Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Lessons Learned from the Present

All fear is past and only love is here.

All fear is past, because its source is gone, and all its thoughts gone with it. ²Love remains the only present state, whose Source is here forever and forever. ³Can the world seem bright and clear and safe and welcoming, with all my past mistakes oppressing it, and showing me distorted forms of fear? ⁴Yet in the present love is obvious, and its effects apparent. ⁵All the world shines in reflection of its holy light, and I perceive a world forgiven at last.

Father, let not Your holy world escape my sight today. ²Nor let my ears be deaf to all the hymns of gratitude the world is singing underneath the sounds of fear. ³There is a real world which the present holds safe from all past mistakes. ⁴And I would see only this world before my eyes today. (A Course in Miracles, W-293. See also ACIM Lesson 293 Insights.)

While we believe we are a body, we have lessons to learn. The ego teaches that these lessons must be learned from the past. Thus it uses the body to keep our attention on past mistakes. This focus on the past brings fear with it because it keeps images of hurt and loss in our awareness.

The Holy Spirit offers us lessons from the present. These lessons teach only of Love. They teach us that Love’s changelessness keeps us safe. Love’s oneness brings us peace. Love’s eternal extension brings us joy.

These are the lessons we must learn to awaken to the real world where the past is dismissed because it is not here. It has no real effect on the present moment. Only Love is real.

© 2024, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Practice That Returns Us to Love

God goes with me wherever I go.

Today’s idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience. ²Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. ³So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss.

The separated ones have invented many “cures” for what they believe to be “the ills of the world.” ²But the one thing they do not do is to question the reality of the problem. ³Yet its effects cannot be cured because the problem is not real. ⁴The idea for today has the power to end all this foolishness forever. ⁵And foolishness it is, despite the serious and tragic forms it may take.

Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world. ²It 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. ²You can never suffer because the Source of all joy goes with you wherever you go. ³You can never be alone because the Source of all life goes with you wherever you go. ⁴Nothing can destroy your peace of mind because God goes with you wherever you go. (A Course in Miracles, W-41.1–4. See also ACIM Lesson 41 Insights.)

The changeless of God’s Love is always with us. Only our belief in the ego thought system of separation makes us unaware of God’s presence. All the problems we see in our lives and the world come from this insane obsession. The insane believe what they perceive is real and do not question it.

The key to release from our insanity is to question the reality of our perceived problems. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can see beyond our misperceptions if we are willing to take them to Him for correction. The practice of reminding ourselves that problems are not real and bringing them to the Holy Spirit for His correction is the path of return to our natural state. Our nature as God’s Son is to be loving, peaceful and happy.

Today we practice taking every perceived problem to the Holy Spirit for His loving correction.

© 2024, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Remembering the Truth

You who were created by Love like Itself can hold no grievances and know your Self. ²To hold a grievance is to forget who you are. ³To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body. ⁴To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the body to death. ⁵Perhaps you do not yet fully realize just what holding grievances does to your mind. ⁶It seems to split you off from your Source and make you unlike Him. ⁷It makes you believe that He is like what you think you have become, for no one can conceive of his Creator as unlike himself.

…he who holds grievances denies he was created by love, and his Creator has become fearful to him in his dream of hate. ⁵Who can dream of hatred and not fear God?

²It is as sure that those who hold grievances will suffer guilt, as it is certain that those who forgive will find peace. ³It is as sure that those who hold grievances will forget who they are, as it is certain that those who forgive will remember.

…think of yourself as completely at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world that protects you and loves you, and that you love in return. ⁵Try to feel safety surrounding you, hovering over you and holding you up. ⁶Try to believe, however briefly, that nothing can harm you in any way. (A Course in Miracles, W-68.1;2:4-5;3:2-3;6:4-6. See also ACIM Lesson 68 Insights.)

Take time today to pause and step back from the world. Follow the instructions in the last paragraph quoted above. This “imagining” is not an idle exercise. It is helping your mind become aware of your true Identity as God’s Son. You are reminding yourself of your natural state because, in truth, you are safe, free from conflict, loved and wholly loving.

As you set the day with this practice, your experience will confirm the imagining is really remembering the truth.

© 2024, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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How to Have a Blessed Day

The ego is the part of the mind that believes in division. ²How could part of God detach itself without believing it is attacking Him? …⁵If you identify with the ego, you must perceive yourself as guilty. ⁶Whenever you respond to your ego you will experience guilt, and you will fear punishment. ⁷The ego is quite literally a fearful thought. …¹⁰Listening to the ego’s voice means that you believe it is possible to attack God, and that a part of Him has been torn away by you. ¹¹Fear of retaliation from without follows, because the severity of the guilt is so acute that it must be projected.

Whatever you accept into your mind has reality for you. ²It is your acceptance of it that makes it real. ³If you enthrone the ego in your mind, your allowing it to enter makes it your reality. ⁴This is because the mind is capable of creating reality or making illusions. ⁵I said before that you must learn to think with God. ⁶To think with Him is to think like Him. ⁷This engenders joy, not guilt, because it is natural. ⁸Guilt is a sure sign that your thinking is unnatural. ⁹Unnatural thinking will always be attended with guilt, because it is the belief in sin. ¹⁰The ego does not perceive sin as a lack of love, but as a positive act of assault. ¹¹This is necessary to the ego’s survival because, as soon as you regard sin as a lack, you will automatically attempt to remedy the situation. ¹²And you will succeed. ¹³The ego regards this as doom, but you must learn to regard it as freedom. (A Course in Miracles, T-5.V.3:1-2,5-7,10-11;4. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Guilt is a valuable signal that our thinking is unnatural. If we practice being mindful of these signals and asking the Holy Spirit to help us heal our thoughts, we can change our life experience. Instead of experiencing fear, we can have our perception transformed and experience peace and joy. Our natural thinking is always an expression of Love.

The more we set aside our fear-based thoughts, the more we will experience the Heaven of God’s Love. Today we practice taking our guilty thoughts to the Holy Spirit to exchange them for His Thoughts of Love. It will be a day of many blessings.

© 2024, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Our Best Friend Leads Us to Love

²Your Friend goes with you. ³You are not alone. ⁴No one who calls on Him can call in vain. ⁵Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him. ⁶He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you. ⁷He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts. ⁸His certainty is yours. ⁹You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you.

…hear but the Voice for God and for your Self when you retire from the world, to seek reality instead. ³He will direct your efforts, telling you exactly what to do, how to direct your mind, and when to come to Him in silence, asking for His sure direction and His certain Word. ⁴His is the Word that God has given you. ⁵His is the Word you chose to be your own.

And now I place you in His hands, to be His faithful follower, with Him as Guide through every difficulty and all pain that you may think is real.

³You will be told exactly what God wills for you each time there is a choice to make. ⁴And He will speak for God and for your Self, thus making sure that hell will claim you not, and that each choice you make brings Heaven nearer to your reach. (A Course in Miracles, W-ep.1:2-9;3:2–4:1;5:2-4)

The Holy Spirit is our best Friend. He always has our best interest in mind. He is ever present, ready and willing to help us on the way that brings us happiness and peace.

The consistent practice of attending to His Voice will return us to full awareness that we dwell in Love. As we accept the Love within us, we have a loving outlook on our world. Love guides us to be truly helpful. With His Guidance we will awaken to our Home in God’s Love.

© 2024, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Seizing the Opportunity to Be Love

The holy relationship is the expression of the holy instant in living in this world. ²Like everything about salvation, the holy instant is a practical device, witnessed to by its results. ³The holy instant never fails. ⁴The experience of it is always felt. ⁵Yet without expression it is not remembered. ⁶The holy relationship is a constant reminder of the experience in which the relationship became what it is. ⁷And as the unholy relationship is a continuing hymn of hate in praise of its maker, so is the holy relationship a happy song of praise to the Redeemer of relationships.

The holy relationship, a major step toward the perception of the real world, is learned. ²It is the old, unholy relationship, transformed and seen anew. ³The holy relationship is a phenomenal teaching accomplishment. ⁴In all its aspects, as it begins, develops and becomes accomplished, it represents the reversal of the unholy relationship. ⁵Be comforted in this; the only difficult phase is the beginning. ⁶For here, the goal of the relationship is abruptly shifted to the exact opposite of what it was. ⁷This is the first result of offering the relationship to the Holy Spirit, to use for His purposes.

²Only a radical shift in purpose could induce a complete change of mind about what the whole relationship is for. ³As this change develops and is finally accomplished, it grows increasingly beneficent and joyous. ⁴But at the beginning, the situation is experienced as very precarious. (A Course in Miracles, T-17.V.1–2;5:2-4. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

In every moment we have the opportunity to see our world through the eyes of Love. When we accept the opportunity, we experience the transformed perception that comes with true forgiveness. We experience the holy instant.

The blessing of this experience will fade unless we apply the shift in perception to a relationship. As we apply the transformed perceptions that come in holy instants to our relationship, the instant is extended. We become increasingly loving as we forgive our misperceptions and accept Love’s vision.

© 2024, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Letting Love Dawn Upon Our Mind

Let miracles replace all grievances.

²By this idea do I unite my will with the Holy Spirit’s, and perceive them as one. ³By this idea do I accept my release from hell. ⁴By this idea do I express my willingness to have all my illusions be replaced with truth, according to God’s plan for my salvation. ⁵I would make no exceptions and no substitutes. ⁶I want all of Heaven and only Heaven, as God wills me to have.

Useful specific forms for applying this idea would be:

²I would not hold this grievance apart from my salvation.
³Let our grievances be replaced by miracles, [name].
⁴Beyond this is the miracle by which all my grievances are replaced. (W-89.3–4)

When we are willing to accept the Holy Spirit’s vision in place of our perceptions, we will experience miracles. Our perceptions are transformed when we let forgiveness clear away our obstacles to awareness of Love’s presence.

Love is What we are in truth. We are not a body. We are free to be Love without limit. When we accept the Holy Spirit’s vision, we are forgiving our perceptions that are the basis of all grievances. The oneness of Love dawns upon our minds and we are free to be as God created us. We rest in His peace and joy.

© 2024, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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