There’s a lesson in A Course in Miracles that has been resonating with me deeply lately—Lesson 93: “Light and joy and peace abide in me. My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.”
At first glance, this sounds almost too good to be true. Many of us would say, “Sure, I have a pretty healthy self-image. I try to be a good person. I’m doing fine.” But the lesson goes much deeper than the surface-level ways we evaluate ourselves. It’s not talking about the everyday image we polish for others to see. It’s pointing toward the vulnerable, hidden layers of our identity—the part of us where guilt, shame, regret, and unhealed wounds quietly accumulate over the years.
Whether we admit it or not, every human being carries an inner burden. We have moments of failure, words we wish we could take back, actions we regret, and patterns we can’t quite shake. Some of these we push out of awareness completely (that’s repression). Others we carry uneasily, keeping them beneath the surface but always close enough to haunt us (that’s suppression).
Psychologists like Freud and Jung tried to name and map these unconscious dynamics. But A Course in Miracles takes it further, teaching that the root of this inner burden is a false identity created by the ego. The ego, in this teaching, isn’t just Freud’s structure of the psyche. It’s something more destructive—a “malicious ego” that manufactures a distorted self-concept. This false identity is conflicted, fearful, guilty, and deeply fragile. And because we don’t want to face it, we build elaborate defenses to keep it hidden.
The lesson puts it bluntly: the picture we hold of ourselves is often a horrible picture. Not because we consciously walk around despising ourselves, but because at a deep unconscious level, we’ve bought into the belief that we are fundamentally broken, sinful, or unworthy.
The Contrast: Ego’s Picture vs. God’s Identity
Here’s where the miracle mindset changes everything. Beneath the self-concept we’ve made lies something unshakable: our original identity in God.
This divine identity has never been harmed, never been diminished, never been touched by any of the mistakes we think define us. It is perfect, whole, and radiant—always. To illustrate this, imagine buying the most beautiful, luxurious car you can picture. Within weeks, the ego has dinged it, scratched it, left trash on the seats, and run it into the ground. That’s the self-image we create—once full of potential, but soon dented by guilt, fear, and failure.
Now imagine the car that never ages, never dents, never breaks down. Always immaculate, always new. That’s our God-given identity—untouched by anything that’s ever happened.
And here’s the key: the painful ego identity isn’t real. It’s a nightmare. And just like waking from a bad dream, we can discover immense relief when we realize it has no power over us.
Wrestling With the Hard Questions
Of course, this isn’t easy to accept. A natural question arises: if everyone’s true identity is perfect, does that include those who’ve committed terrible atrocities—figures like Hitler or others who’ve caused immense suffering?
The lesson doesn’t dismiss this challenge, but it does ask us to step into a radically different perspective. Yes, every person has the same perfect, divine identity. The acts of cruelty, violence, and hatred are expressions of the ego’s false self, not the truth of who they are. This doesn’t excuse wrongdoing or erase history. It doesn’t minimize pain or suggest we shouldn’t seek justice. Instead, it reframes the deeper spiritual reality: even the worst illusions cannot undo the truth of God’s creation.
It’s a difficult teaching to hold. For those whose families have lived through genocide, slavery, or oppression, it can sound almost offensive to suggest that perpetrators carry a divine spark. And yet, the teaching insists that on the most fundamental level, we all share the same inheritance. Like the prodigal child in the Bible, no matter how far we wander, we are always able to return to our original home—and when we do, the “sins” of the false identity are left behind, forgotten in the light of love.
Why This Matters for Us
So why does this matter for us in the day-to-day? Because without recognizing the difference between the ego’s false picture and God’s true creation, we end up trapped. We either attack ourselves—carrying guilt and shame as if they are our essence—or we project that same attack outward, judging others and fueling conflict.
When we remember that light and joy and peace abide in us, we stop identifying with the nightmare and start awakening to the truth. We become freer, lighter, and more compassionate. And as the Course repeatedly emphasizes, when even one of us does this inner work sincerely, it contributes to the healing of the entire world.
Practice: Repetition That Transforms
Lesson 93 gives us a simple but profound practice. We’re invited to repeat two affirmations throughout the day:
Light and joy and peace abide in me.
My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
The Course suggests five minutes every hour, but the emphasis is not on perfection. Even a few moments here and there can begin to shift our mindset—and, remarkably, the text reminds us that when we do this work individually, we contribute to the healing of the entire world.
This is more than positive self-talk. It is a way of training the mind to remember what is true and to align with a higher reality.
Bringing Light to the Headlines
This teaching feels especially urgent in light of current events. Just last week, the world was shaken by the brutal killing of Charlie Kirk. Beyond the tragedy itself, the aftermath has sparked outrage, polarization, and intensified divisions. Many of us have felt waves of anger, confusion, or despair.
These are natural responses—but they are also exactly the moments when we most need practices like this. By holding even the most painful headlines in the light of atonement, we allow healing to enter where fear and rage would otherwise reign. Atonement, in the language of the Course, means bringing what is broken into the presence of divine perfection, where it is cleansed and made whole.
When we do this, we’re not ignoring suffering or pretending evil doesn’t exist. Instead, we’re acknowledging that our deeper truth—and the deeper truth of the world—is unshakable light, joy, and peace. And from that place, we can respond with compassion instead of rage, wisdom instead of fear.
A Call to Action
So here’s the invitation:
Take just five minutes today. Sit quietly, breathe deeply, and repeat:
Light and joy and peace abide in me. My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
Then take one additional minute to let the truth of those words sink in—not as abstract ideas, but as lived reality. Feel the radiance of light, the uplift of joy, and the stillness of peace within you.
Even a single moment of practicing this truth strengthens us and ripples outward into the world. In times of grief, division, and rage, this practice is more than personal healing—it is a form of global service.
We may not be able to control headlines, but we can choose how we meet them. Let’s choose to meet them anchored in light, joy, and peace.
