Lesson 9

I see nothing as it is now.

W-pI.9.1. This idea obviously follows from the two preceding ones. 2 But while you may be able to accept it intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as yet. 3 However, understanding is not necessary at this point. 4 In fact, the recognition that you do not understand is a prerequisite for undoing your false ideas. 5 These exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. 6 You do not need to practice what you already understand. 7 It would indeed be circular to aim at understanding, and assume that you have it already.

W-pI.9.2. It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what it seems to picture is not there. 2 This idea can be quite disturbing, and may meet with active resistance in any number of forms. 3 Yet that does not preclude applying it. 4 No more than that is required for these or any other exercises. 5 Each small step will clear a little of the darkness away, and understanding will finally come to lighten every corner of the mind that has been cleared of the debris that darkens it.

W-pI.9.3. These exercises, for which three or four practice periods are sufficient, involve looking about you and applying the idea for the day to whatever you see, remembering the need for its indiscriminate application, and the essential rule of excluding nothing. 2 For example:

3 I do not see this typewriter as it is now.
4 I do not see this telephone as it is now.
5 I do not see this arm as it is now.

W-pI.9.4. Begin with things that are nearest you, and then extend the range outward:

2 I do not see that coat rack as it is now.
3 I do not see that door as it is now.
4 I do not see that face as it is now.

W-pI.9.5. It is emphasized again that while complete inclusion should not be attempted, specific exclusion must be avoided. 2 Be sure you are honest with yourself in making this distinction. 3 You may be tempted to obscure it.

Journal

Of course, I don’t see anything as it is now. I keep looking with my eyes and seeing only my beliefs given form. I see nothing. If I am sitting with my eyes closed and imagining a scene, it might be very vivid and interesting or vivid and horrible, but it isn’t real. It is just imagination. That is what I have done on a grander scale. But instead of just imagining what it would look like, I added smell, and taste, and feel, and then just to be sure I got the full experience of it, I added emotion.

Now it feels ever so real. But it is not. The world does not exist. The body does not exist. Myron does not exist. I don’t have to worry about any of it because it is not real. That does not stop me from interacting with it, or at least that is what it feels like while I pretend that I am in that body called Myron. The story goes on and the script plays out even now that I know it is not real.

There can be tremendous resistance to this idea because we have so much guilt in our mind that we believe the world is necessary. The world is where we try to get rid of our guilt by projecting it onto others. What a waste of time that is! It goes nowhere and we have just reinforced the belief that guilt is real. But if we start with the idea that guilt is real and that guilt demands punishment, the idea of the world makes sense to us and we will want the world to continue. In fact it’s pretty scary to think we could lose this hideout. When we learn that guilt is not real and we and everyone else is innocent, we have less interest in perpetuating this illusion. We start to wake up.

If you are a new student, please don’t discount these early lessons as not important because so little is asked of you. Just do them as asked even if it doesn’t make sense and even if you think they are crazy. Just do them. One day, like those who have gone before you, you will look back at them and wonder how you ever doubted them. You will love and appreciate these lessons.