QUESTION: Would you please share more of your thoughts regarding 'Vision' that you introduced last month?

ANSWER:  In the February issue I discussed the concept of "vision" in ACIM.  I wrote that "I think that most of the ACIM community believes that when ACIM speaks about the "vision of Christ" it means simply thinking and feeling differently about what we see."  I also offered the opinion that ACIM literally means a different form of visual perception when it speaks about "vision", and if we think Jesus is writing metaphorically in these cases we're going to miss an important aspect of ACIM.  I drew a connection between the two different forms of visual perception and the meaning of the word "world", specifically when ACIM speaks of the "two worlds" and when the verb associated with "world" is some form of "see" or "perceive".

Let's continue this discussion, starting with a quote from OrEd.Tx.2.66:

"The mind, however, can bring its illumination to the body by recognizing that density is the opposite of intelligence and therefore unamenable to independent learning. It is, however, easily brought into alignment with a mind which has learned to look beyond density toward light."

As with so many passages in ACIM, this is a little cryptic and we have to ask ourselves what it means. The first thing we have to recognize is that "density" is a property of matter, and the body is composed of matter. Now let's compare that quote from OrEd.Tx.2.66 with the following from OrEd.WkBk.159.5.

"Christ's vision is the bridge between the worlds. And in its power can you safely trust to carry you from this world into one made holy by forgiveness. Things which seem quite solid here are merely shadows there, transparent, faintly seen, at times forgot, and never able to obscure the light that shines beyond them. Holiness has been restored to vision, and the blind can see."

We see the body as solid. WkBk.159.5 says that when we attain Christ's vision we will see objects which now seem solid as transparent, "never able to obscure the light that shines beyond them". Here we can clearly see that the preposition "beyond" is synonymous with "through" in these cases. In these passages about vision, "beyond" is a spatial reference and not a chronological reference. In other words, it has the meaning of "behind" (space) instead of "after" (time).  This is important with regards to understanding vision, because ACIM frequently uses "beyond" in important passages about vision. If we think of "beyond" as having chronological meaning, then we think of vision as something that happens later, not now. This is unhelpful because "later" always remains "later" and never happens, plus we lose all understanding of the real meaning of vision.

I believe that when "world" is tied to the verb "see" and when ACIM speaks of "two worlds" then "world" means "what I am seeing and how I am seeing it".  In other words, in these cases "world" does not mean the planet, or, by extension, the universe of time, space, matter, and bodies.  When we recognize that the titles of Lessons 128 to 130 go together as a group, we see that the title of Lesson 129 is another prominent case where "beyond" is tied to vision:

128.  The world I see has nothing that I want.

129.  Beyond this world there is a world I want.

130.  It is impossible to see two worlds.

We also see "beyond" tied to vision at OrEd.Tx.31.96, the second to last paragraph in the Text:

"In joyous welcome is my hand outstretched to every brother who would join with me in reaching past temptation and who looks with fixed determination toward the light that shines beyond in perfect constancy."

Transparent means we see light coming through material objects. Tx.2.66 says we will see "beyond density toward the light". This is the same meaning as "through matter toward the light", which is the same meaning as transparent. Connecting the dots, Tx.2.66 and WkBk.159.5 are saying the same thing. When we attain the vision of Christ, we will see material objects, including the body, as transparent. My impression from many passages, including the last sentence of the quote from Tx.2.66, is that it is after we have attained vision that many of the more remarkable miracles, such as bringing the health of the body into alignment with the healed mind, will occur. I'll add that I think there are many passages in ACIM that say we will have times when we do not see the body at all.  My impression is that we will literally see each other as something other than bodies and that these passages are not metaphorical.