Lesson 161

Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.

p1. Today we practice differently, and take a stand against our
anger, that our fears may disappear and offer room to love. 2
Here is salvation in the simple words in which we practice with today’s
idea. 3 Here is the answer to temptation which
can never fail to welcome in the Christ where fear and anger had prevailed
before. 4 Here is Atonement made complete, the
world passed safely by and Heaven now restored. 5
Here is the answer of the Voice for God.

p2. Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind.
2 But part of it is now unnatural. 3
It does not look on everything as one. 4 It
sees instead but fragments of the whole, for only thus could it invent the
partial world you see. 5 The purpose of all
seeing is to show you what you wish to see. 6
All hearing but brings to your mind the sounds it wants to hear.

p3. Thus were specifics made. 2 And
now it is specifics we must use in practicing. 3
We give them to the Holy Spirit, that He may employ them for a purpose which
is different from the one we gave to them. 4
Yet He can use but what we made, to teach us from a different point of view,
so we can see a different use in everything.

p4. One brother is all brothers. 2
Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. 3
Such is the truth. 4 Yet do these thoughts make
clear the meaning of creation? 5 Do these words
bring perfect clarity with them to you? 6 What
can they seem to be but empty sounds; pretty, perhaps, correct in sentiment,
yet fundamentally not understood nor understandable. 7
The mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer grasp abstraction
in the sense that it is all-encompassing. 8
We need to see a little, that we learn a lot.

p5. It seems to be the body that we feel limits our freedom, makes
us suffer, and at last puts out our life. 2
Yet bodies are but symbols for a concrete form of fear. 3
Fear without symbols calls for no response, for symbols can stand for the
meaningless. 4 Love needs no symbols, being
true. 5 But fear attaches to specifics, being
false.

p6. Bodies attack, but minds do not. 2
This thought is surely reminiscent of our text, where it is often emphasized.
3 This is the reason bodies easily become fear’s
symbols. 4 You have many times been urged to
look beyond the body, for its sight presents the symbol of love’s “enemy”
Christ’s vision does not see. 5 The body is
the target for attack, for no one thinks he hates a mind. 6
Yet what but mind directs the body to attack? 7
What else could be the seat of fear except what thinks of fear?

p7. Hate is specific. 2 There must
be a thing to be attacked. 3 An enemy must be
perceived in such a form he can be touched and seen and heard, and ultimately
killed. 4 When hatred rests upon a thing, it
calls for death as surely as God’s Voice proclaims there is no death. 5
Fear is insatiable, consuming everything its eyes behold, seeing itself
in everything, compelled to turn upon itself and to destroy.

p8. Who sees a brother as a body sees him as fear’s symbol. 2
And he will attack, because what he beholds is his own fear external to
himself, poised to attack, and howling to unite with him again. 3
Mistake not the intensity of rage projected fear must spawn. 4
It shrieks in wrath, and claws the air in frantic hope it can reach to its
maker and devour him.

p9. This do the body’s eyes behold in one whom Heaven cherishes,
the angels love and God created perfect. 2 This
is his reality. 3 And in Christ’s vision is
his loveliness reflected in a form so holy and so beautiful that you could
scarce refrain from kneeling at his feet. 4
Yet you will take his hand instead, for you are like him in the sight that
sees him thus. 5 Attack on him is enemy to you,
for you will not perceive that in his hands is your salvation. 6
Ask him but for this, and he will give it to you. 7
Ask him not to symbolize your fear. 8 Would
you request that love destroy itself? 9 Or would
you have it be revealed to you and set you free?

p10. Today we practice in a form we have attempted earlier. 2
Your readiness is closer now, and you will come today nearer Christ’s vision.
3 If you are intent on reaching it, you will
succeed today. 4 And once you have succeeded,
you will not be willing to accept the witnesses your body’s eyes call forth.
5 What you will see will sing to you of ancient
melodies you will remember. 6 You are not forgot
in Heaven. 7 Would you not remember it?

p11. Select one brother, symbol of the rest, and ask salvation
of him. 2 See him first as clearly as you can,
in that same form to which you are accustomed. 3
See his face, his hands and feet, his clothing. 4
Watch him smile, and see familiar gestures which he makes so frequently.
5 Then think of this: What you are seeing now
conceals from you the sight of one who can forgive you all your sins; whose
sacred hands can take away the nails which pierce your own, and lift the
crown of thorns which you have placed upon your bleeding head. 6
Ask this of him, that he may set you free:

7 Give me your blessing,
holy Son of God. 8 I would behold you with the
eyes of Christ, and see my perfect sinlessness in you.

p12. And He will answer Whom you called upon. 2
For He will hear the Voice for God in you, and answer in your own. 3
Behold him now, whom you have seen as merely flesh and bone, and recognize
that Christ has come to you. 4 Today’s idea
is your safe escape from anger and from fear. 5
Be sure you use it instantly, should you be tempted to attack a brother
and perceive in him the symbol of your fear. 6
And you will see him suddenly transformed from enemy to savior; from the
devil into Christ.

In the Course of a Year::A Course in Miracles Lessons online

Lesson 161

Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.

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