Lesson 85
(69) My grievances hide the light of the world in me.
(70) My salvation comes from me.
Obviously, if it is my grievances that hide the light of the world in me, then it is from me that my salvation comes. This lesson is meant to remind me that there is nothing outside my mind that can save me. How could it? Anything I perceive as outside me is just an image of what is in my mind. Images cannot save me. Images are idols and idols are without power.
This is the paragraph that interested me this morning.
“Today I will recognize where my salvation is. It is in me because its Source is there. It has not left its Source, and so it cannot have left my mind. I will not look for it outside myself. It is not found outside and then brought in. But from within me it will reach beyond, and everything I see will but reflect the light that shines in me and in itself.”
We are told that our salvation has not left its Source. What is its Source? It is our Creator and is in the form of His Voice or the Holy Spirit. If I said this in non-religious terms, I would call it Love or Truth. Whatever we decide to call it, it is in me because God is in me or to say it another way, I am in God. We are not separable, God and I. The point is, my salvation is always available to me because it is in me.
I know this is true and yet, it is a habit of many life times to look outward for salvation and so I find myself doing it in many little ways. When I am worried about my son, I call him to reassure myself that he’s ok. When I am sick, I take medicine to mask the symptoms. When I am short on money, I look for ways to get more money or ways to spend less. Because I am also aware that these efforts to manipulate my projections are not the answer, I also turn to the Holy Spirit to show me another way. This is looking in the right direction and will purify my mind.
Jesus says that “from within me it will reach beyond, and everything I see will but reflect the light that shines in me and in itself.” I gather from that statement that as my mind is purified, my projections will reflect this purity. It will do so in either in the quality of the projections or in my perception of the projections, probably both at different times and different ways. This has been my experience.
Regina’s Tips
What we need to notice about this is that the body-mind learns to crave what we give it, so we have to GIVE IT in order for the body-mind to begin to crave it.
That could mean that in the beginning there isn’t much motivation to practice. However, in order to create the motivation to practice, we need to practice anyway. It reminds me of an Awakening Together Daily Quote from last week:
“Each step may seem to take forever, but no matter how uninspired you feel, continue to follow your practice schedule precisely and consistently. This is how we can use our greatest enemy, habit, against itself.”
~ Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche
My Thoughts
I have seen that this is true. I had to get over the hump of old habit to form a new one, but now my spiritual practice is something I crave like a smoker craves a cigarette. Regina says that this could be called the positive use of craving. All I know is that it brings me such peace to begin my day with God, and I look forward to using my spiritual practice throughout the day. I think it started as a way to escape the torment of living outside grace, but now it is motivated by the pure joy of it.
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