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 320 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 320 Insights

“My Father gives all power unto me.”

God is Love and within Love is all power. Love extends Itself, or all power, to all that is. All that is is Love. Love’s extension is called Creation. Love’s extension is called the Sonship. The Sonship is one; it is not many in reality. So all real power lies in Love’s oneness.

As we are willing to open to the truth, we open to all real power. As we are willing to open to the truth, we receive a correction for all our false ideas of what could never be in reality. Letting go of a false sense of power through individuality is our salvation.

Individuality is really weakness. When we think we are separate individuals, we feel vulnerable and experience guilt, fear and loss. Returning to the truth returns the awareness of all real power into our minds. As we open to the truth, we get a taste of God’s infinite peace, infinite joy and infinite strength. Love’s power lies in Love’s oneness. We are part of Love’s oneness. “My Father gives all power unto me.”

Each day my practice is to open to this power and not deny it. Each day my practice is to accept God’s Will for me. Each day my practice is to go one step further in accepting the truth.

“God’s Son is limitless.” This echo’s the same statement made in the “What is the Last Judgment” section that goes with this lesson. As God’s Son, we cannot be limited by a body. As we fully accept and recognize our Father as our Source and the Self He created as our Identity, the body ceases to have meaning and it simply fades away.

For most of us the body seems very real. We believe the body’s senses give us information about what is really happening. Yet the body is a false image and can only give false information. All that we have perceived through the body’s eyes is false. That is why forgiveness is not only possible but inevitable.

God placed in our minds the Source of true perception that is not limited by the body’s senses. It is this true perception that will set us free. It is this true perception that shows us that the Son of God is limitless. It teaches us that the Son of God is our Identity.

God’s Final Judgment is that all our false images, all our false ideas, could never be real and could have no effect on His Son, the extension of Himself. This is His grace. The terror we seem to have inflicted on ourselves could never happen. As we are willing to bring each false idea to the Holy Spirit and open our minds to His correction, we move toward the full acceptance of God’s Will for us. We open to the full acceptance of His limitless peace and limitless joy.

Let me today accept God’s gifts by bringing all my thoughts to the Holy Spirit for Him to show me what is real and what is unreal, what is true and what is false. Thus will I recognize that all God’s power is given unto me.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 319 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 319 Insights

“I came for the salvation of the world.”

“I came for the salvation of the world” means to me that I came to see everyone’s innocence, including my own. Guilt is the ticket into this dream. It comes from believing separation is real. And this world is an image projected from the belief in separation. The ego’s purpose for the world is to make separation seem real and keep it in place. Because it is impossible for separation to be real, this is a meaningless purpose.

The only meaningful purpose could be to let go of this illusion and let my mind be returned to full awareness of the Heaven that is my Home. It is God’s Will that I be in Heaven and so it is His Will that I return to full awareness of Where I am and that I never left in truth. My true Self shares this Will. Thus my only meaningful goal is to let go of the illusion of separation, which will show me the truth about everyone’s innate innocence.

It is arrogant to insist that this world of separation that my body’s eyes show me is real because it is the denial of God’s Will. Eternal Love, which is all of totality, cannot conceive of loss, lack and death. It is my purpose now to let these false images go and to let go of belief that separation is real. As I awaken to the full recognition that I remain Love as God created me, I become the salvation of the world. That is what I came for in truth. That is how I return Home.

Salvation’s message is that I am dreaming a dream and that its content is not true. As I am willing to let go of the arrogance of the ego, the truth is there for me to know and understand.

Behind the ego’s false lies is the eternal, changeless Love of God. It is my purpose to return to this awareness. It is my purpose to accept the truth. As I let go of false values, I see that only the truth is real. I want only the truth because it is my true Identity. I came for the salvation of the world. I came to let go of arrogance and receive and give the truth.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 318 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 318 Insights

“In me salvation’s means and end are one.”

What stands out to me in today’s lesson is, “salvation’s purpose is to find the sinlessness that God has placed in me.” (1:4) To find sinlessness, I must forgive. That is why forgiveness is the central teaching of this Course. Whether it looks like I am forgiving myself or something seemingly outside me, it all comes down to letting go of the idea that separation could be real. The means for salvation is within me. That means is forgiveness. The end goal is within me. That goal is my Self, which remains as God created It.

Fortunately forgiveness does not depend on the identity I believe is me. It only depends on the identity I think of as me being willing to turn over all my thoughts to the Holy Spirit. It is His strength and clear vision that makes forgiveness possible. But without my willingness, His strength and vision are not available to me, for I am denying them. I am never alone. It is the idea that I could be alone that needs to be undone.

Each time I practice turning over my thoughts of fear and guilt to the Holy Spirit, each time I release these thoughts and receive His kind and gentle replacement, my confidence in the power and freedom of forgiveness grows. I recognize forgiveness for the gift it is to me and all my brothers. The truth that forgiveness is a gift I give myself dawns upon my mind. When I release a long held grievance, I might say to myself, “I could have had forgiveness instead of all that pain.” But I also learn what a blessing the gift of forgiveness is and I can forgive myself for hanging on to the grievance and receive the gift again.

Today I practice forgiveness again in deep gratitude that I have the means to recognize the sinlessness that was never blemished. I feel the Holy Spirit’s warm embrace as He offers me His strength and His Love. With Him complete release is possible. I have the means within me right now, this instant.

Holy Spirit, I give You all my thoughts today. I open my mind to Your vision, for I would walk with You today and see the world forgiven.

God’s Son is one. Love is one. If I am not remembering that, then I am holding on to false ideas. And holding on to false ideas instead of the truth only brings the experience of loss and lack. Forgiveness means letting go of false ideas. Forgiveness and the Atonement are one. I am learning to remember that I have a Source of truth within my mind and that Source of truth will correct all the false ideas I have accepted as true. My part is being willing to open to and accept the correction.

I am coming to realize more and more that my experience of this world is totally coming from my mind. It is an experience of individual personalities and separate things. This separation is held together by a belief in time and space, belief in a past and future and a belief that there is distance between unique things. So my experience of this world is coming from ideas, ideas that are false because now I know that separation could never be real. Salvation comes as I let go of these false stories, these false images that come from false ideas.

Thank goodness the Holy Spirit is always with me. The Holy Spirit will correct all my false ideas as I hand them over for correction. This is the process of forgiveness. Through forgiveness, my belief in the world is undone. My belief in separation is undone. This is a gradual process which I work on every day. “Let me today, my Father, take the role You offer me in Your request that I accept Atonement for myself.” (2:1)

I welcome the reminder that I can forgive through Holy Spirit and that forgiveness is what I want. I also welcome the reminder that all I need offer is my willingness.

I was starting to feel discouraged because I am having trouble releasing a grievance. As I read the above perspective, my heart lightened and I saw that it is the past I am clinging to and that is what is keeping me from forgiving. I don’t want the past to determine my future. I am willing to forgive the past and so release myself now. Boy, that feels good!

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 317 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 317 Insights

“I follow in the way appointed me.”

Do I want lasting happiness that does not come and go? Do I really want peace of mind? Then I will be willing to let go of my false ideas. I will remember that on my own I do not know what anything means. I will be willing to step back and open to the Source within That knows the difference between what is real and what is not real.

I have been blinded by choosing illusions of separation. I need the help of the Holy Spirit to return my mind to peace. I need to be quiet and listen. What I receive from my constant Companion will be perfect. It will come in a form that bridges me from where I think I am to an awakening to my true Identity. Then I will realize that I never left Heaven. Dreaming dreams of separation on a distant shore does not make reality. Everyone in this dream world of separation is still as God created them. They are still one in perfect Love. And this can never change.

The belief in separation and the guilt that came with it made images that put terror in the heart of the dreamer. Now is the time to open to the reality that these dreams never happened, even though they appear very real. Now as we look through the body’s eyes, we recognize that what we are seeing comes from the thought of separation projected outward and separation could never be true.

Gradually we stop being fooled by these false images of separation. With Holy Spirit’s help we gradually learn to see with the inner vision of Christ instead of believing what the body’s eyes show us. With Christ’s vision, we see beyond the body. We see the formless Spirit of Love That has never changed behind the illusions of separate bodies. Gradually we learn to focus on the truth instead of the ego’s lies of separation.

Stepping back and listening to Holy Spirit’s correction of my perception is how I find the way that is appointed me. It is how I am able to remember the truth. It is how I will be led to an awareness of the one Christ Mind. I would follow. I would not lead. I trust that the Holy Spirit knows the way for me and will guide me Home as I let Him.

When the Course says, “This is a required Course,” it is saying that we all must forgive the illusion of separation, let it go. That is the way appointed us if we would return to full awareness of the Heaven we never left in truth.

Forgiveness is our vocation. As we learn to dedicate every moment to taking every thought to the Holy Spirit for His clarification, we will join with His thought system more and more. The idea of individuality and independence becomes less and less appealing. The ego treasures independence and tries to make it look like it is independence that gives us worth. It does not tell us that to have independence we must deny the Source of all strength, all value and all Love.

The Holy Spirit shows us that our happiness and our strength come from our unity with each other in God’s Love. And so the way appointed to me today is to bring my thoughts to the Holy Spirit and let Him teach me of my unity with Love. Let Him teach me of the innocence and loveliness of my brother, who is one with me. Let Him teach me what is valuable and what is valueless. Thus will I follow in the way appointed me.

Individuality is becoming less and less appealing to me and the fact that I realize this is truly a miracle. Today, I look for miracles in my life and when I choose to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I am able to see them. Today I realize they were always there, but I was so into myself alone, that I never allowed myself to experience them. Today I choose to follow the way of my Father; it’s the only way to go.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 316 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 316 Insights

“All gifts I give my brothers are my own.”

There is only one gift to give and that is the gift of the truth. As I am willing to see my brother as he truly is, I receive a blessing. As I open my mind to receive the gift of the truth, I effortlessly and naturally extend it to my brother. This gift I receive and give helps the whole Sonship. The Sonship is one. As I help my own awakening by opening to the truth, I help the whole. We are one.

We have one Father and that one Father will help us return to the awareness of Love’s presence if we allow it. As each one allows it, the whole Sonship benefits. We are simply returning to the awareness that we never really left Heaven. We never really left God’s one Mind of Love. We are still as God created us. “All gifts I give my brothers are my own.”

There is only one gift of value and meaning in this world. It is the gift of forgiveness, which is Love’s reflection in the world. In Heaven the only gift is Love, for Love is all there Is. In this world, we believe we are without Love. Thus we need forgiveness, which removes the barriers to the awareness of Love’s eternal presence.

To know the gifts my brother gives and to experience that the gifts I give remain my own, I must let go of cherishing anything other than God’s Love, Which dwells in my brother and in me. If I cherish individuality, I cannot experience the gifts my brother gives. I cannot experience that the gifts I give remain my own. If I want individuality or specialness, then I am denying the oneness of Love. This denial is simply a mistake to be let go.

That is what forgiveness does. It lets go of mistaken beliefs and perceptions and makes way for the truth to shine through. Forgiveness clears the way for the awareness of Love’s presence. In every moment I make the choice between the isolation of specialness and the oneness of Love. I choose either loneliness and lack or completion and unity with my brothers in God’s Love. There are only these two alternatives.

Today I would let past mistakes go and accept the gifts my brothers give in the name of our Father. Today I would forgive and receive Love. Thus do I remember that all gifts I give my brothers are my own.

I spent a lot of years trying to convince myself to forgive. I tried scaring myself with threats of eternal punishment. When I stopped believing in that, I tried using logic on myself. I tried everything to talk myself into letting go of grievances against others, and to give up guilt for what I saw as my own sins.

Now I see that the only thing that works is giving it over to Holy Spirit for healing. Doing that and seeing it work, motivates me to do it again. For the first time in my life I can see that it is possible to forgive and it is not even really hard. As with everything else I give the ego to do, it failed and convinced me that it was just too hard or too complicated. With Spirit I see that it isn’t hard at all, nor is it in any way complicated.

These lessons are slowly but surely coming together for me. I’ve been asking the Holy Spirit to help me see the Oneness in myself and my brothers, to see beyond the body. I also ask Him to help me recognize His gifts; I know in my heart they’re there, I just don’t open myself to see them.

This morning, as I was driving to work, I was watching people in other cars or walking on the street and I tried to see them only as manifestations of the Oneness of Love and in seeing them that way, I was amazed at the various forms and personalities they take. And maybe I haven’t quite gotten to the point where I can completely forgive, but I’m beginning to see them in another light and, for me, this is a miracle.

I believe this is one of the many gifts my Heavenly Father offers me because when I’m not judging my brothers, I am at peace, which is a gift to me and them. Thank you, Holy Spirit.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 315 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 315 Insights

“All gifts my brothers give belong to me.”

It is gratifying to know that we are constantly being blessed by every thought of Love anyone offers to anyone. Love is one and Love unites us all. In that unity Love’s gifts are given equally to all. Love can make no exceptions and be Itself. Love is forever extending, because that is what Love does and is. Every forgiving thought opens the door to Love’s extension and Its blessing is received by all.

I give today to the Holy Spirit to guide my thoughts. With His strength I will let go of the past and in this forgiveness, clear the way for Love’s extension to bless my brothers and myself. The gift of forgiveness brings me joy. My heart is filled with gratitude, for through forgiveness I recognize my Self in all my brothers. Thus I recognize all gifts my brothers give belong to me.

Love, to be Love, is all inclusive. Love extends to all of Itself in the eternal now. Everyone’s true nature is Love and that true nature is always extending all of Itself to all Love. Therefore we are always receiving Love’s gifts. It is always occurring, whether we are aware of it or not.

Today I open my mind to become aware of Love’s ongoing gifts. Today I accept the truth of Love, which is present now and eternally. I let the Holy Spirit help me recognize my barriers to Love. I then allow the Holy Spirit to shine those barriers away. I would recognize the truth today. I would recognize that the truth of Love is true and nothing else is true.

I am grateful for the constant gift of Love that comes to me today and every day from every Son of God. I am also grateful for the constant gift of Love that extends from me today to every Son of God. For Love to be Love, It must extend to all always, in the eternal now. I practice accepting Love’s eternal presence today.

I was saying in my ACIM discussion group just last Sunday that we are all one mind and so when one of us is healed that healing is for all of us. But I don’t think that I really felt what that means.

I’m thinking that, as I sit here this morning, I am receiving a constant stream of spiritual gifts. How extraordinarily wonderful this is! I am awe struck just to think of it. When you realize this is true, it suddenly becomes possible (no, certain) that the Sons of God will return to Who they are.

I am grateful for this encouraging thought because, surely, I have sometimes doubted it could be done as I looked around at what the ego has appeared to have made. Every time I look at a brother, today, I am going to be reminded he is my savior and feel gratitude for what he is doing for me.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 314 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 314 Insights

“I seek a future different from the past.”

The past and the future are one in the fact that they are really nothing. The truth is there is no time. There is only the eternal present in Love. As I open more and more to the Holy Spirit’s healing perception, I am brought to the awareness that only Love is real. This Love is eternal and so the past and future are really not there.

I have been so ingrained in thinking in terms of a past and future that it takes vigilance to let go of this belief. It is a false belief and my job now is to open my mind to let my belief in time be undone by the Holy Spirit.

In the eternal present there is peace, there is quiet, there is Love, joy and happiness. Today my practice is to continue to open my mind to the Holy Spirit so that I may become more aware of the eternal present. In the Light of the truth, the false ideas about time and space gently fall away. There is only the eternal now. Love is. God is. And then we cease to speak.

The fearful ranting of the ego becomes just silly ideas that could never be true when seen through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. If I do not believe in these ideas, they cannot take hold. The prison doors open. Each day now is a journey without distance as I gradually accept the truth of the eternal present and allow sin, guilt and fear to fall by the wayside.

We all are in Heaven now. All that is real is in the Mind of God, now and forever. Everyone is saved. God is real and nothing else exists. That is true now and for eternity.

Today I practice stepping back from the false ideas of the ego and letting my mind be cleared of all belief in guilt. As the Holy Spirit shines away each mistaken thought, a pathway is built leading to Heaven, where I never left.

We all wake up together realizing the truth is true and nothing else is true. We are a Thought in the Mind of God. We are still as God created us. We can relax now. We remain an extension of Love for eternity. In quiet we return to where we never left.

The ego sees the future as a projection of the past. It overlooks the present entirely. The Holy Spirit sees the future as an extension of the present. Thus to the Holy Spirit the future is now. The way we allow ourselves to experience a future different from the past is by letting the past go. Once again we come back to the Course’s central theme of forgiveness.

As we learn to let the Holy Spirit guide our perceptions, the world we see serves a different purpose. Instead of the ego’s purpose of holding guilt in place, the world now becomes a mirror, showing us where forgiveness is still needed and giving us another opportunity to free ourselves.

As I remember that everything in my world symbolizes what is in my mind, I can take each symbol to the Holy Spirit and open my mind to His perception. As I release my perception into His hands, I let go of the past and I am one step closer to letting the future be like the present.

My guilt is undone because the Holy Spirit teaches me that in truth I have done nothing to change God or His holy Son. I remain as God created me. This is my future and my present. No image in my mind can replace the Son of God. No image is worthy of the Son and is therefore not worthy of me. As I release attachment to all images, I free myself to see that I am still as God created me. Today I continue my practice of bringing all my perceptions to the Holy Spirit and opening my mind to His kind and gentle correction. Thus will I let the future be an extension of the eternal present.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 313 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 313 Insights

“Now let a new perception come to me.”

True perception is completely free of the past. It sees only what is in the present. Because Love is eternal and is therefore ever present, true perception sees only Love. There is nothing else to see. Where Love is recognized, there can be no fear. True perception shows me a world without fear, a world of complete forgiveness. Here peace remains undisturbed and Love is extended equally to all.

Holy Spirit, today I open my mind to You. I would share Your vision and see only the kind and beneficent. I would see only the innocent and loving, for that is what is real and true. I give my judgments to You and ask for Your strength to let them go so that I may receive Your gift of vision. Thus will I learn to recognize my Self and see It everywhere. “Now let a new perception come to me.”

All that is real is the limitless Thought of Love in the Mind of Love. This Love is changeless and eternal. It is whole and complete. It is one and cannot be divided or changed or separated in any way. This is our Source. This is our eternal Beingness. This is Reality. Returning to this truth is what our function is. It is our one goal.

As we are willing to open to this truth and receive this truth, we help the whole Sonship because minds are connected. How do I help my brother? I let the Holy Spirit’s change of perception come to my awareness. I let my mind return to the truth. This is how I truly help. Joining with my brother in making illusions real is never truly helpful. Joining with the one Mind of Truth is truly helpful.

I do not have to repeat the past and play the old separation game from the past. I do not need to follow the ego’s rules. As I let a new perception come to me, I am guided by a completely different thought system. The Holy Spirit’s values are totally the opposite of the ego’s values. With the Holy Spirit I can let the ego’s values go because they are meaningless.

Today I choose to let a new perception come to me. I quiet my mind and ask for the truth. I choose to awaken from the dream and this is how I can be truly helpful.

I love the paragraph where you talked about how I can help my brother. That is a good emphasis, that I can help my brother through my change of perception because our minds are connected. What I do for myself, I do for my brother. I love that. I also appreciate the reminder that it is never helpful to join in making illusions real. That is a bad habit I have not completely overcome and I will work harder on it now that I think about it.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 312 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 312 Insights

“I see all things as I would have them be.”

Last night I watched a TV drama in which there was a character that irritated me. I perceived her as manipulative and controlling. Afterward I remembered that everything I see is a projection of my own mind. My judgment of the character symbolized my judgment of myself. I perceived her as guilty as a means of denying and putting outside of me the guilt I believed was in me.

This is a good example to me that, “I see all things as I would have them be.” Were I holding the Holy Spirit’s hand, I would see the character as a holy Child of God. The behavior would be recognized as meaningless. Irritation would be impossible, for Love only blesses and a Child of God is Love and nothing else.

As I brought this perception of the character to the Holy Spirit with the recognition that it was a symbol of my own perceived guilt, I remembered that at one time there was a person in my life that I perceived as controlling and manipulative. It took me several years of bringing my perception of that person to Spirit and asking for help with forgiveness before my thoughts of that person were healed.

The healing came when I recognized that the behavior I perceived in this other person reflected a deeply hidden belief in guilt in my own mind. Spirit led me to forgive myself for what I thought I did but never really happened. Only then was I able to think about this person and remain at peace. Now I see that there is another layer to this forgiveness, another layer of guilt to be undone.

And so I ask the Holy Spirit to take these thoughts of judgment and guilt. I ask for His strength and know that it is given me. Through His strength and vision I can learn once again that harm is impossible and thus guilt is never justified. I can learn what I thought I did, perhaps lifetimes ago, never really happened. I remain Love as God created me.

Today I would welcome Holy Spirit’s Love and strength. Today I would welcome His vision and see the world free along with me. Thus will I see a world forgiven and know the peace of God.

It is helpful for me to remember that perception follows judgment. It is helpful for me to remember that what I am seeing is what I am choosing to see. It is helpful for me to remember that I am making the decision to hold the ego’s hand or the Holy Spirit’s Hand every moment. It is helpful for me to remember that when I see guilt anywhere in the “outside” world, I am holding ego’s hand. It is then time for me to take what I am perceiving to the Holy Spirit to receive a shift in perception. It is time to open to recognizing the innocence and unity behind the scenes of guilt and separation I am seeing. It is time to recognize that it is only the ego that tries to make guilt real.

This is an ongoing daily process. As I take each perception that is not reflecting innocence and unity to the Holy Spirit to be undone, I am gradually opening the prison doors I have made for myself. I can ask the Holy Spirit to be my constant Companion. I can quiet my mind and give the Holy Spirit all the time He needs to clean out the cobwebs in my mind.

I have bought into dreams of separation. This has generated guilt and fear. All this needs to be undone and in the illusion, it takes time. On my own I can do nothing to heal my mind. But as I open up and am willing to join with the Holy Spirit, I find that each perception of guilt, each perception of lack, each fearful thought is quietly undone as I continue the daily practice of taking every thought that is not Love to the Holy Spirit for a changed perception.

If I am not at peace, there is still work to be done. There is still more unrecognized belief in separation and guilt to be healed. The good news is the Holy Spirit is always there right in my mind, waiting to change my perception as I am willing to open up to Him. Today is another day of mind healing and I have everything I need right in my mind to continue with the ongoing practice of forgiveness. I see all things as I would have them be.

Knowing that I can see, so easily, exactly where I am spiritually by simply noting my reactions is very helpful. Today should be interesting as I practice awareness and see how often I am holding ego’s hand. It will be very healing as I let go of ego’s hand and choose again.

I used to get impatient and discouraged because I would make a new choice and then had to turn around and do it again five minutes later. I’m practicing loving patience with myself now and it is working really well. Now I see that the impatience was just another ego strategy to keep me where I was.

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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 311 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 311 Insights

“I judge all things as I would have them be.”

Before the ego — the thought of separation — there was no judgment. There was no sense of an ‘other’ to judge or evaluate. But with the idea of separation, there needed to be a mechanism to hold separation in place so it would seem to be real. For this purpose the ego made judgment. “Judgment was made to be a weapon used against the truth. It separates what it is being used against, and sets it off as if it were a thing apart.” (1:1-2)

God, in His grace, provided an antidote for this poisonous thought system. Because we had already embraced the “reality” of judgment, He needed to use this mechanism for a different purpose that would lead to the point where judgment is recognized as no longer needed. This antidote is the Holy Spirit. While the ego judges from a limited perspective that cannot see the whole, the Holy Spirit judges from the point of seeing totality. Thus His judgment is very simple. He recognizes all things as either real or unreal. What is real is Love and nothing else. What is unreal is nothing and is disregarded as meaningless and without effect.

As we learn to practice giving all our judgments to the Holy Spirit, our burden is lightened and we walk with an easy step. Our judgments with the ego always carry guilt and weigh us down with the fear of punishment for that guilt. As we release our judgments to the Holy Spirit, He undoes the guilt, for He knows that nothing could ever change the holy Son of God, our Self. This process of turning over every judgment to the Holy Spirit to let Him judge on our behalf is the way out of hell and the return to our Home in God.

We do not need to know how the Holy Spirit undoes the guilt. We need only relieve ourselves of the burden of judgment by giving it all to Him. He returns to us the gift of freedom and God’s eternal peace. We give Him nothing and He gives us everything. It is the exchange of illusion for reality. In deep gratitude I give thanks to God for His Answer to the insane idea of separation and judgment. Thank You God. I love You God.

Freedom comes as I let the Holy Spirit judge all things for me. The ego has judged all things as separate and alone. The ego’s judgment tries to place its guilt outside itself. That is why it needs an ‘outside.’ On the other hand, the Holy Spirit sees all as one. The Holy Spirit shows me there is no outside. There is no guilt. When I hold hands with the Holy Spirit, all I see is innocence.

There is only one Christ Mind that is real. The Holy Spirit reminds me of the unreality of separation. The Holy Spirit shows me the meaninglessness of a world of separation. It is only when I am willing to go to the Holy Spirit that I will receive the Holy Spirit’s judgment. The Holy Spirit shows me the difference between the real and the unreal, and through this I find freedom from the bondage of the ego thought system of separation.

Today is a day of letting the Holy Spirit judge for me. Today I would practice refraining from judging on my own. Today I would practice holding Holy Spirit’s hand and receiving Christ’s vision. Today I would take one more step towards accepting the freedom that is mine.

All last week I ate a lot of stuff that is not normally on my diet and was afraid I had gained some weight. When I got on the scale, I saw that I had and felt bad about it. I told myself that it was no big deal and I would just lose it.

When I read today’s lesson I realized that I was just kidding myself about it being no big deal. It was really weighing heavily on my mind and I quickly saw it for what it was. I was judging myself as being weak willed and foolish. I was using this judgment to convince myself that I am a body and powerless.

And, of course, I am seeing myself as separate. After all, not everyone has a problem controlling their weight. In fact my weight problems are worse that everyone else’s… or so I tell myself and thus I guarantee the illusion of being special and thus separate.

I visualized setting down my heavy sack of “special feelings.” I took each one out and showed it to Holy Spirit. One by one, we looked at them together. We looked at my dread of being powerless, at my belief that my problems were worse than everyone else’s, at my embarrassment at once again having “failed.” We looked at each sense of specialness until the bag was empty. Then Holy Spirit took both my hands and we smiled at the insubstantial pile of illusions as they began to fade away into the nothingness they are without the support of my belief in them.

This stuff is a big deal only if I refuse to look at it. Then it gets heavy and dark and weighs down my steps as I go through the day. Looking at it with Holy Spirit shows it for the nothingness it is. I thank staff for pointing the way to this healing and I am so grateful that God provided me with a way out of my illusion.

I love the way these lessons explain to us how our minds think and how we use them; they tell us the problem and then give us the solution. I, too, so many times, have issues with a certain person(s) or a situation and I dread facing it, to the point where the thought of it ruins my day. So rather than to look at it, I tell myself it’s not a big deal and attempt to ignore it, I guess hoping it will go away. I also see myself as separate and judge the person, the situation, and myself, which makes me separate even more.

So today I ask the Holy Spirit to judge my brother/myself for me and I also recognize that this is one more step towards my freedom.

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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 310 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 310 Insights

“In fearlessness and love I spend today.”

Love and fear cannot coexist. When I accept Love into my heart, fear is gone. The Love of God has no conditions or limits. It is given equally to all. There are no reservations. There is no Love held back in reserve in case some extra may be needed sometime, because Love is limitless.

The ego thinks in terms of limitation. It cannot conceive of giving everything away, because to the ego, this means loss. But to Love, giving all of Itself away brings joy, because Love gives only to Love, for only Love is real.

In Love, giving and receiving are the same. In the ego, giving is loss and receiving is gain. But they are never the same. Receiving Love into my heart makes me fearless. I am fearless because I have recognized that within me is the Source of all strength, which unites me with everything that is. With nothing outside me, there is nothing to fear. This fearlessness does not come from having mightier weapons or great physical strength. It does not come with believing I have power to overcome all my enemies. This fearlessness comes from recognizing I have no enemies, for everything that is, is one with me in Love.

Today I ask the Holy Spirit to help me see the Love in all my brothers that unites me with them and them with me. I ask for help in seeing past form to the heart of Love that lies in all things. I see this through forgiveness, through letting go of the past, through letting go of false images that make it look as though I am separate. With Holy Spirit’s help I will look upon a forgiven world and welcome Love into my heart.

The two sentences that stand out to me today in this lesson are, “We spend this day together, you and I,” (2:1) and “There is no room in us for fear today, for we have welcomed love into our hearts.” (2:4) Jesus is asking me to join with him in giving Love welcome. So my job today is to join with Jesus in remembering Love. When I open my mind to Jesus, he reminds me that only Love is real and that anything else is illusion. When I am willing to remember that only Love is real, fear is impossible. There is no need for defense, no need for attack, no need to look for differences, no need to be afraid.

Love is sharing all with all. Love is sharing one Identity. Today I welcome seeing one Identity. Today I practice welcoming Love as it really is. There is no specialness in Love and there is no specialness in me or any form found in this world. Today I would let myself be carried by Love and remember that Love is all that is true and real. In fearlessness and Love I spend today.

Most Holy Spirit, my Heavenly Divine Guidance, please help me remember that today I would spend with my Father and in so doing, I will not be afraid to love or be loved. And if I should stray, Holy Spirit, help me remember that it is just an opportunity for me to heal and be set free, which is my Father’s will for me. Amen

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Listen to Lesson 309 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 309 Insights

“I will not fear to look within today.”

The burden of guilt that everyone in this world carries is far greater than we recognize. The guilt we are aware of is like the tip of an iceberg. Beneath the surface, hidden in our unconscious mind, is intolerable guilt that seems to lurk, waiting to be discovered. Yet it is feared, for if it were recognized, it would be so dark and horrible that we would no longer want to live.

To protect ourselves from what we believe is there, we push it into unconsciousness and project it onto a world we believe is guilty. We do not see that the guilt we perceive in the world is the guilt we perceive in ourselves, reflected back to us. This is the ego’s belief system. It is founded on the belief that we actually separated from our Source and have made a will different from His.

Today’s lesson brings us freedom from this insane story. It tells us that contrary to what we believe, within us is Eternal Innocence. It tells us that we have not succeeded in making a will in opposition to God’s. The perception of an opposing will is an illusion that could never be real. This is our release from guilt.

The section on the Second Coming that goes with this lesson tells us that the Second Coming is the return of sanity. It is the moment in time when forgiveness rests equally on all things. Forgiveness opens our mind to the recognition that the rift we thought occurred between us and God never happened. We remain united with God. We share His Will and His Will for us is perfect happiness.

The way we reach full recognition of the eternal innocence within is to step-by-step bring every thought of guilt and fear to the Holy Spirit. As we give them to Him with an open mind and heart, we receive His gift of recognition that nothing has ever occurred to alter the Holy Son of God in any way. The Son is our Self, our Identity, forever pure, forever innocent and forever Love.

Today I would accept Holy Spirit’s gift of innocence and share it with the world. For I would not fear to look within today.

This is not an easy concept to grasp. When I first started reading the Course, it discussed this guilt thing immediately. Well, I thought this does not apply to me. My reasoning was I rarely ever do anything to my fellow travelers that would warrant guilt. Besides, if I accidentally offended someone, I would go and “clean” that up and take care of it. This works well for me.

However, the Course discusses guilt at a deeper level, just like the 10 commandments have a deeper meaning to them. I admit that I probably still don’t have the “guilt” concept down 100%, but at least now it makes sense to me. I now stay vigilant to where I may be projecting guilt on to others. However, I don’t find this to be easy to fulfill.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Listen to Lesson 308 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 308 Insights

” This instant is the only time there is.”

The ego uses time to keep us unaware of the present. We think we are aware of the present, but we perceive it only in terms of the past. An early lesson tells us that we see nothing as it is now.

Many years ago I lived in an area of Africa where the people lived in thatched roofed houses and cooked on open fires on the floor. They sat on little stools a few inches high because it was more convenient for them to sit that way as they tended the fire and did their cooking. One day I was visiting in one of these homes and I saw a straight backed wooden chair against the wall. It was piled high with things. While I would have been more comfortable sitting in that chair, they didn’t see it as a chair. They saw it as a shelf for storage. They gave it a different meaning.

That experience is a great demonstration to me that we give everything all the meaning that it has for us. Because of my past experience, I gave that assembly of pieces of wood the meaning of a chair to sit on. I was perceiving the present in terms of the past.

This lesson is asking us to let go of the past. It does not serve the goal of remembering our Self as we were created by God. The Self we are can only be known in the present without meanings dragged with us in our minds that cover up the present. When I look at someone while I hold on to the past, I interpret what I see based on the past I bring with me. A certain expression on their face I measure against my past experiences and decide that they are happy or sad, friendly or angry. When I do this I do not see them as they are now.

To know the joy of Love that is ever present, I must let go of the past. Then I am free to see the Love that is all there really is now. Forms have no meaning of their own. Without the past I am free with an open mind to let the Holy Spirit show me His meaning in everything I see.

Holy Spirit, I bring You all my thoughts of the past. I offer them to You in gratitude that You will take them and wash them clean of fear and guilt so that I may see the joyful Love that is present here now. In gratitude I heal.

The truth of our one Identity is changeless. The truth of our one Identity is eternal. It is always the same in the eternal present. In the eternal present there is no time. There is no past and no future. The eternal present is always here right now. It is always there, behind all the beliefs in time and space, waiting to be recognized and known again.

Right now it is our job to open our minds to the Holy Spirit, Who will help us see the barriers we have erected to hide the eternal presence of Love. Once we have looked at these barriers with the Holy Spirit, we will see them for their nothingness and be willing to let them go. The idea of time itself is a barrier. The ideas of a past or future are just false ideas that are trying to hide the eternal now of God’s Love.

Today I would practice opening my mind to the Holy Spirit again and again. I would practice letting my mind be healed of all the false ideas that pass through. I am willing to practice being taught the difference between what is real and what is not real. I am willing to move from belief in time to timelessness. I am willing to practice recognizing that the holy instant is the only time there is. I am willing to open to God’s eternal peace, happiness and joy.

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Listen to Lesson 307 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 307 Insights

“Conflicting wishes cannot be my will.”

In an earlier lesson it says, “God is but Love and therefore so am I.” We are learning that we are the same Love that God is and that there are no differences of any kind. There is only seamless, undifferentiated, universal Love. This one universal Love has one Will. Therefore conflicting wishes cannot be my will.

A false will, with a wish for individuality, only brings illusions of pain and lack. I would let this false will be undone by taking every thought of differences, individuality, and separate bodies, to the Holy Spirit to be undone. Love is. God is. There is nothing else. We all remain as God created us. I would open my mind to remember this today.

This world is the effect of a mistaken idea of what will bring us happiness. The ego is the idea that it is possible to have more than another, to have more than all of God’s Love. This idea is inherently an idea of conflict. It is impossible for one to have more than another without there being conflict. Differences are defined by conflict. Thus the wish to have individuality and differences is the wish for conflict.

It is impossible to know peace while believing separation is real. Thus I must learn the Holy Spirit’s lesson of forgiveness if I am to know the peace of God. Each time I learn from the Holy Spirit to forgive a circumstance, event or the behavior of another, I come closer to recognizing that there are in truth no differences. I share the Light and Love of God equally with all that lives. God is Life. Love is Life. Existence in this world of illusions is not Life. To experience the Life God has given me, I must let go of the belief in the reality of form and separation.

When I forgive and realize that there was in truth no harm, for Love is changeless and Love is what I am, I am opening up to the recognition that my will and God’s are the same. I am moving toward acceptance that God’s Will for me is happiness. God is one and there is no conflict in Him. To know my Self, I must accept my oneness with God. Then I will know freedom from conflict. I will know the peace of God.

Today I will practice taking each thought of conflict, each thought of loss and sacrifice, each thought of fear or guilt to the Holy Spirit to receive His vision. Thus will I learn to recognize in God and in my Self there is no conflict, for it is not my will. God’s Will and mine are one.

Belonging to a 12-step program, many people would quite often use the phrase “God’s will and not mine.” That sounded to me like there were two separate wills and I remember really resenting that because I felt that it was God’s will that I be sitting there at those meetings, day after day, deprived of the things I thought could make me happy. I mean, hadn’t I given up enough? Hadn’t I lost enough? And I still had to do God’s will and not mine?

I felt like a helpless puppet that was trapped in this world of pain. It took me a long time to realize, after I’d hit many dead ends in my life, that my only will was to be happy, was to be at peace.

Today I know that God’s Will is my will. It was in trying to run my own life that I was hitting all those dead ends; it was in thinking I had conflicting wishes that I felt separated from my Source and my brothers. Today I allow the Holy Spirit to guide me and lead me to peace, which is my and my Heavenly Father’s will.

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Listen to Lesson 306 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 306 Insights

“The gift of Christ is all I seek today.”

Let me become aware of the truth, my Father. The truth is You created us all as one. We are all part of the one Christ Mind. Christ’s vision is Your gift. I would come with empty hands and an open heart and mind to accept the truth that we all are one and that we have never left the Mind of God.

Today let me accept the truth that illusions are nothing and Love is all there is. Let my mind be healed today of all false imaginings, of all belief in separation. Let me cease trying to make a will of my own which does nothing and goes nowhere. Let me practice accepting the truth today. The gift of Christ is all I seek today.

This world was made out of allegiance to the idea of separation. Its purpose is to make separation appear real. It has a strange appeal because it seems to offer something I think I want. It seems to offer me independence and the “freedom” to make decisions on my own. But what it does not show and seeks to hide is the fact that to have this world I must deny my Creator, my Home and my Self. I must deny the strength and Love of God.

Nothing I make in this world can satisfy the Son of God, which is my Self. All seeking in this world for satisfaction and completion will always lead to failure, for my completion is found in my Creator, in Love, and can be found nowhere else.

It is time to end playing with childish, empty and meaningless toys. Each time I seek for pleasure or happiness in these toys, I soon discover that they offer nothing that satisfies. But if I seek again within this world, I may find things that bring moments of seeming happiness but they never satisfy. Nothing in this world is worthy of the Son of God, and so it cannot satisfy.

Today I seek in a new direction. I seek the gift of Christ, Which is my Self. Today I set aside childish toys and open my mind to the blessing given me in my creation. I accept my Self as It was created by God. Here I will find true satisfaction and true freedom, for the gift of Christ is limitless. It is the gift of Love that extends forever and forever. And I give thanks.

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