Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Finding the Answer That Heals

Only within the holy instant can an honest question honestly be asked. And from the meaning of the question does the meaningfulness of the answer come. Here is it possible to separate your wishes from the answer, so it can be given you and also be received. The answer is provided everywhere. Yet it is only here it can be heard. An honest answer asks no sacrifice because it answers questions truly asked. The questions of the world but ask of whom is sacrifice demanded, asking not if sacrifice is meaningful at all. And so, unless the answer tells “of whom,” it will remain unrecognized, unheard, and thus the question is preserved intact because it gave the answer to itself. The holy instant is the interval in which the mind is still enough to hear an answer that is not entailed within the question asked. It offers something new and different from the question. How could it be answered if it but repeats itself?

Therefore, attempt to solve no problems in a world from which the answer has been barred. But bring the problem to the only place that holds the answer lovingly for you. Here are the answers that will solve your problems because they stand apart from them, and see what can be answered; what the question is. Within the world the answers merely raise another question, though they leave the first unanswered. In the holy instant, you can bring the question to the answer, and receive the answer that was made for you. (A Course in Miracles, T-27.IV.6-7. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

The holy instant could be called an instant out of time, free of the past and future. The baggage of past memories clouds our awareness of the eternal now, which is all that is real. The world we experience is the domain of time where the past is valued for its “lessons” to use as the basis of our judgments. It is these judgments which color our questions with memories of the past. These questions are not honest because they are based on the lie that the past is real.

In the purity of the holy instant our minds are not closed by our judgments. We are open to a way of seeing that cannot be found in the world. Now we are free to seek an answer to the real problem which is a mistaken perception of separation. In the holy instant only oneness exists. In the peace of oneness we can receive an answer that heals the division we believed was real.

We open to the holy instant through connecting with the peace within, our true Self. Here is the Answer. Here is the Truth, for peace and understanding go together and never can be found alone.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting the Infinite Love Within

Is it a sacrifice to leave littleness [ego] behind, and wander not in vain? It is not sacrifice to wake to glory. But it is sacrifice to accept anything less than glory. Learn that you must be worthy of the Prince of Peace [God’s Son], born in you in honor of Him Whose host you are. You know not what love means because you have sought to purchase it with little gifts, thus valuing it too little to understand its magnitude. Love is not little and love dwells in you, for you are host to Him. Before the greatness [God’s Son] that lives in you, your poor appreciation of yourself and all the little offerings you give slip into nothingness.

Holy child of God, when will you learn that only holiness [Love’s oneness] can content you and give you peace? Remember that you learn not for yourself alone, no more than I did. It is because I learned for you that you can learn of me. I would but teach you what is yours, so that together we can replace the shabby littleness that binds the host of God to guilt and weakness with the glad awareness of the glory that is in him. My birth in you is your awakening to grandeur. Welcome me not into a manger, but into the altar to holiness, where holiness abides in perfect peace. My Kingdom is not of this world because it is in you [your true Self]. And you are of your Father. Let us join in honoring you, who must remain forever beyond littleness. (A Course in Miracles, T-15.III.8-9. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

The ego is littleness because it is an attempt to separate off a piece of infinite Love to keep for itself alone. It is the preference for specialness over unlimited Love. This can only seem to be real by denying our unbreakable unity with God’s Love. This limited image is incapable of experiencing the grandeur of God’s infinite, unlimited Love.

The celebration of Christmas represents the acceptance of Christ, God’s Son, which is in us now. From that point of acceptance, Christ’s vision shows us our unity with the true Self of every brother. The perception of littleness, individuality, fades. We join in the joyous recognition of the infinite Love we share and extend without limit.

As we move into the season of celebration, let us accept Christ’s vision, which shows us the Prince of Peace born in us all, untouched by our belief in littleness. We exchange a false image of our self for the recognition of our true Self, host to the infinite, changeless Love of God, and share this Love with all.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting God’s Attributes as Ours

Today we continue with the one idea which brings complete salvation; the one statement which makes all forms of temptation powerless; the one thought which renders the ego silent and entirely undone. You are as God created you.

Begin …with these words:

I am as God created me.
I am His Son eternally.

Now try to reach the Son of God in you. This is the Self that never sinned, nor made an image to replace reality. This is the Self that never left Its home in God to walk the world uncertainly. This is the Self that knows no fear, nor could conceive of loss or suffering or death.

Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all idols and self-images aside; go past the list of attributes, both good and bad, you have ascribed to yourself; and wait in silent expectancy for the truth. God has Himself promised that it will be revealed to all who ask for it. You are asking now. You cannot fail because He cannot fail. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 94, W-pI.94.1:1-2;3🔢4-4:4. See also ACIM Lesson 94 Insights.)

The ego is simply a temptation to perceive separation as real. Identifying with a body is an ego temptation. It is driven by the wish for specialness, to have something we can call ours alone. This wish blocks our awareness that we already have all of God’s Love, joy and peace.

We were created by God with these attributes. As we accept the Self that God created one with Him, we accept His attributes as ours. The limited attributes the ego assigns to an idol of a separate identity are an illusion with no meaning in truth. God has promised that His Will will never change.

Today we practice laying aside the temptation to seek temporary satisfaction in images of separation and accept the perfect happiness, peace and changeless Love of God as What we are.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Choosing Heaven Instead of Hell

It is impossible to see two worlds which have no overlap of any kind. Seek for the one; the other disappears. But one remains. They are the range of choice beyond which your decision cannot go. The real and the unreal are all there are to choose between, and nothing more than these.

Today we will attempt no compromise where none is possible. The world you see is proof you have already made a choice as all-embracing as its opposite. What we would learn today is more than just the lesson that you cannot see two worlds. It also teaches that the one you see is quite consistent from the point of view from which you see it. It is all a piece because it stems from one emotion, and reflects its source in everything you see.”

You wait for God to help you, as you say:

It is impossible to see two worlds. Let me accept the strength God offers me and see no value in this world, that I may find my freedom and deliverance.

God will be there. For you have called upon the great unfailing power which will take this giant step with you in gratitude. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 130, W-pI.130.4-5;8:4-9:2. See also ACIM Lesson 130 Insights.)

We are not asked that we see a world of separation with differences, conflict, loss, fear and guilt. We see this because we believe our identity and existence depends upon bodies and images of separation being real. So it seems that if we give this up, we will seem to cease to exist. Our seeming existence depends upon the belief that this world is real.

But we are told there is another way of seeing from another point of view. This other point of view is from the oneness of Love, where only Love is real. In this oneness, there is no conflict nor condemnation. We are directed to ask God for His strength to see no value in the world presented by separation. With His help we shift from valuing an individual identity to valuing the freedom to be the unlimited Love that is given us with all its joy and peace.

We learn that this reality is available to us now. We truly want God’s Love, peace and joy. In this, our eternal existence is guaranteed, for God’s Love is changeless. With God’s strength in us, we value the truth of Love as our being. A separate image in a world of differences and conflict loses its value. We no longer want it. We let that world go, not by demand but simply setting aside what we no longer value. This is the choice to leave hell and return to Heaven.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Love Dispels Fear

I will not fear to look within today.

Within me is eternal innocence, because it is God’s Will that it be there forever and forever. I, His Son, whose will is limitless as is His Own, can will no change in this. For to deny my Father’s Will is to deny my own. To look within is but to find my will as God created it, and as it is. I fear to look within because I think I made another will that is not true, and made it real. Yet it has no effects. Within me is the Holiness of God. Within me is the memory of Him.

The step I take today, my Father, is my sure release from idle dreams of sin. Your altar stands serene and undefiled. It is the holy altar to my Self, and there I find my true Identity. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 309, W-pII.309. See also ACIM Lesson 309 Insights.)

Our true Identity is God’s only begotten Son. This Identity cannot be changed because It remains one with God, united with His Will.

Our identity as a separate individual is an attempt to establish a separate will in opposition to the oneness of God’s Will. This separate identity could never be real, though our wish for separation makes it seem real. By God’s grace we cannot make a lie true. We cannot make separation real. By identifying with the ego belief in separation, we make God’s Will a threat to be feared. This is because the ego knows that God’s Will would dispel the ego’s pseudo will.

Acceptance of God’s Will as ours would be the end of the ego. The ego’s interpretation of this is that God’s Will demands sacrifice and so it is afraid. The idea of sacrifice, however, is the foundation of the ego thought system. It projects this perception on God.

In truth, the ego “sacrifices” the eternal Love of God in order to establish an illusion of a separate, private identity with a domain it calls its own. This little domain leaves us feeling loveless. To accept God’s Will, then, is to “sacrifice” lovelessness and accept the Love we are. To look within without fear is to recognize that we are eternal Love and nothing else.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Choice Between Fear and Love

Perception is consistent. What you see reflects your thinking. And your thinking but reflects your choice of what you want to see. Your values are determiners of this, for what you value you must want to see, believing what you see is really there. No one can see a world his mind has not accorded value. And no one can fail to look upon what he believes he wants.

What, then, can fear project upon the world? What can be seen in darkness that is real? Truth is eclipsed by fear, and what remains is but imagined.

Fear has made everything you think you see. All separation, all distinctions, and the multitude of differences you believe make up the world. They are not there. Love’s enemy [ego] has made them up. Yet love can have no enemy, and so they have no cause, no being and no consequence. [Differences] can be valued, but remain unreal. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 130, W-pI.130.1;3:1-3;4:16. See also ACIM Lesson 130 Insights.)

Perception is always selective. We see what we want to see. Perception filters out what is not in accord with what we value. Thus the world we see is a projection of what we value, what supports our belief that we are separate, unique and special with an individual, different identity. The projected world we perceive makes our choice for separation appear real, yet this perception is a mask that covers the truth of our Reality in the oneness of Love.

It is impossible to see separation and oneness at the same time. We choose between these two perceptions in every moment. The one we choose excludes the other. While we choose to believe in a world of separation, we are unaware of Love’s unity.

The reality of Love is unaffected by our choice to believe in a dream of separation. But this mistaken choice can be undone. We can choose against the dream of hate and fear. We can choose to accept Love’s Reality. As we choose to put Holy Spirit in charge of our interpretation of our perceptions, we learn to let go of the dream and welcome Love’s Presence.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The One Lesson We Must Learn

Learn now, without despair, there is no hope of answer in the world. But do not judge the lesson that is but begun with this.… For from this lowest point will learning lead to heights of happiness, in which you see the purpose of the lesson shining clear, and perfectly within your learning grasp.

Who would be willing to be turned away from all the roadways of the world, unless he understood their real futility?

The learning that the world can offer but one choice [illusion], no matter what its form may be, is the beginning of acceptance that there is a real alternative instead.

There is a choice that you have power to make when you have seen the real alternatives. …the power of decision cannot lie in choosing different forms of what is still the same illusion and the same mistake.

Forgive yourself your madness, and forget all senseless journeys and all goal-less aims. They have no meaning. You can not escape from what you [truly] are. For God is merciful, and did not let His Son abandon Him. For what He is be thankful, for in that is your escape from madness and from death. Nowhere but where He is can you be found. There is no path that does not lead to Him. (A Course in Miracles, T-31.IV.4:3,8;5:1;6:1;8:1,3;11. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

We all must reach the point at which we recognize that lasting peace and happiness cannot be found in any form the world offers. The world we experience as a body is illusion. They can never satisfy because they cannot provide the one thing that we all seek for in our hearts. We seek to know the eternal Reality of Love. This is where lasting peace and happiness are found and known.

The recognition that there is no hope to find satisfaction for our heart’s desire in the world is a turning point that offers the opportunity to let go of seeking where Love cannot be found. Our mind opens to the Holy Spirit’s lessons which lead us beyond the world to clearly know that we are Love, we are loved and we are loving.

This is the one lesson that gives meaning to our journey in the world. This learning is what time is for. It is the escape from fear and guilt and the return to the peace of God. It is a journey from despair to hope, and on to certainty that we are the Love we have sought. We are eternally at Home in God’s Love.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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