LESSON 44
God is the light in which I see.
Today we are continuing the idea for yesterday, adding another dimension to it. You cannot see in darkness, and you cannot make light. You can make darkness and then think you see in it, but light reflects life, and is therefore an aspect of creation. Creation and darkness cannot coexist, but light and life must go together, being but different aspects of creation.
In order to see, you must recognize that light is within, not without. You do not see outside yourself, nor is the equipment for seeing outside you. An essential part of this equipment is the light that makes seeing possible. It is with you always, making vision possible in every circumstance.
Today we are going to attempt to reach that light. For this purpose, we will use a form of exercise which has been suggested before, and which we will utilize increasingly. It is a particularly difficult form for the undisciplined mind, and represents a major goal of mind training. It requires precisely what the untrained mind lacks. Yet this training must be accomplished if you are to see.
Have at least three practice periods today, each lasting three to five minutes. A longer time is highly recommended, but only if you find the time slipping by with little or no sense of strain. The form of practice we will use today is the most natural and easy one in the world for the trained mind, just as it seems to be the most unnatural and difficult for the untrained mind.
Your mind is no longer wholly untrained. You are quite ready to learn the form of exercise we will use today, but you may find that you will encounter strong resistance. The reason is very simple. While you practice in this way, you leave behind everything that you now believe, and all the thoughts that you have made up. Properly speaking, this is the release from hell. Yet perceived through the ego's eyes, it is loss of identity and a descent into hell.
If you can stand aside from the ego by ever so little, you will have no difficulty in recognizing that its opposition and its fears are meaningless. You might find it helpful to remind yourself, from time to time, that to reach light is to escape from darkness, whatever you may believe to the contrary. God is the light in which you see. You are attempting to reach Him.
Begin the practice period by repeating today's idea with your eyes open, and close them slowly, repeating the idea several times more. Then try to sink into your mind, letting go every kind of interference and intrusion by quietly sinking past them. Your mind cannot be stopped in this unless you choose to stop it. It is merely taking its natural course. Try to observe your passing thoughts without involvement, and slip quietly by them.
While no particular approach is advocated for this form of exercise, what is needful is a sense of the importance of what you are doing; its inestimable value to you, and an awareness that you are attempting something very holy. Salvation is your happiest accomplishment. It is also the only one that has any meaning, because it is the only one that has any real use to you at all.
If resistance rises in any form, pause long enough to repeat today's idea, keeping your eyes closed unless you are aware of fear. In that case, you will probably find it more reassuring to open your eyes briefly. Try, however, to return to the exercises with eyes closed as soon as possible.
If you are doing the exercises correctly, you should experience some sense of relaxation, and even a feeling that you are approaching, if not actually entering into light. Try to think of light, formless and without limit, as you pass by the thoughts of this world. 3 And do not forget that they cannot hold you to the world unless you give them the power to do so.
Throughout the day repeat the idea often, with eyes open or closed as seems better to you at the time. But do not forget. Above all, be determined not to forget today.
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Lesson 44
“God is the light in which I see.”
The Light of God is always there in our minds. It is not outside. We may not be aware of It, but It never really goes away. In truth, the Light of God is all there is to see. If we choose to hide from it, we will not experience it. Today’s lesson involves accepting the Light that is always there, accepting the Love that is always there.
There is never any coercion to make us accept the Light. It is there when we choose it. When we deny the Light through dissociation, we do not experience It. It is all about willingness. As I practice today, I expand my willingness to accept the Light of God a little bit more. Jesus asks me to consistently practice this lesson. He knows that it is one of the most important things I can do.
Accepting the Light I am helps me see that the Light of God is all there is to see. There are no problems in the Light, only peace, joy and happiness. I can relax now. I accept the means to return to the Light as I practice it with willingness today.
Today’s lesson is teaching me a new way of seeing. Its pointing out that what I have called seeing is not really seeing at all. By telling me that the Light for seeing is not outside me, it tells me that all the things I think I see with the body’s eyes are not really seeing. In fact, by saying the equipment for seeing is not outside me, its telling me that the body’s eyes are not the means for seeing that it is talking about here. So it must be talking about an inner seeing, a metaphysical seeing, beyond the physical.
In other parts of the course it tells me that the body was made as a fence to keep God and ‘others’ out, to wall off a private domain I could call my own. Yet this private domain is achieved at the cost of seeing. I cannot believe that a private domain with private thoughts and a unique identity is real and experience the unity of God’s Love.
This lesson is the beginning of practice in sinking past the fence to allow a taste of the freedom that comes with accepting God’s unifying Love. It is always there. My only job is to let go of trying to use the wrong equipment and choose the Light of God as my source of seeing. It is a process of letting go of what I have valued in error and accepting that the most important thing I can do is to accept the Light of God that is already in me, is me. God is the Light in which I see. In God’s Light I see only innocence, only safety, only Love and unity. That is my one goal.
As I set my intention to connect with the Light within, I begin to watch the thoughts my mind produces. I watch the parade of thoughts come and go, rise and fall, and I simply let it be. As I allow my mind to detach itself from these thoughts, the natural state of my inner peace begins to emerge. The Light of my Beingness begins to grow and expand and fill my awareness. Within this inner Light there is only perfect peace, perfect holiness, perfect serenity. This is the peace that passeth all understanding. In this place I am perfect, whole and complete. I choose today to go to this place of my inner peace often to remind me of the truth of my Self and my brother’s. “God is the Light in which I see.”
As I choose to remember that God lives within me and I am an extension of His, I realize that I need to allow His sight from within me to light my way and look through the eyes of Love rather than my physical eyes for all my decisions in life that I make.
When I choose to see only love through my eyes and really be conscious of His presence within me to lead the way in all I do and say I will be seeing through the eyes of God and not my own. To see through the eyes of God is to only see Love in all I do and only see patience and grace in everything I say and do. To see through the eyes of God and allow Him to light my way I am living in a state of grace and peace! What a way to live!!
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