Thunderbolt! We are never upset for the reason we think. What’s more, Jesus suggests that, eventually, we are going to learn that form does not matter, period.
Initially, we will apply today’s idea to specific forms in our individual lives. But that is only in order to become aware, over time, that all forms are the same. All forms are symbolic of the ego idea of separation from God.
This brings us to cause — the underlying source of upset. Jesus, in A Course in Miracles, is nothing if not logical. He offers us this statement to acclimate our minds to being indiscriminate in practicing the exercise:
“There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.”
In case we find we are resistant to applying today’s ideas to specific upsets, Jesus further offers this:
“I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.”
We are asked to name the source of our personal upset and the feeling as we experience the upset. Getting to know our human selves better is part of the paradoxical process of A Course in Miracles, which, ultimately, uses separation to separate us from our toxic attachment to the ego and restores our ability to discover ourselves as Mind.
Jesus starts Lesson 4 by telling us it will differ from the first three lessons because the practice will not begin with the idea for the day. First, we just notice the thoughts that cross our minds; then we apply the idea to them. Jesus tells us to apply the idea to specific thoughts, but not to be selective about the thoughts to which we apply the practice. This is becoming familiar.
Then we learn that “good” thoughts are “but shadows of what lies beyond” and “bad thoughts are “blocks to sight.” It turns out that good and bad thoughts are used by the ego to “cover up” real thoughts! For now, we do not know what real thoughts are. But that’s okay. Remember, the Introduction to the Workbook told us:
“Remember, you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter or decrease their efficacy. … whatever you reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than that is required.”
Jesus tells us straight up in Lesson 4:
“The aim here is to train you in the first steps toward the goal of separating the meaningless from the meaningful. It is a first attempt in the long-range purpose of learning to see the meaningless as outside you, and the meaningful within. It is also the beginning of training your mind to recognize what is the same and what is different.”
We need to have humility and a sense of humor if we’re not going to reject each of the above.
We are learning to separate the meaningless from the meaningful
We are learning to see the meaningless as outside ourselves, and the meaningful within
We are learning to recognize what is the same and what is different
Something in us knows that our personal identity is too restrictive, too limited, and, that believing our identity is defined by our bodies is actually the addiction beneath all addictions. We are addicted to the ego and brain-washed by the ego. That is why it is in our best interest to use our free will to accept the mind training offered by Jesus in his Course in Miracles no matter how outrageous it may seem.
The idea of the lesson develops, the application remains the same. The central theme evolves, the way we practice stays the same and starts to embed a new way of being in our conscious awareness.
Even if we are psychologically and emotionally self-aware, those levels of consciousness are not what Jesus, in his Course in Miracles, is addressing. He is tuning us into our psychic, that is, our unseen faculties of perception, so that we question all human judgment and interpretation as we have known it up until now.
The central idea in Lesson 2 develops the initial idea in Lesson 1. We progress from allowing the possibility that nothing we see means anything to everything we see is only meaningful based on the meaning we have given it.
The exercises, the way we practice this idea, is the same as Lesson 1. We look around from near to further away, excluding nothing on purpose, but neither do we compulsively include everything. We use eyesight differently, indiscriminately applying the idea to various shapes and forms using the “sole criterion … that our eyes have lighted on it.”
Rupert Spira
Consider how Rupert Spira puts it, “It is our exclusive interest in objects that give them their apparently independent reality. When attention shifts from the seen object to pure seeing, the apparently separate reality of the object disappears and its true reality–the light of pure Knowing–shines.”
The purpose of Lesson 1 is to “make no allowance for differences,” no matter what we are looking at. The idea, “Nothing I see in this room means anything” is to be used “totally indiscriminately.”
If nothing we see means anything, which translates to everything we see means nothing, Lesson 1 holds out the potential for us to question all of our established beliefs. Ego perceives this as threatening. But deeper than your personal ego identity lies your connection to Spirit. Spirit resonates with Lesson 1 as uplifting and empowering.
You can only know this for yourself, through practicing the lesson and experiencing the lesson’s effects. If something within opens, expands, softens, releases, settles, feels peaceful, loving, quietly joyful or even a hint of these, you’re on the right track.
I am Who I am. I am That. That I Am. Am I. Am. Ma. AmmA. AbbA. Aaaaah.
LESSON 84
There are the ideas for today’s review:
(67) Love created me like itself.
I am in the likeness of my Creator. I cannot suffer. I cannot experience loss and I cannot die. I am not a body. I would recognize my reality today. I will worship no idols, nor raise my own self-concept to replace my Self. I am in the likeness of my Creator. Love created me like itself.
You might find these specific forms helpful in applying the idea:
Let me not see an illusion of myself in this. As I look on this, let me remember my Creator. My Creator did not create this as I see it.
(68) Love holds no grievances.
Grievances are completely alien to love. Grievances attack love and keep its light obscure. If I hold grievances I am attacking love, and therefore attacking my Self. My Self thus becomes alien to me. I am determined not to attack my Self today, so that I can remember Who I am.
These specific forms for applying this idea would be helpful:
This is no justification for denying my Self. I will not use this to attack love. Let this not tempt me to attack myself.
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.
With one purpose only, I am always certain what to do, what to say and what to think. With God’s Guidance the thought arises, “Think nothing … let Me Think through you.” Think nothing, let Me Think through you. How quiet. How beauty-filled.
How Perfectly Peaceful. … and then, being Thought-through produces a shift in perception from receiving as the tiny “me” ego-body to being the Thought Itself.
You don’t have to do anything but be willing to be aware of What Already Is. And so it is!
LESSON 83
Today let us review these ideas:
(65) My only function is the one God gave me.
I have no function but the one God gave me. This recognition releases me from all conflict, because it means I cannot have conflicting goals. With one purpose only, I am always certain what to do, what to say and what to think. All doubt must disappear as I acknowledge that my only function is the one God gave me.
More specific applications of this idea might take these forms:
My perception of this does not change my function. This does not give me a function other than the one God gave me. Let me not use this to justify a function God did not give me.
(66) My happiness and my function are one.
All things that come from God are one. They come from Oneness, and must be received as one. Fulfilling my function is my happiness because both come from the same Source. And I must learn to recognize what makes me happy, if I would find happiness.
Some useful forms for specific applications of this idea are:
This cannot separate my happiness from my function. The oneness of my happiness and my function remains wholly unaffected by this. Nothing, including this, can justify the illusion of happiness apart from my function.
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.
My forgiveness is the means by which the light of the world finds expression through me. I would not forget my function, because I would remember my Self. Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness. Forgiveness is light. Forgiveness is healing. Forgiveness is healing light. For to give everything to God. Give God my lonely, frightened delusions of separateness. Give God my heart swollen with gladness and relief that I am His Son. My widening, expanding, overflowing heart … consumed by the Cosmic Heart. And so it is.
LESSON 82
We will review these ideas today:
(63) The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.
My forgiveness is the means by which the light of the world finds expression through me. My forgiveness is the means by which I become aware of the light of the world in me. My forgiveness is the means by which the world is healed, together with myself. Let me, then, forgive the world, that it may be healed along with me.
Suggestions for specific forms for applying this idea are:
Let peace extend from my mind to yours, [name]. I share the light of the world with you, [name]. Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is.
(64) Let me not forget my function.
I would not forget my function, because I would remember my Self. I cannot fulfill my function if I forget it. And unless I fulfill my function, I will not experience the joy that God intends for me.
Suitable forms of this idea include:
Let me not use this to hide my function from me. I would use this as an opportunity to fulfill my function. This may threaten my ego, but cannot change my function in any way.
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.
Behind the mask of your ego-face shines the light of Who You Really Are. Good disguise!
LESSON 81
Our ideas for review today are:
(61) I am the light of the world.
How holy am I, who have been given the function of lighting up the world! Let me be still before my holiness. In its calm light let all my conflicts disappear. In its peace let me remember Who I am.
Some specific forms for applying this idea when special difficulties seem to arise might be:
Let me not obscure the light of the world in me. Let the light of the world shine through this appearance. This shadow will vanish before the light.
(62) Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
It is through accepting my function that I will see the light in me. And in this light will my function stand clear and perfectly unambiguous before my sight. My acceptance does not depend on my recognizing what my function is, for I do not yet understand forgiveness. Yet I will trust that, in the light, I will see it as it is.
Specific forms for using this idea might include:
Let this help me learn what forgiveness means. Let me not separate my function from my will. I will not use this for an alien purpose.
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.
Once the problem has been identified, something glorious happens … it is seen that there never was a real problem. In that sense, the solution is inherent within the problem because when looked at closely, there is no problem to be found.
There was a bad dream that ended long ago, but that was a fantasy, not a real problem.
If you are willing to recognize your problems, you will recognize that you have no problems. Your one central problem has been answered, and you have no other. Therefore, you must be at peace. Salvation thus depends on recognizing this one problem, and understanding that it has been solved. One problem, one solution. Salvation is accomplished. Freedom from conflict has been given you. Accept that fact, and you are ready to take your rightful place in God’s plan for salvation.
Your only problem has been solved! Repeat this over and over to yourself today, with gratitude and conviction. You have recognized your only problem, opening the way for the Holy Spirit to give you God’s answer. You have laid deception aside, and seen the light of truth. You have accepted salvation for yourself by bringing the problem to the answer. And you can recognize the answer, because the problem has been identified.
You are entitled to peace today. A problem that has been resolved cannot trouble you. Only be certain you do not forget that all problems are the same. Their many forms will not deceive you while you remember this. One problem, one solution. Accept the peace this simple statement brings.
In our longer practice periods today, we will claim the peace that must be ours when the problem and the answer have been brought together. The problem must be gone, because God’s answer cannot fail. Having recognized one, you have recognized the other. The solution is inherent in the problem. You are answered, and have accepted the answer. You are saved.
Now let the peace that your acceptance brings be given you. Close your eyes, and receive your reward. Recognize that your problems have been solved. Recognize that you are out of conflict; free and at peace. Above all, remember that you have one problem, and that the problem has one solution. It is in this that the simplicity of salvation lies. It is because of this that it is guaranteed to work.
Assure yourself often today that your problems have been solved. Repeat the idea with deep conviction, as frequently as possible. And be particularly sure to apply the idea for today to any specific problem that may arise. Say quickly:
Let me recognize this problem has been solved.
Let us be determined not to collect grievances today. Let us be determined to be free of problems that do not exist. The means is simple honesty. Do not deceive yourself about what the problem is, and you must recognize it has been solved.
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.
