Today’s heartfelt question comes from Jodi about our beautiful Earth.
🎧Click here to hear the audio version.
Here is what she asked:
QUESTION:
“I know A Course in Miracles says the world is an illusion, but what about Mother Nature—Earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, the plants, the animals?
Are these things illusory too? I come from an earth‑based spiritual practice, and it saddens me to think that all this beauty could be unreal.”
I love this question because it speaks to a tension many of us feel.
A Course in Miracles teaches us to distinguish between truth and illusion…
But if we misunderstand this teaching, it can seem as though we’re being asked to sacrifice something beautiful.
We might worry that we must abandon the natural world we love and find healing in.
The good news is that’s not the case.
By seeing the difference between illusion and reality correctly, we can find peace—and even joy.
Do the Trees, Animals, and Stars Hold a Deeper Truth?
MY ANSWER:
In A Course in Miracles, we are taught that God creates only what is eternal.
Anything that decays, changes, or passes away is not ultimately real in a divine sense.
The world we see, with its forms—trees, animals, bodies—is not eternal and therefore illusory at that level.
However, that doesn’t mean nothing real exists within it.
There is a spark of divine life within all living things—the spirit in the trees, the animals, and in each of us.
So while the forms are temporary, the life within them is of God and very beautiful.
We’re learning to distinguish between the shell (form) and the eternal spark (content).
This eternal spark—love, life, spirit—is what is real.
How Forgiveness Helps Us See the World as It Truly Is?
It is forgiveness that transforms our vision, allowing us to see this real world within the dream.
As the Course says:
“Forgiveness literally transforms vision and lets you see the real world… The smallest leaf becomes a thing of wonder, and a blade of grass, a sign of God’s perfection.”
Even though this world is a dream, there is a “real world” for us to see when our perception is healed.
By letting go of chaotic, painful, or fearful perceptions, we can look upon this real world as Jesus did and see heaven here.
The illusion doesn’t prevent us from appreciating beauty; it invites us to look beyond form to the love and power that created it.
Am I Meant to Love Nature—or Let It Go?
While the physical planet isn’t ultimately real in the Course’s terms, the love and light we experience through our connection with Mother Earth is very real.
Trees give us shade and oxygen; everything on Earth works together in a beautiful symbiosis.
This world reflects our true home, heaven, and teaches us about our power to create.
According to the Course, the world exists because we chose to experience separation from our divine Source.
We made it desirable enough to “forget home,” yet within it lies both beauty and chaos.
To see it rightly, we must step back from idolizing Earth and cleanse our perception.
We lay down our attachments to how we think the Earth should be and allow our minds to be cleared.
When we join with this life inside everything, we realise the Earth is an extension of us.
We are meant to care for and love it, and as we give, we receive.
We’re not asked to ignore the Earth or the animals but to recognise that the power is within us and extends through us to the world.
In doing so, we become co‑creators of a healed world.
Can We Actually Experience Heaven on Earth?
Another passage from the Course captures this beautifully:
“Let us come daily to this holy place in our hearts and minds and spend a while in quiet. The grass pushes through the soil, the trees bud, and the birds come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perception… Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.”
Even though the world is a classroom—a dream—it can serve a holy purpose when seen with true vision.
We are asked neither to deny the Earth’s beauty nor to idolise it.
Instead, we honour and bless it as an extension of God’s love, recognising that our real power comes from within and transforms the world around us.
How Can I Bring Divine Light Into the World?
So yes, the world is an illusion, but it’s our classroom.
Through the Holy Spirit, even the illusion can be used for our healing.
We aren’t asked to abandon its beauty but to learn to see it differently—as a reflection of our inner light, not as the source of it.
Jodi, and everyone reading, thank you for following along.
May you feel your roots in the Earth and your wings in heaven, guiding you back to reality.
Know that you are not alone; we are holding each other’s hands, remembering what is true.
How Can A Course of Miracles Transform Me?
Enrolment is now open for our 2025 A Course in Miracles Workbook support group.
Currently, we are inviting people onto the wait list because this is an 18-month sacred journey through the Workbook that will be slow and deep and embodied.
We don’t rush.
We live the lessons, and we let them transform us—and it is only for a small group of people.
This is a time where we come together as a family, as a unit, to really walk side by side, holding each other’s hands through the entire process of the Workbook.
‘Cause let’s get real—we all could benefit from mind training.
We could all benefit from the tools that help us heal our mind, remember what is true, let go of what is false, and really come into that place of power and inner peace that radiates through us and in us to all those we love and beyond.
If you feel called to walk this path of community and healing with us, I welcome you to join us.
📖 Order A Course In Miracles Here
Wishing you a beautiful, blessed weekend and week ahead.
May peace and love guide you on your journey. 💖
If this message resonated with you, feel free to share it with others.
Much love to you, Beautiful Soul. ✌️
Britney
>>> If you find this topic interesting, click here, to watch this YouTube video I posted!
P.S. ASK ME ANYTHING: If you have any questions or need clarity about A Course In Miracles, I’m here to help! Simply submit your question through this form.