Lesson 99: Salvation is my only function here
We all come into this world with a sense that we’re here for a reason. Many of us spend our entire lives searching for something that will give our lives meaning, whether it’s through a job, a relationship, a thirst for power or wealth, or even a drive to do as much good as they can in the world. We fully believe that our purpose in this world is to do or be something that “makes a difference” in the world.
Could it be, though, that what we do out in this world isn’t really the key to finding our purpose? What if what we do, no matter how lowly or highly it is thought of by society, isn’t the point? What if the ultimate lesson of this life is to learn that no matter what we do or become in this world our purpose is only found in the spirit with which we do everything instead of finding the one thing we believe is our reason for living?
Success in this ego world is often judged by how much power, wealth and material toys we accumulate over the years. We climb the corporate and social ladder, and maybe somebody puts our picture on the cover of an international magazine to celebrate our creativity, wealth and power. What’s wrong with that? Nothing, unless the spirit you infuse that wealth and popularity with is one of fear, narcissism or selfishness. There are plenty of materially wealthy and powerful people in the world who remain miserable even as they are surrounded by a plethora of possessions.
However, there are plenty of content and joyful people living in what the world calls poverty. They are not living in palaces, jetting off to private luxury destination or buying their second home in some exotic place. They live in modest quarters and may be existing paycheck to paycheck, yet they are content, they are joyful, they find deep meaning in their lives.
Or vice versa. Material wealth and power, or lack of it, doesn’t create our happiness or our misery. Only we do that because we miscreate our lives out of a spirit of fear. We can only create a world of joy, peace and love when that is the spirit we are already embodying, no matter what we do for a living in this world.
When we realize what this lesson teaches – that salvation is our only function in this world – will we understand that what it really doesn’t matter what our outward role is in this world – whether we’re the most powerful leader on the planet or we’re the one washing their toilets. Our function here is simply to remember who we are – to learn how to see through all the illusions of power, wealth or any other system of separation we have created and see the truth about ourselves. We are all one – all thoughts in the mind of God – all innocent bearers of the light of Love in this world.
When we can understand that, we can see clearly that this world of pain is not God’s will for us. We have created this world through our collective egos, agreeing on the ego’s power in this world to create separation and misery, or even a sense of specialness in our own suffering or success. Our function in this world is not to die with the most toys, it’s to learn that we are all spirit and to outdo one another in Love, compassion and mercy.
We constantly forget that this is our function – our only true purpose in the world – because the ego’s siren song of competition and fear is so strong. As we continue our practice of the Course or other spiritual paths, we experience more flashes of insight, more moments where we understand our true purpose here. In those moments when we forget and get caught back up in the ego’s machinations, this lesson says we are not condemned for any “sin,” but instead have made a mistake that can be corrected if we’re willing to pause, breathe deeply, and remember our true function.
“Forgive what you have made and you are saved,” this lesson tells us.
When we do that St. Thomas Aquinas writes that we learn the truth not just about ourselves, but about God.
He writes:
I have come to learn that
God’s compassion and light can never be limited;
thus any God who could condemn is
not a god at all
but some disturbing image in the
mind of a child
we best ignore, until
we can cure the dark.
Photo by Danica Tanjutco on Unsplash