Sacred or Sacrificial

Many things in the world seem beneficial for us. Fulfilling relationships. Intellectual stimulation. Sufficient financial resources. Quality food. Nice weather. Regular exercise.

Likewise, there are plenty of adversarial elements we strive to avoid. Mean people. Deadly viruses. Corrupt officials. A crashing economy. Just to name a few.

And we have a category for elements that are neither helpful nor harmful, which we might call neutral. A random person crossing the street two blocks away. A leaf falling from a tree we’ll never see.

But there is one common context to all our classifications of beneficial, detrimental, or indifferent. And that is our sense of ME.

Every encounter is judged by whether it is helpful, harmful, or neutral to ME (or people I care about).

Its impact on us determines the quality we ascribe to the moment. It’s as if everything exists in the sacrificial service of our sense of me.

Which makes for painful occurrences - as we’re all too familiar.

But there is another way of seeing. And that’s through the lens of sacredness.

Everyone here has the same wrong mind of the ego that sees everything as sacrificial. We all also have the same right mind that experiences everything as sacred.

And in each moment, everyone is making a choice - for one or the other.

There are no differences among us - other than our twisted forms of sacrificial specialness. Which are nothing but veiled forms of supplication.

Recognizing this, the choice is no longer hard to make. As we read in the Psychotherapy pamphlet of A Course in Miracles:

Nothing in the world is holier than helping one who asks for help. (P-2.V.4)

We’re in this nightmarish dream together, and we all awaken as one. Appreciating our shared union and purpose helps speed the journey.

Join me in Thursday’s class where we’ll explore the optics of sacred and sacrificial, and how we can make the choice that leads to a blessed peace. I look forward to seeing you then.