[acimlessons_list] PRACTICE SUMMARY (See Part II Practice Summary, and also Part I--November 14

[Allen Watson]

Lesson 318

"In me salvation's means and end are one."

PRACTICE SUMMARY (See Part II Practice Summary, and also Part II
Introduction)

COMMENTARY

In other words, putting it very simply, the goal of salvation is what I
already am, and the vehicle for bringing about salvation is also what I
am. I am what salvation is, and I am the way to get there.

Salvation is the recognition of oneness; how, then, could there be any
single part that stands alone, or that is more or less important than
the rest? (1:2-3) The means of salvation is not in some other part of
creation, upon which I am dependent. The wholeness is what it is all
about; therefore the means of getting there and the "there" we are
getting to must be all the same thing, and therefore must be within me.

"I am the means by which God's Son is saved, because salvation's purpose
is to find the sinlessness that God has placed in me" (1:4).

The sinlessness is already there, in me, placed there by God. So since
the purpose of salvation is finding that sinlessness, I must be the
means by which salvation happens. I carry the Answer within myself.

I absolutely love these next few sentences. To me, if I can allow my
disbelief to be suspended just for a moment, just long enough to feel
the import of these words, I will "get" what they are saying:

"I was created as the thing I seek. I am the goal the world is searching
for. I am God's Son, His one eternal Love. I am salvation's means and
end as well" (1:5-8).

I am the thing I seek because I have been It since I was created. I am
seeking only for my Self, and where can my Self be but in me? This is a
search that is guaranteed to succeed because I already am what I am
seeking for. The only reason there appears to be a journey of seeking is
because I have forgotten what I already am. There is really nowhere to
go.

Try repeating to yourself, several times, "I am the goal the world is
searching for." Just try it and see how it feels. Notice the thoughts
that come up in denial of what you are saying, and take a good look at
them. Notice what it is you are believing about yourself that keeps you
from saying these words and meaning them with all your heart, and
without reservation.

We think we have a disease of sin that we are seeking to cure. A disease
of guilt and of separation. But the seeking is part of the disease! In
fact, there is no disease, and only the seeking makes it seem as if
there is. If we can, for a moment, stop presupposing that we are
separate, we will simply realize that we are not. Truth will dawn upon
us of itself. Relax; you're OK. We have no need but to accept the
Atonement, to accept our oneness with God, to realize that enlightenment
is only a recognition, and not a change at all. We don't need to change;
we need to accept what we have always been.

"Let me today, my Father, take the role You offer me in Your request
that I accept Atonement for myself. For thus does what is thereby
reconciled in me become as surely reconciled to You" (2:1-2).

WHAT IS THE LAST JUDGMENT? (Part 8)

W-pII.10.4:2-6

In the final evaluation, the Last Judgment is really just Love. It is
God, acknowledging His Son as His Son (4:3). God's Love for us, in the
last analysis, is the <only> thing that will "heal all sorrow, wipe away
all tears, and gently waken" us from our dream of pain (4:3). We may
think--and indeed, we <do> think--that something other than God's Love
will be able to do that for us. We must think so, or else why would we
spend so much time looking for it? Yet Love stands, waiting for us to
receive It. We keep looking elsewhere because, in our insanity, we are
afraid of the Love being offered to us.

Our egos have taught us to be afraid of God, and afraid of His Love. We
are afraid it will somehow swallow us up and make us disappear. But
would Love do that, and still be Love? Twice (4:2, 4:4) we are told not
to be afraid of Love. That is one way of looking at the whole of what we
are learning: to not be afraid of Love. Instead, we are asked to "give
it welcome" (4:5). And it is your acceptance of Love, and mine, that
will save the world and set it free.

We are so afraid that, by really opening to love, we will be hurt.
Taking the path of love so often seems to us to be taking the path of
weakness. There is so much emphasis on watching out for Number One, on
setting our boundaries, on keeping our distance, on avoiding being
victimized. Those things have their place, to be sure, and yet sometimes
I think they are excuses for separation, excuses for remaining isolated,
excuses for avoiding love. Giving love seems difficult, and receiving
it, even more difficult. Yet in the end, opening to both giving and
receiving love, which are the same in reality, is all that is needed. We
<are> love, and only in opening to Love fully will we discover that
truth of our own Being.

    COMMENTARIES ON LESSONS FROM THE WORKBOOK OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES
    by Allen Watson, with Practice Summaries by Robert Perry
    The Circle of Atonement--Visit our website at <http://www.circleofa.com>

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Portions from Clarification of Terms (c) Copyright 1975, Psychotherapy:
Purpose, Process and Practice, (c) 1976, The Song of Prayer, (c) 1978, are
used by permission of the copyright holder, The Foundation for "A Course in
Miracles," 41397 Buecking Drive, Temecula, CA 92590.


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