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Good Morning!

This lesson follows yesterday's, of course, in that, if we see only the past, then our minds are preoccupied with it (the past).  The sentence that stands out to me in this lesson is paragraph 2, sentence 1:  The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here.  I think we can all agree on that, can't we? 

While today's lesson may seem quite hard to believe for some of you, keep in mind that we are thinking thoughts all day long.  These thoughts are usually a variation on what has happened in the past or what may happen in the future (based on what has happened in the past, of course!).   This lesson is telling us that we are not actually thinking anything at all.  Our minds are blank.  We are actually just replaying old scripts that we have thought in the past and archived them to play over and over again.  Our ego seemed to have an investment in these thoughts and thus convinced us that these "thoughts" were real and important. 

There is a great paragraph in the text of A Course in Miracles in Chapter 21 Introduction 1:1-5.  One sentence that stands out to me is:  It [the world] is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition"  What is our inward condition?  Do we see peace out there in the world?  Do we see war, greed and lack?  What is it that our mind is preoccupied with? 

Good luck with today's lesson.  It is not easy but it is definitely important to our awakening to God's Love and Forgiveness.   Thank you.

Joan

So far the lessons have moved me from simple ideas and statements about the world and how I perceive it to how I perceive my thoughts. Lesson 8 is where I start to get into the cause and effect relationship between my thoughts and the world. The idea of projection also begins to show up.

The paragraph you mentioned (T-21.in.) is a very important one for me, It begins with a major theme from the text: "Projection makes perception." And also contains the powerful words, "As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world , but choose to change your mind about the world." Very big stuff indeed.

Your stand out sentence (paragraph 2, sentence 1:  The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here.) is one that could cause some anxiety if looked at on a deeper level. If I am a creature of the past and there is no past, then there is no me. There is a part of me (at least a part that I think of as "me") that recognizes this and doesn't want to look at it. And so the fun begins.

Thanks, Jerry, for sharing your experience of the lesson.  I too love the topic of "Projection makes perception".  I realized when I read what you said, that beginners to the Course and the Workbook will wonder what that phrase really means.  I remember back to when I was a new student to A Course in Miracles that I had no understanding of projection.  It seemed to me that "things" were happening out there in the world and I was merely reacting to it, or not.  It seemed like I had a choice to react or not.  When I started learning about projection - MY projection - I was flabberghasted.  How can this be?   As the Preface to A Course in Miracles says "The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference - the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds."  This seems impossible to believe, moreso in the beginning of my learning period and even now after I have been a student of the Course for 20 years.   

And yes, "so the fun begins"!!!