Lesson 53. Today we will review the following:
1. My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.
Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world that
pictures them can have no meaning. What is producing this world is insane, and
so is what it produces. Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well
as insane ones. I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts
as my guide for seeing.
2. I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
Insane thoughts are upsetting. They produce a world in which there is no order
anywhere. Only chaos rules a world that represents chaotic thinking, and chaos
has no laws. I cannot live in peace in such a world. I am grateful that this
world is not real, and that I need not see it at all unless I choose to value
it. And I do not choose to value what is totally insane and has no meaning.
3. A meaningless world engenders fear.
The totally insane engenders fear because it is completely undependable, and
offers no grounds for trust. Nothing in madness is dependable. It holds out no
safety and no hope. But such a world is not real. I have given it the illusion
of reality, and have suffered from my belief in it. Now I choose to withdraw
this belief, and place my trust in reality. In choosing this, I will escape all
the effects of the world of fear, because I am acknowledging that it does not
exist.
4. God did not create a meaningless world.
How can a meaningless world exist if God did not create it? He is the Source of
all meaning, and everything that is real is in His Mind. It is in my mind too,
because He created it with me. Why should I continue to suffer from the effects
of my own insane thoughts, when the perfection of creation is my home? Let me
remember the power of my decision, and recognize where I really abide.
5. My thoughts are images that I have made.
Whatever I see reflects my thoughts. It is my thoughts that tell me where I am
and what I am. The fact that I see a world in which there is suffering and loss
and death shows me that I am seeing only the representation of my insane
thoughts, and am not allowing my real thoughts to cast their beneficent light on
what I see. Yet God's way is sure. The images I have made cannot prevail against
Him because it is not my will that they do so. My will is His, and I will place
no other gods before Him.
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The commentary on this lesson (below) is from Kenneth Wapnick's eight volume
series of books, 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 53. "Today we will review the following:"
*We see here a direct connection pointed out to us between our thoughts and the
world, even though Jesus has made this connection before:*
(1:1) (11) "My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world."
(1:2-4) "Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world
that pictures them can have no meaning. What is producing this world is insane,
and so is what it produces. Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as
well as insane ones."
*Our thoughts of individuality, sinfulness, specialness, etc., have produced
this world. Therefore, since the cause of the world is my insane thoughts, then
the world, as the effect, must be equally insane. <Cause> and <effect> are never
separated, for they are one. Reality, however, is not insane, despite the ego's
protestations to the contrary. It tells us God is insane, vengeful, and angry,
yet "[He] thinks otherwise" (T-23.1.2:7). As he did in the first fifty lessons,
Jesus explains that we have a split mind, containing unreal thoughts of hate,
and real thoughts of love. It remains for us to choose which ones we shall make
real for ourselves. He tries to help us realize how miserable and unhappy we
become when we choose the unreal thoughts of attack, judgment, and specialness.
It is that misery that will ultimately impel us to choose again:
"Tolerance for pain may be high, but it is not without limit. Eventually
everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there must be a better way. As
this recognition becomes more firmly established, it becomes a turning point."
(T-2.III.3:5-7).*
(1:5) "I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my
guide for seeing."
*This is the world of vision, the <inner> world in which there are no thoughts
of separation or judgment; the world of thought that is beyond the dream of
hate, wherein we are able at last to see the dream for what it is. From there it
is only an instant longer until God reaches down and lifts us to himself, the
<last step> in our journey, as we see depicted in this lovely statement:
"And then your Father will lean down to you and take the last step for you,
by raising you unto Himself." (T-11.VIII.15:5).
We shall return to a discussion of the real world later.*
(2:1)(12) "I am upset because I see a meaningless world."
(2:2-7) "Insane thoughts are upsetting. They produce a world in which there is
no order anywhere. Only chaos rules a world that represents chaotic thinking,
and chaos has no laws. I cannot live in peace in such a world. I am grateful
that this world is not real, and that I need not see it at all unless I choose
to value it. And I do not choose to value what is totally insane and has no
meaning."
*In "The Laws of Chaos" Jesus puts the word "laws" in quotation marks,
signifying they are not really laws because they make no sense: the only <true>
laws are the laws of God. Jesus does not do so here, but the meaning is the
same: "chaos has no laws."
Before we can elect <not> to value what is "totally insane," we first have to
accept that the world <is> insane. What helps us realize this is that the world
makes us totally unhappy. Our specialness desires -- even when they are
fulfilled and gratified -- do not make us happy and do not bring us the peace of
God. The ultimate reason our insane thoughts are so upsetting is that they
remind us of our original insane thought, which we believe will lead to
punishment. In the ominous words of the ego, depicted in this powerful passage
from the manual, we read (and tremble!) about the effect of our insane thought
of separation, placed in the context of magic thoughts, recognized in another
and/or in ourselves:
"They [ magic thoughts ] can but re-awaken sleeping guilt, which you have
hidden but have not let go. Each one says clearly to your frightened mind, "You
have usurped the place of God. Think not He has forgotten". Here we have the
fear of God most starkly represented. For in that thought has guilt already
raised madness to the throne of God Himself. And now there is no hope. Except to
kill. Here is salvation now. An angry father pursues his guilty son. Kill or be
killed, for here alone is choice. Beyond this there is none, for what was done
cannot be done without. The stain of blood can never be removed, and anyone who
bears this stain on him must meet with death." (M-17.7.2-13).
Forgiveness allows us to examine the destructive insanity of such a thought
system, helping us accept it for what it is; a recognition for which we can only
be deeply grateful, as its miracle leads beyond insane magic to the pure sanity
of eternal life.*
(3:1)(13) "A meaningless world engenders fear."
(3:2-5) "The totally insane engenders fear because it is completely
undependable, and offers no grounds for trust. Nothing in madness is dependable.
It holds out no safety and no hope. But such a world is not real."
*The only reality is Heaven, which is totally dependable because it is certain:
There is only God. This world, as we have all experienced it, is not dependable.
It was made to be so. That is what lets us know that the world and our
experience of it are not real. Once again, it is our guilt, born of the belief
in sin, that leads us to expect certain punishment and to trust no one. The best
we can do is protect ourselves from certain attack by utilizing various
defenses, which serve only to maintain the separation that established the need
for defenses in the first place. Thus the vicious cycles of guilt and attack,
and attack and defense, continue and continue and continue. They will always
continue, until their fundamental premises are exposed to the truth.*
(3:6-8) "I have given it the illusion of reality, and have suffered from my
belief in it. Now I choose to withdraw this belief, and place my trust in
reality. In choosing this, I will escape all the effects of the world of fear,
because I am acknowledging that it does not exist."
*Again, it is essential that we make the connection between our suffering (the
effect) and our thoughts of judgment, attack, and specialness (the cause). We do
not escape the world of fear by use of our armaments -- attempts to control,
manipulate, and seduce. We control the world only by realizing there is no world
to control. What does need to be controlled, however, are our thoughts, as Jesus
gently admonished Helen, to repeat an earlier quote: "You are much too tolerant
of mind wandering" (T-2.VI.4:6). Most of the time there is nothing we can do
about certain things in the world, but we certainly can do something about our
uncertain thoughts. And we must, for they serve a vitally important purpose.
They keep us here, holding intact our individuality, self-concepts, and very
existence. Recognizing the purpose of our thoughts enables us to exert the power
of decision to change the ego's goal of separation to the Holy Spirit's goal of
Atonement. By changing the ego's underlying purpose we are able to escape its
effects of pain, anxiety, and fear.*
(4:1)(14) "God did not create a meaningless world."
(4:2-6) "How can a meaningless world exist if God did not create it? He is the
Source of all meaning, and everything that is real is in His Mind. It is in my
mind too, because He created it with me. Why should I continue to suffer from
the effects of my own insane thoughts, when the perfection of creation is my
home? Let me remember the power of my decision, and recognize where I really
abide."
*You can see how Jesus returns over and over to the core symphonic themes of
these lessons: reality, illusion, and the power of our minds to choose between
them. The point here is extremely important, because the problem is that we have
forgotten that we have such power to choose. The ego set up its series of
defenses so we would never remember that we have a mind, let alone a mind that
can choose. Thus were the body and brain made to keep our minds hidden from us,
replaced by the mindless state of living in a body that is governed by a brain
that thinks it thinks, but in reality only carries out the thoughts of the
unconscious mind. These thoughts are but two: the ego belief that the
meaningless has triumphed over the meaningful; and the Holy Spirit's Atonement
that the ego thought is unreal because it is outside the Mind of God. Thus it
has no effects. Despite my feverish dreams to the contrary, I remain at home in
God, held in memory in my right mind by the Holy Spirit. Now I can remember to
choose again.*
(5:1)(15) "My thoughts are images that I have made."
(5:2-4) "Whatever I see reflects my thoughts. It is my thoughts that tell me
where I am and what I am. The fact that I see a world in which there is
suffering and loss and death shows me that I am seeing only the representation
of my insane thoughts, and am not allowing my real thoughts to cast their
beneficent light on what I see."
*This points out a crucial dimension of anyone's work with A Course in Miracles.
Many of its students tend to deny they see a world of suffering, loss, and
death. Instead they proclaim the world is really wonderful -- part of God's or
Jesus' plan: moreover, the new millennium will bring healing everywhere it is
needed, bathing us all in light. The problem with looking through rose colored
glasses is that if we do not recognize the insanity, pain, and suffering of the
world, we will never recognize their source in our minds. The <only way we can
return to the insanity in our minds is by recognizing the insanity we perceive.>
If we stubbornly, arrogantly, and self-righteously insist that everything is
wonderful -- e.g., this is a wonderful world, replete with wonderful happenings;
this is a wonderful course Jesus gave us -- we will never realize that what we
are seeing outside is a defense. ... Once more, the only way we can get to our
thoughts and change our minds about them is to see their effects, which, again,
is the cruel and vicious world in which we live.*
(5:5-7) "Yet God's way is sure. The images I have made cannot prevail against
Him because it is not my will that they do so. My will is His, and I will place
no other gods before Him."
*Jesus again appeals to the power of our minds to choose: between illusions and
the truth. The final sentence is taken from the first commandment in the Book of
Exodus (20:3), the basis for part of the discussion in Chapter 10 in the text
(see especially T-10.III.-V).The point there, as well as here, is that the ego's
gods of separation, sickness, suffering, and death have no power over the Son of
God, who remains as God created him. God remains God, and no wild imaginings can
erect another to take His place, except in dreams. Thus our will has never
ceased to be one with His, and we remain at home, where God "would have us be"
(T-31.VIII.12:8).*
