Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Releasing the Illusion of Pain and Guilt

My holy brother, think of this awhile: The world you see does nothing. It has no effects at all. It merely represents your thoughts. And it will change entirely as you elect to change your mind, and choose the joy of God as what you really want.

Here will you understand there is no pain. Here does the joy of God belong to you. This is the day when it is given you to realize the lesson that contains all of salvation’s power. It is this: Pain is illusion; joy, reality. Pain is but sleep; joy is awakening. Pain is deception; joy alone is truth.

And so again we make the only choice that ever can be made; we choose between illusions and the truth, or pain and joy, or hell and Heaven. Let our gratitude unto our Teacher fill our hearts, as we are free to choose our joy instead of pain, our holiness in place of sin, the peace of God instead of conflict, and the light of Heaven for the darkness of the world. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 190, W-pI.190.6:1-4;10:1-11:2. See also ACIM Lesson 190 Insights.)

It is helpful to know that the world we perceive is a projection of our thoughts and beliefs. This means that the world is giving us instant feedback about what is in our minds. If we are perceiving pain, guilt or fear, we are believing in a false image of what we are. But we can choose to change what we believe.

We can choose the joy and peace of God, which is already given us. Suffering is not God’s Will for us. If we experience pain, sorrow, conflict or guilt, we can remind ourselves, “This is not God’s Will for me. I am willing to accept the help I need to let go of the belief that has made this perception. I am willing to see this differently. I am willing to accept God’s gifts of happiness and Love.” This practice will help us release the false ideas that have made the illusion of pain and guilt seem real.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Choosing to Be Happy

We have seen that there are only two parts of your mind. One is ruled by the ego, and is made up of illusions. The other is the home of the Holy Spirit, where truth abides. There are no other guides but these to choose between, and no other outcomes possible as a result of your choice but the fear that the ego always engenders, and the love that the Holy Spirit always offers to replace it.

Think about the many forms the illusion of your function has taken in your mind, and the many ways in which you tried to find salvation [happiness] under the ego’s guidance. Did you find it? Were you happy? Did they bring you peace? We need great honesty today. Remember the outcomes fairly, and consider also whether it was ever reasonable to expect happiness from anything the ego ever proposed. Yet the ego is the only alternative to the Holy Spirit’s Voice.

You will listen to madness or hear the truth. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 66, W-pI.66.7:2-5;9:2-10:1. See also ACIM Lesson 66 Insights.)

The ego is the idea of sacrificing Love to have a separate domain it can call its own where Love cannot enter. Because the world we perceive is a projection of the ego thought system, God is seen as demanding sacrifice. In truth, it is the ego that demands we give up the Love that God has given us. Contrary to the ego’s lies which claim to offer us happiness, it is only God Who can give us true happiness. And He has already given It.

We need only accept the gift that is already ours to know that we already have perfect happiness. Happiness is an inside job. As we are willing to accept the loving guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will learn of the perfect happiness that is already in us. Today we choose to follow the Holy Spirit’s Voice, for today we choose to be happy.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Opening to the Light of Love Within

We do not choose the way in which we go to Him. But we do choose to let Him come. And with this choice we rest. And in our quiet hearts and open minds, His Love will blaze its pathway of itself. What has not been denied is surely there, if it be true and can be surely reached. God knows His Son, and knows the way to him. He does not need His Son to show Him how to find His way. Through every opened door His Love shines outward from its home within, and lightens up the world in innocence.

Father, we do not know the way to You. But we have called, and You have answered us. We will not interfere. Salvation’s ways are not our own, for they belong to You. And it is unto You we look for them. Our hands are open to receive Your gifts. We have no thoughts we think apart from You, and cherish no beliefs of what we are, or Who created us. Yours is the way that we would find and follow. And we ask but that Your Will, which is our own as well, be done in us and in the world, that it become a part of Heaven now. Amen. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 189, W-pI.189.9-10. See also ACIM Lesson 189 Insights.)

The Home of God’s Love is within us. It is our true Self. We are unaware of this Presence within because we have closed it off with beliefs and images that we are separate from God’s Love. These beliefs and images define what we think we are, leaving us feeling that we lack Love. Without Love, the world we perceive is dark and we seem vulnerable to myriad outside forces. Yet all the time the Love and strength of God is in us.

We open the inner doors and windows to let the Light of Love shine forth by letting go of our beliefs that make us seem separate and alone. The Light of Love shines away the shadow images in the darkness revealing the presence of Love everywhere, in everything. The Love within us joins with that Love that is everywhere and we experience the joy of the eternal flow of Love. The Love of God is already in us. We simply need to remove the barriers that have hidden It from our awareness. God’s plan for salvation is the means to release us from the self-imposed limitations that have kept us in fear and guilt.

Today we acknowledge that only His plan will work. We are willing to lay aside all our ideas about how to be safe and happy. We are willing to receive His plan and accept the Holy Spirit’s help to follow His plan and open to the eternal Light of Love within.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Recognizing Our True Value

When you are still an instant, when the world recedes from you, when valueless ideas cease to have value in your restless mind, then will you hear His Voice. So poignantly He calls to you that you will not resist Him longer. In that instant He will take you to His home, and you will stay with Him in perfect stillness, silent and at peace, beyond all words, untouched by fear and doubt, sublimely certain that you are at home.

Rest with Him frequently today. For He was willing to become a little Child that you might learn of Him how strong is he who comes without defenses, offering only love’s messages to those who think he is their enemy. He holds the might of Heaven in His hand and calls them friend, and gives His strength to them, that they may see He would be Friend to them.

Be still an instant and go home with Him, and be at peace a while. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 182, W-pI.182.8:1-9:3;12:9. See also ACIM Lesson 182 Insights.)

It is what we judge as valuable that binds us to the world of form. If we think a certain kind of relationship is important, we feel lack if we believe we don’t have it or fear that we may lose it. If we believe that status or certain things are important, we spend our time trying to acquire them or protect them. These values keep us unsettled, for they are never completely satisfied because we know that forms can change in an instant.

There is another way of being that is always at peace, always happy and always fulfilled. When we value the Truth of What we are — the Love of God — we are always at peace. We inherently know that this will never change. We can trust Its constancy and Its strength. And in the awareness of that Love, we see the same Love in everyone and know them as our Friend.

This state of being is always ours to claim as our own. We claim this state by forgiving the values we have given to the changeable and valueless. There is no loss when we let go of what we recognize as valueless. This recognition comes when we let our inner Teacher help us learn where our true Value lies and release our attachment to the valueless.

Today we dedicate to paying attention to the lessons offered us to learn where our true Value lies.

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

God is the Love in which I forgive. …forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. It is the reflection of God’s Love on earth. It will bring me near enough to Heaven that the Love of God can reach down to me and raise me up to Him.

As I begin to see, I recognize His reflection on earth. I forgive all things because I feel the stirring of His strength in me. And I begin to remember the Love I chose to forget, but which has not forgotten me.

There is not a moment in which God’s Voice ceases to call on my forgiveness to save me. There is not a moment in which His Voice fails to direct my thoughts, guide my actions and lead my feet. I am walking steadily on toward truth. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 60, W-pI.60.1:1,4-6;2:4-6;4:2-4. See also ACIM Lesson 60 Insights.)

The ego is held in place by guilt. That is why the ego is constantly judging to maintain the perception of guilt. Yet this is a misperception because the truth of us as God’s Son shares the innocence of perfect Love.

Forgiveness is the means to free ourselves from the ego’s habitual condemnation and insistence on guilt. His Voice will help us see the truth of Love behind the ego’s images of guilt and fear.

Nothing we see with the body’s eyes is true. But what we see with the Vision the Holy Spirit brings into our minds is the reality of Love’s innocence everywhere. Nothing else is real. As Love’s creation, our one Self is Love and nothing else.

As we welcome the help and guidance of God’s Voice, we walk steadily forward on the path to Heaven. We dedicate today to being attentive to this Voice of freedom, for we would see the reality of Love everywhere.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Awakening from Fear to Our Home in Love

Condemn and you are made a prisoner. Forgive and you are freed. Such is the law that rules perception. It is not a law that knowledge understands, for freedom is a part of knowledge. To condemn is thus impossible in truth. What seems to be its influence and its effects have not occurred at all. Yet must we deal with them a while as if they had. Illusion makes illusion. Except one. Forgiveness is illusion that is answer to the rest.

Forgiveness sweeps all other dreams away, and though it is itself a dream, it breeds no others. All illusions save this one must multiply a thousandfold. But this is where illusions end. Forgiveness is the end of dreams, because it is a dream of waking. It is not itself the truth. Yet does it point to where the truth must be, and gives direction with the certainty of God Himself. It is a dream in which the Son of God awakens to his Self and to his Father, knowing They are One.

Forgiveness is the only road that leads out of disaster, past all suffering, and finally away from death. How could there be another way, when this one is the plan of God Himself?

And is it not a kindness to yourself to hear His Voice and learn the simple lessons He would teach, instead of trying to dismiss His words, and substitute your own in place of His? (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 198, W-pI.198.2:1-4:2;5:3. See also ACIM Lesson 198 Insights.)

Judgment is a trap that imprisons us in the dream of separation. It takes us down a rabbit hole of fear and guilt, providing no means for escape. But God has a plan that will free us from the dream of fear and condemnation. We must be willing to listen to His Voice that brings His plan that will teach us to turn away from condemnation and forgive.

As we accept the Holy Spirit’s dream of forgiveness, the chains of judgment fall away. The prison door of guilt swings open and we are free to awaken to the Self God created as His Son. As we forgive, the world of fear and guilt disappears and we remember Heaven is our Home.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting Our True Self’s Purpose

Who is the light of the world except God’s Son? This, 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.

To the ego, today’s idea is the epitome of self-glorification. But the ego does not understand humility, mistaking it for self-debasement. Humility consists of accepting your role in salvation and in taking no other. It is not humility to insist you cannot be the light of the world if that is the function God assigned to you. It is only arrogance that would assert this function cannot be for you, and arrogance is always of the ego.

[“I am the light of the world”] 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. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 61, W-pI.61.1-2;4:2-3. See also ACIM Lesson 61 Insights.)

In every moment we choose between the ego’s purpose to make separation appear real and our true Self’s purpose to extend the oneness of Love we are. The ego’s purpose always produces fear and guilt because it is the denial of Love. Our true Self’s purpose brings a state of peace and joy because that is the condition of God’s Love. When we choose our true Self’s purpose, we bring the light of Love to the world. This Light shines away the shadows of the ego’s false images.

If we are not feeling the peace and happiness of our true Self, we need to step back and reconnect with the Love of our true Self. When we ask our true Self “How would Love see this?” we are asking for the vision of our true Self. We are choosing our true Self’s purpose. As we accept this purpose, we remember that we are the Light of the world.

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