May 22, 1968
The “new beginning” now becomes the focus of the curriculum. The goal is clear, but now you need specific methods for attaining it. The speed by which it can be reached depends on only this; your willingness to practice every step. Each one will help a little, every time it is attempted. And, together, they will lead you both from dreams of judgment to forgiving dreams, and out of pain and fear. They are not new to you, but they are more ideas than rules of thought to you as yet. So now we need to practice them awhile, until they are the rules by which you live. We seek to make them habits now, so you will have them ready, and for ANY needs.
RULES FOR DECISION
Decisions are continuous. You do not always know when you are making them. But, with a little practice in the ones you recognize, a set begins to form which sees you through the rest. It is not wise to let yourself become preoccupied with every step you take. The proper set, adopted consciously each time you wake, will put you well ahead. And if you find resistance strong and dedication weak, you are not ready. DO NOT FIGHT YOURSELF. But think about the kind of day you want, and tell yourself there IS a way in which this very day can happen just like that. Then try again to HAVE the day you want.
1. The outlook starts with this:
“Today I will make NO decision by myself.”
This means that you are choosing NOT to be the judge of what to do. But it must ALSO mean you will not judge the situations where you will be called upon to make response. For if you judge them, you HAVE set the rules for how you should react to them. And then ANOTHER answer cannot BUT produce confusion and uncertainty AND FEAR. This is your major problem now. You still make up your minds, and THEN decide to ask what you should do. And what you hear may not resolve the problem AS YOU SAW IT FIRST. This leads to fear, because it contradicts what you perceive, and so you feel attacked. AND THEREFORE ANGRY. There are rules by which this will not happen. But it does occur, at first, to everyone who listens well.
2. Throughout the day, at any time you think of it, and have a quiet moment for reflection, tell yourself again the kind of day you want; the feelings you would have, the things you WANT to happen, and the things you WOULD experience. And say,
(for)
“If I make no decision by myself,
This is the day that will be GIVEN me.”
These two procedures, practiced well, will serve to let you be directed WITHOUT fear, for opposition will not FIRST arise, and THEN become a problem in itself. But there will still be times when you have judged ALREADY. Now the answer will provoke attack, unless you quickly straighten out your mind to WANT an answer that will work. Be certain this has happened, if you feel yourself unwilling to sit by, and ask to have the answer GIVEN you. This means you HAVE decided by yourself, AND CANNOT SEE THE QUESTION. Now you need a quick restorative BEFORE you ask.
3. Remember once again the day you want, and recognize that something has occurred which is not part of it. Then realize that you have asked a question by yourself, and MUST have set an answer in your terms. Then say,
“I HAVE no question. I forgot what to decide.”
This cancels out the terms which you have set, and lets the ANSWER show you what the question MUST have really been. Try to observe this rule without delay DESPITE your opposition. For you have ALREADY gotten angry, and your fear of being answered in a different way from what YOUR version of the question asks will gain momentum until you believe the day you want is one in which you get YOUR answer to your question. And you will not get it, for it would destroy the day by robbing you of what you REALLY want. This can be very hard to realize, when once you have decided by yourself the rules which PROMISE you a happy day. But these decisions still can be undone, by simple methods which you CAN accept.
4. If you are so unwilling to receive you cannot even let your QUESTION go, you can begin to change your mind with this:
“At least I can decide I do not LIKE what I feel now.”
This much is obvious, and paves the way for the next easy step, which follows like
this.
5. Having decided that you do not like the way you feel, what could be easier than
to continue with –
“And so I HOPE I have been wrong.”
This works AGAINST the sense of opposition, and reminds you that help is not being thrust upon you, but is something that you want and that you need BECAUSE you do not like the way you feel. This tiny opening will be enough to let you go ahead with just a few more steps you need to LET yourself be helped.
6. Now you have reached the turning point, because it has occurred to you that YOU will gain, if what you have decided is NOT so. Until this point is reached, you will believe your happiness DEPENDS on being right. But this much reason have you now attained; YOU would be better off if you were WRONG. This tiny grain of wisdom will suffice to take you further. You are NOT coerced, but merely hope to have a thing you WANT. And you can say in perfect honesty,
“I WANT another way to look at this.”
Now you have changed your mind about the day, and have REMEMBERED what you really want. Its PURPOSE has no longer been obscured by the insane belief you want it for the goal of being RIGHT when you are WRONG. This is the READINESS for asking brought to your awareness, for you CANNOT be in conflict when you ask for what you want, and SEE that it is this for which you ask.
7. This final step is but acknowledgment of LACK of opposition to be helped. It is a statement of an open mind, not certain yet, but willing to be shown:
“Perhaps there IS another way to look at this. What can I LOSE by asking?”
Thus are you made ready for a question that makes sense, and so the ANSWER will make sense as well. Nor will you fight AGAINST it, for you see that it is YOU who will be helped by it.
It MUST be clear that it is easier to have a happy day if you PREVENT unhappiness from entering at all. But this takes practice in the rules which will PROTECT you from the ravages of fear. When THIS has been achieved, the sorry dream of judgment has FOREVER been undone. But, meanwhile, you have need for practicing the rules for its undoing. Let us, then, consider once again the very first of the decisions which are offered here.
We said you can begin a happy day with the determination NOT to make decisions by yourself. This SEEMS to be a free decision in itself. And yet, you CANNOT make decisions by yourself. The only question really is WITH WHAT you choose to make them. That is really all.
The first rule, then, is not coercion, but a simple statement of a simple fact. You WILL not make decisions by yourself WHATEVER you decide. For they are made with idols or with God. And you ask help of Christ or antiChrist, and which you choose WILL join with you, and tell you what to do.
Your day is NOT at random. It is set by what you choose to live it WITH, and HOW the friend whose counsel you have sought perceives your happiness. You ALWAYS ask advice before you can decide on ANYTHING. Let THIS be understood, and you can see there cannot BE coercion here, nor grounds for opposition that you may be free. There IS no freedom from what must occur. And if you think there is, you MUST be wrong. The second rule as well is but a fact. For you and your advisor must AGREE on what you want BEFORE it can occur. It is but this AGREEMENT which permits all things to happen. NOTHING can be caused without some form of union, be it with a dream of judgment or the Voice for God. Decisions cause results BECAUSE they are not made in isolation. They are made by you and your advisor, for yourself, AND FOR THE WORLD AS WELL. The day you want you offer to the world, for it WILL be what you have asked for, and will reinforce the rule of your advisor through the world. Whose kingdom is the world for you today? What kind of day will you decide to have?
It needs but two who would have happiness this day to promise it to all the world. It needs but two to understand that they cannot decide alone, to GUARANTEE the joy they asked for will be wholly shared. For they have understood the basic law which MAKES decision powerful, and gives it all effects that it will EVER have. It needs but two. These two ARE joined before there CAN be a decision. Let this be the ONE reminder that you keep in mind, and you will have the day you want, and give it to the world by having it yourselves. Your judgment has been LIFTED from the world by your decision for a happy day. And as you have received so MUST you give.
INTRODUCTION
W-in.1. A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful. 2 Yet it is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible. 3 An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. 4 It is the purpose of this workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets forth.
W-in.2. The exercises are very simple. 2 They do not require a great deal of time, and it does not matter where you do them. 3 They need no preparation. 4 The training period is one year. 5 The exercises are numbered from 1 to 365. 6 Do not undertake to do more than one set of exercises a day.
W-in.3. The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with the undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the acquisition of true perception. 2 With the exception of the review periods, each day’s exercises are planned around one central idea, which is stated first. 3 This is followed by a description of the specific procedures by which the idea for the day is to be applied.
W-in.4. The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world. 2 The exercises are planned to help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally applicable to everyone and everything you see.
W-in.5. Transfer of training in true perception does not proceed as does transfer of the training of the world. 2 If true perception has been achieved in connection with any person, situation or event, total transfer to everyone and everything is certain. 3 On the other hand, one exception held apart from true perception makes its accomplishments anywhere impossible.
W-in.6. The only general rules to be observed throughout, then, are: First, that the exercises be practiced with great specificity, as will be indicated. 2 This will help you to generalize the ideas involved to every situation in which you find yourself, and to everyone and everything in it. 3 Second, be sure that you do not decide for yourself that there are some people, situations or things to which the ideas are inapplicable. 4 This will interfere with transfer of training. 5 The very nature of true perception is that it has no limits. 6 It is the opposite of the way you see now.
W-in.7. The overall aim of the exercises is to increase your ability to extend the ideas you will be practicing to include everything. 2 This will require no effort on your part. 3 The exercises themselves meet the conditions necessary for this kind of transfer.
W-in.8. Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may seem to be quite startling. 2 This does not matter. 3 You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. 4 You are not asked to judge them at all. 5 You are asked only to use them. 6 It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that they are true.
W-in.9. Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. 2 Some of them you may actively resist. 3 None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy. 4 But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in
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Lesson 1
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Workbook for Students
Introduction
1. A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful. ²Yet it is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible. ³An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. ⁴It is the purpose of this workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets forth.
2. The exercises are very simple. ²They do not require a great deal of time, and it does not matter where you do them. ³They need no preparation. ⁴The training period is one year. ⁵The exercises are numbered from 1 to 365. ⁶Do not undertake to do more than one set of exercises a day.
3. The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with the undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the acquisition of true perception. ²With the exception of the review periods, each day’s exercises are planned around one central idea, which is stated first. ³This is followed by a description of the specific procedures by which the idea for the day is to be applied.
4. The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world. ²The exercises are planned to help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally applicable to everyone and everything you see.
5. Transfer of training in true perception does not proceed as does transfer of the training of the world. ²If true perception has been achieved in connection with any person, situation or event, total transfer to everyone and everything is certain. ³On the other hand, one exception held apart from true perception makes its accomplishments anywhere impossible.
6. The only general rules to be observed throughout, then, are: First, that the exercises be practiced with great specificity, as will be indicated. ²This will help you to generalize the ideas involved to every situation in which you find yourself, and to everyone and everything in it. ³Second, be sure that you do not decide for yourself that there are some people, situations or things to which the ideas are inapplicable. ⁴This will interfere with transfer of training. ⁵The very nature of true perception is that it has no limits. ⁶It is the opposite of the way you see now.
7. The overall aim of the exercises is to increase your ability to extend the ideas you will be practicing to include everything. ²This will require no effort on your part. ³The exercises themselves meet the conditions necessary for this kind of transfer.
8. Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may seem to be quite startling. ²This does not matter. ³You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. ⁴You are not asked to judge them at all. ⁵You are asked only to use them. ⁶It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that they are true.
9. Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. ²Some of them you may actively resist. ³None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy. ⁴But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. ⁵Nothing more than that is required.
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A Course in Miracles
Part I
Lesson 1
Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] means anything.
1. Now look slowly around you, and practice applying this idea very specifically to whatever you see:
²This table does not mean anything.
³This chair does not mean anything.
⁴This hand does not mean anything.
⁵This foot does not mean anything.
⁶This pen does not mean anything.
2. Then look farther away from your immediate area, and apply the idea to a wider range:
²That door does not mean anything.
³That body does not mean anything.
⁴That lamp does not mean anything.
⁵That sign does not mean anything.
⁶That shadow does not mean anything.
3. Notice that these statements are not arranged in any order, and make no allowance for differences in the kinds of things to which they are applied. ²That is the purpose of the exercise. ³The statement should merely be applied to anything you see. ⁴As you practice the idea for the day, use it totally indiscriminately. ⁵Do not attempt to apply it to everything you see, for these exercises should not become ritualistic. ⁶Only be sure that nothing you see is specifically excluded. ⁷One thing is like another as far as the application of the idea is concerned.
4. Each of the first three lessons should not be done more than twice a day each, preferably morning and evening. ²Nor should they be attempted for more than a minute or so, unless that entails a sense of hurry. ³A comfortable sense of leisure is essential.
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Lesson 1
David Hoffmeister
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