1 Nothing I see in this room means anything.

MT: You begin this year of change by wiping clean the slate. What a challenge to say, "I do not know." There was a time I found these words a disgrace. Back then, I must know everything, and I thought it a thing of shame to have a gap in my expertise. Thank you for the permission not to know.

JC: Knowledge is of God. It is given you, not made up by you. It is grace. It comes from an infinite, boundless Source vast beyond comprehension. Awe—not interpretation!—is the only appropriate response to the Source. But the ego wants to think it understands, and thus it dismisses opportunities to learn the new. It remains ignorant by pretending to be wise.

MT: An explosion of collective intelligence would happen if we all admitted: we do not know. We can, and must, collect information, but then there's a point of surrender, the space of "not knowing," and that's where God steps in and the path is shown us.

2 I have given everything I see in this room (house, street) all the meaning it has for me.

JC: You do notice how arbitrary your definition of a "thing" is.
MT: Yes. I can see a calendar, a date on the calendar, the blackness of the number, a pixel of blackness. Well, I can't see the pixel but I know it's there. It is endless. I can separate things into smaller and smaller components, down to atoms, or I can include more and more and call it a room, a city, a country, the whole Earth. That's so cool!
JC: You are welcome to delight in this finding. Just don't take it too seriously. It's only intended to make a point.
MT: The point being?
JC: The point being how subjective and arbitrary perception is. It is tied to words, and words are useful to communicate with others (or with me, in this case), but words do not make reality. "The map is not the territory."
MT: Thank you for this book, JC. It has raised my IQ by ten points at the very least.
JC: Better still, it facilitates access to a universal intelligence, and that's a stunning leap in abilities. Why crawl on the ground when you can fly with eagles?
MT: Why indeed. . .

3 I do not understand anything I see in this room [house, city, window].

MT: I notice, JC, a feeling of peace and rest when I gaze at things and say I don't understand them.
JC: You get a break from the constant work of trying to give meaning to things around you, yes.
MT: And I realize it's OK not to understand, that things will be there tomorrow, whether I fret and worry or don't.
Today I allow my mind to be serene and uncluttered. I cloak myself in the garments of peace. I look upon the world with eyes of peace today.

4 These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room.

My mind chatter maintains the dream of separation, as do the things I see, the bodies I make up around me. If I am to let in a new vision and a new thought, I must surrender my old way of seeing and thinking.

Today, JC, help me to silence, because it is in silence that I hear the Thought of God.

5 I am never upset for the reason I think.

MT: I find all sorts of "reasons" to be upset. This cold persists. Should take better care of finances. What about my diet, is it good enough? And why am I so reluctant to meditate? Am I enlightened enough? Is my ego small enough?
JC: And you know by now that the upset comes first, then the ego manufactures reasons for the upset.
MT: I want the peace of God.
JC: The connection you thought you saw between your upsets and a world you believed to be external to you (excuse the convoluted phrase) is now broken. That in itself is a major step in the Atonement. It is a major step toward peace. Now take a moment to contemplate how far you have gone in this direction. Rejoice here with God and all the angels. You are blessed, and you can bless.
MT: This is a day of silence and of peace. I rest in God.

6 I am upset because I see something that is not there.

MT: All right, JC, all right, I hear you. But my mind is full of Things to Do.
JC: And the point is, Things to Do aren't there. They are part of the illusion, the fantastic story you made up when you thought God had banished you from Paradise.
MT: I agree, I need peace now, not a to-do list. This is the essential, my only need--but I still cling to the illusion that "doing things" will give me peace, that there are goals to be attained before the final goal of peace. My ego wants to busy itself pretending to run the sun and the stars and the universe. Please help me see this differently.
JC: Beyond the sun and stars, beyond the known universe and anything you think you know and see, a pure white light emerges--or was it always there? It suffuses your being with its radiance, and now you know what was hidden to you before: you are a Being of Light. You are this light, as God is this light, as those around you are this light.

7 I see only the past.

MT: As I sit here contemplating these words I've seen so many times before, well, even the feeling of "I've seen these words before" is seeing only the past! Sheesh, my ego feels like a pesky fly.
JC: Annoyance at the ego robs you of peace. Do not make the ego real. It, too, is part of the grand illusion you have made up. I have said that only infinite patience will bring immediate results.
MT: Today, let me see the world with the eyes of a child, with eyes of wonder, love and trust. Today I see the world anew.

8 My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.

MT: I became aware, this morning, of how past thoughts keep the miracle away from me. As you know, medicine offered me a Draconian diagnosis of macular degeneration, and I've been struggling with it ever since. Medicine tells me the problem can only get worse with time, but I know my eyes are living, adapting organs. So I find myself between two worlds. My first thought as I wake is, how are my eyes doing today? Are those blotches growing? But in doing so, I bring up my "problem" of yesterday to see if it's still there.
JC: Wealth cannot be had by focusing on poverty. Love cannot be found by paying attention to wrongs. Healing cannot happen by giving power to sickness.
MT: It takes courage to look away from a problem. What if it gets worse? There's the urgency. Shouldn't I be doing something about it?
JC: You need do nothing. This is your challenge now--to drop your puny efforts and to trust that all things work together for the good.
MT: No matter what happens?
JC: No matter what happens.

10 My thoughts do not mean anything.

MT: What happened to Descartes' "Cogito ergo sum"? Was that the beginning of the separation?
JC: More like the beginning of the end of separation. Descartes put the ego's argument on the table for all to see. It was one man's opinion. It was now open to question.
MT: What do you say to me, right now? The assumption we live by is that "If I don't think, I don't exist." That's the fear of annihilation in one sentence. I know the fear of meditation, of being silent--I avoid it at all costs. When I'm not talking to someone, my mind continuously spews out its internal dialogue. What do you say to my fear of meditation?
JC: You know what I say to that. You fear God. You fear love. You believe that the boundless love of God would be the end of you.
MT: But I am tired of me, JC. This personal me is tired and worn and bedraggled. I would just as soon put me to rest!
JC: Why not today? Your day may be spent, once again, measuring life in coffeespoons, filled with meaningless thoughts. Or it can be the glorious day you let God in.

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