Welcome to active meditation.
A course in miracles.
Lesson 8.
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
We prepare for this exercise by placing our body in a comfortable position so that we won't have to move it for several minutes.
We close our eyes.
We take three deep breaths to relax our mind and body.
The out breath longer than the in breath.
And to help relax,
We remove all expression from our face.
Do this now.
Place your body in a comfortable position.
Take three deep breaths and remove all expression from your face.
This is a course in miracles.
It is a required course.
Only the time you take it is voluntary.
Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum.
It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time.
The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love,
For that is beyond what can be taught.
It does aim,
However,
At removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence,
Which is your natural inheritance.
The opposite of love is fear.
But what is all encompassing can have no opposite.
This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
This idea is,
Of course,
The reason why you see only the past.
No one really sees anything.
They see only their thoughts projected outward.
The mind's preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which your seeing suffers.
Your mind cannot grasp the present,
Which is the only time there is,
And therefore cannot understand time,
And cannot,
In fact,
Understand anything.
The exercises for today should be done with eyes closed.
This is because you actually cannot see anything,
And it is easier to recognize that no matter how vividly you may picture a thought,
You are not seeing anything.
The procedure is with as little investment as possible.
Watch your mind for the usual minute or so,
Merely noting the thoughts you find there.
Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains,
And pass on to the next.
Introduce the practice period by saying,
I seem to be thinking about.
Then,
Name each of your thoughts specifically.
For example,
I seem to be thinking about name of a person,
About name of an object,
About name of an emotion,
And so on.
Thinking at the end of the mind-searching period,
With,
But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
Let's practice.
Search your mind,
Merely noting the thoughts that you find there.
Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains,
Either the name of a person,
The name of an object,
Or the name of an emotion.
After each thought,
Say to yourself,
Say in your mind,
But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
And pass on to the next.
Practice this now.
This can be done four or five times during the day,
Unless you find it irritates you.
If you find it trying,
Three or four times is sufficient.
You might find it helpful,
However,
To include your irritation or any emotion that the idea for today may induce in the mind-searching itself.
The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all.
While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind,
The truth is blocked.
Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank,
Rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas,
Is the first step to opening the way to vision.
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
Let's practice again.
You are the silent witness,
The observer of your thoughts.
Say to yourself,
Say in your mind,
I seem to be thinking about name your thoughts.
As you name your thoughts,
One by one,
Observe,
But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
I will be quiet.
The one holy true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here.
To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions.
Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future.
The mind is actually blank when it does this,
Because it is not really thinking about anything.
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
Let's return to our regular waking state of thoughts,
Feelings and actions to time and space.
As we do this,
We know that our personality has made progress in developing a working relationship with our higher self,
The conscious presence.
Take a few deep breaths to help establish the waking state.
And return fully alert with a heightened awareness of our environment and the knowledge,
I am aware,
I am.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
