The central idea in Lesson 2 develops the initial idea in Lesson 1. We progress from allowing the possibility that nothing we see means anything to everything we see is only meaningful based on the meaning we have given it.
The exercises, the way we practice this idea, is the same as Lesson 1. We look around from near to further away, excluding nothing on purpose, but neither do we compulsively include everything. We use eyesight differently, indiscriminately applying the idea to various shapes and forms using the “sole criterion … that our eyes have lighted on it.”
Rupert Spira
Consider how Rupert Spira puts it, “It is our exclusive interest in objects that give them their apparently independent reality. When attention shifts from the seen object to pure seeing, the apparently separate reality of the object disappears and its true reality–the light of pure Knowing–shines.”
The purpose of Lesson 1 is to “make no allowance for differences,” no matter what we are looking at. The idea, “Nothing I see in this room means anything” is to be used “totally indiscriminately.”
If nothing we see means anything, which translates to everything we see means nothing, Lesson 1 holds out the potential for us to question all of our established beliefs. Ego perceives this as threatening. But deeper than your personal ego identity lies your connection to Spirit. Spirit resonates with Lesson 1 as uplifting and empowering.
You can only know this for yourself, through practicing the lesson and experiencing the lesson’s effects. If something within opens, expands, softens, releases, settles, feels peaceful, loving, quietly joyful or even a hint of these, you’re on the right track.
I am Who I am. I am That. That I Am. Am I. Am. Ma. AmmA. AbbA. Aaaaah.
LESSON 84
There are the ideas for today’s review:
(67) Love created me like itself.
I am in the likeness of my Creator. I cannot suffer. I cannot experience loss and I cannot die. I am not a body. I would recognize my reality today. I will worship no idols, nor raise my own self-concept to replace my Self. I am in the likeness of my Creator. Love created me like itself.
You might find these specific forms helpful in applying the idea:
Let me not see an illusion of myself in this. As I look on this, let me remember my Creator. My Creator did not create this as I see it.
(68) Love holds no grievances.
Grievances are completely alien to love. Grievances attack love and keep its light obscure. If I hold grievances I am attacking love, and therefore attacking my Self. My Self thus becomes alien to me. I am determined not to attack my Self today, so that I can remember Who I am.
These specific forms for applying this idea would be helpful:
This is no justification for denying my Self. I will not use this to attack love. Let this not tempt me to attack myself.
Let’s practice together! Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube. Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.
With one purpose only, I am always certain what to do, what to say and what to think. With God’s Guidance the thought arises, “Think nothing … let Me Think through you.” Think nothing, let Me Think through you. How quiet. How beauty-filled.
How Perfectly Peaceful. … and then, being Thought-through produces a shift in perception from receiving as the tiny “me” ego-body to being the Thought Itself.
You don’t have to do anything but be willing to be aware of What Already Is. And so it is!
LESSON 83
Today let us review these ideas:
(65) My only function is the one God gave me.
I have no function but the one God gave me. This recognition releases me from all conflict, because it means I cannot have conflicting goals. With one purpose only, I am always certain what to do, what to say and what to think. All doubt must disappear as I acknowledge that my only function is the one God gave me.
More specific applications of this idea might take these forms:
My perception of this does not change my function. This does not give me a function other than the one God gave me. Let me not use this to justify a function God did not give me.
(66) My happiness and my function are one.
All things that come from God are one. They come from Oneness, and must be received as one. Fulfilling my function is my happiness because both come from the same Source. And I must learn to recognize what makes me happy, if I would find happiness.
Some useful forms for specific applications of this idea are:
This cannot separate my happiness from my function. The oneness of my happiness and my function remains wholly unaffected by this. Nothing, including this, can justify the illusion of happiness apart from my function.
Let’s practice together! Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube. Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.
My forgiveness is the means by which the light of the world finds expression through me. I would not forget my function, because I would remember my Self. Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness. Forgiveness is light. Forgiveness is healing. Forgiveness is healing light. For to give everything to God. Give God my lonely, frightened delusions of separateness. Give God my heart swollen with gladness and relief that I am His Son. My widening, expanding, overflowing heart … consumed by the Cosmic Heart. And so it is.
LESSON 82
We will review these ideas today:
(63) The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.
My forgiveness is the means by which the light of the world finds expression through me. My forgiveness is the means by which I become aware of the light of the world in me. My forgiveness is the means by which the world is healed, together with myself. Let me, then, forgive the world, that it may be healed along with me.
Suggestions for specific forms for applying this idea are:
Let peace extend from my mind to yours, [name]. I share the light of the world with you, [name]. Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is.
(64) Let me not forget my function.
I would not forget my function, because I would remember my Self. I cannot fulfill my function if I forget it. And unless I fulfill my function, I will not experience the joy that God intends for me.
Suitable forms of this idea include:
Let me not use this to hide my function from me. I would use this as an opportunity to fulfill my function. This may threaten my ego, but cannot change my function in any way.
Let’s practice together! Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube. Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.
Behind the mask of your ego-face shines the light of Who You Really Are. Good disguise!
LESSON 81
Our ideas for review today are:
(61) I am the light of the world.
How holy am I, who have been given the function of lighting up the world! Let me be still before my holiness. In its calm light let all my conflicts disappear. In its peace let me remember Who I am.
Some specific forms for applying this idea when special difficulties seem to arise might be:
Let me not obscure the light of the world in me. Let the light of the world shine through this appearance. This shadow will vanish before the light.
(62) Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
It is through accepting my function that I will see the light in me. And in this light will my function stand clear and perfectly unambiguous before my sight. My acceptance does not depend on my recognizing what my function is, for I do not yet understand forgiveness. Yet I will trust that, in the light, I will see it as it is.
Specific forms for using this idea might include:
Let this help me learn what forgiveness means. Let me not separate my function from my will. I will not use this for an alien purpose.
Let’s practice together! Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube. Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.
Once the problem has been identified, something glorious happens … it is seen that there never was a real problem. In that sense, the solution is inherent within the problem because when looked at closely, there is no problem to be found.
There was a bad dream that ended long ago, but that was a fantasy, not a real problem.
If you are willing to recognize your problems, you will recognize that you have no problems. Your one central problem has been answered, and you have no other. Therefore, you must be at peace. Salvation thus depends on recognizing this one problem, and understanding that it has been solved. One problem, one solution. Salvation is accomplished. Freedom from conflict has been given you. Accept that fact, and you are ready to take your rightful place in God’s plan for salvation.
Your only problem has been solved! Repeat this over and over to yourself today, with gratitude and conviction. You have recognized your only problem, opening the way for the Holy Spirit to give you God’s answer. You have laid deception aside, and seen the light of truth. You have accepted salvation for yourself by bringing the problem to the answer. And you can recognize the answer, because the problem has been identified.
You are entitled to peace today. A problem that has been resolved cannot trouble you. Only be certain you do not forget that all problems are the same. Their many forms will not deceive you while you remember this. One problem, one solution. Accept the peace this simple statement brings.
In our longer practice periods today, we will claim the peace that must be ours when the problem and the answer have been brought together. The problem must be gone, because God’s answer cannot fail. Having recognized one, you have recognized the other. The solution is inherent in the problem. You are answered, and have accepted the answer. You are saved.
Now let the peace that your acceptance brings be given you. Close your eyes, and receive your reward. Recognize that your problems have been solved. Recognize that you are out of conflict; free and at peace. Above all, remember that you have one problem, and that the problem has one solution. It is in this that the simplicity of salvation lies. It is because of this that it is guaranteed to work.
Assure yourself often today that your problems have been solved. Repeat the idea with deep conviction, as frequently as possible. And be particularly sure to apply the idea for today to any specific problem that may arise. Say quickly:
Let me recognize this problem has been solved.
Let us be determined not to collect grievances today. Let us be determined to be free of problems that do not exist. The means is simple honesty. Do not deceive yourself about what the problem is, and you must recognize it has been solved.
Let’s practice together! Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube. Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.
If I think the problem is my swollen feet and the doctor says that’s just a symptom of the real problem, a clogged heart artery, I can continue to fixate on my feet or I can choose to shift my attention to the actual problem–the heart.
In the same way, if I allow the ego to distract with all its myriad problems, then I miss that all those human problems are just symptoms of the one larger problem: the belief in separation.
Now that I recognize the actual problem it can actually be addressed.
One problem, the desire for and belief in separation.
One solution: to stop interfering with the ever-present Truth.
LESSON 79
Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.
A problem cannot be solved if you do not know what it is. Even if it is really solved already you will still have the problem, because you will not recognize that it has been solved. This is the situation of the world. The problem of separation, which is really the only problem, has already been solved. Yet the solution is not recognized because the problem is not recognized.
Everyone in this world seems to have his own special problems. Yet they are all the same, and must be recognized as one if the one solution that solves them all is to be accepted. Who can see that a problem has been solved if he thinks the problem is something else? Even if he is given the answer, he cannot see its relevance.
That is the position in which you find yourself now. You have the answer, but you are still uncertain about what the problem is. A long series of different problems seems to confront you, and as one is settled the next one and the next arise. There seems to be no end to them. There is no time in which you feel completely free of problems and at peace.
The temptation to regard problems as many is the temptation to keep the problem of separation unsolved. The world seems to present you with a vast number of problems, each requiring a different answer. This perception places you in a position in which your problem solving must be inadequate, and failure is inevitable.
No one could solve all the problems the world appears to hold. They seem to be on so many levels, in such varying forms and with such varied content, that they confront you with an impossible situation. Dismay and depression are inevitable as you regard them. Some spring up unexpectedly, just as you think you have resolved previous ones. Others remain unsolved under a cloud of denial, and rise to haunt you from time to time, only to be hidden again but still unsolved.
All this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem, and therefore not to let it be resolved. If you could recognize that your only problem is separation, no matter what form it takes, you could accept the answer because you would see its relevance. Perceiving the underlying constancy in all the problems that seem to confront you, you would understand that you have the means to solve them all. And you would use the means, because you recognize the problem.
In our longer practice periods today we will ask what the problem is, and what is the answer to it. We will not assume that we already know. We will try to free our minds of all the many different kinds of problems we think we have. We will try to realize that we have only one problem, which we have failed to recognize. We will ask what it is, and wait for the answer. We will be told. Then we will ask for the solution to it. And we will be told.
The exercises for today will be successful to the extent to which you do not insist on defining the problem. Perhaps you will not succeed in letting all your preconceived notions go, but that is not necessary. All that is necessary is to entertain some doubt about the reality of your version of what your problems are. You are trying to recognize that you have been given the answer by recognizing the problem, so that the problem and the answer can be brought together and you can be at peace.
The shorter practice periods for today will not be set by time, but by need. You will see many problems today, each one calling for an answer. Our efforts will be directed toward recognizing that there is only one problem and one answer. In this recognition are all problems resolved. In this recognition there is peace.
Be not deceived by the form of problems today. Whenever any difficulty seems to rise, tell yourself quickly:
Let me recognize this problem so it can be solved.
Then try to suspend all judgment about what the problem is. If possible, close your eyes for a moment and ask what it is. You will be heard and you will be answered.
Let’s practice together! Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube. Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.
Do not allow sight to stop before it sees. A thumb in front of the sun appears to obscure it, but can that be true?
A smoky grey cross in front of a milky-white glow enters my mind as I see grievances blocking the holy light in which God’s Son stands. The shining light of salvation imperceptibly expands and my attention is drawn to It.
The light is the truth, and the dark shield of hate is a harmless lie, a mere fib that has distracted me far too long. Attention can easily be moved to the Unmoveable. Once you get the hang of it, distractions are seen for what they are and only Love is witnessed.
LESSON 78
Let miracles replace all grievances.
Perhaps it is not yet quite clear to you that each decision that you make is one between a grievance and a miracle. Each grievance stands like a dark shield of hate before the miracle it would conceal. And as you raise it up before your eyes, you will not see the miracle beyond. Yet all the while it waits for you in light, but you behold your grievances instead.
Today we go beyond the grievances, to look upon the miracle instead. We will reverse the way you see by not allowing sight to stop before it sees. We will not wait before the shield of hate, but lay it down and gently lift our eyes in silence to behold the Son of God.
He waits for you behind your grievances, and as you lay them down he will appear in shining light where each one stood before. For every grievance is a block to sight, and as it lifts you see the Son of God where he has always been. He stands in light, but you were in the dark. Each grievance made the darkness deeper, and you could not see.
Today we will attempt to see God’s Son. We will not let ourselves be blind to him; we will not look upon our grievances. So is the seeing of the world reversed, as we look out toward truth, away from fear. We will select one person you have used as target for your grievances, and lay the grievances aside and look at him. Someone, perhaps, you fear and even hate; someone you think you love who angered you; someone you call a friend, but whom you see as difficult at times or hard to please, demanding, irritating or untrue to the ideal he should accept as his, according to the role you set for him.
You know the one to choose; his name has crossed your mind already. He will be the one of whom we ask God’s Son be shown to you. Through seeing him behind the grievances that you have held against him, you will learn that what lay hidden while you saw him not is there in everyone, and can be seen. He who was enemy is more than friend when he is freed to take the holy role the Holy Spirit has assigned to him. Let him be savior unto you today. Such is his role in God your Father’s plan.
Our longer practice periods today will see him in this role. You will attempt to hold him in your mind, first as you now consider him. You will review his faults, the difficulties you have had with him, the pain he caused you, his neglect, and all the little and larger hurts he gave. You will regard his body with its flaws and better points as well, and you will think of his mistakes and even of his “sins.”
Then let us ask of Him Who knows this Son of God in his reality and truth, that we may look on him a different way, and see our savior shining in the light of true forgiveness, given unto us. We ask Him in the holy Name of God and of His Son, as holy as Himself:
Let me behold my savior in this one You have appointed as the one for me to ask to lead me to the holy light in which he stands, that I may join with him.
The body’s eyes are closed, and as you think of him who grieved you, let your mind be shown the light in him beyond your grievances.
What you have asked for cannot be denied. Your savior has been waiting long for this. He would be free, and make his freedom yours. The Holy Spirit leans from him to you, seeing no separation in God’s Son. And what you see through Him will free you both. Be very quiet now, and look upon your shining savior. No dark grievances obscure the sight of him. You have allowed the Holy Spirit to express through him the role God gave Him that you might be saved.
God thanks you for these quiet times today in which you laid your images aside, and looked upon the miracle of love the Holy Spirit showed you in their place. The world and Heaven join in thanking you, for not one Thought of God but must rejoice as you are saved, and all the world with you.
We will remember this throughout the day, and take the role assigned to us as part of God’s salvation plan, and not our own. Temptation falls away when we allow each one we meet to save us, and refuse to hide his light behind our grievances. To everyone you meet, and to the ones you think of or remember from the past, allow the role of savior to be given, that you may share it with him. For you both, and all the sightless ones as well, we pray:
Let miracles replace all grievances.
Let’s practice together! Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube. Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.
Miracles glow, golden and sweet, directly from the Master’s Feet. Close your eyes, connect inside. The laws of God demand You rise.
LESSON 77
I am entitled to miracles.
You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. You will receive miracles because of what God is. And you will offer miracles because you are one with God. Again, how simple is salvation! It is merely a statement of your true Identity. It is this that we will celebrate today.
Your claim to miracles does not lie in your illusions about yourself. It does not depend on any magical powers you have ascribed to yourself, nor any of the rituals you have devised. It is inherent in the truth of what you are. It is implicit in what God your Father is. It was ensured in your creation, and guaranteed by the laws of God.
Today we will claim the miracles which are your right, since they belong to you. You have been promised full release from the world you made. You have been assured that the Kingdom of God is within you, and can never be lost. We ask no more than what belongs to us in truth. Today, however, we will also make sure that we will not content ourselves with less.
Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself quite confidently that you are entitled to miracles. Closing your eyes, remind yourself that you are asking only for what is rightfully yours. Remind yourself also that miracles are never taken from one and given to another, and that in asking for your rights, you are upholding the rights of everyone. Miracles do not obey the laws of this world. They merely follow from the laws of God.
After this brief introductory phase, wait quietly for the assurance that your request has been granted. You have asked for the salvation of the world, and for your own. You have requested that you be given the means by which this is accomplished. You cannot fail to be assured in this. You are but asking that the Will of God be done.
In doing this, you do not really ask for anything. You state a fact that cannot be denied. The Holy Spirit cannot but assure you that your request is granted. The fact that you accepted must be so. There is no room for doubt and uncertainty today. We are asking a real question at last. The answer is a simple statement of a simple fact. You will receive the assurance you seek. Our shorter practice periods will be frequent, and will also be devoted to a reminder of a simple fact. Tell yourself often today:
I am entitled to miracles.
Ask for them whenever a situation arises in which they are called for. You will recognize these situations. And since you are not relying on yourself to find the miracle, you are fully entitled to receive it whenever you ask.
Remember, too, not to be satisfied with less than the perfect answer. Be quick to tell yourself, should you be tempted:
I will not trade miracles for grievances. I want only what belongs to me, God has established miracles as my right.
Listen to You Are Entitled to Miracles. Let’s practice together! Watch and hear Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube. Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.
