 Hi, everyone. Wherever you are in the world, we're going again live with the Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson. And we do have a question that was written in today and then a witness that was written in today. So I'll go into those in our practical application of today's workbook lesson. So today's lesson is workbook lesson number 13, a meaningless world and gender's fear. Today's idea is really another form of the preceding one, except that it is more specific as to the emotion aroused. Actually, a meaningless world is impossible. Nothing without meaning exists. However, it does not follow that you will not think you perceive something that has no meaning. On the contrary, you will be particularly likely to think you do perceive it. Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated ones. It represents a situation in which God and the ego, quote, challenge each other as to whose meaning is to be written in the empty space that meaninglessness provides. The ego rushes infrantically to establish its own ideas there, fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own impotence and unreality. And on this alone, it is correct. It is essential therefore that you learn to recognize the meaningless and accept it without fear. Let's just pause for a moment. That is the key to spiritual awakening. There is, you can't say it any more direct than that. I'll repeat that sentence. It is essential therefore that you learn to recognize the meaningless and accept it without fear. We'll continue. If you are fearful, it is certain that you will endow the world with attributes that it does not possess and crowded with images that do not exist. To the ego illusions are safety devices as they must also be to you who equate yourself with the ego. The exercises for today, which should be done about three or four times, were not more than a minute or so at most each time are to be practiced in a somewhat different way from the preceding ones. With eyes closed, repeat today's idea to yourself, then open your eyes and look about you slowly saying, I am looking at a meaningless world. Repeat this statement to yourself as you look about, then close your eyes and conclude with a meaningless world and gender's fear because I think I am in competition with God. You may find it difficult to avoid resistance in one form or another to this concluding statement. Whatever form such resistance may take, remind yourself that you are really afraid of such a thought because of the quote vengeance of the quote enemy. You are not expected to believe the statement at this point and will probably dismiss it as preposterous. Note carefully, however, any signs of overt or covert fear which it may arouse. This is our first attempt at stating an explicit cause and effect relationship of a kind which you are very inexperienced in recognizing. Do not dwell on the concluding statement and try not even to think of it except during the practice periods. That will suffice at present. So here we are. We've made it up to workbook lesson number 13, and Jesus started this out with lesson one. Nothing I see means anything and then he continued with lesson two. I have given everything I see, all the meaning it has for me. Then he began to teach us that our thoughts didn't mean anything and that we were never upset for the reason we think and basically as he went on 5, 6, 7, 8, he's basically teaching us that when we're asleep and dreaming of exiles from God, believing that we're in a real world in a form, time, space, reality, which isn't reality at all, we have been convinced that a hallucination is real. Sometimes you hear about people who are walking in a desert for many days or weeks and they start hallucinating an oasis. It's one thing to hallucinate an oasis but to hallucinate a cosmos that God did not create is a mistake. It's an error and we are happy to remember that the Holy Spirit has already corrected that error. It's not in process of being corrected. It has been corrected. Jesus, who's our symbol, who's behind me, you can see over there. He's kind of in the light and he's waving to us. He's a beautiful symbol because basically he realized that the kingdom of heaven was real and this cosmos of time and space was not and that's why he had dominion over all the so-called laws of the world. We have good cheer. I have overcome the world. He could seem to heal the sick by the faith that was given to the healing power of God. He could raise the dead by the faith that was given to the healing power of God and it didn't matter what manner of sickness, what degree, what intensity was there physically, psychologically. It all was unreal when brought to the light, the light of Christ and the light of God's love. So when we continue on with these lessons we realize we're just making the turn here. Jesus was teaching us that the reason we are hallucinating or dreaming a world of separation is because we have thoughts that come from the ego or in Christian terms the devil, Satan. Satan has tempted our mind with a whole thought system of unreality and now the projected world that the ego made up is just a dream world but it actually seems real and it seems to have reality just because the ego projected meaning onto it and that's why Jesus just told us that it's like when you experience meaninglessness it's like the ego is trying to rush in and say you should be concerned because of this and this and this. See that? Over there, over there, up there, over there. You should be frightened because of this, this and that. You should have doubt and worry because of linear time and what seemed to occur in the past can repeat in the future and the ego is saying that's bad news. Jesus is just teaching us that these meaningless thoughts that seem to be filling up consciousness of the sleeping mind are just projecting an unreal world and the projection is trying to be used by the ego to reinforce the thoughts. Pretty sneaky to come up with a projector mechanism so that what you don't like in your mind you can see it elsewhere as if it's out in the world. You don't like the idea of war then see it in the world. You don't like the idea of greed then the ego says well look it's over there no over there greedy one there see a greedy one there and basically the projection has just been designed by the ego to to offer meaning to take the place of the word of God and the word of God you know is like letting truth be written on the world or love or joy. It's like letting light take the place of idle images it's like saying I would love you God more than all the idle images that the the ego or the Satan would make up and and so when you start to really go for that in your heart then you do start to see a different world. So today's lesson a meaningless world in gender's fear is basically just saying that fear is coming from the sense of meaninglessness that is experienced when you don't remember that you're a perfect innocent child of God. Fear is not coming from the world fear does not come from the images. The images are projections and therefore he said we're introducing our first cause-effect relationship and basically he's teaching us that that God is the cause of of reality that Christ is in effect in reality not not the man Jesus but the Christ idea the pure Christ idea and that that's the true cause-effect relationship but in terms of this world cause and effect have been split off and turned around this world is the belief that the the son of God the Christ can leave the father where the creation can leave the creator and this perfect creation somehow can go wandering in time and space and then it seems like the world has causes and effects all of the disciplines all of the the genres of the world if you look at a university curriculum all of the the different fields of study have one commonality and that's the belief that there's causes and effects and the ego teaches that the causes are in the past and then the effects are what's present and future so when you look at this lesson today we'll we'll get into the question here in a moment but basically the the recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety and all the separated ones in other words for those that believe in the body and the personality self and the self-concept of this world which is just an idle image then this is an example of of identifying with falsity and part of the way that that falsity is reinforced is to believe that there are things in time and space that you have to handle economic things food hunger thirst warmth and protection for the body and on and on and on and then a lot of psychological ones about wanting to be liked and know the right people and be appreciated and be applauded there's various forms of pride those are all part of the self-concept and no wonder there's the sense of of anxiety and intense anxiety when you've associated the mind which is sleeping with this personality self and then you think you have to do things to prove it's worth you have to prove yourself worthy you have to earn the ego would say you have to earn your respect earn your worthiness all the while not not really telling the mind what the Holy Spirit is offering which is saying you were created perfect you don't have to earn anything through God's grace you are perfect you will forever be perfect you are a perfect child of God always were always will be forever and ever and ever and then this meaninglessness is is really generated from trying to listen to a false voice to to trying to cling to an imposter self that God didn't create God creates Christ God creates in spirit but God doesn't create in perception perception is a is a projection projection makes perception so this is really good for us as we learn today that he's basically telling us toward the end of the lesson he says meaningless world and gender sphere because you believe that you in competition you believe that you're in competition with God and then he that's kind of like dropping an atomic bomb in the sleeping mind like what did you just say read that one again what did you just say basically he's saying that that when you believe in competition you believe in an idea that God didn't create when you believe in a personality identity when you believe in a world of time and space God didn't create the body God didn't create the cosmos God didn't create the the galaxies the suns the moons the stars the black holes God has nothing actually to do with the projected cosmos as Jesus says in the beyond all idols section you know in in his text he said God knows not form so if you want to know God who knows not form then you must realize I am the Christ who also knows not form and everything that I'm perceiving through the five senses through this fragmented filter of ego has no meaning whatsoever so it is essential therefore that you learn to recognize the meaningless and accept it without fear and if you imagine you could just do lesson one and you could just transfer it to everything and I mean every thing that seems to be part of the five senses and perception then that's it you don't need the other 364 lessons if you can transfer that but Jesus knows you know we need practice we need train the mind transfer transfer transfer total transfer of training so he's going to give us like a diamond he's going to turn every day give us a little other facet of the same diamond which is God is real you are real as the Christ and the world and cosmos are false oh here did you get it okay another lesson did you get it no try another lesson get it oh oh you see you keep turning the diamond he loves us so much you just spin this little diamond with little different variations in the lessons but they all are pointing towards this shiny light within that is the light of God and that's that's our light of joy our light of happiness peace eternal life you know it's so good so what a lesson it's finally now we're getting into some good cause and effect things but this is not the cause and effect that we were programmed to believe in by the ego this is not the cause and effect that that we seem to learn from our parents and our teachers and all the way up through university you know we seem to be heavily read reinforced with false cause effect relationships that the ego generated but happily at some point we go oh enough of that I want to know my real relationship with my creator I want to know my real relationship with God and Jesus is a great way shower you know the Christ that is my real relationship with God that's what God created eternally so there's nothing that can go really prevail against what is real and true thank heavens so we did have some some a question and a comment that came in and I thought I would pop into that here and the question that we have coming in is from Gustavo Henrich Ruffo in Portugal and Gustavo writes I David as much as I know it makes no sense I still identify as the puppet as a name as a body although blessed are those who believe without seeing those who have faith I do not seem to crack that I'm pretty stuck with the self-concept considering there is no value or improvement needed from anyone at any time to reach God in the future parentheses we can do so now at our current stage right question mark I try not to fight with that anymore and just rely on the promise that I just have to be open to the Holy Spirit to convince me I am more than flesh and bones anyway if you could talk about that I would be really thankful I want to get in touch with who I really am but I still fail to accept I am perfect child of God in fact I feel I have to be convinced revelatory experience question mark miracle question mark I have no idea what the script has written for me to get there but if there is anything I can do to reach that stage please let me know so that's a good one I have no idea what the script has written for me to get there well yeah that's that is a good way to start right there there's the script of the world the scripts the stories that we call our lives are part of a projection that was made us to keep us from knowing who we are the script of the world and all the stories and dramas and conflicts that seem to be tied into these various outcomes of the script they were made with one purpose they were made in hatred to keep us from going inside to the truth within but really I think what you're asking is you're saying I need to be convinced and you're just really just starting to open up and say I really want to be convinced that I am spirit but I seem to have a very strong belief and attachment to a belief system and thoughts that the ego made up and that is the situation of the world the good news is the world is not outside the mind so you can shift your mind and align with God and then everything that you perceive will look completely differently in fact you come more and more close to Christ vision and you even see things lighting up in your perception as you get close to this beautiful holy vision of Christ which is just pure light it's just pure abstract light but in order to move in that direction it's like you you can just say okay this body is like a puppet you've already identified your body as a puppet and then who's going to pull the strings are you going to reach the light of forgiveness through service through devotion through being done through in other words if you hand the the strings of the Mary and that over to the Holy Spirit and to Jesus and you say use me move through me you know spiral through me laugh through me speak through me hug through me rejoice through me dance through me you know this is the way that you loosen from identification with the puppet it's like you really have to get lost the personality self has to get lost in the mind's devotion to waking up so every second of every day is actually meant to be offered over to the Holy Spirit and Jesus to to use and again you're not supposed to know in advance how that use will look in fact it's better if you don't care how it looks if you just have the prayer that's how you expand your faith that's how you expand your faith you you you say use me and you mean it you say use me and you don't put any conditions on that use you don't say use me but don't use me in this way or that way you just say use me and and pretty much so it's it's it's around being letting the puppet be used in a communication device because because the body is just a something that the ego made that the Holy Spirit can use so your prayer is really Jesus Holy Spirit take over this body fill me up fill my heart up with warm love and light and then let this body be used as an instrument like Saint Francis had prayed Lord make me an instrument of that piece and everyone feels that that love and devotion and Saint Francis symbolized and now we're opening our mind to say oh okay I I meant to do the same thing in terms of of devotion and and being used now Saint Francis you know is a perfect example too because he basically he was not really operating in the boundaries of the Christian church at the time which involved a pope and and various different bishops and arched bishops and and diocese throughout Italy you know he basically unplugged he was he was a more of a I call him like a nature mystic he he was more at home out with the butterflies and the birds and and the animals and and all the ones that were kind of the people that were cast out of the society they seemed to find him and he found them eventually he got over his his you know his judgments around leprosy and he he was washing the lepers he was taking people in he was welcoming people in to join his little community of the Franciscans and that's just a great example that as you give your life over in a very full way to devotion then everything gets provided and and he'd lived a very simple life we could say he was he lived a very prayerful simple life that's that's really what Jesus is encouraging us to do is live a devoted simple life of pray and listen and follow he's saying don't cue off of the perceptions of the world we've been raised to believe the world's real and you have to react and respond to people places things events rules and laws that that are basically just make believe but the ego doesn't tell you they make believe it's it's a it's a hallucination that has been made to convince the mind of of the the images it's tried to make it more solid even though it's a little veil a little film it's it's been just endowed with so much false meaning that now it seems to be solid and it seems to be serious when you take these ego beliefs and thoughts serious you seem to have a serious life and including sickness and death and all kinds of things that the ego made up to convince you that you're not a perfect child of God so I would say dive in jump in to the pool of devotion to the pool of give all to all to have give all to all just that's the first lesson of the Holy Spirit in the text and when you jump into that wow it's you know the ego reacts immediately because you're going against all of its make believe rules and laws I know for me I was in my 20s my late 20s when I jumped in that pool of trust of faith and the ego is screaming inside my mind saying what what's going to happen to your career how are you going to make a living how will you survive and all these things and and I just trusted trusted trusted and then yeah it's been a ride it's been a beautiful ride I have to say so that was the question from Gustavo in Portugal and then also we had a miracle sharing sent in from Christoph Berenbrock in Austria and Christoph writes dear David after yesterday's lesson 12 I asked our father please write your meaning over the world I see then I had a wonderful first psychotherapy therapy session full of joy laughter and perfect understanding after the session Jesus told me see that just was his meaning written over the world extended so clear so easy so wonderful then I heard you saying expect your awakening and for the first time I knew it's not only possible it's guaranteed thank you love you all Christoph so wow what a testimony you know here we are doing lesson 12 yesterday and and what Christoph did with that is he basically he took it to prayer and he said you know let's let your meaning father be written on the world and for some are saying well if if God doesn't know about the world how does God's meaning get written on the world well that's what we call the happy dream the forgiven world or a true perception Jesus has a lot of different terms for it but basically it's it's seeing the world without judgment that's what Jesus said on Sermon on the Mount you know judge not let's you be judged and I think that's got to be two of the most powerful concise words from Jesus ever judge not if we don't judge the world if we don't hold any opinions about it no positive opinions and no negative opinions then we are able to behold the forgiven world we are able to experience the happy dream but when we let the ego put meaning into things and this could be just what people consider common every day judgments you know the ego will try to break it up into condemnations and just your regular daily judgments no there's no there's no categories to this you either have a pristine quiet mind that beholds the world from a very lovely high holy place with the Holy Spirit in Jesus or you seem to watch these judgments just crossing your consciousness and if you take a bite out of any one of the judgments if you believe them then that's the problem Byron Gady used to say still says I think don't believe everything you think and these early workbook lessons of the Course are basically saying yep that's right in lesson four these thoughts do not mean anything in lesson 10 my thoughts do not mean anything and basically he's teaching us that are my meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world and now you can understand why Byron Gady says don't believe everything you think we need to release the attack thoughts we need to release the grievances the judgments we need to release all thoughts of the past and all thoughts of the future and come into this pristine state of of being the observer the witness self lifted by the Holy Spirit to this place on high in the mind and just seeing the world kind of just go by just watching it go by I think of a beautiful Kenny Loggins song I used to listen to a lot of Kenny Loggins and he's got a song you know which is if you've been thinking you're all that you've got don't feel alone anymore because when we're together then you've got a lot because I am the river and you are the shore and it goes on and on watching the river run further and further from things that we've done leaving them one by one and we have just begun watching the river run listening and yearning and learning run river run now that is my meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world that that is letting those thoughts just go by just watching them you aren't even thinking them that you're not the thinker of those thoughts that's the that's the big happy relief is that I'm not the thinker I've never been the thinker of ego thoughts it was the imposter that tried to convince me that I was thinking them so Jesus says the thoughts that you think you think the feelings that you think you have and the world that you think you see none of them are real okay all right well just we're going through the roof of this one it's just it's just high high high high high so thank you for joining today if you have questions please join our living miracles mailing list and mail them in and they do reach me and yeah I'm happy to hear your testimonies and hear your questions and we're in this together we're holding each other's hand we're walking side by side we cannot fail and there's Jesus over there there he is behind me he's just our symbol of awakening and he's just you see his arm is up arms are open looking to the light welcoming everything and everyone to come unto the light all right thank you God bless