LESSON 138
Heaven is the decision I must make.
“In this world Heaven is a choice, because here we believe there are alternatives to choose between.”
“Creation knows no opposite.”
“Yet what is true in God’s creation cannot enter here until it is reflected in some form the world can understand.”
Heaven is real, it is truth and there is no opposite to truth. It doesn’t seem so in this world which was made for the purpose of having an opposite to reality. So, what we must do is decide for truth, as if there could be something else beside truth. Our decisions have power and that power will show us that what we really want is ours and always has been.
‘You need to be reminded that you think a thousand choices are confronting you, when there is really only one to make. And even this but seems to be a choice.’
It seems I have to choose how I feel about what someone said to me and how much of my money I can afford to spend on entertainment and which toothpaste to buy. The range and number of decisions is overwhelming. And yet, I only need to decide on one thing. In every case, I decide for God or for ego. That is all that is happening. Deciding for ego is deciding for nothing, so there is really only once choice.
Here is an example of how this works. Someone I care about seemed to be rude and disrespectful the other day. I had a decision to make.
Would I take this personally, as if it meant something about me?
Would I in some way try to manipulate that person’s behavior to something more acceptable to me or demand an apology?
Would I feel bad about myself? Would I forgive? Would I hold a grudge? Or would I choose to be happy and to love the situation just as it was? In other words, would I choose ego or choose God. It was so much simpler when I chose God, and the outcome so much more peaceful.
“Decisions are the outcome of your learning, for they rest on what you have accepted as the truth of what you are, and what your needs must be.”
What I have learned is that love is all there is and peace is all I want. I have learned that no other outcome is of interest to me. I have learned that I can have this outcome simply by disregarding any thought or action that does not bring me closer to love and peace. It is really that simple. For now, I still make choices but that will end soon.
As Jesus says: “If you could decide the rest, this one remains unsolved. But when you solve this one, the others are resolved with it, for all decisions but conceal this one by taking different forms.” Why choose anything except Heaven? I notice the ego trying to interest me in more drama but I just keep saying no. It gets easier all the time.
“Heaven is the decision I must make. I make it now, and will not change my mind, because it is the only thing I want.”
Regina’s Tip
Today’s lesson says, “Heaven is chosen consciously. The choice cannot be made until alternatives are accurately seen and understood. All that is veiled in shadows must be raised to understanding, to be judged again, this time with Heaven’s help.”
That’s the purpose of inquiry, which we will go deeper into over the coming weeks. We question our thinking to see its worthlessness and untruth. As we see that clearly, we are willing to let go of our thinking and choose only truth. After all, “Who can decide between the clearly seen (aka, our thoughts and perceptions) and the unrecognized (truth)?
Yet who can fail to make a choice between alternatives when only one (truth) is seen as valuable; the other (thoughts and perceptions) as a wholly worthless thing.”
So, let’s let go of the idea that we have to be masters of learning. It’s okay if we don’t learn anything. It’s okay if we can’t remember yesterday’s workbook lesson today.
Focus on the practice. When we focus on the practice to the best of our ability in every moment, we are choosing Heaven.
My Thoughts
Regina brings up an important point. A Course in Miracles is about learning. We are learning that we want to awaken. Once we learn that one thing, we don’t need to learn anymore. We just make a decision for awakening. All the practice we do is in making that decision. That is the reason for looking at our thoughts, and for releasing them. It is the reason for the daily lessons.
We are practicing making a decision for Heaven. The meditations in which we choose to know our Self and to allow the mind to be healed, that is not about learning anything, it is about resting in God and accepting what is ours. It is practice, not learning. The point is that sometimes we get stuck in the learning phase and we listen to the ego tell us that it is dangerous to go any further and so we become perpetual students.
But that is not the point of A Course in Miracles. Jesus wants us to learn enough to decide for Heaven and then he tells us to leave everything behind including this book. He wants us to practice until we are fully accepting of our true Self. That doesn’t mean that we cannot ever use the book again. We can read it because it is beautiful and inspiring. We can use it as a teaching aid for those who want to learn what we learned. But it will not be helpful to let it become a block to our awakening by continuing to “learn” when we should be focused on acceptance.
So, every day I make a choice for Heaven and I go to sleep making that choice. I learn if there is something to learn, but I also make the choice. One day, I will simply wake up. There is no magic amount of learning that is necessary. As Regina says, I don’t have to know everything. I used to focus on how much I know and it was a lot more than I used to know, but never enough. When I read something that opposed what I thought knew, it scared me because I thought I had to “know” things and so what if I got it wrong. But I understand now that I don’t have to know anything about Heaven; I only need to choose Heaven.
Manual for Teachers
I have had times when I was worried because I didn’t have enough money, and I have had times when I had more money than I needed and I worried that some day that would not be true. Obviously, the money was not the issue. It was my belief in lack and loss that was making me suffer.
This feeling of never having enough slowly changed though practicing abundance as the Course helps us to see it. What turned out to be of value was the slow and methodical change of mind that I underwent as I studied and practiced the Course.
I learned that I was abundant regardless of the numbers in my bank account or what I owned. I learned that money wasn’t the issue but rather it was a belief in lack and loss that was tormenting me and robbing me of my peace of mind and my happiness.
Now that I actually am retired, I don’t have very much money at all, but I have peace of mind and I never lack for anything I need. I have something much more valuable than money. I have faith in my innate abundance.
I can do this with all the things the ego mind finds valuable in the world. None of them are of the least value. The only thing of value here is the opportunity to recognize the world has no value and thus to make a different choice about what I strive for. There is no sacrifice in letting go of any goal in the world. There is nothing of value to be gained here.
Text
“It is impossible, however, to see something in part of it that you will not attribute to all of it. That is why attack is never discrete, and why it must be relinquished entirely. If it is not relinquished entirely it is not relinquished at all.”
So if I see someone as a threat, I will see threats everywhere I look and I will attack. I remember something that happened years ago. I was very upset with my husband and could do nothing about it. When my daughter did something I didn’t like, I attacked her like she had done a terrible thing. I didn’t understand at the time why I did that, and I felt very guilty for it.
I did it because attack is not discreet. The rage at my husband boiled over onto my daughter. Then I attacked myself for my behavior. As I chose to make more of my decisions with God, this kind of thing happened less and less. It almost never happens now. It is my goal to give up attack for all time. Knowing that we are all one is what makes this possible. I notice that as I more often feel the oneness that we are, the desire to attack and defend has lessened.
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