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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 1 "THE INTRODUCTION TO MIRACLES"
I. PRINCIPLES OF MIRACLES
39. 56 The Spiritual eye is the mechanism of miracles because what It perceives is true. It perceives both the creations of God and the creations of man. Among the creations of man, it can also separate the true from the false by Its ability to perceive totally rather than selectively. It thus becomes the proper instrument for reality testing, which always involves the necessary distinction between the false and the true.
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
WORKBOOK for STUDENTS
INTRODUCTION
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1
A theoretical foundation such as the text is necessary as a background to make these exercises meaningful. Yet it is the exercises which will make the goal possible. An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. It is the purpose of these exercises to train the mind to think along the lines which the course sets forth.
2
The exercises are very simple. They do not require more than a few minutes, and it does not matter where or when you do them. They need no preparation. They are numbered, running from 1 to 365. The training period is one year. Do not undertake more than one exercise a day.
3
The purpose of these exercises is to train the mind to a different perception of everything in the world. The workbook is divided into two sections, the first dealing with the undoing of what you see now and the second with the restoration of sight. It is recommended that each exercise be repeated several times a day, preferably in a different place each time and, if possible, in every situation in which you spend any long period of time. The purpose is to train the mind to generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is as applicable to one situation as it is to another.
4
Unless specified to the contrary, the exercise should be practiced with the eyes open, since the aim is to learn how to see. The only rule that should be followed throughout is to practice the exercises with great specificity. Each one applies to every situation in which you find yourself and to everything you see in it. Each day's exercises are planned around one central idea, the exercises themselves consisting of applying that idea to as many specifics as possible. Be sure that you do not decide that there are some things you see to which the idea for the day is inapplicable. The aim of the exercises will always be to increase the application of the idea to everything. This will not require effort. Only be sure that you make no exceptions in applying the idea.
5
Some of the ideas you will find hard to believe, and others will seem quite startling. It does not matter. You are merely asked to apply them to what you see. You are not asked to judge them, nor even to believe them. You are asked only to use them. It is their use which will give them meaning to you, and show you they are true. Remember only this-you need not believe them, you need not accept them, and you need not welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter nor decrease their efficacy. But allow yourself to make no exceptions in applying the ideas the exercises contain. Whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than this is required.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
DAILY LESSONS
L e s s o n 8
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio
1 This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past. No one really sees anything. He sees only his thoughts projected outward. The mind's preoccupation with the past is the cause of the total misconception about time from which your seeing suffers. Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. It therefore cannot understand time and cannot, in fact, understand anything.
2 The only wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. Very few minds have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. The mind is actually blank when it does this because it is not really thinking about anything.
3 The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. While thoughtless "ideas" preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision.
4 The exercises for today should be done with eyes closed. This is because you actually cannot see anything, and it is easier to recognize that, no matter how vividly you may picture a thought, you are not seeing anything. With as little investment as possible, search your mind for the usual minute or so, merely noting the thoughts you find there. Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains, and pass on to the next. Introduce the practice period by saying:
5
I seem to be thinking about _____.
6 Then name each of your thoughts specifically. For example:
7 I seem to be thinking about [name of person],
about [name of object], about [name of emotion];
8 and so on, concluding at the end of the mind-searching period with:
9 But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
10 This can be done four or five times during the day, unless you find it irritates you. If you find it trying, three or four times are sufficient. You might find it helpful, however, to include your irritation, or any emotion which the idea may induce, in the mind searching itself.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections
LESSON 8
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts
.
Sarah's Commentary:
This Lesson is an explanation for why we see only the past. It is because our minds are occupied with past thoughts. If this is the case, "No one really sees anything." (W.8.1.2) What we are seeing is ". . . only his [our] thoughts projected outward." (W.8.1.3) It is amazing how we live in our past thoughts. How different is this from someone we label as senile who lives in the past. It turns out, we are doing exactly the same thing! In fact, Jesus often reminds us of our insanity, albeit very gently. He tells us we simply do not see beyond the forms of this world, and thus, we don't understand anything.
So how can we trust anything as true? "The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here." (W.8.2.1.) It is absolutely astounding to realize our minds are either in the past or in the future and that "The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything." (W.8.2.4) What we are doing is simply projecting a world out there that does not exist. It is an illusion. Everything "out there" is simply a reflection of the content of our minds, which are preoccupied with past thoughts. Thus, our physical sight is a product of our mental activity. We are projecting what is in our minds onto the world. We believe in the reality of what we are seeing when all we are actually seeing is the content of our thoughts projected out. What we then see comes from what we hold as thoughts in the mind and given form in the world; and these thoughts are all based on beliefs we hold in the mind.
We saw in the earlier Lessons that what is in our minds is meaningless because the only meaning is what lies behind these meaningless thoughts, which block the truth. The truth we block with our thoughts is our reality as eternal beings of light and love. The truth is in our right minds and contains the love, peace, and holiness that is our true reality. It is not a happy state of mind to experience the separation from the love we are. The Lessons, when practiced and applied, help us to let go of this make-believe world of separation. If there is only reality and nothing else, the world of duality can't be true.
I find it very encouraging to be told that my upsets are simply blocking the joy and peace already in me. It means to me, there really is nothing to seek as we already have what we are seeking. Yet we don't experience peace as a constant state because we hold onto thoughts that are not true. Our experiences in the world seem real, and the world itself feels solid. Thus, we are deceived about what is true. When we come to realize the stories of our lives and all our sufferings are made up by the thoughts we are holding onto, we can make another choice. Are we willing to bring healing to our mistaken thoughts about everything by seeing them for what they are? And what they are is false.
Jesus says, "The mind's preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which your seeing suffers. Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. It therefore cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything." (W.8.1.4-6) While this can be understood in terms of our preoccupation with memories of the past, how does this create a misconception about time? In the Text, Jesus explains that time is based on sin, guilt, and fear. Sin is what we took into our thought system at the time of the decision to separate from God. We accepted the belief that we had done something terribly wrong and had committed a sin. As a result, we experience guilt, and with guilt comes fear. What we fear are the consequences of the decision to separate. Guilt demands punishment, which is what the world grants us through all our problems, sickness, suffering, and death. The thought system of sin in the past, guilt in the present, and fear of the future, is projected onto the world and makes up the concept of linear time.
In the eternal holy instant, which is a moment out of linear time, there is no body and there is no world. It is a moment outside of this dream of sin, guilt, and fear. In the world of time, the mind cannot grasp the present because it brings with it all of the memories of the past feelings of guilt and shame. We not only feel we have done wrong but that we are bad. We may feel like something is missing but we can't quite grasp what it is. It is a feeling of not quite getting how to do life in spite of our best efforts. This uncertainty brings with it our need to be right about everything. When we feel this sense of wrongness or guilt, we live in fear of consequences. Even when we are happy, we believe it can't last. There is never the ease that Jesus is leading us to on this path. We believe we need to resolve our guilt at some point in the future. In other words, we believe we need to atone for our past sins so we will feel better about ourselves. The truth is we are innocent now. We are not responsible for the error but only for the Correction, and it can be accepted now. We need not wait.
"The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions."
(W.8.2.1-2) That is exactly what we do when we hold onto our memories of what others have done to us in the past, what we ourselves have done, or what we have omitted to do. We call these the sins of commission or omission. These are all our unresolved issues, which we carry like a heavy burden of guilt, shame, and anger over past hurts. Jesus is clear that when we hold these upsetting thoughts, what we are doing is not thinking about anything because the past is actually nothing except thoughts we hold in this moment. These unhappy thoughts occupy the space where true happiness lies. We take these thoughts and weave them together out of bits of this and that and make up a story. We become a character in this story and actually believe it is the truth. Everything in this story revolves around our perceptions, which we reinforce over and over as we relate our stories. Of course, I am always the central character in my story.
"
The body is the central figure in the dreaming of the world. There is no dream without it, nor does it exist without the dream in which it acts as if it were a person to be seen and be believed. It takes the central place in every dream, which tells the story of how it was made by other bodies, born into the world outside the body, lives a little while and dies, to be united in the dust with other bodies dying like itself."
(T.27.VIII.1.1-3) (ACIM OE T.27.IX.1)
How can we know ourselves or see anyone truly when our minds are preoccupied with past thoughts? To really see someone as they truly are, as the Christ, requires that we see past the story and the body to the truth in them. This kind of seeing depends on vision. It is not something our eyes show us. To see with vision is to see the Christ in our brother and to know it for ourselves. Our self-concept has been developed in our mistaken notions that what others have said and done and how we have responded has formed who we think we are. We think our eyes see, yet they only make images of the thoughts, beliefs, and judgments in the mind. Anyone who has had an out of body experience and has seen their own body, knows that it is not the eyes that see. So, what is doing the looking?
Vision is blocked when we project our memories, needs, and grievances onto others. "Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that." (T.21.IN.1.1-2) (ACIM OE T.21.I.1) "It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition." (T.21.IN.1.5) (ACIM OE T.21.I.1) Forgiveness undoes the illusory thoughts we hold that block our real thoughts. That is why mind-watching is so important, because what is not brought to the Holy Spirit cannot be healed. We need to do our part, which is to watch our thoughts and be willing to turn them over to the Holy Spirit.
Only through forgiveness can those whom we have been holding bound to our grievances be released from the prison we put them in. When we release what we imagined was done to us, our perceptions of the past actually change as well. There was a time when I thought I was neglected by my parents and felt I was unloved. I held a lot of grievances toward my family. I believed I had been mistreated and misunderstood and overall felt that I had been a victim of their actions. Today, I see it was absolutely the perfect family I had chosen for my learning. Someone asked me recently whether I resented the fact that I had to be the family caregiver at such a young age, as I basically forfeited my childhood. The question surprised me a bit because I realized there was a time I did carry a lot of resentment and anger, but those feelings are now completely gone. I now see it was all perfectly orchestrated for my healing and learning. I see that I chose this and every other experience of the past for my awakening.
We chose our families at a soul level for our spiritual growth and development. The problem arises when we forget that we came to help our families, who are those very same parents who need what we can give them because of the lacks they were experiencing. All seeming lacks are a call for love. We forget this because of our own neediness as children. We see ourselves as victims, and so the drama begins! We keep playing out our story in our memories, which can sometimes continue for a lifetime. We see ourselves as both a victim and a survivor. It may be a story of the savior of the family, or the martyr, or a rescuer. There are so many ways to tell the story of our lives from so very many perspectives. They all illustrate how perception can shift, and thus, none of it is true. We can make it up from any point of view we choose. When we see this, it is very liberating.
Ken Wapnick explains that we have two imagined books. In one, we write all the sins of those who hurt us, and in the other, we write how hard we tried and how good we were in the face of attack and neglect. The purpose of these two books is to return to God at some point and to explain why the guilty ones should be punished, rather than ourselves, who have been the innocent victims of others. It is a way of avoiding responsibility for the separation and buying our false innocence at the expense of others.
We are now given a road-map to reconnect to our inherent divinity. We are learning to let go of these past thoughts and connect with our true innocence. "The purpose of the exercise for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all." (W.8.3.1) We can only do that when we notice how our mind is preoccupied with past thoughts. It is not about trying to force thoughts out of our minds that we think we are thinking but to take the time to bring our attention to what we are thinking. We become an observer of these thoughts, looking at them without judgment from outside of the dream where the Holy Spirit looks with us. As we become observers of our thoughts, we remove ourselves from them and no longer believe them. They are not real thoughts. They are not important thoughts. They are just passing thoughts with no real meaning.
These are also beginning steps to forgiveness. If we made it all up, we can also let it all go. There is nothing to let go of except our own past thoughts. Thoughts of the future are also rooted in thoughts of the past. Remember, the purpose of holding these thoughts is to block the truth. You may wonder why we would want to do that? Because we still value our separate self. It is why we keep the truth away, so we can hold onto our separate identity. This is what keeps us addicted to our thoughts.
When we seem to be thinking about a person, an object, or experiencing an emotion, our minds are preoccupied with past thoughts. No matter how vividly we may picture a thought Jesus tells us we are actually not seeing anything. So we search our minds with as little investment as possible for a minute or so and just note the thoughts that are there. Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains. Jesus tells us, this ". . . is the first step to opening the way to vision." (W.8.3.3)
Love and blessings, Sarah
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PAUSED FOR WEEKEND
A Course in Miracles
TEXT
Chapter One: Introduction to Miracles
I. Principles of Miracles
[continued]
30.
41 Miracles praise God through men. They praise God by honoring His creations, affirming their perfection. They heal because they deny body-identification and affirm Soul-identification. By perceiving the spirit, they adjust the levels and see them in proper alignment. This places the spirit at the center, where Souls can communicate directly.
31.
42 Miracles should inspire gratitude, not awe. Man should thank God for what he really is. The Children of God are very holy, and the miracle honors their holiness.
43 God's creations never lose their holiness, although it can be hidden. The miracle uncovers it and brings it into the light where it belongs. Holiness can never be really hidden in darkness, but man can deceive himself about it. This illusion makes him fearful because he knows in his heart it is an illusion, and he exerts enormous efforts to establish its reality. The miracle sets reality where it belongs. Eternal reality belongs only to the Soul, and the miracle acknowledges only the truth. It thus dispels man's illusions about himself and puts him in communion with himself
and God.
32.
44 Christ inspires all miracles, which are really intercessions. They intercede for man's holiness and make his perceptions holy. By placing him beyond the physical laws, they raise him into the sphere of celestial order. In
this order, man
is perfect.
45 The Soul never loses its communion with God. Only the mind
needs Atonement. The miracle joins in the Atonement of Christ by placing the mind in the service of the spirit. This establishes the proper function of the mind and corrects its errors.
33.
46 Miracles honor man
because he is lovable. They dispel illusions about him and perceive the light in him. They thus atone for his errors by freeing him from his own nightmares. They release him from a prison in which he has imprisoned
himself, and by freeing his mind from illusions, they restore his sanity. Man's mind
can be possessed by illusions, but his spirit is eternally free. If a mind perceives without love, it perceives an empty shell and is unaware of the spirit within it. But the Atonement restores the Soul to its proper place. The mind that serves the spirit is invulnerable.
34.
47 Miracles restore the mind to its fullness. By atoning for lack, they establish perfect protection. The strength of the Soul leaves no room for intrusions. The forgiven are filled with the Soul, and they forgive in return. It is the duty of the released to release their brothers.
48 The forgiven
are the means of Atonement. Those released by Christ must join in releasing their brothers, for this is the plan of the Atonement. Miracles are the way in which minds which serve the spirit unite with Christ for the salvation or release of all God's creations.
35.
49 Miracles are expressions of love, but it does
not follow that they will always have observable effects. I am the only one who can perform miracles indiscriminately because I
am the Atonement. You have a
role in the Atonement, which I will dictate
to you. Ask
me which miracles you should perform. This spares you exhaustion because you will act under direct communication.
36.
50 Christ-controlled miracles are part of the Atonement, but Christ-guidance is personal and leads to
personal salvation. The impersonal nature of miracles is an essential ingredient because this enables
me to control their distribution. Christ-guidance leads to the highly
personal experience of revelation. This is why it involves
personal choice. A guide does
not control, but he
does direct, leaving the following up to you. "Lead us not into temptation" means "guide us out of our own errors." "Take up thy cross and follow me" means, "Recognize your errors and choose to abandon them by following my guidance."
51 Remember that error cannot really threaten truth, which can
always withstand it.
Only the error is really vulnerable. You are free to establish your kingdom where you see fit, but the right choice is inevitable if you remember this:
52
The Soul is in a state of grace forever.
Man's reality is only his Soul.
Therefore, man is in a state of grace forever.
53 Atonement undoes all errors in this respect and thus uproots the
real source of fear. Whenever God's reassurances are experienced as threat, it is
always because you are defending misplaced and misdirected loyalty. That is what projection always involves. Error is lack of love. When man projects this onto others, he
does imprison them, but only to the extent that he reinforces errors they have
already made. This makes them vulnerable to the distortions of others since their
own perception of themselves is distorted. The miracle worker can
only bless and this undoes their distortions and frees them from prison.
37.
54 Miracles are examples of right thinking. Reality contact at all levels becomes strong and accurate, thus permitting correct delineation of intra- and interpersonal boundaries. As a result, the doer's perceptions are aligned with truth as God created it.
38.
55 A miracle is a correction factor introduced into false thinking by me. It acts as a catalyst, shaking up erroneous perception and reorganizing it properly. This places man under the Atonement principle, where his perception is healed. Until this has occurred, revelation of the divine order is impossible.
39.
56 The Spiritual eye is the mechanism of miracles because what It perceives
is true. It perceives both the creations of God and the creations of man. Among the creations of man, it can also separate the true from the false by Its ability to perceive totally rather than selectively. It thus becomes the proper instrument for reality testing, which always involves the necessary distinction between the false and the true.
~ Original Hand Script of ACIM
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