Lesson 9. I see nothing as it is now.
This idea obviously follows from the two preceding ones. But while you may be able to accept it intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as yet. However, understanding is not necessary at this point. In fact, the recognition that you do not understand is a prerequisite for undoing your false ideas. These exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. You do not need to practice what you already understand. It would indeed be circular to aim at understanding, and assume that you have it already.
It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what it seems to picture is not there. This idea can be quite disturbing, and may meet with active resistance in any number of forms. Yet that does not preclude applying it. No more than that is required for these or any other exercises. Each small step will clear a little of the darkness away, and understanding will finally come to lighten every corner of the mind that has been cleared of the debris that darkens it.
These exercises, for which three or four practice periods are sufficient, involve looking about you and applying the idea for the day to whatever you see, remembering the need for its indiscriminate application, and the essential rule of excluding nothing. For example:
I do not see this typewriter as it is now.
I do not see this telephone as it is now.
I do not see this arm as it is now.
Begin with things that are nearest you, and then extend the range outward:
I do not see that coat rack as it is now.
I do not see that door as it is now.
I do not see that face as it is now.
It is emphasized again that while complete inclusion should not be attempted, specific exclusion must be avoided. Be sure you are honest with yourself in making this distinction. You may be tempted to obscure it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 9. "I see nothing as it is now."
*Lesson 9 logically follows from Lessons 7 and 8. If my thoughts are meaningless because they are preoccupied with a past that does not exist, and the past does not exist because it is rooted in sin and separation, which never happened, then it must logically follow that "I see nothing as it is now."*
(1:1-2) "This idea obviously follows from the two preceding ones. But while you may be able to accept it intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as yet."
*This is a mild understatement. The idea will not mean anything to us because we are terrified of what it really means. In the holy instant, which is the meaning of "now," there is nothing to see. Chapter 18 in the text says: "At no single instant does the body exist at all." (T-18.VII.3:1), which means that in the holy instant there is no body. Why? Because there is no thought of separation; no sin, guilt, and fear, and therefore no body is needed to defend against those thoughts. These are the blocks to truth that Jesus referred to in the previous lesson. Thus, everything I "see" is a defense against the holy instant.*
(1:3-7) "However, understanding is not necessary at this point. In fact, the recognition that you do not understand is a prerequisite for undoing your false ideas. These exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. You do not need to practice what you already understand. It would indeed be circular to aim at understanding, and assume that you have it already."
*This is the same idea I underscored in the previous lesson: the importance of recognizing that your mind is blank when it is thinking. We think we understand what we are thinking. But in truth we do not understand anything, because our so-called thinking is a block to real understanding, which in A Course in Miracles is equated with truth or vision.
I quoted earlier from "The Little Willingness" where Jesus says "you are still convinced that your understanding is a powerful contribution to the truth, and makes it what it is" (T-18.IV.7:5). In other words, our understanding is not necessary. What is necessary, however, is that we be willing to accept that we understand nothing. If we can accept that fact we are opening the way for our real Teacher to instruct us. But if we keep insisting that we understand and are right, there is no way Jesus can teach us. In our insane arrogance we believe there is nothing we need to learn. In a lesson to come later, we read:
"You will not question what you have already defined. And the purpose of these exercises is to ask questions and receive the answers." (W-p1.28.4:1-2)
Thus it is our willingness to <practice> and <apply> the lessons, each and every moment that we can, that will enable us ultimately to understand.*
(2:1) "It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what it seems to picture is not there."
*It is extremely hard for us to believe that what we are seeing is not there. We think we see a room full of people and chairs, a clock, a frozen lake [this class was held in the New York Catskills Mountains], etc. In "reality," all we are seeing is an out-picturing of our thoughts of separation, the specific forms that are projections of our illusory thought system.*
(2:2-3) "This idea can be quite disturbing, and may meet with active resistance in any number of forms. Yet that does not preclude applying it."
*Again, it is not necessary to understand or agree with the ideas in the workbook. Jesus is simply asking us to do them. The thought for today should be disturbing, and there is something wrong if it is not. As we have already discussed, if what you are seeing is not there, and you experience seeing yourself -- your physical self and your thoughts -- then <you> are not there. What could be more disturbing than that? It is not necessary to accept this idea as truth. Jesus is simply asking you to begin the process of training your mind to think the way he thinks.*
(2:4-5) "No more than that is required for these or any other exercises. Each small step will clear a little of the darkness away, and understanding will finally come to lighten every corner of the mind that has been cleared of the debris that darkens it."
*This is an extremely important theme, and one we shall restate again and again: undoing the interferences to remembering love. When you get the mind's darkening debris out of the way -- i.e., the meaningless thoughts rooted in the ego's thought system -- what is left is the vision of Christ, and that is understanding. This has nothing to do with what happens in the world, but with realizing that there is nothing in the world to understand. I am reminded of a statement Michelangelo made about his sculpture. He explained that he first saw the image in the stone, and then took away what did not belong. The image of Christ, which is the light of our true Identity, is already in our minds through the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility is simply to bring to His truth the darkened debris of our illusions, which leads to an experience of the Love of God and the oneness of the Sonship.
The rest of the lesson provides instructions for the exercises. Note again that Jesus emphasizes indiscriminate application -- <excluding nothing>. He is helping us to be specific without being ritualistic and obsessive, the ultimate purpose being to generalize from the specific to <all> aspects of the perceptual world -- the trivial and important, both near and far. Jesus closes the lesson with still another reminder.*
(5) "It is emphasized again that while complete inclusion should not be attempted, specific exclusion must be avoided. Be sure you are honest with yourself in making this distinction. You may be tempted to obscure it."
*As you progress through the workbook, you will see the significance of these instructions not to exclude, as well as to be honest in seeing the resistance to undoing the ego.*
