Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Choosing the Way to Happiness

There are two teachers only, who point in different ways. And you will go along the way your chosen teacher leads. There are but two directions you can take, while time remains and choice is meaningful.

…why should you waste [time] going nowhere, when it can be used to reach a goal as high as learning can achieve? Think not the way to Heaven’s gate is difficult at all. Nothing you undertake with certain purpose and high resolve and happy confidence, holding your brother’s hand and keeping step to Heaven’s song, is difficult to do. But it is hard indeed to wander off, alone and miserable, down a road that leads to nothing and that has no purpose. (A Course in Miracles, T-26.V.1:7-9;2:3-6. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)


In every moment we are choosing either the ego or the Holy Spirit as our teacher. It seems easier to choose the ego. It is a long, established and familiar habit. There seems to be comfort in the familiar and the ego’s options are the first to come to mind.

But the Holy Spirit offers us the way to perfect happiness and peace that cannot be disturbed. The ego’s options never offer this, though sometimes it appears to offer fleeting instances that we deem good or desirable. Yet even in these happy moments that we know within are temporary, we are waiting for something undesirable that is sure to follow.

So in every moment we are choosing between unpredictable chaos and the certainty of God’s changeless Love, perfect happiness and eternal peace. It seems like choosing Holy Spirit’s lead is the obvious decision. But old habits that lead in the opposite direction need to be let go.

To do this we need to be vigilant to recognize when we are choosing the ego and turn the other way. It can be as simple as pausing, taking a deep breath and relaxing to make way for Holy Spirit’s inspiration. Sometimes it may take more focus to shift in the direction of Holy Spirit’s lead. But the payoff is perfect happiness. We are worth the effort.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Releasing Ourselves from Fear Thoughts

What gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called idle. Every thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it extends the truth or it multiplies illusions.

Besides your recognizing that thoughts are never idle, salvation requires that you also recognize that every thought you have brings either peace or war; either love or fear. A neutral result is impossible because a neutral thought is impossible. There is such a temptation to dismiss fear thoughts as unimportant, trivial and not worth bothering about that it is essential you recognize them all as equally destructive, but equally unreal. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 16, W-pI.16.2:2-3;3:1-3. See also ACIM Lesson 16 Insights.)

A distinguishing characteristic of all fear thoughts is that they disturb our peace. Fear thoughts show up in many forms, some of which we may not think of as fear thoughts. Jealousy, impatience, sadness, irritation, all are forms of fear thoughts, for they all disturb our peace. They are as equally destructive as intense rage because they all stem from the mistaken idea that we are separate, which is the denial of the oneness of Love we were created to be.

Thankfully we are not stuck in the illusion of justified fear. We have help in our minds to teach us to recognize that what we thought was cause for fear was really nothing. The practice of opening our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit’s loving, patient teaching will help free us from the destructive thoughts of fear so that they are freely replaced by our natural ongoing extension of Love. As we extend Love, we experience God’s gift of peace.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Finding a New Way of Living in the World

Forgiveness gently looks upon all things unknown in Heaven, sees them disappear, and leaves the world a clean and unmarked slate on which the Word of God can now replace the senseless symbols written there before.… Forgiveness lets the body be perceived as what it is; a simple teaching aid, to be laid by when learning is complete, but hardly changing him who learns at all.

Only forgiveness can relieve the mind of thinking that the body is its home. Only forgiveness can restore the peace that God intended for His holy Son. Only forgiveness can persuade the Son to look again upon his holiness. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 192, W-pI.192.4:1,3;5:5-7. See also ACIM Lesson 192 Insights.)


We have the means by which to return to peace and happiness. As our willingness to open to the Holy Spirit grows, we are gently led to wake up from the dream. We are gently led to follow instead of deciding things on our own.

We have the means, right within our mind. Our willingness to forgive opens the door to see the world differently. The more we relax and listen, and follow as we are led, we find a new way of living in this world. Forgiveness paves the way to happiness and peace beyond what we thought possible. And for this we give thanks.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Justification for Forgiveness

The strength of [true] pardon is its honesty, which is so uncorrupted that it sees illusions as illusions, not as truth. It is because of this that it becomes the undeceiver in the face of lies; the great restorer of the simple truth. By its ability to overlook what is not there, it opens up the way to truth, which has been blocked by dreams of guilt. Now are you free to follow in the way your true forgiveness opens up to you. For if one brother has received this gift of you, the door is open to yourself. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 134, W-pI.134.8. See also ACIM Lesson 134 Insights.)

All our upsets in the world come from believing that what our body’s senses show us is real. Yet the Course tells us that not only what we perceive is unreal, but the body we perceive with is not real. Understanding this is the key to forgiveness. If what we perceive with the body is not real, then the basis for the upset is not real and is easily forgiven.

The only reason forgiveness seems difficult is because we want our judgments to be justified as a means to project our inner guilt. But the guilt we feel inside is equally unjustified because it is based on what we believe we have done with the body. What was “done” with an illusion could never have really happened. Once again forgiveness is the means to release ourselves from guilt.

As we let the Holy Spirit help us recognize illusions for what they are, we easily forgive because we recognize that what we thought happened never really occurred. This is the blessing the Holy Spirit offers us in every moment. We need only ask Him for help.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Being a Messenger of Love

Listen today, and you will hear a Voice which will resound throughout the world through you. The bringer of all miracles has need that you receive them first, and thus become the joyous giver of what you received. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 106, W-pI.106.6:4-5. See also ACIM Lesson 106 Insights.)

The Voice of Truth brings us miracles, which are extensions of Love. To accept Love, we must extend It, for if Love is not extended, It is denied. Giving and receiving are the same because when we extend Love, we welcome and receive Love.

Today we can become God’s messengers of Love by practicing extending Love to all whom we meet or even think of. We extend Love as we see innocence, which is visible to us as we lay aside judgment. Love sees no guilt no and separation, for It sees only Its own innocence and oneness. Today our practice is to join with our one Self in extending Love to all.

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Learning from Our Perfect Teacher

The Holy Spirit is the perfect Teacher. He uses only what your mind already understands to teach you that you do not understand it. The Holy Spirit can deal with a reluctant learner without going counter to his mind, because part of it is still for God. Despite the ego’s attempts to conceal this part, it is still much stronger than the ego, although the ego does not recognize it. The Holy Spirit recognizes it perfectly because it is His Own dwelling place; the place in the mind where He is at home. You are at home there, too, because it is a place of peace, and peace is of God. You who are part of God are not at home except in His peace. If peace is eternal, you are at home only in eternity. (A Course in Miracles, T-5.III.10. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

It is good news to learn that we always have the perfect Teacher in our mind Who will teach us how to return to our natural state of perfect peace. Any sense of disturbance is a sure sign that we are identifying with the ego thought system in our mind.

It is a reminder to turn to our inner Teacher with willingness to see what has disturbed us with the Holy Spirit’s vision. He will show us that what we have believed was cause for disturbance has no substance and cannot change our true Self. Our true Self remains at one with God, our Creator. Our true Self shares God’s strength and changelessness, and therefore is invincible. As we learn that this is so, we return to peace.

Today we are willing to receive the lessons of innocence and Love that the Holy Spirit would teach us. We are grateful that He can use every circumstance, every perception, as a teaching aid to show us that we are eternally safe in God’s Love.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting God’s Joy

Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that.… It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a cause.

The world you see but shows you how much joy you have allowed yourself to see in you, and to accept as yours. And, if this is its meaning, then the power to give it joy must lie within you. (A Course in Miracles, T-21.in.1:1-2,5-8;2:7-8. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

The Course tells us that God’s Will for us is perfect happiness. If we accept God’s Will for us, the world we see must be a world of joy. If we are experiencing anything other than joy in the world, we must not be accepting God’s Will for us. Instead we must be identifying with the ego thought system that is the denial of God’s Will.

The ego is not what we are, though if we identify with it, we will believe we are the ego. We will project upon the world the guilt and fear, anger and doubt that are built into the ego thought system. But because we are not the ego, we have a choice. We can also choose against the ego by choosing to identify with our one Self, the Son of God.

We make this choice each time we let our minds be healed of mistaken beliefs that project a world of separation. This forgiveness makes way for more and more acceptance of the joy God wills for us. We learn that God’s Will is our will. We really do want God’s Will because we want to accept our Self as Love created us. We want to accept God’s joy.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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