My only function is the one God gave me.
My happiness and my function are one.
The end of conflict – which is the remembrance of peace – is our objective. In worldly terms – which includes our bodies – this seems impossible. And, in those terms, it is! Our lives, and the world in which those lives play out, are premised on conflict, the idea that one wins at another’s expense. Survival is the real goal.
Into that depressing situation come the lessons of A Course in Miracles. Lessons 65 and 66 respectively make clear that the end of conflict is not only possible but necessary. And they sweeten the pot, so to speak, by reminding us that our happiness depends on becoming responsible for bringing conflict to an end. There is no other way to know the joy and peace of God.
When we bring our lives into accord with God’s will, we are essentially laying aside all our personal plans and ambitions. Effectively, we are laying down the self. Do with me what you will, God. I’m ready. And God instructs us to extend forgiveness – to see the world as it really is, and our brothers and sisters, too, and from that space of true seeing, to offer only blessing by knowing blessing is all we can offer.
Forgiveness reveals the truth simply by refusing to relate to anyone or anything at the level of error. Given by and informed by the Vision of Christ, it does not acknowledge differences or degrees at all.
It’s not that remembering and realizing the Vision of Christ and the self in which it appears is easy – for a long time, lifetimes perhaps – it is not. But when we begin, even a little, to align our will with God’s, to the best of our limited finite ability, we take enormous strides in ending the illusion of separation.
A Course in Miracles makes clear that happiness as the ego understands it is really sadness. It is a form of death and attack. It is premised on loss – ours or somebody else’s – but loss nonetheless. The pursuit of this ersatz happiness – which is literally the foundation of the illusion of self and world – eventually leads to despair, misery and hatred.
We have to revise and rethink our understanding of happiness.
We have to learn that true happiness – happiness that does not shift with the emotional winds, happiness that is not contingent on external conditions and circumstances – can only come from doing what God wills. When we are in the place of peace – when we attain the condition of truth – then we are happy. It surpasses what we think we know. It is not of the body.
Seeing the lessons again in the review periods allows us to appreciate the intensity of the learning they can bring forward in our living. We are guided along a path of radical undoing and healing. It is not just another approach to the same old problems. It is the end of problems altogether.
Often, in that space of seeing just how radical the course is, we become discouraged. We decide it’s for spiritual giants or geniuses. But it is for us – it is literally for us. That’s why it came into the world and that’s why it is on our plate. It is given so that we might use it to wake up and remember that we are truly home.
