Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
LESSON 139 I Will Accept Atonement for Myself.
- Here is the end of choice. For here we come to a decision to accept ourselves as God created us. And what is choice except uncertainty of what we are? There is no doubt that is not rooted here. There is no question but reflects this one. There is no conflict that does not entail the single, simple question, “What am I?”
- Yet who could ask this question except one who has refused to recognize himself? Only refusal to accept yourself could make the question seem to be sincere. The only thing that can be surely known by any living thing is what it is. From this one point of certainty, it looks on other things as certain as itself.
- Uncertainty about what you must be is self-deception on a scale so vast, its magnitude can hardly be conceived. To be alive and not to know yourself is to believe that you are really dead. For what is life except to be yourself, and what but you can be alive instead? Who is the doubter? What is it he doubts? Whom does he question? Who can answer him?
- He merely states that he is not himself, and therefore, being something else, becomes a questioner of what that something is. Yet he could never be alive at all unless he knew the answer. If he asks as if he does not know, it merely shows he does not want to be the thing he is. He has accepted it because he lives; has judged against it, and denied its worth, and has decided that he does not know the only certainty by which he lives.
- Thus he becomes uncertain of his life, for what it is has been denied by him. It is for this denial that you need Atonement. Your denial made no change in what you are. But you have split your mind into what knows and does not know the truth. You are yourself. There is no doubt of this. And yet you doubt it. But you do not ask what part of you can really doubt yourself. It cannot really be a part of you that asks this question. For it asks of one who knows the answer. Were it part of you, then certainty would be impossible.
- Atonement remedies the strange idea that it is possible to doubt yourself and be unsure of what you really are. This is the depth of madness. Yet it is the universal question of the world. What does this mean except the world is mad? Why share its madness and the sad belief that what is universal here is true?
- Nothing the world believes is true. It is a place whose purpose is to be a home where those who claim they do not know themselves can come to question what it is they are. And they will come again until the time Atonement is accepted, and they learn it is impossible to doubt yourself, and not to be aware of what you are.
- Only acceptance can be asked of you, for what you are is certain. It is set forever in the holy mind of God, and in your own. It is so far beyond all doubt in question that to ask what it must be is all the proof you need to show that you believe the contradiction that you know not what you cannot fail to know. Is this a question, or a statement which denies itself in statement? Let us not allow our holy minds to occupy themselves with senseless musings such as this.
- We have a mission here. We did not come to reinforce the madness that we once believed in. Let us not forget the goal that we accepted. It is more than just our happiness alone we came to gain. What we accept as what we are proclaims what everyone must be, along with us. Fail not your brothers, or you must fail yourself. Look lovingly on them, that they may know that they are part of you, and you of them.
- This does Atonement teach and demonstrates the oneness of God’s Son is unassailed by his belief he knows not what he is. Today except Atonement, not to change reality, but merely to accept the truth about yourself, and go your way rejoicing in the endless love of God. It is but this that we are asked to do. It is but this that we will do today.
- Five minutes in the morning and at night we will devote to dedicate our minds to our assignment for today. We start with this review of what our mission is: I will accept Atonement for myself, for I remain as God created me. We have not lost the knowledge that God gave to us when he created us like Him. We can remember it for everyone, for in creation are all minds as one. And in our memory is the recall how dear are brothers are to us in truth, how much a part of us is every mind, how faithful they have really been to us, and how our Father’s Love contains them all.
- In thanks for all creation, in the Name of its Creator and His Oneness with all aspects of creation, we repeat our dedication to our cause today each hour, as we lay aside all thoughts that would distract us from our holy aim. For several minutes let your mind be cleared of all the foolish cobwebs which the world would weave around the holy Son of God. And learn the fragile nature of the chains that seem to keep the knowledge of yourself apart from your awareness, as you say: I will accept atonement for myself, for I remain as God created me.[1]
Notes and Personal Application: Today Jesus is urging us to accept Atonement for ourselves. Atonement teaches and demonstrates that no matter what we say, do, believe, or disbelieve, we cannot change reality. The reality is that we are one in Christ. By accepting this glorious fact, we can go our way rejoicing in the endless Love of God.
When we remember who we are, others remember who they are – for in creation are all minds one. The memory of our beloved brothers, how much a part of us is everyone, how close and warm and intimate they have really been to us, and how our Father’s love contains us all is returned to us. This morning as I was standing at my kitchen sink, ruminating over some old wounds, Holy Spirit spoke to my mind and heart – encouraging me not to despise my teachers, but to thank them for the incredible lessons that their actions had taught me, how their intended unforgiveness, spite, blame, and mockery had proved to spur me to turn my back on the ego, to seek God, to accept Atonement not just for myself, but for all. How dear they are to me! Seeing them and the situations they had seemed to cause, as the catalysts which worked the much-needed changes in my life, filled my heart with tenderness, gratitude, and goodwill toward them. I blessed them. I sent them love and joy and peace. I recognized how our Father’s Love contains us all!
This is the gift of Atonement. Today no matter how the ego tries to reinsert itself into our holy minds, to convince us that we are mortals and not spirits, to live for this world instead of the world beyond, to close our eyes and let the worldwide web weave its enchantment on our separated minds, to content ourselves with uncertainty, sadness, and death, we can say: “I will accept Atonement for myself. For I remain as God created me!” No matter how weary our bodies, how shaky our beliefs, how ambiguous our stout claims – nothing can change the will of God. Nothing can change what He created. We are as God created us. This is the truth that sets us free.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 139 I will accept Atonement…Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). pp. 267-269.
the friar patch 