Ask: Should I give up striving?


I just came across this passage… 26. VI.1.  “Anything in this world that you believe is good and valuable and worth striving for can hurt you, and will do so”…I did some research in blogs and explanations and found that the emphasis is on the "striving."  What is your take and valuable insight on this passage? – KM

I agree with the emphasis on the word “striving”. It is your belief in yourself as a personal self (ego) that hurts you. And striving for anything in the world is an expression of the belief that you have to make and maintain a personal identity to exist.

Follow-up question: So stop trying to prove myself?

The phrase that you quoted from A Course in Miracles is stating a fact, not suggesting a course of action. The need to prove yourself will fall away naturally as your identification with a personal self falls away. This is not something that you can force. You can’t pretend to not identify with a personal self when you do. That leads to repressing, not releasing, the personal identity. And repression is just another way to hold onto it.
Grow your awareness of Truth and the process of releasing the personal identity will unfold naturally. You can grow your awareness of Truth by sharing your goals in the world with the Holy Spirit. It will transform your goals from ends in themselves to means to remember Truth by using every situation as a classroom.

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Learn about the books The ACIM Mentor Articles, The Plain Language A Course in Miracles, and 4 Habits for Inner Peace at www.acimmentor.com.

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