Workbook · Part I
Lesson 183
I call upon God's Name and on my own.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “I call upon God's Name and on my own.” In ordinary English: Call on God’s name and on your own — they are not two names in truth.
God, in this workbook, is not a distant judge. Love is the name for the mind that is not at war. “God goes with you” means you do not have to fetch a spiritual state, then go live. The next room, the next person, the next fear is already the place.
You do not have to believe it first. You use the words on one real judgment — of someone, of yourself, of a situation — and then you take the next ordinary step.
This is not saying
This is not church language you have to swallow, and not a demand that you feel devout. If the word God gets in the way, use Love. The practice is the same: stop arguing that you are alone.
Why this can change a day
Loneliness, specialness, and attack all need God to be absent. Remembering you are accompanied changes how you treat a stranger, a partner, and the face in the glass — without a speech.
In your day
Same idea, three ordinary places — a relationship or encounter, the case against yourself, and a situation at work or at home. You do not need a special mood.
With someone
You received a kindness and want to store it as specialness, or you are counting what they owe.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I call upon God's Name and on my own.” Give the thing you want: patience, a clean word, attention. Let it pass through. What you hoard, you lose sight of.
Toward yourself
Someone at work you have ranked as incompetent, in the way, or not trying.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I call upon God's Name and on my own.” Do the useful part of the work. Drop the claim that their job is to complete you. A fact can still be said. A ranking cannot.
At work, at home, or in a situation
A murder show, a takedown, entertainment that tastes like winning.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I call upon God's Name and on my own.” Notice the taste without self-loathing. Thoughts of attacking and of being attacked are the same thought. Look away. Then the next decent hour.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
I will give when I have received. They owe me. Attention, credit, a change in them — then I can be kind.
Jesus’s way
“I call upon God's Name and on my own.” This idea is a joining, not a theory. Receive it as much as you can. Then treat the next person as included.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #388
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 183
Tina reads the official workbook lesson first. Then she channels. The video is the source. The notes below are study notes of that sitting — not a transcript, and not A Year of Forgiveness.
After the reading
In the video · Jesus speaking
This is the channeled portion — after Tina has read the lesson. Study notes of that sitting. Not a transcript.
- “I call upon God's Name and on my own.” Father, here, is Source — intelligent, benevolent, not a judge.
- Say the idea as a return, not as a plea from exile.
- After Tina reads Lesson 183, the channeling is living “I call upon God's Name and on my own.” He will not let it stay a slogan. Use these words. Do not swap them for a thought you like better.
How to sit today
Part I · Peace
The idea is above. This is the one sitting this number asks — how often, how long, and the words. Not a second lesson.
- How often
- Morning sitting as Lesson 153 began it, plus hourly remembrance, plus when you are tempted to forget
- How long
- Five minutes is the least you give the morning sitting. Ten is better; fifteen better still. The evening pair matches. Hourly: even a minute if that is all you can offer
- Through the day
- When the hour strikes, remember. When you can, give more than a minute.
- When shaken
- When the day’s idea is the medicine, use it on the actual situation, not later in a chair.
- If you forget
- A lapse is not a failure story. Resume. Guilt about missing is another idle thought.
How
- Lesson 183 keeps the form begun in Lesson 153. Sit without armor. Read the idea (and the prayer if the lesson gives one). Then wait. Defenselessness is the method, not a mood.
- Do not throw the day away because an hour was forgotten. Return at the next hour.
Longer sitting
Two extended sittings — fifteen minutes twice is the standard for this stretch
- Today’s idea is: “I call upon God's Name and on my own.”
- Read the idea (and the prayer or specific form the official lesson gives). Spend the sitting in that idea.
- Say, slowly: “I call upon God's Name and on my own.”
- Let related thoughts come. Return to the idea when the mind wanders. Give the rest of the day to remembering it.
Short / hourly
A reminder on the hour — even a minute if that is all you have
- Say, slowly: “I call upon God's Name and on my own.”
When shaken
When the day’s idea is the medicine, use it on the actual situation, not later in a chair
- Say, slowly: “I call upon God's Name and on my own.”
These scripts follow the workbook’s own method for this number — duration, frequency, and the sentences it asks you to use. They are a study paraphrase, not a replacement. Read the official lesson at acim.org and follow any wording it gives that is more specific than this card.
Words you may not know
Full glossaryCourse words do not mean what church, psychology, or ordinary English usually mean. These notes are for this lesson — tap a word.
Other voices — Tina, Ra, Carla
Short notes from the four streams. The teaching above is the lesson. These are doors if you want them.
Spalding
“I call upon God's Name and on my own.” Father, here, is Source — intelligent, benevolent, not a judge. You have not left. Say the idea as a return, not as a plea from exile.
Watch this lesson’s commentaryRa
This lesson is practice in polarizing with the person in front of you. Service to others is not a slogan. It is whether you treat them as the same being you are.
Open streamRueckert
A wanderer on Earth does not need a different lesson. She needs this one, done with her hands. Carla's whole archive is the proof: contact follows a life, it does not replace it.
Open stream