Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
Lesson 27 Above all else I want to see.
- Today’s idea expresses something stronger than mere determination. It gives vision priority among your desires. You may feel hesitant about using the idea, on the grounds that you are not sure you really mean it. This does not matter. The purpose of today’s exercise is to bring the time when the idea will be wholly true a little nearer.
- There may be a great temptation to believe that some sort of sacrifice is being asked of you when you say you want to see above all else. If you become uneasy about the lack of reservation involved, add: Vision has no cost to anyone. If fear persists, add further: It can only bless.
- The idea for today needs many repetitions for maximum benefit. It should be used at least every half hour, and more if possible. You might try for every fifteen or twenty minutes. It is recommended that you set a definite time interval for using the idea when you wake or shortly afterwards and attempt to adhere to it throughout the day. It will not be difficult to do this, even if you are engaged in conversation, or otherwise occupied at the time. You can still repeat one short sentence to yourself without disturbing anything.
- The real question is, how often will you remember? How much do you want today’s idea to be true? Answer one of these questions, and you have answered the other. You will probably miss several applications, and perhaps quite a number. Do not be disturbed by this but do try to keep on your schedule from then on. If only once during the day you feel that you were perfectly sincere while you were repeating today’s idea, you can be sure that you have saved yourself many years of effort.[1]
Notes and Personal Application (2019): Let this be my mantra for today: Above all else I want to see.
I did not follow the guidelines and remember to say this at assigned intervals throughout the day. However, I did say it and I did mean it when I said it. And I did begin to see. And what I saw did make me uncomfortable, but at least I saw it and see where I am coming from and where I want to go. What did I see? I see that all the worldly systems that are meant to save us, protect us, defend us, and teach us are not of God. I see that this realm appears as a vast network of systematic and intentional denial of God’s love and devotion to us as His Sons. I see that the very system that recognizes our need for God has made a perverted means of worshipping and fearing God, rather than loving and trusting God. I see that the world and the things of the world, whether perceived as good or bad, is of equal value – nothing. Rich or poor, famous or obscure, educated or uneducated, young or old, good family or dysfunctional one – introverted or extroverted, it means nothing without God. The ego is not our friend and it can never be healthy, because all manner of cruelty and selfishness is required in this realm to survive to die another day. This is not the real world.
To avoid the discomfort, I remembered that I am not required to do anything about this. No sacrifice is required of me, no cost. This vision can only bless. It may seem stark and terrible, but we must walk through the valley of the shadow of death before we return to the reality of God.
I am not required to live as a hermit and write gospel tracts of doom and gloom that make the world seem real and deserving of God’s wrath. I am not required to cry over all the lost souls and pour out my heart and soul for the unsaved. All I am to do is learn what separation is so that I can determine to awaken and return to my Father. I am not here to fight the systems of the world, to blather on about them and join the conspiracy theorists. I am here to awaken and to awaken those whom God sends to me.
Above all else I want to see. There is nothing here in this world that would tempt me from my path – the world can offer me no lasting happiness, joy, or purpose. Above all else, I want to see.
Notes and Personal Application (2020): Today we discussed what seeing means – seeing the unreality of this world and the reality of God’s Kingdom, recognizing that this is separation, and this is the ego’s realm where everything withers, rots, and dies. The hellish realm is only the hellish realm until we recognize it for what it is and choose to put our trust in God – then, transformed by love and forgiveness, this realm is transformed with purpose and meaning as we are prepared to return to God.
Today we will say, every chance we get, Above all else I want to see. If we are tempted to be afraid of reality- if we are tempted to see the world as real and involve ourselves in its shifting cycles of pleasures and sorrows, ups and downs, light and darkness – we will remind ourselves that seeing demands no sacrifice; that true vision will only bless us. It is the ego that would tempt us to accept this world as real – to be distracted by its attractions that promise survival to die another day, to engage in its shifting loyalties and special relationships, and accept certain sorrow in place of everlasting joy and happiness. Let us determine to remember our holy practice today and say every chance we get:
Above all else I want to see.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 27 Above all else…Circle of Atonement, Complete and Annotated Edition, 2017. pp 979-980.
the friar patch 