Lesson 89: Review of:
Lesson 77: I am entitled to miracles, and
Lesson 78: Let miracles replace all grievances
That word “entitled” is a trigger for the ego – it is for mine, at least. The ego likes competition, difference and specialness and words like “entitled” pricks its interest and it starts to pay attention. When I read that “I am entitled to miracles,” my ego gets a little tickled. It wants me to give God’s laws a little twist – pervert them to mean that the “I” this phrase is pointing to is the little “s” self – that egoic “I” that believes I am “entitled” to something special while others are not.
However, if we are, indeed, under no laws but God’s, we begin to understand that this “I” is actually the collective, nondualistic “I” of our higher, Divine, capital “S,” Self. That Self is not an ego, doesn’t even know about the ego and has no idea that it is more or less “special” than anyone else. This Self that we all possess is that piece of divinity that resides within each of us – and when the Course says “I am entitled to miracles,” it means everyone, equally, is entitled – because there is only one of us here.
The ego hates that, because if everyone is “entitled” to miracles, then no one is special. We’re all the same – on level ground. The ego despises a level playing field – either because it sees itself as winning, or losing, depending on the situation. Being equal is abhorrent to the ego because that means it doesn’t get a chance to gloat as the winner, or whine as the loser. It doesn’t care either way, it just wants the special designation of winner or loser.
This is why the Course implores us, over and over again, to let go of our grievances. This desire to be special – to be “entitled” over everyone else – is the ego’s source of grievances. If we truly want miracles to replace all of our grievances, the ego is quickly out of a job, since the manufacture of grievances is its only function.
When we give up our grievances, Hafiz says, we will realize the beauty that is constantly all around us waiting to be noticed. When we finally notice all that beauty, it will allow us to “gaze at her as much as you want,” he writes.
“When
God makes itself more known and all
our attention rivets on some aspect of Splendor,
all our internal dialogue – what can it do, but
cease to deplete one,
then something lifts our hearts toward the Sky.”
Photo by Masaaki Komori on Unsplash