A Course In Miracle Workbook For Dummies
LESSON 133
I will not value what is valueless.
W-133.1.
Sometimes in teaching there is benefit, particularly after you have gone through
what seems theoretical and far from what the student has already learned, to bring him back to
practical concerns. 2 This we will do today. 3 We will not speak of lofty, world-encompassing
ideas, but dwell instead on practical benefits to you.
W-133.2.
You do not ask too much of life, but far too little. 2 When you let your mind be
drawn to bodily concerns, to things you buy, to eminence as valued by the world, you ask for
sorrow, not for happiness. 3 This course does not attempt to take from you the little that you
have. 4 This course does not try to substitute utopian ideas for satisfactions which the world
contains. 5 There are no satisfactions in the world your little “s” self imagines.
W-133.3.
Today we list the real criteria by which to test all things you think you want. 2
Unless they meet these sound requirements, all things you think you want are not worth
desiring at all, for they can but replace what offers more. 3 The laws that govern choice you
cannot make, no more than you can make alternatives from which to choose. 4 The choosing you
can do; indeed, you must. 5 But it is wise to learn the laws you set in motion when you choose,
and what alternatives you choose between.
W-133.4.
We have already stressed there are but two choices, however many there may
appear to be. 2 The range between real or unreal and fear or love is set, and this we cannot
change for these are the only two options that are available to choose. 3 It would be most
ungenerous to you to let alternatives be limitless, and thus delay your final choice until you had
considered all of the variations of the choice for the unreal that appear to exist in time; and
with such numerous additional false options you would not have been brought so clearly to
the place where there is but one choice that must be made.
W-133.5.
Another kindly and related law is that there is no compromise in what your choice
must bring. 2 Your choice cannot give you just a little, for there is no in between. 3 Each choice
you make brings everything to you or nothing. 4 Therefore, if you learn the tests by which you
can distinguish everything from nothing, you will make the better choice.
W-133.6.
First, if you choose a thing that will not last forever, what you chose is valueless.
2 A temporary value is without all value. 3 Time can never take away a value that is real. 4 What
fades and dies in time was never there, and makes no offering to him who chooses what does
not last forever. 5 He is deceived by nothing in a form he thinks he likes.
W-133.7.
Next, if you choose to take a thing away from someone else, you will have
nothing left. 2 This is because, when you deny someone’s right to everything, you have denied
your own right to everything. 3 You therefore will not recognize the things you really have,
denying the things you really have are there. 4 Who seeks to take away has been deceived by
the illusion loss can offer gain. 5 Yet loss must offer loss, and nothing more.
W-133.8.
Your next consideration is the one on which the others rest. 2 Why is the choice
you make of value to you? 3 What attracts your mind to valuing that choice? 4 What purpose
does that choice serve? 5 Here it is easiest of all to be deceived. 6 For what the ego wants the
ego fails to recognize. 7 The ego does not even tell the truth as it perceives truth, for the ego
needs to keep the halo which it uses to protect the ego’s goals from tarnish and from rust, that
you may see how "innocent" the ego’s goals are.
W-133.9.
Yet is the ego’s camouflage a thin veneer, which could deceive but those who are
content to be deceived. 2 The ego’s goals are obvious to anyone who cares to look for them. 3
Here is deception doubled, for the one who is deceived will not perceive that he has merely
failed to gain the ego’s promised goals. 4 He will believe that he has served the ego's hidden
goals which is to reinforce your belief in lack, limitation and separation.
W-133.10.
Yet though he tries to keep the ego’s halo clear within his vision, still must he
perceive the ego’s tarnished edges and its rusted core. 2 His ineffectual mistakes appear as sins
to him, because he looks upon the tarnish as his own; the rust a sign of deep unworthiness within
himself. 3 He who would still preserve the ego's goals and serve the goals of the ego as his own
goals makes no mistakes, according to the dictates of his guide which is the ego. 4 The ego’s
guidance teaches it is error to believe that sins are but mistakes, for who would suffer for his sins
if this were so? For if sin were viewed as a mere mistake, correction, not punishment, would
only be required.
W-133.11.
And so we come to the criterion for choice that is the hardest to believe, because
this criterion’s obviousness is overlaid with many levels of obscurity. 2 If you feel any guilt
about your choice, you have allowed the ego's goals to come between the real alternatives. 3 And
thus because you have allowed your ego's goals to cloud the two choices, you do not realize
there are but two choices, and the alternative you think you chose seems fearful, and too
dangerous to be the nothingness it actually is.
W-133.12.
All things are valuable or valueless, worthy or not of being sought at all, entirely
desirable or not worth the slightest effort to obtain. 2 Choosing is easy just because of this black
and white two choice dichotomy. 3 Complexity is nothing but a screen of smoke, which hides
the very simple fact that no decision can be difficult. 4 What is the gain to you in learning the
real criteria by which to test all things you think you want? 5 It is far more than merely
letting you make choices easily and without pain.
W-133.13.
Heaven itself is reached with empty hands and open minds, which come with
nothing to find everything and claim everything as their own. 2 We will attempt to reach this
state of empty yet open mindedness today, with egoic self-deception laid aside, and with an
honest willingness to value but the truly valuable and the real. 3 Our two extended practice
periods of fifteen minutes each begin with this:
4 I will not value what is valueless, and only what has value do I seek, for only what has value
do I desire to find.
W-133.14.
And then receive what waits for everyone who reaches, unencumbered, to the gate
of Heaven, which swings open as he comes. 2 Should you begin to let yourself collect some
needless burdens, or believe you see some difficult decisions facing you, be quick to answer with
this simple thought:
3 I will not value what is valueless, for what is valuable belongs to me.
Notes to Lesson #133
I will not value what is valueless.
We do not ask too much from life but far too little. Often we are asking for things that are of no
value or have any long-term benefits. This lesson offers the real criteria that you should utilize to
test all things you think you want for the value they offer you.
Based on this four part test, you can determine what has real value and what is worthless. In this
test, nothing is determined to be of partial value. Something is either of value or valueless. There
are no shades of gray.
When your mind is drawn to bodily concerns, you are often valuing the worthless but this is not
necessarily the case. It is not the intent of this course to take away the few things of this world
that you possess. We are not trying to substitute some grand plan or utopian ideas so that this
world can make you happy or satisfy your needs. Instead, this lesson says that there is no
satisfaction in the egoic world. The things of this world do not last and therefore, they cannot
bring the lasting happiness, love and inner peace that are your divine birthright.
In the twelfth paragraph of this lesson it states:
W-133.12.
All things are valuable or valueless, worthy or not of being sought at all, entirely
desirable or not worth the slightest effort to obtain. 2 Choosing is easy just because of this.
Does this mean that certain things or experiences are always valueless and other items or
experiences are always to be valued?
Let’s look at the four part test or criteria for determining the value of all things you think you
want.
1) Does it last forever? If you choose something that will not last forever, you have chosen the
valueless. Time can never take away a value that is real. If something fades and dies in time,
what you have chosen is valueless.
2) Does the choice take away from another? If it does, it also is valueless because when you deny
another’s right to everything, you have denied your own right to everything. To give is to receive
and loss can only offer loss in return.
3) Why is the choice you make of value to you? What purpose does it serve? It is this third
criterion in which the other three actually rest. In time, all events are actually neutral. Without
your judgment, an experience has no ability to increase or decrease your joy, happiness or inner
peace. Only your mind has that power. Nothing can rob you of your own inner peace unless you
choose to allow it.
All things become either valuable or worthless based on the purpose that your mind assigns to
that item. Your mind often assigns value to the worthless and disregards priceless wealth. In this
regard, there are only two choices to choose from. The purpose that you assign to an item is
contingent upon which thought system you are following. Either you will value that item out of
fear or love.
Because there are only two thought systems, fear or love, you only have two choices. You will
ask yourself, what would love have me do or what would fear have me do. Whichever voice you
choose to follow, will determine whether or not the item is of value and will last forever or is
valueless.
For example, someone decides to give a contribution of one million dollars to a hurricane relief
fund. Is this something of value or is it valueless? Just because it deals with the temporal does
not mean it is valueless. Instead, we must look past the form to content or the purpose for the
giving. If the person is making the contribution out of fear-based thinking, it will fail this test. If
the person has asked and is following what love would have him do, it, the content, not the form,
is something that will last and is of real value.
I use this example of a contribution because it clearly demonstrates that context behind the gift’s
purpose is the determining factor for valuing anything. The actual form that the experience is
delivered is a meaningless part of the equation. Mother Teresa did not administer to the sick in
Calcutta to earn some heavenly reward. She did it out of love for her beloved Jesus, who she saw
in the faces of all her patients.
If I make a contribution because I believe that it will earn some future reward or get my name
recognized as a good person, I am valuing the worthless. If I make a contribution because I see
someone as a victim, I am supporting the belief that there are outside forces that can rob me of
my own inner peace. If I choose to contribute out of love, I do not judge the event. Instead, I
realize that each is on their own perfect path and I followed my inner guide. I can give and share
my hope, love and encouragement rather than my fears with another.
With each circumstance in time, you have a decision to make. What value will I place on that
experience? What was that experience meant to teach me? What was the purpose I will choose to
give it?
When you value this world as a place to make you happy or hide from God’s judgment or
perhaps earn another’s love, you are making the experience worthless. When you value that same
experience for the learning lessons it provides or the opportunity to demonstrate being love in
form, that same event becomes a means for reawakening. The form of the event is the same but
the context or purpose is different.
4) The fourth and final criterion is does it leave you feeling guilty? If so, it is a choice that was
made out of fear and supports your ego’s belief in lack, limitation and separation. In regards to
this final test, if the reason you do something is to avoid feeling guilty, you also have reinforced
your belief in lack, limitation and separation.
When you understand that all remain as God created them, perfect, whole and complete, you
realize that each is on their own perfect path and this gives you the freedom to look beyond any
circumstance and simply ask your inner guide, the Holy Spirit, what would love have me do.
When you follow that guidance, you will be co-creating something of value that will last forever.
Question: Based on this four-part test for determining the value of anything that you want,
please answer this question about yourself for each of these four categories in your life
Do you want
1) good health?
2) abundance?
3) loving relationships?
4) fame?
All four categories are things of this world that will not last forever but does that automatically
mean that you are valuing the worthless?
Copyright © 2014 by Thomas R. Wakechild