Lesson 12: I Am Upset Because I See a Meaningless World

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 12: I am upset because I see a meaningless world.

Marcus

I have a report from yesterday. It does not reflect well on me.

Sarah

(laughs) Those are the ones I want.

Marcus

Lesson 11's practice. Eyes closed, say it slowly. "My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world." Then open your eyes, gaze moving quickly, voice unhurried. Three periods. The first two were unremarkable.

Sarah

And the third.

Marcus

The third was in my kitchen. Eyes moving fast, voice slow, to the letter. Somewhere around forty seconds I turned my head to take in the toaster with real commitment and put my elbow through a jar of wooden spoons.

Sarah

(laughing) You hurt yourself doing the gentlest exercise in the Workbook.

Marcus

I hurt a jar. My dog watched the entire event and declined to stand up. I finished the minute in spoons.

Sarah

Well. Three periods is what it asked for, so on the numbers you're compliant.

Marcus

On the numbers I'm outstanding.

Sarah

(laughs) Hold onto the numbers, because today runs at the opposite tempo. Slow and even, nothing quick about it anywhere. And yesterday was about your thoughts. Today turns and looks at the world those thoughts have been showing you. Here's the complete, uninterrupted, verbatim text of Workbook Lesson 12. "Lesson 12. I am upset because I see a meaningless world." "The importance of this idea lies in the fact that it contains a correction for a major perceptual distortion. You think that what upsets you is a frightening world, or a sad world, or a violent world, or an insane world. All these attributes are given it by you. The world is meaningless in itself." "These exercises are done with eyes open. Look around you, this time quite slowly. Try to pace yourself so that the slow shifting of your glance from one thing to another involves a fairly constant time interval. Do not allow the time of the shift to become markedly longer or shorter, but try, instead, to keep a measured, even tempo throughout. What you see does not matter. You teach yourself this as you give whatever your glance rests on equal attention and equal time. This is a beginning step in learning to give them all equal value." "As you look about you, say to yourself: 'I think I see a fearful world, a dangerous world, a hostile world, a sad world, a wicked world, a crazy world,' and so on, using whatever descriptive terms happen to occur to you. If terms which seem positive rather than negative occur to you, include them. For example, you might think of 'a good world,' or 'a satisfying world.' If such terms occur to you, use them along with the rest. You may not yet understand why these 'nice' adjectives belong in these exercises, but remember that 'a good world' implies a 'bad' one, and 'a satisfying world' implies an 'unsatisfying' one. All terms which cross your mind are suitable subjects for today's exercises. Their seeming quality does not matter." "Be sure that you do not alter the time intervals between applying today's idea to what you think is pleasant and what you think is unpleasant. For the purposes of these exercises, there is no difference between them. At the end of the practice period, add: 'But I am upset because I see a meaningless world.'" "What is meaningless is neither good nor bad. Why, then, should a meaningless world upset you? If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy. But because it is meaningless, you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be. It is this you see in it. It is this that is meaningless in truth. Beneath your words is written the Word of God. The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see His. That is the ultimate purpose of these exercises." "Three or four times is enough for practicing the idea for today. Nor should the practice periods exceed a minute. You may find even this too long. Terminate the exercises whenever you experience a sense of strain." —...

Marcus

It hands you the list.

Sarah

Say what you mean.

Marcus

Eleven days of being asked to notice what I'm doing. Today it just prints it out. "I think I see a fearful world, a dangerous world, a hostile world, a sad world, a wicked world, a crazy world." Nobody had to talk me into one of those. I'd have supplied them unprompted.

Sarah

And that's the correction it's after. A frightening world, a sad world, a violent world, an insane world. And then this. "All these attributes are given it by you." —...

Marcus

Given. Not found.

Sarah

That's the difference the whole lesson turns on. You didn't come across a frightening world. You brought the frightening to it.

Marcus

One word, and it moves where all of this is coming from.

Sarah

Kenneth Wapnick says the other half of it about as bluntly as it can be said. "The world is not wonderful. The world is not terrible. The world is nothing."

Marcus

Nothing is a bold finish.

Sarah

I argued with that line for years. It sounded cold. A shrug at everything that's actually hard. What changed it was noticing the lesson isn't saying nothing matters. It's saying the world doesn't arrive with the meaning already on it.

Marcus

The meaning arrives with me.

Sarah

The meaning arrives with you.

Marcus

There's a part I want to slow down on. It asks for the good ones too. "A good world." "A satisfying world."

Sarah

That surprised me too. I wanted to keep those.

Marcus

And it answers you before you've finished objecting. A good world implies a bad one, a satisfying world implies an unsatisfying one.

Sarah

Which is the same machinery running in a direction I happen to like. I'm still the one deciding what everything is.

Marcus

So the exercise isn't sorting the world into true and false descriptions. It's noticing that I'm the one describing. —...

Sarah

And then the fifth paragraph asks something I've never been able to walk past. "What is meaningless is neither good nor bad. Why, then, should a meaningless world upset you?"

Marcus

Because a blank page is unbearable.

Sarah

The lesson's answer is close to yours. Because it's meaningless, you're impelled to write on it what you'd have it be. And then what you're looking at is your own handwriting.

Marcus

And getting upset at. That's the part with teeth.

Sarah

And underneath it, the line that gets me every time. "Beneath your words is written the Word of God. The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see His."

Marcus

So nothing is being added.

Sarah

Not one thing. Which is why it's such an undramatic thing to actually do. —...

Marcus

Walk me through today's, then. I'd like to get through it without destroying more kitchenware.

Sarah

(laughs) Eyes open, start to finish. And slow. A fairly constant time interval as your glance shifts from one thing to the next. Not longer on some, not shorter on others. A measured, even tempo throughout.

Marcus

Equal time. Which is the whole idea smuggled in as a stopwatch.

Sarah

The lesson says it outright. What you see does not matter. Equal attention, equal time. A beginning step in learning to give them all equal value.

Marcus

And while I'm looking, I say: "I think I see a fearful world, a dangerous world, a hostile world, a sad world, a wicked world, a crazy world."

Sarah

And then keep going with whatever words turn up for you. If "a good world" arrives, use it along with the rest.

Marcus

Same interval for the pleasant and the unpleasant.

Sarah

No difference between them, for the purposes of these exercises. And at the end of the practice period you add one line: "But I am upset because I see a meaningless world."

Marcus

"But I am upset because I see a meaningless world." How many, and how long?

Sarah

Three or four times is enough, and no period past a minute. It says you may find even that too long, and to stop whenever you feel a sense of strain.

Marcus

Third day running it's told us to quit before it hurts.

Sarah

That's the day. For everyone listening. Three or four times, eyes open, a minute at most. Look slowly and give everything the same beat of attention, and say: "I think I see a fearful world, a dangerous world, a hostile world, a sad world, a wicked world, a crazy world." Then your own words, the flattering ones included. At the end of each one, add: "But I am upset because I see a meaningless world." And stop the moment it starts to feel like effort. Tomorrow, Lesson 13.

Marcus

The one I'm not sure I can say honestly is "a good world." I'll report back.