I Will Not Be Afraid of Love Today

ACIM Workbook Lesson 282 – for Sunday, October 9, 2011

Affirmation:  “I will not be afraid of love today.”

“Father, Your Name is Love and so is mine.  Such is the truth.  And can the truth be changed by merely giving it another name?  The name of fear is simply a mistake.  Let me not be afraid of truth today.  (WB438)”

Reflections:

1 – No Fear / Only Love

May we fear nothing today.  And may we not be afraid of love.

2 – A Dance

It is so often that, in our special relationships turned holy, we do a dance.  When intimacy comes too close, we move away by way of an attack or simply an episode of anger.  Then when distance has been established again, we are ready to move to intimacy.

3 – Our Closest, Holiest Relationships

Such is foolishness.  Let us ask God for help.  We crave the intimacy in our closest relationships, and it is only a holdover from egoic days that we fear this intimacy, this greater love.  There is nothing to fear in love.  There is only fear itself to fear in fear (a paraphrase from Franklin Delano Roosevelt).  We would be wiser today to spend a few moments in quiet, asking God how we might never be afraid of love, and never pick a fight as a way of allowing our fragile egos to reassert themselves.

4 – Reaching for the Truth

We would know truth.  Contrary to what we often think, everyone’s truth is not always different (an interpretation, not stated in ACIM).  We do have differing personalities, and differing cultures, and so truth does become altered by the genes and the environment that we bring to it.  But let us ask for truth as A Course in Miracles defines it.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would not do a dance today, fearing intimacy with those closest to me.  I would rejoice in the holy relationships that I do have, and I would not fear the lack of boundaries between us.  Help me to encourage closeness, not to be afraid of it.

Thank You for encouraging my special relationships to evolve into holy ones.  May my joy today be full in the midst of my holy relationships.

May You help me today never to be afraid of intimacy, never to turn to anger and attack out of fear of closeness.

Amen.

The ACIM Way to God

ACIM Workbook Lesson 246 – for Saturday, September 3, 2011

Affirmation:  “To love my Father is to love His Son.”

“I will accept the way You choose for me to come to You, my Father.  For in that will I succeed, because it is Your Will.  And I would recognize that what You will is what I will as well, and only that.  And so I choose to love Your Son.  Amen.  (WB416)”

Reflections:

This prayer comes to the heart of A Course in Miracles.  The way that is intended for us to come to salvation is through our relationship to our brother (or sister).   This way is different from contemplation (which is described as tedious, and a way meant for others).  Why try a different way, since there is one that has been chosen for us?  (These are all paraphrases from the Text.)

I do believe that this means that some contemplation (and perhaps also meditation) is not inappropriate for us.  This is an interpretation, based on the fact that the last few months of the Workbook are composed of fairly brief reflections, and we are encouraged to go deep within ourselves when we read and reflect on the lesson for the day.  When we drop deep within ourselves, we touch God.  And this is a result of traditional contemplation and meditation.

But our primary way home is the relationship that we share with our brother/sister.  When we come to love intimately the one who is closest to us, we overlook entirely his/her anger and attack by recognizing that such insanity is actually a call for help and/or love.  We choose to overlook this madness, rather than to dwell on it and thus to make it real to ourselves, and therefore much more difficult to forgive.  And forgiveness is our function (along with salvation and happiness, two additional “functions” that are mentioned in ACIM).  When we draw near to our brother/sister, we come as close to Heaven in a holy relationship as we can.  Our special relationship has not been snatched from us (a paraphrase from ACIM), but it has been transformed into a holy relationship.  And, with this miracle, our way to Awakening is opened, to be decided when God Himself feels that we are ready.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I reflect deeply, going within deeply, as I reflect on today’s lesson.  And may I choose to find You, to find the salvation that You hold out to me, the way that Jesus has set forth in A Course in Miracles–through my relationship to my most significant other, my brother/sister.  This special relationship-turned-holy is the touchstone to understanding the path to salvation set forth in ACIM.  May I not forget today that when my brother withdraws from me, or even attacks me in anger, that he is actually asking for love.  May I remember that all that happens is either an expression of love or a call for love; there are no exceptions to this rule.

Be with me today as I deal with the sometimes difficult brothers and sisters in my world.  Help me to look on the bright side of life, not to take life too seriously, to add humor.  We need each other in this world.  Our moments of solitude with You prepare us to embark once again on forays into the world and into interactions with others.  May my times with You today prepare me to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit as I interact with all of my brothers and sisters.

Amen.

How Happiness Becomes Inevitable

ACIM Workbook Lesson 64 – for Saturday, March 5, 2011

Affirmation:  “Let me not forget my function.”

Selected Passage:

“[Y]our function is to be happy by using the means by which happiness becomes inevitable.  There is no other way.  Therefore, every time you choose whether or not to fulfill your function, you are really choosing whether or not to be happy.  (WB106)”

Reflections:

We may sometimes feel that happiness, our happiness, if not a worthy-enough goal.  Forgiveness sounds more lofty.  But actually the two go hand-in-hand.  We will naturally have happiness when we practice forgiveness (pardon).  And Jesus would wish us to be happy.  It is a laudable goal, though it comes by sneaking over our shoulders, not by direct seeking.  The direct seeking (an interpretation, not stated in ACIM) is for forgiveness of ourselves and our brothers and sisters.

Happiness becomes inevitable, we are told in this passage, when we find the means.  Forgiveness is the primary lesson of A Course in Miracles–forgiveness of our brothers and sisters in special relationships that have become holy.  In ACIM, this relationship is frequently normally seen in the singular–a special relationship that we make holy through our dedication to it (an interpretation, not stated in ACIM).

And the changing of the special relationship to a holy one may be rocky at times.  The ego made the special relationship, and now we would change its purpose.  The Text says that many break off their relationship at this point, but indicates that another relationship can always be found in which the ego’s wishes can be carried out.  The implication is that we would do well to stay in our relationship, if at all possible, and see it transformed into the holy.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I offer a prayer of thanks to You for my holy relationship, my primary one.  You have guided me step-by-step, when my sweetheart noticed that A Course in Miracles made me happy–my “happiness books,” he called them.  I have always found solace in ACIM when anything went awry, and these magnificent books have always set my world aright.  Thank You for their revelations.

Be with us today, my sweetheart husband and myself.  May we have a good day.  May we rejoice that You have brought us together and kept us together for almost 25 years.

Amen.

Special Relationships

“I have said repeatedly that the Holy Spirit would not deprive you of your special relationships, but would transform them.  (ACIM, T358)”

Affirmation:  “transform my special relationships”

Reflections:

A Course in Miracles makes much of our way toward Awakening:  forgiveness, expressed through the changing of our special relationships into holy relationships.  Many of us look to our significant others when we think of the many passages in ACIM which discuss special/holy relationships.

Many students of ACIM read the “I” as Jesus, and, indeed, this is what Bill Thetford and Helen Schucman, the co-scribes, believed (though they were hesitant to say so in public presentations, the few that they had).  The transformation of special relationships, we learn as we read farther on, is into holy relationships.  We have forgiven our brothers and sisters for the wrongs that we, and perhaps they, believe that they have done.  ACIM sees forgiveness as the way Home.

What is “Home”?  We can perhaps see that this is heaven on earth.  This theme runs through A Course of Love also.  We can experience a better world in this world; we do not have to wait for life after death.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I indeed experience the heaven on earth that I read about, as I forgive my brothers and sisters unconditionally.  May my special relationships transform into holy ones.  May You lead me to this transformation.

Thank You for listening to my prayers.  I want to keep my channel to You open at all times.  I want to feel You near me and within me.

Amen.

ACIM Workbook Lesson for Day 138:

Heaven is the decision I must make.

Reincarnation II

“Does this mean that the teacher of God should not believe in reincarnation himself, or discuss it with others who do?  The answer is, certainly not!  If he does believe in reincarnation, it would be a mistake for him to renounce the belief unless his internal Teacher so advised.  And this is most unlikely.  (M61)”

Affirmation:  “May I make a decision about reincarnation, and share it with my intimates.”

Reflections:

These words have been interpreted many different ways by those who have written about A Course in Miracles.  Those who do believe in reincarnation think that Jesus is “siding” with them, and those who do not, think the opposite.  Jesus does not mean to tip his hand in this statement on either side of the question.  That would negate the words that he has channeled just previously.  (See the last reflection.)

But we are not forbidden to discuss our beliefs with those of like minds.  Jesus does not hinder us from free discourse.

Reincarnation is said elsewhere not to be the important question that it is sometimes thought.  We still have to work out our salvation currently.  Spending too much time in theological speculation will only slow down our speed.  Jesus needs us to reach out to our brothers and sisters, regardless of their theological beliefs.  He needs for us to form holy relationships with them.  This is the real secret of the Course (an interpretation, not a Course tenet).

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I have feelings about reincarnation, but it is best that I share those theological ideas only with intimates.  I do not want to hinder my usefulness to my brothers and sisters.

May I realize that reincarnation is not the real issue.  I have to work out my salvation now, and this means to be focused in the here and now always.  Thank you for clarifying this for me.

Amen.