LESSON 37. My holiness blesses the world.

Wow! This lesson clearly states our function within the world: “Your purpose is to see the world through your own holiness. Thus are you and the world blessed together. No one loses; nothing is taken away from anyone; everyone gains through your holy vision. It signifies the end of sacrifice because it offers everyone his full due. And he is entitled to everything because it is his birthright as a Son of God.”

To bless the world with my holiness is to see it through the eyes of wholeness rather than to see it from my partiality. The world is the belief in limitation and lack. The mind that clings to the belief in its own limitation sees itself as a part only, and, therefore, can only see from that perspective. If we give partially, we receive partially. If we receive partially, there is a sense of loss—a sense of sacrifice. There is always the choice between a lesser of two evils. There is a lack of wholeness, fullness, oneness.

What we are being taught to do is to begin to see from the perspective of the whole. In wholeness, there is no lack. To begin to recognize the truth of this statement, we must become determined to reject the idea of lack wherever we see it. When thoughts whisper the need for self-protection, we are to see them as an invitation to affirm the truth. We are only limited by our own beliefs–by those thoughts upon which we choose to cast attention. When we see thoughts of limitation and partialness, we are to give our willingness to loosen our grip on those beliefs.

Consistency is key. We cannot give willingness to loosen our grip only upon those thoughts, beliefs and ideas which seem to limit our freedom, but to welcome them when they seem to work in our favor. All gain or all lose. Yes, of course loss is impossible. But it is this impossibility which seems to continue to support the turning of the world. If all do not seem to gain by a contemplated teaching, action, thought, let that thought go. Release the idea of winners and losers, better than and less than.

It is only our commitment to see through the eyes of wholeness that releases the world. As the lesson tells us:

There is no other way in which the idea of sacrifice can be removed from the world’s thinking. Any other way of seeing will inevitably demand payment of someone or something. As a result, the perceiver will lose. Nor will he have any idea why he is losing. Yet is his wholeness restored to his awareness through your vision. Your holiness blesses him by asking nothing of him. Those who see themselves as whole make no demands. Your holiness is the salvation of the world. It lets you teach the world that it is one with you, not by preaching to it, not by telling it anything, but merely by your quiet recognition that in your holiness are all things blessed along with you.

Lesson 36. My holiness envelops everything I see.

Today’s lesson begins with “You are holy because your mind is part of God’s [therefore], your sight must be holy as well.”  This I can follow and grasp.  Jesus is saying my godliness envelops everything I see because the truth of me is my godliness and as Jacquelyn pointed out in yesterdays tip, “We are being invited to experience ourselves and our world in a way we have blocked our selves from experiencing it in the past.  We are being invited to take the person out of the experience.” And as NTI Colossians 1 says about this experience, “You are beyond concepts and differences and form, and within the Life Force that is all things.”

It is this next part of today’s lesson that Jesus wants us to examine that had me scratching my head.  Jesus seems to go on about something that initially appeared unrelated when he says: “’Sinless’ means without sin. You cannot be without sin a little. You are sinless or not. If your mind is part of God’s you must be sinless, or a part of His Mind would be sinful.” I got a better understanding of why he began talking about sin when I read ACIM’s section on Sin versus error:

It is essential that error be not confused with “sin,” and it is this distinction which makes salvation possible.  For error can be corrected, and the wrong made right.  But sin, were it possible, would be irreversible.  For by [sin], God Himself is changed and rendered incomplete.

Sin is the belief in the reality of separation.  Sin is the belief that things outside of you have the ability to affect you.

Let’s look at Brent Haskell’s book Journey Beyond Words.  In the chapter entitled “Holiness,” Jeshua says:

You will know, in your holiness,
That all of life is your own creation.
God is your source.
You are very holy.
In your holiness, you are the God of your own life.
And you experience that life in your oneness with God.
Apart from God, you cannot see.
Apart from Him, you but imagine your apartness.
Apart from your holiness,
You imagine that you are separate,
That beings are different from you.
You will imagine that they are not your own creations.
You will imagine that your pain is pain.
You will imagine that things can happen to you
From outside yourself, not by your own choice.

So, as you can see if sin were real, (w)holiness would not be.  You could and some might say you did imagine something less than wholeness, but it isn’t real.  Sin isn’t real and therefore I am free to experience my truth and the truth is that my holiness envelops everything I see.