The Light Has Come (Workbook Lesson 75)
“The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in darkness. ²See it not outside yourself, but shining in the Heaven within…” (T-15.XI.2:1-2).
This last post for 2021, inspired by the joy that I associate with Christmas, is a meditation on the light within us all. It is based on Workbook Lesson 75 of, A Course in Miracles. By “meditation,” I mean both the idea of turning one’s thoughts towards this light within simply by reading this post, and also, for those who wish to do so, meditating formally on the words, “The light has come.” The post starts with some brief comments and instructions for the meditation. It then continues with a “deeper dive” for those who are interested, providing background and explanation on the meditation drawn from the Workbook Lesson 75 instructions and other parts of the Course.
If you decide to meditate on the words, “The light has come,” set aside seconds to minutes for this purpose. The instructions for this Lesson mention, “longer practice periods.” This is for students of the Course who are working through the 365 Workbook Lessons. A whole day is devoted to the idea expressed in each Lesson. At this juncture in the Workbook, the Course student has both shorter periods of focus on the Lesson and longer periods of 10 to 15 minutes of meditation. A meditation of this longer length makes sense if you are someone who has practice with meditation in another setting, assuming you are so moved to do this particular meditation for about that length of time. By contrast, if you are someone who is trying out meditation for the first—or first several—times, then any length of time meditating on these words is enough, whether it is a few seconds, thirty seconds, one minute, or longer.
It’s almost the end of 2021, and what a year it has been for a great many of us, following on from the enormously difficult year, 2020. We certainly could all use some hope and inspiration. In my last post of 2020, I shared a meditation from A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 92, “The place where light and strength are one.” (Click here to go to post.) In my last post of this year, I would again like to share a Workbook Lesson on the theme of light, Lesson 75, “The light has come.” In the instructions for Workbook Lesson 75 we read, “Today we celebrate the happy ending to your long dream of disaster” (W-75.2:1). How a propos! When we look around the world of space and time, there is plenty of disaster still unfolding. But that does not mean that we have to suffer. This line from the Course reminds us that we are dreaming. That is, it reminds us of the central teaching of A Course in Miracles—which is also a foundational teaching in Hinduism and Buddhism—that the world of time and space is an illusion.
We all long for safety and comfort; we all want to be happy, or at least peaceful. The meditation centered on the words, “The light has come,” speaks to us about achieving these experiences. In the first lines of the instructions for Workbook Lesson 75 we read:
⁵You are at peace, and you bring peace with you wherever you go. ⁶Darkness and turmoil and death have disappeared. ⁷The light has come. (W-75:1.5-7)
Rather than looking outward, we turn inward to the light in our minds that anyone can reach. This is where we find peace, joy, comfort, and safety. This light is so powerful, that it can—quite literally—transform our whole experience. As the instructions for the Lesson go on to say:
⁴Today the time of light begins for you and everyone. ⁵It is a new era, in which a new world is born. ⁶The old one has left no trace upon it in its passing. ⁷Today we see a different world, because the light has come. (W-75:2.4-7)
We are instructed not to dwell on the past as we do this meditation, but we are told instead: “Keep a completely open mind, washed of all past ideas and clean of every concept you have made.” (W-75:6.2) By suspending judgment and expectation, we open up a wonderful possibility:
⁴You can look upon [the world] now as if you never saw it before. ⁵You do not know yet what it looks like. ⁶You merely wait to have it shown to you. ⁷While you wait, repeat several times, slowly and in complete patience:
⁸The light has come. (W-75:6.4-8)
This is the meditation in its simplest form. Keeping the above guidance in mind, close your eyes and practice saying these words quietly to yourself or out loud for as long as makes sense to you.
Workbook Lesson 75 goes on to give a second line to meditate on, “I have forgiven the world.” (W-75:6.9) By suspending judgment and expectation, you are in the territory of forgiveness as A Course in Miracles teaches it. If this resonates with you, then what you would mean by the line, “I have forgiven the world,” is something like, “I no longer judge the world in any way.” (If you would like to learn more about Course-style forgiveness as encompassed in this meditation, my last two posts, “Forgiveness, My Dog, and Me, Part 1” and “Forgiveness, My Dog, and Me, Part 2”, give recent examples of this type of forgiveness from my own life.) If you are moved to meditate on both the lines given in the Workbook Lesson 75 instructions, then say slowly to yourself or out loud:
⁸The light has come. ⁹I have forgiven the world. (W-75:6.8-9)
Do this for however long makes sense to you.
If this is as far as you would like to read, then let me express here my wish that today is a new beginning for you, one which brings with it serenity, hope, and enormous gladness.
Diving Deeper
A Course in Miracles teaches that the world we see as we look outward is “the outside picture of an inward condition.” (T-21.in.1:5) Although we may not be aware of it as we live our lives, we have a choice in how we see the world. The habitual, automatic choice that we make is believing that what we see is true, rather than a projection outward of the thought of separation from our Source and all the “disaster and catastrophe” (T-21.in.2:3) that this thought entails. But we can train our minds to make a different choice, one for the memory of our true reality, which is light. This truth about ourselves shines within our minds quietly alongside the raucous, illusory thoughts we entertain throughout the day. The instructions of Workbook Lesson 75 invite us to see a different world by looking through the light in our minds:
2. Today we celebrate the happy ending to your long dream of disaster. ²There are no dark dreams now. ³The light has come. ⁴Today the time of light begins for you and everyone. ⁵It is a new era, in which a new world is born. ⁶The old one has left no trace upon it in its passing. ⁷Today we see a different world, because the light has come. (W-75:2.1-7)
We read these words with our conscious minds, perhaps with a sizable measure of disbelief. We don’t have to worry about believing these words; all we need for this exercise is some willingness to reach within for the gladness that we long for. The instructions of Workbook Lesson 75 go on to say:
3. Our exercises for today will be happy ones, in which we offer thanks for the passing of the old and the beginning of the new. ²No shadows from the past remain to darken our sight and hide the world forgiveness offers us. ³Today we will accept the new world as what we want to see. ⁴We will be given what we desire. ⁵We will to see the light; the light has come. (W-75:3.1-5)
In my last post, “Forgiveness, My Dog, and Me, Part 2,” I quoted from the first two paragraphs of the instructions for a later Workbook Lesson, number 122, “Forgiveness offers everything I want.” (W-122) The many benefits of practicing forgiveness, as it is taught in A Course in Miracles, are listed there. These include “…a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world…” (W-122.1:4). The previous lesson, Workbook Lesson 121, lists another benefit of Course-style forgiveness, which is happiness. It says, “Forgiveness is the key to happiness.” (W-121) The benefits of practicing this kind of forgiveness accumulate over time such that we can eventually expect to look upon a forgiven world, one which no longer causes us pain because, “no shadows from the past remain to darken our sight.” (W-75:3.2) Workbook Lesson 75 offers enormous hope that we can achieve this goal:
4. Our longer practice periods [of 10 to 15 minutes] will be devoted to looking at the world that our forgiveness shows us. ²This is what we want to see, and only this. ³Our single purpose makes our goal inevitable. ⁴Today the real world rises before us in gladness, to be seen at last. ⁵Sight is given us, now that the light has come.
5. We do not want to see the ego’s shadow on the world today. ²We see the light, and in it we see Heaven’s reflection lie across the world. (W-75.4:1-5:2)
(The “ego’s shadow” above refers to the ego thought system arising out of the belief in separation from our Source, which A Course in Miracles teaches is the root of all suffering). Setting the intention to see the world differently and meditating on the idea that the light has come sets the stage for having a different and better experience of the world that we see when we open our eyes. And even if you are not interested in Course-style forgiveness, simply practicing non-judgment can lead to more experiences of peace and contentment. (For more on the power of non-judgment, see my post, Judging You, Judging Me is Not the Best We Can Do).
One of the central ideas in a A Course in Miracles is that we are not alone in the journey through our lives. We have a Teacher in our minds who goes with us wherever we go. One of the aims of the 365 Workbook Lessons of A Course in Miracles is to help us to forge a relationship with this Teacher. We may not believe in such a thing and we are not expected to. It is through experiencing this loving presence in our minds that never judges us that we come to believe that it is real. We learn to trust it because it never fails to answer us. This then motivates us to turn to it regularly for guidance and help. The Course calls this presence in our minds, “the Holy Spirit.” In Workbook Lesson 75, we learn that the Holy Spirit will give us true vision—which includes the ability to see a different world—as we collaborate with the it in practicing forgiveness (or, if you prefer, in practicing non-judgment):
7. Realize that your forgiveness entitles you to vision. ²Understand that the Holy Spirit never fails to give the gift of sight to the forgiving. ³Believe He will not fail you now. ⁴You have forgiven the world. ⁵He will be with you as you watch and wait. ⁶He will show you what true vision sees. ⁷It is His Will, and you have joined with Him. ⁸Wait patiently for Him. ⁹He will be there. ¹⁰The light has come. ¹¹You have forgiven the world.
8. Tell Him you know you cannot fail because you trust in Him. ²And tell yourself you wait in certainty to look upon the world He promised you. ³From this time forth you will see differently. ⁴Today the light has come. ⁵And you will see the world that has been promised you since time began, and in which is the end of time ensured. (W75.7:1-8:5)
Remember that belief is not required, only willingness. This meditation and the accompanying instructions are a call to the part of our unconscious minds which remembers, however dimly, our true reality. If you are so willing then, quiet your mind and connect with this light within. For however long makes sense to you, say slowly to yourself or out loud:
⁸The light has come. ⁹I have forgiven the world. (W-75:6.8-9)
And as the instructions for this Workbook Lesson end, so will I end here:
11. We dedicate this day to the serenity in which God would have you be. ²Keep it in your awareness of yourself and see it everywhere today, as we celebrate the beginning of your vision and the sight of the real world, which has come to replace the unforgiven world you thought was real. (W-75.11:1-2)
A Course in Miracles is published by The Foundation for Inner Peace. All the books comprising the Course, along with the supplemental pamphlets, are now found online:
https://acim.org/acim/en
All quotations of A Course in Miracles in this blog post are drawn from this version of the Course.