[acimlessons_list] Lesson 270 - September 27

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 270 - SEPTEMBER 27

"I WILL NOT USE THE BODY'S EYES TODAY."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See complete Part II practice instructions in separate document. A short
summary:

* Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.

* Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.

* Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind
Meditation.

* Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in
meditation.

* Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea often within each hour.

* Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.

* Read the "What Is" section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.

COMMENTARY

Of course this does not mean I will walk around with a blindfold on,
crashing into things. I will not, however, let my sight stop at the
physical. I won't "use" the information of the eyes, I won't depend on that.

Christ's vision...has the power to translate all that the body's eyes behold
into the sight of a forgiven world. (1:1)

There's that word "translate" again. What I want to see, today, my Teacher,
is a forgiven world. I want to see the truth behind all appearances. My
function, the function of every Son of God, is that of a translator. We are
here to heal the world by seeing it differently, and thus we also heal
ourselves.

One of the chief components of that different vision is <lack of judgment>.
No condemnation. No making wrong. No demand for outward changes. Seeing that
everyone and everything is worthy of love, exactly as they are. No
comparisons or evaluations, no making of differences, but seeing everything
as part of one whole.

To forgive is to overlook. Look, then, beyond error and do not let your
perception rest upon it, for you will believe what your perception holds.
Accept as true only what your brother is, if you would know yourself.
Perceive what he is not, and you cannot know what you are, because you see
him falsely. (T-9.IV.1:2-5)

You do not understand how to overlook errors, or you would not make them.
(T-9.IV.2:2)

We are told to overlook error. Then we are told we don't know how to do it.
Instead, we are to turn to the Holy Spirit. It seems to me a fundamental
lesson of the Course is "Don't trust your perceptions." Don't use the body's
eyes. Don't think that seeing begins and ends with physical sight and our
own mental interpretations.

What we do as we go through the world is something like this: We perceive
something. Our mind may interpret it, almost certainly will, and nearly
always with some evaluation, some judgment. At that point, what we need to
do is recognize that judgment is impossible for us, and just let it go. We
abandon our perception. We don't think of it as dangerous, or fearful, or
sinful; we just recognize that it is meaningless (see M-16.10:8). That
giving up of our own perceptions is the crucial step. "And for this
'sacrifice' is Heaven restored to his awareness" (M-16.10:10).

We step back and take what appears to be a very inferior position. We say,
"I do not understand what this means." This is the <very first lesson> in
the Workbook, "Nothing I see...means anything" (W-pI.1.Heading).

And then we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit. "I am willing to see things
differently." That's it. If you get this far, you will become hooked,
because God will answer that prayer. You <will> see things differently.
Maybe not at once, not in that instant, but it happens. How? I don't know!
Understanding the <how> of the Atonement is not our job, not our function,
but His.

WHAT IS THE BODY?

PART 10: W-PII.5.5:4-8

Love is your safety. Fear does not exist. (5:4-5)

When I do not use the body's eyes, this is what I will see. When I let go of
my unquestioning trust in my perception of things, I will see love. My
body's eyes were made out of fear and made to see fear. I need to end my
reliance on this mechanism of perception, and ask for a new one: Christ's
vision.

The statement "Fear does not exist" may seem incredible to me, particularly
as I advance in my practice of the Course, because one of the consequences
of practicing the Course is that all kinds of buried fears bubble up in my
mind. The Course teaches me, however, that what has happened is this: In
order to hide my own true nature of love from me, my ego invented all kinds
of fear; then I found them so terrifying that I repressed or denied them and
covered them over with deceptive disguises, supported by my perception of
the world. Now, as I let go of my confidence in my perception, the disguises
are dissolving, and the fears I have buried are surfacing. This simple
message, then, is an antidote to those surfacing fears: "Fear does not
exist." In other words, what I am seeing is not real; it is an illusion I
have made.

How can I escape from my fears?

Identify with love, and you are safe. Identify with love, and you are home.
Identify with love, and find your Self. (5:6-8)

As I begin to look within, I see all these different forms of fear. Rather
than fighting the fear, or running from it, or burying it again, I need to
learn to see past it to the love it is hiding. We have to go through what
the Course calls "the ring of fear" in order to reach our Self, our home
(see T-18.IX, especially paragraphs 3 and 4). This is where most of us get
stuck. The fear seems too real.

Let me, today, allow the Holy Spirit to show me that this seemingly
impenetrable wall of fear is really nothing. It is made of clouds that
cannot stop a feather. Let me take His hand and allow Him to lead me past it
to the truth, to my Self, and to my home. Let me choose to identify with
love, and find my safety.