A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 245 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 245 Insights

“Your peace is with me, Father. I am safe.”

Because I am safe in God, the truth about me is invulnerable. God’s Will is that I remain in His peace and in His Love. He has given all of Himself to me without limit. If I believe I am vulnerable in any way, I am contradicting the Will of God and I cannot experience peace while I hold this belief.

The ego would have me believe I am a body and the body is weak and frail, condemned to die, taking me with it in death. It is these lies that are the basis of all fear. There could be no fear if I recognize myself as God created me.

But the body does not have to serve the ego’s purpose. It does not have to be the means to make separation, loss and death appear real. I can offer the body to the Holy Spirit to be used solely for His purpose. The Holy Spirit’s purpose is always to teach that only Love is real and all are safe in God. A weak and vulnerable body teaches the opposite. But a body that reflects a healthy mind at peace with itself teaches that Love is real and invulnerable. The body is then a teaching device, a means of communicating the Love that is the truth of What we are.

Holy Spirit, I offer my mind and body to You today. My thoughts I give You. Cleanse them of false beliefs, that they may express only Your Love. Direct my words, my hands, my feet, that I may bring this message of Love to all my brothers in perfect peace.

I am a holy Son of God. I am worthy of His peace and with His peace comes perfect health, for what is illness but an outer demonstration of an inner conflict? I give my mind over to You, Holy Spirit, to direct. That is my desire, my will. I would follow You, knowing You lead me on the path of Light that brings me to the peace of God. I stand in gratitude and joy to receive Your gifts and share them with all the world. Amen.

I would accept my Father, my Source, today. I would accept I am in my Source and have not left my Source. I would accept I am not different from my Source. The Father and the Son are one. When I accept the Source of my Being, I am accepting peace and Love and joy. I am accepting the abundance of that which is true. When I accept the truth, fear falls away because I cannot be harmed by illusions.

As I learn to step back from illusions, I remember I am safe. As I accept the truth of my safety, I give and extend the knowing of safety to my brothers. I extend the truth that we are all safe in the Mind of God. Illusions of fear and scarcity are not my will. When I accept the truth, I remember I am safe.

Dear God, today I would remember nothing in this world of separation can harm me. I would remember this world is illusion. I would remember my real Life is the Life I live in God. I would remember that to remember Love I would extend the Love I am. I would remember Love is sharing. Love is not separating. Love is joining and giving all Love to all. “Your peace is with me, Father. I am safe.”

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 244 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 244 Insights

“I am in danger nowhere in the world.”

Opening to God is opening to the awareness of safety. Opening to God is opening to the awareness of peace and eternal joy. In God there is constancy. God is consistent and does not change.

If I do not feel safe, it is because I am not remembering God’s Love and peace. God’s Love and peace are What I am and so I am not remembering my one Self. It is frightening to feel all alone and separate from God. Making decisions on my own is not a happy situation.

Dear God, I surrender my belief in individuality to You. I surrender thinking that I have to decide what anything means on my own. I surrender my separate identity. I see how false it is and how it causes only fear. I open my mind to You today. I relax into Your Love and rest in Your peace. We are one and nothing else is true. Herein lies my safety. It lies nowhere else. I surrender all my fearful dreams to You and they dissolve in Your healing Light.

If I am not experiencing God’s perfect peace, I must be in some way perceiving danger or threat. I can only perceive this if I believe I am separate from God’s Love and safety. This is the core mistake that is the basis for the appearance of this world. The world is the effect of believing that it is possible to be without God’s Love. The Course tells us only Love is real. If that is true then the world we perceive must be false.

My reawakening to the reality of Love is how I remember that I am in danger nowhere in this world. The means for returning to Love is forgiveness. It is letting go of attempting to replace God’s Love with illusions of individuality and specialness.

Because we made the world of illusions, it will appear real to us because we believe in what we made. That is why we need to practice listening to the Holy Spirit, Who did not make the world of illusions and thus does not believe it. He is the Bridge of return, given us by God so that no matter what insane illusions we may make, there is always a means for returning to sanity.

Holy Spirit, I give my thoughts to you. I am tired of wearying myself with trying to hold together a world of illusions. I am tired of trying to control reality and control the world. I would step back and let you be the Director and the Guide. I know that you will show me the way Home to the safety of God’s loving Arms. I give the burden of control to You. With a sigh of relief, I step back and follow You. With You holding my hand, we walk lightly and carry the Light of Love. This day I walk in gratitude.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 243 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 243 Insights

“Today I will judge nothing that occurs.”

The body’s senses offer only bits of perception of the whole. In the “What is the world?” section that goes with this lesson, it refers to the body’s senses as “mechanisms of illusion.” It tells us that our senses are directed to go out and look for illusions. That’s what they were made for. In this world we have so thoroughly bought into believing the illusions are real, we think that the body’s senses show us reality.

Yet here we are told that all they bring us is witnesses to illusion. This makes our body’s senses wholly unreliable. And consequently any decision or judgment we attempt to make must be filled with uncertainty. We are trying to make decisions based on illusions. Beneath our outward show of certainty, there must always be an underlying awareness of the illusions this “certainty” is based upon. It is no wonder we walk through our days with at best a low level of anxiety.

This is why it is so important that we learn to turn to the Holy Spirit in our minds for guidance in every decision. We do not have the resources to make judgments on our own. The Holy Spirit sees the whole in its entirety. His vision reaches far beyond what we are aware of in our identification with the body. Yet His vision is always available to us. We need only let go of the arrogance of believing that we understand anything on our own. In the section in the Manual for Teachers, “As for the rest,” it tells us that learning to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance is the core of the curriculum. It also says that it is the way out of hell for us and release from all guilt.

As I practice letting the Holy Spirit guide me through the day, His guidance does not always seem certain to me. But the uncertainty I feel is not because His guidance is anything but rock solid. It is because I still retain some belief that the body’s perceptions show me something of reality. It is this attempt to follow two guides that brings the uncertainty. And so I continue to practice remembering that of myself I can do nothing, for this allows the return of the power of God to me.

In truth, I cannot be “of myself.” It is this recognition that frees me to experience the certainty of Holy Spirit’s guidance. Today I will continue to practice following the Holy Spirit’s lead. Today I will walk toward freedom.

If I come to any conclusions based on what the physical senses show me, I will be mistaken. The physical or body’s senses were made to deceive. The body’s senses were made to replace Reality with illusions of separation. That is why it is not helpful for me to think that I already know based on what I have learned from the past through the body’s senses. That is why I must now learn to step back and open my mind to the Holy Spirit’s correction of my perceptions.

Only God’s Creation exists at all. What I am seeing through the body’s eyes are hallucinations of separation. And that means hallucinations of nothing. When I come to conclusions about what is real from these hallucinations, I am wrong and that is why I cannot judge anything in this world.

The Course says this world is an attack on God. I would step back from attacking God today. It only causes guilt and fear. Today my practice is to come to no conclusions on my own. I would practice opening my mind and listening to the only Source of all real power, to the only Source of all real peace. I would be guided. I will not lead. In this way my true direction becomes clear. In this way I am led out of the insanity of the ego thought system.

Remembering that I do not know on my own is the key to my inner peace and inner health. In this way I am helpful to myself and to the world. As I help myself, I help the Sonship, for we are one. I would open to the memory of the truth that all that is real is still one in God. Today I will judge nothing that occurs in this dream of separation.

Whew! I can see that I’m going to have a busy day reminding myself not to judge. I’ve only just read the lesson and have had to release judgment several times. I have proved over and over to myself that I cannot effectively judge what happens and yet, I hold stubbornly to judgment. I hope that today, I will make some progress in changing my mind about this.

The thought of being free of judging makes me feel lighter and happier. And that is just the possibility, what would it feel like to accomplish this?

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 242 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 242 Insights

“This day is God’s. It is my gift to Him.”

This lesson is another example of remembering that giving and receiving are the same. When I give my day to God, I am open to receive His gifts. When I think I have a will different from His, I am choosing against God and against His gifts. I think I want something else.

It is interesting to observe the subtle ways I attempt to tell God what to do. I may say I am open to His Will, yet I may have conditions in which I will receive His Will. I may be willing to accept His Will provided I don’t have to move or I can have a certain relationship I think is important or I can have the kind of clothes I think are important. These conditions I hold in my mind are there only because I believe my will is not the same as God’s. I believe I know what will make me happy and I’m not really sure God’s Will will make me happy.

There is a suspicion in the back of my mind that God demands sacrifice, which is another way of saying God doesn’t care about my happiness. Yet the Course says His Will for me is perfect happiness. So I must be missing something. I am believing the ego’s lies that tell me specialness will bring me happiness. But when I seek specialness, I must also choose to be separate from God’s Love. Thus I am missing His Love and misinterpreting what His Love is.

The ego doesn’t tell me that it’s substitute for love — specialness — will never satisfy. In fact, choosing specialness is literally self-sacrifice. To have specialness, I must give up awareness of my Self, which is limitless, eternal Love. Specialness is an attempt to limit Love, yet Love cannot be limited and be Love.

And so today I choose to give my day to God without reservation. Thus I open my heart to receive the gift of All That is, the gift of Love. There is no greater treasure. Nothing else can bring me perfect happiness and peace that cannot be disturbed. Thank You God for Your gifts to me.

Giving my day to God is the same as giving my day to the truth. This world of separation is a defense against God. Today I would practice refraining from defending against the truth. Today I would let my mind be quiet. Today I would practice opening to my real Life, the Life I live in God eternally. Today I would practice opening my mind and listening to the Holy Spirit, Which is my bridge of return to the truth.

I give this day to recognizing only God is real. I would let myself be carried by the Wings of Peace. I would let my perceptions be transformed so what is not true disappears and falls away into the nothingness that it is.

Today I would take all thoughts of apprehension or worry to God. God is Where my true safety lies. I would return to the one Identity That is real. I open my mind to God and let all false ideas of division fall away. The truth is true and nothing else is true. God is real and nothing else is real. I give this day to God.

I didn’t think there was much for me to surrender to God today. As I sat there letting my mind wander, little worries started popping up and the list turned out to be longer than I would have thought. I gave it all to Holy Spirit and asked Him to show me a new way of seeing them. I told God that I surrender my entire day to Him and I didn’t have any suggestions as to how it is to go. I asked Holy Spirit to keep an eye on me and if I start taking parts of it back to remind me of my commitment.

My reaction is interesting. I feel elated; then I feel nervous. Doing everything myself and being in control is a lifelong habit for me and one I’ve been taught is both vital for my survival and is my responsibility and not to be shirked. So, I give that reaction to Holy Spirit. I really think I can afford to trust the Creator of the universe with the important issues of my life for just one single day. After I see how He does with today, I’ll make a decision about tomorrow. (That is meant as ironic humor-I think!)

Ha! I too am still trying to bargain with God. I found myself saying I need to get this done and THEN I’ll let God do the rest. How arrogant!

I have to remind myself that God really does have all the right answers, not me, who is but a vessel. God knows what to say, when to do it, what to do and what experiences I need. Every time I think I have surrendered, I have these little reminders.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 241 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 241 Insights

“This holy instant is salvation come.”

Salvation, release from the world of separation and limitation, is available every day, in every instant. It comes with true forgiveness. It is no accident that Part II of the Workbook begins with “What is forgiveness?” When we recognize that there is truly nothing to forgive, that nothing has occurred to change the Son of God in any way, we will know complete release from the world. It will disappear because the thought that made it is gone.

Forgiveness is the means, the only means, through which we are released to return to our Home, in the Heaven of God’s Arms. That is what it means in the introduction to the Course that this is a required course. We must all, in one way or another, come to realize that only Love is real and nothing else exists. This is what forgiveness brings us. Forgiveness lets us see what we thought we were apart from God could never be and never has been. This clears the way for us to see the Love that is our brother and our Self. The words and means used to reach this awareness do not matter. The Course is one way to find It. But even this we must let go of and come with wholly empty hands and an open heart and mind to our Creator. This is what the Course calls forgiveness.

The inner Teacher given me by God will come to me in every moment when I am willing to accept that I, of myself, know nothing. I, in unity with the Holy Spirit, know everything. To experience this unity, I must relinquish the desire for a special and unique identity. As I give this desire to the Holy Spirit, He returns a gift to me of immeasurable value. He returns my Self to me, along with all God’s glory, His joy, His peace and His Love. In this holy instant is salvation come.

This lesson speaks to me of the power of now. Because in reality there is no past and future, now is all there is. Now I would open to the Holy Spirit and let the veil be lifted. It is only in this false world of separation that there appears to be a choice as to when I choose to let the veil be lifted.

Once the veil is lifted, there is only God. God is. Love is. There is nothing else. The choice for returning to God can only be now. Only God is now. Illusions are nothing and nowhere. Nothing really matters but awareness of the truth, awareness of God, awareness of Love. Love is eternal so Love is now.

So now I open my mind and let all my fears be dissolved in Heaven’s holy Light. Now I open to the certainty of God and let all doubts disappear. The answer to every problem is in my mind now as I open to the Holy Spirit. Where do I place my trust? I place my trust in God, now. What joy there is today!

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 240 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 240 Insights

“Fear is not justified in any form.”

If I believe what the body’s eyes show me, there appears to be countless reasons to be fearful. War and attack appear to be everywhere. Loss appears to be inevitable. Everywhere we turn there appears to be some threat to our safety and very existence. Yet all this is based upon the error of believing that we are a separate body, weak and vulnerable.

The body is part of a world that is entirely lies. Being a lie itself, it can only show us lies. Believing we are a body is believing in a lie. The body can neither make us safe nor bring us harm in truth. It appears to be destructive only while we believe that the body is what we are.

God created us one with Him. We share His strength and holiness. God, being Love, does not and could not will that we be in pain. We can only perceive pain if we believe we are not as God created us. It is belief in this false image of ourselves that must be undone for us to know the safety, freedom and happiness in which we live in God. We remain Love as God created us.

Where Love is, fear cannot exist. As we learn to recognize ourselves as Love and identify with that Love more strongly than we identify with a separate and vulnerable body, we experience God’s safety more and more. We see less and less justification for fear. The Love that we are shines upon our world. We see the Love in our brother more clearly. We recognize calls for Love more quickly and respond to them with Love.

The way we make this shift is by practicing moment-by-moment listening to the Holy Spirit and receiving His vision, His interpretation of every circumstance. On our own, we will misinterpret everything because we are not on our own. The Holy Spirit teaches us our unity. And as we learn to see through His vision, we teach that unity to our brothers. And thus we do experience that fear is never justified in any form.

Where there is fear, there is not Love. Where there is fear, there is belief in separation from Love. Where there is fear, there is belief in what is not true. Where there is fear, there is belief in illusion.

Love does not change. Love is eternal. Love has nothing to do with a world of time and space, where everything constantly changes. Either eternal, changeless Love is true or a world of separate forms that constantly change is true. Where we choose to place our belief determines what we experience.

Fear and guilt come with belief in constant change and separation. Peace, joy and awareness of oneness come with letting go of what was never real. That is our job now — to not believe in a world of separate things. We are returning from a mindset of separation, or fear, to the true universe of our oneness in God’s Love. We are returning from fear to Love.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 239 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 239 Insights

“The glory of my Father is my own.”

All of God’s glory is what you are. All of God’s glory is what I am. In God we are one. We are still in God. Because we are still as God created us, there is no sin and guilt in us because there is no sin and guilt in God.

Today my practice is to remember this truth about my brother and myself. The glory of God is what we all are. Now is the time to let go of illusions of being separate from God. Now is the time let go of illusions of sin and guilt. Now is the time to return to the truth. This is my practice today.

When we see someone in pain or acting out in anger, it seems difficult to see that this person remains safe and whole in God. The pain and attack seem very real. Yet today’s lesson reminds us that we remain at one with our Father. God cannot sin nor be guilty. Neither can His Son, Who is one with Him.

The challenge is to not make the error real. This is not something we can do on our own. Believing we are on our own is the error. That same error will be perceived everywhere but not recognized as error. We will perceive as true everything that supports what we believe we are. What does not support this belief is perceived as false. If we believe we are separate individuals then we will perceive innocence in our brother as false. Along with believing we are separate comes the belief in sin because sin is simply separation, or lack of Love. And so sin is perceived as true and innocence is perceived as false. This is the upside down thinking of the ego.

To step out of this false world of perception, we need help from outside the thought system of separation. This is the Thought of peace given us by God the moment we had the thought of separation, which is the thought of conflict. This thought of peace, the Holy Spirit, is in our minds to help us heal the split, which never truly occurred, but which we believe is real. As we learn to turn to the Holy Spirit for guidance instead of the ego thought system, He will bring us correction. He will help us recognize the false as false and truth as true.

The ego looks on attack and injustice as justification for condemnation and punishment. The Holy Spirit looks at the same action as a call for Love requiring correction rather than punishment. Correction is healing and the means of correction is forgiveness. An insane mind, distorted by belief in what could never be, needs loving and careful correction. It is not done by simply saying, “Get over it.” It requires careful, step by step training of the mind to learn to recognize the beliefs that underlie the terrifying world insanity shows us.

Being the Messenger of God, the Holy Spirit has the wisdom to know exactly what will be helpful in every moment. This is why it is our job to develop the habit of letting the Holy Spirit be our Guide in every moment. He will guide us in what to say and do in every moment to support, encourage and strengthen forgiveness and let go of guilt. The Holy Spirit knows guilt is never justified. In our identification with the ego, guilt always appears to be justified. This is the error the Holy Spirit will help us correct if we but turn to Him in every circumstance for His guidance and vision.

If we think we know what to do on our own, we will make our judgments and reinforce guilt. There will be no openness to the Holy Spirit’s teaching. But as we learn that on our own we do not know what anything means, we become teachable. Now we are open to the Thought of peace, which can heal the split and help us recognize that the glory of our Father is our own.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 238 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 238 Insights

“On my decision all salvation rests.”

My Self is God’s Son. My Self is the one Self we all share. It is this Self, Which is Love, that unites us all as one and unites us with God. Being Love, this Self shares God’s holiness. My only decision is whether to accept this Self as my Identity or to choose a fake identity.

This fake identity is made up and therefore cannot be united with the Self that is my reality. This fake identity is limited and weak, fearful and riddled with guilt. It sees attack and destruction everywhere and never feels safe. Its existence depends upon attack to protect itself from attack. Peace is impossible to this fake identity, for it sees itself as alone and separate from the many other identities that seem to populate its world. Belief in this identity makes it seem to be real and the Identity created by God seems unreal.

But believing in this fake identity is a decision, yet it is a decision that can be reversed. This fake identity ceases to appear to exist the moment it is no longer supported by belief. This is salvation. The moment I release all belief in separate identities, the world is free and I remember the Self God created as His Son. The extension of Love replaces the projection of guilt. Peace replaces conflict. And God’s glory replaces a sense of unworthiness. One decision made without reservation changes it all.

Belief in a separate identity has been reinforced, layer upon layer. And so the undoing of this belief seems to come layer by layer. There still seems to be reservations in choosing against the false identity. Some aspects of this false identity still seem to be attractive. Gratefully, as I let go of believing I am separate and alone, the false identity is less and less attractive. More and more I realize and accept that my happiness lies in accepting that I am Love and nothing else. And so is everyone.

Holy Spirit, guide my vision today to see the Love in everyone that I may recognize my Self. Thus will I contribute to the salvation of the world, which cannot be complete while I believe there could be anything but Love. Holy Spirit help me to see that only Love is real.

Love extends only Love. Love’s extension is God’s one Son. There are not a million different sons. There is only one Son, Which is Love. If I think I am something other than Love, I am mistaken. Love is constant. Love is changeless.

Because I have believed that something else was real, my job now is to refuse to support the world of dreams and malice. My job is to let these dreams go quietly down to dust. My job is to lay these dreams aside so the memory of God, the memory of truth, can return to my awareness.

God is always there as I am willing to lay illusions down. Truth is true and nothing else is true. Today am I going to support illusions or support the truth? God’s trust in me is total. Today I practice seeing past dreams of separation to What is eternally true. Today I practice opening up to my one Self, remembering I never left. Dreams are just dreams and have nothing to do with reality. Today I would practice remembering this is so.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 237 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 237 Insights

“Now would I be as God created me.”

The second sentence of the first paragraph stood out to me today. It is my function to let the Light of God in me shine upon the world, always. If I am not supremely happy or if I am in conflict in any way, I am not being as God created me. I am not letting His Light shine through me. I have made a choice to limit what I am. The illusionary world of separation is not a place of malice and darkness unless I choose to make it so by choosing to believe it is real and I am separate from my Creator. The thought that conflict and war could exist interferes with my awareness of God’s Light.

Gratefully the Thought of God remains in my mind to help me release the insane belief that conflict could be real. There is no conflict in God and thus there can be no conflict in me in truth. This means whenever I become aware of any perception of limitation, that perception needs to be taken to the Holy Spirit, the Thought of God in my mind. This Thought has the power to heal the mistaken thought of separation. The Thought of God shows me the vision of Christ and speaks to me of the Light in Which I was created and in Which I remain. The Thought of God shows me the glory of God’s Light in me.

As I take each thought of conflict and limitation to the Holy Spirit to be healed, the world I look upon reflects my change of mind. More and more I want to join with the Love I see in my brother instead of protecting myself against his perceived attack. Through the Light in me I perceive a new world, a forgiven world, a happy dream, free of conflict.

I dedicate today to walking with Holy Spirit, letting Him guide my vision and my hearing that I may bring the Light of Christ to the world. Thus I will know my Self as I was created to be.

Today I would practice opening to the truth. Today I would remember nothing has changed from what God created as one. I would remember the world of separation is illusion. I would remember I am not a body. I am still an extension of God’s Love. I would be in God’s peace.

I wear a QRay bracelet for the arthritis in my hands. It had been off for a couple of days and as I was reading today’s lesson, I started experiencing discomfort. I was looking all over the house for where I left it as I thought about the lesson I had been reading.

It occurs to me that feeling pain or discomfort of any kind conflicts with who I am. Surely God did not create me to suffer. To suffer I would have to see myself as separate from God because certainly God does not choose to suffer.

The solution is to take this thought of limitation to God for healing. I am as God created me. Nothing has changed. I chose to add arthritis to my script, but I am the author of that script and can change my mind. Thinking of arthritis as a debilitating illness with no cure is frightening and discouraging. Thinking of it as just another mistaken thought in need of healing puts a whole new light on it!

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 236 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 236 Insights

“I rule my mind, which I alone must rule.”

At all times, my mind is serving either the ego or the Holy Spirit. It is helpful for me to recognize this as I go through my day. I can ask myself, “Which is my mind serving right now?” I only have right now, and which I serve right now brings me its effects.

The ego brings me experiences of individuality, separation and a world of trial and error. The Holy Spirit brings me the experience of peace, unity and service to the Sonship’s recognition of the wholeness of God. Which will I serve today?

I make that decision minute-by-minute, whether I realize it or not. The more I truly desire to serve only the Holy Spirit and not the wishes of individuality, the more I will experience the Holy Spirit’s innate joy, peace and universal Love. I start today with this one intent: That I keep my mind open to the Thoughts of God. As I truly open my mind with consistency to God, God will do the rest.

When I read “At times, I do not seem to be its king at all,” I chuckled to myself. “At times” seems to be a grand understatement. But I appreciate Jesus’ kindness in giving me a goal to move toward. In fact, since I have been working with the Course, I can definitely see there has been progress in moving toward mastery of my mind. For that I am deeply grateful. But there is still much time when thoughts ricochet through my mind stirring up all kinds of havoc. And it doesn’t seem like I have anything to do with where those thoughts come from.

Yet I do understand that they are there by my choice. I may have hidden the choice under layers of denial, but the choice is still mine. The good news is that since it was my choice, I am always free to make another choice.

This lesson is encouraging me to make that other choice. It is also telling me it is only I who can make that other choice. Nobody else can do it for me. Even God can’t do it for me, for if He did, He would be teaching me I am weak and at a lesser level than He. He will gladly and gratefully accept when I choose to give my mind to Him, but it remains my choice.

I also noticed when it said as I give my mind to the Holy Spirit, it is then free to do the Will of God, there was a little, faint voice in the corner of my mind that was trying to convince me that this meant sacrifice. I would have to give up my independence and do the Will of God. Of course this voice ignores the fact offered in yesterday’s lesson that God’s Will for me is my happiness. It cannot be a sacrifice to turn my mind over to what alone can make me truly happy.

And so today I put a “closed” sign on the door of my mind to those thoughts of sacrifice and separation. And thus I open my mind to the joyous Will of God, that I may be filled with His Love and peace, which is also mine. It is His Thoughts of Love and unity that I now welcome. This is my choice today. This is how I rule my mind and keep it free to be as it was created to be.

I am being more aware of my thoughts and who they come from (God or ego). I am taking ego thoughts to Holy Spirit for healing more and more often and more quickly. I notice that, where I used to enjoy wallowing in the emotional chaos they caused a bit before I gave them over, I am no longer seeing any advantage in doing that nor am I enjoying it. This is a very good thing and reassures me I am, indeed, making spiritual progress in my life.

I get those little whispery voices, too. One that comes up as I congratulate myself for doing a good thing in quickly turning over ego thoughts is that now I am doing so well I will be tested. Something really challenging will come along to see if I am doing as well as I thought. The voice will come up with some pretty awful possibilities if I care to listen. I think listening to that voice has kept me from moving forward in the past. I trust in God’s Love more now, and am not so quick to listen to the whispery voices.

That voice is determined, though, and sometimes speaks so quietly that I don’t even realize it is happening. I think it must be subliminal. You know, like the rumor that used to float around about the movie theater people. The story is they would flash pictures of popcorn on the screen; they would do it so quickly that the conscious mind would not register them. But suddenly, you would feel the need to for a box of hot buttered popcorn. Well, I think that is what my ego does.

I was working on Pathways of Light Course 901: Introduction to Miracles Practice, yesterday but was distracted by a migraine and found it hard to fully focus. I wanted to put it aside and wait for the headache to go away, but more than that, I wanted to keep working. Especially since these migraines can last days at a time. I really didn’t have time to wait it out.

Finally, I stopped to try to figure out why and how I brought this into my life. I swear I couldn’t think of anything. Before I went to sleep, I asked for healing of whatever thoughts were causing the problem.

I dreamed about somebody giving me a monkey to take care of and about being busy and not having time to do it and not knowing what to feed it. I looked for a book and no one had the right book, though I knew there was one out there someplace. I thought about leaving the monkey with others to feed and take care of, at least while I slept, but then I worried they would not do their job. It was very frustrating and tiring. When I woke up, I couldn’t get it off my mind.

Then I remembered a phrase from Course 901 that had caught my attention yesterday about a monkey mind. I went back to my course workbook and looked it up. It said, “They know that, with a little willingness to detach from the ego monkey mind, they will reach the Light of understanding that quietly and eternally resides in the mind.”

I may not be completely aware of the deeply hidden thoughts that are keeping me from complete peace, but I feel certain that I am willing to detach and I trust Holy Spirit to help my unwillingness.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 235 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 235 Insights

“God in His mercy wills that I be saved.”

What God wills is what is true. What God wills is what is real. God is Love and Love extends only Love. We are all extensions of Love and only this is what is true. This is what is real. As we were created as Love, we are still perfect and innocent. This is God’s Will.

We are saved because it is God’s Will and what is not God’s Will cannot exist. Our remembrance of this brings to our awareness the truth that we are Love immersed in Love. We are safe in Love and this cannot change because only Love is real. Illusions of separation from Love could never be real. That is why we are saved.

In truth we were never lost. In illusions of separation we can believe we are lost. But as soon as we are willing to lay these illusions down, we will see that Love could never change and be the opposite of Love. Love is constant. Love is eternal. We are saved because we are Love and God’s Will ensures that this is true.

Let me remember this today. When I stray to thinking that something other than Love has really happened, let me return to remembering that only Love is real. Remembering the truth brings happiness, joy and peace. I will to align my will with God’s Will. I will to remember the truth.

One of the central ideas offered repeatedly in the Course is that thoughts do not and cannot leave their source. If their source is reality, they remain in reality. If their source is illusion, they remain illusions. If their Source is Love, they remain Love. That is why it is God’s Will that I be saved. It is simply another way of saying that I cannot leave my Source.

To be my Self I must remain Love as I was created and Which I am still one with. I cannot leave Love. God is happiness. I cannot truly leave happiness. I can be unaware of happiness if I believe in an illusion of being separate. But happiness still surrounds me and remains what I am.

Belief in illusion can make it appear that there is a force opposing the Will of God. Most religions of the world incorporate this idea of a dark side that opposes God. This dark side is always engaged in battle and God must be constantly defending against it.

One of the essential ingredients for movies to be successful at the box office is that they must in some way incorporate conflict between the light and the dark. Without that conflict, it is not interesting enough to draw an audience. The ego thrives on conflict because conflict appears to make the dark side real. And so it appears in most religions of the world.

I am not aware of any other teaching that says the dark side, the fallen angel, any seeming force opposing God cannot be real. Yet it is the recognition of its unreality that brings us freedom. It releases us from illusions so we may once again know God’s Will for us is perfect happiness.

We have never and could never leave our Source. We remain in happiness, in Love, in God, untainted by any illusion of separation or guilt. This is so because thoughts leave not their source and I am grateful this is so.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 234 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 234 Insights

“Father, today I am Your Son again.”

My Father is Love. And I am Love’s Son, or Love’s extension. As Love’s extension, my only job is to extend Love. I am willing today to practice remembering my true Identity as Love’s extension. I am willing today to practice letting go of the false identity I have latched on to as an individual, separate from God. This is not where my safety lies. My safety lies in returning my mind to my true Identity, where I reside eternally as one in God’s universal Love.

“Father, today I am Your Son again.” This means I am willing to look at the thoughts that deny this truth and hand them over to be undone in Your loving Light. This is now what time is for — to return to my true Identity as Love.

There are many stories about people who were separated from their parents at birth or at a young age who, as adults, felt a need to find their birth parents. We all have a desire deep within our hearts to return to our Parent, our Source. If we think we are a body, we will search for what we believe to be the source of that body, our birth parents. But this is just a reflection of the deeper inner desire to reconnect with our Father, with Love.

Our true and eternal sense of completion can never be found in the world of form. Our true completion is in Love. This is the only place we will find lasting happiness. Only in Love will we feel truly at Home. Only in Love will the gnawing sense that something is missing disappear. Only in Love will we know our wholeness.

When we believe we are separate, Love seems to be lost to us. We may hear the call of Love in our hearts, but if we think the world of form is real, we will search for Love where it cannot be found. Love cannot be found in a special relationship with another body. It is not found in another body that shares our DNA. Love cannot be found in winning awards or any special circumstance in the world. Love is found within because Love is what we are. Love is found by remembering we are Love’s extension, by knowing again that we are God’s Son.

I rest today in God’s loving embrace by practicing accepting my Self as His loving extension. That is how I know that I am my Father’s Son again. As I practice this I feel the safety of Love’s sure protection, and remember I am free.

Thank you God, for being my Father, my rock and my salvation. I need nothing else, for there is nothing else but Your Love, which You have given wholly to me. Thank You.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 233 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 233 Insights

“I give my life to God to guide today.”

As I read the lesson this time, the line in the prayer that reminds me not to question “Love whose tenderness I cannot comprehend” got my attention. I thought of what tenderness means. To me it means a desire to keep safe and not harm.

We think of the tenderness of a mother with a newborn child, who holds the baby tenderly to comfort and protect. The thought of harm could not occur. And yet this tenderness is but a hint of the tenderness of God’s Love for us. His Love is wholly harmless. His Will is that we be safe and comforted beyond anything we could experience in this world. His care for us that we share His joy and know His sure protection is beyond words to describe.

To experience His care and comfort, we need only give our life to Him to guide. He will always guide us in perfect safety on pathways cushioned with soft moss and lit with the warm Light of His Love. In His sure protection, nothing can disturb our peace. This is His promise.

Today I would remember my will is God’s Will. I want His Will to guide me because I want to remember I am God’s Love. I give my life to God to guide today.

The way I give my Life to God is to give Him all my thoughts. Having my own thoughts is a defense against the oneness of God. Thinking I am an individual, alone and separate from God and the Sonship is very fearful. Handing these thoughts over to God brings relief. Reconnecting with God brings an awareness of safety and well being. It brings peace.

Today I will practice giving all my thoughts to God and having none of my own. To do this I must be mindful of my thoughts and remember to hand them over consistently all through the day. God would replace them with His. This is my joy and safety. This is my happiness. Today I give my life to God to guide.

I, too, am going to make a special effort to be mindful of my thoughts and to give to Holy Spirit any that are not thoughts of God. I know from doing this how effective it is in retraining my mind to think with God instead of with ego. It also brings peace to my day. Thinking about dedicating my mind to God today feels like I am doing something very holy and very important. I look forward to today and the joy and healing it will bring.

There’s a certain kind of freedom in knowing that I don’t know or comprehend love and tenderness. The Course has taught me that and it is a lesson I’m willing to learn. It’s a tremendous relief to realize I was wrong about the world. Of course, having thoughts of my own puts me in a position where I don’t recognize tenderness when it’s in my face. But as long as I am willing to step back and let Him lead me, turn over all my thoughts to Him and open myself to His thoughts, the fog begins to clear. My world is still there, but I begin to see it in a different light, a tender light.

Today, I surrender my life to You, Holy Spirit, to guide me to that place where my Heavenly Father waits for me, with tenderness and welcoming arms, to receive His gifts. Amen.

This lesson I will print out and place where I see it daily as a reminder of my first priority upon arising. Daily, hourly, minute by minute, I will give my life to God to guide today. How peaceful and easy this feeling is and how quickly my ego will attempt to get me turned around!

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 232 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 232 Insights

“Be in my mind, my Father, through the day.”

This lesson is reminding me that being with God is being in a state of mind where there is a knowing of comfort and safety. As I let this feeling wash over me, I realize how important this is to accept and know. I also realize there are aspects in my mind that really need this healing comfort.

I grew up in a church which taught that God is Love. I remember seeing the words, “God is Love” in big, gold raised letters across the front of the church. Yet I am aware I also carried an image of God as ready to judge and punish. I believed He kept a list and checked it twice for who was naughty and nice. I wasn’t sure I wanted God knowing everything I did. It’s like the feeling of driving by a police car and wondering if I was going to be stopped for something I did wrong and didn’t even know I was doing. It’s a reflection of underlying guilt that was carried and seemed to be just waiting to be discovered and punished.

Gratefully this lesson is presenting a different perspective of God. This is a perspective of Love that is ever present and unchanging. It is a place of safety and comfort, a place of refuge and healing, and most of all a place of peace.

There is not even a hint of condemnation in God. His only thought for me is Love. As I allow this thought to flow through my mind, it brings a wonderful sense of calm and quiet joy. Deep gratitude inspires me to share this Love with all my brothers. Love is all I want to offer and all I want to see. If there is a call for Love, the only response in my heart is to offer Love.

In this world, where form is perceived as real, Love seems to take many forms. As I let myself be guided by the Holy Spirit in my mind, I will always offer Love in the most appropriate form in the moment. It is not for me to decide on my own, but merely to allow myself to be led. Thus I will extend the Love I feel from my Father to all my brothers and know it for myself.

What particularly stood out to me in this lesson today is, “Trust all things to Him. Let Him reveal all things to you.” If ever I am dismayed by anything, there is only one thing to do and that is to remember to hand it over and let my mind be healed of every form of fear. It is only then I will be aware of my safety in every situation.

At any moment, who do I think I am? The more I believe in the stories of this world, the more I will experience fear. I will not feel safe. The more I place my trust in God and remember I am His Son, the more I will remember I am safe in every circumstance. “Be in my mind, my Father, through the day” is a thought of accepting safety where safety truly lies.

Forgetting my Source and dreaming a dream of being disconnected from my Source is scary indeed. It is a nightmare that can be undone as I return to letting in the truth that nothing has changed since I was created.

I am still in God and of God. Everyone in this world is part of the same Son. There is only one Son and that Son has never changed. That Son is safe in God. That is what I remember when I return to placing my trust in God and let Him reveal things to me. With this peace returns.

In truth God is in my mind and everyone’s mind all through the day. We can’t really remove ourselves from God because God is What we are. As we are willing to open to God, open to our Source, we return to remembering we are safe in God eternally. This and only this is the truth.

My practice today is to remember this and be aware of God’s presence and God’s peace all through the day.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend that you
read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

---

Tell a Friend about this article or send the link with a Tweet

Printable Page

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 231 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 231 Insights

“Father, I will but to remember You.”

The ego has a mistaken idea of what we are and what will bring us happiness. Centered on the idea of separation and the desire for specialness, the ego’s idea of Heaven is to be different, unique and to have more specialness than others.

But believing in separation brings with it a sense of loss because desiring specialness makes it impossible to experience Love, which can only be given equally to all. This sense of loss brings with it a sense of guilt because the belief is that we have done something that broke the flow of Love and therefore did harm.

Thus everyone in this world carries a burden of loss and guilt and is seeking to escape that burden. Constant effort is focused on trying to fill the emptiness and hide from the guilt. No one questions whether the emptiness and guilt are real. Having accepted that separation is real, the emptiness and guilt are inevitable. Our only apparent hope is to find temporary fixes in which we seem to have periods where the emptiness subsides and the guilt is hidden.

Yet because the underlying belief in separation remains, the guilt will resurface and the emptiness will return because their cause remains. The drive to win, to have more money, more friends, to look good, to have a special partner, to have status, are all just many forms of attempts to fill the illusion of emptiness with an illusion of specialness.

Acts of anger are just attempts to make others guilty to hide from the guilt believed to be within. Yet all attempts to project guilt simply attest to the belief that guilt is justified and keep it firmly rooted in the ego thought system. All this comes with the thought system of separation.

It is all undone when we remember Love and accept our unity with It. Underneath all our ego false ideas, we want to return to remembering Love, our Source. We were created by Love, in Love, as Love. In this Identity there can be no emptiness and there can be no guilt. Love is one and all the same. Within Love there can be no pockets of emptiness without Love. In Its unity is Its peace. Being one and the same, It cannot harm and so there can be no guilt in Love. This is the Heaven we seek. We need but accept that our will is one with God’s, that our only purpose is to extend Love, and we will be free.

I thank you, Father, for your Love for me. I thank you Father for your Guide, Who’s only purpose is to guide me back to you. I will but to remember You.

What does it take for me to remember Love, which is our Father? It takes a willingness to let go of what is not of our Father. The false ideas of the ego are myriad. Love, our Father, is one. Love is. God is. There is nothing else.

I lay the ego down by not making it real. I lay the ego down by listening to the Holy Spirit. It shows me the difference between the ego’s lies and Reality. The Holy Spirit brings me to the remembrance of Love, our Father.

Today I will step back and listen for the truth. Today I would follow, I would not lead. Today I would let God’s peace lead the way. Today I would focus on what is eternal.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

Tell a Friend about this article.

Printable Page

Page 9 of 25 pages ‹ First  < 7 8 9 10 11 >  Last ›

Click link to go to:
• • Lesson Index

This section has been viewed 8065785 times

Has this page been helpful to you?
Your contribution to support this site is greatly appreciated. To make a tax deductible contribution with a credit/debit card, click here.
Click here to donate from your PayPal account.
Or send a check to Pathways of Light, 12530 Lions Chase Court, Huntley, IL 60142.