Earlier this week someone, presumably Syria’s president Assad, ordered a chemical attack on civilians/terrorists (depending on who is telling the story). In America, we saw images of the children affected in the attack. Last night US President Trump ordered an attack on a Syrian airbase. Russia, Iran and Syria say the US attack was “naively pulled behind a false propaganda campaign.”

An 11-year old boy hung himself because his girlfriend and her friends pulled a prank on social media saying she killed herself. (Clearly he was pulled in by a false propaganda campaign.)

Congratulations. You have made it to the second review in the ACIM Workbook. I know some of you feel you have not been doing this perfectly. That’s okay. We rest for a bit in the arms of this review in order to strengthen our commitment to truth.

Notice these sentences in the introduction to the review:

The universe played a little joke on me today. I awoke to two Awakening Together technical problems that needed to be looked at over coffee. This was before opening the Course to see today’s lesson.

What I noticed as I looked at these technical problems was the ‘sensibleness’ that led the looking. It was a feeling of “Here is what I can do now; here is what I can’t do now.” There was no artificial sense of over-responsibility or a lot of chatter about ‘me’ and ‘others’ and ‘the problem.’

Today’s workbook lesson is another lesson that teaches a ‘skill’ that helps us awaken. Notice how we are to begin our longer practice periods. We notice a person that we have a grievance against. We hold that person in our mind, and we review that one as we see her now. We examine her faults, etc. We let it all come out of denial to be looked at. We be honest about all of our grievances against this one person.

That’s important. As NTI 1 Thessalonians points out, we have a habit of automatically denying the thoughts we have that intrude upon our peace. To heal, we reverse that process. First we let everything come out of denial so we can look at it, and then we ….

Before I finish that sentence, let me share an image that may be helpful. Imagine yourself as a glass of water, except you aren’t a glass of clear water. You are a glass of murky, dirty water. As water, this makes you suffer, because you have an inherent desire to be clean water. The reason you are murky is because there is about 2 inches of mud at the bottom of the glass. Some sediment from the mud floats up and causes the murkiness. In order to be clean again, that mud needs to be lifted up from the bottom of the glass, carried to the surface and removed. When all of the mud is removed, the water will be clear again.

That is what we are doing when we look at our grievances (or fears, guilt & unworthiness) honestly. We are reaching down in our glass to the mud packed at the bottom (repressed thoughts & perceptions) and lifting the mud up so it can be removed from the glass.

So as I was saying, first we let everything come out of denial so we can look at it, and then we …

Well, the next step really depends. You might:

• Ask God, Holy Spirit or Jesus to help you see another way. I used to imagine wrapping those thoughts, feelings and perceptions in a box, tying a beautiful bow around the box and then giving it to Holy Spirit as a gift. As I passed the gift to Holy Spirit, I let it go completely. After all, you aren’t giving a gift if you hold onto it, right?

• Practice rest, accept and trust while realizing you don’t want this anymore. This is a practice I moved to after I became more experienced with forgiveness.

• Practice inquiry, such as Byron Katie’s “The Work,” until you see through your previous way of thinking.

• Refocus your attention on awareness, and let the realization of truth heal the silly thoughts that you believed before.

No matter which of these practices feels right and genuine for you, you are letting the mud be removed from the glass. When the mud is removed, you will experience the ‘miracle’ of peace-acceptance. You will be able to let the person remain exactly as she is without wanting her to change in any way. If the mud is heavily packed in the bottom of your glass, you may find you will have to do this more than once before you experience compete peace-acceptance, but that’s okay. It’s worth it.

For years, I found it helpful to practice forgiveness through journaling. Now I prefer to do it through a meditation practice, like the one recommended in today’s workbook lesson. Either way, I recommend taking this skill as a practice that you continue beyond today’s workbook lesson. Learn to look at the grievances you have with anyone and anything. Look and let go. This is how we clear the mud away. It’s a silent practice. No one else needs to know you are doing it

There are many wonderful pointers in this lesson. Let’s look at each of them briefly:

“You are entitled to miracles because of what you are.” – Yesterday’s tip encouraged you to ask, “What am I?” Today’s lesson begins by prompting us to look in the same direction. “What am I?”

This lesson says something very important. “… how simple is salvation.”

Our confusion is thinking we need something other than salvation to save us. We think we need a healthy or beautiful body, a certain amount of money, a certain quality of relationship, etc. And because we think we need these things, we then think we need to get them by either the laws of the world or through divine intervention. Either idea is the same mistake. The mistake stems from a fundamental error, the belief that we are bodies.

Read this lesson slowly at least 3 times today.

That’s it. That’s my tip. Love

Some people feel fear, sacrifice or doubt upon hearing the idea, “There is no will but God’s,” but that is due to a lack of understanding. God’s will is what you are, life-awareness-intelligence-open-freedom. You are that, and in being that you are God’s will.

The funny thing is, you can’t stop being that (even though you can deny you are that), so you can’t stop being God’s will.

You are God’s will.

So now that we’ve got the truth out there, let’s look at the rest of this workbook lesson. There are three more important points in today’s lesson.

During the longer practice today, you are asked to “deal quickly with any conflict thoughts that may cross your mind. Tell yourself immediately: There is no will but God’s. These conflict thoughts are meaningless.”

This is the same teaching that we find in NTI 1 Thessalonians:

“When fear intrudes on peace, you will hear it if you are listening. There will seem to be a slight upset, a stab thrust upon your peace, and an immediate desire to deny the thought or feeling that has intruded on your peace. … Do not accept temptation to deny the interruptions to peace. Pick them up and look at them in joy. For you have recognized that which you were tempted to deny. Do not deny the thought that has occurred, and do not accept it. Set it aside because it is not true. And continue joyously on the path of peace.”

Today’s workbook lesson and NTI 1 Thessalonians outline the practice that heals our mind.

1. Look at it.
2. Let it go.

And if you do that with joy or with the heart, it will be twice as effective.

Here’s the way it works for me. Let’s say I feel some agitation that is caused by resisting what is. I say to myself, “I see this resistance.” Immediately I feel some relaxation, which is caused by acknowledging it instead of denying it. Next, I ask myself, “What do I really want?” I remember my purpose, my heart opens, and with the intelligent peace of the open heart, I let it go (which may look like letting it be).

This is the practice that consistently and gently lets go of ego until there is nothing left to let go of.

Another great thing about today’s workbook lesson is that it takes another step in teaching meditation. We are asked to close our eyes and relax during meditation, but there is a difference between meditating and falling asleep. For me, there is a thin line between the two, and I need a lot of focus to meditate without falling asleep. If I do not remain aware of the fact that I am meditating, I will fall asleep. I have learned to pull myself back into awareness whenever the mind begins to drift into sleep. This workbook lesson is teaching that skill, so if falling asleep is a challenge for you, pay close attention to the instructions in this lesson.

Finally, in “The Direct Means to Eternal Bliss,” Michael Langford writes: “For some people it might take a few days, others a few weeks and others a few months to start to feel something. At first it is subtle and you won’t know what it is, but you will know that you like it. It is pleasant. A new subtle feeling. You are beginning to feel: eternal life-love-peace.”

Tess Hughes said the same thing in the Awakening Together Satsang. That’s what today’s Course lesson teaches too. It says, “Joy characterizes peace. By this experience you will recognize that you have reached it.”

Think about how simple that is! You are literally reaching God/Truth when meditation feels pleasant. You might experience it as lack of stress or worry, as tingling in the head, as an open heart or devotional feel, as butterflies in the belly or tingling in the legs and toes. It could show up in another way too, but when meditation feels good, you are reaching God. You are doing it !!!!!

This is important, because some people fail to recognize success in meditation because they are looking for bigger bells and whistles. Truth is subtle and simple, but it will change you. It will awaken you. So stay alert and follow the simple instructions for meditation. That is all there is to it.