LESSON 5
January 5

"I am never upset for the reason I think."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: To recognize that all sources of upset are the same.

Exercise: 3 or 4 times for 1 minute or more.

Optional beginning: Say, "There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind."
For a minute or so, search your mind for any persons, situations or events that are distressing you.
Then apply idea indiscriminately to each distress by saying: "I am not (angry, worried, depressed, etc.) about (source of upset) for the reason I think."

Remarks: If you are less willing to apply idea to some forms of upset, say: "I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same."

Response To Temptation: optional

You may apply idea in above form to a specific perceived cause of upset, but do not substitute this for the practice periods.

COMMENTARY

This lesson is, to me, one of the most useful tools for jarring my thinking loose from a deeply worn track. "This lesson, like the preceding one, can be used with any person, situation or event you think is causing you pain" (1:1). Try to remember it today when, for whatever reason, you get upset. That slow-poke driver on the road in front of you. The person who puts you down. When the job you've been hoping for falls through. When someone tracks dirt on your freshly mopped floor, or breaks your favorite keepsake. "I am never upset for the reason I think."

Notice that the lesson does not identify what it is that you really are upset about. That comes later. For now the Course is simply trying to undermine your belief that you know what is upsetting you. Notice, too, that it does not ask you not to be upset! "...fear, worry, depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, jealousy..." (1:3): The lesson does not ask you to be without these feelings, simply to recognize that they are not occurring for the reasons you think. Yes, of course, the eventual goal is to let them all go. But to do that we have to break our belief that they are different things with different causes. All of them stem, ultimately, from the same cause; all of them are meanings we project onto the world we see.

These first five lessons have been tough, if you think about them. Lesson 1 was about letting go of what I see. Lesson 2, letting go of my judgments about meaning. Lesson 3, letting go of my understanding. Lesson 4, letting go of my thoughts. And this lesson is leading me to let go of my entire thought system, the root cause behind all of my upsets.