Lesson 35 – My mind is part of God’s. I am very holy.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

Having been immersed in the Course for almost 20 years, and having done the Workbook practice more than once, this lesson is fully welcomed and experienced as an ice cube melting in warm water (as beloved Mooji puts it).  The person called “Amy” is no longer important.  She handed the key to the perception mechanism over to the Holy Spirit long ago.

Today’s emphasis is on the perceiver and not on what is perceived. Depending on who you think you are, you identify as a differentiating perceiver or a Unifying perceiver.  This is all that matters.  What is perceived is determined by this one, simple decision: ego-driven perception or Holy Spirit-guided perception.

The ego tells us, “My mind is part of God’s. I am very holy.” is an arrogant, inflated statement — and that it is untrue.  Jesus tells us the same statement is natural, and a humble acceptance of what is simply so.

These early lessons work with seeing and thinking.  We are asked to examine what seeing and thinking are.  Today we are told that we want to protect the image we have made, the image of the world and ourselves as bodies.  We again are faced with, “Images cannot see.”

The repercussions of this idea are so bright they blind the ego’s eye.  We are being told that whatever it is we do with our eyes is not true seeing.

The text tells us in Chapter 11, Section VI. Waking to Redemption, “That is what I meant when I said, ‘Blessed are ye who have not seen and still believe,’ for those who believe in the resurrection will see it. The resurrection is the complete triumph of Christ over the ego, not by attack but by transcendence. For Christ does rise above the ego and all its works, and ascends to the Father and His Kingdom.”

The lesson describes what vision will show us–how we will see once we plug back in to our Creator.  Our viewpoint changes, and we start to see that any way we see ourselves, good or bad, witnesses to the idea that there is something other than God to “see.”

This is not to scare us, bum us out, or batter our self-esteem.  It is to clarify that we are not human and whatever humans perceive is a reminder to remember (lol) that “My mind is part of God’s.  I am very holy.”

Holy in the sense of Whole, undifferentiated from my Source which is Oneness Itself.

We are given very specific instructions to observe our ego thought process.  This lesson presents a beautiful deconstruction of personality.  And we are told not to strain or dig to fulfill the exercise, but simply to relax and allow ideas to occur to us.  This is a perfect example of how “I need do nothing except not to interfere” (T-16.I) is the most direct route to receiving Guidance.

A little further along in Chapter 11, VI, Jesus says, “Learning of Christ is easy, for to perceive with Him involves no strain at all. His perceptions are your natural awareness, and it is only the distortions you introduce that tire you.  Let the Christ in you interpret for you, and do not try to limit what you see by narrow little beliefs that are unworthy of God’s Son. For until Christ comes into His Own, the Son of God will see himself as Fatherless.”* [emphasis mine]

* You may also enjoy reading, “Who Is My Father?”

LESSON 35

My mind is part of God’s.  I am very holy.

Today’s idea does not describe the way you see yourself now.  It does, however, describe what vision will show you.  It is difficult for anyone who thinks he is in this world to believe this of himself.  Yet the reason he thinks he is in  this world is because he does not believe it.

You will believe that you are part of where you think you are.  That is because you surround yourself with the environment you want.  And you want it to protect the image of yourself that you have made.  The image is part of this environment.  What you see while you believe you are in it is seen through the eyes of the image.  This is not vision.  Images cannot see.

The idea for today presents a very different view of yourself.  By establishing your Source it establishes your identity, and it describes you as you must really be in truth.  We will use a somewhat different kind of application for today’s idea because the emphasis for today is on the perceiver, rather than on what he perceives.

For each of the three five-minute practice periods today, begin by repeating today’s idea to yourself, and then close your eyes and search your mind for the various kinds of descriptive terms in which you see yourself.  Include all the ego-based attributes which you ascribe to yourself, positive or negative, desirable or undesirable, grandiose or debased.  All of them are equally unreal, because you do not look upon yourself through the eyes of holiness.

In the earlier part of the mind-searching period, you will probably emphasize what you consider to be the more negative aspects of your perception of yourself.  Toward the latter part of the exercise period, however, more self-inflating descriptive terms may well cross your mind.  Try to recognize that the direction of the fantasies about yourself does not matter.  Illusions have no direction in reality.  They are merely not true.

A suitable unselected list for applying the idea for today might be as follows:

I see myself as imposed on.
I see myself as depressed.
I see myself as failing.
I see myself as endangered.
I see myself as helpless.
I see myself as victorious.
I see myself as losing out.
I see myself as charitable.
I see myself as virtuous.

You should not think of these terms in an abstract way.  They will occur to you as various situations, personalities and events in which you figure cross your mind.  Pick up any specific situation that occurs to you, identify the descriptive term or terms you feel are applicable to your reactions to that situation, and use them in applying today’s idea.  After you have named each one, add:

But my mind is part of God’s.  I am very holy.

During the longer exercise periods, there will probably be intervals in which nothing specific occurs to you.  Do not strain to think up specific things to fill the interval, but merely relax and repeat today’s idea slowly until something occurs to you.  Although nothing that does occur should be omitted from the exercises, nothing should be “dug out” with effort.  Neither force nor discrimination should be used.

As often as possible during the day, pick up a specific attribute or attributes you are ascribing to yourself at the time and apply the idea for today to them, adding the idea in the form stated above to each of them.  If nothing particular occurs to you, merely repeat the idea to yourself, with closed eyes.

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.