Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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How to Find Peace and Happiness

In quietness are all things answered, and is every problem quietly resolved. In conflict [separation] there can be no answer and no resolution, for its purpose is to make no resolution possible, and to ensure no answer will be plain. A problem set in conflict has no answer, for it is seen in different ways. And what would be an answer from one point of view is not an answer in another light. You are in conflict. Thus it must be clear you cannot answer anything at all, for conflict has no limited effects. Yet if God gave an answer there must be a way in which your problems are resolved, for what He wills already has been done.

Thus it must be that time is not involved and every problem can be answered now. Yet it must also be that, in your state of mind [believing in separation], solution is impossible. Therefore, God must have given you a way of reaching to another state of mind in which the answer is already there. Such is the holy instant. It is here that all your problems should be brought and left. Here they belong, for here their answer is. And where its answer is, a problem must be simple and be easily resolved. It must be pointless to attempt to solve a problem where the answer cannot be. Yet just as surely it must be resolved, if it is brought to where the answer is.

Attempt to solve no problems but within the holy instant’s surety. For there the problem will be answered and resolved. (A Course in Miracles, T-27.IV.1:1-3:2. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

If we want to find peace and happiness, we must give up thinking we can find answers on our own. Believing we are separate and on our own is the core of every problem. We cannot ask the source of a problem for the answer to the problem and receive resolution. We must look beyond the problem, the state of mind that harbors problems.

In this world conflict seems very real. We need to practice stepping back and going to the quiet place in our mind. This quiet place is ever present because it is the Mind of our true Self. But we must redirect our focus from the mind of conflict to the quiet mind, where true resolution can be found.

When a problem looms large and seems threatening, it takes vigilance to step back from the conflict and let peace return to our mind. It may take extra effort to reach that quiet place as conflicting thoughts stream through our mind. We need to set those thoughts aside and focus again on the peace within. As we let that peace grow strong in our awareness, the helpful answer that brings resolution is welcomed.

The more this process is practiced, the easier it becomes to let our problems be resolved. Sometimes a simple mental process of pausing and asking for inspiration is all we need to see the path to resolution. Other issues may seem more difficult but only need more vigilance to return to the peace in our minds. In that place of peace the resolution comes just as easily for every conflict or issue. Let us join together in willingness to go to the quiet place within to let all problems be resolved.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Awakening from the Dream of Fear

God is the Alternate to dreams of fear. Who shares in [dreams of fear] can never share in Him. But who withdraws his mind from sharing [fear] is sharing Him. There is no other choice. Except you share it, nothing can exist. And you exist because God shared His Will with you, that His creation might create.

It is the sharing of the evil dreams of hate and malice, bitterness and death, of sin and suffering and pain and loss, that makes them real. Unshared, they are perceived as meaningless. The fear is gone from them because you did not give them your support. Where fear has gone there love must come, because there are but these alternatives. Where one appears, the other disappears. And which you share becomes the only one you have. You have the one that you accept, because it is the only one you wish to have.

You share no evil dreams if you forgive the dreamer, and perceive that he is not the dream he made. And so he cannot be a part of yours, from which you both are free. Forgiveness separates the dreamer from the evil dream, and thus releases him. (A Course in Miracles,T-28.V.1:6-3:3. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)


Dreaming is a choice. It is the wish to experience a different “reality” than our waking state. When we choose to dream, we have chosen against our true Reality. And thus we seem to have a different identity.

When we perceive a brother in this dream, we see a dream identity that is not real. If we see him in our dream, we are sharing a dream and this sharing makes the dream seem real. To waken from this dream, we must learn and accept that the dreamer of the dream is not the identity we perceive in the dream. Thus the appearance of a brother who upsets us is not his true Identity.

Recognizing the distinction between the dreamer and the dream helps us release our mistaken perception of his identity. This release applies to both our brother and ourselves. We can disconnect from the dream and recognize our brother as one with us in the Self that God created as His Son. A dream can be forgiven because it is not real. It has no effect on the dreamer. As we let go of the dream through forgiveness, we awaken to the Reality of our oneness in Love.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Returning to the Serenity of God

We attempt, [today], to reach a quickened pace along a shorter path to the serenity and peace of God. We merely close our eyes, and then forget all that we thought we knew and understood. For thus is freedom given us from all we did not know and failed to understand.

Permit no idle thought to go unchallenged. If you notice one, deny its hold and hasten to assure your mind that this is not what it would have. Then gently let the thought which you denied be given up, in sure and quick exchange for the idea we practice for the day.

“\When you are tempted, hasten to proclaim your freedom from temptation, as you say:

This thought I do not want. I choose instead _____.

And then repeat the idea for the day,

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

…we give these times of quiet to the Teacher Who instructs in quiet, speaks of peace, and gives our thoughts whatever meaning they may have.

…let Him teach you what to do and say and think, each time you turn to Him. He will not fail to be available to you, each time you call to Him to help you. (, A Course in Miracles Workbook Review VI,W-pI.rVI.4:2-4;5:2-4;6:1-4,6;7:2-3. See also ACIM Review VI Insights.)

Unforgiveness is the wish to hang on to the past and use it as our basis for understanding our perceptions. But memories of the past are not real. Thus it is the past we need to let go. As we let the past go it becomes more and more clear that of our self we do not understand anything.

We need to turn to our Teacher within to receive His understanding. The fear and guilt we brought from the past will be replaced by the Holy Spirit’s gift which shows us only Love is real. Therefore only Love is understandable.

When we release the past, we are free to accept the Holy Spirit’s guidance for what to say and do. With this practice, all our doing in the world becomes a means for letting go of barriers to Love and joining with the Love that is everywhere, in every brother and ourselves. This is how to return to the serenity of God’s Love.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Bringing Love’s Light to Dispel the Ego’s Darkness

Who is the light of the world except God’s Son? [“I am the light of the world”], then, is merely a statement of the truth about yourself. It is the opposite of a statement of pride, of arrogance, or of self-deception. It does not describe the self-concept you have made. It does not refer to any of the characteristics with which you have endowed your idols. It refers to you as you were created by God. It simply states the truth.

You will want to think about this idea as often as possible today. It is the perfect answer to all illusions, and therefore to all temptation. It brings all the images you have made about yourself to the truth, and helps you depart in peace, unburdened and certain of your purpose.

As many practice periods as possible should be undertaken today, although each one need not exceed a minute or two. They should begin with telling yourself:

I am the light of the world. That is my only function.
That is why I am here.

Today’s idea goes far beyond the ego’s petty views of what you are and what your purpose is. …You are the light of the world. God has built His plan for the salvation of His Son on you. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 61, W-pI.61.1;4:1-5:5;7:1,5-6. See also ACIM Lesson 61 Insights.)

Light shines away darkness, which is the absence of light. Darkness only occurs when there is a barrier against the light. In this world, light can be used as a metaphor for Love. The darkness of the world of separation, which denies Love, makes the presence of Love unrecognized.

We bring Light to the world when we bring Love to replace our thoughts of fear, the absence of Love. Just as light dissipates darkness, Love dispels fear. As Light and darkness cannot coexist, Love and fear cannot coexist.

Our function is to bring Love into the ego thought system of fear and guilt. We do this by bringing all of our fearful and guilty thoughts to the Holy Spirit in our mind. He offers His vision of Love (Light) in their place. His vision recognizes our fearful thoughts as illusions, removing the ego-made barriers to Love and revealing the truth of Love’s eternal Reality. This practice is how we fulfill our part in God’s plan for the salvation of His Son.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Remembering Our True Identity as Love

The ego’s fundamental wish is to replace God. In fact, the ego is the physical embodiment of that wish. For it is that wish that seems to surround the mind with a body, keeping [the mind] separate and alone, and unable to reach other minds except through the body that was made to imprison it.

You are not dealing here with what the person is. On the contrary, you are exclusively concerned with what he does in a body. …You are actively trying to hold him to [the body] by confusing it with him, and judging them as one.

And every grievance that you hold insists that the body is real. It overlooks entirely what your brother is. It reinforces your belief that he is a body, and condemns him for it.

While the body stands at the center of your concept of yourself, you are attacking God’s plan for salvation, and holding your grievances against Him and His creation, that you may not hear the Voice of truth and welcome It as Friend.

It is the body that is outside us, and is not our concern. To be without a body is to be in our natural state. To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are. To see our Self as separate from the body is to end the attack on God’s plan for salvation, and to accept it instead. And wherever His plan is accepted, it is accomplished already. (, A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 72,W-pI.72.2:1-3;4:1-2,4;5:6-8;7:4;9:2-6. See also ACIM Lesson 72 Insights.)

The recognition that the body is not our identity is central to our release from fear and guilt. Only the body can seem to harm or be harmed. Our true Identity as Love’s Creation remains united in the oneness of Love. We are invulnerable in this oneness. This is why the most repeated affirmation in the Course is, “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.”

This applies to everyone. When a brother offends us it is time to remind ourselves that, along with us, he is not a body. He is still as Love created him.

As we practice stepping back from our identification with a body and asking the Holy Spirit to help us see the truth in our brother and ourselves, we shift our attention from the appearance of bodies to the vision in our mind that shows us that only Love is real. This is the vision that reveals the Son of God in every brother along with us. Together we are His one Son. Together we are united as God’s Love.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting the Self Love Created

I will not be afraid of Love today. If I could realize but this today, salvation would be reached for all the world. This [is] the decision not to be insane, and to accept myself as God Himself, my Father and my Source, created me. This [is] the determination not to be asleep in dreams of death, while truth remains forever living in the joy of Love. And this [is] the choice to recognize the Self Whom God created as the Son He loves, and Who remains my one Identity.

Father, Your Name [Identity] is Love and so is mine. Such is the truth. And can the truth be changed by merely giving it another name? The name of fear is simply a mistake. Let me not be afraid of truth today. (, A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 282,W-pII.282. See also ACIM Lesson 282 Insights.)

Love is our Creator and creates only like Itself. Because Love is one, there are no differences within It. There is nothing to distinguish one part of Love from another, for Love has no parts. This means that as Love’s Creation, We are that same Love. We, God’s Son, are one. There is no difference nor distance between us.

The world we see presents a very different picture. It is an insane picture because it is not real. Believing an illusion is real is the definition of insanity. This is why choosing not to be afraid of Love is the choice not to be insane. Because we have invested belief in the illusion of a world of separation, we believe that to turn away from the world would cost us our individual identity.

This is why we fear Love. For most of us saying “I love” is more difficult than saying “I hate.” This is because truly loving would mean we give up our private identity, which seems like a total loss of everything we value. This is true because we have been valuing illusions, which are nothing. But if we accept the Love we are, we give up nothing and gain everything. We accept the universe of Love as our Home. We accept our true Identity as God’s one Son.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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We All Are God’s Perfect Son

Father, Your Son is perfect. When I think that I am hurt in any way, it is because I have forgotten who I am, and that I am as You created me. Your Thoughts can only bring me happiness. If ever I am sad or hurt or ill, I have forgotten what You think, and put my little meaningless ideas in place of where Your Thoughts belong, and where they are. I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts. The Thoughts I think with You can only bless. The Thoughts I think with You alone are true.

I will not hurt myself today. For I am far beyond all pain. My Father placed me safe in Heaven, watching over me. And I would not attack the Son He loves, for what He loves is also mine to love. (, A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 281,W-pII.281. See also ACIM Lesson 281 Insights.)

We hurt ourselves by believing we are a body, a separate identity in a world of form. It denies the truth that we are Love, created by Love, and at one with our Creator. The image of a body is just a thought-form. Withdraw belief in the thought that made the image and the image disappears.

Our belief in being a separate identity make us unaware of the Thoughts we think with God, the Thoughts of Love. We cannot know the oneness of God’s Love while we believe separation is real. This belief leaves us feeling unloved, alone, vulnerable and afraid. It is an attack on our true Self, God’s Son, because it denies our true Reality.

As we recognize these feelings, we can heal our minds by reminding ourselves that they are the effect of a mistaken belief about our identity. It is time to ask for the Holy Spirit’s help to remember our true Identity as God’s perfect Son. We are not a body; we are still as God created us.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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