Gentle Healing Year 1 Tip For Lesson 13

Today’s lesson says that we are afraid of meaninglessness. It says, “The ego rushes in frantically to establish its own ideas” in the “empty space that meaninglessness provides,” because the ego is “fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own impo­tence and unreality.”

In other words, the false idea about who you are is held up and maintained by the meaning your thoughts give to everything you see and experience. There’s a fear this false idea about who you are will collapse, and you will no longer see yourself as the person you think you are.

To realize this for yourself, consider doing this extra exercise today:

1. Write down some opinions you’ve noticed yourself feeling passionate about recently. They could be political opinions, opinions about current events, religious opinions or opinions about the people and situations in your life. They may include opinions about what’s right and wrong or what should be done and what should not be done. The only criterion that is important is that you feel passionate about the opinion.

2. Look at each of the opinions you’ve written down on the list. As you look at each opinion, say, “This idea is meaningless. It has no meaning and no value at all. I can let this thought go completely, and never bring it up again.”

   Notice how you feel as you say this. You may feel differently with some items on the list than you do with others. Write down what you feel next to each opinion on the list.

After you finish this exercise, look carefully at what you felt as you practiced the exercise. Was it always easy to say, “I can let this thought go completely and never bring it up again,” or did you experience resistance to the idea of letting go of some of your opinions?

Resistance is fear. The resistance you experienced as you thought about letting go of some of your opinions is the ego’s fear that “the void,” which is the space that is left when the false self’s meaning is taken away, may demonstrate “its own impotence and unreality.”

Your opinions are a means for maintaining the ego. The resistance you feel when you think about letting them go is an ego preservation strategy. That’s why today’s lesson says:

“It is essential, therefore, that you learn to recognize the mean­ingless, and accept it without fear.

It is essential to realizing your true Self, because in order to realize truth, you must let go of the meaning that supports and maintains the false.