[acimlessons_list] Review I, Lesson 53 - February 22

[Sue Roth]

Review I, Lesson 53 - February 22

Review of Lessons 11 to 15.

"My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world."

"I am upset because I see a meaningless world."

"A meaningless world engenders fear."

"God did not create a meaningless world."

"My thoughts are images that I have made."


PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: to review the lessons and therefore let them sink in a notch
deeper. Also, to see how they interrelated they are and how cohesive the
thought system is that they are leading you to.

Exercise: as often as possible (suggestion: every hour on the hour), for at
least 2 minutes

*	Alone in a quiet place, read one of the five lessons and the related
comments. Notice that the comments are written as if they are your own
thoughts about the idea. Try to imagine that they are. It will help if you
frequently insert your name. This will set you up for the next phase, in
which you generate similar thoughts of your own.

*	Close your eyes and think about the idea and the comments. Think
particularly about the central point of the commentary paragraph. Reflect on
it. Let related thoughts come (utilizing the training you've received in
that practice). If your mind wanders, repeat the idea and then get back to
your reflection. This is the same basic exercise as in Lesson 50, in which
you actively think about ideas in order to let them sink more deeply into
your mind.

Remarks: 

*	At the beginning and end of the day read all five lessons. 
*	Thereafter, cover one lesson per practice period, in no particular
order. 
*	Cover each lesson at least once.
*	Beyond that, concentrate on a particular lesson if it appeals to you
most.


REMARKS:

* At beginning and end of day read all five lessons.

* Thereafter, cover one lesson per practice period, in no particular order.

* Concentrate on one if it appeals to you more than others.

* But cover each one at least once.

COMMENTARY

Today's review carries enormous impact for me. In each of the short review
paragraphs are sentences that convey to me the awesome power of my own mind:
its power to choose its thoughts, and thus choose the world that it sees.

"I have real thoughts as well as insane ones. I can therefore see a real
world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing" (1:4-5).

"I am grateful that this world is not real, and that I need not see it at
all unless I choose to value it. And I do not choose to value what is
totally insane and has no meaning" (2:6-7).

"Now I choose to withdraw this belief, and place my trust in reality. In
choosing this, I will escape all the effects of the world of fear, because I
am acknowledging that it does not exist" (3:7-8).

"Let me remember the power of my decision, and recognize where I really
abide" (4:6).

"The images I have made cannot prevail against Him because it is not my will
that they do so. My will is His, and I will place no other gods before Him"
(5:6-7).

If I remember the power of my decision, I can choose not to value what is
insane; I can choose to withdraw my belief in it. I do not have to accept
that the images I have made have power to overcome God's Will; I do not have
to make gods out of them. I can look to my real thoughts and let them guide
my seeing. The words "choose" and "decision" and "will" echo through these
paragraphs. What power has been given to my mind!

I once read these ten lessons of review onto tape; they fit in less than a
30-minute tape, read quite slowly. Recording them had tremendous impact on
me, and listening to the tape several dozen times had even more impact.
These fifty pithy paragraphs are a remarkable overview of the Course's
thought system. And as I read them aloud, I found myself putting deep
feeling into sentences such as, "I cannot live in peace in such a world. I
am grateful that this world is not real. And I do not choose to value what
is totally insane and has no meaning" (2:5-7). Every time I came to a line
that said, "I do not choose" or "I choose," it was as though something deep
within me were shifting. I felt a growing determination, and a sense of
being enabled by God to choose what my mind would think and what my
perception would see. Try reading today's lesson aloud and see how it feels.