Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
LESSON 128 The World I See Holds Nothing That I Want.
- The world you see holds nothing that you need to offer you; nothing that you can use in any way, nor anything at all that serves to give you joy. Believe this thought, and you are saved from years of misery, from countless disappointments, and from hopes that turned to bitter ashes of despair. No one but must accept this thought as true if he would leave the world behind soar beyond its petty scope and little ways.
- Each thing you value here is but a chain that binds you to the world, and it will serve no other end but this. For everything must serve the purpose you have given it, until you see a different purpose there. The only purpose worthy of your mind this world contains is that you pass it by, without delaying to perceive some hope where there is none. Be you deceived no more. The world you see holds nothing that you want.
- Escape today the change you place up on your mind when you perceive salvation here. For what you value you make part of you as you perceive yourself. All things you seek to make your value greater in your sight limit you further, hide your worth from you, and add another bar across the door that leads to true awareness of your Self.
- Let nothing that relates to body thoughts delay your progress to salvation, nor permit temptation to believe the world holds anything you want to hold you back. Nothing is here to cherish. Nothing here is worth one instant of delay in pain: one moment of uncertainty and doubt. The worthless offer nothing. Certainty of worth cannot be found in worthlessness.
- Today we practice letting go all thought of values we have given to the world. We leave it free of purposes we gave its aspects and its phases and its dreams. We hold it purposeless within our minds and loosen it from all we wish it were. Thus do we lift the chains that bar the door to freedom from the world and go beyond all little values and diminished goals.
- Pause and be still a little while, and see how far you rise above the world, when you release your mind from chains and let it seek the level where it finds itself at home. It will be grateful to be free a while. It knows where it belongs. But free its wings, and it will fly in sureness and in joy to join its holy purpose. Let it rest in its Creator, there to be restored to sanity, to freedom, and to love.
- Give it ten minutes rest three times today. And when your eyes are opened afterwards, you will not value anything you see as much as when you looked at it before. Your whole perspective on the world will shift by just a little, every time you let your mind escape its chains. The world is not where it belongs. And you belong where it would be, and where it goes to rest when you release it from the world. Your Guide is sure. Open your mind to Him. Be still and rest.
- Protect your mind throughout the day as well. And when you think you see some value in an aspect or an image of the world, refuse to lay this chain upon your mind, but tell yourself with quiet certainty: this will not tempt me to delay myself. The world I see holds nothing that I want.[1]
Notes and Personal Application: Last year when I first studied this lesson, I was chagrined. It felt as if I were just pretending to agree with the lesson because so many things were filling me with joy. It was spring. The very air filled my lungs with happiness. The geese on the pond with their new batches of goslings, the daily walks with Lover over paths and trails that I roamed from childhood, looking forward to seeing our youngest grandson Coltin and our daughter Colette whom we were planning to visit on our upcoming trip south. I was exited about all the seedlings coming forth under the grow lights, the ducks eggs in the incubator, the weekly breakfasts with my beloved, no longer estranged sister.
I kept thinking, but the world is offering me something, Jesus. Is it wrong for me to derive happiness and joy from all our blessings? Our lesson says that each thing we value is a chain that binds us to the world – that this is its end – to bind us to the world, to keep us hanging on hoping that it will give us what we want.
Jesus says that salvation cannot be found here. The air may smell good today and fill my lungs with what feels like happiness, but it is a false happiness for tomorrow when Farmer Spike spreads manure on the fields, that happiness that depended on the fresh, sweet air is gone! Those geese that graced our ponds with their little ones – oh how happy they made me until all their relatives joined them with all of their offspring. They became bold and even came up to the kitchen door beckoning for food. I could not go out of the house without landmines of goose poop nearly everywhere I walked. My happiness at their adorableness soon turned to outright hostility when they became aggressive toward our fat white domesticated ducks. My right knee gave out on our daily walks and I had to stop everything and nurse that for awhile. The seedlings sprung forth and got planted in the beds, but the rabbits got all the cabbages which are my personal favorites. We did get to see our lovely daughter and grandson, as well as our other family members, but the duck eggs were not fertile, and I ended up hurt and dismayed with my sister – again. The world is a mixed bag, and even the things that do turn out the way we want – passes all too quickly into the past and can no longer be grasped.
Our salvation is not in the world or in the things of the world. We are not to deceive ourselves. Jesus assures us, we can loose the chains that it has upon our minds by reminding ourselves that the world can give us nothing that lasts. Every single happiness here comes to an end. It fades. It turns into something else. What brings us glee and mirth, will often be at the expense of others.
I made up this little chant last year to help remind me of the lesson idea. I share it with you to inspire you to find ways to bring the lesson ideas to life for you: Nothing here will tempt me to delay myself. The world I see holds nothing that I want or need.
When we leave our attachment to the world go, we are restored to sanity. Nothing bothers us. This is just a story. Our life here is a journey to be traveled, a separation to be endured. Nothing here will ever give us what
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 128 The world I see hold nothing…Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). pp. 233-234.
Audio credit: http://www.eckiefriar.com
the friar patch 