Me vs. Not Me

Hold your hand up in front of your face. Would you call it "my hand"? The possessive pronoun feels entirely appropriate. Of course it's my hand.

Now glance out the window. Notice a tree or perhaps a passing cloud. Would you refer to either of these as "my tree" or "my cloud"? They're clearly separate from you, existing independently in an external world.

But here's where things get interesting. Where exactly does your experience of both the hand and the cloud actually occur?

The answer might surprise you: both arise in precisely the same place. Within awareness itself.

We're so convinced that objects exist "out there" in space, separate from our inner experience. Yet everything we've ever perceived—every sight, sound, sensation, or thought—has only ever appeared within consciousness. The cloud isn't floating in some distant sky; it's an appearance in the limitless space of awareness.

This challenges our most fundamental assumptions about reality. We believe in a world populated by separate objects existing independently of observation. But what if this conviction stems from a profound misunderstanding about the nature of experience itself?

Consider how two people can witness identical events yet describe completely different realities. Both are certain they're correct. Both of sound mind. Yet their accounts contradict each other entirely.

They are both right—and both mistaken. Right that their subjective experience feels absolutely real and consistent and true. Wrong in assuming that it reflects objective reality rather than the mind's own projections.

As A Course in Miracles clarifies: "Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that."

This isn't mere philosophical speculation but practical wisdom. Recognizing that all experience unfolds within awareness—not in some external realm—transforms everything.

Join me in Thursday's class where we'll explore this radical shift in understanding and discover the deep peace that emerges when the boundaries between "me" and "not me" dissolve. I look forward to seeing you then.