 Hi everyone, welcome again to today's edition of the daily Course in Miracles workbook lesson live. So we're going through spontaneous lessons just as the spirit comes in and inspires me to come on and be online with you. So today's lesson is a wonderful short succinct lesson. It is lesson number 20 for this January 20 2023 lesson 20 is I am determined to see. And just for a little context, the two lessons leading up to this lesson, I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing. And then I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts. That's just a good context for today's lesson, the preceding two lessons, which basically is is conveying what I've been sharing for years that that the issue of distorted perception the issue of fragmented perception, looking through the egos filter in the, the deceived mind. The wrong mindedness of distorted perception is the problem so both of these preceding two lessons are just really showing us that that the reason I'm not I'm not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing or my thinking. Is because it's a lesson in the mind, we're always going for an experience in our mind. The problem is not on the set. As they said when they invented the television the problem is not in your TV set do not touch the dial, do not attempt to change the channel of the form because the problems in the mind. We jump into our lesson today. Number 20. I am determined to see. We have been quite casual about our practice periods thus far. There 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. This approach has been intentional and very carefully planned. We have not lost sight of the crucial importance of the reversal of your thinking. The salvation of the world depends on it. Yet you will not see if you regard yourself as being coerced. And if you give into resentment and opposition. This is our first attempt to introduce structure. You cannot misconstrue it as an effort to exert force or pressure. You want salvation. You want to be happy. You want peace. You 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. You are learning how to tell them apart and great indeed will be your reward. Your decision to see is all that vision requires. What you want is yours. Do not mistake the little effort that is asked of you for an indication that our goal is a little worth. Is salvation of the world be a trivial purpose? And can the world be saved if you are not? God has one son and he is the resurrection and the life. His will is done because all power is given him in heaven and on earth. In your determination to see is vision given you. So before I continue, if I go back to that line, God has one son. And he is the resurrection and the life is really again just pointing to there's the Christ is the perfect creation of God. And behind all of these bodies and behind all these specific forms and behind all these planets and solar systems and galaxies and behind the whole cosmos, the whole cosmos of time and space is the Christ is the perfect son of God. And that son of God is the recognition of who we are. As I've said, the whole purpose of this world is to know who you are. So in here, he's saying God has one son. We all share the same identity, not in form of course because the body is not the Christ. Even the body of Jesus was a demonstration or a symbol or a reflection of the Christ mind. So it was like a little pointer. It was like, when Jesus was saying, you know, come on to me, he was, it was the Holy Spirit saying come on to the Christ, remember who you really are. And even these previous two lessons, you know, I'm not alone in experiencing the effect of my thoughts. And seeing and my thoughts those last two lessons basically is basically pointing to that there's only one mind. So every thing that we experience is a lesson for the mind. Not for the body. Not for the persons. Persons will never learn salvation. Persons will never be enlightened. Persons will never reach self realization because the person, the persona, the mask is a construct. That's part of the false perception so you're off the hook, if you have believing that you somehow have have to come into self realization or enlightenment as a person because it ain't going to happen. And yet, you can't recognize the truth by perceiving a fragment of perception distorted perception you have to come into he healed or holistic perception before you can remember the truth of the I am this of spirit. The exercises for today consists in reminding yourself throughout the day that you want to see. Today's idea idea also tessedly implies the recognition that you do not see now. Therefore, 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. Repeat today's idea slowly and positively, at least twice an hour today, attempting to do so every half hour. Do not be distressed if you forget to do so. But make a real effort to remember the extra repetitions should be applied to any situation person or event that upsets you. You can see them differently, and you will. What you desire you will see such is the real law of cause and effect as it operates in the world. Wow, what you desire you will see. I know that that I, there's a whole website called levels of mine, and that website starts off with the core in the center of these rings concentric circles is prayer or desire. And then everything that springs out in the rings that are outside of this core are all just reflections of what's in the core. So we've always been told, be careful what you pray for you just might get it. It's how the mind works prayer or desire is at the very core of the mind and then what you desire is what you experience emotionally, cognitively in your thoughts. And what you perceive in the world is all a reflection of the prayer in your heart. And that's why when you learn to pray and pray with more and more discipline and pray without ceasing the prayer becomes a prayer for God to know God. And everything else is just what reflects from that prayer for God. The prayer for God is also the prayer for love it's also the prayer for happiness. It's, it's the prayer for joy, it's the prayer for deep inner peace. So, as we move on through the day, we just every half an hour and whenever there's a challenge that comes up today just remember your lesson I am determined to see. Now, I did say that I would take specific questions that would come in and we do have a specific question that came in today. And, and this is the question. Dear David my husband and I have two sons and a daughter. Every time I have annoyance with my younger son and when it is expressed in yelling or nagging my older son and husband express verbal and physical aggression toward my youngest son. The annoyance is usually due to the younger son playing video games and spending too much time on the phone while ignoring the family and his chores. I feel like I'm giving permission to act out for the older son and my husband by expressing discontent with him. There is no remembering of Holy Spirit at the event occurrence. How do I make myself remember to ask for help when I am annoyed, angry or upset. Also, what to do when my oldest and my husband become aggressive. Lastly, what would you advise when a kid is addicted to games and phone from the ACIM and spiritual perspective. I am feeling like he is wasting his time and hurting his health by spending so much time on the electronic device. But I do see in thinking that way I have fear. Thank you for doing the live version of the lessons and taking my question. So, in this situation again. This is the reason the ego made the world was to make problems seem to be specific. So, in this situation it seems to be a family drama playing out between your younger son. And the discontent that you feel and then that being expressed and then the older, your older son and your husband becoming very aggressive. And so it seems to play out in form in the specific family situation over and over again, leading to just frustration. So how we apply it to today's lesson is you as you go through the day just stay with. I am determined to see. And also, whenever there's a challenge come up or when this scenario seems to repeat or or these things start to act out. Whether it's your younger son spending time on his phone or on a device playing games, whether it seems to be the feelings that come up and the thoughts in your mind that he's your younger son's wasting time. This isn't helpful. This isn't good for his health. When you're tempted to express your discontent, and you realize that it seems to be quite connected to the playing out of the aggression with your older son and your husband. We come back to I am determined to see is what is the prayer of my heart. I want to use the prayer of my heart to bring healing to my mind. And, and this is part of really the deep prayer to see the situation differently. Now, in terms of practicality. We really are praying for a resolution is we're really praying for peace, we're praying for harmony in our mind and therefore in everything that we perceive. We do have to acknowledge that we have the power of prayer and that this is a lesson for our mind. The conflict that seems to be playing out in the form is is not the actual conflict. I talked about recently on an on a live broadcast with the workbook lessons. As I was reading from the text I was saying that that really the issue is in the mind and the friction is between creation and miscreation creation is is of God, heaven is of God Christ is of God, and creation is is light. And so we have this experience of light, and then miscreation is where the belief in separation comes in the belief in darkness comes in. And it's a conflict between which is so is creation so is heaven so is God so is Christ so is reality so or am I capable of misusing what God gave me in creation. And that is what the ego is the ego is the belief that it's possible to miscreate. It is impossible to miscreate because what God's will is in heaven, eternally is is is it is eternal. There is no opposite to it. It is impossible that there could be a will apart from God's will. And we say God gave us create free will. Yes, God gave Christ free will as a perfect being of light, and, and Christ will is is God's will, the will for perfect happiness. So, as we bring it back to this particular situation, it really comes down to the prayer of the heart, what is your prayer of the heart what is the torch that you're going to hold in front as you go through the day. As you practice this, there may be times when you do receive guidance. And I know this comes up a lot of times in what we're looking at is like what seems like a parenting situation. It's like, is there a call for discipline. Is there a call for rules. Is there a call call for guidelines. And I would say, yes, there is a very, very strong call for discipline and that is the discipline of mind training that, that when the discontent you talked about comes up. This is the call to, to prayer to heal the mind. It's the mind that feels the discontent that is the ego, and then the projection of that guilt and the projection of that discontent can be interpreted as a family that you've described. But that's not really an accurate interpretation. That is, is an egoic interpretation and it's arising from the discontent. So, when we say there is a call for discipline, it's not necessarily that people have to become disciplined, but the mind that perceives that the distortion has to become disciplined. The mind that perceives the distortion is, is the ego mind, it's, it's perceiving through the ego's filter. That's what Jesus calls the wrong mind and, and the right mind, which is the miracle. That's where the miracle occurs. That is where we start to remember. Oh my gosh, this is all playing out for one reason, for me to come back to my right mind to me for me to become back in alignment with God with the Holy Spirit and Jesus. That's the purpose of every situation. That's the purpose of your son, seemingly watching, you know, playing video games and spending all this time on the phone. It's for discipline in the mind, the mind training to come back to alignment with God. And this is not just for your family and not for you as a person, this is for the salvation of the world, which Jesus just talked about in the lesson. Even though he's eased his way in through the first 19 lessons, now he's bringing in a little bit of structure. Yeah, repeat the lesson every half hour, and also repeat it as needed when there's a form of challenge or difficulty that you perceive. So that's bringing in some structure in the day, but basically he's saying, don't don't construe that we've been kind of lighthearted and we haven't demanded things and we haven't brought structure in before this as if your goal is is less than salvation of the world. It's an extremely important goal. And yet it's an easing in, you know, we're not, Jesus is not taking us into the deep end. He's taking us into the kiddie pool on the waiting, the way the shallow end first before we start going into the deep end. That's why we will progressively move through this mind training. And it's, it's designed that way it's planned that way. So, the feeling that I want to express is, is that what you're doing in your situation is, is mind training for the good of the whole. You're doing this mind training for the whole universe because the universe is as it's perceived the cosmos is in the mind. And that's where the fragmented perception has to be healed. The cosmos, and the, what we're called the time space physical universe is really not external to the mind. So you can change your mind by giving a new purpose. The purpose is forgiveness and the way that you come into that purpose is through prayer or desire. I thought today too, we could reinforce what we're talking about by, by jumping back. I recently jumped back into chapter 15 and I was back in, in chapter two last time, talking about the basics of revelation and miracles. I thought we could just jump back briefly to help us out here into chapter one section five, which is called wholeness and spirit, because this really reminds us again how important the miracle working is and that we're doing this for everyone. This is not a personal quest for enlightenment. This is not a personal quest to bring healing specifically into the family or into the characters, the mother, the father, the children. This is, this is a request to be given the true context of miracle working which is in the mind, through the mind, and of the mind. And that's why when you work with the Course in Miracles in Jesus, you see that he always is saying things like, you know, it is with your thoughts alone that we must work, because he's really showing us that the level of mind or the level of thoughts is the level of causation. And egoic thoughts produce a false fragmented perceptual world and cosmos, and your real thoughts are when you align completely with God and you create like God in pure spirit. So you might say your true function is, is creation, and you have to return to remembrance of God and, and the true identity of Christ to remember that creation. So again, the conflict is not going on inside the family the conflicts going on between the split desire in the mind desire to create and the desire to miscreate. In the end, we have to see that it's impossible to miscreate and return to just the pure creation, which is our function in heaven. Here's chapter one, wholeness and spirit. The miracle is much like the body in that both are learning aids for facilitating a state in which they become unnecessary. When spirits original state of communication of direct communication is reached, neither the body nor the miracle serves any purpose. While you believe you are in a body, however, you can choose between loveless and miraculous channels of expression. You can make an empty shell, but you cannot express nothing at all. You can wait, delay, paralyze yourself or reduce your creativity almost to nothing, but you cannot abolish it. God created you as a creative being and you cannot abolish it. You can, you can cover it, snuff it out in awareness, but you can't abolish it. You can destroy your medium of communication, but not your potential. You did not create yourself. The basic decision of the miracle minded is not to wait on time any longer than is necessary. Time can waste and as well as be wasted. The miracle worker therefore accepts the time control factor gladly. He recognizes that every collapse of time brings everyone closer to the ultimate release from time in which the son and father are one. Equality does not imply equality now. When everyone recognizes that he has everything individual contributions to the sonship will no longer be necessary. When the atonement has been completed, all talents will be shared by all the sons of God. God is not partial. All his children have total love and all his gifts are freely given to everyone alike. Accept you become as little children means that unless you fully recognize your complete dependence on God, you cannot know the real power of the son in his true relationship with his father. So basically, as we really look at this. As you gaze around the room as you gaze around the world, you can see that. It's it's important to remember that that my prayer or my desire in my mind is what sets the world I see in motion I wouldn't be perceiving the world that I'm perceiving. I wouldn't be in the state of mind that I am in right now without the prayer of my heart. If there is no room for believing that in victimization that an external world is external to your mind is doing things to you that that you don't like, because everything that's experienced starts off with the desire and the prayer of the heart. And then it proceeds forth to the beliefs that you hold the thoughts you think the emotions you feel, and the perceptual world that you experience all our effects of the prayer of the heart. And that prayer of the heart it comes back to realizing you have a very powerful mind and you have to watch your thoughts very carefully. As we just heard Jesus reminding us recently in the previous lesson that I did live you don't guard your thoughts carefully enough. But you can. You can train your mind to be in alignment with God you can train your mind to be miracle minded. You can train your mind to be consistently miracle minded, and that's where the happiness and joy come in. So when you're looking as the question was at at at your youngest son your oldest son your husband and yourself. You can realize that this is a filter that you're looking through and this is a filter. You might say it looks like the family filter a very personal filter. But basically Jesus is telling us that you have to be determined to see you have to be determined to to have the Christ vision that shines away the fall false perceptions, and it's inevitable because that's the power of the mind. It's the destiny of the mind to see with Christ's vision it was created by God, and it has a very lofty function to to perceive the world, you know, in a new way and open to Christ vision which is not of the body's eyes, not of the five senses, and then to remember God. That's, that's our goal. Everything is about God. So what a beautiful lesson we have today. I am, I am determined to see. And also, we, we come back to that that we want to see in the truest way, like the song, you know, I can see clearly now. The rain has gone. I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It's going to be a bright, bright sun shiny day. Look all around. There's nothing but blue skies. Look straight ahead. There's nothing but blue skies. This is a popular song in the world but but you see how it relates to our theme today. I am determined to see, you know, I am determined to see. And, and I've just been inspired by so many songs that remind me of what's going on in my mind over these years. You know that I think of that Barbara Streisand song, you know, on a clear day rise and look around you, and you'll see who you are on a clear day, how it will astound you. The glow of your being outshines every star. You'll feel part of every mountain, sea and shore. You can hear from far and near a world you never heard before, never saw before. I am determined to see I am determined to see let's get revved up today. Okay. All right. Thank you for joining me. And I send you my love and blessing and let's stay with our lesson today. Every half an hour, and whenever we seem to have a challenge. I am determined to see God bless you.