ACIM Chapter 14. II. The Happy Learner P 3

ACIM Chapter 14. II. The Happy Learner P 3

II. The Happy Learner P 3

3. All this the Holy Spirit sees, and teaches, simply, that all this is not true. ²To those unhappy learners who would teach themselves nothing, and delude themselves into believing that it is not nothing, the Holy Spirit says, with steadfast quietness: ³The truth is true. ⁴Nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and everything beside it is not there. ⁵Let Me make the one distinction for you that you cannot make, but need to learn. ⁶Your faith in nothing is deceiving you. ⁷Offer your faith to Me, and I will place it gently in the holy place where it belongs. ⁸You will find no deception there, but only the simple truth. ⁹And you will love it because you will understand it.

This made me cry this morning when I read it. I was thinking yesterday about how long I have studied the Course and practiced it diligently. I have gained clarity, and my life has changed significantly. And I feel more like my Self than my self, but I still fall for ego thinking. On one hand, I recognize this as a need to heal a particular belief. But at the same time, it feels discouraging. Will I ever give my faith to the Holy Spirit to place it where it belongs? Will I ever achieve full awakening?

My intellect says that it is simple and easy to understand.

As Lesson 12 says: I am upset because I see a meaningless world. Why would I be upset to see what has no meaning? I must be defending the meaningless. My thoughts, my ideas need me to believe in them in order to exist, and I seem to think they are worth preserving. Or I want to preserve them, not because they are true or valuable, but because they are mine.

 I have come to recognize this tendency and to remind myself that there is another way, a happier, more peaceful way to see the world, despite the ego’s insistence that my way is the only way. The ego continues to offer me the thoughts that I made in the past, the thoughts of a mind driven insane by guilt. But I continue to remember the truth. When I am upset by the world, I am upset over the meaningless. Seeing how nonsensical that is, I let the thought go.

Another problem I have in letting go of a troublesome thought is that it seems so real. We made the body with its senses to prove that the world is real and threatening. We did a really good job of it. My dear friend, who seems to be suffering right now, comes to mind, and the ego has my attention.

I understand the concept of the world not being real and that it exists as thought given form. I even accept that my thoughts contributed to making this form. More than understanding, I believe this to be true. But that is not always how it feels to me.

My friend seems to be outside me and separate from me.

Another difficulty in letting go of a troubling thought is how real it seems. We made the body and its senses to convince ourselves that the world is solid and threatening, and we did this very well. I think of a dear friend who appears to be suffering, and the ego immediately has my attention.

In that moment, he seems outside me, separate from me, and beyond my help. Yet this feeling of helplessness is not coming from him. It is coming from my own interpretation of what I see. I am giving meaning to a picture and then reacting as if that meaning were true. What if I no longer pretend to understand his situation at all? What if I simply notice that my pain comes from believing in a story that is not there? In that quiet admission, I stop trying to explain his life and allow my mind to be healed instead.

Jesus teaches through contrast.

These contrasting thoughts have convinced me that my faith in nothing has deceived me. Now, I see more clearly how our interpretation of the situation is what makes it painful for me to watch. This is not helping either of us. I am tired of suffering, so I remind myself that only the truth is true.  ⁴Nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and everything beside it is not there. Since my faith in my mistaken beliefs is deceiving me, I ask the Holy Spirit to place my faith where it belongs.

These reflections show me how my faith in nothing has deceived me. I am not distressed by the world, but by the meaning I give it. And that meaning can be undone. So today I do not ask to understand. I ask only that my faith be gently lifted from illusion and placed where it belongs — in the truth that is true, where nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and nothing beside it is there.