Seeing with Eyes of Love
. . . we are equal in God's Love
A Course in Miracles distinguishes between Vision and judgment (T-21.I.2:1). Vision sees only truth; judgment interprets against truth. Vision is a gift of the Holy Spirit that allows us to remember our will is forever aligned with God’s. Judgment is the ego's attack on peace.
When we judge, we take our self as an object and find ourselves unworthy. It doesn't matter whether we label the judgment good or bad, or whether the judgment appears to be about something or someone other than us. As soon as we judge we consent to suffer. We pit our own mind against itself; of course this leads to pain. Judgment is never free of condemnation.
This suffering - and the fact that we are the one doing it - is made bearable only by directing it outward. That is, by judging other people, places and things. This is projection, and it is the means by which we avoid looking at the source of fear and hate, which is the decision to accept the ego’s judgments rather than to see Creation with the Holy Spirit.
A Course in Miracles invites us to go all the way back to the judge, the moment of judgment. Where does the choice to judge rather than see happen? You will find it if you look for it, and when you find it you will be able to make another choice. You can choose to see.
. . . let the Voice for God alone be Judge of what is worthy of your own belief . . . He recognizes only what God loves, and in the holy light of what He sees do all the ego's dreams of what you are vanish before the splendor He beholds (W-pI.151.7:1, 4).
The decision to see means that we no longer project fear and hate. We become responsible for them where they are - inside. Thus, we become a site of healing in which fear and hate can be brought through nonviolence to Love.
When I say "nonviolence" I mean non-cooperation with ego. We refuse to accept or countenance in any way its body-centered and materialistic judgment of literally everything. We don't argue or plead with it. We don't play games. We just don't listen.
Ego can threaten to kill us - if we are doing this right, it will threaten that - and we don't react. Ego doesn't get to set conditions or make terms. We aren't negotiating with it. We are simply choosing to listen to another voice, the Voice that speaks for God and "the restoration of the integrity of the mind" (T-5.I.5:4).
The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. His is the Voice that calls you back to where you were even before and will be again. It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other (T-5.II.2:7-9).
A Course in Miracles is clear that the only actual conflict we experience is "between the ego's idle wishes and the Will of God, which you share" (T-11.V.5:5). Every egoic thought ever is no more than an "idle wish." It has no power beyond the power we give it through attention. And the alternative is the Will of God, which we are (T-7.VII.10:1).
Is this really a difficult decision?
What would the world look like if you did not judge it? How would you feel? What are you apart from judgment? What are your brothers and sisters?
Judgment is the decision to be separate, and the decision to be separate is the source of all fear and hate. Fear and hate are the source of suffering. Whatever you wish were different - from the war far away to the war in your heart - will be different as soon as you refuse to see it through the ego's lens.
Start small: a bird at the feeder, a cloud in the sky. Give attention to it not as the judge of its value, its rights to be, or its reason for existence but as its "equal in God's Love" (T-31.II.7:1). Welcome it as the friend it is, and learn that all we have are friends, each an invitation to gaze beyond separation to our shared home in God.
Thank you, as always, for remembering with me.
Love,
Sean
Thank you for this article.
I asked the Holy Spirit to help me learn to forgive and boy, my lesson popped up immediately.
I named my ego Sméagol, and he has been badgering me constantly to feel resentment and abandonment in a situation with my sister-in-law whom I have been friends with for a very long time.
I have a quote from the Course on my desk that says, …”Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself as unfairly treated. In this view you seek to find innocence that you do not share, but that is yours alone, and this at the cost of someone else’s guilt. “
This is definitely Sméagol‘a game plan. He says I can feel innocent if someone else is guilty. But I have to remember that we are both innocent!
In truth we are both blameless-beautiful-gentle-and kind.
Man, it’s been a real struggle to keep that in my mind and to ignore my old habits.
Please pray for me!
Loved this today Sean and I especially loved this bit at the end "Start small: a bird at the feeder, a cloud in the sky. Give attention to it not as the judge of its value, its rights to be, or its reason for existence but as its "equal in God's Love" (T-31.II.7:1). Welcome it as the friend it is, and learn that all we have are friends, each an invitation to gaze beyond separation to our shared home in God."
I always try to remind myself that if I don't want to feel guilty then don't judge, the minute that I do that guilt hits me like a speeding train!
It is so important to learn to love everything that visits us throughout our day, the good news and the bad, the pain and the joy, the mayhem and the peace. So important to see them all as gifts and opportunities to remember the love that is always present when we choose to see it.
Thank you for reminding me to see the love everywhere today my friend.
Much Love Suzy x