Together, We Light the Way

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Lesson 24 2026

I do not perceive my own best interests.
1. In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy. ²Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. ³What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong. ⁴It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests. ⁵Yet they are your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived. ⁶Otherwise, you will not recognize what they are.
2. If you realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could be taught what they are. ²But in the presence of your conviction that you do know what they are, you cannot learn. ³The idea for today is a step toward opening your mind so that learning can begin.
3. The exercises for today require much more honesty than you are accustomed to using. ²A few subjects, honestly and carefully considered in each of the five practice periods which should be undertaken today, will be more helpful than a more cursory examination of a large number. ³Two minutes are suggested for each of the mind-searching periods which the exercises involve.
4. The practice periods should begin with repeating today’s idea, followed by searching the mind, with closed eyes, for unresolved situations about which you are currently concerned. ²The emphasis should be on uncovering the outcome you want. ³You will quickly realize that you have a number of goals in mind as part of the desired outcome, and also that these goals are on different levels and often conflict.
5. In applying the idea for today, name each situation that occurs to you, and then enumerate carefully as many goals as possible that you would like to be met in its resolution. ²The form of each application should be roughly as follows:
³In the situation involving _________, I would like _________ to happen, and _________ to happen,
and so on. ⁴Try to cover as many different kinds of outcomes as may honestly occur to you, even if some of them do not appear to be directly related to the situation, or even to be inherent in it at all.
6. If these exercises are done properly, you will quickly recognize that you are making a large number of demands of the situation which have nothing to do with it. ²You will also recognize that many of your goals are contradictory, that you have no unified outcome in mind, and that you must experience disappointment in connection with some of your goals, however the situation turns out.
7. After covering the list of as many hoped-for goals as possible, for each unresolved situation that crosses your mind say to yourself:
²I do not perceive my own best interests in this situation,
and go on to the next one. (ACIM, W-24.1:1–7:2)
2025
I absolutely believe this lesson. Sometimes, I will have a wish for something pass through my mind, and I let it. That is, I let it pass right on through without my attention. That was not always true, of course. I learned that I had no idea what was in my best interests. I might never have seen that this was true if Jesus had not pointed it out and guided me to recognize it in myself.
I used to fantasize about what I would do if I won the lottery. At first, it was a fun and interesting fantasy. But if I stayed with it very long at all, the fantasy would move into the problems associated with winning. That alone should have shown me that I don’t know my own best interests. I’m glad I didn’t win all that money because, in not having enough, I discovered something more valuable than having more. As it turns out a wonderful outcome that I had not fantasized about occurred for me. I came to understand that abundance isn’t having millions of dollars. It is knowing that what you need will always be provided when you need it. I know this is true because it is how I live now.
Here is another one. When I was working, I very much wanted to retire and do my ministry full-time. I could not imagine how that would not be in my best interest. What I discovered is that the extra years I worked were the most productive. They provided me with so many forgiveness opportunities I would never have had if I had retired early. Those opportunities are what led to the healing of my mind and made me a better teacher of God. After all, you cannot share with others what you don’t have. I am truly happy that I always left that decision up to the Holy Spirit Who knew what was actually needed.
The only temptation to decide for myself that has occurred was the recent election. I thought I knew who should be elected. But even as I thought about it, I realized that I don’t really know what is in my best interests. The outcomes I was looking for were varied and ultimately ridiculous.
Nothing in the world is going to save me. I must do that myself, and I must do it by changing my mind, not by electing a savior. I am so grateful to Jesus for his instructions and grateful to myself for practicing the lessons he gives me. If I had not had and used the Course, my life would be very different now, and not in a good way.
2026
This lesson has opened my mind to be taught what it is that I really want. At some point, I realized that the peace of God was my only goal. It had occurred to me that everything I wanted was an effort to find peace. I thought I needed more money, but getting more money satisfied me only briefly. Then another problem would pop up. Sometimes I thought I would be happy if I only had a different relationship, and for a little while, I thought I had finally discovered the answer. Then that would sour, and I would be right back looking out there for the answer. It seemed that my life was an endless quest for the elusive solution to happiness.
When one day I had the thought that I was really looking for peace, a real change began to happen. It simplified all problems since the solution to all of them would lead me to the peace of God. When I had a problem of any kind, I would consider a possible solution and ask myself if it would bring me the peace of God. If not, I would dismiss it as irrelevant since it would not satisfy my only goal.
That one decision opened my mind to a new way of being that I recognized only in retrospect. It led me to recognize that full surrender to the Holy Spirit was the way to happiness. This is because when I would ask that question, will this bring me the peace of God, the ego had no answer for that. The answer would come from the Holy Spirit. Slowly, turning to the Holy Spirit for answers became habitual.
This morning when I woke up, I was out of sorts. Maybe that has happened to you, too. Just a little grumpy for no reason that I could pinpoint. My cat was trying to get my attention while I was making coffee and wondering what was wrong with me. I demanded to know what she wanted now, feeling like she was the neediest cat in the world. That feeling caught my attention and highlighted the need to reorient myself.
I called on the Holy Spirit to decide for me. That’s shorthand for I surrender to Your guidance in all things, Holy Spirit. You decide what I think, what I believe, say, and do. Where do you want me now? This is the ultimate answer to my desire for the peace of God. Here is the paragraph that convinced me of the logic of letting the Holy Spirit decide all things for me.
Say to the Holy Spirit only, “Decide for me,” and it is done. ²For His decisions are reflections of what God knows about you, and in this light, error of any kind becomes impossible. ³Why would you struggle so frantically to anticipate all you cannot know, when all knowledge lies behind every decision the Holy Spirit makes for you? ⁴Learn of His wisdom and His Love, and teach His answer to everyone who struggles in the dark. ⁵For you decide for them and for yourself. (ACIM, T-14.III.16:1-5)
As soon as I made my request, the grumpy mood dissipated, and the whole thing seemed funny to me. I am not perfectly consistent in this yet, but each time I make that decision, the results reinforce my practice. One day, I will probably notice how easy and peaceful life seems these days and will realize that allowing the Holy Spirit to decide for me has become as natural as breathing.
Have I gotten off topic here? I don’t think so. I came to realize that I don’t know my best interests. Accepting that this is true led me step by step to rely on One who does know. Perhaps this is what Jesus was pointing me to when I encountered this lesson in the first place. It just took me a while to get there.
Video: https://youtu.be/vTMf-LMaP58

© 2026, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Lesson 23

I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.
1. The idea for today contains the only way out of fear that will ever succeed. ²Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless. ³But this way cannot fail. ⁴Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. ⁵It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.
2. If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it is these thoughts which you do not want. ²There is no point in lamenting the world. ³There is no point in trying to change the world. ⁴It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. ⁵But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. ⁶Here you are changing the cause. ⁷The effect will change automatically.
3. The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance. ²Each of your perceptions of “external reality” is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. ³One can well ask if this can be called seeing. ⁴Is not fantasy a better word for such a process, and hallucination a more appropriate term for the result?
4. You see the world that you have made, but you do not see yourself as the image maker. ²You cannot be saved from the world, but you can escape from its cause. ³This is what salvation means, for where is the world you see when its cause is gone? ⁴Vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you see now. ⁵Loveliness can light your images, and so transform them that you will love them, even though they were made of hate. ⁶For you will not be making them alone.
5. The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the world you see, because its cause can be changed. ²This change requires, first, that the cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced. ³The first two steps in this process require your cooperation. ⁴The final one does not. ⁵Your images have already been replaced. ⁶By taking the first two steps, you will see that this is so.
6. Besides using it throughout the day as the need arises, five practice periods are required in applying today’s idea. ²As you look about you, repeat the idea slowly to yourself first, and then close your eyes and devote about a minute to searching your mind for as many attack thoughts as occur to you. ³As each one crosses your mind say:
⁴I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about _________.
⁵Hold each attack thought in mind as you say this, and then dismiss that thought and go on to the next.
7. In the practice periods, be sure to include both your thoughts of attacking and of being attacked. ²Their effects are exactly the same because they are exactly the same. ³You do not recognize this as yet, and you are asked at this time only to treat them as the same in today’s practice periods. ⁴We are still at the stage of identifying the cause of the world you see. ⁵When you finally learn that thoughts of attack and of being attacked are not different, you will be ready to let the cause go. (ACIM, W-23.1:1–7:5)
2025
I include last year’s reflections in these lessons because they show how the lessons first met me, and how they have since deepened.
Jesus is perfectly clear as he reminds us that we make the world we see with our thoughts, and it is a vengeful world because our thoughts are of attacking and being attacked. He tells us that it will do no good to try to change the world. Our thoughts are the cause, and the world is its effect.
You cannot fix something by starting with the effect.
I was thinking about this, and I remember one time I made a cake from scratch. Yeah, I don’t know why I did this either, when you can buy perfectly good cake mixes at any grocery store. When the cake came out of the oven, it looked great. But when I tasted it, I realized I had dipped from the salt canister rather than the sugar canister. It was inedible. But it was so lovely, and I had worked so hard at it. Still, the cooking error was the cause, and the cake was the effect. Trying to fix the effect of the error would be a waste of time and energy.
Trying to fix the world, which is an effect of our thoughts, is the same error. It is a waste of time and energy and causes more suffering in the attempt. Just as I had to bite the bullet and toss the cake, it is time to do the same with the world we made of our attack thoughts. But unlike my cake, which would have to be cooked by me again to correct the problems with the world, I only need to identify the cause and then let it go. Vision will show us the real world that exists right now, unseen by us who are fixated on the world of our vengeance.
Looking at my attack thoughts this morning, I see that I did not agree with a decision of President Trump’s yesterday. I felt anger, contempt for the choice he made, and frustration that I could do nothing about it. All of those are attack thoughts. I won’t write him a letter about it or even talk about it with others, except as an example of this lesson. That would have been trying to change the effect without changing its cause.
But in my mind, I attacked and felt attacked. My angry thoughts were the cause of the world I was seeing. This is not, of course, the first time I have attacked someone, but this time, I recognized the error and happily let it go so that I could go back to seeing what stands in the place of our thought errors. As it happens, it is love and peace of mind. I will not spend my time here defending what I think should happen. I came for greater things. I came to heal the mind so that we can have an experience of a healed world rather than a world built on vengeance.
2026
There is so much in this lesson that has had a profound effect on me. From the first word, Jesus impresses on us the importance of what he is saying.
• the only way out of fear that will ever succeed.
• ²Nothing else will work;
• everything else is meaningless.
• ³But this way cannot fail.
I feel my body relax and my mind slip gently into peace as I take this in. In all of my life I had wondered why life didn’t come with an instruction book. It all seemed so random and uncontrollable with no way forward that offered certainty. Now, here is the promise that this lesson is the instruction manual I was longing to find.
It was with anticipation that I first read the next two sentences in which he described the cause and the needed correction.
⁴Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. ⁵It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.
I’m not going to say that it was at that moment I knew what to do, and the rest is history. But it was then I knew I would find my way Home and I would not stop until I did.
As Jesus goes on to explain that it is not the world I must change to achieve peace, but the attack thoughts in my mind that must be relinquished. After all, the world is just the effect of those thoughts. It doesn’t matter if I attack or if I feel attacked, attack itself will shatter my peace. As often happens, I read a comment by someone that was so hate-filled that it hurt my heart. I felt uneasy afterward, but I went on with what I was doing. But it was like having a splinter in your finger, and each time it was touched, it hurt. So I stopped and talked to Jesus about it.
I wondered why this was so upsetting. It is not the first time I have heard this hateful rhetoric. Why did I need to look at this now? At first I thought I needed to forgive her or forgive the belief that something outside myself could hurt me. But that didn’t change the uneasiness. So, I asked the Holy Spirit to decide for me, since clearly I had no idea what to think that would give me peace. And then I waited, not doing anything, just allowing the feelings to run through me along with any thoughts I had.
Then I saw the problem. I felt attacked by her words. I could not imagine living in the world of her dreams, and yet she was trying to convince me that this was what was going to happen, and I should love it as much as she did. I felt endangered, and I wanted to defend myself from her vision of heaven. I am certain that my vision of how we should live with each other was just as upsetting to her as her’s was to me. I bet that’s why she had to express herself so forcefully. She was defending herself against me.
Once I understood the dynamics, I was able to let go of my defenses, and my mind was at peace. I had to laugh when I looked at today’s lesson. I appreciated the opportunity to get this clear example in my own mind before I even read the lesson. Trying to change the world is not ever going to work. I can’t go around Facebook trying to stop people from attacking me. When someone’s mind is fixed on an idea, and they don’t want to give it up, I can’t do anything about that. But I can change my mind, and that is where my power lies.
This morning, I practiced this lesson, letting the Holy Spirit decide for me, and went from distress to peace. I very much want to do this from now on because I am convinced this is the way out of the world we made. I bring this sister of mine to mind, and I feel nothing but love. I don’t agree with her, and I don’t have to. This isn’t about that. What I know about her is that she is on her path to God just as I am. She and I are part of the Sonship. I cannot hate her without hating myself. That’s all I need to know about this relationship.
My fear had been that if she got her way, I would be trapped in her world. But I discovered that I cannot be trapped in a world unless I choose attack as a means of salvation. Today I proved that to myself when I changed my mind. This is the paragraph that is my instruction manual for a peaceful life, and how wonderful it is that my part is so simple and that the outcome has already in place waiting for my acceptance.
²This change requires, first, that the cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced. ³The first two steps in this process require your cooperation. ⁴The final one does not. ⁵Your images have already been replaced. ⁶By taking the first two steps, you will see that this is so.
I still feel the ego trying to grab my attention with fear thoughts about the world, but I am not interested now that I have seen the outcome it has for me. I place my faith in God and in my brother, Jesus, who practices infinite patience with me as I learn to change my mind.
Video: https://youtu.be/vpXpr4V5H5g

© 2026, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Lesson 22 2026

What I see is a form of vengeance.
1. Today’s idea accurately describes the way anyone who holds attack thoughts in his mind must see the world. ²Having projected his anger onto the world, he sees vengeance about to strike at him. ³His own attack is thus perceived as self defense. ⁴This becomes an increasingly vicious circle until he is willing to change how he sees. ⁵Otherwise, thoughts of attack and counter-attack will preoccupy him and people his entire world. ⁶What peace of mind is possible to him then?
2. It is from this savage fantasy that you want to escape. ²Is it not joyous news to hear that it is not real? ³Is it not a happy discovery to find that you can escape? ⁴You made what you would destroy; everything that you hate and would attack and kill. ⁵All that you fear does not exist.
3. Look at the world about you at least five times today, for at least a minute each time. ²As your eyes move slowly from one object to another, from one body to another, say to yourself:
³I see only the perishable.
⁴I see nothing that will last.
⁵What I see is not real.
⁶What I see is a form of vengeance.
⁷At the end of each practice period, ask yourself:
⁸Is this the world I really want to see?
⁹The answer is surely obvious.
(ACIM, W-22.1:1–3:9)
2025
In this lesson, Jesus is introducing us to the fact that the world we see does not actually exist. It is fiction written by us and maintained by belief. Our stories make us feel like victims and so we defend ourselves. Defense felt necessary because I believed perception itself could protect or punish me. In our fear, we attack others. These ‘others’ are not really separate from us, so in attacking them, we are attacking ourselves. It seems like we are trapped in our own web of self-deceit. But we are not.
As we read these lessons and study the Text, we discover our way out. We have a choice now. Of course, we cannot gain our freedom from reading, no matter how elevated the material. We must practice what we read until it is what we believe and so experience. Our experience of freedom awakens us to reality.
When I first started these lessons, I did as Jesus asked. I looked at everything around me and admitted that it was a lie. More than that, it was a form of vengeance. It didn’t make me feel any better. ~smile~ But, eventually, the truth that none of it is real and that I am responsible for its being in my awareness sank in. Not responsible in a guilty way, but responsible in the simple sense that it came from my own thinking. If I made it, I can choose to release it. I can choose to accept that it doesn’t actually exist.
Freedom from pain, suffering, and death is available to me, and all I have to do is suspend my ego judgment long enough for the Holy Spirit to heal my mind. I didn’t even have to fully accept any of this. I just had to trust my Brother’s words enough to do the little asked of me. Eventually, I accepted His help, and everything changed. I can still get briefly pulled into a story, and I am still aware of the ego’s thoughts, but I don’t believe them, and that is absolutely a miracle.
2026
Wow! How succinctly and clearly Jesus explains to us the world we seem to be in and how we turn it into a form of vengeance. For much of my life, I thought of myself as a victim and unfairly treated. Because this was what I believed, I saw proof of it even where there was none. And I unknowingly interpreted experience through that belief. My belief in victimhood convinced me that I was always being attacked. Some of it I can see so very clearly now that I am on the outside of that cycle of thinking. There were times I thought I was being mistreated, but in retrospect, I see it was just my screwed-up interpretation of what was happening.
Because I was always expecting to be attacked, I became very defensive, and this defensiveness was felt by others as an attack, and so the cycle just kept repeating. Defense and attack were not moral failures; they were simply the mechanics of a mistaken belief. Since I had no idea what I was doing to myself, it just continued to play out in this way. That is, until I found A Course in Miracles and slowly everything began to shift.
I cannot tell you what a surprise it was to discover that I was actually loved, appreciated, and even admired by others. I had no idea. When it first became clear, I cried. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. I’ve adjusted to a new reality, but the old thinking sometimes still arises, and I am surprised all over again that it is all a ridiculous cycle of wrong-minded thinking.
I’m not saying that everybody loves and appreciates me, and I don’t feel special when they do. But I am seeing it all differently now that I am not turning everything into a form of vengeance. So that when someone disapproves of me, I understand. It isn’t about me. We all see what we expect to see, even if there is not a glimmer of truth in it, because the mind looks for itself. I understand because that used to be me.
These days, when I feel attacked, I ask the Holy Spirit to correct my thinking. When I attack someone else, I ask the Holy Spirit for correction. Everything I see and experience is a reflection of my own beliefs. The world and everything I believe about it is a story my mind tells me. I know that a healed mind sees only love, no matter what is apparently happening. Not because behavior always looks loving, but because love is no longer interpreted as attack. My mind isn’t healed to that degree, but I get glimpses of it, and so I believe what I haven’t yet fully experienced. Those glimpses are the motivation that keeps me willingly on the healing path. Little by little, I am learning that perception does not need to be corrected—only relinquished.
Video: https://youtu.be/C8bKjsdoCQg

© 2026, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Lesson 21 2026

I am determined to see things differently.
1. The idea for today is obviously a continuation and extension of the preceding one. ²This time, however, specific mind-searching periods are necessary, in addition to applying the idea to particular situations as they may arise. ³Five practice periods are urged, allowing a full minute for each.
2. 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. ³The 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.
3. 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. ³You will probably be tempted to dwell more on some situations or persons than on others, on the fallacious grounds that they are more “obvious.” ⁴This is not so. ⁵It is merely an example of the belief that some forms of attack are more justified than others.
4. As you search your mind for all the forms in which attack thoughts present themselves, hold each one in mind while you tell yourself:
²I am determined to see ____________ [name of person] differently.
³I am determined to see ________________ [specify the situation] differently.
5. 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. ³If your perception is suffering from this form of distortion, say:
⁴I am determined to see ____________ [specify the attribute] in ____________ [name of person] differently.
(ACIM, W-21.1:1–5:4)
2025
I am determined to see my son’s impatience differently. I know this is not typical of him and is a result of his depression and anxiety, nevertheless, I judged him for it and felt irritated. I call it irritation because I tamped it down so that it didn’t reach the level of what I think of as anger.
But as Jesus tells us in this lesson, ⁵You will become increasingly aware that a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury. I may as well say that I was enraged by his impatience, which is just insane.
“That I remembered it so quickly suggests that some of that repressed rage was already seeping out.”
This is the problem of repressing rather than forgiving.
It is not really gone because we pushed it away. To be free, we must forgive it and thus let it go. And remember, we do this for all of us and thus free us all. Or we keep it and imprison ourselves (all of ourselves) in the world.
2026
I remember when I first read this lesson, how surprised I was to see this sentence: ⁵You will become increasingly aware that a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury. I recognized it as truth long before I understood it. What matters is that it has helped me become self-honest, which brings me closer to awakening. I no longer argue for my little anger, a habit that used to ensure I never let go of my fury, and so never awakened. Now, when I feel what I used to call a twinge of annoyance, I recognize the ego’s attempt to keep itself relevant in my life, and I mentally change gears. I choose full freedom because that is the only freedom.
I don’t just practice this lesson once a year – I have made it part of my daily life. So I am not as likely to think that the ‘little’ errors are less important. Jesus says that this is merely an example of the belief that some forms of attack are more justified than others. Because I am alert to this ego strategy, I have recently noticed that I have found ways to avoid forgiveness. I feel a twinge of anger, so I quickly reject the awareness of it, leaving only a feeling.
Here’s an example. Someone I know frequently asks me for favors. Sometimes I don’t want to comply but feel obligated to do so. Any thought of being angry is quickly tamped down, and all I’m left with is a feeling of friendship being abused. That quick feeling and its equally quick dissipation used to work, but now I am aware that this is just the way I was justifying the attack thought hiding as the feeling. Once seen, it is so clear that I realize it wasn’t accidental or even well hidden. I just didn’t want to see it. That way I could see myself unfairly treated and still keep my tarnished halo in place. It is no longer possible for this strategy to work now that it has been exposed.
I became determined to see this side of my friend differently, and now we are both free of my resentment.
I became determined to see my justification for keeping rage in place, and now I can become free of it.
I have become determined to see all subterfuge for keeping the ego in place, and now I see the way to total freedom.
Video: https://youtu.be/kVkNxAG43Hw

© 2026, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Lesson 20 2026

I am determined to see.
1. We have been quite casual about our practice periods thus far. ²There has been virtually no attempt to direct the time for undertaking them, minimal effort has been required, and not even active cooperation and interest have been asked. ³This approach has been intentional, and very carefully planned. ⁴We have not lost sight of the crucial importance of the reversal of your thinking. ⁵The salvation of the world depends on it. ⁶Yet you will not see if you regard yourself as being coerced, and if you give in to resentment and opposition.
2. This is our first attempt to introduce structure. ²Do not misconstrue it as an effort to exert force or pressure. ³You want salvation. ⁴You want to be happy. ⁵You want peace. ⁶You do not have them now, because your mind is totally undisciplined, and you cannot distinguish between joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, love and fear. ⁷You are now learning how to tell them apart. ⁸And great indeed will be your reward.
3. Your decision to see is all that vision requires. ²What you want is yours. ³Do not mistake the little effort that is asked of you for an indication that our goal is of little worth. ⁴Can the salvation of the world be a trivial purpose? ⁵And can the world be saved if you are not? ⁶God has one Son, and he is the resurrection and the life. ⁷His will is done because all power is given him in Heaven and on earth. ⁸In your determination to see is vision given you.
4. The exercises for today consist in reminding yourself throughout the day that you want to see. ²Today’s idea also tacitly implies the recognition that you do not see now. ³Therefore, as you repeat the idea, you are stating that you are determined to change your present state for a better one, and one you really want.
5. Repeat today’s idea slowly and positively at least twice an hour today, attempting to do so every half hour. ²Do not be distressed if you forget to do so, but make a real effort to remember. ³The extra repetitions should be applied to any situation, person or event that upsets you. ⁴You can see them differently, and you will. ⁵What you desire you will see. ⁶Such is the real law of cause and effect as it operates in the world. (ACIM, W-20.1:1–5:6)
2025
Something I noticed about this lesson is that Jesus explained why it is so simple and so short, and he explained what it would do for us. But he doesn’t tell us how to achieve what we are determined to do. I think this is because the ‘how’ is inferred. What is needed to achieve the outcome of truly seeing is the firm decision to do so. That is all.
Well, how hard can that be? I will state my intention and repeat it a few times, and that will be that. I will have traded my belief in what my eyes show me for real vision. Why do I need all those other lessons? Actually, I know why. After all these years of practice, I can still become confused about what I want to see.
First, let me be clear. When we see something in a particular way, it is because we want that perception of it. We want the emotional charge that goes with it. Or we want to prove something. For instance, last night, I had a frightening thought of something awful happening to my son. It seemed to come out of the blue, and once it was there, I found myself focused on it as if I could not look away.
All of this was for something that was not happening. There was no reason to expect it to happen. I was scaring myself for reasons I didn’t care to examine. But this isn’t my first rodeo. I know how this goes, and I am not as ignorant of why as I used to be. It is simple. I wanted to be afraid, as strange as that sounds. Fear felt imposed on me, but it wasn’t. It was chosen—because fear still seemed to offer me something.
So, maybe not so strange. After all, people go to scary movies and ride roller coasters. They parachute out of perfectly good planes, and rappel up mountains for no good reason. And most of us are perfectly willing to sit around with friends and share our personal everyday fears.
I may run out of money, and then what will I do? What if this politician gets elected, or that one? I wonder if my husband/wife is cheating on me? I had weird pains in my chest. When absolutely nothing is going wrong at that moment, we are willing to project fear into an unknown future. In other words, we are afraid because we want to be afraid. Anticipating the worst can become a bad habit. None of these fears were happening—but they gave my mind something to do.
But knowing this is true, I can now watch my feelings and my thoughts, and when I see this happening as it did last night, I can choose again. I can choose to forgive the former choice for fear and simply be in the moment where nothing is happening. Even if it seems I must drag my reluctant mind into the present, I will do it as I turn to the Holy Spirit for another way to see. I am determined to release the imagined horrors. I am determined to see.
2026
This is such an important lesson. I want to touch on a few things that it tells us. First, Jesus is a perfect teacher. He knows how to be firm but gentle and is infinitely patient. He understands that if we feel pushed or coerced, we will balk, dig our heels in, and resist our own salvation. So for the first 19 days, he has asked very little of us. The lessons were so simple and asked so little of us that we found it easy to go along with them. Today, Jesus is asking us to step up our game.
We are asked to commit to our salvation. To accept that what we call seeing when we use our eyes, is only showing us what we want to see, not what is really there. And it is causing us to suffer. But there is something real to see, something that will bring us happiness and peace of mind, and we can see it if we really want to. This is our purpose today, our practice: to be determined to see.
The ego doesn’t give up easily, of course, and there is no need to be disturbed by its intrusion on our lesson for the day. As soon as I was ready to look at the lesson this morning, I felt reluctant to look at it. If that reluctance were put into words, it would be something like this. Heavy sigh. Another lesson to contemplate. Another job to do. I’ve learned to accept that the ego wants to persist and fights the idea of salvation, so I ignored that idea.
I am determined to see, and I see that I love these lessons and I love writing and sharing my thoughts about them. The ego showed me a burden, but my determination to see showed me a privilege. So here I am, excited about this lesson. I notice that I feel a little different about it this year. I have experienced sight shifting into vision in little ways all last year, and so when I say that I am determined to see, I know what this lesson offers me. I really do want more of this.
I find myself returning over and over to paragraph 3, which tells us that our decision to see is all that vision requires. Our minds are very powerful, and decision is the way we use that power here. I am determined to see is such a decision. It is power that takes form. What we want is ours. We want to save the world, and Jesus asks us to consider this question: And can the world be saved if you are not?
I save the world by saving myself. The world is an outward projection of an inward belief. I believe the outward projection of the belief that we are separate from our Creator and living in a world of our own making is true. This belief is what I must be saved from, and I will see the Holy Spirit’s corrected version of the world. Do you wonder how this could be? I did and my doubt kept me from vision, but this year I am determined. Jesus tells us why we can do this in spite of any lingering doubts. ⁷His will is done because all power is given him in Heaven and on earth. ⁸In your determination to see is vision given you.
I am writing on my calendar today that I am determined to see. I am also writing that my will is done because all power is given me in Heaven and on earth. My determination to see will give me vision. I keep my calendar open on my desk, where I will see it often during the day. This action taken is my expression of my decision, as is my remembrance to do the lesson twice an hour every hour. It is the way I reinforce in my own mind what I really want. These actions don’t create vision; they witness to the decision that vision is what I want.
Video: https://youtu.be/5mfjqBvtBU8

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