Have you ever listened closely to the little voice inside your head?  You know the one.  It prattles away constantly in the background of your life, day in and day out, narrating all your inner thoughts and feelings about every little thought, situation, person, or event you encounter.  It’s like a continual dialogue, a constant stream of thoughts always running just behind the scenes, and you often get so swept away by it that you don’t even really notice it is there at all.  Listening to this voice is a habit, and we take it for granted that it is normal.  

 

While it certainly is normal for pretty much the majority of people, it doesn’t have to be this way.  What if I told you this wasn’t the only voice in your mind?  What if I told you there was another voice you could listen to?  This voice is so quiet that it often gets drowned out by the much louder ‘every day’ voice.  To hear it you have to quieten all the raucousness in your mind and actively listen.  So, what are these two voices?  And can we choose which one to listen to?  We can indeed!

 

A Course in Miracles teaches that we have two separate and distinct thought systems in our mind, and every second of every day of our lives we are choosing one or the other.  The one we are most familiar with is the loudest one, which dominates most of our attention.  If you really watch what this voice is up to, even just for an hour or two, you will find that it is critiquing and commentating on every aspect of your life, no matter how minute.  It judges and compares everyone and everything, yourself included, and it has an opinion on everything.  The Course calls this voice the ego.  

 

The ego has its own heavily defended thought system, one that is based around the ideas of conflict, division, and separation.  It perceives everyone and everything as different from you, cherishing and idolising bodies and worshipping the idea of individuality.  Above all else, it tells you that you are at the mercy of a world that is outside of you, and when it looks out upon this world, it sees guilt everywhere.  This ego thought system is so habitual that it runs in the background of the mind constantly, just like the default operating system on a computer.  

 

While this kind of thinking may be the general consensus in our world, it definitely isn’t the only option available to you.  There is another voice, and it is totally within your power to choose it instead.  But to hear it you have to want to hear it.  Often times it will not appear to you as a voice at all, but shows up in other ways such as an inner knowing or intuition, a gut feeling, or through symbols in the outside world like a seemingly chance encounter, a book, or something someone says that resonates with you at a deep inner level.  The Course calls this voice the Holy Spirit, and his is the thought system of unity, wholeness, peace and love.  

 

The Holy Spirit sees everyone and everything as exactly the same as you, not in form, but in the essence of your true identity as Spirit, which we all share.  His voice tells you that this world is not your reality, that you are not the body you thought you were, and that if you will instead choose to see everything through his vision, he will gradually awaken you to your true Self.  The Holy Spirit is your strength because He knows nothing but the spirit as you. He is perfectly aware that you do not know yourself, and perfectly aware of how to teach you to remember what you are (T-12.VI.2:1).

 

Every thought you think and each belief you hold either reflects one of these two thought systems.  There is nothing else to choose between.  In the Course’s words, there are only two parts of your mind.  One is ruled by the ego, and is made up of illusions.  The other is the home of the Holy Spirit, where truth abides.  There are no other guides but these to choose between, and no other outcome possible as a result of your choice but the fear that the ego always engenders, and the love that the Holy Spirit always offers to replace it (W-66.7:2).

 

When it comes to choosing with the Holy Spirit, you first have to start paying attention to how often you are not choosing it.  It’s very easy to slip back into the comfort and familiarity of the ego’s default thought patterns, and it takes practice and commitment to remember to watch and pay attention to the mind.  But it’s only when you are watching what is going on in your inner landscape, that you can actively choose to put the brakes on the ego’s runaway dialogue and switch to the Holy Spirit’s interpretation instead.  Otherwise, the ego will continue to take you for a ride, always to the destination of its choosing.

 

You may be wondering what all the fuss is about.  Is it really that important which voice you are listening to?  Yes, it is.  It literally determines how you see everyone and everything in your life, including how you see yourself.  Your whole identity depends on it, and on the voice you choose to hear, and on the sights you choose to see, depends entirely your whole belief in what you are (T-21.V.1:9). 

 

You can either choose with the ego, believing in the characters and scenarios that it contrives and in turn putting yourself into an even deeper sleep.  Or you can choose with the Holy Spirit, siding with the perfect, whole and complete truth in yourself and everyone else, and gradually awakening to the real Self, which you have forgotten but is always there for the remembering.

 

You are always choosing one or the other.  The ego and the Holy Spirit are mutually exclusive.  They are so completely opposite in every way that it is literally impossible to be listening to both at the same time.  Until you make the firm decision to commit to the Holy Spirit’s thought system, your mind will remain split, and you will continue to bounce back and forth between the two.  Your mind is dividing its allegiance between two kingdoms, and you are totally committed to neither (T-7.VI.9:1).  

 

Over time, as you choose more and more consistently with the Holy Spirit, you will gradually begin to spend more of your life thinking with him.  The thought system of the ego will lose its hold on you and will be undone and replaced by the Holy Spirit’s thought system instead, just like upgrading the system on a computer. 

 

I’ll be honest, it takes time, a ton of practice, and a lot of persistence. And I mean, a lot.  But you have within you the power to lay aside all illusions about yourself and the world and choose only the truth in you.  The real and the unreal are all there are to choose between, and nothing more than these (W-130.5:5).  

 

So, when you find yourself in the same old situation and the ego has you firmly in its seductive grasp, remember that you have a choice.  There is another voice within you, another guide you can choose, and every choice you make establishes your own identity as you will see it and believe it is (T-31.VIII.6:5).