The importance of this idea is in the fact that it contains a correction for a major perceptual distortion. You think that what upsets you is a negative world in any of its many forms, for instance: a frightening world, or a sad world, or a violent world, or an insane world. All these attributes are given it by you. The world you look upon outside yourself is actually void of all attributes, and therefore meaningless in itself.
These exercises are done with eyes open. Look around you, this time quite slowly. Try to pace yourself so that the slow shifting of your glance from one thing to another involves a fairly constant time interval. Do not allow the time of the shift to become markedly longer or shorter, but try, instead, to keep a measured, even tempo throughout.
What you look upon does not matter. You teach yourself this as you give whatever your glance rests on equal attention and equal time. This is a beginning step in learning to give everything you look upon equal value.
As you look around you, say to yourself, using whatever descriptive terms about the world that happen to occur to you:
“I think I look upon (a fearful world, a dangerous world, a hostile world, a sad world, an evil world, a world gone astray, a mad world, . . . ),” and so on.
If terms that seem positive rather than negative occur to you, include them. For example, you might think you are looking upon “a good world,” “a beautiful world,” “a satisfying world,” “a fundamentally decent world,” etc. If such terms occur to you, use them along with the rest. You may not yet understand why these “nice” descriptors belong in these exercises, but remember that a “good” world implies a “bad” one, and a “satisfying” world implies an “unsatisfying” one. All terms that cross your mind are suitable subjects for today’s exercises. Their seeming quality does not matter.
Be sure that you do not alter the time intervals between applying today’s idea to what you think are pleasant descriptors and what you think are unpleasant ones. For the purposes of these exercises, there is no difference between them.
Conclude the practice period by saying:
“But I feel upset because I perceive a meaningless world.”
What appears meaningless would in itself be neither good nor bad. Why, then, should a meaningless world be upsetting? If you could accept the world as meaningless in order to let the Truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy. But because you look upon what is meaningless now – the past – you have felt compelled to project upon it what you would have it be. It is this alone you look upon in the world. It is this that is meaningless in truth. This truth is what upsets you now, but when you have allowed what you have projected on the world to be removed, you will see the real world, which reflects the Divine’s Meaning. That is the ultimate purpose of these exercises.
Three or four times is enough for practicing the idea for today. The practice periods shouldn’t exceed a minute, and may be shorter if you find yourself experiencing a sense of strain.