To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend
that you read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
“I will not value what is valueless.”
Today’s lesson lies at the core of awakening. I will not value what is valueless. Jesus has told us many times that we seek for what we value and we value it because we think it will give us something we want. As long as I value a world of separation, I will seek for it and I will find it.
But now I am learning to value what is truly important. I am learning to value the truth. In truth I am still as God created me. I am love and nothing else, and that is the truth about everyone.
As I practice every day opening more and more to the truth, its value grows in my mind. The Love that I am is found and felt. The Love that everyone is is found and felt. There is no complication here. Life as I know it becomes simple and clear of valueless distractions. There is only one goal, and that is to return to the truth and let go of the valueless.
This is actually very practical. It is not just heady concepts. It brings everything and every experience down to very simple terms. What is real and what is not real? I can let go of what is not real because it doesn’t matter. I can open more and more to what is real because that is all that does matter.
In today’s lesson, the first test Jesus talks about is asking of everything, “Is this eternal? Is this a thing that lasts forever?” This is how I can tell if what I am choosing is valuable or valueless, worth everything or nothing at all. As I apply the practice of today’s lesson to each situation I encounter, it takes me a long way towards recognizing what is real and what is not real; what is valuable and what is not worth seeking. This is a very important step on my journey of return to the changeless truth.
I am so grateful for these daily practice lessons. I am gradually learning to generalize it to every part of my life. Learning to let go of valuing what is valueless opens my mind to receive what is really true. The whole Sonship is still as God created it. God’s extensions are still safe in the Mind of God. No one has left Heaven. Nothing has changed. The truth is true and nothing else is true. “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.” (Intro.) Today I practice applying this to every situation I encounter in my daily life.
This lesson seems to be working mainly at the metaphysical level. It says that if what you gain another loses, then what you gained is valueless. In the physical world, for anything that you take, the one that you took it from no longer has it. You may have offered money in exchange, but that thing is no longer in their possession. The very point of this lesson is that this exchange is truly valueless. It really follows from yesterday’s lesson. Nothing in this world is real and therefore nothing in this world has value.
If we still maintain identification with the ego, this can seem very frustrating. If nothing here is of value, what’s the use, the ego would say. Here it is important that we look at the third test given in this lesson. We need to ask, “What is this for? What is its purpose?” It is its purpose that gives it its meaning. If its purpose is to maintain the idea of separation and specialness, then it is really an empty meaning, for separation and specialness cannot be real. But if its purpose is to facilitate forgiveness and the extension of Love, then its value is mighty, for it is leading us to the gate of Heaven.
To clearly discern the purpose of anything in any moment, we need to ask the guidance of Holy Spirit. On our own, which means in our identification with the ego, it is impossible for us to truly recognize the purpose of anything. But the Holy Spirit in our mind is there to help us in every moment with every decision. An important step to opening up to His guidance is learning to recognize the valuable and the valueless. If I am valuing an ego based idea or thing, I will not have an open mind and will be unwilling to receive the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Today’s lesson offers us a means to practice recognizing the valuable and the valueless. The tests offered in this lesson can help me loosen my grip on the valueless by helping me to recognize it for what it is. This is how I can come to the Holy Spirit with empty hands and an open mind to receive His gifts of the truly valuable.
Today i will practice asking in each decision, “Is this eternal? Does this involve loss of any kind? What is its purpose? Is there any guilt associated with this?” Thank you Jesus for this mighty tool to help me on my journey of awakening.
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