“To continue to identify love incorrectly is to continue to live in hell. As much as highs and lows of intense feeling are sought by some to be avoided, it is in the in between of passionless living that hell is solidified and becomes quite real. You can label joy heaven and pain hell and seek the middle ground for your reality thinking there are more than these two choices. A life of little joy and little pain is seen as a successful life, for a life of joy is seen as nothing more than a daydream, a life of pain a nightmare. (A Course of Love, 2.7)”
Affirmation: “I choose a life of joy.”
Reflections:
1 – Give Up the Drama of Hell
This passage discusses the drama that all of us, to one extent or another, need to give up. We do not need a middle way, a way of muted feelings. But we do need to give up the drama of hell. We do not need a passionless living, because this is the real hell. But we need to choose, again and again, the high ecstasy of joy in daily life. That is the only way that we can be happy.
2 – Life without the Ego
A life of joy is not a daydream, though here (in this passage) we hear that we think a life of joy is a daydream. We can truly know lasting joy, when our attitudes are straightened out and we are on the pathway home. We need to let the ego wither away, and in A Course of Love, we find that we are well on the way to reaching that epitome. Life without the ego (as defined by Jesus) is a glorious gift. And it is builds upon the “happy dreams the Holy Sprit brings,” as defined in the Workbook of A Course in Miracles. Now we are living more fully from our depths, or, if you will, our higher Self, the Christ in us. This is Christ-consciousness, and this blessing will be present intermittently until it is made a sustainable state. Nobody, according to ACOL, has sustained Christ-consciousness as a steady state always–yet.
3 – What is “Success”?
We would not have a life of little joy and little pain, and call this a “successful life.” This will never do. We are meant for better than this, we as children of God. Let us ask Him today what He would have us do to live the best life that He can envision for us. And let us trust that, in the silence, He will speak to us of unspeakable joys that await.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
When we live a day of contentment, we know joy. But when we live a day of ecstasy, we touch heaven. We would not choose a passionless life, and a passionless life is not the same as a life devoid of drama. The two may sound similar, but they differ, and we would eliminate the meaningless drama without dropping passion from our lives.
Be with me as I seek to do this, to drop the drama but to keep the passion. I would know the ecstasy of a life led according to Your dictates. There is no better way to live, and I ask You to help me find this blessing today.
Thank You.
Amen.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 