The Components of Practice
Morning and Evening Quiet Time
Hourly Remembrance
Frequent Reminders
Response to Temptation
Asking for Guidance
The Workbook gradually leads us into a multifaceted structure of practice. This structure is only complete right before we enter Part II. It is meant to enclose our day in a net of light, so that light surrounds and permeates every single thing in our day. If we live within this structure, our day becomes about the journey to God, not the normal physical journey of a human life.
Morning and Evening Quiet Time
What is it?
Morning: After reading the lesson, you do your first practice period.
Why?
It is the foundation of your day, of a different kind of day. Here, you establish the goal for the day, which is the learning (i.e., realization) of the day’s idea, and you establish a heightened, peaceful state of mind that you will renew and protect throughout the rest of the day.
When
“As soon as possible after you wake” (Lesson 42), modified by two factors:
· “when few distractions are anticipated…
· “and when you yourself feel reasonably ready” (Lesson 32)
Meditation: the main practice for morning quiet time
Meditation plays a major role in the Workbook, beginning in Lesson 41, after which it becomes an absolute staple. It is easily the most common exercise for the morning and evening practice periods. By the time we reach Part II, we spend all of our longer practice periods waiting in inner silence for a direct experience of God.
There are three basic methods of meditation, but they all share the attempt to clear one’s mind of normal chaotic thoughts, in favor of sustained concentration on an experiential goal (primarily God), upheld by a heightened sense of confident, desire-filled intention. When extraneous thoughts intrude, you use a technique to gently return your mind to your goal.
Evening quiet time
The evening practice is a repeat of the morning practice, done as close to bedtime as is feasible, given the need to be alert rather than sleepy.
Hourly Remembrance
What is it?
Ideally, we take two or more minutes to practice today’s idea on the hour, although Jesus realizes that we will not always be able to do this.
Why?
Hourly practice renews the peace we established in the morning, allowing us to remain peaceful throughout the day. Also, through hourly practice, we start and end each hour right:
· We put to bed the previous hour by letting go of its disturbances and thanking God for its gifts.
· We prepare ourselves for the coming hour by asking for guidance and carrying peace into it.
Main kinds of hourly practice
Meditation. In most of Lessons 93-110, we do five minutes of meditation on the hour, which can have a dramatic effect on the hour to come.
Thank God for His gifts in the previous hour and ask for His guidance for the hour to come. We do this from Lesson 153 through at least 193.
Apply forgiveness to the difficulties of the previous hour. We do this from 193 to at least 200. By letting “no one hour cast its shadow on the one that follows,” we can remain “in peace eternal in the world of time” (Lesson 193).
The issue of giving the time
The instructions for hourly practice demonstrate an extreme sensitivity on Jesus’ part to the issue of giving the time in the middle of our day. He knows that sometimes we will only be able to give a moment, sometimes we will be unable to practice at all, sometimes we will forget, and sometimes we will be unwilling. His instructions allow flexibility for all of that. And to help us with giving the time, he frequently attaches lavish benefits:
Each time you practice, awareness is brought a little nearer at least; sometimes a thousand years or more are saved. (W-97.3:2)
Is it not worth five minutes of your time each hour to be able to accept the happiness that God has given you? (W-98.5:1)
For each five minutes spent in listening, a thousand minds are opened to the truth and they will hear the holy Word you hear. (W-106.9:2)
Frequent Reminders
What is it?
“Merely repeat the idea [for the day]…as often as possible” (W-48.2:2), with focus and feeling, with eyes closed when you can and open when you have to.
Why?
The frequent reminders are hugely important: “The exercises to be done throughout the day are equally important [as the longer periods], and perhaps of even greater value” (W-Re.3.In.9:1). They keep in your awareness the gifts you received in the longer practice periods and prepare you for the upcoming hourly remembrances and evening practice.
How often?
“As often as possible,” “as often as you can” (16 total refs.)
About four or five times an hour (an average of lessons where a number is given)
Set a frequency ahead of time and adhere to it as closely as you can (Lessons 27, 40, 74).
Silently repeat the words to anyone that you meet, think of, or remember, including strangers.
The real question is, how often will you remember? How much do you want today’s idea to be true? Answer one of these questions, and you have answered the other. (Lesson 27)
How?
Repeat the words quite slowly, “with time enough to see the gifts that they contain for you” (Review 4).
Concentrate on them alone. “Hold these words in full awareness” (Lesson 110).
Repeat them thoughtfully: “Think of what you are saying; what the words mean” (Lesson 41).
Try to mean them. Say them sincerely and “with deep conviction” (Lesson 80).
Repeat them happily, as “glad tidings of your release” (Lesson 75).
Benefits
If only once during the day you feel that you were perfectly sincere while you were repeating today’s idea, you can be sure that you have saved yourself many years of effort. (W-27.4:6)
Use [today’s idea] as frequently as possible throughout the day. It will help to make the day as happy for you as God wants it to be. And it will help those around you, as well as those who seem to be far away in space and time, to share this happiness with you. (W-62.4:1-3)
These are words which give you power over all events that seem to have been given power over you. (W-193.8:3)
Response to Temptation
What is it?
Dispelling upsets by repeating the idea for the day or some variation thereof. Here’s a more detailed version:
Be constantly vigilant for any kind of loss of peace. When you notice any, be sure to respond immediately by repeating today’s idea with certainty, seeing it as a mighty force, applying it specifically to your upset, and perhaps adding additional thoughts.
Why?
To keep your mind free of any disturbance to your peace; to keep you at peace at all times, no matter what happens; to set you free from the tyranny of external circumstances.
Be constantly vigilant for any kind of loss of peace.
This means monitoring your peace level at all times for disturbances like:
Upsetting thoughts
Forms of fear
Feelings of guilt
Any mood less than wholly joyous
A problem, challenge, or difficult decision
Feeling hurt or victimized
Valuing something in world
Making plans, future concerns
Feeling anything but love for another
When you notice any, be sure to respond immediately
The Workbook repeatedly says to be sure to respond immediately, instantly, quickly (12 total refs.), rather than stewing on the upset, avoiding it, or just fixing the external problem. Your first response should be to dispel the upset with the day’s idea.
...by repeating today’s idea with certainty, seeing it as a mighty force...
Rather than bludgeoning your feelings into submission, repeat the idea “with gentle firmness and quiet certainty”(Lesson 73), remembering that “the words we use are mighty” (Lesson 162).
...applying it specifically to your upset, and perhaps adding additional thoughts.
The Workbook will often give us a special form of the idea to apply to upsets. This form may mention the source of the upset and may contain additional thoughts, though we should feel free to add additional thoughts of our own. For example, Lesson 91 gives us this:
Miracles are seen in light.
Let me not close my eyes because of this.
This must become a habit
Jesus uses the word “habit” five times in relation to response to temptation! For instance, “You have not yet formed the habit of using the idea as an automatic response to temptation” (Lesson 95).
We need to set the goal of making it a habit. If salvation is attained through “a complete reversal of thought” (M-24.4:1), then do we seriously think we are going to attain salvation without reversing a great many of the estimated 60,000 thoughts we think each day? And do we seriously think we will reverse them without making response to temptation an automatic habit?
Asking for Guidance
Asking for guidance is an important component of Workbook practice. The Workbook trains us in:
How to ask: “Ask with desire” (Lesson 165). Ask with confidence: “Ask and expect an answer” (Lesson 106).
How to hear: “Listen in deep silence” (Lesson 49). Listen in confidence and in patience.
When to ask: first thing in the morning and at the top of each hour.
What to ask: mainly how to play our part in God’s plan. “Let Him tell you what needs to be done by you in His plan for your salvation” (Lesson 71).
Why do we think spiritual practice should be simpler?
All the normal processes we care about are not simple. Think about driving, cooking, any job you have, exercising, nutrition, gardening—and every other normal process of any consequence. They are all multifaceted and learned over a period of time.
We want spiritual practice to be simpler. But why? Isn’t it because we don’t really consider it as important as all those normal processes? Isn’t it because they are the priority, and we want our spiritual practice to fit comfortably into the cracks left by them? But what if our practice is the priority because we are “practicing salvation” (Review 3) and “Salvation is our only need” (Lesson 69)?
Question: What do you realistically imagine happening to you and your life if you genuinely lived within the pyramid?