Lesson 250 • September-7
Let me not see myself as limited.
Practice Instructions
See complete instructions in separate document. A short summary:
- Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.
- Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.
- Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind Meditation.
- Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind Meditation.
- Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in meditation.
- Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.
- Read the "What Is" section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.
Practice suggestion: You may want to try this active exercise before you enter meditation. Choose someone in your life, and apply the following lines to that person:
Let me behold the Son of God in [name].
Let me witness his glory.
Let me see his holy light and not my darkness.
Let me see his strength and not his frailty.
Let me see his sovereignty and not attack it with lacks that I perceive.
Let me behold his gentleness and not the illusion of harmfulness I laid on him.
For by seeing him as limitless, I will see myself as limitless.
Commentary
There is really nothing to see but myself. If I see those around me as limited, I am seeing myself that way, for "as I see him so I see myself" (2:3). The lesson is not talking so much about the kind of limitlessness that is touted in self-help seminars ("I can do anything I set my mind to—I can achieve all my goals") as it is talking about the limitations we place on holiness, goodness, and love when we view others and ourselves. Do I see my brothers and sisters today as the Son of God in glory? Or do I see them with "strength diminished and reduced to frailty" (1:2)? Do I see the holy light (1:2) shining in all those around me, or is it obscured by the darkness I have projected onto them? Do I behold the sovereignty of God's Son, or do I continue to attack that majesty by perceiving lacks where there are none?
If I am honest with myself, I will be aware of how consistently I perceive lack in everyone, or almost everyone, I meet. Nobody quite lives up to my high standards. My mind is constantly comparing myself to others as well, and perceiving lacks in me. The perception of lack is one: as I see myself I see others; as I see others I see myself. Does the problem perhaps lie in the perceiver, and not in what is being perceived?
Yet I can choose a different perception; I can choose to see with the vision of Christ. I can choose to see light, to see love, to see gentleness. Let this be my choice today, Father. When I become aware that I am perceiving your Son as less than You created him to be (in others or myself), let me recognize those thoughts as illusions born of fear, and bring them to Your Love. I choose today to watch my mind for these scraps of fear, and to ask Your Spirit to step around them to reveal what they have been hiding from my sight (see T-4.III.7:4-5).
Today I would see truly, that this day I may at last identify with him. (2:4)
Dear friend: We offer the materials on this website to you in the
hope that they can serve you well on your journey home. Your continuing donations support
the work of the Circle of Atonement. Thank you.
Click here to make a Donation.
This material is copyrighted by the Circle of Atonement, P.O. Box 4238, W. Sedona, AZ 86340. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed are the personal interpretation and understanding of the author(s).
[What Is the World] [Next] [Prev][Lesson Index][Return to top]
Printer Friendly Links: Word File | PDF File | Text File
Please report problems to the webmaster.
