Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Reverse the Thinking of the World Entirely


Robert:
  Today we read the section on faithfulness in the Manual for Teachers. What stood out to me was, “To give up all problems to one Answer is to reverse the thinking of the world entirely.” This is the ultimate goal of awakening. It is why diligent mindfulness is an essential practice to be aware of when I am attempting to solve problems on my own and make the world the way I think it should be.

Thinking I am on my own is the root problem. It plays out in myriad ways in my life experience. Mistakes happen. Things seem to get lost or misplaced. All these kinds of experiences are just outer manifestations or effects of an inner decision to believe I am alone and on my own. The moment I am willing to accept my Self and What I am, all these effects will disappear. In oneness nothing can be misplaced. Nothing can be lost. There can be no harm because there is no other to harm or cause harm.

Clearly this is not what I experience in this dream I call my life. But the assurance is there that I can have this experience. I just need to be willing to give up the wish to be on my own. So the Course is patiently bringing to my attention the things that show I am indeed wishing to be on my own. It seemed that being on my own would be interesting and intriguing and fun. I could be the master of my universe and play God. But believing I am separate from God means I am separate from all power. So it becomes like a 90 pound weakling trying to battle against the world that seems to be outside. The result is a lot of frustration, fear and pain.

The Course is helping me see that this is the effect of wishing to be separate and alone. It is helping me stop deceiving myself that there is any value in being on my own and alone. Gradually I am more and more willing to bring problems to the one Answer. The fact that I still experience the effects of separation thinking shows that I still have areas in my thoughts that I reserve for myself alone. But that’s okay. I am learning and I am teachable.

The Holy Spirit has complete trust that I will let go of my wish to be separate. And as it said in the section on Patience in the Manual for Teachers, “Patience is natural for those who trust.” So I have gratitude for when I have been willing to give a problem to the Holy Spirit for Him to solve and I am willing to practice doing it more. The goal of Heaven is worth the effort.



Holy Spirit through Mary:
  Sometimes you trip yourself up by trying too hard. You get into a place of efforting and pushing. When you notice that occurring, practice stepping back. Practice joining with Me. Let go of what you think you know about whatever you are doing or thinking. Move into a place of letting go and letting God. Just stop. Take a deep breath and leave a clear and open space in your mind for God’s peace to enter. Let your mind soak in this peace. Let it wash that which is not helpful away. Let it clean the dark places of your mind. Let peace do its healing work. Give your mind a rest. Surrender to mind healing. Let the inner Comforter bring you to a place of clarity and understanding. In this state of mind, what is needed in the moment will show up in your mind. Peace and understanding go together and are never found alone.

With every “problem” that shows up in your life, practice this stepping back. Practice getting off the ego’s merry-go-round and joining with Me a while. When you are willing to join with Me, you will receive a change of mind. The confusion will clear. As you are willing to accept peace instead of the ego’s mindless thoughts, you will be shown in the moment how to be truly helpful. You will receive clarity and certainty. Practice today and everyday. It is the way you return to your right mind, your true Self.

© 2008, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Let Yourself Feel Deep Peace


Holy Spirit through Mary:
  Let today be a gentle day by letting in the thought of gentleness. The feeling of gentleness will come with it. Let today be a peaceful day by letting in the Holy Spirit’s gift of peace. Give yourself the time to fully receive the gift of peace. Allow yourself the time to feel Holy Spirit’s peace fully. Let it sink in deeply.

Allow yourself to feel deep peace. Let it flow through every tired place to give you deep rest. Let it bring you to a place where your mind is truly quiet. Then continue to let deep peace lead you through your day. This is how you step back and let the Holy Spirit lead the way. This is how true inspiration comes in how to be truly helpful in each moment.

Let your receiving of the gift of peace be like a mental “car wash,” washing away all untrue thoughts. You want to return to your Self. This is how to do it. You have many layers of egoic thinking that you are still hanging on to. As you devote your time to accepting Holy Spirit’s gift of peace, gradually these layers of habitual thinking are washed away. Then you realize that your true Self was there all along. Allowing peace to do its cleansing work is the means by which you come Home. How long it takes is up to you. Every moment you are choosing between the conflicting thoughts of the ego and the peaceful thoughts of the Holy Spirit.

Some days you may take three steps forward and two steps back. The Holy Spirit has infinite patience and He is always there to fill your mind with peace as you are willing to lay down the heavy burden of the ego thought system. With empty hands you now can receive the Holy Spirit’s gift of peace as you are willing.

Let today be a day of gentleness and peace. Practice stepping back and welcoming the peace and gentleness of the Holy Spirit.


Holy Spirit through Robert:
  Rest in Me. Unrest is the effect of defending against your Self, against Love. Rest in Me. Rest in Love. We are the same. Rest comes with accepting your Self as you were created. Rest comes with accepting God’s eternal, changeless gift of Himself. To see another as different from you disturbs your rest because it is unnatural and a defense against your Self.

The body’s eyes can only show you differences. When you believe what the body’s eyes show you, you will not find rest. Rest comes with recognizing that you are one with all that is real. There is nothing else. Do not believe the thoughts that pass through your mind. While you seem to be in a body seeing through the body’s eyes, there seem to be all manner of disturbances to your peace. The thoughts you are aware of are part of the world of the body and separate images. They are not true.

The practice of stepping back from every thought, every image the body shows you, and asking Me to interpret on your behalf will help you disconnect from your identification with a false image of yourself. With My help, every image, every event you seem to experience, will be used to undo the ego. But if you close your mind to Me, these events and images strengthen your identification with the ego. I cannot choose to step back for you. That is a decision you must make. The moment you are willing to question a thought or an image and open to My perception, My help is yours. My help is offered in every moment, but you must open yourself to accept it.

Let me be your Friend. Walk with Me. Bring all your troubled thoughts to me and I will give you rest. In time, this practice will bring you to a full recognition that we are One and the same. We are one Self, united with our Creator. We are Love and nothing else. I walk with you in perfect happiness and peace. Let Me share My happiness with you and rest in My peace.

© 2008, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The World Is a Defense Against Remembering Love


Mary:
  I really relate to Myron’s posting about resistance to remembering the truth. It seems like I have so many excuses, so many things “happening” in my life that need attention. But the truth is the world is a defense against remembering Love and Love’s oneness.

Separation still seems so real and it only seems real because of my resistance to allowing the truth to return to my mind. In truth there is nothing but Love’s Oneness. There is no form. There is no world, there are no differences. There is no time. It’s all made up as a defense against God’s eternal Love. It seems like I have so many good excuses not to remember that only Love is there.

Forgiveness, or handing over all these thoughts that seem to be a steady flow to the Holy Spirit to be undone, in truth is my only function while I am still believing in dreams. Today is another opportunity for me to forgive or let go of my grip on the “reality” of these dreams. Only by handing all these thoughts over to the Holy Spirit and not deciding what anything means on my own will peace return to my mind.

There will still be things “to do,” but with Holy Spirit I won’t take this world so seriously. I will feel lighthearted and happy instead of heavyhearted and unsafe. I will experience peace instead of worrying about how all the details will be accomplished. As I am willing to go to the Holy Spirit with all things, not reserving some problems to solve on my own, I will be relieved of the heavy burden that comes with joining with the ego thoughts of separation. Again today, I have a choice. Do I want to be right or happy? Am I willing to join with the Holy Spirit all through the day? The level of peace I feel will let me know how much I am joining with Holy Spirit.



Robert:
  Every cause has an effect. This is true in the oneness of Heaven as well as in the dream of separation. This week it appeared that the effects of someone else’s choices was affecting me. Immediately the ego interpreted that as me being a victim of someone else, bringing up defensiveness and irritation.

My job as part of the atonement is to follow Holy Spirit’s lead in everything. When I make judgments and interpretations about what a situation or someone’s behavior means on my own, I am not following Holy Spirit. My judgments interfere with my willingness to receive Holy Spirit’s guidance. When I align with the ego thought system, I want to correct someone else’s ways, point out their errors or get them out of my life like I would discard a used tissue. This is not a happy way to be and definitely not peaceful. From the perspective of the dream it seems like a balancing act between seeing past form and behavior to the reality of Love or enabling what appears to be destructive behavior.

In looking back at my life I see that I have made choices that brought me pain, fear or unhappiness. The Holy Spirit did not try to soften the pain, fear or unhappiness. They were simply the effect of my choices. These effects eventually motivated me to find a better way. So while I wallowed in ego driven choices, the Holy Spirit continued to see my innocence and know that in truth I had not changed my reality. The Holy Spirit did not give up on me but remained ever present, ready and willing to offer help when there was a willingness to receive it.

The Holy Spirit gives help that is truly helpful and it doesn’t always look the way I would like the help to look. I may have wanted to be happy while still making choices that denied the Love that I am. Were the Holy Spirit to have softened the unhappy consequences of my choices, I would have thought I could keep making ego driven choices and be happy. In Love, the Holy Spirit let the consequences be as they were so that I could learn that I did not want what I thought I valued. This brought me to willingness to let go of valuing what brought the unhappiness and learn from Holy Spirit where my true happiness lies.

This brings me back to the situation where I perceived someone’s choices being self-destructive. It is not my job to soften the consequences of anyone’s choices. It is my job to follow Holy Spirit’s guidance in every moment. To do this truly, I must clear my mind of all judgments. I must see neither guilt to be punished nor harm to be defended against. In other words, I must remove my barriers to Love and the Holy Spirit will guide me to be truly helpful. To the ego the guidance may appear to not be compassionate. But that is simply because the ego confuses sympathy with empathy. The ego always looks at form and disregards content.

It is not my concern what someone else thinks of my choices and decisions. It is my concern to be vigilant to remove all barriers to Love and let the Holy Spirit express through me in forms in this world that are truly helpful. So today is another day to practice vigilance for all judgments and offer them to the Holy Spirit. I am willing to open my mind to His Light so that the faulty basis for judgment can be illuminated and shined away. Then I can be truly helpful.

© 2008, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Will I Allow Myself to Remember the Truth Today?


Mary:
  Will I allow myself to remember the truth today? Or, will I get lost in illusions, deciding what things mean on my own? Today, will I step back and let the Holy Spirit lead me or will I think that I really am a separate person with a separate mind and body and interests of my own?

Today I have a choice. Lesson 152 tells me the power of decision is my own. Either I will open my mind to the truth that I am Love’s extension, or I will think that I am a body that is vulnerable in a world of time and space. Either I will give up self deceptions or keep them. Today I have another opportunity to let go of the insanity of the ego… let go of thinking that a world of separation is real.

In Lesson 152 I am given a helpful way to let my mind be healed today: “In patience wait for Him throughout the day, and hourly invite Him with the words with which the day began, concluding it with this same invitation to your Self. God’s Voice will answer, for He speaks for you and for your Father. He will substitute the peace of God for all your frantic thoughts, the truth of God for self deceptions, and God’s Son for your illusions of yourself. (ACIM W-pI.152.12)

Reading this lesson this morning really helped me with all the concerns I had that were swirling in my mind. I realize now that I have a choice. I can worry about all the things that don’t seem to be going like I think they should. Or I can step back in trust and allow the truth that only Love is real to return to my mind.

I can hand over my current story to the Holy Spirit and let the Light of truth shine away the darkness in my mind. I can allow the peace of God to fill in the empty space as I allow my mind to be cleaned of all false ideas. Today I have a choice. I will know which choice I have made by the level of peace and happiness I feel. The power of decision is my own. Am I willing to be right or happy?



Robert:
  With the belief in being separate comes the belief in vulnerability and weakness. The body is the chief instrument for making separation appear real and seems to demonstrate weakness in many ways. It is also the principle target for the projection of guilt. And guilt demands punishment so the body experiences pain in many forms. That is what the belief in separation thinks the body is for.

But the body can be given a new purpose. Given to the Holy Spirit, the body’s purpose becomes to be an instrument of forgiveness and extension of Love in the world of form. Since form has no meaning of its own, we each give forms our own meaning. So I cannot look at a form and think I know what it means for anyone else. That means I cannot decide on my own what form will serve as an expression of Love. But the Holy Spirit knows.

I need only be willing to stay in peace and follow the Holy Spirit’s lead in every moment. The Holy Spirit, my Self, will guide me to use form in the world as a means for healing and forgiveness. This only happens if I make no decisions on my own. When I accept the power of decision as my own it does not mean I decide on my own what everything means. It means I choose my Self instead of the thought of separation. From that choice the extension of Love is inevitable because my Self, our Self, is Love and can only extend Love.

Today I will be vigilant to decide for the one Self that joins us all in perfect happiness.

© 2008, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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In My Defenselessness My Safety Lies


Mary:
  This morning we were guided to reread ACIM Lesson 153, “In My Defenselessness My Safety Lies.” It was the perfect lesson to help me see where I am placing defenses that I had not recognized.

The realtor told us that we needed to have the facilities ready for showing by June 1st or at the latest June 15th. I am now recognizing that I have used this “deadline” as a goal instead of Holy Spirit’s goal of making choosing peace prominent in my mind. This property will sell when the time is right. Putting pressure on ourselves to make this deadline is not helpful.

Where am I placing my trust? Am I placing my trust in the Holy Spirit or on a deadline set by the realtor? Once more, I am willing to step back and let all the concerns in my mind be washed away by the Holy Spirit. I am willing to accept Holy Spirit’s gift of peace. I choose to let go of control. I choose to let God be my strength.

This morning I choose to allow the Holy Spirit to gently wash away all the fear thoughts in my mind. I allow my mind to purified of the ego’s insane ideas. I let myself remember that in truth, God is. Love is. There is nothing else.

I am in Heaven with all my brothers. This truth alone is eternal. I will let myself remember the truth today. Deciding anything on my own just brings more fear and guilt. Today is a day of practice. I will practice letting Holy Spirit guide my mind. I will give all those fearful thoughts that there is not enough time and remember that the Holy Spirit knows better than I do. Everything is in perfect order. Today is a day of letting all thoughts that are not of the Holy Spirit go. In my defenselessness my safety lies.


Robert:
  This lesson reminded me how engrained my tendency is to plan on my own. I seem to be more willing to listen to Holy Spirit’s guidance for grand plans. But I want to fill in the details. But I see that this is just a subtle way of distracting myself with tangents that lead away from and delay Holy Spirit’s plans. It is a way of not relinquishing control. I tell myself I am following Holy Spirit’s lead while I follow the diversion of the “details” I have overlaid on His lead.

If I truly want to follow Holy Spirit’s lead, I cannot reserve some of the planning for myself. When I plan on my own, I am defending my separateness, diligently trying to make it real. This could never be Holy Spirit’s plan. The total relinquishment of control is terrifying to the ego because it is very clear that this would be its end. But the total relinquishment of control to Holy Spirit’s guidance is actually the means to reach perfect happiness. It is the way Home.

So today I will practice letting Holy Spirit sweat the small stuff, remembering it’s all small stuff.

© 2008, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Refuse to Give the Insanity of Separation a Home


Robert:
  The ego loves to classify and categorize and label everything. This is how it maintains the illusion of differences and separation. The Course tells us that sickness is a form of specialness. We can distinguish ourselves from others by appearing to be sick. It does not matter whether the sickness is classified as mental or physical, it is still a badge of distinction that supports belief in separation. As long a we believe in separation, our thoughts will be disordered. For the ego’s world is a world of insanity.

As long as I look upon my brother as different from me, though I appear to be more calm and peaceful, I cannot claim to be sane while calling my brother insane. The very distinction signifies my belief in differences and separation.

My job in every moment is to not believe the thoughts that come through my mind, but offer each one to the Holy Spirit and trust His interpretation of every thought. His classification of every thought is very simple. It is either real or unreal, Love or a call for love. The practice of offering every thought to the Holy Spirit for His interpretation and use is a means for waking up and remembering my Home in the oneness of God’s Love. In that remembrance, with Holy Spirit’s help, I see every brother as one with me. We are one and the same Self.

Today I dedicate to the practice of following the Holy Spirit’s lead in all my thoughts and actions. I am willing to follow. Amen



Holy Spirit through Mary:
  Behind every form that you see in this world of separate forms, behind every image of separation, there is Love. Behind every false idea of separate, individual identities, there is only Love. With all the insane thoughts of separation that come through your mind today, instead of believing them, practice handing them over to the Holy Spirit, where they will be undone. Allow the Holy Spirit to show you the difference between the real and the unreal.

Refuse to give insanity a home in your mind today. Continuing to believe in the insanity just brings more insanity. Let today be a practice in allowing the truth to enter your mind. Do you want to be right or happy? Allow time to be used for the purpose of letting go of the dream of separation. Let today be a practice in returning to the truth that there is only Love. Love is. God is. There is nothing else. This alone is sanity.

© 2008, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Getting Off the Ego’s Merry-Go-Round


Mary:
  This morning we were led to read the first section of the ACIM Text, chapter 15, “The Two Uses of Time.” The whole chapter is about how to allow the holy instant to return to our awareness. When I get caught up in time, I lose the peace which is always present. It is only when I am willing to get off the ego’s merry-go-round of time a space that I am brought to a place of remembering the changelessness of my true nature. I am in Heaven now and so are you.

Letting this truth return to my mind brings me to that place of perfect calm and quiet. The Holy Spirit helps me remember that this is what is true always. The Holy Spirit helps me remember that all the changes that seem to occur in time are a trick. Belief in time brings fear and anxiety.

Just recently I found myself thinking that we would not have this building ready in time to be sold in a “timely” manner. I see now that this is just part of the ego’s thought system, and I can let it go. In reality I am eternally in Heaven, as is everyone. Heaven is in the present moment. My favorite quote from this section is, “Take this very instant, now, and think of it as all there is of time. Nothing can reach you here out of the past, and it is here that you are completely absolved, completely free and wholly without condemnation. From this holy instant wherein holiness was born again you will go forth in time without fear, and with no sense of change with time. Time is inconceivable without change, yet holiness does not change.” (T-15.I.9:5-7,10:1-2)

This is my lesson now. In the dream it appears that much change is occurring. It appears that we are moving from one location to another. In truth, we are all the same Love and Love is changeless. With all the activity that moving engenders, I know that my job is to consistently remember to step back and allow the Holy Spirit to remind me of the truth of what and where I really am right now.

This consistent practice is all important. Without this practice, I can easily get lost in time. Getting lost in time is filled with fear and anxiety. The habit of consistently stepping back and choosing peace is my first step in allowing the Holy Spirit to return me to the truth of where I really am now. So consistently remembering to choose peace is my life line to remembering what is really important. Today I am willing to strengthen that practice.



Robert:
  When I step back and let go of trying to make decisions or interpret anything on my own, I feel a sense of calm assurance. There is a sense of confidence that all is in perfect order. I am in peace and I know that I rest in God. I trust that the future in this world of time is in Holy Spirit’s hands and will always bring me closer to full remembrance that I am at Home in Heaven. There is an inner feeling that in truth, I have no cares, no worries, no anxieties. I can be perfectly calm and quiet all the time.

I am grateful for the moments when I am able to accept this experience. The more I practice stepping back and putting Holy Spirit in the lead, the more I will have this blessed feeling. When I have completely relinquished all identification with the ego thought system, this feeling will be a constant state. It is worth the vigilance of mindfulness to recognize when I have tried to take control again and step back. I would step back and let Him lead the way.

© 2008, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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