Lesson 13: A meaningless world engenders fear

Everything we see and experience in the world is without meaning. There is no good. There is no bad.

But we project onto this “blank slate” all the meaning everything has.

What this lesson is teaching us is that we are quite fearful of this meaninglessness. And the reason is that our ego sees this void and worries that if it doesn’t rush in and fill this empty space that its own impotence and unreality would be demonstrated. To which the Course says “And on this alone is it [the ego] correct.”

That’s why we’re so quick to judge everything. The ego judges everything it sees in terms of whether it is “good” or “bad” in relation to its existence. That’s why whenever someone offends or violates us in some way that we immediately feel that kick in the gut. It’s our ego saying “I’m the innocent victim and that other person is the victimizer.”

When we choose our ego mind, we’re terrified of letting go of our victimhood. No matter how much we might say and believe otherwise.

And so this lesson is helping us practice the idea that we are in competition with nothing – and that letting go of the ego won’t bring us fear but rather joyful peace.