I share God’s Will for me to be happy.
1. You do not want to suffer.
²You may think that suffering brings you something, and you may still believe, to some extent, that it can give you what you want. I
³Yet it is likely that this belief is now beginning to waver—at least enough for you to question it and suspect that it truly makes no sense.
⁴It has not yet disappeared, but it no longer has the deep roots that once held it firmly in the dark and hidden places of your mind.
2. Today we will try to loosen its weakened hold even more, and realize that pain has no purpose, no cause, and no power to accomplish anything at all.
²Pain can bring you nothing.
³It offers you nothing, and it does not exist.
⁴And all that you believe it offers you is equally unreal.
⁵You have been enslaved by nothing. II
⁶Be free today to join in the joyful Will of God.
3. For several days we will continue devoting our longer practice periods to exercises designed to help you reach the happiness God’s Will has placed in you.
²There is where your home and safety lie.
³There is your peace, and there is no fear.
⁴There is salvation.
⁵There is where you finally find rest.
4. Begin today’s longer practices by accepting what God’s Will provides for you:
²I share God’s Will for me to be happy.
³And I now accept happiness as my function.
⁴Then seek this function deep within your mind, for there it is, awaiting only your decision. III
⁵You cannot fail to find it once you realize that your function is also your will—the same will you share with God.
5. Be happy, for your only function here is happiness.
²Be not less loving to the Son of God than He Whose Love created him as loving as Himself.
³In addition to your five-minute rest each hour, take frequent pauses today to remind yourself that you have now accepted happiness as your only function.
⁴And you can be sure that in doing so, you are joining with God’s Will.
I Today we continue to go deeper into the world’s concept of morality.
It may seem unnecessary to you to repeat ideas already covered, but make no mistake: reversing your way of thinking is such an immense task that it cannot be achieved through mere intellectual acceptance. Your mind has a strong tendency to fall back into its old habits, and if you are not very watchful, you will soon find yourself thinking as you did before. The repetition of fundamental ideas is, for a while, a necessary pedagogical tool.However, there is an even more effective way to anchor these new concepts in your mind: teach them to others. You will see how, in doing so, they truly become yours.
The idea that suffering is redemptive is deeply rooted in almost everyone’s consciousness. The origin of this strange belief lies in the assumption that evil exists—that is, that the absence of good exists.
Human beings are essentially utilitarian; they understand everything in terms of usefulness. Therefore, if evil exists, they reason that it must serve some purpose and must somehow be positive.
According to this insane logic, the negative must also be positive—which is, of course, absurd. From there, attributing to God the creation of evil and its function is but a small step. Now God has not only created good but also evil—probably for some obscure reason.
Thus, God must will evil, and it must be His Will that His Children suffer for their wickedness. Suffering becomes the medicine that will heal the Son of God so that he will not transgress His Laws again. And from all this, pure logic concludes that if God has created defective creatures, God Himself must be a clumsy craftsman, for He makes things that do not work properly.
As can clearly be seen, the entire preceding reasoning—deranged as it is—arises from conceiving the existence of evil, from thinking that the absence of something that exists must also exist. Once again: the cognitive bias of believing in the existence of absences is so widespread that it cannot even be recognized. Human beings think that what is missing is real, and they treat it as though it existed—and thus absences rule their sad lives.
When this Course tells you to fix your gaze on light and love, and not to consider sin because it does not exist, it is simply trying to heal that cognitive distortion which afflicts your mind with terrible consequences. That is why it is important that you pay attention and recognize in yourself this pernicious distortion.
The idea that suffering is redemptive also derives from the idea of sacrifice. In a world where everything has a price, and where to obtain something one must lose something else, it is inevitable to conclude that the cost of salvation must be suffering.
Thus, suffering becomes a revered and precious concept that, sadly, has managed to penetrate the very core of many religions.
II Pain, evil, suffering, darkness, separation, and death—these are all negative concepts, and therefore imaginary. They are not real; they are interpretations, not facts.
They do not exist, but the mind is free to consider them, and from there, it can either entertain them or reject them.
Therefore, you must watch your mind carefully and be conscious of what you accept and what you choose to dismiss. Choose wisely, for anything unreal that you allow to dwell in your holy mind will cause you suffering—and then you will likely blame God for it.
God has created only the positive. Do you not see that it is impossible to create otherwise? God has not created evil for the simple reason that He cannot. No one can create the impossible—neither can God. That is precisely why it is called impossible.
The Will of God is that you be happy—not because God is “good,” but simply because God is God.
It is not that God is good because He is not evil; He is good because to be evil is to not be, and God Is.
The same is true of you—and of your brother. To be “evil,” to suffer, to die, or to be alone are not realities—they are merely considerations of the condition of non-being.
For God’s sake, do not think such madness! Do not torture yourself anymore. It serves no purpose—and besides, it is not the Will of Him who created you.
Quiet your mind, look within, and become aware of your own existence—and of the fact that existence itself is utterly satisfying and is happiness.Rejoice and delight in your Being, for when you become fully aware of It, you will realize that you need nothing else—and that there is nothing else.
In any case, do not become anxious, depressed, or distressed over your apparent inability to be happy. Realize that when this happens, it is simply because you have returned to your favorite activity: hurting yourself. You have long confused pain with pleasure, and that is why you need to train your mind into healthier habits.
You can be absolutely certain that you will succeed. Your happiness is not only possible—it is inevitable, because it is timeless, and your confusion exists only within an illusory, transient time.
All the suffering you experience comes from your great efforts to protect error. A moment will come when you will cease to do so and finally rest in truth. This Course merely aims to hasten that process.
III The happiness you so deeply long for lies in the very depths of your mind, waiting for you to accept it, claim it, and enjoy it forever.
Happiness is not something you have, but what you are.