Commentary on ACIM Lesson 199

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

I am not a body. I am free.

I am my best teacher, for it is only I who can recognize who I am. All others only mirror my true self for me with their true self. When I see there are no others, then there is no need of a mirror....

I remembered this today by reading my writing for yesterdays Commentary while in a bit of a funk. It seemed amazing to me that I had written the words I was reading only a few hours before. Yet they answered my need perfectly and returned me to my sanity. Ah, yes, is it not this way always? I have memories of singing songs I had written and sung perhaps hundreds of times, yet because of a new readiness, singing them being like I was hearing the words for the very first time, and at a depth that I would have to ask myself: How was I able to write such words as these so many years ago, and only now begin to understand them.....?

Yet, that is the way.... We do teach what we need to most learn, and we cannot not be our own best student. That is the essence of demonstration. Self-honesty requires honest vulnerability as we walk this path, for the real teaching is simply the return to truth each time we flounder by choosing an illusion.

When we know we are not this body, we are free to fail publicly. This is actually a demonstration of our wholeness. Anything less is counterfeit holiness, but, as life knows, that too shall soon be seen, and forgiven. As the Zen wisdom says, the Great Way has no preferences. Such equanimity is the foundation of true joy, the proof of the presence of God.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 199

I am not a body. I am free.

Freedom must be impossible as long as you perceive a body as yourself. The body is a limit. Who would seek for freedom in a body looks for it where it can not be found. The mind can be made free when it no longer sees itself as in a body, firmly tied to it and sheltered by its presence. If this 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 and power to do whatever it is asked. Attack thoughts cannot enter such a mind, because it has been given to the Source of love, and fear can never enter in a mind that has attached itself to love. It rests in God. 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 it is quite insane. The ego holds the body dear because it dwells in it, and lives united with 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, the body will appear as useful form for what the mind must do. It thus becomes a vehicle which helps forgiveness be extended to the all-inclusive goal that it must reach, according to God's plan.

Cherish today's idea, and practice it today and every day. Make it a part of every practice period you take. There is no thought that will not gain thereby in power to help the world, and none which will not gain in added gifts to you as well. We sound the call of freedom round the world with this idea. And would you be exempt from the acceptance of the gifts you give?

The Holy Spirit is the home of minds that seek for freedom. In Him they have found what they have sought. The body's purpose now is unambiguous. And it becomes perfect in the ability to serve an undivided goal. In conflict-free and unequivocal response to mind with but the thought of freedom as its goal, the body serves, and serves its purpose well. Without the power to enslave, it is a worthy servant of the freedom which the mind within the Holy Spirit seeks.

Be free today. And carry freedom as your gift to those who still believe they are enslaved within a body. Be you free, so that the Holy Spirit can make use of your escape from bondage, to set free the many who perceive themselves as bound and helpless and afraid. Let love replace their fears through you. Accept salvation now, and give your mind to Him Who calls to you to make this gift to Him. For He would give you perfect freedom, perfect joy, and hope that finds its full accomplishment in God.

You are God's Son. In immortality you live forever. Would you not return your mind to this? Then practice well the thought the Holy Spirit gives you for today. Your brothers stand released with you in it; the world is blessed along with you, God's Son will weep no more, and Heaven offers thanks for the increase of joy your practice brings even to it. And God Himself extends His Love and happiness each time you say:

I am not a body. I am free.
I hear the Voice that God has given me,
and it is only this my mind obeys.