My thoughts* on ACIM Urtext Lesson 155 and 156, for June 3 and 4, 2024. I will step back and let Him lead the way.

* Sorry for the length of this. Thought I had put them up. You will find it powerful and crucial to our roles today.

I will step back and let Him lead the way.

* This is a very interesting phenomenon and I am really coming to ‘see’ it in my own life.

* January or February of 2020 was when I finally understood what the Atonement was for and accepted it. Since that time I have been shown by the Spirit how to trust God’s Direction and existence in my life and through me, personally, in a whole new way.

1. There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be.

* Remember that “the world” in the WAY THAT JESUS USES IT means where God is not recognized or welcomed.

²You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently.

* True.

* If only inside.

* Because in “the world” where we insist on seeing the negative and being miserable and take delight in getting others to go there with us some will mock us if we try to smile and keep a positive outlook.

However:

³Your forehead is serene; your eyes are quiet.

⁴And the ones who walk the world as you do recognize their own.

⁵Yet those who have not yet perceived the way will recognize you also, and believe that you are like them, as you were before.

* That CAN BE CHALLENGING. I want you to know that Jesus understands this.

2. The world is an illusion.

* Remember that “the world” in the WAY THAT JESUS USES IT means where God is not recognized or welcomed.

²Those who choose to come to it are seeking for a place where they can be illusions, and avoid their own reality.

* Consider what that might mean, for a moment.

³Yet when they find their own reality is even here, then they step back and let it lead the way.

⁴What other choice is really theirs to make?

* We want to see this as a hopeful thing even, something to be celebrated because it only means that truth will be recognized once more, and accepted by all, eventually.

⁵To let illusions walk ahead of truth is madness.

* This could be another way of saying, “To see the non-reality of what we see with our current understanding and natural eyes is insane.”

⁶But to let illusion sink behind the truth and let the truth stand forth as what it is, is merely sanity.

* By letting God have His Place in the Mind of His Son, a PART of which YOU ARE.

* It reminds me of a scene in “The Lake House” where Kate and her mom are sitting on the steps in front of the courthouse eating their lunch JUST BEFORE Alex is hit by the bus crossing the street to meet her. Then Kate’s magnanimous reflection as she held the dying man in her arms bringing God’s Love into the situation and prompting the “miracle” that not only changes TIME itself but numerous lives, and gives him a life he perhaps would never have imagined otherwise.

* Kate’s Mom is reminiscing about Kate’s father who has died. She says, “reading from the same pages that he was on helps her to feel as if she is with him somehow.”

* To me, this IS an example of how we may put the truth over the illusion or ‘story.’ The writer and director of this movie have her mother doing this on several occasions in this movie.

* In the same scene, Kate’s mother is eating a sandwich and after taking a bite she holds it up, looks at it, and says, “Mmm, this is so good. Really good.” And gives her whole attention to it for that brief moment right in the middle of their conversation about how difficult it has been to have Kate’s father gone.

* Likewise, I see this as an example of ‘seeing’ what is not real, I.E. the illusion, and bringing a truth to the forefront which is that life is to be experienced with joy in the expression of the moment.

* We want to take it a step further and recognize GOD’s ESSENCE IN THE SANDWICH, and in the tongue which tastes it, and teeth that chew it. THIS will place us at the threshold of Heaven and Eternal Life.

* Also, note the beautiful way that those who created the movie in their many roles in front of the screen and behind the scenes showed that previous generations AND nature (in this instance the dog, Jack) assist us and that we could never be ALONE in our decisions OR our TRANSITIONS.

* To think that this beautiful story/movie began its manifestation in the minds and hearts of our brothers (and sisters) in South Korea with the movie, “II Mare,” or The Sea. The Holy Spirit is bringing us HEALING in ALL that we DO whether we are able to recognize it or not.

* Side note, “The Lake House” did not the accolaids from the movie critics that it deserved. Perhaps they simply did not have “Vanguard Vision.”

* a group of people leading the way in new developments or ideas:

“the experimental spirit of the modernist vanguard”

• a position at the forefront of new developments or ideas:

“the prototype was in the vanguard of technical development”

* I may be being too hard on the critics. Everything happens in its place and time for a reason we may not understand at this time BUT God does and through the Holy Spirit, He Will Reveal it when and if that is appropriate for our enlightenment. We want to be gentle with one another, (debra).

3. This is the simple choice we make today.

²The mad illusion will remain awhile in evidence, for those to look upon who chose to come, and have not yet rejoiced to find they were mistaken in their choice.

* Hear this! This is why we do not automatically jump into an altered state. And those who claim to jump to other dimensions and such is the way to heal where we are at this time are MISSING this important understanding.

* I am not saying there is not a ‘time’ to allow ‘space’ between people but lets not go to extremes and create a whole different illusion to need to address and bring the truth to. Now, that is a bit late in sharing because ANYTHING that the Son can imagine is eventually made real through God’s Presence but I AM ASKING that we look at the idea of exiting our current reality as another form of continuing the idea of separation and division within the United Consciousness which Jesus has told us God, the Original Father of All That Is knows as His Son.

³They cannot learn directly from the truth, because they have denied that it is so.

⁴And so they need a Teacher (*YOU) Who perceives their madness (with the assistance of the Holy Spirit), but Who still can look beyond illusion to the simple truth in them.

* Amen.

4. If truth demanded they give up the world, it would appear to them as if it asked the sacrifice of something that is real. ²Many have chosen to renounce the world while still believing its reality.

* This is important! You may want to consider it as you reflect on how humanity has historically dealt with all kinds of issues. AND please consider how we may undo this today!

³And they have suffered from a sense of loss, and have not been released accordingly.

* I suspect that this concept is why KW focused on the idea that the world is not real because he had seen it in the silent monks at the Catholic monastery he had been considering joining just before being exposed to the manuscript for the Course.

⁴Others have chosen nothing but the world, and they have suffered from a sense of loss still deeper, which they did not understand.

* This is where we find the ones who only count as real as what they see with their senses.

5. Between these paths there is another road that leads away from loss of every kind, for sacrifice and deprivation both are quickly left behind.

* I know that there is no need or lack and any that may appear I understand to be used to help those who do not see God in everything find their way back to truth. ~ I realize that may sound odd but it is how I feel.

²This is the way appointed for you now.

³You walk this path as others walk, nor do you seem to be distinct from them, although you are indeed.

⁴Thus can you serve them while you serve yourself, and set their footsteps on the way that God has opened up to you, and them through you.

6. Illusion still appears to cling to you, that you may reach them.

²Yet it has stepped back.

³And it is not illusion that they hear you speak of, nor illusion that you bring their eyes to look on and their minds to grasp.

⁴Nor can the truth, which walks ahead of you, speak to them through illusions, for the road leads past illusion now, while on the way you call to them, that they may follow you.

* Not literally but in spirit, attitude, and release of what is not real.

7. All roads will lead to this one in the end.

²For sacrifice and deprivation are paths that lead nowhere, choices for defeat, and aims that will remain impossible.

³All this steps back as truth comes forth in you, to lead your brothers from the ways of death, and set them on the way to happiness.

⁴Their suffering is but illusion.

⁵Yet they need a guide to lead them out of it, for they mistake illusion for the truth.

8. Such is salvation’s call, and nothing more.

²It asks that you accept the truth, and let it go before you, lighting up the path of ransom from illusion.

³It is not a ransom with a price.

⁴There is no cost, but only gain.

⁵Illusion can but seem to hold in chains the holy Son of God.

⁶It is but from illusions he is saved.

⁷As they step back, he finds himself again.

9. Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you.

²And you may find that you are tempted still to walk ahead of truth, and let illusions be your guide.

³Your holy brothers have been given you, to follow in your footsteps as you walk with certainty of purpose to the truth.

⁴It goes before you now, that they may see something with which they can identify; something they understand to lead the way.

10. Yet at the journey’s ending there will be no gap, no distance between truth and you.

²And all illusions walking in the way you travelled will be gone from you as well, with nothing left to keep the truth apart from God’s completion, holy as Himself.

³Step back in faith and let truth lead the way.

⁴You know not where you go.

⁵But One Who knows goes with you.

* It is God that leads us to the truth through the Holy Spirit as we learn to trust Him and let His Understanding be our eyes and ears, and voice.

⁶Let Him lead you with the rest.

11. When dreams are over, time has closed the door on all the things that pass and miracles are purposeless, the holy Son of God will make no journeys.

²There will be no wish to be illusion rather than the truth.

³And we step forth toward this, as we progress along the way that truth points out to us.

⁴This is our final journey, which we make for everyone.

⁵We must not lose our way.

⁶For as truth goes before us, so it goes before our brothers who will follow us.

12. We walk to God. ²Pause and reflect on this. ³Could any way be holier, or more deserving of your effort, of your love and of your full intent? ⁴What way could give you more than everything, or offer less and still content the holy Son of God? ⁵We walk to God.

⁶The truth that walks before us now is one with Him, and leads us to where He has always been. ⁷What way but this could be a path that you would choose instead?

* This is not something that we should have to pay to receive. It comes from within.

13. Your feet are safely set upon the road that leads the world to God.

²Look not to ways that seem to lead you elsewhere.

³Dreams are not a worthy guide for you who are God’s Son.

⁴Forget not He has placed His Hand in yours, and given you your brothers in His trust that you are worthy of His trust in you.

⁵He cannot be deceived.

⁶His trust has made your pathway certain and your goal secure.

⁷You will not fail your brothers nor your Self.

14. And now He asks but that you think of Him a while each day, that He may speak to you and tell you of His Love, reminding you how great His trust; how limitless His Love.

²In your Name and His Own, which are the same, we practice gladly with this thought today:

³I will step back and let Him lead the way, for I would walk along the road to Him.

(ACIM, W-155.1:1–14:3)

Till next time, God bless, debi.

My thoughts* on ACIM Urtext Lesson 156, for June 4, 2024.

I walk with God in perfect holiness.

* By the end of this lesson God was no longer anywhere “out there,” He was everywhere in a big way, and I have come to know Him more and see how we find ways to tell ourselves He is not there as we think we fall short or make a wrong choice. He will make it a miracle IF we allow Him to do so. It has been a big day of learning for me! Whew!

1. Today’s idea but states the simple truth that makes the thought of sin impossible.

²It promises there is no cause for guilt, and being causeless it does not exist.

³It follows surely from the basic thought so often mentioned in the text; ideas leave not their source.

⁴If this be true, how can you be apart from God?

⁵How could you walk the world alone and separate from your Source?

2. We are not inconsistent in the thoughts that we present in our curriculum.

²Truth must be true throughout, if it be true.

³It cannot contradict itself, nor be in parts uncertain and in others sure.

⁴You cannot walk the world apart from God, because you could not be without Him.

⁵He is what your life is.

⁶Where you are He is.

⁷There is one life.

⁸That life you share with Him.

⁹Nothing can be apart from Him and live.

3. Yet where He is, there must be holiness as well as life.

²No attribute of His remains unshared by everything that lives.

³What lives is holy as Himself, because what shares His life is part of Holiness, and could no more be sinful than the sun could choose to be of ice; the sea elect to be apart from water, or the grass to grow with roots suspended in the air.

4. There is a light in you which cannot die; whose presence is so holy that the world is sanctified because of you.

²All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet.

³The scent of flowers is their gift to you.

⁴The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from the heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks to a whisper round your holy head.

5. The light in you is what the universe longs to behold.

²All living things are still before you, for they recognize Who walks with you.

³The light you carry is their own.

⁴And thus they see in you their holiness, saluting you as savior and as God.

* Note that this is a (w)holiness with all that is and not solely you as an individual.

⁵Accept their reverence, for it is due to Holiness Itself, which walks with you, transforming in Its gentle light all things unto Its likeness and Its purity.

* As we see the Wholeness of Christ in All That Is we bring it into the remembrance of itself.

* PLEASE, BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS IS HOW WE WANT TO ENGAGE WITH OTHERS.

* They are savior and God to us just as we are that to them.

* This includes the earth and ALL that is upon it and beyond.

6. This is the way salvation works.

²As you step back, the light in you steps forward and encompasses the world.

³It heralds not the end of sin in punishment and death.

⁴In lightness and in laughter is sin gone, because its quaint absurdity is seen.

⁵It is a foolish thought, a silly dream, not frightening, ridiculous perhaps, but who would waste an instant in approach to God Himself for such a senseless whim?

7. Yet you have wasted many, many years on just this foolish thought.

²The past is gone, with all its fantasies.

³They keep you bound no longer.

⁴The approach to God is near.

⁵And in the little interval of doubt that still remains, you may perhaps lose sight of your Companion, and mistake Him for the senseless, ancient dream that now is past.

8. “Who walks with me?”

²This question should be asked a thousand times a day, till certainty has ended doubting and established peace.

³Today let doubting cease.

⁴God speaks for you in answering your question with these words:

⁵I walk with God in perfect holiness.

⁶I light the world, I light my mind and all the minds which God created one with me.

* “I walk with God in perfect holiness.”

* debi walks with God as ALL THAT IS or every may be in perfection, innocence, and perfect (w)holiness as His Son. Thank you, Jesus, for bringing me to this place, to this understanding. It is nearly more than I am able to embrace yet I know that it must be true because I KNOW THAT GOD IS.

* THIS IS SPEAKING ABOUT ALL THAT IS, AS GOD, OF GOD, AND IN GOD.

* GOD IS NOT AN ENTITY TO BE MET OUTSIDE OURSELVES BUT A REALITY TO BE UNDERSTOOD AS OURSELVES AND SEEN IN ONE ANOTHER, ~ Not individually ~ but as the WHOLE THAT WE ARE.

* I get ‘spirit bumps on my SPIRIT BODY’ reading this and the impression that the (W)Holy Spirit is opening my mind to understand is that THIS IS the ONLY WAY that I am able to engage with the world anymore.

* I cannot see sin, hate, or suffering as real, in any way.

* This is not just because I WANT it to be that way, it is because it is that way and I know it because I know that God IS.

* I get to see people that believe they are experiencing those things and I play a role, like an actor in a play as a messenger of God to declare that God IS and that His Son is WORTHY and no more capable of sin than God is.

* I “play” this role only because we are not quite ready to say, “YES, I SEE GOD in YOU and in ALL THAT IS.

* When we do, I, like Jesus and all of the others who are “showers of the way” will just be “one of the boys” because that IS what we ARE as brethren in the Body of Christ as part of Creation Who God CAN ONLY SEE AS HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.

* This is who I am.

* It is who I have to be because I cannot tolerate ANY cruelty or defiance of God’s Existence or His Son’s.

* I have a strong witness at this time that I am bringing the world into this understanding as well.

* AND THAT THE WORLD (THOSE WHO HAVE DENIED GOD OR FELT SEPARATED FROM HIM) IS READY FOR HIM TO SHOW HIMSELF!!!!!

* We ARE ONE because God IS and He is All That IS and He gave His Son ALL THAT HE IS.

* No one stands alone, it is impossible just as sin or lack is impossible.

* This is the God that I acknowledge.

* This is the ONLY way that I CAN acknowledge the Son.

* THIS is ALL THAT IS or EVER COULD BE for me.

(ACIM, W-156.1:1–8:6)

Till next time, God bless, debi.