ACIM Chapter 13. V. The Two Emotions, P 9, 10

V. The Two Emotions P 9

9 Do not seek vision through your eyes, for you made your way of seeing that you might see in darkness, and in this you are deceived. Beyond this darkness, and yet still within you, is the vision of Christ, Who looks on all in light. Your “vision” comes from fear, as His from love. And He sees for you, as your witness to the real world. He is the Holy Spirit’s manifestation, looking always on the real world, and calling forth its witnesses and drawing them to you. He loves what He sees within you, and He would extend it. And He will not return unto the Father until He has extended your perception even unto Him. And there perception is no more, for He has returned you to the Father with Him.

I have to laugh because as I read this, I thought about doing the Lessons for the first time. When I read those early lessons, I would squint my eyes and hold my head just right in the hopes of seeing everything differently. I never saw anything with my eyes except the world as I knew it, a world of separate bits of form, kept apart by my naming and my insistence that there be gaps between each named thing.

Now I understand that I don’t see reality with the eyes.

I perceive reality with the mind. I don’t do this consistently or ever, really. Though I do get peeks beneath the veil, and sometimes I feel something akin to reality as love rises up in me and takes me over. But at least I can accept that there is reality and that it is here in me, and I can know it and feel it if I want to give up the idea of separation completely and for all time.

I have trouble accepting the Holy Spirit’s vision of me as Christ, but I want to. My desire grows stronger every day. Even when I used to go through a difficult period of undoing that felt like I had descended into hell and scared me, I was never completely out of touch with the truth. A bit of light guided me through these dark, unpleasant, but necessary experiences.

It was all worth it. I know I will fearlessly and without guilt look at the hatred in my mind that made this world and will firmly reject it as not me and no longer mine. For now, I look at the hate in my mind that I see reflected as the world, and I let the Holy Spirit heal my mind. This consistent practice is bringing me closer to the Christ that is in me, that is me. It will see for me, and I will know the real world. He will call forth its witness and bring them to me. He will not stop until this is done. Oh, holy and faithful Holy Spirit, I am so grateful.

V. The Two Emotions P 10

10 You have but two emotions, and one you made and one was given you. Each is a way of seeing, and different worlds arise from their different sights. See through the vision that is given you, for through Christ’s vision He beholds Himself. And seeing what He is, He knows His Father. Beyond your darkest dreams He sees God’s guiltless Son within you, shining in perfect radiance that is undimmed by your dreams. And this you will see as you look with Him, for His vision is His gift of love to you, given Him of the Father for you.

We have only two emotions: love and fear. God gave us love, and we made fear. When we are fearful, we see a scary world. When love is our vision, we see a loving world. I noticed how true this is the other day. For years, my brother was my boss, and I had little to do with his partner. When my brother retired and his partner became the sole owner of the business, many things changed. I looked at it through fear, and everything that was said and done brought up fearful thoughts.

My new boss seemed to micro-manage everything, and he seemed to have no faith in me even though I had been doing a good job for the company for many years. I pushed against this, and I figured I was going to get fired at any time. I felt like he resented me and just kept me there until he got someone more suitable to his way of doing things. Everything he said seemed to prove my worst fears. I was miserable and felt trapped in this situation.

I hated not being at peace.

And yet everything that happened at work reinforced my fearful thoughts. But I kept using the Rules for Decision, and I kept asking for another way to see. The only other way to see is through love. So I began to say “I love you” each time I thought of him or felt resentful or fearful about him. Things began to change.

What changed was not his management style or how he thought of me or treated me. What changed was my vision. I began to feel loving toward him. It was the darndest thing. I began to say I love you because that was my guidance. I didn’t really mean it at first, but I knew it made sense. If I am unhappy hating him, then another way to see him would lead to love, so I started moving in that direction. And lo and behold, I wound up there!

He called me into his office to talk about something, and I heard myself saying to him that I liked him. I told him that I liked that he was so involved. And that even though I would be retiring soon, I hoped he would continue to do well and that I would do what I could to make the transition easier. I didn’t know I would say these things, but I felt their truth as they came out of my mouth. And I felt love rise up in me as we spoke.

I went from resenting his interference to seeing it as involvement and enthusiasm.

As I listened to him, I saw how hard he was trying to be a good boss and a good person. And the only thing that changed was my vision, not him and not my job, and not my work, just my vision. I chose to see through love rather than fear, and the Holy Spirit helped me to do that even though I didn’t understand how it would happen or even how it could happen.

Would he fire me before I retired on my own terms? I didn’t know. Maybe. Without looking at the world through fear, I wasn’t worried about that anymore. If I got fired, I would just see what happened next. He had a vision for the company, which was not my vision, but instead of resenting him for that, I asked for another way to see the situation. I asked for a way to see it through love rather than fear. My world could have appeared depressing and scary, or it could have appeared interesting and loving. It was up to me, and I am glad I made the choice for love.

I love the Pathways of Light Miracle’s Practioner Courses. If you would like to check them out, CLICK HERE.