Lesson 87 • March-28
Review of:
(73) I will there be light.
(74) There is no will but God's.
Practice Instructions
See Practice Instructions Review II
Commentary
Today's review deals with will-ours and God's, which are one.
The Course encourages us to make use of the power of our will. It constantly encourages us to choose again, and says that "the power of decision is your one remaining freedom as a prisoner of this world" (T-12.VII.9:1). We can will, or choose, that there be light. Naturally this accords with God's Will. You could say, I suppose, that our one true choice is to decide to agree with God's Will, and we must make this choice over and over until we realize there is no other will, and therefore, no actual choice except that between reality and illusion.
In the review of "There is no will but God's" there is an interesting summary of the progression of the ego's error:
- I believe there is another will besides God's.
- Because of this I become afraid.
- Because of fear, I try to attack.
- Because I attack, I fear my own eternal safety (thinking God will attack me for being an attacker).
The solution is simply to recognize that none of this has occurred. Knock down the basic premise-realize there is no will but God's-and the rest of the progression disappears.
I like the way both ideas are applied to how I see the other people around me: "You stand with me in light, [name]" (2:3) and "It is God's Will you are His Son, [name], and mine as well" (4:3). One night in our study group in Sedona we were studying Chapter 14, section V, "the Circle of Atonement." The whole section is about seeing other people as within the circle of peace, seeing them as included, or seeing them standing with me in light, as it is put here. In that section Jesus urges us, "Stand quietly within this circle, and attract all tortured minds to join with you in the safety of its peace and holiness" (T-14.V.8:6). It says that this is "the only purpose to which my teaching calls you" (T-14.V.9:9).
Our only purpose here is to awaken everyone to the fact that they are included in God's peace and safety because there is no other will than His. Imagine mentally greeting everyone you meet today by saying, "You stand with me in light." What kind of effect would that have on you? Or on them?
Lesson 109 says it has a profound effect, not just on people you actually meet, but on everyone in the world, even those who have passed on beyond the world, and those still to come to it:
Each hour that you take your rest today, a tired mind is suddenly made glad. (6:1)
With each five minutes that you rest today, the world is nearer waking. (7:1)
You rest within the peace of God today, and call upon your brothers from your rest to draw them to their rest, along with you. You will be faithful to your trust today, forgetting no one, bringing everyone into the boundless circle of your peace, the holy sanctuary where you rest. Open the temple doors and let them come from far across the world, and near as well; your distant brothers and your closest friends; bid them all enter here and rest with you. (8:1-3)
You rest within the peace of God today, quiet and unafraid. Each brother comes to take his rest, and offer it to you. We rest together here, for thus our rest is made complete, and what we give today we have received already. Time is not the guardian of what we give today. We give to those unborn and those passed by, to every Thought of God, and to the Mind in which these Thoughts were born and where they rest. And we remind them of their resting place each time we tell ourselves, "I rest in God." (9:1-6)
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