Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Learning to Distinguish Hell from Heaven

There is a borderland of thought that stands between this world and Heaven. ²It is not a place, and when you reach it is apart from time. ³Here is the meeting place where thoughts are brought together; where conflicting values meet and all illusions are laid down beside the truth, where they are judged to be untrue. ⁴This borderland is just beyond the gate of Heaven. ⁵Here is every thought made pure and wholly simple. ⁶Here is sin denied, and everything that is received instead.

This is the journey’s end. ²We have referred to it as the real world. …⁵[Perception and knowledge] are brought together, and only one continues past the gate where Oneness is. ⁶Salvation is a borderland where place and time and choice have meaning still, and yet it can be seen that they are temporary, out of place, and every choice has been already made.

Salvation stops just short of Heaven, for only perception needs salvation. ²Heaven was never lost, and so cannot be saved. ³Yet who can make a choice between the wish for Heaven and the wish for hell unless he recognizes they are not the same? ⁴This difference is the learning goal this course has set. (A Course in Miracles, T-26.III.2;3:1-2,5-6;5:1-4. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

There is a song with the phrase, “I’m in heaven….” The lyrics go on to describe forms in the world that make the moment seem heavenly. Yet forms are not real and do not last. This perception is really hell because it lacks the formless, oneness of Love. The song demonstrates our confusion about what Heaven is.

The Course is teaching us to recognize that we need to let go of beliefs that any form in the world is valuable or real. As we learn to forgive our wish for specialness, we let go of our illusions. Christ’s vision shows us the presence of Love in everyone and everything. The judgements that divided us from the world are laid down. The unity of Love is welcomed.

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