A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 311, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 311 I Judge All things as I Would Have Them Be 1. Judgment was made to be a weapon used against the truth.

Lesson 311

I Judge All things as I Would Have Them Be

1. Judgment was made to be a weapon used against the truth. ²It separates what it is being used against, and sets it off as if it were a thing apart. ³And then it makes of it what you would have it be. ⁴It judges what it cannot understand, because it cannot see totality and therefore judges falsely. ⁵Let us not use it today, but make a gift of it to Him Who has a different use for it. ⁶He will relieve us of the agony of all the judgments we have made against ourselves, and re-establish peace of mind by giving us God’s Judgment of His Son.

2. Father, we wait with open mind today, to hear Your Judgment of the Son You love. ²We do not know him, and we cannot judge. ³And so we let Your Love decide what he whom You created as Your Son must be.

This is the clearest and easiest to understand lesson on judgment.

The very act of judgment ensures that we will continue to believe in and suffer from separation. To judge someone is to make them separate. As an example, if I say that you are unkind, this implies that there are others who are kind. And so there must be separation, those who are kind and those who are not kind.

Judgment is rampant in our minds. We know this is true as we see the effects of judgment which is separation. The world is filled with separate individuals, separate things, separate experiences, and on and on. The truth is that there is nothing separate from All That Is, so it must be that we use judgment against the truth.

In ACIM, we are told that in judgment, we separate a thing apart.

And then make of it what we would have it be. In the case of judging someone as kind or unkind, our judgment separates everyone according to their level of perceived kindness. To do this, we must decide what kindness means to us. It follows that we must then decide what the person means to us according to our perception of kindness. In this way, we decide that this person is what we would have him or her be.

This business of deciding what someone should be and then deciding what they are based on this random criterion is exhausting. It is also the thief of the peace of God we could have. The truth is we cannot understand anything because we cannot see the totality of it all. If we could see the totality of the Sonship, we would be struck dumb at its perfection and magnificence. We would also see that it cannot be split apart as it was created whole, and creation cannot be altered. In other words, we would see that our judgments are wrong no matter how we judge.

Let us reassess the idea that this one is kind and that one is not.

How could we actually do this when separation is impossible? Obviously, there cannot be one or another. Let us further consider that we are created as an extension of God, and God is Love. Each aspect of the Whole is only Love. One can be kind only as it is perceived as a reflection of Love. What happens as my mind adjusts to perception that is closer to the truth? I realize that not only is judgment tiring, it is impossible.

Instead of continuing this clearly insane and destructive behavior, let us give judgment to the Holy Spirit as we are instructed in ACIM. In doing so, we will be relieving ourselves of the agony of judging. In giving judgment to the Holy Spirit, we will be judged according to the truth. He will re-establish peace of mind by giving us God’s Judgment of His Son. Only God knows His Creation. May we finally step aside and let Love decide what His Creation must be.

After reading this lesson, I asked myself if I am judging anyone.

At first, I thought not, but I really want to know, so I let thoughts come into my mind, and I noticed that I am judging. I can think of two people I have judged recently. As the thoughts continued to come, I was appalled at the judgmental thoughts in my mind. At first, I judged myself for judging, and so had to forgive myself. I was having trouble letting it go, so this is the prayer I used.

T-5.VII. 6 Say this to yourself as sincerely as you can, remembering that the Holy Spirit will respond fully to your slightest invitation:

 7 I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace.
8 I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise.
9 I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace.
10 I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him.
11 I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me.

Here is another way we can judge that is not as obvious. To worry about someone is to set them apart and declare this one is not safe. This one is not as God created her or him. This is to judge they are not part of the Self that is as God created It. There is someone in my life right now that I have worried about.

I have requested that the Holy Spirit intercede on my behalf and bring my mind back to peace in this regard.

I remind myself that this one that I have judged as separate from the safety of Self is not what I have made of him or her in my mind. Actually, I have only projected my own fear of being separate and unprotected onto this one. So, I ask for healing of my belief that I am not safe. This heals us both.

2. What Comforter can there be for the sick children of God except His power through you? ²Remember that it does not matter where in the Sonship He is accepted. ³He is always accepted for all, and when your mind receives Him the remembrance of Him awakens throughout the Sonship. ⁴Heal your brothers simply by accepting God for them. ⁵Your minds are not separate, and God has only one channel for healing because He has but one Son. ⁶God’s remaining Communication Link with all His children joins them together, and them to Him. ⁷To be aware of this is to heal them because it is the awareness that no one is separate, and so no one is sick. (ACIM, T-10.III.2:1-7)

Now that I see where the real problem lies, I can ask for and receive healing, and from this healed mind, I will see the other as I see myself, healed and whole and as God created us.

Regina’s Tips on What Is the Last Judgment?

A Course in Miracles and NTI tell the story of two awakenings. The first is the awakening from a deluded state of mind, also known as duality, to a pure state of mind, known as non-duality. It is awakening from the belief in manifestation as truth to realization of everything as consciousness. In my map, which is called The Four Principles of God, this is awakening from the Fourth Principle of God to the Second Principle of God.

However, another awakening remains. That is awakening from the Second Principle of God to the First Principle of God. That is the awakening that our current special theme points to. Notice it says, “And this the judgment in which perception ends. … perception gives a silent blessing and then disappears, its goal accomplished and its mission done.”

Or as NTI puts it, “…you pass from a final illusion of beauty to Beauty that cannot be contained in illusion. You pass from form, which reflects Light, to Light, which shines into form.”

In other words, there is one awakening, which is awakening to Christ. And then there is a second awakening, which is awakening into the Father. This could also be called awakening to the ‘I Am’ presence, and then awakening into its source.

As we continue to walk the spiritual path individually by being fully in the phase of awakening that we are currently in, which for most of us is either purification or merging, we will also look ahead of us in order to become clear on the destination and the landmarks along the way. This will help eliminate the ego’s ability to confuse us into thinking we have arrived at the destination when we have not.

My Thoughts

I understand being fully in the phase where I need to be. I do that, probably not from wisdom but from a dogged pursuit of the truth. And the Virgo need to do things in their proper order and to complete a task before moving on. But whatever the reason, until recently, I have been completely focused on purification. I still watch my thoughts vigilantly for whatever has not been transformed, as I did with the judgments I was talking about. It is easier now, and the transformation is faster.

I am also moving into the second phase of merging. This is newer to me, and it is less about doing. Doing is easier for me, and I am more practiced in it. Paradoxically, simply being what I am is harder. The personality of Myron wants a task to complete. But what I am noticing is that I can have moments of simply being Self. Or at least that is what I am calling it. Suddenly I feel love and peace and a sense of not being alone.

I just let it occur and relish the feeling for as long as it lasts. I didn’t do anything to bring it on, and I don’t seem to control it. My part was to undo enough ego thinking to make room for it. We will also awaken from the world, and we will merge into God completely. I don’t think about that a lot because it is beyond my imagination as to what that would be like, and what happens at that point is really beyond me. What I see is that each phase brings me more peace.

Regina’s tips on the lesson.

Regina also offers the following tips for looking at judgment thoughts today, and I really like number four. It reflects the words I often use; “This is not relevant to me. It does not bring me closer to my goal of awakening.”

Judgment, as it is used by the ego, reconfirms over and over that there is a ‘me’ and ‘not me.’ It does not matter what you judge against. With each judgment, the ego whispers its judgment into your mind—”me and not me.”

Notice this today. Look whenever you judge anyone or anything. If it is as simple as judging the weather, notice there is a ‘me’ and the weather, which is ‘not me.’ If it seems like a righteous judgment, notice there is a ‘me’ that is right and others—’not me’—who are wrong. Every time the ego uses judgment, judgment is used to separate.

After noticing the separation that comes from judgment, “make a gift of it to Him Who has a different use for it.” In other words, surrender your judgment because you don’t want to perceive separation anymore. No more thought is required than this. If you think too much about it, thinking may lead you right back into ego and the belief in separation. Do not think. Simply:

1. Look
2. Notice the perception of separation that is caused by judgment.
3. Remember your desire to see without separation.
4. Let go of your judgment simply because it conflicts with what you truly want.

This is something I worked on a number of years ago.

I got a head start on this because yesterday, I started bringing into mind those people I have been judging and then allowing my thoughts to be corrected. I would think of a person, for instance, my ex-husband, and think of the ways I have defined him. Just saying his name would bring up an array of judgments that I have decided is that man. First, I thought about how self-centered he is, and memories would come about times when he acted self-centered. I offered my willingness to see this differently.

I did this for each judgment I could think of.

As I did this, I became more and more willing to see that all my definitions of him are projections from my own mind. They provided me with the proof I was looking for, the proof that I am the victim of the world I see. I gladly release him from this definition. And in his release, I find my own. I do not need anyone to prove I am a victim because I no longer need to be a victim. I am ready to accept complete responsibility for all that is in my life.

That was so interesting that I decided to apply it to other people in my life whom I have judged against. Each time I was able to see that they served the purpose I had given them in my mind. There were some who I had already withdrawn that purpose, and I thought of how they had “miraculously” changed. So obviously, the judgment had nothing to do with them and was only in my own mind. Giving judgment to the Holy Spirit instead of the ego, I am at peace.

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 311 click here.

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