Read on the ACIM CE App: https://acimce.app/:W-244
Lesson 244
I am in danger nowhere in the world.
Practice Instructions
See complete instructions in a separate document. A short summary:
- Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.
- Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.
- Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind Meditation.
- Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind Meditation.
- Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in meditation.
- Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.
- Read the “What Is” section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.
Practice suggestion: Whenever you think of it, especially when you are feeling afraid, repeat the lesson in this more specific form: “I am in danger nowhere in the world, including in this situation.”
Commentary
Who I have believed myself to be is in danger everywhere in the world. We are assaulted constantly with signals of danger. Smoking can kill me; even residual smoke is deadly. Our water is unsafe, I need a purifier. Preservatives and coloring in foods cause cancer. Stay well away from your microwave while using it. Don’t sit too close to your TV or computer screen (and watch out for carpal tunnel syndrome). Beware of computer viruses; even more, beware of HIV viruses. Don’t feed bears when camping. Don’t use your telephone in a lightning storm. Don’t drink and drive, and watch out for those who do.
In order to even begin to accept today’s idea, I have to realize that I am not who I have believed myself to be. This little identity of Allen Watson, wrapped in a very fragile body, is not the one who is in danger nowhere in the world: “Your Son is safe wherever he may be” (1:1). It is the Son Who is safe; the Son Who is beloved of God, held “in the safety of Your fatherly embrace” (1:3). In my quiet times today I will recall that this is Who I really am, and, at least in these moments, I will let go of my sense of danger, relax my defensiveness, and enjoy the awareness of the Father’s Love and protection (1:2). I will realize that Who I really am “cannot suffer, be endangered, or experience unhappiness” (1:3).
Let me attempt to feel my safety today. What would I feel like if I truly knew, to the depths of my being, that I can never suffer, or be in danger, or experience unhappiness? What effect would that have on the tension in my shoulders, the knot in my stomach, or the rapid beating of my heart? Let me thoughtfully consider this. Let me try to imagine the peace I would feel. Let me experience the softening in every part of my body, and more importantly, the melting of the hardness of my mind. I would feel, I think, like the very young child who, when Mommy or Daddy says, “Everything will be all right now,” really believes it. The shuddering stops, the little body relaxes, and the child falls asleep in Mommy’s arms.
“And there we are in truth,” “in the safety of Your fatherly embrace” (2:1; 1:3). “In God are we secure” (2:3). Yes.