Day eighteen
The road less traveled
“Miracles bear witness to truth. They are convincing because they arise from conviction. Without conviction they deteriorate into magic, which is mindless and therefore destructive; or rather, the uncreative use of the mind.” ACIM, T-1.1.14:1-3
Truth is to be found in the realm of Spirit and never in the world of the ego.
The primary Truth, as taught in A Course In Miracles, is that we have separated ourselves from God and therefore seek truth in the external world, the world of the ego, rather than within, in the realm of the Spirit or as Jesus called it “the Kingdom.”
In the world of the ego, miracles are magic. It is a manipulation of physical perception to obtain the appearance of a supernatural phenomenon which delights our minds in the world of the ego, but which, at a deeper level, we understand is an illusion, a mirage.
The ego tricks us all the time, suggesting to us that money will make us happy, power will make us happy, status and prestige will make us happy, special relationships will make us happy, additional knowledge will make us happy, etc. The ego is constantly suggesting idols to us that will help us achieve salvation, that is, happiness.
As we become more mature, just as we no longer believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, we come to realize that the idols suggested to us by the ego, are not real and not the true source of our happiness. With this realization often comes discouragement, depression, frustration, anger, resentments, guilt, and fear. We exasperatedly cry, “Will I ever be happy? Will I ever find peace and contentment?”
The beginning steps on the path of salvation is to realize that there must be a better way and that we have been going down a blind alley which dead ends. The only thing that can save us is a miracle, that is, a shift in perception, a decision to change our minds.
With this realization that there must be a better way we begin to pursue the fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism which is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search takes us inward and not outward. When we turn in our search inwardly as, as Robert Frost noted, we have taken the road less traveled and this makes all the difference.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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