We can never live in peace where chaos rules. And chaos is the nature of this world. It comes from chaotic thinking. It is our minds that have projected this whole chaotic world of insanity. Overriding these chaotic thoughts with positive affirmations about ourselves and the world is not the answer. We need to recognize how we have tried to adjust to this insane world and become conditioned to it putting our faith in the most "trivial and insane symbols; pills, money, 'protective' clothing, influence, prestige, being liked, knowing the 'right' people, and an endless list of forms of nothingness that you endow with magical powers."(W.P.I.50.1.3)

As Jesus tells us, we have given illusions reality.We have given meaning and importance to the meaningless. We believe in the reality of this world and thus give it power to upset us. We do our best to live in peace in this world, but there can be no real peace in chaos. In our attempts at survival and happiness in the world, we manipulate and strategize how we might best exert some semblance of control over events, situations and people.

Now we are told that we can be grateful that this world is not real. (2.6) When we accept that we "cannot live in peace in such a world," (2.5) instead of continuing to try to adjust, we are given a way out. When we no longer choose to value it, we will escape its hold on us. It is such a relief to give up our efforts to depend on the undependable; to expect the world to be a place of fairness and justice; and to expect it to be a place of safety and hope. Yes, this can be preceded by a sense of disillusionment but Jesus does not leave us there. He shows us that our suffering has only come from our belief in the illusion. When we choose to withdraw any hope of happiness in the world, and instead place our trust in reality, then we will "escape all the effects of the world of fear," (3.8) because it is a world that does not exist. What that means is that I can choose to see the events that seem to cause me suffering as having no reality. I am no longer at the mercy of anything that seems to be happening to me. I can choose to see that the world is not the cause of my upsets but only the effect of my thoughts about it. Now the world has value to us only as a classroom for healing our minds. It is a matter of choosing. We are either making a choice for the ego or the Holy Spirit and our choice determines whether we continue to suffer or to experience peace.

"The fact that I see a world in which there is suffering and loss and death shows me that I am seeing only the representation of my insane thoughts, and I am not allowing my real thoughts to cast their beneficent light on what I see." (5.4) Any suffering I am experiencing today is caused by my own beliefs. But I can choose not to suffer by bringing these thoughts and beliefs to awareness.   So this meaningless world engenders fear because there is no safety or hope in madness. It is encouraging to know that these crazy images can't prevail forever and that we will all return home. Only our fear makes the journey seem long. Only our resistance to releasing the ego makes it seem hard. "The ego can accept the idea that return is necessary because it can so easily make the idea seem difficult. Yet the Holy Spirit tells you that even return is unnecessary, because what never happened cannot be difficult. However you can make the idea of return both necessary and difficult." (T.6.II.11)

Our thoughts are all over the map, narrating our experiences, crucifying ourselves for our mistakes, fantasizing about what we want in the world, holding grievances, planning and strategizing on how to address our problems. Our minds are never quiet. Our insane thoughts allow us no peace. That is why Jesus tells us that" insane thoughts are upsetting."(2.2) It is our insane thoughts that are the cause of this world. The world is a projection of those thoughts. That is why the world is insane as it is the effect of our insane thoughts. We have mistakenly thought that by working with the effects, that we can find some semblance of peace. But this will never work. We need to go back to the cause which is our own thoughts. Our minds are split between the wrong mind, where our insane thoughts originate, and our right minds which hold our real thoughts of peace and love. Only by looking at our insane thoughts in the wrong mind and bringing them to the love within can they be released. They are the thoughts that block the real world. We can experience this world when we release our wrong-minded insane thoughts. It is an inner world of peace and true harmony where we see the world of illusion for what it is. We see it from above this battleground where its unreality can only make us smile.

Healing is about bringing awareness to our thoughts. When something upsets us, it is just another opportunity for healing. Welcome it. When we don't resist what is showing up for us in the classroom of this world, then it becomes another opportunity for going to a deeper level of the mind where we can uncover the thoughts that keep us from peace. We can't heal what we don't see. Allowing these thoughts into awareness is for the purpose of bringing them to the light for healing. It is not just an experience to "get over" but one to really use to bring willingness and awareness to the insane thoughts in order to release them. Reality is not insane. The real world, seen through vision, is entirely sane. It reflects our right mind which is where truth resides.

We are now being shown that there is a direct connection between our thoughts and the world. The world is produced by our insane thoughts. That is the power of the mind. Our minds have the power to make a world that is in opposition to God. It is so important that we not deny this power. If we don't recognize the pain and suffering of the world, we will not be willing to take responsibility for our own minds as the cause. The world is not God's plan which demands that we see it as His creation and glorify the world instead of seeing it for what it is. The world is simply a reflection of the insane thoughts in our mind. And these thoughts keep us in misery. Even when they bring us what we think will make us happy in the world, it is not a happiness that will last. It is all dependent on external circumstances. "Yet God's way is sure." (5.5) Jesus is appealing to the power of our mind to choose to take responsibility for our thoughts instead of blaming people, events and circumstances 'out there' for our lack of peace.

Underneath our insane thoughts are the Thoughts of God. And it is only these thoughts that are real and sane. What are these Thoughts of God? They are the thoughts in our right mind. They are always there. We are incapable of separating ourselves from them although we can be unaware of them. What is the experience of our real thoughts? Jesus says that we enter into light; there is a deep sense of peace, however briefly;   we experience a deep sense of joy and increased alertness. (W.P.I. 44.47 and 74) So what is being said is that when we enter the realm of God's Thoughts is when we have the experience of love, holiness, peace, gratitude, oneness. In order to achieve this state, we need to approach our meditation time with desire, a sense of importance of what we are trying to achieve, and confidence that we will succeed. (W.P.I 45 and 49). We approach the experience as we would an altar. "My real thoughts are in my mind. I would like to find them."(W.PI.45.6.4-5) Then we sink past the unreal thoughts that cover the truth and listen in deep silence, sinking deeply into peace.

We simply can't overlay peace on our thoughts of worry, anger, distress. We can't force peace onto these thoughts. They have to be given over. We need to release these thoughts as they come up. We need to choose to give the thoughts up so that peace can take the place of the distress. It does take desire, commitment and willingness to do the work. It does take effort and determination, and it does take practice because of these monkey minds that constantly hold a wild array of wrong-minded thoughts. And it is this wild array of thoughts that torture our minds and keep us from everything that is real that is already in our right minds where truth abides in us. Only peace, love and joy are real. And it is only the power of my decision to choose, trust and do the practice that I will recognize where I really abide....in God.

So, instead of judging ourselves for the stuff that gets flushed up in our insane ego thought system, let's welcome the opportunity provided to look at these thoughts with equanimity. We can be happy that our long denied thought-system, based on guilt, is being brought to the forefront with every situation where we are upset. Each situation that comes up shows us the insanity of our thinking.   And now we can choose again to release these thoughts which block our joy and peace. Time was made for this and if we are to use it well, we will use time only for the healing of our mistaken beliefs. Now we can be grateful to all of those people, situations and events that come into our day, no matter how difficult the interaction may be, because it gives us another opportunity to see our hidden guilt and to choose healing.

Our thoughts are the only indicator of which mind is currently operating in us. They tell us "where we are and what we are." (5.3) And the lesson says that these thoughts simply "cannot prevail against Him because it is not my will that they do so." ( 5.6) I experienced that today when things weren't going my way and my response was one of anger which covered over the feelings of helplessness and frustration. I looked at the thoughts behind these feelings and had to honestly admit that my fear was that I did not have the control that I thought I should have. I realized how much I like to have control. Underneath the feelings of lack of control was fear and feelings of unworthiness. So going deeper into my mind really helped me to uncover something that I had kept hidden from my awareness. It is these dissociated thoughts and feelings that are projected on others around us and we blame them for what we are feeling rather than realizing it is our own dissociated thoughts projected out. I immediately felt the release once I had become honest with what was going on for me. Denial is our enemy. Awareness and willingness helps to set us free. It is only the meaning we give our thoughts that needs to be withdrawn. This opens us up again to the flow of love.