Lesson 55. Review of lessons 21-25.

Review 21. I am determined to see things differently: I do not know how enlightenment sees. It seems to me that if I decide on a belief about what enlightenment sees, I may restrict myself to my belief. I do not want to be restricted by my imagination of truth. I want the genuine experience of truth. Therefore, my strategy for ‘seeing’ is this:

Lesson 54. Review of Lessons 16-20.

[16] “I have no neutral thoughts”

[17] “I see no neutral things.”

[18] “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.”

[19] “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.”

[20] “I am determined to see.”

When I did the lessons way back when, I loved the lesson “I have no neutral thoughts.” I think I loved it because even back then I felt the depth of truth in this statement of fact. Now I see it points me in the direction of my true desire. This statement, “I have no neutral thoughts” is basically the same lesson we have been learning in Consistent Gentle Healing and that is, let everything be as it is and letting everything be as it is is the forgiveness lesson. Everything is the way it is because everything (else) is the way it is. Everything is connected. Quantum physics is proving in the “physical” world that everything is connected and of course the physical world is just a reflection of our spiritual or inner world. We know that God is Love. Love is freedom. Freedom is peace. Peace is….Everything is connected.

If everything is connected then we know that our concepts of private thoughts can’t be true. ACIM lesson 20, “Recognizing the share nature of my thoughts, I am determined to see.” If I am connected to everyone then I have an awesome responsibility because I only want to share my real thoughts in the world. NTI Romans 8, “every thought that you have ever had is expressed in the world.” My real or true thoughts are the thoughts that I share with the Holy Spirit. NTI Romans 8 “The Holy Spirit is your truth.” ACIM lesson 19, [It] “is therefore in my power to change every mind along with mine, for mine is the power of God.”

So what does this set a review lessons mean for us in our practical living? It means stay in touch with what is true through our spiritual practices like spiritual inquiry and awareness watching awareness. Allow the false to be. Allow it to be incidental. Allow it to be without emphasis, while abiding lovingly with the true. NTI Romans 9 “Give willingness to see that it is not real. Give willingness to see that it is only thought…You must be willing not to believe the thoughts you see, the thoughts you experience, or the thought that seems to be you.”

Lesson 53. Review of Lessons 11-15.

11) My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.

When I lose my focus on spiritual aspiration or true desire, I become disheartened. I am no longer able to see how everything fits together into one glorious song or testament to life itself. I think that there must be some place I am supposed to be, some way I am supposed to be and I imagine that I am not in that place or way of being. This is what it means to be separate from life. When I drop into my heart—when I focus on my essence—I have a felt sense that I and everything else is just where and how it “should be.” I don’t need anything to be different. I am confident in my Self and my “place” in the world.

12) I am upset because I see a meaningless world.

I can be sure that if I am upset, it is because I have, once again, begun searching for meaning outside of myself. I have turned to looking to others and the world and found that they have somehow failed me—failed to meet my expectations. By letting go of my belief in these thoughts of lack and limitation, I find myself settled; happy to be with whatever arises. In myself, I never find any cause for upset. When upset arises and I do not try to assign the cause of that upset to the outside world, I see through the emotions to the unaffectedness of my true nature.

13) A meaningless world engenders fear.

I fear a meaningless world only when I believe it is the world that gives me meaning. What is there to fear in something that can have no effect upon me? I learn to see fear as a signpost, whose presence heralds the recognition of my focus outside myself. Fear feeds itself if I believe it is justified by its cause. How do I let go of fear? I look within myself to see the source of fear. The source of fear is always the believing attention I have placed on my thoughts about the world.

14) God did not create a meaningless world.

Who created this world? I create a meaningless world when I believe it can offer me something I want. The only meaning in the world is to realize it shows me the opposite of truth. Conflict, attack, victimization are those things that are directly counter to the truth—Peace, cooperation and powerful freedom. It is not helpful for me to see the process of creation as outside of what I am and how I think and be. No all powerful force exists outside of me whose whims control my destiny. I am that which is. I come to understand the power of my being as I reclaim responsibility for that which I see.

15) My thoughts are images that I have made.

I must learn to take responsibility for the world I see. I must use discerning awareness in where I choose to cast my attention. When I see images in the world which call for my believing attention, I must ask, “who sees these thoughts” rather than “what do these images mean?” Recognizing my responsibility is not a calling to feel guilty. Rather, recognizing my responsibility offers me a glimpse of the power of my believing attention. Only by recognizing I have a choice in how I perceive what I “see,” can I reclaim my power to create in loving cooperation with my brothers. When the images of this world seem to bring sadness or despair I remember I have the choice to reclaim my creative power. I make this choice by focusing on my true desire.

When I decide an idea is meaningful, the idea becomes manifest in some way.  When it is manifest it is experienced.  If I decide an idea has importance or meaning it seems real.  Once I experience an idea as real, it is like a mesmerizing spell, that I ignorantly believe and continue to see as real.  But this isn’t reality. I am upset because it is not true and I know it at the depth of my being.  To wake up from this cycle, I must choose to slip outside of the spell by realizing the meaninglessness of my self directed “seeing” and surrender to that part of me that does know–my True Self.

7)”I see only the past.”

I don’t think. I look for memories or associations with ideas I have learned in the past.  How many times have I been in a conversation where the other person is talking about something I know very little about, but when something is said that reminds me of something I heard in the past that is somewhat similar to the subject matter, I say what I know or think I know about the subject.  I do this with everything.  All my likes and dislikes are based on something that occurred in my past.  Then I prioritize or judge these things or people or places and I live my life based on this hierarchy, making things and people and all illusions unequal. So I decide some illusions are more important in my ranking, but what has actually happened is I have blocked the awareness that all of my illusions are equally unreal.

8) “My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.”

This lesson says, “I’m trying to use time against God.”  ACIM says we had an opportunity to laugh at the idea of being separate from God, but we choose not to laugh it off and became preoccupied with thoughts of separation.  So Jesus in the Course says the question isn’t really how did this happen, but why do we continue to choose separation.  NTI Romans 7 said, “Remember that the universe is a reflection of a past wish, a past belief in the mind.”  The concept of personhood is synonymous with separation.  Awareness knows I am a part of the larger fabric of existence.  I will practice awareness watching awareness and give up my preoccupation with the past.

9)”I see nothing as it is now.”

I see nothing as it is now because I am only seeing my past experiences.  Everything I think I see has a memory connected to it.  I am not seeing.  I am reliving the memory.  If I want to see, I need to drop the past associations I have with what I think I am seeing.  A fresh, unencumbered experience is available in the present moment.

10)”My thoughts do not mean anything.”

My thoughts do not mean anything because my private thoughts are meaningless. The lesson says my mind is really blank when I seem to be having private thoughts.  This is because I am unconscious when I seem to be thinking private thoughts.  When I are believe I am a private person with private thoughts, I believe I am a person that can act on the world and be acted upon by the world.  I see everything as outside of me or what I perceive as me.  Of course, this is duality and is the root of all my perceived problems.  There is no distinct person.  It is only a misperception that doesn’t mean anything. Awareness watching awareness is a fresh perspective that will release me from this old and tired way of thinking and being.

Instructions for Review Lessons 51-60

The instructions for Review 1 are fairly flexible. For example, you are told that “if any one of the five ideas appeals to you more than the others, concentrate on that one.”

The flexibility in the instructions allows you to develop a personal relationship with the review lessons.

When Helen scribed the review lessons, she also wrote a paragraph below each lesson. We do not know if this paragraph was fully scribed or if it is a reflection of her personal relationship with the lesson. In the instructions, you are asked to read these paragraphs, but you are also told that it is “not necessary to cover the comments that follow each idea either literally or thoroughly in the practice periods. Try, rather, to emphasize the central point, and think about it as part of your review of the idea to which it relates.” This might be because the comments are Helen’s personal relationship with each lesson. Rather than emphasizing her personal relationship, it is more helpful for you to develop your own personal relationship.

One way to develop your own personal relationship with the lessons is to contemplate each lesson and then write your own comments, comments that reflect your relationship with the lesson.

My intention for the review period is to spend time each morning contemplating the day’s review lessons and writing my own comments. Throughout the day, I will spend at least two minutes each hour deeply contemplating one lesson and the comments I wrote for that lesson. At the end of the day, I will reread the lessons and comments in the workbook along with my own comments.

If this feels right for you, please feel free to do the same. Developing your own relationship with the lessons as we do the review can be extremely, extremely helpful.

I will post my comments for Lesson 51 as an example:

(1) Nothing I see means anything. I want things in my outer world to have meaning because it makes me feel safe and settled. My thinking mind likes to assign meaning so that it can categorize events and provide a mapped out playing field in which the rules are “clear” and I cannot be taken off guard. As I was nearing the end of the me, me, me journey, I found myself saying about most of the things I encountered in my daily life: “That just doesn’t make sense.” My inability to make sense of the world was the beginning of the end. The Truth is, things in this world simply do not make sense. The attempt to make things fit together in a “sensible” way is an effort to maintain a separate “me.” I honestly and humbly surrender my way of “seeing” to a more natural way of being.

(2) I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me.I want to assign meaning to the world so that I will feel safe in it. I have used everything I “see” for this purpose. Assigning meaning to the things of this world for this purpose have blinded me to the actual nature of myself and the world. When I assign meaning, I alone determine the meaning anything and everything has for me. Any meaning I assign is artificial and tenuous. In order to truly see, I must be willing to give up assigning meaning.

(3) I do not understand anything I see.The world I see cannot tell me who I am. I ask the world to do just this. If I surrender to the mystery of life, I am affirmatively acknowledging that I have failed to understand what anything is for and surrendering to one who does know, which may be called my True Self, my Holy Spirit or Inner Wisdom. My belief that I do understand is that which causes my suffering. I am willing to acknowledge I do not understand anything I see.

(4) These thoughts do not mean anything.I would separate out my thoughts from the other people, things, events, etc., which I encounter because I believe my thoughts carry special meaning. Because I believe I cherish myself, I cherish my thoughts. Because I believe my thoughts are always aimed at my best interests, I trust them and seek them out to show me the meaning of myself and my world. This relationship with my thoughts does not serve me. My thoughts do not support my own best interests. By giving up my beliefs about “my thoughts,” I break the cycle of believing, seeing, experiencing that keeps me bound to my past. By learning that these thoughts do not mean anything, I free myself to experience each moment as it is rather than as I have taught myself to “see” it.

(5) I am never upset for the reason I think.I am upset because I see others as challenging my definition of myself. Because my definition of myself is arbitrary and tenuous, it is always open to challenge. I always find myself to be too much of this and not enough of that. When others say or do things that support “too much” or “not enough” I am upset. I believe that all things need to be “just so” in order for me to feel valuable and safe. When I am upset, it is because things, people and events are not behaving the way I think they should. This threatens my self image. Remembering that I am always upset because I am believing I am something I am not, removes my outward focus and reminds me to focus on my true desire, which is to know myself.

Lesson 50. I am sustained by the Love of God.

Today’s lesson begins, “Here is the answer to every problem that will confront you, today and tomorrow and throughtout time.”  The Self that God created needs nothing.  It is complete and it is real.  A Course in Miracles says “If God is real, there is no pain. If pain is real, there is no God.” The truth be told, you can put any of your fears into that same line of thinking and see the absurdity of a reality without the Truth that is God.

If God is real then worthlessness is not.

If God is real then vulnerability is not.

If God is real then abandonment is not.

If God is real then betrayal is not.

If God is real then attack is not.

If God is real then rejection is not.

If God is real then condemnation is not.

If God is real then guilt is not.

If Love is real then fear is not.

What God created is real.

The introduction to A Course in Miracles says:

Nothing real can be threatened.

Nothing unreal exists.

Herein lies the peace [and the Love] of God.

God and his Son cannot be threatened and the aforementioned fears are not real.  Only what God created and is, is real.

If a thought does not come from God it is not real, and the only thing to do is to release it and harbor it no longer because God did not create it.  Nothing exist apart from God because God and his Creation share one Will. Some believe we must maintain the temporal for sustenance because we believe we threw away Eternity.  Thank goodness we are loved and aligned with a Higher Power and therefore truly invulnerable.  And, according to Brent Haskell in his book Journey Beyond Words, “There is nothing outside of yourself that can have any effect, of any kind, upon you, or your experience, or your awareness…The only way anything can happen to you is if there exists a something different from you” [but] “when God loves you, In reality, God becomes you.”

The Love of God sustains us because, as today’s workbook lesson tells us, God’s Love is “eternal, changeless[,] forever unfailing” and real.

God’s Voice is silent. It communicates with no words at all. We ‘hear’ God’s Voice more as an intuitive feeling. An example of God’s Voice is the feeling ‘all is well.’ When we feel ‘all is well’ under all circumstances, we are listening to God’s Voice consistently.

God’s Voice prompts us in daily life, if we are willing to ‘listen’. It may come through as a feeling that ‘I don’t need to do anything’ about a particular situation; ‘I can wait’ or have patience. It may come through as a feeling that ‘it is best if I say nothing now’. Or it may come through as a feeling that ‘it is best if I say this particular thing now’. It may come through as awareness, noticing that ‘I am listening to an out-of-control mind now’ and a reminder to breathe and shift attention, etc.

The brain has the ability to translate God’s silent Voice into your language, which means you can hear God’s Voice as words/thoughts. This may or may not happen for some individuals. It may happen sometimes but not all of the time.

Open to ‘God’s Voice’ in whatever way it comes to you today. If you close your eyes for 5 minutes and have no other experience except feeling more relaxed after the 5-minute practice, you heard God’s Voice. That’s it.

Lesson 48. There is nothing to fear.

Today’s lesson obviously builds on yesterday’s lesson: God is the Strength in which I trust. The reason there is nothing to fear is because God is the Strength in which I trust.

More and more there is an awareness that our true identity is Spirit. However if we are still believing our thoughts about being a person within a world, giving up these concepts may be scary. But the truth is there is great joy in relying on your natural state. “Your truth is joy, so whenever you are not joyful you are misunderstanding what you are.” NTI James 1

It feels scary to think about stepping out of the world, but the mind is the cause of the world, therefore we can never be helpless victims.

When we hold Self Realization as our goal, we begin to detach from the world and realize there is nothing outside of us. All goals then are consistent with God reliance. My decisions are no longer based on what is happening on the screen or the values the world and I once shared.

The problem is we are still uncertain about Spirit. We have not really bought into the truth that God is our Strength in which we can trust. It is seen as a risk rather than an opening up to Strength. Confidence comes from practicing and focusing our attention on our true desire. NTI James 1 teaches, “For with practice and focus, your true desire stands clear within your sight until the naturalness of your being is as natural in your awareness as true desire is now in the quiet of your Heart. God is the truth within you.”

Journey Beyond Words teaches “God is within me. God Himself is within my being. God’s strength. God’s Love, And the Light with which I will see, are deep within me. They will never leave. And I, in all the power of my imaginings, Cannot make it go away. Truly, there is nothing to fear.”

Lesson 47. God is the strength in which I trust

In A Course in Miracles, Jesus says. “Remember nothing that you taught yourself, for you were badly taught. T-28.I.7.”

Similarly, in today’s lesson Jesus is teaching us if you are relying on your own strength or wits or judgements you are in error and not serving yourself well.  NTI Acts 7 concurs, “What you have not realized is that you battle joy by thinking your own way, and by laying down your own way, you find that joy awaits you.”

Jesus, in today’s lesson says think of those things that cause you fear.  Think of those things in which you feel inadequate and rest in the joy and the freedom and the release that comes from realizing you don’t have to fix the problem.  You don’t have to find the answer.  You simply have to know that there is something in you that does know. And, when you move in the direction with trust, the answers are revealed.  In NTI Acts 7, Holy Spirit says, “I ask for trust, because I reveal things to you one step at a time.”

You can lay that burden down.  You can know that the individual you has every reason to be intimated by the world’s problems, but you don’t have to trust the individual you.  You have something more mighty to put your faith in.  The lesson tells us the Holy Spirit is “aware of all facets of any problem and [knows how] to resolve them in such a way that only good can come from it.  God is your safety in every circumstance.  It is [by] not trusting yourself that you will gain confidence.”

Go ahead, do today’s lesson.  What brings on your fears?  What causes you upset?  Of yourself, you can do nothing.  The lesson says, “The recognition of your own frailty is a necessary step in the correction of errors, but it is hardly a sufficient one in giving you the confidence which you need and to which you are entitled.  You must also gain an awareness that your confidence is your real strength and is fully justified in every respect and in all circumstances.”

You can begin to experience that confidence and joy when you place your trust in God.  As NTI Acts 7 tells us, “Along the path to joy, there comes a time that you seem no longer fully dedicated to your own way.  This is because the desire for joy is calling you, and you begin to recognize your willingness to lay down your own will.”

So do the lesson.  Find the strength of God abiding in you.  Find that perfect peace.  As the lesson says “Reach down into your mind to a place of real safety. Recognize that you have reached it if you feel a deep peace, however briefly.” Relax into it.  It is there for you and all you really have to do is trust it and reach past your own weakness.