The "Happy Dream" Error

Prepare you now for the undoing of what never was. If you already understood the difference between truth and illusion, the Atonement would have no meaning. The holy instant, the holy relationship, the Holy Spirit's teaching, and all the means by which salvation is accomplished, would have no purpose. For they are all but aspects of the plan to change your dreams of fear to happy dreams, from which you waken easily to knowledge. Put yourself not in charge of this, for you cannot distinguish between advance and retreat. (T-18.V.1)

The Course tells us that a happy dream precedes awakening. It is a dream of Oneness that reflects the peace and joy of Heaven. It is necessary because it would be too shocking to go from the dream of separation and fragmentation back to the Oneness of God. It is the means of gentle awakening.

The dream of separation becomes a happy dream when you recognize you are dreaming. You recognize the world and the ego aren’t real and therefore they become a transparent veil between you and Heaven with no meaning in themselves. What happens in this dream doesn’t matter. It is your awakening mind that gives it all its loving meaning.

Some students read “happy dream” and interpret it as a justification for pursuing everything their ego tells them they need for happiness. And of course, as the ego’s motto is

Seek but do not find. (T-16.V.6; W-71.4; M-13.5)

they must go from goal to goal to goal trying to find peace and happiness. But lasting happiness only comes through releasing the ego and following the Holy Spirit, Who speaks for Who you really are. The happy dream is not a goal in itself; it is simply the inevitable result of letting go of illusions.

www.acimmentor.com

Comments

Laura aka ZenDiva4u said…
Again, Thank you! I was going about it all wrong. Thank God I have been able to establish a more peaceful existence by quieting the ego and thus the negative mind chatter is not consistently in my head. I was fretting over why I am not experiencing the "Happy Dream" yet I was yelling on the inside where is my joy, where is my elation? Now I get it my Happy Dream has not come yet because my thought of being separate from God is not healed yet!
9:56 AM
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