Holy Instant

The app

a screen at a time, without hurrying. this is the whole of it — there is nothing held back behind a wall, and nothing more to buy.

The reader, open to the Course's Text, chapter 18: the section title 'The Little Willingness' in cream serif over a deep ink page, with the paragraph number IV.1 set small in the margin beside the words 'The holy instant is the result of your determination to be holy.' Nothing else is on the screen but a back arrow and the tab bar.

the page, and nothing else on it. no chrome, no counters, no next. the paragraph numbers are there when You want to find Your way back, and quiet when You don’t.

Grace, opening in her own words on a deep ink screen: 'Hi. I'm Grace. This is a quiet place to be with the Course — to forgive something, to find the words your heart is reaching for, to pray, or to be still for a minute.' Below her, three gold-outlined suggestions — 'Help me forgive someone', 'Find me a passage', 'I just…' — and at the bottom a text field reading 'Say what's on your heart'.

a companion named Grace. she speaks only from the Course, and she sits beside You rather than above. she will not hurry You toward peace, and when there is nothing to say she is simply still with You. nothing You say to her is saved, or tied to You.

now You can speak to her out loud — Your phone turns the sound into words by itself, and the audio never leaves it.

A sheet of the original notes lifted over the reader, titled 'In Helen's own hand' with a Done button and the reference (Ur 646). On the white page, a numbered transcription from the Shorthand Notes, Text Chapter 5, beginning mid-sentence: 'inception, and MAINTAINED by guilt in its continuance. Guilt is inescapable for those who believe that they order their OWN thought…'

beneath the printed words, when You want them, the notes Helen Schucman first set down. the Urtext, deep-linked under the passage You are reading. the Course as it was received, before it was ever a book.

The day's lesson on a deep ink screen: 'Saturday, July 11 — Workbook for Students — Lesson 192', and its idea in serif italic, 'I have a function God would have me fill.' Beneath a short gold rule, the line 'Before the words, a moment of quiet.' and a softly outlined button, 'Be still a moment'. Then the lesson itself, paragraph one. No streak, no count, nothing to complete.

one lesson, for today. no streak, nothing to keep. if You miss a day, nothing happens — that is the point.

The stillness: a single round bloom of warm gold light, soft-edged, resting in the middle of an almost-black room. One small close mark in the top corner. Nothing else — no timer, no ring, no count.

a single held moment. four seconds in, one held, six out — five whole breaths, and then one line of the Course to rest on before it lets You go. there is no timer, no ring, no count, and no “well done.” You cannot fail at it, and You cannot finish it.

You can take one right here, without installing anything.

Search, on a deep ink screen. The query 'the little willingness' sits in a rounded field. Beneath it, the section it names, then four passages from the Text — Chapter 26, Chapter 21, Chapter 18, Chapter 16 — each with its reference (T-26.VII.10, T-21.II.1, T-18.IV.4, T-16.VI.12) and the sentence it was found in, the matched words in bold.

when You half-remember a line and need the rest of it. the whole Course, searched, with the passage it came from.

what You mark, and where it lives

no account. nothing to sign in to. no trackers, no analytics, no ads. Apple’s privacy label for it reads, in Apple’s own words: Data Not Collected.

what You highlight and what You write go to Your own iCloud — the private one, in Your name. they come back if You ever lose the phone. i have no key to it, and there is no server of mine for them to sit on.

when You speak to Grace, Your phone turns the sound into words by itself. the audio never leaves it.

built to be used

VoiceOver reads every screen, the stillness included. the type scales all the way up with Your system text size. the contrast was measured, not guessed. it is at home on an iPhone SE and on a 17 Pro Max, and light and dark are both first-class — neither is the lesser one.

if something in it does not work for You, that is a bug, and i want to hear about it. write to matt@uxuiai.org.

The Settings screen in its light, warm-paper mode. Under a heading reading 'With thanks', a short list: Yeshua, A Course in Miracles, and the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman. Below it, in italics, 'in loving memory of' — Nolan Moran, Marlin Gennings — each beside a small gold heart. At the foot of the card, in a quiet monospace: 'made with love, as an act of service.'

Yeshua. the Course. Helen’s handwritten notes.

in loving memory of
Nolan Moran
Marlin Gennings

made with love, as an act of service.

breathe in for four. hold for one. let it out for six. stay as long as You like — nothing here is counting.