Lesson 14

Lesson 14

God did not create a meaningless world.

The idea for today is, of course, the reason why a meaningless world is impossible. What God did not create does not exist. And everything that does exist exists as He created it. The world you see has nothing to do with reality. It is of your own making, and it does not exist.

The exercises for today are to be practiced with eyes closed throughout. The mind-searching period should be short, a minute at most. Do not have more than three practice periods with today’s idea unless you find them comfortable. If you do, it will be because you really understand what they are for.

The idea for today is another step in learning to let go the thoughts that you have written on the world, and see the Word of God in their place. The early steps in this exchange, which can truly be called salvation, can be quite difficult and even quite painful. Some of them will lead you directly into fear. You will not be left there. You will go far beyond it. Our direction is toward perfect safety and perfect peace.

With eyes closed, think of all the horrors in the world that cross your mind. Name each one as it occurs to you, and then deny its reality. God did not create it, and so it is not real. Say, for example:

God did not create that war, and so it is not real.
God did not create that airplane crash, and so it is not real.
God did not create that disaster [specify], and so it is not real.

Suitable subjects for the application of today’s idea also include anything you are afraid might happen to you, or to anyone about whom you are concerned. In each case, name the “disaster” quite specifically. Do not use general terms. For example, do not say, “God did not create illness,” but, “God did not create cancer,” or heart attacks, or whatever may arouse fear in you.

This is your personal repertory of horrors at which you are looking. These things are part of the world you see. Some of them are shared illusions, and others are part of your personal hell. It does not matter. What God did not create can only be in your own mind apart from His. Therefore, it has no meaning. In recognition of this fact, conclude the practice periods by repeating today’s idea:

God did not create a meaningless world.

The idea for today can, of course, be applied to anything that disturbs you during the day, aside from the practice periods. Be very specific in applying it. Say:

God did not create a meaningless world. He did not create [specify the situation which is disturbing you], and so it is not real.

 

Journal

Two things stood out to me. My mind was conflicted as I did this lesson. I felt relief as I reminded myself that some of my favorite horrors do not exist because God did not create them and therefore, they are meaningless. The conflict is that while it is a relief to be reminded of the truth, I see that I don’t completely believe the truth. When I thought of certain things, I felt an emotional reaction that can occur only when we believe something. But of course, if I did not see any horrors in this world, I wouldn’t need this work anymore.

But then, I acknowledged an irritant I had glossed over in my initial reading of the lesson. There was this sentence: “The idea for today is another step in learning to let go the thoughts that you have written on the world, and see the Word of God in their place.” This is the whole point, of course. I want to let go of the thought of the world; I really do. This would truly be salvation.

But it is this phrase, “and see the Word of God in their place,” that bothers me. It annoys me. I want to say to Jesus, “Why not just come out and say what you mean?” What is the Word of God that will take their place? What does that even mean? Tell me something that will make sense to me, that will motivate me, that will give me something I can believe in to take the place of what I currently think.

Instead, we are being asked to step out of the boat and walk over water to where Jesus stands. And, if I am to be perfectly honest, that pisses me off. It feels like he could do better than that and is just choosing to be cryptic. And yes, I know that this is the ego mind wanting the answer to be something that fits into its own paradigm. So, I release my judgment to the Holy Spirit and ask for a different way to see this.

PS: I was evidently having a lot of input from my ego when I wrote this. I left it as was because it was honest at that time and because I bet I am not the only one to feel like this. From a more enlightened moment in my life, I realize that the Word of God is not words at all, but rather it is His Will manifested. The way I visualize it is that when the mind of the Son is completely healed the world will reflect only love because love is all there is. We will experience the world as paradise before we give it up altogether. In the meantime, what I have experienced is that when I release a grievance completely, I go from suffering to happiness and this is not dependent on anything happening in my little illusion. That happiness is the effect of forgiveness. I forgive the world I made and happiness is an expression of the Word of God that took the place of suffering.

NTI

Romans 7

Chapter 7 is perfect for me to read right now. I met someone at the prison whose story evoked pity for him and for his mother who was visiting him. He was a young man who made a mistake. That mistake means he will spend his entire adult life in prison. He didn’t even do anything to deliberately hurt anyone. He was partying with a prostitute and gave her some drugs that she was probably happy to get. She overdosed on the drugs and so he was held responsible for her death. And now, prison for life. And his mother has to endure this with him. Because I am a mother who finds the idea of something like this happening to her and to her son unendurable, my heart breaks for them both and for me as well.

I am so happy to be reminded that the world is not real and these bodies and these stories are not real. I am happy to remember that we chose this experience and there was a deliberate reason for doing so. No one is a victim here. Everyone is having the experience that they want. When I get emotionally involved in a story the Holy Spirit helps me by sending me symbols of Light. Jesus is one of those symbols. This book is one, and A Course in Miracles is another. My fellow students and teachers are symbols that help my mind to return to truth. Even a visit to a prison is one when willingness lets me see through the visible manifestation to the gift within. I am so grateful.

Regina’s Tips

When you say, “God did not create that war, and so it is not real,” realize war is experienced, but experience is not reality. Something else is reality. Have the willingness to see right through suffering to truth. Have the curiosity, “What is real?” Let that curiosity grow in you so that it becomes a motivating force within you.

In short, do not deny that experience is experienced, but be intensely curious to see and know truth.

My Thoughts

I experience pain, but pain is not truth. If it was truth it would be unending and unchangeable. It would be God. Clearly, the experience of pain is not truth. But there is no way I can deny that I feel pain even though it is not real. As Regina suggests, I have let curiosity about what is real grow in me. It is now a strong motivating force, nearly the only motivating force within me. I ask daily to know the truth, to know my Self. When I know my Self, I will see through illusions easily, and see only the truth.

Past Entries

I love what Jesus is telling us in this lesson. What God creates is always the same as it was in creation. It never changes. It always is. And if God did not create it, it does not exist. The world I see with my eyes and through the ego mind does not exist because God did not create it. How do I know He did not create it? God is Love and nothing else. What I see daily is not love. Love is the exception in this illusory world.

I no longer need to be convinced of this. I have no trouble accepting that I made the world I see using the creative power that is mine because it is of God. I used that power to make rather than create, probably for the fun of it or to satisfy a curiosity. I say I made it because creation is an extension of God and this world is not God, so it is not created.

I know this is true, and yet, absorbed in my little game of separation as I am, I still forget when specific situations and thoughts trigger fear in me. I think of my mother and her sister having Alzheimer’s and the implication in my mind is that I might be next in line. So that is a fear thought that I can use in this lesson. God did not create a meaningless world. He did not create Alzheimer’s, and so it is not real.

I read this and I feel a reaction to it on two levels. The part of my mind that is in touch with the truth knows that this is true. Alzheimer’s or any disease is not the Will of God, and there is only the Will of God. The other part of my mind, the part that is engrossed in the separation story, argues that I see proof of Alzheimer’s being real.

In order to see reality, I must look away from the illusion. The body’s eyes are meant as a way for me to see what I made, not what is true. All the body’s senses report back to me what I want to be true. I can’t look at the ego world and put my focus and my faith in it and remember the truth.

Instead, when I notice fear rising up to meet the idea of Alzheimer’s, I look to the Light in my mind and ask for the truth. I give my faith to the Holy Spirit instead of the ego. I disregard the story I see reflected in bodies. I remember what must be true, and that is, only what God created is real and it is real forever just as He created it. There is no sickness or disease in God and so there is none in me, however seemingly real are my fantasies of sickness and disease. And nothing upsets a healed mind not even fantasies of Alzheimer’s dreaded or experienced.