Lesson 158

Today I learn to give as I receive.

What has been given you? The knowledge that you are a mind, in Mind and purely mind, sinless forever, wholly unafraid, because you were created out of love. Nor have you left your Source, remaining as you were created. This was given you as knowledge which you cannot lose. It was given as well to every living thing, for by that knowledge only does it live.

You have received all this. No one who walks the world but has received it. It is not this knowledge which you give, for that is what creation gave. All this cannot be learned. What, then, are you to learn to give today? Our lesson yesterday evoked a theme found early in the text. Experience cannot be shared directly, in the way that vision can. The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in time to every mind. Yet is that time determined by the mind itself, not taught.

The time is set already. It appears to be quite arbitrary. Yet there is no step along the road that anyone takes but by chance. It has already been taken by him, although he has not yet embarked on it. For time but seems to go in one direction. We but undertake a journey that is over. Yet it seems to have a future still unknown to us.

Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. Yet there is a plan behind appearances that does not change. The script is written. When experience will come to end your doubting has been set. For we but see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining we make it once again; reviewing mentally what has gone by.

A teacher does not give experience, because he did not learn it. It revealed itself to him at its appointed time. But vision is his gift. This he can give directly, for Christ’s knowledge is not lost, because He has a vision He can give to anyone who asks. The Father’s Will and His are joined in knowledge. Yet there is a vision which the Holy Spirit sees because the Mind of Christ beholds it too.

Here is the joining of the world of doubt and shadows made with the intangible. Here is a quiet place within the world made holy by forgiveness and by love. Here are all contradictions reconciled, for here the journey ends. Experience–unlearned, untaught, unseen–is merely there. This is beyond our goal, for it transcends what needs to be accomplished. Our concern is with Christ’s vision. This we can attain.

Christ’s vision has one law. It does not look upon a body, and mistake it for the Son whom God created. It beholds a light beyond the body; an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilt from dreams of sin. It sees no separation. And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees.

This can be taught; and must be taught by all who would achieve it. It requires but the recognition that the world can not give anything that faintly can compare with this in value; nor set up a goal that does not merely disappear when this has been perceived. And this you give today: See no one as a body. Greet him as the Son of God he is, acknowledging that he is one with you in holiness.

Thus are his sins forgiven him, for Christ has vision that has power to overlook them all. In His forgiveness are they gone. Unseen by One they merely disappear, because a vision of the holiness that lies beyond them comes to take their place. It matters not what form they took, nor how enormous they appeared to be, nor who seemed to be hurt by them. They are no more. And all effects they seemed to have are gone with them, undone and never to be done.

Thus do you learn to give as you receive. And thus Christ’s vision looks on you as well. This lesson is not difficult to learn, if you remember in your brother you but see yourself. If he be lost in sin, so must you be; if you see light in him, your sins have been forgiven by yourself. Each brother whom you meet today provides another chance to let Christ’s vision shine on you, and offer you the peace of God.

It matters not when revelation comes, for that is not of time. Yet time has still one gift to give, in which true knowledge is reflected in a way so accurate its image shares its unseen holiness; its likeness shines with its immortal love. We practice seeing with the eyes of Christ today. And by the holy gifts we give, Christ’s vision looks upon ourselves as well.

INITIAL INSIGHT: Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic.

Jesus finally explains why it is that our salvation is guaranteed. It has already happened. We are at the end of time watching and reviewing what has gone before. We are fully awake, enlightened. We are the Christ, the Buddha, and every other enlightened being that has ever lived or will ever live. We are in God as we always have been. We are not living this dream story. We are watching it.

It is no wonder that this is all so confusing to us. We are playing a part and we are the watcher of the part. We are playing all the parts and watching all the parts. We are completely involved in the parts. We made time so this could occur and we believe in time. We are told this and yet we do not remember it.

From our perspective we seem to be trying to remember, trying to wake up, and yet the script is written and so this has already happened and all our effort is not going to change the moment of enlightenment, not going to bring it closer or delay it. To awaken in this lifetime it does not mean I finally did something right. Failing to awaken in this lifetime would not mean I had failed, that I didn’t give it my best effort, that I should have tried harder. It would simply be that it was not the time that I woke up.

And this you give today: See no one as a body. Greet him as the Son of God he is, acknowledging that he is one with you in holiness.

When someone awakens, it doesn’t mean they could give you that experience. This is something that cannot be learned and cannot be given. But we do have an essential part to play here, something to learn and something to give. We have Christ Vision available to us. Because Vision is in Christ, it is shared by the Holy Spirit, and so we can learn this, too, even in the dream. Seeing each person as his true forgiven self is our goal here. Looking at another and seeing the Son of God is the goal.

Here is how I have experienced this. I am with someone and they seem to be guilty of stirring up trouble. I see her doing it, and I see the distress she is causing, the damage she is doing. I feel resentful toward this person, and I am aware that person could turn her attention to me next and so I feel afraid. This is the ego vision that I had always used, and it is the vision that had kept me bound to the story and unaware of anything else.

In this lifetime I have become aware that there is something else. I realize now that I can see differently because there is something else to see. First, it is a concept that I accept as true. Jesus says that we are not changed by our experience of separation. He says that we are as God created us and remain untouched by our experiences in the dream. In fact, he says that nothing we do, no matter how bad it seems in the story makes us guilty because we were created innocent, and creation cannot be undone.

And I love this line. He says: And all effects they seemed to have are gone with them, undone and never to be done. All error in thought and in effect are wiped out after they are done and will never be done! This is possible because time is not linear. We experience everything as if it is happening linearly, but everything happens at once. So, when effect is undone, it is undone as we see it now and in every time and in every dimension. Thus, it never happened at all.

Seeing with Christ Vision

So, I focus now on the only thing I can change, and what I must change, my desire to see the innocence of all creation. I cannot see this innocence with ego vision, but I am learning that it is possible to see with Christ Vision. So, I ask for this when I think about the troublemaker. I know how the ego sees this person, but I want to know how Christ sees this one. I sit in quiet for a moment to allow this healing of the mind. I wait for a shift, or I just trust it has occurred. When I see her again, everything has changed even though nothing has changed.

She is still living her script, but all I feel is love for her. I didn’t try to feel love. I didn’t try to see her innocence. I just desired to do so and asked that I be given that vision. I truly desired it. I gave up any desire to blame her and see her sins and just desired to see her natural state. Probably it is not as complete a transformation as it could be. I say that because if I saw her as she truly is, I would likely fall to my knees before her glory. But I do see her very differently now and I am grateful for that.

Each time I do this, the other person receives what I have given, even if they are not aware of what is happening, and even if they do not experience a change at this time. And, I see my own innocence more clearly than I did before. I forgive myself more easily. This is not ending the dream, but it is ushering in the happy dream, and it does it for all of us. I feel it more directly as my life becomes happier and more peaceful, but it also changes all of the mind, and makes it easier for every aspect of our mind to accept change.

The Script is Written

Now that I am getting a taste of what is possible, and now that I know there is something besides this dream, I want very much to deepen my awakening. Perhaps this strong desire for God is a precursor of an actual awakening, but there is no point in struggling for that, making effort and bemoaning my apparent lack of progress. The script is written. In fact, it is a relief to not feel like I must make anything happen or that I should be embarrassed some deeper experience has not happened yet. The moment of Enlightenment is out of our hands, but what I can do is learn to forgive and learn to see. I can experience this dream in peace and even in joy. This is our goal and it is an achievable goal and a worthy goal.

REGINA’S TIPS

Today’s lesson begins with, “What has been given you? The knowledge that you are a mind, in Mind and purely mind, …” Mind is synonymous with consciousness, awareness or life-presence.

The lesson is very clear that you cannot give truth. Truth simply is, and as such, it is beyond what can be given. Our concern is with vision. This we can learn, and this we can extend through practicing it.

The lesson tells us that true vision has one law. It does not look upon a body and mistake it for truth. It beholds life-presence, which is “beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilt from dreams of sin.” We are also told that vision sees no separation. That’s because vision knows there is only one life. “And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees.”

As you come across people today, regardless of whether you meet them in person, over the phone, on the Internet or you simply think of them, take a moment to acknowledge them as the same life that you are. Take a moment to appreciate the life that we are. Every person provides an opportunity to practice and extend this remembrance. Life is always present and available to be seen, regardless of … whatever.

MY THOUGHTS

Regina suggests the simple practice of acknowledging each person as what they are in truth. I can see the value in this. This is the kind of thought I want to reinforce in myself and in all of the Sonship.