Lesson 21: I am determined to see things differently.

Jan '24 • Feed

🧩 BREAKING PATTERN AND MIND SEARCHING

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🌟 Similar to yesterday, Jesus once again steers us away from the usual pattern by beginning with instructions typically provided at the end. This in itself is intriguing, it seems he encourages us to break free from habitual thinking and encourages us to be more attentive and aware.

📘 "In the practice periods, begin by repeating the idea to yourself. ²Then close your eyes and search your mind carefully for situations past, present or anticipated that arouse anger in you." (ACIM, W-21.2:1-2)

🌟 The fact that his first specific instruction to have us see things differently is to have us search our minds and look at our thoughts tinged by anger should get our attention as well. Before we can hope to see things as Jesus does, we first have to acknowledge all the situations where we see things with the ego.

🧩 THERE IS NO HIERARCHY OF ILLUSION

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📘 "The anger may take the form of any reaction ranging from mild irritation to rage. ⁴The degree of the emotion you experience does not matter. ⁵You will become increasingly aware that a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury." (ACIM, W-21.2:3-5)

🌟 This is something that we've repeatedly pointed out in our comments on the previous lessons and the concept should become more and more familiar: There is no hierarchy of illusions, one is like the other, and no one is smaller or bigger. They are all the same because they rest on the same content, the idea of separation, regardless of the forms they take.

🧩 WE ARE NEVER UPSET FOR THE REASON WE THINK

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📘 "Try, therefore, not to let the “little” thoughts of anger escape you in the practice periods. ²Remember that you do not really recognize what arouses anger in you, and nothing that you believe in this connection means anything." (ACIM, W-21.3:1-2)

🌟 This is Jesus's way of reminding us that we are never upset for the reason we think. We think we are mildly angry because of what someone did to us, but what we are doing is projecting onto someone else something in us that we refuse to acknowledge: our responsibility for the thought of separation that we choose to blame on someone else. As we can read in The Course, only by acknowledging our responsibility in the projection mechanism of separation can we begin to heal our minds:

📘 "Anger always involves projection of separation, which must ultimately be accepted as one’s own responsibility, rather than being blamed on others. ³Anger cannot occur unless you believe that you have been attacked, that your attack is justified in return, and that you are in no way responsible for it. ⁴Given these three wholly irrational premises, the equally irrational conclusion that a brother is worthy of attack rather than of love must follow. ⁵What can be expected from insane premises except an insane conclusion?" (ACIM, T-6.in .1:2-5)

🌟 This is why in the lesson Jesus says that the connection we make between our feelings of anger and what we believe is causing them is meaningless. It rests on an insane idea. In every triggering situation of our lives, we will have to choose to either see a call for love, which is an opportunity to forgive the illusion, or an opportunity to blame, which only reinforces the illusion by making it real. Before we can love our brother instead of blaming him, Jesus will have us look at all the occurrences where we choose to blame by searching our minds for evidence.

🎯 ITEM OF ATTENTION

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Once more, Jesus invites us to be particularly precise about identifying what we believe to be the origin of our distress. Only by navigating through the diversity of forms can we trace our path back to the one content of either truth or illusion. The oneness of truth signifies the oneness of God and the Sonship, while the oneness of illusion points to the singular, misguided notion of separation:

📘 "Try to be as specific as possible.²You may, for example, focus your anger on a particular attribute of a particular person, believing that the anger is limited to this aspect." (ACIM, W-21.5:1-2)

💙🪄 With Love and Light 🪄💙

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* My comment on this lesson follows my studying of the in-depth comment of the same lesson by Kenneth Wapnick in his published work, Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles". While it may sometimes contain my thoughts on it, it is essentially my humble take and summary of the masterful work of Kenneth. I share them here in the hope that someone might find them helpful.

** I also share, in these ACIM posts, the wallpaper images that I use on my phone and change every day to help me commit to my lesson, in the hope that some might enjoy them as well. Here is the link to a Dropbox folder where you can download the lessons's wallpaper for mobile I have uploaded so far.

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