Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
Lesson 43 God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.
- Perception is not an attribute of God. His is the realm of knowledge. Yet He has created the Holy Spirit as the mediator between perception and knowledge. Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in your mind. With this link with God, perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge. That is its function as the Holy Spirit sees it. Therefore, that is its function in truth.
- In God you cannot see. Perception has no function in God and does not exist. Yet in salvation, which is the undoing of what never was, perception has a mighty purpose. Made by the Son of God for an unholy purpose, it must become the means for the restoration of his holiness to his awareness. Perception has no meaning. yet does the Holy Spirit give it a meaning very close to God’s. Healed perception becomes the means by which the Son of God forgives his brother, and thus forgives himself.
- You cannot see apart from God because you cannot be apart from God. Whatever you do you do in him, because whatever you think, you think with His mind. If vision is real, and it is real to the extent to which it shares the Holy Spirit’s purpose, then you cannot see apart from God.
- Three five-minute practice periods are required today, one as early and one as late as possible in the day. The third may be undertaken at the most convenient and suitable time that circumstances and readiness permit. At the beginning of these practice periods, repeat the idea for today to yourself with eyes open. Then glance around you for a short time, applying the idea specifically to what you see. Four or five subjects for this phase of the practice period are sufficient. You might say, for example: God is my source. I cannot see this desk apart from Him. God is my source. I cannot see that picture apart from Him.
- Although this part of the exercise period should be relatively short, be sure that you select the subjects for this phase of practice indiscriminately, without self-directed inclusion or exclusion. For the second and longer phase, close your eyes, repeat today’s idea again, and then let whatever relevant thoughts occur to you add to the idea in your own personal way, thoughts such as: I see through the eyes of forgiveness. I see the world as blessed. The world can show me myself. I see my own thoughts, which are like God’s. Any thought related more or less directly to today’s idea is suitable. Their thoughts need not bear any obvious relationship to the idea, but they should not be in opposition to it.
- If you find your mind wandering; if you begin to be aware of thoughts which are clearly out of accord with today’s idea, or if you seem to be unable to think of anything, open your eyes, repeat the first phase of the exercise, and then attempt the second phase again. Do not allow any protracted period to occur in which you become preoccupied with irrelevant thoughts. Return to the first phase of the exercises as often as necessary to prevent this.
- In applying today’s idea in the shorter practice periods, the form may vary according to the circumstances and situations in which you find yourself during the day. When you are with someone else, for example, try to remember to tell him silently: God is my source. I cannot see you apart from Him. This form is equally applicable to strangers as it is to those you think are closer to you. In fact, try not to make distinctions of this kind at all.
- Today’s idea should also be applied throughout the day to various situations and events that may occur, particularly to those which seems to distress you in any way. For this purpose, apply the idea in this form: God is my source I cannot see this apart from Him.
- If no particular subject presents itself to your awareness at the time, merely repeat the idea in its original form. Try today not to allow any long periods of time to slip by without remembering today’s idea, and thus remembering your function. [1]
Notes and Personal Application (2019): God is my Source. I cannot see James apart from Him. God is my Source. I cannot see this trip apart from Him. God is my Source. I cannot see my aunt and uncle apart from Him. God is my Source. I cannot see Mark and Yvonne apart from Him. God is my Source. I cannot see the clerk apart from Him.
Notes and Personal Application (2020): This morning we did not have our devotions together. I was way too sleepy and went back to bed while my husband drove to work. There was the cat on my lap – I had been up in the night sitting on the recliner writing in my journal. And we slept like that – Velvet the gray kitty and I all morning long to make up for our night prowl. For today’s blog, I will share the first devotional practice that was recorded in my ACIM journal:
Phase 1: (Eyes open) God is my Source. I cannot see the diplomas apart from Him. I cannot see my briefcase apart from Him. I cannot see the wax melter apart from Him. I cannot see my cup away from him. God is my Source. I cannot see my coffee apart from Him. I can not see the tissues away from Him. I cannot see my computer away from Him. I cannot see A Course in Miracles curriculum away from Him. God is my Source. I cannot see the glass case apart from Him. I cannot see the desk apart from Him. I cannot see the paper shredder apart from Him. I cannot see the light switch apart from Him. God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.
Phase 2: (Eyes closed). God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him. I cannot see James apart from God. God knows James and I can only truly see the James with God. What I think I see in James is my perception of James which is clouded by our egos. Sometimes I see him one way, sometimes another. With God, I only see Love. I cannot see my closest and oldest friend apart from God. She belongs to God and was made by God. I cannot know her or see her apart from God. If I see her without God, I see both good and bad; I see both admirable traits and not-so-admirable traits! My judgments about her cloud my perception of her, both good and not-so-good. I can only love her and see her for what and who she is in God. I cannot see my past apart from God. God created me with love and to be love. The unloving thoughts and behaviors that I engaged in were not of God and therefore were not real or everlasting. They do not define me! I cannot see all those experiences in the past apart from God or I would be full of sorrow, shame, and a heavy load of guilt. Those people who I think have hurt, betrayed, and thrown me in a pit of loneliness and despair because they rejected me or failed to see who and what I really am? They are not the mean and nasty people that I would think apart from God. I can only see who they really are with God, because He is my Source and He is their Source. When they reject me, they are not rejecting God. When I know that God is in control of all things, I can say hallelujah that they hurt me and rejected me because otherwise I may have wasted time with them and ended up hurting and rejecting them. I am not their victim. They did me a favor. I cannot see all those old photographs apart from God. Those old photographs mean nothing to me apart from God. With God I can look upon them with love and let them go; without God I feel compelled to save them and feel burdened by them. I cannot see Jared apart from God. I like to think that Jared is mine and I feel quite possessive about this at times, but Jared belongs to God. I cannot know him or fully appreciate him apart from God! He is not mine to boss around, preach at, or convert to my way of thinking and being. He has his own process as a Son of God. I cannot see my phone apart from God. This phone is a marvel to me, but it is only a magical tool and has no meaning apart from God. Everything I would do with it apart from God would amount to be a big zero. Let me realize this and not waste my time looking at it all the time. I cannot see a particular relative apart from God. All I see when I think of her are the mean tricks she has played on me, the lies she has told people, and how she has never said she is sorry. But God created her; He loves her, and she has done nothing to me that I did not have coming! I cannot see another particular loved one apart from God. When I see her, I see someone with bad manners, a whiner who is in constant need. I see someone who never reaches for her wallet. I see someone who loves to play the victim and get pity when at this time in her life she should be in a place to help others instead of still getting help. God does not see what I see. God sees her beauty, graciousness, and goodness. God sees her divinity and holiness. God sees her hard work and her contributions. I can only see her reality with the gift of God, the Holy Spirit’s perception. I pray for the Holy Spirit’s perception. I am so ready to completely hand over my parched perception to Holy Spirit, otherwise how can I love others and therefore accept God’s love for myself?
Today when someone calls or I think of someone, I will follow through with this silent practice and apply today’s lesson idea: “God is my Source. I cannot see you apart from God.” When things occur today in my thoughts or in the outside world, I will remind myself: “God is my Source. I cannot see this apart from Him.”
Without Holy Spirit, our perception remains darkened and suspicious, judgmental, anxious and fearful. Knowing God and having knowledge would be, forever, unavailable to us. In other words we would be trapped in the separated world of condemnation, neediness, fear, and limitations. Jesus tells us in today’s lesson that the function of Holy Spirit is to purify and transform our current state of perception so that it will lead us to the everlasting state of knowledge.
Our physical senses will only inform us of survival in a chaotic and unstable world of friends, foes, danger, and manipulation. Our physical senses do not see or experience God. Evolved from the separation and driven by an unholy purpose, our perceptions can be transformed by the Holy Spirit when we ask for it and continue to ask for it! This Voice for God uses our transformed perception to see the Sons of God as one. To love others as we love ourselves. To forgive others as we forgive ourselves. This changed perception is the means that will bring us home to the Sonship of God, our true reality in Christ. Healed, our perception becomes the way by which we forgive one another and ourselves for separating ourselves from God and making a world that is not based upon love and abundance.
Our practice periods instill this idea within our minds and remind us that we have kidded ourselves long enough. Our eyes behold a thousand things and thousands more and yet we are only seeing a hallucination, a meaningless drama, a world of trauma, spite, and shifting loyalties. We forget who and what we really are. Polluted by our ego’s insistent and ongoing neediness, its strivings, comparisons, fights, and spite, we can only project this upon our families, friendships, communities, and world, creating a hellish realm in which fear, anxiety, and loneliness stains our holy perception.
Remind yourself as often as possible today: God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him. And know that this is true.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 43 God is my Source…Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). pp. 67-68.
the friar patch 