A Course In Miracles Lesson 72
Holding grievances is an attack on Source’s plan for salvation.
🌿 I’m seeing that my ego’s plan for salvation is the opposite of Source’s.
Now I am asked to go deeper.
When I hold a grievance, I am not protecting myself.
I am disrupting my own peace.
When I get defensive, I assign the attributes of the ego to Source.
I begin to imagine the ego as my rescuer.
But the ego does not simply defend.
It attempts to replace.
And it uses my identification with the world around me to do it.
During re-entry, everything feels physical.
The office.
The paperwork.
The watchful eyes.
A parole officer with authority over my movement.
Family members reacting to my past.
A community that remembers.
In those moments, I am tempted to believe what I see:
That these people or circumstances have power over me.
That they are the cause of my limitation.
That my freedom depends on what they decide.
My parole officer’s authority can feel like a wall.
My family’s disappointment can feel like a verdict.
Strangers’ glances can feel like a sentence still being served.
And that is how a grievance forms.
When I hold a grievance, I focus only on what someone did.
What I saw or experienced.
I judge behavior.
I replay moments that felt like betrayal.
I define them by action and memory.
And in doing so, I trap myself in the same perspective.
If I am only seeing the world this way, then my history becomes my identity.
And if my history is my identity, then change feels impossible.
The ego calls this realism.
ACIM calls it separation.
Every grievance insists that the world as I see it is ultimate and that the past is permanent.
The MovingStill Path asks something quieter.
It asks me to pause.
To stop using judgment as proof.
To question whether what I see is the whole story.
To live without the limits of that narrative is not denial.
It is restoration.
It is what I was before the labels.
Today, I choose to recognize the light in myself and in others.
That choice ends the attack on Source’s plan.
And without attack, peace becomes available.
I am laying judgment aside — not as an achievement, but as a whole and healed person who no longer needs it.
I don’t fully understand what salvation is.
But I am willing to release the story that keeps me bound.
If freedom is already here and I’ve been blocking it with judgment, show me another way to see.
I am MovingStill.
In my personal journey with A Course In Miracles, Lesson 72 resonated deeply when it highlighted how grievances are not just emotional burdens but active attacks against our own salvation. I learned that holding onto past hurts or perceived betrayals does more damage to my peace than to others, essentially disrupting the divine plan for healing and freedom. One key insight was understanding the ego’s role—not merely as a defender but as an entity that tries to replace the true Source within me. When I reacted defensively, I often projected ego’s limitations onto the sacred, confusing the two and unintentionally empowering the ego as my rescuer. Reframing this perception allowed me to see grievances not as just wrongs done to me but as choices that keep me trapped in a painful identity defined by fear and separation. During difficult periods, where external pressures felt overwhelming—much like the author’s mention of surveillance and judgment—I found it helpful to pause and observe my reactions. Instead of immediately judging, I practiced witnessing the emotions and memories without attachment, which slowly shifted my experience of limitation into one of restoration. The lesson’s emphasis on stopping the reliance on judgment as proof was transformative. It revealed how much my identity was linked to past narratives, and how freedom emerged the moment I questioned whether the story I told myself was the entire truth. This approach is not denial but a gentle reclaiming of my original self, beyond the body’s physical limits and societal labels. Through deliberate practice—often by sitting quietly and asking, “What is salvation, Father?”—I nurtured an openness to receive answers beyond ego’s voice. This meditation helped me reconnect with the light within, fostering acceptance instead of attack. The process is ongoing, and while I do not yet fully understand salvation, releasing old grievances has brought me closer to experiencing peace and healing, confirming the profound wisdom of ACIM Lesson 72.