Lesson 113. Review of Lessons 95 & 96.
How to Contemplate, continued:
Sometimes when contemplating, the flow of wisdom begins on its own spontaneously. Sometimes the flow of wisdom begins as I focus on an inquiry. For example, let’s look at this quote:
“Who cares if you’re enlightened forever? Can you just get it in this moment, now?” ~ Byron Katie
If I am contemplating that quote, I might ask myself, “Am I over concerned with enlightenment? Has that become an obstacle for me? In what way is that an obstacle?” And then I look at myself to find the answers to the questions.
Or I might ask myself, “What is ‘it’ when she says, ‘Can you just get it in this moment, now?’” And then I remain open. I don’t use thinking to try to figure it out. I just stay with the question, open, feeling for a sense of the answer. Something may come for me to write or I may simply continue to reflect on the question throughout the day.
Here is my contemplation of today’s lesson.
Today, as I looked at the words of the lessons, I questioned whether I really knew what the words of the lesson meant. I was guided to look them up. As I reviewed the multiple definitions for each word (from the multiple sources provided by Google), I picked the definitions that resonated with me. What came upon studying the list of words defined provided insight and inspiration that, I feel, would not have come had I assumed I knew what those words meant.
I am One Self, united with my Creator. Salvation comes from my One Self.
One: being or amounting to a single unit or individual or entire thing, item, or object rather than two or more.
Self: having a single character or quality throughout.
United: combined into a single entity.
Creator: God: the supreme or ultimate reality.
Salvation: liberation from ignorance or illusion
Well there it is. The essence of ACIM is that same message taught by all the non-dual traditions. I am not separate from the supreme or ultimate reality. Realization of my non-dual nature is salvation or liberation from the illusion of myself as separate from any other thing in existence.
While it seems trite or cliché to phrase it in such terms, I am indeed, all of existence (consciousness) imagining a human experience. I am that which animates, looks through the eyes of this human body. I have always been and will always be. Ultimately, it matters not what occurs to this human body or to the bodies of those around me or to the world in which they live, no more so than a burning movie screen harms the actors in the film.* And yet, this lived life, this one lived life is so precious that to miss a single blade of grass is a travesty. Where are we trying to get to? What is our aim? Experience! Live, laugh, love and die! Experience. Breathe it in. For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for thee. Don’t blink! Don’t be fooled by the clothing that you wear. Live, laugh, love and die! This is freedom. This is life! This is the singular experience of Beingness experienced through the multitude. All is well. All is well. All is well. Amen.
*The screen metaphor is a curious one. Normally, Consciousness itself is depicted as the screen and the fire is within the film—it is traditionally noted that the fire does not burn the screen. Here it is reversed. Consciousness itself is subsumed within the single flame of being. Isness ultimately brings all things into perfect unity. Experience itself must give way to its essence. All is One.
