A ccording to the Course, “No one can escape fr om
illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking is the way
they ar e protected.” The way to Heaven is fraught with
demons on the side of the r oad, just as the fairy tale castle
is sur rounded by dragons.A Course in Miracles  says, “What is healing but the
removal of all that stands in the way of knowledge? How
else can one dispel illusions e xcept by looking at them
directly, without pr otecting them?” The work towar d
enlightenment of ten entails a painful and not very pr etty
arousal of the worst of which we’r e capable, made plain to
both ourselves and others, in or der that we might
consciously choose to r elease our personal darkness. But
without a commitment to light, a conscious intent to go for
Heaven, we r emain enamor ed of darkness, too tempted by
its comple xities. The temptation to ‘analyze darkness as a way to light’ is
illustrated in some traditional psychotherapeutic models. When used by the ego, psychotherapy is a tool for endless
ego investigation: assignment of blame and focus on the
past. When used by the Holy Spirit, it is a sear ch for light. It
is a sacr ed interaction in which two people together,
consciously or unconsciously, invite the Holy Spirit to enter
into their r elationship, and to transfor m painful per ceptions
into loving knowledge. The only r eason we all need therapy
so much is because we’ve lost an essential connection to
the meaning of friendship. R eal relationship of any kind is a
form of psychotherapy, as is true r eligion. The Holy Spirit’s
psychotherapists, pr ofessional or otherwise, ask only to
accept the A tonement for themselves, that their own healed
perceptions might help enlighten others. In the world to come, couples will use psychotherapy
more and mor e frequently, not as crisis counseling, but as
maintenance pr ocedur e. Ther e was a time when most
people saw therapy as something you did only if you wer e
“crazy .” Now we see it as a valuable tool for staying sane. So it is that couples will come to see the value in a constant
and consistent, for mal evaluation of their thoughts and
feelings as they walk two by two into the ar ms of God.Just outside of Heaven’s gate, ther e’s a lot of action—all
within an illusion, of course, but an illusion that must be
transfor med fr om within. The only meaning of any event
within the world of for m is that it stim ulates within us an
impulse to r each for the gate, or tur n our back on Heaven. As we stand befor e the gate, uncertain of which way to go,
impelled to love and yet so trained to fear, we need to
realize the sacr ed responsibility that has been placed in our
hands. “ And so you walk towar d Heaven or towar d hell, but
not alone.” W e choose for everyone, for many years to
come. The decisions we mak e today, individually and
collectively, will deter mine whether the planet goes to hell
or goes to Heaven. One thing, however, is sur e: we ar e the
transitional generation. The critical choices lie in our hands. Future generations will know who we wer e. They will think of
us of ten. They will curse us, or they will bless us. 6. HEA VEN’S GA TE
“Think not the way to Heaven’s gate is diﬃcult
at all .”
We are poised at Heaven’s gate. In our minds, we lef t ther e
millions of years ago . Today we ar e returning home. We are a P rodigal Son generation. W e left home and now
there’s an e xcitement in the air because we’r e back. W e did
everything to violate love, of ourselves and others, befor e a
life of wholesomeness began to attract us. That’s not our
shame but our str ength. Ther e are certain doors we don’t
have to go thr ough because a false moralism said not to,
but because we opened them alr eady and we know they
lead nowher e. Oddly enough, this gives us a kind of moralauthority . We speak fr om e xperience. W e’ve done the dark
side. W e’re ready to move on. W e’re attracted to the light. When Bhagwan Shr ee Rajneesh was ask ed by his disciples,
“Why does it say in Scriptur e, ‘God loves a sinner’?” his
answer was, “They tend to be mor e inter esting people.”
We’re an inter esting generation; we just don’t see that
about ourselves. When I ﬁrst r ealized what a decisive time
this is, that the decisions made on this planet in the ne xt
twenty years will deter mine whether or not mankind
survives much longer, I was afraid for the world. The fate of
the world is lef t up to us? Not us, I thought. Anyone but us. We’re spoiled brats, morally bankrupt. But when I look ed
more closely, what I saw surprised me. W e’re not bad. W e’re
wounded. And our wounds ar e simply our opportunities to
heal. Outside Heaven’s gate, healing is the buzzwor d, and it is
shaping our desir es. Ther e is a holy r eturn in the air today,
despite the pain, despite the conﬂicts. Enough people have
taken on its mandate, consciously or unconsciously, to have
already caused the feeling of a cautious e xcitement, a hope
for Heaven. In every ar ea, ther e are at least vague
intimations of gr eater r esponsibilities. Befor e we awak en, the ‘Holy Spirit transfor ms our bitter
dreams into happy ones.’ Her e are some r eﬂec tions on a
few happy dr eams that could possibly bring the whole world
a little closer to Heaven. There has to be a mass, collective for giveness of what
went befor e in or der for our cultur e to have a chance to heal
itself and begin again. Some of the best and the brightest
that America has to oﬀer ar e dropping thr ough the cracks
because they can’t shak e their pasts. How sad for America
that anyone who has had too much se x or drugs in theirpast, for instance, is too scar ed to enter politics for fear of
being cruciﬁed for their personal histories. The important
thing about our past is not what happened, but what we
have done with what happened. Anything can contribute to
our being a mor e compassionate person now, if we choose. The meaningful question is never what we did yester day,
but what we have lear ned fr om it and ar e doing today . No
one can counsel a r ecovering alcoholic lik e another
recovering person, who has been on the r oad to r ecovery
longer . No one can counsel a person in grief lik e someone
who has grieved. No one can help with anything lik e
someone who has been thr ough the pain themselves. I never had much inter est in Richar d Nix on until I saw
him on television a few years af ter he lef t the White House. This man, I thought, has suﬀer ed complete humiliation,
which he can blame on no one but himself . The only way
that any person could survive such a crushing e xperience
would be if he got on his knees and thr ew himself into the
arms of God. W atching him on the scr een, I felt that he had
done just that. I saw a sof tness in his face that we had never
seen befor e. Now this man is inter esting, I said to myself . He
seems to have tasted the ﬁr es of puriﬁcation. Now he has
more to oﬀer us than ever . Now I would trust him to speak
to me fr om a mor e genuine place. Just outside the gate, we’r e never afraid to apologize. How wonderful it would be for America if we wer e to mak e
amends, in our hearts and to the world, for the violation of
our own most sacr ed principles in dealing with nations such
as Vietnam. W e are a gr eat country, and lik e all nations, we
have made our mistak es. Our gr eatness lies not in our
military might but in our holding to sacr ed, inter nal truths. A
big nation, lik e a big individual, admits when it has made
mistak es, atones for its er rors, and asks God and man for achance to begin again. This would not mak e us look weak to
the rest of the world. It would mak e us look humble and
honest, two traits without which ther e is not gr eatness. And wouldn’t it be wonderful—Abraham Lincoln paved
the way—if we could just mak e one huge, simple apology to
all black Americans? “ On behalf of our ancestors, we
apologize for bringing you her e as slaves fr om your native
home. W e recognize the pain that this ter rible violation has
caused generations of good people. Please for give us. L et us
begin again.” And then, the least we can do is build a lasting
memorial to the American slaves. White Americans have
more of an internal need to do this than blacks. A fro-
Americans will ﬁnd it much easier to for give us when we
have ask ed for for giveness. All of these things, of course,
apply as well to the American Indians. Until this A tonement,
there will be little r oom for a miraculous healing of our racial
tensions. The parades for our soldiers coming home fr om the
Persian Gulf conﬂict, for me, r epresented in part an attempt
to rectify our harsh tr eatment of V ietnam veterans. I just
wish ther e wer e parades for our teachers, our scientists and
our other national tr easur es. Speaking of national tr easur es, childr en ar e our most
important r esour ces. F or a fraction of the cost of k eeping
one criminal in jail for a year, we could pr ovide a child fr om
an underprivileged backgr ound a plethora of personal and
educational opportunities that would occlude the pr opensity
to hopeless despair . The temptation to e xperience drugs,
delinquency and other paths to a criminal behavior would
then be gr eatly diminished. Ther e is no amount of money,
time or ener gy too gr eat to spend on our childr en. They ar e
our angels, our futur e. In failing them, we ar e failing
ourselves.Just outside the gate, ther e is so much to do, as we allow
the motivation for a transfor med world to ener gize our souls
and mak e manifest our convictions. W e must have faith in
God and faith in ourselves. Whatever He wills, He can let us
know, and whatever He wants done, He can show us how to
do it. In every community, ther e is work to be done. In every
nation, ther e are wounds to heal. In every heart, ther e is the
power to do it. 7. CHRISTMAS
“The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in the
darkness .”
Christmas is a symbol of change. The meaning of Christmas
is the birth of a new self, mother ed by our humanness and
father ed by God. Mary symbolizes the feminine within us all,
who is impr egnated by spirit. Her function is to say yes, I
will, I r eceive, I will not abort this pr ocess, I accept with
humility my holy function. The child bor n from this mystical
conception is the Christ within us all. The angels awak ened Mary in the middle of the night and
told her to meet them on the r oof. “The middle of the night”
symbolizes our darkness, our confusion, our despair . “Come
onto the r oof” means tur n oﬀ the television, sober up, r ead
better books, meditate, and pray . The angels ar e the
thoughts of God. W e can only hear them in a pur e mental
atmospher e.
Most of us have hear d the angels beck on us to the
rooftop alr eady. Otherwise, we would not be r eading books
like this one. What happens at this point is that we ar e given
the opportunity, the challenge, to accept God’s spirit, to
allow His seed into our mystical body . We shall be His safetyand pr otection. W e shall, if we agree to, allow our hearts to
be a womb for the Christ child, a haven in which He can
grow in fullness and pr epare for earthly birth. God has
chosen that His Son be bor n through each of us. “Ther e is no r oom her e,” said the innk eeper to Joseph. The “inn ” is our intellect. Ther e is little if any r oom ther e for
the things of spirit. But that doesn’t matter because God
doesn’t need it. All he needs is a little space in the manger,
just a little willingness on our part in or der for Him to be
born on earth. Ther e, “sur rounded by animals,” at one with
our natural human self, we give birth to the One who rules
the universe. Shepher ds in the ﬁeld see the “star of Christmas” befor e
anyone else. Shepher ds ar e those who tend the ﬂocks, who
care, who pr otect and heal the childr en of the earth. Of
course they see the sign of hope ﬁrst, because they ar e the
ones pr oviding it. They have made of their lives fertile
ground of miracles. They see the star and they follow the
star. They ar e led to the scene of Jesus in the ar ms of man. And worldly kings gather to pay homage to Him. That is
because the power of the world is nothing befor e the ‘power
of innocence. The lion lies down with the lamb;’ our str ength
is in har mony with our innocence. Our gentleness and our
power ar e not at odds. “Long lay the world in sin and er ror pining, till He
appear ed and the soul felt its worth,” goes the Christmas
carol. W ith the birth of Christ, not just once a year but in
every moment, we allow ourselves to tak e on the mantle of
divine Sonship, to be mor e than we wer e the moment
befor e. We expand our self -awar eness and self -identity . The
‘son of man r ecognizes himself, and in so doing becomes
the Son of God.’And thus is the world r edeemed, br ought back, healed
and made whole. The dr eam of death is over when we
receive the vision of r eal life. Jesus in our hearts is mer ely
the truth that is etched upon it, the “alpha and the omega,”
wher e we began and wher e we will r eturn to. Even if he
takes another name, even if he tak es another face, He is in
essence the truth of who we ar e. Our joined lives for m the
mystical body of Christ. T o reclaim our place within this body
is to r eturn home. W e once again ﬁnd the right r elationship
to God, to each other, and to ourselves. 8. EASTER
“The r esurrection’s whole compelling power lies
in the fact it r epresents what you want to be .”
Christmas and Easter ar e attitudinal book ends for an
enlightened worldview . With an enlightened view of
Christmas, we understand that it is within our power,
through God, to give birth to a divine Self . With an
enlightened view of Easter, we understand that this Self is
the power of the universe, befor e which death itself has no
real power . ‘Resurrection is the symbol of joy .’ It is the gr eat “aha!”—
the sign of total understanding that we ar e not at the eﬀect
of lovelessness, in ourselves and others. The acceptance of
the resurrection is the r ealization of the fact that we need
wait no longer to see ourselves as healed and whole. I was sitting ar ound talking with my girlfriend Barbara. She had r ecently e xperienced a kind of emotional triple-
header : her father lay dying, she br oke up with a boyfriend
of seven years, and then she fell into a rather passionate
liaison with a classic “ Peter P an.” As we discussed theprinciples of r esurrection and our desir e for Heaven, she
remark ed to me, “I guess I just have to trust that God has a
plan, and that things will get better when they’r e supposed
to.”
In a desir e to understand the principles of A Course in
Miracles  as deeply as possible, I pointed out to her that,
theor etically, since ther e is no time, this has nothing to do
with God saving us “later .” The message of r esurrection is
that the cruciﬁxion never occur red, e xcept in our minds. Christ-consciousness is not that the wounds of her father’s
death will heal, or that her br eak-up with the boyfriend
would gr ow mor e comfortable in time, or that her aﬀair
would one day tur n into a friendship. Christ-consciousness is
the understanding that Heaven is her e now : her father will
not die when he dies, the change of for m in the long-ter m
relationship means absolutely nothing because the love
itself is changeless, and P eter P an’s departur e means
nothing because the bond that unites them is eter nal. Her
sadness r ests not on fact, but on ﬁction. It is her
interpr etation of events, and the events themselves, that
keeps her heart in chains. Heaven is the transfor mation of
these events within her mind. The physical world then
follows. ‘The r esurrection is our awak ening fr om the dr eam,
our return to right-mindedness, and thus our deliverance
from Hell.’
And so she gladdened. Barbara and I laughed lik e little
childr en as we allowed ourselves to scan our lives, the
relationships, the cir cumstances, the events that mak e up
our cr osses to bear . We recognized how avidly we drill the
nails into our own hands and feet, holding on to earthly
interpr etation of things when a choice to do otherwise would
release us and mak e us happy . We prayed for a mor e
consistent ability to r emember that only love is r eal. W e
saw, if even for a few minutes, the needlessness of ourdespair . We saw in that time a glimpse of Heaven and we
prayed for the ability to e xperience mor e of it. From A Course in Miracles :
“The jour ney to the cr oss should be the last
‘useless jour ney.’ Do not dwell upon it, but
dismiss it as accomplished. If you can accept it
as your own last useless jour ney, you ar e also
free to join my r esurrection. Until you do so, your
life is indeed wasted. It mer ely re-enacts the
separation, the loss of power, the futile attempts
of the ego at r eparation, and ﬁnally the
cruciﬁxion of the body, or death. Such
repetitions ar e endless until they ar e voluntarily
given up. Do not mak e the pathetic er ror of
“clinging to the old rugged cr oss.” The only
message of the cruciﬁxion is that you can
overcome the cr oss. Until then you ar e free to
crucif y yourself as of ten as you choose. This is
not the gospel I intended to oﬀer you. W e have
another jour ney to undertak e, and if you will
read these lessons car efully they will help
prepare you to undertak e it.”
At the end of the W orkbook, we ar e told “This course is a
beginning, not an end.” A spiritual path is not home; it is a
road home. Home is within us, and every moment we ar e
choosing to r est ther e, or to ﬁght the e xperience. Our r eal
terror, says the Course, is of r edemption. But ther e is within us One who knows the truth, who has
been given by God the job of outwitting our ego,
outsmarting our self -hatr ed. The Christ does not attack our
ego; He transcends it. And ‘He is within us every moment, in
every cir cumstance. He is to our lef t and to our right, befor eus and behind us,’ above us and beneath us. ‘He r esponds
fully to our slightest invitation.’
With our prayers we invite Him in, He who is alr eady
there. With prayer, we speak to God. W ith miracles, He
responds. The endless chain of communication between
loved and lover, between God and man, is the most
beautiful song, the sweetest poem. It is the highest art and
the most passionate love. Dear God ,
I give this day to you, the fruit of my labor
and the desir es of my heart. In your hands I
place all questions, on your shoulders I place
all bur dens. I pray for my br others and for
myself . May we r eturn to love. May our minds
be healed. May we all be blessed. May we ﬁnd
our way home, fr om the pain to peace, fr om
fear to love, fr om hell to Heaven . Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is in Heaven . For Thine is the Kingdom, and the P ower,
and the Glory . Forever and ever . Amen . OceanofPDF .comENDNOTES
The following citations r efer to themes espoused in the book
as gleaned fr om A Course in Miracles  by the F oundation for
Inner P eace. The ﬁrst page number is fr om A Return to L ove
—the last page number in the citation is fr om A Course in
Miracles . Sources with the letter “M” pr eceding them ar e from A
Course in Miracles: Manual for T eachers . Those pr eceded by
a “W” ar e tak en from A Course in Miracles: W orkbook . Those
without a letter befor e them ar e from A Course in Miracles
text. Frontmatter
Citation     Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. xiv p. Intr oduction
Chapter 1
Citation SourceA Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 3 p. 621
p. 5 p. 353
p. 10 p. 235
p. 12 p. M-67
Chapter 2
Citation Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 15 p. 169
p. 17 p. 563
p. 19 pp. 63, 43
p. 20 p. 13
p. 22 pp. 49, Intr oduction
p. 23 p. 9
p. 25 p. 6
Chapter 3
Citation SourceA Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 27 p. 587
p. 29 p. 49
p. 30 p. 109
p. 31 p. 237f
p. 31f p. 364f
p. 32 pp. 364—365, W -212
p. 33 p. 77
p. 35 pp. 544, 2
p. 37 pp. 27, W -26, 27, 71, 329
p. 39 pp. M-67, 202
p. 41 p. W-347
p. 42 pp. 5, 9
p. 44 p. M-84
p. 46 pp. M-56, M-84, 6
Chapter 4
Citation SourceA Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 49 p. W-361
p. 51 p. 342
p. 54 pp. 421, 421
p. 56 p. 185
p. 59 pp. 287, W -284
p. 62 pp. 362, 290
Chapter 5
Citation Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 63 p. W-58
p. 65 pp. 248, 1
p. 66 pp. 415, 3
p. 68 pp. M-3, M-1, M-3, 39
p. 70 p. 330, The Song of P rayer , p. 9f
p. 70f pp. 76, W -304, 432
p. 71 pp. 332, W -360, W -73p. 74 pp. 1, 29, W -360, 229
p. 75 pp. 234, W -135, 282, 234, 86
p. 76 p. 15
p. 77 pp. 1, 151
p. 79 p. 12
p. 81 p. 1
p. 83 pp. 17, 6
p. 84 pp. W -477, 517, W -139
Chapter 6
Citation Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 89 p. 407
p. 91 p. 132
p. 92 pp. 359, M-1, 515
p. 93 pp. W -26, 516, 464, 330, 164
p. 94 p. 57
p. 95 pp. W -122, 573p. 96 p. 229
p. 98 pp. 29, 374—376, 375
p. 99 p. 273
p. 101 pp. 255, 382f, 415, 113f
p. 104 p. 230
p. 105f p. 204f
p. 107 p. M-6
p. 110 pp. 317, 29
p. 111 p. 334
p. 112 p. 318
p. 113 p. 208
p. 114 pp. 291, 337, 337
p. 115 pp. 333—337
p. 118 p. 267f
p. 121 pp. W -159, 444, W -225
p. 125 pp. 315, M-51
p. 129 p. 343
p. 130 pp. 113f, 12p. 134 p. 289
p. 137 pp. W -159, 367
p. 138 p. 343
p. 139 p. 22
p. 141 p. 358
p. 142 p. 145
p. 146 p. 134
p. 148 pp. 330, 32
p. 149 p. 216
p. 150 pp. 99, W -162
p. 152 p. 96
p. 154 Psychotherapy : Purpose, P rocess and P ractice ,
p. 5
p. 157 pp. 593, 226
p. 162 p. 142
p. 163 pp. 263, 155
p. 165 pp. 332, 292
p. 168 pp. 373, 338p. 169 p. 86
p. 171 pp. W -277, W -284, 511, 339
p. 173 p. W-254
p. 174 p. 522
p. 176 p. 404
Chapter 7
Citation Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 177 p. 24
p. 179 p. W-281
p. 181 pp. W -120, 340
p. 182 pp. W -121, 12, 288
p. 184 p. 188
p. 186 pp. 10, 269
p. 188 p. 167
p. 190 pp. M-8, 165
p. 190f p. 225fp. 192 pp. 592, Psychotherapy : Purpose, P rocess and
Practice , p. 21
p. 197 p. W-105
p. 198 p. 1
p. 199 p. W-281
p. 206 pp. 83, 581, 12
p. 210 pp. W -412, 20f
p. 211 pp. W -36, 340f
p. 213 pp. W -109, W -120
p. 214f pp. 340—342
p. 215 p. 356
p. 218 pp. W -75, M-8, 300
Chapter 8
Citation Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 223 p. 359
p. 225 pp. 527, 3, 364
p. 226 pp. 97, 142, 140, W -322, 371p. 227 pp. 111, 146, 20
p. 228 pp. 143f, 97
p. 231 p. 177
p. 232 pp. 110, 77
p. 233 p. 58
p. 238 p. W-263
p. 239 p. W-1
p. 240 p. 514
p. 249 pp. 271, 428, 482, 543, 359, 614, 140
p. 257 pp. W -51, 476, 15
p. 262 pp. W -302, 75
p. 265 pp. M-64, 305
p. 266 p. M-57f
p. 267 p. M-57
p. 267f The Song of P rayer , p. 16
Chapter 9
Citation Source
A Return to A Course in MiraclesLove
p. 269 p. M-58
p. 271 pp. W -257, W -179
p. 273 p. 47
p. 274 p. 81
p. 276 pp. 238, 51, 360
p. 279 pp. 281, W -1
p. 280 pp. M-38f, 25, W -1, W -361
p. 292 pp. 235, 228
p. 285 p. 196
p. 286 pp. 416f, 295
p. 287 pp. 188, 188, 160
p. 288 p. 491
p. 289 p. 511
p. 290 p. 542
p. 294 p. 304
p. 296 pp. 33, 225, 193
p. 297 p. 193p. 298f p. 47
p. 299 pp. W -477, 225, W -417, 83
OceanofPDF .com 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Marianne W illiamson lectur es inter nationally in the ﬁelds of
spirituality and new thought. Her teachings ar e based on the
ideas in A Course in Miracles , a self -study system of spiritual
psychotherapy . Ms. W illiamson teaches the basic principles
of the Course and discusses their application to daily living. At present her lectur es tak e place once a month to standing
room audiences at T own Hall in New Y ork and twice a week
to ﬁlled auditoriums in souther n Califor nia. She has also
lectur ed in cities thr oughout the United States and in Eur ope
and she appears r egularly on cable television. Ms. W illiamson is the F ounder and P resident of the Boar d
of dir ectors of the L os Angeles and Manhattan Centers for
Living, nonpr oﬁt or ganizations which pr ovide fr ee
nonmedical support services to people living with life-
challenging illnesses and grief . Ms. W illiamson r esides in L os Angeles with her daughter . Visit www .AuthorT racker.com for e xclusive infor mation on
your favorite HarperCollins author . OceanofPDF .comC o p y r i g h t
A RETURN TO LOVE. Copyright © 1992 by Marianne
Williamson. All rights reserved under International  and Pan-
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        A ccording to the Course, “No one can escape fr om
illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking is the way
they ar e protected. ” The way to Heaven is fraught with
demons on the side of the r oad, just as the fairy tale castle
is sur rounded by dragons. A Course in Miracles  says, “What is healing but the
removal of all that stands in the way of knowledge. How
else can one dispel illusions e xcept by looking at them
directly, without pr otecting them. ” The work towar d
enlightenment of ten entails a painful and not very pr etty
arousal of the worst of which we’r e capable, made plain to
both ourselves and others, in or der that we might
consciously choose to r elease our personal darkness. But
without a commitment to light, a conscious intent to go for
Heaven, we r emain enamor ed of darkness, too tempted by
its comple xities. The temptation to ‘analyze darkness as a way to light’ is
illustrated in some traditional psychotherapeutic models. When used by the ego, psychotherapy is a tool for endless
ego investigation: assignment of blame and focus on the
past. When used by the Holy Spirit, it is a sear ch for light. It
is a sacr ed interaction in which two people together,
consciously or unconsciously, invite the Holy Spirit to enter
into their r elationship, and to transfor m painful per ceptions
into loving knowledge. The only r eason we all need therapy
so much is because we’ve lost an essential connection to
the meaning of friendship. R eal relationship of any kind is a
form of psychotherapy, as is true r eligion. The Holy Spirit’s
psychotherapists, pr ofessional or otherwise, ask only to
accept the A tonement for themselves, that their own healed
perceptions might help enlighten others. In the world to come, couples will use psychotherapy
more and mor e frequently, not as crisis counseling, but as
maintenance pr ocedur e. Ther e was a time when most
people saw therapy as something you did only if you wer e
“crazy. ” Now we see it as a valuable tool for staying sane. So it is that couples will come to see the value in a constant
and consistent, for mal evaluation of their thoughts and
feelings as they walk two by two into the ar ms of God. Just outside of Heaven’s gate, ther e’s a lot of action—all
within an illusion, of course, but an illusion that must be
transfor med fr om within. The only meaning of any event
within the world of for m is that it stim ulates within us an
impulse to r each for the gate, or tur n our back on Heaven. As we stand befor e the gate, uncertain of which way to go,
impelled to love and yet so trained to fear, we need to
realize the sacr ed responsibility that has been placed in our
hands. “ And so you walk towar d Heaven or towar d hell, but
not alone. ” W e choose for everyone, for many years to
come. The decisions we mak e today, individually and
collectively, will deter mine whether the planet goes to hell
or goes to Heaven. One thing, however, is sur e: we ar e the
transitional generation. The critical choices lie in our hands. Future generations will know who we wer e. They will think of
us of ten. They will curse us, or they will bless us. 6. HEA VEN’S GA TE
“Think not the way to Heaven’s gate is diﬃcult
at all. ”
We are poised at Heaven’s gate. In our minds, we lef t ther e
millions of years ago. Today we ar e returning home. We are a P rodigal Son generation. W e left home and now
there’s an e xcitement in the air because we’r e back. W e did
everything to violate love, of ourselves and others, befor e a
life of wholesomeness began to attract us. That’s not our
shame but our str ength. Ther e are certain doors we don’t
have to go thr ough because a false moralism said not to,
but because we opened them alr eady and we know they
lead nowher e. Oddly enough, this gives us a kind of moralauthority. We speak fr om e xperience. W e’ve done the dark
side. W e’re ready to move on. W e’re attracted to the light. When Bhagwan Shr ee Rajneesh was ask ed by his disciples,
“Why does it say in Scriptur e, ‘God loves a sinner’. ” his
answer was, “They tend to be mor e inter esting people. ”
We’re an inter esting generation; we just don’t see that
about ourselves. When I ﬁrst r ealized what a decisive time
this is, that the decisions made on this planet in the ne xt
twenty years will deter mine whether or not mankind
survives much longer, I was afraid for the world. The fate of
the world is lef t up to us. Not us, I thought. Anyone but us. We’re spoiled brats, morally bankrupt. But when I look ed
more closely, what I saw surprised me. W e’re not bad. W e’re
wounded. And our wounds ar e simply our opportunities to
heal. Outside Heaven’s gate, healing is the buzzwor d, and it is
shaping our desir es. Ther e is a holy r eturn in the air today,
despite the pain, despite the conﬂicts. Enough people have
taken on its mandate, consciously or unconsciously, to have
already caused the feeling of a cautious e xcitement, a hope
for Heaven. In every ar ea, ther e are at least vague
intimations of gr eater r esponsibilities. Befor e we awak en, the ‘Holy Spirit transfor ms our bitter
dreams into happy ones. ’ Her e are some r eﬂec tions on a
few happy dr eams that could possibly bring the whole world
a little closer to Heaven. There has to be a mass, collective for giveness of what
went befor e in or der for our cultur e to have a chance to heal
itself and begin again. Some of the best and the brightest
that America has to oﬀer ar e dropping thr ough the cracks
because they can’t shak e their pasts. How sad for America
that anyone who has had too much se x or drugs in theirpast, for instance, is too scar ed to enter politics for fear of
being cruciﬁed for their personal histories. The important
thing about our past is not what happened, but what we
have done with what happened. Anything can contribute to
our being a mor e compassionate person now, if we choose. The meaningful question is never what we did yester day,
but what we have lear ned fr om it and ar e doing today. No
one can counsel a r ecovering alcoholic lik e another
recovering person, who has been on the r oad to r ecovery
longer. No one can counsel a person in grief lik e someone
who has grieved. No one can help with anything lik e
someone who has been thr ough the pain themselves. I never had much inter est in Richar d Nix on until I saw
him on television a few years af ter he lef t the White House. This man, I thought, has suﬀer ed complete humiliation,
which he can blame on no one but himself. The only way
that any person could survive such a crushing e xperience
would be if he got on his knees and thr ew himself into the
arms of God. W atching him on the scr een, I felt that he had
done just that. I saw a sof tness in his face that we had never
seen befor e. Now this man is inter esting, I said to myself. He
seems to have tasted the ﬁr es of puriﬁcation. Now he has
more to oﬀer us than ever. Now I would trust him to speak
to me fr om a mor e genuine place. Just outside the gate, we’r e never afraid to apologize. How wonderful it would be for America if we wer e to mak e
amends, in our hearts and to the world, for the violation of
our own most sacr ed principles in dealing with nations such
as Vietnam. W e are a gr eat country, and lik e all nations, we
have made our mistak es. Our gr eatness lies not in our
military might but in our holding to sacr ed, inter nal truths. A
big nation, lik e a big individual, admits when it has made
mistak es, atones for its er rors, and asks God and man for achance to begin again. This would not mak e us look weak to
the rest of the world. It would mak e us look humble and
honest, two traits without which ther e is not gr eatness. And wouldn’t it be wonderful—Abraham Lincoln paved
the way—if we could just mak e one huge, simple apology to
all black Americans. “ On behalf of our ancestors, we
apologize for bringing you her e as slaves fr om your native
home. W e recognize the pain that this ter rible violation has
caused generations of good people. Please for give us. L et us
begin again. ” And then, the least we can do is build a lasting
memorial to the American slaves. White Americans have
more of an internal need to do this than blacks. A fro-
Americans will ﬁnd it much easier to for give us when we
have ask ed for for giveness. All of these things, of course,
apply as well to the American Indians. Until this A tonement,
there will be little r oom for a miraculous healing of our racial
tensions. The parades for our soldiers coming home fr om the
Persian Gulf conﬂict, for me, r epresented in part an attempt
to rectify our harsh tr eatment of V ietnam veterans. I just
wish ther e wer e parades for our teachers, our scientists and
our other national tr easur es. Speaking of national tr easur es, childr en ar e our most
important r esour ces. F or a fraction of the cost of k eeping
one criminal in jail for a year, we could pr ovide a child fr om
an underprivileged backgr ound a plethora of personal and
educational opportunities that would occlude the pr opensity
to hopeless despair. The temptation to e xperience drugs,
delinquency and other paths to a criminal behavior would
then be gr eatly diminished. Ther e is no amount of money,
time or ener gy too gr eat to spend on our childr en. They ar e
our angels, our futur e. In failing them, we ar e failing
ourselves. Just outside the gate, ther e is so much to do, as we allow
the motivation for a transfor med world to ener gize our souls
and mak e manifest our convictions. W e must have faith in
God and faith in ourselves. Whatever He wills, He can let us
know, and whatever He wants done, He can show us how to
do it. In every community, ther e is work to be done. In every
nation, ther e are wounds to heal. In every heart, ther e is the
power to do it. 7. CHRISTMAS
“The sign of Christmas is a star, a light in the
darkness. ”
Christmas is a symbol of change. The meaning of Christmas
is the birth of a new self, mother ed by our humanness and
father ed by God. Mary symbolizes the feminine within us all,
who is impr egnated by spirit. Her function is to say yes, I
will, I r eceive, I will not abort this pr ocess, I accept with
humility my holy function. The child bor n from this mystical
conception is the Christ within us all. The angels awak ened Mary in the middle of the night and
told her to meet them on the r oof. “The middle of the night”
symbolizes our darkness, our confusion, our despair. “Come
onto the r oof” means tur n oﬀ the television, sober up, r ead
better books, meditate, and pray. The angels ar e the
thoughts of God. W e can only hear them in a pur e mental
atmospher e. Most of us have hear d the angels beck on us to the
rooftop alr eady. Otherwise, we would not be r eading books
like this one. What happens at this point is that we ar e given
the opportunity, the challenge, to accept God’s spirit, to
allow His seed into our mystical body. We shall be His safetyand pr otection. W e shall, if we agree to, allow our hearts to
be a womb for the Christ child, a haven in which He can
grow in fullness and pr epare for earthly birth. God has
chosen that His Son be bor n through each of us. “Ther e is no r oom her e,” said the innk eeper to Joseph. The “inn ” is our intellect. Ther e is little if any r oom ther e for
the things of spirit. But that doesn’t matter because God
doesn’t need it. All he needs is a little space in the manger,
just a little willingness on our part in or der for Him to be
born on earth. Ther e, “sur rounded by animals,” at one with
our natural human self, we give birth to the One who rules
the universe. Shepher ds in the ﬁeld see the “star of Christmas” befor e
anyone else. Shepher ds ar e those who tend the ﬂocks, who
care, who pr otect and heal the childr en of the earth. Of
course they see the sign of hope ﬁrst, because they ar e the
ones pr oviding it. They have made of their lives fertile
ground of miracles. They see the star and they follow the
star. They ar e led to the scene of Jesus in the ar ms of man. And worldly kings gather to pay homage to Him. That is
because the power of the world is nothing befor e the ‘power
of innocence. The lion lies down with the lamb;’ our str ength
is in har mony with our innocence. Our gentleness and our
power ar e not at odds. “Long lay the world in sin and er ror pining, till He
appear ed and the soul felt its worth,” goes the Christmas
carol. W ith the birth of Christ, not just once a year but in
every moment, we allow ourselves to tak e on the mantle of
divine Sonship, to be mor e than we wer e the moment
befor e. We expand our self -awar eness and self -identity. The
‘son of man r ecognizes himself, and in so doing becomes
the Son of God. ’And thus is the world r edeemed, br ought back, healed
and made whole. The dr eam of death is over when we
receive the vision of r eal life. Jesus in our hearts is mer ely
the truth that is etched upon it, the “alpha and the omega,”
wher e we began and wher e we will r eturn to. Even if he
takes another name, even if he tak es another face, He is in
essence the truth of who we ar e. Our joined lives for m the
mystical body of Christ. T o reclaim our place within this body
is to r eturn home. W e once again ﬁnd the right r elationship
to God, to each other, and to ourselves. 8. EASTER
“The r esurrection’s whole compelling power lies
in the fact it r epresents what you want to be. ”
Christmas and Easter ar e attitudinal book ends for an
enlightened worldview. With an enlightened view of
Christmas, we understand that it is within our power,
through God, to give birth to a divine Self. With an
enlightened view of Easter, we understand that this Self is
the power of the universe, befor e which death itself has no
real power. ‘Resurrection is the symbol of joy. ’ It is the gr eat “aha. ”—
the sign of total understanding that we ar e not at the eﬀect
of lovelessness, in ourselves and others. The acceptance of
the resurrection is the r ealization of the fact that we need
wait no longer to see ourselves as healed and whole. I was sitting ar ound talking with my girlfriend Barbara. She had r ecently e xperienced a kind of emotional triple-
header : her father lay dying, she br oke up with a boyfriend
of seven years, and then she fell into a rather passionate
liaison with a classic “ Peter P an. ” As we discussed theprinciples of r esurrection and our desir e for Heaven, she
remark ed to me, “I guess I just have to trust that God has a
plan, and that things will get better when they’r e supposed
to. ”
In a desir e to understand the principles of A Course in
Miracles  as deeply as possible, I pointed out to her that,
theor etically, since ther e is no time, this has nothing to do
with God saving us “later. ” The message of r esurrection is
that the cruciﬁxion never occur red, e xcept in our minds. Christ-consciousness is not that the wounds of her father’s
death will heal, or that her br eak-up with the boyfriend
would gr ow mor e comfortable in time, or that her aﬀair
would one day tur n into a friendship. Christ-consciousness is
the understanding that Heaven is her e now : her father will
not die when he dies, the change of for m in the long-ter m
relationship means absolutely nothing because the love
itself is changeless, and P eter P an’s departur e means
nothing because the bond that unites them is eter nal. Her
sadness r ests not on fact, but on ﬁction. It is her
interpr etation of events, and the events themselves, that
keeps her heart in chains. Heaven is the transfor mation of
these events within her mind. The physical world then
follows. ‘The r esurrection is our awak ening fr om the dr eam,
our return to right-mindedness, and thus our deliverance
from Hell. ’
And so she gladdened. Barbara and I laughed lik e little
childr en as we allowed ourselves to scan our lives, the
relationships, the cir cumstances, the events that mak e up
our cr osses to bear. We recognized how avidly we drill the
nails into our own hands and feet, holding on to earthly
interpr etation of things when a choice to do otherwise would
release us and mak e us happy. We prayed for a mor e
consistent ability to r emember that only love is r eal. W e
saw, if even for a few minutes, the needlessness of ourdespair. We saw in that time a glimpse of Heaven and we
prayed for the ability to e xperience mor e of it. From A Course in Miracles :
“The jour ney to the cr oss should be the last
‘useless jour ney. ’ Do not dwell upon it, but
dismiss it as accomplished. If you can accept it
as your own last useless jour ney, you ar e also
free to join my r esurrection. Until you do so, your
life is indeed wasted. It mer ely re-enacts the
separation, the loss of power, the futile attempts
of the ego at r eparation, and ﬁnally the
cruciﬁxion of the body, or death. Such
repetitions ar e endless until they ar e voluntarily
given up. Do not mak e the pathetic er ror of
“clinging to the old rugged cr oss. ” The only
message of the cruciﬁxion is that you can
overcome the cr oss. Until then you ar e free to
crucif y yourself as of ten as you choose. This is
not the gospel I intended to oﬀer you. W e have
another jour ney to undertak e, and if you will
read these lessons car efully they will help
prepare you to undertak e it. ”
At the end of the W orkbook, we ar e told “This course is a
beginning, not an end. ” A spiritual path is not home; it is a
road home. Home is within us, and every moment we ar e
choosing to r est ther e, or to ﬁght the e xperience. Our r eal
terror, says the Course, is of r edemption. But ther e is within us One who knows the truth, who has
been given by God the job of outwitting our ego,
outsmarting our self -hatr ed. The Christ does not attack our
ego; He transcends it. And ‘He is within us every moment, in
every cir cumstance. He is to our lef t and to our right, befor eus and behind us,’ above us and beneath us. ‘He r esponds
fully to our slightest invitation. ’
With our prayers we invite Him in, He who is alr eady
there. With prayer, we speak to God. W ith miracles, He
responds. The endless chain of communication between
loved and lover, between God and man, is the most
beautiful song, the sweetest poem. It is the highest art and
the most passionate love. Dear God,
I give this day to you, the fruit of my labor
and the desir es of my heart. In your hands I
place all questions, on your shoulders I place
all bur dens. I pray for my br others and for
myself. May we r eturn to love. May our minds
be healed. May we all be blessed. May we ﬁnd
our way home, fr om the pain to peace, fr om
fear to love, fr om hell to Heaven. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is in Heaven. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the P ower,
and the Glory. Forever and ever. Amen. OceanofPDF. comENDNOTES
The following citations r efer to themes espoused in the book
as gleaned fr om A Course in Miracles  by the F oundation for
Inner P eace. The ﬁrst page number is fr om A Return to L ove
—the last page number in the citation is fr om A Course in
Miracles. Sources with the letter “M” pr eceding them ar e from A
Course in Miracles: Manual for T eachers. Those pr eceded by
a “W” ar e tak en from A Course in Miracles: W orkbook. Those
without a letter befor e them ar e from A Course in Miracles
text. Frontmatter
Citation     Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. xiv p. Intr oduction
Chapter 1
Citation SourceA Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 3 p. 621
p. 5 p. 353
p. 10 p. 235
p. 12 p. M-67
Chapter 2
Citation Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 15 p. 169
p. 17 p. 563
p. 19 pp. 63, 43
p. 20 p. 13
p. 22 pp. 49, Intr oduction
p. 23 p. 9
p. 25 p. 6
Chapter 3
Citation SourceA Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 27 p. 587
p. 29 p. 49
p. 30 p. 109
p. 31 p. 237f
p. 31f p. 364f
p. 32 pp. 364—365, W -212
p. 33 p. 77
p. 35 pp. 544, 2
p. 37 pp. 27, W -26, 27, 71, 329
p. 39 pp. M-67, 202
p. 41 p. W-347
p. 42 pp. 5, 9
p. 44 p. M-84
p. 46 pp. M-56, M-84, 6
Chapter 4
Citation SourceA Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 49 p. W-361
p. 51 p. 342
p. 54 pp. 421, 421
p. 56 p. 185
p. 59 pp. 287, W -284
p. 62 pp. 362, 290
Chapter 5
Citation Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 63 p. W-58
p. 65 pp. 248, 1
p. 66 pp. 415, 3
p. 68 pp. M-3, M-1, M-3, 39
p. 70 p. 330, The Song of P rayer, p. 9f
p. 70f pp. 76, W -304, 432
p. 71 pp. 332, W -360, W -73p. 74 pp. 1, 29, W -360, 229
p. 75 pp. 234, W -135, 282, 234, 86
p. 76 p. 15
p. 77 pp. 1, 151
p. 79 p. 12
p. 81 p. 1
p. 83 pp. 17, 6
p. 84 pp. W -477, 517, W -139
Chapter 6
Citation Source
A Return to
LoveA Course in Miracles
p. 89 p. 407
p. 91 p. 132
p. 92 pp. 359, M-1, 515
p. 93 pp. W -26, 516, 464, 330, 164
p. 94 p. 57
p. 95 pp. W -122, 573p. 96 p. 229
p. 98 pp. 29, 374—376, 375
p. 99 p. 273
p. 101 pp. 255, 382f, 415, 113f
p. 104 p. 230
p. 105f p. 204f
p. 107 p. M-6
p. 110 pp. 317, 29
p. 111 p. 334
p. 112 p. 318
p. 113 p. 208
p. 114 pp. 291, 337, 337
p. 115 pp. 333—337
p. 118 p. 267f
p. 121 pp. W -159, 444, W -225
p. 125 pp. 315, M-51
p. 129 p. 343
p. 130 pp. 113f, 12p. 134 p. 289
p. 137 pp. W -159, 367
p. 138 p.
By looking at them directly, without protecting them.
According to the text, what is the only way to dispel illusions?
A search for light, not a way to analyze darkness.
What is the purpose of psychotherapy, according to the Holy Spirit?
The birth of a new self, symbolizing the return to a loving and whole life.
What is the main theme of Christmas, according to the author?
The Holy Spirit, who is within us and guides us.
Who has the power to heal and transform our wounds?
It is crucial for healing and moving forward, as it allows us to let go of our ego and find inner peace.
What is the author's opinion on the importance of acknowledging past mistakes and asking for forgiveness?