Commentary on ACIM Lesson 208

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

The peace of God is shining in me now.

In a way, I have been doing todays lesson all week, although today is the day I broke out of the tunnel... so to speak.

But.... the whole past week has been very challenging, and many days were spent 'grabbing onto God', usually by meditation or lying on the earth, working to still the swirl of chaos I seemed to be swimming in. As I think I am closer to 'the other shore' now, I can speak of it (like it was a thing in the past now, instead of being in a boat about to sink, which is what a lot of the week felt like).

It all started with a book a friend loaned me, a very challenging book by Paul Hawken, called 'Blessed Unrest'. The journey it took me on ripped me out of a 'God is everywhere and everything is perfect' universe, into confronting a meticulously footnoted multiple century litany of the inhumanity of man to each other and the world ( & other species and the environment), the rapid acceleration of our inhumanity in recent times, and the impact of it on our lives, including that we as a species are fighting for our very existence, while most of humanity is barely aware of what 'the fuss is about' or what the issues are. Along with this the author provided a history of many of the great people who have given their lives (often literally) and their best thinking to create a species survival future. These included Thoreau, Emerson, Gandhi, MLKing, etc. It was riveting reading, and, being empathic, it often hit me in the gut, and left me grappling to reconcile my world with the world being described.

Today I finished the book, which ended on a hopeful note, based mostly on the planetary reemergence of profound and deep spirituality. But in the course of the weeks journey I have been affected, and I see a clearer future for my own work as a teacher of God, and what I have the opportunity to contribute, and to whom, and perhaps, even how.....

Most profoundly, what I have seen is that, like Gandhi, I am my message. (I also see that that is true of everyone... everyone IS their 'message'.) For me though, that message is that the answer to the insanity of the egoic world is selflessness, aka 'brotherly love'. What I had not seen is how many others have also seen this (and how broad the awakening actually is), and, as a result, I have often felt very alone, and culturally isolated. In other words, it is not that I have not cared, it is that I did not know I could make a difference.

Now, what I know is this: It matters not if I make a difference. It only matters that I be true, in this life that God is day by day giving me.... that is what will, in the end, make the most difference. To do that, as I said not too many days ago, I must protect, develop, and maintain the peace of God within me. The challenge of the week was 'how to love others' that are destroying the planet we live on. I.e., how to 'love my enemies'. The breakthrough for me was this realization. Not only are 'they' me, spiritually, but beyond that, I saw it was totally possible, given similar circumstances, that I (in their shoes) could have made the same choices, been as similarly blind to the eventual consequences, and could be now as resistant to changing and suffering financial loss when confronted by people challenging my actions as 'they' are.

Oh. Then that means I am not 'superior' in any way to 'them'. No. Then that means my work is not to judge, but to teach by love, for when all see 'with Love', no brother harms another.... Yes. Thank you God.

And therein lies my peace.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 208

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(188) The peace of God is shining in me now.

I will be still, and let the earth be still along with me. And
in that stillness we will find the peace of God. It is within
my heart, which witnesses to God Himself.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.