Lesson 45: God is the Mind with which I think
In Lesson 45 we learn that the source of all thought comes from our mind. When we choose the mind of peace, all our thoughts will be loving, peaceful and inclusive.
This lesson builds on Lesson 44 where we learned that what we think of as seeing is not reality. Our eyes show us only deceit and illusion.
In this lesson, we take it a step further and understand that our thoughts also deceive us. Consider these lines from today’s lesson:
“Your real thoughts are nothing that you think you think. There is no relationship between what is real and what you think is real.”
What he’s teaching us here is that our thoughts - just like what our eyes see - mislead us. We think our thoughts come from what’s going on in the world, what’s going on in our body, or from mental processing we do with our brain.
But none of those is where our thoughts come from.
Our thoughts are sourced by our mind. Every thought we have comes from our mind. We don’t “make up” our thoughts. Our thoughts aren’t a reaction to anything. Whatever mind we choose (ego or spirit), those are the thoughts we will experience.
This lesson is helping us understand not only the source of thought, but also how to make the right choice in our mind for spirit instead of ego.
When we choose the ego mind, all our thoughts will be about our situation in the world, or the situation of other people we care about. There’s an “I” that is front and center.
But when we choose the mind of spirit, the I-ness drops away and we’re left with eternal, loving, inclusive thoughts that are filled with peace and embrace everyone.
As this lesson encourages us, “We will not let the thoughts of the world hold us back.”
Lesson 45: God is the Mind with which I think.
W-pI.45.1. Today's idea holds the key to what your real thoughts are. They are nothing that you think you think, just as nothing that you think you see is related to vision in any way. There is no relationship between what is real and what you think is real. Nothing that you think are your real thoughts resemble your real thoughts in any respect. Nothing that you think you see bears any resemblance to what vision will show you.
W-pI.45.2. You think with the Mind of God. Therefore you share your thoughts with Him, as He shares His with you. They are the same thoughts, because they are thought by the same Mind. To share is to make alike, or to make one. Nor do the thoughts you think with the Mind of God leave your mind, because thoughts do not leave their source. Therefore, your thoughts are in the Mind of God, as you are. They are in your mind as well, where He is. As you are part of His Mind, so are your thoughts part of His Mind.
W-pI.45.3. Where, then, are your real thoughts? Today we will attempt to reach them. We will have to look for them in your mind, because that is where they are. They must still be there, because they cannot have left their source. What is thought by the Mind of God is eternal, being part of creation.
W-pI.45.4. Our three five-minute practice periods for today will take the same general form that we used in applying yesterday's idea. We will attempt to leave the unreal and seek for the real. We will deny the world in favor of truth. We will not let the thoughts of the world hold us back. We will not let the beliefs of the world tell us that what God would have us do is impossible. Instead, we will try to recognize that only what God would have us do is possible.
W-pI.45.5. We will also try to understand that only what God would have us do is what we want to do. And we will also try to remember that we cannot fail in doing what He would have us do. There is every reason to feel confident that we will succeed today. It is the Will of God.
W-pI.45.6. Begin the exercises for today by repeating the idea to yourself, closing your eyes as you do so. Then spend a fairly short period in thinking a few relevant thoughts of your own, keeping the idea in mind. After you have added some four or five thoughts of your own to the idea, repeat it again and tell yourself gently:
My real thoughts are in my mind. I would like to find them.
Then try to go past all the unreal thoughts that cover the truth in your mind, and reach to the eternal.
W-pI.45.7. Under all the senseless thoughts and mad ideas with which you have cluttered up your mind are the thoughts that you thought with God in the beginning. They are there in your mind now, completely unchanged. They will always be in your mind, exactly as they always were. Everything you have thought since then will change, but the Foundation on which it rests is wholly changeless.
W-pI.45.8. It is this Foundation toward which the exercises for today are directed. Here is your mind joined with the Mind of God. Here are your thoughts one with His. For this kind of practice only one thing is necessary; approach it as you would an altar dedicated in Heaven to God the Father and to God the Son. For such is the place you are trying to reach. You will probably be unable as yet to realize how high you are trying to go. Yet even with the little understanding you have already gained, you should be able to remind yourself that this is no idle game, but an exercise in holiness and an attempt to reach the Kingdom of Heaven.
W-pI.45.9. In the shorter exercise periods for today, try to remember how important it is to you to understand the holiness of the mind that thinks with God. Take a minute or two, as you repeat the idea throughout the day, to appreciate your mind's holiness. Stand aside, however briefly, from all thoughts that are unworthy of Him Whose host you are. And thank Him for the Thoughts He is thinking with you.