Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
LESSON 129 Beyond This World is a World I Want.
- This is a thought that follows from the one we practiced yesterday. You cannot stop with the idea the world is worthless, for unless you see that there is something else to hope for, you will only be depressed. Our emphasis is not on giving up the world, but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying, filled with joy, and capable of offering you peace. Think you this world can offer that to you?
- It might be worth a little time to think once more about the value of this world. Perhaps you will concede there is no loss in letting go all thought of value here. The world you see is merciless indeed, unstable, cruel, unconcerned with you, quick to avenge, and pitiless with hate. It gives but to rescind and takes away all things that you have cherished for a while. No lasting love is found, for none is here. This is the world of time, where all things end.
- Is it a loss to find a world instead where losing is impossible; where love endures forever, hate cannot exist, and vengeance has no meaning? Is it loss to find all things you really want, and know they have no ending and they will remain exactly as you want them throughout time? Yet even they will be exchanged at last for what we cannot speak of, for you go from there to where words fail entirely, into a silence where the language is unspoken and yet surely understood.
- Communication, unambiguous and plain as day, remains unlimited for all eternity. And God Himself speaks to His Son, as His Son speaks to Him. Their language has no words, for what they say cannot be symbolized. Their knowledge is direct and wholly shared and wholly one. How far away from this are you who stay bound to this world. And yet how near are you when you exchange it for the world you want.
- Now is the last step certain; now you stand an instant’s space away from timelessness. Here can you but look forward, never back to see again the world you do not want. Here is the world that comes to take its place, as you unbind your mind from little things the world sets forth to keep you prisoner. Value them not, and they will disappear. Esteem them, and they will seem real to you.
- Such is the choice. What loss can be for you in choosing not to value nothingness? This world holds nothing that you really want, but what you choose instead you want indeed! Let it be given you today. It waits but for your choosing it, to take the place of all the things you seek but do not want.
- Practice your willingness to make this change ten minutes in the morning and at night, and once more in between. Begin with this: “Beyond this world there is a world I want. I choose to see that world instead of this, for here is nothing that I really want.” Then close your eyes upon the world you see, and in the silent darkness watch the lights that are not of this world light one by one, until where one begins another ends loses all meaning as they blend in one.
- Today the lights of heaven bend to you, to shine upon your eyelids as you rest beyond the world of darkness. Here is light your eyes cannot behold. And yet your mind can see it plainly and can understand. A day of grace is given you today, and we give thanks. This day we realize that what you feared to lose was only loss.
- Now do we understand there is no loss. For we have seen its opposite at last, and we are grateful that the choice is made. Remember your decision hourly and take a moment to confirm your choice by laying by whatever thoughts you have and dwelling briefly only upon this: The world I see holds nothing that I want. Beyond this world there is a world I want.[1]
Notes and Personal Application: Today Jesus reminds us that He is not asking us to loosen the chains of attachment to this world without bringing to our remembrance the world in which we seek. How guardedly we cling to our little treasures here simply because our spiritual treasures do not seem real to us. They are not tangible. The world we want is not a material one, nor was it designed for a material entity. It is not something that we can flaunt, eat, drink, wear, or drive. We cannot unfurl a map of God’s Kingdom in which to beckon our loved ones.
In the recorded gospels, Jesus often used imagery of the world to make God’s Kingdom apparent to us. Imagine His great patience with our sleeping minds, our desperate defense of the nightmare we have come to call our home. How His unseparated mind pitied our craving desires and blind affection for death, for bloodshed, for devouring creation rather than loving the handiwork of our Creator.
Today He is asking us to grow up. He asks us to take off our blinders and open our eyes. He reminds us that the world is merciless and unkind. There is nothing here we can count upon except its cruelty, its lack of concern for us, its great and gaping hunger for vengeance and hate. The world, Jesus reminds us, only gives to take it back again. There is no love to be found here – it is stuck in time and all things – good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, rich or poor…come to an end. Do not be deceived by its false promise!
Giving up this world is not a loss. As soon as we are ready to quit whining and complaining about this world, to quit seeking justice and recompense, to quit seeking love and reassurance where there is none, we are ready for the world beyond. Once we see it for what it is meant to be, we are ready to lay it down and reach for the world where everything we want is ours forever. In the world awaiting our recognition and acceptance, we have no barriers, no limits, no misunderstandings, and mistrust. Jesus says that we share directly, wholly, and as one. No need to keep secrets, to be kept in the dark, to suspect or harbor suspicions – we give up this world of shadows, fickle confidences, and fear, by no longer valuing and engaging in its traditions, its practices, its dramas. We cease to let it get to us because now we understand what it is.
Today Jesus is calling us to loose the chains this world has upon our minds. He reminds us of the world immediately beyond this one. There we experience mercy, stability, kindness, everlasting love, patience, and trust. There giving and receiving are the same, and all that makes us happy is heaped upon us, abundantly, and never taken away. There is no ending to our peace and joy, no death to steal our loved ones, no suffering, no ill-will.
In efforts to convince our minds to let go of this world, we meditate three times today upon the following words: Beyond this world there is a world I want. I choose to see that world instead of this, for here is nothing that I really want. We repeat our hourly mediation as often as possible: The world I see holds nothing that I want. Beyond this world there is a world I want. Let these words be the song we sing; a verse we recite, the prayer we pray. These words remind us that we are through with separation, with our divided minds, with our twisted views of God, with the passing of time, the fading of all that is good and happiness-making. Our real and eternal world is where we want to be – at home with God.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 129 Beyond this world…Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). pp. 235-236.
Audio credit: http://www.eckiefriar.com
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