Lesson 133

I will not value what is valueless.

Today’s lesson says we are moving from what seems theoretical back to practical concerns.

Haven’t we been doing that all along?

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Apply, Apply, Apply.

No matter. Lesson 133 says that today we will list the criteria by which to test all things you think you want.

THIS IS A TEST.

1. Think of what you want.

Now here is the way to see if what you want has value or is valueless.

1. First, if you choose a thing that will not last forever, what you chose is valueless. A temporary value is without all value.

2. Next, if you choose to take a thing away from someone else, you will have nothing left. This is because when you deny his right to everything, you have denied your own.

3. Your next consideration is one on which the others rest. Why is the choice you make of value to you? What attracts your mind to it? What purpose does it serve? Here it is easiest of all to be deceived. For what the ego wants it fails to recognize.

4. And so we come to the criterion for choice that is the hardest to believe, because its obviousness is overlaid with many levels of obscurity. IF YOU FEEL ANY GUILT ABOUT YOUR CHOICE, YOU HAVE ALLOWED THE EGO’S GOALS TO COME BETWEEN THE REAL ALTERNATIVE.

All things are valuable or valueless, worthy or not of being sought at all, entirely desirable or not worth the slightest effort to obtain.

Wow. This is great.

Lately, everything has been chaotic in my life. I said a prayer to God about a month ago that I be MORE ACTIVE FOR HIM and then everything happened all at once. Things suddenly seem to be happening out of my control. Decisions appear to be made without my participation. I am looking at all this swirling activity, the way a person witnesses a tornado.

I ASKED FOR THIS!!!!

But all of a sudden it feels like there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

What I am realizing this morning is the necessity to be FOCUSED. Really focused on my goal. Focused on God. What do I want? It is valuable or valueless?

I want to inspire you. I want to extend light. I want to bring joy to you. I want to give you a new experience and offer a new way of thinking.

Last night I was realizing that what I really want is to be helpful & happy. To keep things simple. To be available. I was thinking about Marianne Williamson and how sad her new book The Midlife Miracle is. The writing is beautiful, but she basically admits her life has been a failure since the publication of A Return to Love. She says that now, in her midlife, she can try again. That this is a new beginning, a time of hope. Time to change the world from our rocking chairs.

??

Where is the Marianne I knew from the 90s? I attended practically every one of her talks in NYC in the 90s. That girl was on fire! She didn’t care about appearances. She just gave, gave, gave, gave. She said things I’d never heard before. There is no world! She wasn’t afraid of anything. She invited people to ask questions, to come right to the stage and speak to her. She didn’t care what people thought of her. Her book A Return to Love, published in 1992, was the catalyst for change in my life. She brought me to A Course in Miracles. She filled me with a new hope.

I remember one time, after she had given a whole talk about there being no world, a guy stood up and sarcastically asked her “what about all the starving children in Africa”

And without skipping a beat, she responded: “What the hell are you doing here? If you are worried about children not being fed in Africa, GO FEED THEM!”

LOL.

She was a force.

But then something happened to her.

I’ve read stories that at a certain point, as she started to become famous and successful, her life started to spin out of control. People started to want things from her, to use her for their own advancement. I don’t really know what happened. She admits herself that she began to build a wall around her to protect herself. She herself wrote she stopped trusting people.

My favorite teacher of A Course in Miracles stopped trusting people!!

When TRUST is the first characteristic of a Teacher of God.

I was thinking about all this, and feeling a terrific amount of gratitude for what she has given to me, and remembering how much this world can beat you down if you do not keep your PRIMARY GOAL in mind.

Her goal is to be helpful. I know it, because I was there in the beginning.

This is a reminder to me that I must constantly, every single day, keep bringing myself back to my original goal (I am here only to be truly helpful. I am here to represent Him who sent me) and to not get swept up in the swirling activity of this world.

Because … everything … and I do mean everything … is designed to blind you.

And everything … and I do mean everything … is designed to wake you up.

Every situation is an opportunity to love and forgive.

This is great news.