September 12, 2016
"The roads this world can offer seem to be quite large in number, but the time must come when everyone begins to see how like they are to one another. Men have died on seeing this, because they saw no way except the pathways offered by the world. And learning they led nowhere, lost their hope."
You cannot find salvation in the world until you offer it salvation yourself.
Projection makes perception. Giving is proof of having. When you give salvation, you will find salvation. Remember always, you can give only to yourself.
In eternity, giving and receiving are the same. In time, the giving must come first.
You have projected everything you do not want into the world, as an attempt to escape it. But you have not evaded these disowned aspects of yourself, you have merely segregated them outside of you. Or so it seems. Still, with a sugar coating and the glitter of possessions, cars, cloths, money, a comfortable life and sex the world has entranced you with desire.
Some say life is a crap sandwich, but with enough bread you might not taste the crap. Right? Admit to yourself for one brief moment the strong attraction you have for money. Freedom is found in money. Happiness is found in money. Doctors and hospitals are expensive, so health and life itself is found with money. If you have money you will have friends. Without money you are alone and worthless. Money will protect you from suffering.
The central place money holds in the modern mind is difficult to apprehend, because the need for and value of money is never questioned. If you do not have any money, you want some. If you do have money, you want more.
But, you can never get enough of what you do not really want. Satisfaction cannot be found by means of money and the stuff of the world.
"Give up the world! But not to sacrifice. You never wanted it. What happiness
have you sought here that did not bring you pain? What moment of content has not been
bought at fearful price in coins of suffering? Joy has no cost. It is your sacred right,
and what you pay for is not happiness. Be speeded on your way by honesty, and let
not your experiences here deceive in retrospect. They were not free from bitter cost
and joyless consequence.
"Do not look back except in honesty. And when an idol tempts you, think of
this:
"There never was a time an idol brought you anything except the "gift" of guilt. Not
one was bought except at cost of pain, nor was it ever paid by you alone."
Upon learning the pathways of the world led nowhere, many have lost their hope.
"Yet this was the time they could have learned their greatest lesson. All must reach this point, and go beyond it. It is true indeed there is no choice at all within the world. But this is not the lesson in itself. The lesson has a purpose, and in this you come to understand what it is for. Why would you seek to try another road, another person or another place, when you have learned the way the lesson starts, but do not yet perceive what it is for? Its purpose is the answer to the search that all must undertake who still believe there is another answer to be found."
Learn now, without despair, there is no hope of answer in the world, as it is. Although the disheartened are useless, only the ego can be disheartened.
"Have you really considered how many opportunities you have had to gladden yourself, and how many of them you have refused?"To finally turn away from all the roadways of the world, isn't it necessary to understand the futility of what the world offers? To seek another way, a better way, is it not necessary to learn the pathways of the world offer nothing you truly value?
"Do not judge the lesson that is but begun with this. Seek not another signpost in the world that seems to point to still another road. No longer look for hope where there is none. Make fast your learning now, and understand you but waste time unless you go beyond what you have learned to what is yet to learn. For from this lowest point will learning lead to heights of happiness, in which you see the purpose of the lesson shining clear, and perfectly within your learning grasp."No decision has power if it is applied in situations without choice. The alternative to the ways of the world has been offered you. The differences are clear. Each must make a choice. Each DOES make that choice.
Choose again.
LESSON 123.
I thank my Father for His gifts to me.
Today let us be thankful. We have come to gentler pathways and to smoother roads. There is no thought of turning back, and no implacable resistance to the truth. A bit of wavering remains, some small objections and a little hesitance, but you can well be grateful for your gains, which are far greater than you realize.
A day devoted now to gratitude will add the benefit of some insight into the real extent of all the gains which you have made; the gifts you have received. Be glad today, in loving thankfulness, your Father has not left you to yourself, nor let you wander in the dark alone. Be grateful He has saved you from the self you thought you made to take the place of Him and His creation.
Give Him thanks today.
