Together, We Light the Way

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A Review of the Rules for Decision 9-5-19

Chapter 30: THE NEW BEGINNING
Introduction Part 1 Review
1 The new beginning now becomes the focus of the curriculum. The goal is clear, but now you need specific methods for attaining it. The speed by which it can be reached depends on this one thing alone; your willingness to practice every step. Each one will help a little, every time it is attempted. And together will these steps lead you from dreams of judgment to forgiving dreams and out of pain and fear. They are not new to you, but they are more ideas than rules of thought to you as yet. So now we need to practice them awhile until they are the rules by which you live. We seek to make them habits now, so you will have them ready for whatever need.

What stands out to me in this paragraph is this sentence: “The speed by which it can be reached depends on this one thing alone; your willingness to practice every step.” I noticed that when I first started this practice, it worked so well, and I was really happy to have found it. Then after awhile, it stopped working for me and I was confused about that.

I was so excited to have this new understanding that I made a typical mistake. I thought my understanding was enough. I ignored this very important sentence and my practice was careless.  So, I started over and this time I paid attention to the fact that I needed to practice. Understanding is not enough; practice is essential. Not only did I need to practice, but I needed to practice every step.

Another issue I ran into is that it seemed to work like magic sometimes, and sometimes not. I was confused by that as well. When I started over, I paid close attention to what is written here and I noticed this sentence as well. “Each one will help a little, every time it is attempted.” This process is going to work, but it might be slow at first while I build a new habit.

Habits take time and when you are undoing one habit and replacing it with another, you need to be patient. Another thing I had not noticed about this sentence is that it says I will be helped a little every time it is attempted. I noticed that it helps me whether I succeed or just try. That is encouraging.

We need to practice them now. We need to make them rules we live by. They need to become habits so that we use them automatically. This is why I created a group on Facebook, and why I work with groups and individuals on this process. I use this as a way to govern my own practice as well as to provide a place where others can do so as well. We all work better if we work together.

Part 2 Review
I. Rules for Decision
“1 Decisions are continuous. You do not always know when you are making them. But with a little practice with the ones you recognize, a set begins to form which sees you through the rest. It is not wise to let yourself become preoccupied with every step you take. The proper set, adopted consciously each time you wake, will put you well ahead. And if you find resistance strong and dedication weak, you are not ready. Do not fight yourself. But think about the kind of day you want, and tell yourself there is a way in which this very day can happen just like that. Then try again to have the day you want.”

Jesus starts off by telling us that decisions are continuous. I looked at the word continuous and it says that it is unbroken or uninterrupted. We are always making decisions. I never realized that before. Jesus wants us to pay attention to our decisions so we can learn to make them with the Holy Spirit instead of the ego.

He does tell us, though, not to obsess about them. Just use the ones we notice to do our practice. If we try to catch every single one, we will make ourselves crazy and likely quit before our practice has a chance to help us. I have always noticed a number of decisions that I can use every day without making any effort to do so, other than my willingness to work on whatever the Holy Spirit brings to my attention.

Another important point that Jesus makes early on is this. “And if you find resistance strong and dedication weak, you are not ready. Do not fight yourself.” He emphasizes that we are not to fight ourselves. For this to work, we must be gentle and patient. It will not help if we push too hard, as we will only resist.

He does not mean that we should give up at the first sign of resistance. He just means that we should step back, take a deep breath, and start over. He wants us to remember the kind of day we planned for ourselves (something we will soon talk about) and realize that we can have that day. Then, he says, try again.

Part 3 Review

“2 (1) The outlook starts with this:
Today I will make no decisions by myself.”
This is the statement that begins all my days. I tend to modify in my mind to state that I will make no decisions with ego, which is what Jesus means when he says that we make them by ourselves. We can’t actually make a decision by ourselves as all decisions must be made in union, as he explains later. For now, suffice it to say that “by myself” means with ego mind.

“This means that you are choosing not to be the judge of what to do. But it must also mean you will not judge the situations where you will be called upon to make response. For if you judge them, you have set the rules for how you should react to them. And then another answer cannot but produce confusion and uncertainty and fear.”

Understanding this particular paragraph has caused the most significant shift in my understanding and in my practice. Jesus tells us that we are not to be the judge of what we do. That was no surprise for me. I know that I want to ask the Holy Spirit what to do. Jesus says that a healed mind does not make plans. He often tells us that we don’t know what anything means, nor do we know what it is for. He tells us that we cannot judge. So I was good to go with that part.

Then, Jesus surprised me. He said that it also means I will not judge the situations where I will be called on to make response. So what he is saying to me is that I should not only avoid deciding what to do in a situation, but I should not even have decided what the situation itself means. I had to work with that idea for awhile to really take it in.

Here is an example. What if my daughter didn’t remember my birthday? If I make no judgment about the situation, then the only thing that happened is that she didn’t call me on my birthday. If, instead, I decided that she should have called me, that her not calling me must that she does not honor me, and further, that I need her to honor me.

Now I have a situation that I must respond to, and I have decided what it means. Do you think this interpretation of the situation will influence my response? Yeah, me, too. Now I have called into place certain rules that will inform my reactions. It seems I have a rule that says daughters must honor their mothers, especially on birthdays.

So when I ask, how should I respond to this insult, the ego will have many answers for me, none of them loving. It might occur to me to be angry, to make her feel guilty, to give her the cold shoulder, or even to feel guilty myself. After all, what kind of mother was I that she would not call me on my birthday? I must have done a poor job parenting her.

All this time, the Holy Spirit will have another suggestion for me, one that does not involve pain and guilt, but will it make any sense to me? His answer won’t seem to have anything to do with my daughter’s cruelty. It won’t make sense in the face of my desire to know how to change my daughter’s mind about me.

Part 4 Review
“3 This is your major problem now. You still make up your mind, and then decide to ask what you should do. And what you hear may not resolve the problem as you saw it first. This leads to fear, because it contradicts what you perceive and so you feel attacked. And therefore angry. There are rules by which this will not happen. But it does occur at first, while you are learning how to hear.”

Here is another example of how this happens. My son has a back injury that causes him a lot of pain. He gets shots regularly and has had surgery. There were times when I was with him during these procedures and it was very painful for me to watch. One time, in particular, I felt that he suffered unnecessarily because of the carelessness of the nurse. I was very angry.

I carried that grievance for a good while. I knew this was not good and that there was another way to see it. When I would try to hear Holy Spirit, I would just feel irritated. I felt abandoned because I wasn’t hearing anything that felt helpful. This is what Jesus means when he says that when we hear something that does not answer the problem as we perceive it we become fearful and then angry.

I have had peace long enough that I miss it when it is gone. So I did eventually follow the rules for decision and letting go all that the ego previously decided, I was able to accept a new way of seeing, this time with the Holy Spirit.

Next, Jesus is going to give us a helpful procedure to form the habit of making all decisions with the Holy Spirit.

Part 5 Review
4 (2) Throughout the day, at any time you think of it and have a quiet moment for reflection, tell yourself again the kind of day you want; the feelings you would have, the things you want to happen to you, and the things you would experience, and say:
If I make no decisions by myself, this is the day that will be given me.

These two procedures, practiced well, will serve to let you be directed without fear, for opposition will not first arise and then become a problem in itself.

Want a happy day? Jesus is giving us a way that we can have it. We start by making a commitment to make no decision on our own. Then we choose the kind of day we want to have and remind ourselves that if we do not make any decisions by ourselves this is the day that will be given us. You notice that Jesus is very specific in his instructions and he is asking us to be specific in our plans. Decide the kind of day you want and then as long as you make all your decisions with the Holy Spirit, this is the day you will have.

So, I am going to follow his instructions as closely as I can, and if I falter in that plan, he has a way for us to restore our day.

Today, I will make no decisions by myself.

Feelings: celebratory
Things I want to happen: enjoy my birthday, prepare for hurricane that is predicted to hit us tomorrow. Give over any concerns about that as quickly as they come up.
Experience: feeling calm and joyful.

If I make no decisions on my own, this is the day I will be given.

Part 6 Review
5 But there will still be times when you have judged already. Now the answer will provoke attack, unless you quickly straighten out your mind to want an answer that will work. Be certain this has happened if you feel yourself unwilling to sit by and ask to have the answer given you. This means you have decided by yourself, and cannot see the question. Now you need a quick restorative before you ask again.

Jesus starts by telling us that even though we could have the day we choose if we make no decisions on our own, he also tells us that there will be times when we have judged already. I love how Jesus knows what we are going to do. Often in the Course, he acknowledges that we are going to have problems implementing his instructions.

This has always made me feel better about my lapses. Evidently. they are normal and expected. This is why the Course is not just one page long. We need to hear the same things in different ways. And that is why there are 365 lessons. We need to practice a lot.

Then he tells us, “Now the answer will provoke attack unless you quickly straighten out your mind to want an answer that will work.” Apparently, when we judge, we will attack. Thinking about this, I see it must be true. The very act of judgment is an attack, and attack is followed by guilt and our reaction will be further attack, thus setting up an unfortunate cycle of judgment, attack, and guilt.

I thought of an example of this. I used to work with someone who was very reactive. I thought she shouldn’t be like that and so that was the judgment. From that point on, when she would react to something, I would have this judgment in my mind and would, at the least, have unkind thoughts about her.

Sometimes I would say something unkind or defend myself or others. I was making her guilty and feeling guilty for doing so. It was a constant cycle of judgment and attack until I forgave the situation. The person remained reactive but I didn’t judge it and the cycle was broken. The Rules for Decision is very helpful in breaking the cycle.

It took awhile for all of this to work out. First, I had to want to return to peace. Then I had to accept that it was me that needed to change, not her. I had to want to straighten out my mind to something that would work. It wasn’t so easy for me to do this because I let it get away from me and it built up until it felt like a big deal to me. But sometimes, if I catch a situation right away and change my mind quickly, I don’t have to move into this cycle at all.

It is easy to know that I am slipping into the cycle. The clue is that I am not waiting patiently for guidance, but deciding for myself what to do. I had this experience yesterday. I had been looking at the devastation of Harvey in Texas for a few days. So when they said that it would be coming my way, I started preparing.  There is nothing wrong with preparation, but I let my imagination take over instead of asking what I should do.

I decided that I should get sandbags to put in front of my doors in case the flood waters got that high. The back door has come close to flooding into the house before because there is a dip right there, but I have never gotten water near the front of my house. Still, I kept thinking about those pictures from Houston. I bet lots of those people had never experienced flooding in their homes either.

I wasn’t feeling a compelling desire to do this. In other words, I wasn’t experiencing any guidance toward it. I felt perfectly safe as I was. But the ego mind kept harping about this so I decided to get the sand bags. I didn’t need them at all. This morning, I was talking to Holy Spirit about it. I told Him that I did ask if I should get the bags, and He reminded me that I asked after I was already on my way and that I had made up my mind by that time.

I wasn’t completely out of my right mind, though. The Holy Spirit reminded me of what I did right. Probably the reason I jumped up and went in search of sandbags is that they were running out of them everywhere they would normally be available. So I felt a sense of urgency and that is when I stopped listening to guidance and started making decisions on my own.

On the way there, I noticed that things were not going smoothly and that is when I did the quick restorative that we will talk about tomorrow. At that point, I stopped looking for ways to find the bags and just asked Holy Spirit to guide me. I went straight to the place that not only had sand available but had volunteers helping. All I had to do was to drive up, open my trunk and let them put the bags in. It was completely done with 10 minutes of the correction in my thinking.

Part 7 Review
6 (3) Remember once again the day you want, and recognize that something has occurred that is not part of it. Then realize that you have asked a question by yourself, and must have set an answer in your terms. Then say:

I have no question. I forgot what to decide.

This cancels out the terms that you have set, and lets the answer show you what the question must have really been.

There are times during the day when I forget that I want the Holy Spirit be my advisor, times when I ask the ego what something means. When this happens, I feel upset, perhaps angry or fearful, maybe guilty or I may see someone else as guilty. It may be that I feel an unspecific sense of anxiety or dread or just the sense that things are not right.

If I began my day by deciding what I want to experience, what I want to do, and how I want to feel, then, when something happens that is out of accord with my plans, I know what has happened. I have made a decision with the ego and having judged something, I have already decided what the question is and how it should be answered. Now I need a quick restorative to get my day back on track.

What I need is a way to wipe out my previous decision and to start over. This is what Jesus gives me here in this paragraph. I can first decide that I have no question. I have asked the ego what something means, and this has set me on a crooked path that will not bring me to peace. So I cancel the question. In my mind, I see myself erasing the blackboard of my question. Do they still have blackboards in school? Ha ha. I guess someone younger could see himself hitting the delete button.

This next phrase was a mystery to me for awhile. It says, “and lets the answer show you what the question must have really been.” Here is how I came to understand this. When I was frantically searching for sandbags, I was doing so because I had asked what I should do to prepare for the hurricane. The ego said I needed to sandbag my doors to prevent flooding in my house.

Driving around in the rain chasing sand bags was not my idea of what my day was supposed to look like. Later, when I realized what had happened to throw my day off, I did a restorative and canceling out my previous questions, realizing that I forgot to decide for the Holy Spirit as my partner, my mind cleared. As I returned to peace, I realized that the real question had been, “Am I safe?” Peace was the answer that showed me what the question must have been.

There will be times when we will believe our mistaken thoughts and the quick restorative may not be enough to restore us to sanity. Jesus has another process to help us with this.

Part 8 Review
7 Try to observe this rule without delay, despite your opposition. For you have already gotten angry. And your fear of being answered in a different way from what your version of the question asks will gain momentum, until you believe the day you want is one in which you get your answer to your question. And you will not get it, for it would destroy the day by robbing you of what you really want. This can be very hard to realize, when once you have decided by yourself the rules that promise you a happy day. Yet this decision still can be undone, by simple methods that you can accept.

So far, we have learned that it is helpful to decide ahead of time what kind of day we want to have. If we make no decisions by ourselves (with ego) this is the day we will have. Secondly, we have learned that even when we forget our decision and ask the ego for help, we can quickly restore the day through canceling out our question, and instead asking Holy Spirit for advice.

Now, Jesus is helping us to see why it is important that we do the quick restorative right away. He starts by pointing out that we have already gotten angry. I am not always aware of my anger. Sometimes it shows up as the very mildest of irritation, just a quick physical sensation that I stomp out before I even notice it. I learned a long time ago that anger is dangerous and that I should crush it before anyone gets hurt. It is now a hard habit to break, this denial. Sometimes, the anger is directed inward and I call it something else, like sadness or guilt.

But what is really happening in my mind is this. Suppose I planned to have a peaceful, happy day and then something happens. Maybe while I was visiting my daughter she objected to something I said. And now I feel agitated, and I see-saw between feeling afraid I damaged the relationship and being angry that she was so quick to judge me. Then I start thinking about other times when she was hard to get along with and the story grows all out of proportion.

So that was what happened that seemed to destroy my plans for a happy, peaceful day. Here is what actually happened. My daughter said something. Without even thinking about doing so, I asked the ego what her words meant. The ego gave me a story of guilt that applied equally to us both. This story begged the question, what to do about it. But nothing the ego said helps restore my day and so I ask the Holy Spirit what to do about my unreasonable daughter and the Holy Spirit’s answer doesn’t seem to have anything to do with my problem as I see it, and this is where the anger comes in.

Now, I am afraid of the Holy Spirit’s answer, because it doesn’t seem to solve my problem. Sometimes it doesn’t even seem relevant. And so I go back to ego for solutions and this is where the whole thing gains momentum. Now I am engrossed in the story of my unreasonable daughter, or maybe in the story of me as not a good mother, maybe even not a good person. I come up with story after story that supports my perception of what is happening now. At this point, I can’t find my way out of the ego version of things. This is the situation that I can avoid if I do my restorative quickly.

But, Jesus knows that I am not always going to take the easy way out. If I have let the momentum of the story carry me away, I need a deeper process for undoing my thoughts and untangling from my ego. Let’s take a close look at that process.

Part 9 Review
8 (4) If you are so unwilling to receive you cannot even let your question go, you can begin to change your mind with this:

At least I can decide I do not like what I feel now.

This much is obvious, and paves the way for the next easy step.

9 (5) Having decided that you do not like the way you feel, what could be easier than to continue with:

And so I hope I have been wrong.

This works against the sense of opposition, and reminds you that help is not being thrust upon you but is something that you want and that you need, because you do not like the way you feel. This tiny opening will be enough to let you go ahead with just a few more steps you need to let yourself be helped.

The first two steps are easy and bring me a sense of relief. Obviously, I don’t like how I feel or I would not be questioning myself. And the next natural thought is the hope I have been wrong. Or maybe it was not normal in the past. Maybe it would have been more typical for me to think that I hope the other person is wrong. Ha ha. Nowadays though, I just want peace and happiness and the fastest way to get that is to hope I have been wrong, because this is something I can work with, as opposed to trying to influence someone else.

Jesus is introducing correction slowly and gently. He does not want us to feel pushed, because that would induce the desire to defend. All we are being asked to do at this point is to open to the possibility of being helped.

10 Now you have reached the turning point, because it has occurred to you that you will gain if what you have decided is not so. Until this point is reached, you will believe your happiness depends on being right. But this much reason have you now attained; you would be better off if you were wrong.

And, indeed, this is a turning point that we have been eased into. It may not have been apparent that we were holding onto the idea that being right was of the utmost importance, we could even say that we believed that being right was our salvation. If only I am right then I will be happy is another way of saying that if only I am right, I will be saved.

How many times have I found myself in the middle of some ridiculous argument about something completely unimportant in order to defend my idea just because I think I need to be right? The only cost to me is peace of mind, happiness, remembering who I am, remembering God, joy, eternal life. Some price for being right!

11 (6) This tiny grain of wisdom will suffice to take you further. You are not coerced, but merely hope to get a thing you want. And you can say in perfect honesty:

I want another way to look at this.

Now you have changed your mind about the day, and have remembered what you really want. Its purpose has no longer been obscured by the insane belief you want it for the goal of being right when you are wrong. Thus is the readiness for asking brought to your awareness, for you cannot be in conflict when you ask for what you want, and see that it is this for which you ask.

Oh yes! Now we are cooking! I do want another way to see. There is always another way to see even if it is not apparent to me what that could be. To know what that other way is, I only have to decide that I am no longer interested in being right when I am wrong. And I can assure you that if you are not happy with how you feel, you are wrong in the way you perceive the moment.

12 (7) This final step is but acknowledgement of lack of opposition to be helped. It is a statement of an open mind, not certain yet, but willing to be shown:

Perhaps there is another way to look at this. What can I lose by asking?

Thus you now can ask a question that makes sense, and so the answer will make sense as well. Nor will you fight against it, for you see that it is you who will be helped by it.

The only reasons that I have ever resisted this help when it is offered to me, is that I mistakenly think that I can do this myself, or that God is going to demand sacrifice of some sort, that He is going to want me to do something I don’t want to do, or that will be painful to me. When that thought occurs, I remember this from the Course. “Perhaps you have misunderstood His plan, for He would never offer pain to you.” Lesson 135.

With a new perception of the situation, I will be able to ask a question that makes sense and thus the answer will make sense, too. And I won’t fight against the answer because I am being helped by it.

Here is an example from last year.

I love how gentle Jesus is as we go through these steps. He is well aware that this is going to be hard for us sometimes. He is also aware that if we feel like this is being forced on us we are going to resist. We will feel cornered as our mind is conflicted. If we do something because we are supposed to as opposed to doing it because we want to, the conflict is exacerbated.  So he takes it a step at a time letting us come to our own conclusion that we are getting what helps us and what we actually want.

One night when I was upset upon awakening in the night, I was worried about my suicidal friend. What if he gets worse, what if this happens again, what if he never finds his way to happiness, were some of the questions in my mind. I looked at this bookcase and saw his dusty copy of A Course in Miracles. He is so sure that God doesn’t exist now and this is his problem. He is God and denying this truth is causing so much confusion and distress in his mind. It is depressing him to the point that he sees no way out. And he doesn’t understand the problem. How is he to overcome this? The more I thought about it the more upset I became.

So I started my restorative. I accepted that I was completely wrong in how I saw this and I admitted that I have no question. My question began as something like this: What is going on with my friend and what is going to happen to him. Then I acknowledged the problem when I said: I forgot what to decide. Obviously I forgot to decide with Holy Spirit what it meant, and so by default I decided with ego. And therein lay the problem. Ego decided it was a disaster and getting worse by the moment. Jeez.

I wanted to let the previous assessment go and start over, but it was hard because I had fallen too deeply into the rabbit hole. I kept going back to the question, “What is going to happen to my friend, only now since I had been listening to ego, I was sure it was going to be very bad. I was having trouble letting my question go, so I began with the next step.

At least I can decide I do not like what I feel now.

I sat with that a few minutes as I let the fear and upset flow over me. Recognizing the impact my thoughts were having on me, I could definitely say that I don’t like what I feel now. So I went to the next obvious step.

And so I hope I have been wrong.

Again I sat with it. I did not yet believe I was wrong. My mind was filled with so many ego thoughts that I was too afraid to let my fear go. Fear is such a liar. It says that it is protecting me, and that I dare not take my eyes from it or I will suffer. But, I was sure that I could hope I was wrong. So that is what I did.

It seems like I haven’t done much yet. But what has happened is that I have bypassed my opposition to a change of mind. I have opened my mind to the possibility of something new. That little crack is enough to let the light in. Knowing that I am not coerced into anything, but actually want a solution that will work, I can say in all honesty:

I want another way to look at this.

Ok, now I feel like I am getting someplace! I have changed my mind about the day I want, and have returned to my initial decision to have a happy day. I want another way to look at this. I really do. I don’t like how I feel, and I want to feel happy instead. I don’t yet understand how there could be a new way to see, but I am considering that it is probably in my best interests to open to that possibility.
And so I continue to the last step.

Perhaps there is another way to look at this. What can I lose by asking?

Yes! I don’t know what the answer is and I don’t even need to be certain that there is another way. The fact that I am willing to open my mind to a new question is enough. As he says, what can I lose by asking? Right up to the end, Jesus is being gentle with us. He is letting us decide with no pressure and no coercion.

When I got to this part, I stopped hearing the ego objections that had popped up with each step. The ego kept trying to drag me back into the story of “My friend and his Problems.” But now, I had a new question. It was, “Is my friend safe?” The answer was yes. I can stop worrying about Him. God has this. I then had the question, “Is there something I can do to be truly helpful?” The answer is to love him without condition. I can to that.

Part 10 Review
“13 It must be clear that it is easier to have a happy day if you prevent unhappiness from entering at all. But this takes practice in the rules that will protect you from the ravages of fear. When this has been achieved, the sorry dream of judgment has forever been undone. But meanwhile, you have need for practicing the rules for its undoing. Let us, then, consider once again the very first of the decisions which are offered here.”

I’m feeling gratitude for the help Jesus is offering us in this section. Sure it would be easier to just not make decisions by myself, and let my day be happy just as I planned. But he knows we are not always going to do this. He knows that we need practice. And he makes it very clear why we are doing this work. When we practice long enough to make this response automatic, we will have undone the sorry dream of judgment, and we will have protected ourselves from the ravages of fear. Oh, thank you for that!

“14 We said you can begin a happy day with the determination not to make decisions by yourself. This seems to be a real decision in itself. And yet, you cannot make decisions by yourself. The only question really is with what you choose to make them. That is really all. The first rule, then, is not coercion, but a simple statement of a simple fact. You will not make decisions by yourself whatever you decide. For they are made with idols or with God. And you ask help of anti-Christ or Christ, and which you choose will join with you and tell you what to do.”

This paragraph alone changed everything about the way I viewed decision-making. Any time I make a decision I am choosing to join with ego or Holy Spirit. I cannot actually make a decision alone. There are only the two choices, ask the Holy Spirit what to do, or ask the ego what to do. There is no third option where I do this all by myself.

The ego must hate this. My first visceral reaction when I read that the one I join with will tell me what to do was resistance. Heck no, I’m not giving up my right to decide what to do. After all, this is the ego’s prized gift to me. I get to make all my own rules and decide what I want to do and think and say.

The second reaction was my 6 year old voice saying, “You can’t tell me what to do.” Ha ha. Well, I would say that I haven’t been making good decisions on my own so far, so maybe I should listen to someone else. But that is not what has been happening. I have been making bad decisions, not because I am making them on my own, but because I have been making them with ego. I have never been on my own. I am not giving up anything; I am simply choosing a better partner.

Part 11 Review

“15 Your day is not at random. It is set by what you choose to live it with, and how the friend whose counsel you have sought perceives your happiness. You always ask advice before you can decide on anything. Let this be understood, and you can see there cannot be coercion here, nor grounds for opposition that you may be free. There is no freedom from what must occur. And if you think there is, you must be wrong.”

Your day is not at random because you set the course of it through choosing the adviser to your decisions. And how could you think that somehow you are the victim to circumstances and trapped in those circumstances when it was your decisions that brought you into them. You can make different choices and you can be free if you choose, but if you keep asking the ego for help, then what will happen will happen, and you will not be free from the consequences of your choice.

“16 The second rule as well is but a fact. For you and your adviser must agree on what you want before it can occur. It is but this agreement that permits all things to happen. Nothing can be caused without some form of union, be it with a dream of judgment or the Voice for God. Decisions cause results because they are not made in isolation. They are made by you and your adviser, for yourself and for the world as well. The day you want you offer to the world, for it will be what you have asked for, and will reinforce the rule of your adviser in the world. Whose kingdom is the world for you today? What kind of day will you decide to have?”

And here is the reason we must decide with either the Holy Spirit or the ego and cannot decide alone. Nothing can be caused without some form of union. The only question is what I will decide with, the Holy Spirit or the ego, and which I choose will determine the course my day takes. It is easy to know which adviser I chose. All I have to do is pay attention to what is happening in my life and notice my feelings as the day goes on. Am I having the day I decided on? If not, I can choose the better adviser. I do this for myself, but also for the world. I have a kingdom I must rule and that kingdom is my mind, and I rule it with either the ego or the Holy Spirit; it is my choice.

“17 It needs but two who would have happiness this day to promise it to all the world. It needs but two to understand that they cannot decide alone, to guarantee the joy they asked for will be wholly shared. For they have understood the basic law that makes decision powerful, and gives it all effects that it will ever have. It needs but two. These two are joined before there can be a decision. Let this be the one reminder that you keep in mind, and you will have the day you want, and give it to the world by having it yourself. Your judgment has been lifted from the world by your decision for a happy day. And as you have received, so must you give.”

“It needs but two who would have happiness this day to promise it to all the world.” Two of us recognize that we cannot decide alone. Two of us choose to be happy and choose the Holy Spirit to be our adviser on our decisions to guarantee the joy we ask for will be wholly shared. Two of us understand the basic law that makes decision powerful and gives it all effects that it will have. If we remember this one thing, we will have the day we want, and by giving it to ourselves we give it to the world.

 

 

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