Lee Flynn
2011-06-12 13:05:07 UTC
ACIM Workbook Lesson 163 ~ June 12
http://courseinmiracles.com/workbook_lessons/part_1/lesson163.htm
http://www.acimradio.net/urwork/
" Lesson 163 April 24, 1970
"There is no death. The Son of God is free."
- Death is a thought which takes on many forms,
[many] unrecognized. It may appear
as sadness, fear, anxiety or doubt;
as anger, faithlessness and lack of trust;
concern for bodies, envy, and all forms
in which the wish to be as you are not
may come to tempt you. All such thoughts are but
reflections of the worshipping of death
as saviour and as giver of release.
- Embodiment of fear, the host of sin,
god of the guilty and the lord of all
illusions and deceptions, does the thought
of death seem mighty. For it seems to hold
all living things within its withered hand;
all hopes and wishes in its blighting grasp;
all goals perceived but in its sightless eyes.
The frail, the helpless and the sick bow down
before its image, thinking it alone
is real, inevitable, worthy of
their trust. For it alone will surely come.
- All things but death are seen to be unsure,
too quickly lost however hard to gain,
uncertain in their outcome, apt to fail
the hopes they once engendered, and to leave
the taste of dust and ashes in their wake,
in place of aspirations and of dreams.
But death is counted on. For it will come
with certain footsteps when the time has come
for its arrival. It will never fail
to take all life as hostage to itself.
- Would you bow down to idols such as this?
Here is the strength and might of God Himself
perceived within an idol made of dust.
Here is the opposite of God proclaimed
as lord of all creation, stronger than
God's Will for life, the endlessness of love
and Heaven's perfect, changeless constancy.
Here is the Will of Father and of Son
defeated finally, and laid to rest
beneath the headstone death has placed upon
the body of the holy Son of God.
- Unholy in defeat, he has become
what death would have him be. His epitaph,
which death itself has written, gives no name
to him, for he has passed to dust. It says
but this: "Here lies a witness God is dead."
And this it writes again and [yet] again,
while all the while its worshippers agree,
and kneeling down with foreheads to the ground,
they whisper fearfully that it is so.
- It is impossible to worship death
in any form, and still select a few
you would not cherish and would yet avoid,
while still believing in the rest. For death
is total. Either all things die, or else
they live and cannot die. No compromise
is possible. For here again we see
an obvious position which we must
accept if we be sane; what contradicts
one thought entirely can not be true,
unless its opposite is proven false.
- The idea of the death of God is so
preposterous that even the insane
have difficulty in believing it.
For it implies that God was once alive
and somehow perished, killed, apparently,
by those who did not want him to survive.
Their stronger will could triumph over His,
and so Eternal Life gave way to death.
And with the Father died the Son as well.
- Death's worshippers may be afraid. And yet
can thoughts like these be fearful? If they saw
that it is only this [that] they believe,
they would be instantly released. And [we]
will show them this today. There is no death,
and we renounce it now in every form
for their salvation and our own as well.
God made not death. Whatever form it takes
must therefore be illusion. This the stand
we take today. And it is given us
to [see] past death and see the life beyond.
- "Our Father, bless our eyes today. We are
Your messengers, and we would look upon
the glorious reflection of Your Love
which shines in everything. We live and [breathe]
in You alone. We are not separate
from Your Eternal Life. There is no death,
for death is not Your Will. And we abide
where You have placed us, in the Life we share
with You and with all living things, to be
like You and part of You forever. We
accept Your Thoughts as ours, and our will
is One with Yours eternally. Amen." "
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
------------------------------------------
[ Hear Today's Lesson in I.P. ~ Voice & Music by Maz ]
http://www.acimradio.net/wkbk/163_UrWork_ThereIsNoDeathTheSonOfGodIsFree.wma
or via http://www.acimradio.net/urwork/
http://courseinmiracles.com/workbook_lessons/part_1/lesson163.htm
http://www.acimradio.net/urwork/
" Lesson 163 April 24, 1970
"There is no death. The Son of God is free."
- Death is a thought which takes on many forms,
[many] unrecognized. It may appear
as sadness, fear, anxiety or doubt;
as anger, faithlessness and lack of trust;
concern for bodies, envy, and all forms
in which the wish to be as you are not
may come to tempt you. All such thoughts are but
reflections of the worshipping of death
as saviour and as giver of release.
- Embodiment of fear, the host of sin,
god of the guilty and the lord of all
illusions and deceptions, does the thought
of death seem mighty. For it seems to hold
all living things within its withered hand;
all hopes and wishes in its blighting grasp;
all goals perceived but in its sightless eyes.
The frail, the helpless and the sick bow down
before its image, thinking it alone
is real, inevitable, worthy of
their trust. For it alone will surely come.
- All things but death are seen to be unsure,
too quickly lost however hard to gain,
uncertain in their outcome, apt to fail
the hopes they once engendered, and to leave
the taste of dust and ashes in their wake,
in place of aspirations and of dreams.
But death is counted on. For it will come
with certain footsteps when the time has come
for its arrival. It will never fail
to take all life as hostage to itself.
- Would you bow down to idols such as this?
Here is the strength and might of God Himself
perceived within an idol made of dust.
Here is the opposite of God proclaimed
as lord of all creation, stronger than
God's Will for life, the endlessness of love
and Heaven's perfect, changeless constancy.
Here is the Will of Father and of Son
defeated finally, and laid to rest
beneath the headstone death has placed upon
the body of the holy Son of God.
- Unholy in defeat, he has become
what death would have him be. His epitaph,
which death itself has written, gives no name
to him, for he has passed to dust. It says
but this: "Here lies a witness God is dead."
And this it writes again and [yet] again,
while all the while its worshippers agree,
and kneeling down with foreheads to the ground,
they whisper fearfully that it is so.
- It is impossible to worship death
in any form, and still select a few
you would not cherish and would yet avoid,
while still believing in the rest. For death
is total. Either all things die, or else
they live and cannot die. No compromise
is possible. For here again we see
an obvious position which we must
accept if we be sane; what contradicts
one thought entirely can not be true,
unless its opposite is proven false.
- The idea of the death of God is so
preposterous that even the insane
have difficulty in believing it.
For it implies that God was once alive
and somehow perished, killed, apparently,
by those who did not want him to survive.
Their stronger will could triumph over His,
and so Eternal Life gave way to death.
And with the Father died the Son as well.
- Death's worshippers may be afraid. And yet
can thoughts like these be fearful? If they saw
that it is only this [that] they believe,
they would be instantly released. And [we]
will show them this today. There is no death,
and we renounce it now in every form
for their salvation and our own as well.
God made not death. Whatever form it takes
must therefore be illusion. This the stand
we take today. And it is given us
to [see] past death and see the life beyond.
- "Our Father, bless our eyes today. We are
Your messengers, and we would look upon
the glorious reflection of Your Love
which shines in everything. We live and [breathe]
in You alone. We are not separate
from Your Eternal Life. There is no death,
for death is not Your Will. And we abide
where You have placed us, in the Life we share
with You and with all living things, to be
like You and part of You forever. We
accept Your Thoughts as ours, and our will
is One with Yours eternally. Amen." "
~ Original Handscript of ACIM
------------------------------------------
[ Hear Today's Lesson in I.P. ~ Voice & Music by Maz ]
http://www.acimradio.net/wkbk/163_UrWork_ThereIsNoDeathTheSonOfGodIsFree.wma
or via http://www.acimradio.net/urwork/