Monday, January 26, 2015
Lesson 26: “My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.”
The Course teaches us that the only way we can be affected is by the process of our own attack thoughts. Nothing else exists except for us and God. The only way we can be agitated is by our thoughts.
The Course teaches us that nothing else is real in the world like bodies and death and all the things that decay. The Course teaches us to know for certain that nothing can hurt us in the physical world because it has no validity and is not real. If the world and violence is not real, then there is no way we can be hurt. We have to hold this truth in the depths of our being, so we don’t feel threatened by what seems to be violence in the world.
When we accept it has no power to harm us, then we take its power away. It can have no negative effects because when it is not real, it must be totally inconsequential. The Course teaches us to not give the world such credible reality. It’s nothing more than a reflection of our own insanity and so has no meaning.
The reason we think we are vulnerable to the world’s ills and violence is because we think we can’t escape the impact of its brutality. That’s why the Course uses the tactic of focusing on the reality that we are invulnerable to the world’s injury. When we see that the world isn’t real, then we simply dismiss with certainty that any harm at all that can come from the world’s insanity.
This is how we can maintain our invulnerability in the world, by asserting that nothing can injure us since we are loved wholly by our God. And He protects us from any mishap. This is the basis for our invulnerability and how we can live that in the world’s customs.
The Course says we are indeed invulnerable. Then we must take responsibility for our own part in the injury drama. We have to know that nothing can hurt us as the heir of God, and the only thing that affects us is our thoughts. This is why we must be vigilant about watching them.