FINAL LESSONS
Introduction
Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. We use them but at the beginning of our practicing, and only to remind us that we seek to go beyond them. Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. To Him we leave these lessons, as to Him we give our lives henceforth. For we would not return again to the belief in sin that made the world seem ugly and unsafe, attacking and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the hope of trust and the escape from pain.
His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. It is His way that everyone must travel in the end, because it is this ending God Himself appointed. In the dream of time it seems to be far off. And yet, in truth, it is already here; already serving us as gracious guidance in the way to go. Let us together follow in the way that truth points out to us. And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way, but find it not.
And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. It is the goal that God has given us. It is His ending to the dream we seek, and not our own. For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete.
It is our function to remember Him on earth, as it is given us to be His Own completion in reality. So let us not forget our goal is shared, for it is that remembrance which contains the memory of God, and points the way to Him and to the Heaven of His peace. And shall we not forgive our brother, who can offer this to us? He is the way, the truth and life that shows the way to us. In him resides salvation, offered us through our forgiveness, given unto him.
We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised to His holy Son. We are forgiven now. And we are saved from all the wrath we thought belonged to God, and found it was a dream. We are restored to sanity, in which we understand that anger is insane, attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. We have been saved from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. Nothing more than that. And is a father angry at his son because he failed to understand the truth?
We come in honesty to God and say we did not understand, and ask Him to help us to learn His lessons, through the Voice of His Own Teacher. Would He hurt His Son? Or would He rush to answer him, and say, "This is My Son, and all I have is his"? Be certain He will answer thus, for these are His Own words to you. And more than that can no one ever have, for in these words is all there is, and all that there will be throughout all time and in eternity.
Lessons 361 to 365
This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, Certain that Your direction gives me peace.
And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that will He also give. And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. He is in charge by my request. And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son.
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Lesson 361
“This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.”
This lesson is the culmination of our year of practice. It is telling us what all the exercises and words were guiding us to. We are to have the habit of giving every instant to the Holy Spirit to receive His direction. It is this that makes the instant holy, for we have released the purpose we would give it in our allegiance to the ego and instead open to the direction the Holy Spirit would give. We are assured that by doing this we will have peace. All the exercises leading up to this point have been designed to clear the way and open our minds to be receptive to the Holy Spirit's direction.
The exercises of this year are now resources for us to use whenever we forget where our true Source of Help is. When we get wrapped up in the ego's illusions, we have the tools to find our way back to the clarity our inner Teacher offers us. This is a lifelong practice. For many it may be helpful to go through the workbook lessons again another year, perhaps many years, so that we can truly make the principles and exercises a part of our way of thinking and living. It is their practice that will bring us peace.
The Workbook does not stand on its own. It is based on the thought system set forth in the Text. The application of the lessons in the Workbook become more understandable and meaningful as the ideas in the Text are made part of our way of thinking. We have so long identified with the lies of the ego and thought them real that we do not recognize their falsity. Part of the defense of the ego is to cloak its lies in appealing images that seem to be beneficent. Yet beneath them remains the ego's dedication to death. The Text helps us learn to recognize the ego's deceptions. At the same time it helps us to see the radiant and glorious truth of What we are as God's Son.
With the foundation of understanding from the Text and the practice of giving every moment to the Holy Spirit developed in the Workbook lessons, our life becomes a demonstration of changed perception, of miracles bringing peace. As it says in the introduction to the Manual, "To teach is to demonstrate." We are always teaching by what we demonstrate in our lives. When we align ourselves with the ego, we demonstrate the ego's illusions and teach them to ourselves and the world. When we follow the Holy Spirit's direction, we demonstrate release of illusions (forgiveness) and teach that to the world. This is where the Manual for Teachers is a helpful guide as we go through the process of applying forgiveness more and more in our lives.
To be a teacher of God does not mean that we must all form groups to teach A Course in Miracles. Being a teacher of God means that we demonstrate forgiveness in our lives. It means that by having the practice of turning every instant over to the Holy Spirit for Him to be in charge, we become miracle workers. We teach forgiveness by demonstrating forgiveness. That is our part in God's plan for salvation, for the release of the world from the dream of separation.
If you feel there is more to gain from the Workbook lessons than you have taken in this year, we encourage you to go through the lessons again. You may find that you see things the next time through that you didn't see before. Because the Course is leading us to a complete thought reversal, sometimes our attachment to our old way of thinking does not allow us to see the message that is there in front of us. But trust that there has been much gained in this year. Your willingness has expanded dramatically and you will find many gifts as you go through the lessons again.
I was very pleased to read this day's lesson because I was experiencing a moment of confusion and wondering how I should view something that is going on in my life. I was also wondering what I should do about it, if anything. When I start doing this, sometimes I find myself going in circles, mentally.
As I read the lesson, I gave the whole thing to the Holy Spirit with the certainty that an answer would be forth coming and it was! The more I do this, the more quickly and clearly the answer comes. So, why not do it always and immediately? I think it can only be because I still want to keep some thoughts and some decisions for myself. The motivation for change? It is the discomfort. It feels so freeing and so joyful when I turn my life over to the Holy Spirit and by contrast, when I follow ego instead, life is painful and often depressing.
©2003, Pathways of Light, Inc. http://pathwaysoflight.org You may freely share copies of this page with your friends, provided all copies include this notice.
Lesson 362
“This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.”
This year of lessons has been preparing us to live what has been called the "mystic's" life. It is a life directed by the Holy Spirit instead of the ego's dictates. Because the Holy Spirit's direction is always towards peace, it is a life of increasing peace and happiness. The form of our doing in the world may not change, but the meaning we give it does. Less and less of our doing is motivated by a sense of needing to protect ourselves against some unknown or imagined pending danger. Rather our doing is motivated by the heartfelt desire to extend Love, to see the face of Christ in all our brothers, to bring the miracle of forgiveness to the world.
If we will let Him, the Holy Spirit will guide all our doing and it will bring us great joy. Our judgments diminish as we turn them over to Him. More and more each moment is recognized as a gift, an opportunity to extend forgiveness and Love. It may be someone we meet at the grocery store. It may be someone we talk to on the phone, a coworker, a supervisor, a friend or someone we have not even met who shares in the blessing of forgiveness. Our minds are joined and the forgiveness of one is the forgiveness of all.
Perhaps we may not feel ready yet to let the Holy Spirit guide us in all our ways. Perhaps there are some areas of our life that we still want to reserve as our own. We fear we may be asked to make changes we don't feel ready to make. It does not matter. The Holy Spirit forever offers His gifts. As we learn to accept them and experience their blessing, their healing, their peace and joy, we will naturally want more.
The appeal of peace becomes stronger than the appeal of specialness. Gradually we begin to see that those areas of our lives we reserve for ourselves no longer have the attraction they once had. Gradually we offer them also to the Holy Spirit and He gives us the gift of peace and eternal happiness in exchange. The Holy Spirit does not coerce or demand. He simply holds out His gifts to us and judges not. We take them when we are ready.
A Course in Miracles offers us a means to accelerate our willingness to receive the gift of God's peace and joy. We each use what's available to us for healing according to our willingness.
Holy Spirit, today I offer you my eyes my ears, my tongue, my hands, my feet to serve your Will, which I know to be my own in truth. I would not lead but only follow your sure direction to the Home of my Source and Creator. I give thanks for your Friendship and your comfort. I rest in your sure direction.
Even though we may be dreaming about something else, we cannot stop being the Light of God That we are. Behind the form, everyone and everything in this world is the Light of God -- the same Light of God. That is the lesson we are to ultimately learn.
That is why I must follow and not lead. The Holy Spirit teaches me to see as He does, to see the truth behind every form of separation. My job is to let the Holy Spirit in, to give the Holy Spirit the chance to do Its healing work in my mind.
I may rise and fall and rise and fall again, but one thing is certain. In reality dreams do not matter, for they are merely dreams. The truth remains that we are all still the Light of God. We cannot change that through dreaming. We cannot effect a change in What we are in any way. We are safe in the Mind of God because we cannot leave the Mind of God. Our dreams may appear very real to us, but in fact they mean nothing because they are nothing.
Letting the Holy Spirit into my mind is my job right now. Being open to Holy Spirit's healing perspectives is my job right now. "Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace."
I had a lesson in following the Holy Spirit in a dream last night. I woke in the night thinking about an area of my life that I had given over to the Holy Spirit, but that I keep taking back or experiencing doubts about (mainly, I think, because it seems to be working so well and so quickly and I just can't believe it). I keep wondering if I am following Guidance, or if I am just kidding myself and doing what I want to do, not what I should. Pretty soon I've talked myself into circles and am feeling a lot of anxiety. So, what I did was put on a meditation tape from the 905 course that helps me to move from specialness to holiness. In this meditation, I am able to look at what I want to turn over to the Holy Spirit with Him and receive guidance. I felt pretty good about the meditation and fell immediately to sleep.
I woke later from a dream in which I found myself crossing a tall bridge in a car. I am riding along at an exhilarating speed in the passengers seat and decide to get more comfortable by reclining the seat somewhat. I can't get it to catch and it seems to be trying to lay flat. This makes me nervous and the mood is broken. I look at the drivers seat and realize I should be there because it seems no one is driving. Strange that the ride has been so good without me at the control. In a panic I climb into the drivers seat and see myself coming up on other vehicles and try to put on the brakes but it seems I have cloth or something tangling my feet and I can't find the brakes. Nevertheless, I make it (miraculously, it seems) to the other side of the bridge and to where I am going with no mishap.
When I woke up, the dream came back to me and I realized that it mirrored what I am doing in my "waking" life. I gave the controls over to the Holy Spirit and was moving toward our destination at a fast clip until I started feeling nervous about no longer being in control and tried to take over again.
Then felt anxiety as I tried to do something on my own that I have already proven myself incapable of completing successfully. Even as, in my anxiety I feel doomed to crash and burn, I realize that the Holy Spirit can guide me safely to where I need to be. As I reached this conclusion, I relaxed my need to control and gave it back to the Holy Spirit's capable hands.
I often give my dreams to the Holy Spirit to use to teach me. I am so glad I do that because this allowed the Holy Spirit to use a very dramatic event to get the point across in a way I couldn't miss. I understand something now that I was wrestling with in my "day life."
©2003, Pathways of Light, Inc. http://pathwaysoflight.org You may freely share copies of this page with your friends, provided all copies include this notice.
Lesson 363
“This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.”
The Holy Spirit is always certain, having but one purpose, one goal. Being able to see all effects of everything in this world, He knows what is truly helpful in every situation. I surely cannot say that of myself alone and I don't seem to share His certainty. Because the Holy Spirit is ever present in my mind, my uncertainty can only be because of my unwillingness to consistently follow His direction. His certainty is there for me to claim. It is my uncertainty about whether I really want His direction that leaves me in confusion and conflict.
The undoing of my resistance, of my unwillingness is a gradual process. The Holy Spirit is patient with me, knowing the inevitability of my returning Home. He understands that too sudden a shift in my values would bring terror rather than peace to my conflicted mind. And so He walks with me and works with me gently and compassionately, helping me to see where my values are misplaced. He helps me recognize illusions for what they are. He helps me see that they have no value and offer me nothing that can content me.
As I let go of these misplaced values, I become more and more willing to follow His direction. With this increasing willingness, my certainty grows. Confusion and conflict diminish, replaced by certainty and contentment. These gifts He offers me eternally. He offers me nothing that is temporary, for His would not deceive the Son of God, Who is worthy only of the eternal.
I give thanks today that I have the means to return to the certainty and unity of Love, my Source.
Today I give to having a quiet and open mind. I give today to the Holy Spirit that He would be my constant Companion and inner Friend. He knows how to decide for me. He knows how to straighten my mind. I have forgotten my Self in illusions. I need the help of my constant Companion and Guide.
Holy Spirit, I open my mind to You today to receive Your comforting touch. Your healing touch of Love and peace and joy heals my mind of false values and gently guides me Home, where I belong. I am eternally safe with You. There is no fear that is too big for You to handle. By making You my constant Companion, I learn of and remember eternity at last. "This holy instant would I give to you."
There are no words to express my gratitude for the Course and for the awareness that I have allowed myself to receive as a result of practicing what the Course teaches. It wasn't until I made a commitment to practice the lessons, though, that I began to open myself to receive awareness of truth. Before then, the Course didn't make a lot of sense to me.
I can't explain it, but, the more I think I know, the more I realize how much I don't know. And it's only because of these lessons and my commitment to finding the truth about myself and my purpose in life, that I am learning to train my mind to stop the vicious cycle of insanity.
I'm learning to request the guidance of my Holy Companion in all I do; any conversations that I have, any movies that I watch, any books that I read, and, of course, at the start of my day. Even though many times, as the day goes on, I forget the truth, but practicing these lessons has helped me stop and step back. And it is in this place of stepping back, I make no judgment, but instead ask the Holy Spirit to take charge.
I surrender to Him my thoughts and, like this lesson says, if I need a word or a thought to help me, He gives it to me. Sometimes I don't hear anything and that's fine too, because stillness is better than making judgment because when I make judgment, I lose my peace. He never fails to send me some kind of message, though, not when He's ready to send it to me, but whenever I'm ready to receive it.
I, personally, will start the lessons over again from the beginning because, as I grow spiritually, I see things from a different perspective and that's exciting to me. I believe the promises of the Course are becoming more real for me and I look forward to continuing my journey of awakening, remembering that we are all joined as one.
©2003, Pathways of Light, Inc. http://pathwaysoflight.org You may freely share copies of this page with your friends, provided all copies include this notice.
Lesson 364
“This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.”
Giving every moment to the Holy Spirit may seem like a tall order. It becomes easier when I just focus on doing it in this present moment. It's like they say in football, "Take it one game at a time." Just open to Holy Spirit -- now. Let the Holy Spirit be in charge -- now. This brings it down to a manageable, doable thing.
The Holy Spirit is there to help me right now. He is always doing His job. It is my openness to His being in charge that I need to take care of. If I take care of this one thing, just making sure that the Holy Spirit is in charge right now, the rest will take care of itself. If I do my part, the Holy Spirit's direction will bring me peace. I will know whatever I need to know whenever I need to know it. So this is my one goal -- to put Holy Spirit in charge now. That is all. There are no ifs, ands or buts. Just one focus. Right now I open to Holy Spirit's guidance. That is my part. The Holy Spirit knows how to do His part and will do it if I allow Him. And I focus on allowing Him -- now.
It says in the epilogue that the Holy Spirit will provide "all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you. He knows the way to solve all problems and resolve all doubts." In one of the earlier lessons we are told to affirm, "Let me recognize where the problem is so it can be solved." If I seem to be having a problem that is not being resolved, it is because I am not recognizing where the problem really is.
The ego is always happy to provide "solutions." But we need to remember that in all things the ego's motto is always seek and do not find. All the ego's solutions are really delaying tactics, decoys to keep us from searching where the solution really can be found. The solution is never at the level of form, although the Holy Spirit may use form to help us bridge toward the real solution.
At the core of every problem is the belief that we have separated from our Source and our brothers. If we did not hang on to this belief we would rest contented in the loving presence of our Creator and our brothers, knowing our unity with them. There would be nothing to fix. We have identified for so long with the ego thought system as reality that we do not recognize on our own where the problem lies.
So we need help and we need an open mind. It is why the beginning lessons start training us to remember we do not know what anything means. As long as we are convinced that the meaning we have given what we see is real and true, we are not open to be taught. As we conclude the lessons for the year, we have been shown in many ways that we do not know how to correctly perceive anything. We have also been taught that we are not the isolated, separate identity that we thought we were. We have been told in many ways that we are "God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love." (W.II.14.1:1)
We are learning to open to a new image of What we are. The recognition of this is accelerated as we give each instant to the Holy Spirit to be our Guide. He directs us with certainty and singleness of purpose to the one goal that brings us Home to the Heaven where we belong. It is a lesson worth learning. It is a lesson of freedom and of peace. Today I will follow, not lead, for it is my heart's desire to find my Self.
Sometimes I feel like my life is out of control. As I take a step back and look at this, I can see that it has most oftened happened when I said I wanted one thing and did another. An example would be that I would say I want to lose weight and I will do it by following a specific diet. Then I would not follow the diet and start gaining weight instead. I start feeling anxious all out of proportion with gaining a couple of pounds and I think this is because I feel helpless. I think I have no control over my life even though that doesn't really make sense.
What I have noticed as I have begun to turn my life over to the Holy Spirit is that in total surrender, I now feel as if I am in control of my life. Before, I sometimes felt like I was in a runaway car with no steering and no brakes. I was at the wheel, but the car wasn't going where I thought I wanted it.
I think that one reason I resisted turning everything over to the Holy Spirit was that I feared losing control. I guess that need to feel independent and in charge of my own life is part of the ego strategy to get me to value separateness. How odd and unexpected it is to discover that surrender to God does not diminish my power, but actually increases it.
Giving every moment to the Holy Spirit does, indeed, seem like a tall order, but that's because we're so used to trying to run our own lives (and many times the lives of others). I remember when I was first introduced to that idea, I would think, "How can I turn my life over to something I can't see or touch or hear?" But by that time, I was in so much pain, I figured I had nothing to lose by turning my life over to my concept of God. My life was in total chaos so I knew I was doing something wrong, but I couldn't figure out what it was. It seemed like the harder I tried, the worse things got. Today I understand what "being in that place of total surrender is where all your power is" means.
Letting Holy Spirit be in charge, reminds me of Albert's (Einstein) statement, "The significant problems we face, can never be solved at the level of thinking that created them." By going to Holy Spirit, we are automatically, instantaneously, at a level where no problem exists. By not going to Holy Spirit, we remain at the level of worldly illusion problems, with no hope for alleviating them.
Landor said that, "All you really need to be happy, is something to be enthusiastic about." Co-creating with Holy Spirit leads to a natural enthusiasm that is a great blessing. Perhaps the greatest?
©2003, Pathways of Light, Inc. http://pathwaysoflight.org You may freely share copies of this page with your friends, provided all copies include this notice.
Lesson 365
“This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.”
"Be You in charge." Those are the words I need to remember in every situation. Those are the words that will carry me Home. Trying to be in charge on my own is the problem. Letting the Holy Spirit be in charge is the answer. In the Epilogue it says, "Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him."
"Be You in charge." These four little words are not complicated to remember. If I have the willingness to remember these words, I will remember them. Letting myself be carried by the Holy Spirit is how I will return Home. It is how I will awaken to the truth. Opening my mind to the Holy Spirit's healing perspectives is how the insanity in my mind will be undone. The Holy Spirit brings the Light of God, the Light of Truth, to every dark corner in my mind, to every fear, to every judgment, to every false idea.
The rest of my life is dedicated to these four words, "Be You in charge." I may falter and falter again, but with my focus on these four words I will be carried past all the false illusions of the world. I will be carried through every fear, every nightmare dream. Letting the Holy Spirit be in charge is my most important prayer. My openness to the Holy Spirit allows Him to do His work. Healing my mind is His job, not mine.
"Be You in charge." These words open the gates to Love's healing Light. These healing words pave the way to my awakening to the truth. On this last day of the year, I need remember but these words, "Be You in charge," and I can be confident that healing will follow.
My heart is filled with gratitude for this year dedicated to receiving Holy Spirit's healing perspective for each lesson. This practice has strengthened my trust in His presence in my life. It has strengthened my confidence that He is ever present to guide me in all things, to teach me the way of healing and to be a Friend and Comforter.
The fact that I am not alone is more real to me now. I remember it more quickly when I get wrapped up in the events of my day, thinking I must solve my problems on my own. The experience has taught me that I have the means to resolve all problems, not on my own, but in union with the Holy Spirit in my mind. Thoughts of vulnerability and guilt still enter my mind. But I do not give them a dwelling place nearly as long as I used to. My home is Heaven. Separation and isolation cannot abide there and therefore cannot abide in me.
With an enthusiastic heart, I dedicate the coming year to the continued practice of going to the Holy Spirit to receive His healing perspectives every day and throughout the day. This practice has brought me great blessing, yet it is but a tiny taste of what is available to me as I develop the habit of letting Holy Spirit be in charge in every instant. This is my heart's desire.
This is what will bring me peace. This is what will help me see the Love in my brother that is my own. This is what will help me remember that God's strength is mine and I share His invulnerability. This is what will help me remember in every moment, "The sight of Christ is all there is to see. The song of Christ is all there is to hear. The hand of Christ is all there is to hold. There is no journey but to walk with Him." (T.24.V.7:7-10) It is a journey of joy and I give thanks.
©2003, Pathways of Light, Inc. http://pathwaysoflight.org You may freely share copies of this page with your friends, provided all copies include this notice.
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