A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 270, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 270 I will not use the body’s eyes today. 1. Father, Christ’s vision is Your gift to me, and it has power to translate all that the body’s eyes behold into the sight of a forgiven world.

Lesson 270

I will not use the body’s eyes today.

1. Father, Christ’s vision is Your gift to me, and it has power to translate all that the body’s eyes behold into the sight of a forgiven world. ²How glorious and gracious is this world! ³Yet how much more will I perceive in it than sight can give. ⁴The world forgiven signifies Your Son acknowledges his Father, lets his dreams be brought to truth, and waits expectantly the one remaining instant more of time which ends forever, as Your memory returns to him. ⁵And now his will is one with Yours. ⁶His function now is but Your Own, and every thought except Your Own is gone.

2. The quiet of today will bless our hearts, and through them peace will come to everyone. ²Christ is our eyes today. ³And through His sight we offer healing to the world through Him, the holy Son whom God created whole; the holy Son whom God created one.

I will use the body’s eyes to show me the images I have made to give form to the thoughts in my mind.

But that is not vision. The eyes can only show me the ego’s interpretation of the world. Using my eyes, I will see sin and suffering everywhere I look. Just this morning, I saw that my car needs some bodywork. I see that the war in Ukraine is still going on, and people are suffering and dying. Putin is talking about using nuclear weapons that would affect the entire world.

A major hurricane is headed for Florida. Puerto Rico has already been devastated by a hurricane. Our country is divided over the abortion issue and many other things. A couple finds a baby abandoned in their backyard shed. A State Trooper gets shot in the face. And tomorrow it will be something else. From the perspective of the ego’s story of Myron, I will continue to see this world.

Remember Lesson 15.

My thoughts are images that I have made.

1. It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do not recognize them as nothing. ²You think you think them, and so you think you see them. ³This is how your “seeing” was made. ⁴This is the function you have given your body’s eyes. ⁵It is not seeing. ⁶It is image making. ⁷It takes the place of seeing, replacing vision with illusions.

Our eyes were made to show us what is not there. To see what is really there, we need Christ’s Vision. Jesus tells us that “…it has power to translate all that the body’s eyes behold into the sight of a forgiven world.” “This world is “glorious and gracious.” The forgiven world is the world that God loves and that we will also love. But there is even more because the world forgiven signifies we acknowledge God as our Father, and our memory returns.

Does this seem like an impossible task?

It would be an impossible task if we had to do this alone. But we are not alone. God placed the Holy Spirit in our minds to guide us Home. Our part is very simple and easy to do. We only need to be vigilant for our thoughts and to look at untrue thoughts with the Holy Spirit so they can be corrected and our minds healed. I used to think this was hard, that I just couldn’t release some of those thoughts. But it is not hard. Nothing is hard that is wholly desired.

This process is so simple that to call it hard is ridiculous.

I know I am resisting it when I think it is hard. “Allowing insanity to enter your mind means that you have not judged sanity as wholly desirable. ²If you want something else you will make something else, but because it is something else, it will attack your thought system and divide your allegiance.” (ACIM, T-7.VI.12:1-2) I am no longer entirely insane, and I have discovered that I can change my mind.

As I notice my car needing bodywork, I pay attention to how this makes me feel and the thoughts that come into my mind about it. Does it embarrass me to have a damaged car? Does it seem to tarnish my image to drive a damaged car? And does it cause worry thoughts over money as I think of getting it fixed? All these ideas have passed through my mind. Each one is forgiven and released. What is left is the certainty that what needs to be done will be done when it is needed. If it is not done, it is not needed. What is left is a mind at peace.

Is the Ukraine war and the threat of nuclear weapons being used causing me upset? I forgive it and let it go. I look in my mind for thoughts that contribute to war. Am I at war with anyone in my life? Do I hate anyone? Do I think my opinions are right and someone else’s is wrong? And do I justify my attacks through these judgments? I forgive the beliefs in my own mind. That is my part in ending war.

In The Dynamics of the Ego, Jesus tells us this. 

³The ego is totally confused about reality, but it does not lose sight of its goal. ⁴It is much more vigilant than you are because it is perfectly certain of its purpose. ⁵You are confused because you do not recognize yours. (ACIM, T-11.V.7:3-5) This is why I am very clear about my goal, purpose, and role as a teacher of God. It is why I stay vigilant and why I am closer to seeing the forgiven world and thus closer to returning Home.

Regina’s Tips

The last paragraph of our special theme says:

You will identify with what you think will make you safe. Whatever it may be, you will believe that it is one with you. Your safety lies in truth, and not in lies. Love is your safety. Fear does not exist. Identify with love, and you are safe. Identify with love, and you are home. And I identify with love, and find your Self.

Trust that you do not know yourself because you have not observed that closely until now. Realize that your purpose is to ensure that your faith is placed with the motive you have chosen. Be clear on this purpose, and then observe yourself.

What is it that you find yourself doing? Why are you doing it? Is that action evidence that your faith is placed with your motive, or are you finding that you have placed your faith elsewhere?

Be careful that you do not judge that which you see and observe. Separate yourself from the body. See the body as not you. Instead, see it merely as evidence of thought that is in your mind. See it as a learning device and nothing else.

Be grateful for this body and all it is teaching you, for in partnership with this learning device you will correct the mind. You will bring faith into alignment with motive through your own desire to do so.

My Thoughts

This is good advice. I generally use my body for my purpose, but not always. I can honestly assess those times and consider whether my body could be put to better use. It is especially appreciated that she reminds me not to judge what I see and to see my body as not me, just evidence of a thought in my mind, a learning device. And I also like the reminder to be grateful for the body and all it teaches me.

Here is something from a past journal.

I was learning to practice forgiveness at this time.

Yesterday was very fruitful. I noticed many instances when I was judging. I judged both people and circumstances. One time this happened was when I was doing a favor for someone, and he did not express gratitude or even acknowledge in any way that I was doing so. There was ego chatter going on in my mind about his ingratitude.

I talked to the Holy Spirit about it and was reminded that my joy is not dependent on anyone’s gratitude toward me. I did not “need” love from anyone and that the way to feel love was to allow it to flow through me to the other person. So I could feel love, not by waiting for it to come to me, but by loving this person right now. This person fully deserves my love, not because of anything he did or did not do, but because of who he is as my holy brother and God’s child. This is an example of first using the body’s eyes and then deciding differently.

Another way I am practicing not using the body’s eyes is by accepting whatever is happening as perfect.

I had a couple of circumstances yesterday and again this morning when I thought I would be happier if things were different. This is such a common thing for me to do that I really have to pay close attention even to notice I am doing it.

I remind myself that nothing outside me is the source of my experience. If I feel sad because someone is not with me or anxious because something is not happening, then the sadness and anxiety are the reactions I decided on when I asked the ego what the situation meant. I remind myself that it is what it is, a perfectly neutral event. The meaning it has was given by me. This makes it easier to be accepting.

Regret is another opportunity to see differently.

Some time ago, I lost a customer and experienced fear and guilt when it happened. Yesterday when he came into my mind, I noticed mind chatter about this. It was the, “I could have done this” and “I should have done that” kind of chatter. That always ends by trying to make someone guilty. This time I stopped it and asked the Great Undoer, the Holy Spirit, to give me a new way of seeing this.

He helped me see how silly it is to try to figure out what I might have done differently by reminding me that it was done and over long ago. My only job now is to decide what meaning I want to give to it now. Do I want to use this as another opportunity to project and thus keep guilt, or do I want to forgive and thus release another layer of guilt? I decided to forgive myself and everyone involved. We seemed to be playing an attack and defend game, and I don’t want to play anymore. No more games! I want to see with the eyes of Christ.

Contemplation 2025

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 270 click here.

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