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LESSON 96

Salvation comes from my one Self.

1. Although you are one Self, you experience yourself as two; as both good and evil, loving and hating, mind and body. ²This sense of being split into opposites induces feelings of acute and constant conflict, and leads to frantic attempts to reconcile the contradictory aspects of this self-perception. ³You have sought many such solutions, and none of them has worked. ⁴The opposites you see in you will never be compatible. ⁵But one exists.

2. The fact that truth and illusion cannot be reconciled, no matter how you try, what means you use and where you see the problem, must be accepted if you would be saved. ²Until you have accepted this, you will attempt an endless list of goals you cannot reach; a senseless series of expenditures of time and effort, hopefulness and doubt, each one as futile as the one before, and failing as the next one surely will.

3. Problems that have no meaning cannot be resolved within the framework they are set. ²Two selves in conflict could not be resolved, and good and evil have no meeting place. ³The self you made can never be your Self, nor can your Self be split in two, and still be what It is and must forever be. ⁴A mind and body cannot both exist. ⁵Make no attempt to reconcile the two, for one denies the other can be real. ⁶If you are physical, your mind is gone from your self-concept, for it has no place in which it could be really part of you. ⁷If you are spirit, then the body must be meaningless to your reality.

4. Spirit makes use of mind as means to find its Self expression. ²And the mind which serves the spirit is at peace and filled with joy. ³Its power comes from spirit, and it is fulfilling happily its function here. ⁴Yet mind can also see itself divorced from spirit, and perceive itself within a body it confuses with itself. ⁵Without its function then it has no peace, and happiness is alien to its thoughts.

5. Yet mind apart from spirit cannot think. ²It has denied its Source of strength, and sees itself as helpless, limited and weak. ³Dissociated from its function now, it thinks it is alone and separate, attacked by armies massed against itself and hiding in the body’s frail support. ⁴Now must it reconcile unlike with like, for this is what it thinks that it is for.

6. Waste no more time on this. ²Who can resolve the senseless conflicts which a dream presents? ³What could the resolution mean in truth? ⁴What purpose could it serve? ⁵What is it for? ⁶Salvation cannot make illusions real, nor solve a problem that does not exist. ⁷Perhaps you hope it can. ⁸Yet would you have God’s plan for the release of His dear Son bring pain to him, and fail to set him free?

7. Your Self retains Its Thoughts, and they remain within your mind and in the Mind of God. ²The Holy Spirit holds salvation in your mind, and offers it the way to peace. ³Salvation is a thought you share with God, because His Voice accepted it for you and answered in your name that it was done. ⁴Thus is salvation kept among the Thoughts your Self holds dear and cherishes for you.

8. We will attempt today to find this thought, whose presence in your mind is guaranteed by Him Who speaks to you from your one Self. ²Our hourly five-minute practicing will be a search for Him within your mind. ³Salvation comes from this one Self through Him Who is the Bridge between your mind and It. ⁴Wait patiently, and let Him speak to you about your Self, and what your mind can do, restored to It and free to serve Its Will.

9. Begin with saying this:

²Salvation comes from my one Self. ³Its Thoughts are mine to use.

⁴Then seek Its Thoughts, and claim them as your own. ⁵These are your own real thoughts you have denied, and let your mind go wandering in a world of dreams, to find illusions in their place. ⁶Here are your thoughts, the only ones you have. ⁷Salvation is among them; find it there.

10. If you succeed, the thoughts that come to you will tell you you are saved, and that your mind has found the function that it sought to lose. ²Your Self will welcome it and give it peace. ³Restored in strength, it will again flow out from spirit to the spirit in all things created by the Spirit as Itself. ⁴Your mind will bless all things. ⁵Confusion done, you are restored, for you have found your Self.

11. Your Self knows that you cannot fail today. ²Perhaps your mind remains uncertain yet a little while. ³Be not dismayed by this. ⁴The joy your Self experiences It will save for you, and it will yet be yours in full awareness. ⁵Every time you spend five minutes of the hour seeking Him Who joins your mind and Self, you offer Him another treasure to be kept for you.

12. Each time today you tell your frantic mind salvation comes from your one Self, you lay another treasure in your growing store. ²And all of it is given everyone who asks for it, and will accept the gift. ³Think, then, how much is given unto you to give this day, that it be given you!

(ACIM, W-96.1:1–12:3)

Posted in ACIM Lessons

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