An Easy and Effortless Life of No Struggle

“Not one day is meant to be lived in a struggle with what it brings. (The Treatises of A Course of Love: ‘A Treatise on the New,’ 2.21)”

1 – Fighting Life

What a reassuring statement this passage is! We do not have to “fight” life, and indeed we are leading ourselves wrongly when we try. We learn that acceptance is the way to the real life, the true life. An awakened individual, about whom I once read, said that his secret was that it did not matter to him what happened. This reminds us of Paul in the New Testament, when he asserts that, whatsoever state he is in, therewith he has learned to be content.

2 – The Past

Many of us have struggled through long years of turmoil, drama, and anxieties—filled with pain and sometimes suffering. How we view our past lives is largely a matter of attitude. It is possible to see everything as a blessing, in that it brought you to this point, a point that we would not deny but would accept.

3 – Faith

Even the most abject sufferers in this world of ours, as we perceive predicaments, may have a strong faith and not feel put upon. This again comes back to attitude. It is possible to see everything as bringing you to this point in life and as doing so benignly.

4 – Rose-Colored Glasses?

This is not looking at the world with rose-colored glasses. This is the truth that we have been saved from much, that things could have been much worst. We often do not know what our blessings are; we would thank God that we have been saved from some of those things that we wanted the most at the time.

5 – Struggle

This is the way that we see struggle. But a little adjustment in point of view would make such a difference. And Jesus is showing us that difference in A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love.

6 – Contentment

Jesus would have us to be content on a daily basis, even when life seems tough to us. Truly it will not seem so tough if we bow to his recommendation. Life is at times a struggle, but it is a clean struggle if we have asked forgiveness for our mistakes, and we can thereby led to experience the pure joy and limitless release that A Course in Miracles promises.

7 – Clean Life

May we live today a clean life, living in the promise of forgiveness from A Course in Miracles, and living in the unity and relationship promised in A Course of Love. Then we will turn aside from the suffering that we feel, and even pain is a “clean” pain, with no hint of the “in extremis” feeling that we may have felt in our past. Life today can be lived better, and what a joy that is!

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I live today without struggle, as Jesus has promised is possible. May I live in harmony and love, and may I let go of all the “issues” that seem to arise that only upset my peace. Life is not meant to be a struggle. I thank You for that promise.

Be with me today as I go about the day, seeking to recall the promise with which I am beginning this day. Be there for me, the prayer that I pray so much. I know that You are there, always, and it is only I that sometimes forget.

May the day bring only good. May I make the right decisions. May You walk with me, showing me the way constantly. Thank You for the effortless way that You direct me.

Amen.

Walking Easily and Effortlessly along the Pathway

1 – First Place

“. . .[T]hose who have achieved ‘first place’ do so realizing that the elevated ‘place’ they briefly hold is of a finite nature and that others will soon do the same and that those who follow in time will do so more easily, with less effort, and with even greater success. (The Treatises of A Course of Love: A Treatise on the New, 2.12)”

2 – Jesus

This passage from the “Treatise on the New” echoes a similar statement by Jesus in the New Testament. He indicated that those who followed him would do even greater things.

3 – ACOL

In the same way, those of us who are coming to A Course of Love early on will eventually be surpassed by others who have greater understanding than do we. The world will have advanced, and so their speaking to a new audience will have more meaning in a later culture. It is perhaps too early for the Christ-consciousness of which Jesus speaks to take hold in a universal way. Elsewhere Jesus says in ACOL that soon the world will be peopled by those who were born in the time of Christ, and they will not need nor understand the ways of the time of the Holy Spirit.

4 – Holy Spirit / Inner Christ Self

Now we are caught between two worlds: the world in which guidance comes from the Holy Spirit (as A Course in Miracles relates), and the world in which Christ-consciousness rules (as A Course of Love relates). We will receive guidance through an inner knowing in the time of Christ, the new time. We will not, unwittingly, look outside ourselves for our guidance. We will know from observation, not from learning (an ACOL concept).

5 – Seekers

It is certainly helpful to those of us who have long been seekers, and with some effort, to know that the way of the future holds less need for effort. Life is meant to be lived peacefully, and while struggle may continue, it will lose its hold on us. We will live in peace, not so much from inner conflict, and more from a loving heart. May all of us work today to speed this “new day” on its way.

6 – Confidence

“Despite the necessity for a confidence that has led them to achieve their desired end, most who so achieve and become the first to set records, discover, or invent the new, are not aware of themselves as ‘better than’ for their goal was not to be better than anyone but themselves. (The Treatises of A Course of Love: A Treatise on the New, 2.12)”

7 – Ego

This is important. We who have discovered A Course in Miracles and/or A Course of Love all too often may be tempted to think that we are in the forefront, and the ego likes that. Yet those who break Olympic records are competing, if they are competing well, only with themselves. We need to realize that others who come after us will understand better than we do, for there will be more minds from which to glean ideas, minds which have studied and observed, and come to knowledge (rather than perception).

8 – Egotistically?

So in a sense we do lead the way now, if we stay true to the course that is set before us. But we do not do so egotistically, which would be a step backward. Jesus says in A Course of Love, in the Dialogues (to be read last in the trilogy), that those who have reached this far have relinquished the ego.

9 – Relinquish the Ego

If we haven’t yet relinquished the ego, let’s do so now. Right now. Pray about it.

10 – Short Way

The way is not lengthy when we are united with the Holy Spirit, as A Course in Miracles says or the inner Christ Self, as A Course of Love says.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I am frequently very much wanting to find the easiest and most effortless way to do my tasks. If “easy and “effortless” are called for, may they come to me today. And it is a blessing that those who come after me will enjoy this boon ever more often.

Thank you for making my pathway easy by your Grace. Even when times have been difficult, there is joy because You have helped the pathway to be smoother.

I would walk your way, all the way, today. I am seeking guidance, seeking reassurance that what I perceived this morning is indeed true. This is not a major life task, and there are other ways to achieve the goal, but I would go Your best way. Help me to find that best way. Keep me close to Your counsel.

Amen.