Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Choosing to Accept the Love We Are

What keeps the world in chains but your beliefs? And what can save the world except your Self? Belief is powerful indeed. The thoughts you hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is the truth.

Yet is salvation easily achieved, for anyone is free to change his mind, and all his thoughts change with it. Now the source of thought has shifted, for to change your mind means you have changed the source of all ideas you think or ever thought or yet will think. You free the past from what you thought before. You free the future from all ancient thoughts of seeking what you do not want to find.

The present now remains the only time. Here in the present is the world set free. For as you let the past be lifted and release the future from your ancient fears, you find escape and give it to the world.

There is no world apart from what you wish, and herein lies your ultimate release. Change but your mind on what you want to see, and all the world must change accordingly. Ideas leave not their source. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 132, W-pI.132.1:1-4;2:1-3:3;5:1-3. See also ACIM Lesson 132 Insights.)

The ego is the wish for specialness. This could only seem to be true if there were differences. In the oneness of Love, all is the same unified, changeless Love of God. It is all that is real because only Love is real. The differences we perceive could only seem to exist in illusions. To change our mind is to change our allegiance from the split off part of the mind that believes in illusions to the Mind of our True Self, our right Mind. It is a simple choice that is made difficult by the myriad forms the ego offers to tempt us to believe separation is real.

We have been given an inner Teacher Whose sole purpose is to help us free ourselves from mistaken beliefs that chain us to the world. This chain is maintained by thoughts from the past retained in our mind and used to hide the present, either with guilt from the past or fear of the future. The Holy Spirit teaches us that none of these thoughts are true and shows us the peaceful and happy present. As we align with the Holy Spirit, we lay aside the ego belief system.

We learn what we thought was real had no substance. It dissipates into the nothingness from which it came. We choose the Thoughts of the Mind of our true Self which are shared with the Thoughts of God. What we thought the world was is let go and we remember the Love that is only now.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Our Only Purpose Is to Live in Love

I do not know what anything is for.

Purpose is meaning. Today’s idea explains why nothing you see means anything. You do not know what it is for.

You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals. These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not you. This false identifi­cation makes you incapable of understanding what anything is for. As a result, you are bound to misuse it. When you believe this, you will try to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them.

Another way of describing the goals you now perceive is to say that they are all concerned with “personal” interests. Since you have no personal interests, your goals are really concerned with nothing. In cherishing them, therefore, you have no goals at all. And thus you do not know what anything is for.

It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have established for everything. The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than “good” or “bad,” is the only way to accomplish this. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 25, W-pI.25.1:1-2;2-3;5:1-2. See also ACIM Lesson 25 Insights.)

The ego’s goals are always in opposition to our best interests. This is because the ego is the denial of God’s Love. But if we identify with the ego, the statement that everything is in our best interests can arouse defensiveness, resistance and even anger. But resistance to this idea stands as a barrier against God’s gift of all of His Love. It is a denial of our true Self, which accepts and knows It is united with the eternal Love of God.

The world does not seem to present anything that is in our best interests because we need to shift from accepting the ego’s purpose, which is to maintain the illusion of separation, to accepting the Holy Spirit’s purpose for everything. The Holy Spirit has one unified purpose — to bring the Love we are to our awareness.

As we accept the Holy Spirit’s purpose for all things, we join with the unity of Love. No longer is there any perceived adversary or threat to our existence. Instead we dwell in the joyous flow of giving and receiving Love. This is the purpose that is in our best interests.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Remembering We Are as God Created Us

Does Jesus Have a Special Place in Healing?

God’s gifts can rarely be received directly. Even the most advanced of God’s teachers will give way to temptation in this world.

[Jesus Christ] has recognized himself as God created him, and in so doing he has recognized all living things as part of him. There is now no limit on his power, because it is the power of God. So has his name become the Name of God, for he no longer sees himself as separate from Him.

What does this mean for you? It means that in remembering Jesus you are remembering God.

The name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol. But it stands for love that is not of this world. It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray. It becomes the shining symbol for the Word of God, so close to what it stands for that the little space between the two is lost, the moment that the name is called to mind. Remembering the name of Jesus Christ is to give thanks for all the gifts that God has given you. And gratitude to God becomes the way in which He is remembered, for love cannot be far behind a grateful heart and thankful mind. God enters easily, for these are the true conditions for your homecoming. (A Course in Miracles, M-23.1:1-2;2:6-3:2;4)

In the Clarification of Terms we are told that Christ is in us just as it is in Jesus. The only difference between us and Jesus is that he has accepted Christ wholly and thus has acknowledged his unity with God. That same unity exists in us but is hidden by illusions of separation coming from the ego. Only these illusions need to be healed.

Calling upon the name of Jesus Christ is calling upon the memory of our complete and total unity in God’s Love. It is calling upon the strength of this union in Love to support us in forgiving the illusions that tempt us to believe we are alone, weak and guilty for having denied our Creator. Jesus has demonstrated that it is possible to wholly forgive all the ego beliefs that stand as barriers to our awareness of the Love we are. His demonstration becomes the staff upon which we can lean for strength when we are tempted by illusions.

Today we call upon the name of Jesus to strengthen us as we practice forgiving the world for what we thought it was. As we walk with him, we journey to Heaven.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Joining in Love Saves the World

There is a peace that Christ bestows on us.

Who uses but Christ’s vision finds a peace so deep and quiet, undisturbable and wholly changeless, that the world contains no counterpart. Comparisons are still [silent] before this peace. And all the world departs in silence as this peace envelops it, and gently car­ries it to truth, no more to be the home of fear. For love has come, and healed the world by giving it Christ’s peace.

Father, the peace of Christ is given us, because it is Your Will that we be saved. Help us today but to accept Your gift, and judge it not. For it has come to us to save us from our judgment on ourselves. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 305, W-pII.305. See also ACIM Lesson 305 Insights.)

The ego judges God’s gift of Love as inadequate because it does not offer the specialness the ego demands. Having identified with the ego, we need the help of the Holy Spirit to heal the ego’s judgments which we have embraced as our own. These judgments make the world of separation seem real.

As we consistently practice asking the Holy Spirit to reinterpret our perception with Christ’s vision, we learn that the ego’s judgments are not our own. They stand as a barrier to our awareness of God’s gift of Love. With the help of Christ’s vision, we overlook the ego’s interpretations and see the face of Love’s innocence in every brother. Our hearts join together in the oneness of Love.

It is this joining that heals and saves the world. We recognize that God’s Love is everything we want and need. The ego offers us nothing of value, for it only offer illusions. Now we seek only the truth. We seek to accept God’s Love as What we are. Here we find the undisturbable peace of God.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Healing the Thought of Sacrifice

Never forget you give but to yourself. Who understands what giving means must laugh at the idea of sacrifice. Nor can he fail to recognize the many forms which sacrifice may take. …He recognizes sacrifice remains the one idea that stands behind [all pain, loss, sickness, grief, poverty, starvation and death], and in his gentle laughter are they healed.

Illusion recognized must disappear. Accept not suffering, and you remove the thought of suffering. …The thought of sacrifice gives rise to all the forms that suffer­ing appears to take. And sacrifice is an idea so mad that sanity dismisses it at once.

Never believe that you can sacrifice. There is no place for sac­rifice in what has any value. If the thought occurs, its very pres­ence proves that error has arisen and correction must be made. Your blessing will correct it. Given first to you, it now is yours to give as well. No form of sacrifice and suffering can long endure before the face of one who has forgiven and has blessed himself. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 187, W-pI.187.6:1-2,5;7:1-2,4-5;8. See also ACIM Lesson 187 Insights.)

To believe in separation we must believe that we can disconnect from the oneness of God’s eternal gift of changeless Love. But this belief is insane because it is the belief that the impossible is possible. This can only appear to be true in a dream of illusions.

The Holy Spirit heals our mistaken beliefs by teaching us to recognize illusions. As we let Him guide our thoughts, we learn that what we thought was justification for fear or guilt was actually a call for Love. What seemed to be justification of judgment becomes an opportunity to let Love heal our misperception. We accept Love’s healing blessing by giving Love’s blessing to the world. The illusion of separation disappears as we accept the oneness of God’s Love.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Learning to Accept God’s Gift of Peace

Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. It must begin with your own thoughts, and then extend outward. It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises.

Search your mind for fear thoughts, anxiety-provoking situations, “offending” personalities or events, or anything else about which you are harboring unloving thoughts. Note them all casually, repeating the idea:

I could see peace in this situation instead of what I now see in it.

(A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 34, W-pI.34.1:2-4;3:2-3;5:4. See also ACIM Lesson 34 Insights.)

We are training our mind to choose with the Holy Spirit, instead of with the ego. With Holy Spirit, we are reversing thoughts of conflict to thoughts of peace, joy and Love. We reversing thoughts of vulnerability and weakness, and claiming our Higher Power within. We are accepting enlightened thoughts instead of dark, depressing thoughts.

Today we practice accepting peace from our inner Teacher, the Holy Spirit. We allow ourselves to feel the calmness and safety that eternally surround us.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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We Are Entitled to Happiness

Happiness is an attribute of love. It [happiness] cannot be apart from it [Love]. Nor can [happiness] be experienced where love is not. Love has no limits, being everywhere. And therefore joy is everywhere as well. Yet can the mind deny that this is so, believing there are gaps in love where sin [separation] can enter, bringing pain instead of joy. This strange belief would limit happiness by redefining love as limited, and introducing opposition in what has no limit and no opposite.

Allow this one correction to be placed within your mind each waking hour today. Then welcome all the happiness it brings as truth replaces fear, and joy becomes what you expect to take the place of pain. God, being Love, [happiness] will be given you. Bolster this expectation frequently throughout the day, and quiet all your fears with this assurance, kind and wholly true:

God, being Love, is also happiness.
And it is happiness I seek today.
I cannot fail, because I seek the truth. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 103, W-pI.103.1;3. See also ACIM Lesson 103 Insights.)

Limitless joy is our birthright. It is already ours. We are not aware of it because we have disowned what God gave us. But God did not stop giving it. We can reclaim our birthright in any moment by forgiving, letting go of, the mistaken belief that we have separated from God.

The statement, “I need do nothing,” means stop interfering with the eternal flow of the Love and happiness that God is giving us. There is nothing we need do to qualify or earn His gifts. We just need to stop interfering and rejecting His gifts.

Today we will remind ourselves frequently that happiness belongs to us because it is God’s Will, and therefore ours. We are entitled to happiness now.

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