AYoMW: April 9, 2020 — Resisting happiness

Lesson 100: My part is essential to God’s plan for salvation

When I read this lesson, I feel a sense of resistance arise within me, especially when I read that our part in God’s plan for salvation is to be “happy.”

All of my fraudulent religious bells go off when I read that. I was raised, of course, in a religion that viewed happiness with suspicion. Happiness, I was taught, was not our purpose here. We are born into a fallen world of sin and as “stinking bags of worms,” as Martin Luther calls humanity, we are to toil sadly through this world in hope of landing in the promised land of heaven. There, and only there, will we find happiness, this religion taught me. Until then, look dour and do your work.

My suspicion concerning happiness comes honestly then. I was taught happiness was a byproduct of living “right” and not the goal of this life. Happiness was created by things outside of yourself – money, power, relationships, jobs. Find the right things out in this world and they will bring happiness.

Certainly, we have all experienced the happiness that new things outside of ourselves can bring, but it’s always fleeting. We trade the new car, the new house, the new job the new relationship when it no longer makes us feel the euphoria of the first few months or years that we possess it.

And that’s the thing we’re here to learn – happiness is an inside job. It’s not a byproduct, it’s the whole point. This innate happiness, however, has nothing to do with how the ego defines it. Divine happiness has nothing to do with what’s happening outside of ourselves. Instead, it is our natural state of being. It is that center of our Self that feels no disturbance, has no grievance and exists only in a state of joy because it is always connected to the peace, joy and love of the Divine that created it.

This is where we are invited to live at all times – from that center of happiness and joy that is never disturbed or aggrieved. The ego tells us that either such a place doesn’t exist or that even if it does, it’s impossible to live from that place for more than a second or two. The Course tells us differently. We can live from this place, we can be the calm center in every storm, if we’re willing to cultivate that happiness from within.

This pursuit is not for the spiritually privileged. Everyone’s function in this world is live from that center of joy that exists within us all. There are no bit parts in God’s plan. We all play an essential role.

“Your joy,” this lesson tells us, “must be complete to let His plan be understood by those to whom He sends you. They will see their function in your shining face, and hear God calling to them in your happy laugh. You are indeed essential to God’s plan.  Without your joy, His joy is incomplete.  Without your smile, the world cannot be saved.  While you are sad, the light that God Himself appointed as the means to save the world is dim and lusterless, and no one laughs because all laughter can but echo yours.”

Indian mystic poet Kabir says that laughter of joy is our function in this world. He writes:

If I told you the truth about God,

you might think I was an

idiot.

If I lied to you about the Beautiful One

you might parade me through the streets shouting,

“This guy is a genius!”

This world has its pants on backwards.

Most carry their values and knowledge in a jug

that has a big hole in it.

Thus having a clear grasp of the situation

if I am asked anything these days

I just laugh!

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash