Lesson 247
Without forgiveness I will still be blind.
Sin is the symbol of attack. Behold it anywhere, and I will suffer. For forgiveness is the only means whereby Christ’s vision comes to me. Let me accept what His sight shows me as the simple truth, and I am healed completely. Brother, come and let me look on you. Your loveliness reflects my own. Your sinlessness is mine. You stand forgiven, and I stand with you.
So would I look on everyone today. My brothers are Your Sons. Your Fatherhood created them, and gave them all to me as part of You, and my own Self as well. Today I honor You through them, and thus I hope this day to recognize my Self.
Journal
I drove through McDonald’s this morning and the woman who took my order was curt, not rude, just curt. I had a thought not even completely formed but the essence was that she owed me some courtesy, maybe even friendliness. That was an attack. Her sin lay in her tone of voice. For that judgment, I relinquished my own sinlessness and I suffered for it.
I had another stop to make and then went home. By the time I got there, I was suffering from heartburn. I briefly wondered how an Egg McMuffin could give me heartburn. I opened the lesson for today and got my answer. I am not suggesting there was a direct relationship between my acidic thoughts about the McDonald’s employee and my heartburn, but there is a direct relationship between the belief in sin and suffering.
I probably make a lot of judgments that I don’t even notice. I absolutely don’t do that as much as I used to because, like today, I notice that stuff and I generally choose differently right away. By the time I got to her, I was already making amends with a smile and kind word. This made me more aware when I went to my next stop and so I was more loving with the next person.
Do these little encounters matter? Of course, they do. Every encounter has the potential for holiness, just as every encounter has the potential for harm. I harm myself far worse than I harm anyone else because if I believe in sin anywhere, I will believe I am sinful. My belief cannot make it true, but it makes it true for me and thus, I suffer. I love that I no longer treat people thoughtlessly very often and that I notice when I do. I love to love people. I am always the first recipient of that love and it reminds me of who I am and who we are together.
Regina’s Tips
When we judge others, we believe the ego’s deceptive thought system. Our mind may argue that it is justified for its way of perceiving, but it perceives without the light of truth. As our special theme has taught us, “The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real.” That purpose is separation. It is the opposite of truth.
My Thoughts
When I judged the woman at McDonald’s, I was reinforcing the ego thought system. That is the reason I suffer when I judge. There may be times when I think I am justified in my judgments, but who cares about justification when it means the choice for ego? I don’t care who is right or who is wrong, not ever. I just want to awaken from the dream of separation. Nothing else matters.
Past Entry
This is something I wrote in the past. I had the same experience recently over something political, but in both cases, I changed my mind and chose peace.
I had to laugh this morning when I read today’s lesson. I am in a hotel and before I started my lesson I went to the lobby for coffee. I was disappointed that the coffee is not very good, and felt resentful that they skimp on the coffee at this hotel chain. The clerk turned on the TV while I was being annoyed about the coffee and the newscaster was talking about a negative ruling for gay marriage here in Louisiana. I had a whole cascade of angry thoughts about that, and then to get more specific, some local politician was putting his very judgmental two cents in and I had some more angry thoughts about him. So of course when I read today’s lesson I giggled.
I was blind this morning to my own attack thoughts and my own judgments. I was blind to the radiance of the Christ within these people and within myself. I was blind to the joy of life and to the wonder that is this illusion we made. I was blind to the lessons it has to offer me that I could accept if only I was willing to forgive. I was blind to my purpose.
Fortunately, I no longer cling to my ego beliefs like I used to, and was happy to see differently. The moment I desired forgiveness, I saw the fear that was fueling this debate, and I saw the fear that had blinded me to forgiveness. Fear is a call for love because only love cures fear. Is not a child of God worthy of love? Am I not worthy of love? I can know love only as I am willing to give love. I felt the anger and resentment fade away.
Hiding From the Beauty of My Brother
As I read the lesson this morning, I had another thought. I see the perfection of myself only as I am able to see it in my brother. Another way to say that is I see in my brother only what I see in myself. So if my brother appears less than perfect it is because I feel less than perfect and am projecting this onto him. So I don’t see the beauty that is my brother by squinting and holding my head just right.
It isn’t a beauty that you see with the body’s eyes. And it is not hidden from me, but rather, I am hiding from the beauty. The way to achieve the goal set for us in this lesson is to desire nothing else. I want to know myself as I was created, and I want nothing more than I want that. I want to know my perfect beautiful self more than I want to defend myself, attack, judge, retain my separate individual identity. Every time I forgive I come a little closer to being revealed, and in that unveiling of self, everyone else is revealed as well.