Lesson 14: God did not create a meaningless world.

Jan '24 (edited) • Feed

🧩 THE ATONEMENT (AT-ONE-MENT) PRINCIPLE

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

💫 For the last two weeks, it feels like Jesus has been pulling the rug from under our feet, shaking the very foundation of what we think the world and we are. This lesson is the first of its kind that so clearly states that "there is another way". The affirmation that "God did not create a meaningless world" invites the logical question "All right, what did He create?". While the answer might be "nothing as we know it", the Course angle, leans more on the "how" God creates. And the answer is, "in His likeness". God is one, infinite, and eternal, so nothing that we see can be his creation because everything we see is separate, limited, changing, and dying. If God is all that is, anything that is not God does not exist. And this, unfortunately for our ego, includes what we think we and the world are.

💫 What happened is that we have substituted reality for illusion. What is real has been replaced or exchanged with something illusory. By giving power to the tiny, mad idea of separation, we have embraced what can only be deceptive, and unreal. At the level of the mind, there was a deliberate choice, a departure from a grounded truthful perspective toward one that is based on illusion, fantasy, or deception.

📘 "1. The idea for today is, of course, the reason why a meaningless world is impossible. ²What God did not create does not exist. ³And everything that does exist exists as He created it. ⁴The world you see has nothing to do with reality. ⁵It is of your own making, and it does not exist." (ACIM, W-14.1:1-5)

📘 "3. The idea for today is another step in learning to let go the thoughts that you have written on the world, and see the Word of God in their place." (ACIM, W-14.3:1)

💫 Today's lesson implies that a shift back from blindness to sight is possible. If we stop superimposing our illusions on the truth, this one will simply shine for us again, as soon as we are willing to see and accept it. Seeing the Word of God refers to the Atonement (at-one-ment) principle. The process by which our conscious mind chooses to reconcile, to set at one, what it has set apart.

🧩 FACING THE FEAR, BUT NEVER ALONE

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

📘 "²The early steps in this exchange, which can truly be called salvation, can be quite difficult and even quite painful. ³Some of them will lead you directly into fear. ⁴You will not be left there. ⁵You will go far beyond it. ⁶Our direction is toward perfect safety and perfect peace." (ACIM, W-14.3:2-6)

💫 Here, Jesus is acknowledging that because the truth is simple, it doesn't necessarily follow that it will be easy to accept. Indeed, he is very aware that we will experience fear and resistance. And in the passage above, he asserts and assures us that we are and will be supported in this process. What Jesus is doing, is laying down the basis of our trustful relationship with Him and the Holy Spirit, a golden-tread connection that will see us through illusions and pain to the blissful rehabilitation of our unified mind. There is so much confidence in his phrasing that the support he offers sounds rock solid. We will need to trust him, and he says that we can.

🧩 FROM OUR SPECIFIC FORMS OF HELL TO THE NON-SPECIFIC CONTENT OF LOVE AND FORGIVENESS

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

💫 The Atonement (at-one-ment) principle is not a pretty idea to be placed on a shelf for decoration. It is a principle to be applied in our very specific day-to-day situations, namely triggers, or catalysts. It is the process by which our and the world's sins and calamities are recognized as errors of perception to be corrected instead of faults to be feared, judged, and condemned. It is the recognition that the horrible and upsetting things that happened to me or the world never actually did happen. They are not real. We are only suffering because we chose to. We chose to give reality to what is merely a nightmare, even if it's a convincing one. And, it is not discussed here, but it goes the same for the happy dreams we get attached to while anticipating their loss in anxiety. They are as unreal as our bad dreams, just coated with a glittering layer, which is even sneakier because it can be so seductive.

So, like always, Jesus is asking us to apply the idea of the day as specifically as possible because it is by accepting the sameness of our illusions in their many forms that we will find our way back to the Oneness of God's mind that we never left:

📘 "5. Suitable subjects for the application of today’s idea also include anything you are afraid might happen to you, or to anyone about whom you are concerned. ²In each case, name the “disaster” quite specifically. ³Do not use general terms. ⁴For example, do not say, “God did not create illness,” but, “God did not create cancer,” or heart attacks, or whatever may arouse fear in you.

6. This is your personal repertory of horrors at which you are looking. ²These things are part of the world you see. ³Some of them are shared illusions, and others are part of your personal hell. ⁴It does not matter. ⁵What God did not create can only be in your own mind apart from His. ⁶Therefore, it has no meaning." (ACIM, W-14.5:1–6:6)

💫 The part about personal and shared illusions is interesting, we shall speak more about that in the upcoming lessons...

🧩 ITEMS OF ATTENTION

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

🎯 Eyes closed exercise (reinforcing that the horrors of the world are not "out there" but "in here").

🎯 Recommendation to apply the idea with great specificity.

🎯 Through mindfulness, building our peace-restoring muscle/reflex with the suggestion to apply today's idea to any upsetting situation that may arise during the day. Because this training is about equipping us with the tools to restore our peace as soon as we lose it!

💫💙 Hey you, beautiful soul, I love you! 💙💫

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

* My comment on this lesson follows my studying of the in-depth comment of the same lesson by Kenneth Wapnick in his published work, Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles". While it may sometimes contain my thoughts on it, it is essentially my humble take and summary of the masterful work of Kenneth. I share them here in the hope that someone might find them helpful.

** I also share, in these ACIM posts, the wallpaper images that I use on my phone and change every day to help me commit to my lesson, in the hope that some might enjoy them as well. Here is the link to a Dropbox folder where you can download the lessons's wallpaper for mobile I have uploaded so far.

1 comment