Finding Our Way Home

Lead me from the unreal to the Real (Upanishad 1.3.28)

The other day Denese and I were returning from a friend's house, and decided to take a different route than we normally would. The route involved a number of lefts and rights and created a challenge for our memory of how we got there in the first place. Now you know I am directionally challenged, but that does not deter me from claiming to know which way to turn, at every choice point, even though my sense of direction is wrong about 95% of the time. And so it was that we came to an intersection, and Denese said, "turn right." I was sure we needed to turn left and so I did. Within 3 blocks, it became clear that my directional dysfunction had not remitted on this trip. I turned the car around and we found our way back home again.

Jesus also shared a story about a directionally challenged young man who followed his inner guidance only to end up far from home and miserable. The prodigal son was certain that he would find his joy in the world. He followed his desire for a better life, convinced that it could be found somewhere out in the world. In the end, when he hit the skids, he realized his navigation error; that what he longed for was not in the world but back home.

We can all relate to this story because, at least spiritually, we've discovered the errancy of our guidance. Many of us come to ourselves and realize that we've been looking for our happiness in all the wrong places, in all the wrong faces. Because this world is such a powerful opiate that dulls our spiritual sense of direction, this is a tough dysfunction to correct. Under the influence of this illusory world, we are convinced that something or someone will give us what we need. When the quest does not pay off, we usually convince our self that a new something or new someone is the way to go. Yet, no matter how many times we set out to find peace or fulfillment or love in the world, our journey is doomed to failure. It can be no other way. The reason we can't find fulfillment in life is not because we're not looking but because we have the whole thing upside down, and inside out. Our understanding of cause and effect is upside down. In our confusion, we think the cause is outside ourselves.

A valid spiritual solution is one that reverses our erroneous beliefs and turns us in the direction of our true home, where our needs can truly be met. When we reverse our thinking and turn our attention from the world, which constantly changes, to the eternal self (the indwelling spirit) we find fulfillment that is unwavering and unconditional.

Such a teaching is A Course In Miracles, which I've referenced in many of my Sunday talks. This Sunday we begin a four-week series of lessons based upon the themes and teachings of A Course In Miracles. A.C.I.M. has been called a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy and a modern day interpretation of the teachings of Jesus. A.C.I.M. has many parallels with Unity's philosophy and teachings and we will look at how its teachings can help us turn our lives around, call off the search in the world and return us to our home in God.