Lesson 302: Where darkness was I look upon the light.

This is one of the major changes that a shift in perception brings. Using false perception, you see only darkness. Shifting to true perception, you see love and light. What appears as an “attack” with false perception, becomes a “call for love” with true perception. The appearance of “insanity” in a brother when seen in darkness, becomes an “opportunity to bless” your brother when seen in the light. Stones over which you stumbled in the darkness, become stepping stones to the truth when seen in light. In the light, all things become lessons that God would have you learn.

“ Now we see that darkness is our own imagining, and light is there for us to look upon.”

(1:5)

Today is another opportunity to remember to look for love and forgiveness rather than condemnation and grievances. Perhaps something that once would have been disguised as a bane upon your life, will now appear to you as a blessing. For example, sometimes disturbed plans are actually guidance to another path. Or perhaps an “obtrusive” friend is your teacher in an important lesson to be learned. Maybe an error will turn out not to be an error at all, but exactly what you needed at exactly the right time on your path.

“Our Love” – Christ, Holy Spirit, Jesus – walks beside you showing you the way to the light. Be aware of Them as you go about your day. Ask, receive and accept Their help to see things differently, to see in the light. Be slow to judgment and quick to forgive as They light your way.

Lesson 303: The holy Christ is born in me today.

Do you know that it is up to you what sounds you listen to and what sights you see? You can hear the raucous shrieks and cacophonous sounds of the ego – or hear the Song of Heaven. You can see the darkness of condemnation, separation and guilt – or you can look upon the light of love. It is up to you which you listen to and see. Does this sound like wishful thinking – or is it rather willful thinking?

It is possible to choose that which you want to hear and see, by choosing where to place your attention and your focus. You can “pass by” the sights and sounds of this world and move through to the sights and sounds of the real world. The ego would have you stop short of your goal of God, using distractions to keep you in the darkness and in its grip on the world. The Christ in you shows you the path of light that leads to happiness and joy. Let Christ no longer be a stranger to you. Let Him be born again in you today and lead you to the real world, and beyond it to your home in God.

Lesson 304: Let not my world obscure the sight of Christ.

Perception is a mirror, not a fact. You look upon your state of mind, projected outward, and reflected back to you. Bless the world by looking on it with the eyes of Christ. There are enough critics in the world; be the one who walks in love and gratitude. And you will see a forgiven world where you have no past for which to atone, no errors to correct, and no one to whom you must say “I am sorry.” What is past is past. A new day, a new life, is here for you and for all who are ready to share it with you.

The world you made to support the ideas of the ego can be undone in an instant. To start, let Christ show you the real world. When you speak to a brother, speak with gentleness and joy. Let him know you appreciate him for his radiance, his holy being in your life. Let all your grievances and ego mind-chatter subside in his presence. Do not burden him with idle thoughts and meaningless words and ego prattle. Instead, allow the Holy Spirit to tell you what to say, what to see and what to do. Rather than rushing in to fill a void of silence, or using your holy brother to relate and offload your worries and the dark detailed thoughts of the ego, will instead to bless him and the world by allowing the Christ to look and speak through you. Share only the highest with your brother -- and nothing else. This will insure that there will be a smile of welcome on your brother's face in every encounter. Share only the Joy of Spirit with him, always bringing peace to you BOTH. Let not your world obscure the sight of Christ.

Lesson 305: There is a peace that Christ bestows on us.

The course teaches that you do not have peace because you do not desire peace. In fact, Jesus says that the first obstacle to peace is your desire to rid yourself of it. The course asks:

Why would you want peace homeless? What do you think that it must dispossess

to dwell with you? What seems to be the cost you are so unwilling to pay?

(T-19.IV.A.2:1-3)

For you to accept peace, you must relinquish the ideas of separation and of fear, and ideas of attack upon your brothers. You must also relinquish the idea of projecting blame and guilt upon them.

Yet these ideas are but whispers in the wind, little walls of dust or sand in the face of the peace of Christ. Accept instead the messengers of love. Send them forth and they will be careful to let no little act of charity, no tiny expression of forgiveness, no little breath of love escape their notice. And they will return with all the happy things they found, to share them lovingly with you, for they see the world as kind. Accept God’s Word that you and your brothers are as pure and holy as God Himself. The peace of this acceptance of creation, is surely a worthy exchange for what you must relinquish.

To accept Christ’s peace means to accept the Will of God, to accept forgiveness, to see only the blameless and the beautiful, the gentle and the kind. Who uses but Christ’s vision finds a peace so deep and quiet, so undisturbable and wholly changeless, that the world contains no counterpart. Comparisons are still before this peace. And all the world departs in silence as this peace envelops it, and gently carries it to truth, no more to be the home of fear. For love has come, and healed the world by giving it Christ’s peace.

Lesson 306: The gift of Christ is all I seek today.

Seek and will the gift of Christ and you can go past the world you made, past all the ideas of separation, fear, guilt and attack, to be restored to love and holiness and peace. Would Jesus guide you to seek the gift of Christ if it were unattainable? Would he have you attempt the impossible? What but Christ’s vision would you use today, when it can offer you a day in which you see a world so like to Heaven that an ancient memory returns to you? Today you can forget the world you made. You can go past all fear, and be restored to love and holiness and peace. Today you are redeemed, and born anew into a world of mercy and of care; of loving kindness and the peace of God.

Lesson 307: Conflicting wishes cannot be my will.

“There is no other will for me to have” (1:2) except the Will of God. All other “wills” are unreal and therefore untrue. Why waste so much time accepting an alien will of fear and conflicting wishes, when the will of love and peace is so readily available and acceptable instead? Trying to make a will other than God’s is the source of pain; God’s Will is the Source of His Love. The choice is easy.

Lesson 308: This instant is the only time there is.