Today I take a stand against my anger so that my fears disappear and I make room for Love. Where fear and anger prevailed before, the answer to my anxiety, sadness, neediness, worry, envy, jealousy, discomfort, or any other "temptation" is in today's lesson. Today's lesson passes the world by and restores Heaven to my weary mind.
Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind. But part of my mind is presently unnatural. My ego-mind does not see everything as One. It only sees fragments of the Whole, and this is how it invented the fantasy-world.
The purpose of "seeing" in the world of dreams is to show me what I desire to see (a world "apart from" God). My hearing only brings those sounds to my mind that I want to hear (a world "apart from" God). It seems that life in the world is "happening to" me. But it is I who created the entire illusion. I create a world that is "apart," "divided" into many things and very specific. And it is all this, "apart-ness," "division" and "specificity," which God uses in Awakening me to Reality. God uses the language of the dream. He will not force Himself on my will. He waits Lovingly and Patiently for my invitation. When I lay aside the "world," which is only a fantasy in my weary mind, I create space for Reality to enter my Awareness.
God uses all aspects of the illusion to teach me a different point of view. He teaches me to see a different use for everything. One brother is all brothers. Every mind contains all minds. Such is Truth. Yet my mind taught itself to think specifically and can no longer grasp abstract Reality.
It seems that my body limits me. It limits my freedom, makes me suffer and finally dies and ends my "life." Yet my body is only a symbol of fear. Fear attaches to specifics. Fear without symbols calls for no response. Symbols stand only for the meaningless. Love needs no symbols, being True.
It seems that bodies attack but minds do not. This is the reason "bodies" easily become fear's symbols. Yet I am urged to look beyond the body, for the sight of the body presents the symbol of Love's "enemy," if Love could have an enemy. The body is always the target for attack, for I do not think I can hurt, punish, or hate a mind. But knowing what I know through ACIM, I must ask myself, "what directs the body to attack?" What else could be the home of fear except the mind which imagines fear?
Hate is specific. There must be some thing for me to direct my hatred toward and some thing to be attacked. An enemy must be perceived in a form in which can be touched, seen, heard........and ultimately killed. For when hatred rests upon a thing it calls for "death," as surely as God's Voice proclaims "there is no death!" Fear is insatiable, consuming everything it beholds, seeing itself in everything, compelled to turn upon and to destroy even its creator. Fear feeds on death and destruction.
When I see "bodies," I see symbols of fear. I will attack (physically or mentally) these symbols because what I see is my own fear outside of myself, poised to attack. I cannot mistake the intensity of the rage that fear gives birth. It shrieks in wrath and claws the air in frantic hope that it can reach the "creator" of the dream of madness ~ myself!
This is how the ego-self, the body's eyes, behold the one Heaven cherishes, the angels Love and God created Perfect. Christ-Vision (the world seen through forgiveness) will show my Self to me as Son of God, in a form so Holy and Beautiful that I could scarcely keep myself from kneeling at his feet.
Attack on "another" or on myself in any form keeps salvation from reaching my Awareness. God uses my "brothers" as opportunities for salvation through forgiveness. I will not allow my brother to symbolize my fear. I will not trust the body's eyes to witness to Truth. What Christ-Vision will show me will sing to me of Ancient Melodies I vaguely remember. God has not forgotten me. Will I now lay illusions beside, if only for a moment, to remember Him?
I will come nearer to Heaven today with the guidance of Christ-Vision. I will select one brother ~ a symbol of all the rest ~ and ask him for my salvation. I will see him first as clearly as I can in my mind, in the same form to which I am accustomed. I will picture his face, hands, feet, and clothing. I will watch him smile and notice the familiar gestures which he makes. Then I will consider this: What I am seeing hides from me my salvation. My brother's sacred hands can take away the nails which pierce my own; they will lift the crown of thorns which I myself have placed on my bleeding head. I will silently ask a blessing from my brother. The Son of God in him will recognize the Son of God in me. I will look at my brother again and see in him my salvation.
Today's idea is my safe escape from anger and fear, and I will use it the instant I am tempted to attack myself or another in thought, word, or deed. The instant an emotion of worry, boredom, restlessness, or impatience comes over me, I will silently remember that Christ-Vision now guides me and I have nothing to fear. I will see my brother suddenly transformed from enemy into savior and from devil into Christ.
"The Holy Son of God blesses me."
No comments:
Post a Comment