My Vision Quest…"We give as we receive…"

[Note: The same preface precedes all the blogs on my vision quest and the ones on giving up grievances. It provides the personal context regarding the relationship of each piece to my quest to restore my eyesight since I've exhausted all that Western medicine can do to repair the damage done by my advanced case of glaucoma. Therefore, if you've read it before, you may want to refresh your memory or skip to the new excerpt from A Course in Miracles below.]

My Vision Quest
On New Year's Day 2011, I began the 365-day journey through the dailly lessons in the workbook section of A Course in Miracles. Given all the amazing synchronicities (meaningful coincidences) I've had since completing The Space Between Stars, I am certain that the course holds the key to restoring my impaired vision, which currently fits the definition of being legally blind both in terms of severely restricted visual angles and visual acuity. The last line before the epilogue of the The Space Between Stars(see www.drsrj.com) ends with the words of the man born blind who is healed by Jesus, ". . . I was blind but now I see." This is the title of the book I am currently writing. The subtitle is: "A Miracle of Restored Vision Redefines Reality." The book chronicles my quest for rstoring my vision that began with events leading up to my first and second trips to see the healer/medium John of God in Abadiania, Brazil. What I been led to considier is quite remarkable. I have always seen the healing of my vision as a twofold process. First, I have done what medical science can do for glaucoma, namely, the reduction of the elevated intraocular pressures which have damaged the optic nerves in both of my eyes. Until encountering the redefining of reality in A Course in Miracles, The Disappearance of the Universe, a spin off of the course,, as well as on my trips to Brazil, I have always seen the second phase for healing my vision as regenerating my optic nerves. I have used the following metaphor to describe the damage: If a healthy optic nerve could be seen as a tree in summer with all its green leaves, my optic nerves are like a tree in late November with a few brown leaves left on their branches.

John of God speaks Brazilian Portuguese. So before going before him, you have to tell a translator 3 things you would like to have healed. Your requests are written on a small piece of paper which is read to John of God. I asked my guide if I should ask for the regeneration of my optic nerves. He instructed me not to ask for that but for restored vision. He recommended this because a woman who had "severed optic nerves" had her vision restored, and when doctors examined her optic nerve, they expected to see her nerve reconnected. But, to their astonishment, it was still severed.

Later, as the plane took off from Brasilia, my friend Rod was reading a book containing case studies of individuals healed by John of 'God. With a trace of excitement in his voice, he read aloud to me the case of another woman with completely "nonfunctional optic nerves." Her vision was restored, and guess what?

When doctors examined her, her optic nerves were still nonfunctional. Both of these individuals had several trips to Brazil to see John of God before their sight returned. This got my attention. A Course in Miracles and The Disappearance of the Universe, as well as some sacred spiritual traditions claim vision involves more than the "body's eyes." It is in this spirit that I offer one of the daily lesson from the workbook section of A Course in Miracles for your consideration and for your spiritual growth and "restored vision" back to what it was before you emerged from the womb.

[Note: The words in brackets as well as the female-gender based words are my additions. Also, For those of you who are Christian as well as those of you who are not or may not believe in any religion, any terms typically associated with Christianity (Christ, Holy Spirit, Father, etc.) are not intended to promote a religion but are intended to provide a universal, spiritual experience beyond any creed or dogma. And for me, the terms point me toward an experience necessary for the healing of my vision.]

Excerpts from Lesson 158 "Today I learn to give as I receive."

"Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. Yet there is a plan behind appearances that does not change. . . ."

"Our concern is with Christ's vision. This we can attain. Christ's vision has one law. It does not look upon a body and mistake it or the son [daughter] whom god created. It beholds a light beyond the body, an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilts from dreams of sin. It sees no separation. And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings, and all events without the slightest fading of the light it sees."

This you give today. See no one as a body. Greet him [her] s the son [daughter] of God he [she] is, acknowledging he [she] is one with you in holiness. Thus are his [her] sins forgiven him [her] for Christ has vision which has power to overlook them all. In His forgiveness are they gone. Unseen by one, they merely disappear because the vision of the holiness that lies beyond them comes to take their place. It matters not what form they took nor how enormous they appear to be nor who seemed to be hurt by them. They are no more and all effects they seem to have are gone with them undone and never to be done.

Thus do you learn to give as you receive. Adn thus Christ's vision looks on you as well. This vision is not difficult to learn if you but see yourself. For if he [she] be lost in sin so must you be. If you see light in him [her], your sins have been forgiven by yourself. Each brother [sister] whom you meet today provides another chance to allow Christ's vision to shine on you and offer you the peace of God."

• "We practice seeing with the eyes of Christ today."