Lesson 103: God, being Love, is also happiness
I gotta tell you, kids, writing these reflections on A Course in Miracles’ workbook would be so much easier if all of our lives were not being mightily inconvenienced by a global pandemic. It’s so much easier to write about happiness when you can see evidence of it around you as people gather in parks, restaurants, bars, sporting events or concerts. It’s much easier to feel happy when you can leave your house without a face mask or have to que up at the grocery store to get your vital supplies.
Happiness is so much easier when happiness is evident outside of yourself, right?
I’ve been having a hard time with today’s lesson because the fear and anxiety of our time is catching up with me. I’m blessed – my main job as a writer has not been affected. I still have full-time employment. My spiritual community has had to move online but so far, our members are still supporting us financially, and I have no reason to believe they won’t continue doing that as long as they are able. I am in far better shape than a lot of other people I know, and I’m grateful.
So, why am I not happy? Well, as my ego likes to tell me, my blessings make me “privileged,” and in that state I should feel guilty. I’m healthy, employed, live in a fine, climate-controlled home with two bathrooms and a good supply of food, beer and toilet paper. My ego says that instead of feeling good about those things, I should feel guilty. Being “better off” isn’t good, it tells me. It’s bad because others are doing so poorly.
A good friend of mine who has studied the Course much longer than I have once wisely told me when I was in the middle of an ego induced guilt trip last year that I cannot make myself suffer enough to bring even one ounce of relief to someone else. I cannot feel guilty enough to change anyone else’s situation. Allowing myself to wallow in sorrow or guilt does nothing to change the sorrow or suffering of another human being.
What I can do is be happy. What I can do is choose to appreciate the place where I am at and use the power of that place to help alleviate suffering. I can use the resources that I have to make the world a better place not just for myself, but for everyone who is currently suffering. My suffering will not change the world, but my happiness will.
Again, we’re not talking about fake positive thinking or plastering a smile on when all you want to do is cry. The happiness God offers is “an attribute of love,” this lesson says. It is not an attribute of the ego which loves to traffic in counterfeit happiness that is fleeting and conditioned on what’s going on outside of ourselves.
The happiness God offers passes all the understanding of the ego. It is not conditioned on outside events. It is an attribute that extends Love, that creates peace, that invites others to experience the same joy that is readily available within us all. In this Holy happiness, there is no fear, there is no grievance, there is no attack, there is no sorrow or guilt – there is only the ability to transform the whole world if we’re willing to tap this natural resource and spread it liberally to those around us.
Hafiz says: “There is a bird of paradise, Huma, that comes
close to earth but never touches the ground.
“Sometimes it so nears one has a chance to leap
up and touch it.
“Those who have received its blessing, from
knowing its body firsthand,
“all have something in common: Their minds
never know any calculated malice, and thus
are not weighted down.”
Photo by Taneli Lahtinen on Unsplash