Daily Lesson

  

L e s s o n  8  

My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.

<AUDIO> <VIDEO>
Hear Today's Lesson~Voice & Music by
Martin Weber-Caspers [maz] 
<GUIDANCE from ELDER BROTHER>

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.

Workbook - Part 1
 Introduction 

 <AUDIO> <VIDEO>      

Voice & Music by Martin Weber-Caspers [maz] 

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.

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 and if this is the case then as line 2 says, "No one really sees anything". What we are seeing is "only (our) thoughts projected outward" (1.3) It is amazing how we live in our past thoughts. How different is this from a 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 that we simply do not see beyond the forms of this world and thus we don't understand anything.  

So, in fact, how can we trust anything as true except for the truth that "the one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here". It is absolutely astounding to realize that our minds are either in the past or in the future, and that we are really not thinking about anything!! In fact our mind is blank. (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 as being  when all we are actually seeing is what is in our minds. So what we see comes from what we hold as thoughts in the mind given form in the world.  

And as we saw in the earlier lessons what is in our minds is meaningless because the only meaning is what lies behind these meaningless thoughts which block the truth. The truth that we block with our thoughts is the eternal Self which is in our right minds and contains the love, peace, and holiness that is our true reality. It is not a happy thought to dream that we are separate from the love that we are. We are working to let go of a make-believe world of separation. How could this ever be real? Isn't it encouraging to recognize that our upsets are simply blocking the happiness that is in us and that we are not aware of because we hold untrue thoughts? We have made the world seem so real that it fools us. But when we know that the stories of our lives are just made up, we can now make some new choices. Are we willing to bring healing to our mistaken thoughts about everything by seeing them for what they are?

Jesus says that "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." (1.5-6) While this can be understood in terms of our preoccupation with memories of the past which we are projected out onto everything we see, 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 separation from God. We bought into the belief that we had done something terribly wrong. Now we experience guilt and fear of the consequences of our choice for the separated state. It is this thought system of sin in the past, guilt in the present and fear of the future that is projected onto the world. It is a thought system in our minds that came with the decision to go off on our own and leave our home in God.  And the result of those thoughts of sin, guilt and fear, projected out onto the world give us a concept of linear time. In the eternal holy instant, which is a moment out of time,  there is no body and there is no world. It is a moment outside of this dream.  Since the mind cannot grasp the present, it brings with it all of the memories of the past and feelings of guilt and shame which we all believe  needs to be resolved at some point in the future. Thus aren't we all, in one way or another, atoning for our past sins, trying to make ourselves better? Thus, while we may not connect with the metaphysical explanation given in the Text,  yet we all can relate to the experience of having this vague feeling that we carry of not only having done wrong, but feeling wrong which is the basis for insisting how right we are 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 or we are waiting for the "other shoe to drop". There is never the ease that Jesus is leading us to on this path.   

"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 the think about illusions." (2.1) And that is exactly what we do when we hold onto our memories of what others have done to us in the past, or what we have done or not done. These are all our unresolved issues which we carry like a heavy burden of guilt, shame, anger over past hurts. Yet 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. These unhappy thoughts waste our time when we could be happy instead. We take these thoughts  and weave them together out of bits of this and that and make up a story. We are now a character in this story that we actually believe as the truth.  However we define ourselves as the character in this story, becomes what Jesus calls the hero of our dream.  Our preoccupation with this story of our past is a misconception that we have invested with belief.   

Jesus says that it is these thoughtless ideas that preoccupy our minds. (5.2) And what these ideas do is block our true happiness. 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 is to have vision. It is not something that our eyes show us, but something that shines forth through us.  Vision is an experience of the Self  we really are in truth, not the character is the dream who we have come to think if as ourselves. Our self concept has been developed in our mistaken notions that others and ourselves have formed who we think we are.  We think our eyes see yet they only make images of the thoughts in the mind. Anyone who has had an out of body experience, when they look down at their own body and say that they "saw" it, illustrates that it is not the eyes that see.  Have you wondered what it is that is doing the looking in this situation? It is another example of thoughts in the mind being projected outward.    

Vision is blocked when we project our memories, needs, and grievances on others. The way to vision is through forgiveness. 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 light by us cannot be healed. Thus we need to look at our thoughts and be willing to turn them over to the Holy Spirit who will do the rest. But we have to do our part.  

And only through forgiveness can those that we have been holding bound to our grievances are released from the prison we put them in. When we release those things that we imagined were done to us, our thoughts of the past actually change as well. There was a time when I thought that I was neglected by my parents and I had a lot of grievances and bad memories about my family life. Today, I see that it was absolutely the perfect family that I chose 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 that I was very resentful and angry but now I see it was all a perfect opportunity for learning that this and every other experience of the past was what I chose for this journey of 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, those very same parents who need what we can give them because of the lacks they are experiencing. We forget this, and start getting needy ourselves and see ourselves as the victims. And so the drama begins!! And we keep playing it out in our memories, sometimes for a lifetime. And we tell our story, and everyone tells their story as if it was the truth. I became aware of how funny our stories really are when I practiced telling my story as if I was the victim. Then I told it as if I was the heroine of my dream; then the savior of the family; then the martyr. There are so many ways to tell the story of our lives from so very many perspectives. And when we do, we realize that we can make it up from any point of view of our choice!! How liberating is that!!?

Isn't it great that we now have a roadmap to find our way back to our divinity? To learn to let go of these past thoughts and connect with who we really are? We are now asked to "begin to train (our) mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all". (3.1) We can only do that when we notice what our minds are preoccupied with. We want to do that so that we can experience the bliss of the now moment where we truly are. We need to get out of our own way if we are to find our way back to peace. It is not about trying to force thoughts that we think we are thinking out of our minds but only to take the time to bring our attention to what we are thinking and become an observer of those thoughts, looking at them without judgment from outside of the dream where the Holy Spirit looks with us. We thus become a little bit more detached from them. As we become observers of our thoughts we remove ourselves from them. Then we no longer will believe in these thoughts as if they were the truth. 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, then 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. And remember the purpose of holding these thoughts is to block out the truth. So you may wonder why you would want to do that? Because we see value them as they define us.  It is why we  keep the truth away so we can hold onto our separate identity. We are very invested in our thoughts which we will see more and more as we learn to let them go.  But today we simply apply the lesson so we can start recognizing that when we seem to be thinking about a person, an object or experiencing an emotion, our minds are only preoccupied with past thoughts and  thus our minds are actually blank. Jesus tells us that this is the first step to opening to vision. ((3.3)  

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A Course in Miracles   
TEXT  

Chapter One 

Introduction to Miracles

I. Principles of Miracles

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.