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Chapter 1.
THE MEANING OF MIRACLES
I. Principles of Miracles
T-1.I.1. There is no order of difficulty in miracles. 2 One is not
"harder" or "bigger" than another. 3 They are all the same. 4 All
expressions of love are maximal.
T-1.I.2. Miracles as such do not matter. 2 The only thing that matters
is their Source, which is far beyond evaluation.
T-1.I.3. Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. 2 The real
miracle is the love that inspires them. 3 In this sense everything that
comes from love is a miracle.
T-1.I.4. All miracles mean life, and God is the Giver of life. 2 His
Voice will direct you very specifically. 3 You will be told all you need to
know.
T-1.I.5. Miracles are habits, and should be involuntary. 2 They should
not be under conscious control. 3 Consciously selected miracles can be
misguided.
T-1.I.6. Miracles are natural. 2 When they do not occur something
has gone wrong.
T-1.I.7. Miracles are everyone's right, but purification is necessary
first.
T-1.I.8. Miracles are healing because they supply a lack; they are
performed by those who temporarily have more for those who
temporarily have less.
T-1.I.9. Miracles are a kind of exchange. 2 Like all expressions of
love, which are always miraculous in the true sense, the exchange
reverses the physical laws. 3 They bring more love both to the giver
<and> the receiver.
T-1.I.10. The use of miracles as spectacles to induce belief is a
misunderstanding of their purpose.
T-1.I.11. Prayer is the medium of miracles. 2 It is a means of
communication of the created with the Creator. 3 Through prayer love
is received, and through miracles love is expressed.
T-1.I.12. Miracles are thoughts. 2 Thoughts can represent the lower or
bodily level of experience, or the higher or spiritual level of experience.
3 One makes the physical, and the other creates the spiritual.
T-1.I.13. Miracles are both beginnings and endings, and so they alter
the temporal order. 2 They are always affirmations of rebirth, which
seem to go back but really go forward. 3 They undo the past in the
present, and thus release the future.
T-1.I.14. Miracles bear witness to truth. 2 They are convincing
because they arise from conviction. 3 Without conviction they
deteriorate into magic, which is mindless and therefore destructive; or
rather, the uncreative use of mind.
T-1.I.15. Each day should be devoted to miracles. 2 The purpose of
time is to enable you to learn how to use time constructively. 3 It is
thus a teaching device and a means to an end. 4 Time will cease when
it is no longer useful in facilitating learning.
7 Atonement undoes all errors in this respect, and thus uproots the
source of fear. 8 Whenever you experience God's reassurances as
threat, it is always because you are defending misplaced or
misdirected loyalty. 9 When you project this to others you imprison
them, but only to the extent to which you reinforce errors they have
already made. 10 This makes them vulnerable to the distortions of
others, since their own perception of themselves is distorted. 11 The
miracle worker can only bless them, and this undoes their distortions
and frees them from prison.
T-1.III.6. You respond to what you perceive, and as you perceive so
shall you behave. 2 The Golden Rule asks you to do unto others as you
would have them do unto you. 3 This means that the perception of
both must be accurate. 4 The Golden Rule is the rule for appropriate
behavior. 5 You cannot behave appropriately unless you perceive
correctly. 6 Since you and your neighbor are equal members of one
family, as you perceive both so you will do to both. 7 You should look
out from the perception of your own holiness to the holiness of others.
T-1.III.7. Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them. 2 By being
united this mind goes out to everyone, even without the awareness of
the miracle worker himself. 3 The impersonal nature of miracles is
because the Atonement itself is one, uniting all creations with their
Creator. 4 As an expression of what you truly are, the miracle places
the mind in a state of grace. 5 The mind then naturally welcomes the
Host within and the stranger without. 6 When you bring in the stranger,
he becomes your brother.
T-1.III.8. That the miracle may have effects on your brothers that you
may not recognize is not your concern. 2 The miracle will always bless
<you>. 3 Miracles you are not asked to perform have not lost their
value. 4 They are still expressions of your own state of grace, but the
action aspect of the miracle should be controlled by me because of my
complete awareness of the whole plan. 5 The impersonal nature of
miracle-mindedness ensures your grace, but only I am in a position to
know where they can be bestowed.
T-1.III.9. Miracles are selective only in the sense that they are
directed towards those who can use them for themselves. 2 Since this
makes it inevitable that they will extend them to others, a strong chain
of Atonement is welded. 3 However, this selectivity takes no account of
the magnitude of the miracle itself, because the concept of size exists
on a plane that is itself unreal. 4 Since the miracle aims at restoring
the awareness of reality, it would not be useful if it were bound by laws
that govern the error it aims to correct.
6 But:
9 Believe this and you will be free. 10 Only God can establish this
solution, and this faith <is His gift.>
Chapter 2.
THE SEPARATION AND THE ATONEMENT
I. The Origins of Separation
T-2.I.1. To extend is a fundamental aspect of God which He gave to
His Son. 2 In the creation, God extended Himself to His creations and
imbued them with the same loving Will to create. 3 You have not only
been fully created, but have also been created perfect. 4 There is no
emptiness in you. 5 Because of your likeness to your Creator you are
creative. 6 No child of God can lose this ability because it is inherent in
what he is, but he can use it inappropriately by projecting. 7 The
inappropriate use of extension, or projection, occurs when you believe
that some emptiness or lack exists in you, and that you can fill it with
your own ideas instead of truth. 8 This process involves the following
steps:
9 First, you believe that what God created can be changed by your
own mind.
10 Second, you believe that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect
or lacking.
11 Third, you believe that you can distort the creations of God,
including yourself.
12 Fourth, you believe that you can create yourself, and that the
direction of your own creation is up to you.
T-2.I.2. These related distortions represent a picture of what actually
occurred in the separation, or the "detour into fear." 2 None of this
existed before the separation, nor does it actually exist now. 3
Everything God created is like Him. 4 Extension, as undertaken by God,
is similar to the inner radiance that the children of the Father inherit
from Him. 5 Its real source is internal. 6 This is as true of the Son as of
the Father. 7 In this sense the creation includes both the creation of the
Son by God, and the Son's creations when his mind is healed. 8 This
requires God's endowment of the Son with free will, because all loving
creation is freely given in one continuous line, in which all aspects are
of the same order.
T-2.I.3. The Garden of Eden, or the pre-separation condition, was a
state of mind in which nothing was needed. 2 When Adam listened to
the "lies of the serpent," all he heard was untruth. 3 You do not have to
continue to believe what is not true unless you choose to do so. 4 All
that can literally disappear in the twinkling of an eye because it is
merely a misperception. 5 What is seen in dreams seems to be very
real. 6 Yet the Bible says that a deep sleep fell upon Adam, and
nowhere is there reference to his waking up. 7 The world has not yet
experienced any comprehensive reawakening or rebirth. 8 Such a
rebirth is impossible as long as you continue to project or miscreate. 9
It still remains within you, however, to extend as God extended His
Spirit to you. 10 In reality this is your only choice, because your free
will was given you for your joy in creating the perfect.
T-2.I.4. All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception
that you have the ability to usurp the power of God. 2 Of course, you
neither can nor have been able to do this. 3 Here is the real basis for
your escape from fear. 4 The escape is brought about by your
acceptance of the Atonement, which enables you to realize that your
errors never really occurred. 5 Only after the deep sleep fell upon
Adam could he experience nightmares. 6 If a light is suddenly turned
on while someone is dreaming a fearful dream, he may initially
interpret the light itself as part of his dream and be afraid of it. 7
However, when he awakens, the light is correctly perceived as the
release from the dream, which is then no longer accorded reality. 8 This
release does not depend on illusions. 9 The knowledge that illuminates
not only sets you free, but also shows you clearly that you <are> free.
T-2.I.5. Whatever lies you may believe are of no concern to the
miracle, which can heal any of them with equal ease. 2 It makes no
distinctions among misperceptions. 3 Its sole concern is to distinguish
between truth on the one hand, and error on the other. 4 Some
miracles may seem to be of greater magnitude than others. 5 But
remember the first principle in this course; there is no order of
difficulty in miracles. 6 In reality you are perfectly unaffected by all
expressions of lack of love. 7 These can be from yourself and others,
from yourself to others, or from others to you. 8 Peace is an attribute
<in> you. 9 You cannot find it outside. 10 Illness is some form of
external searching. 11 Health is inner peace. 12 It enables you to
remain unshaken by lack of love from without and capable, through
your acceptance of miracles, of correcting the conditions proceeding
from lack of love in others. p18
Chapter 3.
THE INNOCENT PERCEPTION
I. Atonement without Sacrifice
T-3.I.1. A further point must be perfectly clear before any residual
fear still associated with miracles can disappear. 2 The crucifixion did
not establish the Atonement; the resurrection did. 3 Many sincere
Christians have misunderstood this. 4 No one who is free of the belief
in scarcity could possibly make this mistake. 5 If the crucifixion is seen
from an upside-down point of view, it does appear as if God permitted
and even encouraged one of His Sons to suffer because he was good. 6
This particularly unfortunate interpretation, which arose out of
projection, has led many people to be bitterly afraid of God. 7 Such
anti-religious concepts enter into many religions. 8 Yet the real
Christian should pause and ask, "How could this be?" 9 Is it likely that
God Himself would be capable of the kind of thinking which His Own
words have clearly stated is unworthy of His Son?
T-3.I.2. The best defense, as always, is not to attack another's
position, but rather to protect the truth. 2 It is unwise to accept any
concept if you have to invert a whole frame of reference in order to
justify it. 3 This procedure is painful in its minor applications and
genuinely tragic on a wider scale. 4 Persecution frequently results in an
attempt to "justify" the terrible misperception that God Himself
persecuted His Own Son on behalf of salvation. 5 The very words are
meaningless. 6 It has been particularly difficult to overcome this
because, although the error itself is no harder to correct than any
other, many have been unwilling to give it up in view of its prominent
value as a defense. 7 In milder forms a parent says, "This hurts me
more than it hurts you," and feels exonerated in beating a child. 8 Can
you believe our Father really thinks this way? 9 It is so essential that all
such thinking be dispelled that we must be sure that nothing of this
kind remains in your mind. 10 I was not "punished" because <you>
were bad. 11 The wholly benign lesson the Atonement teaches is lost if
it is tainted with this kind of distortion in any form.
T-3.I.3. The statement "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord" is a
misperception by which one assigns his own "evil" past to God. p36 2
The "evil" past has nothing to do with God. 3 He did not create it and
He does not maintain it. 4 God does not believe in retribution. 5 His
Mind does not create that way. 6 He does not hold your "evil" deeds
against you. 7 Is it likely that He would hold them against me? 8 Be
very sure that you recognize how utterly impossible this assumption is,
and how entirely it arises from projection. 9 This kind of error is
responsible for a host of related errors, including the belief that God
rejected Adam and forced him out of the Garden of Eden. 10 It is also
why you may believe from time to time that I am misdirecting you. 11 I
have made every effort to use words that are almost impossible to
distort, but it is always possible to twist symbols around if you wish.
T-3.I.4. Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. 2 It arises solely
from fear, and frightened people can be vicious. 3 Sacrificing in any
way is a violation of my injunction that you should be merciful even as
your Father in Heaven is merciful. 4 It has been hard for many
Christians to realize that this applies to themselves. 5 Good teachers
never terrorize their students. 6 To terrorize is to attack, and this
results in rejection of what the teacher offers. 7 The result is learning
failure.
T-3.I.5. I have been correctly referred to as "the lamb of God who
taketh away the sins of the world," but those who represent the lamb
as blood-stained do not understand the meaning of the symbol. 2
Correctly understood, it is a very simple symbol that speaks of my
innocence. 3 The lion and the lamb lying down together symbolize that
strength and innocence are not in conflict, but naturally live in peace. 4
"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" is another way of
saying the same thing. 5 A pure mind knows the truth and this is its
strength. 6 It does not confuse destruction with innocence because it
associates innocence with strength, not with weakness.
T-3.I.6. Innocence is incapable of sacrificing anything, because the
innocent mind has everything and strives only to protect its wholeness.
2 It cannot project. 3 It can only honor other minds, because honor is
the natural greeting of the truly loved to others who are like them. 4
The lamb "taketh away the sins of the world" in the sense that the
state of innocence, or grace, is one in which the meaning of the
Atonement is perfectly apparent. 5 The Atonement is entirely
unambiguous. 6 It is perfectly clear because it exists in light. 7 Only
the attempts to shroud it in darkness have made it inaccessible to
those who do not choose to see. p37
T-3.I.7. The Atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. 2 It
therefore epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. 3 It could
not do this if it arose from anything but perfect innocence. 4 Innocence
is wisdom because it is unaware of evil, and evil does not exist. 5 It is,
however, perfectly aware of everything that is true. 6 The resurrection
demonstrated that nothing can destroy truth. 7 Good can withstand
any form of evil, as light abolishes forms of darkness. 8 The Atonement
is therefore the perfect lesson. 9 It is the final demonstration that all
the other lessons I taught are true. 10 If you can accept this one
generalization now, there will be no need to learn from many smaller
lessons. 11 You are released from all errors if you believe this.
T-3.I.8. The innocence of God is the true state of the mind of His
Son. 2 In this state your mind knows God, for God is not symbolic; He is
Fact. 3 Knowing His Son as he is, you realize that the Atonement, not
sacrifice, is the only appropriate gift for God's altar, where nothing
except perfection belongs. 4 The understanding of the innocent is
truth. 5 That is why their altars are truly radiant.
V. Beyond Perception
T-3.V.1. I have said that the abilities you possess are only shadows of
your real strength, and that perception, which is inherently judgmental,
was introduced only after the separation. 2 No one has been sure of
anything since. 3 I have also made it clear that the resurrection was
the means for the return to knowledge, which was accomplished by the
union of my will with the Father's. 4 We can now establish a distinction
that will clarify some of our subsequent statements.
T-3.V.2. Since the separation, the words "create" and "make" have
become confused. 2 When you make something, you do so out of a
specific sense of lack or need. 3 Anything made for a specific purpose
has no true generalizability. 4 When you make something to fill a
perceived lack, you are tacitly implying that you believe in separation.
5 The ego has invented many ingenious thought systems for this
purpose. 6 None of them is creative. 7 Inventiveness is wasted effort
even in its most ingenious form. 8 The highly specific nature of
invention is not worthy of the abstract creativity of God's creations.
T-3.V.3. Knowing, as we have already observed, does not lead to
doing. 2 The confusion between your real creation and what you have
made of yourself is so profound that it has become literally impossible
for you to know anything. 3 Knowledge is always stable, and it is quite
evident that you are not. 4 Nevertheless, you are perfectly stable as
God created you. 5 In this sense, when your behavior is unstable, you
are disagreeing with God's idea of your creation. 6 You can do this if
you choose, but you would hardly want to do it if you were in your right
mind.
T-3.V.4. The fundamental question you continually ask yourself
cannot properly be directed to yourself at all. 2 You keep asking what it
is you are. 3 This implies that the answer is not only one you know, but
is also one that is up to you to supply. 4 Yet you cannot perceive
yourself correctly. p44 5 You have no image to be perceived. 6 The
word "image" is always perception-related, and not a part of
knowledge. 7 Images are symbolic and stand for something else. 8 The
idea of "changing your image" recognizes the power of perception, but
also implies that there is nothing stable to know.
T-3.V.5. Knowing is not open to interpretation. 2 You may try to
"interpret" meaning, but this is always open to error because it refers
to the <perception> of meaning. 3 Such incongruities are the result of
attempts to regard yourself as separated and unseparated at the same
time. 4 It is impossible to make so fundamental a confusion without
increasing your overall confusion still further. 5 Your mind may have
become very ingenious, but as always happens when method and
content are separated, it is utilized in a futile attempt to escape from
an inescapable impasse. 6 Ingenuity is totally divorced from
knowledge, because knowledge does not require ingenuity. 7 Ingenious
thinking is <not> the truth that shall set you free, but you are free of
the need to engage in it when you are willing to let it go.
T-3.V.6. Prayer is a way of asking for something. 2 It is the medium of
miracles. 3 But the only meaningful prayer is for forgiveness, because
those who have been forgiven have everything. 4 Once forgiveness has
been accepted, prayer in the usual sense becomes utterly
meaningless. 5 The prayer for forgiveness is nothing more than a
request that you may be able to recognize what you already have. 6 In
electing perception instead of knowledge, you placed yourself in a
position where you could resemble your Father only by perceiving
miraculously. 7 You have lost the knowledge that you yourself are a
miracle of God. 8 Creation is your Source and your only real function.
T-3.V.7. The statement "God created man in his own image and
likeness" needs reinterpretation. 2 "Image" can be understood as
"thought," and "likeness" as "of a like quality." 3 God did create spirit in
His Own Thought and of a quality like to His Own. 4 There <is> nothing
else. 5 Perception, on the other hand, is impossible without a belief in
"more" and "less." 6 At every level it involves selectivity. 7 Perception
is a continual process of accepting and rejecting, organizing and
reorganizing, shifting and changing. 8 Evaluation is an essential part of
perception, because judgments are necessary in order to select.
T-3.V.8. What happens to perceptions if there are no judgments and
nothing but perfect equality? 2 Perception becomes impossible p45. 3
Truth can only be known. 4 All of it is equally true, and knowing any
part of it is to know all of it. 5 Only perception involves partial
awareness. 6 Knowledge transcends the laws governing perception,
because partial knowledge is impossible. 7 It is all one and has no
separate parts. 8 You who are really one with it need but know yourself
and your knowledge is complete. 9 To know God's miracle is to know
Him.
T-3.V.9. Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation. 2
Correct perception of your brother is necessary, because minds have
chosen to see themselves as separate. 3 Spirit knows God completely.
4 That is its miraculous power. 5 The fact that each one has this power
completely is a condition entirely alien to the world's thinking. 6 The
world believes that if anyone has everything, there is nothing left. 7
But God's miracles are as total as His Thoughts because they <are>
His Thoughts.
T-3.V.10. As long as perception lasts prayer has a place. 2 Since
perception rests on lack, those who perceive have not totally accepted
the Atonement and given themselves over to truth. 3 Perception is
based on a separated state, so that anyone who perceives at all needs
healing. 4 Communion, not prayer, is the natural state of those who
know. 5 God and His miracle are inseparable. 6 How beautiful indeed
are the Thoughts of God who live in His light! 7 Your worth is beyond
perception because it is beyond doubt. 8 Do not perceive yourself in
different lights. 9 Know yourself in the One Light where the miracle
that is you is perfectly clear.
Chapter 4.
THE ILLUSIONS OF THE EGO
Introduction
T-4.in.1. The Bible says that you should go with a brother twice as far
as he asks. 2 It certainly does not suggest that you set him back on his
journey. 3 Devotion to a brother cannot set you back either. 4 It can
lead only to mutual progress. 5 The result of genuine devotion is
inspiration, a word which properly understood is the opposite of
fatigue. 6 To be fatigued is to be dis-spirited, but to be inspired is to be
in the spirit. 7 To be egocentric is to be dis-spirited, but to be Self-
centered in the right sense is to be inspired or in spirit. 8 The truly
inspired are enlightened and cannot abide in darkness.
T-4.in.2. You can speak from the spirit or from the ego, as you choose.
2 If you speak from spirit you have chosen to "Be still and know that I
am God." 3 These words are inspired because they reflect knowledge.
4 If you speak from the ego you are disclaiming knowledge instead of
affirming it, and are thus dis-spiriting yourself. 5 Do not embark on
useless journeys, because they are indeed in vain. 6 The ego may
desire them, but spirit cannot embark on them because it is forever
unwilling to depart from its Foundation.
T-4.in.3. The journey to the cross should be the last "useless journey."
2 Do not dwell upon it, but dismiss it as accomplished. 3 If you can
accept it as your own last useless journey, you are also free to join my
resurrection. 4 Until you do so your life is indeed wasted. 5 It merely re-
enacts the separation, the loss of power, the futile attempts of the ego
at reparation, and finally the crucifixion of the body, or death. 6 Such
repetitions are endless until they are voluntarily given up. 7 Do not
make the pathetic error of "clinging to the old rugged cross." 8 The
only message of the crucifixion is that you can overcome the cross. 9
Until then you are free to crucify yourself as often as you choose. 10
This is not the gospel I intended to offer you. 11 We have another
journey to undertake, and if you will read these lessons carefully they
will help prepare you to undertake it. p52
Chapter 5.
HEALING AND WHOLENESS
Introduction
T-5.in.1. To heal is to make happy. 2 I have told you to think how
many opportunities you have had to gladden yourself, and how many
you have refused. 3 This is the same as telling you that you have
refused to heal yourself. 4 The light that belongs to you is the light of
joy. 5 Radiance is not associated with sorrow. 6 Joy calls forth an
integrated willingness to share it, and promotes the mind's natural
impulse to respond as one. 7 Those who attempt to heal without being
wholly joyous themselves call forth different kinds of responses at the
same time, and thus deprive others of the joy of responding
wholeheartedly.
T-5.in.2. To be wholehearted you must be happy. 2 If fear and love
cannot coexist, and if it is impossible to be wholly fearful and remain
alive, the only possible whole state is that of love. 3 There is no
difference between love and joy. 4 Therefore, the only possible whole
state is the wholly joyous. 5 To heal or to make joyous is therefore the
same as to integrate and to make one. 6 That is why it makes no
difference to what part or by what part of the Sonship the healing is
offered. 7 Every part benefits, and benefits equally.
T-5.in.3. You are being blessed by every beneficent thought of any of
your brothers anywhere. 2 You should want to bless them in return, out
of gratitude. 3 You need not know them individually, or they you. 4 The
light is so strong that it radiates throughout the Sonship and returns
thanks to the Father for radiating His joy upon it. 5 Only God's holy
children are worthy channels of His beautiful joy, because only they are
beautiful enough to hold it by sharing it. 6 It is impossible for a child of
God to love his neighbor except as himself. 7 That is why the healer's
prayer is:
T-5.I.3. This is the invitation to the Holy Spirit. 2 I have said already
that I can reach up and bring the Holy Spirit down to you, but I can
bring Him to you only at your own invitation. 3 The Holy Spirit is in your
right mind, as He was in mine. 4 The Bible says, "May the mind be in
you that was also in Christ Jesus," and uses this as a blessing. 5 It is
the blessing of miracle-mindedness. 6 It asks that you may think as I
thought, joining with me in Christ thinking.
T-5.I.4. The Holy Spirit is the only part of the Holy Trinity that has a
symbolic function. 2 He is referred to as the Healer, the Comforter and
the Guide. 3 He is also described as something "separate," apart from
the Father and from the Son. p73 4 I myself said, "If I go I will send you
another Comforter and he will abide with you." 5 His symbolic function
makes the Holy Spirit difficult to understand, because symbolism is
open to different interpretations. 6 As a man and also one of God's
creations, my right thinking, which came from the Holy Spirit or the
Universal Inspiration, taught me first and foremost that this Inspiration
is for all. 7 I could not have It myself without knowing this. 8 The word
"know" is proper in this context, because the Holy Spirit is so close to
knowledge that He calls it forth; or better, allows it to come. 9 I have
spoken before of the higher or "true" perception, which is so near to
truth that God Himself can flow across the little gap. 10 Knowledge is
always ready to flow everywhere, but it cannot oppose. 11 Therefore
you can obstruct it, although you can never lose it.
T-5.I.5. The Holy Spirit is the Christ Mind which is aware of the
knowledge that lies beyond perception. 2 He came into being with the
separation as a protection, inspiring the Atonement principle at the
same time. 3 Before that there was no need for healing, for no one was
comfortless. 4 The Voice of the Holy Spirit is the Call to Atonement, or
the restoration of the integrity of the mind. 5 When the Atonement is
complete and the whole Sonship is healed there will be no Call to
return. 6 But what God creates is eternal. 7 The Holy Spirit will remain
with the Sons of God, to bless their creations and keep them in the
light of joy.
T-5.I.6. God honored even the miscreations of His children because
they had made them. 2 But He also blessed His children with a way of
thinking that could raise their perceptions so high they could reach
almost back to Him. 3 The Holy Spirit is the Mind of the Atonement. 4
He represents a state of mind close enough to One-mindedness that
transfer to it is at last possible. 5 Perception is not knowledge, but it
can be transferred to knowledge, or cross over into it. 6 It might even
be more helpful here to use the literal meaning of transferred or
"carried over," since the last step is taken by God.
T-5.I.7. The Holy Spirit, the shared Inspiration of all the Sonship,
induces a kind of perception in which many elements are like those in
the Kingdom of Heaven itself:
2 First, its universality is perfectly clear, and no one who attains it
could believe for one instant that sharing it involves anything but gain.
3 Second, it is incapable of attack and is therefore truly open. p74
4 This means that although it does not engender knowledge, it does
not obstruct it in any way.
5 Finally, it points the way beyond the healing that it brings, and
leads the mind beyond its own integration toward the paths of
creation. 6 It is at this point that sufficient quantitative change occurs
to produce a real qualitative shift.
T-6.I.14. If you interpret the crucifixion in any other way, you are
using it as a weapon for assault rather than as the call for peace for
which it was intended. 2 The Apostles often misunderstood it, and for
the same reason that anyone misunderstands it. 3 Their own imperfect
love made them vulnerable to projection, and out of their own fear
they spoke of the "wrath of God" as His retaliatory weapon. 4 Nor could
they speak of the crucifixion entirely without anger, because their
sense of guilt had made them angry. p94
T-6.I.15. These are some of the examples of upside-down thinking in
the New Testament, although its gospel is really only the message of
love. 2 If the Apostles had not felt guilty, they never could have quoted
me as saying, "I come not to bring peace but a sword." 3 This is clearly
the opposite of everything I taught. 4 Nor could they have described
my reactions to Judas as they did, if they had really understood me. 5 I
could not have said, "Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?"
unless I believed in betrayal. 6 The whole message of the crucifixion
was simply that I did not. 7 The "punishment" I was said to have called
forth upon Judas was a similar mistake. 8 Judas was my brother and a
Son of God, as much a part of the Sonship as myself. 9 Was it likely
that I would condemn him when I was ready to demonstrate that
condemnation is impossible?
T-6.I.16. As you read the teachings of the Apostles, remember that I
told them myself that there was much they would understand later,
because they were not wholly ready to follow me at the time. 2 I do not
want you to allow any fear to enter into the thought system toward
which I am guiding you. 3 I do not call for martyrs but for teachers. 4
No one is punished for sins, and the Sons of God are not sinners. 5 Any
concept of punishment involves the projection of blame, and reinforces
the idea that blame is justified. 6 The result is a lesson in blame, for all
behavior teaches the beliefs that motivate it. 7 The crucifixion was the
result of clearly opposed thought systems; the perfect symbol of the
"conflict" between the ego and the Son of God. 8 This conflict seems
just as real now, and its lessons must be learned now as well as then.
T-6.I.17. I do not need gratitude, but you need to develop your
weakened ability to be grateful, or you cannot appreciate God. 2 He
does not need your appreciation, but <you> do. 3 You cannot love
what you do not appreciate, for fear makes appreciation impossible. 4
When you are afraid of what you are you do not appreciate it, and will
therefore reject it. 5 As a result, you will teach rejection.
T-6.I.18. The power of the Sons of God is present all the time,
because they were created as creators. 2 Their influence on each other
is without limit, and must be used for their joint salvation. 3 Each one
must learn to teach that all forms of rejection are meaningless. 4 The
separation is the notion of rejection. 5 As long as you teach this you
will believe it. 6 This is not as God thinks, and you must think as He
thinks if you are to know Him again. p95
T-6.I.19. Remember that the Holy Spirit is the Communication Link
between God the Father and His separated Sons. 2 If you will listen to
His Voice you will know that you cannot either hurt or be hurt, and that
many need your blessing to help them hear this for themselves. 3
When you perceive only this need in them, and do not respond to any
other, you will have learned of me and will be as eager to share your
learning as I am.
T-6.V.A.6. This is a very preliminary step, and the only one you must
take for yourself. 2 It is not even necessary that you complete the step
yourself, but it is necessary that you turn in that direction. 3 Having
chosen to go that way, you place yourself in charge of the journey,
where you and only you must remain. 4 This step may appear to
exacerbate conflict rather than resolve it, because it is the beginning
step in reversing your perception and turning it right-side up. 5 This
conflicts with the upside-down perception you have not yet abandoned,
or the change in direction would not have been necessary. 6 Some
remain at this step for a long time, experiencing very acute conflict. 7
At this point they may try to accept the conflict, rather than take the
next step towards its resolution. 8 Having taken the first step, however,
they will be helped. 9 Once they have chosen what they cannot
complete alone, they are no longer alone.
Chapter 7.
THE GIFTS OF THE KINGDOM
I. The Last Step
T-7.I.1. The creative power of God and His creations is limitless, but
they are not in reciprocal relationship. 2 You communicate fully with
God, as He does with you. 3 This is an ongoing process in which you
share, and because you share it, you are inspired to create like God. 4
Yet in creation you are not in a reciprocal relation to God, since He
created you but you did not create Him. 5 I have already told you that
only in this respect your creative power differs from His. 6 Even in this
world there is a parallel. 7 Parents give birth to children, but children
do not give birth to parents. 8 They do, however, give birth to their
children, and thus give birth as their parents do.
T-7.I.2. If you created God and He created you, the Kingdom could
not increase through its own creative thought. 2 Creation would
therefore be limited, and you would not be co-creator with God. 3 As
God's creative Thought proceeds from Him to you, so must your
creative thought proceed from you to your creations. 4 Only in this way
can all creative power extend outward. 5 God's accomplishments are
not yours, but yours are like His. 6 He created the Sonship and you
increase it. 7 You have the power to add to the Kingdom, though not to
add to the Creator of the Kingdom. 8 You claim this power when you
become vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. 9 By accepting this
power as yours you have learned to remember what you are.
T-7.I.3. Your creations belong in you, as you belong in God. 2 You are
part of God, as your sons are part of His Sons. 3 To create is to love. 4
Love extends outward simply because it cannot be contained. 5 Being
limitless it does not stop. 6 It creates forever, but not in time. 7 God's
creations have always been, because He has always been. 8 Your
creations have always been, because you can create only as God
creates. 9 Eternity is yours, because He created you eternal.
T-7.I.4. The ego, on the other hand, always demands reciprocal
rights, because it is competitive rather than loving. 2 It is always
willing to strike a bargain, but it cannot understand that to be like
another means that no bargains are possible. p112 3 To gain you must
give, not bargain. 4 To bargain is to limit giving, and this is not God's
Will. 5 To will with God is to create like Him. 6 God does not limit His
gifts in any way. 7 You <are> His gifts, and so your gifts must be like
His. 8 Your gifts to the Kingdom must be like His gifts to you.
T-7.I.5. I gave only love to the Kingdom because I believed that was
what I was. 2 What you believe you are determines your gifts, and if
God created you by extending Himself as you, you can only extend
yourself as He did. 3 Only joy increases forever, since joy and eternity
are inseparable. 4 God extends outward beyond limits and beyond
time, and you who are co-creator with Him extend His Kingdom forever
and beyond limit. 5 Eternity is the indelible stamp of creation. 6 The
eternal are in peace and joy forever.
T-7.I.6. To think like God is to share His certainty of what you are,
and to create like Him is to share the perfect Love He shares with you.
2 To this the Holy Spirit leads you, that your joy may be complete
because the Kingdom of God is whole. 3 I have said that the last step
in the reawakening of knowledge is taken by God. 4 This is true, but it
is hard to explain in words because words are symbols, and nothing
that is true need be explained. 5 However, the Holy Spirit has the task
of translating the useless into the useful, the meaningless into the
meaningful, and the temporary into the timeless. 6 He can therefore
tell you something about this last step.
T-7.I.7. God does not take steps, because His accomplishments are
not gradual. 2 He does not teach, because His creations are
changeless. 3 He does nothing last, because He created first and for
always. 4 It must be understood that the word "first" as applied to Him
is not a time concept. 5 He is first in the sense that He is the First in
the Holy Trinity Itself. 6 He is the Prime Creator, because He created
His co-creators. 7 Because He did, time applies neither to Him nor to
what He created. 8 The "last step" that God will take was therefore true
in the beginning, is true now, and will be true forever. 9 What is
timeless is always there, because its being is eternally changeless. 10
It does not change by increase, because it was forever created to
increase. 11 If you perceive it as not increasing you do not know what
it is. 12 You also do not know Who created it. 13 God does not reveal
this to you because it was never hidden. 14 His light was never
obscured, because it is His Will to share it. p113 15 How can what is
fully shared be withheld and then revealed?
Chapter 8.
THE JOURNEY BACK
I. The Direction of the Curriculum
T-8.I.1. Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. 2
Peace is. 3 This is the prerequisite for knowledge only because those
who are in conflict are not peaceful, and peace is the condition of
knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom. 4 Knowledge
can be restored only when you meet its conditions. 5 This is not a
bargain made by God, Who makes no bargains. 6 It is merely the result
of your misuse of His laws on behalf of an imaginary will that is not His.
7 Knowledge <is> His Will. 8 If you are opposing His Will, how can you
have knowledge? 9 I have told you what knowledge offers you, but
perhaps you do not yet regard this as wholly desirable. 10 If you did
you would not be so ready to throw it away when the ego asks for your
allegiance.
T-8.I.2. The distractions of the ego may seem to interfere with your
learning, but the ego has no power to distract you unless you give it
the power to do so. 2 The ego's voice is an hallucination. 3 You cannot
expect it to say "I am not real." 4 Yet you are not asked to dispel your
hallucinations alone. 5 You are merely asked to evaluate them in terms
of their results to you. 6 If you do not want them on the basis of loss of
peace, they will be removed from your mind for you.
T-8.I.3. Every response to the ego is a call to war, and war does
deprive you of peace. 2 Yet in this war there is no opponent. 3 This is
the reinterpretation of reality that you must make to secure peace, and
the only one you need ever make. 4 Those whom you perceive as
opponents are part of your peace, which you are giving up by attacking
them. 5 How can you have what you give up? 6 You share to have, but
you do not give it up yourself. 7 When you give up peace, you are
excluding yourself from it. 8 This is a condition so alien to the Kingdom
that you cannot understand the state that prevails within it.
T-8.I.4. Your past learning must have taught you the wrong things,
simply because it has not made you happy. 2 On this basis alone its
value should be questioned. 3 If learning aims at change, and that is
always its purpose, are you satisfied with the changes your learning
has brought you? p138 4 Dissatisfaction with learning outcomes is a
sign of learning failure, since it means that you did not get what you
wanted.
T-8.I.5. The curriculum of the Atonement is the opposite of the
curriculum you have established for yourself, but so is its outcome. 2 If
the outcome of yours has made you unhappy, and if you want a
different one, a change in the curriculum is obviously necessary. 3 The
first change to be introduced is a change in direction. 4 A meaningful
curriculum cannot be inconsistent. 5 If it is planned by two teachers,
each believing in diametrically opposed ideas, it cannot be integrated.
6 If it is carried out by these two teachers simultaneously, each one
merely interferes with the other. 7 This leads to fluctuation, but not to
change. 8 The volatile have no direction. 9 They cannot choose one
because they cannot relinquish the other, even if it does not exist. 10
Their conflicted curriculum teaches them that <all> directions exist,
and gives them no rationale for choice.
T-8.I.6. The total senselessness of such a curriculum must be fully
recognized before a real change in direction becomes possible. 2 You
cannot learn simultaneously from two teachers who are in total
disagreement about everything. 3 Their joint curriculum presents an
impossible learning task. 4 They are teaching you entirely different
things in entirely different ways, which might be possible except that
both are teaching you about yourself. 5 Your reality is unaffected by
both, but if you listen to both, your mind will be split about what your
reality is.
Chapter 9.
THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ATONEMENT
I. The Acceptance of Reality
T-9.I.1. Fear of the Will of God is one of the strangest beliefs the
human mind has ever made. 2 It could not possibly have occurred
unless the mind were already profoundly split, making it possible for it
to be afraid of what it really is. 3 Reality cannot "threaten" anything
except illusions, since reality can only uphold truth. 4 The very fact
that the Will of God, which is what you are, is perceived as fearful,
demonstrates that you <are> afraid of what you are. 5 It is not, then,
the Will of God of which you are afraid, but yours.
T-9.I.2. Your will is not the ego's, and that is why the ego is against
you. 2 What seems to be the fear of God is really the fear of your own
reality. 3 It is impossible to learn anything consistently in a state of
panic. 4 If the purpose of this course is to help you remember what you
are, and if you believe that what you are is fearful, then it must follow
that you will not learn this course. 5 Yet the reason for the course is
that you do not know what you are.
T-9.I.3. If you do not know what your reality is, why would you be so
sure that it is fearful? 2 The association of truth and fear, which would
be highly artificial at most, is particularly inappropriate in the minds of
those who do not know what truth is. 3 All this could mean is that you
are arbitrarily associating something beyond your awareness with
something you do not want. 4 It is evident, then, that you are judging
something of which you are totally unaware. 5 You have set up this
strange situation so that it is impossible to escape from it without a
Guide Who <does> know what your reality is. 6 The purpose of this
Guide is merely to remind you of what you want. 7 He is not
attempting to force an alien will upon you. 8 He is merely making every
possible effort, within the limits you impose on Him, to re-establish
your own will in your awareness.
T-9.I.4. You have imprisoned your will beyond your own awareness,
where it remains, but cannot help you. 2 When I said that the Holy
Spirit's function is to sort out the true from the false in your mind, I
meant that He has the power to look into what you have hidden and
recognize the Will of God there. p160 3 His recognition of this Will can
make it real to you because He is in your mind, and therefore He is
your reality. 4 If, then, His perception of your mind brings its reality to
you, He <is> helping you to remember what you are. 5 The only
source of fear in this process is what you think you will lose. 6 Yet it is
only what the Holy Spirit sees that you can possibly have.
T-9.I.5. I have emphasized many times that the Holy Spirit will never
call upon you to sacrifice anything. 2 But if you ask the sacrifice of
reality of yourself, the Holy Spirit must remind you that this is not
God's Will because it is not yours. 3 There is no difference between
your will and God's. 4 If you did not have a split mind, you would
recognize that willing is salvation because it is communication.
T-9.I.6. It is impossible to communicate in alien tongues. 2 You and
your Creator can communicate through creation, because that, and
only that is Your joint Will. 3 A divided mind cannot communicate,
because it speaks for different things to the same mind. 4 This loses
the ability to communicate simply because confused communication
does not mean anything. 5 A message cannot be communicated unless
it makes sense. 6 How sensible can your messages be, when you ask
for what you do not want? 7 Yet as long as you are afraid of your will,
that is precisely what you are asking for.
T-9.I.7. You may insist that the Holy Spirit does not answer you, but
it might be wiser to consider the kind of questioner you are. 2 You do
not ask only for what you want. 3 This is because you are afraid you
might receive it, and you would. 4 That is why you persist in asking the
teacher who could not possibly give you what you want. 5 Of him you
can never learn what it is, and this gives you the illusion of safety. 6 Yet
you cannot be safe <from> truth, but only <in> truth. 7 Reality is the
only safety. 8 Your will is your salvation because it is the same as
God's. 9 The separation is nothing more than the belief that it is
different.
T-9.I.8. No right mind can believe that its will is stronger than God's.
2 If, then, a mind believes that its will is different from His, it can only
decide either that there is no God or that God's Will is fearful. 3 The
former accounts for the atheist and the latter for the martyr, who
believes that God demands sacrifices. 4 Either of these insane
decisions will induce panic, because the atheist believes he is alone,
and the martyr believes that God is crucifying him. 5 Yet no one really
wants either abandonment or retaliation, even though many may seek
both. p161 6 Can you ask the Holy Spirit for "gifts" such as these, and
actually expect to receive them? 7 He cannot give you something you
do not want. 8 When you ask the Universal Giver for what you do not
want, you are asking for what cannot be given because it was never
created. 9 It was never created, because it was never your will for
<you.>
T-9.I.9. Ultimately everyone must remember the Will of God,
because ultimately everyone must recognize himself. 2 This
recognition is the recognition that his will and God's are one. 3 In the
presence of truth, there are no unbelievers and no sacrifices. 4 In the
security of reality, fear is totally meaningless. 5 To deny what is can
only <seem> to be fearful. 6 Fear cannot be real without a cause, and
God is the only Cause. 7 God is Love and you do want Him. 8 This <is>
your will. 9 Ask for this and you will be answered, because you will be
asking only for what belongs to you.
T-9.I.10. When you ask the Holy Spirit for what would hurt you He
cannot answer because nothing can hurt you, and so you are asking for
nothing. 2 Any wish that stems from the ego is a wish for nothing, and
to ask for it is not a request. 3 It is merely a denial in the form of a
request. 4 The Holy Spirit is not concerned with form, being aware only
of meaning. 5 The ego cannot ask the Holy Spirit for anything, because
there is complete communication failure between them. 6 Yet <you>
can ask for everything of the Holy Spirit, because your requests to Him
are real, being of your right mind. 7 Would the Holy Spirit deny the Will
of God? 8 And could He fail to recognize it in His Son?
T-9.I.11. You do not recognize the enormous waste of energy you
expend in denying truth. 2 What would you say of someone who
persists in attempting the impossible, believing that to achieve it is to
succeed? 3 The belief that you must have the impossible in order to be
happy is totally at variance with the principle of creation. 4 God could
not will that happiness depended on what you could never have. 5 The
fact that God is Love does not require belief, but it does require
acceptance. 6 It is indeed possible for you to deny facts, although it is
impossible for you to change them. 7 If you hold your hands over your
eyes, you will not see because you are interfering with the laws of
seeing. 8 If you deny love, you will not know it because your
cooperation is the law of its being. 9 You cannot change laws you did
not make, and the laws of happiness were created for you, not by you.
p162
T-9.I.12. Any attempt to deny what <is> must be fearful, and if the
attempt is strong it will induce panic. 2 Willing against reality, though
impossible, can be made into a very persistent goal even though you
do not want it. 3 But consider the result of this strange decision. 4 You
are devoting your mind to what you do not want. 5 How real can this
devotion be? 6 If you do not want it, it was never created. 7 If it were
never created, it is nothing. 8 Can you really devote yourself to
nothing?
T-9.I.13. God in His devotion to you created you devoted to
everything, and gave you what you are devoted <to.> 2 Otherwise you
would not have been created perfect. 3 Reality is everything, and you
have everything because you are real. 4 You cannot make the unreal
because the absence of reality is fearful, and fear cannot be created. 5
As long as you believe that fear is possible, you will not create. 6
Opposing orders of reality make reality meaningless, and reality <is>
meaning.
T-9.I.14. Remember, then, that God's Will is already possible, and
nothing else will ever be. 2 This is the simple acceptance of reality,
because only that is real. 3 You cannot distort reality and know what it
is. 4 And if you do distort reality you will experience anxiety,
depression and ultimately panic, because you are trying to make
yourself unreal. 5 When you feel these things, do not try to look
beyond yourself for truth, for truth can only be within you. 6 Say,
therefore:
7 Christ is in me, and where He is God must be, for Christ is part of
Him.
6 Because I will to know myself, I see you as God's Son and my brother.
6 By their fruits ye shall know them, and they shall know themselves.
3 Remember this when the ego speaks, and you will not hear it. 4 The
truth about you is so lofty that nothing unworthy of God is worthy of
you. 5 Choose, then, what you want in these terms, and accept nothing
that you would not offer to God as wholly fitting for Him. 6 You do not
want anything else. 7 Return your part to Him, and He will give you all
of Himself in exchange for the return of what belongs to Him and
renders Him complete.
Chapter 10.
THE IDOLS OF SICKNESS
Introduction
T-10.in.1. Nothing beyond yourself can make you fearful or loving,
because nothing <is> beyond you. 2 Time and eternity are both in
your mind, and will conflict until you perceive time solely as a means to
regain eternity. 3 You cannot do this as long as you believe that
anything happening to you is caused by factors outside yourself. 4 You
must learn that time is solely at your disposal, and that nothing in the
world can take this responsibility from you. 5 You can violate God's
laws in your imagination, but you cannot escape from them. 6 They
were established for your protection and are as inviolate as your safety.
T-10.in.2. God created nothing beside you and nothing beside you
exists, for you are part of Him. 2 What except Him can exist? 3 Nothing
beyond Him can happen, because nothing except Him is real. 4 Your
creations add to Him as you do, but nothing is added that is different
because everything has always been. 5 What can upset you except the
ephemeral, and how can the ephemeral be real if you are God's only
creation and He created you eternal? 6 Your holy mind establishes
everything that happens to you. 7 Every response you make to
everything you perceive is up to you, because your mind determines
your perception of it.
T-10.in.3. God does not change His Mind about you, for He is not
uncertain of Himself. 2 And what He knows can be known, because He
does not know it only for Himself. 3 He created you for Himself, but He
gave you the power to create for yourself so you would be like Him. 4
That is why your mind is holy. 5 Can anything exceed the Love of God?
6 Can anything, then, exceed your will? 7 Nothing can reach you from
beyond it because, being in God, you encompass everything. 8 Believe
this, and you will realize how much is up to you. 9 When anything
threatens your peace of mind, ask yourself, "Has God changed His
Mind about me?" 10 Then accept His decision, for it is indeed
changeless, and refuse to change your mind about yourself. 11 God will
never decide against you, or He would be deciding against Himself.
p181
I. At Home in God
T-10.I.1. You do not know your creations simply because you would
decide against them as long as your mind is split, and to attack what
you have created is impossible. 2 But remember that <it is as
impossible for God.> 3 The law of creation is that you love your
creations as yourself, because they are part of you. 4 Everything that
was created is therefore perfectly safe, because the laws of God
protect it by His Love. 5 Any part of your mind that does not know this
has banished itself from knowledge, because it has not met its
conditions. 6 Who could have done this but you? 7 Recognize this
gladly, for in this recognition lies the realization that your banishment
is not of God, and therefore does not exist.
T-10.I.2. You are at home in God, dreaming of exile but perfectly
capable of awakening to reality. 2 Is it your decision to do so? 3 You
recognize from your own experience that what you see in dreams you
think is real while you are asleep. 4 Yet the instant you waken you
realize that everything that seemed to happen in the dream did not
happen at all. 5 You do not think this strange, even though all the laws
of what you awaken to were violated while you slept. 6 Is it not
possible that you merely shifted from one dream to another, without
really waking?
T-10.I.3. Would you bother to reconcile what happened in conflicting
dreams, or would you dismiss both together if you discovered that
reality is in accord with neither? 2 You do not remember being awake. 3
When you hear the Holy Spirit you may feel better because loving then
seems possible to you, but you do not remember yet that it once was
so. 4 And it is in this remembering that you will know it can be so
again. 5 What is possible has not yet been accomplished. 6 Yet what
has once been is so now, if it is eternal. 7 When you remember, you
will know that what you remember is eternal, and therefore is now.
T-10.I.4. You will remember everything the instant you desire it
wholly, for if to desire wholly is to create, you will have willed away the
separation, returning your mind simultaneously to your Creator and
your creations. 2 Knowing Them you will have no wish to sleep, but
only the desire to waken and be glad. 3 Dreams will be impossible
because you will want only truth, and being at last your will, it will be
yours. p182
7 Decide for the answer and you will have it, for you will see it as it is,
and it is yours already.
T-11.VIII.5. You may complain that this course is not sufficiently
specific for you to understand and use. 2 Yet perhaps you have not
done what it specifically advocates. 3 This is not a course in the play of
ideas, but in their practical application. 4 Nothing could be more
specific than to be told that if you ask you will receive. 5 The Holy
Spirit will answer every specific problem as long as you believe that
problems are specific. 6 His answer is both many and one, as long as
you believe that the one is many. 7 You may be afraid of His specificity,
for fear of what you think it will demand of you. 8 Yet only by asking
will you learn that nothing of God demands anything of you. 9 God
gives; He does not take. 10 When you refuse to ask, it is because you
believe that asking is taking rather than sharing.
T-11.VIII.6. The Holy Spirit will give you only what is yours, and will
take nothing in return. 2 For what is yours is everything, and you share
it with God. 3 That is its reality. 4 Would the Holy Spirit, Who wills only
to restore, be capable of misinterpreting the question you must ask to
learn His answer? 5 You <have> heard the answer, but you have
misunderstood the question. 6 You believe that to ask for guidance of
the Holy Spirit is to ask for deprivation.
T-11.VIII.7. Little child of God, you do not understand your Father. 2
You believe in a world that takes, because you believe that you can get
by taking. 3 And by that perception you have lost sight of the real
world. 4 You are afraid of the world as you see it, but the real world is
still yours for the asking. 5 Do not deny it to yourself, for it can only
free you. 6 Nothing of God will enslave His Son whom He created free
and whose freedom is protected by His Being. 7 Blessed are you who
are willing to ask the truth of God without fear, for only thus can you
learn that His answer is the release from fear.
T-11.VIII.8. Beautiful child of God, you are asking only for what I
promised you. 2 Do you believe I would deceive you? 3 The Kingdom of
Heaven <is> within you. p212 4 Believe that the truth is in me, for I
know that it is in you. 5 God's Sons have nothing they do not share. 6
Ask for truth of any Son of God, and you have asked it of me. 7 Not one
of us but has the answer in him, to give to anyone who asks it of him.
T-11.VIII.9. Ask anything of God's Son and his Father will answer
you, for Christ is not deceived in His Father and His Father is not
deceived in Him. 2 Do not, then, be deceived in your brother, and see
only his loving thoughts as his reality, for by denying that his mind is
split you will heal yours. 3 Accept him as his Father accepts him and
heal him unto Christ, for Christ is his healing and yours. 4 Christ is the
Son of God Who is in no way separate from His Father, Whose every
thought is as loving as the Thought of His Father by which He was
created. 5 Be not deceived in God's Son, for thereby you must be
deceived in yourself. 6 And being deceived in yourself you are
deceived in your Father, in Whom no deceit is possible.
T-11.VIII.10. In the real world there is no sickness, for there is no
separation and no division. 2 Only loving thoughts are recognized, and
because no one is without your help, the Help of God goes with you
everywhere. 3 As you become willing to accept this Help by asking for
It, you will give It because you want It. 4 Nothing will be beyond your
healing power, because nothing will be denied your simple request. 5
What problems will not disappear in the Presence of God's Answer? 6
Ask, then, to learn of the reality of your brother, because this is what
you will perceive in him, and you will see your beauty reflected in his.
T-11.VIII.11. Do not accept your brother's variable perception of
himself for his split mind is yours, and you will not accept your healing
without his. 2 For you share the real world as you share Heaven, and
his healing is yours. 3 To love yourself is to heal yourself, and you
cannot perceive part of you as sick and achieve your goal. 4 Brother,
we heal together as we live together and love together. 5 Be not
deceived in God's Son, for he is one with himself and one with his
Father. 6 Love him who is beloved of his Father, and you will learn of
the Father's Love for you.
T-11.VIII.12. If you perceive offense in a brother pluck the offense
from your mind, for you are offended by Christ and are deceived in
Him. 2 Heal in Christ and be not offended by Him, for there is no
offense in Him. 3 If what you perceive offends you, you are offended in
yourself and are condemning God's Son whom God condemneth not.
p213 4 Let the Holy Spirit remove all offenses of God's Son against
himself and perceive no one but through His guidance, for He would
save you from all condemnation. 5 Accept His healing power and use it
for all He sends you, for He wills to heal the Son of God, in whom He is
not deceived.
T-11.VIII.13. Children perceive frightening ghosts and monsters and
dragons, and they are terrified. 2 Yet if they ask someone they trust for
the meaning of what they perceive, and are willing to let their own
interpretations go in favor of reality, their fear goes with them. 3 When
a child is helped to translate his "ghost" into a curtain, his "monster"
into a shadow, and his "dragon" into a dream he is no longer afraid,
and laughs happily at his own fear.
T-11.VIII.14. You, my child, are afraid of your brothers and of your
Father and of yourself. 2 But you are merely deceived in them. 3 Ask
what they are of the Teacher of reality, and hearing His answer, you too
will laugh at your fears and replace them with peace. 4 For fear lies not
in reality, but in the minds of children who do not understand reality. 5
It is only their lack of understanding that frightens them, and when
they learn to perceive truly they are not afraid. 6 And because of this
they will ask for truth again when they are frightened. 7 It is not the
reality of your brothers or your Father or yourself that frightens you. 8
You do not know what they are, and so you perceive them as ghosts
and monsters and dragons. 9 Ask what their reality is from the One
Who knows it, and He will tell you what they are. 10 For you do not
understand them, and because you are deceived by what you see you
need reality to dispel your fears.
T-11.VIII.15. Would you not exchange your fears for truth, if the
exchange is yours for the asking? 2 For if God is not deceived in you,
you can be deceived only in yourself. 3 Yet you can learn the truth
about yourself from the Holy Spirit, Who will teach you that, as part of
God, deceit in you is impossible. 4 When you perceive yourself without
deceit, you will accept the real world in place of the false one you have
made. 5 And then your Father will lean down to you and take the last
step for you, by raising you unto Himself. p214
Chapter 12.
THE HOLY SPIRIT'S CURRICULUM
I. The Judgment of the Holy Spirit
T-12.I.1. You have been told not to make error real, and the way to do
this is very simple. 2 If you want to believe in error, you would have to
make it real because it is not true. 3 But truth is real in its own right,
and to believe in truth <you do not have to do anything>. 4
Understand that you do not respond to anything directly, but to your
interpretation of it. 5 Your interpretation thus becomes the justification
for the response. 6 That is why analyzing the motives of others is
hazardous to you. 7 If you decide that someone is really trying to
attack you or desert you or enslave you, you will respond as if he had
actually done so, having made his error real to you. 8 To interpret error
is to give it power, and having done this you will overlook truth.
T-12.I.2. The analysis of ego motivation is very complicated, very
obscuring, and never without your own ego involvement. 2 The whole
process represents a clear-cut attempt to demonstrate your own ability
to understand what you perceive. 3 This is shown by the fact that you
react to your interpretations as if they were correct. 4 You may then
control your reactions behaviorally, but not emotionally. 5 This would
obviously be a split or an attack on the integrity of your mind, pitting
one level within it against another.
T-12.I.3. There is but one interpretation of motivation that makes any
sense. 2 And because it is the Holy Spirit's judgment it requires no
effort at all on your part. 3 Every loving thought is true. 4 Everything
else is an appeal for healing and help, regardless of the form it takes. 5
Can anyone be justified in responding with anger to a brother's plea for
help? 6 No response can be appropriate except the willingness to give
it to him, for this and only this is what he is asking for. 7 Offer him
anything else, and you are assuming the right to attack his reality by
interpreting it as you see fit. 8 Perhaps the danger of this to your own
mind is not yet fully apparent. 9 If you believe that an appeal for help
is something else you will react to something else. 10 Your response
will therefore be inappropriate to reality as it is, but not to your
perception of it.
T-12.I.4. There is nothing to prevent you from recognizing all calls for
help as exactly what they are except your own imagined need to
attack. p215 2 It is only this that makes you willing to engage in
endless "battles" with reality, in which you deny the reality of the need
for healing by making it unreal. 3 You would not do this except for your
unwillingness to accept reality as it is, and which you therefore
withhold from yourself.
T-12.I.5. It is surely good advice to tell you not to judge what you do
not understand. 2 No one with a personal investment is a reliable
witness, for truth to him has become what he wants it to be. 3 If you
are unwilling to perceive an appeal for help as what it is, it is because
you are unwilling to give help and to receive it. 4 To fail to recognize a
call for help is to refuse help. 5 Would you maintain that you do not
need it? 6 Yet this is what you are maintaining when you refuse to
recognize a brother's appeal, for only by answering his appeal <can>
you be helped. 7 Deny him your help and you will not recognize God's
Answer to you. 8 The Holy Spirit does not need your help in
interpreting motivation, but you do need His.
T-12.I.6. Only appreciation is an appropriate response to your brother.
2 Gratitude is due him for both his loving thoughts and his appeals for
help, for both are capable of bringing love into your awareness if you
perceive them truly. 3 And all your sense of strain comes from your
attempts not to do just this. 4 How simple, then, is God's plan for
salvation. 5 There is but one response to reality, for reality evokes no
conflict at all. 6 There is but one Teacher of reality, Who understands
what it is. 7 He does not change His Mind about reality because reality
does not change. 8 Although your interpretations of reality are
meaningless in your divided state, His remain consistently true. 9 He
gives them to you because they are <for> you. 10 Do not attempt to
"help" a brother in your way, for you cannot help yourself. 11 But hear
his call for the Help of God, and you will recognize your own need for
the Father.
T-12.I.7. Your interpretations of your brother's needs are your
interpretation of yours. 2 By giving help you are asking for it, and if you
perceive but one need in yourself you will be healed. 3 For you will
recognize God's Answer as you want It to be, and if you want It in truth,
It will be truly yours. 4 Every appeal you answer in the Name of Christ
brings the remembrance of your Father closer to your awareness. 5 For
the sake of your need, then, hear every call for help as what it is, so
God can answer <you.> p216
T-12.I.8. By applying the Holy Spirit's interpretation of the reactions of
others more and more consistently, you will gain an increasing
awareness that His criteria are equally applicable to you. 2 For to
recognize fear is not enough to escape from it, although the
recognition is necessary to demonstrate the need for escape. 3 The
Holy Spirit must still translate the fear into truth. 4 If you were left with
the fear, once you had recognized it, you would have taken a step
away from reality, not towards it. 5 Yet we have repeatedly emphasized
the need to recognize fear and face it without disguise as a crucial step
in the undoing of the ego. 6 Consider how well the Holy Spirit's
interpretation of the motives of others will serve you then. 7 Having
taught you to accept only loving thoughts in others and to regard
everything else as an appeal for help, He has taught you that fear itself
is an appeal for help. 8 This is what recognizing fear really means. 9 If
you do not protect it, He will reinterpret it. 10 That is the ultimate value
in learning to perceive attack as a call for love. 11 We have already
learned that fear and attack are inevitably associated. 12 If only attack
produces fear, and if you see attack as the call for help that it is, the
unreality of fear must dawn on you. 13 For fear <is> a call for love, in
unconscious recognition of what has been denied.
T-12.I.9. Fear is a symptom of your own deep sense of loss. 2 If when
you perceive it in others you learn to supply the loss, the basic cause
of fear is removed. 3 Thereby you teach yourself that fear does not
exist in you. 4 The means for removing it is in yourself, and you have
demonstrated this by giving it. 5 Fear and love are the only emotions
of which you are capable. 6 One is false, for it was made out of denial;
and denial depends on the belief in what is denied for its own
existence. 7 By interpreting fear correctly as a positive affirmation of
the underlying belief it masks, you are undermining its perceived
usefulness by rendering it useless. 8 Defenses that do not work at all
are automatically discarded. 9 If you raise what fear conceals to clear-
cut unequivocal predominance, fear becomes meaningless. 10 You
have denied its power to conceal love, which was its only purpose. 11
The veil that you have drawn across the face of love has disappeared.
T-12.I.10. If you would look upon love, which <is> the world's reality,
how could you do better than to recognize, in every defense against it,
the underlying appeal <for> it? 2 And how could you better learn of its
reality than by answering the appeal for it by giving it? 3 The Holy
Spirit's interpretation of fear does dispel it, for the awareness of truth
cannot be denied. p217 4 Thus does the Holy Spirit replace fear with
love and translate error into truth. 5 And thus will you learn of Him how
to replace your dream of separation with the fact of unity. 6 For the
separation is only the denial of union, and correctly interpreted, attests
to your eternal knowledge that union is true.
Chapter 13.
THE GUILTLESS WORLD
Introduction
T-13.in.1. If you did not feel guilty you could not attack, for
condemnation is the root of attack. 2 It is the judgment of one mind by
another as unworthy of love and deserving of punishment. 3 But herein
lies the split. 4 For the mind that judges perceives itself as separate
from the mind being judged, believing that by punishing another, it will
escape punishment. 5 All this is but the delusional attempt of the mind
to deny itself, and escape the penalty of denial. 6 It is not an attempt
to relinquish denial, but to hold on to it. 7 For it is guilt that has
obscured the Father to you, and it is guilt that has driven you insane.
T-13.in.2. The acceptance of guilt into the mind of God's Son was the
beginning of the separation, as the acceptance of the Atonement is its
end. 2 The world you see is the delusional system of those made mad
by guilt. 3 Look carefully at this world, and you will realize that this is
so. 4 For this world is the symbol of punishment, and all the laws that
seem to govern it are the laws of death. 5 Children are born into it
through pain and in pain. 6 Their growth is attended by suffering, and
they learn of sorrow and separation and death. 7 Their minds seem to
be trapped in their brain, and its powers to decline if their bodies are
hurt. 8 They seem to love, yet they desert and are deserted. 9 They
appear to lose what they love, perhaps the most insane belief of all. 10
And their bodies wither and gasp and are laid in the ground, and are no
more. 11 Not one of them but has thought that God is cruel.
T-13.in.3. If this were the real world, God <would> be cruel. 2 For no
Father could subject His children to this as the price of salvation and
<be> loving. 3 <Love does not kill to save.> 4 If it did, attack would be
salvation, and this is the ego's interpretation, not God's. 5 Only the
world of guilt could demand this, for only the guilty could conceive of
it. 6 Adam's "sin" could have touched no one, had he not believed it
was the Father Who drove him out of Paradise. 7 For in that belief the
knowledge of the Father was lost, since only those who do not
understand Him could believe it.
T-13.in.4. This world <is> a picture of the crucifixion of God's Son. 2
And until you realize that God's Son cannot be crucified, this is the
world you will see. p236 3 Yet you will not realize this until you accept
the eternal fact that God's Son is not guilty. 4 He deserves only love
because he has given only love. 5 He cannot be condemned because
he has never condemned. 6 The Atonement is the final lesson he need
learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of
salvation.
2 The Holy Spirit leads me unto Christ, and where else would I go? 3
What need have I but to awake in Him?
T-13.VII.15. Then follow Him in joy, with faith that He will lead you
safely through all dangers to your peace of mind this world may set
before you. 2 Kneel not before the altars to sacrifice, and seek not
what you will surely lose. 3 Content yourself with what you will as
surely keep, and be not restless, for you undertake a quiet journey to
the peace of God, where He would have you be in quietness.
T-13.VII.16. In me you have already overcome every temptation
that would hold you back. 2 We walk together on the way to quietness
that is the gift of God. 3 Hold me dear, for what except your brothers
can you need? 4 We will restore to you the peace of mind that we must
find together. 5 The Holy Spirit will teach you to awaken unto us and to
yourself. 6 This is the only real need to be fulfilled in time. 7 Salvation
from the world lies only here. 8 My peace I give you. 9 Take it of me in
glad exchange for all the world has offered but to take away. 10 And
we will spread it like a veil of light across the world's sad face, in which
we hide our brothers from the world, and it from them.
T-13.VII.17. We cannot sing redemption's hymn alone. 2 My task is
not completed until I have lifted every voice with mine. 3 And yet it is
not mine, for as it is my gift to you, so was it the Father's gift to me,
given me through His Spirit. 4 The sound of it will banish sorrow from
the mind of God's most holy Son, where it cannot abide. 5 Healing in
time is needed, for joy cannot establish its eternal reign where sorrow
dwells. 6 You dwell not here, but in eternity. 7 You travel but in dreams,
while safe at home. 8 Give thanks to every part of you that you have
taught how to remember you. p257 9 Thus does the Son of God give
thanks unto his Father for his purity.
T-13.X.12.No illusion that you have ever held against him has touched
his innocence in any way. 2 His shining purity, wholly untouched by
guilt and wholly loving, is bright within you. 3 Let us look upon him
together and love him. 4 For in love of him is your guiltlessness. 5 But
look upon yourself, and gladness and appreciation for what you see will
banish guilt forever. 6 I thank You, Father, for the purity of Your most
holy Son, whom You have created guiltless forever.
T-13.X.13.Like you, my faith and my belief are centered on what I
treasure. 2 The difference is that I love <only> what God loves with
me, and because of this I treasure you beyond the value that you set
on yourself, even unto the worth that God has placed upon you. 3 I
love all that He created, and all my faith and my belief I offer unto it.
p265 4 My faith in you is as strong as all the love I give my Father. 5 My
trust in you is without limit, and without the fear that you will hear me
not. 6 I thank the Father for your loveliness, and for the many gifts that
you will let me offer to the Kingdom in honor of its wholeness that is of
God.
T-13.X.14.Praise be to you who make the Father One with His Own Son.
2 Alone we are all lowly, but together we shine with brightness so
intense that none of us alone can even think of it. 3 Before the glorious
radiance of the Kingdom guilt melts away, and transformed into
kindness will never more be what it was. 4 Every reaction you
experience will be so purified that it is fitting as a hymn of praise unto
your Father. 5 See only praise of Him in what He has created, for He
will never cease His praise of you. 6 United in this praise we stand
before the gates of Heaven where we will surely enter in our
sinlessness. 7 God loves you. 8 Could I, then, lack faith in you and love
Him perfectly?
Chapter 14.
TEACHING FOR TRUTH
Introduction
T-14.in.1. Yes, you are blessed indeed. 2 Yet in this world you do not
know it. 3 But you have the means for learning it and seeing it quite
clearly. 4 The Holy Spirit uses logic as easily and as well as does the
ego, except that His conclusions are not insane. 5 They take a direction
exactly opposite, pointing as clearly to Heaven as the ego points to
darkness and to death. 6 We have followed much of the ego's logic,
and have seen its logical conclusions. 7 And having seen them, we
have realized that they cannot be seen except in illusions, for there
alone their seeming clearness seems to be clearly seen. 8 Let us now
turn away from them, and follow the simple logic by which the Holy
Spirit teaches the simple conclusions that speak for truth, and only
truth.
3 The truth is true. 4 Nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and
everything beside it is not there. 5 Let Me make the one distinction for
you that you cannot make, but need to learn. 6 Your faith in nothing is
deceiving you. 7 Offer your faith to Me, and I will place it gently in the
holy place where it belongs. p272 8 You will find no deception there,
but only the simple truth. 9 And you will love it because you will
understand it.
T-14.II.4. Like you, the Holy Spirit did not make truth. 2 Like God, He
knows it to be true. 3 He brings the light of truth into the darkness, and
lets it shine on you. 4 And as it shines your brothers see it, and
realizing that this light is not what you have made, they see in you
more than you see. 5 They will be happy learners of the lesson this
light brings to them, because it teaches them release from nothing and
from all the works of nothing. 6 The heavy chains that seem to bind
them to despair they do not see as nothing, until you bring the light to
them. 7 And then they see the chains have disappeared, and so they
<must> have been nothing. 8 And you will see it with them. 9 Because
you taught them gladness and release, they will become your teachers
in release and gladness.
T-14.II.5. When you teach anyone that truth is true, you learn it with
him. 2 And so you learn that what seemed hardest was the easiest. 3
Learn to be a happy learner. 4 You will never learn how to make
nothing everything. 5 Yet see that this has been your goal, and
recognize how foolish it has been. 6 Be glad it is undone, for when you
look at it in simple honesty, it <is> undone. 7 I said before, "Be not
content with nothing," for you have believed that nothing could
content you. 8 <It is not so.>
T-14.II.6. If you would be a happy learner, you must give everything
you have learned to the Holy Spirit, to be unlearned for you. 2 And
then begin to learn the joyous lessons that come quickly on the firm
foundation that truth is true. 3 For what is builded there <is> true, and
built on truth. 4 The universe of learning will open up before you in all
its gracious simplicity. 5 With truth before you, you will not look back.
T-14.II.7. The happy learner meets the conditions of learning here, as
he meets the conditions of knowledge in the Kingdom. 2 All this lies in
the Holy Spirit's plan to free you from the past, and open up the way to
freedom for you. 3 For truth <is> true. 4 What else could ever be, or
ever was? 5 This simple lesson holds the key to the dark door that you
believe is locked forever. 6 You made this door of nothing, and behind it
<is> nothing. 7 The key is only the light that shines away the shapes
and forms and fears of nothing. 8 Accept this key to freedom from the
hands of Christ Who gives it to you, that you may join Him in the holy
task of bringing light. 9 For, like your brothers, you do not realize the
light has come and freed you from the sleep of darkness. p273
T-14.II.8. Behold your brothers in their freedom, and learn of them
how to be free of darkness. 2 The light in you will waken them, and
they will not leave you asleep. 3 The vision of Christ is given the very
instant that it is perceived. 4 Where everything is clear, it is all holy. 5
The quietness of its simplicity is so compelling that you will realize it is
impossible to deny the simple truth. 6 For there is nothing else. 7 God
is everywhere, and His Son is in Him with everything. 8 Can he sing the
dirge of sorrow when this is true?
T-14.III.4. Each day, each hour and minute, even each second, you are
deciding between the crucifixion and the resurrection; between the ego
and the Holy Spirit. 2 The ego is the choice for guilt; the Holy Spirit the
choice for guiltlessness. 3 The power of decision is all that is yours. 4
What you can decide between is fixed, because there are no
alternatives except truth and illusion. 5 And there is no overlap
between them, because they are opposites which cannot be reconciled
and cannot both be true. 6 You are guilty or guiltless, bound or free,
unhappy or happy.
T-14.III.5. The miracle teaches you that you have chosen guiltlessness,
freedom and joy. 2 It is not a cause, but an effect. 3 It is the natural
result of choosing right, attesting to your happiness that comes from
choosing to be free of guilt. 4 Everyone you offer healing to returns it.
5 Everyone you attack keeps it and cherishes it by holding it against
you. 6 Whether he does this or does it not will make no difference; you
will think he does. 7 It is impossible to offer what you do not want
without this penalty. 8 The cost of giving <is> receiving. 9 Either it is a
penalty from which you suffer, or the happy purchase of a treasure to
hold dear.
T-14.III.6. No penalty is ever asked of God's Son except by himself and
of himself. 2 Every chance given him to heal is another opportunity to
replace darkness with light and fear with love. 3 If he refuses it he
binds himself to darkness, because he did not choose to free his
brother and enter light with him. 4 By giving power to nothing, he
throws away the joyous opportunity to learn that nothing has no power.
5 And by not dispelling darkness, he became afraid of darkness and of
light. 6 The joy of learning that darkness has no power over the Son of
God is the happy lesson the Holy Spirit teaches, and would have you
teach with Him. 7 It is His joy to teach it, as it will be yours.
T-14.III.7. The way to teach this simple lesson is merely this:
Guiltlessness is invulnerability. 2 Therefore, make your invulnerability
manifest to everyone. 3 Teach him that, whatever he may try to do to
you, your perfect freedom from the belief that you can be harmed
shows him that he is guiltless. 4 He can do nothing that can hurt you,
and by refusing to allow him to think he can, you teach him that the
Atonement, which you have accepted for yourself, is also his. p275 5
There is nothing to forgive. 6 No one can hurt the Son of God. 7 His
guilt is wholly without cause, and being without cause, cannot exist.
T-14.III.8. God is the only Cause, and guilt is not of Him. 2 Teach no one
he has hurt you, for if you do, you teach yourself that what is not of
God has power over you. 3 <The causeless cannot be.> 4 Do not
attest to it, and do not foster belief in it in any mind. 5 Remember
always that mind is one, and cause is one. 6 You will learn
communication with this oneness only when you learn to deny the
causeless, and accept the Cause of God as yours. 7 The power that
God has given to His Son <is> his, and nothing else can His Son see or
choose to look upon without imposing on himself the penalty of guilt, in
place of all the happy teaching the Holy Spirit would gladly offer him.
T-14.III.9. Whenever you choose to make decisions for yourself you are
thinking destructively, and the decision will be wrong. 2 It will hurt you
because of the concept of decision that led to it. 3 It is not true that
you can make decisions by yourself or for yourself alone. 4 No thought
of God's Son can be separate or isolated in its effects. 5 Every decision
is made for the whole Sonship, directed in and out, and influencing a
constellation larger than anything you ever dreamed of.
T-14.III.10. Those who accept the Atonement <are> invulnerable. 2
But those who believe they are guilty will respond to guilt, because
they think it is salvation, and will not refuse to see it and side with it. 3
They believe that increasing guilt is self-protection. 4 And they will fail
to understand the simple fact that what they do not want must hurt
them. 5 All this arises because they do not believe that what they want
is good. 6 Yet will was given them because it is holy, and will bring to
them all that they need, coming as naturally as peace that knows no
limits. 7 There is nothing their will fails to provide that offers them
anything of value. 8 Yet because they do not understand their will, the
Holy Spirit quietly understands it for them, and gives them what they
want without effort, strain, or the impossible burden of deciding what
they want and need alone.
T-14.III.11. It will never happen that you must make decisions for
yourself. 2 You are not bereft of help, and Help that knows the answer.
3 Would you be content with little, which is all that you alone can offer
yourself, when He Who gives you everything will simply offer it to you?
4 He will never ask what you have done to make you worthy of the gift
of God. p276 5 Ask it not therefore of yourself. 6 Instead, accept His
answer, for He knows that you are worthy of everything God wills for
you. 7 Do not try to escape the gift of God He so freely and so gladly
offers you. 8 He offers you but what God gave Him for you. 9 You need
not decide whether or not you are deserving of it. 10 God knows you
are.
T-14.III.12. Would you deny the truth of God's decision, and place
your pitiful appraisal of yourself in place of His calm and unswerving
value of His Son? 2 Nothing can shake God's conviction of the perfect
purity of everything that He created, for it <is> wholly pure. 3 Do not
decide against it, for being of Him it must be true. 4 Peace abides in
every mind that quietly accepts the plan God set for its Atonement,
relinquishing its own. 5 You know not of salvation, for you do not
understand it. 6 Make no decisions about what it is or where it lies, but
ask the Holy Spirit everything, and leave all decisions to His gentle
counsel.
T-14.III.13. The One Who knows the plan of God that God would
have you follow can teach you what it is. 2 Only His wisdom is capable
of guiding you to follow it. 3 Every decision you undertake alone but
signifies that you would define what salvation <is,> and what you
would be saved <from.> 4 The Holy Spirit knows that all salvation is
escape from guilt. 5 You have no other "enemy," and against this
strange distortion of the purity of the Son of God the Holy Spirit is your
only Friend. 6 He is the strong protector of the innocence that sets you
free. 7 And it is His decision to undo everything that would obscure
your innocence from your unclouded mind.
T-14.III.14. Let Him, therefore, be the only Guide that you would
follow to salvation. 2 He knows the way, and leads you gladly on it. 3
With Him you will not fail to learn that what God wills for you <is> your
will. 4 Without His guidance you will think you know alone, and will
decide against your peace as surely as you decided that salvation lay
in you alone. 5 Salvation is of Him to Whom God gave it for you. 6 He
has not forgotten it. 7 Forget Him not and He will make every decision
for you, for your salvation and the peace of God in you.
T-14.III.15. Seek not to appraise the worth of God's Son whom He
created holy, for to do so is to evaluate his Father and judge against
Him. 2 And you <will> feel guilty for this imagined crime, which no one
in this world or Heaven could possibly commit. 3 The Holy Spirit
teaches only that the "sin" of self-replacement on the throne of God is
not a source of guilt. p277 4 What cannot happen can have no effects
to fear. 5 Be quiet in your faith in Him Who loves you, and would lead
you out of insanity. 6 Madness may be your choice, but not your reality.
7 Never forget the Love of God, Who has remembered you. 8 For it is
quite impossible that He could ever let His Son drop from the loving
Mind wherein he was created, and where his abode was fixed in perfect
peace forever.
T-14.III.16. Say to the Holy Spirit only, "Decide for me," and it is
done. 2 For His decisions are reflections of what God knows about you,
and in this light, error of any kind becomes impossible. 3 Why would
you struggle so frantically to anticipate all you cannot know, when all
knowledge lies behind every decision the Holy Spirit makes for you? 4
Learn of His wisdom and His Love, and teach His answer to everyone
who struggles in the dark. 5 For you decide for them and for yourself.
T-14.III.17. How gracious it is to decide all things through Him
Whose equal Love is given equally to all alike! 2 He leaves you no one
outside you. 3 And so He gives you what is yours, because your Father
would have you share it with Him. 4 In everything be led by Him, and
do not reconsider. 5 Trust Him to answer quickly, surely, and with Love
for everyone who will be touched in any way by the decision. 6 And
everyone will be. 7 Would you take unto yourself the sole responsibility
for deciding what can bring only good to everyone? 8 Would you know
this?
T-14.III.18. You taught yourself the most unnatural habit of not
communicating with your Creator. 2 Yet you remain in close
communication with Him, and with everything that is within Him, as it
is within yourself. 3 Unlearn isolation through His loving guidance, and
learn of all the happy communication that you have thrown away but
could not lose.
T-14.III.19. Whenever you are in doubt what you should do, think of
His Presence in you, and tell yourself this, and only this:
5 Then let Him teach you quietly how to perceive your guiltlessness,
which is already there. p278
Chapter 15.
THE HOLY INSTANT
I. The Two Uses of Time
T-15.I.1. Can you imagine what it means to have no cares, no worries,
no anxieties, but merely to be perfectly calm and quiet all the time? 2
Yet that is what time is for; to learn just that and nothing more. 3 God's
Teacher cannot be satisfied with His teaching until it constitutes all
your learning. 4 He has not fulfilled His teaching function until you
have become such a consistent learner that you learn only of Him. 5
When this has happened, you will no longer need a teacher or time in
which to learn.
T-15.I.2. One source of perceived discouragement from which you
may suffer is your belief that this takes time, and that the results of the
Holy Spirit's teaching are far in the future. 2 This is not so. 3 For the
Holy Spirit uses time in His Own way, and is not bound by it. 4 Time is
His friend in teaching. 5 It does not waste Him, as it does you. 6 And all
the waste that time seems to bring with it is due but to your
identification with the ego, which uses time to support its belief in
destruction. 7 The ego, like the Holy Spirit, uses time to convince you
of the inevitability of the goal and end of teaching. 8 To the ego the
goal is death, which <is> its end. 9 But to the Holy Spirit the goal is
life, which <has> no end.
T-15.I.3. The ego is an ally of time, but not a friend. 2 For it is as
mistrustful of death as it is of life, and what it wants for you it cannot
tolerate. 3 The ego wants <you> dead, but not itself. 4 The outcome of
its strange religion must therefore be the conviction that it can pursue
you beyond the grave. 5 And out of its unwillingness for you to find
peace even in death, it offers you immortality in hell. 6 It speaks to you
of Heaven, but assures you that Heaven is not for you. 7 How can the
guilty hope for Heaven?
T-15.I.4. The belief in hell is inescapable to those who identify with
the ego. 2 Their nightmares and their fears are all associated with it. 3
The ego teaches that hell is in the future, for this is what all its
teaching is directed to. 4 Hell is its goal. 5 For although the ego aims at
death and dissolution as an end, it does not believe it. 6 The goal of
death, which it craves for you, leaves it unsatisfied. 7 No one who
follows the ego's teaching is without the fear of death. p301 8 Yet if
death were thought of merely as an end to pain, would it be feared? 9
We have seen this strange paradox in the ego's thought system before,
but never so clearly as here. 10 For the ego must seem to keep fear
from you to hold your allegiance. 11 Yet it must engender fear in order
to maintain itself. 12 Again the ego tries, and all too frequently
succeeds, in doing both, by using dissociation for holding its
contradictory aims together so that they seem to be reconciled. 13 The
ego teaches thus: Death is the end as far as hope of Heaven goes. 14
Yet because you and the ego cannot be separated, and because it
cannot conceive of its own death, it will pursue you still, because guilt
is eternal. 15 Such is the ego's version of immortality. 16 And it is this
the ego's version of time supports.
T-15.I.5. The ego teaches that Heaven is here and now because the
future is hell. 2 Even when it attacks so savagely that it tries to take
the life of someone who thinks its is the only voice, it speaks of hell
even to him. 3 For it tells him hell is here as well, and bids him leap
from hell into oblivion. 4 The only time the ego allows anyone to look
upon with equanimity is the past. 5 And even there, its only value is
that it is no more.
T-15.I.6. How bleak and despairing is the ego's use of time! 2 And
how terrifying! 3 For underneath its fanatical insistence that the past
and future be the same is hidden a far more insidious threat to peace.
4 The ego does not advertise its final threat, for it would have its
worshippers still believe that it can offer them escape. 5 But the belief
in guilt must lead to the belief in hell, and always does. 6 The only way
in which the ego allows the fear of hell to be experienced is to bring
hell here, but always as a foretaste of the future. 7 For no one who
considers himself as deserving of hell can believe that punishment will
end in peace.
T-15.I.7. The Holy Spirit teaches thus: There is no hell. 2 Hell is only
what the ego has made of the present. 3 The belief in hell is what
prevents you from understanding the present, because you are afraid
of it. 4 The Holy Spirit leads as steadily to Heaven as the ego drives to
hell. 5 For the Holy Spirit, Who knows only the present, uses it to undo
the fear by which the ego would make the present useless. 6 There is
no escape from fear in the ego's use of time. 7 For time, according to
its teaching, is nothing but a teaching device for compounding guilt
until it becomes all-encompassing, demanding vengeance forever.
T-15.I.8. The Holy Spirit would undo all of this <now.> 2 Fear is not of
the present, but only of the past and future, which do not exist. p302 3
There is no fear in the present when each instant stands clear and
separated from the past, without its shadow reaching out into the
future. 4 Each instant is a clean, untarnished birth, in which the Son of
God emerges from the past into the present. 5 And the present
extends forever. 6 It is so beautiful and so clean and free of guilt that
nothing but happiness is there. 7 No darkness is remembered, and
immortality and joy are now.
T-15.I.9. This lesson takes no time. 2 For what is time without a past
and future? 3 It has taken time to misguide you so completely, but it
takes no time at all to be what you are. 4 Begin to practice the Holy
Spirit's use of time as a teaching aid to happiness and peace. 5 Take
this very instant, now, and think of it as all there is of time. 6 Nothing
can reach you here out of the past, and it is here that you are
completely absolved, completely free and wholly without
condemnation. 7 From this holy instant wherein holiness was born
again you will go forth in time without fear, and with no sense of
change with time.
T-15.I.10. Time is inconceivable without change, yet holiness does not
change. 2 Learn from this instant more than merely that hell does not
exist. 3 In this redeeming instant lies Heaven. 4 And Heaven will not
change, for the birth into the holy present is salvation from change. 5
Change is an illusion, taught by those who cannot see themselves as
guiltless. 6 There is no change in Heaven because there is no change
in God. 7 In the holy instant, in which you see yourself as bright with
freedom, you will remember God. 8 For remembering Him <is> to
remember freedom.
T-15.I.11. If you are tempted to be dispirited by thinking how long it
would take to change your mind so completely, ask yourself, "How long
is an instant?" 2 Could you not give so short a time to the Holy Spirit
for your salvation? 3 He asks no more, for He has no need of more. 4 It
takes far longer to teach you to be willing to give Him this than for Him
to use this tiny instant to offer you the whole of Heaven. 5 In exchange
for this instant He stands ready to give you the remembrance of
eternity.
T-15.I.12. You will never give this holy instant to the Holy Spirit on
behalf of your release while you are unwilling to give it to your brothers
on behalf of theirs. 2 For the instant of holiness is shared, and cannot
be yours alone. 3 Remember, then, when you are tempted to attack a
brother, that his instant of release is yours. 4 Miracles are the instants
of release you offer, and will receive. p303 5 They attest to your
willingness to <be> released, and to offer time to the Holy Spirit for
His use of it.
T-15.I.13. How long is an instant? 2 It is as short for your brother as it
is for you. 3 Practice giving this blessed instant of freedom to all who
are enslaved by time, and thus make time their friend for them. 4 The
Holy Spirit gives their blessed instant to you through your giving it. 5
As you give it, He offers it to you. 6 Be not unwilling to give what you
would receive of Him, for you join with Him in giving. 7 In the crystal
cleanness of the release you give is your instantaneous escape from
guilt. 8 You must be holy if you offer holiness.
T-15.I.14. How long is an instant? 2 As long as it takes to re-establish
perfect sanity, perfect peace and perfect love for everyone, for God
and for yourself. 3 As long as it takes to remember immortality, and
your immortal creations who share it with you. 4 As long as it takes to
exchange hell for Heaven. 5 Long enough to transcend all of the ego's
making, and ascend unto your Father.
T-15.I.15. Time is your friend, if you leave it to the Holy Spirit to use. 2
He needs but very little to restore God's whole power to you. 3 He Who
transcends time for you understands what time is for. 4 Holiness lies
not in time, but in eternity. 5 There never was an instant in which God's
Son could lose his purity. 6 His changeless state is beyond time, for his
purity remains forever beyond attack and without variability. 7 Time
stands still in his holiness, and changes not. 8 And so it is no longer
time at all. 9 For caught in the single instant of the eternal sanctity of
God's creation, it is transformed into forever. 10 Give the eternal
instant, that eternity may be remembered for you, in that shining
instant of perfect release. 11 Offer the miracle of the holy instant
through the Holy Spirit, and leave His giving it to you to Him.
8 So will the year begin in joy and freedom. 9 There is much to do, and
we have been long delayed. 10 Accept the holy instant as this year is
born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great
Awakening. 11 Make this year different by making it all the same. 12
And let all your relationships be made holy for you. 13 This is our will.
14 Amen. p329
Chapter 16.
THE FORGIVENESS OF ILLUSIONS
I. True Empathy
T-16.I.1. To empathize does not mean to join in suffering, for that is
what you must <refuse> to understand. 2 That is the ego's
interpretation of empathy, and is always used to form a special
relationship in which the suffering is shared. 3 The capacity to
empathize is very useful to the Holy Spirit, provided you let Him use it
in His way. 4 His way is very different. 5 He does not understand
suffering, and would have you teach it is not understandable. 6 When
He relates through you, He does not relate through your ego to another
ego. 7 He does not join in pain, understanding that healing pain is not
accomplished by delusional attempts to enter into it, and lighten it by
sharing the delusion.
T-16.I.2. The clearest proof that empathy as the ego uses it is
destructive lies in the fact that it is applied only to certain types of
problems and in certain people. 2 These it selects out, and joins with. 3
And it never joins except to strengthen itself. 4 Having identified with
what it thinks it understands, the ego sees itself and would increase
itself by sharing what is like itself. 5 Make no mistake about this
maneuver; the ego always empathizes to weaken, and to weaken is
always to attack. 6 You do not know what empathizing means. 7 Yet of
this you may be sure; if you will merely sit quietly by and let the Holy
Spirit relate through you, you will empathize with strength, and will
gain in strength and not in weakness.
T-16.I.3. Your part is only to remember this; you do not want anything
you value to come of a relationship. 2 You choose neither to hurt it nor
to heal it in your own way. 3 You do not know what healing is. 4 All you
have learned of empathy is from the past. 5 And there is nothing from
the past that you would share, for there is nothing from the past that
you would keep. 6 Do not use empathy to make the past real, and so
perpetuate it. 7 Step gently aside, and let healing be done for you. 8
Keep but one thought in mind and do not lose sight of it, however
tempted you may be to judge any situation, and to determine your
response <by> judging it. 9 Focus your mind only on this: p330
10 I am not alone, and I would not intrude the past upon my Guest.
11 I have invited Him, and He is here.
12 I need do nothing except not to interfere.
T-16.I.4. True empathy is of Him Who knows what it is. 2 You will learn
His interpretation of it if you let Him use your capacity for strength, and
not for weakness. 3 He will not desert you, but be sure that you desert
not Him. 4 Humility is strength in this sense only; that to recognize and
accept the fact that you do not know is to recognize and accept the
fact that He <does> know. 5 You are not sure that He will do His part,
because you have never yet done yours completely. 6 You cannot know
how to respond to what you do not understand. 7 Be tempted not in
this, and yield not to the ego's triumphant use of empathy for its glory.
T-16.I.5. The triumph of weakness is not what you would offer to a
brother. 2 And yet you recognize no triumph but this. 3 This is not
knowledge, and the form of empathy which would bring this about is so
distorted that it would imprison what it would release. 4 The
unredeemed cannot redeem, yet they have a Redeemer. 5 Attempt to
teach Him not. 6 You are the learner; He the Teacher. 7 Do not confuse
your role with His, for this will never bring peace to anyone. 8 Offer
your empathy to Him for it is <His> perception and <His> strength
that you would share. 9 And let Him offer you His strength and His
perception, to be shared through you.
T-16.I.6. The meaning of love is lost in any relationship that looks to
weakness, and hopes to find love there. 2 The power of love, which
<is> its meaning, lies in the strength of God that hovers over it and
blesses it silently by enveloping it in healing wings. 3 Let this be, and
do not try to substitute your "miracle" for this. 4 I have said that if a
brother asks a foolish thing of you to do it. 5 But be certain that this
does not mean to do a foolish thing that would hurt either him or you,
for what would hurt one will hurt the other. 6 Foolish requests are
foolish merely because they conflict, since they always contain some
element of specialness. 7 Only the Holy Spirit recognizes foolish needs
as well as real ones. 8 And He will teach you how to meet both without
losing either.
T-16.I.7. <You> will attempt to do this only in secrecy. 2 And you will
think that by meeting the needs of one you do not jeopardize another,
because you keep them separate and secret from each other. p331 3
That is not the way, for it leads not to life and truth. 4 No needs will
long be left unmet if you leave them all to Him Whose function is to
meet them. 5 That is His function, and not yours. 6 He will not meet
them secretly, for He would share everything you give through Him. 7
That is why He gives it. 8 What you give through Him is for the whole
Sonship, not for part of it. 9 Leave Him His function, for He will fulfill it
if you but ask Him to enter your relationships, and bless them for you.
Chapter 17.
FORGIVENESS AND THE HOLY RELATIONSHIP
I. Bringing Fantasy to Truth
T-17.I.1. The betrayal of the Son of God lies only in illusions, and all
his "sins" are but his own imagining. 2 His reality is forever sinless. 3
He need not be forgiven but awakened. 4 In his dreams he has
betrayed himself, his brothers and his God. 5 Yet what is done in
dreams has not been really done. 6 It is impossible to convince the
dreamer that this is so, for dreams are what they are <because> of
their illusion of reality. 7 Only in waking is the full release from them,
for only then does it become perfectly apparent that they had no effect
upon reality at all, and did not change it. 8 Fantasies change reality. 9
That is their purpose. 10 They cannot do so in reality, but they <can>
do so in the mind that would have reality be different.
T-17.I.2. It is, then, only your wish to change reality that is fearful,
because by your wish you think you have accomplished what you wish.
2 This strange position, in a sense, acknowledges your power. 3 Yet by
distorting it and devoting it to "evil," it also makes it unreal. 4 You
cannot be faithful to two masters who ask conflicting things of you. 5
What you use in fantasy you deny to truth. 6 Yet what you give to truth
to use for you is safe from fantasy.
T-17.I.3. When you maintain that there must be an order of difficulty
in miracles, all you mean is that there are some things you would
withhold from truth. 2 You believe truth cannot deal with them only
because you would keep them from truth. 3 Very simply, your lack of
faith in the power that heals all pain arises from your wish to retain
some aspects of reality for fantasy. 4 If you but realized what this must
do to your appreciation of the whole! 5 What you reserve for yourself,
you take away from Him Who would release you. 6 Unless you give it
back, it is inevitable that your perspective on reality be warped and
uncorrected.
T-17.I.4. As long as you would have it so, so long will the illusion of an
order of difficulty in miracles remain with you. 2 For you have
established this order in reality by giving some of it to one teacher, and
some to another. 3 And so you learn to deal with part of the truth in
one way, and in another way the other part. 4 To fragment truth is to
destroy it by rendering it meaningless. 5 Orders of reality is a
perspective without understanding; a frame of reference for reality to
which it cannot really be compared at all.
T-17.I.5. Think you that you can bring truth to fantasy, and learn what
truth means from the perspective of illusions? 2 Truth <has> no
meaning in illusion. 3 The frame of reference for its meaning must be
itself. 4 When you try to bring truth to illusions, you are trying to make
illusions real, and keep them by justifying your belief in them. p351 5
But to give illusions to truth is to enable truth to teach that the illusions
are unreal, and thus enable you to escape from them. 6 Reserve not
one idea aside from truth, or you establish orders of reality that must
imprison you. 7 There is no order in reality, because everything there is
true.
T-17.I.6. Be willing, then, to give all you have held outside the truth to
Him Who knows the truth, and in Whom all is brought to truth. 2
Salvation from separation would be complete, or will not be at all. 3 Be
not concerned with anything except your willingness to have this be
accomplished. 4 He will accomplish it; not you. 5 But forget not this:
When you become disturbed and lose your peace of mind because
another is attempting to solve his problems through fantasy, you are
refusing to forgive yourself for just this same attempt. 6 And you are
holding both of you away from truth and from salvation. 7 As you
forgive him, you restore to truth what was denied by both of you. 8 And
you will see forgiveness where you have given it.
Chapter 18.
THE PASSING OF THE DREAM
I. The Substitute Reality
T-18.I.1. To substitute is to accept instead. 2 If you would but consider
exactly what this entails, you would perceive at once how much at
variance this is with the goal the Holy Spirit has given you, and would
accomplish for you. 3 To substitute is to choose between, renouncing
one aspect of the Sonship in favor of the other. 4 For this special
purpose, one is judged more valuable and the other is replaced by him.
5 The relationship in which the substitution occurred is thus
fragmented, and its purpose split accordingly. 6 To fragment is to
exclude, and substitution is the strongest defense the ego has for
separation.
T-18.I.2. The Holy Spirit never uses substitutes. 2 Where the ego
perceives one person as a replacement for another, the Holy Spirit
sees them joined and indivisible. 3 He does not judge between them,
knowing they are one. 4 Being united, they are one because they are
the same. 5 Substitution is clearly a process in which they are
perceived as different. 6 One would unite; the other separate. 7
Nothing can come between what God has joined and what the Holy
Spirit sees as one. 8 But everything <seems> to come between the
fragmented relationships the ego sponsors to destroy.
T-18.I.3. The one emotion in which substitution is impossible is love. 2
Fear involves substitution by definition, for it is love's replacement. 3
Fear is both a fragmented and fragmenting emotion. 4 It seems to take
many forms, and each one seems to require a different form of acting
out for satisfaction. 5 While this appears to introduce quite variable
behavior, a far more serious effect lies in the fragmented perception
from which the behavior stems. 6 No one is seen complete. 7 The body
is emphasized, with special emphasis on certain parts, and used as the
standard for comparison of acceptance or rejection for acting out a
special form of fear.
T-18.I.4. You who believe that God is fear made but one substitution.
2 It has taken many forms, because it was the substitution of illusion
for truth; of fragmentation for wholeness. 3 It has become so splintered
and subdivided and divided again, over and over, that it is now almost
impossible to perceive it once was one, and still is what it was. 4 That
one error, which brought truth to illusion, infinity to time, and life to
death, was all you ever made. 5 Your whole world rests upon it. 6
Everything you see reflects it, and every special relationship that you
have ever made is part of it.
T-18.I.5. You may be surprised to hear how very different is reality
from what you see. 2 You do not realize the magnitude of that one
error. 3 It was so vast and so completely incredible that from it a world
of total unreality <had> to emerge. p372 4 What else could come of it?
5 Its fragmented aspects are fearful enough, as you begin to look at
them. 6 But nothing you have seen begins to show you the enormity of
the original error, which seemed to cast you out of Heaven, to shatter
knowledge into meaningless bits of disunited perceptions, and to force
you to make further substitutions.
T-18.I.6. That was the first projection of error outward. 2 The world
arose to hide it, and became the screen on which it was projected and
drawn between you and the truth. 3 For truth extends inward, where
the idea of loss is meaningless and only increase is conceivable. 4 Do
you really think it strange that a world in which everything is
backwards and upside down arose from this projection of error? 5 It
was inevitable. 6 For truth brought to this could only remain within in
quiet, and take no part in all the mad projection by which this world
was made. 7 Call it not sin but madness, for such it was and so it still
remains. 8 Invest it not with guilt, for guilt implies it was accomplished
in reality. 9 And above all, <be not afraid of it>.
T-18.I.7. When you seem to see some twisted form of the original
error rising to frighten you, say only, "God is not fear, but Love," and it
will disappear. 2 The truth will save you. 3 It has not left you, to go out
into the mad world and so depart from you. 4 Inward is sanity; insanity
is outside you. 5 You but believe it is the other way; that truth is
outside, and error and guilt within. 6 Your little, senseless substitutions,
touched with insanity and swirling lightly off on a mad course like
feathers dancing insanely in the wind, have no substance. 7 They fuse
and merge and separate, in shifting and totally meaningless patterns
that need not be judged at all. 8 To judge them individually is pointless.
9 Their tiny differences in form are no real differences at all. 10 None of
them matters. 11 <That> they have in common and nothing else. 12
Yet what else is necessary to make them all the same?
T-18.I.8. Let them all go, dancing in the wind, dipping and turning till
they disappear from sight, far, far outside of you. 2 And turn you to the
stately calm within, where in holy stillness dwells the living God you
never left, and Who never left you. p373 3 The Holy Spirit takes you
gently by the hand, and retraces with you your mad journey outside
yourself, leading you gently back to the truth and safety within. 4 He
brings all your insane projections and the wild substitutions that you
have placed outside you to the truth. 5 Thus He reverses the course of
insanity and restores you to reason.
T-18.I.9. In your relationship with your brother, where He has taken
charge of everything at your request, He has set the course inward to
the truth you share. 2 In the mad world outside you nothing can be
shared but only substituted, and sharing and substituting have nothing
in common in reality. 3 Within yourself you love your brother with a
perfect love. 4 Here is holy ground, in which no substitution can enter,
and where only the truth in your brother can abide. 5 Here you are
joined in God, as much together as you are with Him. 6 The original
error has not entered here, nor ever will. 7 Here is the radiant truth, to
which the Holy Spirit has committed your relationship. 8 Let Him bring
it here, where <you> would have it be. 9 Give Him but a little faith in
your brother, to help Him show you that no substitute you made for
Heaven can keep you from it.
T-18.I.10. In you there is no separation, and no substitute can keep you
from your brother. 2 Your reality was God's creation, and has no
substitute. 3 You are so firmly joined in truth that only God is there. 4
And He would never accept something else instead of you. 5 He loves
you both, equally and as one. 6 And as He loves you, so you are. 7 You
are not joined together in illusions, but in the Thought so holy and so
perfect that illusions cannot remain to darken the holy place in which
you stand together. 8 God is with you, my brother. 9 Let us join in Him
in peace and gratitude, and accept His gift as our most holy and
perfect reality, which we share in Him.
T-18.I.11. Heaven is restored to all the Sonship through your
relationship, for in it lies the Sonship, whole and beautiful, safe in your
love. 2 Heaven has entered quietly, for all illusions have been gently
brought unto the truth in you, and love has shined upon you, blessing
your relationship with truth. 3 God and His whole creation have entered
it together. 4 How lovely and how holy is your relationship, with the
truth shining upon it! 5 Heaven beholds it, and rejoices that you have
let it come to you. 6 And God Himself is glad that your relationship is
as it was created. p374 7 The universe within you stands with you,
together with your brother. 8 And Heaven looks with love on what is
joined in it, along with its Creator.
T-18.I.12. Whom God has called should hear no substitutes. 2 Their call
is but an echo of the original error that shattered Heaven. 3 And what
became of peace in those who heard? 4 Return with me to Heaven,
walking together with your brother out of this world and through
another, to the loveliness and joy the other holds within it. 5 Would you
still further weaken and break apart what is already broken and
hopeless? 6 Is it here that you would look for happiness? 7 Or would
you not prefer to heal what has been broken, and join in making whole
what has been ravaged by separation and disease?
T-18.I.13. You have been called, together with your brother, to the
most holy function this world contains. 2 It is the only one that has no
limits, and reaches out to every broken fragment of the Sonship with
healing and uniting comfort. 3 This is offered you, in your holy
relationship. 4 Accept it here, and you will give as you have accepted.
5 The peace of God is given you with the glowing purpose in which you
join with your brother. 6 The holy light that brought you and him
together must extend, as you accepted it.
T-18.IV.6. And that is all. 2 Add more, and you will merely take away
the little that is asked. 3 Remember you made guilt, and that your plan
for the escape from guilt has been to bring Atonement to it, and make
salvation fearful. 4 And it is only fear that you will add, if you prepare
yourself for love. 5 The preparation for the holy instant belongs to Him
Who gives it. 6 Release yourself to Him Whose function is release. 7 Do
not assume His function for Him. 8 Give Him but what He asks, that
you may learn how little is your part, and how great is His.
T-18.IV.7. It is this that makes the holy instant so easy and so natural.
2 You make it difficult, because you insist there must be more that you
need do. 3 You find it difficult to accept the idea that you need give so
little, to receive so much. 4 And it is very hard for you to realize it is
not personally insulting that your contribution and the Holy Spirit's are
so extremely disproportionate. 5 You are still convinced that your
understanding is a powerful contribution to the truth, and makes it
what it is. 6 Yet we have emphasized that you need understand
nothing. 7 Salvation is easy just <because> it asks nothing you cannot
give right now.
T-18.IV.8. Forget not that it has been your decision to make everything
that is natural and easy for you impossible. 2 If you believe the holy
instant is difficult for you, it is because you have become the arbiter of
what is possible, and remain unwilling to give place to One Who knows.
3 The whole belief in orders of difficulty in miracles is centered on this.
4 Everything God wills is not only possible, but has already happened.
5 And that is why the past has gone. 6 It never happened in reality. 7
Only in your mind, which thought it did, is its undoing needful.
3 I desire this holy instant for myself, that I may share it with my
brother, whom I love.
4 It is not possible that I can have it without him, or he without me.
5 Yet it is wholly possible for us to share it now.
6 And so I choose this instant as the one to offer to the Holy Spirit, that
His blessing may descend on us, and keep us both in peace.
Chapter 19.
THE ATTAINMENT OF PEACE
I. Healing and Faith
T-19.I.1. We said before that when a situation has been dedicated
wholly to truth, peace is inevitable. 2 Its attainment is the criterion by
which the wholeness of the dedication can be safely assumed. 3 Yet we
also said that peace without faith will never be attained, for what is
dedicated to truth as its only goal is brought to truth <by> faith. 4 This
faith encompasses everyone involved, for only thus the situation is
perceived as meaningful and as a whole. 5 And everyone must be
involved in it, or else your faith is limited and your dedication
incomplete.
T-19.I.2. Every situation, properly perceived, becomes an opportunity
to heal the Son of God. 2 And he is healed <because> you offered faith
to him, giving him to the Holy Spirit and releasing him from every
demand your ego would make of him. 3 Thus do you see him free, and
in this vision does the Holy Spirit share. 4 And since He shares it He
has given it, and so He heals through you. 5 It is this joining Him in a
united purpose that makes this purpose real, because you make it
whole. 6 And this <is> healing. 7 The body is healed because you
came without it, and joined the Mind in which all healing rests.
T-19.I.3. The body cannot heal, because it cannot make itself sick. 2 It
<needs> no healing. 3 Its health or sickness depends entirely on how
the mind perceives it, and the purpose that the mind would use it for. 4
It is obvious that a segment of the mind can see itself as separated
from the Universal Purpose. 5 When this occurs the body becomes its
weapon, used against this Purpose, to demonstrate the "fact" that
separation has occurred. 6 The body thus becomes the instrument of
illusion, acting accordingly; seeing what is not there, hearing what
truth has never said and behaving insanely, being imprisoned <by>
insanity.
T-19.I.4. Do not overlook our earlier statement that faithlessness
leads straight to illusions. 2 For faithlessness is the perception of a
brother as a body, and the body cannot be used for purposes of union.
3 If, then, you see your brother as a body, you have established a
condition in which uniting with him becomes impossible. 4 Your
faithlessness to him has separated you from him, and kept you both
apart from being healed. p398 5 Your faithlessness has thus opposed
the Holy Spirit's purpose, and brought illusions, centered on the body,
to stand between you. 6 And the body will seem to be sick, for you
have made of it an "enemy" of healing and the opposite of truth.
T-19.I.5. It cannot be difficult to realize that faith must be the
opposite of faithlessness. 2 Yet the difference in how they operate is
less apparent, though it follows directly from the fundamental
difference in what they are. 3 Faithlessness would always limit and
attack; faith would remove all limitations and make whole. 4
Faithlessness would destroy and separate; faith would unite and heal. 5
Faithlessness would interpose illusions between the Son of God and his
Creator; faith would remove all obstacles that seem to rise between
them. 6 Faithlessness is wholly dedicated to illusions; faith wholly to
truth. 7 Partial dedication is impossible. 8 Truth is the absence of
illusion; illusion the absence of truth. 9 Both cannot be together, nor
perceived in the same place. 10 To dedicate yourself to both is to set
up a goal forever impossible to attain, for part of it is sought through
the body, thought of as a means for seeking out reality through attack.
11 The other part would heal, and therefore calls upon the mind and
not the body.
T-19.I.6. The inevitable compromise is the belief that the body must
be healed, and not the mind. 2 For this divided goal has given both an
equal reality, which could be possible only if the mind is limited to the
body and divided into little parts of seeming wholeness, but without
connection. 3 This will not harm the body, but it <will> keep the
delusional thought system in the mind. 4 Here, then, is healing needed.
5 And it is here that healing <is.> 6 For God gave healing not apart
from sickness, nor established remedy where sickness cannot be. 7
They are together, and when they are seen together, all attempts to
keep both truth and illusion in the mind, where both must be, are
recognized as dedication to illusion; and given up when brought to
truth, and seen as totally unreconcilable with truth, in any respect or in
any way.
T-19.I.7. Truth and illusion have no connection. 2 This will remain
forever true, however much you seek to connect them. 3 But illusions
are always connected, as is truth. 4 Each is united, a complete thought
system, but totally disconnected to each other. 5 And to perceive this
is to recognize where separation is, and where it must be healed. p399
6 The result of an idea is never separate from its source. 7 The idea of
separation produced the body and remains connected to it, making it
sick because of the mind's identification with it. 8 You think you are
protecting the body by hiding this connection, for this concealment
seems to keep your identification safe from the "attack" of truth.
T-19.I.8. If you but understood how much this strange concealment
has hurt your mind, and how confused your own identification has
become because of it! 2 You do not see how great the devastation
wrought by your faithlessness, for faithlessness is an attack that seems
to be justified by its results. 3 For by withholding faith you see what is
unworthy of it, and cannot look beyond the barrier to what is joined
with you.
T-19.I.9. To have faith is to heal. 2 It is the sign that you have
accepted the Atonement for yourself, and would therefore share it. 3
By faith, you offer the gift of freedom from the past, which you
received. 4 You do not use anything your brother has done before to
condemn him now. 5 You freely choose to overlook his errors, looking
past all barriers between yourself and him, and seeing them as one. 6
And in that one you see your faith is fully justified. 7 There is no
justification for faithlessness, but faith is always justified.
T-19.I.10. Faith is the opposite of fear, as much a part of love as fear is
of attack. 2 Faith is the acknowledgment of union. 3 It is the gracious
acknowledgment of everyone as a Son of your most loving Father,
loved by Him like you, and therefore loved by you as yourself. 4 It is His
Love that joins you and your brother, and for His Love you would keep
no one separate from yours. 5 Each one appears just as he is perceived
in the holy instant, united in your purpose to be released from guilt. 6
You see the Christ in him, and he is healed because you look on what
makes faith forever justified in everyone.
T-19.I.11. Faith is the gift of God, through Him Whom God has given
you. 2 Faithlessness looks upon the Son of God, and judges him
unworthy of forgiveness. 3 But through the eyes of faith, the Son of
God is seen already forgiven, free of all the guilt he laid upon himself. 4
Faith sees him only <now> because it looks not to the past to judge
him, but would see in him only what it would see in you. 5 It sees not
through the body's eyes, nor looks to bodies for its justification. 6 It is
the messenger of the new perception, sent forth to gather witnesses
unto its coming, and to return their messages to you. p400
T-19.I.12. Faith is as easily exchanged for knowledge as is the real
world. 2 For faith arises from the Holy Spirit's perception, and is the
sign you share it with Him. 3 Faith is a gift you offer to the Son of God
through Him, and wholly acceptable to his Father as to Him. 4 And
therefore offered you. 5 Your holy relationship, with its new purpose,
offers you faith to give unto your brother. 6 Your faithlessness has
driven you and him apart, and so you do not recognize salvation in
him. 7 Yet faith unites you in the holiness you see, not through the
body's eyes, but in the sight of Him Who joined you, and in Whom you
are united.
T-19.I.13. Grace is not given to a body, but to a mind. 2 And the mind
that receives it looks instantly beyond the body, and sees the holy
place where it was healed. 3 There is the altar where the grace was
given, in which it stands. 4 Do you, then, offer grace and blessing to
your brother, for you stand at the same altar where grace was laid for
both of you. 5 And be you healed by grace together, that you may heal
through faith.
T-19.I.14. In the holy instant, you and your brother stand before the
altar God has raised unto Himself and both of you. 2 Lay faithlessness
aside, and come to it together. 3 There will you see the miracle of your
relationship as it was made again through faith. 4 And there it is that
you will realize that there is nothing faith cannot forgive. 5 No error
interferes with its calm sight, which brings the miracle of healing with
equal ease to all of them. 6 For what the messengers of love are sent
to do they do, returning the glad tidings that it was done to you and
your brother who stand together before the altar from which they were
sent forth.
T-19.I.15. As faithlessness will keep your little kingdoms barren and
separate, so will faith help the Holy Spirit prepare the ground for the
most holy garden that He would make of it. 2 For faith brings peace,
and so it calls on truth to enter and make lovely what has already been
prepared for loveliness. 3 Truth follows faith and peace, completing the
process of making lovely that they begin. 4 For faith is still a learning
goal, no longer needed when the lesson has been learned. 5 Yet truth
will stay forever.
T-19.I.16. Let, then, your dedication be to the eternal, and learn how
not to interfere with it and make it slave to time. 2 For what you think
you do to the eternal you do to <you.> 3 Whom God created as His
Son is slave to nothing, being lord of all, along with his Creator. 4 You
can enslave a body, but an idea is free, incapable of being kept in
prison or limited in any way except by the mind that thought it. p401 5
For it remains joined to its source, which is its jailer or its liberator,
according to which it chooses as its purpose for itself.
8 Take this from me and look upon it, judging it for me.
9 Let me not see it as a sign of sin and death, nor use it for destruction.
10 Teach me how not to make of it an obstacle to peace, but let You
use it for me, to facilitate its coming. p419
Chapter 20.
THE VISION OF HOLINESS
I. Holy Week
T-20.I.1. This is Palm Sunday, the celebration of victory and the
acceptance of the truth. 2 Let us not spend this holy week brooding on
the crucifixion of God's Son, but happily in the celebration of his
release. 3 For Easter is the sign of peace, not pain. 4 A slain Christ has
no meaning. 5 But a risen Christ becomes the symbol of the Son of
God's forgiveness on himself; the sign he looks upon himself as healed
and whole.
T-20.I.2. This week begins with palms and ends with lilies, the white
and holy sign the Son of God is innocent. 2 Let no dark sign of
crucifixion intervene between the journey and its purpose; between the
acceptance of the truth and its expression. 3 This week we celebrate
life, not death. 4 And we honor the perfect purity of the Son of God,
and not his sins. 5 Offer your brother the gift of lilies, not the crown of
thorns; the gift of love and not the "gift" of fear. 6 You stand beside
your brother, thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain which
to give. 7 Join now with me and throw away the thorns, offering the
lilies to replace them. 8 This Easter I would have the gift of your
forgiveness offered by you to me, and returned by me to you. 9 We
cannot be united in crucifixion and in death. 10 Nor can the
resurrection be complete till your forgiveness rests on Christ, along
with mine.
T-20.I.3. A week is short, and yet this holy week is the symbol of the
whole journey the Son of God has undertaken. 2 He started with the
sign of victory, the promise of the resurrection, already given him. 3
Let him not wander into the temptation of crucifixion, and delay him
there. 4 Help him to go in peace beyond it, with the light of his own
innocence lighting his way to his redemption and release. 5 Hold him
not back with thorns and nails when his redemption is so near. 6 But let
the whiteness of your shining gift of lilies speed him on his way to
resurrection.
T-20.I.4. Easter is not the celebration of the <cost> of sin, but of its
<end.> 2 If you see glimpses of the face of Christ behind the veil,
looking between the snow-white petals of the lilies you have received
and given as your gift, you will behold your brother's face and
recognize it. p425 3 I was a stranger and you took me in, not knowing
who I was. 4 Yet for your gift of lilies you will know. 5 In your
forgiveness of this stranger, alien to you and yet your ancient Friend,
lies his release and your redemption with him. 6 The time of Easter is a
time of joy, and not of mourning. 7 Look on your risen Friend, and
celebrate his holiness along with me. 8 For Easter is the time of your
salvation, along with mine.
V. Heralds of Eternity
T-20.V.1. In this world, God's Son comes closest to himself in a holy
relationship. 2 There he begins to find the certainty his Father has in
him. 3 And there he finds his function of restoring his Father's laws to
what was held outside them, and finding what was lost. 4 Only in time
can anything be lost, and never lost forever. 5 So do the parts of God's
Son gradually join in time, and with each joining is the end of time
brought nearer. 6 Each miracle of joining is a mighty herald of eternity.
7 No one who has a single purpose, unified and sure, can be afraid. 8
No one who shares his purpose with him can <not> be one with him.
T-20.V.2. Each herald of eternity sings of the end of sin and fear. 2
Each speaks in time of what is far beyond it. 3 Two voices raised
together call to the hearts of everyone, to let them beat as one. 4 And
in that single heartbeat is the unity of love proclaimed and given
welcome. 5 Peace to your holy relationship, which has the power to
hold the unity of the Son of God together. 6 You give to your brother for
everyone, and in your gift is everyone made glad. 7 Forget not Who
has given you the gifts you give, and through your not forgetting this,
will you remember Who gave the gifts to Him to give to you.
T-20.V.3. It is impossible to overestimate your brother's value. 2 Only
the ego does this, but all it means is that it wants the other for itself,
and therefore values him too little. 3 What is inestimable clearly cannot
be evaluated. 4 Do you recognize the fear that rises from the
meaningless attempt to judge what lies so far beyond your judgment
you cannot even see it? 5 Judge not what is invisible to you or you will
never see it, but wait in patience for its coming. p434 6 It will be given
you to see your brother's worth when all you want for him is peace. 7
And what you want for him you will receive.
T-20.V.4. How can you estimate the worth of him who offers peace to
you? 2 What would you want except his offering? 3 His worth has been
established by his Father, and you will recognize it as you receive his
Father's gift through him. 4 What is in him will shine so brightly in your
grateful vision that you will merely love him and be glad. 5 You will not
think to judge him, for who would see the face of Christ and yet insist
that judgment still has meaning? 6 For this insistence is of those who
do not see. 7 Vision or judgment is your choice, but never both of
these.
T-20.V.5. Your brother's body is as little use to you as it is to him. 2
When it is used only as the Holy Spirit teaches, it has no function. 3 For
minds need not the body to communicate. 4 The sight that sees the
body has no use which serves the purpose of a holy relationship. 5 And
while you look upon your brother thus, the means and end have not
been brought in line. 6 Why should it take so many holy instants to let
this be accomplished, when one would do? 7 There <is> but one. 8
The little breath of eternity that runs through time like golden light is
all the same; nothing before it, nothing afterwards.
T-20.V.6. You look upon each holy instant as a different point in time. 2
It never changes. 3 All that it ever held or will ever hold is here right
now. 4 The past takes nothing from it, and the future will add no more.
5 Here, then, is everything. 6 Here is the loveliness of your
relationship, with means and end in perfect harmony already. 7 Here is
the perfect faith that you will one day offer to your brother already
offered you; and here the limitless forgiveness you will give him
already given, the face of Christ you yet will look upon already seen.
T-20.V.7. Can you evaluate the giver of a gift like this? 2 Would you
exchange this gift for any other? 3 This gift returns the laws of God to
your remembrance. 4 And merely by remembering them, the laws that
held you prisoner to pain and death must be forgotten. 5 This is no gift
your brother's body offers you. 6 The veil that hides the gift hides him
as well. 7 He <is> the gift, and yet he knows it not. 8 No more do you.
9 And yet, have faith that He Who sees the gift in you and your brother
will offer and receive it for you both. 10 And through His vision will you
see it, and through His understanding recognize it and love it as your
own. p435
T-20.V.8. Be comforted, and feel the Holy Spirit watching over you in
love and perfect confidence in what He sees. 2 He knows the Son of
God, and shares his Father's certainty the universe rests in his gentle
hands in safety and in peace. 3 Let us consider now what he must
learn, to share his Father's confidence in him. 4 What is he, that the
Creator of the universe should offer it to him and know it rests in
safety? 5 He looks upon himself not as his Father knows him. 6 And yet
it is impossible the confidence of God should be misplaced.
Chapter 21.
REASON AND PERCEPTION
Introduction
T-21.in.1. Projection makes perception. 2 The world you see is what
you gave it, nothing more than that. 3 But though it is no more than
that, it is not less. 4 Therefore, to you it is important. 5 It is the witness
to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. 6 As a
man thinketh, so does he perceive. 7 Therefore, seek not to change the
world, but choose to change your mind about the world. 8 Perception is
a result and not a cause. 9 And that is why order of difficulty in
miracles is meaningless. 10 Everything looked upon with vision is
healed and holy. 11 Nothing perceived without it means anything. 12
And where there is no meaning, there is chaos.
T-21.in.2. Damnation is your judgment on yourself, and this you will
project upon the world. 2 See it as damned, and all you see is what you
did to hurt the Son of God. 3 If you behold disaster and catastrophe,
you tried to crucify him. 4 If you see holiness and hope, you joined the
Will of God to set him free. 5 There is no choice that lies between these
two decisions. 6 And you will see the witness to the choice you made,
and learn from this to recognize which one you chose. 7 The world you
see but shows you how much joy you have allowed yourself to see in
you, and to accept as yours. 8 And, if this <is> its meaning, then the
power to give it joy must lie within you.
I. The Forgotten Song
T-21.I.1. Never forget the world the sightless "see" must be imagined,
for what it really looks like is unknown to them. 2 They must infer what
could be seen from evidence forever indirect; and reconstruct their
inferences as they stumble and fall because of what they did not
recognize, or walk unharmed through open doorways that they thought
were closed. 3 And so it is with you. 4 You do not see. 5 Your cues for
inference are wrong, and so you stumble and fall down upon the stones
you did not recognize, but fail to be aware you can go through the
doors you thought were closed, but which stand open before unseeing
eyes, waiting to welcome you. p445
T-21.I.2. How foolish is it to attempt to judge what could be seen
instead. 2 It is not necessary to imagine what the world must look like.
3 It must be seen before you recognize it for what it is. 4 You can be
shown which doors are open, and you can see where safety lies; and
which way leads to darkness, which to light. 5 Judgment will always
give you false directions, but vision shows you where to go. 6 Why
should you guess?
T-21.I.3. There is no need to learn through pain. 2 And gentle lessons
are acquired joyously, and are remembered gladly. 3 What gives you
happiness you want to learn and not forget. 4 It is not this you would
deny. 5 Your question is whether the means by which this course is
learned will bring to you the joy it promises. 6 If you believed it would,
the learning of it would be no problem. 7 You are not a happy learner
yet because you still remain uncertain that vision gives you more than
judgment does, and you have learned that both you cannot have.
T-21.I.4. The blind become accustomed to their world by their
adjustments to it. 2 They think they know their way about in it. 3 They
learned it, not through joyous lessons, but through the stern necessity
of limits they believed they could not overcome. 4 And still believing
this, they hold those lessons dear, and cling to them because they
cannot see. 5 They do not understand the lessons <keep> them blind.
6 This they do not believe. 7 And so they keep the world they learned
to "see" in their imagination, believing that their choice is that or
nothing. 8 They hate the world they learned through pain. 9 And
everything they think is in it serves to remind them that they are
incomplete and bitterly deprived.
T-21.I.5. Thus they define their life and where they live, adjusting to it
as they think they must, afraid to lose the little that they have. 2 And
so it is with all who see the body as all they have and all their brothers
have. 3 They try to reach each other, and they fail, and fail again. 4
And they adjust to loneliness, believing that to keep the body is to save
the little that they have. 5 Listen, and try to think if you remember
what we will speak of now.
T-21.I.6. Listen,–perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite
forgotten; dim, perhaps, and yet not altogether unfamiliar, like a song
whose name is long forgotten, and the circumstances in which you
heard completely unremembered. 2 Not the whole song has stayed
with you, but just a little wisp of melody, attached not to a person or a
place or anything particular. p446 3 But you remember, from just this
little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful the setting where
you heard it, and how you loved those who were there and listened
with you.
T-21.I.7. The notes are nothing. 2 Yet you have kept them with you,
not for themselves, but as a soft reminder of what would make you
weep if you remembered how dear it was to you. 3 You could
remember, yet you are afraid, believing you would lose the world you
learned since then. 4 And yet you know that nothing in the world you
learned is half so dear as this. 5 Listen, and see if you remember an
ancient song you knew so long ago and held more dear than any
melody you taught yourself to cherish since.
T-21.I.8. Beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything
you see and yet somehow familiar, is an arc of golden light that
stretches as you look into a great and shining circle. 2 And all the circle
fills with light before your eyes. 3 The edges of the circle disappear,
and what is in it is no longer contained at all. 4 The light expands and
covers everything, extending to infinity forever shining and with no
break or limit anywhere. 5 Within it everything is joined in perfect
continuity. 6 Nor is it possible to imagine that anything could be
outside, for there is nowhere that this light is not.
T-21.I.9. This is the vision of the Son of God, whom you know well. 2
Here is the sight of him who knows his Father. 3 Here is the memory of
what you are; a part of this, with all of it within, and joined to all as
surely as all is joined in you. 4 Accept the vision that can show you this,
and not the body. 5 You know the ancient song, and know it well. 6
Nothing will ever be as dear to you as is this ancient hymn of love the
Son of God sings to his Father still.
T-21.I.10. And now the blind can see, for that same song they sing in
honor of their Creator gives praise to them as well. 2 The blindness
that they made will not withstand the memory of this song. 3 And they
will look upon the vision of the Son of God, remembering who he is
they sing of. 4 What is a miracle but this remembering? 5 And who is
there in whom this memory lies not? 6 The light in one awakens it in
all. 7 And when you see it in your brother, you <are> remembering for
everyone. p447
II. The Responsibility for Sight
T-21.II.1. We have repeated how little is asked of you to learn this
course. 2 It is the same small willingness you need to have your whole
relationship transformed to joy; the little gift you offer to the Holy Spirit
for which He gives you everything; the very little on which salvation
rests; the tiny change of mind by which the crucifixion is changed to
resurrection. 3 And being true, it is so simple that it cannot fail to be
completely understood. 4 Rejected yes, but not ambiguous. 5 And if
you choose against it now it will not be because it is obscure, but
rather that this little cost seemed, in your judgment, to be too much to
pay for peace.
T-21.II.2. This is the only thing that you need do for vision, happiness,
release from pain and the complete escape from sin, all to be given
you. 2 Say only this, but mean it with no reservations, for here the
power of salvation lies:
6 Deceive yourself no longer that you are helpless in the face of what
is done to you. 7 Acknowledge but that you have been mistaken, and
all effects of your mistakes will disappear.
T-21.II.3. It is impossible the Son of God be merely driven by events
outside of him. 2 It is impossible that happenings that come to him
were not his choice. 3 His power of decision is the determiner of every
situation in which he seems to find himself by chance or accident. 4 No
accident nor chance is possible within the universe as God created it,
outside of which is nothing. 5 Suffer, and you decided sin was your
goal. 6 Be happy, and you gave the power of decision to Him Who
must decide for God for you. 7 This is the little gift you offer to the Holy
Spirit, and even this He gives to you to give yourself. 8 For by this gift
is given you the power to release your savior, that he may give
salvation unto you.
T-21.II.4. Begrudge not then this little offering. 2 Withhold it, and you
keep the world as now you see it. 3 Give it away, and everything you
see goes with it. 4 Never was so much given for so little. 5 In the holy
instant is this exchange effected and maintained. 6 Here is the world
you do not want brought to the one you do. p448 7 And here the one
you do is given you because you want it. 8 Yet for this, the power of
your wanting must first be recognized. 9 You must accept its strength,
and not its weakness. 10 You must perceive that what is strong enough
to make a world can let it go, and can accept correction if it is willing to
see that it was wrong.
T-21.II.5. The world you see is but the idle witness that you were right.
2 This witness is insane. 3 You trained it in its testimony, and as it gave
it back to you, you listened and convinced yourself that what it saw
was true. 4 You did this to yourself. 5 See only this, and you will also
see how circular the reasoning on which your "seeing" rests. 6 This was
not given you. 7 This was your gift to you and to your brother. 8 Be
willing, then, to have it taken from him and be replaced with truth. 9
And as you look upon the change in him, it will be given you to see it in
yourself.
T-21.II.6. Perhaps you do not see the need for you to give this little
offering. 2 Look closer, then, at what it is. 3 And, very simply, see in it
the whole exchange of separation for salvation. 4 All that the ego is, is
an idea that it is possible that things could happen to the Son of God
without his will; and thus without the Will of his Creator, Whose Will
cannot be separate from his own. 5 This is the Son of God's
replacement for his will, a mad revolt against what must forever be. 6
This is the statement that he has the power to make God powerless
and so to take it for himself, and leave himself without what God has
willed for him. 7 This is the mad idea you have enshrined upon your
altars, and which you worship. 8 And anything that threatens this
seems to attack your faith, for here is it invested. 9 Think not that you
are faithless, for your belief and trust in this is strong indeed.
T-21.II.7. The Holy Spirit can give you faith in holiness and vision to
see it easily enough. 2 But you have not left open and unoccupied the
altar where the gifts belong. 3 Where they should be, you have set up
your idols to something else. 4 This other "will," which seems to tell
you what must happen, you give reality. 5 And what would show you
otherwise must therefore seem unreal. 6 All that is asked of you is to
make room for truth. 7 You are not asked to make or do what lies
beyond your understanding. 8 All you are asked to do is <let it in;>
only to stop your interference with what will happen of itself; simply to
recognize again the presence of what you thought you gave away.
T-21.II.8. Be willing, for an instant, to leave your altars free of what
you placed upon them, and what is really there you cannot fail to see.
p449 2 The holy instant is not an instant of creation, but of recognition.
3 For recognition comes of vision and suspended judgment. 4 Then
only it is possible to look within and see what must be there, plainly in
sight, and wholly independent of inference and judgment. 5 Undoing is
not your task, but it <is> up to you to welcome it or not. 6 Faith and
desire go hand in hand, for everyone believes in what he wants.
T-21.II.9. We have already said that wishful thinking is how the ego
deals with what it wants, to make it so. 2 There is no better
demonstration of the power of wanting, and therefore of faith, to make
its goals seem real and possible. 3 Faith in the unreal leads to
adjustments of reality to make it fit the goal of madness. 4 The goal of
sin induces the perception of a fearful world to justify its purpose. 5
What you desire, you will see. 6 And if its reality is false, you will
uphold it by not realizing all the adjustments you have introduced to
make it so.
T-21.II.10. When vision is denied, confusion of cause and effect
becomes inevitable. 2 The purpose now becomes to keep obscure the
cause of the effect, and make effect appear to be a cause. 3 This
seeming independence of effect enables it to be regarded as standing
by itself, and capable of serving as a cause of the events and feelings
its maker thinks it causes. 4 Earlier, we spoke of your desire to create
your own creator, and be father and not son to him. 5 This is the same
desire. 6 The Son is the Effect, whose Cause he would deny. 7 And so
he seems to <be> the cause, producing real effects. 8 Nothing can
have effects without a cause, and to confuse the two is merely to fail to
understand them both.
T-21.II.11. It is as needful that you recognize you made the world you
see, as that you recognize that you did not create yourself. 2 <They
are the same mistake.> 3 Nothing created not by your Creator has any
influence over you. 4 And if you think what you have made can tell you
what you see and feel, and place your faith in its ability to do so, you
are denying your Creator and believing that you made yourself. 5 For if
you think the world you made has power to make you what it wills, you
are confusing Son and Father; effect and Source.
T-21.II.12. The Son's creations are like his Father's. 2 Yet in creating
them the Son does not delude himself that he is independent of his
Source. 3 His union with It is the source of his creating. 4 Apart from
this he has no power to create, and what he makes is meaningless.
p450 5 It changes nothing in creation, depends entirely upon the
madness of its maker, and cannot serve to justify the madness. 6 Your
brother thinks he made the world with you. 7 Thus he denies creation.
8 With you, he thinks the world he made, made him. 9 Thus he denies
he made it.
T-21.II.13. Yet the truth is you and your brother were both created by a
loving Father, Who created you together and as one. 2 See what
"proves" otherwise, and you deny your whole reality. 3 But grant that
everything that seems to stand between you and your brother, keeping
you from each other and separate from your Father, you made in
secret, and the instant of release has come to you. 4 All its effects are
gone, because its source has been uncovered. 5 It is its seeming
independence of its source that keeps you prisoner. 6 This is the same
mistake as thinking you are independent of the Source by which you
were created, and have never left.
T-21.VII.6. You may already have answered the first three questions, but
not yet the last. 2 For this one still seems fearful, and unlike the others.
3 Yet reason would assure you they are all the same. 4 We said this
year would emphasize the sameness of things that are the same. 5
This final question, which is indeed the last you need decide, still
seems to hold a threat the rest have lost for you. 6 And this imagined
difference attests to your belief that truth may be the enemy you yet
may find. 7 Here, then, would seem to be the last remaining hope of
finding sin, and not accepting power.
T-21.VII.7. Forget not that the choice of sin or truth, helplessness or
power, is the choice of whether to attack or heal. 2 For healing comes
of power, and attack of helplessness. 3 Whom you attack you
<cannot> want to heal. 4 And whom you would have healed must be
the one you chose to be protected from attack. 5 And what is this
decision but the choice whether to see him through the body's eyes, or
let him be revealed to you through vision? 6 How this decision leads to
its effects is not your problem. 7 But what you want to see must be
your choice. 8 This is a course in cause and not effect.
T-21.VII.8. Consider carefully your answer to the last question you have
left unanswered still. 2 And let your reason tell you that it must be
answered, and is answered in the other three. 3 And then it will be
clear to you that, as you look on the effects of sin in any form, all you
need do is simply ask yourself: p463
T-21.VII.9. This is your one decision; this the condition for what occurs.
2 It is irrelevant to how it happens, but not to why. 3 You <have>
control of this. 4 And if you choose to see a world without an enemy, in
which you are not helpless, the means to see it will be given you.
Chapter 22.
SALVATION AND THE HOLY RELATIONSHIP
Introduction
T-22.in.1. Take pity on yourself, so long enslaved. 2 Rejoice whom God
hath joined have come together and need no longer look on sin apart.
3 No two can look on sin together, for they could never see it in the
same place and time. 4 Sin is a strictly individual perception, seen in
the other yet believed by each to be within himself. 5 And each one
seems to make a different error, and one the other cannot understand.
6 Brother, it is the same, made by the same, and forgiven for its maker
in the same way. 7 The holiness of your relationship forgives you and
your brother, undoing the effects of what you both believed and saw. 8
And with their going is the need for sin gone with them.
T-22.in.2. Who has need for sin? 2 Only the lonely and alone, who see
their brothers different from themselves. 3 It is this difference, seen
but not real, that makes the need for sin, not real but seen, seem
justified. 4 And all this would be real if sin were so. 5 For an unholy
relationship is based on differences, where each one thinks the other
has what he has not. 6 They come together, each to complete himself
and rob the other. 7 They stay until they think that there is nothing left
to steal, and then move on. 8 And so they wander through a world of
strangers, unlike themselves, living with their bodies perhaps under a
common roof that shelters neither; in the same room and yet a world
apart.
T-22.in.3. A holy relationship starts from a different premise. 2 Each
one has looked within and seen no lack. 3 Accepting his completion, he
would extend it by joining with another, whole as himself. 4 He sees no
difference between these selves, for differences are only of the body. 5
Therefore, he looks on nothing he would take. 6 He denies not his own
reality <because> it is the truth. 7 Just under Heaven does he stand,
but close enough not to return to earth. 8 For this relationship has
Heaven's Holiness. 9 How far from home can a relationship so like to
Heaven be?
T-22.in.4. Think what a holy relationship can teach! 2 Here is belief in
differences undone. 3 Here is the faith in differences shifted to
sameness. 4 And here is sight of differences transformed to vision.
p467 5 Reason now can lead you and your brother to the logical
conclusion of your union. 6 It must extend, as you extended when you
and he joined. 7 It must reach out beyond itself, as you reached out
beyond the body, to let you and your brother be joined. 8 And now the
sameness that you saw extends and finally removes all sense of
differences, so that the sameness that lies beneath them all becomes
apparent. 9 Here is the golden circle where you recognize the Son of
God. 10 For what is born into a holy relationship can never end.
Chapter 23.
THE WAR AGAINST YOURSELF
Introduction
T-23.in.1. Do you not see the opposite of frailty and weakness is
sinlessness? 2 Innocence is strength, and nothing else is strong. 3 The
sinless cannot fear, for sin of any kind is weakness. 4 The show of
strength attack would use to cover frailty conceals it not, for how can
the unreal be hidden? 5 No one is strong who has an enemy, and no
one can attack unless he thinks he has. 6 Belief in enemies is therefore
the belief in weakness, and what is weak is not the Will of God. 7 Being
opposed to it, it is God's "enemy." 8 And God is feared as an opposing
will.
T-23.in.2. How strange indeed becomes this war against yourself! 2
You will believe that everything you use for sin can hurt you and
become your enemy. 3 And you will fight against it, and try to weaken
it because of this; and you will think that you succeeded, and attack
again. 4 It is as certain you will fear what you attack as it is sure that
you will love what you perceive as sinless. 5 He walks in peace who
travels sinlessly along the way love shows him. 6 For love walks with
him there, protecting him from fear. 7 And he will see only the sinless,
who can not attack.
T-23.in.3. Walk you in glory, with your head held high, and fear no evil.
2 The innocent are safe because they share their innocence. 3 Nothing
they see is harmful, for their awareness of the truth releases
everything from the illusion of harmfulness. 4 And what seemed
harmful now stands shining in their innocence, released from sin and
fear and happily returned to love. 5 They share the strength of love
<because> they looked on innocence. 6 And every error disappeared
because they saw it not. 7 Who looks for glory finds it where it is. 8
Where could it be but in the innocent?
T-23.in.4. Let not the little interferers pull you to littleness. 2 There can
be no attraction of guilt in innocence. 3 Think what a happy world you
walk, with truth beside you! 4 Do not give up this world of freedom for
a little sigh of seeming sin, nor for a tiny stirring of guilt's attraction. 5
Would you, for all these meaningless distractions, lay Heaven aside? 6
Your destiny and purpose are far beyond them, in the clean place
where littleness does not exist. p485 7 Your purpose is at variance with
littleness of any kind. 8 And so it is at variance with sin.
T-23.in.5. Let us not let littleness lead God's Son into temptation. 2 His
glory is beyond it, measureless and timeless as eternity. 3 Do not let
time intrude upon your sight of him. 4 Leave him not frightened and
alone in his temptation, but help him rise above it and perceive the
light of which he is a part. 5 Your innocence will light the way to his,
and so is yours protected and kept in your awareness. 6 For who can
know his glory, and perceive the little and the weak about him? 7 Who
can walk trembling in a fearful world, and realize that Heaven's glory
shines on him?
T-23.in.6. Nothing around you but is part of you. 2 Look on it lovingly,
and see the light of Heaven in it. 3 So will you come to understand all
that is given you. 4 In kind forgiveness will the world sparkle and shine,
and everything you once thought sinful now will be reinterpreted as
part of Heaven. 5 How beautiful it is to walk, clean and redeemed and
happy, through a world in bitter need of the redemption that your
innocence bestows upon it! 6 What can you value more than this? 7 For
here is your salvation and your freedom. 8 And it must be complete if
you would recognize it.
Chapter 24.
THE GOAL OF SPECIALNESS
Introduction
T-24.in.1. Forget not that the motivation for this course is the
attainment and the keeping of the state of peace. 2 Given this state
the mind is quiet, and the condition in which God is remembered is
attained. 3 It is not necessary to tell Him what to do. 4 He will not fail.
5 Where He can enter, there He is already. 6 And can it be He cannot
enter where He wills to be? 7 Peace will be yours <because> it is His
Will. 8 Can you believe a shadow can hold back the Will that holds the
universe secure? 9 God does not wait upon illusions to let Him be
Himself. 10 No more His Son. 11 They <are.> 12 And what illusion that
idly seems to drift between Them has the power to defeat what is Their
Will?
T-24.in.2. To learn this course requires willingness to question every
value that you hold. 2 Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it
will jeopardize your learning. 3 No belief is neutral. 4 Every one has the
power to dictate each decision you make. 5 For a decision is a
conclusion based on everything that you believe. 6 It is the outcome of
belief, and follows it as surely as does suffering follow guilt and
freedom sinlessness. 7 There is no substitute for peace. 8 What God
creates has no alternative. 9 The truth arises from what He knows. 10
And your decisions come from your beliefs as certainly as all creation
rose in His Mind <because> of what He knows.
T-24.VII.9. Look at yourself, and you will see a body. 2 Look at this body
in a different light and it looks different. 3 And without a light it seems
that it is gone. 4 Yet you are reassured that it is there because you still
can feel it with your hands and hear it move. 5 Here is an image that
you want to be yourself. 6 It is the means to make your wish come
true. 7 It gives the eyes with which you look on it, the hands that feel
it, and the ears with which you listen to the sounds it makes. 8 It
proves its own reality to you.
T-24.VII.10. Thus is the body made a theory of yourself, with no
provisions made for evidence beyond itself, and no escape within its
sight. 2 Its course is sure, when seen through its own eyes. 3 It grows
and withers, flourishes and dies. 4 And you cannot conceive of you
apart from it. 5 You brand it sinful and you hate its acts, judging it evil.
p516 6 Yet your specialness whispers, "Here is my own beloved son, in
whom I am well pleased." 7 Thus does the "son" become the means to
serve his "father's" purpose. 8 Not identical, not even like, but still a
means to offer to the "father" what he wants. 9 Such is the travesty on
God's creation. 10 For as His Son's creation gave Him joy and witness
to His Love and shared His purpose, so does the body testify to the
idea that made it, and speak for its reality and truth.
T-24.VII.11. And thus are two sons made, and both appear to walk
this earth without a meeting place and no encounter. 2 One do you
perceive outside yourself, your own beloved son. 3 The other rests
within, his Father's Son, within your brother as he is in you. 4 Their
difference does not lie in how they look, nor where they go, nor even
what they do. 5 They have a different purpose. 6 It is this that joins
them to their like, and separates each from all aspects with a different
purpose. 7 The Son of God retains his Father's Will. 8 The son of man
perceives an alien will and wishes it were so. 9 And thus does his
perception serve his wish by giving it appearances of truth. 10 Yet can
perception serve another goal. 11 It is not bound to specialness but by
your choice. 12 And it is given you to make a different choice, and use
perception for a different purpose. 13 And what you see will serve that
purpose well, and prove its own reality to you. p517
Chapter 25.
THE JUSTICE OF GOD
Introduction
T-25.in.1. The Christ in you inhabits not a body. 2 Yet He is in you. 3
And thus it must be that you are not within a body. 4 What is within you
cannot be outside. 5 And it is certain that you cannot be apart from
what is at the very center of your life. 6 What gives you life cannot be
housed in death. 7 No more can you. 8 Christ is within a frame of
Holiness whose only purpose is that He may be made manifest to
those who know Him not, that He may call to them to come to Him and
see Him where they thought their bodies were. 9 Then will their bodies
melt away, that they may frame His Holiness in them.
T-25.in.2. No one who carries Christ in him can fail to recognize Him
everywhere. 2 <Except> in bodies. 3 And as long as he believes he is
in a body, where he thinks he is He cannot be. 4 And so he carries Him
unknowingly, and does not make Him manifest. 5 And thus he does not
recognize Him where He is. 6 The son of man is not the risen Christ. 7
Yet does the Son of God abide exactly where he is, and walks with him
within his holiness, as plain to see as is his specialness set forth within
his body.
T-25.in.3. The body needs no healing. 2 But the mind that thinks it is a
body is sick indeed! 3 And it is here that Christ sets forth the remedy. 4
His purpose folds the body in His light, and fills it with the Holiness that
shines from Him. 5 And nothing that the body says or does but makes
Him manifest. 6 To those who know Him not it carries Him in
gentleness and love, to heal their minds. 7 Such is the mission that
your brother has for you. 8 And such it must be that your mission is for
him.
7 What is the same can not be different, and what is one can not have
separate parts.
Chapter 26.
THE TRANSITION
I. The "Sacrifice" of Oneness
T-26.I.1. In the "dynamics" of attack is sacrifice a key idea. 2 It is the
pivot upon which all compromise, all desperate attempts to strike a
bargain, and all conflicts achieve a seeming balance. 3 It is the symbol
of the central theme that <somebody must lose.> 4 Its focus on the
body is apparent, for it is always an attempt to limit loss. 5 The body is
itself a sacrifice; a giving up of power in the name of saving just a little
for yourself. 6 To see a brother in another body, separate from yours, is
the expression of a wish to see a little part of him and sacrifice the
rest. 7 Look at the world, and you will see nothing attached to anything
beyond itself. 8 All seeming entities can come a little nearer, or go a
little farther off, but cannot join.
T-26.I.2. The world you see is based on "sacrifice" of oneness. 2 It is a
picture of complete disunity and total lack of joining. 3 Around each
entity is built a wall so seeming solid that it looks as if what is inside
can never reach without, and what is out can never reach and join with
what is locked away within the wall. 4 Each part must sacrifice the
other part, to keep itself complete. 5 For if they joined each one would
lose its own identity, and by their separation are their selves
maintained.
T-26.I.3. The little that the body fences off becomes the self,
preserved through sacrifice of all the rest. 2 And all the rest must lose
this little part, remaining incomplete to keep its own identity intact. 3
In this perception of yourself the body's loss would be a sacrifice
indeed. 4 For sight of bodies becomes the sign that sacrifice is limited,
and something still remains for you alone. 5 And for this little to belong
to you are limits placed on everything outside, just as they are on
everything you think is yours. 6 For giving and receiving are the same.
7 And to accept the limits of a body is to impose these limits on each
brother whom you see. 8 For you must see him as you see yourself.
T-26.I.4. The body <is> a loss, and <can> be made to sacrifice. 2
And while you see your brother as a body, apart from you and separate
in his cell, you are demanding sacrifice of him and you. 3 What greater
sacrifice could be demanded than that God's Son perceive himself
without his Father? p542 4 And his Father be without His Son? 5 Yet
every sacrifice demands that they be separate and without the other. 6
The memory of God must be denied if any sacrifice is asked of anyone.
7 What witness to the Wholeness of God's Son is seen within a world of
separate bodies, however much he witnesses to truth? 8 He is invisible
in such a world. 9 Nor can his song of union and of love be heard at all.
10 Yet is it given him to make the world recede before his song, and
sight of him replace the body's eyes.
T-26.I.5. Those who would see the witnesses to truth instead of to
illusion merely ask that they might see a purpose in the world that
gives it sense and makes it meaningful. 2 Without your special function
has this world no meaning for you. 3 Yet it can become a treasure
house as rich and limitless as Heaven itself. 4 No instant passes here in
which your brother's holiness cannot be seen, to add a limitless supply
to every meager scrap and tiny crumb of happiness that you allot
yourself.
T-26.I.6. You can lose sight of oneness, but can not make sacrifice of
its reality. 2 Nor can you lose what you would sacrifice, nor keep the
Holy Spirit from His task of showing you that it has not been lost. 3
Hear, then, the song your brother sings to you, and let the world
recede, and take the rest his witness offers on behalf of peace. 4 But
judge him not, for you will hear no song of liberation for yourself, nor
see what it is given him to witness to, that you may see it and rejoice
with him. 5 Make not his holiness a sacrifice to your belief in sin. 6 You
sacrifice your innocence with his, and die each time you see in him a
sin deserving death.
T-26.I.7. Yet every instant can you be reborn, and given life again. 2
His holiness gives life to you, who cannot die because his sinlessness is
known to God; and can no more be sacrificed by you than can the light
in you be blotted out because he sees it not. 3 You who would make a
sacrifice of life, and make your eyes and ears bear witness to the death
of God and of His holy Son, think not that you have power to make of
Them what God willed not They be. 4 In Heaven, God's Son is not
imprisoned in a body, nor is sacrificed in solitude to sin. 5 And as he is
in Heaven, so must he be eternally and everywhere. 6 He is the same
forever. 7 Born again each instant, untouched by time, and far beyond
the reach of any sacrifice of life or death. 8 For neither did he make,
and only one was given him by One Who knows His gifts can never
suffer sacrifice and loss. p543
T-26.I.8. God's justice rests in gentleness upon His Son, and keeps
him safe from all injustice the world would lay upon him. 2 Could it be
that you could make his sins reality, and sacrifice his Father's Will for
him? 3 Condemn him not by seeing him within the rotting prison where
he sees himself. 4 It is your special function to ensure the door be
opened, that he may come forth to shine on you, and give you back
the gift of freedom by receiving it of you. 5 What is the Holy Spirit's
special function but to release the holy Son of God from the
imprisonment he made to keep himself from justice? 6 Could your
function be a task apart and separate from His Own?
Chapter 27.
THE HEALING OF THE DREAM
I. The Picture of Crucifixion
T-27.I.1. The wish to be unfairly treated is a compromise attempt that
would combine attack and innocence. 2 Who can combine the wholly
incompatible, and make a unity of what can never join? 3 Walk you the
gentle way, and you will fear no evil and no shadows in the night. 4 But
place no terror symbols on your path, or you will weave a crown of
thorns from which your brother and yourself will not escape. 5 You
cannot crucify yourself alone. 6 And if you are unfairly treated, he must
suffer the unfairness that you see. 7 You cannot sacrifice yourself
alone. 8 For sacrifice is total. 9 If it could occur at all it would entail the
whole of God's creation, and the Father with the sacrifice of His
beloved Son.
T-27.I.2. In your release from sacrifice is his made manifest, and
shown to be his own. 2 But every pain you suffer do you see as proof
that he is guilty of attack. 3 Thus would you make yourself to be the
sign that he has lost his innocence, and need but look on you to realize
that he has been condemned. 4 And what to you has been unfair will
come to him in righteousness. 5 The unjust vengeance that you suffer
now belongs to him, and when it rests on him are you set free. 6 Wish
not to make yourself a living symbol of his guilt, for you will not escape
the death you made for him. 7 But in his innocence you find your own.
T-27.I.3. Whenever you consent to suffer pain, to be deprived,
unfairly treated or in need of anything, you but accuse your brother of
attack upon God's Son. 2 You hold a picture of your crucifixion before
his eyes, that he may see his sins are writ in Heaven in your blood and
death, and go before him, closing off the gate and damning him to hell.
3 Yet this is writ in hell and not in Heaven, where you are beyond
attack and prove his innocence. 4 The picture of yourself you offer him
you show yourself, and give it all your faith. 5 The Holy Spirit offers
you, to give to him, a picture of yourself in which there is no pain and
no reproach at all. 6 And what was martyred to his guilt becomes the
perfect witness to his innocence.
T-27.I.4. The power of witness is beyond belief because it brings
conviction in its wake. p565 2 The witness is believed because he
points beyond himself to what he represents. 3 A sick and suffering you
but represents your brother's guilt; the witness that you send lest he
forget the injuries he gave, from which you swear he never will escape.
4 This sick and sorry picture <you> accept, if only it can serve to
punish him. 5 The sick are merciless to everyone, and in contagion do
they seek to kill. 6 Death seems an easy price, if they can say, "Behold
me, brother, at your hand I die." 7 For sickness is the witness to his
guilt, and death would prove his errors must be sins. 8 Sickness is but
a "little" death; a form of vengeance not yet total. 9 Yet it speaks with
certainty for what it represents. 10 The bleak and bitter picture you
have sent your brother <you> have looked upon in grief. 11 And
everything that it has shown to him have you believed, because it
witnessed to the guilt in him which you perceived and loved.
T-27.I.5. Now in the hands made gentle by His touch, the Holy Spirit
lays a picture of a different you. 2 It is a picture of a body still, for what
you really are cannot be seen nor pictured. 3 Yet this one has not been
used for purpose of attack, and therefore never suffered pain at all. 4 It
witnesses to the eternal truth that you cannot be hurt, and points
beyond itself to both your innocence and his. 5 Show this unto your
brother, who will see that every scar is healed, and every tear is wiped
away in laughter and in love. 6 And he will look on his forgiveness
there, and with healed eyes will look beyond it to the innocence that he
beholds in you. 7 Here is the proof that he has never sinned; that
nothing which his madness bid him do was ever done, or ever had
effects of any kind. 8 That no reproach he laid upon his heart was ever
justified, and no attack can ever touch him with the poisoned and
relentless sting of fear.
T-27.I.6. Attest his innocence and not his guilt. 2 Your healing is his
comfort and his health because it proves illusions are not true. 3 It is
not will for life but wish for death that is the motivation for this world. 4
Its only purpose is to prove guilt real. 5 No worldly thought or act or
feeling has a motivation other than this one. 6 These are the witnesses
that are called forth to be believed, and lend conviction to the system
they speak for and represent. 7 And each has many voices, speaking to
your brother and yourself in different tongues. 8 And yet to both the
message is the same. 9 Adornment of the body seeks to show how
lovely are the witnesses for guilt. 10 Concerns about the body
demonstrate how frail and vulnerable is your life; how easily destroyed
is what you love. p566 11 Depression speaks of death, and vanity of
real concern with anything at all.
T-27.I.7. The strongest witness to futility, that bolsters all the rest and
helps them paint the picture in which sin is justified, is sickness in
whatever form it takes. 2 The sick have reason for each one of their
unnatural desires and strange needs. 3 For who could live a life so soon
cut short and not esteem the worth of passing joys? 4 What pleasures
could there be that will endure? 5 Are not the frail entitled to believe
that every stolen scrap of pleasure is their righteous payment for their
little lives? 6 Their death will pay the price for all of them, if they enjoy
their benefits or not. 7 The end of life must come, whatever way that
life be spent. 8 And so take pleasure in the quickly passing and
ephemeral.
T-27.I.8. These are not sins, but witnesses unto the strange belief that
sin and death are real, and innocence and sin will end alike within the
termination of the grave. 2 If this were true, there would be reason to
remain content to seek for passing joys and cherish little pleasures
where you can. 3 Yet in this picture is the body not perceived as neutral
and without a goal inherent in itself. 4 For it becomes the symbol of
reproach, the sign of guilt whose consequences still are there to see, so
that the cause can never be denied.
T-27.I.9. Your function is to show your brother sin can have no cause.
2 How futile must it be to see yourself a picture of the proof that what
your function is can never be! 3 The Holy Spirit's picture changes not
the body into something it is not. 4 It only takes away from it all signs
of accusation and of blamefulness. 5 Pictured without a purpose, it is
seen as neither sick nor well, nor bad nor good. 6 No grounds are
offered that it may be judged in any way at all. 7 It has no life, but
neither is it dead. 8 It stands apart from all experience of love or fear. 9
For now it witnesses to nothing yet, its purpose being open, and the
mind made free again to choose what it is for. 10 Now is it not
condemned, but waiting for a purpose to be given, that it may fulfill the
function that it will receive.
T-27.I.10. Into this empty space, from which the goal of sin has been
removed, is Heaven free to be remembered. 2 Here its peace can
come, and perfect healing take the place of death. 3 The body can
become a sign of life, a promise of redemption, and a breath of
immortality to those grown sick of breathing in the fetid scent of death.
p567 4 Let it have healing as its purpose. 5 Then will it send forth the
message it received, and by its health and loveliness proclaim the truth
and value that it represents. 6 Let it receive the power to represent an
endless life, forever unattacked. 7 And to your brother let its message
be, "Behold me, brother, at your hand I live."
T-27.I.11. The simple way to let this be achieved is merely this; to let
the body have no purpose from the past, when you were sure you
knew its purpose was to foster guilt. 2 For this insists your crippled
picture is a lasting sign of what it represents. 3 This leaves no space in
which a different view, another purpose, can be given it. 4 You do
<not> know its purpose. 5 You but gave illusions of a purpose to a
thing you made to hide your function from yourself. 6 This thing
without a purpose cannot hide the function that the Holy Spirit gave. 7
Let, then, its purpose and your function both be reconciled at last and
seen as one.
Chapter 28.
THE UNDOING OF FEAR
I. The Present Memory
T-28.I.1. The miracle does nothing. 2 All it does is to undo. 3 And thus
it cancels out the interference to what has been done. 4 It does not
add, but merely takes away. 5 And what it takes away is long since
gone, but being kept in memory appears to have immediate effects. 6
This world was over long ago. 7 The thoughts that made it are no
longer in the mind that thought of them and loved them for a little
while. 8 The miracle but shows the past is gone, and what has truly
gone has no effects. 9 Remembering a cause can but produce illusions
of its presence, not effects.
T-28.I.2. All the effects of guilt are here no more. 2 For guilt is over. 3
In its passing went its consequences, left without a cause. 4 Why would
you cling to it in memory if you did not desire its effects? 5
Remembering is as selective as perception, being its past tense. 6 It is
perception of the past as if it were occurring now, and still were there
to see. 7 Memory, like perception, is a skill made up by you to take the
place of what God gave in your creation. 8 And like all the things you
made, it can be used to serve another purpose, and to be the means
for something else. 9 It can be used to heal and not to hurt, if you so
wish it be.
T-28.I.3. Nothing employed for healing represents an effort to do
anything at all. 2 It is a recognition that you have no needs which
mean that something must be done. 3 It is an unselective memory,
that is not used to interfere with truth. 4 All things the Holy Spirit can
employ for healing have been given Him, without the content and the
purposes for which they have been made. 5 They are but skills without
an application. 6 They await their use. 7 They have no dedication and
no aim.
T-28.I.4. The Holy Spirit can indeed make use of memory, for God
Himself is there. 2 Yet this is not a memory of past events, but only of a
present state. 3 You are so long accustomed to believe that memory
holds only what is past, that it is hard for you to realize it is a skill that
can remember <now.> 4 The limitations on remembering the world
imposes on it are as vast as those you let the world impose on you. 5
There is no link of memory to the past. 6 If you would have it there,
then there it is. p589 7 But only your desire made the link, and only
you have held it to a part of time where guilt appears to linger still.
T-28.I.5. The Holy Spirit's use of memory is quite apart from time. 2
He does not seek to use it as a means to keep the past, but rather as a
way to let it go. 3 Memory holds the message it receives, and does
what it is given it to do. 4 It does not write the message, nor appoint
what it is for. 5 Like to the body, it is purposeless within itself. 6 And if
it seems to serve to cherish ancient hate, and gives you pictures of
injustices and hurts that you were saving, this is what you asked its
message be and that it is. 7 Committed to its vaults, the history of all
the body's past is hidden there. 8 All of the strange associations made
to keep the past alive, the present dead, are stored within it, waiting
your command that they be brought to you, and lived again. 9 And
thus do their effects appear to be increased by time, which took away
their cause.
T-28.I.6. Yet time is but another phase of what does nothing. 2 It
works hand in hand with all the other attributes with which you seek to
keep concealed the truth about yourself. 3 Time neither takes away nor
can restore. 4 And yet you make strange use of it, as if the past had
caused the present, which is but a consequence in which no change
can be made possible because its cause has gone. 5 Yet change must
have a cause that will endure, or else it will not last. 6 No change can
be made in the present if its cause is past. 7 Only the past is held in
memory as you make use of it, and so it is a way to hold the past
against the now.
T-28.I.7. Remember nothing that you taught yourself, for you were
badly taught. 2 And who would keep a senseless lesson in his mind,
when he can learn and can preserve a better one? 3 When ancient
memories of hate appear, remember that their cause is gone. 4 And so
you cannot understand what they are for. 5 Let not the cause that you
would give them now be what it was that made them what they were,
or seemed to be. 6 Be glad that it is gone, for this is what you would be
pardoned from. 7 And see, instead, the new effects of cause accepted
<now,> with consequences <here.> 8 They will surprise you with their
loveliness. 9 The ancient new ideas they bring will be the happy
consequences of a Cause so ancient that It far exceeds the span of
memory which your perception sees.
T-28.I.8. This is the Cause the Holy Spirit has remembered for you,
when you would forget. 2 It is not past because He let It not be
unremembered. 3 It has never changed, because there never was a
time in which He did not keep It safely in your mind. 4 Its
consequences will indeed seem new, because you thought that you
remembered not their Cause. 5 Yet was It never absent from your
mind, for it was not your Father's Will that He be unremembered by His
Son.
T-28.I.9. What <you> remember never was. 2 It came from
causelessness which you confused with cause. p590 3 It can deserve
but laughter, when you learn you have remembered consequences
that were causeless and could never be effects. 4 The miracle reminds
you of a Cause forever present, perfectly untouched by time and
interference. 5 Never changed from what It is. 6 And you are Its Effect,
as changeless and as perfect as Itself. 7 Its memory does not lie in the
past, nor waits the future. 8 It is not revealed in miracles. 9 They but
remind you that It has not gone. 10 When you forgive It for your sins, It
will no longer be denied.
T-28.I.10. You who have sought to lay a judgment on your own Creator
cannot understand it is not He Who laid a judgment on His Son. 2 You
would deny Him His Effects, yet have They never been denied. 3 There
was no time in which His Son could be condemned for what was
causeless and against His Will. 4 What your remembering would
witness to is but the fear of God. 5 He has not done the thing you fear.
6 No more have you. 7 And so your innocence has not been lost. 8 You
need no healing to be healed. 9 In quietness, see in the miracle a
lesson in allowing Cause to have Its Own Effects, and doing nothing
that would interfere.
T-28.I.11. The miracle comes quietly into the mind that stops an
instant and is still. 2 It reaches gently from that quiet time, and from
the mind it healed in quiet then, to other minds to share its quietness.
3 And they will join in doing nothing to prevent its radiant extension
back into the Mind which caused all minds to be. 4 Born out of sharing,
there can be no pause in time to cause the miracle delay in hastening
to all unquiet minds, and bringing them an instant's stillness, when the
memory of God returns to them. 5 Their own remembering is quiet
now, and what has come to take its place will not be wholly
unremembered afterwards.
T-28.I.12. He to Whom time is given offers thanks for every quiet
instant given Him. 2 For in that instant is God's memory allowed to
offer all its treasures to the Son of God, for whom they have been kept.
3 How gladly does He offer them unto the one for whom He has been
given them! 4 And His Creator shares His thanks, because He would
not be deprived of His Effects. p591 5 The instant's silence that His Son
accepts gives welcome to eternity and Him, and lets Them enter where
They would abide. 6 For in that instant does the Son of God do nothing
that would make himself afraid.
T-28.I.13. How instantly the memory of God arises in the mind that has
no fear to keep the memory away! 2 Its own remembering has gone. 3
There is no past to keep its fearful image in the way of glad awakening
to present peace. 4 The trumpets of eternity resound throughout the
stillness, yet disturb it not. 5 And what is now remembered is not fear,
but rather is the Cause that fear was made to render unremembered
and undone. 6 The stillness speaks in gentle sounds of love the Son of
God remembers from before his own remembering came in between
the present and the past, to shut them out.
T-28.I.14. Now is the Son of God at last aware of present Cause and Its
benign Effects. 2 Now does he understand what he has made is
causeless, having no effects at all. 3 He has done nothing. 4 And in
seeing this, he understands he never had a need for doing anything,
and never did. 5 His Cause <is> Its Effects. 6 There never was a cause
beside It that could generate a different past or future. 7 Its Effects are
changelessly eternal, beyond fear, and past the world of sin entirely.
T-28.I.15. What has been lost, to see the causeless not? 2 And where is
sacrifice, when memory of God has come to take the place of loss? 3
What better way to close the little gap between illusions and reality
than to allow the memory of God to flow across it, making it a bridge
an instant will suffice to reach beyond? 4 For God has closed it with
Himself. 5 His memory has not gone by, and left a stranded Son forever
on a shore where he can glimpse another shore that he can never
reach. 6 His Father wills that he be lifted up and gently carried over. 7
He has built the bridge, and it is He Who will transport His Son across
it. 8 Have no fear that He will fail in what He wills. 9 Nor that you be
excluded from the Will that is for you.
Chapter 29.
THE AWAKENING
I. The Closing of the Gap
T-29.I.1. There is no time, no place, no state where God is absent. 2
There is nothing to be feared. 3 There is no way in which a gap could
be conceived of in the Wholeness that is His. 4 The compromise the
least and littlest gap would represent in His eternal love is quite
impossible. 5 For it would mean His Love could harbor just a hint of
hate, His gentleness turn sometimes to attack, and His eternal
patience sometimes fail. 6 All this do you believe, when you perceive a
gap between your brother and yourself. 7 How could you trust Him,
then? 8 For He must be deceptive in His Love. 9 Be wary, then; let Him
not come too close, and leave a gap between you and His Love,
through which you can escape if there be need for you to flee.
T-29.I.2. Here is the fear of God most plainly seen. 2 For love <is>
treacherous to those who fear, since fear and hate can never be apart.
3 No one who hates but is afraid of love, and therefore must he be
afraid of God. 4 Certain it is he knows not what love means. 5 He fears
to love and loves to hate, and so he thinks that love is fearful; hate is
love. 6 This is the consequence the little gap must bring to those who
cherish it, and think that it is their salvation and their hope.
T-29.I.3. The fear of God! 2 The greatest obstacle that peace must
flow across has not yet gone. 3 The rest are past, but this one still
remains to block your path, and make the way to light seem dark and
fearful, perilous and bleak. 4 You had decided that your brother is your
enemy. 5 Sometimes a friend, perhaps, provided that your separate
interests made your friendship possible a little while. 6 But not without
a gap perceived between you and him, lest he turn again into an
enemy. 7 Let him come close to you, and you jumped back; as you
approached, did he but instantly withdraw. 8 A cautious friendship, and
limited in scope and carefully restricted in amount, became the treaty
that you had made with him. 9 Thus you and your brother but shared a
qualified entente, in which a clause of separation was a point you both
agreed to keep intact. 10 And violating this was thought to be a breach
of treaty not to be allowed. p606
T-29.I.4. The gap between you and your brother is not one of space
between two separate bodies. 2 And this but seems to be dividing off
your separate minds. 3 It is the symbol of a promise made to meet
when you prefer, and separate till you and he elect to meet again. 4
And then your bodies seem to get in touch, and thereby signify a
meeting place to join. 5 But always is it possible for you and him to go
your separate ways. 6 Conditional upon the "right" to separate will you
and he agree to meet from time to time, and keep apart in intervals of
separation, which do protect you from the "sacrifice" of love. 7 The
body saves you, for it gets away from total sacrifice and gives to you
the time in which to build again your separate self, which you truly
believe diminishes as you and your brother meet.
T-29.I.5. The body could not separate your mind from your brother's
unless you wanted it to be a cause of separation and of distance seen
between you and him. 2 Thus do you endow it with a power that lies
not within itself. 3 And herein lies its power over you. 4 For now you
think that it determines when your brother and you meet, and limits
your ability to make communion with your brother's mind. 5 And now it
tells you where to go and how to go there, what is feasible for you to
undertake, and what you cannot do. 6 It dictates what its health can
tolerate, and what will tire it and make it sick. 7 And its "inherent"
weaknesses set up the limitations on what you would do, and keep
your purpose limited and weak.
T-29.I.6. The body will accommodate to this, if you would have it so. 2
It will allow but limited indulgences in "love," with intervals of hatred in
between. 3 And it will take command of when to "love," and when to
shrink more safely into fear. 4 It will be sick because you do not know
what loving means. 5 And so you must misuse each circumstance and
everyone you meet, and see in them a purpose not your own.
T-29.I.7. It is not love that asks a sacrifice. 2 But fear demands the
sacrifice of love, for in love's presence fear cannot abide. 3 For hate to
be maintained, love must be feared; and only sometimes present,
sometimes gone. 4 Thus is love seen as treacherous, because it seems
to come and go uncertainly, and offer no stability to you. 5 You do not
see how limited and weak is your allegiance, and how frequently you
have demanded that love go away, and leave you quietly alone in
"peace." p607
T-29.I.8. The body, innocent of goals, is your excuse for variable goals
you hold, and force the body to maintain. 2 You do not fear its
weakness, but its lack of strength <or> weakness. 3 Would you know
that nothing stands between you and your brother? 4 Would you know
there is no gap behind which you can hide? 5 There is a shock that
comes to those who learn their savior is their enemy no more. 6 There
is a wariness that is aroused by learning that the body is not real. 7
And there are overtones of seeming fear around the happy message,
"God is Love."
T-29.I.9. Yet all that happens when the gap is gone is peace eternal. 2
Nothing more than that, and nothing less. 3 Without the fear of God,
what could induce you to abandon Him? 4 What toys or trinkets in the
gap could serve to hold you back an instant from His Love? 5 Would
you allow the body to say "no" to Heaven's calling, were you not afraid
to find a loss of self in finding God? 6 Yet can your self be lost by being
found?
Chapter 30.
THE NEW BEGINNING
Introduction
T-30.in.1. The new beginning now becomes the focus of the
curriculum. 2 The goal is clear, but now you need specific methods for
attaining it. 3 The speed by which it can be reached depends on this
one thing alone; your willingness to practice every step. 4 Each one will
help a little, every time it is attempted. 5 And together will these steps
lead you from dreams of judgment to forgiving dreams and out of pain
and fear. 6 They are not new to you, but they are more ideas than rules
of thought to you as yet. 7 So now we need to practice them awhile,
until they are the rules by which you live. 8 We seek to make them
habits now, so you will have them ready for whatever need.
3 This means that you are choosing not to be the judge of what to do.
4 But it must also mean you will not judge the situations where you will
be called upon to make response. 5 For if you judge them, you have set
the rules for how you should react to them. 6 And then another answer
cannot but produce confusion and uncertainty and fear. p625
T-30.I.3. This is your major problem now. 2 You still make up your
mind, and <then> decide to ask what you should do. 3 And what you
hear may not resolve the problem as you saw it first. 4 This leads to
fear, because it contradicts what you perceive and so you feel
attacked. 5 And therefore angry. 6 There are rules by which this will not
happen. 7 But it does occur at first, while you are learning how to hear.
T-30.I.4. (2) Throughout the day, at any time you think of it and have
a quiet moment for reflection, tell yourself again the kind of day you
want; the feelings you would have, the things you want to happen to
you, and the things you would experience, and say:
2 If I make no decisions by myself, this is the day that will be given me.
6 This cancels out the terms that you have set, and lets the answer
show you what the question must have really been.
T-30.I.7. Try to observe this rule without delay, despite your
opposition. 2 For you have already gotten angry. 3 And your fear of
being answered in a different way from what your version of the
question asks will gain momentum, until you believe the day you want
is one in which you get <your> answer to <your> question. 4 And you
will not get it, for it would destroy the day by robbing you of what you
really want. p626 5 This can be very hard to realize, when once you
have decided by yourself the rules that promise you a happy day. 6 Yet
this decision still can be undone, by simple methods that you can
accept.
T-30.I.8. (4) If you are so unwilling to receive you cannot even let your
question go, you can begin to change your mind with this:
3 This much is obvious, and paves the way for the next easy step.
T-30.I.9. (5) Having decided that you do not like the way you feel,
what could be easier than to continue with:
3 This works against the sense of opposition, and reminds you that
help is not being thrust upon you but is something that you want and
that you need, because you do not like the way you feel. 4 This tiny
opening will be enough to let you go ahead with just a few more steps
you need to let yourself be helped.
T-30.I.10. Now you have reached the turning point, because it has
occurred to you that you will gain if what you have decided is not so. 2
Until this point is reached, you will believe your happiness depends on
being right. 3 But this much reason have you now attained; you would
be better off if you were wrong.
T-30.I.11. (6) This tiny grain of wisdom will suffice to take you further. 2
You are not coerced, but merely hope to get a thing you want. 3 And
you can say in perfect honesty:
5 Now you have changed your mind about the day, and have
remembered what you really want. 6 Its purpose has no longer been
obscured by the insane belief you want it for the goal of being right
when you are wrong. 7 Thus is the readiness for asking brought to your
awareness, for you cannot be in conflict when you ask for what you
want, and see that it is this for which you ask.
T-30.I.12. (7) This final step is but acknowledgment of lack of
opposition to be helped. 2 It is a statement of an open mind, not
certain yet, but willing to be shown: p627
5 Thus you now can ask a question that makes sense, and so the
answer will make sense as well. 6 Nor will you fight against it, for you
see that it is you who will be helped by it.
T-30.I.13. It must be clear that it is easier to have a happy day if you
prevent unhappiness from entering at all. 2 But this takes practice in
the rules that will protect you from the ravages of fear. 3 When this has
been achieved, the sorry dream of judgment has forever been undone.
4 But meanwhile, you have need for practicing the rules for its
undoing. 5 Let us, then, consider once again the very first of the
decisions which are offered here.
T-30.I.14. We said you can begin a happy day with the determination
not to make decisions by yourself. 2 This seems to be a real decision in
itself. 3 And yet, you <cannot> make decisions by yourself. 4 The only
question really is with what you choose to make them. 5 That is really
all. 6 The first rule, then, is not coercion, but a simple statement of a
simple fact. 7 You will not make decisions by yourself whatever you
decide. 8 For they are made with idols or with God. 9 And you ask help
of anti-Christ or Christ, and which you choose will join with you and tell
you what to do.
T-30.I.15. Your day is not at random. 2 It is set by what you choose to
live it with, and how the friend whose counsel you have sought
perceives your happiness. 3 You always ask advice before you can
decide on anything. 4 Let this be understood, and you can see there
cannot be coercion here, nor grounds for opposition that you may be
free. 5 There is no freedom from what must occur. 6 And if you think
there is, you must be wrong.
T-30.I.16. The second rule as well is but a fact. 2 For you and your
adviser must agree on what you want before it can occur. 3 It is but
this agreement that permits all things to happen. 4 Nothing can be
caused without some form of union, be it with a dream of judgment or
the Voice for God. 5 Decisions cause results <because> they are not
made in isolation. 6 They are made by you and your adviser, for
yourself and for the world as well. 7 The day you want you offer to the
world, for it will be what you have asked for, and will reinforce the rule
of your adviser in the world. 8 Whose kingdom is the world for you
today? 9 What kind of day will you decide to have?
T-30.I.17. It needs but two who would have happiness this day to
promise it to all the world. p628 2 It needs but two to understand that
they cannot decide alone, to guarantee the joy they asked for will be
wholly shared. 3 For they have understood the basic law that makes
decision powerful, and gives it all effects that it will ever have. 4 It
needs but two. 5 These two are joined before there can be a decision. 6
Let this be the one reminder that you keep in mind, and you will have
the day you want, and give it to the world by having it yourself. 7 Your
judgment has been lifted from the world by your decision for a happy
day. 8 And as you have received, so must you give.
3 There never was a time an idol brought you anything except the
"gift" of guilt. 4 Not one was bought except at cost of pain, nor was it
ever paid by you alone.
4 I thank You, Father, for Your perfect Son, and in his glory will I see my
own.
5 Here is the joyful statement that there are no forms of evil that can
overcome the Will of God; the glad acknowledgment that guilt has not
succeeded by your wish to make illusions real. 6 And what is this
except a simple statement of the truth?
T-30.VI.10. Look on your brother with this hope in you, and you will
understand he could not make an error that could change the truth in
him. 2 It is not difficult to overlook mistakes that have been given no
effects. 3 But what you see as having power to make an idol of the Son
of God you will not pardon. 4 For he has become to you a graven image
and a sign of death. 5 Is this your savior? 6 Is his Father wrong about
His Son? 7 Or have you been deceived in him who has been given you
to heal, for your salvation and deliverance?
Chapter 31.
THE FINAL VISION
I. The Simplicity of Salvation
T-31.I.1. How simple is salvation! 2 All it says is what was never true
is not true now, and never will be. 3 The impossible has not occurred,
and can have no effects. 4 And that is all. 5 Can this be hard to learn
by anyone who wants it to be true? 6 Only unwillingness to learn it
could make such an easy lesson difficult. 7 How hard is it to see that
what is false can not be true, and what is true can not be false? 8 You
can no longer say that you perceive no differences in false and true. 9
You have been told exactly how to tell one from the other, and just
what to do if you become confused. 10 Why, then, do you persist in
learning not such simple things?
T-31.I.2. There is a reason. 2 But confuse it not with difficulty in the
simple things salvation asks you learn. 3 It teaches but the very
obvious. 4 It merely goes from one apparent lesson to the next, in easy
steps that lead you gently from one to another, with no strain at all. 5
This cannot be confusing, yet you are confused. 6 For somehow you
believe that what is totally confused is easier to learn and understand.
7 What you have taught yourself is such a giant learning feat it is
indeed incredible. 8 But you accomplished it because you wanted to,
and did not pause in diligence to judge it hard to learn or too complex
to grasp.
T-31.I.3. No one who understands what you have learned, how
carefully you learned it, and the pains to which you went to practice
and repeat the lessons endlessly, in every form you could conceive of
them, could ever doubt the power of your learning skill. 2 There is no
greater power in the world. 3 The world was made by it, and even now
depends on nothing else. 4 The lessons you have taught yourself have
been so overlearned and fixed they rise like heavy curtains to obscure
the simple and the obvious. 5 Say not you cannot learn them. 6 For
your power to learn is strong enough to teach you that your will is not
your own, your thoughts do not belong to you, and even you are
someone else.
T-31.I.4. Who could maintain that lessons such as these are easy? 2
Yet you have learned more than this. 3 You have continued, taking
every step, however difficult, without complaint, until a world was built
that suited you. p645 4 And every lesson that makes up the world
arises from the first accomplishment of learning; an enormity so great
the Holy Spirit's Voice seems small and still before its magnitude. 5 The
world began with one strange lesson, powerful enough to render God
forgotten, and His Son an alien to himself, in exile from the home
where God Himself established him. 6 You who have taught yourself
the Son of God is guilty, say not that you cannot learn the simple
things salvation teaches you!
T-31.I.5. Learning is an ability you made and gave yourself. 2 It was
not made to do the Will of God, but to uphold a wish that it could be
opposed, and that a will apart from it was yet more real than it. 3 And
this has learning sought to demonstrate, and you have learned what it
was made to teach. 4 Now does your ancient overlearning stand
implacable before the Voice of truth, and teach you that Its lessons are
not true; too hard to learn, too difficult to see, and too opposed to what
is really true. 5 Yet you will learn them, for their learning is the only
purpose for your learning skill the Holy Spirit sees in all the world. 6 His
simple lessons in forgiveness have a power mightier than yours,
because they call from God and from your Self to you.
T-31.I.6. Is this a little Voice, so small and still It cannot rise above the
senseless noise of sounds that have no meaning? 2 God willed not His
Son forget Him. 3 And the power of His Will is in the Voice that speaks
for Him. 4 Which lesson will you learn? 5 What outcome is inevitable,
sure as God, and far beyond all doubt and question? 6 Can it be your
little learning, strange in outcome and incredible in difficulty will
withstand the simple lessons being taught to you in every moment of
each day, since time began and learning had been made?
T-31.I.7. The lessons to be learned are only two. 2 Each has its
outcome in a different world. 3 And each world follows surely from its
source. 4 The certain outcome of the lesson that God's Son is guilty is
the world you see. 5 It is a world of terror and despair. 6 Nor is there
hope of happiness in it. 7 There is no plan for safety you can make that
ever will succeed. 8 There is no joy that you can seek for here and
hope to find. 9 Yet this is not the only outcome which your learning can
produce. 10 However much you may have overlearned your chosen
task, the lesson that reflects the Love of God is stronger still. 11 And
you will learn God's Son is innocent, and see another world. p646
T-31.I.8. The outcome of the lesson that God's Son is guiltless is a
world in which there is no fear, and everything is lit with hope and
sparkles with a gentle friendliness. 2 Nothing but calls to you in soft
appeal to be your friend, and let it join with you. 3 And never does a
call remain unheard, misunderstood, nor left unanswered in the
selfsame tongue in which the call was made. 4 And you will understand
it was this call that everyone and everything within the world has
always made, but you had not perceived it as it was. 5 And now you
see you were mistaken. 6 You had been deceived by forms the call was
hidden in. 7 And so you did not hear it, and had lost a friend who
always wanted to be part of you. 8 The soft eternal calling of each part
of God's creation to the whole is heard throughout the world this
second lesson brings.
T-31.I.9. There is no living thing that does not share the universal Will
that it be whole, and that you do not leave its call unheard. 2 Without
your answer is it left to die, as it is saved from death when you have
heard its calling as the ancient call to life, and understood that it is but
your own. 3 The Christ in you remembers God with all the certainty
with which He knows His Love. 4 But only if His Son is innocent can He
be Love. 5 For God were fear indeed if he whom He created innocent
could be a slave to guilt. 6 God's perfect Son remembers his creation. 7
But in guilt he has forgotten what he really is.
T-31.I.10. The fear of God results as surely from the lesson that His Son
is guilty as God's Love must be remembered when he learns his
innocence. 2 For hate must father fear, and look upon its father as
itself. 3 How wrong are you who fail to hear the call that echoes past
each seeming call to death, that sings behind each murderous attack
and pleads that love restore the dying world. 4 You do not understand
Who calls to you beyond each form of hate; each call to war. 5 Yet you
will recognize Him as you give Him answer in the language that He
calls. 6 He will appear when you have answered Him, and you will
know in Him that God is Love.
T-31.I.11. What is temptation but a wish to make the wrong decision on
what you would learn, and have an outcome that you do not want? 2 It
is the recognition that it is a state of mind unwanted that becomes the
means whereby the choice is reassessed; another outcome seen to be
preferred. 3 You are deceived if you believe you want disaster and
disunity and pain. 4 Hear not the call for this within yourself. p647 5
But listen, rather, to the deeper call beyond it that appeals for peace
and joy. 6 And all the world will give you joy and peace. 7 For as you
hear, you answer. 8 And behold! 9 Your answer is the proof of what you
learned. 10 Its outcome is the world you look upon.
T-31.I.12. Let us be still an instant, and forget all things we ever
learned, all thoughts we had, and every preconception that we hold of
what things mean and what their purpose is. 2 Let us remember not
our own ideas of what the world is for. 3 We do not know. 4 Let every
image held of everyone be loosened from our minds and swept away.
T-31.I.13. Be innocent of judgment, unaware of any thoughts of evil or
of good that ever crossed your mind of anyone. 2 Now do you know
him not. 3 But you are free to learn of him, and learn of him anew. 4
Now is he born again to you, and you are born again to him, without
the past that sentenced him to die, and you with him. 5 Now is he free
to live as you are free, because an ancient learning passed away, and
left a place for truth to be reborn.
2 The answer that I give my brother is what I am asking for. 3 And what
I learn of him is what I learn about myself.
7 I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am
doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself.
8 Yet in this learning is salvation born. 9 And What you are will tell you
of Itself.
5 Choose once again if you would take your place among the saviors of
the world, or would remain in hell, and hold your brothers there.
2 I am as God created me. 3 His Son can suffer nothing. 4 And I am His
Son.
T-31.VIII.12. And now we say "Amen." 2 For Christ has come to dwell
in the abode You set for Him before time was, in calm eternity. 3 The
journey closes, ending at the place where it began. 4 No trace of it
remains. 5 Not one illusion is accorded faith, and not one spot of
darkness still remains to hide the face of Christ from anyone. 6 Thy Will
is done, complete and perfectly, and all creation recognizes You, and
knows You as the only Source it has. 7 Clear in Your likeness does the
light shine forth from everything that lives and moves in You. 8 For we
have reached where all of us are one, and we are home, where You
would have us be. p669
PART I
LESSON 1.
Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this
place] means anything.
W-1.1. Now look slowly around you, and practice applying this idea
very specifically to whatever you see:
W-1.2. Then look farther away from your immediate area, and apply
the idea to a wider range:
W-1.3. Notice that these statements are not arranged in any order,
and make no allowance for differences in the kinds of things to which
they are applied. 2 That is the purpose of the exercise. 3 The
statement should merely be applied to anything you see. 4 As you
practice the idea for the day, use it totally indiscriminately. 5 Do not
attempt to apply it to everything you see, for these exercises should
not become ritualistic. 6 Only be sure that nothing you see is
specifically excluded. 7 One thing is like another as far as the
application of the idea is concerned.
W-1.4. Each of the first three lessons should not be done more than
twice a day each, preferably morning and evening. 2 Nor should they
be attempted for more than a minute or so, unless that entails a sense
of hurry. 3 A comfortable sense of leisure is essential.
LESSON 2.
I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this
window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me.
W-2.1. The exercises with this idea are the same as those for the
first one. 2 Begin with the things that are near you, and apply the idea
to whatever your glance rests on. 3 Then increase the range outward.
4 Turn your head so that you include whatever is on either side. 5 If
possible, turn around and apply the idea to what was behind you. 6
Remain as indiscriminate as possible in selecting subjects for its
application, do not concentrate on anything in particular, and do not
attempt to include everything you see in a given area, or you will
introduce strain.
W-2.2. Merely glance easily and fairly quickly around you, trying to
avoid selection by size, brightness, color, material, or relative
importance to you. 2 Take the subjects simply as you see them. 3 Try to
apply the exercise with equal ease to a body or a button, a fly or a
floor, an arm or an apple. 4 The sole criterion for applying the idea to
anything is merely that your eyes have lighted on it. 5 Make no
attempt to include anything particular, but be sure that nothing is
specifically excluded.
LESSON 3.
I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this
window, in this place].
W-3.1. Apply this idea in the same way as the previous ones,
without making distinctions of any kind. 2 Whatever you see becomes
a proper subject for applying the idea. 3 Be sure that you do not
question the suitability of anything for application of the idea. 4 These
are not exercises in judgment. 5 Anything is suitable if you see it. 6
Some of the things you see may have emotionally charged meaning for
you. 7 Try to lay such feelings aside, and merely use these things
exactly as you would anything else.
W-3.2. The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of
all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now,
and to realize how little you really understand about them. 2 It is
therefore essential that you keep a perfectly open mind, unhampered
by judgment, in selecting the things to which the idea for the day is to
be applied. 3 For this purpose one thing is like another; equally suitable
and therefore equally useful.
LESSON 4.
These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in
this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].
W-4.1. Unlike the preceding ones, these exercises do not begin with
the idea for the day. 2 In these practice periods, begin with noting the
thoughts that are crossing your mind for about a minute. 3 Then apply
the idea to them. 4 If you are already aware of unhappy thoughts, use
them as subjects for the idea. 5 Do not, however, select only the
thoughts you think are "bad." 6 You will find, if you train yourself to
look at your thoughts, that they represent such a mixture that, in a
sense, none of them can be called "good" or "bad." 7 This is why they
do not mean anything.
W-4.2. In selecting the subjects for the application of today's idea,
the usual specificity is required. 2 Do not be afraid to use "good"
thoughts as well as "bad." 3 None of them represents your real
thoughts, which are being covered up by them. 4 The "good" ones are
but shadows of what lies beyond, and shadows make sight difficult. 5
The "bad" ones are blocks to sight, and make seeing impossible. 6 You
do not want either.
W-4.3. This is a major exercise, and will be repeated from time to
time in somewhat different form. 2 The aim here is to train you in the
first steps toward the goal of separating the meaningless from the
meaningful. 3 It is a first attempt in the long-range purpose of learning
to see the meaningless as outside you, and the meaningful within. 4 It
is also the beginning of training your mind to recognize what is the
same and what is different.
W-4.4. In using your thoughts for application of the idea for today,
identify each thought by the central figure or event it contains; for
example:
W-4.5. You can also use the idea for a particular thought that you
recognize as harmful. 2 This practice is useful, but is not a substitute
for the more random procedures to be followed for the exercises. 3 Do
not, however, examine your mind for more than a minute or so. 4 You
are too inexperienced as yet to avoid a tendency to become pointlessly
preoccupied.
W-4.6. Further, since these exercises are the first of their kind, you
may find the suspension of judgment in connection with thoughts
particularly difficult. 2 Do not repeat these exercises more than three
or four times during the day. 3 We will return to them later.
LESSON 5.
W-5.3. But again, this should not be substituted for practice periods
in which you first search your mind for "sources" of upset in which you
believe, and forms of upset which you think result.
W-5.4. In these exercises, more than in the preceding ones, you
may find it hard to be indiscriminate, and to avoid giving greater
weight to some subjects than to others. 2 It might help to precede the
exercises with the statement:
3 There are no small upsets. 4 They are all equally disturbing to my
peace of mind.
3 I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. 4 For the
purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.
W-5.7. Then search your mind for no more than a minute or so, and
try to identify a number of different forms of upset that are disturbing
you, regardless of the relative importance you may give them. 2 Apply
the idea for today to each of them, using the name of both the source
of the upset as you perceive it, and of the feeling as you experience it.
3 Further examples are:
LESSON 6.
4 And:
5 I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. 6 For the
purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.
LESSON 7.
W-7.5. Do not linger over any one thing in particular, but remember
to omit nothing specifically. 2 Glance briefly at each subject, and then
move on to the next. 3 Three or four practice periods, each to last a
minute or so, will be enough.
LESSON 8.
W-8.6. This can be done four or five times during the day, unless
you find it irritates you. 2 If you find it trying, three or four times is
sufficient. 3 You might find it helpful, however, to include your
irritation, or any emotion that the idea for today may induce, in the
mind searching itself.
LESSON 9.
W-9.4. Begin with things that are nearest you, and then extend the
range outward:
LESSON 10.
4 The exercises consist, as before, in searching your mind for all the
thoughts that are available to you, without selection or judgment. 5 Try
to avoid classification of any kind. 6 In fact, if you find it helpful to do
so, you might imagine that you are watching an oddly assorted
procession going by, which has little if any personal meaning to you. 7
As each one crosses your mind, say:
W-10.5. Today's thought can obviously serve for any thought that
distresses you at any time. 2 In addition, five practice periods are
recommended, each involving no more than a minute or so of mind
searching. 3 It is not recommended that this time period be extended,
and it should be reduced to half a minute or less if you experience
discomfort. 4 Remember, however, to repeat the idea slowly before
applying it specifically, and also to add:
5 This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe.
LESSON 11.
LESSON 12.
LESSON 13.
LESSON 14.
W-14.7. The idea for today can, of course, be applied to anything that
disturbs you during the day, aside from the practice periods. 2 Be very
specific in applying it. 3 Say:
4 God did not create a meaningless world. 5 He did not create [specify
the situation which is disturbing you], and so it is not real.
LESSON 15.
LESSON 16.
LESSON 17.
I see no neutral things.
W-17.1. This idea is another step in the direction of identifying cause
and effect as it really operates in the world. 2 You see no neutral things
because you have no neutral thoughts. 3 It is always the thought that
comes first, despite the temptation to believe that it is the other way
around. 4 This is not the way the world thinks, but you must learn that
it is the way you think. 5 If it were not so, perception would have no
cause, and would itself be the cause of reality. 6 In view of its highly
variable nature, this is hardly likely.
W-17.2. In applying today's idea, say to yourself, with eyes open:
3 Then look about you, resting your glance on each thing you note long
enough to say:
4 I do not see a neutral ___, because my thoughts about ___ are not
neutral.
6 I do not see a neutral wall, because my thoughts about walls are not
neutral.
7 I do not see a neutral body, because my thoughts about bodies are
not neutral.
LESSON 18.
LESSON 19.
LESSON 20.
I am determined to see.
W-20.1. We have been quite casual about our practice periods thus
far. 2 There has been virtually no attempt to direct the time for
undertaking them, minimal effort has been required, and not even
active cooperation and interest have been asked. 3 This approach has
been intentional, and very carefully planned. 4 We have not lost sight
of the crucial importance of the reversal of your thinking. 5 The
salvation of the world depends on it. 6 Yet you will not see if you regard
yourself as being coerced, and if you give in to resentment and
opposition.
W-20.2. This is our first attempt to introduce structure. 2 Do not
misconstrue it as an effort to exert force or pressure. 3 You want
salvation. 4 You want to be happy. 5 You want peace. 6 You do not have
them now, because your mind is totally undisciplined, and you cannot
distinguish between joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, love and fear. 7
You are now learning how to tell them apart. 8 And great indeed will be
your reward.
W-20.3. Your decision to see is all that vision requires. 2 What you
want is yours. 3 Do not mistake the little effort that is asked of you for
an indication that our goal is of little worth. 4 Can the salvation of the
world be a trivial purpose? 5 And can the world be saved if you are
not? 6 God has one Son, and he is the resurrection and the life. 7 His
will is done because all power is given him in Heaven and on earth. 8 In
your determination to see is vision given you.
W-20.4. The exercises for today consist in reminding yourself
throughout the day that you want to see. 2 Today's idea also tacitly
implies the recognition that you do not see now. 3 Therefore, as you
repeat the idea, you are stating that you are determined to change
your present state for a better one, and one you really want.
W-20.5. Repeat today's idea slowly and positively at least twice an
hour today, attempting to do so every half hour. 2 Do not be distressed
if you forget to do so, but make a real effort to remember. 3 The extra
repetitions should be applied to any situation, person or event that
upsets you. 4 You can see them differently, and you will. 5 What you
desire you will see. 6 Such is the real law of cause and effect as it
operates in the world.
LESSON 21.
LESSON 22.
5 Hold each attack thought in mind as you say this, and then dismiss
that thought and go on to the next.
LESSON 24.
3 In the situation involving ___, I would like ___ to happen, and ___ to
happen,
LESSON 25.
7 Say this quite slowly, without shifting your eyes from the subject until
you have completed the statement about it. 8 Then move on to the
next subject, and apply today's idea as before.
LESSON 26.
3 Then go over every possible outcome that has occurred to you in that
connection and which has caused you concern, referring to each one
quite specifically, saying:
LESSON 27.
W-27.3. The idea for today needs many repetitions for maximum
benefit. 2 It should be used at least every half hour, and more if
possible. 3 You might try for every fifteen or twenty minutes. 4 It is
recommended that you set a definite time interval for using the idea
when you wake or shortly afterwards, and attempt to adhere to it
throughout the day. 5 It will not be difficult to do this, even if you are
engaged in conversation, or otherwise occupied at the time. 6 You can
still repeat one short sentence to yourself without disturbing anything.
W-27.4. The real question is, how often will you remember? 2 How
much do you want today's idea to be true? 3 Answer one of these
questions, and you have answered the other. 4 You will probably miss
several applications, and perhaps quite a number. 5 Do not be
disturbed by this, but do try to keep on your schedule from then on. 6
If only once during the day you feel that you were perfectly sincere
while you were repeating today's idea, you can be sure that you have
saved yourself many years of effort.
LESSON 28.
LESSON 29.
LESSON 30.
LESSON 31.
LESSON 32.
LESSON 33.
W-33.4. Remember to apply today's idea the instant you are aware of
distress. 2 It may be necessary to take a minute or so to sit quietly and
repeat the idea to yourself several times. 3 Closing your eyes will
probably help in this form of application.
LESSON 34.
4 I could see peace in this situation instead of what I now see in it.
W-34.6. If the inroads on your peace of mind take the form of more
generalized adverse emotions, such as depression, anxiety or worry,
use the idea in its original form. 2 If you find you need more than one
application of today's idea to help you change your mind in any
specific context, try to take several minutes and devote them to
repeating the idea until you feel some sense of relief. 3 It will help you
if you tell yourself specifically:
LESSON 35.
LESSON 36.
10 Several times during these practice periods, close your eyes and
repeat the idea to yourself. 11 Then open your eyes, and continue as
before.
W-36.4. For the shorter exercise periods, close your eyes and repeat
the idea; look about you as you repeat it again; and conclude with one
more repetition with your eyes closed. 2 All applications should, of
course, be made quite slowly, as effortlessly and unhurriedly as
possible.
LESSON 37.
W-37.5. You may continue the practice period with your eyes closed;
you may open your eyes again and apply the idea for today to your
outer world if you so desire; you may alternate between applying the
idea to what you see around you and to those who are in your
thoughts; or you may use any combination of these two phases of
application that you prefer. 2 The practice period should conclude with
a repetition of the idea with your eyes closed, and another, following
immediately, with your eyes open.
W-37.6. The shorter exercises consist of repeating the idea as often
as you can. 2 It is particularly helpful to apply it silently to anyone you
meet, using his name as you do so. 3 It is essential to use the idea if
anyone seems to cause an adverse reaction in you. 4 Offer him the
blessing of your holiness immediately, that you may learn to keep it in
your own awareness.
LESSON 38.
W-38.5. From time to time you may want to vary this procedure, and
add some relevant thoughts of your own. 2 You might like, for example,
to include thoughts such as:
LESSON 39.
My holiness is my salvation.
W-39.1. If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? 2 Like the text for which
this workbook was written, the ideas used for the exercises are very
simple, very clear and totally unambiguous. 3 We are not concerned
with intellectual feats nor logical toys. 4 We are dealing only in the very
obvious, which has been overlooked in the clouds of complexity in
which you think you think.
W-39.2. If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? 2 This is not difficult,
surely. 3 The hesitation you may feel in answering is not due to the
ambiguity of the question. 4 But do you believe that guilt is hell? 5 If
you did, you would see at once how direct and simple the text is, and
you would not need a workbook at all. 6 No one needs practice to gain
what is already his.
W-39.3. We have already said that your holiness is the salvation of
the world. 2 What about your own salvation? 3 You cannot give what
you do not have. 4 A savior must be saved. 5 How else can he teach
salvation? 6 Today's exercises will apply to you, recognizing that your
salvation is crucial to the salvation of the world. 7 As you apply the
exercises to your world, the whole world stands to benefit.
W-39.4. Your holiness is the answer to every question that was ever
asked, is being asked now, or will be asked in the future. 2 Your
holiness means the end of guilt, and therefore the end of hell. 3 Your
holiness is the salvation of the world, and your own. 4 How could you
to whom your holiness belongs be excluded from it? 5 God does not
know unholiness. 6 Can it be He does not know His Son?
W-39.5. A full five minutes are urged for the four longer practice
periods for today, and longer and more frequent practice sessions are
encouraged. 2 If you want to exceed the minimum requirements, more
rather than longer sessions are recommended, although both are
suggested.
W-39.6. Begin the practice periods as usual, by repeating today's
idea to yourself. 2 Then, with closed eyes, search out your unloving
thoughts in whatever form they appear; uneasiness, depression, anger,
fear, worry, attack, insecurity and so on. 3 Whatever form they take,
they are unloving and therefore fearful. 4 And so it is from them that
you need to be saved.
W-39.7. Specific situations, events or personalities you associate with
unloving thoughts of any kind are suitable subjects for today's
exercises. 2 It is imperative for your salvation that you see them
differently. 3 And it is your blessing on them that will save you and give
you vision.
W-39.8. Slowly, without conscious selection and without undue
emphasis on any one in particular, search your mind for every thought
that stands between you and your salvation. 2 Apply the idea for today
to each of them in this way:
W-39.9. You may find these practice periods easier if you intersperse
them with several short periods during which you merely repeat
today's idea to yourself slowly a few times. 2 You may also find it
helpful to include a few short intervals in which you just relax and do
not seem to be thinking of anything. 3 Sustained concentration is very
difficult at first. 4 It will become much easier as your mind becomes
more disciplined and less distractible.
W-39.10. Meanwhile, you should feel free to introduce variety into the
exercise periods in whatever form appeals to you. 2 Do not, however,
change the idea itself as you vary the method of applying it. 3 However
you elect to use it, the idea should be stated so that its meaning is the
fact that your holiness is your salvation. 4 End each practice period by
repeating the idea in its original form once more, and adding:
LESSON 40.
9 If only a brief period is available, merely telling yourself that you are
blessed as a Son of God will do.
LESSON 41.
LESSON 42.
W-42.5. Any thought that is clearly related to the idea for today is
suitable. 2 You may, in fact, be astonished at the amount of course-
related understanding some of your thoughts contain. 3 Let them come
without censoring unless you find your mind is merely wandering, and
you have let obviously irrelevant thoughts intrude. 4 You may also
reach a point where no thoughts at all seem to come to mind. 5 If such
interferences occur, open your eyes and repeat the thought once more
while looking slowly about; close your eyes, repeat the idea once more,
and then continue to look for related thoughts in your mind.
W-42.6. Remember, however, that active searching for relevant
thoughts is not appropriate for today's exercises. 2 Try merely to step
back and let the thoughts come. 3 If you find this difficult, it is better to
spend the practice period alternating between slow repetitions of the
idea with eyes open, then with eyes closed, than it is to strain to find
suitable thoughts.
W-42.7. There is no limit on the number of short practice periods that
would be beneficial today. 2 The idea for the day is a beginning step in
bringing thoughts together, and teaching you that you are studying a
unified thought system in which nothing is lacking that is needed, and
nothing is included that is contradictory or irrelevant.
W-42.8. The more often you repeat the idea during the day, the more
often you will be reminding yourself that the goal of the course is
important to you, and that you have not forgotten it.
LESSON 43.
LESSON 44.
LESSON 45.
6 Then try to go past all the unreal thoughts that cover the truth in
your mind, and reach to the eternal.
W-45.7. Under all the senseless thoughts and mad ideas with which
you have cluttered up your mind are the thoughts that you thought
with God in the beginning. 2 They are there in your mind now,
completely unchanged. 3 They will always be in your mind, exactly as
they always were. 4 Everything you have thought since then will
change, but the Foundation on which it rests is wholly changeless.
W-45.8. It is this Foundation toward which the exercises for today are
directed. 2 Here is your mind joined with the Mind of God. 3 Here are
your thoughts one with His. 4 For this kind of practice only one thing is
necessary; approach it as you would an altar dedicated in Heaven to
God the Father and to God the Son. 5 For such is the place you are
trying to reach. 6 You will probably be unable as yet to realize how high
you are trying to go. 7 Yet even with the little understanding you have
already gained, you should be able to remind yourself that this is no
idle game, but an exercise in holiness and an attempt to reach the
Kingdom of Heaven.
W-45.9. In the shorter exercise periods for today, try to remember
how important it is to you to understand the holiness of the mind that
thinks with God. 2 Take a minute or two, as you repeat the idea
throughout the day, to appreciate your mind's holiness. 3 Stand aside,
however briefly, from all thoughts that are unworthy of Him Whose
host you are. 4 And thank Him for the Thoughts He is thinking with
you.
LESSON 46.
W-46.6. The form of the application may vary considerably, but the
central idea should not be lost sight of. 2 You might say, for example:
LESSON 47.
W-47.5. Now try to slip past all concerns related to your own sense of
inadequacy. 2 It is obvious that any situation that causes you concern
is associated with feelings of inadequacy, for otherwise you would
believe that you could deal with the situation successfully. 3 It is not by
trusting yourself that you will gain confidence. 4 But the strength of
God in you is successful in all things.
W-47.6. The recognition of your own frailty is a necessary step in the
correction of your errors, but it is hardly a sufficient one in giving you
the confidence which you need, and to which you are entitled. 2 You
must also gain an awareness that confidence in your real strength is
fully justified in every respect and in all circumstances.
W-47.7. In the latter phase of the practice period, try to reach down
into your mind to a place of real safety. 2 You will recognize that you
have reached it if you feel a sense of deep peace, however briefly. 3
Let go all the trivial things that churn and bubble on the surface of your
mind, and reach down and below them to the Kingdom of Heaven. 4
There is a place in you where there is perfect peace. 5 There is a place
in you where nothing is impossible. 6 There is a place in you where the
strength of God abides.
W-47.8. During the day, repeat the idea often. 2 Use it as your
answer to any disturbance. 3 Remember that peace is your right,
because you are giving your trust to the strength of God.
LESSON 48.
LESSON 49.
LESSON 50.
I am sustained by the Love of God.
W-50.1. Here is the answer to every problem that will confront you,
today and tomorrow and throughout time. 2 In this world, you believe
you are sustained by everything but God. 3 Your faith is placed in the
most trivial and insane symbols; pills, money, "protective" clothing,
influence, prestige, being liked, knowing the "right" people, and an
endless list of forms of nothingness that you endow with magical
powers.
W-50.2. All these things are your replacements for the Love of God. 2
All these things are cherished to ensure a body identification. 3 They
are songs of praise to the ego. 4 Do not put your faith in the worthless.
5 It will not sustain you.
W-50.3. Only the Love of God will protect you in all circumstances. 2
It will lift you out of every trial, and raise you high above all the
perceived dangers of this world into a climate of perfect peace and
safety. 3 It will transport you into a state of mind that nothing can
threaten, nothing can disturb, and where nothing can intrude upon the
eternal calm of the Son of God.
W-50.4. Put not your faith in illusions. 2 They will fail you. 3 Put all
your faith in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and
forever unfailing. 4 This is the answer to whatever confronts you today.
5 Through the Love of God within you, you can resolve all seeming
difficulties without effort and in sure confidence. 6 Tell yourself this
often today. 7 It is a declaration of release from the belief in idols. 8 It
is your acknowledgment of the truth about yourself.
W-50.5. For ten minutes, twice today, morning and evening, let the
idea for today sink deep into your consciousness. 2 Repeat it, think
about it, let related thoughts come to help you recognize its truth, and
allow peace to flow over you like a blanket of protection and surety. 3
Let no idle and foolish thoughts enter to disturb the holy mind of the
Son of God. 4 Such is the Kingdom of Heaven. 5 Such is the resting
place where your Father has placed you forever.
REVIEW I
Introduction
W-rI.in.1. Beginning with today we will have a series of review periods.
2 Each of them will cover five of the ideas already presented, starting
with the first and ending with the fiftieth. 3 There will be a few short
comments after each of the ideas, which you should consider in your
review. 4 In the practice periods, the exercises should be done as
follows:
W-rI.in.2. Begin the day by reading the five ideas, with the comments
included. 2 Thereafter, it is not necessary to follow any particular order
in considering them, though each one should be practiced at least
once. 3 Devote two minutes or more to each practice period, thinking
about the idea and the related comments after reading them over. 4
Do this as often as possible during the day. 5 If any one of the five
ideas appeals to you more than the others, concentrate on that one. 6
At the end of the day, however, be sure to review all of them once
more.
W-rI.in.3. It is not necessary to cover the comments that follow each
idea either literally or thoroughly in the practice periods. 2 Try, rather,
to emphasize the central point, and think about it as part of your
review of the idea to which it relates. 3 After you have read the idea
and the related comments, the exercises should be done with your
eyes closed and when you are alone in a quiet place, if possible.
W-rI.in.4. This is emphasized for practice periods at your stage of
learning. 2 It will be necessary, however, that you learn to require no
special settings in which to apply what you have learned. 3 You will
need your learning most in situations that appear to be upsetting,
rather than in those that already seem to be calm and quiet. 4 The
purpose of your learning is to enable you to bring the quiet with you,
and to heal distress and turmoil. 5 This is not done by avoiding them
and seeking a haven of isolation for yourself.
W-rI.in.5. You will yet learn that peace is part of you, and requires only
that you be there to embrace any situation in which you are. 2 And
finally you will learn that there is no limit to where you are, so that your
peace is everywhere, as you are.
W-rI.in.6. You will note that, for review purposes, some of the ideas are
not given in quite their original form. 2 Use them as they are given
here. 3 It is not necessary to return to the original statements, nor to
apply the ideas as was suggested then. 4 We are now emphasizing the
relationships among the first fifty of the ideas we have covered, and
the cohesiveness of the thought system to which they are leading you.
LESSON 51.
LESSON 52.
LESSON 53.
LESSON 54.
LESSON 55.
LESSON 56.
LESSON 57.
LESSON 58.
LESSON 59.
LESSON 61.
6 Then think about these statements for a short while, preferably with
your eyes closed if the situation permits. 7 Let a few related thoughts
come to you, and repeat the idea to yourself if your mind wanders
away from the central thought.
W-61.6. Be sure both to begin and end the day with a practice
period. 2 Thus you will awaken with an acknowledgment of the truth
about yourself, reinforce it throughout the day, and turn to sleep as
you reaffirm your function and your only purpose here. 3 These two
practice periods may be longer than the rest, if you find them helpful
and want to extend them.
W-61.7. Today's idea goes far beyond the ego's petty views of what
you are and what your purpose is. 2 As a bringer of salvation, this is
obviously necessary. 3 This is the first of a number of giant steps we
will take in the next few weeks. 4 Try today to begin to build a firm
foundation for these advances. 5 You are the light of the world. 6 God
has built His plan for the salvation of His Son on you.
LESSON 62.
LESSON 63.
W-63.4. If you close your eyes, you will probably find it easier to let
the related thoughts come to you in the minute or two that you should
devote to considering this. 2 Do not, however, wait for such an
opportunity. 3 No chance should be lost for reinforcing today's idea. 4
Remember that God's Son looks to you for his salvation. 5 And Who but
your Self must be His Son?
LESSON 64.
LESSON 65.
5 You need not use these exact words, but try to get the sense of being
willing to have your illusions of purpose be replaced by truth.
W-65.7. Finally, repeat the idea for today once more, and devote the
rest of the practice period to trying to focus on its importance to you,
the relief its acceptance will bring you by resolving your conflicts once
and for all, and the extent to which you really want salvation in spite of
your own foolish ideas to the contrary.
W-65.8. In the shorter practice periods, which should be undertaken
at least once an hour, use this form in applying today's idea:
2 My only function is the one God gave me. 3 I want no other and I
have no other.
4 Sometimes close your eyes as you practice this, and sometimes keep
them open and look about you. 5 It is what you see now that will be
totally changed when you accept today's idea completely.
LESSON 66.
5 Try to see the logic in this sequence, even if you do not yet accept
the conclusion. 6 It is only if the first two thoughts are wrong that the
conclusion could be false. 7 Let us, then, think about the premises for a
while, as we are practicing.
W-66.6. The first premise is that God gives you only happiness. 2 This
could be false, of course, but in order to be false it is necessary to
define God as something He is not. 3 Love cannot give evil, and what is
not happiness is evil. 4 God cannot give what He does not have, and
He cannot have what He is not. 5 Unless God gives you only happiness,
He must be evil. 6 And it is this definition of Him you are believing if
you do not accept the first premise.
W-66.7. The second premise is that God has given you your function.
2 We have seen that there are only two parts of your mind. 3 One is
ruled by the ego, and is made up of illusions. 4 The other is the home
of the Holy Spirit, where truth abides. 5 There are no other guides but
these to choose between, and no other outcomes possible as a result
of your choice but the fear that the ego always engenders, and the
love that the Holy Spirit always offers to replace it.
W-66.8. Thus, it must be that your function is established by God
through His Voice, or is made by the ego which you have made to
replace Him. 2 Which is true? 3 Unless God gave your function to you,
it must be the gift of the ego. 4 Does the ego really have gifts to give,
being itself an illusion and offering only the illusion of gifts?
W-66.9. Think about this during the longer practice period today. 2
Think also about the many forms the illusion of your function has taken
in your mind, and the many ways in which you tried to find salvation
under the ego's guidance. 3 Did you find it? 4 Were you happy? 5 Did
they bring you peace? 6 We need great honesty today. 7 Remember
the outcomes fairly, and consider also whether it was ever reasonable
to expect happiness from anything the ego ever proposed. 8 Yet the
ego is the only alternative to the Holy Spirit's Voice.
W-66.10. You will listen to madness or hear the truth. 2 Try to make
this choice as you think about the premises on which our conclusion
rests. 3 We can share in this conclusion, but in no other. 4 For God
Himself shares it with us. 5 Today's idea is another giant stride in the
perception of the same as the same, and the different as different. 6
On one side stand all illusions. 7 All truth stands on the other. 8 Let us
try today to realize that only the truth is true.
W-66.11. In the shorter practice periods, which would be most helpful
today if undertaken twice an hour, this form of the application is
suggested:
2 My happiness and function are one, because God has given me both.
3 It will not take more than a minute, and probably less, to repeat
these words slowly and think about them a little while as you say them.
LESSON 67.
LESSON 68.
3 I would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of
me and come to know myself.
LESSON 69.
4 My grievances hide the light of the world in me. 5 I cannot see what I
have hidden. 6 Yet I want to let it be revealed to me, for my salvation
and the salvation of the world.
8 If I hold this grievance the light of the world will be hidden from me,
if you are tempted to hold anything against anyone today.
LESSON 70.
5 Then devote a few minutes, with your eyes closed, to reviewing some
of the external places where you have looked for salvation in the past;–
in other people, in possessions, in various situations and events, and in
self-concepts that you sought to make real. 6 Recognize that it is not
there, and tell yourself:
W-70.8. Now we will try again to reach the light in you, which is
where your salvation is. 2 You cannot find it in the clouds that surround
the light, and it is in them you have been looking for it. 3 It is not there.
4 It is past the clouds and in the light beyond. 5 Remember that you
will have to go through the clouds before you can reach the light. 6 But
remember also that you have never found anything in the cloud
patterns you imagined that endured, or that you wanted.
W-70.9. Since all illusions of salvation have failed you, surely you do
not want to remain in the clouds, looking vainly for idols there, when
you could so easily walk on into the light of real salvation. 2 Try to pass
the clouds by whatever means appeals to you. 3 If it helps you, think of
me holding your hand and leading you. 4 And I assure you this will be
no idle fantasy.
W-70.10. For the short and frequent practice periods today, remind
yourself that your salvation comes from you, and nothing but your own
thoughts can hamper your progress. 2 You are free from all external
interference. 3 You are in charge of your salvation. 4 You are in charge
of the salvation of the world. 5 Say, then:
LESSON 71.
6 Give Him full charge of the rest of the practice period, and let Him
tell you what needs to be done by you in His plan for your salvation. 7
He will answer in proportion to your willingness to hear His Voice. 8
Refuse not to hear. 9 The very fact that you are doing the exercises
proves that you have some willingness to listen. 10 This is enough to
establish your claim to God's answer.
W-71.10. In the shorter practice periods, tell yourself often that God's
plan for salvation, and only His, will work. 2 Be alert to all temptation
to hold grievances today, and respond to them with this form of
today's idea:
LESSON 72.
9 Then we will wait in quiet for His answer. 10 We have attacked God's
plan for salvation without waiting to hear what it is. 11 We have
shouted our grievances so loudly that we have not listened to His
Voice. 12 We have used our grievances to close our eyes and stop our
ears.
W-72.11. Now we would see and hear and learn. 2 "What is salvation,
Father?" 3 Ask and you will be answered. 4 Seek and you will find. 5 We
are no longer asking the ego what salvation is and where to find it. 6
We are asking it of truth. 7 Be certain, then, that the answer will be
true because of Whom you ask.
W-72.12. Whenever you feel your confidence wane and your hope of
success flicker and go out, repeat your question and your request,
remembering that you are asking of the infinite Creator of infinity, Who
created you like Himself:
LESSON 73.
2 I will there be light. 3 Let me behold the light that reflects God's Will
and mine.
4 Then let your will assert itself, joined with the power of God and
united with your Self. 5 Put the rest of the practice period under Their
guidance. 6 Join with Them as They lead the way.
W-73.11. In the shorter practice periods, again make a declaration of
what you really want. 2 Say:
LESSON 74.
5 I am at peace.
6 Nothing can disturb me. 7 My will is God's.
8 My will and God's are one.
9 God wills peace for His Son.
W-74.5. After you have cleared your mind in this way, close your
eyes and try to experience the peace to which your reality entitles you.
2 Sink into it and feel it closing around you. 3 There may be some
temptation to mistake these attempts for withdrawal, but the
difference is easily detected. 4 If you are succeeding, you will feel a
deep sense of joy and an increased alertness, rather than a feeling of
drowsiness and enervation.
W-74.6. Joy characterizes peace. 2 By this experience will you
recognize that you have reached it. 3 If you feel yourself slipping off
into withdrawal, quickly repeat the idea for today and try again. 4 Do
this as often as necessary. 5 There is definite gain in refusing to allow
retreat into withdrawal, even if you do not experience the peace you
seek.
W-74.7. In the shorter periods, which should be undertaken at regular
and predetermined intervals today, say to yourself:
4 Then try to find what you are seeking. 5 A minute or two every half
an hour, with eyes closed if possible, would be well spent on this today.
LESSON 75.
W-75.6. Dwell not upon the past today. 2 Keep a completely open
mind, washed of all past ideas and clean of every concept you have
made. 3 You have forgiven the world today. 4 You can look upon it now
as if you never saw it before. 5 You do not know yet what it looks like. 6
You merely wait to have it shown to you. 7 While you wait, repeat
several times, slowly and in complete patience:
4 Should you be tempted, say to anyone who seems to pull you back
into darkness:
LESSON 77.
I am entitled to miracles.
W-77.1. You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. 2 You
will receive miracles because of what God is. 3 And you will offer
miracles because you are one with God. 4 Again, how simple is
salvation! 5 It is merely a statement of your true Identity. 6 It is this
that we will celebrate today.
W-77.2. Your claim to miracles does not lie in your illusions about
yourself. 2 It does not depend on any magical powers you have
ascribed to yourself, nor on any of the rituals you have devised. 3 It is
inherent in the truth of what you are. 4 It is implicit in what God your
Father is. 5 It was ensured in your creation, and guaranteed by the
laws of God.
W-77.3. Today we will claim the miracles which are your right, since
they belong to you. 2 You have been promised full release from the
world you made. 3 You have been assured that the Kingdom of God is
within you, and can never be lost. 4 We ask no more than what belongs
to us in truth. 5 Today, however, we will also make sure that we will not
content ourselves with less.
W-77.4. Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself quite
confidently that you are entitled to miracles. 2 Closing your eyes,
remind yourself that you are asking only for what is rightfully yours. 3
Remind yourself also that miracles are never taken from one and given
to another, and that in asking for your rights, you are upholding the
rights of everyone. 4 Miracles do not obey the laws of this world. 5
They merely follow from the laws of God.
W-77.5. After this brief introductory phase, wait quietly for the
assurance that your request is granted. 2 You have asked for the
salvation of the world, and for your own. 3 You have requested that you
be given the means by which this is accomplished. 4 You cannot fail to
be assured in this. 5 You are but asking that the Will of God be done.
W-77.6. In doing this, you do not really ask for anything. 2 You state a
fact that cannot be denied. 3 The Holy Spirit cannot but assure you
that your request is granted. 4 The fact that you accepted must be so.
5 There is no room for doubt and uncertainty today. 6 We are asking a
real question at last. 7 The answer is a simple statement of a simple
fact. 8 You will receive the assurance that you seek.
W-77.7. Our shorter practice periods will be frequent, and will also be
devoted to a reminder of a simple fact. 2 Tell yourself often today:
3 I am entitled to miracles.
4 Ask for them whenever a situation arises in which they are called for.
5 You will recognize these situations. 6 And since you are not relying on
yourself to find the miracle, you are fully entitled to receive it
whenever you ask.
W-77.8. Remember, too, not to be satisfied with less than the perfect
answer. 2 Be quick to tell yourself, should you be tempted:
3 I will not trade miracles for grievances. 4 I want only what belongs to
me. 5 God has established miracles as my right.
LESSON 78.
3 Let me behold my savior in this one You have appointed as the one
for me to ask to lead me to the holy light in which he stands, that I may
join with him.
4 The body's eyes are closed, and as you think of him who grieved you,
let your mind be shown the light in him beyond your grievances.
W-78.8. What you have asked for cannot be denied. 2 Your savior has
been waiting long for this. 3 He would be free, and make his freedom
yours. 4 The Holy Spirit leans from him to you, seeing no separation in
God's Son. 5 And what you see through Him will free you both. 6 Be
very quiet now, and look upon your shining savior. 7 No dark
grievances obscure the sight of him. 8 You have allowed the Holy Spirit
to express through him the role God gave Him that you might be
saved.
W-78.9. God thanks you for these quiet times today in which you laid
your images aside, and looked upon the miracle of love the Holy Spirit
showed you in their place. 2 The world and Heaven join in thanking
you, for not one Thought of God but must rejoice as you are saved, and
all the world with you.
W-78.10. We will remember this throughout the day, and take the role
assigned to us as part of God's salvation plan, and not our own. 2
Temptation falls away when we allow each one we meet to save us,
and refuse to hide his light behind our grievances. 3 To everyone you
meet, and to the ones you think of or remember from the past, allow
the role of savior to be given, that you may share it with him. 4 For you
both, and all the sightless ones as well, we pray:
4 Then try to suspend all judgment about what the problem is. 5 If
possible, close your eyes for a moment and ask what it is. 6 You will be
heard and you will be answered.
LESSON 80.
REVIEW II
Introduction
W-rII.in.1. We are now ready for another review. 2 We will begin where
our last review left off, and cover two ideas each day. 3 The earlier part
of each day will be devoted to one of these ideas, and the latter part of
the day to the other. 4 We will have one longer exercise period, and
frequent shorter ones in which we practice each of them.
W-rII.in.2. The longer practice periods will follow this general form: Take
about fifteen minutes for each of them, and begin by thinking about
the ideas for the day, and the comments that are included in the
assignments. 2 Devote some three or four minutes to reading them
over slowly, several times if you wish, and then close your eyes and
listen.
W-rII.in.3. Repeat the first phase of the exercise period if you find your
mind wandering, but try to spend the major part of the time listening
quietly but attentively. 2 There is a message waiting for you. 3 Be
confident that you will receive it. 4 Remember that it belongs to you,
and that you want it.
W-rII.in.4. Do not allow your intent to waver in the face of distracting
thoughts. 2 Realize that, whatever form such thoughts may take, they
have no meaning and no power. 3 Replace them with your
determination to succeed. 4 Do not forget that your will has power over
all fantasies and dreams. 5 Trust it to see you through, and carry you
beyond them all.
W-rII.in.5. Regard these practice periods as dedications to the way, the
truth and the life. 2 Refuse to be sidetracked into detours, illusions and
thoughts of death. 3 You are dedicated to salvation. 4 Be determined
each day not to leave your function unfulfilled.
W-rII.in.6. Reaffirm your determination in the shorter practice periods
as well, using the original form of the idea for general applications, and
more specific forms when needed. 2 Some specific forms are included
in the comments which follow the statement of the ideas. 3 These,
however, are merely suggestions. 4 It is not the particular words you
use that matter.
LESSON 81.
LESSON 82.
LESSON 83.
Today let us review these ideas:
W-83.1. (65) My only function is the one God gave me.
2 I have no function but the one God gave me. 3 This recognition
releases me from all conflict, because it means I cannot have
conflicting goals. 4 With one purpose only, I am always certain what to
do, what to say and what to think. 5 All doubt must disappear as I
acknowledge that my only function is the one God gave me.
W-83.2. More specific applications of this idea might take these
forms:
LESSON 84.
LESSON 85.
LESSON 86.
LESSON 87.
LESSON 88.
LESSON 89.
LESSON 91.
6 The question with which this statement ends is needed for our
exercises today. 7 What you think you are is a belief to be undone. 8
But what you really are must be revealed to you. 9 The belief you are a
body calls for correction, being a mistake. 10 The truth of what you are
calls on the strength in you to bring to your awareness what the
mistake conceals.
W-91.7. If you are not a body, what are you? 2 You need to be aware
of what the Holy Spirit uses to replace the image of a body in your
mind. 3 You need to feel something to put your faith in, as you lift it
from the body. 4 You need a real experience of something else,
something more solid and more sure; more worthy of your faith, and
really there.
W-91.8. If you are not a body, what are you? 2 Ask this in honesty,
and then devote several minutes to allowing your mistaken thoughts
about your attributes to be corrected, and their opposites to take their
place. 3 Say, for example:
LESSON 92.
Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.
W-92.1. The idea for today is an extension of the previous one. 2 You
do not think of light in terms of strength, and darkness in terms of
weakness. 3 That is because your idea of what seeing means is tied up
with the body and its eyes and brain. 4 Thus you believe that you can
change what you see by putting little bits of glass before your eyes. 5
This is among the many magical beliefs that come from the conviction
you are a body, and the body's eyes can see.
W-92.2. You also believe the body's brain can think. 2 If you but
understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane
idea. 3 It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun
and gives it all its warmth; or that you held the world within your hand,
securely bound until you let it go. 4 Yet this is no more foolish than to
believe the body's eyes can see; the brain can think.
W-92.3. It is God's strength in you that is the light in which you see,
as it is His Mind with which you think. 2 His strength denies your
weakness. 3 It is your weakness that sees through the body's eyes,
peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself; the small,
the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and
afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless. 4 These are seen
through eyes that cannot see and cannot bless.
W-92.4. Strength overlooks these things by seeing past appearances.
2 It keeps its steady gaze upon the light that lies beyond them. 3 It
unites with light, of which it is a part. 4 It sees itself. 5 It brings the
light in which your Self appears. 6 In darkness you perceive a self that
is not there. 7 Strength is the truth about you; weakness is an idol
falsely worshipped and adored that strength may be dispelled, and
darkness rule where God appointed that there should be light.
W-92.5. Strength comes from truth, and shines with light its Source
has given it; weakness reflects the darkness of its maker. 2 It is sick
and looks on sickness, which is like itself. 3 Truth is a savior and can
only will for happiness and peace for everyone. 4 It gives its strength to
everyone who asks, in limitless supply. 5 It sees that lack in anyone
would be a lack in all. 6 And so it gives its light that all may see and
benefit as one. 7 Its strength is shared, that it may bring to all the
miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love.
W-92.6. Weakness, which looks in darkness, cannot see a purpose in
forgiveness and in love. 2 It sees all others different from itself, and
nothing in the world that it would share. 3 It judges and condemns, but
does not love. 4 In darkness it remains to hide itself, and dreams that it
is strong and conquering, a victor over limitations that but grow in
darkness to enormous size.
W-92.7. It fears and it attacks and hates itself, and darkness covers
everything it sees, leaving its dreams as fearful as itself. 2 No miracles
are here, but only hate. 3 It separates itself from what it sees, while
light and strength perceive themselves as one. 4 The light of strength
is not the light you see. 5 It does not change and flicker and go out. 6 It
does not shift from night to day, and back to darkness till the morning
comes again.
W-92.8. The light of strength is constant, sure as love, forever glad to
give itself away, because it cannot give but to itself. 2 No one can ask
in vain to share its sight, and none who enters its abode can leave
without a miracle before his eyes, and strength and light abiding in his
heart.
W-92.9. The strength in you will offer you the light, and guide your
seeing so you do not dwell on idle shadows that the body's eyes
provide for self-deception. 2 Strength and light unite in you, and where
they meet, your Self stands ready to embrace you as Its Own. 3 Such is
the meeting place we try today to find and rest in, for the peace of God
is where your Self, His Son, is waiting now to meet Itself again, and be
as One.
W-92.10. Let us give twenty minutes twice today to join this meeting.
2 Let yourself be brought unto your Self. 3 Its strength will be the light
in which the gift of sight is given you. 4 Leave, then, the dark a little
while today, and we will practice seeing in the light, closing the body's
eyes and asking truth to show us how to find the meeting place of self
and Self, where light and strength are one.
W-92.11. Morning and evening we will practice thus. 2 After the
morning meeting, we will use the day in preparation for the time at
night when we will meet again in trust. 3 Let us repeat as often as we
can the idea for today, and recognize that we are being introduced to
sight, and led away from darkness to the light where only miracles can
be perceived.
LESSON 93.
4 Then put away your foolish self-images, and spend the rest of the
practice period in trying to experience what God has given you, in
place of what you have decreed for yourself.
W-93.9. You are what God created or what you made. 2 One Self is
true; the other is not there. 3 Try to experience the unity of your one
Self. 4 Try to appreciate Its Holiness and the love from which It was
created. 5 Try not to interfere with the Self which God created as you,
by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sinfulness you
have made to replace It. 6 Let It come into Its Own. 7 Here you are;
This is You. 8 And light and joy and peace abide in you because this is
so.
W-93.10. You may not be willing or even able to use the first five
minutes of each hour for these exercises. 2 Try, however, to do so
when you can. 3 At least remember to repeat these thoughts each
hour:
5 You can do much for the world's salvation today. 6 You can do much
today to bring you closer to the part in salvation that God has assigned
to you. 7 And you can do much today to bring the conviction to your
mind that the idea for the day is true indeed.
LESSON 94.
5 Now try to reach the Son of God in you. 6 This is the Self that never
sinned, nor made an image to replace reality. 7 This is the Self that
never left Its home in God to walk the world uncertainly. 8 This is the
Self that knows no fear, nor could conceive of loss or suffering or
death.
W-94.4. Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all
idols and self-images aside; go past the list of attributes, both good
and bad, you have ascribed to yourself; and wait in silent expectancy
for the truth. 2 God has Himself promised that it will be revealed to all
who ask for it. 3 You are asking now. 4 You cannot fail because He
cannot fail.
W-94.5. If you do not meet the requirement of practicing for the first
five minutes of every hour, at least remind yourself hourly:
8 Make every effort to do the hourly exercises today. 9 Each one you do
will be a giant stride toward your release, and a milestone in learning
the thought system which this course sets forth.
LESSON 95.
3 Then close your eyes and tell yourself again, slowly and thoughtfully,
attempting to allow the meaning of the words to sink into your mind,
replacing false ideas:
4 I am one Self.
5 Repeat this several times, and then attempt to feel the meaning that
the words convey.
W-95.12. You are one Self, united and secure in light and joy and
peace. 2 You are God's Son, one Self, with one Creator and one goal; to
bring awareness of this oneness to all minds, that true creation may
extend the allness and the unity of God. 3 You are one Self, complete
and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the
world, and let the light in you come through to teach the world the
truth about yourself.
W-95.13. You are one Self, in perfect harmony with all there is, and all
that there will be. 2 You are one Self, the holy Son of God, united with
your brothers in that Self; united with your Father in His Will. 3 Feel this
one Self in you, and let It shine away all your illusions and your doubts.
4 This is your Self, the Son of God Himself, sinless as Its Creator, with
His strength within you and His Love forever yours. 5 You are one Self,
and it is given you to feel this Self within you, and to cast all your
illusions out of the one Mind that is this Self, the holy truth in you.
W-95.14. Do not forget today. 2 We need your help; your little part in
bringing happiness to all the world. 3 And Heaven looks to you in
confidence that you will try today. 4 Share, then, its surety, for it is
yours. 5 Be vigilant. 6 Do not forget today. 7 Throughout the day do not
forget your goal. 8 Repeat today's idea as frequently as possible, and
understand each time you do so, someone hears the voice of hope, the
stirring of the truth within his mind, the gentle rustling of the wings of
peace.
W-95.15. Your own acknowledgment you are one Self, united with your
Father, is a call to all the world to be at one with you. 2 To everyone
you meet today, be sure to give the promise of today's idea and tell
him this:
3 You are one Self with me, united with our Creator in this Self. 4 I
honor you because of What I am, and What He is, Who loves us both as
One.
LESSON 96.
2 Salvation comes from my one Self. 3 Its Thoughts are mine to use.
4 Then seek Its Thoughts, and claim them as your own. 5 These are
your own real thoughts you have denied, and let your mind go
wandering in a world of dreams, to find illusions in their place. 6 Here
are your thoughts, the only ones you have. 7 Salvation is among them;
find it there.
W-96.10. If you succeed, the thoughts that come to you will tell you
you are saved, and that your mind has found the function that it
sought to lose. 2 Your Self will welcome it and give it peace. 3 Restored
in strength, it will again flow out from spirit to the spirit in all things
created by the Spirit as Itself. 4 Your mind will bless all things. 5
Confusion done, you are restored, for you have found your Self.
W-96.11. Your Self knows that you cannot fail today. 2 Perhaps your
mind remains uncertain yet a little while. 3 Be not dismayed by this. 4
The joy your Self experiences It will save for you, and it will yet be
yours in full awareness. 5 Every time you spend five minutes of the
hour seeking Him Who joins your mind and Self, you offer Him another
treasure to be kept for you.
W-96.12. Each time today you tell your frantic mind salvation comes
from your one Self, you lay another treasure in your growing store. 2
And all of it is given everyone who asks for it, and will accept the gift. 3
Think, then, how much is given unto you to give this day, that it be
given you!
LESSON 97.
I am spirit.
W-97.1. Today's idea identifies you with your one Self. 2 It accepts no
split identity, nor tries to weave opposing factors into unity. 3 It simply
states the truth. 4 Practice this truth today as often as you can, for it
will bring your mind from conflict to the quiet fields of peace. 5 No chill
of fear can enter, for your mind has been absolved from madness,
letting go illusions of a split identity.
W-97.2. We state again the truth about your Self, the holy Son of God
Who rests in you; whose mind has been restored to sanity. 2 You are
the spirit lovingly endowed with all your Father's Love and peace and
joy. 3 You are the spirit which completes Himself, and shares His
function as Creator. 4 He is with you always, as you are with Him.
W-97.3. Today we try to bring reality still closer to your mind. 2 Each
time you practice, awareness is brought a little nearer at least;
sometimes a thousand years or more are saved. 3 The minutes which
you give are multiplied over and over, for the miracle makes use of
time, but is not ruled by it. 4 Salvation is a miracle, the first and last;
the first that is the last, for it is one.
W-97.4. You are the spirit in whose mind abides the miracle in which
all time stands still; the miracle in which a minute spent in using these
ideas becomes a time that has no limit and that has no end. 2 Give,
then, these minutes willingly, and count on Him Who promised to lay
timelessness beside them. 3 He will offer all His strength to every little
effort that you make. 4 Give Him the minutes which He needs today, to
help you understand with Him you are the spirit that abides in Him,
and that calls through His Voice to every living thing; offers His sight to
everyone who asks; replaces error with the simple truth.
W-97.5. The Holy Spirit will be glad to take five minutes of each hour
from your hands, and carry them around this aching world where pain
and misery appear to rule. 2 He will not overlook one open mind that
will accept the healing gifts they bring, and He will lay them
everywhere He knows they will be welcome. 3 And they will increase in
healing power each time someone accepts them as his thoughts, and
uses them to heal.
W-97.6. Thus will each gift to Him be multiplied a thousandfold and
tens of thousands more. 2 And when it is returned to you, it will
surpass in might the little gift you gave as much as does the radiance
of the sun outshine the tiny gleam a firefly makes an uncertain
moment and goes out. 3 The steady brilliance of this light remains and
leads you out of darkness, nor will you be able to forget the way again.
W-97.7. Begin these happy exercises with the words the Holy Spirit
speaks to you, and let them echo round the world through Him:
2 Spirit am I, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and
whole, free to forgive, and free to save the world.
3 Expressed through you, the Holy Spirit will accept this gift that you
received of Him, increase its power and give it back to you.
W-97.8. Offer each practice period today gladly to Him. 2 And He will
speak to you, reminding you that you are spirit, one with Him and God,
your brothers and your Self. 3 Listen for His assurance every time you
speak the words He offers you today, and let Him tell your mind that
they are true. 4 Use them against temptation, and escape its sorry
consequences if you yield to the belief that you are something else. 5
The Holy Spirit gives you peace today. 6 Receive His words, and offer
them to Him.
LESSON 98.
W-98.8. In each five minutes that you spend with Him, He will accept
your words and give them back to you all bright with faith and
confidence so strong and steady they will light the world with hope and
gladness. 2 Do not lose one chance to be the glad receiver of His gifts,
that you may give them to the world today.
W-98.9. Give Him the words, and He will do the rest. 2 He will enable
you to understand your special function. 3 He will open up the way to
happiness, and peace and trust will be His gifts; His answer to your
words. 4 He will respond with all His faith and joy and certainty that
what you say is true. 5 And you will have conviction then of Him Who
knows the function that you have on earth as well as Heaven. 6 He will
be with you each practice period you share with Him, exchanging every
instant of the time you offer Him for timelessness and peace.
W-98.10. Throughout the hour, let your time be spent in happy
preparation for the next five minutes you will spend again with Him. 2
Repeat today's idea while you wait for the glad time to come to you
again. 3 Repeat it often, and do not forget each time you do so, you
have let your mind be readied for the happy time to come.
W-98.11. And when the hour goes and He is there once more to spend
a little time with you, be thankful and lay down all earthly tasks, all
little thoughts and limited ideas, and spend a happy time again with
Him. 2 Tell Him once more that you accept the part that He would have
you take and help you fill, and He will make you sure you want this
choice, which He has made with you and you with Him.
LESSON 99.
W-99.7. You who will yet work miracles, be sure you practice well the
idea for today. 2 Try to perceive the strength in what you say, for these
are words in which your freedom lies. 3 Your Father loves you. 4 All the
world of pain is not His Will. 5 Forgive yourself the thought He wanted
this for you. 6 Then let the Thought with which He has replaced all your
mistakes enter the darkened places of your mind that thought the
thoughts that never were His Will.
W-99.8. This part belongs to God, as does the rest. 2 It does not think
its solitary thoughts, and make them real by hiding them from Him. 3
Let in the light, and you will look upon no obstacle to what He wills for
you. 4 Open your secrets to His kindly light, and see how bright this
light still shines in you.
W-99.9. Practice His Thought today, and let His light seek out and
lighten up all darkened spots, and shine through them to join them to
the rest. 2 It is God's Will your mind be one with His. 3 It is God's Will
that He has but one Son. 4 It is God's Will that His one Son is you. 5
Think of these things in practicing today, and start the lesson that we
learn today with this instruction in the way of truth:
8 Then turn to Him Who shares your function here, and let Him teach
you what you need to learn to lay all fear aside, and know your Self as
Love which has no opposite in you.
W-99.10. Forgive all thoughts which would oppose the truth of your
completion, unity and peace. 2 You cannot lose the gifts your Father
gave. 3 You do not want to be another self. 4 You have no function that
is not of God. 5 Forgive yourself the one you think you made. 6
Forgiveness and salvation are the same. 7 Forgive what you have
made and you are saved.
W-99.11. There is a special message for today which has the power to
remove all forms of doubt and fear forever from your mind. 2 If you are
tempted to believe them true, remember that appearances can not
withstand the truth these mighty words contain:
W-99.12. Your only function tells you you are one. 2 Remind yourself of
this between the times you give five minutes to be shared with Him
Who shares God's plan with you. 3 Remind yourself:
5 Thus do you lay forgiveness on your mind and let all fear be gently
laid aside, that love may find its rightful place in you and show you that
you are the Son of God.
LESSON 100.
LESSON 101.
8 So should you start your practice periods, and then attempt again to
find the joy these thoughts will introduce into your mind.
W-101.7. Give these five minutes gladly, to remove the heavy load
you lay upon yourself with the insane belief that sin is real. 2 Today
escape from madness. 3 You are set on freedom's road, and now
today's idea brings wings to speed you on, and hope to go still faster to
the waiting goal of peace. 4 There is no sin. 5 Remember this today,
and tell yourself as often as you can:
LESSON 102.
3 Then seek this function deep within your mind, for it is there,
awaiting but your choice. 4 You cannot fail to find it when you learn it is
your choice, and that you share God's Will.
W-102.5. Be happy, for your only function here is happiness. 2 You
have no need to be less loving to God's Son than He Whose Love
created him as loving as Himself. 3 Besides these hourly five-minute
rests, pause frequently today, to tell yourself that you have now
accepted happiness as your one function. 4 And be sure that you are
joining with God's Will in doing this.
LESSON 103.
LESSON 104.
3 I seek but what belongs to me in truth, And joy and peace are my
inheritance.
4 Then lay aside the conflicts of the world that offer other gifts and
other goals made of illusions, witnessed to by them, and sought for
only in a world of dreams.
W-104.4. All this we lay aside, and seek instead that which is truly
ours, as we ask to recognize what God has given us. 2 We clear a holy
place within our minds before His altar, where His gifts of peace and
joy are welcome, and to which we come to find what has been given us
by Him. 3 We come in confidence today, aware that what belongs to us
in truth is what He gives. 4 And we would wish for nothing else, for
nothing else belongs to us in truth.
W-104.5. So do we clear the way for Him today by simply recognizing
that His Will is done already, and that joy and peace belong to us as
His eternal gifts. 2 We will not let ourselves lose sight of them between
the times we come to seek for them where He has laid them. 3 This
reminder will we bring to mind as often as we can:
LESSON 105.
2 My brother, peace and joy I offer you, That I may have God's peace
and joy as mine.
3 Thus you prepare yourself to recognize God's gifts to you, and let
your mind be free of all that would prevent success today. 4 Now are
you ready to accept the gift of peace and joy that God has given you. 5
Now are you ready to experience the joy and peace you have denied
yourself. 6 Now you can say, "God's peace and joy are mine," for you
have given what you would receive.
W-105.8. You must succeed today, if you prepare your mind as we
suggest. 2 For you have let all bars to peace and joy be lifted up, and
what is yours can come to you at last. 3 So tell yourself, "God's peace
and joy are mine," and close your eyes a while, and let His Voice assure
you that the words you speak are true.
W-105.9. Spend your five minutes thus with Him each time you can
today, but do not think that less is worthless when you cannot give
Him more. 2 At least remember hourly to say the words which call to
Him to give you what He wills to give, and wills you to receive. 3
Determine not to interfere today with what He wills. 4 And if a brother
seems to tempt you to deny God's gift to him, see it as but another
chance to let yourself receive the gifts of God as yours. 5 Then bless
your brother thankfully, and say:
6 My brother, peace and joy I offer you, That I may have God's peace
and joy as mine.
LESSON 106.
LESSON 107.
5 Truth will correct all errors in my mind, And I will rest in Him Who is
my Self.
6 Then let Him lead you gently to the truth, which will envelop you and
give you peace so deep and tranquil that you will return to the familiar
world reluctantly.
W-107.10.And yet you will be glad to look again upon this world. 2 For
you will bring with you the promise of the changes which the truth that
goes with you will carry to the world. 3 They will increase with every
gift you give of five small minutes, and the errors that surround the
world will be corrected as you let them be corrected in your mind.
W-107.11.Do not forget your function for today. 2 Each time you tell
yourself with confidence, "Truth will correct all errors in my mind," you
speak for all the world and Him Who would release the world, as He
would set you free.
LESSON 108.
4 Then close your eyes, and for five minutes think of what you would
hold out to everyone, to have it yours. 5 You might, for instance, say:
W-108.9. Say each one slowly and then pause a while, expecting to
receive the gift you gave. 2 And it will come to you in the amount in
which you gave it. 3 You will find you have exact return, for that is what
you asked. 4 It might be helpful, too, to think of one to whom to give
your gifts. 5 He represents the others, and through him you give to all.
W-108.10.Our very simple lesson for today will teach you much. 2
Effect and cause will be far better understood from this time on, and
we will make much faster progress now. 3 Think of the exercises for
today as quick advances in your learning, made still faster and more
sure each time you say, "To give and to receive are one in truth."
LESSON 109.
I rest in God.
W-109.1. We ask for rest today, and quietness unshaken by the world's
appearances. 2 We ask for peace and stillness, in the midst of all the
turmoil born of clashing dreams. 3 We ask for safety and for happiness,
although we seem to look on danger and on sorrow. 4 And we have the
thought that will answer our asking with what we request.
W-109.2. "I rest in God." 2 This thought will bring to you the rest and
quiet, peace and stillness, and the safety and the happiness you seek.
3 "I rest in God." 4 This thought has power to wake the sleeping truth
in you, whose vision sees beyond appearances to that same truth in
everyone and everything there is. 5 Here is the end of suffering for all
the world, and everyone who ever came and yet will come to linger for
a while. 6 Here is the thought in which the Son of God is born again, to
recognize himself.
W-109.3. "I rest in God." 2 Completely undismayed, this thought will
carry you through storms and strife, past misery and pain, past loss
and death, and onward to the certainty of God. 3 There is no suffering
it cannot heal. 4 There is no problem that it cannot solve. 5 And no
appearance but will turn to truth before the eyes of you who rest in
God.
W-109.4. This is the day of peace. 2 You rest in God, and while the
world is torn by winds of hate your rest remains completely
undisturbed. 3 Yours is the rest of truth. 4 Appearances cannot intrude
on you. 5 You call to all to join you in your rest, and they will hear and
come to you because you rest in God. 6 They will not hear another
voice than yours because you gave your voice to God, and now you
rest in Him and let Him speak through you.
W-109.5. In Him you have no cares and no concerns, no burdens, no
anxiety, no pain, no fear of future and no past regrets. 2 In
timelessness you rest, while time goes by without its touch upon you,
for your rest can never change in any way at all. 3 You rest today. 4
And as you close your eyes, sink into stillness. 5 Let these periods of
rest and respite reassure your mind that all its frantic fantasies were
but the dreams of fever that has passed away. 6 Let it be still and
thankfully accept its healing. 7 No more fearful dreams will come, now
that you rest in God. 8 Take time today to slip away from dreams and
into peace.
W-109.6. Each hour that you take your rest today, a tired mind is
suddenly made glad, a bird with broken wings begins to sing, a stream
long dry begins to flow again. 2 The world is born again each time you
rest, and hourly remember that you came to bring the peace of God
into the world, that it might take its rest along with you.
W-109.7. With each five minutes that you rest today, the world is
nearer waking. 2 And the time when rest will be the only thing there is
comes closer to all worn and tired minds, too weary now to go their
way alone. 3 And they will hear the bird begin to sing and see the
stream begin to flow again, with hope reborn and energy restored to
walk with lightened steps along the road that suddenly seems easy as
they go.
W-109.8. You rest within the peace of God today, and call upon your
brothers from your rest to draw them to their rest, along with you. 2
You will be faithful to your trust today, forgetting no one, bringing
everyone into the boundless circle of your peace, the holy sanctuary
where you rest. 3 Open the temple doors and let them come from far
across the world, and near as well; your distant brothers and your
closest friends; bid them all enter here and rest with you.
W-109.9. You rest within the peace of God today, quiet and unafraid. 2
Each brother comes to take his rest, and offer it to you. 3 We rest
together here, for thus our rest is made complete, and what we give
today we have received already. 4 Time is not the guardian of what we
give today. 5 We give to those unborn and those passed by, to every
Thought of God, and to the Mind in which these Thoughts were born
and where they rest. 6 And we remind them of their resting place each
time we tell ourselves, "I rest in God."
LESSON 110.
W-110.7. Then, with this statement firmly in your mind, try to discover
in your mind the Self Who is the holy Son of God Himself.
W-110.8. Seek Him within you Who is Christ in you, the Son of God and
brother to the world; the Savior Who has been forever saved, with
power to save whoever touches Him, however lightly, asking for the
Word that tells him he is brother unto Him.
W-110.9. You are as God created you. 2 Today honor your Self. 3 Let
graven images you made to be the Son of God instead of what he is be
worshipped not today. 4 Deep in your mind the holy Christ in you is
waiting your acknowledgment as you. 5 And you are lost and do not
know yourself while He is unacknowledged and unknown.
W-110.10.Seek Him today, and find Him. 2 He will be your Savior from
all idols you have made. 3 For when you find Him, you will understand
how worthless are your idols, and how false the images which you
believed were you. 4 Today we make a great advance to truth by
letting idols go, and opening our hands and hearts and minds to God
today.
W-110.11.We will remember Him throughout the day with thankful
hearts and loving thoughts for all who meet with us today. 2 For it is
thus that we remember Him. 3 And we will say, that we may be
reminded of His Son, our holy Self, the Christ in each of us:
5 Let us declare this truth as often as we can. 6 This is the Word of God
that sets you free. 7 This is the key that opens up the gate of Heaven,
and that lets you enter in the peace of God and His eternity.
REVIEW III
Introduction
LESSON 111.
2 I cannot see in darkness. 3 Let the light of holiness and truth light up
my mind, and let me see the innocence within.
W-111.2. (92) Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are
one.
LESSON 112.
2 I am the home of light and joy and peace. 3 I welcome them into the
home I share with God, because I am a part of Him.
W-112.2. (94) I am as God created me.
LESSON 113.
LESSON 114.
2 What can my function be but to accept the Word of God, Who has
created me for what I am and will forever be?
W-114.3. On the hour:
2 I am spirit.
3 On the half hour:
4 I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation.
LESSON 115.
2 My function here is to forgive the world for all the errors I have made.
3 For thus am I released from them with all the world.
2 I am essential to the plan of God for the salvation of the world. 3 For
He gave me His plan that I might save the world.
LESSON 116.
2 God's Will is perfect happiness for me. 3 And I can suffer but from the
belief there is another will apart from His.
2 I share my Father's Will for me, His Son. 3 What He has given me is
all I want. 4 What He has given me is all there is.
2 Love is my heritage, and with it joy. 3 These are the gifts my Father
gave to me. 4 I would accept all that is mine in truth.
LESSON 118.
2 Today I will accept God's peace and joy, in glad exchange for all the
substitutes that I have made for happiness and peace.
2 Let my own feeble voice be still, and let me hear the mighty Voice for
Truth Itself assure me that I am God's perfect Son.
LESSON 119.
2 I will forgive all things today, that I may learn how to accept the truth
in me, and come to recognize my sinlessness.
LESSON 120.
2 I rest in God today, and let Him work in me and through me, while I
rest in Him in quiet and in perfect certainty.
2 I am God's Son. 3 Today I lay aside all sick illusions of myself, and let
my Father tell me Who I really am.
LESSON 121.
LESSON 122.
LESSON 124.
2 Let me remember I am one with God, at one with all my brothers and
my Self, in everlasting holiness and peace.
LESSON 125.
LESSON 126.
3 All that I give is given to myself. 4 The Help I need to learn that this is
true is with me now. 5 And I will trust in Him.
6 Then spend a quiet moment, opening your mind to His correction and
His Love. 7 And what you hear of Him you will believe, for what He
gives will be received by you.
LESSON 127.
4 I bless you, brother, with the Love of God, which I would share with
you. 5 For I would learn the joyous lesson that there is no love but
God's and yours and mine and everyone's.
LESSON 128.
LESSON 129.
3 Beyond this world there is a world I want. 4 I choose to see that world
instead of this, for here is nothing that I really want.
5 Then close your eyes upon the world you see, and in the silent
darkness watch the lights that are not of this world light one by one,
until where one begins another ends loses all meaning as they blend in
one.
W-129.8. Today the lights of Heaven bend to you, to shine upon your
eyelids as you rest beyond the world of darkness. 2 Here is light your
eyes can not behold. 3 And yet your mind can see it plainly, and can
understand. 4 A day of grace is given you today, and we give thanks. 5
This day we realize that what you feared to lose was only loss.
W-129.9. Now do we understand there is no loss. 2 For we have seen
its opposite at last, and we are grateful that the choice is made. 3
Remember your decision hourly, and take a moment to confirm your
choice by laying by whatever thoughts you have, and dwelling briefly
only upon this:
LESSON 130.
W-130.9. God will be there. 2 For you have called upon the great
unfailing power which will take this giant step with you in gratitude. 3
Nor will you fail to see His thanks expressed in tangible perception and
in truth. 4 You will not doubt what you will look upon, for though it is
perception, it is not the kind of seeing that your eyes alone have ever
seen before. 5 And you will know God's strength upheld you as you
made this choice.
W-130.10.Dismiss temptation easily today whenever it arises, merely
by remembering the limits of your choice. 2 The unreal or the real, the
false or true is what you see and only what you see. 3 Perception is
consistent with your choice, and hell or Heaven comes to you as one.
W-130.11.Accept a little part of hell as real, and you have damned your
eyes and cursed your sight, and what you will behold is hell indeed. 2
Yet the release of Heaven still remains within your range of choice, to
take the place of everything that hell would show to you. 3 All you
need say to any part of hell, whatever form it takes, is simply this:
LESSON 131.
5 For several minutes watch your mind and see, although your eyes
are closed, the senseless world you think is real. 6 Review the thoughts
as well which are compatible with such a world, and which you think
are true. 7 Then let them go, and sink below them to the holy place
where they can enter not. 8 There is a door beneath them in your
mind, which you could not completely lock to hide what lies beyond.
W-131.12.Seek for that door and find it. 2 But before you try to open it,
remind yourself no one can fail who seeks to reach the truth. 3 And it is
this request you make today. 4 Nothing but this has any meaning now;
no other goal is valued now nor sought, nothing before this door you
really want, and only what lies past it do you seek.
W-131.13.Put out your hand, and see how easily the door swings open
with your one intent to go beyond it. 2 Angels light the way, so that all
darkness vanishes, and you are standing in a light so bright and clear
that you can understand all things you see. 3 A tiny moment of
surprise, perhaps, will make you pause before you realize the world
you see before you in the light reflects the truth you knew, and did not
quite forget in wandering away in dreams.
W-131.14.You cannot fail today. 2 There walks with you the Spirit
Heaven sent you, that you might approach this door some day, and
through His aid slip effortlessly past it, to the light. 3 Today that day
has come. 4 Today God keeps His ancient promise to His holy Son, as
does His Son remember his to Him. 5 This is a day of gladness, for we
come to the appointed time and place where you will find the goal of
all your searching here, and all the seeking of the world, which end
together as you pass beyond the door.
W-131.15.Remember often that today should be a time of special
gladness, and refrain from dismal thoughts and meaningless laments.
2 Salvation's time has come. 3 Today is set by Heaven itself to be a
time of grace for you and for the world. 4 If you forget this happy fact,
remind yourself with this:
LESSON 132.
4 Then merely rest, alert but with no strain, and let your mind in
quietness be changed so that the world is freed, along with you.
W-132.16.You need not realize that healing comes to many brothers far
across the world, as well as to the ones you see nearby, as you send
out these thoughts to bless the world. 2 But you will sense your own
release, although you may not fully understand as yet that you could
never be released alone.
W-132.17.Throughout the day, increase the freedom sent through your
ideas to all the world, and say whenever you are tempted to deny the
power of your simple change of mind:
2 I loose the world from all I thought it was, and choose my own reality
instead.
LESSON 133.
4 I will not value what is valueless, and only what has value do I seek,
for only that do I desire to find.
3 I will not value what is valueless, for what is valuable belongs to me.
LESSON 134.
LESSON 135.
LESSON 136.
W-136.16.Healing will flash across your open mind, as peace and truth
arise to take the place of war and vain imaginings. 2 There will be no
dark corners sickness can conceal, and keep defended from the light of
truth. 3 There will be no dim figures from your dreams, nor their
obscure and meaningless pursuits with double purposes insanely
sought, remaining in your mind. 4 It will be healed of all the sickly
wishes that it tried to authorize the body to obey.
W-136.17.Now is the body healed, because the source of sickness has
been opened to relief. 2 And you will recognize you practiced well by
this: The body should not feel at all. 3 If you have been successful,
there will be no sense of feeling ill or feeling well, of pain or pleasure. 4
No response at all is in the mind to what the body does. 5 Its
usefulness remains and nothing more.
W-136.18.Perhaps you do not realize that this removes the limits you
had placed upon the body by the purposes you gave to it. 2 As these
are laid aside, the strength the body has will always be enough to
serve all truly useful purposes. 3 The body's health is fully guaranteed,
because it is not limited by time, by weather or fatigue, by food and
drink, or any laws you made it serve before. 4 You need do nothing now
to make it well, for sickness has become impossible.
W-136.19.Yet this protection needs to be preserved by careful
watching. 2 If you let your mind harbor attack thoughts, yield to
judgment or make plans against uncertainties to come, you have again
misplaced yourself, and made a bodily identity which will attack the
body, for the mind is sick.
W-136.20.Give instant remedy, should this occur, by not allowing your
defensiveness to hurt you longer. 2 Do not be confused about what
must be healed, but tell yourself:
3 I have forgotten what I really am, for I mistook my body for myself. 4
Sickness is a defense against the truth. 5 But I am not a body. 6 And
my mind cannot attack. 7 So I can not be sick.
LESSON 137.
W-137.15.Let healing be through you this very day. 2 And as you rest in
quiet, be prepared to give as you receive, to hold but what you give,
and to receive the Word of God to take the place of all the foolish
thoughts that ever were imagined. 3 Now we come together to make
well all that was sick, and offer blessing where there was attack. 4 Nor
will we let this function be forgot as every hour of the day slips by,
remembering our purpose with this thought:
LESSON 138.
5 Heaven is the decision I must make. 6 I make it now, and will not
change my mind, because it is the only thing I want.
LESSON 139.
3 I will accept Atonement for myself, For I remain as God created me.
4 I will accept Atonement for myself, For I remain as God created me.
LESSON 140.
4 And we will feel salvation cover us with soft protection, and with
peace so deep that no illusion can disturb our minds, nor offer proof to
us that it is real. 5 This will we learn today. 6 And we will say our prayer
for healing hourly, and take a minute as the hour strikes, to hear the
answer to our prayer be given us as we attend in silence and in joy. 7
This is the day when healing comes to us. 8 This is the day when
separation ends, and we remember Who we really are.
REVIEW IV
Introduction
W-rIV.in.1.Now we review again, this time aware we are preparing for
the second part of learning how the truth can be applied. 2 Today we
will begin to concentrate on readiness for what will follow next. 3 Such
is our aim for this review, and for the lessons following. 4 Thus, we
review the recent lessons and their central thoughts in such a way as
will facilitate the readiness that we would now achieve.
W-rIV.in.2.There is a central theme that unifies each step in the review
we undertake, which can be simply stated in these words:
3 That is a fact, and represents the truth of What you are and What
your Father is. 4 It is this thought by which the Father gave creation to
the Son, establishing the Son as co-creator with Himself. 5 It is this
thought that fully guarantees salvation to the Son. 6 For in his mind no
thoughts can dwell but those his Father shares. 7 Lack of forgiveness
blocks this thought from his awareness. 8 Yet it is forever true.
W-rIV.in.3.Let us begin our preparation with some understanding of the
many forms in which the lack of true forgiveness may be carefully
concealed. 2 Because they are illusions, they are not perceived to be
but what they are; defenses that protect your unforgiving thoughts
from being seen and recognized. 3 Their purpose is to show you
something else, and hold correction off through self-deceptions made
to take its place.
W-rIV.in.4.And yet, your mind holds only what you think with God. 2
Your self-deceptions cannot take the place of truth. 3 No more than can
a child who throws a stick into the ocean change the coming and the
going of the tides, the warming of the water by the sun, the silver of
the moon on it by night. 4 So do we start each practice period in this
review with readying our minds to understand the lessons that we
read, and see the meaning that they offer us.
W-rIV.in.5.Begin each day with time devoted to the preparation of your
mind to learn what each idea you will review that day can offer you in
freedom and in peace. 2 Open your mind, and clear it of all thoughts
that would deceive, and let this thought alone engage it fully, and
remove the rest:
LESSON 141.
LESSON 143.
LESSON 144.
LESSON 145.
LESSON 146.
LESSON 147.
LESSON 149.
LESSON 150.
LESSON 151.
LESSON 152.
LESSON 153.
In my defenselessness my safety lies.
W-153.1. You who feel threatened by this changing world, its twists of
fortune and its bitter jests, its brief relationships and all the "gifts" it
merely lends to take away again; attend this lesson well. 2 The world
provides no safety. 3 It is rooted in attack, and all its "gifts" of seeming
safety are illusory deceptions. 4 It attacks, and then attacks again. 5
No peace of mind is possible where danger threatens thus.
W-153.2. The world gives rise but to defensiveness. 2 For threat brings
anger, anger makes attack seem reasonable, honestly provoked, and
righteous in the name of self-defense. 3 Yet is defensiveness a double
threat. 4 For it attests to weakness, and sets up a system of defense
that cannot work. 5 Now are the weak still further undermined, for
there is treachery without and still a greater treachery within. 6 The
mind is now confused, and knows not where to turn to find escape from
its imaginings.
W-153.3. It is as if a circle held it fast, wherein another circle bound it
and another one in that, until escape no longer can be hoped for nor
obtained. 2 Attack, defense; defense, attack, become the circles of the
hours and the days that bind the mind in heavy bands of steel with iron
overlaid, returning but to start again. 3 There seems to be no break nor
ending in the ever-tightening grip of the imprisonment upon the mind.
W-153.4. Defenses are the costliest of all the prices which the ego
would exact. 2 In them lies madness in a form so grim that hope of
sanity seems but to be an idle dream, beyond the possible. 3 The
sense of threat the world encourages is so much deeper, and so far
beyond the frenzy and intensity of which you can conceive, that you
have no idea of all the devastation it has wrought.
W-153.5. You are its slave. 2 You know not what you do, in fear of it. 3
You do not understand how much you have been made to sacrifice,
who feel its iron grip upon your heart. 4 You do not realize what you
have done to sabotage the holy peace of God by your defensiveness. 5
For you behold the Son of God as but a victim to attack by fantasies, by
dreams, and by illusions he has made; yet helpless in their presence,
needful only of defense by still more fantasies, and dreams by which
illusions of his safety comfort him.
W-153.6. Defenselessness is strength. 2 It testifies to recognition of
the Christ in you. 3 Perhaps you will recall the text maintains that
choice is always made between Christ's strength and your own
weakness, seen apart from Him. 4 Defenselessness can never be
attacked, because it recognizes strength so great attack is folly, or a
silly game a tired child might play, when he becomes too sleepy to
remember what he wants.
W-153.7. Defensiveness is weakness. 2 It proclaims you have denied
the Christ and come to fear His Father's anger. 3 What can save you
now from your delusion of an angry god, whose fearful image you
believe you see at work in all the evils of the world? 4 What but
illusions could defend you now, when it is but illusions that you fight?
W-153.8. We will not play such childish games today. 2 For our true
purpose is to save the world, and we would not exchange for
foolishness the endless joy our function offers us. 3 We would not let
our happiness slip by because a fragment of a senseless dream
happened to cross our minds, and we mistook the figures in it for the
Son of God; its tiny instant for eternity.
W-153.9. We look past dreams today, and recognize that we need no
defense because we are created unassailable, without all thought or
wish or dream in which attack has any meaning. 2 Now we cannot fear,
for we have left all fearful thoughts behind. 3 And in defenselessness
we stand secure, serenely certain of our safety now, sure of salvation;
sure we will fulfill our chosen purpose, as our ministry extends its holy
blessing through the world.
W-153.10.Be still a moment, and in silence think how holy is your
purpose, how secure you rest, untouchable within its light. 2 God's
ministers have chosen that the truth be with them. 3 Who is holier than
they? 4 Who could be surer that his happiness is fully guaranteed? 5
And who could be more mightily protected? 6 What defense could
possibly be needed by the ones who are among the chosen ones of
God, by His election and their own as well?
W-153.11.It is the function of God's ministers to help their brothers
choose as they have done. 2 God has elected all, but few have come to
realize His Will is but their own. 3 And while you fail to teach what you
have learned, salvation waits and darkness holds the world in grim
imprisonment. 4 Nor will you learn that light has come to you, and your
escape has been accomplished. 5 For you will not see the light, until
you offer it to all your brothers. 6 As they take it from your hands, so
will you recognize it as your own.
W-153.12.Salvation can be thought of as a game that happy children
play. 2 It was designed by One Who loves His children, and Who would
replace their fearful toys with joyous games, which teach them that the
game of fear is gone. 3 His game instructs in happiness because there
is no loser. 4 Everyone who plays must win, and in his winning is the
gain to everyone ensured. 5 The game of fear is gladly laid aside, when
children come to see the benefits salvation brings.
W-153.13.You who have played that you are lost to hope, abandoned
by your Father, left alone in terror in a fearful world made mad by sin
and guilt; be happy now. 2 That game is over. 3 Now a quiet time has
come, in which we put away the toys of guilt, and lock our quaint and
childish thoughts of sin forever from the pure and holy minds of
Heaven's children and the Son of God.
W-153.14.We pause but for a moment more, to play our final, happy
game upon this earth. 2 And then we go to take our rightful place
where truth abides and games are meaningless. 3 So is the story
ended. 4 Let this day bring the last chapter closer to the world, that
everyone may learn the tale he reads of terrifying destiny, defeat of all
his hopes, his pitiful defense against a vengeance he can not escape, is
but his own deluded fantasy. 5 God's ministers have come to waken
him from the dark dreams this story has evoked in his confused,
bewildered memory of this distorted tale. 6 God's Son can smile at last,
on learning that it is not true.
W-153.15.Today we practice in a form we will maintain for quite a
while. 2 We will begin each day by giving our attention to the daily
thought as long as possible. 3 Five minutes now becomes the least we
give to preparation for a day in which salvation is the only goal we
have. 4 Ten would be better; fifteen better still. 5 And as distraction
ceases to arise to turn us from our purpose, we will find that half an
hour is too short a time to spend with God. 6 Nor will we willingly give
less at night, in gratitude and joy.
W-153.16.Each hour adds to our increasing peace, as we remember to
be faithful to the Will we share with God. 2 At times, perhaps, a minute,
even less, will be the most that we can offer as the hour strikes. 3
Sometimes we will forget. 4 At other times the business of the world
will close on us, and we will be unable to withdraw a little while, and
turn our thoughts to God.
W-153.17.Yet when we can, we will observe our trust as ministers of
God, in hourly remembrance of our mission and His Love. 2 And we will
quietly sit by and wait on Him and listen to His Voice, and learn what
He would have us do the hour that is yet to come; while thanking Him
for all the gifts He gave us in the one gone by.
W-153.18.In time, with practice, you will never cease to think of Him,
and hear His loving Voice guiding your footsteps into quiet ways, where
you will walk in true defenselessness. 2 For you will know that Heaven
goes with you. 3 Nor would you keep your mind away from Him a
moment, even though your time is spent in offering salvation to the
world. 4 Think you He will not make this possible, for you who chose to
carry out His plan for the salvation of the world and yours?
W-153.19.Today our theme is our defenselessness. 2 We clothe
ourselves in it, as we prepare to meet the day. 3 We rise up strong in
Christ, and let our weakness disappear, as we remember that His
strength abides in us. 4 We will remind ourselves that He remains
beside us through the day, and never leaves our weakness
unsupported by His strength. 5 We call upon His strength each time we
feel the threat of our defenses undermine our certainty of purpose. 6
We will pause a moment, as He tells us, "I am here."
W-153.20.Your practicing will now begin to take the earnestness of
love, to help you keep your mind from wandering from its intent. 2 Be
not afraid nor timid. 3 There can be no doubt that you will reach your
final goal. 4 The ministers of God can never fail, because the love and
strength and peace that shine from them to all their brothers come
from Him. 5 These are His gifts to you. 6 Defenselessness is all you
need to give Him in return. 7 You lay aside but what was never real, to
look on Christ and see His sinlessness.
LESSON 154.
LESSON 155.
3 I will step back and let Him lead the way, For I would walk along the
road to Him.
LESSON 156.
5 I walk with God in perfect holiness. 6 I light the world, I light my mind
and all the minds which God created one with me.
LESSON 157.
LESSON 158.
LESSON 159.
LESSON 160.
LESSON 161.
7 Give me your blessing, holy Son of God. 8 I would behold you with
the eyes of Christ, and see my perfect sinlessness in you.
W-161.12.And He will answer Whom you called upon. 2 For He will hear
the Voice for God in you, and answer in your own. 3 Behold him now,
whom you have seen as merely flesh and bone, and recognize that
Christ has come to you. 4 Today's idea is your safe escape from anger
and from fear. 5 Be sure you use it instantly, should you be tempted to
attack a brother and perceive in him the symbol of your fear. 6 And you
will see him suddenly transformed from enemy to savior; from the devil
into Christ.
LESSON 162.
LESSON 163.
LESSON 165.
LESSON 166.
LESSON 167.
LESSON 168.
LESSON 169.
LESSON 170.
6 You make what you defend against, and by your own defense against
it is it real and inescapable. 7 Lay down your arms, and only then do
you perceive it false.
W-170.3. It seems to be the enemy without that you attack. 2 Yet your
defense sets up an enemy within; an alien thought at war with you,
depriving you of peace, splitting your mind into two camps which seem
wholly irreconcilable. 3 For love now has an "enemy," an opposite; and
fear, the alien, now needs your defense against the threat of what you
really are.
W-170.4. If you consider carefully the means by which your fancied
self-defense proceeds on its imagined way, you will perceive the
premises on which the idea stands. 2 First, it is obvious ideas must
leave their source, for it is you who make attack, and must have first
conceived of it. 3 Yet you attack outside yourself, and separate your
mind from him who is to be attacked, with perfect faith the split you
made is real.
W-170.5. Next, are the attributes of love bestowed upon its "enemy." 2
For fear becomes your safety and protector of your peace, to which
you turn for solace and escape from doubts about your strength, and
hope of rest in dreamless quiet. 3 And as love is shorn of what belongs
to it and it alone, love is endowed with attributes of fear. 4 For love
would ask you lay down all defense as merely foolish. 5 And your arms
indeed would crumble into dust. 6 For such they are.
W-170.6. With love as enemy, must cruelty become a god. 2 And gods
demand that those who worship them obey their dictates, and refuse
to question them. 3 Harsh punishment is meted out relentlessly to
those who ask if the demands are sensible or even sane. 4 It is their
enemies who are unreasonable and insane, while they are always
merciful and just.
W-170.7. Today we look upon this cruel god dispassionately. 2 And we
note that though his lips are smeared with blood, and fire seems to
flame from him, he is but made of stone. 3 He can do nothing. 4 We
need not defy his power. 5 He has none. 6 And those who see in him
their safety have no guardian, no strength to call upon in danger, and
no mighty warrior to fight for them.
W-170.8. This moment can be terrible. 2 But it can also be the time of
your release from abject slavery. 3 You make a choice, standing before
this idol, seeing him exactly as he is. 4 Will you restore to love what
you have sought to wrest from it and lay before this mindless piece of
stone? 5 Or will you make another idol to replace it? 6 For the god of
cruelty takes many forms. 7 Another can be found.
W-170.9. Yet do not think that fear is the escape from fear. 2 Let us
remember what the text has stressed about the obstacles to peace. 3
The final one, the hardest to believe is nothing, and a seeming obstacle
with the appearance of a solid block, impenetrable, fearful and beyond
surmounting, is the fear of God Himself. 4 Here is the basic premise
which enthrones the thought of fear as god. 5 For fear is loved by those
who worship it, and love appears to be invested now with cruelty.
W-170.10.Where does the totally insane belief in gods of vengeance
come from? 2 Love has not confused its attributes with those of fear. 3
Yet must the worshippers of fear perceive their own confusion in fear's
"enemy"; its cruelty as now a part of love. 4 And what becomes more
fearful than the Heart of Love Itself? 5 The blood appears to be upon
His Lips; the fire comes from Him. 6 And He is terrible above all else,
cruel beyond conception, striking down all who acknowledge Him to be
their God.
W-170.11.The choice you make today is certain. 2 For you look for the
last time upon this bit of carven stone you made, and call it god no
longer. 3 You have reached this place before, but you have chosen that
this cruel god remain with you in still another form. 4 And so the fear of
God returned with you. 5 This time you leave it there. 6 And you return
to a new world, unburdened by its weight; beheld not in its sightless
eyes, but in the vision that your choice restored to you.
W-170.12.Now do your eyes belong to Christ, and He looks through
them. 2 Now your voice belongs to God and echoes His. 3 And now
your heart remains at peace forever. 4 You have chosen Him in place of
idols, and your attributes, given by your Creator, are restored to you at
last. 5 The Call for God is heard and answered. 6 Now has fear made
way for love, as God Himself replaces cruelty.
W-170.13. <Father, we are like You. 2 No cruelty abides in us, for there
is none in You. 3 Your peace is ours. 4 And we bless the world with what
we have received from You alone. 5 We choose again, and make our
choice for all our brothers, knowing they are one with us. 6 We bring
them Your salvation as we have received it now. 7 And we give thanks
for them who render us complete. 8 In them we see Your glory, and in
them we find our peace. 9 Holy are we because Your Holiness has set
us free. 10 And we give thanks. 11 Amen.>
REVIEW V
Introduction
W-rV.in.1. We now review again. 2 This time we are ready to give more
effort and more time to what we undertake. 3 We recognize we are
preparing for another phase of understanding. 4 We would take this
step completely, that we may go on again more certain, more sincere,
with faith upheld more surely. 5 Our footsteps have not been
unwavering, and doubts have made us walk uncertainly and slowly on
the road this course sets forth. 6 But now we hasten on, for we
approach a greater certainty, a firmer purpose and a surer goal.
W-rV.in.2. <Steady our feet, our Father. 2 Let our doubts be quiet and
our holy minds be still, and speak to us. 3 We have no words to give to
You. 4 We would but listen to Your Word, and make it ours. 5 Lead our
practicing as does a father lead a little child along a way he does not
understand. 6 Yet does he follow, sure that he is safe because his
father leads the way for him.>
W-rV.in.3. <So do we bring our practicing to You. 2 And if we stumble,
You will raise us up. 3 If we forget the way, we count upon Your sure
remembering. 4 We wander off, but You will not forget to call us back. 5
Quicken our footsteps now, that we may walk more certainly and
quickly unto You. 6 And we accept the Word You offer us to unify our
practicing, as we review the thoughts that You have given us.>
W-rV.in.4. This is the thought which should precede the thoughts that
we review. 2 Each one but clarifies some aspect of this thought, or
helps it be more meaningful, more personal and true, and more
descriptive of the holy Self we share and now prepare to know again:
4 This Self alone knows Love. 5 This Self alone is perfectly consistent in
Its Thoughts; knows Its Creator, understands Itself, is perfect in Its
knowledge and Its Love, and never changes from Its constant state of
union with Its Father and Itself.
W-rV.in.5. And it is this that waits to meet us at the journey's ending. 2
Every step we take brings us a little nearer. 3 This review will shorten
time immeasurably, if we keep in mind that this remains our goal, and
as we practice it is this to which we are approaching. 4 Let us raise our
hearts from dust to life, as we remember this is promised us, and that
this course was sent to open up the path of light to us, and teach us,
step by step, how to return to the eternal Self we thought we lost.
W-rV.in.6. I take the journey with you. 2 For I share your doubts and
fears a little while, that you may come to me who recognize the road
by which all fears and doubts are overcome. 3 We walk together. 4 I
must understand uncertainty and pain, although I know they have no
meaning. 5 Yet a savior must remain with those he teaches, seeing
what they see, but still retaining in his mind the way that led him out,
and now will lead you out with him. 6 God's Son is crucified until you
walk along the road with me.
W-rV.in.7. My resurrection comes again each time I lead a brother
safely to the place at which the journey ends and is forgot. 2 I am
renewed each time a brother learns there is a way from misery and
pain. 3 I am reborn each time a brother's mind turns to the light in him
and looks for me. 4 I have forgotten no one. 5 Help me now to lead you
back to where the journey was begun, to make another choice with me.
W-rV.in.8. Release me as you practice once again the thoughts I
brought to you from Him Who sees your bitter need, and knows the
answer God has given Him. 2 Together we review these thoughts. 3
Together we devote our time and effort to them. 4 And together we will
teach them to our brothers. 5 God would not have Heaven incomplete.
6 It waits for you, as I do. 7 I am incomplete without your part in me. 8
And as I am made whole we go together to our ancient home, prepared
for us before time was and kept unchanged by time, immaculate and
safe, as it will be at last when time is done.
W-rV.in.9. Let this review be then your gift to me. 2 For this alone I
need; that you will hear the words I speak, and give them to the world.
3 You are my voice, my eyes, my feet, my hands through which I save
the world. 4 The Self from which I call to you is but your own. 5 To Him
we go together. 6 Take your brother's hand, for this is not a way we
walk alone. 7 In him I walk with you, and you with me. 8 Our Father
wills His Son be one with Him. 9 What lives but must not then be one
with you?
W-rV.in.10. Let this review become a time in which we share a new
experience for you, yet one as old as time and older still. 2 Hallowed
your Name. 3 Your glory undefiled forever. 4 And your wholeness now
complete, as God established it. 5 You are His Son, completing His
extension in your own. 6 We practice but an ancient truth we knew
before illusion seemed to claim the world. 7 And we remind the world
that it is free of all illusions every time we say:
8 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-rV.in.11. With this we start each day of our review. 2 With this we
start and end each period of practice time. 3 And with this thought we
sleep, to waken once again with these same words upon our lips, to
greet another day. 4 No thought that we review but we surround with
it, and use the thoughts to hold it up before our minds, and keep it
clear in our rememberance throughout the day. 5 And thus, when we
have finished this review, we will have recognized the words we speak
are true.
W-rV.in.12. Yet are the words but aids, and to be used, except at
the beginning and the end of practice periods, but to recall the mind,
as needed, to its purpose. 2 We place faith in the experience that
comes from practice, not the means we use. 3 We wait for the
experience, and recognize that it is only here conviction lies. 4 We use
the words, and try and try again to go beyond them to their meaning,
which is far beyond their sound. 5 The sound grows dim and
disappears, as we approach the Source of meaning. 6 It is Here that we
find rest.
LESSON 171.
LESSON 172.
LESSON 173.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-173.1. (155) I will step back and let Him lead the way.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 174.
LESSON 175.
LESSON 176.
LESSON 177.
LESSON 178.
LESSON 179.
LESSON 180.
LESSON 181.
W-181.7. And we will also use this thought to keep us safe throughout
the day. 2 We do not seek for long-range goals. 3 As each obstruction
seems to block the vision of our sinlessness, we seek but for surcease
an instant from the misery the focus upon sin will bring, and
uncorrected will remain.
W-181.8. Nor do we ask for fantasies. 2 For what we seek to look upon
is really there. 3 And as our focus goes beyond mistakes, we will
behold a wholly sinless world. 4 When seeing this is all we want to see,
when this is all we seek for in the name of true perception, are the
eyes of Christ inevitably ours. 5 And the Love He feels for us becomes
our own as well. 6 This will become the only thing we see reflected in
the world and in ourselves.
W-181.9. The world which once proclaimed our sins becomes the proof
that we are sinless. 2 And our love for everyone we look upon attests
to our remembrance of the holy Self which knows no sin, and never
could conceive of anything without Its sinlessness. 3 We seek for this
remembrance as we turn our minds to practicing today. 4 We look
neither ahead nor backwards. 5 We look straight into the present. 6
And we give our trust to the experience we ask for now. 7 Our
sinlessness is but the Will of God. 8 This instant is our willing one with
His.
LESSON 182.
LESSON 183.
LESSON 184.
W-184.15. Father, our Name is Yours. 2 In It we are united with all living
things, and You Who are their one Creator. 3 What we made and call by
many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across
Your Own reality. 4 And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. 5 All
our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved from all effects
our errors seemed to have. 6 And we accept the truth You give, in
place of every one of them. 7 Your Name is our salvation and escape
from what we made. 8 Your Name unites us in the oneness which is our
inheritance and peace. 9 Amen.
LESSON 185.
LESSON 186.
LESSON 187.
LESSON 188.
LESSON 189.
LESSON 190.
LESSON 191.
LESSON 192.
I have a function God would have me fill.
W-192.1. It is your Father's holy Will that you complete Himself, and
that your Self shall be His sacred Son, forever pure as He, of love
created and in love preserved, extending love, creating in its name,
forever one with God and with your Self. 2 Yet what can such a function
mean within a world of envy, hatred and attack?
W-192.2. Therefore, you have a function in the world in its own terms.
2 For who can understand a language far beyond his simple grasp? 3
Forgiveness represents your function here. 4 It is not God's creation,
for it is the means by which untruth can be undone. 5 And who would
pardon Heaven? 6 Yet on earth, you need the means to let illusions go.
7 Creation merely waits for your return to be acknowledged, not to be
complete.
W-192.3. Creation cannot even be conceived of in the world. 2 It has
no meaning here. 3 Forgiveness is the closest it can come to earth. 4
For being Heaven-born, it has no form at all. 5 Yet God created One
Who has the power to translate in form the wholly formless. 6 What He
makes are dreams, but of a kind so close to waking that the light of
day already shines in them, and eyes already opening behold the joyful
sights their offerings contain.
W-192.4. Forgiveness gently looks upon all things unknown in Heaven,
sees them disappear, and leaves the world a clean and unmarked slate
on which the Word of God can now replace the senseless symbols
written there before. 2 Forgiveness is the means by which the fear of
death is overcome, because it holds no fierce attraction now and guilt
is gone. 3 Forgiveness lets the body be perceived as what it is; a
simple teaching aid, to be laid by when learning is complete, but hardly
changing him who learns at all.
W-192.5. The mind without the body cannot make mistakes. 2 It
cannot think that it will die, nor be the prey of merciless attack. 3
Anger becomes impossible, and where is terror then? 4 What fears
could still assail those who have lost the source of all attack, the core
of anguish and the seat of fear? 5 Only forgiveness can relieve the
mind of thinking that the body is its home. 6 Only forgiveness can
restore the peace that God intended for His holy Son. 7 Only
forgiveness can persuade the Son to look again upon his holiness.
W-192.6. With anger gone, you will indeed perceive that, for Christ's
vision and the gift of sight, no sacrifice was asked, and only pain was
lifted from a sick and tortured mind. 2 Is this unwelcome? 3 Is it to be
feared? 4 Or is it to be hoped for, met with thanks and joyously
accepted? 5 We are one, and therefore give up nothing. 6 But we have
indeed been given everything by God.
W-192.7. Yet do we need forgiveness to perceive that this is so. 2
Without its kindly light we grope in darkness, using reason but to justify
our rage and our attack. 3 Our understanding is so limited that what
we think we understand is but confusion born of error. 4 We are lost in
mists of shifting dreams and fearful thoughts, our eyes shut tight
against the light; our minds engaged in worshipping what is not there.
W-192.8. Who can be born again in Christ but him who has forgiven
everyone he sees or thinks of or imagines? 2 Who could be set free
while he imprisons anyone? 3 A jailer is not free, for he is bound
together with his prisoner. 4 He must be sure that he does not escape,
and so he spends his time in keeping watch on him. 5 The bars that
limit him become the world in which his jailer lives, along with him. 6
And it is on his freedom that the way to liberty depends for both of
them.
W-192.9. Therefore, hold no one prisoner. 2 Release instead of bind,
for thus are you made free. 3 The way is simple. 4 Every time you feel
a stab of anger, realize you hold a sword above your head. 5 And it will
fall or be averted as you choose to be condemned or free. 6 Thus does
each one who seems to tempt you to be angry represent your savior
from the prison house of death. 7 And so you owe him thanks instead
of pain.
W-192.10.Be merciful today. 2 The Son of God deserves your mercy. 3
It is he who asks that you accept the way to freedom now. 4 Deny him
not. 5 His Father's Love for him belongs to you. 6 Your function here on
earth is only to forgive him, that you may accept him back as your
Identity. 7 He is as God created him. 8 And you are what he is. 9
Forgive him now his sins, and you will see that you are one with him.
LESSON 193.
2 These are the words the Holy Spirit speaks in all your tribulations, all
your pain, all suffering regardless of its form. 3 These are the words
with which temptation ends, and guilt, abandoned, is revered no more.
4 These are the words which end the dream of sin, and rid the mind of
fear. 5 These are the words by which salvation comes to all the world.
W-193.6. Shall we not learn to say these words when we are tempted
to believe that pain is real, and death becomes our choice instead of
life? 2 Shall we not learn to say these words when we have understood
their power to release all minds from bondage? 3 These are words
which give you power over all events that seem to have been given
power over you. 4 You see them rightly when you hold these words in
full awareness, and do not forget these words apply to everything you
see or any brother looks upon amiss.
W-193.7. How can you tell when you are seeing wrong, or someone
else is failing to perceive the lesson he should learn? 2 Does pain seem
real in the perception? 3 If it does, be sure the lesson is not learned. 4
And there remains an unforgiveness hiding in the mind that sees the
pain through eyes the mind directs.
W-193.8. God would not have you suffer thus. 2 He would help you
forgive yourself. 3 His Son does not remember who he is. 4 And God
would have him not forget His Love, and all the gifts His Love brings
with it. 5 Would you now renounce your own salvation? 6 Would you fail
to learn the simple lessons Heaven's Teacher sets before you, that all
pain may disappear and God may be remembered by His Son?
W-193.9. All things are lessons God would have you learn. 2 He would
not leave an unforgiving thought without correction, nor one thorn or
nail to hurt His holy Son in any way. 3 He would ensure his holy rest
remain untroubled and serene, without a care, in an eternal home
which cares for him. 4 And He would have all tears be wiped away,
with none remaining yet unshed, and none but waiting their appointed
time to fall. 5 For God has willed that laughter should replace each one,
and that His Son be free again.
W-193.10.We will attempt today to overcome a thousand seeming
obstacles to peace in just one day. 2 Let mercy come to you more
quickly. 3 Do not try to hold it off another day, another minute or
another instant. 4 Time was made for this. 5 Use it today for what its
purpose is. 6 Morning and night, devote what time you can to serve its
proper aim, and do not let the time be less than meets your deepest
need.
W-193.11.Give all you can, and give a little more. 2 For now we would
arise in haste and go unto our Father's house. 3 We have been gone
too long, and we would linger here no more. 4 And as we practice, let
us think about all things we saved to settle by ourselves, and kept
apart from healing. 5 Let us give them all to Him Who knows the way
to look upon them so that they will disappear. 6 Truth is His message;
truth His teaching is. 7 His are the lessons God would have us learn.
W-193.12.Each hour, spend a little time today, and in the days to
come, in practicing the lesson in forgiveness in the form established for
the day. 2 And try to give it application to the happenings the hour
brought, so that the next one is free of the one before. 3 The chains of
time are easily unloosened in this way. 4 Let no one hour cast its
shadow on the one that follows, and when that one goes, let
everything that happened in its course go with it. 5 Thus will you
remain unbound, in peace eternal in the world of time.
W-193.13.This is the lesson God would have you learn: There is a way
to look on everything that lets it be to you another step to Him, and to
salvation of the world. 2 To all that speaks of terror, answer thus:
LESSON 195.
LESSON 196.
LESSON 197.
5 Do not forget today that there can be no form of suffering that fails
to hide an unforgiving thought. 6 Nor can there be a form of pain
forgiveness cannot heal.
W-198.10.Accept the one illusion which proclaims there is no
condemnation in God's Son, and Heaven is remembered instantly; the
world forgotten, all its weird beliefs forgotten with it, as the face of
Christ appears unveiled at last in this one dream. 2 This is the gift the
Holy Spirit holds for you from God your Father. 3 Let today be
celebrated both on earth and in your holy home as well. 4 Be kind to
Both, as you forgive the trespasses you thought Them guilty of, and
see your innocence shining upon you from the face of Christ.
W-198.11.Now is there silence all around the world. 2 Now is there
stillness where before there was a frantic rush of thoughts that made
no sense. 3 Now is there tranquil light across the face of earth, made
quiet in a dreamless sleep. 4 And now the Word of God alone remains
upon it. 5 Only that can be perceived an instant longer. 6 Then are
symbols done, and everything you ever thought you made completely
vanished from the mind that God forever knows to be His only Son.
W-198.12.There is no condemnation in him. 2 He is perfect in his
holiness. 3 He needs no thoughts of mercy. 4 Who could give him gifts
when everything is his? 5 And who could dream of offering forgiveness
to the Son of Sinlessness Itself, so like to Him Whose Son he is, that to
behold the Son is to perceive no more, and only know the Father? 6 In
this vision of the Son, so brief that not an instant stands between this
single sight and timelessness itself, you see the vision of yourself, and
then you disappear forever into God.
W-198.13.Today we come still nearer to the end of everything that yet
would stand between this vision and our sight. 2 And we are glad that
we have come this far, and recognize that He Who brought us here will
not forsake us now. 3 For He would give to us the gift that God has
given us through Him today. 4 Now is the time for your deliverance. 5
The time has come. 6 The time has come today.
LESSON 199.
7 I am not a body. 8 I am free. 9 I hear the Voice that God has given
me, and it is only this my mind obeys.
LESSON 200.
REVIEW VI
Introduction
W-rVI.in.1. For this review we take but one idea each day, and
practice it as often as is possible. 2 Besides the time you give morning
and evening, which should not be less than fifteen minutes, and the
hourly remembrances you make throughout the day, use the idea as
often as you can between them. 3 Each of these ideas alone would be
sufficient for salvation, if it were learned truly. 4 Each would be enough
to give release to you and to the world from every form of bondage,
and invite the memory of God to come again.
W-rVI.in.2. With this in mind we start our practicing, in which we
carefully review the thoughts the Holy Spirit has bestowed on us in our
last twenty lessons. 2 Each contains the whole curriculum if
understood, practiced, accepted, and applied to all the seeming
happenings throughout the day. 3 One is enough. 4 But from that one,
there must be no exceptions made. 5 And so we need to use them all
and let them blend as one, as each contributes to the whole we learn.
W-rVI.in.3. These practice sessions, like our last review, are
centered round a central theme with which we start and end each
lesson. 2 It is this:
6 The day begins and ends with this. 7 And we repeat it every time the
hour strikes, or we remember, in between, we have a function that
transcends the world we see. 8 Beyond this, and a repetition of the
special thought we practice for the day, no form of exercise is urged,
except a deep relinquishment of everything that clutters up the mind,
and makes it deaf to reason, sanity and simple truth.
W-rVI.in.4. We will attempt to get beyond all words and special
forms of practicing for this review. 2 For we attempt, this time, to reach
a quickened pace along a shorter path to the serenity and peace of
God. 3 We merely close our eyes, and then forget all that we thought
we knew and understood. 4 For thus is freedom given us from all we
did not know and failed to understand.
W-rVI.in.5. There is but one exception to this lack of structuring. 2
Permit no idle thought to go unchallenged. 3 If you notice one, deny its
hold and hasten to assure your mind that this is not what it would
have. 4 Then gently let the thought which you denied be given up, in
sure and quick exchange for the idea we practice for the day.
W-rVI.in.6. When you are tempted, hasten to proclaim your
freedom from temptation, as you say:
4 And then repeat the idea for the day, and let it take the place of what
you thought. 5 Beyond such special applications of each day's idea, we
will add but a few formal expressions or specific thoughts to aid in
practicing. 6 Instead, we give these times of quiet to the Teacher Who
instructs in quiet, speaks of peace, and gives our thoughts whatever
meaning they may have.
W-rVI.in.7. To Him I offer this review for you. 2 I place you in His
charge, and let Him teach you what to do and say and think, each time
you turn to Him. 3 He will not fail to be available to you, each time you
call to Him to help you. 4 Let us offer Him the whole review we now
begin, and let us also not forget to Whom it has been given, as we
practice day by day, advancing toward the goal He set for us; allowing
Him to teach us how to go, and trusting Him completely for the way
each practice period can best become a loving gift of freedom to the
world.
LESSON 201.
LESSON 202.
LESSON 203.
LESSON 205.
LESSON 206.
LESSON 207.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 208.
2 I will be still, and let the earth be still along with me. 3 And in that
stillness we will find the peace of God. 4 It is within my heart, which
witnesses to God Himself.
LESSON 209.
2 The Love of God is what created me. 3 The Love of God is everything
I am. 4 The Love of God proclaimed me as His Son. 5 The Love of God
within me sets me free.
LESSON 210.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 211.
LESSON 212.
2 I seek the function that would set me free from all the vain illusions
of the world. 3 Only the function God has given me can offer freedom.
4 Only this I seek, and only this will I accept as mine.
LESSON 213.
LESSON 214.
2 The past is gone; the future is not yet. 3 Now am I freed from both. 4
For what God gives can only be for good. 5 And I accept but what He
gives as what belongs to me.
LESSON 215.
LESSON 216.
LESSON 217.
2 Who should give thanks for my salvation but myself? 3 And how but
through salvation can I find the Self to Whom my thanks are due?
LESSON 218.
LESSON 219.
LESSON 220.
2 Let me not wander from the way of peace, for I am lost on other
roads than this. 3 But let me follow Him Who leads me home, and
peace is certain as the Love of God.
PART II
Introduction
W-pII.in.1. Words will mean little now. 2 We use them but as guides on
which we do not now depend. 3 For now we seek direct experience of
truth alone. 4 The lessons that remain are merely introductions to the
times in which we leave the world of pain, and go to enter peace. 5
Now we begin to reach the goal this course has set, and find the end
toward which our practicing was always geared.
W-pII.in.2. Now we attempt to let the exercise be merely a beginning. 2
For we wait in quiet expectation for our God and Father. 3 He has
promised He will take the final step Himself. 4 And we are sure His
promises are kept. 5 We have come far along the road, and now we
wait for Him. 6 We will continue spending time with Him each morning
and at night, as long as makes us happy. 7 We will not consider time a
matter of duration now. 8 We use as much as we will need for the
result that we desire. 9 Nor will we forget our hourly remembrance in
between, calling to God when we have need of Him as we are tempted
to forget our goal.
W-pII.in.3. We will continue with a central thought for all the days to
come, and we will use that thought to introduce our times of rest, and
calm our minds at need. 2 Yet we will not content ourselves with simple
practicing in the remaining holy instants which conclude the year that
we have given God. 3 We say some simple words of welcome, and
expect our Father to reveal Himself, as He has promised. 4 We have
called on Him, and He has promised that His Son will not remain
unanswered when he calls His Name.
W-pII.in.4. Now do we come to Him with but His Word upon our minds
and hearts, and wait for Him to take the step to us that He has told us,
through His Voice, He would not fail to take when we invited Him. 2 He
has not left His Son in all his madness, nor betrayed his trust in Him. 3
Has not His faithfulness earned Him the invitation that He seeks to
make us happy? 4 We will offer it, and it will be accepted. 5 So our
times with Him will now be spent. 6 We say the words of invitation that
His Voice suggests, and then we wait for Him to come to us.
W-pII.in.5. Now is the time of prophecy fulfilled. 2 Now are all ancient
promises upheld and fully kept. 3 No step remains for time to separate
from its accomplishment. 4 For now we cannot fail. 5 Sit silently and
wait upon your Father. 6 He has willed to come to you when you have
recognized it is your will He do so. 7 And you could have never come
this far unless you saw, however dimly, that it is your will.
W-pII.in.6. I am so close to you we cannot fail. 2 Father, we give these
holy times to You, in gratitude to Him Who taught us how to leave the
world of sorrow in exchange for its replacement, given us by You. 3 We
look not backward now. 4 We look ahead, and fix our eyes upon the
journey's end. 5 Accept these little gifts of thanks from us, as through
Christ's vision we behold a world beyond the one we made, and take
that world to be the full replacement of our own.
W-pII.in.7. And now we wait in silence, unafraid and certain of Your
coming. 2 We have sought to find our way by following the Guide You
sent to us. 3 We did not know the way, but You did not forget us. 4 And
we know that You will not forget us now. 5 We ask but that Your ancient
promises be kept which are Your Will to keep. 6 We will with You in
asking this. 7 The Father and the Son, Whose holy Will created all that
is, can fail in nothing. 8 In this certainty, we undertake these last few
steps to You, and rest in confidence upon Your Love, which will not fail
the Son who calls to You.
W-pII.in.8. And so we start upon the final part of this one holy year,
which we have spent together in the search for truth and God, Who is
its one Creator. 2 We have found the way He chose for us, and made
the choice to follow it as He would have us go. 3 His Hand has held us
up. 4 His Thoughts have lit the darkness of our minds. 5 His Love has
called to us unceasingly since time began.
W-pII.in.9. We had a wish that God would fail to have the Son whom He
created for Himself. 2 We wanted God to change Himself, and be what
we would make of Him. 3 And we believed that our insane desires were
the truth. 4 Now we are glad that this is all undone, and we no longer
think illusions true. 5 The memory of God is shimmering across the
wide horizons of our minds. 6 A moment more, and it will rise again. 7
A moment more, and we who are God's Sons are safely home, where
He would have us be.
W-pII.in.10. Now is the need for practice almost done. 2 For in this
final section, we will come to understand that we need only call to God,
and all temptations disappear. 3 Instead of words, we need but feel His
Love. 4 Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. 5 Instead of
judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed. 6 We will
accept the way God's plan will end, as we received the way it started.
7 Now it is complete. 8 This year has brought us to eternity.
W-pII.in.11. One further use for words we still retain. 2 From time to
time, instructions on a theme of special relevance will intersperse our
daily lessons and the periods of wordless, deep experience which
should come afterwards. 3 These special thoughts should be reviewed
each day, each one of them to be continued till the next is given you. 4
They should be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding
one of the holy and blessed instants in the day. 5 We give the first of
these instructions now.
1. What Is Forgiveness?
W-pII.1.1. Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to
you has not occurred. 2 It does not pardon sins and make them real. 3
It sees there was no sin. 4 And in that view are all your sins forgiven. 5
What is sin, except a false idea about God's Son? 6 Forgiveness merely
sees its falsity, and therefore lets it go. 7 What then is free to take its
place is now the Will of God.
W-pII.1.2. An unforgiving thought is one which makes a judgment that
it will not raise to doubt, although it is not true. 2 The mind is closed,
and will not be released. 3 The thought protects projection, tightening
its chains, so that distortions are more veiled and more obscure; less
easily accessible to doubt, and further kept from reason. 4 What can
come between a fixed projection and the aim that it has chosen as its
wanted goal?
W-pII.1.3. An unforgiving thought does many things. 2 In frantic action
it pursues its goal, twisting and overturning what it sees as interfering
with its chosen path. 3 Distortion is its purpose, and the means by
which it would accomplish it as well. 4 It sets about its furious attempts
to smash reality, without concern for anything that would appear to
pose a contradiction to its point of view.
W-pII.1.4. Forgiveness, on the other hand, is still, and quietly does
nothing. 2 It offends no aspect of reality, nor seeks to twist it to
appearances it likes. 3 It merely looks, and waits, and judges not. 4 He
who would not forgive must judge, for he must justify his failure to
forgive. 5 But he who would forgive himself must learn to welcome
truth exactly as it is.
W-pII.1.5. Do nothing, then, and let forgiveness show you what to do,
through Him Who is your Guide, your Savior and Protector, strong in
hope, and certain of your ultimate success. 2 He has forgiven you
already, for such is His function, given Him by God. 3 Now must you
share His function, and forgive whom He has saved, whose sinlessness
He sees, and whom He honors as the Son of God.
LESSON 221.
LESSON 222.
LESSON 223.
W-223.2. <Our Father, let us see the face of Christ instead of our
mistakes. 2 For we who are Your holy Son are sinless. 3 We would look
upon our sinlessness, for guilt proclaims that we are not Your Son. 4
And we would not forget You longer. 5 We are lonely here, and long for
Heaven, where we are at home. 6 Today we would return. 7 Our Name
is Yours, and we acknowledge that we are Your Son.>
LESSON 224.
LESSON 225.
W-225.2. Brother, we find that stillness now. 2 The way is open. 3 Now
we follow it in peace together. 4 You have reached your hand to me,
and I will never leave you. 5 We are one, and it is but this oneness that
we seek, as we accomplish these few final steps which end a journey
that was not begun.
LESSON 226.
LESSON 227.
LESSON 228.
LESSON 229.
LESSON 230.
2. What Is Salvation?
W-pII.2.1. Salvation is a promise, made by God, that you would find
your way to Him at last. 2 It cannot but be kept. 3 It guarantees that
time will have an end, and all the thoughts that have been born in time
will end as well. 4 God's Word is given every mind which thinks that it
has separate thoughts, and will replace these thoughts of conflict with
the Thought of peace.
W-pII.2.2. The Thought of peace was given to God's Son the instant
that his mind had thought of war. 2 There was no need for such a
Thought before, for peace was given without opposite, and merely was.
3 But when the mind is split there is a need of healing. 4 So the
Thought that has the power to heal the split became a part of every
fragment of the mind that still was one, but failed to recognize its
oneness. 5 Now it did not know itself, and thought its own Identity was
lost.
W-pII.2.3. Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing, failing
to support the world of dreams and malice. 2 Thus it lets illusions go. 3
By not supporting them, it merely lets them quietly go down to dust. 4
And what they hid is now revealed; an altar to the holy Name of God
whereon His Word is written, with the gifts of your forgiveness laid
before it, and the memory of God not far behind.
W-pII.2.4. Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while
together. 2 Here we share our final dream. 3 It is a dream in which
there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. 4
The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and
birds have come to live within their branches. 5 Earth is being born
again in new perspective. 6 Night has gone, and we have come
together in the light.
W-pII.2.5. From here we give salvation to the world, for it is here
salvation was received. 2 The song of our rejoicing is the call to all the
world that freedom is returned, that time is almost over, and God's Son
has but an instant more to wait until his Father is remembered, dreams
are done, eternity has shined away the world, and only Heaven now
exists at all.
LESSON 231.
W-231.2. This is your will, my brother. 2 And you share this will with
me, and with the One as well Who is our Father. 3 To remember Him is
Heaven. 4 This we seek. 5 And only this is what it will be given us to
find.
LESSON 232.
W-232.2. This is as every day should be. 2 Today, practice the end of
fear. 3 Have faith in Him Who is your Father. 4 Trust all things to Him. 5
Let Him reveal all things to you, and be you undismayed because you
are His Son.
LESSON 233.
LESSON 234.
W-234.2. <We thank You, Father, that we cannot lose the memory of
You and of Your Love. 2 We recognize our safety, and give thanks for all
the gifts You have bestowed on us, for all the loving help we have
received, for Your eternal patience, and the Word which You have given
us that we are saved.>
LESSON 235.
W-235.2. <Father, Your Holiness is mine. 2 Your Love created me, and
made my sinlessness forever part of You. 3 I have no guilt nor sin in
me, for there is none in You.>
LESSON 236.
LESSON 237.
W-237.2. <Christ is my eyes today, and He the ears that listen to the
Voice for God today. 2 Father, I come to You through Him Who is Your
Son, and my true Self as well. 3 Amen.>
LESSON 238.
LESSON 239.
W-239.2. <We thank You, Father, for the light that shines forever in
us. 2 And we honor it, because You share it with us. 3 We are one,
united in this light and one with You, at peace with all creation and
ourselves.>
LESSON 240.
W-240.2. <How foolish are our fears! 2 Would You allow Your Son to
suffer? 3 Give us faith today to recognize Your Son, and set him free. 4
Let us forgive him in Your Name, that we may understand his holiness,
and feel the love for him which is Your Own as well.>
LESSON 241.
LESSON 242.
LESSON 243.
LESSON 244.
W-244.2. And there we are in truth. 2 No storms can come into the
hallowed haven of our home. 3 In God we are secure. 4 For what can
come to threaten God Himself, or make afraid what will forever be a
part of Him?
LESSON 245.
LESSON 246.
W-246.2. <I will accept the way You choose for me to come to You, my
Father. 2 For in that will I succeed, because it is Your Will. 3 And I would
recognize that what You will is what I will as well, and only that. 4 And
so I choose to love Your Son. 5 Amen.>
LESSON 247.
Without forgiveness I will still be blind.
W-247.1. Sin is the symbol of attack. 2 Behold it anywhere, and I will
suffer. 3 For forgiveness is the only means whereby Christ's vision
comes to me. 4 Let me accept what His sight shows me as the simple
truth, and I am healed completely. 5 Brother, come and let me look on
you. 6 Your loveliness reflects my own. 7 Your sinlessness is mine. 8
You stand forgiven, and I stand with you.
LESSON 248.
W-248.2. <Father, my ancient love for You returns, and lets me love
Your Son again as well. 2 Father, I am as You created me. 3 Now is Your
Love remembered, and my own. 4 Now do I understand that they are
one.>
LESSON 249.
LESSON 250.
W-250.2. <He is Your Son, my Father. 2 And today I would behold his
gentleness instead of my illusions. 3 He is what I am, and as I see him
so I see myself. 4 Today I would see truly, that this day I may at last
identify with him.>
4. What Is Sin?
W-pII.4.1. Sin is insanity. 2 It is the means by which the mind is driven
mad, and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth. 3 And being
mad, it sees illusions where the truth should be, and where it really is.
4 Sin gave the body eyes, for what is there the sinless would behold? 5
What need have they of sights or sounds or touch? 6 What would they
hear or reach to grasp? 7 What would they sense at all? 8 To sense is
not to know. 9 And truth can be but filled with knowledge, and with
nothing else.
W-pII.4.2. The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to
deceive itself. 2 Its purpose is to strive. 3 Yet can the goal of striving
change. 4 And now the body serves a different aim for striving. 5 What
it seeks for now is chosen by the aim the mind has taken as
replacement for the goal of self-deception. 6 Truth can be its aim as
well as lies. 7 The senses then will seek instead for witnesses to what is
true.
W-pII.4.3. Sin is the home of all illusions, which but stand for things
imagined, issuing from thoughts that are untrue. 2 They are the "proof"
that what has no reality is real. 3 Sin "proves" God's Son is evil;
timelessness must have an end; eternal life must die. 4 And God
Himself has lost the Son He loves, with but corruption to complete
Himself, His Will forever overcome by death, love slain by hate, and
peace to be no more.
W-pII.4.4. A madman's dreams are frightening, and sin appears indeed
to terrify. 2 And yet what sin perceives is but a childish game. 3 The
Son of God may play he has become a body, prey to evil and to guilt,
with but a little life that ends in death. 4 But all the while his Father
shines on him, and loves him with an everlasting Love which his
pretenses cannot change at all.
W-pII.4.5. How long, O Son of God, will you maintain the game of sin? 2
Shall we not put away these sharp-edged children's toys? 3 How soon
will you be ready to come home? 4 Perhaps today? 5 There is no sin. 6
Creation is unchanged. 7 Would you still hold return to Heaven back? 8
How long, O holy Son of God, how long?
LESSON 251.
W-251.2. <And for that peace, our Father, we give thanks. 2 What we
denied ourselves You have restored, and only that is what we really
want.>
LESSON 252.
LESSON 253.
W-253.2. <You are the Self Whom You created Son, creating like
Yourself and One with You. 2 My Self, which rules the universe, is but
Your Will in perfect union with my own, which can but offer glad assent
to Yours, that it may be extended to Itself.>
LESSON 254.
LESSON 255.
W-255.2. <And so, my Father, would I pass this day with You. 2 Your
Son has not forgotten You. 3 The peace You gave him still is in his
mind, and it is there I choose to spend today.>
LESSON 256.
LESSON 257.
LESSON 258.
W-258.2. <Our goal is but to follow in the way that leads to You. 2 We
have no goal but this. 3 What could we want but to remember You? 4
What could we seek but our Identity?>
LESSON 259.
LESSON 260.
W-260.2. Now is our Source remembered, and Therein we find our true
Identity at last. 2 Holy indeed are we, because our Source can know no
sin. 3 And we who are His Sons are like each other, and alike to Him.
LESSON 261.
God is my refuge and security.
W-261.1. I will identify with what I think is refuge and security. 2 I will
behold myself where I perceive my strength, and think I live within the
citadel where I am safe and cannot be attacked. 3 Let me today seek
not security in danger, nor attempt to find my peace in murderous
attack. 4 I live in God. 5 In Him I find my refuge and my strength. 6 In
Him is my Identity. 7 In Him is everlasting peace. 8 And only there will I
remember Who I really am.
LESSON 262.
W-262.2. We who are one would recognize this day the truth about
ourselves. 2 We would come home, and rest in unity. 3 For there is
peace, and nowhere else can peace be sought and found.
LESSON 263.
W-263.2. And while we still remain outside the gate of Heaven, let us
look on all we see through holy vision and the eyes of Christ. 2 Let all
appearances seem pure to us, that we may pass them by in innocence,
and walk together to our Father's house as brothers and the holy Sons
of God.
LESSON 264.
LESSON 265.
W-265.2. <In quiet would I look upon the world, which but reflects
Your Thoughts, and mine as well. 2 Let me remember that they are the
same, and I will see creation's gentleness.>
LESSON 266.
My holy Self abides in you, God's Son.
W-266.1. <Father, You gave me all Your Sons, to be my saviors and
my counselors in sight; the bearers of Your holy Voice to me. 2 In them
are You reflected, and in them does Christ look back upon me from my
Self. 3 Let not Your Son forget Your holy Name. 4 Let not Your Son
forget his holy Source. 5 Let not Your Son forget his Name is Yours.>
W-266.2. This day we enter into Paradise, calling upon God's Name
and on our own, acknowledging our Self in each of us; united in the
holy Love of God. 2 How many saviors God has given us! 3 How can we
lose the way to Him, when He has filled the world with those who point
to Him, and given us the sight to look on them?
LESSON 267.
LESSON 268.
LESSON 269.
LESSON 270.
W-270.2. The quiet of today will bless our hearts, and through them
peace will come to everyone. 2 Christ is our eyes today. 3 And through
His sight we offer healing to the world through Him, the holy Son whom
God created whole; the holy Son whom God created One.
LESSON 271.
LESSON 272.
LESSON 273.
W-273.2. <Father, Your peace is mine. 2 What need have I to fear that
anything can rob me of what You would have me keep? 3 I cannot lose
Your gifts to me. 4 And so the peace You gave Your Son is with me still,
in quietness and in my own eternal love for You.>
LESSON 274.
Today belongs to love. Let me not fear.
W-274.1. <Father, today I would let all things be as You created them,
and give Your Son the honor due his sinlessness; the love of brother to
his brother and his Friend. 2 Through this I am redeemed. 3 Through
this as well the truth will enter where illusions were, light will replace
all darkness, and Your Son will know he is as You created him.>
LESSON 275.
W-275.2. <Your healing Voice protects all things today, and so I leave
all things to You. 2 I need be anxious over nothing. 3 For Your Voice will
tell me what to do and where to go; to whom to speak and what to say
to him, what thoughts to think, what words to give the world. 4 The
safety that I bring is given me. 5 Father, Your Voice protects all things
through me.>
LESSON 276.
LESSON 277.
W-277.2. Let us not worship idols, nor believe in any law idolatry
would make to hide the freedom of the Son of God. 2 He is not bound
except by his beliefs. 3 Yet what he is, is far beyond his faith in slavery
or freedom. 4 He is free because he is his Father's Son. 5 And he
cannot be bound unless God's truth can lie, and God can will that He
deceive Himself.
LESSON 278.
W-278.2. <Father, I ask for nothing but the truth. 2 I have had many
foolish thoughts about myself and my creation, and have brought a
dream of fear into my mind. 3 Today, I would not dream. 4 I choose the
way to You instead of madness and instead of fear. 5 For truth is safe,
and only love is sure.>
LESSON 279.
Creation's freedom promises my own.
W-279.1. The end of dreams is promised me, because God's Son is not
abandoned by His Love. 2 Only in dreams is there a time when he
appears to be in prison, and awaits a future freedom, if it be at all. 3
Yet in reality his dreams are gone, with truth established in their place.
4 And now is freedom his already. 5 Should I wait in chains which have
been severed for release, when God is offering me freedom now?
W-279.2. <I will accept Your promises today, and give my faith to
them. 2 My Father loves the Son Whom He created as His Own. 3
Would You withhold the gifts You gave to me?>
LESSON 280.
W-280.2. <Today let me give honor to Your Son, for thus alone I find
the way to You. 2 Father, I lay no limits on the Son You love and You
created limitless. 3 The honor that I give to him is Yours, and what is
Yours belongs to me as well.>
LESSON 281.
W-281.2. I will not hurt myself today. 2 For I am far beyond all pain. 3
My Father placed me safe in Heaven, watching over me. 4 And I would
not attack the Son He loves, for what He loves is also mine to love.
LESSON 282.
LESSON 283.
W-283.2. Now are we One in shared Identity, with God our Father as
our only Source, and everything created part of us. 2 And so we offer
blessing to all things, uniting lovingly with all the world, which our
forgiveness has made one with us.
LESSON 284.
LESSON 285.
LESSON 286.
W-286.2. The stillness of today will give us hope that we have found
the way, and travelled far along it to a wholly certain goal. 2 Today we
will not doubt the end which God Himself has promised us. 3 We trust
in Him, and in our Self, Who still is One with Him.
LESSON 287.
W-287.2. <You are my goal, my Father. 2 What but You could I desire
to have? 3 What way but that which leads to You could I desire to walk?
4 And what except the memory of You could signify to me the end of
dreams and futile substitutions for the truth? 5 You are my only goal. 6
Your Son would be as You created him. 7 What way but this could I
expect to recognize my Self, and be at one with my Identity?>
LESSON 288.
W-288.2. Forgive me, then, today. 2 And you will know you have
forgiven me if you behold your brother in the light of holiness. 3 He
cannot be less holy than can I, and you can not be holier than he.
LESSON 289.
W-289.2. <Father, let me not look upon a past that is not there. 2 For
You have offered me Your Own replacement, in a present world the
past has left untouched and free of sin. 3 Here is the end of guilt. 4 And
here am I made ready for Your final step. 5 Shall I demand that You
wait longer for Your Son to find the loveliness You planned to be the
end of all his dreams and all his pain?>
LESSON 290.
W-290.2. <With this resolve I come to You, and ask Your strength to
hold me up today, while I but seek to do Your Will. 2 You cannot fail to
hear me, Father. 3 What I ask have You already given me. 4 And I am
sure that I will see my happiness today.>
LESSON 291.
LESSON 292.
LESSON 293.
W-293.2. <Father, let not Your holy world escape my sight today. 2
Nor let my ears be deaf to all the hymns of gratitude the world is
singing underneath the sounds of fear. 3 There is a real world which
the present holds safe from all past mistakes. 4 And I would see only
this world before my eyes today.>
LESSON 294.
W-294.2. <My body, Father, cannot be Your Son. 2 And what is not
created cannot be sinful nor sinless; neither good nor bad. 3 Let me,
then, use this dream to help Your plan that we awaken from all dreams
we made.>
LESSON 295.
W-295.2. <My Father, Christ has asked a gift of me, and one I give
that it be given me. 2 Help me to use the eyes of Christ today, and
thus allow the Holy Spirit's Love to bless all things which I may look
upon, that His forgiving Love may rest on me.>
LESSON 296.
W-296.2. We teach today what we would learn, and that alone. 2 And
so our learning goal becomes an unconflicted one, and possible of easy
reach and quick accomplishment. 3 How gladly does the Holy Spirit
come to rescue us from hell, when we allow His teaching to persuade
the world, through us, to seek and find the easy path to God.
LESSON 297.
W-297.2. <Father, how certain are Your ways; how sure their final
outcome, and how faithfully is every step in my salvation set already,
and accomplished by Your grace. 2 Thanks be to You for Your eternal
gifts, and thanks to You for my Identity.>
LESSON 298.
LESSON 299.
W-300.2. <We seek Your holy world today. 2 For we, Your loving Sons,
have lost our way a while. 3 But we have listened to Your Voice, and
learned exactly what to do to be restored to Heaven and our true
Identity. 4 And we give thanks today the world endures but for an
instant. 5 We would go beyond that tiny instant to eternity.>
LESSON 301.
W-301.2. God's world is happy. 2 Those who look on it can only add
their joy to it, and bless it as a cause of further joy in them. 3 We wept
because we did not understand. 4 But we have learned the world we
saw was false, and we will look upon God's world today.
LESSON 302.
LESSON 303.
LESSON 304.
W-304.2. <You lead me from the darkness to the light; from sin to
holiness. 2 Let me forgive, and thus receive salvation for the world. 3 It
is Your gift, my Father, given me to offer to Your holy Son, that he may
find again the memory of You, and of Your Son as You created him.>
LESSON 305.
LESSON 306.
LESSON 307.
W-307.2. And with this prayer we enter silently into a state where
conflict cannot come, because we join our holy will with God's, in
recognition that they are the same.
LESSON 308.
LESSON 309.
LESSON 310.
W-310.2. We spend this day together, you and I. 2 And all the world
joins with us in our song of thankfulness and joy to Him Who gave
salvation to us, and Who set us free. 3 We are restored to peace and
holiness. 4 There is no room in us for fear today, for we have welcomed
love into our hearts.
10. What Is the Last Judgment?
W-pII.10.1. Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God this gift:
to hear the Voice for God proclaim that what is false is false, and what
is true has never changed. 2 And this the judgment is in which
perception ends. 3 At first you see a world that has accepted this as
true, projected from a now corrected mind. 4 And with this holy sight,
perception gives a silent blessing and then disappears, its goal
accomplished and its mission done.
W-pII.10.2. The final judgment on the world contains no
condemnation. 2 For it sees the world as totally forgiven, without sin
and wholly purposeless. 3 Without a cause, and now without a function
in Christ's sight, it merely slips away to nothingness. 4 There it was
born, and there it ends as well. 5 And all the figures in the dream in
which the world began go with it. 6 Bodies now are useless, and will
therefore fade away, because the Son of God is limitless.
W-pII.10.3. You who believed that God's Last Judgment would
condemn the world to hell along with you, accept this holy truth: God's
Judgment is the gift of the Correction He bestowed on all your errors,
freeing you from them, and all effects they ever seemed to have. 2 To
fear God's saving grace is but to fear complete release from suffering,
return to peace, security and happiness, and union with your own
Identity.
W-pII.10.4. God's Final Judgment is as merciful as every step in His
appointed plan to bless His Son, and call him to return to the eternal
peace He shares with him. 2 Be not afraid of love. 3 For it alone can
heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears, and gently waken from his dream
of pain the Son whom God acknowledges as His. 4 Be not afraid of this.
5 Salvation asks you give it welcome. 6 And the world awaits your glad
acceptance, which will set it free.
W-pII.10.5. This is God's Final Judgment: "You are still My holy Son,
forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your
Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. 2 Therefore
awaken and return to Me. 3 I am your Father and you are My Son."
LESSON 311.
LESSON 312.
LESSON 313.
W-313.2. Let us today behold each other in the sight of Christ. 2 How
beautiful we are! 3 How holy and how loving! 4 Brother, come and join
with me today. 5 We save the world when we have joined. 6 For in our
vision it becomes as holy as the light in us.
LESSON 314.
LESSON 315.
W-315.2. <I thank You, Father, for the many gifts that come to me
today and every day from every Son of God. 2 My brothers are
unlimited in all their gifts to me. 3 Now may I offer them my
thankfulness, that gratitude to them may lead me on to my Creator
and His memory.>
LESSON 316.
All gifts I give my brothers are my own.
W-316.1. As every gift my brothers give is mine, so every gift I give
belongs to me. 2 Each one allows a past mistake to go, and leave no
shadow on the holy mind my Father loves. 3 His grace is given me in
every gift a brother has received throughout all time, and past all time
as well. 4 My treasure house is full, and angels watch its open doors
that not one gift is lost, and only more are added. 5 Let me come to
where my treasures are, and enter in where I am truly welcome and at
home, among the gifts that God has given me.
LESSON 317.
LESSON 318.
W-318.2. <Let me today, my Father, take the role You offer me in Your
request that I accept Atonement for myself. 2 For thus does what is
thereby reconciled in me become as surely reconciled to You.>
LESSON 319.
W-319.2. <Father, Your Will is total. 2 And the goal which stems from
it shares its totality. 3 What aim but the salvation of the world could
You have given me? 4 And what but this could be the Will my Self has
shared with You?>
LESSON 320.
W-320.2. <Your Will can do all things in me, and then extend to all the
world as well through me. 2 There is no limit on Your Will. 3 And so all
power has been given to Your Son.>
LESSON 321.
W-321.2. Today we answer for the world, which will be freed along with
us. 2 How glad are we to find our freedom through the certain way our
Father has established. 3 And how sure is all the world's salvation,
when we learn our freedom can be found in God alone.
LESSON 322.
LESSON 323.
W-323.2. And as we pay the debt we owe to truth,–a debt that merely
is the letting go of self-deceptions and of images we worshipped
falsely–truth returns to us in wholeness and in joy. 2 We are deceived
no longer. 3 Love has now returned to our awareness. 4 And we are at
peace again, for fear has gone and only love remains.
LESSON 324.
W-324.2. So let us follow One Who knows the way. 2 We need not
tarry, and we cannot stray except an instant from His loving Hand. 3
We walk together, for we follow Him. 4 And it is He Who makes the
ending sure, and guarantees a safe returning home.
LESSON 325.
W-325.2. <Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart
from Yours but make up dreams. 2 Let me behold what only Yours
reflect, for Yours and Yours alone establish truth.>
LESSON 326.
LESSON 327.
W-327.2. <Father, I thank You that Your promises will never fail in my
experience, if I but test them out. 2 Let me attempt therefore to try
them, and to judge them not. 3 Your Word is one with You. 4 You give
the means whereby conviction comes, and surety of Your abiding Love
is gained at last.>
LESSON 328.
LESSON 329.
W-329.2. Today we will accept our union with each other and our
Source. 2 We have no will apart from His, and all of us are one because
His Will is shared by all of us. 3 Through it we recognize that we are
one. 4 Through it we find our way at last to God.
LESSON 330.
LESSON 331.
LESSON 332.
W-332.2. <We would not bind the world again today. 2 Fear holds it
prisoner. 3 And yet Your Love has given us the means to set it free. 4
Father, we would release it now. 5 For as we offer freedom, it is given
us. 6 And we would not remain as prisoners, while You are holding
freedom out to us.>
LESSON 333.
W-333.2. <Father, forgiveness is the light You chose to shine away all
conflict and all doubt, and light the way for our return to You. 2 No light
but this can end our evil dream. 3 No light but this can save the world.
4 For this alone will never fail in anything, being Your gift to Your
beloved Son.>
LESSON 334.
W-334.2. <I seek but the eternal. 2 For Your Son can be content with
nothing less than this. 3 What, then, can be his solace but what You are
offering to his bewildered mind and frightened heart, to give him
certainty and bring him peace? 4 Today I would behold my brother
sinless. 5 This Your Will for me, for so will I behold my sinlessness.>
LESSON 335.
LESSON 336.
LESSON 337.
LESSON 338.
LESSON 339.
LESSON 340.
LESSON 341.
W-341.2. Let us not, then, attack our sinlessness, for it contains the
Word of God to us. 2 And in its kind reflection we are saved.
LESSON 342.
LESSON 343.
W-343.2. The mercy and the peace of God are free. 2 Salvation has no
cost. 3 It is a gift that must be freely given and received. 4 And it is this
that we would learn today.
LESSON 344.
LESSON 345.
W-345.2. Peace to all seeking hearts today. 2 The light has come to
offer miracles to bless the tired world. 3 It will find rest today, for we
will offer what we have received.
LESSON 346.
LESSON 347.
W-347.2. Listen today. 2 Be very still, and hear the gentle Voice for
God assuring you that He has judged you as the Son He loves.
LESSON 348.
LESSON 349.
LESSON 350.
W-pII.14.2. Our use for words is almost over now. 2 Yet in the final
days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a
single purpose that we shared. 3 And thus you joined with me, so what
I am are you as well. 4 The truth of what we are is not for words to
speak of nor describe. 5 Yet we can realize our function here, and
words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in
us.
W-pII.14.3. We are the bringers of salvation. 2 We accept our part
as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is
redeemed. 3 And this, our gift, is therefore given us. 4 We look on
everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good. 5
We do not seek a function that is past the gate of Heaven. 6
Knowledge will return when we have done our part. 7 We are
concerned only with giving welcome to the truth.
W-pII.14.4. Ours are the eyes through which Christ's vision sees a
world redeemed from every thought of sin. 2 Ours are the ears that
hear the Voice for God proclaim the world as sinless. 3 Ours the minds
that join together as we bless the world. 4 And from the oneness that
we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our
peace and consummate our joy.
W-pII.14.5. We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him,
and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn
that it is written on our hearts. 2 And thus our minds are changed
about the aim for which we came, and which we seek to serve. 3 We
bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. 4 Now is
he redeemed. 5 And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before
him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God.
LESSON 351.
LESSON 352.
LESSON 353.
LESSON 354.
LESSON 355.
LESSON 356.
LESSON 357.
LESSON 358.
LESSON 359.
LESSON 360.
FINAL LESSONS.
Introduction
W.fl.in.1. Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. 2
We use them but at the beginning of our practicing, and only to remind
us that we seek to go beyond them. 3 Let us turn to Him Who leads the
way and makes our footsteps sure. 4 To Him we leave these lessons, as
to Him we give our lives henceforth. 5 For we would not return again to
the belief in sin that made the world seem ugly and unsafe, attacking
and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the
hope of trust and the escape from pain.
W.fl.in.2. His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. 2
It is His way that everyone must travel in the end, because it is this
ending God Himself appointed. 3 In the dream of time it seems to be
far off. 4 And yet, in truth, it is already here; already serving us as
gracious guidance in the way to go. 5 Let us together follow in the way
that truth points out to us. 6 And let us be the leaders of our many
brothers who are seeking for the way, but find it not.
W.fl.in.3. And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all
our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. 2 Unto us the aim is
given to forgive the world. 3 It is the goal that God has given us. 4 It is
His ending to the dream we seek, and not our own. 5 For all that we
forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. 6 And thus
His memory is given back, completely and complete.
W.fl.in.4. It is our function to remember Him on earth, as it is given us
to be His Own completion in reality. 2 So let us not forget our goal is
shared, for it is that remembrance which contains the memory of God,
and points the way to Him and to the Heaven of His peace. 3 And shall
we not forgive our brother, who can offer this to us? 4 He is the way,
the truth and life that shows the way to us. 5 In him resides salvation,
offered us through our forgiveness, given unto him.
W.fl.in.5. We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised
to His holy Son. 2 We are forgiven now. 3 And we are saved from all the
wrath we thought belonged to God, and found it was a dream. 4 We are
restored to sanity, in which we understand that anger is insane, attack
is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. 5 We have been saved
from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. 6 Nothing more
than that. 7 And is a father angry at his son because he failed to
understand the truth?
W.fl.in.6. We come in honesty to God and say we did not understand,
and ask Him to help us to learn His lessons, through the Voice of His
Own Teacher. 2 Would He hurt His Son? 3 Or would He rush to answer
him, and say, "This is My Son, and all I have is his"? 4 Be certain He will
answer thus, for these are His Own words to you. 5 And more than that
can no one ever have, for in these words is all there is, and all that
there will be throughout all time and in eternity.
EPILOGUE
INTRODUCTION
M-in.1. The role of teaching and learning is actually reversed in the
thinking of the world. 2 The reversal is characteristic. 3 It seems as if
the teacher and the learner are separated, the teacher giving
something to the learner rather than to himself. 4 Further, the act of
teaching is regarded as a special activity, in which one engages only a
relatively small proportion of one's time. 5 The course, on the other
hand, emphasizes that to teach <is> to learn, so that teacher and
learner are the same. 6 It also emphasizes that teaching is a constant
process; it goes on every moment of the day, and continues into
sleeping thoughts as well.
M-in.2. To teach is to demonstrate. 2 There are only two thought
systems, and you demonstrate that you believe one or the other is true
all the time. 3 From your demonstration others learn, and so do you. 4
The question is not whether you will teach, for in that there is no
choice. 5 The purpose of the course might be said to provide you with
a means of choosing what you want to teach on the basis of what you
want to learn. 6 You cannot give to someone else, but only to yourself,
and this you learn through teaching. 7 Teaching is but a call to
witnesses to attest to what you believe. 8 It is a method of conversion.
9 This is not done by words alone. 10 Any situation must be to you a
chance to teach others what you are, and what they are to you. 11 No
more than that, but also never less.
M-in.3. The curriculum you set up is therefore determined
exclusively by what you think you are, and what you believe the
relationship of others is to you. 2 In the formal teaching situation,
these questions may be totally unrelated to what you think you are
teaching. 3 Yet it is impossible not to use the content of any situation
on behalf of what you really teach, and therefore really learn. 4 To this
the verbal content of your teaching is quite irrelevant. 5 It may
coincide with it, or it may not. 6 It is the teaching underlying what you
say that teaches you. 7 Teaching but reinforces what you believe about
yourself. 8 Its fundamental purpose is to diminish self-doubt. 9 This
does not mean that the self you are trying to protect is real. 10 But it
does mean that the self you think is real is what you teach.
M-in.4. This is inevitable. 2 There is no escape from it. 3 How could it
be otherwise? 4 Everyone who follows the world's curriculum, and
everyone here does follow it until he changes his mind, teaches solely
to convince himself that he is what he is not. 5 Herein is the purpose of
the world. 6 What else, then, would its curriculum be? 7 Into this
hopeless and closed learning situation, which teaches nothing but
despair and death, God sends His teachers. 8 And as they teach His
lessons of joy and hope, their learning finally becomes complete.
M-in.5. Except for God's teachers there would be little hope of
salvation, for the world of sin would seem forever real. 2 The self-
deceiving must deceive, for they must teach deception. 3 And what
else is hell? 4 This is a manual for the teachers of God. 5 They are not
perfect, or they would not be here. 6 Yet it is their mission to become
perfect here, and so they teach perfection over and over, in many,
many ways, until they have learned it. 7 And then they are seen no
more, although their thoughts remain a source of strength and truth
forever. 8 Who are they? 9 How are they chosen? 10 What do they do?
11 How can they work out their own salvation and the salvation of the
world? 12 This manual attempts to answer these questions.
I. Trust
M-4.I.1. This is the foundation on which their ability to fulfill their
function rests. 2 Perception is the result of learning. 3 In fact,
perception <is> learning, because cause and effect are never
separated. 4 The teachers of God have trust in the world, because they
have learned it is not governed by the laws the world made up. 5 It is
governed by a power that is <in> them but not <of> them. 6 It is this
power that keeps all things safe. 7 It is through this power that the
teachers of God look on a forgiven world.
M-4.I.2. When this power has once been experienced, it is impossible
to trust one's own petty strength again. 2 Who would attempt to fly
with the tiny wings of a sparrow when the mighty power of an eagle
has been given him? 3 And who would place his faith in the shabby
offerings of the ego when the gifts of God are laid before him? 4 What
is it that induces them to make the shift?
A. Development of Trust
M-4.I.A.3. First, they must go through what might be called "a period of
undoing." 2 This need not be painful, but it usually is so experienced. 3
It seems as if things are being taken away, and it is rarely understood
initially that their lack of value is merely being recognized. 4 How can
lack of value be perceived unless the perceiver is in a position where
he must see things in a different light? 5 He is not yet at a point at
which he can make the shift entirely internally. 6 And so the plan will
sometimes call for changes in what seem to be external circumstances.
7 These changes are always helpful. 8 When the teacher of God has
learned that much, he goes on to the second stage.
M-4.I.A.4. Next, the teacher of God must go through "a period of
sorting out." 2 This is always somewhat difficult because, having
learned that the changes in his life are always helpful, he must now
decide all things on the basis of whether they increase the helpfulness
or hamper it. 3 He will find that many, if not most of the things he
valued before will merely hinder his ability to transfer what he has
learned to new situations as they arise. 4 Because he has valued what
is really valueless, he will not generalize the lesson for fear of loss and
sacrifice. 5 It takes great learning to understand that all things, events,
encounters and circumstances are helpful. 6 It is only to the extent to
which they are helpful that any degree of reality should be accorded
them in this world of illusion. 7 The word "value" can apply to nothing
else.
M-4.I.A.5. The third stage through which the teacher of God must go
can be called "a period of relinquishment." 2 If this is interpreted as
giving up the desirable, it will engender enormous conflict. 3 Few
teachers of God escape this distress entirely. 4 There is, however, no
point in sorting out the valuable from the valueless unless the next
obvious step is taken. 5 Therefore, the period of overlap is apt to be
one in which the teacher of God feels called upon to sacrifice his own
best interests on behalf of truth. 6 He has not realized as yet how
wholly impossible such a demand would be. 7 He can learn this only as
he actually does give up the valueless. 8 Through this, he learns that
where he anticipated grief, he finds a happy lightheartedness instead;
where he thought something was asked of him, he finds a gift
bestowed on him.
M-4.I.A.6. Now comes "a period of settling down." 2 This is a quiet
time, in which the teacher of God rests a while in reasonable peace. 3
Now he consolidates his learning. 4 Now he begins to see the transfer
value of what he has learned. 5 Its potential is literally staggering, and
the teacher of God is now at the point in his progress at which he sees
in it his whole way out. 6 "Give up what you do not want, and keep
what you do." 7 How simple is the obvious! 8 And how easy to do! 9
The teacher of God needs this period of respite. 10 He has not yet
come as far as he thinks. 11 Yet when he is ready to go on, he goes
with mighty companions beside him. 12 Now he rests a while, and
gathers them before going on. 13 He will not go on from here alone.
M-4.I.A.7. The next stage is indeed "a period of unsettling." 2 Now
must the teacher of God understand that he did not really know what
was valuable and what was valueless. 3 All that he really learned so far
was that he did not want the valueless, and that he did want the
valuable. 4 Yet his own sorting out was meaningless in teaching him
the difference. 5 The idea of sacrifice, so central to his own thought
system, had made it impossible for him to judge. 6 He thought he
learned willingness, but now he sees that he does not know what the
willingness is for. 7 And now he must attain a state that may remain
impossible to reach for a long, long time. 8 He must learn to lay all
judgment aside, and ask only what he really wants in every
circumstance. 9 Were not each step in this direction so heavily
reinforced, it would be hard indeed!
M-4.I.A.8. And finally, there is "a period of achievement." 2 It is here
that learning is consolidated. 3 Now what was seen as merely shadows
before become solid gains, to be counted on in all "emergencies" as
well as tranquil times. 4 Indeed, the tranquility is their result; the
outcome of honest learning, consistency of thought and full transfer. 5
This is the stage of real peace, for here is Heaven's state fully
reflected. 6 From here, the way to Heaven is open and easy. 7 In fact, it
is here. 8 Who would "go" anywhere, if peace of mind is already
complete? 9 And who would seek to change tranquility for something
more desirable? 10 What could be more desirable than this?
II. Honesty
M-4.II.1. All other traits of God's teachers rest on trust. 2 Once that
has been achieved, the others cannot fail to follow. 3 Only the trusting
can afford honesty, for only they can see its value. 4 Honesty does not
apply only to what you say. 5 The term actually means consistency. 6
There is nothing you say that contradicts what you think or do; no
thought opposes any other thought; no act belies your word; and no
word lacks agreement with another. 7 Such are the truly honest. 8 At
no level are they in conflict with themselves. 9 Therefore it is
impossible for them to be in conflict with anyone or anything.
M-4.II.2. The peace of mind which the advanced teachers of God
experience is largely due to their perfect honesty. 2 It is only the wish
to deceive that makes for war. 3 No one at one with himself can even
conceive of conflict. 4 Conflict is the inevitable result of self-deception,
and self-deception is dishonesty. 5 There is no challenge to a teacher of
God. 6 Challenge implies doubt, and the trust on which God's teachers
rest secure makes doubt impossible. 7 Therefore they can only
succeed. 8 In this, as in all things, they are honest. 9 They can only
succeed, because they never do their will alone. 10 They choose for all
mankind; for all the world and all things in it; for the unchanging and
unchangeable beyond appearances; and for the Son of God and his
Creator. 11 How could they not succeed? 12 They choose in perfect
honesty, sure of their choice as of themselves.
III. Tolerance
M-4.III.1. God's teachers do not judge. 2 To judge is to be dishonest,
for to judge is to assume a position you do not have. 3 Judgment
without self-deception is impossible. 4 Judgment implies that you have
been deceived in your brothers. 5 How, then, could you not have been
deceived in yourself? 6 Judgment implies a lack of trust, and trust
remains the bedrock of the teacher of God's whole thought system. 7
Let this be lost, and all his learning goes. 8 Without judgment are all
things equally acceptable, for who could judge otherwise? 9 Without
judgment are all men brothers, for who is there who stands apart? 10
Judgment destroys honesty and shatters trust. 11 No teacher of God
can judge and hope to learn.
IV. Gentleness
M-4.IV.1. Harm is impossible for God's teachers. 2 They can neither
harm nor be harmed. 3 Harm is the outcome of judgment. 4 It is the
dishonest act that follows a dishonest thought. 5 It is a verdict of guilt
upon a brother, and therefore on oneself. 6 It is the end of peace and
the denial of learning. 7 It demonstrates the absence of God's
curriculum, and its replacement by insanity. 8 No teacher of God but
must learn,–and fairly early in his training,–that harmfulness
completely obliterates his function from his awareness. 9 It will make
him confused, fearful, angry and suspicious. 10 It will make the Holy
Spirit's lessons impossible to learn. 11 Nor can God's Teacher be heard
at all, except by those who realize that harm can actually achieve
nothing. 12 No gain can come of it.
M-4.IV.2. Therefore, God's teachers are wholly gentle. 2 They need the
strength of gentleness, for it is in this that the function of salvation
becomes easy. 3 To those who would do harm, it is impossible. 4 To
those to whom harm has no meaning, it is merely natural. 5 What
choice but this has meaning to the sane? 6 Who chooses hell when he
perceives a way to Heaven? 7 And who would choose the weakness
that must come from harm in place of the unfailing, all-encompassing
and limitless strength of gentleness? 8 The might of God's teachers lies
in their gentleness, for they have understood their evil thoughts came
neither from God's Son nor his Creator. 9 Thus did they join their
thoughts with Him Who is their Source. 10 And so their will, which
always was His Own, is free to be itself.
V. Joy
M-4.V.1. Joy is the inevitable result of gentleness. 2 Gentleness
means that fear is now impossible, and what could come to interfere
with joy? 3 The open hands of gentleness are always filled. 4 The
gentle have no pain. 5 They cannot suffer. 6 Why would they not be
joyous? 7 They are sure they are beloved and must be safe. 8 Joy goes
with gentleness as surely as grief attends attack. 9 God's teachers
trust in Him. 10 And they are sure His Teacher goes before them,
making sure no harm can come to them. 11 They hold His gifts and
follow in His way, because God's Voice directs them in all things. 12 Joy
is their song of thanks. 13 And Christ looks down on them in thanks as
well. 14 His need of them is just as great as theirs of Him. 15 How
joyous it is to share the purpose of salvation!
VI. Defenselessness
M-4.VI.1. God's teachers have learned how to be simple. 2 They have
no dreams that need defense against the truth. 3 They do not try to
make themselves. 4 Their joy comes from their understanding Who
created them. 5 And does what God created need defense? 6 No one
can become an advanced teacher of God until he fully understands
that defenses are but foolish guardians of mad illusions. 7 The more
grotesque the dream, the fiercer and more powerful its defenses seem
to be. 8 Yet when the teacher of God finally agrees to look past them,
he finds that nothing was there. 9 Slowly at first he lets himself be
undeceived. 10 But he learns faster as his trust increases. 11 It is not
danger that comes when defenses are laid down. 12 It is safety. 13 It is
peace. 14 It is joy. 15 And it is God.
VII. Generosity
M-4.VII.1. The term generosity has special meaning to the teacher of
God. 2 It is not the usual meaning of the word; in fact, it is a meaning
that must be learned and learned very carefully. 3 Like all the other
attributes of God's teachers this one rests ultimately on trust, for
without trust no one can be generous in the true sense. 4 To the world,
generosity means "giving away" in the sense of "giving up." 5 To the
teachers of God, it means giving away in order to keep. 6 This has
been emphasized throughout the text and the workbook, but it is
perhaps more alien to the thinking of the world than many other ideas
in our curriculum. 7 Its greater strangeness lies merely in the
obviousness of its reversal of the world's thinking. 8 In the clearest way
possible, and at the simplest of levels, the word means the exact
opposite to the teachers of God and to the world.
M-4.VII.2. The teacher of God is generous out of Self interest. 2 This
does not refer, however, to the self of which the world speaks. 3 The
teacher of God does not want anything he cannot give away, because
he realizes it would be valueless to him by definition. 4 What would he
want it <for>? 5 He could only lose because of it. 6 He could not gain.
7 Therefore he does not seek what only he could keep, because that is
a guarantee of loss. 8 He does not want to suffer. 9 Why should he
ensure himself pain? 10 But he does want to keep for himself all things
that are of God, and therefore for His Son. 11 These are the things that
belong to him. 12 These he can give away in true generosity,
protecting them forever for himself.
VIII. Patience
M-4.VIII.1. Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait, and
wait without anxiety. 2 Patience is natural to the teacher of God. 3 All
he sees is certain outcome, at a time perhaps unknown to him as yet,
but not in doubt. 4 The time will be as right as is the answer. 5 And this
is true for everything that happens now or in the future. 6 The past as
well held no mistakes; nothing that did not serve to benefit the world,
as well as him to whom it seemed to happen. 7 Perhaps it was not
understood at the time. 8 Even so, the teacher of God is willing to
reconsider all his past decisions, if they are causing pain to anyone. 9
Patience is natural to those who trust. 10 Sure of the ultimate
interpretation of all things in time, no outcome already seen or yet to
come can cause them fear.
IX. Faithfulness
M-4.IX.1. The extent of the teacher of God's faithfulness is the
measure of his advancement in the curriculum. 2 Does he still select
some aspects of his life to bring to his learning, while keeping others
apart? 3 If so, his advancement is limited, and his trust not yet firmly
established. 4 Faithfulness is the teacher of God's trust in the Word of
God to set all things right; not some, but all. 5 Generally, his
faithfulness begins by resting on just some problems, remaining
carefully limited for a time. 6 To give up all problems to one Answer is
to reverse the thinking of the world entirely. 7 And that alone is
faithfulness. 8 Nothing but that really deserves the name. 9 Yet each
degree, however small, is worth achieving. 10 Readiness, as the text
notes, is not mastery.
M-4.IX.2. True faithfulness, however, does not deviate. 2 Being
consistent, it is wholly honest. 3 Being unswerving, it is full of trust. 4
Being based on fearlessness, it is gentle. 5 Being certain, it is joyous. 6
And being confident, it is tolerant. 7 Faithfulness, then, combines in
itself the other attributes of God's teachers. 8 It implies acceptance of
the Word of God and His definition of His Son. 9 It is to Them that
faithfulness in the true sense is always directed. 10 Toward Them it
looks, seeking until it finds. 11 Defenselessness attends it naturally,
and joy is its condition. 12 And having found, it rests in quiet certainty
on that alone to which all faithfulness is due.
X. Open-Mindedness
M-4.X.1. The centrality of open-mindedness, perhaps the last of the
attributes the teacher of God acquires, is easily understood when its
relation to forgiveness is recognized. 2 Open-mindedness comes with
lack of judgment. 3 As judgment shuts the mind against God's Teacher,
so open-mindedness invites Him to come in. 4 As condemnation judges
the Son of God as evil, so open-mindedness permits him to be judged
by the Voice for God on His behalf. 5 As the projection of guilt upon him
would send him to hell, so open-mindedness lets Christ's image be
extended to him. 6 Only the open-minded can be at peace, for they
alone see reason for it.
M-4.X.2. How do the open-minded forgive? 2 They have let go all
things that would prevent forgiveness. 3 They have in truth abandoned
the world, and let it be restored to them in newness and in joy so
glorious they could never have conceived of such a change. 4 Nothing
is now as it was formerly. 5 Nothing but sparkles now which seemed so
dull and lifeless before. 6 And above all are all things welcoming, for
threat is gone. 7 No clouds remain to hide the face of Christ. 8 Now is
the goal achieved. 9 Forgiveness is the final goal of the curriculum. 10
It paves the way for what goes far beyond all learning. 11 The
curriculum makes no effort to exceed its legitimate goal. 12
Forgiveness is its single aim, at which all learning ultimately converges.
13 It is indeed enough.
M-4.X.3. You may have noticed that the list of attributes of God's
teachers does not include things that are the Son of God's inheritance.
2 Terms like love, sinlessness, perfection, knowledge and eternal truth
do not appear in this context. 3 They would be most inappropriate
here. 4 What God has given is so far beyond our curriculum that
learning but disappears in its presence. 5 Yet while its presence is
obscured, the focus properly belongs on the curriculum. 6 It is the
function of God's teachers to bring true learning to the world. 7
Properly speaking it is unlearning that they bring, for that is "true
learning" in the world. 8 It is given to the teachers of God to bring the
glad tidings of complete forgiveness to the world. 9 Blessed indeed are
they, for they are the bringers of salvation.
6. IS HEALING CERTAIN?
M-6.1. Healing is always certain. 2 It is impossible to let illusions be
brought to truth and keep the illusions. 3 Truth demonstrates illusions
have no value. 4 The teacher of God has seen the correction of his
errors in the mind of the patient, recognizing it for what it is. 5 Having
accepted the Atonement for himself, he has also accepted it for the
patient. 6 Yet what if the patient uses sickness as a way of life,
believing healing is the way to death? 7 When this is so, a sudden
healing might precipitate intense depression, and a sense of loss so
deep that the patient might even try to destroy himself. 8 Having
nothing to live for, he may ask for death. 9 Healing must wait, for his
protection.
M-6.2. Healing will always stand aside when it would be seen as
threat. 2 The instant it is welcome it is there. 3 Where healing has been
given it will be received. 4 And what is time before the gifts of God? 5
We have referred many times in the text to the storehouse of treasures
laid up equally for the giver and the receiver of God's gifts. 6 Not one is
lost, for they can but increase. 7 No teacher of God should feel
disappointed if he has offered healing and it does not appear to have
been received. 8 It is not up to him to judge when his gift should be
accepted. 9 Let him be certain it has been received, and trust that it
will be accepted when it is recognized as a blessing and not a curse.
M-6.3. It is not the function of God's teachers to evaluate the
outcome of their gifts. 2 It is merely their function to give them. 3 Once
they have done that they have also given the outcome, for that is part
of the gift. 4 No one can give if he is concerned with the result of
giving. 5 That is a limitation on the giving itself, and neither the giver
nor the receiver would have the gift. 6 Trust is an essential part of
giving; in fact, it is the part that makes sharing possible, the part that
guarantees the giver will not lose, but only gain. 7 Who gives a gift and
then remains with it, to be sure it is used as the giver deems
appropriate? 8 Such is not giving but imprisoning.
M-6.4. It is the relinquishing of all concern about the gift that makes
it truly given. 2 And it is trust that makes true giving possible. 3
Healing is the change of mind that the Holy Spirit in the patient's mind
is seeking for him. 4 And it is the Holy Spirit in the mind of the giver
Who gives the gift to him. 5 How can it be lost? 6 How can it be
ineffectual? 7 How can it be wasted? 8 God's treasure house can never
be empty. 9 And if one gift is missing, it would not be full. 10 Yet is its
fullness guaranteed by God. 11 What concern, then, can a teacher of
God have about what becomes of his gifts? 12 Given by God to God,
who in this holy exchange can receive less than everything?
11 Holy are you, eternal, free and whole, at peace forever in the Heart
of God. 12 Where is the world, and where is sorrow now?
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
INTRODUCTION
C-in.1. This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it
concerned with precise terminology. 2 It is concerned only with
Atonement, or the correction of perception. 3 The means of the
Atonement is forgiveness. 4 The structure of "individual consciousness"
is essentially irrelevant because it is a concept representing the
"original error" or the "original sin." 5 To study the error itself does not
lead to correction, if you are indeed to succeed in overlooking the error.
6 And it is just this process of overlooking at which the course aims.
C-in.2. All terms are potentially controversial, and those who seek
controversy will find it. 2 Yet those who seek clarification will find it as
well. 3 They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy,
recognizing that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying
maneuver. 4 Theological considerations as such are necessarily
controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be
accepted or rejected. 5 A universal theology is impossible, but a
universal experience is not only possible but necessary. 6 It is this
experience toward which the course is directed. 7 Here alone
consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends.
C-in.3. This course remains within the ego framework, where it is
needed. 2 It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because it is
planned only to set the direction towards it. 3 Therefore it uses words,
which are symbolic, and cannot express what lies beyond symbols. 4 It
is merely the ego that questions because it is only the ego that doubts.
5 The course merely gives another answer, once a question has been
raised. 6 However, this answer does not attempt to resort to
inventiveness or ingenuity. 7 These are attributes of the ego. 8 <The
course is simple>. 9 It has one function and one goal. 10 Only in that
does it remain wholly consistent because only that can <be>
consistent.
C-in.4. The ego will demand many answers that this course does not
give. 2 It does not recognize as questions the mere form of a question
to which an answer is impossible. 3 The ego may ask, "How did the
impossible occur?", "To what did the impossible happen?", and may ask
this in many forms. 4 Yet there is no answer; only an experience. 5
Seek only this, and do not let theology delay you.
C-in.5. You will notice that the emphasis on structural issues in the
course is brief and early. 2 Afterwards and soon, it drops away to make
way for the central teaching. 3 Since you have asked for clarification,
however, these are some of the terms that are used.
1. MIND–SPIRIT
C-1.1. The term <mind> is used to represent the activating agent
of spirit, supplying its creative energy. 2 When the term is capitalized it
refers to God or Christ (ie, the Mind of God or the Mind of Christ). 3
<Spirit> is the Thought of God which He created like Himself. 4 The
unified spirit is God's one Son, or Christ.
C-1.2. In this world, because the mind is split, the Sons of God
appear to be separate. 2 Nor do their minds seem to be joined. 3 In
this illusory state, the concept of an "individual mind" seems to be
meaningful. 4 It is therefore described in the course <as if> it has two
parts; spirit and ego.
C-1.3. Spirit is the part that is still in contact with God through the
Holy Spirit, Who abides in this part but sees the other part as well. 2
The term "soul" is not used except in direct biblical quotations because
of its highly controversial nature. 3 It would, however, be an equivalent
of "spirit," with the understanding that, being of God, it is eternal and
was never born.
C-1.4. The other part of the mind is entirely illusory and makes only
illusions. 2 Spirit retains the potential for creating, but its Will, which is
God's, seems to be imprisoned while the mind is not unified. 3 Creation
continues unabated because that is the Will of God. 4 This Will is
always unified and therefore has no meaning in this world. 5 It has no
opposite and no degrees.
C-1.5. The mind can be right or wrong, depending on the voice to
which it listens. 2 <Right-mindedness> listens to the Holy Spirit,
forgives the world, and through Christ's vision sees the real world in its
place. 3 This is the final vision, the last perception, the condition in
which God takes the final step Himself. 4 Here time and illusions end
together.
C-1.6. <Wrong-mindedness> listens to the ego and makes illusions;
perceiving sin and justifying anger, and seeing guilt, disease and death
as real. 2 Both this world and the real world are illusions because right-
mindedness merely overlooks, or forgives, what never happened. 3
Therefore it is not the <One-mindedness> of the Christ Mind, Whose
Will is One with God's.
C-1.7. In this world the only remaining freedom is the freedom of
choice; always between two choices or two voices. 2 Will is not
involved in perception at any level, and has nothing to do with choice.
3 <Consciousness> is the receptive mechanism, receiving messages
from above or below; from the Holy Spirit or the ego. 4 Consciousness
has levels and awareness can shift quite dramatically, but it cannot
transcend the perceptual realm. 5 At its highest it becomes aware of
the real world, and can be trained to do so increasingly. 6 Yet the very
fact that it has levels and can be trained demonstrates that it cannot
reach knowledge.
4. TRUE PERCEPTION–KNOWLEDGE
C-4.1. The world you see is an illusion of a world. 2 God did not
create it, for what He creates must be eternal as Himself. 3 Yet there is
nothing in the world you see that will endure forever. 4 Some things
will last in time a little while longer than others. 5 But the time will
come when all things visible will have an end.
C-4.2. The body's eyes are therefore not the means by which the
real world can be seen, for the illusions that they look upon must lead
to more illusions of reality. 2 And so they do. 3 For everything they see
not only will not last, but lends itself to thoughts of sin and guilt. 4
While everything that God created is forever without sin and therefore
is forever without guilt.
C-4.3. Knowledge is not the remedy for false perception since,
being another level, they can never meet. 2 The one correction
possible for false perception must be <true perception>. 3 It will not
endure. 4 But for the time it lasts it comes to heal. 5 For true
perception is a remedy with many names. 6 Forgiveness, salvation,
Atonement, true perception, all are one. 7 They are the one beginning,
with the end to lead to oneness far beyond themselves. 8 True
perception is the means by which the world is saved from sin, for sin
does not exist. 9 And it is this that true perception sees.
C-4.4. The world stands like a block before Christ's face. 2 But true
perception looks on it as nothing more than just a fragile veil, so easily
dispelled that it can last no longer than an instant. 3 It is seen at last
for only what it is. 4 And now it cannot fail to disappear, for now there
is an empty place made clean and ready. 5 Where destruction was
perceived the face of Christ appears, and in that instant is the world
forgot, with time forever ended as the world spins into nothingness
from where it came.
C-4.5. A world forgiven cannot last. 2 It was the home of bodies. 3
But forgiveness looks past bodies. 4 This is its holiness; this is how it
heals. 5 The world of bodies is the world of sin, for only if there were a
body is sin possible. 6 From sin comes guilt as surely as forgiveness
takes all guilt away. 7 And once all guilt is gone what more remains to
keep a separated world in place? 8 For place has gone as well, along
with time. 9 Only the body makes the world seem real, for being
separate it could not remain where separation is impossible. 10
Forgiveness proves it is impossible because it sees it not. 11 And what
you then will overlook will not be understandable to you, just as its
presence once had been your certainty.
C-4.6. This is the shift that true perception brings: What was
projected out is seen within, and there forgiveness lets it disappear. 2
For there the altar to the Son is set, and there his Father is
remembered. 3 Here are all illusions brought to truth and laid upon the
altar. 4 What is seen outside must lie beyond forgiveness, for it seems
to be forever sinful. 5 Where is hope while sin is seen as outside? 6
What remedy can guilt expect? 7 But seen within your mind, guilt and
forgiveness for an instant lie together, side by side, upon one altar. 8
There at last are sickness and its single remedy joined in one healing
brightness. 9 God has come to claim His Own. 10 Forgiveness is
complete.
C-4.7. And now God's <knowledge>, changeless, certain, pure and
wholly understandable, enters its kingdom. 2 Gone is perception, false
and true alike. 3 Gone is forgiveness, for its task is done. 4 And gone
are bodies in the blazing light upon the altar to the Son of God. 5 God
knows it is His Own, as it is his. 6 And here They join, for here the face
of Christ has shone away time's final instant, and now is the last
perception of the world without a purpose and without a cause. 7 For
where God's memory has come at last there is no journey, no belief in
sin, no walls, no bodies, and the grim appeal of guilt and death is there
snuffed out forever.
C-4.8. O my brothers, if you only knew the peace that will envelop
you and hold you safe and pure and lovely in the Mind of God, you
could but rush to meet Him where His altar is. 2 Hallowed your Name
and His, for they are joined here in this holy place. 3 Here He leans
down to lift you up to Him, out of illusions into holiness; out of the
world and to eternity; out of all fear and given back to love.
5. JESUS – CHRIST
C-5.1. There is no need for help to enter Heaven for you have never
left. 2 But there is need for help beyond yourself as you are
circumscribed by false beliefs of your Identity, which God alone
established in reality. 3 Helpers are given you in many forms, although
upon the altar they are one. 4 Beyond each one there is a Thought of
God, and this will never change. 5 But they have names which differ
for a time, for time needs symbols, being itself unreal. 6 Their names
are legion, but we will not go beyond the names the course itself
employs. 7 God does not help because He knows no need. 8 But He
creates all Helpers of His Son while he believes his fantasies are true. 9
Thank God for them for they will lead you home.
C-5.2. The name of <Jesus> is the name of one who was a man but
saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God. 2 So he
became identified with <Christ>, a man no longer, but at one with
God. 3 The man was an illusion, for he seemed to be a separate being,
walking by himself, within a body that appeared to hold his self from
Self, as all illusions do. 4 Yet who can save unless he sees illusions and
then identifies them as what they are? 5 Jesus remains a Savior
because he saw the false without accepting it as true. 6 And Christ
needed his form that He might appear to men and save them from
their own illusions.
C-5.3. In his complete identification with the Christ–the perfect Son
of God, His one creation and His happiness, forever like Himself and
One with Him–Jesus became what all of you must be. 2 He led the way
for you to follow him. 3 He leads you back to God because he saw the
road before him, and he followed it. 4 He made a clear distinction, still
obscure to you, between the false and true. 5 He offered you a final
demonstration that it is impossible to kill God's Son; nor can his life in
any way be changed by sin and evil, malice, fear or death.
C-5.4. And therefore all your sins have been forgiven because they
carried no effects at all. 2 And so they were but dreams. 3 Arise with
him who showed you this because you owe him this who shared your
dreams that they might be dispelled. 4 And shares them still, to be at
one with you.
C-5.5. Is he the Christ? 2 O yes, along with you. 3 His little life on
earth was not enough to teach the mighty lesson that he learned for all
of you. 4 He will remain with you to lead you from the hell you made to
God. 5 And when you join your will with his, your sight will be his
vision, for the eyes of Christ are shared. 6 Walking with him is just as
natural as walking with a brother whom you knew since you were born,
for such indeed he is. 7 Some bitter idols have been made of him who
would be only brother to the world. 8 Forgive him your illusions, and
behold how dear a brother he would be to you. 9 For he will set your
mind at rest at last and carry it with you unto your God.
C-5.6. Is he God's only Helper? 2 No, indeed. 3 For Christ takes
many forms with different names until their oneness can be
recognized. 4 But Jesus is for you the bearer of Christ's single message
of the Love of God. 5 You need no other. 6 It is possible to read his
words and benefit from them without accepting him into your life. 7 Yet
he would help you yet a little more if you will share your pains and joys
with him, and leave them both to find the peace of God. 8 Yet still it is
his lesson most of all that he would have you learn, and it is this:
<9 There is no death because the Son of God is like his Father. 10
Nothing you can do can change Eternal Love. 11 Forget your dreams of
sin and guilt, and come with me instead to share the resurrection of
God's Son. 12 And bring with you all those whom He has sent to you to
care for as I care for you.>
EPILOGUE
C-ep.1. Forget not once this journey is begun the end is certain. 2
Doubt along the way will come and go and go to come again. 3 Yet is
the ending sure. 4 No one can fail to do what God appointed him to do.
5 When you forget, remember that you walk with Him and with His
Word upon your heart. 6 Who could despair when hope like this is his?
7 Illusions of despair may seem to come, but learn how not to be
deceived by them. 8 Behind each one there is reality and there is God.
9 Why would you wait for this and trade it for illusions, when His Love
is but an instant farther on the road where all illusions end? 10 The end
<is> sure and guaranteed by God. 11 Who stands before a lifeless
image when a step away the Holy of the Holies opens up an ancient
door that leads beyond the world?
C-ep.2. You <are> a stranger here. 2 But you belong to Him Who
loves you as He loves Himself. 3 Ask but my help to roll the stone
away, and it is done according to His Will. 4 We <have> begun the
journey. 5 Long ago the end was written in the stars and set into the
Heavens with a shining Ray that held it safe within eternity and
through all time as well. 6 And holds it still; unchanged, unchanging
and unchangeable.
C-ep.3. Be not afraid. 2 We only start again an ancient journey long
ago begun that but seems new. 3 We have begun again upon a road
we travelled on before and lost our way a little while. 4 And now we try
again. 5 Our new beginning has the certainty the journey lacked till
now. 6 Look up and see His Word among the stars, where He has set
your Name along with His. 7 Look up and find your certain destiny the
world would hide but God would have you see.
C-ep.4. Let us wait here in silence, and kneel down an instant in our
gratitude to Him Who called to us and helped us hear His Call. 2 And
then let us arise and go in faith along the way to Him. 3 Now we are
sure we do not walk alone. 4 For God is here, and with Him all our
brothers. 5 Now we know that we will never lose the way again. 6 The
song begins again which had been stopped only an instant, though it
seems to be unsung forever. 7 What is here begun will grow in life and
strength and hope, until the world is still an instant and forgets all that
the dream of sin had made of it.
C-ep.5. Let us go out and meet the newborn world, knowing that
Christ has been reborn in it, and that the holiness of this rebirth will
last forever. 2 We had lost our way but He has found it for us. 3 Let us
go and bid Him welcome Who returns to us to celebrate salvation and
the end of all we thought we made. 4 The morning star of this new day
looks on a different world where God is welcomed and His Son with
Him. 5 We who complete Him offer thanks to Him, as He gives thanks
to us. 6 The Son is still, and in the quiet God has given him enters his
home and is at peace at last.
12 You were lost in the darkness of the world until you asked for light.
13 And then God sent His Son to give it to you.
1. PRAYER
Introduction
S-1.in.1. Prayer is the greatest gift with which God blessed His Son at
his creation. 2 It was then what it is to become; the single voice
Creator and creation share; the song the Son sings to the Father, Who
returns the thanks it offers Him unto the Son. 3 Endless the harmony,
and endless, too, the joyous concord of the Love They give forever to
Each Other. 4 And in this, creation is extended. 5 God gives thanks to
His extension in His Son. 6 His Son gives thanks for his creation, in the
song of his creating in his Father's Name. 7 The Love They share is
what all prayer will be throughout eternity, when time is done. 8 For
such it was before time seemed to be.
S-1.in.2. To you who are in time a little while, prayer takes the form
that best will suit your need. 2 You have but one. 3 What God created
one must recognize its oneness, and rejoice that what illusions seemed
to separate is one forever in the Mind of God. 4 Prayer now must be
the means by which God's Son leaves separate goals and separate
interests by, and turns in holy gladness to the truth of union in his
Father and himself.
S-1.in.3. Lay down your dreams, you holy Son of God, and rising up as
God created you, dispense with idols and remember Him. 2 Prayer will
sustain you now, and bless you as you lift your heart to Him in rising
song that reaches higher and then higher still, until both high and low
have disappeared. 3 Faith in your goal will grow and hold you up as you
ascend the shining stairway to the lawns of Heaven and the gate of
peace. 4 For this is prayer, and here salvation is. 5 This is the way. 6 It
is God's gift to you.
I. True Prayer
S-1.I.1. Prayer is a way offered by the Holy Spirit to reach God. 2 It is
not merely a question or an entreaty. 3 It cannot succeed until you
realize that it asks for nothing. 4 How else could it serve its purpose? 5
It is impossible to pray for idols and hope to reach God. 6 True prayer
must avoid the pitfall of asking to entreat. 7 Ask, rather, to receive
what is already given; to accept what is already there.
S-1.I.2. You have been told to ask the Holy Spirit for the answer to
any specific problem, and that you will receive a specific answer if such
is your need. 2 You have also been told that there is only one problem
and one answer. 3 In prayer this is not contradictory. 4 There are
decisions to make here, and they must be made whether they be
illusions or not. 5 You cannot be asked to accept answers which are
beyond the level of need that you can recognize. 6 Therefore, it is not
the form of the question that matters, nor how it is asked. 7 The form
of the answer, if given by God, will suit your need as you see it. 8 This
is merely an echo of the reply of His Voice. 9 The real sound is always a
song of thanksgiving and of Love.
S-1.I.3. You cannot, then, ask for the echo. 2 It is the song that is the
gift. 3 Along with it come the overtones, the harmonics, the echoes,
but these are secondary. 4 In true prayer you hear only the song. 5 All
the rest is merely added. 6 You have sought first the Kingdom of
Heaven, and all else has indeed been given you.
S-1.I.4. The secret of true prayer is to forget the things you think you
need. 2 To ask for the specific is much the same as to look on sin and
then forgive it. 3 Also in the same way, in prayer you overlook your
specific needs as you see them, and let them go into God's Hands. 4
There they become your gifts to Him, for they tell Him that you would
have no gods before Him; no Love but His. 5 What could His answer be
but your remembrance of Him? 6 Can this be traded for a bit of trifling
advice about a problem of an instant's duration? 7 God answers only
for eternity. 8 But still all little answers are contained in this.
S-1.I.5. Prayer is a stepping aside; a letting go, a quiet time of
listening and loving. 2 It should not be confused with supplication of
any kind, because it is a way of remembering your holiness. 3 Why
should holiness entreat, being fully entitled to everything Love has to
offer? 4 And it is to Love you go in prayer. 5 Prayer is an offering; a
giving up of yourself to be at one with Love. 6 There is nothing to ask
because there is nothing left to want. 7 That nothingness becomes the
altar of God. 8 It disappears in Him.
S-1.I.6. This is not a level of prayer that everyone can attain as yet.
2 Those who have not reached it still need your help in prayer because
their asking is not yet based upon acceptance. 3 Help in prayer does
not mean that another mediates between you and God. 4 But it does
mean that another stands beside you and helps to raise you up to Him.
5 One who has realized the goodness of God prays without fear. 6 And
one who prays without fear cannot but reach Him. 7 He can therefore
also reach His Son, wherever he may be and whatever form he may
seem to take.
S-1.I.7. Praying to Christ in anyone is true prayer because it is a gift
of thanks to His Father. 2 To ask that Christ be but Himself is not an
entreaty. 3 It is a song of thanksgiving for what you are. 4 Herein lies
the power of prayer. 5 It asks nothing and receives everything. 6 This
prayer can be shared because it receives for everyone. 7 To pray with
one who knows that this is true is to be answered. 8 Perhaps the
specific form of resolution for a specific problem will occur to either of
you; it does not matter which. 9 Perhaps it will reach both, if you are
genuinely attuned to one another. 10 It will come because you have
realized that Christ is in both of you. 11 That is its only truth.
II. The Ladder of Prayer
S-1.II.1. Prayer has no beginning and no end. 2 It is a part of life. 3
But it does change in form, and grow with learning until it reaches its
formless state, and fuses into total communication with God. 4 In its
asking form it need not, and often does not, make appeal to God, or
even involve belief in Him. 5 At these levels prayer is merely wanting,
out of a sense of scarcity and lack.
S-1.II.2. These forms of prayer, or asking-out-of-need, always involve
feelings of weakness and inadequacy, and could never be made by a
Son of God who knows Who he is. 2 No one, then, who is sure of his
Identity could pray in these forms. 3 Yet it is also true that no one who
is uncertain of his Identity can avoid praying in this way. 4 And prayer
is as continual as life. 5 Everyone prays without ceasing. 6 Ask and you
have received, for you have established what it is you want.
S-1.II.3. It is also possible to reach a higher form of asking-out-of-
need, for in this world prayer is reparative, and so it must entail levels
of learning. 2 Here, the asking may be addressed to God in honest
belief, though not yet with understanding. 3 A vague and usually
unstable sense of identification has generally been reached, but tends
to be blurred by a deep-rooted sense of sin. 4 It is possible at this level
to continue to ask for things of this world in various forms, and it is also
possible to ask for gifts such as honesty or goodness, and particularly
for forgiveness for the many sources of guilt that inevitably underlie
any prayer of need. 5 Without guilt there is no scarcity. 6 The sinless
have no needs.
S-1.II.4. At this level also comes that curious contradiction in terms
known as "praying for one's enemies." 2 The contradiction lies not in
the actual words, but rather in the way in which they are usually
interpreted. 3 While you believe you have enemies, you have limited
prayer to the laws of this world, and have also limited your ability to
receive and to accept to the same narrow margins. 4 And yet, if you
have enemies you have need of prayer, and great need, too. 5 What
does the phrase really mean? 6 Pray for yourself, that you may not
seek to imprison Christ and thereby lose the recognition of your own
Identity. 7 Be traitor to no one, or you will be treacherous to yourself.
S-1.II.5. An enemy is the symbol of an imprisoned Christ. 2 And who
could He be except yourself? 3 The prayer for enemies thus becomes a
prayer for your own freedom. 4 Now it is no longer a contradiction in
terms. 5 It has become a statement of the unity of Christ and a
recognition of His sinlessness. 6 And now it has become holy, for it
acknowledges the Son of God as he was created.
S-1.II.6. Let it never be forgotten that prayer at any level is always
for yourself. 2 If you unite with anyone in prayer, you make him part of
you. 3 The enemy is you, as is the Christ. 4 Before it can become holy,
then, prayer becomes a choice. 5 You do not choose for another. 6 You
can but choose for yourself. 7 Pray truly for your enemies, for herein
lies your own salvation. 8 Forgive them for your sins, and you will be
forgiven indeed.
S-1.II.7. Prayer is a ladder reaching up to Heaven. 2 At the top there
is a transformation much like your own, for prayer is part of you. 3 The
things of earth are left behind, all unremembered. 4 There is no asking,
for there is no lack. 5 Identity in Christ is fully recognized as set
forever, beyond all change and incorruptible. 6 The light no longer
flickers, and will never go out. 7 Now, without needs of any kind, and
clad forever in the pure sinlessness that is the gift of God to you, His
Son, prayer can again become what it was meant to be. 8 For now it
rises as a song of thanks to your Creator, sung without words, or
thoughts, or vain desires, unneedful now of anything at all. 9 So it
extends, as it was meant to do. 10 And for this giving God Himself
gives thanks.
S-1.II.8. God is the goal of every prayer, giving it timelessness
instead of end. 2 Nor has it a beginning, because the goal has never
changed. 3 Prayer in its earlier forms is an illusion, because there is no
need for a ladder to reach what one has never left. 4 Yet prayer is part
of forgiveness as long as forgiveness, itself an illusion, remains
unattained. 5 Prayer is tied up with learning until the goal of learning
has been reached. 6 And then all things will be transformed together,
and returned unblemished into the Mind of God. 7 Being beyond
learning, this state cannot be described. 8 The stages necessary to its
attainment, however, need to be understood, if peace is to be restored
to God's Son, who lives now with the illusion of death and the fear of
God.
5 What I have asked for for my brother is not what I would have. 6 Thus
have I made of him my enemy.
10 And so he is in truth. 11 Now can you pray only for what you truly
share with him. 12 For you have understood he never left, and you,
who seemed alone, are one with him.
S-1.V.4. The ladder ends with this, for learning is no longer needed. 2
Now you stand before the gate of Heaven, and your brother stands
beside you there. 3 The lawns are deep and still, for here the place
appointed for the time when you should come has waited long for you.
4 Here will time end forever. 5 At this gate eternity itself will join with
you. 6 Prayer has become what it was meant to be, for you have
recognized the Christ in you.
2. FORGIVENESS
Introduction
S-2.in.1. Forgiveness offers wings to prayer, to make its rising easy
and its progress swift. 2 Without its strong support it would be vain to
try to rise above prayer's bottom step, or even to attempt to climb at
all. 3 Forgiveness is prayer's ally; sister in the plan for your salvation. 4
Both must come to hold you up and keep your feet secure; your
purpose steadfast and unchangeable. 5 Behold the greatest help that
God ordained to be with you until you reach to Him. 6 Illusion's end will
come with this. 7 Unlike the timeless nature of its sister, prayer,
forgiveness has an end. 8 For it becomes unneeded when the rising up
is done. 9 Yet now it has a purpose beyond which you cannot go, nor
have you need to go. 10 Accomplish this and you have been
redeemed. 11 Accomplish this and you have been transformed. 12
Accomplish this and you will save the world.
I. Forgiveness of Yourself
S-2.I.1. No gift of Heaven has been more misunderstood than has
forgiveness. 2 It has, in fact, become a scourge; a curse where it was
meant to bless, a cruel mockery of grace, a parody upon the holy
peace of God. 3 Yet those who have not yet chosen to begin the steps
of prayer cannot but use it thus. 4 Forgiveness' kindness is obscure at
first, because salvation is not understood, <nor truly sought for>. 5
What was meant to heal is used to hurt because forgiveness is not
wanted. 6 Guilt becomes salvation, and the remedy appears to be a
terrible alternative to life.
S-2.I.2. Forgiveness-to-destroy will therefore suit the purpose of the
world far better than its true objective, and the honest means by which
this goal is reached. 2 Forgiveness-to-destroy will overlook no sin, no
crime, no guilt that it can seek and find and "love." 3 Dear to its heart
is error, and mistakes loom large and grow and swell within its sight. 4
It carefully picks out all evil things, and overlooks the loving as a
plague; a hateful thing of danger and of death. 5 Forgiveness-to-
destroy <is> death, and this it sees in all it looks upon and hates. 6
God's mercy has become a twisted knife that would destroy the holy
Son He loves.
S-2.I.3. Would you forgive yourself for doing this? 2 Then learn that
God has given you the means by which you can return to Him in peace.
3 <Do not see error>. 4 Do not make it real. 5 Select the loving and
forgive the sin by choosing in its place the face of Christ. 6 How
otherwise can prayer return to God? 7 He loves His Son. 8 Can you
remember Him and hate what He created? 9 You will hate his Father if
you hate the Son He loves. 10 For as you see the Son you see yourself,
and as you see yourself is God to you.
S-2.I.4. As prayer is always for yourself, so is forgiveness always
given you. 2 It is impossible to forgive another, for it is only your sins
you see in him. 3 You want to see them there, and not in you. 4 That is
why forgiveness of another is an illusion. 5 Yet it is the only happy
dream in all the world; the only one that does not lead to death. 6 Only
in someone else can you forgive yourself, for you have called him
guilty of your sins, and in him must your innocence now be found. 7
Who but the sinful need to be forgiven? 8 And do not ever think you
can see sin in anyone except yourself.
S-2.I.5. This is the great deception of the world, and you the great
deceiver of yourself. 2 It always seems to be another who is evil, and in
his sin you are the injured one. 3 How could freedom be possible if this
were so? 4 You would be slave to everyone, for what he does entails
your fate, your feelings, your despair or hope, your misery or joy. 5 You
have no freedom unless he gives it to you. 6 And being evil, he can
only give of what he is. 7 You cannot see his sins and not your own. 8
But you can free him and yourself as well.
S-2.I.6. Forgiveness, truly given, is the way in which your only hope
of freedom lies. 2 Others will make mistakes and so will you, as long as
this illusion of a world appears to be your home. 3 Yet God Himself has
given all His Sons a remedy for all illusions that they think they see. 4
Christ's vision does not use your eyes, but you can look through His
and learn to see like Him. 5 Mistakes are tiny shadows, quickly gone,
that for an instant only seem to hide the face of Christ, which still
remains unchanged behind them all. 6 His constancy remains in
tranquil silence and in perfect peace. 7 He does not know of shadows.
8 His the eyes that look past error to the Christ in you.
S-2.I.7. Ask, then, His help, and ask Him how to learn forgiveness as
His vision lets it be. 2 You are in need of what He gives, and your
salvation rests on learning this of Him. 3 Prayer cannot be released to
Heaven while forgiveness-to-destroy remains with you. 4 God's mercy
would remove this withering and poisoned thinking from your holy
mind. 5 Christ has forgiven you, and in His sight the world becomes as
holy as Himself. 6 Who sees no evil in it sees like Him. 7 For what He
has forgiven has not sinned, and guilt can be no more. 8 Salvation's
plan is made complete, and sanity has come.
S-2.I.8. Forgiveness is the call to sanity, for who but the insane
would look on sin when he could see the face of Christ instead? 2 This
is the choice you make; the simplest one, and yet the only one that
you <can> make. 3 God calls on you to save His Son from death by
offering Christ's Love to him. 4 This is your need, and God holds out
this gift to you. 5 As He would give, so must you give as well. 6 And
thus is prayer restored to formlessness, beyond all limits into
timelessness, with nothing of the past to hold it back from reuniting
with the ceaseless song that all creation sings unto its God.
S-2.I.9. But to achieve this end you first must learn, before you reach
where learning cannot go. 2 Forgiveness is the key, but who can use a
key when he has lost the door for which the key was made, and where
alone it fits? 3 Therefore we make distinctions, so that prayer can be
released from darkness into light. 4 Forgiveness' role must be reversed,
and cleansed from evil usages and hateful goals. 5 Forgiveness-to-
destroy must be unveiled in all its treachery, and then let go forever
and forever. 6 There can be no trace of it remaining, if the plan that
God established for returning be achieved at last, and learning be
complete.
S-2.I.10. This is the world of opposites. 2 And you must choose
between them every instant while this world retains reality for you. 3
Yet you must learn alternatives for choice, or you will not be able to
attain your freedom. 4 Let it then be clear to you exactly what
forgiveness means to you, and learn what it should be to set you free.
5 The level of your prayer depends on this, for here it waits its freedom
to ascend above the world of chaos into peace.
II. Forgiveness-to-Destroy
S-2.II.1. Forgiveness-to-destroy has many forms, being a weapon of
the world of form. 2 Not all of them are obvious, and some are carefully
concealed beneath what seems like charity. 3 Yet all the forms that it
may seem to take have but this single goal; their purpose is to
separate and make what God created equal, different. 4 The difference
is clear in several forms where the designed comparison cannot be
missed, nor is it really meant to be.
S-2.II.2. In this group, first, there are the forms in which a "better"
person deigns to stoop to save a "baser" one from what he truly is. 2
Forgiveness here rests on an attitude of gracious lordliness so far from
love that arrogance could never be dislodged. 3 Who can forgive and
yet despise? 4 And who can tell another he is steeped in sin, and yet
perceive him as the Son of God? 5 Who makes a slave to teach what
freedom is? 6 There is no union here, but only grief. 7 This is not really
mercy. 8 This is death.
S-2.II.3. Another form, still very like the first if it is understood, does
not appear in quite such blatant arrogance. 2 The one who would
forgive the other does not claim to be the better. 3 Now he says
instead that here is one whose sinfulness he shares, since both have
been unworthy and deserve the retribution of the wrath of God. 4 This
can appear to be a humble thought, and may indeed induce a rivalry in
sinfulness and guilt. 5 It is not love for God's creation and the holiness
that is His gift forever. 6 Can His Son condemn himself and still
remember Him?
S-2.II.4. Here the goal is to separate from God the Son He loves, and
keep him from his Source. 2 This goal is also sought by those who seek
the role of martyr at another's hand. 3 Here must the aim be clearly
seen, for this may pass as meekness and as charity instead of cruelty.
4 Is it not kind to be accepting of another's spite, and not respond
except with silence and a gentle smile? 5 Behold, how good are you
who bear with patience and with saintliness the anger and the hurt
another gives, and do not show the bitter pain you feel.
S-2.II.5. Forgiveness-to-destroy will often hide behind a cloak like
this. 2 It shows the face of suffering and pain, in silent proof of guilt
and of the ravages of sin. 3 Such is the witness that it offers one who
could be savior, not an enemy. 4 But having been made enemy, he
must accept the guilt and heavy-laid reproach that thus is put upon
him. 5 Is this love? 6 Or is it rather treachery to one who needs
salvation from the pain of guilt? 7 What could the purpose be, except
to keep the witnesses of guilt away from love?
S-2.II.6. Forgiveness-to-destroy can also take the form of bargaining
and compromise. 2 "I will forgive you if you meet my needs, for in your
slavery is my release." 3 Say this to anyone and you are slave. 4 And
you will seek to rid yourself of guilt in further bargains which can give
no hope, but only greater pain and misery. 5 How fearful has
forgiveness now become, and how distorted is the end it seeks. 6 Have
mercy on yourself who bargains thus. 7 God gives and does not ask for
recompense. 8 There is no giving but to give like Him. 9 All else is
mockery. 10 For who would try to strike a bargain with the Son of God,
and thank his Father for his holiness?
S-2.II.7. What would you show your brother? 2 Would you try to
reinforce his guilt and thus your own? 3 Forgiveness is the means for
your escape. 4 How pitiful it is to make of it the means for further
slavery and pain. 5 Within the world of opposites there is a way to use
forgiveness for the goal of God, and find the peace He offers you. 6
Take nothing else, or you have sought your death, and prayed for
separation from your Self. 7 Christ is for all because He is in all. 8 It is
His face forgiveness lets you see. 9 It is His face in which you see your
own.
S-2.II.8. All forms forgiveness takes that do not lead away from
anger, condemnation and comparisons of every kind are death. 2 For
that is what their purposes have set. 3 Be not deceived by them, but
lay them by as worthless in their tragic offerings. 4 You do not want to
stay in slavery. 5 You do not want to be afraid of God. 6 You want to see
the sunlight and the glow of Heaven shining on the face of earth,
redeemed from sin and in the Love of God. 7 From here is prayer
released, along with you. 8 Your wings are free, and prayer will lift you
up and bring you home where God would have you be.
III. Forgiveness-for-Salvation
S-2.III.1. Forgiveness-for-Salvation has one form, and only one. 2 It
does not ask for proof of innocence, nor pay of any kind. 3 It does not
argue, nor evaluate the errors that it wants to overlook. 4 It does not
offer gifts in treachery, nor promise freedom while it asks for death. 5
Would God deceive you? 6 He but asks for trust and willingness to
learn how to be free. 7 He gives His Teacher to whoever asks, and
seeks to understand the Will of God. 8 His readiness to give lies far
beyond your understanding and your simple grasp. 9 Yet He has willed
you learn the way to Him, and in His willing there is certainty.
S-2.III.2. You child of God, the gifts of God are yours, not by your plans
but by His holy Will. 2 His Voice will teach you what forgiveness is, and
how to give it as He wills it be. 3 Do not, then, seek to understand what
is beyond you yet, but let it be a way to draw you up to where the eyes
of Christ become the sight you choose. 4 Give up all else, for there
<is> nothing else. 5 When someone calls for help in any form, He is
the One to answer for you. 6 All that you need do is to step back and
not to interfere. 7 Forgiveness-for-Salvation is His task, and it is He
Who will respond for you.
S-2.III.3. Do not establish what the form should be that Christ's
forgiveness takes. 2 He knows the way to make of every call a help to
you, as you arise in haste to go at last unto your Father's house. 3 Now
can He make your footsteps sure, your words sincere; not with your
own sincerity, but with His Own. 4 Let Him take charge of how you
would forgive, and each occasion then will be to you another step to
Heaven and to peace.
S-2.III.4. Are you not weary of imprisonment? 2 God did not choose
this sorry path for you. 3 What you have chosen still can be undone, for
prayer is merciful and God is just. 4 His is a justice He can understand,
but you cannot as yet. 5 Still will He give the means to you to learn of
Him, and know at last that condemnation is not real and makes
illusions in its evil name. 6 And yet it matters not the form that dreams
may seem to take. 7 Illusions are untrue. 8 God's Will is truth, and you
are one with Him in Will and purpose. 9 Here all dreams are done.
S-2.III.5. "What should I do for him, Your holy Son?" should be the only
thing you ever ask when help is needed and forgiveness sought. 2 The
form the seeking takes you need not judge. 3 And let it not be you who
sets the form in which forgiveness comes to save God's Son. 4 The
light of Christ in him is his release, and it is this that answers to his call.
5 Forgive him as the Christ decides you should, and be His eyes
through which you look on him, and speak for Him as well. 6 He knows
the need; the question and the answer. 7 He will say exactly what to
do, in words that you can understand and you can also use. 8 Do not
confuse His function with your own. 9 He is the Answer. 10 You the one
who hears.
S-2.III.6. And what is it He speaks to you about? 2 About salvation and
the gift of peace. 3 About the end of sin and guilt and death. 4 About
the role forgiveness has in Him. 5 Do you but listen. 6 For He will be
heard by anyone who calls upon His Name, and places his forgiveness
in His hands. 7 Forgiveness has been given Him to teach, to save it
from destruction and to make the means for separation, sin and death
become again the holy gift of God. 8 Prayer is His Own right Hand,
made free to save as true forgiveness is allowed to come from His
eternal vigilance and Love. 9 Listen and learn, and do not judge. 10 It
is to God you turn to hear what you should do. 11 His answer will be
clear as morning, nor is His forgiveness what you think it is.
S-2.III.7. Still does He know, and that should be enough. 2
Forgiveness has a Teacher Who will fail in nothing. 3 Rest a while in
this; do not attempt to judge forgiveness, nor to set it in an earthly
frame. 4 Let it arise to Christ, Who welcomes it as gift to Him. 5 He will
not leave you comfortless, nor fail to send His angels down to answer
you in His Own Name. 6 He stands beside the door to which
forgiveness is the only key. 7 Give it to Him to use instead of you, and
you will see the door swing silently open upon the shining face of
Christ. 8 Behold your brother there beyond the door; the Son of God as
He created him.
3. HEALING
Introduction
S-3.in.1. Prayer has both aids and witnesses which make the steep
ascent more gentle and more sure, easing the pain of fear and offering
the comfort and the promises of hope. 2 Forgiveness' witness and an
aid to prayer, a giver of assurance of success in ultimate attainment of
the goal, is healing. 3 Its importance should not be too strongly
emphasized, for healing is a sign or symbol of forgiveness' strength,
and only an effect or shadow of a change of mind about the goal of
prayer.
S-3.IV.4. You first forgive, then pray, and you are healed. 2 Your
prayer has risen up and called to God, Who hears and answers. 3 You
have understood that you forgive and pray but for yourself. 4 And in
this understanding you are healed. 5 In prayer you have united with
your Source, and understood that you have never left. 6 This level
cannot be attained until there is no hatred in your heart, and no desire
to attack the Son of God.
S-3.IV.5. Never forget this; it is you who are God's Son, and as you
choose to be to him so are you to yourself, and God to you. 2 Nor will
your judgment fail to reach to God, for you will give the role to Him you
see in His creation. 3 Do not choose amiss, or you will think that it is
you who are creator in His place, and He is then no longer Cause but
only an effect. 4 Now healing is impossible, for He is blamed for your
deception and your guilt. 5 He Who is Love becomes the source of fear,
for only fear can now be justified. 6 Vengeance is His. 7 His great
destroyer, death. 8 And sickness, suffering and grievous loss become
the lot of everyone on earth, which He abandoned to the devil's care,
swearing He will deliver it no more.
S-3.IV.6. Come unto Me, My children, once again, without such twisted
thoughts upon your hearts. 2 You still are holy with the Holiness which
fathered you in perfect sinlessness, and still surrounds you with the
Arms of peace. 3 Dream now of healing. 4 Then arise and lay all
dreaming down forever. 5 You are he your Father loves, who never left
his home, nor wandered in a savage world with feet that bleed, and
with a heavy heart made hard against the love that is the truth in you.
6 Give all your dreams to Christ and let Him be your Guide to healing,
leading you in prayer beyond the sorry reaches of the world.
S-3.IV.7. He comes for Me and speaks My Word to you. 2 I would recall
My weary Son to Me from dreams of malice to the sweet embrace of
everlasting Love and perfect peace. 3 My Arms are open to the Son I
love, who does not understand that he is healed, and that his prayers
have never ceased to sing his joyful thanks in unison with all creation,
in the holiness of Love. 4 Be still an instant. 5 Underneath the sounds
of harsh and bitter striving and defeat there is a Voice that speaks to
you of Me. 6 Hear this an instant and you will be healed. 7 Hear this an
instant and you have been saved.
S-3.IV.8. Help Me to wake My children from the dream of retribution
and a little life beset with fear, that ends so soon it might as well have
never been. 2 Let Me instead remind you of eternity, in which your joy
grows greater as your love extends along with Mine beyond infinity,
where time and distance have no meaning. 3 While you wait in sorrow
Heaven's melody is incomplete, because your song is part of the
eternal harmony of love. 4 Without you is creation unfulfilled. 5 Return
to Me Who never left My Son. 6 Listen, My child, your Father calls to
you. 7 Do not refuse to hear the Call for Love. 8 Do not deny to Christ
what is His Own. 9 Heaven is here and Heaven is your home.
S-3.IV.9. Creation leans across the bars of time to lift the heavy
burden from the world. 2 Lift up your hearts to greet its advent. 3 See
the shadows fade away in gentleness; the thorns fall softly from the
bleeding brow of him who is the holy Son of God. 4 How lovely are you,
child of Holiness! 5 How like to Me! 6 How lovingly I hold you in My
Heart and in My Arms. 7 How dear is every gift to Me that you have
made, who healed My Son and took him from the cross. 8 Arise and let
My thanks be given you. 9 And with My gratitude will come the gift first
of forgiveness, then eternal peace.
S-3.IV.10. So now return your holy voice to Me. 2 The song of prayer is
silent without you. 3 The universe is waiting your release because it is
its own. 4 Be kind to it and to yourself, and then be kind to Me. 5 I ask
but this; that you be comforted and live no more in terror and in pain. 6
Do not abandon Love. 7 Remember this; whatever you may think about
yourself, whatever you may think about the world, your Father needs
you and will call to you until you come to Him in peace at last.
PREFACE
Three startling months preceded the actual writing, during which time
Bill suggested that I write down the highly symbolic dreams and
descriptions of the strange images that were coming to me. Although I
had grown more accustomed to the unexpected by that time, I was still
very surprised when I wrote, "This is a course in miracles." That was
my introduction to the Voice. It made no sound, but seemed to be
giving me a kind of rapid, inner dictation which I took down in a
shorthand notebook. The writing was never automatic. It could be
interrupted at any time and later picked up again. It made me very
uncomfortable, but it never seriously occurred to me to stop. It seemed
to be a special assignment I had somehow, somewhere agreed to
complete. It represented a truly collaborative venture between Bill and
myself, and much of its significance, I am sure, lies in that. I would take
down what the Voice "said" and read it to him the next day, and he
typed it from my dictation. I expect he had his special assignment, too.
Without his encouragement and support I would never have been able
to fulfill mine. The whole process took about seven years. The Text
came first, then the Workbook for Students, and finally the Manual for
Teachers. Only a few minor changes have been made. Chapter titles
and subheadings have been inserted in the Text, and some of the more
personal references that occurred at the beginning have been omitted.
Otherwise the material is substantially unchanged.
The names of the collaborators in the recording of the Course do not
appear on the cover because the Course can and should stand on its
own. It is not intended to become the basis for another cult. Its only
purpose is to provide a way in which some people will be able to find
their own Internal Teacher.
What It Is
As its title implies, the Course is arranged throughout as a teaching
device. It consists of three books: a 669-page Text, a 488-page
Workbook for Students, and a 92-page Manual for Teachers. The order
in which students choose to use the books, and the ways in which they
study them, depend on their particular needs and preferences.
The curriculum the Course proposes is carefully conceived and is
explained, step by step, at both the theoretical and practical levels. It
emphasizes application rather than theory, and experience rather than
theology. It specifically states that "a universal theology is impossible,
but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary" (Manual,
p. 77). Although Christian in statement, the Course deals with universal
spiritual themes. It emphasizes that it is but one version of the
universal curriculum. There are many others, this one differing from
them only in form. They all lead to God in the end.
The Text is largely theoretical, and sets forth the concepts on which the
Course's thought system is based. Its ideas contain the foundation for
the Workbook's lessons. Without the practical application the Workbook
provides, the Text would remain largely a series of abstractions which
would hardly suffice to bring about the thought reversal at which the
Course aims.
The Workbook includes 365 lessons, one for each day of the year. It is
not necessary, however, to do the lessons at that tempo, and one
might want to remain with a particularly appealing lesson for more
than one day. The instructions urge only that not more than one lesson
a day should be attempted. The practical nature of the Workbook is
underscored by the introduction to its lessons, which emphasizes
experience through application rather than a prior commitment to a
spiritual goal:
Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe,
and others may seem to be quite startling. This does not matter. You
are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. You are
not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only to use them. It is
their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that
they are true.
Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not
accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them
you may actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their
efficacy. But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the
ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas
may be, use them. Nothing more than that is required (Workbook, p.
2).
Finally, the Manual for Teachers, which is written in question and
answer form, provides answers to some of the more likely questions a
student might ask. It also includes a clarification of a number of the
terms the Course uses, explaining them within the theoretical
framework of the Text.
The Course makes no claim to finality, nor are the Workbook lessons
intended to bring the student's learning to completion. At the end, the
reader is left in the hands of his or her own Internal Teacher, Who will
direct all subsequent learning as He sees fit. While the Course is
comprehensive in scope, truth cannot be limited to any finite form, as
is clearly recognized in the statement at the end of the Workbook:
This Course is a beginning, not an end...No more specific lessons are
assigned, for there is no more need of them. Henceforth, hear but the
Voice for God...He will direct your efforts, telling you exactly what to
do, how to direct your mind, and when to come to Him in silence,
asking for His sure direction and His certain Word (Workbook, p. 487).
What It Says
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.