Read on the ACIM CE App: https://acimce.app/:W-33
Lesson 33
There is another way of looking at the world.
Practice Instructions
Purpose: To show you that you have the power to change your perception of both the outer and inner world, which are really the same.
Longer: Two times, morning and evening, for five full minutes.
Go back and forth from glancing around your outer world to closing your eyes and observing your inner world. While doing so repeat the idea unhurriedly. Regard both inner and outer worlds with equal casualness, uninvolvement, and detachment, to the point where you feel little transition in shifting between them.
Frequent reminders: As often as you can.
Repeat the idea. Try to be as detached as you were during the longer exercises.
Response to temptation: The instant any situation disturbs you.
When upset, apply the idea specifically, saying, “There is another way of looking at this.” Do so immediately, rather than waiting until you have tried to fix things on the outside. If your feelings do not clear up right away, don’t give up. Spend a minute or more repeating the sentence over and over, closing your eyes and concentrating on the words you are saying.
Commentary
This lesson asserts the power of our minds to choose how we see the world. We can shift our perception of the world! That is not only a personally empowering concept, it is, quite literally, a world-changing realization.
As we begin to examine our thoughts, we will be amazed at the number of situations in which the idea of “another way” of looking at it has simply never occurred to us. With some things, the idea that we could see them differently may actually be offensive. Without realizing it we may be saying, “My mind is already made up; don’t confuse me with facts.”
That is why following the practice instructions with these lessons is so important. It isn’t just the longer five-minute times in the morning and evening: “The shorter exercise periods should be as frequent as possible” (3:1). The more often we bring this idea into our awareness during the day, the more we will become aware of areas of thought that we are protecting from change.