February 24, 2018

Day 17- A Course in Miracles

Day 17- A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 17 Insights

“I see no neutral things.”

As I was doing the exercise, it was clear to me that I was making comparisons in my mind about every object I looked at or I was associating it with other objects or people. Thus I had judgments about everything. They weren’t necessarily condemnation, but they were evaluations. This showed me the non-neutrality of my perceptions and interpretations at the surface.

Day 16 - A Course in Miracles

Day 16 - A Course in Miracles


Chapter Two: The Illusion of Separation

II.  The Reinterpretation of Defenses

18 When you are afraid of anything, you are acknowledging its power to hurt you. Remember that where your heart is, there is your treasure also. This means that you believe in what you value. If you are afraid, you are valuing wrongly. Human understanding will inevitably value wrongly and, by endowing all human thoughts with equal power, will inevitably destroy peace. That is why the Bible speaks of "the peace of God which passeth(human) understanding." This peace is totally incapable of being shaken by human errors of any kind. It denies the ability of anything which is not of God to affect you in any way.

Day 15 - A Course in Miracles

Day 15 - A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 15 Insights

“My thoughts are images that I have made.”

God is formless Love. The extension of God is formless Love. Because we all are God’s extensions, we are formless Love. This Love is all encompassing. There is nothing outside of Love. Image making, on the other hand, is the ego’s effort to make finite forms out of the infinite. In reality this is impossible. In dreams, this is the norm.

It is very helpful for me to recognize that the images I see with my physical eyes are my thoughts. This is image making. It is very helpful for me to let it sink in that these images are not real. It helps me step back and look at these images differently. It helps me return to the Holy Spirit to see what anything means. It helps me remember that these images of separation are really an attempt to replace God’s universal oneness.
This lesson reminds me that I need to step back often, because the world does appear so real and I often get caught up in the image making story. Getting caught up in the image making story does not bring me peace. It does not bring me happiness. 

Receiving Holy Spirit’s perceptions about what I am seeing does bring me peace. It brings me a step closer toward removing the blocks to Love’s presence. I am willing to practice seeing that the images I see are the images I am making up. I am willing to go through this undoing process. It may take years. It doesn’t matter.

No matter what illusions I am believing in in any moment, only Love is real. Truth is true and nothing else is true. My trying to make something else true doesn’t change Reality one iota. Thank goodness. Thank goodness we are all safe in God forever, no matter what images I may try to make real. I am seeing that this lesson is such a blessing. It is giving me a step-by-step process that helps me see what is really going on. It is giving me a way to return to my one Self in God.

                               ______________________________________

Urtext – Use of Terms (Forgiveness – The Face of Christ continued)

And so they [the unknowing] need an illusion of Help because they are helpless; a Thought of peace because they are in conflict. God knows what His Son needs before he asks. He is not at all concerned with form, but having given the content it is His Will that it be understood. And that suffices. The form adapts itself to need; the content is unchanging, as eternal as its Creator.

THE FACE OF CHRIST has to be seen before the memory of God can return. The reason is obvious. Seeing the Face of Christ is perception. No-one can look on knowledge. But the Face of Christ is the great symbol of forgiveness. It is salvation. It is the symbol of the real world. Whoever looks on this no longer sees the world. He is as near to Heaven as is possible outside the gate. Yet from this gate it is no more than just a step inside. It is the final step. And this we leave to God.


                                 __________________________________________

Urtext – Workbook for Students

15. “My thoughts are images which I have made.”

 It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do not recognize them as nothing. You think you think them, and so you think you see them. This is how your “seeing” was made. This is the function you have given your body’s eyes. It is not seeing. It is image-making. It takes the place of seeing, replacing vision with illusions. 

This introductory idea to the process of image-making which you call seeing will not have much meaning for you. You will begin to understand it when you have seen little edges of light around the same familiar objects which you see now. That is the beginning of real vision. You can be certain that real vision will come quickly when this has occurred. 

As we go along, you may have many “light episodes.” They may take many different forms, some of them quite unexpected. Do not be afraid of them. They are signs that you are opening your eyes at last. They will not persist, because they merely symbolize true perception, and they are not related to knowledge. These exercises will not reveal knowledge to you. But they will prepare the way to it. In practicing the idea for today, repeat it first to yourself, and then apply it to whatever you see around you, using its name and letting your eyes rest on it as you say:

 “This __________is an image which I have made.” 
“That __________is an image which I have made.” 

It is not necessary to include a large number of specific subjects for the application of today’s idea. It is necessary, however, to continue to look at each subject while you repeat the idea to yourself. The idea should be repeated quite slowly each time.

 Although you will obviously not be able to apply the idea to very many things during the minute or so of practice that is recommended, try to make the selection as random as possible. Less than a minute will do for the practice periods, if you begin to feel uneasy.

 Do not have more than three application periods for today’s idea unless you feel completely comfortable with it, and do not exceed four.



365 Days Through A Course in Miracles
            A Daily Devotional


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... sharing is fair!


* simple TABLE of CONTENTS! ...  with published posts until this moment.

START DAY: You can begin any time with the Teachings! Read, meditate and make the daily exercises, one by one, every day ... for 365 days! Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, ... until the completion of the 365 lessons!
LOVE, LIGHT & BLESSINGS    ~ SOPHIA ~





Day 14 - A Course in Miracles

Day 14 - A Course in Miracles

ACIM Workbook Lesson 14 Insights

“God did not create a meaningless world.”

With this lesson Jesus is bringing us an important step in our process of returning to Love. Love, our Source, is changeless. Love is eternal. Love is formless. Love is everywhere. Love is all. Therefore, what is not Love is an illusion. It is not real. Image making, or projecting thoughts that are unreal, different from Love, can never really replace Love even though it appears to do so for a while.

February 23, 2018

Day 13 - A Course in Miracles

Day 13 - A Course in Miracles


Chapter Two: The Illusion of Separation

I.  Introduction

2:1 This section deals with a fundamental misuse of knowledge, referred to in the Bible as the cause of the "fall," or separation. There are some definitions which I asked you to take from the dictionary which will be helpful here. They are somewhat unusual since they are not the first definitions which are given. Nevertheless, the fact that each of them does appear in the dictionary should be reassuring.
2 Project (verb): to extend forward or out.
  Project (noun): a plan in the mind.
  World: a natural grand division.

Day 12 - A Course in Miracles

Day 12 - A Course in Miracles


Chapter One: Introduction to Miracles

II.  Distortions of Miracle Impulses

102  You are involved in unconscious distortions which are producing a dense cover over miracle impulses and which make it hard for them to reach consciousness. The nature of any interpersonal relationship is limited or defined by what you want it to do. Relating is a way of achieving an outcome. The danger of defenses lies in their propensity for holding misperceptions rigidly in place. All actions which stem from reverse thinking are literally the behavioral expressions of those who know not what they do. A rigid orientation can be extremely reliable, even if it is upside-down. In fact, the more consistently upside-down it is, the more reliable it is.

Day 11 - A Course in Miracles

Day 11 - A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 11 Insights

“My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.”

When I am experiencing physical discomfort, a headache, a cold or any bodily discomfort, it seems difficult to believe that my meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world. It seems easy to fall into old patterns of assigning meaning to what the pain or discomfort might mean. Sometimes I frighten myself with the meanings I make up, which seems to make it even more difficult to believe that it is my meaningless thoughts that are the cause of this story.

DAY 10 - A Course in Miracles

DAY 10 - A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 10 Insights

“My thoughts do not mean anything.”

It is our beliefs that imprison us. It is our beliefs that stand between us and the knowledge of our oneness and the Love of God. It is our beliefs that manifest as the images that make our world. The good news is that we can change our beliefs because we made them. The idea, “My thoughts do not mean anything” helps us to step back from our thoughts, to dis-identify from them so that we can become open to recognizing that they are simply the effects of our beliefs. Gradually we become aware that there is something behind the thoughts of which we are aware. There is a cause and the cause is our beliefs.

DAY 9 - A Course in Miracles

DAY 9 - A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 9 Insights

“I see nothing as it is now.”

When I go to a movie and sit down and watch the story unfold, someone next to me may say to me, “The events you are seeing on the screen are not really happening now. The movie was made several years ago and you are just viewing it now.” While in the middle of watching the movie, it appears as if the story is not over. It appears as if the scene being enacted in that moment is really happening right now.

February 22, 2018

Day 8 - A Course in Miracles

Day 8 - A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 8 Insights

“My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.”

This undoing process takes a mind open to thought reversal. It takes a mind willing to recognize that it sees only its thoughts projected outward and that all its thinking within the world of separation is just a reflection of a blank mind.
This takes a willingness to step back and look at our thoughts again and again and again and see that they are thoughts that are just coming from the past, from the tiny mad idea to see separation instead of be awake to the truth of Love’s oneness. This undoing process of letting go of the past is necessary before we can become aware of our real thoughts.

February 21, 2018

Day 7 - A Course in Miracles

Day 7 - A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 7 Insights

“I see only the past.”

The truth is Love is ever present. By seeing the present through the filter of the past, we cannot see the Love that is always there. All our judgments are based upon the past. When we let the past go, we let judgment go. We let illusions go.

Day 6 - A Course in Miracles

Day 6 - A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 6 Insights

“I am upset because I see something that is not there.”

Have you ever been startled by something you saw out of the corner of your eye, a shadow or something moving, then when you turned to look at it and saw it was harmless, felt relief? This is an example of perceiving (seeing) something that is not there. When we recognize what we think we see is not really there at all, it brings great relief. This is a tiny taste of the great relief that will come as we learn what the Course is teaching us and apply it to everything in our lives. It will lead us to a serenity that cannot be disturbed and happiness far beyond anything we have experienced in this world.

Day 5 - A Course in Miracles

Day 5 - A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 5 Insights

“I am never upset for the reason I think.”

This lesson brings to our attention a central teaching of the entire Course: Form does not matter. If we stop to think about it, everything that upsets us in any way has something to do with form — the words someone says, the way someone behaves, a computer that malfunctions, a friend who doesn’t call — the list could go on and on.
Gratefully the Course recognizes we are nowhere near ready to fully embrace this idea. We do not even need to believe form does not matter as yet. Today’s exercise will help us open our minds to the possibility. It will help us move toward recognizing all our upsets have one cause. We do not even need to know or understand what the cause is at this point. We are not expected to make the Herculean step from the belief in myriad causes of upset we carry now to the recognition that there is only one cause. We will be led to this recognition gently and easily as our willingness opens the door.

February 20, 2018

Day 4 - A Course in Miracles

Day 4 - A Course in Miracles


ACIM Workbook Lesson 4 Insights

“These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things
I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].”

This lesson is very powerful in helping me recognize the thoughts that are coming from the split mind for what they are — meaningless. This lesson brings me, through baby steps, to the awareness that all the thoughts that I think with the ego mind are trying to be substitutes for my real Thoughts, my real Identity as Love, which is still in the changeless Mind of Love.

Day 3 - A Course in Miracles

Day 3 - A Course in Miracles



Chapter One: Introduction to Miracles
I. Principles of Miracles



1.1 There is no order of difficulty among miracles. One is not "harder" or "bigger" than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal.
2. 2 Miracles as such do not matter. The only thing that matters is their Source, Which is far beyond human evaluation.
3. 3 Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense, everything that comes from love is a miracle.

February 19, 2018

Day 2 - A Course in Miracles

Day 2 - A Course in Miracles


A COURSE IN MIRACLES - Day 2

REFLECTIONS on the LESSON
by SARAH HUEMMERT

Lesson 2 I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from the window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me. Sarah's Commentary: We now continue from the previous lesson. 

Each lesson builds on the one that comes before. We now focus the mind on the fact that nothing has meaning except that which we give it. No thing has meaning in and of itself. Each of us looks at the forms of this world and gives them meaning based on past associations, unique for each of us. None of us sees anything in exactly the same way because our past associations and experiences are different from each other. For this practice, we look at what is around us and declare that what we see is given meaning by our own minds. This means we have the power to change the meaning it has for us.

DAY 1 - A Course in Miracles

Day 1
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION TO MIRACLES



You will see miracles through your hands through Me.

It is crucial to say first that this is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what to take when. It is just because you are not ready to do what you should elect to do that time exists at all. (You should begin each day with the prayer “Help me to perform whatever miracles you want of me today.”)

Introduction to Miracles - A COURSE IN MIRACLES

Introduction to Miracles - A COURSE IN MIRACLES


ONE
Introduction to Miracles
i. Principles of Miracles

1. 1:1 There is no order of difficulty among miracles. One is not “harder”
or “bigger” than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are
maximal.

2. 2 Miracles as such do not matter. The only thing that matters is their Source,
which is far beyond human evaluation.

3. 3 Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love
that inspires them. In this sense, everything that comes from love is a miracle.

A COURSE IN MIRACLES Daily Devotional -INTRODUCTION

A COURSE IN MIRACLES - Daily Devotional - INTRODUCTION


Introduction

What It Says
The Course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.
The course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:

Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the Peace of God.