If you don’t take it personally, it’s nothing

A good model for us is what Jesus does in this course. He obviously is aware of what goes on in the world. He says, “Frightened people can be vicious” (T-3.I.4:2). He talks about murder; he talks about wanting to murder your brother. He’s observing for us what the world is like, what the outer world is like and then what the inner world is like, but he does it without judgment. There’s no anger obviously. There’s no judgment of anybody. He’s simply saying what you’re looking at is not true. There’s no projection then, which means there’s nothing to look at. It’s when you get exercised about something, either you get excited about something or you get devastated by something; that’s the reaction.

The line I quoted yesterday from the manual says, remember you never get angry at a fact. You only get angry at an interpretation of the fact (M-17.4:1-2), and perception is interpretation. The fact is you just hit me in the mouth. That’s a perceptual fact of the perceptual universe. But how I take it comes from a decision I make. Do I look at your hitting me through the eyes of the ego, which means I take it personally? Or do I see it through the eyes of the Holy Spirit that says this has nothing to do with me?

Now, maybe my body is hurt and my jaw is bleeding but what does that have to do with me? If someone insults you and says something unkind, you take it personally or you don’t take it personally. If you take it personally then that’s something you have to look at. That’s the ego. If you don’t take it personally it’s nothing. There’s no problem then.

Looking with Jesus: “The Practice of Forgiveness”, Kenneth Wapnick, Ph.D.