A Course In Miracles Lesson 42

A Course In Miracles Lesson 42 states:

God is my strength.  Vision is His gift.

Or

My strength comes from the Creative Field of All-That-Is.  When I connect with this Field, I see clearly and have true vision of what is.

The term “vision” here in A Course In Miracles lesson 42 is not the same as the act of physical seeing.  Physical seeing involves the physical eyes as well as all the physical shapes that get ‘seen’ by those eyes.  Vision is not the same as seeing.  Vision is an ability to hold the mind in a quality of clarity beyond whatever temporary situation may be physically in front of us.  Vision looks past the conditions and holds what is true and possible.  Vision is a field of knowing and it is an inner experience without physical eyes.  It happens in the mind’s eye.

People who possess vision are leaders of groups and nations because they hold as example the qualities that others need to see and experience in order to believe in.  Where does vision come from?  Where do the great leaders of this world get their clarity and energy to convey new and uplifting vision?

Today’s lesson explains that the strength to see truly comes from the Creative Field.  When I connect with this Field, I see clearly and act in productive ways.  Connecting to the Creative Field brings me true vision.

How do I connect with the Creative Field?  If it is everything, aren’t I already connected?  Yes, you are.  And there is technically no actual “reconnection” needed.  There is only remembering that you are already and always connected.  Why would we ever forget this?  Because the Creative Field you are a part of and which you function from is a Free space where you choose what you want to do with your attention.  The Creative Field holds space for the option of experiencing separation.  It does not hold space for the option of actually separating.  You can not separate from the Field of all that is.  But you can choose to think that you have.  Exploring the experience of separation does not cause separation to occur.

I can experience something that has not happened.  My experience of something is not an indication of a state of reality.  I can experience someone’s expressionless face as hostile or sad.  I can experience a dream where I was robbed, but wake to find I am safe.  I can experience a tone of voice as caring when it was indifferent.  What I experience is not an accurate account of what is.  It is only my experience and that experience is in my power to change.

My strength comes from my connection with the God Field.  The energy to do anything in our life comes from the Creative Field.  When I choose to know this fact rather than debate it our forget it, I begin to carry the same qualities as the Creative Field.  Those qualities include vision.  What we see in the world changes when we decide to follow vision within us rather than seeing the external world as a guide.  

When we do not have energy for some activity in our life, it is because we have lost connection with the source energy for that endeavor, which is to say, we have lost our sense of why to do it in the first place.

The reason we do any and all endeavors is to gain a sense of connection with the Creative Field.

There is an infinite supply of energy always available to us.  Understanding our relationship with the spiritual dimension will guide us to the fuel we need in life and will naturally bring true and lasting meaning to whatever our activity is.  Purpose is an energetic connection to a Presence, a Field, a Way, a state of reality.

You choose at all times to either remember or forget the fact that you come from an infinite source of energy.  Forgetting is not voluntary.  Forgetting is an indication that your soul ( your subconscious) has an interest in exploring a self-made curiosity about the notion of separation.  This curiosity and impulse is not a problem.  You will never be punished by the Field of Creation for exploring a self-made notion.  You are created by creation for that very purpose- to explore, expand, and continue creating.

If you find your current experience feels disconnected from the Creative Field and it feels as if this disconnect is involuntary and out of your control to prevent, this is an opportunity to glimpse and understand that you are much larger than your conscious awareness.  Conscious awareness is only a small part of your whole being.  And your whole being is only a small part of All that is.  If something has happened in your life that you clearly do not want and would not consciously choose to want, this is an example of how you often want things you are not aware of wanting.  If something happens in your life, it can only do so from a source of interest in having it occur.  If something is not wanted, it does not occur.

If something comes about in my life, it is only because that is what is wanted.  If something comes into my life it is because I am ready to engage it.  I may not know I am ready but by engaging, I discover that I do have what it takes to navigate what has come.  I am a perfect match for what arises because it is my interest and desire that has brought it about.

You can choose to argue with and not believe in this world view.  You can choose to believe the opposite world view of this one which holds that the external world is random and has nothing to do with my interests and desires.  What I want may or may not happened because I choose to believe that life is random and that I have no power to affect it.

There is no way to prove definitively which world view is the empiracle truth because our perspective is our choice.  You are free to choose what you believe.

When something happens that you do not like and which you would clearly not chose, this is an indication that you may not really understand what you want.   You may not have an awareness of a part of you that did have an interest in exploring whatever it was.  We may not understand why something happens to us.  But we can understand that we are much larger than our capacity to intellectually understand something. 

This idea is something you chose to believe in.  It is a world view that suggests you have the power to move deeper and deeper into peace.  If, while in a difficult situation, I am clearly aware that I do not want what I am receiving, I would be more accurate to acknowledge that if it is happening, it can only mean that some part of me does want what has arisen.  To all adverse situations it is more accurate to say, “I do not want to want this conflict.”  I want to release my interest in what ever this conflict is.  I recognize that a part of me has an interest in it and I want to also remember and reconnect to the part of me that wants peace and that wants to want peace.

There is a part of me that wants conflict.  My interest in conflict is what has brought a conflict to me.  I do not live in a random world.  I live in a world of cause and effect.  I can not understand this world.  It is much too large and complex.  But I can understand that I chose to be here and that I am interested in what happens in this world. I can put down fighting with what comes my way and I can make peace with the part of me that wants conflict.  I can hold space for the parts of me I am not aware of and recognize that they are given space in the Field of all that is.  I can be as I am and learn as I go.

When a conflict arises, I can say, “I want peace.  If I do not want peace, I want to want peace.”

Even when I hold this response in place, I will still experience conflict.  This world is conflict.  I can not know how long the residual momentum of living in constant engagement with conflict will last but I can recognize that my choices built up a legacy of momentum which I can accept, and make space for without adding to that momentum.  I can refrain from adding frustration to a  situation by remembering that there are still parts of me who have not yet chosen peace the way I have.  I can hold space for any interests I have in conflict and I acknowledge that I do have those interests.

The ability to hold this space is the strength of your natural state.  Holding space for what is is what the Creative Field does, and when you do it, you have connected to an eternal source of power.  You were made by the Creative Field so you are like it.  You are endowed with the same capacities as the Field.  Those capacities are: Creative, Joyful, Peaceful, Powerful, Clear, Free, Certain, Forever Good.

The Creative Field can not possess negative qualities.  The God Field does not hate or destroy.  Something within the God Field may have those qualities.  But The positive qualities of the Field are not negated or destroyed by the act of holding space for the negative.  The Field continues to hold space, be receptive, willing, and enduring.  The God Field is the supreme inclusion, including even that which to exclude.  Everything is given room to be what it is inside the Field of God who only holds the values of all that is whole, well, and good.

Illusions (violence and pain) are given space in the Field but are always understood by the Field for what they are- temporary misguided beliefs and a choice to investigate that which can never be.

Separation does not exist.  It is not possible.  Belief that it is is possible but belief does not make it so.  It only makes it so for the believer.  It is our destiny to realize we are part of the peace, joy, strength and clarity that is the God Field.  It is our destiny to realize that we do not make our own strength.  Strength is given to us when we choose to open ourselves to a relationship with that which is larger than we are.  

The Field of Creation is your strength.  The Field always only has your best interests in mind.  What the Field gives is given forever.  This means you can receive this strength at any time you choose from any condition you may find yourself in.  Your passage through time and space is not at random.  At all times, you are part of the Field of Creation and you are in the perfect place for the expression of that magnificent Field.  You are needed where you are.  You have a task to do from where you are which is perfectly suited to your skill sets and which will be only a deep joy to perform.  God wants your joy.  You can also choose to want your joy.  In doing, you connect with the Creative Field which is your source of power.  It is not you who figures out what to do.  The Field figures it out for you and you choose to step aside and let that movement lead the way.

Trying to operate in isolated independence from a power source will always end in exhaustion.   You do not self-empower.  Remembering that the Field of Creation is where all your strength comes from will bring confusion and exhaustion to an end.  It does not matter how long you have been pushing your self-made agendas.  It does not matter how badly you may have botched things up.  You can put down trying to figure out how things should be done and let the Source of how things are done move you up and out of where you may be.  You need only ask for that to happen and then allow it to happen when it comes.  The experience may be faint at first because you may still have a momentum of old interests in conflict.  To these interests you can say, “I want to want peace.”

The goal of this course is not to facilitate total enlightenment.  That will come in its own time and is not needed now.  What is needed is the ability to remember and reconnect with the Source of your power whenever you forget from wherever you may be.  

Today’s lesson asks you to sit for 5 minutes two times.  1^st right when you wake up and again right before sleep.  Be in a quiet place.  With eyes open, repeat the idea: God is my strength.  Vision is His gift. 

Phrase this idea in whatever words feel good to you. Then close your eyes and repeat the idea again even slower than before.  After this, try to release your mind from all language and all thoughts, floating up into the qualities we now understand the God Field to be. Peace, wholeness, joy, completion, inclusion… Add any other positive descriptions you feel the God Field holds.  Put them in your own words with phrases like, “I am well because I am made from a Field of wellness.”  “I can handle this because I am in a Field that holds me.”  “I am where I need to be.”  “This is the place for me.” “I am not alone here.”  “I am with God.  The light of God is with me now and  I can bring my light within to whatever this is.” “I was put here for a reason and I can fulfill that reason.  It is a perfect match for me.”

Say these ideas as frequently as you can remember them all through the day for any length of time.  There is no limit to the number of short practice periods you could have.  Write it down and set it in a place you see often.  And whenever a conflict arises, bring this lesson to it.  The more often you repeat the idea today the more often you will be reminding yourself that the goal of this course is important to you and that you have not forgotten it.  The goal of this course is to connect you with the eternal source of Peace, Joy, and Wellness that is always there for you to have as your own experience.