ACIM Daily Lesson 271 Christ’s is the vision I will use today. 1. Each day, each hour, every instant, I am choosing what I want to look upon, the sounds I want to hear, the witnesses to what I want to be the truth for me.
Christ’s is the vision I will use today.
Lesson 271
Christ’s is the vision I will use today.
1. Each day, each hour, every instant, I am choosing what I want to look upon, the sounds I want to hear, the witnesses to what I want to be the truth for me. ²Today I choose to look upon what Christ would have me see, to listen to God’s Voice, and seek the witnesses to what is true in God’s creation. ³In Christ’s sight, the world and God’s creation meet, and as they come together all perception disappears. ⁴His kindly sight redeems the world from death, for nothing that He looks on but must live, remembering the Father and the Son; Creator and creation unified.
2. Father, Christ’s vision is the way to You. ²What He beholds invites Your memory to be restored to me. ³And this I choose, to be what I would look upon today.
It always seemed to me that I looked on what was there.
Then I realized that I don’t actually see what is there but rather my interpretation of what I see. Eventually, I realized that I see what I want to be there, and so finally, I knew something that would help me to awaken. I was finally taking full responsibility for my experience of the world and thus could honestly change my mind. I want to share something my friend Donna Stufft wrote about this because she expressed it so well.
From Donna
I see what I want to see because I’m always LOOKING FOR what I want to see. I want to see what is true according to me and my perception of it, based on what I believe about it. No matter how anything ‘looks,’ I actually choose the way I want to perceive it – the ‘light’ I want to see it in – so that it matches up with my beliefs. And that is followed by defense of my perception.
Everything I see and how I react to whatever it is supports my thought system, which is based on my beliefs. This is really another way of saying that my beliefs are reflected in absolutely everything that I see. And I accept that as Truth in my experience. What I want to be true about a thing/person/event is what I’ll see to be true. Others may see something totally different because they’ll perceive it in a way that supports their beliefs. And therein lies our troubled world in which we chose to experience separation and Ego autonomy.
Beliefs aren’t random.
They’re based on the past – what we’ve experienced or what someone else has reported to us… personally, via tv, radio, the internet, etc… from their own perspective. We tend to trust those more who share our own beliefs — an Ego tactic based on selective oneness. Oneness that supports Ego’s purpose is the only oneness Ego wants to be part of. ‘Birds of a feather flock together’ – fairly peacefully until one of those birds chooses to express itself differently … and then it’s ostracized or pecked to death.
The only way to find peace of mind is to move above conventional vision that embraces the uniqueness of separation and see instead with Christ’s vision: see that the same love of God is what we are all created from; see that God’s love provides purpose beyond our understanding that we can TRUST; and join with that love, through forgiveness.
Donna did a wonderful job.
She helped us to see the process we use to make a world that suits our desires. I am happy to look with the Holy Spirit at my own perceptions of the world. In so doing, for a moment, they sit side by side with the truth, and then my perceptions disappear. This is Christ’s Vision, and it shows me that there is only truth and not perception, one unified Self rather than many expressions of the One.
The restoration of the Sonship is so simple, really. Through each of our seemingly separate selves, we choose to perceive what is true about each other, and in so doing, we recognize our unification. The ego argues that only the smallest percentage of people are ready for this, but I am no longer interested in that argument.
We, as separate individuals, are not in charge of the Atonement.
So we cannot understand how it will work. I just know my part is to accept the Atonement as often as possible. Today, I am being invited to focus my attention on seeing the witnesses to what is true in God’s creation. I can do this as easily as I have more often sought the witnesses to the ego in my brothers.
I used to wonder how it is I was supposed to ever get out of this illusion.
All I needed to do was to read today’s lesson. Each passing moment offers me an opportunity to go home. What am I thinking right now? Is it a thought I would think with God? Or is it a judgment of someone or something?
How about in this instant? Did I just think how perfect life is as a path home, or did I think that I messed up again and wondered how I would ever get home at this rate? Every instant of my life offers me the opportunity to look at my thoughts and see how I am doing. Every instant offers me the opportunity to look at my thoughts and make another choice.
I think exactly what I want to think. If my mind is filled with judgmental thoughts, it is because that is what I want to be true for me. This is hard to admit, but better to see the truth and make a different choice than to pretend that I am doing the best I can. That I just can’t seem to do better, or that I can’t understand how to do this. I know very well how to do this.
It may be that I have forgotten who I am.
I am worthy of living as the Christ rather than living as the ego, and I can ask the Holy Spirit to step forward in my mind and help me to reestablish this truth. I can be vigilant for thoughts indicating I still prefer judgment over love and ask the Holy Spirit to undo these thoughts. And I can decide that I am worth this kind of effort. It is possible not only to do what Jesus asks me to do in this course but also necessary. It is inevitable.
As I look back on my life, I am amazed at all the ways in which I resisted the idea of choosing God. Many of the ways I resisted were passive, so I hardly noticed I was doing it. For instance, in the past I would use television and novels as a distraction from mind-watching and healing. I saw that after a day of watching my mind, I could hardly wait to lose myself in some mindless activity.
On the other hand, I don’t always do this.
I often choose to watch TV and movies and read novels from a more conscious state. I notice the ego thoughts of the characters. Their fictional stories are my stories and I choose to bring them into my life by reading or watching them. Their stories and my story are equally illusions so they both make good practice.
I still do lots of fun things and still enjoy what I do. Actually, everything is more enjoyable when I use it to help me awaken. Everything in my life, each moment of my life can be another step home, or I can use it to walk in circles accomplishing nothing. It is up to me. Holy Spirit, guide my thoughts, be in charge of my decisions, and help me to see with Christ’s Vision today. Thank you.
This was a lesson I learned in 2009.
Last night I met a couple for lunch and a movie. I had not met the young man before and knew very little about him, but from that little bit of information, I noticed I had already judged him. And I also noticed that because of my judgment, I was not looking forward to the evening. I love watching my mind. Because I was watching these thoughts, I knew the cause of my discomfort was not the couple or the situation but was my thoughts about them.
I asked the Holy Spirit to look with me on this evening and to show me what He sees. It was a lovely evening, and I liked the young man very much. I have no doubt that the evening would have ended differently if I had clung to my dreams of judgment in which I saw myself as separate from these people. All I gave up was the opportunity to write an imagined story. In its place, I was given the peace and joy resulting from choosing to see this couple through Christ’s Vision.
Sometimes I think that I have forgiven an idea only to have it pop up again when least expected.
This happened to me one night. My daughter’s fiancé works out of town, so he cannot be with her for the birthing classes, and I go in his stead. At last night’s class, they talked about breastfeeding and other newborn topics. What happened is that I began to think of times when I made errors with my little ones, sometimes potentially serious errors, and I became anxious.
I truly thought I had forgiven that young woman I was for not being perfect, but that mild anxiety and regret showed me that there was more work to be done. I talked to Holy Spirit about it and asked Him to heal me. It was interesting for me to note that when this first began, I experienced it as fear for my daughter, that she would do something wrong and hurt her baby and live a life of regret. Then I realized that it was me I was thinking of and was then projecting onto her, as we here tend to do.
Jeez, Holy Spirit, I really want to stop torturing myself with the past.
I know I cannot do this without your help. I truly desire to let the past die and to live only in this moment. Please remove from my mind the belief that I am guilty of my mistakes. Please remove from my mind the belief I must be punished for my mistakes. I know that is why I have not released the memories to You so far. I see what you are telling me. It is that I think I must pay for my sins with this eternal self-condemnation. Please remove that belief from my mind as well. I really want to know my innocence, and I really want to be free. Thank You.
It took a while, but eventually, I forgave those beliefs in my guilt as a parent. I am so grateful.
Contemplation 2025
To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 271 click here.
If you found this content helpful, please share on social media so more people can read and learn.