Lesson 259 • September-16
Let me remember that there is no sin.
Practice Instructions
See complete instructions in separate document. A short summary:
- Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.
- Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.
- Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind Meditation.
- Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind Meditation.
- Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in meditation.
- Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.
- Read the "What Is" section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.
Commentary
The concept of sin includes the idea that what I have done or thought or said has in some way irretrievably altered what I am. We think of sin not as a smudge of dirt on a clean surface, but as some kind of dry rot that has settled into the fabric of our being.
When Jesus says there is no sin, he is saying that our ideas are wrong. Nothing we have done has altered what we are in any way. The surface is uncorrupted and can be simply wiped clean. We are created with an amazing psychic layer of Scotchgard protectant. Underneath the layers of grime, we are still the holy Son of God.
If we think of sin as we normally do, the goal of God seems unattainable (1:1). If we see it as Jesus does, we can understand that the goal is already attained; it is not something to attain, it is something to celebrate.
When we see sin in another as dry rot, we feel justified in our attacks (1:3). When we see it as surface smudges, our love responds with a desire to wipe the surface of our brother's mind to reveal the beauty hiding in the dirt.
We are all aware of some self-destructive habit patterns. All of them come from the sense that we deserve punishment and suffering because we are guilty (1:4). We are unworthy of health, happiness, and uninterrupted joy. We think the evil is in us rather than on us.
When we fully accept the truth of our own innocence, we have opened the way to complete abundance and health. The universe is set up to support us, good is continually flowing our way, but we constantly block it off because, unconsciously, we don't think we deserve it. All this comes from the belief in sin.
Sin makes us afraid of love (2:2). To be afraid of love is insane, but then, "sin is insanity" (W-pII.4.1:1). If God is the Source of everything that is, then all there is must be Love; there can be no opposite, no fear, no sin (2:3-5). To remember that there is no sin is to accept our own perfect innocence, and the perfect innocence of all that is. And all the evidence we perceive that seems to prove otherwise is an illusion made up by our own minds.
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