A Course in Miracles Lessons 1 to 5

After reading the book, The Disappearance of the Universe, I embarked on A Course in Miracles. This unique self study course is designed to help everyone who uses it to undo their mental and emotional conditioning so that they are free to use thought to see the truth about themselves and the world we live in. The Course is divided into three parts, Theory, Practice and Teaching.

For the purposes of this series I will be focussing on the workbook exercises which constitute the practical element of the course. There are 365 exercises in the workbook and it is anticipated that the user performs a different exercise each day and for no longer than the specified few minutes and for only three or four times a day.

Each lesson is an exercise in forgiveness and the goal of the course is a first step toward regaining our inner peace and reconnecting with our Higher Self, our own inner teacher and internal source of wisdom. Once we have learned to hear the voice of the Higher Self or Holy Spirit we are then in a position to find our way back to God.

Each lesson is designed to peel back another layer of the illusion that keeps us separate from each other and God.

It is my intention to publish my experiences and insights with 5 lessons of the course every week. Those of you who wish to do more than just read about what I got from the course may wish to do the exercise yourselves and compare notes each week.

I have provided a link to the on line Course in Miracles which is completely free of charge at the end of this article and I have also provided a link to the book in Amazon if you would prefer purchase the book.

Please use the comment box at the end of this article to let me know how you get on.

Lesson 1

In performing this exercise I realise that sight is something that happens in my brain. Light reflected from any object I see enters my eyes and is focussed on the the retina in the back of my eye. The object is even focussed upside down on the back of my eye. The light striking the back of my eye is then converted in to electrical impulses which are then sent to the visual centre in the back of my brain and converted into the picture I see.

I am in effect looking at a picture created by my brain from electrical impulses. Electrical impulses or the light that is responsible for their creation have no meaning. The picture I see in my mind therefore has no meaning. Nothing I see means anything. This is true.

Simply talking about this is not enough. It is only by doing the exercise that a deep realisation is had which is subtly different from the feeling one gets from just knowing something.

Lesson 2

This exercise follows on from the previous one in which I realise that nothing I see means anything.

The light that gives rise to the electrical impulses that then create the picture I see means nothing. But the objects I see, the people I see, the places I see do mean something to me. Where does this meaning for each thing I see come from? The meaning I assign to everything I see must come from me. I am the one who gives everything I see all the meaning that it has for me. This true.

Lesson 3

In Lesson 1, I realise that nothing I see means anything. In Lesson 2 I realise that if what I see has any meaning it is because I have given it meaning. Now I am faced with the prospect that the meaning I assign to things I see means nothing either.

If the visual picture I have of any object I see is created using electrical impulses and is seen in the brain then the meaning or idea I associate with that image must also be created in my brain. This would then lead me to deduce that because it is me who creates the meaning for everything I see then I cannot know the real meaning of what it is that is giving rise to all these creations in my brain.

Lesson 4

In Lesson 3 I realise that the meaning I assign to every object has nothing to do with the object because it is me who is creating the meaning and therefore arriving at an understanding that has nothing to do with the object. In this lesson I am being asked to realise that the thoughts I think are also creations just like the objects I see and as such don't mean anything.

This was a more difficult realisation for me because it would mean that the ideas themselves were also made of the same stuff of the physical objects that I could touch and were equally as meaningless. So now the penny was beginning to drop that, the objects I see had no meaning apart from the meaning I assigned to them. The meaning that I assign to objects I see comes from me and as such have nothing to do with the object I see. And now the meaning itself that I am assigning to the objects has no meaning.

The meaning I assign to what I see is a thought. The thought comes from me. The thought therefore has nothing to do with the object and as such is meaningless. This is true.

Lesson 5

In Lesson 4, I realise that thoughts I assign to things to give them meaning do not mean anything. The thoughts I think to assign meaning have nothing to do with the objects I see or the ideas I think and so whatever I think does not actually have anything to do with the feeling I feel. So if something is upsetting me then any meaning I assign to the feeling has nothing to do with the feeling and as such is never the reason for the feeling of upset.

I cannot think of a reason for anything that I perceive as being felt internally because the thought I assign as the reason is always going to be internally created and as such will never have anything to do with the feeling I feel as upset.