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The One About the Secret

by Rev. Stephan Mead, O.M.C.

It seems a constant flow of comments and insights this past year have been on the subject of “waking up.” I can almost dare you to go to an ACIM internet board or ACIM Facebook posting and not find that elusive goal discussed. “What is waking up? What does one need to do to get out of the dream?” And, if it’s so easy to do, “Why haven’t more people, even the supposedly spiritual giants done it?” If one does actually “wake up,” how would he know it? What changes? Who would you hang out with in the land of enlightenment? Do people actually “wake up” or is it just something to discuss with others as we live out our lives?

This past year I probably asked myself most if not all of those questions. I also noticed that just claiming to be interested in “waking up” gave me the feeling of being on the same team as so many of my friends. Unfortunately, I also found that talking about being awakened and being awakened are two different things, and one does not automatically lead to the other.

In my hundreds of conversations about the phenomenon of “being awake,” (mostly with my mighty companion Nancy, sorry honey) I finally arrived at a question I thought very pertinent. “What would be the advantage to me to wake up?” Currently my life is pretty much without drama. I have plenty of work, plenty of money, great companionship and a fabulous relationship with my grown children. (Admittedly, my relationship with the kids may have been helped by a trip to Maui this November that I’m treating them to.) Anyway, why upset the apple cart? I’ve had plenty of misery in the past, and as long as my present stays much like it is, won’t my future be filled with happiness?

As usual, my ego is ever ready to assist and guide me in a particular way of looking at life. The problem is, I am assured in every spiritual book, every teaching and even from the quiet voice in my heart that my ego inspired game plan for life will cause me to suffer. Damn! Okay, now I’ve answered my own question. I want to wake up because I don’t want to suffer any more. However spiritually shallow that reason may be, it feels like the truth to me now, so onward to the “waking up” business.

In ACIM T-27.VIII.10, we are told, “The secret of salvation [waking up] is but this: That you are doing this unto yourself.” Then in the next paragraph we are promised, “This single lesson learned will set you free from suffering…”

These two paragraphs identified the “secret” to me. So now that I know the secret… what???

I am not a new student of the Course. I have been immersed in its teachings for years, and cannot recall a time when just a few sentences have affected me more. Could living a suffering free life be any easier? All I have to do is learn a single lesson, “I am doing everything to myself?” That’s it? That is the lesson I must learn to awaken? It just doesn’t seem all that difficult. I can learn this lesson!

In closing, I’ve been contemplating why this lesson is such a secret anyway. People have been telling me this my whole life!

Love to all! Stephan.

Rev. Stephan Mead, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Seattle, Washington.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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