II. SECTION 9. What is the Second Coming?
Lesson 304 Let Not My World Obscure The Sight Of Christ
- I can obscure my holy sight if I intrude my world upon it. Nor can I behold the holy sights Christ looks upon, unless it is His vision that I use. Perception is a mirror, not a fact. And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward. I would bless the world by looking on it through the eyes of Christ. And I will look upon the certain signs that all my sins have been forgiven me.
- You lead me from the darkness to the light, from sin to holiness. Let me forgive, and thus receive salvation for the world. It is Your gift, my Father, given me to offer to Your holy Son, that he may find again the memory of You, and of Your Son as You created him.[1]
This morning I learned firsthand how our holy sight is obscured when we let our world intrude upon it. James and I were sitting in our cozy living room with hot cups of coffee listening to Lesson 298. This is an incredible lesson about our love for our Father and for His Son. As we listened to my voice read the lesson from the blog post, I realized with a growing sense of shock that I was not hearing the gentle voice of love. I was not hearing the peaceful, calm voice of forgiveness. The longer we listened to the audio that I posted the other day, the more apparent a message of anger, hurt, and offense.
Listening to my own recorded voice spouting forth bitterness toward how I perceived the world’s religions have misrepresented God, I realized that I was not teaching or sharing my love for God, and for His Son. Instead, I was entering into the ego’s realm of hatred; I was casting judgment; I was offering condemnation. I was building a case! Just because I have been hurt by religion and the different interpretations of the bible, just because I witnessed abuse and misuse in the name of God and unkind practices, I had allowed my world, my past, to obscure the sight of Christ. It was a big eye-opener. I sat there thinking thoughts of defeat. I have no right at all to be teaching A Course in Miracles. I am not teaching love for God or for His Son. I have brought my world, my past, all the things I made my life out to be and have let it stand between me and truly knowing Christ. I have missed the whole point! It must have been a big mistake.
Yes, it was a mistake, and it was through this mistake that I learned the true meaning of today’s lesson, in true forgiveness. James had not heard love and forgiveness either. “That is not good,” he said, simply. “You need to make it right.” And so make it right I did. I prayed and asked God to correct me. As I humbly asked for correction and true perception, I began to see the Bible and the other holy books of the world in a new light. I began to see that everything has its time and place and purpose. I began to see the blessings that our religions offer and the ways in which the rites and rituals that had so grated upon my sensibilities serve a higher, symbolic purpose that, in my arrogance and pride, had failed to make sense.
As I bowed my head before the vision of Christ and handed over my world, my past, my hurts, rage and sorrow, I could feel the fanatical indignation, the angry spite, the emotional turmoil fall away. What a stooge it would make of me – teaching love and forgiveness and yet attacking other people’s belief systems! How blind I had been to my own projections.
Perception is a mirror, not a fact. Where I perceived evil, I saw evil, I saw hurt and pain, I saw lies and deception. Only when I saw that my world view was obscuring the sight of Christ, could I finally and completely let it go. I do not want that world view! I choose to see only with the eyes of Christ. Christ is lifted up when I put down my weapons, when I no longer attack what I do not understand, when I bear no ill will toward that which had blinded me. Through His vision, I see the religious institutions of the world in the light of love and forgiveness. I learned today that everything teaches, exhorts, and leads us from darkness to the light, from sin to holiness when we forgive, when we put down our weapons, when we offer healing and salvation instead of bitterness and reproach.
Holy Spirit instructed me to stop allowing the world I made to interfere with my devotion to Him. I asked my husband to forgive me. I asked our study group to forgive me. I ask you to forgive me for the ways in which I used my world to obstruct His vision. But most of all I forgive myself for not recognizing the grace extended to me through organized religion. What lessons I have learned from the Bible and other ancient texts. What courageous men and women have carried the light forward through time.
Today as I asked Holy Spirit to shine His light anew in the still dark places of my mind and soul, I renewed my commitment to accepting the vision of Christ. This is God’s gift to me, and this is the vision I choose to share with you.
[1] A Course In Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 304. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 451.
Audio credit: the friar patch @ www.eckiefriar.com
