With this lesson, you continue to build your attitude muscles. The body's eyes do not always reveal the truth. Our "sight" is so often based on sense perception, as opposed to "vision" of the deeper world—the world of love.
You aren't who you used to be. Don't "see" others as who they used to be. You begin to free yourself—to experience yourself as who you're fully capable of being right now. And your relationships will be reborn.
As your mind is trained to learn that we see nothing as it is now…you learn to open your eyes to a deeper truth. Think about that as you approach Lesson 9.
I see nothing as it is now.
This idea obviously follows from the two preceding ones. But while you may be able to accept it intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as yet. However, understanding is not necessary at this point. In fact, the recognition that you do not understand is a prerequisite for undoing your false ideas. These exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. You do not need to practice what you really understand. It would indeed be circular to aim at understanding and assume that you have it already.
It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what seems to be pictured before it is not there. This idea can be quite disturbing and may meet with active resistance in any number of forms. Yet that does not preclude applying it. No more than that is required for these or any other exercises. Each little step will clear a little of the darkness away, and understanding will finally come to lighten every corner of the mind which has been cleared of the debris that darkens it.
These exercises, for which three or four practice periods are sufficient, involve looking about you and applying the idea for the day to whatever you see, remembering the need for its indiscriminate application, and the essential rule of excluding nothing. For example:
I do not see this typewriter as it is now.
I do not see this key as it is now.
I do not see this telephone as it is now.
Begin with things that are nearest you, and then extend the range:
I do not see that coat rack as it is now.
I do not see that face as it is now.
I do not see that door as it is now.
It is emphasized again that while complete inclusion should not be attempted, specific exclusion must be avoided. Be sure you are honest in making this distinction. You may be tempted to obscure it.
Quote of the Day
The introduction to A Course in Miracles states:
"The Course can be summed up very simply:
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God."
What that means is this:
Love is real. It's an eternal creation and nothing can destroy it.
Anything that isn't love is an illusion.
Remember this, and you'll be at peace
— Excerpted from A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles
