Lesson 37: My holiness blesses the world.

Feb 7 (edited) in Feed

Hello, beautiful souls. This lesson is super important and full of gems, a milestone really, so please buckle up! 🙂 A few important new concepts are introduced and worth taking a moment to dive int a little more deeply.

🧩 THIS LESSON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD

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💡 This lesson shouldn't be read as "My holiness blesses the world out there" but as "My holiness blesses the world as an extension of me within". Another way of reading today's idea could also be:

"My holiness blesses the world." (as an EXTENSION of me, a Holy Son)

VERSUS

"My ego condemns the world." (as a PROJECTION of me, a sinful son)

💡 In his comment, Kenneth is urging us not to fall into the common misunderstanding many students of The Course are falling into when it comes to today's idea:

🔎 “Jesus obviously is not telling us that we should bless the world that is outside us. This would directly contradict everything he has been teaching us so far. Remember, Jesus is teaching us the world is nothing more than a mirror of our thoughts. Therefore, the lesson’s content is not that we should bless a chair, stick, clock, or another person. Rather, he is saying that if we choose his blessing—within our minds—and see ourselves as holy because we have joined with him, that blessing will automatically extend through us and envelop everything we see. The principle projection makes perception must never be too far away from our thinking.” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 112.

💡 In echoes of yesterday's lesson, we see and act as we think, and we either project (with the ego) or extend (with Jesus and the Holy Spirit in us). Now, it's: "Tell me what you do [bless/condemn the world], and I'll tell you who you are [holy/sinful son]".

🧩 OUR FUNCTION IN THE WORLD

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📘 "This idea contains the first glimmerings of your true function in the world, or why you are here. ²Your purpose is to see the world through your own holiness. ³Thus are you and the world blessed together." (ACIM, W-37.1:1-3)

💡 This is the introduction to the idea of our function or purpose in the world. It will be further developed in the coming lessons but Jesus is already underscoring the fact that we will share the effects of our thoughts, and we will be "blessed together".

🔎 “This is another way of saying our purpose or function is forgiveness. Forgiveness has not really made an appearance yet in these lessons, but the process of seeing the world through our own holiness is a wonderfully succinct description of it. The problem is that we see the world through our own unholiness, as separated egos and bodies whose mission in life is to protect and preserve our specialness. (...) In other words, the world I perceive is rooted in who I am. Another principle that should never be far from our thoughts is ideas leave not their source. In this instance, if my holiness is the source, the idea of the world must be perceived as holy as well. Indeed, these two principles—projection makes perception and ideas leave not their source—are essentially the same: Projection (or its right-minded form of extension) is the reason ideas leave not their source.” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 112.

💡 So this lesson isn't so much about the world itself but about what we do with it and what we use it for. There are only two options:

👍 Extending the idea that we are one with God and holy, we perceive love or calls for love. The world become this vast pool full of opportunities to remind ourselves and others that we are one through love and forgiveness.

👎 Projecting our guilt, we see a world divided, full of dangers and untrustworthy beings to attack or defend from, and we use it to further confirm our identity as separated individuals with special needs and usually opposing interests.

🧩 NO SACRIFICE NEEDED, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

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📘 "No one loses; nothing is taken away from anyone; everyone gains through your holy vision. ⁵It signifies the end of sacrifice because it offers everyone his full due. ⁶And he is entitled to everything because it is his birthright as a Son of God." (ACIM, W-37.1:4-6)

💡 In the following passage, Kenneth explains how this idea of sacrifice and losing to someone else or gaining at someone else's expense is at the core of the ego thought system:

🔎 “This is the first time in the lessons that Jesus discusses sacrifice, another of the key themes in the text, for it is at the heart of the ego’s thought system. The root of sacrifice lies in the principle of 'one or the other', more graphically stated in the manual (...) as 'kill or be killed' (M-17.7:11). The ego—the thought of individuality—begins with the idea that it is God or my self. If God is to exist, I cannot exist as a separate being because there is no separation, individuality, or differentiation in Heaven. Therefore, if I am to exist as an individual—the foundation of everyone’s thought system—God can no longer exist, at least as He truly is. He would have to be changed, and if God ceases to be perfect Oneness He ceases to be. Perfect oneness and individuality cannot coexist” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 112.

💡 This comment from Kenneth helps us understand how we ended up with distorted representations of God as a vengeful mighty being intent on our punishment and destruction should we displease him and commit sins, which are inevitable in this divided and decadent world. This is just an inflated version of the ego on steroids when we think about it.

💡 By telling us that today's idea puts an end to sacrifice, Jesus is telling us that there is another way of thinking that doesn't involve any of us losing anything because, in our right mind, we all share God's attributes and therefore His holiness. After all, we all share the same mind as we've already seen and must if we are one with God. Remember Lesson 18 and Lesson 19, minds are joined. This idea that others are not our enemies but our salvation through forgiveness is a fundamental one in the Course as these beautiful quotes illustrate:

📘 "As you come closer to a brother you approach me, and as you withdraw from him I become distant to you. ²Salvation is a collaborative venture. ³It cannot be undertaken successfully by those who disengage themselves from the Sonship, because they are disengaging themselves from me." (ACIM, T-4.VI .8:1-3)

📘 "Brother, you need forgiveness of your brother, for you will share in madness or in Heaven together. ⁸And you and he will raise your eyes in faith together, or not at all." (ACIM, T-19.IV-D.12:7-8)

📘 "The ark of peace is entered two by two" (ACIM, T-20.IV.6:5)

💡 This lesson is a first step in this direction. Jesus wants us to understand that we have everything to gain by ceasing the endless fights and stepping above the battlefield. We are "entitled to everything" (peace, love, joy, salvation, holiness, etc.) and so is everyone else because we all share this birthright as a united Son of God. No one is excluded from the divine treasure, it's an open-source thing we all have access to. We can all have it all.

🧩 THE ONLY WAY OUT OF INSANITY

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📘 "There is no other way in which the idea of sacrifice can be removed from the world’s thinking. ²Any other way of seeing will inevitably demand payment of someone or something. ³As a result, the perceiver will lose." (ACIM, W-37.2:1-3)

💡 This is Jesus telling us that there is no compromise between the ego thought system and the one he's teaching us. We either identify with the ego or with the Holy Son of God. Both choices hold consequences. If we want to be free from the idea of sacrifice, we must give up the whole thought system that comes with it. We can not be free from the idea of sacrifice and keep our belief in separated beings, some guilty, some innocent, some losing, some gaining. We can only see the errors of our ways and reconsider:

🔎 “Again, we do not deny there are bodies, or that there is a body we identify with. Rather, we look at the one or the other principle operating in our minds and choose to deny its seeming validity. That is the only way the idea of sacrifice can be undone. I realize you and I are making the same journey home. It began as a path of insanity away from home, and in my mind I realize that the way back—the way of sanity—is to take your hand. It does not matter whether you even know who I am or whether you died thirty years ago. We are not talking about something that happens externally in the world, because all relationships exist only in the mind. We are talking about a relationship I am still holding onto in my thoughts. If my ego is in charge, the relationship will reflect one or the other, and that is sacrifice. If I put Jesus in charge as my teacher, however, I shall see my special relationship as an opportunity to look at my 'one or the other' thinking, and then ask his help to change it.” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 113-114.

The following two sentences in this second paragraph are interesting ones to ponder:

📘 "³As a result, the perceiver will lose. ⁴Nor will he have any idea why he is losing." (ACIM, W-37.2:3-4)

💡 As a result of validating the ego thought system, and by playing by its rules we are bound to lose without even realizing it. The key idea here is our lack of awareness, our mindlessness. We are so deeply asleep, so invested in duality that we are in complete denial of the fact that we are the ones orchestrating our inevitable loss and defeat. An illuminating passage illustrates this point in the text:

📘 "Of one thing you were sure: Of all the many causes you perceived as bringing pain and suffering to you, your guilt was not among them. ⁵Nor did you in any way request them for yourself. ⁶This is how all illusions came about. ⁷The one who makes them does not see himself as making them, and their reality does not depend on him. ⁸Whatever cause they have is something quite apart from him, and what he sees is separate from his mind. ⁹He cannot doubt his dreams’ reality, because he does not see the part he plays in making them and making them seem real." (ACIM, T-27.VII.7:4-9)

🧩 BREAKING FREE FROM THE BELIEF IN LACK: FROM TRANSACTION TO RESTORATION

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📘 "Yet is his wholeness restored to his awareness through your vision. ⁶Your holiness blesses him by asking nothing of him. ⁷Those who see themselves as whole make no demands." (ACIM, W-37.2:5-7)

💡 This last idea when properly understood has the power to short-circuit the belief in lack plaguing us all:

🔎 “If you look honestly at your relationships, even as you go through this very day, you will realize how you are demanding something from everyone. Sometimes it is quite obvious, other times it is subtle. This dynamic must be there, though, as long as you believe you are an individual, which we all clearly do. If you believe you are an individual, you also believe in the concept of lack, which can be traced to our very origin: I had to steal from God at the beginning because something was missing in me. And therefore I have to steal from everyone all the time because something is still missing in me. (...) Consequently, a major aspect of specialness is that I always have to take from someone else to fill the lack that I perceive in myself. (...) When you identify with holiness, you ask nothing of anyone because you are everything and have everything. You are everything, because having and being are the same” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 115.

💡 In other terms, by restoring our holiness in our minds, we cease being constant beggars. Begging for all the things we are not or have not: love, affection, validation, security, respect, worth, money, freedom, etc... Imagine the freedom!

💡 Sadly, most of our relationships involve a level or form of transaction, 'I give you this, you give me that', and if you don't I'll let you know how unpleased I am and make you pay with blame, resentment, shame, attacks, or I'll withdraw from the relationship altogether because it's not a good deal for me. If you deliver, I'll reward you... until you don't. All in all, we still have a lot to learn about unconditional love. Jesus takes us in that direction because in his thought system, the restoration of what we always were and always had put us beyond the needy position of the ego.

🧩 THERE IS NO SPOON...

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📘 "Your holiness is the salvation of the world. ²It lets you teach the world that it is one with you, not by preaching to it, not by telling it anything, but merely by your quiet recognition that in your holiness are all things blessed along with you." (ACIM, W-37.3:1-2)

💡 Here, Kenneth recommends us once again not to fall into the pitfall of believing we are going to save the world 'out there'. There is no world.

🔎 “Saving the world really means saving ourselves from the belief there is a world. Since all minds are joined in the holiness of Christ, if my mind is healed in any given instant, the Sonship’s mind is healed as well. None of this is understandable from the world’s perspective, as I have said. None of this will make sense within our experience here, and can be understood only when we lift ourselves above the battleground and be with Jesus in what he refers to as the holy instant. From there we look back on the world and see it differently, realizing what has to be saved are our thoughts about the world” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 115.

💡 Attempting to save the world as if there were a world out there is like trying to bend the spoon by giving it reality. In truth, there is no spoon to bend as the little Buddha boy is teaching us in the Matrix movie. It is the mind that bends:

- Do not try bending the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.

- What truth?

- There is no spoon.

- There is no spoon?

- Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

💡 And by saving ourselves, so is the world, without us having to say or do anything. It isn't about us preaching, it isn't about us acting out the truth of God; it is about us being with God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, with the Sonship in our minds.

💡 And when it comes to our relationships, it is by being at-one (atonement) with our brothers and sisters, sharing the holy instant that restores, against all illusions, that we never were apart.

* Sorry, guys, for the one-day delay in the lessons but I started to feel ill yesterday and couldn't either do my lesson or write about it. First I went into judgment about missing a beat and being one day behind because of it. Then I realized what I was doing to myself and decided that "I could see peace instead of this". I will do my best to maintain regularity with the lessons but I might skip a day from time to time if I'm too tired or if "life is getting in the way". I believe that I need to allow myself a minimum of flexibility to maintain a healthy balance between commitment and consistency. If not, I might use my lessons to feel bad about myself instead of healing my mind back to peace. And I don't want to do that. This is just me sharing my "forgiveness opportunity" 🙂

💙🙏 Blessings 🙏💙

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* My comment on this lesson follows my studying of the in-depth comment of the same lesson by Kenneth Wapnick in his published work, Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles". While it may sometimes contain my thoughts on it, it is essentially my humble take and summary of the masterful work of Kenneth. I share them here in the hope that someone might find them helpful.

** I also share, in these ACIM posts, the wallpaper images that I use on my phone and change every day to help me commit to my lesson, in the hope that some might enjoy them as well. Here is the link to a Dropbox folder where you can download the lessons's wallpaper for mobile I have uploaded so far.

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