Lesson 4. These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].
Unlike the preceding ones, these exercises do not begin with the idea for the day. In these practice periods, begin with noting the thoughts that are crossing your mind for about a minute. Then apply the idea to them. If you are already aware of unhappy thoughts, use them as subjects for the idea. Do not, however, select only the thoughts you think are "bad." You will find, if you train yourself to look at your thoughts, that they represent such a mixture that, in a sense, none of them can be called "good" or "bad." This is why they do not mean anything.
In selecting the subjects for the application of today's idea, the usual specificity is required. Do not be afraid to use "good" thoughts as well as "bad." None of them represents your real thoughts, which are being covered up by them. The "good" ones are but shadows of what lies beyond, and shadows make sight difficult. The "bad" ones are blocks to sight, and make seeing impossible. You do not want either.
This is a major exercise, and will be repeated from time to time in somewhat different form. The aim here is to train you in the first steps toward the goal of separating the meaningless from the meaningful. It is a first attempt in the long-range purpose of learning to see the meaningless as outside you, and the meaningful within. It is also the beginning of training your mind to recognize what is the same and what is different.
In using your thoughts for application of the idea for today, identify each thought by the central figure or event it contains; for example:
This thought about ___ does not mean anything.
It is like the things I see in this room [on this street, and so on].
You can also use the idea for a particular thought that you recognize as harmful. This practice is useful, but is not a substitute for the more random procedures to be followed for the exercises. Do not, however, examine your mind for more than a minute or so. You are too inexperienced as yet to avoid a tendency to become pointlessly preoccupied.
Further, since these exercises are the first of their kind, you may find the suspension of judgment in connection with thoughts particularly difficult. Do not repeat these exercises more than three or four times during the day. We will return to them later.
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Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from his book set, called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street
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Lesson 4. "These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place]."
*Jesus is helping us realize it is not what we see that has no meaning, but our <thoughts> about what we see have no meaning as well. In later lessons he explains that our thoughts are no different from what we perceive. The inner and the outer are one and the same.*
(1) "Unlike the preceding ones, these exercises do not begin with the idea for the day. In these practice periods, begin with noting the thoughts that are crossing your mind for about a minute. Then apply the idea to them. If you are already aware of unhappy thoughts, use them as subjects for the idea. Do not, however, select only the thoughts you think are "bad." You will find, if you train yourself to look at your thoughts, that they represent such a mixture that, in a sense, none of them can be called "good" or "bad." This is why they do not mean anything."
*Both our perceptions and thinking are variable. What is variable is not unchanging, by definition, and if it is not unchanging, it cannot be of God. This statement reflects one of the core premises on which the logic of A Course in Miracles rests. Anything of God <must> share in His attributes. If it does not, it cannot be of Him and so must be unreal or illusory. Thus, if there is something that changes it cannot be of the Changeless, and therefore does not exist and must be inherently meaningless, having separated from what alone has meaning. As we pay attention to our thoughts, therefore, we shall see their randomness, variableness, and fleeting nature, all of which attest to their meaninglessness. As variable, therefore, they must be of the ego, which is always about change, owing its origin to the original change from the Changeless One.
These early lessons, with their deceptively simple exercises, point us gradually and gently to the recognition of their truth as we apply them to our everyday lives.*
(2) "In selecting the subjects for the application of today's idea, the usual specificity is required. Do not be afraid to use "good" thoughts as well as "bad." None of them represents your real thoughts, which are being covered up by them. The "good" ones are but shadows of what lies beyond, and shadows make sight difficult. The "bad" ones are blocks to sight, and make seeing impossible. You do not want either."
*Our real thoughts are of love or oneness, which must be non-specific, A Course in Miracles' definition of the term <abstract>. These abstract thoughts are covered by the ego's world of specifics. What we want is the truth, not a shadow or block. Like good Platonists, we want the Good that lies beyond the <concept> of good. <Good> and <bad> are concepts, and as we are taught near the end of the text:
"Salvation can be seen as nothing more than the escape from concepts. It does not concern itself with content of the mind, but with the simple statement that it thinks." (T-31.V.14.:3-4).
At best, our right-minded thoughts (the "good") are the corrections for our wrong-minded ones (the "bad"), but in the end their specificity, too, must disappear into the abstract or non-specific Love of our Source.*
(3) "This is a major exercise, and will be repeated from time to time in somewhat different form. The aim here is to train you in the first steps toward the goal of separating the meaningless from the meaningful. It is a first attempt in the long-range purpose of learning to see the meaningless as outside you, and the meaningful within. It is also the beginning of training your mind to recognize what is the same and what is different."
*This is a pregnant thought -- the meaningless is outside, because what is outside is unreal. The "meaningful within" are the Holy Spirit's thoughts in our minds. Anything that we perceive outside and believe is real serves the purpose of the ego, which is to keep us thinking that what is meaningless is true. All of this then becomes a cover for the truly meaningful. The Holy Spirit, however, teaches us to see that what is out in the world serves the purpose of teaching us that there is no world. Therein lies its meaning. The objects are not meaningful in themselves, but the Holy Spirit's purpose supplies their meaning. Everything seen without Him is meaningless.
The ego has us value what is in the world so that we will believe in the reality of the thought system of separation the world reflects. The Holy Spirit has us perceive what is in the world so that we will ultimately realize there is no world. Thus, "what is the same" is everything within the ego thought system, and everything within the Holy Spirit's system: Guilt is guilt, regardless of its form. But these two systems differ from each other, because the ego's thought system roots us further in hell, while the Holy Spirit's brings us home. Thus we learn the inherent <sameness> of all thoughts within the two thought systems, and the intrinsic <difference> between these two.*
(4) "In using your thoughts for application of the idea for today, identify each thought by the central figure or event it contains; for example:
This thought about ___ does not mean anything.
It is like the things I see in this room [on this street, and so on]."
*Note this early emphasis -- to be repeated throughout -- on the need to be specific in our application of the day's idea. Without such application the exercises are meaningless to us.*
(5) "You can also use the idea for a particular thought that you recognize as harmful. This practice is useful, but is not a substitute for the more random procedures to be followed for the exercises. Do not, however, examine your mind for more than a minute or so. You are too inexperienced as yet to avoid a tendency to become pointlessly preoccupied."
*This is part of Jesus' purpose in making us feel humble. We do not yet know the difference between what is harmful and what is harmless. This is similar to his instruction to us in the text that we do not know the difference between pain and joy (T-7.X), and imprisonment and freedom (T-8.II). And so we pointlessly preoccupy ourselves with pursuing what will hurt us, rather than learning what alone will bring us peace and joy.*
(6) "Further, since these exercises are the first of their kind, you may find the suspension of judgment in connection with thoughts particularly difficult. Do not repeat these exercises more than three or four times during the day. We will return to them later."
*Jesus does not want you to feel guilty because you cannot do the exercises, but he does want you to be aware that you are having trouble doing them. Implied in that is the following statement: "I am having trouble doing them because I do not want to give up my belief, not only that the objects in my life are meaningful, as are my thoughts, but that *I* am meaningful. I, as an individual, special being am meaningful." That is why these lessons are "particularly difficult."*
