I am never upset for the reason I think.

1. This idea, like the previous one, can be applied to any person, situation, or event you believe is causing you pain.^I

²Apply it specifically to everything you think is making you upset, and describe the feeling you experience in whatever terms seem appropriate to you.

³The upset may seem to be fear, worry, depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, jealousy, or any other form of discomfort you perceive as different.

⁴But it is not true that they are different. ⁵However, until you learn that the form does not matter, each of them is a suitable subject for today’s practice.^II

⁶Applying the same idea to each of these forms of upset individually is the first step toward eventually recognizing that they are all the same.

2. When applying today’s idea to the specific cause you believe is behind your upset, use both the name of the disturbance as you perceive it and the “cause” you attribute to it.

²For example:

³I am not angry with ____ for the reason I think.

⁴I am not afraid of ____ for the reason I think.

⁵But again, this should not replace the practice of first searching your mind for what you believe is the “cause” of the distress you are experiencing and the form in which you see it.^III

3. In this exercise, more than in the previous ones, you may find it difficult to be impartial and to avoid giving greater importance to some subjects than to others.

²It may help to begin the practice by saying:

³There are no small upsets.

⁴They all equally disturb my peace of mind.^IV

⁵Then search your mind for anything that is troubling you, regardless of how much or how little you believe it is affecting you.

4. You may also be less willing to apply today’s idea to certain causes of upset than to others.

²If this is so, think first of this:

³I cannot keep this form of upset and let go of the others.

⁴For the purpose of this exercise, I will regard them all as the same.

⁵Then examine your mind for about a minute and try to identify the different forms of upset that are disturbing you, regardless of the degree of importance you assign to them.

⁶Apply today’s idea to each one, naming both the perceived cause of the upset and the emotion you feel.

⁷Other examples might be:

⁸I am not worried about ____ for the reason I think.

⁹I am not depressed about ____ for the reason I think.

5. It is enough to do this three or four times today.

---

^I This Lesson is also very important. Emotions arise from our judgments. Without a prior judgment, no emotion is possible. All discomfort or distress comes from a judgment of condemnation, from something we reject because it shatters our expectations. Just as pain signals that something is wrong in the body, emotional discomfort signals that something is wrong in the mind. If we suffer in any way, it means we are misusing the mind, for we are thinking something that is not true. In that sense, everything that is not true is the same: a falsehood. Our anger is the emotional response to a story we have told ourselves, according to which the idea we hold about ourselves—our ego—or our idea of how reality ought to be—our imagined ideal world—has been violated. Both ideas are false, arbitrary, and changeable.

^II The world of forms is the symbolic language used by perception. Just as Sigmund Freud rightly described the figures of dreams as symbols of underlying emotional causes, perception is the dream of the world, and it too is an effect of deeper causes. That is why forms, in themselves, “do not matter,” for they are only effects.

^III That is to say, it is not enough to declare that you are not upset for a given reason. You must look within your mind for the idea that has led you to feel distressed—the underlying cause of your discomfort.

^IV Every distress or discomfort has a positive function: it is a reminder urging you to regain peace of mind. We must remember that our peace has been disturbed by a prior thought which, as the previous Lesson indicates, “means nothing,” yet which we have regarded as true and important.

In a certain sense, the ego could be described as “that which” thinks what it imagines is true and important. That “being” does not exist; it is merely a whimsical “stance” of the mind.

These thoughts do not mean anything.

1. These thoughts do not mean anything; they are like the things I see in this room, on this street, from this window, in this place.^I

2. Unlike the previous exercises, these do not begin with the idea for the day.

²In today’s practice, begin by observing the thoughts that pass through your mind for about one minute.

³Then apply the idea to them.

⁴If you are experiencing unhappy thoughts, use them with this idea.

⁵But do not choose only the thoughts you consider to be “bad.”

⁶If you train yourself to look at your thoughts, you will see that they are such a mixture that, in a real sense, none of them can truly be called either “good” or “bad.”

⁷That is why they do not mean anything.

3. In selecting the thoughts to which you will apply today’s idea, it is necessary to be very specific, as always.

²Do not be afraid to use both “good” and “bad” thoughts. ³Neither of them are your real thoughts, which are being covered up precisely by the ones you now believe you have.^II

⁴The “good” thoughts you are aware of are only shadows of what lies beyond, and shadows always obscure Vision.

⁵The “bad” thoughts, on the other hand, are blocks to Vision and make it impossible.

⁶That is why you do not want them either.

4. This is an important exercise and will be repeated from time to time in a slightly different form.^III

²The goal of this lesson is to train you in the first steps toward the aim of distinguishing between the meaningless and the meaningful.

³It is a first attempt at the long-range goal of learning to see the meaningless as outside you, and the meaningful as within.^IV

⁴It is also the beginning of training your mind to recognize what is the same and what is different.

5. When using your thoughts as subjects for applying today’s idea, identify each one by the central figure or event it contains. For example:

²This thought about ____ does not mean anything.

³It is like the things I see in this room (on this street, etc.).

6. You may also use the idea for a specific thought that you recognize as harmful. ²This kind of application is useful, but it should not replace the random selection process to be followed in the exercises.^V

³However, do not examine your mind for more than a minute or so.

⁴You are not yet sufficiently experienced to avoid a tendency to become needlessly preoccupied.

⁵Also, since these exercises are the first of their kind, it is quite likely that you will find it especially difficult not to judge your thoughts.

⁶Do not repeat these exercises more than three or four times today.

⁷We will return to them again.

---

^I Pay close attention to this Lesson, for it is one of the most liberating in this Workbook. To recognize that your own thoughts mean nothing is the epitome of humility and the purest expression of the Socratic truth: “I know only that I know nothing.” The sincere practice of this Lesson heals the mind instantly, for it prevents it from clinging to ideas that are not true but arbitrary.

The thoughts that arise in your mind are the manifestation of egoic dynamics born of fear and desire, the inevitable consequence of harboring a spurious idea of your own identity. Your thoughts are whimsical stories constructed around your longings and fears.

Try to realize that what you think is not in any sense “yours.” Certainly you are the “witness” of these thoughts, but you are not their cause. Notice that you have done nothing to think the way you think; there is no volitional participation on your part prior to the “fact” of thinking. Your thoughts occur in the mind, and you carelessly endorse them and call them “yours.”

You may rightly call these thoughts “the voice of the ego,” and you can—and must—dismiss them with complete calm. In fact, that is what you will learn to do throughout this mental training you have just begun.

Try to understand well what follows, for on it depends your grasp of what is happening in your mind when you say you “think.” What you call “my thoughts” are narratives: stories you tell yourself about things or circumstances that your mind considers after fragmenting Reality into discrete elements.

Take any thought that arises, and you will see that what you are considering is not the thing itself, but a description of it that, moreover, you take as true. You do not know the thing (or the circumstance); you know its description. You confuse the thing itself with the story you have built about it. It is as if a child, hearing his father say he needs a new car, tries to help by handing him a clumsy drawing of a car freshly painted on a sheet of paper. It is a childish confusion. Humanity is in its infancy.

To confuse what something is with its description is humanity’s tragedy, and it becomes especially grave when it concerns what you are. You confuse what you are with what you tell yourself about yourself. You confuse your Being with your own opinions.

In truth, it should suffice to recognize that your shifting opinions about your reality cannot be true precisely because of their mutability. But that all-too-“human” arrogance of continually believing you are “right” prevents you from knowing your true Identity.

Do not be concerned: this Course you are beginning is specifically designed to heal this fateful cognitive bias. Take it very seriously, for your happiness depends on it.

^II Your true thoughts as the Son of God—not as a person—are the thoughts you think with your Father and Creator. These Thoughts are unlimited, eternal, perfectly abstract, and infinitely loving; that is, they are real, and in the Text they are called the Creations of the Son of God. They are the opposite of what you now consider your thoughts, which are limited, fleeting, concrete, and— even the most benevolent among them—still harbor some element of fear.

^III Indeed, it is. Keep this in mind at all times. It is one of the most healing ideas that exist, and you will repeat it in Lesson 10. To fully accept the lack of meaning, relevance, and importance of what you call “my thoughts” is crucial for achieving dissociation from the egoic idea of an independent, separate, exclusive, and limited identity.

^IV This Lesson, in a sense, explains the preceding ones. What you believe you see outside yourself means nothing because, in reality, they are your projected thoughts, devoid of intrinsic meaning. The forms you see outside yourself are projections—effects of underlying inner causes. They are like the figures in nighttime dreams: symbols manifesting fears and desires.

Yet you are real, you do not change, you are always yourself. You are indeed “meaningful,” even though you do not yet fully know what that meaning is.

^V That is to say, the rule for these early exercises is to apply the daily idea to any object or thought. This Lesson makes clear that any thought you choose loses its emotional charge if you cease to give it importance, precisely because it has no real meaning. Its meaning is entirely personal and arbitrary, and the emotion the thought provokes comes solely from the importance you assign to it.

By now, after having studied the Text well, you will have realized that ceasing to give importance to what you call “my thoughts” is what true forgiveness, as this Course teaches, actually is. In this world, the only thing you can and must forgive are “your” own thoughts.

I do not understand anything I see.

1. I do not understand anything I see in this room, on this street, from this window, in this place.^I

2. Apply this idea in the same manner as in the previous lessons, making no distinctions of any kind.

²Anything you see becomes a suitable subject for applying the idea.

³Be sure not to question whether something is appropriate or not for the exercise. ⁴These exercises are not about judging anything.^II

⁵Anything is appropriate simply because you see it.

⁶Some of the objects you see may have emotional meaning for you.

⁷Try to set those feelings aside and apply the idea to them exactly as you would to anything else.

3. The aim of these exercises is to help you clear your mind of all the associations you have made in the past, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand them.^III

²Therefore, it is essential to keep a perfectly open mind in selecting the things to which the idea of the day will be applied, unhindered by your judgments.

³To this end, everything is the same as everything else; equally suitable and, therefore, equally useful.

---

^I Whatever you say, in truth and in the final analysis, if you are absolutely honest with yourself you must admit that you do not understand any of what you perceive, although you have persuaded yourself otherwise by telling stories you have invented or have been told about the things of the world.

Notice how greatly the idea you have of yourself conditions how you interpret what you perceive. If you are a musician, you will see your hands as instruments of your art; if you are a physician, you may attend to their state of health. A biologist might consider their functioning at the cellular level, and a physicist will likely think of them as an aggregate of atoms. You perceive the reflection of the idea you hold of your own identity projected onto an imagined external realm, which, ultimately, is nothing more than a story you tell yourself.

Acknowledge it: in truth, you do not understand what you perceive. You may find it helpful to understand that, in these early Lessons, you are learning to question the ontological and epistemological principles of your thought system — that is, what reality is to you and how you know it.

^II These are not exercises for you to give your opinion about anything. This is not about what you think, but about what is occurring in your mind when you perceive something.

^III It will be explained later why.

I have given everything all the meaning it has for me.

1. I have given everything I see in this room, on this street, from this window, in this place, all the meaning that it has for me.^I

2. The exercises to be done with this idea are the same as those for the first lesson.

²Begin with the things that are near you and apply the idea to anything your eyes happen to rest on.

³Then widen your scope.

⁴Turn your head to include what is on either side.

⁵If possible, turn around and apply the idea to what is behind you.

⁶Remain as evenhanded as possible in selecting the objects.

⁷Do not concentrate on anything in particular, and do not attempt to include everything you see in a given area, as that would cause strain.

3. Simply glance around you with a quiet, relaxed gaze, trying not to select objects based on their size, brightness, color, material, or the importance they have to you.

²Practice with whatever you see.

³Try to apply the exercise with equal ease to a body or a button, a fly or the floor, an arm or an apple.

⁴The only criterion for applying the idea to anything is simply that your eyes have rested on it. ⁵Do not try to include anything in particular, but be sure not to exclude anything deliberately.

---

^I The only meaning that the things of the world have for you is the meaning you have given them; in themselves, the things of this world have no meaning. The proof of this is that the same thing can have different meanings for different subjects. For example, this chair means something entirely different to you than it does to your dog.

Although thoughts are always subjective—since a “subject” is what conceives them—the personal mind has a pronounced tendency to “objectify” its own thoughts, to regard them as true, and to believe that what it thinks is universally true. Obviously, everything the personal mind conceives is subjective, yet the mind itself forgets this and elevates it to the status of an “established fact.”

This Lesson urges you to recognize that, in truth, you are the one who has given meaning to everything you behold, whether because the world taught you so or by your own judgment. In any case, ultimately it is you who has deemed that judgment to be true.

Be aware also that this applies equally to what you claim to know and to what you assert you do not know. For that which you call unknown or unknowable also bears a label of your own making—one that reads: “I do not know what that means.” Thus you “catalog” even that which you believe you do not know.

Today you must learn to become conscious that you always relate to everything you perceive on your own terms.

INTRODUCTION

1. A theoretical foundation like the Text is necessary for these exercises to be meaningful. ^I

²But it is the practice of the exercises that will make the goal of this Course attainable. ^II

³An untrained mind can accomplish nothing.

⁴The purpose of these exercises is to train the mind to think according to the principles this Course sets forth.

2. The exercises are very simple.

²They require only a few minutes, and it does not matter where or when you do them.

³They need no preparation.

⁴The lessons are numbered from 1 to 365.

⁵The training period is one year.

⁶Do not do more than one lesson a day.

3. The purpose of this Workbook is to train the mind to achieve a different perception of everything in the world. ^III

²This Workbook is divided into two sections.

³The first is to undo what you now see. ^IV

⁴And the second is to restore Vision. ^V

4. It is recommended that each exercise be repeated several times a day, preferably in a different place each time, and, if possible, in every situation in which you spend a significant amount of time.

²The aim is to train the mind to generalize the lessons, so that you understand each one is equally applicable to any situation.

³Unless otherwise noted, the exercises should be done with eyes open, for the goal is to learn how to see.

⁴The only rule that must be followed at all times is to practice the exercises exactly as instructed.

⁵Apply the daily idea to every situation in which you find yourself, and to everything you see in it.

5. These exercises are designed around a central idea.

²The practice consists in applying that idea to as many specific things as possible.

³Be sure not to decide that there are some things to which the idea of the day cannot be applied.

⁴The purpose of the exercises is always to extend the application of that central idea to everything.

⁵This will require no effort on your part.

⁶The exercises themselves contain the conditions required for this kind of transfer. ^VI

⁷Just be sure not to make exceptions when applying the idea.

⁸That would interfere with the transfer of what you have learned. ^VII

⁹The transfer of what you learn in a state of true perception does not proceed like the transfer of what the world teaches.

¹⁰If you have reached true perception with regard to any person, situation, or event, complete transfer to all people and things is certain.

¹¹On the other hand, if you exclude even one thing from the true way of seeing, that way of seeing cannot be transferred to anything.

¹²The very nature of true perception is that it has no limits.

¹³It is the opposite of the way you see now.

6. Some of the ideas presented may be difficult for you to believe, and others may seem quite startling.

²That does not matter.

³You are merely asked to apply them to everything you see.

⁴You are not asked to judge them, or even to believe them.

⁵You are simply asked to use them.

⁶Their use is what will give them meaning for you, and will show you that they are true.

7. Just remember this:

²It is not necessary to believe the ideas presented.

³It is not necessary to accept them.

⁴And it is not necessary to welcome them.

⁵You may even actively resist some of them.

⁶None of this matters, nor does it lessen their effectiveness.

⁷But do not allow yourself to make any exceptions in applying the ideas contained in these exercises.

⁸Whatever your reactions to these ideas may be, use them.

⁹Nothing more than that is required.

---

^I The dictation of theText began on October 21, 1965, and concluded on October 10, 1968. The dictation of the Workbook began on May 26, 1969.

With the Workbook, you embark upon a structured and systematic practice of the new thought system set forth in the Text of A Course in Miracles. There the theoretical foundations of this new way of using the mind are explained—that is, the ontological principles (what is real) and the epistemological principles (what it is to know) of this paradigm. Yet knowing and recognizing them will be of no use to you unless they become your new way of using the mind.

Perhaps the most important thing to be aware of as you begin this practice is that the process of reversing your thought system is no trivial matter. It is a feat of such magnitude that you are at present incapable even of imagining it. Therefore, before attempting it, you must understand that, in order to succeed, you will need all the humility, honesty, and perseverance you can find within yourself, and you will also need to ask for help constantly from the Holy Spirit and from Jesus. But do not be concerned. If your purpose is sincere, Their strength and Their light will always accompany you. That is Their function; yours is simply to follow Them. The Voice of God and the Brother who loves you are so intimate and so close to you that, while you may not hear Them, it is impossible to truly banish Them from your mind and heart. Count on Them, for They trust in you and rely on you. They know perfectly well who you are; They know that you are the Savior of the world.

It is also essential that you strive to follow precisely the instructions given in the Lessons. Remember that you have all the time you need to complete a Lesson well. If you wish, you may take several days with one, but do it well, do it wholeheartedly. Pay special attention to the Lessons that prove most difficult, for they point to the most ailing aspects of your mind—those that most need healing. This difficulty may show itself as aversion, discomfort, or simple forgetfulness. All these are but different strategies of the ego to keep you from changing.

Finally, you are now beginning an exceptional period in your life of limited duration. It is a practice that, if undertaken well, will place you in a mental state of lasting joy, peace, and trust. It is a training that, once completed, will become the only joyous way of being in this world, and you will never again need to struggle for anything—except to remember that you are the Son of God.

Be absolutely certain that you are most fortunate: you are about to embark on a marvelous adventure of love and freedom.

^II Studying the theory is only the beginning of the learning process. There you are presented with a series of proposals on how to use the mind rightly, but it is the actual practice of those principles that will establish your mind in this new paradigm. For your mind to change, it is not enough to know these proposals; you must decide to embrace them and apply them consistently in your daily life.

This is a Course about the will: about the willingness to exchange your old will for a new one—the will to desire reality instead of illusions. And this is achieved only through the exercise of your new will by practicing these blessed Lessons. In the Text you learn what your true will is, and through the practice of the Workbook you exercise it.

^III But to succeed in seeing the world differently, it is essential to desire to see it so; the will to acquire a new vision is indispensable. Therefore, only those who, completely disillusioned with what the world has taught them, remain open and receptive to using their minds in a new way will attain that experience. Those who are not strongly motivated to make that change will not reach that goal.

^IV The First Part of this Workbook, from Lesson 1 through Lesson 220, is devoted to discrediting your old thought system by dismantling the false beliefs that sustain it. Nearly all of the first 30 Lessons are distinctly negative. Yet from that point onward, the foundations of a new and far more luminous way of relating to the world begin to be introduced. The exercises that accompany them are very strict and are carried out with precise instructions that must be followed as accurately as possible, for one of their chief aims is to discipline the mind.

^V The Second Part is quite different, for it deals more with aspirations than with concrete directives. The mind, now purified and trained, is devoted to seeking the mystical experience of union with God through prayer and contemplation. It is the time to gather the fruits of previous work and to lay the foundations for a new way of living in the world, one centered in God.

^VI From this line onward and through the end of the paragraph, the text appears in the FIP version, but it is not found in the Urtext nor in Helen’s Notes.

^VII In psychology, transfer of learning refers to the ability to apply something originally learned in one context to other contexts.

LESSON 1

Nothing I see means anything.

1. Nothing I see in this room, on this street, from this window, in this place, means anything. ^I

2. Now look around slowly and apply this idea very specifically to everything you see:

²This table does not mean anything.

³This chair does not mean anything.

⁴This hand does not mean anything.

⁵This foot does not mean anything.

⁶This pen does not mean anything.

3. Then look a little farther away and apply the idea to a wider range of things:

²That door does not mean anything.

³That body does not mean anything.

⁴That lamp does not mean anything.

⁵That sign does not mean anything.

⁶That shadow does not mean anything.

4. Notice that these statements are not in any specific order and do not consider differences in the kinds of things to which they are applied.

²That is exactly the purpose of the exercise.

³The statement is simply applied to everything you see.

⁴When you practice today’s idea, do so in a completely indiscriminate way.

⁵Do not try to include everything you see, because these exercises are not meant to become rituals.

⁶Just be sure not to deliberately leave anything out.

⁷One thing is just like another when it comes to applying the idea.

5. None of the first three lessons should be practiced more than twice a day, preferably once in the morning and once in the evening.

²They also should not last more than a minute, unless that feels uncomfortably rushed.

³It is essential to keep a sense of ease throughout. ^II

---

^I In this Lesson you declare that the things of this world—what we call “reality”—in themselves have no meaning. In later Lessons you will see why; for now, you do not know that. Here you are asked to look at anything around you and declare that it means nothing. It is very important that you understand you are not being asked in any way to believe what you are saying. If you did believe it, you would have no need for this practice. Simply look and declare that what you behold means nothing. That is all. You can and should do this exercise in a state of perfect ease and mental freedom.

Jesus will never, ever demand anything of you, nor will He ever, ever blame you for anything. He knows you as well as He knows Himself, and that is why He loves you. He knows that you are as free and innocent as He is, for you are His brother, the Son of the Same Father. He only wants to free you from a confusion that has made you forget your true identity and has sickened your mind. He has remembered Who He is, and He wants to share that joyous discovery with you.

“Nothing I see means anything” is a declaration that carries an honesty of which, for now, you are incapable. Do not be concerned. This practice will be what leads you to attain it.

Once again: do not force yourself to believe the postulates of these first Lessons, above all. Acknowledge honestly that what is said here is utterly foreign and strange to what you now believe. Do not impose a new truth upon yourself by force. Instead, practice the Lessons exactly as you are asked to, and ask yourself: “Could this be true?” Do not try to answer that question; simply let it rest in your mind as a prayer lifted upward, and trust that, at some moment, the Truth will answer you and Light will dawn in your mind. And when that happens, you will understand that this Truth, this Light you were seeking, is precisely what you are.

^II This paragraph does not appear in the Notes or in the Urtext, but it does appear in the Criswell/FIP version. It is likely that it comes from a later dictation of Jesus to Helen at the time of editing.