February 26, 2018

Day 19 - A Course in Miracles

Day 19 - A Course in Miracles



ACIM Workbook Lesson 19 Insights

“I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.”

There are no private thoughts because there are no private minds. I am realizing that the idea of anything being ‘private’ is all just a fabrication, an illusion. In truth, we are all joined in one mind. As I am willing to let go of thoughts of separation, I help my brother let go of thoughts of separation. As each of us refuses to join with illusions, it gradually falls apart because even in the ego thought system, it takes two to agree in the illusion for it to hold together.


Telling myself often that I do not know what anything means helps me to open my connection with the Holy Spirit and receive a corrected perception. The Holy Spirit, which is also called Universal Inspiration, works through all of us as we are willing to have an open mind. As we join with the one Mind, the one Mind is all we see. Today I practice again, holding Holy Spirit’s hand, realizing that I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.

There is only one word that is different between the central idea of yesterday’s and today’s lessons — seeing and thoughts. The lesson points out that seeing is the effect of thoughts, and cause and effect are never separated. One does not come before the other. They are simultaneous. The ego ploy of projection is an attempt to disconnect cause from effect and then make the effect appear to turn on us and be a cause of our distress or vulnerability. So the recognition of the unbreakable connection between cause and effect is central to our release from the hell of separation, the hell of the ego thought system.

Because cause and effect cannot be separated, everything we see is the effect of our thoughts. This puts everything we see in our domain, subject to our thoughts. We can change our thoughts and thus we can change what we see. We cannot be a victim because we are the master of our domain. The full recognition of this is the end of the ego, for it is the recognition that oneness is real and separation is illusion.

Once again I am seeing that this one lesson, if fully embraced without reservation, would bring about my complete release and return me to my Home in Love. The Course acknowledges that this is not a leap that I am willing to make at this time. I am grateful that it does not judge me for that. It simply offers an exercise to help me move in the direction of freedom.

I am so grateful for the gentleness of the Course. Its ideas may be upsetting at times and I may resist them tooth and nail, yet the Course gently urges me on to take one more baby step toward my complete release from all limitation. I am willing to keep practicing, because I want the peace of God.

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Urtext – Use of Terms (PERCEPTION‐KNOWLEDGE continued)


Knowledge is not the remedy for false perception since, being another level, they can never meet. The one correction possible for false perception must be true perception. It will not endure. But for the time it lasts it comes to heal. For true perception is a remedy with many names. Forgiveness, salvation, Atonement, true perception, all are one. They are the one beginning with the end to lead to Oneness far beyond themselves. True perception is the means by which the world is saved from sin, for sin does not exist. And it is this that true perception sees.

The world stands like a block before Christ’s face. But true perception looks on it as nothing more than just a fragile veil, so easily dispelled that it can last no longer than an instant. It is seen at last for only what it is. And now it cannot fail to disappear, for now there is an empty place made clean and ready. Where destruction was perceived the face of Christ appears, and in that instant is the world forgot, with time forever ended as the world spins into nothingness from where it came.

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Urtext – Workbook for Students


19. “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.”

The idea for today is obviously the reason why your seeing does not affect you alone. You will notice that at times the ideas related to thinking precede those related to perceiving, while at other times the order is reversed. The reason is that the order does not actually matter. Thinking and its results are really simultaneous, for cause and effect are never separate. 

Today we are again emphasizing the fact that minds are joined. This is rarely a wholly welcome idea at first, since it seems to carry with it an enormous sense of responsibility, and may even be regarded as an “invasion of privacy.” Yet it is a fact that there are no private thoughts. Despite your initial resistance to this idea, you will yet understand that it must be true if salvation is possible at all. And salvation must be possible because it is the Will of God. 

The minute or so of mind searching which today’s exercises require are to be undertaken with eyes closed. The idea is to be repeated first, and then the mind should be carefully searched for the thoughts it contains at that time. As you consider each one, name it in terms of the central person or theme it contains, and holding it in your mind as you do so, say: 

“I am not alone in experiencing the effects of this thought about __________.”

 The requirement of as much indiscriminateness as possible in selecting subjects for the practice period should be quite familiar to you by now, and will no longer be repeated each day, although it will occasionally be included as a reminder. Do not forget, however, that random selection of subjects for all practice periods remains essential throughout. Lack of order in this connection will ultimately make the recognition of lack of order in miracles meaningful to you. 

Apart from the “as needed” application of today’s idea, at least three practice periods are required, shortening the length of time involved, if necessary. Do not attempt more than four.




365 Days Through A Course in Miracles
            A Daily Devotional


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