Temptation

When I did my run this morning, as I do every morning, I was noticing the logos on the parked cars, proud of my ability to name the manufacturers and I realized, as I looked at the trees lining the road and driveways, that I knew the names of car makers but not the names of the trees. Hmm…. What does that say about me and the civilization I’m part of?
The Course explains that we are reluctant to accept our reality as spirit and receive and give the gifts of God, because we would then loose our identity as individual egos. Though at one level, we like the idea of having the peace and joy of God, at a seemingly more fundamental level, we fear the loss of our reality as individuals and the ‘nothingness’ of being one with spirit, even if being an individual means experiencing the cost of separation from God - fear, anger, pain and suffering.

So, if someone ‘makes’ me angry, I need to realize that I want to be made angry, for that allows me to keep my individuality intact. Temptation has no power unless I (and you) want to be tempted. It is the wish to remain an individual that interferes with knowing God’s peace and joy is ours. The antidote is to appreciate that whenever I am upset, it’s another chance to receive spirit’s gifts by releasing my (and your) investment in our ‘special’ individuality and the pain, guilt, blame, fear and anger, that go with it.

Doing this also works if we are doing it to ourselves - when we’re tempted to blame and attack ourselves for some perceived failing or limitation. My body and personality are as much outside my ‘right mind,’ my reality as spirit, as are my brother’s. Thus, the chance to let ourselves receive the gifts of spirit – peace, joy, love, compassion, and know them as ours and our reality in truth, is not only when someone else tempts us to attack them, but when we are tempted to attack ourselves.