"Cure" is a word that cannot be applied to any remedy the world accepts. What the world perceives as therapeutic is only what will make the "body" better. The body is an illusion. "Healing" is an illusion within the illusion. Perfection/Heaven/Love requires no healing. The body could never be hurt in any way unless the mind instructs it to be. Sickness is not of the body, but of the mind. It is the mind that requires healing.
My body is neither sick nor healed.....I merely dream that I am sick, and in the dream I may find a magic formula to make me well, whether it be a pill, surgery, radiation, therapy, etc. The world's "healing" can make only the body seem to improve, but again, it is not the body which requires healing. Whether or not the body is healed makes no difference because either way, the mind has not Awakened from the dream and remains exactly as it was before.....I still have not seen the Light that would Awaken me and end the dream. What difference does the content of a dream make in Reality? I am either asleep in a dream or Awake in Reality. There is nothing in between.
God's Holy Lessons bring happy dreams. Forgiveness does not let the mind perceive another form of sleep. Happy dreams are signs of the dawning of Truth upon my mind. They lead from sleep to a gentle waking, where dreams are gone forever. God's Lessons cure for all Eternity. The mind which understands that sickness is nothing but a dream is not deceived by the many forms the dream takes. Sickness is guilt made physical. Where guilt is absent, there can be no sickness. God's Plan does not heal "sickness," it takes away the guilt that makes sickness possible, and that is cure indeed and for all Eternity.
God is blocked from the mind preoccupied with dreams of sin, death, and guilt. Yet there is no place where God isl not. I am Safe in Heaven, dreaming of separation from God. And while I cherish the dream, God seems lost to me.
Only the mind needs "healing," or Awakening. When the mind is healed, the dream has disappeared. Today I practice changing my mind about what it is I desire. Do I desire dreams which bring me nothing, or do I desire to return to my Father and my Reality in Love, Happiness, Joy, Unity, and Peace for All Eternity? Do I desire death, destruction, boredom, restlessness, sadness, and separation from those I love? Or do I want the dead to rise, destruction turned to Wholeness, boredom and restlessness replaced with Peace, sadness turned to Joy, and separation to disappear into Unity?
In the dream, I do not know what I want. I search and search and keep searching. ACIM is a Course in mind training. My mind is dreaming a dream of separation, and it wanders in chaos and insanity. Today I will try to find the Source of healing, which is in my mind because my Father placed it there as soon as my thoughts began to wander. Healing is as near to me as my own thoughts. I only need look for it and it will be found. It cannot fail to be found. "Seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened to you, Matthew 7:7."
I will not be misled by dreams. Today I go beyond "appearances" reaching the Source of healing which God placed in my mind. I will lay aside my amulets, charms, medicines, chants and bits of magic in whatever form they take. I will be still and listen for the Voice of healing. When my mind is healed, the world will heal. It is only my mind which needs healing, for there is nothing outside of it. Mind is the only Reality. When illusions end, Peace returns to the sleeping mind, which remains at Home in the Eternal, Stillness of God.
Let God speak to me five minutes as the day begins and as the day ends, and every hour in between. I am learning to prepare my mind to lay illusions aside. I ask the Father to speak to me today, that I may be healed. I will feel salvation cover me with Soft Protection and a Peace so deep that no illusion can disturb my mind. This is the day when separation ends, and I remember Who I really Am.
"Speak to me Father, that I may be healed."
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Lesson 139 ~ I accept God's Plan for salvation.
What is choice except uncertainty of Who I Am? How could I be uncertain unless I have refused to recognize myself as God's Son? Only refusal to accept my True function as God's Son could even make the question of 'who am I?' seem sincere. Uncertainty about Who I Am is self-deception on a scale so vast, that its magnitude cannot be imagined. To be Alive and not know my Self is to believe I am dead....apart from Reality....apart from God. I imagine that I am not my Self, therefore, being something "else" I have to question what it is I am. Yet I could never be alive at all unless I knew the answer. I have embraced a fantasy world for an experience "apart from" God and I have become uncertain of Life.
It is from this insane fantasy world that I need salvation. My denial of Who I Am did not change in any way Who I Am. I am still the Son of God, Safe in Heaven with His Father. My mind is caught up in a fantasy of being apart from Heaven and the Pure Love that is my Reality. My mind seems to be split.
Salvation remedies the strange idea that it is possible to be unsure of who and what I really am. Being "unsure" is the depth of my madness. Yet it is the universal question of the "world." What does this mean except that the world is insane? I no longer have to share this insanity.
Nothing the "world" believes is true. The world is home to an insane fantasy. What I Am is Certain and far beyond all doubt and question. In salvation, I have a new mission. I will no longer reinforce the madness I once believed. Today I accept salvation, not to change "reality," but to simply accept the Truth about myself and go my way rejoicing in the Endless Love of God. I have not lost my knowledge of Heaven, nor my function as God's Son. I have just laid them aside to experience a fantasy of separation.
Twice today for longer periods and hourly in between, I will remind myself of my new function in the world of insanity. I will lay aside all thoughts that distract me from my Holy mission. Throughout the day I will let my mind be cleared of all foolish cobwebs which illusion would weave in my mind. I will learn the fragile nature of the chains that seem to keep me bound to insanity. Here is the end of choice. I accept salvation for myself and I will accept myself as God's Son, just as He created me to be.
"I accept God's Plan for salvation."
It is from this insane fantasy world that I need salvation. My denial of Who I Am did not change in any way Who I Am. I am still the Son of God, Safe in Heaven with His Father. My mind is caught up in a fantasy of being apart from Heaven and the Pure Love that is my Reality. My mind seems to be split.
Salvation remedies the strange idea that it is possible to be unsure of who and what I really am. Being "unsure" is the depth of my madness. Yet it is the universal question of the "world." What does this mean except that the world is insane? I no longer have to share this insanity.
Nothing the "world" believes is true. The world is home to an insane fantasy. What I Am is Certain and far beyond all doubt and question. In salvation, I have a new mission. I will no longer reinforce the madness I once believed. Today I accept salvation, not to change "reality," but to simply accept the Truth about myself and go my way rejoicing in the Endless Love of God. I have not lost my knowledge of Heaven, nor my function as God's Son. I have just laid them aside to experience a fantasy of separation.
Twice today for longer periods and hourly in between, I will remind myself of my new function in the world of insanity. I will lay aside all thoughts that distract me from my Holy mission. Throughout the day I will let my mind be cleared of all foolish cobwebs which illusion would weave in my mind. I will learn the fragile nature of the chains that seem to keep me bound to insanity. Here is the end of choice. I accept salvation for myself and I will accept myself as God's Son, just as He created me to be.
"I accept God's Plan for salvation."
Friday, March 29, 2013
Lesson 138 ~ Heaven is a decision I must make.
In the world of dreams I think all things have an opposite and what I want I choose. So if Heaven exists there must be hell as well, for opposition and contradiction are the way I created the world of illusion. I think opposition is part of being "real." It is this strange perception of "truth" makes the choice of Heaven seem to be the same as the relinquishment of hell. This is no so. What is True in God's Creation cannot be perceived in the world of dreams until it is presented in a form the world can understand. Truth cannot enter where it could only be perceived with fear. Opposites and opposition make Truth unwelcome.
"Choice" is the only escape from what appears to be a series of choices. I need to be reminded when I think a thousand choices are confronting me, that there is only one alternative from which to choose. This one alternative only seems to be a choice. For illusions are nothing and Heaven is All There Is. There is only one choice and when that one is made, I will understand that it was no choice at all but an Awakening to Reality. Truth is True, and nothing else is true. There is no opposite or contradiction in Truth. Heaven knows no opposite.
Decisions are outcomes of my learning and rest on what I have accepted as "truth." Choosing depends on learning and Truth cannot be learned only recognized. In this insanely complicated world, Heaven only appears to take the form of choice, rather than merely being What It Is. Of all choices, Heaven is the easiest. It is the decision which settles all decisions.
I created "time" to show me a world apart from Heaven. A world where hell is real, hope changes to despair, and life ends in death....in death alone are opposites resolved. In the world of dreams, death is seen as salvation, and life is seen as conflict, and resolving conflict is the end of life. "Salvation" is hell, and "heaven" is the end of all I know and love. These insane beliefs gain an unconscious hold of great intensity that grip my mind with terror and anxiety.
The lessons in the Course use "time" to Awaken me to Truth, which is the only good use of time. The choice for Heaven cannot be made until alternatives are accurately seen and understood for what they are. A world veiled in shadows must be judged again....this time with Heaven's Help. Truth dismisses all my "sins" and "mistakes," and their nothingness is recognized. Who can fail to make a choice between alternatives when only one is seen as Valuable and True?
Do I want insanity? Hate? Vengeance? Fear? Chaos? Turmoil? Death? Is this what I want in place of Heaven? "The world is not always like this," I try to rationalize. Yet, am I experiencing absolute Peace? Absolute, Lasting, Eternal Love and Joy? Am I One with All That Is, Safe and Secure?
The world of dreams holds no terror now, for what seemed enormous, vengeful, and pitiless with hate is now recognized as a foolish, trivial fantasy. I make the choice for Heaven today. I recognize that I make a conscious choice between what has Existence and Reality and what is nothing at all. Twice today for longer periods, and briefly each hour in between I will declare my choice for Heaven and Sanity. Heaven is a decision I must make. I make it now and will not change my mind, because It is the only thing I want.
"Heaven is my choice."
"Choice" is the only escape from what appears to be a series of choices. I need to be reminded when I think a thousand choices are confronting me, that there is only one alternative from which to choose. This one alternative only seems to be a choice. For illusions are nothing and Heaven is All There Is. There is only one choice and when that one is made, I will understand that it was no choice at all but an Awakening to Reality. Truth is True, and nothing else is true. There is no opposite or contradiction in Truth. Heaven knows no opposite.
Decisions are outcomes of my learning and rest on what I have accepted as "truth." Choosing depends on learning and Truth cannot be learned only recognized. In this insanely complicated world, Heaven only appears to take the form of choice, rather than merely being What It Is. Of all choices, Heaven is the easiest. It is the decision which settles all decisions.
I created "time" to show me a world apart from Heaven. A world where hell is real, hope changes to despair, and life ends in death....in death alone are opposites resolved. In the world of dreams, death is seen as salvation, and life is seen as conflict, and resolving conflict is the end of life. "Salvation" is hell, and "heaven" is the end of all I know and love. These insane beliefs gain an unconscious hold of great intensity that grip my mind with terror and anxiety.
The lessons in the Course use "time" to Awaken me to Truth, which is the only good use of time. The choice for Heaven cannot be made until alternatives are accurately seen and understood for what they are. A world veiled in shadows must be judged again....this time with Heaven's Help. Truth dismisses all my "sins" and "mistakes," and their nothingness is recognized. Who can fail to make a choice between alternatives when only one is seen as Valuable and True?
Do I want insanity? Hate? Vengeance? Fear? Chaos? Turmoil? Death? Is this what I want in place of Heaven? "The world is not always like this," I try to rationalize. Yet, am I experiencing absolute Peace? Absolute, Lasting, Eternal Love and Joy? Am I One with All That Is, Safe and Secure?
The world of dreams holds no terror now, for what seemed enormous, vengeful, and pitiless with hate is now recognized as a foolish, trivial fantasy. I make the choice for Heaven today. I recognize that I make a conscious choice between what has Existence and Reality and what is nothing at all. Twice today for longer periods, and briefly each hour in between I will declare my choice for Heaven and Sanity. Heaven is a decision I must make. I make it now and will not change my mind, because It is the only thing I want.
"Heaven is my choice."
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Lesson 137 ~ When my mind heals, the world heals.
Sickness is a retreat and a shutting off from others; it is a door that closes on a separate self, keeping it isolated and alone. Sickness is isolation. It seems to keep one self apart from all the rest, to suffer what "others" do not feel. It gives the body final power to make separation real and keep the mind in a solitary prison, split apart and held in pieces by a solid wall of sickened flesh.
The world of illusion obeys the laws that sickness serves. Sickness witnesses to a world apart from God, for in sickness am I apart and separate. Sickness proves that the separation from God is "true."
My eyes are accustomed to illusions and must be shown by One Who Knows that what they see is false. Healing, never needed by the Truth, must demonstrate that sickness is not Real.
Healing, too, is an illusion within the illusion. It cancels out the dream of sickness in the name of Truth. But Truth Itself does not need healing. Just as forgiveness overlooks sins that never were, healing dispels illusions that never happened. Healing offers restitution for imagined states and false ideas with dreams embroidered into pictures of "truth." Healing operates apart from the laws of the world. Healing demonstrates Truth. To be healed is to accept the simple Truth that I am not separated from God, nor lost in a world of dreams.
The anti-Christ is more powerful than Christ when I believe the world is real. The body seems to be more solid and stable than the mind; Love becomes a dream, while fear remains the one "reality" that can be seen and justified and fully understood.
Just as forgiveness shines away all sin, healing replaces fantasies of sickness. When sickness disappears in spite of all the "laws" that claim it real, then questions have been answered and the world's laws can no longer be cherished nor obeyed.
Healing is Freedom; for dreams will not prevail against Truth. Healing is a return to Oneness; for the world of dreams is separation, but God's Kingdom is United. Healing is Strength; for by its gentle hand is weakness and separation overcome.
Healing, forgiveness and the glad exchange of the world of sorrow and separation for a state of mind where sadness cannot enter, are the means by which God urges me to follow Him. His Gentle lessons teach me how easily salvation is mine. His Life becomes my own, as I give Him the little help He asks in freeing me from everything that ever caused me pain.
As I let myself be healed, "the world" that never was will seem to heal until it is no more. What is opposed to God does not exist. Here are all illusions brought to Truth. Ask the Inevitable to occur and I will never fail. Today I ask that only Truth occupy my mind and that thoughts of healing will be mine today. I will remember as each hour passes to let my mind be healed. I will exchange every curse for a blessing, pain for Joy, and separation for the Peace of God. Is not a minute of every hour worth giving to receive a Gift like this? Is not a small fraction of nothing a small price to pay for the Gift of Everything?
Yet I must be prepared for such a Gift. Twice today, morning and evening, I will take ten minutes to think thoughts of healing. When my mind heals, that healing will be reflected from the world that seems "outside" me. I am God's Son, Safe in Heaven, dreaming of exile to a world of fantasy apart from Him. I will accept healing this very day. Then I will rest in quiet, to be prepared to receive the Word of God in place of all the foolish thoughts that were ever imagined. For all attack, I offer a blessing. Bless all I seem to see; bless all those who seem to be outside myself for as I heal, they are healed with me.
"When my mind heals, the world heals."
The world of illusion obeys the laws that sickness serves. Sickness witnesses to a world apart from God, for in sickness am I apart and separate. Sickness proves that the separation from God is "true."
My eyes are accustomed to illusions and must be shown by One Who Knows that what they see is false. Healing, never needed by the Truth, must demonstrate that sickness is not Real.
Healing, too, is an illusion within the illusion. It cancels out the dream of sickness in the name of Truth. But Truth Itself does not need healing. Just as forgiveness overlooks sins that never were, healing dispels illusions that never happened. Healing offers restitution for imagined states and false ideas with dreams embroidered into pictures of "truth." Healing operates apart from the laws of the world. Healing demonstrates Truth. To be healed is to accept the simple Truth that I am not separated from God, nor lost in a world of dreams.
The anti-Christ is more powerful than Christ when I believe the world is real. The body seems to be more solid and stable than the mind; Love becomes a dream, while fear remains the one "reality" that can be seen and justified and fully understood.
Just as forgiveness shines away all sin, healing replaces fantasies of sickness. When sickness disappears in spite of all the "laws" that claim it real, then questions have been answered and the world's laws can no longer be cherished nor obeyed.
Healing is Freedom; for dreams will not prevail against Truth. Healing is a return to Oneness; for the world of dreams is separation, but God's Kingdom is United. Healing is Strength; for by its gentle hand is weakness and separation overcome.
Healing, forgiveness and the glad exchange of the world of sorrow and separation for a state of mind where sadness cannot enter, are the means by which God urges me to follow Him. His Gentle lessons teach me how easily salvation is mine. His Life becomes my own, as I give Him the little help He asks in freeing me from everything that ever caused me pain.
As I let myself be healed, "the world" that never was will seem to heal until it is no more. What is opposed to God does not exist. Here are all illusions brought to Truth. Ask the Inevitable to occur and I will never fail. Today I ask that only Truth occupy my mind and that thoughts of healing will be mine today. I will remember as each hour passes to let my mind be healed. I will exchange every curse for a blessing, pain for Joy, and separation for the Peace of God. Is not a minute of every hour worth giving to receive a Gift like this? Is not a small fraction of nothing a small price to pay for the Gift of Everything?
Yet I must be prepared for such a Gift. Twice today, morning and evening, I will take ten minutes to think thoughts of healing. When my mind heals, that healing will be reflected from the world that seems "outside" me. I am God's Son, Safe in Heaven, dreaming of exile to a world of fantasy apart from Him. I will accept healing this very day. Then I will rest in quiet, to be prepared to receive the Word of God in place of all the foolish thoughts that were ever imagined. For all attack, I offer a blessing. Bless all I seem to see; bless all those who seem to be outside myself for as I heal, they are healed with me.
"When my mind heals, the world heals."
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Lesson 136 ~ Illusions hide Truth.
Sickness is not an accident. Like all defenses it is an illusory device for self-deception. And like the rest, its purpose is to hide, attack, change, or distort Reality. I can look at all defenses as a secret, magic wand I wave when Truth appears to interrupt the illusion. Defenses seem to be unconscious because of the rapidity with which I choose to use them. All this is done consciously, but the plan for the "world-apart-from-God" requires that I forget. All I seem to see outside myself and all the effects of what I seem to see are created by ME. I am not at the mercy of anything beyond my control. I am creating all I see.
Sickness is a decision. War, destruction, natural disasters, broken relationships, death....are all created by me to "prove" and reinforce the illusion that I am "apart from" God/Love/Happiness/Joy/Life/Truth. They do not just 'happen,' they are choices I make to prove to me that I can suffer...my heart can stop...my limbs can break...I can die and cease to be. Illusion seems to be stronger than Truth. Truth wills that I live and that I be Happy, Joyful, Peaceful, Unified and in a State of Heaven with my Father. The world I created outside myself witnesses to my desire to experience a world apart from Heaven. In Reality it is not possible for me to be apart from God. Yet, in dreams and fantasies, anything is possible. Part of me knows my Reality in Heaven, while it engages wholeheartedly in illusion. Like a child playing a game of war, he knows he is safe with his parents, yet he must forget to make his playing "real" to him.
Truth merely bestows Happiness, for this is its purpose. "Time" lets me think that what God has given me is not the truth right now. What God Wills is here right now and I remain God's Son just as He created me to be. I am Safe in Heaven, dreaming of exile.
No illusion can remain when Truth is allowed to enter. Truth is found at any time; today, if I choose to welcome It. This is my aim today. I will give 15 minutes twice today to welcome Truth. And Truth will come, for It has never been apart from me. It merely waits for my choice...my invitation. Healing will flash across an open mind, as Peace and Truth arise to replace illusions. The body only does what the mind tells it to, as does everything in the dream. When my mind begins to heal, that healing will be reflected back to me from the world while I continue to see "a world."
The body should feel nothing at all. Because it is an illusion, it can feel neither pain nor pleasure, ill nor well. The body itself and all that seems to happen to the body ~all that seems to happen in the world ~ is taking place only in my mind. Sickness, death and destruction are impossible. I am God's Son in Heaven with my Father right now...off in the corner, playing with my little toy soldiers. I am surrounded by Peace, Love, Joy, Unity, Happiness and Serenity. Yet while I choose to dream a dream, I seem to be part of that dream.
I have forgotten who and where I am. I think I am in a body, in a world of death. The dream hides Truth. I am the Son of God, Safe with His Father, Whole and Happy. All thoughts of death, destruction, envy, jealousy, sadness, impatience and anxiety hide Truth. I will replace thoughts of insanity with Thoughts of Truth:
"Illusions hide Truth."
Sickness is a decision. War, destruction, natural disasters, broken relationships, death....are all created by me to "prove" and reinforce the illusion that I am "apart from" God/Love/Happiness/Joy/Life/Truth. They do not just 'happen,' they are choices I make to prove to me that I can suffer...my heart can stop...my limbs can break...I can die and cease to be. Illusion seems to be stronger than Truth. Truth wills that I live and that I be Happy, Joyful, Peaceful, Unified and in a State of Heaven with my Father. The world I created outside myself witnesses to my desire to experience a world apart from Heaven. In Reality it is not possible for me to be apart from God. Yet, in dreams and fantasies, anything is possible. Part of me knows my Reality in Heaven, while it engages wholeheartedly in illusion. Like a child playing a game of war, he knows he is safe with his parents, yet he must forget to make his playing "real" to him.
Truth merely bestows Happiness, for this is its purpose. "Time" lets me think that what God has given me is not the truth right now. What God Wills is here right now and I remain God's Son just as He created me to be. I am Safe in Heaven, dreaming of exile.
No illusion can remain when Truth is allowed to enter. Truth is found at any time; today, if I choose to welcome It. This is my aim today. I will give 15 minutes twice today to welcome Truth. And Truth will come, for It has never been apart from me. It merely waits for my choice...my invitation. Healing will flash across an open mind, as Peace and Truth arise to replace illusions. The body only does what the mind tells it to, as does everything in the dream. When my mind begins to heal, that healing will be reflected back to me from the world while I continue to see "a world."
The body should feel nothing at all. Because it is an illusion, it can feel neither pain nor pleasure, ill nor well. The body itself and all that seems to happen to the body ~all that seems to happen in the world ~ is taking place only in my mind. Sickness, death and destruction are impossible. I am God's Son in Heaven with my Father right now...off in the corner, playing with my little toy soldiers. I am surrounded by Peace, Love, Joy, Unity, Happiness and Serenity. Yet while I choose to dream a dream, I seem to be part of that dream.
I have forgotten who and where I am. I think I am in a body, in a world of death. The dream hides Truth. I am the Son of God, Safe with His Father, Whole and Happy. All thoughts of death, destruction, envy, jealousy, sadness, impatience and anxiety hide Truth. I will replace thoughts of insanity with Thoughts of Truth:
"Illusions hide Truth."
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Lesson 135 ~ I need no defense.
I defend myself when I believe I am attacked (by judgment or hatred, etc). I defend myself when I believe an attack is real and I think that my own plan of defense could save me. Defense gives illusions full reality, and when I believe illusions are real I feel I must protect myself. This is the problem when I go on the defensive: I add illusions to illusions, making salvation doubly difficult for myself. When I plan for the future, recall problems or guilt from the past, or attempt to organize the present into a safe, tidy manageable bundle.......I am "defending" myself against attack in some form; be it chaos, guilt, anxiety, worry, boredom, etc. I operate from the belief that I must protect myself from what is happening because it likely contains something that will threaten my peace of mind in some way. Perceiving a sense of threat is an acknowledgment of myself as a body apart from God, living in a world of dreams. I obviously do not perceive myself as the Son of God Safe in Heaven, so it is important that I change my mind about who and where I think I am.
The "world apart from God" is based on the insane belief that there exists a world outside me and I am a spirit confined to a body. All the world's structures, thoughts, doubts, penalties, legal definitions, codes, ethics, leaders and gods all serve to preserve a sense of threat and "irrefutable evidence" that I live in a world apart from God. I walk the world in a defensive mode believing terror will strike at some point.
Defense stems from fear, with fear increasing as more defenses are made. I think defense offers me safety, yet it makes fear and terror ever more real. As I plan my defense, I never stop to ask myself, "what exactly am I defending myself against?"
The dream of a world apart from God is first and foremost in my mind, yet I will learn to think differently in order to Awaken to Reality. The Son of God needs no defense because He is Safe in Heaven with His Father. Yet while I believe I am apart from God, subject to death and destruction, hurt feelings, embarrassment, shame, humiliation and limited in a body that can die and decay, I will feel the need to protect myself.
The body is nothing, and nothing outside myself exists. The body has no needs except for those I assign to it. It needs no complicated health structures of defense, no health-inducing medicine, no care and no concern at all. When I am consumed with the needs of the body, I am reinforcing the dream and telling myself that I am weak, limited and subject to death. Is this picture not fearful? Can I possibly be at peace with this concept of "reality?"
It is my mind which gave my body all the functions that I see in it, and I set its value far beyond the little pile of dust that it is. God's Kingdom needs no defense, but my world of ashes is so weak, small and limited that I feel I must defend it.
The body and the world are in need of no defense. I cannot emphasize this to myself too often. The body and the world perform the functions my mind tells them to. A mind engaged in planning for itself is the means by which a frightened ego protects itself. The "self" that seems to need protection is not real. It is my mind that needs healing. And when my mind heals, this healing will be reflected back to me from the world. A healed mind does not plan. It carries out the plans that it receives by listening to Wisdom that is not its own. It waits until it has been taught what should be done, then proceeds to do it. I will not depend on myself for anything, except my willingness to do what God's Voice tells me to do. The Father will never oppose the Will of the Son. If I desire to see illusions and insanity, that is what I will perceive. The Father merely waits until I make the choice for Reality.
The mind that plans is refusing to allow for change. Step back and allow One Who Knows to Gently lead the way. God never offers His Son pain, but my defenses will not let me see His Loving Blessing. I make plans for death, yet God leads me Gently to Eternal Life.
My only defense needs to be a present belief in Truth. I do not need to prepare or make plans for my salvation. It is already done for me. I only need to lay down my defenses, put away my plans and practice the lessons in mind training that I am given, leading me on toward Happiness. Truth will rush in where an empty space has been created in my mind by laying aside illusions.
If there are plans to make, I will be told of them. Heaven asks nothing of me, only that I be Happy. Only the dream of hell makes extravagant demands for sacrifice. Today I will rise from what was seeming death and hopelessness. The Light of Hope is reborn in me. My function in Heaven is to be God's Beloved Son. While I dream the dream of madness, my only function is to forgive it.
Today I will not make plans or try to organize my day. I cannot imagine the Happiness that will come to me without any planning at all on my part. Throughout the day, I will replace worldly thoughts with Truth.
"I need no defense."
If there are plans to make, I will be told of them. Heaven asks nothing of me, only that I be Happy. Only the dream of hell makes extravagant demands for sacrifice. Today I will rise from what was seeming death and hopelessness. The Light of Hope is reborn in me. My function in Heaven is to be God's Beloved Son. While I dream the dream of madness, my only function is to forgive it.
Today I will not make plans or try to organize my day. I cannot imagine the Happiness that will come to me without any planning at all on my part. Throughout the day, I will replace worldly thoughts with Truth.
"I need no defense."
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Lesson 133 ~ I will not value what is valueless.
I do not ask too much of life, but far too little. When I let my mind be drawn to bodily concerns, I ask for sorrow, not happiness. Salvation does not attempt to take from me the little I have; nor does it try to substitute lofty ideas for the few satisfactions the world seems to contain. There are no satisfactions in the world.
Today I learn of real criteria by which to judge all things I think I want. Unless they meet these requirements, they are not worth desiring at all. God does not force salvation on me. I do the choosing. Indeed, I must. And when I choose, I must learn about the laws I set in motion, as well as my Real and only alternative of choice.
The lessons in this Course have already stressed there are only two alternatives, however many choices there seem to be: Heaven or hell; Love or fear; Reality or illusions. Knowing this saves eons of "time."
Secondly, there is no compromise in what my choice will bring me. My choice gives All or nothing. If I choose illusions, I will not get "a little bit of Heaven" and some illusions; I will experience fully the illusory world. Reality and illusions are not compatible. Whatever I choose encompasses my mind thoroughly. What fades and dies was never there and I have been deceived by nothing in a form I think I like. A temporary value is without value of any kind. "Time" can never take away what is Real.
Next, if I choose to take something away from someone else, I will have nothing left. When I deny my brother's right to Everything, I deny my own and I will not recognize Reality, denying that It is there. Loss only offers loss and nothing more. If one loses, all lose.
Then, if I feel any guilt about my choice, I can recognize that I have allowed ego to interfere. Again, there are only two alternatives from which to choose. Salvation makes choosing easy. The dream always brings complexity and confusion.
In the world of illusion my mistakes appear as "sins" to me, because I look upon the tarnish as my own; the rust a sign of deep unworthiness within me. Yet the Course tells me I have been mistaken about who and where I am. In the dream it seems I am a spirit within a body in a world that ends in destruction or death. The Course tells me I am the Son of God, Safe in Heaven with my Father, dreaming of exile to a world "apart from" Heaven. The complexity of the world is merely a smoke screen hiding the simple fact that every choice I make is easy and no decision is difficult. All things are Valuable or valueless, Worthy or not, entirely Desirable or not worth the slightest effort.
Heaven is reached with empty hands and an open mind. I come with nothing to find Everything and claim It as my own. I will attempt to reach this State today, with self-deception laid aside and with honest willingness to value only what is Truly Valuable and Real.
This is a Course in mind training. My mind has been undisciplined and lacking in a True goal; it has wandered off to experience a world "apart from" the Father. There is nothing apart from the Father. I have been flitting from one sparkly promise of pseudo-happiness to the next. True and lasting Happiness comes from my Reality with my Father. I do not "die" to gain salvation, I Awaken to the Heaven that is all around me but which I do not see.
For 15 minutes, twice today I repeat today's lesson. I seek only what has Value. My desire is not for a world of sadness and sorrow, or some fleeting happiness that leads to death. My desire is for what is Real and Eternal. When I seek Truth, I will find It. In fact, I cannot fail to find It, for It will rush to meet me.
I will use today's lesson on all that burdens me or any difficult decisions I face. Any time I seem upset, annoyed, angered, impatient or anxious, I will be quick to answer with today's simple lesson.
"I will not value what is valueless."
Today I learn of real criteria by which to judge all things I think I want. Unless they meet these requirements, they are not worth desiring at all. God does not force salvation on me. I do the choosing. Indeed, I must. And when I choose, I must learn about the laws I set in motion, as well as my Real and only alternative of choice.
The lessons in this Course have already stressed there are only two alternatives, however many choices there seem to be: Heaven or hell; Love or fear; Reality or illusions. Knowing this saves eons of "time."
Secondly, there is no compromise in what my choice will bring me. My choice gives All or nothing. If I choose illusions, I will not get "a little bit of Heaven" and some illusions; I will experience fully the illusory world. Reality and illusions are not compatible. Whatever I choose encompasses my mind thoroughly. What fades and dies was never there and I have been deceived by nothing in a form I think I like. A temporary value is without value of any kind. "Time" can never take away what is Real.
Next, if I choose to take something away from someone else, I will have nothing left. When I deny my brother's right to Everything, I deny my own and I will not recognize Reality, denying that It is there. Loss only offers loss and nothing more. If one loses, all lose.
Then, if I feel any guilt about my choice, I can recognize that I have allowed ego to interfere. Again, there are only two alternatives from which to choose. Salvation makes choosing easy. The dream always brings complexity and confusion.
In the world of illusion my mistakes appear as "sins" to me, because I look upon the tarnish as my own; the rust a sign of deep unworthiness within me. Yet the Course tells me I have been mistaken about who and where I am. In the dream it seems I am a spirit within a body in a world that ends in destruction or death. The Course tells me I am the Son of God, Safe in Heaven with my Father, dreaming of exile to a world "apart from" Heaven. The complexity of the world is merely a smoke screen hiding the simple fact that every choice I make is easy and no decision is difficult. All things are Valuable or valueless, Worthy or not, entirely Desirable or not worth the slightest effort.
Heaven is reached with empty hands and an open mind. I come with nothing to find Everything and claim It as my own. I will attempt to reach this State today, with self-deception laid aside and with honest willingness to value only what is Truly Valuable and Real.
This is a Course in mind training. My mind has been undisciplined and lacking in a True goal; it has wandered off to experience a world "apart from" the Father. There is nothing apart from the Father. I have been flitting from one sparkly promise of pseudo-happiness to the next. True and lasting Happiness comes from my Reality with my Father. I do not "die" to gain salvation, I Awaken to the Heaven that is all around me but which I do not see.
For 15 minutes, twice today I repeat today's lesson. I seek only what has Value. My desire is not for a world of sadness and sorrow, or some fleeting happiness that leads to death. My desire is for what is Real and Eternal. When I seek Truth, I will find It. In fact, I cannot fail to find It, for It will rush to meet me.
I will use today's lesson on all that burdens me or any difficult decisions I face. Any time I seem upset, annoyed, angered, impatient or anxious, I will be quick to answer with today's simple lesson.
"I will not value what is valueless."
Friday, March 22, 2013
Lesson 132 ~ I let go the world and all I thought it was.
The world is a fantasy in my mind and I choose fantasy over and over with each decision I make and each thought I think. What makes salvation easy is to realize that I choose only between Heaven and hell, Truth or illusion, Life or death. No matter what seems numerous and endless choices in the world. Even the thoughts I think in the world of illusions are not my Real Thoughts. My Real Thoughts are the ones I think with God. These lessons of Truth will bring me back on the road to Sanity. I can replace my insane thoughts with Thoughts of Truth offered in the Course lessons.
Belief is very powerful. The thoughts I hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is Truth. A madman thinks the world he sees is real and does not doubt what he sees. It is only when the source of madness and its effects are questioned that the hope of Freedom comes at last: The source of this madness is.....myself.
The world of illusion is complicated and chaotic. Yet salvation is easy. Salvation is as easy as making a different choice and thinking a different thought. I am free to change my mind. And when I change my mind all my thoughts change with it. Now the source of thought has shifted, for to change my mind means I have changed the source of all ideas I think, have ever thought, or will yet think. When I choose illusions my thoughts are ones of injustice, inequality, war, death, sadness. When I choose Heaven my thoughts turn to Joy, Peace, Love and Happiness; I free the past which never was and I free the future from all the things I will search for but never find.
The present now remains the only time. In the present my mind is set free. I have enslaved my mind with all my fears, doubts, miseries, pain, tears, sorrows and thoughts of death. The world is nothing. Only my mind gives it meaning, and what I see is what I wish to see: a world "apart from" God. Maybe I think I did not make the world, that I came unwillingly to what was already made....this is false.
All I need do is change my mind about what I want to see and all the world must change accordingly. Ideas do not leave their source. The world is an idea in my mind and only in my mind it remains. There is nothing and no one outside me. It is not pride and arrogance that tells me I made the world I see. Pride tells me that I came into a world quite separate from myself, which behaves on its own from forces beyond my control.
THERE IS NO WORLD. This is the central thought the Course attempts to teach. I may not be ready to accept that. I will only go as far as I can let myself be led along the road to Truth. I will go forward on this road, then run back, then go forward again awhile, only to step back and then return later.
Healing is my gift when I am prepared to learn there is no world and can accept the lesson now. My willingness will bring the lesson to me in a form which I can understand and recognize. If the world does not exist, and it is indeed my own imagining, then I can let it go by merely changing my thoughts about it. The sick are healed as I let go all thoughts of sickness, and the dead rise when I let Thoughts of Life replace thoughts of death.
I am as God created me. There is no suffering, death or change. I am God's Son: Eternal, Whole, United, Joyful, Peaceful and Happy. How can a world of "time" and "place" exist if I am as God created me? In Reality, I do not even think apart from God. I cannot make things that do not share His Timelessness and Love. In dreams I can make anything. In fantasy anything is possible, even a world apart from God. But it can never be Reality. I have never left God. I am Safe in Heaven dreaming of exile to a world "apart from" God.
God makes no distinctions in what is Himself and what is His Son. What He creates is not apart from Him, and nowhere does the Father end and the Son begin as something separate from Him. There is no world because the "world" is a thought apart from God made to separate the Father and the Son. Deny illusions and accept Truth. Deny that I am a shadow briefly laid upon a dying world. When I release my mind, I will look upon a world released. For the world will mirror to me the thoughts in my mind.
For fifteen minutes twice today I will practice today's lesson, and realize that I am Real because the world is not. Then merely rest, alert but with no strain and let my mind in quietness be changed so that the world is freed, along with me. When my mind heals, the world heals because the world is a thought in my mind.
Salvation is simple when I realize that my only choices are Heaven or hell, Love or fear, Reality or insanity, Truth or illusion, Life or death. And only one is Real. Today I choose Reality instead.
"I let go the world and all I thought it was."
Belief is very powerful. The thoughts I hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is Truth. A madman thinks the world he sees is real and does not doubt what he sees. It is only when the source of madness and its effects are questioned that the hope of Freedom comes at last: The source of this madness is.....myself.
The world of illusion is complicated and chaotic. Yet salvation is easy. Salvation is as easy as making a different choice and thinking a different thought. I am free to change my mind. And when I change my mind all my thoughts change with it. Now the source of thought has shifted, for to change my mind means I have changed the source of all ideas I think, have ever thought, or will yet think. When I choose illusions my thoughts are ones of injustice, inequality, war, death, sadness. When I choose Heaven my thoughts turn to Joy, Peace, Love and Happiness; I free the past which never was and I free the future from all the things I will search for but never find.
The present now remains the only time. In the present my mind is set free. I have enslaved my mind with all my fears, doubts, miseries, pain, tears, sorrows and thoughts of death. The world is nothing. Only my mind gives it meaning, and what I see is what I wish to see: a world "apart from" God. Maybe I think I did not make the world, that I came unwillingly to what was already made....this is false.
All I need do is change my mind about what I want to see and all the world must change accordingly. Ideas do not leave their source. The world is an idea in my mind and only in my mind it remains. There is nothing and no one outside me. It is not pride and arrogance that tells me I made the world I see. Pride tells me that I came into a world quite separate from myself, which behaves on its own from forces beyond my control.
THERE IS NO WORLD. This is the central thought the Course attempts to teach. I may not be ready to accept that. I will only go as far as I can let myself be led along the road to Truth. I will go forward on this road, then run back, then go forward again awhile, only to step back and then return later.
Healing is my gift when I am prepared to learn there is no world and can accept the lesson now. My willingness will bring the lesson to me in a form which I can understand and recognize. If the world does not exist, and it is indeed my own imagining, then I can let it go by merely changing my thoughts about it. The sick are healed as I let go all thoughts of sickness, and the dead rise when I let Thoughts of Life replace thoughts of death.
I am as God created me. There is no suffering, death or change. I am God's Son: Eternal, Whole, United, Joyful, Peaceful and Happy. How can a world of "time" and "place" exist if I am as God created me? In Reality, I do not even think apart from God. I cannot make things that do not share His Timelessness and Love. In dreams I can make anything. In fantasy anything is possible, even a world apart from God. But it can never be Reality. I have never left God. I am Safe in Heaven dreaming of exile to a world "apart from" God.
God makes no distinctions in what is Himself and what is His Son. What He creates is not apart from Him, and nowhere does the Father end and the Son begin as something separate from Him. There is no world because the "world" is a thought apart from God made to separate the Father and the Son. Deny illusions and accept Truth. Deny that I am a shadow briefly laid upon a dying world. When I release my mind, I will look upon a world released. For the world will mirror to me the thoughts in my mind.
For fifteen minutes twice today I will practice today's lesson, and realize that I am Real because the world is not. Then merely rest, alert but with no strain and let my mind in quietness be changed so that the world is freed, along with me. When my mind heals, the world heals because the world is a thought in my mind.
Salvation is simple when I realize that my only choices are Heaven or hell, Love or fear, Reality or insanity, Truth or illusion, Life or death. And only one is Real. Today I choose Reality instead.
"I let go the world and all I thought it was."
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Lesson 131 ~ When I seek Truth, I cannot fail to find It.
Failure is all around me while I pursue goals that cannot be achieved in the world of dreams. I look for permanence in the impermanent, for love where there is none, for safety in the midst of danger, and immortality in a dream of death. The world is a fantasy created for contradiction and instability....to give me an experience "apart from" God.
Meaningless goals cannot be achieved. Everything in the world leads to death. I seem to be looking for "life" but whatever I pursue in the world leads to death. I look for safety and security, but in my heart I pray for change and excitement. Searching is inevitable in the world of dreams. I will search and search, but never find. Yet I can change my goal. I am still free to choose a goal that lies beyond every worldly thought; one that comes to me from idea long ago given up, yet still remembered; old, yet new; an echo of a Inheritance forgotten holding everything I really want.
The world will always require a "search" for something. But I can change my goal to search for Heaven. If I desire this goal, I cannot fail to reach it. I can delay and wander about in the world of madness; I can deceive myself and think I want hell. When I am wrong, I will find Gentle correction. When I wander off, I am Softy led back to my appointed task.
I will not remain in hell. I cannot be apart from my Creator. I cannot tarnish His Perfect, Timeless, Unchanging Love. I will find Heaven. Anything else I seek will fall away. Not because it was taken from me. It will go because I do not want it. God created me in Sinlessness. I will reach the goal I really want.
Why wait for Heaven? It is here today. "Time" is the great illusion. Heaven seems to be in the past or in the future, yet this is only fantasy. What God Wills is Now. I am Safe in Heaven, dreaming of exile to a place apart from God. Now is the only "time" in the dream world that comes close to the experience of Eternity.
Heaven is the only alternative to the strange world I made. The world of madness with its shifting patterns, uncertain goals, painful pleasures and tragic joys. God's Creation is not split in two. How could God's Son be in hell, when God Himself Willed the Son to be in Heaven? Could I lose what God gave me? What God Wills is present now, beyond the reach of time.
I think there is a world of madness which opposes Heaven. I believe I live in this world which does not exist and Heaven seems to be the place I seemingly cannot find. Today I choose Truth in place of illusions.
I will leave foolish thoughts behind today and turn my mind to thoughts of Truth instead. I cannot fail to find Truth when it is Truth I seek. Whatever I desire I will find. If I desire illusions I will find them. If I desire Heaven I will find It. Between illusions and Heaven, only one of them is Real. Only one is True. Only one will bring Happiness, Joy, Peace and Love.......Eternally.
Today I devote ten minutes, three times today, asking only for Truth. I ask to see a different Thought from those I made; the thoughts I think in the world of insanity are not my Real Thoughts. The world I see is a thought in my mind. Heal my thoughts, I heal the "world" and it disappears as I Awaken to Truth.
For several minutes I will watch my mind and see the senseless world I think is real. Review the thoughts I think which are compatible with the world. Then let them go, and sink into the Holy Place within me where dreams can not enter. Then I will use this guided imagery provided by the Course: Imagine a door beneath the world of dreams. Before I try to open it, remind myself that I cannot fail to reach Truth, when it is Truth I seek. See how easily the door swings open with my one goal to go beyond it to Truth. Angels Light the way so that all darkness vanishes and I am standing in a Light so Bright and Clear that I understand all things I see. A tiny moment of surprise makes me pause before I realize that what I see before me reflects the Truth I once knew, yet did not quite forget by wandering away in dreams.
I cannot fail today. Heaven walks with me. Today God keeps His ancient promise to His Holy Son and the Son remembers his own ancient promise to His Father. Today is a day of gladness, for I have come to the appointed time and place where I find the goal of all the searching and seeking of the world, which comes to an end as I pass beyond the door.
Today I will avoid dismal thoughts and meaningless complaints. Today is set by Heaven to be a time of salvation for my mind and the "world" in my mind. Today I will seek and find all I want. When I seek Truth, I cannot fail.
"When I seek Truth, I cannot fail to find It."
Meaningless goals cannot be achieved. Everything in the world leads to death. I seem to be looking for "life" but whatever I pursue in the world leads to death. I look for safety and security, but in my heart I pray for change and excitement. Searching is inevitable in the world of dreams. I will search and search, but never find. Yet I can change my goal. I am still free to choose a goal that lies beyond every worldly thought; one that comes to me from idea long ago given up, yet still remembered; old, yet new; an echo of a Inheritance forgotten holding everything I really want.
The world will always require a "search" for something. But I can change my goal to search for Heaven. If I desire this goal, I cannot fail to reach it. I can delay and wander about in the world of madness; I can deceive myself and think I want hell. When I am wrong, I will find Gentle correction. When I wander off, I am Softy led back to my appointed task.
I will not remain in hell. I cannot be apart from my Creator. I cannot tarnish His Perfect, Timeless, Unchanging Love. I will find Heaven. Anything else I seek will fall away. Not because it was taken from me. It will go because I do not want it. God created me in Sinlessness. I will reach the goal I really want.
Why wait for Heaven? It is here today. "Time" is the great illusion. Heaven seems to be in the past or in the future, yet this is only fantasy. What God Wills is Now. I am Safe in Heaven, dreaming of exile to a place apart from God. Now is the only "time" in the dream world that comes close to the experience of Eternity.
Heaven is the only alternative to the strange world I made. The world of madness with its shifting patterns, uncertain goals, painful pleasures and tragic joys. God's Creation is not split in two. How could God's Son be in hell, when God Himself Willed the Son to be in Heaven? Could I lose what God gave me? What God Wills is present now, beyond the reach of time.
I think there is a world of madness which opposes Heaven. I believe I live in this world which does not exist and Heaven seems to be the place I seemingly cannot find. Today I choose Truth in place of illusions.
I will leave foolish thoughts behind today and turn my mind to thoughts of Truth instead. I cannot fail to find Truth when it is Truth I seek. Whatever I desire I will find. If I desire illusions I will find them. If I desire Heaven I will find It. Between illusions and Heaven, only one of them is Real. Only one is True. Only one will bring Happiness, Joy, Peace and Love.......Eternally.
Today I devote ten minutes, three times today, asking only for Truth. I ask to see a different Thought from those I made; the thoughts I think in the world of insanity are not my Real Thoughts. The world I see is a thought in my mind. Heal my thoughts, I heal the "world" and it disappears as I Awaken to Truth.
For several minutes I will watch my mind and see the senseless world I think is real. Review the thoughts I think which are compatible with the world. Then let them go, and sink into the Holy Place within me where dreams can not enter. Then I will use this guided imagery provided by the Course: Imagine a door beneath the world of dreams. Before I try to open it, remind myself that I cannot fail to reach Truth, when it is Truth I seek. See how easily the door swings open with my one goal to go beyond it to Truth. Angels Light the way so that all darkness vanishes and I am standing in a Light so Bright and Clear that I understand all things I see. A tiny moment of surprise makes me pause before I realize that what I see before me reflects the Truth I once knew, yet did not quite forget by wandering away in dreams.
I cannot fail today. Heaven walks with me. Today God keeps His ancient promise to His Holy Son and the Son remembers his own ancient promise to His Father. Today is a day of gladness, for I have come to the appointed time and place where I find the goal of all the searching and seeking of the world, which comes to an end as I pass beyond the door.
Today I will avoid dismal thoughts and meaningless complaints. Today is set by Heaven to be a time of salvation for my mind and the "world" in my mind. Today I will seek and find all I want. When I seek Truth, I cannot fail.
"When I seek Truth, I cannot fail to find It."
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Lesson 130 ~ My choice today is Heaven or hell.
Perception is consistent. What I desire, I will see. What I see reflects my thinking and my thinking reflects my choice of what I want to see. And my only choices are dreams or Reality. What I desire or value I will see, and even if it is only illusions I see I will believe in their reality. If I did not value the world of illusion, I would not see it. Since I value illusions, they become my reality. Yet dreams cannot be Reality and nothing that is opposite to God exists.
Fear has made the world of illusion. Separation, distinction and differences make up the world of dreams. I can value the world of dreams, but it still remains a dream. I can seek for Peace and Justice in the world of dreams but it will never be found. The world's motto is this: Seek but do not find. I will not waste my time today looking for what cannot be found in the world of illusion.
It is impossible to see Heaven and the world of illusion at the same time. Look for one, the other disappears. The Real and the unreal are the only choices and nothing more. The world I see is proof I have already made a choice. If I see chaos, injustice, inequality and unfairness, I have chosen to see a world apart from God.
Six times today, in thanks and gratitude, I will gladly give five minutes to the thought that ends all compromise and doubt. I will not make a thousand meaningless distinctions today, nor attempt to bring with me a small part of unreality as I devote my mind to finding only what is Real.
I will ask for a Strength beyond my own and realize what it is I desire. I seek for Reality today, not illusions. I will empty my hands of all petty treasures of the world as I wait for God to help me. Today I will accept the Strength God offers me and see no value in the world of dreams, for I ask to find my Freedom and deliverance. God will be there. I have called upon the Great Unfailing Power Which will take today's giant step with me in gratitude.
I will dismiss temptation today whenever it arises, merely by remembering the limits of my choice: the unreal or the Real...the false or the True. What I see before me will be consistent with my choice.
If I accept a little part of hell (illusion/dreams) as real, hell is what I will see. Yet I can choose Heaven instead. All I need to say to any part of hell, whatever form it takes, is simply this: I seek my Freedom and deliverance and hell is not a part of what I want.
"My choice today is Heaven or hell."
Fear has made the world of illusion. Separation, distinction and differences make up the world of dreams. I can value the world of dreams, but it still remains a dream. I can seek for Peace and Justice in the world of dreams but it will never be found. The world's motto is this: Seek but do not find. I will not waste my time today looking for what cannot be found in the world of illusion.
It is impossible to see Heaven and the world of illusion at the same time. Look for one, the other disappears. The Real and the unreal are the only choices and nothing more. The world I see is proof I have already made a choice. If I see chaos, injustice, inequality and unfairness, I have chosen to see a world apart from God.
Six times today, in thanks and gratitude, I will gladly give five minutes to the thought that ends all compromise and doubt. I will not make a thousand meaningless distinctions today, nor attempt to bring with me a small part of unreality as I devote my mind to finding only what is Real.
I will ask for a Strength beyond my own and realize what it is I desire. I seek for Reality today, not illusions. I will empty my hands of all petty treasures of the world as I wait for God to help me. Today I will accept the Strength God offers me and see no value in the world of dreams, for I ask to find my Freedom and deliverance. God will be there. I have called upon the Great Unfailing Power Which will take today's giant step with me in gratitude.
I will dismiss temptation today whenever it arises, merely by remembering the limits of my choice: the unreal or the Real...the false or the True. What I see before me will be consistent with my choice.
If I accept a little part of hell (illusion/dreams) as real, hell is what I will see. Yet I can choose Heaven instead. All I need to say to any part of hell, whatever form it takes, is simply this: I seek my Freedom and deliverance and hell is not a part of what I want.
"My choice today is Heaven or hell."
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Lesson 129 ~ There is no loss.
I cannot stop with the idea that the world is worthless. Unless I see there is something else to hope for, I will only become depressed. The emphasis is not giving up the "world," but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying and filled with Joy and Peace. Do I really think the "world" can offer that to me?
It is worth a little time to think once more about the value of the world. So maybe, I agree that there is no loss in letting the world go. The world I see is merciless, unstable, cruel, unconcerned with me, quick to avenge and pitiless with hate. It gives only to take away and takes away everything that I have loved. No lasting love is found. This is the world of "time," where all things end.
Is it loss to find a place where losing is impossible, where Love endures Forever, hate does not exist and vengeance has no meaning? Is it loss to find all things I really want, and know they have no ending and will remain exactly as I want them? Yet even this will be exchanged for what has no words to describe, where words fail entirely and a Golden Silence exists where language is not needed.
Communication ~ unambiguous and plain as day ~ remains Unlimited for Eternity. God speaks to His Son and the Son speaks to His Father. Their language has no words, for what They say cannot be put into symbols. Their Knowledge is Direct, Wholly Shared and Wholly One.
How far away from this I am when I stay bound to the "world." Yet how near I am when I exchange the world for thoughts of Truth. I stand an instant away from Timelessness. As I value the things of the world they will seem real to me. When I replace thoughts of the world with Truth, the world will disappear.
What loss is there for me in giving up nothingness? The world holds nothing that I want, but what I choose in Truth I want indeed! It will be given me today. It waits only for my choosing.
I will practice my willingness ten minutes three times today. There is nothing in the world I want. It is a world I created to show me everything opposite to Love, Joy, Happiness, Unity, Peace.........GOD.
I will close my eyes on the world I seem to see. In the silent darkness behind my eyes, I will watch Lights that are not of this world, light...one by one...until where one begins another ends, until beginnings and ending lose all meaning as they blend into One.
Today, the Lights of Heaven bend to me, to shine upon my weary vision giving me rest beyond the world of darkness. Here is a Light the world's eye can not see, yet the Son of God in me can see it plainly and can understand.
A day of Grace is given to me today. I give thanks. This day I realize that what I feared to lose was only loss. Now I understand....there is no loss.
The world I see holds nothing I want. Joy, Happiness, Peace, Unity, Sanity and Love are what I want.
"There is no loss."
It is worth a little time to think once more about the value of the world. So maybe, I agree that there is no loss in letting the world go. The world I see is merciless, unstable, cruel, unconcerned with me, quick to avenge and pitiless with hate. It gives only to take away and takes away everything that I have loved. No lasting love is found. This is the world of "time," where all things end.
Is it loss to find a place where losing is impossible, where Love endures Forever, hate does not exist and vengeance has no meaning? Is it loss to find all things I really want, and know they have no ending and will remain exactly as I want them? Yet even this will be exchanged for what has no words to describe, where words fail entirely and a Golden Silence exists where language is not needed.
Communication ~ unambiguous and plain as day ~ remains Unlimited for Eternity. God speaks to His Son and the Son speaks to His Father. Their language has no words, for what They say cannot be put into symbols. Their Knowledge is Direct, Wholly Shared and Wholly One.
How far away from this I am when I stay bound to the "world." Yet how near I am when I exchange the world for thoughts of Truth. I stand an instant away from Timelessness. As I value the things of the world they will seem real to me. When I replace thoughts of the world with Truth, the world will disappear.
What loss is there for me in giving up nothingness? The world holds nothing that I want, but what I choose in Truth I want indeed! It will be given me today. It waits only for my choosing.
I will practice my willingness ten minutes three times today. There is nothing in the world I want. It is a world I created to show me everything opposite to Love, Joy, Happiness, Unity, Peace.........GOD.
I will close my eyes on the world I seem to see. In the silent darkness behind my eyes, I will watch Lights that are not of this world, light...one by one...until where one begins another ends, until beginnings and ending lose all meaning as they blend into One.
Today, the Lights of Heaven bend to me, to shine upon my weary vision giving me rest beyond the world of darkness. Here is a Light the world's eye can not see, yet the Son of God in me can see it plainly and can understand.
A day of Grace is given to me today. I give thanks. This day I realize that what I feared to lose was only loss. Now I understand....there is no loss.
The world I see holds nothing I want. Joy, Happiness, Peace, Unity, Sanity and Love are what I want.
"There is no loss."
Monday, March 18, 2013
Lesson 128 ~ The world I see holds nothing I want.
The world I see holds nothing that I need, can use in any way, nor anything that serves to give me Joy. Believe this thought and I am saved from years of misery, countless disappointments and hopes that turn to bitter ashes of despair. I must accept this thought as True.
Each thing I value here is but a chain that binds me to the world and this is its only purpose. Everything serves the purpose I have given it until I see a different purpose. I created this fantasy of a world to have an experience apart from God....which is possible only in fantasy. The only worthy purpose for this world is that I forgive it and lay it aside without delay. I will not perceive hope where there is none. I will not be deceived any longer. The world I see holds nothing that I want.
Today I will escape the chains I place on my mind when I see happiness, salvation or hope in a world of madness. When I value anything of the world, I make it part of me as I perceive myself. Nothing in the world is worthy of who I really am ~ God's Son. When I look for things to increase my value in the world of madness, it only hides my True Worth from my Awareness. As God's Son I have Everything. In the world of fantasy, I have laid aside Everything for dreams of dust.
Today I will let nothing that relates to thoughts of the world and body, delay my progress to salvation. I will not permit the temptation to believe the world holds anything I want to delay me. There is nothing in the world to value or cherish. There is nothing here worth one instant of delay and pain; one moment of uncertainty and doubt. The worthless offers nothing. Worth cannot be found in worthlessness.
Today I practice letting go of all thoughts of value I have given to the world. I have given this world a purpose: "I want to see a world apart from God." Everything in it is a witness to this. Even the "good" in this world appears to be outside me.
Let my mind seek the level where it finds itself at Home. It will be grateful to be free a while. My mind knows where it belongs. Free its wings and it will fly in sureness and Joy to its Holy purpose. Let my mind rest in its Creator to be restored to Sanity, Freedom and Love.
Give today's lesson ten minutes three times today. When my eyes are opened I will not value anything I see as much as before. My entire perspective on the world will shift by just a little every time I let my mind escape its chains. The world is not where my mind belongs. My Guide is sure and I will open my mind to Him and be still and rest.
Protect my mind throughout the day as well. When I think I see some value in and among the dust and ashes, I will tell myself with quiet certainty that this will not tempt me to delay myself; the world I see holds nothing that I want and temptations are just EMPTY promises.
"The world I see holds nothing I want."
Each thing I value here is but a chain that binds me to the world and this is its only purpose. Everything serves the purpose I have given it until I see a different purpose. I created this fantasy of a world to have an experience apart from God....which is possible only in fantasy. The only worthy purpose for this world is that I forgive it and lay it aside without delay. I will not perceive hope where there is none. I will not be deceived any longer. The world I see holds nothing that I want.
Today I will escape the chains I place on my mind when I see happiness, salvation or hope in a world of madness. When I value anything of the world, I make it part of me as I perceive myself. Nothing in the world is worthy of who I really am ~ God's Son. When I look for things to increase my value in the world of madness, it only hides my True Worth from my Awareness. As God's Son I have Everything. In the world of fantasy, I have laid aside Everything for dreams of dust.
Today I will let nothing that relates to thoughts of the world and body, delay my progress to salvation. I will not permit the temptation to believe the world holds anything I want to delay me. There is nothing in the world to value or cherish. There is nothing here worth one instant of delay and pain; one moment of uncertainty and doubt. The worthless offers nothing. Worth cannot be found in worthlessness.
Today I practice letting go of all thoughts of value I have given to the world. I have given this world a purpose: "I want to see a world apart from God." Everything in it is a witness to this. Even the "good" in this world appears to be outside me.
Let my mind seek the level where it finds itself at Home. It will be grateful to be free a while. My mind knows where it belongs. Free its wings and it will fly in sureness and Joy to its Holy purpose. Let my mind rest in its Creator to be restored to Sanity, Freedom and Love.
Give today's lesson ten minutes three times today. When my eyes are opened I will not value anything I see as much as before. My entire perspective on the world will shift by just a little every time I let my mind escape its chains. The world is not where my mind belongs. My Guide is sure and I will open my mind to Him and be still and rest.
Protect my mind throughout the day as well. When I think I see some value in and among the dust and ashes, I will tell myself with quiet certainty that this will not tempt me to delay myself; the world I see holds nothing that I want and temptations are just EMPTY promises.
"The world I see holds nothing I want."
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Lesson 127 ~ There is no Love but God's.
It seems that different kinds of love are possible. There is a kind of love for this and a kind for that; a way of loving one person and a different way of loving another. I believe that I can love at times and hate at other times; that love can be given to one, and withheld from another. To believe these things of Love is not to understand It. In the world of distinction and separation, I have attempted to be distinct and separate with Love.
Love is One. It has no separate parts or different degrees. There are no levels or distinctions. Love is Changeless and Constant. It does not alter with person or circumstance. Love is the Heart of God and also of His Son.
The meaning of Love is hidden to me if I think Love can change with the person or circumstance. Changing Love is not possible. Love never judges and it looks on all as One. There is no Love except for God's Love. Love has no opposite. Its Wholeness is the Power holding everything as One; It is the link between the Father and Son which holds them forever as One.
There is no difference in what I am in Reality and what Love is. Love's Meaning is my own, shared by God Himself. What God Is, I am. There is no Love but God's and what God is, is Everything There Is. There are no limits on God and none on His Son.
No laws in the "world" can help me understand Love's meaning. I created the world to have an experience "apart from" God, therefore, the world was made to hide Love's Meaning, keeping it dark and secret. Everything in the world violates the Truth of what Love Is and what I am as well.
I will never find any answers in the world. I will never find my Self in the world. Love is not found outside me. Love is not found in darkness and death. Yet Love is perfectly apparent to those who seek Truth.
Today, I will free my mind of all the laws I think I must obey, the limits under which I live and all the changes I think are part of human destiny. Today I take the largest single step this Course requests of me. If I perceive the smallest glimmering of what Love means today, I will advance beyond measure, unbound by time and space. There is no better use for "time" than this.
For fifteen minutes twice today, I will escape every law in which I now believe. I will open my mind and rest. The world which seems to hold me prisoner can be escaped when I do not hold it dear. I will withdraw all value I have placed upon the world's meager offerings and senseless gifts, and let the Love of God replace them all.
I will call to my Father certain that His Voice will answer me. He Himself has promised this. God Himself will place a Spark of Truth within my mind wherever I lay aside the dark teachings of the world of illusion. God will shine through my idle thoughts today and help me understand the Truth about Love. In Loving Gentleness He goes with me as I allow His Voice to teach Love's Meaning to my open mind. He will bless today's lesson with His Love.
My only Reality is the Timelessness of Heaven. I will give thanks today that I am spared an insane future like the insane past in this world of dreams. Today I leave the past behind me as the dream it is, no longer to be remembered as a source of guilt. I will raise my eyes to the Timelessness of Reality, where a future dawns unlike the past in every way.
As my mind heals, it will appear that the world also grows in health and strength while I still see a world before me. Hate turns into Love and enemies turn into friends. All those who seem to be outside and apart from me will heal as I heal. All are made Free with me, because the world is a dream in my mind. When I give only Love, I give it to myself. When I give hatred, judgment, envy and jealousy, I pollute my mind and keep it in bondage to the dream. There is only Oneness and if I leave "part" of myself outside the circle of Love, I become blind to my Reality.
Bless all brothers with the Love of God, which is also my Love...my Reality. There is no Love but God's and mine and everyone's........which is the Oneness of Reality.
"There is no Love but God's."
Love is One. It has no separate parts or different degrees. There are no levels or distinctions. Love is Changeless and Constant. It does not alter with person or circumstance. Love is the Heart of God and also of His Son.
The meaning of Love is hidden to me if I think Love can change with the person or circumstance. Changing Love is not possible. Love never judges and it looks on all as One. There is no Love except for God's Love. Love has no opposite. Its Wholeness is the Power holding everything as One; It is the link between the Father and Son which holds them forever as One.
There is no difference in what I am in Reality and what Love is. Love's Meaning is my own, shared by God Himself. What God Is, I am. There is no Love but God's and what God is, is Everything There Is. There are no limits on God and none on His Son.
No laws in the "world" can help me understand Love's meaning. I created the world to have an experience "apart from" God, therefore, the world was made to hide Love's Meaning, keeping it dark and secret. Everything in the world violates the Truth of what Love Is and what I am as well.
I will never find any answers in the world. I will never find my Self in the world. Love is not found outside me. Love is not found in darkness and death. Yet Love is perfectly apparent to those who seek Truth.
Today, I will free my mind of all the laws I think I must obey, the limits under which I live and all the changes I think are part of human destiny. Today I take the largest single step this Course requests of me. If I perceive the smallest glimmering of what Love means today, I will advance beyond measure, unbound by time and space. There is no better use for "time" than this.
For fifteen minutes twice today, I will escape every law in which I now believe. I will open my mind and rest. The world which seems to hold me prisoner can be escaped when I do not hold it dear. I will withdraw all value I have placed upon the world's meager offerings and senseless gifts, and let the Love of God replace them all.
I will call to my Father certain that His Voice will answer me. He Himself has promised this. God Himself will place a Spark of Truth within my mind wherever I lay aside the dark teachings of the world of illusion. God will shine through my idle thoughts today and help me understand the Truth about Love. In Loving Gentleness He goes with me as I allow His Voice to teach Love's Meaning to my open mind. He will bless today's lesson with His Love.
My only Reality is the Timelessness of Heaven. I will give thanks today that I am spared an insane future like the insane past in this world of dreams. Today I leave the past behind me as the dream it is, no longer to be remembered as a source of guilt. I will raise my eyes to the Timelessness of Reality, where a future dawns unlike the past in every way.
As my mind heals, it will appear that the world also grows in health and strength while I still see a world before me. Hate turns into Love and enemies turn into friends. All those who seem to be outside and apart from me will heal as I heal. All are made Free with me, because the world is a dream in my mind. When I give only Love, I give it to myself. When I give hatred, judgment, envy and jealousy, I pollute my mind and keep it in bondage to the dream. There is only Oneness and if I leave "part" of myself outside the circle of Love, I become blind to my Reality.
Bless all brothers with the Love of God, which is also my Love...my Reality. There is no Love but God's and mine and everyone's........which is the Oneness of Reality.
"There is no Love but God's."
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Lesson 126 ~ All I give is given to myself.
This idea is alien to ego and the thinking of the world, but is crucial to the thought reversal that this Course will bring about. If I believed today's idea, I would have no problem in complete forgiveness.
I will consider what I do believe: In the world it seems that other people are apart from me. It seems my thoughts and attitudes have no effect on them, and their needs and appeals for help are in no way related to my own. I also think that they can "sin" without affecting my perception of myself, and I can judge their sin yet remain apart from my condemnation and at peace. When I "forgive" a sin, there is no gain to me directly. Forgiveness is charity to someone probably unworthy, but this shows I am in a better place that the one I forgive. He has not earned my forgiveness and is unworthy of the gift, because his sins have lowered him beneath a true equality with me. My forgiveness does nothing for me, but holds out a gift to the other.
In the thinking of the world, forgiveness is good and kind yet undeserved; a gift bestowed at times, at other times withheld. The sin that I forgive is not my own. Someone "apart from" me committed it. Forgiveness seems to be an eccentricity, in which I sometimes choose to give to the undeserving and sometimes not; yet the sinner cannot escape the payment he owes for his sin.
Do I really think the Lord of Heaven would allow salvation to depend on this thinking? He would care for me very little and my salvation would rest on a whim. I do not understand forgiveness as I see it in the world of insanity. True forgiveness must heal the mind that gives it, for giving is receiving.
Today I am trying to understand the Truth that giver and receiver are the same. I need help understanding this because it is so alien to thoughts of the world, but the Help I need is there. If I only catch a tiny glimpse of what today's idea means for me, this is a day of glory indeed.
I will give fifteen minutes twice today to attempt to understand today's idea for forgiveness to take its proper place in my priorities and help me realize its worth to me.
In silence I close my eyes on a world that does not understand forgiveness, and seek sanctuary in the quiet place where thoughts are changed and illusions laid aside. I will repeat today's idea and ask for help in understanding what it really means. I will be willing to be taught, and glad to hear the Voice of Truth and Healing speak to me. I will understand the words He speaks, and recognize that He speaks the words of my Self as God's Son.
All I give is given to myself. The Help I need to learn this is with me now and I will trust in Him. I will spend a moment opening my mind to His correction and Love. What I hear of Him I will believe, and what He gives will be received by me.
"All I give is given to myself."
I will consider what I do believe: In the world it seems that other people are apart from me. It seems my thoughts and attitudes have no effect on them, and their needs and appeals for help are in no way related to my own. I also think that they can "sin" without affecting my perception of myself, and I can judge their sin yet remain apart from my condemnation and at peace. When I "forgive" a sin, there is no gain to me directly. Forgiveness is charity to someone probably unworthy, but this shows I am in a better place that the one I forgive. He has not earned my forgiveness and is unworthy of the gift, because his sins have lowered him beneath a true equality with me. My forgiveness does nothing for me, but holds out a gift to the other.
In the thinking of the world, forgiveness is good and kind yet undeserved; a gift bestowed at times, at other times withheld. The sin that I forgive is not my own. Someone "apart from" me committed it. Forgiveness seems to be an eccentricity, in which I sometimes choose to give to the undeserving and sometimes not; yet the sinner cannot escape the payment he owes for his sin.
Do I really think the Lord of Heaven would allow salvation to depend on this thinking? He would care for me very little and my salvation would rest on a whim. I do not understand forgiveness as I see it in the world of insanity. True forgiveness must heal the mind that gives it, for giving is receiving.
Today I am trying to understand the Truth that giver and receiver are the same. I need help understanding this because it is so alien to thoughts of the world, but the Help I need is there. If I only catch a tiny glimpse of what today's idea means for me, this is a day of glory indeed.
I will give fifteen minutes twice today to attempt to understand today's idea for forgiveness to take its proper place in my priorities and help me realize its worth to me.
In silence I close my eyes on a world that does not understand forgiveness, and seek sanctuary in the quiet place where thoughts are changed and illusions laid aside. I will repeat today's idea and ask for help in understanding what it really means. I will be willing to be taught, and glad to hear the Voice of Truth and Healing speak to me. I will understand the words He speaks, and recognize that He speaks the words of my Self as God's Son.
All I give is given to myself. The Help I need to learn this is with me now and I will trust in Him. I will spend a moment opening my mind to His correction and Love. What I hear of Him I will believe, and what He gives will be received by me.
"All I give is given to myself."
Friday, March 15, 2013
Lesson 125 ~ In quiet I receive God's Word today.
Let today be a day of stillness and quiet listening. My Father calls from deep within my mind where He lives. He Wills that I hear His Word. No Peace is possible until I hear His Word and, until my mind, in quiet listening accepts His message.
The world changes through me. The "world" is a thought in my mind, seemingly projected outward and made "physical." Yet it is all a dream; a mad fantasy. As my mind heals, the world reflects healing back to me, until healing is complete and the "world" disappears. As the Son of God, I save myself with the Word of God as my Guide, forever in my mind to lead me to my Father's house by my own will, which is forever as free as God's. I am not lead by force, but only Love. I am not judged, but only Sanctified.
In stillness I hear God's Voice today without intrusion of petty thoughts, without personal "desires" and without judgment. I will not judge myself today, for What I am cannot be judged. I stand apart from all judgments of the "world." The "world" does not know the Son of God. It was created to forget. Today I will not listen to the world, but wait in silence for the Word of God.
God has not hidden Himself from me, while I wandered off from Him. He knows His Son and it is His Will that His Son is with Him regardless of dreams of madness.
Today God speaks to me. His Voice waits on my silent mind, for I will not hear His Word until my mind is quiet and meaningless desires have been silenced. I will wait in quiet for His Word. I call on the Peace within me today to help make my mind ready to hear God's Voice.
Three times today I set aside 10 minutes of not listening to the world and choose to listen instead to the Word of God. He is nearer to me that my own beating heart. His Voice is closer than my hand. God and I are One; it is the "physical world" and "bodies" that are illusions.
God speaks to me of Love, Freedom, Peace, Unity and Purpose. There is no separation nor division in the single Mind of Father and Son. It is my own voice to which I listen as God speaks to me. It is my Word He speaks. In quiet, I listen to my Self today and let God tell me that He has never left His Son and I have never left my Self.
The only "rule" today is to silence my mind of all worldly thoughts and concerns. Today's practicing frees my vision from the body's eyes and frees my mind from illusory thoughts. Be still and listen. I will hear God's Word in which the Will of the God the Son joins the Will of God the Father, in Oneness, with no illusions to come between the wholly Undivided and True. As every hour passes today, I will be quiet a moment and remind myself I have a special purpose for this day.
"In quiet I receive God's Word today."
The world changes through me. The "world" is a thought in my mind, seemingly projected outward and made "physical." Yet it is all a dream; a mad fantasy. As my mind heals, the world reflects healing back to me, until healing is complete and the "world" disappears. As the Son of God, I save myself with the Word of God as my Guide, forever in my mind to lead me to my Father's house by my own will, which is forever as free as God's. I am not lead by force, but only Love. I am not judged, but only Sanctified.
In stillness I hear God's Voice today without intrusion of petty thoughts, without personal "desires" and without judgment. I will not judge myself today, for What I am cannot be judged. I stand apart from all judgments of the "world." The "world" does not know the Son of God. It was created to forget. Today I will not listen to the world, but wait in silence for the Word of God.
God has not hidden Himself from me, while I wandered off from Him. He knows His Son and it is His Will that His Son is with Him regardless of dreams of madness.
Today God speaks to me. His Voice waits on my silent mind, for I will not hear His Word until my mind is quiet and meaningless desires have been silenced. I will wait in quiet for His Word. I call on the Peace within me today to help make my mind ready to hear God's Voice.
Three times today I set aside 10 minutes of not listening to the world and choose to listen instead to the Word of God. He is nearer to me that my own beating heart. His Voice is closer than my hand. God and I are One; it is the "physical world" and "bodies" that are illusions.
God speaks to me of Love, Freedom, Peace, Unity and Purpose. There is no separation nor division in the single Mind of Father and Son. It is my own voice to which I listen as God speaks to me. It is my Word He speaks. In quiet, I listen to my Self today and let God tell me that He has never left His Son and I have never left my Self.
The only "rule" today is to silence my mind of all worldly thoughts and concerns. Today's practicing frees my vision from the body's eyes and frees my mind from illusory thoughts. Be still and listen. I will hear God's Word in which the Will of the God the Son joins the Will of God the Father, in Oneness, with no illusions to come between the wholly Undivided and True. As every hour passes today, I will be quiet a moment and remind myself I have a special purpose for this day.
"In quiet I receive God's Word today."
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Lesson 124 ~ I am One with God.
I give thanks for my Identity in God. I did not create a world apart from God. I am Safe in Heaven, my protection is guaranteed, and Power and Strength are available in all I do. I can fail in nothing. I am at One with God and All There Is. God is with me everywhere I go.
My mind is Holy. As my mind Awakens from dreams, everything I see will reflect the Holiness that is my Reality. Error gives way to Perfection, death to Everlasting Life. Pain gives way to Peace. Sadness, loneliness and fear are replaced by Tranquility and Peace of mind. What seems to be out in the world, is only a reflection of the thoughts in my mind. Yet there are people and things I love in the world, and it makes me sad that they are not "real," I do not want to exist in a Heaven where those I love do not exist. Yet here is what I need to understand: the world is a thought in my mind, nothing exists outside me. Any "love" I feel in the world comes with me and is purified and intensified to Perfection. Love and happiness in the world is represented by objects and other bodies that in Reality do not exist. The Love and Happiness I feel is not outside me, but within me, and It will never leave me. The happiness I think the world offers comes nowhere near to Reality. Why am I settling for table scraps? I can continue to believe I think and live apart from God and be miserable, or I can acknowledge my Reality. God will be my companion while I seem to walk the world a little while longer.
I will not doubt God's Love for me. Meaningless anxieties of the world vanish in my Awareness of His Presence. I am One with God today. I feel Him in my heart. My mind contains His Thoughts. If I look for death, I will find it. If I choose Love, I will find It too. Only one is Real. When my mind heals, the world heals until healing is complete and the world disappears.
I will offer only peace and love to the "others" in the dream. For no "others" exist, and while I offer anything except Love, the dream persists and I keep my mind in bondage. When I offer peace and love, I release my mind from suffering.
Today I will practice being Aware of my Oneness with my Father. No rules or special words are needed to guide this meditation. I can trust that God's Voice will not fail. Spend a half hour on this today. God will do the rest. Even if I believe nothing special has happened, I will still benefit fully from this exercise. This half hour will be framed in gold, with every minute like a diamond set around the mirror this exercise offers me. The Son of God is reflected in this "mirror of time" I give to God.
I may not be ready to accept the gift today's lesson offers, but when I am ready I will find it waiting for me. No time was ever better spent. The gift I will find is experiencing the Son of God in me. The Loveliness I will look on is my own.
This half hour is my gift to God and His return will be a sense of Love I cannot understand...a Joy too deep for me to comprehend...a Sight too Holy for the body's eyes to see. Whether I understand and comprehend this today does not matter. For when I am ready, I will Understand and Comprehend and See.
I am One with God and with All There Is in Everlasting Holiness and Peace.
"I am One with God."
My mind is Holy. As my mind Awakens from dreams, everything I see will reflect the Holiness that is my Reality. Error gives way to Perfection, death to Everlasting Life. Pain gives way to Peace. Sadness, loneliness and fear are replaced by Tranquility and Peace of mind. What seems to be out in the world, is only a reflection of the thoughts in my mind. Yet there are people and things I love in the world, and it makes me sad that they are not "real," I do not want to exist in a Heaven where those I love do not exist. Yet here is what I need to understand: the world is a thought in my mind, nothing exists outside me. Any "love" I feel in the world comes with me and is purified and intensified to Perfection. Love and happiness in the world is represented by objects and other bodies that in Reality do not exist. The Love and Happiness I feel is not outside me, but within me, and It will never leave me. The happiness I think the world offers comes nowhere near to Reality. Why am I settling for table scraps? I can continue to believe I think and live apart from God and be miserable, or I can acknowledge my Reality. God will be my companion while I seem to walk the world a little while longer.
I will not doubt God's Love for me. Meaningless anxieties of the world vanish in my Awareness of His Presence. I am One with God today. I feel Him in my heart. My mind contains His Thoughts. If I look for death, I will find it. If I choose Love, I will find It too. Only one is Real. When my mind heals, the world heals until healing is complete and the world disappears.
I will offer only peace and love to the "others" in the dream. For no "others" exist, and while I offer anything except Love, the dream persists and I keep my mind in bondage. When I offer peace and love, I release my mind from suffering.
Today I will practice being Aware of my Oneness with my Father. No rules or special words are needed to guide this meditation. I can trust that God's Voice will not fail. Spend a half hour on this today. God will do the rest. Even if I believe nothing special has happened, I will still benefit fully from this exercise. This half hour will be framed in gold, with every minute like a diamond set around the mirror this exercise offers me. The Son of God is reflected in this "mirror of time" I give to God.
I may not be ready to accept the gift today's lesson offers, but when I am ready I will find it waiting for me. No time was ever better spent. The gift I will find is experiencing the Son of God in me. The Loveliness I will look on is my own.
This half hour is my gift to God and His return will be a sense of Love I cannot understand...a Joy too deep for me to comprehend...a Sight too Holy for the body's eyes to see. Whether I understand and comprehend this today does not matter. For when I am ready, I will Understand and Comprehend and See.
I am One with God and with All There Is in Everlasting Holiness and Peace.
"I am One with God."
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Lesson 123 ~ Thank you God for salvation.
Today I am thankful. The ego/body part of me may not "feel" thankful, or recognize gratitude, but the Son of God in me understands.
I have arrived at gentler pathways and smoother roads with no thought of turning back. A bit of wavering remains......some small objections.....a little hesitance. But I can be grateful for my advances which are far greater than I realize.
Today is devoted to gratitude. I will be glad today that my Father has not left me to my own devices, nor has He let me wander in the dark alone. I am grateful that I am Safe in Heaven and not apart from God trapped in a body, in a world of madness. I will give Him thanks today.
God has not abandoned me. His Love shines on me forever. I will give thanks that I am the Changeless Son of God...the Son He Loves as Changeless as Himself.
Today in gratitude I lift my heart above despair, no longer looking downward to the dust. I sing a song of thankfulness and walk with lightened footsteps as I perform the function (forgiveness) my Father gave me.
I no longer walk alone. God receives my thanks in Loving Gratitude and gives it back a thousand and a hundred thousand times more than they were given.
For 15 minutes twice today I will offer gratitude to God and receive His Gratitude in return. I will receive His thanks and understand how Lovingly He holds me in His Mind; how deep and Limitless His care for me. I will remember hourly to think of Him and give thanks that I am not alone in an insane world, thinking, saying and doing insane things. I will remember that I am His Son, Safe in Heaven with Him....and give thanks.
"Thank You God."
I have arrived at gentler pathways and smoother roads with no thought of turning back. A bit of wavering remains......some small objections.....a little hesitance. But I can be grateful for my advances which are far greater than I realize.
Today is devoted to gratitude. I will be glad today that my Father has not left me to my own devices, nor has He let me wander in the dark alone. I am grateful that I am Safe in Heaven and not apart from God trapped in a body, in a world of madness. I will give Him thanks today.
God has not abandoned me. His Love shines on me forever. I will give thanks that I am the Changeless Son of God...the Son He Loves as Changeless as Himself.
Today in gratitude I lift my heart above despair, no longer looking downward to the dust. I sing a song of thankfulness and walk with lightened footsteps as I perform the function (forgiveness) my Father gave me.
I no longer walk alone. God receives my thanks in Loving Gratitude and gives it back a thousand and a hundred thousand times more than they were given.
For 15 minutes twice today I will offer gratitude to God and receive His Gratitude in return. I will receive His thanks and understand how Lovingly He holds me in His Mind; how deep and Limitless His care for me. I will remember hourly to think of Him and give thanks that I am not alone in an insane world, thinking, saying and doing insane things. I will remember that I am His Son, Safe in Heaven with Him....and give thanks.
"Thank You God."
Monday, March 11, 2013
Lesson 122 ~ Forgiveness offers everything I want
Do I want Peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do I want Happiness, a quiet mind, a sense of worth, beauty and purpose? Forgiveness offers it. Do I want a deep abiding comfort, and a rest so Perfect it can never be disturbed? Forgiveness offers it.
Forgiveness is my function in the world of madness. Forgiveness lets me recognize my Sonship and clears my memory of all dead thoughts. Forgiveness is the perfect answer to any problem. As I forgive, I will be forgiven because giving and receiving are one and the same. The "world" is complicated and chaotic. Salvation is quiet and simple.
The world gives nothing of value because the world does not exist. The "world" is an experience "apart from" God, which is possible only in fantasies and dreams. I am indulging in a fantasy. It is not Reality. The healing that takes place in my mind, will be reflected in the world while I continue to "see" it. When I am fully healed the world will disappear. Even in the world of madness I can understand this: where do my dreams go when I awaken from sleep?
Forgiveness offers everything I need or want while I dream of a world "outside" myself. I rest in God. Nothing except God exists, and God is not outside me but deep within me. My Reality is pure Thought. It is not the "world" that needs healing but my mind. When I heal my mind, the "world" will magically seem to heal before my eyes until I Awaken to my Reality with my Father.
I will forgive what does not exist to learn of its unreality. I replace all thoughts of anger, jealousy, rage, low self-worth, annoyance, upset, etc., with FORGIVENESS. I will forgive a world that does not exist to remember my Reality.
"Forgiveness offers everything I want."
Forgiveness is my function in the world of madness. Forgiveness lets me recognize my Sonship and clears my memory of all dead thoughts. Forgiveness is the perfect answer to any problem. As I forgive, I will be forgiven because giving and receiving are one and the same. The "world" is complicated and chaotic. Salvation is quiet and simple.
The world gives nothing of value because the world does not exist. The "world" is an experience "apart from" God, which is possible only in fantasies and dreams. I am indulging in a fantasy. It is not Reality. The healing that takes place in my mind, will be reflected in the world while I continue to "see" it. When I am fully healed the world will disappear. Even in the world of madness I can understand this: where do my dreams go when I awaken from sleep?
Forgiveness offers everything I need or want while I dream of a world "outside" myself. I rest in God. Nothing except God exists, and God is not outside me but deep within me. My Reality is pure Thought. It is not the "world" that needs healing but my mind. When I heal my mind, the "world" will magically seem to heal before my eyes until I Awaken to my Reality with my Father.
I will forgive what does not exist to learn of its unreality. I replace all thoughts of anger, jealousy, rage, low self-worth, annoyance, upset, etc., with FORGIVENESS. I will forgive a world that does not exist to remember my Reality.
"Forgiveness offers everything I want."
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Lesson 121 ~ Forgiveness: my key to Happiness
Today's lesson is the answer in my search for Peace; the key to meaning in a world that makes no sense; the way to Safety from dangers that appear to threaten me at every turn. Here are all questions answered and the end of madness guaranteed at last.
My insane and unforgiving mind is full of fear and offers Love no room to be Itself. My unforgiving mind sadly peers around in misery, unable to see, but certain that danger lies just around the corner. It is torn with doubt, and confused about itself and all it sees. I have been afraid and angry, weak and stumbling....afraid to move ahead, afraid to stay.....afraid to face the day, afraid to go to sleep....afraid of every sound, yet more afraid of stillness....terrified of darkness, yet more terrified at the approach of Light. The unforgiving mind can only perceive its own damnation. What can it see except proof that insanity is "real?"
My unforgiving mind does not see mistakes, but only deadly "sins." I look on a world "outside" myself with sightless eyes, and cower in fear as the projections of my mind are reflected back to me. I want to live, yet often wish I were dead. I see no hope. My unforgiving mind is in despair, seeing only a future that holds out more despair.
I do not realize that I am doing this to myself. I have condemned myself to this despair and see no hope of change. I ask no questions, because I think I already know the answers, and am certain I am right.
Forgiveness is a dream within the dream, but a dream used to Awaken me to Reality. Forgiveness helps me let go of the "world" I thought I made and the "self" I thought I was, and let it all disappear. Forgiveness helps return my mind to Oneness.
I created the "world" to give me an experience of being "apart from" God. God uses what I created for His Own Purposes which Awaken me to Reality. Every thought, every action of "another" presents me with an opportunity to forgive, and release myself from the hell I created. As I practice forgiveness, I will learn forgiveness. My ego wanders aimlessly in an apparent existence apart from God, having to make a life for itself in a world that has no mercy. I seem to make choices and decisions on my own which lead me to a life which depends on "good" or "bad" choices and their subsequent results. The fact is, I am lost in a dream. The Reality is, I can do nothing without God or "apart from" God, not because I am helpless and small, but because I am God's Son and He Wills that I am with Him, sharing in His Kingdom. God's Will is my will as well, but I have forgotten this in my choice to dream.
Today I practice forgiveness. Not as the world teaches forgiveness, but as God instructs. In my experience of separation, I do not perceive that giving and receiving are the same. But through my practice of forgiveness, I will understand that as I forgive, I am forgiven.
I will practice forgiveness with someone I consider an enemy, AND one whom I consider a friend. They are one and the same. As I learn to see them both as one, I will extend this lesson to myself. My "brother's" salvation is my own.
I will think of someone I do not like, actively hate or would just as soon ignore. Someone who irritates me, or would cause me upset or discomfort if I would see them now. Picture this person in my mind and just look at them awhile. Picture a light in them somewhere; a little gleam I had not noticed before. Picture a little Spark of Brightness shining through the ugly picture I hold of them. Look at this picture until I see a Light somewhere within it. Extend this Light until it fully covers them and makes the picture Beautiful and Good. Then look at this changed picture a while. Now picture someone I consider a friend. Transfer the Light I learned to see around my "enemy" to my "friend." Let both "enemy" and "friend" now bless me with the Light which I gave them. They are One with me and I with them. This is no mere illusion. This is more Real that the "reality" I think I see outside myself. I have now been forgiven by myself. There is no "other" outside myself. But while I continue to see "others," I can practice this exercise with everyone and everything that seems to disrupt my peace. I can use the world of dreams for God's Purposes, which are for my Awakening. I do nothing on my own or apart from God. Everything that leads to Happiness and Joy is done in Oneness with God.
Forgiveness is the key to Happiness. I will Awaken from the dream and know I am the Perfect Son of God.
"Forgiveness: my key to Happiness"
My insane and unforgiving mind is full of fear and offers Love no room to be Itself. My unforgiving mind sadly peers around in misery, unable to see, but certain that danger lies just around the corner. It is torn with doubt, and confused about itself and all it sees. I have been afraid and angry, weak and stumbling....afraid to move ahead, afraid to stay.....afraid to face the day, afraid to go to sleep....afraid of every sound, yet more afraid of stillness....terrified of darkness, yet more terrified at the approach of Light. The unforgiving mind can only perceive its own damnation. What can it see except proof that insanity is "real?"
My unforgiving mind does not see mistakes, but only deadly "sins." I look on a world "outside" myself with sightless eyes, and cower in fear as the projections of my mind are reflected back to me. I want to live, yet often wish I were dead. I see no hope. My unforgiving mind is in despair, seeing only a future that holds out more despair.
I do not realize that I am doing this to myself. I have condemned myself to this despair and see no hope of change. I ask no questions, because I think I already know the answers, and am certain I am right.
Forgiveness is a dream within the dream, but a dream used to Awaken me to Reality. Forgiveness helps me let go of the "world" I thought I made and the "self" I thought I was, and let it all disappear. Forgiveness helps return my mind to Oneness.
I created the "world" to give me an experience of being "apart from" God. God uses what I created for His Own Purposes which Awaken me to Reality. Every thought, every action of "another" presents me with an opportunity to forgive, and release myself from the hell I created. As I practice forgiveness, I will learn forgiveness. My ego wanders aimlessly in an apparent existence apart from God, having to make a life for itself in a world that has no mercy. I seem to make choices and decisions on my own which lead me to a life which depends on "good" or "bad" choices and their subsequent results. The fact is, I am lost in a dream. The Reality is, I can do nothing without God or "apart from" God, not because I am helpless and small, but because I am God's Son and He Wills that I am with Him, sharing in His Kingdom. God's Will is my will as well, but I have forgotten this in my choice to dream.
Today I practice forgiveness. Not as the world teaches forgiveness, but as God instructs. In my experience of separation, I do not perceive that giving and receiving are the same. But through my practice of forgiveness, I will understand that as I forgive, I am forgiven.
I will practice forgiveness with someone I consider an enemy, AND one whom I consider a friend. They are one and the same. As I learn to see them both as one, I will extend this lesson to myself. My "brother's" salvation is my own.
I will think of someone I do not like, actively hate or would just as soon ignore. Someone who irritates me, or would cause me upset or discomfort if I would see them now. Picture this person in my mind and just look at them awhile. Picture a light in them somewhere; a little gleam I had not noticed before. Picture a little Spark of Brightness shining through the ugly picture I hold of them. Look at this picture until I see a Light somewhere within it. Extend this Light until it fully covers them and makes the picture Beautiful and Good. Then look at this changed picture a while. Now picture someone I consider a friend. Transfer the Light I learned to see around my "enemy" to my "friend." Let both "enemy" and "friend" now bless me with the Light which I gave them. They are One with me and I with them. This is no mere illusion. This is more Real that the "reality" I think I see outside myself. I have now been forgiven by myself. There is no "other" outside myself. But while I continue to see "others," I can practice this exercise with everyone and everything that seems to disrupt my peace. I can use the world of dreams for God's Purposes, which are for my Awakening. I do nothing on my own or apart from God. Everything that leads to Happiness and Joy is done in Oneness with God.
Forgiveness is the key to Happiness. I will Awaken from the dream and know I am the Perfect Son of God.
"Forgiveness: my key to Happiness"
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Lesson 120 ~ Review III
#1 ~ "I rest in God."
I rest in God today and always. I will let Him work in and through me while I rest in Him in Quiet and Perfect Certainty. There is no Happiness to be found outside me. The Happiness I seek is deep within me as God's Son. I am Safe in Heaven dreaming of exile "apart from" God....having a dream of madness. As I remember my True Identity, my Happiness will be reflected in the "world" I seem to see, but completely independent of the "world." Upon my Awakening, the "world" will disappear because it never was.
#2 ~ "I am as God created me."
I am God's Son. No dream can change this. No thought of separation can change this. Today I will lay aside all sick illusions of myself and let my Father tell me Who I am. I have been lost in a dream of madness. But I have never been lost at all. I have been with God the whole time. My mind has wandered off into dreams. Like a child playing make-believe, with his parents safely nearby. I have been Safe the whole time. Mind is the only Reality and I have let mine wander into "what if's"........what if there were no God?....what if I was off on my own and had to make all my own choices and decisions?....what if a world existed where God was absent? Like the Prodigal Son I have "left" my Father to explore other "realities." Like the Prodigal Son, I will return Home. I have not "sinned," I have only allowed myself to be mistaken about who and where I am. I am not a "body" in a world of other "bodies," in a struggle each day in a "world" that does not seem to care. My Reality is with God and I am His Son. My Reality is Perfect Love, Peace, Joy, Certainty and Serenity. There is nothing else.
I rest in God today and always. I will let Him work in and through me while I rest in Him in Quiet and Perfect Certainty. There is no Happiness to be found outside me. The Happiness I seek is deep within me as God's Son. I am Safe in Heaven dreaming of exile "apart from" God....having a dream of madness. As I remember my True Identity, my Happiness will be reflected in the "world" I seem to see, but completely independent of the "world." Upon my Awakening, the "world" will disappear because it never was.
#2 ~ "I am as God created me."
I am God's Son. No dream can change this. No thought of separation can change this. Today I will lay aside all sick illusions of myself and let my Father tell me Who I am. I have been lost in a dream of madness. But I have never been lost at all. I have been with God the whole time. My mind has wandered off into dreams. Like a child playing make-believe, with his parents safely nearby. I have been Safe the whole time. Mind is the only Reality and I have let mine wander into "what if's"........what if there were no God?....what if I was off on my own and had to make all my own choices and decisions?....what if a world existed where God was absent? Like the Prodigal Son I have "left" my Father to explore other "realities." Like the Prodigal Son, I will return Home. I have not "sinned," I have only allowed myself to be mistaken about who and where I am. I am not a "body" in a world of other "bodies," in a struggle each day in a "world" that does not seem to care. My Reality is with God and I am His Son. My Reality is Perfect Love, Peace, Joy, Certainty and Serenity. There is nothing else.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Lesson 119 ~ Review III
#1 ~ "Truth will correct all errors in my mind if I accept Truth in place of illusions."
Will I obsessively ruminate about the things that annoy, sadden, anger and/or irk me, or will I replace those insane thoughts with Thoughts of Truth, such as the ideas in these lessons? AA, NA, Al-Anon, etc., offer easily memorized phrases to repeat over and over, when my mind cannot stop that "stinkin' thinkin'", such as: 'this too shall pass;' 'one day (second/minute/hour)at a time;' 'let go and let God.' Even in the dream I can find Truth. The ACIM workbook also gives me short phrases about Truth, that go beyond (but not intended to replace) what those programs offer, to replace the insane thoughts in my mind. ACIM goes beyond what these programs teach because it deals with the problem where it is: in the mind. And teaches that there is nothing outside me. I am mistaken when I think I can be hurt in any way. The Son of God rests in the Mind of His Father. I am the Son of God not in theory, but in Truth. It is my ONLY Reality. I am dreaming of another "reality" but it has no substance and will disappear when I allow Truth to take its place.
#2 ~ "To give and to receive are One in Truth."
I will forgive all things today to learn to accept Truth in me and come to recognize my Innocence. When God gives me a Gift, it is not complete until I accept It. The circle of Creation longs for Completion. God does not do battle with my insane dreams. He merely offers Truth and waits for me to accept. He know I am Safe in Heaven with Him and that nothing can harm me in any way. He whispers to me of Heaven, tells me I am Loved and waits for me to accept the Gifts He offers. I do not "like" my insane dreams and the madness they bring my mind, but I believe in their "reality." Just as the Father believes in His Creations, the Son also believes in his. I believe I separated myself from God. I desired to experience a world "apart from" God. Being apart from God is not possible in Reality, but in fantasy anything is possible. Time and space exist only in dreams. Bodies exist only in dreams. The only Reality is the One Mind. I cannot even think apart from God. But I CAN occupy my mind with thoughts of madness in dreams of illusions, though they can never be Real. Like the story of the Prodigal Son, I wanted to experience "life" "apart from" my Father. I can return Home. I am Home.
Will I obsessively ruminate about the things that annoy, sadden, anger and/or irk me, or will I replace those insane thoughts with Thoughts of Truth, such as the ideas in these lessons? AA, NA, Al-Anon, etc., offer easily memorized phrases to repeat over and over, when my mind cannot stop that "stinkin' thinkin'", such as: 'this too shall pass;' 'one day (second/minute/hour)at a time;' 'let go and let God.' Even in the dream I can find Truth. The ACIM workbook also gives me short phrases about Truth, that go beyond (but not intended to replace) what those programs offer, to replace the insane thoughts in my mind. ACIM goes beyond what these programs teach because it deals with the problem where it is: in the mind. And teaches that there is nothing outside me. I am mistaken when I think I can be hurt in any way. The Son of God rests in the Mind of His Father. I am the Son of God not in theory, but in Truth. It is my ONLY Reality. I am dreaming of another "reality" but it has no substance and will disappear when I allow Truth to take its place.
#2 ~ "To give and to receive are One in Truth."
I will forgive all things today to learn to accept Truth in me and come to recognize my Innocence. When God gives me a Gift, it is not complete until I accept It. The circle of Creation longs for Completion. God does not do battle with my insane dreams. He merely offers Truth and waits for me to accept. He know I am Safe in Heaven with Him and that nothing can harm me in any way. He whispers to me of Heaven, tells me I am Loved and waits for me to accept the Gifts He offers. I do not "like" my insane dreams and the madness they bring my mind, but I believe in their "reality." Just as the Father believes in His Creations, the Son also believes in his. I believe I separated myself from God. I desired to experience a world "apart from" God. Being apart from God is not possible in Reality, but in fantasy anything is possible. Time and space exist only in dreams. Bodies exist only in dreams. The only Reality is the One Mind. I cannot even think apart from God. But I CAN occupy my mind with thoughts of madness in dreams of illusions, though they can never be Real. Like the story of the Prodigal Son, I wanted to experience "life" "apart from" my Father. I can return Home. I am Home.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Lesson 118 ~ Review III
#1 ~ "God's Peace and Joy are mine."
Today I will accept God's Peace and Joy. It is not enough that God gives me His Gifts, I must accept Them. So....will I marinate in thoughts of doubt, or will I accept Peace and Joy? Will I ruminate over my daily grind, or will I accept Peace and Joy? Do I replay over and over in my head how "someone" wronged me, or do I accept Peace and Joy? Every thought I allow into my mind is a conscious choice to accept the world of madness, or accept God's Peace and Joy. I have plenty of opportunities each day to make this choice. There seems to be a "battle" within me between illusions and Reality, but salvation is very simple. The world of insanity is complicated and convoluted. Salvation battles nothing and no one. Salvation merely waits for me to choose the Happiness it holds out to me.
#2 ~ "Let me be still and listen to Truth."
Let my own ego-thoughts be still that I may hear the Mighty Voice for Truth Itself tell me of my Reality as God's Son. Ego is always ready to go to war. Salvation is always ready to offer Love or some Attribute of Love (Joy, Happiness, Serenity, Peace, Wholeness, etc).
Today I will accept God's Peace and Joy. It is not enough that God gives me His Gifts, I must accept Them. So....will I marinate in thoughts of doubt, or will I accept Peace and Joy? Will I ruminate over my daily grind, or will I accept Peace and Joy? Do I replay over and over in my head how "someone" wronged me, or do I accept Peace and Joy? Every thought I allow into my mind is a conscious choice to accept the world of madness, or accept God's Peace and Joy. I have plenty of opportunities each day to make this choice. There seems to be a "battle" within me between illusions and Reality, but salvation is very simple. The world of insanity is complicated and convoluted. Salvation battles nothing and no one. Salvation merely waits for me to choose the Happiness it holds out to me.
#2 ~ "Let me be still and listen to Truth."
Let my own ego-thoughts be still that I may hear the Mighty Voice for Truth Itself tell me of my Reality as God's Son. Ego is always ready to go to war. Salvation is always ready to offer Love or some Attribute of Love (Joy, Happiness, Serenity, Peace, Wholeness, etc).
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Lesson 117 ~ Review III
#1 ~ "God, being Love, is also Happiness."
God is Love and all the Attributes of Love: Joy, Peace, Life, Serenity, Wholeness, Happiness, Contentment. In the world of madness, I created the opposite of Love (anxiety, doubt, worry, sadness, loneliness, longing, death, anger, disappointment, defeat, hatred, war, jealously, envy, etc.). Love could have an opposite only in dreams, not in Reality. The world of madness can never be a substitute for Love. Heaven is all around and within me....yet I dream of insanity.
#2 ~ "God's gives me the Gift of Love."
Love is my Inheritance and with Love comes all the Attributes of Love. These are the Gifts God gives me. I accept His Gifts in place of the madness I see now.
God is Love and all the Attributes of Love: Joy, Peace, Life, Serenity, Wholeness, Happiness, Contentment. In the world of madness, I created the opposite of Love (anxiety, doubt, worry, sadness, loneliness, longing, death, anger, disappointment, defeat, hatred, war, jealously, envy, etc.). Love could have an opposite only in dreams, not in Reality. The world of madness can never be a substitute for Love. Heaven is all around and within me....yet I dream of insanity.
#2 ~ "God's gives me the Gift of Love."
Love is my Inheritance and with Love comes all the Attributes of Love. These are the Gifts God gives me. I accept His Gifts in place of the madness I see now.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Lesson 116 ~ Review III
#1 ~ "God's Will for me is Perfect Happiness."
My True and Natural State of Being is Perfect Happiness. My suffering comes only from believing I am "apart from" God. God's Will is my Will. I am not apart from God. I am Perfectly Safe in Heaven dreaming of exile to a world "outside" me and "separate from" God. It is only a dream. Even the thoughts I think are not my True Thoughts. My present thoughts are occupied with dreams. ACIM gives me True Thoughts to replace dream thoughts. I can use them in every circumstance and with every person I meet in the dream. To Awaken to Reality, I replace dream thoughts with Real Thoughts.
#2 ~ "I share God's Will."
I am God's Son. There is One Son not "many." My "brothers" and I are One. If I attack a brother in thought, word or deed, I am attacking this Oneness and keeping myself firmly preoccupied with dreams. There is nothing outside me, so if "someone" seems to attack me in thought, word or deed, it is ME doing it to MYSELF. Nothing exists outside me. Mind and Spirit are the only Reality. Heaven is All There Is. Heaven is within me where my One Self exists untouched and undisturbed by dreams of madness.
My True and Natural State of Being is Perfect Happiness. My suffering comes only from believing I am "apart from" God. God's Will is my Will. I am not apart from God. I am Perfectly Safe in Heaven dreaming of exile to a world "outside" me and "separate from" God. It is only a dream. Even the thoughts I think are not my True Thoughts. My present thoughts are occupied with dreams. ACIM gives me True Thoughts to replace dream thoughts. I can use them in every circumstance and with every person I meet in the dream. To Awaken to Reality, I replace dream thoughts with Real Thoughts.
#2 ~ "I share God's Will."
I am God's Son. There is One Son not "many." My "brothers" and I are One. If I attack a brother in thought, word or deed, I am attacking this Oneness and keeping myself firmly preoccupied with dreams. There is nothing outside me, so if "someone" seems to attack me in thought, word or deed, it is ME doing it to MYSELF. Nothing exists outside me. Mind and Spirit are the only Reality. Heaven is All There Is. Heaven is within me where my One Self exists untouched and undisturbed by dreams of madness.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Lesson 115 ~ Review III
#1 ~ "Forgiveness is my only function."
My function here is to forgive the world for all the errors I have made. I imagined myself separated from God; thinking and being "apart from" Him. I projected this "outside" myself to hide from my guilt. A vicious circle of madness hides my guilt from me and keeps me distracted from Reality. While I seem to see a world "outside" me....while I seem to think thoughts apart from my Father....I forgive all of it to remember my Self.
#3 ~ "My forgiveness is essential to my Awakening."
How can I see Heaven (which is all around me and never left me) while I place illusions first and foremost in my mind? There is nothing outside me. The thoughts I think are not even my True Thoughts. The "world" reflects my belief in separation; it is a projection of an idea of being "apart from" God. My job is to recognize the unreality of what seems to be outside me, by forgiving it. I forgive the madness and God will do the rest. I cannot think apart from God. I do not exist apart from God, not because I am weak and pitiful, but because He created me as His Son, and the Son and the Father are One for Always and Eternity.
My function here is to forgive the world for all the errors I have made. I imagined myself separated from God; thinking and being "apart from" Him. I projected this "outside" myself to hide from my guilt. A vicious circle of madness hides my guilt from me and keeps me distracted from Reality. While I seem to see a world "outside" me....while I seem to think thoughts apart from my Father....I forgive all of it to remember my Self.
#3 ~ "My forgiveness is essential to my Awakening."
How can I see Heaven (which is all around me and never left me) while I place illusions first and foremost in my mind? There is nothing outside me. The thoughts I think are not even my True Thoughts. The "world" reflects my belief in separation; it is a projection of an idea of being "apart from" God. My job is to recognize the unreality of what seems to be outside me, by forgiving it. I forgive the madness and God will do the rest. I cannot think apart from God. I do not exist apart from God, not because I am weak and pitiful, but because He created me as His Son, and the Son and the Father are One for Always and Eternity.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Lesson 114 ~ Review III
#1 ~ "I am Spirit."
I am the Son of God. No "body" can contain my Spirit nor place limits on what God created. I am the Son of God and nothing less.
#2 ~ "My part in God's plan for salvation is to FORGIVE. I will accept my part."
My only function in the world of madness is to forgive it. Forgiveness of all I seem to see is my part in the Awakening to Reality. While I seem to see a world of insanity, I learn of its unreality by forgiving it. I acknowledge to myself that my only Reality is with God and what I seem to see does not exist. Today and every day, I replace my insane thoughts with the lesson for the day to heal my weary mind.
I am the Son of God. No "body" can contain my Spirit nor place limits on what God created. I am the Son of God and nothing less.
#2 ~ "My part in God's plan for salvation is to FORGIVE. I will accept my part."
My only function in the world of madness is to forgive it. Forgiveness of all I seem to see is my part in the Awakening to Reality. While I seem to see a world of insanity, I learn of its unreality by forgiving it. I acknowledge to myself that my only Reality is with God and what I seem to see does not exist. Today and every day, I replace my insane thoughts with the lesson for the day to heal my weary mind.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Lesson 113 ~ Review III
#1 ~ "I am One Self, United with my Creator."
Serenity and Perfect Peace are mine. I am One Self, completely Whole and at One with all Creation and with God.
#2 ~ "Salvation comes from this One Self."
From the One Self, Whose Knowledge remains within my mind, I see God's Perfect Plan for salvation Perfectly fulfilled.
Serenity and Perfect Peace are mine. I am One Self, completely Whole and at One with all Creation and with God.
#2 ~ "Salvation comes from this One Self."
From the One Self, Whose Knowledge remains within my mind, I see God's Perfect Plan for salvation Perfectly fulfilled.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Lesson 112 ~ Review III
#1 ~ "Light, Joy and Peace live in me."
Heaven is all around me and I do not "see" It because I place illusions before my vision. I am Safe with God, dreaming of exile to a world of madness. When I remember who I am (the Son of God), I am assured that all is well.
#2 ~ "I am as God created me."
God created His Son. The Son of God is who I am. Dreaming of insanity does not change my Reality as God's Son. God is Perfect, Changeless and Eternal and I am One with Him, so I am Perfect, Changeless and Eternal. Every aspect of God is also an aspect of me. Not the "me" who exists in a world of madness, but the "me" ~ the Son ~ who exists just as his Father created Him.
Heaven is all around me and I do not "see" It because I place illusions before my vision. I am Safe with God, dreaming of exile to a world of madness. When I remember who I am (the Son of God), I am assured that all is well.
#2 ~ "I am as God created me."
God created His Son. The Son of God is who I am. Dreaming of insanity does not change my Reality as God's Son. God is Perfect, Changeless and Eternal and I am One with Him, so I am Perfect, Changeless and Eternal. Every aspect of God is also an aspect of me. Not the "me" who exists in a world of madness, but the "me" ~ the Son ~ who exists just as his Father created Him.
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