Saturday, October 10, 2015
Lesson 283: “What is the Holy Spirit?” “My true identity abides in You.”
All we need to do is understand who we are. The Course says that what we want to do is not have any false idols. Anything that is a false idol is something we think we love more than God. The false idols are ever so common in the world and ego’s way of living. When we value anything more than God, we end up having an unhealthy and uncomfortable connection to it. We will end up wanting that thing or person or experience more than God. This always leaves us with a needy feeling because we are trapped into this lifeless and dark resonating experience of what the ego believes is love for that thing. The false idol is always smoothing outside of ourselves and is something we believe is the root of our happiness.
Jesus teaches us in the Course that any time we get out of connection with that part of us that identifies only as a lover of God then we end up getting quite stuck within. Further, we truly struggle not to position ourselves as one looking strictly to that thing for our filling energetically and emotionally. When we look to it for our inner fulfillment needs and we always end up being miserably misled. We miss getting that sense of being overflowing with love because, of course, we are looking to- this idol in the world is not from a limitless supply. Therefore, we necessarily end up feeling shallow and empty within instead of adequately and healthfully supplied with the energy that sustains us in the most important way. Because this looking to outward sources always fails us we will end up not feeling capable of highly functioning in our lives as they always leave us wanting.
False idols always give us false hopes that they will appease our wants and needs. But the tragedy is that no matter how much we try to prod them into giving us what we want, they will always fall short. This is a never-ending battle that we never win. We just keep staying there with the crazy expectation and hope that these idols will turn out to be God.
What everyone really wants is God. What people don’t realize much of the time is that we are all wanting and needing this sense of inner certainty with a constant peace so that we may stay engaged appropriately into all of our emotional and physical experiences. We want to be able to be comfortable in the position of decision maker and helpful family member and whatever God calls us to be in the world. When we remember that God is our only source of identity then we can live in the most elevated mindset no matter what we do.
We are asked to recognize the importance of this role and in no way try to disregard our particular role in the plan of God’s. When we know that we are perfect as we are when we see ourselves as only God’s children then we can fully participate in all of life’s task without judging them or ourselves because we know our own truth and we remain willing to acknowledge this. This is the only reason to stay vigilant in this reminder. Being God’s beloved bringers of light to the world, we are graced with the ease of knowing that all is well and so we can be truly the miracle workers at each breath.