LESSON 25. I do not know what anything is for.
Today’s lesson begins:
Purpose is meaning. Today’s idea explains why nothing you see means anything. You do not know what it is for. Therefore, it is meaningless to you. Everything is for your own best interests. That is what it is for; that is its purpose; that is what it means. It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified. It is in recognizing this that what you see is given meaning.
This lesson brings together the lessons that told us nothing that I see has any meaning, I am upset because I see something that is not there, I see only the past, etc., and yesterday’s lesson which informed us that we don’t know what is in our own best interests. Doing these lessons again, I am so surprised that they seem to say what I had not seen before. I was surprised, therefore, to find out today that everything is for my own best interests. When I withdraw the meaning I would give, I find that everything that happens within the tapestry of this world is all being used to bring me to remembrance of my true desire.
As we learned in NTI Ephesians, we are awakening to our own true desire, while the remnants of a past thought seem to be in operation. We are letting go of our old desire–to experience something other than truth–and reclaiming our true desire, which is to recognize that which we are. This recognition unifies our myriad goals.
Let’s talk about ego goals for a moment. What could the ego ever want but to keep you safe and loved and happy. That’s what we all want, right? There can be no fault found in wanting such things, correct? Well, yes, however … ego’s goals are based on the belief that you and I could have goals that conflict; they are based on the belief that what is in my best interests may not also be in your best interests. If we were, indeed, separate beings, this would make sense. What we must understand is that we do not have separate interests. You are safe and loved and happy. We all are. Our unified purpose is to come to the recognition that this is true–that safety and love and happiness are inherent in what we are. I need not (and indeed, cannot) find safety and love and happiness at your expense. It is only the belief that these things are limited that conjures up a world where I have to “get mine before you get yours.” It is this distortion within which ego operates. There is no separate you and me who are in competition for a limited supply of something. This is, however, always ego’s interpretation.
NTI Luke 6 says:
The world is a great temptation for you, because the world was made as a distraction from truth. Everything in the world is not truth, and yet you want to make sense of it and make it real. To the degree that you can let go of the world and not be concerned about it, that is to the degree that you accept healing. And to the degree that you are involved in the world and taking care of its many problems, that is to the degree that you reject healing as the answer to its problems.
It is within the world that you seem to be, so it is within the world that I come to lead you. But I ask you to look at the world differently now. No longer accept that there is a “you” and a “them” who is separate from you. This is the view the ego has of the world.
I am reminded of Charles Darwin who wrote of the great mystery and majesty of the earth’s animals. He told of how the herds and prides and flocks move in harmony with no visible communication between the animals. He spoke repeatedly about love and sympathy as forces that consistently moved the creatures of the earth. Is this the legacy that has been assigned to him? No. His work has been filtered through ego interpretation to mean that under the law of “Survival of the Fittest,” I must get mine before you get yours.
It is this habitual orientation and misunderstanding of the truth of our oneness that prevents us from detecting our own best interests in any given situation. As NTI Luke tells us, “Everything that you see and experience, you see and experience through the filter of your mind.” Thoughts of lack, limitation, separateness and competition form the filter through which we see. So what is blocked? How is the world seen truly? That answer is given in NTI Luke 6:
My view is that the world is all one song with different notes played in harmony to create the one. It is the song that is cherished, not the notes. And the song is being played perfectly by Me, who is the director of the music. If you look at the song from My point of view, you see its beauty and perfection. But if you look at the song from the point of view of one note, who believes it is separate and competing with other notes, the song seems to be a war filled with attack and grievance and worry.
Remember that you are not the note. That is a distorted view of the music. We are the song as one sound together.
Love the entire song. Every aspect is equally important to the whole, every aspect valuable and cherished for its part in it. Share the perspective of the song by seeing yourself as the song and by loving the entire song, just as it is, without judgment or desire that the song should be played differently.
This is peace; this is happiness; this is love. This is who we are. We are learning to release the filter that would say otherwise.