Lesson 283
My true Identity abides in You.
“Father I made an image of myself, and it is this I call the Son of God. Yet is creation as it always was, for Your creation is unchangeable. Let me not worship idols. I am he my Father loves. My holiness remains the light of Heaven the Love of God. Is not what is beloved of You secure? Is not the light of Heaven infinite? Is not Your Son my true Identity, when You created everything that is?” (ACIM Lesson 283 1:1-8)
Today, we are gracefully led beyond the brilliant disguise we have created. This false self upon which we have laid mask over mask, believing we were shielding ourselves from the outer world, has never altered or covered our inner holy sanctum. No disguise could ever hide the brilliant Light of Heaven, the Child of God. However, it is our most captivating role yet that has made us believe we could ever create such a rouse.
Look in the mirror. What do you see? It is a Child of God, an innocent being that forever abides in, and as, her Identity. Like the old American Express credit card ads used to say, you “never leave Home without it.” Your divine crown is always wearing you, and you, it.
The Holy Spirit guides us in experiencing where our true Identity lies. She softly whispers to our hearts in each breath that we are timeless, eternal, and holy perfect. Her soft voice can come in many forms and even in things that are formless, such as the melody of music. In Bruce Springsteen’s book, Born to Run, a quote regarding his song “Brilliant Disguise” off the album Tunnel of Love, Bruce reflected,
“Trust is a fragile thing. It requires allowing others to see as much of ourselves as we have the courage to reveal. But “Brilliant Disguise” postulates that when you drop one mask, you find another behind it. Until you begin to doubt your own feelings about who you are” (Springsteen Chapter 51).
The “doubt” Bruce speaks of is the journey one takes as the masks begin to fall away. It is coming to the realization that in knowing nothing, we know everything. In “Brilliant Disguise,” Bruce sings, “So tell me what I see / When I look in your eyes / Is that you baby / Or just a brilliant disguise.” This is a question we stand to ask more of ourselves. Are we abiding in our true Identity of light or wearing just another brilliant disguise?
Instead of playing musical chairs, we have been playing musical masks, and as we have journeyed through the Course, each mask has begun to fall away one by one until we have been left wondering, “Who am I?” Bruce’s beautiful words play a musical arrangement to the trust, courage, and vulnerability we are called to dance with as we realize where our true Identity lies. It is in our valiance that we reveal the everything that can arise from seeing the nothingness in the false idols we have created.
We abide with God always. The Holy Spirit, in Her use of brilliant music, books, other beings, nature, etc., brings our awareness back to where we abide, no matter where we may be physically standing. Dare to drop the brilliant disguise, dare to doubt what you have created yourself to be, and dare to reveal your true Identity.
Namaste.
Resources:
Springsteen, Bruce. Born to Run. Simon & Schuster, 2016.
