[acimlessons_list] The Introduction to the Workbook

Fri Dec 31 08:03:23 EST 2004

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+ COMMENTARIES ON LESSONS FROM THE WORKBOOK OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES
+ by Allen Watson, with Practice Summaries by Robert Perry, 
+ of The Circle of Atonement
+ Visit our website at <http://www.circleofa.com <http://www.circleofa.com/>
>
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The Introduction to the Workbook

Comments by Allen Watson

The Workbook's Introduction is something everyone doing the Workbook should
definitely read thoughtfully. In my opinion we could profit from reading it
over once a month or so as we do the Workbook to remind ourselves of its
basic instructions.

The first paragraph explains the interrelationship of the Text and the
Workbook. Both are essential for anyone doing the Course. Without the
"theoretical foundation" of the Text, the exercises of the Workbook are
"meaningless." We should all pay careful attention to the Text; it is
"necessary" to do so if we want the benefits of the Workbook exercises. Does
that mean that one should study the Text before doing the Workbook? Not
necessarily. The Manual discusses the order in which the volumes should be
used, and says it differs from person to person. Some, it says, "might do
better to begin with the workbook" (M-29.1:6). It is evident from this
Introduction, however, that if one begins with the Workbook, the Text should
follow, or perhaps be read along with the Workbook.

On the other hand, studying the Text without doing the Workbook is equally
useless because "it is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the
course possible." To simply study the theoretical foundation without
practical application results in little more than empty head knowledge. You
may understand intellectually what the goal is, but you will not be able to
attain it without the exercises. In Chapter 30 of the Text, the Course puts
forth this same idea. It says there,

The goal is clear, but now you need specific methods for attaining it. The
speed by which it can be reached depends on this one thing alone; your
willingness to practice every step. Each one will help a little, every time
it is attempted. And together will these steps lead you from dreams of
judgment to forgiving dreams and out of pain and fear (T-30.Int.1:2-5).

The "one thing alone" that determines how fast we reach the goal is our
"willingness to practice every step." In terms of doing the Workbook I think
this can be aptly applied to how willing we are to practice the daily
exercises as instructed. If the lesson calls for four or five repetitions
during the day, how willing are we to actually do that? Each time we
remember to practice it may not seem as if much is happening, but every time
helps a little. It is all the little, repeated times of practice that, when
added together, will lead us out of our dream of judgment. The Workbook does
not promise to change us overnight; rather, it says that if we are willing
to practice every step of the exercises, each such attempt will, little by
little, purify our minds of the ego's darkness.

The purpose of the Workbook is "to train your mind to think along the lines
the text sets forth." The word train calls to mind things like piano
practice, sports exercises and drills, and even military training. It
definitely carries with it the idea of manifold repetitions, of disciplined
effort, of pushing beyond the envelope of our present abilities. When you
train in a gym or health club the whole idea involves pushing past the
limits you now have and learning to do things you cannot now do. Yet at the
same time it also carries with it the idea that what is being developed is
something latent, the calling out of an undeveloped potential, and not the
addition of something heretofore entirely lacking.

What is being trained is our minds. The separation is nothing more than a
mistaken mind-set, and

...all mistakes must be corrected at the level on which they occur. Only the
mind is capable of error (T-2.IV.2:3-4).

Correction belongs at the thought level (T-2.V.1:7).

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 (W-Int.4:1).

So this is a very thorough mind training, intended to affect the way you
perceive literally everything. That we are learning a "different" perception
clearly implies that our existing perception is mistaken.

Notice some of the very simple "rules" for doing the Workbook.

1.Do not undertake to do more than one set of exercises a day (W-In.2:6).
2.The exercises are to be practiced with "great specificity" (one of those
words I never used until I began studying the Course!) (W-In.6:1). This
means that we are to pay great attention to details, and to applying the
general ideas of the lessons specifically to many different things in our
lives. The purpose is to help us generalize the ideas and to see that they
apply to "everyone and everything in the world" (W-In.4:1). 3.Do not
deliberately exclude anything from the application of the ideas (W-In.6:3).

Having 365 lessons, one for each day of the year, implies that we should do
the lessons in order. (There is nothing wrong with doing some out of order
at random times, but in following the training program, they should be done
in order.) As you move through the lessons, it becomes obvious that the
later lessons build quite squarely on earlier ones; doing them in order is
the most effective way, therefore, to learn.

Some people wonder about doing one lesson per day. They wonder if, perhaps,
they should repeat a lesson if they feel they did not "get" it, or did not
do the practice correctly. The wisdom of many students who have worked with
the book can be summed up like this: Don't "guilt yourself" about the
lessons. In general, there is no need to repeat. Later lessons will repeat
the same concepts in many cases. If you want to repeat a lesson because you
found it beneficial, by all means do so. If you are repeating because you
are trying to do it perfectly, you may be subconsciously resisting moving on
to the next lesson which will free you. It is usually better to forgive
yourself and move on.

We are asked to remember that "the overall aim of the exercises is to
increase your ability to extend the ideas you will be practicing to include
everything" (W-In.7:1). I'd like to linger a little on those words,
"exercises" and "practicing." We are not just reading these ideas. "Doing
the Workbook" is not just reading the lessons. It is practicing the lessons.
Each lesson gives "specific procedures by which the idea for today is to be
applied" (W-In.3:3). Your following those procedures is what is meant by
practicing, and practicing is "doing the Workbook." How much chemistry would
you learn if all you did was read the lab manual but never performed the
experiments?

If we do the exercises, the results are guaranteed.

This [extension of the ideas] will require no effort on your part. The
exercises themselves meet the conditions necessary for this kind of transfer
(W-In.7:2-3),

Our part is to do the exercises; the extension of the benefits derived from
exercise will happen automatically, without additional effort on our part.
You may practice with certain specific things or individuals or thoughts;
the benefits of that practice will extend, without your effort, to
everything in your world.

Like working out in a health club, you don't have to even like the program.
If you work out, your body will benefit whether or not you like working out.
So here, in doing these mental exercises, it isn't necessary that we believe
the ideas at first, or like them, or accept them, or welcome them. You can
even actively resist them. It doesn't matter what we think about them. "You
are asked only to use them" (W-In.8:5). "Nothing more than that is required"
(W-In.9:5). That is, apply them to your life as instructed. Notice that
applying the ideas is required for the program to work. If you do so, they
will be effective. Using the ideas is what will give them meaning to us and
will show us that they are true.

No one can read this carefully without realizing what is being asked of us.
Reading the Text isn't enough to reach the goal of the Course. Reading the
Workbook as well is also not enough. We have to carry out the instructions
in each lesson, the specific procedures for applying the idea during the
day. It is our willingness to practice every step, to follow every
instruction, and to do the exercises, that will determine the speed with
which we reach the goal. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Commentary by Allen Watson
+ Practice Summary: Robert Perry
+ Available in book format from The Circle
+ of Atonement (Vol. 1 reprint due by end of 2004, write us for info)
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