A Course In Miracle Workbook For Dummies LESSON 161 Give me your blessing, holy Son of God. W-161.1. 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 to give me your blessing, holy Son of God. 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 when you see your brother as the holy Son of God. 5 Here by always seeing your brother s perfect holiness is the answer of the Voice for God. W-161.2. Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind. 2 But part of your mind is now unnatural and split. 3 Your split mind does not look on everything as one. 4 Your split mind sees instead but fragments of the whole, for only thus could your mind invent the partial world you see. 5 The purpose of all egoic seeing is to show you what you wish to see. 6 All hearing but brings to your mind the sounds your split mind wants to hear. W-161.3. Because your split mind sees only fragments of the whole and sees only what it wants to see, thus were specifics made. 2 And now it is specifics we must use in practicing. 3 We give the specifics that we perceive to the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit may employ the specifics that we wanted to see for a purpose which is different from the one we gave originally to what we perceived. 4 Yet the Holy Spirit can use but what we made, to teach us from a different point of view, so we can see a different use in everything. W-161.4. 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 of oneness make clear the meaning of creation? 5 Do these words bring perfect clarity with these abstract explanations to you? 6 What can they seem to be but empty sounds; pretty, perhaps, correct in sentiment, yet fundamentally not understood nor understandable by your mind that deals in specifics. 7 The split mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer grasp abstraction in the sense that the abstract is all-encompassing. 8 We need to see a little with specific examples so that we learn a lot. W-161.5. 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 and meaningless. W-161.6. Bodies attack, but minds do not attack. 2 This thought is surely reminiscent of our text, where the need for a body for attack to be possible 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 the sight of a body presents the symbol of love's "enemy" that 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 which is the split mind?
W-161.7. 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, hatred calls for death as surely as God's Voice proclaims there is no death. 5 Fear is insatiable, consuming everything the eyes of fear behold, seeing fear in everything, compelled to turn upon itself and to destroy its own mind. W-161.8. Who sees a brother as a body sees him as fear's symbol. 2 And he who sees a brother as a body will attack, because what he beholds in his brother s body is his own fear external to himself, poised to attack, and howling to unite with him again and end his separate autonomous existence. 3 Mistake not the intensity of rage projected fear must spawn. 4 Fear shrieks in wrath, and claws the air in frantic hope fear s rage can reach to its maker and devour fear s maker which is your own mind. W-161.9. A concrete symbol of fear do the body's eyes behold in one whom Heaven cherishes, the angels love and God created perfect. 2 The big S Self, not the body, is your brother s reality. 3 And in Christ's vision is your brother s 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 your brother in the sight of Christ that sees your brother thus as the Son of God. 5 Attack on your brother is enemy to you and an attack on yourself, for you will not perceive that in your brother s hands is your salvation. 6 Ask your brother but for his blessings and salvation, and he will give his blessings and salvation to you. 7 Ask your brother not to symbolize your fear. 8 Would you request that love destroy itself? 9 Or would you have love be revealed to you and set you free? W-161.10. 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 Christ's vision, you will succeed today. 4 And once you have succeeded in reaching Christ's vision, 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 the truth of your big S Self s oneness with all? W-161.11. Select one brother, symbol of the rest, and ask salvation of him. 2 See your brother first as clearly as you can, in that same bodily form to which you are accustomed. 3 See his face, his hands and feet, his clothing. 4 Watch your brother smile, and see familiar gestures which your brother 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 forgiveness and the blessings of your brother 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. W-161.12. And the Holy Spirit will answer Whom you called upon. 2 For the Holy Spirit will hear the Voice for God in you, and answer in your own. 3 Behold your brother now, whom
you have seen as merely flesh and bone, and recognize that Christ has come to you. 4 Today's idea of asking your brother s blessing as the holy Son of God is your safe escape from anger and from fear. 5 Be sure you use today's idea of asking your brother s blessing as the holy Son of God instantly, should you be tempted to attack a brother and perceive in your brother the symbol of your fear. 6 And in the asking you will see your brother suddenly transformed from enemy to savior; from the devil into Christ. Notes to Lesson #161 Give me your blessing, holy Son of God. The natural state of our mind is abstract. Yet, this lesson tells us that our split mind now finds itself in an unnatural state. What do they mean by this? The mind that we share with God is abstract. This means that everything is seen and known to be one. There are no specifics because there is no separation. The abstract knows that truth just is and nothing else is true. The abstract is all-encompassing with no exceptions for there is only the One Self. This means that one brother is all brothers and that every mind contains all minds for every mind is one. Yet, does your split mind comprehend what this really means? The idea that one brother is actually all brothers seems incomprehensible to our thinking minds. This is because our split mind has taught itself to thinks in specifics. Our mind is no longer able to grasp abstract concepts like the all-encompassing nature of a Oneness of All That Is. Because of this unnatural state of our split mind, we now need specifics in order to learn and remember the all-encompassing aspects of Ourselves. To better understand what I mean by the mind being unnatural, let us quickly consider what we believe our split mind does. Our split mind allows us to think and make decisions. When we think of what our egoic mind does, we associate mind with the thinking and decision process. Yet, does the Mind of God think and make decisions? God does not think. God knows. God does not make decisions for truth just is. God s Will is changeless so there is nothing to decide. In Lesson 152, the power of decision and thinking were both discussed and defined. How they were defined was unusual and needs to be reviewed. Their unusual definitions help clarify why our egoic mind is in an unnatural state. Our egoic mind s function and purpose seems to center around thinking and decision-making. Yet, both thinking and decision-making are not attributes of the Mind of God. Decision is based on the belief that there is something that is not true and therefore, we could experience the false. To think means you claim you did not know. The power of decision entails thinking which is the illusion of not knowing. The power of decision is your claim that you could
not know what you really are and that you could have an existence other than as God created you. Below is an excerpt from the notes of Lesson 152. Decision is the belief that there is something that is not true and therefore, we can experience the false. It is the belief that truth has an opposite and that the opposite of truth is as real as truth itself. The belief that the false exists is only an illusion because truth has no opposites. In time, there is only one decision that we need to make. This decision is the recognition that the true is true and nothing else is true which has been defined as salvation. This means that salvation is one decision away. Salvation is simply the acceptance of the truth or the Atonement for yourself. The power of decision is your own because the power of decision is your belief that the false can exist and has the ability to change the truth of what God created as God created it. The power of decision only appears to exist within the delusional mind that believes the false is real. The power of decision is not an attribute of God. God is truth and truth just is. Nothing opposes truth for nothing else is real. In time, it appears that we have a decision to make because we believe that the false is real. In reality, a decision for the false is no decision because to choose the false is a decision to choose nothingness. Since nothingness cannot change what is real, a decision for nothingness has no effect and therefore, is ultimately no decision. There is only one choice available, which is truth because truth has no opposites. To think is to claim that you do not know. Thinking comes from the belief that there is both truth and truth s opposite. The ego is arrogant and believes that it can think because it claims it does not know the truth of who you really are. The power of decision entails thinking which is the illusion of not knowing. The power of decision is your claim that you could not know what you really are and that you could have an existence other than as God created you. End of excerpt from the notes from lesson 152. So how did we get into this unnatural state of mind? The egoic mind does not look on everything as one. Instead, the egoic mind believes the separation to be real. The ego takes parts from the indivisible whole and invents a partial world that our senses currently see. Our split mind made these specifics by perceiving the whole to be fragmented into separate autonomous parts. It then uses our senses to selectively observe the parts of the whole that it wishes to perceive as our reality. Our senses are thought confirmation devices designed to confirm only what our egos wish to see and hear.
Your ego only sees and hears a partial world and ignores the wholeness that is the truth. Because of your ego s belief that the separation is real, your split mind has lost its ability to grasp the abstract. Yet, if we choose to give the ego s specifics over to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit can use those same specifics and reframe their purpose to teach us the truth. Instead of witnessing for fear, the Holy Spirit can reinterpret these events through the eyes of love. The ego and the Holy Spirit teach from different points of view. One teaches separation and the other oneness. The Holy Spirit uses the ego s specific symbols of fear to teach oneness and that your mind is joined with all minds. Every mind is part of the shared holographic Mind of God. Because the ego thinks in specifics, it can no longer grasp the abstract One Self. We need the help of the Holy Spirit Who knows both the abstract truth and also that our mind perceives and thinks in specifics. Having the complete picture, the Holy Spirit can change the purpose of the ego s specific events so that we can begin to remember the truth. Fear arises out of our belief in specifics. Specifics support our belief in separation and birthed the idea that one can gain from another s loss. If there was just a oneness, your brother s loss would be your own. Without the illusion of specifics, there would be nothing to fear since there would only be the unity of the One Self. The body symbolizes a concrete form of fear. Bodies can attack and be attacked. Without the body, which symbolizes separation, there would be nothing to attack because the natural state of mind is the abstract One Self Hate is specific for you must perceive something to attack. The ego projects its own fears from within its mind into an illusionary outer world of specific forms. It sees your brother s body as separate from itself and then attacks hoping to destroy your brother, which has become the symbol of the ego s own fears. The ego believes that ideas do leave their source and therefore, erroneously believes its attacks upon another are not attacks upon itself. Do not see your brother as a symbol for your own ego s fears. Instead, use the Holy Spirit s gift of Christ vision to look past the body and behold the sinless and guiltless nature of all. When you see your brother as the Christ, you will ask for your brother s blessing instead of using his body as a symbol for your fears. The Holy Spirit can use your brother as a specific symbol for the truth of your holiness. With the Holy Spirit s vision you can see before you a witness for forgiveness and union. Question: Your egoic mind is engaged in thinking and decision-making. Your ego s goal is to make the false appear real and the true appear false. Is this the type of teacher you would freely follow? Copyright 2014 by Thomas R. Wakechild