HappyD
2011-01-01 17:09:07 UTC
Introduction to A Course in Miracles Workbook ~ Lesson 1 Nothing I see
means anything.
A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a
framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful. Yet it is
doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible. An
untrained mind can accomplish nothing. It is the purpose of this
workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets
forth.
The exercises are very simple. They do not require a great deal of
time, and it does not matter where you do them. They need no
preparation. The training period is one year. The exercises are
numbered from 1 to 365. Do not undertake to do more than one set of
exercises a day.
The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with
the undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the
acquisition of true perception. With the exception of the review
periods, each day’s exercises are planned around one central idea,
which is stated first. This is followed by a description of the
specific procedures by which the idea for the day is to be applied.
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. The
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.
Transfer of training in true perception does not proceed as does
transfer of the training of the world. If true perception has been
achieved in connection with any person, situation or event, total
transfer to everyone and everything is certain. On the other hand, one
exception held apart from true perception makes its accomplishments
anywhere impossible.
The only general rules to be observed throughout, then, are: First,
that the exercises be practiced with great specificity, as will be
indicated. This will help you to generalize the ideas involved to
every situation in which you find yourself, and to everyone and
everything in it. Second, be sure that you do not decide for yourself
that there are some people, situations or things to which the ideas
are inapplicable. This will interfere with transfer of training. The
very nature of true perception is that it has no limits. It is the
opposite of the way you see now.
The overall aim of the exercises is to increase your ability to extend
the ideas you will be practicing to include everything. This will
require no effort on your part. The exercises themselves meet the
conditions necessary for this kind of transfer.
Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe,
and others may seem to be quite startling. This does not matter. You
are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. You are
not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only to use them. It is
their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that
they are true.
Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not
accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may
actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy.
But 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. Nothing more than that is required.
Lesson 1
Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this
place] means anything.
Now look slowly around you, and practice applying this idea very
specifically to whatever you see:
This table does not mean anything.
This chair does not mean anything.
This hand does not mean anything
This foot does not mean anything.
This pen does not mean anything.
Then look farther away from your immediate area, and apply the idea to
a wider range:
That door does not mean anything.
That body does not mean anything.
That lamp does not mean anything.
That sign does not mean anything.
That shadow does not mean anything.
Notice that these statements are not arranged in any order, and make
no allowance for differences in the kinds of things to which they are
applied. That is the purpose of the exercise. The statement should
merely be applied to anything you see. As you practice the idea for
the day, use it totally indiscriminately. Do not attempt to apply it
to everything you see, for these exercises should not become
ritualistic. Only be sure that nothing you see is specifically
excluded. One thing is like another as far as the application of the
idea is concerned.
Each of the first three lessons should not be done more than twice a
day each, preferably morning and evening. Nor should they be attempted
for more than a minute or so, unless that entails a sense of hurry. A
comfortable sense of leisure is essential.
means anything.
A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a
framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful. Yet it is
doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible. An
untrained mind can accomplish nothing. It is the purpose of this
workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets
forth.
The exercises are very simple. They do not require a great deal of
time, and it does not matter where you do them. They need no
preparation. The training period is one year. The exercises are
numbered from 1 to 365. Do not undertake to do more than one set of
exercises a day.
The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with
the undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the
acquisition of true perception. With the exception of the review
periods, each day’s exercises are planned around one central idea,
which is stated first. This is followed by a description of the
specific procedures by which the idea for the day is to be applied.
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. The
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.
Transfer of training in true perception does not proceed as does
transfer of the training of the world. If true perception has been
achieved in connection with any person, situation or event, total
transfer to everyone and everything is certain. On the other hand, one
exception held apart from true perception makes its accomplishments
anywhere impossible.
The only general rules to be observed throughout, then, are: First,
that the exercises be practiced with great specificity, as will be
indicated. This will help you to generalize the ideas involved to
every situation in which you find yourself, and to everyone and
everything in it. Second, be sure that you do not decide for yourself
that there are some people, situations or things to which the ideas
are inapplicable. This will interfere with transfer of training. The
very nature of true perception is that it has no limits. It is the
opposite of the way you see now.
The overall aim of the exercises is to increase your ability to extend
the ideas you will be practicing to include everything. This will
require no effort on your part. The exercises themselves meet the
conditions necessary for this kind of transfer.
Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe,
and others may seem to be quite startling. This does not matter. You
are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. You are
not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only to use them. It is
their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that
they are true.
Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not
accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may
actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy.
But 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. Nothing more than that is required.
Lesson 1
Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this
place] means anything.
Now look slowly around you, and practice applying this idea very
specifically to whatever you see:
This table does not mean anything.
This chair does not mean anything.
This hand does not mean anything
This foot does not mean anything.
This pen does not mean anything.
Then look farther away from your immediate area, and apply the idea to
a wider range:
That door does not mean anything.
That body does not mean anything.
That lamp does not mean anything.
That sign does not mean anything.
That shadow does not mean anything.
Notice that these statements are not arranged in any order, and make
no allowance for differences in the kinds of things to which they are
applied. That is the purpose of the exercise. The statement should
merely be applied to anything you see. As you practice the idea for
the day, use it totally indiscriminately. Do not attempt to apply it
to everything you see, for these exercises should not become
ritualistic. Only be sure that nothing you see is specifically
excluded. One thing is like another as far as the application of the
idea is concerned.
Each of the first three lessons should not be done more than twice a
day each, preferably morning and evening. Nor should they be attempted
for more than a minute or so, unless that entails a sense of hurry. A
comfortable sense of leisure is essential.