A Course In Miracle Workbook For Dummies

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1 A Course In Miracle Workbook For Dummies LESSON 138 Heaven is the decision I must make. W In this world of perception, Heaven is a choice, because here in time we believe there are alternatives to choose between. 2 We think in time that all things have an opposite, and what we want we choose. 3 If Heaven exists there must be hell as well, for contradiction is the way we make what we perceive, and what we think is real. W Creation knows no opposite. 2 But here in the world of time and space is opposition part of being "real." 3 It is this strange perception of the truth that makes the choice of Heaven seem to be the same as the relinquishment of hell. 4 It is not really thus since hell is not real and Heaven has no opposite. 5 Yet what is true in God's creation cannot enter here in the world of perception until what is true in God's creation is reflected in some form the world can understand. 6 Truth cannot come where truth could only be perceived with fear. 7 For this would be the error truth can be brought to illusions. 8 Opposition makes the truth unwelcome, and truth cannot come where truth is unwelcomed, feared and not understood. W Choice is the obvious escape from what appears as opposites. 2 Decision lets one of conflicting goals become the aim of effort and expenditure of time. 3 Without decision, time is but a waste and effort dissipated. 4 Without decision, time is spent for nothing in return, and time goes by without results. 5 Without decision, there is no sense of gain, for nothing is accomplished; nothing learned. W You need to be reminded that you think a thousand choices are confronting you, when there is really only one choice to make, which is the choice for truth. 2 And even this but seems to be a choice. 3 Do not confuse yourself with all the doubts that myriad decisions would induce. 4 You make but one. 5 And when that one is made, you will perceive that the choice for truth was no choice at all. 6 For truth is true, and nothing else is true. 7 There is no opposite to choose instead. 8 There is no contradiction to the truth. The choice for the false is not a choice since it is unreal. W Choosing depends on learning. 2 And the truth cannot be learned, but only recognized. 3 In recognition truth s acceptance lies, and as truth is accepted truth is known. 4 But knowledge is beyond the goals we seek to teach within the framework of this course. 5 Ours are teaching goals, to be attained through learning how to reach the goals, what the goals are, and what the goals offer you. 6 Decisions are the outcome of your learning, for decisions rest on what you have accepted as the truth of what you are, and what your needs must be. W In this insanely complicated world, Heaven appears to take the form of choice, rather than merely being what Heaven is. 2 Of all the choices you have tried to make this choice for Heaven is the simplest, most definitive and prototype of all the rest, the one choice which settles all decisions. 3 If you could decide the rest, this choice for Heaven remains unsolved. 4 But when you solve the choice for Heaven, the other choices are resolved with the choice for Heaven, for all decisions but conceal this one decision for Heaven by taking different forms. 5

2 Here in the choice for Heaven is the final and the only choice in which is truth accepted or denied. W So we begin today considering the choice for Heaven that time was made to help us make. 2 Such is time s holy purpose, now transformed from the intent your ego s gave time, which was that time was to be a means for demonstrating hell is real, hope changes to despair, and life itself must in the end be overcome by death. 3 To the ego, in death alone are opposites resolved, for ending opposition is to die. 4 And thus, to the ego, salvation must be seen as death, for life is seen as conflict. 5 To the ego, to resolve the conflict is to end your life as well. W These mad beliefs of the ego like the idea that death is salvation can gain unconscious hold of great intensity, and grip the mind with terror and anxiety so strong that the egoic mind will not relinquish its ideas about the ego s own protection. 2 To the ego, the mind must be saved from salvation, threatened to be safe, and magically armored against truth. 3 And these fear-based egoic decisions that you must be saved from salvation and the truth are made unaware, to keep these egoic decisions safely undisturbed; apart from your decisionmaker s question and from reason and from doubt. W Heaven is chosen consciously. 2 The choice for Heaven cannot be made until alternatives are accurately seen and understood. 3 All the ego s beliefs that are veiled in shadows must be raised to understanding, to be judged again, this time with Heaven's help. 4 And all mistakes in judgment that the split mind had made before are open to correction, as the truth dismisses the mistakes in egoic judgment as causeless. 5 Now are the mistakes in judgment recognized as without any effects. 6 The mistakes in judgment cannot be concealed, because their nothingness is recognized. W The conscious choice of Heaven is as sure as is the ending of the fear of hell, when the choice for Heaven is raised from the ego s unconscious protective shield of unawareness, and is brought to the decision-maker s light. 2 Who can decide between the clearly seen and the unrecognized? 3 Yet who can fail to make a choice between alternatives when only one, the choice for Heaven, is seen as valuable; the other as a wholly worthless thing, a but imagined source of guilt and pain? 4 Who hesitates to make a choice like this? 5 And shall we hesitate to choose Heaven today? W We make the choice for Heaven as we wake, and spend five minutes making sure that we have made the one decision, the choice for Heaven, that is sane. 2 We recognize we make a conscious choice between what has existence, which is Heaven, and what has nothing but an appearance of the truth, which is the ego s illusion of separation. 3 The ego s pseudobeing brought to what is real, is flimsy and transparent in the light. 4 The ego s pseudo-being holds no terror now, for what was made enormous, vengeful, pitiless with hate, demands obscurity for fear to be invested there. 5 Now your ego s belief system is recognized as but a foolish, trivial mistake. W Before we close our eyes in sleep tonight, we reaffirm the choice for Heaven that we have made each hour in between. 2 And now we give the last five minutes of our waking day to the decision for Heaven with which we awoke. 3 As every hour passed, we have declared our

3 choice for Heaven again, in a brief quiet time devoted to maintaining sanity. 4 And finally, we close the day with this, acknowledging we chose but what we want: 5 Heaven is the decision I must make. 6 I make the choice for Heaven now, and will not change my mind, because Heaven is the only thing I want. Notes to Lesson #138 Heaven is the decision I must make. This lesson says that heaven is a decision I must make. But what is heaven? Heaven is not a place. It is a state of mind. Heaven is a symbol for the truth. Since God is only love, our acceptance of that truth would be heaven. Ultimately, you do not decide for heaven, instead you make a conscious decision for the truth. Truth just is. There is no opposite to the truth. Love is truth and has no opposites. God is only love and has no opposite. In truth, there is only Heaven which is God s love and has no opposite. In the world of knowledge, only truth exists because only truth is real. There is nothing that exists outside of truth. Since there is no real opposite to truth, there is no alternative to choose but the truth. The terms called God, love, truth, heaven, the real world and knowledge all become synonyms that stand for the Oneness of All That Is. They are all indivisible aspects of the One Self. Where one aspect exists, all the other aspects must also be there. These aspects are indivisible. Anything that exists must share these same characteristics since like begets like. There can be nothing outside the truth that is real. This One Self represents all that God created as God created it as an extension of the One Self. The terms represent what is real, eternal and changeless. They are the Oneness of All That Is and there is nothing else. Yet, in the world of perception, which is the world of illusion, heaven, truth, love and God all appear to have opposites. In perception there appears to be heaven and hell; the true and the false; love and fear; and a God of love versus a God of fear. The world of perception is the world of imagination in which both the real and unreal can appear side by side in the same fantasy called time. In the illusion of time, opposites are what make your dream world of provisional reality appear to be real since change seems to happen. Change occurs in the dreamer s provisional reality whenever different decisions or choices are made within the mind of the dreamer. Time is the measure of change. Time provides a game board in which one can imagine and pretend what it would be like to be something other than what they are. While playing on time s game board, each participant remains perfect, whole and complete, a part of the indivisible One Self. Yet, while playing, each temporarily forgets their oneness. Due to this temporary

4 suspension of the knowledge of what they are, the participants can have a simulated experience that most clearly replicates reality, without any real consequence. Without this amnesia or forgetfulness, the game of What am I would not be much fun or a challenge. It would be like playing tick tac toe. Once you have played the game a few times, you quickly realize that unless someone purposely tries to lose, the game will end in a draw. The game has so few options, it quickly becomes boring. The game of tick tac toe offers so few learning lessons that you quickly become a master of the game. Because of this, no one really wants to play it as an adult. To hold your attention a game needs to have one of two elements. It needs to be fun or it needs to teach you something. The game of time offers both. A third component that makes for a good game is that it should be safe. You would not want your children playing a game of cops and robbers with real loaded guns. Again, the illusion of time protects the participants from any real damage. They may appear to get bloody and even die but it has no actual effect. In the next moment, they always spring back to life for another go at the game. Each is happy to have had the experience and just a little wiser because of it. They now are a better player that has honed their skills in their quest to become a grand master of the game of What am I. Time allows for learning. Learning takes place when there appears to be conflicting choices. We learn though comparison and contrast. Without conflicting choices that allow for contrast and comparison, choice becomes more difficult. Black and white decisions are easier to make and provide better feedback. Shades of gray clutter and delay the decision-making process. When you make a choice you get an experience. This experience provides the feedback or consequences that help you learn the effect of the choices that you have made. Decisions allow you to choose between conflicting goals. When you make a decision, you eliminate one of the goals which help you narrow the playing field of possibilities. Decisions are needed to advance toward the more desirable goal that you value and seek. As you continue you make more decisions, you gain additional experiences that provide better feedback so that you can decide if you need to make any mid-course corrections to stay on target with your goals. Over time, as you learn more about the game of What am I, you will focus our attention on one single goal. You will decide you want to only know the truth and be that truth. In time, you think you have a choice. Yet, the choice for the false really is no choice. When you choose the false, you simply deny the truth but the truth still is the only thing what is real. Truth cannot be learned but only recognized. In the world of perception, truth must be first understood to be an available alternative. Truth cannot come where truth is not welcomed or viewed with fear. One of the laws of perception states that what you fear, you cannot see. As long as you argue for your littleness, you will fear the truth of your Big S Self. You will not understand that your big S Self is a viable option. As long as you believe that this world provides something of value, whether it be hiding from a

5 wrathful God or doing penance to earn some future reward, the choice for the truth will appear frightening. Hell is the denial of the truth and the belief in the false. It is your own belief in the reality of your little s self. Your beliefs in the false are often held unconsciously so that they are never questioned. Because of these false beliefs, the truth can be made to appear frightening when you claim you do not know the truth of who you really are. To the ego, the purpose of time is to keep you afraid of the truth of who you are. As long as you perceive yourself to be a sinner, you will fear leaving this world that you think protects you from a wrathful god. As long as you perceive you have sinned, you will value this world as a place in which you can earn back the love of your fearful god. To the Holy Spirit, the purpose of time is to restore your awareness to the truth. Once recognized, you can accept the truth and come home. When you fail to make a decision, either one way or the other, you waste time. Decisions are needed to facilitate the learning process. Decisions are based on your beliefs about what you really are. The only decision that we came here to learn is that we only want the truth. When you choose the truth, all other decisions you had made become irrelevant because the truth was always the only viable choice. You realize the choice for the false is meaningless and offers nothing that you could want or value. It is the choice for nothing. The choice for truth must be made consciously and freely. This choice for truth cannot be made in time until the alternatives are accurately seen, understood, questioned and then the decision to choose differently is made. The only alternatives are the true or the false. You are perfect, whole and complete or you are not. With the feedback that is derived from making decisions based on fear, we learn that there must be a better way. You will choose to follow the Voice for Love. The choice was always between the acceptance of the truth of who you are or the denial of that truth. Eventually, we will all freely choose the choice for heaven. Heaven is the only real choice possible because truth, heaven, love and God have no opposites. There is only the One Self and you are an indivisible aspect of that One. Question: Why do you think your ego would not want you to realize that you have the option of choosing the truth that you are your big S Self? Question: If given the simple choice between being your ego s little s self or your big S Self, would it be a difficult decision? Copyright 2014 by Thomas R. Wakechild