Welcome to active meditation.
A course in miracles,
Lesson one.
Nothing I see means anything.
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 will be opening them up again for this exercise.
We take three deep breaths to relax our mind and body.
The out-breath is 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.
We take three deep breaths and remove all expression from our 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.
Nothing I see in this room,
On this street,
From this window,
In this place,
Means anything.
Open your eyes.
Look slowly around you and practice applying this idea very specifically to whatever you see.
Say to yourself,
Recite in your mind,
This table does not mean anything.
This chair does not mean anything.
This hand does not mean anything.
This foot does not mean anything.
This pen does not mean anything.
Close your eyes.
Notice that these statements are not arranged in any order and make no allowance for differences in the kinds of things to which they are applied.
That is the purpose of the exercise.
The statement should merely be applied to anything you see.
As you practice the idea for the day,
Use it totally indiscriminately.
Do not attempt to apply it to everything you see,
For these exercises should not become ritualistic.
Only be sure that nothing you see is specifically excluded.
One thing is like another as far as the application of the idea is concerned.
Open your eyes.
Now look farther away from your immediate area and apply the idea to a wider range.
Say to yourself,
Say in your mind,
That door does not mean anything.
That body does not mean anything.
That lamp does not mean anything.
That sign does not mean anything.
That shadow does not mean anything.
Close your eyes.
This lesson should not be done more than twice a day,
Preferably morning and evening,
Nor should it be attempted for more than a minute or so,
Unless that entails a sense of hurry for you.
A comfortable sense of leisure is essential.
Everything I see means anything.
Nothing I see means anything.
Let's return to our regular waking state of thoughts,
Feelings,
And actions,
To time and space.
And 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,
Comfortable in all instruments of awareness,
With a heightened awareness of our environment and the knowledge,
I am aware.
I am.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Everything unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
