LESSON 172
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
1 (153) In my defenselessness my safety lies.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
2 (154) I am among the ministers of God.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
I practice defenselessness all the time and have been for years now. I don’t often feel defensive anymore, but when I do, I catch it right away. I used to feel defensive when my kids would say something to me that I perceived as critical. At some point, I must have practiced enough that this stopped bothering me. Now when they do say something like that to me, I usually just laugh and agree that they probably have a point.
And the cool thing about that is that I mean it. I have evidently mostly stopped thinking that my human self has to be perfect and I have stopped identifying so much with that part of me so I don’t take it personally anymore. Occasionally, something will be said that actually triggers some unworthiness and that’s OK. It is just a chance to really master the decision to see this differently.
This newfound freedom is helpful in being a teacher of God. If I showed my child a hurt face, this would infer that he/she was guilty and guilt is what we are here to undo. I want to teach my children they are innocent. I want to do this with everyone. I am definitely becoming a better teacher of God through learning and practicing what I read in the Course.
Manual for Teachers
2. WHO ARE THEIR PUPILS? P 2, 3
2 In order to understand the teaching-learning plan of salvation, it is necessary to grasp the concept of time that the course sets forth. Atonement corrects illusions, not truth. Therefore, it corrects what never was. Further, the plan for this correction was established and completed simultaneously, for the Will of God is entirely apart from time. So is all reality, being of Him. The instant the idea of separation entered the mind of God’s Son, in that same instant was God’s Answer given. In time this happened very long ago. In reality it never happened at all.
3 The world of time is the world of illusion. What happened long ago seems to be happening now. Choices made long since appear to be open; yet to be made. What has been learned and understood and long ago passed by is looked upon as a new thought, a fresh idea, a different approach. Because your will is free you can accept what has already happened at any time you choose, and only then will you realize that it was always there. As the course emphasizes, you are not free to choose the curriculum, or even the form in which you will learn it. You are free, however, to decide when you want to learn it. And as you accept it, it is already learned.
There are two important ideas about time that I take from these paragraphs. The first is that time is not real; it is part of the illusion. We are eternal. Here is a definition of eternity: a state to which time has no application; timelessness. We, as we were created, have nothing to do with time. We stand outside time, which doesn’t actually exist anyway.
The next thing I sort of understand is that while in the experience of a world we are having a linear experience in which time seems to be happening. So, it seems that we are making choices and we are experiencing the effects of those choices now. But what is really happening is that we are experiencing something that has already happened because in eternity everything happens at once or not at all. It seems that the world we know never happened because it starts and stops and changes, so it is an illusion.
Well, now that that’s crystal clear… What we can know is that within the story we are apparently living, which is an illusion, we are given the task of discovering what we already know. We look at our thoughts and allow them to be corrected where they are not true and this is what the Course calls accepting the Atonement. Eventually, our mind becomes clear enough that we know this is an illusion (called awakening) and we are on our way to returning to our true state.
Because your will is free you can accept what has already happened at any time you choose, and only then will you realize that it was always there.
We are also told that the path home is already chosen but we are free to choose when we want to learn it. My path is A Course in Miracles. It looked like I found it by happenstance and that I decided to read it and to practice it all these years. But that this would happen was a done deal and my only part was to decide if it would be this lifetime in which I decided on it. And then Jesus says, And as you accept it, it is already learned. My assumption here is that I cannot fail to learn it because I have already done so.
Chapter 16: The Forgiveness of Illusions
I. True Empathy
T-16.I.1. To empathize does not mean to join in suffering, for that is what you must refuse to understand. 2 That is the ego’s interpretation of empathy, and is always used to form a special relationship in which the suffering is shared. 3 The capacity to empathize is very useful to the Holy Spirit, provided you let Him use it in His way. 4 His way is very different. 5 He does not understand suffering, and would have you teach it is not understandable. 6 When He relates through you, He does not relate through your ego to another ego. 7 He does not join in pain, understanding that healing pain is not accomplished by delusional attempts to enter into it, and lighten it by sharing the delusion.
Journal
I used to think that empathy was to relate to the problem and to express that to the person who had the problem. For instance, if someone lost a loved one, I would agree with them how very hard this is and I would cry with them because their grief triggered my fear of loss. I catch myself doing this very thing sometimes even now that I know better. I am always surprised at myself when I choose to form a special relationship through shared suffering. In doing this, I would be strengthening the belief in suffering for both of us. That is just plain crazy.
The question becomes, how do I relate to someone who is suffering? It would seem cruel not to respond at all and I’m not foolish enough to believe this is the time and place to talk to them about illusions. The solution is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in my mind and will give me the words to say if I ask and then pause long enough to receive them. I sometimes do funerals and, of course, I go to funerals, more of them than before now that I am older. So, it is important to me that I follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
When I am talking to a Course student, it is a little different. My assumption when a fellow student comes to me with a problem, they are hoping to receive some guidance from the Holy Spirit through me. I will speak to them differently than I do with someone else but, again, I ask first so that what I share will be helpful. I do feel empathy in both cases because I have both grieved and been confused.
If I feel more than empathy, if I feel sympathy or a desire to share their suffering, I give it to the Holy Spirit and then I ask for words to share with the one in front of me. If I need to revisit the issue later, I do that when I am alone. One of the things I have noticed is that with grief, sometimes all that is required of me is a hug. And with other problems sometimes all that is needed from me is a listening ear. The important thing for me to remember is that my part is to be there, to be open and receptive. Knowing what to say or do is the Holy Spirit’s part.
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