Commentary on ACIM Lesson 167

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

There is one life, and that I share with God.

Knowing I am a son of God and having 'being it' down perfectly are clearly two different things. Like with my bike ride yesterday, my life has plenty of arenas to practice being divine (non-judgmental) love in. This is absolutely 'the way' for most of us ----as almost nobody just 'awakens' and stays there without at least some sadhana. Risking being sacrilegious and commenting on the life of Jesus, his action of angrily whipping the merchants and money changers out of the temple seems to me to have been a sadhana breakdown, even though from a Christian dogma POV his action was deified (for He, inside the perception of him as the ONLY son of God, could do no wrong....)

But supposing it was a breakdown...(certainly from the Courses perspective it would have been, as the Course teaches 'there is no justification for anger that is real').... that just goes to show that even our Avatars and Saviors are still human, and can error (occasionally). We need to be awake to that, and not project perfection (as an ideal) on anyone. Perfection is simply being whole (which means, exactly as you are, excluding nothing, you are that). So obviously, we are perfect exactly as we are. :-)

Today I was practicing a song written by a friend of mine in my youth who is now long dead. Perhaps I am the only person left who sings this song, so I treasure it. It has a beautiful line in it: "Get to know me better, but learn to love yourself". This is our ultimate truest sadhana, this learning to love ourselves. It includes including in our self-love a willingness to offer the holy love of a son of God upon our errors, mistakes, failures, stupidities, arrogance, betrayals... all that we are conditioned to pour our self-hate upon. And then to embrace our self-hate with love too. (Yes, you're correct; I'm just describing self-forgiveness...)

If we don't learn this, we find it very difficult to face the world newly, freshly, and with joy. Instead we are bogged down in the spiral of self-pity and shame that feeds on and creates low self-esteem. It's not worth it. There is no cheese there. Please don't stay, even if it is comfortable and/or familiar.

I think it better to spend an entire life picking myself up from my failures, and then recommitting to my practice, than to imagine I am so unlovable that I give in to spiritual apathy and doing nothing that uplifts me or others.

And my inner guide agrees, always showing me again and again the blessings in what seem like disasters. I just work on remembering the simple phrase..."No mistakes".

Who can know (as an ego) his own ripeness? Better to serve humbly, and let God do the exalting.

Namaste,

David