LESSON 160
I am at home. Fear is the stranger here.
“This is my home. Here I belong, and will not leave because a madman says I must.”
God created me as an extension of Himself and thus I remain. The ego (fear), which is the opposite in every way to what I am, is made by me and yet, claims it is me. It is the madman who seems to have stolen my identity. Sigh. Let’s be real here, and admit that nothing was stolen; I willingly set aside my true identity and let fear take up residency in my mind.
“There is no home can shelter love and fear. They cannot coexist. If you are real, then fear must be illusion. And if fear is real, then you do not exist at all.”
We have convinced ourselves that we are ego and that fear is real and justified. We believe this so completely that it will take a miracle to get rid of this stranger. “The miracle will come. For in his home his Self remains. It asked no stranger in, and took no alien thought to be Itself. And It will call Its Own unto Itself in recognition of what is Its Own.” The only confusion about our identity is in our minds because God knows us and He holds our identity safe within Himself.
I thought about what Kenneth Wapnick said in his commentary on this lesson. He talked about how Jesus tells us we don’t ask for too much but for too little. He said the too little was asking for relief from fear rather than for its complete elimination. I used to do this. Fear was so strong in my mind, that when I was in fear I could only think about relief. This was a helpful message I received from Spirit one time when working on this lesson.
Holy Spirit: “Precious child, you see more clearly now your motivation for remaining in fear, but you also see how senseless it is. Be aware of choices today. Notice them without guilt or judgment. Just see what you are doing. This exercise will be helpful to you. You will be tempted to allow activities to distract you, but this is also a choice. You can remain active without becoming unconscious. You don’t need to do anything when you notice yourself choosing fear; just see that this is what you are doing. You have invited me to heal your mind, and so I will do the rest.“Today we offer thanks that Christ has come to search the world for what belongs to Him.”
We cannot know our Self without knowing everyone is part of that Self. Christ’s vision sees us as we are, knows us for who we are and gives us this vision of each other so that we will recognize our Self. “Who denies his brother is denying Him, and thus refusing to accept the gift of sight by which his Self is clearly recognized, his home remembered and salvation come.”
Regina’s Tips
In her tips (it would be helpful to read them in full) Regina points us to two ways of using this lesson. One is Self-Inquiry and the other is self-Inquiry. These are to help us achieve the goal of this lesson which is to realize that we are not the ego (self) and that we are actually the Self.
Self-Inquiry is looking within for our true Self. As Jesus says in the lesson, “For in his home his Self remains.” This is why I do the daily meditation in which I express the desire to know my Self and then I sink below the thoughts of the ego mind. I let my awareness linger there in the quiet stillness for as long as I can. I am getting better as I practice. My Self is there, I know it is.
Regina says that today we will shift our focus.
Today, we are going to shift to self-inquiry. That’s questioning the false self in order to recognize that it isn’t our truth. It isn’t what we are. It is merely the effect of attention attracted to thought.
Today’s lesson asks us to question fear. Fear takes many forms. Sometimes it is easily recognized, like when we are afraid of not being safe, but at other times we may not recognize fear as fear. For example, I could feel angry and think I am angry because another person has done something unreasonable. However, if I look deeply into my anger by asking why am I angry, I might find that I am afraid that person’s action is making me look bad. This is an example of when fear takes the form of anger.
Regina then points out that if we identify with the fear in our mind, we won’t know the truth about ourselves. She explains this.
“Attention is an aspect of awareness. I often call it the arm of awareness, since it can reach out and experience different things. When our attention is engrossed in fear thoughts, we are presently asking “this stranger” to appear as our self. In that way, we simultaneously deny our true Self.”
So, Regina is telling me that I first recognize the fear in my mind, not just that I have fear but get right to the root fear. Once I am aware of these thoughts, I shift my attention to realize something is looking at these thoughts. What is that?
Regina says “Once I have the experience of noticing these two (thoughts and looker), I ask, “Which am I?” This leads me to see that I am the looker, life-presence-awareness. It is clear the thoughts are the stranger here. They are not me.”
If thoughts of fear are not me then ego is not me. I am the one that notices the thoughts. Regina says this: This clarity is what today’s lesson calls a miracle. It says, “The miracle will come. For in his home his Self remains. It asked no stranger in, and took no alien thought to be Itself.”
Manual for Teachers
The miracle of a healed mind is worth anything. The right to judge is certainly a small price to pay when in return I receive a profound sense of peace and happiness. And really, how could I judge anyway? In the Manual for Teachers here is what Jesus says about judgment.
M-10.3. The aim of our curriculum, unlike the goal of the world’s learning, is the recognition that judgment in the usual sense is impossible. 2 This is not an opinion but a fact. 3 In order to judge anything rightly, one would have to be fully aware of an inconceivably wide range of things; past, present and to come. 4 One would have to recognize in advance all the effects of his judgments on everyone and everything involved in them in any way. 5 And one would have to be certain there is no distortion in his perception, so that his judgment would be wholly fair to everyone on whom it rests now and in the future. 6 Who is in a position to do this? 7 Who except in grandiose fantasies would claim this for himself?
I don’t need to attempt to judge, I only need to turn my mind to the Holy Spirit and He will judge for me. This is why I so often asked Him what is this for? What does it mean? How would you have me see it? Show me another way to see this. This dedication to allowing the Holy Spirit to purify my mind of judgments is the reason I have trouble finding a judgmental thought to use as an example this morning.
When I asked the Holy Spirit to help me find any judgmental thoughts hiding in my mind, He reminded me that to think something should be different is to have judged it inadequate as it is. Ah, I have done that. He also reminded me that to feel a spike of fear is to have judged a situation as unacceptable. I know that while this doesn’t happen very often, sometimes it does. Fortunately, I have practiced releasing judgment so many times, that I know how to do this easily and quickly.
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When I have a challenge, I ask for a miracle. Mostly, that involves a change of mind. I am helped to see a situation differently, or I express a sincere desire for healing my mind and forgiveness happens. It’s a miracle. Sometimes I need something in form. I had a problem with a gas leak on my stove and I was uncertain what to do about it. I asked and received inspiration. I followed the guidance I received and all is well.
When I am sick, which is something that happened to me recently, my request is twofold. I ask what it is for and I ask for mind healing. I forgive the errors in my mind. I also expect that the form of the sickness, the projection of the wrong-minded thinking, will fade away as quickly as possible.
First, in every case, whether it be physical, emotional, or have to do with relationships or financial difficulties - first, the mind must be addressed. There is something that needs the miracle of forgiveness. That is the real miracle. Then, I have every expectation of the form the error took being corrected as well.
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