Together, We Light the Way

By Rev. Myron Jones

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Lesson 20 2026

I am determined to see.
1. We have been quite casual about our practice periods thus far. ²There has been virtually no attempt to direct the time for undertaking them, minimal effort has been required, and not even active cooperation and interest have been asked. ³This approach has been intentional, and very carefully planned. ⁴We have not lost sight of the crucial importance of the reversal of your thinking. ⁵The salvation of the world depends on it. ⁶Yet you will not see if you regard yourself as being coerced, and if you give in to resentment and opposition.
2. This is our first attempt to introduce structure. ²Do not misconstrue it as an effort to exert force or pressure. ³You want salvation. ⁴You want to be happy. ⁵You want peace. ⁶You do not have them now, because your mind is totally undisciplined, and you cannot distinguish between joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, love and fear. ⁷You are now learning how to tell them apart. ⁸And great indeed will be your reward.
3. Your decision to see is all that vision requires. ²What you want is yours. ³Do not mistake the little effort that is asked of you for an indication that our goal is of little worth. ⁴Can the salvation of the world be a trivial purpose? ⁵And can the world be saved if you are not? ⁶God has one Son, and he is the resurrection and the life. ⁷His will is done because all power is given him in Heaven and on earth. ⁸In your determination to see is vision given you.
4. The exercises for today consist in reminding yourself throughout the day that you want to see. ²Today’s idea also tacitly implies the recognition that you do not see now. ³Therefore, as you repeat the idea, you are stating that you are determined to change your present state for a better one, and one you really want.
5. Repeat today’s idea slowly and positively at least twice an hour today, attempting to do so every half hour. ²Do not be distressed if you forget to do so, but make a real effort to remember. ³The extra repetitions should be applied to any situation, person or event that upsets you. ⁴You can see them differently, and you will. ⁵What you desire you will see. ⁶Such is the real law of cause and effect as it operates in the world. (ACIM, W-20.1:1–5:6)
2025
Something I noticed about this lesson is that Jesus explained why it is so simple and so short, and he explained what it would do for us. But he doesn’t tell us how to achieve what we are determined to do. I think this is because the ‘how’ is inferred. What is needed to achieve the outcome of truly seeing is the firm decision to do so. That is all.
Well, how hard can that be? I will state my intention and repeat it a few times, and that will be that. I will have traded my belief in what my eyes show me for real vision. Why do I need all those other lessons? Actually, I know why. After all these years of practice, I can still become confused about what I want to see.
First, let me be clear. When we see something in a particular way, it is because we want that perception of it. We want the emotional charge that goes with it. Or we want to prove something. For instance, last night, I had a frightening thought of something awful happening to my son. It seemed to come out of the blue, and once it was there, I found myself focused on it as if I could not look away.
All of this was for something that was not happening. There was no reason to expect it to happen. I was scaring myself for reasons I didn’t care to examine. But this isn’t my first rodeo. I know how this goes, and I am not as ignorant of why as I used to be. It is simple. I wanted to be afraid, as strange as that sounds. Fear felt imposed on me, but it wasn’t. It was chosen—because fear still seemed to offer me something.
So, maybe not so strange. After all, people go to scary movies and ride roller coasters. They parachute out of perfectly good planes, and rappel up mountains for no good reason. And most of us are perfectly willing to sit around with friends and share our personal everyday fears.
I may run out of money, and then what will I do? What if this politician gets elected, or that one? I wonder if my husband/wife is cheating on me? I had weird pains in my chest. When absolutely nothing is going wrong at that moment, we are willing to project fear into an unknown future. In other words, we are afraid because we want to be afraid. Anticipating the worst can become a bad habit. None of these fears were happening—but they gave my mind something to do.
But knowing this is true, I can now watch my feelings and my thoughts, and when I see this happening as it did last night, I can choose again. I can choose to forgive the former choice for fear and simply be in the moment where nothing is happening. Even if it seems I must drag my reluctant mind into the present, I will do it as I turn to the Holy Spirit for another way to see. I am determined to release the imagined horrors. I am determined to see.
2026
This is such an important lesson. I want to touch on a few things that it tells us. First, Jesus is a perfect teacher. He knows how to be firm but gentle and is infinitely patient. He understands that if we feel pushed or coerced, we will balk, dig our heels in, and resist our own salvation. So for the first 19 days, he has asked very little of us. The lessons were so simple and asked so little of us that we found it easy to go along with them. Today, Jesus is asking us to step up our game.
We are asked to commit to our salvation. To accept that what we call seeing when we use our eyes, is only showing us what we want to see, not what is really there. And it is causing us to suffer. But there is something real to see, something that will bring us happiness and peace of mind, and we can see it if we really want to. This is our purpose today, our practice: to be determined to see.
The ego doesn’t give up easily, of course, and there is no need to be disturbed by its intrusion on our lesson for the day. As soon as I was ready to look at the lesson this morning, I felt reluctant to look at it. If that reluctance were put into words, it would be something like this. Heavy sigh. Another lesson to contemplate. Another job to do. I’ve learned to accept that the ego wants to persist and fights the idea of salvation, so I ignored that idea.
I am determined to see, and I see that I love these lessons and I love writing and sharing my thoughts about them. The ego showed me a burden, but my determination to see showed me a privilege. So here I am, excited about this lesson. I notice that I feel a little different about it this year. I have experienced sight shifting into vision in little ways all last year, and so when I say that I am determined to see, I know what this lesson offers me. I really do want more of this.
I find myself returning over and over to paragraph 3, which tells us that our decision to see is all that vision requires. Our minds are very powerful, and decision is the way we use that power here. I am determined to see is such a decision. It is power that takes form. What we want is ours. We want to save the world, and Jesus asks us to consider this question: And can the world be saved if you are not?
I save the world by saving myself. The world is an outward projection of an inward belief. I believe the outward projection of the belief that we are separate from our Creator and living in a world of our own making is true. This belief is what I must be saved from, and I will see the Holy Spirit’s corrected version of the world. Do you wonder how this could be? I did and my doubt kept me from vision, but this year I am determined. Jesus tells us why we can do this in spite of any lingering doubts. ⁷His will is done because all power is given him in Heaven and on earth. ⁸In your determination to see is vision given you.
I am writing on my calendar today that I am determined to see. I am also writing that my will is done because all power is given me in Heaven and on earth. My determination to see will give me vision. I keep my calendar open on my desk, where I will see it often during the day. This action taken is my expression of my decision, as is my remembrance to do the lesson twice an hour every hour. It is the way I reinforce in my own mind what I really want. These actions don’t create vision; they witness to the decision that vision is what I want.
Video: https://youtu.be/5mfjqBvtBU8

© 2026, Pathways of Light. https://dev.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

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