Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now

REVIEW V Introduction

1. We now review again.  This time we are ready to give more effort and more time to what we undertake.  We recognize we are preparing for another phase of understanding.  We would take this step completely, that we may go on again more certain, more sincere, with faith upheld more surely.  Our footsteps have not been unwavering, and doubts have made us walk uncertainly and slowly on the road this course sets forth.  But now we hasten on, for we approach a greater certainty, a firmer purpose, and a surer goal.
2. Steady our feet, our Father.  Let our doubts be quiet and our holy minds be still and speak to us.  We have no words to give to You.  We would but listen to Your Word and make it ours.  Lead our practicing as does a father lead a child along a way he does not understand.  Yet does he follow, sure that he is safe because his father leads the way for him.
3. So do we bring our practicing to You.  And if we stumble, you will raise us up.  If we forget the way, we count upon Your sure remembering.  We wander off, but You will not forget to call us back.  Quicken our footsteps now, that we may walk more certainly and quickly unto You.  And we accept the Word You offer us to unify our practicing, as we review the thoughts that You have given us.
4. This is the thought which should precede the thoughts that we review.  Each one but clarifies some aspect of this thought, or helps it be more meaningful, more personal and true, and more descriptive of the holy Self we share and now prepare to know again: God is but Love, and therefore so am I. This Self alone knows love.  This Self alone is perfectly consistent in Its thoughts; knows Its Creator, understands Itself, is perfect in Its knowledge and Its love, and never changes from Its constant state of union with Its Father and Itself.
5. And it is This That waits to meet us at the journey’s ending.  Every step we take brings us a little nearer.  This review will shorten time immeasurably, if we keep in mind that This remains our goal, and as we practice it is This to Which we are approaching.  Let us raise our hearts from dust to life, as we remember This is promised us, and that this course was sent to open up the path of light to us, and teach us, step by step, how to return to the eternal Self we thought we lost.
6. I take the journey with you.  For I share your doubts and fears a little while, that you may come to me who recognize the road by which all fears and doubts are overcome.  We walk together.  I must understand uncertainty and pain, although I know they have no meaning.  Yet a savior must remain with those he teaches, seeing what they see, but still retaining in his mind the way that led him out, and now will lead you out with him.  God’s Son is crucified until you walk along the road with me.
7. My resurrection comes again each time I lead a brother safely to the place at which the journey ends and is forgot.  I am renewed each time a brother learns there is a way from misery and pain.  I am reborn each time a brother’s mind turns to the light in him and looks for me.  I have forgotten no one.  Help me now to lead you back to where the journey was begun, to make another choice with me.
8. Release me as you practice once again the thoughts I brought to you from Him Who sees your bitter need and knows the answer God has given Him.  Together we review these thoughts.  Together we devote our time and effort to them.  And together we will teach them to our brothers.  God would not have Heaven incomplete.  It waits for you, as I do.  I am incomplete without your part in me.  And as I am made whole, we go together to our ancient home, prepared for us before time was and kept unchanged by time, immaculate and safe, as it will be at last when time is done.
9. Let this review be then your gift to me.  For this alone I need; that you will hear the words I speak and give them to the world.  You are my voice, my eyes, my feet, my hands through which I save the world.  The Self from Which I call to you is but your own.  To Him we go together.  Take your brother’s hand, for this is not a way we walk alone.  In him I walk with you, and you with me.  Our Father wills His Son be one with Him.  What lives but must not then be one with you?
10. Let this review become a time in which we share a new experience for you, yet one as old as time and older still. Hallowed your name.  Your glory undefiled forever.  And your wholeness now complete, as God established it.  You are His Son, completing His extension in your own.  We practice but an ancient truth we knew before illusion seemed to claim the world.  And we remind the world that it is free of all illusions every time we say: God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
11. With this we start each day of our review.  With this we start and end each period of practice time.  And with this thought we sleep, to waken once again with these same words upon our lips, to greet another day.  No thought that we review but we surround with it and use the thoughts to hold it up before our minds and keep it clear in our remembrance throughout the day.  And thus, when we have finished this review, we will have recognized the words we speak are true.
12. Yet are the words but aids, and to be used, except at the beginning and the end of practice periods, but to recall the mind, as needed, to its purpose.  We place faith in the experience that comes from practice, not the means we use.  We wait for the experience and recognize that it is only here conviction lies.  We use the words and try and try again to go beyond them to their meaning, which is far beyond their sound.  The sound grows dim and disappears, as we approach the Source of meaning.  It is Here that we find rest.[1]

Notes and Personal Application:  Let our hearts soar with joy and happiness as we devote our time to the built-in reviews of our previous 20 lessons.  As we allow our lesson ideas to sit on the altars of our mind, as we see them applied in learning experiences that use the circumstances, relationships, and daily happenings of our life to teach us their truth, as we continue to step away from our egos and let the Lord lead the way, let the theme of this lesson review ring in our hearts and minds.  God is but Love, and therefore so am I. 

Today you may feel far from being one with God in His Holiness, His Love, His purity!  The joy and frustrations of our earthly relationships, homes, animals, passions, jobs, and hobbies may seem to occupy the altars of our mind, crowding out thoughts of God.  Personally, our gardens and the sunny outdoors is filling my mind with keen interest; for James, his ongoing projects with solar energy, home renovations and business demands often seem to crowd out the desire for or belief in the world beyond this one.  The media and those who see the world it represents as reality seems intent on blighting the light, warmth, and unity of God’s creation from our hearts and minds.  That said, it would be impossible to keep our altars clear of the attractions and distractions of this world if Christ did not lead the way! 

Taking time for our devotional practices, looking upon our review of our lesson ideas not as a duty or obligation but as a joy and the key to our release from bondage, quieting our minds and clearing our altars for these moments of dedication to the Lord raises our hearts from dust to life.  The path of light opens up to us, teaches us, and draws us back to our real and eternal Self one step at a time.  There we are one with God, we are part of the “we” and the “us” of Creation.  God did not create us to hold His power and authority and His gifts above us, to flaunt and taunt and make Himself to be worshipped and catered to for eternity.  He is not some earthly tyrant who wants to be placated with hypnotic chants and memorized phrases of how big and strong and beautiful He is.  He created us to share in His Gifts, His Will, to become Him as He became us.  Heaven is incomplete without each one of us.  Jesus is calling to us to wake up from this leave of our senses where we have feared instead of loved God, where we have made Him to be a split mind, a divided deity whose vengeance can only be appeased by blood or impossible demands.  Jesus calls to us to come forth from this “time-out” where we play out the dream of fear.  Wake up, He says. 

I am reminded of the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes – all it took was for one little lad to speak the truth, and then the others saw the situation for what it was!  Jesus is simply telling us be like that brave little fellow, refused to be taken in by the lies, to be bullied into silence, to let the voice for fear override the Voice for God.

In paragraphs two and three we have an opening prayer for our morning and evening reviews.  Putting this prayer into our own words, we use this prayer to clear the altars of our mind, knowing we cannot keep our mind from meandering on our own.  Here in the miscreation of time, our neurons serve fear, cherish conflict, and keep our minds occupied on things of this world, geared for attack and defense against the mind of Christ.  We have no need to be ashamed of this or beat ourselves up for not being more holy.  Being human is not and never will be a holy experience.  Jesus asks us only to recognize this fact.  When we practice the quietness and stillness required to hear the Voice for God, we begin to make it ours.  When we stumble, He helps us get up again.  When we forget, He reminds us.  When we meander off, He calls us back.  Our true and eternal Self is at the end of this dream of time, beckoning to us to not delay, to not get caught up in the world of time, to see it for what it is and return to God, Who is Love and to the Self Who is one with Him. 

[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Review V, Introduction. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).

Audio credit: http://www.eckiefriar.com