A Course in Miracles: Part 1, Lesson 1
Lesson 1
Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] means anything.
Welcome to A Walk in Miracles! During this journey, we will approach and explore each lesson in the book A Course in Miracles as a mindful walk we take daily, recognizing our inner and outer miracles. We will also come to understand, with the use of various spiritual texts and modern day resources, that the message of love that is expressed in the Course, is not privy to one language, culture or other medium. The message is out there and surrounds us with each step. None of us walks alone, as we are all in search of the same thing, peace. Our journeys may appear different but we are all headed in the same direction, Home.
As we begin, Lesson One is practiced twice throughout the day, at our leisure and taking up no more than a minute of time during each interval. This creates a nice easeful way of introducing a concept to a mind that believes that everything is significant and critical to one’s existence. However, we are called to begin to change our sight from that of the physical world to one of Sacred Sight, or Spiritual Sight as the Course would describe.
Caroline Myss, medical intuitive and author of Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing, describes this approach to sight as “becoming more aware of the extraordinary world that lies beyond your eyes” with the term Symbolic Sight (57). Whether it is called Sacred, Spiritual, or Symbolic Sight, it encourages the observer to witness her relation to the environment and reflect on the energy present to begin to see what is truly real, that which is beyond what the human eye, and mind, can see.
The first lesson in A Course in Miracles is our introduction into True Sight. We start this journey by being asked to look at our immediate surroundings and contemplate this statement:
This table does not mean anything.
This cup does not mean anything.
This candle does not mean anything.
And then move to the outer surroundings…
That car does not mean anything.
That tree does not mean anything.
That concert hall does not mean anything.
Since this is lesson one, it is fine to sit with these words and to take them at face value. We all come to the Course from different paths and at different paces. However, for a moment, let us see the profundity that lies within them and explore the awakened possibilities of the words: “Nothing I see in this room means anything.”
It is similar to Aparigraha, one of the Yamas in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the yogic guidelines to living a moral life with oneself and the world. In modern yoga it is also known as the guidelines for yogic living on and off the mat. As with the lessons of the Course, the words of Patanjali encourage one to implement a more noble code of daily living, for example as seen in Lesson One with the practice Aparigraha, non-attachment.
Aparigraha not only refers to being unattached to earthly materials but also to our definitions of such items and the words in which we use to describe them. Consider, for a moment, the word table.
What does table mean to you?
How would you define what a table is?
What is your first memory of a table?
Just these questions alone can bring us out of thinking that we know what a table truly is. No doubt, table may mean something very different to me than it does to you. I am not looking through your eyes, how do I know what you consider a table to be? Similar to how do I know that what you see as the color red is the same color red I see. Yes, we have agreed as a society to call the four-legged, or two legged, flat surface a table but does that make it true, finite or eternal? For example, we can cut off the legs of what we call a table and use the legs as walking sticks and the top as a decorative piece of art on the wall where we can add some decorative lighting to it, for example. Thus, what was agreed upon as a table,no longer is that. Lastly, and easily seen, the words you would use to describe a table could potentially be different than the words I use. So, really what is a table? What is a word other than an identification we are attached to? And note for a moment that we are only talking about the English language. If a table is truly a table, how come there are words for it in other languages, like mesa in Spanish? Even within the same language the context and classification may vary depending on one’s own personal experience.
Now, let us contemplate your first memory and experience with said object, how does this askew your definition of the word table? Maybe your first experience with a table is when you hit your head on its corner and it caused you severe pain, thus leaving you very cautious whenever you think of a table. Maybe you remember heartwarming meals with your family. Maybe it was a place where no one ever sat and was considered a “deserted island” because it was never used because you ate in front of a television. The experience one has with an object laces one’s identification and sentiments, thus making a simple word even more varied and changeable, depending on the observer.
Allow me to use a personal story to bring this example to life. I recently went by a home decor store that sells refurbished home items. In the warehouse I saw this massive teal door frame that encased a set of double doors with four small glass windows at the top of each. It was big and beautiful. I stared at it wondering what on earth it could be used for, as it just sat there in a warehouse without purpose. I let my mind go with ideas: take it apart, put glass over one of the doors and install some legs and make it a table or take both doors and make it an even bigger table; or mount it on a wall and use it as art as a reminder of the doors of perception. When I left I asked the owner, “How could someone use the big door frame with the double doors in the back of the warehouse?” His answer was much different and more practical than mine. He said, “Install it in a home as an actual door, of course.” What do you know, I was seeing a table and wall art, while he was seeing a true functioning door. Thus, how do I know what a table truly is or what anyone else sees as a table. Why get hung up on words that in the end mean nothing at all? This is the deeper point of today’s lesson.
To see with Sacred, Spiritual or Symbolic Sight we have to create a little bit of space between ourselves and the significance we place upon a word so that what is sacred can emerge. With humble awareness, we practice the art of Aparigraha and recognize that everything that surrounds us means absolutely nothing. Remember that it is not important if you literally believe the words for today’s lesson. What is important is that you intend to use them, to allow what is real to come forth. Today is the first step in liberating ourselves from the programs and definitions we have created to imprison our sight. We liberate ourselves so that we can see, see clearly.
Namaste.
Works Cited:
Myss, Ph.D, Caroline. Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing. New York, Three Rivers Press, 1996.