A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 312, Year 2022

ACIM Lesson 312 I see all things as I would have them be. 1. Perception follows judgment. ²Having judged, we therefore see what we would look upon.

Lesson 312

I see all things as I would have them be.

1. Perception follows judgment. ²Having judged, we therefore see what we would look upon. ³For sight can merely serve to offer us what we would have. ⁴It is impossible to overlook what we would see, and fail to see what we have chosen to behold. ⁵How surely, therefore, must the real world come to greet the holy sight of anyone who takes the Holy Spirit’s purpose as his goal for seeing. ⁶And he cannot fail to look upon what Christ would have him see, and share Christ’s Love for what he looks upon.

2. I have no purpose for today except to look upon a liberated world, set free from all the judgments I have made. ²Father, this is Your Will for me today, and therefore it must be my goal as well.

Well, this is easy. How do I see all things? Yesterday, we learned that we judge all things as we would have them be. Now we learn that we see all things as we would have them be. Here is how this works. First, I judge, and then I perceive. Another way to say this is that I decide what I want to see, and then I see it. This sounds crazy since so much of what we see is painful or ugly. So much of what we see seems to be outside our ability to control, much less to manifest. But let us remember that Jesus tells us that all thinking produces form at some level. This tells me that I must be careful what I think. Or seen another way, I must be careful what thoughts I choose to believe.

The way I change my thinking is to choose a different Guide to thinking.

I become aware that my feelings indicate to me that the form my thinking produced is not what I truly want. I realize that I must have chosen the ego as my interpreter of reality. Here is an example. I’m telling a friend about a problem that I have, and she doesn’t seem to be paying attention. I judge her as not being a good friend. This is because I used the ego perspective to make that decision. In other words, I asked the ego what it means that my friend is distracted.

I had another option. I could ask the Holy Spirit what this means. He would have given me a different way to see it. I would have realized that my friend may have problems of her own or she may have a headache. The point is, her attention or inattention doesn’t mean anything about me. Even if she was bored with what I had to say, that would be about her, not me. But if I chose to judge her as a bad friend, it was because I felt unworthy and was looking for proof that this was true. And I always find what I look for. I choose the ego part of the mind or the Holy Spirit part of the mind according to my goal. Which I choose determines my experience of the world.

Now that I understand how it works, I know what to do.

I watch for opportunities to choose differently to establish a different thought habit. When I choose to judge on my own, that is, with the ego mindset, I always suffer. The reason is that I am choosing separation and specialness. That is, what I am choosing is a defense against love, and if I don’t choose love, I choose fear. Instead, or as soon as I notice the need, I change my mind and choose God. I choose Love. Another way to say this is that I choose union or oneness.

When I let go of the judgment against my friend, I no longer cared why she was acting disinterested or distracted. Without judgment, I just loved my friend. The love I felt for her reflected back to me. The effect was that I no longer felt burdened by my problem, as Love heals all. If the problem shows up in another way or at another time, perhaps I will be wise enough to look at it with the Holy Spirit rather than the ego. As I continue to do this, I notice that I judge less and love more. The ego’s goal is to separate in fear and anger. In contrast, the Holy Spirit’s goal is to unite in Love. To reinforce this new way of choosing, I dedicate myself to the Holy Spirit’s purpose of unification in Love.

Because perception follows judgment, I am always alert to my judgments.

I notice them as they come up, and when the judgment is made with the ego, I recognize this, and I change my mind quickly. I want to release all that is not the will of God. I have seen what cost judgment and I am not willing to pay that price anymore. I notice that judgments are much rarer now. Because my mind is more peaceful, my life reflects this.

There are layers to judgment, and I think I have mentioned this before. I was at the grocery store yesterday, and the young clerk was preoccupied and unfriendly. I had an instant judgment about this, as if she should always be happy and friendly and never have personal stuff going on. It was a silly judgment, but a judgment, and they pile up and have negative effects if I don’t catch them. I caught that one and released it. I could judge her, or I could love her. My choice.

Then there are other more noticeable judgments. I noticed that my pants are tight, and I judged myself for eating carelessly and began to worry that none of my clothes would fit. I had more than a few judgmental conversations with myself, and then I noticed what I was doing, and I gave the whole body/clothes/weight issue to the Holy Spirit and let it go. Aw, peace.

A more subtle judgment is when I have a preference.

In order to believe that one thing is better than another, I would have to compare them and judge them, deciding which I want. The problem with preferences is that having them sets me up for disappointment because if I want one thing, I am going to be upset when I don’t get it. I prefer that we get some regular rain because I don’t like watering the plants. Every summer, there are many times when I don’t get rain for days, and if I think it should rain, I am not at peace when it doesn’t. The peace of God is my goal, so that kind of judgment prevents me from achieving my goal.

Now this sentence is important: 3 For sight can merely serve to offer us what we would have.

If I am not at peace, it can only be because I don’t want to be at peace. The unfriendly clerk, the extra pounds and tight pants, the unfulfilled preferences, these are all just images that represent my desire to avoid peace. If it were not those, it would be some other symbol of conflict and chaos. Why on earth would I want something other than peace?

It is clear that we want to judge, and we want to choose, and we want our own separate will. At least we want that until we suffer enough to reconsider. Also, there is confusion about identity. For a long time, we are solely identified with our ego, and the ego does love conflict and chaos. Even as we begin to remember that we are not the ego, our identity is not clear nor stable for a long time. That is what practice is for and what a gift it is to the Sonship each time we succeed.

Regina’s Tips

The last judgment is awakening from Christ-consciousness into Nirvana.

Here is another symbolic way of looking at this:

1. Duality consciousness commonly referred to as ego, is like a caterpillar. This state is prior to any awakening.
2. The spiritual path is like the cocoon. The caterpillar enters the cocoon in order to transform, although it doesn’t know what it will transform into.
3. When it emerges from the cocoon, it is a butterfly. This is like the divine sense of self. Whereas the caterpillar saw the world from the ground, the butterfly has a completely different point-of-view. Yet, there is still a self with a point-of-view.
4. Nirvana is awakening beyond the butterfly and world perception entirely. Even the butterfly is seen to be a temporary phenomenon.

As for our lesson, Regina reminds us that judgment is the way we create the appearance of “me” and “not me.” This is the way we continue the belief in duality, and we are here to undo that belief.  We should continue the practice from yesterday.

Past Entry

Again I am reminded that I see only what I want to see. If I see an unkind world, this is my choice. Nothing is in my world without my choice that it be there. Judgment is how I make that choice. Remember Lesson 152?

1. No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. ²No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. ³No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants. ⁴And no one dies without his own consent. ⁵Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. ⁶Here is your world, complete in all details. ⁷Here is its whole reality for you. ⁸And it is only here salvation is. (ACIM, W-152.1:1-8)

So how did I get to the place where the world seemed unkind? I judged myself as unworthy, and so I chose to experience the world as giving me what I deserve. The Universe always says yes, so if I judge myself as unworthy, then the world will present me with opportunities to experience what I asked for. When I notice I have asked for pain and suffering, I can look at my thoughts with the Holy Spirit, and He will correct them. Corrected thoughts show me a corrected world.

I had a friend once who experienced compliments as a threat.

I had another friend who I praised for something she did, and she took it as an insult. I knew a lady who was nervous about her mom’s visit because she knew she would be found lacking. This was upsetting to her because she believed in that assessment of herself. Everyone else thought she was a phenomenal person with many achievements.

One of the things that she was concerned about was her mother not approving of her house cleaning. Her house was so clean I used to wonder if she had some sort of anti-dust field around her. All she ever saw was her failure to meet her mother’s expectations as a housewife. I can’t imagine what she was looking at because there was no empirical evidence of her failure.

In all of these cases, the people involved saw and experienced only what they believed in. Their judgments determined their world as they knew it. And as A Course in Miracles says, what you believe in is true for you.

A couple of days ago, I decided to start a new practice.

I chose to systematically look with the Holy Spirit at each judgment as it came up and to allow it to be corrected. Yesterday I was just blown away by all the ways I judge. It is a full-time job, all this judging. I don’t know how I ever got anything else done! I began to notice that I often say, “Oh, I wish this were different.” Well, that is a judgment.

I may decide to choose differently, but it won’t be an idle wish, and it won’t be in judgment of myself. I simply look at what I have done and decide I will try something else now. This feels much different than judging and finding me wanting and wishing things were different. Today I will continue looking carefully with the Holy Spirit at each judgment that comes to my attention. I give my full willingness to be completely responsible for everything in my life. I look forward to a day walking steadily on my path to awakening.

Contemplation 2025

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 312 click here.

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