“Attack can enter only if perception of separate goals has entered. And this must indeed have been the case if the result is anything but joy. (M-17.3)”
Affirmation: “I would know joy today.”
Reflections:
1 – We All Want Love
Our brothers and sisters, and you and I, truly have no separate goals. We may want different things, but we really, at the base, want only love in all its manifestations. If we think that we want something else, we are deluding ourselves. And this is always a form of insanity.
2 – Insanity in ACIM
A Course in Miracles says that virtually all of us are insane to one degree or another. Only when we have experienced Awakening can we feel surely that we are at least partially sane. And the experience of Awakening can come and go, not being sustained because our ego has not yet withered away. We are very human in this world, and we make many mistakes. The Holy Spirit can eliminate these repeated mistakes, if we will only give him a “little willingness” (quotations from ACIM).
3 – No Attack / Only Joy
I would not entertain attack in any form today, because I would know joy. This is ample motivation! If I am tempted to want to attack, then I will take a timeout, exit the room, and quiet myself down. Sometimes the only thing that works in anger is a sudden removal from the temptation to attack. Counting to ten in the same room as the one with whom we are angry will not always work. Walking to another room, and stilling the emotions, is far more effective. Many of us only get angry when we are stressed. We need to get quiet, and the stress will dissipate. (These ideas are not discussed in ACIM.)
4 – Joy = Our Inheritance
Joy is our inheritance. We would do well to accommodate ourselves to this lofty blessing, and to do so we must relinquish anger and attack in all its forms. Anger and attack have no foundation in truth (a paraphrase from the Text). We are always angry at nothing, at an illusion. If we recognize that our brother or sister is actually part of our illusion, we will not get angry regardless of what happens in the dream (i.e., the illusion). We would not get angry at someone who was certifiably insane. We might regret their behavior, but we would know that these individuals have reduced accountability. And when they are once again in a sane mind, they will act more responsibly. It is the same for all of us, because we all have insanity (an ACIM tenet).
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
May all of us leave insanity behind today. When our egos are in charge, we insane to one degree or another. We would not let our egos drive us around today.
May we know the joy of find You in all our dealings. May we stay calm and serene, at peace with whatever happens. May we just let the ego disappear, wither away faster rather than slower, embrace the love that is our inheritance.
If we fall on our faces today in any way, may this anger/attack leave us as suddenly as it arrived. We do want to stay peaceful, in the extreme. No other way is Your way, and we would follow Your way always. Help us to stay true to this determination.
Thank You.
Amen.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 