I choose the joy of God/Source instead of pain.
Woahhhh ACIM. Easy there. I choose my own pain?!? I smell a spiritual bypass going on…
There’s a lot of fancy language in Lesson 190. Lay down the cruel sword of judgement that you hold against your throat….Pain is illusion….Peace to such foolishness!
I mean…when I fall off my mountain bike (and I do fall off my mountain bike btw). It HURTS as I awkwardly propel myself over the handle bars and into the ether. Ouch ACIM. Ouch.
For those with chronic pain I’m sure Lesson 190 can seem downright offensive. With good reason. My sidewalk scrapes agree.
But when I dig a little deeper into my wounds, here is what I see: The world has no power over us. We are the holy grail. Not our thoughts. Not our circumstances. Not our fellow soul travelers. But the true light within. Which supports every bit of this earth’s innocence and holiness.
And we get to choose what we view which thoughts we focus our consciousness on. Of the 11 million bits of information hurtled at us every day, we only process 40 or 50. And we can choose what we wish those 40-50 to be. In this, our thoughts truly do cause us pain. Or allow us freedom. They are subject to free will.
There is a beautiful story Thich Nhat Hanh tells about a man going into a forest of trees. He steps up to a dying tree and mourns. Crying. Inconsolable. While mourning the loss is understandable, Hanh reminds us that there is a whole forest the man is missing by focusing on a single tree. The impact of losing all joy in heartache.
And while pain is a very real thing, Lesson 190 asks me to remember there is joy somewhere regardless of adverse circumstances. Refreshing rain. Sweet, loving tears. Or even a little slice of sunshine peeking through the blinds.
Don’t miss the forest for the tree my Dear Friends. Remember there is joy even in our pain. Even a single second of this bliss is a victory which echoes through eternity.
Namaste Sweet LightWalker!