Morning! WARNING, this is a long post as it’s a review of everything we have studied thus far, I believe, all 80 lessons’ worth!
OK, I’ll start off with some golden nuggets from Ken:
“We find reflected here the undoing of the ego’s first law of chaos – “There is a hierarchy of illusions: (T-23.II.2:3) – by the Holy Spirit’s first principle of miracles: “There is no order of difficulty among them: (T-1.I.1:1). Despite appearances, our problems can be traced back to a grievance, such as : “if only you had been different, I would be happy.” The solution is the miracle of forgiveness, for the problem was the projection of guilt, which I now happily reclaim so that it can be released.”
“These two lessons form the CAPSTONE (my emphasis) of the review period, because they clearly articulate that every problem we experience during the day is a form of attack or grievance – whether we are conscious of it or not – and the ONLY WAY (my emphasis) we can be happy and remember our function is to let the attack go. We release the grievance by asking Jesus to help us realize we are wrong because we are perceiving the situation wrongly. Thus, once again, borrowing the title of the final chapter of the text, we see and accept the simplicity of salvation: one problem, one solution; one grievance, one miracle.”
Relative to the practice suggestions for Lesson 89’s review, he writes:
“The problem we perceive and the remedy we seek are equally illusory. The “solution” may resolve its specific expression, but not the ultimate problem – the grievance we hold against ourselves and God. If we truly want to be at peace, therefore, we need to ask Jesus to help us perceive the situation differently. We ask him to show us that what we are seeing in this person or circumstance is a reflection of the mind’s decision to exclude love. While the forms vary in our specific application, the content remains the same. Choosing to separate from the Love of God is the problem; choosing to rejoin what we never truly left is the solution.”
“The inability to make this choice – to look beyond the problem to the solution – reflects our refusal to do so, born of the resistance to “losing” the problem and thus “losing” our identity. Only by recognizing we are clinging to an illusion, an illusion that is the source of our unhappiness, will we be motivated to choose the miracle.”
Whew! That’s long, but so powerful. I figure, again, I do this for myself and anyone else who may be interested in reading another perspective of the review of these two lessons.
As for Lesson 90’s review, Ken’s thoughts on the first couple of sentences are:
“This is certainly true from the ego’s point of view. Jesus – importantly – is not saying we should not try to solve problems in the world. However, if the true problem is a grievance, which hides our guilt then the solution – guilt’s undoing – is instantaneous.
Again, Jesus is NOT (emphasis mine) asking us to ignore the world. Rather, he teaches us that our problem is not external, but the mind’s decision to exclude him. All we need do, he tells us, is:
“Bring me back, and speak honestly about what you have done. Let me tell you that you have not committed a sin, but merely expressed your fear. Let my love be the gentle reminder that you are better off with me than alone.”
Both the problem of separation and the answer of Atonement are located in the mind, beyond time and space. Thus there is no time needed in the correction of our wrong-minded choice. Only when the problem and answer are projected in a temporal and spatial world does it appear that salvation takes time.”
Finally, he writes:
“The problem is that we do not want Him to teach us, for we fear losing our individual identity. That is why, within the temporal illusion, it takes time to shirt our identification from the ego to the Holy Spirit. We begin with shifting our identity from a guilty, angry self to a forgiving, peaceful self. From these happy dreams, born of miracles, do we finally awaken – gradually, gently and patiently – to the true Self of God’s living Oneness.
Withdrawing our attention from the world of bodies to the locus of both the problem and its answer – the mind- is all Jesus requires to teach us that the problem of guilt has already been replaced by peace.”
Yesterday, I found myself highly annoyed by the person with whom I live. I’ll spare you the details today as this is very long of a post. However, I did observe my frustration and recognized its origin, yeah for me, and truly and most sincerely asked for help in seeing him differently, asked for help in realizing I can be wrong and not feel I am losing anything, but extreme irritation (a/k/a anger or rage) because he is NOT living up to my expectations.
Love the segment above where Ken writes about what Jesus would say to us as we fear asking Him for help. Think I will ask for help in accepting His help today!
Have a lovely day!
Love,
Gayle
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