LESSON 7 I see only the past.

1. 1This idea is particularly difficult to believe at first. 2Yet it is the rationale for all of the preceding ones.

3It is the reason why nothing that you see means anything.

4It is the reason why you have given everything you see all the meaning that it has for you.

5It is the reason why you do not understand anything you see.

6It is the reason why your thoughts do not mean anything, and why they are like the things you see.

7It is the reason why you are never upset for the reason you think.

8It is the reason why you are upset because you see something that is not there.

2. 1Old ideas about time are very difficult to change, because everything you believe is rooted in time, and depends on your not learning these new ideas about it. 2Yet that is precisely why you need new ideas about time. 3This first time idea is not really so strange as it may sound at first.

3. 1Look at a cup, for example. 2Do you see a cup, or are you merely reviewing your past experiences of picking up a cup, be­ing thirsty, drinking from a cup, feeling the rim of a cup against your lips, having breakfast and so on? 3Are not your aesthetic reactions to the cup, too, based on past experiences? 4How else would you know whether or not this kind of cup will break if you drop it? 5What do you know about this cup except what you learned in the past? 6You would have no idea what this cup is, except for your past learning. 7Do you, then, really see it?

4. 1Look about you. 2This is equally true of whatever you look at. 3Acknowledge this by applying the idea for today indiscrimi­nately to whatever catches your eye. 4For example:

5I see only the past in this pencil.

6I see only the past in this shoe.

7I see only the past in this hand.

8I see only the past in that body.

9I see only the past in that face.

5. 1Do not linger over any one thing in particular, but remember to omit nothing specifically. 2Glance briefly at each subject, and then move on to the next. 3Three or four practice periods, each to last a minute or so, will be enough.