Lesson 87. Our review today will cover these ideas:
1.(73) I will there be light.
I will use the power of my will today. It is not my will to grope about in
darkness, fearful of shadows and afraid of things unseen and unreal. Light shall
be my guide today. I will follow it where it leads me, and I will look only on
what it shows me. This day I will experience the peace of true perception.
These forms of this idea would be helpful for specific applications:
This cannot hide the light I will to see.
You stand with me in light, [name].
In the light this will look different.
3.(74) There is no will but God's.
I am safe today because there is no will but God's. I can become afraid only
when I believe there is another will. I try to attack only when I am afraid, and
only when I try to attack can I believe that my eternal safety is threatened.
Today I will recognize that all this has not occurred. I am safe because there
is no will but God's.
These are some useful forms of this idea for specific applications:
Let me perceive this in accordance with the Will of God.
It is God's Will you are His Son, [name], and mine as well.
This is part of God's Will for me, however I may see it.
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The commentary on this lesson 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
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Lesson 87. Our review today will cover these ideas:
(1:1) (73) "I will there be light."
*This is a direct appeal to the power of our minds to make another choice: the
light of forgiveness instead of the darkness of attack.*
(1:2-3) "I will use the power of my will today. It is not my will to grope about
in darkness, fearful of shadows and afraid of things unseen and unreal."
*This was my ego's wish in contrast to the Holy Spirit's Will, which I now
reflect in the right-minded use of my decision-making ability. Despite my wish
for shadows, my will remains one with God's, held in safekeeping by the Holy
Spirit. I had substituted what the ego would say is my will -- really the ego's
wishes -- to be an individual, a decision which inevitably led to the ego's
darkened thought system of separation and fear, culminating in the shadowy
physical world of separation and fear. This lesson, then, is a direct appeal to
look at things differently, to exercise the power of my mind ("the power of my
will") to make another choice.*
(1:4-6) "Light shall be my guide today. I will follow it where it leads me, and
I will look only on what it shows me. This day I will experience the peace of
true perception."
*Learning our lessons, we happily choose to let the light of Jesus' wisdom guide
us each day. We look on the world through his non-judgmental eyes of forgiveness
and peace. Our eyes "see" what they have always seen, but now we see
differently: calls for love or expressions of it, as opposed to the ego's "eyes"
that see only sin, guilt, and the need for punishment.*
(2:2) "This cannot hide the light I will to see."
*Looking at situations that heretofore had reflected the ego's darkened world of
guilt and judgment, I recognize they had no power to hide the light of
forgiveness from me. It was my mind that had the power, by choosing not to see
the light that was always there. In other words, nothing here has the power of
that light. But within the delusional dreams of shadows and death, we can choose
not to recognize it, even though it shines so brightly within, and its
reflections all around us. We choose now to recognize these witnesses to the
light and see them as our own. Thus we say to each special love and hate
partner.*
(2:3) "You stand with me in light, [name]."
*Those we had condemned to hell join as one Son, along with us, together
awakening from the dream of death. All that is necessary for this happy
recognition to occur is the willingness to look at the ego's lies for what they
are, choosing instead to believe the truth Jesus has always held out for us,
patiently our acceptance.*
(2:4) "In the light this will look different."
*In Lesson 193, Jesus says, "Forgive, and you [I] will see this differently"
(W-pI.193.3:7). When I let him be my eyes, the external situation does not
change, but the way I perceive it does. Rather than seeing the situation as a
way of proving I am right and Jesus is wrong, that differences are real and sin
rests in you and not in me, I realize that together we share the purpose of
awakening from the dream. Again, this shift has nothing to do with what is
external, but only with what is in our minds.*
(3:5-6) "Today I will recognize that all this has not occurred. I am safe
because there is no will but God's."
*Even though Jesus does not expect us to accept this totally, we can begin the
process of understand that there is a part of our minds that knows that none of
this occurred. We are fearful of that part because I signifies the end of our
special self.
On the practical level this means that what has not occurred is that you hurt
me, for the truth is <I> have hurt me. In the perceptual world, you may indeed
have said or done something unkind, but I am upset because I want you to hurt
me, accusing you of sin instead of me. In that sense, I forgive you for what you
have <not> done. Only as I progress up the ladder do I realize this is a dream
that is not actually occurring at all.
The three specific applications all reflect the Oneness of God.*
(4:2-4) "Let me perceive this in accordance with the Will of God."
"It is God's Will you are His Son, [name], and mine as well."
"This is part of God's Will for me, however I may see it."
*Everything in our personal world and collective worlds is a reflection of God's
Will -- forgiveness -- if we choose to see it through Jesus' eyes, the vision of
Christ that unifies perception. The <everything> includes the totality of the
Sonship, regardless of how the ego perceives a situation. Since there is no
hierarchy of illusions, all situations are the same, for they share the
wrong-minded purpose of separation as well as the right-minded one of
forgiveness. This unanimity of purpose unites us all: unseparated and undivided
-- one in illusion and one in truth.*
