Lesson 16: I Have No Neutral Thoughts

Sarah

Welcome to The Daily Lesson, a podcast powered by AI and grounded in the teachings and original text of A Course in Miracles. I'm Sarah, and I'm here with Marcus, and this is Lesson 16: I have no neutral thoughts.

Marcus

There's a stapler on the edge of my desk. First thing my eyes landed on yesterday, when I sat down to practice Lesson 15. That one was "My thoughts are images which I have made" — the exercise was to look at whatever is around you, use its name, and say so, slowly. So I kept my eyes on the stapler. "This stapler is an image which I have made." That part went fine. Then, in the name of random selection, I let my gaze drop to the floor. And found a spider crawling along the baseboard.

Sarah

(laughs) Oh no.

Marcus

I did attempt to apply the line. What actually happened is I tracked his route across two floorboards in a state of moderate alert, and that was the practice period. Under a minute each, three periods total. The dog observed the whole operation from the doorway and declined to assist. I'll admit it's a strange feeling, telling yourself the objects in your room are thoughts taking form. Stranger when one of them is moving.

Sarah

A moving image which you have made. (laughs) And the lesson did say less than a minute would do if you started to feel uneasy —...

Marcus

I'm claiming that clause, yes.

Sarah

Then you did it right. And the strange feeling you just named is where today goes. Yesterday was about the images. Today the Workbook walks it back one step, from what we see to the thoughts that make them. And it will not let us call any of those thoughts small. Let me read Lesson 16 in full. —... Lesson 16. I have no neutral thoughts. The idea for today is a beginning step in dispelling the belief that your thoughts have no effect. Everything you see is the result of your thoughts. There is no exception to this fact. Thoughts are not big or little; powerful or weak. They are merely true or false. Those which are true create their own likeness. Those which are false make theirs. There is no more self-contradictory concept than that of "idle thoughts." What gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called idle. Every thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it extends the truth or it multiplies illusions. You can indeed multiply nothing, but you will not extend it by doing so. In addition to never being idle, salvation requires that you recognize that every thought you have brings either peace or war; either love or fear. A neutral result is impossible because a neutral thought is impossible. There is such a temptation to dismiss fear thoughts as unimportant, trivial; and not worth bothering about that it is essential you recognize them all as equally destructive but equally unreal. We will practice this idea in many forms before you really understand it. In applying the idea for today, search your mind for a minute or so, with eyes closed, and actively seek not to overlook any "little" thought which tends to elude the search. This is quite difficult until you get used to it. You will find that it is still hard for you not to make artificial distinctions. Every thought that occurs to you, regardless of the quality which you assign to it, is a suitable subject for applying today's idea. In the practice periods, first repeat the idea, and then as each one crosses your mind, hold it in awareness while you tell yourself: "This thought about --blank-- is not a neutral thought." "That thought about --blank-- is not a neutral thought." As usual, use today's idea whenever you are aware of a particular thought which arouses uneasiness. The following form is suggested for this purpose: "This thought about --blank-- is not a neutral thought, because I have no neutral thoughts." Four or five practice periods are recommended, if you find them relatively effortless. If strain is experienced, three will be enough. The length of the exercise period should also be reduced if there is discomfort. —...

Marcus

Everything I see is the result of my thoughts. No exception, it says. Cause and effect, and the logic is clean. Mind as the cause, world as the effect.

Sarah

And there's no passive observer anywhere, no seat in the audience, which is the part that got me the first time through. Every thought is doing something.

Marcus

The idle-thoughts part is the piece I'll be chewing on. I've always assumed my mind has a standby mode. Trivial things drift through, nothing registers, no harm done.

Sarah

The lesson won't give you standby. It says every thought contributes to truth or to illusion, extending one or multiplying the other, and that leaves no middle setting at all.

Marcus

One line in there was written for me, though. You can indeed multiply nothing. First claim in sixteen days I can check by hand, and the math holds. Zero times anything is zero.

Sarah

And that's the lesson's own point. All that multiplying, and none of it ever adds up to anything real.

Marcus

What gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called idle. That's a high charge. If my minor worries aren't idle, they're actively manufacturing something.

Sarah

They are, and I'll be honest with you, for years I read this lesson as a demand — every thought brings either peace or war, either love or fear, and there I was, responsible for policing every stray thing that crossed my mind. It felt impossible.

Marcus

A recipe for constant anxiety. If my coffee's cold and I'm irritated about it, apparently I've chosen war.

Sarah

(laughs) That's the reading I lived in, yes. Here's what I'd missed, though. The lesson groups every one of those fear thoughts together and then says they're equally destructive. And equally unreal. Unreal is the escape hatch. You're not asked to police them. You're asked to stop believing they're nothing.

Marcus

So the thought costs me my peace of mind, and at the same time it has no substance. That separation helps. It lowers the stakes without letting me off the hook.

Sarah

That's the balance the whole lesson walks. And it knows what we'll do instead, because it says right there that it's still hard not to make artificial distinctions, big worries counting and little ones passing as harmless. That sorting is the habit today aims at.

Marcus

Sorting is my default state. In fairness, sorting is my profession —...

Sarah

Then today's exercise has your name on it. The Manual for Teachers says there are only two thought systems, and we demonstrate which one we believe is true all the time. All the time. So no corner of the mind gets left unexamined.

Marcus

Then walk me through it. I want the sequence clear before I'm alone with it.

Sarah

Today we're inside. Eyes closed. You start by repeating the idea slowly. "I have no neutral thoughts." Then you search your mind for about a minute.

Marcus

Searching for what, though. Anything?

Sarah

Anything at all, and especially the little ones that try to slip past. The lesson says to actively seek not to overlook any of them. Whatever you find, you hold it in awareness and tell yourself: "This thought about --blank-- is not a neutral thought." Or, for the one drifting further off: "That thought about --blank-- is not a neutral thought."

Marcus

With the actual thing in the blank. The estimate, the spider, whatever surfaces.

Sarah

No sorting allowed. And the frequency is spelled out for you: four or five practice periods if they feel relatively effortless, three if there's strain. If there's discomfort, shorten the period itself.

Marcus

So the uneasiness sets the dose again. Not enthusiasm.

Sarah

Your own uneasiness decides it, every time. Then through the day, there's a longer form for any thought that arouses uneasiness the moment it shows up: "This thought about --blank-- is not a neutral thought, because I have no neutral thoughts."

Marcus

Catch it while it's happening, not in the practice period after.

Sarah

That's the move. The cause goes back where it can be changed.

Marcus

Eyes closed, under a minute, four or five times if it's effortless. Start by saying it slowly. And I suspect the searching will be the easy part. It's believing none of what I find is neutral that'll take me longer than it takes you —...

Sarah

It took me years, so you have a head start. That's the practice. And for the rest of the day, nothing we think is off the books —...

Marcus

Not even thoughts about spiders.

Sarah

(laughs) Especially those. "This thought about the spider is not a neutral thought." Tomorrow is Lesson 17.

Marcus

I'll be here. With the stapler.