Lesson 161
Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.
Today we are given the divine opportunity to be specific in our learning. In keeping any form of enemy in our minds we automatically defend and fortify our hearts, minds, and bodies. But what is an enemy? What does it mean to “dislike” a fellow brother or sister?
The Course tells us that any dislike, or hatred, comes from the mind and is projected onto the body. This is because the mind, itself, cannot attack another, only the body can appear to do so. Like we have said before, the body can be used as a holy tool to remember or as a tool to continue our slumber as we act out unconsciously towards ourselves and our fellow brothers and sisters. The idea for today, is to identify anyone who still creates this fearful reaction in our bodies and to see this person as Christ.
“The purpose of all seeing is to show you what you wish to see. All hearing but brings to your mind the sounds it wants to hear” (ACIM Lesson 161 2:5-6).
When we see someone we are not at ease with, our body tenses up and prepares for battle, even if it is just in our minds. I recall one day my husband had this encounter with a sales clerk in a swim shop we used to frequent while living in New Zealand. For some reason the way this woman interacted with him over swim goggles upon meeting him one day just rubbed him the wrong way. I will say, as a bystander, she was rather brazen in her words and actions but I didn’t think anything about it, however my partner sure did. He did not say anything to her about her conduct but I sure heard his thoughts of her when we left the store that day and each time we frequented and left the store in future visits. In my role as an observer and as an attempt to lighten the situation, I told my husband that maybe he had a past life issue with this woman who was now coming forth in this lifetime. Who knows the reason but every time my husband saw this woman, again just a sales clerk at a swim shop that knows nothing about my him, would make his blood boil and sure enough the exchange between the two of them was always curt, to say the least. And I must say here that my partner in this life is a very kind and compassionate person who gets along with everyone…well except this woman, I guess. Needless to say, in my world I rarely see anyone that crosses my husband’s path that causes him to rile up, so when this happened, I enjoyed my seat as the silent observer. I watched him tense up before went to store. I heard his response to the women each time we left. And I even still hear his comments about this woman almost every time he touches the eye portion of his goggles, as that one fateful day in the store, that was what this woman, literally, yelled at him about. Yet, as a Course student, he uses the memory of this woman when it arises, as a means to implement statements like today. How many of you can relate to such experiences and to the feeling that comes over you when you think of or see someone whom you dislike? That is the power that fear still has over us and how it uses the body as its means of playing out such symbols of distaste.
“Yet bodies are but symbols for a concrete form of fear. Fear without symbols calls for no response, for symbols can stand for the meaningless. Love needs no symbols, being true” (ACIM Lesson 161 5:2-4).
We have done previous work around seeing our “enemies” in the Light but today we go one step further and see ourselves in another. If we see another as Christ, we in return see our selves as Christ. We have received such vision and now we give that vision and watch how it is reflected back to us.
“And in Christ’s vision is his loveliness reflected in a form so holy and so beautiful that you could scarce refrain from kneeling at his feet. Yet you will take his hand instead, for you are like him in the sight that sees him thus. Attack on him is enemy to you, for you will not perceive that in his hands is your salvation. Ask him but for this, and he will give it to you. Ask him not to symbolize your fear. Would you request that love destroy itself? Or would you have it be revealed to you and set you free?” (ACIM Lesson 161 9:3-8).
Days like today take courage. It takes courage to survey the mind for those whom we have held any grudges against or those we may have feared due to certain instances in the past. However, in our bravery, do we find the true gift this being has given us, the divine opportunity to remember the Truth. We open all fearful boxes still left behind in the mind. We release those who have remained captive in our consciousness, as we work towards the One, Unified Mind. A Mind that is free of compartments and boxes of unpleasant memories.
As you enter your practice periods, be brave and open the boxes where you have trapped others by your thoughts. Let them out and see in them the Light of Christ that is our shared Oneness and Truth. As our lessons have proved, you have nothing to lose by doing this. Only something miraculous to gain. Go forth in peace as you ask your fellow brothers and sister for their blessings. Namaste.