By Gonny 
There is a line in A Course in Miracles that always makes people raise an eyebrow andsay:
Second place 
really? I was hoping for gold 
.
But today’s lesson says something far more surprising: “I choose the second place to gain the first.”
(Lesson 328)
At first glance it sounds like spiritual mathematics gone wrong, but the Course is simply describing the way the ego and Love look at the world
and they could not be more different.
The ego shouts: Me first! Me alone! Me against the world! I’ll do it myself!
(Imagine a toddler trying to push a sofa alone, telling you not to help.)
The Holy Spirit whispers: Choose to join, not to separate.
And suddenly you’ll discover that everything you tried to gain alone was already yours.
Let’s see how this works…
The upside-down world : The Course says our perception is upside down.
We try to be “independent”, not because we’re bad, but because we are terrified of being small. So we build a little kingdom called “my life, my opinions, my way,” and then we defend that kingdom with the intensity of a squirrel guarding a nut.
But the results of this “I’ll do it alone”-project are always the same:
tension, exhaustion, confusion, sickness, guilt, loneliness.
Not because God punishes us, but because separation simply can’t give us what we long for.
It’s like trying to breathe while holding your breath.
The second place that is actually first :
“Second place” in this lesson doesn’t mean weakness.
It doesn’t mean becoming a doormat, being less then others….
It simply means this: I choose to follow the Will I share with God instead of the tiny personal will of my ego.
When you choose that, you’re no longer second. You’re suddenly standing
in the only place that truly exists: the place of unity, clarity, peace and strength.
The ego thinks first place means winning over others.
The Course says first place means remembering Who You Are.
Big difference, is ‘t it?
Imagine you’re standing in a long line in a cinema to buy a ticket.
Someone cuts in front of you. Your ego jumps up like a rooster:
“HEY! I WAS FIRST! I CLAIM MY POSITION!”
But something softer inside you offers another option:
“What if I step back inwardly and let peace go first?”
You smile….and nodd (like saying : go ahead)…the person in front look at you and says…. oh sorry…are you first? …and you say: it’s okay.
And suddenly you feel ten times lighter than anyone else.
You didn’t lose anything. You gained yourself.
The ego would have said: “Win the argument. Score the point. Be right!”
The Holy Spirit instead said: “ Let Love be first. Let peace speak before your words.
You didn’t lose.
You won the only reward that counts: connection.
The prayer of Lesson 328 says something profoundly comforting:
“There is no Will but Yours, and I am glad.”
This is the moment the soul sighs in relief. There is only one Will, and it’s not against us. It is our safety, our peace, our joy. It is our true Self.
We aren’t choosing to obey something outside us. We’ve choosing the deepest truth within us. .
How to apply this Lesson today
Before reacting: pause and ask, “What brings peace here?”
Before defending: ask, “Do I want to be right or be happy?”
Before judging: ask, “What would Love see?”
Before rushing: ask, “Can I let the Light go first?”
And every time you choose the second place, the willingness to listen instead of control, you will feel something open inside you.
A space…a clarity…a gentle ohhh… so this is what freedom feels like!
To choose the second place is to return to the first.. because there is only one Will, and it is yours.
With love and light,
G.