A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 335, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 335 I choose to see my brother’s sinlessness. 1. Forgiveness is a choice.

Lesson 335

I choose to see my brother’s sinlessness.

1. Forgiveness is a choice. ²I never see my brother as he is, for that is far beyond perception. ³What I see in him is merely what I wish to see, because it stands for what I want to be the truth. ⁴It is to this alone that I respond, however much I seem to be impelled by outside happenings. ⁵I choose to see what I would look upon, and this I see, and only this. ⁶My brother’s sinlessness shows me that I would look upon my own. ⁷And I will see it, having chosen to behold my brother in its holy light.

2. What could restore Your memory to me, except to see my brother’s sinlessness? ²His holiness reminds me that he was created one with me, and like myself. ³In him I find my Self, and in Your Son I find the memory of You as well.

What I see in my brother is what I wish to see.

It is what I want to be the truth. This is a very helpful statement. It can be a temptation to believe that we respond to others according to what they do or say or how they look. But we are always responding according to our own beliefs. These beliefs represent what we want to be the truth.

Reading this, I want to watch my responses more closely to see what it is that I believe about the world and myself. If I find that I want someone to be guilty, I realize that I will see myself as guilty, too. But as Jesus says, forgiveness is a choice. I am free to change my mind by forgiving my present choice. I forgive that belief and let it go. In its place, I choose a belief that will bring happiness and peace to the world and, therefore, to me.

My experience has proven to me that this is true. I used to be judgmental of everyone. This is because I believed that my judgment was justified by their behavior. I was also quick to judge myself on the same basis. After I studied the Course for a while, I began to understand my error. Slowly, I learned to forgive these judgments, and in so doing, I forgave myself.

I’ve learned that forgiveness changes everything.

It is fascinating to me to see the difference this made in how I view the world now. Nothing much has changed in the world, but how I see it is different, and so how I experience it is different. Now when I see someone acting from their ego, I just see someone who needs love. I give what is needed in the most appropriate way that I can. I might smile or say a kind word. Or, I might just remember who they are since they have forgotten.

But the point is, I don’t have to talk myself into this or try to justify it in my mind. I just feel the desire to bless. This isn’t about them, really. It is the result of forgiving my own beliefs. When I forgive, I am forgiven, and a forgiven mind naturally turns to love rather than fear. I still slip into ego thinking sometimes, but I quickly notice. And I am happy for the opportunity to forgive again since practice makes perfect.

Realizing I see in my brother only what I wish to see can give me pause at times.

For instance, I had some work done on my house, and at first, I was cautious about accepting the quote and accepting the people who offered to do the work. I was suspicious. How do I know they can do it? How do I know that’s a fair price?

So, what do I see in this brother of mine? A dishonest person out to victimize me? What does that mean about what I want to see? Do I want to see myself as a victim or as unfairly treated? Is that why I see suspicious people out to get me? Would that be what I saw no matter how honest the person, or would I attract to me those people who answer my call for a victimizer? Maybe both?

Fortunately, I notice this kind of thinking right away.

And I know that it is the ego talking in my ear always about unworthiness and guilt, and victimization. Regina talks about the “I am bad” belief, and this is just part of it. I think I am bad, and so I project that onto someone else and see them as bad. This is what the whole lesson is about.

I see what I want to see, and what I see in another is what I believe about myself in one way or another. Now that I understand this and believe it, I see mostly good people, kind people, and loving people because this is what I want to see. There is not so much darkness within my mind to project onto another. It works both ways. I look for the Christ and find the Christ in my brother; I find the Christ within, and I see it in my brother. Yeah, either way, it works.

The fact is that there are dishonest contractors. So how do I know who to choose? I have noticed that the decision to trust my brothers tends to bring me into contact with trustworthy people. But my mind is not entirely healed, and so this is not always so for me. I ask for guidance, and I receive it if I am open to it. If fear is driving my choice, then I will receive what I ask for. And if I do choose someone dishonest for whatever reason, I forgive them and me and let it go, knowing I used the situation to help us both awaken.

Regina’s Tips

Am I free of all sorrow and suffering? Do I live in eternal joy? Is my experience absolutely free of fear and guilt? Do I see only peace surrounding me? Is my experience that of the deepest silence and tranquility?

If not, then I do not know myself as the egoless Son of God. And if I would like to know my egoless Self, I have some work to do to undo illusions in my mind.

My Thoughts

What if the person I hired did a poor job or overcharged me? Would that mean that I could not see the Christ in him? Would salvation rest on such a flimsy thing as ego bodies and their ignorant choices? I can see the Christ beyond the ego. But even then, I will not see my brother as he truly exists, nor myself as I exist. Remember the second sentence?

“2 I never see my brother as he is, for that is far beyond perception.”

So, I am not going to see my brother as he truly is while I still exist within a world of perception. What will happen is I will perceive my brother in whatever way I choose. As the first sentence says, forgiveness is a choice. While it might seem I could forgive the worker for his shabby work, what I am really doing is forgiving the idea that he is a slipshod worker. He is the Son of God, even if I cannot see that right now. I suppose what I am forgiving is the idea I projected onto him. Without that idea, I will see him in the highest light possible to me at this time.

Regina

As you interact with others today, contemplate that you have no idea what this one’s “eternal form” is. You cannot see him/her as he/she is. You do not know anything as it is, not even yourself. Let this sink in as deeply as you can allow it to sink in. Don’t let the mind short-circuit your contemplation by saying, “He is light” or “She is God.” Don’t be satisfied with mere concepts today. However, DO realize that ego is the obstacle that blocks true vision. It keeps you from seeing everyone and everything in its “eternal form.”

My Thoughts

This is actually a very simple lesson with a simple message. I see in my brother what I want to be true. What I believe about my brother determines what I believe about myself. If I want to remember God and my Self, then I must forgive my projections onto my brother, and I will come much closer to seeing that we are both innocent. And maybe the most helpful line in this lesson is that forgiveness is a choice. I need reminding of that fact because it sometimes does not seem so, but it is always a choice.

This is from my 2015 journal.

Yesterday I went back to work after the holidays. We always start Monday with a sales meeting where we discuss what happened the week before and what we will accomplish in the coming week. I noticed a couple of times that I was annoyed with my co-workers, and I suppose it had to do with not really wanting to be back at work. It’s clear that I never see anyone else; I only see my self projected onto them. They were annoying because I was annoyed to be there.

I cannot see them as they really are because their divinity is masked by the world, but I can see them differently. I can see them in a way that is much closer to their reality. I only need to ask for vision. So when I feel annoyed with someone, I can ask the Holy Spirit to show me what is really there.

Often, He begins by showing me my own self-hatred first so that I can see where the annoyance is coming from. Yesterday I didn’t want to be there but I also thought that I shouldn’t feel that way. So, I denied that I didn’t want to go to work and pushed it down where I didn’t have to look at it. When I do that, it is a statement of guilt. I shouldn’t feel this way so I am guilty because I do. I deny the feeling in an effort to get rid of the guilt.

Denial doesn’t heal, so the guilt I felt was still there.

It was just beyond my conscious awareness. It kept trying to get out, and when it did, I projected it onto my fellow workers in a further effort to keep it away from me. I wanted to be innocent, and this was the ego strategy for accomplishing innocence, first deny, then project.

It is really helpful to look at this in light of today’s lesson. I saw in my brother what I was unwilling to look at in myself. In teaching my brother he was guilty, I was teaching myself that I am guilty. What I see in my brother is but a reflection of what I see in myself.

Allowing my mind to be healed of the idea that I am guilty changed everything. I’m grateful for that. I feel such relief this morning to realize that the forgiven past is gone, and I start afresh with forgiveness in my heart. Today I will bless each person with that forgiveness and, in so doing, will teach myself that I, too, am innocent.

In 2009 I was learning to choose differently.

So, what is it I choose to see in my brother? I was shopping the day after Thanksgiving when all the sales were going on. The stores were unbelievably crowded. I was trying to get down the toy aisle at Sam’s, and there was a line just to walk down it. As I got past the bottleneck, I realized that the aisle wasn’t really that full; it was one family blocking the way. I looked back at them, and they were not even shopping, just standing there waiting for something. They were carelessly blocking everyone’s way.

I felt anger rise in me at what thoughtless people they are. Didn’t they realize they were not the only people at the store and that everyone else had things to do? I noticed my feelings and my thoughts and asked for correction. I don’t like how it feels to be angry and judgmental. It certainly seemed like they were wrong, and I had every right to feel angry. Because I asked for another way to see and because I really wanted to see differently, the Holy Spirit helped me.

I realized that I am never upset for the reason I think.

I opened my mind to this thought and saw that I was actually anxious to get home because I felt guilty for using my time to shop when I had other things to do. I was projecting this guilty feeling onto the shoppers who were slowing me down. I was making it their fault I was still shopping, and therefore it was their fault I felt guilty.

Just because I created this unpleasant feeling does not mean I have to keep it. Misery is a choice. The solution is a different choice. I forgave my projections onto these shoppers. They did nothing to me; I did it to myself. I forgave myself for choosing misery. I did nothing wrong; I just created a moment through judgment and now am creating a different moment. I love forgiveness. It is always going to bring me back to the realization that there is nothing to forgive. This is what it means to undo the ego.

Contemplation 2025

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 335 click here.

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