Lesson 145. My mind holds only what I think with God.

(129) Beyond this world there is a world I want.

(130) It is impossible to see two worlds.

When I look out at the world I see from the perspective of this body/mind/personality, it appears to be a place of sorrow and suffering. If I allow what is seen by the body’s eyes to tell me who I am, I too suffer. I understand that I have an alternative choice. If I turn my looking inward, and ask the silence who I am, I do not experience the suffering of the world. Rather, I experience peace and joy unaffected by the world or its events. I see the world beyond this world as I remove my believing attention (my belief in my thoughts about it) and sit in the truth of silence.

If I give my believing attention to the events and the “laws” of the world, I continue to experience the world as solid—fact based—reality. I have been graced with the vision to understand that this world is not reality. Only by removing my thoughts from the world and my seeming place in it, do I make room for the truth to be seen by me. I cannot believe in some aspects of the world I see (like the one’s I like) and withdraw my belief from other aspects. I either invest in this world – and so imbue it with seeming reality – or I recognize that what this world would show me has no relation to the truth.

Lesson 144. My mind holds only what I think with God.

(127) There is no love but God’s.

(128) The world I see has nothing that I want.

For the review we are to practice repeating the two lessons each hour after we gave the first five minutes to the central idea of this review section. But how are these thoughts connected?

The Thoughts of God would have to refer to our true nature. Because our true nature is all that exists, Lesson 127 could also say, “There is nothing but love.” It couldn’t have anything to do with form. There is no independent life in form. Life is eternal and formless. Then I went back and read lesson 128, “The world I see has nothing that I want.” That lesson also says, “For what you value you make part of you, as you perceive yourself.” I want to experience the Love that I am.

1 Corinthians 13 says, “When you look on the world you see the reflection of your mind, which makes the world through thought. What you believe and what you accept is seen in the world. There is division [in the world], because there is division in your thought. This thought is not love.”

If the world is in my mind and my beliefs are what is reflected there, then I certainly want to believe my mind holds only love. So again, how does this connect to “There is no love but God’s”? If love is what I am and this world is intended to offer me the experience of something other than what is, then love can’t really be known within this temporal reflection. Our beliefs keep love blocked from our minds. Lesson 127 says, “The world that seems to hold you prisoner can be escaped by anyone who does not hold it dear.” I hold it dear by giving my thoughts about who I am my believing attention.

Again, 1 Corinthians 13 says, “Become as an empty shell to know Love.” I think that is the connecting idea. Just what we have been learning. First, we must removing our believing attention from the thoughts that purport to tell us who we are. In the space made empty, we find that awareness watching awareness is the portal to Real Vision and Love.

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. Write down what comes as you contemplate them.

This is my personal contemplation for the day. Be sure to write your own.

LESSON 143. My mind holds only what I think with God.

(125) In quiet I receive God’s Word today.

(126) All that I give is given to myself.

The quiet mind is often quiet, not just when sitting in meditation. I see thoughts that clamor for my attention. I see the choice to be quiet. My peace lies in the choice to rest in awareness. How do I receive God’s Word? I receive God’s Word by leaving space for it. In this quiet space there is clarity and absence of doubt.

I give to myself by resting in awareness. By removing attention from the thoughts that offer themselves to be thought, I receive that which is always present within the spaciousness of awareness. The peace that is present is that which I give to myself. By giving myself the space in which to simply be, I receive the gift of spaciousness. It is this same spaciousness and allowance I take to my interactions with others. Like meets like and this spaciousness, joy even, is given back to me.