Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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We Are Safe and Innocent in God’s Love

The holy instant is the result of your determination to be holy. It is the answer. The desire and the willingness to let it come precede its coming. You prepare your mind for [the holy instant] only to the extent of recognizing that you want it above all else. It is not necessary that you do more; indeed, it is necessary that you realize that you cannot do more. Do not attempt to give the Holy Spirit what He does not ask, or you will add the ego to Him and confuse the two. He asks but little. It is He Who adds the greatness and the might. He joins with you to make the holy instant far greater than you can understand. It is your realization that you need do so little that enables Him to give so much.

Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough. But trust implicitly your willingness, whatever else may enter. Concentrate only on this, and be not disturbed that shadows surround it. That is why you came. If you could come without [the shadows] you would not need the holy instant. Come to it not in arrogance, assuming that you must achieve the state its coming brings with it. The miracle of the holy instant lies in your willingness to let it be what it is. And in your willingness for this lies also your acceptance of yourself as you were meant to be.

I who am host to God am worthy of Him.
He Who established His dwelling place in me created it as He would have it be.
It is not needful that I make it ready for Him, but only that I do not interfere with His plan to restore to me my own awareness of my readiness, which is eternal.
I need add nothing to His plan.
But to receive it, I must be willing not to substitute my own in place of it. (A Course in Miracles, T-18.IV.1-2;5:9-13. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

Our true Self was created one with God. We do not need to make ourselves ready for Him because He is already in us. There is no separation between what God created and What He is.

The ego is the wish to be separate from God and make a domain it can rule as its own. This wish can never make reality, but it can deny the Light of Truth. The ego’s wish can only seem to make a different reality by hiding from the Light. The ego’s projections of images in the world can only be perceived in the darkness of the ego thought system.

The ego’s dark thoughts of separation are dispelled in the Light of the holy instant. We welcome the holy instant by our willingness to let the Holy Spirit correct our mistaken perceptions. Our willingness to offer all our perceptions to Him for clarification opens the door to the holy instant, which reminds us that we are still united with our Source, safe and innocent in His Love.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Learning that Guilt Is Never Justified

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When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place [in your mind]. In understanding this you are saved.

The seeming cost of accepting today’s idea [My salvation comes from me] is this: It means that nothing outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself can give you peace. But it also means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you, or disturb your peace or upset you in any way.”

My salvation comes from me. It cannot come from anywhere else.

Devote a few minutes, with your eyes closed, to reviewing some of the external places where you have looked for salvation in the past;—in other people, in possessions, in various situations and events, and in self-concepts that you sought to make real. Recognize that it is not there, and tell yourself:

My salvation cannot come from any of these things. My salvation comes from me and only from me.

Now we will try again to reach the light in you, which is where your salvation is. You cannot find it in the clouds that surround the light, and it is in them you have been looking for it. It is not there. It is past the clouds and in the light beyond. Remember that you will have to go through the clouds before you can reach the light. But remember also that you have never found anything in the cloud patterns you imagined that endured, or that you wanted. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 70, W-pI.70.1:5-2:2;7:3-8:6. See also ACIM Lesson 70 Insights.)

The most empowering idea we can learn is that both the source of guilt and the means to release it are in our own mind. No longer are we at the mercy of events in the world, the behavior of others, our circumstances or even the thoughts that drift through our minds. All perception of guilt comes from the fevered imagination of the ego’s belief in separation and its attempt to make separation seem real. The truth of the Self we are remains free of guilt, safe in the oneness of God’s Love.

God placed the means for release from guilt in our minds. It is the Light of the Holy Spirit, the Light of Truth. It contains the strength of God, given us to support our willingness to see past the clouds of ego images to the truth that none of our imagined images in the world can harm anyone or ourselves. We remain God’s one Son, changeless and unchangeable.

We claim this truth by offering all our perceptions that disturb our peace to the Light of the Holy Spirit in our minds. As we accept the Holy Spirit’s help, it becomes clear that what we thought justified guilt and fear had no effect whatsoever. We see that nothing has happened to change the truth of What we are, at one with God.

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

As long as you believe that guilt is justified in any way, in anyone, whatever he may do, you will not look within, where you would always find Atonement. The end of guilt will never come as long as you believe there is a reason for it. For you must learn that guilt is always totally insane, and has no reason. The Holy Spirit seeks not to dispel reality. If guilt were real, Atonement would not be. The purpose of Atonement is to dispel illusions, not to establish them as real and then forgive them.

The Holy Spirit does not keep illusions in your mind to frighten you, and show them to you fearfully to demonstrate what He has saved you from. What He has saved you from is gone. Give no reality to guilt, and see no reason for it. The Holy Spirit does what God would have Him do, and has always done so. He has seen separation, but knows of union. He teaches healing, but He also knows of creation [extending Love]. He would have you see and teach as He does, and through Him. Yet what He knows you do not know, though it is yours. (A Course in Miracles, T-13.X.6-7. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

The Course tells us that in truth, there is nothing to forgive. But while guilt seems justified, we need to learn to forgive the mistaken belief that guilt is justified. The Holy Spirit’s function is to teach us that there is never any justification for guilt. When we bring any perception that seems to justify guilt to the Holy Spirit, He will teach us to recognize that our perception is based on a false image, a false belief.

As we accept His vision, which always sees past illusions, we learn that what seemed to upset us did not really happen. It only seemed to happen in the world of illusions. It is the Holy Spirit’s gift of vision that helps us recognize illusions are really nothing and have no effect in truth. When we recognize this, the illusion disappears and forgiveness is automatic for we know there is nothing to forgive.

The practice of letting Holy Spirit show us what is real and what is illusion will ultimately lead us to the Atonement. And we will remember that we are at Home in the Heart of Love, safe and innocent.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Letting God Lead Us to Perfect Happiness

The ego’s plan for salvation centers around holding grievances. It maintains that, if someone else spoke or acted differently, if some external circumstance or event were changed, you would be saved. Thus, the source of salvation is constantly perceived as outside yourself. Each grievance you hold is a declaration, and an assertion in which you believe, that says, “If this were different, I would be saved.” The change of mind necessary for salvation is thus demanded of everyone and everything except yourself.

God’s plan for salvation works simply because, by following His direction, you seek for salvation where it is. But if you are to succeed, as God promises you will, you must be willing to seek there only. Otherwise, your purpose is divided and you will attempt to follow two plans for salvation that are diametrically opposed in all ways. The result can only bring confusion, misery and a deep sense of failure and despair.

Ask [God] very specifically:

What would You have me do?
Where would You have me go?
What would You have me say, and to whom?

Give Him full charge of the rest of the practice period, and let Him tell you what needs to be done by you in His plan for your salvation. He will answer in proportion to your willingness to hear His Voice. Refuse not to hear. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 71, W-pI.71.2,5,9:2-8. See also ACIM Lesson 71 Insights.)

What we think will make us happy or safe is what we believe is our salvation. The right house, the right relationship, the right car, job or income, are examples of what we believe is our salvation. These are all external circumstances that serve as substitutes for the change of mind that God’s plan will bring to us.

God’s plan will lead us to the recognition that only Love is real and that by accepting God’s Love we are accepting His joy and His peace. Nothing in the world can bring this to us. But by accepting God’s plan we are inevitably led to the certainty of our safety and happiness, no matter what appearances we perceive in the world. The practice of asking for God’s direction in all things will lead us to our salvation, to our perfect happiness and changeless Love.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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How to Know Our Own Reality

There is no world because it is a thought apart from God, and made to separate the Father and the Son, and break away a part of God Himself and thus destroy His Wholeness. Can a world which comes from this idea be real? Can it be anywhere? Deny illusions, but accept the truth. Deny you are a shadow briefly laid upon a dying world. Release your mind, and you will look upon a world released.

Today our purpose is to free the world from all the idle thoughts we ever held about it, and about all living things we see upon it. They can not be there. No more can we. For we are in the home our Father set for us, along with them. And we who are as He created us would loose the world this day from every one of our illusions, that we may be free.

I who remain as God created me would loose the world from
all I thought it was. For I am real [the Self God created]
because the world is not, and I would know my own reality.

Then merely rest, alert but with no strain, and let your mind in quietness be changed so that the world is freed, along with you. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 132, W-pI.132.13-14;15:2-4. See also ACIM Lesson 132 Insights.)

The world is an attempt to separate from our Creator, Who includes us in His Wholeness. It is impossible not to remain as we were created. But it is possible to imagine and believe in a world where the Wholeness of God is denied. It is this belief we must let go of to loose the world from all we thought it was.

By letting go of the belief in being separate from our Creator, we make way for the joy and peace of God to return to our awareness. We let go of the illusions of the world and see that our Reality remains the oneness of God’s Love, shared with all that is Real. This is how we deny the illusions of the world and accept the Home Love created for us.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Only Love Creates, and Only Like Itself

…the Holy Spirit is part of you. Created by God, He left neither God nor His creation. He is both God and you, as you are God and Him together. For God’s Answer to the separation added more to you than you tried to take away. He protected both your creations [extensions of Love] and you together, keeping one with you [the Love] you would exclude. And [your extensions of Love] will take the place of [the separation] you took in to replace them. They [your extensions of Love] are quite real, as part of the Self you do not know. They communicate to you through the Holy Spirit, and their power and gratitude to you for their creation they offer gladly to your teaching of yourself, who is their home. You who are host to God are also host to [your extensions of Love]. For nothing real [Love] has ever left the mind of its creator. And what is not real was never there.

To your most holy Self all praise is due for what you are, and for what [God] is Who created you as you are. Sooner or later must everyone bridge the gap he imagines exists between his selves. Each one builds this bridge, which carries him across the gap as soon as he is willing to expend some little effort on behalf of bridging it. His little efforts are powerfully supplemented by the strength of Heaven, and by the united will of all who make Heaven what it is, being joined [as one] within it. (A Course in Miracles, T-16.III.5;8:1-4. See also ACIM Text Q & A.) “Only love creates, and only like itself.” (W-pII.11.1:2)

The sooner we recognize that nothing in the world can bring us lasting happiness and peace, the sooner we become willing to let the Holy Spirit help us bridge the gap between the isolated self we have believed we are and the holy Self we are in truth. When we are willing to be taught, our inner Teacher will help us see the oneness of Love beyond the separating images of the ego thought system.

Being Love’s creation, the Holy Spirit sees only Love as real. Love is unlimited and cannot be limited to a form. The Holy Spirit will help us see that the forms of the world are unreal and can have no effect on our true Self. As we accept this vision, we find peace. We rest in the certainty of the changeless Love we are. And our hearts are filled with joy as we recognize every brother is one with us in this changeless Love.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting the Miracle of Healing

The Holy Spirit’s function is to take the broken picture of the Son of God and put the pieces into place again. This holy picture, healed entirely, does He hold out to every separate piece that thinks it is a picture in itself. To each He offers his Identity, which the whole picture represents, instead of just a little, broken bit that he insisted was himself.

I thank You, Father, knowing You will come to close each little gap that lies between the broken pieces of Your holy Son. Your Holiness, complete and perfect, lies in every one of them. And they are joined because what is in one is in them all. How holy is the smallest grain of sand, when it is recognized as being part of the completed picture of God’s Son! The forms the broken pieces seem to take mean nothing. For the whole is in each one. And every aspect of the Son of God is just the same as every other part.

Join not your brother’s dreams but join with him, and where you join His Son the Father is. Who seeks for substitutes when he perceives he has lost nothing? Who would want to have the “benefits” of sickness when he has received the simple happiness of health? What God has given cannot be a loss, and what is not of Him has no effects. What, then, would you perceive within the gap? The seeds of sickness come from the belief that there is joy in separation, and its giving up would be a sacrifice. But miracles are the result when you do not insist on seeing in the gap what is not there. Your willingness to let illusions go is all the Healer of God’s Son requires. He will place the miracle of healing [in our minds] where the seeds of sickness were. And there will be no loss, but only gain. A Course in Miracles, (T-28.IV.8:1-3;9-10. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

A grain of sand, a body, a solar system, a galaxy, all are broken pieces that mean nothing. All meaning lies in the eternal Presence of God everywhere. The holiness in a grain of sand lies in seeing past the form to reality of Love. Love is the only real content beyond every form.

To join with our brother is to join with the Love he is, disregarding the form he may appear to take in dreams. When we join with the Love that is our brother, we join with our one Self That is the Son of God. This joining in our minds heals perception of separation and loss, dispelling images that have no meaning and revealing the joy, peace and Love that is God’s gift to His one Son. Today we offer our willingness to receive the miracle of healing the Holy Spirit offers us.

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