Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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How to Have Happy Dreams

The happy dreams the Holy Spirit brings are different from the dreaming of the world, where one can merely dream he is awake. ²The dreams forgiveness lets the mind perceive do not induce another form of sleep, so that the dreamer dreams another dream. ³His happy dreams are heralds of the dawn of truth upon the mind. ⁴They lead from sleep to gentle waking, so that dreams are gone. ⁵And thus they cure for all eternity.

Atonement heals with certainty, and cures all sickness. ²For the mind which understands that sickness can be nothing but a dream is not deceived by forms the dream may take. ³Sickness where guilt is absent cannot come, for it is but another form of guilt. ⁴Atonement does not heal the sick, for that is not a cure. ⁵It takes away the guilt that makes the sickness possible. ⁶And that is cure indeed. ⁷For sickness now is gone, with nothing left to which it can return.”

“…find the source of healing, which is in our minds because our Father placed it there for us. ³It is not farther from us than ourselves. ⁴It is as near to us as our own thoughts; so close it is impossible to lose. ⁵We need but seek it and it must be found. (A Course in Miracles, W-140.3:1–4:7;8:2-5. See also ACIM Lesson 140 Insights.)

We can never be without the Holy Spirit’s help. But we can make ourselves unaware of it. The ego busies our mind with myriad endless thoughts that we give meaning by our belief in them. It sends us on fruitless searches to find happiness in forms that have nothing to give. None of the ego’s offerings are real; but our willingness to believe in them stands as a barrier against awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence.

Beyond these dreams lies the Voice for God, always ready to offer us the only real gift there is. We welcome His gift by quieting our minds. In peace His Voice is heard for we have set aside the chaos of the ego’s thoughts. In peace we meet the condition of awareness of Love’s presence, for peace is an attribute of Love.

We remember the Holy Spirit’s presence by pausing to connect with the peace within. In this peace we see the Love that has always been there, hidden by our belief that separation is real. In peace we see past illusions and dream a happy dream of Love. From this dream we easily awaken to our Home in Heaven.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Importance of Forgiveness

The Holy Spirit mediates between illusions and the truth. ²Since He must bridge the gap between reality and dreams, perception leads to knowledge through the grace that God has given Him, to be His gift to everyone who turns to Him for truth. ³Across the bridge that He provides are dreams all carried to the truth, to be dispelled before the light of knowledge. ⁴There are sights and sounds forever laid aside. ⁵And where they were perceived before, forgiveness has made possible perception’s tranquil end.

²The Holy Spirit understands the means you made, by which you would attain what is forever unattainable. ³And if you offer them to Him, He will employ the means you made for exile to restore your mind to where it truly is at home.

From knowledge, where He has been placed by God, the Holy Spirit calls to you, to let forgiveness rest upon your dreams, and be restored to sanity and peace of mind. ²Without forgiveness will your dreams remain to terrify you. ³And the memory of all your Father’s Love will not return to signify the end of dreams has come.

Accept your Father’s gift. ²It is a Call from Love to Love, that It be but Itself. ³The Holy Spirit is His gift, by which the quietness of Heaven is restored to God’s beloved Son. (A Course in Miracles, W-pII.7.1:1-5;3:2–5:3. See also ACIM Lesson 281 Insights.)

By giving our allegiance to the ego, we accept its means to make a world of separation appear real. In truth this is never attainable; but it seems accomplished in dreams. The ego’s thought system does not provide a means to wake up from its dream.

To awaken to the reality of our Home in the Heaven of God’s Love, we need to call upon the Holy Spirit. He knows how to give the means made by the ego a new purpose. Under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, every perception, every experience, is used as a teaching opportunity. If we accept His help, we learn the lesson of Love’s oneness in place of the ego’s belief in separation.

When we accept these lessons, the Course calls it forgiveness. This is the lesson we must learn to awaken to our eternal Home in Love. With the Holy Spirit as our Guide, every day provides steps to heal our minds of mistaken beliefs and remember God as our Creator.

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The End of Dreams of Separation

[“I am spirit”] identifies you with your one Self. ²It accepts no split identity, nor tries to weave opposing factors into unity. ³It simply states the truth. ⁴Practice this truth today as often as you can, for it will bring your mind from conflict to the quiet fields of peace.

²You are the spirit lovingly endowed with all your Father’s Love and peace and joy. ³You are the spirit which completes Himself, and shares His function as Creator.

³He will offer all His strength to every little effort that you make. ⁴Give Him the minutes which He needs today, to help you understand with Him you are the spirit that abides in Him, and that calls through His Voice to every living thing; offers His sight to everyone who asks; replaces error with the simple truth.

²Spirit am I, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free to forgive, and free to save the world.

⁵The Holy Spirit gives you peace today. ⁶Receive His words, and offer them to Him. (A Course in Miracles, W-97.1:1-4;2:2-3;4:3-4;7:2;8:5-6. See also ACIM Lesson 97 Insights.)

Peace of mind is restored when we accept the fact that we are spirit. The ego is afraid of this recognition. Its seeming existence depends on the belief that we are a body, limited in time and space and guaranteed to die. But an illusion cannot guarantee anything. It depends upon belief and belief’s can change.

The practice of reminding our self, “I am spirit,” will help us change our belief about what we are. Spirit is one and eternally united with God, our Creator. This can never change. But we can unlearn the belief that we accepted that we are not spirit; that we are alone in a world of isolation and separation. Heaven is our Home because we are spirit. Today’s practice leads to the end of dreams of separation.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Living in the World While Waking Up

Use all the little names and symbols which delineate the world of darkness. ²Yet accept them not as your reality. ³The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but He does not forget creation has one Name, one meaning, and a single Source which unifies all things within Itself. ⁴Use all the names the world bestows on them but for convenience, yet do not forget they share the Name of God along with you.

Father, our Name [Identity] is Yours. ²In It we are united with all living things, and You Who are their one Creator. ³What we made and call by many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across Your Own reality. ⁴And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. ⁵All our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved from all effects our errors seemed to have. ⁶And we accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. ⁷Your Name is our salvation and escape from what we made. ⁸Your Name unites us in the oneness which is our inheritance and peace. ⁹Amen. (A Course in Miracles, W-184.11;15. See also ACIM Lesson 184 Insights.)

As God’s creation, our function is to extend Love and nothing else. While we believe we are in the world of limitation and form, we need to use the symbols of the world to communicate and express the Love we are. Here we have guidance in how to live in the world while waking up to the truth that God shares His Identity with us. But we must learn to use the symbols while remembering they are not real.

We learn this by following the Holy Spirit’s lead. We have duped ourselves into believing the world of separation is real. But the Holy Spirit recognizes our mistaken beliefs while remembering they are not true. Thus He is in the unique position to help us use the symbols of the world while we learn to let go of our belief in their reality.

We dedicate this day to following His lead to be expressions of Love in the world.

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Determination to See Truly

³You want salvation. ⁴You want to be happy. ⁵You want peace. ⁶You do not have them now, because your mind is totally undisciplined, and you cannot distinguish between joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, love and fear. ⁷You are now learning how to tell them apart. ⁸And great indeed will be your reward.

Your decision to see is all that vision requires. ²What you want is yours. …⁶God has one Son, and he is the resurrection and the life. ⁷His will is done because all power is given him in Heaven and on earth. ⁸In your determination to see is vision given you.

…as you repeat the idea (I am determined to see), you are stating that you are determined to change your present state for a better one, and one you really want.

³The extra repetitions should be applied to any situation, person or event that upsets you. ⁴You can see them differently, and you will. ⁵What you desire you will see. ⁶Such is the real law of cause and effect as it operates in the world. (A Course in Miracles, W-20.2:3–3:2,6-8;4:3;5:3-6.. See also ACIM Lesson 20 Insights.)

We were created equipped with the ability to see the truth. But we have taught ourselves to ignore this vision in favor of seeing images that the body seems to see. The Course tells us that this is not vision; it is image-making. While we identify with the ego, we want to see its projected false images.

We are learning that we really want to see the reality of Love’s oneness. We have so heavily reinforced our denial of true vision that we now need to be determined to change our priority. Our true Self sees truly. Our determination to see will reward us with the experience of peace and abiding happiness; it will free us from fear and guilt and return us to our natural state in the Mind of Love. We are worth the effort.

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Forgiveness Welcomes the Miracle

Illusions will not last. ²Their death is sure and this alone is certain in their world. ³It is the ego’s world because of this. ⁴What is the ego? ⁵But a dream of what you really are. ⁶A thought you are apart from your Creator and a wish to be what He created not.

What is the ego? ²Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something. ³In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real.

We cannot really make a definition for what the ego is, but we can say what it is not. ²And this is shown to us with perfect clarity. ³It is from this that we deduce all that the ego is. ⁴Look at its opposite and you can see the only answer that is meaningful.

The ego’s opposite in every way,—in origin, effect and consequence—we call a miracle.

What is a miracle? ²A dream as well. ³But look at all the aspects of this dream and you will never question any more. ⁴Look at the kindly world you see extend before you as you walk in gentleness. ⁵Look at the helpers all along the way you travel, happy in the certainty of Heaven and the surety of peace.

The miracle forgives; the ego damns. …⁵Who chooses hell when it is recognized? ⁶And who would not go on a little while when it is given him to understand the way is short and Heaven is his goal? (C-2.1:1-6;2:1-3;4:1–5:1;7:1-5;10:1,5-6)

The Course tells us that there is only one problem and one solution. The problem is accepting the thought that it is possible to separate from our Creator. The answer is to forgive ourselves for believing what could never be true. Any form, including the body and the myriad forms of the world, is just a projection in a dream of separation.

The oneness of Love cannot be contained in a form. Love flows in all directions without limit. An attempt to make separate forms can only seem to be fulfilled in a dream. The forms demonstrate we believe that we are separate.

If we let the Holy Spirit show us the truth beyond the forms, we see the Light of Love. The forms fade in Its brilliance. Our perception is transformed by Its Light. We see the limitlessness of our true Self. It includes every brother as part of our one Self. And Love’s all inclusiveness heals the split that seemed to occur in a dream of separation. We find rest in the Love that created us and remains eternally one with us. We recognize we are joined together as God’s one Son, His extension of Himself.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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A Practice That Leads to Joy

Decisions are continuous. ²You do not always know when you are making them. ³But with a little practice with the ones you recognize, a set begins to form which sees you through the rest. ⁴It is not wise to let yourself become preoccupied with every step you take. ⁵The proper set, adopted consciously each time you wake, will put you well ahead. ⁶And if you find resistance strong and dedication weak, you are not ready. ⁷Do not fight yourself. ⁸But think about the kind of day you want, and tell yourself there is a way in which this very day can happen just like that. ⁹Then try again to have the day you want.

(1) The outlook starts with this:

²Today I will make no decisions by myself.

³This means that you are choosing not to be the judge of what to do. ⁴But it must also mean you will not judge the situations where you will be called upon to make response. ⁵For if you judge them, you have set the rules for how you should react to them. ⁶And then another answer cannot but produce confusion and uncertainty and fear.

This is your major problem now. ²You still make up your mind, and then decide to ask what you should do.

(2) Throughout the day, at any time you think of it and have a quiet moment for reflection, tell yourself again the kind of day you want; the feelings you would have, the things you want to happen to you, and the things you would experience, and say:

²If I make no decisions by myself, this is the day that will be given me. (A Course in Miracles, T-30.I.1:1–3:2;4:1-2. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

We can have a day of peace and happiness. It requires only willingness to let go of judgment. The ego resists this release because it depends on judgment for its seeming existence. When we identify with the ego, it likewise seems that our survival depends on judgment. This practice maintains the belief that separation is real.

There is another practice that will free us from the ego’s judgmental world. But we must be willing to let go of our habitual judgmental response to all our perceptions. When we are willing to turn over all judgments to Holy Spirit, we clear our mind to receive the His interpretation of all our perceptions. He will show us the unity of Love beyond the appearance of separation. He will lead us on a loving path where we will experience increasing joy and deepening peace. Our decisions will be inspired by Love. This is our choice in every moment; how about today?

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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