Misery

            Here is the formula for misery. Misery=helplessness. "Do you not see that all your misery comes from the strange belief that you are powerless?" All forms of misery are based on the belief of being helpless. This is the basis of misery. Without this first belief in helplessness, misery can't stand up.

            "No one believes the Son of God is powerless. And those who see themselves as helpless must believe that they are not the Son of God." (And you are the Son of God, for the Sonship is One.)

            It is important to remember that helplessness is an interpretation. As such, it can always be re-interpreted.

I first learned the basis for misery when reading A Course in Miracles. ACIM goes on to say,

             "Could he admit that no one made him powerless? Reason would surely bid him seek no longer what is not there to find. Yet first he must be willing to perceive a world where it is not. It is not necessary that he understand how he can see it. Nor should he try. For if he focuses on what he cannot understand, he will emphasis his helplessness, and let him sin tell him that his enemy must be himself. But let him ask himself these questions, which he must decide, to have it done for him."

"Do I desire a world I rule instead of one that rules me?

Do I desire a world where I am powerful instead of helpless?

Do I desire a world in which I have no enemies and cannot sin?

And do I want to see what I denied because it is the truth?"

            "You may already have answered the first three questions, but not yet the last. For this one seems fearful, and unlike the others. Yet reason would assure you they are all the same. We said this year would emphasize the sameness of things that are the same. This final question, which is indeed the last you need decide, still seems to hold a threat the rest have lost for you. And this imagined difference attests to your belief that truth may be the enemy you yet may find. Here, then, would seem to be the last remaining hope of finding sin, and not accepting power.

            Forget not that the choice of sin or truth, helplessness or power, is the choice of whether to attack or heal. For healing comes of power and attack of helplessness. Whom you attack you cannot want to heal. And whom you would have healed must be the one you chose to be protected from attack. And what is this decision but the choice whether to see him through the body's eyes or let him be revealed to you through vision?  How this decision leads to its effects is not your problem. But what you want to see must be your choice. This is a course in cause and not effect. Consider carefully your answer to the last question you have left unanswered still. And let your reason tell you that it must be answered, and is answered in the other three. And then it will be clear to you that, as you look on the effects of sin in any form, all you need do is simply ask yourself:

            Is this what I would see? Do I want this?

            This is your one decision; this is the condition for what occurs. It is irrelevant to how it happens, but not to why. You have control of this. And if you choose to see a world without an enemy, in which you are not helpless, the means to see it will be given you.

            Why is the final question so important? Reason will tell you why. It is the same as are the other three, except in time. The others are decisions that can be made, and then unmade and made again. But truth is constant, and implies a state where vacillations are impossible. You can desire a world you rule that rules you not, and change your mind. You can desire to exchange your helplessness for power, and lose this same desire as a little glint of sin attracts you. And you can want to see a sinless world, and let an "enemy" tempt you to use the body's eyes and change what you desire.

            In content all the questions are the same. For each one asks if you are willing to exchange the world of sin for what the Holy Spirit [Intuition] sees, since it is this the world of sin denies. And therefore those who look on sin are seeing the denial of the real world. Yet the last question adds the wish for the constancy in your desire to see the real world. By answering the final question "yes" you add sincerity to the decisions you have already made to all the rest. For only then have you renounced the option to change your mind again. When it is this you do not want, the rest are wholly answered.

            Why do you think you are unsure the others have been answered? Could it be necessary they be asked so often, if they had. Until the last decision has been made, the answer is both "yes" and "no". For you have answered "yes" without perceiving that "yes" must mean "not no." No one decides against his happiness, but he may do so if he does not see he does it. And if he sees his happiness as every changing, now this, now that, and now an elusive shadow attached to nothing, he does decide against it.

            Elusive happiness, or happiness in changing form that shifts with time and place, is an illusion that has no meaning. Happiness must be constant, because it is attained by giving up the wish for the inconstant. Joy cannot be perceived except through constant vision. And constant vision can be given only those who wish for constancy. The power of the Son of God's desire remains the proof that he is wrong who sees himself as helpless. Desire what you want, and you will look on it and think it real. No thought but has the power to release or kill. And none can leave the thinker's mind, or leave him unaffected."    --ACIM

                        My Interpretation

First of all the lines.    -

            "It is not necessary that he understand how he can see it. Nor should he try. For if he focuses on what he cannot understand, he will emphasis his helplessness, and let sin tell him that his enemy must be himself"   -means that when we are unable to make a decision, or can't decide on something, our mind has a tendency to label itself as helpless, which brings on further confusion. It isn't necessary to understand how we can see a better world, only to be able to want to see a better world, a better interpretation (i.e. not the one that seemed to make us "helpless"), and the opportunity will present itself. (i.e. when the student is ready the teacher will appear.")

            "No one decides against own happiness, but he may do so if he doesn't see it" -means that "helplessness" is always seen as coming from, or "imposed" from outside of ourselves. This happens when we tie our self-identity exclusively to a body. Please note that it is always the idea of bodies as helpless. We wrap our self-identity around objects of consciousness (bodies, possessions, concepts) and when those things are taken away from us, we experience a mini self-identity death, or "ego death."

[see blog on ego]

            "Helplessness" is an idea of the mind, not of the body. Keep in mind that as a body, you will age, and you will die. (Does that make you feel helpless?) Helplessness is not a limitation of the body. It is a limitation in self-identity. It is a refusal to accept the non-limitations of Spirit. We can be limited by our body, and still not be helpless. (and indeed, some handicapped people will take offense if you label them as "helpless.") You can even be a prisoner, and still be free in your mind.

And if you choose to see a world without an enemy, in which you are not helpless, the means to see it will be given you.

             The power of the Son of God's desire remains the proof that he is wrong who sees himself as helpless. Desire what you want, and you will look on it and think it real.

            This sentence speaks for itself. How can we be the prisoners, and jailors of our mind, if we hold the key? We would have to see ourselves as throwing away the key, of "throwing away" our own power. As such it is always "projected" on the outside world. This power though, is the power of re-interpretation in our lives.

 No one seriously attacks their own mind, but this is exactly what we do when we label ourselves as helpless.

Whenever you are depressed, know that this doesn't have to be.

 Just know that your self-identity is Spirit, and you always have the ability to redefine yourself.

[Note: A few people will object to my use of the word Spirit. Please see Fear and the Ego blogs.]