Download to Color: MandalaoftheWeek.com
Lesson 278: ”If I am bound, my Father is not free.”
Reframe: As I free myself from illusions, all beings share in freedom.
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, I ask for nothing but the truth. ²I have had many foolish thoughts about myself and my creation, and have brought a dream of fear into my mind. ³Today, I would not dream. ⁴I choose the way to You instead of madness and instead of fear. ⁵For truth is safe, and only love is sure.” (ACIM, W-278.2:1-5)
OR… “I can handle the truth. I want the truth.”
For Lessons 271-280: What is the Christ? is the theme for the next 10 days. Read the whole article here.
”Christ is God’s Son as He created Him. ²He is the Self we share, uniting us with one another, and with God as well. ³He is the Thought which still abides within the Mind that is His Source. ⁴He has not left His holy home, nor lost the innocence in which He was created. ⁵He abides unchanged forever in the Mind of God.” (ACIM, W-pII.6.1:1-5).
OR, put another way…
”We are all of the Light, created by the Light, united with the Light and one another in the Light. Be the Light.”
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)
View timelapse of the coloring of today’s mandala
on My YouTube Channel:
https://youtu.be/-c7PQG-qHMo?is=p4nxiyjqrXIRqg3C
Message
From the Lesson:
“If I accept that I am prisoner within a body, in a world in which all things that seem to live appear to die, then is my Father prisoner with me. … If I am bound in any way, I do not know my Father nor my Self. ⁴And I am lost to all reality. ⁵For truth is free, and what is bound is not a part of truth. (ACIM, W-278.1:1-5)
The line that impacts me most is “If I am bound in any way, I do not know my Father nor my Self.” My understanding: when I’m under the ego mind’s spell—a prisoner to the ego—I lose access to my Father, my Self, and Truth. Not because they’ve turned away from me, but because I’ve put up a block between us. That’s what makes a prisoner of my Father.
How this plays out for me: the last week or so I’ve felt a sense of nothingness—the “blahs”—with just enough motivation to handle necessities. It took a day or two to realize the ego mind was quietly ruling most of my days. Instead of looking forward to adding to my garden labyrinth, I’d think, “Do you really want to do that?” And instead of pushing back, I’d see its point and go check emails. Or if I wanted to keep painting Archangel Mandala Number 3, “I don’t feel like it” would override it.
Looking back, I can see I was disconnected from the Divine, fumbling around in an illusionary mindset. From the Divine’s perspective, it would be like They were behind a one-way mirror—able to see me, while I was clueless to see Them.
Thankfully, because of the Lesson practices and becoming aware of how subtle the ego mind’s thoughts can be, the time I spent under its spell got shorter and shorter. Something would snap me out of it—a timer going off, a neighbor’s dog barking, my husband coming into the room. In the past those things would have annoyed me. Now I welcome them because they bring me to the present moment, where I can consciously choose Divine mind again. For me that means taking a moment to be fully present, taking a deep breath, and saying to myself, “Divine mind,” to lock in the switch.
About “my Father is not free”—I don’t fully understand it yet. What I do understand is that if I’m bound by the ego mind, I’m not free. And if we’re all connected as one, then it goes both ways: if I’m bound, we’re all bound. If I’m free, we’re all free. So:
“…I choose the way to You instead of madness and instead of fear. For truth is safe, and only love is sure.”
“There is so much to notice in this moment that the rest is…not relevant right now.”
— “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
