Day 53

Today's Lesson:

Today we review the following:

11) My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.

Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world that pictures them can have no meaning. What is producing this world is insane, and so is what it produces. Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well as insane ones. I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing.

12) I am upset because I see a meaningless world.

Insane thoughts are upsetting. They produce a world in which there is no order anywhere. only chaos rules a world that represents chaotic thinking, and chaos has no laws. I cannot live in peace in such a world. I am grateful that this world is not real, and that I need not see it at all unless I choose to value it. And I do not choose to value what is totally insane and has no meaning.

13) A meaningless world engenders fear.

The totally insane engenders fear because it is completely undependable, and offers no grounds for trust. Nothing in madness is dependable. It holds out no safety and no hope. But such a world is not real. I have given it the illusion of reality, and have suffered from my belief in it. Now I choose to withdraw this belief, and place my trust in reality. In choosing this, I will escape all the effects of the world of fear, because I am acknowledging that it does not exist.

14) God did not create a meaningless world.

How can a meaningless world exist if God did not create it? He is the Source of all meaning, and everything that is real is in His Mind. It is in my mind too, because H created it with me. Why should I continue to suffer from the effects of my own insane thoughts, when the perfection of creation is my home? Let me remember the power of my decision, and recognize where I really abide.

15) My thoughts are images that I have made.

Whatever I see reflects my thoughts. It is my thoughts that tell me where I am and what I am. 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 am not allowing my real thoughts to cast their beneficent light on what I see. yet God's way is sure. The images I have made cannot prevail against Him because it is not my will that they do so. My will is His, and I will place no other gods before Him.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Again, just re-reading these lessons is a great exercise in noticing the shift in my thought system. It all makes so much sense logically. I'm reminded of a retreat I attended where the topic of dialogue was the law of attraction, and the attendees were mostly students of this Course. One young woman was upset because she couldn't possibly see how her thoughts had attracted the murder of one of her friends. She understood that anything that happened to her or around her was because she attracted it there. The teacher explained that there are people in the world to whom "bad" things have to happen. That is what those people attract into their lives (that could be the subject of an entirely different post!). The teacher said that the young woman who asked the question believes that there are "good" and "bad" things in the world, and she attracted a person to whom "bad" things happen into her space. The teacher said that when we can all understand that there is no "bad" or "good" event - it is only our thinking and our judgment that makes an event "good" or "bad" - we won't attract anything that upsets us into our space.

That took a while for me to understand - and I'm still working on it. But if my thoughts are meaningless (they have no meaning apart from the meaning I've put there), and I am upset because I see a meaningless world (I've apparently put meaning to the fact that it's meaningless - and that engenders fear), it would stand to reason that my upsetting thoughts are a product of my own mind, not the Mind of God. God did not create a meaningless world - I did. The thoughts I have are images I have made, so whatever I see (and whatever I attract into my space) reflects my thoughts. The fact that I see a world where there is suffering shows me that I am not allowing my real thoughts (those thoughts I create with God, not the ones I make) to come through. If I am living and seeing through the eyes of my will, that is ego, and that will keep me stuck. My will is God's will and I will remove the barriers I've put in the way of living in that understanding.

I'm guessing if I really think about it, I can remember all kinds of examples of these five lessons in my life. I need only think about things that upset me and it almost always ends up that my ego is trying to run the show. I go back to the Four Agreements and remember the second one: "Don't take anything personally." That's what my ego wants me to do.

One of my favorite sayings is "It Is What It Is" - no judgment, just observation. As I realize this, I can make new choices in the moment and can shift my thinking from fear to love. That's a miracle!