Lesson 152
The power of decision is my own.
In the spiritual teaching, Way of Mastery, there is a line spoken that says, “The Truth is True Always.” This coincides perfectly with our focus in Lesson 152. Today calls for the recognition of our responsibility that if we are not abiding in Truth then we are making a choice to align with what is false. It is bold to say that it is one’s choice to suffer but it is in this boldness that we come to see who has been standing between us and our salvation,…ourselves.
There is a caveat to today’s lesson. Please be aware that this does not mean that if you are in a horrific, dangerous situation that you in some way deserve it or that you somehow chose it. That is more of the ego’s mind game to get you to continue to blame others, even God Herself, for your circumstances. Many may be in dire situations yet still maintain a peaceful attitude and find the Light in their current state. This is what we are referring to today, that we have the choice to see Love in everything, even in those instances where suffering may seem to be the easier alternative. And once more, as in previous lessons, I would like to state that if you are in a harmful situation, please find a way out and do not come to think that this lesson, or any other, is in support of you staying where you are not safe. See the Love that abides in you and take the necessary steps to improve your situation.
With that said, let us talk about the power of choice. The power of your decision to see things different and with the eyes of Love, is the miracle, and is what this Course is all about. We come to Lesson 152 to reckon with our arrogance that we believe we created a mad world in spite of God. If we have done this accurately and truthfully, this would mean that the ego is more powerful than God and that is just not correct. Recall, what God creates is unchangeable and eternal, this world is anything but that.
“If you have the gift of everything, can loss be real? Can pain be part of peace, or grief of joy? Can fear and sickness enter a mind where love and perfect holiness abide? Truth must be all-inclusive, if it be truth at all” (ACIM 152 2:3-6).
As we have been gifted with free will and the power of choice, we can come to use that to fall asleep to what we are or to awaken to what we are. In the gift of everything, we can choose to pretend there is loss or recognize the truth of our abundance. If we have the power to create this mad world, we surely have the power to remember the Truth of what we are. As we have aligned with misguided thoughts, we have merely misused our power. There was no harm done nor did it change the fact that we are the Light of the World. We have just been pretending that we were not such. Like kids on a playground, we got too involved in our game of cops and robbers. And as children, we so arrogantly tried to pretend we were someone else to our parents, as we have also done so with God.
Did you ever go to dinner as a child still in character of the evil villain or Cinderella or the cowboy? I’m sure to get you to eat your dinner, your family politely played along with you, yet they still knew you were little Suzie or little Johnny as you ate your meal. This is how God views us. She still keeps our hearts nourished and fed while we use our power to play out roles and scenarios that we believe are real. She politely nods at our imagination but still lovingly see Who We Are.
Today, we come to the altar of Love with humility as we put down the mask we used to hide the Truth. The purpose of today is not to get you to beat yourself up over your choices. It is merely to soften our hearts to the Truth that in each moment we have a choice to see Love, but it must be Us who makes that choice. No one, even God, cannot make you choose You.
This tends to be easier on a good day but when someone appears to have wronged us or cut us off or lied to us, that is when the power of choice is worth exploring more deeply, as it is no more true on a good day than on a perceived bad one. A good exercise to understand this is to turn on the news and watch it for a moment. As you see atrocities in the world, can you see the teaching that is present? Can you see the call for Love? In witnessing this, can you choose for Love? Can you allow others to still play the game of “madness” in the world while you use the power of your decision to see only Love? Can you appear to be an outsider in this world as you choose for what is Real Inside? This is true awakening. This is salvation.
Truth waits on no one because it is what it is. I have mentioned before that a friend of mine has the motto, “Truth needs no publicity.” Truth is of God and does not need to engage with madness to prove it is right, worthy, or accurate. “The Truth is true always.” Period.
The only gray area that we perceive around truth is that of our own creation. Christ is certain and knowing. Anything opposite is not in alignment with God. Yes, it is that easy. We can justify all we want but that only the voice for ego. The Heart of God does not have to prove anything or plead Her case. Love has no exceptions, no terms, and no conditions. And that can be the toughest thing for the human mind, which sees a world of duality, to fully understand.
“This is the simplest of distinctions, yet the most obscure. But not because it is a difficult distinction to perceive. It is concealed behind a vast array of choices that do not appear to be entirely your own” (ACIM Lesson 152 4:1-3).
Luckily our lesson today invites us to lay down our arrogance and arguments to simply abide in the power of choice, in order to be shown the ease with which the choice for Love can be made. It is about claiming Who and What You Are and being the living salvation. That is the cure to healing this mad world.
“The power of decision is my own. This day I will accept myself as what my Father’s Will created me to be” (ACIM Lesson 152 11:3-4).
We abide in stillness today during our practice periods and lay aside our agendas, plans, and perceptions. We are greeted by the Voice of God as we are shown the power we have to decide for Truth. We take a breath, slow down, and see the Real World that is in front of us, if we but only decide it is so.
“He will substitute the peace of God for all your frantic thoughts, the truth of God for self-deceptions, and God’s Son for your illusions of yourself” (ACIM Lesson 152 12: 3).
Take the time to slow down and release the momentum of this world. Where you abide has no distinct pace or time but rather is an all-encompassing feeling of love and peace. It is from that place we wish to move and create from. It is from that place we accurately use our power to decide for Love, always. Namaste.