Lesson 114. Review of Lessons 97 & 98.
How to contemplate, continued:
Whenever we contemplate anything, we receive the most if we are willing to be completely open, trusting and non-judgmental. If I think wisdom should look or sound a special way, I may block wisdom. It’s good to look and see if we have special expectations or have put special limits on wisdom.
For example, do I expect wisdom to be poetic? Do I expect it to use words I don’t use? Do I expect it to sound like A Course in Miracles or some other written scripture? Do I expect it to use certain spiritual words and avoid non-spiritual, everyday terms? Do I expect it to come from a voice in my head that is very different from my own?
Any expectations that I have about inner wisdom can block the flow of inner wisdom, so it is worthwhile to look for those expectations and let them go.
Sometimes when wisdom begins to flow, it isn’t immediately brilliant to me. The first few words that appear may seem uninteresting or unorganized. I remember I’ve promised not to judge what comes, and I start writing whatever comes. This seems to open the flow more, and soon I have perfect wisdom for me now. And that’s really all it has to be … the perfect wisdom for me now.
If what comes feels like something that is good for you to focus on today, that’s it. That’s the wisdom. Don’t expect anything else. All you really need is today’s “daily bread.” Today’s daily bread, one day at a time, will take you all the way to the top of the mountain.
Connie’s personal contemplation:
Review 97. I am spirit.
What is spirit? I always think of the spirit of Christmas when I hear the word spirit. That would seem to convey an idea regarding the essence of something. Would that mean then that my essence is spirit? If my essence is spirit, that would seem to be in direct opposition to the idea that I am a body. The idea that I am a body is denied repeatedly in ACIM.
It seems the message here in the review of lesson 97 is that I cannot be limited by anything more than my belief that I am a body. Aren’t we all frustrated that we can’t travel to another galaxy? And don’t we all know someone who seems to have a diseased body? The idea of Consciousness seems diametrically opposed to the idea of being a body. Consciousness and Awareness seem to be more consistent with the idea of omnipresence or God or spirit.
Review 98. I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation
So what is my part? ACIM says my part is to accept the atonement for myself. But what does that mean? My dictionary says atonement is reparation for a wrong or injury, the doctrine concerning the reconciliation of God and humankind, and the oirgin comes from the phrase at one, in harmony +-ment.
So let us surmise atonement means at one with or in harmony with God, Divinity, Oneness, Love, Wisdom, Knowledge and Awareness. But who is at one with Awareness? My dictionary said humankind is. But today’s review lesson says, “What can my function be, but to accept the Word of God, who has created me, For what I am and will forever be my part.” Foreverness doesn’t smack of humankind. I don’t believe the reconciliation is between humankind and God. I believe the reconciliation is the reparation of the mind that believes it exists outside of God or apart from Awareness. The reparation would seem to be needed by the mind that believed it is something other than the foreverness.
