A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 365 Insights

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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.
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Listen to Lesson 140 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 140 Insights

“Only salvation can be said to cure.”

This lesson is expanding on the first miracle principle: There is no order of difficulty in miracles. Accepting a miracle is recognizing that there is no difference between being disturbed by a story of someone hitting a child or being bothered because I tripped over a piece of loose carpet. There is no difference between intense terror and a mild irritation. They are all equally illusions.

The world has set up elaborate schemes to try to bring a sense of safety in this world of illusions. We jail people who we believe will harm us. We take pills to protect ourselves from damaging microorganisms. We take other pills to destroy those threatening organisms when the first pills didn’t work and we believe we are sick. This lesson is saying false perception is the same — they are all illusions. When we make up one illusion to try to fix another, we are not dealing with the real source of the problem.

It is essential that we learn to recognize illusions for what they are. Otherwise we will continue mindlessly trying to cure what is merely an effect without changing the cause. And this cannot be a cure. All the myriad forms in this world are there to justify our belief that separation is real. But they are merely the effect of a confused mind that believes that what could never be real is real.

This lesson is telling me that if I want to be free of the conflict of this world, the fear and deprivation, the guilt and isolation, I need to change my mind about what I think is real. Then real healing happens. Each time I bring a fear or guilt to the Holy Spirit, ask for His healing perception and receive it, I move a step closer to my salvation. When I can see that what I thought harmed me had no real effect on my true Reality as Love, I can let go of the fear or anger and free myself with Holy Spirit’s help.

The recognition that this world is an illusion is how I wake up from the dream. Each time I forgive or let go of dreaming I am separate from Love with the Holy Spirit’s help, my dream is a little happier, a little more peaceful, a little more loving. Gradually I begin to see that what seemed to be different circumstances, different problems, have more and more in common in my perception. As I see the sameness of all problems, my letting go of the world of illusions accelerates. I move from baby steps to recognizing more and more that all problems are the same.

Today, with the Holy Spirit’s help, I will move closer to the full recognition that nothing but the full unity of my mind with God is real. Here is my salvation, my freedom. I am grateful that the Holy Spirit is ever present in my mind. All His strength He shares with me as I walk this journey with Him. It is through His strength that my mind is healed. I am grateful.

In this lesson Jesus is telling me that there is only one solution to every problem. He is telling me that the Holy Spirit abides in my mind and can bring a happy solution to every perception that I hold as I am willing to open to the healing perceptions that the Holy Spirit brings. But in order for me to hear His Voice, I must be willing to be still with an open mind. I must be willing to quiet my mind of all the mental chatter that goes on there. I must be willing to open my mind to receiving the truth. From this comes true healing. Only from this comes salvation from every problem I think is real.

Every problem comes from belief in separation. Every solution comes from being open to the truth and receiving Holy Spirit’s true perception. That is why there is no order of difficulty in miracles. All false ideas stemming from belief in separation are equally unreal. All false ideas stemming from belief in time and space and separate bodies that are born into a brief “life” and then die are equally unreal.

Only salvation can be said to cure these false ideas. The false ideas are the cause and the effect is the world of separation I seem to see. As the cause is changed, the effect must change. Only the Holy Spirit, Which is always in my mind ready to give me a correction in perception, can heal these false ideas. That is why having a mind open to the Holy Spirit is so important. Salvation does not happen without openness to the Holy Spirit.

Today I practice opening my mind to the Holy Spirit hourly. Today I practice returning my mind to the truth which helps me recognize the false ideas for what they are and let them go because they are not true. Today I practice letting the Holy Spirit guide my life in every way.

I have a few transgressions in my life that have caused me much guilt. I cling to that guilt with great tenacity. Do I think the pain of guilt will ward off a worse punishment? Is it just another way of making myself special — my guilt is a greater burden than your guilt, certainly different from your guilt?

I bring it to Holy Spirit, but I won’t leave it there. I really need this hourly practice today. It is so hard for my mind to grasp the idea of no order of difficulty in miracles.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Listen to Lesson 139 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 139 Insights

“I will accept Atonement for myself.”

This lesson is telling us that this world was made as a place for self-doubters to come in the mad idea that we could change ourselves from what God created us to be. It is the result of rejecting ourselves as we were created. It’s no wonder the world is filled with people who doubt their worth, have low self-esteem and spend their lives trying to make up for what they believe is lacking. All of us do this in some way. Countless workshops have been offered to help people improve their self esteem and realize their worth.

What I appreciate about this lesson is that it goes to the core of the problem. It does not tell us that we were wounded as a child by critical parents or that if we just affirm often enough that we are worthy of whatever it is that we think we are missing, we will feel okay. This lesson simply reminds us that we remain as God created us and that our denial of Reality has not changed reality. Our denial of our Self has not changed What we are.

God created us worthy because He created us like Himself and of Himself. By accepting Atonement for ourselves, we accept ourselves as we were created. With that acceptance, whatever occurs in form does not matter, for we remember we remain perfect as God created us.

I need simply to change my mind about who I think I am. I am not a split off image, separate and alone. I am not a body. I am the holy creation of God Himself. That is my reality and the reality of everyone, unchangeable, absolutely certain. Every time I feel uncertainty, it is an indication that I have forgotten What I am. It is an indication that it’s time to remind myself that I remain as God created me and accept Atonement for myself.

Thirty years ago a spiritual teacher told me that I was playing dumb. I now know that “playing dumb” means not accepting myself as I was created by God. Playing dumb means thinking I am weak and vulnerable, isolated and alone. Playing dumb is a denial of the truth. Atonement means letting go of playing dumb and accepting my true Self instead of the weak and vulnerable image I have made.

In Reality, there is only one Mind, the Mind of God. If I identify with anything else as what I am, I am playing dumb, I am denying my Self. It has become a habit to think in limited, false ways. Atonement is letting these false ideas, these cobwebs be cleared, so that the Light of my true Identity can shine through. It has always been there. It never left. I just tried to cover It up. Now is the time to let the cover up be over. It is not a fun game. Limitation and lack, weakness and uncertainty need not be. It really never was, just in dreams.

I will accept Atonement for myself. I will let go of playing dumb for I remain as God created me. Nothing else is true. All minds are one in Love. This is certainty.

“Playing dumb”... That is such a useful way of seeing what seems to be happening when it seems that things aren’t working out. We started out “playing dumb” and “forgot to laugh.” In fact we forgot that we were playing at all and feel powerless against the circumstances which seem to overwhelm us and are totally out of our control. When, in reality, all we must do is remember that we are only playing and there is nothing beyond the control of the child of God.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Listen to Lesson 138 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 138 Insights

“Heaven is the decision I must make.”

Choosing Heaven means letting the truth return to my awareness. It means letting our eternal oneness in God come back to my awareness. If I am focusing on separation, on differences, on bodies, I am choosing to focus on hell. I am choosing to focus on nothing. I am not choosing Heaven. If I want to be happy, Heaven is the decision I must make.

At first it takes determined effort because my habit has been to make separation real. But as I continue to let my awareness of Heaven, of our oneness in God, come in more and more, that old habit of focusing on separation falls away more and more. It is really up to me how fast I return my awareness to the truth. At any moment I am either choosing Heaven or hell. There is no in between.

Remembering hourly that Heaven is the decision I must make jars my mind loose from old habits of making separation real. Behind every body, behind every personality, is the Light of God. In every situation, I am either focusing on the Light of God in the person or on perceiving that the person is separate from me.

Today’s lesson helps me make the choice for happiness, the choice for Heaven. At this stage it takes consistent repeated practice. It takes bringing my mind around again and again and again to the truth.

It’s just like playing the piano. It starts with practicing the scales and gradually leads towards effortless musical expression. Today I choose to practice opening to the “music” of Heaven’s oneness, Heaven’s Love, Heaven’s peace. Heaven is really all I want. Remembering our one true Identity is all I really want. Reflecting Heaven here is all I want. This treasure, my true inheritance, is received as I am willing to practice hour by hour, day by day, opening to the truth of Heaven. Heaven is really the only choice there is to make. Today I practice choosing Heaven.

The only reason I must choose Heaven now is because I have chosen against Heaven. The body and the world I see through the body’s eyes were made to make it appear that the choice against Heaven had real affect, that there really is something other than Heaven. The ego could be described as the choice to deny Heaven.

Because the ego’s “existence” depends on the perception of a real alternative to Heaven, the ego has developed many defenses and mechanisms to help make hell, this world, maintain its semblance of reality. One of its most effective mechanisms is the unconscious mind. By keeping decisions unconscious, we hide from ourselves the fact that our whole world experience, everything we see and feel, is by our own choice.

No one in their right mind consciously chooses pain, isolation, fear and guilt. By making those decisions unconscious, the world of separation is held in place and seems to be entirely out of our control. We appear to be subject to its whims. Pollen floats through the air and irritates our sinuses. We step in a hole and twist our ankle. In countless ways all through the day, all through our lives, seemingly external events and circumstances toss us one way and then another. It seems we can only do our best to ride the waves and stay upright with hopes of getting through the storm for a bit of rest and quiet time while preparing to defend against the next storm, which will surely come.

All this is the effect of making our decision unconscious. It was a simple decision that led to what seems to be an all encompassing dream of hell. It was the decision to reject God’s gift of all His Love, wanting more than everything.

Today’s lesson tells us that we must learn to recognize our unconscious decisions, all of which stem from that one core decision. We cannot choose for Heaven when we are confused about what Heaven is. That confusion comes from the unconscious beliefs about what we want to be real. If we want specialness more than we want God’s Love, then we deny ourselves Heaven.

I am grateful for the Course, which is gently and consistently helping me to bring to conscious awareness my decisions against Heaven. I am especially grateful that the lesson tells me that these are simply foolish, trivial choices. They are not cause for regret or guilt. They need only be laid aside. Recognized for what they are, they no longer attract me and the inevitable attraction of Heaven, my Home, will draw me back to Where I belong.

There is no effort to returning Home. It is the most natural “place” for me to be. But because of long established habits of choosing illusion, it does require diligence to practice hour by hour, day by day, reminding myself that Heaven is the decision I must make.

I used Sunday as practice in resisting the urge to play dumb. My car started giving me trouble. It started smelling like something was burning and there was even a small amount of smoke. My first reaction was panic. I had just spent all my money paying bills and they were at the post office. Too late to take them back in case this turned out to be an expensive problem.

I had to go out of town starting Monday afternoon and go to a different town every day this week. I’m teaching classes and there is no one to take my place if I can’t go. So at first I was upset.

I decided to use these circumstances to practice deciding for Heaven. Every time I would find myself thinking of possibilities having to do with my car, I would say “I choose not to make plans against uncertainties.”

I had to do it a number of times, but I didn’t give in to fear and anxiety and so I think I used my time well. I wasn’t nearly as upset as I might have been if I had just sat around worrying about my car and I felt good about the idea I was using the circumstances to bring myself closer to Heaven.

Today I brought it in and the dealership said there didn’t seem to be anything wrong and probably I just picked up a plastic bag which was burning on my exhaust pipe. I wish I had not wasted a moment of my life planning against that uncertainty. But at least I did give each moment of worry or panic to Holy Spirit and so it wasn’t completely wasted time.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Listen to Lesson 137 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 137 Insights

“When I am healed I am not healed alone.”

The lesson title contains within it the essence of what healing is. Healing is the recognition that I cannot be alone. It could be said that this one statement encapsulates the whole message of the Course. A recognition that I am not separate nor is anyone separate from me is the basis of forgiveness. It is the reason why sin is impossible. It is the reason why I remain as God created me. It is the reason why there is no cause for guilt and fear cannot be real. It is the reason why I remain safe within the Love of God.

This lesson is helping me look at the fact that I do not fully believe any of this. I experience the isolation that comes with sickness. I experience the sense of vulnerability and weakness that comes with believing that the body needs to be protected, because that is how I protect myself. There are still aspects in my mind that believe that if the body ceases to exist, so do I. This is the insane dream that must be undone.

Healing is not necessary in reality, for what is one is not broken. But a dream in which reality is broken into many separate parts must be undone for reality to dawn upon the mind that thought the dream was real. As I practice focusing on the idea that when I am healed I am not healed alone, it reminds me that I am indeed part of All That Is, not separate. This is my goal.

Holy Spirit, help me this day to see only the Love I share with all my brothers, to see the one Self that joins us all as one. I am willing to see the real world where all barriers to Love have been let go.

In this lesson Jesus reminds me that healing is the decision to return to the oneness of my real Self. The opposite of healing is to think that separation from God and my brothers is real. As I open my mind to the healing thoughts of the Holy Spirit, the illusions I have believed in are gently removed.

I am learning that healing is my only function as long as I think I am in a world where separation appears to be real. I am also learning that healing is shared. The sentence that stands out to me is, “For by its gentle hand is weakness overcome, and minds that were walled off within a body free to join with other minds, to be forever strong.” (8:6)

It is wonderful to realize that, in reality, all minds are joined. The little walls that were erected through belief in separation are free to fall away as soon as we are willing. As we do this, we learn we really are connected. We really are one Self, united with our Creator. The only ‘life” that is real is the one Life of our true Self. “His life becomes your own, as you extend the little help He asks in freeing you from everything that ever caused you pain.” (9:3)

As I let myself be healed by the Holy Spirit, I see all those around me are healed along with me. It is wonderful to recognize that I am never healed alone. It is wonderful to offer blessing instead of attack. What a wonderful life to have this purpose instead of continuing to make separation real!

I was thinking about the process of healing being shared. When I allow my mind to experience healing, that healing is shared by the One Mind that I am. It is not that anything has changed reality because the One Mind of God’s Son has always been healed. I see it as a light that goes on in my mind allowing me to see what I really am. At the same time, it blinks on in all other minds.

Is everyone aware of the light? Obviously not. It is like the other day when I was looking for my keys. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find them. Because I knew they had to be there, I kept looking. Eventually I found them in a place I had already looked. They were right there in plain sight. How could I have overlooked them for so long? I don’t know, but it is clear that I can overlook the obvious. I can overlook what is right there waiting for me to see it.

There are many people who have already accepted healing and the light from their healing is right there in my mind waiting for me to decide that I want to see it. When I do, I will add my light to it. I can imagine at some point so many minds will add their light that the One Mind will be illuminated in a way that makes everyone else long to join with it. And perhaps that is what is happening now. Perhaps that is the draw I feel to join in healing.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Listen to Lesson 136 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 136 Insights

“Sickness is a defense against the truth.”

Today’s lesson makes it clear the extreme length we are willing to go to deceive ourselves into believing that we are a body in a world of separation where pain and loss and death are real. All this comes from valuing specialness over oneness and God’s gift of all of His Love given to all.

Maintaining a separate identity is the means by which we keep our specialness and the body is the chief mechanism for making individuality (specialness) real. Because the body is so central to maintaining the sense of the reality of individuality, defending this image and our identification with it is top priority. The ego does not hesitate to use sickness as a means of reinforcing this identification. When the body is in pain, it seems to command our full attention. It’s difficult to feel peaceful when the pain seems to have all of our attention. This lesson points out that this is a choice, but we deceive ourselves into forgetting that we made the choice so that it seems to happen to us.

It surely doesn’t seem that we make the choice to get the flu. But this lesson goes to a much deeper level than the surface symptoms. They are just the effect of the decision to value separation (specialness) over the Love of God. Sickness is just a means of defending our specialness. We made our specialness and will defend it “at all cost.” Pretty extreme!

Here Jesus is showing the game for what it really is. We now have the opportunity to end the self deception. We will end it the instant we cease to value specialness more than the Love of God. This single change in values will completely reverse our perception of reality. As we value God’s Love over specialness, a body no longer is the means to make separation real. It becomes a useful instrument which serves as a means to extend Love to all our brothers, no longer used for attack and defense, the body is healthy, because it serves a healthy mind that values Love and offers It to all.

Holy Spirit, guide my thoughts today, that I might see beyond form to the Light of Love that is everywhere. Help me to recognize false values and let them go so that I can make room for the one magnificent gift that outshines all others — the Love of God.

To me this is one of the most helpful lessons of the Course. Here Jesus describes what I call “the quick forgetting.” In paragraphs 3-5 he explains just how we make the choice to maintain the illusion of separate bodies and then forget that we made this decision so that it looks like something happens to us and that we had nothing to do with it.

In paragraph 6 he gets to the core of why we made the decision to create the illusion of separate bodies. “When parts are wrested from the whole and seen as separate and wholes within themselves, they become symbols standing for attack upon the whole; successful in effect, and never to be seen as whole again.” (6:3)

During the 15 minute meditation when I asked to receive the truth, I received the following: There is nothing that your holiness cannot do. You can open to your Self and be led, minute by minute to remember What is real. You can reflect Heaven here. It takes a commitment to be consistent in your practice of being open to the truth.

In truth, there is no world of separate bodies. It could never be so in God, and you are part of God. You are eternal Spirit. You are still as God created you. You have not changed. Not one part of the Sonship has changed. All your brothers and sisters are the Light of God and nothing else.

What you believe in order to have the effect of seeing bodies is not the truth. Practice today seeing past bodies. Practice today being aware of the Light of God that is the truth about everyone. Practice remembering that you have never changed in Reality. You are limitless Love and nothing else. Practice letting your mind be open to the truth as often as you are willing. Let Love lead you Home to where you never left. You have all the help you need. You just need to be receptive to that help.

If ever you feel weak or limited in any way, return to remembering that God is your Source. You have not left God and God has not left you. You are one. All is one in God. This is the truth. Dwell on this thought. Let it take you to the stillness and peace of God. Let yourself feel God’s peace and God’s Love. Let yourself feel your oneness with all that Is. Let yourself be led in how to be truly helpful as you continue your process of awakening to the Truth. All is whole, perfect and complete, now. Let us hold this truth together and celebrate this one Reality.

When I did yesterday’s lesson I thought that we should do it for about a year before we went on. Today’s lesson is the same. How can I give up sickness by practicing this lesson in my spare moments just this one day?

As I read the lesson and got to the part that said that the body should not feel at all, not pain or pleasure, I felt a surge of resistance. I guess I could give up pain, but pleasure? I have learned not to try to reason with my ego. I just gave my resistance to Holy Spirit and asked for another way to see this. I await enlightenment.

I discovered ACIM last fall and immediately started the lessons. I had been a spiritual searcher for many years and had a strong sense that there was something I needed to teach, something I could give to others. I was 10 pages into ACIM and I knew I had finally found it. I have been gobbling up everything I could since then and feeling like I am making tremendous spiritual progress.

Then I had the most unhealthy worst winter of my life. I live in the North woods of Michigan and winters can be pretty rough and this one was. Every ache or ailment I ever had resurfaced and agitated me. I read this lesson several times trying to understand. I think paragraph 7, lines 3 and 4 may explain what happened. I was making progress, I was glimpsing the truth and the ego counterattacked with extreme viciousness. I pray to the Holy Spirit for all those who struggle today to accept the truth of who they are.

This lesson would almost be funny if it wasn’t so sad. The ego has various ways of distracting our attention from our true selves, sickness being one of them. And the sad thing is that this is a decision we make, a choice, a plan.

At one time I was losing a lot of hair from the top of my head and my hairdresser told me that what was causing me to lose my hair was worrying about losing my hair. Deep inside I knew that was true but maybe it would help if I bought certain hair products or possibly hair implants or a number of other remedies for this problem, when in truth my “problem” is an illusion in the first place.

I also quit trying to understand my ego self a long time ago, but I’m grateful for knowing there is another way and I’m open and willing to learn it through the power of my Divine Guidance.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 135 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 135 Insights

“If I defend myself I am attacked.”

Serving the Holy Spirit’s plan of awakening to the truth is the only plan that has any lasting value. It is the only plan that brings true happiness. I can serve Holy Spirit’s plan only when I still my mind enough to listen and be open to Holy Spirit’s direction. This is the key to my salvation. If I am to remember one thing, it is this. If I bring the past to the present and think I already know, I will not be open to Holy Spirit’s direction in the moment. So stepping back and listening for the direction of the Holy Spirit is my highest priority. It is the only thing that will really work. This is my practice today and every day.

The ego thought system is there to defend against God. The whole world comes from this thought system and therefore the whole world is a defense against God’s oneness. We are one Identity as part of God. Separate identities could never be true. Separate interests could never be true. Returning to Love as our one Identity is the answer. This means letting go of the defense against God. This means letting go of the ego thought system.

In order to let go of the ego thought system, I must step back and be willing to receive a better way. I must be willing to receive the Holy Spirit’s plan for awakening to the truth. I must remember that on my own I do not know what anything means. Deciding on my own is a defense against the truth, and when I am deciding on my own, I am attacking myself. Letting go and letting God is the only answer that will work.

Where do I place my trust? Am I placing my trust in the ego’s defenses, or in the Holy Spirit’s plan for awakening to the truth? I make this choice every moment. Am I bringing the past to the present and deciding on my own? Or am I opening my mind and asking for the Holy Spirit’s direction in this moment? As I trust in the ego’s plans, I am defending against God. As I open to the Holy Spirit’s plan, my mind is transformed and I awaken to my true Identity, my one Self in God.

I make this choice every moment of the day whether I realize it or not. Today my practice is to step back and be open to Holy Spirit’s plan. From this one decision everything that I really want comes with gentleness and ease. This is my answer to every problem I may think I have.

The more I practice stepping back and letting Holy Spirit be my guide, the more peaceful and happy I am. Whenever I try to make plans on my own, to figure out what will bring me what I want or make me safe, I experience tension, stress and uncertainty. When I try to figure things out on my own, there is always an awareness in the back of my mind that no matter how much experience I think I might have, my planning can never take into account all possibilities or consider what is helpful to all concerned.

So planning on my own always carries a level of uncertainty. Peace and uncertainty cannot coexist. If I want to experience peace in my life, I must give up all planning on my own. I have had enough experiences when I allowed myself to receive Holy Spirit’s plan and followed it to know that His plans work. They save time. They are always helpful and kind. They always help me loosen my identification with the forms of the world. They always help me feel more safe and aware of the Love that surrounds me and is me. This is what I want.

Today I will practice again and again and again, stepping back and receiving Holy Spirit’s plan. I resign as CEO of my life and appoint Holy Spirit as my CEO. I would not lead, but only follow His plan.

The other day I received a bill in which I was clearly overcharged and I was immediately outraged at the amount and prepared myself to call these people and tell them that they had made a mistake and, boy, they better fix it or else, etc. And then I decided that if we couldn’t come to an agreement about the bill, the charges were going to go on my credit record and I’d have to pay for it anyway if I was going to buy the house I want. And furthermore I thought about how we get screwed in life, and on and on. And what happens when I call people like this to discuss a discrepancy, they are prepared for people like me and are ready to defend themselves.

I can almost hear the ego sitting back and laughing at both of us because we’re doing exactly what it wants us to do. There are days when the only thing missing in my life are the boxing gloves. I go around angry and ready to attack anyone who even looks at me wrong.

Even though many times I don’t understand these lessons because the illusions seem so real to me and I feel totally justified in my need for defense, the lessons have taught me to stop, or at least slow down, and question my thoughts, which the lesson says are in need of healing.

It says a healed mind does not plan, which, to me, means staying in the moment, as it is so true that reliving the past determines our future. There’s been so many times when I’ve been in a situation and I think to myself “I just know what’s going to happen.” I never realized I had the power to make it happen.

Most Holy Spirit, help me today to step back and allow you to lead the way for me; help me to know I don’t need to defend myself because I am not being attacked. Amen.

This was a lesson I had to read over many times, meditate on, and ask the Holy Spirit for help on to understand.

My life has been such that to be attacked and not to defend myself would mean that I would die. I grew up in racially divided tough ethnic Detroit, was a soldier in Vietnam, and a fireman for years. I currently work in Corrections, where to not defend oneself could also mean death. With the help of the Holy Spirit I realize though that the lesson speaks to the part of me that must lift itself out of the great illusion that preoccupies God’s Son with the “kill or be killed” mentality that rules the world.

If only we would stop defending ourselves long enough to enjoy a moment of peace then the real Self would come shining through and we would recognize that defense is no longer needed.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 134 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 134 Insights

“Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.”

Forgiveness means letting go of illusions. Forgiveness means laying down my defenses against God, against my Identity as part of God. As I forgive, or let go of illusions of separation from God, I remember that I rest in God eternally. I remember that nothing has changed.

Just because I choose to let my mind become involved with a false story of conflict, division and death does not make the false story true. Forgiveness means being willing to lay the false story down. Forgiveness means being willing to be open to the truth. All is still in God and of God. Only God is real. Only Love is real. Anything else is trying to make something that is the opposite of God real. Nothing is opposite to God.

Forgiveness, or laying the story down, offers me peace. As the story is laid down, the truth returns to my awareness. All is one in God. All is safe. And dreams of death and destruction are seen for the illusions they are. As I see forgiveness as it is, my mind is healed. It is like a healing balm that shows me what is not real. As I lay what is not real down, what is real comes to take its place.

We all rest in God. We cannot change that by wild and crazy stories of destruction. Forgiveness is seeing past illusions to the truth. I open my mind today and see that my job is to practice forgiveness as it is, to practice seeing straight through the thousand forms in which they may appear. I practice letting my mind be healed today of all the fanciful dreams that never were in reality. I practice remembering that I rest in God, now and forever. Truth is true and nothing else is true. God is truth. I practice remembering the truth today.

Once again I see how central the idea that this world does not exist is to my healing. It is the basis of true forgiveness. Everything my body’s eyes show me cannot be real if the world does not exist. Everything that seems to upset me in any way is always about some form that I object to. If it is form, it is different, and therefore separate from me. But the Course tells me that only Love is real. And Love is one. Love knows no distinctions, only unity, equality. The moment I recognize that what I thought was cause for upset is not real and does not exist, forgiveness is natural and automatic, for it is seen that there is nothing to forgive. No change, no harm occurred.

The practice of forgiveness could be called the practice of recognizing illusions for what they are and seeing past them. I cannot rely on my own understanding to accomplish this. My understanding as a separate identity is based on a false foundation that separation is real. On this false foundation, it is impossible to achieve an understanding of truth. By the grace of God, I have a Voice in my mind that can bring me the understanding I need to recognize what is unreal and look past it to the real. I must practice listening to this Voice if I would free myself from the pain of sin and guilt.

Each day as I take time to quiet my mind and receive the words of my inner Teacher, the recognition of illusion comes easier and truth is seen more clearly. Sometimes my mind chatter seems very persistent and I need to frequently disengage from it and open to the peace of my inner Teacher. Sometimes the chatter seems to be so attractive that I am not able to fully open to the healing message of Holy Spirit. But in each moment, I am grateful for whatever willingness I have in that instant, however weak it may seem to be. The Holy Spirit uses that little willingness on my behalf and I feel at least some relief.

I may need to come back and try again a little later and the Holy Spirit assures me He is always there, never impatient, always gentle and loving, ready to offer me His comfort. And so I practice again and again and again. In times of my own impatience, I can look back and see much progress has been made. It is truly worth the effort. This gives me encouragement to continue the practice, for I truly want the peace and freedom that forgiveness offers.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 133 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 133 Insights

“I will not value what is valueless.”

Today’s lesson lies at the core of awakening. I will not value what is valueless. Jesus has told us many times that we seek for what we value and we value it because we think it will give us something we want. As long as I value a world of separation, I will seek for it and I will find it.

But now I am learning to value what is truly important. I am learning to value the truth. In truth I am still as God created me. I am love and nothing else, and that is the truth about everyone.

As I practice every day opening more and more to the truth, its value grows in my mind. The Love that I am is found and felt. The Love that everyone is is found and felt. There is no complication here. Life as I know it becomes simple and clear of valueless distractions. There is only one goal, and that is to return to the truth and let go of the valueless.

This is actually very practical. It is not just heady concepts. It brings everything and every experience down to very simple terms. What is real and what is not real? I can let go of what is not real because it doesn’t matter. I can open more and more to what is real because that is all that does matter.

In today’s lesson, the first test Jesus talks about is asking of everything, “Is this eternal? Is this a thing that lasts forever?” This is how I can tell if what I am choosing is valuable or valueless, worth everything or nothing at all. As I apply the practice of today’s lesson to each situation I encounter, it takes me a long way towards recognizing what is real and what is not real; what is valuable and what is not worth seeking. This is a very important step on my journey of return to the changeless truth.

I am so grateful for these daily practice lessons. I am gradually learning to generalize it to every part of my life. Learning to let go of valuing what is valueless opens my mind to receive what is really true. The whole Sonship is still as God created it. God’s extensions are still safe in the Mind of God. No one has left Heaven. Nothing has changed. The truth is true and nothing else is true. “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.” (Intro.) Today I practice applying this to every situation I encounter in my daily life.

This lesson seems to be working mainly at the metaphysical level. It says that if what you gain another loses, then what you gained is valueless. In the physical world, for anything that you take, the one that you took it from no longer has it. You may have offered money in exchange, but that thing is no longer in their possession. The very point of this lesson is that this exchange is truly valueless. It really follows from yesterday’s lesson. Nothing in this world is real and therefore nothing in this world has value.

If we still maintain identification with the ego, this can seem very frustrating. If nothing here is of value, what’s the use, the ego would say. Here it is important that we look at the third test given in this lesson. We need to ask, “What is this for? What is its purpose?” It is its purpose that gives it its meaning. If its purpose is to maintain the idea of separation and specialness, then it is really an empty meaning, for separation and specialness cannot be real. But if its purpose is to facilitate forgiveness and the extension of Love, then its value is mighty, for it is leading us to the gate of Heaven.

To clearly discern the purpose of anything in any moment, we need to ask the guidance of Holy Spirit. On our own, which means in our identification with the ego, it is impossible for us to truly recognize the purpose of anything. But the Holy Spirit in our mind is there to help us in every moment with every decision. An important step to opening up to His guidance is learning to recognize the valuable and the valueless. If I am valuing an ego based idea or thing, I will not have an open mind and will be unwilling to receive the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Today’s lesson offers us a means to practice recognizing the valuable and the valueless. The tests offered in this lesson can help me loosen my grip on the valueless by helping me to recognize it for what it is. This is how I can come to the Holy Spirit with empty hands and an open mind to receive His gifts of the truly valuable.

Today i will practice asking in each decision, “Is this eternal? Does this involve loss of any kind? What is its purpose? Is there any guilt associated with this?” Thank you Jesus for this mighty tool to help me on my journey of awakening.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 132 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 132 Insights

“I loose the world from all I thought it was.”

This lesson has taken on a deeper meaning for me than ever before. I have understood that a central idea of this course is that there is no world. But now the connection is much stronger in my mind that for me to know my Self, I need to accept that there is no world. I cannot continue to believe anything in this world is real and know my Self. To know my Self as God created me, I cannot believe the world is real. That is why it is essential that I loose the world from all I thought it was. I need to step back and recognize illusion as illusion.

The ego resists this with every trick imaginable, because when I fully accept that there is no world, I fully accept that there is no ego and I am not the ego. It is because of my identification with the ego thought system that it seems difficult to recognize the unreality of this world. No one is willing to give up what they believe is their identity. This world was made to make the ego identity seem real.

Thankfully, I am not the ego. I am still as God created me. It is this that gives me hope and strength. It is this fact that assures me that I will return Home to the hearth of my Creator, no matter how much I may wander in dreams. It is clear now that recognizing my Self and seeing this world as real are mutually exclusive. I can experience one or the other, but never both. The first is reality. The second, the world, is unreality, only a dream. Only my belief in the dream, in the idea of separation, makes it seem real. But I would loose the world from all I thought it was.

As I do this lesson, I look out of my window and see the beautiful, secluded lake in the middle of the forest. There are no other signs of “civilization” visible. I find it peaceful to look upon, yet I remind myself that this is not real. There is no world, though the trees and water appear real to my body’s senses. Throughout the day I practice reminding myself there is no world. What my body’s eyes show me is not real, nor is the body. I continue to go through my day, doing the things that I am directed to do.

As I remind myself there is no world, I find it brings me peace. I am less attached to specific outcomes. I am less prone to judge. The purpose given for my doing is more often for the purpose of healing my mind and sharing the healing and less to maintain an image of any kind. While I may feel like I may be a long way from fully accepting the unreality of this world, its nonexistence, I am aware that as I move in that direction, I walk with a lighter step, with more joy in my heart and more Love to offer the world. This is my goal and I will continue to practice.

This lesson reminds me of the power of my beliefs. This lesson asks me to look at the source of every thought that I hold in my mind. I am to ask myself, “What is the source of this thought? Does it come from the split mind or from my true Self?” As I learn to question every thought that I hold, I go through the process of letting go of belief in the world. Belief in the world comes from the ego mind. Its foundation lies in the belief in separation.

If I want to remember my true Self, I must loose the world from all I thought it was. I must go through the daily process of undoing or letting go of all the false ideas that come from the ego split mind. The strength of God is in me. The strength of God will help me let go of all these false imaginings. God is my Source. Vision is His gift. It is my willingness to open to Christ’s Vision that brings It into my awareness.

Right now what helps my willingness is to maintain my consistency in working with the Course day by day. The central thought the Course attempts to teach is “There is no world!” (6:2) As I continue being consistent and sticking to my daily study and practice, my willingness to open to the truth gradually expands more and more each day.

The ego thoughts many times tell me that there are more important things to do. But as I stick with reinforcing the thought system in the Course, I am more easily able to see through the ego’s false ideas and lay them down. Not because they are bad, but because they are meaningless.

As I continue to go to the Holy Spirit, with every fear, with every problem or concern, I am finding that the Holy Spirit is always there, eager to return my mind to the truth that I am still as God created me. I am safe because there is no world. The Love of God is all there is. The hand of Christ is all there is to hold. All is still safe in the Mind of God. God’s peace and joy and Love are mine to receive and extend.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 131 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 131 Insights

“No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.”

Jesus is very encouraging in this lesson. He encourages me to seek to reach the truth. He encourages me not to give up. He tells me I cannot fail. He gives me a very helpful bridge, a process, that helps me take baby steps towards opening my mind to the truth. He helps me see the senselessness of the world I think is real. He reminds me where true value lies. He reminds me that I am still in Heaven where God created me and that I cannot really change that. He reminds me that I am only dreaming a dream of being separate from God, from Heaven and that this dream is not what I really want.

He encourages me to seek for Heaven, for the truth is that we all are still extensions of God and we have not changed that Reality. He encourages me to sink below the images I normally fill my mind with to the truth. He tells me I cannot fail and invites me to open the door to a world of Light where nothing has changed and I am one with all that is, which is Love or God. He helps me feel God’s strength. He helps me be aware of the safety and stability and Love, peace and joy which lie in my true Nature. He reminds me that this alone is true. He encourages me to rest in this truth often.

He knows that as I continue to do this and open to the truth more and more that it will be the only thing I want. It will be my only goal. He knows that as my awareness of Love’s eternal Presence grows, the images of the world of separation will be laid down willingly and gladly in favor of God’s world, the real world. Jesus knows that these steps are taken little by little. His goal is to help us all increase our willingness to seek and find the truth.

Today I move one step closer as I practice opening the door and allowing it to swing open with my one intent. Jesus knows that the rest will take care of itself as I continue this practice because no one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.

This is the best time of my life. i no longer get involved in many of the things that I used to do that did not contribute to my awakening, but rather served as distractions and delays. Yet, at the beginning of this exercise, I was shown that there are plenty of details in my thinking that still serve to distract me from seeing the truth, the real world. I saw how my judgments keep my attention on meaningless images that make separation appear real. When I can step back from them, many of these judgments are laughable. I have ideas about how things should be done and disapprove when they are not done that way, whether by me or someone else.

When I look at these rules I have made up with the help of Spirit, I see their total meaninglessness. These judgments keep my attention on form to the exclusion of content. As I can remember to practice asking, “What is this for?” I often quickly see there is no value in the judgment. There is no real gain in doing it the way I think it should be done rather than the way it actually was done.

The more I can let these judgments go, the more I move past giving form importance. My mind opens to seeing the Light of Truth that is behind every form. My life becomes more peaceful and happy. The truth is what I really want.

Holy Spirit, help me to recognize the meaningless and pass it by. As I do this, the ever present truth will be revealed because I will cease to deny it. I am grateful for these exercises, which help me let go of the denial and receive the truth.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 130 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 130 Insights

“It is impossible to see two worlds.”

To the ego It is frightening to be told that there is nothing of value in this world. When we identify with the ego thought system this brings up feelings of despair, depression, anguish and loss of all hope. The ego responds with the idea, “If there is nothing of value in this world, why go on living?” It may even offer a typically insane solution by suggesting to just end it all by killing the body.

Since it is impossible to see two worlds, the ego’s reaction to the idea that this world has no value is inevitable. The ego cannot see the real world, where all true value lies. Having made only the valueless, the ego’s only hope is to give value to empty forms so that they might seem real. The ego defends these empty forms because they are the basis of its existence. They all represent the core idea that separation and differences are real. Without this, the ego ceases to exist.

Thankfully, we are not left with simply being told there is no value in this world. We are offered the means by which to see the world in which real value and all meaning lie. We are also told that God offers us His strength to help us see this world. We not only don’t have to do it alone, but we are not alone. What is offered us here is a gift so magnificent that when we recognize it fully, we will drop all ego values with utter relief and without hesitation.

It is the process of exchanging the empty values we have given this world for the value of the real world that gives meaning now to our daily life. Each time we are able to see a glimmer of Light in a brother we called enemy, we move a step closer to experiencing the profound joy of remembering our Self, which has never forgotten the real world. This is the way out of the dream of death. This is how we return to the awareness of our eternal Life in God. This is how we find the perfect happiness that brings the end of all despair, dismay and depression.

Every day is now a gift, an opportunity to remove one more barrier to the awareness of Love’s presence, an opportunity to extend Love and therefore experience Love’s Reality. Depression is replaced by joy, conflict is replaced by peace and fear is replaced by love. This is the benefit of asking for God’s strength to help us see the real world and release us from the world we truly do not want. It offers us the real world which lies at the gate of Heaven. Our only function now is to let go of all those false ideas, not in fear nor despair nor hopelessness, but in joy and safety and trust that here we find Home, knowing that we prepare ourselves for God’s gentle Hand to lift us back to Heaven.

Jesus reminds us in this lesson that this world was made by fear. It is a world of separation, which is insane. Sanity comes with return to the awareness of oneness. Sanity comes with being willing to open to the strength of God, which helps us let go of seeing any value in this world of separation.

Opening to God’s strength is the only way out of this fearful world we made. Trusting in the strength of God instead of trusting in the answers this world provides gives us the eternal answer. Putting our belief in separate bodies just prolongs the insanity. Opening to God’s strength helps us see the eternal Love and Light that lie beyond the mask of the body.

Frequently today my job is to open to God’s strength. It is only through the strength of God that I am able to see past the fearful images belief in separation evokes. Jesus tells me God will be there. God’s strength and peace are mine. My job is to have an accepting, open mind to make room for the truth. This is my job today.

My ego certainly doesn’t want this. As the realization of what this lesson learned would mean to me dawned on my mind, my ego started shrieking objections. The loudest was that I could never in this lifetime do this. There is no hope of accomplishing perception entirely based on love; I should just give up.

It is good news that I do not accept what my ego is saying. I am not totally unaffected by the fear and doubt it raises, but I am unwilling to accept defeat. I will practice the lesson all day. I will keep doing the lessons every day. No matter what the appearances, I will not quit. I feel relief that I am not unsupported in my efforts, that there is a Higher Power guiding me. I really believe that Spirit will prevail and that belief brings me hope and comfort.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 129 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 129 Insights

“Beyond this world there is a world I want.”

In paragraph 7 of this lesson, I love the symbol of Light given in this exercise. In the physical world, the experience of light is the closest approximation to the experience of Spirit. Light always joins with light. It never defends against “other” Light. It always merges with it, joins with it, just as Spirit always joins with Spirit, being one.

I visualized the many points of Light and saw them expand and join into one ocean of Light in front of me that extended as far as I could see. I wanted to join with that Light, so I dove into It, like diving into an ocean. I swam around in It, felt Its presence surrounding me, yet I was still not experiencing being one with the Light. I tried to sink into the Light, but still did not feel part of It.

Then I began to see myself as Light. The more I saw myself as Light, the more I blended in with the ocean of Light, the more I felt part of It, one with It. As I let go of body identification and saw myself as only Light, I recognized I was one with the ocean of Light. Complete peace enveloped me. I felt great joy from all the Light that I now recognized as part of me. No division, no differences, one all encompassing, unlimited, unchanging, eternal Light. Complete freedom.

This experience represents to me the process of waking up from this illusionary world of separation. It is why I must learn that there is no value in this world and this world holds nothing that I want. As long as I hold value of anything in this world, I may be aware that there is Light, but I will only be able to be on the surface, unable to join with it.

As I let go of valuing the forms of this world, I am able to identify more and more with Light as What I am. I am grateful for these lessons that gently lead me away from my identification with a false image of myself and guide me toward the Light that I share with God. My heart is filled with gratitude.

In this lesson, Jesus is presenting me with a clear choice. First he describes the world of separation. He points out its instability and all the unhappiness that resides there. It becomes very clear that this is not the world I want. He then describes God’s World, a world of oneness, where all is given to all. All has all because all is all.

Jesus reminds me that I need to make a choice. I have to let go of the world of separation in order to experience the real world of Love’s oneness. I cannot experience both at the same time. Jesus encourages me to make the conscious choice for oneness and focus on that reality, because I always get what I focus on. He asks me to take time out from focusing on the world of separation and instead open to God’s World of oneness. He knows that as I practice making the conscious choice for oneness, that it gradually becomes the only choice I want to make.

Jesus takes us one step at a time. He knows that we have along history of making the choice for separation, for seeing separation. So he shows us just what separation really brings us. He shows us that it has never made us happy and we really do not want it. He encourages us to lay it down a while and in the open space made free by its release, he brings us a taste of the real world, the world where our one Self abides in eternity.

At first we take tiny steps toward opening to Love’s oneness. As we continue the practice of opening to the truth of our oneness more and more, our experience of It grows and expands. We gradually learn to appreciate God’s World. We gradually let go of rejecting it.

This lesson is about making the choice for God and letting go of the choice for the ego. The more I practice opening to God’s World, the more I make the choice for God, the more I will let the truth in. God’s World will become more real to me and the world of separation will appear less real. The threads of separation will fall away and the real world behind the world of separation will feel more clear, more attractive, more real.

This is my life process. I am learning to change my mind about what I want, about what I choose to experience. My choice is always between separation and oneness, the unreal and the real. I choose now to bring the awareness that I am choosing between the real and the unreal with me all through the day. Do I want to make separation or oneness real to me? As I make lunch today, as I answer the phone, as I work on the computer, my practice today is, “Which world do I want to experience?” I choose to practice opening to the real world of oneness today.

Note: An expansion of this lesson is found in the Text, Chapter 31, Section IV on pages 653-655 of the second edition.

Depression has been so much a part of my life because I never knew there was anything other than this world. For so long it was a mystery to me how God could have created such a world. It was a relief when I learned that my world was of my own doing and that I have the power to change it; or exchange it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

I sometimes fear the unknown, which is the world beyond the one I see, but this is where I must have complete trust — trust in my natural instincts, trust in that part of me that feels strongly that something is missing in my life, trust that I will experience another world if I just let go of this one.

Jesus Christ, my Master Teacher, help me to have the willingness to let go of this world. Help me to take a strong hold of your hand and lead me to where my Heavenly Father waits for me. Amen.

Sometimes I feel so certain of where my life is leading me and so grateful for where I am going. Other times, I start feeling doubtful and fearful. I may have led a miserable life up until this time, but it is a misery I have become comfortable with. Letting it go for something else should be easy, but I resist it. Thing is, I have come too far; I can’t go back. That’s both scary and good.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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• • Lesson Index
Listen to Lesson 128 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 128 Insights

“The world I see holds nothing that I want.”

What stood out to me in this lesson was “...release your mind from chains and let it seek the level where it finds itself at home.” (6:1) When I practiced this I found an inner place of peace, of comfort. I found clarity in my life from this inner place. This inner place of peace and Light comes from my true Self. It is this Self that needs to be in full charge of every part of my life, of every thought. It is this Self that needs to guide everything I do.

For this to happen, I need to practice following, not deciding anything on my own. I need to remember again and again that I do not know what anything means. This Presence of peace and Love is always there, waiting for my mind to open and accept Its guidance. As I practice opening again and again, I see that it is always there, with simplicity and ease.

I do not need to worry about anything in the future. I just need to be open to Love’s Presence and the perfect circumstances will unfold that help the awakening of the Sonship with gentleness and ease. I need be concerned with only one thing, and that is having an open mind to the one Self. All flows from that.

In paragraph 7 we are told how helpful it is each time we practice opening our minds to Him. “And when your eyes are opened afterwards, you will not value anything you see as much as when you looked at it before. Your whole perspective on the world will shift by just a little, every time you let your mind escape its chains.” This gives us such hope! Every time we practice we are opening the doors to truth a little more. We have the Means right inside our minds to set us free as we are willing.The world holds nothing that I want. Awakening to Reality is the only goal. Following my inner Guide each moment with an open mind is how this is accomplished in my life. This is the only thing that means anything. As I continue to do this, this tiny stream of peace gradually opens to a mighty river of peace that carries me with ease to everything I really want.

The less value I place on the things of this world, the more peace I feel. There is less striving and struggling to obtain some form in this world. I don’t dissipate energy by protecting and defending forms in this world. It is easier and easier to pass them by. I feel more and more safe, because as I dis-identify from the forms of this world, I recognize more and more clearly that real value comes from my unity with my Source, with Love.

This value cannot be threatened because it is unalterable, changeless and eternal. As I remember and identity with my Self as Love and nothing else, I feel deep peace that cannot be disturbed.

Love has one response to be Itself, and that response is to extend Itself. Because my Self is Love, my Self’s response is the same. Any other response comes from belief in a pseudo world that I made up. This lesson is helping me to let the false ideas go. They can never satisfy me. The only real satisfaction comes from extending Love, being Love. Love does not compete. It does not defend or judge. It does not hope for some special condition in the future. It merely Is.

So today I practice making no plans for the future on my own. Making no judgments, letting all my doing be guided by my Self for the sole purpose of passing by the world of form and returning to my Home in the Heart of my Creator. Here I will find joy because here I find my Self.

Joy must be shared because that is its nature. And so I share my joy with all my brothers, offering them the gift that I have received. There is nothing else to do. And I am blessed.

It has taken me many years of struggle and pain to realize the truth in this lesson. It is because I am so attached and “chained” to this world that the constant practice of these lessons is so important.

I attend a weekly Course study group on Monday nights and last Monday when I left the group, I felt uplifted, almost light on my feet, a sense of peace that I desperately feel I need more often in my life. I was able to sustain that feeling through the night and I woke up feeling very alive and loving.

When I was driving home after work, I realized I had lost the feeling. My day had gone well; nothing “bad” had happened, but somehow, sometime during the day, I had lost that feeling of peace and serenity. I don’t know where I had been, but it was with a dreadful sigh that I realized I was back in this world. It’s these experiences, though, that strengthen me, that give me hope for a world that my heart yearns for.

I love the poetry of these lessons; they uplift me even if it’s just for a moment and show me what it’s like to be in this world, but not of it.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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ACIM Workbook Lesson 127 Insights

“There is no love but God’s.”

At the beginning of today’s exercise, I repeated the title of today’s lesson slowly in my mind, like a mantra. Each time I said it, I felt myself relax a little more. It brought a sense of relief. As I accept that there is no Love but God’s, I no longer need to spend all the time I have spent trying to be accepted in one way or another. I don’t need anyone’s approval, for I already have all of God’s Love. There is nothing else.

As I remember that there is no Love but God’s, a big portion of the time I have invested to try to obtain value, worth and acceptance is no longer necessary. As I go deeper into remembering that there is no Love but God’s, all need for defense disappears. I no longer have to maintain an image that is “acceptable.” I no longer need to be right. I no longer need to fear losing love or value. So another big chunk is released, freed from investment in defense and returned to acceptance of all that is real, of Love.

As I come to rest in the awareness that there is no Love but God’s, I am in deep peace that cannot be disturbed. God has given me all of His Love and there is nothing else to have. I no longer need to strive to obtain anything, for I already have all that I need, all that there is in reality. As I hold this recognition in my mind, all that I see is Love.

When any brother comes to mind, all I can see in him is Love. All I can offer Him is Love. I am free of the strain of judgment, trying to make differences where no differences exist. I am accepting my Self as It is and always has been. My heart is filled with deep appreciation that extends to all. At last I accept my Self as God created me. The battle of rejection is over and I am free. Thank you God for your gift of Love to me. I accept your gift by offering it to all.

What stands out to me in this lesson is the idea that the power of Love holds everything as one. That means Love is one, with no differences and no exceptions. As I learn to open to God’s Love, the power of Love shows me that everything is one. The love I have known in this world, with one kind of love here and another kind of love there, is really nothing and is meaningless.

As I learn to return to God’s Love, I am shown that Love is everywhere. In fact, God’s universal Love is all that is real. This takes a lot of stepping back from the false lessons I have learned from the past. In returning to God’s Love, I need to remember that I do not know what anything means. I need to remember that only God’s Love is real. This takes consistent practice and a willingness to appreciate and be open to God’s Love, which is the only Love that is real.

God’s Love never changes with time. God’s Love is eternal. I can now use time to return to God’s Love, the only Love that brings an awareness of oneness. I can let go of all the meaning I have given to this world and return to all true meaning. I can learn to lift the veil and find Love behind all the false images of separation. I can learn to rest in the Oneness of God’s Love. I can practice today returning to Love and remembering that there is no Love but God’s.

I’m glad that the lesson asked us to approach this lesson one person at a time. At first, as I was reading the lesson I tried to encompass everything in my world. All of the places I have withheld love and those I have assigned special meaning swirled through my mind. Is there any place in my life that I have seen Love as it is? I started to feel discouraged. One person at a time, though; I think I can do this.

For the first time in my life I feel ready to accept Love as it Is. I know that it will take practice because I have believed in special love for a long time. I have thought of love as a tool to manipulate and control; to reward and to punish. I have been afraid to open up to love, thinking that with great love comes great pain. What a relief it will be to release all of this and accept Love for what It is.

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 126 Insights

“All that I give is given to myself.”

When I asked for help in understanding at a deeper level that all I give is given to myself, I was reminded of times when I extended Love to someone. Every time I do this, I experience Love in myself. I feel uplifted, joyous and grateful. I feel peaceful and safe. As I recalled various experiences, I saw the consistency of being blessed every time. I thought I was offering Love in some way to someone else. Very clearly I was also receiving It.

I also recalled times when I offered forgiveness for something I thought was wrong. When I truly got that no harm had really happened, that there truly was nothing to forgive, I felt free. I felt lighter, as if a dark cloud had been lifted. I relaxed. There was less tension in my body. I felt less limited. I could meet the person with a sense of joy in my heart instead of trying to avoid meeting them or trying to say as little as possible. In offering true forgiveness, I not only released the other from my judgment, but I freed myself.

Today’s lesson is not about form. It is not about giving things. It is about giving Love and removing the barriers to Love’s extension. Sometimes these may be symbolized as physical objects given, but it is the content of the giving that gives meaning. The gift of forgiveness is a gift I give myself, whether it appears to start with offering it to a brother or seems to be myself I am forgiving. Because my brother and I are one, I cannot help but receive what I give. If I don’t receive it, I haven’t really given it.

If I don’t feel peace and freedom when I offer forgiveness, then I am not really offering forgiveness. Somehow I am still holding on to my attachment to separation. If that is the case, I simply need to ask for help again to reach the point of true release. Help is always available to me because it is in my mind. Today I ask the Holy Spirit to help me lay down barriers to Love’s extension so that I may more deeply experience the blessing of extending Love to all.

When I asked for greater insight into today’s lesson, I received the idea that Love is all there is, and so all that can be given is Love and all that can be received is Love. Love is the Idea of extending all of itself to all. What is given is received, and therefore the act of giving all Love to all is synonymous with receiving all Love from all. Within God’s Love, all Love is given and received at the same time. It is one action; the simultaneous extending and accepting of Love is what Love is and what Love does. Because Love is all inclusive, Love excludes nothing that is real because all that is real is Love. Giving and receiving are the same. This is reality.

I then saw a little bubble of thought that was trying to be different from Love. The whole physical universe lies within that bubble. Because all that is real is Love, it is an illusionary thought. In this illusionary bubble, all Love is not extended to All universally. The thought here is to get and keep a little love for oneself alone. The idea here is to have multiple separate, individual minds that are born and then die. Everything is in a constant state of change and flux in this bubble.

Competition for attention and exclusion are the means of maintaining this false little world reflecting the thought of separation. Here, giving Love universally or acknowledging that Love is universal is avoided at all costs. In order to maintain the bubble, the truth must be denied. Recognizing Love’s Oneness must be denied. Recognizing the truth that all is Love must be denied.

So in this bubble, individual lives come and go in the attempt to keep a little love for oneself alone. It is a sad and depressing world, reflecting the sad and depressing thought of separation that tries to deny reality. This little bubble never was in truth. It maintains its hallucinations only in illusions of separation that appear to be real only to the perceiver that wants it to be true.

I was then shown that letting go of this little bubble of thought was the only rational and helpful thing to do. Love is all that is real. Stories of separate bodies with separate minds competing for a little love and attention are not true. All these stories reflect false thinking and can be undone by letting all thoughts that reflect separation be undone by the one Self that knows what is real and what is not real. It takes a surrender and a willingness to let go of these ideas. The separate images fall away as the thought of separation falls away. This whole universe of separation is seen as unreal and not reflecting the truth.

“All that I give is given to myself” reflects the unity of God. It reflects the truth of All Love being Itself by giving all of Itself to all, and simultaneously receiving all of Itself from all of Itself. Giving and receiving are the same in God’s Oneness. This is Reality. This is God’s Love. Nothing else is real. Aligning all our thoughts with this truth is where we find joy. Here is peace. Here is Heaven.

This is one of those lessons that I have a real hard time with. It’s also one of those that is repeated over and over again, which means that it is crucial to the thought reversal, as the lessons states.

It is easy for me to apply this thought to people that I love or to situations that are comfortable for me, but I have a hard time applying it to people that have hurt me or situations where I feel insecure or intimidated. And, like the lessons states, many times my forgiveness is “basically unsound, a charitable whim”; I attempt to forgive because I feel it’s what God would want me to do, not so much because I feel it in my heart or because I know that ultimately it would be giving to myself. And thank God that the world’s salvation doesn’t depend on these charitable whims, like the lessons states.

Even though I don’t understand this idea yet, the teachings of the Course and my dedication to it will get me there; I know it. Holy Spirit, Jesus, my master teacher, help me to have the willingness to open my mind to this thought, to trust you to teach me how to forgive. Thank you. Amen.

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A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 140 Insights

“Only salvation can be said to cure.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 139 Insights

“I will accept Atonement for myself.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 138 Insights

“Heaven is the decision I must make.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 137 Insights

“When I am healed I am not healed alone.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 136 Insights

“Sickness is a defense against the truth.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 135 Insights

“If I defend myself I am attacked.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 134 Insights

“Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 133 Insights

“I will not value what is valueless.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 132 Insights

“I loose the world from all I thought it was.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 131 Insights

“No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 130 Insights

“It is impossible to see two worlds.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 129 Insights

“Beyond this world there is a world I want.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 128 Insights

“The world I see holds nothing that I want.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 127 Insights

“There is no love but God’s.”

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 126 Insights

“All that I give is given to myself.”

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