Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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The Fast Route to Love’s Oneness

Everyone has experienced what he would call a sense of being transported beyond himself. This feeling of liberation far exceeds the dream of freedom sometimes hoped for in special relationships. It is a sense of actual escape from limitations. If you will consider what this “transportation” really entails, you will realize that it is a sudden unawareness of the body, and a joining of yourself and something else in which your mind enlarges to encompass it. It becomes part of you, as you unite with it. And both become whole, as neither is perceived as separate. What really happens is that you have given up the illusion of a limited awareness, and lost your fear of union. The love that instantly replaces it extends to what has freed you, and unites with it. And while this lasts you are not uncertain of your Identity, and would not limit It. You have escaped from fear to peace, asking no questions of reality, but merely accepting it. You have accepted this instead of the body, and have let yourself be one with something beyond it, simply by not letting your mind be limited by [the body]. (A Course in Miracles, T-18.VI.11. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

The one Mind that we all share is the Mind of Love (God). The body was made to limit Mind and thus is an attempt to limit or deny Love. The ego thought system of separation is the denial of the oneness of Love. The way to accelerate our awakening to Love is to let go of the barriers to Love’s presence.

Forgiveness is the means to let go of perceptions that appear to separate us and make guilt and fear seem real. As we practice forgiveness and let go of divisive beliefs, we open the door to the experience of holy instants. The practice of applying the lessons of A Course in Miracles is the accelerated path for the return to Love’s Oneness.

The presence of guilt or lack of peace is simply an indicator that we are believing in a false image of our self. It is a reminder to ask the Holy Spirit for help to correct this mistaken belief. Today we dedicate to joining with the Holy Spirit, our true Self, to let Its Light shine upon our mistaken beliefs to show us the truth of our unity with Love.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Gift of Love’s Vision

Christ’s vision is the bridge between the worlds. And in its power can you safely trust to carry you from this world into one made holy by forgiveness. Things which seem quite solid here are merely shadows there; transparent, faintly seen, at times forgot, and never able to obscure the light that shines beyond them. Holiness has been restored to vision, and the blind can see.

This is the Holy Spirit’s single gift; the treasure house to which you can appeal with perfect certainty for all the things that can contribute to your happiness.

Behold the store of miracles set out for you to give. Are you not worth the gift, when God appointed it be given you? Judge not God’s Son, but follow in the way He has established. Christ has dreamed the dream of a forgiven world. It is His gift, whereby a sweet transition can be made from death to life; from hopelessness to hope. Let us an instant dream with Him. His dream awakens us to truth. His vision gives the means for a return to our unlost and everlasting sanctity in God. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 159, W-pI.159.5:1-6:1;10. See also ACIM Lesson 159 Insights.)

Christ’s vision sees past appearances of sin and guilt to the holiness of God’s Son in everyone. Christ’s vision sees what Love sees. It sees only innocence. This is the vision that heals our minds and all our perceptions. It is the vision of forgiveness because Love does not condemn and sees only Itself.

We open our minds to Christ’s vision by asking, “How would Love see this? How would Love respond to this perception?” As we accept Love’s answer to these questions, the guilt that used to be our companion fades away. Hopelessness and sadness are replaced by joy and peace. The world we experience is transformed into the perception of the real world, the forgiven world. This practice is a gift we give ourselves.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Releasing Ourselves from the Ego’s Hell

What can correct illusions but the truth? And what are errors but illusions that remain unrecognized for what they are? Where truth has entered errors disappear. They merely vanish, leaving not a trace by which to be remembered. [Illusions] are gone because, without belief, they have no life. And so they disappear to nothingness, returning whence they came. From dust to dust they come and go, for only truth remains.

Try to remember when there was a time… when nothing came to interrupt your peace; when you were certain you were loved and safe.

Without illusions there could be no fear, no doubt and no attack. When truth has come all pain is over, for there is no room for transitory thoughts and dead ideas to linger in your mind. Truth occupies your mind completely, liberating you from all beliefs in the ephemeral [illusions]. They have no place because the truth has come, and they are nowhere. They can not be found, for truth is everywhere forever, now.

Begin by asking Him [your Self] Who goes with you upon this undertaking that He be in your awareness as you go with Him.

You speak to Him today, and make your pledge to let His function be fulfilled through you. To share His function is to share His joy. His confidence is with you, as you say:

Truth will correct all errors in my mind,
And I will rest in Him Who is my Self.

Then let Him lead you gently to the truth, which will envelop you and give you peace so deep and tranquil that you will return to the familiar world reluctantly.

And yet you will be glad to look again upon this world. For you will bring with you the promise of the changes which the truth that goes with you will carry to the world. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 107, W-pI.107.1;2:3;3:2-7;8:1;9:2-10:2. See also ACIM Lesson 107 Insights.)

The transition from the fear, doubt and pain we experience in the world to a life of peace, joy and certain safety happens entirely in our mind where our true Self abides. If we make the unequivocal commitment to identify with our true Self, the appearances of the world will fade away. Illusions disappear in the presence of Truth.

Today we commit to following the lead of our true Self, for we would be released from the ego thought system of separation and return to the truth of Love’s Oneness.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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A Day of Profound Fulfillment

Let the invisible unity of which you are a part be the guiding influence in your life. Life lived as the Whole rather than as a separate part, is perfectly fulfilling. You are the Whole; you contain and are contained by everything. There is nothing that is not your Mind.

Apparently separate existence is but a dream you are dreaming. While you continue to sleep, the dream seems real, much as your nightly dreams seem real until you awake. Then you see clearly that you were dreaming and you do not mistake those dreams for reality. When you awake from the sleep of ignorance, you will know that the world you see and everything in it was nothing more than a passing dream that is now over. The spiritual sun is rising, and its Light shines away the darkness of the long night’s sleep. Step forward into the Light and take your rightful place as the Christ, God’s holy Creation. Even now you are the Christ as you have always been. The dream cannot affect your Reality, only your awareness of It. (From the Christ Mind Book II, p. 173)

The Whole of Reality is Love and nothing else. When we identify with Love, we are identifying with all that is Real. When we accept that we are united with the Whole, containing and contained by It, we see the truth in everyone as one with us in the unity of the Whole. We join with the Love that unifies us as Christ in the Mind of God. We see past the appearances in the dream of separation. The Love that we are joins freely and without limit with the Love that is everyone.

Our hearts are filled with joy, for we are fulfilling our sole purpose to extend Love. We dedicate today to letting Love guide our vision, our thoughts, our words and our actions. With Love as our Guide, it will be a day of blessing and profound fulfillment.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Pillars That Uphold the Ego

[It] is [the purpose of the laws of chaos] to make meaningless, and to attack the truth. Here are the laws that rule the world you made. And yet they govern nothing, and need not be broken; merely looked upon and gone beyond.

The first chaotic law is that the truth is different for everyone. Like all these principles, this one maintains that each is separate and has a different set of thoughts that set him off from others.

The second law of chaos, dear indeed to every worshipper of sin, is that each one must sin, and therefore deserves attack and death. This principle, closely related to the first, is the demand that errors call for punishment and not correction.”

[T]he third preposterous belief… seems to make chaos eternal. For if God cannot be mistaken, He must accept His Son’s belief in what he is, and hate him for it.

See how the fear of God is reinforced by this third principle.

The ego values only what it takes. This leads to the fourth law of chaos, which, if the others are accepted, must be true. This seeming law is the belief you have what you have taken. By this, another’s loss becomes your gain, and thus it fails to recognize that you can never take away save from yourself.

[A] final principle… holds there is a substitute for love [fear]. This is the magic that will cure all of your pain; the missing factor in your madness that makes it “sane.”

[Fear]… is lifted to the throne of love…

Life not in Heaven is impossible, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven, only the conflict of illusion stands; senseless, impossible and beyond all reason, and yet perceived as an eternal barrier to Heaven. Illusions are but forms. Their content is never true.

How can you know whether you chose the stairs to Heaven or the way to hell? Quite easily. How do you feel? Is peace in your awareness? Are you certain which way you go? And are you sure the goal of Heaven can be reached? If not, you walk alone. Ask, then, your Friend to join with you, and give you certainty of where you go. (A Course in Miracles, T-23.II. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

It is helpful to know that the seeming stability and permanence of the ego is based on chaos. It makes it clear that the ego cannot be trusted, for it is as safe as quicksand. Do we really want to build the foundation of our “life” on quicksand? To do so is insanity.

We need to learn the hidden pillars of the ego thought system we have been using as the basis for all our perceptions. As we learn that our perceptions are based on insane beliefs, we take an important step to release ourselves from the ego’s illusions.

Knowing that our uncertainty, unhappiness, fear and guilt come from interpretations based on insane beliefs helps us know the symptoms that are flags warning us to turn to the Holy Spirit for help. We have a Friend Whose purpose is to guide us up the stairs to Heaven. We take His Hand today.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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From Fear to Love

If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy. But because it is meaningless, you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be. It is this you see in [the world]. It is this that is meaningless in truth. Beneath your words [thoughts] is written the Word of God. The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see His. That is the ultimate purpose of these exercises.

Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated ones. It represents a situation in which God and the ego “challenge” each other as to whose meaning is to be written in the empty space that meaninglessness provides. The ego rushes in frantically to establish its own ideas there, fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own impotence and unreality. And on this alone it is correct.

It is essential, therefore, that you learn to recognize the meaningless, and accept it without fear. If you are fearful, it is certain that you will endow the world with attributes that it does not possess, and crowd it with images that do not exist. To the ego illusions are safety devices, as they must also be to you who equate yourself with the ego. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 12, W-pI.12.5:3-6 & 13.2-3. See also ACIM Lesson 12 Insights.)

Since only God’s Love is real, the appearance of anything other than the oneness of Love must be illusion. Illusions have no meaning of their own. We can only perceive illusions if we believe that we are outside of and separate from God’s Love. This belief is the core of the ego thought system of separation. By equating ourselves with the ego, we believe we are in a world without God’s Love. This belief puts us in a constant state of fear (lack of Love).

The ego assigns its own meaning to make illusions seem meaningful and capable of having an effect. It is this we experience when we equate ourselves with the ego. But this experience is based on belief in what could never be true. To experience the indescribable joy God has given us, we must let go of believing that anything the ego offers is true.

We begin the process of letting go of the ego by reminding ourselves that what we see in the world is meaningless. The next step is to ask the Holy Spirit to show us what is truly meaningful beyond the appearances that we have believed in. As we open to the Holy Spirit’s lessons, the appearances of the world become less disturbing because we become more aware of the certainty of God’s changeless Love in us and everyone. With practice, we will see the world more consistently with the Holy Spirit’s vision. We will experience greater peace and happiness. We are worthy of this practice.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Learning to See Our Innocence

Remember always that it is impossible to condemn the Son of God in part. Those whom you see as guilty become the witnesses to guilt in you, and you will see it there, for it is there until it is undone. Guilt is always in your mind, which has condemned itself. Project it not, for while you do, it cannot be undone. With everyone whom you release from guilt great is the joy in Heaven, where the witnesses to your fatherhood rejoice.

Do not be afraid to look within. The ego tells you all is black with guilt within you, and bids you not to look. Instead, it bids you look upon your brothers, and see the guilt in them. Yet this you cannot do without remaining blind. For those who see their brothers in the dark, and guilty in the dark in which they shroud them, are too afraid to look upon the light within. Within you is not what you believe is there, and what you put your faith in. Within you is the holy sign of perfect faith your Father has in you. He does not value you as you do. He knows Himself, and knows the truth in you. He knows there is no difference, for He knows not of differences. Can you see guilt where God knows there is perfect innocence? You can deny His knowledge, but you cannot change it. Look, then, upon the light He placed within you, and learn that what you feared was there has been replaced with love. (A Course in Miracles, T-13.IX.6:5-9;8:1-13. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

When we choose to identify with the ego image of our self, a body and personality, we devalue our self. We are identifying with an illusion that is nothing. When we accept the Self that God knows us to be, we accept our true value. Our one Self is all that is real and all that is valuable.

We accept our Self by letting go of identifying with the ego. Forgiveness is the way we let go of the false beliefs that tie us to the ego thought system. The ego thought system proclaims our guilt by showing us what perceptions of guilt in others. This is the ego’s mechanism for hiding the guilt we believe is in us. As we practice letting the Holy Spirit help us forgive the guilt perceived in others, we release the guilt we believe is in us.

As we succeed in forgiving others, the ego has another ploy. It turns the guilt on ourselves. Now we become the tarnished ones who are to blame for all our pain and sorrow. But God sees only innocence in us, so believing we are guilty at all is a mistake to be corrected. We must let the Holy Spirit help us forgive ourselves. This is how we will learn to see the Light of innocence in us that God knows is there.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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