Lesson 47 – God is the strength in which I trust.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

“God is your safety in every circumstance.  His Voice [the Holy Spirit within] speaks for Him in all situations and in every aspect of all situations, telling you exactly what to do to call upon His strength and His protection.”  I notice that His Voice does not tell us what to do, but what to do to call upon God.

In Chapter 2, Jesus explains, “The correction of fear is your responsibility.  When you ask for release from fear, you are implying that it is not.  You should ask, instead, for help in the conditions that have brought the fear about.  These conditions always entail a willingness to be separate.  At that level you can help it.”  It is difficult to believe that we are afraid because we have actively chosen to be afraid.

Jesus told Helen he could not remove her fear (read Absence from Felicity by Kenneth Wapnick) and that she should ask instead for help with the conditions that result in fear. The conditions are turning to the ego for guidance and the consequences of that choice: belief in sin, guilt and fear.

Fear is an effective ego defense against God’s Truth.  As long as the ego distracts itself with fear, it need not know it doesn’t really exist.  As the memory of God emerges from the shallow roots of the ego, which seem deep but in truth are not, there is the opportunity to shift our attention from distrust to trust, and weakness to strength.  How?

Call upon God.  Use the daily lesson to call upon God.  Every day Jesus spells out for you how to call upon God.  Use his tools.  Today we are given, “God is the strength in which I trust.”  When we practice this, we find out that God truly is our safety in every circumstance because circumstance is illusory and Reality is formless.

This kind of trust reminds me of a game my father played with me as a child — read my blogpost, “Who Is My Father?”.

LESSON 47

God is the strength in which I trust.

If you are trusting in your own strength you have every reason to be apprehensive, anxious and fearful. What can you predict or control? What is there in you that can be counted on? What would give you the ability to be aware of all the facets of any problem, and to resolve them in such a way that only good can come of it? What is there in you that gives you the recognition of the right solution, and the guarantee that it will be accomplished?

Of yourself you can do none of these things. To believe that you can is to put your trust where trust is unwarranted, and to justify fear, anxiety, depression, anger and sorrow. Who can put his faith in weakness and feel safe? Yet who can put his faith in strength and feel weak?

God is your safety in every circumstance. His Voice speaks for Him in all situations and in every aspect of all situations, telling you exactly what to do to call upon His strength and His protection. There are no exceptions because God has no exceptions. And the Voice which speaks for Him thinks as He does.
Today we will try to reach past your own weakness to the Source of real strength. Four five-minute practice periods are necessary today, and longer and more frequent ones are urged. Close your eyes and begin, as usual, by repeating the idea for the day. Then spend a minute or two in searching for situations in your life which you have invested with fear, dismissing each one by telling yourself:

God is the strength in which I trust.

Now try to slip past all concerns related to your own sense of inadequacy. It is obvious that any situation that causes you concern is associated with feelings of inadequacy, for otherwise you would believe that you could deal with the situation successfully. It is not by trusting yourself that you will gain confidence. But the strength of God in you is successful in all things.

The recognition of your own frailty is a necessary step in the correction of your errors, but it is hardly a sufficient one in giving you the confidence which you need, and to which you are entitled. You must also gain an awareness that confidence in your real strength is fully justified in every respect and in all circumstances.

In the latter phase of the practice period, try to reach down into your mind to a place of real safety. You will recognize that you have reached it if you feel a sense of deep peace, however briefly. Let go all the trivial things that churn and bubble on the surface of your mind, and reach down and below them to the Kingdom of Heaven. There is a place in you where there is perfect peace. There is a place in you where nothing is impossible. There is a place in you where the strength of God abides.

During the day, repeat the idea often. Use it as your answer to any disturbance. Remember that peace is your right, because you are giving your trust to the strength of God.

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

Lesson 46 – God is the Love in which I forgive.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

“As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.”  Bit by bit, the One Who identified as “Amy” gives all resentments, all grievances, all attachments and desires to the Holy Spirit.  It is an uncluttering process.  Thought by thought, ego thinking is cleared from the imaginary mind.

As space is cleared, the memory of God within becomes obvious, Shining and True.  Quiet Mind is encountered.  Speech is unnecessary.  “Forgiveness thus undoes what fear has produced, returning the mind to the awareness of God.”

God is the Love in which I forgive.  This is a right-minded “I.” There is a melting and expansion in the richness of this Truth.  “God is the Love in which I forgive” carries the day.  Beneath our tears, our fears, our anger, our shame, we are Perfect and Whole.

God is the Love in which I forgive “you.”  God is the Love in which I forgive “me.”  God is the Love in which the grand illusion dissolves, for there is nothing to condemn since God Is Loving Harmony.  Enveloping, Expanding, Extending.

LESSON 46

God is the Love in which I forgive.

God does not forgive because He has never condemned.  And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary.  Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions.  Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them.  As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.

Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness.  Fear condemns and love forgives.  Forgiveness thus undoes what fear has produced, returning the mind to the awareness of God.  For this reason, forgiveness can truly be called salvation.  It is the means by which illusions disappear.

Today’s exercises require at least three full five-minute practice periods, and as many shorter ones as possible.  Begin the longer practice periods by repeating today’s idea to yourself, as usual.  Close your eyes as you do so, and spend a minute or two in searching your mind for those whom you have not forgiven.  It does not matter “how much” you have not forgiven them.  You have forgiven them entirely or not at all.

If you are doing the exercises well you should have no difficulty in finding a number of people you have not forgiven.  It is a safe rule that anyone you do not like is a suitable subject.  Mention each one by name, and say:

God is the Love in which I forgive you, [name].

The purpose of the first phase of today’s practice periods is to put you in a position to forgive yourself.  After you have applied the idea to all those who have come to mind, tell yourself:

God is the Love in which I forgive myself.

Then devote the remainder of the practice period to adding related ideas such as:

God is the Love with which I love myself.
God is the Love in which I am blessed.

The form of the application may vary considerably, but the central idea should not be lost sight of.  You might say, for example:

I cannot be guilty because I am a Son of God.
I have already been forgiven.
No fear is possible in a mind beloved of God.
There is no need to attack because love has forgiven me.

The practice period should end, however, with a repetition of today’s idea as originally stated.

The shorter practice periods may consist either of a repetition of the idea for today in the original or in a related form, as you prefer.  Be sure, however, to make more specific applications if they are needed.  They will be needed at any time during the day when you become aware of any kind of negative reaction to anyone, present or not.  In that event, tell him silently:

God is the Love in which I forgive you.

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

Lesson 45 – God is the Mind with which I think.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

Lesson 30 was “God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.”  Now Lesson 45 explains “God is the Mind with which I think.”  The progression of lessons circles and builds.  God is the Mind with which I think.  God’s Mind thinks me.  God’s Thought is un-worded.  It is a pulsating radiance ever-reaching.

I am God’s pulsating radiance ever-reaching as He creates … we are “Thinking” together.  In the now-ness of Now, there is no how, when, where or why.  I am What I am.  I am That I am.  I am.  This is not the same “I” which seems to be “me.”

God is the Mind with which I think.  God is the Mind with which I am Thought.  Let God Think me.  Let God Breathe me.  In this surrender, ego-identification dissolves and One is discovered as All That Is and No Thing No Body.

In gladness, it is realized that there is no separation between God and Who We Truly Are.

LESSON 45

God is the Mind with which I think.

Today’s idea holds the key to what your real thoughts are.  They are nothing that you think you think, just as nothing that you think you see is related to vision in any way.  There is no relationship to what is real and what you think is real.  Nothing that you think are your real thoughts resemble your real thoughts in any respect.  Nothing that you think you see bears any resemble to what vision will show you.

You think with the Mind of God.  Therefore you share your thoughts with Him, as He shares His with you.  They are the same thoughts, because they are thought by the same Mind.  To share is to make alike, or to make one.  Nor do the thoughts you think with the Mind of God leave your mind, because thoughts do not leave their source.  Therefore, your thoughts are in the Mind of God, as you are.  They are in your mind as well, where He is.  As you are part of His Mind, so are your thoughts part of His Mind.

Where, then, are your real thoughts?   Today we will attempt to reach them.  We will have to look for them in your mind, because that is where they are.   They must still be there, because they cannot have left their source.  What is thought by the Mind of God is eternal, being part of creation.

Our three five-minute practice periods for today will take the same general form that we used in applying yesterday’s idea.  We will attempt to leave the unreal and seek for the real.  We will deny the world in favor of truth.  We will not let the thoughts of the world hold us back.  We will not let the beliefs of the world tell us that what God would have us do is impossible.  Instead, we will try to recognize that only what God would have us do is possible.

We will also try to understand that only what God would have us do is what we want to do.  And we will also try to remember that we cannot fail in doing what He would have us do.  There is every reason to feel confident that we will succeed today.  It is the Will of God.

Begin the exercises for today by repeating the idea to yourself, closing your eyes as you do so.  Then spend a fairly short period in thinking a few relevant thoughts of your own, keeping the idea in mind.  After you have added some four or five thoughts of your own to the idea, repeat it again and tell yourself gently:

My real thoughts are in my mind.  I would like to find them.

Then try to go past all the unreal thoughts that cover the truth in your mind, and reach to the eternal.

Under all the senseless thoughts and mad ideas with which you have cluttered up your mind are the thoughts that you thought with God in the beginning.  They are there in your mind now, completely unchanged.  They will always be in your mind, exactly as they always were.  Everything you have thought since then will change, but the Foundation on which it rests is wholly changeless.

It is this Foundation toward which the exercises for today are directed.  Here is your mind joined with the Mind of God.  Here are your thoughts one with His.  For this kind of practice only one thing is necessary; approach it as you would an altar dedicated in Heaven to God the Father and to God the Son.  For such is the place you are trying to reach.  You will probably be unable as yet  to realize how high you are trying to go.  Yet even with the little understanding you have already gained, you should be able to remind yourself that this is no idle game, but an exercise in holiness and an attempt to reach the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the shorter exercise periods for today, try to remember how important it is to you to understand the holiness of the mind that thinks with God.  Take a minute or two, as you repeat the idea throughout the day, to appreciate your mind’s holiness.  Stand aside, however briefly, from all thoughts that are unworthy of Him Whose host you are.  And thank Him for the Thoughts He is thinking with you.

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

Lesson 44 – God is the Light in which I see.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

Yesterday we learned that salvation is the undoing of what never was.  Today, Jesus tells us that, “Salvation is your happiest accomplishment.”  He says we need to have a sense of the importance of what we are doing when we practice this lesson; we need to have a sense of its “inestimable value” and an awareness that what we are attempting is very holy.

Sinking down and inward, observing passing thoughts without involvement, yes, there is an immediate relief and relaxation.  Thinking of light comes with a pleasant magnetic pull in all directions.  Then utter stillness.

World-free, burdenless, spaciousness.  God is the Light in which I see.  God is the radiance which spreads through me.  God is Vision beyond 360 degrees!

Light spreads and pulsates, Light illumines and emanates.  Light is peaceful, quiet and full.  Light is giving, for giving in form.  Light spills before us Guiding us Home.  Light is ever-present, all-knowing Glow.

Gleaming, gleeful, gallant and Large … “Step on my back and let me carry you across.”  Believe not in death, for death is nothing more than darkness.  Dispel the darkness and discover quietly dancing Lightbeams of No Thing, No Body.

LESSON 44

God is the Light in which I see.

Today we are continuing the idea for yesterday, adding another dimension to it.  You cannot see in darkness, and you cannot make light.  You can make darkness and then think you see in it, but light reflects life, and is therefore an aspect of creation.  Creation and darkness cannot coexist, but light and life must go together, being but different aspects of creation.

In order to see, you must recognize that light is within, not without.  You do not see outside yourself, nor is the equipment for seeing outside you. And essential part of this equipment is the light that makes seeing possible.  It is with you always, making vision possible in every circumstance.

Today we are going to attempt to reach that light.  For this purpose, we will use a form of exercise which has been suggested before, and which we will utilize increasingly.  It is a particularly difficult form for the undisciplined mind, and represents a major goal of mind training.  It requires precisely what the untrained mind lacks.  Yet this training must be accomplished if you are to see.

Have at least three practice periods today, each lasting three to five minutes.  A longer time is highly recommended, but only if you find the time slipping by with little or no sense of strain.  The form of practice we will use today is the most natural and easy one in the world for the trained mind, just as it seems to be the most unnatural and difficult for the untrained mind.

Your mind is no longer wholly untrained.  You are quite ready to learn the form of exercise we will use today, but you may find that you will encounter strong resistance.  The reason is very simple.  While you practice in this way, you leave behind everything that you now believe, and all the thoughts that you have made up.  Properly speaking, this is the release from hell.  Yet perceived through the ego’s eyes, it is loss of identity and a descent into hell.

If you can stand aside from the ego ever so little, you will have no difficulty in recognizing that its opposition and its fears are meaningless.  You might find it helpful to remind yourself, from time to time, that to reach light is to escape from darkness, whatever you may believe to the contrary.  God is the light in which you see.  You are attempting to reach Him.

Begin the practice period by repeating today’s idea with your eyes open, and close them slowly, repeating the idea several times more.  Then try to sink into your mind, letting go every kind of interference and intrusion by quietly sinking past them.  Your mind cannot be stopped in this unless you choose to stop it.  It is merely taking its natural course.  Try to observe your passing thoughts without involvement, and slip quietly by them.

While no particular approach is advocated for this form of exercise, what is needful is a sense of importance of what you are doing; its inestimable value to you, and an awareness that you are attempting something very holy.  Salvation is your happiest accomplishment.  It is also the only one that has any meaning, because it is the only one that has any real use to you at all.

If resistance rises in any form, pause long enough to repeat today’s idea, keeping your eyes closed unless you are aware of fear.  In that case, you will probably find it more reassuring to open your eyes briefly.  Try, however, to return to the exercises with eyes closed as soon as possible.

If you are doing the exercises correctly, you should experience some sense of relaxation, and even a feeling that you are approaching, if not actually entering into light.  Try to think of light, formless and without limit, as you pass by the thoughts of this world.  And do not forget that they cannot hold you to the world unless you give them the power to do so.

Throughout the day repeat the idea often, with eyes open or closed as seems better to you at the time.  But do not forget.  Above all, be determined not to forget today.

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

Lesson 43 – God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

God is my Source.  I cannot see apart from Him.  I rest in his Love.  I float in His Womb.  I nestle in Him.  I snuggle in Him.  I bask in His Light.  God is my Source.

When I stop my mind wandering, I perceive nothing without Him.  When I give what the ego made to His Holy Spirit, perception leads to Knowledge.  Bing!  Home-free.  Home.

I love the idea that we can be fully dependent on God.  Yesterday we learned, “God is my Strength.  Vision is His gift.”  I do not have to pretend to be strong.  Better if I realize my weakness is relying on the ego and turn myself over to my Source.

Lesson 43 tells us, “In God you cannot see.”  This means that God doesn’t have eyesight and isn’t looking around at the world.  God is a State of Mind.  God is Beingness.  In God we Be, not see 🙂

Also, this lesson gives us a good definition of salvation.  Salvation is the undoing of what never was.  Salvation uses perception for a mighty purpose–for us to see our brother through God’s spiritual Eye.  Reflected back to us is the pure Light we are.  

LESSON 43

God is my Source.  I cannot see apart from Him.

Perception is not an attribute of God.  His is the realm of knowledge.  Yet He has created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge.  Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in your mind.  With this link with God, perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge.  That is its function as the Holy Spirit sees it.  Therefore, that is its function in truth.

In God you cannot see.  Perception has no function in God, and does not exist.  Yet in salvation, which is the undoing of what never was, perception has a mighty purpose.  Made by the Son of God for an unholy purpose, it must become the means for the restoration of his holiness to his awareness.  Perception has no meaning.  Yet does the Holy Spirit give it a meaning very close to God’s.  Healed perception becomes the means by which the Son of God forgives his brother, and thus forgives himself.

You cannot see apart from God because you cannot be apart from God.  Whatever you do you do in Him, because whatever you think, you think with His Mind.  If vision is real, and it is real to the extent to which it shares the Holy Spirit’s purpose, then you cannot see apart from God.

Three five-minute practice periods are required today, one as early and one as late as possible in the day.  The third may be undertaken at the most convenient and suitable time that circumstances and readiness permit.  At the beginning of these practice periods, repeat the idea for today to yourself with eyes open.  Then glance around you for a short time, applying the idea specifically to what you see.  Four or five subjects for this phase of the practice period are sufficient.  You might say, for example:

God is my Source.  I cannot see this desk apart from Him.
God is my Source.  I cannot see that picture apart from Him.

Although this part of the exercise period should be relatively short, be sure that you select the subjects for this phase of practice indiscriminately, without self-directed inclusion or exclusion.  For the second and longer phase, close your eyes, repeat today’s idea again, and then let whatever relevant thoughts occur to you add to the idea in your own personal way.  Thoughts such as:

I see through the eyes of forgiveness.
I see the world as blessed.
The world can show me myself.
I see my own thoughts, which are like God’s.

Any thought related more or less directly to today’s idea is suitable.  The thoughts need not bear any obvious relationship to the idea, but they should not be in opposition to it.

If you find your mind wandering, if you begin to be aware of thoughts which are clearly out of accord with today’s idea, or if you seem to be unable to think of anything, open your eyes, repeat the first phase of the exercise period, and then attempt the second phase again.  Do not allow any protracted period to occur in which you become preoccupied with irrelevant thoughts.  Return to the first phase of the exercises as often as necessary to prevent this.

In applying today’s idea in the shorter practice periods, the form may vary according to the circumstances and situations in which you find yourself during the day.  When you are with someone else, for example, try to remember to tell him silently:

God is my Source.  I cannot see you apart from Him.

This form is equally applicable to strangers as it is to those you think are closer to you.  In fact, try not to make distinctions of this kind at all.

Today’s idea should also be applied throughout the day to various situations and events that may occur, particularly to those which seem to distress you in any way.  For this purpose, apply the idea in this form:

God is my Source.  I cannot see this apart from Him.

If no particular subject presents itself to your awareness at the time, merely repeat the idea in its original form.  Try today not to allow any long periods of time to slip by without remembering today’s idea, and thus remembering your function.

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

Lesson 41 – God goes with me wherever I go.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

We find out today that our problems are not real.  We are also reassured that what we think are our problems is merely foolishness.  Those of us who do find this comforting know that A Course in Miracles is our path.  Others may be offended by this idea–this is an opportunity to burn off the beliefs that add up to feeling offended.  But if there is no motivation to do so, then you will be at war with A Course in Miracles 🙂

The lesson says that deep within we are perfect and ready to radiate this perfection through us and out into the world.  We can never be alone, deprived or joyless because our Source is always with us. Nothing can destroy our peace of mind because God goes with us wherever we go.

Photo: Scott Johnson

We are given an image of a dense and heavy cloud which obscures the Light within us.  The exercise today helps us pass through this cloud and arrive at the Light.  We enter deeply into our mind, sinking downward and inward, past all foolish thoughts of the world, leaving appearances behind and approaching reality.

Reaching God is the most natural thing “in the world” and instant success is possible.  We are advised to concentrate on the unfailing companionship that goes with us and the complete protection which surrounds us.  That will make it easier to laugh at our fear thoughts.

LESSON 41

God goes with me wherever I go.

Today’s idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience.  Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation.  So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss.

The separated ones have many “cures” for what they believe to be “the ills of the world.”  But the one thing they do not do is to question the reality of the problem.  Yet its effects cannot be cured because the problem is not real.  The idea for today has the power to end all this foolishness forever.  And foolishness it is, despite the serious and tragic forms it may take.

Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world.  It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it will heal the mind that thought these things were real, and suffered out of its allegiance to them.

You can never be deprived of your perfect holiness because its Source goes with you wherever you go.  You can never suffer because the Source of all joy goes with you wherever you go.  You can never be alone because the Source of all Life goes with you wherever you go.  Nothing can destroy your peace of mind because God goes with you wherever you go.

We understand that you do not believe all this.  How could you, when the truth is hidden deep within,  under a heavy cloud of insane thoughts, dense and obscuring, yet representing all you see?  Today we will make our first real attempt to get past this dark and heavy cloud, and to go through it to the light beyond.

There will be only one long practice period today.  In the morning, as soon as you get up if possible, sit quietly for some three to five minutes, with your eyes closed.  At the beginning of the practice period, repeat today’s idea very slowly.  Then make no effort to think of anything.  Try, instead, to get a sense of turning inward, past all the idle thoughts of the world.  Try to enter very deeply into your own mind, keeping it clear of any thoughts that might divert your attention.

From time to time, you may repeat the idea if you find it helpful.  But most of all, try to sink down and inward, away from the world and all the foolish thoughts of the world.  You are trying to reach past all these things.  You are trying to leave appearances and approach reality.

It is quite possible to reach God.  In fact it is very easy, because it is the most natural thing in the world.  You might even say it is the only natural thing in the world.  The way will open, if you believe that it is possible.  This exercise can bring very startling results even the first time it is attempted, and sooner or later it is always successful.  We will go into more detail about this kind of practice as we go along.  But it will never fail completely, and instant success is possible.

Throughout the day use today’s idea often, repeating it very slowly, preferably with eyes closed.  Think of what you are saying; what the words mean.  Concentrate on the holiness that they imply about you; on the unfailing companionship that is yours; on the complete protection that surrounds you.

You can indeed afford to laugh at fear thoughts, remembering that God goes with you wherever you go.

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