Practice makes perspicacious
You may still get to Carnegie Hall
“Whatever we practice regularly grows stronger.”
– Tara Brach, Buddhist teacher and author
Any musician knows the only way to become a better player of whatever instrument you've chosen is to practice. It's apparently how you get to Carnegie Hall, though my guitar practice wouldn't get me into the neighborhood at this point. I know I need to practice more, if I want to get better.
It's not just musicians who practice, though. We all practice things, every single day. Usually, though, we're not paying attention to what we're practicing because we live unconsciously, repeating old patterns of behavior without noticing them. Often, we wonder why we're in a rut, or why whatever we do in life, we seem to end up in the same place, feeling unsatisfied and often unhappy.
I'll tell you why: You're practicing life in ways that no longer serve you.
If you take a moment to think about the thoughts that run through your mind throughout the course of the day, you'll find out what you're regularly practice and making stronger. You may find most of your thoughts center on judgment, grievance, fear, anger, disgust, or separation.
It's been said that practice makes perfect, but perfection is not what we're going for here, because the ego loves to use that idea to keep us in our limitations. No, I propose that practice makes perspicacious. We practice life in a deliberate and conscious manner so we can see through the illusions of this world. When we can perceive what is beyond this ego world, we gain new insights that lead to us to remember our divinity and awaken to the truth about who we are.
Practice makes perspicacious only when we learn to monitor our thoughts – to mind our mind so we won't mind it so much anymore. We must train ourselves to no longer practice thoughts that perfect our fear, but instead focus on thoughts of love, joy and peace so that we may always perceive their still presence even amid the chaos of the egoic world we've collectively created.
How do we begin to cultivate a perspicacious mind? We need tools we can use on a regular basis as the core of our practice. A Course in Miracles offers such tools throughout the daily practices of the workbook. Lesson 1 is a good place to start. It states: "Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] means anything."
It seems like an odd place to begin and our ego immediately goes into revolt. Of course, we know what things mean. We are meaning making beings, after all! And that's the point of the exercise. Nothing in this world means anything … except the meaning we give to it.
Take your wallet or your phone, for example. Some people have their entire lives contained in either one or both. What happens if you lose it? Panic, that's what! Lose one or the other – or both – and you feel lost. Why? Because you have given your wallet and/or your phone a supreme meaning in your life. It's got everything you think is your identity within it – your personal and financial data, phone numbers, apps you use regularly (especially social media ones). These two items hold the key to everything meaningful to you. Without them, you're lost.
Your lost wallet or phone on the street doesn't mean anything to a stranger who sees it. One might return it to you. Another might rob you blind with the information they have run across. Either way, now THEY are making meaning out of your phone or wallet.
If we can see, though, that everything in the room we're in doesn't mean anything until we assign it meaning, then we realize the whole world is the same way. Politics don't mean anything, until we take a side. Religion doesn't mean anything until we take it to heart and seek to live by its precepts. A career is meaningless, until we make it OURS. We give everything in our world the meaning that it has – and we PRACTICE it, which makes its grip on us stronger, for better or for worse.
A Course asks you to detach – even just for a moment – from the meanings and stories you give to the things in this world. In that moment, you're asked to suspend your belief in the ego-driven world, to look deeper at the practices and beliefs it expects you to do and hold to be part of its systems. Later lessons invite you to see the world differently, to view it through the eyes of your divinity instead of the eyes of your ego. The view the world from you higher Divine Self is astonishingly different, and the practices you engage in after you see through the ego's veil become totally different.
For most of my life, I worked to perfect my anger. I got good at it because I practiced it daily – by watching the news (and yelling at the screen), ruminating about how somebody done me wrong in the past, or just by getting into the car and driving to the grocery store. Someone would inevitably piss me off. Anger became a habit – a way of life and an ego identity that I unconsciously, but carefully, perfected.
Doing the workbook lessons in A Course, though, helped me see through the illusion of the ego and become more perspicacious. Now, anger is no longer my identity. I am dedicated to cultivating and practicing thoughts and actions that center on peace, joy, love, generosity, and compassion – not just for myself but for everyone, whether my ego wants to perceive them a friend or foe.
Do I get it perfect all the time? Of course not, because I'm not practicing to be perfect – I'm practicing to be perspicacious. That means my practice is centered on making peace, joy, love, generosity, and compassion stronger within myself so that when I am out in the world, those will be my first reactions instead of anger.
It is a practice that never leads to some egoic perfection but does lead to remembering my divinity and awakening to the higher Divine Self that we all possess. This is a practice that produces unity within myself so I can project that unity onto the world and see it created all around me.
What are you practicing today? What are you giving meaning to that is creating fear, judgment, anxiety, anger, or despair? There are certainly things in the world to be concerned about and to take action to prevent or improve, but everything we do is infused with the spirit in which we do it. If we react from those places of fear and judgment, we can only create more fear and judgment.
If, however, we practice peace, joy, love, compassion, and generosity regularly, then that's all we'll be contributing to the world, and that's what will set the world aright.
I invite you to watch your thoughts today and see what you've been practicing. If you don't like your practice, you can change it. Stop giving meaning to things that no longer serve you that you have been perfecting over the years.
Instead, I invite you to practice to make perspicacious – to hone your ability to see through the ego's tricks and false meanings and remember your true Divine nature that is nothing but Love, peace, and joy. Practice that regularly and that will be what grows stronger and stronger within you and from there, in the whole world.
Your turn: What thoughts are you unconsciously perfecting? How can you become more perspicacious?
What if you had a roadmap to help you awaken on your spiritual journey? The AWAKEN model will help you heal and get moving again. Join me online or in-person for this special workshop on Saturday, Sept. 10, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
About this event
Sometimes we all feel lost on our spiritual journey - stuck in old ways of thinking, believing and acting. The AWAKEN model can help you heal those old patterns and get you moving again on your spiritual path. Rev. Candace Chellew, Motley Mystic and spiritual director at Jubilee! Circle, has developed a six-step process that helps you identify the patterns that are holding you in your limitations and a method to heal and release them.
This is a hybrid event held at 6729 Two Notch Road in Columbia, SC at Jubilee! Circle or on Zoom. Register to attend on Zoom
Light snacks will be served for those joining us in person.
A suggested donation of $15 is requested from all participants, but no one is turned away.
Take 20 with Candace
This week’s Take 20 is from Jubilee! Circle's August 7, 2022, celebration: “The Humanity of Leadership.
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Want to learn more about A Course in Miracles?
Jubilee! Circle hosts an informal discussion group about A Course in Miracles every Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time. If you’re in the Columbia, SC area, you can join us in-person at 6729 Two Notch Road, Ste. 70 in Columbia. If you’re anywhere else in the world, join us by Zoom using the link below. Whether you’re new to ACIM, or have been studying it for years, this is a low-pressure, friendly environment to learn more and grow together! Join us:
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86088245457?pwd=bWd6QzhscGlUYnFnYUU1dy9uTUVMZz09
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About the Motley Mystic:
The Motley Mystic is an online community for people who have realized that the truth speaks with many voices. There is no one religion, philosophy, institution or dogma that captures the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. No one needs to swear allegiance to one line of thought or belief to discern Truth, because Love is the only thing that’s real. That’s what we explore at the Motley Mystic - all the tools and strategies we need to remove our barriers to Love and live fully as our true, Divine Self.
Candace Chellew is the founder of Motley Mystic as well Jubilee! Circle, an interfaith spiritual community in Columbia, S.C. She is also the author of Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians published in 2008 by Jossey-Bass and the founder and senior editor emeritus of Whosoever: An Online Magazine for LGBTQ People of Faith. She is also a musician and avid animal lover.
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