Lesson 17. I see no neutral things.
Lesson 17. I see no neutral?things.
This idea is another step in the direction of identifying cause and effect as it
really operates in the world. You see no neutral things because you have no
neutral thoughts. It is always the thought that comes first, despite the
temptation to believe that it is the other way around. This is not the way the
world thinks, but you must learn that it is the way you think. If it were not
so, perception would have no cause, and would itself be the cause of reality. In
view of its highly variable nature, this is hardly likely.
In applying today's idea, say to yourself, with eyes open:
I see no neutral things because I have no neutral thoughts.
Then look about you, resting your glance on each thing you note long enough to
say:
I do not see a neutral ___, because my thoughts about ___ are not neutral.
For example, you might say:
I do not see a neutral wall, because my thoughts about walls are not
neutral.
I do not see a neutral body, because my thoughts about bodies are not
neutral.
As usual, it is essential to make no distinctions between what you believe to be
animate or inanimate; pleasant or unpleasant. Regardless of what you may
believe, you do not see anything that is really alive or really joyous. That is
because you are unaware as yet of any thought that is really true, and therefore
really happy.
Three or four specific practice periods are recommended, and no less than three
are required for maximum benefit, even if you experience resistance. However, if
you do, the length of the practice period may be reduced to less than the minute
or so that is otherwise recommended.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 17 "I see no neutral things."
*This follows directly from "I have no neutral thoughts." We find the same
pattern seen in the earlier lessons, where Jesus goes back and forth between our
thoughts and what we perceive, trying to help us understand they are the same.
His purpose is to cultivate in us a vigilance in watching how we think,
realizing that nothing we think, perceive, or interpret as the truth is correct.
This takes great humility. The ego's arrogance seeks to cover the fear of
realizing we are wrong about absolutely everything, which ultimately includes
ourselves.
Any time you see an enemy "out there," or believe someone has the power to
victimize, betray, or hurt you, you are saying you are right and Jesus is wrong:
you are right because you can see and feel the attack, and have the evidence to
prove it. However, you are not aware that <you> planted the evidence so you
could find it. What you see is what you <want> to see, and so you put the
evidence there and say: "See! My thoughts are <not> the problem. In fact, my
thoughts are nothing. The problem is out there That is the problem." And almost
always there is some special person that is the focus of your problem.
These lessons attempt to train your mind to think this way all the time, so that
you automatically translate what you perceive outside into an inner thought. It
does not matter so much with coat hangers or waste paper baskets, but it does
matter with the important relationships in your life. It also matters with
<un>important ones, but there are always special people that take center stage.
Remember, you see outside what you put there because you <want> to see it in the
<body>, not the <mind>, thereby saying: "My thoughts are unimportant because
what I see is the fact." Thus you must first realize the <fact> is what you
think. When you can look at that thought with Jesus, you will finally realize it
is not a fact at all. As the text says, God is the only Fact (T-3.1.8:2).*
(1:1) "This idea [ I see no neutral things ] is another step in the direction of
identifying cause and effect as it really operates in the world."
*The thoughts in our minds are the <cause>, and our perceptions are the
<effect>. This is another way of expressing the important principle we cited in
the first paragraph of commentary 8 above: "Projection makes perception." I
first choose my teacher, the ego or the Holy Spirit, and that choice determines
the thought system with which I identify: separation or forgiveness. I have made
it real, because that is what I perceive within me (the cause) and, once
projected, I perceive its manifestations all around me (the effects).*
(1:2-3) "You see no neutral things because you have no neutral thoughts. It is
always the thought that comes first, despite the temptation to believe that it
is the other way around."
*We can most likely attest to the fact, even though we have read these lines
both here and in the text, and on some level believe they are true, that our
daily lives do not reflect this understanding at all. We react to what is
external, forgetting that what we are really reacting to is our having pushed
Jesus away once again, and then identifying with the ego's thought system of
guilt. We quickly forget this "fact," project the guilt from our minds and see
it in people, events, and things -- all threatening to hurt us and take away our
peace.
The purpose of these lessons and exercises is to practice seeing how we do <not>
live this way; how we react to what is outside us. Remember, what is outside not
only includes other people's bodies, but our own as well, for <outside> refers
to what is outside our <minds>, not bodies. The point again is that we are not
reacting to the world, but to our mind's decision. Moreover, it is important to
remember that the decision for the ego is made up, for we react to the ego's
illusory thought system that tells us how worthless, sinful, and wretched we are
-- "the home of evil, darkness and sin" as Lesson 93 states (1:1). This is the
insanity we have made real and never challenge. Thus we are learning that not
only is the world a defense, but so is our thought system of separation. The
reality <beyond> both the world and the thoughts that made it is the Love of God
-- the only truth.*
(1:4) "This is not the way the world thinks, but you must learn that it is the
way you think."
*Jesus is making it unmistakably clear that this causal connection between mind
and body is something we have to learn, as he also makes it clear in other
lessons, and that it takes tremendous vigilance and practice because our way of
life is set up in the opposite way. We have been programmed to think that is the
world that impinges on us, and that the bad guys are out there in the world. Yet
Jesus is saying to us here: "This is something you are not going to understand
right away, for it requires much practice. I am introducing it to you now for
the first time, but we will go over it again and again." Jesus is therefore
emphasizing that we are the student and he our teacher, and whenever we have
difficulty with the text, workbook, or manual, it is simply because we have
become afraid of what he is teaching us.*
(1:5) "If it were not so, perception would have no cause, and would itself be
the cause of reality."
*If it were correct that the world determines what we think, then perception
would be a reality and a <cause>; namely, the objects of our perception would
cause us to think and feel in certain ways. The truth, however, is that
perception is the <effect>, caused by our thoughts. Always keep in mind that
<projection makes perception>. If perception has no cause but is a reality
independent of our thoughts, then it simply exists and there is nothing we can
do about it. This, of course, describes the condition of practically everyone in
the world. That is why there is no hope once we have bought into the ego thought
system: we cannot change what is. If our perceptions are not effects caused by
our thoughts, then they must real. Thus do death, evil, war, and suffering
become reality, and there is nothing we can do except get through our lives as
best as we can. Jesus, therefore, teaches that what is out there -- is an
<effect>, and the <cause> rests within our minds. Once we identify the cause we
can do something about it. Otherwise, again, it is a hopeless situation.
And this final comment about perception:*
(1:6) "In view of its highly variable nature, this is hardly likely."
**Perception, obviously, is highly variable. We can see that even within
ourselves. A perception we had of someone one day, when we forgive, the next day
becomes quite different. Depending on or inner state -- choosing the ego or the
Holy Spirit as our teacher -- we either perceive the world through the eyes of
judgment and hate, or through forgiveness.
The exercise follows, continuing the training of our minds to understand the
relationship between our thoughts and our perceptions:*
(2) "In applying today's idea, say to yourself, with eyes open:
I see no neutral things because I have no neutral thoughts.
Then look about you, resting your glance on each thing you note long enough to
say:
I do not see a neutral ___, because my thoughts about ___ are not neutral.
For example, you might say:
I do not see a neutral wall, because my thoughts about walls are not
neutral.
I do not see a neutral body, because my thoughts about bodies are not
neutral."
*Jesus' instructions for the exercises now focus on his ongoing refutation of
the ego's first law of chaos: the hierarchy of illusions:*
(3) "As usual, it is essential to make no distinctions between what you believe
to be animate or inanimate; pleasant or unpleasant. Regardless of what you may
believe, you do not see anything that is really alive or really joyous. That is
because you are unaware as yet of any thought that is really true, and therefore
really happy."
*There is no animate or inanimate, because nothing here is alive. As we recall,
one of the basic categories we are taught from grade school on up is that there
are living things that can be categorized as inanimate, part of "the great chain
of being," and non-living things that can be categorized as inanimate, like
wood, metal, etc. Yet both categories are illusory, as we see in "The Laws of
Chaos" section, which categorically states "there is no life outside of Heaven"
(T-23.II.19:1). Jesus means that quite literally.
Real life and real joy are found only by taking Jesus' hand and identifying with
his thought system of forgiveness. It is joyful because it returns us to our
real life as part of God, the only joy. However, we yet must learn how to attain
this life and joy, and these exercises, along with the gentle instruction we
find in this paragraph, are among the means Jesus employs to fulfill his
pedagogical purpose.*
(4) "Three or four specific practice periods are recommended, and no less than
three are required for maximum benefit, even if you experience resistance.
However, if you do, the length of the practice period may be reduced to less
than the minute or so that is otherwise recommended."
*Mention of our resistance is Jesus' helpful way of reminding us not to feel
guilty. He would not bring it up as frequently as he does if he were not
expecting us to be fearful of his teaching, and thus seek to resist it. Learning
to accept this resistance is an essential step toward letting it go.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 16. I have no neutral thoughts.
Lesson 16. I have no neutral thoughts.
The idea for today is a beginning step in dispelling the belief that your
thoughts have no effect. Everything you see is the result of your thoughts.
There is no exception to this fact. Thoughts are not big or little; powerful or
weak. They are merely true or false. Those that are true create their own
likeness. Those that are false make theirs.
There is no more self-contradictory concept than that of "idle thoughts." What
gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called idle. Every
thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it extends the
truth or it multiplies illusions. You can indeed multiply nothing, but you will
not extend it by doing so.
Besides your recognizing that thoughts are never idle, salvation requires that
you also recognize that every thought you have brings either peace or war;
either love or fear. A neutral result is impossible because a neutral thought is
impossible. There is such a temptation to dismiss fear thoughts as unimportant,
trivial and not worth bothering about that it is essential you recognize them
all as equally destructive, but equally unreal. We will practice this idea in
many forms before you really understand it.
In applying the idea for today, search your mind for a minute or so with eyes
closed, and actively seek not to overlook any "little" thought that may tend to
elude the search. This is quite difficult until you get used to it. You will
find that it is still hard for you not to make artificial distinctions. Every
thought that occurs to you, regardless of the qualities that you assign to it,
is a suitable subject for applying today's idea.
In the practice periods, first repeat the idea to yourself, and then as each one
crosses your mind hold it in awareness while you tell yourself:
This thought about ___ is not a neutral thought.
That thought about ___ is not a neutral thought.
As usual, use today's idea whenever you are are aware of a particular thought
that arouses uneasiness. The following form is suggested for this purpose:
This thought about ___ is not a neutral thought, because I have no neutral
thoughts.
Four or five practice periods are recommended, if you find them relatively
effortless. If strain is experienced, three will be enough. The length of the
exercise period should also be reduced if there is discomfort.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 16. "I have no neutral thoughts."
*This idea is an attempt to correct the mistaken belief that our thoughts have
no power. On one level it is true they have no power, because they cannot change
Heaven nor can they destroy God. Within the dream, however, which is what Jesus
is speaking about here, our thoughts have tremendous power. Just imagine what
our thoughts are capable of doing: literally make up a physical universe, and a
physical and psychological self that dwells within it; this self then actually
believes it exists in the universe. That is Jesus' point in the first section of
Chapter 31, "The Simplicity of Salvation," when he urges us not to underestimate
the power of our learning skill. Although that was a message originally meant
for Helen Schucman, in response to her constant complaints, Jesus is saying to
each of us: "Do not tell me you cannot learn this course. Do not tell me your
mind and its thoughts have no power. Look at what your learning <is> capable of
doing." Here are <his> very clear words:
"What you have taught yourself is such a giant learning feat it is indeed
incredible. But you accomplished it because you wanted to, and did not pause in
diligence to judge it hard to learn or too complex to grasp."
"No one who understands what you have learned, how carefully you learned it,
and the pains to which you went to practice and repeat the lessons endlessly, in
every form you could conceive of them, could ever doubt the power of your
learning skill. There is no greater power in the world. The world was made by
it, and even now depends on nothing else. The lessons you have taught yourself
have been so overlearned and fixed they rise like heavy curtains to obscure the
simple and the obvious. Say not you cannot learn them. For your power to learn
is strong enough to teach you that your will is not your own, your thoughts do
not belong to you, and even you are someone else."
"Who could maintain that lessons such as these are easy? Yet you have
learned more than this. You have continued, taking every step, however
difficult, without complaint, until a world was built that suited you. And every
lesson that makes up the world arises from the first accomplishment of learning;
an enormity so great the Holy Spirit's Voice seems small and still before its
magnitude. The world began with one strange lesson, powerful enough to render
God forgotten, and His Son an alien to himself, in exile from the home where God
Himself established him. You who have taught yourself the Son of God is guilty,
say not that you cannot learn the simple things salvation teaches you!"
(T-31.I.2:7-4:6).
These are strong words, but upon their truth rests A Course in Miracles.
Throughout the text, as well as at the heart of these lessons, is Jesus'
overriding emphasis on the power of our mind to choose against God, which fact
alone contains the promise of salvation. The mind that housed the separation
thought is the <only> power in the universe that can save itself. And yet it has
been this power that the ego has seemingly and successfully stifled and silenced
by its plan to make a world and body, rendering the Son of God mindless. Jesus'
purpose in A Course in Miracles is simple: restore to our awareness the power of
our minds, that we may finally recognize our mistake, where it was made, and
<choose again.>
Thus, this lesson reminds us that our thoughts are tremendously powerful.
Indeed, that is the problem. We believe -- within the dream -- that these
thoughts have destroyed God, Heaven, and the Holy Spirit as well. We gave this
belief such power -- the power of guilt -- that we had to deny the thoughts,
project them out and make up a world, all as a defense against what the ego told
us: the tremendous power of our minds destroyed Heaven. That is why guilt is
such a powerful concept in A Course in Miracles, for it tells us we have
committed the unmentionable sin: destroying God and His Love. Before we can
understand these thoughts are literally nothing and have no effects, we first
must get in touch with the power these thoughts are having in our dreams. That
is the purpose of this lesson.*
(1:1-2) "The idea for today is a beginning step in dispelling the belief that
your thoughts have no effect. Everything you see is the result of your
thoughts."
*You should underline in multi-colors "Everything you see is a result of your
thoughts"! This important sentence needs to be understood on two levels, as it
means everything you see in terms of form, but also in terms of interpretation.
Both are the "result of your thoughts." Hence, on one level, since we believe we
separated from God, we see all kinds of separate things: people, chairs,
pencils, clocks, walls, etc. We see them as separate objects because they are
the direct result, or the shadow, of our thoughts of separation.
On another level and even more importantly, for the purposes of A Course in
Miracles and the workbook lessons specifically, we understand that it is not
only <what> we see, but <how> we see it. Jesus makes it very clear in the text
and manual that perception is interpretation (e.g., T-3.III.2.3;T-11.VI.2.:5-6;
T-21.in.5-6; M.-8.1-4; M-17.4:1-2). We cannot separate our perception of
"objective reality" from our interpretation of it, because they are one and the
same. Again, it is not only <what> we see, but <how> we see it."
As Jesus explains in many other places, especially in the text, if you begin
with guilty thoughts -- and guilt is rooted in our belief we betrayed Heaven and
sabotaged God's plan of creation, and thus demands punishment -- those are the
thoughts with which we will look out, the lens through which we look on
everything. We will therefore see not only a separated world, but a separated
world that will punish and betray us; a world in which there is no hope but only
despair of certain death. Thus we read, for example:
"The certain outcome of the lesson that God's Son is guilty is the world
you see. It is a world of terror and despair. Nor is there hope of happiness in
it. There is no plan for safety you can make that ever will succeed. There is no
joy that you can seek for here and hope to find." (T-31.I.7.4-8).
Further, as we monitor our perceptions and find ourselves becoming angry,
anxious, or depressed, the cause will always be an interpretation of something
we believe to be external to us. The interpretation will directly follow from
our secret thoughts, and if we accuse ourselves of betraying God, which is
<everyone's> secret sin, we must and will see betrayal all around us.*
(1:3-7) "There is no exception to this fact. Thoughts are not big or little;
powerful or weak. They are merely true or false. Those that are true create
their own likeness. Those that are false make theirs."
*The true thoughts that "create their own likeness" are the Thoughts of God --
truth, love, spirit, etc., -- which constitute Heaven. The ego's false thoughts
are of separation -- guilt, betrayal, murder, death, suffering, etc. -- and they
will make their own likeness as well. If these are our thoughts, we will then
perceive a world in which all these things happen -- <to us.>
As we proceed through these early lessons it will become increasingly clear that
Jesus is trying to establish for us the causal connection between our thoughts
and what we perceive: Our thoughts determine the world we see: ultimately, then,
our minds are the <cause> and the world the <effect>.*
(2:1) "There is no more self-contradictory concept than that of "idle thoughts."
*Our thoughts cannot be "idle," as in the popular expression, because they have
the power either to create reality, our function in Heaven, or to make
illusions, at least in our dreams. Inherent in the power to make illusions is
the power to forget that we made them -- the power of denial. When we forget we
made them, we believe that what we perceive is fact. That is why we shall never
countenance anyone telling us that what we perceive is <not> what we perceive.
We are so sure we are right about what we perceive in the world because we are
so sure we exist. Since the world comes from that thought of separate existence,
we have the equal certainly that the world exists the way we made it up and the
way that we see it. Consequently, we would not at all be inclined to question
our perceptions of ourselves and the world.*
(2:2-4) "What gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called
idle. Every thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it
extends the truth or it multiplies illusions. You can indeed multiply nothing,
but you will not extend it by doing so."
*What is interesting here is that Jesus specifically says <perception> of a
world. He is making the distinction that thoughts do not give rise to a world,
but to a <perception> of a world. He does not always make such distinctions, but
he does here. He is essentially saying there is no world out there.
We are free within our dream to see whatever it is we want to see, as many times
over as we want to see it. But that does not make it real. <Extension> is a term
in A Course in Miracles that is almost always associated with the Holy Spirit,
and the Holy Spirit cannot extend nothing. In our insanity, however, we believe
we can, and multiply illusions as well. Yet in truth they are all nothing. One
times zero is the same as a thousand times zero.*
(3:1-2) "Besides your recognizing that thoughts are never idle, salvation
requires that you also recognize that every thought you have brings either peace
or war; either love or fear. A neutral result is impossible because a neutral
thought is impossible."
*In the next lesson Jesus will develop this even further by saying that what we
see outside is not neutral because what we think inside is not neutral either.
Jesus is thus telling us that what is important for salvation is recognizing the
power of our thought -- only within our dream, of course -- and that there are
only two thoughts in the split mind: the ego's which leads to war or fear, and
the Holy Spirit's, which leads to peace or love.
Therefore Jesus tells us first that our thoughts are not idle and are not
neutral. Then he says there are only two thoughts. That makes it very simple,
because our perceptions and interpretations can become quite complicated. For
instance, we believe, as we shall see presently, that there are gradations of
anger, such as "slight twinge of annoyance" or "intense fury" (W-p1.21.2:5). In
truth they are the same, because they come from one thought of separation. This
is what makes everything so simple, not easy, but simple because everything is
recognized as the same.*
(3:3-4) "There is such a temptation to dismiss fear thoughts as unimportant,
trivial and not worth bothering about that it is essential you recognize them
all as equally destructive, but equally unreal. We will practice this idea in
many forms before you really understand it."
*This is aimed at the "blissninnies" who say that God and love are truth, and
everything else trivial and unimportant, not worth bothering about because it is
an illusion. From the point of view of Heaven this is indeed the case, but in
this world it is <not> so, and that is why Jesus says temptation to dismiss fear
thoughts as unimportant, telling ourselves that since A Course in Miracles
teaches these thoughts are not real we do not have to pay attention to them. We
then cover them with a blissninny smile and see only love and calls for love,
wherein all will reach home as one happy chorus sings a hymn of joy, and on and
on and on, < ad nauseam>. However, we are not aware that we have dismissed the
thought that we have destroyed Heaven. Within our deluded minds that is hardly
trivial and unimportant, and so it cannot be denied if we are truly to let it
go.
That is why Jesus says "it is so essential that you recognize them all as
equally destructive, but equally unreal." Before you can see them as equally
unreal, you first have to realize their destructive nature. In the text Jesus
says that "what is not love is murder"(T-23.IV.1:10), and that love without
ambivalence is impossible in this world (T-4.III.4:6). If you add two and two,
you get four: If love is not possible in this world, and what is not love is
murder, then all thoughts in this world are murderous and equally destructive,
whether a thought is a mild twinge of annoyance or a thought of outright fury
that says: "I want to destroy you." We clearly are talking only about what goes
on in the wrong mind, but within that wrong mind all our thoughts are "equally
destructive" -- there is no hierarchy of illusions, as we have already observed.
This one paragraph is extremely important. You should read it very carefully and
see how, even though you may not think of yourself as a blissninny, it is
tempting to fall into the trap of dismissing your ego thoughts. Jesus certainly
is not telling us to obsess about the ego or make its thoughts into a big deal;
after all, they <are> inherently unreal. But it cannot be said often enough that
before you can dismiss these thoughts as unreal, you must first look at what
they are. This point is strongly and often emphasized in the text where, for
example, Jesus says:
"No one can escape from illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking
is the way they are protected. There is no need to shrink from illusions, for
they cannot be dangerous. We are ready to look more closely at the ego's thought
system because together we have the lamp that will dispel it ... we must look
first at this to see beyond it, since you have made it real. We will undo this
error quietly together, and then look beyond it to truth." (T-11.V.1:1-3,5-6).
The next paragraph is about mind searching, a central theme throughout A Course
in Miracles. This term occurs in Jesus' instructions to us in almost all these
early lessons, where he accentuates the importance of looking within our minds
at our thoughts. Again, if we are not aware of what is there, how can we bring
them to him for help and for correction?*
(4) "In applying the idea for today, search your mind for a minute or so with
eyes closed, and actively seek not to overlook any "little" thought that may
tend to elude the search. This is quite difficult until you get used to it. You
will find that it is still hard for you not to make artificial distinctions.
Every thought that occurs to you, regardless of the qualities that you assign to
it, is a suitable subject for applying today's idea."
*This is another example of Jesus teaching us there is no order of difficulty in
miracles. A miracle undoes problems regardless of their form, because they are
the same. We must realize that even our seemingly unimportant thoughts conceal
the enormity of the ego thought system, as do the so-called major thoughts.
"Artificial distinctions" would be deciding, for example, that one thing is
important, another is not; or that this little annoyance is not important, but
the grievance I hold against this person really is.
The last two paragraphs of this lesson repeat the same gentle instructions we
have been seeing in the lessons so far, indicating once more the need for us to
apply the idea for the day to each instance of discomfort we experience:*
(5-6) "In the practice periods, first repeat the idea to yourself, and then as
each one crosses your mind hold it in awareness while you tell yourself:
This thought about ___ is not a neutral thought.
That thought about ___ is not a neutral thought.
As usual, use today's idea whenever you are aware of a particular thought that
arouses uneasiness. The following form is suggested for this purpose:
This thought about ___ is not a neutral thought, because I have no neutral
thoughts.
Four or five practice periods are recommended, if you find them relatively
effortless. If strain is experienced, three will be enough. The length of the
exercise period should also be reduced if there is discomfort."
*We are thus gently and kindly trained in the healing process of looking at our
thoughts, especially learning to become aware of those that produce uneasiness.
We most likely had not allowed ourselves to feel discomfort, let alone recognize
its source of guilt in our minds.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 15. My thoughts are images that I have made.
Lesson 15. My thoughts are images that I have made.
It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do not
recognize them as nothing. You think you think them, and so you think you see
them. This is how your "seeing" was made. This is the function you have given
your body's eyes. It is not seeing. It is image making. It takes the place of
seeing, replacing vision with illusions.
This introductory idea to the process of image making that you call seeing will
not have much meaning for you. You will begin to understand it when you have
seen little edges of light around the same familiar objects which you see now.
That is the beginning of real vision. You can be certain that real vision will
come quickly when this has occurred.
As we go along, you may have many "light episodes." They may take many different
forms, some of them quite unexpected. Do not be afraid of them. They are signs
that you are opening your eyes at last. They will not persist, because they
merely symbolize true perception, and they are not related to knowledge. These
exercises will not reveal knowledge to you. But they will prepare the way to it.
In practicing the idea for today, repeat it first to yourself, and then apply it
to whatever you see around you, using its name and letting your eyes rest on it
as you say:
This ___ is an image that I have made.
That ___ is an image that I have made.
It is not necessary to include a large number of specific subjects for the
application of today's idea. It is necessary, however, to continue to look at
each subject while you repeat the idea to yourself. The idea should be repeated
quite slowly each time.
Although you will obviously not be able to apply the idea to very many things
during the minute or so of practice that is recommended, try to make the
selection as random as possible. Less than a minute will do for the practice
periods, if you begin to feel uneasy. Do not have more than three application
periods for today's idea unless you feel completely comfortable with it, and do
not exceed four. However, the idea can be applied as needed throughout the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 15. "My thoughts are images that I have made."
(1:1) "It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you
do not recognize them as nothing."
*The "images" are what we perceive in the world outside us. The ego takes our
thoughts of separation -- sin, guilt, and fear -- and projects them so that we
"see" them in the world, rather that accepting their presence within. Thus we
perceive these thoughts as images of a person, room, coat hanger, clock, and
everything else. We can have an image of a vengeful or benevolent God, a happy
or miserable world, but all images of specific forms are projections of our
separation thoughts. Because we believe we see something outside, we believe
that what we see is real.
This process, then, becomes the ego's ultimate line of defense. Since we believe
that the world outside is real, we never think about the fact that the images we
perceive outside are coming for our inner thoughts, and if we do not know they
are coming from our thoughts, there is no way we can realize that the thoughts
themselves are really nothing. The entire thought system of the ego, and all the
specific thoughts associated with it, are <nothing>-- a defense against the
reality of Who we are, our true Identity as Christ.
The phrase "the thoughts you think you think" is extremely important. We
actually think we are thinking, as we discussed in the earlier lessons. In fact,
we could say that the fundamental ego problem is that we <think> -- not <what>
we think so much as the fact that we think we can think (cf., again,
T-31.V.14:3-4). We believe our thoughts <are> our thoughts. In other words, we
believe they belong to <us>, and we do not realize that the only true Thought is
the Thought of our Identity as Christ, which is one with God's Thought.
Thus, the fact that we believe we can think presupposes that we have an
autonomous mind or self that is outside and independent of God. Once again you
can see how, even though the language of these early lessons is simple, it is a
deceptive simplicity in that it covertly reveals the Course's metaphysical
foundation.*
(1:2-6) "You think you think them, and so you think you see them. This is how
your "seeing" was made. This is the function you have given your body's eyes. It
is not seeing. It is image making."
*Jesus puts "seeing" in quotes because this is really not seeing. Since we
literally see nothing, how could we see anything? The ego has us substitute the
magnitude of our Identity as Christ for the littleness of our autonomous
individuality, which is what we cherish above all else. In order to have us keep
this individuality intact, the ego then has us identify it with the sin of
separating from God. This leads to guilt, which means we believe we deserve to
be punished. This is the competition with God discussed in Lesson 13.
This constellation of separation and sin is so terrifying that we deny and
project it out in order to forget it, which itself protects the thought of
individuality. We are then left with the images we have made, but with no
recollection of how we made them. At that point there is absolutely no hope for
correction. Again, by "image making" Jesus means that we literally make up an
image of our own thoughts. Since our thoughts are nothing, the images that come
from them must also be nothing.*
(1:7) "It takes the place of seeing, replacing vision with illusions."
*Rather than sharing Christ's or the Holy Spirit's vision, based on the
Atonement thought that says the separation never happened, the ego replaces that
vision or thought with its own. Thus we first make these ego thoughts real in
our minds, and then project them out and "see" them as real things outside us.
Jesus teaches us in this lesson that the images we perceive outside ourselves
are but the reflections or shadows of the thoughts we have made real within.
He, of course, is not really talking about images of a clock, waste paper
basket, or pencil. His ultimate purpose is to have us realize that the most
frightening aspect of this process is the image we have made of ourselves --
separated, autonomous beings, in control of our lives. This image of ourselves
comes from a thought, too -- wanting to be separate -- and that is why, as I
have been saying, if you really pay attention to these lessons they should
strike terror in your heart, for they literally say you do not exist. You thus
want to explore more and more how frightening these thoughts are, trying to
identify how you defend against them. This is extremely important -- watch how
you defend against what these lessons are teaching you.*
(2:1) "This introductory idea to the process of image making that you call
seeing will not have much meaning for you."
*Jesus is once again making a mild understatement. The idea will not have much
meaning for us because we do not want to accept what it is saying. One of the
more important lines of defense that the ego uses is to prevent our
understanding what Jesus is really saying here. That is why he says, again, this
will probably not have much meaning for you, and that is because we are
defending against that very meaning as a means of defending our individual
identity.*
(2:2-4) "You will begin to understand it when you have seen little edges of
light around the same familiar objects which you see now. That is the beginning
of real vision. You can be certain that real vision will come quickly when this
has occurred."
*In my earlier tape set, "The Workbook of A Course in Miracles: Its Place in the
Curriculum -- Theory and Practice," I went into this passage in depth. Rather
than repeat that here, let me say briefly that Jesus is not talking about
<literally> seeing edges of light around objects. This was originally meant for
a friend of Helen and Bill's. You will do much better to understand this
statement in terms of the <content>. When Jesus says you will see "little edges
of light" around objects, he is really talking about the light of understanding
or vision that is coming to you. In other words, you will understand that the
objects are images you made as projections of the thoughts of separation you do
not want to look at in your mind. If you try to take this literally you will
guiltily feel yourself to be a failure when you do not see "little edges of
light" around objects, not to mention glorifying those who claim they do.*
(3:1-4) "As we go along, you may have many "light episodes." They may take many
different forms, some of them quite unexpected. Do not be afraid of them. They
are signs that you are opening your eyes at last."
*If you do have perceptions of light, all is well and good, but Jesus is saying
that what would really instill fear in you is your recognition that this thing
you are looking at is not there at all. When suddenly a "light" goes on in your
mind and you realize: "My God! This is what Jesus is talking about," and you
realize that if this waste paper basket is not really there, being a projection
of a thought, what about those who believe they are perceiving the waste paper
basket? Again, that recognition is the source of fear. No one really cares if a
waste paper basket is there or not, but you <do> care whether <you> are there or
not.*
(3:5-7)"They will not persist, because they merely symbolize true perception,
and they are not related to knowledge. These exercises will not reveal knowledge
to you. But they will prepare the way to it."
*In many places, especially in the text, Jesus makes it clear that the goal of A
Course in Miracles is not Heaven, knowledge, or love (T-in.1:6-7; T-8.in.1:1-2),
but the correction of the ego's false perception, which would be true perception
or vision, the peace that forgiveness or the miracle brings about.
Jesus also makes the same point in the text that he does here in 3:5: "...
visions, however holy, do not last" (T-3.III.4:6). That is because all forms,
however holy their content, are still part of the illusion of separation.
Therefore they but <reflect> truth, and are not the truth itself.
The remaining two paragraphs reiterate the need to be non-selective yet not
compulsive, as well as emphasizing the crucial idea of <specific> application
whenever we find ourselves tempted to be upset. These emphases are the <content>
behind the exercises' <form>:*
(4-5) "In practicing the idea for today, repeat it first to yourself, and then
apply it to whatever you see around you, using its name and letting your eyes
rest on it as you say:
This ___ is an image that I have made.
That ___ is an image that I have made.
It is not necessary to include a large number of specific subjects for the
application of today's idea. It is necessary, however, to continue to look at
each subject while you repeat the idea to yourself. The idea should be repeated
quite slowly each time.
Although you will obviously not be able to apply the idea to very many things
during the minute or so of practice that is recommended, try to make the
selection as random as possible. Less than a minute will do for the practice
periods, if you begin to feel uneasy. Do not have more than three application
periods for today's idea unless you feel completely comfortable with it, and do
not exceed four. However, the idea can be applied as needed throughout the day."
*Being faithful to the specifics of the daily exercises allows us to generalize
the lesson of the inherent sameness of all things to each and every experience
of our lives. Such generalization is the heart of forgiveness, and the key to
achieving the peace that is Jesus' goal for us.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 14. God did not create a meaningless world.
Lesson 14. God did not create a meaningless world.
The idea for today is, of course, the reason why a meaningless world is impossible. What God did not create does not exist. And everything that does exist exists as He created it. The world you see has nothing to do with reality. It is of your own making, and it does not exist.
The exercises for today are to be practiced with eyes closed throughout. The mind-searching period should be short, a minute at most. Do not have more than three practice periods with today's idea unless you find them comfortable. If you do, it will be because you really understand what they are for.
The idea for today is another step in learning to let go the thoughts that you have written on the world, and see the Word of God in their place. The early steps in this exchange, which can truly be called salvation, can be quite difficult and even quite painful. Some of them will lead you directly into fear. You will not be left there. You will go far beyond it. Our direction is toward perfect safety and perfect peace.
With eyes closed, think of all the horrors in the world that cross your mind. Name each one as it occurs to you, and then deny its reality. God did not create it, and so it is not real. Say, for example:
God did not create that war, and so it is not real.
God did not create that airplane crash, and so it is not real.
God did not create that disaster [specify], and so it is not real.
Suitable subjects for the application of today's idea also include anything you are afraid might happen to you, or to anyone about whom you are concerned. In each case, name the "disaster" quite specifically. Do not use general terms. For example, do not say, "God did not create illness," but, "God did not create cancer," or heart attacks, or whatever may arouse fear in you.
This is your personal repertory of horrors at which you are looking. These things are part of the world you see. Some of them are shared illusions, and others are part of your personal hell. It does not matter. What God did not create can only be in your own mind apart from His. Therefore, it has no meaning. In recognition of this fact, conclude the practice periods by repeating today's idea:
God did not create a meaningless world.
The idea for today can, of course, be applied to anything that disturbs you during the day, aside from the practice periods. Be very specific in applying it. Say:
God did not create a meaningless world. He did not create [specify the situation which is disturbing you], and so it is not real.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 14. "God did not create a meaningless world."
(1) "The idea for today is, of course, the reason why a meaningless world is impossible. What God did not create does not exist. And everything that does exist exists as He created it. The world you see has nothing to do with reality. It is of your own making, and it does not exist."
*Lines like these are frequently used by students of A Course in Miracles as a way to dilute the metaphysics and claim that the Course does <not> say that God did not create the world. Rather they claim that the Course teaches only that God did not create the world <we see>. It is true that the words of some statements say just that, but only because Jesus is teaching us to pay careful attention to what we perceive. He makes it abundantly clear both in the workbook, as well as many, many other places in the rest of the material that God could not have created the world because it is His opposite. (See, for example, T-4.1:11; T-29.VI.2:7-10; W-p1.132.4-6; W-p1.152.5-7;C-4.1). Everything in the world of specifics and form changes and dies. Such a world is outside of God, and therefore could not exist.
The very fact that we <perceive> the world means it is unreal, and also that we are unreal. Again, this does not mean just the world we see. Students sometimes mistakenly think this means, for example, that God did not create the cancer I am perceiving. The very fact that I see a world at all is saying there is a reality outside of God; if I perceive a world, there must be a perceiver and perceived, subject and object, observer and observed, which means we are rooted in duality. God can create only like Himself, which means a Being or Spirit of perfect Oneness and Love, changeless and eternal. In other words, what God did not create does not exist, and everything that does exist, exists as He created it -- the state of Heaven.*
(2) "The exercises for today are to be practiced with eyes closed throughout. The mind-searching period should be short, a minute at most. Do not have more than three practice periods with today's idea unless you find them comfortable. If you do, it will be because you really understand what they are for."
*Again, Jesus asserts no pressure on us. The fourth sentence is an interesting one, because our comfort can also be due to our <not> understanding, as we are so afraid of this very purpose of retraining our minds, which these periods of mind searching will bring about. In this instance our "comfort" would be a spurious one, which is not Jesus' point here.*
(3:1) "The idea for today is another step in learning to let go the thoughts that you have written on the world, and see the Word of God in their place."
*Jesus is helping us understand there is a specific motivation involved in holding onto our thoughts. They do not come and go as if by magic, a phrase used later (W-pI.158.4:1); they do not just appear. For example, when, I am trying to be quiet, in order to mediate and pray, and all of a sudden extraneous, distracting thoughts arise, they do not come out of nowhere. They come because I am afraid of the love and peace that arise in my mind if I am quiet. I therefore quickly have to substitute <my> thoughts instead of Jesus' thoughts, my experience of specialness rather than the experience of his love.
What is important and clearly implied here is that there is a specific motivation for the way I perceive the world and the thoughts that give rise to it. If I can release those thoughts, which occurs when I ask Jesus for help in looking at them, they will disappear. What is left is the Word of God, which, as defined earlier, is the principle of the Atonement that says that the separation never happened.*
(3:2-3) "The early steps in this exchange, which can truly be called salvation, can be quite difficult and even quite painful. Some of them will lead you directly into fear."
*This is the first time Jesus makes such a statement in the lessons. More will follow, and they are found throughout the text and manual as well -- forgiveness is a difficult process, and cannot but arouse tremendous fear (e.g., T-27.VII.13:3-5; W-p1.196.10; M-4.1-A.3-5,7). There is almost certainly something wrong if you do not struggle with this issue; if you do not fight against forgiveness, become terrified or bored with it, or even want to throw the book away. If you never experience anything like this discomfort, it almost always means you are not paying careful attention to what is being said.
A Course in Miracles says frightened people can be vicious (T-3.1.4:2). These lessons have to arouse anxiety because they challenge not only the way you perceive something outside you, but challenge your basic identity. That is what is referred to in Lesson 13 when Jesus says: "Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated ones." Anyone who believes he is a separated and autonomous being will experience anxiety with these thoughts. Jesus is thus telling you it is all right if you find this difficult, fear-inducing, and are therefore resistant.
These statements are extremely important, because probably the biggest mistake people make with A Course in Miracles is to deny the ego and the difficulty inherent in looking at it, thereby letting it go. Everyone wants to smooth over the process and "make nice," because no one really wants to deal with the full implications of these thoughts. These are, again, that you literally do not exist. Recall the line I quoted earlier (T-28.1.1:6) -- if the world were over long ago, and you are part of the world, <you> were over long ago. Who, then, is the <you> that is thinking and feeling, and doing these exercises? The answer to this question leads "directly into fear." *
(3:4-6) "You will not be left there. You will go far beyond it. Our direction is toward perfect safety and perfect peace."
*Jesus wants you to understand that the anxiety, terror, resistance, and difficulty are part of a longer process, and there is Someone with you Who will lead you through it. As we have seen, he talks about the Holy Spirit being there to lead you through seeming terror. He will lead you through the circle of fear to the Love of God that is on the other side (T-18.IX.3). That is why it is essential to cultivate a relationships with Jesus or the Holy Spirit: Someone within you, some non-ego thought that can lead you through the process. If you try to look at your ego without Him, you will either be thrown into terror or denial, believing that everything is really wonderful. Jesus is telling you, "Yes, there will be difficulty and resistance and fear, but I will lead you through it."
Paragraph 4 and 5 caution against being compulsive about the exercises, at the same time urging us <not> to exclude anything from our perceptual field. Needless to say, this is the easier said than done, which is why Jesus makes non-exclusivity in our practice a central theme in this first part of his mind-training program for us:*
(4-5) "With eyes closed, think of all the horrors in the world that cross your mind. Name each one as it occurs to you, and then deny its reality. God did not create it, and so it is not real. Say, for example:
God did not create that war, and so it is not real.
God did not create that airplane crash, and so it is not real.
God did not create that disaster [specify], and so it is not real.
Suitable subjects for the application of today's idea also include anything you are afraid might happen to you, or to anyone about whom you are concerned. In each case, name the "disaster" quite specifically. Do not use general terms. For example, do not say, "God did not create illness," but, "God did not create cancer," or heart attacks, or whatever may arouse fear in you."
*Jesus wants us to be sure to include both personal and collective horrors, reflecting the importance of recognizing there is no hierarchy of illusions:
Now to paragraph 6:*
(6:1) "This is your personal repertory of horrors at which you are looking."
*Jesus is focusing on the negative. He could just as easily have focused on positive things, too. Thus, God not only did not create an airplane crash; but he also did not create a rocket ship that lands safely on the moon.*
(6:2-8) "These things are part of the world you see. Some of them are shared illusions, and others are part of your personal hell. It does not matter. What God did not create can only be in your own mind apart from His. Therefore, it has no meaning. In recognition of this fact, conclude the practice periods by repeating today's idea:
God did not create a meaningless world."
*Anything you think that has to do with duality, separation, individuality, or specialness is not in God's Mind, because His is only perfect Oneness and Love, in which there is no separation at all. Therefore, if it is not in His Mind, it can have no meaning and certainly does not exist. Note the term "shared illusions." As part of the one Sonship -- the one mind -- we agree on certain things that are perceived in the physical world: size, shape, color, etc. Yet the fact they are shared does not make them real. These are <shared Illusions>: "Nothing so blinding as perception of form" (T-22.III.6:7), the text states, an important statement to which we shall frequently return. Only God's knowledge is true, in contrast with the ego's illusory world of perception.*
(7) "The idea for today can, of course, be applied to anything that disturbs you during the day, aside from the practice periods. Be very specific in applying it. Say:
God did not create a meaningless world. He did not create [specify the situation which is disturbing you], and so it is not real."
*You can see how Jesus is repeatedly asking us in these lessons to apply his teachings very specifically to our everyday lives. Not doing so ensures they will never truly be learned, which of course is always the temptation of our ego's. Gently, he guides us in learning the process of bringing the illusions of our specific world of <form> to the <content> of his non-specific truth of forgiveness.*
*In these last seven lessons, following upon the first group of seven, we can observe Jesus building one lesson or idea upon another. He leads us from understanding that the meaninglessness of the world we perceive is coming from the meaninglessness of the world we made real in our minds, to understanding that at the core of these meaningless thoughts is the most terrible thought of all: God is in competition with us and will most certainly destroy us. It is important to understand, even though it is not stated here, that that thought, too, is a defense. It says I exist, am important and have the power to make God angry, making Him think as insanely as I, as the text explains in this telling passage from "The Laws of Chaos":
"Think what this seems to do to the relationship between the Father and the Son. Now it appears that they can never be one again. For one must always be condemned, and by the other. Now are they different, and enemies. And their relationship is one of opposition, just as the separate aspects of the Son meet only to conflict but not to join. One becomes weak, the other strong by his defeat. And fear of God and of each other now appears as sensible, made real by what the Son of God has done both to himself and his Creator.... Here is a principle that would define what the Creator of reality must be; what He must think and what He must believe; and how He must respond, believing it. It is not seen as even necessary that He be asked about the truth of what has been established for His belief. His Son can tell Him this, and He has but the choice whether to take his word for it or be mistaken.... For if God cannot be mistaken, He must accept his Son's belief in what he is, and hate him for it." (T-23.II.5; 6:2-4,6).
God now reacts as psychotically as I, mirroring my vicious and sinful vengeance in His Own:
"If this were so, would Heaven be opposed by its own opposite, as real as it. Then would God's Will be split in two, and all creation be subjected to the laws of two opposing powers, until God becomes impatient, splits the world apart, and relegates attack unto Himself. Thus has He lost His Mind, proclaiming sin has taken His reality from Him and brought His Love at last to vengeance's heels." (T-26.VII.7:3-5).
Imagine the power this gives me! Moreover, if I am powerful enough to force God to react to me, I must exist. Recognizing the ultimate meaninglessness of that thought engenders my anxiety.
Thus, the anxiety over the anticipated vengeance from God is a defense against the real anxiety, which is that I do not exist at all. I can live very well with the thought that God wants to kill me. It may not make me happy, but I know how to deal with that -- I can establish a religion: make bargains with God, perform rituals to appease His wrath, and project responsibility onto non-believers in justified judgment for their heresies. I do not, however, know how to deal with the thought I do not exist, except to deny it and quickly make up something to take its place.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
|
Lesson 13. A meaningless world engenders fear.
Lesson 13. A meaningless world engenders fear.
Today's idea is really another form of the preceding one, except that it is more specific as to the emotion aroused. Actually, a meaningless world is impossible. Nothing without meaning exists. However, it does not follow that you will not think you perceive something that has no meaning. On the contrary, you will be particularly likely to think you do perceive it.
Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated ones. It represents a situation in which God and the ego "challenge" each other as to whose meaning is to be written in the empty space that meaninglessness provides. The ego rushes in frantically to establish its own ideas there, fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own impotence and unreality. And on this alone it is correct.
It is essential, therefore, that you learn to recognize the meaningless, and accept it without fear. If you are fearful, it is certain that you will endow the world with attributes that it does not possess, and crowd it with images that do not exist. To the ego illusions are safety devices, as they must also be to you who equate yourself with the ego.
(The exercises for today, which should be done about three or four times for not more than a minute or so at most each time, are to be practiced in a somewhat different way from the preceding ones. With eyes closed, repeat today's idea to yourself. Then open your eyes, and look about you slowly, saying:
I am looking at a meaningless world.
Repeat this statement to yourself as you look about. Then close your eyes, and conclude with:
A meaningless world engenders fear because I think I am in competition with God.
You may find it difficult to avoid resistance, in one form or another, to this concluding statement. Whatever form such resistance may take, remind yourself that you are really afraid of such a thought because of the "vengeance" of the "enemy." You are not expected to believe the statement at this point, and will probably dismiss it as preposterous. Note carefully, however, any signs of overt or covert fear which it may arouse.
This is our first attempt at stating an explicit cause and effect relationship of a kind which you are very inexperienced in recognizing. Do not dwell on the concluding statement, and try not even to think of it except during the practice periods. That will suffice at present.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 13. "A meaningless world engenders fear."
(1} "Today's idea is really another form of the preceding one, except that it is more specific as to the emotion aroused. Actually, a meaningless world is impossible. Nothing without meaning exists. However, it does not follow that you will not think you perceive something that has no meaning. On the contrary, you will be particularly likely to think you do perceive it."
*This is because you do not want to realize that what you perceive has no meaning. Once again, if what I see out there in the world has no meaning the thought within me that gave rise to it has no meaning either. Since I <am> my thoughts, it follows that *I* do not have any meaning, which means *I* do not exist. Therefore, rather than realize everything is meaningless within and without, I will substitute my own meaning. Obviously, if I perceive something I think is out there, which effects me, I have already pronounced it real. And I want to keep the underlying thought real so *I* can continue to exist.*
(2:1) "Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated ones."
*The anxiety arises because at some level I realize that the meaningless extends to <my> existence.*
(2:2) "It represents a situation in which God and the ego "challenge" each other as to whose meaning is to be written in the empty space that meaninglessness provides."
*The ego challenges, but God does not; that is why the word is in quotes. To the ego, then, competition is the nature of its relationship with God. An "empty space" exists because the ego is nothing. Yet it believes it must get to the emptiness before God, to claim the Son's identity as its own; thus the perceived competition with the Creator. If my existence as an ego is predicated on the belief in <one or the other> -- I exist at God's expense; I killed Him so I can live -- I will project that thought and believe He is doing the same thing to me. This deeply rooted belief is the source of our perception that people are out to get us, to hurt, abandon, and sabotage us, because we accused ourselves of doing the same to others, and ultimately to God. As Jesus states near the end of the text:
"You never hate your brother for his sins, but only for your own. Whatever form his sins appear to take, it but obscures the fact that you believe it to be yours, and therefore meriting a "just" attack." (T-31.III.1:5-6).*
(2:3-4) "The ego rushes in frantically to establish its own ideas there, fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own impotence and unreality. And on this alone it is correct."
*Namely, that it is nothing. The ego knows, as I have explained before, that its power rests in the decision maker, because the ego in and of itself is impotent. To ensure that we never recognize its inherent nothingness and meaninglessness, it seeks to make itself important and powerful through sin, guilt, and fear. If I have sinned against God and destroyed Him, I am certainly important and powerful. This also makes me fearful, but at least I have become something that God notices, which also makes me important.
The most frightening thing of all is to realize God does not even know about us, because then we are literally nothing -- impotent and unreal. Thus we want God to pay attention to us, either because we are His most devoted follower or the most wretched sinner. It makes no difference to the ego, as long as God takes notice. Our real fear, of course, is that He knows nothing about us. Somewhere deep inside we know that to be true. But rather than accept its truth, we cover it over with the ego's lies; first with the thoughts of separation -- sin, guilt, and fear -- and next with a world that reflects those thoughts.*
(3:1) "It is essential, therefore, that you learn to recognize the meaningless, and accept it without fear."
*This acceptance comes from developing a relationship with Jesus or the Holy Spirit that allows you to look at your ego without fear, helping you realize its meaninglessness. If you are fearful or guilty about your ego, or if you embrace it, you obviously believe it is real. Once again, however, if you step back and watch this "oddly assorted procession" go by, you realize it is nothing, understanding its meaning lies in trying to protect you from what <is> meaningful. Finally, since we want that meaningfulness more than anything else -- it is our identity as God's Son -- we would then realize everything else makes no sense and choose against it.*
(3:2) "If you are fearful, it is certain that you will endow the world with attributes that it does not possess, and crowd it with images that do not exist."
*In this sense we talk about the world as powerful, hostile, threatening, wonderful, peaceful, blissful, holy, etc. These are its attributes; and the "images that do not exist" are everything we see in the world, which are of course the projections of thoughts that do not exist.*
(3:3) "To the ego illusions are safety devices, as they must also be to you who equate yourself with the ego."
*Safely devices are defenses. Sin, guilt, fear, and the world that arises from them are illusions, the purpose of which is to preserve the fundamental illusion that I exist as a separate individual.
And now we go to the blockbuster line in the next paragraph:*
(4) "The exercises for today, which should be done about three or four times for not more than a minute or so at most each time, are to be practiced in a somewhat different way from the preceding ones. With eyes closed, repeat today's idea to yourself. Then open your eyes, and look about you slowly, saying:
I am looking at a meaningless world.
Repeat this statement to yourself as you look about. Then close your eyes, and conclude with:
A meaningless world engenders fear because I think I am in competition with God."
*We thus go from our mind's thoughts to our bodies' perceptions, and then back within. To state it once again, the world is fundamentally meaningless. Yet we strive to give it meaning, since that ultimately gives meaning to our separated self. Listening to the ego we make up a thought system of <sin, guilt, and fear>. Our <sin> of separation leads to the experience of <guilt> which culminates in the <fearful> belief that we deserve to be punished by a vengeful God, who now is in mortal competition with us for existence, either He survives, or we do, as the manual states: <kill or be killed> (M-17.7:11). But the inherent meaningless of this constellation of insanity does not preclude its having tremendous power, for we have invested our belief in it. Such investment means we must strive to give it meaning so we can defend against the ego's meaningless thought system, which is the basis for our meaningless identity.
To summarize this important point. When I realize the world is nothing, since it is simply a defense against the mind's thoughts, I am thrown back to these thoughts. If the world is meaningless and I am meaningless, I do not exist, which means God has won. But rather than lose the battle, I strive to give meaning to myself and to the world around me.
Jesus is helping us realize how we project everything onto the world. If we pay careful attention to our perceptions and what we value here, we would realize none of them comes from anything inherent in the world, because there is no world. They are but the result of a need within ourselves to justify and reinforce the spurious fact that we exist.*
(5:1-2) "You may find it difficult to avoid resistance, in one form or another, to this concluding statement. Whatever form such resistance may take, remind yourself that you are really afraid of such a thought because of the "vengeance" of the "enemy."
*The fear is that this a competition we cannot win -- God will be victorious. The terror engendered by such insanity is beyond what we can tolerate. We defend against it by constructing a thought system and then a world, behind which we can hide. Having become identified with this defense that culminates in the body, we <resist> having it taken from us, which exposing its foundation to the truth of the Atonement would surely do. And so we do not think about the wrath of God. That thought, as horrifying as it is, nonetheless protects the individual identity, which in turn defends against our acceptance of the Atonement.*
(5:3-4) "You are not expected to believe the statement at this point, and will probably dismiss it as preposterous. Note carefully, however, any signs of overt or covert fear which it may arouse."
*Obviously, if you are relatively new to A Course in Miracles, this statement will make no sense. But Jesus is asking for your vigilance, that you pay careful attention to any anxiety or fear that is within you.*
(6) "This is our first attempt at stating an explicit cause and effect relationship of a kind which you are very inexperienced in recognizing. Do not dwell on the concluding statement, and try not even to think of it except during the practice periods. That will suffice at present."
*The cause and effect connection is between our thoughts -- the ego's thought system of sin, guilt, and fear -- and the way we perceive the world. In other words, I am fearful <not> because of what is outside me, but because of my thought system, which tells me that survival is between God and me. Note, too, how Jesus does not confront or attack our resistance. He simply and gently reminds us of the truth. This allows us to accept it when we are ready, without any pressure or guilt inflicted on us. A wonderful example for all Course students!*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 12. I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
Lesson 12. I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
The importance of this idea lies in the fact that it contains a correction for a major perceptual distortion. You think that what upsets you is a frightening world, or a sad world, or a violent world, or an insane world. All these attributes are given it by you. The world is meaningless in itself.
These exercises are done with eyes open. Look around you, this time quite slowly. Try to pace yourself so that the slow shifting of your glance from one thing to another involves a fairly constant time interval. Do not allow the time of the shift to become markedly longer or shorter, but try, instead, to keep a measured, even tempo throughout. What you see does not matter. You teach yourself this as you give whatever your glance rests on equal attention and equal time. This is a beginning step in learning to give them all equal value.
As you look about you, say to yourself:
I think I see a fearful world, a dangerous world, a hostile world, a sad world, a wicked world, a crazy world,
and so on, using whatever descriptive terms happen to occur to you. If terms which seem positive rather than negative occur to you, include them. For example, you might think of "a good world," or "a satisfying world." If such terms occur to you, use them along with the rest. You may not yet understand why these "nice" adjectives belong in these exercises but remember that a "good world" implies a "bad" one, and a "satisfying world" implies an "unsatisfying" one. All terms which cross your mind are suitable subjects for today's exercises. Their seeming quality does not matter.
Be sure that you do not alter the time intervals between applying today's idea to what you think is pleasant and what you think is unpleasant. For the purposes of these exercises, there is no difference between them. At the end of the practice period, add:
But I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
What is meaningless is neither good nor bad. Why, then, should a meaningless world upset you? If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy. But because it is meaningless, you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be. It is this you see in it. It is this that is meaningless in truth. Beneath your words is written the Word of God. The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see His. That is the ultimate purpose of these exercises.
Three or four times is enough for practicing the idea for today. Nor should the practice periods exceed a minute. You may find even this too long. Terminate the exercises whenever you experience a sense of strain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
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Lesson 12. "I am upset because I see a meaningless world."
*Lessons 5 and 6 stated that "I am never upset for the reason I think," and "I am upset because I see something that is not there." This lesson amplifies these ideas. Thus, "I am upset because I see a meaningless world." Jesus now explains why that statement is true:*
(1) "The importance of this idea lies in the fact that it contains a correction for a major perceptual distortion. You think that what upsets you is a frightening world, or a sad world, or a violent world, or an insane world. All these attributes are given it by you. The world is meaningless in itself."
*We perceive violence, hostility, insanity, and a myriad of other conditions. Jesus is not denying what we perceive. He is simply saying that what we perceive is not real. He is not saying, however, that we should deny our experiences (see, e.g., T-2.IV.3:8-11). Rather, he is helping us realize where the experiences are coming from. If I am upset, it is not because of what someone or something in the world has done to me, as we are also taught later in Lesson 31: "I am not the victim of the world I see." This is the central theme throughout A Course in Miracles: the world itself is meaningless because it comes from a meaningless thought. The meaningless thought is that I can be separate from God; in fact, not only <can> I be separate, but I <am> separate. It is meaningless because the thought is a defense against what alone has meaning: God and His unified creation. Thus, when you believe you can separate from the only meaning, everything inevitably becomes meaningless.*
(2:1-2) "These exercises are done with eyes open. Look around you, this time quite slowly."
*Jesus returns to having us focus on what we see, having already taught us there is no difference between what we see and what we think.
Note in the following the focus on all illusions being equal and thus equally illusory:*
(2:3-7) "Try to pace yourself so that the slow shifting of your glance from one thing to another involves a fairly constant time interval. Do not allow the time of the shift to become markedly longer or shorter, but try, instead, to keep a measured, even tempo throughout. What you see does not matter. You teach yourself this as you give whatever your glance rests on equal attention and equal time. This is a beginning step in learning to give them all equal value."
*In introducing Lesson 1 I briefly discussed the ego's first law of chaos -- there is a hierarchy of illusions, which means there are certain things and people that are more important than others. It will be difficult to break that strongly ingrained habit of making distinctions in practicing this idea that "I am upset because I see a meaningless world." Jesus wants us to understand that everything is equally meaningless, because it all comes from the same meaningless thought.
Everything we see in the universe of time and space, including ourselves, is nothing more or less than a fragment of the original thought we could be, and are, separate from God and on our own. Every fragment retains the characteristics of that original thought, a "tiny, mad idea, at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh" (T-27.VIII.6:2). Our need is to remember to laugh at it because of its meaninglessness, not because it is funny in the usual sense of the word. We laugh with a gentle smile that says it does not mean anything because it is an impossibility. To use a familiar image, it was as if a huge pane of glass fell, shattering into billions and billions of fragments. Each fragment retains the characteristics of the original pane; each has the chemical composition of glass, for example. Each of us, as well as everything in the world, is but one of those fragments -- all meaningless because they come from a meaningless thought.
The reason I am upset, then, is that the world witnesses to the seeming fact that I am right about the world. Since I believe I exist in a world that is out there, this world reminds me of the original thought that gave rise to it, let alone to my individual existence: I destroyed Heaven and murdered God. This is extremely upsetting because I believe God will now return to punish me for what I did. This concept will be elaborated on in the next two lessons.
Again, Jesus does not ask you, as his student doing the workbook lessons, to understand the full implications of these statements. Such understanding comes from the study of the text. But he does want you to begin the practice of not taking your perceptions all that seriously.
In the next paragraph Jesus asks us to include terms in the exercise that are positive as well as negative:*
(3:1-6) "As you look about you, say to yourself:
I think I see a fearful world, a dangerous world, a hostile world, a sad world, a wicked world, a crazy world, and so on, using whatever descriptive terms happen to occur to you. If terms which seem positive rather than negative occur to you, include them. For example, you might think of "a good world," or "a satisfying world." If such terms occur to you, use them along with the rest. You may not yet understand why these "nice" adjectives belong in these exercises but remember that a "good world" implies a "bad" one, and a "satisfying world" implies an "unsatisfying" one."
*What is implied here without being specifically discussed is that contrasts and opposites root us solidly in the world of dualistic thinking. The text defines Heaven as "an awareness of perfect Oneness," in which there is no duality (T-18.VI.1:6). Thus, there is no good and evil in Heaven -- only God. Learning to recognize this is an important part of our training.*
(3:7-8) "All terms which cross your mind are suitable subjects for today's exercises. Their seeming quality does not matter."
*In other words, it does not matter whether or not the terms are important or holy; everything in the world comes from the one illusory thought; an illusion is an illusion is an illusion.*
(4) "Be sure that you do not alter the time intervals between applying today's idea to what you think is pleasant and what you think is unpleasant. For the purposes of these exercises, there is no difference between them. At the end of the practice period, add:
But I am upset because I see a meaningless world."
*This important point about there being no real distinction between pleasant and unpleasant echoes the discussion in "The Obstacles to Peace," where Jesus states twice that pleasure and pain are the same (T-19.IV-A.17:10-12; IV-B.12). This distinction holds only if there <were> a hierarchy of illusions. Slowly and inevitably we are being taught there is <not>.*
(5:1) "What is meaningless is neither good nor bad."
*When you say something is good or bad you obviously are assigning it a value. At the beginning of Chapter 24 Jesus says that "to learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold" (T-24.in.2:1). The same idea is stated here, although more simply. Having assigned a value to something, I am thereby saying it has a meaning. If it has meaning, I must believe it comes from a meaningful thought, because what I perceive outside can only come from a thought that is within.
What, then, is the "meaningful" thought? It is that distinctions are valid, duality is real, and there is a value in esteeming one thing over another. The core of that thought is that I value my individual identity over the oneness of Christ; my life and my world over Heaven. If this is so, distinctions become all important because they establish me as a dualistic being in a dualistic world. That, then, is the world I perceive and stubbornly insist is real.*
(5:2) "Why, then, should a meaningless world upset you?
*If you are affected by anything in the world, you obviously believe this is not a meaningless place. You would believe that because you think <you> are meaningful. To the ego, what is meaningful is what feeds our specialness; what is meaningless is anything irrelevant to it. Therefore, the ego tells us, we need to focus on what serves our special needs. The next lesson will explain why a meaningless world is upsetting.*
(5:3) "If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy."
*If we accepted the world as meaningless we would be saying: "My mind is a blank." That would allow the Holy Spirit's Atonement principle to shine through and have Jesus' love become our only reality. That is the truth, which would make us "indescribably happy." Since this is a self that is no longer identified with the thought system of separation and guilt, what makes us indescribably happy is finally realizing we were wrong and Jesus was right. However, as long as we identify with a separated and special self we will fear the truth that all this is a dream. Thus we are continually choosing <not> to be indescribably happy, because to cite the well-known line, we prefer to be right than happy (T-29.VII.1:9). To be sure, the thought of non-existence would not be very happy making, to say the very least. That is why Jesus continually urges us to take "little steps" (W-p1.193.13:7); otherwise our fear of being "abruptly lifted up and hurled into reality" (T-16.VI.8:1) would be to overwhelming. The happy and gentle dreams of forgiveness are the transition from our nightmare ego world to awakening in God (T-27.VII.13:4-5).*
(5:4-6) "But because it is meaningless, you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be. It is this you see in it. It is this that is meaningless in truth."
*Because the world is meaningless in itself I have to give it a meaning. Similarly, because the world is nothing and *I* am nothing, I have to pretend I am something. Indeed, we all think we are something -- wonderful or wretched. The ego does not care how the specialness game is played, whether we are God's gift or Satan's gift, as long as we are a special gift. The one thing we do not want is to be nothing. Near the end of "The Anti-Christ" Jesus speaks of the ego as always wanting more of something -- it does not matter whether it is more pleasure or more pain, it just wants <more> (T-29.VIII.8:6-12).
We are terrified of the possibility that we do not exist. This needs frequent repeating since it is the underlying assumption to these lessons, not to mention A Course in Miracles itself. This thought is the source of the resistance to the Course in general, and to the workbook specifically. I have to pretend I exist, and so quickly make up a thought system that I then project, thereby making up a world -- cosmically, (as we are all part of the one Son) as well as individuality. The point is that we always seek to impose meaning, because otherwise we will be confronted by the inherent meaninglessness of our thinking, not to mention our separate self. This takes place on the metaphysical level of the mind, where it is a question of <existence> or <being>, as discussed earlier. However, on the level of our personal experience, as bodies living in the world, we fear losing our problems and grievances -- all of which establish the self we believe ourselves to be, what the end of the text refers to as our face of innocence (T-31.V.1-3).
The real fear, as we shall see in the next lesson, is that if I do not put <my> meaning on the world, Jesus will put <his>. And so I have to beat him to the punch. This helps explain why being really quiet tends to make us anxious, and why we experience difficulty in meditating or praying: If we quiet our minds, Jesus will get there first -- "The memory of God comes to the quiet mind" (T-23.1.1:1) -- and if he does, our ego is out of business, as is our thought system of separation and specialness. This is why we end up, as we shall see in the next lesson, believing we are in competition with God, and also with Jesus and his course. As a result, before these ideas can penetrate our minds, giving us an opportunity to choose them, we quickly have to substitute our own. Finally, this is also why practically everyone attempts to change A Course in Miracles in some way or another -- to write a better or simpler one, for example. We are terrified at what this course really says. Thus, before we would ever let its words and thoughts affect us, we will change them to suit our own special needs.*
(5:7) "Beneath your words is written the Word of God."
*The "Word of God" in A Course in Miracles is almost always used as a synonym for the principle of the Atonement, or the Holy Spirit. It can also be understood as forgiveness, the correction for the ego's word of separation, which we chose to keep God's Word hidden.*
(5:8-9) "The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see His. That is the ultimate purpose of these exercises."
*Now you know why you do not want to do these exercises: if your words are erased, then the thought system -- the source of your words -- is erased as well. Jesus will expand on this in Lesson 14.
The lesson closes with the now familiar expression of Jesus' gentle understanding of our resistance to his teaching:*
(6) "Three or four times is enough for practicing the idea for today. Nor should the practice periods exceed a minute. You may find even this too long. Terminate the exercises whenever you experience a sense of strain."
*No imposition, no bullying, no guilt-inducing demands to be disciplined, let alone spiritual. Who would not have wished for teachers like this when we were growing up?*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 11. My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.
Lesson 11. My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.
This is the first idea we have had that is related to a major phase of the correction process; the reversal of the thinking of the world. It seems as if the world determines what you perceive. Today's idea introduces the concept that your thoughts determine the world you see. Be glad indeed to practice the idea in its initial form, for in this idea is your release made sure. The key to forgiveness lies in it.
The practice periods for today's idea are to be undertaken somewhat differently from the previous ones. Begin with your eyes closed, and repeat the idea slowly to yourself. Then open your eyes and look about, near and far, up and down,-anywhere. During the minute or so to be spent in using the idea merely repeat it to yourself, being sure to do so without haste, and with no sense of urgency or effort.
To do these exercises for maximum benefit, the eyes should move from one thing to another fairly rapidly, since they should not linger on anything in particular. The words, however, should be used in an unhurried, even leisurely fashion. The introduction to this idea, in particular, should be practiced as casually as possible. It contains the foundation for the peace, relaxation and freedom from worry that we are trying to achieve. On concluding the exercises, close your eyes and repeat the idea once more slowly to yourself.
Three practice periods today will probably be sufficient. However, if there is little or no uneasiness and an inclination to do more, as many as five may be undertaken. More than this is not recommended.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
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Lesson 11. "My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world."
*Jesus is now explicitly draws the connection between our thoughts and what we perceive, so that the reason nothing we see around us has any meaning (Lesson 1) is that what we are supposedly seeing comes from a thought that has no meaning. This lesson clearly expresses that cause-effect relationship.*
(1:1-2) "This is the first idea we have had that is related to a major phase of the correction process; the reversal of the thinking of the world. It seems as if the world determines what you perceive."
*We could add: "what you feel, what you think, your emotions, your problems," etc. For example, I perceive two people having a fight because they are fighting. Or my body feels cold because the temperature is below freezing. That is how the world thinks, and how everyone experiences the world. However, if all this comes from our thoughts, part of the ego's dream of separation, it must be these thoughts that dreamt the freezing temperature and the bodies react to it. Our sensory apparatus, therefore, proves to us there is a world that is independent of us, and that we are the innocent victims of events beyond our control. This surely does not mean we are to feel guilty if we are discomforted by a bitterly cold day. It simply means we should realize we are cold because we identify with the body, which in turn means we identify with the ego's thought system of separation, all of which is meaningless.
Again:*
(1:3-5) "Today's idea introduces the concept that your thoughts determine the world you see. Be glad indeed to practice the idea in its initial form, for in this idea is your release made sure. The key to forgiveness lies in it."
*This is an extremely important statement. Jesus is telling us simply to listen to him and practice this idea in its initial form. He is implying that he is going to build this up over the course of the year of workbook lessons and though our systematic study of the text. That is how we learn forgiveness. I cannot forgive a world that is real. I cannot forgive others for what they have actually done, regardless of the seeming effect it has had on me. I can forgive you only by realizing I am the one who put you in my dream, and it is <my> dream. That is the key to forgiveness, and to the important definition in A Course in Miracles that you forgive your brother for what he has <not> done to you (e.g., W-pII.1.1:1). It may very well be that the person has done a great deal to you or to others on the physical or psychological level. But on the level of your mind he has done nothing, because he is nothing but a thought in your mind. Just as you, the victim of the victimizer, are also a thought in your mind. Victim and victimizer are one and the same. It should be noted that the mind, which antedates the temporal and spatial world, is outside time and space. As I discussed earlier in this book, time and space are but a projection into form of the mind's content of separation, and sin, guilt, and fear.
All this is implied here, though not stated explicitly. Indeed, Jesus does not have to state it clearly here, because that is the purpose of the text. The workbook's purpose is to have us <begin> the process of applying these ideas, and to <begin> to understand that what we think we see is not what we are really seeing. We see but a projection of a thought within our minds; a purposive thought, as I mentioned briefly before, which ensures that our thought system wins out and Jesus' loses; we are right and he is wrong. The separated world of pain and suffering witnesses to the fact we are right. That is why we made it the way we did.
Now to the gentle instructions for the day's exercise:*
(2) "The practice periods for today's idea are to be undertaken somewhat differently from the previous ones. Begin with your eyes closed, and repeat the idea slowly to yourself. Then open your eyes and look about, near and far, up and down,-anywhere. During the minute or so to be spent in using the idea merely repeat it to yourself, being sure to do so without haste, and with no sense of urgency or effort."
*We begin the exercise with our eyes open as we look around, and then close them. Jesus again underscores that there is no difference between what we see and what we think. They are one and the same. Note again Jesus' instructions in ease and effortlessness; pressure merely strengthens the very ego we are trying to undo.
Jesus' words in the next paragraph underscores the <process> of mind training he is leading us through:*
(3) "To do these exercises for maximum benefit, the eyes should move from one thing to another fairly rapidly, since they should not linger on anything in particular. The words, however, should be used in an unhurried, even leisurely fashion. The introduction to this idea, in particular, should be practiced as casually as possible. It contains the foundation for the peace, relaxation and freedom from worry that we are trying to achieve. On concluding the exercises, close your eyes and repeat the idea once more slowly to yourself."
*As the tortoise taught us: Slow and easy wins the race. Jesus is setting the tone for our learning, undoing the ego's need to fight, struggle, and overcome -- even itself. He asks us to practice, using terms such as "unhurried," "leisurely," "casually," "peace," "relaxation," "freedom from worry," and "slowly," Our mind training should be as free from tension and conflict as possible.
The final paragraph recounts the familiar instructions that gently urge us on:*
(4) "Three practice periods today will probably be sufficient. However, if there is little or no uneasiness and an inclination to do more, as many as five may be undertaken. More than this is not recommended."
*More is not better, at least not in the thought system Jesus is imparting to us. If we can do five practice periods, fine. If not, then three will do. But -- let us not strive for more, Jesus says. I am not in Heaven keeping score. In other words, it is the <content> he is interested in, not the <form>; quality, not quantity.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 10. My thoughts do not mean anything.
Lesson 10. My thoughts do not mean anything.
This idea applies to all the thoughts of which you are aware, or become aware in the practice periods. The reason the idea is applicable to all of them is that they are not your real thoughts. We have made this distinction before, and will do so again. You have no basis for comparison as yet. When you do, you will have no doubt that what you once believed were your thoughts did not mean anything.
This is the second time we have used this kind of idea. The form is only slightly different. This time the idea is introduced with "My thoughts" instead of "These thoughts," and no link is made overtly with the things around you. The emphasis is now on the lack of reality of what you think you think.
This aspect of the correction process began with the idea that the thoughts of which you are aware are meaningless, outside rather than within; and then stressed their past rather than their present status. Now we are emphasizing that the presence of these "thoughts" means that you are not thinking. This is merely another way of repeating our earlier statement that your mind is really a blank. To recognize this is to recognize nothingness when you think you see it. As such, it is the prerequisite for vision.
Close your eyes for these exercises, and introduce them by repeating the idea for today quite slowly to yourself. Then add:
This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe.
The exercises consist, as before, in searching your mind for all the thoughts that are available to you, without selection or judgment. Try to avoid classification of any kind. In fact, if you find it helpful to do so, you might imagine that you are watching an oddly assorted procession going by, which has little if any personal meaning to you. As each one crosses your mind, say:
My thought about ___ does not mean anything.
My thought about ___ does not mean anything.
Today's thought can obviously serve for any thought that distresses you at any time. In addition, five practice periods are recommended, each involving no more than a minute or so of mind searching. It is not recommended that this time period be extended, and it should be reduced to half a minute or less if you experience discomfort. Remember, however, to repeat the idea slowly before applying it specifically, and also to add:
This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe.
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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
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Lesson 10. "My thoughts do not mean anything."
*Lesson 4 stated: "These thoughts do not mean anything." As Jesus explains in the second paragraph, he now says "My" instead of "These," thus making the teaching much more personal for us.*
(1) "This idea applies to all the thoughts of which you are aware, or become aware in the practice periods. The reason the idea is applicable to all of them is that they are not your real thoughts. We have made this distinction before, and will do so again. You have no basis for comparison as yet. When you do, you will have no doubt that what you once believed were your thoughts did not mean anything."
*Our "real thoughts" would be anything in our right minds, anything that comes from the Holy Spirit. In this sense, an <unreal> thought would be, for example, that someone is attacking me. The <real thought> would be that this is call for love, and it is a call for love that is shared by me. However, as Jesus is teaching us here, we are still far too identified with <our> thoughts to be able seriously to entertain what he is saying to us about the thoughts that our thoughts are covering. But, we are only on Lesson 10!*
(2) "This is the second time we have used this kind of idea. The form is only slightly different. This time the idea is introduced with "My thoughts" instead of "These thoughts," and no link is made overtly with the things around you. The emphasis is now on the lack of reality of what you think you think."
*Jesus is not talking about what we perceive outside, he is now talking about what we <think>. You can see in these lessons how he goes back and forth in his gentle attempts at convincing us that we are not who we think we are. It is a process that gradually leads us through the labyrinth of our ego's thought system -- the seeming terror of the circle of fear he describes in the text (T-18.IX.3:7-4:1) -- to the Love of God that happily awaits us just beyond.
Paragraph 3 is a nice statement of projection, although the term itself is not used:*
(3) "This aspect of the correction process began with the idea that the thoughts of which you are aware are meaningless, outside rather than within; and then stressed their past rather than their present status. Now we are emphasizing that the presence of these "thoughts" means that you are not thinking. This is merely another way of repeating our earlier statement that your mind is really a blank. To recognize this is to recognize nothingness when you think you see it. As such, it is the prerequisite for vision."
*Jesus wants us to understand that our thoughts are nothing. However, we take these thoughts of nothingness and project them because we think they are real. Thus are they seen as real images in the outside world. Jesus wants us to understand that the thoughts that are now the projected source of our perceptions are not really there. Our minds, to repeat this important idea, are filled with thoughtless thoughts, or thoughtless ideas, because they are based on the ego's illusory thought system of separation.*
(4) "Close your eyes for these exercises, and introduce them by repeating the idea for today quite slowly to yourself. Then add:
This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe.
The exercises consist, as before, in searching your mind for all the thoughts that are available to you, without selection or judgment. Try to avoid classification of any kind. In fact, if you find it helpful to do so, you might imagine that you are watching an oddly assorted procession going by, which has little if any personal meaning to you. As each one crosses your mind, say:
My thought about ___ does not mean anything.
My thought about ___ does not mean anything."
*This is an example of what it means to look with Jesus at your ego, the importance of which we continually emphasize. The <you> that looks, with no personal attachment to these thoughts, is the decision-making part of our minds, return to which is the Course's goal and the meaning of the miracle that gives A Course in Miracles its name. The process entails standing back with Jesus, watching your ego make a case against someone or yourself; seeing it take a fragment here and piece from there, weaving together a seemingly complete picture in order to prove you are right about your perceptions of victimization in the world, and that everyone else is wrong, including the Holy Spirit. You simply watch your ego in action -- "an oddly assorted procession going by" -- its purpose being to confuse us about our identity, making us believe we are a <body> not a <mind>. While Jesus is not giving us his full teaching here, he is laying out its basic principles. ... Finally:*
(5) "Today's thought can obviously serve for any thought that distresses you at any time. In addition, five practice periods are recommended, each involving no more than a minute or so of mind searching. It is not recommended that this time period be extended, and it should be reduced to half a minute or less if you experience discomfort. Remember, however, to repeat the idea slowly before applying it specifically, and also to add:
This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe."
*You can see, once again, the importance generalization holds for Jesus. We are asked to practice -- with the same gentle kindness he exhibits toward us -- with our specific misperceptions, in order to generalize the principles learned in these applications to <all> our experiences. This theme continues to recur throughout these early lessons.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 9. I see nothing as it is now.
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.
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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
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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.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
| | Lesson 9. I see nothing as it is now. |
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Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 8. My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
Lesson 8. My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past. No one really sees anything. He sees only his thoughts projected outward. The mind's preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which your seeing suffers. Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. It therefore cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything.
The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything.
The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision.
The exercises for today should be done with eyes closed. This is because you actually cannot see anything, and it is easier to recognize that no matter how vividly you may picture a thought, you are not seeing anything. With as little investment as possible, search your mind for the usual minute or so, merely noting the thoughts you find there. Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains, and pass on to the next. Introduce the practice period by saying:
I seem to be thinking about ___.
Then name each of your thoughts specifically, for example:
I seem to be thinking about [name of a person], about [name of an object], about [name of an emotion],
and so on, concluding at the end of the mind-searching period with:
But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
This can be done four or five times during the day, unless you find it irritates you. If you find it trying, three or four times is sufficient. You might find it helpful, however, to include your irritation, or any emotion that the idea for today may induce, in the mind searching itself.
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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
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Lesson 8. "My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts."
*There is a discernible sequence to the lessons as one continues to read and practice them. Jesus begins with simple ideas and statements about the way we perceive the world. He then quickly moves to the way we perceive our thoughts and, beginning with Lesson 8, he develops much more clearly the specific cause and effect connection between our thoughts and the world. Here, for the first time in the workbook, he speaks of the world's unreality. He also introduces the idea of projection, a principle that was implied in the first seven lessons, but will be clearly identified in the lessons to follow. Jesus has been telling us up to this point that what we see is meaningless because what we see comes from what we think. And what we think (in our ego minds) is meaningless because it denies true Meaning. This has not been clearly stated in the lessons to date, although we have discussed it, but it certainly has been implied and will be more explicitly stated in the lessons to come.*
(1:1) "This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past."
*Lesson 7, "I see only the past," introduces the idea that everything we perceive is meaningless because it is based on our thoughts of the past. In Lesson 8, Jesus continues and extends his discussion of time and the past: <My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts>. It is not simply that we see only the past, which, again, was the theme of Lesson 7, but we see only the past because we <think> only the past. Jesus is here introducing the idea that what we see <outside> comes from what we think <inside>, a major theme of the text: "Projection makes perception" (T-13.V.3.5;T-21.IN.1:1). What we believe and have made real about ourselves within, whether as children of the ego or children of God, will be directly reflected in what we perceive outside, because the inner and the outer are the same. This is a variation of the essential principle in A Course in Miracles that <ideas leave not their source>. We shall return later to this all-important theme. That <my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts> is, of course, why we see only the past (1:1). Although not clearly stated here, but clearly implied, is the principle that what we see comes from what we think. That is why:*
(1:2) "No one really sees anything."
*This is another of those statements that, when you begin to read the text and do the lessons, your mind would tend to gloss over, because you really do not want to accept what Jesus is saying. He means this literally: "No one really sees anything."
(1:3) "He sees only his thoughts projected outward."
*In the text there are many passages -- a couple in the workbook, too -- where Jesus explains that the body's eyes do not see, just as the body does not think, feel, hear, or do anything. It simply does what the mind tells it to do (e.g., T-28.V.5:3-8;VI.2:1-9;M-8.3:3-4:3). The body can be thought of then as simply a puppet or robot that carries out the dictates of its master. That is why we do not see anything. All that we "see," and basically this <see> should be in quotes, is a projection of what we have been thinking. And, as we have seen, what we have been thinking in listening to the ego is quite simply nothing.*
(1:4) "The mind's preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which your seeing suffers."
*In the Prelude, as well as in discussing the Introduction to the workbook, I mentioned that one way of understanding time as we know it, i.e., as linear -- past, present, and future -- is to see it as nothing more than a reflection or shadow of the ego's thoughts system of sin, guilt, and fear. When we choose our individuality over the Holy Spirit's oneness, and then seek to preserve this individual identity, the ego has us construct its thought system of sin, guilt, and fear. To restate this important dynamic: <sin> says we have sinned against God in the past; we experience <guilt> over what we have done in what the ego calls the present, and since guilt always demands punishment, we then become <afraid> of God's punishment, which we believe we deserve. That fear of punishment, of course, points to the future. If you keep in mind this "unholy trinity" of sin (past), guilt ("present"), and fear (future) as you read this first paragraph, it will make much more sense. When we look outside we see a world ruled by time. It is, of course, also a world of space. Space and time, as the text describes them, are opposite sides of the same mistake (T-26.VIII.1:3-5).
Thus, everything we see outside we see in terms of the past, because we see it through the lens of our individual identity. This identity is rooted in sin, the belief that we have separated from God and now exist as separate entities. Since we believe we are at war with God, a theme to be developed later, we must then also believe we are at war with everyone else. As a result, every perception in our world is geared toward dealing with the issue of specialness: who is the special person who will win, and who is the special person who will lose. When this is expressed directly, it is special hate; when concealed, it is special love. Moreover, specialness is rooted in the ego's notion of time, which, once again, comes from the belief in sin, guilt, and fear. Thus specialness cannot <not> be rooted in the past.
The "misconception about time" is that it is real -- there <is> a past, present, and future -- and that the present and future are directly caused by the past. Thus what we are today is because of our past. The future, likewise, will be merely an extension of the ego's present.*
(1:5) "Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is."
*The ego's present is not this "present," what A Course in Miracles refers to as the "holy instant." As this experience is not rooted in time, it is also not rooted in sin, guilt, and fear. It is rooted in the right-minded presence of the Holy Spirit, in which vision -- not based on the past, and certainly not on specialness -- becomes the means for love to guide us from within.*
(1:6) "It [your mind] therefore cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything."
*This is because everything we think we understand is rooted in the seeming reality of the spatial and temporal world. As long as we identify ourselves as individuals, separate and autonomous, we must believe in the entirety of the ego system. Everything we perceive, therefore, will be a shadow of its illusory thought of separation, which means we will not understand anything.*
(2:1) "The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here."
*This is another of those lines that, if you pay careful attention to it, should have you jumping out of the window. If you are a creature of the past and there is no past, then it must mean there is no <you>. In "The Present Memory" that opens Chapter 28 in the text comes the sentence : "This world was over long ago" (T-28.1.1:6). If this is true, it means <you> were over long ago, too. This forces us to ask: Who is the <you> that you think is reading those words? Or, in Jesus' words in the text: "Who is the 'you' who are living in this world?" (T-4.II.11:8) In other words, our existence is literally made up, and if you paid close attention to that thought you would be terrified. If you are not, it is because you are not paying close attention to it. That statement is literally saying, as is this statement in Lesson 8, that you do not exist.
This would explain, as we had mentioned earlier why doing this workbook carefully and with diligence should make you extremely anxious, even if you are not quite sure where the anxiety is coming from. There is a part of you that recognizes what this is saying, even though, again, the language is simple and does not appear to have the same metaphysical weight found in the text. That is why you forget the lessons, do not want to do them, and tend to gloss over them and focus only on their more superficial aspects.*
(2:2) "To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions."
*To think about the past is to think about illusions. Stop for a moment as you do this lesson and consider how almost every single thought you have throughout the day is based on the past, whether it is something as commonplace as picking up a coffee cup, or something that would seem far more important. Thoughts about a situation, relationship, your body, or anything else -- are all predicated on the past. And they must be, because the past is nothing more than sin's shadow, and sin is separation. As long as you believe you are a separate entity, you must believe in the reality of sin and therefore of time.*
(2:3-4) "Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything."
*This statement is the basis of another statement we frequently say in workshops and classes: "The thoughts we think we think are not our real thoughts." If they are not our real thoughts, they do not exist. It follows then that since we have identified with our thoughts, <we> do not exist either. "The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything." Not only is our existence an illusion; indeed, <all> existence is an illusion, for it contrasts with the reality of <being>. A discussion of this distinction can be found in T-4.VII.4-5.*
(3:1) "The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all."
*It is clear from statements like this, as well as many others, that Jesus' purpose in these lessons is to train our minds. Here, specifically, the focus is the idea of thinking -- to have us realize that we are really not thinking at all. We will become aware of this by recognizing how much our thoughts are rooted in the past, or, although this is not the point of this lesson, how much they are rooted in the fear of the future. We become preoccupied with what is going to happen -- whether we are talking about the next five minutes or the next five years -- because these concerned thoughts of the future are rooted in our concerned thoughts of the past.*
(3:2) "While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked."
*This idea will be developed as we proceed -- the purpose of thoughtless ideas and holding onto the past is to block the truth. <Purpose> remains one of the central themes in A Course in Miracles, and Jesus repeatedly emphasizes it as the means for understanding the ego's thought system, as seen, for example, in his introduction to the laws of chaos (T-23.II.1:1-5). This then, is another pregnant statement our minds could slide past, because it reveals the motivation for holding onto thoughtless ideas, be they concerns of the past, fears of the future, or present feelings of guilt. They are all purposive attempts to keep hidden the truth of our Identity as Christ.*
(3:3) "Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision."
*As is the case throughout the three books of A Course in Miracles, Jesus' focus is on having us remove "the blocks to the awareness of love's presence" (T-in.1:7). These blocks are the problem. We do not have to be concerned about what Jesus or truth are doing, but we have to be vigilant about what the <ego> is doing. It is very helpful, therefore, to understand that in holding thoughtless ideas our minds are blank, because these ideas are about the past. That begins the process of opening up the door to true perception, the vision of true forgiveness that leads us to the truth.*
(4:1-3) "The exercises for today should be done with eyes closed. This is because you actually cannot see anything, and it is easier to recognize that no matter how vividly you may picture a thought, you are not seeing anything. With as little investment as possible, search your mind for the usual minute or so, merely noting the thoughts you find there."
*Some of the earlier exercises call for our eyes to be open. The point here, and later on as well, is that there is no difference between what we see or what we think. They are the same. Here Jesus is not talking about what we are perceiving externally, but focusing on what we are thinking. We see again the important emphasis placed on not making any of our thoughts special, or more or less important than any other. ... The lesson moves now to our specific thoughts:*
(4:4-5:3) "Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains, and pass on to the next. Introduce the practice period by saying:
I seem to be thinking about ___.
Then name each of your thoughts specifically, for example:
I seem to be thinking about [name of a person], about [name of an object], about [name of an emotion],
and so on, concluding at the end of the mind-searching period with:
But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts."
*Thus we are asked to practice the central aspect of the process of forgiveness: bringing the specifics of our illusions to the non-specific truth of the Holy Spirit, expressed here in the statement: "But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts." *
(6) "This can be done four or five times during the day, unless you find it irritates you. If you find it trying, three or four times is sufficient. You might find it helpful, however, to include your irritation, or any emotion that the idea for today may induce, in the mind searching itself."
*Here is another wonderful example of how Jesus , at the same time he inspires us with his gentleness and patience, uses our resistance as part of our healing. As he states in the text, in the context of specialness:
"Such is the Holy Spirit's kind perception of specialness; His use of what you made, to heal instead of harm." (T-25.VI.4:1)
Even our irritation can serve the Holy Spirit's purpose of forgiveness, if we let Him help us.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 7. I see only the past.
Lesson 7. I see only the past.
This idea is particularly difficult to believe at first. Yet it is the rationale for all of the preceding ones.
It is the reason why nothing that you see means anything.
It is the reason why you have given everything you see all the meaning that it has for you.
It is the reason why you do not understand anything you see.
It is the reason why your thoughts do not mean anything, and why they are like the things you see.
It is the reason why you are never upset for the reason you think.
It is the reason why you are upset because you see something that is not there.
Old ideas about time are very difficult to change, because everything you believe is rooted in time, and depends on your not learning these new ideas about it. Yet that is precisely why you need new ideas about time. This first time idea is not really so strange as it may sound at first.
Look at a cup, for example. Do you see a cup, or are you merely reviewing your past experiences of picking up a cup, being thirsty, drinking from a cup, feeling the rim of a cup against your lips, having breakfast and so on? Are not your aesthetic reactions to the cup, too, based on past experiences? How else would you know whether or not this kind of cup will break if you drop it? What do you know about this cup except what you learned in the past? You would have no idea what this cup is, except for your past learning. Do you, then, really see it?
Look about you. This is equally true of whatever you look at. Acknowledge this by applying the idea for today indiscriminately to whatever catches your eye. For example:
I see only the past in this pencil.
I see only the past in this shoe.
I see only the past in this hand.
I see only the past in that body.
I see only the past in that face.
Do not linger over any one thing in particular, but remember to omit nothing specifically. Glance briefly at each subject, and then move on to the next. Three or four practice periods, each to last a minute or so, will be enough.
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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
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Lesson 7. "I see only the past."
*Lesson 7 is essentially a summary of the previous six lessons, as we see in the first paragraph where they are repeated almost verbatim.
In the second paragraph we find Jesus returning to an idea he mentioned briefly in the second paragraph of Lesson 3 -- the importance of clearing our minds of past thoughts. Now, he elaborates: The reason that nothing means anything, that we have given everything the meaning it has, etc., is that we are seeing only the past. Keeping in mind the equation of sin, guilt and fear with the past, present, and future will help you understand the motivation for seeing only the past. Sin is equated with separation, which proves that I am an individual, autonomous from God. Once I believed this lie, it will automatically be projected out and take the form of the past. Thus, I see the past in everything, because I want to maintain my individual identity. Here is how Jesus says it:*
(2) "Old ideas about time are very difficult to change, because everything you believe is rooted in time, and depends on your not learning these new ideas about it. Yet that is precisely why you need new ideas about time. This first time idea is not really so strange as it may sound at first."
*Whenever we are upset it is because we are equating something that just happened with something from the past. I see a particular person and I know what I am supposed to do: This is an authority, and so my hate is justified; this is my rival, and so I have to hate this person; this one is a certain color, which I hate. Hate is always based on the past. Most of the time, though, it is more subtle than these examples, which is why we need practice to recognize and accept this "first time idea."
In sum, then, the purpose of seeing the past in everything is that it enables me to say that I exist. Thus, making the past real is the same as saying sin or separation is real, and therefore so am I. Incidentally, note the word play on the word "time" in 2:2-3.
We are now given a very specific, albeit a seemingly trivial example:*
(3) "Look at a cup, for example. Do you see a cup, or are you merely reviewing your past experiences of picking up a cup, being thirsty, drinking from a cup, feeling the rim of a cup against your lips, having breakfast and so on? Are not your aesthetic reactions to the cup, too, based on past experiences? How else would you know whether or not this kind of cup will break if you drop it? What do you know about this cup except what you learned in the past? You would have no idea what this cup is, except for your past learning. Do you, then, really see it?"
*But this is true of <everything>. We literally see <nothing>, because we are seeing the past, which is not there.*
(4) "Look about you. This is equally true of whatever you look at. Acknowledge this by applying the idea for today indiscriminately to whatever catches your eye. For example:
I see only the past in this pencil.
I see only the past in this shoe.
I see only the past in this hand.
I see only the past in that body.
I see only the past in that face."
*It is interesting to note Jesus' choice of objects to be perceived; they include inanimate as well as animate ones. We shall continue to return to this point, but for now let me underscore again the important teaching that since the world is "the outside picture of an inward condition" (T-21.in.1:5) and this inward condition is an illusion, too. Moreover, as there is no "hierarchy of illusions," there can be no intrinsic difference among all the objects of our perceptual world, inanimate or animate. They are <all> equally illusory, and thus they are the same. While it goes without saying that this flies in the face of our experience, we are also being taught that our experiences are false. In these lessons we are seeing Jesus' preliminary and subtle attempts at teaching us this truth as he gently leads us to their acceptance, and beyond them to God -- <the> truth.
Finally, still another caution against the temptation to exclude what we feel is not important, which very often is a veil concealing what we secretly believe to be quite important, what the text refers to as our "secret sins and hidden hates" (T-31.VIII.9:2):*
(5) "Do not linger over any one thing in particular, but remember to omit nothing specifically. Glance briefly at each subject, and then move on to the next. Three or four practice periods, each to last a minute or so, will be enough."
*Indiscriminateness in responding to the illusory world of perception remains the central focus of this early part of the workbook. It contains the means of undoing the ego's thought system of separation. The essence of miracles: there is no order of difficult among them (T1.1.1:1).*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 6. I am upset because I see something that is not there.
Lesson 6. I am upset because I see something that is not there.
The exercises with this idea are very similar to the preceding ones. Again, it is necessary to name both the form of upset (anger, fear, worry, depression and so on) and the perceived source very specifically for any application of the idea. For example:
I am angry at ___ because I see something that is not there.
I am worried about ___ because I see something that is not there.
Today's idea is useful for application to anything that seems to upset you, and can profitably be used throughout the day for that purpose. However, the three or four practice periods which are required should be preceded by a minute or so of mind searching, as before, and the application of the idea to each upsetting thought uncovered in the search.
Again, if you resist applying the idea to some upsetting thoughts more than to others, remind yourself of the two cautions stated in the previous lesson:
There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.
And:
I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.
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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 6. "I am upset because I see something that is not there."
*This lesson is a bombshell. What is so intriguing about these first lessons is that Jesus does not become involved with weighty metaphysics. Yet that is exactly what grounds the idea that "I am upset because I see something that is not there." What is upsetting me is <within> me, not outside. <There is nothing outside of me>. What I think I see is merely a projection of a thought in my mind, and this thought -- of separation from God -- is not there either! My perceptions are of illusions, the projections of thoughts that are themselves illusions. What else can an illusion breed but further illusions?
The first paragraph, as it itself states, is already familiar in its emphasis on specificity. Paragraph 2 should also be familiar: *
(2) "Today's idea is useful for application to anything that seems to upset you, and can profitably be used throughout the day for that purpose. However, the three or four practice periods which are required should be preceded by a minute or so of mind searching, as before, and the application of the idea to each upsetting thought uncovered in the search."
*Mind searching is the focal point of Jesus' message and the means of applying his teachings to our daily experiences. He then returns to two ideas mentioned in Lesson 5:*
(3) "Again, if you resist applying the idea to some upsetting thoughts more than to others, remind yourself of the two cautions stated in the previous lesson:"
There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.
And:
I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same."
*It would be difficult to over-emphasize the importance of this idea of the inherent <sameness> of all things -- both large and small upsets (as well as large and small pleasures). It occupies a central place in Jesus' teaching, as it is the means of our learning to tell the difference between illusion and truth or, in Plato's words, appearance and reality.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 5. I am never upset for the reason I think.
Lesson 5. I am never upset for the reason I think.
This idea, like the preceding one, can be used with any person, situation or event you think is causing you pain. Apply it specifically to whatever you believe is the cause of your upset, using the description of the feeling in whatever term seems accurate to you. The upset may seem to be fear, worry, depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, jealousy or any number of forms, all of which will be perceived as different. This is not true. However, until you learn that form does not matter, each form becomes a proper subject for the exercises for the day. Applying the same idea to each of them separately is the first step in ultimately recognizing they are all the same.
When using the idea for today for a specific perceived cause of an upset in any form, use both the name of the form in which you see the upset, and the cause which you ascribe to it. For example:
I am not angry at ___ for the reason I think.
I am not afraid of ___ for the reason I think.
But again, this should not be substituted for practice periods in which you first search your mind for "sources" of upset in which you believe, and forms of upset which you think result.
In these exercises, more than in the preceding ones, you may find it hard to be indiscriminate, and to avoid giving greater weight to some subjects than to others. It might help to precede the exercises with the statement:
There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.
Then examine your mind for whatever is distressing you, regardless of how much or how little you think it is doing so.
You may also find yourself less willing to apply today's idea to some perceived sources of upset than to others. If this occurs, think first of this:
I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.
Then search your mind for no more than a minute or so, and try to identify a number of different forms of upset that are disturbing you, regardless of the relative importance you may give them. Apply the idea for today to each of them, using the name of both the source of the upset as you perceive it, and of the feeling as you experience it. Further examples are:
I am not worried about ___ for the reason I think.
I am not depressed about ___ for the reason I think.
Three or four times during the day is enough.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 5. "I am never upset for the reason I think."
*This is one of the lessons I frequently quote, for it goes to the heart of our practice. We obviously think we are upset because of what is going on the world and how it impinges on us. But the <only> reason we are upset, which is not explicitly taught here, although implied, is that we chose the ego as our teacher instead of Jesus.*
(1) "This idea, like the preceding one, can be used with any person, situation or event you think is causing you pain. Apply it specifically to whatever you believe is the cause of your upset, using the description of the feeling in whatever term seems accurate to you. The upset may seem to be fear, worry, depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, jealousy or any number of forms, all of which will be perceived as different. This is not true. However, until you learn that form does not matter, each form becomes a proper subject for the exercises for the day. Applying the same idea to each of them separately is the first step in ultimately recognizing they are all the same."
*Expressed here, again, is the paradox that we are to keep practicing with specifics so that we learn that everything is the same and non-specific. Indeed, this is the central theme of the process given us in A Course in Miracles that will eventually awaken us from the dream. By practicing forgiveness <each> and <every> time we experience upset or dis-ease -- the <form> of our discomfort -- we shall become aware of the underling <content> of guilt that <is> the source of discomfort. That is when we finally learn the inherent <sameness> of all illusions. At this point they will disappear, leaving only the <content> of guilt that <is> the source of discomfort. That is when we finally learn the inherent <sameness> of all illusions. At this point they will disappear, leaving only the <content> of love, our only comfort and the true source of peace. This lesson is extremely important because we all get upset, and are always sure about the cause. This helps us realize that we are not upset because of what is outside, but only because of the way we are <looking> at what is outside.
The lesson's <specific> assignment of identifying the <specific> form of upset, and the cause we ascribe to it follows:*
(2) "When using the idea for today for a specific perceived cause of an upset in any form, use both the name of the form in which you see the upset, and the cause which you ascribe to it. For example:
I am not angry at ___ for the reason I think.
I am not afraid of ___ for the reason I think."
*Jesus now quickly moves us from the bodily world of feelings to the mind's world of our thoughts:*
(3) "But again, this should not be substituted for practice periods in which you first search your mind for "sources" of upset in which you believe, and forms of upset which you think result."
*Jesus returns us to the mind-searching aspect of his training. We are to become accustomed to looking within, learning to pay attention to our heretofore repressed guilt, the ultimate source of what we think are our upsets.*
(4) "In these exercises, more than in the preceding ones, you may find it hard to be indiscriminate, and to avoid giving greater weight to some subjects than to others. It might help to precede the exercises with the statement:"
"There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind."
*We would all tend to discriminate. When something minor upsets us we think we are only "mildly annoyed." Then later in the day something major happens and we become really angry. And we think there is a difference. This is the issue we have been addressing. The ego has us reaffirm the principle that there is a hierarchy of illusions, since this is one of its primary defenses against the Oneness of God: the specificity of the dualistic world belies the unified reality of Divine Abstraction, to use a term in the text (T-4.VII.5:4). This is reality the ego never wants us to remember or reflect here, since that means the end of the ego.
Jesus continues his instructions to us in the same vein:*
(5-6) "Then examine your mind for whatever is distressing you, regardless of how much or how little you think it is doing so."
"You may also find yourself less willing to apply today's idea to some perceived sources of upset than to others. If this occurs, think first of this:
I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same."
*This is what we are to say when tempted to make a hierarchy of what upsets you. And then Jesus reiterates the point in the next sentence:*
(7:1) "Then search your mind for no more than a minute or so, and try to identify a number of different forms of upset that are disturbing you, regardless of the relative importance you may give them."
*We can see how many times in these early lessons Jesus reminds us how we continually try to make a hierarchy of our experiences, believing some things are important and others are not. He is training us to realize they are all the same. Once again, an illusion is an illusion is an illusion.
A deeper study of what is taught in A Course in Miracles yields a rather disturbing revelation: when we are upset, we <want> to be upset, for that proves we are the innocent victims of what the victimizer is doing to us. We shall return to this very important teaching of the Course later, but for now I can mention two very specific discussions of this: "The Picture of Crucifixion' (T-27.1) and "Self-Concept versus Self"(T-31.V).
The remainder of the paragraph repeats the earlier instruction, emphasizing the need to be both specific and gentle in our practice.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 4. These thoughts do not mean anything.
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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."*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 3. I do not understand anything I see in this room
Lesson 3. I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].
Apply this idea in the same way as the previous ones, without making distinctions of any kind. Whatever you see becomes a proper subject for applying the idea. Be sure that you do not question the suitability of anything for application of the idea. These are not exercises in judgment. Anything is suitable if you see it. Some of the things you see may have emotionally charged meaning for you. Try to lay such feelings aside, and merely use these things exactly as you would anything else.
The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them. It is therefore essential that you keep a perfectly open mind, unhampered by judgment, in selecting the things to which the idea for the day is to be applied. For this purpose one thing is like another; equally suitable and therefore equally useful.
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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
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Lesson 3. "I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place]."
*Nothing in this room means anything because I have given it all the meaning it has. Therefore, since I have given it its meaning, how could I, a self separated <from> meaning, possibly understand it? I can understand it from my ego's point of view because it serves the purpose of making the world and my experience of it real. But I cannot truly understand it, because the purpose of the world, as I discussed in the Prelude to these volumes, is to prevent me from understanding. <True> understanding would have me realize the purpose I have given to everything and everyone in my life. Again, these early lessons have as one of their important goals to humble us, so that we realize we do not understand anything. This is what underlies Jesus' important (if not outrageous!) statement in the text: "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). ... This lesson begins with the emphasis on indiscriminateness we have already seen.*
(1:1) "Apply this idea in the same way as the previous ones, without making distinctions of any kind."
*This means I do not understand anything. I think I understand what the pen or cup is for, yet do not understand that their <ultimate> purpose is to keep me rooted in the illusion and out of Heaven. My ego would tell me the pen is for writing, the cup for drinking, and clothes for covering the body, but I do not understand the ego's underlying purpose for these and all other aspects of the material world.*
(1:2-5) "Whatever you see becomes a proper subject for applying the idea. Be sure that you do not question the suitability of anything for application of the idea. These are not exercises in judgment. Anything is suitable if you see it."
*Unconsciously, we certainly do question the suitability of some things. Again, no one believes that their arm is less important than an apple or a button. We believe there is an extremely important difference between them.
"Anything is suitable if you see it," because if I see it, it cannot be real. That is because we "see" with our eyes, and our eyes, as indeed all our sensory organs, were specifically made not to see. In other words, they were made by the ego to look <outside> the mind, while true vision is only <within> the mind. It is that fundamental unreality that unites everything in this world.*
(1:6-7) "Some of the things you see may have emotionally charged meaning for you. Try to lay such feelings aside, and merely use these things exactly as you would anything else."
*What is helpful about these lessons -- if you pay careful attention to them -- is that they will bring to the surface all our unconscious and hidden values, similar to the projective tests used by psychologists to help understand the underlying dynamics of a person's psychological disorder. We shall see this theme reflected in the lessons to come.*
(2) "The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them. It is therefore essential that you keep a perfectly open mind, unhampered by judgment, in selecting the things to which the idea for the day is to be applied. For this purpose one thing is like another; equally suitable and therefore equally useful."
*This is the deepest statement made so far, and its meaning should be abundantly clear. Jesus is trying to help us let go of the past, for as long as it remains hidden from our awareness we cannot undo it. Left buried, therefore, the past continues to rear its guilt-ridden and judgment-laden head time and time again. The key to this undoing lies in the principle underlying these exercises: the inherent sameness of all illusions.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Lesson 2. I have given everything I see in this room all the meaning that it has for me.
Lesson 2. I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me.
The exercises with this idea are the same as those for the first one. Begin with the things that are near you, and apply the idea to whatever your glance rests on. Then increase the range outward. Turn your head so that you include whatever is on either side. If possible, turn around and apply the idea to what was behind you. Remain as indiscriminate as possible in selecting subjects for its application, do not concentrate on anything in particular, and do not attempt to include everything you see in a given area, or you will introduce strain.
Merely glance easily and fairly quickly around you, trying to avoid selection by size, brightness, color, material, or relative importance to you. Take the subjects simply as you see them. Try to apply the exercise with equal ease to a body or a button, a fly or a floor, an arm or an apple. The sole criterion for applying the idea to anything is merely that your eyes have lighted on it. Make no attempt to include anything particular, but be sure that nothing is specifically excluded.
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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
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Lesson 2. "I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me."
*The first lesson -- that nothing means anything -- is now extended. The reason nothing means anything is that you have given meaning to everything, obscuring, as we shall see presently, its <true> meaning of forgiveness. You know you have done so because you think your hand is more important than a pen. Since this clearly cannot be the way the Holy Spirit thinks, it can only have come from the way <you> think. God has not given everything you see around you its meaning, nor has Jesus. <You> have.
People will say they value something because their parents valued it, and because they were brought up in a certain culture, religion, socio-economic stratum, etc. But that is not an honest statement. If they truly thought about it they would realize they have not adopted <all> of their parents' values, nor the values of their social system, and so on. They have adopted only those values that resonate with what they <want> their values to be.
Even though it is not mentioned here, Jesus is asking for complete honesty with him; to accept that nothing in this room or world means anything because I am the one who has given the world meaning, and I -- my ego -- could never understand <true> meaning: forgiveness.*
(1) "The exercises with this idea are the same as those for the first one. Begin with the things that are near you, and apply the idea to whatever your glance rests on. Then increase the range outward. Turn your head so that you include whatever is on either side. If possible, turn around and apply the idea to what was behind you. Remain as indiscriminate as possible in selecting subjects for its application, do not concentrate on anything in particular, and do not attempt to include everything you see in a given area, or you will introduce strain."
*Jesus is telling us not to discriminate by saying that one thing is important and another is not, or that this thing does not mean anything, but that one does. He is telling us to be indiscriminate in our practicing. Attempting to include everything will lead to strain, he tells us, and then a ritual will soon develop as well. Rituals involve strain because there is always a sense of <having> to do something. I <have> to say the prayer a certain way. I <have> to go to church or synagogue every day or every week, or whatever. If it is a ritual, then it is something that has to be done the same way all the time because that is what God wants, or the Bible says, or my religious teachers insist on.
Therefore, Jesus is saying not to do these exercises as you would a ritual, and not to do them with a sense of strain. If you begin to feel strain, he will say you should stop. This is also an indication you are doing them wrong; that you are doing them with your ego and not with him.*
(2:1) "Merely glance easily and fairly quickly around you, trying to avoid selection by size, brightness, color, material, or relative importance to you."
*The very fact that Jesus says "Try to avoid doing this" is telling you that you are going to try to do this, i.e., to select according to what is important and not important to you. Even if you do not think you are doing it consciously, unconsciously this would certainly have to be the case in light of the hierarchy of values we all share.*
(2:2-5) "Take the subjects simply as you see them. Try to apply the exercise with equal ease to a body or a button, a fly or a floor, an arm or an apple. The sole criterion for applying the idea to anything is merely that your eyes have lighted on it. Make no attempt to include anything particular, but be sure that nothing is specifically excluded."
*We need to read these lessons thoughtfully, moving beyond the <form> of the words to their underlying <content> or meaning. In other words, we need to realize that Jesus is teaching us to generalize; that all things are equally meaningless because everything serves the same ego purpose of separation. We will find later that all things then become equally meaningful, because everything in our perceptual world can also serve the purpose of the Holy Spirit. It does not matter what it is; it could be something that we believe is meaningful, like a body, or something that we believe is meaningless, like an apple or button. As long as we see, hear, taste, or feel anything, we are saying that the material world is real; duality and perception are real. This ultimately is a way of saying I am real. In back of that, of course, is the statement that because the material world is real, God cannot be. This is the metaphysics underlying these early and wonderful lessons.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Re: Lesson 1. Nothing I see in this room means anything.
When I find myself in opposition to any concept in ACIM, I have the opportunity to notice it. One may look forward to those opportunities or may have the opportunity to simply to observe thoughts of judgements. When willing the lessons and Ken's comments support us in noticing ego thoughts in action. One may notice having many, "Oops I did it again..." moments. Resistance may be strong though also keep in mind, all is well. No need to woulda. shouda, coulda the thoughts. You are simply in observation mode. Though you may think along those lines and yet, all is still well in the observations.
J always offers his hand ;-) whenever I think I have fallen and can't get up.
With Appreciation,
Marcy
"To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardize your learning. No belief is neutral. Every one has the power to dictate each decision that you make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything you believe. It is the outcome of belief, and follows it as surely as does suffering follow guilt "
This very first lesson, which seems so simple, if not simple-minded if you do not really understand it, contains the complete thought system of A Course in Miracles. There is no difference among any of the things in this world.....
(3:2-4) "That is the purpose of the exercise. [to have us realize that there are no differences]....? As you practice the idea for the day, use it totally indiscriminately."
*It would be very easy to go around to everything in the room and look at different parts of your body and say: "This does not mean anything." But then you are just doing it as a ritual. Basically, a ritual leaves you mindless, which is why people like them.?
It is easy to miss here how Jesus is being "sneaky." He seems to be telling us that this idea is only for this lesson. What he is <not> telling us is that A Course in Miracles itself rests on this principle.*
*As you do these lesson you should sense Jesus telling you: "These should be done gently. Do not crucify yourself with them. Do not try to get them perfect. Do not feel guilty when you <believe> you fail. Do not make your practice into an obsessive ritual. You should feel comfortable with these exercises." His gentleness becomes one of the significant principles of the workbook, and integrating this gentle kindness into our lives is one of the most important lessons we would ever wish to learn. Jesus supplies us with a wonderful model.*
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Lesson 1. Nothing I see in this room means anything.
Lesson 1. Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] means anything.
Now look slowly around you, and practice applying this idea very specifically to whatever you see:
This table does not mean anything.
This chair does not mean anything.
This hand does not mean anything.
This foot does not mean anything.
This pen does not mean anything.
Then look farther away from your immediate area, and apply the idea to a wider range:
That door does not mean anything.
That body does not mean anything.
That lamp does not mean anything.
That sign does not mean anything.
That shadow does not mean anything.
Notice that these statements are not arranged in any order, and make no allowance for differences in the kinds of things to which they are applied. That is the purpose of the exercise. The statement should merely be applied to anything you see. As you practice the idea for the day, use it totally indiscriminately. Do not attempt to apply it to everything you see, for these exercises should not become ritualistic. Only be sure that nothing you see is specifically excluded. One thing is like another as far as the application of the idea is concerned.
Each of the first three lessons should not be done more than twice a day each, preferably morning and evening. Nor should they be attempted for more than a minute or so, unless that entails a sense of hurry. A comfortable sense of leisure is essential.
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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.
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"Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] means anything."
*This idea is to look around -- without judgment -- at these very prosaic objects in our world: a table, chair, hand, foot, pen, door, body, lamp, sign, shadow. Notice how Jesus sneaks the body in; the point is to realize that you normally would think that your hand is more important than a pen, or your body is more important than a lamp. There isn't anyone who does not believe that. Therefore, you need realize how you are coming to A Course in Miracles with a set of premises that you are not even aware of, a hierarchy of values that you hold about the world. That is why Jesus instructs us in the text:
"To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardize your learning. No belief is neutral. Every one has the power to dictate each decision that you make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything you believe. It is the outcome of belief, and follows it as surely as does suffering follow guilt and freedom sinlessness." (T.24.in.2:1-6)
This very first lesson, which seems so simple, if not simple-minded if you do not really understand it, contains the complete thought system of A Course in Miracles. There is no difference among any of the things in this world. They are all equally the same because they are part of the illusion, reflecting the same thought system of separation, which itself is unreal. As you know from your study of the text, the first law of chaos, the foundation of the thought system of the ego and the world, is that there is a hierarchy of illusions (T-23.II.2:3). If I believe that my body or hand is more important than a lamp, I am clearly saying there is a hierarchy of illusions. Again, it would be hard, if possible at all, to find someone in this world who does not share the belief in that hierarchy, or who even thinks about that as an issue. Thus, if you give some serious thought to this, it will become clear to you that your whole life is based on a lie -- the first law of chaos that says there is a hierarchy of illusions. ... Skip to paragraph 3:*
(3.1-2) "Notice that these statements are not arranged in any order, and make no allowance for differences in the kinds of things to which they are applied. That is the purpose of the exercise."
*This is not to say that you should give up your investment in your body or in your hand. Rather, the purpose of these reflections is to help you become aware of how, even on this very basic level, you are reflecting the ego's thought system. These lessons are humbling if you think deeply about them, because they help you to realize how much your life goes against everything that A Course in Miracles is teaching. This means there is a part of you that does not want to learn this course, because there is a part of you that does not want to give up your life. You do not want to walk around actually believing your hand is as meaningless as a pen, because you believe that there is a body that is real, and that you are truly here in the world. If you believe this, as we all do, you cannot believe in the reality of God. In other words, the first part of the workbook has as its purpose, as we were just told, to undo the way that we perceive and we think. This sets the tone for what will follow.*
(3:2-4) "That is the purpose of the exercise. [to have us realize that there are no differences]. The statement should merely be applied to anything you see. As you practice the idea for the day, use it totally indiscriminately."
*That is what <generalizing> means. Obviously Jesus does not expect us to practice this exercise with total indiscriminateness; if we could, we would not need these lessons. The idea is to be aware of how we <do not> practice it in our lives, even when we are specifically trying to. When you do this lesson, therefore, you should actually think about whether you are truly ready to say that "this hand is as meaningless as a pen." And if you believe that you think they are the same, take a pen and break it, and then your hand and break that. You will suddenly realize that you believe there is a real difference. This is certainly not meant to make you feel guilty, but to help you realize your investment in identifying with the thought system of separation.*
(3:5-7) "Do not attempt to apply it to everything you see, for these exercises should not become ritualistic. Only be sure that nothing you see is specifically excluded. One thing is like another as far as the application of the idea is concerned."
*It would be very easy to go around to everything in the room and look at different parts of your body and say: "This does not mean anything." But then you are just doing it as a ritual. Basically, a ritual leaves you mindless, which is why people like them. A friend once again said that she liked to say the rosary because she did not have to think. You just do it. Jesus is telling you <not> to do that with this workbook. Do not make it into a ritual. Rituals are designed to keep you <mindless>. This is a course whose purpose is to make you <mindful>. We shall repeatedly return to this theme of the potential danger of rituals.
It is easy to miss here how Jesus is being "sneaky." He seems to be telling us that this idea is only for this lesson. What he is <not> telling us is that A Course in Miracles itself rests on this principle.*
(4) "Each of the first three lessons should not be done more than twice a day each, preferably morning and evening. Nor should they be attempted for more than a minute or so, unless that entails a sense of hurry. A comfortable sense of leisure is essential."
*As you do these lesson you should sense Jesus telling you: "These should be done gently. Do not crucify yourself with them. Do not try to get them perfect. Do not feel guilty when you <believe> you fail. Do not make your practice into an obsessive ritual. You should feel comfortable with these exercises." His gentleness becomes one of the significant principles of the workbook, and integrating this gentle kindness into our lives is one of the most important lessons we would ever wish to learn. Jesus supplies us with a wonderful model.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Workbook for Students Introduction
Workbook for StudentsIntroduction1.?A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful.??Yet it is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible.??An untrained mind can accomplish nothing.??It is the purpose of this workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets forth. 2.?The exercises are very simple.??They do not require a great deal of time, and it does not matter where you do them.??They need no preparation.??The training period is one year.??The exercises are numbered from 1 to 365.??Do not undertake to do more than one set of exercises a day. 3.?The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with the undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the acquisition of true perception.??With the exception of the review periods, each day’s exercises are planned around one central idea, which is stated first.??This is followed by a description of the specific procedures by which the idea for the day is to be applied. 4.?The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world.??The exercises are planned to help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally applicable to everyone and everything you see. 5.?Transfer of training in true perception does not proceed as does transfer of the training of the world.??If true perception has been achieved in connection with any person, situation or event, total transfer to everyone and everything is certain.??On the other hand, one exception held apart from true perception makes its accomplishments anywhere impossible. 6.?The only general rules to be observed throughout, then, are: First, that the exercises be practiced with great specificity, as will be indicated.??This will help you to generalize the ideas involved to every situation in which you find yourself, and to everyone and everything in it.??Second, be sure that you do not decide for yourself that there are some people, situations or things to which the ideas are inapplicable.??This will interfere with transfer of training.??The very nature of true perception is that it has no limits.??It is the opposite of the way you see now. 7.?The overall aim of the exercises is to increase your ability to extend the ideas you will be practicing to include everything.??This will require no effort on your part.??The exercises themselves meet the conditions necessary for this kind of transfer. 8.?Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may seem to be quite startling.??This does not matter.??You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do.??You are not asked to judge them at all.??You are asked only to use them.??It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that they are true. 9.?Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them.??Some of them you may actively resist.??None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy.??But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them.??Nothing more than that is required.
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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Ken Wapnick's Introduction to Journey Through the Workbook
For those interested in going over the lessons and Ken's commentaries again starting in the New Year, this is his opening "Preface" to his book set entitled "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," and will be followed in the next couple of days with his "Prelude" to the actual Introduction and then the lessons themselves, to be started on January 1.
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"Preface" by Kenneth Wapnick.
*My purpose in this book -- as it was in the classes that inspired it -- is to help students of A Course in Miracles better understand the meaning of the lessons and their place in the overall curriculum of the Course. Most of all, the purpose is to help students see the importance of applying the daily lessons to their everyday lives. Without such application, the words in A Course in Miracles is wasted, and they become simply a sterile system of intellectual teachings. Indeed, the stated purpose of the workbook is to help students apply the teachings of the text's theoretical framework:
"A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful. Yet it is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible. An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. It is the purpose of this workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets forth." (W-in.1).
As any teacher knows, students learn by constant practice and repetition. While our memories may not extend that far back, that was how we all learned to read, write, and do arithmetic. Similarly, anyone who has learned to play a musical instrument remembers the daily practice and repetition of scales and exercises. So, too, with the text's principles of forgiveness. These must be practiced day in and day out, moment by moment if necessary. Jesus reminds us in the text that every encounter is holy one (T-8.III.4:1), because each experience, regardless of its magnitude, provides an opportunity for the reversal of projection that allows us to examine the contents of our unconscious minds. Without such awareness we can never truly choose again, the Course's ultimate goal. Moreover, when we learned our basic skills in elementary school, we did not learn each and every possible combination of words and numbers, but only the principles in specific examples, which we then generalized to all instances. Thus does our new Teacher -- Jesus or the Holy Spirit -- instruct us to forgive certain of our special relationships, helping us then to generalize the principle to all relationships:
"The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world. The exercises are planned to help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally applicable to everyone and everything you see." (W-in.4).
In case we missed it the first time, Jesus repeats his point two paragraphs later:
"The only general rules to be observed throughout, then, are: First, that the exercises be practiced with great specificity, as will be indicated. This will help you to generalize the ideas involved to every situation in which you find yourself, and to everyone and everything in it ... The overall aim of the exercises is to increase your ability to extend the ideas you will be practicing to include everything." (W-in.6:1-2;7:1).
We shall return to this essential point when we begin our journey through the workbook.
These volumes can be read in at least three ways: 1) straight through, as one would do with the text of A Course in Miracles; 2) different lessons at different times; or 3) one lesson at a time, as a companion to each lesson. I would urge students, however, if they are doing the workbook for the first time, to read the lessons as they are, without my commentary. In other words, as will all my other work on A Course in Miracles, this eight-volume book is meant to supplement a student's experience of the workbook, not to substitute for the workbook as it was given to us.
A word now about the use of language in A Course in Miracles. As I discussed in great detail in Few Choose to Listen, Volume Two of The Messages of A Course in Miracles, the Course in written in dualistic (or metaphorical) language. That is the meaning of Jesus' statement in the Introduction to the clarification of terms:
"This course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed. It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because it is planned only to set the direction towards it. Therefore it uses words, which are symbolic, and cannot express what lies beyond symbols ... The course is simple. It has one function and one goal. Only in that does it remain wholly consistent because only that can be consistent." (C-in.3:1-3,8-10).
Underscoring the symbolic, and therefore inherently illusory nature of words, Jesus makes these comments in the manual for teachers:
"God does not understand words, for they were made by separated minds to keep them in the illusion of separation. Words can be helpful, particularly for the beginner, in helping concentration and facilitating the exclusion, or at least the control, of extraneous thoughts. Let us not forget, however, that words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality." (M-21.1:7-10).
Therefore, because of our limited capacity to understand -- identifying with the brain instead of the mind -- Jesus' abstract or non-specific love needs to be expressed in a form we can understand and eventually accept. Thus he says in the text, concerning the Holy Spirit's teaching us how to experience the oneness of truth through forgiveness:
"All this takes note of time and place as if they were discrete, for while you think that part of you is separate, the concept of a oneness joined as one is meaningless. It is apparent that a mind so split could never be the teacher of a Oneness Which unites all things within Itself. And so What is within this mind, and does unite all things together, must be its Teacher. <Yet must It use the language that this mind can understand, in the condition in which it thinks it is.> And It must use all learning to transfer illusions to the truth, taking all false ideas of what you are, and leading you beyond them to the truth that is beyond them." (T-25.I.7:1-5; italics mine in sentence 4).
Thus God and the Holy Spirit (and Jesus) are spoken of as if they were persons, members of the species homo sapiens. They have a gender, and speak, act, think, make plans, have reactions and feelings, and even body parts -- voices, arms, hands, and tear ducts. Yet how can a non-dualistic God be or do any of these things? Lesson 169 states that "God is," and nothing more can be said that is truly meaningful. It is essential, however, for a student of A Course in Miracles to understand that all such references for God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus are not meant literally. On the level of symbol and metaphor, they simply meet us <in the condition in which we think we are>. Much of the workbook is written on this level, and I shall usually point out the <seeming> inconsistency between form and content, word and meaning, sometimes referring back to the passages I have just cited. When the use of symbol is properly understood, the problem of consistency will disappear. That is why Jesus cautions us in the text not to confuse symbol with source (T-19.IV-C.11:2).
In addition, there are notable inconsistencies in the use of words. For example, as mentioned above, the word <God> is used when it is obvious <the Holy Spirit> is the proper subject. One example comes in Lesson 193, "All things are lessons God would have me learn." The lesson itself makes clear that "God does not know of learning," while throughout all three books the Holy Spirit is referred to as our Teacher. In Lesson 29 we are told that "God is in everything I see," yet the lesson and the one following make it clear that it is the <purpose> of God that is meant, and we know from our study of A Course in Miracles that it is the Holy Spirit's function to hold that purpose of forgiveness in our minds. Other examples abound, and I shall for the most part point them out as they occur.
It is also important to point out the references to traditional Christian terms, such as <Atonement> the <Second Coming>, and <Last Judgment>, not to mention lessons such as "I am the light of the world." This follows the same lines of reasoning I just discussed -- Jesus' use of our Western and dualistic language as the <form>, within which he teaches us a different <content>. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand in the Course that most of the time Jesus uses language of symbols with which we all have grown up. Both in Judaism and Christianity, God is seen as having plans and doing things for us, such as sending various kinds of help: natural phenomena, angels, His Son, even having the last named killed on our behalf. A significant part of His plan includes includes special people with special parts in the special plan. Such obvious anthromopomorphisms, when the symbols are taken literally, are red flags pointing to the voice of specialness and not the Voice of truth. Jesus does not speak directly of specialness in the workbook, but he does describe its dynamics. In an important line from the text, he says that we cannot even think of God without a body, or in some form we think we recognize (T-18.VIII.1:7). That is his way of explaining that because we believe we are bodies that are separate, he must talk to us about a God who also seems to be separate -- not that He is in truth, but that He <seems> to be. Again, this does not literally mean that God has put the remedy or the Holy Spirit in our minds, or that He even has a plan. When we fell asleep and began this insane dream, we took with us into the dream a memory -- the Holy Spirit -- from where we came. <We> did that -- not God. The Holy Spirit is the memory and Presence of Love, and the reminder of who we are as Its children. We shall return to this below.
As one begins this journey through the workbook, some additional comments may be helpful. A student would have to be either heavily into denial or so highly advanced as not to recognize the concept, if resistance to the lessons is not experienced somewhere along the way. The workbook's stated purpose, reflecting that of A Course in Miracles itself, is to undo the ego's thought system of guilt -- the foundation for our very existence as separated and individualized selves. One does not let such a foundation go easily or lightly. To do so would mean the end of existence as we know it. And so our selves -- ruled by the ego -- resist any incursion into the ego's bastion of defenses. Thus we speak of the process of learning and living the Course as a journey we take with the Holy Spirit as our Teacher. It is a journey through the far country of resistance -- fear, guilt and projection -- with the light of forgiveness our guide, and the light of Heaven our goal, That is why we speak of the structure of A Course in Miracles as symphonic, wherein certain core themes are repeated, varied, set aside, and restated, until the stirring coda of redemption heralds the journey's end.
One of the many forms of resistance takes, in addition to the more obvious ones such as forgetting the lesson title or the lesson itself, is using the titles or statements as affirmations. That is not their purpose, and their misuse reflects the ego's process of bringing the light to the darkness; this not only covers the darkness, <but the light as well>. Rather, the statements in question are meant as symbols of the light, to which we bring the darkness of our ego's guilt and judgment that are gently shined away.*
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The eight volume book set, "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," can be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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