May 30th 2014  Lesson 29

God is in everything I see.

The idea for today explains why you can see all purpose in everything.  It explains why nothing is separate, by itself or in itself.  And it explains why nothing you see means anything.  In fact, it explains every idea we have used thus far, and all subsequent ones as well.  Today's idea is the whole basis for vision.

Try then, today, to begin to learn how to look on all things with love, appreciation and open-mindedness.  You do not see them now.  Would you know what is in them?  Nothing is as it appears to you.  Its holy purpose stands beyond your little range.  When vision has shown you the holiness that lights up the world, you will understand today's idea perfectly.  And you will not understand how you could ever have found it difficult.

• Intention:  Six two-minute practice periods are required, in which today's idea is stated first, then applied to whatever you see about you, naming each one specifically.      
        
• Practice:  As usual, each application should be done slowly and your list of subjects should be as free of self-selection as possible.  For example, a suitable list might include:
  
  God is in this coat hanger.
  God is in this magazine.
  God is in this finger.
  God is in this lamp
  God is in that body
  God is in that door.
  God is in that waste basket.
   
• Application:  Try to avoid the tendency toward self-directed selection, which may be particularly tempting in connection with today's idea because of its wholly alien nature. Remember that any order you impose is equally alien to reality. 
    
  In addition to the assigned practice periods, repeat the idea for today at least once an hour, looking slowly about you as you say the words unhurriedly to yourself. At least once or twice, you should experience a sense of restfulness as you do this.   

  ---

Insights/comments:

• Today's idea is the goal of vision.  In the immortal words of William Blake:  "To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour."  This is the blessing of vision, to see the ocean in a drop of water; to see eternity in a moment of time; to see the source of all-that-is in every blade of grass.  With vision we now see why everything is unified and connected in one purpose.  Now the idea of separation is meaningless as vision replaces our normal seeing, and now we can begin to see why everything is for our own benefit and in our own best interests.  This is the sight that vision brings, blessing all that it looks upon.
      

I and my Creator are One.  

May 29th 2014  Lesson 28

Above all else, I want to see things differently.

Today's idea provides specific applications to yesterday's idea.  When you say, "Above all else I want to see this table differently," you are making a commitment to withdraw your preconceived ideas about the table, and open your mind to what it is, and what it is for.  You are not defining it in past terms.  You are not binding its meaning to your tiny experience of tables, nor are you limiting its purpose to your little personal thoughts.  You will not question what you have already defined.  And the purpose of these exercises is to ask questions and receive the answers.  In saying today's idea, you are committing yourself to seeing.  It is not an exclusive commitment.  It is a commitment that applies to the table just as much as to anything else, neither more nor less. 

You could, in fact gain vision from just that table, if you would withdraw all your own ideas from it, and look upon it with a completely open mind.  It has something to show you; something beautiful and clean and of infinite value, full of happiness and hope.  Hidden under all your ideas about it is its real purpose, the purpose it shares with all the universe.  In using the table as a subject for applying the idea for today, you are therefore really asking to see the purpose of the universe.  You will be making this same request of each subject that you use in the practice periods.  And you are making a commitment to each of them to let its purpose be revealed to you, instead of placing your own judgment upon it.

• Intention:  Six two-minute practice periods are required, in which today's idea is stated first, then applied to whatever you see about you.      
        
• Practice:  As usual, each application should be done slowly and include the name of the subject your eyes happen to light on.  And you should rest your eyes on it while saying:
  
  Above all else I want to see this __________ differently.
   
• Application:  Choose each subject randomly, and with equal sincerity as you apply today's idea to it, in an attempt to acknowledge the equal value of them all in their contribution to your seeing.
     

  ---

Insights/comments:

• Realizing that we have been superimposing our own personal meaning on what we see, we are now ready to ask to see things differently.  This is a commitment to reserve judgment on what we see, realizing that we have not been seeing at all, but only dreaming, and are now ready, willing and open seeing with new eyes what is truly there.  By seeing only the differences in things we are lost to their true relationship with all things and with ourselves.  This is why we do not know what anything means and why we do not know what is in our own best interests.  If we could see the common relationship or source of everything we would much better understand what each thing means in relation to us, and thereby gain greater self-knowledge.  The technique is simply to ask:  "Ask and it shall be given; seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you."--Matthew 7.7.   And keep asking, until it is given!
      

I and my Creator are One.  

May 28th 2014  Lesson 27

Above all else, I want to see.

Today's idea expresses something stronger than mere determination.  It gives vision priority among your desires.  You may feel hesitant about using the idea, on the grounds that you are not sure you really mean it.  This does not matter.  The purpose of today's exercises is to bring the time when the idea will be wholly true a little nearer.
     
It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have established for everything.  The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than "good" or "bad," is the only way to accomplish this.  The idea for today is a step in this direction.

• Intention:  The idea for today needs many repetitions for maximum benefit.  It should be used at least every half hour, and more if possible.  You might try for every fifteen or twenty minutes.    
        
• Practice:  It is recommended that yo set a definite time interval for using the idea when you wake or shortly afterwards, and attempt to adhere to it throughout the day.  It will not be difficult to do this, even if your are engaged in conversation, or otherwise occupied at the time.  You can still repeat one short sentence to yourself without disturbing anything. 
    
  There may be a great temptation to believe that some sort of sacrifice is being asked of you when you say you want to see above all else.  If you become uneasy about the lack of reservation involved, add: 

  
  Vision has no cost to anyone.
  
  

  If fear of loss still persists, add further:
  

    
  It can only bless.  
             
  
• Application:  You will probably miss several applications, and perhaps quite a number.  Do not be disturbed by this, but do try to keep on your schedule from then on.  If only once during the day you feel you were perfectly sincere while you were repeating today's idea, you can be sure that you have saved yourself many years of effort.
     

  ---

Insights/comments:

• Today's idea is the recognition that we have not been seeing things as they truly are.  It is a quiet admission that things are not what they seem to be, or seem to be what they are not, and that we are now ready and willing to see truly, despite appearances.  What we are in fact asking for is vision, the ability to see the oneness of life from its unified source to its individual manifestations.  It is the ability to see the ocean in every drop of water.
      

I and my Creator are One.  

May 27th 2014  Lesson 26

My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.

It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked you are not invulnerable.  Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together.  They contradict each other.  Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack.  And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable.  Attack thoughts therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are.  The idea for today introduce the thought that you always attack yourself first.
     
It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have established for everything.  The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than "good" or "bad," is the only way to accomplish this.  The idea for today is a step in this direction.

• Intention:  Six practice periods are required in applying today's idea.  A full two minutes should be attempted for each of them, although the time may be reduced to a minute if the discomfort is too great.  Do not reduce it further.  
     
• Practice:  The practice period should begin with repeating the idea for today, then closing your eyes and reviewing the unresolved questions whose outcomes are causing you concern.  The concern may take the form of depression, worry, anger, a sense of imposition, fear, foreboding or preoccupation.  Any problem as yet unsettled that tends to recur in your thoughts during the day is a suitable subject.  Today's idea should be applied as follows.  First, name the situation: 
    
  I am concerned about __________.  
  

  Then go over every possible outcome that has occurred to you in that connection and which has caused you concern, referring to each one quite specifically, saying:

  
  I am afraid __________ will happen.
  
  

  If you are doing the exercises properly, you should have some five or six distressing possibilities available for each situation you use, and quite possibly more.  It is much more helpful to cover a few situations thoroughly than to touch on a larger number.  You will probably find some of the anticipated outcomes less acceptable to you.  Try, however, to treat them all alike to whatever extent you can.  After you have  named each outcome of which you are afraid, tell yourself:
  

    
  That thought is an attack upon myself.
    
  

  Conclude each practice period by repeating today's idea to yourself once more.
  
          
  
• Application:   Practice with today's idea will help you to understand that vulnerability or invulnerability is the result of your own thoughts.  Nothing except your thoughts can attack you.  Nothing except your thoughts can make you think you are vulnerable.  And nothing except your thoughts can prove to you this is not so.  
     

  ---

Insights/comments:

• Our thoughts give meaning to our lives.  What we think about we value and believe.   Obviously if these thoughts are false our beliefs will also be false.  Today's lesson stresses yet another aspect of our thoughts, that they decide our vulnerability or our invulnerability.  To say that our attack thoughts are attacking our invulnerability implies that we are invulnerable, and are diminishing that invulnerability by having attack thoughts.  Our inherent invulnerability is easy to prove given who we are--the holy children of God--even though we do not typically think of ourselves as invulnerable.  The way then to protect our invulnerability is to release attack thoughts. 
      
  If we believe in attack, we must also believe that we can be attacked.  The fear of attack means that we believe ourselves to be vulnerable, which implies weakness, for only the vulnerable fear attack.  This is how attack thoughts weaken our inherent invulnerability.  They weaken our perception of ourselves.  The recognition of this weakening effect encourages us to practice returning to our invulnerability by releasing all thoughts of attack.

I and my Creator are One.  

May 26th 2014  Lesson 25

I do not know what anything is for.

Purpose is meaning.  Today's idea explains why nothing you see means anything.  You do not know what it is for.  Therefore it is meaningless to you.  Everything is for your own best interests.  That is what it is for; that is its purpose; that is what it means.  It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified.  It is in recognizing this that what you see is given meaning.
  
You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of your ego goals.  These goals have nothing to do with your owns best interests, because the ego is not you.  This false identification makes you incapable of understanding what anything is for.  As a result, you are bound to misuse it.  When you believe this, you will try to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them.

Before you can make any sense out of the exercises for today, one more thought is necessary.  At the most superficial levels, you do recognize purpose.  Yet purpose cannot be understood at these levels.  Fore example, you do understand that a telephone is for the purpose of talking to someone who is not physically in your immediate vicinity.  What you do not understand is what you want to reach him for.  And it is this that makes your contact with him meaningful or not
  
It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have established for everything.  The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than "good" or "bad," is the only way to accomplish this.  The idea for today is a step in this direction.

• Intention:  Six practice periods , each of two-minutes duration, are required. 
     
• Practice:  Begin each practice period what a slow repetition of the idea for today, followed by looking about you and letting your glance rest on whatever happens to catch your eye, near or far, "important" or "unimportant," "human" or "nonhuman."  With your eyes resting on each subject you select, say, for example: 
    
  I do not know what this chair is for.
  I do not know what this pencil is for.
  I do not know what this hand is for.
          
  
• Application:   Say these statements quite slowly, without shifting you eyes from the subject until you have completed the statement about it.  Then move on to the next subject, and apply today's idea as before.  
     

  ---

Insights/comments:

• Today's idea supports and reinforces the first lesson of this course.  It is because we do not know what anything is for that nothing that we see means anything.  Without understanding the purpose of a thing how can it have any meaning for us?  We were born into this world not knowing the meaning of what we perceived.  We certainly had a strong intuitive idea that everything in this world was for our own best interests (why would it be otherwise) but we could not communicate that to those around us, not being able to speak their language, nor correctly navigate the body suit we were wearing.  Besides which, they had their own meanings for things, and were intent on teaching us those meanings.  This is how it began for each of us, and we all decided early on to first learn the language, and the navigation of the body suit, so that we can teach these poor lost souls the truth that we are each the center of our own universe, and the purpose of everything is to serve our own best interests.    
      
  In time, we began to forget our original intention and most of us became more and more indoctrinated into the limited way of thinking and perceiving of those around us because we were dependent on them to help us learn the language and navigation of the body suit, and to satisfy our other immediate needs in this new environment.  Furthermore, they weren't too interested in what we had to teach them anyway.  We did not forget our original intention completely, for this knowledge is inherent in us, but we forgot enough to allow us to adopt a false identity as a body, just so that we could function in this environment.  The indoctrination process mostly succeeded and most of us adopted the ideas and beliefs of those around us and began to teach it to others. 
    
  It is only now that we are beginning to wake up, to remember our original intention and shake off this false identification with the body which blinds us to the real meaning of what everything is for.  Only now we are beginning to undo the ill effects of the indoctrination by giving up the goals we have established for everything, realizing that they are meaningless, and allowing the inherent God-given meaning of everything to shine though.

I and my Creator are One.  

May 25th 2014  Lesson 24

I do not perceive my own best interests.

In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy.  Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result.  What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong.  It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests.  To realize that you do not perceive you own best interests, you could be taught what they are, and today's idea is a step towards opening your mind so that learning can begin.

• Intention:  Five practice periods are required in applying today's idea, allowing two minutes for each of the mind-searching periods which the exercises involve.
     
• Practice:  Begin by repeating today's idea to yourself, then close your eyes search your mind for any unresolved situations about which you are currently concerned.  The emphasis should be on uncovering the outcome you want. 
    
  In applying today's idea, name each situation that occurs to you, then enumerate carefully as many goals as possible that you would like to be met in its resolution.  The form of each application should be roughly as follows: 
    
  In the situation involving ________, I would like _______
  to happen, and _______ to happen, ...
          
  
• Application:   If these exercises are done properly, you will quickly recognize that you are making a large number of demands of the situation which have nothing to do with it.  You will also recognize that many of your goals are contradictory, that you have no unified outcome in mind, and that you must experience disappointment in connection with some of your goals, however the situation turns out.
    
  After covering the list of as many hoped-for goals as possible, for each unresolved situation that crosses your mind repeat the following to yourself, then go on to the next one:
    
  I do not perceive my own best interests in this situation.
     

  ---

Insights/comments:

• It may seem to be a bold and exaggerated statement to say:  "In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy," but let us look at this a bit closer.  We certainly have had many instances where this was true, where we were happily surprised by the outcome of a situation, either getting what we did not know we wanted, or not getting what we didn’t want.  So we can agree that the statement is true in many cases; but is it so in every instance?  Let us examine the criteria for knowing the outcome of a situation that would make us happy.  First we must be clear about who we are; clear about what makes us happy or sad, and clear about how the specific situation can potentially fulfill the goal of making us happy. 
   
  The answer to the question of who we really are, as God created us, as opposed to who we think we are, as our self created egos, is at best, moot, and herein lies the root of the problem:  How can we possibly know what would make us happy when we do not know our true identity.  Further, we do not know who our own self-created ego is, so again how can we possibly know what would make it happy.  And unless we can see the future, we cannot know for sure the outcome of our actions in any situation, far less to know whether or not it results in happiness.   From this perspective, the world we created is a dice game at best, and a nightmare at worst.  We know only the probabilities of how things may work out, and can only speculate as to whether it would indeed make our ego-self happy—sometimes they may other times they won't
   
  But fortunately, God does not play dice with our salvation and for Him the outcome of every situation is known and stacked in our favor for He knows our true identity and therefore what is in our best interest.  Our salvation is not in question for we are the eternal children of God, forever at one with Him and because of this, we do get to decide collaboratively when salvation will occur.  We can postpone it for as long as we like, but it is guaranteed.

I and my Creator are One.  

May 22nd 2014  Lesson 23

I can escape from the world I see
by giving up attack thoughts.

Today's idea contains the only way out of fear that will ever succeed.  If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it is these thoughts which you don not want.  There is no point in lamenting the world.  There is no point in trying to change the world.  It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect.  But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world.  Here you are changing the cause.  The effect will change automatically. 

• Intention:  Five practice periods are required in applying today's idea, allowing a full minute for each.
     
• Practice: As you look about you, repeat the idea slowly to yourself first, then close your eyes and devote about a minute to searching your mind for as many attack thoughts as occur to you.  As each one crosses your mind say: 
    
  I can escape from the world I see
  by giving up attack thoughts about ________.
          
  
• Application:   In the practice periods, be sure to include both your thoughts of attacking and of being attacked.  Their effects are exactly the same, and even though you may not recognize this as yet, when you do you will be ready to let the cause go.  Also be sure to apply today's idea to any attack thoughts that arise during the day.
     

  ---

Insights/comments:

• Today's lesson stresses the fact that our perception of "external reality" is a pictorial representation of our own attack thoughts.  Fantasy is the process and hallucination is the result.  Our only means of escape is to change the cause of our hallucination by releasing attack thoughts.

I and my Creator are One.  

May 21st 2014  Lesson 22

What I see is a form of vengeance.

Today's idea accurately describes the way anyone who holds attack thoughts in his mind must see the world.  Having projected his anger onto the world, he sees vengeance about to strike at him.  His own attack is thus perceived as self defense.  This becomes an increasingly vicious circle until he is willing to change how he sees.  Otherwise, thoughts of attack and counter attack will preoccupy him and people his entire world.  What peace of mind is possible to him then?  
   
It is from this savage fantasy that we want to escape.  Is it not joyous news to hear that it is not real?  Is it not a happy discovery to find that you can escape?  The joyful truth is that a vengeful world Is not real; we made it all up, and so we can escape its effect by changing how we see.  We made what we would destroy; everything we hate and could attack and kill.  All that we fear does not exist.  Today's exercise helps us see the fantasy world we created, and uncreate it.

• Intention:  Five practice periods are urged, allowing a full minute for each.
     
• Practice: Look at the world about you and as you eyes move slowly from one object to another, from one body to another, say to yourself: 
    
  I see only the perishable.
  I see nothing that will last.
  What I see is not real.
  What I see is a form of vengeance.
        
  

  At the end of each practice period, ask yourself the following question; the answer is surely obvious:

  Is this the world I really want to see?
    
  
• Application:    Remember to be indiscriminate about the objects we select for practice.  This is the way to salvation or the correction of errors; only the truth will set us free.  We must first recognize that we have made an error in our thinking, perceiving, and acting, which has convinced us that the world we perceive outside ourselves is real and furthermore that we did not create it but are helpless subjects to it.  The truth is that we did create the world and therefore we can uncreate it.  This is the truth that will set us free.   By recognizing the error, we are automatically empowered with the wisdom to correct it.
  
     

  ---

Insights/comments:

• Attack thoughts are thoughts of attacking or defending against what we do not like.  They are thoughts of judgement and separation; thoughts that make us displeased or angry with ourselves and others or with certain circumstances.  Attack thoughts are those that cloud our minds from the deeper truth about our identity as the holy children of God.  Attack thoughts make perception seem real, but now we are learning that because our perceptions are variable and changeable they are therefore inherently false, and like our dreams, they are based on what we think and believe.  As we change our thinking we automatically change perceptions, and as perceptions change, so do our actions.
  
  How to change our thinking, perceiving, and acting, is not immediately obvious, until we recognize that they are based on us being holy children of God, created perfect in the likeness of our Creator and endowed with the ability to create illusions, but more importantly with the ability to recognize the reality of our true identity.  Gradually we can begin to realize (make real in our awareness) our true identity by loosening the strong grip of our belief and investment in the apparent reality of our external world.  Gradually will we then begin to see the world for the illusion that it is.
.

I and my Creator are One.  

May 20th 2014  Lesson 21

I am determined to see things differently.

Today's lesson is obviously a continuation and extension of yesterday's, and is a reminder that we do not really recognize what causes anger to arise in us because we still believe that some forms of attack are more justified than others.

• Intention:  Five practice periods are urged, allowing a full minute for each.
     
• Practice:  Begin by repeating today's idea to yourself, then search you mind carefully for situations past, present or anticipated that arouse anger in you.  The anger may take the form of any reaction ranging from mild irritation to rage.  As you search, hold each upsetting thought in mind while you tell yourself: 
    
  I am determined to see ______ [name of person] differently.
  I am determined to see _______ [specify the situation] differently.    
    
  
• Application:   The degree of emotion you experience with each upsetting thought does not matter.  You will become increasingly aware that a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury.  Try therefore, not to let the "little" thoughts of anger escape you in the practice periods. 
    
  Try to be as specific as possible.  You may, for example, focus your anger on a particular attribute of a particular person, believing that the anger is limited to this aspect.  If your perception is suffering from this form of distortion, say: 
    
  I am determined to see ______ [specify the attribute]
  in ______ [name of person] differently.
    

  ---

Insights/comments:

• The idea is a first step in exercising the power of our will in changing our perception as we wish.  Our determination to see things differently will change what we perceive, validating the truth that we see according to what we think and believe.  Today's idea will also uncover some of the deeper underlying causes for our anger and allow us to release them.

I and my Creator are One.  

May 19th 2014  Lesson 20

I am determined to see.

Today's lesson is our first attempt to introduce structure in our practicing.  We want peace but it requires that we develop the ability to distinguish between joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, love and fear.  We want to see things as they truly are, without the make-believe meanings we have placed upon them.  This is the reversal of thinking that is the goal of our practicing.

• Intention:  Throughout the day, remind yourself that you want to see by repeating today's idea.  You are stating that you are determined to change your present state for a better one, and one you really want.
     
• Practice:  Repeat today's idea slowly and positively at least twice an hour today, attempting to do so every half hour.  Do not be distressed if you forget to do so, but make a real effort to remember.
       
• Application:   Extra repetitions should be applied to any situation, person or event that upsets you.  You can see them differently, and you will.  Yet your seeing will be limited if you regard yourself as being coerced, or give in to resentment and opposition to the exercises. 

  ---

Insights/comments:

• The idea is a first step in exercising the power of our will in changing our perception as we wish.  Our determination to see will change what we perceive, validating the truth that we see according to what we think and believe.
  

I and my Creator are One.