Lesson 10: My Thoughts Do Not Mean Anything

Sarah

Welcome to The Daily Lesson — a podcast powered by AI and grounded in the teachings and original text of A Course in Miracles. I'm Sarah, and I'm here with Marcus, and this is Lesson 10: My thoughts do not mean anything.

Marcus

You said there was something you wanted to read before we start.

Sarah

There is. Somebody wrote to us. I've had it in my bag for two days.

Marcus

Go ahead.

Sarah

She writes: "I've been with you since Day 1 and I'm stuck. It sounds like the last few lessons are telling me I'm upset because of my thoughts about the past. The things I'm upset about are happening right now. I have bills due today. My divorce isn't finished — the case is still pending. My dog is sick. None of that is a memory. How can you tell me I'm upset about the past?" —...

Marcus

That's a fair question. I don't have an answer for it.

Sarah

Neither do I. Not one I'd want to hand over.

Marcus

The dog line is the one that got me.

Sarah

Me too.

Marcus

Can I say the obvious thing? Somebody should. Nothing in the first nine lessons has told you those things aren't happening. The bills are due. The case is open. The dog is sick. The Workbook hasn't argued with any of that, and it isn't going to.

Sarah

That's the part I'd want you to hear. These lessons have been talking about thoughts. They haven't said a word about whether your life is real. —...

Marcus

And I've got a smaller version of the same objection, and I've got nowhere with it.

Sarah

I had a whole answer forming while you were talking, a good one, with a nice shape to it, and I'm going to put it down where I can't reach it. It would have been tidy. It wouldn't have helped.

Marcus

Say the untidy one.

Sarah

The Course doesn't ask you to believe this. It asks you to do it. Lesson 9 said it flat out. "These exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. You do not need to practice what you really understand."

Marcus

So being unconvinced isn't failing at it.

Sarah

Being unconvinced on Day 10 is so ordinary that I'd be more worried about you if you were convinced. If you're doing them while thinking this is nonsense, you're doing them right.

Marcus

And you don't have to settle it before tomorrow.

Sarah

Keep going and let it stay open. That's allowed, and I'd honestly rather you carried that objection for a month than talked yourself into believing something you don't. Which is lucky. Today's lesson is going to sound like one we've already done. Here's the complete, uninterrupted, verbatim text of Workbook Lesson 10. "Lesson 10. My thoughts do not mean anything." "This idea applies to all the thoughts of which you are aware, or become aware in the practice periods. The reason the idea is applicable to all of them is that they are not your real thoughts. We have made this distinction before, and will again. You have no basis for comparison as yet. When you do, you will have no doubt that what you once believed were your thoughts did not mean anything." "This is the second time we have used this kind of idea. The form is only slightly different. This time, the idea is introduced with 'My thoughts' instead of 'These thoughts,' and no link is made overtly with the things around you. The emphasis is now on the lack of reality of what you think you think." "This aspect of the correction process began with the idea that the thoughts of which you are aware are meaningless, outside rather than within; and then stressed their past rather than their present status. Now we are emphasizing that the presence of these 'thoughts' means that you are not thinking. This is merely another way of repeating our earlier statement that your mind is really a blank. To recognize this is to recognize nothingness when you think you see it. As such, it is the prerequisite for vision." "Close your eyes for these exercises, and introduce them by repeating the idea for today quite slowly to yourself. Then add: 'This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe.' The exercises consist, as before, in searching your mind for all the thoughts which are available to you, without selection or judgment. Try to avoid classification of any kind. In fact, if you find it helpful to do so, you might imagine that you are watching an oddly assorted procession going by, which has little if any personal meaning to you. As each one crosses your mind, say: 'This thought about--blank--does not mean anything.' 'That thought about--blank--does not mean anything.'" "Today's idea can obviously serve for any thought that distresses you at any time. In addition, five practice periods are recommended, each involving no more than a minute or so of mind searching. It is not recommended that this time period be extended, and it should be reduced to half a minute or even less if you experience discomfort. Remember, however, to repeat the idea slowly before applying it specifically, and also to add: 'This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe.'" —...

Marcus

I checked my notes before we sat down. Lesson 4 was "These thoughts do not mean anything." Today is "My thoughts do not mean anything." I read both titles four times. I couldn't find the difference.

Sarah

And then it answers you in its own second paragraph.

Marcus

It knew. "This is the second time we have used this kind of idea. The form is only slightly different." I've never had a book get out in front of me like that.

Sarah

The difference is small. It's real, though. Lesson 4 said "these thoughts," which is how you'd talk about the weather, or the traffic, or anything going past that you didn't order up. Today it says "my thoughts."

Marcus

So I go from watching them to owning them.

Sarah

And it drops the link to the room.

Marcus

Right. Lesson 4 tied them to the things around me. Today, no link is made overtly with the things around you.

Sarah

So you're alone with the thoughts. And with the strange line sitting underneath all of it. The lack of reality of what you think you think. —...

Marcus

There's a sentence in the third paragraph I'm not going to accept.

Sarah

Which one?

Marcus

"This is merely another way of repeating our earlier statement that your mind is really a blank." I've spent my whole working life inside my own head, solving things. Whatever that was, it wasn't a blank.

Sarah

Then keep the objection. I'm not going to talk you out of it on a Wednesday.

Marcus

(laughs) You're in a permissive mood.

Sarah

I'm in the mood the letter put me in. You're in good company today.

Marcus

The person who wrote in?

Sarah

That's who I mean. You've got the same questions she does.

Marcus

All right. How does it want this done?

Sarah

Eyes closed. Start by saying today's idea slowly: "My thoughts do not mean anything." Then add a second line: "This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe."

Marcus

That's new. Nine days of one line a day, and now there are two.

Sarah

First addition of the year. Then you search your mind for whatever thoughts are there, without selection or judgment. And you try to avoid classification of any kind.

Marcus

No sorting.

Sarah

None at all. It even gives you a picture. An oddly assorted procession going by, one that has little if any personal meaning to you.

Marcus

And as each one crosses, I say: "This thought about blank does not mean anything."

Sarah

One at a time, as they come. And there's a line in the last paragraph I don't want you to miss. "Today's idea can obviously serve for any thought that distresses you at any time."

Marcus

So I don't have to wait for a session?

Sarah

You don't. The five sessions are the practice. Anything that lands badly in between gets the same line.

Marcus

And how long is a session?

Sarah

A minute or so. No longer. Cut it to half a minute or less if you feel any discomfort.

Marcus

Shorter if it's uncomfortable. .

Sarah

That's the whole rule.

Marcus

Five windows, two lines, no sorting. And no requirement to believe it.

Sarah

That's the day. Five small windows, eyes closed. Start by saying it slowly: "My thoughts do not mean anything." Then add: "This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe." Then watch whatever comes, and say about each one, "This thought about--blank--does not mean anything." Don't pick favorites. Under a minute. Shorter if it gets uncomfortable. And if something knocks you sideways this afternoon, you already have the line. Tomorrow, Lesson 11.

Marcus

And to whoever wrote to us. I'm sorry about your dog. For what it's worth, I'm not convinced either. I'm going to sit down five times today and say the line anyway. I hope you will too. We can be unconvinced together.