Lesson 75 of A Course in Miracles has its main headline, “The light has come.” Let’s evaluate how this lesson pertains to our theme for 2024 which is “vision.”
Paragraph one of Lesson 75 says, “The light has come. You are healed and you can heal. The light has come. You are saved and you can save. You are at peace and you bring peace with you wherever you go. Darkness and turmoil and death have disappeared. The light has come. Today we celebrate the happy ending to your long dream of disaster. There are no dark dreams now. The light has come. Today the time of light begins for you and everyone. It is a new era in which a new world is born. The old one has left no trace upon it in its passing. Today we see a different world because the light has come.”
Then one final part to this for now, pivoting from here to the practical exercise for today. It says, “Our exercise for today will be happy ones, in which we offer thanks for the passing of the old and the beginning of the new. No shadows from the past remain to darken our sight and hide the world forgiveness offers. Today we will accept the new world that's what we want to see… Our longer practice periods will be devoted to looking at the world that our forgiveness shows.”
The excerpt transitions from, “the light has come,” to now helping us to get into exercises that are about forgiveness which is really the entire theme of A Course in Miracles. But here, the specific emphasis is that that's what lets the light come. So those are the exercises recommended to practice forgiveness.
Why does it seem like we're not dispelling all the things we can dispel? It's an interesting question. Now, I don't have the ultimate answer, but one thing that comes to mind immediately is a section from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart. For those of us who are big fans, it's quite memorable. Anyway, there's a part in the film where Clarence, the guardian angel sent to help George Bailey, finds George deeply troubled. George keeps lamenting, "I wish I had never been born." Despite Clarence's efforts to dissuade him, George repeats the sentiment. So Clarence proposes an experiment: to show George what his town, Bedford Falls, would be like if he had never existed.
It's a haunting experience as we follow George through the now-altered town renamed Pottersville, after the wealthiest man, Mr. Potter, who's exploiting everyone. George finds himself a stranger, unrecognized by his own family and friends. Eventually, overwhelmed by the stark contrast between the life he knows and this alternate reality, he begs Clarence to return him to his former existence. He realizes he wants to live, despite the challenges he faced. The comparison between George's life with and without his presence is deeply compelling.
Anyway, this is what I shared in the call: If any one of us, no matter how seemingly bad or vile our lives, didn't exist, life would be worse. It would be way worse. So when it says that we bring healing and light, as part of A Course in Miracles, it implies that there are untold miracles happening due to our exercise of a miracle mindset, of which we may be unaware. The application here is in our professional lives; it truly benefits us to lead with this divine light as the foundation of our leadership.
If one can be there, and if it makes sense to want to be there, that's why we adopt a miracle mindset in leadership. Every bit of radiance we project to our teams, allies, or stakeholders changes our business and the world for the better, even if we can't always see it happening. But the absence of our efforts would make life even more hellish, right? So I think that's part of reconciling this idea that it doesn't seem like anything is happening. There are numerous things going on behind the scenes that we can't see. Anyway, that's the leadership application: to be forgiving and thus allow the light to constantly shine through our forgiveness work.
Thinking things like, 'someone's cheating me. Someone's stealing from me. Someone doesn't want to pay back the loan they promised. Someone made amazing promises about the millions we would make together. Now, they're backtracking and denying it.' I mean, at the high net worth, ultra high net worth level, such anxieties may arise.
Furthermore, A Course in Miracles is typically dense, where every word serves a purpose. In the initial section, there's a poetic repetition of "the light has come." I pondered its practical significance. Jesus, the teacher of A Course in Miracles, employs this affirmation in an almost hypnotic manner. The first 75 lessons aim to dismantle barriers created in one's mind to obstruct the light. Thus, with this lesson, he emphasizes, "the light has come," bestowing it as a blessing for progressing this far, symbolizing cosmic significance. Two millennia ago, the light arrived, and it continues to manifest through various people, cultures, and religions, continually evolving. It's an extraordinary celebration by Jesus, signifying that there's always more light, not confined to a singular event but recurring throughout history in various forms.
That concludes today's discussion. In summary, the lesson emphasizes, "Realize that your forgiveness entitles you to vision. Understand that the Holy Spirit never fails to grant sight to the forgiving." The term "vision" in the lesson aligns with this year's theme, highlighting that forgiveness grants us divine vision.
