Lesson 108

“To give and to receive are one in truth.”

The operative words here are “IN TRUTH.”"

A Course in Miracles teaches you to stop relating to the body and form, and to start relating only to what is true. This requires a new set of eyes, different than the ones you’re used to seeing with your entire life. You need Christ VISION to see what is true.

The truth is always there for you to see – it’s standing in clear open sunlight, right in front of you, IN YOU, it does not hide – but in order to see truth (as clearly as you see form) you must change your perception of what you are looking at in every situation.

You have to literally switch over from one set of eyes to Christ’s eyes.

I have an computer calendar which connects my calendar and contact lists but they are two separate files (but linked together) and I have to click a button to go back and forth between the two lists. I can’t see my contact list while I am in the calendar and vice versa. But it’s as easy as clicking one button at the top of the page, and it automatically switches over. I can go back and forth between the two lists just by clicking one button.

And this is how it is with Christ vision. You’ll be looking at something ugly and fearful, and all you have to do is “click a button” in your mind and the image changes to pure light.

Like my calendar and contact list, I can only see one thing at a time depending on which I am focusing on. I can keep them both on the desktop simultaneously, in separate windows, so that I am aware of both, but I can only see one at a time.

BUT THEY ARE ONE THING. It’s one program. My calendar and my contact list go hand-in-hand.

And this is A Course in Miracles. You can only see one thing at at time. You can only think one thought at at time. A thought of fear and love cannot exist in the same place at the same time. Look at it. Try it. It’s impossible to do. It’s impossible to be scared and happy at exactly the same time. You are either ONE (happy) or THE OTHER (scared). Not both.

So you are constantly choosing what you want to think and what you see … and allowing the two aspects (happy & scared) to combine into one picture: light.

Do not be deceived by what the body’s eyes show you. What they show you is false and meaningless.

But you can see with vision when you make the choice. You’ll see only love when you decide that’s all you want.

The difficulty is that most people are trained from the time they are born to see with the body’s eyes, and look only to form & physical & bodies. It doesn’t occur to most people that there is “something else to see” that is “invisible but truly there.”

IN TRUTH.

You can choose to see differently in every situation.

This requires vision.

This requires willingness.

So Lesson 108 is about unifying your thoughts, to reconcile all seeming opposites.

You are not pushing darkness aside. Rather, you are allowing it transform into light.

Years ago I used to only look for bright situations. I’d only hang out bright, happy people. If something bad was happening, I’d go do something fun. If I was experiencing discomfort, I would immediately run away to a place that either made me forget about my problems or that would distract/preoccupy my mind. I’d call someone who could cheer me up. I’d rent happy movies. I’d shop. I’d drink. I’d cook. I’d read positive affirmation books.

But I never got to the ROOT of the problem. The darkness always returned. Because I never unified the two thoughts. I always kept darkness and light separate and compartmentalized.

But now, that has all changed. Now I know to bring the two together. Now I stand in the darkness and let Christ vision transform the image into light.

Today, you remember that giving and receiving are the same.

“To give is to receive.”

AN EXPERIMENT: “Today we will offer peace to everyone, and see how quickly peace returns to us.”

Say:

To give and receive are one in truth.
I will receive what I am giving now.

Then close your eyes, and for five minutes think of what you would hold out to everyone, to have it yours. You might, for instance, say:

To everyone I offer quietness.
To everyone I offer peace of mind.
To everyone I offer gentleness.

Whatever you give will come back in the amount you gave it.

Today’s lesson will show you that cause and effect are identical. What you think is what you see outside of you. What you give is what you get.

“Effect and cause will be far better understood from this time on, and we will make much faster progress now.”