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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

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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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

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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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 20 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 20 Insights

“I am determined to see.”

Seeing with Christ’s vision is the opposite of believing what the body’s eyes are showing me. Seeing with Christ’s vision is recognizing that everyone is still as God created them. With Christ’s vision there is no separation, no differences, no guilt of any kind. There is only oneness with God’s universal Love. This Love is constant and so there is no change. I am determined to see means I am determined to see with Christ’s vision. It means I am determined to recognize the truth. I am determined to let go of the ego’s false stories.

This lesson is working with my willingness to see the truth. As my willingness grows, my seeing with Christ’s vision grows. Jesus is getting at the core of my awakening. Jesus knows that it is my willingness to see that allows me to see. There is nothing outside me that bars my seeing the truth. What I see comes from my mind. Seeing with Christ’s vision comes with my determination to see the truth. I am willing to practice today. Seeing with Christ’ vision is important. I am willing to practice every half hour. This helps bring me back to what is truly important to my awakening.

Being determined implies a singleness of purpose. My focus is clear and I will not let anything interfere with achieving my goal. Any seeming obstacles are not accepted as barriers, but are seen only as something to move past. There are many examples in my life where I was determined to reach a goal. When I was determined to get good grades in school, I got good grades. When I wasn’t determined, my grades were mediocre. When I was determined to attend a week-long program of spiritual growth, I did not allow any opinions of others or ideas of what I might lose if I went away for a week keep me from attending the program.

Whenever I have not had a fully committed determination to reach whatever my goal was, reaching the goal seemed difficult and sometimes I gave up. If my determination was very weak, I didn’t even try to reach the goal. I made up excuses and obstacles in my mind and believed them. This simple declaration, “I am determined to see,” is the declaration that I am not willing to believe in any obstacles and I want only that one goal.

At this stage, it is not important that I wholeheartedly embrace the statement without reservation. If I did, I would not need to affirm the statement all through the day. In giving this exercise the Course is recognizing that I am divided in my goals and I need to learn to focus my intent without reservation or distraction. This exercise starts me in that direction. I am grateful for the wisdom of the Course, which accepts me where I think I am and gives me the tools to help me go to where I truly want to be — at Home in the Heart of God.

The I Am has determined that I will see and so I shall because I, my True Self, already do see. There is a part of me that does not see. This is the part that I say today is determined to see. It is certain that I will see because God has already determined that this is so. As I come into alignment with God’s Will through my conscious choice, I see that this is already my will. I see who I really am. When I determine with God to see what I already see, but kept hidden by ego thoughts, how can I fail? I cannot fail for God is determined with me. If I live in determination with God, how can anything be less than glorious.

I give to God my determination today. God walks with me wherever I go. God walks in determination with me and so the path is certain and sure and full of light. Holy Spirit helps me to see clearly on the lighted path. Help to see clearly is abundant. I need only be determined, all the rest will follow. The Son of God does not stumble in determination. The Son of God prevails.

I love the part in this lesson that states I will not see if I regard myself as being coerced, and if I give in to resentment and opposition.

When my daughter got married about 10 years ago; I begged her not to. I didn’t like the man she was marrying and, sure enough, shortly after she married, she began having problems and would call me periodically to cry or complain about the man she married. But, fortunately, I decided to just love her and keep my doors open to her if she ever decided to leave him. Somehow I knew the decision to leave him would have to be hers because I didn’t want her to throw that in my face years on down the line.

I believe that God is the same way. Because of the fact that he gives us free will, he allows us to “see” other ways of finding peace, but ultimately it has to be our decision to find it in Him. Today I am determined to see. I think I’ve always known in my heart there had to be something in this world other than what I was “seeing.”

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 19 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 19 Insights

“I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.”

There are no private thoughts because there are no private minds. I am realizing that the idea of anything being ‘private’ is all just a fabrication, an illusion. In truth, we are all joined in one mind. As I am willing to let go of thoughts of separation, I help my brother let go of thoughts of separation. As each of us refuses to join with illusions, it gradually falls apart because even in the ego thought system, it takes two to agree in the illusion for it to hold together.

Telling myself often that I do not know what anything means helps me to open my connection with the Holy Spirit and receive a corrected perception. The Holy Spirit, which is also called Universal Inspiration, works through all of us as we are willing to have an open mind. As we join with the one Mind, the one Mind is all we see. Today I practice again, holding Holy Spirit’s hand, realizing that I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.

There is only one word that is different between the central idea of yesterday’s and today’s lessons — seeing and thoughts. The lesson points out that seeing is the effect of thoughts, and cause and effect are never separated. One does not come before the other. They are simultaneous. The ego ploy of projection is an attempt to disconnect cause from effect and then make the effect appear to turn on us and be a cause of our distress or vulnerability. So the recognition of the unbreakable connection between cause and effect is central to our release from the hell of separation, the hell of the ego thought system.

Because cause and effect cannot be separated, everything we see is the effect of our thoughts. This puts everything we see in our domain, subject to our thoughts. We can change our thoughts and thus we can change what we see. We cannot be a victim because we are the master of our domain. The full recognition of this is the end of the ego, for it is the recognition that oneness is real and separation is illusion.

Once again I am seeing that this one lesson, if fully embraced without reservation, would bring about my complete release and return me to my Home in Love. The Course acknowledges that this is not a leap that I am willing to make at this time. I am grateful that it does not judge me for that. It simply offers an exercise to help me move in the direction of freedom.

I am so grateful for the gentleness of the Course. Its ideas may be upsetting at times and I may resist them tooth and nail, yet the Course gently urges me on to take one more baby step toward my complete release from all limitation. I am willing to keep practicing, because I want the peace of God.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 18 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 18 Insights

“I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.”

One question I can ask myself as I see anything is, “How am I seeing this, through the eyes of the ego, or through Christ’s vision?” I am doing one or the other all the time. Training my mind to look at how I am seeing things will help me step back from the ego’s perspective. When I step back and choose Holy Spirit, I can receive the Holy Spirit’s correction of perception. I can learn to see behind the form to the Love that is always there. Because minds are joined, how I see things affects the world.

Have you ever been offended by what someone said or did? And then went to your friends and told them your story, hoping they would join you in your upset? It may have seemed comforting to have others agree that you were harmed, yet it really didn’t make the pain any less. It simply made it seem more justified and harder to let go. Their joining you in their perception reinforced it. But if just one person did not see it the way you saw it, refused to join in your perception, there is the potential that your perception may change. You may become defensive in your attempt to hold on to your perception, or that person’s refusal to join may lead you to open your mind to other possibilities.

In every moment we are either reinforcing the perception of error or reinforcing the perception of truth. If we choose the ego as our guide, we reinforce the error and make it seem more real, both in our own mind and in the minds of all those who believe in the error.

But if we choose the Holy Spirit as our Guide and join with his perception, the error is no longer real to us and it can open many other minds to question the reality of the error. Each time we join with the Holy Spirit’s vision, it has far reaching effects. We become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Those are really the only two options — we either reinforce the problem or, in choosing Holy Spirit as our Guide, we bring the Light to the error. This not only dissolves the error for us but opens the door to vision for many far beyond what we can know. We are truly not alone in experiencing the effects of our seeing.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 17 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 17 Insights

“I see no neutral things.”

As I was doing the exercise, it was clear to me that I was making comparisons in my mind about every object I looked at or I was associating it with other objects or people. Thus I had judgments about everything. They weren’t necessarily condemnation, but they were evaluations. This showed me the non-neutrality of my perceptions and interpretations at the surface.

But there is another level of non-neutrality of which I am not nearly so aware. This has to do with the statement in the lesson that I am not as yet aware of any real thoughts. I do not see ‘Life’ because I am not yet aware of real Life. The Course says God is Life. To be aware of Life, I must see God in everything. I have to admit this is not obvious to me. I can accept it as a concept but it is not something that directs my vision at this point. If it were, I would see only innocence. Forgiveness would be complete.

I have no neutral thoughts because I am still trying to make separation real. Forgiveness is the means by which I can let this go. This lesson is reminding me of the power of my thoughts and how they affect everything I perceive. It is another step in recognizing the cause of my world and bringing me to the place where I can change the cause and experience a different world, the real world, the forgiven world. I will practice this lesson today with gratitude, knowing that it is another step on the journey Home.

I see no neutral things because I am giving everything all the meaning it has for me. I bring the past into the present. This lesson is helping me to recognize and acknowledge the meaning I am giving to each thing that I see or experience. This lesson brings it back to my thoughts, what I am believing. The reason for events or what I am seeing is not out there. What I am seeing is coming from my mind and nowhere else, and it is there I must do the work. It is these meanings that I am giving that I first need to recognize and then hand over to my inner Teacher. My inner Teacher knows that these meanings are not true. My inner Teacher knows that separation is not true.

Even though I may know it intellectually, I still have much to hand over. There are still many layers of belief that need to be handed over or undone by the Holy Spirit. This is my practice today. I begin by seeing that I have no neutral thoughts. I begin by recognizing with each thing that I am giving it the meaning it has for me. There is no outside reality. Reality is one. Reality is formless. So I am willing today to take one more step in the undoing process, letting go of my grip on what I think is real. I practice today knowing that it ultimately brings me the freedom that I am really searching for.

When I clearly accept that I give everything its meaning, then I allow myself an opportunity to free myself from the limited thoughts to which I have been chained. I can rejoice in the practice of this exercise because it helps me realize how limited my ideas really are. In everything that I see as good, if I am truly honest with myself, I can find it tainted with limitation and therefore realize that what I see as good is also an illusion.

Love is Love. It has no fear. As I accept an opportunity to know the meanings I assign are limited and release them, I am asking Holy Spirit to show me Love that is unlimited, joy that is true. I celebrate the freedom of exercising this in every moment to let in true Love, true joy and true meaning. I am very grateful for the freedom these lessons engender. And I am very grateful to be able to exercise responsibility joyfully.

“I see no neutral things, because I have no neutral thoughts” is a very empowering perception. What freedom I gain as I truly begin to understand the power of my mind to choose in every moment between Love or fear. This is my ultimate release from fear and my ultimate return to Love. I cease to be afraid when I accept I am the creator of any fear I choose to perceive. It all comes back to my thoughts and the power of decision I have in every moment as given me by my Creator. In each moment I hold this one choice — to miscreate from fear or to create, which means to extend God’s Love. How free I am with Spirit to see a new world of peace, joy and Love.

As I do these lessons I can see that they are very true. I also accept the underlying lesson, that there is real life underneath what I see though I have not yet often experienced this. I feel good about this because although it is limited success, it is real success and this is not always the case for me with these lessons.

One thing that indicates to me that I am making some progress is that I seem to know immediately when I have made a judgment or said something that is out of accord with my real beliefs. I used to not notice all this stuff unless it was extreme and then it was usually when I did the lesson, or that night when I went to bed I would think about something and then feel all depressed as if the day was wasted because I didn’t live the lesson.

Now I have an entirely different attitude. I find myself thinking about the daily lesson frequently during the day and noticing thoughts that illustrate it. Of course, at this point, my whole life is lived in judgment and illusion, but when I do something or say something judgmental even by the ego’s standards I do catch it and I thank HS for making me aware of it. Then I ask Him for another way of seeing it.

Sometimes it is just old stuff, old habits. I laugh at someone’s mistakes or gossip about somebody. When I do that it immediately feels wrong and I offer it to Holy Spirit. But other times it is something to which I am emotionally attached. Someone hurts my feelings or says something to attack my ego and I react. When this happens it is not always as easy to let the reaction go. At another time in my life I might have held onto my emotional response to this for awhile, really wallowing in it. Now I might hold onto it, but all the time I am giving it over. I might then take it back… but I just do it again until I finally accept Holy Spirit’s healing. I feel so thankful for these little steps toward freedom.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 16 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 16 Insights

“I have no neutral thoughts.”

There is a tendency to believe that if something is meaningless, it has no effect. This lesson is making it clear that this is not true. Being meaningless does not mean being ineffectual. To the extent that the thoughts I hold in my mind are meaningless, I am unaware of what has meaning. Meaningless thoughts are a barrier to recognition of meaning. Likewise, separation is a barrier to Love.

Since all real meaning is Love or Oneness, separation from Love is separation from meaning, and therefore meaningless. Though separation is meaningless, it is clearly not ineffectual. The whole world we see is the effect of belief in separation. The pain and loss, devastation and death we see in this world is the effect of believing in separation, even though separation is not real and is therefore meaningless.

This lesson is making an important point about the power of our thoughts. Our thoughts reflect our beliefs. If we believe in the meaningless, our thoughts will show us a meaningless world. This meaningless world stands as a barrier to the recognition of reality, of Love. This is why it is important that we learn to recognize the difference between what is meaningful and what is meaningless, what is real and what is illusion, what is true and what is false.

We cannot do this alone. We need help from outside of the meaningless thought system of illusion with which we have identified. That Help is in our minds — our inner Guide and Teacher, the Holy Spirit. A Course in Miracles could be called an expression of the Holy Spirit. It is a tool available to us that we can use to learn to distinguish between the real and the unreal, the meaningful and the meaningless. In this lesson it acknowledges that we do not recognize the difference as yet. We need continued instruction.

The Course does not expect us to learn it in a flash. It is important that we not place this expectation on ourselves. That is one more ego play to foster guilt and discouragement and thus keep its foothold in our mind. Persistent practice will bring great rewards of peace and lasting happiness. It will lead us back to the Love that we search for and that we are.

Jesus is being very helpful to me with today’s lesson. I really need to practice remembering that everything I see is the result of my thoughts, with no exceptions. I also need to hold the awareness that every thought I have is either true or false. My thoughts either extend the truth or multiply illusions. I have no neutral thoughts.

Because I am not always aware of my thoughts, it also helps me to pay attention to how I am feeling. If I am feeling uneasy, there is a thought that I am holding on to that is creating my experience of uneasiness. Every thought has an effect; every thought brings me peace or war, love or fear.

This is a very practical and useful lesson. If I am consistent in remembering that I have no neutral thoughts as I go through my day, it will help me see the destructive thoughts that are still residing in my mind. When I see them, I can then take them to my true Self and ask for a corrected perception. I feel that this practice is the key to my awakening.

This work of recognizing the thoughts that are going on in my mind is how I can let go of habitual thought patterns from the past. It is how I can implement positive change in my life experience. Everything I see is the result of my thoughts. Wow. This means I am not a victim of circumstances outside me. This means I want to pay close attention to what I am thinking. Every thought I hold is creating my experience. I do not want to dismiss fear thoughts as unimportant. I see that it is very important that I recognize that they are there in my mind. This is the first step towards recognizing that they are unreal. Once I see that they are there, I can turn them over to my inner Teacher, because I do not want to continue multiplying illusions. I do not want to contribute to the experience of more war or more fear. I want to extend peace and the Love of God. I want to experience the peace and Love of God. Today’s practice helps this occur.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 15 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 15 Insights

“My thoughts are images that I have made.”

God is formless Love. The extension of God is formless Love. Because we all are God’s extensions, we are formless Love. This Love is all encompassing. There is nothing outside of Love. Image making, on the other hand, is the ego’s effort to make finite forms out of the infinite. In reality this is impossible. In dreams, this is the norm.

It is very helpful for me to recognize that the images I see with my physical eyes are my thoughts. This is image making. It is very helpful for me to let it sink in that these images are not real. It helps me step back and look at these images differently. It helps me return to the Holy Spirit to see what anything means. It helps me remember that these images of separation are really an attempt to replace God’s universal oneness.

This lesson reminds me that I need to step back often, because the world does appear so real and I often get caught up in the image making story. Getting caught up in the image making story does not bring me peace. It does not bring me happiness. Receiving Holy Spirit’s perceptions about what I am seeing does bring me peace. It brings me a step closer toward removing the blocks to Love’s presence. I am willing to practice seeing that the images I see are the images I am making up. I am willing to go through this undoing process. It may take years. It doesn’t matter.

No matter what illusions I am believing in in any moment, only Love is real. Truth is true and nothing else is true. My trying to make something else true doesn’t change Reality one iota. Thank goodness. Thank goodness we are all safe in God forever, no matter what images I may try to make real. I am seeing that this lesson is such a blessing. It is giving me a step-by-step process that helps me see what is really going on. It is giving me a way to return to my one Self in God.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 14 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 14 Insights

“God did not create a meaningless world.”

With this lesson Jesus is bringing us an important step in our process of returning to Love. Love, our Source, is changeless. Love is eternal. Love is formless. Love is everywhere. Love is all. Therefore, what is not Love is an illusion. It is not real. Image making, or projecting thoughts that are unreal, different from Love, can never really replace Love even though it appears to do so for a while.

Part of the waking up process is to clearly recognize that making up images of a world of separation is not real. Separation is not of Love. Separation is the opposite of Love. Separation is not a sin because in truth it never happened. It could never be real. Separate bodies could never be real. Private minds could never be real. This world that appears so real to us is not real. Thank goodness we could never make separation real. Thank goodness we are still Love. Thank goodness we are still as God created us and dreams of separation mean nothing.

I need to apply this lesson constantly in my life. I need to remember that only Love is real. I need to be willing to let my mind be healed today. It is worth the diligence. It is worth the practice. Heaven is my true inheritance. This substitute is not my home. Returning to my true Home requires that I forgive, or let go of what is not true and could never be real.

The idea and exercise for today can bring up a variety of emotions. For some it might be a relief to know that God is not the cause of the death, destruction and injustices we perceive in the world, because then we do not need to fear God. For others it may be a shock and raise more questions. If God did not create this world, who did? Who is responsible for all the disasters and pain and suffering in this world? The hidden meaning behind “responsible” is blame. The ego is always looking for something or someone to blame, to project guilt onto. The shock comes because this idea challenges what we have been taught to believe.

Others may experience dismay because this idea undermines the sense of identity that comes from believing we understand or at least partially understand what the world means and how it came to be. It can lead to questions like, If God did not create this world, why am I here? Am I meaningless? These questions also stem from the ego, trying to establish an identity in images that are not real.

Some of us may experience all of these emotions and more when we face the idea that God did not create a meaningless world and so it is not real. Yet this idea helps us open our minds to new meaning, to the recognition of God as Love and nothing else. It also prepares the way for us to recognize ourselves as Love and nothing else, for we were created by Love. At this point it is not necessary that we recognize the full import of this statement. That will dawn upon us as our minds are open to the loving instruction of our inner Teacher. At this time we need only practice the exercise, trusting that it will do its part in opening our minds to the recognition of our Self as God created It.

Holy Spirit, wash me clean of sin and doubt. Allow Thy Love to fill my mind and heart. I allow the Love of my Beingness to extend to the meaningless world I made in separation.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 13 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 13 Insights

“A meaningless world engenders fear.”

In this world it seems very weak to say, “I don’t know what anything means.” We have spent our whole lives learning what everything means. And if we don’t know, we are considered ignorant. In this lesson, we are learning to do the opposite. We are learning that it is important to step back and not give meaning to everything we see. We are learning that this stepping back and not giving meaning is the most valuable thing we can do now. We are learning that it is our pathway to freedom.

We are learning that it is important to undo all our past learning by merely stepping back from it and leaving an empty space. This is an important part of dis-identifying from the ego, or dis-identifying from the belief that we have separated from God. Being in competition with God is indeed frightening. We can give up the battle. Seeing the meaninglessness of the world is a very important step. It requires consistent stepping back from all we learned in the past. It is worth the effort. The more we do it the easier it gets.

Detachment from all the meanings I have given the world is my pathway to freedom and happiness. On the empty slate made clean with willingness to step back, the reality of Love has a chance to enter. With the reality of Love comes peace and joy. These blessings that return with stepping back from giving meaning to everything make it worth the effort. This undoing process is worth the effort.

It doesn’t seem like I am in competition with God. I’m not likely to say to anyone, “I’ve got this competition thing going with God.” But there are some telltale signs that this is true. I am aware that in some areas of my life I’m quite comfortable with saying, “I am willing to follow God’s Will.” But there are other areas where I have a definite agenda. I am willing to follow God’s Will, provided it looks like I want it to look. You might call it a halfhearted willingness. In still other areas, I’m not interested in even finding out what God’s Will is because I believe that His Will might mean that I have to give up something that is important to me.

Here it is most clear that I am in competition with God. The belief is that if I accept God’s Will, I will lose. God wins, I lose. I win, God doesn’t get His way. That’s competition. I see now that any time I believe God’s Will would require that I lose, I must be in competition with God. When I “win,” I get to keep my roller coaster emotions of terror, moments of ecstatic happiness, sadness, satisfaction, frustration, guilt and occasional periods of comfort that I am always afraid will not last. Some prize.

The Course tells me that God’s Will for me is perfect happiness. But because I have identified with the ego thought system, I have a faulty image of what happiness is. And I believe that if I lose that image, all is lost. That’s terrifying. This is why this lesson says to note carefully any signs of overt or covert fear which the idea that I am in competition with God may arouse and not to dwell on it except during the practice periods. At this point it appears that if I accept this statement as true, it would completely obliterate me. There would be nothing left. It is difficult at this point to see that what it would really do is open the door to indescribable happiness and a peace that cannot be disturbed.

Clearly the Course recognizes where we are in our thinking and does not ask us to make a giant leap over what we perceive as an insurmountable chasm. It leads us gently, step-by-step, to retrain our minds to see that we really do want the Will of God because It will bring us perfect happiness. The Course is patient with us, so it seems like a good idea to follow its example and be patient with ourselves. Let it be sufficient today to recognize that a meaningless world engenders fear and trust that we are being led by Love to return to Love.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 12 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 12 Insights

“I am upset because I see a meaningless world.”

In this lesson I am being asked to step back and refrain from giving any meaning to the world. I am told that the world has no meaning because it is meaningless. On this blank slate the Holy Spirit can bring me real meaning. All true meaning comes from God. Thinking there is an outside world, a world outside of God, is a false idea. It is a meaningless idea. Thinking that something could be outside of everything is meaningless and could never be.

Recognizing that the world is meaningless is a very important step in my healing process. All the meanings I have given the world have been an effort to make the error real. I am now realizing that the error, or the false idea of separation, could never be real and is meaningless. God is one. God is all. There could never be anything outside of God. I want to heal my mind. I want to let go of false ideas. And part of that process is really getting it that the idea of a world outside me is meaningless.

There is no meaning to separation, no matter how hard I try to make it real by putting a meaning on it. The world is not bad or good; it is meaningless. My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world. As I give it meaning, it becomes real to me. As I remove the meaning, I can see that it is meaningless. On this blank slate, the Holy Spirit can show me all true meaning. The Holy Spirit can show me what is real.

This is a very important part of my awakening process. I want to practice throughout the day refraining from giving my meaning to the world. I want to practice stepping back and letting the Holy Spirit show me all true meaning. This is a very simple process, but requires great focus on my part to step back again and again and again. I have had such a habit of doing the opposite — giving my meaning to the world — that it now takes continued practice doing the opposite until the new habit becomes automatic. It isn’t automatic yet, so I still need continued practice. I am determined to practice stepping back today. I do not know what anything means. The Holy Spirit does. I am willing to listen.

I can only experience fear or worry because I believe harm or loss is possible. Harm or loss is possible only if separation is real. But separation cannot be real because God is one and all that is. Love is all that is. Being impossible, the idea of separation is meaningless. So I am upset because I see a meaningless world, although I do not recognize it as meaningless. I have given it a meaning that is not true, although I believe it is true.

It is my belief in the reality of illusion that makes illusion threatening. The moment I recognize it as illusion, I see its meaninglessness and it is no longer threatening. Once again it comes back to belief. Belief in false ideas makes the idea appear true because the belief in it is the wish for it to be true.

These lessons are gently, step-by-step, helping us to step back and detach from our identification with our beliefs. Gradually we will be able to recognize the false beliefs that underlie the fearful, sad, exciting, thrilling, upsetting, traumatic and dramatic world. As we withdraw our investment in those beliefs, we will withdraw the meaning we have written upon the world, making way for God’s Word of joy and peace to be written on it in its place. Unspeakable happiness will replace the roller coaster emotions that come from our belief that separation is real. It is worth the practice. It leads to what our heart seeks. It leads Home.

I’ve done these lessons more than once and I am clearer on what is being asked of me. I understand my part of it better. I understand that I don’t have to make a new world, or even figure out what the world should look like. I just have to clear my mind of what I think it should be and let reality shine through. That is hard enough. Thank goodness it is all I have to do.

I still do not do my part with any consistency. I have moments of clarity, and then I allow the ego to creep back in and I start to see a scary, sad, chaotic world again. I am reminding myself that my success is certain however that seems contrary to my present state.

What comes to my mind when I think that I am upset because what I see is meaningless is that I have assigned labels to everything and deep within me, those labels, which were assigned by my ego, are ultimately not real or true. And they change depending on what my ego wants. This is a very profound revelation for me, because now I see how truly upsetting this meaningless world is. If I see something and my ego declares it good one day and a month later declares it bad based on perhaps other people’s opinions, then I am always shifting and my perspective is always changing and I never feel firmly rooted in anything. This is ultimately the most disconcerting thing any being can experience. To not feel rooted is frightening. To not feel rooted is to feel disconnected and separate. There is the Key! Separateness.

But I am not separate from God, my Creator. I am right here inside Him. I may have hidden that from myself in this experience, this dream… but the fact that I am now searching, actively searching for God, implies that I am no longer benefiting from my belief that I am separate from God. Now it is time to let the truth shine. I have never been separate from God. I have always been with God. Separateness is the illusion, the dream. And this meaningless world supports that illusion, which is why I get upset. I therefore must see all of this as not real to return to the truth that I am still with God and never left God.

This dream is my playtime and yet I have gotten so wrapped up in it that I have forgotten it is playtime and I have taken it to be completely real. No, this is my recess. And when my recess is over I will see God. Yet just because I am at recess doesn’t mean that I cannot see God. God, in fact, has always been right here ready and waiting to be seen, but in my excitement of recess I have completely forgotten about God. That is really the bigger problem. And then when recess is losing its fun, I get upset and depressed and fearful.

However, anytime I choose, all I need to do is meditate and think of God and I will realize that this is playtime and God is still here, and I am still with God, part of God, but I am in the playground right now and that is why I keep forgetting I am with God. But all is well. And when I realize that, I can return to my playtime lighter and brighter and ready to radiate love and joy.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 11 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 11 Insights

“My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.”

When I am experiencing physical discomfort, a headache, a cold or any bodily discomfort, it seems difficult to believe that my meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world. It seems easy to fall into old patterns of assigning meaning to what the pain or discomfort might mean. Sometimes I frighten myself with the meanings I make up, which seems to make it even more difficult to believe that it is my meaningless thoughts that are the cause of this story.

The same holds true if I have taken offense to what somebody says or does. The anger or resentment or grievance seems justified and certainly not meaningless, let alone the affect of my meaningless thoughts. Yet this lesson is telling me that this idea is the key to the freedom and peace that I seek.

As much as I want this peace, it is surprising how much resistance there seems to be to applying this idea in certain aspects of my life. I want to make exceptions. Yet the lessons are saying that it is the lack of exceptions that makes these ideas so powerful as a healing aid. At this point it is helpful to acknowledge the resistance and apply the idea anyway, even if I realize that part of me doesn’t want to. As it says in the introduction to the Workbook, active resistance doesn’t matter.

What is important is doing the exercises. They are designed to bring about the healing I really want. They will help me move past the resistance. Like the biblical story of the man who asked Jesus for healing, saying, “I believe. Help my unbelief,” these exercises will help me move past the unbelief.

I have been through the Workbook many times. I can see progress. I make less exceptions. For that I am grateful because with less exceptions comes greater peace. It is worth the practice.

I need to be reminded that it is my thoughts that are the cause of the meaningless world I see. Many times it seems like the opposite is true. I really want to recognize the cause of my ‘life’ experience. I do want to return to the truth and right now I see that this is very helpful. It is my meaningless thoughts that are showing me a meaningless world. If I want to change anything out there in the world, I need first to look at my thoughts, because that is the real cause of what I am seeing.

I want to practice catching or seeing my meaningless thoughts for what they are. I want to practice taking these meaningless thoughts to the Holy Spirit for a transformed perspective. I want to see what is going on in my mind. Unless I really see what is happening in my mind and recognize that this is the cause of what I see in the outside world, I will stay right where I am. I am determined to heal my mind.

Today’s lesson is a very useful tool for me to help me reverse my false ideas about what is real. Stepping back and pausing to remember that my meaningless thoughts are the cause of the meaningless world I see is very helpful to me. Because I believe the opposite so often, I need this thought reversal exercise. When I think I know what is going on, this brings a little humility to my mind. This helps me to refrain from being a know-it-all. This helps me remember to go to the One Who knows, waiting there in my mind to help refresh my memory to help me heal or let go of those false ideas which seem so real sometimes.

Right now I feel very grateful that I have the opportunity to practice these lessons day by day. I recognize that I really do need this practice. Straighten my mind, my Father. It is in need of healing. I am thankful that these lessons are here from me to practice.

The same holds true if I have taken offense to what somebody says or does. The anger or resentment or grievance seems justified…

I was so glad to read those lines this morning. This is exactly what I am dealing with right now. Last night someone significant in my life unfairly attacked me and it came right out of the blue which seems to make it harder to deal with. I hate the way it makes me feel when I am resentful and hurt.

I wasted some time trying to forgive with my ego. I tried ego reasoning. I tried to pretend it didn’t happen. I tried to decide I didn’t care.

This morning I woke up thinking about it and it wasn’t any better. I remembered that my thoughts do not mean anything; that they are based on beliefs. I meditated and in the meditative state, I gave all of these feelings and the thoughts behind them to HS and asked for a new way to see it. I felt better, but every once in awhile I started thinking about talking to him about what he said. No matter how I couched the conversation in loving words, the fact is I want him to take it back. I am believing that this is his problem and that he did something to me.

So you see why I am so pleased with today’s lesson. I truly want to change my mind. I thank Holy Spirit every time I become aware of a feeling of resentment, anger, or fear because He is just letting me know that I need to fully release this and haven’t done so yet.

As I think of my thoughts as meaningless and as showing me a meaningless world, I realize that what I used to base every perception I have on, is an ego that wants to keep me focused in the ‘physical reality’ or dream state, where I am trapped into a roller coaster of emotions and events that leave me exhausted, desperate, confused, and frustrated. This is not a life. This is an absurd existence.

I have often thought that there is nothing ‘real’ here because the nature of this existence seems so ungodly. And deep within me, I know that this place where I have put so much energy and emphasis is not real. It means nothing. This ego has nothing to offer me. These thoughts have nothing to offer me. What I see around me has offered me nothing in my 34 years on this planet other than a roller coaster of emotions that always brings me back to very low states. There is nothing here that I want, so I turn all of this over to God and ask that he show me light and truth and cleanse me of these unreal thoughts and replace them with truth. That is the only way out.

Everything that I have ever wanted: wealth, success, freedom from the 9-5 trap, a wonderful marriage, children… I turn them over to God and put them in his hands because as I go within I find ONE TRUTH which has remained through all my searches and both, dark and bright moments… God has always helped me. God has always given me wonderful gifts. God has brought me light when I was in my darkest hours.

God has even brought me to ACIM twice now. The first time I did not heed the call. I only bought the book and read a little then felt overwhelmed and tossed it aside. The second time, this past month, I was ready, after having gone through very long and dark hours and having God answer me many times. Too many to really count.

My one truth seems to be, ‘thy will not my will,’ for when I turn my need to control everything over to God, and when I just let go and believe that I will be cared for and I will be cared for very well if I just let God do it for me, through me, then I am fine. Only then am I fine. That is the irony of it. Try to do it yourself and it’s a tug of war where all of it gets worse, let go and say ‘here you go. You handle it,’ and all of it gets better almost instantly.

One would think that it would be the other way around, however, we seem to be in a land of opposites… in this dreaming state. What appears to be real is definitely not. What appears to make sense is senseless. What appears to be truth is a lie. Flip all of this around and I see that what appears to be the lie is truth. What appears to be senseless or beyond the senses is the answer. What appears to be unreal holds the key. In dreams, nothing makes sense. And the way out of a dream for me is just asking to wake up. God is the key indeed.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 10 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 10 Insights

“My thoughts do not mean anything.”

It is our beliefs that imprison us. It is our beliefs that stand between us and the knowledge of our oneness and the Love of God. It is our beliefs that manifest as the images that make our world. The good news is that we can change our beliefs because we made them. The idea, “My thoughts do not mean anything” helps us to step back from our thoughts, to dis-identify from them so that we can become open to recognizing that they are simply the effects of our beliefs. Gradually we become aware that there is something behind the thoughts of which we are aware. There is a cause and the cause is our beliefs.

The thoughts will continue to occur as long as we maintain the beliefs. We may hide our beliefs from ourselves and create all kinds of smokescreens to deceive ourselves into thinking that we have no responsibility for what we are perceiving. But that does not change the fact that what we perceive is the effect of our beliefs. We see it because we believe it. As we can step back from the thoughts and observe the beliefs, we are then free to change the beliefs. As long as we hide them, we cannot change them.

Lasting healing comes with changing our belief that we could be anything but one with the Love in which we were created. The first step is to loosen our identification with our thoughts because as long as we believe that our thoughts are our identity, we will resist changing them. We interpret changing our ideas as equivalent to death, because it means the loss of what we believe to be our identity. It is not surprising that there is great resistance to change. Today’s idea offers a gentle tool to loosening this identification. We do not have to believe it, we just have to practice it. As we practice these lessons, it will do it’s healing work of its own.

It may seem personally insulting to tell ourselves all through the day, “My thoughts do not mean anything,” but in fact it is an important step in the process of freeing our minds from all false ideas. The Course tells us that truth is true and nothing else is true. The Course tells us oneness is real and separation does not exist. The Course tells us that all our experiences of conflict come from our belief in separation. The Course tells us that we must be willing to let go of these false ideas in order to know our true Identity as a thought of Love in the Mind of Love.

So this lesson is very important in the healing process of undoing all our false ideas. In truth it is not insulting. Telling myself all through the day, “My thoughts do not meaning anything,” helps me loosen my hold on false ideas of separation that never were true. It frees me from the prison house that I put myself in when I bought into these thoughts.

I am willing to practice today remembering that my thoughts do not mean anything. This is my path to freedom. This is my path to remembering that I am in Heaven and I never left. Dreams of separation really mean nothing, no matter what I think is true. Truth is true and nothing else is true. Oneness and Love are true and nothing else is true. All thoughts about a world of separation are meaningless. They are not true.

The thought for today is so valuable when we think about issues of unworthiness. All of those thoughts that we’ve collected over our lifetime mean nothing and all of those thoughts that tell us that we are unworthy — we don’t look good enough, we didn’t say the right thing, we didn’t do the right thing, we didn’t do it good enough, we shouldn’t have behaved that way. Recognizing these thoughts mean nothing leaves us with a clean slate for Spirit to show us the truth of what we are. Recognizing that my thoughts do not mean anything and that they are not my real thoughts gives me great hope and peace as I realize this practice will release me from all that I now believe.

What wonder, joy and beauty await me on the other side of “My thoughts do not mean anything.” As I release my attachment to and identification with my thoughts and as I stop bringing the past to the present, I open a clearing for new thought. I open a clearing for Christ’s Vision to be written upon my blank mind. As I stop giving meaning to everything I see, I allow Christ’s Vision to and Spirit’s meaning to flood my life with true creation, the extension of Love. To behold the beauty of forgiveness through Christ’s Vision is what awaits me as I practice all my thoughts mean nothing. I await this freedom joyfully and I accept the new meaning Christ’s Vision will lay upon my world of forgiveness.

There is only one thought today that has any meaning for me and that is to be as God created me — nothing more, nothing less — just that, to realize that existence as best I can here with the help of Holy Spirit. I am willing to let all other thoughts go. I don’t know what this means, but I trust I can realize my True Self, my true existence, for this is really what I am.

But True Self has been hidden under layers of ego thought which do not mean anything. They merely disguise the Real Me that I have been afraid to see, to know. There is still a part of me uncertain and nervous about what it would really mean to be the Real Me. I realize this thought does not mean anything — it is merely fear projecting itself. Of course, I am the Real Me, part of the One Self, for how can I be anything else but what God created. Yet, ego mind keeps It pushed away as if It were unreal.

Today, Holy Spirit, help me see my meaningless thoughts and let them go. Cleanse my existence of all that does not serve Love. Help me see my True Self so I may begin to live more fully the happy dream of awakening now. Help me see the layers I think I have heaped over my True Self and I now believe are true. Help me see the untruth of my ego truth that I may truly serve Love as a conscious choice.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 9 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 9 Insights

“I see nothing as it is now.”

When I go to a movie and sit down and watch the story unfold, someone next to me may say to me, “The events you are seeing on the screen are not really happening now. The movie was made several years ago and you are just viewing it now.” While in the middle of watching the movie, it appears as if the story is not over. It appears as if the scene being enacted in that moment is really happening right now.

I am learning through the Course that my life experiences are like watching a movie that was over long ago. The Course speaks of the “tiny tick of time” in which the Son of God forgot to laugh at such foolish ideas. When I watch a movie, I often get very wrapped up in the story, and laugh or cry at the events that seem to be happening at that moment.

I am learning to look at my life experiences in the same way. The Course is telling me that what I am seeing is not there now. It is over. That tiny tick of time is over. We all are in Heaven now. The Son of God is one. The millions of bodies that seem to dance on the stage of separation are seen clearly now for the nothingness that it always was.

Reminding myself often, “I see nothing as it is now,” will help to jog my mind out of taking this movie of separation so seriously. I need this help, because it does appear that this moment in the dream is happening now, just like when I watch the movies. As I practice again and again, stepping back and taking what appears to be happening now to the Holy Spirit, I am shown what will help me in the moment. I came from Love, I am Love now and Love is all that could ever be real.

A world of separation, a world of differences and bodies, a world of time a space, is a movie that is over. It was always just a movie of separation that could never be real. I can relax now. I can let my mind be healed of all my delusions of separation, minute by minute, day by day. I can forget and make the world real again and again, but it means nothing. No one has lost their innocence. Separation from God, from Love, could never be. I am grateful that this is so.

As I was doing today’s exercise, I was struck by the fact that even to do the exercise, I had to rely on my past learning. In order to name the object that I do not see as it is now, I look to my past learning to give it a label. It shows me how the past permeates all my thinking through the day.

In the process of waking up, I do not need to try to totally erase my past learning. I do need to learn that all my thoughts from the past are not here, and are therefore not real. It is only my belief that the thoughts from the past are true that engenders fear, loss, guilt and all the other myriad emotions of the ego. As long as I still seem to be seeing through the body’s eyes, there will still be memories of the past, my past learning coming up to give meaning to what I think I am seeing.

What is important is that I give these meanings in the moment to the Holy Spirit and ask for His reinterpretation. It is this moment by moment practice that will free me from my investment of reality in what is not here. It is this process that provides the means to escape from the past I have held on to in my mind.

My job is to develop the moment by moment practice of recognizing thoughts from the past, turning them over to the Holy Spirit and receiving the blessing of His perception. From this comes peace and joy eternal. It will bring me to the gate of Heaven, where I will have wholly forgiven myself and all the world.

It is important that I have great compassion for myself and my brothers as I begin to recognize the unreality of the dream, and allow Holy Spirit to gently loosen the chains that shackle my mind. There will be blocks of resistance. This is part of the process. As I recognize resistance it is important to be patient and gentle and loving with myself and others as I practice my lessons and experience a world as a loosely veiled dream.

It is important that I be present with what is in my mind, even the moments of resistance, the moments of grace, the miracles that unfold in giving every moment to Spirit. I heal as I am present with each moment and know that I am loved beyond measure and safe at Home in Heaven now.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 8 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 8 Insights

“My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.”

This undoing process takes a mind open to thought reversal. It takes a mind willing to recognize that it sees only its thoughts projected outward and that all its thinking within the world of separation is just a reflection of a blank mind.

This takes a willingness to step back and look at our thoughts again and again and again and see that they are thoughts that are just coming from the past, from the tiny mad idea to see separation instead of be awake to the truth of Love’s oneness. This undoing process of letting go of the past is necessary before we can become aware of our real thoughts.

The Holy Spirit is always present to help us undo all our false thinking. This practice of looking at our thoughts with Holy Spirit more and more consistently helps us join with our constant Companion and see everything differently. As we do this again and again and again, we will not see as the world sees. We will see past bodies and become aware of Love’s oneness, which is always there. We will see that only Love is real. We will remember all calls for Love need only one thing, and that is our extension of Love.

As we practice this undoing process again and again, we will not take the world of separate bodies so seriously. We will see that our story and everyone’s story is just reflecting the thoughts that come from our separated, blank minds. We will gradually come to remember our true Identity — formless Love that is everywhere in the eternal present. We will remember we have only one purpose — to return to the truth of everyone’s oneness in the mind of God. Seeing that our thoughts are only reflecting the past is an important step in undoing our hold on false ideas.

These beginning lessons are, step by step, laying the foundation for forgiveness. Today’s idea introduces the idea that the thoughts that I have been aware of merely represent a blank mind. If I accept this as true, the next logical step is to remember that all the things I think happened did not occur. They were merely a blank mind deceiving itself through empty images. If I accept this as true, that nothing has really happened, then the the next logical conclusion is that there is nothing to forgive. The Course says true forgiveness simply recognizes there is nothing to forgive.

These early lessons introduce ideas that turn the ego thought system upside down. The exercises seem almost simplistic. Thankfully we are not asked to wholly accept the truth of these statements. We are asked only to do the exercise as prescribed. The truth of these statements will dawn upon our minds naturally as we follow the exercises and our willingness expands. Though the exercises may seem simplistic at this time, they are laying the foundation for complete release from all fear, for complete release from hell. This is the gift these lessons offer us. They are indeed worth the practice.

As I come to trust in my Christ-self, I allow It to be more present in my life. I make no demands on what should be present. I merely allow the Christ-self to be present to Its own way of being grace. I place no expectations on how this must be for me. My lesson in this comes in the now of time. When I look about me I see only what past thoughts have formed. I do not see the now in which my Christ-self lives. When I focus on the now only and let my preoccupation with thoughts of the past slide away, I can feel peace and joy.

As I focus more and more on the now, I can surrender to my Christ-self thoughts. They become my occupation. I live by the grace of these thoughts. When I take the time in quiet reflection to remember Who I am, and that there is no need to struggle to achieve this, I can continue my life with greater confidence. I can know that, knowing God will be mine in the end because it is already mine. And the only time I can know this is now, for I cannot see this in my past projected ego thoughts.

As I consciously choose willingness to let my mind be healed, to let my conscious union with God be made known to me with the help of Holy Spirit, I can feel secure that this will happen. As it can only happen in the now, every moment I give my willingness to Holy Spirit, living by the grace of God awareness can be present for me. Today I choose to let go of my preoccupation with past thoughts and let the now thoughts of my Christ-self be present, sure that this can happen with Holy Spirit leading the way.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 7 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 7 Insights

“I see only the past.”

The truth is Love is ever present. By seeing the present through the filter of the past, we cannot see the Love that is always there. All our judgments are based upon the past. When we let the past go, we let judgment go. We let illusions go.

The recognition that our habit has been to see only the past is fundamental to forgiveness. Unforgiveness, holding a grievance, is simply holding the past against the present. When we have let go of the past entirely, there will be no grievances. We will have opened the door to the experience of Heaven. We stand at the gate that is open. Without the past there are no barriers and we can move with joy into the safe and loving arms of God. This is the gift that comes with recognizing that on our own we see only the past. This lesson, in just five words, offers us the gift of Heaven. It is worth practicing the exercise and opening our hearts and minds to its teaching. In the Text Jesus tells us, “Look gently on your brother, and behold the world in which perception of your hate has been transformed into a world of love.” (T-26.V.14:5)

In the eternal now, we are in Heaven. In the eternal now, we are still as God created us — whole, perfect and complete. In the eternal now, there is no time. There is no distance. As we learn to let go of our belief in time, we are freed from the chains of the ego. We are freed from believing in a past or a future. We learn to recognize that there is no past or future, only the eternal present.

As I practice this lesson today, it is helpful for me to look at the past as simply a false idea to be undone, a mistaken thought that means nothing. As I go through my day, it is helpful for me to practice recognizing how I am bringing the past to the present. It is helpful for me to practice taking the false ideas that I now see to the Holy Spirit to be undone for me. It is helpful to practice recognizing when I am bringing the past into the future. It is helpful to practice seeing how this hides my awareness of the eternal present.

As I continue to practice, I will remember that only God is. Love is, in the eternal present. Past and future are nowhere and nothing in truth. Remembering this takes constant vigilance in handing over my thoughts to the Holy Spirit. I cannot undo this alone. I have much help.

A helpful reference for this lesson from the Text is found in Chapter 26, Section V, paragraphs 13-14 on page 552. In this section Jesus reminds us that every day of our life is just a repetition of the instant we chose to hallucinate separation rather than be awake to the truth of our oneness with God. He says, “And all of time is but the mad belief that what is over is still here and now.” (13:4) As we realize that the past is really over and our grievance against Love’s oneness cannot be repeated over and over in reality, we see the importance of practicing this lesson with diligence.

I cannot be afraid to look at my past. Some of it is buried in my subconscious, out of sight. My life only looks calm on the surface. The rooms of my life are fairly orderly, but open the closets and they are a jumble of thoughts I think I keep hidden from sight because they are messy. I don’t like the messy simply because it is, well — messy. I like the orderly, beautiful, peaceful. But the messy sometimes comes out of the closet into my seemingly orderly room. I remind myself that it tumbles out of the closet for me to look at so I can see its nothingness — its meaninglessness, and let myself be healed of it. It does not tumble out for me to feel shame or guilt at living a less than perfect life, one full of mistakes.

Life is much like cleaning out closets. One never knows what one will find at the back, maybe something stashed there for eons of time. We have accumulated so many mistaken perceptions we think are real, necessary, and even valuable. But everything in the closet is of the past. I don’t need it anymore. With the help of Holy Spirit, I can open the doors wide, letting in plenty of light, and stand steadfast in the knowledge that none of it can hurt me or affect me, the real me, in any way.

This need not be a particularly difficult task if I am mindful that Holy Spirit will do all the work if I am willing. Today I am willing to look at old thoughts and ideas with Holy Spirit and let go of all that does not serve Love and Peace, all the while learning more about remembering who I really am. Today I am willing to let my all of my mind, what I think I see and what my mind wants to save in a dark place, be healed by Holy Spirit. Today I am willing to be untroubled by all that I see from the past.

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Listen to Lesson 6 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 6 Insights

“I am upset because I see something that is not there.”

Have you ever been startled by something you saw out of the corner of your eye, a shadow or something moving, then when you turned to look at it and saw it was harmless, felt relief? This is an example of perceiving (seeing) something that is not there. When we recognize what we think we see is not really there at all, it brings great relief. This is a tiny taste of the great relief that will come as we learn what the Course is teaching us and apply it to everything in our lives. It will lead us to a serenity that cannot be disturbed and happiness far beyond anything we have experienced in this world.

These lessons are taking us gently step-by-step towards this goal. Gratefully, we are not required to be able to apply these ideas to everything at once. We need only practice the idea as prescribed, knowing that as the Introduction to the Workbook tells us, the exercises will take us to the desired goal. Affirming, “I am upset because I see something that is not there,” helps us step back to observe our perception and interpretation with a little less attachment. It cracks the door open to allow the possibility of receiving Holy Spirit’s healing perception. We are willing to open the door.

Many times I have awakened in the morning to realize the dream I was dreaming was not real. The circumstances I was dreaming were not really there. Many times I have felt relief that it was just a dream. This lesson is helping me recognize my ‘day dream’ is not really there. Telling myself often today, “I am upset because I see something that is not there,” will bring me back to reality. My Source did not create this, and so it is not there. Love does not create a world of separate bodies, a world of constant change, and so it is not there.

This is a reality check for me. This helps me reconnect with the truth of what is real. This helps me detach from the dream I am making up and perceiving is real. In truth there is no duality and right now, while I am believing in duality, I need help in waking up to what is real. Dreams of separation are frightening. They do induce anger, fear, worry and depression. Dreams of separation are not happy dreams. Dreaming I am separate from Love is not a happy dream. Dreaming I am separate from my brothers is not a happy dream.

I am grateful Jesus has provided these daily lessons to help me undo the fearful dreams I have made. I need constant reminders that what I am seeing with my body’s eyes is not really there. It is a huge relief, just like when I wake up in the morning realizing the fearful dream is not real.

I can relax now. I can take this lesson and practice it again and again today. I can practice being mindful to recognize upsetting thoughts as they come up and apply the lesson for today. As I practice it, I find relief. It brings me to deeper levels of peace and inner calm.

I am so grateful these lessons are here to help me let go of a make-believe world of separation. It is a great relief to know this world could never be real in God’s loving Mind. And because we all are part of God’s Mind, it could never be real in our true mind… only foolish dreams of trying to separate from Reality. What relief today’s lesson brings.

For me, this lesson is one that emphasizes staying in the moment. It’s happened to me so many times that I can worry or be upset about something that never happens anyway and I wasted a lot of energy when I could have been enjoying other things. I believe when the Course tells me basically that I can’t begin to know how much love and peace I’ve missed because I was angry or upset. I would guess this is why there are no small upsets because no matter what form my upsets take, I believe I’m missing out on something better. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for loving me when I am not able to love myself.

My message for today is as follows: I am One with you now and always. This is real. This is your reality. All the rest is fiction, made up to disguise your fear that this is not so. You see what is not there. You see what you think is form. You have made it look so “real” that it fools you. You have chosen this way to live. Understand that it is a choice on your part. You can choose differently. You can rest in the awareness that your ego mind makes up stories about form that keep you upset because you allow it to. You choose not to see this is so, but you can come to greater awareness with the help of Holy Spirit. That part of your mind connected to Oneness in God is the part that can choose more and more to see the reality that is. It is only a mistake to see something, a “reality” that is not there. Let your mind be healed of this mistake. If you choose to be willing for this healing to occur, Holy Spirit will facilitate this healing. Rest with this awhile today.

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