Do you want that which would hurt you most?

Undermining the ego’s thought system must be perceived as painful, even though this is anything but true. Babies scream in rage if you take away a knife or scissors, although they may well harm themselves if you do not. In this sense you are still a baby. You have no sense of real self-preservation, and are likely to decide that you need precisely what would hurt you most. T-4.II.5: 1-4

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Once again we observe Jesus’ humor. He is calling us babies because we cling to our egos. He points out that we can have a temper tantrum when the ego is taken away from us just like a baby from whom scissors or a knife is taken away from when the baby wants to play with them.

In Alcoholics Anonymous people are upset in step one when it is pointed out to them that their lives have become unmanageable because of alcohol. They will deny it, minimize it, blame other people or circumstances and insist that they can control the ego’s impulses and cravings. There is a belief that some people are not willing to seek a better way until they hit bottom. Their false belief in willfulness interferes with their peace.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search takes us ultimately to the realization that the ego has misled us and that the only way to peace is through unconditional love.

Today, it is suggested that we give up our scissors, knives, guns, and other attachments that we think will keep our egos safe. In the place of these attachments to the things of the ego, it is suggested that we abide in only that which is real, which is the unconditional love of God.