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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ACIM Workbook Lesson 125 Insights

“In quiet I receive God’s Word today.”

Healing comes to the quiet mind. Attitudes are changed. Circumstances are seen in a new way. It is like the black and white picture where if you look at it one way, you see two faces looking at each other. If you look at it in a new way, you see one vase.

Through the quiet mind, the world is seen anew. The quiet mind sees through the thin veneer of separate bodies. The mind that is quiet is brought to God’s peace. The conflict brought about by ego’s thinking is laid aside and dissolves into the the nothingness it is. The quiet mind sees clearly.

Here there is rest. Here there is God’s peace. What was once perceived as complicated and difficult now is seen as simple as the fear is dissolved and the Love that was always there shines forth. All false ideas fall away and the truth comes forth as Love’s simplicity is seen. Here there is rest. Here is the eternal truth. Here is the soul’s deepest nourishment, what we all long for in our heart of hearts.

And all this comes when we are willing to quiet our minds and rest a while in Love’s healing presence. The deep inner longing and the search for God ends because here it is. It has always been right here, in the quiet mind, waiting for our return.

This inner door is opened by being willing to still our tortured minds and rest a while in Love’s healing presence. It just takes a willingness to step back from the world and let the mind be quiet a while. In stillness all that is true is known. All that is real is recognized. This opportunity for healing is always present. It just takes a willingness to quiet our minds and listen to receive God’s word. That is all.

One of the ego’s most prevalent defenses is busyness. The more it can keep us preoccupied with activities in the world, the safer it is from intrusions of peace. The ego considers peace as an intrusion because peace interferes with the ego’s primary goal of maintaining guilt. When we quiet our minds and allow ourselves to experience the peace of God, our minds are open to receive His Word. His Word tells us that we remain one with Him, undivided, unharmed and incapable of harm. His Voice tells us we remain innocent, as we were created.

This is the last thing the ego wants us to hear, for if we hear it and accept it, it would be the end of the ego. And so the ego is constantly looking for things to do, keeping us busy, doing things in the world that lead nowhere, accomplish nothing in truth, but effectively serve the ego’s goal of keeping our minds busy so that we will not receive God’s Word. Because we have taught ourselves well to follow the ego’s lead, we need to practice diligently, quieting our minds, opening to God’s peace and listening to His Voice. The ego loves to point out our failures, to encourage us to give up. “You will never learn this” the ego says, with a smile of contempt.

Yet in truth, being quiet and hearing God’s Voice is our natural state. It takes great effort to keep our minds so busy that we are unaware of our unity with God. It takes so much effort that we have to lay our bodies down to rest for almost a third of every day just to rebuild our ‘energy’ so that we can spend another day keeping busy and defending against our natural state of peace in the heart of God.

Now is the time to lay that aside and return to our natural state. Now is the time to accept His peace. Now is the time to return to Love.

There are so many situations that happen in my life, with my boss or my family or the clerks at stores or people on the freeway that I automatically respond to with anger or resentment or even thoughts of retaliation, but thanks to this course and my Divine Guidance I am learning to stop or at least slow down the insanity (sometimes it takes me hours) and quiet my mind long enough to listen and know that the situation is all an illusion.

I must admit at this point I don’t necessarily “hear” anything when I’m in quiet, but I feel in my heart that maybe I don’t “need” to hear anything. I just need to trust, to stay focused, to know there is another way, to be aware of that quiet place where my Heavenly Father abides. And sure enough, when I come out of spending some time with God, I come back a better person and in those few moments that I spent with Him, I bring back enough courage and strength with me to carry me through the seeming conflict. Today I might not know what the answer is, but I also know what the answer isn’t.

For help to practice hearing God’s Voice, download the free “Listen & Receive 30-Day Program” PDF at this link:
https://www.pathwaysoflight.org/inner_guidance_help/free-l-r

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

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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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ACIM Workbook Lesson 124 Insights

“Let me remember I am one with God.”

As I did today’s exercise, it was interesting to observe the ways my resistance played out. As I focused on the idea that I am one with God, I began to experience a hint, like being on the fringes of what it would feel like being one with God. It felt very calm, free from doubt and above all, loving. It was like being in love, without limiting that love to one special person. It was very safe. I would experience that hint of that feeling and then I would realize that my thoughts had wandered off to something in my physical world experience.

It was amazing the trivial things that would get my attention and I would follow the thought rather than stay with that calm, peaceful, certain, strong and loving feeling that I was experiencing with remembering I am one with God. Things like thinking about a movie or television show I had seen or thinking of something I needed to do or was planning for some time in the future. By the time I realized where my thoughts were, I was well into the identification with this world once again.

So I would bring myself back and focus once more on remembering I am one with God. Again I would begin to sense a hint of what it would feel like to remember this and I would discover again that my mind had followed some meaningless thread of images associated with this world. I kept bringing myself back, repeating the cycle several times. I see that the ego is quickly bored by peace and unity and freedom from conflict. I see that my habitual pattern is to be preoccupied with this world and all its images.

This is not something to feel guilty about but it is certainly clear that much practice is needed in another way of being and thinking. When I think of the dedication to practice that a professional musician or athlete has and think about what my life would be like if I maintained that level of dedication throughout my day to remembering I am one with God, my life experience would change profoundly. I am grateful for the exercises in the Workbook that provide the means for me to move in this direction.

My dedication to applying the principles from the Course in my life is stronger than ever, yet there is plenty of room for more. So I will keep practicing. I have tasted the certainty, the peace, the happiness and Love that is waiting for my acceptance. I am willing to keep practicing, to open my mind further toward full acceptance of God’s gifts. In gratitude I will remember I am one with God, along with all my brothers.

This lesson guides me to open my mind to Love’s Presence. This lesson guides me to practice letting my true Identity, Love’s Presence, come to the forefront of my mind. This allows me to feel the peace of God. It allows me to be aware of what is truly meaningful, of what is real behind the false masks of this world. When I am willing to look with the Holy Spirit, God is always there in every person, in every situation waiting to be recognized.

I am seeing how important this lesson is in my practice of remembering the truth. When I really think about it, what could be more important than this? God is always in my mind, because I am one with God. God’s Voice is always there to guide me as I am willing to open to Its loving Presence. As I gradually let the Holy Spirit take over writing the script of my life, I notice that things get easier, smoother, more relaxed. My life becomes more simplified and I find myself less inclined to get involved with meaningless pursuits that take time away from opening to God and listening to His Voice.

As the Holy Spirit is allowed to take over more and more, distractions from what is truly important take less and less of my time. I want more and more to be aware of God’s peace and extend God’s peace in this world. It becomes a higher priority to let the Holy Spirit make all my decisions. A feeling of gentleness and well being gradually takes over and becomes more consistent in my state of mind. I am more and more willing to be quiet and listen for the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. The ego’s thoughts seem less and less attractive, it’s detours seen more clearly for what they are.

I see that today’s lesson is at the core of all awakening to reality. The whole Sonship is one with God. The world of separation is meaningless. Do I want Love or another lesson in love? Do I want peace or conflict? Each day I am making my choices with every thought I continue to hold in my mind. Today’s lesson is a practice of opening me further and further into the recognition that I am one with God. God is always in my mind, waiting for my return. Giving time to God is the most important thing I could do. What a happy thing to practice — remembering I am one with God all through the day. How fortunate we all are to have this wonderful help on our journey of return to the truth.

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

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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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ACIM Workbook Lesson 123 Insights

“I thank my Father for His gifts to me.”

One of the sentences that stood out to me in this lesson is “give thanks as well that you are changeless.” This means that the only part of me that is real is changeless Love. This also means that the only part of everyone in this world that is real is the changeless Love, as God created them. This makes everything very simple. All the complications of this world disappear. There is only one reality. Everyone in this whole world is still as God created them.

There are no differences or distance between people of any kind. We are still one Self, joined in the Mind of God. We are still the same Light of Love, joy and peace as we were created. Nothing has changed that reality. Anything else is meaningless illusion. This certainly simplifies my “life.” My only real life is the life I live in God, and that has never changed. For this I am grateful. God’s gifts to me and everyone, the whole Sonship, are eternal. God’s gift of extending eternal Love never ends.

As I open to receive God’s gifts, I give them because giving and receiving are the same. God is changeless. God’s gifts are changeless and I am thankful today that this is so.

Today’s idea is the antidote to the desire for specialness that is the foundation of this world. When I express gratitude for my Father’s gifts to me, I am accepting His gifts. The desire for specialness is the rejection of God’s gifts. It’s saying to God, “What you gave me isn’t good enough. I want more than everything.” This whole world was made to make it look like I could have other gifts than those my Father gave.

As I practice expressing my gratitude for God’s gifts, I’m really practicing accepting my Self. This Self is what God gave me. And it contains all of God. All Love. There is nothing else to give and nothing else to receive. The attempt to give and receive something else blinds me to God’s gifts and leaves me feeling empty and alone. As I affirm my gratitude for God’s gifts, I am recognizing where real value lies. I am shifting my attention from meaningless, empty forms to the only meaning there is. I am moving away from rejecting my Self as I was created toward accepting the magnificent, changeless gift of Love, given me by God. It shifts my attitude from depression to joy, from conflict to peace, from fear to Love.

I am deeply grateful for this Course, which offers me the means to recognize where real value lies and to recognize the meaningless for what it is. Today I will accept God’s gifts with gratitude. With gratitude comes joy and with joy comes the desire to share. And so I experience once again that receiving and giving are the same. They cannot be separated, just as joy and gratitude cannot be separated. Thank you Father for your gifts to me.

I have something specific to be grateful for. I was doing a meditation the other day and was looking for people I need to forgive. There is a man I work with who really gets on my nerves. I’ve tried to forgive him before, thought I had, and then he would do something to annoy me and I’d realize I had not forgiven.

I had a hard time with the process and resisted it awhile. My mind would wander, I’d find myself unable to focus on him. Every time I tried to see him differently, I would see his face with this expression that has always rubbed me the wrong way. There he would be with his eyebrows raised, his eyes widened and this self-satisfied smirk on his face like he knows something no one else knows. He looked like some kind of demented elf. How was I supposed to forgive this ridiculous image?!

I stuck with it, though, and finally I started thinking of him as an actor playing a role. I thought about how an actor is not his character. When the play is over, the actor walks away from that character and goes back to being himself.

Suddenly, my mind quit fighting the process. I realized that this person I didn’t like was just a character in the script that he wrote for his life. It was like he was wearing a mask and if he took it off, I would see his holy self completely unchanged. When I tried to take that step and see him without his personality self, I was unable to do so. In my frustration, I finally said, “Holy Son of God, show yourself to me!” and he did! It was like a mask falling away and there was his splendid beautiful light self, minus all the annoying habits and many faults I had always seen in him.

Then suddenly I saw the raised eyebrows, the widened eyes, the smirk and it was like he was winking at our shared secret. I almost laughed out loud. I came out of that meditation feeling differently about him and hoping the feeling would last.

Yesterday, he was listening to one of my presentations and corrected something I did wrong in front of my customers. I was amazed that I didn’t feel angry with him because I used to use any excuse to dislike him. Later when I had the chance, I thanked him sincerely for pointing out the mistake and told him that it gave me the chance to rewrite that part so that it was better now. The pleased look on his face was my reward. The real reward, though, is harder to put into words. I feel like someone who has had a chronic illness and is suddenly healed. It is a real blessing.

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

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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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ACIM Workbook Lesson 122 Insights

“Forgiveness offers everything I want.”

In yesterday’s lesson we practiced looking beyond bodies and focusing on the Light in our brothers and ourselves. Today we are told that God holds the door open to a warm and safe place and He invites us to come in. We are told when we enter, we enter into Light and form disappears. The imagery of formless, boundless Light is helping us shift our attention away from forms and what forms seem to do. It brings us to the awareness that illusionary forms do not matter in truth.

Light always unites with Light. Light never resists Light. Light does not place limits on itself. It does not stop Itself. It always expands and enters wherever It is welcome. To be in darkness, barriers must be erected to keep the Light out. The moment the barriers are removed, Light rushes in to fill the space where darkness was. Darkness has no power over Light. We experience darkness only when we do not welcome Light and build barriers against It. Forgiveness brings down the barriers. As we learn to practice looking beyond form, letting the veil of form be lifted, we see the Light that has always been there. We see the changeless in the midst of change.

Holy Spirit, help me today to keep my attention on the changeless and the real, to not value the changeable and temporary. Help me to see the Light beyond all form. I am willing to receive God’s gifts today. I am willing to forgive.

Forgiveness means allowing the veil to be lifted. Forgiveness means accepting Heaven’s answer to the hell we made. Forgiveness means accepting God’s gifts. Forgiveness means opening to the Light of God and letting it heal all our false perceptions of separation. Forgiveness offers joy and peace and happiness. Forgiveness offers everything I want.

In this lesson, Jesus is really focusing on the benefits of forgiveness. He is showing us that holding grievances only brings us hell and we don’t have to continue living in hell. It just takes a little willingness to accept Heaven’s answer. It takes a willingness to open to God’s plan for salvation. Heaven is always there waiting for us to open the door and let It in. The face of Christ is always there to see in our brother. That is how we see it in ourselves.

Today I am willing to practice opening to Heaven’s healing Light. Today I am willing to practice lifting the veil to see the face of Christ in my brother. Love is changeless. Heaven is changeless. Today I am willing to look beyond the constantly changing forms and circumstances to the eternally changeless Light of God That is always there waiting for my acceptance. Today I am willing to be happy. “Forgiveness offers everything I want.”

As I read this beautiful lesson my first thought was, “Yeah, maybe if I do this lesson every day for a hundred years.” I seem to be so attached to my grievances. But I reminded myself that I am not alone in this. The Course promises us much support.

I am really tired of carrying around these grievances, and I can see how they are making me so unhappy. It is a mystery to me why they are so hard to give up.

As I was reading this lesson, I’m answering, “Yes I want happiness, yes I want quietness”, etc. etc. And then the lesson goes into all the wonderful things forgiveness offers like joy and happiness. It seems to me that I can only dream of those things. And then comes the answer to achieve all these things, which is the part I apparently have such a hard time with, the part that keeps me from experiencing these things.

Until the Course came around I didn’t realize there was another way of living. I think I always knew in my heart there had to be something better, but I never knew what it was or how to achieve it. I think Jesus knows that we’re extremely attached to what we made, so He is gently trying to remind us with His lovely poetry. It’s almost like He’s saying “you had this before, remember?”

So many times I get frustrated because I can’t seem to do what it takes to have peace, but the continuous practice of these lessons along with the power of the Holy Spirit helps me have hope and stay focused. The thoughts of this Course give me the only true life I’ve experienced in my time here on earth.

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

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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
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Click here to read or listen to this ACIM Workbook Lesson online.

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ACIM Workbook Lesson 121 Insights

“Forgiveness is the key to happiness.”

Forgiveness is letting the veil of separation be lifted from my mind. If the veil of separation is not lifted, I will focus on what bodies do and say. I will focus on individual identities separated and alone. I will think that this is true and real. Forgiveness helps me learn to look past the illusions of separation. Forgiveness helps me look past the belief in sin and death.

I learn forgiveness from my true Self. As I am willing to receive the truth, my true Self lifts the veil of separation from my mind. And then I am able to see the Light behind the isolated separated forms. I am able to see the Light behind the fearful behavior. And as I continue to practice this, it teaches me to find the Light behind my separate identity.

Only my true Self can lift the veil. My separated mind only knows of separation and teaches only this. My true Self teaches me to look for and find the Light of God That is behind every false image of separation. My true Self teaches me that this alone brings me true lasting happiness. It releases me from fear. It releases me from believing in death or that anyone could be harmed. It releases me from the false mind which always looks for guilt.

When guilt is gone, there is only innocence to see. Here is peace. Here is eternal Love. Here is happiness. Forgiveness is the answer to every perceived problem. When I am angry or sad or mad or depressed, forgiveness is the answer. When I feel lonely and afraid, forgiveness is the answer. Forgiveness lifts the veil and returns the truth of my Identity as part of God to my awareness.

The exercise in today’s lesson takes a different approach than I would have expected, based on the subject. From the little mind’s perspective, it seems like the obvious approach would be to think of something somebody did that offended me and then try to forgive the offense. This is the typical ego approach. First it makes the error real and then tries to disregard the error, while still maintaining its reality.

Instead, this exercise disregards anything the “enemy” may have done. It merely tells us to select someone we regard as offensive in some way. And then it tells us to look for the Light in that person. It is training us to look past the form, because the form is not real. What seemed to happen was only a dream of illusions interacting with illusions, and could not be real.

The exercise trains us to look past the unreal to the real, past the shadows to the Light. As we can allow ourselves to see the Light in an enemy and can equate that Light with the Light in a friend, it becomes easy then to equate that Light with the Light in ourselves. Our unity then becomes obvious and in my mind I have joined with my brothers. Forgiveness has happened.

I need to practice looking past images and forms to the Light that represents the unity of all things with the one Source of Light. Sometimes a specific offensive event seems so real to me that I am unable to see past it to the Light. This is when I need to remind myself that I cannot be my own teacher, for I have taught myself to see the offense, not the Light. This is when I need to turn to the Teacher within to let Him show me the unreality of interactions between images and help me see the Light beyond the darkness.

Forgiveness is exquisitely simple. I need only see the Light in my brother, give It my full attention. That is all. The only reason this seems difficult at any time is because of my unwillingness to give up being right about my judgment. I have made up a litany of rules and taught myself to judge by them. Not once has this judgment ever brought me real happiness. Now I am willing to be taught by the Teacher of Light how to see the Light where it is and disregard all empty images. I am grateful for this lesson, which takes me another step toward recognizing that I am in Heaven now. In reality, I never left. I have only been dreaming of being on a distant shore.

As I was reading this lesson, I noticed I was constantly nodding my head in agreement with what happens with an unforgiving mind. The reason I know that is because who the lesson is describing is me. That’s so often how I feel, that’s what I’m afraid of, that’s how I’ve been living so much of my life.

No wonder the Course says that if we’re living in fear, we’re not really living. Its taken me many years to realize that I’ve been “looking for love in all the wrong places,” but what I love about the Course is that it tells me that’s okay. I don’t need to beat myself up over what could’ve been. On the contrary, the multitude of mistakes I’ve made have just turned out to be blessings because they have brought me to my knees and surrender to the freedom the Course offers me.

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

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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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ACIM Workbook Lesson 120 Insights

Review: “I rest in God” and “I am as God created me.”

As the lesson reminds me, I need to let God tell me what I am instead of me telling God what I am. This reminder brings to mind the image of the rebellious teenager telling his parents he wants to do it his own way. “Don’t tell me what to do.” And I think of Frank Sinatra’s ode to the ego, “I did it my way.” The ego is the idea of independence from God. The last thing the ego wants is for God to tell me What I am. If I truly listened and accepted God’s definition of What I am, I would instantly drop any allegiance to the ego. Who would align himself to nothing when he is offered everything?

The whole Course is teaching me to recognize that everything that I have valued in what the ego offers is really nothing. No form of specialness has any substance. It is an empty substitute for the eternal, limitless Love of God. It takes great effort to try to manufacture illusions that seem to have value, that seem to give me something I want. It’s exhausting because none of it ever really works.

It’s like a car spinning its tires in a mud hole. It expends great energy and goes nowhere. That’s all the ego ever has to offer. The only reason I keep spinning my wheels is because I have a mistaken idea that somewhere in the mud I will find something of value. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit gently tells me there is nothing there. There comes a point at which I am willing to say, “There must be a better way. I am willing to receive it.”

At first it seems I just sit there in the mud. I have to stop spinning my wheels long enough to get quiet and let the Voice for God give me a new vision of What I am. Having taken the time to rest and be quiet with an open mind, I am told to open the car door. And I step out on to the solid ground of God’s eternal Love. It was there all along, ready to support me in the eternal truth of my unity with God. I have been so enamored with the mud hole of independence that I could not see the solid support, the infinite strength of God that surrounds me. It is always there, ready for me to accept. Today I will practice quieting my mind and letting God teach me What I am.

Today’s review lessons talk about the part of me that is real. The part of me that is real rests in God. The part of me that is real is still as God created me. The part of me that is not real is represented by all the sick illusions I have made of myself.

Today Jesus asks me to focus on the part of me that is real. Jesus asks me to remember the truth of where I am and What I am. In truth I rest in God. Where I am is in God and nowhere else. I am still Love as God created me.

Today I practice letting my Father tell me What I really am. Today I practice not making decisions on my own. Today I practice stepping back and letting the Holy Spirit give me the meaning of everything I see. Today I practice remembering the truth.

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

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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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ACIM Workbook Lesson 119 Insights

Review: “Truth will correct all errors in my mind.”
and “To give and to receive are one in truth.”

One sentence that stood out to me in today’s lesson is that it is impossible that the Son of God could be hurt in any way. I tried to imagine what it would feel like to really know this. I experienced fleeting moments of a hint of what this would feel like. It was interesting to observe what came with it. In those moments, body identification faded to almost nothing. I was less limited to a place in space or a point in time. My sense was of being extended far beyond the body. It was very inclusive. I welcomed everyone into my circle of being, for there was no reason to defend or protect. There was no thought of harm. It was very peaceful and joyful. Everyone was my friend. I felt a joining of my heart with all hearts. There was a wonderful exchange of energy, of Love, of unified thought. I felt uplifted, free. I carried no heavy burdens. I felt like what could be best described as floating, weightless.

I seem to only be able to allow this feeling for brief moments and then I would pull back into my usual perspective of being in a body, identified with it. I would move back and forth between this body identification and feeling on the fringes of the experience of total safety. I wasn’t able to allow myself to experience it totally without reservation, to totally let go of all body identification. Yet I let go enough to taste the freedom, to taste the expansiveness, the limitlessness, to taste the joy and peace, to know that this is what I want in truth.

And so I will continue to practice these exercises so that I may move closer to the consistent recognition that harm is impossible, that I am innocent, along with the whole world. I am deeply grateful for these fleeting moments that hint at the reality of my Home in Heaven. My goal is clear and I journey on with a lightened step.

The first part of today’s lesson gives me the benefits of stilling my mind and listening to the truth. As I am willing to open to the truth, the errors in my mind are healed. It is the errors in my mind that are causing all the feelings of limitation and distress I experience. If I really think about it, I do not want to continue holding on to the errors in my mind. They only bring me pain.

I hold on to the errors many times because I think they are true. I think I am right in believing in them. Jesus is helping me to realize that this is a mistake. Very gently he reminds me that I do not know what anything means. He gently encourages me to let go of the meaning I have given to everything. He gently encourages me to step back from the meaning I have given to everything in this world.

As I practice stepping back, the first rays of light are able to shine through. I remember that everything I see through the body’s eyes is part of the dream of separation. As I practice remembering this, it gets easier to be aware of the truth that lies beyond the dream of separate bodies. Everyone is really still the same Light of God. Everyone is really still the same Love of God. No one can be hurt. No one can be harmed. No one is their body. No one is their ego personality. No one is anything but an extension of God’s Love. That is inviolate, changeless, eternal.

The truth shines forth as I quiet my mind and let it enter my awareness. The truth does heal all errors in my mind as I am willing to open up and listen, to open up and receive. As I receive the truth, I give the truth. Ideas leave not their source. The truth is continuous and eternal. It is the reason everyone is safe. It is the reason there is no death; there is no world of separation. I am willing to rest in this remembering today.

When I get my feelings hurt or I’m afraid, I’m like a little kid and run to my Father for comfort, to feel that safety with Him, so He can remind me that I cannot be hurt in any way. Of course, as an ego, I can’t imagine what that’s like, but somehow when I’m in quiet, deep down in my heart I know this is not only possible, but true; I guess that’s why I keep doing it.

I too was struck by the reminder that I could not be hurt in any way. But, I was intent on my interpretation, so I didn’t think to try another way of relating. This is the exact place for me to go during any of the exercises. I too need to be where I feel Daddy’s safety. I forgot that part. It was just recently that I absorbed the meaning of “Rest In God,” or “Rest In Peace” for that matter. This time it was my need, my craving for something elusive, and asking Him for it (what ever “it” is) that gave me the experience and then the understanding of the words. I guess I still forget His gifts.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Review: “God’s peace and joy are mine.”
and “Let me be still and listen to the truth.”

My “feeble voice” tells me that I am weak and unworthy of peace and joy. It is the voice of judgment and guilt. It is quick to respond in every circumstance with messages that tell me to be careful, protect myself, and pointing out that others cannot be trusted, that there is always danger lurking around the next corner, over the hill or in the next minute. It is a voice of fear, for from judgment and guilt comes the expectation of punishment and pain.

This feeble voice can never be happy because it speaks for the part of my mind that believes it is alone, separate and guilty because of having separated from its Creator. In truth it is impossible to be separate from my Source, my Creator. Thus this feeble voice represents a belief in what could never happen. Being based on a false premise, all this voice has to say is a lie. That is why it is important for me to practice this lesson. It will help me stop believing in the messages of the feeble voice.

Each time I affirm that God’s peace and joy are mine, I remind myself of the truth. This helps open my mind so that when I am still, I can remember to disregard the lying, feeble voice and listen instead to the truth. I have had a long habit of listening to this false voice. I need to practice to break the habit. If ever I question the value of this practice, I need simply ask myself, “Do I want peace and joy? Has this voice of judgment and guilt ever brought me peace and joy?” If I answer these questions honestly, it is clear the great value these exercises offer. They offer me a way out of lies and into truth, out of conflict and into peace, out of sadness and into joy.

If I want to experience God’s peace and joy, I need to practice being still and listening to my true Self. This world I live in is not my home. My true Home lies deep in my mind where there is quiet and peace, happiness and joy. Which world do I go for, the outer world of conflict, where there are differences and separation, or to the inner quiet where awareness of God’s Love awaits me?

It is so tempting to become so involved in the outer world that I have no time left to devote to remembering the truth. Developing the habit of stepping back from the constant chatter of the world and giving the time to open my mind to accessing inner wisdom is a very valuable practice indeed. The ego mind never thinks this is so, but my true Self waits patiently for my return.

God’s peace and joy are mine to experience any time I am willing, but it does require stilling my mind and opening to the Voice for truth. This Voice is gentle and kind. This inner Light brings about a change of mind that I need consistently. Because I deviate from the truth again and again, I need to take this time of inner quiet and listen to the truth again. God is Love and nothing else, and therefore I am Love and nothing else. My brother is Love and nothing else. I need to be reminded of this often. My inner journey of return to Love is the most important journey of all.

The only reason this journey takes time is because many times I am slow to accept the truth. The Voice for Love reminds me that Love is eternally true and has not changed. My willingness to be quiet and listen to the truth helps me remember that this is so.

My feeble voice, which is that of the ego, is also constantly standing by like a vulture just waiting for me to weaken and tells me I don’t need to be feeling pain and then sends me on this endless, fruitless search of nothingness outside of myself only to find myself back at square one again. That’s why the “sacrifice” of practicing these lessons faithfully have made all the difference in the world for me; because I’ve learned to be still and look within first.

Actually, it’s been my experience that the more I do these lessons, the more the ego fights for its life; and I guess rightfully so; I gave the ego a lot of power at one time and now it senses I’m beginning to take that power away from it. Now it’s the ego’s turn to be afraid because I have found a new “friend.”

Most Holy Spirit, help me have the willingness today to know that God’s joy and peace are mine. Help me learn to be still and listen to my Heavenly Father’s voice, which is the truth. Amen.

I too have given the ego so much power before and now I am taking it away. Sometimes I am doing really well and feeling wonderful because I am doing my lessons and starting to experience change in my life. Then suddenly it is like I hear a voice warning me that there is still much to worry about, be afraid of, protect against.

It is that ego voice being loud and distracting, trying to get me back, and no wonder. I am the one who taught it that this is the way I want it. It is taking some effort on my part to remember that I’ve changed my mind. If I don’t stay alert to my thoughts, I fall so easily back into the old way of thinking.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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ACIM Workbook Lesson 117 Insights

Review: “God, being Love, is also happiness.”
and “I seek but what belongs to me in truth.”

Accepting God is accepting inner happiness. Accepting God or Love is accepting joy. I don’t often think of it that way. But today’s lesson is telling me that this is the truth. My true Identity is happiness and joy. Everyone’s true Identity is happiness and joy. Let me today connect with the happiness and joy in everyone. Let me today see beyond the false ideas to the happiness and joy that is always there to be found.

Today I choose to accept happiness and find happiness everywhere. If only God is real, only happiness is real, only joy is real. Happiness and joy are inherent in Love. They go together. Today I will practice accepting my inheritance. I will practice accepting happiness and joy. They are inherent in what I am. I will practice accepting my Self today. The frequent repetitions will help me remember the truth today.

Advertisers use words and phrases such as genuine, original, accept no substitutes, it’s the real thing. They appeal to the part of us that is seeking for what is real. It’s time to stop accepting substitutes for Love. Love is what is real and true about us.

The world was made as a substitute for Love when specialness was valued more than the universality of Love given equally to all. The substitutes leave us feeling empty because the substitutes are empty. I cannot have both Love and specialness. Love is oneness and specialness can only exist in separation. To be special I must set myself apart. But to be apart means to be alone. I cannot be happy if I believe I am apart from all that Is.

Today I would let that go and accept my oneness with Love and happiness. Holy Spirit, help me to see the sameness that I share with all my brothers. Help me to see the Love, my one Self, in everyone. Help me to let go of all the false images I have sought to overlay upon my brothers as a substitute for the real thing. Today is a day to practice accepting no substitutes and seeking the real thing: Love and nothing else. I seek but what is mine in truth.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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ACIM Workbook Lesson 116 Insights

Review: “God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.”
and “I share God’s Will for happiness for me.”

There is an aspect in my mind that seems to be on constant alert, looking for ways to sabotage my happiness. I call it the judge. The judge has a template of rules that define how circumstances should be, how events should occur, what people should say and do, and what I should say and do. It measures everything against this template. If anything does not measure up to this template, which is certain to happen, the gavel comes down and the verdict is guilty. Most of the time guilt seems to be assigned to others. The judge says it is acting on my behalf for my best interests. It’s just trying to keep things in control so that I can be happy.

What it doesn’t say is that it has conflicting rules and so it is never possible to achieve perfect happiness based on its rules. There will always be some violation, some cause for guilt. If ever I doubt its rules, it righteously points out that these rules are there for my protection. Without them I am defenseless, according to the judge. I would become a pawn to all the other forces that are out there trying to control me. It is quick to judge and always ignores the real evidence. It seems to operate under the principle, “Don’t confuse me with the facts.”

It believes it knows what’s right and wrong. Yet because its entire set of rules, its entire belief system, is based upon a false belief about what is real, it really knows absolutely nothing. Its judgments are based upon lies, and so it can never judge truly.

It is time to fire the judge and turn to the other Judge in my mind, Who has always been there, ready to remind me of what is true and real. This Judge, the Holy Spirit, always judges truly and Its judgment is always simple. The judgment is: It’s either real or unreal; Love or a call for Love. Only these two choices exist.

As I learn to bring all my perceptions to this Judge, I will learn to recognize that I share Love’s Will for my perfect happiness. Guilt, and all the pain and death associated with it, will disappear. This Judge will always show me what is loving and true. It always declares innocence and always offers Love, even to those who have mistakenly declared themselves guilty. Today I will practice taking every circumstance, every perceived problem to this Judge so that I may learn that God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.

As I learn to share God’s Will, I see only innocence. I see only God’s perfect and pure extension of Himself. God’s Will is eternal. In God’s Will, nothing ever changes. Love stays Love. Happiness and joy remain themselves. God’s peace does not fluctuate or change.

It is so helpful to remember this and allow this truth to heal all my misperceptions that something other than Love has ever happened. Am I willing to rest in the truth of God’s happiness? In truth, we all live in Heaven. In truth, we are Heaven.

Letting go of dreams of separation from God’s happiness is my one function. Accepting God’s Will for happiness for me is the result. Today, again I practice remembering that God’s Will for me is perfect happiness. I practice accepting God’s Will for me. I practice letting the truth return to my awareness. I practice letting go of all ideas stemming from belief in separation. The truth is true and nothing else is true. Only Love is real.

I love that simple illustration of the judge. This is something I will use. I need it, too. I guess my ego is rebelling at all this attempted change. Last night I dreamed several dreams of everything going wrong. I woke up feeling uncertain and doubtful. Today’s lesson helps me reaffirm my desire for perfect happiness and the judge idea will help me to carry it through.

Today I fire the judge. What a wonderful illustration! I have been trying to let this guy go and trying to ignore him and hoping that someone else would come in and tell him to leave, but I have to. What a miracle!

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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ACIM Workbook Lesson 115 Insights

Review: “Salvation is my only function here.” and
“My part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.”

My function here is to let go of all the guilt I have projected onto the world. With separation comes guilt. With guilt comes projection, or seeing the guilt somewhere else and denying that it is in my own mind. As I let go of guilt, I see innocence. As I see innocence in my brother, I am able to see myself as innocent.

God did not make separation. When I try to make separation real by believing in separate bodies, at deeper levels I feel guilty. At deeper levels I know that this is not of God. Releasing these barriers to Love is my salvation. Letting go of seeing a world outside myself is my salvation. The world I see outside me is still in my mind. As I change my mind, what I see changes. As I forgive others, in other words, let go of my projections, I am doing my part in God’s plan for salvation.

Today I am willing to practice stepping back and remembering that anything I perceive as outside myself is a projection. This projection is coming from my own mind. Today I am willing to step back and hand these projections over to the Holy Spirit to receive a new perception, a healed perception. Today I am willing to practice seeing only innocence. Today I am willing to practice seeing as the Holy Spirit sees. Today I am willing to do my part in God’s plan for salvation.

It feels so good when I forgive. It’s amazing that I don’t do it all the time. I feel deep peace, loving, happy and safe when I forgive. I walk with a lighter step. I smile. I laugh and I enjoy every moment when I forgive. It seems that this ought to be motivation enough to be on constant alert for opportunities to forgive. Yet it seems some days it’s just the opposite. I’m vigilant instead for opportunities to judge and criticize, to be dissatisfied in one way or another. It gives me the “satisfaction” of being right, but it certainly does not give me the peace and fulfillment of being happy. The fear of not being right seems to be a greater motivator than the attraction of happiness and peace.

On the surface it seems unbelievable that this could be true. But beneath the surface is the fear that if I’m not right, I do not exist. I need to be right to defend the image of myself that I have made, that I think I am. Having identified with this image, the loss of it would be perceived as death. It is the terror of death that makes being right more appealing than being happy. From this place I would rather defend a false and empty image out of fear of death than accept the calm, peace, serenity and perfect happiness that is mine by God’s Will. It is this false image of myself as alone and separate from God that I must let go of or forgive.

All the seeming circumstances, situations, events and people that seem to need forgiveness merely are stepping stones to the core forgiveness that must be done. They simply symbolize the core belief in the false image of separation. It is this I must forgive and this forgiveness is the salvation of the world. Here is my true and lasting happiness. Here is Love allowed to be Itself, and I accept my Self. The world is saved along with me because I recognize that all the world is part of my one Self. I breathe a sigh of deep relief as I sink into the serenity of God’s loving arms.

Today I will practice being vigilant for every judgment, every unforgiveness, in whatever form it may appear. I will practice turning each one over to the Holy Spirit to receive His reinterpretation, His perception, His Light. And with each one I move a step closer to the ultimate forgiveness in which I fully accept my place in God’s plan for salvation and I see the world as healed and whole. Here I will find joy unspeakable and full of glory.

“But beneath the surface is the fear that if I’m not right, I do not exist.” This just took my breath away. This is so the illusion, or maybe just one of them, that is in my way. It must be in my brother’s way as well.

Dear brother please forgive my unforgiveness. I can’t tell you how often I have recently asked (both silently and out loud) myself, and my brother, “Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?” Never once did I ask guidance from Holy Spirit. Funny thing is, I didn’t ask because I thought I was so right in asking the question.

How often the Course reminds us that it is Spirit Who Knows the place, and attitude, and the questions that would be helpful (rather than scary) to the student He brings to us. Again Spirit has taken The Leap ...

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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ACIM Workbook Lesson 114 Insights

Review: “I am spirit.” and
“I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.”

True happiness is accepting my Identity. True happiness is accepting God’s Will for me. God wills that I not be separate from Him. God is the universal Spirit of Love. That means that I am the universal Spirit of Love.

I am not a body. I may use the body as an instrument, but that is not what I am. I am not contained by the body or limited in any way. I am still as God created me. I am Spirit, the one Spirit of Love, joy and peace. I have forgotten my Identity, but now I am reawakening to It. I open my mind to God’s Will for me. I practice today opening to the truth. I am Spirit.

Every day I see stories of conflict. Some of them seem not to be directly related to me. They appear to occur in other parts of the world or in other people’s lives. Others seem to directly affect me. Yet the Course reminds me that no conflict can occur in reality. What is one cannot conflict with itself. Only seeming differences can conflict.

If I perceive conflict anywhere, in any way, I have a choice of two responses. One is to perceive the conflict as real and seek to in some way prevent or change or protect against that conflict. This is an attempt to substitute one form for another, but it does not deal with the cause, only the symptoms.

The other way to respond is to let Holy Spirit guide my vision, to see beyond the conflict of forms to the unity of Spirit in all things. This is how I remember my true Identity. This is how I accept my part in God’s plan for salvation. This is how I bring peace to the world.

My practice now is to seek in every moment to let Holy Spirit guide my vision. And in moments of temptation, where I perceive conflict of any kind, to respond by reminding myself that I am Spirit and I choose to accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.

I choose to open my mind and heart to the guidance of Holy Spirit to see with His vision, to Love with His Love. This is how I accept the happiness that God gave me in my creation and which He gave to all His creations. I am not a body and I am not limited by a body. I can learn to see beyond body forms. I can accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.

The fact that my Heavenly Father’s Will is that I not be separate from Him gives me a sense of security and peace that there are no words for. This thought is much easier to accept when I realize I am not a body. When I practice letting go of belief in my body, just for moments at a time, I do believe it is possible to connect with God. Even though I’m not sure at this point where my mind goes when I take the time to get away from the insanity of this world, wherever it is, I get the willingness to be open to my part in God’s plan for salvation, whatever that is.

Most Holy Spirit, help me this day to have the willingness to stay focused on the fact that I am Spirit and, being Spirit, to accept my part in God’s plan for salvation. Amen.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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ACIM Workbook Lesson 113 Insights

Review: “I am one Self, united with my Creator.”
and “Salvation comes from my one Self.”

It is comforting to know that my unity with God and all creation has not been disrupted in any way. I remain one Self. Peace and serenity are automatic conditions when there is no “other” with which to conflict. Where there is perfect unity, there can be no conflict. That is my natural and true state. All I need do to experience this is let go of all the false images made up by the ego to make separation appear real.

The task is simple but it does not seem easy. The difficulty comes because there are still aspects in my mind that believe some of these images offer me something I want. In basic terms, there is a preference for specialness over the unity of God’s Love. Again and again throughout the Course Jesus shows me that all these images really offer me nothing. It is a gradual process of learning to recognize the valuelessness of every image of everything in this world.

I definitely can see that my life is more peaceful than it was before I began studying the Course. Every year has brought me to more consistent levels of deeper peace. Yet I still experience frustration, impatience, irritation and disappointment, which shows me that I am still valuing things of this world more than my unity with Love, my one Self. The fact that I do experience more consistent peace shows me that the practice is working. It’s worth continuing the practice.

Each time I remind myself that I am one Self united with my Creator and that salvation comes from my one Self, my identification with a separate self image loosens. My attention shifts more and more strongly to the one Self that I am in truth. I am grateful for these lessons that provide a structure to help me shift my identification from the false to the true, from the conflicted to the peaceful.

The truth of our Oneness is real, and nothing else is real. Making up stories that are not real does not make them real. Trying to make separation real is the core of what I need to let be undone. Jesus tells us many times in the Course not to make the error real. The error of separation is really nothing, and yet I find myself making separation real over and over again.

This lesson, if I practice it consistently, will help me undo the persistent habit of making separation real. It helps me loosen my grip on a false identity. We all are really one Self, united with our Creator. We are One. We are in God and of God. Returning to this awareness, this reality, is our salvation.

Today’s lesson helps me change my mind. This lesson helps me let go of that persistent habit of believing in the error of separation. Jesus very wisely knows what I need to undo this persistent habit of making the error of separation real. So today I practice reversing my thinking. I practice remembering there is only one Self and that salvation comes from my one Self. How willing am I to awaken to this truth? Today I practice one hour at a time, returning to what has never changed. Today I practice remembering that only Love is real and nothing else is real.

This morning my attention shifted more and more strongly to the one Self that I am in truth.

The first part brought the awareness of Self’s supreme confidence. I have experienced bravado, and strutting, and good hair days, and all the promises of being confident. They never satisfied, never caused me to be comfortable in my own skin. Supreme confidence is Truth, and natural. That fleeting quiet confidence is both a personal reason to want to reach Self and the knowledge that I can.

Thinking of God’s perfect plan for my salvation being seen as perfectly fulfilled made perfect sense out of a business motivational concept meaningful to me (at last). The concept is that one must set goals and have a clear, concise, mental picture (CCMP) in order to be successful. The picture that flashed was now is Eternity, my life in the forgiven Sonship. So now I know my reachable goal. I can finally “see” it. When you take the exercises as seriously as you know how, some really neat stuff starts to happen.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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ACIM Workbook Lesson 112 Insights

Review: “Light and joy and peace abide in me.”
and “I am as God created me.”

This lesson is talking about my Identity. It is talking about everyone’s Identity. Everyone is the home of Light and joy and peace. Jesus is encouraging me to remember this. He is giving me a structured practice to help me remember the truth. Do I want to remember the truth of my Identity? If so, I will do the practice.

I want to return to my true Identity. Jesus is pointing out the way here in today’s lesson. I have practiced the opposite often enough. The time is now to practice returning to the truth. It all happens in my mind. I need to give this practice the devotion it deserves, the time it deserves. This is the most important use of time, no matter what the ego thought system may point out to me that needs to be done with my time.

We are all part of God. This can never change. Whether we choose to remember this is up to us. Today I have been given a structured practice to remember What I am in truth. I open my mind today and follow the lead of my true Self. There is nothing more important than this.

Light and joy and peace are already mine. I do not need to do anything to qualify for them, to deserve them. They are part of me as I was created by the Source of light and joy and peace. I remain one with that Source. Darkness, sadness and conflict cannot coexist with light and joy and peace, being complete opposites.

If I remain one with the Source of light and joy and peace, darkness, sadness and conflict cannot be part of me. If I believe I experience darkness, sadness or conflict, I must be believing in illusion. Since it is my belief that brings me this experience, I can change my experience by changing my belief.

These lessons provide a means for me to practice giving my attention to a new belief, a belief that leads me to the experience of myself as God created me. Today, if I experience tension, which is a sign of conflict in my mind, I will use today’s lesson to redirect my mind by reminding myself that joy and Light and peace abide in me. This practice throughout the day, as many times as I can remember to practice, strengthens my mind in a new belief. It redirects my attention to accepting my true Identity as God created me.

My home is not my body; my home is with God, because I am a part of Him, as are my brothers. And being of God, only Light and joy and peace could possibly abide there. This makes sense of the God I knew of deep down in my heart; the one I knew could never abandon me or cause all the insanity I sometimes see.

Jesus wants us to practice this thought over and over again until we can begin to see the truth in this thought. I will remain forever they way God created me, in the image of Himself, changeless like Himself.

Holy Spirit, help me this day have the willingness to stay focused on these thoughts; the thoughts my Heavenly Father has sent me to remind me of who I am. Amen.

For all this time, until this morning, the only wrinkle I saw in ACIM was the seeming focus on life’s challenges. You know, “Do the exercises at these intervals, and especially any time a problem arises.” I formed a fuzzy notion of being “Salvation” ready or “problem” ready by exercising according to the instructions.

For one thing, my performance of the exercises had been rather hit and miss. I was rarely particularly pro-active. Now that my commitment has been activated, I am very ready to hear Holy Spirit’s notions. As it turns out, every now moment that is not guided by the awareness of Self as defined by Holy Spirit holds a problem. Just because I am not conscious of the problem hasn’t meant that there is no problem. And the problem is always that I am not allowing myself receive all that is mine. Just as the absence of war is not peace, well the absence challenges is not happiness, which is my inheritance.

“Go with God” is not just a wish for you to be safe, as I once believed. It’s an invitation to Joy. Go, spend YOUR day with Him. Or, if you have the time or inclination to read a description of the defining moment, read on.

I was having a morning that is typical for me. Running late, and making mistakes, and involving other people. Today, it was getting the mechanic to fit me into his schedule because I was late with obeying the state inspection standards. And then he informs me that it is my registration that is overdue. My inspection isn’t due until the end of June. “Details, details! Like I had the time to get to DMV today. After all I was already late getting to the mechanic, for goodness sake.” Very, very frustrating, especially when it’s a way of life as it is with me.

The little dark cloud didn’t form. Instead I remained Light. With a flick of a few light hearted comments, and a big “thank you” to the mechanic and his helper, I went on to finish having a day. Not until I got into the car did I realize that I acted as God created me. At no time, during the event, did I consciously invoke today’s exercise. I had been proactive in my performance of the every 1Ú2 hour repetitions and thoughtfulness. But, that is it.

Still does not sound much like a defining moment, does it? I hope I can explain, because it’s big. Very big. There were no words or pictures to describe, only a moment of coming to understand. A moment of awareness. Yes, this event was a moment of challenge. I had been making my self ready for it, or so it seems.

The but? Number one, I would not have ever considered this event one of the challenges because I never would have been testy to or blamed my brother, the mechanic. I would have felt sorry or angry with my self and/or fate again, hence the cloud. It is also not odd for me to become somewhat humorous to make the moment more bearable. This does sometimes dispel the cloud, but has never given me happiness.

And number two, only the exercises repeating in my head stopped me in my tracks. Only those words reminded me that a Creation of God had no place being angry with Self. It was from this place that Holy Spirit had only to take a little leap to show me that all the moments I spend without God are problem moments. I had willed my Self to meet Him with an open heart wanting to be filled. The defining moment is in that leap. My gratitude to the Trinity, of which we are all a part.

I had a defining moment, too. I was interacting with someone and found myself judging that person. Quickly I thought about that person as abiding in Light and realized that my judgment was of his “story,” not of who he really was.

I saw so clearly that person was Light that cannot be changed or even dimmed by whatever story he chooses for himself today. Everyone is as God created them — Hitler, Bin-Laden, everyone! Saddam Hussein’s Light is as pure and bright as mine and ours is just as bright as Jesus’ Light, because nothing can change that.

I know that this is what we have been saying all along, but suddenly it wasn’t just an idea, but I really understood what that means. I asked for help to stay focused on the Light and not on the story. I had good interactions with everyone today and feel so happy and even though it has been a very long day and I haven’t even had time to stop and eat, I’m not even tired. This is how I am meant to live every day, in Light and peace and joy, just as God created me.

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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 111 Insights

ACIM Workbook Lesson 111 Insights

Review: “Miracles are seen in light.” and
“Miracles are seen in light and light and strength are one.”

This lesson reminds me to give time to God, to give time to the strength in my mind. This lesson reminds me to open to the truth. It encourages me to maintain this practice of opening to miracles throughout the day. It is only by opening to the Light and strength in me that the truth comes into my mind.

This Inner Wisdom is always there, waiting eagerly to be accepted into my mind. This practice of opening to the truth all through the day is the way that my false ideas are undone. It is the way that I learn to identify with the strength in me. Light and strength are one. The strength of God is always there in my mind, waiting for acceptance.Today’s practice is very important practice. Accepting the Light of God that we all are is very important practice. In today’s review lesson, Jesus defines the practice very clearly. My willingness to follow through is what will bring me the gifts of receiving miracles all through the day. O Happy Day!

The Course uses Light as an attribute of God, like peace and joy and happiness. Since God created me as an extension of Himself, and I remain as God created me, I share His Light. And remembering that peace and joy and happiness are companions of God’s Light, if I am experiencing anything but peace and happiness, I must have cut myself off from the Light and believe I am in darkness. Thus the world of separation is a world of darkness, a place of believing that I am separate from God’s Light, and therefore my own.

This is why it is important for me to welcome God’s Light, to invite It into my mind. His Light will dispel all the images that I have made to fill darkness. I see miracles when I invite the Light of truth into my mind. I see miracles when I am willing to accept my true Self as What I am.

If I see a situation as disturbing, if I perceive someone’s words or actions as an attack, I have forgotten the Light. I am seeing made up images in darkness. Because I made these images up, they seem very real to me. I need the Light and strength of God to recognize that these images are not real. It is helpful to be reminded that strength is one with Light. When I welcome God’s Light, I welcome His strength.In darkness I will feel weak because darkness is the effect of believing I am separate from strength, from God. But I can reverse the situation instantly simply by being willing to accept the light and strength that are already in me as I was created by God.

Today I will be consistently mindful of what condition I am allowing in my mind. I will use any disturbance of my peace as a reminder to welcome Light and strength into my mind. This is how I give myself the gift of seeing miracles all through the day.

When I see with God’s Light, I see only innocence and wholeness and purity. Everything else is recognized as illusion. This is forgiveness. This is my salvation and the salvation of the world. Today I will practice accepting salvation.

I used to think the word “light” was a shade of white, or a group of angels coming out of the clouds opening up in the sky, or the room lighting up around me with glorious music. As a result, I would get frustrated with myself and the Course, thinking I wasn’t doing something right, thinking all my efforts weren’t working because I never saw or experienced any of those things.

Today I realize that Light means recognition — recognition of who I am, recognition of the strength in me to remember my Identity and that of my brothers. Today I might recognize that I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t understand where I’ve been, but the miracle is that I’m willing to learn, to be taught by my Divine Guidance.

The recognition of this thought gives me the strength I need to carry me until I recognize another miracle, which then doubles in strength, and on and on. This is the way I’ve been able to commit to the Course, no matter how difficult it sometimes gets — one day at a time, one lesson at a time, one miracle at a time.

© 2003, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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