Lesson 3

Sarah's Commentary:

These Lessons should be looked at in the context of what Jesus tells us in the Introduction to the Workbook. It is important that we look carefully at the Introduction as we need to understand some of the key elements here in order to make the Lessons more meaningful to us. To start, Jesus is saying that we need the theoretical understanding that the text offers if we are to get real meaning from the Lessons. When I started with the Lessons, I had not yet read the Text and therefore did not have the theoretical framework for these Lessons. Nevertheless, I still did find the workbook ideas valuable, and in applying them, found that my life was changing in spite of the fact that my understanding was very limited. I am not saying that undertaking the Lessons without having read the text does not have value. But to really get the deeper meaning, we do need the framework the text provides. This is the only way that we will get the full benefit of the intent behind these Lessons. Now when I write about the Lessons, I often refer back to passages from the text in order to amplify the meaning.

While the Lessons are based on one-year of mind training, clearly this is not a one year course. The workbook is simply a starting point in disciplining and training the mind. " An untrained mind can accomplish nothing." (W.PI.IN.1.3) When we will come to the end of the workbook, Jesus says in the Epilogue, " This course is a beginning, not an end." (W.PII.EP.1.1) " It is the purpose of this workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets forth." (W.PI.IN.1.4) This mind training, thus, goes on for years, whether you are actively doing the workbook or not. The process is not complete until our minds are healed through complete forgiveness.
     
Complete forgiveness means that no one is exempt from our forgiveness. That is the other point that is being made in the introduction to the workbook. " On the other hand, one exception held apart from true perception makes its accomplishments anywhere impossible." (W.PI.IN.5.3) That is what makes the Course so very challenging. It means that if we see some more deserving of our love and some less, or some more deserving of attack than others, then we are making exceptions. Everything in the illusion is the same in that it is all illusion. There are no differences. That is why Jesus tells us that our minds are being trained in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world. " The exercises are planned to help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally applicable to everyone and everything you see." (W.PI.IN.4.2)
   
While we practice with specificity in each Lesson, the idea is that the Lesson must be generalized to everything and everyone. What we are learning is that every problem and every difficulty is the same. There is no order of difficulty in the illusion, but having said that, it is not something that we currently believe. We don't, for example, believe that the pen we are holding is no less important than our arm, and we don't believe that one situation is no more difficult than another. And we still believe that some are more deserving of our love than others. We still believe that some are more guilty than others, and have a lot to overcome in seeing that there is no order of difficulty in miracles and no differentiation in the illusion. As long as we see these differences we have work to do, but the work is with specifics until they can be generalized. As we look around us and say that nothing I see in this room means anything, we are looking at specifics. Eventually we will have the experience of understanding that there is nothing in this world that means anything. This is the generalization that will eventually be made. Oneness has been fragmented into all of the forms of this world, as a result of our choice for the ego, which came at the time of separation from God's Love. With it came a belief in time and space and all aspects of the linear world of form. So the Lessons are about undoing what we now hold to be true. All of our thoughts and beliefs are a defense against God's Love, which is what we fear. We will come to understand that more as we proceed.

Finally, it is important we recognize that it does not matter if we find some of these thoughts and ideas hard to believe, or even startling, only that we apply them and use them rather than judge them. " It is their use that will give them meaning to you and will show you that they are true." (W.PI.IN.8.6) We are simply asked to apply these Lessons and watch the resistance and the struggle that goes on in our minds. We don't need to understand or engage in a struggle to understand, but simply to do the Lessons as instructed and not worry about our reactions to them.

We are told that we don't need to believe the ideas, we don't need to accept them or even welcome them. Some of them we will actively resist. For example, we don't believe that our bodies have no meaning. Thus, there may be a temptation to exempt this practice to only those things that we believe have no meaning. All we are asked to do is notice what is going on as we do the Lessons, and to be gentle and patient with ourselves. The process of undoing the way we think now is considerable. Fortunately, we have a lot of help in that the healing is not done by us but by the Holy Spirit. We just need to do our part, which is to watch our thoughts. This takes a lot of practice but, most important, it takes a willingness to do what we are asked.

Today we apply the Lesson that asks us to see that " I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place]." (W.3) What is it like to be in a world where we don't understand anything we see? It seems like we do understand, but it is this very understanding we place on everything that keeps us from opening our minds to another way of seeing. Just consider the possibility that you don't understand anything. Consider the possibility that everything you have learned so far in your life simply upholds the illusion of what is real. As Jesus tells us in the summary to the Course, " Nothing real can be threatened and nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." (T.IN.2.2-3)(ACIM OE T.IN.4) What we have made real in the world and given meaning to is all illusory. It is, in fact, not real at all.

If I think I know and understand everything I see, then there is no room in my mind for new learning, new understandings, new perspective. I have always taken pride in my ability to figure things out in the world and become very "worldly" in my understanding of how things work, what they are for, how people tick, how to manage my life. Fortunately for me, the Course has been a step by step process to help me in starting the undoing of these beliefs, concepts and values that I have come to believe have protected me in this world. We have come to believe that our protection is in fear. Yet our only real protection is Love. All of our survival strategies have actually kept us from trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit because in our minds we always know better! We think we know our own best interests, but we are wrong.

In this first step in our mind reversal, we are giving the Holy Spirit a little bit of room by acknowledging that we may not be as right about everything as we have come to believe we are.

We bring all of our past associations and our judgments to what we are seeing. Again, we don't have to believe the ideas given us here, only to use them. Just because we resist these ideas should not interfere with our practice of them. The ideas given us here are true, and somewhere in us we already know that. Thus, they will resonate with the part of the mind that knows that they are true even if we consciously have resistance to them. Our practice of the ideas eventually leads to acceptance of what we already know because the truth is already in us. When the blocks are removed, the truth can then shine forth. We are asked to try not to judge the ideas nor to debate them as that won't be helpful to your learning. Just do the practice.

Some people need to hit some kind of "emotional bottom" before they come to the realization that their way of managing in the world no longer works. For me, it has just been a general sense of dissatisfaction with my life. There was nothing seriously wrong, only a feeling of "what is the point?" This showed itself as an underlying restlessness and a vague sense that life could be happier, easier and more peaceful. For me the Course has been the answer to that, and each step helps in this undoing process.

Moving to a place of more trust, freedom, joy and peace has come with this step of increasingly acknowledging that I don't know anything, I don't understand anything, I continually need to ask for help so that I do not assign my own meaning and thus be more willing to open my mind to new learning. It is a radical, life changing process. It is one of being willing to be wrong about everything I think I know.

Having said that, I am aware of how I hold onto the "I know" mind. It can seem more than a little disorienting and even frightening to let go of what I think I know, but the process is a gentle one and we are the determiners of how quickly we go. Simply start by doing the exercises as described, and when a difficult or unsettling situation comes up, it can be helpful to remember that our upset does not come from the situation but from the way we are interpreting it. Our interpretations all come from our belief that the way we see things is the way they are. Now we remind ourselves, " I do not understand anything I see." (W.3) This is a prerequisite to opening up to new learning. And, as I said previously, it is not really new because there is 'Something' in us that already understands. That 'Something' is what has brought us to the Course. It is that which recognizes the truth of this teaching.

In your practice today, apply the idea without making distinctions of any kind. Whatever you see becomes a proper subject for applying the idea. Be sure that you do not question the suitability of anything for application of the idea. He is asking us 1) not to make exceptions 2) not to judge what is suitable and what is not 3) lay our emotions aside regarding anything we look upon clearing our minds of all past associations, and 4) see things exactly as they appear as color, shape, size, nothing more. Basically we need to realize how we really don't understand what we are looking at because we have given our meaning to everything. If that is the case, then we can't understand it because true understanding means that we would know its purpose. I think I understand what the telephone is for, but what I don't understand is that my thoughts about it are what keeps me invested in the world of form. As I occupy my mind with my thoughts about everything, I leave no room for the miracle.