Do you really want to pursue the false promises of happiness?

Spirit need not be taught, but the ego must be. Learning is ultimately perceived as frightening because it leads to the relinquishment, not the destruction, of the ego to the light of spirit. This is the change the ego must fear, because it does not share my charity. My lesson was like yours, and because I learned it I can teach it. I will never attack your ego, but I am trying to teach you how its thought system arose. When I remind you of your true creation, your ego cannot but respond with fear. T-4.I.3:1-6

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

The Jesus of A Course In Miracles has a sense of humor. His statements in the text are funny. He points out in this paragraph that the ego is afraid of the Truth because if the Truth is accepted the ego will disappear. The ego insists it is right and thereby deprives the one attached to the ego of happiness. Jesus does not attack the ego but points out what its thinking robs you of. It is up to us whether we want to give up our attachment to our egos or not. Would we rather be right or be happy?

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested, in step three, that we make a decision to turn our egos over to the will of God if we want peace of mind, what people in AA call “serenity.”

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning but all too often we are looking for love in all the wrong places. When we consider rejoining our Transcendent Source and healing our separation, the ego’s anxiety is aroused and we all too often turn away from the very thing we seek.

Today, it is suggested we can make a choice between relinquishment of the ego and abiding in serenity or the continued attachment to the false promises of the ego for happiness.

Turning our attention from ego to spirit.

 

Nothing can reach spirit from the ego, and nothing can reach the ego from spirit. Spirit can neither strengthen the ego nor reduce the conflict within it. The ego is a contradiction. Your self and God’s Self are in opposition. They are opposed in source, in direction and in outcome. They are fundamentally irreconcilable, because spirit cannot perceive and the ego cannot know. They are therefore not in communication and can never be in communication. Nevertheless, the ego can learn, even though its maker can be misguided. He cannot, however, make the totally lifeless out of the life-given. T-4:1.2:6 - 14

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

A Course In Miracles teaches that the ego is an illusion. Our self is not real. It is not who we are. When we separated ourselves from our Transcendent Source, we set off on a path thinking we could author a self. It is like cosplay. The Spirit knows nothing of what we have created and think is real. We are merely watching shadows on the wall in Plato’s cave.

However, in our disappointment, frustration, resentment, fear, and guilt, it dawns on us that what we have created may not be authentic. And we begin a search for our Transcendent Source. As it says in the introduction to ACIM, “Nothing real can be threatened, nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.”

In Alcoholics Anonymous, it is suggested, in step three, that we make a decision to turn our willfulness over to the will of God, and in Unitarian Universalism we affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which will ultimately take us from the unreal to the real.

Today, it is suggested that we recognize and acknowledge that the things of the ego will never satisfy our yearning and that we have been looking for love in all the wrong places. It is time to turn our attention from the things of the ego to the things of spirit.

Would you rather be right or be happy?

Many stand guard over their ideas because they want to protect their thought systems as they are, and learning means change. Change is always fearful to the separated, because they cannot conceive of it as a move towards healing the separation. They always perceive it as a move toward further separation, because the separation was their first experience of change. You believe that if you allow no change to enter into your ego you will find peace. T-4.I.2; 1-4

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

Ideas that are different from the ones you hold create cognitive dissonance and increase anxiety. There is a question later in the text of ACIM which asks, “Would you rather be right or be happy?” The ego would rather be right.

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested, in step three, that we turn our willfulness over to the will of God. While initially this thought increases anxiety, if we decide to do it, peace arises.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search takes us in the direction of achieving the peace of God which comes from giving up separation and abiding in unification with the Oneness from which we separated at our incarnation.

Today, it is suggested that we relax, settle, and merge our willfulness into the will of our Transcendent Source.

Articulate our ideas and share them with those we respect.

A good teacher clarifies his own ideas and strengthens them by teaching them. Teacher and pupil are alike in the learning process. They are in the same order of learning, and unless they share their lessons conviction will be lacking. A good teacher must believe in the ideas he teaches, but he must meet another condition; he must believe in the students to whom he offers the ideas. T-4.I.1: 1-4

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

We learn what we teach. A good teacher believes what they teach. The teacher should be sincere, genuine, authentic. In addition, a good teacher believes in and respects the one(s) they are sharing their teachings with.

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested, in step twelve, that AA members who have had a spiritual awakening share what they have learned with others. The efficacy of their sharing depends on their sincerity, and their love and respect for those they share the message with.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. This acceptance and encouragement comes from the affirmation and promotion of each person’s inherent worthy and dignity.

Today, it is suggested that we clarify our own ideas by attempting to articulate them and share them with others. This clarification comes not only from their articulation but from the regard for those with whom the articulation is shared.

What was the point of Jesus’ crucifixion?

Do not make the pathetic error of “clinging to the old rugged cross.” The only message of the crucifixion is that you can overcome the cross. Until then you are free to crucify yourself as often as you choose. This is not the gospel I intended to offer you. We have another journey to undertake, and if you will read these lessons carefully they will help prepare you to undertake it. T-4.In.3:7-11

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

Osho called “christianity” “crosstianity.” Christians have been taught the redemptive power of suffering, to take up our cross, and follow Him, but the Jesus of A Course In Miracles states that this was not His intended message of the crucifixion drama. The Jesus of A Course In Miracles states that the message of the crucifixion is that the torture and killing of His body doesn’t matter. It was His Spirit rising above it all and forgiving His killers that was the point.

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested, in step three, that we make a decision to turn our willfulness over to the will of God. “Let go and let God” is the slogan.

In Unitarian Universalism, we join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and the encouragement of spiritual growth. Spiritual growth comes from discarding the things of the ego and adopting the things of the Spirit, that is giving up conditional love in favor of unconditional love. This is Jesus’ message of the crucifixion episode.

Today, it is suggested that we give up suffering and the cross as a means of salvation and in its place rise to the level of unconditional love of Spirit.

The decision is ours about where we are coming from.

You can speak from the spirit or from the ego, as you choose. If you speak from spirit you have chosen to “Be still and know that I am God.” These words are inspired because they reflect knowledge. If you speak from the ego you are disclaiming knowledge instead of affirming it, and are thus dis-spiriting yourself. Do not embark on useless journeys, because they are indeed in vain. The ego may desire them, but spirit cannot embark on them because it is forever unwilling to depart from its Foundation. T-4.in.2:1-6

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

Once we are aware that we have a choice, the decision is always ours whether to speak from the spirit or from the ego. Another way of thinking about this is whether we choose to speak from unconditional love or conditional love. The decision is ours a hundred times per day.

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested, in step eleven, that we improve our conscious contact with God through prayer and meditation and we might add mindfulness.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person which springs from spirit and not from ego.

Today, it is suggested that we ask when we have to make a decision “What would Love have me do?”

Choose to live an inspired life.

The Bible says that you should go with a brother twice as far as he asks. It certainly does not suggest that you set him back on his journey. Devotion to a brother cannot set you back either. It can lead only to mutual progress. The result of genuine devotion is inspiration, a word which properly understood is the opposite of fatigue. To be fatigued is to be dis-spirited, but to be inspired is to be in the spirit. To be egocentric is to be dis-spirited, but to be Self-centered in the right sense is to be inspired or in spirit. The truly inspired are enlightened and cannot abide in darkness. T-4.in.1: 1-8

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

A Course In Miracles suggests that we live life inspired and not dis-spirited. In order to do this we need to drop the ego and go with the flow of Tao.

In Alcoholic Anonymous, it is suggested, in step three, that we make a decision to turn our willfulness over to the will of God. This suggestion means to give up the ego and go with the flow.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. In other words we are to devote ourselves to the Divine Spark within each person who crosses our path.

Today, it is suggested that we drop the ego, turn our willfulness over to God and live an inspired life.