as a vast circle, surrounded by a layer of heavy, dark clouds.  You can see only the clouds because you seem to be standing outside the circle and quite apart from it.

From where you stand, you can see no reason to believe there is a brilliant light hidden by the clouds.  The clouds seem to be the only reality.  They seem to be all there is to see.  Therefore, you do not attempt to go through them and past them, which is the only way in which you would be really convinced of their lack of substance.  We will make this attempt today.

After you have thought about the importance of what you are trying to do for yourself and the world, try to settle down in perfect stillness, remembering only how much you want to reach the light in you,–now!  Determine to go past the clouds.  Reach out and touch them in your mind.  Brush them aside with your hand; feel them resting on your cheeks and forehead and eyelids as you go through them.  Go on; clouds cannot stop you.

If you are doing the exercises properly, you will begin to feel a sense of being lifted up and carried ahead.  Your little effort and small determination call on the power of the universe to help you, and God Himself will raise you from darkness into light.  You are in accord with His Will.  You cannot fail because your will is His.

Have confidence in your Father today, and be certain that He has heard you and answered you.  You may not recognize His answer yet, but you can indeed be sure that it is given you and you will yet receive it.  Try, as you attempt to go through the clouds to the light, to hold this confidence in your mind.  Try to remember that you are at last joining your will to God’s.  Try to keep the thought clearly in mind that what you undertake with God must succeed.  Then let the power of God work in you and through you, that His Will and yours be done.

In the shorter practice periods, which you will want to do as often as possible in view of the importance of today’s idea to you and your happiness, remind yourself that your grievances are hiding the light of the world from your awareness.

Remind yourself also that you are not searching for it alone, and that you do know where to look for it.  Say, then:

My grievances hide the light of the world in me.  I cannot see what I have hidden.  Yet I want to let it be revealed to me, for my salvation and the salvation of the world.

Also, be sure to tell yourself:

If I hold this grievance the light of the world will be hidden from me,

if you are tempted to hold anything against anyone today.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 68 – Love holds no grievances.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

This lesson makes me think of Lesson 23 which tells us there is no point in lamenting the world because it is merely an effect of our attack thoughts, our thirst for vengeance.  First, it says, we have to identify the cause of our attack thoughts (which is that we chose the ego as our teacher) and second, we have to let go of the ego.  Our fantasy images will be replaced the moment we let go–that is where the Holy Spirit steps in, because He’s been there all along.

Lesson 68 develops this theme, explaining “your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves illusions in its sleep appears to be awake.”  This idea literally awakens something in us that Knows Better.  That’s our Self 🙂

Lesson 68 goes on to say, “It is as sure that those who hold grievances will forget who they are, as it is certain that those who forgive will remember.”  Grievances are blocking the Self from my awareness.

Then the lesson advises that we try ” … to think of yourself as completely at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world that protects you and loves you, and that you love in return.  Try to feel safety surrounding you, hovering over you and holding you up.  Try to believe, however briefly, that nothing can harm you in any way.”  Happy sigh, how relaxing, how liberating, how peaceful.

LESSON 68

Love holds no grievances.

You who were created by love itself can hold no grievances and know your Self.  To hold a grievance is to forget who you are.  To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body.  To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the body to death.  Perhaps you do not yet fully realize just what holding grievances does to your mind.  It seems to split you off from your Source and make you unlike Him.  It makes you believe that He is like what you think you have become, for no one can conceive of his Creator as unlike himself.

Shut off from your Self, which remains aware of Its likeness to Its Creator, your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves illusions in its sleep appears to be awake.  Can all this arise from holding grievances?  Oh, yes!  For he who holds grievances denies he was created by love, and his Creator has become fearful to him in his dream of hate.  Who can dream of hatred and not fear God?

It is as sure that those who hold grievances will redefine God in their own image, as it is is certain that God created them like Himself, and defined them as part of Him.  It is as sure that those who hold grievances will suffer guilt, as it is certain that those who forgive will find peace.  It is as sure that those who hold grievances will forget who they are, as it is certain that those who forgive will remember.

Would you not be willing to relinquish your grievances if you believed all this were so?  Perhaps you do not think you can let your grievances go.  That, however, is simply a matter of motivation.  Today we will try to find out how you would feel without them.  If you succeed even by ever so little, there will never be a problem in motivation ever again.

Begin today’s extended practice period by searching your mind for those against whom you hold what you regard as major grievances.  Some of these will be quite easy to find.  Then think of the seemingly minor grievances you hold against those you like and even think you love.  It will quickly become apparent that there is no one against whom you do not cherish grievances of some sort.  This has left you alone in all the universe in your perception of your yourself.

Determine now to see all these people as friends.  Say to them all, thinking of each one in turn as you do so:

I would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of me and come to know myself.

Spend the remainder of the practice period trying to think of yourself as completely at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world that protects you and loves you, and that you love in return.  Try to feel safety surrounding you, hovering over you and holding you up.  Try to believe, however briefly, that nothing can harm you in any way.  At the end of the practice period tell yourself:

Love holds no grievances.  When I let all my grievances go I will know I am perfectly safe.

The short practice periods should include a quick application of today’s idea in this form, whenever any thought of grievance arises against anyone, physically present or not:

Love holds no grievances.  Let me not betray my Self.

In addition, repeat the idea several times an hour in this form:

Love holds no grievances.  I would wake to my Self by laying all my grievances aside and wakening in Him.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 67 – Love created me like itself.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

Peacefulness created me peaceful.
Wholeness created me whole.
Innocence created me innocent.
Loveliness created me lovely.
Lovingness created me loving.
Love created me loveable.
Truth created me true.
Eternity created me eternal.
Infinity created me infinite.
Oneness created me Sonshipness.
Joyfulness created me joyous.
Health created me healthy.
Alignment created me aligned.
Perfection created me perfect.
Holiness created me holy moly!
This is so much fun I could do it all day 🙂

LESSON 67

Love created me like itself.

Today’s idea is a complete and accurate statement of what you are.  This is why you are the light of the world.  This is why God appointed you as the world’s savior.  This is why the Son of God looks to you for his salvation.  He is saved by what you are.  We will make every effort today to reach this truth about you, and to realize fully, if only for a moment, that it is the truth.

In the longer practice period, we will think about your reality and its wholly unchanged and unchangeable nature.  We will begin by repeating this truth about you, and then spend a few minutes adding some relevant thoughts, such as:

Holiness created me holy.
Kindness created me kind.
Helpfulness created me helpful.
Perfection created me perfect.

Any attribute which is in accord with God as He defines Himself is appropriate for use.  We are trying today to undo your definition of God and replace it with His Own.  We are also trying to emphasize that you are part of His definition of Himself.

After you have gone over several such related thoughts, try to let all thoughts drop away for a brief preparatory interval, and then try to reach past all your images and preconceptions about yourself to the truth in you.  If love created you like itself, this Self must be in you.  And somewhere in your mind It is there for you to find.

You may find it necessary to repeat the idea for today from time to time to replace distracting thoughts.  You may also find that this is not sufficient, and that you need to continue adding other thoughts related to the truth about yourself.  Yet perhaps you will succeed in going past that, and through the interval of thoughtlessness to the awareness of a blazing light in which you recognize yourself as love created you.  Be confident that you will do much today to bring that awareness nearer, whether you feel you have succeeded or not.

It will be particularly helpful today to practice the idea for the day as often as you can.  You need to hear the truth about yourself as frequently as possible, because your mind is so preoccupied with false self-images.  Four or five times an hour, and perhaps even more, it would be most beneficial to remind yourself that love created you like itself.  Hear the truth about yourself in this.

Try to realize in the shorter practice periods that this is not your tiny, solitary voice that tells you this.  This is the Voice for God, reminding you of your Father and of your Self.  This is the Voice of truth, replacing everything that the ego tells you about yourself with  the simple truth about the Son of God.  You were created by love like itself.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 66 – My happiness and my function are one.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

First premise: God gives us only happiness.  Second premise: God has given us our function.

Happiness and forgiveness are the same content in different forms.  The Love of God is the Love of God.  We are asked for great honesty today.  We are told, “You will listen to madness or hear the truth.”  Great honesty uncovers Truth.

Today we stride swiftly toward understanding that the same is the same and the Truth is True.  The truth of Lesson 66 rolls through in sweeping tingling waves of expansion.  The ego tries to tighten me up, but choosing God’s plan for salvation takes “me” out of the equation allowing the Holy Spirit to undo undue fear, revealing Love.

The only meaningful use of time is to “go past this wholly meaningless battle and arrive at the truth about your function.  We will not engage in senseless arguments about what it is.”

LESSON 66

My happiness and my function are one.

You have surely noticed an emphasis throughout our recent lessons on the connection between fulfilling your function and achieving happiness.  This is because you do not really see the connection.  Yet there is more than just a connection; they are the same.  Their forms are different, but their content is completely one.

The ego does constant battle with the Holy Spirit on the fundamental question of what your function is.  So does it do constant battle with the Holy Spirit about what your happiness is.  It is not a two-way battle.  The ego attacks and the Holy Spirit does not respond.  He knows what your function is.  He knows that it is your happiness.

Today we will try to go past this wholly meaningless battle and arrive at the truth about your function.  We will not engage in senseless arguments about what it is.  We will not become hopelessly  involved in defining happiness and determining the means for achieving it.  We will not indulge the ego by listening to its attacks on truth.  We will merely be glad that we can find out what truth is.

Our longer practice today has as its purpose your acceptance of the fact that not only is there a very real connection between the function God gave you and your happiness, but that they are actually identical.  God gives you only happiness.  Therefore, the function He gave you must be happiness, even if it appears to be different.  Today’s exercises are an attempt to go beyond these differences in appearance, and recognize a common content where it exists in truth.

Begin the ten-to-fifteen-minute practice period by reviewing these thoughts:

God gives me only happiness.
He has given my function to  me.
Therefore my function must be happiness.

Try to see the logic in this sequence, even if you do not yet accept the conclusion.  It is only if the first two thoughts are wrong that the conclusion could be false.  Let us, then, think about the premises for a while, as we are practicing.

The first premise is that God gives you only happiness.  This could be false, of course, but in order to be false it is necessary to define God as something He is not.  Love cannot give evil, and what is not happiness is evil.  God cannot give what he does not have, and He cannot have what He is not.  Unless God gives you only happiness, He must be evil.  And it is this definition of Him you are believing if you do not accept the first premise.

The second premise is that God has given you your function.  We have seen that there are only two parts of your mind.  One is ruled by the ego, and is made up of illusions.  The other is the home of the Holy Spirit, where truth abides.  There are no other guides but these to choose between, and no other outcomes possible as a result of your choice but the fear that the ego always engenders, and the love that the Holy Spirit always offers to replace it.

Thus, it must be that your function is established by God through His Voice, or is made by the ego which you have made to replace Him.  Which is true?  Unless God gave your function to you, it must be the gift of the ego.  Does the ego really have gifts to give, being itself an illusion and offering only the illusion of gifts?

Think about this during the longer practice period today.  Think also about the many forms the illusion of your function has taken in your mind, and the many ways in which you tried to find salvation under the ego’s guidance.  Did you find it?  Were you happy?  Did they bring you peace?  We need great honesty today.  Remember the outcomes fairly, and consider also whether it was ever reasonable to expect happiness from anything the ego ever proposed.  Yet the ego is the only alternative to the Holy Spirit’s Voice.

You will listen to madness or hear the truth.  Try to make this choice as you think about the premises on which our conclusion rests.  We can share in this conclusion, but in no other.  For God Himself shares it with us.  Today’s idea is another giant stride in the perception of the same as the same, and the different as the different.  On one side stand all illusions.  All truth stands on the other.  Let us try today to realize that only the truth is true.

In the shorter practice periods, which would be most helpful today if undertaken twice an hour, this form of the application is suggested:

My happiness and function are one, because God has given me both.

It will not take more than a minute, and probably less, to repeat these words slowly and think about them a little while as you say them.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 65 – My only function is the one God gave me.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

We are clearing the mind to make it a clean slate on which our true function is written for us.  Our true function is forgiveness as the light of the world.  Let us forgive and be happy.  We are learning to recognize the means for letting forgiveness be done through us.  No other purpose can bring me greater happiness.

Let me not substitute my function for God’s–let me not wander into temptation.  It is a long and winding road that wastes time with idle thoughts.  My only function is the one God gave me.  I want no other and have no other.  Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.  Forgiveness and happiness are the same.  Forgiveness = happiness.  “The light that belongs to you is the light of joy.” And “Joy calls forth an integrated willingness to share it, and promotes the mind’s natural impulse to respond as one.” (T-5,Intro:4&6) 

First I recognize that salvation is my function, and then I relinquish all other goals I have invented for myself.  This will lead to peace of mind.  Salvation, my function, forgiveness–they are all the same.  They are all the change of mind that undoes “me” and and then “I” am revelation-ready.

“Salvation is nothing more than ‘right-mindedness,’ which is not the One-mindedness of the Holy Spirit, but which must be achieved before One-Mindedness is restored.” (T-4.II.10:1)  “This is the gift by which God leans to us and lifts us up, taking salvation’s final step Himself.” (W-168)

LESSON 65

My only function is the one God gave me.

The idea for today reaffirms your commitment to salvation.  It also reminds you that you have no other function than that.  Both these thoughts are obviously necessary for a total commitment.  Salvation cannot be the only purpose you hold while you still cherish others.  The full acceptance of salvation as your only function necessarily entails two phases; the recognition of salvation as your function, and the relinquishment of all the other goals you have invented for yourself.

This is the only way in which you can take your rightful place among the saviors of the world.  This is the only way in which you can say and mean, “My only function is the one God gave me.”  This is the only way in which you can find peace of mind.

Today, and for a number of days to follow, set aside ten to fifteen minutes for a more sustained practice period, in which you try to understand and accept what the idea for today really means.  Today’s idea offers you escape from all your perceived difficulties.  It places the key to the door of peace, which you have closed upon yourself, in your own hands.  It gives you the answer to all the searching you have done since time began.

Try, if possible, to undertake the daily extended practice periods at approximately the same time each day.  Try, also, to determine this time in advance, and then adhere to it as closely as possible.  The purpose of this is to arrange your day so that you have set apart the time for God, as well as for all the trivial  purposes and goals you will pursue.  This is part of the long-range disciplinary training your mind needs, so that the Holy Spirit can use it consistently for the purpose He shares with you.

For the longer practice period, begin by reviewing the idea for the day.  Then close your eyes, repeat the idea to yourself once again, and watch your mind carefully to catch whatever thoughts cross it.  At first, make no attempt to concentrate only on thoughts related to the idea for the day.  Rather, try to uncover each thought that arises to interfere with it.  Note each one as it comes to you, with as little involvement or concern as possible, dismissing each one by telling yourself:

This thought reflects a goal that is preventing me from accepting my only function.

After a while, interfering thoughts will become harder to find.  Try, however, to continue a minute or so longer, attempting to catch a few of the idle thoughts that escaped your attention before, but do not strain or make undue effort in doing this.  Then tell yourself:

On this clean slate let my true function be written for me.

You need not use these exact words, but try to get the sense of being willing to have your illusions of purpose be replaced by truth.

Finally, repeat the idea for today once more, and devote the rest of the practice period to trying to focus on its importance to you, the relief its acceptance will bring you by resolving your conflicts once and for all, and the extent to which you really want salvation in spite of your own foolish ideas to the contrary.

In the shorter practice periods, which should be undertaken at least once an hour, use this form in applying today’s idea:

My only function is the one God gave me.  I want no other and I have no other.

Sometimes close your eyes as you practice this, and sometimes keep them open and look about you.  It is what you see now that will be totally changed when you accept today’s idea completely.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.