ACIM Workbook Lesson 265 – for Thursday, September 22, 2011
Affirmation: “Creation’s gentleness is all I see.”
“I have indeed misunderstood the world, because I laid my sins on it and saw them looking back at me. How fierce they seemed! And how deceived was I to think that what I feared was in the world, instead of in my mind alone.
“In quiet would I look upon the world, which but reflects Your Thoughts, and mine as well. Let me remember that they are the same, and I will see creation’s gentleness. (WB428)”
Reflections:
1 – Projection Makes Perception
We are told in A Course in Miracles that “projection makes perception.” This is the ultimate truth, I believe, but we find it difficult to understand, and our faith seems to fail us when the perception is especially upsetting. The theological underpinnings of this quotation is that God is within, and that this world is an illusion that we are projecting from the egoic part of our minds. What we perceive is thus the mass hallucination in which this world is caught. Once we are Awakened, we do in fact perceive differently. And even before Awakening, our dreams (our illusions that we perceive outwardly) become gentler. The Holy Spirit offers happy dreams to us, to prepare us for Awakening. We need these gentle dreams, or we would be much too terrified by the light of Awakening that we would be in terror from the glimpses that revelation may give us.
2 – No Need to Live Fearful Dreams
So our minds make the perception of this world. And our brothers and sisters are caught in the same perception, making us each guilty of reinforcing the fear in each other. We would not reinforce fear in ourselves or in others today. We would recognize that by our guilt we are making a hell for ourselves. We would ask that we forgive ourselves, that we see that we are actually guilty only in illusion. Our real Self is still as God created us. We do not have to live fearful dreams. We can look past the fear in our brothers and sisters to see Christ in them. To perceive Christ in others is a step toward Awakening (an interpretation, not stated in ACIM).
3 – Mighty Companions Walk with Us
Surely if we knew who walked beside us, we would be fearful no more–regardless of what the world might do to us. Mighty companions go with us, according to ACIM. We often pretend, in our scripts, that we are lost and alone, but this is never true. We need to ask, seriously, why we are writing such scripts. And we need to pray for guidance to write a better script. (The “fearful script” paraphrases are from the Text.)
4 – May We Walk Gently
May we walk gently through the world today. And may we see God’s light shine upon us, calming our minds and returning them to sanity, a bit at the time.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
May I experience the joy of knowing today that mighty companions accompany me on my journey. I am never alone, even though when I am depressed, I think that I am very alone indeed. I feel unloved at such times. Yet I know that I am misperceiving. You love me, even when nobody else seems to feel anything special for me. And I know that more than just You love me. Help me to overcome depression, when it hits out of the blue, and may I come to understand the projection makes perception.
May I choose to have a cleansed perception today. This cleansed perception will encourage me to realize that I am loved, not only by You, but by the people who are closest to me in this world. And, I am promised by You, mighty companions from the Other Side accompany me also.
Thank You.
Amen.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 