ARCIM

Daily Lesson 25 ~
January 25

When I misperceive, I do not know anything’s true Purpose.

Purpose is meaning. Today’s idea explains our first lesson—why nothing you look upon means anything in Reality. Meaning is always created anew. Perception based on past thoughts can’t know what anything is for now, and therefore must be devoid of real Meaning. This form of perception can only assume meaning because it is not actually present.

In Reality, everything is for your own best interests – for the well-being and happiness of all – when conceived and perceived clearly. That is its Purpose, that is what it is for now, and that is what it means. Another way of saying this is that anything’s true Meaning and Purpose is its Connection with Everything. It is in recognizing this that what you perceive is given meaning. It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified.

Those whose perception is caught in the past look upon the world and everything in it as meaningful only in terms of self-centered interests, or ego goals. These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not you. This false identification renders those making it incapable of understanding what anything is truly for now, i.e., anything’s real Purpose. As a result, they are bound to misuse everything. When you understand and believe this, you will naturally strive to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them.

Another way of describing self-centered goals perceived as valuable is to say that they are all concerned with “personal” interests. Since personal interests, those having to do with you alone, do not exist, such goals are really concerned with nothing. In cherishing them, therefore, you would have no goals at all. And thus you would not know what anything is truly for.

In order to best make sense out of the exercises for today, one more thought is necessary. On the surface level, of course purpose is recognized. Yet real purpose cannot be understood at this level. For example, it is understood that a telephone is for the purpose of talking to someone who is not physically in your immediate vicinity. What needs to be understood in addition to this is why on a deeper level you want to reach and connect with another person. And it is this reason that makes your contact with the other person meaningful at a level closer to Reality, or not.

It is essential to your awakening learning that you be willing to let go of the personal goals you have established for everything, which only reflect your past thoughts and therefore generate misperception. The recognition that such goals, rather than being “good” or “bad,” are simply meaningless in terms of your own best interests, in the context of awakening, with regard to giving and receiving miracles, and in the light of true vision, is the only way to accomplish this. The idea for today is a step in this direction.

Six practice periods, each of two minutes duration, are required. Each practice period should begin with a slow repetition of the idea for today, followed by looking around you and letting your glance rest on whatever happens to catch your eye, near or far, animate or inanimate, “important” or “unimportant.” With your eyes resting on each subject you so select, say,

“In light of what true vision will show me, I do not currently know what _____ is truly for.”

For example:

“In light of what true vision will show me, I do not currently know what this desk is truly for.”

“In light of what true vision will show me, I do not currently know what that puppy is truly for.”

“In light of what true vision will show me, I do not currently know what this hand is truly for.”

“In light of what true vision will show me, I do not currently know what that tree is truly for.”

Say each statement quite slowly, without shifting your eyes until you have completed the statement. Then move on to the next subject, and apply the practice form of today’s idea as before.

 

Corresponding Text Section

 

Principle of Miracles 25

Miracles are natural expressions of the Divine’s Total Forgiveness – the Atonement – which is complete in Eternity. Through miracles you affirm your acceptance of the Divine’s Forgiveness by extending It to others. This acceptance and extension is each one’s part in the Atonement.

Commentary

To accept Atonement for yourself by extending it to others your will must be sufficiently free from the concerns of this world. There is a way of speeding up your will to be free from being concerned with what’s not important. The effectiveness of miracles depends on this kind of timing. This is why time should not be wasted, that is, devoted to what isn’t reflecting Eternity and therefore isn’t essential from a miraculous standpoint. While minutiae and the trivial do not matter, circumstances regularly require them to be tended to. If you get bogged down in minutiae or insist on addressing the trivial your way, you waste too much time and attention (a form of will) on them. Will cannot be free if it is tied up in minutiae and trivia, and it can’t get out of this bind without help.

There is a better use of time. You simply have to remember to ask me to take charge of all minutiae and trivial things that come into your awareness and vie for your attention, and they will be taken care of so well and so quickly that you will not get bogged down in them. I am able and willing to suggest to you exactly what to do in connection with everything that does not really matter, i.e., that isn’t essential or involving your true creativity. What does not really matter is not an area where your choice should be invested, because it will only waste your free will.

The only remaining problem is that you may be unwilling to ask me to help you in this way because you are afraid not to be bogged down. Do not let this hold us back. If you will ask, I will arrange these things, even if you’re not entirely enthusiastic about giving over this treasured focus of your attention. I will not intrude on your free will, but I am willing to free it. The more time you give over to me in this way, the more time you will have to devote to what’s truly important here: to miracles, healing, and awakening.

Prayer as an invitation for help can be very specific in little matters. If you need an article of clothing, for example, ask me where to find it. I know your taste well, and I also know where the article is that you would eventually procure anyway, and will save you the time and attention you would otherwise unnecessarily spend looking for it. If you do not like the article afterward, that is what would have happened anyway because that is what you wanted to happen.

I cannot save you more time than you will let me, but if you are willing to try this “best possible problem-solving service,” which also covers all physical necessities and even quite a number of whims within reason, I have very good use for the time we will save.

Remember, the specific response or answer you get will depend on the specific question you ask. The fewer limits you impose in your question, the better the response will be. For example, you could ask, “Where can I find a particular brand of coat?,” or “Where is the coat I want?,” or “Where is the coat I should get?,” and so on. The structure of the thought behind the request determines the level and quality of the answer.

To save the time we need to achieve our shared goal of awakening, help me to help you not to get bogged down in distractions if they now arise. They are reflections of old learning patterns, and will come up only if you continue cherishing handling minutiae and trivia by yourself.

Knowing how to free yourself from such distractions, the degree they still command your attention will merely illustrate your degree of unwillingness not to get bogged down because you are afraid of the Freedom this Course is leading to. So don’t use them that way. This Course is about willingness, not unwillingness. Unwillingness has to be replaced by willingness, because willingness is part of readiness, without which true learning cannot occur.