Living the Course Articles

There’s a well-known Course passage from Lesson 136 (“Sickness is a defense against the truth”) that says some stunning things about what will happen to our bodies if we really let this lesson all the way in: Perhaps you do not realize that this removes the limits you...

I've written a couple of brief pieces about honesty in A Course in Miracles ("Does the Course Tell Us to Be Honest" and "Honesty"). In this post, I'd like to be more honest about why I wrote them. Although the Course mentions self-honesty many times, it only devotes...

What you ask for you receive. But this refers to the prayer of the heart, not to the words you use in praying. (M-21.1:3-4) Watch carefully and see what it is you are really asking for. Be very honest with yourself in this, for we must hide nothing from each other....

Do we repress it? We all recognize that simply burying our anger is not good. We all tend to do it, because it seems to make life go smoother, but who of us really thinks it's the right thing to do? Burying it actually is an affirmation of its power. It says, "This is...

There is a brief but powerful discussion of the New Year in the final paragraphs of "The Power of Holiness" (T-16.II.9-10). As of this writing I recognize that we are well into the New Year, but I hope this can still have some relevance for you. We have been in a rut...

I did an interesting exercise the other day based on the following passage from Helen's original notes. It says that the miracle "is a way of perceiving the universal mark of God in them. This is the true 'strawberry mark' of brotherhood." This passage comes alive if...

Is it not remarkable how our feelings about ourselves can rise and fall with such rapidity? When we do something really useful or say something really intelligent, we can feel great about ourselves. Yet a moment later we can feel like an idiot, as we do or say...

While it is true that a rose by any other name would still be as beautiful, names exert a powerful influence on our minds. Think of how a beautiful name can create a good first impression. Think of the thought that goes into the naming of a child. And think of how it...

We all know how it feels to have someone angry with us. If that person is close to us, it can turn our world upside down. At that point we usually apply any one of a number of strategies. We might go on the offensive, or the defensive, or withdraw and avoid...

We rely so much on our eyes. Seeing is believing, the old saying goes. But what exactly do our eyes show us? If you think about it, all they see is form—shapes in motion. Yet what we really want to discover is what things mean. We want to know if something is good or...

The new year is a potent symbol of new beginnings. Everyone loves the idea of leaving the past behind and making a new start. Given the Course's focus on these same themes, it is really no surprise that it mentions the new year several times. As we will soon see,...

There is a priceless line that has been restored in the Complete and Annotated Edition of A Course in Miracles. When I first saw it in Helen's Notes it really hit me, as I think it hits everyone. The line is this: "The analysis of the ego's 'real' motivation is the...