Lesson 31 – I am not the victim of the world I see.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

Detachment.  Neutral observation.  These qualities will allow us to separate from the ego thought system rather than separating from God.

We are advised to “let the stream [of thought] move on evenly and calmly, without any special investment on your part.”  This is the mind training: watching our thoughts as if they are figures on a ticker tape; figures in which, contrary to ego thinking, we now have no investment.

We are beginning to recognize that the world we picture is the results of the thoughts we think.  “You will escape from both together, for the inner is the cause of the outer.”  As we learn this we “are making a declaration of independence in the name of your own freedom.  And in your freedom lies the freedom of the world.” 

As we rewind our thoughts and discover everything is really and truly happening in the mind, we become free of feeling that we can be the victim of anything that happens in the world.  Our freedom frees everyone because there is only one mind to change and then the whole illusion unravels.

“The idea for today is also a particularly useful one to use as a response to any form of temptation that may arise.  It is a declaration that you will not yield to it, and put yourself in bondage.”  Hmmmm.  Well, that’s gonna take some more practice. 

LESSON 31

I am not the victim of the world I see.

Today’s idea is the introduction to your declaration of release.  Again, the idea should be applied to both the world you see without and the world you see within.  In applying the idea, we will use a form of practice which will be used more and more, with changes as indicated.  Generally speaking, the form includes two aspects, one in which you apply the idea on a more sustained basis, and the other consisting of frequent applications of the idea throughout the day.

Two longer periods of practice with the idea for today are needed, one in the morning and one at night.  Three to five minutes for each of these are recommended.  During that time, look about you slowly while repeating the idea two or three times.  Then close your eyes, and apply the same idea to your inner world.  You will escape from both together, for the inner is the cause of the outer.

As you survey your inner world, merely let whatever thoughts cross your mind come into your awareness, each to be considered for a moment, and then replaced by the next.  Try not to establish any kind of hierarchy among them.  Watch them come and go as dispassionately as possible.  Do not dwell on any one in particular, but try to let the stream move on evenly and calmly, without any special investment on your part.  As you sit and quietly watch your thoughts, repeat today’s idea to yourself as often as you care to, but with no sense of hurry.

In addition, repeat the idea for today as often as possible during the day.  Remind yourself that you are making a declaration of independence in the name of your own freedom.  And in your freedom lies the freedom of the world.

The idea for today is also a particularly useful one to use as a response to any form of temptation that may arise.  It is a declaration that you will not yield to it, and put yourself in bondage.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, Amy’s online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 30 – God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

Real vision is unlimited by space and time.  Real vision does not depend on the body’s eyes at all.  Real vision comes from “within,” that is, from God’s mind.  Today we use “projection” as a way of seeing the All in all.  

God is in everything I see … because God is in my mind.  God is in my mind, and so everything I see is infused with God.

If God is Light, then Light is shining through my mind, and illuminating all that I see.

Darkness cannot exist in Light.  Who am I?  That Light which is Shining.

LESSON 30

God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.

The idea for today is the springboard for vision.   From this idea will the world open up before you, and you will look upon it and see in it what you have never seen before.  Nor will what you saw before be even faintly visible to you.

Today we are trying to use a new kind of “projection.”  We are not attempting to get rid of what we do not like by seeing it outside.  Instead, we are trying to see in the world what is in our minds, and what we want to recognize is there.  Thus, we are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it apart from us.  That is the fundamental difference between vision and the way you see.

Today’s idea should be applied as often as possible throughout the day.  Whenever you have a moment or so, repeat it to yourself slowly, looking about you, and trying to realize that the idea applies to everything you do see now, or could see now if it were within the range of your sight.

Real vision is not limited to concepts such as “near” or “far.”  To help you begin to get used to this idea, try to think of things beyond your present range as well as those you can actually see, as you apply today’s idea.

Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does not depend on the body’s eyes at all.   The mind is its only source.  To aid in helping you to become more accustomed to this idea as well, devote several practice periods to applying today’s idea with your eyes closed, using whatever subjects come to mind, and looking within rather than without.  Today’s idea applies equally to both.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to Amy reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, her online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 29 – God is in everything I see.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

God is in everything we see because we are within God’s Mind.   Seen correctly, every “thing” is not a thing at all, but an extension of One Formless Source.

Therefore, God is in this…and God is in this…

God is in everything I see … because I am within God’s Mind.

Pantheism regards the universe as a manifestation of God; pantheism is a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe.*  Today’s lesson is not saying that God created the physical universe.  It is saying that what the ego mis-created can be used for God’s Loving Purpose which will help us see differently.  The word “universe” is used to mean different things depending on its context in ACIM.  In W-29, universe is used to mean Oneness.

Lesson 29 could also be titled, “The Whole Basis for Vision.”  The alternate title I proposed for yesterday’s lesson was, “The Purpose of the Universe.”  When we want to see things differently, the purpose of the universe is revealed: to see with God’s Unified Vision, not with the ego’s divisive dream-mind.

Your Inner Teacher, the Holy Spirit, provides a Vision bridge for you to cross.

The manifestation of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, holds out his hand for you to help you cross that golden bridge.

Since we are equals with Jesus, we are also manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

Cross the bridge and find out for yourself.

LESSON 29

God is in everything I see.

The idea for today explains why you can see all purpose in everything.  It explains why nothing is separate, by itself or in itself.  And it explains why nothing you see means anything.  In fact, it explains every idea we have used thus far, and all subsequent ones as well.  Today’s idea is the whole basis for vision.

You will probably find this idea very difficult to grasp at this point.  You may find it silly, irreverent, senseless, funny and even objectionable.  Certainly God is not in a table, for example, as you see it.  Yet we emphasized yesterday that a table shares the purpose of the universe.  And what shares the purpose of the universe shares the purpose of its Creator.

Try then, today, to begin to learn how to look on all things with love, appreciation and open-mindedness.  You do not see them now.  Would you know what is in them?  Nothing is as it appears to you.  Its holy purpose stands beyond your little range.  When vision has shown you the holiness that lights up the world, you will understand today’s idea perfectly.  And you will not understand how you could ever have found it difficult.

Our six two-minute practice periods for today should follow a now familiar pattern: Begin with repeating the idea to yourself, and then apply it to randomly chosen subjects about you, naming each one specifically.  Try to avoid the tendency toward self-directed selection, which may be particularly tempting in connection with today’s idea because of its wholly alien nature.  Remember that any order you impose is equally alien to reality.

Your list of subjects should therefore be as free of self-selection as possible.  For example, a suitable list might include:

God is in this coat hanger.
God is in this magazine.
God is in this finger.
God is in this lamp.
God is in that body.
God is in that door.
God is in that waste basket.

In addition to the assigned practice periods, repeat the idea for today at least once an hour, looking slowly about you as you say the words unhurriedly to yourself.  At least once or twice, you should experience a sense of restfulness as you do this.

*  Source of definition:  Merriam-Webster.com/dictionary and Google dictionary

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to me reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 26 – My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

This is one of those lessons that is thunderous.  It reverberates through my mind with powerful claps because my memory of God is sparked by it.  It says, “The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself first.”

The ego mind scared itself into believing that we had separated from God’s mind and that in order to alleviate that fear we lashed out at God as if He had done something wrong (first projection).  This led to us believing that now we could be attacked in return.

First we believed we could be attacked by God–before we were even in a form.  We believed this while just an ego thought without the coverings and the veils of space and time and worlds and bodies.  Next we believed that our brothers could attack us … we were so delusional we thought our brothers were separate entities.  As if the fingers on our hand were separate entities independent of our hand, arm and body.

Every person we see “out there” is a piece of us.  We are all aspects of the same ego mind.  One aspect may be homeless and in the gutter, another may be English royalty, but both are facets of the same One.

This lesson helps us really comprehend that.  “And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you.  It is this law that will ultimately save you, but you are misusing it now.  You must therefore learn how it can be used for your own best interests, rather than against them.”

The practice today is worth writing out on paper.  Very deep and powerful.  We are asked to be specific in recounting what concerns us, what we fear could happen, and then to tell ourselves, “This thought is an attack on myself.”  What a relief!

If this is not the first time you’ve done the ACIM Workbook, you might want to partner W-26 with W-38 which provides a further antidote.  In 12-step they say the only person you can change is yourself.  ACIM goes beyond the person entirely and shows us that with God’s help, little “me” is naturally absorbed back into my True Self once and for all.

LESSON 26

My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.

It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked you are not invulnerable.  You see attack as a real threat.  That is because you believe that you can really attack.  And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you.  It is this law that will ultimately save you, but you are misusing it now.  You must therefore learn how it can be used for your own best interests, rather than against them.

Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack.  And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable.  Attack thoughts therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are.  Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together.  They contradict each other.

The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself first.  If attack thoughts must entail the belief that you are vulnerable, their effect is to weaken you in your own eyes.  Thus they have attacked your perception of yourself.  And because you believe in them, you can no longer believe in yourself.  A false image of yourself has come to take the place of what you are.

Practice with today’s idea will help you to understand that vulnerability or invulnerability is the result of your own thoughts.  Nothing except your thoughts can attack you.  Nothing except your thoughts can make you think you are vulnerable.  And nothing except your thoughts can prove to you this is not so.

Six practice periods are required in applying today’s idea.  A full two minutes should be attempted for each of them, although the time may be reduced to a minute if the discomfort is too great.  Do not reduce it further.

The practice period should begin with repeating the idea for today, then closing your eyes and reviewing the unresolved questions whose outcomes are causing you concern.  The concern may take the form of depression, worry, anger, a sense of imposition, fear, foreboding or preoccupation.  Any problem as yet unsettled that tends to recur in your thoughts during the day is a suitable subject.  You will not be able to use very many for any one practice period, because a longer time than usual should be spent with each one.  Today’s idea should be applied as follows:

First, name the situation:

I am concerned about _____________.

Then go over every possible outcome that has occurred to you in that connection and which has caused you concern, referring to each one quite specifically, saying:

I am afraid _____________ will happen.

If you are doing the exercises properly, you should have some five or six distressing possibilities available for each situation you use, and quite possibly more.  It is much more helpful to cover a few situations thoroughly than to touch on a larger number.  As the list of anticipated outcomes for each situation continues, you will probably find some of them, especially those that occur to you toward the end, less acceptable to you.  Try, however, to treat them all alike to whatever extent you can.

After you have named each outcome of which you are afraid, tell yourself:

That thought is an attack upon myself.

Conclude each practice period by repeating today’s idea to yourself once more.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to me reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

Lesson 23 – I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.

Commentary (full lesson beneath commentary)

This lesson is riveting.  We are given the “only way out of fear that will ever succeed.”  And it cannot fail.  The cause of the world I see is my attack thoughts.  Period.  If I give up my attack thoughts, my perception of the world will change–this is the happy dream which the Course talks about in the Text.

First, we need to identify what has caused the world–choosing the ego thought system.  Second, we need to be willing to let go of our attachment to the ego thought system.  Third, God via the Holy Spirit, takes the final step for us and reveals the Light and Love which we already are.

One tricky point is that our thoughts of attacking someone or something else are exactly the same as our thoughts that someone or something (e.g., a tsunami) is attacking us.  We have to get the hang of understanding that an attack thought is an attack thought no matter which direction it is going … it still indicates we have chosen the ego.

And now, here comes one of the many Course definitions of “salvation.”  Salvation is escaping from the cause of the world.  Salvation is that moment of decision when we opt for the Holy Spirit’s Vision rather than ego-seeing, eyesight.  Then loveliness can light all of our images.

Now get this:  “There is no point in lamenting the world.  There is no point in trying to change the world.  It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. [emphasis mine]”   What a huge relief.  I no longer have to lament the world.  I do not have to worry about Mother Nature and the countless ways we defile Her.  I do not have to hate myself for not being an organ donor, for not adopting every orphan child and animal out there, for not always recycling!

What’s more, I need to grasp that the world is an effect of my choice to think through the ego mind.  It is a narrow mind, filled with guilt and fear, and it believes it has separated from God. That’s what’s happening.  That is the cause of me picturing a world.  I am outpicturing, projecting an image outwards … an image of attack, hatred, fear, retribution, vengeance.  And the world I see is the effect of my thoughts.

So Jesus says if I change my thoughts I will change my mind.  I will literally switch over from the limited ego edition mind 🙂 to the Full God Edition Mind.  We see a world but we don’t see ourselves as the image maker of the world.  We call that arrogance, to claim we could make a world–isn’t that a brilliant way of avoiding the Truth?

This led to a discussion between me and Scott about the law of attraction.  Scott said that he read a book on the subject a while back and found that “there was no traction in the law of attraction” for him.  He didn’t feel drawn to the teachings–he had an innate sense of this lesson: I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts, which originated during his 12-year-old lacrosse experience (see blogpost “W-21: I am determined to see things differently” posted on Jan 21, 2022).

There’s been some public concern about the law of attraction being used for greedy manifestation without spirituality.  True law of attraction taps into a higher vibration that guarantees the highest good of all.

My sense of the law of attraction is that the undoing process can bring us to the point when a piece of God’s mind said, “Let’s try being separate from God.  Let’s try duality.  Let’s try felt experience and gross form” and that this pure moment was free of fear, attack, hatred, guilt, death, etc.  This was still within eternity and could be achieved playfully in endless ways … this is my sense of what the law of attraction provides: a way to write our dream script in all variety of gorgeous, abundant, brilliant, peaceful, harmonious ways, just for the fun of it.

Playing at God’s feet, so to speak, and awakening refreshed when we feel like it.  Some of us want to pause here and have some fun in the world.  Some of us are ready to go Home.  What’s interesting to me is that Helen wasn’t thinking about the law of attraction when she scribed the Course–Jesus didn’t offer her an alternative to living in the world for manifestation purposes.  He offered her an alternative thought system–a doorway Home because that must be what she asked for whether she always knew it consciously or not.

LESSON 23

I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.

The idea for today contains the only way out of fear that will ever succeed.  Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless.  But this way cannot fail.  Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see.  It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.

If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it is these thoughts which you do  not want.  There is no point in lamenting the world.  There is no point in trying to change the world.  It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect.  But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world.  Here you are changing the cause.  The effect will change automatically.

The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance.  Each of your perceptions of  “external reality” is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts.  One can well ask if this can be called seeing.  Is not fantasy a better word for such a process, and hallucination a more appropriate term for the result?

You see the world that you have made, but you do not see yourself as the image maker.  You cannot be saved from the world, but you can escape from its cause.  This is what salvation means, for where is the world you see when its cause is gone?  Vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you see now.  Loveliness can light your images, and so transform them that you will love them, even though they were made of hate.  For you will not be making them alone.

The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the world you see, because its cause can be changed.  This change requires, first, that the cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced.  The first two steps in this process require your cooperation.  The final one does not.  Your images have already been replaced.  By taking the first two steps, you will see that this is so.

Besides using it throughout the day as the need arises, five practice periods are required in applying today’s idea.  As you look about you, repeat the idea slowly to yourself first, and then close your eyes and devote about a minute to searching your mind for as many attack thoughts as occur to you.  As each one crosses your mind say:

I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about _________.

Hold each attack thought in mind as you say this, and then dismiss that thought and go on to the next.

In the practice periods, be sure to include both your thoughts of attacking and of being attacked.  Their effects are exactly the same because they are exactly the same.  You do not recognize this as yet, and you are asked at this time only to treat them as the same in today’s practice periods.  We are still at the stage of identifying the cause of the world you see.  When you finally learn that thoughts of attack and of being attacked are not different, you will be ready to let the cause go.

Let’s practice together!  Watch and listen to me reading each ACIM Lesson on Youtube.  Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.