I have given everything I see all the meaning that it has for me.
I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me.
The exercises with this idea are the same as those for the first one. Begin with the things that are near you, and apply the idea to whatever your glance rests on. Then increase the range outward. Turn your head so that you include whatever is on either side. If possible, turn around and apply the idea to what was behind you. Remain as indiscriminate as possible in selecting subjects for its application, do not concentrate on anything in particular, and do not attempt to include everything you see in a given area, or you will introduce strain.
Merely glance easily and fairly quickly around you, trying to avoid selection by size, brightness, color, material, or relative importance to you. Take the subjects simply as you see them. Try to apply the exercise with equal ease to a body or a button, a fly or a floor, an arm or an apple. The sole criterion for applying the idea to anything is merely that your eyes have lighted on it. Make no attempt to include anything particular, but be sure that nothing is specifically excluded.
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May 13th, 2008 at 12:24 am
I have given everything I see in this room (on this street, from this window, in this place) all the meaning that it has for me.
What does this lesson mean to me?
First I learned that nothing has any meaning of itself, then I learned that the meaning I thought it had was given by me. As I glanced at my cereal I thought about the meaning I gave it. I realized the meaning changed depending on what I was telling myself about it. First I told myself that it was healthy and supported my body in a good way. Another time, I told myself that it was not so healthy for me because it was processed so much. Then another time it went back to being healthy because it was non-fat, then it was an unwelcome addition to my diet because it had so many carbs. I saw that not only do I give it meaning, my meaning shifts and changes and is undependable.
How can I apply this lesson in my life right now?
I can recognize how unproductive it is for me to judge anything because my judgment is based on undependable and shifting meaning.
My message from Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit brought to mind a person I had judged. As I thought about him my mind sifted through all the reasons I am judging, all the ways he is wrong. Suddenly my attention returned to the lesson for today and I realized that I had given him all the meaning he has for me. So all the things I don’t like about him, or that make me uncomfortable, come from me.
My message to Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, thank you for that insight. I recognize that I have written meaning on this person, and I erase that meaning. I wait for you to write Your meaning there. I recognize that this person is symbolic of everything. I am deeply grateful to You as You gently correct my errors.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:53 am
At first I had absolutely no idea what the exercise meant and then the penny dropped…I also realised that sometimes if I stop trying so hard the answer will come of its own accord.
May 24th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Well, as regarding meaning,
my first thoughts were that this was a reality deconstructing excercise.
That was it, that was my ‘understanding’ of this excercise.
Looking at a bag that held crisps (potato chips), does that mean ‘chips’ (crips), or once you finish with it, does it mean ‘rubbish’? Or is it still a bag. Or does it have no meaning.
Another weird one I think, is language. There seems to be no ‘bottom’ to language, all words are defined by other words. It looks like a house of cards to me. A very big house, with it’s own inertia, but I can’t seem to find the ’start’.