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.
“The world I see holds nothing that I want.”
What stood out to me in this lesson was “...release your mind from chains and let it seek the level where it finds itself at home.” (6:1) When I practiced this I found an inner place of peace, of comfort. I found clarity in my life from this inner place. This inner place of peace and Light comes from my true Self. It is this Self that needs to be in full charge of every part of my life, of every thought. It is this Self that needs to guide everything I do.
For this to happen, I need to practice following, not deciding anything on my own. I need to remember again and again that I do not know what anything means. This Presence of peace and Love is always there, waiting for my mind to open and accept Its guidance. As I practice opening again and again, I see that it is always there, with simplicity and ease.
I do not need to worry about anything in the future. I just need to be open to Love’s Presence and the perfect circumstances will unfold that help the awakening of the Sonship with gentleness and ease. I need be concerned with only one thing, and that is having an open mind to the one Self. All flows from that.
In paragraph 7 we are told how helpful it is each time we practice opening our minds to Him. “And when your eyes are opened afterwards, you will not value anything you see as much as when you looked at it before. Your whole perspective on the world will shift by just a little, every time you let your mind escape its chains.” This gives us such hope! Every time we practice we are opening the doors to truth a little more. We have the Means right inside our minds to set us free as we are willing.The world holds nothing that I want. Awakening to Reality is the only goal. Following my inner Guide each moment with an open mind is how this is accomplished in my life. This is the only thing that means anything. As I continue to do this, this tiny stream of peace gradually opens to a mighty river of peace that carries me with ease to everything I really want.
The less value I place on the things of this world, the more peace I feel. There is less striving and struggling to obtain some form in this world. I don’t dissipate energy by protecting and defending forms in this world. It is easier and easier to pass them by. I feel more and more safe, because as I dis-identify from the forms of this world, I recognize more and more clearly that real value comes from my unity with my Source, with Love.
This value cannot be threatened because it is unalterable, changeless and eternal. As I remember and identity with my Self as Love and nothing else, I feel deep peace that cannot be disturbed.
Love has one response to be Itself, and that response is to extend Itself. Because my Self is Love, my Self’s response is the same. Any other response comes from belief in a pseudo world that I made up. This lesson is helping me to let the false ideas go. They can never satisfy me. The only real satisfaction comes from extending Love, being Love. Love does not compete. It does not defend or judge. It does not hope for some special condition in the future. It merely Is.
So today I practice making no plans for the future on my own. Making no judgments, letting all my doing be guided by my Self for the sole purpose of passing by the world of form and returning to my Home in the Heart of my Creator. Here I will find joy because here I find my Self.
Joy must be shared because that is its nature. And so I share my joy with all my brothers, offering them the gift that I have received. There is nothing else to do. And I am blessed.
It has taken me many years of struggle and pain to realize the truth in this lesson. It is because I am so attached and “chained” to this world that the constant practice of these lessons is so important.
I attend a weekly Course study group on Monday nights and last Monday when I left the group, I felt uplifted, almost light on my feet, a sense of peace that I desperately feel I need more often in my life. I was able to sustain that feeling through the night and I woke up feeling very alive and loving.
When I was driving home after work, I realized I had lost the feeling. My day had gone well; nothing “bad” had happened, but somehow, sometime during the day, I had lost that feeling of peace and serenity. I don’t know where I had been, but it was with a dreadful sigh that I realized I was back in this world. It’s these experiences, though, that strengthen me, that give me hope for a world that my heart yearns for.
I love the poetry of these lessons; they uplift me even if it’s just for a moment and show me what it’s like to be in this world, but not of it.
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