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Lesson 13 2026

A meaningless world engenders fear.
1. Today’s idea is really another form of the preceding one, except that it is more specific as to the emotion aroused. ²Actually, a meaningless world is impossible. ³Nothing without meaning exists. ⁴However, it does not follow that you will not think you perceive something that has no meaning. ⁵On the contrary, you will be particularly likely to think you do perceive it.
2. Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated ones. ²It represents a situation in which God and the ego “challenge” each other as to whose meaning is to be written in the empty space that meaninglessness provides. ³The ego rushes in frantically to establish its own ideas there, fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own impotence and unreality. ⁴And on this alone it is correct.
3. It is essential, therefore, that you learn to recognize the meaningless, and accept it without fear. ²If you are fearful, it is certain that you will endow the world with attributes that it does not possess, and crowd it with images that do not exist. ³To the ego illusions are safety devices, as they must also be to you who equate yourself with the ego.
4. The exercises for today, which should be done about three or four times for not more than a minute or so at most each time, are to be practiced in a somewhat different way from the preceding ones. ²With eyes closed, repeat today’s idea to yourself. ³Then open your eyes, and look about you slowly, saying:
⁴I am looking at a meaningless world.
⁵Repeat this statement to yourself as you look about. ⁶Then close your eyes, and conclude with:
⁷A meaningless world engenders fear because I think I am in competition with God.
5. You may find it difficult to avoid resistance, in one form or another, to this concluding statement. ²Whatever form such resistance may take, remind yourself that you are really afraid of such a thought because of the “vengeance” of the “enemy.” ³You are not expected to believe the statement at this point, and will probably dismiss it as preposterous. ⁴Note carefully, however, any signs of overt or covert fear which it may arouse.
6. This is our first attempt at stating an explicit cause and effect relationship of a kind which you are very inexperienced in recognizing. ²Do not dwell on the concluding statement, and try not even to think of it except during the practice periods. ³That will suffice at present. (ACIM, W-13.1:1–6:3)
2025
A meaningless world engenders fear.
Because I think I am in competition with God.
I project what I want to see and then I perceive its meaning. One might wonder why it is that we so often perceive what causes anxiety and here in this lesson, Jesus explains this. We rush to give it meaning before God can do so. We are so determined to be our own creators that we will suffer anything to prove the impossible.
As soon as I read this lesson, I felt my heart lift a little. I have recently had a difficult situation in my life and while I know I am the one that has made it feel difficult, I keep doing it. I think that maybe this will be the lesson that helps me change my mind once and for all about this.
Since I am determined to see this situation differently, the ego mind wants to solve the problem by changing the narrative. I want to solve the problem by letting it be and waiting to see the meaning God writes on it.
2026
When we look at a meaningless world, we feel fear. Our ego rushes to put meaning there before God can do so. It is a protective device that keeps the ego relevant. But we are learning that the ego is not our true identity, and we no longer need or want it. Jesus tells us that we must learn to look at meaninglessness without fear. I’m beginning to see that the fear is not really caused by a meaningless world at all. It seems to come from the belief that I must supply meaning in order to exist.
I’ve talked about meaningless ideas that have caused me fear. For instance, believing that I don’t have enough money, that the political situation is unacceptable, and that the Minnesota Ice action was awful. What do all these situations have in common? They are all meaningless illusions. Everything I thought about them is my ego’s attempt to beat God to the punch. It wanted to establish its own meaning so that I didn’t notice it was meaningless.
There are people whose egos established different meanings. But whether you like what is happening politically or you hate it, or even if you don’t have a strong opinion one way or another, is irrelevant. It is still the ego rushing to establish its meaning before God can do so. Our job is to forgive the idea that we must be at war with God, that the ego is valuable and worth protecting.
I can hardly believe that I still want to safeguard my ego identity, and yet, I am obviously doing so. Knowing that I am doing it and why, will help me choose differently going forward. I will start with whatever shows up. I started with the exercise today. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, the first thing I saw was a large container of pennies I had collected over time.
There used to be other change in there, but when I needed a dime or a quarter, I would take it, and now there are just these useless pennies, and I’m wondering what the heck I am supposed to do with them. What is everyone who has a jar of pennies somewhere going to do with them? Have arrangements been made for their disposal? Are we going to put them in a landfill? Is this a good idea, or will it someday affect our water supply?
Wow! That’s a lot of speculation about an illusory situation that has, in my mind, become a huge problem. I’m happy to recognize it as a non-problem because it is another part of the illusion and thus meaningless. The pennies were neutral. The problem was not the pennies — it was my need to give them a story.
I don’t have to be afraid of the meaningless anymore. I see that this will take a lot of practice to truly establish itself in my mind, but I also see my freedom in doing so. Fear is the ego’s other name — and noticing it without judgment is how I remember I am not that. I am ready to accept my true Identity and this is a step in that direction.
I am no longer fighting the ego.
I am no longer trying to fix the world.
I am learning to let meaninglessness remain open long enough for Love to answer.
That is the end of fear.
Not because the world changes —but because the one who needed to define it is quietly disappearing. And that is awakening.
Video: https://youtu.be/5muqD_TTFz0

© 2026, Pathways of Light. https://dev.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

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