The real me

 Welcome to Daily Miracles, a running commentary on the 365 lessons of A Course in Miracles, an influential spiritual text from the 1970s. I am James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as I go through this material for the first time. 

LESSON 93

Light and joy and peace abide in me. (ACIM, W-93)

Many of the previous lessons dealt with the issue of grievances, which can be summed up as, "The world is bad."

But an equal, if not more dominant feeling in people is, "I am bad."

But, 

Whatever mistakes you make, the truth about you is unchanged. ⁴Creation is eternal and unalterable. ⁵Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. ⁶You are and will forever be exactly as you were created. ⁷Light and joy and peace abide in you because God put them there. (ACIM, W-93.7:3-7)

Perhaps you are a celebrity. A fictional miniseries is produced "based on a true story." A character with your name and physical resemblance is in it. And aspects of your personality are highlighted and exaggerated for the entertainment of the audience.

Is that person you?

Would you think, "Hmmm, this is how other people perceive me. Therefore this must be the "real" me. I must be really like that, because a writer I've never even met said so."

And would you think, "These events must have really happened, because they are depicted in the miniseries. And I'm going to do the terrible things that it says I do, because I can't help it."

Would you let the miniseries have such power over you?

That would be insanity. It's far more likely that you'd say. "This isn't real, and that isn't the real me."

So, you know that another person's thoughts about you, aren't you, and can't possibly be you. 

What then, makes you believe that your own thoughts about yourself are you?

Only things that are eternal are real. So the "real" you can't be destructive, because you can't destroy yourself.

Therefore, you might as well embrace the light, the joy, and the peace that is always there.

James Leroy Wilson writes Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, JL Cells, and The MVP Chase. Thanks for your subscriptions and support!

(Photo credit: Ivoronwik)