Why were you born?

 

"We are here because there are things that need our help. Like the planet. Like each other. Like animals. The world is like a garden, and we are its protectors."

- B.B. King

If you were king or queen of the world.

 If you could have a loving, caring conversation

with humanity at this challenging and

frightening time, and if you knew that

people would listen, what would you say?

Walsch, Neale. The Storm Before the Calm (Conversations with Humanity Book 1) . Waterside Productions. Kindle Edition. 

The world of the soul.

I do not attack your ego. I do work with your higher mind, the home of the Holy Spirit, whether you are asleep or awake, just as your ego does with your lower mind, which is its home. I am your vigilance in this, because you are too confused to recognize your own hope. I am not mistaken. Your mind will elect to join with mine, and together we are invincible. T-4.IV.11:1 - 5

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

St. Paul wrote in one of his letters to the Corinthians, “If God is with you, who can be against you?” Paul is not talking about the ego, he is talking about the soul. Our ego doesn’t like our soul because the soul knows that the ego is not real.

Jesus tells us in the above passage that he does not attack the ego. Why would he and how could he attack something that isn’t real? Jesus focuses on the soul which is the home of the Holy Spirit. We get confused between the two. We think our ego is our real self and this belief generates depression and anxiety. Our hope resides in being aware that only our soul is real and when we join our soul with the soul of Jesus we experience our invincibility.

Today, we reflect on the fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism which is the affirmation and promotion of the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which takes us from the exploration of the illusionary world of the ego to the world of goodness, truth, and beauty which is the world of the soul.

Life is something we all share.

You are a mirror of truth, in which God Himself shines in perfect light. To the ego’s dark glass you need but say, “I will not look there because I know these images are not true.” Then let the Holy One shine on you in peace, knowing that this and only this must be. His Mind shone on you in your creation and brought your mind into being. His Mind still shines on you and must shine through you. Your ego cannot prevent Him from shining on you, but it can prevent you from letting Him shine through you. T-4.IV.9: 1 = 6 

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

John Buehens when he was president of the Unitarian Universalists Association is said to have said when people told him they were atheists, “What god is it that you don’t believe in?”

Neale Donald Walsh, the author of the Conversations With God books, has said something like, “If you don’t like the word ‘god’ substitute the word ‘life.’”  One might not believe in some god or other but they cannot deny a belief in life while they are living.

Today’s passage points out that we are creations of the Life force. We can be distracted and give our attention to the things of the ego which blocks our awareness of the Unconditional Love of the Life force but, though distracted and unaware, it doesn’t change the fact that we are manifestations of the Life within us.

Unitarian Universalists know this because they join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person which comes from the Life which we all share and is the Ground of our being.

Withdraw attachment to the ego and join with the Divine Force which animates the universe.

Judgment, like any other defense, can be used to attack or protect; to hurt or to heal. The ego should be brought to judgment and found wanting there. Without your own allegiance, protection and love, the ego cannot exist. Let it be judged truly and you must withdraw allegiance, protection and love from it. T-4.IV.8: 7 - 10

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

The Buddha taught that the cause of suffering is attachment. The greatest attachment of all is to our ego. A Course In Miracles is a mind training manual which encourages its students to give up their attachment to their egos in favor of becoming one with the Divine. This “mind control,” this change in focus takes recognition, acknowledgment, intention, and action. Can we give up our willfulness and turn it over? Can we move from conditional “give to get” functioning to unconditional love and let things be?

Today, it is suggested that we join with the Unitarian Universalists and practice their fourth principle which is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Truth and meaning is not to be found in the idols of the ego. Truth and meaning is to be found in the Divine force that animates the universe.

The foundational faith which enables a better world.

The habit of engaging with God and His creations is easily made if you actively refuse to let your mind slip away. The problem is not one of concentration; it is the belief that no one, including yourself, is worth consistent effort. Side with me consistently against this deception, and do not permit this shabby belief to pull you back. The disheartened are useless to themselves and to me, but only the ego can be disheartened. T-4.IV.7: 1 - 4

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

So many people these days in the United States seem to be disheartened. The political animosity and adversity is very high. Egos are at war with each other over just about any issue. Observers ask, “What is going on?” There can be many answers to this question but the most relevant perhaps is the one about the spiritual poverty of the people of the nation. People have let their minds slip away from the unconditional love of God and reside in conditional love which is given only if you think like me. Jesus encourages us to side with Him in unconditional love which is our natural inheritance but to do this we must eschew the ego.

Creating heaven on earth.

Watch your mind for the temptations of the ego, and do not be deceived by it. It offers you nothing. When you have given up this voluntary dis-spiriting, you will see how your mind can focus and rise above fatigue and heal. Yet you are not sufficiently vigilant against the demands of the ego to disengage yourself. This need not be. T-4.IV.6: 1 - 5

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. T-4.IV.6. 

The idea of “spiritual practice” is a helpful one. What is a spiritual practice? It is one that focuses our minds on the spiritual instead of the ego. The best spiritual practice is to frequently ask ourselves, “What would love have me do?” and then do it.

The prayer that Jesus taught is, in English, called the “Our Father” or “Pater Noster” in Latin. One of the verses in this prayer is “ …and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This verse is what today’s paragraph from A Course In Miracles is suggesting when it states “Watch your mind for temptations of the ego, and do not be deceived by it.” There are many things which the world of the ego tells us will make us happy which is disingenuous and only after a great deal of heartache does it slowly begin to dawn on us that there is a better way and that we have been mislead and lied to by the ego.

Today, we can consider the fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism which is the promotion and affirmation of the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. As it is stated in today’s paragraph “You are not sufficiently vigilant against the demands of the ego to disengage yourself. This need not be.” The dawning precipitates the initiation of the search and it is this seeking based on the question, “What would love have me do?” that can make all the difference in creating heaven on earth.