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.