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.
“I can give up but what was never real.”
Central to the ego thought system of separation is the idea of loss and sacrifice. If separation is real, loss must be real. To gain something, what is gained must have been taken from something other than itself. The sacrifice of one is demanded for another’s gain.
Allegiance with the ego thought system demands that we sacrifice awareness of Love. Because the ego demands sacrifice, it uses its standard defense mechanism of projection and tells us that God demands sacrifice of us. This is the way it tries to get rid of its guilt.
In this scenario it is projecting its guilt on God, making God appear to be the devil in disguise. As long as we follow the ego thought system, we will be afraid of God’s Will, believing that He demands sacrifice. All this is just the ego’s lies used to protect it and keep it in place as the “ruler” of our mind. The ego does not tell us that it is the one demanding sacrifice. The ego does not tell us that by giving up allegiance to the ego, the thought of sacrifice is undone and God’s eternal Love is returned to our awareness.
Love makes no demands. It only gives of Itself. By letting go of identification with a separate identity and returning to the recognition that I am the Self God created, the holy Son of God, I give up nothing and become aware that I have everything that is real. All of God’s Love is mine, for I share His Love with Him and with all Creation.
Holy Spirit, help me today to recognize the false ideas of loss for what they are. I turn my thoughts of fear and guilt over to you Holy Spirit with an open mind. I know that you will teach me what is real and what is not real and I will learn to recognize that I am Love and nothing else along with all my brothers. I can give up but what was never real.
Do I really want to wake up to the awareness that I have never really left Heaven? If so, I will be willing to look at all my replacements for Heaven. To do this I ask myself: What am I using to occupy my mind that is really a barrier to the awareness of God’s Love? What am I using to replace God?
I can watch my mind all day and see the barriers to Love for what they are. Everything in the world of form is really nothing and was never real. It is my desire to see specialness and individuality that brings me the images I see in this world.
As I hand my mind over to the Holy Spirit, I am learning that all these images were never real. As I recognize them as unreal, giving them up is no sacrifice. Opening to the truth is no sacrifice. It only brings me infinite peace, infinite joy and the awareness of changeless Love That is there forever.
Today my practice is to look at all my barriers to Love and hand them over to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will show me that every illusion of separate forms is unreal. The Holy Spirit helps me change my mind. The Holy Spirit helps me recognize that all that I valued before is really worth nothing and can be let go of easily without feeling that I am sacrificing something.
Holding on to something that was really nothing is just a burden. What a relief to lift these burdens and find the freedom the Holy Spirit offers me every day. “I can give up but what was never real.”
The thing that strengthens my faith in these lessons is that when I get in one of my “poor me” moods, wondering what life is about and why I have to do without the things I think I need or the things that I’M SURE would make me happy, I remember that at one time I got tired of being afraid, tired of being frustrated, tired of wondering what life was about.
Today, when I get into this kind of fear, it’s like God asks me, “Remember you asked me to help you? Remember you got tired of living the way you were?” The practice of these lessons have taught me to turn my thoughts and especially my attitude over to the Holy Spirit, to the One Who knows truth. When I am willing to surrender my old beliefs and the thoughts of sacrifice, He opens other worlds for me and in those worlds there is peace, there is love, there is the memory of my Heavenly Father. Thank you Holy Spirit.
I love the question you asked, “What am I using to occupy my mind that is really a barrier to the awareness of God’s Love?” I wrote it in my day timer so I would see it every time I open it tomorrow. I want to really think about this because I know I do this a lot. Sometimes I will catch myself dwelling in some pretty dark places in my mind and take them to Holy Spirit. Then before the process is over, I find myself thinking about something I need to do later in the day. That is a pretty obvious barrier that I use often and I bet there are lots more not so obvious. Thanks for the suggestion. I look forward to seeing where it takes me.
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