Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
Review IV
Lesson 147 My Mind Holds Only What I Think With God.
(133) I will not value what is valueless.
(134) Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.[1]
Notes and Personal Application: We thought we would take our minds from God, but it is impossible to take what belongs to God. What belongs to God will always remain as God’s. We belong to Him. In time, we may experience what feels like a separation, but Jesus assures us throughout our Course study, that our humanity is a hoax – we are not bodies, we are spirits, made in the image of God. We belong to Him and we are one with Him. Our minds cannot exist without Him; our minds can hold only what we think with Him. Everything else is a fabrication. It dies and is no more. Good riddance!
Today we give five minutes to contemplating this truth. We give back to God that which never left Him, for we have always belonged to Him, heart, mind, and soul. He never left us go, He never abandoned us to a cruel world. He never kicked us out of His Kingdom. Once we recognize this truth, we are no more willing to value the worthless dream. We can only value that which is of God. We can only be drawn to that which speaks of God, for we no longer value the nightmare of separation when we remember our oneness and unity with God. We can only hold in our mind that which we think with God.
In lesson review 134, we ask to perceive forgiveness as it is. True forgiveness cannot be found in the world. The world does not understand true forgiveness because when the world forgives it makes wrongdoing real. It does not correct. It does not undo. True forgiveness undoes any wrongdoing by simply recognizing that it is not real. When someone steals from me, what they stole is not real, the alter self which would take that which does not belong to them is not real, nor is the justice system that is set up to judge, punish, and condemn real in the everlasting sense of the word.
It certainly feels real enough. Even as I sit here and write this blog I am thinking of how much I despise a thief. I can hardly bear the thought of someone stealing from me. I honestly think that thieves are as bad as killers, and I have every right to protect my stuff from someone’s sticky fingers! But no matter how real it would seem to me if someone stole my car or my tractor or my homemade potholders, it simply is not real. As much as it might bother me, it is just a glitch in time, it passes, it means nothing, and it is nothing. The only way to undo the thievery is to forgive it. We do not value the valueless. We let it go. We trust in God and we hold everything here in this world with an open hand. Forgiveness then goes deep. This was something we discussed in yesterday’s ACIM meeting. When we first started this path, forgiveness was highly personalized – one by one we went through our past and forgave (as best we could) those who we had formerly condemned for disappointing or hurting us. The list seemed endless. Sometimes the forgiveness would “take,” and other times we would have to keep doing it. But now forgiveness is more abstract. It is less personal. We forgive because we have no expectations here. We no longer value the valueless. We forgive it because the world cannot be any other way.
While I enjoy my stuff and am happy with what our hard work and sacrifices has brought into our existence here, I understand that it has no eternal value whatsoever. I cannot take any of it with me to the world beyond! I would not want to. I want to hang on to what brings me joy and pleasure here as long as I can, but if someone steals it from me, they will not be stealing my joy, my freedom, or my salvation. When I forgive the world, I undo all the effects it has on me, I loosen its hold upon me, I am liberated. I am saved!
Throughout the day remind yourself of the lesson review ideas. Seal them in your mind and heart by asking Holy Spirit to reveal their truth to you. Nothing we go through in separation is real or has any meaning or worth. We do not take it with us. When we go to the world beyond this one, we go pure and holy and unencumbered. We do not take our wounds, our sorrow, our grief, our pleasures, or our belongings. We return to God in our right minds and with our eyes awakened from the enchantment of the world. We do not return groggy, drunken, or in a drug induced stupor. We have looked at the world with opened eyes, we are deceived no more. We no longer value the valueless. We forgive it and everything and everyone in it for being the big nothing it has proved to be. This is forgiveness as it is.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 147. Kindle Edition.
Audio credit: http://www.eckiefriar.com
