What Is It For?

Several of the early workbook lessons in A Course in Miracles focus on the idea that we don’t know what anything is for and that we give everything all the meaning it has for us. These support a key Course theme that “projection makes perception.”

In other words, everything we perceive in the world (and in our bodies) is something we first projected from our mind. But that’s totally different than anything we believe. We’ve taught ourselves that the world represents an objective reality in which we find our existence. Stuff happens, and our happiness or sadness is determined by the stuff that happens.

If we accept the idea that projection makes perception, then we begin the process of undoing everything we’ve learned. And a very helpful question we can ask ourselves in every encounter comes from these lines in the Course:

The test of everything on earth is simply this; “What is it for?” The answer makes it what it is for you.

When we ask ourselves this question (“What is it for?”), our first response will be from the ego. The ego always speaks first. And it is always wrong.

By patiently observing the ego in action, we return to our mind where we can make a different choice. From here, we will understand what everything is truly for. And the answer is to serve as a channel for extending love and reflecting the oneness that unites everything.