[acimlessons_list] LESSON 302 - OCTOBER 29

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 302 - OCTOBER 29

"Where darkness was I look upon the light."

Practice instructions 

See complete instructions in a 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

This is the change that a shift in perception brings. Where we saw darkness
we now see light. What appeared as attack becomes a call for love. Insanity
in a brother becomes an opportunity to bless. Stones we stumbled over become
stepping stones. All things become lessons God would have us learn. The
light is always there, but we saw darkness. "Now we see that darkness is our
own imagining, and light is there for us to look upon" (1:5).

Perhaps today I can find one thing that seems dark and remember to say,
"Where I see darkness, I choose to see the light." Perhaps I can remember to
look for love instead of condemnation and judgment. Perhaps I can look on
something that seems like a curse and learn to count it as a blessing. Let
me begin in small increments, and in lessons close to home. It may be beyond
me now to look on global disasters and see light in them, but I can begin
with things closer to home: my disturbed plans, the intrusive friend, the
withdrawing spouse. "Let me forgive Your holy world today, that I may look
upon its holiness and understand it but reflects my own" (1:7).

We are not alone as we travel this road.

     Our Love awaits us as we go to Him, and walks beside us showing us the
way. 
     He fails in nothing. He is the end we seek, and He the means by which
we go to Him.	(2:1-3)

"Our Love," to me, means the Christ. To me, and perhaps to others of you, He
is symbolized by Jesus. Perhaps you think of Him as your higher Self. He is
both the means and the end of our journey. He waits at the end, calling us
toward Him, and yet He also walks alongside of us, instructing us, guiding
us, and empowering us as we travel. Let us be grateful today for His help,
and aware of it as we go through the day.

WHAT IS THE SECOND COMING?

Part 2: W-pII.9.1:3

It is the invitation to God's Word to take illusion's place; the willingness
to let forgiveness rest upon all things without exception and without
reserve.

We are continuing from Part 1 the list of descriptions of the Second Coming:

3. The invitation to God's Word to take illusion's place.

This is the Course's vision of how the world and time end. The real world
precedes the Second Coming. Individually and collectively our perception is
purified, so that we see Heaven's reflection. When all our minds have come
into agreement on this perception, that is the Second Coming. This is "part
of the condition that restores the never lost" (1:2). The purification of
our perception, and the joining of our minds in that perception, "is the
invitation to God's Word to take illusion's place" (1:3). Our mistaken
perceptions have been corrected; our minds have united in sanity. Now the
way is open for God to take His last step.

4. Willingness for total forgiveness

Of what does this united perception consist? "The willingness to let
forgiveness rest upon all things without exception and without reserve"
(1:3). In other words, a willingness to not see sin, but to see the perfect
creation of God everywhere. Note that all four of these definitions refer to
the undoing of mistakes our minds have made, not to outward change. If the
mind is healed, of course the world will change, since it is only the mirror
of our state of mind.

The forgiveness spoken of here is the final state of mind in which we have
forgiven:
     * <all things>; every person, every condition, God, ourselves
     * <without exception>; nothing and no one whatsoever excluded
     * <and without reserve>; wholeheartedly, exuberantly, joyously

The Second Coming is the event in time when forgiveness becomes total. No
condemnation and no judgment remains in any mind.