# A New Vision Of Money - 13: Leave your needs in the hands of the Holy Spirit From what we have discussed so far, it may seem that the Course offers us many lofty ideas about not giving value to the world, but does not offer ideas that can be applied in daily life. Surely these ideas would not last long in our minds while we are hungry and have bills to pay. Nevertheless, this is a practical course. Jesus is fully aware that, as long as we live in this world, we need certain things in order to function. The Course asks us to place all our needs in the hands of the Holy Spirit. He will take care of them without giving them undue importance: > Only the Holy Spirit knows what you need, for He will give you all things that > do not block the way to light. And what else could you need? In time, He gives > you all the things that you need have, and will renew them as long as you have > need of them. He will take nothing from you as long as you have any need of > it. And yet He knows that everything you need is temporary, and needs but last > until you step aside from all your needs and learn that all of them have been > fulfilled. Therefore, He has no investment in the things that He supplies, > except to make certain that you will not use them on behalf of lingering in > time. He knows that you are not at home there, and He wills no delay to wait > upon your joyous homecoming. > > Leave, then, your needs to Him. He will supply them with no emphasis at all > upon them. ([CE T-13.VIII.3-4](https://acimce.app/:T-13.VIII.3-4))  What is interesting about these two paragraphs is how pragmatic the Course is. The Holy Spirit understands your belief in needs. Instead of denying them, He simply meets them. However, He does not do this in a way that allows you to use what He provides to extend your stay in the world longer than necessary. In other words, He will give you the money or material things you need, but He will not give you so much that it becomes a distraction. If you need to accomplish a goal, the means will be provided, but those means will not become a temptation to use them in a way that dims your light. The Holy Spirit places no emphasis at all on the things He provides. To Him they are trivialities. As I write this, I wonder whether this means that as long as there is a risk that we might misuse the means the Holy Spirit would provide, we will not see them. If this is so, once we set aside the temptation to distract ourselves and prolong our stay in time, we would immediately receive whatever we need to continue the journey. This idea is reinforced in the following paragraph, where it is explained that what the Holy Spirit gives you carries no risk of distracting you with things of this world: > What comes to you of Him comes safely, for He will ensure it never can become > a dark spot hidden in your mind and kept to hurt you. ([CE T-13.VIII.4:3](https://acimce.app/:T-13.VIII.4:3)) Have you ever felt happy about receiving something material through a spiritual practice? It’s exciting. However, in light of what we are learning today, rejoicing over the material is a sign that the understanding is still not clear. By celebrating the material object, you are not opening yourself to the real message being given to you. The Holy Spirit places no importance whatsoever on those things. The material object you received had no real importance. The gift was given so that you could continue without obstacles on the path that leads you to God. The gift represents a way of saving you time. The need that is met through the Holy Spirit is the need to awaken from this dream—not money or material things. Every gift that comes from the Holy Spirit is meant to help you advance in the process, not to distract you further in the world. In other words, His gift is simply love, although it is love wrapped in something of this world so that you can understand it, appreciate it, and also use it to your advantage. I have countless examples of times when something I needed appeared in my life in a miraculous way at the moment I needed it. The story that has had the most impact on me was my trip to Solonia, the camp in Venezuela where I took an intensive course to become a psychotherapist. This happened in 2004. At that time I was a student and had very little money—only enough for my daily university expenses. The idea of someday being able to pay for the intensive facilitator training of Aprendiendo a Ser seemed impossible to me. On December 31st, 2003, I made this prayer as my New Year’s resolution: > Holy Spirit, I don’t know if taking the intensive workshop is what benefits me > most. If it is in Your plan, let me know and show me how. If it is not, I will > accept it gladly. A chain of “coincidences” made it possible for me to spend a month and a half in Solonia and take the facilitator training completely free. I consider this a perfect example of a gift from the Holy Spirit—one aimed at helping me advance in my process and saving me time. I could easily have postponed that training for years and years until I had the means to pay for it myself. I want to emphasize once again that leaving your needs in the hands of the Holy Spirit is not a way to obtain worldly riches. To the world’s disappointment, it is the opposite. Once you are under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, your passage through this world will be like taking a trip with light luggage and without complications—a journey in which you do not accumulate unnecessary things or experiences: > Under His guidance, you will travel light and journey lightly, for His sight > is ever on the journey’s end, which is His goal. ([CE T-13.VIII.4:4](https://acimce.app/:T-13.VIII.4:4)) How can we make sure the journey is light and without complications? We must stay alert to the temptation to possess for the sake of possessing and answer it with what we truly want to attain. The Course suggests using this replacement thought: > Whenever you are tempted to undertake a foolish journey that would lead away > from light, remember what you really want, and say: > > The Holy Spirit leads me unto Christ, and where else would I go? What need > have I but to awake in Him? ([CE T-13.VIII.5:1-3](https://acimce.app/:T-13.VIII.5:1-3)) It is a very beautiful and inspiring thought. Can you imagine being able to respond to any temptation to waste time chasing empty goals with the reminder that the only thing you need is to awaken in God? Would this not spare you a great deal of discomfort and disappointment? And if we do not accumulate things along the way, what are we supposed to do? If we have nothing tangible to do in this world, the alternative of possessing for the sake of possessing will seem far more appealing. Our new “profession” will be to awaken our brothers from the same dream in which we now find ourselves. Time is to be used for that purpose alone: > Hold me dear, for what except your brothers can you need? We will restore to > you the peace of mind that we must find together. The Holy Spirit will teach > you to awaken unto us and to yourself. This is the only real need to be > fulfilled in time. ([CE T-13.VIII.6:3-6](https://acimce.app/:T-13.VIII.6:3-6)) Let us help Jesus in his mission to awaken all of us just as he did. We are not alone—he will accompany us in every step we take: > My peace I give you. Take it of me, in glad exchange for all the world has > offered but to take away. And we will spread it like a veil of light across > the world’s sad face, in which we hide our brothers from the world, and it > from them. ([CE T-13.VIII.6:8-10](https://acimce.app/:T-13.VIII.6:8-10)) ## Practice ### In the morning Spend a few minutes in the morning to accept the peace that Jesus gives you so you may extend it to the world: 1. Close your eyes and resolve to center your mind on a single goal, without distractions. 2. Confront any distracting thoughts with the phrase: “Now I seek only the Peace God gives me. And this thought will not distract me from that.” 3. Imagine that God—through Jesus, if that image helps you—gives you a beautiful light that represents the Peace you seek. 4. Bring to mind events in your life in which the world offered you something and then took it away. Extend the light God is giving you to fill the emptiness left behind. 5. Notice how it feels to fill that emptiness and consider whether it was not truly God’s Peace that you wanted. Stay a few minutes in silence, feeling that peace and your union with God. ### During the day We will return to our practice of observing needs of any kind and confronting them with the truth. Whenever you find yourself wanting or needing something—no matter how normal it seems—pause for a few seconds to ask yourself: > "What need do I have, except to awaken to my true Identity?" Every 20 minutes, with your phone’s timer, remind yourself: > "I leave my needs in the hands of the One who seeks my happiness."