Lesson 19: I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.

This lesson of wisdom offers these words to ponder: “Today, we are emphasizing that minds are joined. This is rarely a wholly welcome idea because it carries an enormous sense of responsibility and may even be regarded as an invasion of privacy. Yet the fact is true: there are no private thoughts. Despite your initial resistance to the idea that it is true if salvation is possible at all.”

The Course regularly may cause me a small or large amount of resistance, and I know it does to others because it is a comprehensive explanation of how to live in peace and achieve success in living peacefully and joyfully.

The Course regularly explains how to live this way, but I often do not understand it or have resistance to applying something it says. This happens periodically, and I have learned that I must manage this in my mind so my resistance does not get away with me and I suffer internally.

The Course also regularly says things I do not understand, so I am always grateful to learn and attend groups to learn about the Course together so I can ask other group members how they see specific points. This always makes a dramatic difference in how much better I can understand the Course.

Helen Shuckman scribed the Course very densely, so it Has often been hard to know over the past 20 years since I have been doing the Course seriously; I also benefit from attending ACIM meetings and understanding and learning more about the Course all the time.

I have also found that I resist some of the ideas. Ideas such that minds are joined. Fortunately, I understand this, but the problem is that I internally fight this because I grew up living in a Western culture where Einstein’s ideas explain that the Universe is made of individuals.

We all embody separate forms, so I got this understanding correct. I do not think anything different, so I believe this can not be true that we are distinct forms, which I grew up thinking.

So, the only way to deal with this internal revolt is to forgive this idea. When I have this internal no when I hear this is true, I resist it and feel distressed about it. A part of me does not accept this because it is the opposite of what I believed before, so it can be alarming when I hear these words and try to take this in.

I feel how much considering it feels impossible. I have to show up when I read and hear that it is something I need to take in with much less energy when I take it, so the way to allow this concept it is to forgive it when I illicit a no.

Then, if I do not know how to dismiss this, I need to pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance. These instructions are from the prescription from the Course to do when something feels too hard to forgive or I do not know how to manage it, so when I do this, it works. So yay!!

All Love,

Laurie Prezbindowski

Licensed Acupuncture