Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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From Fear to Love

If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy. But because it is meaningless, you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be. It is this you see in [the world]. It is this that is meaningless in truth. Beneath your words [thoughts] is written the Word of God. The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see His. That is the ultimate purpose of these exercises.

Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated ones. It represents a situation in which God and the ego “challenge” each other as to whose meaning is to be written in the empty space that meaninglessness provides. The ego rushes in frantically to establish its own ideas there, fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own impotence and unreality. And on this alone it is correct.

It is essential, therefore, that you learn to recognize the meaningless, and accept it without fear. If you are fearful, it is certain that you will endow the world with attributes that it does not possess, and crowd it with images that do not exist. To the ego illusions are safety devices, as they must also be to you who equate yourself with the ego. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 12, W-pI.12.5:3-6 & 13.2-3. See also ACIM Lesson 12 Insights.)

Since only God’s Love is real, the appearance of anything other than the oneness of Love must be illusion. Illusions have no meaning of their own. We can only perceive illusions if we believe that we are outside of and separate from God’s Love. This belief is the core of the ego thought system of separation. By equating ourselves with the ego, we believe we are in a world without God’s Love. This belief puts us in a constant state of fear (lack of Love).

The ego assigns its own meaning to make illusions seem meaningful and capable of having an effect. It is this we experience when we equate ourselves with the ego. But this experience is based on belief in what could never be true. To experience the indescribable joy God has given us, we must let go of believing that anything the ego offers is true.

We begin the process of letting go of the ego by reminding ourselves that what we see in the world is meaningless. The next step is to ask the Holy Spirit to show us what is truly meaningful beyond the appearances that we have believed in. As we open to the Holy Spirit’s lessons, the appearances of the world become less disturbing because we become more aware of the certainty of God’s changeless Love in us and everyone. With practice, we will see the world more consistently with the Holy Spirit’s vision. We will experience greater peace and happiness. We are worthy of this practice.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Learning to See Our Innocence

Remember always that it is impossible to condemn the Son of God in part. Those whom you see as guilty become the witnesses to guilt in you, and you will see it there, for it is there until it is undone. Guilt is always in your mind, which has condemned itself. Project it not, for while you do, it cannot be undone. With everyone whom you release from guilt great is the joy in Heaven, where the witnesses to your fatherhood rejoice.

Do not be afraid to look within. The ego tells you all is black with guilt within you, and bids you not to look. Instead, it bids you look upon your brothers, and see the guilt in them. Yet this you cannot do without remaining blind. For those who see their brothers in the dark, and guilty in the dark in which they shroud them, are too afraid to look upon the light within. Within you is not what you believe is there, and what you put your faith in. Within you is the holy sign of perfect faith your Father has in you. He does not value you as you do. He knows Himself, and knows the truth in you. He knows there is no difference, for He knows not of differences. Can you see guilt where God knows there is perfect innocence? You can deny His knowledge, but you cannot change it. Look, then, upon the light He placed within you, and learn that what you feared was there has been replaced with love. (A Course in Miracles, T-13.IX.6:5-9;8:1-13. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

When we choose to identify with the ego image of our self, a body and personality, we devalue our self. We are identifying with an illusion that is nothing. When we accept the Self that God knows us to be, we accept our true value. Our one Self is all that is real and all that is valuable.

We accept our Self by letting go of identifying with the ego. Forgiveness is the way we let go of the false beliefs that tie us to the ego thought system. The ego thought system proclaims our guilt by showing us what perceptions of guilt in others. This is the ego’s mechanism for hiding the guilt we believe is in us. As we practice letting the Holy Spirit help us forgive the guilt perceived in others, we release the guilt we believe is in us.

As we succeed in forgiving others, the ego has another ploy. It turns the guilt on ourselves. Now we become the tarnished ones who are to blame for all our pain and sorrow. But God sees only innocence in us, so believing we are guilty at all is a mistake to be corrected. We must let the Holy Spirit help us forgive ourselves. This is how we will learn to see the Light of innocence in us that God knows is there.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting Love in Our Mind

Be in my mind, my Father, through the day.

Be in my mind, my Father, when I wake, and shine on me throughout the day today. Let every minute be a time in which I dwell with You. And let me not forget my hourly thanksgiving that You have remained with me, and always will be there to hear my call to You and answer me. As evening comes, let all my thoughts be still of You and of Your Love. And let me sleep sure of my safety, certain of Your care, and happily aware I am Your Son.

This is as every day should be. Today, practice the end of fear. Have faith in Him Who is your Father. Trust all things to Him. Let Him reveal all things to you, and be you undismayed because you are His Son. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 232, W-pII.232. See also ACIM Lesson 232 Insights.)

To ask our Father to be in our mind is to ask Love to be in our mind. They are One and the Same. With Love dwelling in our minds, we see only Love. We give only Love, for we know of nothing else.

With Love in our minds through the day, it will be a day of blessing and being blessed. It will be a day of peace and joy. It will be a day of recognizing every brother as What he is — Love and nothing else. It will be a day in which we remember we are “God’s Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love.” (W-pII.14)

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Remembering the Peace of God

Forget not that the motivation for this course is the attainment and the keeping of the state of peace. Given this state the mind is quiet, and the condition in which God is remembered is attained. It is not necessary to tell Him what to do. He will not fail. Where He can enter, there He is already. And can it be He cannot enter where He wills to be? Peace will be yours because it is His Will. Can you believe a shadow can hold back the Will that holds the universe secure? God does not wait upon illusions to let Him be Himself. No more His Son. They are. And what illusion that idly seems to drift between Them has the power to defeat what is Their Will?

To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardize your learning. No belief is neutral. Every one has the power to dictate each decision you make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything that you believe. [Decision] is the outcome of belief, and follows it as surely as does suffering follow guilt and freedom sinlessness. There is no substitute for peace. What God creates has no alternative. The truth arises from what He knows. And your decisions come from your beliefs as certainly as all creation rose in His Mind because of what He knows. (A Course in Miracles, T-24.in.1-2. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

What God knows is changeless, being all that is real. What we believe constantly changes. Our beliefs are formed based on our perceptions of our experiences. But our perceptions are severely limited, allowing awareness of a tiny fraction of everything that is.

So we base our beliefs on incomplete information, thus leaving us in a constant state of uncertainty. With uncertainty comes conflict. Someone introduces information that conflicts with our beliefs. Do we change our beliefs to incorporate the new information or do we defend against the information to protect our beliefs? This constant conflict leaves our belief system on shaky ground. Doubt is inevitable and peace impossible.

This is why we must question everything we believe. But our questions must be brought not to the ego but to the Holy Spirit, the only Source of a certain answer. It is the Holy Spirit’s vision that will lead us to the certainty of God and the peace that comes with His certainty. We have another joyous day ahead of us in which to practice opening our mind to the Holy Spirit’s perception in place of our own and remember the peace of God.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Releasing All Our Opinions to Holy Spirit

You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals. These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not you. This false identification makes you incapable of understanding what anything is for. As a result, you are bound to misuse it. When you believe this, you will try to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them.

Another way of describing the goals you now perceive is to say that they are all concerned with “personal” interests. Since you have no personal interests, your goals are really concerned with nothing.”

It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have established for everything. The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than “good” or “bad,” is the only way to accomplish this. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 25, W-pI.25.2:1-3:2;5:1-2. See also ACIM Lesson 25 Insights.)

As long as we believe in the ego thought system of separation, it is impossible for us to understand what anything means. The ego is not us. Identifying with the ego is identifying with an illusion of our self. Illusions are meaningless in reality. They only seem meaningful and real because we believe in them. It is only our belief that makes our body and the world we perceive through the body seem real.

While we insist on judging everything as good or bad, right or wrong, we cannot know what anything is truly for. We must be willing to give up our opinions about everything. It is in this relinquishment that we can welcome the Holy Spirit’s lessons in Love. Because only Love is real, the only meaningful purpose in any moment is to join in Love and extend It.

Because Love joins, we cannot know true purpose by trying to figure it out on our own. Believing we are alone blocks us from true purpose. Letting the Holy Spirit show us the unity we share with all that Is reveals the meaning in all things. The Holy Spirit will use whatever life experience we seem to be having to lead us to our true purpose of being and extending Love.

Today we offer all our opinions to the Holy Spirit with willingness to let Him show us true purpose.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Letting Holy Spirit Guide Our Thoughts

“Resistance to the Holy Spirit, in the form of refusing to turn over decision making to the One Who knows, is why the transformation of mind seems to take forever. The mind is split. It contains conflicting and contradictory desires that literally obstruct and make impossible a return to Wholeness. Integration precedes Wholeness and makes it possible for the mind to recover its natural state. Integration of the mind replaces the conflicting desires and cross purposes with a single purpose, one that is true and capable of accomplishment. For those who seriously want to realize the Wholeness of Mind, the process starts with the practice of integration.

“To become aware of desire in all its forms that drive the mind is the first step you could take. Without being aware of how and why the mind is as it is, you cannot begin to correct it. Present awareness, moment by moment, is the way to see your mind in action, to directly experience and become aware of the dynamics and movement of mind in your day to day life. Mind must be understood as it is, in its activity. It cannot be reduced to theory or description. Mind is alive and always active.

“Through becoming aware of your mind in action, you can choose where you want it to go. You can direct it towards truth, towards liberation, or you can continue to let the past play out its stale repetition of nothingness until you tire of it or death intervenes. As you become more and more aware of the activity of your mind, you will begin to understand how your thinking and your reactions, which are determined by your thinking, are responsible for the conditions and circumstances of your life. You will see how you are choosing happiness or conflict, love or fear, with every decision you are making.” (From the Christ Mind Book II, pp. 61-62)

The attempt to serve two masters, our Self or the ego, has split our minds because of conflicting goals. When we choose the ego as our master, we choose guilt, fear, pain and lack of love. This master always leads us away from happiness and peace of mind.

But we can choose another Master, our true Self, represented by the Holy Spirit in our minds. The practice of bringing all our thoughts, our wishes, our fears and guilt to the Holy Spirit to let Him reinterpret the errors of thought and show us the truth will set us free. In every moment we have the option to choose truth, to choose our one Self. This is our practice for today.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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We Never Walk Alone

Today’s idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience. Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss.

Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world. It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it will heal the mind that thought these things were real, and suffered out of its allegiance to them.

You can never be deprived of your perfect holiness because its Source goes with you wherever you go. You can never suffer because the Source of all joy goes with you wherever you go. You can never be alone because the Source of all life goes with you wherever you go. Nothing can destroy your peace of mind because God goes with you wherever you go. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 41, W-pI.41.1;3-4. See also ACIM Lesson 41 Insights.)

We have a clear reference that tells us if we are believing that we are a separate identity, disconnected from our Source. If we feel lonely, depressed, in pain, suffering and afraid of loss, we can be sure that we are believing in a false, separate identity. Our belief makes it seem real, but beliefs can be changed. This is the key to release from the bondage of belief in being separate.

God has not left His Creation, floundering around in a struggle to find peace and Love. Only a mistaken belief hides from our awareness the Love and peace that is God’s eternal gift to us. This belief has no more substance than a cloud. It cannot interfere with our being joined with God’s eternal Love.

Today let us remind ourselves many times an hour that God goes with us wherever we go. His Love and peace are ours. His companionship is ever present. We never walk alone.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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