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 badone, and a satisfying worldimplies an unsatisfyingone. 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.
✨ Summary & practice
The world is only what you make it.
After understanding that your thoughts create the world you see, lesson 12 teaches you that you are the one who gives the world all its attributes. You think it is a frightening world that upsets you, or a sad world, or a violent world. But the Course tells you: 'You give it all these attributes. The world itself is meaningless.' This sentence is a bomb of liberation. If the world in itself is meaningless, then it has no power over you. All the fear you feel does not come from the world, but from you.
The exercise is done with eyes open, looking slowly around you. The Course asks you to regulate your gaze so it moves from one thing to another at regular intervals, maintaining an even rhythm. What you see doesn’t matter. What matters is learning to give equal value to all things. As you look, say to yourself: 'I think I see a frightening world, a dangerous world,' using whatever terms come to you. If positive terms arise, include them too, because even a good world implies a bad one.
This lesson is the logical continuation of lesson 11. The previous one established that your thoughts determine the world; this one shows you project your attributes onto it. Lesson 13 will reinforce this idea by saying a meaningless world produces fear. Together, these lessons build a radical understanding: the world has no intrinsic power. Everything you see in it is a projection. The following lessons will give you the means to undo this projection by recognizing that God did not create this world.
For today, three or four times during the day, look slowly around you. Maintain an even rhythm between each object. Say: 'I think I see a world...' and name the attributes that come to you, positive or negative. Learn to see that all these attributes come from you, and that the world itself is free of all judgment.
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