A Course In Miracles Lesson 101

A Course In Miracles lesson 101 states: The Universe wants my joy.

Today’s idea can not be said often enough: God wants our joy.  If the concept of God pinches your mind, we can also say: the purpose of life is to feel perfect happiness.

The happiness being spoken of here is not the same emotional event we experience as the rollercoaster ride up and down throughout our day.  Perfect happiness is a constant connection with well-being regardless of what happens or does not happen.  We will be okay.  

The state of wellness this course is aiming to build in us is a foundation of stability that exists outside of the undulating swings of happy/sad, loving/hateful, and clarity/confusion.  The emotional roller coaster ride we think of as normal life is caused by the split in our belief system.  It is not possible to believe two opposing ideas.  It is not possible to be both good and bad.  We are not both.  We are good.

When we believe we are bad and when we believe our character has been broken beyond repair due to an external circumstance, we have swings of polarity occur.  This is because our natural state of true Grace will never allow us to fully believe we are bad or broken when we are not, and can not ever be.  All that is needed to correct feelings of wrongness that may arise within us is to bear witness to that regret, sorrow, and anger.  Do not run from painful feelings.  When we take responsibility for the times when we are disappointed in our behavior, we enable that regret to change us and be released.

Deep down we know we are good because what is true is always known, sooner or later.  Ego logic teaches us that when we make mistakes we need to be punished.  The ego never sets a time limit for how long the punishment should last because ego logic is always pursuing pain.  We often believe we need pain and punishment in order to be alive.  Today’s lesson wants to rewire this belief so that we can see the faulty logic for what it is… in error.

If it were really true that we are bad or that we have been broken beyond repair, then this world would be in a constant state of punishment for something that is worthless.  Why bother punishing that which is beyond repair?  To what end is the punishment administered?  What does it wish to accomplish for something marked as beyond repair?  When will it accomplish that mission if it hasn’t already?  How much punishment would it take to arrive finally at the “truth” of a person’s worthlessness?  

Punishment is a pointless, ineffective method of correction.  To correct an error of any kind, it is only the release from shame and punishment that will ever succeed.  Ego logic has no intention of ever releasing you from your prison sentence and ego logic will never be satisfied until you are killed because ego logic is the logic of violence and destruction.  Which belief system do you want to live in? A creative one or a destructive one?  

Be life-affirming.  Be self-affirming.  Let yourself be a young, inexperienced learner throughout time.  Making mistakes is how we improve.  We are works in progress, forever refining our character.  In true Reality, nothing can be destroyed that is actually real because the nature of reality is eternal.  Ego logic tries to dismantle the eternal state of true reality with elaborate illusions of very persuasive qualities.  But every effort the ego makes is like the tiniest of pebbles tossed at an utterly invincible wall of light.

Nothing can destroy the Grace of true reality.  Such perfection can not even be scratched.  Reality is unassailable.  And you are made from that Reality.  Your body can certainly be harmed, but you will continue on past that.  Why not try to live in this temporary body with such an idea in mind?  How might this relieve the pressures of goals or regrets?  

Pain is not needed.  Punishment can teach you nothing.  Cruelty does not correct any errors.  Punishing a mistake will not correct it.  Listen to another’s pain before condemning the behavior they engaged in.  Returning hurtful words leads to more hurt and isolation.  The impulse to return fire with fire is strong.  Can you sit on your hands and let that fire burn out instead of throwing it and catching someone else on fire?  Let the fire end with you.  Refrain from punishing and step into the beginning of true freedom and happiness.  When I refrain from reciprocating a hurtful action against me, I set myself free.  I can not know if the person who committed the violence will find their own end to suffering but I can put down revenge and let the pain just run its course.  We will have to do this in the end anyway or kill each other out of spite.  End the fight sooner rather than later by acknowledging, “That hurt me deeply.  Hurting back will not take away that hurt.  It will only turn me into something that hurts another person.  This will hurt even more.”

Ego logic will always invite you to compile lists of faults and condemnations about yourself and other people.  This list keeps you in hell.  You were not created by Creation to suffer endlessly in hell.  Creation is not hateful and does not torture you.  You torture yourself by turning away from the care of Creation to engage a logic that only hurts.  You make Creation something to fear, something that banished you, something out to get you.  When something painful happens, you are not being punished for unforgivable sins.  When something painful happens you are shown that what you thought was real was a mistaken belief.

Do not fear what Creation wants for you.  Know that when you feel punished, it is not God or Creation that is punishing you.  It is ego logic, misguided, and hell-bent on suffering.  You do not need to suffer.  Today we are asked to sit for five minutes every hour and make note of the tension in your body.  If your mind wanders, do not punish it.  Simply begin again from where you are.  It is the perfect place from which to begin again.  Release resistance, release punishment logic, and know: The Universe wants your joy.