Lesson 51. The review for today covers the following ideas:
1. Nothing I see means anything.
The reason this is so is that I see nothing, and nothing has no meaning. It is
necessary that I recognize this, that I may learn to see. What I think I see now
is taking the place of vision. I must let it go by realizing it has no meaning,
so that vision may take its place.
2. I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me.
I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see. This
is not vision. It is merely an illusion of reality, because my judgments have
been made quite apart from reality. I am willing to recognize the lack of
validity in my judgments, because I want to see. My judgments have hurt me, and
I do not want to see according to them.
3. I do not understand anything I see.
How could I understand what I see when I have judged it amiss? What I see is the
projection of my own errors of thought. I do not understand what I see because
it is not understandable. There is no sense in trying to understand it. But
there is every reason to let it go, and make room for what can be seen and
understood and loved. I can exchange what I see now for this merely by being
willing to do so. Is not this a better choice than the one I made before?
4. These thoughts do not mean anything.
The thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything because I am trying to
think without God. What I call "my" thoughts are not my real thoughts. My real
thoughts are the thoughts I think with God. I am not aware of them because I
have made my thoughts to take their place. I am willing to recognize that my
thoughts do not mean anything, and to let them go. I choose to have them be
replaced by what they were intended to replace. My thoughts are meaningless, but
all creation lies in the thoughts I think with God.
5. I am never upset for the reason I think.
I am never upset for the reason I think because I am constantly trying to
justify my thoughts. I am constantly trying to make them true. I make all things
my enemies, so that my anger is justified and my attacks are warranted. I have
not realized how much I have misused everything I see by assigning this role to
it. I have done this to defend a thought system that has hurt me, and that I no
longer want. I am willing to let it go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The commentary on this lesson (below) is from Kenneth Wapnick's eight volume
series of books, called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles,"
which can be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson 51. "The review for today covers the following ideas:"
*Before beginning, let me mention something that probably has eluded almost all
students of A Course in Miracles, certainly the non-obsessive ones. Helen had
<insisted> to Jesus that each of the one-sentence introduction to the day's
review be different. And you will surely be impressed to discover how many
different ways Jesus can say that "the review for today covers the following
ideas:" *
(1) (1) "Nothing I see means anything."
*In these early lessons Jesus emphasizes that what we see does not mean anything
because what we see comes from <mis>thoughts of judgment and attack.*
(1:2-5) "The reason this is so is that I see nothing, and nothing has no
meaning. It is necessary that I recognize this, that I may learn to see. What I
think I see now is taking the place of vision. I must let it go by realizing it
has no meaning, so that vision may take its place."
*While Jesus does not use the term here, he points out to us that we have a
split mind. We have the capacity of seeing through the vision of the Holy
Spirit, but to ensure that that does not happen we cover those loving thoughts
with thoughts of attack and separation. Indeed, we cannot achieve the goal of
vision if we do not recognize and understand the inherent illusory and
meaningless nature of our perceptions. It is these misperceptions that we have
deliberately chosen to take the place of vision, fulfilling the ego's purpose of
protecting itself -- really, our separated self protecting its separate identity
-- that prevents us from discovering the only meaning for being in this world:
forgiveness.*
(2) (2) "I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me."
(2:2-4) "I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I
see. This is not vision. It is merely an illusion of reality, because my
judgments have been made quite apart from reality."
*This restates the teaching that the world we see is not there simply because it
comes from our judgmental thoughts, which also are not there. Remember, every
thought in the ego thought system is a defense against the truth of the
Atonement principle, which is that we never left God. Everything we perceive is
a shadowy fragment of the original judgment that we separated from our Source
and reality, the fundamental illusion from which all others come.*
(2:5-6) "I am willing to recognize the lack of validity in my judgments, because
I want to see. My judgments have hurt me, and I do not want to see according to
them."
*Jesus is appealing to our sane, rational minds to understand that what we are
doing with our thoughts, and therefore with the perceived world, hurts us: "My
judgments have hurt me." The ego has set up its defensive system as a huge gap
between our attack thoughts and the pain that is their effect. This gap is
represented by the world of time and space, its purpose being to enable us to
feel justified in attributing our pain to "things beyond [us], forces [we]
cannot control" (T-19.IV.-D.7:4). That, of course, is the wonder of projection
from the ego's point of view. We wind up feeling assured that we are not
responsible for the pain that results from our choosing against God and His
Love: others, our bodies, or the world are the cause of our distress --anyone or
anything <but> ourselves.
Thus the idea of these lessons is to bring the <effect> to the <cause>, so we
can realize it is our judgments alone that have us hurt us. In so doing we
restore to awareness the power of our minds to decide our own destiny: happiness
or misery, peace or conflict.*
(3) (3) "I do not understand anything I see."
(3:2-4) "How could I understand what I see when I have judged it amiss? What I
see is the projection of my own errors of thought. I do not understand what I
see because it is not understandable."
*This is the beginning of humility. We are always so sure we are right: what I
see is what I see, what I hear is what I hear, and my understanding of a
situation is what <I> say it is. If we are skillful enough, we get a multitude
of people to agree with us. That is not sanity, but collective <insanity>! In
French this is known as <folie a deux>: a delusion shared by two people. But it
could just as easily be ten, hundreds, thousands, millions, if not billions, for
we all share the same insanity. We therefore cannot truly understand anything,
nor go to anyone else for true understanding. If at any point we feel
specialness, judgment, or separation, we should not trust anything we conclude
based on those feelings; we will inevitably be wrong.*
(4) (4) "These thoughts do not mean anything."
(4:2) "The thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything because I am trying
to think without God."
*This is the bottom line. Representing God is the Holy Spirit, Jesus, or the
thoughts of these lessons. If we are not thinking in harmony with these thoughts
-- i.e., if we are holding on to grievances, attack thoughts, or specialness
needs in any way, shape, or form -- we are <not> thinking, and anything that
results from not thinking must be non-existent. Remember, cause and effect are
never separate. Illusions can merely breed further illusions.*
(5) (5) "I am never upset for the reason I think."
(5:2) "I am never upset for the reason I think because I am constantly trying to
justify my thoughts."
*Once we make the decision to be an individual and a first person possessive
singular, we constantly try to justify that existence. This is the role of the
face of innocence: It is not my fault, and I gather together as many people as
possible to justify the perception of myself as a victim. This is never
difficult to do, by the way, because the vastness of the world supplies an
almost endless number of potential objects for our projections. Moreover, what
makes it interesting is that we <all> seek to justify our face of innocence,
thereby ensuring that we continue to exist as separated individuals <but that
others will be responsible for the sin.> Therefore, it is they who will be
punished for the sin that is no longer found in us.*
(5:3-7) "I am constantly trying to make them true. I make all things my enemies,
so that my anger is justified and my attacks are warranted. I have not realized
how much I have misused everything I see by assigning this role to it. I have
done this to defend a thought system that has hurt me, and that I no longer
want. I am willing to let it go."
*Students doing the workbook for the first time usually do not pay careful
attention to what they are reading. However, if they continue studying A Course
in Miracles over many years and read the workbook much more carefully, which I
strongly recommend, they will be astounded at what Jesus is actually saying;
statements such as we have just read being prime examples.
Jesus here is putting words in our mouths, hoping we shall keep them there: We
are now deciding we are glad we were wrong, and even happier to realize there is
someone else within us who is right. This involves letting go of our anger,
judgments, and arrogance; our devotion to specialness, and ultimately our
individuality. We need to withdraw our investment in using others as
reinforcement for our defense of projection, putting them either in the category
of special love or special hate -- objects with whom we seem to join, or from
whom we seem to separate. Either way, our ego's need to demonstrate its
innocence is fulfilled through attack and judgment, making others guilty of the
sins we have projected onto them, magically hoping we can escape punishment
through this insane and magical dynamic. Now we can happily say we choose
