A Course in Miracles goes beyond existentialism to true self-realization. Rather
than merely waking up and finding oneself turned into a monstrous insect: "The
Metamorphosis" - Kafka; or shooting someone on a beach senselessly: "The
Stranger,"- Camus; A Course in Miracles makes quite clear that what lies past
existentialism is not disgusting or psychosis, but:

"You are afraid of me because you looked within and are afraid of what you saw.
Yet you could not have seen reality, for the reality of your mind is the loveliest
of God's creations. Coming only from God, its power and grandeur could only bring
you peace *if you really looked upon it*. If you are afraid, it is because you
saw something that is not there. Yet in that same place you could have looked
upon me and all your brothers, in the perfect safety of the Mind which created us.
For we are there in the peace of the Father, who wills to extend his peace
through you."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 12, Section 7

"Everyone makes an ego or a self for himself, which is subject to enormous
variation because of its instability. He also makes an ego for everyone else he
perceives, which is equally variable. Their interaction is a process that alters
both, because they were not made by or with the unalterable. It is important to
realize that this alteration can and does occur as readily when the interaction
takes place in the mind as when it involves physical interaction. There could be
no better example that the ego is only an idea and not a fact."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 4, Section 2 (3pdf)

"You will identify with what you think will make you safe. Whatever it may be,
you will believe that it is one with you. Your safety lies in truth, and not in
lies. Love is your safety. Fear does not exist. Identify with love, and you are
safe. Identify with love, and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self."
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, "What is the Body"

"the purpose of this course is to help you remember what you are"
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 9, Section 1

"The goal of the curriculum, regardless of the teacher you choose, is "Know
thyself." There is nothing else to seek. Everyone is looking for himself and for
the power and glory he thinks he has lost. Whenever you are with anyone, you have
another opportunity to find them. Your power and glory are in him because they
are yours. The ego tries to find them in yourself alone, because it does not know
where to look. The Holy Spirit teaches you that if you look only at yourself you
cannot find yourself, because that is not what you are. Whenever you are with a
brother, you are learning what you are because you are teaching what you are. He
will respond either with pain or with joy, depending on which teacher you are
following. He will be imprisoned or released according to your decision, and so
will you. Never forget your responsibility to him, because it is your
responsibility to yourself. Give him his place in the Kingdom and you will have
yours.

The Kingdom cannot be found alone, and you who are the Kingdom cannot find
yourself alone. To achieve the goal of the curriculum, then, you cannot listen to
the ego, whose purpose is to defeat its own goal. The ego does not know this,
because it does not know anything. But you can know it, and you will know it if
you are willing to look at what the ego would make of you. This is your
responsibility, because once you have really looked at it you *will* accept the
Atonement for yourself. What other choice could you make? Having made this
choice you will understand why you once believed that, when you met someone else,
you thought he *was* someone else. And every holy encounter in which you enter
fully will teach you this is not so.

You can encounter only part of yourself because you are part of God, Who is
everything. His power and glory are everywhere, and you cannot be excluded from
them. The ego teaches that your strength is in you alone. The Holy Spirit
teaches that all strength is in God and *therefore* in you. God wills no one
suffer. He does not will anyone to suffer for a wrong decision, including you.
That is why he has given you the means for undoing it. Through his power and
glory all your wrong decisions are undone completely, releasing you and your
brother from every imprisoning thought any part of the Sonship holds. Wrong
decisions have no power, because they are not true. The imprisonment they seem to
produce is no more true than they are.

Power and glory belong to God alone. So do you. God gives whatever belongs to
him because he gives of himself, and everything belongs to him. Giving of
yourself is the function he gave you. Fulfilling it perfectly will let you
remember what you *have* of him, and by this you will remember also what you *are*
in him. You cannot be powerless to do this, because this is your power. Glory is
God's gift to you, because that is what he is. See this glory everywhere to
remember what you are."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 8, Section 3

"Seek not outside yourself. For it will fail, and you will weep each time an idol
falls. Heaven cannot be found where it is not, and there can be no peace
excepting there. Each idol that you worship when God calls will never answer in
His place. There is no other answer you can substitute, and find the happiness
His answer brings. Seek not outside yourself. For all your pain comes simply
from a futile search for what you want, insisting where it must be found. What if
it is not there? Do you prefer that you be right or happy? Be you glad that you
are told where happiness abides, and seek no longer elsewhere. You will fail. But
it is given you to know the truth, and not to seek for it outside yourself.

No one who comes here but must still have hope, some lingering illusion, or some
dream that there is something outside of himself that will bring happiness and
peace to him. If everything is in him this cannot be so. And therefore by his
coming, he denies the truth about himself, and seeks for something more than
everything"
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section 7

"Understand what "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you," really means.... The word
"within" is unnecessary. The Kingdom of Heaven *is* you."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 4, Section 3 (4pdf)

"Nothing [you] can do, can compare even in the slightest with the glorious
surprise of remembering Who [You are]. Let all [your] learning and all [your]
efforts be directed toward this one great final surprise, and [you] will not be
content to be delayed by the little ones that may come to [you] on the way."
- A Course in Miracles, Manual For Teachers, Section 25, "Are "Psychic" Powers
Desirable?"

"Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He
answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor
will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is
within you.”
- Jesus Christ, Luke 17:20-21, Holy Bible, New Testament, NKJV

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"It is only the awareness of the body that makes love seem limited. For the body
*is* a limit on love. The belief in limited love was its origin, and it was made
to limit the unlimited. Think not that this is merely allegorical, for it was
made to limit *you*. Can you who see yourself within a body know yourself as an
idea? Everything you recognize you identify with externals, something outside
itself. You cannot even think of God without a body, or in some form you think you
recognize.

The body cannot know. And while you limit your awareness to its tiny senses, you
will not see the grandeur that surrounds you. God cannot come into a body, nor can
you join him there. Limits on love will always seem to shut him out, and keep you
apart from him. The body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and
complete idea. It draws a circle, infinitely small, around a very little segment
of Heaven, splintered from the whole, proclaiming that within it is your kingdom,
where God can enter not.

Within this kingdom the ego rules, and cruelly. And to defend this little speck
of dust it bids you fight against the universe. This fragment of your mind is
such a tiny part of it that, could you but appreciate the whole, you would see
instantly that it is like the smallest sunbeam to the sun, or like the faintest
ripple on the surface of the ocean. In its amazing arrogance, this tiny sunbeam
has decided it is the sun; this almost imperceptible ripple hails itself as the
ocean. Think how alone and frightened is this little thought, this infinitesimal
illusion, holding itself apart against the universe. The sun becomes the
sunbeam's "enemy" that would devour it, and the ocean terrifies the little ripple
and wants to swallow it.

Yet neither sun nor ocean is even aware of all this strange and meaningless
activity. They merely continue, unaware that they are feared and hated by a tiny
segment of themselves. Even that segment is not lost to them, for it could not
survive apart from them. And what it thinks it is in no way changes its total
dependence on them for its being. Its whole existence still remains in them.
Without the sun the sunbeam would be gone; the ripple without the ocean is
inconceivable.

Such is the strange position in which those in a world inhabited by bodies seem to
be. Each body seems to house a separate mind, a disconnected thought, living
alone and in no way joined to the Thought by which it was created. Each tiny
fragment seems to be self-contained, needing another for some things, but by no
means totally dependent on its one Creator for everything; needing the whole to
give it any meaning, for by itself it does mean nothing. Nor has it any life
apart and by itself.

Like to the sun and ocean your Self continues, unmindful that this tiny part
regards itself as you. It is not missing; it could not exist if it were separate,
nor would the Whole be whole without it. It is not a separate kingdom, ruled by
an idea of separation from the rest. Nor does a fence surround it, preventing it
from joining with the rest, and keeping it apart from its Creator. This little
aspect is no different from the whole, being continuous with it and at one with
it. It leads no separate life, because its life is the oneness in which its being
was created.

Do not accept this little, fenced-off aspect as yourself. The sun and ocean are
as nothing beside what you are. The sunbeam sparkles only in the sunlight, and
the ripple dances as it rests upon the ocean. Yet in neither sun nor ocean is the
power that rests in you. Would you remain within your tiny kingdom, a sorry king,
a bitter ruler of all that he surveys, who looks on nothing yet who would still
die to defend it? This little self is not your kingdom. Arched high above it and
surrounding it with love is the glorious whole, which offers all its happiness and
deep content to every part. The little aspect that you think you set apart is no
exception.

Love knows no bodies, and reaches to everything created like itself. Its total
lack of limit *is* its meaning. It is completely impartial in its giving,
encompassing only to preserve and keep complete what it would give. In your tiny
kingdom you have so little! Should it not, then, be there that you would call on
love to enter?"

- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 18, Section 8, Scribed February 16, 1967

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"There is no world! This is the central thought the course attempts to teach."
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 132

If miracles exist there is no world. If the world exists, there are no miracles.

"This world is full of miracles."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 28, Section 2

"The world is nothing in itself. Your mind must give it meaning. And what you
behold upon it are your wishes, acted out so you can look on them and think them
real. Perhaps you think you did not make the world, but came unwillingly to what
was made already, hardly waiting for your thoughts to give it meaning. Yet in
truth you found exactly what you looked for when you came.

There is no world apart from what you wish, and herein lies your ultimate release.
Change but your mind on what you want to see, and all the world must change
accordingly. Ideas leave not their source. This central theme is often stated in
the text, and must be borne in mind if you would understand the lesson for today.
It is not pride which tells you that you made the world you see, and that it
changes as you change your mind.

But it is pride that argues you have come into a world quite separate from
yourself, impervious to what you think, and quite apart from what you chance to
think it is. There is no world! This is the central thought the course attempts
to teach. Not everyone is ready to accept it, and each one must go as far as he
can let himself be led along the road to truth. He will return and go still
farther, or perhaps step back a while and then return again."

But healing is the gift of those who are prepared to learn there is no world, and
can accept the lesson now. Their readiness will bring the lesson to them in some
form which they can understand and recognize. Some see it suddenly on point of
death, and rise to teach it. Others find it in experience that is not of this
world, which shows them that the world does not exist because what they behold
must be the truth, and yet it clearly contradicts the world.

And some will find it in this course, and in the exercises that we do today.
Today's idea is true because the world does not exist. And if it is indeed your
own imagining, then you can loose it from all things you ever thought it was by
merely changing all the thoughts that gave it these appearances. The sick are
healed as you let go all thoughts of sickness, and the dead arise when you let
thoughts of life replace all thoughts you ever held of death. A lesson earlier
repeated once must now be stressed again, for it contains the firm foundation for
today's idea. You are as God created you. There is no place where you can suffer,
and no time that can bring change to your eternal state. How can a world of time
and place exist, if you remain as God created you?"
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 132

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"Do not try and bend the spoon, that's impossible.
Instead, only try to realize the truth...
there is no spoon.
Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends,
it is only yourself."
- Spoon Boy, The Matrix

"The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself. No
matter what the form of the attack, this still is true. Whoever takes the role of
enemy and of attacker, still is this the truth. Whatever seems to be the cause of
any pain and suffering you feel, this is still true. For you would not react at
all to figures in a dream you knew that you were dreaming. Let them be as hateful
and as vicious as they may, they could have no effect on you unless you failed to
recognize it is your dream.

This single lesson learned will set you free from suffering, whatever form it
takes. The Holy Spirit will repeat this one inclusive lesson of deliverance until
it has been learned, regardless of the form of suffering that brings you pain.
Whatever hurt you bring to Him He will make answer with this very simple truth.
For this one answer takes away the cause of every form of sorrow and of pain. The
form affects His answer not at all, for He would teach you but the single cause of
all of them, no matter what their form. And you will understand that miracles
reflect the simple statement, " *I* have done this thing, and it is this I would
undo. "

Bring, then, all forms of suffering to Him Who knows that every one is like the
rest. He sees no differences where none exists, and He will teach you how each
one is caused. None has a different cause from all the rest, and all of them are
easily undone by but a single lesson truly learned. Salvation is a secret you
have kept but from yourself. The universe proclaims it so. Yet to its witnesses
you pay no heed at all. For they attest the thing you do not want to know. They
seem to keep it secret from you. Yet you need but learn you chose but not to
listen, not to see.

How differently will you perceive the world when this is recognized! When you
forgive the world your guilt, you will be free of it. Its innocence does not
demand your guilt, nor does your guiltlessness rest on its sins. This is the
obvious; a secret kept from no one but yourself. And it is this that has
maintained you separate from the world, and kept your brother separate from you.
Now need you but to learn that both of you are innocent or guilty. The one thing
that is impossible is that you be unlike each other; that they both be true. This
is the only secret yet to learn. And it will be no secret you are healed."

- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 27, Section 8

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"The full awareness of the Atonement, then, is the recognition that *the
separation never occurred*."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 6, Section 2 (3pdf)

If the separation had occurred, then that would mean there was a cause besides
God, and that all of this was real.

If there was a "reason" for the "separation," then the separation would be real,
and there would be a real cause besides "God."

So, no "reason" could be, or the separation, _would_, have occurred.

"The ego cannot prevail against this because it is an explicit statement that the
ego never occurred."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 6, Section 2 (3pdf)

"The miracle is the act of a Son of God who has laid aside all false gods, and
calls on his brothers to do likewise. It is an act of faith, because it is the
recognition that his brother can do it. It is a call to the Holy Spirit in his
mind, a call that is strengthened by joining. Because the miracle worker has
heard God's voice, he strengthens It in a sick brother by weakening his belief in
sickness, which he does not share. The power of one mind can shine into another,
because all the lamps of God were lit by the same spark. It is everywhere and it
is eternal.
In many only the spark remains, for the Great Rays are obscured. Yet God has kept
the spark alive so that the Rays can never be completely forgotten. If you but
see the little spark you will learn of the greater light, for the Rays are there
unseen. Perceiving the spark will heal, but knowing the light will create. Yet
in the returning the little light must be acknowledged first, for the separation
was a descent from magnitude to littleness. But the spark is still as pure as the
Great Light, because it is the remaining call of creation. Put all your faith in
it, and God himself will answer you."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 10, Section 4 (5pdf)

"Healing is the one ability everyone can develop and must develop if he is to be
healed."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 7, Section 5

"True learning is constant, and so vital in its power for change that a Son of God
can recognize his power in one instant and change the world in the next. That is
because, by changing his mind, he has changed the most powerful device that was
ever given him for change. This in no way contradicts the changelessness of mind
as God created it,"
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 7, Section 5

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"In the holy instant, in which you see yourself as bright with freedom, you will
remember God. For remembering Him is to remember freedom."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 15, Section 1

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
- Paul the Apostle, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Holy Bible, New Testament

"I can teach you, but only you can choose to listen to my teaching. How else can
it be, if God's Kingdom is freedom? Freedom cannot be learned by tyranny of any
kind, and the perfect equality of all God's Sons cannot be recognized through the
dominion of one mind over another. God's Sons are equal in will, all being the
Will of their Father. This is the only lesson I came to teach."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 8, Section 4

"Freedom is the only gift you can offer to God's Sons, being an acknowledgment of
what they are and what he is. Freedom is creation, because it is love. Whom you
seek to imprison you do not love. Therefore, when you seek to imprison anyone,
including yourself, you do not love him and you cannot identify with him. When
you imprison yourself you are losing sight of your true identification with me and
with the Father. Your identification is with the Father and with the Son. It
cannot be with One and not the Other. If you are part of One you must be part of
the Other, because They are One. The Holy Trinity is holy because It is One. If
you exclude yourself from this union, you are perceiving the Holy Trinity as
separated. You must be included in It, because It is everything. Unless you take
your place in It and fulfill your function as part of It, the Holy Trinity is as
bereft as you are. No part of It can be imprisoned if Its truth is to be known."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 8, Section 4

"How long is an instant? As long as it takes to re-establish perfect sanity,
perfect peace and perfect love for everyone, for God and for yourself. As long as
it takes to remember immortality, and your immortal creations who share it with
you. As long as it takes to exchange hell for Heaven. Long enough to transcend
all of the ego's making, and ascend unto your Father."

"How long is an instant? It is as short for your brother as it is for you.
Practice giving this blessed instant of freedom to all who are enslaved by time,
and thus make time their friend for them."

"The Holy Spirit gives their blessed instant to you through your giving it. As
you give it, He offers it to you. Be not unwilling to give what you would receive
of Him, for you join with Him in giving. In the crystal cleanness of the release
you give is your instantaneous escape from guilt. You must be holy if you offer
holiness."

"The instant of holiness is shared, and cannot be yours alone....
Miracles are the instants of release you offer, and will receive. They attest to
your willingness to be released..."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 15, Section 1

"There is a light that this world cannot give. Yet you can give it, as it was
given you. And as you give it, it shines forth to call you from the world and
follow it. For this light will attract you as nothing in this world can do. And
you will lay aside the world and find another. This other world is bright with
love which you have given it. And here will everything remind you of your Father
and his holy Son. Light is unlimited, and spreads across this world in quiet joy.
All those you brought with you will shine on you, and you will shine on them in
gratitude because they brought you here. Your light will join with theirs in
power so compelling, that it will draw the others out of darkness as you look on
them."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 13, Section 6 (7pdf)

"Christ's vision is the bridge between the worlds. And in its power can you
safely trust to carry you from this world into one made holy by forgiveness.
Things which seem quite solid here are merely shadows there; transparent, faintly
seen, at times forgot, and never able to obscure the light that shines beyond
them. Holiness has been restored to vision, and the blind can see."
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 159

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"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
- Jesus Christ, John 8:32, Holy Bible, New Testament, NKJV

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"Do the Holy Spirit's work, for you share in his function. As your function in
Heaven is creation, so your function on earth is healing. God shares his function
with you in Heaven, and the Holy Spirit shares his with you on earth. As long as
you believe you have other functions, so long will you need correction. For this
belief is the destruction of peace, a goal in direct opposition to the Holy
Spirit's purpose."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 12, Section 7

"Be happy, for your only function here is happiness."
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 102

"To heal is to make happy."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 5, Section 1

"God's Will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin, and suffering is
causeless. Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood yourself.
Fear not the Will of God. But turn to it in confidence that it will set you
free from all the consequences sin has wrought in feverish imagination. Say:

God's Will for me is perfect happiness.
There is no sin; it has no consequence."
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 101

"Begin your practice periods today with this acceptance of God's Will for you:
I share God's Will for happiness for me, and I accept it as my function now.
Then seek this function deep within your mind, for it is there, awaiting but your
choice. You cannot fail to find it when you learn it is your choice, and that you
share God's Will."
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 102

"God, being Love, is also happiness.

Happiness is an attribute of love. It cannot be apart from it. Nor can it be
experienced where love is not. Love has no limits, being everywhere. And
therefore joy is everywhere as well. Yet can the mind deny that this is so,
believing there are gaps in love where sin can enter, bringing pain instead of
joy. This strange belief would limit happiness by redefining love as limited, and
introducing opposition in what has no limit and no opposite.

Fear is associated then with love, and its results become the heritage of minds
that think what they have made is real. These images, with no reality in truth,
bear witness to the fear of God, forgetting being Love, He must be joy. This
basic error we will try again to bring to truth today, and teach ourselves:

God, being Love, is also happiness.
To fear Him is to be afraid of joy.

Begin your periods of practicing today with this association, which corrects the
false belief that God is fear. It also emphasizes happiness belongs to you,
because of what He is.

Allow this one correction to be placed within your mind each waking hour today.
Then welcome all the happiness it brings as truth replaces fear, and joy becomes
what you expect to take the place of pain. God, being Love, it will be given you.
Bolster this expectation frequently throughout the day, and quiet all your fears
with this assurance, kind and wholly true:

God, being Love, is also happiness.
And it is happiness I seek today.
I cannot fail, because I seek the truth."
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 103

On 2/20/2020 3:02 PM, Miracles Are Seen In Light wrote:
> The Holy Spirit, Is _Your_ Holy Spirit,
>
> Your Holy Spirit, Is Your Higher Self,
>
> Your Higher Self, Is Your Holy Self.
>
>
> Follow Your Holy Self Into The Light.
>
>
> https://tinyurl.com/A-Course-In-Miracles-pdf
> https://www.biblegateway.com/

"The Holy Spirit is the spirit of joy. He is the Call to return with which God
blessed the minds of his separated Sons. This is the vocation of the mind. The
mind had no calling until the separation, because before that it had only being,
and would not have understood the Call to right thinking. The Holy Spirit is God's
Answer to the separation; the means by which the Atonement heals until the whole
mind returns to creating.

The principle of Atonement and the separation began at the same time. When the
ego was made, God placed in the mind the Call to joy. This Call is so strong that
the ego always dissolves at Its sound. That is why you must choose to hear one of
two voices within you. One you made yourself, and that one is not of God. But the
other is given you by God, Who asks you only to listen to it. The Holy Spirit is
in you in a very literal sense. His is the voice that calls you back to where you
were before and will be again. It is possible even in this world to hear only that
voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn. It is the
final lesson that I learned, and God's Sons are as equal as learners as they are
as sons.

You are the Kingdom of Heaven, but you have let the belief in darkness enter your
mind and so you need a new light. The Holy Spirit is the radiance that you must
let banish the idea of darkness. His is the glory before which dissociation falls
away, and the Kingdom of Heaven breaks through into its own. Before the separation
you did not need guidance. You knew as you will know again, but as you do not know
now.

God does not guide, because he can share only perfect knowledge. Guidance is
evaluative, because it implies there is a right way and also a wrong way, one to
be chosen and the other to be avoided. By choosing one you give up the other. The
choice for the Holy Spirit is the choice for God. God is not in you in a literal
sense; you are part of him. When you chose to leave him he gave you a voice to
speak for him because he could no longer share his knowledge with you without
hindrance. Direct communication was broken because you had made another voice.

The Holy Spirit calls you both to remember and to forget. You have chosen to be in
a state of opposition in which opposites are possible. As a result, there are
choices you must make. In the holy state the will is free, so that its creative
power is unlimited and choice is meaningless. Freedom to choose is the same power
as freedom to create, but its application is different. Choosing depends on a
split mind. The Holy Spirit is one way of choosing. God did not leave his
children comfortless, even though they chose to leave him. The voice they put in
their minds was not the voice for his will, for which the Holy Spirit speaks.

The voice of the Holy Spirit does not command, because It is incapable of
arrogance. It does not demand, because It does not seek control. It does not
overcome, because It does not attack. It merely reminds. It is compelling only
because of what It reminds you of. It brings to your mind the other way, remaining
quiet even in the midst of the turmoil you may make. The voice for God is always
quiet, because It speaks of peace. Peace is stronger than war because it heals.
War is division, not increase. No one gains from strife. What profiteth it a man
if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? If you listen to the wrong voice
you have lost sight of your soul. You cannot lose it, but you can not know it. It
is therefore "lost" to you until you choose right.

The Holy Spirit is your Guide in choosing. He is in the part of your mind that
always speaks for the right choice, because he speaks for God. He is your
remaining communication with God, which you can interrupt but cannot destroy. The
Holy Spirit is the way in which God's Will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
Both heaven and earth are in you, because the call of both is in your mind. The
voice for God comes from your own altars to him. These altars are not things;
they are devotions. Yet you have other devotions now. Your divided devotion has
given you the two voices, and you must choose at which altar you want to serve.
The call you answer now is an evaluation because it is a decision. The decision is
very simple. It is made on the basis of which call is worth more to you.

My mind will always be like yours, because we were created as equals. It was only
my decision that gave me all power in heaven and earth. My only gift to you is to
help you make the same decision. This decision is the choice to share it, because
the decision itself is the decision to share. It is made by giving, and is
therefore the one choice that resembles true creation. I am your model for
decision. By deciding for God I showed you that this decision can be made, and
that you can make it.

I have assured you that the Mind that decided for me is also in you, and that you
can let it change you just as it changed me. This Mind is unequivocal, because it
hears only one voice and answers in only one way. You are the light of the world
with me. Rest does not come from sleeping but from waking. The Holy Spirit is the
Call to awaken and be glad. The world is very tired, because it is the idea of
weariness. Our task is the joyous one of waking it to the Call for God. Everyone
will answer the Call of the Holy Spirit, or the Sonship cannot be as One. What
better vocation could there be for any part of the Kingdom than to restore it to
the perfect integration that can make it whole? Hear only this through the Holy
Spirit within you, and teach your brothers to listen as I am teaching you.

When you are tempted by the wrong voice, call on me to remind you how to heal by
sharing my decision and making it stronger. As we share this goal, we increase its
power to attract the whole Sonship, and to bring it back into the oneness in which
it was created. Remember that "yoke" means "join together," and "burden" means
"message. "Let us restate "My yoke is easy and my burden light" in this way; "Let
us join together, for my message is light. "

I have enjoined you to behave as I behaved, but we must respond to the same Mind
to do this. This Mind is the Holy Spirit, Whose Will is for God always. He teaches
you how to keep me as the model for your thought, and to behave like me as a
result. The power of our joint motivation is beyond belief, but not beyond
accomplishment. What we can accomplish together has no limits, because the Call
for God is the Call to the unlimited. Child of God, my message is for you, to hear
and give away as you answer the Holy Spirit within you."

- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 5, Section 3

"The principle of Atonement and the separation began at the same time.
When the ego was made, God placed in the mind the Call to joy. This Call is so
strong that the ego always dissolves at Its sound. That is why you must choose to
hear one of two voices within you. One you made yourself, and that one is not of
God. But the other is given you by God, Who asks you only to listen to it."

"The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. His is the voice that calls
you back to where you were before and will be again. It is possible even in this
world to hear only that voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness
to learn. It is the final lesson that I learned, and God's Sons are as equal as
learners as they are as sons."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 6, Section 3

Thanksgiving Bible Selections (5-10 minutes)
New King James Version (NKJV)

The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians

{p.611} 6:
2 Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
4 in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God:

10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as
having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
11 O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open.

{p.610) 3:
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others,
epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with
ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God.
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from
ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the
letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was
glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face
of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing
away,
8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?
9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of
righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of
the glory that excels.
11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more
glorious.
12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech-
13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel
could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.
14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains
unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away
in Christ.
15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as
by the Spirit of the Lord.
4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do
not lose heart.
2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in
craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of
the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of
God.

13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written,
"I believed and therefore I spoke," {Psalm 116:10} we also believe and
therefore speak,

15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the
many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the
things which are not seen are eternal.

{p.611} 5:
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus
Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of
reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading
through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

{p.613} 9:
10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and
multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your
righteousness,
11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes
thanksgiving through us to God.
12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the
saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God,
15 Thanks be to God ... !

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians

{p.621} 4:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if
there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.
9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in [I Paul]
(me), these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Pslam 136 {p.330}
Thanksgiving to God for His Enduring Mercy

1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2 Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
3 Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:
4 To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
5 To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
6 To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
7 To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever-
8 The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
9 The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 100 {p.318}
A Song of Praise for the Lord's Faithfulness to His People
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

"This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is
light and in Him there is no darkness at all."
- St. John the Divine, 1 John 1:5, Holy Bible, New Testament

"Child of light... the light is in you"

"Shine on your brothers in remembrance of your creator, for you will remember him
as you call forth the witnesses to his creation. Those whom you heal bear witness
to your healing, for in their wholeness you will see your own."

"Now is the time of salvation, for now is the release from time. Reach out to all
your brothers, and touch them with the touch of Christ. In timeless union with
them is your continuity, unbroken because it is wholly shared. God's guiltless
Son is only light. There is no darkness in him anywhere, for he is whole. Call
all your brothers to witness to his wholeness, as I am calling you to join with
me. Each voice has a part in the song of redemption, the hymn of gladness and
thanksgiving for the light to the Creator of light. The holy light that shines
forth from God's Son is the witness that his light is of his Father."

- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 13, Section 6 (7pdf)

https://tinyurl.com/A-Course-In-Miracles-pdf
https://www.biblegateway.com/

thanks·giv·ing
noun
1. The expression of gratitude, especially to God.
2. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day.

"It is essential that error be not confused with sin, and it is this distinction
that makes salvation possible."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 19, Section 2

"Sin calls for punishment as error for correction, and the belief that punishment
*is* correction is clearly insane."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 19, Section 2

"The Holy Spirit cannot punish sin. Mistakes he recognizes, and would correct them
all as God entrusted him to do. But sin he knows not, nor can he recognize
mistakes that cannot be corrected. For a mistake that cannot be corrected is
meaningless to him. Mistakes are *for* correction, and they call for nothing else.
What calls for punishment must call for nothing. Every mistake *must* be a call
for love. What, then, is sin? What could it be but a mistake you would keep
hidden; a call for help that you would keep unheard and thus unanswered?"
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 19, Section 3

"When you are tempted to believe that sin is real, remember this: If sin is real,
both God and you are not. If creation is extension, the Creator must have extended
himself, and it is impossible that what is part of him is totally unlike the rest.
If sin is real, God must be at war with himself. He must be split, and torn
between good and evil; partly sane and partially insane. For he must have created
what wills to destroy him, and has the power to do so. Is it not easier to
believe that you have been mistaken than to believe in this?"
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 19, Section 3

"If sin is real, it must forever be beyond the hope of healing. For there would be
a power beyond God's, capable of making another will that could attack his will
and overcome it; and give his Son a will apart from his, and stronger. And each
part of God's fragmented creation would have a different will, opposed to his, and
in eternal opposition to him and to each other."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 19, Section 3

"Freedom is the only gift you can offer to God's Sons, being an acknowledgment of
what they are and what he is. Freedom is creation, because it is love."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 8, Section 4

Freedom is riches. Prohibition and oppression are impoverishment.

"Whenever you become angry with a brother, for whatever reason, you are believing
that the ego is to be saved, and to be saved by attack. If he attacks, you are
agreeing with this belief; and if you attack, you are reinforcing it.
*Remember that those who attack are poor*. Their poverty asks for gifts, not for
further impoverishment. You who could help them are surely acting destructively if
you accept their poverty as yours. If you had not invested as they had, it would
never occur to you to overlook their need."
- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 12, Section 3

"What Is Salvation?

Salvation is a promise, made by God,
that you would find your way to Him at last.
It cannot but be kept. It guarantees
that time will have an end, and all the thoughts
that have been born in time will end as well.
God's Word is given every mind which thinks
that it has separate thoughts, and will replace
these thoughts of conflict with the Thought of peace.

The Thought of peace was given to God's Son
the instant that his mind had thought of war.
There was no need for such a Thought before,
for peace was given without opposite,
and merely was. But when the mind is split
there is a need of healing. So the Thought
that has the power to heal the split became
a part of every fragment of the mind
that still was one, but failed to recognize
its oneness. Now it did not know itself,
and thought its own Identity was lost.

Salvation is undoing in the sense
that it does nothing, failing to support
the world of dreams and malice. Thus it lets
illusions go. By not supporting them,
it merely lets them quietly go down
to dust. And what they hid is now revealed;
an altar to the holy Name of God
whereon His Word is written, with the gifts
of your forgiveness laid before it, and
the memory of God not far behind.

Let us come daily to this holy place,
and spend a while together. Here we share
our final dream. It is a dream in which
there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint
of all the glory given us by God.
The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees
are budding now, and birds have come to live
within their branches. Earth is being born
again in new perspective. Night has gone,
and we have come together in the light.

From here we give salvation to the world,
for it is here salvation was received.
The song of our rejoicing is the call
to all the world that freedom is returned,
that time is almost over, and God's Son
has but an instant more to wait until
his Father is remembered, dreams are done,
eternity has shined away the world,
and only Heaven now exists at all."
- A Course in Miracles, Workbook, "What Is Salvation?"

http://www.jcim.org/Pages/QandA-NovDec2013WhatIsIambicPentameter.html

https://tinyurl.com/A-Course-In-Miracles-pdf
https://www.biblegateway.com/

What Is Salvation?
Introduction to Lessons 231 - 240

Salvation is a promise, made by God, that you would find your way to Him at last.
It cannot but be kept. It guarantees that time will have an end, and all the
thoughts that have been born in time will end as well. God's Word is given every
mind which thinks that it has separate thoughts, and will replace these thoughts
of conflict with the Thought of peace.

The Thought of peace was given to God's Son the instant that his mind had thought
of war. There was no need for such a Thought before, for peace was given without
opposite, and merely was. But when the mind is split there is a need of healing.
So the Thought that has the power to heal the split became a part of every
fragment of the mind that still was one, but failed to recognize its oneness. Now
it did not know itself, and thought its own Identity was lost.

Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing, failing to support the
world of dreams and malice. Thus it lets illusions go. By not supporting them, it
merely lets them quietly go down to dust. And what they hid is now revealed; an
altar to the holy Name of God whereon His Word is written, with the gifts of your
forgiveness laid before it, and the memory of God not far behind.

Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while together. Here we share
our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of
all the glory given us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees
are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being
born again in new perspective. Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.

From here we give salvation to the world, for it is here salvation was received.
The song of our rejoicing is the call to all the world that freedom is returned,
that time is almost over, and God's Son has but an instant more to wait until his
Father is remembered, dreams are done, eternity has shined away the world, and
only Heaven now exists at all.

https://tinyurl.com/A-Course-In-Miracles-pdf
https://www.biblegateway.com/