The Two Gifts and Lesson 323 I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear

Lesson 323

I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear

The Two Gifts (a poem at the end of The Gifts of God book) is a way to explain and accomplish Lesson 323 and it  enables the assist The Song of Prayer mentions on page 16:

“Prayer has both aids and witnesses which make the steep ascent more gentle and

more sure, easing the pain of fear and offering the comfort and the promises of hope.”

The Two Gifts message helps us be kind to ourselves. Our vigilance and seeing allows for an exchange of gifts, our deliverance from fear. The Song of Prayer clarifies the role that Jesus can fulfill (page 2) as he “stands beside us”:

“... Help in prayer does not mean that another mediates between you and God. But it does mean that another stands beside you and helps to raise you up to Him. … ”

• You can think of the ladder of prayer as a kind of bridge over troubled waters …

in one fell swoop Jesus lifts you above the chaos and confusion that so oft mucks up life, and sets you firmly on your sacred way, home.

The exchange of gifts takes place with Jesus' help, within our mind at God's altar to His son. On page 118 of The Two Gifts Jesus again offers help:

“Open your hands, and give all things to me that you have held against your

holiness and kept as slander on the son of God. …. And these (gifts of God)

I give to you to take the place of those you give to me in mercy on yourself.”

Jesus encourages us,

“ Practice with every one (i.e. every gift) you recognize as what it is.”

The mention of practice alludes to the mighty force of exchange.

The Two Gifts message ends with a prayer of gratitude (last two paragraphs page 119). Gratitude is defined in the Our Gift to God message as

“... love expressed in joining; the necessary precondition

for extension and the prerequisite for peace.”

Application of Exchange

Anxiety, any fear. I used it to replace a confusing night dream and felt more peaceful after doing so. 

This is an example of using the mighty force exchange:

I'm afraid to fly, I hate it

• Ask Jesus to help you and he be of one mind, in prayer, at God's altar to His son.

• Being grateful for inspired assistance, recall any (or every) flying experience.
• Look without judgment at each experience with Jesus, and place each one in his hands on the altar
• With gratitude and open empty hands, receive in exchange the gifts of God and Christ.

genesis and use of mighty forces

God's messages of love embrace the Holy Spirit's mighty forces. Jesus first mentions mighty forces in the Text. 

In a 1967 “pep talk” for Helen and Bill Jesus says (Text Chap 16, paragraph 9):

“This is the year for the application of the ideas that have been given you.
For the ideas are mighty forces, to be used and not held idly by.”

The Text is quite rich in mighty forces and I gave up counting after seeing at least 15 of them in the first half of the text. They oft reappear as workbook lessons.

These messages of love are also rich in mighty forces, and we are yet encouraged to use them. I have described several, and your reading of the messages may reveal others. Please do share.

sickness is but a "little" death

In early 1978 Jesus dictated messages of love for

the dying, the sick, the sad, the lonely, the grieving, those racked with pain,
each frightened voice that calls to God in whispered agony.  

The messages of love are a healing focus of The Song of Prayer. Because God's Son can yet be more merciful on himself, these messages convey the blessing of true healing to the minds of those who are ill or near death.

The Gifts of God “Poem”

How five of the messages of love were published as a poem entitled The Gifts of God is described in the Absence from Felicity biography of Helen, in Chapters 14 and 15.

• These last messages of love are published as
  “a long blank verse poem in five sections printed in prose form”.
  
• Section five of the long blank verse poem is not as scribed.
  

The five messages of love are at the end of the book of poems, on pages 115-128. The book is also entitled The Gifts of God. These messages help you be kind to yourself. Because they employ Course concepts, they can help miracles students e. g.

• someone who read some of the Text or is reading the Workbook or who read the Manual or someone generally familiar with Course concepts and not offended by less psychoanalytic detail and
  
• someone familiar with the ladder of prayer and The Song of Prayer
  

The same set of messages are as germane to death as they are to sickness because, as explained in the The Picture of Crucifixion (Text Chapter 27 section I paragraph 4)

Sickness is but a “little” death;
a form of vengeance not yet total.

Each message of love is born of the content of what salvation is. Illusions are let go, never supported. The poem sections differ in form according to where each one lies along the ladder of prayer and align with the ladder in this way

               upper rungs Our Gift to God and The Father's Love

        rising The Ending of the Dream

ladder search, bottom rung  The Dream of Fear, The Two Gifts

The messages of love show us how living the song of prayer strengthens our faith and holds us up as we “ascend the shining stairway to the lawns of Heaven and the gate of peace”.  

GAD happens

For Those Who Call to God in Sorrow

To the dying, the sick, the sad, the lonely, the grieving, those racked with pain, each frightened voice that calls to God in whispered agony.  

Introduction

This is dedicated to the Love which inspires us. The comments are my opinion and not endorsed by any other person, foundation, company or corporation. On 2/8/78 Helen Schucman, Ph.D. began to scribe five messages of love.

Anxiety Happens (it comes with each body) 

Dealing with fear is what the first two messages of love are about. Anxiety is a variety of fear, a subtle presence for everyone. GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) is widespread but not often diagnosed. In each moment we each are somewhere in the range from ease to pathology. As stress increases, anxiety can be more debilitating. 

Somewhere, A Quiet World  

The first of the messages of love offers this gift,
"A quiet world, with gentle ordering and kindly thought, alive with hope and radiant in joy, without the smallest bitterness of fear upon its loveliness."
Many years earlier Helen dreamed of a quiet world, as a "happy dream". The nightmares of today can yield to your happy dream. Like Barbra Streisand singing "Somewhere" your grasp of these messages awakens you to this quiet world, a welcome way-station on the prodigal son's homeward journey.

the spirit of communion, forgiveness and surrender

Attitude

Perhaps you can let your spirit of communion be something like this:

• Father; I do not know the way to You. But I have called and You have answered me. I will not interfere. Salvation's ways are not mine, for they belong to You. It is unto You I look for them. My hands are open to receive your gifts. I have no thoughts I think apart from You, and cherish no beliefs of what I am, or who created me. Yours is the way I would find and follow. I ask but that Your will, which is my own as well, be done in me and in the world, that it become a part of Heaven now. Amen.

Lifestyle of Forgiveness and Surrender (optional)

From time to time you may wish to practice forgiveness or surrender of false idols. Approaching and within the happy dream, these support further awakening,

Recall the bumps in the recent past, what buttons were pushed, places where peace was lost for awhile, and forgive what you can. False idols are whatever you don't need, plans, goals,  ... surrender all to your Creator

• any body, earth, any planet, a book, any illness, any symptom, a sense of unworthiness

• concern about: $, sexuality, employment, crime, the environment

Surrendering these is partly how we give our gifts, and is symbolic of needing nothing but God.

brief commentary

A few years ago I wanted to learn more about Helen. I read a biography, her autobiography, and some of her poems. She was an inspired poet, had a keen memory, remarkably honest, very insightful and intuitive. She sometimes was resistant to working with Jesus.

Every body is somewhere in the range from pathology to enlightenment. Helen chose a helper role, behavior that is usually creative when relaxed and manipulative or hysterical when stressed. As with all of us, anxiety was inevitable for Helen.

The Messages of Love are different from Helen's Course in Miracles work, they were scribed years after that was completed. The scope of the messages of  love is less detailed, more direct.  

• The messages are about how to move away from your nightmarish life, toward a happy dream. 

Messages => Happy Dream ==>Real World ==> Heaven

Helen envisioned a happy dream before she consciously knew what one was. From her autobiography (circa pp 36)

• ...”a picture of a young girl who resembled me in many ways, although she could not have been more than 16 years old herself. Her head was slightly thrown back in happy laughter, and her arms were outstretched as if in universal welcome. She seemed to be wholly joyous, literally incapable of grief or pain. She was standing on a lawn of bright green grass, but in her extraordinary happiness her bare feet hardly seemed to touch the ground at all. She was dressed in a light, loose dress not reminiscent of any particular time or place. There was, in fact, nothing suggesting the past about her, nor did she seem likely to be concerned about the future. I do not think she even regarded time as we do.” 

These messages are a help in time of need rather than a wonder cure. In moving toward a happy dream you make the best of whatever happens on your journey.
As you experience Communion (described below), the possibilities are

• being less fearful
• being more joyful
• learning to have mercy on yourself
• more closely approaching the peace of God
• possibly, a greater awareness of an inner Teacher (one who has always been present but perhaps seldom heard)
• a measure of relief from grief and pain

On earth, it is not possible to accurately describe Heaven. The limitations of language and humanity are so constraining, that Heaven is beyond comprehension while you appear to be on earth.

• In reading these messages you can cut Jesus some slack ... its an impossible job to explain it all. Be with him, follow the flow and seek for the experience more so than "perfect definitions". He uses allegory and metaphor to lead to a condition that supports and allows your peace and awakening.

The 3rd message of love explains how, through misunderstanding, God's son becomes sorrowful. It encourages awakening to Love and gives new meaning to the lyric “life is but a dream”. It spans all of time and describes what happens as you understand and honor these messages.

• You can ask the Holy Spirit to help grow your comprehension, as you read a message, together.

As you explore these messages, you are likely to experience rough seas. Because of the nature of mind there will be resistance to these messages. Resistance is whatever takes you away from your mind and to your physical or emotional body. If you are having a rough time, just ride it out (do what normal people do, take an aspirin, see your physician, etc) and continue. 

As prodigal sons & daughters, our gift to God is in part, an approach in gratitude that grows to embrace. 

• Our gift of attention (presence) and remembrance of union blossoms to the reflection of love once seemingly denied.

Each of the two admonitions at the end of the 5th message (Forget all things …) corresponds to the large, fine fish mentioned in the Gospel of Thomas and  demonstrates the consistency of Jesus' teaching (see saying 8 The Wise Fisherman).

This 5th message makes use of metaphor as a teaching aid. "Call them now to Me ...." is not evangelizing. Its about being (in your thoughts) a light of truth. Being that, is sufficient.

Communion is an irreligious spiritual experience of grace, in which your mind is transformed by means of cooperation with your Creator. Words are less important in Communion, intention is everything, humility helps. What begins with presence blossoms to the fullness of Love Remembered.  

Being a joyous child of God means that you can spend time in quiet Communion with your Creator. If it's a new experience, note that duration is not important. Try it for a few minutes or however long seems comfortable. When you feel comfortable with the experience you can lengthen it as much or as little as desired.
Jesus can guide you to an altar …. all can unite in Communion. There is no fear for you are created guilt free and remain now and will always be a beloved child of your Creator …. always, all ways, no exceptions.

You can be joyous at the altar of your Creator or feel gratitude for being Created as an extension of endless Love or express your love for God and remain receptive.

• Rest quietly at the altar for a while and just listen .... as much as possible being at peace and trusting in your Creator's benevolence .... lose yourself in the presence of Love.

As you experience Communion you may shed tears or feel unworthy. It's a process of undoing, be patient and consistent. Be tolerant and forgiving of your personal process. Patterns formed over eons will dissipate.

Reference

The Gifts of God, a book of poems by Helen Schucman. Published by The Foundation for Inner Peace.