Author:Amy Torres

Lesson 5: I am never upset for the reason I think.

Thunderbolt! We are never upset for the reason we think. What’s more, Jesus suggests that, eventually, we are going to learn that form does not matter, period.

Initially, we will apply today’s idea to specific forms in our individual lives. But that is only in order to become aware, over time, that all forms are the same. All forms are symbolic of the ego idea of separation from God.

This brings us to cause — the underlying source of upset. Jesus, in A Course in Miracles, is nothing if  not logical. He offers us this statement to acclimate our minds to being indiscriminate in practicing the exercise:

“There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.”

In case we find we are resistant to applying today’s ideas to specific upsets, Jesus further offers this:

“I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.”

We are asked to name the source of our personal upset and the feeling as we experience the upset. Getting to know our human selves better is part of the paradoxical process of A Course in Miracles, which, ultimately, uses separation to separate us from our toxic attachment to the ego and restores our ability to discover ourselves as Mind.

Lesson 4: These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room.

Jesus starts Lesson 4 by telling us it will differ from the first three lessons because the practice will not begin with the idea for the day. First, we just notice the thoughts that cross our minds; then we apply the idea to them. Jesus tells us to apply the idea to specific thoughts, but not to be selective about the thoughts to which we apply the practice. This is becoming familiar.

Then we learn that “good” thoughts are “but shadows of what lies beyond” and “bad thoughts are “blocks to sight.” It turns out that good and bad thoughts are used by the ego to “cover up” real thoughts! For now, we do not know what real thoughts are. But that’s okay. Remember, the Introduction to the Workbook told us:

“Remember, you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter or decrease their efficacy. … whatever you reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than that is required.”

Jesus tells us straight up in Lesson 4:

“The aim here is to train you in the first steps toward the goal of separating the meaningless from the meaningful. It is a first attempt in the long-range purpose of learning to see the meaningless as outside you, and the meaningful within. It is also the beginning of training your mind to recognize what is the same and what is different.”

We need to have humility and a sense of humor if we’re not going to reject each of the above.

1. We are learning to separate the meaningless from the meaningful
2. We are learning to see the meaningless as outside ourselves, and the meaningful within
3. We are learning to recognize what is the same and what is different

Something in us knows that our personal identity is too restrictive, too limited, and, that believing our identity is defined by our bodies is actually the addiction beneath all addictions. We are addicted to the ego and brain-washed by the ego. That is why it is in our best interest to use our free will to accept the mind training offered by Jesus in his Course in Miracles no matter how outrageous it may seem.

Lesson 3: I do not understand anything I see in this room.

The idea of the lesson develops, the application remains the same. The central theme evolves, the way we practice stays the same and starts to embed a new way of being in our conscious awareness.

Even if we are psychologically and emotionally self-aware, those levels of consciousness are not what Jesus, in his Course in Miracles, is addressing. He is tuning us into our psychic, that is, our unseen faculties of perception, so that we question all human judgment and interpretation as we have known it up until now.

The False Mirror by Rene Magritte

Lesson 2: I have given everything I see in this room all the meaning that it has for me.

The central idea in Lesson 2 develops the initial idea in Lesson 1. We progress from allowing the possibility that nothing we see means anything to everything we see is only meaningful based on the meaning we have given it.

The exercises, the way we practice this idea, is the same as Lesson 1. We look around from near to further away, excluding nothing on purpose, but neither do we compulsively include everything. We use eyesight differently, indiscriminately applying the idea to various shapes and forms using the “sole criterion … that our eyes have lighted on it.”

Rupert Spira

Consider how Rupert Spira puts it, “It is our exclusive interest in objects that give them their apparently independent reality. When attention shifts from the seen object to pure seeing, the apparently separate reality of the object disappears and its true reality–the light of pure Knowing–shines.”

Lesson 1: Nothing I see in this room means anything.

Personal Values by Rene Magritte

The purpose of Lesson 1 is to “make no allowance for differences,” no matter what we are looking at. The idea, “Nothing I see in this room means anything” is to be used “totally indiscriminately.”

If nothing we see means anything, which translates to everything we see means nothing, Lesson 1 holds out the potential for us to question all of our established beliefs. Ego perceives this as threatening. But deeper than your personal ego identity lies your connection to Spirit. Spirit resonates with Lesson 1 as uplifting and empowering.

You can only know this for yourself, through practicing the lesson and experiencing the lesson’s effects. If something within opens, expands, softens, releases, settles, feels peaceful, loving, quietly joyful or even a hint of these, you’re on the right track.