My thoughts* on ACIM Review Lesson 217. I had more to say here. Caution: Possible Triggers.
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I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.
1. (197) It can be but my gratitude I earn.
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* It is important to be very careful here. Mortal minds think of the little self, the little “i”. Which of course is fraught with ego temptation to think oneself above another. I choose to align a passage like this alongside the other comments that Jesus makes about us worshiping only God. I choose to give thanks to God for allowing a plan to be in order for the Son to return to His True Awareness of His position as God’s Son.
* If one does not there is a true loss, in my opinion, because you have lost the relationship with the Father and consider Him not because the result is to consider yourself God and I do not believe this is a correct principle.
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²Who should give thanks for my salvation but myself?
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* Note the wording here. This sentence claims accountability and the responsibility for gratitude as my own. (I cannot help but speculate on the influence of the Trinity in the Catholic Church in the 60’s as being responsible for the wording being as it is. All three who had anything to do with the wording of the Course in its original form had only this as a background to the teachings of Jesus. The concept of the Trinity was the reason that a lot of the offshoots of Christianity came about giving sway to the understanding of duality between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The concept of duality versus non-duality is today a big reason for the diversity of ways that the Course is understood. As long as we allow wording like this to be an issue we will NOT be able to become of One Mind as the Course would have us be. From my perspective, it adds up to being willing to accept our own existence not apart from God but IN Him or seeing only God, whether we consider ourselves God or lose ourselves completely In God. I can only say that God took too many decades of my life to show me that I had existence for me to toss that aside easily, though He knows in my heart should it come to that I would rather He be real than me.)
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³And how but through salvation can I find the Self to Whom my thanks are due?
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* Here is that capital “S” Self. Let’s look at what this might refer to.
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* From Text, Chapter 4, 1. Right Teaching and Right Learning:
2. Many stand guard over their ideas because they want to protect their thought systems as they are, and learning means change.
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* Note the “guard over their ideas” meaning that we prefer our ideas to God’s. We can still see Him as a unique identity from ourselves.
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²Change is always fearful to the separated, because they cannot conceive of it as a move towards healing the separation. ³They always perceive it as a move toward further separation, because the separation was their first experience of change.
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* “Change” is the optimal word here. Jesus has told us that in God there is no change. And here he states that the experience of separation was our first experience of change. This does not mean that having our own identity is a sin or false, it means exactly what it says that the idea of separation was our first experience of change.
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⁴You believe that if you allow no change to enter into your ego you will find peace.
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* What could be more natural? Given that we come from God with whom there is no change? And here I think we need to quantify the term “change.” I suspect that it means “being inside or outside of God’s Will” and not “an experience”. When we think of change as an experience it gives credence to the idea that we should have no experience or awareness of our existence and that goes against what Jesus teaches us about God wanting a Son and creation continuing eternally as God has established it.
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⁵This profound confusion is possible only if you maintain that the same thought system can stand on two foundations. ⁶Nothing can reach spirit from the ego, and nothing can reach the ego from spirit. ⁷Spirit can neither strengthen the ego nor reduce the conflict within it.
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* Even after accepting the complete forgiveness of the Atonement one will continue to be taught and cleansed by the Holy Spirit more than likely through experiences with other people. So, do not be concerned if you are still learning, even once you receive a witness of having been picked up by Father’s Hand and placed in Heavenly Eternity. You are just being washed and “blinking” between two thought systems.
* And do not forget: “our story,” individually and collectively holds the symbols of the Voice God would have us be once we allow the Holy Spirit to guide Christ/us Home.
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⁸The ego is a contradiction. ⁹Your self and God’s Self are in opposition.
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* Mind you that this is NOT your true self but the one you think you are out of fear of God’s punishment and/or separation.
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¹⁰They are opposed in source, in direction and in outcome. ¹¹They are fundamentally irreconcilable, because spirit cannot perceive and the ego cannot know.
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* What happens is the Holy Spirit helps you let go of the ego traps and trappings you have taken on. Remember though when you want it to “speed up” that if you were “completely spirit” you would not be able to assist with the healing the rest of the Sonship needs and only you can supply. We each have a significant place and role in the Atonement. Thank you for fulfilling yours.
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¹²They are therefore not in communication and can never be in communication.
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* Right. Not in communication (so do not be surprised if the world presents itself that way to you, meaning it is difficult if not impossible to communicate). However:
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¹³Nevertheless, the ego can learn, even though its maker can be misguided.
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* Praise God for that! The ego’s maker is Christ and each individual’s part of the Sonship is unique. Sometimes we speak of the Course and what we hear is that we are ego alone and as separated from Christ, however, it seems important to understand Christ is who had the initial thought of separation (at least a tiny part of Him did). For me, this makes it easy then to completely forgive all that is for any error because I have a witness that Christ is perfect because He is the Son of God. Maybe that comes from my previous Christian background but I am not going to discount it as long as the Holy Spirit confirms it inside of me.
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¹⁴He cannot, however, make the totally lifeless out of the life-given.
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* Thank God for this! I say that as an exclamation and as a sincere statement. God gave us our life and existence, our “being”. We are alive by God’s Decree. We are each a part of the extension of Christ as we think here just as we are a part of Christ Himself.
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⁴I am not a body. ⁵I am free.
⁶For I am still as God created me.
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Thank you, till next time, God bless, debi.
