School for A Course In Miracles

"The universe of learning will open up before you."

School for A Course In Miracles

“The universe of learning will open up before you in all its gracious simplicity.” T-14. II. 6:4
You are here: Home / Blog

Lyn Corona: Thoughts & Writings on ACIM…

 

 

Below are links to earlier posts and insightful compositions

 written by Lyn Corona

on various helpful topics in A Course in Miracles :

on Christmas

click here      “The Way Home”

————-

Death

click here    “A Decision Not to Decide”

————

Dreams

  1. click here    “Field of Dreams”

  2. click here     “A Dream of Time & Space”

————

Ego

  1. click here       “Seek, But Do Not Find”

  2.  click here     “Self Sabotaging Behavior”

  3. click here      “False Sense of Self”

————

Forgiveness

  1. click here       “What is it?”

  2. click here        “A Little Willingness”

  3. click here       “A Daily Practice”

—————

Gratitude

  1. click here      “Make no comparisons.”

  2. click here       “Seeing the world forgiveness sees.”

———-

Happiness

click here      “Perfect Happiness”

———-

Healing

  1. click here     “Healing, not Fixing”

  2. click here      “What is healing anyway?”

————-

Holy Spirit

click here      “Teacher of Teachers”

—————–

Identity

  1. click here   “Our One True Self”

  2. click here   “What’s valuable really?”

  3.  click here    “We are Love!”

  4. click here      “Get over yourself.”

  5. click here     “The Myth of Personhood”

  6. click here      “The Seeker”

  7.  click here       “The True Shape of Being”

—————-

Immersion/ SFACIM

  1. click here   “Are changes required?”

  2. click here      “SFACIM… helping change the way we see”

—————-

An Invitation

  1.  click here       “Curriculum Invitation”

  2. click here        “…to Love’s Presence”

  3. click here         “… to make a decision”

————-

Jesus

  1. click here       “I will wait until you change your mind.”

  2.  click here       “Jesus & Me”

—————

Lyn (herself)

  1. click here      “Some History”

  2. click here      “Some Stories”

  3. click here       “Marcus Aurelius”

  4. click here         “Ken & Me”

  5.  click here      “Teaching Love”

  6.  click here        “Mrs. Amos”

——————–

Minds/ Bodies

  1. click here        “Only the Mind is real.”

  2.  click here   “The Course is written to my mind, not my body.”

  3. click here       “Who’s Looking?”

——————-

Miracles

  1. click here  “Miracles are natural, the most natural thing of all.”

  2. click here       “Living in Miracles”

——————

New Year’s Resolutions

    click here     “Make this year different by…”

——————–

Pain & Suffering

click here      “Dealing with the illusion of pain”

——————-

Peace of Mind

click here      “True Peace”

——————-

Relationships

  1. click here      “Beyond The Body”

  2. click here       “True Intimacy”

 

 

Ken Wapnick’s 10 Minute Videos…

(1) “ACIM : A Gentle Non-Dualism”

(2) “What is A Holy Instant”

(3) “Not about fixing the world!”

 

“A Gentle Non-Dualism”

“What is a Holy Instant?”

Musings… What’s my perception of purpose? And what’s my purpose for perception?

 Video Presentation on…

“The Ego’s Purpose of

Belief in Separation & Sin”

(click here)

__________________________

In any given moment there are only two possible purposes for anything we seem to do or don’t do…

A discussion follows:

The Course tells us early on in the text that the only thing we should ever ask of anything is …”What is it for?”  It uses that specific phrase at least five times throughout the book, and infers it in many other places. In any given situation or seeming drama, we should ask ourselves what is the purpose of this person, thing, or event in my life.

The Course reminds us constantly that the source and answer to that question depends on only one of two choices… of one of two teachers within us … the ego (the voice for separation and guilt), or the Holy Spirit (God’s Voice for healing and forgiveness). Accessing either one of those teachers will determine the way we look at and react to all of our lives’ day-to-day activities, whether it’s brushing our teeth or dealing with a tragedy. (See example of what is a phone call really for, in WB Lesson 25 “I do not know what anything is for.” on p. 38)

Is the purpose of any undertaking to see and reinforce guilt and blame in someone else and ultimately in myself, or is the interaction an opportunity for forgiveness (i.e. to see our true identity as God’s one innocent Son, instead of seeming separate entities full of sin and guilt )?

The ways we choose one of two inner teachers work like this…

Choosing the ego:

We seem to slip into ego default mode of judgement and condemnation without even recognizing it . Jesus tell us it is initially an intentional choice that we make out of fear in our minds, and then quickly forget we did that… (see Les. 136, par.3-5).  We make an inner decision to believe in separation from God and each other. That decision is the real and only source of all our torment and suffering. We make up a new identity as a separated ego self and make this new ego identity our ‘guide,’ and don’t have a conscious clue we have done any of that (except we’re not feeling very peaceful)…

The ego’s  purpose is to see separation, feel pain and suffering, but blame/project the source of our pain on someone or something else.

Thus the ego purpose for the way we are seeing anything or anybody in the world is to find fault and judge, without ever admitting to ourselves (1) we are constantly doing that, (2) that the ego is now our chosen teacher, and (3) that the ego’s purpose of  ‘the need to blame’ has fully kicked in.

We are sure we are only reacting to a seemingly real world of victims and victimizers, and we simply have to ‘justifiably judge’ those we believe are causing us pain. We never recognize or take responsibility for our own internal wish to separate and maintain the pain and guilt of our own belief in that separation… by putting that responsibility on others.

Choosing The Holy Spirit:

We consciously ask the Holy Spirit or Jesus for help to see others and ourselves the way they do in any given situation or circumstance. That is… no matter what others or ourselves do or don’t do, if we ask for help, we can and will experience everyone together as one innocent Son of God. We begin to realize our separation from God and each other is totally made-up, no matter what seems to be happening in our world.

It doesn’t mean in time and space we don’t take appropriate actions.  But it does mean we are willing to see our brothers a different way (true perception), and stop blaming them for our own chosen lack of peace and awareness of our One True Self… which was actually impossible in the first place (The Atonement).

Setting this process as our purpose and goal for each day is the Course’s definition of forgiveness.

(click here for further description of The Three Steps of Forgiveness.)

The Course uses the word purpose more than 700 times,

the word goal about 450 times, 

intent/intentions 40 x, and motive/motivation 35 x.

Here are some of our favorite Course references…

on “Purpose:”

Don’t bother me… I’m busy being peaceful!

By becoming involved with tangential issues, it (the ego) hopes to hide the real question and keep it out of mind. The ego’s characteristic busyness with nonessentials (in the world) is for precisely that purpose. Preoccupations with problems set up to be incapable of solution are favorite ego devices for impeding learning progress (even when I fix things in the world it doesn’t bring me lasting peace). In all these diversionary tactics, however, the one question that is never asked by those who pursue them is, “What for?” This is the question that you must learn to ask in connection with everything. What is the purpose (the ego’s purpose of maintaining belief in separation, or the Holy Spirit’s purpose of forgiveness)? Whatever it is, it will direct your efforts automatically. When you make a decision of purpose (in the mind), then, you have made a decision about your future effort; a decision that will remain in effect unless you change your mind.                                                                                                                     

 (Text Ch. 4,  p.66, par. 6)

 

 I have spoken of the ego as if it were a separate thing, acting on its own. This was necessary to persuade you that you cannot dismiss it lightly, and must realize how much of your thinking is ego-directed… The ego is nothing more than a part of your (own) belief about yourself.

(Text Ch. 4, p.67, par. 1)

 

 

The ego cannot oppose the laws of God any more than you can, but it can interpret them according to what it wants, just as you can (as a decision maker in our mind). That is why the question, “What do you want?” must be answered (separation or forgiveness, conflict or peace). You are answering it every minute and every second, and each moment of decision is a judgment that is anything but ineffectual. Its effects will follow automatically until the decision is changed. Remember, though, that the alternatives themselves are unalterable. The Holy Spirit, like the ego, is a decision (in the mind). Together they constitute all the alternatives the mind can accept and obey. The Holy Spirit and the ego are the only (actual) choices open to you…

(Text Ch. 5, p.85, par. 6)

 

2 In any situation in which you are uncertain, the first thing to consider, very simply, is “What do I want to come of this? What is it for?” The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning, for it is this which will determine the outcome… The ego does not know what it wants to come of the situation. It is aware of what it does not want (doesn’t want peace), but only that. It (the ego) has no positive goal at all.

3 Without a clear-cut positive goal  (of peace & forgiveness) set at the outset, the situation just seems to happen, and makes no sense until it has already happened… And now the only judgment left to make is whether or not the ego likes it; is it acceptable, or does it call for vengeance? The absence of a criterion for outcome, set in advance, makes understanding doubtful and evaluation impossible.

4 The value of deciding in advance what you want to happen is simply that you will perceive the situation as a means to make it happen… It is quite noticeable that this approach has brought you closer to the Holy Spirit’s sorting out of truth and falsity. The true becomes what can be used to meet the goal. The false becomes the useless from this point of view. The situation now has meaning, but only because the goal  (of forgiveness) has made it meaningful.

6 The goal of truth requires faith. Faith is implicit in the acceptance of the Holy Spirit’s purpose, and this faith is all-inclusive. ..  This seems to ask for faith beyond you, and beyond what you can give. Yet this is so only from the viewpoint of the ego, for the ego believes in “solving” conflict through fragmentation, and does not perceive the situation as a whole. Therefore, it  (the ego) seeks to split off segments of the situation and deal with them separately, for it has faith in separation and not in wholeness.

(Text Ch. 17, p.366, par.2-6)

 

 

6 The test of everything on earth is simply this; “What is it for?” The answer  (ego’s purpose or HS) makes it what it is for you. It has no meaning of itself (in the world), yet you can give reality to it, according to the purpose that you serve (in your mind)…

11 And thus are two sons made, and both appear to walk this earth without a meeting place and no encounter. One do you perceive outside yourself, your own beloved (ego’s) son. The other rests within, his Father’s Son, within your brother as he is in you. Their difference does not lie in how they look, nor where they go, nor even what they do. They have a different purpose. It is this that joins them to their like, and separates each from all aspects with a different purpose. The Son of God retains His Father’s Will. The son of man (the ego’s son) perceives an alien will and wishes it were so. And thus does his  (the ego’s) perception serve his wish by giving it appearances of truth  (the world and its victimizers seem real). Yet can perception serve another goal. It is not bound to specialness but  (only) by your choice. And it is given you to make a different choice (in our mind), and use perception for a different purpose. And what you see will serve that purpose well, and prove its own reality to you.

(Text Ch. 24, p.515, par.6 & 11)

 

5) Yet mind apart from spirit (Holy Spirit) cannot think. It has denied its Source of strength, and sees itself as helpless, limited and weak. Dissociated from its (true) function now (forgiveness), it (our mind) thinks it is alone and separate, attacked by armies massed against itself and hiding in the body’s frail support. Now must it reconcile unlike with like (hate with love), for this is what it thinks that it (our mind) is for.

6) Waste no more time on this. Who can resolve the senseless conflicts which a dream presents? What could the resolution mean in truth? What purpose could it serve? What is it for? Salvation cannot make illusions real, nor solve a problem that does not exist. Perhaps you hope it can. Yet would you have God’s plan for the release of His dear Son bring pain to him, and fail to set him free?

(WB Lesson 96, p.169)

The Rules for Decision (at the beginning of Chap. 30, p.625) point out the practical value of setting our goal/purpose for the day, every day, by choosing with which inner teacher we wish to go through our day…

 

4  Throughout the day, at any time you think of it and have a quiet moment for reflection, tell yourself again the kind of day you want (guilt or forgiveness); the feelings you would have (conflictual or peaceful), the things you want to happen to you (seen through the eyes of the ego or the Holy Spirit), and the things you would experience (fear or love), and say:

If I make no decisions by myself, this is the day that will be given me.

(Text Ch. 30, p.626)

 

 

14 …The only question really is with what (whom) you choose to make them (decisions). That is really all. The first rule, then, is not coercion, but a simple statement of a simple fact. You will not make decisions by yourself whatever you decide. For they are made with idols (the ego) or with God (the Holy Spirit). And you ask help of anti-Christ or Christ, and which you choose will join with you and tell you what to do.

15 Your day is not at random. It is set by what you choose to live it with, and how the friend whose counsel you have sought perceives your happiness. You always ask advice before you can decide on anything. Let this be understood, and you can see there cannot be coercion here nor grounds for opposition…  that you may be free. 

(Text Ch. 30, p. 628)

 

————————————————–

In any given moment…

there is only one of two possible purposes …

for anything we seem to do or don’t do.

Two Short Ken Wapnick CD sets, and Mp3 downloads…

that focus on “Purpose” 

(click on pics below):

This section called “Forgiveness and The End of Time”  from the Text (Chap. 29, section VI) is a beautiful rendering of the pivotal theme of purpose recurring throughout the Course. Understanding purpose and how it is applied opens up the seeming secrets of the Course, specifically with regard to forgiveness as a theoretical principle, and more importantly as a principle that can guide us in our daily lives. This workshop thus helps us understand our world, our relationships, and our experiences in terms of the underlying purpose of the ego. Forgiveness begins with our asking Jesus to help us replace our pact with the ego with a vow to him no longer to be afraid of his love.

This 2007 workshop explores the two purposes for the body. The ego uses the body to fulfill its strategy of mindlessness, wherein the mind’s decision for the ego and its thought system of sin and destruction is hidden behind projection. Thus does the body become the engine of destruction that symbolizes the death of God and His Son. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, shifts the body’s purpose from hate to forgiveness, so that it becomes the classroom in which we learn that nothing has occurred to change the sinlessness of God’s Son. As we choose again, the ego’s judgment becomes the Holy Spirit’s vision and we are healed.

 

Free Online Introductory Presentation on A Course in Miracles… using The Free App ZOOM… Mon. 8/3/20 @ 5pm Mt Time

Free Online Introduction to…

A Course in Miracles,

@ 5pm Mt Time

(4pm Pacific, 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern)

Next one:  Monday, 8/3/2020

All questions are welcomed and encouraged!

(using the free basic Zoom app)

————–

Because of inappropriate behavior and violent images (called zoombombing on the internet) by people invading Zoom meetings due to a public link, we will send a non-public link for this meeting…  please email us for that Zoom link if you don’t already have it …

Email us @ alyncorona@gmail.com… and tell us:

  •  your name,
  • your phone #, and
  • how long you have known about the Course 
  • what Course teachers (if any) you are familiar with

Brand new to A Course in Miracles?

Know someone who is new?

Would you like to have a meeting where you can tell your friends and acquaintances where they can go for an evening… for a free basic introduction to the Course?

Monday 8/3/2020

 5:00-6:00pm Mountain Time

(4pm Pacific, 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern, 8pm Brazil, 8am Tuesday in Sydney Australia)

 We will give a brief history of the Course, an overview of its three books, and an intro to its unique metaphysics and its non-traditional message of forgiveness. We will also introduce our School for ACIM and explain our programs.

You will be presented with an understanding of the Course’s goal of inner peace and the process to get there. And you will leave with a few simple ways to experience the Course’s idea of forgiveness.

Presented by facilitators from School for A Course in Miracles (sfacim.org).

Please come and check it out.

Everyone is always welcome.

A Course in Miracles:

Metaphysics 101

YouTube Chart Description Playlist:

click here

 

Happy Solstice & Merry Christmas ! The Birth of Our True Identity is Now… and Every Day !!

Merry Christmas to Jesus & Us!

References and excerpts from A Course in Miracles pertaining  to

Christmas and the rebirth everyday in us… of the ever-expanding awareness of

Our True Identity as Christ

 

Lesson 303

“The holy Christ is born in me today.”

Watch with me, angels, watch with me today. Let all God’s holy Thoughts surround me, and be still with me while Heaven’s Son is born. Let earthly sounds be quiet, and the sights to which I am accustomed disappear. Let Christ be welcomed where He is at home. And let Him hear the sounds He understands, and see but sights that show His Father’s Love. Let Him no longer be a stranger here, for He is born again in me today.

Your Son is welcome, Father. He has come to save me from the evil self I made. He is the Self that You have given me. He is but what I really am in truth. He is the Son You love above all things. He is my Self as You created me. It is not Christ that can be crucified. Safe in Your Arms let me receive Your Son.

 

Text, Chap. 19

(p.419, par. 9-10)

i. The Incorruptible Body

…. The infancy of salvation is carefully guarded by love, preserved from every thought that would attack it, and quietly made ready to fulfill the mighty task for which it was given you. Your newborn purpose is nursed by angels, cherished by the Holy Spirit and protected by God Himself. It needs not your protection; it is yours. For it is deathless, and within it lies the end of death.

What danger can assail the wholly innocent? What can attack the guiltless? What fear can enter and disturb the peace of sinlessness? What has been given you, even in its infancy, is in full communication with God and you. In its tiny hands it holds, in perfect safety, every miracle you will perform, held out to you. The miracle of life is ageless, born in time but nourished in eternity.

Behold this infant, to whom you gave a resting place by your forgiveness of your brother, and see in it the Will of God. Here is the babe of Bethlehem reborn. And everyone who gives him shelter will follow him, not to the cross, but to the resurrection and the life.

Lesson 182

“I will be still an instant and go home.”

This world you seem to live in is not home to you. And somewhere in your mind you know that this is true. A memory of home keeps haunting you, as if there were a place that called you to return, although you do not recognize the voice, nor what it is the voice reminds you of. Yet still you feel an alien here, from somewhere all unknown. Nothing so definite that you could say with certainty you are an exile here. Just a persistent feeling, sometimes not more than a tiny throb, at other times hardly remembered, actively dismissed, but surely to return to mind again.

No one but knows whereof we speak. Yet some try to put by their suffering in games they play to occupy their time, and keep their sadness from them. Others will deny that they are sad, and do not recognize their tears at all. Still others will maintain that what we speak of is illusion, not to be considered more than but a dream. Yet who, in simple honesty, without defensiveness and self-deception, would deny he understands the words we speak?

We speak today for everyone who walks this world, for he is not at home. He goes uncertainly about in endless search, seeking in darkness what he cannot find; not recognizing what it is he seeks. A thousand homes he makes, yet none contents his restless mind. He does not understand he builds in vain. The home he seeks can not be made by him. There is no substitute for Heaven. All he ever made was hell.

Perhaps you think it is your childhood home that you would find again. The childhood of your body, and its place of shelter, are a memory now so distorted that you merely hold a picture of a past that never happened. Yet there is a Child in you Who seeks His Father’s house, and knows that He is alien here. This childhood is eternal, with an innocence that will endure forever. Where this Child shall go is holy ground. It is His Holiness that lights up Heaven, and that brings to earth the pure reflection of the light above, wherein are earth and Heaven joined as one.

It is this Child in you your Father knows as His Own Son. It is this Child Who knows His Father. He desires to go home so deeply, so unceasingly, His voice cries unto you to let Him rest a while. He does not ask for more than just a few instants of respite; just an interval in which He can return to breathe again the holy air that fills His Father’s house. You are His home as well. He will return. But give Him just a little time to be Himself, within the peace that is His home, resting in silence and in peace and love.

This Child needs your protection. He is far from home. He is so little that He seems so easily shut out, His tiny voice so readily obscured, His call for help almost unheard amid the grating sounds and harsh and rasping noises of the world. Yet does He know that in you still abides His sure protection. You will fail Him not. He will go home, and you along with Him.

This Child is your defenselessness; your strength. He trusts in you. He came because He knew you would not fail. He whispers of His home unceasingly to you. For He would bring you back with Him, that He Himself might stay, and not return again where He does not belong, and where He lives an outcast in a world of alien thoughts. His patience has no limits. He will wait until you hear His gentle Voice within you, calling you to let Him go in peace, along with you, to where He is at home and you with Him.

When you are still an instant, when the world recedes from you, when valueless ideas cease to have value in your restless mind, then will you hear His Voice. So poignantly He calls to you that you will not resist Him longer. In that instant He will take you to His home, and you will stay with Him in perfect stillness, silent and at peace, beyond all words, untouched by fear and doubt, sublimely certain that you are at home.

Rest with Him frequently today. For He was willing to become a little Child that you might learn of Him how strong is he who comes without defenses, offering only love’s messages to those who think he is their enemy. He holds the might of Heaven in His hand and calls them friend, and gives His strength to them, that they may see He would be Friend to them. He asks that they protect Him, for His home is far away, and He will not return to it alone.

Christ is reborn as but a little Child each time a wanderer would leave his home. For he must learn that what he would protect is but this Child, Who comes defenseless and Who is protected by defenselessness. Go home with Him from time to time today. You are as much an alien here as He.

Take time today to lay aside your shield which profits nothing, and lay down the spear and sword you raised against an enemy without existence. Christ has called you friend and brother. He has even come to ask your help in letting Him go home today, completed and completely. He has come as does a little child, who must beseech his father for protection and for love. He rules the universe, and yet He asks unceasingly that you return with Him, and take illusions as your gods no more.

You have not lost your innocence. It is for this you yearn. This is your heart’s desire. This is the voice you hear, and this the call which cannot be denied. The holy Child remains with you. His home is yours. Today He gives you His defenselessness, and you accept it in exchange for all the toys of battle you have made. And now the way is open, and the journey has an end in sight at last. Be still an instant and go home with Him, and be at peace a while.

 

Manual: p.36, par. 2

14. How will the world end?

Until forgiveness is complete, the world does have a purpose. It becomes the home in which forgiveness is born, and where it grows and becomes stronger and more all-embracing. Here it is nourished for here it is needed. A gentle Savior, born where sin was made and guilt seemed real. Here is His home, for here there is need of Him indeed. He brings the ending of the world with Him. It is His Call God’s teachers answer, turning to Him in silence to receive His word. The world will end when all things in it have been rightly judged by His judgment. The world will end with the benediction of holiness upon it. When not one thought of sin remains, the world is over. It will not be destroyed nor attacked nor even touched. It will merely cease to be.

Text, Chap. 22

(p. 470, par. 7 to 11)

I. The Message of The Holy Relationship

7 So in each holy relationship is the ability to communicate instead of separate reborn. Yet a holy relationship, so recently reborn itself from an unholy relationship, and yet more ancient than the old illusion it has replaced, is like a baby now in its rebirth. Still in this infant is your vision returned to you, and he will speak the language you can understand. He is not nurtured by the “something else” you thought was you. He was not given there, nor was received by anything except yourself. For no two brothers can unite except through Christ, Whose vision sees them one.

8 Think what is given you, my holy brother. This child will teach you what you do not understand, and make it plain. For his will be no alien tongue. He will need no interpreter to you, for it was you who taught him what he knows because you knew it. He could not come to anyone but you, never to “something else.” Where Christ has entered no one is alone, for never could He find a home in separate ones. Yet must He be reborn into His ancient home, so seeming new and yet as old as He, a tiny newcomer, dependent on the holiness of your relationship to let Him live.

9 Be certain God did not entrust His Son to the unworthy. Nothing but what is part of Him is worthy of being joined. Nor is it possible that anything not part of Him can join. Communication must have been restored to those who join, for this they could not do through bodies. What, then, has joined them? Reason will tell you that they must have seen each other through a vision not of the body, and communicated in a language the body does not speak. Nor could it be a fearful sight or sound that drew them gently into one. Rather, in each the other saw a perfect shelter where his Self could be reborn in safety and in peace. Such did his reason tell him; such he believed because it was the truth.

10 Here is the first direct perception that you can make. You make it through awareness older than perception, and yet reborn in just an instant. For what is time to what was always so? Think what that instant brought; the recognition that the “something else” you thought was you is an illusion. And truth came instantly, to show you where your Self must be. It is denial of illusions that calls on truth, for to deny illusions is to recognize that fear is meaningless. Into the holy home where fear is powerless love enters thankfully, grateful that it is one with you who joined to let it enter.

11 Christ comes to what is like Himself; the same, not different. For He is always drawn unto Himself. What is as like Him as a holy relationship? And what draws you and your brother together draws Him to you. Here are His sweetness and His gentle innocence protected from attack. And here can He return in confidence, for faith in another is always faith in Him. You are indeed correct in looking on your brother as His chosen home, for here you will with Him and with His Father. This is your Father’s Will for you, and yours with His. And who is drawn to Christ is drawn to God as surely as Both are drawn to every holy relationship, the home prepared for Them as earth is turned to Heaven.

Text, Chap. 15:

(p. 308, par. 7-8-9)

III. Littleness vs. Magnitude

7 In this season (Christmas) which celebrates the birth of holiness into this world, join with me who decided for holiness for you. It is our task together to restore the awareness of magnitude to the host whom God appointed for Himself. It is beyond all your littleness to give the gift of God, but not beyond you. For God would give Himself through you. He reaches from you to everyone and beyond everyone to His Son’s creations, but without leaving you. Far beyond your little world but still in you, He extends forever. Yet He brings all His extensions to you, as host to Him.

8 Is it a sacrifice to leave littleness behind, and wander not in vain? It is not sacrifice to wake to glory. But it is sacrifice to accept anything less than glory. Learn that you must be worthy of the Prince of Peace, born in you in honour of Him Whose host you are. You know not what love means because you have sought to purchase it with little gifts, thus valuing it too little to understand its magnitude. Love is not little and love dwells in you, for you are host to Him. Before the greatness that lives in you, your poor appreciation of yourself and all the little offerings you give slip into nothingness.

9 Holy child of God, when will you learn that only holiness can content you and give you peace? Remember that you learn not for yourself alone, no more than I did. It is because I learned for you that you can learn of me. I would but teach you what is yours, so that together we can replace the shabby littleness that binds the host of God to guilt and weakness with the glad awareness of the glory that is in him. My birth in you is your awakening to grandeur. Welcome me not into a manger, but into the altar to holiness, where holiness abides in perfect peace. My Kingdom is not of this world because it is in you. And you are of your Father. Let us join in honouring you, who must remain forever beyond littleness.

Text Chap. 15

(p.324, par. 1 to 4)

X. The Time of Rebirth

1 It is in your power, in time, to delay the perfect union of the Father and the Son. For in this world, the attraction of guilt does stand between them. Neither time nor season means anything in eternity. But here it is the Holy Spirit’s function to use them both, though not as the ego uses them. This is the season when you would celebrate my birth into the world. Yet you know not how to do it. Let the Holy Spirit teach you, and let me celebrate your birth through Him. The only gift I can accept of you is the gift I gave to you. Release me as I choose your own release. The time of Christ we celebrate together, for it has no meaning if we are apart.

2 The holy instant is truly the time of Christ. For in this liberating instant no guilt is laid upon the Son of God, and his unlimited power is thus restored to him. What other gift can you offer me, when only this I choose to offer you? And to see me is to see me in everyone, and offer everyone the gift you offer me. I am as incapable of receiving sacrifice as God is, and every sacrifice you ask of yourself you ask of me. Learn now that sacrifice of any kind is nothing but a limitation imposed on giving. And by this limitation you have limited acceptance of the gift I offer you.

3 We who are one cannot give separately. When you are willing to accept our relationship as real, guilt will hold no attraction for you. For in our union you will accept all of our brothers. The gift of union is the only gift that I was born to give. Give it to me, that you may have it. The time of Christ is the time appointed for the gift of freedom, offered to everyone. And by your acceptance of it, you offer it to everyone.

4 It is in your power to make this season holy, for it is in your power to make the time of Christ be now. It is possible to do this all at once because there is but one shift in perception that is necessary, for you made but one mistake. It seems like many, but it is all the same. For though the ego takes many forms, it is always the same idea. What is not love is always fear, and nothing else.

Text Chap. 15, Sec.XI

(excerpts, p. 327-329)

“Christmas as the End of Sacrifice”

(The End of Our Belief in The Sacrifice of Our True Self)

2 The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in darkness. See it not outside yourself, but shining in the Heaven within, and accept it as the sign the time of Christ has come. He comes demanding nothing. No sacrifice of any kind, of anyone, is asked by Him. In His Presence the whole idea of sacrifice loses all meaning. For He is Host to God. And you need but invite Him in Who is there already, by recognizing that His Host is One, and no thought alien to His Oneness can abide with Him there. Love must be total to give Him welcome, for the Presence of Holiness creates the holiness that surrounds it. No fear can touch the Host Who cradles God in the time of Christ, for the Host is as holy as the perfect Innocence which He protects, and Whose power protects Him.

3 This Christmas give the Holy Spirit everything that would hurt you. Let yourself be healed completely that you may join with Him in healing, and let us celebrate our release together by releasing everyone with us. Leave nothing behind, for release is total, and when you have accepted it with me you will give it with me. All pain and sacrifice and littleness will disappear in our relationship, which is as innocent as our relationship with our Father, and as powerful. Pain will be brought to us and disappear in our presence, and without pain there can be no sacrifice. And without sacrifice there love must be.

5As long as you perceive the body as your reality, so long will you perceive yourself as lonely and deprived. And so long will you also perceive yourself as a victim of sacrifice, justified in sacrificing others. For who could thrust Heaven and its Creator aside without a sense of sacrifice and loss? And who could suffer sacrifice and loss without attempting to restore himself? Yet how could you accomplish this yourself, when the basis of your attempts is the belief in the reality of the deprivation? Deprivation breeds attack, being the belief that attack is justified. And as long as you would retain the deprivation, attack becomes salvation and sacrifice becomes love.

7 In the holy instant the condition of love is met, for minds are joined without the body’s interference, and where there is communication there is peace. The Prince of Peace was born to re-establish the condition of love by teaching that communication remains unbroken even if the body is destroyed, provided that you see not the body as the necessary means of communication. And if you understand this lesson, you will realize that to sacrifice the body is to sacrifice nothing, and communication, which must be of the mind, cannot be sacrificed. Where, then, is sacrifice? The lesson I was born to teach, and still would teach to all my brothers, is that sacrifice is nowhere and love is everywhere. For communication embraces everything, and in the peace it re-establishes, love comes of itself.

8 Let no despair darken the joy of Christmas, for the time of Christ is meaningless apart from joy. Let us join in celebrating peace by demanding no sacrifice of anyone, for so you offer me the love I offer you. What can be more joyous than to perceive we are deprived of nothing? Such is the message of the time of Christ, which I give you that you may give it and return it to the Father, Who gave it to me. For in the time of Christ communication is restored, and He joins us in the celebration of His Son’s creation.

10 This is the time in which a new year will soon be born from the time of Christ. I have perfect faith in you to do all that you would accomplish. Nothing will be lacking, and you will make complete and not destroy. Say, then, to your brother:

I give you to the Holy Spirit as part of myself.
I know that you will be released, unless I want to use you to imprison myself.
In the name of my freedom I choose your release, because I recognize that we will be released together.

11 So will the year begin in joy and freedom. There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in The Great Awakening: make this year different by making it all the same. And let all your relationships be made holy for you. This is our will. Amen.

Ken Wapnick Seminars about Christmas

on CDs & MP3 Downloads:

(click here)

The Sign of Christmas Is a Star [CD]

Six Month Online Intensive for All Students of “A Course in Miracles” :

Course Immersion 2024

starts Sat. January 6th 2024… with 18 live online classes on ACIM fundamentals, and one-on-one personal mentoring, and more:

Our Online Immersion 2024 program is different from our regular weekly classes. It is for people new to A Course in Miracles… and anyone desiring to increase their understanding, appreciation, and practice of the Course from the ‘ground up,’ over the first six months of 2024. It can be described as an online ACIM intensive of basic training, not in blaming and fighting, but in the gentle arts of forgiveness and healing.

 

Six Month Intensive from January thru June, 2024,

1st, 2nd & 3rd Saturdays

@ 5:30pm- 7pm (Colorado Mountain Time)

Three Saturdays each month, one and half hr. classes.

click here for more info

 

From The Foundation for Inner Peace …