Lesson 103. God, being Love, is also happiness.(1) Happiness is an attribute of love. It cannot be apart from it. Nor can it beexperienced where love is not. Love has no limits, being everywhere. Andtherefore joy is everywhere as well. Yet can the mind deny that this is so,believing there are gaps in love where sin can enter, bringing pain instead ofjoy. This strange belief would limit happiness by redefining love as limited,and introducing opposition in what has no limit and no opposite.(2) Fear is associated then with love, and its results become the heritage ofminds that think what they have made is real. These images, with no reality intruth, bear witness to the fear of God, forgetting being Love, He must be joy.This basic error we will try again to bring to truth today, and teach ourselves:God, being Love, is also happiness. To fear Him is to be afraid of joy.<Begin your periods of practicing today with this association, which corrects thefalse belief that God is fear. It also emphasizes happiness belongs to you,because of what He is.(3) Allow this one correction to be placed within your mind each waking hourtoday. Then welcome all the happiness it brings as truth replaces fear, and joybecomes what you expect to take the place of pain. God, being Love, it will begiven you. Bolster this expectation frequently throughout the day, and quiet allyour fears with this assurance, kind and wholly true:God, being Love, is also happiness. And it is happiness I seek today.I cannot fail, because I seek the truth.<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The commentary on this lesson is an excerpt from Kenneth Wapnick's eight volumeseries ofbooks, called: "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which canbe purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lesson 103. "God, being Love, is also happiness."*This lesson continues the theme of happiness, but Jesus focuses as well onfear, love's opposite. We need to undo our investment in fear before we canexperience love and find the happiness we seek.*(1:1-3) "Happiness is an attribute of love. It cannot be apart from it. Nor canit be experienced where love is not."*Love is not of this world, nor is it of the body. Indeed, the world was made toexclude God and His Son:"The world was made as an attack on God. It symbolizes fear. And what isfear except love's absence? Thus the world was meant to be a place where Godcould enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him." (W-pII.3.2:1-4)And the body to be a love's limitation:"It is only the awareness of the body that makes love seem limited. For thebody is a limit on love. The belief in limited love was its origin, and it wasmade to limit the unlimited. Think not that this is merely allegorical, for itwas made to limit you." (T-18.VIII.1:1-4).It is therefore not in the body nor the world that we would find love andhappiness. In these opening sentences of the lesson, Jesus has undone the ego'sthought system of specialness, which holds that love is possible here, and canalways be bought at a price. This does not mean you should be guilty whenattracted to things of the world and the body, seeing them as sources ofhappiness or peace. However, Jesus is asking that you step back with him fromthe world, and realize that in the end these things will not give you what youwant. They may give you what you <think> you want, but not what you <really>want. This is where honesty enters and is so important to our progress in ACourse in Miracles. We need to be open about having been wrong in thespecialness we thought we wanted and devoted our lives to acquiring.*(1:4-6) "Love has no limits, being everywhere. And therefore joy is everywhereas well. Yet can the mind deny that this is so, believing there are gaps in lovewhere sin can enter, bringing pain instead of joy."*Within the dream, the mind is capable of making illusions, in which thedecision-maker chooses the ego, and makes separation and individuality real.That is the gap, where the ego places sin. The world becomes the means ofavoiding the pain of returning to the mind and looking at that gap, for we aretold that love and happiness can be found <here>, if only we do not look<there>. The ego tells us further that going within will lead to the certaindestruction of ourselves as punishment for our sin. This fear gives birth to thespecialness that says there is a gap between you and me, for we are different.Whether we speak of a person, animal, plant, object, money, or an addictivesubstance, specialness teaches there is something in the world that can make ushappy. God's Will, Jesus' love, the Holy Spirit's forgiveness, will not: butthis special person or thing can. Thus is the apparent gap between us filled.Yet all the while, the true gap in our minds -- between ourselves and God --remains unhealed.*(1:7) "This strange belief would limit happiness by redefining love as limited,and introducing opposition in what has no limit and no opposite."*The ego's strange notion of love -- special love -- is that it is limited tocertain people, places, things, and events, but it is not available to all; onlyfor those special ones who meet my needs. The ego tells me you have what I lack,which I need to be complete -- the definition of special love -- and the reasonyou have <special something> and I do not, is that you took it from me. Thus youand I exist in a state of perpetual opposition -- the principle of <one or theother>. The aforementioned fourth law of chaos summarizes the situation:"The ego values only what it takes. This leads to the <fourth> law of chaos,which, if the others are accepted, must be true. This seeming law is the beliefyou have what you have taken. By this, another's loss becomes your gain ...enemies do not give willingly to one another, nor would they seek to share thethings they value. And what your enemies would keep from you must be worthhaving, because they keep it hidden from your sight.""All of the mechanisms of madness are seen emerging here: The "enemy" madestrong by keeping hidden the valuable inheritance that should be yours; yourjustified position and attack for what has been withheld; and the inevitableloss the enemy must suffer to save yourself." (T.23.II.9.1-4, 6-10:1)Thus we are continually in conflict with each other and with the world. I needalways get the <special something> from outside, which is lacking in me and whatI secretly believe is mine. Moreover, I know you will not give it to me unless Ipay for it, which means you and I, again, are in a perpetual state of war: I,unfairly, have to pay you for what I secretly believe belongs to me; and youbelieve the same injustice exists for you. When this insane bargain is enactedwith God, it takes the form of paying God back for our sin, achieving salvationthrough a life of suffering we believe He demands of us.*(2:1) "Fear is associated then with love, and its results become the heritage ofminds that think what they have made is real."*Fear is associated with love because we have come to believe that if we do notgive God what He asks of us, we will be destroyed. To preserve the ego's insanethinking is one reason the Bible was written, for it speaks in no uncertainterms of the ego God's demands. Indeed, it is impossible to read it and not comeaway feeling terrified. We are told in any number of ways that if we cross God'simaginary line in the sand, becoming goats instead of sheep, we will bedestroyed (cf. Matthew 25:31-46). How, then, could fear not be associated withlove?Fear leads to the multitudinous painful effects of our lives, all of which areexperienced as palpably real. Thus is our existence as individuals reinforced,and everything we have made real here as well. Fear has become reality becauseour sin has become reality. Sin demands punishment; and punishment means ourfear has been justified. Our fear-laden and vulnerable bodies but witness to thereality of this insanity.*(2:2) "These images, with no reality in truth, bear witness to the fear of God,forgetting being Love, He must be joy."*If we are honest with ourselves, we would realize our lives are not happy.Whatever joys we think we can steal from others, or from things in the world,never last. This should tell us, if we are truly open-minded, that this life ofalternating joy and pain, with the greater emphasis placed on the latter, cannotbe of God because His joy is eternal. It does not wax and wane with thevicissitudes of the world.*(2:3-5) "This basic error we will try again to bring to truth today, and teachourselves:God, being Love, is also happiness. To fear Him is to be afraid of joy.<"*Jesus says to us: "Don't tell me you love God. If you did, you would still bewith Him. If you think you are here in this world, it is because of fear." It iscrucial to understand, practice, and live A Course in Miracles that we be honestwith Jesus about what is going on inside us, and cease pretending we can keepsecrets from him. Since he is within us, we are only keeping secrets fromourselves. This will never work, and certainly will not make us happy. That iswhy he urges us, in words we have already noted:"Watch carefully and see what it is you are really asking for. Be veryhonest with yourself in this, for we must hide nothing from each other."(T.4.III.8.1)"Think honestly what you have thought that God would not have thought, andwhat you have not thought that God would have you think. Search sincerely forwhat you have done and left undone accordingly, and then change your mind tothink with God's. This may seem hard to do, but it is much easier than trying tothink against it."(T.4.IV.2.4).The process of bringing our dark secrets of guilt and fear to Jesus'light-filled forgiveness is how we learn that. "God, being Love, is alsohappiness.*(3:1) "Allow this one correction to be placed within your mind each waking hourtoday."*The correction, through Jesus' presence, is already in our minds, but we mustchoose to allow it into awareness. Our guilt, sin, terror, secrecy, andspecialness are ways of preventing this loving thought from being remembered.The little willingness to bring these secret thoughts to him -- at least once anhour -- is all he asks of us.*(3:2-7) "Then welcome all the happiness it brings as truth replaces fear, andjoy becomes what you expect to take the place of pain. God, being Love, it willbe given you. Bolster this expectation frequently throughout the day, and quietall your fears with this assurance, kind and wholly true:God, being Love, is also happiness. And it is happiness I seek today.I cannot fail, because I seek the truth.<"*The point I make over and over again -- because Jesus makes it over and overagain -- is that these lessons mean nothing if you do not apply them. Throughoutthe day you must be aware of your fear -- in other contexts, guilt, unhappiness,or pain -- for it is that moment of awareness you ask for help. Again, do notshout down discomfort by repeating the title of the lesson. Instead, bring yourdiscomfort to the one who gave you these words, and let him remind you it isGod's Love you want, for you recognize at last the shabby substitute you hadchosen in its stead; a substitute you no longer want to take the place of truehappiness and joy.*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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