A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 302, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 302. Where darkness was I look upon the light. Father, our eyes are opening at last.

Lesson 302

Where darkness was I look upon the light.

1. Father, our eyes are opening at last. ²Your holy world awaits us, as our sight is finally restored and we can see. ³We thought we suffered. ⁴But we had forgot the Son whom You created. ⁵Now we see that darkness is our own imagining, and light is there for us to look upon. ⁶Christ’s vision changes darkness into light, for fear must disappear when love has come. ⁷Let me forgive Your holy world today, that I may look upon its holiness and understand it but reflects my own.

2. Our Love awaits us as we go to Him, and walks beside us showing us the way. ²He fails in nothing. ³He the End we seek, and He the Means by which we go to Him.

The solution to everything painful, everything harmful, is to forgive it.

In forgiving all things, all things are seen differently. If my body is in pain, I forgive it. In other words, I forgive the idea that this body is me. I forgive the idea that this body actually exists, that it is more than an image formed from my thoughts. I also forgive the idea that pain could be real, and I open my mind to another way to experience this. Further, I forgive myself for choosing the will of man over the will of God, a will that I actually share. Until I forgive, I will not remember who I am.

In forgiving, my mind opens to perceive light rather than darkness. This practice brings me ever closer to seeing the real world rather than the illusion. As I forgive the judgments that obscure the truth, my memory begins to return. I see with Christ’s vision rather than relying on my eyes which only show me the images I have made. Christ’s vision will show me the real world, and there will be no fear. At last, Love shows me the way, and I gladly follow. God is what I seek, and God will bring me to Himself.

Everything we see in the world that brings distress is sourced by a judgment.

We want the judgments so much that we are willing to accept the consequences no matter how painful. Death, sickness, pain, hatred, war, none of these are too much to pay if we can just keep our judgments.

There is so much beauty and love, and joy that is available to us even here in this virtual world of our imagination. We can give up the idea that our ego mind is capable of right judgment, and suddenly the world takes on a different aspect. Everyone has experienced this in small ways and for brief moments but perhaps had not recognized the cause of that effect.

How do I forgive His holy world today? I will probably have judgments, but I can choose to change my mind. This is the way I forgive His world. I can set my intention to see only what is there so that I begin to look for that instead of looking for guilt. If I look for the holiness of His children, then that is what I will find. This, too, is a way I forgive His world.

Regina’s Tips

Here are Regina’s Four Principles of God. She says this: These principles are like a map, which depicts the journey from the absolute to manifestation. The principles also highlight the awakenings that occur, which “restores the never lost, and re-establishes what is forever and forever true.”

First Principle of God – Pure, unmanifest, life-awareness; abstract, unlimited potentiality. It is what A Course in Miracles calls “Father” and “Heaven.” It is also called Nirvana. And it is the Source and ultimate truth.

 Second Principle of God – Consciousness. This is the only direct creation of the Source. In A Course in Miracles, it is called “Christ” and “the Son of God.” It is the unaffected, still witness. All things manifest are made of this principle; therefore, all things are consciousness.

 Third Principle of God – The ongoing activity of creation, which occurs naturally through the interaction of the witnessing principle with that which is witnessed. In Gentle Healing, we learned about this through “The Code” and NTI Ephesians. I often call it Divine Law. It is how consciousness forms itself into the many temporary forms that make up the manifest universe. {Myron – This process is described in Lesson 325}

 Fourth Principle of God – Manifestation. Everything in this realm is temporary, and so it is often referred to as a dream. It is consciousness appearing as something other than consciousness, and so it is called illusion. One who believes this is the realm of reality is referred to as unconscious, not awake, or ignorant. When this realm is seen through ignorance, it is fearful and full of suffering. When seen through clarity, this realm is miraculous.

Where darkness was I look upon light.

Today’s lesson points to The Four Principles of God when it says, “Father, our eyes are opening at last. Your holy world awaits us, as our sight is finally restored and we can see. We thought we suffered. But we had forgot the Son whom you created. Now we see that darkness is our own imagining and light is there for us to look upon.”

Let today’s lesson assist you as you contemplate The Four Principles of God and decide on a question to ask within.

My Thoughts

I choose to look at the third principle of God, what I will call manifestation. We are continually manifesting. If we stopped doing that, the world would not exist because it only exists as thought forms or thought taking form.

I am going to use Lesson 325 for this purpose and look at a manifestation within my own life and how it occurred.

This lesson begins by telling us this is salvations keynote, so we know it is important. And I begin with this assumption which I accept on faith. “What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want.” So, I start with an idea I want to see manifest in form. A negative or ego thought that reoccurs regularly in my life is this: “I might not succeed in awakening.” Why would I want this? The ego mind wants this to be true and there is still some identification with the ego. That mind is afraid of God and afraid of losing self.

“2 From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find.”

So, the next step is to think of an image that expresses the idea that I might not succeed in awakening. There are several to choose from, and I can use more than one, of course. There is the image of me fidgeting during meditation, afraid that I cannot meditate and so I cannot awaken.

In another one, I am feeling and maybe acting very judgmental toward someone. There is the image of me feeling anxious and fearful for my son or daughter and the image of me acting on this anxiety. Another image is me feeling guilty at a thought of a past failure to be kind and loving. All of these images represent the idea that I might never succeed in awakening.

“3 These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one’s own.” Once the images have been decided on, I project them outward and look at them. This looking involves my eyesight, my emotions, and physical sensations. All of these ways of perceiving the images make them seem very real to me, and because I want them, I guard them. If someone tries to convince me otherwise, I argue against it, or I agree but go on doing the same thing, believing the same thing. With ego, I use my judgment to further condemn myself and others.

“4 From insane wishes comes an insane world.

5 From judgment comes a world condemned.” This is how I make my whole world and how, together, the Sonship makes the world we share. As long as I continue to simply accept whatever ideas come into my mind without questioning them, I will continue to make the world in this way.

I will find ways to temporarily alleviate some of the sufferings I cause myself by projecting the blame for this onto others. I will find coping mechanisms to deal with the suffering but not look for solutions to them because I still want them. But, when I decide that enough is enough and I am ready for a change, I have a way to do this, too, that is just as effective without being insane.

“6 And from forgiving thoughts a gentle world comes forth, with mercy for the holy Son of God, to offer him a kindly home where he can rest a while before he journeys on, and help his brothers walk ahead with him, and find the way to Heaven and to God.” Now when I make painful images instead of just suffering, I use them to recognize that I am doing it to myself and don’t want to continue doing this.

I forgive the idea that I will never awaken, and I let it go. It is irrelevant to my goal of awakening, so I disregard it. I choose images that represent the idea of awakening, such as finding A Course in Miracles and teachers. And I choose images of me being vigilant and persistent, happy in my newfound dedication. I project these images, and I treasure them and guard them.

This is something that happened several years ago.

Yesterday was very fruitful. I remembered to look with new eyes at many people, seeing them as another beautiful part of me. I let Spirit speak through me and noticed that it took no effort on my part because it was my desire to do so. Mostly I am unaware of things I say that come directly from Him, but sometimes I get a glimpse of the love that is extended.

An example of that occurred last year while I was at a business meeting. I was sitting next to someone whom I have a grievance against. I have asked that all grievances be undone, so over time, I have noticed a gradual change in our relationship. This man has been very sick, and the last time I saw him, he looked bad. Last night he was much improved, and I told him that he looked so much better.

It was one of those mostly offhand remarks I had not planned to say.

That is the way it works, this being spoken through. Sometimes I ask for words, but often I just open my mouth and speak without thought. When I told him he looked good, his face lit up. I was immediately glad that I had spoken to him, and seeing his reaction, I knew that love had been extended to him.

I couldn’t have known that this was important to him, but Spirit did. In a few minutes, he turned to me and said that he was glad that it shows that he is doing better. I didn’t know how to love this one, but Spirit knew. All I had to do was to get my petty little ego out of the way and let love flow through me. It felt really good to do so, as love always feels good, coming or going. When I was aware of my grievance, my mind was dark, but through my desire to let all grievances be healed where darkness was, I looked upon the light.

This came from an earlier time when I was still struggling with forgiveness.

Always it is my own thoughts that bring darkness to my world. Always I experience only the effects of my own choices. But behind those choices, those dark thoughts is the light shining as always, completely unaffected by my delusions. It went no place but only seemed not to be there because I did not want to look upon it. Again, I am humbled by the power given to me in my creation. I have the power to look right at the light and not see it simply because I don’t want to.

I can also use that same power to change my mind. For so long, my greatest fear has been that I am powerless against my own will. I would say that I want to forgive a certain person and then seem unable to do so. It is such a frightening thing. Am I a victim of my own thoughts? But to think so is to deny the power of God that flows through me as my own. And to deny the power of God is patently ridiculous. Just recognizing the obvious logic behind this has made it so much easier for me to change my mind.

I know it is entirely possible and, in fact, very easy to change my mind. If I seem unable to do so, it is because I don’t want to, and I prefer darkness and suffering. I simply accept that this is true. I embrace the idea and love it. This seemed very strange to me at first, and I had trouble doing it, but I persisted. I reminded myself that nothing is healed through rejection, denial, hate, and fear.

My thoughts are my creations.

 So, I love them even when they seem to bring me something that hurts. I obviously wanted this, or I would not have given it animation through my thoughts. This is a form of surrender. I surrender to the idea that I am completely responsible. I surrender to the idea that I made this effect through my thoughts and beliefs. And I surrender to the proof that even when used to deny light, the power of God flows through me.

From this place of surrender and love, I find it easy to realize that I want to see this differently. I made this guilt or sense of lack or fear, and so I am responsible for the effect of suffering in whatever way it manifests. However, I do not need to continue in it if I don’t want to. I need merely change my mind, and my world changes with it.

Even if the circumstances seem the same, my perception has changed, and how I feel about it has changed, and this changes everything. I did not make the light; I just opened my mind to its presence by deciding I wanted it. Again, I begin my day with such deep gratitude.

2011: Persistence pays off.

Yesterday I had a hard time letting go of a grievance and accepting healing. I was driving, as usual, so I started listening to The Inner Ramana. It talked about how I think I am my mind (the ego mind). I have, in the past, thought this was a very helpful insight, but yesterday I couldn’t seem to understand it. It was as if the truth in that statement slipped back into the darkness of my mind, and I only had a fuzzy image of it. Holy Spirit, could you talk to me about this?

Holy Spirit: Yesterday, you were in fear that you had made a mistake with far-reaching repercussions, and the more you thought about possible consequences, the more fearful you became. Your mind tried to deal with this by first projecting onto your “victim” and then, for a change of pace, by smothering you in guilt. You knew this was not true, and you kept returning to Me for help. But you would then return to your thinking mind, where you would be mesmerized by the guilt and fear you found there.

The thoughts in your mind told you that you were guilty of what you did, that you would be punished for your sin, and that you were wrong to try to escape that punishment. It took you back to the past to show you many other mistakes you made. When that became too much for you to bear, you tried to find someone to project this guilt onto. You were enmeshed in this web of guilt, fear, and punishment, and so it was hard for you to really hear Me, but dear one, you continued to ask, and this is how you finally extricated yourself.

While you were still listening to the stories in your mind, you believed you were that ego mind.

You believed all it had to say and could not see differently. The mind said you were guilty and so you believed it because you thought it was you. But your practices have created an opening and the light keeps the darkness at bay. You can look away from the light if you wish, but it is still there at your back, and you are always aware of it. That is why you did not fully accept the ego mind as you and why you kept returning to Me for help.

While still in thrall to the ego mind, you did not at first understand what I was saying. It was not because I was not clear or because you could not understand, but only because you did not want to understand. While you were choosing to identify with the mind, you did not feel worthy of forgiveness, so you could not hear what would have led to forgiveness, even though it had been perfectly clear to you in the past. Even though you were listening to the ego thoughts in the mind, you continued to ask for My help, and I sent you thoughts through the mind to help you. This is the proper use for the mind.

Me: Ok, I see. Even now, I feel the ego mind trying to pull me back into the fear and guilt, but I am not that mind. I do not have to listen to it. It is not God’s Will that I will be punished for my choices, only that I recognize my error and choose again. I choose again by surrendering my thoughts to You for healing. Thank You.

Contemplation 2026

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 302 click here.

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