My Goal Is God, and My Brother Brings Me to Him

ACIM Workbook Lesson 288 – for Saturday, October 15, 2011

Affirmation:  “Let me forget my brother’s past today.”

“This is the thought that leads the way to You, and brings me to my goal.  I cannot come to You without my brother.  And to know my Source, I first must recognize what You created one with me.  My brother’s is the hand that leads me on the way to You.  His sins are in the past along with mine, and I am saved because the past is gone.  Let me not cherish it within my heart, or I will lose the way to walk to You.  My brother is my savior.  Let me not attack the savior You have given me.  But let me honor him who bears Your Name, and so remember that It is my own.  

“Forgive me, then, today.  And you will know you have forgiven me if you behold your brother in the light of holiness.  He cannot be less holy than can I, and you can not be holier than he.  (WB441)”

Reflections:

1 – Special Relationships / Holy Relationships

This lesson reflects one of the most central tenets of A Course in Miracles:  We find our way home through the special-relationship-turned holy that we have with our brother (or sister), and we find the way by forgiveness of that individual.  This interpretation assumes the love that we have for our brother and sister is genuine and, as much as the Holy Spirit can guide us, free of the egoic notions that have made our relationships “special.”

2 – We Are One with Our Brother/Sister

We are one with that brother and sister.  This can be extended to all brothers and sisters in this world and beyond (an interpretation, not stated in ACIM).  We have the gifts that we offer to our holy brothers and sisters.  There is no difference.  And if we failed to offer forgiveness of the illusions in which we (and they) find ourselves, we will not know salvation, salvation in the sense that ACIM means it.

3 – We Make This Journey with Our Brother/Sister

We must make this journey with our brother and sister.  ACIM has a well-known passage in which Jesus asks us if we can make progress if we take a step forward, ahead of our brother, and then, when he catches up, take a step backward.  Can there be any progress in such a scenario?  We must walk hand-in-hand, and then we will not only know peace in this world, but we will be walking together on a happy road to Awakening.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

Guide me today as I see my brothers and sisters.  Keep me aware that we are one, and that unless I walk with them to You, I cannot walk to You.  You are my goal, and I would choose to find You in the company of all those who surround me.

May today be a blessed day, knowing that we are all in this together.  Help me to enjoy the company of the significant people in my life.  May there be no conflict, no attack, no anger.  Help us to feel the love that is Yours to give.  Help me to love You  in the midst of the time that I spend with my companions in this world.

Thank You for giving me another good day.  May the day that is ahead be just as fruitful in the awareness of Your felt Presence.  Thank You for not hiding from me.  Thank You for being there when I pray.  Help me to pray in Your will, which is mine as well.

Amen.