Purpose is meaning. Today's idea explains why nothing you see means anything.
You do not know what it is for. Therefore it is meaningless to you. Everything
is for your own best interests. That is what it is for; that is its purpose;
that is what it means. It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified.
It is in recognizing this that what you see is given meaning.
You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals.
These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is
not you. This false identification makes you incapable of understanding what
anything is for. As a result, you are bound to misuse it. When you believe this,
you will try to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them.
Another way of describing the goals you now perceive as valuable is to say that
they are all concerned with "personal" interests. Since you have no personal
interests, your goals are really concerned with nothing. In cherishing them,
therefore, you have no goals at all. And thus you do not know what anything is
for.
Before you can make any sense out of the exercises for today, one more thought
is necessary. At the most superficial levels, you do recognize purpose. Yet
purpose cannot be understood at these levels. For example, you do understand
that a telephone is for the purpose of talking to someone who is not physically
in your immediate vicinity. What you do not understand is what you want to reach
him for. And it is this that makes your contact with him meaningful or not.
It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have
established for everything. The recognition that they are meaningless, rather
than "good" or "bad," 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 about you and letting your glance rest on whatever happens to catch your
eye, near or far, "important" or "unimportant," "human" or "unhuman."
With your eyes resting on each subject you so select, say, for example:
"I do not know what this chair is for."
"I do not know what this pencil is for."
"I do not know what this hand is for."
Say this quite slowly, without shifting your eyes until you have completed the statement. Then move on to the next subject, and apply today's idea as before.
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