Lesson 32: I have invented the world I see.
While we live in this dream world, it’s natural to see ourselves as a victim – even if we practice telling ourselves we’re not. Today’s lesson is another approach to that idea. Whenever we feel like the world is victimizing us, disregarding us, or trampling on what we see as our rights, we have to remind ourselves that this is the world we made.
“I have invented the world I see.”
We have done this by collectively misusing our creative powers. We do this all the time with both great and small effects on the world and lives around us.
All Adolph Hitler really wanted to do with his life was paint. He was a struggling artist when he began to misuse his creative power in service to his ego’s hunger for domination when it became clear he would never be honored for his art. The pictures he painted in the world became terrible, bloody and deadly to those under his sway.
George W. Bush wanted to be a baseball player. He even tried his hand at ownership in a team when his ambitions to be on the field were never realized. A frustrated baseball player went on as a US president to miscreate wars and initiate other terrible deeds that changed the course of history and affected the lives of millions for either good or ill.
We invent this world together by following our egoic impulses to direct our internal frustrations outward, creating a world of fear, guilt, injustice, war and despair. If this is true, the Course tells us over and over again, then we can create a new reality – one that ultimately will redeem this world and end the separation.
We do that by realizing first that we created this mess. God didn’t do it. The devil didn’t do it. Our collective egos did it and collectively we can change it.
As Marianne Williamson used to say over and over again in her weekly talks, it doesn’t take everyone realizing this – just enough people – a “remnant” as Jesus called it – waking up to this realization and putting it into practice for it to become our new reality – and ultimately our salvation.
Only one person fully accepting the Atonement for themselves – fully forgiving themselves and embracing their true, divine innocence – will end the separation. That’s why we all must be working together to achieve this goal. There’s no one savior riding in to create the world we desire. It’s a group effort. The more we have making these changes and using their thoughts to create a happy dream, the more likely we are to save time and reach our goal of unity.
The problem, Hafiz says, is that we spend too much of our time criticizing and fearing the world instead of loving it – just as it is – and seeking to improve it together.
One regret, dear world, that I am determined
not to have when I am lying on my deathbed
is that I did not kiss you enough.
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