LESSON 318
November 14
"In me salvation's means and end are one."
PRACTICE SUMMARY
(See Part II Practice Summary, and also Part II Introduction)
COMMENTARY
In other words, putting it very simply, the goal of salvation is what I already am, and the vehicle for bringing about salvation is also what I am. I am what salvation is, and I am the way to get there.
Salvation is the recognition of oneness; how, then, could there be any single part that stands alone, or that is more or less important than the rest? (1:2-3) The means of salvation is not in some other part of creation, upon which I am dependent. The wholeness is what it is all about; therefore the means of getting there and the "there" we are getting to must be all the same thing, and therefore must be within me.
"I am the means by which God's Son is saved, because salvation's purpose is to find the sinlessness that God has placed in me" (1:4).
The sinlessness is already there, in me, placed there by God. So since the purpose of salvation is finding that sinlessness, I must be the means by which salvation happens. I carry the Answer within myself.
I absolutely love these next few sentences. To me, if I can allow my disbelief to be suspended just for a moment, just long enough to feel the import of these words, I will "get" what they are saying:
"I was created as the thing I seek. I am the goal the world is searching for. I am God's Son, His one eternal Love. I am salvation's means and end as well" (1:5-8).
I am the thing I seek because I have been It since I was created. I am seeking only for my Self, and where can my Self be but in me? This is a search that is guaranteed to succeed because I already am what I am seeking for. The only reason there appears to be a journey of seeking is because I have forgotten what I already am. There is really nowhere to go.
Try repeating to yourself, several times, "I am the goal the world is searching for." Just try it and see how it feels. Notice the thoughts that come up in denial of what you are saying, and take a good look at them. Notice what it is you are believing about yourself that keeps you from saying these words and meaning them with all your heart, and without reservation.
We think we have a disease of sin that we are seeking to cure. A disease of guilt and of separation. But the seeking is part of the disease! In fact, there is no disease, and only the seeking makes it seem as if there is. If we can, for a moment, stop presupposing that we are separate, we will simply realize that we are not. Truth will dawn upon us of itself. Relax; you're OK. We have no need but to accept the Atonement, to accept our oneness with God, to realize that enlightenment is only a recognition, and not a change at all. We don't need to change; we need to accept what we have always been.
"Let me today, my Father, take the role You offer me in Your request that I accept Atonement for myself. For thus does what is thereby reconciled in me become as surely reconciled to You" (2:1-2).
What is the Last Judgment? (Part 8)
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Arizona, USA.
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