Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Forgiveness Welcomes the Miracle

Illusions will not last. ²Their death is sure and this alone is certain in their world. ³It is the ego’s world because of this. ⁴What is the ego? ⁵But a dream of what you really are. ⁶A thought you are apart from your Creator and a wish to be what He created not.

What is the ego? ²Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something. ³In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real.

We cannot really make a definition for what the ego is, but we can say what it is not. ²And this is shown to us with perfect clarity. ³It is from this that we deduce all that the ego is. ⁴Look at its opposite and you can see the only answer that is meaningful.

The ego’s opposite in every way,—in origin, effect and consequence—we call a miracle.

What is a miracle? ²A dream as well. ³But look at all the aspects of this dream and you will never question any more. ⁴Look at the kindly world you see extend before you as you walk in gentleness. ⁵Look at the helpers all along the way you travel, happy in the certainty of Heaven and the surety of peace.

The miracle forgives; the ego damns. …⁵Who chooses hell when it is recognized? ⁶And who would not go on a little while when it is given him to understand the way is short and Heaven is his goal? (C-2.1:1-6;2:1-3;4:1–5:1;7:1-5;10:1,5-6)

The Course tells us that there is only one problem and one solution. The problem is accepting the thought that it is possible to separate from our Creator. The answer is to forgive ourselves for believing what could never be true. Any form, including the body and the myriad forms of the world, is just a projection in a dream of separation.

The oneness of Love cannot be contained in a form. Love flows in all directions without limit. An attempt to make separate forms can only seem to be fulfilled in a dream. The forms demonstrate we believe that we are separate.

If we let the Holy Spirit show us the truth beyond the forms, we see the Light of Love. The forms fade in Its brilliance. Our perception is transformed by Its Light. We see the limitlessness of our true Self. It includes every brother as part of our one Self. And Love’s all inclusiveness heals the split that seemed to occur in a dream of separation. We find rest in the Love that created us and remains eternally one with us. We recognize we are joined together as God’s one Son, His extension of Himself.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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A Practice That Leads to Joy

Decisions are continuous. ²You do not always know when you are making them. ³But with a little practice with the ones you recognize, a set begins to form which sees you through the rest. ⁴It is not wise to let yourself become preoccupied with every step you take. ⁵The proper set, adopted consciously each time you wake, will put you well ahead. ⁶And if you find resistance strong and dedication weak, you are not ready. ⁷Do not fight yourself. ⁸But think about the kind of day you want, and tell yourself there is a way in which this very day can happen just like that. ⁹Then try again to have the day you want.

(1) The outlook starts with this:

²Today I will make no decisions by myself.

³This means that you are choosing not to be the judge of what to do. ⁴But it must also mean you will not judge the situations where you will be called upon to make response. ⁵For if you judge them, you have set the rules for how you should react to them. ⁶And then another answer cannot but produce confusion and uncertainty and fear.

This is your major problem now. ²You still make up your mind, and then decide to ask what you should do.

(2) Throughout the day, at any time you think of it and have a quiet moment for reflection, tell yourself again the kind of day you want; the feelings you would have, the things you want to happen to you, and the things you would experience, and say:

²If I make no decisions by myself, this is the day that will be given me. (A Course in Miracles, T-30.I.1:1–3:2;4:1-2. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

We can have a day of peace and happiness. It requires only willingness to let go of judgment. The ego resists this release because it depends on judgment for its seeming existence. When we identify with the ego, it likewise seems that our survival depends on judgment. This practice maintains the belief that separation is real.

There is another practice that will free us from the ego’s judgmental world. But we must be willing to let go of our habitual judgmental response to all our perceptions. When we are willing to turn over all judgments to Holy Spirit, we clear our mind to receive the His interpretation of all our perceptions. He will show us the unity of Love beyond the appearance of separation. He will lead us on a loving path where we will experience increasing joy and deepening peace. Our decisions will be inspired by Love. This is our choice in every moment; how about today?

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Discovering Our True Identity

⁶The resurrection is the complete triumph of Christ over the ego, not by attack but by transcendence. ⁷For Christ does rise above the ego and all its works, and ascends to the Father and His Kingdom.

Would you join in the resurrection or the crucifixion? ²Would you condemn your brothers or free them? ³Would you transcend your prison and ascend to the Father? ⁴These questions are all the same, and are answered together. ⁵There has been much confusion about what perception means, because the word is used both for awareness and for the interpretation of awareness. ⁶Yet you cannot be aware without interpretation, for what you perceive is your interpretation.

⁶I am leading you to a new kind of experience that you will become less and less willing to deny. ⁷Learning of Christ is easy, for to perceive with Him involves no strain at all. ⁸His perceptions are your natural awareness, and it is only the distortions you introduce that tire you. ⁹Let the Christ in you interpret for you, and do not try to limit what you see by narrow little beliefs that are unworthy of God’s Son. ¹⁰For until Christ comes into His Own, the Son of God will see himself as Fatherless.

I am your resurrection and your life. ²You live in me because you live in God. ³And everyone lives in you, as you live in everyone. ⁴Can you, then, perceive unworthiness in a brother and not perceive it in yourself? (A Course in Miracles, T-11.VI.1:6–2:6;3:6–4:4. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Only in a dream of separation does loss and sacrifice seem real. But a dream, by definition, is not real. While we believe the dream of separation is real, we need to be led to experience that teaches us that only Love is real.

A Course in Miracles is a guide to awaken us from our dream of separation. Its message leads to full reversal of the thought system we have embraced. Our investment in this mistaken belief supports great resistance to change. It seems that if we change what we believe, we will be jumping into a void; we will lose our identity.

But the identity we have embraced is not real. It requires great effort to defend it because we know it has no foundation in truth. But when we are willing to embrace the vision of Christ, which sees only the oneness and innocence of Love, we discover our true Identity—changeless Love which needs no defense. As we accept this Identity, uncertainty and fear disappear to be replaced by the certainty of God’s Love.

Today we are willing to embrace Christ’s vision, for we would awaken to our true Self, the Son of God.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Blessing of Complete Forgiveness

The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways, beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with strength and power to do whatever it is asked. ²Attack thoughts cannot enter such a mind, because it has been given to the Source of love, and fear can never enter in a mind that has attached itself to love. ³It rests in God. ⁴And who can be afraid who lives in Innocence, and only loves?

²Declare your innocence and you are free. ³The body disappears, because you have no need of it except the need the Holy Spirit sees. ⁴For this, the body will appear as useful form for what the mind must do. ⁵It thus becomes a vehicle which helps forgiveness be extended to the all-inclusive goal that it must reach, according to God’s plan.

You are God’s Son. ²In immortality you live forever. ³Would you not return your mind to this? ⁴Then practice well the thought the Holy Spirit gives you for today. ⁵Your brothers stand released with you in it; the world is blessed along with you, God’s Son will weep no more, and Heaven offers thanks for the increase of joy your practice brings even to it. ⁶And God Himself extends His Love and happiness each time you say:

⁷I am not a body. ⁸I am free. ⁹I hear the Voice that God has given me, and it is only this my mind obeys. (A Course in Miracles, W-199.2;4:2-5;8. See also ACIM Lesson 199 Insights.)

The purpose of A Course in Miracles is to help us completely release the wish for specialness. This wish is the root of all fear and guilt. It is a declaration that God’s creation is insufficient. Specialness demands that something be taken from one in order to make another more special. It requires belief that one must lose for another to gain. What can this be but an attack on God’s Creation?

But the Love of God is all that is real. What He Creates is complete and whole, eternally united with Him. Only in fantasy could it seem possible for there to be differences—greater and lesser.

The Course is teaching us how to let go of the mistaken belief that we can improve on God’s Creation by believing in specialness. The practice of forgiveness seems to need to be applied to many different situations. Yet at their core, they are all the same.

With this practice we learn the important lesson that all appearances of differences are not real. Forgiveness generalizes until we realize there is nothing real that needs to be forgiven for only God’s Love is real. Illusions have been fully dismissed and we accept that we are Love and nothing else. With that acceptance comes peace and joy.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Seeing from Our Right Mind

Do not seek vision through your eyes, for you made your way of seeing that you might see in darkness, and in this you are deceived. ²Beyond this darkness, and yet still within you, is the vision of Christ, Who looks on all in light. ³Your “vision” comes from fear, as His from love. ⁴And He sees for you, as your witness to the real world. ⁵[Christ] is the Holy Spirit’s manifestation, looking always on the real world, and calling forth its witnesses and drawing them to you. ⁶He loves what He sees within you, and He would extend [Love]. ⁷And He will not return unto the Father until He has extended your perception even unto Him. ⁸And [in God] perception is no more, for He has returned you to the Father with Him.

You have but two emotions, and one you made and one was given you. ²Each is a way of seeing, and different worlds arise from their different sights. ³See through the vision that is given you, for through Christ’s vision He beholds Himself. ⁴And seeing what He is, He knows His Father. ⁵Beyond your darkest dreams [Christ] sees God’s guiltless Son within you, shining in perfect radiance that is undimmed by your dreams. ⁶And this you will see as you look with Him, for His vision is His gift of love to you, given Him of the Father for you.

The Holy Spirit is the light in which Christ stands revealed. ²And all who would behold Him can see Him, for they have asked for light. (A Course in Miracles, T-13.V.9:1–11:2. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Sometimes when we are surprised by what we see we say, “I can’t believe my eyes.” Truer words were never spoken. Nothing the body’s eyes see is real. All we see in the world is a projection from the part of our mind identified with the ego. Projection makes perception, but it cannot make real. Perception shows us what we believe about ourselves. If we accept the ego thought system, we believe we are separate and see a separate world.

But there is another way of seeing that does not use the body’s eyes at all. This vision comes from our mind united with our Creator. In this unity, it sees only Love, for That is what It is. This is the vision, seen in the Light of Love, that will awaken us to our eternal Home in the Heart of God. We welcome Christ’s vision today, for we want to remember that only Love is real. In this remembrance, we find joy and peace.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Moving From Conflict to Peace

There is no will but God’s.

The idea for today can be regarded as the central thought toward which all our exercises are directed. ²God’s is the only Will. ³When you have recognized this, you have recognized that your will is His. ⁴The belief that conflict is possible has gone. ⁵Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals. ⁶As an expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but His.

There is great peace in today’s idea, and the exercises for today are directed towards finding it. ²The idea itself is wholly true. ³Therefore it cannot give rise to illusions. ⁴Without illusions conflict is impossible.”

²There is no will but God’s. ³I cannot be in conflict.

⁴Then spend several minutes in adding some related thoughts, such as:

⁵I am at peace.
⁶Nothing can disturb me. ⁷My will is God’s.
⁸My will and God’s are one.
⁹God wills peace for His Son.

Joy characterizes peace. ²By this experience [of joy] will you recognize that you have reached it. (A Course in Miracles, W-74.1:1–2:4;3:2-9;6:1-2. See also ACIM Lesson 74 Insights.)

The ego believes it is in a battle with God. But it is only an attempt to change the unchangeable. God’s Will is one — the eternal extension of Love. His Love excludes nothing. This is why God’s Will cannot accommodate the ego’s wish for specialness.

The unchangeable unity of His Love is characterized by peace and joy. As we acknowledge that God’s Will is ours, we open our mind to the experience of His Will. The perfect happiness that is characteristic of Love becomes our living experience. Love is Life.

Today we are watchful for thoughts of conflict and replace them with the reminder that there is no conflict in God’s Will nor in ours. As we recognize His Will is ours, we experience joy beyond words and peace that cannot be disturbed.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Using Perceptions to Heal Our Minds

It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked you are not invulnerable. ²You see attack as a real threat. ³That is because you believe that you can really attack. ⁴And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you. ⁵It is this law that will ultimately save you, but you are misusing it now. ⁶You must therefore learn how it can be used for your own best interests, rather than against them.

Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack. ²And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable. ³Attack thoughts therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are. ⁴Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together. ⁵They contradict each other.

…you always attack yourself first.

…vulnerability or invulnerability is the result of your own thoughts. ²Nothing except your thoughts can attack you. ³Nothing except your thoughts can make you think you are vulnerable. ⁴And nothing except your thoughts can prove to you this is not so. (A Course in Miracles, W-26.1:1–3:1;4. See also ACIM Lesson 26 Insights.)

A key message of the Course is that the world we see a projection of our own mind. This fact is the basis for either maintaining our identification with a false image of ourselves or releasing ourselves from this limiting self image to return to what we are in truth. Our projections reveal what we believe about ourselves. The fact that beliefs can be changed means that we can free ourselves from our misidentification.

While we identify with the ego and an image of a body, we need help from beyond this closed thought system to be freed from our self-made prison. This Help is the Holy Spirit, God’s Voice in our mind. He is our inner Teacher capable only of teaching the truth. With His help we can unlearn the lessons we have accepted from the ego that we are weak, vulnerable and capable of being harmed or harming.

The practice of being mindful of our perceptions with awareness that they are projections from our mind makes the world a classroom. When we choose the Holy Spirit as our Teacher, the world classroom is used to teach us to overlook the images of the world. He shows us the Light of Love That we are. The images fade into the background as we give precedence to the Light. Our attention shifts from focusing on form to accepting the Light of Love that is our Reality.

Today we can use our perceptions as lessons in Love by paying attention to our inner Teacher.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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