ACIMWorkbook Lesson 43, Year 2022

ACIM Lesson 43 God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.

Lesson 43

God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.

1. Perception is not an attribute of God. ²His is the realm of knowledge. ³Yet He has created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge. ⁴Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in your mind. ⁵With this link with God, perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge. ⁶That is its function as the Holy Spirit sees it. ⁷Therefore, that is its function in truth.

Perception is a way of seeing things or to be more accurate, it is a way of understanding things. We get into trouble when we start thinking our perception is the right way to see and someone else is wrong. Perception is not knowledge so it is not truth no matter how we use it. God doesn’t do perception, because His is the realm of knowledge. However, He recognized the need for correction and so He gave us the Holy Spirit to link us with Him. Through the Holy Spirit, we can achieve perception that is purified and leads to knowledge.

One way this understanding helped me is that I now understand that no matter how I interpret A Course in Miracles, it will not be knowledge. It will only be my perception of it. If I practice forgiveness and ask for correction and guidance, my perception will become purified to the degree I allow. If I become married to my perception, I will not likely be open to correction. Thus, I have learned to hold my perceptions lightly, always willing to see things differently.

Perception Can Have a Mighty Purpose

2. In God you cannot see. ²Perception has no function in God, and does not exist. ³Yet in salvation, which is the undoing of what never was, perception has a mighty purpose. ⁴Made by the Son of God for an unholy purpose, it must become the means for the restoration of his holiness to his awareness. ⁵Perception has no meaning. ⁶Yet does the Holy Spirit give it a meaning very close to God’s. ⁷Healed perception becomes the means by which the Son of God forgives his brother, and thus forgives himself.

It seems to me that Jesus is using the word see in sentence one to mean perceive. Without a split mind there would only be God in our awareness and thus only knowledge. Perception could not exist anywhere except in the illusion where we experience ourselves as if we could be outside God. We cannot be outside God because God is All There Is. But we perceive ourselves as if we could and thus perception must be used to undo our error.

Corrected Perception

The Holy Spirit will use corrected perception to bring us back to the awareness of our holiness. An example of this occurred for me when I divorced my last husband. At the time of my divorce, I thought I needed to forgive him. As I worked with the Holy Spirit, my perception was purified and I saw this differently. I realized at that point that I needed to forgive the beliefs I had about him and about myself and our union.

Healed perception turned my judgmental thoughts around and with the Holy Spirit’s help, my mind was healed. I saw that my distress had never been about him. Instead, it was my thoughts about him that caused my distress. From that healed perception, my sight was closer to vision. I was able to see him through a lens of love rather than ego judgment.

A Reflection of Reality

3. You cannot see apart from God because you cannot be apart from God. ²Whatever you do you do in Him, because whatever you think, you think with His Mind. ³If vision is real, and it is real to the extent to which it shares the Holy Spirit’s purpose, then you cannot see apart from God.

The only way to see while we are here is to use our right mind. This is a reflection of reality. The opposite, that is, thinking with our ego mind, keeps us bound to the illusion where vision is dim.

Beginning Our Practice

4. Three five-minute practice periods are required today, one as early and one as late as possible in the day. ²The third may be undertaken at the most convenient and suitable time that circumstances and readiness permit. ³At the beginning of these practice periods, repeat the idea for today to yourself with eyes open. ⁴Then glance around you for a short time, applying the idea specifically to what you see. ⁵Four or five subjects for this phase of the practice period are sufficient. ⁶You might say, for example:

⁷God is my Source. ⁸I cannot see this desk apart from Him.
⁹God is my Source. ¹⁰I cannot see that picture apart from Him.

5. Although this part of the exercise period should be relatively short, be sure that you select the subjects for this phase of practice indiscriminately, without self-directed inclusion or exclusion. ²For the second and longer phase, close your eyes, repeat today’s idea again, and then let whatever relevant thoughts occur to you add to the idea in your own personal way. ³Thoughts such as:

⁴I see through the eyes of forgiveness.
⁵I see the world as blessed.
⁶The world can show me myself.
⁷I see my own thoughts, which are like God’s.

⁸Any thought related more or less directly to today’s idea is suitable. ⁹The thoughts need not bear any obvious relationship to the idea, but they should not be in opposition to it.

We must be graduating to a higher level of learning. Jesus is giving us more specific directions and asking more of us. He is also reminding us that we can have clearer vision if we use our right mind, and that it doesn’t matter if we are looking outward or inward.

Corrected Perception in Life Situations

6. If you find your mind wandering; if you begin to be aware of thoughts which are clearly out of accord with today’s idea, or if you seem to be unable to think of anything, open your eyes, repeat the first phase of the exercise period, and then attempt the second phase again. ²Do not allow any protracted period to occur in which you become preoccupied with irrelevant thoughts. ³Return to the first phase of the exercises as often as necessary to prevent this.

7. In applying today’s idea in the shorter practice periods, the form may vary according to the circumstances and situations in which you find yourself during the day. ²When you are with someone else, for example, try to remember to tell him silently:

³God is my Source. ⁴I cannot see you apart from Him.

⁵This form is equally applicable to strangers as it is to those you think are closer to you. ⁶In fact, try not to make distinctions of this kind at all.

8. Today’s idea should also be applied throughout the day to various situations and events that may occur, particularly to those which seem to distress you in any way. ²For this purpose, apply the idea in this form:

³God is my Source. ⁴I cannot see this apart from Him.

9. If no particular subject presents itself to your awareness at the time, merely repeat the idea in its original form. ²Try today not to allow any long periods of time to slip by without remembering today’s idea, and thus remembering your function.

I appreciate this lesson as it applies to my daily life. If I am upset in any way or to any degree, I know that I must be looking from the perspective of my ego-mind. I can change this by reminding myself that I must look with my right mind. I have only those two choices, the right mind or the wrong mind. Or I could say that I can see from the perspective of the ego or the perspective of the Holy Spirit. I practice with my thoughts during the day and the situations in which I find myself. This helps me to understand that there is always only one problem and one solution.

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 43 click here.

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