5 Jan 14
Awareness: An Epiphany –
Lesson 2, A Course in Miracles

In my childhood home our non perishables were kept in a tall metal cupboard on a small landing three steps down from our galley-sized kitchen, the mud room. Often I was sent to collect some tin-canned item: soup, peaches, corn. Invariably this occurred: “We don’t have it.” “We do. We just bought it.” I’d look again, still not see it, and say so. One of my parents would hand it to me. “Here. Right where I said.”

This not seeing has occurred through adulthood. Yesterday, I wanted duct tape to secure plastic storage totes packed with Christmas decorations and linens, an attempt to protect against mice and dampness. My husband said he’d placed it in the garage, on a shelf, by the entry door.

I scanned the three well-organized shelves for five minutes. Paint and wood stain cans. Garden supplies: saw, pruners, hose nozzle, Preen, Miracle Grow plant starter, a small terrarium, a Mantis tiller blade, a red plastic watering can, a snowman bird feeder. Automotive necessities: antifreeze, motor oil, a container of carwash soap, and a few tools: a black tray for screw drivers, a rechargeable drill minus its charger, a hand drill plus a bulk-sized refill bottle of floor cleaner. No duct tape. Just as he arrived in the doorway, I saw it sitting on top of the Woodscapes paint can.

Lying in bed, listening to the wind as it circled the house in the predawn, I recognized the meaning of awareness, the idea that everyone brings into existence what they want to see. It’s not that the object isn’t tangible or without life, without existence. It’s an ability and the desire or wish to see. To believe. Like a drape has been pulled open to let the sun inside.

Once awareness or recognition occurs, the item or the belief can be seen, viewed. Sight and belief are individual occurrences, a magic that happens in each of us all of the time. It renewal or manifestation is on-going.

Which lead me to the thought, the epiphany, that inventions, innovations, and discoveries aren’t new. They’re the swiping away of darkness. This revelation became a clarity and a question, an enquiry. What else in the natural world haven’t I seen? What is camouflaged, hidden in plain sight?

This revelation came, became, how I understood the second lesson in the Course of Miracles: “I have given everything I see, in this room, all the meaning it has for me.” The lesson’s brief commentary was a divine challenge. Could I see everything and give it the same value, a non biased acceptance? Could I see, understand and accept, the concept that every object, every occurrence, every idea and thought, every person, is equal in worth? Would I, with insight, implement the lesson?