Week 23, Lessons 152-158, Academy for the Workbook of a Course in Miracles, 6/7/25

Week 23, Lessons 152-158

The power of decision is my own.
1 No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. ²No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. ³No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants. ⁴And no one dies without his own consent. ⁵Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. ⁶Here is your world, complete in all details. ⁷Here is its whole reality for you. ⁸And it is only here salvation is.

2 You may believe that this position is extreme, and too inclusive to be true. ²Yet can truth have exceptions?
☀️[CE [W-152:1]-[W-152.2]]

1 The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself. ²No matter what the form of the attack, this still is true. ³Whoever takes the role of enemy and of attacker, still is this the truth. ⁴Whatever seems to be the cause of any pain and suffering you feel, this is still true. ⁵For you would not react at all to figures in a dream you knew that you were dreaming. ⁶Let them be as hateful and as vicious as they may, they could have no effect on you unless you failed to recognize it is your dream. ⁷This single lesson learned will set you free from suffering, whatever form it takes.
☀️[CE [T-27.XI:1]-[T-27.XI.1]]

The way to practice this throughout the day is be aware of how much you do not do this, how much you want to bring God to your level so He walks your path, rather than your walking His. Walking the path of A Course in Miracles, again, means simply being vigilant for how you try to make real the dualistic world of sin and specialness. By practicing such vigilance you “step back and let Him lead the way.” And God’s Love is but an instant longer down the certain road that leads to Him.
☀️Ken Wapnick

6 This is the way salvation works. ²As you step back, the Light in you steps forward and encompasses the world. ³It heralds not the end of sin in punishment and death. ⁴In lightness and in laughter is sin gone, because its quaint absurdity is seen. ⁵It is a foolish thought, a silly dream, not frightening—ridiculous perhaps, but who would waste an instant in approach to God Himself for such a senseless whim?

7 Yet you have wasted many, many years on just this foolish thought. ²The past is gone, with all its fantasies. ³They keep you bound no longer.
☀️[CE W-156.6-7]

7 Christ’s vision has one law: It does not look upon a body and mistake it for the Son whom God created. ²It beholds a light beyond the body, an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilt from dreams of sin. ³It sees no separation. ⁴And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees.
☀️[CE W-158.7]

The psychotherapist, then, has a tremendous responsibility. ²He must meet attack without attack, and therefore without defense. ³It is his task to demonstrate that defenses are not necessary, and that defenselessness is strength. ⁴This must be his teaching, if his lesson is to be that sanity is safe. ⁵It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the insane believe that sanity is threat. ☀️(ACIM, P-2.IV.10:1-5)

⁴We will remind ourselves that He remains beside us through the day, and never leaves our weakness unsupported by His strength. ⁵We call upon His strength each time we feel the threat of our defenses undermine our certainty of purpose. ⁶We will pause a moment as He tells us, “I am here.”
☀️[CE W-153.18:4-6]

8 “Who walks with me?” ²This question should be asked a thousand times a day, till certainty has ended doubting and established peace. ³Today let doubting cease. ⁴God speaks for you in answering your question with these words:

⁵I walk with God in perfect holiness. ⁶I light the world, I light my mind, and all the minds which God created one with me.
☀️[CE W-156.8]

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