Today we are really giving specific application to the idea for yesterday. In these practice periods, you will be making a series of definite commitments. The question of whether you will keep them in the future is not our concern here. If you are willing at least to make them now, you have started on the way to keeping them. And we are still at the beginning.
You may wonder why it is important to say, for example, Above all else I want to see this table differently. In itself it is not important at all. Yet what is by itself? And what does in itself mean? You see a lot of separate things about you, which really means you are not seeing at all. You either see or not. When you have seen one thing differently, you will see all things differently. The light you will see in any one of them is the same light you will see in them all.
When you say, "Above all else I want to see this table differently ", you are making a commitment to withdraw your preconceived ideas about the table, and open your minds to what it is, and what it is for. You are not defining it in past terms. You are asking what it is, rather than telling it what it is. You are not binding its meaning to your tiny experience of tables, nor are you limiting its purpose to your little personal thoughts.
You will not question what we have already defined. And the purpose of these exercises is to ask questions and receive the answers. In saying, "Above all else I want to see this table differently", you are committing yourself to seeing. It is not an exclusive commitment. It is a commitment which applies to the table just as much as to anything else, neither more nor less.
You could, in fact, gain vision from just that table, if you could withdraw all your own ideas from it, and look upon it with a completely open mind. It has something to show you; something beautiful and clean and of infinite value, full of happiness and hope. Hidden under all your ideas about it is its real purpose, the purpose it shares with all the universe.
In using the table as a subject for applying the idea for today you are therefore really asking to see the purpose of the universe. You will be making this same request of each subject which you use in the practice periods. And you are making a commitment to each of them to let their purpose be revealed to you, instead of placing your own judgement upon them.
We will have six two minute practice periods today, in which the idea for the day is stated first, and then applied to whatever you see in looking about you. Not only should the subjects be chosen randomly, but each one should be accorded equal sincerity as today's idea is applied to it, in an attempt to acknowledge the equal value of them all in their contribution to your seeing.
As usual, the applications should include the name of the subject which your eyes happen to light on, and you should rest your eyes on it while saying: Above all else I want to see this .
Each application should be made quite slowly and as thoughtfully as possible. There is no hurry.
✨ Summary & practice
And if you could look at everything with new eyes?
Today, we move into concrete action. Yesterday’s idea becomes living practice. You will make specific commitments, not for tomorrow or forever, but now. If you are merely willing to make them today, you are already well on your way to keeping them. You are not asked to be perfect, only to be ready. And remember, you are only beginning this journey.
“Above all else I want to see this table differently.” Why focus on a table? In itself, it doesn’t matter. But here is the secret: when you have seen just one thing differently, you will see all things differently. The light you discover in one object is the same light that illuminates everything. You see, or you do not see. There is no halfway with vision. Each thing is a doorway to all.
By saying this phrase, you commit to letting go of your preconceived ideas. You no longer define the table by its past; you ask what it truly is. You open your mind, without limiting its meaning to your small experience. It is an act of humility and trust. You are not questioning what you’ve already defined, but learning to ask questions and receive answers. This is the art of surrender.
Practice:
Choose five or six objects around you. For each, say: “Above all else I want to see this ___ differently.” Then close your eyes and allow mental images to arise. Apply the same idea. Remember: you could gain vision simply through a table, if you looked at it with a completely open mind.
With each object you thus regard, you unlock the door to vision a little more.
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