Reality and Value

Some students tell me that they go around looking at the world thinking, “This isn’t real.” Then they wonder why they are depressed! You cannot fill your mind with thoughts of unreality and experience anything but emptiness.

What is seen as "reality" is simply what the mind prefers. (M-8.3)

In the world, the experience of “real” and “unreal” is one of “valuable” and “not valuable”. What you value is more real to you. At first, the ego and its world seem more real to you because you value them more. Then you go through a long phase of valuing both the Presence of the Holy Spirit and the ego/world. You vacillate between peace and conflict because both seem to be equally real to you. Finally, as you value the Holy Spirit more and more the ego/world starts to fade from your values and therefore your attention. It seems less important and therefore less real to you.

You see the world you value. (T-16.VI.5)

You cannot force yourself to not value what you do value. You cannot force yourself to see as unreal what is very real to you. We all come into the world with separation from God as the goal. The shift occurs within you as you share what you value and what is real to you with the Holy Spirit. You invite the Holy Spirit into your life; you turn problems over to the Holy Spirit. This is a shift in your goal. The ego always emphasizes the world as an end in itself because as an end in itself it is separation from God. But from the Holy Spirit’s point of view, the only part of the world that has value is that which can be used to serve your goal of awakening to God. As you experience the Holy Spirit more and more the Holy Spirit becomes more valuable – more real – to you than the world you seem to be passing through.

Remember that where your heart is, there is your treasure also. You believe in what you value. (T-2.II.1)

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