Lesson 30. God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.
The idea for today is the springboard for vision. From this idea will the world
open up before you, and you will look upon it and see in it what you have never
seen before. Nor will what you saw before be even faintly visible to you.
Today we are trying to use a new kind of "projection." We are not attempting to
get rid of what we do not like by seeing it outside. Instead, we are trying to
see in the world what is in our minds, and what we want to recognize is there.
Thus, we are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it apart from
us. That is the fundamental difference between vision and the way you see.
Today's idea should be applied as often as possible throughout the day. Whenever
you have a moment or so, repeat it to yourself slowly, looking about you, and
trying to realize that the idea applies to everything you do see now, or could
see now if it were within the range of your sight.
Real vision is not limited to concepts such as "near" and "far." To help you
begin to get used to this idea, try to think of things beyond your present range
as well as those you can actually see, as you apply today's idea.
Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does not depend
on the body's eyes at all. The mind is its only source. To aid in helping you to
become more accustomed to this idea as well, devote several practice periods to
applying today's idea with your eyes closed, using whatever subjects come to
mind, and looking within rather than without. Today's idea applies equally to
both.
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The commentary on this lesson is from Kenneth Wapnick's series of books, called:
"Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased
at the following site:??~ M. Street
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 30. "God is in everything I see because God is in my mind."
*This lesson also is extremely important, explaining <why> God is in everything
I see. He is in my mind. The context, again, is not what we perceive outside,
but what is in our minds. Therefore, "think" can be substituted for "see,"
because our eyes report to us nothing more than the reflection of what we have
been thinking. <Projection makes perception.> Indeed, this lesson advances our
understanding and experience of projection, the ego's defense <par excellence>
for retaining our guilt under the guise of getting rid of it.*
(1) "The idea for today is the springboard for vision. From this idea will the
world open up before you, and you will look upon it and see in it what you have
never seen before. Nor will what you saw before be even faintly visible to you."
*This is a theme that is repeated many times throughout A Course in Miracles:
when our minds are awakened and we see with Jesus' love, everything we saw
before will disappear. Our judgments against others and against ourselves, our
strange way of understanding events -- all will disappear. As we reinforce this
way of thinking and seeing, our judgments, which are defenses against the truth
of our and our brother's reality, will gradually fade until they disappear
entirely. This is what Jesus is saying to us here. It is easy to see why these
ideas can frighten us. It is not just our judgments, distorted perceptions, and
thinking that will disappear; <we>, as we have always known ourselves to be,
will disappear as well. This is the real meaning of defenselessness: being
<without> defenses. The ego would attempt to convince us that we need defenses
to protect us from our pain, either inflicted from within or without. It never
lets us in on its secret: its entire defensive structure is aimed at protecting
us from God.
Psychology -- the study of the ego -- helps us understand how everyone's life --
certainly by adulthood -- is built up as a defense against the pain and hurt of
childhood. We came into this world so that we would feel victimized as children;
that is the point of being born into this world, as I discussed in the Prelude.
Our entire lives, from the ego's point of view, are made up of defenses to
protect us from what we have come to accept as undeniable truths about the
world, and especially our personal worlds: I cannot trust my mother, I cannot
trust men, I cannot trust my body, I cannot trust authorities, and on and on and
on. In everyone's life these conclusions are perfectly justified, because our
scripts, as we have already seen, were specifically written to justify our
feelings of unfair treatment. Once our victimization is accepted as truth, we
build up a wall upon wall of defenses to protect us against these imagined
hurts, slights, and pains of our childhood and youth. They are <imagined>
because they are not there anymore. In fact, they were never truly there, being
but part of our dream. However, we never want to look at this truth through
Jesus' vision, because we would then realize it was all made up.
There is actually no justification for us to build walls of defenses, since our
problems are inherently non-existent. That is the truth we fear. The meaning our
lives have taken on is surviving the onslaughts of this hard, cruel,
insensitive, and vicious world -- Hamlet's "slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune." There is no question the world is cruel, insensitive, and vicious.
<That is why it was made>, and what is meant by the statement, "the world was
made as an attack on God" (W-pII.3.2.1).
Our existence is predicated on the truth of what we are so sure is reality. We
do not want to be told there is another way of looking, because it is obvious
Jesus is not talking about another way of looking at a table. That is just an
exercise to help us realize there is another way of looking at <ourselves>. Once
again, as you practice these lessons, thinking about them and meditating, try to
get in touch with the fear that comes from understanding what you believe is the
problem: how to survive as an innocent victim in a harsh world. Jesus teaches us
there is another way of looking at absolutely everything, but this vision comes
at a price: replacing our victimizing self -- buttressed by a lifetime's
accumulation of defenses -- with a self that can be truly defenseless,
"protected" by the innocence that is a reflection of Heaven's sinlessness.*
(2:1-2) "Today we are trying to use a new kind of "projection." We are not
attempting to get rid of what we do not like by seeing it outside."
*While the word is not used here, Jesus is clearly speaking of <extension>; half
of the dynamic of looking within, and having that effect what we see outside.
With projection we see our sinfulness and guilt, judge against it, and project
it onto others. We get rid of what we do not like within us. That literally is
how the world was made. In a line which we shall read in Lesson 161, Jesus says:
"Thus were specifics made" -- we made the world of specifics so that we could
have someone and something onto whom we project the guilt we do not want.
Jesus is teaching us now about "a new kind of 'projection'" (extension), in
which we take the love we first looked at within -- the Love of Christ we are,
the love of Jesus to which we can relate -- and have it extend so we see it all
around us. Importantly, we do not see love as separate from us as we do when we
project our guilt, wherein we <must> see the guilt in someone other than
ourselves -- intrinsic to the purpose of projection. Christ's Love, which is
first seen within, is now experienced in everyone else, regardless of the veils
of fear and hate unconsciously used to conceal it. Again, we experience this
love in everyone because we have first experienced it in ourselves. The shift
Jesus is discussing is the shift to our right minds -- from the ego's projection
of guilt to the Holy Spirit's extension of forgiveness -- and is key to the
practice of A Course in Miracles.*
(2:3) "Instead, we are trying to see in the world what is in our minds, and what
we want to recognize is there."
*The key thought is "what we want to recognize is there." as the text states:
"Perception seems to teach you what you see. Yet it but witnesses to what
you taught. It is the outward picture of a wish; an image that you wanted to be
true." (T-24.VII.8.8-10)
Our secret wish is to keep the separation, but to see the responsibility for it
in another. The "image that you wanted to be true" is our brother's guilt. Thus
the ego says guilt is real and we did <not > want to recognize it. By convincing
us not to recognize the mind's guilt, the ego hopes we will never look at the
love that is already in our minds. In the text, Jesus says we have but two
emotions: love and fear -- one we made and one was given us (T-13.V.10:1). The
emotion of fear, which is really the same as guilt, is what we made to cover the
love that God gave us. We need to recognize the guilt so we can look beyond it
to identify with the love that is there. This, of course, is totally different
from the ego's way of proceeding, which makes guilt real and then makes us
promise never to look at it. It tells us not to recognize it in ourselves, but
rather to get rid of the guilt by seeing it in everyone else. However, the ego
never tells us that its plan does not work, for the guilt remains within our
minds, despite our fevered attempts to disown it. All this is described quite
clearly in the text:
"The ultimate purpose of projection is always to get rid of guilt. ... Yet
consider how strange a solution the ego's arrangement is. You project guilt to
get rid of it, but you are actually merely concealing it. You do experience the
guilt, but you have no idea why." (T-13.II.1:1;2:1-3).
"In any union with a brother in which you seek to lay your guilt upon him,
or share it with him or perceive his own, you will feel guilty. ... You will see
guilt in that relationship because you put it there. It is inevitable that those
who suffer guilt will attempt to displace it, because they do believe in it. Yet
though they suffer, they will not look within and let it go. ... Their main
concern is to perceive the source of guilt outside themselves, beyond their own
control." (T-13.X.3:1, 3-5,7).
Following the ego's guidance, then, we draw upon our background of decades of
experience and confidently declare that the guilt is in all these others.
Moreover, we have all the proof needed to justify the way we feel about them. We
expound on how they have abused and mistreated us, or have abused and mistreated
others with whom we identify as victims. We are so absolutely certain we are
right about our conclusions. That is why A Course in Miracles is so difficult
and frightening. Over and over, Jesus tells us we are wrong, that " God thinks
otherwise" (T-23.1.2:7). But we are positive that He is wrong and we are
correct!*
(2:4-5) "Thus, we are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it
apart from us. That is the fundamental difference between vision and the way you
see."
*The way we see, again, is to see the problem or objects of pleasure outside us.
We always want to keep separate from us what is outside. Even when we seem to
want to join with others, we are really trying to make the illusion of joining
so we can protect our specialness. In vision, however, we no longer see
ourselves as separate from anyone. Early in the manual Jesus makes an important
statement I have already cited: the qualifications of a teacher of God consist
solely in his not seeing his interests as apart from anyone else's (M-1.1:2).
That vision could begin only by not seeing our interests as separate from those
of the Holy Spirit or Jesus. At the beginning, our interests are quite separate,
because if we join with Them our ego's individuality and specialness are gone.
Thus we <must> keep them split off from us, just as we have done with God. Based
upon this dynamic of splitting off our guilt, projecting it onto others whom we
now see as separate from us. Vision is exactly the opposite, seeing all people
as the same, reflecting our inherent oneness as Christ.
The radicalness of A Course in Miracles' thought system is that Jesus is not
talking about the brain or the body, but only of the mind, which cannot be seen
or touched because it is beyond our senses or anything physical of
quantifiable.*
(3) "Today's idea should be applied as often as possible throughout the day.
Whenever you have a moment or so, repeat it to yourself slowly, looking about
you, and trying to realize that the idea applies to everything you do see now,
or could see now if it were within the range of your sight."
*Jesus is once again reminding us about generalizing; not to exclude anything in
our application of the lessons. Remember, once you believe there is a hierarchy
of illusions and a range of what you perceive, you are saying that separation
and differences are reality and truth. The only reality is the one thought of
the Atonement, the only reality within our minds. Because that thought is one,
it is seen as one. Everything in this world is the same as everything else,
because all things share the one purpose of forgiveness.*
(4) "Real vision is not limited to concepts such as "near" and "far." To help
you begin to get used to this idea, try to think of things beyond your present
range as well as those you can actually see, as you apply today's idea."
*Here we can see Jesus subtly getting across his point that his idea works not
only for what our eyes physically see, but for what we think about, too -- what
we see in our minds as well as what we "actually" see. Again, real vision has
nothing to do with anything physical. It does not apply to what we physically
perceive (see, hear, feel, touch, or whatever), but to what we <think>. Recall
that there is no difference between what we think and what we see. It is only in
accepting the truth that one can begin to have the understanding that will
hopefully lead to the experience of our inherent oneness, a unity that can exist
only in the mind, since bodies separate. As Jesus reminds us in the text: "Minds
are joined; bodies are not" (T-18.VI.3:1).*
(5:1-2) "Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does
not depend on the body's eyes at all. The mind is its only source."
*We could not ask for a clearer statement than this, Jesus is not talking about
anything that we perceive, because we are always seeing some form of separation,
which means what we see comes from a thought of separation in our minds, a
thought that is intrinsically mistaken. As Jesus states in a line we shall quote
frequently: "Nothing so blinding as perception of form." (T-22.III.6:7)
Even though it is not yet specifically mentioned in these lessons, though I
discussed it in the Prelude, the idea of going to Jesus or the Holy Spirit for
help is central to our practice of A Course in Miracles. By separating ourselves
from Them we are separating ourselves from God, which means we are regarding
separation as reality. Everything we think, see, or believe from that point on
will be wrong. That is why there is so much fear associated with doing this
course. It slowly begins to dawn on us that we are mistaken about everything we
think, perceive, and judge -- about ourselves and everyone else.*
(5:3-4) "To aid in helping you to become more accustomed to this idea as well,
devote several practice periods to applying today's idea with your eyes closed,
using whatever subjects come to mind, and looking within rather than without.
Today's idea applies equally to both."
*The answer to why today's idea applies equally to what is within and without is
that there is nothing out there. What appears outside is simply a projection of
our thoughts. Whether we are looking at our thoughts outside or our thoughts
within our minds does not make any difference. They are still our thoughts.These
two lessons are quite explicit that everything begins in our minds. This is
directly related to the principle described in the text and that we have already
seen in the lessons. <Ideas leave not their source> -- the idea of a separated
world, relationship, and body, has never left its source in the mind. Everything
we perceive are our projected thoughts. The only thing that is important, then,
is getting in touch with the source of these thoughts -- the ego or the Holy
Spirit. This is the ultimate purpose of these exercises and of A Course in
Miracles itself.*
