Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Deepening Our Experience of God’s Peace

Any split in mind must involve a rejection of part of it, and this is the belief in separation. The Wholeness of God, which is His peace, cannot be appreciated except by a whole mind that recognizes the Wholeness of God’s creation. By this recognition it knows its Creator. Exclusion and separation are synonymous, as are separation and dissociation. We have said before that the separation was and is dissociation, and that once [separation] occurs projection becomes its main defense, or the device that keeps it going. The reason, however, may not be so obvious as you think.

What you project you disown, and therefore do not believe is yours. You are excluding yourself by the very judgment that you are different from the one on whom you project. Since you have also judged against what you project, you continue to attack it because you continue to keep it separated. By doing this unconsciously, you try to keep the fact that you attacked yourself out of awareness, and thus imagine that you have made yourself safe.

“Yet projection will always hurt you. …It is solely a device of the ego to make you feel different from your brothers and separated from them. …Projection and attack are inevitably related, because projection is always a means of justifying attack. Anger without projection is impossible. (A Course in Miracles, T-6.II.1-2;3:1,3,5-6. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Specialness manifests in the world in many forms. Tribalism, nationalism, racism, competition, rivalry, status hierarchies, are just a few of the forms of specialness that maintain the illusion of separation. Specialness is the basis for all conflicts by making differences seem real.

We cannot find peace in the world while we insist on making differences real in our mind. Perception of differences denies the oneness of the Love we are. Through forgiveness of our perceptions of differences, we make way for the Light of our Love to shine through.

Only Love is real. This is the central thought which frees us from the bondage of belief in separation. Each time we let the Holy Spirit help us forgive a perception of separation, we make way for a deeper experience of the peace of God. We have released a made-up barrier against Love’s eternal presence.

Today we ask the Holy Spirit to help us forgive our thoughts of separation.

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Remembering Our Oneness in Love

The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with other minds, for that is how peace is obtained. And when the wish for peace is genuine, the means for finding it is given, in a form each mind that seeks for it in honesty can understand.

We want the peace of God. This is no idle wish. These words do not request another dream be given us. …To mean these words acknowl­edges illusions are in vain, requesting the eternal in the place of shifting dreams which seem to change in what they offer, but are one in nothingness.

Today devote your practice periods to careful searching of your mind, to find the dreams you cherish still. What do you ask for in your heart? Forget the words you use in making your requests. Consider but what you believe will comfort you, and bring you happiness. But be you not dismayed by lingering illu­sions, for their form is not what matters now. Let not some dreams be more acceptable, reserving shame and secrecy for oth­ers. They are one. And being one, one question should be asked of all of them, “Is this what I would have, in place of Heaven and the peace of God?

You choose God’s peace, or you have asked for dreams. And dreams will come as you requested them. Yet will God’s peace come just as certainly, and to remain with you forever. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 185, W-pI.185.6:1-2;7:2-4,6;8;9:4-6. See also ACIM Lesson 185 Insights.)

To experience the peace of God, we must accept the fact that there is only one mind, the Mind of God. Our mind is joined with His and the mind of every brother, who is also one with the Mind of God. In God’s Mind, only perfect peace abides. Our true Self is in His Mind. When we want only the peace of God, we are wanting to accept our true Self as God created It.

The ego’s world of separation makes it appear that there are individuals, separate from each other and from God. This is a dream that could never be true. The fact that it seems real comes from our choice to believe separation is real. When we say, “I want the peace of God” we are affirming that we want to let go of our mistaken belief in separation. We want to remember our oneness with Love in the Mind of God. We are willing to let go of our misperceptions and see with the eyes of Christ.

Today we remind ourselves that we want to remember our oneness in God and accept His peace.

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Healing Our Misperceptions with Love

…it is your thoughts which made [the world] and must set it free, that you may know the Thoughts you share with God.

Release the world!

There is no world because it is a thought apart from God, and made to separate the Father and the Son, and break away a part of God Himself and thus destroy His Wholeness. Can a world which comes from this idea be real? Can it be anywhere? Deny illusions, but accept the truth. Deny you are a shadow briefly laid upon a dying world. Release your mind, and you will look upon a world released.

Today our purpose is to free the world from all the idle thoughts we ever held about it, and about all living things we see upon it. They can not be there. No more can we. For we are in the home our Father set for us, along with them. And we who are as He created us would loose the world this day from every one of our illusions, that we may be free.

[Affirm:] I who remain as God created me would loose the world from all I thought it was. For I am real because the world is not, and I would know my own reality. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 132, W-pI-132.11:6;12:1;13-14;15:2-3. See also ACIM Lesson 132 Insights.)

The idea that there is no world is mind boggling; it needs to be. The split part of our mind that believes separation is real needs to learn to question the reality of separation. It is this split mind that needs to be released by removing the mistaken belief in the world’s seeming reality. We release the world by letting go of our belief that separation is real.

Forgiveness is the means for releasing the world. Any perception that disturbs our peace of mind needs to be forgiven. We forgive these perceptions by offering them to the Holy Spirit to be exchanged for His loving reinterpretation. His vision will show us the presence of Love beyond the misperception. He teaches us that nothing has happened to change our true Self’s eternal unity with God.

With His help, perceptions of separation (lack of Love) are recognized as calls for Love and the Love of our true Self naturally responds with Love. The misperceptions are recognized as based on a mistaken thought which we freely let go. We release the world for what we thought it was and welcome the loving Thoughts we share with God.

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Forgiveness Is Seeing with Holy Spirit’s Vision

[Forgiveness] is irrelevant to everything except illusions.

The major difficulty that you find in genuine forgiveness on your part is that you still believe you must forgive the truth, and not illusions.

It is sin’s unreality that makes forgiveness natural and wholly sane, a deep relief to those who offer it; a quiet blessing where it is received. [Forgiveness] does not countenance illusions, but collects them lightly, with a little laugh, and gently lays them at the feet of truth. And there they disappear entirely.

Forgiveness is the only thing that stands for truth in the illusions of the world. It sees their nothingness, and looks straight through the thousand forms in which they may appear. It looks on lies, but it is not deceived.

The strength of pardon is its honesty, which is so uncorrupted that it sees illusions as illusions, not as truth. It is because of this that it becomes the undeceiver in the face of lies; the great re­storer of the simple truth. By its ability to overlook what is not there, it opens up the way to truth, which has been blocked by dreams of guilt. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 134, W-pI.134.2:3;3:1;6:1-7:3;8:1-3. See also ACIM Lesson 134 Insights.)

The body’s eyes cannot see reality because it is itself unreal, an image in a dream. The Holy Spirit is the bridge between this dream and the reality of our true Self, forever united with God’s Love. To awaken from the dream, we need to choose the guidance of the Holy Spirit instead of the ego’s belief that separation is real.

When we are willing to choose the Holy Spirit’s guidance, He offers us His way of seeing as a messenger of God’a Love. His vision shows us the reality of Love beyond the appearances in the dream. With His vision, the images of the dream fade and the Light of Love shines forth. Where we once saw images of separation, we experience the oneness of Love along with the peace and happiness that comes with God’s gift of His Love. This is what forgiveness reveals.

In order to forgive, we need to accept the Holy Spirit’s vision as our reality instead of the ego’s illusion of separation. The practice of opening our minds to the Holy Spirit is the way we undo the dream and awaken to the Self that remains forever contained in the Love of God.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Reclaiming the Power of Love

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

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

[God] will offer all His strength to every little effort that you make. Give 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.

Spirit 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.

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

The body is a false identity, made to hide the spirit that is our true Self. It is time to disown the body. We have taken ownership by believing that we are separate from our Creator. It is a bad investment offering literally nothing in return.

It is time to stop making this wasted investment. As we withdraw our investment, the Light of our true Self shines forth. No longer hidden by the ego’s false image, we accept the spirit we are. We remember our unbreakable unity with the Love of God. We remember the spirit that knows no limits, no time.

We reclaim the power and peace of Love. We draw to us every brother, for he is one with us in spirit. No one is excluded. We remember we are spirit and nothing else, complete and healed and whole. We rest in God’s peace in joyous celebration of the eternal extension of Love.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Remembering the Strength of Love in Us

…forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. It is the reflection of God’s Love on earth.

It is not my own strength through which I forgive. It is through the strength of God in me, which I am remembering as I forgive.

God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.

There is not a moment in which God’s Voice ceases to call on my forgiveness to save me. There is not a moment in which His Voice fails to direct my thoughts, guide my actions and lead my feet. I am walking steadily on toward truth. There is nowhere else I can go, because God’s Voice is the only Voice and the only Guide that has been given to His Son.

I am sustained by the Love of God.

As I listen to God’s Voice, I am sustained by His Love. As I open my eyes, His Love lights up the world for me to see. As I forgive, His Love reminds me that His Son is sinless. And as I look upon the world with the vision He has given me, I remember that I am His Son. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 60, W-pI.60.1:2-3;2:2-3;4-5. See also ACIM Lesson 60 Insights.)

The ego is the denial of God’s Love and strength. While we identify with the ego, true forgiveness is impossible because we are believing we are weak. Yet God gave all His strength to His Son in His creation. His strength is already ours. We can call on His strength in us to help us forgive, to overlook the ego’s image-making.

We cannot do this while we give credence to what the body perceives. The body is the ego’s chief tool for deception. But we have within our mind the ability to see the truth. Christ’s vision shows us the presence of Love that is everywhere to be seen. When we prefer His vision over the image-making of the ego, the vision of Love supersedes the ego’s fear and weakness.

Today we ask the Holy Spirit to heal our mind of the ego’s fearful thoughts and welcome the strength of God in us. Thus will we remember the reality of Love in which we live.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting Our Innate Happiness

…teach sin is not real, and all that you believe must come from sin will never happen, for it has no cause. Accept Atonement with an open mind, which cherishes no lingering belief that you have made a devil of God’s Son. There is no sin [separation or harm]. We practice with this thought as often as we can today, because it is the basis for to­day’s idea.

God’s Will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin, and suffering is causeless. Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood yourself. Fear not the Will of God. But turn to It in confidence that [His Will] will set you free from all the conse­quences sin has wrought in feverish imagination. Say:

God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.
There is no sin; it has no consequence. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 101, W-pI.101.5:2-6:7. See also ACIM Lesson 101 Insights.)

The fact that separation from God’s Love has not occurred in truth is a central idea the Course is teaching us. It is the basis for complete release from the hell we experience in the world. Here loss and pain seem real and death inevitable.

Yet this can only seem to be real in a dream that denies the Love of our true Self. The image of a body in a dream is a mask the ego uses to hide the Son of God, our true Self, from our awareness. Yet only our true Self is real, can never change nor be harmed.

Today we remind ourselves that God’s Will for us is perfect happiness because He has never ceased to share His joy with His Son. We remain Love as Love created us. This is our changeless Reality. As we remind ourselves frequently of this fact today, we weaken our investment in a false identity and open our minds to our reality as God’s Love.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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