My thoughts* on ACIM Urtext Lesson 108, for April 17, 2024. To give and to receive are one in truth.

To give and to receive are one in truth.

* In the Presence of God one can only give all and receive all. This awareness has distilled on my understanding. I am now four years old in the witness of the True forgiveness of the Atonement; the ‘undoing’ of the belief in separation from the Original Creator/God/Father of All That Is or Ever Could Be.

1. Vision depends upon today’s idea.

* The ability to ‘see’ the world as it truly is = vision.

²The light is in it, for it reconciles all seeming opposites.

³And what is light except the resolution, born of peace, of all your conflicts and mistaken thoughts into one concept which is wholly true?

⁴Even that one will disappear, because the Thought behind it will appear instead to take its place.

⁵And now you are at peace forever, for the dream is over then.

* It is sheer KNOWLEDGE that God IS and could ONLY BE thus giving you the ability to Be as well.

2. True light that makes true vision possible is not the light the body’s eyes behold.

* Your body’s eyes do not use the light of God to see but the darkness of the layers of ego trickery and distraction regarding who you truly are.

²It is a state of mind that has become so unified that darkness cannot be perceived at all.

* True light has no darkness, yet by the power of the Holy Spirit alone you are able to ‘see’ the errors of the ego so that they may be corrected. We are NOT, as individuals or as a race, going to be able to jump from one place to another. However, the Holy Spirit will guide us.

³And thus what is the same is seen as one, while what is not the same remains unnoticed, for it is not there.

* HAVING THE AWARENESS OF THIS ‘PLACE’ OF TOTAL LIGHT by FAITH, until it becomes knowledge ~ It has become knowledge for me, so I know that it is doable in the flesh. ~ IS Important as we shift out of the tangled thinking and habits of belief in separation.

3. This is the light that shows no opposites, and vision, being healed, has power to heal.

* THIS is what you are HEALING when you accept the Atonement. Your are HEALING the MIND of the Son of God who CURRENTLY THINKS he believes in separation.

²This is the light that brings your peace of mind to other minds, to share it and be glad that they are one with you and with themselves.

³This is the light that heals because it brings single perception, based upon one frame of reference, from which one meaning comes.

* THIS DOES NOT mean that you will not be shown, by the Holy Spirit, things that need to be addressed or corrected so that you can have a better life. It means that you will grow in understanding what Oneness means.

4. Here are both giving and receiving seen as different aspects of one Thought whose truth does not depend on which is seen as first, nor which appears to be in second place.

* I suspect that it is the witness from the Holy Spirit that God IS and that we are Within His Being where nothing else but Him and His Will could be Real.

* It is a place where I have everything I have EVER desired already in perfect harmony with all that is.

²Here it is understood that both occur together, that the Thought remain complete.

³And in this understanding is the base on which all opposites are reconciled, because they are perceived from the same frame of reference which unifies this Thought.

* There is only God, therefore all righteousness is fulfilled; always and completely. Wow, of course.

5. One thought, completely unified, will serve to unify all thought.

* I am counting on this. If it only takes one who believes and acts in that faith and witness then I am going to do my part to the best of my ability. If it takes me a few more lifetimes to get it right, okay. One step, breath, Holy Instant at a time.

²This is the same as saying one correction will suffice for all correction, or that to forgive one brother wholly is enough to bring salvation to all minds.

³For these are but some special cases of one law which holds for every kind of learning, if it be directed by the One Who knows the truth.

* Father, may it be.

6. To learn that giving and receiving are the same has special usefulness, because it can be tried so easily and seen as true.

²And when this special case has proved it always works, in every circumstance where it is tried, the thought behind it can be generalized to other areas of doubt and double vision.

* I want to exercise this in every appearance of difficulty. Yet, is not that witness that I have that God IS, enough to tell me that it must be so!

³And from there it will extend, and finally arrive at the one Thought which underlies them all.

7. Today we practice with the special case of giving and receiving.

²We will use this simple lesson in the obvious because it has results we cannot miss.

³To give is to receive.

⁴Today we will attempt to offer peace to everyone, and see how quickly peace returns to us.

⁵Light is tranquility, and in that peace is vision given us, and we can see.

8. So we begin the practice periods with the instruction for today, and say:

²To give and to receive are one in truth.

³I will receive what I am giving now.

⁴Then close your eyes, and for five minutes think of what you would hold out to everyone, to have it yours.

⁵You might, for instance, say:

⁶To everyone I offer quietness.

⁷To everyone I offer peace of mind.

⁸To everyone I offer gentleness.

9. Say each one slowly and then pause a while, expecting to receive the gift you gave.

²And it will come to you in the amount in which you gave it.

³You will find you have exact return, for that is what you asked.

⁴It might be helpful, too, to think of one to whom to give your gifts.

⁵He represents the others, and through him you give to all.

10. Our very simple lesson for today will teach you much.

²Effect and cause will be far better understood from this time on, and we will make much faster progress now.

³Think of the exercises for today as quick advances in your learning, made still faster and more sure each time you say, “To give and to receive are one in truth.”

* God IS All That IS or Ever Could Be and We are of Him for there is NOTHING else. We offer God to God and receive God to God. Egos aside.

(ACIM, W-108.1:1–10:3)

Till next time, God bless, debi.