To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple, we recommend that
you read the corresponding chapter and section in the Text of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Read ACIM Chapter 14, Section II (pages 272-274)
It seems incredible that we would be devoted to misery and believe that misery is happiness. We don’t realize that what we perceive is a made up universe of illusions based upon belief in separation. Because of our belief, separation seems to be true to us. And so we make up illusions that we believe bring us happiness: Romantic relationships, wealth, special recognition, fancy cars and houses. These are just a few examples of the myriad forms we have made up that we believe will make us happy.
Yet if we look at each one of them honestly, we see that even if they seem to bring us happiness, this happiness does not last. There is always an underlying anxiety that we will soon have to go seeking for another source of happiness because what we have will lose value and fade away. We mask the underlying fear and anxiety with surface thrills of excitement so we don’t recognize that through all these periods of seeming happiness runs a thread of misery. The misery is there because the price for seeing all these illusions is the denial of our Self, the denial of Love. No form in this world can substitute for the Love we truly are. And so no form in this world can content us. We cannot feel complete while we believe that any form in the world has value.
We need a Teacher Who is not deceived by the illusions we have made to substitute for the truth of Love. By the grace of God we have this Teacher in our minds, right there, where we made up the illusions. Being in the place where we make the error, He is in a position to offer correction if we are willing to learn His lessons. His lessons begin with helping us to recognize that what we have believed brought us happiness has no real value because it is made of nothing. It is a simple lesson, but one that may not be easy for us to accept.
We have built our self-identity around our belief in what could never be. We resist changing this belief because it seems like we will lose our identity. And so our inner Teacher shows us our real Identity, which is so magnificent that we begin to recognize that the false identity we made offers us nothing we want. His teaching helps us to change our values so we no longer give value to nothing and we recognize the real value of Love, which is everything and which is What we are. Gradually the fear of change subsides and we become happy learners of the fact that only truth is true — only Love is real.
We become willing to hear the Holy Spirit’s lesson: “The truth is true. Nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and everything beside it is not there. Let Me make the one distinction for you that you cannot make, but need to learn. Your faith in nothing is deceiving you. Offer your faith to Me, and I will place it gently in the holy place where it belongs. You will find no deception there, but only the simple truth. And you will love it because you will understand it.” (3:3-8)
The Holy Spirit shows us that nothing really matters in a world that is not there. What really matters is remembering the truth that we are in Heaven where we belong, now. No worldly stories can change the truth. Truth is true and nothing else is true. As we see our brothers in the light of truth, we help ourselves and our brothers. “The heavy chains that seem to bind them to despair they do not see as nothing, until you bring the light to them. And then they see the chains have disappeared, and so they must have been nothing. And you will see it with them. Because you taught them gladness and release, they will become your teachers in release and gladness. When you teach anyone that truth is true, you learn it with him. And so you learn that what seemed hardest was the easiest.” (4:6-9, 5:1-2)
Here we have the key to awakening. Here we have the way to become happy learners. Remembering the truth is an experience that brings us happiness and joy. The Holy Spirit teaches by contrast. As we experience the peace and happiness in His lessons more and more, we become more willing to pay attention to the Holy Spirit’s lessons in thought reversal. We become more willing to recognize that we have made nothing. “For truth is true. What else could ever be, or ever was? This simple lesson holds the key to the dark door that you believe is locked forever. You made this door of nothing, and behind it is nothing. The key is only the light that shines away the shapes and form and fears of nothing. Accept this key to freedom from the hands of Christ Who gives it to you, that you may join Him in the holy task of bringing light.” (7:3-8)
What could be more clear than this? Being a happy learner means happily letting Christ’s vision change our mind about what we think we are seeing. Being a happy learner means letting ourselves become aware that only truth is true and nothing else matters.
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