Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Love Demands No Sacrifice

It is not necessary to follow fear through all the circuitous routes by which it burrows underground and hides in darkness, to emerge in forms quite different from what it is. ²Yet it is necessary to examine each [fear] as long as you would retain the principle that governs all of them. ³When you are willing to regard them, not as separate, but as different manifestations of the same idea, and one you do not want, they go together. ⁴The idea is simply this: You believe it is possible to be host to the ego or hostage to God. …⁷Sacrifice is so essential to your thought system that salvation apart from sacrifice means nothing to you. ⁸Your confusion of sacrifice and love is so profound that you cannot conceive of love without sacrifice. ⁹And it is this that you must look upon; sacrifice is attack, not love. ¹⁰If you would accept but this one idea, your fear of love would vanish. ¹¹Guilt cannot last when the idea of sacrifice has been removed.

How fearful, then, has God become to you, and how great a sacrifice do you believe His Love demands! ²For total love would demand total sacrifice.

³You must choose between total freedom and total bondage, for there are no alternatives but these. ⁴You have tried many compromises in the attempt to avoid recognizing the one decision you must make. ⁵And yet it is the recognition of the decision, just as it is, that makes the decision so easy. ⁶Salvation is simple, being of God, and therefore very easy to understand. ⁷Do not try to project it from you and see [salvation] outside yourself. ⁸In you are both the question and the answer; the demand for sacrifice and the peace of God. (T-15.X.5:1-4,7-11;7:1-2;9:3-8)

The idea of having a unique, separate identity is sacred to the ego. Loss of this identity is perceived as death. But to accept our inheritance of the oneness of God’s Love, we must give up our attachment to the illusion of a separate identity. The ego sees this as sacrifice. But when we accept God’s Love we let go of nothing (illusion) and accept all that is real.

Love demands no sacrifice. Because It is one, Love gives all of Itself without reservation. To give only a part of Itself would destroy the oneness of Love, which could never happen in truth. Joy is an attribute of Love. The only Source of happiness is the Love we are.

Today we happily let go of the wish for a unique identity to reclaim our true Identity as Love and nothing else.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Seeing Our Unity with Our Brothers

⁵The purpose of all seeing is to show you what you wish to see. ⁶All hearing but brings to your mind the sounds it wants to hear.

Thus were specifics made. ²And now it is specifics we must use in practicing. ³We give them to the Holy Spirit, that He may employ them for a purpose which is different from the one we gave to them. ⁴Yet He can use but what we made, to teach us from a different point of view, so we can see a different use in everything.

…bodies are but symbols for a concrete form of fear. ³Fear without symbols calls for no response, for symbols can stand for the meaningless. ⁴Love needs no symbols, being true. ⁵But fear attaches to specifics, being false.

Who sees a brother as a body sees him as fear’s symbol.

Select one brother, symbol of the rest, and ask salvation of him. ²See him first as clearly as you can, in that same form to which you are accustomed. ³See his face, his hands and feet, his clothing. ⁴Watch him smile, and see familiar gestures which he makes so frequently. ⁵Then think of this: What you are seeing now conceals from you the sight of one who can forgive you all your sins; …⁶Ask this of him, that he may set you free:

⁷Give me your blessing, holy Son of God. ⁸I would behold you with the eyes of Christ, and see my perfect sinlessness in you.

And He will answer Whom you called upon. ²For He will hear the Voice for God in you, and answer in your own. ³Behold him now, whom you have seen as merely flesh and bone, and recognize that Christ has come to you. ⁴Today’s idea is your safe escape from anger and from fear. ⁵Be sure you use it instantly, should you be tempted to attack a brother and perceive in him the symbol of your fear. ⁶And you will see him suddenly transformed from enemy to savior; from the devil into Christ. (A Course in Miracles, W-161.2:5–3:4;5:2-5;8:1;11;12. See also ACIM Lesson 161 Insights.)

To wake up from the dream, we need to stop relying on the images in the dream as representing truth. In fact, all the images in the dream represent the denial of Reality. Only Love is real and Love has no form. So the way to change our beliefs is to choose Christ’s vision as our reliable source of truth.

Christ’s vision does not use the body’s eyes, which cannot see Reality. Christ’s vision is in our mind, available to us in any instant we are willing to accept His way of seeing. Christ’s vision forgives the images and looks past them to the eternal presence of Love.

Today we practice seeing our brother with Christ’s vision to recognize him as he is — Love and nothing else. As we see him with Christ’s vision, we see our Self united with him as the Holy Son of God.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Remembering Our Loving Identity

Fear is a stranger to the ways of love. ²Identify with fear, and you will be a stranger to yourself. ³And thus you are unknown to you. ⁴What is your Self remains an alien to the part of you which thinks that it is real, but different from yourself. ⁵Who could be sane in such a circumstance? ⁶Who but a madman could believe he is what he is not, and judge against himself?

⁵There is no home can shelter [both] love and fear. ⁶They cannot coexist. ⁷If you are real, then fear must be illusion. ⁸And if fear is real, then you do not exist at all.

⁴Hear His Voice assure you, quietly and sure, that you are not a stranger to your Father, nor is your Creator stranger made to you. ⁵Whom God has joined remain forever one, at home in Him, no stranger to Himself.

Today we offer thanks that Christ has come to search the world for what belongs to Him. ²His vision sees no strangers, but beholds His Own and joyously unites with them. ³They see Him as a stranger, for they do not recognize themselves. ⁴Yet as they give Him welcome, they remember. ⁵And He leads them gently home again, where they belong.

³[Christ] has not forgotten you. ⁴But you will not remember Him until you look on all as He does. ⁵Who denies [oneness with] his brother is denying Him, and thus refusing to accept the gift of sight by which his Self is clearly recognized, his home remembered and salvation come. (A Course in Miracles, W-160.1;4:5-8;8:4–9:5;8:4–9:5;10:3-5. See also ACIM Lesson 160 Insights.)

The ego sees everyone as an enemy. It is this judgment that maintains the sense of individuality the ego needs to keep its specialness. It fears anything or anyone that would seem to question its carefully constructed separate image. The ego is fearful. When we identify with the ego, we are fearful, a stranger in a strange land.

But the ego is not our identity. Our true Identity is the Self created by Love and held eternally one with Love. This Self sees no adversary, no threat to Its identity. With Christ’s vision, this Self sees Itself everywhere and in everyone. It sees nothing to fear for it sees only the Love It is.

Today we ask for Christ’s vision to guide us in all our thoughts, words and actions. With His help, we will remember we are God’s Son, eternally Love, eternally loving.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Learning That We Are Love

To teach is to demonstrate. ²There are only two thought systems, and you demonstrate that you believe one or the other is true all the time. ³From your demonstration others learn, and so do you. …¹⁰Any situation must be to you a chance to teach others what you are, and what they are to you. ¹¹No more than that, but also never less.

⁷Teaching but reinforces what you believe about yourself. ⁸Its fundamental purpose is to diminish self-doubt. ⁹This does not mean that the self you are trying to protect is real. ¹⁰But it does mean that the self you think is real is what you teach.

Except for God’s teachers there would be little hope of salvation, for the world of sin would seem forever real. …⁴This is a manual for the teachers of God. ⁵They are not perfect, or they would not be here. ⁶Yet it is their mission to become perfect here, and so they teach perfection over and over, in many, many ways, until they have learned it. (A Course in Miracles, M-in.2:1-3,10-11;3:7-10;5:1,4-6)

Everyone here has the same mission: We must learn that we are Love, united in that Love with every brother and our Creator. But when we see anyone as different from our self, we teach ourselves that we are not Love, for there are no differences in Love’s oneness. We teach ourselves to believe we are what we could never be in truth.

Beliefs can be changed. We can learn that we are Love by letting the Holy Spirit teach us to let go of our beliefs that deny the Love we truly are. With His help we see past the images of separation to Love’s Presence that stem from our belief that we are separate. We learn to see a forgiven world with Christ’s vision, the vision of our true Self.

Today we welcome His lessons by asking about our perceptions, “Am I seeing this with Love?” We pause to let Love inspire our perceptions. And we will teach Love while learning that we are Love.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Path to True Mind Healing

The level-adjustment power of the miracle induces the right perception for healing. ²Until this has occurred healing cannot be understood. ³Forgiveness is an empty gesture unless it entails correction. ⁴Without this it is essentially judgmental, rather than healing.

⁵Time is under my direction, but timelessness belongs to God. ⁶In time we exist for and with each other. ⁷In timelessness we coexist with God.

You can do much on behalf of your own healing and that of others if, in a situation calling for help, you think of it this way:

²I am here only to be truly helpful.
³I am here to represent Him Who sent me.
⁴I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me.
⁵I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with me.
⁶I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal. (A Course in Miracles, T-2.V-A.15:1-4;17:5–18:6. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Forgiveness can only occur when we accept a correction of our perception. Only the Holy Spirit offers true correction of our perceptions. The ego can only offer “corrections” based upon mistaken beliefs that made the faulty perception in the first place. Ego thinking is limited to a closed loop centered around the wish for specialness. Of itself it cannot escape this loop.

The Holy Spirit recognizes our mistaken perceptions but does not believe in the their core cause. Thus He offers true correction because He represents the only real Cause. He offers correction in terms we can understand from our limited perspective. Gently and lovingly He leads us to the truth without stimulating increased fear. Paying attention to the Holy Spirit is thus a path to release from fear, true mind healing.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Answering Love’s Appeal

To overcome the world is no more difficult than to surmount your little wall. ²For in the miracle of your holy relationship, without this barrier, is every miracle contained. ³There is no order of difficulty in miracles, for they are all the same. ⁴Each is a gentle winning over from the appeal of guilt to the appeal of love. ⁵How can this fail to be accomplished, wherever it is undertaken? ⁶Guilt can raise no real barriers against [the appeal of Love]. ⁷And all that seems to stand between you and your brother must fall away because of the appeal you answered. …⁹His home is in your holy relationship. ¹⁰Do not attempt to stand between Him and His holy purpose, for it is yours. ¹¹But let Him quietly extend the miracle of your relationship to everyone contained in it as it was given.

There is a hush in Heaven, a happy expectancy, a little pause of gladness in acknowledgment of the journey’s end. ²For Heaven knows you well, as you know Heaven. ³No illusions stand between you and your brother now. ⁴Look not upon the little wall of shadows. ⁵The sun has risen over it. ⁶How can a shadow keep you from the sun? ⁷No more can you be kept by shadows from the light in which illusions end. ⁸Every miracle is but the end of an illusion. ⁹Such was the journey; such its ending. ¹⁰And in the goal of truth which you accepted must all illusions end. (A Course in Miracles, T-19.IV-A.5:1-7,9-11;6. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Love calls to us unceasingly. Our unwillingness to answer Its call is the cause of our loneliness, sadness, fear and guilt. Whenever we experience these emotions, we are being reminded of the Love we have been unwilling to accept.

Forgiveness is the means to let go of our unwillingness. Forgiveness lets go of our barriers to Love. We forgive by being willing to accept the Holy Spirit’s help to see the world anew. His vision shows us the Love we have hidden behind our unwillingness, our pursuit of specialness.

We have surely seen that specialness offers no lasting peace nor happiness. Now, today, this moment, we have the opportunity to accept the Holy Spirit’s help. This acceptance clears away the shadows of our unwillingness. It welcomes the Light of Love which is ever present. We live and have our being in Love. We can accept It now.

© 2022, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Seeing God’s World of Unity in Love

⁴His Word has promised peace. ⁵It has also promised that there is no death, that resurrection must occur, and that rebirth is man’s inheritance. ⁶The world you see cannot be the world God loves, and yet His Word assures us that He loves the [real] world. ⁷God’s Word has promised that peace is possible here, and what He promises can hardly be impossible. ⁸But it is true that the world must be looked at differently, if His promises are to be accepted. ⁹What the world is, is but a fact. ¹⁰You cannot choose what this should be. ¹¹But you can choose how you would see it. ¹²Indeed, you must choose this.

The text explains that the Holy Spirit is the Answer to all problems you have made. ²These problems are not real, but that is meaningless to those who believe in them. ³And everyone believes in what he made, for it was made by his believing it. ⁴Into this strange and paradoxical situation,—one without meaning and devoid of sense, yet out of which no way seems possible,—God has sent His Judgment to answer yours. ⁵Gently His Judgment substitutes for yours. ⁶And through this substitution is the un-understandable made understandable. ⁷How is peace possible in this world? ⁸In your judgment it is not possible, and can never be possible. ⁹But in the Judgment of God what is reflected here is only peace.

Peace is impossible to those who look on war. ²Peace is inevitable to those who offer peace. ³How easily, then, is your judgment of the world escaped! ⁴It is not the world that makes peace seem impossible. ⁵It is the world you see that is impossible. ⁶Yet has God’s Judgment on this distorted world redeemed it and made it fit to welcome peace. ⁷And peace descends on it in joyous answer. ⁸Peace now belongs here, because a Thought of God has entered. (A Course in Miracles, M-11.1:4-12;3:1–4:8)

Under the direction of the ego, our judgments hold the false world of separation anchored in our mind. It seems that we must judge to function in this world and even to survive. We judge that death is real and believe we must defend against it with all our effort only to fail in the end. It is a battle against illusions that do not exist in truth.

But we can choose to let God’s Answer to this false world guide our judgments. As we let His Judgment replace our own, we see a different world. We see a world of Love, unity, peace and joy. We see a world in which we are one with our Creator and every brother.

Today we choose to accept the Holy Spirit’s judgments in place of our own, for we would see a forgiven world where Love presides.

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