When I was a kid I used to ask a lot of “Why” questions. And whenever my mother got tired of them she would say, “I don’t know why. Why this; why that? That’s enough of the why questions – Why is a crooked letter that can’t be straightened.” 

That was many years ago, but nevertheless I’m still asking; why? The “Why” question that came to me this morning is, why am I writing this blog? And as soon as the question made its presence known, the answer came rushing in at breakneck speed. It looked me straight in the eye and without hesitation said: “You’re doing it because you want to learn. You’re trying to figure out why you’re here; where you came from; where you’re going; how you got here (I’ve figured that one out in a physical sense); does life have any meaning? In other words, you’re searching for answers to an endless array of questions.”

And then this quote by Richard Bach popped into my mind: “You teach best what you most need to learn.”  And this line from The Course followed close behind: “As you teach, so will you learn… you must never forget that what you teach is teaching you.”  

If this is true – and I’m absolutely convinced it is – then who am I writing to but myself? I know that I’m writing to myself, because I have such a strong desire to learn that I feel as if I must write.

“If” this is true – there’s a small, but very powerful word. Roger Whittaker found it so distressing that he sang a song about it informing his audience, “I Don’t Believe in If Anymore.”  But, I can’t go quite that far because I can’t find a better word to use. I suppose the two words, given that, would work quite well, but I’ll stick with if.

If I want to find an answer to the question; Why am I here? Then I have to figure out a method for doing that. And it seems that the main place I keep coming back to is that place in my mind where the Power of Reason resides – which is an awesome power if it’s put to use. For example, when I hear that I’m a result of some sort of chemical reaction in a primordial soup of some sort, I begin to doubt it. I do so because my Power of Reason won’t allow me to accept it – so I continue searching for an answer other than that.

“The only thing I know is that I know nothing” Most people attribute this phrase to Socrates, but the truth is, nobody knows from whom it originated. But that part doesn’t matter; the thing that does matter is the truth contained in it. In this world no one can know any more than that expressed in this statement.

René Descartes searched for something which he couldn’t doubt for a large part of his life. The only thing he could come up with was, “I Think Therefore I Am.” This was the one and only thing he could know for sure, and therefore, not doubt.

Now I ask, where does this leave me in my search for an answer to my question: Why am I here? Each and every one of us knows that we exist, there’s no doubting that. But beyond that we cannot know – we can perceive, but not know. There is, however, one exception to this; the one and only thing that can be known is God. And to this point The Course tells us: “While you ask questions about God, you are clearly implying that you do not know Him.” To know God is to reach the realm of knowledge, which is not of this world. To know Him is to know your Self. As The Course states;  “Knowledge is the result of revelation.” Those who reach this state do not remain in this world of physicality, as The Course also tells us: “There are those who have reached God directly, retaining no trace of worldly limits and remembering their own Identity perfectly. These might be called the teachers of teachers because, although they are no longer visible, their image can yet be called upon… No one can call on them in vain.”

“True perception is the basis for knowledge, but knowing is the affirmation of truth.”  …ACIM.

I’m still asking questions, therefore I don’t know, but I do believe that I’m developing a true sense of perception. I say this because deep within me I can find the answers to most of my questions – not all as yet, but most. And now I’m going to contradict myself – or so it seems. I’m going to say, I know these answers to be correct, because I’ve tested them out with my Power of Reason. And they’ve passed the test of being the only things that make any sense. They’re derived from A Course in Miracles whose Source is Jesus Christ, Himself. He speaks from the realm of knowledge – therefore, he knows the answers. And if I listen and learn from him then I also know – but even then, only in the sense of  True perception. 

“Into eternity, where all is one, there crept a tiny mad idea at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh.”  …ACIM.

What was this tiny mad idea? It was the idea of separateness and specialness. Some of God’s Creations asked for the one and only thing their Father could not give. They asked Him to proclaim they were special to Him. In order to be special they would have to be separated from the rest – and this God could not give.

“In his forgetting did the thought become a serious idea and possible of both accomplishment and real effects.”   …ACIM

But, because they forgot not to laugh at it as being an impossibility, it grew until it become a serious idea and possible of both accomplishment and real effects. And so they made a decision; if their Father wouldn’t (they didn’t believe He couldn’t) give them what they wanted, they would separate themselves from Him and find it on their own. But as they all will eventually learn, it was not possible of either accomplishment nor real effects.  It was, and still is, not possible because everything God created is an idea, and ideas as The Course points out, leave not their source, and their effects but seem to be apart from them.  In other words, everything God creates remains in His Mind, and will do so for eternity. None of His Children can ever, in truth, separate themselves from Him.

And now to answer my own question; Why am I here?  Well the answer is, I’m among those whom The Course informs me: “Chose their specialness instead of Heaven and instead of peace and wrapped it carefully in sin to keep it ‘safe’ from truth.” And because I did this The Course informs me further that I see myself “as a ridiculous parody on God‘s creation—weak, vicious, ugly and sinful, miserable and beset with pain… Such is your version of yourself—a self divided into many warring parts, separate  from God.”   

But the good news is, once I’ve learned this I can make another choice: “Trials are but lessons which you failed to learn presented once again, so where you made a faulty choice before, you now can make a better one and thus escape all pain which what you chose before has brought to you.”

Thanks for visiting, and God Bless You