Lesson 17 – I see no neutral things

I really love Lesson 17 of A Course In Miracles, because although I didn’t really understand the original lesson, Pam Grout’s explanation makes complete sense and it is so relevant in our lives today!

Pam’s translation

Pam’s translation takes us to an interview she did with a reality TV star. This person starred in The Bachelor, and she made it very clear during this interview, that what we were all seeing on our TV sets was a far cry from what had actually happened on set!

She was cast by producers as a specific personality type, namely “the partier”, and so every single recording which captured her acting like the partier type, was kept. Everything else that contradicted that personality type, was literally left on the cutting room floor!

Pam goes on to say that although we’re not TV producers, we all edit our life experiences to fit the stories we make up.

How this applies to our lives

We all do this and it’s automatic, and it’s handled by a special part of our brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) – it’s designed to filter out excess information so we don’t get overloaded. Excess information includes anything that doesn’t match our belief systems!

So if you think that person you work with is a cow, that’s all your RAS will allow you to see.

If you think your partner doesn’t appreciate you, then that’s all you will see.

The times that coworker or your partner were wonderful and amazing toward you, will be left on the “cutting room floor”

Today’s exercise

Say to yourself, with eyes open:

I do not see a neutral ___, because my thoughts about ___ are not neutral.

A couple of examples of this could be:

I do not see a neutral cat, because my thoughts about cats are not neutral.

I do not see a neutral wall, becasue my thoughts about walls are not neutral.

I do not see a neutral body, because my thoughts about bodies are not neutral.

What now?

If you have any questions about this lesson, or about anything I’ve posted here, I’d love to hear from you! So please reach out!