This lesson and commentary is part of a complete class on A Course in Miracles offered here at The Joy Within. Signup for the full class here, or view all ACIM workbook lessons.

Lesson 11: Idea for the Day

My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.

Guided Audio Narration

Insights and Commentary on Exercise 11

For today’s lesson, we begin to assert more directly the role your thoughts play in relation to the world around you. We have alluded to this idea in earlier lessons and it explains why objects around you are meaningless. The world is meaningless because it arises from meaningless thoughts.

Your thoughts create the world you perceive. This idea represents a 180-degree shift in perspective for most people. We tend to believe we think in response to the world around us, but the world itself is a reflection of our innermost thoughts and beliefs.

If the world appears to be harsh and unforgiving, it is because you do not first forgive yourself. If it appears to deny you love or appreciation, it is because you have turned away from that love. You believe yourself unworthy of it, and thus appear to lack that which you most desire.

There is a big difference between an awareness of this fact and the understanding of it. Grasping the point intellectually is only the first step, and today’s exercise provides one technique for intuiting the concept experientially.

As you move through this exercise, take your time and attempt to feel the effect of the idea, rather than think, analyze, or reason about it. Feel into the awareness, the truth, that is embedded in the words, without trying to “figure it out.” Gradually, you may begin to sense a knowingness of the meaning that is right for you. Closing your eyes helps to tap into this intuitive knowingness, which is why the exercise suggests you alternate repetition fo the idea with your with a repetition while observing whatever is in front of you. In this way, you can begin to bring an unspoken awareness into practice in your daily life.