Commentary on ACIM Lesson 260

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

Let me remember God created me.

The best way to remember is: to not forget. Starting with this breath. Then staying with this breath. There is no longer any need of ever leaving the heart of God. Are not all your needs provided? Is not your life clearly held up and blessed each and every day? Do not all the challenges of life also bring with them gifts that allow you and I to meet them? Does not a spirit of holiness protect you from the insanities of this world? Are you not like the lotus flower, floating upon the waters of life?

There is a famous image, from the Hindu tradition.... a swan swims up to you as you pour milk into the water... the swan drinks the milk from the water, without drinking the water. This describes the grace of discernment... the gift of recognizing the difference between what is real, and what is not. You and I have received this gift. Today is our day to practice using it, that the seed of your perfected being may reach its full maturity. Just always remember, there is only one of us here. :-)

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 260

Let me remember God created me.

Father, I did not make myself, although in my insanity I thought I did. Yet, as Your Thought, I have not left my Source, remaining part of Who created me. Your Son, my Father, calls on You today. Let me remember You created me. Let me remember my Identity. And let my sinlessness arise again before Christ's vision, through which I would look upon my brothers and myself today.

Now is our Source remembered, and Therein we find our true Identity at last. Holy indeed are we, because our Source can know no sin. And we who are His Sons are like each other, and alike to Him.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 259

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

Let me remember there is no sin.

Translation: Let me remember there is nothing that is unforgivable. Therefore, let me remember that my/our only function is forgiveness. Starting with 'yours truly'.

In fact, beyond 'starting'. Until forgiving ourselves is complete, there is no other 'spiritual growth' agenda.

Do you wish to know why forgiveness is our only function? It is because all our suffering, event by event, began by NOT forgiving... and not forgiving is exactly what is keeping in place all our current suffering. So the Course is giving us the way out. And it knows it is the way we (meaning everyone) will ultimately chose of our own free will.

Why would God allow this?...(meaning, let us continue our delusional egoic insanity and the hellish nightmare it creates in the place of Heaven....).

Because, there is nothing that is unforgivable.

Being a savior in this world is nothing more that forgiving all lack of Love, wherever/whenever it occurs. And that is what actual Love always does.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 259

Let me remember that there is no sin.

Sin is the only thought that makes the goal of God seem unattainable. What else could blind us to the obvious, and make the strange and the distorted seem more clear? What else but sin engenders our attacks? What else but sin could be the source of guilt, demanding punishment and suffering? And what but sin could be the source of fear, obscuring God's creation; giving love the attributes of fear and of attack?

Father, I would not be insane today. I would not be afraid of love, nor seek for refuge in its opposite. For love can have no opposite. You are the Source of everything there is. And everything that is remains with You, and You with it.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 258

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

Let me remember that my goal is God.

I live that we are all pretty similar, whatever the appearances. So probably there is value in sharing in this Commentary (assuming the previous Commentaries as context) that my emotional discovery journey is continuing to open. I'm not non-functional or anything. I'm just recognizing things when they come up, and I then do the release breath-work. But what I am looking at, in receiving these messages from my body, is that I have been lying to myself, on a feeling level, for a very long time, and I have been very blind to it.

I think a whole lot of us do it too. I don't think our culture would look the way it does if this was not so. We just don't get how important it is to feel.... fully.... exactly whatever it is that we are feeling.... every single moment we are alive.

I've been thinking about what 'being present' really is, and my take is that it is a natural state when we are free enough of our cultural conditioning to feel 'our authentic individual truth'. The Course teaches that training the mind is effective as a way of clearing negative emotions, and I believe that that is true, or at least certainly always helpful. Maybe it's ultimately true for everyone also, but that would probably be 'when we are fully ripe' (within this contextual time/space matrix).

But being present is outside time/space in one way, and inside time/space in another, because it's an expression of individually accessing infinity (no limits). Being present is a state of no resistance, which is pretty much the Course's description of God, also. Fundamentally, being present is a state of miraculousness. And it is a state of complete honesty and total vulnerability at the same time too.

I see what I am really describing here is emotional openness, which is exactly what the world teaches is very unsafe and dangerous to be, in this world. (I find that to be a false teaching, similar to political ads about needing more Border Patrol to 'protect America'. I want to say to them: Please stop selling me more fear...) I find that if I don't show up too strange, but instead, act inside the context of (at least marginal) 'appropriateness', that people are incredibly drawn to beings who are emotionally open, who share themselves authentically. So that's been (I thought) my practice. Actually, it has been, except that all that has been kept on the superficial level. But what I am seeing now is that where I have been false to myself is about my true deep feelings. Feelings that I didn't even know I had. For instance, one example showed up tonight....

I was visiting Mom, and she is one by one in detail sharing with me each and every letter and card that she has received from 'old friends' expressing condolences about Dad's passing. Then, there is something from my sister Darla (my sweetheart sister). I don't remember what it was about... some family stuff in her life on the other side of the continent. But suddenly I found I was feeling a profound sadness that we have lived our entire adult lives separated by thousands of miles, and that to all 'her family', I hardly exist. How did this happen?... Why would I choose to live a life completely away from people who are core to our existence? What had me choose that? And how do so many of these kinds of things happen in all our lives.... when if we were able to be emotionally honest we would have seen that someday we might wish we'd made other choices.... Choices which expressed our true and deepest love.... Breathe... Feel... Release.... The past has happened. What we have is 'from here forward'...

Summation. There is a lot of supposedly non-tramatic emotional sadness, guilt, grief, shame etc, running amuck in our lives and in the world. We are told we have to be practical, strong, make choices based on economics, stuff like that. We are very seldom given permission to simply feel. I suggest we give ourselves that permission, and expect that miracles will result.

And as for me, I think learning to feel my real true core feelings is like being reborn. :-)

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 258

Let me remember that my goal is God.

All that is needful is to train our minds to overlook all little senseless aims, and to remember that our goal is God. His memory is hidden in our minds, obscured but by our pointless little goals which offer nothing, and do not exist. Shall we continue to allow God's grace to shine in unawareness, while the toys and trinkets of the world are sought instead? God is our only goal, our only Love. We have no aim but to remember Him.

Our goal is but to follow in the way that leads to You. We have no goal but this. What could we want but to remember You? What could we seek but our Identity?

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.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 256

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

God is the only goal I have today.

What, exactly, is the 'peace of God?' I suppose there are many levels of such a question, and many ways to answer. But the answer I am experiencing is: The Peace of God is 'space'.

I am still integrating the bodywork I received as a 'gift of God' last night, and it is this that has led me to see God's peace as 'space'. Or, more accurately, that the lack of space is why we are NOT experiencing peace (when we are not). There's more.

The work that D.B. did upon me was deceptively simple--- he found the pain, and he pushed (gently) into it. What is pain? It is 'no space'. It is where contraction has no room to relax. Why? Because I was still holding on to unforgiving thoughts (anger, sadness, etc) and it was being stored in, and manifesting, in my body. Where else but into our bodies is our upset, rage, powerlessness, or frustration going to go if we do not forgive, both ourselves and the others involved? It stays with us, and eventually cripples us until finally it kills, when there is simply no room left to 'be'.

What D.B. did that was healing was to lead me in deep release breath work. He got me clear that, as everything is related, the inflammation that 'suddenly appeared' in my shoulder and elbow were not 1. a sudden event (but rather a 'call for help' that had been building over time, and that I finally could not ignore), and 2., that inflammation in particular is a dis-ease manifestation of suppressed anger. As he pushed on my pain areas (which was obviously very painful) he had me do a very specific kind of breathing to release the anger. It was the kind of breath that would 'fog a mirror', as distinct from 'blow out a candle'. It was like how a singer meters out the air from their lung bellow with great efficiency, except in this breath no sound was made. There is a yogic name for this kind of breath, but I don't remember it. D.B. had me add 'the emotion' that was in the pain into the breath, and see it as 'very hot', like a dragons. I breathed out the pain, again, and again, and again.

Sometimes, he said, he will spend a whole session on just one muscle, because that is how tight we get. In any event, for me, it all connected. Deep work like this makes the body feel 'different', and that is because it is literally a physical reconstruction process.

This morning as I drove the 3 hours back home, my body just kept taking these huge breaths, and then, slowly releasing, more and more. It was then that I noticed that the peace was physical. That I had a new space in me. So you see, peace IS space. You might say, space to breathe.

I've had a talk with D.B. today, and I hope to arrange to have him come here to Yuma to do a training.... miofascial release work is what it is called. He's about to publish a book on it and his teaching seminars are a wonderful way to learn and practice. I think it would be wonderful if a lot more of us were able to help each other do such deep work. We all probably need more than a few sessions to empty ourselves of these major emotional poisons. At least, I sense I do, and I'd like to create a few skilled practitioners in the area to trade with. If you are interested, please let me know. I'll keep you informed as to developments.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 256

God is the only goal I have today.

The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way. If sin had not been cherished by the mind, what need would there have been to find the way to where you are? Who would still be uncertain? Who could be unsure of who he is? And who would yet remain asleep, in heavy clouds of doubt about the holiness of him whom God created sinless? Here we can but dream. But we can dream we have forgiven him in whom all sin remains impossible, and it is this we choose to dream today. God is our goal; forgiveness is the means by which our minds return to Him at last.

And so, our Father, would we come to You in Your appointed way. We have no goal except to hear Your Voice, and find the way Your sacred Word has pointed out to us.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 255

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

This day I choose to spend in perfect peace.

The peace of God is the greatest gift we can receive in this life. Throughout history, we have the testimony of those who have had it, speaking that it allows tranquility regardless of circumstance, and empowers a being with both strength, endurance, and courage when facing the challenges of life.

One of the revolutionary thoughts presented in the Course is that this peace is 'chosen' by us alone. While most people are correct that God's peace is a blessing, what is often overlooked is that it is a totally available blessing, and having it is completely dependent upon our choice to ask for and receive it......

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

That's as far as I got Saturday morning before heading to Phoenix, thinking I'd have a few chances to finish later in the day. That didn't happen, but what did was the appearance of the master bodywork healer that I have been calling for. We met tonight at a rawfood potluck, and after a brief conversation about the chronic pain in my shoulder that was now also in my elbow, we found a quiet place and he went to work on me--for two hours. The work was also (very) painful, but a good kind of pain (kind of like re-constructing, actually), and the breathwork he coached me in was excellent in assisting me to release many held in emotions and tears. Clearly God loves me, as this healer was told to come to this event because someone would need him. Obviously, that someone was me.

So anyway, right now I am a wrung out puppy in need of a deep sleep (and no driving till after I sleep), which is waiting until I send out something to this Commentary circle that makes coherent sense. I wasn't planning on staying over, but body knows best...

Let's just say tonight I'm taking a needed break. Peace to you all.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 255

This day I choose to spend in perfect peace.

It does not seem to me that I can choose to have but peace today. And yet, my God assures me that His Son is like Himself. Let me this day have faith in Him Who says I am God's Son. And let the peace I choose be mine today bear witness to the truth of what He says. God's Son can have no cares, and must remain forever in the peace of Heaven. In His Name, I give today to finding what my Father wills for me, accepting it as mine, and giving it to all my Father's Sons, along with me.

And so, my Father, would I pass this day with You. Your Son has not forgotten You. The peace You gave him still is in his mind, and it is there I choose to spend today.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 254

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

Let every voice but God's be still in me.

Choosing to remember God in the midst of our egoic lives is a bit weird for most mass consciousness people.... but culturally, it is now far easier than it used to be. I remember a pamphlet I once had.... on the front was a beautiful Chinese brush painting showing a monk sweeping the village streets with a huge grin of ecstasy on his face. In the pamphlet was a teaching story talking about how, to the masses, the wise and enlightened ones always appeared to be 'crazy'. Again, I am sure (because NOTHING is accidental) that there is/was a Divine Intention behind all this, as one might observe that the conditions of suffering in this world are often increased by those who have physical powers and technologies but lack the spiritual maturity to use them 'wisely' (meaning: actually seeing the karmic impact of an action, and choosing only healing choices).

When every voice but God's is still in us, it is much less likely that our actions will result in suffering--- our own or others. In fact, that is the great purpose of stilling the voice of the ego--- to bring into being the end of egoic suffering, first our own, and then, by providing the example, the worlds . Whether one thinks of it in terms of 'Bodhisattva' or 'Savior' does not matter (as they express the same consciousness), pure altruistic selfless service is the destiny we all have waiting for us. It is only a matter of time, and our willingness to grow in consciousness.

As we grow, we will find our curriculum will present opportunities to serve those we judged in the past. For instance, when I was younger, I did not wish to be 'burdened' with the needs of the elderly. As you know, I have been now surrounded for nearly a year by a culture of elderly people, out of my hearts choice to come serve my parents in their twilight years. I find it interesting, to say the least, as I unlearn so many previous judgmental attitudes. It's similar to the experience I had once as a twenty-three year old vagabond in the early seventies--- living snowbound for the winter in northern Wisconsin with nine cats. After a while, they grew used to me, gradually opened up to me, let me see them telepathically, and finally, came to depend on me. Same thing with old people. I'm living with them on all sides. They were my parents friends, and I was 'something strange' when I arrived. Now, having survived their rattlesnakes while repairing their broken plumbing, I have become fully human to them, and, I noticed today, I was allowed me to see their authentic 'couple' relationship without any pretense of 'looking good'. Humm, I thought... so that's what it looks like to be them, after fifty years... Almost like I am being adopted into the tribe.

For me, this just verifies my understanding that we are all covered. And that there in no need to push the river--- that all that we truly need will arrive 'right on time'. This is faith walking--- a kind of surfing life. Having this tuned in and turned on certainly allows for less stressing, and less worrying. That is the whole purpose. For if we let our stresses and worries have us, where does that leave God? Empty handed? Naaa, that's the egos trip. It just leaves God waiting, until we remember once again, that we just had another dream of being alone.

When every voice but God's is still, being alone is impossible. :-)

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 254

Let every voice but God's be still in me.

Father, today I would but hear Your Voice. In deepest silence I would come to You, to hear Your Voice and to receive Your Word. I have no prayer but this: I come to You to ask You for the truth. And truth is but Your Will, which I would share with You today.

Today we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions. When such thoughts occur, we quietly step back and look at them, and then we let them go. We do not want what they would bring with them. And so we do not choose to keep them. They are silent now. And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love, God speaks to us and tells us of our will, as we have chosen to remember Him.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 253

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

My Self is ruler of the universe.

I assume you have noticed this Course is rather free with its use of language tense shifting, which keeps the student 'on her/his toes', so to speak, figuring out what is being said. I am sure it is intentional. I think it is like in the ancient mystery schools, where the teaching delivered messages on many levels, i.e., something for everyone, but not revealing the pearls of deeper wisdom to the unawakened.

The ability to do that is also a pretty clear demonstration of Infinite Intelligence, in my opinion. In any case, if I was to pick out an example of what I am talking about, the last paragraph of todays lesson would be a good case in point. At first reading, it baffles the (my) brain (which is good) and computes as 'huh?'. I put my eyes in reverse at that point and return to the beginning of the lesson, where the clarity is obvious (for the first five sentences). I find those five sentences radical, even revolutionary, in that they confirm that each of us is the creator of our own experience, down to the nth degree. Take a look:

It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself

When I get super straight with myself, I can see this is the truth. Whatever is going on, I chose it, and even more, actively asked for it. Perhaps not consciously though, and that's the 'little catch' where we/I get to see HOW straight we are willing to be. Because when we 'go unconscious', it does not mean we cease to be creative. Hardly. The way the game usually goes is: first we are challenged, then we feel overwhelmed, then we check out (go unconscious), then we generate a lot of irresponsible (victim) thinking without 'cancel clearing' it, so that universe begins to act on it, placing our 'order' into our lives. Why? Perhaps in order to challenge us again. Why? Perhaps because we egos tend to forget God completely when all we have is 'good times'.

Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen. This must I accept.

And why must I accept this? Only because it is the only way to become free. There is no true freedom without being willing to be responsible for it. Being responsible for true freedom is the path of the Bodhisattva. That means: being willing to surrender the ego forever. Where that leads one is then a matter of soul dharma, but one thing is for sure... the Godness will use you. For there is no such thing in Heaven as an angel without a mission. Best idea I have to offer right now: Let your joy choose a mission, then serve it joyfully.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 253

My Self is ruler of the universe.

It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen. This must I accept. For thus am I led past this world to my creations, children of my will, in Heaven where my holy Self abides with them and Him Who has created me.

You are the Self Whom You created Son, creating like Yourself and One with You. My Self, which rules the universe, is but Your Will in perfect union with my own, which can but offer glad assent to Yours, that it may be extended to Itself.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 252

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

The Son of God is my Identity.

Most of us think we exist, at least that's what I experience that most of us think. But there have been a few awesome moments in my life that altered the solidity of that 'thinking', and opened me (or cracked me) to a different way of seeing and knowing. That is what I write about here in these Commentaries.

Todays lesson uses language that reminds me of how little I actually understand, when compared to 'the totality'. Of course, as a limited being, I can't compare anything to 'the totality', because I have no grasp of it. That is 'the limited me' I am referring to, aka me as an ego. But the cracks let light in, and that light brought with it Love, and Love taught me I am only as limited as I am blind, and I am only as blind as I am committed to keeping my eyes and heart closed. And Love also taught me that the true me is NEVER committed to a closed heart or a blind perception.

I remember how humbled I was once, years ago, when my son's response to a breakdown he had 'caused' taught me a beautiful lesson. "Oh", he'd said, "I made a mistake". That was all. No upset, no guilt, no remorse, no trip laying upon himself of any kind. He just acknowledged the mistake, corrected it, and moved on. If I remember, he was not yet ten.

Isn't it great to be around teachers like that? The great secret is: we ALWAYS are. They are old, and young, strong and weak, arrogant and humble, wise and ignorant. They are our friends, our 'enemies', our lovers, our jailers, and our deepest beloveds. Sometimes it is easy to see their gifts, and sometimes it is hard. But when it is hard, it is always because of one reason: We think we exist separate from them (meaning, we think we are 'free' to forget we exist in a non-divisable universe). We are. But at a price called suffering.

The end of suffering begins with giving up our separate identity. That is the way to becoming a Son of God. For no Son of God knows him/herself as anything other than the whole. And as the whole is one, in truth, we are one also. We know we have truly 'got it' by a simple little test.... it is called "the presence of Joy in our heart". No better compass through life is there than this.

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 252

The Son of God is my Identity.

My Self is holy beyond all the thoughts of holiness of which I now conceive. Its shimmering and perfect purity is far more brilliant than is any light that I have ever looked upon. Its love is limitless, with an intensity that holds all things within it, in the calm of quiet certainty. Its strength comes not from burning impulses which move the world, but from the boundless Love of God Himself. How far beyond this world my Self must be, and yet how near to me and close to God!

Father, You know my true Identity. Reveal It now to me who am Your Son, that I may waken to the truth in You, and know that Heaven is restored to me.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 251

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

I am in need of nothing but the truth.

A couple of lines jumped out of the lesson at me. "To sense is not to know." And, "All that I sought before I needed not, and did not even want."

"To sense is not to know" presents a clarity that touches me like a long forgotten melody suddenly remembered. Direct knowledge is obviously not 'sensed', it is known by being the thing known. We all have this ability. It is called 'compassion', or 'empathy', or 'communion'. We find it by giving up trying to know something while at the same time remaining separate from it. That is impossible. Only the ego even tries it, as all true being already knows only union gives knowledge. All true being is automatically intimate.

"All that I sought before I needed not, and did not even want" speaks to just how completely God has got us 'covered'. Our Source knows us beyond 'well', and has given us a domain called time to discover the truth about ourselves in. Time seems to stretch on into Infinity, but it does not. Only God is truly Infinite. God is beyond time, or any limitedness. Yet does She enter our awareness through every portal imaginable. Everything the ego claims is it's possession, is not. All that IS belongs to God. That includes us too, obviously.

As we journey through the being of God called Life, it is impossible not to grow, and in the end, remember our Divine Nature. It is in remembering this Divinity that we are released from all desiring for anything other than 'what is'. This is "giving up seeking", and then entering, "the simplicity of being".

Namaste,

David

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Lesson 251

Section 4. What is Sin?

Sin is insanity. It is the means by which the mind is driven mad, and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth. And being mad, it sees illusions where the truth should be, and where it really is. Sin gave the body eyes, for what is there the sinless would behold? What need have they of sights or sounds or touch? What would they hear or reach to grasp? What would they sense at all? To sense is not to know. And truth can be but filled with knowledge, and with nothing else.

The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to deceive itself. Its purpose is to strive. Yet can the goal of striving change. And now the body serves a different aim for striving. What it seeks for now is chosen by the aim the mind has taken as replacement for the goal of self-deception. Truth can be its aim as well as lies. The senses then will seek instead for witnesses to what is true.

Sin is the home of all illusions, which but stand for things imagined, issuing from thoughts that are untrue. They are the "proof" that what has no reality is real. Sin "proves" God's Son is evil; timelessness must have an end; eternal life must die. And God Himself has lost the Son He loves, with but corruption to complete Himself, His Will forever overcome by death, love slain by hate, and peace to be no more.

A madman's dreams are frightening, and sin appears indeed to terrify. And yet what sin perceives is but a childish game. The Son of God may play he has become a body, prey to evil and to guilt, with but a little life that ends in death. But all the while his Father shines on him, and loves him with an everlasting Love which his pretenses cannot change at all.

How long, O Son of God, will you maintain the game of sin? Shall we not put away these sharp-edged children's toys? How soon will you be ready to come home? Perhaps today? There is no sin. Creation is unchanged. Would you still hold return to Heaven back? How long, O holy Son of God, how long?

Lesson 251

I am in need of nothing but the truth.

I sought for many things, and found despair. Now do I seek but one, for in that one is all I need, and only what I need. All that I sought before I needed not, and did not even want. My only need I did not recognize. But now I see that I need only truth. In that all needs are satisfied, all cravings end, all hopes are finally fulfilled and dreams are gone. Now have I everything that I could need. Now have I everything that I could want. And now at last I find myself at peace.

And for that peace, our Father, we give thanks. What we denied ourselves You have restored, and only that is what we really want.