Lesson 3: I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].
THE HUMILITY TO ACCEPT OUR TOTAL LACK OF UNDERSTANDING ยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐ In his commentary on this lesson, Kenneth Wapnick starts with this powerful quote from the textbook: "You are still convinced that your understanding is a powerful contribution to the truth, and makes it what it is. โถYet we have emphasized that you need understand nothing. "(ACIM, T-18.IV.7:5-6) We are so driven to "understand" everything. And it painfully applies to us, spiritual seekers. (Me the first! ๐) We seek to understand the truth so that we can find some peace. We seem to overlook the fact that the truth is truth regardless of our understanding of it. And what can not be understood can still be accepted and embraced. We don't need to understand the truth yet, but we need to have the willingness to follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit. With no humility, no trust, and no open-mindedness, we are not teachable, we can not be guided to the truth: "It is therefore essential that you keep a perfectly open mind, unhampered by judgment, in selecting the things to which the idea for the day is to be applied." (ACIM, W-3.2:2) FIRST ALLUSION TO THE PAST ยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐยฐ As long as we don't become aware of the weight of the past with which we burden our mind, we won't be able to free it. "The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them." (ACIM, W-3.2:1) "Some of the things you see may have emotionally charged meaning for you. โทTry to lay such feelings aside, and merely use these things exactly as you would anything else." (ACIM, W-3.1:6-7)