A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 340, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 340 I can be free of suffering today. 1. Father, I thank You for today, and for the freedom I am certain it will bring.

Lesson 340

I can be free of suffering today.

1. Father, I thank You for today, and for the freedom I am certain it will bring. ²This day is holy, for today Your Son will be redeemed. ³His suffering is done. ⁴For he will hear Your Voice directing him to find Christ’s vision through forgiveness, and be free forever from all suffering. ⁵Thanks for today, my Father. ⁶I was born into this world but to achieve this day, and what it holds in joy and freedom for Your holy Son and for the world he made, which is released along with him today.

2. Be glad today! ²Be glad! ³There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today. ⁴Our Father has redeemed His Son this day. ⁵Not one of us but will be saved today. ⁶Not one who will remain in fear, and none the Father will not gather to Himself, awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love.

I anticipate the day when I am forever free.

But I am also happy that today I moved from discomfort to peace. Each day I have that opportunity, and most days, I am happy, but if not, it is up to me to choose happiness. Each time I make that choice, it is through forgiveness that I do so. That I want freedom ensures I will have it. If I am suffering, it is because I want something else more than I want to be free.

One of the ways we protect that which is hurting us is to hold onto our projections. If we are aware that we are projecting responsibility for our problems onto the world, we can change things. If we insist that something outside us is our problem, then we are stuck with the problem. I was talking to someone today about how hard it can be to recognize our own projections. She quoted someone as saying that you can’t see the dragon that swallowed you.

Isn’t that the way it feels sometimes when you are in the middle of a problem? Even those of us who accept that our problems must be solved within our own minds can become confused. When I have a problem, and I can’t find the cause in my mind, I do a root cause inquiry with the Holy Spirit. The dragon may have swallowed me, but it didn’t swallow the Holy Spirit. So, He can help me see the cause, and then I can ask Him to heal my mind.

ROOT CAUSE INQUIRY

Sometimes I can ask someone else to look with me.

A friend might be able to see more clearly what is obscured to me. One way or another, I choose freedom, and my choice strengthens us all. Just thinking about this certain solution brings me joy. Jesus tells us that the only way home is an inward path. All other paths bring us more deeply into the illusion. In Chapter 30, he says this. “³Learn now, without despair, there is no hope of answer in the world.” (ACIM, T-31.IV.4:3) I have learned to bring all upsets inward, and there I find the cause, and there I forgive it.

Regina’s final tip on the ego

Tomorrow we will start a new topic, but today Regina sums up the ego very well. She says this.

The ego is almost everything we know and consider to be real. It is:

• Me, including everything good and bad about me
• My thoughts, beliefs, and mental images
• My personal will, intentions, and desires
• My ideas of God, morality, reality, and truth
• All emotions
• All perceptions
• The known world and universe of objects
• My relationships with others
• Birth and death and nearly everything in-between

She also tells us that we must give up all of this if we want to transcend the ego. The ego finds this idea outrageous because it doesn’t believe anything exists outside itself. Regina says we can start by giving up that which makes us suffer, and that’s a good way to start. Seeing that we can end our suffering is a good motivator for doing the work, but if we want to go further than limiting suffering and seek eternal bliss, we must be willing to give up the ego altogether. Regina quotes the Course here.

This is well stated in A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 189, paragraph 7:

Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.

She also says this about the lesson:

Be glad! Choose the easy path of joyously letting go of anything that you recognize as ego. In the words of Peace Pilgrim, make it a “quick relinquishment.”

My Thoughts

We make this hard, but it doesn’t have to be. Now that I am on the other side of it, I can see how it never had to be hard. I made it hard through resistance, through the value I placed on everything that had no value at all. Because I thought I needed things I didn’t need, it made it hard to give them up. I was goofy to do that, but I think most of us go through this process.

My advice – give up everything as fast as you can. You will not regret the loss. I am watching my mind all the time for things I still value. This seems thus far to be an inner process. My life seems not to have changed at all, but my inner environment is what has changed dramatically. I have given up beliefs and desires, and needs.

I am remaining open and receptive to each moment and to Inner Guidance so that I will know what to look at next and what to do next. Though I still hear the ego complaining about all this, it isn’t so loud anymore, and I don’t believe what I hear. I do hear it right now telling me that I am tempting fate and will be sorry I did so. Silly ego.

Past Entry

Again and again, I am reminded that forgiveness is my way to salvation. Today I am reminded that I can be free now. It is only my insistence that there is something more valuable than perfect freedom that keeps me chained to my own suffering. Again and yet again, I am astounded at my refusal to see the obvious. As I read the lesson for today, it is clear to me that I want to be free, that forgiveness is simple and easy, and that I can do this. Then, as the old joke goes, I get out of bed. All during the day, I am presented with forgiveness opportunities, and sometimes I choose against forgiveness, as insane as that is.

I am very grateful for lessons like this one which reminds me of my purpose and help me to get back in touch with the truth. I really can be free of suffering, and I can do so now. It may be I am not ready to do so, but it helps me to recognize that if I suffer, it is a result of a choice I made and not something that just happened, and certainly not a punishment. Suffering, like everything in my life, is the result of my own desires being played out for me. But if suffering is a choice I made, then clearly, salvation is a choice I could make instead.

I asked the Holy Spirit if there was anything else He would have me be aware of today, and the thought that arose is that I not be tempted to judge myself by what seems to be happening in my life. Holy Spirit, could You talk to me about this?

Holy Spirit: Life continues to play itself out, Myron.

Sometimes you look at the story, judge it as less than acceptable, and then decide you are hopeless and will never wake up. Look at the story, my friend, and recognize it is only meaningless. The story is not what causes suffering, but rather your reaction to the story is the cause of all pain you seem to experience. Look with Me at your reaction to what is happening, and let Me show you another way to see it.

Me: Thank you, Holy Spirit. I do forget that sometimes. I look at my life, see myself running out of money or being sick, and think that this is bad and, therefore, I must be bad. Of course, I don’t think of it in those exact words because they don’t fit in my “spiritual” concept of what I should be. But basically, that is what I am doing at times.

Holy Spirit: Yes, that is true. Now think of those times when you do not react to your circumstances. How does that look?

Me: Ok, I have had times when I was sick, and I just noticed how my body felt.

I didn’t look for someone or something to blame. And I didn’t think how much I hated being sick. I didn’t feel like I had done something wrong or that I was being punished. In fact, last night, I noticed that I was sneezing and not feeling well. I thought about how the body almost never gets sick anymore and that when it does, the sickness quickly passes, and I was grateful.

The ego thoughts were that it would be bad if I got sick this week because of the Christmas party coming up and that I shouldn’t have held my granddaughter because she has a cold. I noticed those thoughts and let them go, and I did not react to them. I noticed the ego says that I cannot be close to awakening if the body still gets every little thing that comes along. (The ego exaggerates as I don’t get every little thing.) I ignored that thought, too, knowing it is a lie.

Holy Spirit: That is true, Myron. The ego wants to cling to specialness. It would have you believe you are its story. It would also have you focus on all the error thoughts and would dismiss your triumphs as insignificant. Spend this day noticing your every accomplishment. Allow your holiness to fill your mind, and the littleness of the ego will fall away. Do not be distracted by the story, but rather notice your reactions to the story. I will correct all that is misguided, and together we will celebrate your achievements.

Contemplation 2025

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 340 click here.

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