ACIM Chapter 13. VI. Finding the Present, P 11-13

ACIM Chapter 13. VI. Finding the Present, P 11-13

VI. Finding the Present, P 11

¹¹ There is a light that this world cannot give. Yet you can give it, as it was given you. And as you give it, it shines forth to call you from the world and follow it. For this light will attract you as nothing in this world can do. And you will lay aside the world and find another. This other world is bright with love which you have given it. And here will everything remind you of your Father and His holy Son. Light is unlimited, and spreads across this world in quiet joy. All those you brought with you will shine on you, and you will shine on them in gratitude because they brought you here. Your light will join with theirs in power so compelling, that it will draw the others out of darkness as you look on them.

I am aware of this light because though I do not shine brightly all the time yet, I know it is in me. Sometimes, I do give it. A lot of the time, actually. And each time I do, I become more convinced that there is nothing else worth doing here. It truly attracts me as nothing else can. This is not a light the eyes can see because the eyes only show us imagined images. This light is real, so it can only be known with the heart.

My longing for the other world drives all my thoughts and actions.

After the election, each thought that came into my mind was seen through this light. Did it bring me closer to the real world? If not, I forgave it. It would not matter who I voted for. If I were disappointed, I would forgive that judgment. If I were triumphant, I would forgive that judgment. I forgive any belief that separates me from my brothers and sisters.

No, I have not reached the real world, but I will. And all along the way, I bring with me those I shine upon in gratitude because they brought me here. Everyone I prayed with, each one who studied with me, and all who practiced what we learned alongside me. My heart is filled with gratitude. And think of this: our light will join in power so compelling that it will draw the others out of darkness as we look on them. What else could I do with my life that would compare to this?

We are doing this, friends.

Our light is joining, and this light is so compelling that we are drawing others out of the darkness as we look on them. We look on them with vision because if we look only with the body’s eyes, we are looking in the dark and cannot see and so cannot help. Looking in the dark, we are unhealed healers and not effective.

I want my mind to be healed more than I want anything in the world. I want to be a healed healer and so be the light that shines into the minds of anyone ready to see. Does that sound arrogant? It feels humble to me. I want so much to stop deciding for myself and to surrender fully to my true Self, to stop trying to live this life from a personal standpoint, to allow myself to be lived, and so to be the light of the world. That is not arrogance but true humility.

VI. Finding the Present, P 12

12 Awaking unto Christ is following the laws of love of your free will, and out of quiet recognition of the truth in them. The attraction of light must draw you willingly, and willingness is signified by giving. Those who accept love of you become your willing witnesses to the love you gave them, and it is they who hold it out to you. In sleep you are alone, and your awareness is narrowed to yourself. And that is why the nightmares come. You dream of isolation because your eyes are closed. You do not see your brothers, and in the darkness you cannot look upon the light you gave to them.

I had to re-read that first sentence several times. I suspect that is why Jesus phrased it as he did; it required that I pay attention. This particularly caught my attention: “following the laws of love of your free will.” What are the laws of my free will? I think they would be the laws of love, that is, perfection, wholeness, union, timelessness, and creation. In the world, these would take form as joining, compassion, certainty, faith, giving, prayer, abundance, being in the now moment, healing, fearlessness, guiltlessness, and miracles.

For me, right now, it is expressed as I consistently return to the truth in my mind even as my ego mind frets and worries and is afraid and guilty. I look at the truth that is in my mind, the light that continues to shine even as my dark thoughts rise up to obscure my vision. I strengthen my desire to see by giving love even as fear tries to overcome love because it is in giving that I receive.

Union is necessary if I want to awaken unto the Christ.

When I think I am alone, I experience darkness, and I am blinded to the light and love that are there. I live in a nightmare that I call life. I feel desperate and afraid, and guilt smothers the awareness of truth in my mind. That is why I write honestly about my doubts and fears and what I am doing to pull myself out of the nightmares. If I don’t share, I begin to believe that I am alone in my dream, that no one else knows what this feels like or understands my fears.

Jesus says we dream of isolation because our eyes are closed. But I also see that my eyes close even tighter when I dream of isolation. So, I share my triumphs, but I also share my apparent failures and my fears. I am one with my brothers, in union with all that is, and this helps me to remember that I am one in and with Love. I see in them the love I give in my willingness to be honestly and always in union with them, and so I know I am not alone, and I know love.

VI. Finding the Present, P 13

13 And yet the laws of love are not suspended because you sleep. And you have followed them through all your nightmares, and have been faithful in your giving, for you were not alone. Even in sleep has Christ protected you, ensuring the real world for you when you awake. In your name He has given for you, and given you the gifts He gave. God’s Son is still as loving as his Father. Continuous with his Father, he has no past apart from Him. So he has never ceased to be his Father’s witness and his own. Although he slept, Christ’s vision did not leave him. And so it is that he can call unto himself the witnesses that teach him that he never slept.

As I slept and dreamed separation dreams, Christ has been devoted to me. He has loved me and given love in my name, and what was given is mine because that is the law of giving and receiving. And so I remain as I was created, love, and one with my Creator Who is Love. Because of Christ’s faithfulness, there is no past in which I am apart from my Father.

 Because of this, I still have Christ’s vision, and I can call upon witnesses to teach me that I never slept. That sounds odd, I slept but didn’t sleep, but really isn’t odd at all. Christ acted for me in my place, so nothing was missed, and nothing was lost. Another way I think of this is that I am part of Christ, and though I sleep, the rest of myself is awake and continues to exist as always has been true. Nothing changed and nothing is altered because I dream.

 What are these witnesses that are called forth to teach me I never slept?

Have I experienced that yet? Well, maybe. I picked up A Course in Miracles and knew that it was true and for me. I heard the ego voice call it crazy and me with it if I kept reading it, but I had no doubt that this was my time to do this work. Is that “knowing” a witness called forth to teach me I never slept? Is the Course itself a witness called forth?

 I, like many of us, have had some pretty awful things happen in my life story, but in spite of it, my heart seeks love and finds it. Is this a witness called forth, this innate knowing that love is true even when circumstances seem to indicate otherwise? The joy that at times wells up in me and for no seeming reason. It is just there. Where does it come from? Perhaps a witness to something that is me and that I know but have forgotten?

 There are many miracles that have manifested in my life as my mind has been healed. And I have begun to slowly waken from this dream. These miracles are, I think, witnesses to the power and glory that is the Christ and so is me as well. As is the feeling that I must open to more of these miracles. Also that I am meant to be miracle-minded, and the feeling is persistent in spite of the ego false humility that says this cannot be for me. Another witness to the truth is that the laws of love do not cease to exist because I sleep, and sleep cannot alter what God created.

To review Pathways of Light insights on this section, CLICK HERE.