How Does Jesus Want Us to Read the Course?
Bill has very intelligently suggested that you both should set yourself the goal of really studying for this course. There can be no doubt of the wisdom of this decision, for any student who wants to pass it. (Urtext)
Read carefully, slowly, even repeatedly, and think about what you read
There are a number of references in the Course to how to read it, and if you group them all together you realize that there is a consistent pattern:
Some of the later parts of the course rest too heavily on these earlier sections not to require their careful study. (T-1.VII.4:3)
We have another journey to undertake, and if you will read these lessons carefully they will help prepare you to undertake it. (T-4.In.3:11)
Devote two minutes or more to each practice period, thinking about the idea and the related comments after reading them over. (W-pI.rI.In.2:3)
Devote some three or four minutes to reading them over slowly, several times if you wish. (W-pI.rII.In.2:2)
Read over the ideas and comments that are written down for each day’s exercise. And then begin to think about them. (W-pI.rIII.IN.5:2-3)
These special thoughts should be reviewed each day [for ten days]. They should be slowly read and thought about a little while. (W-pII.In.11:4)
Two of these asks us to read carefully. Three ask us to read slowly. Two ask us to read something repeatedly (one instructs us to read particular sections ten times each!). And three ask us to think about what we read. What we are talking about here is not passive reading, like you would read a novel. Rather, we are talking about bringing our whole mind to bear on the act of reading, in a concerted effort to really learn it. We are talking about study.
Look at
Many times, Jesus tells us to look at something. In the examples below, he tells us to look at the world, and then he actually walks us through a detailed process of doing exactly that. The point is that, as we read, we are not meant to be passive receivers of information. Instead, we are meant to engage in an active experience that involves carrying out activities he asks us to carry out.
Look carefully at this world, and you will realize that this is so. (T-13.In.2:3)
Sit quietly and look upon the world you see, and tell yourself: (T-13.VII.1:1)
Pause to ask, think, reflect
Jesus also asks us many times to pause while we read: pause and ask, or pause and think, or pause and reflect. Again, this suggests not a passive reading experience, but a very active one, in which we actually stop and really consider what he is saying to us. In the first example, he does the same thing he did in the previous category. He tells us to pause and reflect on something, and then he walks us through the process of doing so. This suggests that when he asks us to pause, he is not kidding.
We walk to God. Pause and reflect on this. Could any way be holier, or more deserving of your effort, of your love and of your full intent? What way could give you more than everything, or offer less and still content the holy Son of God? (W-pI.155.12:1-4)
Before you answer, pause to think of this:
The answer that I give my brother is what I am asking for. And what I learn of him is what I learn about myself. (T-31.II.6:1-3)
Interpret carefully
In Course circles, the word “interpret” is often viewed with suspicion. Should we even be “interpreting” the Course? Should we even seek for the “correct” interpretation? In spite of our squeamishness around interpretation, Jesus clearly answered a strong “yes” to both questions. We can see this in several quotes from the Urtext, two of which are listed below. And we can see it just as clearly in a quote from the Manual, also listed below, which Greg brought up. If you look at all three quotes together, you can see that he wants us to approach interpretation carefully, not hastily, so that we can avoid misinterpretation. Again, he wants us to be active, careful, conscientious readers.
Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating that it is more blessed to give than to receive. They simultaneously increase the reserve strength of the giver, and supply the lack of strength in the receiver. Be very careful in interpreting this. (Urtext)
The section on psychic energy should be re-read very carefully, because it is particularly likely to be misinterpreted until this section is complete. (Urtext)
Remember your weakness is His strength. But do not read this hastily or wrongly. (M-29.7:2-3)
Think, listen, consider, read, watch, look, note, review, learn carefully
Jesus often asks us to approach the act of reading the Course carefully. He asks us to think carefully, listen carefully, consider carefully, read carefully, watch carefully, note carefully, review carefully, and learn carefully. All of these suggest active, serious thought while reading the Course. As he says in one of the quotes below: “Approach it not lightly.” I want to particularly focus on the first quote below. It coaches us to approach a certain paragraph carefully, without discounting it as a mere pipe dream, or using it as a conceptual plaything that we play with a while and then put down. All of this is preparation to approach the paragraph which follows these admonitions in a certain very serious and thoughtful way. Shouldn’t we approach the entire Course in this way?
Listen and hear this carefully, nor think it but a dream, a careless thought to play with, or a toy you would pick up from time to time and then put by. For if you do, so will it be to you.
You have the vision now to look past all illusions. It has been given you to see no thorns, no strangers and no obstacles to peace. The fear of God is nothing to you now. Who is afraid to look upon illusions, knowing his savior stands beside him? With him, your vision has become the greatest power for the undoing of illusion that God Himself could give. For what God gave the Holy Spirit, you have received. The Son of God looks unto you for his release. (T-20.II.6:6-7:8)
Yet think you carefully before you allow yourself to make this choice. Approach it not lightly, for it is the choice of hell or Heaven. (T-19.II.8:4-5)
Think carefully how you would look upon the giver of this gift, for as you look on him so will the gift itself appear to be. (T-19(IV).D.20:1)
Consider carefully your answer to the last question you have left unanswered still. (T-21.VII.8:1)
Ask yourself real questions
There is a strong theme running through the Course of real questions. From Jesus’ standpoint, we usually ask only pseudo-questions, questions that subtly assume the (wrong) answer to the real question. The only thing they ask, then, is which variation on that wrong answer we prefer. They thus leave the real question unasked. Real questions, however, have the power to awaken the mind from insanity. We all know that an insane system resists the asking of particular questions, questions that once asked, could threaten the entire system. These are the very questions the Course wants us to ask, and it often presents us with them. Their relevance here is that they are not to be read as information. We are meant to actually ask ourselves these questions. And asking them is meant to do real work inside of us. It is meant to shake loose old power structures in our minds. This again suggests a very active, engaged approach to reading. Here are a few examples of real questions from the Course:
“Where can I go for protection?”
“What is it for?”
“Do I want the problem or do I want the answer?”
What if I looked within and saw no sin?
Who granted my littleness?
What do I want?
If learning aims at change, and that is always its purpose, am I satisfied with the changes my learning has brought me?
“Do I want to know my Father’s Will for me?”
Who is my father?
Is it really sane to perceive what was as now?
Would I be hostage to the ego or host to God?
“You who” sentences
There are scores of what I like to call “you who” sentences in the Course. These are sentences that begin with “You who…” and then go on to first identify us, and then give us a message. For instance, note the two examples below:
You who perceive yourself as weak and frail, with futile hopes and devastated dreams, born but to die, to weep and suffer pain, hear this: All power is given unto you in earth and Heaven. (W-pI.191.9:1)
You who feel threatened by this changing world, its twists of fortune and its bitter jests, its brief relationships and all the “gifts” it merely lends to take away again; attend this lesson well [the lesson is “In my defenselessness my safety lies”]. (W-pI.153.1:1)
Note the form that these two sentences take. They open, of course, with “You who” and then they identify who this “you” is. Someone who feels weak and frail (first quote) or someone who feels threatened by this changing world (second quote). Then, having identified us, they give us a message. First: You’re not weak and frail; all power is given you. Second: If you feel threatened by this world, then pay attention well to this lesson. Indeed, both have an admonition to “hear” or “attend” to what Jesus now has to say to us.
Here we see the point of the “you who” sentences. Jesus uses them to make sure that we know he is talking to us. It’s like you’re in a crowd of people and someone says, “Hey you, the guy with that loud Hawaiian shirt! That’s right, I mean you.” If you are the guy with the loud Hawaiian shirt, then you suddenly realize this person is talking to you.
That’s the point of these “you who” sentences.
Several themes in one passage
Often, we find a number of the themes we have seen above combined in one passage. For instance, look at the following example:
You who complete God’s Will and are His happiness, whose will is powerful as His, a power that is not lost in your illusions, think carefully why you have not yet decided how you would answer the final question. (T-21.VIII.4:1)
Here we have a “you who” sentence that asks us to think carefully about why we haven’t yet answered a question the Course has put before us. There’s three of our above categories in one passage.
“Take this personally”
Early in the Course’s dictation, Jesus gave a logical syllogism to Helen and specifically told her to “take this personally.” Normally, of course, when we take something personally, it is something insulting. Here, however, it is the opposite—something exalting, ennobling, liberating. What Jesus was asking Helen to do, in other words, was read this logical syllogism as if it was very personally describing Helen herself.
Now take this personally, and listen to Divine logic:
If, when you have been forgiven, you have everything else, and
If you have been forgiven
Then you have everything else. (Urtext)
This is specifically echoed in Lesson 66 in the Workbook, where again Jesus gives us a logical syllogism (“God gives me only happiness. He has given my function to me. Therefore, my function must be happiness.”), and then asks us to actively think about it, so that it can bring us to a new understanding of what our function is. Again, we don’t think about it in abstract terms. We think about it as making a statement about our own personal function. We take it personally.
First person passages
Often, when Jesus wants us to take something in on a deeper level, he writes in the first person, as if what he is saying is our own thinking. We see this in the practices in the Text and Workbook, which are all about internalizing the teaching he’s been giving us. We see it in the reviews in the Workbook, which is about having a second crack at the lessons we’ve been doing, so that we can take them in at a deeper level. And we see it in Part II in the Workbook, in which we are meant to have a deeper, more personal experience of the truths the Workbook has been leading us to.
Allegorical vs. literal
Jesus 41 times tells us to take something he says literally. Usually, it is immediately clear why: He expects us to take the edge off of what he has said, to assume he means it in some watered down metaphorical way. For instance, one of those references says that “thought and belief combine into a power surge that can literally move mountains” (T-2.VI.9:8). He clearly expects us to think, “Well, he doesn’t really mean that. He doesn’t mean we can move actual mountains.” So he puts the word “literally” in there to block that move on our part.
In the same vein, there are a couple of places in which Jesus says, “Don’t take this allegorically.” The most significant of these places is one in which Jesus says that this Course means exactly what it says. He then goes on to liken the Course to the Bible, saying that the Bible is too often interpreted allegorically. Finally, he says that when he tells us that we can do everything he asks and indeed everything he> can do, he means that “quite literally.”
In all of this, he is clearly concerned that we do not distance ourselves from what he is saying by assuming that he doesn’t really mean it.
You have begun to realize that this is a very practical course, because it means exactly what it says. So does the Bible, if it is properly understood. There has been a marked tendency on the part of many of the Bible’s followers, and also its translators, to be entirely literal about fear and its effects, but not about love and its results. Thus, “hellfire” means burning, but raising the dead becomes allegorical. Actually, it is particularly the references to the outcomes of love that should be taken literally because the Bible is about love, being about God….
I would not ask you to do things which you cannot do, and it is impossible that I could do things you cannot do. Given this, and given this quite literally, there can be nothing which prevents you from doing exactly what I ask, and everything which argues forit. (Urtext version of T-8.IX.8)
The belief in limited love was its origin, and it was made to limit the unlimited. Think not that this is merely allegorical, for it was made to limit you. (T-18.VIII.1)
“This is no dream”
In a couple of passages, Jesus openly says that we should not take something to be a mere dream. One is our holy relationship (speaking specifically to Helen and Bill about theirs). Another is a paragraph (that we saw earlier) about the fact that we now have vision to call upon. Here again, then, he is trying to correct our tendency to distance ourselves from what he is saying to us.
You are not sure of this because you think it may be this that is the dream. You are so used to choosing among dreams you do not see that you have made, at last, the choice between the truth and all illusions.
Yet Heaven is sure. This is no dream. (T-18.II.8:5-9:2)
Jesus tells us to look at something. In the examples below, he tells us to look at the world, and then he actually walks us through a detailed process of doing exactly that. The point is that, as we read, we are not meant to be passive receivers of information. Instead, we are meant to engage in an active experience that involves carrying out activities he asks us to carry out.Listen and hear this carefully, nor think it but a dream, a careless thought to play with, or a toy you would pick up from time to time and then put by. For if you do, so will it be to you. (T-20.II.6:6-7)
Intellectualizing the Course
There are many passages in the Course that warn against what basically amounts to intellectualizing, which my dictionary defines as avoiding psychological insight into an emotional problem by performing an intellectual analysis. The Course wants to use the intellect, but not as an escape from application to oneself. In the Urtext, Jesus said, “A psychologist does not need a lesson on the hierarchy of needs as such, but like everyone else, he does need to understand his own.” This hints at the common intellectual habit of seeing things in the abstract rather than as applicable to oneself. So here we have another way in which we might distance ourselves from the material we encounter in the Course, and yet another way that Jesus tries to head that off at the pass.
You may complain that this course is not sufficiently specific for you to understand and use. Yet perhaps you have not done what it specifically advocates. This is not a course in the play of ideas, but in their practical application. (T-11.VIII.5:1-3)
We are not concerned with intellectual feats nor logical toys. (W-pI.39.1:2-4)
Conclusion: Give the Course your undivided attention; don’t “distantiate” yourself from it
So much of what Jesus says comes down to the old injunction in school, to give the teacher our undivided attention. (How often I heard this! I had a teacher for three years who whizzed erasers by my head when she saw me daydreaming.) Jesus even says this. He says that we can’t set up the curriculum ourselves. He needs to set one up for us, one that provides everything we need. Then he says, “You need offer only undivided attention” (T-12.V.9:4). This means give this curriculum your whole mind. Actively engage it. Approach it not like TV but like one of those science museums where you actually engage in various science activities.
Another way of summarizing what we have seen is “don’t distance yourself from the Course.” This was something that Jesus mentioned in reference to Bill (as Greg pointed out in our live class). Jesus often talked about Bill’s habit of “distantiation.” This is an obscure term for a defense mechanism in which you mentally distance yourself from something to protect yourself from it. Here we see Jesus mentioning that Bill was likely to do this with “the notes” Helen was taking down from Jesus:
Tell B. that the reason why he was so strained yesterday is because he allowed himself a number of fear-producing attitudes….Unless he watches this kind of thing, he will find the notes [the Course] fearful, and, knowing him well, will mis-distantiate [he’ll distance himself from truth, rather than from error].
So, in summary, when reading the Course:
- Give it your undivided attention; actively engage it with your whole mind
- Don’t distantiate; don’t put it at a distance, realize it applies to you
We can boil it all down to the following:
Bring it close. Bring it as much into your mind as you possibly can.
[Please note: ACIM passages quoted in this article reference the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) Edition.]