To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend
that you read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
“God is my life. I have no life but His.”
Today’s lesson is leading us to a new definition of life. In this world, human life is defined as a body that can breathe, its heart is beating and brain is functioning. But this lesson says that our real Life is only the Life we have in God. Our Life is God’s Life. We have no thoughts apart from Him. And His Thoughts are ours. There is nothing here about a physical body.
To fully grasp this meaning of Life requires a radical shift in perception. We must recognize that only God’s Thoughts are real and our only real Thoughts are the Thoughts we think with Him. The thoughts I seem to think as I look through the body’s eyes and label images as trees and water and sky are really only hallucinations. They are not real thoughts. They are image making. God is not an image that can be defined by form. God is Thought, which cannot be limited by an image.
Perhaps most radical of all to our ego-based thought system is the idea that we are Thought, not form. In this world all our thoughts are tied in one way or another to images. To recognize what we are in truth, we must learn to disregard the images and give them no meaning. This is very difficult for us if we believe our identity is defined by our form, which is the case for most of the people in the world. A vast portion of our resources is invested in clothing and painting the body to make it more appealing and to protect it from harm. But the body is not what we are. We are God’s Thought.
As I practice this idea, I become more and more aware of the many ways I put time and thought and effort into maintaining body identification. This is not limited to just the things I do to keep the body healthy, clothe it and house it. It is also about how I think of others and what others do. If I think one person is more successful than another, or I feel sad because I see someone who is having difficulty in their worldly experience, these are ways of keeping my belief in individual identities in place.
The truth is there is no difference between me and everyone, for we are all the same Thought in God’s Mind. We are one as God’s Thought. As I move my awareness more in this direction, my life becomes simpler. Less effort is put into having special things or looking a special way. More and more my attention is on seeing the Light in every brother, to seeing the face of Christ in him. There is less and less of a sense of difference and more and more of a sense of unity. As I remember that God is my Life and I have no Life but His, I am able to rest in His peace.
Part of the process of my waking up is to recognize my mistaken thoughts. This lesson reminds me that when I think I am living a life apart from God, it is not true. I have no life apart from God. This life I think I am living as a separate person is just a mistaken idea.
Unless I come to realize that my thoughts are mistaken, I will not lay them down. And it is only when I lay them down that I become aware of the real Thoughts I think with God. I cannot have both my mistaken thoughts and real Thoughts at the same time, for they are opposite in every way.
Jesus is there for all of us to help us recognize the mistaken ideas and let them go. He remembers our true Identity for us while we are forgetting and is there to remind us of the truth as soon as we will let him.
There is only one Life and that is the Life I live in God. My practice today is to remember this and extend the Love I feel from my true Home to everyone I see or even think of. Today is truly a happy day.
Today is my first real day back to work after vacation and after my ordination. I started wishing this weekend that I didn’t have to go back. I wished I could stay home and write and pray and distribute my fliers and be a full time minister. I wished this even though I knew I wasn’t ready for that. If I did that full time at this point, I would be through in about two days. I am still learning and growing and allowing time for things to fall into place.
As I read today’s lesson, I remembered it doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing. Every minute, everywhere, is an opportunity to practice my ministry. It makes me happy to think of bringing love and comfort to all of my customers and each person I drive past and every clerk in every store I stop to buy gas from along the way. I don’t have to do or say anything special to do this. As I use this time to practice setting aside my false thoughts and recognizing, instead, the thoughts I think with God, then I am serving the awakening. My attitude and my words will reflect these new thoughts and I will be serving the awakening. This is my ministry and it goes where I go.
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