To post comments in the discussion, click "Reply" in any of the posts. While everyone is welcome to view the discussion, only registered users can post comments. Click here to register.

Good Morning!

Today's lesson is an obvious companion to yesterday's in which we attempted to acknowledge our holiness.  Today we are extending that holiness outward to everything we see.  It seems that we are practicing a form of holiness projection but in effect, what I think we are doing is trying to see holiness anywhere we can find it.  If we can't recognize it in ourselves, then we try to see it out there in the world.  If we see it out there, then we can mirror it back to ourselves in order to see it inside.  Often it seems easier to see holiness in a painting or a sofa than it does in ourselves, doesn't it?  It is a symptom of the guilt that resides in our minds.

The sentences that stand out to me in this lesson are in para 1:4-8 - the discussion of sin and sinless.  "You are sinless or not"  To me, this is telling me that when I feel that I am sinful, I am not part of God's mind, which of course is the description of being separated from Him.  I am sinful when I am feeling separate from God.  I am sinless when I see myself and others as holy.  It is always my choice in any given moment.   There is a line in the text of A Course in Miracles that addresses this:  "Your other life has continued without interruption, and has been and always will be totally unaffected by your attempts to dissociate it."  T-4.VI.1:7.  This comforts me when I continue to view my self as sinful.  It is not the truth about me, it never was and never will be, despite my pathetic attempts to make it so.  Thank God!

Joan

This lesson for me is about really understanding that what I see outside is an interpretation of what I am perceiving. If I want to know what my thoughts about myself are, all I have to do think about the external world or an "object of my specialness". That will directly reflect back what I think about God and myself.

The sentence "You are sinless or not." is also a great example of ACIM's uncompromising thought system. Something is either wholly true or wholly false. We have either sinned and are separate from God. Or we did not and are still at one with Him. Duality and non-duality cannot co-exist.

Jerry - it was really helpful to me what you said about looking at an "object of my specialness" in order to see what I think about God and myself.  There are certain objects of specialness that reflect back sin and certainly some that reflect back sinlessness.  It is a real eye-opener for me.  Thanks!