Workbook · Part I
Lesson 28
Above all else I want to see things differently.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “Above all else I want to see things differently.” In ordinary English: Put a new way of seeing first. The old picture can wait.
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
A political enemy, a public figure, a ‘them’ you have never met and already hate.
What to do
Say the words as written: “Above all else I want to see things differently.” No exceptions. You do not have to vote for them. You do have to drop the wish to hurt. The mind is the same mind.
Toward yourself
Spiritual language tempts you to skip ordinary life — eat later, help later, leave the day.
What to do
Say the words as written: “Above all else I want to see things differently.” Correct the reading. Stay in the day. Eat. Help. The ordinary hour is not the enemy of this lesson. The overlay is.
At work, at home, or in a situation
You are about to tell someone who will agree — lunch, a text, a ‘can you believe’.
What to do
Say the words as written: “Above all else I want to see things differently.” Leave their name out of it. The sitting is in the mind, not in the audience. Keep any boundary that is actually love.
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 person, this delay — is just how it is. Seeing it differently would be lying. Anger is a wound I give them.
Jesus’s way
Above all else I want to see this differently. Not life in general. This. Not seeing peace is a wound you inflict on yourself while thinking you attack another.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #226
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 28
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.
- Above all else I want to see things differently: a free-will choice that generates an interior.
- When anger rises, say it.
- Not seeing peace is a wound you inflict on yourself while thinking you attack another.
- Aging and illness feed on resistance; accepting what is is strength, not weakness.
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
- Six two-minute practice periods
- How long
- Two minutes each
- Eyes
- Open
How
- State the idea, then apply it to whatever you see, making a definite commitment toward each subject: you want to see this differently.
- You are asking the same of each thing your eyes light on.
Longer sitting
Six sittings — two minutes each
- Today’s idea is: “Above all else I want to see things differently.”
- State the idea. Then apply it to whatever you see, making a definite commitment toward each subject.
- Say, slowly: “Above all else I want to see this [name it] differently.”
- You are asking the same of each thing the eyes light on.
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
Above all else I want to see things differently: a free-will choice that generates an interior. When anger rises, say it. Not seeing peace is a wound you inflict on yourself while thinking you attack another. Aging and illness feed on resistance; accepting what is is strength, not weakness.
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
Q'uo's usual counsel fits: tune, then serve the one in front of you. The Confederation does not need you to become impressive. It needs you to become kind without performance.
Open stream