David's commentary: "So today we are reminded from our text reading that the purpose of doing these exercises in this Course is to ultimately come to the realization that all perception is unnecessary, that Truth or Spirit or Knowledge or remembering God is ultimately what this is all about. And so our workbook lessons continue with the mind training, with the convincing job of the Holy Spirit, letting the Holy Spirit perform the function that was given the Holy Spirit - to show the mind the nothingness of perception and open the mind to the everythingness of Spirit, of Divine Love. Now in this world it seems that human beings are goal-oriented - there are goals and ambitions; and today's lesson is a step towards understanding that all of these ego goals, all of these goals related to form and appearances, all of these goals that are related to outcomes and preferences, have nothing to do with Reality and cannot stand in the light of forgiveness. The lesson starts out with an amazing statement; Jesus starts his lesson with: 'In no situation which arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy. Therefore you have no guide to appropriate action and no way of judging the result' --In NO situation… And that's because the outcome of happiness is not a specific form outcome. There is NEVER a specific form outcome that would make you happy - never, not one. In the text, in the 'Beyond All Idols' section, Jesus says that 'Your will is universal and cannot be content with form of ANY kind.' Happiness is God's Will. Happiness is abstract. That's why 'in no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy'. --OUT-COME - come out of the mind, says the ego, come out of the mind and into form, look for form to be a particular way, says the ego. That's what out-comes are - you first have to project an identity OUT of the mind into personhood or the body, situations, events, circumstances - none of them that are real. There is no OUTcome that would make you happy. It's interesting too, that, with all this focus on form outcomes and form goals, form attainments, that there's a word in this world that seems to be necessary as the means for these OUTcomes - and that's INcome. 'What is your income?' is a question on many job application forms or forms in applying for credit and things of this world - 'What is your income?' Today's lesson is the beginning of starting to see that ALL form OUTcomes and ALL form INcomes are generated in a world of opposites and conflicts that make no sense at all. And what of behavior? What motivates behavior, the actions of the body?

David's commentary continued: "Jesus tells us in this lesson, 'What you do is determined by your perception of the situation and that perception is wrong.' So we could say that if you have a wrong-minded perception, that ALWAYS a misguided behavior will follow or flow from a wrong-minded perception, because they are the same. Remember: thoughts and images, thought-forms and images, are all the same - it's all mind. It's all mind: my thoughts are images which I have made - there is nothing outside of the mind. So you can't figure it out in terms of actions and behaviors. What you do comes from what you think. What you do is determined by your perception of the situation. And Jesus is telling us straight out, here in lesson 24, that that perception is wrong. What does he mean by that? He's just saying that fragmented perception of linear time is wrong. He's not pointing a finger at people or different countries or situations, he's not singling out anything, he's saying that the perception is wrong. He's saying that fragmented, distorted perception is like fantasy, it's fiction, it's unreal; it has no spirit because God did not create linear time and specific objects; this is not pantheism - the belief God indwells in objects. This is the beginning of looking at how perception operates and remembering that you have no need of this distorted way of thinking or this distorted way of perceiving. The only goal that we really have in any situation correctly perceived IS our own best interests: is forgiveness. And then he's asking for humbleness, for humility. He says if you realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could be taught what they are. But in the presence of your conviction that you DO know what they are, you cannot learn. So this is a step in opening the mind so that learning can begin. This is a step in really seeing that there's a need for another way, a fundamental need, not a need for another action, another form, not a need for the world to change or for things to be better in the world, not a need for better so-called form outcomes/specific outcomes, but actually a need for another way of looking at the world, a right-minded perception inspired by aligned THINKING with God, THINKING with Spirit. It's calling for sincerity. He's saying the exercises for today require much more honesty than you are accustomed to using, much more honesty. What he's really saying there is, just watch your mind and watch these goals come up, these ego goals, these conflicting ego goals for every situation that arises in your mind. Perhaps your thinking of an ideal place to live in this world or an ideal partner to live with, or perhaps your thinking of an ideal amount of money that you would be comfortable with in your bank account, or an ideal number of investments that you would be satisfied with and content with. These are foolish thoughts because they involve foolish goals, always ego goals about survival, looking for interpersonal love, looking for situations, people, places, events, that will answer the question: I'll be happy when….the world looks this way, my personal life looks a certain way. All of these goals-- he's saying, you can generalize this, you can search your mind for unresolved situations that you're fearful or concerned about, and you can just notice, just notice about them all that you have a number of goals in mind as part of the desired outcome, and he's also saying notice that these goals are on different levels and often conflict.

David's commentary continued: "You may have political goals, goals for your country, goals for politicians, goals for the environment, business goals, interpersonal goals, psychic goals - maybe you have certain psychic abilities you want to develop and certain psychic experiences that you believe you aren't now that you want in the future - any of these goals. Just let it generalize. Think about a business opportunity you've been pondering and just try it out in the lesson: in the situation involving this business opportunity, I would like this outcome to happen and that outcome to happen: selling something, making some money. Think about it in terms of relationships, an unresolved relationship that you have: in the situation involving - put a person's name in there, where it feels like you have an unresolved relationship, and then: I would like this to happen and that to happen; look at those outcomes, look at those goals that you have for these relationships. You think these are realistic goals, but these goals are in the future and they are being generated by the ego. They are self-concept goals, and you know, he's saying, open your mind up here, try to cover as many different outcomes as may honestly occur to you, even if some of them do not appear to be directly related to the situation or to be inherent in it at all. You just notice your mind starts to fl-- it's got a bunch of goals, many goals for how the world should work out, many goals for what outcomes in the world will make your life meaningful, as if you need the world to work out a certain way to have a meaningful and worthy life. And contrasted by this, Jesus always reminds us that your worth is established by God - nothing that you think or do or say or make could establish your worth. Worth came, worth comes, in creation, comes from Love, from Spirit, not from the world of images - that's backwards, that's upside-down to believe that your worth is established by how much you earn, how beautiful the body looks, how thin you are (how beautiful), by your career, by your interpersonal relationships, by your history, how good of a mother or father you were, how good of a son or daughter, how good of a neighbor; none of these things determine worth; none of these things determine true meaning. So again we use the lesson today, and we apply it very specifically for all the thoughts and feelings and outcomes and expectations and demands that arise today. Watch these arise and say: 'I do not perceive my own best interests in this situation'/'I do not perceive my own best interests'."