开云体育

ctrl + shift + ? for shortcuts
© 2025 开云体育
  1. DU
  2. Messages
Single Messages Topics Expanded

Lesson 43. God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.

 

Lesson 43. God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.

Perception is not an attribute of God. His is the realm of knowledge. Yet He has
created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge.
Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in
your mind. With this link with God, perception will become so changed and
purified that it will lead to knowledge. That is its function as the Holy Spirit
sees it. Therefore, that is its function in truth.

In God you cannot see. Perception has no function in God, and does not exist.
Yet in salvation, which is the undoing of what never was, perception has a
mighty purpose. Made by the Son of God for an unholy purpose, it must become the
means for the restoration of his holiness to his awareness. Perception has no
meaning. Yet does the Holy Spirit give it a meaning very close to God's. Healed
perception becomes the means by which the Son of God forgives his brother, and
thus forgives himself.

You cannot see apart from God because you cannot be apart from God. Whatever you
do you do in Him, because whatever you think, you think with His Mind. If vision
is real, and it is real to the extent to which it shares the Holy Spirit's
purpose, then you cannot see apart from God.

Three five-minute practice periods are required today, one as early and one as
late as possible in the day. The third may be undertaken at the most convenient
and suitable time that circumstances and readiness permit. At the beginning of
these practice periods, repeat the idea for today to yourself with eyes open.
Then glance around you for a short time, applying the idea specifically to what
you see. Four or five subjects for this phase of the practice period are
sufficient. You might say, for example:

God is my Source. I cannot see this desk apart from Him. God is my Source.
I cannot see that picture apart from Him.<

Although this part of the exercise period should be relatively short, be sure
that you select the subjects for this phase of practice indiscriminately,
without self-directed inclusion or exclusion. For the second and longer phase,
close your eyes, repeat today's idea again, and then let whatever relevant
thoughts occur to you add to the idea in your own personal way. Thoughts such
as:
I see through the eyes of forgiveness. I see the world as blessed. The
world can show me myself I see my own thoughts, which are like God's.<

Any thought related more or less directly to today's idea is suitable. The
thoughts need not bear any obvious relationship to the idea, but they should not
be in opposition to it.

If you find your mind wandering; if you begin to be aware of thoughts which are
clearly out of accord with today's idea, or if you seem to be unable to think of
anything, open your eyes, repeat the first phase of the exercise period, and
then attempt the second phase again. Do not allow any protracted period to occur
in which you become preoccupied with irrelevant thoughts. Return to the first
phase of the exercises as often as necessary to prevent this.

In applying today's idea in the shorter practice periods, the form may vary
according to the circumstances and situations in which you find yourself during
the day. When you are with someone else, for example, try to remember to tell
him silently:
God is my Source. I cannot see you apart from Him.<
This form is equally applicable to strangers as it is to those you think are
closer to you. In fact, try not to make distinctions of this kind at all.

Today's idea should also be applied throughout the day to various situations and
events that may occur, particularly to those which seem to distress you in any
way. For this purpose, apply the idea in this form:
God is my Source. I cannot see this apart from Him.<
If no particular subject presents itself to your awareness at the time, merely
repeat the idea in its original form. Try today not to allow any long periods of
time to slip by without remembering today's idea, and thus remembering your
function.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The commentary on this lesson (below) is from Kenneth Wapnick's eight volume
series of books, called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles,"
which can be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lesson 43. "God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him."

*Before discussing this lesson, I should like to review a chart I hope will help
in our study of this and subsequent lessons. This is a modified version of the
chart I usually use, because in these lessons the mind's structure is portrayed
as going from the bottom up, instead of the other way around.

At the bottom is God, the One Mind, the place of truth in our minds and subsumed
under the term <knowledge>. This is the realm of our real thoughts with God.
These do not have form, and can be understood as an expression of eternal life,
love, the Will of God, and the oneness of creation.*

*** Please note that the chart may not come out the same on Course_Talk, as it
is in Ken's books, but the description above and below will help in giving the
general idea of it.***


______________________________________
P
E WORLD -- BODY

------------------------------------------------------------------------
R
C
Decision E EGO (WRONG MIND) -- UNREAL THOUGHTS
Maker P
*
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T
I
O HOLY SPIRIT (RIGHT MIND) -- REAL THOUGHTS
N

________________________________________________

KNOWLEDGE GOD -- REAL THOUGHTS

___________________________________________________



The split mind is represented by the layers above God, beginning with the <right
mind>, the home of <the Holy Spirit>. In these lessons Jesus does not make a
distinction between our right-minded real thoughts and our One-Minded real
thoughts. This is but another example, incidentally, of how A Course in Miracles
cannot be approached as a scientific treatise in which each term is carefully
analyzed. Jesus is relatively loose with words, probably more so in the workbook
than in the text. It would thus be more accurate to say that our right-minded
thoughts are the <reflection> of our real thoughts. For purposes of these
lessons, however, our real thoughts include both those that are held for us by
the Holy Spirit in our right minds, as well as the Thoughts of God in the One
Mind.

Above the Holy Spirit is the <wrong mind>, the domain of the <ego>, wherein
reside our unreal thoughts. It is these that are projected out, thereby making
the world in which our bodies live.

The <wrong> and <right minds> are the domain of perception. The ego's false
perceptions are corrected in our right minds by what is referred to in the text
as <true perception>. The entire realm of the split mind -- the right and wrong
minds, and the projections that make the world -- comprises the world of
<perception>. All of this, as will be evident in a moment, is contrasted with
the realm of <knowledge>, the Home of Christ, our true Self.

We shall see in the lessons that follow how Jesus guides us in the process of
sinking down into our minds, past our <external perceptions> and through the
<ego's unreal thoughts> that gave rise to them, to the <real thoughts> of the
Holy Spirit. These correction thoughts will then ultimately fade into the
<Thoughts of God>.

Let us now look at Lesson 43: *

(1) "Perception is not an attribute of God. His is the realm of knowledge. Yet
He has created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge.
Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in
your mind. With this link with God, perception will become so changed and
purified that it will lead to knowledge. That is its function as the Holy Spirit
sees it. Therefore, that is its function in truth."

*Having been made as an attack on God (W-pII.3.2:1-5) perception cements our
belief that separation and individuality are real. However, once arising in
apparent opposition to knowledge, it can be used to serve a different purpose.
The section called "The Special Function" provides a clear description of this
shift in function or purpose. What we have made to harm, the Holy Spirit uses to
heal (T-25.VI.4). Specialness is an aspect of perception, and although it was
made to harm and keep us separate from each other, when brought to the Holy
Spirit and looked at differently, it becomes an expression of forgiveness.
Everything the ego has thought, done, and used to separate itself from God and
each other, can be turned around to become a vehicle for our forgiveness -- if
we ask Jesus' help. This shift in purpose is the cornerstone of forgiveness and
the Holy Spirit's redirected purpose for our being in the world.

In this paragraph we find a clear example of what I sometimes refer to as the
two levels on which A Course in Miracles is written. Level One reflects the
Course's metaphysical principle that <only God is true and real, and everything
else is unreal, an illusion>. Or as the very opening of the text states:

Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists. (T-in.2:2-3; bold italics omitted).

It is that distinction between what is true and untrue that comprises this
highly important aspect of A Course in Miracles. The first two sentences of this
paragraph express Level One: the world of perception -- which is not just the
world we see with our eyes, but the very fact that we <think> we see a world at
all -- is an illusion. The split mind, which includes our thoughts of
separation, the world which expresses those thoughts, as well as the Holy
Spirit's correction, is totally unreal. Since this separated mind cannot be part
of totality, wholeness, and perfect Oneness -- the very nature of God -- it
cannot be true in any way. Stated differently, if the contents of the split mind
are not part of God, they must be outside Him. If they are outside God, they
cannot exist. Only knowledge is true and therefore real.

Level Two deals <only> with illusion: the contrast between the ego's
<wrong-minded > perceptions of separation and specialness, and the Holy Spirit's
<right-minded> corrected perceptions of forgiveness and healing. This level can
be thought of as the more practical one, insofar as this is the part of A Course
in Miracles that deals with <the condition in which we think we are>
(T-25.1.7:4): the world of the body. Thus is the world of illusion split into
perceptual realms: the false perception of the ego and its correction, the true
perception of the Holy Spirit.

Sentence 3 represents the transition from Level One to Level Two. The Holy
Spirit can be understood as that part of our split minds that remembers truth.
Thus He can be defined as the memory of God's Love we took with us into the
dream when we fell asleep. Remember that all of this is metaphorical, since we
never fell asleep in the first place. We, like Jesus in A Course in Miracles,
are using symbols to denote the reality from which they are "twice removed"
(M-21.1:9-10). The Holy Spirit, representing our right-minded thinking, is the
expression of the Atonement principle that is the mediator or bridge between the
<unreel> world we made and the <real> world of Heaven. The Holy Spirit's
thoughts are reflected in any expression of forgiveness, and these are
reflections of the real thought of love that is in our minds.

One final comment, it is the integration of these two levels -- the
uncompromising non-dualistic view of reality, along with the specific guidelines
for living within the illusory world under the principle of forgiveness -- that
makes A Course in Miracles so unique as a spirituality, and so perfect for our
age.*

(2:1-2) "In God you cannot see. Perception has no function in God, and does not
exist."

*Many times students will try to bend or twist statements in A Course in
Miracles so that it seems to be saying that God <did> create the world and it is
holy, but did not create the world that we <misperceive.> That is <not> what
Jesus is teaching, and sentences like this make it clear. "In God you cannot
see" because seeing presupposes duality: a perceiver and a perceived. The realm
of perception, therefore, is outside of God. This is reflected in statements
like this: "Your life is not a part of anything you see" (W.PI.151.12.1). Again,
the very fact we think we can <see> -- i.e., something outside us -- is proof
the <seeing> self cannot be real. Duality and non-duality, perception and
knowledge, are mutually exclusive states. True life is only of the spirit, which
is beyond the subject-object or perceiver-perceived duality. That is why Jesus
makes this Level One statement in the text:

"There is no life outside of Heaven. Where God created life, there life must be.
In any state apart from Heaven life is illusion." (T.23.II.19.1-3).*

(2:3) "Yet in salvation, which is the undoing of what never was, perception has
a mighty purpose."

*We have in this one sentence expressions of both Level One and Level Two. The
"undoing of what never was" is a Level One statement: the separation never
occurred. Yet as long as we are here in this dream world, the Holy Spirit, the
expression of God's Love within the dream, has a purpose and function. This
function, which we know to be forgiveness, constitutes the Level Two aspect of A
Course in Miracles.*

(2:4-6) "Made by the Son of God for an unholy purpose, it must become the means
for the restoration of his holiness to his awareness. Perception has no meaning.
Yet does the Holy Spirit give it a meaning very close to God's."

*This echoes the early lessons in which Jesus teaches that nothing in the world
has meaning because we have given everything all the meaning it has; the meaning
of proving we are right and Jesus wrong: the separation is real. Once we ask
Jesus for help, however, perception does have a meaning: not in reality, but a
meaning based upon reality. In other words, the right-minded meaning of
perception is that is it is a reflection of the truth; not the truth, but a
reflection of the truth that we are one in God, and the separation a meaningless
dream. Truth's reflection within the dream is that <we are one in sharing a
common purpose and need.> This is because we share the same ego.

It is helpful to remember that the Sonship is one: in Heaven as Christ (the One
Mind), and on earth as an ego (the split mind). Therefore, each seemingly
separated fragment of the Sonship is one: in Heaven as Christ (the One Mind),
and on earth as an ego (the split mind), Therefore, each seemingly separated
fragment of the Sonship carries within it the totality of the ego's wrong-minded
thought system of separation and judgment, <and> the totality of the Holy
Spirit's right-minded thought system of unity and forgiveness. Thus we all share
the insanity of the guilt-laden shadowy fragment of separation as well as the
sanity of forgiveness, the light-filled reflection of Heaven's Oneness. Clearly,
therefore, it could not be the ego that provides the meaning of our true
perception. That is why it is essential to distinguish between these two voices
within our split minds, one of the principle goals of the workbook.*

(2:7) "Healed perception becomes the means by which the Son of God forgives his
brother, and thus forgives himself."

*This is an extremely important teaching -- not elaborated on here -- a key
theme in A Course in Miracles. We read, for example:

"To perceive the healing of your brother as the healing of yourself is thus
the way to remember God. For you forgot your brothers with Him, and God's Answer
to your forgetting is but the way to remember." (T-12.II.2:9-10).

Future lessons will express this theme as well.

Forgiving our brother, thus forgiving ourselves, is the reflection of the
Atonement principle that says the separation never happened. The oneness of
God's Son has never been compromised, thus my forgiveness of you recognizes we
share the same purpose. What we thought happened never happened at all, as we
remain as God created us: one Son united within himself and with his Source.*

(3:1-2) "You cannot see apart from God because you cannot be apart from God.
Whatever you do you do in Him, because whatever you think, you think with His
Mind."

*Jesus is speaking only of the right-minded seeing, doing, and thinking, because
the ego's seeing, doing, and thinking are an attack on God, designed to keep us
separate from Him. Therefore, in our right minds we cannot see apart from God.
If we are going to see our brothers as sinless, it can be done only when we call
upon Jesus or the Holy Spirit for help, a call that says: "I want to be proven
wrong. If I am wrong, God is right." In truth He does not see, for there is no
seeing in Heaven, but God's reality becomes the basis for vision -- truth's
reflection in the dream.*

(3:3) "If vision is real, and it is real to the extent to which it shares the
Holy Spirit's purpose, then you cannot see apart from God."

*Once again, Jesus clearly implies that vision is not real, except in the sense
that it reflects the oneness of reality. This reflection is the Holy Spirit's
purpose, which is to forgive. Once that purpose is fulfilled vision is
unnecessary, and its inherently illusory nature causes us to disappear. The use
of the <real> in terms of vision is similar to Jesus' explanation of the <real
world>.

"This is the journey's end. We have referred to it as the real world. And
yet there is a contradiction here, in that the words imply a limited reality, a
partial truth, a segment of the universe made true. This is because knowledge
makes no attack upon perception." (T-26.III.3:4).

The real world is <real> insofar as its state of mind <reflects> the reality of
Heaven: the unity of the Son. However, still being a correction of an illusion
-- albeit the <final> one -- it remains illusory as well.

The instructions that follow in paragraph 4- 6 reflect the earlier the earlier
emphasis on the implicit <sameness>of what we see and our thoughts.*

(4) "Three five-minute practice periods are required today, one as early and one
as late as possible in the day. The third may be undertaken at the most
convenient and suitable time that circumstances and readiness permit. At the
beginning of these practice periods, repeat the idea for today to yourself with
eyes open. Then glance around you for a short time, applying the idea
specifically to what you see. Four or five subjects for this phase of the
practice period are sufficient. You might say, for example:
God is my Source. I cannot see this desk apart from Him. God is my Source.
I cannot see that picture apart from Him."

*We again see Jesus asking us to apply the idea for the day of the specifics of
our lives, even the mundane ones. That is how we learn there is no hierarchy of
illusions -- all problems are the same -- and therefore no order of difficulty
in miracles -- all solutions are the same. As a later lesson teaches: "One
problem, one solution" (W-pI.80.1:5).*

(5) "Although this part of the exercise period should be relatively short, be
sure that you select the subjects for this phase of practice indiscriminately,
without self-directed inclusion or exclusion. For the second and longer phase,
close your eyes, repeat today's idea again, and then let whatever relevant
thoughts occur to you add to the idea in your own personal way. Thoughts such
as:
I see through the eyes of forgiveness
I see the world as blessed
The world can show me myself I see my own thoughts, which are like God's.
Any thought related more or less directly to today's idea is suitable. The
thoughts need not bear any obvious relationship to the idea, but they should not
be in opposition to it."

*Exercises like these remind us that we do indeed have a right mind, and
therefore a right-minded way of looking. It is important that we recognize this
in ourselves, for it affords us the necessary means of comparison when our
thoughts turn to the ego's judgment. Comparing the two -- bringing judgment to
vision -- allows us to make the correct choice and know we are truly blessed as
God's Son.*

(6) "If you find your mind wandering; if you begin to be aware of thoughts which
are clearly out of accord with today's idea, or if you seem to be unable to
think of anything, open your eyes, repeat the first phase of the exercise
period, and then attempt the second phase again. Do not allow any protracted
period to occur in which you become preoccupied with irrelevant thoughts. Return
to the first phase of the exercises as often as necessary to prevent this."

*In a sentence we shall revisit often, Jesus says:

"You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, and are passively condoning
your mind's miscreations." (T-2.VI.4:6)

As in the text, Jesus is asking us in this lesson to become increasingly
vigilant for our ego thoughts. They do not come unbidden, but are defenses we
choose to prevent our achieving the goal of these exercises. The last thing our
ego's want is that we learn to question its thought system of separation,
specialness, and judgment.*

(7) "In applying today's idea in the shorter practice periods, the form may vary
according to the circumstances and situations in which you find yourself during
the day. When you are with someone else, for example, try to remember to tell
him silently:
God is my Source. I cannot see you apart from Him.
This form is equally applicable to strangers as it is to those you think are
closer to you. In fact, try not to make distinctions of this kind at all."

*This goes back to a point I made earlier about these lessons: Jesus is trying
to help us generalize his teachings to <all> situations. It is not helpful if we
practice this <here>, but not <there>. To do so would be to nullify everything
we are learning. the emphasis on not making distinctions between strangers and
those perceived to be closer to us goes to the heart of the ego's defense of
<special relationships>. As he does throughout the text, Jesus is calling for
the end of our specialness. <All> people are part of the Sonship of God,
<without exception>, as this statement from the text explains:

"God is not partial. All His children have His total Love, and all His gifts
are freely given to everyone alike. ... The specialness of God's Sons does not
stem from exclusion but from inclusion. All my brothers are special."
(T-1.V.3:2-3,5-6).

On the level of <form> we obviously cannot enjoy the same interaction with
everyone, but we nonetheless need not <exclude> anyone from the love we are
learning to choose as our reality. Thus we reverse the ego's emphasis on <form>
rather than <content>.*

(8) "Today's idea should also be applied throughout the day to various
situations and events that may occur, particularly to those which seem to
distress you in any way. For this purpose, apply the idea in this form:
God is my Source. I cannot see this apart from Him."

*Jesus is reminding us again of the importance of being vigilant whenever a
distressing thought crosses our minds, whether severe or mild, regardless of
what we believe to be the source. When it does, we should immediately go to the
Holy Spirit for help and say: "Please help me look at this differently because I
am not at peace." At the end of Chapter 5 in the text, Jesus makes a series of
statements when we are not at peace. They make clear that if we are not
peaceful, it is our responsibility and no one else's :

"I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace.
I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise.
I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace.
I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the
consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him.
I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me."
(T-5.VII.6:6-11: italics omitted.)

Thus is the defense of projection undone, and responsibility returned to the
decision-making part of our minds.

Jesus concludes the lesson by saying: *

(9) "If no particular subject presents itself to your awareness at the time,
merely repeat the idea in its original form. Try today not to allow any long
periods of time to slip by without remembering today's idea, and thus
remembering your function."

*Jesus' purpose is obviously not to make us feel guilty, but rather to remind us
we are doing the workbook because we want to learn what A Course in Miracle is
teaching. Thus we have to be vigilant for our ego's in practicing these lessons.
We have already seen, and shall see again, that Jesus wants us to become aware
of our <resistance> to practicing such vigilance. Only then can we choose
against our fear.*



Love and Blessings,

Lyn Johnson
719-369-1822
Join [email protected] to automatically receive all group messages.