Take the long way "om"
A reflection on Lesson 92 from A Course in Miracles
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There is an entire self-help industry out there trying to get us to think positive thoughts and offering us tools to optimize our lives and live into our “authentic” self. Some of the prescriptions of these programs can be helpful and allow us to see the world in a new way, but most of them are simply the ego’s ways to make us feel better within its prison walls of competition and separation.
A Course in Miracles has been accused of being just another one of the ego’s tools to keep us isolated from one another while we work on our weaknesses and be the best people we can be – always happy and upbeat, looking on the bright side of life. However, it’s just the opposite. Yes, the aim of the Course is to help us discover how to be happy, but it isn’t some happy-slappy feel-good program that plasters over our current feelings by just thinking positive thoughts.
A Course invites us, in every word of the text and workbook, to consider where it is our thoughts come from and how we can train ourselves to rely not on the ideas of our ego, but to truly hear the Voice for God that will bring us into true joy, even if everything else in our lives appears to be in chaos and decay.
Lesson 92 from the Workbook declares: "Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one." This lesson seeks to uncover the truth about our ego. We see it as our source of strength – our “character” that helps us to survive the slings and arrows of this life. Our spirituality is nice – and we like think we can navel-gaze and “Om” our way into peace – but we often discount spiritual growth as an add-on to our egoic strength of “character.”
A Course says we have it all backwards. The ego’s bluster and bravado are simply a cover for the truth of its ultimate weakness. It looks strong in this world because it plays by the world’s rules – it uses attack, hatred, fear, and darkness to keep us believing that we are special and separate from one another and must compete for the limited resources we perceive.
We cannot get strength from fear and darkness – only Love and Light can provide the kind of strength we need to see through the illusions of this world and realize the truth about ourselves. This is not done by navel-gazing, but by stepping out into the world and acting – being God’s channel for the Love, compassion, peace and grace that the world needs.
We cannot rely on our physical eyes to truly see this world – because the ego only wants us to see the fear, destruction, distrust, and competition we have created together as egoic beings. We cannot rely on the brain to think our way out of this situation, since its machinations are what got us here in the first place.
A Course calls us to see the world through the strength and eyes of Love. The Persian Sufi poet Hafiz is clear about what kind of vision we are called to use in this world. He writes:
I have come into this world to see this:
the sword drop from men’s hands even at the height
of their arc of anger
because we have finally realized there is just one flesh to wound
and it is His – the Christ’s, our Beloved’s.
I have come into this world to see this: all creatures hold hands as
we pass through this miraculous existence we share on the way
to even a greater being of soul,
a being of just ecstatic light, forever entwined and at play
with Him.
I have come into this world to experience this:
men so true to love
they would rather die before speaking
an unkind word,
men so true their lives are His covenant –
the promise of hope.
I have come into this world to see this:
the sword drop from men’s hands
even at the height of
their arc of rage
because we have finally realized
there is just one flesh we can wound.
Music for the Journey:
“Get Together” - performed by The Indigo Girls
About the Motley Mystic:
The Motley Mystic is an online community for people who have realized that the truth speaks with many voices. There is no one religion, philosophy, institution or dogma that captures the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. No one needs to swear allegiance to one line of thought or belief to discern Truth, because Love is the only thing that’s real. That’s what we explore at the Motley Mystic - all the tools and strategies we need to remove our barriers to Love and live fully as our true, Divine Self.
Candace Chellew is the founder of Motley Mystic as well as Jubilee! Circle, an interfaith spiritual community in Columbia, S.C. She is also the author of Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians published in 2008 by Jossey-Bass and the founder and senior editor emeritus of Whosoever: An Online Magazine for LGBTQ People of Faith. She is also a musician and avid animal lover.