Commentaries on A Course in MIracles

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Commentary on ACIM Lesson 187

I bless the world because I bless myself.

Two quotes are in my mind right now: "Sobriety is the greatest intoxication." and "What can be inflated can be deflated". I am pretty sure both of them came from Sufi sources (but I am not positive).

The last few days A.R.A. (after rattlesnake adventures) have been full of 'effort', basically fighting a bout of egoic low self-image depression, triggered by being confronted by the Course revealing a number of ego pockets hiding out in my-life-that-is-not-really-my-life. I really desired 'my cave' to escape into, but that is from another lifetime I guess. In this life, being a 'sadhu' in today's America looks very different than lives I imagine I could have lived in the past as a Buddhist, Hindu, Zen, Taoist, Sufi madzub, or Native (North or South) American, or any other aboriginal shaman.

So, I have been 'medicating' a little, to deal with 'feeling lost in the universe'. Not with drugs, but yes with food, painting, yoga, music, and, of course, meditation. I know many of my peers would not view these kind of activities as destructive, and generally, neither do I. But I do recognize there is a price being paid here. That price is not being in truth within myself as to who I am.

Adyashanti speaks about this often.... that when the nakedness of the universe confronts us, very few of us have the courage to just be there, without moving, without pushing it away, simply being exposed to our own nakedness. What we do generally is scurry back to some known reality... re-creating something---- anything---- to fill the infinite yawning emptiness of our egoic identity.

Buddha's enlightenment rose out of having this courage... he sat down under a tree and said "I will not move again until I know the truth". This is what Gangaji reports too: That there came a point where she did not care what the truth was, she just wanted that.

As you know if you read regularly, I attended a powerful motivational course recently, and came out of it 'lit up' to take on my life being a contribution in a big way. I posted several Commentaries to this effect. Then something deflated me, like a slow leak at first, then a dive into 'I can't do it, I don't want to do it, it's impossible, why don't you just leave me alone God!!!?' Stuff like that. Both the high and the low are of the ego. But the one-two punch opened up before me 'the chasm of nothingness' that I, as an ego, am.

Finally, I just sat down beside it with myself and said, "I just want to get straight with myself God... that's all. No BS, no hype please. Just help me see what is true, OK?"

Silence. Maybe it was a miracle that I just asked. As my respected friend wrote, questions are usually better than answers. Anyway, I felt better that I had asked.

Later, I am reading the Course where it says 'If I don't know, it's because I don't want to know." I ponder that in my heart for a while. Then yesterday's lesson says "I am (as a Son of God) absolutely able to be and do whatever God asks of me. To think otherwise is egoic arrogance." I became really grateful for that thought, repeating it like a mantra. And it became like me polishing my own aura, which I see is again getting brighter. At least that's my take, as I am back here writing here, from my heart again.

I see that during this depression bout I had been thinking God made a mistake, and that I am not going to be able to get the job done.... whatever the job is, when it is finally revealed. And then the lesson for today says: If the thought (depression etc) occurs, its very presence proves that error has arisen and correction must be made. No form of [...] suffering can long endure before the face of one who has forgiven and has blessed himself.

Taking that to heart, I return to grateful self-forgiveness and a current work of being a simple daily blessing to 'my brothers'. It really matters not to me what I do with the rest of the days of my life, or what my 'mission' is.... I know God will handle that, and I get I am perfect for the job, just like I am for my current assignment, which I have had for a while..... it's called 'learning to love myself'. I know right now I am a heart of love being purified, and that you are the same. My team is all of you. And we all belong to God. Sober, happy, not inflated, not deflated, and always...capable of miracles.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 187

I bless the world because I bless myself.

No one can give unless he has. In fact, giving is proof of having. We have made this point before. What seems to make it hard to credit is not this. No one can doubt that you must first possess what you would give. It is the second phase on which the world and true perception differ. Having had and given, then the world asserts that you have lost what you possessed. The truth maintains that giving will increase what you possess.

How is this possible? For it is sure that if you give a finite thing away, your body's eyes will not perceive it yours. Yet we have learned that things but represent the thoughts that make them. And you do not lack for proof that when you give ideas away, you strengthen them in your own mind. Perhaps the form in which the thought seems to appear is changed in giving. Yet it must return to him who gives. Nor can the form it takes be less acceptable. It must be more.

Ideas must first belong to you, before you give them. If you are to save the world, you first accept salvation for yourself. But you will not believe that this is done until you see the miracles it brings to everyone you look upon. Herein is the idea of giving clarified and given meaning. Now you can perceive that by your giving is your store increased.

Protect all things you value by the act of giving them away, and you are sure that you will never lose them. What you thought you did not have is thereby proven yours. Yet value not its form. For this will change and grow unrecognizable in time, however much you try to keep it safe. No form endures. It is the thought behind the form of things that lives unchangeable.

Give gladly. You can only gain thereby. The thought remains, and grows in strength as it is reinforced by giving. Thoughts extend as they are shared, for they can not be lost. There is no giver and receiver in the sense the world conceives of them. There is a giver who retains; another who will give as well. And both must gain in this exchange, for each will have the thought in form most helpful to him. What he seems to lose is always something he will value less than what will surely be returned to him.

Never forget you give but to yourself. Who understands what giving means must laugh at the idea of sacrifice. Nor can he fail to recognize the many forms which sacrifice may take. He laughs as well at pain and loss, at sickness and at grief, at poverty, starvation and at death. He recognizes sacrifice remains the one idea that stands behind them all, and in his gentle laughter are they healed.

Illusion recognized must disappear. Accept not suffering, and you remove the thought of suffering. Your blessing lies on everyone who suffers, when you choose to see all suffering as what it is. The thought of sacrifice gives rise to all the forms that suffering appears to take. And sacrifice is an idea so mad that sanity dismisses it at once.

Never believe that you can sacrifice. There is no place for sacrifice in what has any value. If the thought occurs, its very presence proves that error has arisen and correction must be made. Your blessing will correct it. Given first to you, it now is yours to give as well. No form of sacrifice and suffering can long endure before the face of one who has forgiven and has blessed himself.

The lilies that your brother offers you are laid upon your altar, with the ones you offer him beside them. Who could fear to look upon such lovely holiness? The great illusion of the fear of God diminishes to nothingness before the purity that you will look on here. Be not afraid to look. The blessedness you will behold will take away all thought of form, and leave instead the perfect gift forever there, forever to increase, forever yours, forever given away.

Now are we one in thought, for fear has gone. And here, before the altar to one God, one Father, one Creator and one Thought, we stand together as one Son of God. Not separate from Him Who is our Source; not distant from one brother who is part of our one Self Whose innocence has joined us all as one, we stand in blessedness, and give as we receive. The Name of God is on our lips. And as we look within, we see the purity of Heaven shine in our reflection of our Father's Love.

Now are we blessed, and now we bless the world. What we have looked upon we would extend, for we would see it everywhere. We would behold it shining with the grace of God in everyone. We would not have it be withheld from anything we look upon. And to ensure this holy sight is ours, we offer it to everything we see. For where we see it, it will be returned to us in form of lilies we can lay upon our altar, making it a home for Innocence Itself, Who dwells in us and offers us His Holiness as ours.

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Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

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Monday, July 05, 2010

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 186

Salvation of the world depends on me.

Today let us reawaken and remember our true being, which is One with our Holy Source. If you do not have a certain Way to Remembrance, simply be silent and observe the breath of the body. Upon this breath our physical existence is based.... without it we are not (physical).

I watch my father breathe, understanding each one carries him closer to his transition. It is a good practice for me, similar to the Tibetan Buddhist practice of meditation upon the corpses of recently deceased monks being eaten by vultures. Dust to dust, this is true.... yet in-between, (when in a body) the journey to God is available, and the call of the heart is to recognize it as our most precious opportunity.

Therefore, let us not waste this opportunity.... but not from any fear. For God would have us each recognize ourselves as his Beloved, upon whom all blessings are bestowed. All that is needed is provided to each of us willing to be light unto the world. And in time, all beings will become this light.

Therefore, to remember our true being, let us remember our unity. This done, forgiveness is as natural as our breath.

Namaste,

David

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(Above) Untitled 7/2D/10 ©Rev. David Seacord 4" X 5" Acrylic on Canvas

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Lesson 186

Salvation of the world depends on me.

Here is the statement that will one day take all arrogance away from every mind. Here is the thought of true humility, which holds no function as your own but that which has been given you. It offers your acceptance of a part assigned to you, without insisting on another role. It does not judge your proper role. It but acknowledges the Will of God is done on earth as well as Heaven. It unites all wills on earth in Heaven's plan to save the world, restoring it to Heaven's peace.

Let us not fight our function. We did not establish it. It is not our idea. The means are given us by which it will be perfectly accomplished. All that we are asked to do is to accept our part in genuine humility, and not deny with self-deceiving arrogance that we are worthy. What is given us to do, we have the strength to do. Our minds are suited perfectly to take the part assigned to us by One Who knows us well.

Today's idea may seem quite sobering, until you see its meaning. All it says is that your Father still remembers you, and offers you the perfect trust He holds in you who are His Son. It does not ask that you be different in any way from what you are. What could humility request but this? And what could arrogance deny but this? Today we will not shrink from our assignment on the specious grounds that modesty is outraged. It is pride that would deny the Call for God Himself.

All false humility we lay aside today, that we may listen to God's Voice reveal to us what He would have us do. We do not doubt our adequacy for the function He will offer us. We will be certain only that He knows our strengths, our wisdom and our holiness. And if He deems us worthy, so we are. It is but arrogance that judges otherwise.

There is one way, and only one, to be released from the imprisonment your plan to prove the false is true has brought to you. Accept the plan you did not make instead. Judge not your value to it. If God's Voice assures you that salvation needs your part, and that the whole depends on you, be sure that it is so. The arrogant must cling to words, afraid to go beyond them to experience which might affront their stance. Yet are the humble free to hear the Voice which tells them what they are, and what to do.

Arrogance makes an image of yourself that is not real. It is this image which quails and retreats in terror, as the Voice for God assures you that you have the strength, the wisdom and the holiness to go beyond all images. You are not weak, as is the image of yourself. You are not ignorant and helpless. Sin can not tarnish the truth in you, and misery can come not near the holy home of God.

All this the Voice for God relates to you. And as He speaks, the image trembles and seeks to attack the threat it does not know, sensing its basis crumble. Let it go. Salvation of the world depends on you, and not upon this little pile of dust. What can it tell the holy Son of God? Why need he be concerned with it at all?

And so we find our peace. We will accept the function God has given us, for all illusions rest upon the weird belief that we can make another for ourselves. Our self-made roles are shifting, and they seem to change from mourner to ecstatic bliss of love and loving. We can laugh or weep, and greet the day with welcome or with tears. Our very being seems to change as we experience a thousand shifts in mood, and our emotions raise us high indeed, or dash us to the ground in hopelessness.

Is this the Son of God? Could He create such instability and call it Son? He Who is changeless shares His attributes with His creation. All the images His Son appears to make have no effect on what he is. They blow across his mind like wind-swept leaves that form a patterning an instant, break apart to group again, and scamper off. Or like mirages seen above a desert, rising from the dust.

These unsubstantial images will go, and leave your mind unclouded and serene, when you accept the function given you. The images you make give rise to but conflicting goals, impermanent and vague, uncertain and ambiguous. Who could be constant in his efforts, or direct his energies and concentrated drive toward goals like these? The functions which the world esteems are so uncertain that they change ten times an hour at their most secure. What hope of gain can rest on goals like this?

In lovely contrast, certain as the sun's return each morning to dispel the night, your truly given function stands out clear and wholly unambiguous. There is no doubt of its validity. It comes from One Who knows no error, and His Voice is certain of Its messages. They will not change, nor be in conflict. All of them point to one goal, and one you can attain. Your plan may be impossible, but God's can never fail because He is its Source.

Do as God's Voice directs. And if It asks a thing of you which seems impossible, remember Who it is that asks, and who would make denial. Then consider this; which is more likely to be right? The Voice that speaks for the Creator of all things, Who knows all things exactly as they are, or a distorted image of yourself, confused, bewildered, inconsistent and unsure of everything? Let not its voice direct you. Hear instead a certain Voice, which tells you of a function given you by your Creator Who remembers you, and urges that you now remember Him.

His gentle Voice is calling from the known to the unknowing. He would comfort you, although He knows no sorrow. He would make a restitution, though He is complete; a gift to you, although He knows that you have everything already. He has Thoughts which answer every need His Son perceives, although He sees them not. For Love must give, and what is given in His Name takes on the form most useful in a world of form.

These are the forms which never can deceive, because they come from Formlessness Itself. Forgiveness is an earthly form of love, which as it is in Heaven has no form. Yet what is needed here is given here as it is needed. In this form you can fulfill your function even here, although what love will mean to you when formlessness has been restored to you is greater still. Salvation of the world depends on you who can forgive. Such is your function here.

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Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

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Commentary on ACIM Lesson 185

I want the peace of God.

Today I am choosing to write very little because I do not know what I could say that would, in this moment, add anything needed. It happens sometimes. Human life is a rhythm--- I am learning to not force the river. Now is always the best time to practice peace. Further, the lesson is very powerful and also challenging. I pray you may read it several times during the day, whatever your Independence Day activities. For me, my prayer is to constantly remember I am in dependence upon God.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 185

I want the peace of God.

To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything. If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further sorrow possible for you in any form; in any place or time. Heaven would be completely given back to full awareness, memory of God entirely restored, the resurrection of all creation fully recognized.

No one can mean these words and not be healed. He cannot play with dreams, nor think he is himself a dream. He cannot make a hell and think it real. He wants the peace of God, and it is given him. For that is all he wants, and that is all he will receive. Many have said these words. But few indeed have meant them. You have but to look upon the world you see around you to be sure how very few they are. The world would be completely changed, should any two agree these words express the only thing they want.

Two minds with one intent become so strong that what they will becomes the Will of God. For minds can only join in truth. In dreams, no two can share the same intent. To each, the hero of the dream is different; the outcome wanted not the same for both. Loser and gainer merely shift about in changing patterns, as the ratio of gain to loss and loss to gain takes on a different aspect or another form.

Yet compromise alone a dream can bring. Sometimes it takes the form of union, but only the form. The meaning must escape the dream, for compromising is the goal of dreaming. Minds cannot unite in dreams. They merely bargain. And what bargain can give them the peace of God? Illusions come to take His place. And what He means is lost to sleeping minds intent on compromise, each to his gain and to another's loss.

To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams. For no one means these words who wants illusions, and who therefore seeks the means which bring illusions. He has looked on them, and found them wanting. Now he seeks to go beyond them, recognizing that another dream would offer nothing more than all the others. Dreams are one to him. And he has learned their only difference is one of form, for one will bring the same despair and misery as do the rest.

The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with other minds, for that is how peace is obtained. And when the wish for peace is genuine, the means for finding it is given, in a form each mind that seeks for it in honesty can understand. Whatever form the lesson takes is planned for him in such a way that he can not mistake it, if his asking is sincere. But if he asks without sincerity, there is no form in which the lesson will meet with acceptance and be truly learned.

Let us today devote our practicing to recognizing that we really mean the words we say. We want the peace of God. This is no idle wish. These words do not request another dream be given us. They do not ask for compromise, nor try to make another bargain in the hope that there may yet be one that can succeed where all the rest have failed. To mean these words acknowledges illusions are in vain, requesting the eternal in the place of shifting dreams which seem to change in what they offer, but are one in nothingness.

Today devote your practice periods to careful searching of your mind, to find the dreams you cherish still. What do you ask for in your heart? Forget the words you use in making your requests. Consider but what you believe will comfort you, and bring you happiness. But be you not dismayed by lingering illusions, for their form is not what matters now. Let not some dreams be more acceptable, reserving shame and secrecy for others. They are one. And being one, one question should be asked of all of them, "Is this what I would have, in place of Heaven and the peace of God?"

This is the choice you make. Be not deceived that it is otherwise. No compromise is possible in this. You choose God's peace, or you have asked for dreams. And dreams will come as you requested them. Yet will God's peace come just as certainly, and to remain with you forever. It will not be gone with every twist and turning of the road, to reappear, unrecognized, in forms which shift and change with every step you take.

You want the peace of God. And so do all who seem to seek for dreams. For them as well as for yourself, you ask but this when you make this request with deep sincerity. For thus you reach to what they really want, and join your own intent with what they seek above all things, perhaps unknown to them, but sure to you. You have been weak at times, uncertain in your purpose, and unsure of what you wanted, where to look for it, and where to turn for help in the attempt. Help has been given you. And would you not avail yourself of it by sharing it?

No one who truly seeks the peace of God can fail to find it. For he merely asks that he deceive himself no longer by denying to himself what is God's Will. Who can remain unsatisfied who asks for what he has already? Who could be unanswered who requests an answer which is his to give? The peace of God is yours.

For you was peace created, given you by its Creator, and established as His Own eternal gift. How can you fail, when you but ask for what He wills for you? And how could your request be limited to you alone? No gift of God can be unshared. It is this attribute that sets the gifts of God apart from every dream that ever seemed to take the place of truth.

No one can lose and everyone must gain whenever any gift of God has been requested and received by anyone. God gives but to unite. To take away is meaningless to Him. And when it is as meaningless to you, you can be sure you share one Will with Him, and He with you. And you will also know you share one Will with all your brothers, whose intent is yours.

It is this one intent we seek today, uniting our desires with the need of every heart, the call of every mind, the hope that lies beyond despair, the love attack would hide, the brotherhood that hate has sought to sever, but which still remains as God created it. With Help like this beside us, can we fail today as we request the peace of God be given us?

***********************************

My partnership request.... Please consider yourself an important gateway this message is passing through on it's way to others. Please do 'send it on'. Thank you.

***********************************

Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

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Commentary on ACIM Lesson 184

The Name of God is my inheritance.

"And then I step back into darkness, not because I think it real, but only to proclaim its unreality in terms which still have meaning in the world that darkness rules."(from today's 'first person' lesson [below the original lesson])

Yes, there is plenty going on 'in the world that darkness rules' these days... My email is full of the reports of current disasters, impending collapses, and advice on how to avoid them ('every man for himself').... I read them and feel the pain and the suffering. Is there something that you and I should do? Absolutely. But I suggest that perhaps it is not what you might first think.

I have a past youthful history of being politically passionate, of responding to causes, of wishing to protect the underdog, of desiring to end the usurpation of God's world by hellish forces. My responses to the unjust situations around me once briefly jailed me, and several other times could have ended me corporately, if I had let my rage carry me to its insane conclusions.

Yesterday I spoke of asking for a deeper awareness of personal peace when 'in the domain of worldly injustice'. I ask for this peace because of the need in the world for pure service. Because if I step into the darkness and then forget I am light, none of God's purpose is manifested.

I do not believe pure service can be done with an angry heart. For an angry heart is a heart separated from God. And therefore, from all others too. If I forget that all men are my brothers, I not only cannot 'save' them, I also make of them enemies. As Eckhart Tolle has said: What Jesus meant when he said 'Love your enemies' was Have No Enemies...

If we/I look at the events of the world with God's eyes, all things appear quite different than they do when being 'in the world'. The divine view is that the world is a school to learn love. The best way to learn is always direct experience. When I love, I am called into action by that love, but love leads. And where love leads is always toward unity, not war, not separate bickering factionalism and disfunctionality. Love is about getting the job done so that the world works. Werner Erhardt once said that that is our agreement with God--- to make the world work.

What will do that? I say: Make partnerships with the enemy. Bring light to darkness not by force, but by love. That is pure service.

Namaste,

David

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First, the Original Lesson, and below that, my 'first person version'....

Lesson 184

The Name of God is my inheritance.

You live by symbols. You have made up names for everything you see. Each one becomes a separate entity, identified by its own name. By this you carve it out of unity. By this you designate its special attributes, and set it off from other things by emphasizing space surrounding it. This space you lay between all things to which you give a different name; all happenings in terms of place and time; all bodies which are greeted by a name.

This space you see as setting off all things from one another is the means by which the world's perception is achieved. You see something where nothing is, and see as well nothing where there is unity; a space between all things, between all things and you. Thus do you think that you have given life in separation. By this split you think you are established as a unity which functions with an independent will.

What are these names by which the world becomes a series of discrete events, of things ununified, of bodies kept apart and holding bits of mind as separate awarenesses? You gave these names to them, establishing perception as you wished to have perception be. The nameless things were given names, and thus reality was given them as well. For what is named is given meaning and will then be seen as meaningful; a cause of true effect, with consequence inherent in itself.

This is the way reality is made by partial vision, purposefully set against the given truth. Its enemy is wholeness. It conceives of little things and looks upon them. And a lack of space, a sense of unity or vision that sees differently, become the threats which it must overcome, conflict with and deny.

Yet does this other vision still remain a natural direction for the mind to channel its perception. It is hard to teach the mind a thousand alien names, and thousands more. Yet you believe this is what learning means; its one essential goal by which communication is achieved, and concepts can be meaningfully shared.

This is the sum of the inheritance the world bestows. And everyone who learns to think that it is so accepts the signs and symbols that assert the world is real. It is for this they stand. They leave no doubt that what is named is there. It can be seen, as is anticipated. What denies that it is true is but illusion, for it is the ultimate reality. To question it is madness; to accept its presence is the proof of sanity.

Such is the teaching of the world. It is a phase of learning everyone who comes must go through. But the sooner he perceives on what it rests, how questionable are its premises, how doubtful its results, the sooner does he question its effects. Learning that stops with what the world would teach stops short of meaning. In its proper place, it serves but as a starting point from which another kind of learning can begin, a new perception can be gained, and all the arbitrary names the world bestows can be withdrawn as they are raised to doubt.

Think not you made the world. Illusions, yes! But what is true in earth and Heaven is beyond your naming. When you call upon a brother, it is to his body that you make appeal. His true Identity is hidden from you by what you believe he really is. His body makes response to what you call him, for his mind consents to take the name you give him as his own. And thus his unity is twice denied, for you perceive him separate from you, and he accepts this separate name as his.

It would indeed be strange if you were asked to go beyond all symbols of the world, forgetting them forever; yet were asked to take a teaching function. You have need to use the symbols of the world a while. But be you not deceived by them as well. They do not stand for anything at all, and in your practicing it is this thought that will release you from them. They become but means by which you can communicate in ways the world can understand, but which you recognize is not the unity where true communication can be found.

Thus what you need are intervals each day in which the learning of the world becomes a transitory phase; a prison house from which you go into the sunlight and forget the darkness. Here you understand the Word, the Name which God has given you; the one Identity which all things share; the one acknowledgment of what is true. And then step back to darkness, not because you think it real, but only to proclaim its unreality in terms which still have meaning in the world that darkness rules.

Use all the little names and symbols which delineate the world of darkness. Yet accept them not as your reality. The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but He does not forget creation has one Name, one meaning, and a single Source which unifies all things within Itself. Use all the names the world bestows on them but for convenience, yet do not forget they share the Name of God along with you.

God has no name. And yet His Name becomes the final lesson that all things are one, and at this lesson does all learning end. All names are unified; all space is filled with truth's reflection. Every gap is closed, and separation healed. The Name of God is the inheritance He gave to those who chose the teaching of the world to take the place of Heaven. In our practicing, our purpose is to let our minds accept what God has given as the answer to the pitiful inheritance you made as fitting tribute to the Son He loves.

No one can fail who seeks the meaning of the Name of God. Experience must come to supplement the Word. But first you must accept the Name for all reality, and realize the many names you gave its aspects have distorted what you see, but have not interfered with truth at all. One Name we bring into our practicing. One Name we use to unify our sight.

And though we use a different name for each awareness of an aspect of God's Son, we understand that they have but one Name, which He has given them. It is this Name we use in practicing. And through Its use, all foolish separations disappear which kept us blind. And we are given strength to see beyond them. Now our sight is blessed with blessings we can give as we receive.

Father, our Name is Yours. In It we are united with all living things, and You Who are their one Creator. What we made and call by many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across Your Own reality. And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. All our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved from all effects our errors seemed to have. And we accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. Your Name is our salvation and escape from what we made. Your Name unites us in the oneness which is our inheritance and peace. Amen.

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My personal version, in first person.

Lesson 184

The Name of God is my inheritance.

I live by symbols. I have made up names for everything I see. Each one becomes a separate entity, identified by its own name. By this I carve it out of unity. By this I designate its special attributes, and set it off from other things by emphasizing space surrounding it. This space I lay between all things to which I give a different name; all happenings in terms of place and time; all bodies which are greeted by a name.

This space I see as setting off all things from one another is the means by which the world's perception is achieved. I see something where nothing is, and see as well nothing where there is unity; a space between all things, between all things and me. Thus do I think that I have given life in separation. By this split I think I am established as a unity which functions with an independent will.

What are these names by which the world becomes a series of discrete events, of things ununified, of bodies kept apart and holding bits of mind as separate awarenesses? I gave these names to them, establishing perception as I wished to have perception be. The nameless things were given names, and thus reality was given them as well. For what is named is given meaning and will then be seen as meaningful; a cause of true effect, with consequence inherent in itself.

Yet does this other vision still remain a natural direction for the mind to channel its perception. It is hard to teach the mind a thousand alien names, and thousands more. Yet I believe this is what learning means; its one essential goal by which communication is achieved, and concepts can be meaningfully shared.

Let me think not I made the world. Illusions, yes! But what is true in earth and Heaven is beyond my naming. When I call upon a brother, it is to his body that I make appeal. His true Identity is hidden from me by what I believe he really is. His body makes response to what I call him, for his mind consents to take the name I give him as his own. And thus his unity is twice denied, for I perceive him separate from me, and he accepts this separate name as his.

It would indeed be strange if I were asked to go beyond all symbols of the world, forgetting them forever; yet were asked to take a teaching function. I have need to use the symbols of the world a while. But let me be not deceived by them as well. They do not stand for anything at all, and in my practicing it is this thought that will release me from them. They become but means by which I can communicate in ways the world can understand, but which I recognize is not the unity where true communication can be found.

Thus what I need are intervals each day in which the learning of the world becomes a transitory phase; a prison house from which I go into the sunlight and forget the darkness. Here I understand the Word, the Name which God has given me; the one Identity which all things share; the one acknowledgment of what is true. And then I step back into darkness, not because I think it real, but only to proclaim its unreality in terms which still have meaning in the world that darkness rules.

Let me use all the little names and symbols which delineate the world of darkness. Yet let me not accept them as my reality. The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but He does not forget creation has one Name, one meaning, and a single Source which unifies all things within Itself. Let me use all the names the world bestows on them but for convenience, yet not forget they share the Name of God along with me.

God has no name. And yet His Name becomes the final lesson that all things are one, and at this lesson does all learning end. All names are unified; all space is filled with truth's reflection. Every gap is closed, and separation healed. The Name of God is the inheritance He gave to those who chose the teaching of the world to take the place of Heaven. In my practicing, my purpose is to let my mind accept what God has given as the answer to the pitiful inheritance I made as fitting tribute to the Son He loves.

No one can fail who seeks the meaning of the Name of God. Experience must come to supplement the Word. But first I must accept the Name for all reality, and realize the many names I gave its aspects have distorted what I see, but have not interfered with truth at all. One Name I bring into my practicing. One Name I use to unify my sight.

And though I use a different name for each awareness of an aspect of God's Son, I understand that they have but one Name, which He has given them. It is this Name I use in practicing. And through Its use, all foolish separations disappear which kept me blind. And I am now given strength to see beyond them. Now my sight is blessed with blessings I can give as I receive.

Father, my Name is Yours. In It I am united with all living things, and You Who are their one Creator. What I made and call by many different names is but a shadow I have tried to cast across Your Own reality. And I am glad and thankful I am wrong. All my mistakes I give to You, that I may be absolved from all effects my errors seemed to have. And I accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. Your Name is my salvation and escape from what I made. Your Name unites me in the oneness which is my inheritance and peace. Amen.

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Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

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Commentary on ACIM Lesson 183

I call upon God's Name and on my own.

I receive 'my lessons' from every direction, even the occasional times I turn on a TV. Which I did yesterday for a short time. I've been 'working with the material' all day....

'The material' was a syndicated national 'talent show', where three judges and a live audience view a contestant's audition, and the judges vote yea/nay. What hooked me was how nasty and brutal the dialogue from the judges to a contestant became.... There was no recognition of brotherhood here, this was rating-driven dog eat dog 'entertainment'. The 'outclassed' hopeful who received particularly brutal treatment... booing and name calling plummeting into the range of legally mandated muting almost before he 'got to first base', pre-maturely killing his 'act' before he even got going (and obviously profoundly humiliating him).....he was just a 28 year old grocer trying to be a clown (and yes, he didn't belong on national tv). Yes, his 'act' (what I saw of it) was bad... Yet, was it necessary he be publicly humiliated? I opine that such events can cause huge emotional traumas....

I so felt for the brother like I was him...., and what I have been pondering and asking for today is a deeper peace when 'in the domain of worldly injustice'. Things like 'being humiliated' have also happened in my life too. 'They filled me' (Accurately... I choose to fill myself) with bitterness and anger and egoic self-righteousness, and I hardened my heart so as to not feel the pain (of, in my case for instance, being a failed prophet....mentioned that in an earlier Commentary, in case you are a new reader...). And as a result of my choice, several years of my life were lived in a very dark place that I would not now wish on anyone, even though I see because of it I know firsthand that pain... But thank God I met Gangaji in '94. Her clear being re-inspired me to 'ask for help', which did come and continues to come daily as needed, unlimited in its forms and blessings...

I know that now, watching that tv clip was a opportunity for deeper contemplation into the mystery of how God works, and my own healing. As I/we grow in the acceptance of our oneness with God and each other, the world in large part will continue without us, doing what it has always done. However it does that, it is OK. We each are assigned who we need to be working with specifically. How to know? It is in the connection you feel. I think of it as someone 'showing up in color'.

Would I be surprised to be in a store somewhere someday in the future and somehow discover myself talking to the humiliated grocer/clown of last nights TV? Absolutely not. In fact, if it is meant to be, it will happen. Why? Because 'our angelic supervisors' will arrange it if I am further assigned to serve the brother. Such a thing could be, after all, he definitely just served me.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 183

I call upon God's Name and on my own.

God's Name is holy, but no holier than yours. To call upon His Name is but to call upon your own. A father gives his son his name, and thus identifies the son with him. His brothers share his name, and thus are they united in a bond to which they turn for their identity. Your Father's Name reminds you who you are, even within a world that does not know; even though you have not remembered it.

God's Name can not be heard without response, nor said without an echo in the mind that calls you to remember. Say His Name, and you invite the angels to surround the ground on which you stand, and sing to you as they spread out their wings to keep you safe, and shelter you from every worldly thought that would intrude upon your holiness.

Repeat God's Name, and all the world responds by laying down illusions. Every dream the world holds dear has suddenly gone by, and where it seemed to stand you find a star; a miracle of grace. The sick arise, healed of their sickly thoughts. The blind can see; the deaf can hear. The sorrowful cast off their mourning, and the tears of pain are dried as happy laughter comes to bless the world.

Repeat the Name of God, and little names have lost their meaning. No temptation but becomes a nameless and unwanted thing before God's Name. Repeat His Name, and see how easily you will forget the names of all the gods you valued. They have lost the name of god you gave them. They become anonymous and valueless to you, although before you let the Name of God replace their little names, you stood before them worshipfully, naming them as gods.

Repeat the Name of God, and call upon your Self, Whose Name is His. Repeat His Name, and all the tiny, nameless things on earth slip into right perspective. Those who call upon the Name of God can not mistake the nameless for the Name, nor sin for grace, nor bodies for the holy Son of God. And should you join a brother as you sit with him in silence, and repeat God's Name along with him within your quiet mind, you have established there an altar which reaches to God Himself and to His Son.

Practice but this today; repeat God's Name slowly again and still again. Become oblivious to every name but His. Hear nothing else. Let all your thoughts become anchored on this. No other word we use except at the beginning, when we say today's idea but once. And then God's Name becomes our only thought, our only word, the only thing that occupies our minds, the only wish we have, the only sound with any meaning, and the only Name of everything that we desire to see; of everything that we would call our own.

Thus do we give an invitation which can never be refused. And God will come, and answer it Himself. Think not He hears the little prayers of those who call on Him with names of idols cherished by the world. They cannot reach Him thus. He cannot hear requests that He be not Himself, or that His Son receive another name than His.

Repeat God's Name, and you acknowledge Him as sole Creator of reality. And you acknowledge also that His Son is part of Him, creating in His Name. Sit silently, and let His Name become the all-encompassing idea that holds your mind completely. Let all thoughts be still except this one. And to all other thoughts respond with this, and see God's Name replace the thousand little names you gave your thoughts, not realizing that there is one Name for all there is, and all that there will be.

Today you can achieve a state in which you will experience the gift of grace. You can escape all bondage of the world, and give the world the same release you found. You can remember what the world forgot, and offer it your own remembering. You can accept today the part you play in its salvation, and your own as well. And both can be accomplished perfectly.

Turn to the Name of God for your release, and it is given you. No prayer but this is necessary, for it holds them all within it. Words are insignificant, and all requests unneeded when God's Son calls on his Father's Name. His Father's Thoughts become his own. He makes his claim to all his Father gave, is giving still, and will forever give. He calls on Him to let all things he thought he made be nameless now, and in their place the holy Name of God becomes his judgment of their worthlessness.

All little things are silent. Little sounds are soundless now. The little things of earth have disappeared. The universe consists of nothing but the Son of God, who calls upon his Father. And his Father's Voice gives answer in his Father's holy Name. In this eternal, still relationship, in which communication far transcends all words, and yet exceeds in depth and height whatever words could possibly convey, is peace eternal. In our Father's Name, we would experience this peace today. And in His Name, it shall be given us.

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My partnership request.... Please consider yourself an important gateway this message is passing through on it's way to others. Please do 'send it on'. Thank you.

***********************************

Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag