A Course in Miracles, Reading

LESSON 155 I will step back and let Him lead the way.
There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be. You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. Your forehead is serene; your eyes are quiet. And the ones who walk the world as you do recognize their own. Yet those who have not yet perceived the way will recognize you also, and believe that you are like them, as you were before.
The world is an illusion. Those who choose to come to it are seeking...

LESSON 154 I am among the ministers of God.
Let us today be neither arrogant nor falsely humble. We have gone beyond such foolishness. We cannot judge ourselves, nor need we do so. These are but attempts to hold decision off, and to delay commitment to our function. It is not our part to judge our worth, nor can we know what role is best for us; what we can do within a larger plan we cannot see in its entirety. Our part is cast in Heaven, not in hell. And what we think is weakness can be strength; what...

LESSON 153 In my defenselessness my safety lies.
You who feel threatened by this changing world, its twists of fortune and its bitter jests, its brief relationships and all the “gifts” it merely lends to take away again; attend this lesson well. The world provides no safety. It is rooted in attack, and all its “gifts” of seeming safety are illusory deceptions. It attacks, and then attacks again. No peace of mind is possible where danger threatens thus.
The world gives rise but to defensiveness. For threat brings anger, anger makes attack seem reasonable, honestly provoked, and righteous in the name...

LESSON 152 The power of decision is my own.
No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the out­comes that he wants. And no one dies without his own consent. Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. Here is your world, complete in all details. Here is its whole reality for you. And it is only here salvation is.
You may believe that this p...

LESSON 151 All things are echoes of the Voice for God.
No one can judge on partial evidence. That is not judgment. It is merely an opinion based on ignorance and doubt. Its seem­ing certainty is but a cloak for the uncertainty it would conceal. It needs irrational defense because it is irrational. And its defense seems strong, convincing, and without a doubt because of all the doubting underneath.
You do not seem to doubt the world you see. You do not really question what is shown you through the body’s eyes. Nor do you ask why you...

LESSON 150
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(139)  I will accept Atonement for myself.
(140)  Only salvation can be said to cure.
- A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
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LESSON 149
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(137)  When I am healed I am not healed alone.
(138)  Heaven is the decision I must make.
- A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
https://iamacim.com/149.html

LESSON 148
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(135)  If I defend myself I am attacked.
(136)  Sickness is a defense against the truth.
- A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
https://iamacim.com/148.html

LESSON 147
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(133)  I will not value what is valueless.
(134)  Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.-
A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
https://iamacim.com/147.html

LESSON 146
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(131)  No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.
(132)  I loose the world from all I thought it was.
- A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
https://iamacim.com/146.html

LESSON 145
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(129)  Beyond this world there is a world I want.
(130)  It is impossible to see two worlds.-
A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
https://iamacim.com/145.html

LESSON 144
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(127) There is no love but God’s.
(128) The world I see holds nothing that I want.-
A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
https://iamacim.com/144.html

LESSON 143
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(125)  In quiet I receive God’s Word today.
(126)  All that I give is given to myself.
- A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
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LESSON 142
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(123)  I thank my Father for His gifts to me.
(124)  Let me remember I am one with God.
- A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
https://iamacim.com/142.html

LESSON 141
My mind holds only what I think with God.
(121)  Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
(122)  Forgiveness offers everything I want.-
A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
https://iamacim.com/141.html

LESSON 140 Only salvation can be said to cure.
“Cure” is a word that cannot be applied to any remedy the world accepts as beneficial. What the world perceives as thera­peutic is but what will make the body “better.” When it tries to heal the mind, it sees no separation from the body, where it thinks the mind exists. Its forms of healing thus must substitute illusion for illusion. One belief in sickness takes another form, and so the patient now perceives himself as well.
He is not healed. He merely had a dream that he was sick, and in th...

LESSON 139 I will accept Atonement for myself.
Here is the end of choice. For here we come to a decision to accept ourselves as God created us. And what is choice except uncertainty of what we are? There is no doubt that is not rooted here. There is no question but reflects this one. There is no conflict that does not entail the single, simple question, “What am I?”
Yet who could ask this question except one who has refused to recognize himself? Only refusal to accept yourself could make the question seem to be sincere. The only thin...

LESSON 138 Heaven is the decision I must make.
In this world Heaven is a choice, because here we believe there are alternatives to choose between. We think that all things have an opposite, and what we want we choose. If Heaven exists there must be hell as well, for contradiction is the way we make what we perceive, and what we think is real.
Creation knows no opposite. But here is opposition part of being “real.” It is this strange perception of the truth that makes the choice of Heaven seem to be the same as the relinquishment of h...

LESSON 137 When I am healed I am not healed alone.
Today’s idea remains the central thought on which salvation rests. For healing is the opposite of all the world’s ideas which dwell on sickness and on separate states. Sickness is a retreat from others, and a shutting off of joining. It becomes a door that closes on a separate self, and keeps it isolated and alone.
Sickness is isolation. For it seems to keep one self apart from all the rest, to suffer what the others do not feel. It gives the body final power to make...

LESSON 136 Sickness is a defense against the truth.

No one can heal unless he understands what purpose sickness seems to serve. For then he understands as well its purpose has no meaning. Being causeless and without a meaningful intent of any kind, it cannot be at all. When this is seen, healing is automatic. It dispels this meaningless illusion by the same approach that carries all of them to truth, and merely leaves them there to disappear.
Sickness is not an accident. Like all defenses, it is an insane device for self-deception. And like all the rest...

LESSON 135 If I defend myself I am attacked.
Who would defend himself unless he thought he were at­tacked, that the attack were real, and that his own defense could save himself? And herein lies the folly of defense; it gives illu­sions full reality, and then attempts to handle them as real. It adds illusions to illusions, thus making correction doubly diffi­cult. And it is this you do when you attempt to plan the future, activate the past, or organize the present as you wish.
You operate from the belief you must protect yourself from what is...

LESSON 134 Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
Let us review the meaning of “forgive,” for it is apt to be distorted and to be perceived as something that entails an unfair sacrifice of righteous wrath, a gift unjustified and undeserved, and a complete denial of the truth. In such a view, forgiveness must be seen as mere eccentric folly, and this course appear to rest salvation on a whim.
This twisted view of what forgiveness means is easily cor­rected, when you can accept the fact that pardon is not asked for what is true. It must be li...

LESSON 133 I will not value what is valueless.
Sometimes in teaching there is benefit, particularly after you have gone through what seems theoretical and far from what the student has already learned, to bring him back to practical concerns. This we will do today. We will not speak of lofty, world-encompassing ideas, but dwell instead on benefits to you.
You do not ask too much of life, but far too little. When you let your mind be drawn to bodily concerns, to things you buy, to eminence as valued by the world, you ask for sorrow, not for...

LESSON 132 I loose the world from all I thought it was.
What keeps the world in chains but your beliefs? And what can save the world except your Self? Belief is powerful indeed. The thoughts you hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is the truth. A madman thinks the world he sees is real, and does not doubt it. Nor can he be swayed by question­ing his thoughts’ effects. It is but when their source is raised to question that the hope of freedom comes to him at last.
Yet is sal...

LESSON 131 No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.
Failure is all about you while you seek for goals that cannot be achieved. You look for permanence in the impermanent, for love where there is none, for safety in the midst of danger; immortal­ity within the darkness of the dream of death. Who could succeed where contradiction is the setting of his searching, and the place to which he comes to find stability?
Goals that are meaningless are not attained. There is no way to reach them, for the means by which you strive for t...

LESSON 130 It is impossible to see two worlds.
Perception is consistent. What you see reflects your thinking. And your thinking but reflects your choice of what you want to see. Your values are determiners of this, for what you value you must want to see, believing what you see is really there. No one can see a world his mind has not accorded value. And no one can fail to look upon what he believes he wants.
Yet who can really hate and love at once? Who can desire what he does not want to have reality? And...

LESSON 129 Beyond this world there is a world I want.
This is the thought that follows from the one we practiced yesterday. You cannot stop with the idea the world is worthless, for unless you see that there is something else to hope for, you will only be depressed. Our emphasis is not on giving up the world, but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying, filled with joy, and capable of offering you peace. Think you this world can offer that to you?
It might be worth a little time to think once more about...

LESSON 128 The world I see holds nothing that I want.
The world you see holds nothing that you need to offer you; nothing that you can use in any way, nor anything at all that serves to give you joy. Believe this thought, and you are saved from years of misery, from countless disappointments, and from hopes that turn to bitter ashes of despair. No one but must accept this thought as true, if he would leave the world behind and soar beyond its petty scope and little ways.
Each thing you value here is but a chain...

LESSON 127 There is no love but God’s.
Perhaps you think that different kinds of love are possible. Perhaps you think there is a kind of love for this, a kind for that; a way of loving one, another way of loving still another. Love is one. It has no separate parts and no degrees; no kinds nor levels, no divergencies and no distinctions. It is like itself, unchanged throughout. It never alters with a person or a circumstance. It is the Heart of God, and also of His Son.
Love’s meaning is obscure to anyone who thin...

LESSON 126 All that I give is given to myself.
Today’s idea, completely alien to the ego and the thinking of the world, is crucial to the thought reversal that this course will bring about. If you believed this statement, there would be no problem in complete forgiveness, certainty of goal, and sure direction. You would understand the means by which salvation comes to you, and would not hesitate to use it now.
Let us consider what you do believe, in place of this idea. It seems to you that other people are apart from you, and able to...

LESSON 125 In quiet I receive God’s Word today.
Let this day be a day of stillness and of quiet listening. Your Father wills you hear His Word today. He calls to you from deep within your mind where He abides. Hear Him today. No peace is possible until His Word is heard around the world; until your mind, in quiet listening, accepts the message that the world must hear to usher in the quiet time of peace.
This world will change through you. No other means can save it, for God’s plan is simply this: The Son...

LESSON 124 Let me remember I am one with God.
Today we will again give thanks for our Identity in God. Our home is safe, protection guaranteed in all we do, power and strength available to us in all our undertakings. We can fail in nothing. Everything we touch takes on a shining light that blesses and that heals. At one with God and with the universe we go our way rejoicing, with the thought that God Himself goes everywhere with us.
How holy are our minds! And everything we see reflects the holiness within the mind at one...

LESSON 123 I thank my Father for His gifts to me.
Today let us be thankful. We have come to gentler pathways and to smoother roads. There is no thought of turning back, and no implacable resistance to the truth. A bit of wavering remains, some small objections and a little hesitance, but you can well be grateful for your gains, which are far greater than you realize.
A day devoted now to gratitude will add the benefit of some insight into the real extent of all the gains which you have made; the gifts you have received. Be...

LESSON 122 Forgiveness offers everything I want.
What could you want forgiveness cannot give? Do you want peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world? Do you want care and safety, and the warmth of sure protection always?
Do you want a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?
All this forgiveness offers you, and more. It sparkles on your eyes...

LESSON 121 Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
Here is the answer to your search for peace. Here is the key to meaning in a world that seems to make no sense. Here is the way to safety in apparent dangers that appear to threaten you at every turn, and bring uncertainty to all your hopes of ever fin­d­ing quietness and peace. Here are all questions answered; here the end of all uncertainty ensured at last.
The unforgiving mind is full of fear, and offers love no room to be itself; no place where it can spread it...

LESSON 120
For morning and evening review:
(109) I rest in God.
I rest in God today, and let Him work in me and through me, while I rest in Him in quiet and in perfect certainty.
(110) I am as God created me.
I am God’s Son. Today I lay aside all sick illusions of myself, and let my Father tell me Who I really am.
On the hour:I rest in God.
On the half hour:I am as God created me.
- A Course in Miracles, WorkBook
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LESSON 119
For morning and evening review:
(107) Truth will correct all errors in my mind.
I am mistaken when I think I can be hurt in any way. I am God’s Son, whose Self rests safely in the Mind of God.
(108) To give and to receive are one in truth.
I will forgive all things today, that I may learn how to accept the truth in me, and come to recognize my sinlessness.
On the hour:Truth will correct all errors in my mind.

On the half hour:To give and to rece...

LESSON 118
For morning and evening review:
(105) God’s peace and joy are mine.
Today I will accept God’s peace and joy, in glad ex­change for all the substitutes that I have made for happiness and peace.
(106) Let me be still and listen to the truth.
Let my own feeble voice be still, and let me hear the mighty Voice for Truth Itself assure me that I am God’s perfect Son.
On the hour:God’s peace and joy are mine.
On the half hour:Let me be still and listen to the trut...

LESSON 117
For morning and evening review:
(103) God, being Love, is also happiness.
Let me remember love is happiness, and nothing else brings joy. And so I choose to entertain no substitutes for love.
(104) I seek but what belongs to me in truth.
Love is my heritage, and with it joy. These are the gifts my Father gave to me. I would accept all that is mine in truth.
On the hour:God, being Love, is also happiness.
On the half hour:I seek but what belongs to me in truth.
- A Co...

LESSON 116
For morning and evening review:
(101) God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.
God’s Will is perfect happiness for me. And I can suffer but from the belief there is another will apart from His.
(102) I share God’s Will for happiness for me.
I share my Father’s Will for me, His Son. What He has given me is all I want. What He has given me is all there is.
On the hour:God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.

On the half hour:I share God’s Will for hap...