Day 108

Today's Lesson:

To give and to receive are one in truth.

True light that makes true vision possible is not the light the body's eyes behold. It is a state of mind that has become so unified that darkness cannot be perceived at all. And thus what is the same is seen as one, while what is not the same remains unnoticed, for it is not there.

This is the light that shows no opposites, and vision, being healed, has power to heal. This is the light that brings our peace of mind to other minds, to share it and be glad that they are one with us and with themselves. This is the light that heals because it brings single perception, based upon one frame of reference, from which one meaning comes.

Here are both giving and receiving seen as different aspects of one Thought whose truth does not depend on which is seen as first, nor which appears to be in second place. Here it is understood that both occur together, that the Thought remain complete. And in this understanding is the base on which all opposites are reconciled, because they are perceived from the same frame of reference which unifies this Thought.

To learn that giving and receiving are the same has special usefulness, because it can be tried so easily and seen as true. And when this special case has proved it always works, in every circumstance where it is tried, the thought behind it can be generalized to other areas of doubt and double vision. And from there it will extend, and finally arrive at the one Thought which underlies them all.

To give is to receive. Today we will attempt to offer peace to everyone, and see how quickly peace returns to us. Light is tranquility, and in that peace is vision given us, and we can see.

So, we begin the practice periods with the instruction for today, and say:

To give and to receive are one in truth.
I will receive what I am giving now.

Then close your eyes, and for five minutes think of what you would hold out to everyone, to have it yours. You might, for instance, say:

To everyone I offer quietness.
To everyone I offer peace of mind.
To everyone I offer gentleness.

The very simple lesson for today will teach us much. Effect and cause will be far better understood from this time on, and we will make much faster progress now. Think of the exercises for today as quick advances in your learning, made still faster and more sure each time you say, "To give and to receive are one in truth."

Miracles I'm noticing:

It's difficult to write today and not mention the two big stories that are in the news: the Don Imus firing and the Virginia Tech shooting. Today's lesson gives us great insight into our small part in shifting the focus on each of these events from fear to love.

In addition, I listened to Marianne Williamson's XM radio show yesterday, and she offered insights from her perspective as a student and a teacher of this course.

In first talking about the Imus situation in which he made some awful racial comments on-air about the Rutgers women's basketball team, and was subsequently fired from his job, Marianne says:

I think I have some left-wing credentials, and even a few of them in the area of racial reconciliation. But a left-wing thought police scares me just as much as a right-wing one does, and the idea that anyone -- Al Sharpton or anyone else -- is planning to "purify the air waves" doesn't just offend me; it horrifies me.

All people of good will want a good society, and racial prejudice has no place in one. But the fundamental principle of American governance, guaranteed by the First Amendment, is that we rely upon freedom -- letting people say what they say and think what they think -- as the best way to get us there. You want to get rid of prejudice? Shine the light on it. Don't send it creeping back under its rock.

(from her website)

Shine the light on it. She said, on her radio show yesterday, that she believes that Imus was genuinely sorry for what he said. She believes he should have been suspended, but that he should have had the opportunity to come back on the radio and talk about what he had learned - and give the world the opportunity to talk about the impact of his words and for all of us to learn from it by shining the light on it, not by sending it back to the dark.

Marianne also said something yesterday that is sticking with me. She said that unforgiveness is passive violence. Really makes me think about my part in this situation.

As for the Virginia Tech shooting, that was a topic of our conversation last night following our course study. It is very difficult to talk about a subject like that one without some level of judgment; yet that is what we are learning in this course. The text for yesterday and the day before - the day of the shooting - were "The End of Sickness" and "The Denial of God" and each had a message pertaining to this situation. In "The End of Sickness" we read:

"Sickness and perfection are irreconcilable. If God created you perfect, you are perfect. If you believe you can be sick, you have placed other gods before Him. God is not at war with the god of sickness you made, but you are. He is the symbol of deciding against God, and you are afraid of him because he cannot be reconciled with God's Will. If you attack him, you will make him real to you. But if you refuse to worship him in whatever form he may appear to you, and wherever you think you see him, he will disappear into the nothingness out of which he was made (Chapter 10, IV 1, 3-9)."

This is a very difficult concept to grasp when there is so much sadness around the loss of so many innocent victims. Our human minds may never understand the reasons for these kinds of events. We asked each other last night, "What can I do about situations like this? What about 9/11 and the tsunamis and the murders and the tragedies?" and it is easy to feel helpless.

However, the text goes on to say:

"The miracle is the act of a Son of God who has laid aside all false gods, and calls on his brothers to do likewise. It is an act of faith, because it is the recognition that his brother can do it. It is a call to the Holy Spirit in his mind, a call that is strengthened by joining. Because the miracle worker has heard God's Voice, he strengthens It in a sick brother by weakening his belief in sickness, which he does not share. The power of one mind can shine into another, because all the lamps of God were lit by the same spark. It is everywhere and it is eternal.

"...If you but see the little spark you will learn of the greater light, for the Rays are there unseen. Perceiving the spark will heal, but knowing the light will create. Yet in the returning the little light must be acknowledged first, for the separation was a descent from magnitude to littleness. But the spark is still as pure as the Great Light, because it is the remaining call of creation. Put all your faith in it, and God Himself will answer you (Chapter 10, IV, 7-8)."

And, in thinking about today's lesson I'm reminded of the amazing things Helen Keller accomplished in her lifetime, unable to hear or to see in the physical sense. The first idea from today's lesson as written above ("True light that makes true vision possible is not the light the body's eyes behold. It is a state of mind that has become so unified that darkness cannot be perceived at all. And thus what is the same is seen as one, while what is not the same remains unnoticed, for it is not there."), is a great example of how Helen Keller was able to transcend her physical ailments and make a huge difference in the world.

She was so much more than a blind and deaf woman who learned to communicate, however. Here are some quotes that give me a whole new perspective about her convictions and stand in the world:

The Truth About Helen Keller

Helen Keller: "I have never felt separated from my fellow men by the silent dark," she wrote. "Any sense of isolation is impossible since the doors of my heart were thrown open and the world came in."

"So long as I confine my activities to social service and the blind, they compliment me extravagantly, calling me 'archpriestess of the sightless,' 'wonder woman,' and 'a modern miracle," Helen wrote to her friend Robert LaFollette, an early pacifist who ran for president as a third-party Progressive candidate in 1924. "But when it comes to a discussion of poverty, and I maintain that it is the result of wrong economics - that the industrial system under which we live is at the root of much of the physical deafness and blindness in the world - that is a different matter!"

As I read about Helen Keller and also reflect on current events, I see how my place in the world can be so much more effective if I just step into my own power and be who I was created to be. Studying this course and really taking its lessons to heart, I see that I can make a positive difference in the entire universe by doing my part. Shifting my focus from fear - as would have been automatic three years ago when faced with the two events described earlier - to love as I'm doing now is truly a miracle.

As I be the change I wish to see in the world, I do become that which I want to see, and I begin to see more and more of what I wish to see. There is nothing more that is asked of me - but this commitment to see more clearly will have enough impact that I can feel I've had a life well lived. There is no order of difficulty in miracles - so as we each be our part, we will shift the entire consciousness of the planet.