ARCIM

Daily Lesson 42 ~
February 11

The Divine is my Strength. Vision is Its Gift.

The idea for today combines two very powerful Thoughts, both of major importance. It also sets forth a cause-and-effect relationship that explains why you cannot fail in your efforts to achieve the goal of this Course. You will achieve true vision because it is the Divine’s Will for you to do so. It is the Divine’s Strength, not your own, that gives you what is needed to accomplish our goal. And it is the Divine’s Gift to you, rather than your own, that offers vision to you.

The Divine is indeed your Strength, and what It gives is truly given. This means that you can receive It anytime and anywhere, wherever you are and in whatever circumstances you find yourself. Your passage through time and space is not random. It is impossible for you not to be in the right place at the right time. Such is the Strength of the Divine. Such are Its Gifts.

We will have two three-to-five-minute exercise periods today, one as soon as possible after you wake, and another as close as possible to the time you go to sleep. It is better, however, to wait until you can sit quietly by yourself at a time when you feel ready than it is to be concerned with the time as such.

Begin the longer practice periods by repeating the idea for today slowly, with eyes open, glancing about you. Then close your eyes and repeat the idea again, quite slowly. After this, try to think of nothing except thoughts that occur to you in relation to today’s idea. You might think, for example, such thoughts as:

“Vision must be possible because the Divine gives truly.”

“The Divine’s Gifts to me must truly be mine because It only gives truly.”

“The Divine’s Strength in me opens my spiritual eye.”

Any thought that is clearly related to the idea itself is suitable.

You may, in fact, be astonished at the amount of Course-related understanding the thoughts that occur to you contain. Let them come without censoring them unless you realize that your mind is merely wandering and that you have let obviously irrelevant thoughts intrude. You may also reach a point where no thoughts at all seem to come to mind. If this occurs, open your eyes and repeat the idea once more while glancing slowly about, close your eyes, repeat the idea again, and then allow related thoughts to come to you.

Remember, though, that active searching for relevant thoughts is not appropriate for today’s exercises. Try merely to step back and let the thoughts related to today’s idea occur. If you find this difficult, it is better to spend the practice period alternating between slow repetitions of the idea with eyes open, then closed, then open, and so on than it is to strain in order to find suitable related thoughts.

There is no limit on the number of short practice periods today that would be beneficial. The idea for today is a beginning step in bringing thoughts together and teaching you that what you are studying is a unified thought system in which nothing is lacking that is needed, and nothing is included that is contradictory or irrelevant. The more often you repeat and use the idea during the day, the more often you will be reminding yourself that the goal of the Course is important to you, and that you have remembered it.

 

Corresponding Text Section

 

Principle of Miracles 42

Miracles release you from your erroneous sense of isolation, deprivation, and lack. They are affirmations of your Heritage in the Divine Family, which is a State of Completion and Abundance.

Commentary

The issue of the need to “fundamentally change” or transform your mind needs clarification. Whatever is true and real is eternal, and cannot change or be changed. The part of your mind that is spirit is therefore unalterable because it is already perfect, but the split mind can choose the dimension it will serve, or focus its attention on. The only limit that is put on its choice is that it cannot serve two dimensions or “masters,” that is, it cannot achieve diametrically-opposed or even mutually-exclusive goals.

While the choice of which dimension one is actually serving, or which goal one is really giving one’s creative focus to, itself is a personal one, and the right to choose is fully protected, choosing always entails both election and rejection. If someone votes for two candidates for the same single position, their vote cancels itself out because the intention of their vote becomes unclear. In a sense a split vote of this nature is meaningless because it doesn’t represent any real choice.

Freedom and Will are Attributes of the spirit, which remains forever changeless because it is always in the Divine’s Presence. Freewill, or the option of choosing to join one’s will with the Divine’s or to choose otherwise, is an attribute of the split mind, not the spirit.

The perfect creation of spirit by the Divine is already fully accomplished in Eternity. The split mind, if it chooses to do so with its “vote” of where to put its attention, becomes a medium by which the spirit can, even in this world, direct creative activity along the line of its own creation by the Divine. If it does not freely elect to do so, it retains this creative ability, which can never be lost, but places itself under oppressive rather than superconscious control. In this case what results from the mind’s activity is dejection, because such are the dictates of oppressors.

To “fundamentally change your mind” means to place the part of the mind that can and must change into the service of true creativity rather than under tyrannical control. The miracle is thus a sign that the mind has elected to be guided by Divine Essence in Its Service. The Abundance of Divine Essence is the natural result of choosing to follow It.