This morning we're going to talk about a question which arises relatively often in workshops,

and actually it's a very logical question stemming from what the Course teaches (its

metaphysical teachings) and well as what our experiences are, and that is the Course is

quite clear that the world's an illusion, that our special relationship with people,

with things, with substances are all part of our need to be dependent on something other

than the love of God. They're all our special attachments to things of the world regardless

of what they are, are all ways of kind of rooting us in the dream of separation rather

than the happy dream which removes us ultimately from the dream entirely, or the happy dreams

of forgiveness. And so given all that, on the one hand, and then with the other hand

so many people (myself included and I'm sure most of you listening to this or watching

this) have had very lovely experiences in the world of nature, world of art, whether

we're talking about painting, sculpture, music, poetry, etcetera, beautiful experiences at

sunrises, sunsets, moonrises, beautiful mountain ranges, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. We all

have had (I think) very positive experiences in the world, and so people will say, "Well,

now should I feel guilty because I'd love to spend a quiet day walking in a park or

in a gentle woods, or just sit by a kind of a bubbling, gurgling stream?" and etcetera.

And of course the answer is absolutely not. You should not feel guilty, but there's a

right-minded way of looking at that, which in a sense allows you to have your cake and

eat it too. And that is that when you understand that there's nothing out there; everything's

a projection of an internal condition. As the Course says, the world you see is an outside

picture of an inward condition. If there's nothing out there it means anything that we

think is out there is a symbol of a decision the mind has made; the decision to be a guilty

son of God or a guiltless son of God; the decision to be with the ego as our teacher

and friend or to have Jesus or the Holy Spirit as our Teacher and Friend, and everything

in the world then reflects that. So when one has a beautiful experience in a lovely natural

setting and there's, again, there's absolutely nothing in the Course that would say you should

not enjoy that, that you should not let yourself be inspired and lifted up. But what you should

be able to do, which would really (again) allow you to have your ego's...the world's

cake and eat it and enjoy it too—is recognize that what you are experiencing outside is

a projection or extension of the inward condition of what is inside in your mind. In other words,

if I see a beautiful work of art and I'm inspired by it, if I hear a beautiful piece of music

and I'm inspired by it, if I'm in a beautiful nature setting and I'm inspired by it, that

I would recognize that this is reflecting for me my right-minded choice for beauty,

my right-minded choice for something that elicits in me and kind of brings to the surface

in me the Love of God. It's the beauty of choosing Jesus as my teacher and the beauty

of experiencing his love; that's the beauty. But since I think I'm a body then my mind

takes that beauty and extends it out and I now see beauty around me, and I allow myself

to be inspired by something that is seemingly external to me. If that...if I don't allow

that to happen, what always happens then is that you become dependent on what is external.

What if I can't hear my favorite piece of music today? What if I had this beautiful

day planned to walk in the mountains and...or to in beautiful woods or forests and it rains?

Or there's a terrible storm and I can't go out? If I allow myself to be dependent on

the external for this wonderful, beautiful feeling inside, then I'm in trouble because

then it just ends up just being one more special relationship. But if I let whatever the natural

beauty is outside or artistic beauty outside remind me of the beauty inside and I identify

with that beauty then I could have that beauty whether I walk through a rose garden or I

walk through a garden of weeds. Whether I'm allowed because of whether to go out and enjoy

this wonderful day in nature or just to stay home I still have that beautiful feeling inside.

So we need the beauty of the world, what we judge to be the beauty of the world and, of

course, it goes without saying that beauty is totally relative. What is beautiful for

you may not be beautiful for me. What moves me artistically may not move you artistically.

But what is the same in all of us is that inner beauty, and whatever it is that symbolizes

that inner beauty, that's what's important. And I use that symbol as a way of reminding

me of the beauty inside, and as long as I could use the world to remind me of that beauty

inside and I identify with that beauty then the entire world becomes beautiful. Not the

beauty that my eyes might recognize, but the beauty that my heart would sing to and just

rejoice in. So again, this is not saying that one should not be..find things in the world

that make one happy and inspired, but you want to use that as a way to get back to the

true inspiration and the true source of our happiness and the true beauty inside.