I will not value what is valueless.
1. In the process of teaching, it is sometimes helpful to return to practical matters, especially after addressing subjects that seem too theoretical and far removed from what the student has already learned.
²That is what we shall do today.
³We shall not speak of lofty ideas with global implications, but focus instead on the benefits this teaching holds for you.
2. You do not ask too much of life. On the contrary, you ask far too little.
²When you allow your mind to dwell on matters of the body, on things you can buy, or on how others see you, you are inviting suffering—not happiness.
³This course does not aim to take from you what little you have.
⁴Nor does it seek to replace the satisfactions the world offers with utopian ideals.
⁵There is no satisfaction to be found in the world. I
3. Today we list the true criteria by which all things you think you want must be tested.
²Unless they meet these sound requirements, they are not worth desiring at all, for they would only serve to replace something that offers you far more.
³The laws that govern this choice do not come from you, nor do you set the alternatives from which you choose.
⁴But you can choose—and in fact, you must.
⁵However, it is wise to understand the laws you set in motion when you choose, and what the options are.
4. We have already emphasized that there are only two, although many may appear to exist. II
²The range is fixed, and this cannot be changed.
³It would not be merciful to you if there were limitless alternatives, for that would delay your choosing until you had considered them all.
⁴This is not the case; you stand now at a point where only one decision must be made.
5. Another equally kind law is that there can be no compromise in what your choice will bring.
²What you choose cannot give you only a little, for there are no in-betweens in this.
³Every choice you make brings you everything or nothing.
⁴Therefore, if you learn the criteria that distinguish all from nothing, you will choose well.
6. First:
²If you choose something that will not last forever, what you have chosen has no value.
³A fleeting value is not worth anything.
⁴Time can never take away what is truly valuable.
⁵What decays and dies never truly existed, and offers nothing to the one who chooses it.
⁶They are deceived by something that is nothing, simply because they see it in a form they believe they like.
7. Second:
²If you choose to take something from another, you will have nothing.
³This is because when you deny someone their right to everything, you also deny it to yourself.
⁴Therefore, you will not recognize what you truly have, and you will deny that it exists.
⁵He who takes from another deceives himself into believing he can gain at another’s loss.
⁶But loss can only bring loss, and nothing more.
8. The next criterion is the one on which the others rest.
²Why does what you choose have value to you?
³What is it that draws your mind to it?
⁴What is it for?
⁵Here is where self-deception is easiest, for the ego does not recognize what it wants.
⁶Nor does it tell the truth, even as it sees it.
⁷For it needs to preserve a certain appearance of dignity to shield the filthy and grimy goals it truly pursues, so you can see how “innocent” it is.
9. Yet its camouflage is a thin veneer that can only deceive those who prefer to be deceived.
²Its goals are quite obvious to anyone who takes the time to look at them.
³Here, the deception is twofold, for the one who is deceived will not realize he has gained nothing.
⁴He will also believe he has served the ego’s hidden goals.
10. And though he may try to keep his focus on that protective sheen, he cannot help but notice its sordid edges and unclean core.
²His own mistakes, which had no real effects, now seem like sins to him, for he believes that filth is his own, and sees in impurity the unmistakable sign of deep unworthiness within.
³He who serves the ego’s goals and adopts them as his own is not mistaken, according to the ego’s dictates.
⁴For the ego teaches that the true mistake is believing sins are merely errors—for who would suffer for their sins if that were so?
11. And now we come to the most difficult criterion for choosing to believe, though it is perfectly clear.
²If you feel even the slightest trace of guilt about what you have chosen, it is because you have allowed the ego’s goals to cloud the true alternatives, and thus you do not realize there are only two.
³And now the choice you think you made appears fearful and too dangerous to be the nothing that it truly is. III
12. All things are either valuable or valueless; worthy of pursuit or not worth any effort at all; completely desirable or not worth the smallest wish to have them.
²Choosing is easy just because of this.
³Complexity is nothing but a smoke screen that hides the very simple fact that no decision can truly be difficult.
⁴And what do you gain by learning this?
⁵You gain far more than just the ability to choose with ease and without pain.
13. Heaven itself is reached with empty hands and open minds, which come with nothing to find everything and claim it as their own. IV
²Today we will try to reach that state by not deceiving ourselves, and by being fully willing to give value only to what is truly valuable and real.
14. Our two fifteen-minute practice periods will begin with this:
²I will not value what is valueless.
³And I will seek only what is truly valuable,
⁴for that is all I really want to find.
⁵And then you will receive what awaits everyone who comes without burdens to the gates of Heaven, which open wide at their approach. V
15. If you find yourself burdening your mind with needless weight, or think you face a difficult decision, respond immediately with this simple thought:
²I will not value what is valueless,
³for only what is valuable belongs to me.
I For what is said here to make sense to you, it is essential that you understand what “satisfaction” means and what it entails. It is a word that comes from Latin, composed of satis (enough) and the verb facere (to do). You feel satisfied when you consider that you have what you need according to how you conceive of yourself. That is why, if you identify with the idea of the body, you will interpret satisfaction as pleasure; if you see yourself as an individual belonging to a social group, you will see it as recognition; and if you believe yourself to be a wretched sinner, you will seek it in the redemption of your faults. What is important for you to understand is that it is a concept that derives directly from the idea you have of yourself—from your ego. It is always the ego that experiences itself as satisfied or lacking.
The truth, however, is that you are not an ego: you are the Son of God, and in that sense you, Son of God, will never find anything in this world that satisfies you. This is a Course about truth, and if you interpret it on the basis provided by your beliefs, you will not be able to understand it. That is why it is essential that you be willing, at least, to question everything you now believe, because otherwise this Course will not make much sense to you. Never forget that everything you might believe about yourself is false.
Another matter that also has you very confused is your tendency to equate pleasure, or any other type of satisfaction, with happiness. Careful! Do not do it! These are concepts that have nothing to do with each other. One could say that satisfaction is the substitute the ego proposes to you for happiness—which, obviously, it cannot provide you, since the ego is precisely the absence of happiness. The ego is an absence of reality, because happiness and reality are indeed equivalent terms.
Satisfaction is the “happiness” of illusions, and therefore it shares their attributes: it is fleeting and changeable, and extremely prone to quickly turning into its opposite. The ego also has a party going on in this world, in imitation of Heaven, but, as might be expected, it is very different from the one you celebrate with your Father and with your Creations. To begin with, here you have to pay to take part in the feast; the victuals barely remain on the table for an instant, for they quickly disappear, since greedy hands snatch them away if you do not hurry, and they are indigestible besides. That is what this world offers you. Do not continue deceiving yourself by thinking you will find anything else here. Stop seeking satisfaction in the things of the world; for although you will find it on some occasions, it will never be anything even remotely related to the happiness you deserve.
II W-130.5 “It is impossible to see two worlds that have nothing in common. If you pursue one of them, the other disappears. Yet the one you seek is always there. These two worlds are all you can choose between, for there are no others. You can choose only between the real and the unreal, and only that.”
III The laws of choosing and the criteria for evaluation that this Lesson presents are as follows:
LAWS OF CHOOSING:
• You choose only between the real and the illusory.
• You choose only between what is everything and what is nothing.
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION:• What is not eternal is worthless.
• To take is to lose.
• Only what is consistent with your true identity has value.
• When something arouses guilt, it is because it is not in accord with your true identity.
If you look closely, you will see that both the laws and the criteria are based on the concordance between what you are going to choose and what you truly are. If you choose something to make it yours, you had better ensure that what you choose is in accord with your true identity, because if it is not, you will be mistaken, and you will soon realize that you have made a bad choice, since what you have chosen is different from you and does not belong to you.
• You must not go after what is illusory, because you are real.
• The temporal should not interest you, for you are eternal and it will end up disappointing you.
• Anything whose magnitude can be measured will not satisfy you, because you are absolute and whole, and you will never settle for less than that.
• If your choice implies taking something from someone, you will end up losing it. Everything you do, you do to yourself, because you are everything.
• You always desire what you believe yourself to be. Choose well, for your opinion of yourself is at stake.
• If you feel guilty about your choice, it is because, deep down, you know that you have betrayed yourself.
IV If the world is a dream, and what you want is to awaken, do not fix your attention on the dream, for that way you will never achieve it. Forgiveness, which is what this Course constantly proposes to you, is nothing more than that: not entertaining yourself with the things of this world and letting them pass, because they are not real, they are not like you, and the only thing you will achieve, if you do, is to prolong an illusion that, at best, prevents you from enjoying your immeasurable condition, and at worst, makes you suffer.
Do not waste time on what has no value. By now, you ought to begin to consider yourself an expert in disappointment and disillusionment. The world is absolutely incapable of providing you anything you truly want. If you think it does, it is because all the value you saw in it you placed there yourself.
The world is a very simple illusion. You have been told repeatedly how it works. You are the source and origin of all value, but you have decided to ignore this and seek what is valuable outside yourself. Then you project your own value onto something external and feel drawn to it, and you call that desire. But when you go after it, it slips through your fingers, because, obviously, it was not there. It has always been in you, and so it will be forever. Stop seeking and go within, where the Kingdom of God certainly is. But first, remember: stop seeking here, because all you are doing is buying time at a high price. Be glad that it is so. That is what it means that Heaven is reached with empty hands and an open mind.
The disillusionment the world provokes in the confused minds of men is not a matter unique and exclusive to this Course; it is the intrinsic character of the human condition, experienced and expressed with greater or lesser success in all its stories and narratives. It is the description of the impossibility of attaining happiness through the concrete, the illusory. It is the marrow of all the films, novels, and songs that move you so deeply. It is the same old story. If you want a fairly precise description of that feeling of helplessness, just take a look at a cry of dismay that already has a few thousand years behind it. Read Ecclesiastes, probably the most bitter book in the Bible—and one of the most enlightening. You will find it very familiar.
V Genesis 28:17 “He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the House of God, and this is the gate of Heaven.’”