Commentary on ACIM Lesson 257

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

Let me remember what my purpose is.

Amen to that! And, not to miss a beat, what do you suppose the barriers are to 'remembrance of purpose?'

We could start with anything that 'makes' us unhappy. For, as Richard Bach so eloquently penned in the opening parable of 'Illusions: the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah', "It is in following our happiness that we shall find the lessons that we have come here to learn." (I admit to paraphasing...it might not be an exact quote...). As I see it, this is pretty much the same as using Joy for a guide.

But right now I would speak to the barriers. The Course repeatedly says 'you cannot but be in the right place', and this must necessarily include times of struggle and pain and sadness. What I am seeing today is all of these times are, when seen rightly, the most precious of gifts, for they tell us that in the past, we made painful errors and those errors have not been corrected. And that in this present moment, in this now, that God is here (if we can hear this then) to aid and assist us to heal the past and erase from the future all effects of our past errors.

To step out of the conceptual and into the practical/specfic, today I continued my journey of breathwork release, as I went about my days business. All of a sudden I was given much more. I saw this breathwork was a way to release ALL PAST trauma, sadness, fear, anger... you name it. This understanding arose because a very old memory opened.... I was about 12 and my brother was 9 and we were being stupid and playing 'you can't hit me' from maybe fifty feet. I wish I could say we were throwing snowballs, but it was summer. We were throwing dirt clods--- chunks of mud that had dried about the size of baseballs. When they hit something, they just disintegrated, they were so loosely held together. It was all great fun, until we discovered that the one I just threw and hit my brother in the head with had a rock in it too. My brother screamed in pain and dropped to the ground and I was soooo scared, terrified I might have killed him. At twelve, it was more than I could be conscious with. I stuffed my terror, I stuffed my fear, I stuffed the incredible guilt I felt about being soooo stupid. And today, I saw I still had it.

That opened up seeing that I have a lifetime of this kind of pain.... the pain when my first love left me, and later, when my wife was unfaithful, the pain when as a young singer/songwriter I forgot the words to my song... those and lots, lots more.

And with that, I saw this breathwork/self-forgiveness tool was completely priceless. For, with consistent practice, over time, it can release the past out of my body, and as my past leaves my body, more light can and shall enter, and as more light enters, I shall remember who I am is not all this personal history that has been gripping my life asking for me to help it be healed and released.... who I am can be, will be, who the Godness in me declares to me I am. (And knows you are too.)

BUT. The Work must be done authentically. No one can skip steps, although I suspect we all have tried. Perhaps we are now ready to be truly on the path to wholeness.

One thing I know. It will be ready whenever we are/I am.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 257

Let me remember what my purpose is.

If I forget my goal I can be but confused, unsure of what I am, and thus conflicted in my actions. No one can serve contradicting goals and serve them well. Nor can he function without deep distress and great depression. Let us therefore be determined to remember what we want today, that we may unify our thoughts and actions meaningfully, and achieve only what God would have us do this day.

Father, forgiveness is Your chosen means for our salvation. Let us not forget today that we can have no will but Yours. And thus our purpose must be Yours as well, if we would reach the peace You will for us.