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.