This afternoon we're going to discuss the power of the mind. This is a topic that we
come back to over and over again in many different ways because it goes to the very heart of
A Course in Miracles. The fact that we have a mind and this mind has all power; as Jesus
tells us in the Course (borrowing from the Bible) all power in Heaven and earth, and
basically it's the power to choose Heaven or to choose earth, which in this context
would be a synonym for the ego. But what I want to discuss specifically about this is
to compare what the Course means by the power of the mind and the use of the mind with what
is rather prevalent these days in many contemporary spiritualties, and that is how people use
the power of the mind (or believe that they could use the power of the mind) to get things
done in the world, that people feel that their minds attract things whether they're for good
or for bad, for positive or negative, health, sickness, good things happening in their lives,
bad things happening in their lives. And that a lot of students of the Course get kind of
drawn to this thinking that they're really learning about the Course in just a different
form, and my point here is that they are exactly opposite. They are not the same thing. And
there are two ways of understanding the significant differences between how the Course sees the
mind and our using the power of the mind, and how these other spiritualties use them.
And let me just mention something, which I say many other times: to compare and contrast
the Course with other thought systems and to look at other thought systems from the
perspective of the Course is not to say that the Course is better; it's simply saying that
the Course is different. So when the Couse throughout its three books makes it very clear
how very different are the teachings of A Course in Miracles are from that of traditional
or biblical Christianity, Jesus is not saying that what the Bible's saying is wrong or that
people will not return home following the Bible. He's simply saying that it is a different
spirituality. Now from the point of view of the Course, when you look at the Bible for
example (just to stay with that for just a moment), and how people have practiced the
Bible, you could see how different it is from the Course and how actually it reflects an
ego thought system. But looking at it from the other point of view, people who believe
in the Bible will look at the Course and say the Course is the work of the devil. So Jesus
said to Helen once, "Don't take another's path as your own, but neither should you judge
it. Don't use the path that has served others well when this one has been made for you."
So again, what in talking about how the Course differs from how contemporary spiritualties
look at the mind, we're simply saying that they would represent another form of the universal
course just as the Course represents a form of the universal course. All right, so two
significant ways in which we could look at these differences is that all the—when people
talk about using the mind to get things in the world, they are talking about the fact
that there's a world out there, and that there are things out there in the world that are
meaningful for them, that are significant for them, that are important for them or for
their loved ones or for the world at large. And clearly this goes directly against the
basic metaphysical foundation of A Course in Miracles that says there is no world. "Ideas
leave not their source." The thought of separation has never left its source through projection
to make a world of separation, which is the physical universe or the cosmos. So that—so
right there you could see a key difference; the focus of the Course is always on the mind,
not what the mind does in the world. After all, how could the mind do something in the
world if there is no world? That would make no sense from the non-dualistic metaphysics
of A Course in Miracles. A second significant difference is that when people talk about
using the power of the mind to get things in the world, to have things work in the world,
it presupposes that these people know what's in their best interests. So you have the early
workbook lesson—I think it's Lesson 24 says, "I do not perceive my own best interests."
How could I possibly know—and the "I" would have to be an ego; the "I" would have to be
a body that believes it is interacting with other bodies, or has certain needs or aspirations
and goals—how could I, an ego, possibly know what's in my best interests? Because what's
in my best interests as an ego is anything that enhances my ego, enhances the thought
system that gave rise to my ego, sustains my ego, and reinforces it over and over and
over again. So anything that I do based on what I want or think I want or what's good
for me or my loved ones or the world has to be of my ego, which means I do not perceive
my own best interest because my own best interest always have to do with my leaving this world
entirely, leaving the world outside. We're not talking about death here; we're talking
about attention—leaving the world outside because I want to leave the world that's inside:
the thought system of separation that made the world. So these two very important differences,
I think, differentiate and distinguish the Course from other spiritualties. So again,
it's the fact that all these other discussions of using the power of the mind, focus on what
the mind does in the world while the Course focuses only on what the mind does within
itself: choosing the ego as its teacher or the Holy Spirit or Jesus as its teacher; choosing
judgment as its way of life or the vision or forgiveness as its way of life. And then
secondly, the idea that I have the incredible arrogance in thinking that I know what's right
for me and what's best for me. The whole Course is built upon the idea that we don't know
what's right for us because we ask the one thing in all the universe that doesn't know
to tell us what's right for us, namely the ego, which again would only serve to enhance
the ego and reinforce its thought system. So the bottom line of A Course in Miracles
is that Jesus wants us to withdraw our attention from the world outside, our relationships
that seem to be outside, bring them back inside so we focus on the only true relationship,
which is that with him or the Holy Spirit that reflects our ultimate relationship with
God. And to choose Jesus are our teacher means to look at the—our relationship with the
ego and say, "This was a mistake and I don't want it." That's how salvation comes through
A Course in Miracles; not through attaining—while it'd make our bodies feel better or make ourselves
feel better, but on helping us truly feel better by leaving the ego thought system entirely.