I will accept the world as it is.

IDEALISM IS THE ATTEMPT NOT TO ACCEPT THE WORLD AS IT IS. It justifies blame and condemnation. It establishes expectations of a life that does not yet exist and thus renders you vulnerable to grave disappointment. Your idealism fortifies your condemnation.

ACCEPT THE WORLD TODAY AS IT IS, not as you want it to be. With acceptance comes love, for you cannot love a world that you want to exist. You can only love a world that exists as it is. Accept yourself now as you exist, and true desire for change and advancement will naturally emerge within you. Idealism justifies condemnation. Recognize this great truth, and you will begin to have a more immediate and profound experience of life and of that which is genuine and not based upon hope or expectation but upon true engagement.

THEREFORE, IN YOUR TWO 30-MINUTE PRACTICE PERIODS TODAY, concentrate on accepting things exactly as they are. You are not condoning violence, conflict or ignorance in doing this. You are merely accepting the conditions that exist so that you may work with them constructively. Without this acceptance, you have no starting place for true engagement. Allow the world to be exactly as it is, for it is this world that you have come to serve.

Practice 55: Two 30-minute practice periods.