Lesson 15, My thoughts are images which I have made.

For the past two weeks, we have been learning to see how we create our own experience by casting our attention. That is, some thought comes into our awareness and we imbue it with energy (give it life so to speak) by casting our attention on the thought. As we said, the first decision in this creative process is, this thought deserves my attention. We further enliven the thought by what gets added on after we accept the initial thought. From there, attention goes more deeply into the idea and makes additional judgments. Regardless of what those follow on decisions are, they lead deeper into the game of that thought and that thought becomes a ‘real’ part of my ‘world.’

The images referred to in this lesson are the things of this world. They are those things we perceive. But there is no difference in “things” and “thoughts.” All that exists is one–what can exist outside of oneness? Thus, all that we experience, including the objects within our experience have been created in the way described in NTI Romans. As NTI Ephesians, Chapter 2 explains,

Your mind is of God. This we have already established. Being of God, it is the same as God. This is the law of which we speak. The law of God is the law of mind. This can also be called the law of thought. And being the law of freedom, it is the law of Love. It is the law through which you live. …

The Christ shall be the symbol for the law, for through the Christ the ones that seemed many are one. Through this law the ones that seem many are one. And in fact, they have always been one, as they are bound as one through the law.

It is true that the Christ is the chief cornerstone on which the foundation and the building are built. This is why all is one. It is because it is through no other process that that which is built can be built. Call it an agreement, but it is not an agreement. It is the law of the nature of truth. But from your perspective, it seems like an agreement that is bound through the law of Love. This is the agreement, which is also law:

All that you are, you are through creation. All that you be, you be through creation also. In this way, thought is alive and serves as your creative force through your brothers, who serve you as you serve them.

Thus, we learn that the experience we create is shared with the entire world, which keeps passing the experience around through the process of unevaluated believing (casting attention). NTI Ephesians teaches,

You perceive yourself as a person, but you are not what you perceive yourself to be. You believe your thoughts are private and have no affect beyond the brain you see as yours. All of this is illusion and a misunderstanding of what you are.

Once you cast attention onto a thought that has been received by mind, that thought is re-activated and sent back into the one mind that we are. “What you do through your mind is made and created, not alone, but in conjunction with your brothers.” Thus, the thought, its energy and its effects are delivered as an influencing agent throughout consciousness.

We now begin to see the monumental service upon which we have embarked. Somewhere, sometime, someone needs to begin evaluating the thoughts that are received and deciding if attention should be cast there or not. And that someone is me. That time is now. It happens here.

Lesson 14, God did not create a meaningless world

When one does this workbook lesson, it is helpful to do it with the attitude of wanting to uncover false beliefs and see through them to truth/reality.

However, seeing through false beliefs is not the same as denial and repression. Denial and repression come from fear. This attitude avoids looking too hard and denies feeling/experience to the best of its ability. It is the attitude that has become cliché regarding the ACIM or non-duality student: A person’s family member dies and the ACIM/non-dual student says, “He/she was just an illusion anyway.”

That misguided form of denial is not what we are after with this workbook lesson. We seek truth by seeing through illusion.

Today’s lesson says, “The world you see has nothing to do with reality.  It is of your own making, and it does not exist.”

You aren’t denying that the ‘horrors’ are experienced, because they are.  You are simply denying that they are truth or reality.  Realize war is experienced, but experience is not reality.  In order to see what is real, first you must remove your belief that the horrors are reality.

Bryon Katie imparts a similar message in her teachings. Her message is that your suffering is not based on reality.  She doesn’t say you aren’t suffering.  She doesn’t say you didn’t have an experience, but she does say there is another way of looking at your experience.

The mind is the cause of the world and I am not the world’s victim.   I am not in the world, the world is in my mind.  The world is not external.  The lesson says “The idea for today is another step in learning to let go the thoughts that you have written on the world, and see the Word of God in their place.”

“What God did not create can only be in your own mind apart from His.  Therefore, it has no meaning.”  Something else is reality.  You can choose to give the thoughts and the world another purpose.  God’s purpose. You can choose to focus on your true desire, which is to see the truth. Have the willingness to see right through suffering to truth. Have the curiosity, “What is real?” Let that curiosity grow in you so that it becomes a motivating force within you.

In short, do not deny that experience is experienced, but be intensely curious to see and know truth.