Welcome to Active Meditation.
A Course in Miracles,
Lesson 7 I See Only the Past.
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 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.
Some of the ideas the exercises present you will find hard to believe,
And others may seem to be quite startling.
This does not matter.
You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed.
You are not asked to judge them at all.
You are asked only to use them.
It is their use that will give them meaning to you and will show you that they are true.
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.
I see only the past.
This idea is particularly difficult to believe at first.
Yet,
It is the rationale for all the preceding ones.
It is the reason why nothing that you see means anything.
It is the reason why you have given everything you see all the meaning that it has for you.
It is the reason why you do not understand anything you see.
It is the reason why your thoughts do not mean anything,
And why they are like the things you see.
It is the reason why you are never upset for the reason you think.
It is the reason why you are upset because you see something that is not there.
Old ideas about time are very difficult to change because everything you believe is rooted in time and depends on your not learning these new ideas about it.
Yet,
That is precisely why you need new ideas about time.
This first time idea is not really so strange as it may sound at first.
Look at a cup for example.
Do you see a cup?
Or are you merely reviewing your past experiences of picking up a cup,
Being thirsty,
Drinking from a cup,
Feeling the rim of a cup against your lips,
Having breakfast,
And so on?
Are not your aesthetic reactions to the cup due based on past experiences?
How else would you know whether or not this kind of cup will break if you drop it?
What do you know about this cup except what you learned in the past?
You would have no idea what this cup is except for your past learning.
Do you then really see it?
The process is look about you.
This is equally true of whatever you look at.
Acknowledge this by applying the idea for today indiscriminately.
Do whatever catches your eye.
For example,
I see only the past in this pencil.
I see only the past in this shoe.
I see only the past in this hand.
I see only the past in that body.
I see only the past in that face.
Do not linger over any one thing in particular,
But remember to omit nothing specifically.
Lance briefly at each subject and then move on to the next.
I see only the past.
Now let's practice.
Open your eyes.
Locate an object.
Say to yourself,
Say in your mind,
I see only the past in this object.
Then name the object.
Now,
On your own,
Glance at several objects indiscriminately.
Say to yourself,
Say to your mind,
I see only the past in this object.
And name it.
I'll be silent while you do this.
Close your eyes.
I see only the past.
Spend some time thinking about this exercise and its meaning for you.
I see only the past.
Three or four practice periods,
Each to last a minute or so will be enough.
I see only the past.
I see only the past.
I see only the past.
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 with a heightened awareness of our environment and the knowledge of the present.
I am aware.
I am.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
