April 7
"I
am spirit."
PRACTICE
SUMMARY
Purpose: To bring reality still closer to your mind. To bring your mind
out of the conflict of a split identity into the peace of your one Self.Longer: every hour on the hour; 5 minutes
Say: "Spirit am I, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free to forgive, and free to save the world." Know that the Holy Spirit will accept this gift, carry it around the world and give it back to you, increased in power. Offer the practice period to Him. Let Him speak to you, reminding you that you are spirit, at one with all that is.
Remarks: Each time you practice your mind comes closer to reality, sometimes saving a thousand years. The minutes you give are multiplied over and over, becoming a time without limit. For the Holy Spirit lays timelessness beside them. He will carry them around the aching world, laying them in each mind that welcomes their healing gifts. And with each mind that accepts them, they grow in power, becoming multiplied millions of times. As He then gives them back to you, they outshine your original gift as does the sun outshine a firefly. This steady brilliance will then lead you out of darkness, making you unable to forget the way again.
Shorter: as often as you can
Speak these words and listen for the Holy Spirit's assurance that they are true.
Response To Temptation: Use these words whenever you are tempted to yield to the belief you are something else.
COMMENTARY
The one Self the Course speaks of is spirit. To affirm, "I am spirit," is to let go of all illusions of a split identity, of a good and bad self, and of all attempts we might make to somehow reconcile the ego self that is bound to a body with the spiritual self that is unlimited by a body.The "non-dualism" of the Course is not of the nature that says, "Everything is one because all apparent opposites are really opposite poles of a unity." It does not achieve a concept of unity by somehow uniting the opposites, teaching, for example, that evil and pain are somehow all part of the One. Instead, the Course affirms unity by declaring that all that seems to be opposed to holiness and love is nothing more than illusion and does not exist. "That which is all-encompassing can have no opposite," declares the Text Introduction. We are being asked to "know your Self as love which has no opposite in you" (W-pI.99.9:8). "Love can have no opposite" (W-pII.259.2:2).
The Course makes great use of repetition; apparently it firmly believes that repeating the same idea over and over can have great benefits. We are told to "Practice this truth as often as you can today" (1:4). Why the emphasis on repetition? Because: "Each time you practice, awareness is brought a little nearer at least" (3:2). You may not achieve astounding breakthroughs; if you are like most people, probably most of the time you won't. But every now and then, "sometimes a thousand years or more are saved" (3:2).
For those who think the Course teaches an instant salvation, I'd just like to point out something about that last line. If we can save a thousand years sometimes as we practice, what does that imply about the length of time the whole journey might take? If we are chopping 1000-year segments out of it, how long is the whole thing? It has to be at least 1000 years and a day, right? I don't mean to be depressing about this; the Course presents itself as a means of saving time, and clearly teaches that any of us could wake up at any moment we choose to do so. But the implication is pretty clear that it can take thousands of years to get us to the point of willingness to wake up. So we should not be expecting overnight enlightenment; neither should we not be expecting it. The attitude towards time that is encouraged by the Course is unconcern about it, since it is ultimately part of the illusion. "Atonement might be equated with a total escape from the past and total lack of interest in the future" (M-24.6;3).
When we make our little effort of five minutes for God, the Holy Spirit joins all of His strength with us (4:3). He takes the little we give and carries it around the world to every open mind. The gifts we give to Him are multiplied by Him ten million times (a thousandfold and tens of thousands more, 6:1). Take that literally or as a figure of speech, it doesn't matter, the meaning is the same; what we give to Him is multiplied and spread to millions of minds because all minds are joined. When I practice, I am not practicing for myself alone; my awakening mind stirs every mind. When you sit quietly for five minutes, you are saving the world.
For each little bit we give, we receive it back multiplied ten million times; "it will surpass in might the little gift you gave as much as does the radiance of the sun outshine the tiny gleam a firefly makes" (6:2). Does this sort of practice matter? You bet it does! When I remember what this lesson says, my time spent remembering, "Spirit am I, a holy Son of God," seems so much more meaningful and important. It isn't just little me struggling to do my meager practice; it is the Son of God remembering Himself. It is the awakening of the Christ in all mankind.
Copyright © 1996, The Circle of Atonement, Sedona,
Arizona, USA.
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