Lesson 155

I will step back and let Him lead the way.

There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be. You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. Your forehead is serene; your eyes are quiet. And the ones who walk the world as you do recognize their own. Yet those who have not yet perceived the way will recognize you also, and believe that you are like them, as you were before.

The world is an illusion. Those who choose to come to it are seeking for a place where they can be illusions, and avoid their own reality. Yet when they find their own reality is even here, then they step back and let it lead the way. What other choice is really theirs to make? To let illusions walk ahead of truth is madness. But to let illusion sink behind the truth and let the truth stand forth as what it is, is merely sanity.

This is the simple choice we make today. The mad illusion will remain awhile in evidence, for those to look upon who chose to come, and have not yet rejoiced to find they were mistaken in their choice. They cannot learn directly from the truth, because they have denied that it is so. And so they need a Teacher Who perceives their madness, but Who still can look beyond illusion to the simple truth in them.

If truth demanded they give up the world, it would appear to them as if it asked the sacrifice of something that is real. Many have chosen to renounce the world while still believing its reality. And they have suffered from a sense of loss, and have not been released accordingly. Others have chosen nothing but the world, and they have suffered from a sense of loss still deeper, which they did not understand.

Between these paths there is another road that leads away from loss of every kind, for sacrifice and deprivation both are quickly left behind. This is the way appointed for you now. You walk this path as others walk, nor do you seem to be distinct from them, although you are indeed. Thus can you serve them while you serve yourself, and set their footsteps on the way that God has opened up to you, and them through you.

Illusion still appears to cling to you, that you may reach them. Yet it has stepped back. And it is not illusion that they hear you speak of, nor illusion that you bring their eyes to look on and their minds to grasp. Nor can the truth, which walks ahead of you, speak to them through illusions, for the road leads past illusion now, while on the way you call to them, that they may follow you.

All roads will lead to this one in the end. For sacrifice and deprivation are paths that lead nowhere, choices for defeat, and aims that will remain impossible. All this steps back as truth comes forth in you, to lead your brothers from the ways of death, and set them on the way to happiness. Their suffering is but illusion. Yet they need a guide to lead them out of it, for they mistake illusion for the truth.

Such is salvation’s call, and nothing more. It asks that you accept the truth, and let it go before you, lighting up the path of ransom from illusion. It is not a ransom with a price. There is no cost, but only gain. Illusion can but seem to hold in chains the holy Son of God. It is but from illusions he is saved. As they step back, he finds himself again.

Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you. And you may find that you are tempted still to walk ahead of truth, and let illusions be your guide. Your holy brothers have been given you, to follow in your footsteps as you walk with certainty of purpose to the truth. It goes before you now, that they may see something with which they can identify; something they understand to lead the way.

Yet at the journey’s ending there will be no gap, no distance between truth and you. And all illusions walking in the way you travelled will be gone from you as well, with nothing left to keep the truth apart from God’s completion, holy as Himself. Step back in faith and let truth lead the way. You know not where you go. But One Who knows goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest.

When dreams are over, time has closed the door on all the things that pass and miracles are purposeless, the holy Son of God will make no journeys. There will be no wish to be illusion rather than the truth. And we step forth toward this, as we progress along the way that truth points out to us. This is our final journey, which we make for everyone. We must not lose our way. For as truth goes before us, so it goes before our brothers who will follow us.

We walk to God. Pause and reflect on this. Could any way be holier, or more deserving of your effort, of your love and of your full intent? What way could give you more than everything, or offer less and still content the holy Son of God? We walk to God. The truth that walks before us now is one with Him, and leads us to where He has always been. What way but this could be a path that you would choose instead?

Your feet are safely set upon the road that leads the world to God. Look not to ways that seem to lead you elsewhere. Dreams are not a worthy guide for you who are God’s Son. Forget not He has placed His Hand in yours, and given you your brothers in His trust that you are worthy of His trust in you. He cannot be deceived. His trust has made your pathway certain and your goal secure. You will not fail your brothers nor your Self.

And now He asks but that you think of Him a while each day, that He may speak to you and tell you of His Love, reminding you how great His trust; how limitless His Love. In your Name and His Own, which are the same, we practice gladly with this thought today:

I will step back and let Him lead the way,

For I would walk along the road to Him.

INITIAL INSIGHT: The ego thinking mind uses the brain to gather, organize , and store data. When I am uncertain about which way to go or what to do, the thinking mind looks through those files for some piece of data from the past that seems to match the present circumstance and gives me this as a certain solution. The ego doesn’t care if it worked in the past or if it works now, it just offers what seems to correlate to the present situation. Obviously, with this process, the future will be like the past, guaranteed. Why would I keep choosing the ego as my guide? There is a well-documented history of this behavior which should warn me that it isn’t working.

If I ask the Holy Spirit for guidance it is an entirely different procedure. I empty my mind of all expectations. I step back from the decision-making process and do not offer any suggestions. I trust that whatever I feel to do or say is what I should do or say. I don’t have to worry about others involved because the Holy Spirit always answers for all, something I cannot do. I don’t judge the results because I recognize I don’t know what it is for, and so, on what would I base the judgment? I am at peace and happy. Giving up the experience of deciding on my own doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. Why would I not do this all the time? It must be that sometimes I am not in my right mind.

What stands out to me this morning from this lesson is how holy is my purpose as I awaken to truth and allow illusion to fall back, and how sacred is the trust I am given as, using the Holy Spirit as my guide, I perceive my brother’s actions but know only the truth of their being. Jesus wants us to be aware of the importance and the sacredness of this journey we make. He wants us to become fully committed to this effort. I’m with you, Brother.

I do walk carefully because I am aware that I can still slip into ego thinking. I remain vigilant for this but in a more relaxed way than before. I understand now that vigilance does not mean I watch every thought or that I work hard at this. Vigilance to me now is the practice of being receptive to guidance. Suddenly, I notice a judgmental thought. It is probably not the first ego thought that has crossed my mind, but it is the one that I noticed. This is my Inner Guide pointing it out to me because this is the one I am to release now.

My motivation for this work is peace of mind in every moment and awakening to my true Self. But I am also motivated to help my brothers awaken to Love’s presence because what good does it do me if they are not awakened as well. This desire to let my life be a guiding light for my holy brothers is as strong a motivation as my own awakening.

And another thing that stood out to me today, the world is an illusion and I came here to be an illusion and to avoid being my real self. But while this was happening and I was having my experience, I began to remember my real self. Now, remembering is my purpose. I am allowing the illusion to fade away and truth to come forward. As I do so, the truth becomes more apparent to others as well, because, after all, we are one mind.

DAILY APPLICATION: Rules For Decision can be very helpful in correcting my course when at first I fail to step back and let Him lead the way.

Now that I have been using the Rules for Decision for a while, I see how they seem to apply to everything I read in the Course. They are pure genius. In the rules, it says you will not judge the situations where you will be called upon to make a response. In fact, it says that it is our major problem. We make up our mind and then we decide what to do. Here Jesus is telling us that we need to stand back and let the Holy Spirit lead the way. Here is a way this has worked for me. This is something from my journal that happened before I retired.

My boss/brother, for whom I have been working for over 20 years, suddenly and without warning, left the company. The sane thing to do is to notice that I have a reaction to this and to step back and allow the Holy Spirit to lead my thoughts, words, and actions. But while it was a brief thought in my mind, I was overcome with emotion and had to work my way out of it. I used the Rules for Decision to do so, beginning with the very basic understanding that I had already asked the ego what this meant, and having made that decision, I acted on the assumption that what the ego said was true. I did not step back and let the Holy Spirit lead the way.

Because I had decided for ego rather than for God, I had to use the steps given to correct my course. I had to do this many times because I am accustomed to asking ego what something means and then following it. And once I let the ego interpretation of an event take hold in my mind, it is hard for me to hear the Holy Spirit. Even when I do hear Him, His answer won’t make sense to me because I have already decided what the problem is and I am looking for an answer to that problem.

For instance, in this case, the ego said the problem was that I had been abandoned and betrayed. He owed me for all the years of loyalty. If he doesn’t care what happens to me, my own brother, then no one does. I am alone and helpless. He has left me at the mercy of his business partner that even he has found to be impossible to work with. I am unfairly treated. I am a victim. With this judgment of the situation firmly in place in my mind, I am waiting for an answer that solves this problem as I see it.

So when I ask for an answer and the Holy Spirit says to step back and breathe; let Him walk before me; be the Love that I am; teach only love; teach no one they are guilty, all this sounds familiar and good but it has nothing to do with my problem as it appears to me now. “No, Holy Spirit, you don’t understand. I’m in trouble here. I need some practical advice. I need to know what to do with this situation. What do I do about the jerk I now work for? What do I do if he doesn’t like me any more than I like him and fires me? I’ll step back if you give me an answer that makes sense. Otherwise, you are just part of the problem, Holy Spirit, and that makes me even angrier because you promised to be there.”

It is so much harder to step back and listen to the Voice for God when I have already decided what the problem is. So now I have to go through the steps of correction, and I do so, one at a time, slowly, allowing the Holy Spirit to heal my mind as I go. I don’t try to take any shortcuts; I don’t skip any steps. The ego says this is not answering my question and isn’t helping, and it’s too elementary. Couldn’t possibly help. The ego-mind is insulted to be sent back to kindergarten with these simple steps. But I do it anyway. Slowly, I feel the anger and fear begin to wash away, often washing away in my tears, but going, none the less.

I could have avoided days of anxiety. I could have been the steady clock in the storm, never missing a beat, untouched by the conflict around me. I could have been the one others came to for refuge, the center of peace, and sometimes I was, but other times I was as buffeted by the winds of ego thinking as the next guy. I could have avoided all that if I had automatically turned to Holy Spirit if I had stood back and waited for Him to tell me what it all means, and what to do and say.

But that is not, yet, habit enough that it always occurs naturally. It is times like these that I practice stepping back, and less stressful times as well, because we do make decisions continuously, so there are many opportunities for practice. The more often I do this, soon or maybe later, the more quickly I will finally learn to step back immediately rather than after I get myself in trouble.

INSIGHTS FROM HOLY SPIRIT: Sometimes the insight I need comes to me in my sleep. Jesus tells us to give our sleep to the Holy Spirit and while I don’t always do this, when I do, I awake refreshed and inspired. The other day, I was feeling stress in my body so I knew that I was following ego instead of the Holy Spirit. I asked that He correct my perception of the events of the day. I asked several times because evidently, I was feeling some unconscious resistance. But as I lay down to sleep, I still was not at peace. I felt to turn on the Course and listen as I fell to sleep, something I used to do regularly but have gotten out of the habit.

During the night, I woke up a few times and listened to what was being said. I remember once when I awakened briefly that Jesus was saying he is with us and helping us. I said to him that he didn’t seem to be with me today, that I was asking for help, and wasn’t receiving it. I asked what I needed to do or to know and I fell back to sleep.

When I woke up, I was so calm and serene. This stayed with me all day. Nothing was going as I planned and yet none of it had any effect on me. I remained at peace all day. Today, I still feel that peace and happiness. I don’t know what was done in my sleep or how I was helped, but I know that Jesus remains faithful to us whether we are faithful to him or not.

GRATITUDE: A simple thank you doesn’t come close to expressing my gratitude for my life and my purpose and the certain guidance that is always there for me as I open myself to it.

REGINA’S TIPS

Today is another opportunity to contemplate the calling we received yesterday, because more than one day is needed to commit deeply to demoting self-will in favor of service to truth.

Today’s lesson tells us why we should make this commitment. “There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be. You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. Your forehead is serene; your eyes are quiet.” And isn’t this something that we all want?

“To let illusions walk ahead of truth is madness. But to let illusion sink behind the truth and let the truth stand forth as what it is, is merely sanity. … accept the truth, and let it go before you … Step back in faith and let truth lead the way.”

As we contemplate this commitment, it is also important to contemplate the warning that comes in today’s lesson. “Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you. And you may find that you are tempted still to walk ahead of truth, …”

Let today be a day of contemplating our willingness to demote self-will in favor of truth. Amen.

MY THOUGHTS

Self-will is the same thing as ego-will. Truth is the same as willing with God. I am certain that I want to do this. I will bring my attention back to this decision frequently. But I will also walk carefully, not because this path is new to me because it is not, but because I still sometimes get tempted to walk ahead of truth. I will watch my mind for signs that I have slipped into ego so that I can correct my course quickly.