1. 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 His plan, and a deliberate attempt to destroy it. ²In 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.
2. The ego’s fundamental wish is to replace God. ²In fact, the ego is the physical embodiment of that wish. ³For it is that wish that seems to surround the mind with a body, keeping it separate and alone, and unable to reach other minds except through the body that was made to imprison it. ⁴The limit on communication cannot be the best means to expand communication. ⁵Yet the ego would have you believe that it is.
3. 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. ²But let us consider the kinds of things you are apt to hold grievances for. ³Are they not always associated with something a body does? ⁴A person says something you do not like. ⁵He does something that displeases you. ⁶He “betrays” his hostile thoughts in his behavior.
4. You are not dealing here with what the person is. ²On the contrary, you are exclusively concerned with what he does in a body. ³You are doing more than failing to help in freeing him from the body’s limitations. ⁴You are actively trying to hold him to it by confusing it with him, and judging them as one. ⁵Herein is God attacked, for if His Son is only a body, so must He be as well. ⁶A creator wholly unlike his creation is inconceivable.
5. If God is a body, what must His plan for salvation be? ²What could it be but death? ³In trying to present Himself as the Author of life and not of death, He is a liar and a deceiver, full of false promises and offering illusions in place of truth. ⁴The body’s apparent reality makes this view of God quite convincing. ⁵In fact, if the body were real, it would be difficult indeed to escape this conclusion. ⁶And every grievance that you hold insists that the body is real. ⁷It overlooks entirely what your brother is. ⁸It reinforces your belief that he is a body, and condemns him for it. ⁹And it asserts that his salvation must be death, projecting this attack onto God, and holding Him responsible for it.
6. To this carefully prepared arena, where angry animals seek for prey and mercy cannot enter, the ego comes to save you. ²God made you a body. ³Very well. ⁴Let us accept this and be glad. ⁵As a body, do not let yourself be deprived of what the body offers. ⁶Take the little you can get. ⁷God gave you nothing. ⁸The body is your only savior. ⁹It is the death of God and your salvation.
7. This is the universal belief of the world you see. ²Some hate the body, and try to hurt and humiliate it. ³Others love the body, and try to glorify and exalt it. ⁴But 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 Him and His creation, that you may not hear the Voice of truth and welcome It as Friend. ⁵Your chosen savior takes His place instead. ⁶It is your friend; He is your enemy.
8. We will try today to stop these senseless attacks on salvation. ²We will try to welcome it instead. ³Your upside-down perception has been ruinous to your peace of mind. ⁴You have seen yourself in a body and the truth outside you, locked away from your awareness by the body’s limitations. ⁵Now we are going to try to see this differently.
9. The light of truth is in us, where it was placed by God. ²It is the body that is outside us, and is not our concern. ³To be without a body is to be in our natural state. ⁴To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are. ⁵To see our Self as separate from the body is to end the attack on God’s plan for salvation, and to accept it instead. ⁶And wherever His plan is accepted, it is accomplished already.
10. Our goal in the longer practice periods today is to become aware that God’s plan for salvation has already been accomplished in us. ²To achieve this goal, we must replace attack with acceptance. ³As long as we attack it, we cannot understand what God’s plan for us is. ⁴We are therefore attacking what we do not recognize. ⁵Now we are going to try to lay judgment aside, and ask what God’s plan for us is:
6What is salvation, Father? 7I do not know. 8Tell me, that I may understand.
9Then we will wait in quiet for His answer. 10We have attacked God’s plan for salvation without waiting to hear what it is. 11We have shouted our grievances so loudly that we have not listened to His Voice. 12We have used our grievances to close our eyes and stop our ears.
11. Now we would see and hear and learn. ²“What is salvation, Father?” ³Ask and you will be answered. ⁴Seek and you will find. ⁵We are no longer asking the ego what salvation is and where to find it. ⁶We are asking it of truth. ⁷Be certain, then, that the answer will be true because of Whom you ask.
12. 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 like Himself:
2What is salvation, Father? 3I do not know. 4Tell me, that I may understand.
5He will answer. 6Be determined to hear.
13. One or perhaps two shorter practice periods an hour will be enough for today, since they will be somewhat longer than usual. ²These exercises should begin with this:
3Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation. 4Let me accept it instead. 5What is salvation, Father?
6Then wait a minute or so in silence, preferably with your eyes closed, and listen for His answer.
✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:
"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God."
This lesson comes from (A Course in Miracles). Hemelbewus presents it in Afrikaans as part of a path of inner healing and forgiveness. The translation was done with great care and dedication over several years by Henri Theron, and brings the deep spiritual teachings of the Course to Afrikaans-speaking readers.
Lesson 72: Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation. (ACIM, W-72)
