form/content

 

form/content

Two aspects possessed by things in this world; the shape (form) something takes—the words, images, or behavior it is clothed in—and the essential meaning (content) which that form is meant to communicate.

  1. The ego disregards content, believing that the form is the content, the form is the meaning. It puts on impressive and complex displays of form, in the attempt to hide its own meaningless, incoherent content (see T-14.X.7-9). It thinks that problems are matters of form and that the solution lies in changing the form.
  2. The Holy Spirit sees the form as neutral, as inherently meaningless and content-free. Because His only concern is the content, He will adapt the form to suit the need. He communicates the same content through all paths (M-1.3), all teachers (see T-14.V), and all lessons (see W-pI.193), regardless of differences in form.
  3. Our only concern should also be the content. We must realize that what will save us is not a change of form but a change in content, a change in the meaning we see in things. We must see the same content in all choices, events, and situations.