LESSON 133. I will not value what is valueless.

Today’s lesson begins with the idea that, today, we will be focused on practical application. In the Gentle Healing Curriculum, we have attempted to bring such practicality to our practice of all the ACIM workbook lessons. As we read last week in Hebrews, it is in the practice of what we have learned that spiritual maturity is gained.

We will focus today on the inherent selfishness of the ego. The ego always thinks of ‘me’ and ‘mine.’ Spirit, on the other hand, thinks only of purpose and wholeness. It has a broad perspective, and ‘me’ is completely unimportant.

Dropping selfishness is challenging. The ego is extremely protective of it. Yet, if you are to know the heart of truth, selfishness must be let go. This lesson, used practically, helps us to let go of that selfishness.

You must have noticed that when the thinking mind chatters, it chatters about “me.” When meaning is assigned it is related to how this person or event affects “me.” What is valued, is valued, because it in someway relates to “me.”

These “me” thoughts actually serve to narrow our vision. These “me” thoughts are inherently thoughts of separation. They are the thoughts that divide “me” from you and that create conflict (let “me” get mine before you get yours). Because these “me” thoughts are grounded in the idea of separation (or duality), they are necessarily thoughts of lack and limitation. If there is a finite amount of anything, I will lose it if given away. In this set up, if you gain, I must lose—unless you are someone with whom I am in special relationship (a spouse, a child, etc.). Then I may perceive your gain as an extension of my own.

Let us note that you will find these thoughts in the mind, and, you will find that it is these “me” thoughts, or selfish thoughts that, by default, direct your decision making and actions.

We practice letting go of selfish motivation as part of the process of letting go of the belief in the ego self (“me”) as who we are. We begin first by looking to see where I am trying to find the benefit to me in each situation and to manipulate the situation so that, that benefit is gained.

Today’s lesson tells us, “Each choice you make brings everything to you or nothing. Therefore, if you learn the tests by which you can distinguish everything from nothing, you will make the better choice.” So let’s look at the practical “tests” given in this lesson:

• “if you choose a thing that will not last forever, what you chose is valueless.”
• “if you choose to take a thing away from someone else, you will have nothing left.”
• “If you feel any guilt about your choice, you have allowed the ego’s goals to come between the real alternatives (the valuable and the valueless).”

It is important to see your choice in any situation as one between ego or heaven and then make that choice using the above criteria.

Lesson 132. I loose the world from all I thought it was.

“A madman thinks the world he sees is real and does not doubt it. Nor can he be swayed by questioning his thoughts’ effects. It is but when their source is raised to question that the hope of freedom comes to him at last.”

When I read this part of today’s lesson, I pictured a man, looking a little peculiar, standing off by himself in a corner of a big room that was painted stark white. He has an odd look on his face. He is twisting his hands and there is a look in his eyes that says he is not really participating in the world. He is living in his own world and he seems upset by what he sees happening.

When I contemplate this picture I realize that it may have some validity. It occurs to me that I am, along with my brothers the dreamer of the dream. I am trapped in my own insane and upsetting world. The deceived mind thinks it is a person in an objective world, but we know the deceived mind is the cause of the dream world.

More importantly we have begun our steps out of the insanity of the world and back into reality as we are learning to question the source of our thoughts. Is this thought another egoic thought? Does it chatter obsessively like a madman? Am I listening to my own madman carrying on in my head? Or am I the one who notices the inner disturbances and realizes its unreality. Can I begin to see the false as only concepts (the code), something to be forgiven.

As I begin to loosen my mind, I am realizing what my investment in the world has been costing me. I can overlook appearances. I choose to give up insane thoughts about who I am, who my brother is and watch these thoughts without believing them or believing what is on the screen of the world.

As I practice Awareness watching Awareness, practice being present, practice being the witness there is a gradual loosening of these beliefs that have chained me to the insanity of my former beliefs. As I practice my spiritual aspiration and keep it in the forefront of my mind there is a change that takes place.

Lesson 129 spoke to this point, “Your whole perspective on the world will shift by just a little every time you let your mind escape its chains.” And today’s lesson says …”so it is your thoughts which made it [the world] and must set it free, that you may know the Thoughts you share with God [truth].”

LESSON 131. No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.

This lesson makes a very simple statement. We might see that statement as a promise, but that would discount the foundation upon which the statement rests. No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth, because the truth is what we are. This is not a mere promise, this is a fact.

It is within our power to realize truth because it is only by our own decision that we hide the truth of ourselves from ourselves. We began the Gentle Healing Year 1 program by discussing how we can rewire our brains by becoming conscious casters of attention. This was no idle promise either. Any of you who have practiced removing believing attention from negative, hateful, attacking thoughts (and, frankly, I know you all have been practicing this), know the power of your own decision.

The truth is there to be found within us, beyond the chatter of the thinking mind that would maintain the belief that we are individuals, separate from one another and separate from our source. Through our conscious casting of attention, through awareness watching awareness, and through our other practices, we have had a taste of truth. What remains except the commitment to practice, to seek the truth of our being, every time we are given the opportunity?

Today’s lesson asks us to close our eyes for a moment and consider the insanity of the world.

“For several minutes watch your mind and see, although your eyes are closed, the senseless world you think is real. Review the thoughts as well which are compatible with such a world, and which you think are true. Then let them go, and sink below them to the holy place where they can enter not.”

If you have not yet done so, take a moment to really practice this part of the lesson—do what it asks. Don’t just read the passage and agree with it. What insanity do you see playing out in your life? What insanity do you see playing out in the world. Can you look at that insanity and see that it is the result of our collective and continued adherence to the belief that we are separate beings with separate interests in competition for limited resources and rewards?

The truth is, we do have another choice. As NTI Hebrews tells us, we are the leaders in our own awakening. This is no inconsequential statement. What this means is that if you wish to transcend the insanity of the thinking mind, you cannot wait for better circumstances to appear, you cannot wait for a great teacher to transmit to you the secret knowledge of the cosmos. No one is coming in to save you.

Your sincere practice and desire to awaken are the ingredients needed for your great awakening. You already are that which you seek. How could your desire to learn that truth be withheld from you?

As Nisargadatta Maharaj said of awakening to the truth, “We discover it by being earnest, by searching, inquiring, questioning daily and hourly, by giving one’s life to this discovery.” This discovery is within our reach. No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.