Workbook · Part I
Lesson 20
I am determined to see.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “I am determined to see.” In ordinary English: Decide, today, that you actually want to see — not to win, not to be right.
Most of us treat seeing as the eyes reporting facts. This lesson says the mind is already writing a story on top of the report — mine, dangerous, ugly, important, “that’s just who they are.” Two people can look at the same face and have two different days. If you can take the story off for a minute, you are not stuck with yesterday’s version of them, or of you.
You do not have to believe it first. You use the words on one real judgment — of someone, of yourself, of a situation — and then you take the next ordinary step.
This is not saying
This is not telling you to go blind, or that the room is fake, or that nothing matters. The table is there. The person is there. What you added — the verdict — is what the lesson is after.
Why this can change a day
If the first look is already a judgment, then every conversation, every meeting, every glance in a glass is already a trial. Taking the story off is how a different hour becomes possible without anyone else changing first.
In your day
Same idea, three ordinary places — a relationship or encounter, the case against yourself, and a situation at work or at home. You do not need a special mood.
With someone
You glare, even silently, in a line or a meeting, as if seeing were private.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I am determined to see.” The look you give is received. Soften it. That is the whole practice. Then speak if speech is needed.
Toward yourself
You want peace, and you also want them to feel it — peace and the war in the same hour.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I am determined to see.” If you want peace and the grievance, you want the grievance. Name the extra: being right, being owed. Put it down. Keep a clear no.
At work, at home, or in a situation
Unhappiness used as proof you are serious, or holy. Joy looks suspicious.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I am determined to see.” Notice where you postponed joy until they change, or until you have suffered enough. Take one hour without that bargain.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
I do not actually want to see. I want to be right. The day is already decided. Seeing would cost the judgment.
Jesus’s way
I am determined to see. Determination is a decision against years of programming. You are not waiting to be made to see. You are choosing it, badly at first, on purpose.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #213
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 20
Tina reads the official workbook lesson first. Then she channels. The video is the source. The notes below are study notes of that sitting — not a transcript, and not A Year of Forgiveness.
After the reading
In the video · Jesus speaking
This is the channeled portion — after Tina has read the lesson. Study notes of that sitting. Not a transcript.
- After Tina reads Lesson 20, the channeling is living “I am determined to see.” He will not let it stay a slogan. Use these words. Do not swap them for a thought you like better.
- Identity, not a self-esteem project. You are not more powerful than God, so you can rest — and so can the one who irritated you.
How to sit today
Part I · Undoing
The idea is above. This is the one sitting this number asks — how often, how long, and the words. Not a second lesson.
- How often
- At least twice an hour — try every half hour. This is the first day with a real schedule
- How long
- A slow, positive repetition — not a long sitting
- When shaken
- Extra repetitions on any situation, person, or event that upsets you. You can see it differently.
- If you forget
- Do not be distressed if you forget. Make a real effort to remember, then continue the schedule from there.
How
- Repeat the idea slowly and positively. You are stating that you do not see now, and that you want a better state.
- Do not read the schedule as coercion. You want salvation; this is how an undisciplined mind begins to tell joy from sorrow.
Longer sitting
Slow repetitions — at least twice an hour; try every half hour. First day with a real schedule
- Today’s idea is: “I am determined to see.”
- No long sitting is asked. Repeat the idea slowly and positively. You are stating that you do not see now, and that you want a better state.
- Say, slowly: “I am determined to see.”
Short / hourly
Every half hour (at least twice an hour)
- Wherever you are. One slow, positive sentence.
- Say, slowly: “I am determined to see.”
- If you forget, do not be distressed. Resume the schedule from the next interval.
When shaken
Any situation, person, or event that upsets you
- Say, slowly: “I am determined to see.”
- You can see this differently.
Structure is not force. Resentment at being asked to remember is the old mind defending itself.
These scripts follow the workbook’s own method for this number — duration, frequency, and the sentences it asks you to use. They are a study paraphrase, not a replacement. Read the official lesson at acim.org and follow any wording it gives that is more specific than this card.
Words you may not know
Full glossaryCourse words do not mean what church, psychology, or ordinary English usually mean. These notes are for this lesson — tap a word.
Other voices — Tina, Ra, Carla
Short notes from the four streams. The teaching above is the lesson. These are doors if you want them.
Spalding
“I am determined to see.” Seeing here is a mind’s frequency, not better eyeballs. He is retraining perception so love can use it. Practice on what is actually in front of you, including the face you do not like. That is the whole method.
Watch this lesson’s commentaryRa
Love/light is the stuff of the octave. Seeing with God is not metaphor — it is a shift toward that spectrum. Meditation (session 10) is the daily tool.
Open streamRueckert
A wanderer on Earth does not need a different lesson. She needs this one, done with her hands. Carla's whole archive is the proof: contact follows a life, it does not replace it.
Open stream