Monday, November 2, 2015
Lesson 306: What is the Second Coming?” “The gift of Christ is all I seek today.”
The Course says we are gifted with this miracle of satiation. In the Christ energy we find enough. We find enough but not too much. The world’s experience of satiation is always a mismatch. Our egos want more and are always trying to squeeze in just a little more of everything. This is unfortunate because we get into the space of perceiving that we don’t have enough or we have too much. The ego is always trying to sign us up for the excess- the ego hopes for more. The ego also complains when it thinks it deserves something different.
This can be confusing in the world and while we live with that ego voice within us. We keep hearing its pathetic song about how unfortunate we are not having the exact amount that would be better. The ego never finds a sense of satisfaction. Part of the ego’s nature is to simply keep complaining.
We are learning how to live in the middle way. We are learning how to be happy with enough and let that enough be subtle- as a happy, gentle experience of partaking in something without feeling that inner tug of war we feel when our ego tries to get us more of whatever. What we are learning in the Course is how to love the moment and appreciate the moment for all the amazing gifts it brings. This means we are so at peace in the moment that we aren’t using our ego-hand in trying to grab onto something else. Our happiness lies in the joy of what the current moment and experience is.
A lot of us struggle with that ego tug that drags us along with it. The ego tries to just make itself known to us by showing up with a neediness that can never be satisfied. This is what I think of as the root of all addictions. When we feel that criticism of the ego and the constant nagging within about perpetuating our feelings of needing to feed this inner emptiness. When we allow the ego to express itself without reserve we often end up feeling disempowered to make healthy or often happy choices for us. We end up being overwhelmed with this needy desire to get full.
What we are asked to do is make sure this is Christ energy. When we make certain that we are looking only to Christ energy to fill us, then we will definitely (at least over time) end up with a true sense of being satiated. When we allow God’s love to fill our hearts then we end up feeling good and comfortable in our skins because we are able to enjoy the subtle energy of the world in a way that leaves us satisfied. When we learn over time how to experience the Love of God, this will train our body-mind-souls to be comfortable simply as that- the child of God who is ever full with God’s Love. We won’t need to look to the world for anything to fill us because we are perfectly whole and at peace with God’s Love as the Source of our Essence.
One thing that is beautiful and ever so gentle about the Course is how Jesus teaches us to forgive everything with which we think we are at odds. The Course says our ego is not our true self and the ego generally contains those parts of us that are not God. Therefore, we don’t generally agree with the ego and generally want to not engage with the ego when we are wanting to live our lives aligned with God. We learn clearly that the ego is not our helper. It’s important to understand that we need to have the ego described in contrast to God so we can help ourselves understand the difference. This is ever so helpful for understanding the overall mind training. However, at the same time, the Course also says that while we don’t want to get lost in the ego mind in our hearts, what we want to do is forgive the ego. When we hold ourselves back from a joining with the ego sometimes we think this means we don’t want to have anything to do with the ego. Therefore, we set the ego aside and we distance ourselves from it.
What often happens is we get confused and forget that we actually need to forgive the ego for being insane. This gesture of forgiveness is the cornerstone of the Course and we need to understand that forgiving allows us to join with the ego in that acceptance. Then we don’t sit in resentment over the ego- regardless of how problematic it may seem to be. Know that in our forgiveness the ego allows us to join in the Sonship so there is no place we are not joining with the Universe and God. In forgiving we are not aligning ourselves with the ego. We clearly assert that our alignment is with God alone.