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.


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Listen to Lesson 155 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 155 Insights

“I will step back and let Him lead the way.”

This lesson is comforting and inspiring to me as it challenges me to strengthen my commitment and focus on walking the way to God. After reading through it I felt uplifted and assured that I do not walk alone. I always have with me a mighty Companion and Guide, Who always guides me on the way to truth. My only job is to follow, not lead, not decide on my own what to do or what anything means. I felt inspired to accept the challenge to redouble my efforts to be mindful of my thoughts and attitudes.

The path to God is a path of peace and happiness and unlimited Love. It is surely worth the effort to pay attention to the diversions I have given time to and identified with what interferes with my awareness of the path of joy that leads to God. The choice for truth is more clear and illusions are a bit more obvious to me. The choice becomes easier and easier as I am more willing to let Him lead the way.

I am also reminded this journey brings with it a responsibility, but not a burden. The responsibility is to all my brothers along with me, for we share one Self. As I walk to God and become more and more aware of His unifying Love, I become more aware of the Love that joins me with all my brothers. As I walk the journey, I cannot help but share what I have learned and am learning, because it is in the sharing that I strengthen it in my own awareness. Each time I share, I feel stronger.

My Light is brighter as I see the Light in my brothers grow stronger. The Light has always been there and never changes. But as I release myself from illusions of separation from the Light, from illusions of darkness, I become more aware of the everlasting Light that is my Source. Today I hold Holy Spirit’s hand and let Him lead the way to show me what is true and real and give me His strength to lay aside the childish toys of illusion that do not serve me. I walk to God.


Learning to step back takes willingness, practice and patience. It takes remembering what I have learned in the past means nothing. It means letting the Holy Spirit take over the reins. It means not deciding what anything means on my own. I have found this to be quite challenging at times.

Many times I do not even realize I have retaken the reins and have returned to deciding I know what something means based on what I’ve learned before. As soon as I notice it, my job is again to step back and move into a place of openness and receptivity to the Holy Spirit. In that quiet place the Holy Spirit is always there, waiting for my willingness to step back again. Holy Spirit is the bridge that returns me to my true Self. But to get on that bridge, I must be willing to step back, open my mind and be receptive to the truth.

This world is an illusion. My experience of this world depends on what I am looking for. If I am looking for separation, being an individual and having a private “life” where I make decisions on my own, I will find it. If instead I am looking for a return to God, a return to oneness, a return to eternal Love, the way will be made for me to find it. This is my decision. What I seek for I will find.

If I choose to return to my Source, to God, I must learn to step back. I must learn all that I have learned in the world means nothing. God’s laws are not the world’s laws. God’s Mind is the opposite of this world’s thought system. I must be willing to let go of all the world’s false ideas. This is what I find when I practice stepping back and not trying to make decisions on my own. The Holy Spirit always waits patiently for my return.

Because the Holy Spirit knows this world is just an illusion coming from the false ego mind, It just smiles when I think I have a problem. As I ask that my thoughts be purified, all the distress just seems to fall away. What was in turmoil now becomes calm. Worries are quieted. I am able to see each situation differently. Only God’s united Love matters and what does not matter is not my concern. All is well. There is nothing to fear. It feels like I have been lifted up and have been allowed to see the Love behind the illusion. This is so comforting and reassuring. The truth is true and nothing else is true. All is eternally safe. All is well, no matter what appearances made up by the ego look like.

The real world is always there waiting for my willingness to see it. All is safe. All is well in the Mind of God. When I am willing to step back and let Him lead the way, this is what I am shown. I am shown the Reality behind illusions. I am shown there is nothing more important than being willing to do this more and more each day as I walk along the road of return to Him.


I walk to the music of God. God sets the rhythm. God sets the melody. I walk in step with it as I follow the music. God goes before me and I walk in that flow of harmony and love. God leads the way to God in perfect harmony and order, at just the right pace. The great dance of love and creation, each step as graceful as a ballerina in perfect balance, each step light, airy, vibrant. Yes, I walk to God today with a heart full of joy and tenderness, skipping to the beat of the way home. The melody encourages me to continue and the way seems easier as I follow it. Yes, today I walk to God with God’s music leading the way. There can be no greater joy than this. Every step is confidently filled with love, joy and peace. Every step is filled with grace and gratitude.


My goal today is to have that more frequent smile, the serene forehead, the quiet eyes this lesson speaks of. It’s only with commitment and dedication to this course that I have the awareness this goal is possible to reach. And it is by this same commitment and dedication that I have learned the only way to reach this goal is by stepping back and allowing myself to be led.

I never realized before that I learned to accept and adjust to discomfort in my life. But today, even though I still have uncomfortable moments, I’m learning not to judge situations, but instead to step back. And even though I don’t always “hear” the answer, I’m learning not to come to any conclusions by myself. Sometimes I’m not sure where I’m being led to, but I know it feels good and only gets better if I just trust.

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Listen to Lesson 154 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 154 Insights

“I am among the ministers of God.”

This lesson makes a point that is also made several times in the Text: To know I have received, I need to give. To experience peace, I must give peace. To feel loved, I must love. To know my innocence, I must see innocence.

My experience has proved this to me many times. I have experienced the blessing of peace as I held the awareness of peace for a troubled brother. Sometimes that peace was magnified even more as I saw my brother accept the peace as his own.

Being a minister of God is a daily practice, a way of being. It is not a title, but a mindset of receiving His messages and giving them as directed. My job is to keep my mind open and follow His lead. The holy Teacher in my mind always guides towards blessing.

Reminding myself throughout the day that I am among the ministers of God helps me remember my purpose in all my doing. The truly meaningful purpose is to use all my doing as a means of giving God’s loving message of peace, happiness and safety to everyone. To do that, I need to hold the awareness in my mind of my own peace and happiness and safety that comes from my union with my Creator.

As I go through my busy doing today, I ask the Holy Spirit’s help in reminding me, moment by moment that I am here to see only innocence, to offer only Love and to reach out in peace to everyone who comes to mind or whom I encounter through the day. As I do this, I become more and more aware of God’s generous unlimited blessings. And more and more I accept that I am free.


When we join with the Holy Spirit, we cannot help but become ministers of God. The Holy Spirit is the bridge that returns us to the awareness of our true Identity as part of Universal Love. The Holy Spirit has one focus, one goal, and that is to return our minds to freedom, to the truth. We have become enslaved by our beliefs. We have lost awareness of our Identity. This need not be.

Being willing to join with the Holy Spirit is our salvation. The Holy Spirit is always there in our minds, waiting for us to give It our full attention. The Holy Spirit will show us that there is no opposite to Love, there is no opposite to our Oneness in God. The Holy Spirit will communicate how to be helpful in this world in a way that brings us and our brothers and sisters back to the awareness of Love’s Presence.

We are all ministers of God. When we wake up to that fact is when we start opening to the Holy Spirit and following His lead in all we think, we say and do.


It is so easy to lose sight of the difference between humility and arrogance. The true meanings are so different from the ego meanings we have given them. There is a temptation to say who do I think I am to think of myself as a minister of God? Who do I think I am to think I have anything to offer?

If it is my ego that is offering and trying to minister then I do have reason to doubt. I am relieved to do this lesson today, to be reminded that it is not my ego in charge; it is Holy Spirit who is guiding me, sending me where I am needed, using me to serve the awakening. My only responsibility is my willingness to serve and my willingness to join with Holy Spirit.


I make my very life a meditation on God’s presence as I remember who I am throughout the day — going about my daily tasks knowing that God goes with me because I am one with Him. Each small moment becomes grand because I align my will with God’s Will for me. Each small task becomes productive for the highest good. Each small sharing coming from the Voice for God through me shouts God’s presence in the world.

All this I do from Love and Love will change the world I see. As Love changes the world I see, so will others see it. Each small moment, one at a time, becomes a gift of precious sharing, freely received, freely given, from one to one. In each small moment, the beauty of Love unfolds. Today I listen with gratitude. Today I share what I hear. Today I love all I see. Today I am one with God in all I do and I am free to be Me.

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read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
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Listen to Lesson 153 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 153 Insights

“In my defenselessness my safety lies.”

This lesson is one of those that asks us to do the opposite of what it seems we need to do to function and survive in this world. This is because the ego confuses weakness with strength and strength with weakness. In believing we have separated ourselves from God, the only real source of strength, we believe we are weak. From this belief in weakness, we imagine a world of weakness. To compensate for this weakness, we make up substitutions for God’s strength to cover or hide the underlying belief that we are weak.

Believing we have really separated from God brings with it the belief we have succeeded in harming God by tearing ourselves away from Him. To God this is impossible, but to a thought system that believes separation is possible and real, harm is inevitable. Believing we have harmed God, we believe guilt is real and punishment is justified. Thus we believe God must be angry with us and seeks to punish us. So we carry a belief in an angry God and expect His punishment in every moment.

Thus we believe we must be on constant alert to defend ourselves against the evils of the world we made. Yet these evils are only the reflection of our own belief that we have succeeded in separating from God. That is why in paragraph seven it says defensiveness proclaims we have denied the Christ and come to fear his Father’s anger. We see His fearful image at work in all the evils of the world.

Sometimes we openly acknowledge this. We call severe weather, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions acts of God. But most of the time when a loved one says something we perceive as hurting us we do not think of it as really a projection of our fear of an angry God. Yet our defensiveness, the the lesson is telling us, proclaims that this perception is a denial of the Christ. So when we fear a brother, it is really a reflection of an underlying fear of God.

The antidote to this is learning to see the Christ in all our brothers, which is to see the one true Self we all share as the Son of God. As we practice listening to the Voice for God all through the day, we will be guided to see the face of Christ everywhere. As we offer that perception to all our brothers, we learn that there is no true cause for defensiveness. And we rest in the strength of Love that is wholly defenseless. No longer do we fear pain and suffering at every turn, for we come to know that Love walks with us in every instant. We know that Love is changeless and therefore perfectly safe. There is nothing to defend, for what cannot be changed needs no defense.

Holy Spirit, help me to see Love everywhere today, that I may know my strength and see that same strength in everyone.


In this lesson, Jesus is reminding me to lay aside my belief in this world. He reminds me this world is just a fantasy that provides a defense against remembering our true Identity as eternal Spirit and remembering our oneness in God.

The more I believe in the fantasies of this world, the more I will feel threatened and feel a need to defend. He reminds me that belief in the imaginings of this world will bind me stronger into defensiveness and will sabotage my connection with the inner peace of my true Nature as part of God. The more I sink deeper into the world’s illusions by making them real, the more I will think I need to defend against these illusions.

Jesus tells me the way out of this dilemma is to focus on the true Strength that resides in my mind, behind the illusions of the world. This Strength that is still in my mind is the Christ in me. He tells me, “Perhaps you will recall the Text maintains that choice is always made between Christ’s strength and your own weakness, seen apart from Him.” The Christ in me will guide me to look past dreams, past the fantasies of the world to the one Light that we all are. This is where my safety lies. This is where I will feel the peace, Love and joy of my true Identity.

It is from this place of inner peace that I will receive the guidance to take my role in the undoing of the game of fear. In this quiet place, left open and clear of the dreams of fear, I am guided to let my belief in weakness disappear. I am guided by the strength of my true, eternal safety. I am guided to accept God’s gifts, which help me remember I am safe and cannot be harmed in truth. I am guided to lay aside what was never real and see the Light of Christ in my brothers instead.


Ego is only of the mind. It is not of the body. Ego identifies with the body but is not at home in the body and transcends individual bodies. Ego is the part of the mind that individualizes, that thinks it is separate from God. The ego is the part of mind that dreams the dreams to experience various situations, but then gets lost in its own little kingdom surrounded by defenses.

The Voice for God is everywhere. It is in all things, all places, all people. Only the ego mind sees them as apart from God. Nothing is apart from God, no matter what the appearances. The body life is neutral. It is only a mental construction. It means only what I think it means.

It is only in laying down the ego defenses that I can find my True Self. I can only find this in my mind. It is in my mind where I truly live. It is only in mind that I can find my True Self because this is where I truly live. Today I choose the meaning that comes from my True Self. Today I choose to lay down the falsely constructed ego defenses, with the help of Holy Spirit. For it is only in my defenselessness that I find my True Strength. When I see Oneness in my mind, then I see Oneness everywhere.


I had a very busy day. Lots to get done, tight time schedule, unexpected stresses. I didn’t remember every hourly prayer, but before I left for work I asked Holy Spirit to make me aware of each time I was feeling defensive. It made for an interesting day. Mostly a lot of little things that normally I would not have paid a lot of attention to but cumulatively would have worn me down. Things like having an old man pull out in front of me and nearly cause a wreck. I could feel my forehead wrinkling and my mouth turning down in disapproval. I thought to myself, “What are you doing, you old fart?”

Then I heard Holy Spirit reminding me that I didn’t need to defend myself against old farts, and I felt a sense of gratitude that I was sent this reminder. Over and over today I found that I was giving away my peace in an effort to protect and defend my body. There were many opportunities for me to see that I have been responding to all kinds of perceived threats with defensiveness. It also gave me many opportunities to choose differently, to offer my bothers love instead. It felt good to do this. This is another of those lessons I need to work on daily for about a year!

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read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
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Listen to Lesson 152 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 152 Insights

“The power of decision is my own.”

Jesus is encouraging me to accept the truth and let go of the ego lies of separation. The truth is, all that is real is one in God and has never changed from how God created it. All is one continuous whole in God. This one, continuous whole is changeless and eternal. This is my true Identity and everyone’s true Identity. This is the real universe as God created it. In today’s lesson Jesus is encouraging me to let go of what is not true, what is not real. What is not real — bodies in a world of time and constant change — is not what God created.

Let me accept the truth today. Let me not try to change God’s creation and make an individual self image. Let me let go of that self image and accept only the truth as true. Let me accept my one universal Self in God as all that is real. This is salvation. My identity could never be anything other than as God created it. Let me accept the truth today.


This lesson lays responsibility for the world I see squarely in my own hands. Recognition of this as true is essential to my release from it. As long as I believe anything in the world I see is not of my own making, I am a victim of the world, powerless to do anything about it. Acceptance of full responsibility for the world is key to my release from it. It means I have all the power I need to release the world I see and return to Heaven, where I was created to be and still am in truth.

The decision for what I want to believe is true is always mine. This is a point that is repeated many ways, again and again throughout the Course. The ego puts up all kinds of smoke screens trying to hide this fact and make it seem as though what happens in the world I see is entirely out of my control. The ego’s very existence depends upon my believing this. The recognition that the world and everything I seem to experience in it is of my own making brings instant release.

No one consciously hangs on to pain, isolation, fear and guilt. It is the quick forgetting referred to in an earlier lesson that makes these decisions seem to be unconscious and holds the illusionary world in place.

As I accept my Self as God created me, I free myself from the world of limitation and death. Only I can make this decision, for it is only I who has made the decision to deny it. Today’s lesson is simply a reinforcement of the lesson, “Heaven is the decision I must make.” Today I will practice remembering that I remain as God created me.


I love the first paragraph of this lesson, but it also scares me. I am perfectly willing to accept the idea that I am responsible for everything in my world, but somehow I am unwilling to accept that I have the power to change it. Can I really have the power of decision as my own and if so, why do I not use it? What is wrong with me that I choose misery, guilt and fear instead?

In my meditation this morning I asked Holy Spirit to show me specific places in my mind that I have chosen to believe the truth is not true. These were all familiar places to me. I knew they were there and often I have pretended to myself that I wanted healing and even asked for healing. God doesn’t hear my false words that I use to fool myself; He hears, instead, what is in my heart and so I choose to believe I can keep these exceptions to the truth and pretend they are the real world I inhabit.

I am not going to waste any time trying to figure out why I choose pain over joy. I have asked Holy Spirit to gently remind me throughout the day when I am making these choices. This day I am not going to pretend circumstances are out of my control and there is nothing I can do about certain things in my life. I accept that God did not create me to be fearful and so if I am feeling fearful I am trying to make my own truth to replace God’s Truth. How crazy is that? I am not going to try to reason with the ego or allow anything to cloud the issue. That is how I’ve kept these self-deceptions in place for so long. If it is fear, God did not make it and it is not true.

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Listen to Lesson 151 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 151 Insights

“All things are echoes of the Voice for God.”

There are two main points that I get from this lesson. The first is that the information I obtain through the body’s senses is not only woefully inadequate as a basis for judgment, but it is totally false. The second point is that I have an alternative that will always show me the truth and that is the Holy Spirit.

I have gone through my life thinking what I see and hear and touch is the basis for understanding. Yet like the lesson says, there have been innumerable occasions in which I made a judgment, only to find out later I didn’t see what I thought I saw or hear what I thought I heard. Or I may have heard and seen accurately, but there was more I didn’t see or hear that changed the meaning of the event.

Surely by now it would seem I would have learned that my body’s senses cannot give me all I need for accurate and true judgment. Yet it seems I am still more inclined to believe the information I gain through the body than to listen for and trust the Holy Spirit’s Voice.

I am grateful for this Course because I am more and more willing to question everything I think I know and turn to the Holy Spirit for His Vision. Whenever I do, I always find peace. I always see innocence in my brother and myself. I recognize that all things are echoes for the Voice for God when I am willing to step back from my judgments, to not believe the information coming to me through the body’s senses, and listen instead to the Holy Spirit’s Voice.

When I am able to successfully do this, it is like the images of the world are thin veils through which I am able to see the loving Light that unifies everything. The veil is so thin and faint that it does not interfere with seeing the Light, the innocence, the Love that is truly there.

It is my goal to be able to walk the world lightly and carry this “x-ray” vision of the Holy Spirit in all my doing. I can imagine putting on a set of “Christ vision goggles.” With these goggles I am able to see through the chaotic confusion of images and remain at peace because I see the unity of Love and innocence in all. The images of form may still be there, but the old meanings I gave them have faded away and with Christ vision goggles I am able to see the face of Christ everywhere. Today, in any moment in which I do not feel complete peace, I will practice seeing with Christ vision goggles. This is a way of walking in peace.


As I read the Course each day, I am always led in one way or another to follow the perceptions of my inner Teacher, the Holy Spirit. Today Jesus reminds me that it is only the Holy Spirit That can be the true Judge of anything.

What I see through the body’s eyes always bears false witness. The body’s eyes were made to see separation from God and from my brother. None of this is true.

Through the Holy Spirit I am led to look past these false witnesses and see nothing has changed from God’s extension of the Love and Light that everyone is. It is only by my consistently opening to Holy Spirit that I am able to awaken from this false dream of separation and return to the awareness of the unity of God. In truth there is only one Life, and that is the Life we all live in God as One. Today my job is to practice giving all judgment to the Holy Spirit, where it belongs.

Holy Spirit help me see that I cannot judge. What I see through the body’s eyes only brings false witness. Help me not to believe in these false witnesses, but rather receive Your Vision of what is eternally true. Be my Guide all through the day. Purify my thoughts as I hand them over to you, one by one. Help me distinguish between what is real and what is false. Help me see as You see, that I may extend what You extend. Help me see the innocence and unity that is behind every form of separation. Help me remember the truth. My part is to give all my judgments to You, remembering that I cannot judge. Only You judge truly.

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Listen to Lesson 150 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 150 Insights

Review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“I will accept Atonement for myself. Only salvation can be said to cure.”

Only returning to God will cure all sorrow and all pain, all lack and loss. We all came from God and have never left God in truth. We experience something other than our true Self, our Source, when we join with the ego thought system. We join with the ego thought system by identifying with its beliefs, its thoughts, its false ideas.

All the false ideas found within the ego thought system are founded on the belief that we are separate from our true Self, that we are separate from God’s Love. When we believe we are separate from God’s Love, we can’t help but experience sorrow and pain, lack and feelings of loss. Belief in the ego thought system is belief in the death of our one Self.

The only cure or antidote for the pain and loss we feel is accepting Atonement for ourselves. Accepting Atonement means accepting a change of mind, accepting a return to the truth, accepting God’s Love, returning to our right mind, remembering that our mind holds only what we think with God. Only this return to the truth is a true and lasting cure for all the ills of the world. Our real salvation comes as we return to our one true Identity which alone is real. We delay this return when we get so wrapped up in the world’s activities that there is no “time” left to devote to God.

God is my salvation. God is the cure to every ill, every sense of lack, and return to God is the only answer; return to Love is the only answer. Today I will practice letting my mind open to receive the truth about myself and my brothers. It is only the truth of our oneness in Love that provides the real answer I seek.


It is helpful to remember that the Course defines Atonement as perfect Love. It also says it is the undoing of what never happened. It is not paying for or doing penance to expiate sin. Atonement does not make sin real, but in fact recognizes its unreality.

This is a reversal of most Christian teaching and is an example of the many ways the Course redefines many religious terms as part of the complete thought reversal it is leading us toward. In the Manual for Teachers, Atonement, salvation, forgiveness and healing are all equated as one.

There is no sacrifice in Atonement or salvation, only healing and forgiveness. Through forgiveness I learn to see innocence everywhere. As I see innocence, I see harmlessness and I return to the awareness of God’s perfect safety and His Love. I no longer need to defend against the truth but rather see it as my Source of happiness, peace and freedom.

The recognition that this world is all illusion means that all the interactions between bodies and forms have no effect whatsoever on Reality. What is unreal cannot affect Reality at all. I begin to see, as truth replaces illusion in my awareness, that nothing has ever really happened to change me in any way. Thus forgiveness is natural, for it is recognized that in truth, there is nothing to forgive. This recognition opens my mind to the awareness that it holds nothing but the thoughts of Love I think with God. Step by step, these lessons are guiding me to the full acceptance of my Self, as I was created.


A passage that means a lot to me is, “The Holy Spirit is not delayed in His teaching by your mistakes. He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go.” I have posted this where I will see it frequently. It is important to me that I remind myself that my errors have no real effects. There is no reason for me to feel guilty or afraid because of them. Experiencing fear and guilt is just my way of clinging to my errors. I choose, instead, to release them. This is a way that I accept Atonement for myself.

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Listen to Lesson 149 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 149 Insights

Review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“When I am healed I am not healed alone. Heaven is the decision I must make.”

I experience this whole world because I still think the ego thought system offers me something I want. It doesn’t seem that this world is of my own making. Certainly I didn’t sit down consciously and dream up the tree-lined lake that my body’s eyes see as I look out the window. The world tells me it was there thousands of years before this body existed.

To me it’s the illusion of time that seems to make this world so real. If I could really fully recognize that time is an illusion I have made up as well, I believe it would be easier to recognize that all the images of the world are projections from my mind. Time makes those images appear not to come from me. But if all those images occur only now, because there is no time, then I can’t claim that some seed that sprouted a hundred years ago is the cause of the tree I am looking at. My mind is so ingrained with the belief in the reality of time and space that it is still hard for me to fathom that the physical world I perceive is not real.

Yet as I practice remembering statements like, “Heaven is the decision I must make,” the importance I place on the images I see through the body’s eyes diminishes. This is a valuable step toward recognizing fully that the world I see is an illusion. I have observed as I work with the thought system of the Course, that I make less and less big deals. It’s the importance I give things that is the basis for my big deals.

If I drop a sock on the floor as I’m gathering clean laundry from the dryer, I simply gather it in and continue on my way with hardly a thought about it. But if I think my worth is based on my tidiness and coordination, I might get upset, call myself a klutz and a slob and make a big deal out of the simple event of dropping a sock on the floor. The same event is given different meanings based on the belief system I hold dear.

As I accept more and more that the sock and all other images in this world are illusions, they become less and less the source of my value and happiness. As I turn away from seeking happiness and value in the world, I become more and more open to making the decision for Heaven and accepting God’s gift of joy.

Affirming that my mind holds only what I think with God focuses my attention on the part of my mind that already knows its worth, its joy. This part of my mind knows its very life is in God, the one Source of all that is real. The frustration, disappointment and depression that come from seeking for value where it cannot be found diminishes. The experience of God’s peace and joy and the safety of His Love grows stronger.

Today I will practice with gratitude and happy anticipation, remembering when I am healed, I am not healed alone. My healing comes from making the decision for Heaven and remembering, “My mind holds only what I think with God.”


I recently read a section of the Text that reminded me I do not and cannot make decisions on my own. With every decision, we are either joining with the ego thought system or with the Holy Spirit. We are always joining with one or the other. When I join with the ego thought system, I see forms of separation. I see differences within a world of time and space. I see unique bodies. Everything is in a state of change and flux. This world appears to be outside of me. This appearance of separation is the name of the ego’s game.

When I join with the Holy Spirit, I receive a different perception. I am returned to thoughts of unity. I am reminded that all is one. I am reminded to extend Love instead of judgment, to see innocence instead of guilt. These thoughts gently undo my belief in separation. I am reminded that everyone is still as God created them and we are all extensions of one God, one Love. I am reminded the images within a world of time a space that constantly change are not worth choosing to see. I am reminded that God is eternal, changeless and Love, and so am I and so is all that is. I am reminded that these images which are in a constant state of change are not real. I am reminded Heaven is the decision I must make. I must want to be aware of Heaven because my experience comes through my desire. I always get what I really want in my heart of hearts.

Today as I practice joining with the Holy Spirit, I open my mind to healing. I open my mind to the bridge of return to Heaven. I open my mind to remembering that my mind holds only what I think with God. God is all there is. There is nothing else. Truth is true and nothing else is true. Image making in a world of time and space are meaningless imaginings and are not real. Heaven is the decision I must make.

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Review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“If I defend myself I am attacked. Sickness is a defense against the truth.”

My right mind, my Real mind, holds only what I think with God. The split mind, the ego mind, from which I see images of separate bodies and separate things, is not my real mind, even though I might identify with it. It is a false mind, a mind that makes up images of nothing, even though I might experience it as very real.

In this false mind I feel I must defend myself against attack by something outside me. This false mind gives me images of attack and being attacked. For example, the pollen from the trees makes my eyes itch. There is constant change and deterioration by the weather. Everything is threatened by outer influences, which eventually destroy it. In this world, if we do not defend against germs, they would destroy us, we would become sick and die.

All this comes from the false ego mind. All this comes from a thought system that is denying the truth of our invulnerability as part of the Mind of God. All this denies the truth of our Identity. We experience this false world because we wanted specialness, we wanted individuality, we wanted to experience separation from our Source.

Thank goodness none of this could ever be true. The images and experiences that come from the false ego mind could never be true. We imagine that we become sick and die. But when we wake up, we see none of it was ever real. It was all just hallucinations of vulnerability, lack and death. In this ego mind, we try to atone for our “sins” by punishing our bodies and perceiving ourselves as weak and vulnerable to forces we cannot control. All this is simply not true. All this just comes from the false ego mind which we have identified with.

Thank God we still have our real Mind. We cannot leave the Mind of God even though we imagine ourselves doing so. Our right Mind holds only what we think with God.

By doing these lessons every day, every hour, we are gradually loosening our grip on the false ideas that give us the experience of this world of separation and vulnerability. As we stick with this mind healing program found in A Course in Miracles, we let go of the false ideas. Behind those false ideas is the one Mind, the Mind of God. This is our real Mind and the only Mind. This is our true Identity forever.

Each day I continue the undoing process of letting go of what was never real. Repeating throughout the day, “My mind holds only what I think with God,” brings me back to the truth and allows an opening by which the Holy Spirit can bridge me back to the truth, to where I never left. This daily practice is an important lifeline. There is nothing more important than returning to the truth.


The lessons reviewed in today’s lesson focus on the belief in vulnerability that interferes with my awareness of the thoughts I share with God. I could not perceive myself as needing defense unless I believed I was vulnerable. To believe I am vulnerable, I must believe I am separate from God or believe God is vulnerable, neither of which are true. Remembering my mind holds only what I think with God is the cure for belief in vulnerability.

My safety does not come from building defenses against outside forces, people, disease, weather, earth changes, all the myriad forms this world of false images presents. My safety comes from remembering I remain in the Mind of God as I was created, sharing His Love, His joy, His peace, His strength and His holiness. That is the truth about my true Self. It cannot be changed because God does not change. What is eternal is changeless, and the truth about me, about everyone, is that we are eternal. We are the one Self that is God’s extension.

Any time I perceive I have been hurt, either emotionally or physically, I am believing in a false image of myself. It is this I must take to the Holy Spirit and ask for His gentle correction. Repeating hourly for ten days that my mind holds only what I think with God builds a reference point in my mind which I can use to help me recognize the false thinking that leads to feeling vulnerable and weak. With this recognition, my job is to take it to the Holy Spirit to receive His vision, to let my perception be corrected. It is a progressive process that becomes easier and more effective with every practice.

It is my willingness to practice that makes the healing of my mind possible. I am grateful for my little willingness and I am grateful for the mighty tools for healing brought to me in the Course. Today I will practice once again with gratitude and joy, reminding myself that my mind holds only what I think with God.

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Review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“I will not value what is valueless. Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.”

Only the Mind of God is real. Only eternal Love is real. Thoughts of separation come from the mistaken mind, the split mind. All the thoughts that come from the split off, ego mind are not real. The thoughts that come from this mind are valueless.

Jesus is teaching us not to value what is valueless because it will not bring us happiness. It will only bring us pain and sorrow, sickness and death in the end. Forgiveness is letting go of these thoughts of being separate from the Mind of God. Forgiveness is letting go of belief in bodies, of time and space, of differences and uniqueness.

Today, again, I will practice opening to the truth. I will practice forgiveness. I will practice letting go of illusions. I will practice letting go of the valueless. I will practice opening to the truth that my mind holds only what I think with God. This daily practice is my journey Home. There is no journey that has any value but this. I need not wander in the wilderness any longer. This practice is my highest priority. This practice brings me what I really want, God’s peace, joy and eternal happiness.

As I am willing to see the false ideas for what they are, I will not value the valueless. I will open to the mind of God, my Source. I will return to what is true and eternal. I will realize that my mind holds only what I think with God. What is in the Mind of God is real and nothing else is real. This process of letting go of false ideas is what the Course calls forgiveness. Through forgiveness, we let go of what is not real. Holding on to what is not real is the barrier that hides the Mind of God — What we all really are one with.


Since my mind holds only what I think with God and God is timeless, then all thoughts that I hold about the past cannot be thoughts I share with God. They must therefore not be real thoughts and are therefore valueless.

The ego loves to give great attention to the past. Major efforts are invested in archeological study trying to establish where and when bodies and human form started. One of the largest categories on the Internet is genealogy — people trying to establish their identity by identifying the series of births of bodies from one generation to the next. And in everyday life we evaluate everything in terms of what we have learned in the past.

As we carry all this attention on the past with us, we are not able to see the present, clean and pure as it is. We overlay our past experiences and our beliefs about the past upon the present, like a mask. We do not see the present. We see a mask of our own making and do not recognize that all its meaning is projected from our own mind. By valuing the valueless past, we cannot see God’s gift of Love in the present.

As I learn to loosen my grip on the past, to give it less value, I am able to let it go. This is forgiveness. This opens the door for me to see the innocent holy Self that is ever present, now. It is timeless, not to be found in the future nor the past. Our one Self is eternally here now.

Holy Spirit, help me to forgive the past, to recognize its valuelessness and lay it down. Thus will I be able to recognize that my mind truly holds only what I think with God.

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Review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth. I loose the world from all I thought it was.”

Today’s lesson is an interesting triad of thoughts that reinforce each other. In my experience it doesn’t seem that I have reached the truth, though I think I seek it every day. But the reason I don’t seem to reach the truth, is that I have conflicting goals. And the goals that are not the truth have priority. That is because I still carry beliefs that there is something in the world that I want more than God’s Love and peace. I still have a mistaken idea of what the world is and has to offer. Thus I still need to loose the world from all I think it is. As I let go of values I have given the images of this world, I clear the way to the recognition that my mind holds only what I think with God. And that is the truth.

As I go through my day, it helps me to remember that I do not know what anything is for. I give things meaning and believe in them, which gives me a false sense of knowing what is true. Yet underneath this is an awareness that this “truth” is unstable and vulnerable. Anything that occurs which seems to threaten the meaning I have given, to raise it to question or uncertainty, is to be defended against. I want to be right because my identity of what I think I am is tied with what I believe. Anything that brings what I believe into question is perceived as a threat to my identity. As long as I hang on to these beliefs, I cannot be at peace.

That is why I must constantly remind myself that I do not know what anything means to help me loose the world from what I think it is. But this is not enough.

I must also open my mind to my inner Teacher to show me the real meaning, to show me the truth. The first step is to question everything I think I know. The second step is to be willing to receive the Holy Spirit’s teaching. With that I will find the truth and I will experience the thoughts I share with Love, with God. Today I will practice opening myself to the Holy Spirit’s vision so that I will find the truth.


Today’s lesson tells me the truth and how to reach the truth in my experience. The truth is my mind holds only what I think with God. And because I experience what I want to experience in my heart of hearts, the second sentence encourages me to seek the truth and reminds me that if I seek the truth, I will find it. What happens when I seek the truth is I let go of the all the meaning I have given to the world. I let go of all the false ideas of separation that I thought were real. I loose the world from all I thought it was.
All the mindless ideas gently fall away as I am willing to seek only for the truth. As I seek only for the truth, I am shown that image making is composed of mindless ideas of nothing. Images that are separate from each other are not true. Only God’s oneness is real. Only our all-inclusive communion in God is real. The Mind of God is eternal. What changes in a world of time and space is not real.

Thank goodness my mind holds only what I think with God. I am grateful that this is so. All is eternally safe in the mind of God. In Heaven there is no loss, there is no division or differences of any kind. Everything remains as God created It — an extension of God in God’s oneness.

Today I am willing to open to the truth. I am willing to loose the world from all I thought it was. I am willing to practice remembering that my mind holds only what I think with God.


I have been working very hard on these review lessons and Holy Spirit has been showing me those places where I am holding onto false ideas. I am grateful for this but it is discouraging at times. I am astounded at how hard I do hold on. I felt a sense of relief flood me this morning as I was reminded that no one fails who seeks to reach the truth.

I appreciate the staff comments on this lesson. It helped me to clarify what has been going on in my mind the last couple of days. I knew I needed to see something differently, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was. It was like having a persistent headache, but not knowing what caused it. After reading the staff comments I understand that I have given priority to a goal that is not true. I also understand that I have been asking for relief from the discomfort this causes me instead of asking to be shown the truth. It is like I have a headache because I am banging my head against a brick wall and I have asked that I be relieved of the headache so that I can continue to bang my head without all that pain.

When I think about it, I wouldn’t want that to happen even if it were possible. It is the pain that motivates the change. If it didn’t hurt to bang my head against a brick wall, I wouldn’t quit. I am so attached to my image of myself, bad as well as good that I would be unwilling to let it go if I couldn’t see that it is hurting me. So today I loose myself of the image of what I think I am and I open my mind to Holy Spirit so I can learn the truth.

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Review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“Beyond this world there is a world I want. It is impossible to see two worlds.”

Remembering all through the day that my mind holds only what I think with God helps me see the mindless thoughts of the ego for what they are. It helps me place less importance on the images found in this world. It reminds me to look beyond the images of separation to the world I really want. It reminds me that I need to let go of the world’s images and be open to the thoughts of universal oneness, of God.

I need this reminding all through the day. Otherwise I make big deals and think that what I am experiencing as this world is real. When this happens, I have returned to wandering in the wilderness and this does not create happiness.

I need the hourly reminders that my mind holds only what I think with God. This helps to clear the slate of my mind. This helps me loosen my grip on all the false ideas found in this world. This lesson reminds me that it is impossible to see two worlds. I cannot continue to make this world of separation real and still be aware of the thoughts I think with God. I forget that I am in Heaven now when I get caught up in all the turmoil and conflict found in this world.

This lesson is like the lifeline reminding me of the truth as I go through my day. I am so thankful for these lessons. They are truly helping me awaken to the truth.


Before I started working with the Course, I thought this world was real. I also felt that there was something beyond this world, though it was not something I could describe or define. There was always part of me that was looking for something more satisfying, more fulfilling. This lesson puts into words that feeling: Beyond this world there is a world I want. As I worked with the Course, I realized that though I was searching for something more, there was another part of my mind that thought the things of this world were more important.

I am grateful for the Course that is helping me to recognize what is truly valuable and what is valueless, what is real and what is unreal. The seeming conflict between seeking for a world beyond this one that I truly want, while at the same time thinking I want things of this world is diminishing. I find greater peace. My happiness is sustained more consistently. The value I place on anything in this world interferes with seeing the world I really want because it is impossible to see two worlds. Gradually, as I work with the lessons and read the Text and Manual for Teachers, I am letting go of the value I have placed on this world.

At first it seemed the Course was asking me to sacrifice, to give up something valuable. But now, more and more, I am recognizing that I am giving up nothing to gain everything. The conflicting goals I have tried to hold in my mind are steadily falling away. And in their place rises the peace and Love of God, my true treasure, my lasting happiness. I am deeply grateful for this Course, for I am blessed indeed.

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Review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“There is no love but God’s. The world I see holds nothing that I want.”

As I take the time to do this lesson this morning, I am struck by how important this practice is in readying my mind to open to God’s Love. Taking this time to open my mind and let it be cleared and quieted of all worldly thoughts, I receive the blessing of God’s peace and joy. I see how important it is to return to this quiet place in my mind that is always there. It is only through consistent practice with opening up to the sacred place in my mind that I recognize its value.

As I go through my day, all the worldly activities seem so important. But I am learning that nothing is more important than opening my mind to God. Nothing is more important than opening my mind to the truth of what is real. Then when I go back to my daily activities, I can practice bringing that feeling of God’s Presence with me. There is nothing more important than God’s Love, because nothing else is real.

Anything that changes is part of the illusion. Within my mind there is a sacred place that is eternal. And What is in that sacred place is What I am and What everyone is. In truth, my mind holds only what I think with God, and that is eternal. I am determined to rest in God today as I practice the hourly remembrances.


The ego loves to keep the mind preoccupied with busy doings in the world. It always has a “to do” list that includes more than can possibly done in the time available. As long as I let the ego be my guide, my mind will be occupied with seeming thoughts that block my awareness of the thoughts I share with God. If I place priority on the ego’s list, I shut God out and keep myself separate and alone. I don’t have time to quiet my mind and become aware of the thoughts of Love I share with God.

All the striving and doing of the ego come from the belief that there is something I see in the world that I want. Somehow accomplishing the “to do” list will get me what I want. If I look beneath the layers of form, I see that what I think these forms will offer me have something to do with specialness in some way. Specialness is the ego’s substitute of God’s Love. Today’s lesson is telling me that there is no Love but God’s. And that is why nothing I see in the world offers me anything I want. Specialness is an empty substitute for Love.

It is important that I take the time to quiet my mind and open to the awareness to the thoughts of Love that I share with God. This is what I truly want. This is where I will find the only Love there is in truth. This is where I remember my Source. From this place of remembrance, I can return to my list of ‘to do’s with a new perspective. No longer is the list a means of being stressed and isolated. It now becomes a means of extending Love. Some things on the list may be dropped entirely, for they are seen as having no purpose. Others are given a new purpose. The form of doing may remain the same, but the content now is Love.

Holy Spirit, help me today to follow your lead in all my doing that I may use every moment as an opportunity to extend Love.

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Review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“In quiet I receive God’s Word today. All that I give is given to myself.”

God’s Word is Love. Its attributes are peace and joy. It makes sense that to receive God’s Word, I must be at peace. The maze of conflicting thoughts of the ego cannot conceive of the simple unity of Love. Learning to quiet my mind is an essential step in preparing myself to receive God’s Word. If I want the peace of God, I must welcome the peace of God.

If I am attracted to the drama and conflict of the ego, I will not welcome God’s peace. As I learn to recognize that nothing in this world offers me anything I really want, my willingness to quiet my mind increases. Quieting my mind is a gift I give myself, for it is the gift of healing, of returning to my Self as I was created in Love.

Today I ask the Holy Spirit to help me see the meaninglessness and valuelessness of the ego’s drama’s. I seek to clear the way to a quiet mind and receive God’s Word of Love unchanged and unchangeable. With the Holy Spirit’s help I will see the Love in all my brothers. I will not be deceived by behaviors or circumstances in form. I will offer only the vision of Love to my brothers so that I might receive Love’s gifts.


In another lesson, Jesus says “God is but Love and therefore so am I.” Because I am Love, my mind in reality can hold only Love. In the Text it says that Love means sharing all Love with all. This means that as I return to the awareness of the Love that I am, I also return to the awareness that as Love, I am eternally giving all Love to all. And because Love is one, I am receiving all Love from all.

Because I have tried to make something different from God’s Love real, I experience something different from God’s Love. As I am willing to quiet my mind, I am learning to sink below the chatter of the differences I made up. Below the chatter there is peace, there is the quiet mind. There is God’s Word. There is Love. There is simplicity. There is one Self, where giving and receiving are the same. In this sacred place of quiet, nothing has changed from Love. Here is the eternal now, the holy instant, the changeless unity of Love. My mind holds only what I think with the Love that I am.

Holy Spirit, lead me today, that I may be aware of the Love that is always present in all circumstances. Holy Spirit, help me remember that I can only receive Love and give Love in truth, because my mind holds only what I think with Love. Help me remember this today. Help me extend only Love. It is in this way that I will remember that I am only Love. Help me remember to rest in Love today. Help me to remember that only Love is real.

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Review : “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“I thank my Father for His gifts to me. Let me remember I am one with God.”

Gratitude and appreciation go hand in hand with acceptance. If someone offers me something I don’t appreciate, I won’t accept it. I might put on a show of acceptance so as to not hurt the giver’s feelings, but if there is no appreciation, the gift goes on the back shelf or in the closet, where it is forgotten about. This world is the effect of not appreciating God’s gifts to me. He gave me my Self — pure Love. But by not appreciating the gift, I have forgotten my Self. Instead this world was made in an attempt to find something I would like better, something more special.

Because I have not appreciated God’s gifts to me, I do not know my Self, nor do I value my Self. It is no wonder the world is filled with people who feel unworthy. This is why it is important for me to thank my Father for His gifts to me. God doesn’t need my thanks, but I need gratitude for His gifts in order to know my Self. That is how I will know my worth. That is how I will find full appreciation for my Self and all my brothers.

Help me Holy Spirit to recognize the value of God’s gifts and the valuelessness of the ego’s offerings, for I would know my Self. This is my true desire.


Love is my Source. From Love came all that is real. I cannot leave my Source and become something different. I cannot change my Self. I remain Love as I was created. Love holds only Love. Love extends only Love. I am one with Love as I was created.

If I try to deny my Identity as Love, I will try to think I have changed myself into something else, separate from Love. I will try to make up a world that is different from the oneness of Love. I will try to make individuality and differences real in my mind. I will try to think I am separate and alone. I will try to think I am independent of my Source.

I am learning now that this is the unhappy dream. In this unhappy dream I have denied my Identity as part of God and have not appreciated God’s gifts to me. I have denied that my mind holds only what I think with God. It is now time to lay down this denial.

I want to return to happiness. I want to return to God’s peace and joy and Love. I want to return to my oneness with my Source. I want to remember that I am still one in the Mind of God. I want to accept my Self as I was created. I want to let go of all the false ideas about individuality and being separate from my Source.

Now is the time of return. Now is the time for me to remember that my mind holds only what I think with God in truth. All the other thoughts I have added are nothing and nowhere. They are meaningless ideas and I am willing to practice laying them down. I am thankful that these meaningless ideas were never true and that I am still changeless Love as I was created.

I return to God’s gifts as I open up to them, accept them and appreciate them. My gratitude for the truth of my Identity as one with God opens my mind so that I can see that I never left. In truth my mind has held only what I think with God. I have always remained one with God and so has everyone. A false world of separation was never real. Only in dreams could I have imagined this. Today I practice opening to the truth by being willing to lay this false dream down. I practice opening to the truth that my mind holds only what I think with God.

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Review IV: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” and
“Forgiveness is the key to happiness. Forgiveness offers everything I want.”

As I opened my mind to receive understanding about what it means that my mind holds only what I think with God, it became clear why the titles of the two review statements are true. The Course tells me that God is Love and nothing else. And being Love, He is also happiness. Thus the only thoughts my mind can hold must be expressions of Love and must bring happiness with them. If I do not perceive these thoughts, I must be deciding against God, denying my unity with Him, denying my unity with Love.

Forgiveness is the key to happiness because forgiveness is the undoing of the denial of Love. The moment I welcome Love, I am welcoming happiness. Anytime I am bothered because the computer does not respond like I think it should, or someone does not behave like I think they should, I am clearly not happy and not loving. Simple, true forgiveness clears the false image and opens my mind to the awareness of Love’s presence once again.

All I or anyone in this world wants is Love and happiness. If we think happiness can be found in the forms of this world, we will try all kinds of ego-based manipulations and gyrations in an attempt to make the images of the world provide the Love and happiness we seek. But Love and happiness cannot be found there. The ego directs us to look to these images in keeping with its motto, seek and do not find.

The moment we let our minds be guided by the Voice for God, we will be helped to let go of the values we have given these empty images. In other words we will be guided to forgive. This forgiveness is the key to happiness because it clears our minds of meaningless false images so that we can receive and accept what has always been ours.

The moment I cease to give my attention to the empty images of this world and give them no value, I truly recognize that my mind holds only what I think with God and I experience everything I really want. Eternal happiness is mine.


Recognizing that my mind holds only what I think with God helps me realize that all the thoughts I get involved with in this world of separation are not really thinking at all. As I do the Course lessons day by day, these lessons help me recognize mindless thoughts and open my mind to the Holy Spirit’s help so that the thoughts can be purified.

My mindless thoughts, which come from belief in separation, may appear real at the time, but they are really nothing at all. Letting these thoughts be seen for what they are by the Holy Spirit is forgiveness, and forgiveness brings happiness. I tried to replace God with all these meaningless ideas of separation, but it has only been ego image making. They were never real.

Today I practice returning to remembering that my mind holds only what I think with God. God’s Mind is eternal and changeless and therefore my mind is eternal and changeless. Only my true Identity as God’s Extension is real. All the additions I have tried to make are not real. All the image making dreams I have been involved with are not real. As I learn to forgive or let go of these thoughts, this image making, I find true happiness. The truth lies beyond image making, which is a denial of the truth.

As I let go of the images which deny the truth, the truth returns to my awareness. Letting go of what never was, which is forgiveness, is the key to happiness and offers everything I really want. My mind holds only what I think with God. Nothing else is true. I am willing to be happy today. I am willing to forgive.

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Below are example references to specific sentences using the notation of the Second & Third Editions of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace:

T-26.IV.4:7 = Text, Chapt. 26, Section IV, paragraph 4, sentence 7.

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