A Warning about Righteousness

“This first lesson on the temptation of the human experience comes in truth as a warning against righteousness. It comes to remind you, as you replace the thought system of illusion with the thought system of the truth, that having remembered the truth of who you are, you are called to forget the personal self who would find this cause for righteousness. (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the Personal Self, 11.17)”

Affirmation: “I would avoid self-righteousness today and every day.”

Reflections:

1 – Ego

The passage for today gives a stern warning about how the ego can entrap us again. The ego is very wily, and though only a part of our belief about ourselves, it does seem to act out of our control. But it is simply madness, but madness that can wreck great havoc. We are moving from illusions to truth, and when we recognize this, the ego can rear its head through a sense of self-righteousness, that we are somehow “better” for this difference. We are “better” to the ego, which sees this change as a chance for self-aggrandizement. And then we are trapped in illusion again. The journey from the house of illusion to the House of Truth has been aborted.

2 – Only Time Separates

The temptations of the human experience are great, and it is up to us to bypass these temptations. Only time separates the Son/Daughter of God, the Christ Self, from those these trapped in an egoic sense of the personal self. All will find the way back eventually, and we are needed to bring that time closer, because the world is weary, and all things in it are weary (from A Course in Miracles). The world is very tired, and it winds on in a wearying fashion, causing us to weary ourselves (also from ACIM). Do our brothers and sisters not need as greatly? And to save them from themselves, we ourselves must be “saved,” heading through salvation to Christ-consciousness.

3 – Journey

The journey has been long, though it has all been an illusion, and we are actually on a “journey without distance” (from ACIM). Let us not become self-righteous on this illusory journey, negating all the good that we could do for ourselves as well as others. Self-righteousness is such a pitiable state, and those who are on a spiritual pathway are the main ones who are afflicted with this trait. So it behooves us to watch ourselves carefully. We can still backslide, in my opinion. We can still lose our way. And certainly knowing the contents of A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love, if we lack the lack and fall into self-righteousness, is a prescription for disaster.

4 – Pray

Let’s pray today that we may be spared from the temptation to think ourselves better than others who have not read all that we have read, studied all that we have studied. We are not better. We are equals. And in heaven we share all talents equally. The only advantage today in having “more” than another is the chance to be happy, and the chance to share that happiness with others. This is all that salvation holds out for us. We are perfectly calm and quiet, without drama, and so enlightenment is really “nothing special” (a Zen thought). But it can be everything for us when we walk the narrow pathway that keeps us from temptations and draws us ever closer to God.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would avoid righteousness today. If I succumb to it, I will be like the Pharisee of the New Testament, who thanked God that he was not like other men, and he left his prayer unjustified. I would recognize that the ego can still entrap me with such thoughts. I would avoid this maladjusted thinking today.

Help all of us to realize that we are here to assist each other in our path toward salvation. I do not seek to proselytize, only to share with others who are ready to hear what I might be able to say. And in this endeavor there is a minefield for the ego. I would avoid that minefield today. Help me to recognize that You are there for all of us, and that only time separates any bit of knowledge that any of us have come to recognize.

Amen.

Gifts of God

“All gifts of God are given equally and distributed equally.  It is your belief that this is not so that causes judgment.  All who believe they have ‘more’ fall prey to righteousness.  All who believe they have ‘less’ fall victim to envy.  Both ‘fall’ from grace and limit their ability to receive.  (A Course of Love, 20.40)”

Affirmation:  “God grants gifts equally to all.”

Reflections:

1 – Depression

We often think, in our egoic mind, that another is superior to us in some way, and this activates the depression of the ego in its deflation.  All egoic thoughts work this way.  There is a great deal to be said for depression as the result of the ego being undermined at every turn.  And what other way could work to turn us from the ego?  If it made us happy all the time, our salvation would be impossible to reach.

2 – Gifts Are Given Equally

God gives all gifts equally and distributes all gifts equally.  When we feel “less than” another, we judge; the same, when we feel “more than” another.  It is true that in this world gifts appear to differ, but one day all will know that everything belongs to all, and in equal measure (from A Course in Miracles).

3 – Righteousness / Envy

We would not fall prey to either righteousness or envy.  We would give up these deplorable attitudes.  Instead, we would welcome our brothers and sisters as the students/teachers of the Way that they are.  We are all equal in God’s sight.  And when we humbly accept our lot in life, to be improved as God’s grace shows us, we will be living a more desirable life.  We can strive to achieve, but not for egoic reasons.  The ego always loses in the end, and if we seek to prop up our weakened ego, we will lose all the blessings that A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love are seeking to give us.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I do believe that the rain falls on the saved as well as the sinner (so to speak).  I do believe that the gifts of God are a free gift, that He wants to help us walk through life.  And I have had the mystical experience that proved this, at least to me, and this happened many years ago.  I have not doubted that God’s gifts are a free offer of help in all the years since.

Thank You.

Amen.

Based on Level of Understanding, Everyone Does His/Her Best

“Your real Self is the Christ in you.  How could it be anything but love, or see with eyes other than those of love?  Would you expect any decent human being to look on a loveless world, on misery and despair, and not be moved?  Think not that those who seem to add to the world’s misery are any exception.  (A Course of Love, 2.10)”

Affirmation:  “My real Self is the Christ in me.”

Reflections:

1 – “Evil” Brothers and Sisters

This passage indicates that those whom we see as “evil” or even “sinful” are still moved by the despair in our world.  Can we believe that everybody is doing the best that he or she can, given his/her level of understanding?

2 – Mistakes = Not “Sins”

And there is no “sin,” only mistakes that can be corrected.  We can set aside sin’s attractiveness when we embrace “mistakes” as the errors that we make.  We will not wish to repeat the error (from A Course in Miracles).

3 – Renegades

We know from the writing of individuals who have been dammed by this world for their “sins” that they themselves did not think that they were doing anything wrong.  Even the blackest of “sinners” think well of themselves.  And individuals in prison think that there was something special about their wrongdoing, something that would make it all alright.  Are we any different, we who may go to church on Sundays, may pray, and may seek to follow what we perceive as God’s Way?

4 – Humility

We too make mistakes, and sometimes we hurt the ones that we love more than any others.  We may be filled with a righteousness that Jesus turned against, according to the New Testament.  Let us not have it so.  Let us ask for the humility to know that we do not know how to live.  We need God’s help in this, for only He can set us straight.  And then we will give up our sense of rightness, knowing that only God is truly good.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I know that others who struggle are nevertheless doing the best that they can, given their current level of understanding.  The same holds true for me, especially when I struggle.  May no dark nights of the soul darken my pathway.  But if a dark night comes, may I immediately turn that dark night over to You, knowing that therein lies the peace and the blessing that I seek.

May I forgive those whom I think should know better.  May I judge no man nor woman, child, nor elder.  This is meant to be a forgiving world, and there are answers in this world for all who seek them.  Let us seek today until we find our needs met.  I know that the solution lies with the problem, and I know that my perception of that solution will come quickly, once I have surrendered, once again, to You.

Amen.