Please take time this morning to read, “What is Salvation,” to contemplate Lesson 235, and to spend time in meditation. If you have 30-minutes for meditation and would like a gentle audio to guide you, I recommend this meditation by Michael Langford and Karen Worth
God in His mercy wills that I be saved.
God wills that I be saved. Today’s lesson says, “I need but look upon all things that seem to hurt me, and with perfect certainty assure myself, “God wills that I be saved from this …” Saved from what; and, what are those things that seem to hurt me? Simply said “those things” are a belief in a separate identity with separate thoughts that cause doubt as to my true identity, and cause me doubt on my chosen path to discover my true identity.
According to ACIM, “The belief in ego autonomy is costing you the knowledge of your dependence on God in which your freedom lies. The ego sees all dependency as threatening, and has twisted even your longing for God [Truth] into a means of establishing itself. But do not be deceived by its interpretation…” because the ego’s goal is autonomy—to establish a separate self.
My goal and my true identity, however, is my Self, which is one with Truth. Because what I am is inseparable from all that is, the separate self can never actually be established, no matter how determined the ego is to do so. ACIM explains it in this way, “God is as dependent on you as you are on Him because His autonomy encompasses yours, and is therefore incomplete without it. You can only establish your autonomy by identifying with Him, and fulfilling your function as it exists in Truth.”
The ego would have us doubt this interdependency or inseparability because doubt is an ego preservation strategy. If we believe doubt we will believe we are who we are not. Worse, we won’t fully dedicate ourselves to spiritual practice. This is the goal of ego–to thwart our awakening to the truth of ourselves and thereby maintain its own existence.
Doubt seems strongest when the ego is loudest in our mind. ACIM speaks of the tenacity of the ego and its attempts to turn us from the knowledge of our truth. “The ego can and does allow you to regard yourself as supercilious, unbelieving, ‘light-hearted’, distant, emotionally shallow, callous, uninvolved, and even desperate…” In other words, ego is eager to tell us that we are spiritual failures.
Interestingly, when the ego is loudest is also when the ego is most vulnerable. That is when we have the best opportunity for healing the mind and transcending the ego. In other words, the ego attacks loudest when it feels itself losing control of our attention. It is fighting to “regain command and control.” (NTI Acts 14)
If despite the ego’s accusations, we can stick with our spiritual aspiration and our spiritual practices we can achieve breakthroughs. We don’t need to succumb to the ego’s doubts. If we don’t let doubt get the best of us, we will realize we aren’t alone. Rather, we are the one Self and thus our will is joined with with the One Will.
Today’s lesson says, “I need but look upon all things that seem to hurt me, and with perfect certainty assure myself, ‘God wills that I be saved from this,’ …”
That faith can be very important when the ego gets loud. Remember, the Self, with all of its knowledge, wisdom and love, is right here supporting us in our efforts to awaken to our Self.
