We know what the opposite of starting the day right is. It is when you get out of bed on
the wrong side, or you start off on the wrong foot. But how do you know
which is which? The very phrase 'to start off on the wrong foot' derives from
the military practice of marching from the left foot first. The right foot, then,
is the wrong foot. When is right truly right and not fluctuate according to point of view?
The problem with words is that they can so often serve to
mean opposite things. Everyone wants to reserve 'right' for himself and
label other people as wrong. 'Right' is for the good guys. As we all know from the
TV and films we watch, it seems right when the good guys resort to violence and murder, because they are doing it to put things right. They are forced into wrongness
by the wrongness of the bad guys. The moral of these stories is that wrong is more
effective, that two wrongs do make a right, that to be right is mightier
because you can justify clobbering the other guy in the name of righteousness.
The principle is an ancient and Biblical one. The forces of
Good are for ever at war with the army of Evil. It is a popular myth that the
wicked have more fun, especially as they have the unfair advantage of being licensed
to take unfair advantage of the righteous -
The rain it raineth every day
Upon the just and unjust fella.
But chiefly upon the just, because
The unjust has the just's umbrella.
- but as we all know from our cultural heritage, in the end the
good will have the last laugh. Right will rule, and as a bonus the righteous get
enjoy the private satisfaction of seeing wrongdoers get their comeuppance.
It is very difficult for us, in this deeply entrenched and
hostile, essentially dualistic way of thinking, to reclaim rightness as a
reflection of truth and of kindliness, and to let go of its entanglement with
guilt and competitiveness. We need to distinguish the judgmental meaning of 'right' - that is, factually or morally right - from its meaning as universally and spiritually true. Rightness in this sense is a property of every mind. You might say
it is your God-given right. Every mind is right when it is motivated by love
and peace. Every mind is wrong when it is coming from that self-serving delusion
we call 'myself', that the Course calls the ego.
So let us be very clear what we mean by starting the day right. Forget morality, with its fearful
divisiveness and threatening implications. The Course does not talk about good vs
bad, but about true vs illusory, helpful vs unhelpful, kind vs unkind. It
speaks of being either in your right mind or in your wrong mind. In the US, there is a
road sign that warns you if you are about to turn into a one-way street into the
teeth of on-coming traffic: it simply says 'Wrong Way.' This is what the Course means
by wrong mindedness. It is not sinful, it does not make you a bad person, but
it will not get you where you want to be and the consequences are likely to be
painful.
As we all know from experience, to start the day wrong means
in an anxious, conflicted or unhappy state of mind. It turns into 'one of those days' when we keep running into
setbacks or disagreements and the world at large echoes back at
us our disconnectedness from peace and joy. It will not help to
confuse starting the day 'right' with being a good person, or being better than
anyone else, or setting out to do good in the world. To take a few minutes at
the start of the day to first step into your right mind is, rather, to wake up
from the insanity of the ego and return to the sanity and freedom of a clear
and open mind.
Right mindedness is a temporary solution in a wrong minded
world. The first only serves to reverse and cancel out the other. When the mind
remembers its wholeness and is wholly at peace, it is not right minded, but one
minded. First, then, we learn that the wrong mindedness of ego thinking is not what
we want after all. (That might take a few lifetimes.) Then we learn to think
with our right minds, to escape from the prison we have cramped ourselves into.
Finally we begin to realize that there are no separate, no alternating, no
right or wrong minds, above all nothing good or bad; just mind itself, a Oneness joined as One (T25 I 7).
So when you wake still tired, or apprehensive, or with
sinking heart, and living the day seems less attractive than pulling the covers
back over your head, it can be a revelation to realize that if you are not happy, it is
not for any of the reasons you have been listing to yourself, but just a very strong hint that you are not at the moment in your right mind. It only takes
a minute to remember to ask yourself, 'What kind of day do I want? What thoughts would I
rather think? What feelings would I rather feel?'
I must have decided
wrongly, because I am not at peace.
I made the decision
myself, but I can also decide otherwise.
I want to decide
otherwise, because I want to be at peace (T5 VII 6)
To decide otherwise is when you decide to start the day
right. Or if you are already hopping on the wrong foot, to start it again. Whatever the weather.
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