This is a positive declaration of our reality; it is an assertion of truth, according to A Course in Miracles. Do you believe it? Is it your reality?
It is also a negative assertion. That is, by declaring that we are spirit, it simultaneously declares that we are not bodies.
It accepts no split identity, nor tries to weave opposing factors into unity. It simply states the truth (W-pI.97.1:2-3).
When we say that we are spirit – implicitly accepting that we are not bodies – we also leave behind the many conflicts and problems that bodies have in the world. Starving kids, cancer, long day at work – these are not problems. They aren’t even experiences. They are illusions masking the simple truth that we are spirit “in whose mind abides the miracle in which all time stands still” (W-pI.97.4:1).
Is this your truth? If not, why not? Do you want it to be? Where is the resistance? Where is the glad acceptance?
This current sequence of lessons shifts our focus from larger blocks of time at the beginning and end of the day to hourly five-minute intervals given to the Holy Spirit, whose strength and integrity carry us past resistance and into glad acceptance.
Give Him the minutes which He needs today, to help you understand with Him you are the spirit that abides in Him, and calls through His Voice to every living thing; offers His sight to everyone who asks; replaces error with the simple truth (W-pI.97.4:4).
This is kin to giving permission to our right mind – that part of us that knows it remains united with its Creator in Creation – to effectively run the show for a bit. The effects of that release are significant and they are not for us alone.
The Holy Spirit will be glad to take five minutes of each hour from your hands, and carry them around this aching world where pain and misery appear to rule. He will not overlook one open mind that will accept the healing gifts they bring, and he will lay them everywhere He knows they will be welcome (W-pI.97.5:1-2).
Salvation is not singular but relational. When we give attention to the healing of our brothers and sisters, it returns to us as a brilliant and steady light that both leads out of the darkness and forever undoes our habit of getting lost or distracted (W-pI.97.6:2-3).
We are spirit. What does this mean for you? How will you know? Each small step we take today – regardless of how timidly or uncertainly or reluctantly we take it – teaches us what it means. And the effect of that teaching is a certainty about self-identity that yields only peace and quiet joy.
The specific invitation that A Course in Miracles makes is always to give attention to what is within rather than what is without. We are not seeking a missing piece in the world which we can find and integrate and thus restore our self to glory but rather undoing our mistaken belief that anything is missing at all.
This is what the course means when it teaches us that salvation comes from the unified Self, the one Self that we are in truth, forever whole and perfect in Creation, as befits the Love that is our Creator.
You are one Self, united and secure in light and joy and peace . . . You are one Self, complete and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the world, and let the light in you come through to teach the world the truth about yourself (W-pI.95.12:1, 3).
Yet we cannot know this about our self if we experience as having degrees, or parts. If we project a dual rather than an nondual nature, we are lost and have deprived ourselves of salvation.
The fact that truth and illusion cannot be reconciled, no matter how you try, what means you use and where you see the problem, must be accepted if you would be saved. Until you have accepted this, you will attempt an endless list of goals you cannot reach; a senseless series of expenditures of time and effort, hopefulness and doubt, each one as futile as the one before, and failing as the next one surely will (W-pI.96.2:1-2).
This is a conflict between a self that we make and project, which has nothing to do with the Self that is united with God. The Self united with God cannot be divided. All our hope rests on accepting this, even if we do not yet believe it, or even see a way towards believing it.
Thus, it is a question of giving our mind and all its power of creation over to Spirit, holding on to not a single shred of egoic will. A mind that believes it is contained by a body will inevitably perceive itself as attacked, and will defend itself in kind.
The solution is simply to deny that the body is the mind’s home, and to allow the mind to remember the Holy Spirit’s gentle presence and sure guidance. This is actual experience that we have; we let go of the egoic narrative. What remains is the quiet confidence of Spirit, who quickly reminds us of our Creator and our place in Creation.
The Holy Spirit holds salvation in your mind, and offers it the way to peace. Salvation is a thought you share with God, because His Voice accepted it for you and answered in your name that it was done (W-pI.96.7:2-3).
Thus, our practice becomes one of giving attention to the stillness in which ego is undone because it is seen clearly that it never existed at all. And then, our practice becomes one of listening to the Voice that speaks in that stillness, teaching us that our mind can only “bless all things” (W-pI.96.10:4).
We have but one function in Creation: to remember what we are in truth. This remembrance is for all, and so naturally extends throughout Creation. This is the good news: we are not separate from our Creator and therefore not alien unto Creation.
We can be happy. We can be at peace.
You are one Self, in perfect harmony with all there is, and that there will be . . . Feel this one Self in you, and let It shine away all your illusions and your doubts (W-pI.95.1: 1, 3).
What we are in truth is One with both Creator and Creation: to know God is to know our Self, and to know our Self is know our brother and sister. This is the truth in us, and remembrance of it dispels all doubt and confusion, all sorrow and distress, all guilt, fear and anger.
To remember what we are in truth is not an affirmation of the separated self, with its personal story, its memories and dreams, its hopes for life and fears of death. Rather, it is an affirmation of the Self beyond ego and separation, and thus evokes all the separated ones. It is a shared dream of separation.
Be vigilant . . . Repeat today’s idea as frequently as possible, and understand that each time you do, someone hears the voice of hope, the stirring of truth within their mind, the gentle rustling of the wings of peace (W-pI.95.14: 5, 8).
“I am one Self” (W-pI.95.11:4). We are one Self.
To the separated mind which believes in distinctions, and values based on distinctions, and in choosing between distinctions in an attempt to become happy and free, this is idealistic at best and insane at worst.
Our goal is to make contact with the idea not at the level of analysis, but the level of experience. It’s less about what it means and more about how it feels to consider it. Lesson 95 states the simple truth about us. Why won’t we accept it? What have we placed before it?
A Course in Miracles is not complicated but it is challenging. Ego does not relinquish its stranglehold easily. Lesson 95 invites a head-on confrontation, an hourly reminder to us in our separated state that we remain as God created us, wholly united and entirely one.
Thus, our work is simply to show up and be open to the dawning of the only memory that matters: our oneness in and with Creation. We are simply willing to perceive a new way, and our willingness becomes the means by which the new – which is the familiar, the only – is given to us again.
This simple statement is the foundation of the peace that we remember in our practice of A Course in Miracles. We remain as God created us. This is the idea that silences ego, ends temptation and brings “complete salvation” (W-pI.94.1:1). This is the hinge on which all our spiritual learning and practice turns. This is all we have to remember.
And yet . . . we forget it. We deny it. Or we accept it but hide it where we can’t make use of it. Maybe someday, we tell ourselves. Or maybe we find it so terrifying that even to imagine its healing potential feels impossible. How many times do ACIM students – including you, including me – reach this lesson and gloss over it, or promise themselves they’ll get to it tomorrow, or next time, and just continue on in the shadow of hate and fear?
It happens to all of us. If it didn’t, A Course in Miracles wouldn’t exist.
This handful of syllables – just a few words – can function as a beautiful shot in the arm, bucking us up for what seems to be a long and wearisome road. We need that. We need to know that we’re going to be okay and that it’s going to work out.
If you remain as God created you, you must be strong and light must be in you. He Who ensured your sinlessness must be the guarantee of strength and light as well . . . Darkness cannot obscure the glory of God’s Creation (W-pI.94.2:2-3, 5).
The heart of this lesson lies in its emphasis on how little we have to do to realize it. What God created does not need to be recreated. It does not need to be spit-polished. It does not need to go through rehearsals to be ready for the limelight. It does not need to be improved upon in any way. It is perfect as it is. In that simple fact, the past and the future are both undone, and only the present moment remains.
Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all idols and self-images aside; go past the list of attributes, both good and bad, you have ascribed to yourself; and wait in silent expectancy for the truth (W-pI.94.4:1).
Yes, I know. After that “nothing is required” comes a long list of what we do have to do – and it seems like a nontrivial obligation. We are called to lay aside not just a handful of idols, or the really big and bad idols, but all idols. In other words, we have to see every last projection and own every last denial. We have to give it all up to the light of the Holy Spirit.
This is non-negotiable. And not easy. Nothing is required – except everything.
But here’s the thing. It is not so hard to let all that go. If you are willing to let it go, and if you are able to bring that willingness to bear with the Holy Spirit, then all that egoic baggage will fall away. It will fall away like nothing at all because it’s not real. It has no bearing on what we are in truth. And thus it has no effect. And when at last we see this – truly, when we are even just a little willing to see it – then it disappears like morning mist in at warm sun.
And so in truth not much at all is being asked here except that we consider the possibility that we’ve been wrong about literally everything and, on that basis, become ready and willing now to learn what is right. That’s all. We have made a mess of inner inner peace and joy and now we’re ready to admit that fact and let the One who knows better instruct us.
Our learning will be sweet and total, because we learn the only lesson that matters, from the only Teacher who knows: we remain as God created us. Alleluia!
I think this lesson is important at two levels. First, it bolsters our confidence here and now by reminding us that we are perfect as God created us. We are not lacking in any way, however much we believe otherwise. Second, at a deeper level, it reminds us that what we are trying to accomplish is already done. We are not on a search for something distant or hidden. Rather, we are clearing interior space the better to love what we already are in truth. There is a lot of practical value in realizing this because it reduces our focus on externals. It is hard to make inner progress towards peace when we are obsessed with what appears to be happening outside of us.
I say often that A Course in Miracles will batter a serious student. It will challenge you, pressure you, even frighten you. When you really look at the ego’s handiwork, then you are going to feel repulsed. You are going to feel terrified. The course suggests you might even feel suicidal (e.g., W-pI.93.1:3). We are not to take a warning like this lightly! You are going to feel sad and guilty and scared and angry. These feelings pass but while we’re in the midst of them it sucks. It really sucks. And that midst can last a long time! Or you think you’re past it and then you peel off another layer and the tears and suffering start all over again.
It’s a process that unfolds in a body in time. Anybody who says it’s all bliss all the time is not being honest. Here in the world we are learners, and our learning is challenging.
So we need sometimes to be reminded that it’s all okay. Right now it’s all okay. We forget that when we’re doing the work. We get so serious about being diligent students that we slip away from the natural joy and peace that is our inheritance, and which we are allowed to taste right now. And that’s why a lesson like Lesson 93 is so beautiful. It’s like a drink of water in the desert, a bed when we need to crash, a light in the darkness that threatens our soul.
It is so refreshing to spend a day reminding ourselves that we contain light and peace and beauty and joy. It is a gift to be allowed to discard the self we made for the creation of God that we are. We may not believe that yet; we may push against it for a while longer – it’s early in the workbook, relatively speaking. But still: we are creations of Love and our remembrance of this fact is not being withheld from us.
Try to experience the unity of your one Self. Try to appreciate Its holiness and the love from which it was created. Try not to interfere with the Self which God created as you, by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sinfulness you have made to replace it. Let It come into Its Own (W-pI.93.9:3-6).
For me, Lesson 93 is a reminder that it’s okay to smile. It’s okay to be happy – to be nice to people, to have fun while teaching, to drink two cups of coffee, to linger watching the sun set or deer graze in a far field. Lesson 93 – essentially functioning as a microcosm of A Course in Miracles – gives us permission to be content, to be joyful even. “Here you are; this is You” (W-pI.93.9:7).
So enjoy this lesson at that level. You’re perfect. You are exactly as God created you and whatever else appears to obscure that truth can be set gently aside. You do not need to give attention to images of sin and regret, hate and evil, depression and suffering. It is okay – it is more than okay – to feel the quiet joy of your Creator.
A cynic – or a real hardcore student – might say, “okay fine. But you’re not really practicing A Course in Miracles when you walk around pretending your physical self in the physical world is real – even if you are being happy and kind and gentle. You’re just doubling down on the original error.”
Well, sure. I get that. And sometimes the lessons drive us in the direction of grappling with the underlying metaphysics of the course. That’s a good space to be in, too! But Lesson 93 – with its emphasis on joy, its encouragement and inspiration – is not a mere wade through the shallow end of the divine pool. If we want, it can also help us deepen at the level of Spirit – and for the very reason it is so liberating at the level of the body and the world.
That is, it is a tangible reminder that we are as God created us. And if that is so, then whatever we are seeking – whatever union we imagine the atonement will bring – is already inside of us. Right now we are capable of waking up. Right now we can go straight through the many illusions of self and world and other selves all the way to Heaven. This is what the lesson promises when it teaches us that “you are and will forever be exactly as you were created” (W-pI.93.7:6).
We aren’t chasing something that is outside of us. We aren’t inventing anything. We aren’t earning anything. We’ve already got everything there is. All A Course in Miracles does is remind us of this fact. It brings us into contact with this fact. It lets us ease into our real identity, our real self.
It lets us taste the peace and joy of our Creator in Heaven.
And the truth of this practice is that the more we are able to manifest happiness at the physical level, the more space we clear at the spiritual level. There is a correspondence here which the course invites us to notice and accept. It’s not so hard, you know? Or it doesn’t have to be. And that is perhaps the biggest lesson Lesson 93: waking up is easier than we think.
Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.
A Course in Miracles urges us to learn how to look beyond appearances (W-pI.92.4:1), which is simultaneously an invitation. It is weakness to rely on the body’s eyes and other sense to perceive reality. Rely instead on the strength of God to keep a “steady gaze on the light that lies beyond [appearances]” (W-pI.92.4:2).
God’s strength – which is our strength – “unites with light, of which it is a part” (W-pI.92.4:3).
It sees itself. It brings the light in which your Self appears . . Strength is the truth about you; weakness is an idol falsely worshiped and adored that strength may be dispelled, and darkness rule where God appointed that there should be light (W-pI.92.4:4-5, 7).
The self is not a body; it is an abstraction. The truth of it is beyond denial. We know that we are. The course is asking us to make contact with the light in which we know that we are.
The suggestion is that this light – which establishes the self – is God, and thus is not separate from what it establishes.
It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply. It sees that lack in anyone would be lack in all. And so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one (W-pI.92.5:4-6).
Absent our remembrance of that light, we live in darkness, and in darkness we perceive ourselves as weak. Our weakness brings forth differences rather than sameness, and emphasizes isolation over unity. It “judges and condemns, but does not love” (W-pI.92.6:3).
Strength and light unite in you, and where they meet, your Self stands ready to embrace you as Its Own. Such is the meeting place we try today to find and rest in, for the Peace of God is where your Self, His Son, is waiting now to meet Itself again, and be as one (W-pI.92.9:2-3).
To remember love is to remember what we are in truth. It is to have something to offer the world: which is the peace of knowing that we are not separate from either our Creator or Creation, and that this oneness is our identity. It is our strength.
Here, A Course in Miracles is asking us to focus less on what we are and more on how we are going about our spiritual inquiry. It asks us to find the light of Christ and the strength of God, and make use of them as we deepen into our ongoing remembrance of truth.
