A Course In Miracles Lesson 97

A Course In Miracles lesson 97 states: I am spirit.

Identifying yourself as an energy essence rather than a physical body reduces a great deal of pain in life.  Your one Self is an essence of knowing that you can have a sense of all the time.  That connection with a unified eternal self gives you energy and clarity regarding all physical aspects of your life.

What we choose to do each day in terms of activities has no inherent meaning on its own.  No activity matters inherently.  If you remember from lesson 2 we bring the meaning to wherever we are. We also bring the meaning to all our activities and everything has a deeper significance than the face value purpose.  All interaction is a possible way for us to connect with the spirit of all life.  The Great Spirit is where all life motivation comes from and that is an energy, a non-physical event.  

In the Unified Field of the Great Spirit, there are no multiple identities.  There is no split in that which is unified.  All is included in the energy field of all that is. Even that which feels separate is included in the whole.  How could it be otherwise?  How could we have everything existing all at once and then have one thing separate from that unifying fact?  Where would that separate thing dwell if not within the collective of all that is?  Its ‘relative’ distance from other things would only describe an expansion of all that is to include it.  It is not possible to be separate, isolated things because all things are expressions of a Unified event of astounding scale and proportion. 

Today we are asked to practice the awareness of how physical nature is created by energy nature.  You are energy first, physical matter second.  Identifying with this concept diminishes fear and brings some peace to the notion of dying.  You are an infinite expression of consciousness that does not ever die.  You change, and change, and change, becoming that which has never been before.  The truth about yourself is the topic of today’s lesson.  We are taking time to locate in your mind the awareness of your one true energy nature.  Each time you practice today’s lesson you save thousands of years or more in your learning process.

What are we learning?  Life is joy, not pain.  In this current world, pain motivates our desire to self-improve.  We only seek to make changes when the pain becomes too great to bear.  We carry the burden of pain as if it were our moral obligation to do so.  We believe we need to suffer in order to improve.  But pain will only ever teach us about the details of pain.  Pain does not lead to peace.  The release of pain leads to peace.  But pain makes us feel alive in our bodies and makes us feel that we matter.  Its sensations give us a sense of validation that is debilitating. 

There is a great deal more we can be doing with our eternal life energy beyond the study of pain as a motivator for learning.  Preventative medicine is difficult to encourage in a culture that worships pain.  Could we wiggle free of the pull toward pain?  If we can release our fixation with pain we can begin to study the physics of miracles.  A desire for joy is 1^st needed to study the physics of miracles.  You may think you want joy, but actually, your split mind also pursues pain with great frequency.

You are not yet aware of how preoccupied with pain you really are.  Pain is currently how you give meaning to things in this world.  Your misguided mind believes- if it hurts, it must be real.  A Course In Miracles Lesson 97 wants you to consider the error in this belief.  If something hurts, it is not real because Real is whole and well always.  Pain is not as necessary as we think.  Joy can be pursued and sustained even as it is constantly disrupted by fleeting events of pain.  

Everything that happens can be experienced as a process of inclusion, rather than isolation.  You are the spirit whose eternal mind lives always in the miracle where all time stands still as forever now.  All that is lives inside and outside of time.  We spend today locating the timeless by reminding ourselves as often as we can- we are energy more than we are physical bodies.

When a situation in life becomes challenging today, create a larger context for it by saying to the situation, “I do not understand how to navigate this conflict.  Let me remember that this is a temporary event.  Let me reconnect to the eternal and as the Unified Field to navigate this conflict for me.”

Think of today’s lesson at the top of every hour today.  Put down what you are doing, pause, and remember- “I am energy.”  You may find it helpful to set an alarm each hour to interrupt your focus throughout the day.  The interruption is what will change the thought pathways and expand awareness.  While it may be irritating to have attention pulled away from its focus, give it a try.  

Another message in A Course in Miracles Lesson 97 talks about the need for a connector, a “middle man” between our limited perception and that of the state of God.  The Unified Field of Everything is much too large to be of practical use to us.  To be able to resource that enormous energy, we need a connector, a stepping stone between us and God.  While it is possible to relate directly to the God Field, it is difficult to do anything else while doing so.  Ecstatic states are certainly possible to achieve, but such journeys will not lift you out of your physical body and will always come to a physical end.  While big moments of ecstasy and revelation are truly wonderful, connecting to the God Field in small ways through our chosen activities is a much more satisfying pursuit over time.  Living in life and dedicating one’s activities to connecting to the Greater Field brings a deep, enduring indescribable joy that is also sustained, resembling the true nature of that Greater Field which is forever sustained.

So A Course In Miracles Lesson 97 wants us to recognize our need for a helper, a connector, a bridge, a stepping stone between us and the Great Source.  That middle place is something you locate deep within, something that feels personal and comfortable.  A Spirit Guide is a more relatable form of the teachings of God.  Find yours and ask her/him/it any questions you like.  This bridge between heaven and earth has many names.  The form it takes for you is entirely your choice and is determined by what you feel would bring genuine comfort.  Speak to the tree, the ant, or the angel in the room.  Let your imagination make the shapes it needs to make in order to reach for the Loving Field.  Know that at this moment there is a true friend nearby ready to help carry you out of the burden you are struggling under.  Give that burden to your helper.  You are not the one who will release your own burden.  You are the one who will let that burden be lifted by a larger power than you.

Your helper wants nothing more than to help you.  Let them.  Begin each practice today by listening for your helper who is always by your side.  Give that helper a name and a shape in order to be able to relate to her, him, it.  Maybe the name or shape changes from day to day or maybe it stays the same your whole life long.  It does not matter so long as you feel personally connected to a true friend in whatever shape it takes.

Of course, you may have noticed by now that A Course In Miracles works specifically with the helper Christ.  But if you feel called to connect with a different helper that is the path for you.  There is no religion or obligation in the Course In Miracles.  No one is asking for a laborious devotion to intellectual concepts.  In the Unified Field of All That Is, all helpers are one and the same.  Find a helper that comforts your mind and let that helper dwell there in your thoughts as a trusted guide.  Dedicate your sessions today to the effort of finding your true friend.  They are there.  Let that friend within speak to you and remind you… you are energy.