Commentary on ACIM Lesson 162

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

I am as God created me.

 

 

The confront of truth....

 

God caught up with me in the shower this morning for a little revelatory man-to-man, so to speak. (Interestingly, when I just misspelled revelatory, Spellcheck also gave me the choice of 'elevatory', which I realize was true too.... i.e., 'a little elevatory man-to-man'.) 

 

Jonah didn't want to go to Ninavah either, so I know I am not the first person God has had to deal with that gets stubborn occasionally.  It's not that I really want to be stubborn.  It's just that when the floodgates open a bit and I get shown a little peek of the possible future, and where we (God and I and everybody else, really) are headed on this journey, I get challenged a bit, and 'have to deal with' my 'I can't do that' program.  

 

In this instance, I'm not talking about any earth shaking big time project though.  I talking about something very simple, but not easy, suddenly.  You see, I got given a glimpse of what it would be like to be without any judgements about anybody.  I got given a glimpse of what it would be like to see everyone as a Son of God.  That was the inspiring part.  Then I saw (for a tiny second, before I couldn't look any more) how much judgement and personal specialness I am still holding onto that I will have to let go of to fully be God's Love in this world, and I just 'crashed'.  It seemed so impossible, and that there was still such a long way to go. 

 

I know this was just a tantrum.  And I did give my ego space to have it.  Then, when God started talking, I was a bit calmer.  So here's the point.....

 

Gangaji once said "All anybody really wants is to be seen.... really seen."  I know that is true, from personal experience.  I can look back at all the saints I have met and see that the one consistent similarity between them all was that I got they 'saw Me'.  Maybe also they saw my baggage, but if they did, I did not feel it or know it.  And you know, I am sure, because we are all super sensitive, when someone is faking being 'non-judgemental'.... and the part that is tough to swallow is that I see I have been one of those people faking it, whilst all the while filing my opinions where I could get them back whenever 'I let my hair down' (meaning, stepping out of my saint's clothes and slipping back into my comfortable ol' ego).  

 

Well, what good is that going to do, really?  I mean, sure, I meet the minimum 'teacher of God' requirements, because I have a good heart that can compassionately feel, and therefore I can see 'another's interest as my own'.  But, that is minimum.  To really get being a 'Son of God' down, I just got there are 'a few additional requirements', like being fully grounded, well practiced, and consistent in seeing 'my brother' as a Son of God too, and without editing or judging either him or myself.

 

So for me, the playing field just got bigger than I ever imagined.  It's still my territory, God says.  I've still got all the support I've ever needed too.  It just takes a willingness to shift to a higher gear, grab a deep breath, and get back on the court.  

 

Humbly, I might add, given that even though I've got the upgraded vision installed, today I am the new kid in the field, beginning to learn the game 'at a new level' . God says, don't worry.  It's like this for everyone.  It's called 'beginners mind'.  :-)

 

Namaste, 

 

David 

________________________

My personal version, in first person.

 

 

Lesson 162

I am as God created me.

This single thought, held firmly in my mind, would save the world. From time to time I will repeat it, as I reach another stage in learning. And it will mean far more to me as I advance. These words are sacred, for they are the words God gave me in answer to the world I made. By them the world disappears, and all things seen within its misty clouds and vaporous illusions vanish as these words are spoken. For they come from God.

Here is the Word by which the Son became his Father's happiness, His Love and His completion. Here creation is proclaimed, and honored as it is. There is no dream these words will not dispel; no thought of sin and no illusion which the dream contains that will not fade away before their might.They are the trumpet of awakening that sounds around the world. The dead awake in answer to its call. And those who live and hear this sound will never look on death.

Holy indeed am I who make these words my own; arising with them in my mind, recalling them throughout the day, at night bringing them with me as I goes to sleep. My dreams are happy and my rest secure, my safety certain and my body healed, because I sleep and wakens with the truth before me always. I will save the world, because I give the world what I receive each time I practice these words of truth.

Today I practice simply. For the words I use are mighty, and they need no thoughts beyond themselves to change the mind of anyone who uses them. So wholly is that mind changed that it is now the treasury in which God places all His gifts and all His Love, to be distributed to all the world, increased in giving; kept complete because its sharing is unlimited. And thus I learn to think with God. Christ's vision has restored my sight by salvaging my mind.

I honor my holiness today. My right to perfect holiness I now accept. With this acceptance is salvation brought to everyone, for who could cherish sin when holiness like this has blessed the world? Who could despair when perfect joy is mine, available to all as remedy for grief and misery, all sense of loss, and for complete escape from sin and guilt?

And who would not be brother to me now; I, his redeemer and his savior. Who could fail to welcome me into his heart with loving invitation, eager to unite with one like him in holiness? I am as God created me. These words dispel the night, and darkness is no more. The light is come today to bless the world. For I have recognized the Son of God, and in that recognition is the world's salvation.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 161

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.

 

 

As I hung up the phone call to Customer Support, I had a brief sense of accomplishment (as my intention had been achieved), but a taste of untrueness lingered. After a few minutes, I was willing to look at it.  It's then that I saw I had failed....

 

In the past, I have often read things that spoke the message:  You don't absolutely know what your real successes are, or what your real failures are either.  Many things you think of as a success are actually failures, and visa versa.

 

My phone call was like that.  It was a call for help with a piece of software installation, and that I accomplished.  What I didn't accomplish was to remember the gentleman at the other end of the line was my brother, or to see his holiness.  What I did instead was manipulate him by being resistant to bureaucratic protocol and being a 'strong demand' for the information I needed, without supplying him with the information he was requesting.  It kind of goes with the territory of being a rebel, and I have seen it doesn't really work, but I haven't gotten the reprogramming peacefully completed yet.  I guess that is ok, I know I am still hooked on God's line, and in time, I will get all my past traumas, beliefs, attitudes, and incompletions cleaned up.  Seeing that I had failed is a step in that direction.  

 

I found myself wondering (since I had caught myself this time) how often I missed like this, and then didn't catch it.  God said back, "You don't want to know."  We both laughed.  God knows I have an ego.  I know I have an ego.  What is cool is that now my ego knows it is an ego too (and we both know it is NOT me).  So there is a bit of rewiring going on, and my ego is as gracefully as possible allowing it (given it's not being given a choice...).

 

Turns out that todays lesson is kind of in line with all this....  how kool.  :-)  

 

Namaste, 

 

David  

 

__________________________________

My personal version, in first person.

 

Lesson 161

Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.

Today I will practice differently, and take a stand regarding my angers, that my fears may disappear and offer room for Love to Be. Here my salvation is found in the simple words with which I practice today's idea. Here, in this idea, is the answer to temptation which can never fail.  It will welcome in the Christ wherever fear and anger had prevailed before. Here is my Atonement made complete, the world is passed safely by and Heaven is now restored. Here is the answer of the Voice for God.

Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind, being unlimited. But part of my mind is now 'unnatural'. That part does not look on everything as one. That part sees instead only fragments of the whole, for only thus could it invent the partial world I habitually see. The purpose of all seeing is to show me what I wish to see. Just like all hearing only brings to my mind the sounds my mind desires to hear.

Thus are 'specifics' made. And now, it is such specifics I must use in practicing. I give them to the Holy Spirit, that He may employ them for a purpose which is different from the one I gave to them. Yet He can use what I made, to teach me from a different point of view, so I that can see a different use in everything.

Holy Spirit teaches me thus: Any one brother is all brothers. And every mind contains all minds, for every mind is also one. Such is the truth of the Holy. Yet do these thoughts make clear the meaning of creation? Do these words bring perfect clarity with them to me? What can they seem to me to be but empty sounds; pretty, perhaps, correct in sentiment, yet to ego/me, fundamentally not understood nor understandable. For the mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer grasp abstraction in the sense that it is all-encompassing. I need to see this a little, that I may learn a lot.

It seems to be this body that I feel I am in limits my freedom, makes me suffer, and then at last puts out my life. Yet my body is only a symbol for a concrete form of fear. Fear without such concrete symbols calls for no response, for symbols can (and do) stand for 'the meaningless'. Love needs no symbols, being true. But fear attaches to specifics, being false.  All Fear is false.

Bodies, being separate, can attack, but minds, being one, do not. (I need to see and understand this completely.  This I will meditate on.) This thought is surely reminiscent of this text, where it is often emphasized. This is the reason bodies easily become fear's symbols. I have many times been urged to look beyond the body, for its sight presents the symbol of love's "enemy", an enemy that Christ's vision does not see. The body is the target for attack, for no one thinks he hates a mind. Yet what but my mind directs the body to attack? What else could be the seat of fear except what thinks of the fear?

All hate is specific. There must be a thing to be hated, attacked. An 'enemy' must be perceived in such a form he can be touched and seen and heard, and ultimately killed. When hatred rests upon such a thing, it calls for its death just as surely as God's Voice proclaims there is no death. Fear is insatiable, consuming everything its eyes behold, seeing itself in everything, even compelled to turn upon itself and to destroy.

Whosoever sees a brother as a body sees him 'as fear's symbol'. When/if I do that, I will attack, because what I behold is my own fear external to myself, poised to attack, and howling 'to unite' with my brother again. Let me mistake not the intensity of rage that falsely projected fear must spawn. It shrieks in wrath, and claws the air in frantic hope it can reach to its 'maker' and devour him.

This insanity is what the body's eyes behold in each one whom Heaven cherishes, each one whom the angels love and God created perfect. This perfection IS their true reality. And in Christ's vision my brothers loveliness is reflected in a form so holy and so beautiful that I could scarce refrain from kneeling at his feet. Yet, instead of worship, I will take his hand in respect instead, for I am like him in the holy sight of God that sees my brother thus. Attacking any brother is thus 'an enemy' to me, for if I do I will not perceive that in his hands is my own salvation. Therefore I will ask him only for this (my own salvation), and I am promised he will give it to me. I ask him not to symbolize my fear. For would I request that love destroy itself? Or would I have it be revealed to me and set me free?

Today I will practice in a form I have attempted earlier. My readiness is closer now, and I will come today nearer Christ's vision. If I am intent on reaching it, I will succeed today. And once I have succeeded, I will no longer be willing to accept the witnesses my body's eyes call forth. What I will see will sing to me of ancient melodies I will then remember. I am not forgotten in Heaven. Why would I then, not choose to remember it?

Today I will select one brother as symbol of all the rest, and I will ask for salvation of him. I will see him first as clearly as I can, in that same form to which I am accustomed. I will see his face, his hands and feet, his clothing. I will watch him smile, and see the familiar gestures which he makes so frequently. Then I will think of this: What I am seeing now conceals from me the sight of one who can forgive me all my sins; whose sacred hands can take away the nails which pierce my own, and lift the crown of thorns which I have placed upon my bleeding head. I will ask this of him, that he may set me free:

Give me your blessing, holy Son of God. 
I would behold you with the eyes of Christ, 
and see my perfect sinlessness in you.

And He Whom I called upon will answer. For He will hear the Voice for God in me, and answer me in my own. I would behold him thus now, whom I have seen before as merely flesh and bone, and recognize that in him Christ has come to me. Today's idea is my safe escape from anger and from fear. I will use it instantly, should I be tempted to attack a brother and perceive in him the symbol of my fear. And I will see then him suddenly transformed from enemy into savior; from the devil into Christ.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 160

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

I am at home.  Fear is the stranger here.

 

 

The illusion is: the closer to home, the deeper the darkness.....  

 

Whosoever 'denies his brother' is denying Him (the Christ self), and thus is refusing to accept the gift of sight by which our own Self is clearly recognized, our home remembered and our salvation come.

Mom entered from 'stage left' and sat down and began talking.  Dad lay on his bed, exhausted from the recent effort to eating the institutional food.  It has become my evening ritual/sadhana, to take over the mail around 'dinner time' and often something (I think is) healthy for Dad to eat.  But it doesn't matter usually.  Eating almost always exhausts him these days.  Mom shakes her head, (I think) not yet willing to accept the direction Dad is heading or how soon he may head there.  She talks to  Dad and me about old times, the life our family lived through.  Dad barely responds, and mostly only with noises, not words.  As her words continue unabated, I notice I reduce to old attitudes and quietly tune out a bit.  Yet another part of me whispers the truth that 'I do not know when the hour will come'.... and I come back to greater attention, to being present to this.  

 

Suddenly I realize I am no longer here for Dad, really.  I see now I am here for Mom, and for the relationship called 'me and mom', and it's healing.  Interesting, that the 'black sheep eccentric son' would be the one to come back at this time.  I didn't realize this would be part of the full curriculum certainly, or ego/me would have found excuses (probably... maybe not...).  But I didn't realize what calling a few friends and saying 'Hey, let's all redo A Course in Miracles this year' was going to lead to either.  

 

I think everyone of us has swallowed the hook and God has us on His/Her line.  I think that line is never going to break either.  God is real good at letting us run 'free' and 'fight the line' and pretend that we can be and do darn well anything we desire too, but just give it enough time, and we eventually discover that that line and that hook are not there to kill us, but to save us.  And to give us the power connection to walk to talk.  

 

Of course what I am seeing tonight clearly is that walk will always take us/me right back to the beginning, to our/my primary earth parents and siblings, to heal, re-learn, and transform deep and dark and blind 'ego-oldness' that has kept us/me from being fully fully fully present and lit up under all circumstances.... EVEN WHEN WITH OUR FAMILIES OF ORIGIN. 

 

Its been said that to heal our families is to heal the world.  I think I am one who thought maybe I could skip that one.  Now, I guess I was wrong about that.  Will keep you posted.  

 

Namaste, 

 

David

________________________________________

My personal version, in first person.

 

Lesson 160

I am at home. Fear is the stranger here.

Fear is an alien stranger to the ways of love. Therefore, if I identify with fear, I will be a stranger to myself. And thus, I am unknown to myself. What is my true Self then, remains an alien to the part of me which thinks that it is real (but different from my true self). How could I be sane in such a circumstance? Who (but a madman) could 'believe he is what he is not', and then judgeagainst himself?

There is a 'stranger' inside my ego-mind, who comes from an idea so foreign to the truth he speaks a different language, looks upon a world truth does not know, and somehow 'understands' what truth regards as senseless. Stranger yet, this stranger does not recognize 'to whom he comes', and yet, he maintains 'this homebelongs to him', while he who is rightfully at home is now made 'alien'. And yet, how easy it would be for me to say, "No. This is my home. Here I belong, and I will not leave because a strange madman says I must."

What 'reason' is there for my not saying this? What could the reason be except that I had asked this stranger in (to take my place, and let me become a stranger to myself)? I would not let myself be dispossessed so needlessly, unless I had mistakenly 'thought I thought' there was somehow 'another home' more suited to my tastes.

Who is this stranger whose name is Fear? And is it Fear or is it My Self who is unsuited to the home which God provided for His Son? Is fear His Own, and created in My Fathers likeness? Is it fear that Love completes, and is completed by? No. There is no home can shelter love and fear. They cannot coexist. If I AM real, then fear must be illusion. And if fear is real, then I do not exist at all.

How simply, then, the question is resolved. Whosoever fears has denied himself and said, "I am the stranger here. And so I leave my home to one more like me than myself, and give him all I thought belonged to me." Now am I exiled of necessity, not knowing who I am, uncertain of all things but this; that I am not myself, and that my home has been denied to me.

What do I search for now? What can I find? Anyone a stranger to himself can find no home wherever he may look, for he has made his own return impossible. His way is lost, excepting that 'a miracle' will search him out and show him that he is 'no stranger now'. That miracle will come to everyone. For in his true home his Self still remains. It has asked no stranger in, and it has taken no alien thought to be Itself. And It will call Its Own unto Itself in recognition of what is Its Own.

Who is the stranger? Is it not the one my true Self calls not? If I am unable now to recognize this stranger in my midst, it is because I have given him my rightful place. Yet is my true Self as certain of Its Own as God is of His Son. God cannot be 'confused' about creation. He is sure of what belongs to Him. No stranger can be interposed between His knowledge and His Son's reality. He does not know of strangers. And He is certain of His Son.

God's certainty suffices me and is my salvation. Who He knows to be His Son belongs where He has set His Son forever. He has answered I who ask, "Who is the stranger?" I hear His Voice assure me, quietly and sure, that I am not a stranger to my Father, nor is my Creator  a stranger made to me. And whom God has joined remain forever one, at home in Him, and no stranger to Himself.

Today I offer thanks that Christ has come to 'search the world' for me, for I am one what belongs to Him. His vision sees no strangers,  He simply beholds His Own and joyously unites with them. We/I (perhaps) see Him 'as a stranger', for we/I do not recognize ourselves yet. Yet as we give Him welcome, we will remember. And He will  lead us gently home again, where we belong.

Not one does Christ forget. Not one He fails to give me to remember, that my home may be complete and perfect as it was established. He has not forgotten me or anyone else. But I will not remember Him until I look on all as He does. Whosoever 'denies his brother' is denying Him, and thus is refusing to accept the gift of sight by which our own Self is clearly recognized, our home remembered and our salvation come.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 159

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

I give the miracles I have received.

 

 

Contemplating the lesson, I realize one example of this in my life is these writings.  Or, my paintings.  Or my singing.  I do them all 'as received' or 'as inspired'.  I find that if I struggle or push or effort, that is when I am likely to not recognize the beauty that is being born.  

 

But even that experience is included.  I know this because some of my best work was created by struggling hours, and then (abruptly surrendering all the concern for the perfection) I let an impulse to uncalculated action use me, and suddenly what was trash becomes a genuine artwork, BUT, all the trash time now also makes essential contribution too.  

 

So I'm just saying NOTHING is ever truly 'not part of the plan'.  That is simply impossible inside the world of enlightenment.  All that is possible is to dream a dream that is not true, and to then believe it.  That is our only egoic power.  

 

And that changes nothing, in truth.  This is all we wake up to.  Because there is nothing in the end but LOVE to exist within.  And there is no existence that is real without (outside) it.    

 

Namaste, 

 

David

 

_________________________________

My personal version, in first person.

 

 

Lesson 159

I give the miracles I have received.

I cannot give what I have not received. To give a thing requires first I have it in my own possession. Here the laws of Heaven and the world agree. But here they also separate. The world believes that to possess a thing, it must be kept. Salvation teaches otherwise. To give is how I recognize I have received. It is the proof that what I have is mine.

I understand that I am healed when I give healing. I accept forgiveness as accomplished in myself when I forgive. I recognize my brother as myself, and thus do I perceive that I am whole. There is no miracle I cannot give, for all are given me. I will receive them now by opening the storehouse of my mind where they are laid, and by giving them away.

Christ's vision is a miracle. It comes from far beyond itself, for it reflects eternal love and the rebirth of a love which never dies, but which has been kept obscure. Christ's vision pictures Heaven, for it sees in this world a world so like to Heaven that what God created perfect can be mirrored here. The darkened glass the world presents can show only twisted images in broken parts. The real world pictures Heaven's innocence.

Christ's vision is the miracle in which all miracles are born. It is their source, remaining with each miracle I give, and yet remaining mine. It is the bond by which the giver and receiver are united 'in extension' here on earth, just as they are one in Heaven. Christ beholds no sin in anyone. And in His sight the sinless are as one. Their holiness was given by His Father and Himself.

Christ's vision is the bridge between the worlds. And in its power I can safely trust to be carried from this world into one made holy by forgiveness. Things which seem quite solid here are merely shadows there; transparent, faintly seen, at times forgot, and never able to obscure the light that shines beyond them. Holiness has been restored to vision, and the blind can see.

This is the Holy Spirit's single gift; the treasure house to which I can appeal with perfect certainty for all the things that can contribute to my happiness. All are laid here already. All can be received but for the asking. Here the door is never locked, and no one is denied his least request or his most urgent need. There is no sickness not already healed, no lack unsatisfied, no need unmet within this golden treasury of Christ.

Here does the world remember what was lost when it was made. For here it is repaired, made new again, and put into a different light. What was to be the home of sin becomes the center of redemption and the hearth of mercy, where the suffering are healed and welcome. No one will be turned away from this new home, where his salvation waits. No one is a stranger to him. No one asks for anything of him except the gift of his acceptance of his welcoming.

Christ's vision is the holy ground in which the lilies of forgiveness set their roots. This is their home. They can be brought from here back to the world, but they can never grow in its unnourishing and shallow soil. They need the light and warmth and kindly care Christ's charity provides. They need the love with which He looks on them. And they become His messengers, who give as they received.

I take from His storehouse, that its treasures may increase. His lilies do not leave their home when they are carried back into the world. Their roots remain. They do not leave their source, but carry its beneficence with them, and turn the world into a garden like the one they came from, and to which they go again with added fragrance. Now are they twice blessed. The messages they brought from Christ have been delivered, and returned to them. And they return them gladly unto Him.

Behold the store of miracles set out for me to give. Am I not worth the gift, when God appointed it be given me? I will judge not God's Son, but follow in the way He has established. Christ has dreamed the dream of a forgiven world. It is His gift, whereby a sweet transition can be made from death to life; from hopelessness to hope. Let me in this instant dream with Him. His dream awakens me to truth. His vision gives the means for a return to my unlost and everlasting sanctity in God.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 158

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

Today I learn to give as I receive.

 

Today a 'new' experience was given me.   At a huge (100+ people) rawfood potluck being held outdoors in Phoenix despite the 110 degree afternoon temperatures (thankfully there was shade and it was windy) a small bee crawled up my leg under my shorts, got agitated at my sudden frantic attempts to rid myself of it, and stung me on my privates.

 

Why mention it?  Because it was also a test of remembering (while in the illusion of suffering) what is real.  I was in the middle of a highly social moment and suddenly I needed to figure out how to be socially appropriate AND do a visual inspection of normal taboo (covered) anatomy.  There really wasn't time to explain what was happening....  sticking my hand in my pants had just gotten me stung, and I needed to find and deal with whatever was doing it, and quickly.  So I simply turned in the direction of the fewest people, unzipped, visually found and removed the dying bee,  kept my mouth clenched to not be hollering, and zipped back up.   

 

It hurt intensely for a minute as I scrambled to find the ice (that someone who realized what was happening suggested), and then my high bodily level of antioxidants began neutralizing the toxin, and the pain rapidly disappeared.  It was one of those moments I was grateful for being a rawfooder, and that it was not 'worse'. 

 

***************************

 

As I had arrived early I was able to create my personal 'first person' lesson version before the crowd gathered, and was therefore aware that my job was to see the Christ in everyone who was there, and to have no judgements whatsoever about  them, and only see their light.  

 

What I experienced was that (for the majority of the time) it was pretty easy.  I contrast that with what it might have been like before doing 157 lessons of the Course, and I can see it was only 'easy' because of the continual practice we have all been a part of.  

 

This is the benefit of immersion in a spiritual practice.  It builds muscle worth having, spiritually. 

 

Right now I am at a rest area midway in the 200 mile drive back home, and the power of my practice of creating these Commentaries has me adjusting and being flexible about how to complete todays, given I was recognizing I would be pretty tired if I waited until I arrived home to 'boot up' this computer.  

 

This is life.  It constantly adjusts to circumstances to make possible whatever we are actually committed to.  Not what we say we are committed to, but what we actually ARE committed to.  

 

I write this Commentaries to keep the context of my spirituality alive.  I drive hundreds of miles across the desert to be with other rawfooders to keep the physical health conversation called 'the rawfood lifestyle' alive also. And like Nitari of the Knobi (Avatar) I give thanks to the bee that give it's life to teach me to learn to share this world with others as brothers (in pain or not in pain).  

 

Namaste, 

 

David

__________________________

 

My personal version, in first person.

 

Lesson 158

Today I learn to give as I receive.

What has been given me? (Actually, what has not?) The knowledge that I am a mind, I exist in Mind and am purely mind, sinless forever, wholly unafraid, because I was created out of Love. Nor have I left my Source, remaining as I was created. This was given me as Knowledge which I cannot lose. It was given as well to every living thing, for by that knowledge only does anything live.

I have received all this. Everyone who walks the world has received it. It is not this knowledge which I 'give', for that is what creation gave. All this cannot be learned. What, then, am I to learn to give today? My lesson yesterday evoked a theme found early in the text. Experience cannot be shared directly, in the way that vision can. The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in time to every mind. Yet that time is  determined by the mind itself, it is not taught.

That time is actually set already. It appears to be quite arbitrary. Yet there is no step along the road that I or anyone ever takes solely 'by chance'. It has already been taken by us, although it seems we have not yet embarked on it. For time only seems to go in one direction. We but undertake a journey that is already over. Yet it 'seems' to have a future that is still unknown to us.

Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. Yet there is a plan behind appearances that does not change. The script is written. When experience will come to end my doubting has been set. For I only see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining I am making it once again; reviewing mentally what has (in reality) gone by.

A teacher does not give experience, because he did not learn it. It revealed itself to him at its appointed time. But vision is a teachers gift. This he can give directly, for Christ's knowledge is not lost, and because He has a vision He can give to anyone who asks. The Father's Will and His are joined in knowledge. Yet there is a vision which the Holy Spirit sees because the Mind of Christ beholds it too.

It is Here that the joining of the world of doubt and shadows is made with the intangible. Here is a quiet place within the world made holy by forgiveness and by love. Here are all contradictions reconciled, for here the journey finally ends. Experience–unlearned, untaught, unseen–is merely there. This is beyond our goal, for it transcends what needs to be accomplished. Our concern is with Christ's vision. This we can attain.

Christ's vision has one law. It does not look upon a body, and mistake it for the Son whom God created. It beholds a light beyond the body; an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilt from dreams of sin. It sees no separation. And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees.

This can be taught; and in fact must be taught by all who would achieve it. It requires only the recognition that the world can not give anything that faintly can compare with this in value; nor can the world set up a goal that does not merely disappear when this has been perceived. And this I can give today: I can see no one as a body. I can greet him as the Son of God he is, acknowledging that he is one with me in holiness.

Thus are all his sins forgiven him, for Christ has vision that has power to overlook them all. In His forgiveness are they gone. Unseen by One in Wholeness they merely disappear, because a vision of the holiness that lies beyond them comes to take their place. It matters not what form they took, nor how enormous they appeared to be, nor who seemed to be hurt by them. They are no more. And all effects they seemed to have are gone with them, undone and never to be done.

Thus do I learn to give as I receive. And thus Christ's vision looks on me as well. This lesson is not difficult to learn, if I remember than in my brother I but see myself. If he be lost in sin, so must I be; if I see light in him, my sins have been forgiven by myself. Each brother whom you meet today provides another chance to let Christ's vision shine on me, and offer me the peace of God.

It matters not when revelation comes, for that is not of time. Yet time has still one gift to give, in which true knowledge is reflected in a way so accurate its image shares its unseen holiness; its likeness shines with its immortal love. I practice seeing with the eyes of Christ today. And by the holy gifts I give, Christ's vision looks upon all 'my-selves' as well.

 

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 157 

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

 

Today the trees called to the active monkey-in-me.  The old man who owned the out-of-season citrus orchard said (in answer to my question) "Sure, there's still grapefruit on the trees, but they're too high for anyone to reach.  But you can try.  Take as much as you want for $5".   

 

I hadn't planned for this... I was only out and about early because the nail my tire had picked up needed quick repair.  And how God had gotten me to pull into this driveway is too long a story to tell, but here I was.  It was only 9 am, but already over 90 degrees.  As I headed into the thickness of the small orchard, the ground was still wet from a recent flood irrigation, so that the peacock families wandering the tree shaded grounds with me left their prints clearly in the soft soil.  The short-horned milking goats made guttural noises from their quarters.  It was humid, and I began to sweat. 

 

To me, this was a pleasure, as sweating through this summer (and receiving the accompanying detoxification benefits) is something I am looking forward to (and have missed, since the summer of '06, which I spent in Phoenix).   I worked and sweated and climbed and reached and stretched for and won piece after piece of fruit treasure until there was no place left to put more in my car.  And all the time, I was saying, Thank you God, especially for 'this sweaty breath', or 'this aliveness high in this tree', or 'this ability to carry these heavy bags to my car'.  

 

This is the promise of our lives:  That when we will let God lead us, He will give us our joy.  Why then, do anything else?

 

Namaste, 

 

David

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My personal version, in first person.

 

Lesson 157

Into His Presence would I enter now.

Today I will be silent, and trust. Today is a special time of promise in my calendar of days. It is a time Heaven has set apart to shine upon my heart, and cast a timeless light upon this day, wherein echoes of eternity are heard. Today is holy, for it ushers in a new experience; a different kind of feeling and awareness. I have spent long days and nights in celebrating death. Today I learn to feel the joy of life.

This is another crucial turning point in my holy awakening curriculum. God adds a new dimension now; a fresh experience that sheds a transforming light on all that I have learned already, and prepares me for what I have yet to learn. It brings me to 'the door where learning ceases', and from there, I shall catch a glimpse of what lies past the highest reaches this curriculum can possibly attain. It leaves me fully 'here' for an instant, and then I go beyond it, sure of my direction and my only goal.

Today it will be given me to feel a touch of Heaven, even though I will return to 'paths of learning'. Yet I have come far enough along 'the way' to alter time sufficiently to rise above its laws, and thus walk into eternity a while. This I will learn to do increasingly, as every lesson, faithfully rehearsed, brings me more swiftly to this holy place and leaves me, for a moment, to my true Self.

God Voice will direct my practicing today, for what I ask for now is only what He wills. And having joined my will with His this day, what I am asking must be given me. Nothing is needed but today's idea to light my mind, and let it rest in still anticipation and in quiet joy, wherein I shall quickly leave the world behind.

From this day forth, my ministry takes on a genuine devotion, and a glow that travels from my fingertips to those I touch, and blesses those I look upon. A vision reaches everyone I meet, and everyone I think of, or who thinks of me. For my experience today will so transform my mind that it becomes the touchstone for the holy Thoughts of God.

My body will also be sanctified today, its only purpose being now to bring the vision of what I experience this day to light the world. I cannot give experience like this directly. Yet it leaves a vision in my eyes which I can offer everyone, that they may come the sooner to the same experience, in which the world is quietly forgot, and Heaven is remembered for a while.

As this experience increases and all goals but this become of little worth, the world to which I will return becomes a little closer to the end of time; a little more like Heaven in its ways; a little nearer its deliverance. And I who bring it light will come to see the light more sure; the vision more distinct. The time will come when I will not return in the same form in which I now appear, for I will have no need of it. Yet now while it has a purpose, it will serve it well.

Today I will embark upon a course I have not dreamed of before. But the Holy One, the Giver of the happy dreams of life, Translator of perception into truth, the holy Guide to Heaven given to me, it has dreamed for me this journey which I make and start today, with the experience this day holds out to me to be my own.

Into Christ's Presence will I enter now, serenely unaware of everything except His shining face and perfect Love. The vision of His face will stay with me, but there will be an instant which transcends all vision, even this, the holiest. This I will never teach, for I attained it not through learning. Yet the vision speaks of my rememberance of what I knew that instant, and will very surely know again.