LESSON 169. By grace I live. By grace I am released.
The lesson begins, “Grace is an aspect of the Love of God which is most like the state prevailing in the unity of truth. … Grace becomes inevitable instantly in those who have prepared a table where it can be gently laid and willingly received; an altar clean and holy for the gift.”
This paragraph suggests all we need do and all we can do to hasten our awakening. Just as we have been told, the sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the atonement for himself. This paragraph reiterates that prescription. We must do our part. Our part, accepting the atonement, is looking beyond the illusions of the world to the truth. When we have given up all value we would perceive in the world and its offerings, we have cleaned the alter and welcomed the presence of Grace (True Self or True Nature).
Similarly, NTI 1 Corinthians 2 encourages us to become the empty shell. “That which has opened itself to the Spirit of God by becoming as an empty shell has made a statement unto the mind that is its own. It has said, ‘I know I am not this thing I thought I was, as this thing cannot be my truth. So I put aside that which is false, that I may be open to receive only that which is true.’”
Yesterday, we looked at Steve Ford’s experience of grace. We saw his readiness demonstrated by how he allowed the experience to complete itself, even when the ego threatened him with madness or death if he were to continue. Even to that he consented. He was fully ready.
What we are doing now is preparing ourselves for the same state of readiness. Each time we see the ego in others or ourselves, we have an opportunity to prepare ourselves. Each time we feel upset, we have an opportunity to prepare ourselves. Each moment of paying attention to awareness is another moment preparing ourselves. We are in the stage of preparing the mind to consent to awakening when grace comes.
The lesson tells us, “Suffice it, then, that you have work to do to play your part. The ending must remain obscure to you until your part is done.” NTI 1 Corinthians, Chapter 4 reminds us of our part:
“Do not make the mistake of forgetting who I am when you do know. I am you. I am your truth. When you forget to remember what you know, you pretend to be what you are not. When you pretend to be what you are not, you believe what you think, and you think you are different from that which you are. I ask you to lay your thinking aside. And with it you lay aside all pretending that isn’t truth. This is to make yourself an empty shell. An empty shell is not the absence of you. An empty shell is the absence of delusion, which you are not. In the clarity of your emptiness, free from the delusion of false thoughts, you are free to hear your real thoughts. These are the thoughts that you recognize as Me.”
Thus, we have our part to do by preparing ourselves to accept awakening. Let that be our only concern. Grace will do its part when we have prepared the way.
Our part is this:
~ self-inquiry, which is inquiring into the ego thought system in order to see its ideas are not true and in order to see we are not the false-self, which is made through identification with thought.
~ Self-inquiry, which is glimpsing awareness many times throughout the day & spending more concentrated time in awareness-watching-awareness meditation
~ surrender, which is discerning between intuition and ego, and then following intuition instead of ego
