As we progress further and deeper along our spiritual path it is possible that we will be challenged with even stronger and more compelling situations of fear, pain, doubt, despair, and confusion. This might be viewed as our final “walk through the valley of death” or as “the dark night of the soul.” The Course In Miracles reminds us that these situations are signs that we are coming closer to our goal of salvation and self-realization. They are, in fact, evidence that the ego is making a desperate, last ditch effort to seduce us into succumbing to its illusional world along with its feeble methods for achieving comfort and pleasure.
During these difficult times our doubts and hopeless feelings are best viewed as magnanimous opportunities for applying the lessons of forgiveness and overcoming the last vestiges of the ego’s attempts to avoid its undoing. This is an ideal time to celebrate knowing that the final steps of atonement are at hand and that the ego is feeling overmatched, panicked, and violently attempting to save its existence.
Each path to salvation is very personal and the lessons of the Holy Spirit are always suited to our unique characteristics and needs in the moment. Furthermore, we can be assured that the Holy Spirit’s responses to our challenges are always of ample strength and intensity to meet the task at hand. During our darkest time we must remain committed to our practice of forgiveness and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us as masterfully in this situation as it has in every previous instance.