For a while now, I have believed that I must pray for release from my fears. I have fears that I have been carrying with me for years. They are mostly related to relationships. They are irrational, and I know this because A Course in Miracles [ACIM] has taught me that all fear is unreal no matter how real it feels. However, they are part of my reality because I still believe in them. My main method to try to overcoming them has been to pray that God somehow allow me to conquer them or that I be released from their effects.

I recently read a section in the ACIM text titled, "The Correction for Lack of Love". (OrEd.T.2.V) It has given me a whole new perspective on my approach to letting go of my fears. What it basically says is that fear is not something that we conquer. God does not know fear, so praying for release from it is the wrong approach. We must pray for the mastery of love. When I focus on my fears as the issue, I am continuing their effects by obsessing over them. When I pray for guidance in the mastery of love, I am getting to the real issue.

"92 You who constantly complain about fear still persist in creating it. I told you before that you cannot ask me to release you from fear because I know it does not exist, but you do not. If I merely intervened between your thoughts and their results, I would be tampering with a basic law of cause and effect, the most fundamental law there is in this world. I would hardly help if I depreciated the power of your own thinking. This would be in direct opposition to the purpose of this course. It is much more helpful to remind you that you do not guard your thoughts carefully except for a small part of the day and somewhat inconsistently even then. You may feel at this point that it would take a miracle to enable you to do this, which is perfectly true." (OrEd.T.2.92)

What is Jesus saying here? What I believe he is saying is that, first, it is not helpful to ask for release from fear. If I ask God to intervene between my thoughts and their results, this would be tampering with free will or the law of cause and effect. I have created my fear and am feeling its effects. It is not some illness in my mind that I have no control over. I am responsible for the effects. What I should ask for is the miracle, or miracle-mindedness focused on love and not the illusions I have created. What I need to do is guard my mind against insane thoughts by dismissing them immediately to make room for truth.

"Both miracles and fear come from thoughts, and if you were not free to choose one, you would also not be free to choose the other." (OrEd.T.2.94)

I have simply chosen to think about something from a fearful state of mind rather than from miracle-mindedness. It is a matter of training my mind as it is with the whole course. It is not that I am doing something wrong or not praying hard enough; it is merely that I have chosen to dwell on illusions rather than reality. I have chosen wrongly.

"It has already been said that man believes he cannot control fear because he himself created it. His belief in it seems to render it out of his control by definition. Yet any attempt to resolve the basic conflict through the concept of mastery of fear is meaningless. In fact it asserts the power of fear by the simple assumption that it need be mastered. The essential resolution rests entirely on the mastery of love. In the interim, the sense of conflict is inevitable since man has placed himself in a strangely illogical position. He believes in the power of what does not exist." (OrEd.T.2.97)

My praying for mastery of fear has been meaningless. This is why I have run into so many problems in my relationships.

[CONTINUED from the CIMS eMAGAZINE]

I have used them as a means to master fear. In turn, I have created relationships based on fear-mindedness, and one would be correct in assuming that they have not gone well. Instead, I need to master love. By mastering love, I am taking the approach that will heal my fears. By asking myself “what can love do in this situation?” versus “how can I overcome fear in this situation?”, I am choosing miracle-mindedness. This is what Jesus is asking us to do in all situations.

“The true corrective procedure is to recognize error temporarily but only as an indication that immediate correction is mandatory.” (OrEd.T.2.98)

It is helpful to recognize that I may be afraid of something, but that is as far as I should let it go. I should not pray for release from something that I have chosen because this would go against God’s sacred laws. I need to recognize that my mind is in need of immediate correction. Our minds are in constant need of correction, all throughout the day.

“Confidence cannot develop fully until mastery has been accomplished. We have already attempted to correct the fundamental error that fear can be mastered and have emphasized that only love can be mastered. You have attested only to your readiness. Mastery of love involves a much more complete confidence than either of you has attained. However, the readiness at least is an indication that you believe this is possible. That is only the beginning of confidence. In case this be misunderstood to imply that an enormous amount of time will be necessary between readiness and mastery, let me remind you that time and space are under my control.” (OrEd.T.2.103)

As I seek to master love, my confidence will grow. As I take part in this drama, keeping in mind my goal to master love, my assurance of God’s laws and intent for me will flourish more and more. Essentially, if I remember to ask how I can love rather than how I can avoid fear, I am asking a question that can and will be answered. Jesus blesses us with a comforting line, as he does many times in ACIM. Do not worry about the seeming enormity of the task, because God is in control of space and time. Things will orchestrate perfectly when I allow love to be my guide.

Blessings.

Daniel