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.

“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.

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