Lesson 3: I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].

Jan 2 (edited) in Feed

THE HUMILITY TO ACCEPT OUR TOTAL LACK OF UNDERSTANDING

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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. ⁶Yet 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! 🙈) 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

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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. ⁷Try to lay such feelings aside, and merely use these things exactly as you would anything else." (ACIM, W-3.1:6-7)

WHAT IS IT THAT WE DON'T UNDERSTAND

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At this stage, we don't understand that the ego has assigned the purpose of everything to keep us ignorant of the projection mechanism that gives birth to the world (and to ourselves, yep) so that we continue to judge rather than begin to forgive. We have yet to reconcile the fact that we have created a world to keep us separated, to make the idea of separation believable.

ITEMS OF ATTENTIONS:

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🎯 Renewed recommendation for non-discrimination in the application of the lesson, including the things we might be tempted to exclude because of the emotional charge they hold on us due to the past.

💙 I hope this post finds you well, open, receptive, and ready to change 🙂 With Love, Leila 💙

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* NOTE: My comment on this lesson follows my studying of the in-depth comment of the same lesson by Kenneth Wapnick in his published work, Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles". While it may sometimes contain my thoughts on it, it is essentially my humble take and summary of the masterful work of Kenneth. I share them here in the hope that someone might find them helpful.

** NOTE: I also share, in these ACIM posts, the wallpaper images that I use on my phone and change every day to help me commit to my lesson, in the hope that some might enjoy them as well. Here is the link to a Dropbox folder where you can download the lessons's wallpaper for mobile I have uploaded so far.

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