December 3rd 2014 Lesson 259
Part II Introduction
We will continue spending time with God each morning and night and at each waking hour, using all future lessons as introductions to the times in which we leave the world of pain, and go to enter peace, calling to God when we have need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal. During these holy times, we will say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father to reveal Himself to us, as He has promised that He would when we invited Him.
This is how our times with Him will now be spent: we say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait for Him to come to us. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do so. We need only call to God, and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed.
Our lessons will now be preceded by a theme of special relevance that we should review before each lesson until another is given us. They should be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of the holy times we sit in silence and wait for God to reveal Himself to us. The next of these special thoughts follow and are relevant to lessons 251 - 260:4. What Is Sin
Sin is insanity. It is the means by which the mind is driven mad, and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth. And being mad, it sees illusions where the truth should be, and where it really is. Sin gave the body eyes, for what is there the sinless would behold? What need have they of sights or sounds or touch? What would they hear or reach to grasp? What would they sense at all? To sense is not to know. And truth can be but filled with knowledge, and with nothing else.
The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to deceive itself. Its purpose is to strive. Yet can the goal of striving change. And now the body serves a different aim for striving. What it seeks for now is chosen by the aim the mind has taken as replacement for the goal of self-deception. Truth can be its aim as well as lies. The senses then will seek instead for witnesses to what is true.
Sin is the home of all illusions, which but stand for things imagined, issuing from thoughts that are untrue. They are the "proof" that what has no reality is real. Sin "proves" God's Son is evil; timelessness must have an end; eternal life must die. And God Himself has lost the Son He loves, with but corruption to complete Himself, His Will forever overcome by death, love slain by hate, and peace to be no more.
A madman's dreams are frightening, and sin appears indeed to terrify. And yet what sin perceives is but a childish game. The Son of God may play he has become a body, prey to evil and to guilt, with but a little life that ends in death. But all the while his Father shines on him, and loves him with an everlasting Love which his pretenses cannot change at all.
How long, O Son of God, will you maintain the game of sin? Shall we not put away these sharp-edged children's toys? How soon will you be ready to come home? Perhaps today? There is no sin. Creation is unchanged. Would you still hold return to Heaven back? How long, O holy Son of God, how long?Lesson 259
Let me remember that there is no sin.
- Sin is the only thought that makes the goal of God seem unattainable. What else could blind us to the obvious, add make the strange and distorted seem more clear? What else but sin engenders our attacks? What else but sin could be the source of guilt, demanding punishment and suffering? And what but sin could be the source of fear, obscuring God's creation; giving love the attributes of fear and of attack?
- Invitation Prayer: Father, I would not be insane today. I would not be afraid of love, nor seek for refuge in its opposite. For love can have no opposite. You are the Source of everything there is. And everything that is remains with You, and You with it.
Insights/comments:
- Sin is simply the recognition that our actions have missed the mark, that they did not accomplish their intended goal, that we simply made an error in our calculations. But in its current usage, this error is expanded to mean a transgression against a law, rule or code (usually religious,) which carries the additional burden of a punishment for our error. It is as if the natural consequence of our error, failure, were not enough, we added a punishment on top of it! It is strange indeed that we believe in punishment for errors, when it only compounds the negative feelings and disappointment we already feel. What we really need is forgiveness and the opportunity to make corrections. We need to clearly see why our error did not bring us the experience we hoped for, and seeing this, choose to make adjustments so that we do get the outcome we want. An error indicates that something did not go as planed, that there was a break in the flow of the desire-intention-thought-action-fulfillment process, which left us unfulfilled. The next step is to reflect and logically analyze the process to see where the error occurred, then make the necessary corrections and try again.
This is the natural process by which we learn and grow, and punishment has no place in it. The natural outcomes or consequences of the process lead to its fulfillment. We do take this natural approach for some errors, the minor ones, but for major ones, those in the category we call ‘sin’ meaning ‘serious transgression,’ punishment is always a component. This punitive addition serves only to disrupt the entire natural process, increasing resentment on the one punished, teaches fear, and stifles our natural curiosity which in turn hampers experimentation, learning, and growth. With respect to our spiritual growth, God allows us the freedom to do anything we want and decide if the outcome works for us. If it doesn't we get to try again. Thus we learn and grow, and in time, come to realize the wisdom of our Creator.
I and my Creator are One. 
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