Day 43

Today's Lesson:

God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.

Today we begin to understand the distinction between perception and knowledge. Perception is not an attribute of God. God's realm is the realm of knowledge. Perception is what we think we see through the body's eyes. Knowledge is what we Know because of God. God has given us the Holy Spirit to act as the Mediator between perception and knowledge. Without this link with God, our perception would have replaced knowledge forever in our minds. With this link with God, our perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge.

We are also encouraged to use three five-minute practice periods today, one as early and one as late as possible in the day. This Course demonstrates how important it is to be quiet and Know our Source. The lesson assures us that our perception will be changed and purified - but we have to slow down and be still.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I'm becoming more aware all the time of the importance of stillness and quietness in my life. All the great teachers and authors who speak of our link to spirituality in any area of our lives tell us that meditation and stillness are essential to our whole person growth. I find that as I start to get very busy, I'm given subtle and not-so-subtle reminders that stillness is an essential part of my own personal growth (see a previous post about my experience with the highway patrolman).

Today's lesson proves - in the spiritual sense - something I've been teaching in my manufacturing training, and shows how everything is connected. One of the quotes I've been using for the past 4 years in my Job Relations training comes from an HR group in Minnesota. It says:

We are measured not by what we are, but by the perception of what we seem to be; not by what we do, but by how we appear to do it.

Notice the word "perception." Today we learn that perception is not an attribute of God - it is our human way of seeing. God Knows. We perceive. I think the best way to get beyond perception - ours or others' - is to have a conversation. When we can be very aware of our intention in any given moment, and are certain that our intention is loving and, as today's lesson tells us, through God as our Source - we can deal with our own and others' perception much differently than if we saw perception the same as we know knowledge.

What do you see as the distinction between perception and knowledge in your own life? How might these distinctions move you to a higher level of understanding?

Day 24

Today's Lesson:

I do not perceive my own best interests.

This lesson points out that nearly every thought I have involves some judgment. In any situation that calls my attention, there is some level of expectation or desired outcome. What I do to achieve the outcomes I think I desire is based on my perception of the situation, and we've learned in earlier lessons that my perception is wrong. So it would follow that I would not serve my own best interests.

This lesson takes a lot of practice, because I've been programmed throughout my life to do whatever I can to be right. As a young person I wouldn't try anything new if it meant that I might not be good at it. I would fight tooth and nail to prove that my perception was correct, so I would never have been open to believing that I wouldn't perceive my own best interests. But today's lesson tells us that if we are closed to the possibility that we might not know what's best for us, we have no opportunity to learn. As I see how closed my mind has been, it allows me to alter that perception and allow room for learning.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Just being able to admit that I do not know my own best interests and to be open to new possibilities is a big step for me, and one I've been practicing for almost four years now. In March of 2003 I completed the Landmark Forum, which really gave me openings to new possibilities, and since then I've been practicing. I began studying this Course regularly in January of 2005, so this, too is another opening for a new process. Each week our group gets together, I witness so many more miracles that are happening in each of our lives as we start opening up to the lessons. I'm hoping the other members of our study group will share some of their stories here. We've heard about smoother relationships at home, insights with work situations, new access to relationships of all kinds, past and present, and it's obvious that as we open ourselves to what we're practicing in today's lesson, the miracles come rushing in.

I invite anyone who reads this blog today to share what they're noticing - whether through studying the Course or just waking up in their own understanding - to share what they're seeing in their own lives. What seems to be a coincidence? What can you see that just sort of "fell into place?" Think back to what you were thinking when you noticed that miracle and you'll begin to see that retraining your mind is altering the cause. The effects just naturally follow.

Day 7

Today's Lesson:

I see only the past.

This is actually a pretty profound statement. It is why nothing I see means anything, why I have given everything I see the meaning it has for me. It really is the reason for all the previous lessons. If you really think about it, everything brings with it our experiences with that article, that object, that person - and it's not very often that we really look at the world objectively. I think it has something to do with our seemingly innate need to be right.

Miracles I've noticed:

I had a great conversation yesterday with a friend of mine whose husband is very unhappy in his job. She says it's difficult for her because she wants to make it better for him because it's hard to be happy when he comes home from work - she knows he's going to be upset, so she always feels she's got to walk on eggshells. We talked about whether or not he really wants things to be different. I think when people get to the point in their lives when they really want things to be different they will do something about it. Sometimes it's just easier to complain about it. And often we complain most to those we love the most which hardly seems fair.

We talked about what it might mean if people were able to give up their need to be right. If we can blame a bad boss, a bad spouse, a bad son or daughter, we don't have to take any responsibility. Actually, blame is never going to be effective for getting beyond where we are, so we have to give up blaming ourselves, too. And sometimes that means we might not be "right." If I can say I have a bad boss and you agree with me, then I'm right ... but if it's not the boss - it's my PERCEPTION of the boss (probably based on something from my past), and that might not be "right."

As we talked, she said she'd love to have me talk to her employer about this - so, for me, this was my chance to kick around some of what I've been thinking but haven't really talked about. And maybe this is my chance to re-create my business in a way that ties together my work with A Course in Miracles and my passion for business.

That's surely a shift in perception - as I've had some fear about that. Looking at it through the eyes of love and the context that there's nothing wrong, it shifts the entire conversation!