A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 259, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 259 Let me remember that there is no sin. 1. Sin is the only thought that makes the goal of God seem unattainable.

Lesson 259

Let me remember that there is no sin.

1. Sin is the only thought that makes the goal of God seem unattainable. ²What else could blind us to the obvious, and make the strange and the distorted seem more clear? ³What else but sin engenders our attacks? ⁴What else but sin could be the source of guilt, demanding punishment and suffering? ⁵And what but sin could be the source of fear, obscuring God’s creation; giving love the attributes of fear and of attack?

2. Father, I would not be insane today. ²I would not be afraid of love, nor seek for refuge in its opposite. ³For love can have no opposite. ⁴You are the Source of everything there is. ⁵And everything that is remains with You, and You with it.

I heard a fellow student judging herself harshly for failing to do this work perfectly. This is a thought of sin and makes the goal of God seem unattainable. This is another way of saying she is guilty; this just takes her deeper into the ego. I understand this because I tend to be self-critical, which is just another way of saying I am guilty of not doing this perfectly.

Those of us who study the Course tend not to use the word sin.

But not calling it sin doesn’t change the effects of believing in guilt. I believe in sin if I think someone else is guilty of anything. If I believe I am guilty of anything, I believe in sin. If I believe in sin, I will suffer and believe I should be punished, and then I will punish myself. How will I do this? I am reminded of the power of decision in Lesson 152, which says this.

No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. ²No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. ³No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants. ⁴And no one dies without his own consent. ⁵Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. ⁶Here is your world, complete in all details. ⁷Here is its whole reality for you. (ACIM, W-152.1:1-7)

My decision to believe in sin will bring a painful outcome.

And those who suffer tend to project onto others the cause of their suffering and lash out. Life becomes an unending battle, and fear reigns in the mind. This is not what we came here for. We came to undo this kind of thinking and remember who we are. The last sentence in that first paragraph in Lesson 152 says: ⁸And it is only here salvation is. (ACIM, W-152.1:8) This is what we came for; salvation.

Today, I will seek salvation rather than sin.

I will be vigilant for thoughts of sin and let the Holy Spirit correct my thinking. I have a purpose, and my goal is God, and sin and guilt have no place in the Plan of Atonement. Considering that I want to be free, I realize how strange it is the hold that the belief in guilt seems to have on the mind. But I understand now that guilt is not holding on to me; I am holding on to it. A Course in Miracles has taught me that I can let it go.

Regina’s Tips on What Is Sin?

The best analogy I know is the analogy of the ocean. At the surface of the ocean, waves appear. Each wave is temporary, like the body and the personality. The water in the waves appear to be affected by the weather, just like you seem to be affected by the world and the mind’s thoughts. However, the water that is part of the wave isn’t really affected. It may sometimes appear calm and sometimes appear highly agitated, but it is always water. It doesn’t become blood or seaweed. The water is forever unaffected by the weather.

At the same time, in the depths of the ocean, the water is untouched by even the appearance of being affected. The weather at the surface does not reach the depths at all.

In the same way, your true Self is not affected at the surface, where there is the appearance of affected. And the appearance of affected does not exist at all within the depths of your Self. At the depth, there is no judgment, duality, ignorance or outward focus at all.

Our function now is to return the unaffected attention, which has been at the surface, to the depths of the Self, so it may know itself as it has always been.

My Thoughts

Jesus is always directing us back to our Self. He wants us to know that not only are we not the ego, but we are also not affected by the ego. It may appear so, as Regina pointed to in her analogy, but in reality, we are still as God created us, and He created us sinless.

Regina’s Tips on the lesson

Today we contemplate the depths of the Self. We realize that awakening is realization of the depth as our truth. We accept that at the depth, there never has been judgment; there never has been duality; there never has been ignorance; and there never has been outward focus. The depth of the Self has always been only aware of itself.

My Thoughts

There has never been a sinful self. There has always only been Self. This is true now as it always is. I am innocent and if I want to know this, I must know it for everyone. I will to know the truth.

This is an entry in a journal from years ago that helped me to see how sin shows up in special relationships.

While eating supper with my daughter, we started discussing relationships. I talked about special relationships and why neediness and love are not the same things. By the look on her face, I could see that she totally disagreed with me. I noticed that I reacted to her disbelief. As I listened to myself, I realized that I was defending my position. I ended the conversation, but it was enlightening for me to be aware of how I felt. I was surprised at my reaction. Holy Spirit, why did I feel so attacked by my daughter simply because she disagreed with me? It is not like that is a big surprise.

Holy Spirit: Your experience is a good example of the belief in sin. Seeing the obvious disbelief on your daughter’s face made you feel like she was sinning against you. No, you would not use that word, but this is the underlying belief. Look honestly at your beliefs right now. How do you feel? Please do not police your thoughts; just be honest.

Me: I hate that look on her face.

She is wrong, and I am right. She would be happier if she saw things my way. It seems she doesn’t respect me. She doesn’t believe in me. I feel stupid for talking to her about this. I don’t like how I feel about myself when I think about how defensive I felt. And I feel embarrassed when I think about it. I feel angry with her and angry with myself. I feel fearful of losing her love and admiration, and respect. But I also feel grateful to uncover more specialness in my relationship with my kids.

Holy Spirit, I see how I felt like she was sinning against me as she seemed to be breaking the secret bargain that comprised our special relationship. I see that I was sinning against myself as I believed that I am less or more according to what others think of me. I see that I believe I am sinning against God when I create my own self-concept or allow others to do so. It feels like I am saying that I am usurping God.

Holy Spirit: Thank you for your willingness to be honest.

The belief in sin, whether it is directed toward yourself or others, causes you to suffer. Without that belief, you and your daughter were simply exchanging thoughts.

Me: Well, now that I think about it, we were not exchanging thoughts.

I was pontificating, and she was not sitting in admiration of what I had to say. I resented that. This is another way I saw her as sinning against me. Looking at this in my mind is like finding something ugly and embarrassing in my house, something I don’t want to look at or for others to see. I want to stuff it in the closet or under the rug and pretend I didn’t see it.

Holy Spirit: Yes, I know this is your first reaction.

You believe that the sin is real, so you think you deserve punishment. You are afraid that you will be punished by others as they think less of you and even by God, and so you cringe away from Him. Rather than waiting for God to punish you, you punish yourself by accepting the feelings of embarrassment and failure as if they were fully deserved. You think that your punishment of yourself will abate God’s punishment. But I assure you that God does not judge you or punish you. That is not love, and God is only Love.

The first step to seeing differently is to be truly honest about how you are presently seeing things.

The next step is to be willing to see another way. This is what you have done this morning. You have asked me for healing, and it is done. Be vigilant today for other opportunities to recognize and release the belief in sin.

Me: Thank you, Holy Spirit. I am no longer afraid of the word sin, so I am willing to see it as it appears in my mind. And I am very willing to give it to you for correction. I am willing to see that sin is not an ugly thing to be hidden in the closet. It is nothing; just an error in thought to be corrected.

Contemplation 2025

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 259 click here.

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