Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
Lesson 10 My thoughts do not mean anything.
- This idea applies to all the thoughts of which you are aware or become aware of in the practice periods. The reason the idea is applicable to all of them is that they are not your real thoughts. We have made this distinction before and will do so again. You have no basis for comparison as yet. When you do, you will have no doubt that what you once believed were your thoughts did not mean anything.
- This is the second time we have used this kind of idea. The form is only slightly different. This time the idea is introduced with “My thoughts,” instead of “These thoughts,” and no link is made overtly with the things around you. The emphasis is now on the lack of reality of what you think you think.
- This aspect of the correction process began with the idea that the thoughts of which you are aware are meaningless, outside rather than within; and then stressed their past rather than their present status. Now we are emphasizing that the presence of these “thoughts” means that you are not thinking. This is merely another way of repeating earlier statements that your mind is really a blank. To recognize this is to recognize nothingness when you think you see it. As such, it is the prerequisite for vision.
- Close your eyes for these exercises and introduce them by repeating the idea for today quite slowly to yourself. Then add: This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe. The exercises consist, as before, in searching your mind for all the thoughts that are available to you, without selection or judgment. Try to avoid classification of any kind. In fact, if you find it helpful to do so, you might imagine that you are watching an oddly assorted procession going by, which has little if any personal meaning to you. As each one crosses your mind, say: My thought about ____________ does not mean anything. My thought about __________does not mean anything.
- Today’s thought can obviously serve for any thought that distresses you at any time. In addition, five practice periods are recommended, each involving no more than minute or so of mind searching. It is not recommended that this time period be extended, and it should be reduced to half a minute or less if you experience discomfort. Remember, however, to repeat the idea slowly before applying it specifically, and also to add: This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe.[1]
Notes and Personal Application (2019): My thoughts about James, Beckie, my car, the cat, my past, the future, Soroptimists and Delta Kappa Gamma and the Keystone Literacy Guild, about Transitions, about the house – do not mean anything.
This idea will help release me from everything I now believe.
Notes and Personal Application (2020): We reviewed this lesson while we were traveling, coming home from Virginia. I wrote the blog and recorded the audio later. We discussed how important we think our thoughts are, how we take responsibility for them, and let them affect us, even though nobody really knows where they come from. When I am asleep I have the most complicated dreams at time, and when I am awake thoughts seem to come and go in a rather chaotic and disorderly fashion unless I harness them and make some definite choices about what I will think about and what I will ignore or choose to think about later…
According to my notes from last year, I was thinking about James, my sister, my car, our gray cat, Velvet, my past, the future, and evidently some professional women’s clubs that I had dropped membership from when I quit Transitions. I was thinking about our house, our renovations more than likely. And I realized that all these thoughts that I was having, which seemed to loom so large and important in my mind, did not mean anything.
This year James is still my husband; Beckie, my sister; Velvet, my darling cat; my past and future still occupy my thoughts but in an entirely different way! The professional clubs are still there; I am not part of them because I have no interest in them anymore – traveling with James and not working for Transitions as an Education Specialist gives me no reason to stay involved.
Last year I decided to heed the call of God in my life and no longer hide that call behind a lot of other endeavors. Realizing that my thoughts do not mean anything was a breakthrough for me. I could ignore them. I could stop making such a big deal out of them. I realized that there was nothing unique or special about them and that they were a waste of my time. Freeing myself from being caught up in my own thoughts was like cleaning up a hard drive. It was a system restore! All the thoughts that kept me going in circles, ruminating and dwelling on things from the past, reliving the pain and sorrow and keeping myself in a state of seeking outside of myself for an answer – I let them go. It was a process. It wasn’t always easy. There were some thoughts that were harder to dismiss than others – but in the end, I realized that these thoughts were just like everything else in the dream – they would die with my body and less than a century from now, they would be gone just like everything here in ego world fades away. Getting rid of the meaningless thoughts in my mind quieted that constant chatter that drowned out the quiet, calm, sensible voice of the Holy Spirit. I learned to listen for and hear the Voice for God when I was no longer attached to my thoughts and stopped making so much of them.
Heavenly Father: Let us be released from all thoughts that are not of You.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Student. Lesson 10 My thoughts do not…Circle of Atonement. Complete and Annotated Edition, p. 948-949.
the friar patch 