July 21st 2015 Lesson 68
Love holds no grievances.
You who were created by love like itself can hold no grievances and know you Self. To hold a grievance is to forget who you are. To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body. To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the body to death. Perhaps you do not yet fully realize just what holding grievances does to your mind. It seems to split you off from your Source and make you unlike Him. It makes you believe that He is like what you think you have become, for no one can conceive of his Creator as unlike himself.Shut off from your Self, which remains aware of Its likeness to Its Creator, your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves illusions in its sleep appears to be awake. Can all this arise form holding grievances? Oh, yes! For he who holds grievances denies he was created by love, and his Creator has become fearful to him in his dream of hate. Who can dream of hatred and not fear God?
It is as sure that those who hold grievance will redefine God in their own image, as it is certain that God created them like Himself, and defined them as part of Him. It is as sure that those who hold grievances will suffer guilt, as it is certain that those who forgive will find peace. It is as sure that those who hold grievances will forget who they are, as it is certain that those who forgive will remember.
Would you not be willing to relinquish your grievances if you believed all this were so? Perhaps you do not think you can let your grievances go. That, however, is simply a matter of motivation. Today we will try to find out how you would feel without them. If you succeed even by ever so little, there will never be a problem in motivation ever again.
- Intention: One ten to fifteen minute extended practice period, and frequent short practices periods several times an hour.
- Practice: Begin
the longer practice period, by searching your mind for those
against whom you hold what you regard as major grievances. Some of
these will be quite easy to find. Then think of the seemingly minor
grievances you hold against those you like and even think you love. It
will quickly become apparent that there is on one against whom you do
not cherish grievances of some sort. This has left you alone in all the
universe in your perception of yourself. Determine now to see all these people as friends. Say to them all, thinking of each one in turn as you do so:
I would see you as my friend, that I may remember
you are part of me and come to know myself.
Spend the remainder of the practice period trying to think of yourself as completely at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world that protects you and loves you, and that you love in return. Try to feel safety surrounding you, hovering over you and holding you up. Try to believe, however briefly, that nothing can harm you in any way. At the end of the practice period tell yourself:
Love holds no grievances.
When I let all my grievances go I will know I am perfectly safe.
- Application: The shorter practice
periods, should include a quick application of today's idea in this form, whenever any thought of grievance arises against anyone, physically present or not: Love holds no grievances. Let me not betray my Self.
In addition, repeat the idea several times an hour in this form:
Love holds no grievances.
I would wake to my Self by laying all my grievances aside and wakening in Him.
Insights/comments:
- Today's lesson is the answer to the question of why we who are the light of the world, and who Love created as itself, do not perceive our own light? The answer is the veil of grievances we hold against our brothers. Our light cannot be extinguished because it was established by God Himself, but it can be hidden. Just as a veil can cover a lamp and thus render the room in darkness, so the veil of grievances can render us blind to our own light and the light of our brothers. But love holds no grievances, and since love created us as itself, we too can hold no grievances, so long as we remember our true identity as love. Holding grievances hides the light of love from our awareness, leaving us in the darkness of separation, and making us vulnerable to illusions of every kind. Let us then be vigilant to release all grievances so that we may remember our true identity.
I and my Creator are One.
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