Let me not forget my function.
Lesson 64 of A Course in Miracles owns a powerful simplicity. It is another way of articulating a familiar line from the Lord’s Prayer: “let me not wander into temptation” (W-pI.64.1:1). It’s a way of affirming that if we focus our attention exclusively on the Kingdom of Heaven, then that is what we will experience. There is nothing else we need to do, nobody else to do it and now is the only time to do it.
To the Holy Spirit, the world is a place where you learn to forgive yourself what you think of as your sins. In this perception, the physical appearance of temptation becomes the spiritual recognition of salvation (W-pI.64.2:3-4).
Our role in salvation is to practice forgiveness. To forgive is to perceive from the truth of our own holiness (rather than our separation, loneliness and fear). To see the world as forgiven is to see our own self as forgiven, for the two are not separate. This is atonement.
The world’s salvation awaits your forgiveness, because through it does the Son of God escape from all illusions, and thus from all temptation. The Son of God is you (W-pI.64.3:3-4).
When we accept atonement for ourselves – and thus perceive a forgiven world – we are making ourselves happy by “using the means by which happiness becomes inevitable” (W-pI.64.4:2). We are essentially resigning as our own teacher and accepting Jesus and the Holy Spirit as our teachers in all things. They guide us; we simply consent to be led.
At first, this is unfamiliar to us. We are used to being the boss of our own lives – and stubbornly cling to that role despite the abundant evidence that we’re not fit for the position. As we turn our lives over to God, trusting that all things will work for good, we are blessed with peace. We are blessed with happiness. This, in turn, deepens our commitment to faith, to this particular path and practice. We know it works. And we want more of that joy that comes from its working.
Indeed, this lesson nails it when it tells us to remember that the only choice available to us is whether to be happy or not (W-pI.64.4:4). How simple! And trusting that, how can any decision be difficult? We are always choosing between our happiness and what happiness is not. We could see peace instead of this! And it is our choice. And there is no thing and no body that can stop us from making that choice.
There is no other way. Therefore, every time you choose whether or not to fulfill your function, you are really choosing whether or not be be happy (W-pI.64.4:3-4).
It is so simple we think there must be something else to it. There must be some hidden meaning. There must be some mystery. Let me break out the how-to books. Let me dial up my teacher.
But stop and ask for a moment: what if it’s true? What if we spent a day choosing happiness? Could we do that? If not, why not? It would undo conflict forever. It would bless everyone we encountered. It would truly render us “the light of the world.”
All we have to do – in all things – is remember our function. We are here to forgive. If – like me – you are prone to complicating things, and so you can’t quite remember what ACIM forgiveness is, or if you are tempted to exempt some people or ideas or things from your forgiveness, then remember that it always comes down to being happy. If we are not happy, we could be. Indeed, our unhappiness is a witness to the fact that we have chosen against forgiveness. Seeing this, can we choose differently? God didn’t make God difficult. We did.
We need to resolve to do this today. We need to resolve to resign as our own teacher and let the light of Love and Forgiveness stream through us. Today is the day the Lord has made – today, the world is the Kingdom of God and nothing but the happiness of all God’s Children is a worthy goal or outcome. We are ready to be happy and to bring the world along with us in our joy. There is no more waiting. No more postponing. There is no more “yes, but . . . ”
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Thanks Sean for your outstanding clarity and encouragement. I always try to follow up a workbook lesson with a visit to your website. Keep up the great work!
In the 9th step promises that is liturgy at many AA meetings, it is “we are going to find … a NEW happiness”. Collapse that with TODAY we “re”solve … that no Message has ever said anything else … and there’s a good chuckle in there … happiness. (and to me “solve” I refer to the sense of being in a liquid solution, spread throughout, not the “fix it” illusory connotation)
Mike do you ever get out East? I know you said that you went to school in Boston. I’d really like to talk to you about some of this stuff.
Hope you’re having a beautiful weekend!
Sean
I, and my spouse, are way overdue to go back. So with the chance of arranging a visit with you as well!, I’d say it might happen relatively soon. Gregg is retired now, and his recent thought of where to move (we won’t want to continue with the urban costs) is back to New England and Upstate NY.
I’m having a sleepy weekend. There’s the old dark shoulding temptations of doing more, but then also the appreciation of the natural resting and its comforting. And part of that is not just the body resting, but the appreciation of being more now now. And that still includes plenty of reminding, which your offerings are a major part of. Thanks, already, for your visits via the internet. They mean a lot to me.
Yours, Mike
l reviewed this lesson today ‘Let me not forget my function’.
I’m sharing this experience because the Holy Spirit has asked me to share it.
During the longer practice period I asked the Holy Spirit “What is your message?” He said so many beautiful things of encouragement and acknowledgement about how l have joined my mind and will with His, how we will serve my function together, about how I have accepted salvation and that l think with Him and how we are one. One of the last things he said was “Blessed are you who walk with me, for darkness will not touch you”.
Then He/Jesus placed my hands together and placed his on mine and demonstrated the strength, will and power there that we have together. Then He/Jesus placed His face down in a type of prayer gesture and kept it there level with our hands. ln my stomach l had a quacking sensation. lt felt like a feeling of being cherished. lt was His own sensation being transmitted to me. lt was so powerful. Words can not describe it, but the closest l might be able to say about it was that it felt like something far beyond love and not from this world. It was something like His acknowledgement of my: being, divinity, oneness of sharing our minds together and acknowledgement of our wills being shared together for the plan God has made for us.
Blessings to you all,
Jayney