Welcome to active meditation.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 28 Above all else,
I want to see things differently.
Prepare for meditation.
Move your physical body into a comfortable position.
Relax.
Remove all expression from your face.
Let go of any worries or concerns until this exercise is over.
I'll wait while you do this.
Remember only this.
You need not believe the ideas.
You need not accept them.
You need not even welcome them.
Some of them you may actively resist.
None of this will matter or decrease their efficacy.
But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains.
And whatever your reactions to the ideas may be,
Use them.
Nothing more than that is required.
Above all else,
I want to see things differently.
Today,
We are really giving specific application to the idea in the previous lesson.
In these practice periods,
You will be making a series of definite commitments.
The question of whether you will keep them in the future is not our concern here.
If you are willing,
At least,
To make them now,
You have started on the way to keeping them.
And we are still at the beginning.
You may wonder why it is important to say,
For example,
Above all else,
I want to see this table differently.
In itself,
It is not important at all.
Yet,
What is by itself?
And what does in itself mean?
When you say,
Above all else,
I want to see this table differently,
You are making a commitment.
To withdraw your preconceived ideas about the table and open your mind to what it is and what it is for.
You are not defining it in past terms.
You are asking what it is,
Rather than telling it what it is.
You are not binding its meaning to your tiny experience of tables.
Nor are you limiting its purpose to your little personal thoughts.
You will not question what you have already defined.
And the purpose of these exercises is to ask questions and receive the answers.
In saying,
Above all else,
I want to see this table differently,
You are committing yourself to seeing.
It is not an exclusive commitment.
It is a commitment that applies to the table just as much as to anything else.
Neither more nor less.
You could in fact gain vision from just that table if you would withdraw all your own ideas from it and look upon it with a completely open mind.
It has something to show you,
Something beautiful and clean and of infinite value,
Full of happiness and hope.
Hidden under all your ideas about it is its real purpose,
The purpose it shares with all the universe.
In using the table as a subject for applying the idea for today,
You are therefore really asking to see the purpose of the universe.
You will be making this same request of each subject that you use in the practice periods.
And you are making a commitment to each of them to let its purpose be revealed to you,
Instead of placing your own judgment upon it.
Not only should the subjects be chosen randomly,
But each one should be accorded equal sincerity,
As today's idea is applied to it in an attempt to acknowledge the equal value of them all in their contribution to your seeing.
As usual,
The applications should include the name of the subject your eyes happen to light on,
And you should rest your eyes on it while saying,
Above all else,
I want to see this,
Name the object,
Differently.
Each application should be made quite slowly,
And as thoughtfully as possible,
There is no hurry.
Let's practice.
Open your eyes.
Look around.
As your eyes light on an object,
Say to yourself,
Say in your mind,
Above all else,
I want to see this object differently,
And name the object.
Now be quiet while you do this.
Close your eyes.
You see a lot of separate things about you,
Which really means you are not seeing at all.
You either see or not.
When you have seen one thing differently,
You will see all things differently.
The light you will see in any one of them is the same light you will see in them all.
Not only should the subjects be chosen randomly,
But each one should be accorded equal sincerity,
As today's idea is applied to it in an attempt to acknowledge the equal value of them all in their contribution to your seeing.
Let's practice again.
Open your eyes.
Survey the area.
As you notice the subject,
Repeat to yourself.
Repeat in your mind.
Above all else,
I want to see this,
And name the subject,
Differently.
I'll be silent.
Close your eyes.
When you say,
Above all else,
I want to see this table differently,
You are making a commitment to withdraw your preconceived ideas about the table and open your mind to what it is and what it is for.
You are not defining it in past terms.
You are asking what it is,
Rather than telling it what it is.
You are not binding its meaning to your tiny experience of tables,
Nor are you limiting its purpose to your little personal thoughts.
We will have six two-minute practice periods today,
In which the idea for today is stated first and then applied to whatever you see about you.
You are committing yourself to seeing.
It is not an exclusive commitment.
It is a commitment that applies to the table just as much as to anything else.
Neither more nor less.
Above all else,
I want to see things differently.
The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind.
In a systematic way.
To a different perception of everyone and everything in the world.
Take a few deep breaths.
And as we return to time and space,
We acknowledge,
I am aware.
I am.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
