1. Purpose is meaning. ²Today’s idea explains why nothing you see means anything. ³You do not know what it is for. ⁴Therefore, it is meaningless to you. ⁵Everything is for your own best interests. ⁶That is what it is for; that is its purpose; that is what it means. ⁷It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified. ⁸It is in recognizing this that what you see is given meaning.
2. You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals. ²These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not you. ³This false identification makes you incapable of understanding what anything is for. ⁴As a result, you are bound to misuse it. ⁵When you believe this, you will try to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them.
3. Another way of describing the goals you now perceive is to say that they are all concerned with “personal” interests. ²Since you have no personal interests, your goals are really concerned with nothing. ³In cherishing them, therefore, you have no goals at all. ⁴And thus you do not know what anything is for.
4. Before you can make any sense out of the exercises for today, one more thought is necessary. ²At the most superficial levels, you do recognize purpose. ³Yet purpose cannot be understood at these levels. ⁴For example, you do understand that a telephone is for the purpose of talking to someone who is not physically in your immediate vicinity. ⁵What you do not understand is what you want to reach him for. ⁶And it is this that makes your contact with him meaningful or not.
5. It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have established for everything. ²The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than “good” or “bad,” is the only way to accomplish this. ³The idea for today is a step in this direction.
6. Six practice periods, each of two-minutes duration, are required. ²Each practice period should begin with a slow repetition of the idea for today, followed by looking about you and letting your glance rest on whatever happens to catch your eye, near or far, “important” or “unimportant,” “human” or “nonhuman.” ³With your eyes resting on each subject you so select, say, for example:
4I do not know what this chair is for.
5I do not know what this pencil is for.
6I do not know what this hand is for.
⁷Say this quite slowly, without shifting your eyes from the subject until you have completed the statement about it. ⁸Then move on to the next subject, and apply today’s idea as before.
✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:
"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God."
This lesson comes from (A Course in Miracles). Hemelbewus presents it in Afrikaans as part of a path of inner healing and forgiveness. The translation was done with great care and dedication over several years by Henri Theron, and brings the deep spiritual teachings of the Course to Afrikaans-speaking readers.
📚 Read more about the Course: www.acim.org
Lesson 25: I do not know what anything is for. (ACIM, W-25)
