Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Lifting the Veil of Illusions

I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me. I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see. This is not vision. It is merely an illusion of reality, because my judgments have been made quite apart from reality. I am willing to recognize the lack of validity in my judgments, because I want to see. My judgments have hurt me, and I do not want to see according to them. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 51, W-pI.51.2. See also ACIM Lesson 51 Insights.)

Judgments are the ego’s principal defense against the truth of Love’s innocence. Our judgments are always about the form of what we perceive. This is because form is an illusion and has no real content.

The antidote for judgment is forgiveness. We need to forgive the meaning we give to the forms we perceive. This meaning is projected based on our memories of the past. Since Reality is eternally in the present, our judgments hide the present by cloaking them with our fears and guilt. We do not really see the truth of what was in front of us. We see only our projections of what we believe we are. If we believe we are a separate identity, we see images of separation. If we believe we are Love, we see the oneness of Love.

The Holy Spirit is ever present in our mind to help us sort illusion from truth. If we are willing to accept His guidance, we learn to recognize illusions and let them go. Without the veil of illusions, we see the innocence of the Love we are reflected back to us. This is Christ’s vision.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Seeking to Know the Truth

Let me remember God created me.

Father, I did not make myself, although in my insanity I thought I did. Yet, as Your Thought, I have not left my Source, remaining part of Who created me. Your Son, my Father, calls on You today. Let me remember You created me. Let me remember my Identity. And let my sinlessness arise again before Christ’s vision, through which I would look upon my brothers and myself today.

Now is our Source remembered, and Therein we find our true Identity at last. Holy indeed are we, because our Source can know no sin [separation]. And we who are His Sons are like each other, and alike to Him. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 260, W-pII.260. See also ACIM Lesson 260 Insights.)

Because God is only Love, His Thoughts are Love and nothing else. The basic characteristic of Love is that It is one, with no differences. In this oneness, there is nothing to see, for it is all the same.

The world we experience does require seeing, because it is made of images that are defined by differences. The oneness of Love cannot be known in this world. But we can clear away the obstacles to Love through Christ’s vision, seeing past the forms. Christ’s vision comes with forgiveness because It sees the innocence of Love. Judgment denies innocence; forgiveness releases the denial, making way for Christ’s vision to show us the presence of Love. We are able to forgive with the Holy Spirit’s help when we are willing to turn over our perceptions to Him for His correction.

Holy Spirit, I offer you my perceptions today, confident you will correct them. I am willing to accept your correction so that I might see, with Christ’s vision, the innocence of Love that is everywhere in truth. I seek to know the truth today.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Releasing the Valueless to Welcome True Value

How can lack of value be perceived unless the perceiver is in a position where he must see things in a different light? He is not yet at a point at which he can make the shift entirely internally. And so the plan will sometimes call for changes in what seem to be external circumstances. These changes are always helpful. When the teacher of God has learned that much, he goes on to the second stage [in the development of trust].

Next, the teacher of God must go through “a period of sorting out.” This is always somewhat difficult because, having learned that the changes in his life are always helpful, he must now decide all things on the basis of whether they increase the helpfulness or hamper it. He will find that many, if not most of the things he valued before will merely hinder his ability to transfer what he has learned to new situations as they arise. Because he has valued what is really valueless, he will not generalize the lesson for fear of loss and sacrifice. It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful. It is only to the extent to which they are helpful that any degree of reality should be accorded them in this world of illusion. The word “value” can apply to nothing else. (A Course in Miracles, M-4.I.A.3:4-4:7)

We experience a dream world of separation because we believe it offers us what we want. We have aligned ourselves with the ego’s values centered on the wish for specialness. This specialness requires that we have an individual identity we call our own. We protect this identity by the value we give it. We seek for what we believe would add value to our identity and we defend against what we think would harm or take away value. This wish for specialness leads to the world of conflict, loss, fear and guilt we experience. It is held together by mistaken beliefs about what is valuable.

This dream is constructed entirely of illusions. Illusions have no value of their own, for they are empty forms. It is only our beliefs that seem to give these illusions value. But if we give value to an empty form, we are valuing the valueless. We get nothing of value in return. To experience what is truly valuable, we must learn to recognize the difference between illusions and the reality of God’s gift of all His Love. This gift offers us perfect peace, indescribable joy and Love beyond anything we experience in the dream.

To teach us the essential skill of distinguishing illusion from reality, God gave us His Teacher. This Teacher has a highly individualized lesson plan to guide us to recognize what is valueless so we can freely let it go. He brings the Light of Love to our mind, which shines away the illusions to reveal the eternal Love that surrounds us in every brother and in our Self. This process of learning to recognize and let go of the valueless sets us free to accept the invaluable gift of God’s Love. It is a process that leads us Home to Heaven, where we belong and have always been in truth.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Path to a World of Love

Forgiveness ends all suffering and loss.

Forgiveness paints a picture of a world where suffering is over, loss becomes impossible and anger makes no sense. Attack is gone, and madness has an end. What suffering is now conceiv­able? What loss can be sustained? The world becomes a place of joy, abundance, charity and endless giving. It is now so like to Heaven that it quickly is transformed into the light that it reflects. And so the journey which the Son of God began has ended in the light from which he came.

Father, we would return our minds to You. We have betrayed them, held [our minds] in a vise of bitterness, and frightened them with thoughts of violence and death. Now would we rest again in You, as You created us. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 249, W-pII.249. See also ACIM Lesson 249 Insights.)

In every moment we can choose to live in a world of joy, abundance, charity and endless giving. This comes when we choose to forgive our belief in separation. This means we stop insisting that separation is real because we believe our identity depends upon it. But this identity is not real. It is an image made up to make separation appear real.

It seems that the loss of this identity would be death because we have blocked our minds from awareness of the Self that was created in Light as Light, eternally one with the Source of joy, abundance, Love and peace.

We have been given the means to release this blockage, guided by the Voice of Love. This Love acknowledges our mistaken beliefs and leads us to release them gently, without fear. In Its kindly Light It shows us that what we have believed was a barrier has no substance and no effect on What we are. In this Light we freely see that this seeming block does nothing and does not serve us. The decision to let it go is made freely, in gratitude, as we see more clearly the Light that is our Home.

Today we practice choosing this Light as our Guide, for we would end our sense of suffering and loss.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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God’s Guarantee

You are what God created or what you made. One Self is true; the other is not there. Try to experience the unity of your one Self. Try to appreciate Its Holiness and the Love from which It was created. Try not to interfere with the Self which God created as you, by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sinfulness you have made to replace It. Let It come into Its Own. Here you are; This is You. And light and joy and peace abide in you because this is so.

If a situation arises that seems to be disturbing, quickly dispel the illusion of fear by repeating these thoughts again. Should you be tempted to become angry with someone, tell him silently:

Light and joy and peace abide in you.
Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.

You can do much for the world’s salvation today. You can do much today to bring you closer to the part in salvation that God has assigned to you. And you can do much today to bring the conviction to your mind that the idea for the day is true indeed.” (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 93, W-pI.93.9;11. See also ACIM Lesson 93 Insights.)

In this world it seems we are constantly presented with triggers that bring up guilt, fear or anger. All this comes from believing that we are separate from what we perceive. This leaves us feeling alone, without Love and vulnerable to external forces beyond our control. Yet we are assured that Light and joy and peace are in us now. We don’t experience this only because we believe in the false idea that separation is real. And so we seem to live in a dark dream that holds no hope for peace or lasting happiness.

Thankfully, a dream is not real. We can awaken from the dream and accept God’s eternal gifts of Light and joy and peace. His assurance that we remain eternally one with Him guarantees our innocence and our union with Him in His Love.

It is time to change our beliefs about ourselves. It is time to accept God’s guarantee, for we are one Self, united with our Creator in His peace, joy and Love.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Certainty of Our Innocence

There is a light in you the world can not perceive. And with its eyes you will not see this light, for you are blinded by the world. Yet you have eyes to see it. It is there for you to look upon. It was not placed in you to be kept hidden from your sight. This light is a reflection of the thought we practice now. To feel the Love of God within you is to see the world anew, shining in innocence, alive with hope, and blessed with perfect charity and love.

Who could feel fear in such a world as this? It welcomes you, rejoices that you came, and sings your praises as it keeps you safe from every form of danger and of pain. It offers you a warm and gentle home in which to stay a while. It blesses you throughout the day, and watches through the night as silent guardian of your holy sleep. It sees salvation in you, and protects the light in you, in which it sees its own. It offers you its flowers and its snow, in thankfulness for your benevolence.

This is the world the Love of God reveals. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 189, W-pI.189.1:1-3:1. See also ACIM Lesson 189 Insights.)

When we chose the ego thought system as our guide, we lost awareness of God’s Love. We lost awareness of Reality. Instead, we see a world of conflict, loss, limitation, guilt and fear. Love is unknown in this world and its perceived absence is depressing. We feel a void that compels us to search for what will fill this emptiness.

We search for it in things, in circumstances we feel will make us happy or safe, in special relationships or substances that will numb the pain of loneliness. But none of these can ever satisfy our innate need to be the Self that is part of the unity of Love. Only the Love of God will satisfy because this Love is our completion, our one Reality. In this changeless Love, we know we are safe. We feel Love’s blessing and joyfully share It, for sharing Love is our completion.

We thank you, Father, for the gift of Your Love, for the comfort It brings, the certainty of our innocence and for the quiet joy that fills our heart.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Opening to the Light of Heaven

Those who would let illusions be lifted from their minds are this world’s saviors, walking the world with their Redeemer [Holy Spirit], and carrying His message of hope and freedom and release from suffering to everyone who needs a miracle to save him.

How easy is it to offer this miracle to everyone! No one who has received it for himself could find it difficult. For by receiving it, he learned [the miracle] was not given him alone. Such is the function of a holy relationship; to receive together and give as you received. Standing before the veil, it still seems difficult. But hold out your hand, joined with your brother’s, and touch this heavy-seeming block, and you will learn how easily your fingers slip through its nothingness. It is no solid wall. And only an illusion stands between you and your brother, and the holy Self you share together. (A Course in Miracles, T-22.IV.6:5-7:8. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

The key to release from fear is the acceptance that we are one with all that is Real. Nothing outside of Reality exists at all and therefore is incapable of harm. The ego teaches the opposite, for its seeming existence depends on fostering belief that separation is real. All the images of the world are part of the ego’s scheme to hide Love’s oneness from our awareness. Only our belief in the ego’s basic premise of separation makes its scheme seem to work at all.

The ego’s veil of separation is lifted by letting go of our beliefs in separation. Forgiveness offers this release, for with the Holy Spirit’s help we see past the illusions, recognizing their falsity. The Light of Love shines through them, revealing the presence of Love’s oneness everywhere. In this Presence, we know our perfect safety. We feel the joy of God within us and we joyfully extend the gift of Love, for Love cannot be contained.

Today we walk with the Holy Spirit as our Guide to interpret all that we see. His interpretation will redeem us from the hell we made by believing separation is real.

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