Actually, I like these words: “Heaven is the decision I make.” In other words, I don’t need to wait for any additional learning to make that decision. I make it now.
There is an idea that there is something we have to learn about truth. There is nothing necessary to learn about truth, although some learning does help us to make the choice for truth. That’s really the only purpose of learning … to bring us to the point where we decide to decide for truth.
There’s an interesting line in today’s Course lesson. It says, “…the choice of Heaven seem[s] to be the same as the relinquishment of hell.” If one looks carefully at that line, you will see that truth is beyond ‘preferred’ and ‘not preferred.’ Truth is something that stands true now, even if your life seems like hell because there is so much ‘not preferred’ happening in it right now.
This is why awareness-watching-awareness is called the direct path. It is a practice that recognizes truth is now, and it chooses to give attention to truth now; attention ignores illusion and goes directly to truth.
A Course in Miracles is not the direct path. It says that itself in today’s lesson. It says, “But knowledge is beyond the goals we seek to teach within the framework of this course. Ours are teaching goals, to be attained through learning how to reach them, what they are, and what they offer you. Decisions are the outcome of your learning, …”
In other words, A Course in Miracles is like preparatory school. It helps prepare you to make the choice for truth. And that is the only purpose of learning, to prepare you. However, it is possible to go directly to being prepared without needing to learn volumes of information first.
I share this, because I hope you will realize there is nothing to learn. You only need to become prepared to make the choice for truth. And you can make that choice now, whether your life has become a ‘good dream’ or remains a ‘bad dream.’ Happy dreams can come before awakening, but one can awaken directly from a bad dream too.
Today’s lesson says, “Heaven is chosen consciously. The choice cannot be made until alternatives are accurately seen and understood. All that is veiled in shadows must be raised to understanding, to be judged again, this time with Heaven’s help.”
That’s the purpose of inquiry, which we will go deeper into over the coming weeks. We question our thinking to see its worthlessness and untruth. As we see that clearly, we are willing to let go of our thinking and choose only truth. After all, “Who can decide between the clearly seen (aka, our thoughts and perceptions) and the unrecognized (truth)? Yet who can fail to make a choice between alternatives when only one (truth) is seen as valuable; the other (thoughts and perceptions) as a wholly worthless thing.”
So let’s let go of the idea that we have to be masters of learning. It’s okay if we don’t learn anything. It’s okay if we can’t remember yesterday’s workbook lesson today.
Focus on the practice. When we focus on the practice to the best of our ability in every moment, we are choosing Heaven.
