LESSON 9

This Lesson follows on what was said previously. In fact, as we see in Lesson 7, "I see only the past," and Lesson 8 "My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts," it follows that I can't possibly see anything as it is now. "But while you may be able to accept it intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as yet." (W.9.1.2) Jesus tells us that it is not important whether we understand what is being said here right now. In fact, the truth is that we don't. Not because we don't understand the words, but because we are very defended against the truth. We will understand when we have the experience and this comes in the holy instant, and in that instant there is nothing to see. There is no body. It is a moment of glimpsing the eternal outside of time and space. Even if we do accept this Lesson intellectually, "understanding is not necessary at this point." (W.9.1.3) In fact, Jesus says that recognizing we don't understand is good, and that it is a required part "for undoing your false ideas." (W.9.1.4) Why does he say that? Basically, when we see that we don't understand, we are willing to be taught. We are willingly to practice the Lesson as prescribed rather than trying to figure it out. He continues to encourage us that we will achieve understanding, if we apply this teaching. "If you want understanding and enlightenment you will learn it, because your decision to learn it is the decision to listen to the Teacher Who knows of light, and can therefore teach it to you." (T.8.III.1.4)(ACIM OE T.8.IV.16) We are just being called to trust in the process.
   
Today we are asked to apply the idea to whatever we see. Three or four times during the day, we apply this idea to whatever we see. Being indiscriminate in the application and excluding nothing, we begin with the things nearby and extend the range outward. "It is emphasized again that while complete inclusion should not be attempted, specific exclusion should be avoided. Be sure you are honest with yourself in making this distinction. You may be tempted to obscure it." (W.9.5.1-3)

Why is Jesus telling us this? Because we may think, for example, that we do see this telephone as it is now. We do think that we know and understand what we are seeing. In other words, we resist the idea that we don't see anything as it is now. Jesus explains that what we are seeing is not even there, because everything we see is a projection of the past thoughts about the thing we are looking at. The thoughts we hold actually block our understanding. It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what it seems to picture is not there. This idea can be quite disturbing and may meet with active resistance in any number of forms. Yet that does not preclude applying it. No more than that is required for these or any other exercises. "Each small step will clear a little of the darkness away, and understanding will finally come to lighten every corner of the mind that has been cleared of the debris that darkens it." (W.9.2.5) It is all about clearing away that which interferes with vision. It is the basis for forgiveness, because we will begin to see that what we are forgiving never even happened. Yes, in our experience it has happened, but none of it is real. None of it has any meaning, because it is all a projection of the thought of separation that has no meaning. We experience a world that is independent of us, yet it is a world that is simply a reflection of our thoughts. It is all our dream seen to be real by our sensory apparatus, which were made by the ego to prove that all of this is real.

The Lessons are all about undoing the way we currently see things. It is about opening our minds to the possibility that what we see in the world is just a reflection of what is in our minds. The movie of our lives is already over. We are just reacting to events that have already happened. We are experiencing them as if they are happening now. This turns everything upside down from what we think is true. We would not be putting effort into learning something that we already know. This is all new learning that turns everything that we think we know upside down. As said before, our minds are actually blank because they are totally preoccupied with past thoughts, and past thoughts also include our future plans. They too are already over since time is already over---something we don't get at this moment either. And we don't want to get it because if time is already over then we are not here either, and when we take that thought in it can be quite terrifying.

If you find yourself arguing with this Lesson or any other Lesson, be aware of how much resistance there is to these ideas. Jesus knows we have this resistance because the ego is a defense against these thoughts. All we need to do is be willing to do the practice. If we are not willing, we can ask for help with willingness. The important thing is not to strain and not to fight yourself. When it all seems too difficult, just step away from the Lesson for a time, until the willingness returns.

We have convinced ourselves of the truth of what we see and we believe that "seeing is believing." We think that if we see something it is real. Jesus is raising this "reality" to question. Is it possible that what we are seeing is not real at all but just a projection, in fact, just a hallucinating mind? Is it possible that we really can't trust our eyes? Is it possible that our whole world is made up of these kinds of false concepts? Yes. Such thoughts will initially be very unsettling, but that is the whole idea! Everything we think we know is being put to question.

It is not a big leap to recognize that we all see the same thing differently. In fact recently the Supreme Court ruled that lower courts are not to rely on eye witnesses to the extent that they have because of faulty perceptions. Perception will invariably be untrustworthy when we realize that we are all just projecting the content of our past thoughts and past associations. When we watch a movie, it becomes clear that we are all experiencing the events on the screen from our own past associations. Thus, how can anything be said to be true if everyone has their own truth about what they are seeing and believing?

Time is given to us to awaken to the truth of who we are as eternal beings. In Chapter 15.I, Jesus talks about "The Two Uses of Time," where he says that we can waste time by using it for ego purposes or we can use time for awakening to who we truly are. Wasting time is tragic.  "Delay does not matter in eternity, but it is tragic in time." (T.5.VI.1.3) (ACIM OE T.5.VIII.71) Time, when used for its intended purpose, awakens us to our glorious reality. These exercises are all given us for that purpose. "This lesson takes no time. For what is time without a past and a future? It has taken time to misguide you so completely, but it takes no time at all to be what you are. Begin to practice the Holy Spirit's use of time as a teaching aid to happiness and peace." (T.15.I.9.1-4)(ACIM OE T.15.II.10)

It is reassuring to know, in undoing what we have taught ourselves the Holy Spirit will substitute our self-taught concepts with ones that can bring us true happiness and peace. Only our willingness to do this practice is needed. We continue to ask the Holy Spirit to reinterpret what we see so we can be freed from our perceptions of how we think things are. When we turn our perceptions over to Him to reinterpret them for us, we allow the mind to be released from its imprisoned state of stale thoughts. Each moment of willingness to do this work brings more healing to the mind until we reach the gate of Heaven.
 
Love and blessings, Sarah

A Course in Miracles 

 

Chapter One

Introduction to Miracles

I. Principles of Miracles continued

44. ⁷¹ Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind. By being one, this state of mind goes out to anyone, even without the awareness of the miracle worker himself. The impersonal nature of miracles is because the Atonement itself is one, uniting all creations with their Creator.

 

45. ⁷² The miracle is an expression of an inner awareness of Christ and the acceptance of His Atonement. The mind is then in a state of grace and naturally becomes gracious both to the host within and the stranger without. By bringing in the stranger, he becomes your brother.

 

46. ⁷³ A miracle is never lost. It touches many people you do not even know and sometimes produces undreamed of changes in forces of which you are not even aware. That is not your concern. The miracle will always bless you.

 

⁷⁴ The miracles you are not asked to perform have not lost their value. They are still expressions of your own state of grace, but the action aspect of the miracle should be Christ-controlled because of His complete awareness of the whole plan. The impersonal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures your grace, but only Christ is in a position to know where grace can be bestowed.

 

47. ⁷⁵ Miracle-mindedness means miracle-readiness. Readiness means that you should always keep your perceptions straight, so that you will always be ready, willing, and able. These are the essentials for "listen, learn, and do." You must be ready to listen, willing to learn, and able to do. Only the last is involuntary because it is the application of miracles which must be Christ-controlled. The other two, which are the voluntary aspects of miracle-mindedness, are up to you.

 

48. ⁷⁶ Awe is an inappropriate response to miracles.

⁷⁷ Revelation is literally unspeakable because it is an experience of unspeakable love. Awe should be reserved for revelation, to which it is perfectly and correctly applicable. It is not appropriate for miracles because a state of awe is worshipful. It implies that one of a lesser order stands before a greater one. This is the case only when a Soul stands before its Creator. Souls are perfect creations and experience awe only in the Presence of the Creator of perfection.

 

⁷⁸ The miracle, on the other hand, is a sign of love among equals. Equals cannot be in awe of one another because awe implies inequality. It is therefore an inappropriate reaction to me. An elder brother is entitled to respect for his greater experience and a reasonable amount of obedience for his greater wisdom. He is also entitled to love because he is a brother and also to devotion if he is devoted. It is only my devotion that entitles me to yours. There is nothing about me that you cannot attain. I have nothing that does not come from God. The main difference between us as yet is that I have nothing else. This leaves me in a state of true holiness, which is only a potential in you.

 

⁷⁹ "No man cometh unto the Father but by me" is among the most misunderstood statements in the Bible. It does not mean that I am in any way separate or different from you except in time, which does not really exist at all. Actually, the quotation is more meaningful if it is considered on a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. Regarded along the vertical, man stands below me and I stand below God. In the process of "rising up," I am higher. This is because, without me, the distance between God and man would be too great for you to encompass.

 

⁸⁰ I bridge the distance as an elder brother to man on the one hand and as a Son of God on the other. My devotion to my brothers has placed me in charge of the Sonship, which I can render complete only to the extent to which I can share it. This may appear to contradict the statement, "I and my Father are one," but there are still separate parts in the statement in recognition that the Father is greater. (The original statement was "are of one kind"). The Holy Spirit is the bringer of revelations. Revelations are indirectly inspired by me because I am close to the Holy Spirit and alert to the revelation-readiness of my brothers. I can thus bring down to them more than they can draw down to themselves.

 

49. ⁸¹ The Holy Spirit is the highest communication medium. Miracles do not involve this type of communication because they are temporary communication devices. When man returns to his original form of communication with God, the need for miracles is over. The Holy Spirit mediates higher to lower communication, keeping the direct channel from God to man open for revelation. Revelation is not reciprocal. It is always from God to man. The miracle is reciprocal because it involves equality.

 

50. ⁸² The miracle is a learning device which lessens the need for time. In the longitudinal or horizontal plane, the recognition of the true equality of all the members of the Sonship appears to involve almost endless time. However, the sudden shift from horizontal to vertical perception which the miracle entails introduces an interval from which the doer and the receiver both emerge much farther along in time than they would otherwise have been.

 

⁸³ The miracle thus has the unique property of shortening time by rendering the space of time it occupies unnecessary. There is no relationship between the time a miracle takes and the time it covers. It substitutes for learning that might have taken thousands of years. It does this by the underlying recognition of perfect equality and holiness between the doer and the receiver on which the miracle rests.

 

⁸⁴ We said before that the miracle abolishes time. It does this by a process of collapsing it and thus abolishing certain intervals within it. It does this, however, within the larger temporal sequence. It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval which is not under the usual laws of time. Only in this sense is it timeless. By collapsing time, it literally saves time. Much as daylight saving time does, it rearranges the distribution of light.

                                                  

 ACIM OE TX. CH 1, I 

 

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