Lesson 186

Salvation of the world depends on me.

p1. Here is the statement that will one day take all arrogance
away from every mind. 2 Here is the thought
of true humility, which holds no function as your own but that which has
been given you. 3 It offers your acceptance
of a part assigned to you, without insisting on another role. 4
It does not judge your proper role. 5 It but
acknowledges the Will of God is done on earth as well as Heaven. 6
It unites all wills on earth in Heaven’s plan to save the world, restoring
it to Heaven’s peace.

p2. Let us not fight our function. 2
We did not establish it. 3 It is not our idea.
4 The means are given us by which it will be
perfectly accomplished. 5 All that we are asked
to do is to accept our part in genuine humility, and not deny with self-deceiving
arrogance that we are worthy. 6 What is given
us to do, we have the strength to do. 7 Our
minds are suited perfectly to take the part assigned to us by One Who knows
us well.

p3. Today’s idea may seem quite sobering, until you see its meaning.
2 All it says is that your Father still remembers
you, and offers you the perfect trust He holds in you who are His Son. 3
It does not ask that you be different in any way from what you are. 4
What could humility request but this? 5 And
what could arrogance deny but this? 6 Today
we will not shrink from our assignment on the specious grounds that modesty
is outraged. 7 It is pride that would deny the
Call for God Himself.

p4. All false humility we lay aside today, that we may listen to
God’s Voice reveal to us what He would have us do. 2
We do not doubt our adequacy for the function He will offer us. 3
We will be certain only that He knows our strengths, our wisdom and our
holiness. 4 And if He deems us worthy, so we
are. 5 It is but arrogance that judges otherwise.

p5. There is one way, and only one, to be released from the imprisonment
your plan to prove the false is true has brought to you. 2
Accept the plan you did not make instead. 3
Judge not your value to it. 4 If God’s Voice
assures you that salvation needs your part, and that the whole depends on
you, be sure that it is so. 5 The arrogant must
cling to words, afraid to go beyond them to experience which might affront
their stance. 6 Yet are the humble free to hear
the Voice which tells them what they are, and what to do.

p6. Arrogance makes an image of yourself that is not real. 2
It is this image which quails and retreats in terror, as the Voice for God
assures you that you have the strength, the wisdom and the holiness to go
beyond all images. 3 You are not weak, as is
the image of yourself. 4 You are not ignorant
and helpless. 5 Sin can not tarnish the truth
in you, and misery can come not near the holy home of God.

p7. All this the Voice for God relates to you. 2
And as He speaks, the image trembles and seeks to attack the threat it does
not know, sensing its basis crumble. 3 Let it
go. 4 Salvation of the world depends on you,
and not upon this little pile of dust. 5 What
can it tell the holy Son of God? 6 Why need
he be concerned with it at all?

p8. And so we find our peace. 2 We
will accept the function God has given us, for all illusions rest upon the
weird belief that we can make another for ourselves. 3
Our self-made roles are shifting, and they seem to change from mourner to
ecstatic bliss of love and loving. 4 We can
laugh or weep, and greet the day with welcome or with tears. 5
Our very being seems to change as we experience a thousand shifts in mood,
and our emotions raise us high indeed, or dash us to the ground in hopelessness.

p9. Is this the Son of God? 2 Could
He create such instability and call it Son? 3
He Who is changeless shares His attributes with His creation. 4
All the images His Son appears to make have no effect on what he is. 5
They blow across his mind like wind-swept leaves that form a patterning
an instant, break apart to group again, and scamper off. 6
Or like mirages seen above a desert, rising from the dust.

p10. These unsubstantial images will go, and leave your mind unclouded
and serene, when you accept the function given you. 2
The images you make give rise to but conflicting goals, impermanent and
vague, uncertain and ambiguous. 3 Who could
be constant in his efforts, or direct his energies and concentrated drive
toward goals like these? 4 The functions which
the world esteems are so uncertain that they change ten times an hour at
their most secure. 5 What hope of gain can rest
on goals like this?

p11. In lovely contrast, certain as the sun’s return each morning
to dispel the night, your truly given function stands out clear and wholly
unambiguous. 2 There is no doubt of its validity.
3 It comes from One Who knows no error, and
His Voice is certain of Its messages. 4 They
will not change, nor be in conflict. 5 All of
them point to one goal, and one you can attain. 6
Your plan may be impossible, but God’s can never fail because He is its
Source.

p12. Do as God’s Voice directs. 2
And if It asks a thing of you which seems impossible, remember Who it is
that asks, and who would make denial. 3 Then
consider this; which is more likely to be right? 4
The Voice that speaks for the Creator of all things, Who knows all things
exactly as they are, or a distorted image of yourself, confused, bewildered,
inconsistent and unsure of everything? 5 Let
not its voice direct you. 6 Hear instead a certain
Voice, which tells you of a function given you by your Creator Who remembers
you, and urges that you now remember Him.

p13. His gentle Voice is calling from the known to the unknowing.
2 He would comfort you, although He knows no
sorrow. 3 He would make a restitution, though
He is complete; a gift to you, although He knows that you have everything
already. 4 He has Thoughts which answer every
need His Son perceives, although He sees them not. 5
For Love must give, and what is given in His Name takes on the form most
useful in a world of form.

p14. These are the forms which never can deceive, because they
come from Formlessness Itself. 2 Forgiveness
is an earthly form of love, which as it is in Heaven has no form. 3
Yet what is needed here is given here as it is needed. 4
In this form you can fulfill your function even here, although what love
will mean to you when formlessness has been restored to you is greater still.
5 Salvation of the world depends on you who
can forgive. 6 Such is your function here.

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

Lesson 186

Salvation of the world depends on me.

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