Today we review the following: W-11 to W-15
1. W-11 “My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.”
²Because the thoughts I am aware of mean nothing, the world they show me cannot have meaning either.I
³What gives rise to this world is insanity, and so the world it produces is insane.II
⁴Reality is not insane, and I have both real and insane Thoughts.III
⁵Therefore, I can see a real world if I choose to let my real Thoughts guide my seeing.IV
2. W-12 “I am upset because I see a meaningless world.”V
²Insane thoughts are disturbing, and they produce a world where no order can be found.
³Only chaos rules a world that mirrors a chaotic way of thinking, and chaos has no laws.
⁴I cannot live in peace in such a world.
⁵I am grateful that this world is not real, and that I need not see it at all unless I choose to give it value.VI
⁶And I choose not to value what is wholly mad and without meaning.
3. W-13 “A meaningless world engenders fear.”
²What is wholly insane engenders fear, because it is completely unpredictable and offers no trust.VII
³In madness, nothing is dependable.
⁴It offers neither safety nor hope.
⁵But such a world is not real.
⁶I have given it the illusion of reality, and I have suffered because I believed in it.
⁷Now I choose to withdraw my belief from it and place my trust in Reality.VIII
⁸By making this choice, I will escape all the effects of a fearful world, because I am recognizing that such a world does not exist.
4. W-14 “God did not create a meaningless world.”IX
²How can a meaningless world exist if God did not create it?
³He is the Source of all meaning, and everything real is in His Mind.
⁴It is also in my mind, because He created it with me.
⁵Why should I continue to suffer from the effects of my own insane thoughts, when my home is the perfection of Creation? X
⁶Let me remember the power of my decision and recognize where I truly dwell.
5. W-15 “My thoughts are images I have made.”
²Everything I see reflects my thoughts.XI
³It is my thoughts that tell me where I am and what I am.
⁴The fact that I see a world of suffering, loss, and death shows me that I am seeing only the image of my own insane thoughts, and that I am not allowing my real Thoughts to cast their loving light on what I see.XII
⁵But God’s way is sure.
⁶The images I have made cannot prevail against Him, because it is not my will that they do so.XIII
⁷My will is His, and I will have no other gods before Him.XIV
I To understand this, it is key to remember that to perceive is to project. The only thing I see, what I call “the world,” is nothing but my own thoughts projected onto the screen of my conscience. And since those thoughts, in truth, have no meaning, what I believe I see—the world—has none either. That is the truth. Yet, if I am honest with myself, I must admit that my mind does not function that way in practice. To me, the world is full of meaning, and although I am willing to recognize—with great effort—that I am the one who has assigned those meanings, the world I live in still seems profoundly meaningful to me.
Think of this: you are on the bus, standing, reading on your phone the Lesson of the day from this blessed Course, which happens to be Lesson 11: “My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.” You think you understand it and are willing to accept that what it says is true. But then someone bumps into you, your phone falls to the floor, and suddenly you are filled with anger. Five seconds earlier, you had assumed that the world means nothing, and yet a small incident is enough for your old thought system to spring instantly into action, implicitly acknowledging that, in fact, even the tiniest trifle has enormous importance to you.
That is why, in practicing these Lessons, it is essential to be honest and realistic. Understand and accept the enormous distance between knowing the statement of truth and fully embracing it. That distance is called learning, and like any process, it requires time, patience, trust, and unwavering determination.
Your main challenge with this Course is not to understand what it says, nor even to recognize it as true, but to find the motivation to apply it at every moment and in every circumstance. But remember this: only accomplishments build certainty, and that certainty is essential for consolidating your learning.
II My insane thoughts, insane because they are generated without love, give rise to an insane world, equally devoid of love.
The opposite is also true: my loving thoughts will let me see a world full of love. My thoughts are the cause, and the world is the effect.
III Reality is the Thoughts I think with God, my Creations.
IV When I rely on my real Thoughts to interpret reality, I see only love, beauty, and peace, which is what I have created with God.
V It deeply disturbs me to see a world that has no meaning because that is utterly at odds with my true identity as the Son of God, which is pure meaning, love, and infinite peace.
VI To give value to the world I behold is what makes it real, but only to me, for in itself that world I see has no reality; it is only the product of my imagination.
I have invented it, I, the Son of God, in the same way that I have invented a spurious personality for myself.
VII Meaninglessness is the opposite of knowledge, just as fear is the opposite of love.
VIII This is the same as saying that, from now on, I choose only to think the Thoughts I share with God, and I will know how to distinguish them from the others because they inspire me with peace, love, and security.
IX Only a demented god could have created a world that means nothing, but such a thing would not even be possible, because that would not be creation, but belief; the fabrication of illusions.
This is how the part of the Son of God’s mind that believes itself separated from its Father operates; that is its demented god in an impossible equation.
X Of course, that makes no sense and would be madness; nevertheless, that is how those who stubbornly cling to their false identities, separate and independent from God’s reality, think: the people who have come to dwell in a demented world.
XI My thoughts shape that incessant inner dialogue with which I tell myself a fantastic story of lacks, sins, guilt, grudges, desires, and vengeance.
Although, from time to time, a loving thought also slips in among them, and then I breathe a sigh of relief.
XII Yet, in that desperate situation, sometimes a thought of forgiveness arises; at times I behold my brothers with tenderness and mercy, and then my heart leaps with joy: the light has come, and the world timidly reflects the Love of God.
I need no other guide than that to know that, in those moments, I am in my Right Mind; the madness has lifted, and now I can truly see.
What other guide do I need?
XIII Matthew 16:18: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
XIV Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before Me.”