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 80 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 80 Insights

“Let me recognize my problems have been solved.”

If only Love is real, then there can be no real problems. Separation is the only problem and separation in reality has never occurred. So the problem of separation has been solved. All are still within the Mind of God. As I remember this, I return to peace, remembering that the only problem has been solved.

This lesson reminds me of another place in the Course which asks me to rise above the battleground to see the Love that is always there. When I am willing to open to God’s Love and really receive It, I come to the awareness that Love is all that is important. Love is all that is real. In this place of remembering Love, I realize that the conflicts that constantly arise within the stories of separation are just a series of attempts to make the false ideas of separation real.

I do not have to fight what I recognize is an hallucination. I do not have to fight the ego. I do not need to make the ego real. In fact, letting go of making the ego real is what helps me realize that the one problem has been solved.

Love is eternal. Love is changeless. Love cannot be threatened. What is not Love does not exist. Realizing this, I return to peace. Peace is constant. It is only when I try to make what is not real my reality that the appearance of problems could arise. Thank God this could never happen in truth. Thank God that only Love is real. My only problem has been solved.

This lesson makes it clear how simple salvation truly is. There is only one problem and that problem has already been solved. In our experience in the world, simple and easy do not necessarily equate. The difficulty in accepting the solution is not because the problem is complex. The difficulty comes from lack of willingness. It comes from a deeply held desire to have specialness, which was the cause of the belief in separation in the first place. In order to fully accept that separation is the only problem and accept its solution, I must be willing to relinquish specialness. This is what forgiveness is for.

Every judgment is an attempt to maintain specialness. It is an attempt to distinguish and therefore separate me from what I judge. By making it appear that there are myriad differences, I hold the illusion of specialness in place. Consequently I cannot see the underlying common thread that makes all the problems the same.

This is exactly what the ego wants. Because as long as I see problems as different, I will look for solutions where no solution can be found.

By practicing today’s lesson, by reminding myself all through the day that my problems have been solved, I am accepting the possibility that I may have been looking for solutions in the wrong place. If my problems have been solved, but I don’t perceive them as solved, I must not be looking where the solution is. As this idea becomes more prevalent in my mind, I become more and more open to be led to accepting the real solution. Whether I apply this idea to a specific perceived problem or repeat it as a general affirmation, I am accelerating my process of relinquishing my grip on belief in a false reality.

I am deeply grateful for the genius of the Holy Spirit for the many tools offered in the Course to help me question all that I thought was real and open my mind to new possibilities. Today, no matter what conflict I look upon, I would remember that all my problems, all conflict, has been solved. God’s Love remains unchanged. And being extensions of God’s Love, all God’s Sons remain unchanged, as God created Them.

Isn’t this a perfect follow up to the lessons we have been learning? I worked on yesterday’s lesson as often as I could. I tried to see the real problem in every upset, every negative thought. Now that I have my mind around the idea that each one stemmed from the same mistaken idea, that I am separate, I can consolidate by doing the same thing today except I will recognize that not only are all problems the same, they have been solved.

I like what we are doing with this set of lessons. I feel like a gardener who has spent the winter months clearing the land, preparing the soil and planting the seeds. I am beginning to see the fruits of my labor. Just as I am seeing the first blossoms of spring out my window, I am seeing blossoms within.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 79 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 79 Insights

“Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.”

As I worked with today’s idea, I saw how applying the understanding that there is one problem and therefore one solution can help me with the seemingly varied of the “problems” in this world. I saw that an easy way for me to describe the one problem is the belief that loss is possible.

Separation brings the experience of loss. When I remember that separation is impossible and I remain at one with the Love that created me, the perception of loss disappears. I no longer feel threatened. And with this sense of safety comes deep peace. When I am in this place of deep peace, I have let go of any idea of defining the problem myself. My mind is open to the Holy Spirit’s solution. I find that even my perception of the problems of form in this world find easy resolution.

The solutions come through synchronicities and ideas come into my mind that changes my perception of the problem. This is a result of accepting the idea of one problem, one solution. I no longer try to define the problem myself. I then experience the peace that comes with remembering the real solution, which is my unity with God. And then my mind is open to Holy Spirit’s inspiration in how to be most helpful in the situation I see myself in. This frees me from fear and doubt and saves me time to continue my focus on healing my mind. It is a win-win situation leading to growing awareness that I remain safe in the Heart of Love.

I am learning from this lesson to recognize the real problem — separation — behind every problem. I am learning to step back from separation’s perspective, which is the ego’s perspective. The ego always sees in terms of separation. The ego is the idea of separation.

Within the ego thought system, there is always a continuous flow of problems because the underlying problem is trying to be separate from Love. The ego operates within the framework of time and space. Love operates within the all encompassing, framework of formless Love, which is eternal and changeless. Whatever thought system I attach to, I will experience.

This lesson is reminding me to step back from the ego thought system. The ego thought system is an hallucination. We could never truly be separate from our Source, which is all encompassing Love. When I step back from the ego thought system, I open to what is real. It fills my heart and mind.

In truth, we all are the Spirit of Love. As Love, we all are eternal. What we all are is outside the framework of time and space. As I practice stepping back from what I think I know and go to the Holy Spirit with every perceived problem, I am again returned to the awareness that I am Love and that nothing else matters because nothing else is real.

From this perspective, there are no real problems. The awareness of peace returns. My priorities get shifted. I return to the experience of God’s peace and joy. With peace always comes understanding. When the light gets turned on, the darkness disappears. Separation is seen for the bogus thought system it is. The ego is seen for the false idea it is. Simple, uncomplicated Love returns to my awareness and I remember that all is well in eternity. All is really safe, no matter what hallucinations appear to be real. All are loved. All are Home.

Just as the lesson states, there seems to be no end to my problems; just as one is settled, another arises, then another. And unless I recognize the problem, I’ll never know the solution. And it is so true that there is never a time in my life when I feel completely free of problems and at peace.

Most Holy Spirit, help me have the willingness to understand what this lesson means because I do despair when just as I feel a sense of peace, another “problem” surfaces and I sometimes feel like giving up and, like the lesson says, a “failure.” Help me to step back and recognize the problem as is truly is — the thought of separation. I am grateful today for the fact that my Source is trying to reach me and help me live a more peace filled life. Thank you, Father. Amen.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 78 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 78 Insights

“Let miracles replace all grievances.”

This lesson helps me recognize that every person’s behavior, every person’s individual identity is not what they are. When I focus on the individual personality, what it says and what it does, that is holding a grievance. I don’t often think of it as a grievance, but this lesson is helping me see what is really going on. This lesson gives me a process that helps me move into seeing as the Holy Spirit sees. The Holy Spirit always sees the same Source of Light in everyone and everywhere. The Holy Spirit is consistent. Right now I need to learn this consistency with consistent practice.

When I focus on the body and what any body says or does, I am seeing now very clearly that this is a grievance against God. When I do this, I am choosing to join with the ego and forget about God. This does not bring me happiness. It only brings me disappointment and pain.

Today is a very important day of practice. Jesus outlines it very clearly here. My focus today, my lesson today, is to recognize the grievances I am holding as I go through the day, and then let the Holy Spirit help me behold my savior where I once saw a body. The Light of God is always there to see if I am willing to see it. This brings me happiness. This brings me salvation. This helps me rise above the thinking of the world to see the Love that is eternally there behind the sad stories of separate bodies. Today I am willing to practice letting miracles replace all grievances.

As I thought about the person that I was holding grievances against, it became very clear how grievances interfere with my awareness of the truth of this person. I consider this person a friend and yet the grievances that linger in the back of my mind cast a shadow on the friendship. They hide the Light that is really there. Sometimes I choose to see the Light, but I am aware that I have an image of how I believe this person should behave and that I judge that this image is not being met. The effect of this is to make a sense of distance between us. The joy that could be there is hidden. This is not a happy perception. It is this I would let go of.

I want to see the Light in my friend. i want to see the innocence. I want the happiness I feel when I look past the images of what “should” be to be consistent. I want the joy of feeling the link of Love that joins us in the heart of God. I have experienced this and I know the joy that comes with it. I want these experiences not to be periodic moments of clarity that pass as I shift back into listening to the ego’s voice.

I want to consistently share the Holy Spirit’s vision because I want the peace and joy of God. My friend offers me the perfect opportunity to forgive myself for all the thoughts of separation that have kept me from remembering the unity I share with all that is real. I want miracles to replace all grievances.

This lesson asks me to choose one person in my life that I use today as a target to hold my grievances. The lesson also asks that I let this person be a savior unto me today, which my ego not only immediately resists, but feels almost sick at the thought of this idea.

This person is my supervisor, who, in my perception is grouchy, irritating, impatient, and extremely difficult to please. However, since I have been studying the Course I have truly seen miracles in my life and if the Course says this person is my savior then so be it, as I believe anything the Course says. Today I welcome challenges such as these because today I know in my heart my Divine Guidance will walk through any fear I have about changing the way I think, or the way I see, or the way I feel. Today I know my Heavenly Father has not abandoned me, no matter what I think I’ve done and that thought gives me the willingness to try anything.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 77 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 77 Insights

“I am entitled to miracles.”

Today’s lesson means I am entitled to remember my true Identity. I am entitled to remember the peace of God. I am entitled to extend what I am, the love, joy and peace of God, to everyone. I am entitled to be happy. As I am willing to accept my entitlement, my mind opens more and more to accept the truth. I am part of God. Everyone is part of God. God is but Love and therefore so am I. Inherent in Love is God’s peace, God’s joy, God’s giving all to all. This is true happiness. I am entitled to true happiness because it is already mine. It has always been mine. I am just learning now to accept my entitlement.

Last night I woke up and realized I was concerned about a friend. I took that concern to the Holy Spirit. It seemed like a hopeless situation. The Holy Spirit reminded me that I am the peace of God. He reminded me that my friend is the peace of God. My friend is still safe, whether I remember it or not. My friend’s identity cannot change. The Holy Spirit reminded me that it is not helpful for me to join my friend’s hallucinations of lack and loss. What is helpful is to remember the truth about her. It is helpful to remember that she still is the peace of God. She is still as God created her. Nothing can ever change that. Illusions of harm are just that, illusions.

I spent time telling my friend mentally that she is the peace of God. This also helped me remember that I am the peace of God. This was very helpful for me. I asked for a miracle and received it. I received the change of mind, the change in perception that I asked for. The feeling of worry was transformed into feeling the peace of God. I am entitled to miracles everyday. It is up to me to open my mind to receive them. That is what today and every day is for. As I open up to and am willing to accept the miracles that are always there, waiting for my acceptance, my mind is healed.

“I am entitled to miracles” means that I am entitled to happiness because God’s will for me is happiness. If I am not experiencing happiness, I need a change of mind. I need a new view of what I think I am perceiving. Unhappiness can only come from believing that I am not as I was created by the Source of happiness. It is that belief that must be changed. It is that change of mind that is a miracle. This is why it is important any time I am feeling less than peaceful and joyful to affirm that I am entitled to miracles. I do not need to accept fear, sadness, guilt, anger or distress of any kind. I am entitled to miracles.

Through my studies of A Course in Miracles, I have come to experience more and more peace and happiness in my life. Yet if I honestly look at how I feel throughout the day, I cannot claim to be perfectly happy and in deep peace in every moment. This tells me that I still need to be reminded that I am entitled to miracles. I still need to be reminded about my true Identity. I still need to be reminded that God has not changed His mind about me. He still gives me all of His joy, all of His peace, all of His Love, all the time.

I want the peace of God, fully, without limit. I want to be able to see my brother as innocent, always, no matter what behavior he appears to be displaying. I want to be able to feel the Love of God flowing through me and connecting with every brother in every instant. In truth, this is what is happening all the time. It is only the shadows of false images and mistaken beliefs that keep me from recognizing this as a fact, now. And so I am grateful for this lesson which reminds me that I am entitled to miracles.

With the combination of studying the Course, applying these lessons to my everyday life, and a little willingness, the thought of being entitled to miracles because of who I am is finally beginning to sink into my head. There are no words for the peace and serenity this thought gives me. I find myself still resisting, I think, because the thought is so alien to me. In my own sick way, I fear change, even if the change is for the better. But I find that as I slowly let go of the old tapes and begin trusting God, the Holy Spirit, I begin to welcome change and realize it is possible that I am entitled to miracles.

As I remember this, I try to apply this thought in my personal life with my loved ones; in my work life, especially when my boss is, in my perception, irrational; or with people in my world who aren’t behaving the way I feel they should.

This Course, in itself, is a miracle in my life and for that I am truly grateful. I place my belief of this thought at the altar of my Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit; please help me have the willingness to use this thought throughout the day. Amen.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 76 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 76 Insights

“I am under no laws but God’s.”

It is helpful to remember that the Course says that what we believe will make us happy is what we believe is our salvation. It was interesting for me to look at not only the ways I think I can make the body safe but also the things of the world that I believe will make me happy. If I had a faster computer or better software, I would be happier. If certain people stay in my life in the form of a body, I will be happy. If certain other people stay out of my life, I will be happy. If I follow certain laws of nutrition, I will be safe. If my body functioned better in some way, I would be happy. If there were no talk of war in the world, I would feel safe. The list can go on and on.

All of these conditions are centered around the belief that I am a body. Yet the Course clearly tells me the body is an illusion and was made as a defense against God. It is not what God created. It was made by a mind believing in the false idea that separation is real. It is just an attempt to prove that separation really succeeded. And to maintain this illusion, all efforts to find salvation must center around the body.

Today’s lesson tells me that these efforts are looking for salvation where it cannot be found. This is why the Course puts so much emphasis in helping us undo our identification with the body as what we are. Later on in the Workbook we will repeat the affirmation that we are not a body for 10 days, 6 times an hour.

The good news is that, in spite of our efforts to prove separation is real, it cannot be made real. We remain as God created us, one with Him, forever loving and forever loved. It is the remembrance of this that will bring us the salvation we seek. It will bring us back to full acknowledgment of God’s laws and only God’s laws being what rules our existence.

It is interesting that the ego rebels against rules but constantly makes up rules of its own. That is how it defends against the laws of God. That is how it maintains the illusion of its existence. Yet the truth in us, our true Self, lives only under the law of Love, the law of God. Love gives of Itself without limit, because that is what Love is. Because Love is one, Love gives forever to itself. And in this is our joy complete. Happiness is remembering we are under no laws but the laws of Love, of God.

In the Introduction to the Workbook, Jesus tells us that the purpose of these lessons is to train our minds to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world. He tells us that we need to let go of every value we hold — including what we are and what this world of separate bodies we seem to see means to us. The message in today’s lesson reinforces the idea that all our experience of limitation is coming from the ego mind and that we are not limited to these limiting ideas. In fact, the way out of hell is to let go of these false ideas and let them be replaced by the idea that we are under no laws but God’s, which is the law of limitless Love.

The ego’s ‘laws’ are not our laws, unless it is our choice to be limited by the ego’s laws. In truth, our Identity could never be limited to a body. In today’s lesson, Jesus enumerates some of the insane ways we hold on to the ego’s laws by believing they will make us safe, by believing they will make us happy. He helps us understand that our mind is only the victim of what it chooses to believe in.

Today, my job is to be mindful of the limiting thoughts I hold about myself and others and to let these thoughts be replaced with, “I am under no laws but God’s.” I am finding that this is a continuous process, a continuous willingness to detach from the ego’s laws in my mind, day by day. This commitment to recognizing these limiting ideas and letting them go is what frees me from the ego’s law of separation through the false ideas of individual bodies, time, space and death.

It is really true that God’s one Son, Love’s extension, is under no laws but the laws of Love. I help myself and the whole Sonship when I am willing to open my mind to the Truth that only Love is real, and there is no opposite.

I went through the list of laws I have created to govern my life. No surprises there. I’ve done this before and my list is pretty much like everyone else’s. My emphasis is on my kids; keeping them safely and happily in their bodies, keeping their love and respect and knowing they need me in their lives. Then all the other body stuff.

After I reviewed my list, I started the next part of the lesson. I reminded myself that, in spite of this long list to the contrary, I am under no laws but God’s. I felt an immediate sense of panic.Wow! What was that all about? I don’t remember that ever happening before. Perhaps the difference is that I am more ready to accept the truth of this than I ever have been before and so these are not just words.

I had to sit and listen for a long while. I realized that I really had not considered exactly what I would be gaining if I gave up my own set of laws and I wasn’t really convinced that God’s plan for me was something I wanted. That is a hard thing to admit and is scary all by itself. At first I felt like someone was pulling the rug out from under me. I feel better about it now. I am going to practice today’s lesson and do the meditation again this evening. I look forward to seeing where that takes me.

When I remember that I answer to no one but God, I find solace and joy. All else falls away as meaningless delusion. My ego ideas change with the times and shifting perceptions. First “this is “right”, then “that” is “better.” Ego laws are judgments and opinions that sound official, but come from delusion about what is real. Ego laws are not healing or harmonious, much as I may want them to be at times. Ego laws only lead to conflict.

God’s law is in perfect accord. Under God’s law is perfect peace found. God’s law fills my space as I open to it. In God’s law is all possible goodness fulfilled. Today I allow fulfillment of God’s law in me. There can be no other way. This is my refuge, solace and joy because this is where true justice is found.

I was relieved to know that I am under no laws but God’s. I think in my heart I always knew our Heavenly Father could not have possibly created this insane world. Like the lesson states, it is extremely freeing to recognize that we are not bound by all the strange and twisted laws of the world.

The laws of our world are constantly changing and because our bodies and our situations change, we are in constant conflict with these laws,never being able to rest in the peace that God intended us to have.

Knowing that we are in the hands of God and not at the mercy of this insane world, is a relief beyond words. Thank you, Father, for getting this message to me. Help me, Holy Spirit, remember that the only laws I need to be concerned with are those of my Heavenly Father’s; the laws that bring me closer to Him. Amen

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 75 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 75 Insights

“The light has come.”

This is one of my favorite lessons. It is so uplifting and affirming, yet when I read the lesson, I am aware of an ego aspect that tells me I am not worthy of it. It points out the many ways that I have not yet forgiven the world and asks me, “Who am I to say the light has come?” Yet these are just the ego’s frantic efforts to hold on to its place in my image of myself, for if I truly acknowledge that I have forgiven the world, the light has come, that is the end of the ego.

This lesson is affirming the truth about me, not the ego lies. It is uplifting because it is reminding me of what my true Self experiences in every moment. My true Self does see a forgiven world. It does see its Light reflected back from everything it looks upon. It does experience the serenity that God would have me experience. The apparent fact that I don’t experience this is simply because I have been thinking illusions were real. This does not change reality one iota. But it does cast a shadow upon the world of Light that is my reality.

As I affirm again and again, “The light has come. I have forgiven the world,” I am both reminding myself of what is and teaching myself how to open my mind to what is. I open my mind to the Light by forgiving the world. I open my mind by letting all thoughts of the past go and seeing the world as if I had never seen it before. In truth, I have never truly seen the world, for I have always laid images of the past upon it and called that seeing. It was only hallucinating.

As I remind myself that the light has come, I have forgiven the world, I feel a wonderful, soft, comforting sense of peace come over me. My heart overflows with gratitude and in joy I offer Love to the world. And if only for a moment I experience that the light has come, it is enough to motivate me to keep on practicing letting go of the past. I want to live in the Light in every moment. And so today I will remind myself again and again, “The light has come. I have forgiven the world.”

This lesson invites me to recognize the truth that the Light that is in everyone is the only truth. This lesson invites me to let go of the images of separate bodies I have made. This lesson invites me to accept the only Truth that could ever be real. This lesson invites me to see past illusions to the truth. The part that stands out to me most is, “We dedicate this day to the serenity in which God would have you be. Keep it in your awareness of yourself and see it everywhere today, as we celebrate the beginning of your vision and the sight of the real world, which has come to replace the unforgiven world you thought was there.”

Keeping the serenity of God in my awareness and seeing it everywhere is what helps me remember that the light has come. It never left. I only put illusions in its place. As I become more willing to let illusions of uniqueness go, I am able to recognize the wandering in the wilderness of image making for what it is and not attach meaning to it.

God did not make a world of separation. Our oneness and indivisibility in the all encompassing Light of God is what is real and separate bodies are not real. Truth is true and nothing else is true. The Light of God has come because the Light of God is all that ever was true. This recognition brings me serenity. This recognition helps me see serenity everywhere. The Light has come.

Something happened yesterday that hurled me into the darkness and it was so sudden and so unexpected that I felt myself trapped there. I felt paralyzed in my fear and guilt and unable to extricate myself. That is the way I left it last night and so, of course, when I woke up, it was still there. When I saw today’s lesson I thought, how ironic. And then I thought, how am I going to do this lesson today. I am as far from the light as I have been in a long time. It seemed absurd, feeling as I did, to say “the light has come.”

I started doing it, though. I did a peace meditation and as always, it helped a lot. Something from the lesson helped me a lot. It said, “No shadows from the past remain…” I felt a sense of relief as I remembered that the illusion is just shadows. I was feeling like I was weighed down with huge granite blocks and that they were chained to me. Whew! They were only shadows after all. From that point, things got better. When I allow myself to become caught in the ego’s dark thoughts, it is easy to think they are more real than reality and that escape is impossible. When I come out of it, I feel like laughing at my foolishness.

I am so glad that I stayed with it and didn’t give into the ego impulse to just curl up and pull the covers over my head. The ego does love to wallow in misery. I am especially grateful because a few moments ago I received a call from my son and he needed my love and comfort. He needed me to be there for him without becoming part of his problem and I couldn’t have done that if I had not used today’s lesson to pull myself out of my own funk.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 74 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 74 Insights

“There is no will but God’s.”

As I worked with practicing the exercise and remembering there is no will but God’s, I found my mind wandering to today’s ‘to do list.’ As my mind focused on that list, I became aware of tension building in me. I saw that this list represents conflicting goals. I think they all need to be done and there is not enough time. So I brought my mind back to, “There is no will but God’s.” Conflicting goals cannot be real. I am giving that list a meaning it does not have of itself.

As I step back from the importance I place on all these things and remind myself there is no will but God’s, I feel myself relax. My shoulder’s soften. My forehead is relaxed and smooth. I breathe easier.

From that perspective, I am open to Spirit’s guidance as to what is meaningful and what is not meaningful on the list. I am open to be guided, where to go, what to do, what to say and to whom. I work with the same list, but I follow a different Guide, the Guide Who knows a much bigger picture than I can possibly perceive. With this greater vision He leads me in every moment to be truly helpful and I move through the day in peace rather than stress and conflict.

With this practice, I know that in my doing, I am serving Love, supporting peace because I am letting go of conflict. Without the illusion of conflict, the reality of peace fills my world. It is my desire to remember in full that my will is God’s. Today is another day of practice in moving toward that awakening.

There is no will but God’s. In God’s Will there is no conflict. If I experience conflict, it is always between two illusions. Illusions are not true. Illusions are not real. As I recognize this, I see that conflict is not real. There is only God’s Will and in God’s Will there is no conflict. As I am willing to see conflict as an illusion and let it go, because it is merely meaningless, the peace of God returns to my awareness. I am filled with the peace of God.

Whenever I am tempted to believe that conflict is real, I can remind myself, “There is no will but God’s.” There is no conflict in God. What is not of God, is merely illusion. As I can remember this, it helps me let the idea of conflict go. I don’t fight with conflict, I don’t defend against conflict. I merely see that it is meaningless. I drop it. I let it go.

This is the true meaning of forgiveness. When I see conflict is merely meaningless — nothing — and let it go, it is replaced by peace. It is replaced by remembering that only God’s Will is real. There is only one Will. I am willing to rest in this remembering today. I am willing to see past illusions of conflict to the one truth that only God’s Will is real.

There is no will but God’s. An illusion is simply a thought of separation. That’s all. And it simply cannot be any part of my true Reality. As I release all mistaken perceptions of separation that I hold within the sleeping part of my mind, I am left with only what is real. I am left with perfect peace, perfect Love, perfect joy, perfect unity with All That is. This is my Father’s Will for me. It can be no other way. Being the extension of my Father, it is my will also. It can be no other way. Thank God.

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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 73 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 73 Insights

“I will there be light.”

In this lesson, Jesus is helping me to build the habit to see the Christ in everyone I meet or even think of. Jesus is helping me focus on the truth in everyone and not the idle wishes and grievances that come from the ego split mind. Seeing the idle wishes and grievances have cost me the awareness of What I am. Remembering that my real will is one with God’s Will brings me back into alignment with my true happiness, my true unlimited freedom.

Saying to myself all through the day, “I will there be light,” reminds me of my true will. This helps me behold the Light that reflects God’s Will and mine. I need this practice to free up my mind from the idle wishes and grievances of the ego thought system.

Idle wishes and grievances have imprisoned my will and have been the cause of my seeing darkness. I really do not want to continue seeing darkness. I will there be light. This is where I wake up to the light. The light has always been there. I am now training my mind to behold it.

This is a very important lesson for me. This is very important work. Beholding the Light brings me true happiness. Beholding the Light reflects my true will and helps me remember my true identity as part of God. I am determined to practice this consistently today.

This lesson is helping me disconnect from identification with the ego. It is strongly emphasizing that I will there be light and this will I share with God. Because I share this will with God, I also share God’s strength and power.

If this is what I am, then I cannot be the darkness, conflict, guilt and grievances that the ego shows me. What a relief that pain and fear and guilt is not me. I have believed it was me and have experienced it as though it were true. But belief does not make reality.

If I am experiencing anything but the peace and Light of God, I am seeing only a reflection of the ego thought system. The world I see gives me instant feedback, showing me what I believe about myself. If I see conflict, pain, unhappiness, lack of peace of any kind, I am identifying with the ego. If I see light, innocence and peace, I am identifying with my Self and seeing the reflection of the light that is my Self.

It’s very simple, always one or the other. All I need do is pay attention to the feedback and if I am not seeing peace, if I am not seeing the reflection of light, if I am not seeing innocence, I have identified with a false image — the ego thought system. Then it is time to remind myself, “This is not my will. I will there be light. Let me behold the world that reflects this light.”

I know that I am making real progress doing these lessons. It would be hard for me to put this progress into words that someone else would understand, but I can see it clearly. But, as I do each lesson it seems that something comes up that proves this lesson isn’t true or that I can’t do it.

For instance, I am going to buy my son a car since he is graduating from high school this year and will be going away to college. I have been doing the preliminary work; getting prices, checking on insurance. As I am reading today’s lesson, my mind is straying to my budget. The more it does, the more trouble I have reading the lesson, the more worried I become.

At one time I would have seen this as proof I really am an ego and I would never reach the lofty heights the Course says are my rightful place. At one time, I would have quit trying to do the lesson and told myself I would do it later when I was better able to concentrate. I would then have been free to indulge in some real fear.

I thought of it differently this morning. I realized that this isn’t proof I can’t see the light, it is a perfect circumstance to help me learn today’s lesson. I did my lesson right through the fear. I’m not going to say it was easy, but I stuck with it and did the best I could. When I felt like giving it up, I reminded myself that I was setting the course for my whole day with this lesson. I reminded myself that there was nothing I would do today that was as important as what I was attempting to accomplish right here. This lesson deserved all the effort I could put into it.

It is comforting to me to realize that when these seeming setbacks come up, they are really opportunities. They are a chance for me to make the daily lessons concrete in my mind, to see how I can use what I am learning to grow.

Today I can see clearly the ego game of idle wishes to manufacture the world I see — wanting this thing or that thing. Then manufacturing grievances based on judgments to maintain the world — not getting the thing and its someone’s fault or this thing is better or worse than someone else’s.

Getting idle wishes is junk food joy which then requires another fix or not getting it, in either case onto the next step in the ego’s tiresome game. This is darkness, suffering, anxiety and pain. This is not the real me. I will there be light. Darkness is not my will. I want salvation. I want true joy.

True joy is the creation that comes from the Light — being one with the Father. It does not come from the idle wants of the ego. True joy comes from listening to the sound of the Voice for God. It does not come from the voices of the ego aspects. True joy is found within. This is where salvation comes alive and ego dissolves. This is where we are resurrected. This is where peace radiates from the connection with the Source of Love within. It comes from the core of our Self like a beacon of light that shines out from within in all directions like a lighthouse.

I will that the Light shines. I am one with God in the willing for this to be. I am the Light that shines. This is my salvation. This is my Life. This is my true joy.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 72 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 72 Insights

“Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.”

This lesson is one of the clearest places in the Course where it demonstrates that the Course’s thought system is diametrically opposed to the thinking of this world. The thinking of the world reflects the projected belief that God made the body. Yet in this lesson it says that not only did He not make the body, but He could not, because He cannot create unlike Himself.

The statement that as long as the body is the center of our concept of ourselves, we are attacking God’s plan for salvation has been a real eye opener to me. I am seeing that thinking I am a body is an attempt to defy God and be what God did not create me to be.

Identifying myself with a body inevitably leads to grievances, for if I am a body, then everyone I see with the body’s eyes is also a body. What bodies do then exemplifies what they are in this thought system. Whether or not I am pleased with what they do, just believing they are a body, a separate identity, is an attack on the unity of God.

I may think I am not holding a grievance toward someone, but if I am regarding them in my mind as a separate identity, I am insisting that my brother is not what God created him to be. This belief in separate identities shows me that I am still holding a grievance against God.

The idea that I am not a body, that the body is outside me, that no one is a body, is far reaching. Take away the body and all the images associated with a body, the behavior, the personality characteristics, the sense of individuality, and what is left? The ego would say, “nothing.” God says, “everything.”

All that we are has nothing whatsoever to do with the body. To be without a body is our natural state. To be Love and nothing else is our natural state. To be unified with all that is real is our natural state.

I am coming to see that all my grievances, my upsets about anything that occurs, are just projections of the grievance against God that the body represents in the ego thought system. I want peace. I want happiness. To experience this, I must learn to see beyond the body to the Light that I share with all that is real, to the Light of God in all things. This is letting go of grievances. This is forgiveness. This is going through the clouds to the Light. Today I acknowledge that it is my will to see the Light in everyone and see it as part of me.

The Course tells me that when I join with the ego thought system, I am joining with the wish to replace God. The body is the ego’s principle tool to hide God from my awareness. The more I focus on the body and what the body does, the deeper I go into the ego’s thought system.

The ego’s plan for salvation is to forget Reality and replace it with a world where everything is separate and alone, made so by image making. This image making gives the appearance that individual bodies are all that is real. The bodies have individual stories of birth and death, of conflict and war with other bodies. The stories include bodies in competition with each other, winners and losers, success and loss.

God’s plan for salvation is to let go of all this. God’s plan for salvation centers on a return to the truth through the Holy Spirit, Which is in everyone’s mind. The Holy Spirit teaches that the body is not what I am, or ever was or ever will be. The Holy Spirit teaches me to remember that I am Spirit, the Spirit of Love. The Holy Spirit teaches me that everyone is that same Spirit of Love. The Holy Spirit teaches me that when I focus on individual personalities and make it real in my mind, this is the same as trying to replace God. It is holding a grievance against my true nature.

The Holy Spirit shows me, day by day, how to let this image making go. The Holy Spirit reminds me again and again that the stories of individuality are not true. The Holy Spirit helps me lay these stories down.

These stories always lead to conflict and can never bring true happiness. They never bring peace of mind. My salvation lies in being willing to lay the stories down. They were just a barrier to my remembering the truth that All is Spirit, the Spirit of Love. Love is One. Love is All. I need not try to replace It with false stories of separate identities. Herein lies my salvation. Herein lies my true and eternal happiness.

Have you ever had an argument with someone when that person wasn’t there to take part in it? That is what I did this morning. I imagined a whole conversation (both sides of it!) and then argued with the absent person and became angry with him. When I stopped and thought of what I was doing, I didn’t know whether to laugh or what.

It is not the first time I’ve done that, but this time it really made me aware of how illusory my grievances are. To make the whole situation even sillier, I was upsetting myself over an imagined $5.00. This made me realize how cheaply I am willing to sell my peace.

I took the situation to Holy Spirit and asked how I could have salvation instead. I was blessed with the realization that I wasn’t angry with the absent person at all. I was just using that person’s persona as a mirror which showed me my own faults. I was seeing in that person what I really recognized in myself. I insisted it was the other person’s faults because I didn’t want to accept that it is really me that I don’t like.

I also realized that my vehemence was caused by my fear of recognizing myself in this other person. I don’t want to be that kind of person. I would rather think he is like that, instead of me. I was then reassured that it is OK to recognize this behavior because this isn’t really me either. It is a behavior I might have identified with, but it isn’t me. Who I am is unassailable. What I sometimes act like is just something to change my mind about.

The greatest blessing in this is that now I don’t have to be afraid of what I think I am, so I don’t have to attack the person I imagine is showing me this picture of myself. Where there is no fear, there is no need for attack. I feel so blessed that Holy Spirit used this silly little incident to show me another way to live.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 71 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 71 Insights

“Only God’s plan for salvation will work.”

As I accept that only God’s plan for salvation will work, I experience great relief. It means that I can let go of all my planning, conniving, manipulating and efforting in trying to make the circumstance in which I feel safe and happy. What helps me accept God’s plan is to remember that His Will for me is perfect happiness. Not temporary, not partial, but perfect, whole, complete, eternal happiness.

The ego world is the result of believing that it is possible to have something better than perfect happiness. Put that way it seems absurd, but in rejecting God’s total Love, given equally to all, this is exactly what the ego thought system represents — I want to do it my way. Sooner or later we will all reach the point where we recognize “doing it my way” has not brought the happiness we want. This also helps bring about the relinquishment of our plan so that we come with an open mind to receive God’s plan. Today I am willing to take another step in letting go of my plans and receiving the perfect happiness offered by God’s plan for salvation.

When I ask for God’s plan for salvation, I hear: “The sight of Christ is all there is to see. The hand of Christ is all there is to hold. There is no journey but to walk with Him.” As I see past bodies to the Christ, I am doing my part in the salvation of the world. As I hold the hand of Christ, I am led Home and I see that all my brothers come with me. I do not go Home alone. I let my mind be retrained from focusing on bodies to seeing the Christ. Christ is all there is to see. That is God’s plan for salvation. The ego’s plan is to make the clouds, time and space, real so that I will not see the Light that is beyond the clouds.

As I practice daily letting go of the ego’s plan for salvation, I am quietly led to see the Christ where once I saw a body. This brings me eternal joy. This brings me eternal happiness. There really is no journey but to walk with Christ.

God’s plan helps me move past the clouds to the truth. Nothing has changed from God’s creation. No world of separation could ever have happened. Letting go of these false ideas brings me to the truth, brings me deep peace, brings me happiness that will never end. Only God’s plan for salvation will work.

As I meditate today on accepting only God’s plan for salvation, I see more clearly the absurdity of the ego thought system of separation. The ego would say, change anything and everything in the outer picture. Outer change does not work. Changing an outer picture while I still hold a thought of separation cannot work. There is no separation. Therefore, cause and effect are one. This is why change cannot work in the outer picture or in the ego thought system of separation.

By accepting God’s plan for salvation, I am accepting the inherent nature of my Being. In this state I am Love, I am Peace, I am Joy. Because cause and effect are one, the outer picture of the illusion will reflect this state of my true Beingness as I continue to allow greater and greater acceptance of my True Self. Because of the power of my mind endowed me by my Creator, this is the only way it works. Therefore only God’s plan for my salvation works. And so it is.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Listen to Lesson 70 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 70 Insights

“My salvation comes from me.”

As I focused on the thought that salvation is in me, and observed the thoughts that passed through my mind, it was easy for me to accept the “blame” for my reactions to my circumstances. It’s easy for me to see that it is my interpretation and my thoughts about anything that caused distress, dissatisfaction or discomfort of any kind. But I also observed that it seemed difficult for me to accept that I could be my own savior, let alone the salvation of the world.

Here I see the effect of the ego’s campaign to convince me of my powerlessness and unworthiness. The ego is perfectly happy for me to accept the blame for my pain. It is not threatened by that. In fact, it sees it as another tool to reinforce guilt. But the ego is threatened to the core by the possibility that I might accept that I have the power in my mind to change my thoughts and free myself from guilt. This is because were I to accept this power as mine, it would be the end of the ego. This is when it is important for me to remember that it is not the little image I have identified with as me that can bring me salvation. It is that image that I need to release myself from.

It is the strength of God in me which is in my true Self that has the power to release me from the limited image I have made. That Self knows Its unity with God, knows it shares Its worth with God. It is to that Self that I must turn. It will guide me with strength and certainty to the memory of what is true. As I learn to identify with and accept the thoughts of my true Self, the Thoughts I share with God, I free myself from the limited and powerless image that is not me. This is my salvation and the salvation of the world. The strength of God is in me. It is hidden only by clouds of false images that have no substance. My belief in those images is all that gives them power over me. But as I take the hand of my true Self and let this Self guide me, I pass through the clouds with ease and recognize that there is no power but the power I share with God. Only Love is real and I am free.

The answer to my whole awakening lies in this lesson. My heart sings as I read these words. The last 5 days I have had the opportunity to practice what is in this lesson and I am here to say that the process works perfectly. If I ever am sad or frustrated, the process of letting this be changed lies in my mind as I am willing to go to the real Source for the answer. It may take me a little “time.” I may have to sleep on it. But when I am willing to take each perceived problem to the Holy Spirit, it works every time. My joy and confidence that every problem is solved by the Holy Spirit is reinforced.

The solution for any problem does not lie outside me. If the Holy Spirit brought the work to be done, the Holy Spirit will show me how it can be done. The Holy Spirit knows time management very well. Nothing can stop Holy Spirit’s plan if I let it. Everything becomes simple. My mind is filled with joy and excitement. The old ideas disappear when the Light gets turned on. If I focus on the clouds, I get clouds. If I focus on letting my true Self lead me past the clouds to the Light, that is what I get.

It’s such a wonderful thing to have the answer right in my own mind. Sometimes it may take me a day to get there, but as soon as I am willing to open to the Light, the Light is there. It is What I am. There is great power in the Light. There is great peace, great comfort, great Love, great joy. This lesson encapsulates the process that heals my mind in every situation. It is so simple. I am glad I have the opportunity to practice it again today. And it is always there right in my mind as I am willing to go to that place in my mind and let my mind be healed.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 69 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 69 Insights

“My grievances hide the light of the world in me.”

Making separation real hides the Light of our oneness from my awareness. Making separation real is a grievance, symbolized by the clouds. If I focus on the clouds, I do not see past them. If I am willing to pass by the clouds and be led to the Light, the Light is what I will find.

This is my most important function, my only function. I need to hear the truth about myself and see past the veil of darkness that keeps the Light concealed as frequently as possible. As I accept the Light, I remember that all is well and there are no problems, only healing solutions. There is no mad dash to accomplish this or that out of a sense of lack.

In this Light, I feel carried. What seemed complicated before becomes simple. My priorities get rearranged. Only Love matters. Only what God created matters, because only what God created is real. The stillness in God’s Light is like healing balm to my mind. I am willing to rest in God’s Light today and let all my false ideas, my grievances, disappear in the Light of God. I am willing to remember that in reality, I rest in God.

If something stands between me and the Light, I cannot see the Light. I am in the shadows. Grievances stand between me and the Light that is the truth of What I am. When I hold grievances, I believe I am in the shadows, in darkness. The “larger” and more intense my belief is in the grievance, the darker it appears to be. My vision is more and more obscured. The deeper the shadow, the more likely I am to make up images to fill the shadows. Fear grows and the Light seems more and more distant, less and less real. It is a self feeding cycle of image making and fear.

All this is the effect of a single grievance of not being satisfied with God’s gift of all His Love, all of Himself. Yet, as dark as it may seem, there is no more substance to what stands between me and the Light than clouds of mist. I reach out my hand to touch the cloud and it offers no resistance. I can pass through it without effort. All that holds me back is fear of not knowing what lies beyond the clouds. I imagine all kinds of images to fill that seeming unknown. Being based on the past and the belief in separation, these images are fearful. But they are not true.

Gratefully I have been given a Guide Who knows the way through the clouds, Who knows that what lies beyond the clouds is joy, complete serenity and limitless Love. This Guide does not believe the images I make up in my mind. I take His hand, which He offers with gentleness and compassion. I feel Its strength and support. I don’t feel so alone. I have a Friend Who knows the way through the veil of fear. As I hold His hand, He gently, patiently guides me through the mist. The darkness fades and the Light grows stronger.

I feel joy welling up in my heart. My reluctance to follow diminishes and I become more and more eager to follow His lead and to walk beside Him in confidence. The clouds seem to close in behind me as I reach toward the Light. Yet what is really happening is that the clouds are being recognized for the nothingness that they are. They no longer have any power over me. They are behind me and forgotten. I have reached the Light where I know my perfect safety and there I meet my brother, who is one with me. We join in the Light and our hearts sing with joy, for together, we are free. In great gratitude we embrace the Light and feel its loving embrace. We are Home.

When I did the lesson I experienced the sense of being lifted up and carried ahead. I could see the many grievances rush by me. Then I kind of panicked. It all seemed to be happening so fast. Things slowed down and I thought about what I wanted. I started moving forward again and noticed that when I thought about some things, like war, the clouds seemed darker and thicker. But still, no more substantial. Finally, I felt I was near the border between the clouds and the light and felt stuck. I don’t know if I have ever been completely free of grievances and couldn’t imagine what to expect.

I imagined Jesus holding my hand and being surrounded by angels. When I finally stepped into the circle of light, I saw so many of those I held grievances against come join me in the light. I don’t know how to describe what that felt like. I still feel like the day is brighter, the world more beautiful. I feel light and free. It’s amazing!

As I moved through the clouds of my own mind, I was aware that my ego created them. I had brief periods of light and then back to clouds. I came to the place where clouds were fewer and smaller. Then I was altogether in the Light. I heard the words “I am Light in the Light.” I felt healed. I felt safe. I could see that the Light is shining on me even when I am in the clouds, but I am not aware and so the Light cannot shine through me. Light wants to shine through me.

If we keep moving through ego resistance, we do get to the Light. Clouds are only clouds, and we can begin to move through them more easily because we prefer to be in the Light. We choose Light over ego. All are in the Light with me, but I must be in the Light to see this. The only freedom is in the Light. Ego is like a prison. Only Love heals. Love loves all.

I prefer the Light. I prefer freedom. I choose the Light today. I choose to let It shine through me to see my brothers and sisters with me.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Listen to Lesson 68 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 68 Insights

“Love holds no grievances.”

I am learning to remember that I am Love and nothing else. I am learning to remember that everyone is Love and nothing else. I am learning that forgetting that I am Love or that everyone is Love is holding a grievance. Forgetting my Identity as Love is the same as refusing to let Love come into my awareness and choosing to make something other than Love real.

In this lesson Jesus is helping me realize that when I make the body real by seeing myself as a body, I am holding a grievance against God. Jesus wants me to realize what this does to my mind. He wants me to realize how this ‘forgetting’ creates a sense of fear and not being safe. He wants me to realize how this ‘forgetting’ creates a sense of guilt and lack of peace and happiness.

He wants me to be happy. He wants me to return to the awareness of the truth of Love’s Presence, which is all that is real. He wants to help me move past the clouds of separation, of belief in separate bodies, to the truth that only Love is real. He is guiding me to forgive, or let go of my replacement for my true Identity as Love.

As I learn to see everyone as my dearest Friend, this helps me to know that I am perfectly safe and still reside in Love. I have not left Love, even though I have chosen to ‘forget’ Love awhile. I am so grateful for these constant reminders of the truth about my Self, which includes All That Is. I am grateful to be given a pathway that helps me let go of grievances, that I may awaken to my one Self.

Any time I am not supremely happy, I am holding a grievance. I have judged against what is and want it to be different. Beneath all the judgments that come up in this world of form is the core judgment against God.

This world is the effect of deciding that God’s gift of all of His Love is not enough, that somehow I would be happier with something else. This is our core grievance against God, against Love. We spend our lives searching for Love, yet we are unwilling to accept It as It is.

This is why it is so important that I recognize that Love holds no grievances. When I get this and accept it, I will experience the joy of God. I will feel the safety that comes with knowing that harm is impossible.

Once in a while I do a big spring cleaning on my living space. I toss out what doesn’t fit, doesn’t suit, doesn’t work,everything I can live without. I am left with a feeling of satisfaction at the clean, airy, light space I have made.

That is what this lesson feels like. I feel like placing vases of bright spring flowers in my mind to celebrate a good job done. The thing about spring cleaning is that I have to repeat it every few months as the clutter starts to re-accumulate. I don’t know where it comes from. Sometimes I could swear it grows in the night as I sleep.

It seems to be the same with grievances. Even as I stand admiring the great bright space I have created as I forgave each grievance, I sense grievances try to skitter past my attention to once again take up residence in my mind. The little ones come first, I am sure, hoping I won’t recognize them as the destructive forces they are because they don’t seem important. Later, the bigger grievances, the ugly ones and the scary too, will return to the home I have offered them for so long.

How to make them feel unwelcome here? I will remain vigilant today and try to catch each thought and turn it back at the door. I will look to Holy Spirit to help me. The text says,“Your newborn purpose is nursed by angels, cherished by the Holy Spirit and protected by God Himself.” How can I fail?

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Listen to Lesson 67 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 67 Insights

“Love created me like itself.”

The sentences that stand out to me today in this lesson are, “We are trying today to undo your definition of God and replace it with His Own. We are also trying to emphasize that you are part of His definition of Himself.” Our job today as we work with applying this lesson is to think about the Truth about ourselves and realize our unchangeable nature as Love.

This means I need to look at all the thoughts that conflict with my unchangeable nature and see that they are false ideas. This lesson invites me to accept the holy instant, where I recognize my true nature is outside of time and space. This lesson invites me to practice accepting my Self instead of the limited, individual self I thought I was.

As I repeat today’s lesson in my mind, “Love created me like Itself,” I feel it flow through me like healing waters. Calmness grows stronger. I feel myself relax and soften. My mind becomes more at ease. The sometimes frantic attempts to plan for my safety diminishes. My sense of being held in the comfort of God’s loving arms grows stronger. I know that I can relax now. The loving Comforter has brought me a message of comfort as it reminds me that Love created me like Itself.

Thoughts of needing to be accepted or approved of, of needing to do anything to be OK in any way fade away in the presence of the thought, “Love created me like Itself.” Guilt is gone, replaced by joy. There is a growing desire to embrace everything and everyone with Love.

As I accept this idea as the truth, everything I look upon shines in the Love of God and I see my Self in everything. Differences fade away. Only the Light of Love remains. My heart overflows with joy in the recognition of my Self as Who I am. I am at peace. Gratitude fills me.

Today’s lesson is very important in my mind healing process. Love created me like Itself. Love created everyone like Itself. All is Love. There are no differences, no changes. Eternal Love is always extending itself. There is only one Mind of Love. Each time I practice remembering this today, I am reminded about the truth of my Identity and everyone’s Identity.

Love is always present because Love is all there is. Love does not turn on and off. Love is changeless and eternal. This lesson helps me let go of all the false ideas I have believed in. It helps me remember the truth behind the appearances of differences, behind the world of time and space. As I remember the truth, I am in peace, I am in joy. All is well.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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ACIM Workbook Lesson 66 Insights

“My happiness and my function are one.”

Truly accepting that God has given me happiness and that my function is happiness is the release into pure joy. I can see why he calls this lesson a giant stride in returning Home. If I truly accepted this without reservation, then I would make only one choice, to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead in every instant.

If there is any resistance to the Holy Spirit’s Voice, it is because some part of my mind believes that God does not want my happiness. There is some form of belief that I must actually give up my happiness to follow the Holy Spirit’s direction. This means that in some part of my mind, I believe that happiness can be found in some other place than God. This is the lie the ego teaches over and over. It offers myriad forms to tempt me into believing they offer some happiness. Yet being solely illusion, they really offer only nothing. When I resist Holy Spirit’s lead, I am choosing nothing over everything, limitation over limitless joy.

I am deeply grateful for the Course, which is helping me to recognize the ego’s illusions for the nothingness they are and to see the joy that God is offering me in every instant, since before time began and after time is over. This is truly a lesson of joy. I choose to accept His gift today. I rest in gratitude.

God is Love. God is peace. God is joy. God is happiness. All that is real is an extension of God, one with God, unchanged. God is formless Love, unlimited by time or space. We all are formless Love, changeless, unlimited by time or space. What is not God or Love is illusion — false stories, dreaming. Dreams can never be real. The only thing to do with dreams is to let them go because they are nothing. To heal we don’t fight false stories, we see their nothingness. And as the false stories are laid down, which are barriers to remembering Love, what is true and real is there. It has always been there and always will be there. It is God. It is Love. It is happiness.

As I lay down dreams, see their nothingness, I awaken to what has always been and see that the dreams never were — just silly, silly stories. My function is to remember my true Identity, which is Love, which is happiness, which is peace. My function and my happiness are one. I experience my function as I open to holy instants, as I open to what is eternally real and true. That is my joy now, letting the Holy Spirit show me the difference between the real and the unreal, letting the Holy Spirit show me that the unreal stories could never bring me happiness. It is only as I open to the Holy Spirit that I am led to true and lasting eternal happiness, my true Identity as Love and nothing else.

There is great joy in knowing my happiness and my function are one. My experience of happiness is my experience of God, of Love. This occurs for me in both the physical and nonphysical realities I perceive. In other words, I can extend happiness and Love through my thoughts. I can also experience complete happiness in the beauty of a setting sun or the kind words I exchange with my neighbor. In both “realities” are the extension of Love. This is my function. This is my happiness. Great peace, great joy are my experience as I lay down any thought of separation and join in any form with the one Mind of Love in All.

God is fun. God is truly desirable, exciting. To think otherwise is to deceive myself. My relationship with God can only engender that which ignites the vitality within me. I no longer blame the unhappiness I pretend to have on God. If in any moment I find dullness, oppression, boredom, stress, disappointment about myself, I accept that it is because I think that about God.

God loves me so much. I know because God touches me with a joy that I understand. As I experience the kind of joy that I understand, I open up to more joy. I relate to higher levels of joy in this process. Never again will I convince myself that waking up with the Holy Spirit is about Self denial. My Self already is and the Holy Spirit speaks to me through that Self and invites me Home on a road of celebration and healing that does not understand sacrifice.

That is how I can devote my life to healing in the Holy Spirit. I have truly been touched by the Love of God, the compassion, the intimacy, the friendship. As I have let myself be touched so profoundly, I am inspired to love in a wondrous way that I once thought was unimaginable. I am grateful for the freedom and the power God has given me to share with Him.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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