ARCIM

Daily Lesson 81 ~
March 22

Introduction to Review of Lessons 61-80

Review Lessons 61 and 62

Introduction to Review of Lessons 61-80

We are now ready for another review. We will begin where our last review left off, and in this review cover two ideas each day. The earlier part of the day will be devoted to one of these ideas, and the latter part of the day to the other. Each of these ideas will have a longer exercise period of about fifteen minutes, and frequent shorter ones in which we practice them.

The longer practice periods will follow this general form: Begin by thinking about the idea and the comments that are included in the assignments following this introduction. Devote some three or four minutes to reading these over slowly, several times if you wish, and then close your eyes and listen to the Holy Spirit, into Whose Hands these review lessons are placed. Repeat the first phase if you find your mind wandering, but try to spend the major part of the practice period listening quietly but attentively.

There is a Message waiting for you. Be confident that you will receive It. Remember that It belongs to you, and that you want It. Do not allow your intent to waver in the face of distracting thoughts. Realize that whatever form such thoughts may take they have no meaning and no power to distract you. Replace them with your determination to succeed.

Remember that your will has power over fantasies and dreams. Trust it to see you through, and carry you beyond them all. Regard these practice periods as dedications to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Refuse to be sidetracked into detours, illusions, and thoughts of hopelessness, destruction, or death. You are dedicated to awakening. Be determined each day to fulfill your function.

Reaffirm your determination in the shorter practice periods as well, using the original form of the idea for general application, and a more specific form when needed. Some specific forms will be included in the comments each day. These, however, are merely suggestions. It is not the particular words you use that will matter.

 

Review Lessons 61 and 62

Our ideas for review today are:

 

Lesson 61. I am the Light of the world.

How holy am I, who have been given the function of illuminating the world! Let me be still before my holiness. In its calm Light let all my conflicts disappear. In its Peace let me remember who I am.

Some specific forms for applying the idea when difficulties seem to arise might be:

“Let me allow the Light of the world in me to shine unobstructed.”

“Let the Light of the world shine through this appearance.”

“This shadow will vanish before the Light.”

 

Lesson 62. Forgiveness is my function as the Light of the world.

It is through accepting my function that I will see the Light in me. And in this Light will my function stand clear and perfectly unambiguous before my sight. My acceptance does not depend on my recognizing what my function is, for I do not yet understand forgiveness. Yet I will trust that in the Light I will see my function as it is.

Specific forms for using the idea might include:

“Let this (situation, person, experience) help me learn what forgiveness means.”

“Let me not separate my function from my will.”

“I would use this (situation, person, experience) only for the purpose of awakening.”

 

Corresponding Text Section

 

Chapter 5: Understanding the Holy Spirit’s Purpose

 

1. Giving, Having, and Being

Healing is an act of thought by which two minds perceive their Oneness and become glad. This Gladness calls to every Part of the Divine Family to rejoice with them, and lets the Divine Itself extend into them and through them.

Only the healed mind can experience revelation with lasting effect, because revelation is an experience of pure Joy. If you do not will to be wholly joyous, your mind cannot have what it does not will to be. Remember that the spirit knows no difference between being and having. The unsplit or whole mind thinks according to the Divine Will, which the spirit aligns with, and therefore honors only Divine Will. To the spirit, getting is meaningless and giving is all. Having Everything, the spirit holds Everything by giving It, thus creating as the Creator creates.

If you consider what this entails, you will understand that, while this kind of thinking is totally incompatible with having things, even to the split mind it is quite comprehensible in connection with ideas. If you share a physical possession, you do divide its ownership. But if you share an idea, you do not decrease it. All of it is still yours, although all of it has been given away. Further, if the person to whom you give it accepts it as their own, they reinforce it in your mind, and thus increase the strength of the idea.

If you can accept the concept that the world is one of ideas, then the entire belief in the false association that the ego has made between giving and losing is gone.

Let us consider our process of awakening (which is rebirth) with just a few simple concepts:

  1. Everything is a thought or idea, or a temporary manifestation of a thought or idea.
  2. Thoughts or ideas increase by being given away. The more who believe in them, the stronger they become.
  3. Giving can therefore only meaningfully be associated with gaining, not losing.

This realization is the invitation to the Holy Spirit.

I shared with you earlier that revelations are indirectly inspired by me because I am close to the Holy Spirit, and alert to the revelation-readiness of my sisters and brothers. I can thus bring to them more than they can draw to themselves. But I help in this way only at your own invitation.

The Holy Spirit is nothing more than your own whole or right mind – your spirit – and that of all Children of the Divine, including mine. That is why the Holy Spirit lives in every Child of the Divine.

It has been said as a blessing that may the mind be in you that was also in me. This statement refers to the blessing of miracle-mindedness. It asks that you may think as I think, joining with me in thinking as Divine Essence thinks.

The Holy Spirit is the only Part of the Oneness of the Holy Trinity that is symbolic, in that It has been referred to as the Healer, the Comforter, and the Guide. It has also been understood as something in addition to the Creator and Its perfect Creation. I myself once said that I needed to no longer have the appearance of a human being in order for the Comforter to come to you. These examples touch on the Function of the Holy Spirit. However, in spite of this clarity the Holy Spirit can be a difficult concept to grasp just because It has been assigned symbolic functionality, which is therefore open to many different interpretations.

As a human being and Child of the Divine, my right thinking, which came from the universal Inspiration that is the Holy Spirit, taught me first and foremost that this Inspiration is for all. I could not have had It myself without knowing that. The word “know” is proper here because the holy Inspiration is so close to Knowledge that It calls It forth, or better, allows Knowledge to come. This Course has spoken before of true perception which is so close to Truth that the Divine Itself can flow across the little gap. Knowledge is always ready to flow everywhere, but It cannot oppose. Therefore you can obstruct It, although you can never lose It.

The Holy Spirit is the Mind of Divine Essence that knows Knowledge beyond perception. Spirit came into Being with the separation as a protection that assured that no Child of the Divine could remain separated forever. Spirit inspired the Atonement at the same Instant. Before that, there was no need for healing and no one was comfortless. After the separation the Divine honored even the miscreations of Its Children, because they had made them. But It also blessed Its Children with a way of thinking that could raise their perceptions until these became so lofty that they could reach to the Gate of Heaven.