ACIM Lesson 30 God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.

Lesson 30

God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.

1. The idea for today is the springboard for vision. ²From this idea will the world open up before you, and you will look upon it and see in it what you have never seen before. ³Nor will what you saw before be even faintly visible to you.

2. Today we are trying to use a new kind of “projection.” ²We are not attempting to get rid of what we do not like by seeing it outside. ³Instead, we are trying to see in the world what is in our minds, and what we want to recognize is there. ⁴Thus, we are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it apart from us. ⁵That is the fundamental difference between vision and the way you see.

The entire world is an image of the thoughts in our minds. We seem to look out at what is there and then think about it, and are affected by it. But that is not what is happening. We become aware of thoughts in our mind that we believe to be true. Those thoughts are then projected outward to make up the world. The world is not acting on us, we are the makers of the world. It is what we want it to be.

Why Would We Do This?

This hardly seems likely since so much of the world is painful. Bodies experience pain and suffering and die. People hurt each other physically and emotionally. Nature itself seems intent on killing us. Why would we want this? Guilt and fear, which are closely related, is the answer. We feel intense guilt for supposedly rejecting and abandoning God, and we project that guilt onto the world.

We do this because we think we are getting rid of it by making someone or something guilty in our place.  It doesn’t work because giving and receiving are the same thing. What we give we receive. In this case, we might say that what we give never leaves us. Giving is the way we keep something, not get rid of it. What we need here is another use for projection and Jesus is telling us that we can do this.

Project Guilt or Extend Love

The word extension is not used here, but that is what Jesus is talking about. As we do the work that we are asked to do, our minds begin to heal. For instance, we notice we have a grievance and we remember that attack thoughts are attacking our invulnerability. Instead of just continuing to do something that doesn’t help us, we decide to let go of the grievance. We give it to the Holy Spirit to be purified so that we can have a holy relationship with the other person or the situation.

Now there is more love in the mind and whatever is in the mind is seen outwardly as our world. You can see that as more and more guilt and fear are released to the Holy Spirit, there is more love revealed and more love extended. Slowly, the world we experience is kinder, happier, and more peaceful because our mind is kinder, happier, and more peaceful.

The Practice

3. Today’s idea should be applied as often as possible throughout the day. ²Whenever you have a moment or so, repeat it to yourself slowly, looking about you, and trying to realize that the idea applies to everything you do see now, or could see now if it were within the range of your sight.

4. Real vision is not limited to concepts such as “near” and “far.” ²To help you begin to get used to this idea, try to think of things beyond your present range as well as those you can actually see, as you apply today’s idea.

We are to apply it to what we see or could see. There is no difference really because it is actually all in our mind. There is nothing outside us even though there is the appearance of something out there. We are fooling ourselves in our desperation to get rid of the guilt in our mind. It is a mistake to think that the manifestation of our thoughts proves the inward guilt is gone, now seen elsewhere. We are using these simple exercises to prepare the mind to accept something different, something that works.

The Mind Is the Source of Everything

5. Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does not depend on the body’s eyes at all. ²The mind is its only source. ³To aid in helping you to become more accustomed to this idea as well, devote several practice periods to applying today’s idea with your eyes closed, using whatever subjects come to mind, and looking within rather than without. ⁴Today’s idea applies equally to both.

Again, Jesus is helping us to become accustomed to this unusual idea that we see only what is in the mind and has nothing to do with sight as we know it. What you see with your eyes are just thoughts in your mind so it doesn’t matter if your eyes are open or closed. The resistance to these ideas is really fear that everything we have ever believed is wrong. It is like someone pulled the carpet out from under us. No, it is like the floor disappeared. What is there to stand on if the foundation you know is no longer there? Not to worry, there is a real foundation, one that actually supports the truth and that is stable and eternally present.

Does This Actually Work?

I want to share my experience with you, at least a little of it. I, like nearly everyone, spent my life trying to come up with more strategies to defend myself. My life seemed full of betrayal and abandonment. I felt threatened by nearly everyone, even those I loved. After all, they could turn on me at any moment or leave me. My fear of abandonment was so great that my most frequent prayer was that I would die before anyone I loved died.

Building Walls

Because of my fear of loss, I built walls against love. I didn’t want to love anyone too much because the more I loved them, the greater the pain when I lost them. It also seen threat everywhere. I was afraid of being seen as lesser than and of all kinds of failure. I constructed a wall to save me from pain and an image of who I wanted the world to see to save me from the shame and embarrassment I was sure was due me.

These barriers separated me from everyone and made me feel alone in the world and in a constant battle for preservation. It kept me in a constant state of fight or flight. I was anxious and depressed. But then I found A Course in Miracles and I began the process of letting go of my defenses which were only making me more afraid. I just wanted to feel better and to be finally successful and what I had been doing wasn’t working. I thought maybe this would work.

What I Discovered

What I had not expected was to become happy and peaceful in my life however it unfolded. Never had I expected that! What’s more, I discovered that all the fear and guilt I was trying to get rid of wasn’t even real. Not only that, but beneath the belief in the fear and guilt there was something beautiful. There was love and joy. There was God.

Just as I used to project the fear and guilt, now that most of it is gone, I instead extend what is there. I extend the love and the joy. There is still some conditioning left and so I still do the work but now it is easy because I know it is just thought errors and not anything real. I want a completely healed mind so that I experience only the Love that I am. It is within my grasp as it is within yours. This is the reason you might want to do these lessons as diligently as you can and do so happily. Believe me, it is worth every moment you give them and more.

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 30 click here.

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