While just about everyone has been brought up to believe that prayer involves pleading to God to help, save, fix problems and bring us things in this world, that is not true prayer nor its purpose. Prayer in A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is fairly different and very beautiful. More than a song, it is joyous exchange of Love and thanks between God and His Creations that employs the forgiveness process to improve the mind until the Prayer Song is all that remains. It’s the ticket home so understanding true prayer, and forgiveness, is worth enough time in retraining the mind.

Prayer is exchanging (sharing) a Song of Love and Creation or judgments of the ego predicated on what you ask for (agree with) in the mind. There is no other way. In the Course, the mind (content) is split between God and the ego; and you also are choosing on a regular basis with a side as cause for effect.Forms (all things of the world) are miscreations reflecting the ego’s judgmental thought system. We’ve made it up (miscreated this world) and may give it up anytime by correcting the mind (forgiveness). True prayer requires this correction of your brain as God has nothing in connection with forms.

What Prayer isn’t:



Because you are always deciding, everything you ask for once you pray is what counts. When you plead in prayer to have God fix an application problem with another form problem, you are asking the ego mind for help (not God). Those forms and needs are deemed more important than God’s Love that will remain hidden to the degree you select the illusion.

All external things (forms) are needs. Other labels are wants, desires, status, problems, sickness, human love (special relationships), gifts and goals in this world, etc. They are everything you choose as substitutes for God’s Love and the ego will distort the purpose of prayer by using them to further the illusion. Therefore, prayer can’t be about “forms” or “needs” at all.

The Purpose of Prayer:

The Song of Prayer is defined by the Course as a Song of Creation, Love and gratitude being sung from the daddy to the Son and returned from the Son to the daddy. God gave this gift of Love to His Son at Creation so that it is a single voice shared by both the Creator and Created. Continuously sharing Love and Creation backwards and forwards extends them forever in eternity. That’s prayer’s purpose.

In this form world of illusion, this prayer continues to be a gift from God offered through the Holy Spirit, the memory of God in the mind. It’s the way you reach God in the illusion. Anyone who has ever remembered the tiniest instant of this all-inclusive joy must begin questioning what he could be choosing (praying for) and how exactly to change his mind so he can have that all the time.

True Prayer and Forgiveness:

True prayer is: (1) asking to receive what’s already there, The Song; and, (2) on the way, using forgiveness (correction of the mind) to give up the ego forms or what’s not really there. Joining with Love in true prayer is asking for nothing (i.e., no illusion, forms or needs) so you end up receiving everything (Love). One problem. One solution.

Forgiveness (correction of the mind) is a section of true prayer and makes the procedure go quicker. Prayer is timeless and goes on forever, and forgiveness may be the illusory ladder with time that returns your brain to the endless exchange. Forgiveness disappears once the mind is completely corrected and remembers only The Song.

The big secret of true prayer and forgiveness is to focus on disregarding and giving up the things you imagine you need and need in the illusion, even the specifics, as this asks for your brain to be returned to Truth (Love). You aren’t furthering the illusion. You’re agreeing with God that (a) you’re a mind; (b) this form world isn’t real; (c) you made a blunder; and, (d) you can choose again.

Using correction of the mind (forgiveness) places those forms and needs on God’s altar, or in his hands, as idols which are only anything you have chosen to be more important than God’s Love. No more wanting anything before His Love, the only real effect God could return is your remembrance of Him. The more you quit, the more meaningless the world becomes and the faster you sing His Song.

Prayer in the Illusion:

Since the mind still resides with God, the Course says you don’t need to decide alone and really should ask the Holy Spirit for help deciding and await the answer. Otherwise, you’ve already decided with the ego. In the event that you must make a decision on the spot, you’ll get the correct “need” answer right then.A remedy is an echo of God’s Voice from the Song of Prayer. You are not requesting the echo itself. You are choosing the gift of Love from The Song giving up all form needs. “Need” answers in the illusion are contained within that echo even during the correction of your brain process. a course in miracles online They’re met at the level of the forgiveness ladder it is possible to understand and accept.