LESSON 187. I bless the world because I bless myself.
Our current goals:
- Widen the horizons of our vision
- Take direct approaches to uncover the blocks that keep our vision narrow
- Lift those blocks, however briefly, in order to experience the sense of liberation that comes when the blocks are removed
- Intensify our motivation for freedom
Today’s lesson begins: “No one can give unless he has. In fact, giving is proof of having. We have made this point before. What seems to make it hard to credit is not this. No one can doubt that you must first possess what you would give. It is the second phase on which the world and true perception differ. Having had and given, then the world asserts that you have lost what you possessed. The truth maintains that giving will increase what you possess.”
You give always. That is what love does. What you would witness you extend. The analogy to increasing thoughts or ideas by giving them away is apt. As ACIM indicates, not only do they increase in this way, but they grow in strength in the mind of both giver and receiver. This is wholly true of inner wisdom. As you draw from the knowledge and strength of the truth within you, you increase the strength of the recognition of truth in all minds. Awakening is, indeed, the spreading of the light in the one mind.
Even in this world you can see the practical nature of this lesson. As a peace maker, you see how peace increases as you give it. As a love giver, you see how love increases as you give it. Indeed, even fear increases as it is given. This is fundamental to our nature.**
Let’s talk about giving and receiving (or giving and increasing) in terms of the familiar phrase that means and ends are always the same. If you wish to become more articulate, how do you accomplish that? Do you read more books? Do you listen to more articulate people? Well, yes, but without employing what you have learned, do you become more articulate? No. If you want to learn to speak Spanish, will mere study without speaking teach you to speak Spanish? No.
You give of yourself by demonstrating what you have learned. Now is the time to employ what your heart has remembered. You give in the face of loss in order to demonstrate your very real knowledge that loss is impossible/not real. You love in the face of hate to demonstrate that hate is impossible. You stride forth in faith in order to demonstrate that fear is not real. All the theory in the world will not prove these things to you. As you give these traits away, you will come to understand that they truly belong to you to give. As the lesson says, you cannot give them unless you have them already.
The lesson tells us to “Protect all things you value by the act of giving them away.” At its core, the lesson is teaching us to be enlightened now, in every moment, as a means of giving what you want to keep.
How do you do that? Let me give you a few examples:
- Someone says something to you that feels like a strong insult. Be enlightened now. Don’t be defensive. Relax. Be present. Be still. Be open. Watch the energies inside of you, but don’t become involved with them.
- You find out that a friend has been taking money and other things from you, a little at a time, so that you hadn’t noticed. Be enlightened now. Instead of seeing your friend as guilty or betraying you, notice that you are unharmed.
- You go with a friend to her elderly mother’s house to help clean the house. While dusting some collectables, one slips from your hand and breaks into dozens of pieces. Be enlightened now. Watch the energies that may arise inside you, but don’t become involved with them. Apologize to your friend and her mother. If they seem upset, turn to intuition for guidance.
- A friend feels he needs some money. You’ve had lack thoughts lately too. Be enlightened now. Help your friend by giving him some money, and realize you are always taken care of.
In this way, you come to learn that the only thing lacking in any situation is what you fail to bring to it. This is what St. Francis demonstrated in his prayer:
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
“O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Amen.
**Inner Wisdom led me to the idea of fractals as a way of demonstrating what this lesson is teaching, explaining that: “everything shares the same fundamental nature and that nature is exactly the same no matter the scale.” This is known in fractal geometry as “self similarity.” When I did a little research on fractals, I was struck by this phrase: “a fractal tells a story of the processes that created it.” Fractals are created by feeding the sum of an equation back into the equation in an endless loop. This produces repeating patterns that appear everywhere in the universe.
Here is a 15 minute Ted talk about fractals if you care to further contemplate the analogy:
