[acimlessons_list] Lesson 130 - May 10

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 130 - MAY 10

"It is impossible to see two worlds."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose: To realize that you cannot have a little bit of this world and
still see the real world, that you must choose one or the other. To make the
choice for the real world by letting go of all value given this world. This
is another of the Workbook's giant steps (see 9:2). 

Longer: Six times, for five minutes.

Today's practice is extremely similar to the last two days, especially
Lesson 128. Begin by repeating the opening lines: 

"It is impossible to see two worlds. Let me accept the strength God offers
me and see no value in this world, that I may find my freedom and
deliverance." You are asking for God's strength to uphold you and help you
make a definitive choice of the real world over this world. Try to really
mean this request. Then close your eyes and spend some time "emptying your
hands of all the petty treasures of this world" (8:3). Then reach out for an
experience of true perception, the kind of seeing which your eyes alone
cannot see. Desire to see only the other world, the world of love. During
this time, "wait for God to help you" (8:4). Trust that He will be there,
helping you make the choice to value only the real world. While you wait,
you may want to repeat, "Help me see only the real world."

Response to temptation: Whenever you find yourself valuing anything in the
world.

Remember that by valuing a little part of hell you are really choosing all
of hell, and blocking out Heaven entirely. Say, "It is impossible to see two
worlds. I seek my freedom and deliverance, and this [thing I feel attracted
to] is not a part of what I want." You will need to watch your mind
carefully all day, because today you are watching not for disturbances and
upsets, but attractions.

COMMENTARY

Today's lesson is extremely uncompromising. The first two paragraphs are as
clear a statement of the Course's understanding of perception as there is in
all three volumes. What we value we want to see, what we want to see
determines our thinking, and what we see simply reflects our thinking. "No
one can fail to look upon what he believes he wants" (1:6). Or, as it is
twice stated succinctly in the Text, "Projection makes perception"
(T-13.V.3:5; T-21.In.1:1).

On top of that, since we can't hate and love simultaneously, we can't
project totally opposite worlds simultaneously. We project the world of fear
or the world of love. And "the world you see is proof you have already made
a choice as all-embracing as its opposite" (6:2). In other words, the world
we see proves that our minds have made an all-embracing choice for fear.
"Fear has made everything you think you see" (4:1).

As I said, this is very uncompromising. It does not allow for any part of
this world to be excluded from the category of "projection of fear." The
world we see is quite consistent from the point of view from which you see
it. It is all a piece because it stems from one emotion [fear], and reflects
its source in everything you see.	(6:4-5) 

If we try to exclude part of it from this portrait, maintaining that "surely
this part is good," we are trying to "accept a little part of hell as real"
(11:1). It guarantees that the whole picture will be "hell indeed" (11:1).

On the other hand, the Course does not try to foster any rejection of the
world. It tells us that only the part of it we look upon with love is real
(see T-12.VI.3:2-3). Therefore we are urged to love all of it equally, and
thus "make the world real unto yourself" (T-12.VI.3:6). Our attempts at
salvaging "parts" of the world as real are mistaken in that they separate
and make certain parts special, more loveable than the rest.

As we see it, through eyes of fear, this world is without any value
whatsoever. Let us accept God's Strength and "see no value in the world"
(8:6). If we are willing to do this we will see another world, with sight
that "is not the kind of seeing that your eyes alone have ever seen before"
(9:4). "When you want only love you will see nothing else" (T-12.VII.8:1).

To be a little more practical for a moment: I have found the final words of
this lesson to be an incredibly useful phrase in times of distress of all
kinds: "This is not a part of what I want" (11:5). If I see only what I want
to see, and I am seeing something distressing, let me affirm my choice to
change my mind: "I don't want this any more." Although my application of it
is still very inconsistent, I have seen this simple affirmation make
separateness in a relationship evaporate. I have seen it make a sense of
poverty evaporate. I have seen it change my body, and give it an energy I
thought I had lost. I have watched it reverse impending illnesses. I
recommend it highly to you all.