Quotes in this article are from Foundation for Inner Peace edition; To locate the same quotes in the 'Original Edition', use this link:  http://www.jcim.net/acim_us/Acim.php    
Sarah's Commentary:

This lesson follows on the heels of two previous lessons that focus on how we see the world. Lesson 128 said "The world I see holds nothing that I want", meaning that there is nothing that we can pursue in the world of form that will bring us happiness. This was followed by Lesson 129 that said, "Beyond this world there is a world I want," which addressed the real world, which in truth is the only thing we want and where we will experience that which brings true joy and happiness. Now we are told that, "It is impossible to see two worlds." What Jesus emphasizes in this lesson is that we have a choice. The emphasis here is on the power of our minds to decide. The choice is between the ego's darkness and the light of the Holy Spirit. One brings a world of fear, specialness, attack, and guilt, and the other is the world that forgiveness shows us. It all depends on what we have chosen inside because projection makes perception. In other words our perception is consistent with the choice we have first made in our minds.

What we see is a reflection of what we have first valued. What we perceive is some expression of either the ego thought system or the thought system of the Holy Spirit reflected out. Whatever we are perceiving starts with what we are valuing, "for what you value you must want to see." (1.4) We have chosen to value our individual existence. We value separation. With it comes an investment in the body and the world. Having made the choice for separation and given our existence value, we now believe that what we see is really there, that it is in fact something real. Thus we see the world and bodies as really there. The world is given reality because we value it and we value it because we value the ego. "The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that, it is not less. Therefore to you it is important. It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition." (T. 21.Intro) Thus, the value we have given to separation, and with it our individuality and our specialness, has given rise to the world that we see.

But as we choose the perfection of our One Self, united with all creation, our perception shifts from the material to the eternal in ourselves and others. So all of our seeing comes from our internal choice in the mind, which we make all the time. With each decision in our day, we are choosing between staying invested in the illusion or using every situation for awakening. There is nothing else to choose but this. Our perception is consistent with our thoughts and those thoughts are consistent with our choice for the ego's thought system or that of the Holy Spirit.

The question is, what is it that we want, and how do we know what it is that we want? The answer to that question is seen in what we already have. "No one can fail to look upon what he believes he wants." (1.6) Jesus reminds us that our purpose, which is based on what we value, demonstrates what we want, and thus what we see. If I want my specialness, my individuality, being right, seeing differences, achieving material things, then my purpose will be firmly invested in this dream. But if I want to know who I am and what love is, then everything that shows up in my day will be turned to this purpose. I become the witness of the dream, looking at it from outside of the dream and seeing its falsity.

"Yet who can really hate and love at once?" (2.1) We think we can love sometimes and hate sometimes. We think that both can coexist in our minds. But hate must disappear in the face of love and darkness brought to the light must be gone. Jesus reminds us constantly that we have to make a choice between mutually exclusive thought systems. In the separation, we chose the thought system of the ego and with it the judgment, fear and guilt, which supports our individual existence. In the face of love, the ego is threatened. It can't continue to exist. That is why we hold onto our judgments. Our fear of God keeps us invested in the ego thought system and our specialness. It is this fear, which keeps us from recognizing our true reality as the Christ Self. "Fear must make blind, for this its weapon is: that which you fear to see you cannot see." (2.4) Fear obscures in darkness what is really there, which is the love of God. It is our fear that covers over this love so we don't even know that it is there. We are not aware that it is in us as long as we identify with our individuality.

The undoing process requires that we look within, but the ego tells us not to do so. When we listen to its guidance we defend against the guilt and sin that we don't want to see in ourselves. "Loudly the ego tells you not to look inward, for if you do your eyes will light on sin and God will strike you blind. This you believe and so you do not look." (T.21.IV.2-3) We don't look when we believe the ego and instead we defend ourselves and try to cover over the guilt we think is in us. Jesus asks, "What if you looked within and saw no sin?" (T.21.IV.3.1) Indeed, when we go past the dark thoughts, the guilt and the shame that we feel, there is nothing but the truth of our being. There is nothing but love. Forgiveness is the process of uncovering the dark layer of defense by being willing to go there. We take Jesus with us. He helps us walk through the fear. He helps us look at our darkness by witnessing it without judging ourselves. We recognize the falseness of the ego thoughts we hold and we can smile gently at having been deceived into thinking that this is who we are.

No longer do we then believe the ego lies that what we look upon is who we are. What we believed to be the truth about ourselves is easily dispelled as nothing real. This includes all of our suffering and death itself. Our identity is not defined by the limitations of the body and its ultimate demise. "What, then, can fear project upon the world? What can be seen in darkness that is real?" (3.1-2) Thus, what we are seeing in the world of form has no reality. It is just all of our imagined fear thoughts. It is all a hallucination. When the guilt and fear are healed, what can be projected? Only love is real. While it is covered over by fear, it is the only thing that is real. Just because we are not aware of the love, does not mean it is not constantly there. "Fear has made everything you think you see." (4.1) It is fear that keeps the love from our awareness.

What fear has made is a world of separation, of distinctions, of all of the many differences we believe that we see in this world. (4.1) And yet, Jesus says very directly: "They are not there." It is a projected world of our thoughts and it is all nothingness---just products of our fear thoughts, of our imaginations projected onto the world. That is what love's enemy is---nothing but fear. "Yet love can have no enemy, and so they have no cause, no being and no consequence." (4.5) So even though we value the things of this world, they still are unreal. Even though we seek the things of this world, "they cannot be found." (4.7) Why? Because all these things that we seek for are all nothing. We seek for value where there is none. We seek for happiness where it is not. What we are afraid of is the light, so we are doing everything we can to block it out.

That is why fear is love's enemy. We are afraid of seeing the only thing that is real. That is the purpose of our world. It is a block to truth. It is a defense against the love of God, which is in our minds. The ego is afraid that we may choose it so it keeps us invested in the world. It tells us that we should project the guilt on others so they will receive God's punishment for the separation and not us. What the ego keeps hidden from us is that the guilt that we believe is ours, is not real, and that there is nothing to fear because there is no cause. "Love's enemy (the ego) has made them up. Yet you can have no enemy, and so they have no cause, no being and no consequence." (4.4-5) The reason is that Love has no enemy. It does not exist, and thus there can be no effect because to have an effect there must be a cause. God is not the cause of suffering, of wars, of famine in the world. Without a cause there can be no effects. I find it helpful when I suffer to remind myself that I made this suffering because it did not come from God. If I made it, I can choose to release it. When we look at all of the pain and suffering from outside of the dream, we can smile gently at the recognition that all of it is our dream. Nothing happens to us without our invitation.

Our perceptions vary greatly: "Yet they have one thing in common; they are all insane." (T.13.V.1.5) Why is that? Because: "They are made of sights that are not seen, and sounds that are not heard." (T.13.V.1.6) This is all part of our own private world where we give everything the meaning that it has for us. We each people our private world with "figures from his individual past" (T.13.V.2.1), which is why our private worlds differ, why our "curriculum is highly individualized, and all aspects are under the Holy Spirit's particular care and guidance." (M.29.2.6) We each have our own special relationships, which become our special function to heal. Yet for all of us, the world is in our minds and is not real and everyone we see was never real. They are figures in our dream "made up only of his (our) reactions to his (our) brothers, and do not include their reactions to him (us)." (T.13.V.2.2)

So what we see is our interpretation and nothing but that. The meaning we give to each situation and person that we encounter is one that is personal to us. In essence, we are told that we are actually insane and hallucinating. "It is through these strange and shadowy figures that the insane relate to their insane world. For they see only those who remind them of these images, and it is to them that they relate. Thus do they communicate with those who are not there, and it is they who answer them. And no one hears their answer save him who called upon them, and he alone believes they answered him." (T.13.V.3.1-3)

It is interesting to see these varied perceptions when watching a movie with a group of people. Some movies illustrate this point more starkly than others. The movie "Matchpoint" was a good example of varying observations and perceptions that were hotly debated. Yet again, Jesus reminds us that all points of view are false. Perceptions come from past experiences, and watching movies or situations in life offer an opportunity to look at our beliefs and our shadow figures from our individual past experiences. The only meaning any of it has is what we have given it. When we see others as guilty it is a sure sign that we are simply projecting our own guilt.

"It is impossible to see two worlds which have no overlap of any kind." (5.1) We truly cannot make the best of both worlds. It must be one or the other that we see. There is no range of choice. We can't choose both of them. "Seek for the one; the other disappears." (5.2), but the real world always remains. "The real and the unreal are all there are to choose between, and nothing more than these." (5.5) So while we think we have many choices, we only have two, the real and the unreal. While we appear to be making a choice, there is only one real choice to be made because to choose the world of form is to choose nothing real. The choice for the world of form is made when we fear love, and no compromise is possible. We can't take some things in form that we value and still be in touch with the real world. It is one or the other. Our fear thoughts will prevent us from seeing the love that shines forth. And until they are released we will continue to see the world of fear. So we are called upon today to "devote our minds to finding only what is real." (7.2)
 
This requires a "strength beyond your own," (8.1) meaning that this cannot be undertaken with our own resources. We must call on the help of the Holy Spirit. The ego will never undo itself. We need God's help, but in order for Him to do so, we must empty our "hands of all the petty treasures of this world."(8.3) We look at those things that we value and let them drop away so space is opened in our minds for God to give us a new and clean perception. "God will be there. For you have called upon the great unfailing Power, Which will take this giant step with you in gratitude." (9.1-2) Notice that this is another of the giant stride lessons, meaning it is another huge learning opportunity for us. Here it is called a "giant step." (9.2) The five giant stride lessons are 61, 66, 94, 135 and 194 so we really want to pay attention to their importance in our practice.

So today we are giving up the valuing that we give to the things of this world. We will continue to see them, but the value they hold for us will be diminished as we do this practice. "You will not doubt what you will look upon, for though it is perception, it is not the kind of seeing that your eyes alone have ever seen before. And you will know God's strength upheld you as you made this choice." (9.4-5) What we look upon seems very real to us, but when we are willing to see that what we are looking upon is false, we ask for help to see the world differently. We are asking to see with vision that can only come when we recognize that our seeing is wrong. Our perceptions are actually hallucinations. We are upset by events and circumstances that seem to be causing our disturbances, forgetting that there is nothing external to us. It is all our dream and we are the dreamer. All of it comes from our own minds. Now we are given the means to change our minds and shift our perception from the unreal to the real, from the false to what is true.

I seemed to have food poisoning and was suffering immensely, allowing my mind to believe the story that my condition was true and real. Then after some time, sanity showed up and I questioned how love and my condition could both be real. It had to be one or the other. Either my bodily experience was the truth or only God's Love was true. I recognized that the investment I had made in this condition and the pain I was experiencing was my belief in the reality of the body and the world. So while I did take magic to alleviate the symptoms, I finally chose to do the real work of forgiveness. I invited the Holy Spirit to help me not to use this discomfort in the body to keep me from the love that I am. I asked for help to see that this situation was only made real by my belief that it was real. From above the battleground, I recognized how the ego set it all up to convince me that my reality was really a body, and that sickness was my defense against the truth, and with that I surrendered into the arms of love as peace and happiness returned to my mind. Yes, it came and went, but with each temptation to choose suffering, I recognized that my mind was the only place where the choice could be made. Each step we take to release ourselves from the delusions of this world is another step to remembering who we are.

When anything tempts you in the world today where you think you will find value, remind yourself that: "It is impossible to see two worlds. I seek my freedom and deliverance and this is not a part of what I want." (11.4) Remember that by bringing in a part of this world of hell, we are blocking the real world. Anything we are attracted to or value in the world is blocking our sight of the real world. So watch your mind today for these blocks to the truth. They are just fear thoughts. Ask for help to release them. "God will be there. For you have called upon the great unfailing power, which will take the giant step with you in gratitude." (9.1-2) We are asking for strength beyond our own. We are asking to see no meaningless distinctions today. There is no good and no bad. God's Son is one and we share in that oneness. We are all the same. We are the Christ Self.

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