Together, We Light the Way

Lesson 24 2026

I do not perceive my own best interests.
1. In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy. ²Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. ³What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong. ⁴It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests. ⁵Yet they are your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived. ⁶Otherwise, you will not recognize what they are.
2. If you realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could be taught what they are. ²But in the presence of your conviction that you do know what they are, you cannot learn. ³The idea for today is a step toward opening your mind so that learning can begin.
3. The exercises for today require much more honesty than you are accustomed to using. ²A few subjects, honestly and carefully considered in each of the five practice periods which should be undertaken today, will be more helpful than a more cursory examination of a large number. ³Two minutes are suggested for each of the mind-searching periods which the exercises involve.
4. The practice periods should begin with repeating today’s idea, followed by searching the mind, with closed eyes, for unresolved situations about which you are currently concerned. ²The emphasis should be on uncovering the outcome you want. ³You will quickly realize that you have a number of goals in mind as part of the desired outcome, and also that these goals are on different levels and often conflict.
5. In applying the idea for today, name each situation that occurs to you, and then enumerate carefully as many goals as possible that you would like to be met in its resolution. ²The form of each application should be roughly as follows:
³In the situation involving _________, I would like _________ to happen, and _________ to happen,
and so on. ⁴Try to cover as many different kinds of outcomes as may honestly occur to you, even if some of them do not appear to be directly related to the situation, or even to be inherent in it at all.
6. If these exercises are done properly, you will quickly recognize that you are making a large number of demands of the situation which have nothing to do with it. ²You will also recognize that many of your goals are contradictory, that you have no unified outcome in mind, and that you must experience disappointment in connection with some of your goals, however the situation turns out.
7. After covering the list of as many hoped-for goals as possible, for each unresolved situation that crosses your mind say to yourself:
²I do not perceive my own best interests in this situation,
and go on to the next one. (ACIM, W-24.1:1–7:2)
2025
I absolutely believe this lesson. Sometimes, I will have a wish for something pass through my mind, and I let it. That is, I let it pass right on through without my attention. That was not always true, of course. I learned that I had no idea what was in my best interests. I might never have seen that this was true if Jesus had not pointed it out and guided me to recognize it in myself.
I used to fantasize about what I would do if I won the lottery. At first, it was a fun and interesting fantasy. But if I stayed with it very long at all, the fantasy would move into the problems associated with winning. That alone should have shown me that I don’t know my own best interests. I’m glad I didn’t win all that money because, in not having enough, I discovered something more valuable than having more. As it turns out a wonderful outcome that I had not fantasized about occurred for me. I came to understand that abundance isn’t having millions of dollars. It is knowing that what you need will always be provided when you need it. I know this is true because it is how I live now.
Here is another one. When I was working, I very much wanted to retire and do my ministry full-time. I could not imagine how that would not be in my best interest. What I discovered is that the extra years I worked were the most productive. They provided me with so many forgiveness opportunities I would never have had if I had retired early. Those opportunities are what led to the healing of my mind and made me a better teacher of God. After all, you cannot share with others what you don’t have. I am truly happy that I always left that decision up to the Holy Spirit Who knew what was actually needed.
The only temptation to decide for myself that has occurred was the recent election. I thought I knew who should be elected. But even as I thought about it, I realized that I don’t really know what is in my best interests. The outcomes I was looking for were varied and ultimately ridiculous.
Nothing in the world is going to save me. I must do that myself, and I must do it by changing my mind, not by electing a savior. I am so grateful to Jesus for his instructions and grateful to myself for practicing the lessons he gives me. If I had not had and used the Course, my life would be very different now, and not in a good way.
2026
This lesson has opened my mind to be taught what it is that I really want. At some point, I realized that the peace of God was my only goal. It had occurred to me that everything I wanted was an effort to find peace. I thought I needed more money, but getting more money satisfied me only briefly. Then another problem would pop up. Sometimes I thought I would be happy if I only had a different relationship, and for a little while, I thought I had finally discovered the answer. Then that would sour, and I would be right back looking out there for the answer. It seemed that my life was an endless quest for the elusive solution to happiness.
When one day I had the thought that I was really looking for peace, a real change began to happen. It simplified all problems since the solution to all of them would lead me to the peace of God. When I had a problem of any kind, I would consider a possible solution and ask myself if it would bring me the peace of God. If not, I would dismiss it as irrelevant since it would not satisfy my only goal.
That one decision opened my mind to a new way of being that I recognized only in retrospect. It led me to recognize that full surrender to the Holy Spirit was the way to happiness. This is because when I would ask that question, will this bring me the peace of God, the ego had no answer for that. The answer would come from the Holy Spirit. Slowly, turning to the Holy Spirit for answers became habitual.
This morning when I woke up, I was out of sorts. Maybe that has happened to you, too. Just a little grumpy for no reason that I could pinpoint. My cat was trying to get my attention while I was making coffee and wondering what was wrong with me. I demanded to know what she wanted now, feeling like she was the neediest cat in the world. That feeling caught my attention and highlighted the need to reorient myself.
I called on the Holy Spirit to decide for me. That’s shorthand for I surrender to Your guidance in all things, Holy Spirit. You decide what I think, what I believe, say, and do. Where do you want me now? This is the ultimate answer to my desire for the peace of God. Here is the paragraph that convinced me of the logic of letting the Holy Spirit decide all things for me.
Say to the Holy Spirit only, “Decide for me,” and it is done. ²For His decisions are reflections of what God knows about you, and in this light, error of any kind becomes impossible. ³Why would you struggle so frantically to anticipate all you cannot know, when all knowledge lies behind every decision the Holy Spirit makes for you? ⁴Learn of His wisdom and His Love, and teach His answer to everyone who struggles in the dark. ⁵For you decide for them and for yourself. (ACIM, T-14.III.16:1-5)
As soon as I made my request, the grumpy mood dissipated, and the whole thing seemed funny to me. I am not perfectly consistent in this yet, but each time I make that decision, the results reinforce my practice. One day, I will probably notice how easy and peaceful life seems these days and will realize that allowing the Holy Spirit to decide for me has become as natural as breathing.
Have I gotten off topic here? I don’t think so. I came to realize that I don’t know my best interests. Accepting that this is true led me step by step to rely on One who does know. Perhaps this is what Jesus was pointing me to when I encountered this lesson in the first place. It just took me a while to get there.
Video: https://youtu.be/vTMf-LMaP58

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