A Course in Miracles Self-Study Guide

The following posts provide study commentaries and practical life application suggestions for the 365 lessons in the ACIM Workbook. The commentaries are summaries based on Robert Perry's A Workbook Companion, Volume I and Volume II. For more in-depth comments, refer to Perry's original insightful texts. Practical applications have been added because just reading ACIM and understanding its principles intellectually will never lead to the experience of peace and joy and liberation that is the goal of this work. The principles must be diligently applied, day after day and moment after moment, to claim your divine inheritance: complete dominion over your life experiences. Welcome to the "journey without distance" to the Christ in you! (To begin, scroll back to Lesson 1.)

CIM Lessons 355-365

Lesson 355—“There is no end to all the peace and joy, and all the miracles that I will give when I accept God’s Word. Why not today?” I am here to extend God’s love. I am here to see innocence. I am here to bless my brothers and, thereby, to bless myself. I can continue to resist What I Am, but What I Am can never be changed, so why not accept the glory of my reality TODAY?

Lesson 356—“Sickness is but another name for sin. Healing is but another name for God. The miracle is thus a call to Him.” Being sick is not a sin. There is no such thing as sin. Sickness is a manifestation of the mind’s belief in the reality of sin. Our mistaken thoughts do cause sickness, but they are simply mistakes, not sin. When we choose to be sick, at some level we are choosing to identify ourselves as a body rather than as a spirit. The truth we are defending against is the realization that we are spirit and one with God. When I “see” sickness in myself or in another, it “proves” the body is real and separate from God. To heal is to recognize the truth— that I share God’s infallible nature.

Lesson 357—“Truth answers every call to God, responding first with miracles, and then returning us to be Itself.” The two stages are 1) miracles, or changed perception, and 2) the apprehension of truth. We find our way to God through others. We see Christ first in our brothers, and then in ourselves (1:2). First we see the face of Christ and then we remember God.

Lesson 358—“No call to God can be unheard nor left unanswered. And of this I can be sure; His answer is the one I really want.” The ego wants us to believe we want many different things, things that often compete and conflict with each other. Since I am so confused about what I want, it’s best to leave that choice to Spirit. I believe that God wants happiness for me, but I still want to dictate the form in which it comes to me. I need to take it a step further: I want what God wants, and whether I can see it or not at the moment, I want it in just the form Spirit chooses to give it and not in the form I think it should take. I will trust Holy Spirit’s wisdom.

Lesson 359—“God’s answer is some form of peace. All pain is healed; all misery replaced with joy. All prison doors are opened. And all sin is understood as merely a mistake.” Here we are told that when God answers, the answer “is some form of peace.” So the answer I want is peace—in every situation. When I make peace my goal above all else, I will learn forgiveness. When I begin to realize that what I want is not things, but rather the peace I think these things will bring me, then I can start to ask for peace directly and remain entirely open to the form. Once I let go of my insistence that the answer come in a certain form, I will much more quickly become aware of God’s answer and of the fact that God always answers my call.

Lesson 360—“Peace be to me, the holy Son of God. Peace to my brother, who is one with me. Let all the world be blessed with peace through us.” This is, for all practical purposes, the last “lesson” of the Workbook. The last five days of the year will be spent on a single lesson, which gives us an idea of how every day can be spent by a Course “graduate.” This lesson summarizes what CIM is all about: finding the peace of innocence within ourselves, sharing that peace with another, and together sharing it with all the world. Finding innocence within ourselves is the basis. The message of Course is one of radical innocence, radical forgiveness. All are innocent, and no one must be condemned for all to be free. Sharing the peace of innocence with another confirms it within us, and the relationship gives us a microcosm in which to learn to extend that peace.  Having learned to share together, we can then extend the peace of innocence to all the world.

Lessons 361-365—“This is holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.”. If the idea of giving our lives to God sounds unappealing, we can consider the alternative. It is the notion that we want something other than God that generates all our misery and pain. Try not to let the words “the only way” scare you off. This isn’t saying CIM is the only way to God, Whom, by the way, we’ve never left. It’s saying that the route of forgiveness, the truth that we are all innocent before God, is the only way, no matter what form it may take. God created us all to be His expression, and His Will will be done in the end. As it says in the Introduction to CIM, we don’t have any choice about the content of the curriculum, just about when we choose to learn it.

Let’s take a closer look at the words of this last lesson.

This holy instant would I give to You. I set my past beliefs aside and give this moment to You, so that it may become a holy instant.

Be You in charge. I don’t know what anything is for. I set my thoughts and words aside and place You in full charge of this moment.

For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace. I do this because then You can come in and lead me along Your way of love. And only on that way will I find peace.

Assignment/Practical Application: Read the Epilogue, Workbook, pp.487-488. Reflect and meditate on what you have taken away from this year’s course of study and how you can more effectively apply what you have learned to your daily life experience. Remember daily, hourly, that YOU are God’s beloved, in Whom He is well pleased. Roll back your shoulders, lift the corners of your mouth in a smile of acknowledgement and appreciation, and LIVE as if You Are That! 

CIM Lessons 348-354

Lesson 348—“I have no cause for anger or for fear, for You surround me. And in every need that I perceive, Your grace suffices me.” Close your eyes and be quiet, and think of the Presence of God as a golden light. Imagine that light shining on the front of you. Feel its warmth, its golden glow, like the radiance of the sun on a bright summer day. Now, become aware of that same light behind you and on the left and right of you, above and below you. You are immersed in this golden light. You are surrounded by perfect safety (1:5), perfect benevolence. Allow yourself to feel what that is like. In this Love there is no cause for anger or for fear. There is no cause for anything except the perfect peace and joy you share with God.

Lesson 349—“Today I let Christ’s vision look upon all things for me and judge them not, but give each one a miracle of love instead.” “The law of love,” mentioned in the second sentence, has been referred to in Lessons 344, 345 and 346. Lesson 344 defines it: “what I give to my brother is my gift to me.” The law of love is that giving and receiving are the same. Do I want others to refrain from judging me, forgive my mistakes, and offer me love? Then let me give what I want to receive today. Each time I give the miracle of love to another, I have solidified my learning that the miracle belongs to me. (1:6) And thus I remember God.

Lesson 350—“Miracles mirror God’s eternal Love. To offer them is to remember Him, and through His memory to save the world.” To offer a miracle, which is to offer love/forgiveness, is the way to remember God and to literally save the world.  Offering love reminds “the mind that what it sees is false.” To offer love is to look beyond the illusions and to see the truth. It is a refusal to share the littleness in which others see themselves. I want the memory of God to return to my mind, and “only my forgiveness teaches me to let God’s memory return to me, and give it to the world in thankfulness.” (1:8) As I remember God through my forgiveness, “His Son will be restored to us in the reality of Love.” (2:2) Forgiveness “restores” the Son by rejoining the seemingly separated fragments through love and unity.

Lesson 351—“My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain. And which I choose to see I will behold.” The perception of my brother as sinful is a choice I’m making. Choosing to see my brother as sinful will always lead to pain. The question is: Am I willing to see my brother as sinless? When I am, I will experience the peace of God and all I am created to be.

What Am I? This section is a powerful statement of the Course’s vision of my true nature. In the first sentence, I read, “I am  . . . complete and healed and whole.” Immediately and loudly, my ego jumps in to disagree: “You’re a total wreck is what you are! A loser that can’t finish anything she starts.” I can recognize these thoughts are blocking me from my acceptance of the Course’s message, and I can choose against them. For example, I might say, “I feel incomplete, but in reality I’m already complete. I want to know my wholeness.” We are all that our elder brother Jesus is and that is what he’s telling us in this Course. Creation is “sanctified” (made whole, holy) in me. What I am, my very being, is what makes creation holy. I do not need to be made whole or become whole, but only to recognize that is my natural state. I don’t experience myself that way yet, but I am moving in that direction. I can remind myself that though I think I’m feeling fear, fear in me is impossible. I can try to realize that what I think I’m feeling is not in me, but a delusional concept I have mistaken for myself.

Lesson 352—“Judgment and love are opposites. From one comes all the sorrows of the world. But from the other comes the peace of God Himself.” In the intro to the Text, Jesus says, “The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.” (T-In.1:8) Therefore, fear is but illusion. Here, Jesus says love’s opposite is judgment. If I judge something as “bad,” I will fear it. If I fear something, I will judge it as bad. In “The Two Emotions” (T-13.V) it is clear that both love and fear are “a way of seeing,” and that “different worlds arise from their different sights.” The same thought is expressed here about judgment and love. CIM says all the sorrows of the world come from judgment. No wonder we are asked to give it up. Course makes a point that pure love, love without ambivalence, is impossible in this world. (T-4.III.4:6) The closest refection of love in this world is forgiveness. By choosing to forgive rather than to judge, I find my own peace again, the peace of God.

I was lost, “sold” into slavery by my own hand. God did not abandon me. God gave me two things: 1) the memory of God in my mind; and 2) the Holy Spirit, Who leads me to discover that memory. It is up to me whether I will continue to listen to the voice of the ego or to the Voice for God. I have very powerful help. And where that help leads me is to the point of knowing my own Identity. I cannot love what I am unless I love everyone else. That is so because what I am is identical to what everyone else is; we are all the Son of God, the Christ. When we talk about loving someone else “from another room,” let us remember that may be an okay starting point, but there are no other rooms in Oneness.

Lesson 353—“My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today have but one purpose; to be given Christ to use to bless the world with miracles.” These last ten lessons represent the state of mind to which CIM seeks to bring us. In this lesson we see the final outworking of the Course’s thoughts about the body. Not that the body is to be ignored or despised, but rather that it is to be used to bless the world with miracles. The body is not attacked or belittled; rather it is given a new purpose. Our function in Heaven is creation. Our function here is the reflection of creation—the giving of miracles, the extension of forgiveness. Let us then, with all the determination we can muster, this day join with Christ’s purpose. Do not despair if this seems far beyond you now. It’s much nearer than you can imagine. You are much more than you think you are. Simply move, as best you can, in this direction and do not judge how near or far you think you are, how easy or how difficult you think the way. Only be willing to be willing. Don’t be anxious or restless. Anxiety is merely a delaying tactic. Rest. Trust. Let Spirit do the driving.

Lesson 354—“We stand together, Christ and I, in peace and certainty of purpose. And in Him is His Creator, as He is in me.” This lesson expresses the awareness of my identity with Christ. The Creator is in Christ and also in me; God is in me as he is in Christ. Identical.

As we arrive at these last lessons, we may feel as though, somewhere along the line, the Course has evaded us. Somewhere we missed the boat, or more likely, got off the boat and stayed behind.  A part of our minds does not yet believe the words we read. My experience has not yet caught up to my understanding. I still cannot believe I’m identical to the Christ, and so my experience follows my belief, and I experience something other than my perfection.

Does this mean the Course has failed, or that I have failed the Course. Absolutely not! In the epilog, which follows the last lesson, Jesus speaks of how the Holy Spirit will “be our Guide through every difficulty and all pain that you may thing is real.” So he obviously expects that those who have completed the Workbook will still experience difficulties and pain and will still sometimes mistakenly believe the pain is real. He says of this, “Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him.” (W-Ep.1:5) Further, Jesus says, “This Workbook is a beginning, not an end.” The Text and Workbook are meant not to bring us to the end of our journey but rather to train us in the proper way to travel, to develop proper habits of spiritual practice. We are one with God, just as Jesus is, and all our learning is designed to help us unlearn everything that tells us anything different.

Assignment: Lessons 355-361. Read Text Chapter 13, Section V: The Two Emotions.

Practical Application: Before you rise each morning and before you go to sleep each night, envision yourself surrounded and suffused with the Light of God—in a protective golden bubble of divine protection. Then imagine that all the seeming parts and pieces, all the seemingly separate beings of the universe are one living organism. Just as your physical body is a universe unto itself, with the interworking of all its systems, your eternal “body” is one cooperative unit. Begin to envis

CIM Lessons 341-347 and Miracles Principle #50

Miracles Principle #50—“The miracle compares what you have made with creation, accepting what is in accord with it as true, and rejecting what is out of accord as false.” Here is the difference between making and creating. The miracle compares what we have made, which is the physical world, with creation. There are certain things we do in this world that are in accord with creation, such as joining with people. It is not creation, but it is in accord with creation because it follows the principle of oneness. Truth is only of spirit, what God created, but anything we do that unites us with each other reflects the truth of heaven. The miracle occurs when we “see” that the person who seems to be attacking is really calling out for love. You don’t deny what your eyes see; you just shift your interpretation.

Lesson 341—“I can attack but my own sinlessness, and it is only that which keeps me safe.” Whenever I attack anyone, I attack myself. When I see sin in another, my own sinlessness is being attacked, and only that keeps me safe. How does my acknowledgment of my sinlessness keep me safe? It contains the recognition of Who I am, which contains the power of God.

What Is a Miracle? “A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all.” (1:1-2) We tend to think of a miracle as some amazing change in the way things are, but a miracle merely adjusts a mistaken assessment of what already is. We don’t need to become sinless; we already are sinless. The miracle looks on the illusion of sin we have laid over our innocence and reminds us that it is an illusion. We do see devastation in this world, but the miracle reminds us that what we see is false because God, Who is Love, did not create anything capable of destruction.

Lesson 342—“I let forgiveness rest upon all things, for thus forgiveness will be given me.” The key to freedom is in my hands. As I forgive, I receive forgiveness—not from God as a reward for my “good behavior”—but from myself! Forgiveness really means no more than that I “let creation be as You would have it be and as it is.” In every instant today when I face the choice between judgment and forgiveness, I’m standing at Heaven’s gate, holding the key in my hand, wondering if I should go in.

Lesson 343—“I am not asked to make a sacrifice to find the mercy and the peace of God.” To the ego, the notion of Oneness necessarily asks for sacrifice of individuality. Yet the whole idea of sacrifice is foreign to CIM, “a notion totally unknown to God. “(T-3.I.4:1) Conventional Christianity says I must suffer to attain Heaven. I must pay for my mistakes. Course says I am asked to sacrifice “nothing”—all that will pass away—for everything! This lesson reminds me that God only gives. He never takes away! As I was created, I remain, eternally—eternally a thumbprint of God. Created in God’s image, it is in giving that I am magnified.

Lesson 344—“Today I learn the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift to me.” What if I truly realized that what I give to others will be left to me in the end? What if I recognized that everything I try to hold onto for myself alone will be lost? How would that change the way I live? The lesson is referring to my gifts of love and forgiveness rather than to anything physical. I am inextricably and totally linked to all others. If I allow suspicion, judgment, and contempt into my thoughts, my experience will be that I will feel suspect, judged, and held in contempt.

For the next few weeks, let’s try to really get a handle on what this is saying. Let’s STOP AND THINK before we judge our neighbor or co-worker or relative or friend’s cries for love. Remember: I Am LOOKING IN A MIRROR! Let me look gently and with love.

Lesson 345—“I offer only miracles today, for I would have them be returned to me.” Again, what I give is returned to me. The fairness of God’s Universe is impeccable. Realizing this is so, let me decide as this day starts, as every day starts, to offer only what I want.

Lesson 346—“Today the peace of God envelops me, and I forget all things except His Love.” All there is to do is to be happy, to accept God’s love. As I read this lesson, let me suspend my judgment, just for a moment, that this is all too simple. All my strain and struggle comes from my resistance to this idea. I still harbor a fear of loss. It feels as if I’m giving up something valuable when I give up my struggle. Yet all I’m giving up is pain. What if I simply started focusing on being happy? What if I let go of my insistence that things should “be different?” Only my insistence that I’m not worthy of Your Love keeps me from enjoying it in every moment. What if I give Your promise of unconditional Love a genuine try? What if I actually allow myself to experience the truth or falsity of it—and begin to let go of my deep investment in my own unworthiness?

Lesson 347—“Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is the weapon I would use against myself, to keep the miracle away from me.” The previous lesson was about miracle-mindedness. Today, we see why we don’t always experience that state of mind. We actively keep it away from us with thoughts of judgment and attack. Today, let me straighten my mind by giving all my judgments to Spirit and asking Spirit to judge for me. Spirit will show me that what I see does not mean what I think it means. He will use what I thought proved guilt to reveal innocence.

Assignment: Lessons 348-354. Review the Fifty Miracles Principles. Bring questions to class. Read as you are led by Spirit.

Practical Application: Make a list of things you LOVE about the people you interact with or think about this week. Remember as you do this that you are looking in a mirror. These are YOUR traits and qualities, too! Isn’t it wonderful?

CIM Lessons 334-340 and Miracles Principle #49

Miracles Principle # 49: “The miracle makes no distinction among degrees of misperception. It is a device for perception correction, effective quite apart from either the degree or the direction of the error. This is its true indiscriminateness.” This is a restatement of Miracles Principle #1: “There is no order of difficulty in miracles.” The miracle corrects all errors, regardless of what they look like, because errors are all the same. When we believe one thing is more difficult than another, we are falling into the ego’s trap. We are making the body real and making it the focus of attention. The body has only one purpose—to convey God’s Love.

Lesson 334—“Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.” This lesson is about not wasting anymore time chasing after the “treasures” the ego dangles before us. There is a verse in Ecclesiastes that says all our seeking is like trying to hold on to the wind. The illusions of the ego can never satisfy the Son of God. Only that which is eternal can satisfy me. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” (Jim Elliot) Let me remember that what I truly want is the peace and abundance of God in my heart. Every encounter today offers me a chance at that peace and abundance.

Lesson 335—“I choose to see my brother’s sinlessness.” This continues yesterday’s lesson about decision and choice. What we see results from choices we’ve made about what we believe. The misperception happens like this: I see guilt in myself. I want to get rid of it, so I project it onto a brother. I think this will ease my own feelings of guilt, but rather, it magnifies them. Correction happens in reverse: I realize I’m not at peace and therefore I must have decided wrongly. I decide to see my brother as innocent. When I’ve truly made that choice, I’ll see myself as innocent, too. Seeing one another as guiltless restores the memory of God to us.

Lesson 336—“Forgiveness lets me know minds are joined.” CIM speaks of the idea that minds are joined as something that is experienced in a holy relationship. In a holy relationship, the members of that relationship regularly practice forgiveness with one another. The result is that the relationship becomes “a reflection of the union of the Creator and His Son.” (T-22.VI.14:1-5) The idea that forgiveness is related to the experience of Oneness is not intuitively obvious. Our perception tells us we are separate in myriad ways. Forgiveness opens the way to an experience that takes us beyond perception and shows us the underlying unity that perception cannot see. In the experience of union with another person, we begin to remember our union with God.

Lesson 337—“My sinlessness protects me from all harm.” This lesson is about accepting the Atonement. There are only two steps to the full knowledge of complete happiness and invulnerability:

1.     Realize I need do nothing of myself. (God does it all through us.)

2.     Accept what God has already done. (God made All That Is, including me, perfect.)

All the turmoil we experience comes from thinking we lack something and therefore we have to do something to get it. We feel unhappy and set out to seek some “thing” or someone to make us happy. Unhappiness, however, is not a condition of lack. It’s a condition of denial. We block out the awareness of Love’s presence and abundance. We think the solution is to do something when, actually, it’s to stop doing, to end the activity that is obscuring our happiness. That is one of the values of meditation. When we stop the mental activity, happiness can shine through.

Lesson 338—“I am affected only by my thoughts.” This is a key Course concept, repeated over and over again: “I am responsible for what I see. I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the goal I would achieve.” (T-21.II.2:3-4) Nothing beyond yourself can make you fearful or loving, because nothing is beyond you.” (T-10.In.1:1) CIM says accepting this is foundational to our release from suffering.

The realization that there is nothing outside me threatening me in any way at first may induce guilt—because if no one else is doing this to me, I must be doing it to myself, and that seems a horrendous admission to make. In actuality, however, the realization that I am affected only by my own thoughts brings my release from fear and suffering.

Even though I know the truth of this lesson, I will still have frightening thoughts. That is not anything to be concerned about. When such thoughts surface I can learn to shrug and tell myself, “So, I still have an ego. What else is new?” Today let me be willing to recognize my fear thoughts rather than denying I have them, so that with the help of Spirit, I can allow them to be exchanged for happy thoughts of Truth.

Lesson 339—“I will receive whatever I request.” This can be an upsetting idea because it means whatever I have received, I’ve requested on some level. Why would anyone “request” misery and pain? Nobody wants pain, but nevertheless, we do request it. The lesson explains that I’m confused about what I want. I can secretly believe that freedom is threatening. I can secretly believe that love is threatening. Perhaps you’ve had the thought: This is too good to last. We really do think too much joy is threatening. And we value our suspicions. We cherish our defenses. We’re afraid of simply opening up to joy. So, quite unconsciously most of the time, we request separation and unhappiness.

But we can change our minds. We can begin, consciously, to choose the joy of God instead of pain. When pain arises, we can accept the fact that we are choosing it and choose again. We can say, “Oops! I’m doing it to myself again.” Stop a moment and adopt this mindset. Accept responsibility for your pain and choose again.

Lesson 440—“I can be free of suffering today.” Workbook lessons 221-365 are meant to be used as brief introductions to the holy instants of direct experience of the Truth. The “words of inspiration” refer to the prayers in each lesson. The idea is that we read the lesson and think about it a minute or two. Then, we repeat the prayer that invites God to join us. Then we wait quietly until we’re aware of God’s presence. Perhaps my holy instant won’t last more than an instant or two. But even if I forget or “lose” the experience, the memory will remain and sustain me, transforming my day. There is no need for anxiety because God has promised we cannot lose our way back to Him—because we never left Him.

Assignment: Lessons 341-347 and Miracles Principle #50. This is the last miracles principle. Please review all fifty principles this week and try to be sure you understand their meaning. If not, please bring your questions for discussion in class.

Practical Application: Meditate on some pain, disappointment or seeming lack in your life. Consider accepting responsibility for choosing this situation. Then consider choosing God’s peace instead. What would that “look” like? What would you be saying and/or doing differently?

CIM Lessons 327-333 and Miracles Principle #48

Miracles Principle #48: “The miracle is the only device at your immediate disposal for controlling time. Only revelation transcends it, having nothing to do with time at all.” Revelation is not a correction but rather an experience. Revelation unites us directly with God. The miracle is a correction. The miracle undoes the belief in separation, allowing us to recall our Oneness with All That Is. A miracle is any expression of love. Expressions of love shift our perception, so that we see God’s Reality rather than the ego’s illusions.

Lesson 327—“I need but call and You will answer me.” The bottom line of this lesson is “Here are God’s promises; try them, and prove to yourself that He means what He says.” It tells us we can “learn from . . . experience that this is true” (1:3), that we can take God’s promises and “test them out.” We can sit around discussing the principles of the Course till the cows come home and learn nothing. But if we try the principles out, test them, CIM promises it will change the way we think about everyone and everything. It will bring us peace.

Even as we sit in our weekly discussion groups, comments make it apparent that we’re still judging, still feeling like victims when CIM has told us over and over again that we make the world we see. Jesus says we are far too lazy about the thoughts we allow to take root and produce after their own kind. As long as we insist on holding on to our judgments, we’re going to see chaos and disharmony. Try it this week! When you are tempted to judge anyone (including yourself) or anything, call on Spirit to help you see things in a different way.

Lesson 328—“I choose the second place to gain the first.” When we consider choosing to join our will with God’s, it seems like some kind of loss, a submission to something outside ourselves. It seems like taking “second place.” In our mistaken identity as egos, we feel the only way to have autonomy is to make ourselves independent from God and from the rest of God’s creation. All that we experience by asserting our independence is “sickness, suffering and loss and death.” (1:3) We are like a branch severed from the tree expecting to survive. It ain’t happening! Our identity isn’t lost by joining it with God; it’s found!

Lesson 329—“I have already chosen what You will.” Not only is choosing God’s Will the only way to find our true autonomy (yesterday’s lesson), we have already made that choice. We may think we’ve wandered away from God’s Will, defied it, and broken its laws (1:1), but we have not. We cannot. Because we are the will of God, “extended and extending.” (1:2) When did we make this choice that we seem to be unaware of? In the very instant of our creation. (1:5) When we came into being, we were the extension of God’s will. Our choice was already made, and made “for all eternity.” We cannot change that. We can make up an illusion in which we appear to have a separate will from God’s, but we cannot make it real. This fact is our safety. The unity of God is unbroken, now and forever.

Lesson 330—“I will not hurt myself again today.” Whenever I think I’m less than what God created, I hurt myself, and only myself. I do no real damage, but I have the entirely realistic illusion of pain, sacrifice, and suffering. All my physical and emotional senses confirm its reality; only the vision of Christ sees past the illusion. The way toward that deliverance is to understand that “life is but a dream” as the old song says, and we are the writers, producers, and actors in that dream. Let me observe my thoughts, what I’m writing and producing today, and how my experience changes when I give my unloving thoughts to Spirit to correct.

Lesson 331—“There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.” CIM says nothing we do can affect God’s love for us or the reality of our perfection. Many fear this information could be used to justify any kind of vile behavior. The truth is that when we realize our Oneness, we no longer feel the need or the desire to attack another. When we realize that we have all because we are all, that the eternal fountain of abundance is within us, there is no need or desire to covet or to steal or to numb ourselves into oblivion. The truth is that we can trust ourselves when we realize the ego is not who we are. But we must first see the ego for what it is. It operates in a secretive, stealthy fashion. As long as we don’t know what our “enemy” is, we’ll be run by fear. We have to get to the pace where we can see clearly, “Oh, that’s just the ego, it’s just me thinking I’m separate.” Then we can let it go.

What is the ego? “The ego is idolatry.” (1:1) Idolatry is the worship of a false god. That’s what the ego is—an insane attempt to make real an identity that is apart from God and intended to replace Him in our awareness. The ego is “the sign of a limited and separated self, born in a body, doomed to suffer and to end its life in death.” (1:1) The ego is not some “thing” inside of us, some sort of evil twin, the dark side of our soul. The ego is the whole concept of a separated self that is set apart from “other selves.” Changing our self-concept from ego to spirit doesn’t mean that this separate self, which was “evil,” now becomes “good.” It means that this seemingly separate self is replaced by something completely inclusive. I cease to be “I” in the way I thought I was. The ego sees God’s will as enemy because God is “other,” something different and separate from itself. Since God is a very powerful “other,” His will represents a threat against which we feel we must struggle. We know a child is beginning to develop an ego when he begins to say “no” every time you say “yes.” The ego is a big “no” to God and His Will.

Lesson 332—“Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free.” Fear and unforgiveness are the same. Our fear is rooted in guilt. Our primal fear is of punishment for what we believe we’ve done wrong. Our belief in our sin produces guilt, and that guilt produces fear. The fear “binds” us. It’s a restrictive emotion. Forgiveness, which undoes guilt, thus sets us free. The belief in sin is the ego’s fundamental illusion. The truth about us is that we are guiltless. Forgiveness doesn’t attack sin and guilt. It gently shines them away. When I exercise forgiveness, the realization of the freedom and power of my mind comes more quickly. When I realize the picture of sin I’m seeing in my brother is of my own making and that I can choose to see it differently, I am reclaiming my power as God’s Son.

Lesson 333—“Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here.” This is a magnificent lesson! It states unmistakably, in very certain terms, that we cannot dodge correcting our mistaken thoughts of conflict. Each one must be faced squarely and forgiveness applied. Our thoughts of conflict “must be resolved” (1:1). They will not simply go away. Our intent should be to see the ego conflict exactly as it is. In other words, to recognize the hatred, attack, self-isolation, grandiosity, and anger exactly for what they are. To stop playing innocent. Only when we are willing to go through this kind of ruthless self-examination, taking total responsibility for our own thoughts, will the defenses of the ego be resolved and the truth be free to shine them away. The conflict has been unreal—illusion fighting illusion, fear reacting to fear. And with that realization, my own guilt melts, and the way of return to God is open.

Assignment: Lessons 334-340. Miracles Principle #49. Read as you are led by Spirit.

Practical Application: Spend some time in self-examination this week. Look at those relationships that still need some work.

Ask yourself:

What am I afraid will happen if I forgive this person?

Would I accuse myself of what I’m accusing him/her of?

What is the “payoff” to me to continue to try to hold this person in hell?

What am I losing or forfeiting to continue to try to hold this person in hell?

If I knew today was the last day I would spend on earth, would I do things differently? 

CIM Lessons 320-326 and Miracles Principle #47

Miracles Principle #47: “The miracle is a learning device that lessens the need for time. It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval not under the usual laws of time. In this sense it is timeless.” Though the miracle appears within the dimension of time, it collapses time or lifts us above the world of time. When we choose to forgive, we can work through a huge chunk of guilt—a process that could take us a thousand years—in an instant. The miracle is the means that Spirit uses to teach us that we are not the victims of the world.  I can be treated unfairly only by myself, and for that I’ve already been forgiven. Thus, healing doesn’t take time, only realization.

Lesson 320—“My Father gives all power unto me.” These words paraphrase words spoken by Jesus shortly after the resurrection: “All power is given unto me.” (Mt. 28:18) In this lesson, Jesus puts these words into our mouths. It is an indication of the equal plane on which Jesus places us with him. All of us, along with Jesus, are the equal sons of God and all of us have the limitless power that God endowed us with at creation. Sweet Spirit, let me examine my thoughts today for beliefs in limits that hold back Your power working in me and through me. Let me recognize them as false, and open myself to Your limitless power.

Lesson 321—“Father, my freedom is in You alone.” This lesson, like many in this last part of the Workbook, is written from the perspective of a person entering the last stages of the journey home. It is the song of one whose uncertainty has ended, whose decision for the Kingdom of God is strong and clear. These are the words of one who has realized the peace of God is all he wants.  Most of us don’t feel this absolute confidence or commitment as yet.  We’re along about NC on a trip to Canada. We’re not at our destination yet, but we’re well on our way.

What Is Creation? CIM speaks often of “your creations,” yet never clearly says exactly what those creations are. It tells us our creation process continues unabated despite our unawareness of it, and that the Holy Spirit saves all our creations for us. There is an image of us entering Heaven and being greeted by all our creations. We have a fundamental misconception that makes it difficult for us to understand what creations are. We think God created this world. Therefore, when we think of creation, we think of something material and concrete. Yet CIM clearly tells us this entire world is an illusion, so how could our creations be here? My creations are not objects. They are thoughts. “Thoughts,” in this lesson, is capitalized, so we know this refers to God’s Son, the Christ. In the physical realm, we’re not used to equating thoughts and living beings. We don’t think of living beings as “only” thoughts. But CIM teaches us that we are only Thoughts in God’s Mind. “You are not a body.” (W-pI.91.5:2) We are something wholly other than material. We are spirit. We are thought.

Lesson 322—“I can give up but what was never real.” I can’t give up anything real: “As You created me, I can give up nothing You gave me.” The whole idea of sacrifice is alien to God. Oh, we are asked to give up things. CIM even asks us to give up the entire world. But not to sacrifice. The point of this lesson is quite simple: “I sacrifice illusions; nothing more.” (1:1)

Lesson 323—“I gladly make the sacrifice of fear.” Yesterday’s lesson ended with “What loss can I anticipate except the loss of fear?” and today’s lesson picks up on that idea. So . . . all I’m going to lose is fear? I can live with that! Losing fear is no sacrifice. I will lose my fear with pleasure. It may seem I’m being asked to give up some pleasant and valuable things, but all I’m really being asked to give up is “all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt.” (1:1) As I ponder this, let me remember I’m not letting go of anything real. All I’m doing is “letting go of self-deception and of images I worshipped falsely.” (2:1) When “fear has gone . . . only love remains.” (2:4) So why would I not “gladly make the ‘sacrifice’ of fear”?

Lesson 324—“I merely follow, for I would not lead.” Learning to follow my Inner Guidance is the goal of the Course. That Voice is the Voice for God in me. I am well served to learn that I am not on my own. God has set every step of my “journey.” As I look back with God, I know this is true. Nothing I’ve ever done has been anything but for my highest good. It has all worked together perfectly to get me exactly where I am now. What I thought were detours away from God were really lessons bring me closer to Home, and I am grateful for them all. Though the time I’ve spent wandering seems long indeed, put in the perspective that we are eternal, that time is literally nothing, a fragment of a dream.

Lesson 325—“All things I think I see reflect ideas.” This lesson is perhaps the best single summary of CIM’s theory of perception. Everything I see is a projection. By this analysis of perception, we see absolutely nothing real with our physical eyes. All that we see “reflects a process in my mind” and nothing more than that. As an earlier Workbook lesson says, “I have given everything I see . . . all the meaning it has for me.” As we choose what we believe, a testament to that world arises in our sight. What we really want is the ideas of God reflected in our world, rather than our own error thoughts and fears. Today, I don’t want dreams; I want God’s Reality.

Lesson 326—“I am forever an Effect of God.” The cause determines what the effect is. If I strike a billiard ball with my cue stick, the ball has no say in where it goes. If I am an Effect of God, and I am, I have no say in determining what I am. What I am is determined by my Cause. This is why it’s true that “as You created me I have remained.” (1:3) Does this preclude free will? Yes, it does, insofar as determining what my nature is. And thank God it does! Otherwise, I would have irretrievably damaged myself and made sin and hell into realities. Free will, as the Course says in its introduction, doesn’t grant us the right to “establish the curriculum.” It only grants the freedom to choose when we will learn/accept the truth of what we are in God’s mind. God’s will is “to have a Son so like his Cause that Cause and Its Effect are indistinguishable. (1:5) What an amazing statement! If God is Love, so is His Son. “God is but Love, and therefore, so am I.” (Lessons 171-180.)

Assignment:  Lessons 327-333 and Miracles Principle #47. Read as directed by Spirit.

Practical Application: When you have spare moments this week, sitting at a stoplight, stirring your soup—whatever—review in your mind the attributes of God according to your understanding. (Ex., “God is love, God in non-judgmental, God is joy,” etc.) After each statement, substitute the words “I am . . .(I am love, I am non-judgmental, I am joy,” etc.) So it goes like this:

“God is love. I am love.”

“God is nonjudgmental. I am non-judgmental.”

God is joy. I am joy.”