Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
Lesson 36 My holiness envelops everything I see.
- Today’s idea extends the idea for yesterday from the perceiver to the perceived. You are holy because your mind is part of God’s. And because you are holy, your sight must be holy as well. “Sinless” means without sin. You cannot be without sin a little. You are sinless or not. If your mind is part of God’s, you must be sinless, or a part of His Mind would be sinful. Your sight is related to His holiness, not to your ego, and therefore not to your body.
- Four three- to five-minute practice periods are required for today. Try to distribute them fairly evenly, and make the shorter applications frequently, to protect your protection throughout the day. The longer practice periods should take this form:
- First, close your eyes and repeat the idea for today several times slowly. Then open your eyes and look quite slowly about you, applying the idea specifically to whatever you note in your casual survey. Say, for example: My holiness envelops that rug. My holiness envelops that wall. My holiness envelops these fingers. My holiness envelops that chair. My holiness envelops that body. My holiness envelops that pen. Several times during these practice periods, close your eyes and repeat the idea to yourself. Then open your eyes and continue as before.
- For the shorter exercise periods, close your eyes and repeat the idea; look about you as you repeat it again; and conclude with one more repetition with your eyes closed. All applications should, of course, be made quite slowly, and as effortlessly and unhurriedly as possible.[1]
Notes and Personal Application (2019): I did three five-minute exercises today – I found it difficult to work four exercises into my day – simply because I forgot to time the exercises – however I did random sessions throughout my day – at the mall, in my car, and at home. As I would look at anything – the goods at the mall, the clock on my dashboard, the steering wheel, the glove compartment in my car, and the furniture, pictures, and computer in my home office, I would remind myself as sincerely but as casually as possible – My holiness envelops everything I see. I do not feel particularly holy, and I was afraid that imagining myself as holy would turn me into a wet blanket, overly serious, and cause me to hold my head in that odd, stiff stance denominational members sometimes have, as if their holiness is something that sets them apart from other, lesser denominations who are not nearly as devout or as close to the truth.
The Course teaches that what I have always judged as my spirit, is a Mind, my true mind, and it is this mind that is holy, everlasting, and can never sin, because it is of God. My body can never be holy, because my body, is a symbol of the separation, and was not created by God. This would explain why our bodies are so often wracked with pain and suffering and wither and die. How could something created by God be anything but what lasts forever? How could something which is not created by God be holy?
Notes and Personal Application (2020): During my devotion today I saw that training one’s mind to be pure and holy starts with affirmative statements such as this one. As someone who has been programmed from childhood to think of myself as shameful, dirty, and unworthy, telling myself that I am holy and that my holiness envelops everything I see has changed my perception of myself over the last year in a way that no religion or salvation experience, preaching or teaching has ever done before.
Last year at this time I was taken aback by making such proclamations about myself – I thought I knew myself better than that, I could list my black marks better than anybody else could. One of the things that has always befuddled my accusers is that I would always agree with them about my sinful nature and my propensity for darkness – because that is how I had been trained to think of myself. I was always in need of forgiveness, and shame and sorrow over my sins would keep me awake at night and eat away at my mind and put a heavy sorrow in my heart.
The ego has an inflated advantage over people in ongoing cycles of repentance and need for forgiveness. The ego can wring a lot of miles from such a mind, taking great delight and pleasure in our groveling, pleading, sacrifices, sorrow, disorders, and depression.
Holiness throws a wrench into special relationships of every kind. Whereas my unholiness keeps me paying dues and sacrificing my time, money, and effort to the dreams, plans, and goals of others, my holiness sets me free to perform my function without the crippling and manipulative drives for love and belonging that special relationships falsely promise to satisfy. My holiness which envelops everything I see sets my mind on a higher plane, where I recognize that my true mind is my mind with God and that which is only posing as my mind in the physical realm is not my friend!
This is a very powerful lesson to have learned, especially for those of us who have survived the false teachings that permeate our established religions and so-called holy books of truth. Books that were written by a primitive people who believed that their god not only condones but commands killing, genocide, and blood sacrifices to appease his vengeful, jealous, volatile ego are not holy books. Perhaps they were intended to be holy, but God is not a God of wrath who showers terror and bloodshed upon His little creatures when they do not perform his rituals exactly that way that he has outlined. Nor does He have a grudge against those of us who were born with vaginas. Nor would He create bodies that are prone to disease, wasting, and unholy drives.
God loves us. God is holy. God is in our minds. He is constantly talking to us and calling to us but instead of answering Him, we tend to ignore His voice and embrace the unholiness of our ego-driven brain which stands for our minds in this separated state. Our lessons yesterday, today, and throughout the Course puts us in touch with who and what we really are – we are part of God, God is holy, and we are holy. Identifying with our holiness, we are set free from seeking and not finding in the world. We are no longer afraid or ashamed of our God-created holiness. Nothing is expected of us except to accept this truth about ourselves. We are not our bodies or our egos; we are not our pasts; we are not anything we have ever done – either right or wrong; we are spirits made in His image; we have the mind of God.
Today and always let our holiness envelop all we see!
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students Lesson 36 My holiness…Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 55.
the friar patch 