Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
Lesson 53 Review of Lessons 11-15
- (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 the 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, from my belief in it. Now I choose to withdraw this belief and place my trust in reality. And 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 He 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.[1]
Notes and Personal Application (2019): Prayer of Gratitude: Thank you for this review of the ideas in this Course, Holy Spirit. Thank you for reminding me of what I have learned and taking me one step at a time to the fullness of truth. I am ready to let my thoughts be part of the mind of my Creator and part of creation itself! I desire to only think with Love, to think with the Holy Spirit, to join with my Lord and Savior, Jesus, and take my part in the Sonship of God and the Brotherhood of Christ. In Jesus name. Amen.
Morning practice: Dear Lord, the one that catches my attention today is number 15 – My thoughts are images that I have made. I realize that when I think of what happened in Rwanda, I am choosing not to think sanely. When I think of the world of death, suffering, disease, rape, hurt and isolation and loneliness – I am thinking of insanity and not allowing my real thoughts, the ones that really matter, the ones that are eternal and from God to cast their benevolent glow upon what I see. Those images in my mind – the ones I watch on the computer and the television, the ones I see in the newspaper and hear about from others, are not what I am supposed to fill my mind with. This is the ego’s way of keeping me in fear. This is the ego’s way of distracting me from love and bliss, bonnie and blithe. These images cannot prevail against God! I have set my mind upon Him and my thoughts will be His thoughts and not the thoughts of the gods of this world. Thank you, dear Heavenly Brother and Holy Spirit. Thank you dear God. That I may think only of the goodness and beauty and love of God and lift my heart in prayer and thanksgiving and affection to You.
Further understanding: When I choose to think of the darkness of the world, I am choosing not to think of the Light. When I let thoughts of fear, death, murder, killing, crime, political mischief, greed, corruption enter my mind, I am choosing to let them enter my mind. They do not appear there all by themselves. It is important for me to realize that I do not have to entertain them. I do not have to let them quiz me, taunt me, scare me, mock me, or concern me in the least bit. I can choose not to think of them. If thinking about them solved all the insanity of the world, I would think of them night and day, but the more I think of them the worse it gets! The insanity of the world is healed only by thinking and sharing sane thoughts, uniting with the mind of God, and healing the thoughts of separation and isolation.
Prayer: I ask Holy Spirit to guide and protect me and keep me on the right path. I have followed the guidance of Holy Spirit in studying the Course, and I trust in Him to protect my mind. Make this real to me so that I can effectively live it and share this with others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Notes and Personal Application (2020); This morning we discussed how Jesus distinguishes ego thoughts from the real thoughts of God. What we think of as our thoughts, Jesus tells us, mean nothing. It is just the usual go-round that have all to do with existence in the body and have little if anything at all to do with our eternal being. We dream, Jesus tells us in the Course. We dream about what we are going to eat, what we are going to wear, who we are going to hang out, what we are going to buy. We dream about what we are going to say, we dream about what is said to us, and we make up stories about ourselves and each other that only make sense in an insane world of shadow, opposites, and uncertainty. In this world we have a saying: We can be certain of nothing but death and taxes. And Jesus tells us in our studies, we made both!
In the eternal kingdom where we are one with the mind of God, we do not have these random, circular, no-nowhere thoughts. In God’s Mind where we find our Source, our Identity, and all the love, joy, and peace that comes with remembering who and what we really are, our thoughts are loving, creative, and everlasting. We do not fall into addictions for food, sex, drugs, or alcohol, because we have no yearnings that go unfulfilled; we have no upsets. We do not find our sustenance in special relationships that are doomed to fail us – we find our sustenance in the unity and certainty of God. In that Kingdom, there are no international atrocities to think about, no personal vendettas, no worries and no cares. In God’s Kingdom, we do not send our sons and daughters, our husbands and wives off to war; we do not worry about arming ourselves against home invaders. We have no worries – no death, no sacrifice, no taxes! In the everlasting Kingdom made by God, the systems that we have set up here to ensure our safety and survival are no longer necessary – there is no corruption, no crime, no terror of any kind. It is only in that world and in that mindset that we can truly generate thoughts that have any meaning.
What has been made so apparent in my own mind during this past year with the Course is how true Jesus’ words were when He pronounced that Light came into the world, but men loved darkness more than light.[2] We have come to put a lot of stock into our thoughts that center around our mortal existence in our bodies. We have done our best to put a pretty face upon our secretiveness, hidden agendas, manipulations, and cunningness at the expense of the Light and Love of God. We have endless works of literature, poetry, dramas that glorify the human experience. Our heroes are the vengeance seekers, the justice whores, the violent that promise peace but bring bloodshed. When God asks us to come into light, He is not asking us to clean up our act. He is asking us to bring that darkness to Him, our separated, puny, bloody, egotistical selves, and let His Light shine upon the shadows that keep us locked in a mindless mindset.
As long as we are trying to shine up our lives and make good in the shadowland our journey to our true Kingdom is delayed. We fill our mind with all that is not God and then wonder why we feel despondent, lonely, lost, and confused. We play tricks and tell lies and project all manner of blame unto others, in a meaningless ploy to come out on an imaginary top. The solution to all this madness, Jesus makes very clear: Think with God. Will with God. Be with God. Bring those false images to God and let Him shine His light upon it, Jesus says. Then stand back and see what happens.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 53…Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). pp. 86-87.
[2] John 3:19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. NIV.
the friar patch 