The Other Way of Seeing

Shared interests are the ground of peace . . .

When we believe in separation, we see our lives in a zero-sum way. Zero-sum means there is only one winner and the winner takes it all. Kill or be killed - that's how ego holds our attention, keeping us fearful and distracted.

In separation, I want to win which means you have to lose. You can take what I have and leave me with nothing and vice-versa. Neither of us can fully trust the other so neither does. We're opponents, not friends.

Seeing the world this way leads to competition, conflict and suffering. And since all the players die eventually there is no real victory. It is a grim and dark picture.

Spirit does not acknowledge this zero-sum frame. It does not see situations in which one loses and another wins. Rather, it sees situations in which everybody wins by remembering their shared interest in remembering peace together.

Therefore, Spirit's solutions to problems and non-problems alike always serve the greater purpose of "everybody wins." To ego, Spirit's solutions can appear silly or even insane. They can look like bigger problems. Who needs it?

Yet a time comes in our learning process when we become willing to look with Spirit rather than ego. We are open to this other way of seeing because it has become painfully clear that our way, which is ego’s way, doesn't bring us peace.

This openness is simultaneous with the insight that everything in the world is the same. A stubbed toe and nuclear war are the same. The sexiest person ever and a rotting corpse are the same. A Course in Miracles and atheism? The same.

When everything is the same, the grounds for judgment disappear. Every single aspect of the world is neutral. From the smallest atom to the universe itself, it is only how we see a thing that gives it meaning and determines its function.

Mind decides how to look, and how it looks determines what it sees, and what it sees confirms its decision on how to look. The only way to break this cycle is to decide differently. Mind can look with the Vision of Christ or with the sightless eyes of ego. Those are its only options. We are doing this to ourselves (T-27.VIII.10:1). Are we ready for another way?

Spirit always leads us away from conflict. Spirit always teaches us to leave the battlefield, and its illusion of countless choices. What is there to choose between when all your choices are the same and therefore lead to the same outcome?

And when you can no longer choose - when choice is no longer meaningful - then what could possibly cause you stress or anxiety? How could a problem even arise?

This is the way to peace, which we walk together, remembering as we go that we are the same.

Love,

Sean