Beth Geer Author (A Course In Miracles Teacher)

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We Do Not Know The Difference Between Pain And Joy

Holy Spirit (HS):  Under no circumstances does any one of you know what outcome in any given situation would make you happy.  

 

ME:  Why is that?

 

HS:  Because you are completely misperceiving the world around you.  This misperception gives you misguidance in judging the results of your thoughts and actions in response to the world you see.

 

Therefore, you make choices that do not serve your own best interests.  Instead, you unknowingly make decisions based upon false information and receive results you do not like.

 

ME:  Then how do we correct our misperceptions so that we receive results that would make us most happy?

 

HS:  By realizing that you do not perceive your own best interests.  What you perceive is incorrect, and by openly knowing this, you take a step towards correction and therefore become teachable.  Your mind becomes open to a new perception – one that iscorrect.

 

And this new perception will make you very happy.

 

ME:  I think we would all like to be very happy.

 

HS:  Then it is time to cease your confusion about everything you see and clear your mind with the truth.

 

Let’s begin with this simple idea: it is possible to be confused about your identification.  

 

It is possible that you each believe your body is your identity, because it is what you see.  

 

But this is incorrect.  

 

Your proper identification is as part of God’s Mind. 

 

Because God Willed that you exist, you are naturally a part of His Mind.

 

You areGod’s Will.  This is the truth that will set you free.

 

God’s Will is that you avoid pain, and so the Holy Spirit within you will only direct you in ways so as to avoid it.

 

The problem is not whether or not His direction will be helpful to you, but rather, whether or not you will perceive His direction as helpful.

 

Surely you would not object to God’s help if you could recognize it.

 

And because you do not recognize it, you do not listen to what He says.

 

Because of this, you do not recognize what will cause you pain and what will bring you joy.

 

The Holy Spirit within you is there to teach you how to tell them apart.  For as you are now, you often confuse the two.

 

As you are now, what is truly joyful is currently painful to the ego because you are identified with the ego – the body.  

 

And as long as you are confused about what you are, you will also confuse what will bring you joy and what will cause you pain.

 

Accept the belief you are actually a part of God, and you will be giving up the ego simply by default.

 

To give up the ego, is to give up your conflict with God and the rest of the world.

 

The world is the home of the ego, and when you cease to try to control the world as though it was yours, you give up your conflict with it.  

 

You give up your conflict with the world, by ceasing to claim ownership of it and therefore return to the ego what are the ego’s thoughts and to God what are God’s thoughts.

Currently, you each think you know what you want and what will make you happy, but you are claiming something that is not yours.

 

You are trying to claim this world, but this world is not your home and you do not want it – only the ego wants it.

 

Claim what you are and you are giving to God what is God’s and therefore will fulfill His Will – you will remember that you ARE His Will.

 

You will know when you are listening to the ego’s will because the ego will always ask for sacrifice and suffering on your part.  The ego loves to take away because it sees itself as without.

 

The Holy Spirit demands nothing and gives you everything, because unlike the ego, He sees Himself as within.

 

You are One with All That Is.  When you feel motivated to seek for more than this, you are siding with the ego’s view of lack and poverty in whatever area you think is important to you.

 

As I said, you ARE the Will of God.  And His Will is no idle promise or fanciful wish.  

 

Your Identification with Him is not optional.  It is the truth for every human being.

 

You may seem to believe you have a choice in the matter of your identity.

 

Yet God’s decision is final.

 

The idea you can be anything less is where you are making an error in seeing the world around you – in both yourself and everyone else.

 

The whole idea of your separation lies in this error.

 

To undo your own false perception and learn to follow the choices of the Holy Spirit – the only one Who knows what will truly bring you joy – you must relinquish your own will and exchange it for God’s.

 

Accept your Identity in Him, by treating others as though you believe the truth about them. Act as though you really understand their holiness in God.

 

This act of love is a miracle.

 

It is a miracle to see others as God sees them.  And by loving them as He does, you are doing the Will of God.

 

To open your mind to doing the Will of God, you are opening your mind to joy.

 

The miracle is therefore a lesson in what joy is, because it is a lesson in love.

 

It is a lesson in sharing the love of God.

 

Therefore, the miracle is a lesson in the truth of Who You Are, and by offering this truth to others by remembering Who They Are with you in God– you are learning to tell the difference between what will bring you pain and joy.

 

And you will begin to see the world differently.

 

You will see that you frequently make many different demands of the same situation, and some of which have nothing to do with it.  And some of these demands are even contradictory.

 

Because some outcomes directly contradict each other, your disappointment is inevitable regardless of how things turn out.

 

You have no truly unified outcome in mind in any given situation.

 

By resolving to give up your identity with the body, the world and therefore the ego, you open up your mind to a new outcome: one that does not require sacrifice from anyone, because none of what you perceive is true.

 

You do not perceive your own best interests, because all situations involve false identities and therefore all outcomes are false as well.

 

Identify with the truth in one another and you will be brought only miracles of love and joy, because at last you are aligning your mind with One Who has your best interests at heart.  

 

YOU are in His Heart.

 

The outcome you want in every situation is to cease to “want” anything to begin with.  This signifies to God that you are ready to listen to His Voice and receive only what He would give.

 

And He would give you everything because everything is His and therefore yours, because you are part of Him.

 

God’s Will is that you accept His joy and peace of mind.

 

All He asks in return, is that you lay down your pain in exchange for His gifts.

 

And as you do this you will learn how to tell the difference between pain and joy.

~ Holy Spirit

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