Miracles are seen in light.
Miracles are not dependent on us for their existence. Not seeing them does not mean they are not there any more than perceiving them causes them to exist. However, our awareness of miracles does shift according to whether we perceive them as available or not.
Therefore, because miracles are the means by which perception is healed and brought finally to truth, we need a light in which to fully see miracles. Yet it is this light which we deny because of our insistence on “being” a body.
You do not doubt that the body’s eyes can see. You do not doubt the images they show you are reality. Your faith lies in the darkness, not the light (W-pI.91.3:3-5).
Lesson 91 of A Course in Miracles aims to shift our focus away from the darkness imposed by mis-identification of self and towards a light in which salvation is clear and simple. It poses a simple question and suggests that we are strong enough to answer it clearly and correctly.
Miracles are seen in light.
The body’s eyes do not perceive the light.
But I am not a body. What am I (W-pI.91.6:2-5)?
This is the question A Course in Miracles is given us to answer.
What you think you are is a belief to be undone. But what you really are must be revealed to you. The belief you are a body calls for correction, being a mistake. The truth of what you are calls on the strength in you to bring to your awareness what the mistake conceals (W-pI.91.6:7-10).
The lesson does not answer the question of what we are in truth. Rather, it asks us to note the many ways we have described ourselves in the past, identify their opposite, and – even if only briefly – accept the opposite as the Holy Spirit’s indication of our real identity.
Thus, we are not weak, but strong (W-pI.91.8:4). We aren’t limited, but unlimited (W-pI.91.8:6). We aren’t an illusion, but a reality (W-pI.91.8:8).
All of these descriptions, as well as their corrections, are related to the fundamental question of whether we are bodies. Weakness, limitations and illusions are attributes of embodied experience.
Thus, A Course in Miracles asks us to give attention in a new way – and in a new direction. It is a way premised on strength and a singularly-directed will. Although this level of attentiveness feels new, it’s not. It reflects our fundamental unity with God and God’s Thoughts.
It is from Them that our strength will come. It is through Their strong support that you will feel the strength in you . . . Theirs is the light in which you will see miracles, because Their strength is yours (W-pI.91.10:2-3, 5).
In this way, lesson 91 becomes a means by which we reestablish our foundation both our commitment to healing and our ability to access the means – miracles – by which healing is brought forth in our lives.
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Thanks, Sean. Now I know what to embroider on the sampler: “The real progress lies in surrender.” Seriously, though, that is truly key and I so appreciate your stating it. I’m a fairly new student of the Course (up to Lesson 91 in the Workbook) and finding your insightful commentary has been wonderfully helpful. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Cliff. I’m glad it’s helpful. Samplers are awesome! There’s a niche out there for ACIM-inspired samplers, I’m sure . . . 🙂 Thanks again for sharing – please keep it touch, as time and inclination allow . . .
I am a 59 year old unemployed special education teacher. The unemployment is a choice. The pandemic presented challenges to everyone. My work during the pandemic has been to help my father maintain his property and to study A Course in Miracles.
I have never before posted in a public forum online.
Today you mentioned spoon feeding versus skill building. It resonated for me.
As I study ACIM, I increasingly find my thoughts returning to my students, my classrooms, and my methodologies. In most of my teaching years, my work was with students at the middle or high school level. The scope of my students’ capacity is vast. My philosophy has been the same whether I work with a student with an IQ of 40 or a student with an IQ of 144.
One of my most common teaching statements has been, “How can I believe in you more than you believe in yourself?” Of course, once I utter the words, I need to help them arrive in that place where self-confidence begins and then grows.
How many students have entered my class, taken a seat in the back, and proven to me that they would not learn? Many times I have told such students that I cannot force them to do anything. Many times I have pointed out to such students that they really are not allowed to interfere with someone else’s right to learn. Many times I have said to such students that sleeping wasn’t an option. I explained to such students that sleeping gets me in trouble; while I love my students, I don’t want to go to the principal’s office for them.
Sometimes months would go by with a student just sitting at the back of the class ad nauseam. Inevitably and eventually, that very student raises his or her hand. That answer may or may not be what I saw as the bullseye. Cool if the student hit the bullseye, or even just the target. More complicated when the student did not seem to recognize there was a target. I am then immediately presented with the dual goals. I need to help the student recognize the necessary direction for the aim, and more importantly, I must validate my student’s thinking.
My study of ACIM brings me to tears more often that I might like to admit. Sometimes the tears seem to be full of joy or hope and sometimes full of despair. I understand and I don’t understand. I am afraid and I am unafraid. I believe and I don’t believe. Slowly (and I hope steadily), I keep going. I feel like my peace (if not my joy) increases.
Page 74 of ACIM text says: My trust in you is greater than yours in me at the moment, but it will not always be that way.
I don’t know how many times I have looked at the quote’s promise. Today it seemed so close to what I have always said to my students: How can I believe in you more than you believe in yourself?
I know that my students gave me more than I gave them. During my study of ACIM, remembering their gifts to me has expanded exponentially. Remembering them helps increase my peace.
I feel a bit like that student at the back of the class just sitting there, just sitting there not even exactly sure of what it is I want. Maybe this is why I keep going: the patience in ACIM feels like a place of safety to walk through what you, Sean, once called “the muck.” It is scary. It is hard. You have said both.
If I can wait months for a student to raise a hand, maybe I can do the same for myself. Maybe I do have the miracle in the light. Maybe.
Thank you Carol . . . this is beautiful and truly resonates with my experience of learning (and of teaching), both ACIM and out in the world. The behavior you describe int he classroom is so loving it can only have come from your healed mind – and now you face the difficult mountain of extending that love to yourself. It is the hardest thing – for me it was and sometimes still is! The fire is alight in us and we are the last one we will allow to warm their hands . . . For what it’s worth, yes – you do have the miracle, you do have the light, you are hearing the Holy Spirit . . . Your sharing today was truly a gift. Thank you so much.
Love,
Sean
Thank you for your very thoughtful video Sean.
I practiced this lesson today: “Miracles are seen in light”.
l’ll describe the first of the three practice periods which took about 30 minutes…
l felt a shift after the first part … “But l am not a body. What am I?”, while waiting for my “Mistaken thoughts about my attributes to be corrected and their opposites to take their place” … The first shift l noticed was in strength. lt was quite definite. After letting go of of the sensation to use my body to ‘make’ the correction happen, my will became much more powerful and felt linked to the will of the Holy Spirit’. lt felt much more sure and certain. lt was a definite strength, very powerful and certain. My will seemed to be independent of time and space. l felt it sailing through and forward, propelled by its own power, strength and certainty and apart from the body, which seemed to melt away as a periphery. l was unaware of my head, which seemed to dissolve away completely, leaving only my will sailing forward and through a type of void.. It felt quite marvelous and and exhilarating.
Blessings,
Jayney