Tuesday Text: Chapter 4: The Ego's Struggle to Preserve Itself, S 6: This Need Not Be

Tuesday Text Class 10/20/26

Ch 4. The Ego’s Struggle to Preserve Itself

S 6: This Need Not Be

Are you Feeling:

-not happy?

-guilty?

-anxious?

-sad?

-like you have too much energy invested in Ego action?

-Disengaged/Dispirited?

This need not be.

Go to prayer: I will not look there because I know these images are not true.

This class includes these topics:

-The Right Use of Judgement

-The first and second coming of Christ

-The careful life long preparation for your role in the Atonement

-How many opportunities to gladden yourself have you refused? 

*Jesus is calling. Together we will not fail.

God calls to all of His children. If you do not hear Dad calling you, it’s because you choose not to listen. We all have the ability to hear the voice of God. So, you aren’t listening to God, but you are listening to your ego. This belief in the ego is demonstrated in your attitudes, feelings, and behavior. Your attitudes are conflicted. Your feelings have a narrow range on the negative side but are never purely joyous. Your behavior is strained or unpredictable. This is nuts, but it is what you want, what you are fighting to keep. You are vigilant about protecting your ego not to seek the face of God. 

          The ego doesn't see clearly. (1 Corinthians 11-13) This is a super duper through the looking glass way of viewing the world, i.e. we’re all (mostly) mad here. The ego is a trick. It shows you yourself as you have made yourself over. Where you look to find yourself is up to you. You can not change your mind by changing your behavior. But you can change your mind and behavior will follow. 

          If you are not happy/joyous then your mood tells you that you have willed wrongly. Whenever this happens know, this need not be. Let your mood be your barometer. Inevery case, you have thought wrongly of a brother and are perceiving him through the dark glass of the ego. 

          Exercise: Think about it honestly. What have you thought that God would not have thought? Remember how much God adores his kids. On the other hand, what hasn’t crossed your mind but God would like you to think? Sincerely search what you have done and left undone. Reflections? Now change your mind and think with God’s.

          This may seem hard to you, but it’s easier than trying to think against it. Your mind is one with God’s. Denying this and thinking otherwise has literally split your mind. As a loving brother, Jesus is deeply concerned with your mind. Follow his example and look at both yourself and your brothers as the glorious creations of God that they are.

          Let your mood be your barometer. When you are sad, know that this need not be. Depression is of the ego you are hiding little spots of hatred that are hurting you. Depression always arises ultimately from the sense of being deprived of something you want and do not have. Know that you are deprived of nothing except your own decisions and then decide otherwise. 

          If you are anxious, this need not be. All anxiety comes from the unpredictability of the ego. Be vigilant against the ego’s dictates. If you are feeling guilty, know that your ego has violated the laws of God but you have not. Leave the sins of the ego to Jesus, that’s what the atonement is for. Until you change your mind about those the ego has hurt, the atonement can’t release you. If you feel guilty, then your ego is in command , because only the ego can experience guilt. This need not be. 

          Do an honest search. Who has your ego hurt? Try to change your mind about them. Jesus knows about your efforts in this direction but you still have too much energy invested in your ego. This need not be. Watch your mind for temptations of the ego and do not be fooled by it. The ego offers you nothing. 

          If you are in the habit of disengaging you often do not make a consistent effort to change your mind except by applying the old habit pattern to new ideas. Like by disengaging from ACIM. Even if this is happening, you can learn that the mind gains control over itself when directed towards seeing someone else truly. In this type, their lack of vitality is because they are attempting to solve their needless depression and anxiety through disinterest. Your ego is protected through this unfortunate negative attitude, so you are afraid to abandon it. When you give real effort to uproot this voluntary dispiriting, you will see that your mind can focus and rise above fatigue and heal. But you are not yet vigilant against the ego’s demand to disengage themselves. This need not be. 

          The new habit of engaging with God and his creations is easy if you refuse to let your  mind slip away.  Awareness is the first step. You do not have a concentration problem. It’s the belief that no one, not even yourself is worth constant effort. Don’t let this shabby belief hold you back! The disheartened are useless to themselves and to Jesus but only your ego can be disheartened. 

          How many opportunities to gladden yourself have you refused? There is no limit the power of a Son of God (SOG) has, but you can limit the expression of your power as much as you like. Your mind united with Jesus can shine the ego away and release the strength and beauty of God into everything you think and will and do. Don’t settle for anything but this as your goal. Watch your mind carefully for any beliefs that slow down this accomplishment, and step away from them. 

          Your feelings are your barometer. This is the one right use of judgement. Judgement is a defense so it can be used to attack or defend, protect or heal. You should bring the ego to your judgement  and see it as lacking. Without your allegiance, protection, and love the ego can’t exist. If you judge your ego truly you will withdraw your allegiance, protection, and love from it. 

          You are a mirror of truth which God shines on in perfect clarity. To the ego’s dark glass say:

I will not look there because I know these images are not true. 

          Then let God shine on you in peace, knowing this and only this must be. His mind shone on you in creation and brought your mind into being. His mind still shines on you and must shine through you. Your ego can’t stop God from shining on you but it can prevent God from shining through you. 

          The first coming of Christ: Is another name for creation because Christ is the Son of God. We are collectively the one Son of God in ACIM.

          The Second coming of Christ: Is the end of the ego’s rule over the minds of men. 

          Jesus was created like you in the first. He is reminding you that he has called you to join him in the second. 

          If you look carefully over your life, you will see how carefully the preparations for your role in the atonement were made. Jesus is in charge of the second coming and his judgement is never wrong because it never attacks. Your judgement is so distorted you think he was wrong in choosing you. This is a mistake of the ego, don’t confuse it with humility. The ego is trying to convince you that it is real and Jesus is not. Because if he is real, he is no more real than you are. That knowledge and it is knowledge means that Christ has come into your mind and healed it. 

           Jesus is not attacking your ego. He is working with your higher mind whether you are awake or asleep. Just as the ego works on your lower mind. Jesus is vigilant in this because you are too confused to see your own hope. Jesus was not mistaken. Your mind will elect to join with his and together we are unstoppable. You and your brother will come together in Jesus’ name and your sanity will be restored. Remember where two or more are gathered in his name, he is there. 

          Jesus raises the dead by knowing that life is an eternal attribute to everything created by God. Why do you think that it is harder for Jesus to inspire the dispirited or stabilize the unstable? He does not believe that there is an order of difficulty of miracles, you do. Jesus has called you. You will answer. He knows that miracles are natural because they are expressions of love. His call to you is as inevitable as your answer and as inevitable.