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 have already chosen what You will.”

The ego would have me believe that to “yield” to God’s Will is a sacrifice. Is it a sacrifice to be safe, untroubled and serene and filled with endless joy? That’s what the ego would have me believe. The ego wants me to believe that what it offers is worth more than this. How could this be? In truth it cannot. But if I am willing to accept illusions in place of truth, then I am giving illusions greater value.

The “best” that the ego can offer is specialness, which it calls love. It directs us to look for specialness in myriad ways. We look for it in relationships. We look for it in having the right clothes or car, house or job. We look for it in money or in having a piece of paper that honors our accomplishment or a trophy that says we are better than anyone else at something.

Yet all these things are always temporary. All things in this world begin to decay the moment they are made. A relationship with another body is always at risk because that other body can walk away, misbehave or die. Can this be worth more than eternal joy, safety and peace? We have thought it was, blindly following the ego’s direction.

The Course is teaching us to recognize we have been mistaken. It is showing us that the baubles and shiny trinkets of this world have no value. Our value lies in our unity with our Creator. Our value lies in the Love that we already are. We do not need to strive for value, for it is already ours. We need only recognize it. Believing that the thought system of the ego is our home, we need help from outside the thought system to recognize its falsity. By the grace of God, we have that Help — the Holy Spirit in our minds.

It seems that we need to choose the Will of God, but in reality we need only accept what already is ours. It is not our will to wander endlessly, searching for value, searching for love. It is our will to be the Love we were created to be. By doing this, we accept the safety, the serenity and the eternal joy that are characteristics of Love.

Since I have believed the illusions of this world were real, I need help with recognizing them for what they are. Thus I need to maintain the practice of taking all my thoughts to the Holy Spirit for His interpretation. With this practice and willingness I will gradually recognize what is valuable and what is valueless.

Today I will practice again taking my thoughts to the Holy Spirit with an open mind so I can receive the blessing of His interpretation. He will show me the Love beyond the veils of illusion and He will respond with Love to my calls for Love and teach me to do the same for my brothers. Thus will I learn that Love is always the answer in every situation. And I give thanks.


Trying to be what I am not will never work. Trying to make up something other than What I am is just a hopeless dream. It is time to let go of the dream. It is time to realize that I never could change my Identity, for I am God’s Will. It is time to wake up to the truth that nothing has happened but God’s Will. Dreams of individuality and competition are not God’s Will and therefore are not my will. God’s Will cannot change, therefore I cannot change.

Today it is my opportunity to recognize this truth as I go through my day. Today it is my opportunity to recognize the truth and lay illusions down. Today it is my opportunity to see wholeness where I once saw separation. Today it is my opportunity to recognize the illusions of separation for what they are. This false will could never be true, could never be real. Today it is my opportunity to recognize that only the truth is true and nothing else is true. It is time that I wake up to reality.


Thanks for talking about specialness. Since I started doing the Pathways course 905: Special Relationships vs. Holy Relationships, I am understanding specialness more, but my whole world is built on the idea of specialness and I appreciate the clear description you gave above. Specialness is so pervasive in my life (and sometimes so in very subtle ways) that I find it helpful to look at it from different directions. I mostly find it helpful to look at frequently. I think awareness is my best tactic here.

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