A New Vision!

The eye of providence depicted in the Great Seal of the United States and on the U.S. dollar bill is said to symbolize spiritual supervision of America's founding. In 1782, the following explanation of the Great Seal's eye and motto was given: "A Pyramid unfinished. In the Zenith an Eye in a triangle surrounded with a glory. Over the Eye these words: Annuit Coeptis. The U.S. State Department translates this Latin motto into: 'It [the eye of providence] has favored our undertakings'."

It certainly seems right and reasonable that the Holy Spirit would favor the establishment of a republican form of government which hoped to eliminate dictatorship by kings, voters, politicians, lawyers, bureaucrats, or do-gooders ... thus affording individuals the liberty to freely follow the guidance of their spirit without having to toil in the slavery of endless rules and regulations, laws and taxation. But what if favoring the undertaking of the U.S. Founding Fathers was only part of the story? What if right from the beginning the Holy Spirit has been planning to use America to bring about the greatest spiritual opening ever? And what if that opening has to do with a New Seeing?

Does anyone think it could have been an accident that A Course in Miracles (modern revelation from Jesus) was scribed, published, and first disseminated in the United States?

For the first two centuries of America's history, common men and women from every region of the planet craved to relocate to the United States where the advantage of political liberty was creating unheard of prosperity and respect for all people. In a culture where free trade and brotherhood were once the norm it is still easy even today to see the interests of others as the same as one's own. By giving His Course to America, Jesus assured that it would be difficult to use the Course to set ourselves apart from others. In a relatively accepting culture it doesn't ring true to say something like, "We see ourselves as Course students! We see you as below us, above us, or different and to be judged."

That's the way Jesus would have it. He teaches there is only one.

The Course is a preparation device given by Jesus, designed to give you a beginner's jump-start onto a spiral trail which will eventually lead you so high up the mountain that you will literally see only one. If used properly His Course will not in the least set you apart, but rather lead you to not only feeling oneness as never before but seeing oneness as never before, until the feeling and seeing merge into one.

We know intellectually that since there is only one, everyone is already taking this universal Course, no matter how they think or what language they use. But even seeing that everyone without exception is taking the Course is not the ultimate prize.

The Greater Prize is seeing that everyone is literally of your mind.

Seeing is everything! Seeing is being!

Notice how many lessons of the Course mention seeing. "I am determined to see" (Lesson 20), "Above all else I want to see" (Lesson 27), "I have invented the world I see" (Lesson 32), "God is my strength. Vision is His gift." (Lesson 42).

One Miracles teacher tells a story from 20 years earlier when he first realized he was on a spiritual path. A snarling dog was chasing him and trying to bite at his ankles while he was jogging. When he looked down at the dog, he was startled to see not a dog but a gargoyle ... an absolutely clearly defined gargoyle with all the gargoyle details one sees in the statuary of Medieval Catherals. This occurrence was one of his first times seeing different from usual surface appearances.

Psychologists might speculate that had this jogger not been so startled and fascinated, he might have been scared. But Course users know that the fear was there before his seeing. The gargoyle's source was in his own soul. Not yet being fully cleansed and purified, he was seeing his own fear.

A man or woman starting to glimpse unusually deep fear with the third eye open sees gargoyles, demons and devils. A man or woman not in fear but in the beginnings of a spiritually glorified state with the third eye open sees angels, heavenly guides, and Virgin Marys. Either way, the beginning of spiritual seeing can be disrupting and unhinging, so it is helpful that the unprepared person in an everyday state without the third eye open, not agitated toward either end of the spectrum, sees pretty much as everyone else sees.

The Course of Jesus is our preparation device, our cleansing and purifying starter kit, our training goggles readying us to see through the mystery (illusion). "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables that seeing they may see, and not perceive ... lest at any time they should be turned inside out." (Mark 4:11-12)

The reason Jesus works to have us open our heart and soul before opening the third eye is that if the third eye is opened before the soul is cleansed and purified, the seeing might be far too disorienting to be helpful.

On one side of the spectrum, a prematurely opened third eye might see all "past, present, and future" mistakes, disasters, pain, and murderous urges. An unprepared one would feel like closing down and hiding forever under the covers.

But the Course says this:

"You are not the victim of the world you see because you invented it. You can give it up as easily as you made it up. You will see it or not see it, as you wish. While you want it, you will see it; when you no longer want it, it will not be there for you to see." (Lesson 32)

On the other side of the spectrum, beginning to see spiritually is a vastly expanded state of being from what we are accustomed to. You may see yourself as someone else in the sense of seeing yourself literally extending inside the apparent shell of a seeming someone else who is really you. Or you might see/feel yourself as energy merely hinting at forming forms. Or you could experience yourself as only light everywhere.

In speaking of shifting sight on the spectrum, Jesus says:

"Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. It must begin with your own thoughts and then extend outward. It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises." (Lesson 34)

Anywhere on the spectrum, when you shift seeing you literally shift being and are not the same person you thought you were. Only the Holy Spirit knows how much and how soon to open the doors to full seeing. When the heart and soul are very expanded and glowing brightly, the portals to full seeing can also be thrown wide open and the third eye will be radiant like the heart and soul itself.

"Radiant sounds wonderful," someone might say, "but how will the American people be cleansed and purified and have their heart and soul and third eye opened now that the original spiritual intent of America's Founding Fathers has been effectively sabotaged by modern worship of an inevitably misguided 'progressive' government? How can the 'greatest spiritual opening ever' occur in a society of ego-vested interests?"

How indeed? It is said God works in mysterious ways. What if A Course in Miracles is serving as a modern day John the Baptist, calling for repentance (change of seeing) and heralding the coming of an everlasting wonder of wonders?

Perhaps the Great Seal's glowing single eye, "the eye of providence surrounded by a glory," not only designates the Holy Spirit's dream of the replacement of worship of the idol of man's government with the holy vision of a people governing themselves by spiritual guidance, but sees much further and tells us of a country where the Messiah will once again be widely seen.

Many, many people in America regularly pray to see the return of Jesus Christ during their lifetime. Has this prayer been answered by Jesus giving us His Course?

Perhaps the time is soon at hand when the ultimate gift is given us and we see with the clearest vision: