A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #153
“In my defenselessness my safety lies.”
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| Baby and Aaron Photo by Heather Magnan |
One of the lines from today's lesson is: "You do not realize what you have done to sabotage the holy peace of God by your defensiveness." The truth of this statement really hit me in the wake of a vivid dream I had last night. In this dream, I was with a group of people. We were being extremely defensive in guarding against a gang of people who were planning to kill us. It was a very graphic dream which I couldn't escape. I'd almost wake up, then sink back into it. This is very unusual for me to experience nightmares, and so I've closely examined what I've been thinking recently. And, yes, I've been defensive, hence attacking and feeling attacked. The inability to pull myself out of the illusion of this nightmare certainly parallels the miasma of material beliefs which come at us every day. The world we live in teaches us we should try to defend against every contingency which may come up -- i.e., get your inoculations, take out insurance for every possible disaster, check your blood pressure, teach your children not to talk to strangers -- the list goes on and on. Our acceptance of good as the only reality is where our safety lies. Is it possible to protect our mortal selves from every material malady which may befall us? Of course not. But we can be aware of the still, small voice which is always guiding us in our every action, when we listen. I've taught my children to be aware. If intuition tells them to slow down the car, or even speed up! -- (although this is not something I told them when they were young :) -- then they should do so without question. Trust yourself! Listen to your instinctual prompts. This is where safety lies. I now see that defensive behavior is nothing more than trusting in suppositional evil more than the good which is God. Trusting Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle Truth, Life, Love, God, is how safety is experienced. Then a peace you've always dreamed of is actualized, and you find yourself imparting that peace to others, through your living of it.
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“Instead of tenaciously defending the supposed rights of disease [and other seeming threats], while complaining of the suffering disease brings, would it not be well to abandon the defense, especially when by so doing our own condition can be improved and that of other persons as well?”
Science & Health Page 348:21-25
