A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
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Listen to Lesson 199 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 199 Insights

“I am not a body. I am free.”

The more I work with the Course, the more I realize how much of my time is focused on the body and its seeming needs. I see that in the ego’s hands the body is a powerful distraction to divert my attention from focusing on what will truly bring me peace and happiness. The more I practice letting the Holy Spirit guide me through my day, the more I recognize the things I thought I needed to make me happy or comfortable or safe are really unnecessary.

As I place my trust more and more in the Holy Spirit and in God’s Love, I feel less and less need for outer forms. I still need to eat. I still need to have clothes to keep me warm in cold weather. I still think I need a house to shelter me from the weather. But the form these things take is less and less important. I am more free in each moment to receive the blessing of the moment without judgment.

There is a growing trust in my heart that I always have what I need when I need it; I always know what I need to know, when I need to know it. Life becomes increasingly simple and more of my time is focused on following Holy Spirit’s lead. Practicing remembering “I am not a body. I am free” helps reinforce this focus, leading me onward toward greater and greater freedom. I will continue this practice today, for I know true and lasting happiness lies in it. I am grateful for this message from the Voice for God today.

In paragraph 6 of this lesson it says, “The Holy Spirit is the home of minds that seek for freedom.” (6:1) Notice it doesn’t say’ bodies’ or ‘individuals’ or ‘persons.’ It says minds. This reinforces the fact that I am not an individual person — I am mind. I am thought. I am an idea in the Mind of God.

In paragraph 1 it says, “The mind can be made free when it no longer sees itself as in a body, firmly tied to it and sheltered by its presence.” (1:4) This means that the sleeping Son of God, which is really mind, can be made free as it (mind) no longer sees itself (mind) as in a body.

It is being reinforced in this lesson that all the separate bodies found in this dream of separation are all really the same mind, all joined as one mind. We are learning we are not tied to the body or made safe by its continuing presence in the dream. We are formless mind unbound by the laws (false ideas) the ego (belief in separation) made up.

The way we free ourselves from belief that we are tied to a body is to open our minds to the Holy Spirit to hear the truth about our real Identity. As we are ready to open to the truth, the Holy Spirit shows us that the body is illusion, just a made up fabrication… a dream. Under the Holy Spirit’s guidance we use the body as a useful tool, a vehicle used only for God’s plan of awakening from the dream.

I agree with the above about beginning to recognize the things that are unnecessary in my life. Naturally, because a part of me still believes I am a body, I still need to eat, stay warm, etc., but since I’ve started the Course, my priorities have changed and I think those unnecessary things that I’m beginning to recognize are the “barriers” the Course speaks of; those things that keep me from knowing the truth about myself and my brothers.

These barriers are the ego’s way of attempting to distract me and keep me focused on things the body seems to need. And because those things change from day to day or are in constant need of being replaced, repaired, or whatever, my state of mind varies from day to day, depending on my seeming needs.

I try to think of the Holy Spirit sort of like a child would think of an imaginary friend. He goes where I go, and I try to remember to ask His opinion about any decisions I need to make, or I tell Him my deepest, darkest secrets so He can see what I see and correct my distorted perception. I realize I’ve only just begun the healing process, but it sure does feel good.

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