Red Bird
 
A Course in Miracles
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Last Post 1/26/2009 4:14 PM by Jerry Jordan. 2 Replies.
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The Garden-Now
Posts:467
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1/24/2009 11:18 PM

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Joan Haber
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1/26/2009 2:45 AM
Good Morning!
I have not found this lesson easy to understand. How about you? It may be because the word “invulnerability” is not a word commonly used. Vulnerable is a word more commonly used, which means “capable of being hurt”. Invulnerable means “incapable of being hurt”. Thus, this lesson’s title is saying that my attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability, which, to me, means that I am at war with myself. I am attacking the part of me that is incapable of being hurt. My ego is at war with who I am really am, which is of God. 
 
The sentence that stands out to me in this lesson is 3:1 which says that The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself first. I am applying this idea to a real life example that is happening to me today to try to make sense of this concept. I am a co-owner of a condominium in a project that is in dire straits financially. Most of the units are in foreclosure, very few are paying their condo dues and it is quite likely I will lose my investment entirely. I am fearful of the outcome. If I am truly incapable of being hurt, then my thoughts are trying to dislodge this reality. It’s as if I am trying to convince myself that everything will NOT be OK, so that my ego can be right – that I have been scammed, that life is not fair, that I will end up poor and alone. 
 

If I practice this lesson, I can say that I am afraid (that I will lose my investment in the condo) and that thought is an attack upon myself. This is all the lesson is asking of us today, it is not providing solutions or analysis.  

 Joan

Jerry Jordan
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1/26/2009 4:14 PM

For me, this lesson is about belief. If I have attack thoughts, I must believe I am vulnerable. If I am vulnerable, then I do not recognize myself as a Son of God because He is invulnerable. As long as I believe I can be hurt. I am acknowledging my vulnerability. Which, as you said, makes "me" right and the Holy Spirit wrong.

If I perceive someone attacking me and perceive it as being true, then I must have attacked first because attack only exists in the mind. It's not that I don't see attack from other people but it is my judgment and interpretation of their behavior that makes it real. As it says in the Manual for Teachers:

"It is always an interpretation that gives rise to negative emotions, regardless of their seeming justification by what appears as facts" (M-17.4:2)

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