LESSON 191
July 10
"I am the holy Son of God Himself."
PRACTICE SUMMARY
Purpose: To go past your self-perception as weak, frail and afraid and remember that you are the holy Son of God Himself. This will intensify your motivation and strengthen your commitment. And it will save the world from suffering.
Morning/Evening Quiet Time: 5 minutes - at least; 10 - better; 15 even better; 30 or more - best
(Suggestion) Say: "I am the holy Son of God Himself. I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain; I cannot suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks." Then seek to go past your images of yourself as weak, frail, helpless and attacked and remember that you are God's holy Son, with all power in earth and Heaven.
Hourly Remembrance: as the hour strikes, for more than 1 minute (reduce if circumstances do not permit)
(Suggestion) Do a short version of morning/evening exercise.
Frequent Reminder: Say: "I am the holy Son of God Himself. I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain; I cannot suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks."
Response To Temptation: When tempted to believe you are other than God's Son, say: "I am the holy Son of God Himself. I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain; I cannot suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks."
COMMENTARY
Once again the Course sounds its keynote: You are as God created you. Anything God creates is like Himself - holy, sinless, guiltless, an endless spring of Love, and immortal. We are not human beings seeking a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings who think we are having a human experience. We did not suddenly spring into existence at birth (or at conception, or at 13 weeks in the womb, or whatever the latest wisdom is), and we do not pass out of existence when the body stops functioning. We are aspects of an immortal being, existing entirely outside of time. "I am the holy Son of God Himself."
How we see ourselves determines how we see the world. It may not be obvious at first, but if we see ourselves as other than the holy Son of God, we are "giving to the world the role of jailer to the Son of God" (1:3). If we see ourselves as separate, isolated beings, we are inevitably cast in the role of victim. We become a mote of dust in a hurricane, whirled about by the universe without any consideration for our well-being.
"There is no sight that fails to witness this to you. There is no sound that does not speak of frailty within you and without; no breath you draw that does not seem to bring you nearer death; no hope you hold but will dissolve in tears" (2:5-6).
"Deny your own Identity, and you assail the universe alone, without a friend, a tiny particle of dust against the legions of your enemies" (3:2).
The world then takes on an appearance that reflects this mistaken identity we have assumed. That is what projection does. The world becomes our jailer, our victimizer. If we deny our Identity as the holy Son of God, as God created us, we make the world into a place of chaos, evil, sin and death. The world and everything in it is a threat to us, and we resent the world for it, although we are the ones who have laid this role on the world! As I look around at the world today, let me ask myself, "What have I done that this should be my world?" And let me answer myself, "I have denied my Identity as God's Son." Thus, to accept my Identity is to forgive the world for what it did not do to me.
Rectify that single mistake, and we have changed the world we see. Because Identity cannot truly be denied, and therefore, the world cannot truly be as we see it.
"Yet what is it except a game you play in which Identity can be denied? You are as God created you. All else but this one thing is folly to believe. In this one thought is everyone set free. In this one truth are all illusions gone. In this one fact is sinlessness proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the central core of its existence and its guarantee of immortality" (4:1-6).
Our imagined identity as not-the-Son-of-God is no more than a silly game, with no real effects and no real consequences. If we can begin to accept our Identity, all illusions that derive from this error disappear.
Again we are asked to "practice" recognizing our identity in the holy instant. For a brief time, we "let today's idea find a place among [our] thoughts" (5:1). In that holy instant we rise far above the world (5:1) into a place of safety, where we recognize the impossibility of the world's victimizing us because we see our own eternal, invulnerable nature. And from that place of safety we return to the world and set it free (5:2). Notice the similarity of this description to the earlier one in Lesson 184 (paragraph 10). In the holy instant we accept Atonement for ourselves, we recognize our true Identity. And then we return to bring the message of this shared Identity to all the world, that it may be free with us.
The realization of our Identity is enough to free us from every problem forever, and to free the world with us. To cling to our little, individual identity is to perpetuate "a devastating image of yourself walking the world in terror, with the world twisting in agony because your fears have laid the mark of death upon its heart." (7:5) Do I really want to go on playing this silly, tragic game? Do I want to continue to hold the world to task because it has not met my needs, but has denied me what is my right? Or will I recognize today that I have done this, I have denied my Self and blamed the world for it?
In the latter part of this lesson it speaks in glowing terms of "the Son of God" Who "has come in glory to redeem the lost" (8:3). Who is this "Son of God?" It is not speaking of Jesus. It is speaking of you.
"Your glory is the light that saves the world. Do not withhold salvation longer. Look about the world, and see the suffering there. Is not your heart willing to bring your weary brothers rest?
"They must await your own release. They stay in chains till you are free. They cannot see the mercy of the world until you find it in yourself. They suffer pain until you have denied its hold on you. They die till you accept your own eternal life. You are the holy Son of God Himself. Remember this, and all the world is free. Remember this, and earth and Heaven are one" (W-pI.191.10:5-11:8).
Copyright © 1996, The Circle of Atonement, Sedona,
Arizona, USA.
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