ARCIM

Daily Lesson 199 ~
July 18

I transcend the body. I am free.

Freedom must be impossible as long as you perceive yourself as a body, for the body is a limit. Who would seek for Freedom in a body seeks It where It cannot be found. The mind will be set free when it no longer perceives itself as in a body, firmly tied to it, and sheltered by its presence. If being tied to a body were the truth, the mind were vulnerable indeed!

The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways, beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with Strength to do whatever is asked of it. Fearful thoughts have no place in such a mind, because it has been given to the Source of Love. Fear can never enter a mind that has united itself to Love, because Love’s Presence leaves no room for anything unlike Itself. It rests in the Divine, and who can be afraid who lives in Innocence and only loves?

It is essential for your progress in this Course that you accept today’s idea, and hold it very dear. Be not concerned that to the ego the idea is quite insane. The ego holds the body dear because it dwells in it, and lives in the home that it has made. It is a part of the illusion that has sheltered it from being found illusory itself. Here does it hide, and here it can be seen as what it is.

Declare your Innocence and you are free. The body disappears because you have no need of it except the need the Holy Spirit sees. For this Purpose, the body will appear as a useful form to accomplish what the mind must do. It thus becomes a vehicle that helps forgiveness be extended to the all-inclusive Goal that forgiveness must reach, according to the Divine’s Plan.

Cherish today’s idea, and practice it today and every day. Make it a part of every practice period you engage in. There is no thought that will not gain thereby in Power to help the world, nor none that will not gain in added gifts to you as well. We sound the Call of Freedom around the world with this idea. And you will be included in the acceptance of the gifts you give.

The Holy Spirit is the Home of minds that seek for Freedom. And in this Home they find what they have sought. The body’s purpose now is unambiguous. And it becomes perfect in the ability to serve an undivided goal. The body serves with conflict-free and clear response to the mind that has only the Thought of Freedom as its Goal, and it serves this Purpose well. Without the power to imprison, the body is a worthy servant of the Freedom that the mind within the Holy Spirit seeks.

Be free today, and carry Freedom as your gift to those who still believe they are imprisoned within a body. Be you free, so that the Holy Spirit can make use of your release from bondage to set free the many who perceive themselves as bound and helpless and afraid. Let Love replace their fears through you. Accept awakening now, and give your mind to Spirit, Who calls to you to make this gift to It. For It would give you perfect Freedom, perfect Joy, and Hope that finds Its full Accomplishment in the Divine.

You are the Divine’s Child. In Truth, Beauty and Goodness, and all the Divine’s Attributes, you live forever. You have chosen to return your mind to this. So practice well the Thought the Holy Spirit gives you for today. Your sisters and brothers stand released with you in It. The world is blessed along with you. The Divine’s Children will weep no more, and Heaven offers thanks for the Increase of Joy your practice brings even to It. And the Divine Itself extends Its Love and Happiness each time you say:

 

“I transcend the body. I am free.

I hear the Voice that the Divine has given me,

and it is only This my mind follows.”

 

Corresponding Text Section

 

Chapter 18: The Reality of the Holy Relationship

 

7. Faith in the Purpose of Truth

The Holy Instant is simply what every situation has the potential to be. The Meaning that the Holy Spirit’s Purpose has given the Holy Instant is given to every situation. This Meaning calls forth just the same suspension of judgment or faithlessness, withheld and left unused, as in the Holy Instant, so that faith can answer to the Call of Truth. The Holy Instant is the Celestial Design, the clear and unequivocal Demonstration, of the Meaning of every relationship, and of every situation seen as whole through Spirit’s Vision. Faith has accepted every aspect of each situation, as faithlessness has been withdrawn from forcing any exclusion on it. Each situation becomes one of perfect Peace, simply because you have let it be what it is in Truth.

This simple courtesy is all the Holy Spirit asks of you: let Truth be what It is. Do not intrude upon It, do not attempt to change It to what you think It should be, and do not interrupt Its Coming. Let It encompass every situation, and bring you Peace. In truth not even faith is asked of you, for Truth asks nothing. Just let It enter, and It will call forth and secure for you the faith you need for Peace. But do not oppose Truth, for It cannot come to you against your opposition.

The gift of faith, freely given wherever judgment is laid aside unused, will make a Holy Instant of every situation, which then the Power of the Holy Spirit’s Purpose is free to use instead. This Power instantly transforms all situations into one sure and continuous Means for establishing and fulfilling Spirit’s Purpose, while demonstrating Its Reality through your awakening. What has been demonstrated has called for faith, and has been given it. Now Spirit’s Purpose becomes a Fact, from which faith can no longer be withheld.

The strain of refusing to give faith to Truth is enormous, and far greater than you realize. But to answer Truth with faith entails no strain at all. To you who have acknowledged the Call of your Awakener, the strain of not responding to Its Call seems to be greater than before. This is not so. The strain was there before, but you attributed it to something else, believing that the “something else” produced it. This was never true. This “something else” was nothing but the intolerable strain of the refusal to give faith to Truth, and see Its clear and evident Reality. And what this produced was experienced as sorrow and depression, sickness and pain, darkness and dim imaginings of terror, cold fantasies of fear, and fiery dreams of hell. Such was the tragedy chosen to be enacted by the separated ones. The faithlessness of judgment brought this to them.

Think carefully before you let yourself use faithlessness – or judgment – against your sisters and brothers. For the Child of the Divine is risen from death and all illusions, and you have accepted the Cause of Its awakening as yours. You are assuming your part in Atonement, and you are now fully responsible to one another. Have faith in your sisters and brothers now, for it has been given you to realize what your lack of faith in them must mean to you. Their awakening, as your own, is your only Purpose here. See only this in every situation, and It will be a means for bringing only this.

When you accepted Truth as the goal for your relationship, you became givers of Peace, as surely as your Creator gave Peace to you. For the Goal of Peace cannot be accepted apart from the Conditions of Peace. And when you accepted It, you had faith in It, for no one accepts what they do not believe is real. Your Purpose has not changed, and will not change, for you accepted what can never change. And All that this Purpose needs to be forever changeless will be given you, and you given to It. Your Release is certain. Give as you have received, and demonstrate that you have risen far beyond any situation that could hold you back and keep you separate from It Whose Call you have answered.