Lesson 6

I am upset because I see something that is not there.

1. The exercises with this idea are very similar to the preceding ones. ²Again, it is necessary to name both the form of upset (anger, fear, worry, depression and so on) and the perceived source very specifically for any application of the idea. ³For example:

⁴I am angry at _________ because I see something that is not there.

⁵I am worried about _________ because I see something that is not there.

2. Today’s idea is useful for application to anything that seems to upset you, and can profitably be used throughout the day for that purpose. ²However, the three or four practice periods which are required should be preceded by a minute or so of mind searching, as before, and the application of the idea to each upsetting thought uncovered in the search.

3. Again, if you resist applying the idea to some upsetting thoughts more than to others, remind yourself of the two cautions stated in the previous lesson:

²There are no small upsets. ³They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.

⁴And:

⁵I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. ⁶For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.

(https://acim.org/acim/en/s/408#1:1-3:6 | W-6.1:1–3:6)

#ACIM #mindtraining

Lesson 5

I am never upset for the reason I think.

1. This idea, like the preceding one, can be used with any person, situation or event you think is causing you pain. ²Apply it specifically to whatever you believe is the cause of your upset, using the description of the feeling in whatever term seems accurate to you. ³The upset may seem to be fear, worry, depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, jealousy or any number of forms, all of which will be perceived as different. ⁴This is not true. ⁵However, until you learn that form does not matter, each form becomes a proper subject for the exercises for the day. ⁶Applying the same idea to each of them separately is the first step in ultimately recognizing they are all the same.

2. When using the idea for today for a specific perceived cause of an upset in any form, use both the name of the form in which you see the upset, and the cause which you ascribe to it. ²For example:

³I am not angry at _________ for the reason I think.

⁴I am not afraid of _________ for the reason I think.

3. But again, this should not be substituted for practice periods in which you first search your mind for “sources” of upset in which you believe, and forms of upset which you think result.

4. In these exercises, more than in the preceding ones, you may find it hard to be indiscriminate, and to avoid giving greater weight to some subjects than to others. ²It might help to precede the exercises with the statement:

³There are no small upsets. ⁴They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.

5. Then examine your mind for whatever is distressing you, regardless of how much or how little you think it is doing so.

6. You may also find yourself less willing to apply today’s idea to some perceived sources of upset than to others. ²If this occurs, think first of this:

³I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. ⁴For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.

7. Then search your mind for no more than a minute or so, and try to identify a number of different forms of upset that are disturbing you, regardless of the relative importance you may give them. ²Apply the idea for today to each of them, using the name of both the source of the upset as you perceive it, and of the feeling as you experience it. ³Further examples are:

⁴I am not worried about _________ for the reason I think.

⁵I am not depressed about _________ for the reason I think.

⁶Three or four times during the day is enough.

(https://acim.org/acim/en/s/407#1:1-7:6 | W-5.1:1–7:6)

Lesson 4

These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].

1. Unlike the preceding ones, these exercises do not begin with the idea for the day. ²In these practice periods, begin with noting the thoughts that are crossing your mind for about a minute. ³Then apply the idea to them. ⁴If you are already aware of unhappy thoughts, use them as subjects for the idea. ⁵Do not, however, select only the thoughts you think are “bad.” ⁶You will find, if you train yourself to look at your thoughts, that they represent such a mixture that, in a sense, none of them can be called “good” or “bad.” ⁷This is why they do not mean anything.

2. In selecting the subjects for the application of today’s idea, the usual specificity is required. ²Do not be afraid to use “good” thoughts as well as “bad.” ³None of them represents your real thoughts, which are being covered up by them. ⁴The “good” ones are but shadows of what lies beyond, and shadows make sight difficult. ⁵The “bad” ones are blocks to sight, and make seeing impossible. ⁶You do not want either.

3. This is a major exercise, and will be repeated from time to time in somewhat different form. ²The aim here is to train you in the first steps toward the goal of separating the meaningless from the meaningful. ³It is a first attempt in the long-range purpose of learning to see the meaningless as outside you, and the meaningful within. ⁴It is also the beginning of training your mind to recognize what is the same and what is different.

4. In using your thoughts for application of the idea for today, identify each thought by the central figure or event it contains; for example:

²This thought about _________ does not mean anything.

³It is like the things I see in this room [on this street, and so on].

5. You can also use the idea for a particular thought that you recognize as harmful. ²This practice is useful, but is not a substitute for the more random procedures to be followed for the exercises. ³Do not, however, examine your mind for more than a minute or so. ⁴You are too inexperienced as yet to avoid a tendency to become pointlessly preoccupied.

6. Further, since these exercises are the first of their kind, you may find the suspension of judgment in connection with thoughts particularly difficult. ²Do not repeat these exercises more than three or four times during the day. ³We will return to them later.

(https://acim.org/acim/en/s/406#1:1-6:3 | W-4.1:1–6:3)

#ACIM #mindfulness #forgiveness #mindtraining

Lesson 3

I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].

1. Apply this idea in the same way as the previous ones, without making distinctions of any kind. ²Whatever you see becomes a proper subject for applying the idea. ³Be sure that you do not question the suitability of anything for application of the idea. ⁴These are not exercises in judgment. ⁵Anything is suitable if you see it. ⁶Some of the things you see may have emotionally charged meaning for you. ⁷Try to lay such feelings aside, and merely use these things exactly as you would anything else.

2. The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them. ²It is therefore essential that you keep a perfectly open mind, unhampered by judgment, in selecting the things to which the idea for the day is to be applied. ³For this purpose one thing is like another; equally suitable and therefore equally useful.

(https://acim.org/acim/en/s/405#1:1-2:3 | W-3.1:1–2:3)

Lesson 2

I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me.

1. The exercises with this idea are the same as those for the first one. ²Begin with the things that are near you, and apply the idea to whatever your glance rests on. ³Then increase the range outward. ⁴Turn your head so that you include whatever is on either side. ⁵If possible, turn around and apply the idea to what was behind you. ⁶Remain as indiscriminate as possible in selecting subjects for its application, do not concentrate on anything in particular, and do not attempt to include everything you see in a given area, or you will introduce strain.

2. Merely glance easily and fairly quickly around you, trying to avoid selection by size, brightness, color, material, or relative importance to you. ²Take the subjects simply as you see them. ³Try to apply the exercise with equal ease to a body or a button, a fly or a floor, an arm or an apple. ⁴The sole criterion for applying the idea to anything is merely that your eyes have lighted on it. ⁵Make no attempt to include anything particular, but be sure that nothing is specifically excluded.

(https://acim.org/acim/en/s/404#1:1-2:5 | W-2.1:1–2:5)

To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardize your learning. No belief is neutral. Every one has the power to dictate each decision you make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything that you believe. It is the outcome of belief, and follows it as surely as does suffering follow guilt and freedom sinlessness. (T-24.in.2:1-6)

Make this year different by making it all the same.

#ACIM #holyinstant #forgiveness #oneness #changelessness

"The workbook's purpose is to train our minds to begin the process of returning home; and then we spend the rest of our lives asking Jesus or the Holy Spirit to help us learn the specific lessons that will speed us long our path." - Kenneth Wapnick, in his book "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles"

#ACIM #Jesus #spiritualpath #Mind #oneness

As you work through the daily ACIM workbook lessons, you should also be read through the ACIM text, which serves as a theoretical foundation or framework to make the exercises in the workbook meaningful.

You can access the text for free here: https://acim.org/acim/text/introduction/en/s/51?wid=toc&fwv=true

You may also want to consider reading through the text in one year, along with the exercises. Here is one plan you can follow to read through the text in a year: https://www.jcim.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/study_guide_2024.pdf

#ACIM #mindtraining #oneness #nonduality

In preparation for our daily ACIM Workbook lessons beginning January 1st, let's read what the Introduction to the Workbook says. We'll unpack this introduction over the last days of the year.

"1. A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful. ²Yet it is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible. ³An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. ⁴It is the purpose of this workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets forth.

2. The exercises are very simple. ²They do not require a great deal of time, and it does not matter where you do them. ³They need no preparation. ⁴The training period is one year. ⁵The exercises are numbered from 1 to 365. ⁶Do not undertake to do more than one set of exercises a day.

3. 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. ²With the exception of the review periods, each day’s exercises are planned around one central idea, which is stated first. ³This is followed by a description of the specific procedures by which the idea for the day is to be applied.

4. 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.

5. Transfer of training in true perception does not proceed as does transfer of the training of the world. ²If true perception has been achieved in connection with any person, situation or event, total transfer to everyone and everything is certain. ³On the other hand, one exception held apart from true perception makes its accomplishments anywhere impossible.

6. The only general rules to be observed throughout, then, are: First, that the exercises be practiced with great specificity, as will be indicated. ²This will help you to generalize the ideas involved to every situation in which you find yourself, and to everyone and everything in it. ³Second, be sure that you do not decide for yourself that there are some people, situations or things to which the ideas are inapplicable. ⁴This will interfere with transfer of training. ⁵The very nature of true perception is that it has no limits. ⁶It is the opposite of the way you see now.

7. The overall aim of the exercises is to increase your ability to extend the ideas you will be practicing to include everything. ²This will require no effort on your part. ³The exercises themselves meet the conditions necessary for this kind of transfer.

8. Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may seem to be quite startling. ²This does not matter. ³You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. ⁴You are not asked to judge them at all. ⁵You are asked only to use them. ⁶It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that they are true.

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.1:1–9:5)

Read on ACIM's website for free: https://acim.org/acim/workbook/introduction/en/s/401?wid=toc

The time of Christ is the time appointed for the gift of freedom, offered to everyone. And by your acceptance of it, you have offered it to everyone. It is your power to make this season holy, for it is in your power to make the time of Christ be now. (ACIM, Original Edition, T-15.X.94)

#ACIM #Christ #freedom #oneness #holiness

The lesson I (Jesus) was born to teach and still would teach to all my (his) brothers is that sacrifice is nowhere and love is everywhere. For communication embraces everything, and in the peace it reestablishes, love comes of itself. Let no despair darken the joy of Christmas, for the time of Christ is meaningless apart from joy. (ACIM, Original Edition, T-15.XI.108)

#ACIM #Christmas #joy #Christ #peace #love

The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in darkness. See it not outside yourself but shining in the Heaven within and accept it as the sign the time of Christ has come. (ACIM, Original Edition, T-15.XI.102)

#Christmas #heaven #Christ #ACIM #peace #joy

Christmas is not a time; it is a state of mind. The Christ Mind wills from the Soul not from the ego, and the Christ Mind is yours. (ACIM, Original Edition, T-4.IV.41)

#ACIM #Christmas #Christ #soul #ego

In the lead up to the daily #ACIM lessons I will share on this feed beginning 1 January, we will look closer at what ACIM is about.

From https://acim.org/about-acim/ :

"A Course in Miracles – often abbreviated ACIM or simply called the Course – is a complete self-study spiritual thought system.

As a three-volume curriculum consisting of a Text, Workbook for Students, and Manual for Teachers, it teaches that the way to universal love and peace—or remembering God—is by undoing guilt through forgiving others.

The Course thus focuses on the healing of relationships and making them holy.

A Course in Miracles also emphasizes that it is but one version of the universal curriculum, of which there are “many thousands.”

Consequently, even though the language of the Course is that of traditional Christianity, it expresses a non-sectarian, non-denominational spirituality.

A Course in Miracles, therefore, is a universal spiritual teaching, not a religion."

#spirituality #ego #mindfulness #psychology #mind #ego #thought #spirit #teaching #nonduality

Greetings, #nostr! I am a lifelong student of A Course in Miracles (ACIM), and I created this account to share the wisdom and practical self-study application of #ACIM with the plebs and anyone out there who may be interested in looking inward for #peace and #truth about who we are, why we’re here, and how to return to our Source, which is Love.

ACIM isn’t a religion, a cult, or a spiritual group. It’s a curriculum you can choose to study at your own pace that will teach you about the two thought systems dominant in this world, and which one represents your true self, and which one represents our bodily identification and seeming individuality. In sum, ACIM is mind training, guidance for how to think about yourself and the world that will lead to true peace.

Beginning 1 January, I will be sharing each day the practical lessons from the ACIM Workbook, from Lesson 1 through Lesson 365. You can follow along for free here: https://acim.org/acim/workbook/introduction/en/s/401?wid=toc&fwv=true

Periodically, as I am guided to do so, I will share inspirational quotes from the ACIM Text. You can read the text for yourself at: https://acim.org/acim/text/introduction/en/s/51?wid=toc&fwv=true

Want a good overview to ACIM? This 60 minute video breaks down the A Course in Miracles nicely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odZpToxOo8A

Happy Holidays to you all! May you find peace and joy in the warmth of family and friends.

#ACIM #spirituality #nonduality #peace #psychology #forgiveness #spirit #God #ego #mind #nostr