You Can Learn to Awaken
Did you know that A Course in Miracles is a gentle alarm clock for a part of your mind which has deliberately hypnotized itself into a deep, deep sleep? This sleeping part of your mind is called the ego. But you are not the ego. You are God’s ever-present, never-sleeping Child.
When I began studying A Course in Miracles, I had no idea I was sleeping. Even though it said over and over that we are dreaming, it took years to filter through my many layers of unconscious denial and blossom into right-minded comprehension. In the meantime, like most ACIM students, I was approaching the Course as a person, and applying its forgiveness practice to my relationships.
As I willingly chose to give all my relationships and self-concepts to the Holy Spirit, He stripped me down to practically nothing … and I found myself at a crossroads: to continue believing I was a person, or to awaken to the truth that I was not a body, I was free, I was still as God created me.
Ego doubt whispered that this kind of freedom was out of reach, that only saints and avatars reached Self-realization. “Sure,” it said, “Dedicated yogis, Indian sadhus and Tibetan monks have a small chance of awakening. But you? Ha ha ha ha ha!” Yet Jesus kept explaining that I was already awake, and the only reason I didn’t know this was due to my own active interference with that Knowledge.
The wonderful thing about willingness is that it snowballs into full faith. The ego could roar menacingly, whisper sweetly, and laugh demonically, but it could no longer convince me that its dream was Reality. I want you to be this clear and certain, too.
Let’s take a moment together, right now, to absorb this truth. You are awake. You are God’s Creation. You are Beingness Being Itself, right now. This only seems far-fetched and impossible to “reach” when you actively resist Knowing your True Identity. Let’s face it. The real reason we actively resist is not fear. It is that we want to play God.
There is nothing wrong with this. But as we all find out sooner or later, playing ego god is a very painful choice. “Tolerance for pain may be high, but it is not without limit. Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there must be another way. As this recognition becomes more firmly established, it becomes a turning point.” (T-2.III.3:5-7) Hopefully, this essay activates your turning point.
Once you tire of playing God, awakening occurs naturally. First there is some tossing and turning. Then a bit of blinking. There comes a sleepy insistence on “five more minutes.” And then an Aliveness, an Awareness, and a simple Joy of Being takes over. What seemed so real fades away in a holy instant. What is Real prevails. “Pain is but sleep; joy is awakening.” (W-190)
What a comfort to have Jesus tell us, “You are not yet awake, but you can learn how to awaken.” And then he holds your hand every step of the way. Every lesson in the Workbook gives you a daily instruction. Chapter 30 guides you with Rules for Decision. The Manual for Teachers devotes section 16 to how you should spend your day. And all the pages in between are overflowing with the Holy Spirit’s Direction. Make no mistake. You can learn through the ACIM unlearning process if you so choose.
“You have chosen a sleep in which you have had bad dreams, but the sleep is not real and God calls you to awake. There will be nothing left of your dream when you hear Him, because you will awaken. Your dreams contain many of the ego’s symbols and they confuse you. Yet that was only because you were asleep and did not know. When you wake you will see the truth around you and in you, and you will no longer believe in dreams because they will have no reality for you. Yet the Kingdom and all that you have created there will have great reality for you, because they are beautiful and true.” (T-6.IV.6:2-7)
You are beautiful and true,
and this Truth can spontaneously arise in you right now!
If you need help practicing the Workbook lessons from A Course in Miracles, sign up for my online class, Workin’ the Workbook. My book, Sweet Dreams of Awakening, helps you use your sleeping hours for awakening.