We are finished with the review and now have a long Lesson in front of us. "Miracles are seen in light." It follows the Review of Lesson 89, which reminds us that grievances hide miracles. "The miracle is always there. Its presence is not caused by your vision; its absence is not the result of your failure to see. It is only your awareness of miracles that is affected." (W.91.1.4-6)
Just because we don't see them does not mean they are not there. The reason they are always there is because the truth is already in our minds. The Holy Spirit is in our minds, but we block awareness of His presence with our ego thought system of guilt, fear, attack and grievances.
Miracles are only seen in light. "You will see them in the light; you will not see them in the dark." (W.91.1.7) When we continue to turn to the ego for answers, we will experience darkness. While this darkness, which we think of as our reality, persists, it makes the idea of light meaningless to us. Only the darkness seems meaningful and real to us. This is because we put our faith in what the body's eyes show us.
What is this darkness? Darkness is all our judgments, our belief that what we see with our eyes is reality, our belief that we are bodies, our grievances, our perceptions of differences, and indeed it is our conditioned, deceived mind. Darkness is everything we have taught ourselves, which Jesus describes as a "giant learning feat," (T.31.I.2.7)(ACIM OE T.31.I.2) and "is indeed incredible." (T.31.I.2.7)(ACIM OE T.31.I.2) It is so incredible, Jesus tells us, that the entire world was made by the power of this ability. Now we need help in undoing what we have made. It is not something we can do on our own because the ego will never undo itself. We have over-learned what the ego has taught us as true, and we have faith in what we see with our eyes. We believe our eyes show us what is real. "You do not doubt the images they show you are reality." (W.91.3.4) This is where we put our faith. "Your faith lies in the darkness, not the light." (W.91.3.5) We look out on the devastation with our eyes and believe what we see is real, but what our eyes show us is not true. It is all part of the darkness. Physical sight, according to the Course, is not real seeing. In order to really see, we need vision.
That is why it takes a lot of time and a lot of work to unlearn this. Our identity with our body and our personality and self-concept is very much held up by our investment in it. The world was made as evidence that what we see and experience is the truth. What we are now being taught is a new way of seeing. This is not about what our eyes see, but what our state of mind and perspective is. In essence, we ultimately come to see as the Holy Spirit "sees," through the eyes of forgiveness. When we see through His perception, we see our dark thoughts, but we see them without judgment. Now, instead of seeing a dark world, we see the real world that shines with innocence and beauty. We see beyond appearances.
This is a challenging process for us because we are so very invested in our individuality and our special, unique self, seemingly trapped in these bodies. Therefore, it seems that what we are told by Jesus is fiction and what we experience in our lives is fact. What we believe about ourselves and the world seems to be more solid and more true than what he is showing us. That is why, until we are willing to admit we are wrong about how we perceive, we won't take this first step on the road to truth. We are actually seeing and experiencing what is not there. It is all illusory, but behind it is the truth. Just because we don't accept this does not mean it is not there. We block it by searching for answers where they are not. When we are willing to admit our way has not brought us happiness, we become willing to look for a better way. It requires that we begin to withdraw our faith from our investment in the world and the body, and surrender our way of seeing.
The miracle is simply the correction for our current thinking. It shifts our perception from how we now see. The Holy Spirit is that Correction. When we see that our way is wrong and our happiness cannot be found in the world, we are then willing to ask for the correction. That is a great beginning.
If we are doing this Course, we have a degree of willingness to change. Jesus says it is impossible for us to reverse our faith from the darkness to the light by ourselves. However, we are assured that our small willingness and our little efforts have strong support! "Your efforts, however little they may be, have strong support. Did you but realize how great this strength, your doubts would vanish." (W.91.4.1-2) At the core of change is simply our desire for it.
We are not doing this work by ourselves. We have no idea of how much support we have. We walk with mighty companions who reinforce every step we take on this journey. If we realized just how great this strength available to us is, he tells us "your doubts would vanish." (W.91.4.2)
Only when we feel this strength will we no longer have doubt, and this is what "makes all miracles within your easy reach." (W.91.4.4) The only thing that hides miracles from us is our "sense of weakness." (W.91.4.5) We feel weak, helpless, and limited when we think our reality is limited by our bodily identity and all the vulnerability that goes with that. We feel weak when we rely on our limited understanding, looking for answers where they don't exist.
Bodies do have limitations. When we invest our belief in the reality of the body, which we all do, we feel weak and vulnerable. We won't let go of our belief that we are bodies, unless we know there is something better to take its place. We will continue to believe in our reality as a body, unless we have an experience of something else. It is more than an awareness or a feeling. It is an experience of the Self we are. It is what the entire Course is leading us to. When we have the experience of letting go of our bodily reality, even for a brief moment, something shifts in our minds. This is the miracle. The miracle changes how we see things. It changes our perception. It changes our investment in the body where we see it as an end in everything we do. Jesus is showing us it is simply a tool, a communication device, and need not be the focus of all our attention. Its well-being is assured when the mind is healed.
It does not happen all at once, or it would be too terrifying for us. What is blocking the truth of who we are is our judgments, grievances and attacks that conceal the truth. The miracle helps to slowly undo these thoughts, as we turn to ask for help to see through the eyes of love. It takes great willingness to allow our mistaken thoughts to be corrected. Our stubborn resistance hurts us. It is harder to stay in resistance than it is to surrender to the truth within. When we are tempted to judge a brother today, we can turn to Jesus and ask him to help us see our brother as he does. When we feel unworthy, we can ask for help to accept our true identity as innocent, worthy beyond measure and perfect in our holiness. When we are anxious, we can ask for correction for this thought, so it can be replaced by peace. As I allow all my mistaken thoughts to be corrected, I will experience more peace and joy.
Jesus demonstrated his true reality. "The Resurrection demonstrated that NOTHING can destroy truth. Good can withstand ANY form of evil, because light abolishes ALL forms of darkness. The Atonement [the resurrection] is thus the perfect lesson. It is the final demonstration that all of the other Lessons which I taught are true." (UrText.T.3.C.11.) According to this, the resurrection was a demonstration that nothing can destroy three things: truth, goodness, and light. Jesus clearly symbolized truth, goodness, and light. He appeared to have been destroyed and yet he wasn't because, like us, his reality was not his body. He emerged from the experience intact, and unscathed.
In our lives, the meaning of the resurrection can be captured in the following lines, which are worth spending some time on:
No matter how much people attack me, they can't destroy the truth in me.
No matter how much they misperceive me, they can have no influence at all on what I am.
No matter how much malice assaults me, the life in me can't be changed in any way.
The good in me can withstand any form of evil.
The light in me abolishes all forms of darkness.
No matter what the world does to me, my life remains unlimited, for I am God's Son.
That is what Jesus demonstrated with his resurrection. It was not God's demonstration that Jesus was divine. It was Jesus' demonstration that we are all divine, that we are all deathless (in the fullest sense of the word). "The resurrection demonstrated that nothing can destroy truth." (T.3.I.7.6)(ACIM OE T.3.III.18) "Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather that I did not die by demonstrating that I live in you." (T.11.VI.7.3-4)(ACIM OE T.10.VII.65)
It is not helpful simply to deny we are a body and hope this idea sinks in. Jesus is just asking us to see that maybe we have been wrong about ourselves. Maybe we have been listening to the wrong teacher. Jesus is talking to the part of our minds that is always making the choice for the ego or for the Holy Spirit. He is not asking us to give up the body, only to think more deeply about our reality. "If you are not a body, what are you?" (W.91.7.1) When we ask this question, Jesus recognizes the answer is terrifying to us, and it must be replaced with something else. "You need to feel something to put your faith in, as you lift it from the body. You need a real experience of something else, something more solid and more sure; more worthy of your faith and really there." (W.91.7.3-4)
He is gently leading us from our belief in this reality to recognizing there truly is something beyond our egos. "I am not weak, but strong. I am not helpless, but all powerful. I am not limited, but unlimited. I am not doubtful, but certain. I am not an illusion, but a reality. I cannot see in darkness, but in light." (W.91.8.4-9) In order to experience the truth of these statements, we need to recognize how we are blocking the truth, be willing to look at our interfering thoughts and bring them to the light. It is the beginning of recognizing that maybe we have been wrong about ourselves.
Not to know who we are is terrifying to us. We are told, "There is no statement that the world is more afraid to hear than this: I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself." (T.31.V.17.6-7)
Putting all we believe about ourselves to question is the beginning of the undoing of the thoughts system of the ego. We begin by looking at our mistaken thoughts about ourselves and allowing them to be corrected. (W.91.8.2) We basic bring our illusions of ourselves to the truth, but to do so requires a great deal of awareness. Watching our thoughts is important. Looking at our inadequacies, unworthiness, self hatred, jealousies, and neediness, all requires great honesty. By looking at these thoughts without judgment and merely taking an inventory of what comes up, healing can happen.
He tells us to be "confident that your efforts, however meager, are fully supported by the strength of God and all His Thoughts." (W.91.10.1) Remember, it is the application of these thoughts in our day-to-day lives that brings about vision. With each opportunity to choose again, the Holy Spirit substitutes the happy dream where thoughts of peace replace attack thoughts.
It is very easy to join with weakness if we listen to the ego. We can get discouraged on this journey, but the perfect Lesson appears just when we need to hear the truth. Today, I experienced doubt, feelings of helplessness, limitation, and frustration, and noticed how the ego tries to hang onto these tantrums. I am reminded today by this Lesson that the part of the mind that remembers the truth is the strength in me and is always there. Some days the challenges that show up in my day make the application of the Lessons even more compelling. This is such a day. While I am determined, I try not to fight myself. When I do, I recognize the ego gets more resistant. I am willing to concede I don't understand anything today. I only know these mistaken thoughts can be corrected. At least I can decide I do not like the way I feel and I choose the feelings I experience, so another choice can be made when I am ready.
By being willing to look at my interfering thoughts and taking responsibility for them, I can experience the miracle. Bringing these thoughts to the truth is how I can experience that the thoughts I identify with today are not the truth about me. While my efforts may seem meager today, they are fully supported by the strength of God. He reminds me today "all sense of weakness is associated with the belief you are a body, a belief that is mistaken and deserves no faith." (W.91.9.3) This is where all of my sense of unworthiness and suffering comes from. If I can try to remove my faith from the body, "if only for a moment," (W.91.9.4) a shift will be made to that which is "more worthy in you as we go along." (W.91.9.5) We make this effort today to bring all that is false to the truth, so the miracle can shine forth. We meet each temptation to hold onto false concepts with the words of this lesson. The truth is true and nothing else is true. Watching our minds today is important in recognizing how much we want this world and our thoughts about it to be true.
Love and blessings, Sarah
