Lesson 22

"What I see is a form of vengeance."

Today's idea accurately describes the way anyone who holds attack thoughts in his mind must see the world. Having projected his anger into the world, he sees vengeance about to strike at him. His own attack is thus perceived as self-defense. This becomes an increasingly vicious circle until he is willing to change how he sees. Otherwise, thoughts of attack and counter-attack will preoccupy him and people his entire world. What peace of mind is possible to him then?

It is from this savage fantasy that you want to escape. Is it not joyousness to hear that it is not real? Is it not a happy discovery to find that you can escape? You made what you would destroy; everything that you hate and would attack and kill. All that you fear does not exist.

"I see only the perishable. I see nothing that will last. What I see is not real. What I see is a form of vengeance."

"Is this the world I really want to see?"

The answer is surely obvious.

Lesson 23

"I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts."

The idea for today contains the only way out of fear that will ever succeed. Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless. But this way cannot fail. Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.

If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it is these thoughts which you do not want. There is no point in lamenting the world. There is no point in trying to change the world. It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. Here you are changing the cost. The effect will change automatically.

Each of your perceptions of "external reality" is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. One can well ask if this can be called seeing. You see the world that you have made, but you do not see yourself as the image-maker. You cannot be saved from the world, but you can escape from its cause. This is what salvation means, for where is the world you see when its cause is gone. Vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you see now. Loveliness can light your images, and so transform them that you will love them, even though they were made of hate. For you will not be making them alone.

The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the world you see, because its cause can be changed. This change requires, first, that the cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced. The first two steps in this process require your cooperation. The final one does not. Your images have already been replaced. You will see that this is so.

Use this idea throughout the day as the need arises. As you look about you, repeat the idea slowly to yourself first, and then close your eyes and devote about a minute searching your mind for as many attack thoughts as occurred to you. As each one crosses your mind, say: "I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about a                                                 ."

Be sure to include both your thoughts of attacking and of being attacked. Their effects are exactly the same because they are exactly the same. We are still at this stage of identifying the cause of the world you see. When you finally learned that thoughts of attack and being attacked are not different, you'll be ready to let the cause go.

Lesson 24

"I do not perceive my own best interests."

In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy. Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong. It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests. Yet they are your only goal in any situation that is correctly perceived.

If you realize that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could be taught what they are. But in the presence of your conviction that you do not know what they are, you cannot learn. The idea for today is a step toward opening your mind so that learning can begin.

The exercises for today require much more honesty than you're accustomed to using. A few subjects, honestly and carefully considered in each of the practice periods which should be undertaken today, will be more helpful than a more cursory examination of a larger number. Begin with repeating today's idea followed by searching the mind, with closed eyes, for unresolved situations about which you are currently concerned. The emphasis should be on uncovering the outcome you want. You will quickly realize that you have a number of goals in mind as part of the desired outcome, and also that the schools are on different levels and often conflict.

"In the situation involving                                                 , I would like                                                  and                                                  to happen."

Try to cover as many different kinds of outcomes as they honestly may occur to you, even if some of them do not appear to be directly related to the situation, or even to be inherent in it at all. Done properly, you'll recognize that you're making a large number of demands of the situation that have nothing to do with it. You will also recognize that many of your goals are contradictory, but you have no unified outcome in mind, and that you must experience disappointment in connection with some of your goals, however the situation turns out. After covering the list of as many hoped-for goals as possible for each unresolved situation that crosses your mind, say to yourself:

"I do not perceive my own best interests in the situation."

and go onto the next one.

Lesson 25

"I do not know what anything is for."

Purpose is meaning. Today's idea explains why nothing you see means anything. You do not know what it is for. Therefore, it is meaningless to you. Everything is for your own best interests. That is what it is for; that is its purpose; that is what it means. It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified. It is in recognizing this that what you see is given meaning.

You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals. The ego is not you. Another way of describing the goals you now perceive is to say that they are all concerned with "personal" interests. Since you have no personal interests, your goals are really concerned with nothing. In cherishing them, therefore, you have no goals at all. And you do not know what anything is for. Before you can make any sense out of the exercise for today, one more thought is necessary. At the most superficial levels, you do not recognize purpose. Yet purpose cannot be understood at these levels. For example, you do understand that a telephone is for the purpose of talking to someone who is not physically in your immediate vicinity. But what you do not understand is what you want to reach them for. And it is this that makes your contact with him meaningful or not.

It is crucial for your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have established for everything. The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than "good" or "bad," is the only way to accomplish this. The idea of today is a step in this direction.

Begin with a slow repetition of the idea, followed by looking about you and letting your glance rest on whatever happens to capture it, near or far, important or unimportant human or non-human.

"I do not know what this chair is for"

"I do not know what this council is for."

"I do not know what this hand is for."

Say these slowly, without shifting the eyes from the subject until you have completed the statement about it. Then move onto the next subject, and apply today's idea as before.

Lesson 26

"My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability."

It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked you are not invulnerable. Use the attacked as a real threat. That is because he believes that you can really attack. And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you. It is this law that will ultimately save you, but you are misusing it now. You must therefore learn how it can be used for your own best interests, rather than against them.

Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack. And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable. Attack thoughts therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are. Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together. They contradict each other.

The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself first. If attack thoughts must entail the belief that you are vulnerable, their effect is to weaken you in your own eyes. Thus they have attacked your perception of yourself. And because you believe in them, you can no longer believe in yourself. A false image of yourself has come to take the place of what you are.

Understand that vulnerability or invulnerability is the result of your own thoughts. Nothing except your thoughts can attack you. Nothing except your thoughts can make you think you are vulnerable. And nothing except your thoughts can prove to you this is not so. The practice should begin with repeating the idea for today, then closing your eyes and reviewing the unresolved questions whose outcomes are causing you concern. The concern may take the form of depression, worry, anger, a sense of imposition, fear, foreboding or preoccupation. Any problem as yet unsettled that tends to recur in your thoughts during the day is a suitable subject.

"I am concerned about                                                 ."

Then go over every possible outcome that has occurred to you in that connection and which has caused you concern, referring to each one specifically, saying:

"I am afraid                                                  will happen."

It is much more helpful to cover a few situations thoroughly than to touch on a large number. As the list of anticipated outcomes for each situation continues, you'll probably find some of them, especially those that occurred to you toward the end, less acceptable to you. However, try to treat them all alike to whatever extent you can.

"That thought is an attack thought upon myself."

Conclude each practice by repeating today's idea to yourself once more.

Lesson 27

"Above all else I want to see."

Today's idea expresses something stronger than mere determination. It gives vision priority among your desires. You may feel hesitant about using the idea, on the grounds that you are not sure you really mean it. This does not matter. The purpose of today's exercise is to bring the time when the idea will be wholly true a little nearer.

There may be a great temptation to believe that some sort of sacrifice is being asked of you when you say you want to see above all else. If you become uneasy about the lack of reservation involved, add:

"Vision has no cost to anyone. It can only bless."

The idea for today needs many repetitions for maximum benefit. It should be used at least every half-hour, and more, if possible. It is recommended that you set a definite time interval for using the idea when you wake or shortly afterward, and attempts to hear to it throughout the day. It will not be difficult to do this, even if you're engaged in conversation, or otherwise occupied at the time. You can still repeat one short sentence to yourself without disturbing anything.

The real question is, how often will you remember? How much you want today's idea to be true? If only once during the day you feel that you were perfectly sincere while you were repeating today's idea, you can be sure that you have saved yourself many years of effort.

Lesson 28

"Above all else I want to see things differently."

Today we are really giving specific application to the idea for yesterday. You'll be making a series of definite commitments. The question of whether you will keep them in the future is not our concern here. If you're willing at least to keep them now, you have started on the way to keeping them. And we are still at the beginning.

You may wonder why it is important to say, for example, "Above all else I want to see this table differently." In itself it is not important at all, yet what is by itself? And what does "in itself" really mean? You see a lot of separate things about you, which really means you are not seeing at all. You either see or not. When you have seen one thing differently, you will see all things differently. The light you will see in any one of them is the same light you'll see in them all.

You are making a commitment to withdraw your preconceived ideas about the table, and open your mind to what it is, and what it is for. You're not binding its meaning to your tiny experience with tables, nor are you limiting its purpose to your own little personal thoughts. You could, in fact, gain vision from just that table, if you would withdraw all your own ideas from it, and look upon it with a completely open mind. It has something to show you; something beautiful and clean and of infinite value, full of happiness and hope. Hidden under all your ideas about it is its real purpose, the purpose it shares with all the universe.

In using the table as the subject for applying the idea for today, you are there for really asking to see the purpose of the universe. You will be making the same request of each subject that you used in the practice periods. And you are making a commitment to each of them to let its purpose be revealed to you, instead of placing your own judgment upon it.

Apply the practice to whatever you see about you. Not only should the subjects be chosen randomly, but each one should be accorded equal sincerity is today's idea is applied to it, in an attempt to acknowledge the equal value of them all in their contribution to your seeing.

"Above all else I want to see this                                                  differently."

Each application should be made quite slowly, and as thoughtfully as possible. There is no hurry.