Monday, July 6, 2015
Lesson 187: “I bless the world because I bless myself.”
This lesson says, “No one can give unless he has.” The Course is always teaching us that we must accept salvation and forgiveness and the plenty of peace first. We have to include ourselves and first. We often overlook taking care of ourselves. Lots of people are busy taking care of their kids or being sidetracked with over-working or sometimes being especially enthusiastic about some purpose that maybe is tinged a bit with an inner drive that is unbalanced. What can happen in our busy lives is that people lose the relationship with self. People often think there won’t be enough time to care for ourselves. Then we may think there is only time and energy enough for giving to others.
The problem with that attitude is if we don’t give to ourselves and take care of ourselves in a loving and nurturing and consistent way, then we will run out of energy and the means with which we need to apply to take care of others. The Course tells us how important it is that we care for ourselves and we do what God wants for us as well. I think religions too often emphasize caring for those in great strife or they take care of the elderly when they are less able. I think it is quite common for people to leave themselves out.
This lesson says, “Protect all things you value by the act of giving them away.” This sure is the opposite of the world. We get flooded with media messages that protection means we hold on so tightly- we hold on for dear life. It can seem like death to us to allow our valued items out in the realm of the vulnerable. We think that they are not in the least bit safe from consumption from other people if we don’t hide them or cling so tightly to them we practically strangle them. That rigidity with which we hold them is due to the fear of losing them. We get so focused on our rigid grip that we don’t even realize that it turns out our belief system about this point is completely false. It turns out that this is an error for sure.
This lesson says- give everything away. This can make us feel vulnerable for sure unless we understand the logic of it. The Course says that in order to have to have something fully we have to give it away. When we give it away then we are sure it is ours in the first place. And in God’s world where there is no lack giving things away is never the source of loss. In God’s Universe we are always blessed with enough and great abundance.
This lesson says, “And you do not lack for proof that when you give ideas away, you strengthen them in your own mind.” In God’s Universe we not only get to keep what we give away but it is actually strengthened. This makes sense when we remember that the world and everything is simply a form of energy. And this energy can expand exponentially when we put our intention into its creation. This is sensible now because we understand that energy becomes more powerful as we put more time and energy into it. Even if that energy has no form at all and resides only within our minds.