A Course In Miracles

Today’s lesson states a basic law of the cosmos and then moves us deeper into the study of what causes the experiences we have in this world.  

A Course In Miracles Lesson 130 wants us to understand that this world we are in is temporary.  Everything in it breaks down and eventually vanishes into nothing!  But there is no such thing as nothing.  This means that what this world presents as true is in error.  And that there is a world beyond this one that is not temporary but rather eternal.  Today’s lesson explains why we can not see or sense this mysterious eternal reality while experiencing this one.  It is impossible to see two worlds in the same way we can not experience winter time and summertime at once.  

In this world we have five senses in which to perceive visuals, sounds, textures, fragrances, and flavors.  Our body is constructed for the specific purpose of experiencing these five sensations all the time. A Course In Miracles is guiding our awareness towards the concept that there is something beyond these five senses that is felt in a different way.  Such a concept feels unbelievable to us directly because we are not built to perceive such a concept.  The focused way our body governs our experiences causes us to feel that non-physical concepts are foolish fiction to believe in.  Our body tells us that the physical world is what is real according to its own self-made system.  To a physical system, the physical world is what is real.

Today’s lesson explains why it is not possible to register the other reality A Course In Miracles is telling us is there, beyond this one.  We can not experience a state of contradiction.  We can not feel hot and cold at the same time. Even if such sensations were to come in rapid fire, one after another, they would never occur simultaneously.  We can not feel love and hate at the same time.  If you think you have, you are mistaken about what love really is.  We can not be awake and asleep at the same time. 

Lesson 130 explains that we choose to land on one side of reality- the real side, or the perpetual illusion of temporary existence.  Once we choose to experience a temporary dimension, the realness of the eternal nature of reality vanishes.  All evidence or proof of the existence of such a dimension becomes incredible. And we are put in the ironic position to have to “believe” in that which is actually real.   That is how powerful our choices are.  Our choices are complete and all-in commitments.  We can not believe two opposing perspectives.  That is the fundamental message of today’s lesson.  Once we grasp this fundamental principle, ACIM goes on to explain that once we choose between the two types of realities (eternal or temporary) the evidence of our choice is apparent by what we see in the world around us.  If we see suffering and violence, we have clearly chosen the temporary, impermanent dimension.  If we want to change this, we will need to become passionate about learning about our own interests.  

It is our interests that determine the world we create.  And if we are not in touch with what our interests really are, we need only look around at the condition of our life and our relationships.  They are a reflection of what we believe is possible and what we expect. The condition of your house or your car or your workspace is a reflection of the condition of your mind.  What happens to you is an indication of what you believe, fear, expect, and want.  The outside world reflects the nature and the quality of your thoughts. The contents of your thoughts is created by one thing only: your beliefs.  What you believe is shaped by what you are interested in.  And what holds your interest is what you choose to focus on.

It may feel as though you have no control over what you are interested in.  But that feeling of powerlessness is exactly what this course is trying to change.  Feeling powerless originates from ego logic which seeks to whisper beliefs to you that strength is dangerous and confidence takes an indefinite amount of time to build. These beliefs simply are not true.  Remaining weak or insecure is actually a covert form of egotism.  Excessive humility and a stance that you have no authority in any area of life is ego logic winning the day. 

Ego logic is all pervasive.  Think of it like a layer of plastic wrap over your thought process, invisible and distorting your natural state of awareness. Because of ego logic, we are currently unaware of just how interested we are in violence, terror, guilt and shame.  The proof of our interest in these bizarre painful conditions can be seen in the fact that we experience them.  Our entertainment is based on them.  Our news reports only of pain and exception, never the billions of instances daily where all went well.  

But ego logic is mistaken.  It wants us to believe we are powerless in an over powering world.  Ego casts big, intimidating shadows.  But in truth, we do not live powerless in an overpowering world.  If we did, we would be gone by now.  We would have been smushed out of existence long ago by the colossal dark force the illusion wants us to believe is real.  If it were real, we would not be here to discuss it. It would have already done what it set out to do. But alas, here we are.  

It can be difficult to believe that we would want something we do not want.  The reason we keep experiencing fear and violence is because we have been convinced that we want it, that it has value, and that pain and suffering will lead us to good things we want.  But it never will.  Guilt does not cleanse.  Shame does not liberate.  Cutting ourselves or others does not mend connections.  And it is impossible to experience a world of peace if we hold these beliefs about violence being useful to us.  Violence is not useful to us.  And in fact, violence does not exist.

The idea that violence is not real is impossible to grasp while functioning from the logic that holds violence as valuable.  This is why A Course In Miracles sets out to gently shift our logic from ego illusion into the grace of truth.  Today’s lesson reminds us.  There is another world beyond this one.  We can’t see it yet because it is not possible to see both this one and that one.  

We do not want to live in a terrifying world.  The fact that we do live in one only indicates that fear has blinded us to what is real.  We have fallen asleep and forgotten that there is nothing to ever be afraid of.  We can not protect this little physical body indefinitely.  But when we lose it, nothing bad will happen.  On the contrary.  When we experience loss of any kind, from a toy being taken away to the death of a loved one, we are confronted with the fact that this world is temporary.

There is a world that is not temporary.  There is a world that is eternal and because it is eternal and does not ever go away, it is true reality.  We do not want a violent world.  It is not possible to want pain or fear.  We will never want that.  And we can not ever want something we do not want.  All we can do is become more clear about where we are placing our attention and to notice that we believe pain is useful, when in truth it is not.  We do not need to suffer in order to achieve something good.  We do not need to punish in order to fix someone who has done something wrong.  Punishment does not correct.  It only deepens the problem.

True Reality is not violent or frightening.  Anytime such experiences occur, you can know with certainty that you are not experiencing true reality.  God does not want your pain and never will want it.  If you experience pain, it only means the Way of truth has been forgotten.  Remember it, and restore yourself to what you truly want.  This is how peace is always only one second away.  All is always well, even as you pivot and twist.

At this time, in this world, all we see around us are expressions of fear.  The world of fear is governed by a law that states: You must strive to seek what you desire, but you must never obtain it.  It is up to you to believe it is possible to attain what you desire.  You are free to believe you are condemned to strive and never achieve.  But you are also free to believe that peace and attainment is possible.  That you have not achieved it yet has nothing to do with your decision to believe it is possible.  Such a belief will bring great peace to all the turmoil of life.  It will not end the turmoil but it will stop feeling unbearable.  

Connecting to the power of the Spiritual Dimension makes life bearable while we wait for the larger movements beyond our control to carry us to the world we do want.  It is your birthright to receive what you long for.  You qualify to receive what you want because what you want is, under all the confusion, a good thing.  But it is not the birthright of your physical body to get all your body desires.  It is your birthright as a child of eternal creation to receive the joy of eternal creation.  Your true “form” which is formless is in a constant state of giving and receiving exactly what you want.  

If you are not able to have a sense of this eternal part of you, that is because you can not perceive two different worlds. You can not be in a temporary world and feel eternal.  This course is shifting how we understand our situation.  We are eternal beings, visiting a temporary event for purposes that deeply interest us.  We are not judged or condemned for having an interest in this illusion.  We are free and encouraged to be free to choose our own interests.  For in freedom we find joy.  But having chosen an illusion that is painful, it is difficult to get ourselves out.  We convinced ourselves so completely of the realness of illusion that we now need help.

A Course In Miracles is reminding us that we have not been left in this nightmare mistake forever.  No mistake has been made.  We were invited to explore, and the instant we no longer seek to investigate pain, we will be helped out of that pain.  If the pain does not stop, it does not mean we are abandoned without hope of release.  It means we still, on some level, have an interest in pain.  If that is so, we are asked to bring infinite compassion and curiosity to our interests and decisions.  Do not condemn your choices in an attempt to improve your life.  Recognize your right to find your own way.  Correct what you believe to be wrong and cultivate a character you approve of.  If you do not approve of your behavior, there is nothing more important in this world than to begin at once to repair that relationship.  Your company is all you ever have.  

Choose to believe you are good.  Choose to believe you have every right to learn, to make mistakes, and find ways to correct those mistakes.  You have the right to not suffer forever.  The process of waking up out of the nightmare we fell into involves learning how to pivot our attention towards that other world which, for now, does not feel real, but which we can chose to believe in without physical proof.  

We have forgotten the other world. But our forgetting does not cause that other world to vanish.  It is still there.  And it is well.  This world is a state of violence.  Violence is destruction.  Destruction creates nothing and can not last.  What lasts is always creative and joyful.  If you see a world of violence, you can know that you have not yet lost interest in seeing such a world.  Do not get angry about where your deep interests lay.  Your belief system runs very deep.  Acknowledging an unconscious interest in dysfunction is the beginning of being able to say, “I do not want to want pain.”  It is, in effect, saying, “I may want pain.  But I do not want to want pain.  I want to want peace.” Do not chose to value the unreal or temporary today.  Place your attention on what is enduring.  Let yourself begin to lose interest in intensity.  

We are asked to pause for five minutes six times today and bring this lesson to mind.  Each five minutes we take will build a great conviction in us to turn away from what is untrue and towards what is true.  In our six 5-minute sessions today, we are asked to ask for help.  Our strength alone will not guide us out of the impulses to let ego logic govern our experiences.  We need help out of that perception.  We are asked to turn to a higher power larger than ourselves and allow ourselves to be taught and guided.  When we ask, we then only need to wait with calm confidence that we will be answered.  We can not fail to receive help once we ask because of the very nature of Who we are asking.  

To begin your five minute meditations say to yourself, “I can only see one world at a time.  This painful world is not the one I want to see.  I turn away from all five senses, towards that other world, and I wait in calm confidence I will be found.”

Yesterday’s lesson could cause us distress and sadness if we do not follow up with today’s lesson.  It is good to hang in there with these lessons even when they feel frightening, depressing, or confusing.  If we are changing our entire system of logic towards one that leads to peace and wellness, it is only to be expected that our current mental platform would be resistant to such changes.

When we keep engaging in the next day’s lesson despite confusion or discomfort, we locate a conviction to persevere that is exactly what the Course is trying to teach us.  It is our will that makes the change.  Our passion to change, our determination.  Our drive, willingness, commitment, and passion to believe in the concept of a larger, higher, loving power beyond our own is the most essential ingredient in the healing process.  Self improvement is not about maintaining consistent behavior to be “good.”  Self improvement is a deepening of trust between all the conflicting parts of ourselves.  And those conflicting parts are all upset because they seek security where none can ever be gained.  

Beyond this world, there is real and lasting security.  But you do not have to die to get there.  If real is that which lasts and does not ever fade, it stands to reason that the eternal realm of peace is here now, within and all around you.  What you are looking at is not as it seems.  Beyond what you see there is a depth of astronomical beauty and grace.

It is uncomfortable to think that the world we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is not real.  What’s more, we are being asked to put aside these highly convincing arguments for realness and turn our attention towards an invisible concept knowable only if we choose to let our imaginations entertain the notion.  It is shaky ground, but only when standing in the perspective of the world that wants to convince us of its realness.  When we are so completely immersed in a perspective, the only way to shift that perspective is with the imagination.  And that takes a conviction to do so.  

But what are we aiming to shift to?  It is easy to lose sight of a world that is aimed at making everything very complicated.  The shift we are aiming for is to locate an experiential knowing of a larger, higher, loving power beyond our own perspective.  Connecting to a higher power empowers every aspect of every activity we ever do.  A spiritual practice (the repeated engagement in thoughts and activities which lead to relaxation and compassion.)

If the world we see is not a world we want, logic follows that there is a world beyond this one that we do want.  Why does this follow? Because if there is nothing beyond this world, and this world is based on destruction, we would have been destroyed long ago and reduced to nothing. We would not be reading these words or doing anything at all because this destructive world would have destroyed existence long ago.  It has been working so hard to do that for so long, and yet, life goes on.  How can this be?  

The answer is found in the very first lines of A Course In Miracles: “Nothing real can be lost.  Nothing unreal exists.”Real is the world we want.  And real is not going anywhere. We can not lose what is real. Nothing can destroy that which is Real.  Beyond whatever problem you face, rest assured, all is well.

This world we currently see is all about pain and suffering.  Pain energy generates more pain.  Peace energy creates more peace.  What is like unto itself makes more of itself.  If you want peace, release actions that cause pain and move into actions that bring peace.  Depending on how out of control your life has become, your effort to offer peace may be a tiny candle in a snowstorm.  But just keep lighting the candle again and again.  That act alone will lead to peace, even if you are not able to make big changes in your circumstances.  

We can not fully understand why we are where we are in life.  But wherever we are, A Course In Miracles wants us to consider that we are in the perfect place to make the most effective change and influence those around us in a productive way.  Where we are is the perfect place to begin learning the skills of peaceful responding.

We can not allow ourselves to conclude that this world is worthless.  That would be a very painful pursuit that ego logic would highly encourage us to believe.  We are not being asked to give up this unreal world in exchange for nothing.  Healing and improvement NEVER require or ask us for sacrifices.  The movement towards wellness is always a deeper experience of ease and empowerment.  If we feel more clear, more grounded, and more stable, we are on the right path.  It does not matter what other people think of your actions.  They can not ever grasp the balance you are navigating from within.  They can not know what is best for you.  If anger and shouting flow out of you and you destroy a relationship, the only next step for you to take is to not shame or condemn yourself for a movement that overwhelmed you.  If a relationship breaks, the bond was not lasting and therefore not real.  What is real between you and the other person is enduring even if circumstances are such that you will never meet again.

Love is forever.  Nothing can break a bond of love.  We just may not have any further business with that person in day-to-day interactions.  The relationship we have with them in our hearts is more real than any physical encounter.  How do you hold in your heart a person you loved but lost?  Are you angry?  Do you hope they get what’s coming to them?  Can you remember the bond of contentment you both shared and let that be all you need to remember?

It is not for us to understand people.  Their actions are motivated by so many different factors and those factors, such as culture, family loyalties, religious loyalties, and masculine or feminine loyalties, are so much larger than we could ever comprehend.  People are like the weather.  They come and go and change and change and change again.  People are forces of nature.  Not resources for our interests.  We encounter people at our peril!  But the adventures we have with them are opportunities to choose joy rather than pain.  

This world can not offer you peace.  Being in this world hurts because it is unstable.  Everything about it is going to eventually vanish into some other expression.  But we are not being asked to learn how to detach and need nothing from this world.  We are being asked to ride the waves to the shoreline.  Be part of this experience willingly, knowing that every engagement is a path towards the world we do want.  Getting off the path in the hopes that we will get to our destination is not the way.  Engage.  Experience, learn, and trust that all things lead to the world we want because the world we want is all there really ever is.  

Wanting has no end.  We will always want.  Every desire we have is a desire for peace, joy, love, creativity, spontaneity, excitement, clarity, adventure, and wonder.  We will always want these things because such things never get old.  Joy wants more joy.  

Why would we be resistant to being given exactly what we want forever?  Is it hard to believe it is possible to be consistently happy?  The anxiety and wariness of too much wellness is the pain logic that A Course In Miracles is gently shifting day by day.  Pain logic would have us believe that a world founded on love and peace would be boring.  Pain logic will do everything in its power to convince you that you want pain and that pain is good for you.  But the fact that it hurts speaks for itself.  There is nothing boring about wellness.  Do not let the ego convince you that wellness is boring.  Wellness is the definition of interesting.  Wellness is joy, pleasure, empowerment, and creativity Itself.  Only pain logic would find wellness unwanted.  Do not be fooled.

The possibilities of creative expression are astounding beyond comprehension when we put down a fixation with the meaningless and turn towards building a life founded in true Grace.  There is a lot more we could be doing than circling round and round staring at our feet.  Look up, look up.  There is another world beyond this one.   

Wellness occurs when we are connected to a larger Source of Grace.  This larger Source is a state of true communication and knowing.  Communication and knowing are actually eternal states of awareness that we can access at any time.  We need only sit quietly and turn to look for it within.  Wellness is an eternal state within us because Wellness is what created us.  Creation communes with Its creations at all times because there is no time in eternal creation. Under all the turmoil of hurt feelings, misunderstandings, betrayals, and vengeance we are all in a state of knowing together.  What do we know? All is well.  Beyond this world, there is a world where all is well.  

Every hour today, pause and take a moment to exchange this world of pain for the world of wellness.  Exchange the world you do not want for the world you do want.  Even if you can not see that world yet, say to each painful experience, “This is not the world I want.  I can find a world beyond this one before me that I do want.”

Choose to not value nothingness.  The argument you are in with that person is of such little consequence in relation to the rest of your life.  Release a need to take action.  Lean back into a larger movement and let yourself be carried through any current conflict.  Let a higher source in.  It will tell you when to take action and when to wait.  Listening to this direction makes all actions much easier to perform.  They perform themselves, through you and do not ever compromise your dignity or values.

The fight you are in with this person or that situation does not hold the peace you really want.  Turn away from the experience of loss and sorrow as you would turn away from smoke at a fireplace.  You do not want it.  Let the wind take it away.  Focus on the heat, the real value. There is no need to fear losing things you do not want.  Let that relationship go.  Or let go of whatever they did or whatever you did. Its importance is smaller than a grain of sand next to the sun.  Whatever is real between you and another person has not been lost.  In every encounter, say to yourself, there is more to this than what I am able to see.  Let me connect to that which is beyond this and be guided by that larger source rather than by my own limited perception.  

At first glance, this concept sounds bleak and depressing.  But if we change our understanding of what this world can really ever do for us, we are able to avoid many disappointments.  

It is not possible for this world to be a stable source of comfort or clarity.  Nothing in this world can ever last.  Even mountains fade away.  Understanding that the world around you of stuff and people does not hold the key to enduring wellness will save you years of misery and effort.  Do not pour water into sand in the hopes that it will gather.  Do not look for stability in things or people.  Stability is found in relationship with our own inner experience.

A Course In Miracles Lesson 128 reminds us that we have an eternal light within.  Perhaps it is the size of a grain of sand, but it is there and can never be destroyed.  It can grow larger and stronger when we place our attention on it.  It is this light within where we can safely seek eternal comfort.  

A light within may feel like an abstract concept.  But this is only because we are so completely identified with the physical world.  This is similar to being certain a dream is real, only to wake up and realize it was nothing at all.  To cultivate a belief in an abstract concept, we must use our imagination.  This means we must validate our imaginations as real, even though they are not physical things.  Our imagination is an essential component in learning how to follow the path out of pain and into clarity.  Our imagination is really all we ever have.  Our imagination creates worlds, including this one.

We are asked in this course to place more importance on a world of energy potential than on physical facts.  Facts change.  As Einstein discovered, facts and truth are relative and many things can not be proven in certain environments.  But this does not indicate they are not real or valid.  Facts are relative to circumstances.  Circumstances in this world change.  We live in a state of change.  To be able to change with the movement of the times, we are advised to place our attention on the movement, not on what is being moved.

Everything you value in this world only serves to keep you in this world, convinced of its realness.  But you do not really want to stay here.  You have a deep desire beyond the temporary desires prompted by this world.  Our true desire is located when we sit quietly and listen for the voice within that speaks the truth to us.

The human brain is astounding in what it is able to build and figure out.  We are intensely clever creatures.  But the only activity worth the power of our minds is the activity of learning how to hold all physical things, conditions, and people lightly.  This is not the world to build lasting connections.  This is a world to learn from and move on.  This does not mean that we will never engage in anything of lasting value.  Our love connections with others are always forever.  Even if the actual relationship ended, nothing can undo a connection forged by the power of love.  Love has no opposite and no end, even if you are not able to connect to it at this time.  Being in time does not negate the truth of timelessness.

Let this world of grandeur and promises no longer deceive you.  That person you meet can be a companion or friend, but they can not fulfill your every need.  That job can move you forward in your circumstances, but of itself, no job can ever satisfy you without a connection to the spiritual value of the activity.

It is not our goal in life to become nonphysical.  That will happen naturally in its own time.  A Course In Miracles Lesson 128 is asking that we remember the non-physical dimension whenever this illusion of life gets to be too painful.

The only way to navigate a nightmare is to wake up and leave the whole fabrication behind.  It becomes nothing as we move on with our day.  The dream did not matter and can not last.  Do not seek meaning where there is none.  Turn to where true meaning dwells by cultivating a relationship with your inner dialogue.  Grow quiet.  Listen.  A message will come to you so gently it will seem as if it had always been there.  Which it has.

Let go of the belief that things of this world are what you want.  Enjoy the world as the pathway you take towards truth and peace.  What leads to greater calm?  Follow that. Allow yourself to release the intensity of value you have placed on the people and things around you.  Do not be afraid to allow what you have made important to become unimportant.  This includes your wife, husband, children… all the things we hold high and try to preserve.  Look beyond the object to the essence of what you really love.

Throughout the day, pause and allow this world to be free of purpose for a few seconds or even a whole minute.  Gain a fraction of distance from the substance of time and rejoin the timeless.  See that what you are doing is optional.  Ask yourself why you are doing it and then decide if you find that reason to be moving towards peace or pain.  Place no hope on that activity to bring you lasting meaning.  Enjoy the activity as it passes into the next and the next.

It is insane to trust an unstable thing for stability.  It is insane to stand on a stool that has a broken leg.  Today we adjust our understanding of what this world really is and what it can actually do for us.  This lesson helps us learn how to not give 100% of our attention to any one thing.  When we become consumed by something we are left disoriented when it inevitably comes to an end.

A Course In Miracles Lesson 128 asks us to take ten minutes three times today to sit and ponder today’s lesson.  This world holds nothing that we really want. Sit morning, noon, and evening for ten minutes.  Also, take brief moments every hour to protect your vulnerable mind from slipping into a perspective that hurts.  Remember as often as you can: This world is not what I want.  

Today we look at the physics of love.  We observe what is possible for love and what is impossible.  

Love has no opposite.  A love that changes to hate or anger is not love because love does not change.  Love resides always.  Nothing can destroy or alter it.  Ever.  Love does not go away.  But you can turn away from love because love holds freedom as its highest value.  Love does not depend on anything in order to exist.  Love is.  Love is the foundation and definition of existence Itself.  Reality is eternal and Reality is love.

If the spark of love ignites between two people, that spark is forever.  Even if one or both of you chose to bury that spark in a pile of complaints, it is still between you.  How you chose to treat the spark of love between you and another person does not influence my own relationship with that same love.  I can be at peace with my love for you even while you may not be.  Your unrest does not determine my own clarity.  If you have decided not to honor the love between us, that does not mean I must also close down my feelings of love for you.  I may take practical steps to get away from you in the physical world, but my love for you can remain.  

From yesterday’s lesson, we learned that if I can find a way to let myself love you even when there is a technical disconnect in the external world between us, I experience more peace than if I felt compelled to fight my feelings and tell myself I do not love you.  Letting yourself know you love someone does not put you in danger.  It puts you in touch with the same hope the Universe has for us to let more and more love in.  The Universe does not need our love, it only hopes we will find it, for our own sakes.

A Course In Miracles Lesson 127 wants us to understand that there are no different kinds of love and there are no degrees.  I can not love a little bit.  Preferences are not love.  Love is found even in things we do not prefer.  Love is found in everything, everywhere.  Love cannot not be there.  You can not fall out of love.  Where do you think you fall to? What can exist outside of All That Is? Love includes all that is and therefore, can not judge.  Love is a unified Self Who sees Itself in everything.  Love is the force holding all as one. And nothing can ever weaken this force. Nothing.  If you think something has happened that has broken the primary cosmic law of Love as eternal and unassailable, it is time to learn how your perception was limited.  What you think has happened has not happened.  You have not really been harmed.  Even if your body has been harmed, you, who are forever as Creation created you, have not been harmed.  You are as God is, unassailable.

This course is here to teach you how to remember what you really are.  What you are is the same as what Love is.  Love is the meaning-maker of all life.  Love gives meaning to life because Love is all that means anything.  When we have love in life we have meaning.  All our activities are infused with a joy we can not explain when we let the meaning-maker, Love flow in.  Love is a wellspring of self-made meaning.  It is a cosmic force beyond intellectual comprehension.

The laws of this world do not teach us about these properties of Love.  In the world, love is seen as something embedded in contrast with hate.  But there is no polarity in love.  This world is built on the illusion of separateness and opposites.  We are guided to not seek real love from the people and things around us.  All that you see around you is temporary.  When we look for real love on the level of energy, we will see it everywhere and in everything because it will be flowing from the inexplicable wellspring within us.  Love is something we find within and then see all around us because all that is is all together through the energy bond of love.

There is no better use of your time than to take fifteen minutes twice today to contemplate how one leaves the struggles bound up in time and experience the timeless dimension of wellness.  Sit twice today and notice how you feel about today’s lesson.  You do not have to like it or understand it.  Bring it into your thoughts once every hour today to disrupt your usual momentum of thoughts.  Crack open the spiral of logic you usually circulate and consider that everything you see around you is woven into a fabric of togetherness.  The weave is a state of gladness and joy.

At first glance, this lesson can seem to suggest we develop an unhealthy and irrational amount of generosity towards others.  It seems to suggest that if I treat you with respect, you will treat me with respect.  Which, we have all discovered, is simply not the case.  There is no way to give to someone what we want back from them and guarantee they will reciprocate.  Trying to give something to someone (affection, kindness, interest) for the purpose of getting it back from them is actually manipulation. And what this lesson wants us to see is that- what we give is what we experience.  If I  manipulate, that is how I will feel, manipulated and manipulative.  Life will feel cold and gamified, leaving me feeling lonely.

When we remember that A Course In Miracles places the highest importance on prioritizing energy over physical matter, we can begin to grasp this subtle teaching and be more aware of the hidden dysfunctional motives we ourselves may be operating from in an effort to “obtain” something in this world we think we need.  A Course In Miracles is guiding us towards understanding that we do not need anything from this world. And the way this world works can never give us what we really want.

The external world is governed by Newtonian physics.  When we give a physical object to another person, they gain the object and we lose it.  But on an energetic level, when we give something to someone from a genuine place of love, we do not lose the love, we gain it.  Likewise, if we give in an effort to get something from another, we experience that longing, rather than true generosity.

Today’s lesson teaches us that we experience for ourselves that which we give, so taking a deep, truthful look at the energy we are giving to others will guide us rightly.

This lesson is a law of the Universe.  And it is excellent news because it means that it does not matter if what we give is received by the other person. What we receive is governed by what we give.  Give love, receive love.  Give anger, receive anger.  If we let ourselves experience what we give, our behavior will be governed by kindness because kindness is always how we wish to treat ourselves.  

It does not matter that I gave love and received rudeness from the other person.  I gave love because doing so feels good to me.  And even if they continue to be rude, I may remove myself from their company, but still honor within me the joy I once felt for them.  Once a love connection is made, it can not be destroyed.  It can be buried or forgotten, but never fully lost.  It is between you both, a seed of light, shared. I can choose to preserve the light that was lit between us because it feels good to do so, even if they do not join me.  

This law of the universe is not just true for giving love.  If I give hate, I have no choice but to experience that hatred within myself.  When we observe the physics of energy dynamics between people, giving energy qualities does not take away.  It makes more of that energy.  If we think we will feel better by getting rid of our anger by venting it and getting it out of us, we discover that we stay angry and feel worse because what we gave is given back to us.

The ego logic that runs this world has convinced us that by withholding kindness from someone when we do not like their behavior will somehow instruct them and produce a positive change in them.  But if we give coldness, we get coldness back, both from them and ourselves.  The other person may or may not respond with coldness because perhaps they have taken today’s lesson to heart and do not wish to suffer coldness in themselves, but we will suffer it if that is what we give out.  I receive what I give others.

It does not matter how someone decides to respond to what you have given them.  Their response does not dictate your next response.  Compulsive defensiveness is entirely in your power to avoid.  How you decide to respond to someone else’s anger builds the world you and you alone will experience.  How you respond to this moment determines what is possible for you to experience in the next moment.  Anger must be overcome now to have peace arrive.  Waiting for the other person to grow calm is the primary dilemma we are all in.  When given anger, do not respond to a provocation.  You do so at the expense of your own well-being.

People are not separate from us.  They appear to be in separate physical bodies but our awareness of each other is unified.  I feel your energy and you feel mine, even across town.  We do not have details of the contents of each other’s thoughts, but we know when someone is angry or feeling loving.  And they know the same about us.  We are connected and we all see each other clearly if we do not deny our knowing.

Because we are connected, the way I behave towards you does have an effect on how you are able to respond to me.  You can not be expected to generate feelings of love and patience if I have given you screams and reprimands.  But if I scream and reprimand back at you because you provoke it in me, I am giving you what I do not want.  I am taking from you what I do not want.  Seeing this law of energy physics is important in being able to create the space of witnessing awareness that will save us from being pulled into the emotional cycle of pain and revenge.

Our attitudes affect everyone around us.  If everyone had awareness of the fact that they matter and their energy has an effect on others, there would be a larger sense of responsibility and motivation to strive for wellness.  We do not desire to hurt other people.  Often we hurt them because we do not believe how we feel even matters.  We disassociate from our environment and think that what is going on in us is only happening to us.  But it is happing to all of us.  Your unrest is my unrest.  What you give, I have no choice but to receive.  But I do have a choice to decide what I give back.  If you give me anger, I do not have to give anger back.  I am not saying I have to summon an unfounded love for you.  I am saying I simply do not have to avenge how you hurt me.  I can be hurt and leave it at that, stepping out of the cycle and gaining a small space of peace that will grow every time I practice giving what I wish to receive from myself and others.

Let go of the indignation that another person is treating you badly, not because it will give you the moral high ground.  It won’t.  That person may be justified in being angry with you.  Let go of indignation so that you do not have to feel the cycle of anger and revenge round and round.  It is like a rash that grows more itchy the more you scratch it.  Soothe the whole situation with non-action.

It is not necessary to beat yourself up because you can not find it in your heart to be kind to someone who has been hurtful.  A Course in Miracles is not asking you to like everyone.  You need only recognize that when you give hurtfulness back you keep the experience of pain going for yourself.  You break your own heart when you attempt to break another person’s heart.  Retaliation never feels good.

How someone feels is out of our control.  How we feel is directly determined by what we decide to give to others.  This is not to say that if you treat someone kindly you are manipulating them into treating you kindly.  They may completely ignore your kindness.  But by treating them kindly, you have treated yourself kindly and can rest in the peace of your own reliable company.

The ego will twist this lesson to cause you pain by telling you that you are failing in some way if you feel angry.  The ego will put pressure on you to “forgive” which it understands as “let them off the hook for no reason.”  But letting someone off the hook actually lets you get off that same hook.  Anger keeps you both hooked.

If we let ourselves stop being angry at someone for their behavior, we are not letting them “get away with” that behavior.  It is not in our power to even hold them to such an illusion of punishment.  Our being angry with them may not have any effect on them whatsoever.  This is especially true if they are no longer alive!  We can go about guiding ourselves out of anger with another person by accepting that whatever they did, they DID get away with it.  But at the same time, today’s lesson can be a comfort.  What they gave you, they gave to themselves.  They get away with nothing.  They suffered what you suffered.  Let that part of you in need of vengeance be at peace in knowing that it is built into the nature of the interaction.  No one gets away with anything.  You may not be there to see them suffer.  They would likely never let it show. But it is a law of the cosmos:

What I give to others is what I receive.

Everyone who has behaved in a violent way (which is everyone) deserves forgiveness. Punishment will not restore the peace broken by their error.  How long does the punishment need to be inflicted?  Who decides how many lashes will correct and avenge the misconduct?  100 lashes?  1000?  Will we need another lifetime to keep holding them to a sentence of guilt for what they did?

Our conduct is the only relationship we can ever truly depend on.  When we let ourselves down, it is time to release harsh judgment and restore friendship with kindness to ourselves.  Our conduct does not need to be determined by other people’s conduct.  How they act does not compel my actions.  I do not have to be lit on fire just because you are.

If you find it difficult to locate gentle behavior in a situation, remember that releasing anger is not something we “do.” It is something we allow to be lifted from us.  Who lifts it?  The higher power that is the voice in your quiet mind and the narrator of A Course In Miracles.  It is not in our power to resolve conflicts. Conflicts are too complex for us to know how to resolve them.  It is our task to locate peace and space within to allow a resolution to flow in by a Grace larger than us.

Today is a lesson to help us learn how to respond to conflict without the cutting edge of anger and revenge.  In a confrontation, what you give is what you experience.  You suffer the same consequences you seek to dole out to another.  You rid yourself of nothing except a sense of peace when you vent.

We are asked to contemplate today’s lesson twice today for fifteen minutes.  The ability to release the impulse to retaliate needs to become our top priority in life.  Cultivating a personality governed by the laws of peace will expand our lives into Grace and miracles beyond our wildest imagination.

Sit with your eyes closed in a quiet place and ask to be taught about how anger is released.  Recognize that you do not know how to release anger.  It is a condition beyond your skill to resolve.  Become a willing student able to be taught what true power is and what true power really wants.

Remind yourself every hour that what you give others is what you give to yourself.  Set alarms to disrupt your activities and make today’s lesson a top priority in your effort to shift your way of thinking from pain to peace.