Lesson 135 ~ I need no defense.

I defend myself when I believe I am attacked (by judgment or hatred, etc).  I defend myself when I believe an attack is real and I think that my own plan of defense could save me.  Defense gives illusions full reality, and when I believe illusions are real I feel I must protect myself.  This is the problem when I go on the defensive:  I add illusions to illusions, making salvation doubly difficult for myself.  When I plan for the future, recall problems or guilt from the past, or attempt to organize the present into a safe, tidy manageable bundle.......I am "defending" myself against attack in some form; be it chaos, guilt, anxiety, worry, boredom, etc.  I operate from the belief that I must protect myself from what is happening because it likely contains something that will threaten my peace of mind in some way. Perceiving a sense of threat is an acknowledgment of myself as a body apart from God, living in a world of dreams.  I obviously do not perceive myself as the Son of God Safe in Heaven, so it is important that I change my mind about who and where I think I am.

The "world apart from God" is based on the insane belief that there exists a world outside me and I am a spirit confined to a body.  All the world's structures, thoughts, doubts, penalties, legal definitions, codes, ethics, leaders and gods all serve to preserve a sense of threat and "irrefutable evidence" that I live in a world apart from God.  I walk the world in a defensive mode believing terror will strike at some point.  

Defense stems from fear, with fear increasing as more defenses are made.  I think defense offers me safety, yet it makes fear and terror ever more real.  As I plan my defense, I never stop to ask myself, "what exactly am I defending myself against?"

The dream of a world apart from God is first and foremost in my mind, yet I will learn to think differently in order to Awaken to Reality.  The Son of God needs no defense because He is Safe in Heaven with His Father.  Yet while I believe I am apart from God, subject to death and destruction, hurt feelings, embarrassment, shame, humiliation and limited in a body that can die and decay, I will feel the need to protect myself.

The body is nothing, and nothing outside myself exists.  The body has no needs except for those I assign to it.  It needs no complicated health structures of defense, no health-inducing medicine, no care and no concern at all.  When I am consumed with the needs of the body, I am reinforcing the dream and telling myself that I am weak, limited and subject to death.  Is this picture not fearful?  Can I possibly be at peace with this concept of "reality?"

It is my mind which gave my body all the functions that I see in it, and I set its value far beyond the little pile of dust that it is.  God's Kingdom needs no defense, but my world of ashes is so weak, small and limited that I feel I must defend it.  

The body and the world are in need of no defense.  I cannot emphasize this to myself too often.  The body and the world perform the functions my mind tells them to.  A mind engaged in planning for itself is the means by which a frightened ego protects itself.  The "self" that seems to need protection is not real.  It is my mind that needs healing.  And when my mind heals, this healing will be reflected back to me from the world.  A healed mind does not plan.  It carries out the plans that it receives by listening to Wisdom that is not its own.  It waits until it has been taught what should be done, then proceeds to do it.  I will not depend on myself for anything, except my willingness to do what God's Voice tells me to do.  The Father will never oppose the Will of the Son.  If I desire to see illusions and insanity, that is what I will perceive. The Father merely waits until I make the choice for Reality.  

The mind that plans is refusing to allow for change.  Step back and allow One Who Knows to Gently lead the way. God never offers His Son pain, but my defenses will not let me see His Loving Blessing. I make plans for death, yet God leads me Gently to Eternal Life.  

My only defense needs to be a present belief in Truth.  I do not need to prepare or make plans for my salvation.  It is already done for me.  I only need to lay down my defenses, put away my plans and practice the lessons in mind training that I am given, leading me on toward Happiness. Truth will rush in where an empty space has been created in my mind by laying aside illusions.

If there are plans to make, I will be told of them.  Heaven asks nothing of me, only that I be Happy. Only the dream of hell makes extravagant demands for sacrifice. Today I will rise from what was seeming death and hopelessness. The Light of Hope is reborn in me.  My function in Heaven is to be God's Beloved Son.  While I dream the dream of madness, my only function is to forgive it.

Today I will not make plans or try to organize my day.  I cannot imagine the Happiness that will come to me without any planning at all on my part.  Throughout the day, I will replace worldly thoughts with Truth.

"I need no defense."