[acimlessons_list] LESSON 271 - SEPTEMBER 28

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 271 - SEPTEMBER 28

"CHRIST'S IS THE VISION I WILL USE 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

Once again the Workbook faces us with the fact that we <choose> what we want
to see, and see it. It tells us this process is going on continuously,
constantly: "Each day, each hour, every instant, I am choosing what I want
to look upon, the sounds I want to hear, the witnesses to what I want to be
the truth for me" (1:1). The latter part of that sentence is significant
because it gives us the <reason> for our choice: we choose to see what we
want to be the truth for ourselves. For instance, if I am constantly seeing
people who are victims, it is because there is a part of me that wants to be
a victim. I may think that I do not want to be a victim, but if the
alternative is to be responsible for everything that happens to me--it
sounds pretty good! Every time I see a victim, I am secretly wanting to be
able to blame someone else for my faults.

The main point of this lesson is not our negative choices, however. The
point is that there is a choice. There is an alternative. If I listen to the
ego my choice will be to see sin, guilt, fear, and death. If I listen to the
Holy Spirit, however, I will want something different to be the truth about
myself, and therefore I will want to see something else in the world--and I
will see it. Seeing it in the world is how I will know it is the truth about
myself. Instead of wanting to see witnesses to sin, I will want to see
witnesses to the truth, and what I look for I will find.

As my perception merges more and more with Christ's vision, I will approach
the point where perception will entirely disappear (1:3). The changed
perception will show me what the Course calls the real world; the
disappearance of perception refers to the end of the world and our awakening
to Heaven.

How do I want to see myself? If I want to see myself as love, let me seek
today to see love in my brothers and sisters. If I want to see myself as
innocent, let me look for innocence in others. If I want to see myself as
without guilt, let me seek to see others without guilt. Today, let me
remember:

When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him you
will see yourself. As you treat him you will treat yourself. As you think of
him you will think of yourself. (T-8.III.4:1-4)

Each one you see in light brings your light closer to your awareness.
(T-13.VI.10:3)

Teach no one that he is what you would not want to be. (T-7.VII.3:8)

WHAT IS THE CHRIST?

PART 1: W-PII.6.1:1-2

Christ is God's Son as He created Him. (1:1)

This is what we are learning to see in one another, so that we can remember
to see Him in ourselves. Christ is the original creation of God, before we
"remade" him, and painted another image over God's masterpiece. We wanted to
be something else, and so we have perceived something else in everyone
around us. Now, we are learning to look past the images we have made to
rediscover the hidden masterpiece beneath the forgery.

He is the Self we share, uniting us with one another, and with God as well.
(1:2)

Christ is <the> Son of God. We all are aspects of that one Son. (I believe
that part of the reason the Course uses "Son" rather than "sons and
daughters" is because the latter phrase denotes a separation which does not
exist in God's creation.) Our original Self, our only real Self, is a Self
we share with everyone. One reason we resist knowing this Self is that it is
not "my" self alone; it is <our> Self. To claim Christ as my Self, I cannot
exclude anyone, because the Self I am claiming is a universal Self, of which
everyone is a part.

Not only are we united with one another in this Self, we are also united
with God as well (1:2). Without God this Self would not exist; He sources It
and sustains It. It cannot <be> apart from Him. It cannot be independent of
Him. Nor can It oppose Him in any way; all of the characteristics of this
Self arise and emerge out of God's own Being.