Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Reclaiming the Power of Our Mind

The acceptance [that] sickness [is] a decision of the mind, for a purpose for which it would use the body, is the basis of healing. And this is so for healing in all forms. A patient decides that [sickness is a decision of the mind] is so, and he recovers. If he decides against recovery, he will not be healed. Who is the physician? Only the mind of the patient himself. The outcome is what he decides that it is. Special agents seem to be ministering to him, yet they but give form to his own choice. He chooses them in order to bring tangible form to his desires. And it is this they do, and nothing else. They are not actually needed at all. The patient could merely rise up without their aid and say, “I have no use for this.” There is no form of sickness that would not be cured at once.

What is the single requisite for this shift in perception? It is simply this; the recognition that sickness is of the mind, and has nothing to do with the body. What does this recognition “cost”? It costs the whole world you see, for the world will never again appear to rule the mind. For with this recognition is responsibility placed where it belongs; not with the world, but on him who looks on the world and sees it as it is not. He looks on what he chooses to see. No more and no less. The world does nothing to him. He only thought it did. Nor does he do anything to the world, because he was mistaken about what it is. Herein is the release from guilt and sickness both, for they are one. Yet to accept this release, the insignificance of the body must be an acceptable idea. (A Course in Miracles, M-5.II.2-3)

Elsewhere in the Course we are told that the ego tries to discredit the power of the mind. It attempts to make the body the central figure in its world. The ego assigns attributes of the mind to the body to make the body seem to be capable of making decisions on its own and subject to external forces.

A Course in Miracles is teaching us to reclaim the power of our mind which is an extension of the Mind of God. Our true Self is united with the Mind of God and shares all Its power, Its strength, peace and Love.

As we practice opening to the Holy Spirit’s lessons, we learn to recognize the insignificance of the body. Because the body is an illusion made by the ego, it has no value of its own. Its only seeming value comes from our belief in it.

As we withdraw from believing the body is our identity, the shadows the body seems to cast on our existence fade. The Light of the Love we are shines the shadows away. When we have wholly accepted our true Self as Mind at one with God, we are free of the limitations of the body image. We remember that we are eternally at Home in the Heaven of God’s Love.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting the One Solution to Every Problem

We will not assume that we already know [what the problem is].

[You] will be successful to the extent to which you do not insist on defining the problem. Perhaps you will not succeed in letting all your preconceived notions go, but that is not necessary. All that is necessary is to entertain some doubt about the reality of your version of what your problems are. You are trying to recognize that you have been given the answer by recognizing the problem [separation], so that the [real] problem and the answer can be brought together and you can be at peace.

Be not deceived by the form of problems today. Whenever any difficulty seems to rise, tell yourself quickly:

Let me recognize this problem [thought of separate] so it can be solved.

Then try to suspend all judgment about what the problem is. If possible, close your eyes for a moment and ask what it is. You will be heard and you will be answered. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 79, W-pI.79.7:2;8;10. See also ACIM Lesson 79 Insights.)

The dream world we experience is the manifestation of the ego’s grievance against God. The ego wants God to give special status, which God cannot give and be true to the oneness He is. Dissatisfied with God’s response, the ego dreams of a world of specialness with myriad different forms to make specialness seem real. When we identify a brother as a body, we are believing the ego’s dream is real and joining with the ego’s grievance against God.

To see our brother truly, we must overlook the ego’s false images of bodies and other forms. These false images represent the problem. Illusions have no meaning of their own except for the meaning we assign to them. This recognition is the first step to recognizing that the real problem is nothing more than a false idea.

Now our mind is open to receive another way of seeing. With this little willingness, the Holy Spirit will help us overlook the false images to see the Light of Love that lies behind every form. This Light is the solution to every perceived problem. In this Light the forms fade in importance and we learn that all that is real is Love. We join with the Love in every brother and learn that we are Love, united in the Love of God.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Valuing Love Above All Else

This is salvation’s keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one’s own. From insane wishes comes an insane world. From judgment comes a world condemned. And from forgiving thoughts a gentle world comes forth, with mercy for the holy Son of God, to offer him a kindly home where he can rest a while before he journeys on, and help his brothers walk ahead with him, and find the way to Heaven and to God.

Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart from Yours but make up dreams. Let me behold what only Yours reflect, for Yours and Yours alone establish truth. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 325, W-pII.325. See also ACIM Lesson 325 Insights.)

Forgiving thoughts come from the Mind of Love. They extend only Love, for nothing else is real. Forgiving thoughts include all the attributes of God’s Love — His joy, peace, harmlessness, gentleness and kindness.

If we value the ego’s images of separation, we deny God’s Love. Love is one and cannot be known by a mind that believes separation is real. The world of images we perceive comes from the ego mind that wants separation to be real. Judgment is an ego mechanism to divide and make separation appear to be real.

To function in the ego’s world we judge all things and label them. As long as we value these labels for the images we perceive, we are blind to the oneness of God’s Love. To experience salvation from the loveless ego world, we need to value the Thoughts of Love we share with God. Love is our Home. Love is where we are free to extend Love without limit. It is this limitless joining in Love that brings us joy.

Today we choose Love as our Guide. We offer all our perceptions to the Voice of Love and ask to see all things as Love sees them. We choose to value Love above all else.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Choice to Be Happy

…pain is purposeless, without a cause and with no power to accomplish anything. It cannot purchase anything at all. It offers nothing, and does not exist. And everything you think it offers you is lacking in existence, like itself. You have been slave to nothing. Be you free today to join the happy Will of God.

[The happy Will of God] is your home, and here your safety is. Here is your peace, and here there is no fear. Here is salvation. Here is rest at last.

Begin… with this acceptance of God’s Will for you:

I share God’s Will for happiness for me, and I accept it as my function now.

Then seek this function deep within your mind, for it is there, awaiting but your choice.

…pause frequently today, to tell yourself that you have now accepted happiness as your one function. And be sure that you are joining with God’s Will in doing this. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 102, W-pI.102.2;3:2-4:3;5:3-4. See also ACIM Lesson 102 Insights.)

Happiness is an attribute of Love. God’s Will is that we have all of His Love; we are included in It and nothing exists outside of His Love.

Pain and the body do not exist. They are constructs of the belief in separation which seems to be possible only in dreams of illusion. The choice for separation is an attempt to limit Love. Because Love cannot be limited, separation is a denial of Love and therefore makes happiness impossible.

Today we take steps to loosen our mind from its dedication to the lie of separation. We choose to reclaim the fact that God’s Will for us is to share His joy. God’s Will for us is to be the Love He is. Our function is to extend the Love we were given and we are, without limit. That is what Love does; It knows no limit. The choice to be happy is the choice to be Love. This is our function and our joy.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Journey to God’s Peace

The Christ in [every brother] is perfect. Is it this that you would look upon? Then let there be no dreams about him that you would prefer to seeing this. And you will see the Christ in him because you let Him come to you. And when He has appeared to you, you will be certain you are like Him, for He is the changeless in your brother and in you.

This will you look upon when you decide there is not one appearance you would hold in place of what your brother really is. Let no temptation to prefer a dream allow uncertainty to enter here. Be not made guilty and afraid when you are tempted by a dream of what he is. But do not give it power to replace the changeless in him in your sight of him. There is no false appearance but will fade, if you request a miracle instead. There is no pain from which he is not free, if you would have him be but what he is. Why should you fear to see the Christ in him? You but behold yourself in what you see. As he is healed are you made free of guilt, for his appearance is your own to you. (A Course in Miracles, T-30.VIII.5:5-6:9. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

All the pain, fear, anger and guilt we experience comes from just one mistake: Believing that the appearances we see in the world are real. As we let go of this mistaken belief, the innocence and joy of the Love that is true about every brother, including our Self, shines upon us with the Light of Truth. Fear is gone because it cannot coexist with Love. There is no guilt, for their is no harm in Love.

If we want to know the joy and peace of our true Self, united with all our brothers, we must relinquish our opinions and interpretations of everything we perceive in the world. We choose instead to let the Holy Spirit be our Interpreter of all appearances. He will help us see the Christ in every brother. This is the journey that will lead us to our Home in the peace of God’s Love.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Celebrating Our Unity in God

Anger is never justified. Attack has no foundation. It is here escape from fear begins, and will be made complete. Here is the real world given in exchange for dreams of terror. For it is on this forgiveness rests, and is but natural. You are not asked to offer pardon where attack is due, and would be justified. For that would mean that you forgive a sin by overlooking what is really there. This is not pardon. For it would assume that, by responding in a way which is not justified, your pardon will become the answer to attack that has been made. And thus is pardon inappropriate, by being granted where it is not due.

Pardon is always justified. It has a sure foundation. You do not forgive the unforgivable, nor overlook a real attack that calls for punishment. Salvation does not lie in being asked to make unnatural responses which are inappropriate to what is real. Instead, it merely asks that you respond appropriately to what is not real by not perceiving what has not occurred. If pardon were unjustified, you would be asked to sacrifice your rights when you return forgiveness for attack. But you are merely asked to see forgiveness as the natural reaction to distress that rests on error, and thus calls for help. Forgiveness is the only sane response. It keeps your rights from being sacrificed.

This understanding is the only change that lets the real world rise to take the place of dreams of terror. (A Course in Miracles, T-30.VI.1:1-3:1. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

The seeming existence of the ego depends on judgment and the maintenance of guilt. The ego is incapable of true forgiveness because that would mean the end of the ego. All the ego’s judgments are based upon perception of illusions that are not real and never had any real effect. The experiences we have of fear and guilt, pain and suffering, are based solely on our belief that illusions are real.

The foundation of true forgiveness is the recognition that what is unreal can have no real effect, and therefore never happened. This recognition requires the help of the Holy Spirit, Who does not believe the ego’s lies. The Holy Spirit’s vision, Christ’s vision, shows us that behind the ego’s false façades is the changeless Love of God. Nothing else exists.

As we learn this lesson, we recognize more clearly that, in truth, there is nothing to forgive. Only the perfect safety and joy of Love’s eternal extension is real. This is our natural habitat where we join with every brother in celebration of our unity in God

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Guide to Perfect Safety

Let us today attend the Voice for God, which speaks an ancient lesson, no more true today than any other day. Yet has this day been chosen as the time when we will seek and hear and learn and understand. Join me in hearing. For the Voice for God tells us of things we cannot understand alone, nor learn apart. It is in this that all things are protected. And in this the healing of the Voice for God is found.

Your healing Voice protects all things today, and so I leave all things to You. I need be anxious over nothing. For Your Voice will tell me what to do and where to go; to whom to speak and what to say to him, what thoughts to think, what words to give the world. The safety that I bring is given me. Father, Your Voice protects all things through me. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 275, W-pII.275. See also ACIM Lesson 275 Insights.)

The core of the lessons Holy Spirit teaches is that we are not alone and can never be alone. This is why we must join with Jesus or any brother to hear the Holy Spirit’s teaching. We do not need to be sure that only the oneness of Love is real, but we must be willing to offer our mistaken beliefs in separation to the Holy Spirit for His correction.

When we are willing to receive Holy Spirit’s guidance, we are able to see as the Holy Spirit sees, speak with the authority of Holy Spirit and gain deeper understanding that we are one with every brother in God’s Love. It is the changelessness of God’s Love that protects us from all the ego’s fantasies of specialness, separation, guilt and fear.

We dedicate today to paying attention to the Holy Spirit in our mind. We choose Him as our Guide today.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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