 Lesson 31, I am not a victim of the world I see. First of all, that lesson is talking to the deceived mind that believes it is a victim and it believes in fear and an attack. So it's good to see it from that perspective that I do believe that I'm a victim and I project that victimhood within the world. The world of me, but I don't believe the world of me. I believe I'm a body, a private person, with a private mind, with my own free will, with personal choices, right? And this is a beginning step in teaching you that I am not a victim of the world I see because the world I see is based on a subject of explicit. I believe I'm a subject in an objective world. Therefore I think I'm acted on. I think I see a world that acts on me without my consent. I see that choice is outside of me. I see that I really don't have a choice to change. I'm powerless in that sense because people have control over me. The world has control over me, the little me, the body. It's a great start for whatever I want to get into. Okay. Should I read the lesson here? Sure. Yeah, and then I'll stop at the parts that I had confusion with. I'm not the victim of the world I see. Today's idea is the introduction to your declaration of release. Again, the idea should be applied to both the world you see without and the world you see within. In applying the idea, we will use a form of practice which will be used more and more with changes as indicated. Generally speaking, the form includes two aspects. One in which you apply the idea on a more sustained basis. Now this is where my question comes in. And the other consisting frequent applications of the idea throughout the day. So now when I read that, apply the idea on a more sustained basis. He gets in here and says, two longer periods of practice with the idea for today are needed. One in the morning and one at night. Three to five minutes for each of these are recommended. So I hear three to five minutes. But then also I hear on a more sustained basis. So if I can do it three to five minutes, why not do it all day like that? But then I'm like, okay, I've got to trust Jesus is taking me in at a rate that I can handle. So I should only do three to five minutes. But mind watching is consistent. It's consistently watching. Isn't that what you're doing in the three to five minutes? So it feels like I'm torn between. Well, again, it's the same thing as if you were going to teach a child to read, would you sit down and teach it to read without teaching it the alphabet first? Right. So if it's my second time through, do I trust I start over again? So the idea is that I meet myself where I believe I'm at, consistency is something I will learn. Consistency is a total thing. But it's something I will learn through these practices, through its system, through how Jesus is very specific in this. If we were to adhere to these specific guidelines, then in that listening, in that applying, we start to trust and start to develop mind training skills where you're not ready to be more consistent. Look at your mind in a total way because there's so much fear there. And you've noticed that in the last few days where you've felt that you've said to me that it's overwhelming. I don't know what to do. They're just all these thoughts are there. So if you apply the idea that, oh, I should be looking at this more consistently, right? Then how is that going to work when you already feel that there's so many attack thoughts in there? Do you see what I'm saying? So that's what you have to realize is that for right now I will take those minutes, those times to look at my mind. And then spontaneously there will be these moments. But you will know by how you feel what is most helpful. But like I've said before, Jason, and this is what I realized in my own looking at my mind is that there's times where you just totally surrender to what's happened. You always surrender what's happening. But there's times when the ego seems to be vicious and there's all these attack thoughts there. The worst thing that you can do is try to throw a whole bunch of metaphysics on it. I should be consistent and I should be doing this and I should be more consistent. That's not the approach that Jesus is taking you. Jesus is saying, just learn to trust me. Just learn to give your day over. These thoughts, this is lesson 31. He's already letting you know that there's no thought that's good or bad. They're both wholly true. Neither the positive or the negative are true. Both of them are equally false. So even what you think is your good thoughts, you have to see that those are also attack thoughts. And I'm a victim of them, so to speak. So I am not the victim of the world I see. And then Jesus in the next one says, I have invented the world I see. But don't jump ahead of yourself. You see he's bringing you along in here. So if you seem to have a wild day, then be attentive to the thoughts. This should be different than what it is. It's these should be thoughts that need to be seen because these are the attack thoughts in my mind. Because should are denials of what is. What is right now? It appears that you and I are sitting here. We're reading the course. We're recording on an MP3. We're in the living room, right? You see right now the cat just came up and is walking over the MP3 player. See that's just is what it is. And there's no resistance to that. The cat shouldn't be on there. It's if the cat needs to be removed, the cat is removed. But there's no judgment of should or shouldn't. Or that's wrong. Bad kitty. You see what I'm saying? It just is what it is. So what I'm saying is in the moment you have to learn to accept the script as Jesus calls it. It's already written. It will appear however it appears. It will look however it looks. That door will either blow open or not. The wind will either crack the window or not. That is of no concern to us. What thoughts come up, how fast they come up. All these things you have to learn to look from a quiet place of seeing that this is not who I am. So what is arising, you have to learn to be attentive to that. In your association with that is where you feel victimized. And you're saying that spontaneously, for example, it says three to five minutes twice a day. What do I do the rest of the day? See it's all about your prompts with the spirit and learning to adhere to what Jesus is saying. If he says, if you feel okay, then go on and do a few more, then go on and do a few more. If you truly feel that you're clear and you're able to do another one, then do it. Even if he doesn't say, if you're okay, just if I feel prompted. I would stay close to what he's saying because he's teaching you the art of going in your mind. See, the ego has an art. It's not really an art. It has its own way. This should be this way. See, the ego is in your practice and it's like, I should be more consistent. I have all these thoughts. I should be looking at my mind. I want to get this now. I figure if it's a more sustained basis, if I do it for two hours a day, I'll get it done faster. It's quality in that quantity. You're still trying to get something. You're trying to get something and there's no getting. There's just a watching. There's just a seeing. There's just a seeing that these thoughts, these emotions are not you. That's the learning. The miracle simply looks and does nothing. Forgiveness simply looks and does nothing. There's no action involved. It may symbolically seem to take some actions and stuff, but it's just symbolic. The miracle simply is it is the recognition of the real world. The real world is true perception, which means perception is seen in a purified form, meaning no matter what is happening or what will happen or what has happened, it's purified. It is not as it appears to be. It's my interpretation of what I am seeing. This is the beginning steps of Lesson 31. What it's getting at is I'm not a victim of the world I see. He's talking to you as a person. I believe I'm a person with private thoughts. I believe in attack thoughts. I believe in good and bad thoughts that further complicates it. Then what further complicates that is I resist one and I'm attracted to another. There's a complication in your mind watching already because I don't like these thoughts that are in my mind. There's an immediate resistance that's not the miracle. The pain comes from not looking, not being attentive to what's arising. Does that mean that for all but six minutes a day I'm going to be in pain because I'm not watching? Pain has nothing to do with the time that you take and those lessons. For three to five minutes twice a day I'm watching and that's when I'm not going to be in pain because I'm truly watching and not judging myself. If I'm doing the lessons properly. When you're looking in your mind you have to realize that you believe in retribution. You believe that you're going to be punished for what you believe. All your beliefs, the belief which are rooted in the one belief in separation. As you go inward there's immediate resistance with everyone and that's why I'm telling you that you have to see that in the looking you have to just learn to accept throughout the day not just in your quiet times looking at your thoughts going in there and picking out what you're saying. Throughout the day you still watch your mind but you're not digging. You're not going on a witch hunt and not trying to use three to five minutes are digging. I wouldn't say it's digging. It's Jesus allotting you certain times because he knows that the ego is in the spiritual practice and that the ego goes on a witch hunt. The ego thinks it knows what correction is. So what Jesus is doing is he's taking you in. So look go in three or five times my son go in today just three or five times look at what you need to look at then let it go and then be about your day but still you just continue to surrender continue to surrender what's happening but you don't go in analyzing digging for more because he's going to bring you in a deeper deeper level another way he's not going to take you in because it can't be thrusted upon you so these lessons are representative of that part in the text where Jesus says that in the first part of the text chapter one where Jesus says miracles will be your way because reality cannot be thrusted upon you so you see that's the lessons are constructed in that way to bring you in your mind so there's not all this analysis and trying to figure out what's going on why am I feeling upset now and although there's an appropriate time for that you see what I'm saying there's an appropriate time for that and then there's an appropriate time to just let it go because your mind is loosening from the realm of specifics like a ship that's turned upside down and the ship is turning right side up so it's going to be things are going to be falling and water and crackling you're going to be disoriented your equilibrium is going to be off so you're to just look at it from a context the more abstract context instead of analyzing every single thing about it because that's detrimental to your learning that's not what Jesus is bringing Jesus is bringing to a state of stillness of watching watching about observing without any judgment do you see what I'm saying? I have one more question so how do you're saying Jesus is taking me in deep with these three to five minutes sinking because that's all I can handle and trust that and the rest of the time what's he doing with my mind he's prompting you moment by moment what you need to do and you can't really be open to the prompts when you're constantly analyzing and digging and going on a witch hunt in your mind because that's the ego that does that the Holy Spirit knows that he will rearrange time and space so what you need to see will show up in a very helpful graceful way although your first experience of it won't probably be that of grace because you're so addicted to judging that you will judge what's arising and this is why these lessons are important because Jesus is telling us don't judge what's arising don't judge it you had to see it as equally the same and equally false and you just need to learn to look and allow all these emotions to purge through you to wash through you instead of judging good days or bad days and I watch you do this you're just right on so to speak you think you're clear, you're on you're so enthused with me, with Carrie and I and with the whole house and we're all just in this wonderful dance and then there's these moments where there's this darkness coming up and you compare it to these other days and then that's where your learning failure is because you don't like what's coming up but you see you forget that the day before was just a fruits you were bearing fruit