Musings: Don’t Take Yourself So Seriously
“Humility will never ask that you remain content with littleness. But it does require that you be not content with less than greatness that comes not of you.”
– A Course in Miracles, Text, p. 381
Here are some suggestions to get over yourself:
1. Do not compare yourself to anyone else because there is no one else. Your talents and skills are best used in serving others. These two statements– serve others and there is no one else– appear contradictory until you realize you presently appear in many pieces (bodies). Serve all and know The Self.
“Don’t worry about anyone else. It’s all you.”
2. Don’t use your talents and skills to hold others hostage to a personal self. Use your talents and skills for the good of all and make sure those who come to you are encouraged to do this same.
3. Have no expectations. If others recognize your contributions, so be it. If others do not recognize your contributions, so be it.
4. The less you compete the more desirable you become. Give attention and admiration to others instead of looking for it for yourself. Competition does not evolve into mighty companionship.
5. Resign as your own teacher and admit that you have failed to come up with a design for your life that works. You are not in charge of what you mistakenly call “your life”. Admit that you are in over your head and don’t know how to get out. Relax and learn that you are already out.
6. Commit to work that has nothing to do with your personal gain or advancement. Working with others toward common goals that transcend special interests reveals your grandeur. Grandeur is of God.
7. Discover who you by not adjusting yourself to meet others needs. Let beingness reveal itself to you. This Pearl Worth Any Price is what is wanted and needed first and foremost. Any action that comes from here will be truly helpful.
“I thought the problem for me was you. Then I realized the problem for me was me. The next thing I knew I was free.”
8. Take frequent short breaks and remember to breathe.
9. Take time to connect with people. It doesn’t need to be a spectacular event. The reason to connect is to express appreciation. An earnest smile at seeing yourself will do.
10. Stop trying to get somewhere. It’s a waste of time. You are already whole and complete.
School of Reason
“Above all else I want to see.”
Like any course A Course in Miracles offers an opportunity to learn something that is considered to be of value. The similarities probably begin and end there.
Unlike most educational opportunities it is not aimed at improving who you are or the world you seem to be living in. It may have those residual benefits but that is not the goal.
Changing the way in which you see is the aim of the Course. Most of humanity does not currently believe there is another world to see. Only by transforming the one looking is that shift accomplished. A student first has to decide if he or she wants to become a learner in this particular way—a way that has no particular gains to the personal self. Peace of mind and vision are attained by transcendence of the personal.
If you feel called to make this kind of change you won’t be able to stop your Self from following it. The “you” who thinks it is living in a world and likes it (sometimes), may resist. On the other hand no teacher can give you this desire. You have it or you don’t.
“The invitation” goes on all the time. You choose when you are ready to hear it. “Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what to take at a given time.”
The curriculum is the miracle. “It is a required course”.
The miracle is the “awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance.”
The Course undoes the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence. “It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to…….”
The Lessons, all three-hundred and sixty-five, do the work in a realm that you are not even aware of. Your contribution to the process is to learn how not to interfere.
Pursuing this calling can feel like turning traitor to the conventional wisdom of the world. It is of a different order in which we acknowledge we are all learners together, leaning toward love while discovering our equality.
The peace any one of us experiences is shared by all since minds are already joined. While it appear that one is turning his back on the world it is from a selfless and transcendent view that we can bring the inner peace and love to the world that it needs so badly.
In 2009 a small enthusiastic group of student/learners in the way of the Course joined together to start a school for serious students. Collectively, we logged well over 100 years of devotion to the Course’s teachings and the practice of forgiveness. We called it the School of Reason (now School for A Course in Miracles) . I am currently its Director.
A word about the faculty of the SFACIM: Each of the teachers has pursued their calling vigilantly. They have direct experience of the miracle that the required course promises. Each of them engaged in a two-year process of unlearning so that they could learn to see differently. They know what takes to sincerely practice forgiveness and to receive the benefits of peace. They can help you make the best use of time.
If you are undecided about your spiritual goal and whether our School might help you attain it, you may find it valuable to attend an event sponsored by the SFACIM, or drop in to one of our teacher’s classes. You will find these events and classes posted here on our website.
You may also find a purposeful conversation with any one of faculty helpful in clarifing your interest in attending.
We go together or not at all.