A Course In Miracles Lesson 104

A Course In Miracles lesson 104 states: I am always only looking for what is truly mine.

It is not naive to believe that joy and peace could be a constant way of life. Peace on earth is not an idle dream.  Peace is this world’s destiny. We are in a process of realizing (awakening to) the ever-present peace that has never left this world and can not leave this world because it is the source of all that is.  We are in a process of remembering that joy and peace are a state of being we have a right to claim because joy and peace are what we are.  We are not things.  We are states of being.  That state is peaceful, joyful, and creative.

Reality is stronger than any illusion that could ever be made because all things, even illusions come from eternal Reality.  Whatever Reality wants is achieved because there is nothing larger or more powerful than Reality.  We can not fail in our effort to achieve peace and joy because all of creation wants the same for you.

What is the problem then?  Why does peace not reign on earth?  We are not currently able to understand that we do not always want peace and joy because in this world our minds are split.  Sometimes we pursue pain. Sometimes we think conflict and destruction is helpful.  We have an experience here of two conflicting minds at odds with each other in an inner turmoil of want/don’t want, believe/don’t believe.  A split mind is a strange conversation with impossible logic.  It is a conversation with insanity that leads nowhere.

We are in the process of mending that rift now.  By working through these daily statements we are smoothing out the divisions in our thoughts and making our minds ready to receive true peace and joy.  We are renovating the house we live in, setting in a new piping system so that the flow of useful thoughts can occur without interruption.  It is very important that we make space within ourselves.  This will enable us to be ready and willing to receive the joy that is Reality.  We can not entertain hostile thinking and expect to find peace within.  We must replace hostile logic with peaceful logic.  We will never be able to convince our hostile minds about the value of peaceful thinking.  We can only continually choose between the two options of logic.  Today we choose peaceful thinking every hour for five minutes.  We sit and note where our breath is and what our body feels like for just a few moments during the (seemingly) busy day.

Our body is a sacred space.  Our mind is also a sacred space.  We must make a clearing within ourselves where we can sit in restful calm, waiting for the light to come.  If we do not create an empty calm space of reception, we can not be available for the rising light.  It is for this reason we are asked to sit for 5 minutes every hour.  Take a brief moment to let all the self-made interests fall away.  Clear the altar of your mind of all clutter.  Place in your mind for five minutes one single priority, to know peace.

There will be thousands of reasons why it is not possible to become comfortable or calm.  Find a way to be comfortable and calm with how unable you are to sit still.  Hold space for the observation that you do not have the ability to hold much space.  Sit with what your inner condition is.  Seek within that sacred inner space only what truly belongs to you.  Listen.  Wait.  Under all the turbulence of thinking, you will find that which is truly yours.  

You have inherited a wealth of peace and joy before the invention of time and that wealth is always there, it is always you, no matter what sort of seemingly wild and dangerous adventures you may go on.  You can and will be restored to what you truly are. Have peace now.  Unite what you want with what Reality also wants for you.  Recognize that you and Reality are one and the same.  

Begin your 5-minute sitting practices with this idea:

I am only looking for what is truly mine.  Joy and peace are my birthright.

Then sit without doing.  Let your natural desire for peace and calm rise effortlessly up to the surface and reconnect with the desire of the cosmos.  Your desires and the desire of the cosmos are one and the same.  Sit with this idea and lay a foundation for a new flow of logic that helps us see that the will of Creation has already been achieved.  There is no struggle if we do not want one.  What God wants for us has already been given to us.  We are learning how to not lose sight of those gifts of peace, joy, clarity, and love.

Do not worry if the five-minute practice sessions feel challenging to put into place.  It does not matter how you “feel” about the lesson.  And your evaluation of how well you think you are doing is also unimportant.  There is no grade system here.  There is only strengthening your resolve and personal interest in obtaining inner calm.

Bring yourself each day to the next day’s lesson for the period of one year.  Come as you are and place your eyes on the words.  Encounter your mind and just say the statements you see there.

I only search for what is truly mine.

A Course in Miracles lesson 104 asks us to note any opinions or reactions with calm neutrality.  We are encouraged to stay the course.  Do not evaluate if you are doing it right or if you could do it better.  Simply place your eyes on the material and release all notions of evaluation.  Even one minute of release clears a lifetimes of struggle.