Workbook · Part II · What Is the Body?
Lesson 270
I will not use the body's eyes today.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “I will not use the body's eyes today.” Do not let the body’s eyes be the only judge. They report surfaces. Ask for another way.
Part II is shorter on the page and longer in the sitting. The argument is over. You say the idea, you wait, then you meet whoever is in front of you. Keep the essay “What Is the Body?” beside you until the next one is given. It is a sentence about you, not a new theory.
You do not have to feel it. Fear of sitting still, or of hearing a Voice, is often cultural. Note it. Listen anyway. Then the next person — or the next thought about yourself — is the application.
This is not saying
This is not a diploma and not a trance. Stay in your life. Eat. Rest. Help. The sitting is how you walk into the same work, home, and relationships with a mind that is not at war.
Why this can change a day
So much self-attack and so much attack on others runs through the body: aging as doom, a symptom as a verdict, their face as the problem. Remembering you are not the picture is how kindness to the body and kindness to them can happen in the same hour.
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
A thought says you are failing, behind, not enough — and it feels like a report from God.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I will not use the body's eyes today.” Let it be a thought. Do not build a self from it. Watch it pass. Then the next decent hour.
Toward yourself
A bill, a number, a job title — money treated as what you are worth.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I will not use the body's eyes today.” Pay the bill. Eat. Rest. Then remember which law gets to tell you what you are. Care for the form. Do not worship it as identity.
At work, at home, or in a situation
Fear of sitting still. Church and clinic both said listening inward is madness, or special.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I will not use the body's eyes today.” Note the fear. It is cultural. Sit anyway. Do not manufacture a voice. Kindness after you stand is a good test.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
This thought is me. I have to follow it into a remark or a self. A thought is a verdict.
Jesus’s way
“I will not use the body's eyes today.” Care for the vehicle. Do not worship the picture, and do not punish it. Identity is not the glass. Neglect is not the lesson.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #480
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 270
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.
- Part II: after Tina reads, he asks you to sit with “I will not use the body's eyes today,” then wait. Fear of hearing a Voice is named and not obeyed.
- Keep “What Is the Body?” as a sentence about you, not as a new theory. Sit. Then whoever you meet is the application.
- The body stays as a communication device. Care for it. Do not worship it and do not punish it as a spiritual proof.
How to sit today
Part II · Restoration of sight
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
- Morning and night with God; hourly remembrance; whenever you are tempted to forget the goal
- How long
- Part II does not consider time a matter of duration. Use as much as you need for the result you desire. Continue as long as makes you happy
- Through the day
- Hourly remembrance between the longer times. Call to God when you have need of Him.
- When shaken
- Instead of fighting temptation, call. Instead of judging, be still and let all things be healed.
How
- Say the day’s simple words of welcome — the idea and the prayer in the official lesson. Then wait for Him to take the step to you that He promised.
- Words mean little now. They are guides you do not depend on. Seek direct experience. Sit silently and wait upon your Father.
- Slowly read “What Is the Body?” and think about it a little while, preceding one of today’s holy instants. Continue that essay each day until the next one is given.
Longer sitting
Morning and night with God. No clock is set. Use as much time as you need for the result you want. Continue as long as makes you happy
- Today’s idea is: “I will not use the body's eyes today.”
- Say the day’s simple words of welcome — the idea, then the short prayer printed in the official lesson.
- Then wait. Words mean little now. They are guides you do not depend on. Sit silently and wait upon your Father.
- Do not turn the waiting into another technique for getting answers.
- Slowly read “What Is the Body?” and think about it a little while, preceding one of today’s holy instants. Keep that essay until the next one is given.
Short / hourly
Hourly remembrance between the longer times
- A short return to today’s idea: “I will not use the body's eyes today.”. Then a still moment.
When shaken
Whenever you are tempted to forget the goal
- Instead of fighting temptation, call. Instead of judging, be still and let all things be healed.
- Say, slowly: “I will not use the body's eyes today.”
Do not turn the waiting into another technique for getting answers. The answers you already are can be noticed when the argument stops.
Keep the essay What Is the Body? beside you until the next “What Is” is given.
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
Part II pairs a short idea with a What Is essay. Today’s essay is What Is the Body?. Jesus through Tina uses “I will not use the body's eyes today” as a sitting, not a speech: wait after the words. Fear of the inner Voice is cultural. Note the fear, then listen anyway.
Watch this lesson’s commentaryRa
The group-center (yellow) vehicle is for learning. Care for it; do not obey it as a god or punish it as a criminal. Balance is the Confederation word for this lesson.
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