My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past. ²No one really sees anything. ³He sees only his thoughts projected outward. ⁴The mind’s preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which your seeing suffers. ⁵Your [ego] mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. ⁶It therefore cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything.
The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. ²To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. ³Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. ⁴The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything.
The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. ²While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. ³Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision. (A Course in Miracles, W-8.1–3. See also ACIM Lesson 8 Insights.)
It is helpful to recognize that what we perceive with the body is a projection. We see what confirms our beliefs about what we are. The purpose of projection is to make it appear to be happening to us instead of coming from our own mind.
This self deception makes it seem that our thoughts are based on reality. But they are really based on our thoughts about the past. These thoughts all stem from the belief that we have successfully made ourselves separate individuals. That belief is repeated over and over, in different forms. This deception is reinforced by perceiving an external world with forms we think we had nothing to do with making.
Now we are being asked to open our mind to the possibility that our thoughts are based on illusions; thus they are not really thoughts at all. Our only real thoughts are the thoughts we share with God. God’s Thoughts are always extensions of His Love. They create Reality in the present moment.
Today we practice observing our thoughts. We ask ourselves, “Are these thoughts expressions of Love? Or are these thoughts judgments based on a belief in differences?” We ask Holy Spirit to help us forgive our judgments and let the Love we are shine through.
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