A Course In Miracles Lesson 66

A Course In Miracles  Lesson 66 states:

My happiness and my purpose are one.

Purpose is another way of saying happiness.  Being happy is why I am here. Recent lessons have been focusing on pointing out the connection between your sense of purpose in life and your state of well-being.  These two concepts are not only connected, they are one and the same thing. Why is it important to take time to itemize these two ideas?  

Because we have split minds.  One part of our mind is whole and happy.  Another part of our mind is still learning how to achieve what the first part has already achieved.  The part of our mind which is not aware of our inherent wholeness (holiness) believes that we are able to have other self-made functions which are not in line with the nature of Creation.  When I think from this part of my brain, I feel pain.  From that pain, I grow, connect and awaken to the true conditions of Reality, which are peace and joy.  I expand out of the illusions made by the mistaken part of my mind.  This is why mistakes are never a problem.  But we can also learn how to make less of them.

It is important to spend time pointing out the inherent union between happiness and purpose because your current perceptions do not yet see the connection between what you are here to do and the state of happiness that is true Reality.  Being in  a state of well-being is the self-defining meaning-giver of life.  Happiness is the answer to the question, What is the meaning of life? To have purpose is to have well-being.  To have well-being is to be filled with inherent and truly valuable purpose on this earth.  Wellness is very helpful and useful.  To be at peace fulfills a priceless function on this earth which gives countless gifts of space and example to others.

The reason A Course In Miracles Lesson 66 is spending time on this pathway of logic is because the reader is at this time in a state of debate with themselves and with others about what a person’s purpose in life is.  We are always questioning what we should be doing with our time here.  What is the right thing to do?  What is the efficient or prosperous activity for our day to day existence?  Am I here to drive a child to school?  Am I here to fill bottles with pills and check people out at a register?  Am I here to fold origami?  Am I here to compete in a sport on a world stage?  Am I here to count money or grow plants from seeds?  What activity puts my need to be useful to rest?  What activity enables me to feel I am in the right place doing what I am supposed to be doing?

Any one of the above activities along with any others you could add could be a means of fulfillment or a means to a sense of emptiness. Performing an action is not where our purpose is found.  When we engage in a group project and focus on the end product at the expense of the relationships with the people involved, we do not feel satisfied with our achievement.  The location of the ephemeral, non-physical quality of happiness (well-being, peace, and joy) is where true purpose resides.  We are not here to do any particular activity.  We are here to experience wellness.  Any activity will do towards that end.  

The reader need not worry that some people might opt to engage in violence as their chosen activity towards happiness.  Activities that destroy do not lead to happiness and they run their course soon enough.  It is not our job or in our power to prevent others from choosing harmful actions.  They will find their way as we will find our own.  To debate and raise concerns about a theoretical concept of potential violence is to cultivate a deeper split in our already split mind.  To unify our split mind and to release ourselves from the impulse to doubt, debate, and question, we need only ask ourselves if our line of inquiry feels good or bad.  If it feels good to deconstruct a notion then that notion was in need of correcting.  If deconstructing an idea leaves us feeling frustrated, angry or worse,  then our impulse to deconstruct that notion is an attempt to argue with our ability to feel peace.

Why would we argue with concepts that lead to a peaceful mind if a peaceful mind is what we want?  Because the split condition of our mind is unclear about how to achieve peace.  One part of your mind is true, eternal, and wholly joyful.  Another part of your mind believes the eternal part does not exist.  One of these two parts is true and correct perception while the other part is mistaken and perceives everything in a mistaken way, drawing wrong conclusions everywhere.  How we think can either align with truth or it can be mistaken.  Finding our way between these two is freedom.  Freedom is necessary for Creation to be joyful.  It is not a problem when we have made a mistake in perception, it is only in error and needs correcting.  Dwelling on the notion that the mistake has been made and can not be undone and now all is ruined and needs to start over is an exercise in pain.  We are not here to feel miserable.  We are here to find thoughts that are enjoyable to think.

When unexamined, how you understand some situation in your life is usually in error.  You do not possess the faculties to have all the data needed to grasp the full situation at hand.  This observation of the state of your mind is not said to depress you or make you feel despair by the notion of always being wrong.  It is of tremendous practical value to recognize the split nature of your mind and to adjust your attitudes accordingly.  Making adjustments in our attitude is what A Course In Miracles calls atonement. And it leads to a calm, peaceful, willing, and receptive mind which is a more enjoyable way to live.

When the mistaken part of our split brain (also called the ego) puts forth a wrong premise and attempts to live by it as a true premise, the accurate (whole and holy) part of our brain does not interfere with this misperception.  Nor does it return the same aggressive energy as the mistaken part.  The whole, holy part of us knows that what is true speaks for itself and needs no defense.  The whole part of us (the God part, the Tao part) does not react or respond or even register the mistaken part of our brains.  The whole part within us knows that even while entertaining an error in perception, all is well because Creation is free to err. Correction is inevitable and forthcoming.  Know that it is on the way and be not distressed.  Creation knows without question that to be creative we must be free.  Free to make mistakes and to self-correct.  Errors are part of the process of perfection which is a living Sentience forever creating and discovering.  

Wholeness and wellness exist whether you perceive it at this time or not.  Whatever your condition, you can feel better, truly, significantly better.  Whatever is wrong right now is how you will move through to wellness.  What has happened is not a mistake in the larger context of your Life. What has happened is a means, a medium in which to travel from wrong to right.  What happens is an opportunity to choose differently, to change and experience the joy of reconnecting with the whole part of our mind.  Because What Is is always expanding, we will always find new areas in need of awakening.  

The ego loves being right.  But we are not speaking of “being right” when we speak of the whole part of your brain.  We are speaking of having a rightness, a right alignment, an accuracy that leads to true peace.  The rightness we speak of here is a quality of wellness that never needs to prove another in the wrong to be right.  This whole part has no opposites and opposes nothing.  It includes and includes and includes.

Today’s lesson wants us to go past the meaningless battle being waged by the ego part of our brain and to put down the cycle of scrutiny to arrive at the realm of well-being that is always available to us from within.  That realm could be called God, the Tao, The Field or any other useful word.  And its existence is not in question.  The ego part of our brain is in a process of growing up and expanding.  The Whole part of our brain is the parent, holding compassionate space for that process.

The logic path of todays lesson clarifies that 

1. The God Field gives only happiness.

2. God has given me my function.

3. My function is what God gives me  which is happiness because happiness is all God gives.

We are asked to allow the simple logic of these statement  to be considered even if another part of your brain is irritated or unsettled by the premise.  There may be a dissatisfied feeling and an urge to argue about the notions of religious thinking or the existence of God.  But if the first two thoughts are wrong, the conclusion is also wrong.  And if that is the case, what is true will emerge in good time.  So there is no harm in contemplating the new logic path presented here.  Another way to map out that logic would be:

God is Love.

God gives what God is, which is Love.

God can not give what God is not.  God only gives what God is, which is Love.

I am given Love by God.

What I am given, I have and I am.

I am Love.

I am the Love of God.

Nothing else but that love is my purpose, which is given to me by God.

Why is it important to understand that my function was given to me y a larger Creative Field?  Because it is very tempting for me to conjure false purposes for myself and to believe my function is something separate from love, which it isn’t and never will be.  When the mistaken part of our brain is unwilling to recognize or connect with the Whole part, the Whole part of us simply waits in the peace that It is, and knows that all is well.

Only truth is true.  Illusions can seem to go on and on, but they change and fade and do not last.  Truth never ends and is always revealed eventually.

Sit for one long session today for ten to fifteen minutes to consider the ideas for today.  Hold space for however todays lesson impresses you.  And for the shorter practice periods, we are asked to try to recall the day’s idea every half hour!

That will be most disruptive to any long-term concentration you had planned for the day.  But nudging the mind briefly out of its tunnels of focus is an excellent way to increase the capacity to focus and return to focus after being disrupted.  Let yourself be interrupted today by the Creative Field every half hour.  I set a clock to go off on the hour and on the half hour.  So my phone alarm is ringing all day today, like a bell tower marking the constant passage of time.  Only these markers will also hold a message of great value.  It is a rigorous challenge!  See how you do.  You can not fail.