Workbook · Part I
Lesson 79
Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.” In ordinary English: Name the real problem: you decided to see attack. Then it can be solved.
The idea is a sentence to use, not a theory to admire. It works where a story is running: a judgment of someone, a judgment of yourself, a belief that you are separate, an attack thought, a situation you have already decided about. Point the words there.
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 a slogan for the day and not a request that you believe it first. Use it. Then take the next ordinary step — work, rest, a clear no, a kindness.
Why this can change a day
A spiritual idea that never touches a real person is how the ego stays in charge. Used on one encounter, it can undo a whole afternoon of ranking, defense, and self-attack.
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 text that did not come. You are already in court about what it means.
What to do
Say the words as written: “Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.” You are fighting a picture. Come back to this hour. If a fact must be asked, ask only the fact. Leave the case.
Toward yourself
You compare yourself to someone ‘more spiritual,’ more settled, further along.
What to do
Say the words as written: “Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.” Function is not a ranking. Do the next hidden kindness. Their path is not your wage.
At work, at home, or in a situation
A task looks like a verdict on you — if this fails, I am that.
What to do
Say the words as written: “Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.” Begin the task as if you had not already lost. The idea is not a substitute for the work. It is a substitute for using the work as a self.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
The problem is them, the world, the body, the delay. If I keep working that case I will solve it.
Jesus’s way
Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved. The problem is never the person. It is the unloving thought you chose. If you keep mislocating it, you keep the pain and call it their fault.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #277
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 79
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.
- Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.
- The problem is never the person.
- It is the unloving thought you chose.
- He is very dry here: if you keep mislocating the problem, you keep the pain and call it their fault.
How to sit today
Part I · Function
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
- Two longer sittings plus whenever a “problem” seems to appear
- How long
- Ten to fifteen minutes
How
- Ask what the problem is, and what the answer is. Do not assume you already know. Free the mind of the many different problems you think you have.
- You have only one problem, unrecognized. Ask. Wait. Then ask for the solution. You will be told.
Longer sitting
Two sittings — ten to fifteen minutes
- Today’s idea is: “Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.”
- Ask what the problem is, and what the answer is. Do not assume you already know. Free the mind of the many different problems you think you have.
- Say, slowly: “Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.”
- You have only one problem, unrecognized. Ask. Wait. Then ask for the solution. You will be told.
When shaken
Whenever a “problem” seems to appear
- Say, slowly: “Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.”
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
Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved. The problem is never the person. It is the unloving thought you chose. He is very dry here: if you keep mislocating the problem, you keep the pain and call it their fault.
Watch this lesson’s commentaryRa
This lesson is practice in polarizing with the person in front of you. Service to others is not a slogan. It is whether you treat them as the same being you are.
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