ACIM Lessons Continued: What is Salvation?

We are one, united in this light and one with You, at peace with all creation and ourselves. 

ACIM-W-Part II:2:239:2:3

My Bad: I meant to be done the entire workbook by now but have not looked at the lessons since July 28th.  I tell myself there is some reason for that I may never be able to understand with my limited little mind.  Andersen's book landed on my lap, as well as Tara Brach's, Rubert Spiro's, and Jon Kabat-Zinn's.   All exactly when they were supposed to. 

So here we go:

Part II : 2. What is Salvation?

Salvation is simply remembering who we really are.  We tame the mind when we see beyond it to what is; when we realize we are all part of the One Mind; that there never was such a thing as seperation; when we realize the only time there is is 'now",  and when we are able to replace the the thought of conflict with the Thought of peace.

Lesson 231: Father, I will but to remember You

What we truly seek is not the many things 'out there' but reconnection to and renewed awareness of the Love of God.  We seek that Love which will set us free.  We too often are unconscious and confused seeking a myriad of things with different names but in truth what we are seeking in these things is that which cannot be neamed... the Love of God.

Lesson 232: Be in my mind, my Father,through the day.

This lesson appeals to us to have Faith and trust in God as we pray to Him to be in our minds throughout the day and night.  We pray that we are constantly reminded and grateful of God's presence in our life, His Love and protection.

Lesson 233: I give my life to God to guide today

Here we vow to  give up our life to God's guidance and Will.  We trust in His thought not our own. We let go of our futile goals to find what we are looking for 'out there' when what we really want is in the One who Guides.  We pledge to follow, even when we cannot comprehend the Way He works and to trust in that Love He offers.

Lesson 234: Father, today I am Your son again

We anticipate the Holy Instant that allows us to see that the Peace of God and the safety and blessing provided to us did not leave us...it was always with us and that the memory Of God, we will never lose. We realize with this awareness that we are saved.

Lesson 235: God in His mercy wills that I be saved

We see in this lesson that God wills we be saved...and by saved we simply realize the illusion of sin and ego...how suffering disappears when we see clearly the truth that God wills us  Love and peace, not punishment for the illusion of sin. 

Lesson 236: I rule my mind, which I alone must rule.

This lesson is about the mind and how we are the ones that rule it.  Instead of allowing ego to take the reins, we can instead give those reins to the Holy Spirit so that we serve , doing God's will instead of ego's.  We can go beyond the thinking ego is trying to convince us is our reality to the truth. Instead of getting lost in ego's thinking...we go to stillness and silence and open ourselves to God's Thoughts.

Lesson 237: Now would I be as God created me

Here we announce that we know who we really are.  We accept that truth of Self and we share that truth with the world through our acceptance of it. We come to God through Christ.

Lesson 238: On my decision all salvation rests

Reminded of how we are united with all as one Self, and therefore how our salvation will lead to the salvation of all, we are also reminded of our worthiness for this task, how God loves and trusts us.

Lesson 239: The glory of my Father is my own

We are asked in this lesson to denounce our false humility and to be thankful for the gift of glory God has given us...for the light [of unity] that shines forever in us.

Lesson 240: Fear is not justified in any form

In the final lesson in this section we are told that fear is not justified because it is only a deception. When we fear we are attesting that we are seeing ourselves in a way we could never be and seeing a world that is impossible.  How foolish are our fears!

In Other Words:

Okay these are beautiful lessons with beautiful messages ...whether you are Christian or not; whether you are Christian and see ACIM as a blasphemous take on Christianity or not; whether you see it all as new age woo-woo nonsense or not...the underlying message resonates with a knowing  that is familiar.  This knowing is one that goes beyond conceptual knowledge and conditioning...beyond what we were taught to believe and perceive and what we have learned or chosen to believe or perceive over our life times.  Though this message is spoken with terminology that may be comforting to some, off-putting to others...the message is simple, universal and healing. It is not meant to please your ego.  It is meant to awaken your spirit. The message is Love.

Huh? 

We really need to get beyond words at some point...beyond concepts and ideas that seperate and support our egos to determine the One  truth...that is the background of most true teachings. All these teachings, whether it is from ACIM, more traditional Christianity (and its many, many different sects), Buddhism, Hinduism,  Islam, other religions, science, philosophy, psychology, allopathic medicine or some other field of thought.... point to a knowing that cannot be taught, only remembered. 

Too often we get stuck in the field of thought and cannot see beyond it.  Many of us, personally or collectively, are so busy trying to protect and support our ideations, terms, words and convictions that we don't even look to see what the teacher or teachings we follow  are pointing   to. For example, in Christianity, we may get stuck on building up, supporting and protecting our version of  Christ and the words He used as the messenger, creating different , seperate sects of belief  under the title of Christianity...In each sect we may be so convinced that our way of believing is right, and all other ways are wrong , using "The Word" as our weapon..."Salvation" is such a word. We may get so caught up on determining who gets saved, when they get saved, how they get saved , from what they are being saved...that we fail to see what salvation really is.

So we do need to get beyond the different intrepretation of words, the different ideas ...to the truth that we are being pointed to.  

We are being taught, in one way or another, over and over agian...that we are more than this!

We are more than this body, this personality, the things we do, the things we have, the way we think or feel.  All that is just a superficial and flimsy front over the space of what we really are.  We are not the foreground of form...we are the background of  formlessness. When we see this...when we know this...when we reconnect to the awareness, the essence of Love we have been erronously searching for "out there"...guess what?  We will be saved. 

Salvation is About Remembering

So many teachings point to this one truth: we are saved when we remember who we are and from Whom we came.  We are saved when we see that in our true essence we are all One...a part of and operating with One Mind...what Andersen referred to as the  "Universal Subconcious Mind"...other fields of thought may call it Tao, or Self...Atman, Budha Nature...The field...and A Course calls it "God's Mind" "God's Will". 

What we are saved from...is the fog, illusion and dream like state we are in when we operate under ego, when we believe everything our thinking  is telling us. Basically...salvation comes when we see beyond the  seperate mind and reconnect to the One Mind.

Hmm! Well that is my intrepretation of an intrepretation. Knowing truth cannot be explained or reduced to words. It is the words and individual intrepretations that often block the knowing. 

All is well!

ACIM (2007) A Course in Miracles; Combined Edition-Workbook. Foundations of Inner Peace: Mill Valley