What is our ego’s secret ‘salvation plan’ for happiness, and why is it never going to work?
Jan 14, 2020
(By Eldad Ben-Moshe ✨ Reading Time: 8 minutes)
Belief->Thought->Emotion->Action.
We all want a happier, better life.
And behind the scenes, in our minds, our beliefs are running the show.
Our beliefs are the key to how we try to achieve such a happier, better life.
How do you make choices?
When something happens, how do you react?
There’s a super fast process that goes on in your mind.
It's so fast that unless you practice and learn how to pay attention to it,
you will probably never notice that it’s there.
Belief->Thought->Emotion->Action.
If you believe that getting that job will make your life better,
will make you happy, you are more likely to go for it.
You're also likely to be happy if you get it, sad if you don’t,
or even depressed if you didn’t try.
The belief will create positive and desire-based thoughts about getting
the job (‘I should really apply for that job’).
That will create positive emotions about getting it (‘I want that job so much,
it will be so great!’).
In turn, that will lead you to take action, such as applying for the job, which is
in line with your beliefs, thoughts, and emotions about getting the job.
Remember, though, that we can have more than one belief about things.
For example, If you believe that you’re not good enough for the job or that it will be too hard,
you might not apply, even though you believe it will be a great job for you to have.
So in a way, there’s a battlefield of beliefs in your mind, creating all sorts of chain reactions
of thoughts, emotions, and actions.
Contradicting beliefs create contradicting thoughts and contradicting emotions.
Any wonder it's sometimes hard to make a decision?
Any wonder that our mind is often not at peace?
What’s that got to do with ‘salvation plan’?
The ways we seek happiness and try to avoid pain,
the ways we look for a happier, better life, are our ‘salvation plan.’
‘Salvation,’ in that sense, is anything that we believe will make our lives better.
We ask for things because we think they will make us happy, and we ask to
prevent things from happening because we fear they will bring pain.
If I ask for money, health, parking, or enlightenment, it's because I believe it will
make me happy, or prevent something that will bring me pain and suffering.
According to A Course in Miracles - a psychological-spiritual course that
I’ve been working with since 2005 and that has literally changed my life,
There are 2 kinds of ‘salvation plans’:
One that rests on correct understanding, right-minded perception,
named “God’s salvation plan.”
And one that rests on incorrect understanding, a wrong-minded perception,
named “the ego’s salvation plan.”
In short, a right-minded, correct understanding according to A Course in Miracles
is that we are not our bodies, we never left God (which is Love rather than a judging
& punishing god), and all of this which we call reality is but a dream.
But ACIM (an acronym for A Course in Miracles) knows that it is not what we
believe or experience.
Even if you’re very spiritually inclined, and believe you’re not this body, simply
look how many times a day, each day, you still refer to yourself as a body.
‘I brushed my teeth,’
‘I passed the test,’
‘I got a job interview,’
‘I’m hungry,’
'she hates me,'
‘I love you,’
‘I hate this,’
‘I voted for …’,
and even ‘I believe that I’m not the body.’
So while you might get it to some extent, it’s not your experience 100% of the time.
A Course in Miracles knows that, and it meets us where we are in order to help us
change our understanding and our experience,
so that we could overcome the beliefs our ego and fear installed in our mind,
and choose a different belief system - that of Love - instead.
“You may not realize that the ego has set up a plan for salvation in
opposition to God’s. It is this plan in which you believe.”
As mentioned above, the course knows where we are, what stories we're buying into,
and does not expect us to be perfect enlightened buddhas.
If we were, we would not need the course.
Therefore, it comes to meet us where we are - believing the ego’s story that we are
separate individuals, following the ego’s salvation plan in order to have the happiness
we seek and avoid the pain we’re running from (consciously and unconsciously.)
We choose the ego’s salvation plan because we believe that the ego’s salvation plan will work.
Belief->Thought->Emotion->Action
(even if the action, the choice, is unconscious,
as it is in the case of choosing the ego’s salvation plan.)
“The ego’s plan for salvation centers around holding grievances.
It maintains that, if someone else spoke or acted differently, if some
external circumstance or event were changed, you would be saved.”
Essentially, the ego’s plan for salvation is ‘when that will happen, when she
will change, then I’ll be happy.’
How many times did you think in those lines?
Consider these examples -
‘I wish he’ll say yes,’
‘oh god I hope I’ll get that apartment,’
‘I must catch that flight,’
‘my career is depending on this,’
‘my goal is to lose 20 pounds’,
‘my new year’s resolution is to be kinder,’
‘I pray that this won’t happen.’
When you look at these examples, it seems that probably quite often, right?
As A Course in Miracles says in the quote above, “It is this plan in which you believe”.
That’s why we act according to it so often.
So as we see, we ask and hope for things because we think they will make us happy,
and ask to prevent things from happening because we fear they will bring pain.
‘But Eldad, what’s the problem with that?’
Well, I’m glad you ‘asked’ ;-)
“Thus, the source of salvation is constantly perceived as outside yourself.
Each grievance you hold is a declaration, and an assertion in which you
believe, that says, “If this were different, I would be saved.”
So basically, this keeps us in victim mode, forever waiting for external circumstances
to change to be happy, waiting for the messiah to come and save the day -
literally or metaphorically.
Just think how many movies and tv shows introduce a storyline in which the hero
comes and saves the day - or the world.
Many times that hero is even referred to as ‘the one.’
It is merely a reflection and projection of our belief in the ego’s salvation plan.
But there is another way.
In ACIM, God’s salvation plan doesn't encourage us to look for our salvation outside.
Instead, it claims that “My salvation comes from me” (ACIM, Workbook, Lesson 70),
and encourages us to "seek not outside yourself" (ACIM, Text, 20.VII).
It takes a different set of beliefs, though, a change of mind.
And that requires work, and awareness of the prices we pay for following
the ego’s salvation plan.
It requires being aware of our pain, and that’s not very convenient or easy.
So by default, we keep choosing the seemingly more convenient salvation plan -
that of the ego.
“The change of mind necessary for salvation is thus demanded of everyone
and everything except yourself.The role assigned to your own mind in this plan, then, is simply to determine
what, other than itself, must change if you are to be saved. ”
Pretty convenient, right?
No wonder we like the ego’s plan for salvation so much.
Tell me that it doesn’t sound familiar to you -
the thought that the other person, or the situation, need to change…
But there's a price for that:
“According to this insane plan, any perceived source of salvation is
acceptable provided that it will not work.”
How can we know that it will not work?
Look at your life so far.
How many times you thought that something, or someone, will make your life so good?
But that perfect love eventually turned into a real relationship with terrible painful fights,
and sometimes an ugly divorce.
The fantastic job turned out to be quite different than your perfect dream about it.
The new house became a source of financial worries and loads of maintenance,
which now got you dreaming about having enough money to pay others to do
all those things for you, which is the new salvation plan.
It will not work, because it never did.
All those things you wanted never got you to a state of everlasting, unconditional happiness.
At best, you got some happiness out of it, and then reality took over your dreams,
and yet another idol broke, and you had a new salvation plan -
something else now is deemed as the thing that will make you happy.
“Seek not outside yourself. For it will fail, and you will weep each time an idol falls...
Seek not outside yourself.
For all your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want,
insisting where it must be found.What if it is not there?
Do you prefer that you be right or happy?“
- A Course in Miracles, Text, 29.VII
“This ensures that the fruitless search will continue,
for the illusion persists that, although this hope has always failed,
there is still grounds for hope in other places and in other things.Another person will yet serve better;
another situation will yet offer success.”
Sounds familiar? ;-)
“Such is the ego’s plan for your salvation.
Surely you can see how it is in strict accord with the ego’s basic doctrine,
“Seek but do not find.”For what could more surely guarantee that you will not find salvation than
to channelize all your efforts in searching for it where it is not?”
We’re like the drunk that is looking for his wallet under the street light even though
he lost it in the basement, just because in the street there is light.
We’re looking for our ‘salvation,’ our happiness, in external events -
“If this were different, I would be saved,” - while all the time, it's really all about the
internal world - our beliefs.
“God’s plan for salvation works simply because, by following His direction,
you seek for salvation where it is.But if you are to succeed, as God promises you will,
you must be willing to seek there only.
Otherwise, your purpose is divided and you will attempt to follow two plans
for salvation that are diametrically opposed in all ways.The result can only bring confusion, misery and a deep sense of failure and despair.”
Notice that A Course in Miracles is not saying that God’s salvation plan is about
accepting Jesus as your savior, repenting for your sins, going to a holy place,
making sacrifices, fasting, or anything external.
It doesn’t even require believing in God, ironically.
The cause of our suffering is in our mind - our beliefs and our choices -
and that’s where the solution is as well.
“My salvation comes from me” (ACIM, Workbook, Lesson 70) -
not from Jesus, the church, the rabbi, or from God.
God’s salvation plan (you can use the word Love instead of God,
ACIM is not a religious course) is simply to look for our happiness where it really is.
Change your perception, change your beliefs, from illusions to truth, form fear to love -
and you will “smile more frequently” (ACIM, Workbook, Lesson 155)
Yes, it will be a process, and you’ll probably have to overcome your
deepest fears and inner demons.
'Miracles' in A Course in Miracles are not magic, but rather changes of perception,
so no one's promising a magic pill.
Still, the only way to heal the problem of unhappiness is at its source.
You must deal with the real cause, which is in your mind.
Otherwise, you will keep getting the same effect -
suffering and unhappiness will keep coming knocking on your door.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again,
but expecting different results.”- Albert Einstein
Practical Actionable Steps - From Information to Transformation:
A Course in Miracles helps us see our mind in action, our fear-based belief system
that is causing us so much suffering - and even to change our perception.
it offers not only a theoretical framework,
but also a workbook with 365 daily lessons - each containing a daily exercise.
Go ahead and do the workbook of A Course in Miracles.
It will change your life because it will change your beliefs, your perception.
It will help you make healthier, better choices because it will help you change your mind.
All that is required is your little willingness.
“To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold.
Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardise your learning.No belief is neutral. Every one has the power to dictate each decision you make.
For a decision is a conclusion based on everything that you believe.
It is the outcome of belief, and follows it...”
Final note: You can do this!
Choose the thing(s) that inspire you the most.
Don’t over-do it, keep it simple and joyful.
Take one baby step at a time.
Remember -
- Implement.
- Baby steps.
- Joyfully.
Done is better than perfect.
To your better life,
with tons of 💖
Eldad Ben-Moshe
Founder, Teacher, and Coach
Better Life Awareness Center
Author
