Thus with a kiss I die.

Act 5, Scene 3. One of the most tragic moments in literature … the words uttered by Romeo as he has just swallowed the poison having kissed his beloved Juliet one last time. And then he dies.

Shakespeare knew a thing or two about writing powerful drama.

And so do we – only we don’t realize it.

Each of us believes things happen in the world resulting in our happiness or lack thereof. When things go the way we’d like – we get a particular job, a specific person returns our amorous feelings, our bank account reaches a certain number, we enjoy supportive friends and family members, our body looks or functions as desired – then we say, “I am happy.”

Conversely, when we find ourselves in circumstances contrary, we bemoan our suffering – sometimes quite vociferously. Yet what we fail to realize is that we authored the entire script.

We wrote every character, each act, and the detailed scenes comprising the entire play. We cast ourselves as the leading character (our hero) who is mostly an innocent victim of external circumstances. We’ve given copies of the script to every player, instructed each person on exactly how to fulfill their role, grabbed our director’s microphone and yelled, “Action!”

And then we completely forget we set it all up.

So, we wander in and out of our daily experiences wondering why things keep happening to us. Why do I keep attracting the same sorts of unhelpful people in my life? Why do I keep getting involved in the same kinds of relationships? Why do certain situations keep repeating in my life? Why do people treat me the way they do? Why is this happening to me?

Our collective director’s amnesia leads us to believe this is all real, serious, and consequential. But in reality, it is not.

You are the dreamer of the world. No other cause it has, nor ever will. (T-27.VII.13)

One might reasonably ask, “Why don’t we write a purely blissful script?” And the answer is that we set this all up to prove we are here … to prove this is real … and, most importantly, to prove we are the innocent victims of something outside of ourselves.

The body is the central figure in the dreaming of the world. The body’s serial adventures, from the time of birth to dying are the theme of every dream the world has ever had. (T-27.VIII.1;3)

Pain demonstrates the body must be real. Pain compels attention. Its purpose is the same as pleasure, for they both are means to make the body real. (T-27.VI.1)

It isn’t until we finally realize that we are the dreamer of the dream, and not a figure in the dream, that we can begin the process of awakening. Once we realize we are the author of the script, and not a helpless victim, then we can choose to experience happy dreams until we finally awaken to the oneness we never left.

Join us in Monday’s class where we’ll explore this concept of being the dreamer of the dream, the author of the script. And we’ll read about the Course’s teaching on true cause & effect and how we can become more aware (and happier) “script writers”. I look forward to seeing you then.