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Lesson 248: ”Whatever suffers is not part of me.”

Reframe: Suffering is not part of my true essence.

Suggested Practice: 

From now on: 
Once in the morning and once in the evening for however many minutes feels sufficient. Then every hour remember/recite the idea for the day. 

Prayer For today: 
(feel free to swap out the wording to whatever resonates with you best)

“Father, my ancient love for You returns, and lets me love Your Son again as well. ²Father, I am as You created me. ³Now is Your Love remembered, and my own. ⁴Now do I understand that they are one. (ACIM, W-248.2:1-4)

OR… “The Creator and Its Creations are One. Suffering is not included.

For Lessons 241-250: What is the World? is the theme. Read the whole article here.
”The world is false perception. ²It is born of error, and it has not left its source. … The world was made as an attack on God. ²It symbolizes fear. ³And what is fear except love’s absence? … ⁵Yet everything that they report is but illusion which is kept apart from truth. … As sight was made to lead away from truth, it can be redirected. ²Sounds become the call for God, and all perception can be given a new purpose by the One Whom God appointed Savior to the world [that’s us]. ³Follow His light…Hear His Voice…let Him give you peace and certainty…⁴We must save the world.

From the PART II Introduction: Read the whole introduction here.

“Words will mean little now. ²We use them but as guides on which we do not now depend. ³For now we seek direct experience of truth alone. ⁴The lessons that remain are merely introductions to the times in which we leave the world of pain, and go to enter peace. ⁵Now we begin to reach the goal this course has set, and find the end toward which our practicing was always geared.” (ACIM, W-pII.in.1:1-5)

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on My YouTube Channel:

https://youtu.be/QRSEgvHRkTU?is=b0ES0xtZafxWSo7q

Message

This Lesson reminds me of the saying, often attributed to Buddhism: Pain is inevitable—suffering is optional.

We’re less than a week from the 25th anniversary of 9/11. My social media feeds are filling with clips from that day—people sharing stories, still suffering. First responders, families, witnesses. It’s heartbreaking. And I admit, I can’t help but watch.

That reaction, paired with this Lesson, feels like a total disconnect. Here I am, in my body, feeling the sadness, the horror, the ongoing weight of that day. To say it’s not part of me seems wrong. And yet, I’m beginning to grasp what the Course is really saying.

From the ego’s viewpoint, suffering is real. It cries out, “Oh, the humanity!”—and in a strange way, it thrives on that. Misery loves company, and the ego uses suffering to keep us locked in fear, grievance, and limitation—far from the peace, love, and joy that God gave us as His creations.

So you might be thinking, as I am: How can I possibly feel peace, love, and joy about this?

The Course isn’t telling us that sadness or suffering is bad or wrong. It’s recognizing that suffering is part of the human condition—one of the parameters of being in a body. What the Course does say is that suffering is something we only experience here. Our job is to notice when we’re in it, and remind ourselves: this comes with the territory, but it is not Me. And with free will, we can choose to stay in suffering—or choose to see from a Divine perspective. I realize that’s easy for me to say—I wasn’t deeply traumatized by 9/11. All I can offer is my own perspective and what I understand the Course to be saying.

Right now, the best I can do with 9/11 is to acknowledge the sadness and remember I have a choice. I can know peace instead. For me, that choice looks like this: I notice the suffering, I remind myself I can know peace, and then I decide—stay with it awhile (sometimes a good cry does a body wonders) or ask the Divine to help me see it differently. That knowing alone eases the sadness—and I trust it will eventually lead to peace with both the event and my feelings about it.

“This lesson asks us to disown falsity, to disown all the inevitable sorrows to which we’ve been so faithful.”
— “The Course in Miracles Experiment” by Pam Grout

Blessings & Peace,

Maureen,
The Mandala Lady

transforming soul whispers into mandalas & channeled messages
for clarity, peace, and joy

 About the 2026 Mandalas of the Day — ▶️ A Note About A Course in Miracles