Lesson 2
I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place]
all the meaning that it has for me.
We take another step beyond yesterday’s lesson of “Nothing I see in this room means anything,” in which for the most part, can be taken at face value. There is not much shock and awe within day one. It was a fairly nice day to step into the Course. But today, we take one step closer to the Truth.
Today’s lesson is our first introduction into responsibility. We look around the room, the street, in other words, our surroundings and claim that we have created the meaning a person, place, or thing has for us. We start with things closer to our gaze then move outward. Nothing is exempt from the exercise and it is important that nothing be particularly included. We are asked to implement this lesson with the same manner of allowance with which we practiced yesterday.
True, this is another lesson where we can take these words at face value: gaze and repeat, gaze and repeat. And it is surely fine to do so. Yet there is another invitation. Since, I assume, you have chosen to come to the Course to embody and integrate and not merely memorize the concept, we will go a bit further. Thus, I invite you to observe yourself as you do the lesson.
It is interesting to notice within yourself if you have a particular tendency to include or exclude anything. There is nothing you need to do with this knowledge. It is just something to be aware of, as part of these first lessons the goal is to increase our awareness. In this case, we are aware of the meaning we place on objects and people.
Another opportunity for awareness comes in the first word of the lesson, “I.” I have given everything I see in this room the meaning it has for me. Is this a responsibility you can easily accept or do you find the ego, or small mind, uttering the words, in the case of a flower, “I did not give the flower meaning, society did, society thinks that it is beautiful and I agree.” Or “my mom is the one that told me that flowers make a home beautiful. It is not I who said that.” This lesson could lead you to a sense of haughtiness that you already know this lesson, “a flower is a flower, I know that.” But can you accept that you have agreed to a particular meaning of the word flower thus creating the association you have with it? Or that a past experience you had with a flower has led you to assume your particular meaning?
Let’s take another example that may create a bit more of a reaction. Imagine if you look out the window and you see what appears to be a homeless person walking down the street. What associations do you have with people who seem homeless? Can you accept the responsibility of the words that come to mind as you gaze upon this person and repeat “I have given everything I see on this street all the meaning it has for me?” Do you think you are better than this person? Or do you feel sorry for this person because you think he or she is in such lack? Notice what is beginning to come up in your awareness. Remember, that is the goal, awareness. We are no longer living life blind. We are starting to notice the veil we place over things.
With today’s exercise we begin to see that our world is our classroom and we, the students. The Guides, via medium Paul Selig, in The Book of Mastery call to our attention,
“The landscape that you exist in, in many ways, as your teacher, the life you live as your teacher, shows you what you’ve agreed to thus far. The paint on the walls, yes, the pots on the stove, the husband beside you, the child at school, the man you know as your friend or enemy, these are all ways of knowing the self in this incarnation, in this physical realm (104).”
You have been glancing at your classroom and have begun to awaken to the agreements you have made in this world. You have awakened your awareness to your associations in this classroom and thus have also stepped into a greater knowing of yourself. You have learned about the particular flavor you infuse when you say, “I have given everything I see in this room all the meaning it has for me.” Together, we have become sensitive that nothing is as it appears to be and that we have created the thin veil that is our obscure meaning we put on people, places, and things.
Today, the mind becomes more awakened and with your new commitment to observation, now it knows someone is watching. This may set the ego off a bit or you may cruise along in lesson two. It is important to start to note what is occurring. This is the unlearning of the small mind. It is like unwrapping a gift to see what is in the box. Sometimes this process may not feel like a gift but it truly is. Becoming more aware of your thoughts only creates a more heightened energy field and brings you much, much closer to the Truth of who and what you are.
Not only is this lesson a wonderful introduction into responsibility but if we open our minds just a bit more we begin to see that the responsibility lies on the creator. We can begin to see who the real creator of our experience is. Guess who?
In Light and Love and Sacred Sight