My mind holds only what I think with God.

I have noticed since beginning this review that something is shifting in me. There is greater confidence than there was before in the efficiency of the direct path and in my desire and ability to remain focused on it. I feel as if I am learning now to “claim again” my inheritance.

With this in mind, I contemplate today’s review lessons.

If I defend myself I am attacked. In order to defend myself, I must forget my Self. It doesn’t matter if I am defending my psyche against something that it perceives as an attack or if I am defending against truth by avoiding spiritual practice. Either way, I am not coming from my Self. Therefore, whenever I notice myself defending, I will drop the habit of ignorance and turn attention toward the heart, toward truth.

Sickness is a defense against the truth. I do not feel to focus on effects. It feels better for me to watch where my attention is now. Am I obsessed with thinking about an illness or some other circumstance? Am I resisting an illness or another current circumstance? Do I feel like the victim of an illness or another circumstance? If yes, that focus is a defense against the truth. Instead of being in defense, it feels better for me to be consistently in acceptance, grounded in wisdom, and in contemplation of the truth. When I find myself in defense, I will return myself to clarity and promptly drop the habit of ignorance.

What good news yesterday’s lesson was. “No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.” And yet, one must be honest about her seeking. To say she seeks the truth, but to look to the world for happiness, is to be dishonest with her self. One who seeks the truth seeks inward, toward the great ocean of life-awareness, which is the true Self. “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” ~ Luke 17:21

With this, it is clear that ample time given to awareness-focused meditation is an important part of surrendering to the desire for truth realization. I do not deny this. I embrace this fact, and I take time each day for that most direct path. In addition, I remain aware of truth during my daily activities.

The review instructions say, “…place His Mind in charge of all the thoughts you will receive… And so each one will bring the message of His Love to you, returning messages of yours to Him. … And as His Own completion joins with Him, so will He join with you who are complete as you unite with Him, and He with you.”

It is with this thought that I contemplate today’s review lessons:

I will not value what is valueless. I will not value what is passing. I will be with it, because it is here now, but my heart’s value shall remain with the eternal, and my awareness will rest gratefully with the heart.

Let me perceive forgiveness as it is. When I notice my mind has gone to unnecessary thinking about temporary circumstances or wishes, I bring my attention back to the heart and the eternal. Here I abide as I go through the normal activities of my day. I rejoice in silent contemplation of truth.

Yesterday my focus was watching for defenses and self-deceptions, that which keeps my attention away from my true Self. I did this because it was a request made in the review instructions. After making that request, the review instructions say:

“And yet, your mind holds only what you think with God. Your self-deceptions cannot take the place of truth. No more than can a child who throws a stick into the ocean change the coming and the going of the tides, the warming of the water by the sun, the silver of the moon on it by night.”

This brings me back to, “My mind holds only what I think with God.” With this in mind, I contemplate today’s review lessons.

No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth. Although there are many ideas that distract from truth, they are each temporary. As a stream, they can appear endless. But if I step back from the stream and compare it to the ocean, I see the stream is shallow. It is the great depth of the ocean that calls to me. I shall listen and go where I am called.

I loose the world from all I thought it was. I thought my happiness resided in the world. That is exactly what I thought. That is why it has held my attention for so long. I loose the world from all I thought it was. I give my attention to the depth within.

“My mind holds only what I think with God.” It is lack of forgiveness that blocks this realization from our awareness.

The review instructions ask us to notice “the many forms in which the lack of true forgiveness may be carefully concealed.” In other words, the review instructions ask us to put some effort into finding our own defenses against the truth, our own self-deceptions.

With this request in mind, I contemplate today’s review lessons.

Beyond this world there is a world I want. I close my eyes and go into contemplation of this fact. I go beyond all of the thoughts that offer me something to think about. They are each defenses against the truth.

It is impossible to see two worlds. Attention will either go out towards the world and thought or it will go in towards awareness. It cannot go in two directions at once. Anything that keeps me from being aware of myself as awareness or as the watcher is a defense against truth for me.

The central theme that we are contemplating during this review period is:

My mind holds only what I think with God.

The workbook instructions for the review period say, “It is this thought that fully guarantees salvation to the Son. For in his mind no thoughts can dwell but those his Father shares. Lack of forgiveness blocks this thought from his awareness. Yet it is forever true.”

This means that when we let our attention dwell with any thought, emotion or desire that is inevitably temporary, or when we let our attention dwell with anything that it cannot dwell on eternally, we block our realization of truth.

With this thought in mind, I contemplate today’s review lessons.

There is no love but God’s. What, then, is love? To discover what love is I must compare human feelings of love, which do not last, to that which is always present. For example, sometimes I think I love something because it brings me pleasure, but pleasure is not constant. Therefore that is not love. Yet I notice beingness or isness is always present. That must be love.

The world I see holds nothing that I want. That’s because the world I see holds nothing. It all comes and goes. Whether I perceive it as grand or totally undesirable, it has the same quality. It is not eternal; it is not held. I seek that which is eternal, that which is held, and I let the temporary be as it is.

The instructions for this review period give us a central theme to contemplate each day. That theme is:

My mind holds only what I think with God.

The instructions go on to say, “That is a fact, and represents the truth of what you are and What your Father is.”

This means that what our mind holds is what we are, and what our mind holds is what God is. So if we want to find our Self, and if we want to find God, we must look for what our mind holds. What our mind holds is always present. Therefore, our search for God is also the search for what is always present.

Here is my contemplation of today’s review lessons with that thought in mind:

In quiet I receive God’s Word today. All of the thoughts that come and go in my consciousness are not God’s Word, because God’s Word is the Word, that which is before everything. In order to know God’s Word, I must look beyond all of the words that distract from it. I must enter into the quiet, where God’s Word is known; not heard, but known. God’s Word is not other than my Self. In quiet, I realize that today.

All that I give is given to myself. Why do my thoughts appear so mesmerizing, those words that are temporary and are not the eternal Word of God? If I close my eyes and look, I find only one power that infuses thought with power. That power is my attention. I am the power that infuses thought with apparent power. All that I give attention to, I give to myself. The question then becomes, what do I want to give attention to? That is the same as asking, what do I want to have power over me?

The instructions for this review period have told us that we will use this review to “concentrate on the readiness for what will follow next.” And then it gave us a central theme to use in that concentration:

My mind holds only what I think with God.

Each day during the review period, be sure to start with five minutes contemplating this thought. You don’t need to write anything about it, although you can if something begins to come that you want to write down. However, be sure to spend five minutes marinating in this thought. Assume that it is preparing you for what will follow next, even if you do not notice the preparation at all.

After you’ve spent five minutes with this initial thought, go on to contemplate the review lessons for the day. As an example, here is my contemplation of today’s review lessons:

I thank my Father for his gifts to me. Those gifts are not the temporary things or experiences that come to me in this lifetime. God’s gifts are never temporary. God’s gifts are the eternal gifts that are always present. I thank my Father for His eternal gifts, and I show appreciation for them by paying attention to them throughout my day.

Let me remember I am one with God. I cannot find God’s gifts by looking for objects that are different from me. God’s gifts are my nature. I will seek what is my nature. If I see something that I can separate from myself, that is not my nature. I cannot ever be separated from my own nature. When I see something that is consistently present and cannot be separated from me ever, I have found my nature. Therefore, I have found my Self and I have found God, for they are one.

“My mind holds only what I think with God,” is the key thought we will contemplate as we go through this next review, so let’s begin by looking deeply at what that means.

Interestingly, the dictionary does not define ‘think’ as the ongoing mental chatter in the mind, although most people tend to think that chatter is thinking. The dictionary defines ‘think’ as “to have a conscious mind” or “to have in consciousness.”

Therefore, “My mind holds only what I think with God” means that anything we are conscious of that is not truth is temporary. Only truth is lasting. And it is this simple fact that sets the stage for the contemplation of every lesson that we will review over the next ten days.

Sometimes A Course in Miracles uses the term “real thoughts” to refer to the thoughts we think with God. Real thoughts are the environment of pure consciousness. You can think of them as attitudes or ways of being. Real thoughts include:

~ All-is-well (peace)
~ Open embracing acceptance (love)
~ An inherent sense freedom—a sense of soaring from within (joy)
~ Intimacy with everything (oneness).

Patience, allowance and compassion are the reflections of our real thoughts.

So, “My mind holds only what I think with God” means that only these qualities are lasting. Everything else that appears in consciousness is temporary and passing.

With this in mind, we are asked to contemplate each day’s review lessons. The review instructions say, “Let each word [in the review lessons] shine with the meaning God has given it, as it was given to you through His Voice. Let each idea which you review that day give you the gift He has laid in it for you …”

As an example, here is my contemplation of today’s review lessons. They were contemplated with “My mind holds only what I think with God” in mind:

Forgiveness is the key to happiness. Forgiveness does not give value to the temporary. It gives value only to that which is lasting. Therefore, it lets the temporary come and go while it reflects only on truth.

Forgiveness offers everything I want, because all that I want is truth. Even when I make the mistake of seeking by letting attention dwell temporarily with mental chatter, I am really looking for the qualities of consciousness. Therefore, letting go of mental chatter and resting in consciousness is the answer that provides everything I want.

Today’s lesson speaks of “happy dreams the Holy Spirit brings” and says they are “different from the dreaming of the world.”

With the mindset of the world, a happy dream would be a dream where all of my problems are resolved. I have enough money. I am healthy. There is only peace in all of my relationships. I feel free to do the things I want to do and do not feel burdened or obligated to do things I do not like to do. Etcetera.

The happy dream the Holy Spirit brings is different than that idea of the happy dream. “The dreams forgiveness lets the mind perceive do not induce another form of sleep, … His happy dreams are heralds of the dawn of truth upon the mind.”

In other words, the happy dream that the Course speaks of has nothing to do with our situation in the world. It is a dream that comes from the gradual realization of truth. Eastern traditions often call this equanimity or detachment, but since those words can be misunderstood by the mind that hasn’t experienced them directly, let me explain the happy dream using different words.

In the happy dream, we are coming to know the true Self as a direct experience. We see with increasing clarity that we are not threatened or affected by anything. We are falling in love with the fact that we are the true Self and not the body-mind-personality.

As our attention moves toward the true Self as truth, and that becomes primary in our awareness, the body-mind-personality and its story shift back and become secondary. It’s not that we ignore problems; when things arise that need to be dealt with we deal with them effectively. It’s just that we don’t feel threatened by them. Our happiness doesn’t hinge on a specific outcome. We are able to be with the dream as if it is a temporary dream, while knowing that we are beyond it.

That’s the happy dream. Although it may include health, health is not required. Although it may include financial abundance, financial abundance is not important at all. In fact, the happy dream is described well in both NTI and The Teachings of Inner Ramana:

From NTI 1 Corinthians: “What is received when all that is false has been let go is only that which reflects truth. This, which is received as truth, shall fill you with new eyes and a joyous heart. … It is upon this recognition, which is the completeness of recognition within time, that you enter the fourth and final earthly phase of the path of truth with Me. The fourth phase is a glorious phase, upon which your feet shall barely touch the ground. As you walk the earth, you know where you walk, so that the earth is merely a symbol within the mind. You shall not know brothers, but you shall talk to them. You will not need food, but you will eat with joy. Music shall accompany you in your every moment, and yet, you will have no need for your ears. Your sight will be changed from earthly sight to sight that is provided from Heaven. All things shall be new, and you shall have no need for any of them. In this, your joy shall be complete.”

From The Teachings of Inner Ramana: “Self-realization is all that matters, because when Self is realized nothing else affects it. Illness does not affect it. Poverty does not cause it harm. Loss of a friendship is no loss at all. The realized Self is full . . . full enough that it may allow the outward symbols to be what they may, and it does not lose its awareness of Self. Therefore, it does not lose its knowledge and awareness of love.”

As mentioned yesterday, the purpose of Lesson 140 is to clarify the goal. The goal has nothing to do with outcomes in the world. Things will always shift and change in the world. Problems will come, problems will be resolved and new problems will come to replace them. We aren’t seeking the end of the dream being the dream. We are transcending the dream and awakening from it. That is the goal.

The primary purpose of today’s lesson is to clarify the goal.

When people believe they suffer because of a specific problem in form, it is easy to think their answer lies in resolving that specific problem. However, one problem follows another problem in the changing world of form. The only answer that resolves all problems is awakening to truth.

There are several sentences in today’s lesson that attempt to make that clarification:

~ “Cure” is a word that cannot be applied to any remedy the world accepts as beneficial. … Its forms of healing thus must substitute illusion for illusion.

~ [The patient] merely had a dream that he was sick, and in the dream he found a magic formula to make him well. Yet he has not awakened from the dream, and so his mind remains exactly as it was before.

~ What difference does the content of a dream make in reality? One either sleeps or wakens. There is nothing in between.

~ [Holiness] does not make distinctions between unrealities. … It merely focuses on what it is, and knows that no illusion can be real.

~ There is no remedy the world provides that can effect a change in anything. The mind that brings illusions to truth is really changed.

The lesson also says, “We will try today to find the source of healing, which is in our minds because our Father placed it there for us.” (In this context, “healing” is synonymous with awakening.)

This is why we practice awareness-watching-awareness meditation. We focus within on awareness, our true Self. Our true Self is the source of healing. It is the light that awakens.

We do not need to resolve our worldly problems in order to practice awareness-watching-awareness daily. Awareness is always present, so it can always be watched regardless of what problems are present in our daily life now. All we need is the desire to spend some time each day being with our true Self.

During awareness-watching-awareness, we aren’t looking for anything in form to change as a result of our practice. Instead, we are taking a break from all illusions in order to focus solely on truth for a period of time.

The goal is not to change the dream. The goal is to awaken from it.

It is okay to seek resolution to problems that come up in the dream. If there is a headache, it is okay to take aspirin. If a job ends, it is ok to look for another job. However, keep in mind that this is all dream stuff. Let the dream be the dream, AND remain clear on the goal. It is possible to do both by keeping the mind focused in the direction of truth. This is often referred to as “being in the world but not of it.”

Remember that the only resolution that can be a cure (a successful and permanent remedy from suffering) is awakening to truth. Everything else is temporary relief from suffering at best. Temporary relief is acceptable and can be helpful, but it isn’t the goal.