Welcome to Active Meditation.
A Course in Miracles.
Lesson 72.
Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.
While we have recognized that the ego's plan for salvation is the opposite of God's,
We have not yet emphasized that it is an active attack on God's plan,
And a deliberate attempt to destroy it.
In the attack,
God is assigned the attributes which are actually associated with the ego,
While the ego appears to take on the attributes of God.
The ego's fundamental wish is to replace God.
In fact,
The ego is the physical embodiment of that wish.
For it is that wish that seems to surround the mind with the body,
Keeping it separate and alone.
And unable to reach other minds except through the body that was made to imprison it.
The limit on communication cannot be the best means to expand communication.
But the ego would have you believe that it is.
Although the attempt to keep the limitations that a body would impose is obvious here,
It is perhaps not so apparent why holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.
But let us consider the kinds of things you are apt to hold grievances for.
Are they not always associated with something a body does?
A person says something you do not like.
They do something that displeases you.
They betray their hostile thoughts in their behavior.
You are not dealing here with what the person is.
On the contrary,
You are exclusively concerned with what they do in a body.
You are doing more than failing to help and freeing them from the body's limitations.
You are actively trying to hold them to it by confusing it with them and judging them as a body.
Near end is God attacked.
If God's child is only a body,
So,
God must be as well.
A creator,
Only unlike the creation,
Is inconceivable.
If God is a body,
What must the plan for salvation be?
Or could it be a death?
Presented as the author of life and not of death,
God is a liar and a deceiver,
Full of false promises and offering illusions in place of truth.
The body's apparent reality makes this view of God quite convincing.
In fact,
If the body were real,
It would be difficult indeed to escape this conclusion.
And every grievance that you hold insists that the body is real.
The body's reality overlooks entirely what your brother or sister is.
The body's reality reinforces your belief that they are a body and condemns them for it.
The body's reality asserts that their salvation must be death,
Projecting this attack unto God and holding God responsible for it.
To this carefully prepared arena where angry animals seek for prey and mercy cannot enter,
The ego comes to save you.
God made you a body.
Very well.
Let us accept this and be glad.
As a body,
Do not let yourself be deprived of what the body offers.
Take the little you can get.
God gave you nothing.
The body is your only savior.
It is the death of God.
The body is your only savior.
It is the death of your salvation.
This is the universal belief of the world you see.
Some hate the body and try to hurt and humiliate it.
Others love the body and try to glorify it and exalt it.
But while the body stands at the center of your concept of yourself,
You are attacking God's plan for salvation and holding your grievances against God and the creation that you may not hear the voice of truth and welcome it as a friend.
Your chosen savior takes God's place instead.
The ego is your friend.
God is your enemy.
We will try today to stop these senseless attacks on salvation.
We will try to welcome truth instead.
Your upside down perception has been ruinous to your peace of mind.
You have seen yourself in a body and the truth outside you,
Locked away,
Locked away from your awareness by the body's limitations.
Now we are going to try to see this differently.
The light of truth is in us where it was placed by God.
It is the body that is outside us and is not our concern.
To be without a body is to be in our natural state.
To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are.
To see ourself as separate from the body is to end the attack on God's plan for salvation and to accept it instead.
And wherever God's plan is accepted,
It is accomplished already.
Our goal in the longer practice periods today is to become aware that God's plan for salvation has already been accomplished in us.
To achieve this goal,
We must replace attack with acceptance.
As long as we attack it,
We cannot understand what God's plan for us is.
We are therefore attacking what we do not recognize.
Now we are going to try to lay judgment aside and ask what God's plan for us is.
What is salvation?
I do not know.
Tell me that I may understand.
Then wait in quiet for God's answer.
We have attacked God's plan for salvation without waiting to hear what it is.
We have shouted our grievances so loudly that we have not listened to God's voice.
We have used our grievances to close our eyes and stop our ears.
Now we would see and hear and learn what is salvation.
Ask and you will be answered.
Speak and you will find.
Let's practice.
Ask what is salvation?
I do not know.
Tell me that I may understand.
Be silent.
Be open.
Listen.
What is salvation?
We are no longer asking the ego what salvation is and where to find it.
We are asking it of truth.
Be certain then that the answer will be true because of whom you ask.
Whenever you feel your confidence wane and your hope of success flicker and go out,
Repeat your question and your request,
Remembering that you are asking of the infinite creator of infinity who created you.
What is salvation?
I do not know.
Tell me that I may understand.
God will answer.
Be determined to hear.
One or perhaps two shorter practice periods an hour will be enough for today since they will be somewhat longer than usual.
The exercises should begin with this.
Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.
Let me accept God's plan instead.
Then wait a minute or so in silence,
Preferably with your eyes closed,
And listen for God's answer.
What is salvation?
Let's practice again.
Say it to yourself.
Say in your mind.
Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.
Let me accept God's plan instead.
What is salvation?
Once more,
Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.
Let me accept God's plan instead.
What is salvation?
Keep listening for God's answer.
What is salvation?
Listen for God's answer.
Ask and you will be answered.
Seek and you will find.
Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan.
What is salvation?
I do not know.
Tell me that I may understand.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
