A Course In Miracles – San Jose Karl J Vidt, ACIM Student/Teacher

Monthly Archives: August 2018

You are browsing the site archives by month.

ACIM T-21.I The Forgotten Song

August 28, 2018 1:00 pm ⋅

August 28, 2018

We have adjusted our minds to the world we made up. We have adjusted our minds to the limits we have placed on this world and, thus think we are limited. We have learned these lessons, believing they came from outside ourselves, from something we have no control over. Yet these lessons we made up, denying we have any control over what seems to affect our happiness and well-being. Some keep this world we think we “see” in our imagination, believing with all our mind that our choice is this world or nothing at all. We hate this world we learned and everything we think it serves appears to remind us we are incomplete and bitterly deprived – hell on earth.

To this seeming “truth” we adjust everything about ourselves. We see this as a necessity to avoid losing what little security we seem to glean from this world. We try and fail, disappointed again and again as we try to connect with each other meaningfully. And so we settle. We settle for loneliness, believing we must retreat to preserve what little we think we have. Stop! Look! Listen for just a moment and try to remember an ancient melody that speaks to you now.

Listen,–perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite forgotten; dim, perhaps, and yet not altogether unfamiliar, like a song whose name is long forgotten, and the circumstances in which you heard completely unremembered. Not the whole song has stayed with you, but just a little wisp of melody, attached not to a person or a place or anything particular. But you remember, from just this little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful the setting where you heard it, and how you loved those who were there and listened with you.   T-21.I.6::1-3

-The notes are nothing. Yet we have kept them with us, not for themselves, but as a soft reminder of what would make us weep if we remembered how dear it was to us. We could remember, yet we are afraid, believing we would lose the world we learned since then. Yet we know that nothing in the world we learned is half so dear as this. Let us listen, and see if we remember an ancient song we knew so long ago and held more dear than any melody we taught ourselves to cherish since.

Beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything you see and yet somehow familiar, is an arc of golden light that stretches as you look into a great and shining circle. And all the circle fills with light before your eyes. The edges of the circle disappear, and what is in it is no longer contained at all. The light expands and covers everything, extending to infinity forever shining and with no break or limit anywhere. Within it everything is joined in perfect continuity. Nor is it possible to imagine that anything could be outside, for there is nowhere that this light is not.   T-21.I.8:1-6

Here is our Vision reawakened. Here is the gift of the remembrance of who we really are, memory of what is wholly true and still within us and joined to all as surely as it is joined in us. Accept the Vision Spirit offer us. We know this ancient song of joy well. It reminds us of our wholeness. It reminds us of our completeness. It reminds us of the light of holiness that shines from the core of our being. This is the truth we have forgotten. Accept its return to our awareness. Release the limits we have placed on it. Nothing can or will be as dear as this ever present song of joy that lifts us into the present – the now – as we realize the truth that love is all we are and all that surrounds us.

What is a miracle but this reawakening? The light in one of us awakens the light in all. As we see and realize this light in each other, we are reawakening this light for everyone.

Posted in: ACIM Ch. 21 – Reason and Perception

ACIM T-21.Intro & I The Forgotten Song

August 21, 2018 1:00 pm ⋅

August 21, 2018

Is the world we see the world we want? If not, there is a simple way to change it. Simply choose another way of looking at the world. It is that simple, and we have the guidance of Spirit at our disposal if we choose to allow Spirit’s guidance. We see the world through our perception, determined by what we believe about ourselves and others and even the world. I remember the prayer response we used at my church years ago. Its words were, “My God hears my prayer. What I believe I will see.” There is incredible power in what we believe. We will see anything distorted by the lens of what we believe. This is how so many of us can witness the same event but see it so differently that some may wonder if we even saw the same event. This is the partnership of belief and perception. We project whatever we believe on the world and thus see it according to what we believe. There is, however, another way to see.

Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a cause. And that is why order of difficulty in miracles is meaningless. Everything looked upon with vision is healed and holy. Nothing perceived without it means anything. And where there is no meaning, there is chaos.   T-21.in.1:1-12

Be willing to change your mind about the world. And rather than trying this on your own from the mindset of separation, allow Spirit to guide your mind to the correct perception of the world. This probably will not happen in one fell swoop, but in steps, small or large that are appropriate for your perfect growth. Begin by allowing yourself to entertain the idea that your true nature is loving and whole and that others and the world are as well, even if you can’t see it right now. Spirit will reveal your loving wholeness to you as you are willing to receive it – in perfect time.

Do not forget the world we “see” with the body’s eyes is imagined. What the real world looks like is unknown to the body’s eyes for they are blind to reality. Because we try to see with the body’s eyes, we do not really see. Our cues for interpretation are wrong, and so we stumble and fall down upon the stones we did not recognize, but fail to be aware we can go through the doors we thought were closed, but which stand open before our unseeing eyes, waiting to welcome us. The world we want and that is our real world, is there behind those seemingly closed doors that are really open wide beckoning us to pass through.

It is not necessary for us to imagine what the world must look like. It must be seen before we recognize it for what it is. We can be shown which doors are open, and we can see where safety lies; and which way leads to darkness, which way to light. Our Higher Vision, given us by Spirit, shows us where to go. Why should we guess?

There is no need to learn through pain. And gentle lessons are acquired joyously, and are remembered gladly. What gives you happiness you want to learn and not forget. It is not this you would deny. Your question is whether the means by which this course is learned will bring to you the joy it promises. If you believed it would, the learning of it would be no problem. You are not a happy learner yet because you still remain uncertain that vision gives you more than judgment does, and you have learned that both you cannot have.  T-21.I.3:1-7

The world we seek is already available to us through our Holy Vision. However, we must choose our own Holy Vision guided by Spirit to open our Spirit eyes. Allow Spirit to grant you that guidance, for that allowing makes us a happy learner and brings the awareness of our loving wholeness and the real world to us when we do just that. Be the happy learner today. What else could you be waiting for?

Posted in: ACIM Ch. 21 – Reason and Perception

ACIM T-20.VIII The Vision of Sinlessness

August 14, 2018 1:00 pm ⋅

August 14, 2018

Our healing – our return to the awareness of our holiness – is Spirit’s goal for us. It is the return to the awareness of our true Self that has never been touched by any force that can harm us. The mistake we make is that we think we see anything real with our body’s eyes. This perception is clouded and distorted by our egoic though system rooted in the belief that we are what we are not. We believe we are broken, limited, unholy and condemned and so that is what we think we see. What if we were to entertain the thought that none of what we think we see is true, that none of it is real? The Course asks us to consider this question. Do we like what we think we see? Do we want to be a part of that world? I don’t think so. We really want something better if we are honest with ourselves.

We have the choice to accept Spirit’s gift of Vision, a way of seeing that looks beyond the appearance of the world to the truth of reality beyond. Isn’t this what we really want?

Everything looked upon with vision falls gently into place, according to the laws brought to it by Spirit’s calm and certain sight. 2 The end for everything Spirit looks upon is always sure. For it will meet Spirit’s purpose, seen in unadjusted form and suited perfectly to meet it. Destructiveness becomes benign, and sin is turned to blessing under Spirit’s gentle gaze.   T-20.VIII.6:1-4

Our egoic thought system wants none of this. It uses our relationships in ways that support its purpose, keeping us thinking we are limited and broken. Yet, Spirit transforms our relationships through the Vision It offers us – which is already ours – bringing us the reawakening of the awareness of our holiness, our limitlessness and the love and peace that are deeply rooted within us. What if we recognized this world we think we see is a hallucination? What if we really understood we made it up? What if we realized that those who seem to walk about in it, to sin and die, attack and murder and destroy themselves, are wholly unreal? Entertain this thought just for a moment.

Hallucinations disappear when they are recognized for what they are. This is the healing and the remedy. Believe them not and they are gone. And all you need to do is recognize that you did this. Once you accept this simple fact and take unto yourself the power you gave them, you are released from them. One thing is sure; hallucinations serve a purpose, and when that purpose is no longer held they disappear. Therefore, the question never is whether you want them, but always, do you want the purpose that they serve?   T-20.VIII.8:1-7

There are only two purposes possible. One is separation, the other holiness. Nothing is in between, and which purpose we choose determines what we see. What we see is simply how we elect to meet our goal. Hallucinations serve to meet the goal of madness. They are the means the outside world, projected from within, adjusts to illusion and witness to its seeming reality. It still is true that nothing is without. Yet all projections are made on nothing. It is projection that gives the “nothing” all the meaning that it holds.

When you have looked on what seemed terrifying, and seen it change to sights of loveliness and peace; when you have looked on scenes of violence and death, and watched them change to quiet views of gardens under open skies, with clear, life-giving water running happily beside them in dancing brooks that never waste away; who need persuade you to accept the gift of vision? And after vision, who is there who could refuse what must come after? Think but an instant just on this; you can behold the holiness the One gave Us. And never need you think that there is something else for you to see.   T-20.VIII.11:1-4

What will you choose now? Choose the Vision Spirit offers you now in this moment. It is the choice that transforms all you see. Your relationships will reveal their true holy purpose, to unite you in Oneness with all others. Let your mind be healed in this moment and realize the holiness of your being. Love and peace are your reward.

Posted in: ACIM Ch. 20 – The Vision of Holiness

ACIM T-20.VIII The Vision of Sinlessness

August 7, 2018 1:00 pm ⋅

August 7, 2018

My friends, indulge me for just a moment. What if our lives are perfect just as they are? What if our relationships are already holy. What if we already dwell in Heaven? What if we simply need to change how we see the world we live in? I think and believe the Curse is telling us just this. Our world appears to be anything but peaceful. Our relation ships appear to be anything but holy. And, this world appears to be anything but Heaven. When the Course asks us to look beyond the appearance of things to the holy reality beyond, it means for us to do just that. How could this possibly be so? Yet, we are not alone in changing the way we perceive this world. We are given all the help we could possibly need or want to make this so. Are we seeing with our body’s eyes

or our Spirit vision? We must learn to use and trust our Spirit Vision if we want to see clearly.

Do you not want to know your own Identity? Would you not happily exchange your doubts for certainty? Would you not willingly be free of misery, and learn again of joy? Your holy relationship offers all this to you. As it was given you, so will be its effects. And as its holy purpose was not made by you, the means by which its happy end is yours is also not of you. Rejoice in what is yours but for the asking, and think not that you need make either means or end. All this is given you who would but see another sinless. All this is given, waiting on your desire but to receive it. Vision is freely given to those who ask to see.   T-20.VIII.2:1-10

We are given Spirit’s Vision in shining light in which to look upon each other’s sinlessness and rejoice in it along with Spirit. Peace will come to all who ask for vision with real desire and sincerity of purpose. This we share with Spirit and at one with Spirit on what salvation is. Be willing to see each other sinless, so that the One may rise before our vision and give us joy. This merely asks us to be willing to allow Spirit to guide our vision to a more correct perception of our world. Think of the song, “Open my eyes that I may see.” Allow Spirit to open your Spirit eyes so you may see clearly. The world we think we now see around us is transformed by our Spirit vision to show a world full of peace, love and joy. We simply need to trust Spirit to show us this real world and release our attachment to the world we think we see. Reality is there for the seeing beyond the chaos and misery we think is real.

This is our purpose now, and the vision that makes it ours is ready to be realized. We have the vision that enables us to see beyond the body. And as we look upon each other, we will see an altar to our Creator glowing with radiant purity and sparkling with the shining lilies we laid upon it. May we relax into this light. May we allow it to well up within us to shine brightly for all to recognize as a reflection of their own light. We are truly the light of the world.

Everything looked upon with vision falls gently into place, according to the laws brought to it by Spirit’s calm and certain sight. The end for everything Spirit looks upon is always sure. For it will meet Spirit’s purpose, seen in unadjusted form and suited perfectly to meet it. Destructiveness becomes benign, and sin is turned to blessing under Spirit’s gentle gaze.   T-20.VIII.6:1-6

Ask Spirit to reopen your Spirit eyes so you may see clearly. The reward is the return f our awareness of our relationships’ holiness and our own holiness. We also see the world clearly without the distortion our egoic mind places on it. Open you Spirit vision and let the light of the world shine through you to all who wish to see clearly. Allow vision to fall gently into place. This needs merely an allowing rather than any great effort. Allow reality and peace to reveal all that is loving, peaceful and holy to you and let it be so.

Posted in: ACIM Ch. 20 – The Vision of Holiness