Lesson 2 - Personal Experience --Robert

Lesson 2 - "I have given everything I see [...] all the meaning that it has for me."

My personal experiences with Lesson 2 of ACIM have varied quite a bit. Although I believe I understand holistically what this lesson's aims are, I find that the illusion itself seems to pull me back in. A more responsible way of saying that would be, I let myself get pulled back into the illusion. As I read through Aaron's further comments regarding this lesson, it dawned on me that yes we only do react to our interpretations, a subtle explanation that I had overlooked at times. There is no definitive truth to an event, only what is, and our perceptions / interpretations of it. I can see why so many arguments have resulted from the lack of adoption of this one concept. How many wars could have been averted if this one idea was apart of our mainstream curriculum?

I have been learning of this concept and have understood it long before attempting to complete lesson 2 of this material. Through Taoist teachings they often state "Nothing has any meaning, save the meaning you give it." Other spiritual texts and teachers such as Dan Millman have often stated this as well in their own way.

Through my own experiences of learning Kung Fu, this concept also holds very true, and can be seen from a real application point of view, with the resulting effects being quite dangerous if this lesson is not learned well.

From a martial point of view, if I observe a particular position or integrated action from my opponent and view this as a simple "guard" and believe this, I will act in a way which may not respect the placement of his body. The result could be the strike which in essence was hidden from my perceptions. To correct this, I must not only hold in mind my initial perceptions of the event, but also hold in context the other possibilities that this event might hold. The result is that I am more aware of the series of possibilities that could manifest from this situation, and thus my depth and breadth of awareness expands. This is not only needed in martial arts, but in all aspects of life and can be critical to our growth.

Chapter 19 gets me excited.

This is my version of a tweet....no explanation, just a status change.

September/Chapter/Manual-Question 15 on Lesson Three | One Plan

While Lesson 2, and now 3, is part of the plan that we believe in and put into action, chapter 15, in natural progression, talks about the plan in general:

C15:3:11:1–2: If you are wholly willing to leave salvation to the plan of God and unwilling to attempt to grasp for peace yourself, salvation will be given you. Yet think not you can substitute your plan for His.

More talk about the plan continues in section four, paragraphs three and four.

So, by declaring through Lesson 3 that we do not understand anything we see (i.e., by giving up our plan) we're in a position to learn how to gain understanding through lack of judgment:

C15:5:1:3–5: Judgment always rests on the past, for past experience is the basis on which you jugde. Judgment becomes impossible without the past, for without it you do not understand anything. You would make no attempt to judge, because it would be quite apparent to you that you do not understand what anything means.

With the purpose of seeing everything as it is now, we're striving through Lesson 3 to let go of our past interpretations/assumptions of past experiences, which we are imposing on everything we see under the guise of "understanding."

In a state without understanding, we're in a position to be taught anew what we are actually seeing.

Manual question 15 elaborates on our sense of judgment vs what true judgment is.

Aaron

September/Chapter/Manual-Question 14 on Lesson Two

The course is often described as an aid to unlearn everything we believe to be true. What we have chosen to learn has formed our view of everything we see and is used as a means to form our view of what we have yet to see.

Lesson two is the second step of unlearning the use of judgement, which is based on past experiences, to understand what we are seeing. It is the practice of honestly looking at any and all things as they are now, and admitting that we have uniquely defined what we see by our own individual and private (i.e., hidden) measures.

As with every chapter, chapter 14, in part, reemphasizes the honesty theory behind the lesson:

C14:11:3:2–8: Learning has been accomplished before its effects are manifest. Learning is therefore in the past, but its influence determines the present by giving it whatever meaning it holds for you. Your learning gives the present no meaning at all. Nothing you have ever learned can help you understand the present, or teach you how to undo the past. Your past is what you have taught yourself. Let it all go. Do not attempt to understand any event or anything or anyone in its "light," for the darkness in which you try to see can only obscure.

How we "let it all go" is to reaffirm the aim, and to state both the goal and the plan for overcoming it:

C14:11:6:6–9: [The aim:] When your peace is threatened or disturbed in any way, say to yourself: [the goal] I do not know what anything, including this, means. And so I do not know how to respond to it. And I will not use my own past learning as the light to guide me now.

Lesson 2 is part of the plan that we believe in and put into action.

That's the classic 5-step achievement process.

Aaron

September/Chapter/Manual-Question 13 on Lesson Two

Continuing on the subject of honesty:

C13:4:3:7–8:  You have been as selective in your questioning as in your perception. An open mind is more honest than this.

An open mind is without judgement, and our judgements are all rooted in our past memories, however inaccurate. So lesson two requires us, through indiscrimination, to overcome our past-based judgements, so we can begin to see things as they are now without the frame of reference of our individual memories.

September/Chapter/Manual-Question 12 on Lesson 2

Another Manual description of the meaninglessness of adjectives in our perception:

M12:6:6:6–9: Awareness of dreaming is the real function of God's teachers. They watch the dream figures come and go, shift and change, suffer and die. Yet they are not deceived by what they see. They recognize that to behold a dream figure as sick and separate is no more real than to regard it as healthy and beautiful.

Another Chapter description of how we give meaning to everything we see:

C12:1:1:4–5: Understand that you do not respond to anything directly, but to your interpretation of it. Your interpretation thus becomes the justification for the response.

Lesson 2 is a step in acknowledging how active and self(ego)-directed our perception is:

C12:7:5:1–2: You see what you expect, and you expect what you invite. Your perception is the result of your invitation, coming to you as you sent for it.

I'll deviate with a quote from the Preface of ACIM that introduces all these ideas:

The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference—the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. "Projection makes perception" (Text, p.445). We look inside first, decide the kind of world we want to see and then project that world outside, making it the truth as we see it. We make it true by our interpretations of what it is we are seeing.

These are not new ideas, as we learn them in basic psychology courses. Scientific study acknowledges this because it recognizes human bias as inevitable, and that reality must both have a universal frame of reference and also be universally experienced. Thus, if anyone cannot reproduce a seemingly experienced cause and effect, then we don't accept the scientific premise as true.

Lesson two is an exercise in honesty.

Aaron

It's all about the perception | September/Chapter 11

Some of my favourite quotes about perception that, again, mirror lesson two:

11:6:1:1–4: It is impossible not to believe what you see, but it is equally impossible to see what you do not believe. Perceptions are built up on the basis of experience, and experience leads to beliefs. It is not until beliefs are fixed that perceptions stabilize. In effect, then, what you believe you do see.

11:6:3:4–6: Yet different experiences lead to different beliefs, and with them different perceptions. For perceptions are learned with beliefs, and experience does teach. I am leading you to a new kind of experience that you will become less and less willing to deny.

Aaron

Lesson Two on September 10th | No Adjectives

I have given everything I see [...] all the meaning that it has for me.

By reading the text's chapter 10 today, I saw that lesson two is described in the chapter's introduction (paragraph 2, line 7): "Every response you make to everything you perceive is up to you, because your mind determines your perception of it."

Furthermore, by reading the Manual's tenth question, the benefits of mastering the lesson is described.

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In the description of the lesson, indiscrimination is emphasized. To help yourself better align to the lesson's purpose, refrain from calling out characteristics that reinforce uniqueness.

For example, the lesson description says: "The the subjects simply as you see them. Try to apply the exercise with equal ease to a body or a button, a fly or a floor, an arm or an apple."

Note there are no adjectives, like an old body, or a blue button, or a red apple. Adjectives are an aspect of the illusion of differences. This is not to say we should avoid adjectives in our day-to-day lives, but we should be careful to recognize that when we do use them, we are calling out our need for the lesson itself.

Aaron

Lessons 1 and 2 as described on September 8

As I read the chapter corresponding to the day of the month, today's textbook chapter and manual-for-teachers question are both the eighth.

Both very well give the theoretical background to Lessons 1 and 2---particularly the eighth question in the manual.

Give the eighth question a read. Afterwards, read the textbook's chapter eight, section seven, paragraph 14, lines one through four (p.154).

They describe the nature of perception as we made it and use it. Thus lessons one and two begin the undoing/unlearning process of what perception is for.

Aaron

Indiscrimination | Unforgiving World

Total indiscrimination is the requirement of the lesson. One must let go of all judgement, which is selectiveness.

Yesterday, Abby and I were out on a photo-shoot in a park by King and Church. Photography can be used as an exercise of selectivity, but as is the case with any thing "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

A few years ago, I learned of a set of zen-based workshops, one of which Abby eventually took (Miksang), that taught us another means of what ACIM was getting at.

Abby takes both selective and non-selective photos now; but it has also allowed me to be a selective and non-selective photo subject.

While I pose, sometimes I look at the lens other times I look out at the scenery before me. I'm looking at something to focus on to keep my pose steady.

For one shot, instead of focusing on something that seemed separate from me, I broadened my perspective to everything and thought: "I'm one with everything." The view became quite flat, as though I was looking at a billboard or projection. "Nothing I saw in that place meant anything."

In learning to deny the separateness between Abby and me, I imagine seeing me through her eyes. If nothing I physically see of Abby (i.e., "proof" of separateness) means anything, then the reality of our unity is available to give me truer perspective.

Multiply that with anyone else physically around me, and I could have a 360º view of my physical self.

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I'm always saddened by the unforgiving condemnation of people (Chris Brown, today) by television commentators. Apparent acts and their apparent effects that don't mean anything are just mistakes in judgement of both the condemned and those condemning.

By seeing everything as not meaning anything, we take the step to learning how to forgive.

Aaron

Lesson One - An Experience of the meaningless --Robert

"Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window,
in this place] means anything."

After a long day of seemingly achieving all of my objectives, completely caught up in the illusion around me, I managed to bring myself back to lesson one as I rode home on the subway. I caught myself as a matter of fact, reflecting on all the discussions of the day, all of the perceptions I've enhanced, and all of the praise I had received. It was a particularly good day from a work perspective, and I was given a few compliments.

As I reflected upon this, I looked at someone on the subway, she was an older women, perhaps in her 50's. Life has left its mark on her face, as she stared down at her hands, and it was then that I realized... what does this matter? It doesn't mean anything. I looked around me, and saw the various people on the subway, each fully immersed in their own process, each at a different stage of development. Some were the flashy business types, while others were the older working folk... and yet others still you wondered if they had a job at all. Each struggling in their own way, each managing the cause and effect relationships in their lives to the best of their abilities... and then I'm gently reminded... it doesn't matter, it doesn't really mean anything.

These people, these vessels for something more, each playing out the role of their life script, each learning and experiencing what they need to. Each working out their own emotional issues, or attempting to find solace from a frightening existence. But in truth... it doesn't mean anything.

When you look at the big picture, when you understand that life itself is eternal, what does all of this toil and trouble really matter? It doesn't. We've created the illusions, each for our own purpose, each to remember ourselves through new eyes. So do the physical objects, or people actually mean anything of themselves? No they don't. The only meaning anything has is the meaning you give it.

First Comment on Lesson One

Nothing that I see [...] means anything.

In the mornings I like to listen to the talk radio show Metro Morning, on CBC Radio 1.

I'll prepare for the day with the show audible in the background---or, mostly audible.

Occasionally, a sustained sound from outside will drown out what I can hear from the radio.

If I'm interested or engrossed in what is being discussed, I'll make an effort to be as quiet as I can be, while continuing my morning chores. So, to have the show drowned out can be irritating---generally speaking, I can't rewind the radio show.

That happened this morning, and very quickly I invoked, the lesson to say to myself: "Don't sweat it." It doesn't matter.

The point being, because of my familiarity with the course, I've slightly generalized lesson one. One sense is no different from another in that it is an interpreter of experience. The effective difference is merely the greater value we tend to place on sight over hearing, smell and touch.

The course doesn't exclude physically blind people, so realize that: Nothing that I hear [...] means anything, can be equally effective, if you value your hearing more than sight at any given moment. And the Text supports this generalization (just had and lost the reference in my mind).

I'm not encouraging you to purposefully attempt to generalize any lesson, however.

Practice the lesson as instructed. Beyond the morning and evening exercise prescribed in lesson one, feel free to casually adapt and apply the lesson during the day if it suddenly occurs to you to do so. Just don't force yourself to generalize or adapt the lesson. Later lessons will expand the range/focus of your perception.

Aaron

Welcome!

Welcome to the site. This method of communication was chosen because of it's ease of use, and its capability to allow frequent updates, commentary, and feedback to be integrated in a meaningful way. The purpose of this site is essentially to capture the on-going experiences I and my friend Aaron are having regarding the ACIM material.

I have heard this material simply referred to as "the course," while others are more familiar with ACIM, or by it's full name - "A Course in Miracles." I myself am no expert on the subject, but perhaps this effort will lead me down that path. Aaron is far more familiar with the material than myself, however I've listened to the audio version in it's complete form, and have read other supplementary materials.

Essentially this site will capture our on going experiences with the "Course" material on a week by week basis, as we describe each exercise and their effects on our mental processes. Let's begin...