Lesson 12, I am upset because I see a meaningless world
We think that what upsets us are the “horrible” things that we know about the world, but Jesus says right in this lesson, “What you see does not matter.” He says, “You teach yourself this as you give whatever your glance rests on equal attention and equal time. This is a beginning step in learning to give them all equal value.” Giving them all equal value means giving them all no value at all. This is what this lesson is reinforcing for us.
NTI Luke told us that everything is given meaning by the thinker. We make an unevaluated judgment about something and then that is the meaning it has for us. We then experience the effects of the unevaluated judgment we have made. This is a very simple summary of how we go about creating our experience, through one unevaluated judgment after another. We then take an unevaluated judgment and reapply it when a similar set of circumstances arise. Thus, our experience comes from our own decisions based on the meaning we have given to the meaningless.
We make decisions by casting attention. Thoughts come into the mind. We do not actually “think” them. They appear. Some of them seem to capture our interest, and we cast attention on them. Typically, casting attention is followed by a value judgment or decision. The first value judgment or decision is simply, “This idea is meaningful.” From there attention goes more deeply into ideas and makes additional judgments. Thus, NTI Romans says “Judgment is a web of meaningless thoughts.”
Be aware that healing occurs through recognition (seeing) and resting. That is your job in healing. Clear awareness does the rest. (Clear awareness can be equated to the Holy Spirit.)
Rest, Accept and Trust (RAT) is a simple reminder of your job in the healing process.
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- Rest the mind by withdrawing your attention/belief from obsessive thinking. If that is challenging, try positive healing-focused self-talk such as, “Ok, just breathe now. Take a deep breath. Now another. This is okay. This is coming up now because I have decided to heal. I want to heal. And in order to heal, things must come up. I am happy this is here, but I do not want to give it my attention. I want to rest attention away from this so it can be healed. I will focus attention on my breath. I trust healing is happening. I am happy for this opportunity.” Etcetera, or something similar.
- Accept the feeling. Allow it to be. Realize that as this feeling comes into awareness and is seen, it is healing. Stay out of the way. Do not try to change anything. It is just a feeling, an emotional energy and nothing more. Let it be as it is. Be grateful that healing is mysteriously occurring.
- Trust that healing is occurring. You have done your part by resting and accepting. Clear awareness (God, Holy Spirit) is taking care of everything else. You have gotten out of the way so healing can happen. That is all you were asked to do.
In summary, I’m upset because I have made judgments. These judgments have arisen because I have allowed my attention to become focused on thoughts that seem to pop into the mind and that I give credence to. Jesus says that they are meaningless and I wouldn’t be upset if I let the truth be written upon the world for me—if I quit deciding what things, situations and people mean and casting my attention upon those decisions. So, all the meaningless thoughts being equally of no value means they aren’t horrible; they just are not true. Therefore, the horror (or sorrow, or hatred, etc.) is removed because I know my thoughts aren’t real and I don’t have to play the game by casting my attention on thoughts that participate in the fantasy. Instead, I can rest, accept/allow and trust. Jesus promises learning to do so, will make me indescribably happy.
