 Hi everyone, welcome again to A Course in Miracles Workbook Lessons Live and today we are going to do workbook lesson 106. And it is let me be still and listen to the truth. If you will lay aside the ego's voice, however loudly it may seem to call, if you will not accept its petty gifts that give you nothing that you really want. If you will listen with an open mind that has not told you what salvation is. Then you will hear the mighty voice of truth, quiet in power. Long in stillness and completely certain in its messages. Listen and hear your father speak to you through his appointed voice, which silences the thunder of the meaningless and shows the way to peace to those who cannot see. Be still today and listen to the truth. Be not deceived by voices of the dead, which tell you they have found the source of life and offer it to you for your belief. Attend them not, but listen to the truth. Be not afraid to circumvent the voices of the world. Walk lightly past their meaningless persuasion. Hear them not. Be still today and listen to the truth. Go past all things which do not speak of him who holds your happiness within his hand. Held out to you in welcome and in love. Hear only him today and do not wait to reach him longer. Hear one voice today. Today the promise of God's word is kept. Hear and be silent. He would speak to you. He comes with miracles a thousand times as happy as wonderful as those you ever dreamed or wished for in your dreams. His miracles are true. They will not fade when dreaming ends. They end the dream instead and last forever. For they come from God to his dear son whose other name is you. Prepare yourself for miracles. Today allow your father's ancient pledge to you and all your brothers to be kept. Hear him today and listen to the word which lifts the veil that lies upon the earth and wakes all those who sleep and cannot see. God calls to them through you. He needs your voice to speak to them or who could reach God's son except his father calling through your Christ self. Hear him today and offer him your voice to speak to all the multitude who wait to hear the word that he will speak today. Be ready for salvation. It is here and today will be given unto you. And you will learn your function from the one who chose it in your father's name for you. Listen today and you will hear a voice which will resound throughout the world. He will hear through you. The bringer of all miracles has need that you receive them first and thus become the joyous giver of what you received. So you can see this is how it works. You have to receive it in your mind to extend it, to give it. You receive it and you extend it and then you receive it as well again. It's a it's a loop of love, a loop of joy. Thus does salvation start and thus it ends. When everything is yours and everything is given away, it will remain with you forever. And the lesson has been learned. Today we practice giving, not the way you understand it now, but as it is. Each hour's exercises should begin with this request for your enlightenment. I will be still and listen to the truth. What does it mean to give and to receive? Ask and expect an answer. Your request is one whose answer has been waiting long to be received by you. It will begin the ministry for which you came and which will free the world from thinking giving is a way to lose. And so the world becomes ready to understand and to receive. Be still and listen to the truth today. For each five minutes spent in listening, a thousand minds are open to the truth and they will hear the holy word you hear. And when the hour is passed, you will again release a thousand more who pause to ask that truth be given them along with you. Today the holy word of God is kept through your receiving it to give away so you can teach the world what giving means by listening and learning it of him. Do not forget today to reinforce your choice to hear and to receive the word of God by this reminder, given to yourself as often as is possible today. Let me be still and listen to the truth. I am the messenger of God today. My voice is his to give what I received. So this is very holy. Today we are really allowing ourselves to be still and to listen to the truth and to really, really, really learn what giving and receiving are. All that I give is given to myself. My peace I give to the world to everything and everyone. I learned that giving and receiving are the same because there is no world apart from the mind. Ideas leave not their source and and this world was a strange idea in my mind but but it has not left my mind so I am peaceful the whole world is peaceful. If I am joyful the whole world is joyful. When I laugh the whole world laughs, you know, it's it's starting to really see the impossibility of an external world that that there is one mind and there's only one of us. And that's that's a great experience that there's only one of us that's the end of all sorrow and pain and belief in mistreatment and victimization. If there's only one of us then spirit is real and death is impossible. So, I know that's the prayer of our heart to let me be still and listen to the truth and I've been guided to read. Maybe six paragraphs or so from chapter 16 section seven, the final section in that chapter 16 is called the end of illusions and I think the reason this is important is because if you find it difficult to still your mind today. If you find it difficult to really get into true giving, receiving the love and giving it to everyone and everything. If you find it difficult or a challenge or struggle today this section chapter 16 section seven the end of illusions will help identify what is blocking the way to having a still mind. Okay, Jesus is pretty clear there's there is something that can seem to block the way but you don't want to give any faith to it or any belief to it. It is impossible to let the past go without relinquishing the special relationship. The special relationship is an attempt to reenact the past and change it. Imagined slights remembered pain has disappointments perceived injustices and deprivations all enter into the special relationship. This becomes a way in which you seek to restore your wounded self esteem. What basis would you have for choosing a special partner without the past. Every such choice is made because of something evil in the past, to which you claim, and for which must someone else atone. Now, now we're getting down to the nitty gritty. If I'm not having stillness in my mind if I'm having some alternative force moving in my mind it's just the special relationship. And it doesn't matter if it's a special hate relationship or a special love relationship is a special relationship is what is blocking the stillness from let me be still and listen to the truth. Let's go back to one question in that first paragraph. Okay. What basis would you have for choosing a special partner without the past. Oh, that's, that's the, that's the dagger in the ego right there exposed the ego is exposed. Okay, let's go to the second paragraph. Special relationships takes vengeance on the past by seeking to remove suffering in the past. It overlooks the present in its preoccupation with the past and its total commitment to it. No special relationship is experienced in the present. Shades of the past envelop it and make it what it is. It has no meaning in the present. And if it means nothing now it cannot have any real meaning at all. How can you change the past except in fantasy. Let's go back to that sentence again how can you change the past except in fantasy. Am I going to sink into the stillness of the present moment to experience reality or am I going to look to the world of images past and future for a fantasy escape from the stillness of the present moment. How can you change the past except in fantasy, and who can give you what you think the past deprived of you of the past is nothing. Do not seek to lay the blame for deprivation on it, for the past is gone. You cannot really not let go what has already gone. And not is italicized by Jesus. It must be, therefore that you are maintaining the illusion that it has not gone because you think it serves some purpose that you want to fulfill. And it must also be that this purpose could not be fulfilled in the present, but only in the past. When we look to persons to fulfill our imagined needs that special, that specialness that's a special relationship. When we look to the world to distract us from the stillness in the mind of the present moment that specialness. When we look to anything informed to fulfill us to fulfill our mind, we are looking in the wrong place. We will not find fulfillment in this world of images. You know the ego offers out lots of tricks and says, be fulfilled here. You're hungry. You seem to be hungry. You have a meal. You seem to be fulfilled temporarily. But remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well 2000 years ago, the Samaritan woman, he said, drink of me and you will never thirst again. Drink of me, Christ spirit, and you will never hunger again. Drink of me, Christ love, and you will never be hungry again. Christ love, and you will never have lack in your mind again, you will never want for anything you will feel fulfilled, completely fulfilled, completely satisfied. Drink of me the Christ love and you can also say, as was said on the cross 2000 years ago, it is finished. The ego is the belief in lack. And as long as you believe in lack, then you look to the world to the body to the things of the world to fulfill and temporarily supply that that seeming lack. But then, when you seem to lack again, you realize, ah, the ego is still valued. I'm still looking to the world to satisfy some sense of deprivation or lack. And we were just told earlier that that all sense of deprivation is is tied into the special relationship. God's will is love and when you are in alignment with God's will and you know it as your own will, then, then you feel fulfilled and you don't need anything. And so whenever you look to a special relationship. He's saying it must also be that this purpose specialness could not be fulfilled in the present but only in the past. Specialness doesn't exist in the present moment only stillness only peace only love only joy exist in this moment. And when you look to the world to resolve something to, to bring about a change. That's not a change of mind that's just a change of form. It's a trick from the ego. So paragraph three in this section chapter 16, the forgiveness of illusions, we are going through the section, the end of illusions. Do not underestimate the intensity of the ego's drive for vengeance on the past. It is completely savage and completely insane. The ego remembers everything you have done that has offended it and seeks retribution of you. The fantasies it brings to its chosen relationships in which to act out his hate are fantasies of your destruction. The ego holds the past against you. And in your escape from the past it sees itself deprived from the vengeance it believes you so justly merit. Yet, without your alliance in your own destruction the ego could not hold you to the past. In the special relationship, you are allowing your destruction to be that this is insane is obvious. But what is less obvious is that the present is useless to you while you pursue the ego's goal has its ally. Just pause for a minute and see that the special relationship is generated from the ego. It is a death wish, a special relationship to just have love limited to one person place thing is a death wish because love is universal. Love is everywhere. Love is all around every beat and every sound. Love is in the air. That was the song I was singing there. Love is everywhere. And so if you try to limit it into a special person place thing group, family, whatever flower, you know, could be anything you want you try to limit love into some object you try to objectify love, which is crazy. Because love is universal it cannot be objectified. But if you try to objectify it, then that's specialist. And that's death. Let's just call it what it is. It's a death wish paragraph for the past is gone. Not to preserve it in the special relationship that binds you to it, and would teach you salvation is past so you must return to the past to find salvation. There is no fantasy that does not contain the dream of retribution for the past. Would you act out the dream or let it go. Would you act out the world or let it go. Would you act out the ego in terms of form, or let it go. Would you act out retribution destruction. Would you act out conflict or let it go. This world is just nothing more than a projection of the ego or the attempt to act out. The belief in unworthiness the belief in separation. It's a, you can see this world was was made to act out conflict to act out war to act out differences. Yeah, obviously. So the real question is, if the past is gone. Why cling to it why look to the world for peace of mind. You said the kingdom of heaven is within I think within is not a world of images. He was saying go into the innermost art chamber. Go into the stillness of your mind and find the peace happiness joy of God's love. Don't fall for the trick of the projection of linear time and space go inside, go inside. Feel the love be the love that you are. Everything set the captives free by love by loving. Wow, that was Jesus messages and you know everything he he shared and his messages on earth were just like I am before Abraham was I am I am one with God. I for the father and I are one. I am the father or one. Yeah, what a sweet message. So there's the question again that we just read, would you act out the dream or let it go. Bye bye to dreams. Happy dreams come true because they're happy, not because their dreams. You know, if you go into happiness the dreams will fade. You don't have to forever be a dreamer, you can be awake in God, awake in the light of Christ. In paragraph five in the special relationship it does not seem to be an acting out of vengeance that you seek. And even when the hatred and the savagery break briefly through the illusion of love is not profoundly shaken. Yet, the one thing that ego never allows to reach awareness is that the special relationship is the acting out of vengeance on yourself. So every time you seek for love in a person place thing you go beyond you try to go beyond your own heart and your own mind and you try to find it in another, whatever that other is. That's, that's not going to bring peace that's just the acting out of vengeance on yourself. Remember the world was made in hatred. Jesus tells us in the course. The world was made in hatred. Why would you look to the world or the past to find the love, you know, it's just the acting out of vengeance. So, you know, be passers by, or if you're into of course your miracles instead of the Gospel of Thomas and just read workbook lesson 128 the world I see holds nothing that I want, because the world is the acting out of vengeance. Why would I want the acting out of vengeance. That's crazy. That's insane. It's saying to be peaceful. It's saying to be joyful. It's saying to be happy. It's insane to be searching in the wrong place for happiness or to seek to find a form to act it out. Why would you, Jesus told us that at the beginning of the section, why would you search for another partner another person. You know, and how could you do that without invoking the past without activating the past preferences. Ah, this is a partner that I can live with. Jesus is like no your eternal life. The partner you can live with is God, the creator. That's what you can live with. That's where you have eternal life. This world is a trick. It's an attempt to act out vengeance. That's why there's a workbook lesson. What I see is a form of vengeance. What I perceive distorted perception is a form of vengeance. Let's call a spade a spade and let it go because it's already gone. So let's just acknowledge it's gone. So the special love special relationship is the acting out of vengeance on yourself. Yet what else could it be in seeking the special relationship you look not for glory in yourself. You have denied that it is there. And the relationship becomes your substitute for it. And vengeance becomes your substitute for atonement. And the escape from vengeance becomes your loss. Some of you remember Madonna did an album called Ray of Lights amazing album and one of the songs that in there is called substitute for love. And the lyrics are should I wait for you a substitute for love a substitute for love. She's she's just singing it to a person and and really Jesus and the Holy Spirit are saying you don't need a substitute for love when you look to the world when you look to the world of images and form. You're looking for a substitute for love you're looking for a substitute for divine love you're looking to find love in the form. The country song says looking for love in all the wrong places looking for love in too many faces. The wisdom of the country song strikes again, totally in alignment with Jesus. And vengeance becomes your substitute for atonement, and the escape from vengeance becomes your loss. So basically that's why we don't look for substitutes. We're looking to be the love of God that loves everyone and everything and extends to everyone and everything. Now that's joyful. That's a God pay that's universal love. That's what we call unconditional love. Unconditional love. And we'll just read paragraph six here is our final paragraph of the day this is really giving us to something to look at like why am I blocked from stillness well here we are great relationship special relationship. Against the egos insane notion of salvation the ego, the Holy Spirit gently lays the holy instant. The present moment. We said before that the Holy Spirit must teach through comparisons and uses opposites to point to truth. The holy instant is the opposite of the egos fixed belief in salvation through vengeance for the past. The holy instant is the opposite of the egos fixed belief in salvation through vengeance for the past. Yeah, I'll read that again. The holy instant is the opposite of the egos fixed belief in salvation through vengeance for the past. When you try to find love in a body, you're trying to take out vengeance for the past, and you may call it love. But remember God didn't create the body and God didn't create the world of linear time so why would you try to use something God didn't create to find love, which God is you see that makes no sense at all. In the holy instant, it is understood that the past is gone. And with its passing the drive for vengeance has been uprooted and has disappeared. The stillness and the peace of now. In fold you in perfect gentleness. Everything is gone, except the truth. Can you see how that relates to our workbook lesson live today. The stillness and the peace of now and fold you in perfect gentleness. Everything is gone except the truth. Let me be still and listen to the truth. Let me be still and listen to the truth. Thank you for joining me. I hope you can feel it. Right here. Let me be still and listen to the truth. God bless you. I love you.