Together, We Light the Way

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Review 1 Introduction and Lesson 51

My commentary of the Introduction to Review 1 and Lesson 51

The introduction to the review gives explicit instructions for using these lessons. Jesus planned these lessons in such a way that doing them as instructed would rewire our minds. You may remember that in the first introduction, he said this.

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. (ACIM, W-in.4:1-2)
And
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. (ACIM, W-in.9:1-5)

There are introductions to each new set, and for these reasons, it is important that we read them and understand how we are to proceed.

Now, for Lesson 51, we are to review the first five lessons. I am going to say something about each one, but I would encourage you to also read or watch the video of my original contemplation. I used these lessons to transcend a very difficult situation in my life, so it is a good example of how these lessons help us in very practical ways.

1. (1) Nothing I see means anything.
Jesus reminds us that there is nothing to see here. The body’s eyes don’t show us what is here. It only shows us what the mind wants to see. Right now, I want to see a computer and a desk. I want to see a bowl of grapes and a glass of water. I want to see Sedona out the window with its beautiful red rocks. But everything I see is nothing. It doesn’t actually exist. It appears to exist because I believe in it. ⁴Belief produces the acceptance of existence. ⁵That is why you can believe what no one else thinks is true. ⁶It is true for you because it was made by you.
(ACIM, T-1.VI.4:4-6) I want to be careful what I believe in because that is how it winds up as part of this strange construct we call life.

2. (2) I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me. (ACIM, W-51.2:1)
What does this computer mean to me? What is it for? Why did I want it in this life? I decide all those things. When I was working, I had a computer and I was very conflicted about it. I was not comfortable with new things, and technology was definitely new for me. The computer helped me in my job, but I had judged it as a problem, so there was a conflict. What if I had already learned to disregard my judgments because I don’t know what anything is for? I could simply have asked the Holy Spirit to judge for me. Then I would have had a useful tool instead of a problem. And maybe I would have had fun learning new things since I have the best teacher ever right here in my mind.

We have already established that what we see with our eyes is not really there. But we can use what we have manifested as the world to learn to see. This true seeing, which the Course refers to as Christ Vision, is ours since we are part of the Christ. But we will not experience it if we choose to believe in what the eyes are showing us. That is why I remind myself often that the world as I see it is not real. There is a real world, and I want to see it.

3. (3) I do not understand anything I see. (ACIM, W-51.3:1)
The world is not understandable. It makes no sense. If I let go of one understanding to make room for another, I have just traded nothing for nothing. If, on the other hand, I let go of my judgment and accept the Holy Spirit’s instead, I will have a truer perception. When I let go of my belief that the world is real, I will have made room for what actually is real. I only need to be willing to do this.

I have inflammation in my feet, and I experience pain from this. Lesson 190 tells us that pain is not real. Of course, it isn’t because to be real it would have to have been caused by God. So, I am reminding myself that it is only my belief in pain and the belief that I deserve pain that I am feeling. I ask the Holy Spirit to correct my perception of these beliefs. I want only what reflects reality to have a place in my mind.

4. (4) These thoughts do not mean anything. (ACIM, W-51.4:1)
The thoughts I think I think are meaningless. They represent the ego’s interpretation. The ego is not real, so its thoughts are not real. But I have real thoughts, the thoughts I think with God. I will be aware of them when I let go of the thoughts I think with the ego.

I used to not trust doctors and resented them. I seemed to get the worst doctors, and when I had one I liked, I would lose him. Finally, I got around to asking the Holy Spirit what was going on. He told me that I was separating myself from the doctor by making them my idol. I expected them to save me and was disappointed when I left their office the same vulnerable person who entered it.

Instead of seeing them as separate and you at their mercy, see them as your partner and wanting the best for you. When I changed my thoughts about doctors, I suddenly got the best doctors! Another thought given to me in regard to doctors was to see the partnership as one in which they looked after this body, and I took care of my spiritual healing. As Jesus will tell us in the Course, all illness is mental illness. So that is where my responsibility lies. As I become more sane, my body tends to heal more quickly and requires less attention.

Sometimes I don’t get clear directions. When I am in fear, for example, and I understand the problem, but am unable to let the fear go, I might receive peace. And that is lovely. From the peaceful place, I may be able to gain other valuable help. Or if I am grieving and turn to the Holy Spirit, I receive comfort. No words needed. Once when I was lost, I asked for help and just started driving. I wound up exactly where I needed to be. What I need for any form of help is to abandon my own thoughts so that I can become aware of the thoughts I think with God. Or at least, thoughts that are closer to what I think with God until I open my heart completely.

5. (5) I am never upset for the reason I think. (ACIM, W-51.5:1)
I have often thought I was upset because something wasn’t going my way. Or because someone was a problem for me. When I was married, it sure seemed like he was my problem. I could have sworn he was the reason I was upset. But when we divorced, he was still my problem even though we were not together. That is when I began to really understand how it is that I am never upset for the reason I think.

It was like he was in my mind, still making me upset, but of course, he wasn’t. My thoughts were in my mind. It was my thoughts about him that were the problem all along. I could see how I used this relationship to convince myself that I was an innocent victim and he was the victimizer. I used him to prove I was right and he was wrong. I did these things because this was the world I had made with my beliefs, and I was defending it. It was painful, but it was real to me because I made it. I grew so much from that miserable situation that I can only be grateful for it.

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