LESSON 53
Today we will review the following:
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
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Lesson 53
Review of Lessons 11-15
In reading this review today what stood out to me is the statement that God did not create a meaningless world. I see it as the central foundation of the Course. As I say it to myself, I have a feeling of relief. Because God did not create a meaningless world, I am not stuck for eternity in a world of fear and guilt and pain and suffering. The world I see is only a temporary effect that comes from believing in a world that cannot be real. All the seeming injustices I see in the world have no meaning because God did not create them. All the conflict and the suffering that seems to be in this world is not real because God did not create them.
An effect of recognizing this is that God no longer seems to be my enemy or something to be feared. Instead, He is a benevolent place of comfort, a refuge to which I can go for relief from the conflicts I experience in this world. He offers me only peace and Love and happiness. That is what He created and that is what has meaning. He gives this with total consistency, because that is what He is and God does not change.
The moment I let go of my investment in a meaningless world, I free myself to return Home to the safety and comfort of God. This is what I truly want. This is why I want to learn to forgive all my perceptions in this world, to let them go. This is why I want to practice again and again, many times a day, turning all my thoughts over to the Holy Spirit to receive His interpretation and let go of mine. This is how I will learn to recognize and release the meaningless and accept Love, the Source of all meaning.
I am so grateful for the freedom to exchange my beliefs for what is real and meaningful for the freedom to remember both Who and What we all really are. I am so grateful for my relationship with the Holy Spirit, to know and trust that I am not alone, to wake up and joy and not struggle. I am so grateful for the gentle touch of compassion and the inspiration with which the Holy Spirit touches me and shares with all that surrounds me. I cherish this freedom, unity and joy and fulfillment. And I commit to celebrating it as often as I can.
The power of decision is strengthened in me today as I allow what this review is saying to wash my mind with real thoughts. My willingness to open to the awareness of what is real is very high today. I am being told by Jesus that the Love I am is real, I am God’s creation, and this will never change. I am welcomed in the Mind of God. I am not seen as an intruder, for the Mind of God is my real Home.
During the day, I will remember this review and hold it close to my heart and offer it to my mind repeatedly. Should I be tempted to give value to the meaningless, Holy Spirit will help me if I ask to go Home again.
I have never really left the Home of God’s heavenly Mind. It is just a story, a habit, that I am willing to let go. This story does not serve me. The story of confusion, of fear is meaningless. I want to remember my real life with God and so today’s review assures me that this is what I will be given upon my request. And It’s all I’ve ever really had. I fell asleep for a while and dreamed a dream of confusion, of separation, and now I am waking up.
Today’s review lesson helps me detach from all the stories. There are millions of stories, and none of them are real. I still need the practice of recognizing that every story held within the belief system of time and space is really just a story. It is not real. The Course tells me that the tiny tick of time was over long ago. It never really happened. All is still safe in God. The stories make no difference in what is real.
Often the stories do appear very real to me and I do get wrapped up in them. Made up stories that are the opposite of God’s universal Love are indeed fearful and limiting. When I take the opportunity to step back and detach from them, I am able to see how silly and foolish they are. No one could ever be limited by a body. They are just foolish ideas.
One of the things that stood out to me today is that I am the decision maker. I choose between illusions and the truth. Today I am willing to practice opening to the truth. Only Love’s Thoughts are real. Love sees only Love. Love knows that stories of lack of Love are not real. Love knows that all is safe and that all that could ever be real is eternal, changeless Love. This review lesson is a wonderful mind wash. I can soak in it. It will help loosen up all the false ideas I am still clinging to. With the Holy Spirit’s help, I am willing to return to the truth that only formless Love is real.
As I was doing the lesson I started thinking about the line, "I do not value what is totally insane and has no meaning." I started thinking about what this means in my everyday life and what does it mean to value something.
I like my house. It is perfect for my needs and is pleasant to be in. I haven't seen another house I would prefer to live in. Does that mean I have placed value on my house and that I should give it up? I have to live someplace. Would it be better to live in a house I don't like and so wouldn't value?
Or would value it mean that I would be devastated if I lost it? That I think I have to have this house in order to be happy? I think this must be what value is. The house is a symbol of fulfillment and by becoming attached to that particular symbol, I have forgotten that my happiness does not come from this house, but from God. That truly is insane thinking.
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