Lesson 79
Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.
I have shared with you in earlier lessons that I will often say a prayer as I put in my contacts or when I happen to rub my eyes,
“God, please give me Sight that I may truly See.”
Touching my eyes is my reminder to ask God for Sacred Sight. It is my way of asking, what am I not seeing? What have I not seen? What do I not want to see? In other words, what do I not know?
“A problem cannot be solved if you do not know what it is” (ACIM Lesson 79 1:1).
We don’t know what we don’t know. That statement is innocently true and one of the more profound concepts we are given in the Course. Uncovering our mistaken identities and misguided thinking has shined a light on various blind spots in our vision. We are truly innocent in our misperceptions. Now that we have been cultivating Sacred Sight, it is time to see that which we haven’t seen before, that there is only one problem we are trying to figure out with only one possible answer. The problem, separation. The solution, the remembrance of Union. The word “remembrance” is used because it is merely a reminder. The Union has never been lost and is always there. The problem, technically, has never occurred, thus is already solved.
“The problem of separation, which is really the only problem, has already been solved” (ACIM Lesson 79 1:4).
We appear to have many problems in this world. Throughout one day it seems that there are many fires that we have to put out. Some we are able to determine beforehand but most arise unexpectedly. We often live life as problem solvers rather than resting in the meaningful moment where there is neither problem nor solution. We have trained ourselves to say,
“I will be happy after this is problem is solved.”
“I will start meditating when work slows down or gets more manageable.”
“I will make more time for God when I finish this project and have the energy to get up earlier.”
“I will take time for myself when I take that vacation next month.”
“I will make room for joy when this or that is completed.”
We constantly live in a state of energetic output, placing our time and energy outside of ourselves to solve problems, to get things done, to get ahead, and to just survive. We are trying not to drown in our sea of issues and we fight keep our head above of water. We even stagger to catch our breath for a moment between problems. All of this expends a huge amount of energy. Thus, life becomes a depleting cycle of energy output, leaving peace as a luxury rather than a given.
“There seems to be no end to [problems]. There is no time in which you feel completely free of problems and at peace” (ACIM Lesson 79 3:4-5).
We see the problems of the world as needing to be solved in the world. But what if our problems aren’t really problems at all? Just as we are breathed and do not have to remember to breathe, what if our life is actually lived through us rather than by us? What if there is actually more to life than just the cycle of creating solutions to never-ending problems? It is a creative way to live but would Love create such a struggle? Are we misusing our creative energy for problems that truly do not need to be solved?
Everything leads back to separation. The brilliance of A Course in Miracles is that with our practice periods today you will begin to experience that this is so. It is not just told to us but shown to us. We are merely asked to recognize that underneath the problems we perceive there is a common theme, the belief in separation from Source, and that the solution is already given. We are urged to keep an open mind in our longer practice periods, creating space so that we can see for ourselves by allowing the underlying current rise up to our awareness. We do not have to go searching for anything nor do we need to effort to help today’s lesson along. With soft eyes, notice that under the weight of each problem is a common theme already solved.
In our shorter practice periods, we utilize life as our classroom and see for ourselves how with each perceived problem there could be a connection back to one theme and one solution. Think about when you are in a good mood and feel loved, whole, and worthy, nothing seems to bother you, does it? Things more easily roll off your back. You do not tend to get upset or as upset. It is easier to forgive when you feel this way. It is even easy to see there is really nothing to forgive. It is the same when we remember our Union with Source.
When we feel connected to Source, we feel whole and loved and as though nothing can tear us down. Yet when we are connected to the world, and not Source, we feel vulnerable and open for attack. The world will gladly tell us that we are not good enough, smart enough, capable enough, or ready enough. The world is fed by our separation, fear, and search for answers. The world, like the ego, has no investment in us waking up to the one problem and one solution. It needs our nourishment of problem solving energy to keep running at its maddening pace and to feed its vicious cycle.
“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” (ACIM Lesson 79 6:2).
Today, we step out of the problem solving cycle. We recognize that as we are already given breath without the need to remember, so it is with our Union. Our world, like the breath, need not be a problem to be solved but a remembrance of what is already given. Allow what you do not know to come into your awareness today. Be open, and gentle with yourself, that the problems you perceive may just not be so. Leave room for other possibilities to be shown to you. Release your energy from the world and realize you are plugged into an infinite loving Source that created you like Itself.
Leave space for the light to shine today, knowing that maybe life isn’t as bad as it seems. That maybe there is more to a situation than what you can physically see. That maybe the answer to life has been here within you all along.
Namaste.