Today's idea does not describe the way you see yourself now. It does, however,
describe what vision will show you. It is difficult for anyone who thinks he is
in this world to believe this of himself. Yet the reason he thinks he is in this
world is because he does not believe it.
You will believe that you are part of where you think you are. That is because
you surround yourself with the environment you want. And you want it to protect
the image of yourself that you have made. The image is part of it. What you see
while you believe you are in it is seen through the eyes of the image. It is not
vision. Images cannot see.
The idea for today presents a very different view of yourself. By establishing
your Source it establishes your Identity, and it describes you as you must
really be in truth. We will use a somewhat different kind of application for
today's idea, because the emphasis for today is on the perceiver, rather than
on what he perceives.
For each of the three five-minute practice periods today, begin by repeating
today's idea to yourself, and then close your eyes and search your mind for
the various kinds of descriptive terms in which you see yourself. Include all of
the ego-based attributes which you ascribe to yourself, positive or negative,
desirable or undesirable, grandiose or debased. All of them are equally unreal
because you do not look upon yourself through the eyes of holiness.
In the earlier part of the mind searching period, you will probably emphasize
what you consider to be the more negative aspects of your perception of
yourself. Toward the latter part of the exercise period, however, more
self-inflating descriptive terms may well cross your mind. Try to recognize that
the direction of your fantasies about yourself does not matter. Illusions have
no direction in reality. They are merely not true.
A suitable unselected list for applying the idea for today might be as follows:
"I see myself as imposed on."
"I see myself as depressed."
"I see myself as failing."
"I see myself as endangered."
"I see myself as helpless."
"I see myself as victorious."
"I see myself as losing out."
"I see myself as charitable."
"I see myself as virtuous."
You should not think of these terms in an abstract way. They will occur to you as various situations, personalities and events in which you figure cross your mind. Pick up any specific situation that occurs to you, identify the descriptive term or terms which you feel are applicable to your reactions to that situation, and use them in applying today's idea. After you have named each one, add:
"But my mind is part of God's. I am very holy."
During the longer exercise periods, there
will probably be intervals in which nothing specific occurs to you. Do not
strain to think up specific things to fill the interval, but merely relax and
repeat today's idea slowly until something occurs to you. Although nothing
that does occur should be omitted from the exercises,
nothing should be "dug out" with effort. Neither force nor discrimination
should be used.
As often as possible during the day, pick up a specific attribute or attributes
you are ascribing to yourself at the time, and apply the idea for today to them,
adding the idea to each of them in the form stated above. If nothing particular
occurs to you, merely repeat the idea to yourself, with closed eyes.
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