Reading the newspaper daily, I am always amazed at the
suffering and pain and wars going on all the time around the world. For much too long, I did not understand when
a brother would say to me, “You are the cause.”
“What? I am here, and
that is taking place there.”
Well, I finally got it.
It all depends on whether I am looking at worldly events through the
body’s eyes, or the eyes of Christ. This
is the causation. Through my body’s
eyes, I see projected images of what is dark within; through the eyes of
Christ, I see a bright reflection of my innocent Self.
This all came back to me this morning while I was reading
these passages from the Text of the Course.
A simple question yet remains, and needs an answer. Do
you like what you have made?—a world of murder and attack, through which you
thread your timid way through constant dangers, alone and frightened, hoping at
most that death will wait a little longer before it overtakes you and you
disappear. You made this up. It is a picture of what you think you
are; of how you see yourself. A murderer is frightened, and those who
kill fear death. All these are but the fearful thoughts of those who would
adjust themselves to a world made fearful by their adjustments. And they look
out in sorrow from what is sad within, and see the sadness there.
Have you not wondered what the world is really like;
how it would look through happy eyes?
Who in a holy
relationship can long remain unholy? The world the holy see is one with them,
just as the world the ego looks upon is like itself. The world the holy see is
beautiful because they see their innocence in it. They did not tell it what it
was; they did not make adjustments to fit their orders. They gently questioned
it and whispered, 'What are you?' And He Who watches over all perception
answered. Take not the judgement of the world as answer to the question, 'What
am I?' The world believes in sin, but the belief that made it as you see it is
not outside you. (T-20.lll.4,6)
It all depends on what we choose to see, reminding me of
this poem by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963 ).
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
This is a demonstration of seeing something exactly as it
is, objectively, no judgments, no
projections, just a simple reflection.
* *
*
Just after writing
this, I sat down to read “A Course of Love,” a book that Mari Perron scribed,
listening to Jesus, and I read this passage, echoing what I just wrote:
There is not a soul
who walks this earth that does not weep at what it sees. Yet, the Christ in you does not weep, for the
Christ in you sees with eyes of love.
The difference is the eyes of love see not the misery of despair. This is the miracle. The miracle is true seeing. Think not that love can look on misery and
see love there. Love looks not on misery
at all. (p. 12, 2.10)
