WORKBOOK FOR STUDENTS

INTRODUCTION
W-in.1. A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework
to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful. 2 Yet it is doing the exercises that
will make the goal of the course possible. 3 An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. 4 It
is the purpose of this workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text
sets forth.
W-in.2. The exercises are very simple. 2 They do not require a great deal of time, and
it does not matter where you do them. 3 They need no preparation. 4 The training period
is one year. 5 The exercises are numbered from 1 to 365. 6 Do not undertake to do more
than one set of exercises a day.
W-in.3. The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with the
undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the acquisition of true perception. 2 With
the exception of the review periods, each day's exercises are planned around one
central idea, which is stated first. 3 This is followed by a description of the specific
procedures by which the idea for the day is to be applied.
W-in.4. The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a
different perception of everyone and everything in the world. 2 The exercises are planned to
help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally
applicable to everyone and everything you see.
W-in.5. Transfer of training in true perception does not proceed as does transfer of
the training of the world. 2 If true perception has been achieved in connection with any
person, situation or event, total transfer to everyone and everything is certain. 3 On the
other hand, one exception held apart from true perception makes its accomplishments anywhere
impossible.
W-in.6. The only general rules to be observed throughout, then, are: First, that the
exercises be practiced with great specificity, as will be indicated. 2 This will help you to
generalize the ideas involved to every situation in which you find yourself, and to everyone and
everything in it. 3 Second, be sure that you do not decide for yourself that there are some
people, situations or things to which the ideas are inapplicable. 4 This will interfere with
transfer of training. 5 The very nature of true perception is that it has no limits. 6 It is
the opposite of the way you see now.
W-in.7. The overall aim of the exercises is to increase your ability to extend the
ideas you will be practicing to include everything. 2 This will require no effort on your
part. 3 The exercises themselves meet the conditions necessary for this kind of transfer.
W-in.8. Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and
others may seem to be quite startling. 2 This does not matter. 3 You are merely asked to
apply the ideas as you are directed to do. 4 You are not asked to judge them at all. 5 You
are asked only to use them. 6 It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and will
show you that they are true.
W-in.9. Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them,
and you need not even welcome them. 2 Some of them you may actively resist. 3 None of this
will matter, or decrease their efficacy. 4 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. 5 Nothing more than that is required.
PART I
LESSON 1.
Nothing I see in this room [on this street,
from this window, in this place] means anything.
W-pI.1.1. Now look slowly around you, and practice applying this idea very specifically
to whatever you see:
2 This table does not mean anything.
3 This chair does not mean anything.
4 This hand does not mean anything.
5 This foot does not mean anything.
6 This pen does not mean anything.
W-pI.1.2. Then look farther away from your immediate area, and apply the idea to a
wider range:
2 That door does not mean anything.
3 That body does not mean anything.
4 That lamp does not mean anything.
5 That sign does not mean anything.
6 That shadow does not mean anything.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
2 This thought about___does not mean anything.
3 It is like the things I see in this room [on this street, and so on].
W-pI.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-pI.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.
I am never upset for the reason I think.
W-pI.5.1. This idea, like the preceding one, can be used with any person, situation or
event you think is causing you pain. 2 Apply it specifically to whatever you believe is the
cause of your upset, using the description of the feeling in whatever term seems accurate to
you. 3 The upset may seem to be fear, worry, depression, anxiety, anger, hatred,
jealousy or any number of forms, all of which will be perceived as different. 4 This is not
true. 5 However, until you learn that form does not matter, each form becomes a proper
subject for the exercises for the day. 6 Applying the same idea to each of them separately is
the first step in ultimately recognizing they are all the same.
W-pI.5.2. When using the idea for today for a specific perceived cause of an upset in
any form, use both the name of the form in which you see the upset, and the cause which
you ascribe to it. 2 For example:
3 I am not angry at___for the reason I think.
4 I am not afraid of___for the reason I think.
W-pI.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-pI.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.
W-pI.5.5. Then examine your mind for whatever is distressing you, regardless of how
much or how little you think it is doing so.
W-pI.5.6. You may also find yourself less willing to apply today's idea to some
perceived sources of upset than to others. 2 If this occurs, think first of this:
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-pI.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:
4 I am not worried about___for the reason I think.
5 I am not depressed about___for the reason I think.
6 Three or four times during the day is enough.
LESSON 6.
I am upset because I see something that is not there.
W-pI.6.1. The exercises with this idea are very similar to the preceding ones. 2 Again,
it is necessary to name both the form of upset (anger, fear, worry, depression and so
on) and the perceived source very specifically for any application of the idea. 3 For
example:
4 I am angry at___because I see something that is not there.
5 I am worried about___because I see something that is not there.
W-pI.6.2. Today's idea is useful for application to anything that seems to upset you,
and can profitably be used throughout the day for that purpose. 2 However, the three or
four practice periods which are required should be preceded by a minute or so of mind
searching, as before, and the application of the idea to each upsetting thought uncovered in the
search.
W-pI.6.3. Again, if you resist applying the idea to some upsetting thoughts more than
to others, remind yourself of the two cautions stated in the previous lesson:
2 There are no small upsets. 3 They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.
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.
I see only the past.
W-pI.7.1. This idea is particularly difficult to believe at first. 2 Yet it is the
rationale for all of the preceding ones.
3 It is the reason why nothing that you see means anything.
4 It is the reason why you have given everything you see all the meaning that it has
for you.
5 It is the reason why you do not understand anything you see.
6 It is the reason why your thoughts do not mean anything, and why they are like the
things you see.
7 It is the reason why you are never upset for the reason you think.
8 It is the reason why you are upset because you see something that is not there.
W-pI.7.2. Old ideas about time are very difficult to change, because everything you
believe is rooted in time, and depends on your not learning these new ideas about it. 2 Yet
that is precisely why you need new ideas about time. 3 This first time idea is not really
so strange as it may sound at first.
W-pI.7.3. Look at a cup, for example. 2 Do you see a cup, or are you merely reviewing
your past experiences of picking up a cup, being thirsty, drinking from a cup, feeling the
rim of a cup against your lips, having breakfast and so on? 3 Are not your aesthetic
reactions to the cup, too, based on past experiences? 4 How else would you know whether or not
this kind of cup will break if you drop it? 5 What do you know about this cup except what
you learned in the past? 6 You would have no idea what this cup is, except for your past
learning. 7 Do you, then, really see it?
W-pI.7.4. Look about you. 2 This is equally true of whatever you look at. 3 Acknowledge
this by applying the idea for today indiscriminately to whatever catches your eye. 4
For example:
5 I see only the past in this pencil.
6 I see only the past in this shoe.
7 I see only the past in this hand.
8 I see only the past in that body.
9 I see only the past in that face.
W-pI.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.
My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
W-pI.8.1. This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past. 2 No one
really sees anything. 3 He sees only his thoughts projected outward. 4 The mind's
preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which your seeing
suffers. 5 Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. 6 It therefore
cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything.
W-pI.8.2. The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not
here. 2 To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. 3 Very few have
realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. 4 The
mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything.
W-pI.8.3. The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to
recognize when it is not really thinking at all. 2 While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind,
the truth is blocked. 3 Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than
believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision.
W-pI.8.4. The exercises for today should be done with eyes closed. 2 This is because
you actually cannot see anything, and it is easier to recognize that no matter how vividly
you may picture a thought, you are not seeing anything. 3 With as little investment as
possible, search your mind for the usual minute or so, merely noting the thoughts you find
there. 4 Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains, and pass on to the next.
5 Introduce the practice period by saying:
6 I seem to be thinking about ___.
W-pI.8.5. Then name each of your thoughts specifically, for example:
2 I seem to be thinking about [name of a person], about [name of an object], about [
name of an emotion],
and so on, concluding at the end of the mind-searching period with:
3 But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
W-pI.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.
I see nothing as it is now.
W-pI.9.1. This idea obviously follows from the two preceding ones. 2 But while you may
be able to accept it intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as
yet. 3 However, understanding is not necessary at this point. 4 In fact, the recognition
that you do not understand is a prerequisite for undoing your false ideas. 5 These
exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. 6 You do not need to practice
what you already understand. 7 It would indeed be circular to aim at understanding, and
assume that you have it already.
W-pI.9.2. It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what it seems to
picture is not there. 2 This idea can be quite disturbing, and may meet with active resistance
in any number of forms. 3 Yet that does not preclude applying it. 4 No more than that
is required for these or any other exercises. 5 Each small step will clear a little of
the darkness away, and understanding will finally come to lighten every corner of the mind
that has been cleared of the debris that darkens it.
W-pI.9.3. These exercises, for which three or four practice periods are sufficient,
involve looking about you and applying the idea for the day to whatever you see, remembering
the need for its indiscriminate application, and the essential rule of excluding nothing.
2 For example:
3 I do not see this typewriter as it is now.
4 I do not see this telephone as it is now.
5 I do not see this arm as it is now.
W-pI.9.4. Begin with things that are nearest you, and then extend the range outward:
2 I do not see that coat rack as it is now.
3 I do not see that door as it is now.
4 I do not see that face as it is now.
W-pI.9.5. It is emphasized again that while complete inclusion should not be attempted,
specific exclusion must be avoided. 2 Be sure you are honest with yourself in making
this distinction. 3 You may be tempted to obscure it.
LESSON 10.
My thoughts do not mean anything.
W-pI.10.1. This idea applies to all the thoughts of which you are aware, or become
aware in the practice periods. 2 The reason the idea is applicable to all of them is that
they are not your real thoughts. 3 We have made this distinction before, and will do so
again. 4 You have no basis for comparison as yet. 5 When you do, you will have no doubt that
what you once believed were your thoughts did not mean anything.
W-pI.10.2. This is the second time we have used this kind of idea. 2 The form is only
slightly different. 3 This time the idea is introduced with "My thoughts" instead of "These
thoughts," and no link is made overtly with the things around you. 4 The emphasis is now on the
lack of reality of what you think you think.
W-pI.10.3. This aspect of the correction process began with the idea that the thoughts
of which you are aware are meaningless, outside rather than within; and then stressed
their past rather than their present status. 2 Now we are emphasizing that the presence of
these "thoughts" means that you are not thinking. 3 This is merely another way of repeating
our earlier statement that your mind is really a blank. 4 To recognize this is to
recognize nothingness when you think you see it. 5 As such, it is the prerequisite for vision.
W-pI.10.4. Close your eyes for these exercises, and introduce them by repeating the
idea for today quite slowly to yourself. 2 Then add:
3 This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe.
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:
8 My thought about___does not mean anything.
9 My thought about___does not mean anything.
W-pI.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.
My meaningless thoughts are showing me a
meaningless world.
W-pI.11.1. This is the first idea we have had that is related to a major phase of the
correction process; the reversal of the thinking of the world. 2 It seems as if the world
determines what you perceive. 3 Today's idea introduces the concept that your thoughts determine
the world you see. 4 Be glad indeed to practice the idea in its initial form, for in this
idea is your release made sure. 5 The key to forgiveness lies in it.
W-pI.11.2. The practice periods for today's idea are to be undertaken somewhat
differently from the previous ones. 2 Begin with your eyes closed, and repeat the idea slowly to
yourself. 3 Then open your eyes and look about, near and far, up and down,--anywhere. 4 During
the minute or so to be spent in using the idea merely repeat it to yourself, being sure to
do so without haste, and with no sense of urgency or effort.
W-pI.11.3. To do these exercises for maximum benefit, the eyes should move from one
thing to another fairly rapidly, since they should not linger on anything in particular. 2
The words, however, should be used in an unhurried, even leisurely fashion. 3 The
introduction to this idea, in particular, should be practiced as casually as possible. 4 It
contains the foundation for the peace, relaxation and freedom from worry that we are trying to
achieve. 5 On concluding the exercises, close your eyes and repeat the idea once more slowly
to yourself.
W-pI.11.4. Three practice periods today will probably be sufficient. 2 However, if
there is little or no uneasiness and an inclination to do more, as many as five may be
undertaken. 3 More than this is not recommended.
LESSON 12.
I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
W-pI.12.1. The importance of this idea lies in the fact that it contains a correction
for a major perceptual distortion. 2 You think that what upsets you is a frightening world,
or a sad world, or a violent world, or an insane world. 3 All these attributes are
given it by you. 4 The world is meaningless in itself.
W-pI.12.2. These exercises are done with eyes open. 2 Look around you, this time quite
slowly. 3 Try to pace yourself so that the slow shifting of your glance from one thing to
another involves a fairly constant time interval. 4 Do not allow the time of the shift to
become markedly longer or shorter, but try, instead, to keep a measured, even tempo
throughout. 5 What you see does not matter. 6 You teach yourself this as you give whatever your
glance rests on equal attention and equal time. 7 This is a beginning step in learning to
give them all equal value.
W-pI.12.3. As you look about you, say to yourself:
2 I think I see a fearful world, a dangerous world, a hostile world, a sad world, a
wicked world, a crazy world,
and so on, using whatever descriptive terms happen to occur to you. 3 If terms which
seem positive rather than negative occur to you, include them. 4 For example, you might
think of "a good world," or "a satisfying world." 5 If such terms occur to you, use them
along with the rest. 6 You may not yet understand why these "nice" adjectives belong in
these exercises but remember that a "good world" implies a "bad" one, and a "satisfying
world" implies an "unsatisfying" one. 7 All terms which cross your mind are suitable
subjects for today's exercises. 8 Their seeming quality does not matter.
W-pI.12.4. Be sure that you do not alter the time intervals between applying today's
idea to what you think is pleasant and what you think is unpleasant. 2 For the purposes of
these exercises, there is no difference between them. 3 At the end of the practice period,
add:
4 But I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
W-pI.12.5. What is meaningless is neither good nor bad. 2 Why, then, should a
meaningless world upset you? 3 If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be
written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy. 4 But because it is
meaningless, you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be. 5 It is this you see in
it. 6 It is this that is meaningless in truth. 7 Beneath your words is written the Word
of God. 8 The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see
His. 9 That is the ultimate purpose of these exercises.
W-pI.12.6. Three or four times is enough for practicing the idea for today. 2 Nor
should the practice periods exceed a minute. 3 You may find even this too long. 4 Terminate
the exercises whenever you experience a sense of strain.
LESSON 13.
A meaningless world engenders fear.
W-pI.13.1. Today's idea is really another form of the preceding one, except that it is
more specific as to the emotion aroused. 2 Actually, a meaningless world is impossible. 3
Nothing without meaning exists. 4 However, it does not follow that you will not think you
perceive something that has no meaning. 5 On the contrary, you will be particularly likely to
think you do perceive it.
W-pI.13.2. Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated
ones. 2 It represents a situation in which God and the ego "challenge" each other as to
whose meaning is to be written in the empty space that meaninglessness provides. 3 The ego
rushes in frantically to establish its own ideas there, fearful that the void may otherwise
be used to demonstrate its own impotence and unreality. 4 And on this alone it is correct.
W-pI.13.3. It is essential, therefore, that you learn to recognize the meaningless, and
accept it without fear. 2 If you are fearful, it is certain that you will endow the
world with attributes that it does not possess, and crowd it with images that do not exist.
3 To the ego illusions are safety devices, as they must also be to you who equate
yourself with the ego.
W-pI.13.4. The exercises for today, which should be done about three or four times for
not more than a minute or so at most each time, are to be practiced in a somewhat
different way from the preceding ones. 2 With eyes closed, repeat today's idea to yourself. 3
Then open your eyes, and look about you slowly, saying:
4 I am looking at a meaningless world.
5 Repeat this statement to yourself as you look about. 6 Then close your eyes, and
conclude with:
7 A meaningless world engenders fear because I think I am in competition with God.
W-pI.13.5. You may find it difficult to avoid resistance, in one form or another, to
this concluding statement. 2 Whatever form such resistance may take, remind yourself that
you are really afraid of such a thought because of the "vengeance" of the "enemy." 3 You
are not expected to believe the statement at this point, and will probably dismiss it as
preposterous. 4 Note carefully, however, any signs of overt or covert fear which it may arouse.
W-pI.13.6. This is our first attempt at stating an explicit cause and effect
relationship of a kind which you are very inexperienced in recognizing. 2 Do not dwell on the
concluding statement, and try not even to think of it except during the practice periods. 3 That
will suffice at present.
LESSON 14.
God did not create a meaningless world.
W-pI.14.1. The idea for today is, of course, the reason why a meaningless world is
impossible. 2 What God did not create does not exist. 3 And everything that does exist exists as
He created it. 4 The world you see has nothing to do with reality. 5 It is of your own
making, and it does not exist.
W-pI.14.2. The exercises for today are to be practiced with eyes closed throughout. 2
The mind-searching period should be short, a minute at most. 3 Do not have more than three
practice periods with today's idea unless you find them comfortable. 4 If you do, it
will be because you really understand what they are for.
W-pI.14.3. The idea for today is another step in learning to let go the thoughts that
you have written on the world, and see the Word of God in their place. 2 The early steps
in this exchange, which can truly be called salvation, can be quite difficult and even
quite painful. 3 Some of them will lead you directly into fear. 4 You will not be left there.
5 You will go far beyond it. 6 Our direction is toward perfect safety and perfect
peace.
W-pI.14.4. With eyes closed, think of all the horrors in the world that cross your mind.
2 Name each one as it occurs to you, and then deny its reality. 3 God did not create
it, and so it is not real. 4 Say, for example:
5 God did not create that war, and so it is not real.
6 God did not create that airplane crash, and so it is not real.
7 God did not create that disaster [specify], and so it is not real.
W-pI.14.5. Suitable subjects for the application of today's idea also include anything
you are afraid might happen to you, or to anyone about whom you are concerned. 2 In each
case, name the "disaster" quite specifically. 3 Do not use general terms. 4 For example, do
not say, "God did not create illness," but, "God did not create cancer," or heart
attacks, or whatever may arouse fear in you.
W-pI.14.6. This is your personal repertory of horrors at which you are looking. 2 These
things are part of the world you see. 3 Some of them are shared illusions, and others
are part of your personal hell. 4 It does not matter. 5 What God did not create can only
be in your own mind apart from His. 6 Therefore, it has no meaning. 7 In recognition of
this fact, conclude the practice periods by repeating today's idea:
8 God did not create a meaningless world.
W-pI.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.
My thoughts are images that I have made.
W-pI.15.1. It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do
not recognize them as nothing. 2 You think you think them, and so you think you see them.
3 This is how your "seeing" was made. 4 This is the function you have given your body's
eyes. 5 It is not seeing. 6 It is image making. 7 It takes the place of seeing, replacing
vision with illusions.
W-pI.15.2. This introductory idea to the process of image making that you call seeing
will not have much meaning for you. 2 You will begin to understand it when you have seen
little edges of light around the same familiar objects which you see now. 3 That is the
beginning of real vision. 4 You can be certain that real vision will come quickly when this has
occurred.
W-pI.15.3. As we go along, you may have many "light episodes." 2 They may take many
different forms, some of them quite unexpected. 3 Do not be afraid of them. 4 They are signs
that you are opening your eyes at last. 5 They will not persist, because they merely
symbolize true perception, and they are not related to knowledge. 6 These exercises will not
reveal knowledge to you. 7 But they will prepare the way to it.
W-pI.15.4. In practicing the idea for today, repeat it first to yourself, and then
apply it to whatever you see around you, using its name and letting your eyes rest on it as
you say:
2 This___is an image that I have made.
3 That___is an image that I have made.
4 It is not necessary to include a large number of specific subjects for the
application of today's idea. 5 It is necessary, however, to continue to look at each subject while
you repeat the idea to yourself. 6 The idea should be repeated quite slowly each time.
W-pI.15.5. Although you will obviously not be able to apply the idea to very many
things during the minute or so of practice that is recommended, try to make the selection as
random as possible. 2 Less than a minute will do for the practice periods, if you begin to
feel uneasy. 3 Do not have more than three application periods for today's idea unless you
feel completely comfortable with it, and do not exceed four. 4 However, the idea can be
applied as needed throughout the day.
LESSON 16.
I have no neutral thoughts.
W-pI.16.W-pI.1. The idea for today is a beginning step in dispelling the belief that
your thoughts have no effect. 2 Everything you see is the result of your thoughts. 3 There
is no exception to this fact. 4 Thoughts are not big or little; powerful or weak. 5 They
are merely true or false. 6 Those that are true create their own likeness. 7 Those that
are false make theirs.
W-pI.16.2. There is no more self-contradictory concept than that of "idle thoughts." 2
What gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called idle. 3 Every
thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it extends the truth or it
multiplies illusions. 4 You can indeed multiply nothing, but you will not extend it by doing so.
W-pI.16.3. Besides your recognizing that thoughts are never idle, salvation requires
that you also recognize that every thought you have brings either peace or war; either love
or fear. 2 A neutral result is impossible because a neutral thought is impossible. 3
There is such a temptation to dismiss fear thoughts as unimportant, trivial and not worth
bothering about that it is essential you recognize them all as equally destructive, but equally
unreal. 4 We will practice this idea in many forms before you really understand it.
W-pI.16.4. In applying the idea for today, search your mind for a minute or so with
eyes closed, and actively seek not to overlook any "little" thought that may tend to elude
the search. 2 This is quite difficult until you get used to it. 3 You will find that it is
still hard for you not to make artificial distinctions. 4 Every thought that occurs to
you, regardless of the qualities that you assign to it, is a suitable subject for applying
today's idea.
W-pI.16.5. In the practice periods, first repeat the idea to yourself, and then as each
one crosses your mind hold it in awareness while you tell yourself:
2 This thought about___is not a neutral thought.
3 That thought about___is not a neutral thought.
4 As usual, use today's idea whenever you are aware of a particular thought that
arouses uneasiness. 5 The following form is suggested for this purpose:
6 This thought about___is not a neutral thought, because I have no neutral thoughts.
W-pI.16.6. Four or five practice periods are recommended, if you find them relatively
effortless. 2 If strain is experienced, three will be enough. 3 The length of the exercise period
should also be reduced if there is discomfort.
LESSON 17.
I see no neutral things.
W-pI.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-pI.17.2. In applying today's idea, say to yourself, with eyes open:
2 I see no neutral things because I have no neutral thoughts.
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.
5 For example, you might say:
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.
W-pI.17.3. As usual, it is essential to make no distinctions between what you believe
to be animate or inanimate; pleasant or unpleasant. 2 Regardless of what you may believe,
you do not see anything that is really alive or really joyous. 3 That is because you
are unaware as yet of any thought that is really true, and therefore really happy.
W-pI.17.4. Three or four specific practice periods are recommended, and no less than
three are required for maximum benefit, even if you experience resistance. 2 However, if you
do, the length of the practice period may be reduced to less than the minute or so that
is otherwise recommended.
LESSON 18.
I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.
W-pI.18.1. The idea for today is another step in learning that the thoughts which give
rise to what you see are never neutral or unimportant. 2 It also emphasizes the idea that
minds are joined, which will be given increasing stress later on.
W-pI.18.2. Today's idea does not refer to what you see as much as to how you see it. 2
Therefore, the exercises for today emphasize this aspect of your perception. 3 The three or four
practice periods which are recommended should be done as follows:
W-pI.18.3. Look about you, selecting subjects for the application of the idea for today
as randomly as possible, and keeping your eyes on each one long enough to say:
2 I am not alone in experiencing the effects of how I see ___.
3 Conclude each practice period by repeating the more general statement:
4 I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.
5 A minute or so, or even less, will be sufficient for each practice period.
LESSON 19.
I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.
W-pI.19.1. The idea for today is obviously the reason why your seeing does not affect
you alone. 2 You will notice that at times the ideas related to thinking precede those
related to perceiving, while at other times the order is reversed. 3 The reason is that the
order does not matter. 4 Thinking and its results are really simultaneous, for cause and
effect are never separate.
W-pI.19.2. Today we are again emphasizing the fact that minds are joined. 2 This is
rarely a wholly welcome idea at first, since it seems to carry with it an enormous sense of
responsibility, and may even be regarded as an "invasion of privacy." 3 Yet it is a fact that there
are no private thoughts. 4 Despite your initial resistance to this idea, you will yet
understand that it must be true if salvation is possible at all. 5 And salvation must be possible
because it is the Will of God.
W-pI.19.3. The minute or so of mind searching which today's exercises require is to be
undertaken with eyes closed. 2 The idea for today is to be repeated first, and then the mind
should be carefully searched for the thoughts it contains at that time. 3 As you consider
each one, name it in terms of the central person or theme it contains, and holding it in
your mind as you do so, say:
4 I am not alone in experiencing the effects of this thought about ___.
W-pI.19.4. The requirement of as much indiscriminateness as possible in selecting
subjects for the practice periods should be quite familiar to you by now, and will no longer be
repeated each day, although it will occasionally be included as a reminder. 2 Do not
forget, however, that random selection of subjects for all practice periods remains essential
throughout. 3 Lack of order in this connection will ultimately make the recognition of
lack of order in miracles meaningful to you.
W-pI.19.5. Apart from the "as needed" application of today's idea, at least three
practice periods are required, shortening the length of time involved, if necessary. 2 Do not
attempt more than four.
LESSON 20.
I am determined to see.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
I am determined to see things differently.
W-pI.21.1. The idea for today is obviously a continuation and extension of the
preceding one. 2 This time, however, specific mind-searching periods are necessary, in addition
to applying the idea to particular situations as they may arise. 3 Five practice periods
are urged, allowing a full minute for each.
W-pI.21.2. In the practice periods, begin by repeating the idea to yourself. 2 Then
close your eyes and search your mind carefully for situations past, present or anticipated
that arouse anger in you. 3 The anger may take the form of any reaction ranging from mild
irritation to rage. 4 The degree of the emotion you experience does not matter. 5 You will become
increasingly aware that a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over
intense fury.
W-pI.21.3. Try, therefore, not to let the "little" thoughts of anger escape you in the
practice periods. 2 Remember that you do not really recognize what arouses anger in you, and
nothing that you believe in this connection means anything. 3 You will probably be tempted to
dwell more on some situations or persons than on others, on the fallacious grounds that they
are more "obvious." 4 This is not so. 5 It is merely an example of the belief that some
forms of attack are more justified than others.
W-pI.21.4. As you search your mind for all the forms in which attack thoughts present
themselves, hold each one in mind while you tell yourself:
2 I am determined to see___[name of person] differently.
3 I am determined to see___[specify the situation] differently.
W-pI.21.5. Try to be as specific as possible. 2 You may, for example, focus your anger
on a particular attribute of a particular person, believing that the anger is limited to
this aspect. 3 If your perception is suffering from this form of distortion, say:
4 I am determined to see___[specify the attribute] in___[name of person] differently.
LESSON 22.
What I see is a form of vengeance.
W-pI.22.1. Today's idea accurately describes the way anyone who holds attack thoughts
in his mind must see the world. 2 Having projected his anger onto the world, he sees
vengeance about to strike at him. 3 His own attack is thus perceived as self defense. 4 This
becomes an increasingly vicious circle until he is willing to change how he sees. 5 Otherwise,
thoughts of attack and counter-attack will preoccupy him and people his entire world. 6
What peace of mind is possible to him then?
W-pI.22.2. It is from this savage fantasy that you want to escape. 2 Is it not joyous
news to hear that it is not real? 3 Is it not a happy discovery to find that you can escape?
4 You made what you would destroy; everything that you hate and would attack and kill.
5 All that you fear does not exist.
W-pI.22.3. Look at the world about you at least five times today, for at least a minute
each time. 2 As your eyes move slowly from one object to another, from one body to
another, say to yourself:
3 I see only the perishable.
4 I see nothing that will last.
5 What I see is not real.
6 What I see is a form of vengeance.
7 At the end of each practice period, ask yourself:
8 Is this the world I really want to see?
9 The answer is surely obvious.
LESSON 23.
I can escape from the world I see by giving
up attack thoughts.
W-pI.23.1. The idea for today contains the only way out of fear that will ever succeed.
2 Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless. 3 But this way cannot fail. 4
Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. 5 It is with your
thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.
W-pI.23.2. If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it
is these thoughts which you do not want. 2 There is no point in lamenting the world. 3
There is no point in trying to change the world. 4 It is incapable of change because it is
merely an effect. 5 But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. 6
Here you are changing the cause. 7 The effect will change automatically.
W-pI.23.3. The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of
vengeance. 2 Each of your perceptions of "external reality" is a pictorial representation of
your own attack thoughts. 3 One can well ask if this can be called seeing. 4 Is not fantasy
a better word for such a process, and hallucination a more appropriate term for the
result?
W-pI.23.4. You see the world that you have made, but you do not see yourself as the
image maker. 2 You cannot be saved from the world, but you can escape from its cause. 3 This
is what salvation means, for where is the world you see when its cause is gone? 4
Vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you see now. 5 Loveliness can
light your images, and so transform them that you will love them, even though they were made
of hate. 6 For you will not be making them alone.
W-pI.23.5. The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the
world you see, because its cause can be changed. 2 This change requires, first, that the
cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced. 3 The first two steps in
this process require your cooperation. 4 The final one does not. 5 Your images have already
been replaced. 6 By taking the first two steps, you will see that this is so.
W-pI.23.6. Besides using it throughout the day as the need arises, five practice
periods are required in applying today's idea. 2 As you look about you, repeat the idea slowly
to yourself first, and then close your eyes and devote about a minute to searching your
mind for as many attack thoughts as occur to you. 3 As each one crosses your mind say:
4 I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about ___. 5 Hold each
attack thought in mind as you say this, and then dismiss that thought and go on to the
next.
W-pI.23.7. In the practice periods, be sure to include both your thoughts of attacking
and of being attacked. 2 Their effects are exactly the same because they are exactly the
same. 3 You do not recognize this as yet, and you are asked at this time only to treat them
as the same in today's practice periods. 4 We are still at the stage of identifying the
cause of the world you see. 5 When you finally learn that thoughts of attack and of
being attacked are not different, you will be ready to let the cause go.
LESSON 24.
I do not perceive my own best interests.
W-pI.24.1. In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you
happy. 2 Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the
result. 3 What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception
is wrong. 4 It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests. 5
Yet they are your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived. 6 Otherwise,
you will not recognize what they are.
W-pI.24.2. If you realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could
be taught what they are. 2 But in the presence of your conviction that you do know what
they are, you cannot learn. 3 The idea for today is a step toward opening your mind so that
learning can begin.
W-pI.24.3. The exercises for today require much more honesty than you are accustomed to
using. 2 A few subjects, honestly and carefully considered in each of the five practice
periods which should be undertaken today, will be more helpful than a more cursory
examination of a large number. 3 Two minutes are suggested for each of the mind-searching periods
which the exercises involve.
W-pI.24.4. The practice periods should begin with repeating today's idea, followed by
searching the mind, with closed eyes, for unresolved situations about which you are currently
concerned. 2 The emphasis should be on uncovering the outcome you want. 3 You will quickly
realize that you have a number of goals in mind as part of the desired outcome, and also that
these goals are on different levels and often conflict.
W-pI.24.5. In applying the idea for today, name each situation that occurs to you, and
then enumerate carefully as many goals as possible that you would like to be met in its
resolution. 2 The form of each application should be roughly as follows:
3 In the situation involving___, I would like___to happen, and___to happen,
and so on. 4 Try to cover as many different kinds of outcomes as may honestly occur to
you, even if some of them do not appear to be directly related to the situation, or even
to be inherent in it at all.
W-pI.24.6. If these exercises are done properly, you will quickly recognize that you
are making a large number of demands of the situation which have nothing to do with it. 2
You will also recognize that many of your goals are contradictory, that you have no
unified outcome in mind, and that you must experience disappointment in connection with some
of your goals, however the situation turns out.
W-pI.24.7. After covering the list of as many hoped-for goals as possible, for each
unresolved situation that crosses your mind say to yourself:
2 I do not perceive my own best interests in this situation,
and go on to the next one.
LESSON 25.
I do not know what anything is for.
W-pI.25.1. Purpose is meaning. 2 Today's idea explains why nothing you see means
anything. 3 You do not know what it is for. 4 Therefore, it is meaningless to you. 5 Everything
is for your own best interests. 6 That is what it is for; that is its purpose; that is
what it means. 7 It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified. 8 It is in
recognizing this that what you see is given meaning.
W-pI.25.2. You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego
goals. 2 These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not
you. 3 This false identification makes you incapable of understanding what anything is
for. 4 As a result, you are bound to misuse it. 5 When you believe this, you will try to
withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them.
W-pI.25.3. Another way of describing the goals you now perceive is to say that they are
all concerned with "personal" interests. 2 Since you have no personal interests, your
goals are really concerned with nothing. 3 In cherishing them, therefore, you have no goals
at all. 4 And thus you do not know what anything is for.
W-pI.25.4. Before you can make any sense out of the exercises for today, one more
thought is necessary. 2 At the most superficial levels, you do recognize purpose. 3 Yet
purpose cannot be understood at these levels. 4 For example, you do understand that a
telephone is for the purpose of talking to someone who is not physically in your immediate
vicinity. 5 What you do not understand is what you want to reach him for. 6 And it is this that
makes your contact with him meaningful or not.
W-pI.25.5. It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have
established for everything. 2 The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than "good" or "
bad," is the only way to accomplish this. 3 The idea for today is a step in this direction.
W-pI.25.6. Six practice periods, each of two-minutes duration, are required. 2 Each
practice period should begin with a slow repetition of the idea for today, followed by looking
about you and letting your glance rest on whatever happens to catch your eye, near or far, "
important" or "unimportant," "human" or "nonhuman." 3 With your eyes resting on each subject you
so select, say, for example:
4 I do not know what this chair is for.
5 I do not know what this pencil is for.
6 I do not know what this hand is for.
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.
My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.
W-pI.26.1. It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked you are not invulnerable. 2
You see attack as a real threat. 3 That is because you believe that you can really
attack. 4 And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you. 5 It is this
law that will ultimately save you, but you are misusing it now. 6 You must therefore
learn how it can be used for your own best interests, rather than against them.
W-pI.26.2. Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack. 2 And
if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable. 3 Attack thoughts
therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are. 4 Attack
thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together. 5 They contradict each other.
W-pI.26.3. The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself
first. 2 If attack thoughts must entail the belief that you are vulnerable, their effect is
to weaken you in your own eyes. 3 Thus they have attacked your perception of yourself. 4
And because you believe in them, you can no longer believe in yourself. 5 A false image of
yourself has come to take the place of what you are.
W-pI.26.4. Practice with today's idea will help you to understand that vulnerability or
invulnerability is the result of your own thoughts. 2 Nothing except your thoughts can
attack you. 3 Nothing except your thoughts can make you think you are vulnerable. 4 And
nothing except your thoughts can prove to you this is not so.
W-pI.26.5. Six practice periods are required in applying today's idea. 2 A full two
minutes should be attempted for each of them, although the time may be reduced to a minute if
the discomfort is too great. 3 Do not reduce it further.
W-pI.26.6. The practice period should begin with repeating the idea for today, then
closing your eyes and reviewing the unresolved questions whose outcomes are causing you
concern. 2 The concern may take the form of depression, worry, anger, a sense of imposition,
fear, foreboding or preoccupation. 3 Any problem as yet unsettled that tends to recur in
your thoughts during the day is a suitable subject. 4 You will not be able to use very many
for any one practice period, because a longer time than usual should be spent with each
one. 5 Today's idea should be applied as follows:
W-pI.26.7. First, name the situation:
2 I am concerned about ___.
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:
4 I am afraid___will happen.
W-pI.26.8. If you are doing the exercises properly, you should have some five or six
distressing possibilities available for each situation you use, and quite possibly more. 2 It is
much more helpful to cover a few situations thoroughly than to touch on a larger number. 3
As the list of anticipated outcomes for each situation continues, you will probably find
some of them, especially those that occur to you toward the end, less acceptable to you. 4
Try, however, to treat them all alike to whatever extent you can.
W-pI.26.9. After you have named each outcome of which you are afraid, tell yourself:
2 That thought is an attack upon myself.
3 Conclude each practice period by repeating today's idea to yourself once more.
LESSON 27.
Above all else I want to see.
W-pI.27.1. Today's idea expresses something stronger than mere determination. 2 It
gives vision priority among your desires. 3 You may feel hesitant about using the idea, on
the grounds that you are not sure you really mean it. 4 This does not matter. 5 The
purpose of today's exercises is to bring the time when the idea will be wholly true a little
nearer.
W-pI.27.2. There may be a great temptation to believe that some sort of sacrifice is
being asked of you when you say you want to see above all else. 2 If you become uneasy about
the lack of reservation involved, add:
3 Vision has no cost to anyone.
4 If fear of loss still persists, add further:
5 It can only bless.
W-pI.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-pI.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.
Above all else I want to see things differently.
W-pI.28.1. Today we are really giving specific application to the idea for yesterday. 2
In these practice periods, you will be making a series of definite commitments. 3 The
question of whether you will keep them in the future is not our concern here. 4 If you are
willing at least to make them now, you have started on the way to keeping them. 5 And we are
still at the beginning.
W-pI.28.2. You may wonder why it is important to say, for example, "Above all else I
want to see this table differently." 2 In itself it is not important at all. 3 Yet what is
by itself? 4 And what does "in itself" mean? 5 You see a lot of separate things about you,
which really means you are not seeing at all. 6 You either see or not. 7 When you have
seen one thing differently, you will see all things differently. 8 The light you will
see in any one of them is the same light you will see in them all.
W-pI.28.3. When you say, "Above all else I want to see this table differently," you are
making a commitment to withdraw your preconceived ideas about the table, and open your
mind to what it is, and what it is for. 2 You are not defining it in past terms. 3 You are
asking what it is, rather than telling it what it is. 4 You are not binding its meaning to
your tiny experience of tables, nor are you limiting its purpose to your little personal
thoughts.
W-pI.28.4. You will not question what you have already defined. 2 And the purpose of
these exercises is to ask questions and receive the answers. 3 In saying, "Above all else I
want to see this table differently," you are committing yourself to seeing. 4 It is not an
exclusive commitment. 5 It is a commitment that applies to the table just as much as to anything
else, neither more nor less.
W-pI.28.5. You could, in fact, gain vision from just that table, if you would withdraw
all your own ideas from it, and look upon it with a completely open mind. 2 It has
something to show you; something beautiful and clean and of infinite value, full of happiness
and hope. 3 Hidden under all your ideas about it is its real purpose, the purpose it
shares with all the universe.
W-pI.28.6. In using the table as a subject for applying the idea for today, you are
therefore really asking to see the purpose of the universe. 2 You will be making this same
request of each subject that you use in the practice periods. 3 And you are making a
commitment to each of them to let its purpose be revealed to you, instead of placing your own
judgment upon it.
W-pI.28.7. We will have six two-minute practice periods today, in which the idea for
the day is stated first, and then applied to whatever you see about you. 2 Not only should
the subjects be chosen randomly, but each one should be accorded equal sincerity as
today's idea is applied to it, in an attempt to acknowledge the equal value of them all in
their contribution to your seeing.
W-pI.28.8. As usual, the applications should include the name of the subject your eyes
happen to light on, and you should rest your eyes on it while saying:
2 Above all else I want to see this___differently.
3 Each application should be made quite slowly, and as thoughtfully as possible. 4
There is no hurry.
LESSON 29.
God is in everything I see.
W-pI.29.1. The idea for today explains why you can see all purpose in everything. 2 It
explains why nothing is separate, by itself or in itself. 3 And it explains why nothing you see
means anything. 4 In fact, it explains every idea we have used thus far, and all
subsequent ones as well. 5 Today's idea is the whole basis for vision.
W-pI.29.2. You will probably find this idea very difficult to grasp at this point. 2
You may find it silly, irreverent, senseless, funny and even objectionable. 3 Certainly
God is not in a table, for example, as you see it. 4 Yet we emphasized yesterday that a
table shares the purpose of the universe. 5 And what shares the purpose of the universe
shares the purpose of its Creator.
W-pI.29.3. Try then, today, to begin to learn how to look on all things with love,
appreciation and open-mindedness. 2 You do not see them now. 3 Would you know what is in them? 4
Nothing is as it appears to you. 5 Its holy purpose stands beyond your little range. 6 When
vision has shown you the holiness that lights up the world, you will understand today's idea
perfectly. 7 And you will not understand how you could ever have found it difficult.
W-pI.29.4. Our six two-minute practice periods for today should follow a now familiar
pattern: Begin with repeating the idea to yourself, and then apply it to randomly chosen
subjects about you, naming each one specifically. 2 Try to avoid the tendency toward
self-directed selection, which may be particularly tempting in connection with today's idea because
of its wholly alien nature. 3 Remember that any order you impose is equally alien to
reality.
W-pI.29.5. Your list of subjects should therefore be as free of self-selection as
possible. 2 For example, a suitable list might include:
3 God is in this coat hanger.
4 God is in this magazine.
5 God is in this finger.
6 God is in this lamp.
7 God is in that body.
8 God is in that door.
9 God is in that waste basket.
10 In addition to the assigned practice periods, repeat the idea for today at least
once an hour, looking slowly about you as you say the words unhurriedly to yourself. 11 At
least once or twice, you should experience a sense of restfulness as you do this.
LESSON 30.
God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.
W-pI.30.1. The idea for today is the springboard for vision. 2 From this idea will the
world open up before you, and you will look upon it and see in it what you have never seen
before. 3 Nor will what you saw before be even faintly visible to you.
W-pI.30.2. Today we are trying to use a new kind of "projection." 2 We are not
attempting to get rid of what we do not like by seeing it outside. 3 Instead, we are trying to
see in the world what is in our minds, and what we want to recognize is there. 4 Thus, we
are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it apart from us. 5 That is the
fundamental difference between vision and the way you see.
W-pI.30.3. Today's idea should be applied as often as possible throughout the day. 2
Whenever you have a moment or so, repeat it to yourself slowly, looking about you, and trying
to realize that the idea applies to everything you do see now, or could see now if it
were within the range of your sight.
W-pI.30.4. Real vision is not limited to concepts such as "near" and "far." 2 To help
you begin to get used to this idea, try to think of things beyond your present range as
well as those you can actually see, as you apply today's idea.
W-pI.30.5. Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does not
depend on the body's eyes at all. 2 The mind is its only source. 3 To aid in helping you to
become more accustomed to this idea as well, devote several practice periods to applying
today's idea with your eyes closed, using whatever subjects come to mind, and looking within
rather than without. 4 Today's idea applies equally to both.
LESSON 31.
I am not the victim of the world I see.
W-pI.31.1. Today's idea is the introduction to your declaration of release. 2 Again,
the idea should be applied to both the world you see without and the world you see within.
3 In applying the idea, we will use a form of practice which will be used more and more,
with changes as indicated. 4 Generally speaking, the form includes two aspects, one in
which you apply the idea on a more sustained basis, and the other consisting of
frequent applications of the idea throughout the day.
W-pI.31.2. Two longer periods of practice with the idea for today are needed, one in
the morning and one at night. 2 Three to five minutes for each of these are recommended. 3
During that time, look about you slowly while repeating the idea two or three times. 4
Then close your eyes, and apply the same idea to your inner world. 5 You will escape from
both together, for the inner is the cause of the outer.
W-pI.31.3. As you survey your inner world, merely let whatever thoughts cross your mind
come into your awareness, each to be considered for a moment, and then replaced by the
next. 2 Try not to establish any kind of hierarchy among them. 3 Watch them come and go as
dispassionately as possible. 4 Do not dwell on any one in particular, but try to let the stream move
on evenly and calmly, without any special investment on your part. 5 As you sit and
quietly watch your thoughts, repeat today's idea to yourself as often as you care to, but with
no sense of hurry.
W-pI.31.4. In addition, repeat the idea for today as often as possible during the day.
2 Remind yourself that you are making a declaration of independence in the name of your
own freedom. 3 And in your freedom lies the freedom of the world.
W-pI.31.5. The idea for today is also a particularly useful one to use as a response to
any form of temptation that may arise. 2 It is a declaration that you will not yield to
it, and put yourself in bondage.
LESSON 32.
I have invented the world I see.
W-pI.32.1. Today we are continuing to develop the theme of cause and effect. 2 You are
not the victim of the world you see because you invented it. 3 You can give it up as
easily as you made it up. 4 You will see it or not see it, as you wish. 5 While you want it
you will see it; when you no longer want it, it will not be there for you to see.
W-pI.32.2. The idea for today, like the preceding ones, applies to your inner and outer
worlds, which are actually the same. 2 However, since you see them as different, the
practice periods for today will again include two phases, one involving the world you see
outside you, and the other the world you see in your mind. 3 In today's exercises, try to
introduce the thought that both are in your own imagination.
W-pI.32.3. Again we will begin the practice periods for the morning and evening by
repeating the idea for today two or three times while looking around at the world you see as
outside yourself. 2 Then close your eyes and look around your inner world. 3 Try to treat them
both as equally as possible. 4 Repeat the idea for today unhurriedly as often as you
wish, as you watch the images your imagination presents to your awareness.
W-pI.32.4. For the two longer practice periods three to five minutes are recommended,
with not less than three required. 2 More than five can be utilized, if you find the
exercise restful. 3 To facilitate this, select a time when few distractions are anticipated,
and when you yourself feel reasonably ready.
W-pI.32.5. These exercises are also to be continued during the day, as often as
possible. 2 The shorter applications consist of repeating the idea slowly, as you survey either
your inner or outer world. 3 It does not matter which you choose.
W-pI.32.6. The idea for today should also be applied immediately to any situation that
may distress you. 2 Apply the idea by telling yourself:
3 I have invented this situation as I see it.
LESSON 33.
There is another way of looking at the world.
W-pI.33.1. Today's idea is an attempt to recognize that you can shift your perception
of the world in both its outer and inner aspects. 2 A full five minutes should be devoted
to the morning and evening applications. 3 In these practice periods, the idea should
be repeated as often as you find comfortable, though unhurried applications are essential.
4 Alternate between surveying your outer and inner perceptions, but without an abrupt
sense of shifting.
W-pI.33.2. Merely glance casually around the world you perceive as outside yourself,
then close your eyes and survey your inner thoughts with equal casualness. 2 Try to remain
equally uninvolved in both, and to maintain this detachment as you repeat the idea throughout
the day.
W-pI.33.3. The shorter exercise periods should be as frequent as possible. 2 Specific
applications of today's idea should also be made immediately, when any situation arises which
tempts you to become disturbed. 3 For these applications, say:
4 There is another way of looking at this.
W-pI.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.
I could see peace instead of this.
W-pI.34.1. The idea for today begins to describe the conditions that prevail in the
other way of seeing. 2 Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. 3 It must begin with
your own thoughts, and then extend outward. 4 It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful
perception of the world arises.
W-pI.34.2. Three longer practice periods are required for today's exercises. 2 One in
the morning and one in the evening are advised, with an additional one to be undertaken at
any time in between that seems most conducive to readiness. 3 All applications should
be done with your eyes closed. 4 It is your inner world to which the applications of
today's idea should be made.
W-pI.34.3. Some five minutes of mind searching are required for each of the longer
practice periods. 2 Search your mind for fear thoughts, anxiety-provoking situations, "
offending" personalities or events, or anything else about which you are harboring unloving
thoughts. 3 Note them all casually, repeating the idea for today slowly as you watch them arise
in your mind, and let each one go, to be replaced by the next.
W-pI.34.4. If you begin to experience difficulty in thinking of specific subjects,
continue to repeat the idea to yourself in an unhurried manner, without applying it to anything
in particular. 2 Be sure, however, not to make any specific exclusions.
W-pI.34.5. The shorter applications are to be frequent, and made whenever you feel your
peace of mind is threatened in any way. 2 The purpose is to protect yourself from
temptation throughout the day. 3 If a specific form of temptation arises in your awareness, the
exercise should take this form:
4 I could see peace in this situation instead of what I now see in it.
W-pI.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:
4 I can replace my feelings of depression, anxiety or worry [or my thoughts about this
situation, personality or event] with peace.
LESSON 35.
My mind is part of God's. I am very holy.
W-pI.35.1. Today's idea does not describe the way you see yourself now. 2 It does,
however, describe what vision will show you. 3 It is difficult for anyone who thinks he is in
this world to believe this of himself. 4 Yet the reason he thinks he is in this world is
because he does not believe it.
W-pI.35.2. You will believe that you are part of where you think you are. 2 That is
because you surround yourself with the environment you want. 3 And you want it to protect the
image of yourself that you have made. 4 The image is part of this environment. 5 What you
see while you believe you are in it is seen through the eyes of the image. 6 This is not
vision. 7 Images cannot see.
W-pI.35.3. The idea for today presents a very different view of yourself. 2 By
establishing your Source it establishes your Identity, and it describes you as you must really be
in truth. 3 We will use a somewhat different kind of application for today's idea because
the emphasis for today is on the perceiver, rather than on what he perceives.
W-pI.35.4. For each of the three five-minute practice periods today, begin by repeating
today's idea to yourself, and then close your eyes and search your mind for the various
kinds of descriptive terms in which you see yourself. 2 Include all the ego-based
attributes which you ascribe to yourself, positive or negative, desirable or undesirable,
grandiose or debased. 3 All of them are equally unreal, because you do not look upon yourself
through the eyes of holiness.
W-pI.35.5. In the earlier part of the mind-searching period, you will probably
emphasize what you consider to be the more negative aspects of your perception of yourself. 2
Toward the latter part of the exercise period, however, more self-inflating descriptive terms
may well cross your mind. 3 Try to recognize that the direction of your fantasies about
yourself does not matter. 4 Illusions have no direction in reality. 5 They are merely
not true.
W-pI.35.6. A suitable unselected list for applying the idea for today might be as
follows:
2 I see myself as imposed on.
3 I see myself as depressed.
4 I see myself as failing.
5 I see myself as endangered.
6 I see myself as helpless.
7 I see myself as victorious.
8 I see myself as losing out.
9 I see myself as charitable.
10 I see myself as virtuous.
W-pI.35.7. You should not think of these terms in an abstract way. 2 They will occur to
you as various situations, personalities and events in which you figure cross your mind.
3 Pick up any specific situation that occurs to you, identify the descriptive term or
terms you feel are applicable to your reactions to that situation, and use them in applying
today's idea. 4 After you have named each one, add:
5 But my mind is part of God's. 6 I am very holy.
W-pI.35.8. During the longer exercise periods, there will probably be intervals in
which nothing specific occurs to you. 2 Do not strain to think up specific things to fill
the interval, but merely relax and repeat today's idea slowly until something occurs to
you. 3 Although nothing that does occur should be omitted from the exercises, nothing
should be "dug out" with effort. 4 Neither force nor discrimination should be used.
W-pI.35.9. As often as possible during the day, pick up a specific attribute or
attributes you are ascribing to yourself at the time and apply the idea for today to them, adding
the idea in the form stated above to each of them. 2 If nothing particular occurs to
you, merely repeat the idea to yourself, with closed eyes.
LESSON 36.
My holiness envelops everything I see.
W-pI.36.1. Today's idea extends the idea for yesterday from the perceiver to the
perceived. 2 You are holy because your mind is part of God's. 3 And because you are holy, your
sight must be holy as well. 4 "Sinless" means without sin. 5 You cannot be without sin a
little. 6 You are sinless or not. 7 If your mind is part of God's you must be sinless, or a
part of His Mind would be sinful. 8 Your sight is related to His Holiness, not to your ego,
and therefore not to your body.
W-pI.36.2. Four three-to-five-minute practice periods are required for today. 2 Try to
distribute them fairly evenly, and make the shorter applications frequently, to protect your
protection throughout the day. 3 The longer practice periods should take this form:
W-pI.36.3. First, close your eyes and repeat the idea for today several times, slowly.
2 Then open your eyes and look quite slowly about you, applying the idea specifically to
whatever you note in your casual survey. 3 Say, for example:
4 My holiness envelops that rug.
5 My holiness envelops that wall.
6 My holiness envelops these fingers.
7 My holiness envelops that chair.
8 My holiness envelops that body.
9 My holiness envelops this pen.
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-pI.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.
My holiness blesses the world.
W-pI.37.1. This idea contains the first glimmerings of your true function in the world,
or why you are here. 2 Your purpose is to see the world through your own holiness. 3
Thus are you and the world blessed together. 4 No one loses; nothing is taken away from
anyone; everyone gains through your holy vision. 5 It signifies the end of sacrifice because
it offers everyone his full due. 6 And he is entitled to everything because it is his
birthright as a Son of God.
W-pI.37.2. There is no other way in which the idea of sacrifice can be removed from the
world's thinking. 2 Any other way of seeing will inevitably demand payment of someone
or something. 3 As a result, the perceiver will lose. 4 Nor will he have any idea why he
is losing. 5 Yet is his wholeness restored to his awareness through your vision. 6 Your
holiness blesses him by asking nothing of him. 7 Those who see themselves as whole make no
demands.
W-pI.37.3. Your holiness is the salvation of the world. 2 It lets you teach the world
that it is one with you, not by preaching to it, not by telling it anything, but merely by
your quiet recognition that in your holiness are all things blessed along with you.
W-pI.37.4. Today's four longer exercise periods, each to involve three to five minutes
of practice, begin with the repetition of the idea for today, followed by a minute or so
of looking about you as you apply the idea to whatever you see:
2 My holiness blesses this chair
3 My holiness blesses that window
4 My holiness blesses this body.
5 Then close your eyes and apply the idea to any person who occurs to you, using his
name and saying:
6 My holiness blesses you, [name].
W-pI.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-pI.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.
There is nothing my holiness cannot do.
W-pI.38.1. Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. 2 It is beyond every
restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind. 3 Your holiness is totally unlimited
in its power because it establishes you as a Son of God, at one with the Mind of his
Creator.
W-pI.38.2. Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest. 2 Through your
holiness the power of God is made available. 3 And there is nothing the power of God cannot do.
4 Your holiness, then, can remove all pain, can end all sorrow, and can solve all
problems. 5 It can do so in connection with yourself and with anyone else. 6 It is equal in its
power to help anyone because it is equal in its power to save anyone.
W-pI.38.3. If you are holy, so is everything God created. 2 You are holy because all
things He created are holy. 3 And all things He created are holy because you are. 4 In
today's exercises, we will apply the power of your holiness to all problems, difficulties or
suffering in any form that you happen to think of, in yourself or in someone else. 5 We will
make no distinctions because there are no distinctions.
W-pI.38.4. In the four longer practice periods, each preferably to last a full five
minutes, repeat the idea for today, close your eyes, and then search your mind for any sense
of loss or unhappiness of any kind as you see it. 2 Try to make as little distinction as
possible between a situation that is difficult for you, and one that is difficult for someone
else. 3 Identify the situation specifically, and also the name of the person concerned. 4
Use this form in applying the idea for today:
5 In the situation involving ___ in which I see myself, there is nothing that my
holiness cannot do.
6 In the situation involving___in which___sees himself, there is nothing my holiness
cannot do.
W-pI.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:
3 There is nothing my holiness cannot do because the power of God lies in it.
4 Introduce whatever variations appeal to you, but keep the exercises focused on the
theme, "There is nothing my holiness cannot do." 5 The purpose of today's exercises is to
begin to instill in you a sense that you have dominion over all things because of what you
are.
W-pI.38.6. In the frequent shorter applications, apply the idea in its original form
unless a specific problem concerning you or someone else arises, or comes to mind. 2 In that
event, use the more specific form in applying the idea to it.
LESSON 39.
My holiness is my salvation.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
3 My unloving thoughts about___are keeping me in hell
4 My holiness is my salvation.
W-pI.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-pI.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:
5 If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?
W-pI.39.11. In the shorter applications, which should be made some three or four times
an hour and more if possible, you may ask yourself this question, repeat today's idea,
and preferably both. 2 If temptations arise, a particularly helpful form of the idea is:
3 My holiness is my salvation from this.
LESSON 40.
I am blessed as a Son of God.
W-pI.40.1. Today we will begin to assert some of the happy things to which you are
entitled, being what you are. 2 No long practice periods are required today, but very frequent
short ones are necessary. 3 Once every ten minutes would be highly desirable, and you are
urged to attempt this schedule and to adhere to it whenever possible. 4 If you forget, try
again. 5 If there are long interruptions, try again. 6 Whenever you remember, try again.
W-pI.40.2. You need not close your eyes for the exercise periods, although you will
probably find it more helpful if you do. 2 However, you may be in a number of situations during
the day when closing your eyes would not be feasible. 3 Do not miss a practice period
because of this. 4 You can practice quite well under any circumstances, if you really want to.
W-pI.40.3. Today's exercises take little time and no effort. 2 Repeat the idea for
today, and then add several of the attributes you associate with being a Son of God,
applying them to yourself. 3 One practice period might, for example, consist of the following:
4 I am blessed as a Son of God
5 I am happy, peaceful, loving and contented.
6 Another might take this form:
7 I am blessed as a Son of God
8 I am calm, quiet, assured and confident.
9 If only a brief period is available, merely telling yourself that you are blessed as
a Son of God will do.
LESSON 41.
God goes with me wherever I go.
W-pI.41.1. Today's idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and
abandonment all the separated ones experience. 2 Depression is an inevitable
consequence of separation. 3 So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery,
suffering and intense fear of loss.
W-pI.41.2. The separated ones have invented many "cures" for what they believe to be "
the ills of the world." 2 But the one thing they do not do is to question the reality of
the problem. 3 Yet its effects cannot be cured because the problem is not real. 4 The idea
for today has the power to end all this foolishness forever. 5 And foolishness it is,
despite the serious and tragic forms it may take.
W-pI.41.3. Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you
and out into the world. 2 It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it
will heal the mind that thought these things were real, and suffered out of its allegiance
to them.
W-pI.41.4. You can never be deprived of your perfect holiness because its Source goes
with you wherever you go. 2 You can never suffer because the Source of all joy goes with
you wherever you go. 3 You can never be alone because the Source of all life goes with you
wherever you go. 4 Nothing can destroy your peace of mind because God goes with you
wherever you go.
W-pI.41.5. We understand that you do not believe all this. 2 How could you, when the
truth is hidden deep within, under a heavy cloud of insane thoughts, dense and obscuring,
yet representing all you see? 3 Today we will make our first real attempt to get past this
dark and heavy cloud, and to go through it to the light beyond.
W-pI.41.6. There will be only one long practice period today. 2 In the morning, as soon
as you get up if possible, sit quietly for some three to five minutes, with your eyes
closed. 3 At the beginning of the practice period, repeat today's idea very slowly. 4 Then
make no effort to think of anything. 5 Try, instead, to get a sense of turning inward, past
all the idle thoughts of the world. 6 Try to enter very deeply into your own mind,
keeping it clear of any thoughts that might divert your attention.
W-pI.41.7. From time to time, you may repeat the idea if you find it helpful. 2 But
most of all, try to sink down and inward, away from the world and all the foolish thoughts
of the world. 3 You are trying to reach past all these things. 4 You are trying to leave
appearances and approach reality.
W-pI.41.8. It is quite possible to reach God. 2 In fact it is very easy, because it is
the most natural thing in the world. 3 You might even say it is the only natural thing in
the world. 4 The way will open, if you believe that it is possible. 5 This exercise can
bring very startling results even the first time it is attempted, and sooner or later it is
always successful. 6 We will go into more detail about this kind of practice as we go along.
7 But it will never fail completely, and instant success is possible.
W-pI.41.9. Throughout the day use today's idea often, repeating it very slowly,
preferably with eyes closed. 2 Think of what you are saying; what the words mean. 3 Concentrate
on the holiness that they imply about you; on the unfailing companionship that is yours;
on the complete protection that surrounds you.
W-pI.41.10. You can indeed afford to laugh at fear thoughts, remembering that God goes
with you wherever you go.
LESSON 42.
God is my strength. Vision is His gift.
W-pI.42.1. The idea for today combines two very powerful thoughts, both of major
importance. 2 It also sets forth a cause and effect relationship that explains why you cannot
fail in your efforts to achieve the goal of the course. 3 You will see because it is the
Will of God. 4 It is His strength, not your own, that gives you power. 5 And it is His gift,
rather than your own, that offers vision to you.
W-pI.42.2. God is indeed your strength, and what He gives is truly given. 2 This means
that you can receive it any time and anywhere, wherever you are, and in whatever
circumstance you find yourself. 3 Your passage through time and space is not at random. 4 You
cannot but be in the right place at the right time. 5 Such is the strength of God. 6 Such are
His gifts.
W-pI.42.3. We will have two three-to-five-minute practice periods today, one as soon as
possible after you wake, and another as close as possible to the time you go to sleep.
2 It is better, however, to wait until you can sit quietly by yourself, at a time when
you feel ready, than it is to be concerned with the time as such.
W-pI.42.4. Begin these practice periods by repeating the idea for today slowly, with
your eyes open, looking about you. 2 Then close your eyes and repeat the idea again, even
slower than before. 3 After this, try to think of nothing except thoughts that occur to you
in relation to the idea for the day. 4 You might think, for example:
5 Vision must be possible. 6 God gives truly,
or:
7 God's gifts to me must be mine, because He gave them to me.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.
W-pI.43.1. Perception is not an attribute of God. 2 His is the realm of knowledge. 3
Yet He has created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge. 4
Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in your mind. 5
With this link with God, perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead
to knowledge. 6 That is its function as the Holy Spirit sees it. 7 Therefore, that is its
function in truth.
W-pI.43.2. In God you cannot see. 2 Perception has no function in God, and does not
exist. 3 Yet in salvation, which is the undoing of what never was, perception has a mighty
purpose. 4 Made by the Son of God for an unholy purpose, it must become the means for the
restoration of his holiness to his awareness. 5 Perception has no meaning. 6 Yet does the Holy
Spirit give it a meaning very close to God's. 7 Healed perception becomes the means by which
the Son of God forgives his brother, and thus forgives himself.
W-pI.43.3. You cannot see apart from God because you cannot be apart from God. 2
Whatever you do you do in Him, because whatever you think, you think with His Mind. 3 If vision
is real, and it is real to the extent to which it shares the Holy Spirit's purpose,
then you cannot see apart from God.
W-pI.43.4. Three five-minute practice periods are required today, one as early and one
as late as possible in the day. 2 The third may be undertaken at the most convenient and
suitable time that circumstances and readiness permit. 3 At the beginning of these practice
periods, repeat the idea for today to yourself with eyes open. 4 Then glance around you for a
short time, applying the idea specifically to what you see. 5 Four or five subjects for this
phase of the practice period are sufficient. 6 You might say, for example:
7 God is my Source. 8 I cannot see this desk apart from Him
9 God is my Source. 10 I cannot see that picture apart from Him.
W-pI.43.5. Although this part of the exercise period should be relatively short, be
sure that you select the subjects for this phase of practice indiscriminately, without
self-directed inclusion or exclusion. 2 For the second and longer phase, close your eyes, repeat
today's idea again, and then let whatever relevant thoughts occur to you add to the idea in
your own personal way. 3 Thoughts such as:
4 I see through the eyes of forgiveness
5 I see the world as blessed
6 The world can show me myself
7 I see my own thoughts, which are like God's.
8 Any thought related more or less directly to today's idea is suitable. 9 The thoughts
need not bear any obvious relationship to the idea, but they should not be in
opposition to it.
W-pI.43.6. If you find your mind wandering; if you begin to be aware of thoughts which
are clearly out of accord with today's idea, or if you seem to be unable to think of
anything, open your eyes, repeat the first phase of the exercise period, and then attempt the
second phase again. 2 Do not allow any protracted period to occur in which you become
preoccupied with irrelevant thoughts. 3 Return to the first phase of the exercises as often as
necessary to prevent this.
W-pI.43.7. In applying today's idea in the shorter practice periods, the form may vary
according to the circumstances and situations in which you find yourself during the day. 2 When
you are with someone else, for example, try to remember to tell him silently:
3 God is my Source. 4 I cannot see you apart from Him.
5 This form is equally applicable to strangers as it is to those you think are closer
to you. 6 In fact, try not to make distinctions of this kind at all.
W-pI.43.8. Today's idea should also be applied throughout the day to various situations
and events that may occur, particularly to those which seem to distress you in any way.
2 For this purpose, apply the idea in this form:
3 God is my Source. 4 I cannot see this apart from Him.
W-pI.43.9. If no particular subject presents itself to your awareness at the time,
merely repeat the idea in its original form. 2 Try today not to allow any long periods of
time to slip by without remembering today's idea, and thus remembering your function.
LESSON 44.
God is the light in which I see.
W-pI.44.1. Today we are continuing the idea for yesterday, adding another dimension to
it. 2 You cannot see in darkness, and you cannot make light. 3 You can make darkness and
then think you see in it, but light reflects life, and is therefore an aspect of creation.
4 Creation and darkness cannot coexist, but light and life must go together, being but
different aspects of creation.
W-pI.44.2. In order to see, you must recognize that light is within, not without. 2 You
do not see outside yourself, nor is the equipment for seeing outside you. 3 An
essential part of this equipment is the light that makes seeing possible. 4 It is with you
always, making vision possible in every circumstance.
W-pI.44.3. Today we are going to attempt to reach that light. 2 For this purpose, we
will use a form of exercise which has been suggested before, and which we will utilize
increasingly. 3 It is a particularly difficult form for the undisciplined mind, and represents a
major goal of mind training. 4 It requires precisely what the untrained mind lacks. 5 Yet
this training must be accomplished if you are to see.
W-pI.44.4. Have at least three practice periods today, each lasting three to five
minutes. 2 A longer time is highly recommended, but only if you find the time slipping by with
little or no sense of strain. 3 The form of practice we will use today is the most
natural and easy one in the world for the trained mind, just as it seems to be the most
unnatural and difficult for the untrained mind.
W-pI.44.5. Your mind is no longer wholly untrained. 2 You are quite ready to learn the
form of exercise we will use today, but you may find that you will encounter strong
resistance. 3 The reason is very simple. 4 While you practice in this way, you leave behind
everything that you now believe, and all the thoughts that you have made up. 5 Properly speaking,
this is the release from hell. 6 Yet perceived through the ego's eyes, it is loss of
identity and a descent into hell.
W-pI.44.6. If you can stand aside from the ego by ever so little, you will have no
difficulty in recognizing that its opposition and its fears are meaningless. 2 You might find it
helpful to remind yourself, from time to time, that to reach light is to escape from darkness,
whatever you may believe to the contrary. 3 God is the light in which you see. 4 You
are attempting to reach Him.
W-pI.44.7. Begin the practice period by repeating today's idea with your eyes open, and
close them slowly, repeating the idea several times more. 2 Then try to sink into your
mind, letting go every kind of interference and intrusion by quietly sinking past them. 3
Your mind cannot be stopped in this unless you choose to stop it. 4 It is merely taking its
natural course. 5 Try to observe your passing thoughts without involvement, and slip
quietly by them.
W-pI.44.8. While no particular approach is advocated for this form of exercise, what is
needful is a sense of the importance of what you are doing; its inestimable value to
you, and an awareness that you are attempting something very holy. 2 Salvation is your
happiest accomplishment. 3 It is also the only one that has any meaning, because it is the only
one that has any real use to you at all.
W-pI.44.9. If resistance rises in any form, pause long enough to repeat today's idea,
keeping your eyes closed unless you are aware of fear. 2 In that case, you will probably find
it more reassuring to open your eyes briefly. 3 Try, however, to return to the exercises
with eyes closed as soon as possible.
W-pI.44.10. If you are doing the exercises correctly, you should experience some sense
of relaxation, and even a feeling that you are approaching, if not actually entering into
light. 2 Try to think of light, formless and without limit, as you pass by the thoughts
of this world. 3 And do not forget that they cannot hold you to the world unless you
give them the power to do so.
W-pI.44.11. Throughout the day repeat the idea often, with eyes open or closed as seems
better to you at the time. 2 But do not forget. 3 Above all, be determined not to
forget today.
LESSON 45.
God is the Mind with which I think.
W-pI.45.1. Today's idea holds the key to what your real thoughts are. 2 They are
nothing that you think you think, just as nothing that you think you see is related to vision
in any way. 3 There is no relationship between what is real and what you think is real. 4
Nothing that you think are your real thoughts resemble your real thoughts in any
respect. 5 Nothing that you think you see bears any resemblance to what vision will show you.
W-pI.45.2. You think with the Mind of God. 2 Therefore you share your thoughts with Him,
as He shares His with you. 3 They are the same thoughts, because they are thought by
the same Mind. 4 To share is to make alike, or to make one. 5 Nor do the thoughts you
think with the Mind of God leave your mind, because thoughts do not leave their source. 6
Therefore, your thoughts are in the Mind of God, as you are. 7 They are in your mind as well,
where He is. 8 As you are part of His Mind, so are your thoughts part of His Mind.
W-pI.45.3. Where, then, are your real thoughts? 2 Today we will attempt to reach them.
3 We will have to look for them in your mind, because that is where they are. 4 They
must still be there, because they cannot have left their source. 5 What is thought by the
Mind of God is eternal, being part of creation.
W-pI.45.4. Our three five-minute practice periods for today will take the same general
form that we used in applying yesterday's idea. 2 We will attempt to leave the unreal and
seek for the real. 3 We will deny the world in favor of truth. 4 We will not let the
thoughts of the world hold us back. 5 We will not let the beliefs of the world tell us that
what God would have us do is impossible. 6 Instead, we will try to recognize that only what
God would have us do is possible.
W-pI.45.5. We will also try to understand that only what God would have us do is what
we want to do. 2 And we will also try to remember that we cannot fail in doing what He
would have us do. 3 There is every reason to feel confident that we will succeed today. 4 It
is the Will of God.
W-pI.45.6. Begin the exercises for today by repeating the idea to yourself, closing
your eyes as you do so. 2 Then spend a fairly short period in thinking a few relevant
thoughts of your own, keeping the idea in mind. 3 After you have added some four or five
thoughts of your own to the idea, repeat it again and tell yourself gently:
4 My real thoughts are in my mind. 5 I would like to find them.
6 Then try to go past all the unreal thoughts that cover the truth in your mind, and
reach to the eternal.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
God is the Love in which I forgive.
W-pI.46.1. God does not forgive because He has never condemned. 2 And there must be
condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. 3 Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but
that is because it is a world of illusions. 4 Those who forgive are thus releasing
themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. 5
As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.
W-pI.46.2. Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of
forgiveness. 2 Fear condemns and love forgives. 3 Forgiveness thus undoes what fear has produced,
returning the mind to the awareness of God. 4 For this reason, forgiveness can truly be called
salvation. 5 It is the means by which illusions disappear.
W-pI.46.3. Today's exercises require at least three full five-minute practice periods,
and as many shorter ones as possible. 2 Begin the longer practice periods by repeating
today's idea to yourself, as usual. 3 Close your eyes as you do so, and spend a minute or two
in searching your mind for those whom you have not forgiven. 4 It does not matter "how
much" you have not forgiven them. 5 You have forgiven them entirely or not at all.
W-pI.46.4. If you are doing the exercises well you should have no difficulty in finding
a number of people you have not forgiven. 2 It is a safe rule that anyone you do not
like is a suitable subject. 3 Mention each one by name, and say:
4 God is the Love in which I forgive you, [name].
W-pI.46.5. The purpose of the first phase of today's practice periods is to put you in
a position to forgive yourself. 2 After you have applied the idea to all those who have
come to mind, tell yourself:
3 God is the Love in which I forgive myself.
4 Then devote the remainder of the practice period to adding related ideas such as:
5 God is the Love with which I love myself
6 God is the Love in which I am blessed.
W-pI.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:
3 I cannot be guilty because I am a Son of God.
4 I have already been forgiven.
5 No fear is possible in a mind beloved of God.
6 There is no need to attack because love has forgiven me.
7 The practice period should end, however, with a repetition of today's idea as
originally stated.
W-pI.46.7. The shorter practice periods may consist either of a repetition of the idea
for today in the original or in a related form, as you prefer. 2 Be sure, however, to make
more specific applications if they are needed. 3 They will be needed at any time during
the day when you become aware of any kind of negative reaction to anyone, present or
not. 4 In that event, tell him silently:
5 God is the Love in which I forgive you.
LESSON 47.
God is the strength in which I trust.
W-pI.47.1. If you are trusting in your own strength, you have every reason to be
apprehensive, anxious and fearful. 2 What can you predict or control? 3 What is there in you that
can be counted on? 4 What would give you the ability to be aware of all the facets of any
problem, and to resolve them in such a way that only good can come of it? 5 What is there in
you that gives you the recognition of the right solution, and the guarantee that it will
be accomplished?
W-pI.47.2. Of yourself you can do none of these things. 2 To believe that you can is to
put your trust where trust is unwarranted, and to justify fear, anxiety, depression,
anger and sorrow. 3 Who can put his faith in weakness and feel safe? 4 Yet who can put his
faith in strength and feel weak?
W-pI.47.3. God is your safety in every circumstance. 2 His Voice speaks for Him in all
situations and in every aspect of all situations, telling you exactly what to do to call upon His
strength and His protection. 3 There are no exceptions because God has no exceptions. 4
And the Voice which speaks for Him thinks as He does.
W-pI.47.4. Today we will try to reach past your own weakness to the Source of real
strength. 2 Four five-minute practice periods are necessary today, and longer and more frequent
ones are urged. 3 Close your eyes and begin, as usual, by repeating the idea for the
day. 4 Then spend a minute or two in searching for situations in your life which you have
invested with fear, dismissing each one by telling yourself:
5 God is the strength in which I trust.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
There is nothing to fear.
W-pI.48.1. The idea for today simply states a fact. 2 It is not a fact to those who
believe in illusions, but illusions are not facts. 3 In truth there is nothing to fear. 4 It
is very easy to recognize this. 5 But it is very difficult to recognize it for those who
want illusions to be true.
W-pI.48.2. Today's practice periods will be very short, very simple and very frequent.
2 Merely repeat the idea as often as possible. 3 You can use it with your eyes open at
any time and in any situation. 4 It is strongly recommended, however, that you take a
minute or so whenever possible to close your eyes and repeat the idea slowly to yourself
several times. 5 It is particularly important that you use the idea immediately, should
anything disturb your peace of mind.
W-pI.48.3. The presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting in your own
strength. 2 The awareness that there is nothing to fear shows that somewhere in your mind,
though not necessarily in a place you recognize as yet, you have remembered God, and let His
strength take the place of your weakness. 3 The instant you are willing to do this there is
indeed nothing to fear.
LESSON 49.
God's Voice speaks to me all through the day.
W-pI.49.1. It is quite possible to listen to God's Voice all through the day without
interrupting your regular activities in any way. 2 The part of your mind in which truth abides is
in constant communication with God, whether you are aware of it or not. 3 It is the other
part of your mind that functions in the world and obeys the world's laws. 4 It is this
part that is constantly distracted, disorganized and highly uncertain.
W-pI.49.2. The part that is listening to the Voice for God is calm, always at rest and
wholly certain. 2 It is really the only part there is. 3 The other part is a wild illusion,
frantic and distraught, but without reality of any kind. 4 Try today not to listen to it. 5
Try to identify with the part of your mind where stillness and peace reign forever. 6 Try
to hear God's Voice call to you lovingly, reminding you that your Creator has not
forgotten His Son.
W-pI.49.3. We will need at least four five-minute practice periods today, and more if
possible. 2 We will try actually to hear God's Voice reminding you of Him and of your Self. 3
We will approach this happiest and holiest of thoughts with confidence, knowing that in
doing so we are joining our will with the Will of God. 4 He wants you to hear His Voice. 5
He gave It to you to be heard.
W-pI.49.4. Listen in deep silence. 2 Be very still and open your mind. 3 Go past all
the raucous shrieks and sick imaginings that cover your real thoughts and obscure your
eternal link with God. 4 Sink deep into the peace that waits for you beyond the frantic,
riotous thoughts and sights and sounds of this insane world. 5 You do not live here. 6 We are
trying to reach your real home. 7 We are trying to reach the place where you are truly
welcome. 8 We are trying to reach God.
W-pI.49.5. Do not forget to repeat today's idea very frequently. 2 Do so with your eyes
open when necessary, but closed when possible. 3 And be sure to sit quietly and repeat
the idea for today whenever you can, closing your eyes on the world, and realizing that
you are inviting God's Voice to speak to you.
LESSON 50.
I am sustained by the Love of God.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
The review for today covers the following ideas:
W-pI.51.1. (1) Nothing I see means anything.
2 The reason this is so is that I see nothing, and nothing has no meaning. 3 It is
necessary that I recognize this, that I may learn to see. 4 What I think I see now is taking the
place of vision. 5 I must let it go by realizing it has no meaning, so that vision may
take its place.
W-pI.51.2. (2) I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me. 2 I have judged
everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see. 3 This is not vision. 4 It is merely
an illusion of reality, because my judgments have been made quite apart from reality. 5 I
am willing to recognize the lack of validity in my judgments, because I want to see. 6
My judgments have hurt me, and I do not want to see according to them.
W-pI.51.3. (3) I do not understand anything I see. 2 How could I understand what I see
when I have judged it amiss? 3 What I see is the projection of my own errors of thought. 4
I do not understand what I see because it is not understandable. 5 There is no sense in
trying to understand it. 6 But there is every reason to let it go, and make room for what can
be seen and understood and loved. 7 I can exchange what I see now for this merely by
being willing to do so. 8 Is not this a better choice than the one I made before?
W-pI.51.4. (4) These thoughts do not mean anything.
2 The thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything because I am trying to think
without God. 3 What I call "my" thoughts are not my real thoughts. 4 My real thoughts are the
thoughts I think with God. 5 I am not aware of them because I have made my thoughts to take
their place. 6 I am willing to recognize that my thoughts do not mean anything, and to let
them go. 7 I choose to have them be replaced by what they were intended to replace. 8 My
thoughts are meaningless, but all creation lies in the thoughts I think with God.
W-pI.51.5. (5) I am never upset for the reason I think.
2 I am never upset for the reason I think because I am constantly trying to justify my
thoughts. 3 I am constantly trying to make them true. 4 I make all things my enemies, so that
my anger is justified and my attacks are warranted. 5 I have not realized how much I have
misused everything I see by assigning this role to it. 6 I have done this to defend a
thought system that has hurt me, and that I no longer want. 7 I am willing to let it go.
LESSON 52.
Today's review covers these ideas:
W-pI.52.1. (6) I am upset because I see what is not there.
2 Reality is never frightening. 3 It is impossible that it could upset me. 4 Reality
brings only perfect peace. 5 When I am upset, it is always because I have replaced reality
with illusions I made up. 6 The illusions are upsetting because I have given them reality,
and thus regard reality as an illusion. 7 Nothing in God's creation is affected in any way
by this confusion of mine. 8 I am always upset by nothing.
W-pI.52.2. (7) I see only the past.
2 As I look about, I condemn the world I look upon. 3 I call this seeing. 4 I hold the
past against everyone and everything, making them my enemies. 5 When I have forgiven myself
and remembered Who I am, I will bless everyone and everything I see. 6 There will be no
past, and therefore no enemies. 7 And I will look with love on all that I failed to see
before.
W-pI.52.3. (8) My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
2 I see only my own thoughts, and my mind is preoccupied with the past. 3 What, then,
can I see as it is? 4 Let me remember that I look on the past to prevent the present from
dawning on my mind. 5 Let me understand that I am trying to use time against God. 6 Let me
learn to give the past away, realizing that in so doing I am giving up nothing.
W-pI.52.4. (9) I see nothing as it is now.
2 If I see nothing as it is now, it can truly be said that I see nothing. 3 I can see
only what is now. 4 The choice is not whether to see the past or the present; the choice is
merely whether to see or not. 5 What I have chosen to see has cost me vision. 6 Now I
would choose again, that I may see.
W-pI.52.5. (10) My thoughts do not mean anything.
2 I have no private thoughts. 3 Yet it is only private thoughts of which I am aware. 4
What can these thoughts mean? 5 They do not exist, and so they mean nothing. 6 Yet my mind
is part of creation and part of its Creator. 7 Would I not rather join the thinking of
the universe than to obscure all that is really mine with my pitiful and meaningless "
private" thoughts?
LESSON 53.
Today we will review the following:
W-pI.53.1. (11) My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.
2 Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world that pictures
them can have no meaning. 3 What is producing this world is insane, and so is what it
produces. 4 Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well as insane ones. 5 I can
therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing.
W-pI.53.2. (12) I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
2 Insane thoughts are upsetting. 3 They produce a world in which there is no order
anywhere. 4 Only chaos rules a world that represents chaotic thinking, and chaos has no laws. 5
I cannot live in peace in such a world. 6 I am grateful that this world is not real,
and that I need not see it at all unless I choose to value it. 7 And I do not choose to
value what is totally insane and has no meaning.
W-pI.53.3. (13) A meaningless world engenders fear.
2 The totally insane engenders fear because it is completely undependable, and offers
no grounds for trust. 3 Nothing in madness is dependable. 4 It holds out no safety and no
hope. 5 But such a world is not real. 6 I have given it the illusion of reality, and
have suffered from my belief in it. 7 Now I choose to withdraw this belief, and place my
trust in reality. 8 In choosing this, I will escape all the effects of the world of fear,
because I am acknowledging that it does not exist.
W-pI.53.4. (14) God did not create a meaningless world.
2 How can a meaningless world exist if God did not create it? 3 He is the Source of all
meaning, and everything that is real is in His Mind. 4 It is in my mind too, because He
created it with me. 5 Why should I continue to suffer from the effects of my own insane
thoughts, when the perfection of creation is my home? 6 Let me remember the power of my
decision, and recognize where I really abide.
W-pI.53.5. (15) My thoughts are images that I have made.
2 Whatever I see reflects my thoughts. 3 It is my thoughts that tell me where I am and
what I am. 4 The fact that I see a world in which there is suffering and loss and death
shows me that I am seeing only the representation of my insane thoughts, and am not allowing
my real thoughts to cast their beneficent light on what I see. 5 Yet God's way is sure.
6 The images I have made cannot prevail against Him because it is not my will that they
do so. 7 My will is His, and I will place no other gods before Him.
LESSON 54.
These are the review ideas for today:
W-pI.54.1. (16) I have no neutral thoughts.
2 Neutral thoughts are impossible because all thoughts have power. 3 They will either
make a false world or lead me to the real one. 4 But thoughts cannot be without effects. 5
As the world I see arises from my thinking errors, so will the real world rise before my
eyes as I let my errors be corrected. 6 My thoughts cannot be neither true nor false. 7
They must be one or the other. 8 What I see shows me which they are.
W-pI.54.2. (17) I see no neutral things.
2 What I see witnesses to what I think. 3 If I did not think I would not exist, because
life is thought. 4 Let me look on the world I see as the representation of my own state
of mind. 5 I know that my state of mind can change. 6 And so I also know the world I
see can change as well.
W-pI.54.3. (18) I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.
2 If I have no private thoughts, I cannot see a private world. 3 Even the mad idea of
separation had to be shared before it could form the basis of the world I see. 4 Yet that sharing
was a sharing of nothing. 5 I can also call upon my real thoughts, which share
everything with everyone. 6 As my thoughts of separation call to the separation thoughts of
others, so my real thoughts awaken the real thoughts in them. 7 And the world my real
thoughts show me will dawn on their sight as well as mine.
W-pI.54.4. (19) I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.
2 I am alone in nothing. 3 Everything I think or say or do teaches all the universe. 4
A Son of God cannot think or speak or act in vain. 5 He cannot be alone in anything. 6
It is therefore in my power to change every mind along with mine, for mine is the power
of God.
W-pI.54.5. (20) I am determined to see. 2 Recognizing the shared nature of my thoughts,
I am determined to see. 3 I would look upon the witnesses that show me the thinking of
the world has been changed. 4 I would behold the proof that what has been done through me
has enabled love to replace fear, laughter to replace tears, and abundance to replace loss.
5 I would look upon the real world, and let it teach me that my will and the Will of
God are one.
LESSON 55.
Today's review includes the following:
W-pI.55.1. (21) I am determined to see things differently.
2 What I see now are but signs of disease, disaster and death. 3 This cannot be what
God created for His beloved Son. 4 The very fact that I see such things is proof that I do
not understand God. 5 Therefore I also do not understand His Son. 6 What I see tells me
that I do not know who I am. 7 I am determined to see the witnesses to the truth in me,
rather than those which show me an illusion of myself.
W-pI.55.2. (22) What I see is a form of vengeance.
2 The world I see is hardly the representation of loving thoughts. 3 It is a picture of
attack on everything by everything. 4 It is anything but a reflection of the Love of
God and the love of His Son. 5 It is my own attack thoughts that give rise to this picture.
6 My loving thoughts will save me from this perception of the world, and give me the
peace God intended me to have.
W-pI.55.3. (23) I can escape from this world by giving up attack thoughts.
2 Herein lies salvation, and nowhere else. 3 Without attack thoughts I could not see a
world of attack. 4 As forgiveness allows love to return to my awareness, I will see a world
of peace and safety and joy. 5 And it is this I choose to see, in place of what I look on
now.
W-pI.55.4. (24) I do not perceive my own best interests.
2 How could I recognize my own best interests when I do not know who I am? 3 What I
think are my best interests would merely bind me closer to the world of illusions. 4 I am
willing to follow the Guide God has given me to find out what my own best interests are,
recognizing that I cannot perceive them by myself.
W-pI.55.5. (25) I do not know what anything is for.
2 To me, the purpose of everything is to prove that my illusions about myself are real.
3 It is for this purpose that I attempt to use everyone and everything. 4 It is for
this that I believe the world is for. 5 Therefore I do not recognize its real purpose. 6
The purpose I have given the world has led to a frightening picture of it. 7 Let me open
my mind to the world's real purpose by withdrawing the one I have given it, and learning
the truth about it.
LESSON 56.
Our review for today covers the following:
W-pI.56.1. (26) My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.
2 How can I know who I am when I see myself as under constant attack? 3 Pain, illness,
loss, age and death seem to threaten me. 4 All my hopes and wishes and plans appear to be
at the mercy of a world I cannot control. 5 Yet perfect security and complete fulfillment
are my inheritance. 6 I have tried to give my inheritance away in exchange for the
world I see. 7 But God has kept my inheritance safe for me. 8 My own real thoughts will
teach me what it is.
W-pI.56.2. (27) Above all else I want to see.
2 Recognizing that what I see reflects what I think I am, I realize that vision is my
greatest need. 3 The world I see attests to the fearful nature of the self-image I have made. 4
If I would remember who I am, it is essential that I let this image of myself go. 5 As
it is replaced by truth, vision will surely be given me. 6 And with this vision, I will
look upon the world and on myself with charity and love.
W-pI.56.3. (28) Above all else I want to see differently.
2 The world I see holds my fearful self-image in place, and guarantees its continuance.
3 While I see the world as I see it now, truth cannot enter my awareness. 4 I would let
the door behind this world be opened for me, that I may look past it to the world that
reflects the Love of God.
W-pI.56.4. (29) God is in everything I see.
2 Behind every image I have made, the truth remains unchanged. 3 Behind every veil I
have drawn across the face of love, its light remains undimmed. 4 Beyond all my insane
wishes is my will, united with the Will of my Father. 5 God is still everywhere and in
everything forever. 6 And we who are part of Him will yet look past all appearances, and
recognize the truth beyond them all.
W-pI.56.5. (30) God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.
2 In my own mind, behind all my insane thoughts of separation and attack, is the
knowledge that all is one forever. 3 I have not lost the knowledge of Who I am because I have
forgotten it. 4 It has been kept for me in the Mind of God, Who has not left His Thoughts. 5 And
I, who am among them, am one with them and one with Him.
LESSON 57.
Today let us review these ideas:
W-pI.57.1. (31) I am not the victim of the world I see.
2 How can I be the victim of a world that can be completely undone if I so choose? 3 My
chains are loosened. 4 I can drop them off merely by desiring to do so. 5 The prison
door is open. 6 I can leave simply by walking out. 7 Nothing holds me in this world. 8 Only
my wish to stay keeps me a prisoner. 9 I would give up my insane wishes and walk into
the sunlight at last.
W-pI.57.2. (32) I have invented the world I see.
2 I made up the prison in which I see myself. 3 All I need do is recognize this and I
am free. 4 I have deluded myself into believing it is possible to imprison the Son of God.
5 I was bitterly mistaken in this belief, which I no longer want. 6 The Son of God
must be forever free. 7 He is as God created him, and not what I would make of him. 8 He is
where God would have him be, and not where I thought to hold him prisoner.
W-pI.57.3. (33) There is another way of looking at the world.
2 Since the purpose of the world is not the one I ascribed to it, there must be another
way of looking at it. 3 I see everything upside down, and my thoughts are the opposite
of truth. 4 I see the world as a prison for God's Son. 5 It must be, then, that the world
is really a place where he can be set free. 6 I would look upon the world as it is, and
see it as a place where the Son of God finds his freedom.
W-pI.57.4. (34) I could see peace instead of this.
2 When I see the world as a place of freedom, I realize that it reflects the laws of
God instead of the rules I made up for it to obey. 3 I will understand that peace, not war,
abides in it. 4 And I will perceive that peace also abides in the hearts of all who
share this place with me.
W-pI.57.5. (35) My mind is part of God's. 2 I am very holy.
3 As I share the peace of the world with my brothers, I begin to understand that this
peace comes from deep within myself. 4 The world I look upon has taken on the light of my
forgiveness, and shines forgiveness back at me. 5 In this light I begin to see what my illusions
about myself kept hidden. 6 I begin to understand the holiness of all living things,
including myself, and their oneness with me.
LESSON 58.
These ideas are for review today:
W-pI.58.1. (36) My holiness envelops everything I see.
2 From my holiness does the perception of the real world come. 3 Having forgiven, I no
longer see myself as guilty. 4 I can accept the innocence that is the truth about me. 5 Seen
through understanding eyes, the holiness of the world is all I see, for I can picture only the
thoughts I hold about myself.
W-pI.58.2. (37) My holiness blesses the world.
2 The perception of my holiness does not bless me alone. 3 Everyone and everything I
see in its light shares in the joy it brings to me. 4 There is nothing that is apart from
this joy, because there is nothing that does not share my holiness. 5 As I recognize my
holiness, so does the holiness of the world shine forth for everyone to see.
W-pI.58.3. (38) There is nothing my holiness cannot do.
2 My holiness is unlimited in its power to heal, because it is unlimited in its power
to save. 3 What is there to be saved from except illusions? 4 And what are all illusions
except false ideas about myself? 5 My holiness undoes them all by asserting the truth about
me. 6 In the presence of my holiness, which I share with God Himself, all idols vanish.
W-pI.58.4. (39) My holiness is my salvation. 2 Since my holiness saves me from all
guilt, recognizing my holiness is recognizing my salvation. 3 It is also recognizing the
salvation of the world. 4 Once I have accepted my holiness, nothing can make me afraid. 5 And
because I am unafraid, everyone must share in my understanding, which is the gift of God to me
and to the world.
W-pI.58.5. (40) I am blessed as a Son of God.
2 Herein lies my claim to all good and only good. 3 I am blessed as a Son of God. 4 All
good things are mine, because God intended them for me. 5 I cannot suffer any loss or
deprivation or pain because of Who I am. 6 My Father supports me, protects me, and directs me in
all things. 7 His care for me is infinite, and is with me forever. 8 I am eternally
blessed as His Son.
LESSON 59.
The following ideas are for review today:
W-pI.59.1. (41) God goes with me wherever I go.
2 How can I be alone when God always goes with me? 3 How can I be doubtful and unsure
of myself when perfect certainty abides in Him? 4 How can I be disturbed by anything when
He rests in me in absolute peace? 5 How can I suffer when love and joy surround me
through Him? 6 Let me not cherish illusions about myself. 7 I am perfect because God goes with
me wherever I go.
W-pI.59.2. (42) God is my strength. 2 Vision is His gift.
3 Let me not look to my own eyes to see today. 4 Let me be willing to exchange my
pitiful illusion of seeing for the vision that is given by God. 5 Christ's vision is His gift,
and He has given it to me. 6 Let me call upon this gift today, so that this day may
help me to understand eternity.
W-pI.59.3. (43) God is my Source. 2 I cannot see apart from Him.
3 I can see what God wants me to see. 4 I cannot see anything else. 5 Beyond His Will
lie only illusions. 6 It is these I choose when I think I can see apart from Him. 7 It is
these I choose when I try to see through the body's eyes. 8 Yet the vision of Christ has
been given me to replace them. 9 It is through this vision that I choose to see.
W-pI.59.4. (44) God is the light in which I see.
2 I cannot see in darkness. 3 God is the only light. 4 Therefore, if I am to see, it
must be through Him. 5 I have tried to define what seeing is, and I have been wrong. 6 Now
it is given me to understand that God is the light in which I see. 7 Let me welcome
vision and the happy world it will show me.
W-pI.59.5. (45) God is the Mind with which I think.
2 I have no thoughts I do not share with God. 3 I have no thoughts apart from Him,
because I have no mind apart from His. 4 As part of His Mind, my thoughts are His and His
Thoughts are mine.
LESSON 60.
These ideas are for today's review:
W-pI.60.1. (46) God is the Love in which I forgive.
2 God does not forgive because He has never condemned. 3 The blameless cannot blame,
and those who have accepted their innocence see nothing to forgive. 4 Yet forgiveness is
the means by which I will recognize my innocence. 5 It is the reflection of God's Love on
earth. 6 It will bring me near enough to Heaven that the Love of God can reach down to me
and raise me up to Him.
W-pI.60.2. (47) God is the strength in which I trust.
2 It is not my own strength through which I forgive. 3 It is through the strength of
God in me, which I am remembering as I forgive. 4 As I begin to see, I recognize His
reflection on earth. 5 I forgive all things because I feel the stirring of His strength in me. 6
And I begin to remember the Love I chose to forget, but which has not forgotten me.
W-pI.60.3. (48) There is nothing to fear.
2 How safe the world will look to me when I can see it! 3 It will not look anything
like what I imagine I see now. 4 Everyone and everything I see will lean toward me to bless
me. 5 I will recognize in everyone my dearest Friend. 6 What could there be to fear in
a world that I have forgiven, and that has forgiven me?
W-pI.60.4. (49) God's Voice speaks to me all through the day.
2 There is not a moment in which God's Voice ceases to call on my forgiveness to save
me. 3 There is not a moment in which His Voice fails to direct my thoughts, guide my
actions and lead my feet. 4 I am walking steadily on toward truth. 5 There is nowhere else I
can go, because God's Voice is the only Voice and the only Guide that has been given to
His Son.
W-pI.60.5. (50) I am sustained by the Love of God.
2 As I listen to God's Voice, I am sustained by His Love. 3 As I open my eyes, His Love
lights up the world for me to see. 4 As I forgive, His Love reminds me that His Son is
sinless. 5 And as I look upon the world with the vision He has given me, I remember that I am
His Son.
LESSON 61.
I am the light of the world.
W-pI.61.1. Who is the light of the world except God's Son? 2 This, then, is merely a
statement of the truth about yourself. 3 It is the opposite of a statement of pride, of
arrogance, or of self-deception. 4 It does not describe the self-concept you have made. 5 It
does not refer to any of the characteristics with which you have endowed your idols. 6 It
refers to you as you were created by God. 7 It simply states the truth.
W-pI.61.2. To the ego, today's idea is the epitome of self-glorification. 2 But the ego
does not understand humility, mistaking it for self-debasement. 3 Humility consists of
accepting your role in salvation and in taking no other. 4 It is not humility to insist you
cannot be the light of the world if that is the function God assigned to you. 5 It is only
arrogance that would assert this function cannot be for you, and arrogance is always of the ego.
W-pI.61.3. True humility requires that you accept today's idea because it is God's
Voice which tells you it is true. 2 This is a beginning step in accepting your real function
on earth. 3 It is a giant stride toward taking your rightful place in salvation. 4 It
is a positive assertion of your right to be saved, and an acknowledgment of the power
that is given you to save others.
W-pI.61.4. You will want to think about this idea as often as possible today. 2 It is
the perfect answer to all illusions, and therefore to all temptation. 3 It brings all the
images you have made about yourself to the truth, and helps you depart in peace, unburdened
and certain of your purpose.
W-pI.61.5. As many practice periods as possible should be undertaken today, although
each one need not exceed a minute or two. 2 They should begin with telling yourself:
3 I am the light of the world. 4 That is my only function. 5 That is why I am here.
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-pI.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-pI.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.
Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
W-pI.62.1. It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light. 2
It is your forgiveness that lets you recognize the light in which you see. 3
Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. 4 Through your forgiveness
does the truth about yourself return to your memory. 5 Therefore, in your forgiveness lies
your salvation.
W-pI.62.2. Illusions about yourself and the world are one. 2 That is why all
forgiveness is a gift to yourself. 3 Your goal is to find out who you are, having denied your
Identity by attacking creation and its Creator. 4 Now you are learning how to remember the
truth. 5 For this attack must be replaced by forgiveness, so that thoughts of life may
replace thoughts of death.
W-pI.62.3. Remember that in every attack you call upon your own weakness, while each
time you forgive you call upon the strength of Christ in you. 2 Do you not then begin to
understand what forgiveness will do for you? 3 It will remove all sense of weakness, strain and
fatigue from your mind. 4 It will take away all fear and guilt and pain. 5 It will restore the
invulnerability and power God gave His Son to your awareness.
W-pI.62.4. Let us be glad to begin and end this day by practicing today's idea, and to
use it as frequently as possible throughout the day. 2 It will help to make the day as
happy for you as God wants you to be. 3 And it will help those around you, as well as those
who seem to be far away in space and time, to share this happiness with you.
W-pI.62.5. As often as you can, closing your eyes if possible, say to yourself today:
2 Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. 3 I would fulfill my function
that I may be happy.
4 Then devote a minute or two to considering your function and the happiness and
release it will bring you. 5 Let related thoughts come freely, for your heart will recognize
these words, and in your mind is the awareness they are true. 6 Should your attention wander,
repeat the idea and add:
7 I would remember this because I want to be happy.
LESSON 63.
The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.
W-pI.63.1. How holy are you who have the power to bring peace to every mind! 2 How
blessed are you who can learn to recognize the means for letting this be done through you! 3
What purpose could you have that would bring you greater happiness?
W-pI.63.2. You are indeed the light of the world with such a function. 2 The Son of God
looks to you for his redemption. 3 It is yours to give him, for it belongs to you. 4
Accept no trivial purpose or meaningless desire in its place, or you will forget your
function and leave the Son of God in hell. 5 This is no idle request that is being asked of you.
6 You are being asked to accept salvation that it may be yours to give.
W-pI.63.3. Recognizing the importance of this function, we will be happy to remember it
very often today. 2 We will begin the day by acknowledging it, and close the day with
the thought of it in our awareness. 3 And throughout the day we will repeat this as often
as we can:
4 The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness. 5 I am the
means God has appointed for the salvation of the world.
W-pI.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.
Let me not forget my function.
W-pI.64.1. Today's idea is merely another way of saying "Let me not wander into
temptation." 2 The purpose of the world you see is to obscure your function of forgiveness, and
provide you with a justification for forgetting it. 3 It is the temptation to abandon God and
His Son by taking on a physical appearance. 4 It is this the body's eyes look upon.
W-pI.64.2. Nothing the body's eyes seem to see can be anything but a form of temptation,
since this was the purpose of the body itself. 2 Yet we have learned that the Holy
Spirit has another use for all the illusions you have made, and therefore He sees another
purpose in them. 3 To the Holy Spirit, the world is a place where you learn to forgive
yourself what you think of as your sins. 4 In this perception, the physical appearance of
temptation becomes the spiritual recognition of salvation.
W-pI.64.3. To review our last few lessons, your function here is to be the light of the
world, a function given you by God. 2 It is only the arrogance of the ego that leads
you to question this, and only the fear of the ego that induces you to regard yourself as
unworthy of the task assigned to you by God Himself. 3 The world's salvation awaits your
forgiveness, because through it does the Son of God escape from all illusions, and thus from all
temptation. 4 The Son of God is you.
W-pI.64.4. Only by fulfilling the function given you by God will you be happy. 2 That
is because your function is to be happy by using the means by which happiness becomes
inevitable. 3 There is no other way. 4 Therefore, every time you choose whether or not to fulfill
your function, you are really choosing whether or not to be happy.
W-pI.64.5. Let us remember this today. 2 Let us remind ourselves of it in the morning
and again at night, and all through the day as well. 3 Prepare yourself in advance for all
the decisions you will make today by remembering they are all really very simple. 4
Each one will lead to happiness or unhappiness. 5 Can such a simple decision really be
difficult to make? 6 Let not the form of the decision deceive you. 7 Complexity of form does not
imply complexity of content. 8 It is impossible that any decision on earth can have a
content different from just this one simple choice. 9 That is the only choice the Holy Spirit
sees. 10 Therefore it is the only choice there is.
W-pI.64.6. Today, then, let us practice with these thoughts:
2 Let me not forget my function.
3 Let me not try to substitute mine for God's.
4 Let me forgive and be happy.
5 At least once devote ten or fifteen minutes today to reflecting on this with closed
eyes. 6 Related thoughts will come to help you, if you remember the crucial importance of
your function to you and to the world.
W-pI.64.7. In the frequent applications of today's idea throughout the day, devote
several minutes to reviewing these thoughts, and then thinking about them and about nothing
else. 2 This will be difficult, at first particularly, since you are not proficient in the
mind discipline that it requires. 3 You may need to repeat "Let me not forget my function"
quite often to help you concentrate.
W-pI.64.8. Two forms of shorter practice periods are required. 2 At times, do the
exercises with your eyes closed, trying to concentrate on the thoughts you are using. 3 At other
times, keep your eyes open after reviewing the thoughts, and then look slowly and
unselectively around you, telling yourself:
4 This is the world it is my function to save.
LESSON 65.
My only function is the one God gave me.
W-pI.65.1. The idea for today reaffirms your commitment to salvation. 2 It also reminds
you that you have no function other than that. 3 Both these thoughts are obviously
necessary for a total commitment. 4 Salvation cannot be the only purpose you hold while you
still cherish others. 5 The full acceptance of salvation as your only function necessarily
entails two phases; the recognition of salvation as your function, and the relinquishment of
all the other goals you have invented for yourself.
W-pI.65.2. This is the only way in which you can take your rightful place among the
saviors of the world. 2 This is the only way in which you can say and mean, "My only function
is the one God gave me." 3 This is the only way in which you can find peace of mind.
W-pI.65.3. Today, and for a number of days to follow, set aside ten to fifteen minutes
for a more sustained practice period, in which you try to understand and accept what the
idea for the day really means. 2 Today's idea offers you escape from all your perceived
difficulties. 3 It places the key to the door of peace, which you have closed upon yourself, in
your own hands. 4 It gives you the answer to all the searching you have done since time
began.
W-pI.65.4. Try, if possible, to undertake the daily extended practice periods at
approximately the same time each day. 2 Try, also, to determine this time in advance, and then
adhere to it as closely as possible. 3 The purpose of this is to arrange your day so that you
have set apart the time for God, as well as for all the trivial purposes and goals you
will pursue. 4 This is part of the long-range disciplinary training your mind needs, so
that the Holy Spirit can use it consistently for the purpose He shares with you.
W-pI.65.5. For the longer practice period, begin by reviewing the idea for the day. 2
Then close your eyes, repeat the idea to yourself once again, and watch your mind carefully
to catch whatever thoughts cross it. 3 At first, make no attempt to concentrate only on
thoughts related to the idea for the day. 4 Rather, try to uncover each thought that
arises to interfere with it. 5 Note each one as it comes to you, with as little involvement
or concern as possible, dismissing each one by telling yourself:
6 This thought reflects a goal that is preventing me from accepting my only function.
W-pI.65.6. After a while, interfering thoughts will become harder to find. 2 Try,
however, to continue a minute or so longer, attempting to catch a few of the idle thoughts
that escaped your attention before, but do not strain or make undue effort in doing this. 3
Then tell yourself:
4 On this clean slate let my true function be written for me.
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-pI.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-pI.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.
My happiness and my function are one.
W-pI.66.1. You have surely noticed an emphasis throughout our recent lessons on the
connection between fulfilling your function and achieving happiness. 2 This is because you do not
really see the connection. 3 Yet there is more than just a connection between them;
they are the same. 4 Their forms are different, but their content is completely one.
W-pI.66.2. The ego does constant battle with the Holy Spirit on the fundamental
question of what your function is. 2 So does it do constant battle with the Holy Spirit about
what your happiness is. 3 It is not a two-way battle. 4 The ego attacks and the Holy Spirit
does not respond. 5 He knows what your function is. 6 He knows that it is your
happiness.
W-pI.66.3. Today we will try to go past this wholly meaningless battle and arrive at
the truth about your function. 2 We will not engage in senseless arguments about what it
is. 3 We will not become hopelessly involved in defining happiness and determining the
means for achieving it. 4 We will not indulge the ego by listening to its attacks on truth.
5 We will merely be glad that we can find out what truth is.
W-pI.66.4. Our longer practice period today has as its purpose your acceptance of the
fact that not only is there a very real connection between the function God gave you and
your happiness, but that they are actually identical. 2 God gives you only happiness. 3
Therefore, the function He gave you must be happiness, even if it appears to be different. 4
Today's exercises are an attempt to go beyond these differences in appearance, and recognize a
common content where it exists in truth.
W-pI.66.5. Begin the ten-to-fifteen-minute practice period by reviewing these thoughts:
2 God gives me only happiness.
3 He has given my function to me.
4 Therefore my function must be happiness.
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
Love created me like itself.
W-pI.67.1. Today's idea is a complete and accurate statement of what you are. 2 This is
why you are the light of the world. 3 This is why God appointed you as the world's
savior. 4 This is why the Son of God looks to you for his salvation. 5 He is saved by what
you are. 6 We will make every effort today to reach this truth about you, and to realize
fully, if only for a moment, that it is the truth.
W-pI.67.2. In the longer practice period, we will think about your reality and its
wholly unchanged and unchangeable nature. 2 We will begin by repeating this truth about you,
and then spend a few minutes adding some relevant thoughts, such as:
3 Holiness created me holy.
4 Kindness created me kind.
5 Helpfulness created me helpful.
6 Perfection created me perfect.
7 Any attribute which is in accord with God as He defines Himself is appropriate for
use. 8 We are trying today to undo your definition of God and replace it with His Own. 9
We are also trying to emphasize that you are part of His definition of Himself.
W-pI.67.3. After you have gone over several such related thoughts, try to let all
thoughts drop away for a brief preparatory interval, and then try to reach past all your images
and preconceptions about yourself to the truth in you. 2 If love created you like
itself, this Self must be in you. 3 And somewhere in your mind It is there for you to find.
W-pI.67.4. You may find it necessary to repeat the idea for today from time to time to
replace distracting thoughts. 2 You may also find that this is not sufficient, and that you
need to continue adding other thoughts related to the truth about yourself. 3 Yet perhaps
you will succeed in going past that, and through the interval of thoughtlessness to the
awareness of a blazing light in which you recognize yourself as love created you. 4 Be confident
that you will do much today to bring that awareness nearer, whether you feel you have
succeeded or not.
W-pI.67.5. It will be particularly helpful today to practice the idea for the day as
often as you can. 2 You need to hear the truth about yourself as frequently as possible,
because your mind is so preoccupied with false self-images. 3 Four or five times an hour, and
perhaps even more, it would be most beneficial to remind yourself that love created you like
itself. 4 Hear the truth about yourself in this.
W-pI.67.6. Try to realize in the shorter practice periods that this is not your tiny,
solitary voice that tells you this. 2 This is the Voice for God, reminding you of your Father
and of your Self. 3 This is the Voice of truth, replacing everything that the ego tells
you about yourself with the simple truth about the Son of God. 4 You were created by love
like itself.
LESSON 68.
Love holds no grievances.
W-pI.68.1. You who were created by love like itself can hold no grievances and know
your Self. 2 To hold a grievance is to forget who you are. 3 To hold a grievance is to see
yourself as a body. 4 To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the
body to death. 5 Perhaps you do not yet fully realize just what holding grievances does to
your mind. 6 It seems to split you off from your Source and make you unlike Him. 7 It makes
you believe that He is like what you think you have become, for no one can conceive of
his Creator as unlike himself.
W-pI.68.2. Shut off from your Self, which remains aware of Its likeness to Its Creator,
your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves illusions in its
sleep appears to be awake. 2 Can all this arise from holding grievances? 3 Oh, yes! 4 For he
who holds grievances denies he was created by love, and his Creator has become fearful
to him in his dream of hate. 5 Who can dream of hatred and not fear God?
W-pI.68.3. It is as sure that those who hold grievances will redefine God in their own
image, as it is certain that God created them like Himself, and defined them as part of Him.
2 It is as sure that those who hold grievances will suffer guilt, as it is certain that
those who forgive will find peace. 3 It is as sure that those who hold grievances will
forget who they are, as it is certain that those who forgive will remember.
W-pI.68.4. Would you not be willing to relinquish your grievances if you believed all
this were so? 2 Perhaps you do not think you can let your grievances go. 3 That, however,
is simply a matter of motivation. 4 Today we will try to find out how you would feel
without them. 5 If you succeed even by ever so little, there will never be a problem in
motivation ever again.
W-pI.68.5. Begin today's extended practice period by searching your mind for those
against whom you hold what you regard as major grievances. 2 Some of these will be quite easy
to find. 3 Then think of the seemingly minor grievances you hold against those you like
and even think you love. 4 It will quickly become apparent that there is no one against
whom you do not cherish grievances of some sort. 5 This has left you alone in all the
universe in your perception of yourself.
W-pI.68.6. Determine now to see all these people as friends. 2 Say to them all,
thinking of each one in turn as you do so:
3 I would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of me and come to know
myself.
4 Spend the remainder of the practice period trying to think of yourself as completely
at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world that protects you and loves you,
and that you love in return. 5 Try to feel safety surrounding you, hovering over you and
holding you up. 6 Try to believe, however briefly, that nothing can harm you in any way. 7 At
the end of the practice period tell yourself:
8 Love holds no grievances. 9 When I let all my grievances go I will know I am
perfectly safe.
W-pI.68.7. The short practice periods should include a quick application of today's
idea in this form, whenever any thought of grievance arises against anyone, physically
present or not:
2 Love holds no grievances. 3 Let me not betray my Self.
4 In addition, repeat the idea several times an hour in this form:
5 Love holds no grievances. 6 I would wake to my Self by laying all my grievances aside
and wakening in Him.
LESSON 69.
My grievances hide the light of the world in me.
W-pI.69.1. No one can look upon what your grievances conceal. 2 Because your grievances
are hiding the light of the world in you, everyone stands in darkness, and you beside
him. 3 But as the veil of your grievances is lifted, you are released with him. 4 Share
your salvation now with him who stood beside you when you were in hell. 5 He is your
brother in the light of the world that saves you both.
W-pI.69.2. Today let us make another real attempt to reach the light in you. 2 Before
we undertake this in our more extended practice period, let us devote several minutes to
thinking about what we are trying to do. 3 We are literally attempting to get in touch with the
salvation of the world. 4 We are trying to see past the veil of darkness that keeps it
concealed. 5 We are trying to let the veil be lifted, and to see the tears of God's Son
disappear in the sunlight.
W-pI.69.3. Let us begin our longer practice period today with the full realization that
this is so, and with real determination to reach what is dearer to us than all else. 2
Salvation is our only need. 3 There is no other purpose here, and no other function to fulfill.
4 Learning salvation is our only goal. 5 Let us end the ancient search today by finding
the light in us, and holding it up for everyone who searches with us to look upon and
rejoice.
W-pI.69.4. Very quietly now, with your eyes closed, try to let go of all the content
that generally occupies your consciousness. 2 Think of your mind as a vast circle,
surrounded by a layer of heavy, dark clouds. 3 You can see only the clouds because you seem to be
standing outside the circle and quite apart from it.
W-pI.69.5. From where you stand, you can see no reason to believe there is a brilliant
light hidden by the clouds. 2 The clouds seem to be the only reality. 3 They seem to be all
there is to see. 4 Therefore, you do not attempt to go through them and past them, which is
the only way in which you would be really convinced of their lack of substance. 5 We will
make this attempt today.
W-pI.69.6. After you have thought about the importance of what you are trying to do for
yourself and the world, try to settle down in perfect stillness, remembering only how
much you want to reach the light in you today,--now! 2 Determine to go past the clouds. 3
Reach out and touch them in your mind. 4 Brush them aside with your hand; feel them resting
on your cheeks and forehead and eyelids as you go through them. 5 Go on; clouds cannot
stop you.
W-pI.69.7. If you are doing the exercises properly, you will begin to feel a sense of
being lifted up and carried ahead. 2 Your little effort and small determination call on the
power of the universe to help you, and God Himself will raise you from darkness into light.
3 You are in accord with His Will. 4 You cannot fail because your will is His.
W-pI.69.8. Have confidence in your Father today, and be certain that He has heard you
and answered you. 2 You may not recognize His answer yet, but you can indeed be sure that
it is given you and you will yet receive it. 3 Try, as you attempt to go through the
clouds to the light, to hold this confidence in your mind. 4 Try to remember that you are at
last joining your will to God's. 5 Try to keep the thought clearly in mind that what you
undertake with God must succeed. 6 Then let the power of God work in you and through you, that
His Will and yours be done.
W-pI.69.9. In the shorter practice periods, which you will want to do as often as
possible in view of the importance of today's idea to you and your happiness, remind yourself
that your grievances are hiding the light of the world from your awareness. 2 Remind
yourself also that you are not searching for it alone, and that you do know where to look for
it. 3 Say, then:
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.
7 Also, be sure to tell yourself:
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.
My salvation comes from me.
W-pI.70.1. All temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not to
believe the idea for today. 2 Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you. 3
So, too, does the source of guilt. 4 You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own
mind and nowhere else. 5 When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your
mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place. 6 In
understanding this you are saved.
W-pI.70.2. The seeming cost of accepting today's idea is this: It means that nothing
outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself can give you peace. 2 But it also
means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you, or disturb your peace or upset you in any
way. 3 Today's idea places you in charge of the universe, where you belong because of what
you are. 4 This is not a role that can be partially accepted. 5 And you must surely
begin to see that accepting it is salvation.
W-pI.70.3. It may not, however, be clear to you why the recognition that guilt is in
your own mind entails the realization that salvation is there as well. 2 God would not have
put the remedy for the sickness where it cannot help. 3 That is the way your mind has
worked, but hardly His. 4 He wants you to be healed, so He has kept the Source of healing
where the need for healing lies.
W-pI.70.4. You have tried to do just the opposite, making every attempt, however
distorted and fantastic it might be, to separate healing from the sickness for which it was
intended, and thus keep the sickness. 2 Your purpose was to ensure that healing did not occur.
3 God's purpose was to ensure that it did.
W-pI.70.5. Today we practice realizing that God's Will and ours are really the same in
this. 2 God wants us to be healed, and we do not really want to be sick, because it makes
us unhappy. 3 Therefore, in accepting the idea for today, we are really in agreement with
God. 4 He does not want us to be sick. 5 Neither do we. 6 He wants us to be healed. 7
So do we.
W-pI.70.6. We are ready for two longer practice periods today, each of which should
last some ten to fifteen minutes. 2 We will, however, still let you decide when to
undertake them. 3 We will follow this practice for a number of lessons, and it would again be
well to decide in advance when would be a good time to lay aside for each of them, and then
adhering to your own decisions as closely as possible.
W-pI.70.7. Begin these practice periods by repeating the idea for today, adding a
statement signifying your recognition that salvation comes from nothing outside of you. 2 You
might put it this way:
3 My salvation comes from me. 4 It cannot come from anywhere else.
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:
7 My salvation cannot come from any of these things. 8 My salvation comes from me and
only from me.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
6 My salvation comes from me. 7 Nothing outside of me can hold me back. 8 Within me is
the world's salvation and my own.
LESSON 71.
Only God's plan for salvation will work.
W-pI.71.1. You may not realize that the ego has set up a plan for salvation in
opposition to God's. 2 It is this plan in which you believe. 3 Since it is the opposite of God's,
you also believe that to accept God's plan in place of the ego's is to be damned. 4
This sounds preposterous, of course. 5 Yet after we have considered just what the ego's
plan is, perhaps you will realize that, however preposterous it may be, you do believe in
it.
W-pI.71.2. The ego's plan for salvation centers around holding grievances. 2 It
maintains that, if someone else spoke or acted differently, if some external circumstance or
event were changed, you would be saved. 3 Thus, the source of salvation is constantly
perceived as outside yourself. 4 Each grievance you hold is a declaration, and an assertion in
which you believe, that says, "If this were different, I would be saved." 5 The change of
mind necessary for salvation is thus demanded of everyone and everything except yourself.
W-pI.71.3. The role assigned to your own mind in this plan, then, is simply to
determine what, other than itself, must change if you are to be saved. 2 According to this
insane plan, any perceived source of salvation is acceptable provided that it will not work.
3 This ensures that the fruitless search will continue, for the illusion persists that,
although this hope has always failed, there is still grounds for hope in other places and in
other things. 4 Another person will yet serve better; another situation will yet offer
success.
W-pI.71.4. Such is the ego's plan for your salvation. 2 Surely you can see how it is in
strict accord with the ego's basic doctrine, "Seek but do not find." 3 For what could
more surely guarantee that you will not find salvation than to channelize all your efforts
in searching for it where it is not?
W-pI.71.5. God's plan for salvation works simply because, by following His direction,
you seek for salvation where it is. 2 But if you are to succeed, as God promises you will,
you must be willing to seek there only. 3 Otherwise, your purpose is divided and you
will attempt to follow two plans for salvation that are diametrically opposed in all ways.
4 The result can only bring confusion, misery and a deep sense of failure and despair.
W-pI.71.6. How can you escape all this? 2 Very simply. 3 The idea for today is the
answer. 4 Only God's plan for salvation will work. 5 There can be no real conflict about this,
because there is no possible alternative to God's plan that will save you. 6 His is
the only plan that is certain in its outcome. 7 His is the only plan that must succeed.
W-pI.71.7. Let us practice recognizing this certainty today. 2 And let us rejoice that
there is an answer to what seems to be a conflict with no resolution possible. 3 All things
are possible to God. 4 Salvation must be yours because of His plan, which cannot fail.
W-pI.71.8. Begin the two longer practice periods for today by thinking about today's
idea, and realizing that it contains two parts, each making equal contribution to the whole.
2 God's plan for your salvation will work, and other plans will not. 3 Do not allow
yourself to become depressed or angry at the second part; it is inherent in the first. 4 And in
the first is your full release from all your own insane attempts and mad proposals to
free yourself. 5 They have led to depression and anger; but God's plan will succeed. 6 It
will lead to release and joy.
W-pI.71.9. Remembering this, let us devote the remainder of the extended practice
periods to asking God to reveal His plan to us. 2 Ask Him very specifically:
3 What would You have me do?
4 Where would You have me go?
5 What would You have me say, and to whom?
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-pI.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:
3 Holding grievances is the opposite of God's plan for salvation. 4 And only His plan
will work.
5 Try to remember today's idea some six or seven times an hour. 6 There could be no
better way to spend a half minute or less than to remember the Source of your salvation, and
to see It where It is.
LESSON 72.
Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.
W-pI.72.1. While we have recognized that the ego's plan for salvation is the opposite
of God's, we have not yet emphasized that it is an active attack on His plan, and a
deliberate attempt to destroy it. 2 In the attack, God is assigned the attributes which are
actually associated with the ego, while the ego appears to take on the attributes of God.
W-pI.72.2. The ego's fundamental wish is to replace God. 2 In fact, the ego is the
physical embodiment of that wish. 3 For it is that wish that seems to surround the mind with a
body, keeping it separate and alone, and unable to reach other minds except through the
body that was made to imprison it. 4 The limit on communication cannot be the best means to
expand communication. 5 Yet the ego would have you believe that it is.
W-pI.72.3. Although the attempt to keep the limitations that a body would impose is
obvious here, it is perhaps not so apparent why holding grievances is an attack on God's plan
for salvation. 2 But let us consider the kinds of things you are apt to hold grievances
for. 3 Are they not always associated with something a body does? 4 A person says
something you do not like. 5 He does something that displeases you. 6 He "betrays" his hostile
thoughts in his behavior.
W-pI.72.4. You are not dealing here with what the person is. 2 On the contrary, you are
exclusively concerned with what he does in a body. 3 You are doing more than failing to
help in freeing him from the body's limitations. 4 You are actively trying to hold him
to it by confusing it with him, and judging them as one. 5 Herein is God attacked, for if
His Son is only a body, so must He be as well. 6 A creator wholly unlike his creation
is inconceivable.
W-pI.72.5. If God is a body, what must His plan for salvation be? 2 What could it be
but death? 3 In trying to present Himself as the Author of life and not of death, He is a
liar and a deceiver, full of false promises and offering illusions in place of truth. 4 The
body's apparent reality makes this view of God quite convincing. 5 In fact, if the body
were real, it would be difficult indeed to escape this conclusion. 6 And every
grievance that you hold insists that the body is real. 7 It overlooks entirely what your brother
is. 8 It reinforces your belief that he is a body, and condemns him for it. 9 And it
asserts that his salvation must be death, projecting this attack onto God, and holding Him
responsible for it.
W-pI.72.6. To this carefully prepared arena, where angry animals seek for prey and
mercy cannot enter, the ego comes to save you. 2 God made you a body. 3 Very well. 4 Let us
accept this and be glad. 5 As a body, do not let yourself be deprived of what the body offers.
6 Take the little you can get. 7 God gave you nothing. 8 The body is your only savior.
9 It is the death of God and your salvation.
W-pI.72.7. This is the universal belief of the world you see. 2 Some hate the body, and
try to hurt and humiliate it. 3 Others love the body, and try to glorify and exalt it.
4 But while the body stands at the center of your concept of yourself, you are attacking
God's plan for salvation, and holding your grievances against Him and His creation,
that you may not hear the Voice of truth and welcome It as Friend. 5 Your chosen savior
takes His place instead. 6 It is your friend; He is your enemy.
W-pI.72.8. We will try today to stop these senseless attacks on salvation. 2 We will
try to welcome it instead. 3 Your upside-down perception has been ruinous to your peace of
mind. 4 You have seen yourself in a body and the truth outside you, locked away from
your awareness by the body's limitations. 5 Now we are going to try to see this differently.
W-pI.72.9. The light of truth is in us, where it was placed by God. 2 It is the body
that is outside us, and is not our concern. 3 To be without a body is to be in our natural
state. 4 To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are. 5 To see
our Self as separate from the body is to end the attack on God's plan for salvation,
and to accept it instead. 6 And wherever His plan is accepted, it is accomplished already.
W-pI.72.10. Our goal in the longer practice periods today is to become aware that God's
plan for salvation has already been accomplished in us. 2 To achieve this goal, we must
replace attack with acceptance. 3 As long as we attack it, we cannot understand what
God's plan for us is. 4 We are therefore attacking what we do not recognize. 5 Now we are
going to try to lay judgment aside, and ask what God's plan for us is:
6 What is salvation, Father? 7 I do not know. 8 Tell me, that I may understand.
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-pI.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-pI.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:
2 What is salvation, Father? 3 I do not know. 4 Tell me, that I may understand.
5 He will answer. 6 Be determined to hear.
W-pI.72.13. One or perhaps two shorter practice periods an hour will be enough for
today, since they will be somewhat longer than usual. 2 These exercises should begin with
this:
3 Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation. 4 Let me accept it
instead. 5 What is salvation, Father?
6 Then wait a minute or so in silence, preferably with your eyes closed, and listen for
His answer.
LESSON 73.
I will there be light.
W-pI.73.1. Today we are considering the will you share with God. 2 This is not the same
as the ego's idle wishes, out of which darkness and nothingness arise. 3 The will you
share with God has all the power of creation in it. 4 The ego's idle wishes are unshared,
and therefore have no power at all. 5 Its wishes are not idle in the sense that they can
make a world of illusions in which your belief can be very strong. 6 But they are idle
indeed in terms of creation. 7 They make nothing that is real.
W-pI.73.2. Idle wishes and grievances are partners or co-makers in picturing the world
you see. 2 The wishes of the ego gave rise to it, and the ego's need for grievances, which
are necessary to maintain it, peoples it with figures that seem to attack you and call
for "righteous" judgment. 3 These figures become the middlemen the ego employs to traffic
in grievances. 4 They stand between your awareness and your brothers' reality. 5
Beholding them, you do not know your brothers or your Self.
W-pI.73.3. Your will is lost to you in this strange bartering, in which guilt is traded
back and forth, and grievances increase with each exchange. 2 Can such a world have
been created by the Will the Son of God shares with his Father? 3 Did God create disaster
for His Son? 4 Creation is the Will of Both together. 5 Would God create a world that
kills Himself?
W-pI.73.4. Today we will try once more to reach the world that is in accordance with
your will. 2 The light is in it because it does not oppose the Will of God. 3 It is not
Heaven, but the light of Heaven shines on it. 4 Darkness has vanished. 5 The ego's idle
wishes have been withdrawn. 6 Yet the light that shines upon this world reflects your will,
and so it must be in you that we will look for it.
W-pI.73.5. Your picture of the world can only mirror what is within. 2 The source of
neither light nor darkness can be found without. 3 Grievances darken your mind, and you look
out on a darkened world. 4 Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts your will, and lets
you look upon a world of light. 5 We have repeatedly emphasized that the barrier of
grievances is easily passed, and cannot stand between you and your salvation. 6 The reason is
very simple. 7 Do you really want to be in hell? 8 Do you really want to weep and suffer
and die?
W-pI.73.6. Forget the ego's arguments which seek to prove all this is really Heaven. 2
You know it is not so. 3 You cannot want this for yourself. 4 There is a point beyond
which illusions cannot go. 5 Suffering is not happiness, and it is happiness you really want.
6 Such is your will in truth. 7 And so salvation is your will as well. 8 You want to
succeed in what we are trying to do today. 9 We undertake it with your blessing and your glad
accord.
W-pI.73.7. We will succeed today if you remember that you want salvation for yourself.
2 You want to accept God's plan because you share in it. 3 You have no will that can
really oppose it, and you do not want to do so. 4 Salvation is for you. 5 Above all else, you
want the freedom to remember Who you really are. 6 Today it is the ego that stands
powerless before your will. 7 Your will is free, and nothing can prevail against it.
W-pI.73.8. Therefore, we undertake the exercises for today in happy confidence, certain
that we will find what it is your will to find, and remember what it is your will to
remember. 2 No idle wishes can detain us, nor deceive us with an illusion of strength. 3 Today
let your will be done, and end forever the insane belief that it is hell in place of
Heaven that you choose.
W-pI.73.9. We will begin our longer practice periods with the recognition that God's
plan for salvation, and only His, is wholly in accord with your will. 2 It is not the
purpose of an alien power, thrust upon you unwillingly. 3 It is the one purpose here on which
you and your Father are in perfect accord. 4 You will succeed today, the time appointed
for the release of the Son of God from hell and from all idle wishes. 5 His will is now
restored to his awareness. 6 He is willing this very day to look upon the light in him and be
saved.
W-pI.73.10. After reminding yourself of this, and determining to keep your will clearly
in mind, tell yourself with gentle firmness and quiet certainty:
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-pI.73.11. In the shorter practice periods, again make a declaration of what you
really want. 2 Say:
3 I will there be light. 4 Darkness is not my will.
5 This should be repeated several times an hour. 6 It is most important, however, to
apply today's idea in this form immediately you are tempted to hold a grievance of any kind.
7 This will help you let your grievances go, instead of cherishing them and hiding them
in darkness.
LESSON 74.
There is no will but God's.
W-pI.74.1. The idea for today can be regarded as the central thought toward which all
our exercises are directed. 2 God's is the only Will. 3 When you have recognized this, you
have recognized that your will is His. 4 The belief that conflict is possible has gone.
5 Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals. 6 As an
expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but His.
W-pI.74.2. There is great peace in today's idea, and the exercises for today are
directed towards finding it. 2 The idea itself is wholly true. 3 Therefore it cannot give rise
to illusions. 4 Without illusions conflict is impossible. 5 Let us try to recognize this
today, and experience the peace this recognition brings.
W-pI.74.3. Begin the longer practice periods by repeating these thoughts several times,
slowly and with firm determination to understand what they mean, and to hold them in
mind:
2 There is no will but God's. 3 I cannot be in conflict.
4 Then spend several minutes in adding some related thoughts, such as:
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.
10 During this introductory phase, be sure to deal quickly with any conflict thoughts
that may cross your mind. 11 Tell yourself immediately:
12 There is no will but God's. 13 These conflict thoughts are meaningless.
W-pI.74.4. If there is one conflict area that seems particularly difficult to resolve,
single it out for special consideration. 2 Think about it briefly but very specifically,
identify the particular person or persons and the situation or situations involved, and tell
yourself:
3 There is no will but God's. 4 I share it with Him. 5 My conflicts about ___ cannot be
real.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.74.7. In the shorter periods, which should be undertaken at regular and
predetermined intervals today, say to yourself:
2 There is no will but God's. 3 I seek His peace today.
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.
The light has come.
W-pI.75.1. The light has come. 2 You are healed and you can heal. 3 The light has come.
4 You are saved and you can save. 5 You are at peace, and you bring peace with you
wherever you go. 6 Darkness and turmoil and death have disappeared. 7 The light has come.
W-pI.75.2. Today we celebrate the happy ending to your long dream of disaster. 2 There
are no dark dreams now. 3 The light has come. 4 Today the time of light begins for you and
everyone. 5 It is a new era, in which a new world is born. 6 The old one has left no
trace upon it in its passing. 7 Today we see a different world, because the light has come.
W-pI.75.3. Our exercises for today will be happy ones, in which we offer thanks for the
passing of the old and the beginning of the new. 2 No shadows from the past remain to
darken our sight and hide the world forgiveness offers us. 3 Today we will accept the new
world as what we want to see. 4 We will be given what we desire. 5 We will to see the light;
the light has come.
W-pI.75.4. Our longer practice periods will be devoted to looking at the world that our
forgiveness shows us. 2 This is what we want to see, and only this. 3 Our single
purpose makes our goal inevitable. 4 Today the real world rises before us in gladness, to be
seen at last. 5 Sight is given us, now that the light has come.
W-pI.75.5. We do not want to see the ego's shadow on the world today. 2 We see the
light, and in it we see Heaven's reflection lie across the world. 3 Begin the longer
practice periods by telling yourself the glad tidings of your release:
4 The light has come. 5 I have forgiven the world.
W-pI.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:
8 The light has come. 9 I have forgiven the world.
W-pI.75.7. Realize that your forgiveness entitles you to vision. 2 Understand that the
Holy Spirit never fails to give the gift of sight to the forgiving. 3 Believe He will not
fail you now. 4 You have forgiven the world. 5 He will be with you as you watch and wait. 6
He will show you what true vision sees. 7 It is His Will, and you have joined with Him.
8 Wait patiently for Him. 9 He will be there. 10 The light has come. 11 You have
forgiven the world.
W-pI.75.8. Tell Him you know you cannot fail because you trust in Him. 2 And tell
yourself you wait in certainty to look upon the world He promised you. 3 From this time forth
you will see differently. 4 Today the light has come. 5 And you will see the world that
has been promised you since time began, and in which is the end of time ensured.
W-pI.75.9. The shorter practice periods, too, will be joyful reminders of your release.
2 Remind yourself every quarter of an hour or so that today is a time for special
celebration. 3 Give thanks for mercy and the Love of God. 4 Rejoice in the power of forgiveness to
heal your sight completely. 5 Be confident that on this day there is a new beginning. 6
Without the darkness of the past upon your eyes, you cannot fail to see today. 7 And
what you see will be so welcome that you will gladly extend today forever.
W-pI.75.10. Say, then:
2 The light has come. 3 I have forgiven the world.
4 Should you be tempted, say to anyone who seems to pull you back into darkness:
5 The light has come. 6 I have forgiven you.
W-pI.75.11. We dedicate this day to the serenity in which God would have you be. 2 Keep
it in your awareness of yourself and see it everywhere today, as we celebrate the
beginning of your vision and the sight of the real world, which has come to replace the
unforgiven world you thought was real.
LESSON 76.
I am under no laws but God's.
W-pI.76.1. We have observed before how many senseless things have seemed to you to be
salvation. 2 Each has imprisoned you with laws as senseless as itself. 3 You are not bound by
them. 4 Yet to understand that this is so, you must first realize salvation lies not there.
5 While you would seek for it in things that have no meaning, you bind yourself to laws
that make no sense. 6 Thus do you seek to prove salvation is where it is not.
W-pI.76.2. Today we will be glad you cannot prove it. 2 For if you could, you would
forever seek salvation where it is not, and never find it. 3 The idea for today tells you once
again how simple is salvation. 4 Look for it where it waits for you, and there it will
be found. 5 Look nowhere else, for it is nowhere else.
W-pI.76.3. Think of the freedom in the recognition that you are not bound by all the
strange and twisted laws you have set up to save you. 2 You really think that you would starve
unless you have stacks of green paper strips and piles of metal discs. 3 You really
think a small round pellet or some fluid pushed into your veins through a sharpened needle
will ward off disease and death. 4 You really think you are alone unless another body is
with you.
W-pI.76.4. It is insanity that thinks these things. 2 You call them laws, and put them
under different names in a long catalogue of rituals that have no use and serve no purpose.
3 You think you must obey the "laws" of medicine, of economics and of health. 4 Protect
the body, and you will be saved.
W-pI.76.5. These are not laws, but madness. 2 The body is endangered by the mind that
hurts itself. 3 The body suffers just in order that the mind will fail to see it is the
victim of itself. 4 The body's suffering is a mask the mind holds up to hide what really
suffers. 5 It would not understand it is its own enemy; that it attacks itself and wants to
die. 6 It is from this your "laws" would save the body. 7 It is for this you think you are
a body.
W-pI.76.6. There are no laws except the laws of God. 2 This needs repeating, over and
over, until you realize it applies to everything that you have made in opposition to God's
Will. 3 Your magic has no meaning. 4 What it is meant to save does not exist. 5 Only what
it is meant to hide will save you.
W-pI.76.7. The laws of God can never be replaced. 2 We will devote today to rejoicing
that this is so. 3 It is no longer a truth that we would hide. 4 We realize instead it is a
truth that keeps us free forever. 5 Magic imprisons, but the laws of God make free. 6
The light has come because there are no laws but His.
W-pI.76.8. We will begin the longer practice periods today with a short review of the
different kinds of "laws" we have believed we must obey. 2 These would include, for example, the
"laws" of nutrition, of immunization, of medication, and of the body's protection in
innumerable ways. 3 Think further; you believe in the "laws" of friendship, of "good"
relationships and reciprocity. 4 Perhaps you even think that there are laws which set forth what is
God's and what is yours. 5 Many "religions" have been based on this. 6 They would not save
but damn in Heaven's name. 7 Yet they are no more strange than other "laws" you hold must
be obeyed to make you safe.
W-pI.76.9. There are no laws but God's. 2 Dismiss all foolish magical beliefs today,
and hold your mind in silent readiness to hear the Voice that speaks the truth to you. 3
You will be listening to One Who says there is no loss under the laws of God. 4 Payment is
neither given nor received. 5 Exchange cannot be made; there are no substitutes; and
nothing is replaced by something else. 6 God's laws forever give and never take.
W-pI.76.10. Hear Him Who tells you this, and realize how foolish are the "laws" you
thought upheld the world you thought you saw. 2 Then listen further. 3 He will tell you more.
4 About the Love your Father has for you. 5 About the endless joy He offers you. 6 About
His yearning for His only Son, created as His channel for creation; denied to Him by
his belief in hell.
W-pI.76.11. Let us today open God's channels to Him, and let His Will extend through us
to Him. 2 Thus is creation endlessly increased. 3 His Voice will speak of this to us,
as well as of the joys of Heaven which His laws keep limitless forever. 4 We will repeat
today's idea until we have listened and understood there are no laws but God's. 5 Then we will
tell ourselves, as a dedication with which the practice period concludes:
6 I am under no laws but God's.
W-pI.76.12. We will repeat this dedication as often as possible today; at least four or
five times an hour, as well as in response to any temptation to experience ourselves as
subject to other laws throughout the day. 2 It is our statement of freedom from all
danger and all tyranny. 3 It is our acknowledgment that God is our Father, and that His Son
is saved.
LESSON 77.
I am entitled to miracles.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
Let miracles replace all grievances.
W-pI.78.1. Perhaps it is not yet quite clear to you that each decision that you make is
one between a grievance and a miracle. 2 Each grievance stands like a dark shield of
hate before the miracle it would conceal. 3 And as you raise it up before your eyes, you
will not see the miracle beyond. 4 Yet all the while it waits for you in light, but you
behold your grievances instead.
W-pI.78.2. Today we go beyond the grievances, to look upon the miracle instead. 2 We
will reverse the way you see by not allowing sight to stop before it sees. 3 We will not
wait before the shield of hate, but lay it down and gently lift our eyes in silence to
behold the Son of God.
W-pI.78.3. He waits for you behind your grievances, and as you lay them down he will
appear in shining light where each one stood before. 2 For every grievance is a block to
sight, and as it lifts you see the Son of God where he has always been. 3 He stands in light,
but you were in the dark. 4 Each grievance made the darkness deeper, and you could not
see.
W-pI.78.4. Today we will attempt to see God's Son. 2 We will not let ourselves be blind
to him; we will not look upon our grievances. 3 So is the seeing of the world reversed,
as we look out toward truth, away from fear. 4 We will select one person you have used
as target for your grievances, and lay the grievances aside and look at him. 5 Someone,
perhaps, you fear and even hate; someone you think you love who angered you; someone you call
a friend, but whom you see as difficult at times or hard to please, demanding,
irritating or untrue to the ideal he should accept as his, according to the role you set for him.
W-pI.78.5. You know the one to choose; his name has crossed your mind already. 2 He
will be the one of whom we ask God's Son be shown to you. 3 Through seeing him behind the
grievances that you have held against him, you will learn that what lay hidden while you saw him
not is there in everyone, and can be seen. 4 He who was enemy is more than friend when he
is freed to take the holy role the Holy Spirit has assigned to him. 5 Let him be savior
unto you today. 6 Such is his role in God your Father's plan.
W-pI.78.6. Our longer practice periods today will see him in this role. 2 You will
attempt to hold him in your mind, first as you now consider him. 3 You will review his faults,
the difficulties you have had with him, the pain he caused you, his neglect, and all
the little and the larger hurts he gave. 4 You will regard his body with its flaws and
better points as well, and you will think of his mistakes and even of his "sins."
W-pI.78.7. Then let us ask of Him Who knows this Son of God in his reality and truth,
that we may look on him a different way, and see our savior shining in the light of true
forgiveness, given unto us. 2 We ask Him in the holy Name of God and of His Son, as holy as
Himself:
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
5 Let miracles replace all grievances.
LESSON 79.
Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.
W-pI.79.1. A problem cannot be solved if you do not know what it is. 2 Even if it is
really solved already you will still have the problem, because you will not recognize that it
has been solved. 3 This is the situation of the world. 4 The problem of separation,
which is really the only problem, has already been solved. 5 Yet the solution is not
recognized because the problem is not recognized.
W-pI.79.2. Everyone in this world seems to have his own special problems. 2 Yet they
are all the same, and must be recognized as one if the one solution that solves them all
is to be accepted. 3 Who can see that a problem has been solved if he thinks the problem
is something else? 4 Even if he is given the answer, he cannot see its relevance.
W-pI.79.3. That is the position in which you find yourself now. 2 You have the answer,
but you are still uncertain about what the problem is. 3 A long series of different
problems seems to confront you, and as one is settled the next one and the next arise. 4 There
seems to be no end to them. 5 There is no time in which you feel completely free of problems
and at peace.
W-pI.79.4. The temptation to regard problems as many is the temptation to keep the
problem of separation unsolved. 2 The world seems to present you with a vast number of
problems, each requiring a different answer. 3 This perception places you in a position in
which your problem solving must be inadequate, and failure is inevitable.
W-pI.79.5. No one could solve all the problems the world appears to hold. 2 They seem
to be on so many levels, in such varying forms and with such varied content, that they
confront you with an impossible situation. 3 Dismay and depression are inevitable as you regard
them. 4 Some spring up unexpectedly, just as you think you have resolved the previous
ones. 5 Others remain unsolved under a cloud of denial, and rise to haunt you from time to
time, only to be hidden again but still unsolved.
W-pI.79.6. All this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem,
and therefore not to let it be resolved. 2 If you could recognize that your only
problem is separation, no matter what form it takes, you could accept the answer because you
would see its relevance. 3 Perceiving the underlying constancy in all the problems that seem
to confront you, you would understand that you have the means to solve them all. 4 And
you would use the means, because you recognize the problem.
W-pI.79.7. In our longer practice periods today we will ask what the problem is, and
what is the answer to it. 2 We will not assume that we already know. 3 We will try to free
our minds of all the many different kinds of problems we think we have. 4 We will try to
realize that we have only one problem, which we have failed to recognize. 5 We will ask what
it is, and wait for the answer. 6 We will be told. 7 Then we will ask for the solution to
it. 8 And we will be told.
W-pI.79.8. The exercises for today will be successful to the extent to which you do not
insist on defining the problem. 2 Perhaps you will not succeed in letting all your
preconceived notions go, but that is not necessary. 3 All that is necessary is to entertain some
doubt about the reality of your version of what your problems are. 4 You are trying to
recognize that you have been given the answer by recognizing the problem, so that the problem
and the answer can be brought together and you can be at peace.
W-pI.79.9. The shorter practice periods for today will not be set by time, but by need.
2 You will see many problems today, each one calling for an answer. 3 Our efforts will
be directed toward recognizing that there is only one problem and one answer. 4 In this
recognition are all problems resolved. 5 In this recognition there is peace.
W-pI.79.10. Be not deceived by the form of problems today. 2 Whenever any difficulty
seems to rise, tell yourself quickly:
3 Let me recognize this problem so it can be solved.
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.
Let me recognize my problems have been solved.
W-pI.80.1. If you are willing to recognize your problems, you will recognize that you
have no problems. 2 Your one central problem has been answered, and you have no other. 3
Therefore, you must be at peace. 4 Salvation thus depends on recognizing this one problem, and
understanding that it has been solved. 5 One problem, one solution. 6 Salvation is accomplished. 7
Freedom from conflict has been given you. 8 Accept that fact, and you are ready to take your
rightful place in God's plan for salvation.
W-pI.80.2. Your only problem has been solved! 2 Repeat this over and over to yourself
today, with gratitude and conviction. 3 You have recognized your only problem, opening the
way for the Holy Spirit to give you God's answer. 4 You have laid deception aside, and
seen the light of truth. 5 You have accepted salvation for yourself by bringing the problem
to the answer. 6 And you can recognize the answer, because the problem has been
identified.
W-pI.80.3. You are entitled to peace today. 2 A problem that has been resolved cannot
trouble you. 3 Only be certain you do not forget that all problems are the same. 4 Their many
forms will not deceive you while you remember this. 5 One problem, one solution. 6 Accept
the peace this simple statement brings.
W-pI.80.4. In our longer practice periods today, we will claim the peace that must be
ours when the problem and the answer have been brought together. 2 The problem must be gone,
because God's answer cannot fail. 3 Having recognized one, you have recognized the
other. 4 The solution is inherent in the problem. 5 You are answered, and have accepted the
answer. 6 You are saved.
W-pI.80.5. Now let the peace that your acceptance brings be given you. 2 Close your
eyes, and receive your reward. 3 Recognize that your problems have been solved. 4 Recognize
that you are out of conflict; free and at peace. 5 Above all, remember that you have
one problem, and that the problem has one solution. 6 It is in this that the simplicity of
salvation lies. 7 It is because of this that it is guaranteed to work.
W-pI.80.6. Assure yourself often today that your problems have been solved. 2 Repeat
the idea with deep conviction, as frequently as possible. 3 And be particularly sure to
apply the idea for today to any specific problem that may arise. 4 Say quickly:
5 Let me recognize this problem has been solved.
W-pI.80.7. Let us be determined not to collect grievances today. 2 Let us be determined
to be free of problems that do not exist. 3 The means is simple honesty. 4 Do not
deceive yourself about what the problem is, and you must recognize it has been solved.
REVIEW II
Introduction
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
Our ideas for review today are:
W-pI.81.1. (61) I am the light of the world.
2 How holy am I, who have been given the function of lighting up the world! 3 Let me be
still before my holiness. 4 In its calm light let all my conflicts disappear. 5 In its
peace let me remember Who I am.
W-pI.81.2. Some specific forms for applying this idea when special difficulties seem to
arise might be:
2 Let me not obscure the light of the world in me.
3 Let the light of the world shine through this appearance.
4 This shadow will vanish before the light.
W-pI.81.3. (62) Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
2 It is through accepting my function that I will see the light in me. 3 And in this
light will my function stand clear and perfectly unambiguous before my sight. 4 My
acceptance does not depend on my recognizing what my function is, for I do not yet understand
forgiveness. 5 Yet I will trust that, in the light, I will see it as it is.
W-pI.81.4. Specific forms for using this idea might include:
2 Let this help me learn what forgiveness means.
3 Let me not separate my function from my will.
4 I will not use this for an alien purpose.
LESSON 82.
We will review these ideas today:
W-pI.82.1. (63) The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my
forgiveness.
2 My forgiveness is the means by which the light of the world finds expression through
me. 3 My forgiveness is the means by which I become aware of the light of the world in me.
4 My forgiveness is the means by which the world is healed, together with myself. 5
Let me, then, forgive the world, that it may be healed along with me.
W-pI.82.2. Suggestions for specific forms for applying this idea are:
2 Let peace extend from my mind to yours, [name].
3 I share the light of the world with you, [name].
4 Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is.
W-pI.82.3. (64) Let me not forget my function.
2 I would not forget my function, because I would remember my Self. 3 I cannot fulfill
my function if I forget it. 4 And unless I fulfill my function, I will not experience the
joy that God intends for me.
W-pI.82.4. Suitable specific forms of this idea include:
2 Let me not use this to hide my function from me.
3 I would use this as an opportunity to fulfill my function.
4 This may threaten my ego, but cannot change my function in any way.
LESSON 83.
Today let us review these ideas:
W-pI.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-pI.83.2. More specific applications of this idea might take these forms:
2 My perception of this does not change my function.
3 This does not give me a function other than the one God gave me.
4 Let me not use this to justify a function God did not give me.
W-pI.83.3. (66) My happiness and my function are one.
2 All things that come from God are one. 3 They come from Oneness, and must be received
as one. 4 Fulfilling my function is my happiness because both come from the same Source.
5 And I must learn to recognize what makes me happy, if I would find happiness.
W-pI.83.4. Some useful forms for specific applications of this idea are:
2 This cannot separate my happiness from my function.
3 The oneness of my happiness and my function remains wholly unaffected by this.
4 Nothing, including this, can justify the illusion of happiness apart from my function.
LESSON 84.
These are the ideas for today's review:
W-pI.84.1. (67) Love created me like itself.
2 I am in the likeness of my Creator. 3 I cannot suffer, I cannot experience loss and I
cannot die. 4 I am not a body. 5 I would recognize my reality today. 6 I will worship
no idols, nor raise my own self-concept to replace my Self. 7 I am in the likeness of my
Creator. 8 Love created me like itself.
W-pI.84.2. You might find these specific forms helpful in applying the idea:
2 Let me not see an illusion of myself in this.
3 As I look on this, let me remember my Creator.
4 My Creator did not create this as I see it.
W-pI.84.3. (68) Love holds no grievances.
2 Grievances are completely alien to love. 3 Grievances attack love and keep its light
obscure. 4 If I hold grievances I am attacking love, and therefore attacking my Self. 5 My
Self thus becomes alien to me. 6 I am determined not to attack my Self today, so that I can
remember Who I am.
W-pI.84.4. These specific forms for applying this idea would be helpful:
2 This is no justification for denying my Self.
3 I will not use this to attack love.
4 Let this not tempt me to attack myself.
LESSON 85.
Today's review will cover these ideas:
W-pI.85.1. (69) My grievances hide the light of the world in me.
2 My grievances show me what is not there, and hide from me what I would see. 3
Recognizing this, what do I want my grievances for? 4 They keep me in darkness and hide the light.
5 Grievances and light cannot go together, but light and vision must be joined for me
to see. 6 To see, I must lay grievances aside. 7 I want to see, and this will be the
means by which I will succeed.
W-pI.85.2. Specific applications for this idea might be made in these forms:
2 Let me not use this as a block to sight.
3 The light of the world will shine all this away.
4 I have no need for this. 5 I want to see.
W-pI.85.3. (70) My salvation comes from me.
2 Today I will recognize where my salvation is. 3 It is in me because its Source is
there. 4 It has not left its Source, and so it cannot have left my mind. 5 I will not look
for it outside myself. 6 It is not found outside and then brought in. 7 But from within me
it will reach beyond, and everything I see will but reflect the light that shines in me
and in itself.
W-pI.85.4. These forms of the idea are suitable for more specific applications:
2 Let this not tempt me to look away from me for my salvation.
3 I will not let this interfere with my awareness of the Source of my salvation.
4 This has no power to remove salvation from me.
LESSON 86.
These ideas are for review today:
W-pI.86.1. (71) Only God's plan for salvation will work.
2 It is senseless for me to search wildly about for salvation. 3 I have seen it in many
people and in many things, but when I reached for it, it was not there. 4 I was
mistaken about where it is. 5 I was mistaken about what it is. 6 I will undertake no more idle
seeking. 7 Only God's plan for salvation will work. 8 And I will rejoice because His plan can
never fail.
W-pI.86.2. These are some suggested forms for applying this idea specifically:
2 God's plan for salvation will save me from my perception of this.
3 This is no exception in God's plan for my salvation.
4 Let me perceive this only in the light of God's plan for salvation.
W-pI.86.3. (72) Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.
2 Holding grievances is an attempt to prove that God's plan for salvation will not work.
3 Yet only His plan will work. 4 By holding grievances, I am therefore excluding my
only hope of salvation from my awareness. 5 I would no longer defeat my own best interests
in this insane way. 6 I would accept God's plan for salvation, and be happy.
W-pI.86.4. Specific applications for this idea might be in these forms:
2 I am choosing between misperception and salvation as I look on this.
3 If I see grounds for grievances in this, I will not see the grounds for my salvation.
4 This calls for salvation, not attack.
LESSON 87.
Our review today will cover these ideas:
W-pI.87.1. (73) I will there be light.
2 I will use the power of my will today. 3 It is not my will to grope about in darkness,
fearful of shadows and afraid of things unseen and unreal. 4 Light shall be my guide
today. 5 I will follow it where it leads me, and I will look only on what it shows me. 6
This day I will experience the peace of true perception.
W-pI.87.2. These forms of this idea would be helpful for specific applications:
2 This cannot hide the light I will to see.
3 You stand with me in light, [name].
4 In the light this will look different.
W-pI.87.3. (74) There is no will but God's.
2 I am safe today because there is no will but God's. 3 I can become afraid only when I
believe there is another will. 4 I try to attack only when I am afraid, and only when I
try to attack can I believe that my eternal safety is threatened. 5 Today I will
recognize that all this has not occurred. 6 I am safe because there is no will but God's.
W-pI.87.4. These are some useful forms of this idea for specific applications:
2 Let me perceive this in accordance with the Will of God.
3 It is God's Will you are His Son, [name], and mine as well.
4 This is part of God's Will for me, however I may see it.
LESSON 88.
Today we will review these ideas:
W-pI.88.1. (75) The light has come.
2 In choosing salvation rather than attack, I merely choose to recognize what is
already there. 3 Salvation is a decision made already. 4 Attack and grievances are not there
to choose. 5 That is why I always choose between truth and illusion; between what is
there and what is not. 6 The light has come. 7 I can but choose the light, for it has no
alternative. 8 It has replaced the darkness, and the darkness has gone.
W-pI.88.2. These would prove useful forms for specific applications of this idea:
2 This cannot show me darkness, for the light has come.
3 The light in you is all that I would see, [name].
4 I would see in this only what is there.
W-pI.88.3. (76) I am under no laws but God's.
2 Here is the perfect statement of my freedom. 3 I am under no laws but God's. 4 I am
constantly tempted to make up other laws and give them power over me. 5 I suffer only because of
my belief in them. 6 They have no real effect on me at all. 7 I am perfectly free of the
effects of all laws save God's. 8 And His are the laws of freedom.
W-pI.88.4. For specific forms in applying this idea, these would be useful:
2 My perception of this shows me I believe in laws that do not exist.
3 I see only the laws of God at work in this.
4 Let me allow God's laws to work in this, and not my own.
LESSON 89.
These are our review ideas for today:
W-pI.89.1. (77) I am entitled to miracles.
2 I am entitled to miracles because I am under no laws but God's. 3 His laws release me
from all grievances, and replace them with miracles. 4 And I would accept the miracles
in place of the grievances, which are but illusions that hide the miracles beyond. 5 Now
I would accept only what the laws of God entitle me to have, that I may use it on behalf
of the function He has given me.
W-pI.89.2. You might use these suggestions for specific applications of this idea:
2 Behind this is a miracle to which I am entitled.
3 Let me not hold a grievance against you, [name], but offer you the miracle that
belongs to you instead.
4 Seen truly, this offers me a miracle.
W-pI.89.3. (78) Let miracles replace all grievances.
2 By this idea do I unite my will with the Holy Spirit's, and perceive them as one. 3
By this idea do I accept my release from hell. 4 By this idea do I express my willingness
to have all my illusions be replaced with truth, according to God's plan for my
salvation. 5 I would make no exceptions and no substitutes. 6 I want all of Heaven and only
Heaven, as God wills me to have.
W-pI.89.4. Useful specific forms for applying this idea would be:
2 I would not hold this grievance apart from my salvation.
3 Let our grievances be replaced by miracles, [name].
4 Beyond this is the miracle by which all my grievances are replaced.
LESSON 90.
For this review we will use these ideas:
W-pI.90.1. (79) Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.
2 Let me realize today that the problem is always some form of grievance that I would
cherish. 3 Let me also understand that the solution is always a miracle with which I let the
grievance be replaced. 4 Today I would remember the simplicity of salvation by reinforcing the
lesson that there is one problem and one solution. 5 The problem is a grievance; the solution
is a miracle. 6 And I invite the solution to come to me through my forgiveness of the
grievance, and my welcome of the miracle that takes its place.
W-pI.90.2. Specific applications of this idea might be in these forms:
2 This presents a problem to me which I would have resolved.
3 The miracle behind this grievance will resolve it for me.
4 The answer to this problem is the miracle that it conceals.
W-pI.90.3. (80) Let me recognize my problems have been solved.
2 I seem to have problems only because I am misusing time. 3 I believe that the problem
comes first, and time must elapse before it can be worked out. 4 I do not see the
problem and the answer as simultaneous in their occurrence. 5 That is because I do not yet
realize that God has placed the answer together with the problem, so that they cannot be
separated by time. 6 The Holy Spirit will teach me this, if I will let Him. 7 And I will
understand it is impossible that I could have a problem which has not been solved already.
W-pI.90.4. These forms of the idea will be useful for specific applications:
2 I need not wait for this to be resolved.
3 The answer to this problem is already given me, if I will accept it.
4 Time cannot separate this problem from its solution.
LESSON 91.
Miracles are seen in light.
W-pI.91.1. It is important to remember that miracles and vision necessarily go together.
2 This needs repeating, and frequent repeating. 3 It is a central idea in your new
thought system, and the perception that it produces. 4 The miracle is always there. 5 Its
presence is not caused by your vision; its absence is not the result of your failure to see. 6
It is only your awareness of miracles that is affected. 7 You will see them in the light;
you will not see them in the dark.
W-pI.91.2. To you, then, light is crucial. 2 While you remain in darkness, the miracle
remains unseen. 3 Thus you are convinced it is not there. 4 This follows from the premises
from which the darkness comes. 5 Denial of light leads to failure to perceive it. 6 Failure
to perceive light is to perceive darkness. 7 The light is useless to you then, even
though it is there. 8 You cannot use it because its presence is unknown to you. 9 And the
seeming reality of the darkness makes the idea of light meaningless.
W-pI.91.3. To be told that what you do not see is there sounds like insanity. 2 It is
very difficult to become convinced that it is insanity not to see what is there, and to see
what is not there instead. 3 You do not doubt that the body's eyes can see. 4 You do
not doubt the images they show you are reality. 5 Your faith lies in the darkness, not the
light. 6 How can this be reversed? 7 For you it is impossible, but you are not alone in
this.
W-pI.91.4. Your efforts, however little they may be, have strong support. 2 Did you but
realize how great this strength, your doubts would vanish. 3 Today we will devote
ourselves to the attempt to let you feel this strength. 4 When you have felt the strength in you,
which makes all miracles within your easy reach, you will not doubt. 5 The miracles
your sense of weakness hides will leap into awareness as you feel the strength in you.
W-pI.91.5. Three times today, set aside about ten minutes for a quiet time in which you
try to leave your weakness behind. 2 This is accomplished very simply, as you instruct
yourself that you are not a body. 3 Faith goes to what you want, and you instruct your mind
accordingly. 4 Your will remains your teacher, and your will has all the strength to do what it
desires. 5 You can escape the body if you choose. 6 You can experience the strength in you.
W-pI.91.6. Begin the longer practice periods with this statement of true cause and
effect relationships:
2 Miracles are seen in light.
3 The body's eyes do not perceive the light.
4 But I am not a body. 5 What am I?
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-pI.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-pI.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:
4 I am not weak, but strong.
5 I am not helpless, but all powerful.
6 I am not limited, but unlimited.
7 I am not doubtful, but certain.
8 I am not an illusion, but a reality.
9 I cannot see in darkness, but in light.
W-pI.91.9. In the second phase of the exercise period, try to experience these truths
about yourself. 2 Concentrate particularly on the experience of strength. 3 Remember that
all sense of weakness is associated with the belief you are a body, a belief that is
mistaken and deserves no faith. 4 Try to remove your faith from it, if only for a moment. 5 You
will be accustomed to keeping faith with the more worthy in you as we go along.
W-pI.91.10. Relax for the rest of the practice period, confident that your efforts,
however meager, are fully supported by the strength of God and all His Thoughts. 2 It is from
Them that your strength will come. 3 It is through Their strong support that you will feel
the strength in you. 4 They are united with you in this practice period, in which you
share a purpose like Their Own. 5 Theirs is the light in which you will see miracles,
because Their strength is yours. 6 Their strength becomes your eyes, that you may see.
W-pI.91.11. Five or six times an hour, at reasonably regular intervals, remind yourself
that miracles are seen in light. 2 Also, be sure to meet temptation with today's idea.
3 This form would be helpful for this special purpose:
4 Miracles are seen in light. 5 Let me not close my eyes because of this.
LESSON 92.
Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
Light and joy and peace abide in me.
W-pI.93.1. You think you are the home of evil, darkness and sin. 2 You think if anyone
could see the truth about you he would be repelled, recoiling from you as if from a
poisonous snake. 3 You think if what is true about you were revealed to you, you would be struck
with horror so intense that you would rush to death by your own hand, living on after
seeing this being impossible.
W-pI.93.2. These are beliefs so firmly fixed that it is difficult to help you see that
they are based on nothing. 2 That you have made mistakes is obvious. 3 That you have sought
salvation in strange ways; have been deceived, deceiving and afraid of foolish
fantasies and savage dreams; and have bowed down to idols made of dust,--all this is true by
what you now believe.
W-pI.93.3. Today we question this, not from the point of view of what you think, but
from a very different reference point, from which such idle thoughts are meaningless. 2
These thoughts are not according to God's Will. 3 These weird beliefs He does not share with
you. 4 This is enough to prove that they are wrong, but you do not perceive that this
is so.
W-pI.93.4. Why would you not be overjoyed to be assured that all the evil that you
think you did was never done, that all your sins are nothing, that you are as pure and holy
as you were created, and that light and joy and peace abide in you? 2 Your image of
yourself cannot withstand the Will of God. 3 You think that this is death, but it is life. 4
You think you are destroyed, but you are saved.
W-pI.93.5. The self you made is not the Son of God. 2 Therefore, this self does not
exist at all. 3 And anything it seems to do and think means nothing. 4 It is neither bad nor
good. 5 It is unreal, and nothing more than that. 6 It does not battle with the Son of
God. 7 It does not hurt him, nor attack his peace. 8 It has not changed creation, nor
reduced eternal sinlessness to sin, and love to hate. 9 What power can this self you made
possess, when it would contradict the Will of God?
W-pI.93.6. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. 2 Over and over this must be repeated,
until it is accepted. 3 It is true. 4 Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. 5 Nothing
can touch it, or change what God created as eternal. 6 The self you made, evil and full
of sin, is meaningless. 7 Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light and joy and
peace abide in you.
W-pI.93.7. Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought;--you are as God
created you, not what you made of yourself. 2 Whatever evil you may think you did, you are as
God created you. 3 Whatever mistakes you made, the truth about you is unchanged. 4
Creation is eternal and unalterable. 5 Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. 6 You are and
will forever be exactly as you were created. 7 Light and joy and peace abide in you because
God put them there.
W-pI.93.8. In our longer exercise periods today, which would be most profitable if done
for the first five minutes of every waking hour, begin by stating the truth about your
creation:
2 Light and joy and peace abide in me.
3 My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
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-pI.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-pI.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:
4 Light and joy and peace abide in me.
5 My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
6 Then try to devote at least a minute or so to closing your eyes and realizing that
this is a statement of the truth about you.
W-pI.93.11. If a situation arises that seems to be disturbing, quickly dispel the
illusion of fear by repeating these thoughts again. 2 Should you be tempted to become angry
with someone, tell him silently:
3 Light and joy and peace abide in you.
4 Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
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.
I am as God created me.
W-pI.94.1. Today we continue with the one idea which brings complete salvation; the one
statement which makes all forms of temptation powerless; the one thought which renders
the ego silent and entirely undone. 2 You are as God created you. 3 The sounds of this
world are still, the sights of this world disappear, and all the thoughts that this world
ever held are wiped away forever by this one idea. 4 Here is salvation accomplished. 5 Here
is sanity restored.
W-pI.94.2. True light is strength, and strength is sinlessness. 2 If you remain as God
created you, you must be strong and light must be in you. 3 He Who ensured your sinlessness
must be the guarantee of strength and light as well. 4 You are as God created you. 5
Darkness cannot obscure the glory of God's Son. 6 You stand in light, strong in the sinlessness
in which you were created, and in which you will remain throughout eternity.
W-pI.94.3. Today we will again devote the first five minutes of each waking hour to the
attempt to feel the truth in you. 2 Begin these times of searching with these words:
3 I am as God created me.
4 I am His Son eternally.
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-pI.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-pI.94.5. If you do not meet the requirement of practicing for the first five minutes
of every hour, at least remind yourself hourly:
2 I am as God created me.
3 I am His Son eternally.
4 Tell yourself frequently today that you are as God created you. 5 And be sure to
respond to anyone who seems to irritate you with these words:
6 You are as God created you.
7 You are His Son eternally.
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.
I am one Self, united with my Creator.
W-pI.95.1. Today's idea accurately describes you as God created you. 2 You are one
within yourself, and one with Him. 3 Yours is the unity of all creation. 4 Your perfect unity
makes change in you impossible. 5 You do not accept this, and you fail to realize it
must be so, only because you believe that you have changed yourself already.
W-pI.95.2. You see yourself as a ridiculous parody on God's creation; weak, vicious,
ugly and sinful, miserable and beset with pain. 2 Such is your version of yourself; a self
divided into many warring parts, separate from God, and tenuously held together by its erratic
and capricious maker, to which you pray. 3 It does not hear your prayers, for it is
deaf. 4 It does not see the oneness in you, for it is blind. 5 It does not understand you
are the Son of God, for it is senseless and understands nothing.
W-pI.95.3. We will attempt today to be aware only of what can hear and see, and what
makes perfect sense. 2 We will again direct our exercises towards reaching your one Self,
which is united with Its Creator. 3 In patience and in hope we try again today.
W-pI.95.4. The use of the first five minutes of every waking hour for practicing the
idea for the day has special advantages at the stage of learning in which you are at
present. 2 It is difficult at this point not to allow your mind to wander, if it undertakes
extended practice. 3 You have surely realized this by now. 4 You have seen the extent of your
lack of mental discipline, and of your need for mind training. 5 It is necessary that you
be aware of this, for it is indeed a hindrance to your advance.
W-pI.95.5. Frequent but shorter practice periods have other advantages for you at this
time. 2 In addition to recognizing your difficulties with sustained attention, you must
also have noticed that, unless you are reminded of your purpose frequently, you tend to
forget about it for long periods of time. 3 You often fail to remember the short applications
of the idea for the day, and you have not yet formed the habit of using the idea as an
automatic response to temptation.
W-pI.95.6. Structure, then, is necessary for you at this time, planned to include
frequent reminders of your goal and regular attempts to reach it. 2 Regularity in terms of time
is not the ideal requirement for the most beneficial form of practice in salvation. 3
It is advantageous, however, for those whose motivation is inconsistent, and who remain
heavily defended against learning.
W-pI.95.7. We will, therefore, keep to the five-minutes-an-hour practice periods for a
while, and urge you to omit as few as possible. 2 Using the first five minutes of the hour
will be particularly helpful, since it imposes firmer structure. 3 Do not, however, use
your lapses from this schedule as an excuse not to return to it again as soon as you can. 4
There may well be a temptation to regard the day as lost because you have already
failed to do what is required. 5 This should, however, merely be recognized as what it is; a
refusal to let your mistake be corrected, and an unwillingness to try again.
W-pI.95.8. The Holy Spirit is not delayed in His teaching by your mistakes. 2 He can be
held back only by your unwillingness to let them go. 3 Let us therefore be determined,
particularly for the next week or so, to be willing to forgive ourselves for our lapses in
diligence, and our failures to follow the instructions for practicing the day's idea. 4 This
tolerance for weakness will enable us to overlook it, rather than give it power to delay our
learning. 5 If we give it power to do this, we are regarding it as strength, and are confusing
strength with weakness.
W-pI.95.9. When you fail to comply with the requirements of this course, you have
merely made a mistake. 2 This calls for correction, and for nothing else. 3 To allow a
mistake to continue is to make additional mistakes, based on the first and reinforcing it. 4
It is this process that must be laid aside, for it is but another way in which you would
defend illusions against the truth.
W-pI.95.10. Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. 2 They are
attempts to keep you unaware you are one Self, united with your Creator, at one with every
aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace. 3 This is the truth, and nothing
else is true. 4 Today we will affirm this truth again, and try to reach the place in you in
which there is no doubt that only this is true.
W-pI.95.11. Begin the practice periods today with this assurance, offered to your mind
with all the certainty that you can give:
2 I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and
limitless in power and in peace.
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
Salvation comes from my one Self.
W-pI.96.1. Although you are one Self, you experience yourself as two; as both good and
evil, loving and hating, mind and body. 2 This sense of being split into opposites induces
feelings of acute and constant conflict, and leads to frantic attempts to reconcile the
contradictory aspects of this self-perception. 3 You have sought many such solutions, and none of
them has worked. 4 The opposites you see in you will never be compatible. 5 But one exists.
W-pI.96.2. The fact that truth and illusion cannot be reconciled, no matter how you try,
what means you use and where you see the problem, must be accepted if you would be
saved. 2 Until you have accepted this, you will attempt an endless list of goals you cannot
reach; a senseless series of expenditures of time and effort, hopefulness and doubt, each
one as futile as the one before, and failing as the next one surely will.
W-pI.96.3. Problems that have no meaning cannot be resolved within the framework they
are set. 2 Two selves in conflict could not be resolved, and good and evil have no meeting
place. 3 The self you made can never be your Self, nor can your Self be split in two,
and still be what It is and must forever be. 4 A mind and body cannot both exist. 5 Make
no attempt to reconcile the two, for one denies the other can be real. 6 If you are
physical, your mind is gone from your self-concept, for it has no place in which it could be
really part of you. 7 If you are spirit, then the body must be meaningless to your reality.
W-pI.96.4. Spirit makes use of mind as means to find its Self expression. 2 And the
mind which serves the spirit is at peace and filled with joy. 3 Its power comes from spirit,
and it is fulfilling happily its function here. 4 Yet mind can also see itself
divorced from spirit, and perceive itself within a body it confuses with itself. 5 Without its
function then it has no peace, and happiness is alien to its thoughts.
W-pI.96.5. Yet mind apart from spirit cannot think. 2 It has denied its Source of
strength, and sees itself as helpless, limited and weak. 3 Dissociated from its function now,
it thinks it is alone and separate, attacked by armies massed against itself and hiding
in the body's frail support. 4 Now must it reconcile unlike with like, for this is what
it thinks that it is for.
W-pI.96.6. Waste no more time on this. 2 Who can resolve the senseless conflicts which
a dream presents? 3 What could the resolution mean in truth? 4 What purpose could it
serve? 5 What is it for? 6 Salvation cannot make illusions real, nor solve a problem that
does not exist. 7 Perhaps you hope it can. 8 Yet would you have God's plan for the release
of His dear Son bring pain to him, and fail to set him free?
W-pI.96.7. Your Self retains Its Thoughts, and they remain within your mind and in the
Mind of God. 2 The Holy Spirit holds salvation in your mind, and offers it the way to peace.
3 Salvation is a thought you share with God, because His Voice accepted it for you and
answered in your name that it was done. 4 Thus is salvation kept among the Thoughts
your Self holds dear and cherishes for you.
W-pI.96.8. We will attempt today to find this thought, whose presence in your mind is
guaranteed by Him Who speaks to you from your one Self. 2 Our hourly five-minute practicing will
be a search for Him within your mind. 3 Salvation comes from this one Self through Him
Who is the Bridge between your mind and It. 4 Wait patiently, and let Him speak to you
about your Self, and what your mind can do, restored to It and free to serve Its Will.
W-pI.96.9. Begin with saying this:
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation.
W-pI.98.1. Today is a day of special dedication. 2 We take a stand on but one side
today. 3 We side with truth and let illusions go. 4 We will not vacillate between the two,
but take a firm position with the One. 5 We dedicate ourselves to truth today, and to
salvation as God planned it be. 6 We will not argue it is something else. 7 We will not seek for
it where it is not. 8 In gladness we accept it as it is, and take the part assigned to
us by God.
W-pI.98.2. How happy to be certain! 2 All our doubts we lay aside today, and take our
stand with certainty of purpose, and with thanks that doubt is gone and surety has come. 3
We have a mighty purpose to fulfill, and have been given everything we need with which to
reach the goal. 4 Not one mistake stands in our way. 5 For we have been absolved from
errors. 6 All our sins are washed away by realizing they were but mistakes.
W-pI.98.3. The guiltless have no fear, for they are safe and recognize their safety. 2
They do not appeal to magic, nor invent escapes from fancied threats without reality. 3
They rest in quiet certainty that they will do what it is given them to do. 4 They do not
doubt their own ability because they know their function will be filled completely in the
perfect time and place. 5 They took the stand which we will take today, that we may share
their certainty and thus increase it by accepting it ourselves.
W-pI.98.4. They will be with us; all who took the stand we take today will gladly offer
us all that they learned and every gain they made. 2 Those still uncertain, too, will
join with us, and, borrowing our certainty, will make it stronger still. 3 While those as
yet unborn will hear the call we heard, and answer it when they have come to make their
choice again. 4 We do not choose but for ourselves today.
W-pI.98.5. Is it not worth five minutes of your time each hour to be able to accept the
happiness that God has given you? 2 Is it not worth five minutes hourly to recognize
your special function here? 3 Is not five minutes but a small request to make in terms of
gaining a reward so great it has no measure? 4 You have made a thousand losing bargains at the
least.
W-pI.98.6. Here is an offer guaranteeing you your full release from pain of every kind,
and joy the world does not contain. 2 You can exchange a little of your time for peace
of mind and certainty of purpose, with the promise of complete success. 3 And since time
has no meaning, you are being asked for nothing in return for everything. 4 Here is a
bargain that you cannot lose. 5 And what you gain is limitless indeed!
W-pI.98.7. Each hour today give Him your tiny gift of but five minutes. 2 He will give
the words you use in practicing today's idea the deep conviction and the certainty you
lack. 3 His words will join with yours, and make each repetition of today's idea a total
dedication, made in faith as perfect and as sure as His in you. 4 His confidence in you will
bring the light to all the words you say, and you will go beyond their sound to what they
really mean. 5 Today you practice with Him, as you say:
6 I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
Salvation is my only function here.
W-pI.99.1. Salvation and forgiveness are the same. 2 They both imply that something has
gone wrong; something to be saved from, forgiven for; something amiss that needs
corrective change; something apart or different from the Will of God. 3 Thus do both terms imply
a thing impossible but yet which has occurred, resulting in a state of conflict seen
between what is and what could never be.
W-pI.99.2. Truth and illusions both are equal now, for both have happened. 2 The
impossible becomes the thing you need forgiveness for, salvation from. 3 Salvation now becomes
the borderland between the truth and the illusion. 4 It reflects the truth because it is
the means by which you can escape illusions. 5 Yet it is not yet the truth because it
undoes what was never done.
W-pI.99.3. How could there be a meeting place at all where earth and Heaven can be
reconciled within a mind where both of them exist? 2 The mind that sees illusions thinks them
real. 3 They have existence in that they are thoughts. 4 And yet they are not real, because
the mind that thinks these thoughts is separate from God.
W-pI.99.4. What joins the separated mind and thoughts with Mind and Thought which are
forever One? 2 What plan could hold the truth inviolate, yet recognize the need illusions
bring, and offer means by which they are undone without attack and with no touch of pain? 3
What but a Thought of God could be this plan, by which the never done is overlooked, and
sins forgotten which were never real?
W-pI.99.5. The Holy Spirit holds this plan of God exactly as it was received of Him
within the Mind of God and in your own. 2 It is apart from time in that its Source is
timeless. 3 Yet it operates in time, because of your belief that time is real. 4 Unshaken does
the Holy Spirit look on what you see; on sin and pain and death, on grief and separation
and on loss. 5 Yet does He know one thing must still be true; God is still Love, and this
is not His Will.
W-pI.99.6. This is the Thought that brings illusions to the truth, and sees them as
appearances behind which is the changeless and the sure. 2 This is the Thought that saves and that
forgives, because it lays no faith in what is not created by the only Source it knows.
3 This is the Thought whose function is to save by giving you its function as your own.
4 Salvation is your function, with the One to Whom the plan was given. 5 Now are you
entrusted with this plan, along with Him. 6 He has one answer to appearances; regardless of
their form, their size, their depth or any attribute they seem to have:
7 Salvation is my only function here.
8 God still is Love, and this is not His Will.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
6 Salvation is my only function here.
7 Salvation and forgiveness are the same.
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-pI.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-pI.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:
3 Salvation is my only function here.
4 God still is Love, and this is not His Will.
W-pI.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:
4 Salvation is my only function here.
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.
My part is essential to God's plan for salvation.
W-pI.100.1. Just as God's Son completes his Father, so your part in it completes your
Father's plan. 2 Salvation must reverse the mad belief in separate thoughts and separate bodies,
which lead separate lives and go their separate ways. 3 One function shared by
separate minds unites them in one purpose, for each one of them is equally essential to them
all.
W-pI.100.2. God's Will for you is perfect happiness. 2 Why should you choose to go
against His Will? 3 The part that He has saved for you to take in working out His plan is
given you that you might be restored to what He wills. 4 This part is as essential to His
plan as to your happiness. 5 Your joy must be complete to let His plan be understood by
those to whom He sends you. 6 They will see their function in your shining face, and hear
God calling to them in your happy laugh.
W-pI.100.3. You are indeed essential to God's plan. 2 Without your joy, His joy is
incomplete. 3 Without your smile, the world cannot be saved. 4 While you are sad, the light that
God Himself appointed as the means to save the world is dim and lusterless, and no one
laughs because all laughter can but echo yours.
W-pI.100.4. You are indeed essential to God's plan. 2 Just as your light increases
every light that shines in Heaven, so your joy on earth calls to all minds to let their
sorrows go, and take their place beside you in God's plan. 3 God's messengers are joyous, and
their joy heals sorrow and despair. 4 They are the proof that God wills perfect happiness
for all who will accept their Father's gifts as theirs.
W-pI.100.5. We will not let ourselves be sad today. 2 For if we do, we fail to take the
part that is essential to God's plan, as well as to our vision. 3 Sadness is the sign
that you would play another part, instead of what has been assigned to you by God. 4 Thus
do you fail to show the world how great the happiness He wills for you. 5 And so you do
not recognize that it is yours.
W-pI.100.6. Today we will attempt to understand joy is our function here. 2 If you are
sad, your part is unfulfilled, and all the world is thus deprived of joy, along with you.
3 God asks you to be happy, so the world can see how much He loves His Son, and wills no
sorrow rises to abate his joy; no fear besets him to disturb his peace. 4 You are God's
messenger today. 5 You bring His happiness to all you look upon; His peace to everyone
who looks on you and sees His message in your happy face.
W-pI.100.7. We will prepare ourselves for this today, in our five-minute practice
periods, by feeling happiness arise in us according to our Father's Will and ours. 2 Begin the
exercises with the thought today's idea contains. 3 Then realize your part is to be
happy. 4 Only this is asked of you or anyone who wants to take his place among God's
messengers. 5 Think what this means. 6 You have indeed been wrong in your belief that sacrifice
is asked. 7 You but receive according to God's plan, and never lose or sacrifice or die.
W-pI.100.8. Now let us try to find that joy that proves to us and all the world God's
Will for us. 2 It is your function that you find it here, and that you find it now. 3 For
this you came. 4 Let this one be the day that you succeed! 5 Look deep within you,
undismayed by all the little thoughts and foolish goals you pass as you ascend to meet the Christ
in you.
W-pI.100.9. He will be there. 2 And you can reach Him now. 3 What could you rather look
upon in place of Him Who waits that you may look on Him? 4 What little thought has
power to hold you back? 5 What foolish goal can keep you from success when He Who calls to
you is God Himself?
W-pI.100.10. He will be there. 2 You are essential to His plan. 3 You are His messenger
today. 4 And you must find what He would have you give. 5 Do not forget the idea for
today between your hourly practice periods. 6 It is your Self Who calls to you today. 7 And
it is Him you answer, every time you tell yourself you are essential to God's plan for
the salvation of the world.
LESSON 101.
God's Will for me is perfect happiness.
W-pI.101.1. Today we will continue with the theme of happiness. 2 This is a key idea in
understanding what salvation means. 3 You still believe it asks for suffering as
penance for your "sins." 4 This is not so. 5 Yet you must think it so while you believe that
sin is real, and that God's Son can sin.
W-pI.101.2. If sin is real, then punishment is just and cannot be escaped. 2 Salvation
thus cannot be purchased but through suffering. 3 If sin is real, then happiness must be
illusion, for they cannot both be true. 4 The sinful warrant only death and pain, and it is
this they ask for. 5 For they know it waits for them, and it will seek them out and find
them somewhere, sometime, in some form that evens the account they owe to God. 6 They would
escape Him in their fear. 7 And yet He will pursue, and they can not escape.
W-pI.101.3. If sin is real, salvation must be pain. 2 Pain is the cost of sin, and
suffering can never be escaped, if sin is real. 3 Salvation must be feared, for it will kill,
but slowly, taking everything away before it grants the welcome boon of death to victims
who are little more than bones before salvation is appeased. 4 Its wrath is boundless,
merciless, but wholly just.
W-pI.101.4. Who would seek out such savage punishment? 2 Who would not flee salvation,
and attempt in every way he can to drown the Voice which offers it to him? 3 Why would he
try to listen and accept Its offering? 4 If sin is real, its offering is death, and meted
out in cruel form to match the vicious wishes in which sin is born. 5 If sin is real,
salvation has become your bitter enemy, the curse of God upon you who have crucified His Son.
W-pI.101.5. You need the practice periods today. 2 The exercises teach sin is not real,
and all that you believe must come from sin will never happen, for it has no cause. 3
Accept Atonement with an open mind, which cherishes no lingering belief that you have made a
devil of God's Son. 4 There is no sin. 5 We practice with this thought as often as we can
today, because it is the basis for today's idea.
W-pI.101.6. God's Will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin, and
suffering is causeless. 2 Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood yourself.
3 Fear not the Will of God. 4 But turn to it in confidence that it will set you free
from all the consequences sin has wrought in feverish imagination. 5 Say:
6 God's Will for me is perfect happiness.
7 There is no sin; it has no consequence.
8 So should you start your practice periods, and then attempt again to find the joy
these thoughts will introduce into your mind.
W-pI.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:
6 God's Will for me is perfect happiness.
7 This is the truth, because there is no sin.
LESSON 102.
I share God's Will for happiness for me.
W-pI.102.1. You do not want to suffer. 2 You may think it buys you something, and may
still believe a little that it buys you what you want. 3 Yet this belief is surely shaken
now, at least enough to let you question it, and to suspect it really makes no sense. 4 It
has not gone as yet, but lacks the roots that once secured it tightly to the dark and
hidden secret places of your mind.
W-pI.102.2. Today we try to loose its weakened hold still further, and to realize that
pain is purposeless, without a cause and with no power to accomplish anything. 2 It cannot
purchase anything at all. 3 It offers nothing, and does not exist. 4 And everything you think
it offers you is lacking in existence, like itself. 5 You have been slave to nothing. 6
Be you free today to join the happy Will of God.
W-pI.102.3. For several days we will continue to devote our periods of practicing to
exercises planned to help you reach the happiness God's Will has placed in you. 2 Here is your
home, and here your safety is. 3 Here is your peace, and here there is no fear. 4 Here is
salvation. 5 Here is rest at last.
W-pI.102.4. Begin your practice periods today with this acceptance of God's Will for
you:
2 I share God's Will for happiness for me, and I accept it as my function now.
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-pI.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.
God, being Love, is also happiness.
W-pI.103.1. Happiness is an attribute of love. 2 It cannot be apart from it. 3 Nor can
it be experienced where love is not. 4 Love has no limits, being everywhere. 5 And
therefore joy is everywhere as well. 6 Yet can the mind deny that this is so, believing there
are gaps in love where sin can enter, bringing pain instead of joy. 7 This strange belief
would limit happiness by redefining love as limited, and introducing opposition in what has
no limit and no opposite.
W-pI.103.2. Fear is associated then with love, and its results become the heritage of
minds that think what they have made is real. 2 These images, with no reality in truth, bear
witness to the fear of God, forgetting being Love, He must be joy. 3 This basic error
we will try again to bring to truth today, and teach ourselves:
4 God, being Love, is also happiness.
5 To fear Him is to be afraid of joy.
6 Begin your periods of practicing today with this association, which corrects the
false belief that God is fear. 7 It also emphasizes happiness belongs to you, because of
what He is.
W-pI.103.3. Allow this one correction to be placed within your mind each waking hour
today. 2 Then welcome all the happiness it brings as truth replaces fear, and joy becomes
what you expect to take the place of pain. 3 God, being Love, it will be given you. 4
Bolster this expectation frequently throughout the day, and quiet all your fears with this
assurance, kind and wholly true:
5 God, being Love, is also happiness.
6 And it is happiness I seek today.
7 I cannot fail, because I seek the truth.
LESSON 104.
I seek but what belongs to me in truth.
W-pI.104.1. Today's idea continues with the thought that joy and peace are not but idle
dreams. 2 They are your right, because of what you are. 3 They come to you from God,
Who cannot fail to give you what He wills. 4 Yet must there be a place made ready to
receive His gifts. 5 They are not welcomed gladly by a mind that has instead received the
gifts it made where His belong, as substitutes for them.
W-pI.104.2. Today we would remove all meaningless and self-made gifts which we have
placed upon the holy altar where God's gifts belong. 2 His are the gifts that are our own in
truth. 3 His are the gifts that we inherited before time was, and that will still be ours
when time has passed into eternity. 4 His are the gifts that are within us now, for they
are timeless. 5 And we need not wait to have them. 6 They belong to us today.
W-pI.104.3. Therefore, we choose to have them now, and know, in choosing them in place
of what we made, we but unite our will with what God wills, and recognize the same as
being one. 2 Our longer practice periods today, the hourly five minutes given truth for your
salvation, should begin with this:
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-pI.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-pI.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:
4 I seek but what belongs to me in truth.
5 God's gifts of joy and peace are all I want.
LESSON 105.
God's peace and joy are mine.
W-pI.105.1. God's peace and joy are yours. 2 Today we will accept them, knowing they
belong to us. 3 And we will try to understand these gifts increase as we receive them. 4 They
are not like to the gifts the world can give, in which the giver loses as he gives the
gift; the taker is the richer by his loss. 5 Such are not gifts, but bargains made with
guilt. 6 The truly given gift entails no loss. 7 It is impossible that one can gain because
another loses. 8 This implies a limit and an insufficiency.
W-pI.105.2. No gift is given thus. 2 Such "gifts" are but a bid for a more valuable
return; a loan with interest to be paid in full; a temporary lending, meant to be a pledge of
debt to be repaid with more than was received by him who took the gift. 3 This strange
distortion of what giving means pervades all levels of the world you see. 4 It strips all meaning
from the gifts you give, and leaves you nothing in the ones you take.
W-pI.105.3. A major learning goal this course has set is to reverse your view of giving,
so you can receive. 2 For giving has become a source of fear, and so you would avoid
the only means by which you can receive. 3 Accept God's peace and joy, and you will learn
a different way of looking at a gift. 4 God's gifts will never lessen when they are
given away. 5 They but increase thereby.
W-pI.105.4. As Heaven's peace and joy intensify when you accept them as God's gift to
you, so does the joy of your Creator grow when you accept His joy and peace as yours. 2
True giving is creation. 3 It extends the limitless to the unlimited, eternity to
timelessness, and love unto itself. 4 It adds to all that is complete already, not in simple terms
of adding more, for that implies that it was less before. 5 It adds by letting what
cannot contain itself fulfill its aim of giving everything it has away, securing it forever
for itself.
W-pI.105.5. Today accept God's peace and joy as yours. 2 Let Him complete Himself as He
defines completion. 3 You will understand that what completes Him must complete His Son
as well. 4 He cannot give through loss. 5 No more can you. 6 Receive His gift of joy
and peace today, and He will thank you for your gift to Him.
W-pI.105.6. Today our practice periods will start a little differently. 2 Begin today
by thinking of those brothers who have been denied by you the peace and joy that are
their right under the equal laws of God. 3 Here you denied them to yourself. 4 And here you
must return to claim them as your own.
W-pI.105.7. Think of your "enemies" a little while, and tell each one, as he occurs to
you:
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-pI.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-pI.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.
Let me be still and listen to the truth.
W-pI.106.1. If you will lay aside the ego's voice, however loudly it may seem to call,
if you will not accept its petty gifts that give you nothing that you really want; if you
will listen with an open mind, that has not told you what salvation is; then you will
hear the mighty Voice of truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain
in Its messages.
W-pI.106.2. Listen, and hear your Father speak to you through His appointed Voice,
which silences the thunder of the meaningless, and shows the way to peace to those who
cannot see. 2 Be still today and listen to the truth. 3 Be not deceived by voices of the dead,
which tell you they have found the source of life and offer it to you for your belief.
4 Attend them not, but listen to the truth.
W-pI.106.3. Be not afraid today to circumvent the voices of the world. 2 Walk lightly
past their meaningless persuasion. 3 Hear them not. 4 Be still today and listen to the
truth. 5 Go past all things which do not speak of Him Who holds your happiness within His
Hand, held out to you in welcome and in love. 6 Hear only Him today, and do not wait to
reach Him longer. 7 Hear one Voice today.
W-pI.106.4. Today the promise of God's Word is kept. 2 Hear and be silent. 3 He would
speak to you. 4 He comes with miracles a thousand times as happy and as wonderful as those
you ever dreamed or wished for in your dreams. 5 His miracles are true. 6 They will not
fade when dreaming ends. 7 They end the dream instead; and last forever, for they come from
God to His dear Son, whose other name is you. 8 Prepare yourself for miracles today. 9
Today allow your Father's ancient pledge to you and all your brothers to be kept.
W-pI.106.5. Hear Him today, and listen to the Word which lifts the veil that lies upon
the earth, and wakes all those who sleep and cannot see. 2 God calls to them through you.
3 He needs your voice to speak to them, for who could reach God's Son except his Father,
calling through your Self? 4 Hear Him today, and offer Him your voice to speak to all
the multitude who wait to hear the Word that He will speak today.
W-pI.106.6. Be ready for salvation. 2 It is here, and will today be given unto you. 3
And you will learn your function from the One Who chose it in your Father's Name for you.
4 Listen today, and you will hear a Voice which will resound throughout the world
through you. 5 The bringer of all miracles has need that you receive them first, and thus
become the joyous giver of what you received.
W-pI.106.7. Thus does salvation start and thus it ends; when everything is yours and
everything is given away, it will remain with you forever. 2 And the lesson has been learned. 3
Today we practice giving, not the way you understand it now, but as it is. 4 Each hour's
exercises should begin with this request for your enlightenment:
5 I will be still and listen to the truth.
6 What does it mean to give and to receive?
W-pI.106.8. Ask and expect an answer. 2 Your request is one whose answer has been
waiting long to be received by you. 3 It will begin the ministry for which you came, and which
will free the world from thinking giving is a way to lose. 4 And so the world becomes
ready to understand and to receive.
W-pI.106.9. Be still and listen to the truth today. 2 For each five minutes spent in
listening, a thousand minds are opened to the truth and they will hear the holy Word you hear. 3
And when the hour is past, you will again release a thousand more who pause to ask that
truth be given them, along with you.
W-pI.106.10. Today the holy Word of God is kept through your receiving it to give away,
so you can teach the world what giving means by listening and learning it of Him. 2 Do
not forget today to reinforce your choice to hear and to receive the Word by this reminder,
given to yourself as often as is possible today:
3 Let me be still and listen to the truth.
4 I am the messenger of God today, My voice is His, to give what I receive.
LESSON 107.
Truth will correct all errors in my mind.
W-pI.107.1. What can correct illusions but the truth? 2 And what are errors but
illusions that remain unrecognized for what they are? 3 Where truth has entered errors disappear.
4 They merely vanish, leaving not a trace by which to be remembered. 5 They are gone
because, without belief, they have no life. 6 And so they disappear to nothingness, returning
whence they came. 7 From dust to dust they come and go, for only truth remains.
W-pI.107.2. Can you imagine what a state of mind without illusions is? 2 How it would
feel? 3 Try to remember when there was a time,--perhaps a minute, maybe even less--when
nothing came to interrupt your peace; when you were certain you were loved and safe. 4 Then
try to picture what it would be like to have that moment be extended to the end of time
and to eternity. 5 Then let the sense of quiet that you felt be multiplied a hundred times,
and then be multiplied another hundred more.
W-pI.107.3. And now you have a hint, not more than just the faintest intimation of the
state your mind will rest in when the truth has come. 2 Without illusions there could be no
fear, no doubt and no attack. 3 When truth has come all pain is over, for there is no room
for transitory thoughts and dead ideas to linger in your mind. 4 Truth occupies your mind
completely, liberating you from all beliefs in the ephemeral. 5 They have no place because the
truth has come, and they are nowhere. 6 They can not be found, for truth is everywhere
forever, now.
W-pI.107.4. When truth has come it does not stay a while, to disappear or change to
something else. 2 It does not shift and alter in its form, nor come and go and go and come again.
3 It stays exactly as it always was, to be depended on in every need, and trusted with
a perfect trust in all the seeming difficulties and the doubts that the appearances the
world presents engender. 4 They will merely blow away, when truth corrects the errors
in your mind.
W-pI.107.5. When truth has come it harbors in its wings the gift of perfect constancy,
and love which does not falter in the face of pain, but looks beyond it, steadily and sure.
2 Here is the gift of healing, for the truth needs no defense, and therefore no attack
is possible. 3 Illusions can be brought to truth to be corrected. 4 But the truth
stands far beyond illusions, and can not be brought to them to turn them into truth.
W-pI.107.6. Truth does not come and go nor shift nor change, in this appearance now and
then in that, evading capture and escaping grasp. 2 It does not hide. 3 It stands in
open light, in obvious accessibility. 4 It is impossible that anyone could seek it truly,
and would not succeed. 5 Today belongs to truth. 6 Give truth its due, and it will give
you yours. 7 You were not meant to suffer and to die. 8 Your Father wills these dreams be
gone. 9 Let truth correct them all.
W-pI.107.7. We do not ask for what we do not have. 2 We merely ask for what belongs to
us, that we may recognize it as our own. 3 Today we practice on the happy note of
certainty that has been born of truth. 4 The shaky and unsteady footsteps of illusion are not
our approach today. 5 We are as certain of success as we are sure we live and hope and
breathe and think. 6 We do not doubt we walk with truth today, and count on it to enter into
all the exercises that we do this day.
W-pI.107.8. Begin by asking Him Who goes with you upon this undertaking that He be in
your awareness as you go with Him. 2 You are not made of flesh and blood and bone, but were
created by the selfsame Thought which gave the gift of life to Him as well. 3 He is
your Brother, and so like to you your Father knows that You are Both the same. 4 It is your
Self you ask to go with you, and how could He be absent where you are?
W-pI.107.9. Truth will correct all errors in your mind which tell you you could be
apart from Him. 2 You speak to Him today, and make your pledge to let His function be
fulfilled through you. 3 To share His function is to share His joy. 4 His confidence is with you,
as you say:
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-pI.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-pI.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.
To give and to receive are one in truth.
W-pI.108.1. Vision depends upon today's idea. 2 The light is in it, for it reconciles
all seeming opposites. 3 And what is light except the resolution, born of peace, of all
your conflicts and mistaken thoughts into one concept which is wholly true? 4 Even that one
will disappear, because the Thought behind it will appear instead to take its place. 5
And now you are at peace forever, for the dream is over then.
W-pI.108.2. True light that makes true vision possible is not the light the body's eyes
behold. 2 It is a state of mind that has become so unified that darkness cannot be
perceived at all. 3 And thus what is the same is seen as one, while what is not the same remains
unnoticed, for it is not there.
W-pI.108.3. This is the light that shows no opposites, and vision, being healed, has
power to heal. 2 This is the light that brings your peace of mind to other minds, to share
it and be glad that they are one with you and with themselves. 3 This is the light that
heals because it brings single perception, based upon one frame of reference, from which one
meaning comes.
W-pI.108.4. Here are both giving and receiving seen as different aspects of one Thought
whose truth does not depend on which is seen as first, nor which appears to be in
second place. 2 Here it is understood that both occur together, that the Thought remain
complete. 3 And in this understanding is the base on which all opposites are reconciled,
because they are perceived from the same frame of reference which unifies this Thought.
W-pI.108.5. One thought, completely unified, will serve to unify all thought. 2 This is
the same as saying one correction will suffice for all correction, or that to forgive
one brother wholly is enough to bring salvation to all minds. 3 For these are but some
special cases of one law which holds for every kind of learning, if it be directed by the One
Who knows the truth.
W-pI.108.6. To learn that giving and receiving are the same has special usefulness,
because it can be tried so easily and seen as true. 2 And when this special case has proved it
always works, in every circumstance where it is tried, the thought behind it can be
generalized to other areas of doubt and double vision. 3 And from there it will extend, and
finally arrive at the one Thought which underlies them all.
W-pI.108.7. Today we practice with the special case of giving and receiving. 2 We will
use this simple lesson in the obvious because it has results we cannot miss. 3 To give is
to receive. 4 Today we will attempt to offer peace to everyone, and see how quickly peace
returns to us. 5 Light is tranquility, and in that peace is vision given us, and we can
see.
W-pI.108.8. So we begin the practice periods with the instruction for today, and say:
2 To give and to receive are one in truth.
3 I will receive what I am giving now.
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:
6 To everyone I offer quietness.
7 To everyone I offer peace of mind.
8 To everyone I offer gentleness.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
I am as God created me.
W-pI.110.1. We will repeat today's idea from time to time. 2 For this one thought would
be enough to save you and the world, if you believed that it is true. 3 Its truth would
mean that you have made no changes in yourself that have reality, nor changed the
universe so that what God created was replaced by fear and evil, misery and death. 4 If you
remain as God created you fear has no meaning, evil is not real, and misery and death do not
exist.
W-pI.110.2. Today's idea is therefore all you need to let complete correction heal your
mind, and give you perfect vision that will heal all the mistakes that any mind has
made at any time or place. 2 It is enough to heal the past and make the future free. 3 It
is enough to let the present be accepted as it is. 4 It is enough to let time be the
means for all the world to learn escape from time, and every change that time appears to
bring in passing by.
W-pI.110.3. If you remain as God created you, appearances cannot replace the truth,
health cannot turn to sickness, nor can death be substitute for life, or fear for love. 2 All
this has not occurred, if you remain as God created you. 3 You need no thought but just
this one, to let redemption come to light the world and free it from the past.
W-pI.110.4. In this one thought is all the past undone; the present saved to quietly
extend into a timeless future. 2 If you are as God created you, then there has been no
separation of your mind from His, no split between your mind and other minds, and only unity
within your own.
W-pI.110.5. The healing power of today's idea is limitless. 2 It is the birthplace of
all miracles, the great restorer of the truth to the awareness of the world. 3 Practice
today's idea with gratitude. 4 This is the truth that comes to set you free. 5 This is the
truth that God has promised you. 6 This is the Word in which all sorrow ends.
W-pI.110.6. For your five-minute practice periods, begin with this quotation from the
text:
2 I am as God created me. 3 His Son can suffer nothing.
4 And I am His Son.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
4 I am as God created me.
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
W-pI.rIII.in.1. Our next review begins today. 2 We will review two recent lessons every
day for ten successive days of practicing. 3 We will observe a special format for these
practice periods, that you are urged to follow just as closely as you can.
W-pI.rIII.in.2. We understand, of course, that it may be impossible for you to
undertake what is suggested here as optimal each day and every hour of the day. 2 Learning will
not be hampered when you miss a practice period because it is impossible at the appointed
time. 3 Nor is it necessary that you make excessive efforts to be sure that you catch up in
terms of numbers. 4 Rituals are not our aim, and would defeat our goal.
W-pI.rIII.in.3. But learning will be hampered when you skip a practice period because
you are unwilling to devote the time to it that you are asked to give. 2 Do not deceive
yourself in this. 3 Unwillingness can be most carefully concealed behind a cloak of situations
you cannot control. 4 Learn to distinguish situations that are poorly suited to your
practicing from those that you establish to uphold a camouflage for your unwillingness.
W-pI.rIII.in.4. Those practice periods that you have lost because you did not want to
do them, for whatever reason, should be done as soon as you have changed your mind about
your goal. 2 You are unwilling to cooperate in practicing salvation only if it interferes
with goals you hold more dear. 3 When you withdraw the value given them, allow your
practice periods to be replacements for your litanies to them. 4 They gave you nothing. 5 But
your practicing can offer everything to you. 6 And so accept their offering and be at peace.
W-pI.rIII.in.5. The format you should use for these reviews is this: Devote five
minutes twice a day, or longer if you would prefer it, to considering the thoughts that are
assigned. 2 Read over the ideas and comments that are written down for each day's exercise. 3
And then begin to think about them, while letting your mind relate them to your needs,
your seeming problems and all your concerns.
W-pI.rIII.in.6. Place the ideas within your mind, and let it use them as it chooses. 2
Give it faith that it will use them wisely, being helped in its decisions by the One Who
gave the thoughts to you. 3 What can you trust but what is in your mind? 4 Have faith, in
these reviews, the means the Holy Spirit uses will not fail. 5 The wisdom of your mind will
come to your assistance. 6 Give direction at the outset; then lean back in quiet faith, and
let the mind employ the thoughts you gave as they were given you for it to use.
W-pI.rIII.in.7. You have been given them in perfect trust; in perfect confidence that
you would use them well; in perfect faith that you would see their messages and use them
for yourself. 2 Offer them to your mind in that same trust and confidence and faith. 3 It
will not fail. 4 It is the Holy Spirit's chosen means for your salvation. 5 Since it has
His trust, His means must surely merit yours as well.
W-pI.rIII.in.8. We emphasize the benefits to you if you devote the first five minutes
of the day to your reviews, and also give the last five minutes of your waking day to
them. 2 If this cannot be done, at least try to divide them so you undertake one in the
morning, and the other in the hour just before you go to sleep.
W-pI.rIII.in.9. The exercises to be done throughout the day are equally important, and
perhaps of even greater value. 2 You have been inclined to practice only at appointed times,
and then go on your way to other things, without applying what you learned to them. 3 As a
result, you have gained little reinforcement, and have not given your learning a fair
chance to prove how great are its potential gifts to you. 4 Here is another chance to use it
well.
W-pI.rIII.in.10. In these reviews, we stress the need to let your learning not lie idly
by between your longer practice periods. 2 Attempt to give your daily two ideas a brief
but serious review each hour. 3 Use one on the hour, and the other one a half an hour
later. 4 You need not give more than just a moment to each one. 5 Repeat it, and allow your
mind to rest a little time in silence and in peace. 6 Then turn to other things, but try to
keep the thought with you, and let it serve to help you keep your peace throughout the
day as well.
W-pI.rIII.in.11. If you are shaken, think of it again. 2 These practice periods are
planned to help you form the habit of applying what you learn each day to everything you do. 3
Do not repeat the thought and lay it down. 4 Its usefulness is limitless to you. 5 And
it is meant to serve you in all ways, all times and places, and whenever you need help of
any kind. 6 Try, then, to take it with you in the business of the day and make it holy,
worthy of God's Son, acceptable to God and to your Self.
W-pI.rIII.in.12. Each day's review assignments will conclude with a restatement of the
thought to use each hour, and the one to be applied on each half hour as well. 2 Forget them
not. 3 This second chance with each of these ideas will bring such large advances that we
come from these reviews with learning gains so great we will continue on more solid ground,
with firmer footsteps and with stronger faith.
W-pI.rIII.in.13. Do not forget how little you have learned.
2 Do not forget how much you can learn now.
3 Do not forget your Father's need of you,
As you review these thoughts He gave to you.
LESSON 111.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.111.1. (91) Miracles are seen in light.
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-pI.111.2. (92) Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.
2 I see through strength, the gift of God to me. 3 My weakness is the dark His gift
dispels, by giving me His strength to take its place.
W-pI.111.3. On the hour:
2 Miracles are seen in light.
3 On the half hour:
4 Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.
LESSON 112.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.112.1. (93) Light and joy and peace abide in me.
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-pI.112.2. (94) I am as God created me.
2 I will remain forever as I was, created by the Changeless like Himself. 3 And I am
one with Him, and He with me.
W-pI.112.3. On the hour:
2 Light and joy and peace abide in me.
3 On the half hour:
4 I am as God created me.
LESSON 113.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.113.1. (95) I am one Self, united with my Creator.
2 Serenity and perfect peace are mine, because I am one Self, completely whole, at one
with all creation and with God.
W-pI.113.2. (96) Salvation comes from my one Self.
2 From my one Self, Whose knowledge still remains within my mind, I see God's perfect
plan for my salvation perfectly fulfilled.
W-pI.113.3. On the hour:
2 I am one Self, united with my Creator.
3 On the half hour:
4 Salvation comes from my one Self.
LESSON 114.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.114.1. (97) I am spirit.
2 I am the Son of God. 3 No body can contain my spirit, nor impose on me a limitation
God created not.
W-pI.114.2. (98) I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation.
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-pI.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.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.115.1. (99) Salvation is my only function here.
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.
W-pI.115.2. (100) My part is essential to God's plan for salvation.
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.
W-pI.115.3. On the hour:
2 Salvation is my only function here.
3 On the half hour:
4 My part is essential to God's plan for salvation.
LESSON 116.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.116.1. (101) God's Will for me is perfect happiness.
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.
W-pI.116.2. (102) I share God's Will for happiness for me.
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.
W-pI.116.3. On the hour:
2 God's Will for me is perfect happiness.
3 On the half hour:
4 I share God's Will for happiness for me.
LESSON 117.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.117.1. (103) God, being Love, is also happiness.
2 Let me remember love is happiness, and nothing else brings joy. 3 And so I choose to
entertain no substitutes for love.
W-pI.117.2. (104) I seek but what belongs to me in truth.
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.
W-pI.117.3. On the hour:
2 God, being Love, is also happiness.
3 On the half hour:
4 I seek but what belongs to me in truth.
LESSON 118.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.118.1. (105) God's peace and joy are mine.
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.
W-pI.118.2. (106) Let me be still and listen to the truth.
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.
W-pI.118.3. On the hour:
2 God's peace and joy are mine.
3 On the half hour:
4 Let me be still and listen to the truth.
LESSON 119.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.119.1. (107) Truth will correct all errors in my mind.
2 I am mistaken when I think I can be hurt in any way. 3 I am God's Son, whose Self
rests safely in the Mind of God.
W-pI.119.2. (108) To give and to receive are one in truth.
2 I will forgive all things today, that I may learn how to accept the truth in me, and
come to recognize my sinlessness.
W-pI.119.3. On the hour:
2 Truth will correct all errors in my mind.
3 On the half hour:
4 To give and to receive are one in truth.
LESSON 120.
For morning and evening review:
W-pI.120.1. (109) I rest in God.
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.
W-pI.120.W-pI.2. (110) I am as God created me.
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.
W-pI.120.3. On the hour:
2 I rest in God.
3 On the half hour:
4 I am as God created me.
LESSON 121.
Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
W-pI.121.1. Here is the answer to your search for peace. 2 Here is the key to meaning
in a world that seems to make no sense. 3 Here is the way to safety in apparent dangers
that appear to threaten you at every turn, and bring uncertainty to all your hopes of ever
finding quietness and peace. 4 Here are all questions answered; here the end of all
uncertainty ensured at last.
W-pI.121.2. The unforgiving mind is full of fear, and offers love no room to be itself;
no place where it can spread its wings in peace and soar above the turmoil of the world.
2 The unforgiving mind is sad, without the hope of respite and release from pain. 3 It
suffers and abides in misery, peering about in darkness, seeing not, yet certain of the
danger lurking there.
W-pI.121.3. The unforgiving mind is torn with doubt, confused about itself and all it
sees; afraid and angry, weak and blustering, afraid to go ahead, afraid to stay, afraid to
waken or to go to sleep, afraid of every sound, yet more afraid of stillness; terrified of
darkness, yet more terrified at the approach of light. 2 What can the unforgiving mind perceive
but its damnation? 3 What can it behold except the proof that all its sins are real?
W-pI.121.4. The unforgiving mind sees no mistakes, but only sins. 2 It looks upon the
world with sightless eyes, and shrieks as it beholds its own projections rising to attack
its miserable parody of life. 3 It wants to live, yet wishes it were dead. 4 It wants
forgiveness, yet it sees no hope. 5 It wants escape, yet can conceive of none because it sees the
sinful everywhere.
W-pI.121.5. The unforgiving mind is in despair, without the prospect of a future which
can offer anything but more despair. 2 Yet it regards its judgment of the world as
irreversible, and does not see it has condemned itself to this despair. 3 It thinks it cannot
change, for what it sees bears witness that its judgment is correct. 4 It does not ask,
because it thinks it knows. 5 It does not question, certain it is right.
W-pI.121.6. Forgiveness is acquired. 2 It is not inherent in the mind, which cannot sin.
3 As sin is an idea you taught yourself, forgiveness must be learned by you as well,
but from a Teacher other than yourself, Who represents the other Self in you. 4 Through
Him you learn how to forgive the self you think you made, and let it disappear. 5 Thus you
return your mind as one to Him Who is your Self, and Who can never sin.
W-pI.121.7. Each unforgiving mind presents you with an opportunity to teach your own
how to forgive itself. 2 Each one awaits release from hell through you, and turns to you
imploringly for Heaven here and now. 3 It has no hope, but you become its hope. 4 And as its hope,
do you become your own. 5 The unforgiving mind must learn through your forgiveness that
it has been saved from hell. 6 And as you teach salvation, you will learn. 7 Yet all
your teaching and your learning will be not of you, but of the Teacher Who was given you to
show the way to you.
W-pI.121.8. Today we practice learning to forgive. 2 If you are willing, you can learn
today to take the key to happiness, and use it on your own behalf. 3 We will devote ten
minutes in the morning, and at night another ten, to learning how to give forgiveness and
receive forgiveness, too.
W-pI.121.9. The unforgiving mind does not believe that giving and receiving are the
same. 2 Yet we will try to learn today that they are one through practicing forgiveness
toward one whom you think of as an enemy, and one whom you consider as a friend. 3 And as you
learn to see them both as one, we will extend the lesson to yourself, and see that
their escape included yours.
W-pI.121.10. Begin the longer practice periods by thinking of someone you do not like,
who seems to irritate you, or to cause regret in you if you should meet him; one you
actively despise, or merely try to overlook. 2 It does not matter what the form your anger
takes. 3 You probably have chosen him already. 4 He will do.
W-pI.121.11. Now close your eyes and see him in your mind, and look at him a while. 2
Try to perceive some light in him somewhere; a little gleam which you had never noticed. 3
Try to find some little spark of brightness shining through the ugly picture that you
hold of him. 4 Look at this picture till you see a light somewhere within it, and then try
to let this light extend until it covers him, and makes the picture beautiful and good.
W-pI.121.12. Look at this changed perception for a while, and turn your mind to one you
call a friend. 2 Try to transfer the light you learned to see around your former "enemy
" to him. 3 Perceive him now as more than friend to you, for in that light his holiness
shows you your savior, saved and saving, healed and whole.
W-pI.121.13. Then let him offer you the light you see in him, and let your "enemy" and
friend unite in blessing you with what you gave. 2 Now are you one with them, and they with
you. 3 Now have you been forgiven by yourself. 4 Do not forget, throughout the day, the
role forgiveness plays in bringing happiness to every unforgiving mind, with yours among
them. 5 Every hour tell yourself:
6 Forgiveness is the key to happiness. 7 I will awaken from the dream that I am mortal,
fallible and full of sin, and know I am the perfect Son of God.
LESSON 122.
Forgiveness offers everything I want.
W-pI.122.1. What could you want forgiveness cannot give? 2 Do you want peace? 3
Forgiveness offers it. 4 Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense
of worth and beauty that transcends the world? 5 Do you want care and safety, and the
warmth of sure protection always? 6 Do you want a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a
gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep, abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be
upset?
W-pI.122.2. All this forgiveness offers you, and more. 2 It sparkles on your eyes as
you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day. 3 It soothes your forehead while
you sleep, and rests upon your eyelids so you see no dreams of fear and evil, malice and
attack. 4 And when you wake again, it offers you another day of happiness and peace. 5 All
this forgiveness offers you, and more.
W-pI.122.3. Forgiveness lets the veil be lifted up that hides the face of Christ from
those who look with unforgiving eyes upon the world. 2 It lets you recognize the Son of God,
and clears your memory of all dead thoughts so that remembrance of your Father can
arise across the threshold of your mind. 3 What would you want forgiveness cannot give? 4
What gifts but these are worthy to be sought? 5 What fancied value, trivial effect or
transient promise, never to be kept, can hold more hope than what forgiveness brings?
W-pI.122.4. Why would you seek an answer other than the answer that will answer
everything? 2 Here is the perfect answer, given to imperfect questions, meaningless requests,
halfhearted willingness to hear, and less than halfway diligence and partial trust. 3 Here is the
answer! 4 Seek for it no more. 5 You will not find another one instead.
W-pI.122.5. God's plan for your salvation cannot change, nor can it fail. 2 Be thankful
it remains exactly as He planned it. 3 Changelessly it stands before you like an open
door, with warmth and welcome calling from beyond the doorway, bidding you to enter in and
make yourself at home, where you belong.
W-pI.122.6. Here is the answer! 2 Would you stand outside while all of Heaven waits for
you within? 3 Forgive and be forgiven. 4 As you give you will receive. 5 There is no
plan but this for the salvation of the Son of God. 6 Let us today rejoice that this is so,
for here we have an answer, clear and plain, beyond deceit in its simplicity. 7 All the
complexities the world has spun of fragile cobwebs disappear before the power and the majesty of
this extremely simple statement of the truth.
W-pI.122.7. Here is the answer! 2 Do not turn away in aimless wandering again. 3 Accept
salvation now. 4 It is the gift of God, and not the world. 5 The world can give no
gifts of any value to a mind that has received what God has given as its own. 6 God wills
salvation be received today, and that the intricacies of your dreams no longer hide their
nothingness from you.
W-pI.122.8. Open your eyes today and look upon a happy world of safety and of peace. 2
Forgiveness is the means by which it comes to take the place of hell. 3 In quietness it rises up
to greet your open eyes, and fill your heart with deep tranquility as ancient truths,
forever newly born, arise in your awareness. 4 What you will remember then can never be
described. 5 Yet your forgiveness offers it to you.
W-pI.122.9. Remembering the gifts forgiveness gives, we undertake our practicing today
with hope and faith that this will be the day salvation will be ours. 2 Earnestly and
gladly will we seek for it today, aware we hold the key within our hands, accepting Heaven's
answer to the hell we made, but where we would remain no more.
W-pI.122.10. Morning and evening do we gladly give a quarter of an hour to the search
in which the end of hell is guaranteed. 2 Begin in hopefulness, for we have reached the
turning point at which the road becomes far easier. 3 And now the way is short that yet we
travel. 4 We are close indeed to the appointed ending of the dream.
W-pI.122.11. Sink into happiness as you begin these practice periods, for they hold out
the sure rewards of questions answered and what your acceptance of the answer brings. 2
Today it will be given you to feel the peace forgiveness offers, and the joy the
lifting of the veil holds out to you.
W-pI.122.12. Before the light you will receive today the world will fade until it
disappears, and you will see another world arise you have no words to picture. 2 Now we walk
directly into light, and we receive the gifts that have been held in store for us since time
began, kept waiting for today.
W-pI.122.13. Forgiveness offers everything you want. 2 Today all things you want are
given you. 3 Let not your gifts recede throughout the day, as you return again to meet a
world of shifting change and bleak appearances. 4 Retain your gifts in clear awareness as
you see the changeless in the heart of change; the light of truth behind appearances.
W-pI.122.14. Be tempted not to let your gifts slip by and drift into forgetfulness, but
hold them firmly in your mind by your attempts to think of them at least a minute as
each quarter of an hour passes by. 2 Remind yourself how precious are these gifts with this
reminder, which has power to hold your gifts in your awareness through the day:
3 Forgiveness offers everything I want.
4 Today I have accepted this as true.
5 Today I have received the gifts of God.
LESSON 123.
I thank my Father for His gifts to me.
W-pI.123.1. Today let us be thankful. 2 We have come to gentler pathways and to
smoother roads. 3 There is no thought of turning back, and no implacable resistance to the
truth. 4 A bit of wavering remains, some small objections and a little hesitance, but you
can well be grateful for your gains, which are far greater than you realize.
W-pI.123.2. A day devoted now to gratitude will add the benefit of some insight into
the real extent of all the gains which you have made; the gifts you have received. 2 Be
glad today, in loving thankfulness, your Father has not left you to yourself, nor let you
wander in the dark alone. 3 Be grateful He has saved you from the self you thought you made
to take the place of Him and His creation. 4 Give Him thanks today.
W-pI.123.3. Give thanks that He has not abandoned you, and that His Love forever will
remain shining on you, forever without change. 2 Give thanks as well that you are changeless,
for the Son He loves is changeless as Himself. 3 Be grateful you are saved. 4 Be glad
you have a function in salvation to fulfill. 5 Be thankful that your value far transcends
your meager gifts and petty judgments of the one whom God established as His Son.
W-pI.123.4. Today in gratitude we lift our hearts above despair, and raise our thankful
eyes, no longer looking downward to the dust. 2 We sing the song of thankfulness today,
in honor of the Self that God has willed to be our true Identity in Him. 3 Today we
smile on everyone we see, and walk with lightened footsteps as we go to do what is appointed
us to do.
W-pI.123.5. We do not go alone. 2 And we give thanks that in our solitude a Friend has
come to speak the saving Word of God to us. 3 And thanks to you for listening to Him. 4 His
Word is soundless if it be not heard. 5 In thanking Him the thanks are yours as well. 6
An unheard message will not save the world, however mighty be the Voice that speaks,
however loving may the message be.
W-pI.123.6. Thanks be to you who heard, for you become the messenger who brings His
Voice with you, and lets It echo round and round the world. 2 Receive the thanks of God
today, as you give thanks to Him. 3 For He would offer you the thanks you give, since He
receives your gifts in loving gratitude, and gives them back a thousand and a hundred thousand
more than they were given. 4 He will bless your gifts by sharing them with you. 5 And so
they grow in power and in strength, until they fill the world with gladness and with
gratitude.
W-pI.123.7. Receive His thanks and offer yours to Him for fifteen minutes twice today.
2 And you will realize to Whom you offer thanks, and Whom He thanks as you are thanking
Him. 3 This holy half an hour given Him will be returned to you in terms of years for
every second; power to save the world eons more quickly for your thanks to Him.
W-pI.123.8. Receive His thanks, and you will understand how lovingly He holds you in
His Mind, how deep and limitless His care for you, how perfect is His gratitude to you. 2
Remember hourly to think of Him, and give Him thanks for everything He gave His Son, that he
might rise above the world, remembering his Father and his Self.
LESSON 124.
Let me remember I am one with God.
W-pI.124.1. Today we will again give thanks for our Identity in God. 2 Our home is safe,
protection guaranteed in all we do, power and strength available to us in all our
undertakings. 3 We can fail in nothing. 4 Everything we touch takes on a shining light that blesses
and that heals. 5 At one with God and with the universe we go our way rejoicing, with
the thought that God Himself goes everywhere with us.
W-pI.124.2. How holy are our minds! 2 And everything we see reflects the holiness
within the mind at one with God and with itself. 3 How easily do errors disappear, and death
give place to everlasting life. 4 Our shining footprints point the way to truth, for God is
our Companion as we walk the world a little while. 5 And those who come to follow us
will recognize the way because the light we carry stays behind, yet still remains with us
as we walk on.
W-pI.124.3. What we receive is our eternal gift to those who follow after, and to those
who went before or stayed with us a while. 2 And God, Who loves us with the equal love
in which we were created, smiles on us and offers us the happiness we gave.
W-pI.124.4. Today we will not doubt His Love for us, nor question His protection and
His care. 2 No meaningless anxieties can come between our faith and our awareness of His
Presence. 3 We are one with Him today in recognition and remembrance. 4 We feel Him in our
hearts. 5 Our minds contain His Thoughts; our eyes behold His loveliness in all we look upon.
6 Today we see only the loving and the lovable.
W-pI.124.5. We see it in appearances of pain, and pain gives way to peace. 2 We see it
in the frantic, in the sad and the distressed, the lonely and afraid, who are restored to
the tranquility and peace of mind in which they were created. 3 And we see it in the
dying and the dead as well, restoring them to life. 4 All this we see because we saw it
first within ourselves.
W-pI.124.6. No miracle can ever be denied to those who know that they are one with God.
2 No thought of theirs but has the power to heal all forms of suffering in anyone, in
times gone by and times as yet to come, as easily as in the ones who walk beside them now. 3
Their thoughts are timeless, and apart from distance as apart from time.
W-pI.124.7. We join in this awareness as we say that we are one with God. 2 For in
these words we say as well that we are saved and healed; that we can save and heal
accordingly. 3 We have accepted, and we now would give. 4 For we would keep the gifts our Father
gave. 5 Today we would experience ourselves at one with Him, so that the world may share
our recognition of reality. 6 In our experience the world is freed. 7 As we deny our
separation from our Father, it is healed along with us.
W-pI.124.8. Peace be to you today. 2 Secure your peace by practicing awareness you are
one with your Creator, as He is with you. 3 Sometime today, whenever it seems best, devote
a half an hour to the thought that you are one with God. 4 This is our first attempt at
an extended period for which we give no rules nor special words to guide your
meditation. 5 We will trust God's Voice to speak as He sees fit today, certain He will not fail.
6 Abide with Him this half an hour. 7 He will do the rest.
W-pI.124.9. Your benefit will not be less if you believe that nothing happens. 2 You
may not be ready to accept the gain today. 3 Yet sometime, somewhere, it will come to you,
nor will you fail to recognize it when it dawns with certainty upon your mind. 4 This
half an hour will be framed in gold, with every minute like a diamond set around the mirror
that this exercise will offer you. 5 And you will see Christ's face upon it, in
reflection of your own.
W-pI.124.10. Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will see your own transfiguration in
the glass this holy half an hour will hold out to you, to look upon yourself. 2 When you
are ready you will find it there, within your mind and waiting to be found. 3 You will
remember then the thought to which you gave this half an hour, thankfully aware no time was
ever better spent.
W-pI.124.11. Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will look into this glass, and
understand the sinless light you see belongs to you; the loveliness you look on is your own. 2
Count this half hour as your gift to God, in certainty that His return will be a sense of
love you cannot understand, a joy too deep for you to comprehend, a sight too holy for the
body's eyes to see. 3 And yet you can be sure someday, perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you
will understand and comprehend and see.
W-pI.124.12. Add further jewels to the golden frame that holds the mirror offered you
today, by hourly repeating to yourself:
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.
In quiet I receive God's Word today.
W-pI.125.1. Let this day be a day of stillness and of quiet listening. 2 Your Father
wills you hear His Word today. 3 He calls to you from deep within your mind where He abides.
4 Hear Him today. 5 No peace is possible until His Word is heard around the world;
until your mind, in quiet listening, accepts the message that the world must hear to usher
in the quiet time of peace.
W-pI.125.2. This world will change through you. 2 No other means can save it, for God's
plan is simply this: The Son of God is free to save himself, given the Word of God to
be his Guide, forever in his mind and at his side to lead him surely to his Father's
house by his own will, forever free as God's. 3 He is not led by force, but only love. 4 He
is not judged, but only sanctified.
W-pI.125.3. In stillness we will hear God's Voice today without intrusion of our petty
thoughts, without our personal desires, and without all judgment of His holy Word. 2 We will
not judge ourselves today, for what we are can not be judged. 3 We stand apart from all
the judgments which the world has laid upon the Son of God. 4 It knows him not. 5 Today we
will not listen to the world, but wait in silence for the Word of God.
W-pI.125.4. Hear, holy Son of God, your Father speak. 2 His Voice would give to you His
holy Word, to spread across the world the tidings of salvation and the holy time of
peace. 3 We gather at the throne of God today, the quiet place within the mind where He
abides forever, in the holiness that He created and will never leave.
W-pI.125.5. He has not waited until you return your mind to Him to give His Word to you.
2 He has not hid Himself from you, while you have wandered off a little while from Him.
3 He does not cherish the illusions which you hold about yourself. 4 He knows His Son,
and wills that he remain as part of Him regardless of his dreams; regardless of his
madness that his will is not his own.
W-pI.125.6. Today He speaks to you. 2 His Voice awaits your silence, for His Word can
not be heard until your mind is quiet for a while, and meaningless desires have been
stilled. 3 Await His Word in quiet. 4 There is peace within you to be called upon today, to
help make ready your most holy mind to hear the Voice for its Creator speak.
W-pI.125.7. Three times today, at times most suitable for silence, give ten minutes set
apart from listening to the world, and choose instead a gentle listening to the Word of
God. 2 He speaks from nearer than your heart to you. 3 His Voice is closer than your
hand. 4 His Love is everything you are and that He is; the same as you, and you the same as
He.
W-pI.125.8. It is your voice to which you listen as He speaks to you. 2 It is your word
He speaks. 3 It is the Word of freedom and of peace, of unity of will and purpose, with
no separation nor division in the single Mind of Father and of Son. 4 In quiet listen
to your Self today, and let Him tell you God has never left His Son, and you have never
left your Self.
W-pI.125.9. Only be quiet. 2 You will need no rule but this, to let your practicing
today lift you above the thinking of the world, and free your vision from the body's eyes. 3
Only be still and listen. 4 You will hear the Word in which the Will of God the Son
joins in his Father's Will, at one with it, with no illusions interposed between the wholly
indivisible and true. 5 As every hour passes by today, be still a moment and remind yourself you
have a special purpose for this day; in quiet to receive the Word of God.
LESSON 126.
All that I give is given to myself.
W-pI.126.1. Today's idea, completely alien to the ego and the thinking of the world, is
crucial to the thought reversal that this course will bring about. 2 If you believed
this statement, there would be no problem in complete forgiveness, certainty of goal, and
sure direction. 3 You would understand the means by which salvation comes to you, and would
not hesitate to use it now.
W-pI.126.2. Let us consider what you do believe, in place of this idea. 2 It seems to
you that other people are apart from you, and able to behave in ways which have no bearing
on your thoughts, nor yours on theirs. 3 Therefore, your attitudes have no effect on
them, and their appeals for help are not in any way related to your own. 4 You further
think that they can sin without affecting your perception of yourself, while you can judge
their sin, and yet remain apart from condemnation and at peace.
W-pI.126.3. When you "forgive" a sin, there is no gain to you directly. 2 You give
charity to one unworthy, merely to point out that you are better, on a higher plane than he
whom you forgive. 3 He has not earned your charitable tolerance, which you bestow on one
unworthy of the gift, because his sins have lowered him beneath a true equality with you. 4 He
has no claim on your forgiveness. 5 It holds out a gift to him, but hardly to yourself.
W-pI.126.4. Thus is forgiveness basically unsound; a charitable whim, benevolent yet
undeserved, a gift bestowed at times, at other times withheld. 2 Unmerited, withholding it is
just, nor is it fair that you should suffer when it is withheld. 3 The sin that you forgive
is not your own. 4 Someone apart from you committed it. 5 And if you then are gracious
unto him by giving him what he does not deserve, the gift is no more yours than was his sin.
W-pI.126.5. If this be true, forgiveness has no grounds on which to rest dependably and
sure. 2 It is an eccentricity, in which you sometimes choose to give indulgently an
undeserved reprieve. 3 Yet it remains your right to let the sinner not escape the justified
repayment for his sin. 4 Think you the Lord of Heaven would allow the world's salvation to
depend on this? 5 Would not His care for you be small indeed, if your salvation rested on a
whim?
W-pI.126.6. You do not understand forgiveness. 2 As you see it, it is but a check upon
overt attack, without requiring correction in your mind. 3 It cannot give you peace as you
perceive it. 4 It is not a means for your release from what you see in someone other than
yourself. 5 It has no power to restore your unity with him to your awareness. 6 It is not what
God intended it to be for you.
W-pI.126.7. Not having given Him the gift He asks of you, you cannot recognize His
gifts, and think He has not given them to you. 2 Yet would He ask you for a gift unless it
was for you? 3 Could He be satisfied with empty gestures, and evaluate such petty gifts as
worthy of His Son? 4 Salvation is a better gift than this. 5 And true forgiveness, as
the means by which it is attained, must heal the mind that gives, for giving is receiving.
6 What remains as unreceived has not been given, but what has been given must have been
received.
W-pI.126.8. Today we try to understand the truth that giver and receiver are the same.
2 You will need help to make this meaningful, because it is so alien to the thoughts to
which you are accustomed. 3 But the Help you need is there. 4 Give Him your faith today, and
ask Him that He share your practicing in truth today. 5 And if you only catch a tiny
glimpse of the release that lies in the idea we practice for today, this is a day of glory for
the world.
W-pI.126.9. Give fifteen minutes twice today to the attempt to understand today's idea.
2 It is the thought by which forgiveness takes its proper place in your priorities. 3
It is the thought that will release your mind from every bar to what forgiveness means,
and let you realize its worth to you.
W-pI.126.10. In silence, close your eyes upon the world that does not understand
forgiveness, and seek sanctuary in the quiet place where thoughts are changed and false beliefs
laid by. 2 Repeat today's idea, and ask for help in understanding what it really means. 3
Be willing to be taught. 4 Be glad to hear the Voice of truth and healing speak to you,
and you will understand the words He speaks, and recognize He speaks your words to you.
W-pI.126.11. As often as you can, remind yourself you have a goal today; an aim which
makes this day of special value to yourself and all your brothers. 2 Do not let your mind
forget this goal for long, but tell yourself:
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.
There is no love but God's.
W-pI.127.1. Perhaps you think that different kinds of love are possible. 2 Perhaps you
think there is a kind of love for this, a kind for that; a way of loving one, another way of
loving still another. 3 Love is one. 4 It has no separate parts and no degrees; no
kinds nor levels, no divergencies and no distinctions. 5 It is like itself, unchanged
throughout. 6 It never alters with a person or a circumstance. 7 It is the Heart of God, and also
of His Son.
W-pI.127.2. Love's meaning is obscure to anyone who thinks that love can change. 2 He
does not see that changing love must be impossible. 3 And thus he thinks that he can love
at times, and hate at other times. 4 He also thinks that love can be bestowed on one, and
yet remain itself although it is withheld from others. 5 To believe these things of
love is not to understand it. 6 If it could make such distinctions, it would have to judge
between the righteous and the sinner, and perceive the Son of God in separate parts.
W-pI.127.3. Love cannot judge. 2 As it is one itself, it looks on all as one. 3 Its
meaning lies in oneness. 4 And it must elude the mind that thinks of it as partial or in part.
5 There is no love but God's, and all of love is His. 6 There is no other principle
that rules where love is not. 7 Love is a law without an opposite. 8 Its wholeness is the
power holding everything as one, the link between the Father and the Son which holds Them
Both forever as the same.
W-pI.127.4. No course whose purpose is to teach you to remember what you really are
could fail to emphasize that there can never be a difference in what you really are and what
love is. 2 Love's meaning is your own, and shared by God Himself. 3 For what you are is
what He is. 4 There is no love but His, and what He is, is everything there is. 5 There
is no limit placed upon Himself, and so are you unlimited as well.
W-pI.127.5. No law the world obeys can help you grasp love's meaning. 2 What the world
believes was made to hide love's meaning, and to keep it dark and secret. 3 There is not one
principle the world upholds but violates the truth of what love is, and what you are as well.
W-pI.127.6. Seek not within the world to find your Self. 2 Love is not found in
darkness and in death. 3 Yet it is perfectly apparent to the eyes that see and ears that hear
love's Voice. 4 Today we practice making free your mind of all the laws you think you must
obey; of all the limits under which you live, and all the changes that you think are part
of human destiny. 5 Today we take the largest single step this course requests in your
advance towards its established goal.
W-pI.127.7. If you achieve the faintest glimmering of what love means today, you have
advanced in distance without measure and in time beyond the count of years to your release. 2
Let us together, then, be glad to give some time to God today, and understand there is no
better use for time than this.
W-pI.127.8. For fifteen minutes twice today escape from every law in which you now
believe. 2 Open your mind and rest. 3 The world that seems to hold you prisoner can be escaped
by anyone who does not hold it dear. 4 Withdraw all value you have placed upon its
meager offerings and senseless gifts, and let the gift of God replace them all.
W-pI.127.9. Call to your Father, certain that His Voice will answer. 2 He Himself has
promised this. 3 And He Himself will place a spark of truth within your mind wherever you give
up a false belief, a dark illusion of your own reality and what love means. 4 He will
shine through your idle thoughts today, and help you understand the truth of love. 5 In
loving gentleness He will abide with you, as you allow His Voice to teach love's meaning to
your clean and open mind. 6 And He will bless the lesson with His Love.
W-pI.127.10. Today the legion of the future years of waiting for salvation disappears
before the timelessness of what you learn. 2 Let us give thanks today that we are spared a
future like the past. 3 Today we leave the past behind us, nevermore to be remembered. 4 And
we raise our eyes upon a different present, where a future dawns unlike the past in every
attribute.
W-pI.127.11. The world in infancy is newly born. 2 And we will watch it grow in health
and strength, to shed its blessing upon all who come to learn to cast aside the world they
thought was made in hate to be love's enemy. 3 Now are they all made free, along with
us. 4 Now are they all our brothers in God's Love.
W-pI.127.12. We will remember them throughout the day, because we cannot leave a part
of us outside our love if we would know our Self. 2 At least three times an hour think of
one who makes the journey with you, and who came to learn what you must learn. 3 And as
he comes to mind, give him this message from your Self:
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.
The world I see holds nothing that I want.
W-pI.128.1. The world you see holds nothing that you need to offer you; nothing that
you can use in any way, nor anything at all that serves to give you joy. 2 Believe this
thought, and you are saved from years of misery, from countless disappointments, and from
hopes that turn to bitter ashes of despair. 3 No one but must accept this thought as true,
if he would leave the world behind and soar beyond its petty scope and little ways.
W-pI.128.2. Each thing you value here is but a chain that binds you to the world, and
it will serve no other end but this. 2 For everything must serve the purpose you have
given it, until you see a different purpose there. 3 The only purpose worthy of your mind
this world contains is that you pass it by, without delaying to perceive some hope where
there is none. 4 Be you deceived no more. 5 The world you see holds nothing that you want.
W-pI.128.3. Escape today the chains you place upon your mind when you perceive
salvation here. 2 For what you value you make part of you as you perceive yourself. 3 All things
you seek to make your value greater in your sight limit you further, hide your worth
from you, and add another bar across the door that leads to true awareness of your Self.
W-pI.128.4. Let nothing that relates to body thoughts delay your progress to salvation,
nor permit temptation to believe the world holds anything you want to hold you back. 2
Nothing is here to cherish. 3 Nothing here is worth one instant of delay and pain; one moment
of uncertainty and doubt. 4 The worthless offer nothing. 5 Certainty of worth can not be
found in worthlessness.
W-pI.128.5. Today we practice letting go all thought of values we have given to the
world. 2 We leave it free of purposes we gave its aspects and its phases and its dreams. 3
We hold it purposeless within our minds, and loosen it from all we wish it were. 4 Thus
do we lift the chains that bar the door to freedom from the world, and go beyond all
little values and diminished goals.
W-pI.128.6. Pause and be still a little while, and see how far you rise above the world,
when you release your mind from chains and let it seek the level where it finds itself
at home. 2 It will be grateful to be free a while. 3 It knows where it belongs. 4 But
free its wings, and it will fly in sureness and in joy to join its holy purpose. 5 Let it
rest in its Creator, there to be restored to sanity, to freedom and to love.
W-pI.128.7. Give it ten minutes rest three times today. 2 And when your eyes are opened
afterwards, you will not value anything you see as much as when you looked at it before.
3 Your whole perspective on the world will shift by just a little, every time you let
your mind escape its chains. 4 The world is not where it belongs. 5 And you belong where it
would be, and where it goes to rest when you release it from the world. 6 Your Guide is
sure. 7 Open your mind to Him. 8 Be still and rest.
W-pI.128.8. Protect your mind throughout the day as well. 2 And when you think you see
some value in an aspect or an image of the world, refuse to lay this chain upon your mind,
but tell yourself with quiet certainty:
3 This will not tempt me to delay myself.
4 The world I see holds nothing that I want.
LESSON 129.
Beyond this world there is a world I want.
W-pI.129.1. This is the thought that follows from the one we practiced yesterday. 2 You
cannot stop with the idea the world is worthless, for unless you see that there is
something else to hope for, you will only be depressed. 3 Our emphasis is not on giving up the
world, but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying, filled with joy, and capable of
offering you peace. 4 Think you this world can offer that to you?
W-pI.129.2. It might be worth a little time to think once more about the value of this
world. 2 Perhaps you will concede there is no loss in letting go all thought of value here.
3 The world you see is merciless indeed, unstable, cruel, unconcerned with you, quick to
avenge and pitiless with hate. 4 It gives but to rescind, and takes away all things
that you have cherished for a while. 5 No lasting love is found, for none is here. 6 This
is the world of time, where all things end.
W-pI.129.3. Is it a loss to find a world instead where losing is impossible; where love
endures forever, hate cannot exist and vengeance has no meaning? 2 Is it loss to find
all things you really want, and know they have no ending and they will remain exactly as
you want them throughout time? 3 Yet even they will be exchanged at last for what we
cannot speak of, for you go from there to where words fail entirely, into a silence where the
language is unspoken and yet surely understood.
W-pI.129.4. Communication, unambiguous and plain as day, remains unlimited for all
eternity. 2 And God Himself speaks to His Son, as His Son speaks to Him. 3 Their language has
no words, for what They say cannot be symbolized. 4 Their knowledge is direct and wholly
shared and wholly one. 5 How far away from this are you who stay bound to this world. 6 And
yet how near are you, when you exchange it for the world you want.
W-pI.129.5. Now is the last step certain; now you stand an instant's space away from
timelessness. 2 Here can you but look forward, never back to see again the world you do not want. 3
Here is the world that comes to take its place, as you unbind your mind from little
things the world sets forth to keep you prisoner. 4 Value them not, and they will disappear.
5 Esteem them, and they will seem real to you.
W-pI.129.6. Such is the choice. 2 What loss can be for you in choosing not to value
nothingness? 3 This world holds nothing that you really want, but what you choose instead you want
indeed! 4 Let it be given you today. 5 It waits but for your choosing it, to take the
place of all the things you seek but do not want.
W-pI.129.7. Practice your willingness to make this change ten minutes in the morning
and at night, and once more in between. 2 Begin with this:
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-pI.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-pI.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:
4 The world I see holds nothing that I want.
5 Beyond this world there is a world I want.
LESSON 130.
It is impossible to see two worlds.
W-pI.130.1. Perception is consistent. 2 What you see reflects your thinking. 3 And your
thinking but reflects your choice of what you want to see. 4 Your values are
determiners of this, for what you value you must want to see, believing what you see is really
there. 5 No one can see a world his mind has not accorded value. 6 And no one can fail to
look upon what he believes he wants.
W-pI.130.2. Yet who can really hate and love at once? 2 Who can desire what he does not
want to have reality? 3 And who can choose to see a world of which he is afraid? 4 Fear
must make blind, for this its weapon is: That which you fear to see you cannot see. 5
Love and perception thus go hand in hand, but fear obscures in darkness what is there.
W-pI.130.3. What, then, can fear project upon the world? 2 What can be seen in darkness
that is real? 3 Truth is eclipsed by fear, and what remains is but imagined. 4 Yet what
can be real in blind imaginings of panic born? 5 What would you want that this is shown
to you? 6 What would you wish to keep in such a dream?
W-pI.130.4. Fear has made everything you think you see. 2 All separation, all
distinctions, and the multitude of differences you believe make up the world. 3 They are not there.
4 Love's enemy has made them up. 5 Yet love can have no enemy, and so they have no
cause, no being and no consequence. 6 They can be valued, but remain unreal. 7 They can be
sought, but they can not be found. 8 Today we will not seek for them, nor waste this day in
seeking what can not be found.
W-pI.130.5. It is impossible to see two worlds which have no overlap of any kind. 2
Seek for the one; the other disappears. 3 But one remains. 4 They are the range of choice
beyond which your decision cannot go. 5 The real and the unreal are all there are to choose
between, and nothing more than these.
W-pI.130.6. Today we will attempt no compromise where none is possible. 2 The world you
see is proof you have already made a choice as all-embracing as its opposite. 3 What we
would learn today is more than just the lesson that you cannot see two worlds. 4 It
also teaches that the one you see is quite consistent from the point of view from which you
see it. 5 It is all a piece because it stems from one emotion, and reflects its source
in everything you see.
W-pI.130.7. Six times today, in thanks and gratitude, we gladly give five minutes to
the thought that ends all compromise and doubt, and go beyond them all as one. 2 We will
not make a thousand meaningless distinctions, nor attempt to bring with us a little part
of unreality, as we devote our minds to finding only what is real.
W-pI.130.8. Begin your searching for the other world by asking for a strength beyond
your own, and recognizing what it is you seek. 2 You do not want illusions. 3 And you come
to these five minutes emptying your hands of all the petty treasures of this world. 4 You
wait for God to help you, as you say:
5 It is impossible to see two worlds. 6 Let me accept the strength God offers me and
see no value in this world, that I may find my freedom and deliverance.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
4 It is impossible to see two worlds. 5 I seek my freedom and deliverance, and this is
not a part of what I want.
LESSON 131.
No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.
W-pI.131.1. Failure is all about you while you seek for goals that cannot be achieved.
2 You look for permanence in the impermanent, for love where there is none, for safety
in the midst of danger; immortality within the darkness of the dream of death. 3 Who
could succeed where contradiction is the setting of his searching, and the place to which he
comes to find stability?
W-pI.131.2. Goals that are meaningless are not attained. 2 There is no way to reach
them, for the means by which you strive for them are meaningless as they are. 3 Who can use
such senseless means, and hope through them to gain in anything? 4 Where can they lead?
5 And what could they achieve that offers any hope of being real? 6 Pursuit of the
imagined leads to death because it is the search for nothingness, and while you seek for life
you ask for death. 7 You look for safety and security, while in your heart you pray for
danger and protection for the little dream you made.
W-pI.131.3. Yet searching is inevitable here. 2 For this you came, and you will surely
do the thing you came for. 3 But the world can not dictate the goal for which you search,
unless you give it power to do so. 4 Otherwise, you still are free to choose a goal
that lies beyond the world and every worldly thought, and one that comes to you from an
idea relinquished yet remembered, old yet new; an echo of a heritage forgot, yet holding
everything you really want.
W-pI.131.4. Be glad that search you must. 2 Be glad as well to learn you search for
Heaven, and must find the goal you really want. 3 No one can fail to want this goal and reach
it in the end. 4 God's Son can not seek vainly, though he try to force delay, deceive
himself and think that it is hell he seeks. 5 When he is wrong, he finds correction. 6 When he
wanders off, he is led back to his appointed task.
W-pI.131.5. No one remains in hell, for no one can abandon his Creator, nor affect His
perfect, timeless and unchanging Love. 2 You will find Heaven. 3 Everything you seek but this
will fall away. 4 Yet not because it has been taken from you. 5 It will go because you do
not want it. 6 You will reach the goal you really want as certainly as God created you in
sinlessness.
W-pI.131.6. Why wait for Heaven? 2 It is here today. 3 Time is the great illusion it is
past or in the future. 4 Yet this cannot be, if it is where God wills His Son to be. 5
How could the Will of God be in the past, or yet to happen? 6 What He wills is now,
without a past and wholly futureless. 7 It is as far removed from time as is a tiny candle
from a distant star, or what you chose from what you really want.
W-pI.131.7. Heaven remains your one alternative to this strange world you made and all
its ways; its shifting patterns and uncertain goals, its painful pleasures and its tragic
joys. 2 God made no contradictions. 3 What denies its own existence and attacks itself is
not of Him. 4 He did not make two minds, with Heaven as the glad effect of one, and earth
the other's sorry outcome which is Heaven's opposite in every way.
W-pI.131.8. God does not suffer conflict. 2 Nor is His creation split in two. 3 How
could it be His Son could be in hell, when God Himself established him in Heaven? 4 Could he
lose what the Eternal Will has given him to be his home forever? 5 Let us not try
longer to impose an alien will upon God's single purpose. 6 He is here because He wills to be,
and what He wills is present now, beyond the reach of time.
W-pI.131.9. Today we will not choose a paradox in place of truth. 2 How could the Son
of God make time to take away the Will of God? 3 He thus denies himself, and contradicts
what has no opposite. 4 He thinks he made a hell opposing Heaven, and believes that he
abides in what does not exist, while Heaven is the place he cannot find.
W-pI.131.10. Leave foolish thoughts like these behind today, and turn your mind to true
ideas instead. 2 No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth, and it is truth we seek
to reach today. 3 We will devote ten minutes to this goal three times today, and we will
ask to see the rising of the real world to replace the foolish images that we hold dear,
with true ideas arising in the place of thoughts that have no meaning, no effect, and
neither source nor substance in the truth.
W-pI.131.11. This we acknowledge as we start upon our practice periods. 2 Begin with
this:
3 I ask to see a different world, and think a different kind of thought from those I
made. 4 The world I seek I did not make alone, the thoughts I want to think are not my own.
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
5 Today I seek and find all that I want.
6 My single purpose offers it to me.
7 No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.
LESSON 132.
I loose the world from all I thought it was.
W-pI.132.1. What keeps the world in chains but your beliefs? 2 And what can save the
world except your Self? 3 Belief is powerful indeed. 4 The thoughts you hold are mighty, and
illusions are as strong in their effects as is the truth. 5 A madman thinks the world
he sees is real, and does not doubt it. 6 Nor can he be swayed by questioning his
thoughts' effects. 7 It is but when their source is raised to question that the hope of freedom
comes to him at last.
W-pI.132.2. Yet is salvation easily achieved, for anyone is free to change his mind,
and all his thoughts change with it. 2 Now the source of thought has shifted, for to
change your mind means you have changed the source of all ideas you think or ever thought or
yet will think. 3 You free the past from what you thought before. 4 You free the future
from all ancient thoughts of seeking what you do not want to find.
W-pI.132.3. The present now remains the only time. 2 Here in the present is the world
set free. 3 For as you let the past be lifted and release the future from your ancient
fears, you find escape and give it to the world. 4 You have enslaved the world with all your
fears, your doubts and miseries, your pain and tears, and all your sorrows press on it,
and keep the world a prisoner to your beliefs. 5 Death strikes it everywhere because
you hold the bitter thoughts of death within your mind.
W-pI.132.4. The world is nothing in itself. 2 Your mind must give it meaning. 3 And
what you behold upon it are your wishes, acted out so you can look on them and think them
real. 4 Perhaps you think you did not make the world, but came unwillingly to what was made
already, hardly waiting for your thoughts to give it meaning. 5 Yet in truth you found
exactly what you looked for when you came.
W-pI.132.5. There is no world apart from what you wish, and herein lies your ultimate
release. 2 Change but your mind on what you want to see, and all the world must change
accordingly. 3 Ideas leave not their source. 4 This central theme is often stated in the text, and
must be borne in mind if you would understand the lesson for today. 5 It is not pride
which tells you that you made the world you see, and that it changes as you change your mind.
W-pI.132.6. But it is pride that argues you have come into a world quite separate from
yourself, impervious to what you think, and quite apart from what you chance to think it is. 2
There is no world! 3 This is the central thought the course attempts to teach. 4 Not
everyone is ready to accept it, and each one must go as far as he can let himself be led along
the road to truth. 5 He will return and go still farther, or perhaps step back a while and
then return again.
W-pI.132.7. But healing is the gift of those who are prepared to learn there is no
world, and can accept the lesson now. 2 Their readiness will bring the lesson to them in
some form which they can understand and recognize. 3 Some see it suddenly on point of death,
and rise to teach it. 4 Others find it in experience that is not of this world, which
shows them that the world does not exist because what they behold must be the truth, and yet
it clearly contradicts the world.
W-pI.132.8. And some will find it in this course, and in the exercises that we do today.
2 Today's idea is true because the world does not exist. 3 And if it is indeed your
own imagining, then you can loose it from all things you ever thought it was by merely
changing all the thoughts that gave it these appearances. 4 The sick are healed as you let go
all thoughts of sickness, and the dead arise when you let thoughts of life replace all
thoughts you ever held of death.
W-pI.132.9. A lesson earlier repeated once must now be stressed again, for it contains
the firm foundation for today's idea. 2 You are as God created you. 3 There is no place
where you can suffer, and no time that can bring change to your eternal state. 4 How can a
world of time and place exist, if you remain as God created you?
W-pI.132.10. What is the lesson for today except another way of saying that to know
your Self is the salvation of the world? 2 To free the world from every kind of pain is but
to change your mind about yourself. 3 There is no world apart from your ideas because
ideas leave not their source, and you maintain the world within your mind in thought.
W-pI.132.11. Yet if you are as God created you, you cannot think apart from Him, nor
make what does not share His timelessness and Love. 2 Are these inherent in the world you
see? 3 Does it create like Him? 4 Unless it does, it is not real, and cannot be at all. 5
If you are real the world you see is false, for God's creation is unlike the world in
every way. 6 And as it was His Thought by which you were created, so it is your thoughts
which made it and must set it free, that you may know the Thoughts you share with God.
W-pI.132.12. Release the world! 2 Your real creations wait for this release to give you
fatherhood, not of illusions, but as God in truth. 3 God shares His Fatherhood with you
who are His Son, for He makes no distinctions in what is Himself and what is still
Himself. 4 What He creates is not apart from Him, and nowhere does the Father end, the Son
begin as something separate from Him.
W-pI.132.13. There is no world because it is a thought apart from God, and made to
separate the Father and the Son, and break away a part of God Himself and thus destroy His
Wholeness. 2 Can a world which comes from this idea be real? 3 Can it be anywhere? 4 Deny
illusions, but accept the truth. 5 Deny you are a shadow briefly laid upon a dying world. 6
Release your mind, and you will look upon a world released.
W-pI.132.14. Today our purpose is to free the world from all the idle thoughts we ever
held about it, and about all living things we see upon it. 2 They can not be there. 3 No
more can we. 4 For we are in the home our Father set for us, along with them. 5 And we who
are as He created us would loose the world this day from every one of our illusions, that
we may be free.
W-pI.132.15. Begin the fifteen-minute periods in which we practice twice today with
this:
2 I who remain as God created me would loose the world from all I thought it was. 3 For
I am real because the world is not, and I would know my own reality.
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-pI.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-pI.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.
I will not value what is valueless.
W-pI.133.1. Sometimes in teaching there is benefit, particularly after you have gone
through what seems theoretical and far from what the student has already learned, to bring him
back to practical concerns. 2 This we will do today. 3 We will not speak of lofty,
world-encompassing ideas, but dwell instead on benefits to you.
W-pI.133.2. You do not ask too much of life, but far too little. 2 When you let your
mind be drawn to bodily concerns, to things you buy, to eminence as valued by the world,
you ask for sorrow, not for happiness. 3 This course does not attempt to take from you the
little that you have. 4 It does not try to substitute utopian ideas for satisfactions
which the world contains. 5 There are no satisfactions in the world.
W-pI.133.3. Today we list the real criteria by which to test all things you think you
want. 2 Unless they meet these sound requirements, they are not worth desiring at all, for
they can but replace what offers more. 3 The laws that govern choice you cannot make, no
more than you can make alternatives from which to choose. 4 The choosing you can do; indeed,
you must. 5 But it is wise to learn the laws you set in motion when you choose, and
what alternatives you choose between.
W-pI.133.4. We have already stressed there are but two, however many there appear to be.
2 The range is set, and this we cannot change. 3 It would be most ungenerous to you to
let alternatives be limitless, and thus delay your final choice until you had
considered all of them in time; and not been brought so clearly to the place where there is but
one choice that must be made.
W-pI.133.5. Another kindly and related law is that there is no compromise in what your
choice must bring. 2 It cannot give you just a little, for there is no in between. 3 Each
choice you make brings everything to you or nothing. 4 Therefore, if you learn the tests by
which you can distinguish everything from nothing, you will make the better choice.
W-pI.133.6. First, if you choose a thing that will not last forever, what you chose is
valueless. 2 A temporary value is without all value. 3 Time can never take away a value that is
real. 4 What fades and dies was never there, and makes no offering to him who chooses it. 5
He is deceived by nothing in a form he thinks he likes.
W-pI.133.7. Next, if you choose to take a thing away from someone else, you will have
nothing left. 2 This is because, when you deny his right to everything, you have denied your
own. 3 You therefore will not recognize the things you really have, denying they are there.
4 Who seeks to take away has been deceived by the illusion loss can offer gain. 5 Yet
loss must offer loss, and nothing more.
W-pI.133.8. Your next consideration is the one on which the others rest. 2 Why is the
choice you make of value to you? 3 What attracts your mind to it? 4 What purpose does it
serve? 5 Here it is easiest of all to be deceived. 6 For what the ego wants it fails to
recognize. 7 It does not even tell the truth as it perceives it, for it needs to keep the halo
which it uses to protect its goals from tarnish and from rust, that you may see how "
innocent" it is.
W-pI.133.9. Yet is its camouflage a thin veneer, which could deceive but those who are
content to be deceived. 2 Its goals are obvious to anyone who cares to look for them. 3 Here
is deception doubled, for the one who is deceived will not perceive that he has merely
failed to gain. 4 He will believe that he has served the ego's hidden goals.
W-pI.133.10. Yet though he tries to keep its halo clear within his vision, still must
he perceive its tarnished edges and its rusted core. 2 His ineffectual mistakes appear as
sins to him, because he looks upon the tarnish as his own; the rust a sign of deep
unworthiness within himself. 3 He who would still preserve the ego's goals and serve them as his
own makes no mistakes, according to the dictates of his guide. 4 This guidance teaches it
is error to believe that sins are but mistakes, for who would suffer for his sins if this
were so?
W-pI.133.11. And so we come to the criterion for choice that is the hardest to believe,
because its obviousness is overlaid with many levels of obscurity. 2 If you feel any
guilt about your choice, you have allowed the ego's goals to come between the real
alternatives. 3 And thus you do not realize there are but two, and the alternative you think you
chose seems fearful, and too dangerous to be the nothingness it actually is.
W-pI.133.12. All things are valuable or valueless, worthy or not of being sought at all,
entirely desirable or not worth the slightest effort to obtain. 2 Choosing is easy
just because of this. 3 Complexity is nothing but a screen of smoke, which hides the very
simple fact that no decision can be difficult. 4 What is the gain to you in learning this? 5
It is far more than merely letting you make choices easily and without pain.
W-pI.133.13. Heaven itself is reached with empty hands and open minds, which come with
nothing to find everything and claim it as their own. 2 We will attempt to reach this state
today, with self-deception laid aside, and with an honest willingness to value but the truly
valuable and the real. 3 Our two extended practice periods of fifteen minutes each
begin with this:
4 I will not value what is valueless, and only what has value do I seek, for only that
do I desire to find.
W-pI.133.14. And then receive what waits for everyone who reaches, unencumbered, to the
gate of Heaven, which swings open as he comes. 2 Should you begin to let yourself
collect some needless burdens, or believe you see some difficult decisions facing you, be
quick to answer with this simple thought:
3 I will not value what is valueless, for what is valuable belongs to me.
LESSON 134.
Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
W-pI.134.1. Let us review the meaning of "forgive," for it is apt to be distorted and
to be perceived as something that entails an unfair sacrifice of righteous wrath, a gift
unjustified and undeserved, and a complete denial of the truth. 2 In such a view, forgiveness must
be seen as mere eccentric folly, and this course appear to rest salvation on a whim.
W-pI.134.2. This twisted view of what forgiveness means is easily corrected, when you
can accept the fact that pardon is not asked for what is true. 2 It must be limited to
what is false. 3 It is irrelevant to everything except illusions. 4 Truth is God's creation,
and to pardon that is meaningless. 5 All truth belongs to Him, reflects His laws and
radiates His Love. 6 Does this need pardon? 7 How can you forgive the sinless and eternally
benign?
W-pI.134.3. The major difficulty that you find in genuine forgiveness on your part is
that you still believe you must forgive the truth, and not illusions. 2 You conceive of
pardon as a vain attempt to look past what is there; to overlook the truth, in an unfounded
effort to deceive yourself by making an illusion true. 3 This twisted viewpoint but reflects
the hold that the idea of sin retains as yet upon your mind, as you regard yourself.
W-pI.134.4. Because you think your sins are real, you look on pardon as deception. 2
For it is impossible to think of sin as true and not believe forgiveness is a lie. 3 Thus
is forgiveness really but a sin, like all the rest. 4 It says the truth is false, and
smiles on the corrupt as if they were as blameless as the grass; as white as snow. 5 It is
delusional in what it thinks it can accomplish. 6 It would see as right the plainly wrong; the
loathsome as the good.
W-pI.134.5. Pardon is no escape in such a view. 2 It merely is a further sign that sin
is unforgivable, at best to be concealed, denied or called another name, for pardon is a
treachery to truth. 3 Guilt cannot be forgiven. 4 If you sin, your guilt is everlasting. 5 Those
who are forgiven from the view their sins are real are pitifully mocked and twice
condemned; first, by themselves for what they think they did, and once again by those who pardon
them.
W-pI.134.6. It is sin's unreality that makes forgiveness natural and wholly sane, a
deep relief to those who offer it; a quiet blessing where it is received. 2 It does not
countenance illusions, but collects them lightly, with a little laugh, and gently lays them at the
feet of truth. 3 And there they disappear entirely.
W-pI.134.7. Forgiveness is the only thing that stands for truth in the illusions of the
world. 2 It sees their nothingness, and looks straight through the thousand forms in
which they may appear. 3 It looks on lies, but it is not deceived. 4 It does not heed the
self-accusing shrieks of sinners mad with guilt. 5 It looks on them with quiet eyes, and merely says
to them, "My brother, what you think is not the truth."
W-pI.134.8. The strength of pardon is its honesty, which is so uncorrupted that it sees
illusions as illusions, not as truth. 2 It is because of this that it becomes the
undeceiver in the face of lies; the great restorer of the simple truth. 3 By its ability to
overlook what is not there, it opens up the way to truth, which has been blocked by dreams of
guilt. 4 Now are you free to follow in the way your true forgiveness opens up to you. 5 For
if one brother has received this gift of you, the door is open to yourself.
W-pI.134.9. There is a very simple way to find the door to true forgiveness, and
perceive it open wide in welcome. 2 When you feel that you are tempted to accuse someone of sin
in any form, do not allow your mind to dwell on what you think he did, for that is
self-deception. 3 Ask instead, "Would I accuse myself of doing this?"
W-pI.134.10. Thus will you see alternatives for choice in terms that render choosing
meaningful, and keep your mind as free of guilt and pain as God Himself intended it to be, and as
it is in truth. 2 It is but lies that would condemn. 3 In truth is innocence the only
thing there is. 4 Forgiveness stands between illusions and the truth; between the world you
see and that which lies beyond; between the hell of guilt and Heaven's gate.
W-pI.134.11. Across this bridge, as powerful as love which laid its blessing on it, are
all dreams of evil and of hatred and attack brought silently to truth. 2 They are not
kept to swell and bluster, and to terrify the foolish dreamer who believes in them. 3 He
has been gently wakened from his dream by understanding what he thought he saw was never
there. 4 And now he cannot feel that all escape has been denied to him.
W-pI.134.12. He does not have to fight to save himself. 2 He does not have to kill the
dragons which he thought pursued him. 3 Nor need he erect the heavy walls of stone and iron
doors he thought would make him safe. 4 He can remove the ponderous and useless armor made
to chain his mind to fear and misery. 5 His step is light, and as he lifts his foot to
stride ahead a star is left behind, to point the way to those who follow him.
W-pI.134.13. Forgiveness must be practiced, for the world cannot perceive its meaning,
nor provide a guide to teach you its beneficence. 2 There is no thought in all the world
that leads to any understanding of the laws it follows, nor the Thought that it reflects. 3
It is as alien to the world as is your own reality. 4 And yet it joins your mind with
the reality in you.
W-pI.134.14. Today we practice true forgiveness, that the time of joining be no more
delayed. 2 For we would meet with our reality in freedom and in peace. 3 Our practicing
becomes the footsteps lighting up the way for all our brothers, who will follow us to the
reality we share with them. 4 That this may be accomplished, let us give a quarter of an hour
twice today, and spend it with the Guide Who understands the meaning of forgiveness, and was
sent to us to teach it. 5 Let us ask of Him:
6 Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
W-pI.134.15. Then choose one brother as He will direct, and catalogue his "sins," as
one by one they cross your mind. 2 Be certain not to dwell on any one of them, but realize
that you are using his "offenses" but to save the world from all ideas of sin. 3
Briefly consider all the evil things you thought of him, and each time ask yourself, "Would I
condemn myself for doing this?"
W-pI.134.16. Let him be freed from all the thoughts you had of sin in him. 2 And now
you are prepared for freedom. 3 If you have been practicing thus far in willingness and
honesty, you will begin to sense a lifting up, a lightening of weight across your chest, a
deep and certain feeling of relief. 4 The time remaining should be given to experiencing
the escape from all the heavy chains you sought to lay upon your brother, but were laid
upon yourself.
W-pI.134.17. Forgiveness should be practiced through the day, for there will still be
many times when you forget its meaning and attack yourself. 2 When this occurs, allow your
mind to see through this illusion as you tell yourself:
3 Let me perceive forgiveness as it is. 4 Would I accuse myself of doing this? 5 I will
not lay this chain upon myself.
6 In everything you do remember this:
7 No one is crucified alone, and yet no one can enter Heaven by himself.
LESSON 135.
If I defend myself I am attacked.
W-pI.135.1. Who would defend himself unless he thought he were attacked, that the
attack were real, and that his own defense could save himself? 2 And herein lies the folly of
defense; it gives illusions full reality, and then attempts to handle them as real. 3
It adds illusions to illusions, thus making correction doubly difficult. 4 And it is this
you do when you attempt to plan the future, activate the past, or organize the present
as you wish.
W-pI.135.2. You operate from the belief you must protect yourself from what is
happening because it must contain what threatens you. 2 A sense of threat is an acknowledgment
of an inherent weakness; a belief that there is danger which has power to call on you to
make appropriate defense. 3 The world is based on this insane belief. 4 And all its
structures, all its thoughts and doubts, its penalties and heavy armaments, its legal definitions
and its codes, its ethics and its leaders and its gods, all serve but to preserve its
sense of threat. 5 For no one walks the world in armature but must have terror striking at
his heart.
W-pI.135.3. Defense is frightening. 2 It stems from fear, increasing fear as each
defense is made. 3 You think it offers safety. 4 Yet it speaks of fear made real and terror
justified. 5 Is it not strange you do not pause to ask, as you elaborate your plans and make
your armor thicker and your locks more tight, what you defend, and how, and against what?
W-pI.135.4. Let us consider first what you defend. 2 It must be something that is very
weak and easily assaulted. 3 It must be something made easy prey, unable to protect itself
and needing your defense. 4 What but the body has such frailty that constant care and
watchful, deep concern are needful to protect its little life? 5 What but the body falters and
must fail to serve the Son of God as worthy host?
W-pI.135.5. Yet it is not the body that can fear, nor be a thing of fear. 2 It has no
needs but those which you assign to it. 3 It needs no complicated structures of defense, no
health-inducing medicine, no care and no concern at all. 4 Defend its life, or give it gifts to make
it beautiful or walls to make it safe, and you but say your home is open to the thief of
time, corruptible and crumbling, so unsafe it must be guarded with your very life.
W-pI.135.6. Is not this picture fearful? 2 Can you be at peace with such a concept of
your home? 3 Yet what endowed the body with the right to serve you thus except your own
belief? 4 It is your mind which gave the body all the functions that you see in it, and set
its value far beyond a little pile of dust and water. 5 Who would make defense of
something that he recognized as this?
W-pI.135.7. The body is in need of no defense. 2 This cannot be too often emphasized. 3
It will be strong and healthy if the mind does not abuse it by assigning it to roles it
cannot fill, to purposes beyond its scope, and to exalted aims which it cannot
accomplish. 4 Such attempts, ridiculous yet deeply cherished, are the sources for the many mad
attacks you make upon it. 5 For it seems to fail your hopes, your needs, your values and your
dreams.
W-pI.135.8. The "self" that needs protection is not real. 2 The body, valueless and
hardly worth the least defense, need merely be perceived as quite apart from you, and it
becomes a healthy, serviceable instrument through which the mind can operate until its
usefulness is over. 3 Who would want to keep it when its usefulness is done?
W-pI.135.9. Defend the body and you have attacked your mind. 2 For you have seen in it
the faults, the weaknesses, the limits and the lacks from which you think the body must be
saved. 3 You will not see the mind as separate from bodily conditions. 4 And you will
impose upon the body all the pain that comes from the conception of the mind as limited and
fragile, and apart from other minds and separate from its Source.
W-pI.135.10. These are the thoughts in need of healing, and the body will respond with
health when they have been corrected and replaced with truth. 2 This is the body's only real
defense. 3 Yet is this where you look for its defense? 4 You offer it protection of a kind
from which it gains no benefit at all, but merely adds to your distress of mind. 5 You do
not heal, but merely take away the hope of healing, for you fail to see where hope must
lie if it be meaningful.
W-pI.135.11. A healed mind does not plan. 2 It carries out the plans that it receives
through listening to wisdom that is not its own. 3 It waits until it has been taught what
should be done, and then proceeds to do it. 4 It does not depend upon itself for anything
except its adequacy to fulfill the plans assigned to it. 5 It is secure in certainty that
obstacles can not impede its progress to accomplishment of any goal that serves the greater plan
established for the good of everyone.
W-pI.135.12. A healed mind is relieved of the belief that it must plan, although it
cannot know the outcome which is best, the means by which it is achieved, nor how to
recognize the problem that the plan is made to solve. 2 It must misuse the body in its plans
until it recognizes this is so. 3 But when it has accepted this as true, then is it healed,
and lets the body go.
W-pI.135.13. Enslavement of the body to the plans the unhealed mind sets up to save
itself must make the body sick. 2 It is not free to be the means of helping in a plan which
far exceeds its own protection, and which needs its service for a little while. 3 In this
capacity is health assured. 4 For everything the mind employs for this will function flawlessly,
and with the strength that has been given it and cannot fail.
W-pI.135.14. It is, perhaps, not easy to perceive that self-initiated plans are but
defenses, with the purpose all of them were made to realize. 2 They are the means by which a
frightened mind would undertake its own protection, at the cost of truth. 3 This is not difficult
to realize in some forms which these self-deceptions take, where the denial of reality
is very obvious. 4 Yet planning is not often recognized as a defense.
W-pI.135.15. The mind engaged in planning for itself is occupied in setting up control
of future happenings. 2 It does not think that it will be provided for, unless it makes
its own provisions. 3 Time becomes a future emphasis, to be controlled by learning and
experience obtained from past events and previous beliefs. 4 It overlooks the present, for it
rests on the idea the past has taught enough to let the mind direct its future course.
W-pI.135.16. The mind that plans is thus refusing to allow for change. 2 What it has
learned before becomes the basis for its future goals. 3 Its past experience directs its
choice of what will happen. 4 And it does not see that here and now is everything it needs to
guarantee a future quite unlike the past, without a continuity of any old ideas and
sick beliefs. 5 Anticipation plays no part at all, for present confidence directs the way.
W-pI.135.17. Defenses are the plans you undertake to make against the truth. 2 Their
aim is to select what you approve, and disregard what you consider incompatible with your
beliefs of your reality. 3 Yet what remains is meaningless indeed. 4 For it is your reality
that is the "threat" which your defenses would attack, obscure, and take apart and crucify.
W-pI.135.18. What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens,
all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is
your good? 2 Perhaps you have misunderstood His plan, for He would never offer pain to you.
3 But your defenses did not let you see His loving blessing shine in every step you
ever took. 4 While you made plans for death, He led you gently to eternal life.
W-pI.135.19. Your present trust in Him is the defense that promises a future
undisturbed, without a trace of sorrow, and with joy that constantly increases, as this life
becomes a holy instant, set in time, but heeding only immortality. 2 Let no defenses but your
present trust direct the future, and this life becomes a meaningful encounter with the truth
that only your defenses would conceal.
W-pI.135.20. Without defenses, you become a light which Heaven gratefully acknowledges
to be its own. 2 And it will lead you on in ways appointed for your happiness according
to the ancient plan, begun when time was born. 3 Your followers will join their light
with yours, and it will be increased until the world is lighted up with joy. 4 And gladly
will our brothers lay aside their cumbersome defenses, which availed them nothing and could
only terrify.
W-pI.135.21. We will anticipate that time today with present confidence, for this is
part of what was planned for us. 2 We will be sure that everything we need is given us for
our accomplishment of this today. 3 We make no plans for how it will be done, but realize
that our defenselessness is all that is required for the truth to dawn upon our minds with
certainty.
W-pI.135.22. For fifteen minutes twice today we rest from senseless planning, and from
every thought that blocks the truth from entering our minds. 2 Today we will receive instead
of plan, that we may give instead of organize. 3 And we are given truly, as we say:
4 If I defend myself I am attacked. 5 But in defenselessness I will be strong, and I
will learn what my defenses hide.
W-pI.135.23. Nothing but that. 2 If there are plans to make, you will be told of them.
3 They may not be the plans you thought were needed, nor indeed the answers to the
problems which you thought confronted you. 4 But they are answers to another kind of question,
which remains unanswered yet in need of answering until the Answer comes to you at last.
W-pI.135.24. All your defenses have been aimed at not receiving what you will receive
today. 2 And in the light and joy of simple trust, you will but wonder why you ever thought
that you must be defended from release. 3 Heaven asks nothing. 4 It is hell that makes
extravagant demands for sacrifice. 5 You give up nothing in these times today when, undefended,
you present yourself to your Creator as you really are.
W-pI.135.25. He has remembered you. 2 Today we will remember Him. 3 For this is
Eastertime in your salvation. 4 And you rise again from what was seeming death and hopelessness.
5 Now is the light of hope reborn in you, for now you come without defense, to learn the
part for you within the plan of God. 6 What little plans or magical beliefs can still
have value, when you have received your function from the Voice for God Himself?
W-pI.135.26. Try not to shape this day as you believe would benefit you most. 2 For you
can not conceive of all the happiness that comes to you without your planning. 3 Learn
today. 4 And all the world will take this giant stride, and celebrate your Eastertime with
you. 5 Throughout the day, as foolish little things appear to raise defensiveness in you
and tempt you to engage in weaving plans, remind yourself this is a special day for
learning, and acknowledge it with this:
6 This is my Eastertime. 7 And I would keep it holy. 8 I will not defend myself,
because the Son of God needs no defense against the truth of his reality.
LESSON 136.
Sickness is a defense against the truth.
W-pI.136.1. No one can heal unless he understands what purpose sickness seems to serve.
2 For then he understands as well its purpose has no meaning. 3 Being causeless and
without a meaningful intent of any kind, it cannot be at all. 4 When this is seen, healing is
automatic. 5 It dispels this meaningless illusion by the same approach that carries all of them
to truth, and merely leaves them there to disappear.
W-pI.136.2. Sickness is not an accident. 2 Like all defenses, it is an insane device
for self-deception. 3 And like all the rest, its purpose is to hide reality, attack it,
change it, render it inept, distort it, twist it, or reduce it to a little pile of
unassembled parts. 4 The aim of all defenses is to keep the truth from being whole. 5 The parts
are seen as if each one were whole within itself.
W-pI.136.3. Defenses are not unintentional, nor are they made without awareness. 2 They
are secret, magic wands you wave when truth appears to threaten what you would believe.
3 They seem to be unconscious but because of the rapidity with which you choose to use
them. 4 In that second, even less, in which the choice is made, you recognize exactly what
you would attempt to do, and then proceed to think that it is done.
W-pI.136.4. Who but yourself evaluates a threat, decides escape is necessary, and sets
up a series of defenses to reduce the threat that has been judged as real? 2 All this
cannot be done unconsciously. 3 But afterwards, your plan requires that you must forget you
made it, so it seems to be external to your own intent; a happening beyond your state of
mind, an outcome with a real effect on you, instead of one effected by yourself.
W-pI.136.5. It is this quick forgetting of the part you play in making your "reality"
that makes defenses seem to be beyond your own control. 2 But what you have forgot can be
remembered, given willingness to reconsider the decision which is doubly shielded by oblivion. 3
Your not remembering is but the sign that this decision still remains in force, as far as
your desires are concerned. 4 Mistake not this for fact. 5 Defenses must make facts
unrecognizable. 6 They aim at doing this, and it is this they do.
W-pI.136.6. Every defense takes fragments of the whole, assembles them without regard
to all their true relationships, and thus constructs illusions of a whole that is not
there. 2 It is this process that imposes threat, and not whatever outcome may result. 3 When
parts are wrested from the whole and seen as separate and wholes within themselves,
they become symbols standing for attack upon the whole; successful in effect, and never to
be seen as whole again. 4 And yet you have forgotten that they stand but for your own
decision of what should be real, to take the place of what is real.
W-pI.136.7. Sickness is a decision. 2 It is not a thing that happens to you, quite
unsought, which makes you weak and brings you suffering. 3 It is a choice you make, a plan you
lay, when for an instant truth arises in your own deluded mind, and all your world appears
to totter and prepare to fall. 4 Now are you sick, that truth may go away and threaten
your establishments no more.
W-pI.136.8. How do you think that sickness can succeed in shielding you from truth? 2
Because it proves the body is not separate from you, and so you must be separate from the
truth. 3 You suffer pain because the body does, and in this pain are you made one with it. 4
Thus is your "true" identity preserved, and the strange, haunting thought that you
might be something beyond this little pile of dust silenced and stilled. 5 For see, this
dust can make you suffer, twist your limbs and stop your heart, commanding you to die and
cease to be.
W-pI.136.9. Thus is the body stronger than the truth, which asks you live, but cannot
overcome your choice to die. 2 And so the body is more powerful than everlasting life, Heaven
more frail than hell, and God's design for the salvation of His Son opposed by a decision
stronger than His Will. 3 His Son is dust, the Father incomplete, and chaos sits in triumph on
His throne.
W-pI.136.10. Such is your planning for your own defense. 2 And you believe that Heaven
quails before such mad attacks as these, with God made blind by your illusions, truth turned
into lies, and all the universe made slave to laws which your defenses would impose on it.
3 Yet who believes illusions but the one who made them up? 4 Who else can see them and
react to them as if they were the truth?
W-pI.136.11. God knows not of your plans to change His Will. 2 The universe remains
unheeding of the laws by which you thought to govern it. 3 And Heaven has not bowed to hell, nor
life to death. 4 You can but choose to think you die, or suffer sickness or distort the
truth in any way. 5 What is created is apart from all of this. 6 Defenses are plans to
defeat what cannot be attacked. 7 What is unalterable cannot change. 8 And what is wholly
sinless cannot sin.
W-pI.136.12. Such is the simple truth. 2 It does not make appeal to might nor triumph.
3 It does not command obedience, nor seek to prove how pitiful and futile your attempts
to plan defenses that would alter it. 4 Truth merely wants to give you happiness, for
such its purpose is. 5 Perhaps it sighs a little when you throw away its gifts, and yet it
knows, with perfect certainty, that what God wills for you must be received.
W-pI.136.13. It is this fact that demonstrates that time is an illusion. 2 For time
lets you think what God has given you is not the truth right now, as it must be. 3 The
Thoughts of God are quite apart from time. 4 For time is but another meaningless defense you
made against the truth. 5 Yet what He wills is here, and you remain as He created you.
W-pI.136.14. Truth has a power far beyond defense, for no illusions can remain where
truth has been allowed to enter. 2 And it comes to any mind that would lay down its arms,
and cease to play with folly. 3 It is found at any time; today, if you will choose to
practice giving welcome to the truth.
W-pI.136.15. This is our aim today. 2 And we will give a quarter of an hour twice to
ask the truth to come to us and set us free. 3 And truth will come, for it has never been
apart from us. 4 It merely waits for just this invitation which we give today. 5 We
introduce it with a healing prayer, to help us rise above defensiveness, and let truth be as it
has always been:
6 Sickness is a defense against the truth. 7 I will accept the truth of what I am, and
let my mind be wholly healed today.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
When I am healed I am not healed alone.
W-pI.137.1. Today's idea remains the central thought on which salvation rests. 2 For
healing is the opposite of all the world's ideas which dwell on sickness and on separate
states. 3 Sickness is a retreat from others, and a shutting off of joining. 4 It becomes a
door that closes on a separate self, and keeps it isolated and alone.
W-pI.137.2. Sickness is isolation. 2 For it seems to keep one self apart from all the
rest, to suffer what the others do not feel. 3 It gives the body final power to make the
separation real, and keep the mind in solitary prison, split apart and held in pieces by a solid
wall of sickened flesh, which it can not surmount.
W-pI.137.3. The world obeys the laws that sickness serves, but healing operates apart
from them. 2 It is impossible that anyone be healed alone. 3 In sickness must he be apart
and separate. 4 But healing is his own decision to be one again, and to accept his Self
with all Its parts intact and unassailed. 5 In sickness does his Self appear to be
dismembered, and without the unity that gives It life. 6 But healing is accomplished as he sees
the body has no power to attack the universal Oneness of God's Son.
W-pI.137.4. Sickness would prove that lies must be the truth. 2 But healing
demonstrates that truth is true. 3 The separation sickness would impose has never really happened.
4 To be healed is merely to accept what always was the simple truth, and always will
remain exactly as it has forever been. 5 Yet eyes accustomed to illusions must be shown that
what they look upon is false. 6 So healing, never needed by the truth, must demonstrate
that sickness is not real.
W-pI.137.5. Healing might thus be called a counter-dream, which cancels out the dream
of sickness in the name of truth, but not in truth itself. 2 Just as forgiveness
overlooks all sins that never were accomplished, healing but removes illusions that have not
occurred. 3 Just as the real world will arise to take the place of what has never been at all,
healing but offers restitution for imagined states and false ideas which dreams embroider into
pictures of the truth.
W-pI.137.6. Yet think not healing is unworthy of your function here. 2 For anti-Christ
becomes more powerful than Christ to those who dream the world is real. 3 The body seems to be
more solid and more stable than the mind. 4 And love becomes a dream, while fear
remains the one reality that can be seen and justified and fully understood.
W-pI.137.7. Just as forgiveness shines away all sin and the real world will occupy the
place of what you made, so healing must replace the fantasies of sickness which you hold
before the simple truth. 2 When sickness has been seen to disappear in spite of all the laws
that hold it cannot but be real, then questions have been answered. 3 And the laws can be
no longer cherished nor obeyed.
W-pI.137.8. Healing is freedom. 2 For it demonstrates that dreams will not prevail
against the truth. 3 Healing is shared. 4 And by this attribute it proves that laws unlike the
ones which hold that sickness is inevitable are more potent than their sickly opposites.
5 Healing is strength. 6 For by its gentle hand is weakness overcome, and minds that
were walled off within a body free to join with other minds, to be forever strong.
W-pI.137.9. Healing, forgiveness, and the glad exchange of all the world of sorrow for
a world where sadness cannot enter, are the means by which the Holy Spirit urges you to
follow Him. 2 His gentle lessons teach how easily salvation can be yours; how little practice
you need undertake to let His laws replace the ones you made to hold yourself a
prisoner to death. 3 His life becomes your own, as you extend the little help He asks in
freeing you from everything that ever caused you pain.
W-pI.137.10. And as you let yourself be healed, you see all those around you, or who
cross your mind, or whom you touch or those who seem to have no contact with you, healed
along with you. 2 Perhaps you will not recognize them all, nor realize how great your
offering to all the world, when you let healing come to you. 3 But you are never healed alone.
4 And legions upon legions will receive the gift that you receive when you are healed.
W-pI.137.11. Those who are healed become the instruments of healing. 2 Nor does time
elapse between the instant they are healed, and all the grace of healing it is given them to
give. 3 What is opposed to God does not exist, and who accepts it not within his mind
becomes a haven where the weary can remain to rest. 4 For here is truth bestowed, and here are
all illusions brought to truth.
W-pI.137.12. Would you not offer shelter to God's Will? 2 You but invite your Self to
be at home. 3 And can this invitation be refused? 4 Ask the inevitable to occur, and you
will never fail. 5 The other choice is but to ask what cannot be to be, and this can not
succeed. 6 Today we ask that only truth will occupy our minds; that thoughts of healing will
this day go forth from what is healed to what must yet be healed, aware that they will both
occur as one.
W-pI.137.13. We will remember, as the hour strikes, our function is to let our minds be
healed, that we may carry healing to the world, exchanging curse for blessing, pain for
joy, and separation for the peace of God. 2 Is not a minute of the hour worth the
giving to receive a gift like this? 3 Is not a little time a small expense to offer for the
gift of everything?
W-pI.137.14. Yet must we be prepared for such a gift. 2 And so we will begin the day
with this, and give ten minutes to these thoughts with which we will conclude today at
night as well:
3 When I am healed I am not healed alone. 4 And I would share my healing with the world,
that sickness may be banished from the mind of God's one Son, Who is my only Self.
W-pI.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:
5 When I am healed I am not healed alone. 6 And I would bless my brothers, for I would
be healed with them, as they are healed with me.
LESSON 138.
Heaven is the decision I must make.
W-pI.138.1. In this world Heaven is a choice, because here we believe there are
alternatives to choose between. 2 We think that all things have an opposite, and what we want we
choose. 3 If Heaven exists there must be hell as well, for contradiction is the way we make
what we perceive, and what we think is real.
W-pI.138.2. Creation knows no opposite. 2 But here is opposition part of being "real."
3 It is this strange perception of the truth that makes the choice of Heaven seem to be
the same as the relinquishment of hell. 4 It is not really thus. 5 Yet what is true in
God's creation cannot enter here until it is reflected in some form the world can understand.
6 Truth cannot come where it could only be perceived with fear. 7 For this would be
the error truth can be brought to illusions. 8 Opposition makes the truth unwelcome, and
it cannot come.
W-pI.138.3. Choice is the obvious escape from what appears as opposites. 2 Decision
lets one of conflicting goals become the aim of effort and expenditure of time. 3 Without
decision, time is but a waste and effort dissipated. 4 It is spent for nothing in return, and
time goes by without results. 5 There is no sense of gain, for nothing is accomplished;
nothing learned.
W-pI.138.4. You need to be reminded that you think a thousand choices are confronting
you, when there is really only one to make. 2 And even this but seems to be a choice. 3 Do
not confuse yourself with all the doubts that myriad decisions would induce. 4 You make
but one. 5 And when that one is made, you will perceive it was no choice at all. 6 For
truth is true, and nothing else is true. 7 There is no opposite to choose instead. 8 There
is no contradiction to the truth.
W-pI.138.5. Choosing depends on learning. 2 And the truth cannot be learned, but only
recognized. 3 In recognition its acceptance lies, and as it is accepted it is known. 4 But
knowledge is beyond the goals we seek to teach within the framework of this course. 5 Ours are
teaching goals, to be attained through learning how to reach them, what they are, and what they
offer you. 6 Decisions are the outcome of your learning, for they rest on what you have
accepted as the truth of what you are, and what your needs must be.
W-pI.138.6. In this insanely complicated world, Heaven appears to take the form of
choice, rather than merely being what it is. 2 Of all the choices you have tried to make this
is the simplest, most definitive and prototype of all the rest, the one which settles
all decisions. 3 If you could decide the rest, this one remains unsolved. 4 But when you
solve this one, the others are resolved with it, for all decisions but conceal this one by
taking different forms. 5 Here is the final and the only choice in which is truth accepted or
denied.
W-pI.138.7. So we begin today considering the choice that time was made to help us make.
2 Such is its holy purpose, now transformed from the intent you gave it; that it be a
means for demonstrating hell is real, hope changes to despair, and life itself must in the
end be overcome by death. 3 In death alone are opposites resolved, for ending opposition
is to die. 4 And thus salvation must be seen as death, for life is seen as conflict. 5 To
resolve the conflict is to end your life as well.
W-pI.138.8. These mad beliefs can gain unconscious hold of great intensity, and grip
the mind with terror and anxiety so strong that it will not relinquish its ideas about its
own protection. 2 It must be saved from salvation, threatened to be safe, and magically
armored against truth. 3 And these decisions are made unaware, to keep them safely
undisturbed; apart from question and from reason and from doubt.
W-pI.138.9. Heaven is chosen consciously. 2 The choice cannot be made until
alternatives are accurately seen and understood. 3 All that is veiled in shadows must be raised to
understanding, to be judged again, this time with Heaven's help. 4 And all mistakes in judgment that
the mind had made before are open to correction, as the truth dismisses them as
causeless. 5 Now are they without effects. 6 They cannot be concealed, because their nothingness
is recognized.
W-pI.138.10. The conscious choice of Heaven is as sure as is the ending of the fear of
hell, when it is raised from its protective shield of unawareness, and is brought to light.
2 Who can decide between the clearly seen and the unrecognized? 3 Yet who can fail to
make a choice between alternatives when only one is seen as valuable; the other as a wholly
worthless thing, a but imagined source of guilt and pain? 4 Who hesitates to make a
choice like this? 5 And shall we hesitate to choose today?
W-pI.138.11. We make the choice for Heaven as we wake, and spend five minutes making
sure that we have made the one decision that is sane. 2 We recognize we make a conscious
choice between what has existence and what has nothing but an appearance of the truth. 3 Its
pseudo-being, brought to what is real, is flimsy and transparent in the light. 4 It holds no terror
now, for what was made enormous, vengeful, pitiless with hate, demands obscurity for
fear to be invested there. 5 Now it is recognized as but a foolish, trivial mistake.
W-pI.138.12. Before we close our eyes in sleep tonight, we reaffirm the choice that we
have made each hour in between. 2 And now we give the last five minutes of our waking day
to the decision with which we awoke. 3 As every hour passed, we have declared our choice
again, in a brief quiet time devoted to maintaining sanity. 4 And finally, we close the day
with this, acknowledging we chose but what we want:
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.
I will accept Atonement for myself.
W-pI.139.1. Here is the end of choice. 2 For here we come to a decision to accept
ourselves as God created us. 3 And what is choice except uncertainty of what we are? 4 There is
no doubt that is not rooted here. 5 There is no question but reflects this one. 6 There
is no conflict that does not entail the single, simple question, "What am I?"
W-pI.139.2. Yet who could ask this question except one who has refused to recognize
himself? 2 Only refusal to accept yourself could make the question seem to be sincere. 3 The
only thing that can be surely known by any living thing is what it is. 4 From this one
point of certainty, it looks on other things as certain as itself.
W-pI.139.3. Uncertainty about what you must be is self-deception on a scale so vast,
its magnitude can hardly be conceived. 2 To be alive and not to know yourself is to
believe that you are really dead. 3 For what is life except to be yourself, and what but you
can be alive instead? 4 Who is the doubter? 5 What is it he doubts? 6 Whom does he
question? 7 Who can answer him?
W-pI.139.4. He merely states that he is not himself, and therefore, being something
else, becomes a questioner of what that something is. 2 Yet he could never be alive at all
unless he knew the answer. 3 If he asks as if he does not know, it merely shows he does not
want to be the thing he is. 4 He has accepted it because he lives; has judged against it
and denied its worth, and has decided that he does not know the only certainty by which he
lives.
W-pI.139.5. Thus he becomes uncertain of his life, for what it is has been denied by
him. 2 It is for this denial that you need Atonement. 3 Your denial made no change in what
you are. 4 But you have split your mind into what knows and does not know the truth. 5
You are yourself. 6 There is no doubt of this. 7 And yet you doubt it. 8 But you do not
ask what part of you can really doubt yourself. 9 It cannot really be a part of you that
asks this question. 10 For it asks of one who knows the answer. 11 Were it part of you,
then certainty would be impossible.
W-pI.139.6. Atonement remedies the strange idea that it is possible to doubt yourself,
and be unsure of what you really are. 2 This is the depth of madness. 3 Yet it is the
universal question of the world. 4 What does this mean except the world is mad? 5 Why share its
madness in the sad belief that what is universal here is true?
W-pI.139.7. Nothing the world believes is true. 2 It is a place whose purpose is to be
a home where those who claim they do not know themselves can come to question what it is
they are. 3 And they will come again until the time Atonement is accepted, and they
learn it is impossible to doubt yourself, and not to be aware of what you are.
W-pI.139.8. Only acceptance can be asked of you, for what you are is certain. 2 It is
set forever in the holy Mind of God, and in your own. 3 It is so far beyond all doubt and
question that to ask what it must be is all the proof you need to show that you believe the
contradiction that you know not what you cannot fail to know. 4 Is this a question, or a statement
which denies itself in statement? 5 Let us not allow our holy minds to occupy themselves
with senseless musings such as this.
W-pI.139.9. We have a mission here. 2 We did not come to reinforce the madness that we
once believed in. 3 Let us not forget the goal that we accepted. 4 It is more than just our
happiness alone we came to gain. 5 What we accept as what we are proclaims what
everyone must be, along with us. 6 Fail not your brothers, or you fail yourself. 7 Look
lovingly on them, that they may know that they are part of you, and you of them.
W-pI.139.10. This does Atonement teach, and demonstrates the Oneness of God's Son is
unassailed by his belief he knows not what he is. 2 Today accept Atonement, not to change reality,
but merely to accept the truth about yourself, and go your way rejoicing in the
endless Love of God. 3 It is but this that we are asked to do. 4 It is but this that we will
do today.
W-pI.139.11. Five minutes in the morning and at night we will devote to dedicate our
minds to our assignment for today. 2 We start with this review of what our mission is:
3 I will accept Atonement for myself, For I remain as God created me.
4 We have not lost the knowledge that God gave to us when He created us like Him. 5 We
can remember it for everyone, for in creation are all minds as one. 6 And in our memory is
the recall how dear our brothers are to us in truth, how much a part of us is every
mind, how faithful they have really been to us, and how our Father's Love contains them all.
W-pI.139.12. In thanks for all creation, in the Name of its Creator and His Oneness
with all aspects of creation, we repeat our dedication to our cause today each hour, as we
lay aside all thoughts that would distract us from our holy aim. 2 For several minutes let
your mind be cleared of all the foolish cobwebs which the world would weave around the
holy Son of God. 3 And learn the fragile nature of the chains that seem to keep the
knowledge of yourself apart from your awareness, as you say:
4 I will accept Atonement for myself, For I remain as God created me.
LESSON 140.
Only salvation can be said to cure.
W-pI.140.1. "Cure" is a word that cannot be applied to any remedy the world accepts as
beneficial. 2 What the world perceives as therapeutic is but what will make the body "better." 3
When it tries to heal the mind, it sees no separation from the body, where it thinks the
mind exists. 4 Its forms of healing thus must substitute illusion for illusion. 5 One
belief in sickness takes another form, and so the patient now perceives himself as well.
W-pI.140.2. He is not healed. 2 He merely had a dream that he was sick, and in the
dream he found a magic formula to make him well. 3 Yet he has not awakened from the dream,
and so his mind remains exactly as it was before. 4 He has not seen the light that would
awaken him and end the dream. 5 What difference does the content of a dream make in reality?
6 One either sleeps or wakens. 7 There is nothing in between.
W-pI.140.3. The happy dreams the Holy Spirit brings are different from the dreaming of
the world, where one can merely dream he is awake. 2 The dreams forgiveness lets the mind
perceive do not induce another form of sleep, so that the dreamer dreams another dream. 3 His
happy dreams are heralds of the dawn of truth upon the mind. 4 They lead from sleep to
gentle waking, so that dreams are gone. 5 And thus they cure for all eternity.
W-pI.140.4. Atonement heals with certainty, and cures all sickness. 2 For the mind
which understands that sickness can be nothing but a dream is not deceived by forms the
dream may take. 3 Sickness where guilt is absent cannot come, for it is but another form of
guilt. 4 Atonement does not heal the sick, for that is not a cure. 5 It takes away the guilt
that makes the sickness possible. 6 And that is cure indeed. 7 For sickness now is gone,
with nothing left to which it can return.
W-pI.140.5. Peace be to you who have been cured in God, and not in idle dreams. 2 For
cure must come from holiness, and holiness can not be found where sin is cherished. 3 God
abides in holy temples. 4 He is barred where sin has entered. 5 Yet there is no place where
He is not. 6 And therefore sin can have no home in which to hide from His beneficence. 7
There is no place where holiness is not, and nowhere sin and sickness can abide.
W-pI.140.6. This is the thought that cures. 2 It does not make distinctions among
unrealities. 3 Nor does it seek to heal what is not sick, unmindful where the need for healing is.
4 This is no magic. 5 It is merely an appeal to truth, which cannot fail to heal and
heal forever. 6 It is not a thought that judges an illusion by its size, its seeming
gravity, or anything that is related to the form it takes. 7 It merely focuses on what it is,
and knows that no illusion can be real.
W-pI.140.7. Let us not try today to seek to cure what cannot suffer sickness. 2 Healing
must be sought but where it is, and then applied to what is sick, so that it can be
cured. 3 There is no remedy the world provides that can effect a change in anything. 4 The
mind that brings illusions to the truth is really changed. 5 There is no change but this. 6
For how can one illusion differ from another but in attributes that have no substance,
no reality, no core, and nothing that is truly different?
W-pI.140.8. Today we seek to change our minds about the source of sickness, for we seek
a cure for all illusions, not another shift among them. 2 We will try today to find the
source of healing, which is in our minds because our Father placed it there for us. 3
It is not farther from us than ourselves. 4 It is as near to us as our own thoughts; so
close it is impossible to lose. 5 We need but seek it and it must be found.
W-pI.140.9. We will not be misled today by what appears to us as sick. 2 We go beyond
appearances today and reach the source of healing, from which nothing is exempt. 3 We will succeed
to the extent to which we realize that there can never be a meaningful distinction made
between what is untrue and equally untrue. 4 Here there are no degrees, and no beliefs
that what does not exist is truer in some forms than others. 5 All of them are false, and
can be cured because they are not true.
W-pI.140.10. So do we lay aside our amulets, our charms and medicines, our chants and
bits of magic in whatever form they take. 2 We will be still and listen for the Voice of
healing, which will cure all ills as one, restoring saneness to the Son of God. 3 No voice but
this can cure. 4 Today we hear a single Voice which speaks to us of truth, where all
illusions end, and peace returns to the eternal, quiet home of God.
W-pI.140.11. We waken hearing Him, and let Him speak to us five minutes as the day
begins, and end the day by listening again five minutes more before we go to sleep. 2 Our
only preparation is to let our interfering thoughts be laid aside, not separately, but all
of them as one. 3 They are the same. 4 We have no need to make them different, and thus
delay the time when we can hear our Father speak to us. 5 We hear Him now. 6 We come to Him
today.
W-pI.140.12. With nothing in our hands to which we cling, with lifted hearts and
listening minds we pray:
2 Only salvation can be said to cure.
3 Speak to us, Father, that we may be healed.
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-pI.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-pI.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:
2 My mind holds only what I think with God.
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
3 My mind holds only what I think with God.
4 Five minutes with this thought will be enough to set the day along the lines which
God appointed, and to place His Mind in charge of all the thoughts you will receive that
day.
W-pI.rIV.in.6. They will not come from you alone, for they will all be shared with Him.
2 And so each one will bring the message of His Love to you, returning messages of
yours to Him. 3 So will communion with the Lord of Hosts be yours, as He Himself has willed
it be. 4 And as His Own completion joins with Him, so will He join with you who are
complete as you unite with Him, and He with you.
W-pI.rIV.in.7. After your preparation, merely read each of the two ideas assigned to
you to be reviewed that day. 2 Then close your eyes, and say them slowly to yourself. 3
There is no hurry now, for you are using time for its intended purpose. 4 Let each word
shine with the meaning God has given it, as it was given to you through His Voice. 5 Let
each idea which you review that day give you the gift that He has laid in it for you to
have of Him. 6 And we will use no format for our practicing but this:
W-pI.rIV.in.8. Each hour of the day, bring to your mind the thought with which the day
began, and spend a quiet moment with it. 2 Then repeat the two ideas you practice for the
day unhurriedly, with time enough to see the gifts that they contain for you, and let them
be received where they were meant to be.
W-pI.rIV.in.9. We add no other thoughts, but let these be the messages they are. 2 We
need no more than this to give us happiness and rest, and endless quiet, perfect certainty,
and all our Father wills that we receive as the inheritance we have of Him. 3 Each day
of practicing, as we review, we close as we began, repeating first the thought that made
the day a special time of blessing and of happiness for us; and through our faithfulness
restored the world from darkness to the light, from grief to joy, from pain to peace, from sin
to holiness.
W-pI.rIV.in.10. God offers thanks to you who practice thus the keeping of His Word. 2
And as you give your mind to the ideas for the day again before you sleep, His gratitude
surrounds you in the peace wherein He wills you be forever, and are learning now to claim again
as your inheritance.
LESSON 141.
My mind holds only what I think with God
W-pI.141.1. (121) Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
W-pI.141.2. (122) Forgiveness offers everything I want.
LESSON 142.
My mind holds only what I think with God.
W-pI.142.1. (123) I thank my Father for His gifts to me.
W-pI.142.2. (124) Let me remember I am one with God.
LESSON 143.
My mind holds only what I think with God.
W-pI.143.1. (125) In quiet I receive God's Word today.
W-pI.143.2. (126) All that I give is given to myself.
LESSON 144.
My mind holds only what I think with God.
W-pI.144.1. (127) There is no love but God's.
W-pI.144.2. (128) The world I see holds nothing that I want.
LESSON 145.
My mind holds only what I think with God.
W-pI.145.1. (129) Beyond this world there is a world I want.
W-pI.145.2. (130) It is impossible to see two worlds.
LESSON 146.
My mind holds only what I think with God.
W-pI.146.1. (131) No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.
W-pI.146.2. (132) I loose the world from all I thought it was.
LESSON 147.
My mind holds only what I think with God.
W-pI.147.1. (133) I will not value what is valueless.
W-pI.147.2. (134) Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.
LESSON 148.
My mind holds only what I think with God.
W-pI.148.1. (135) If I defend myself I am attacked.
W-pI.148.2. (136) Sickness is a defense against the truth.
LESSON 149.
My mind holds only what I think with God.
W-pI.149.1. (137) When I am healed I am not healed alone.
W-pI.149.2. (138) Heaven is the decision I must make.
LESSON 150.
My mind holds only what I think with God.
W-pI.150.1. (139) I will accept Atonement for myself.
W-pI.150.2. (140) Only salvation can be said to cure.
LESSON 151.
All things are echoes of the Voice for God.
W-pI.151.1. No one can judge on partial evidence. 2 That is not judgment. 3 It is
merely an opinion based on ignorance and doubt. 4 Its seeming certainty is but a cloak for
the uncertainty it would conceal. 5 It needs irrational defense because it is irrational.
6 And its defense seems strong, convincing, and without a doubt because of all the
doubting underneath.
W-pI.151.2. You do not seem to doubt the world you see. 2 You do not really question
what is shown you through the body's eyes. 3 Nor do you ask why you believe it, even though
you learned a long while since your senses do deceive. 4 That you believe them to the
last detail which they report is even stranger, when you pause to recollect how frequently
they have been faulty witnesses indeed! 5 Why would you trust them so implicitly? 6 Why but
because of underlying doubt, which you would hide with show of certainty?
W-pI.151.3. How can you judge? 2 Your judgment rests upon the witness that your senses
offer you. 3 Yet witness never falser was than this. 4 But how else do you judge the world
you see? 5 You place pathetic faith in what your eyes and ears report. 6 You think your
fingers touch reality, and close upon the truth. 7 This is awareness that you understand, and
think more real than what is witnessed to by the eternal Voice for God Himself.
W-pI.151.4. Can this be judgment? 2 You have often been urged to refrain from judging,
not because it is a right to be withheld from you. 3 You cannot judge. 4 You merely can
believe the ego's judgments, all of which are false. 5 It guides your senses carefully, to
prove how weak you are; how helpless and afraid, how apprehensive of just punishment, how
black with sin, how wretched in your guilt.
W-pI.151.5. This thing it speaks of, and would yet defend, it tells you is yourself. 2
And you believe that this is so with stubborn certainty. 3 Yet underneath remains the
hidden doubt that what it shows you as reality with such conviction it does not believe. 4 It
is itself alone that it condemns. 5 It is within itself it sees the guilt. 6 It is its
own despair it sees in you.
W-pI.151.6. Hear not its voice. 2 The witnesses it sends to prove to you its evil is
your own are false, and speak with certainty of what they do not know. 3 Your faith in them
is blind because you would not share the doubts their lord can not completely vanquish.
4 You believe to doubt his vassals is to doubt yourself.
W-pI.151.7. Yet you must learn to doubt their evidence will clear the way to recognize
yourself, and let the Voice for God alone be Judge of what is worthy of your own belief. 2 He
will not tell you that your brother should be judged by what your eyes behold in him, nor
what his body's mouth says to your ears, nor what your fingers' touch reports of him. 3 He
passes by such idle witnesses, which merely bear false witness to God's Son. 4 He recognizes
only what God loves, and in the holy light of what He sees do all the ego's dreams of what
you are vanish before the splendor He beholds.
W-pI.151.8. Let Him be Judge of what you are, for He has certainty in which there is no
doubt, because it rests on Certainty so great that doubt is meaningless before Its face.
2 Christ cannot doubt Himself. 3 The Voice for God can only honor Him, rejoicing in
His perfect, everlasting sinlessness. 4 Whom He has judged can only laugh at guilt,
unwilling now to play with toys of sin; unheeding of the body's witnesses before the rapture of
Christ's holy face.
W-pI.151.9. And thus He judges you. 2 Accept His Word for what you are, for He bears
witness to your beautiful creation, and the Mind Whose Thought created your reality. 3 What
can the body mean to Him Who knows the glory of the Father and the Son? 4 What whispers of
the ego can He hear? 5 What could convince Him that your sins are real? 6 Let Him be
Judge as well of everything that seems to happen to you in this world. 7 His lessons will
enable you to bridge the gap between illusions and the truth.
W-pI.151.10. He will remove all faith that you have placed in pain, disaster, suffering
and loss. 2 He gives you vision which can look beyond these grim appearances, and can
behold the gentle face of Christ in all of them. 3 You will no longer doubt that only good
can come to you who are beloved of God, for He will judge all happenings, and teach the
single lesson that they all contain.
W-pI.151.11. He will select the elements in them which represent the truth, and
disregard those aspects which reflect but idle dreams. 2 And He will reinterpret all you see,
and all occurrences, each circumstance, and every happening that seems to touch on you in
any way from His one frame of reference, wholly unified and sure. 3 And you will see the
love beyond the hate, the constancy in change, the pure in sin, and only Heaven's blessing
on the world.
W-pI.151.12. Such is your resurrection, for your life is not a part of anything you see.
2 It stands beyond the body and the world, past every witness for unholiness, within
the Holy, holy as Itself. 3 In everyone and everything His Voice would speak to you of
nothing but your Self and your Creator, Who is One with Him. 4 So will you see the holy face
of Christ in everything, and hear in everything no sound except the echo of God's Voice.
W-pI.151.13. We practice wordlessly today, except at the beginning of the time we spend
with God. 2 We introduce these times with but a single, slow repeating of the thought
with which the day begins. 3 And then we watch our thoughts, appealing silently to Him Who
sees the elements of truth in them. 4 Let Him evaluate each thought that comes to mind,
remove the elements of dreams, and give them back again as clean ideas that do not contradict
the Will of God.
W-pI.151.14. Give Him your thoughts, and He will give them back as miracles which
joyously proclaim the wholeness and the happiness God wills His Son, as proof of His eternal
Love. 2 And as each thought is thus transformed, it takes on healing power from the Mind
which saw the truth in it, and failed to be deceived by what was falsely added. 3 All the
threads of fantasy are gone. 4 And what remains is unified into a perfect Thought that offers
its perfection everywhere.
W-pI.151.15. Spend fifteen minutes thus when you awake, and gladly give another fifteen
more before you go to sleep. 2 Your ministry begins as all your thoughts are purified.
3 So are you taught to teach the Son of God the holy lesson of his sanctity. 4 No one
can fail to listen, when you hear the Voice for God give honor to God's Son. 5 And
everyone will share the thoughts with you which He has retranslated in your mind.
W-pI.151.16. Such is your Eastertide. 2 And so you lay the gift of snow-white lilies on
the world, replacing witnesses to sin and death. 3 Through your transfiguration is the
world redeemed, and joyfully released from guilt. 4 Now do we lift our resurrected minds in
gladness and in gratitude to Him Who has restored our sanity to us.
W-pI.151.17. And we will hourly remember Him Who is salvation and deliverance. 2 As we
give thanks, the world unites with us and happily accepts our holy thoughts, which Heaven
has corrected and made pure. 3 Now has our ministry begun at last, to carry round the
world the joyous news that truth has no illusions, and the peace of God, through us, belongs
to everyone.
LESSON 152.
The power of decision is my own.
W-pI.152.1. No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. 2 No one suffers pain
except his choice elects this state for him. 3 No one can grieve nor fear nor think him
sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants. 4 And no one dies without his own
consent. 5 Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. 6
Here is your world, complete in all details. 7 Here is its whole reality for you. 8 And it
is only here salvation is.
W-pI.152.2. You may believe that this position is extreme, and too inclusive to be true.
2 Yet can truth have exceptions? 3 If you have the gift of everything, can loss be
real? 4 Can pain be part of peace, or grief of joy? 5 Can fear and sickness enter in a mind
where love and perfect holiness abide? 6 Truth must be all-inclusive, if it be the
truth at all. 7 Accept no opposites and no exceptions, for to do so is to contradict the
truth entirely.
W-pI.152.3. Salvation is the recognition that the truth is true, and nothing else is
true. 2 This you have heard before, but may not yet accept both parts of it. 3 Without the
first, the second has no meaning. 4 But without the second, is the first no longer true. 5
Truth cannot have an opposite. 6 This can not be too often said and thought about. 7 For if
what is not true is true as well as what is true, then part of truth is false. 8 And truth
has lost its meaning. 9 Nothing but the truth is true, and what is false is false.
W-pI.152.4. This is the simplest of distinctions, yet the most obscure. 2 But not
because it is a difficult distinction to perceive. 3 It is concealed behind a vast array of
choices that do not appear to be entirely your own. 4 And thus the truth appears to have some
aspects that belie consistency, but do not seem to be but contradictions introduced by you.
W-pI.152.5. As God created you, you must remain unchangeable, with transitory states by
definition false. 2 And that includes all shifts in feeling, alterations in conditions
of the body and the mind; in all awareness and in all response. 3 This is the
all-inclusiveness which sets the truth apart from falsehood, and the false kept separate from the truth,
as what it is.
W-pI.152.6. Is it not strange that you believe to think you made the world you see is
arrogance? 2 God made it not. 3 Of this you can be sure. 4 What can He know of the ephemeral,
the sinful and the guilty, the afraid, the suffering and lonely, and the mind that lives
within a body that must die? 5 You but accuse Him of insanity, to think He made a world where
such things seem to have reality. 6 He is not mad. 7 Yet only madness makes a world
like this.
W-pI.152.7. To think that God made chaos, contradicts His Will, invented opposites to
truth, and suffers death to triumph over life; all this is arrogance. 2 Humility would see
at once these things are not of Him. 3 And can you see what God created not? 4 To think
you can is merely to believe you can perceive what God willed not to be. 5 And what could
be more arrogant than this?
W-pI.152.8. Let us today be truly humble, and accept what we have made as what it is. 2
The power of decision is our own. 3 Decide but to accept your rightful place as
co-creator of the universe, and all you think you made will disappear. 4 What rises to awareness
then will be all that there ever was, eternally as it is now. 5 And it will take the place
of self-deceptions made but to usurp the altar to the Father and the Son.
W-pI.152.9. Today we practice true humility, abandoning the false pretense by which the
ego seeks to prove it arrogant. 2 Only the ego can be arrogant. 3 But truth is humble
in acknowledging its mightiness, its changelessness and its eternal wholeness,
all-encompassing, God's perfect gift to His beloved Son. 4 We lay aside the arrogance which says that
we are sinners, guilty and afraid, ashamed of what we are; and lift our hearts in true
humility instead to Him Who has created us immaculate, like to Himself in power and in love.
W-pI.152.10. The power of decision is our own. 2 And we accept of Him that which we are,
and humbly recognize the Son of God. 3 To recognize God's Son implies as well that all
self-concepts have been laid aside, and recognized as false. 4 Their arrogance has been
perceived. 5 And in humility the radiance of God's Son, his gentleness, his perfect
sinlessness, his Father's Love, his right to Heaven and release from hell, are joyously accepted
as our own.
W-pI.152.11. Now do we join in glad acknowledgment that lies are false, and only truth
is true. 2 We think of truth alone as we arise, and spend five minutes practicing its
ways, encouraging our frightened minds with this:
3 The power of decision is my own. 4 This day I will accept myself as what my Father's
Will created me to be.
5 Then will we wait in silence, giving up all self-deceptions, as we humbly ask our
Self that He reveal Himself to us. 6 And He Who never left will come again to our awareness,
grateful to restore His home to God, as it was meant to be.
W-pI.152.12. In patience wait for Him throughout the day, and hourly invite Him with
the words with which the day began, concluding it with this same invitation to your Self.
2 God's Voice will answer, for He speaks for you and for your Father. 3 He will
substitute the peace of God for all your frantic thoughts, the truth of God for self-deceptions,
and God's Son for your illusions of yourself.
LESSON 153.
In my defenselessness my safety lies.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
I am among the ministers of God.
W-pI.154.1. Let us today be neither arrogant nor falsely humble. 2 We have gone beyond
such foolishness. 3 We cannot judge ourselves, nor need we do so. 4 These are but attempts
to hold decision off, and to delay commitment to our function. 5 It is not our part to
judge our worth, nor can we know what role is best for us; what we can do within a larger
plan we cannot see in its entirety. 6 Our part is cast in Heaven, not in hell. 7 And what
we think is weakness can be strength; what we believe to be our strength is often
arrogance.
W-pI.154.2. Whatever your appointed role may be, it was selected by the Voice for God,
Whose function is to speak for you as well. 2 Seeing your strengths exactly as they are, and
equally aware of where they can be best applied, for what, to whom and when, He chooses
and accepts your part for you. 3 He does not work without your own consent. 4 But He is
not deceived in what you are, and listens only to His Voice in you.
W-pI.154.3. It is through His ability to hear one Voice which is His Own that you
become aware at last there is one Voice in you. 2 And that one Voice appoints your function,
and relays it to you, giving you the strength to understand it, do what it entails, and to
succeed in everything you do that is related to it. 3 God has joined His Son in this,
and thus His Son becomes His messenger of unity with Him.
W-pI.154.4. It is this joining, through the Voice for God, of Father and of Son, that
sets apart salvation from the world. 2 It is this Voice which speaks of laws the world does
not obey; which promises salvation from all sin, with guilt abolished in the mind that
God created sinless. 3 Now this mind becomes aware again of Who created it, and of His
lasting union with itself. 4 So is its Self the one reality in which its will and that of God
are joined.
W-pI.154.5. A messenger is not the one who writes the message he delivers. 2 Nor does
he question the right of him who does, nor ask why he has chosen those who will receive
the message that he brings. 3 It is enough that he accept it, give it to the ones for whom
it is intended, and fulfill his role in its delivery. 4 If he determines what the
messages should be, or what their purpose is, or where they should be carried, he is failing to
perform his proper part as bringer of the Word.
W-pI.154.6. There is one major difference in the role of Heaven's messengers, which
sets them off from those the world appoints. 2 The messages that they deliver are intended
first for them. 3 And it is only as they can accept them for themselves that they become
able to bring them further, and to give them everywhere that they were meant to be. 4 Like
earthly messengers, they did not write the messages they bear, but they become their first
receivers in the truest sense, receiving to prepare themselves to give.
W-pI.154.7. An earthly messenger fulfills his role by giving all his messages away. 2
The messengers of God perform their part by their acceptance of His messages as for
themselves, and show they understand the messages by giving them away. 3 They choose no roles
that are not given them by His authority. 4 And so they gain by every message that they
give away.
W-pI.154.8. Would you receive the messages of God? 2 For thus do you become His
messenger. 3 You are appointed now. 4 And yet you wait to give the messages you have received. 5
And so you do not know that they are yours, and do not recognize them. 6 No one can
receive and understand he has received until he gives. 7 For in the giving is his own
acceptance of what he received.
W-pI.154.9. You who are now the messenger of God, receive His messages. 2 For that is
part of your appointed role. 3 God has not failed to offer what you need, nor has it been
left unaccepted. 4 Yet another part of your appointed task is yet to be accomplished. 5 He
Who has received for you the messages of God would have them be received by you as well. 6
For thus do you identify with Him and claim your own.
W-pI.154.10. It is this joining that we undertake to recognize today. 2 We will not
seek to keep our minds apart from Him Who speaks for us, for it is but our voice we hear as
we attend Him. 3 He alone can speak to us and for us, joining in one Voice the getting
and the giving of God's Word; the giving and receiving of His Will.
W-pI.154.11. We practice giving Him what He would have, that we may recognize His gifts
to us. 2 He needs our voice that He may speak through us. 3 He needs our hands to hold
His messages, and carry them to those whom He appoints. 4 He needs our feet to bring us
where He wills, that those who wait in misery may be at last delivered. 5 And He needs our
will united with His Own, that we may be the true receivers of the gifts He gives.
W-pI.154.12. Let us but learn this lesson for today: We will not recognize what we
receive until we give it. 2 You have heard this said a hundred ways, a hundred times, and yet
belief is lacking still. 3 But this is sure; until belief is given it, you will receive a
thousand miracles and then receive a thousand more, but will not know that God Himself has left
no gift beyond what you already have; nor has denied the tiniest of blessings to His
Son. 4 What can this mean to you, until you have identified with Him and with His Own?
W-pI.154.13. Our lesson for today is stated thus:
2 I am among the ministers of God, and I am grateful that I have the means by which to
recognize that I am free.
W-pI.154.14. The world recedes as we light up our minds, and realize these holy words
are true. 2 They are the message sent to us today from our Creator. 3 Now we demonstrate
how they have changed our minds about ourselves, and what our function is. 4 For as we
prove that we accept no will we do not share, our many gifts from our Creator will spring to
our sight and leap into our hands, and we will recognize what we received.
LESSON 155.
I will step back and let Him lead the way.
W-pI.155.1. There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems
to be. 2 You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. 3 Your forehead
is serene; your eyes are quiet. 4 And the ones who walk the world as you do recognize
their own. 5 Yet those who have not yet perceived the way will recognize you also, and
believe that you are like them, as you were before.
W-pI.155.2. The world is an illusion. 2 Those who choose to come to it are seeking for
a place where they can be illusions, and avoid their own reality. 3 Yet when they find
their own reality is even here, then they step back and let it lead the way. 4 What other
choice is really theirs to make? 5 To let illusions walk ahead of truth is madness. 6 But to
let illusion sink behind the truth and let the truth stand forth as what it is, is merely
sanity.
W-pI.155.3. This is the simple choice we make today. 2 The mad illusion will remain
awhile in evidence, for those to look upon who chose to come, and have not yet rejoiced to
find they were mistaken in their choice. 3 They cannot learn directly from the truth,
because they have denied that it is so. 4 And so they need a Teacher Who perceives their
madness, but Who still can look beyond illusion to the simple truth in them.
W-pI.155.4. If truth demanded they give up the world, it would appear to them as if it
asked the sacrifice of something that is real. 2 Many have chosen to renounce the world
while still believing its reality. 3 And they have suffered from a sense of loss, and have
not been released accordingly. 4 Others have chosen nothing but the world, and they have
suffered from a sense of loss still deeper, which they did not understand.
W-pI.155.5. Between these paths there is another road that leads away from loss of
every kind, for sacrifice and deprivation both are quickly left behind. 2 This is the way
appointed for you now. 3 You walk this path as others walk, nor do you seem to be distinct from
them, although you are indeed. 4 Thus can you serve them while you serve yourself, and set
their footsteps on the way that God has opened up to you, and them through you.
W-pI.155.6. Illusion still appears to cling to you, that you may reach them. 2 Yet it
has stepped back. 3 And it is not illusion that they hear you speak of, nor illusion that
you bring their eyes to look on and their minds to grasp. 4 Nor can the truth, which walks
ahead of you, speak to them through illusions, for the road leads past illusion now,
while on the way you call to them, that they may follow you.
W-pI.155.7. All roads will lead to this one in the end. 2 For sacrifice and deprivation
are paths that lead nowhere, choices for defeat, and aims that will remain impossible.
3 All this steps back as truth comes forth in you, to lead your brothers from the ways
of death, and set them on the way to happiness. 4 Their suffering is but illusion. 5 Yet
they need a guide to lead them out of it, for they mistake illusion for the truth.
W-pI.155.8. Such is salvation's call, and nothing more. 2 It asks that you accept the
truth, and let it go before you, lighting up the path of ransom from illusion. 3 It is not a
ransom with a price. 4 There is no cost, but only gain. 5 Illusion can but seem to hold
in chains the holy Son of God. 6 It is but from illusions he is saved. 7 As they step
back, he finds himself again.
W-pI.155.9. Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you. 2 And you
may find that you are tempted still to walk ahead of truth, and let illusions be your
guide. 3 Your holy brothers have been given you, to follow in your footsteps as you walk
with certainty of purpose to the truth. 4 It goes before you now, that they may see
something with which they can identify; something they understand to lead the way.
W-pI.155.10. Yet at the journey's ending there will be no gap, no distance between
truth and you. 2 And all illusions walking in the way you travelled will be gone from you as
well, with nothing left to keep the truth apart from God's completion, holy as Himself.
3 Step back in faith and let truth lead the way. 4 You know not where you go. 5 But One
Who knows goes with you. 6 Let Him lead you with the rest.
W-pI.155.11. When dreams are over, time has closed the door on all the things that pass
and miracles are purposeless, the holy Son of God will make no journeys. 2 There will
be no wish to be illusion rather than the truth. 3 And we step forth toward this, as we
progress along the way that truth points out to us. 4 This is our final journey, which we make
for everyone. 5 We must not lose our way. 6 For as truth goes before us, so it goes before
our brothers who will follow us.
W-pI.155.12. We walk to God. 2 Pause and reflect on this. 3 Could any way be holier, or
more deserving of your effort, of your love and of your full intent? 4 What way could
give you more than everything, or offer less and still content the holy Son of God? 5 We
walk to God. 6 The truth that walks before us now is one with Him, and leads us to where He
has always been. 7 What way but this could be a path that you would choose instead?
W-pI.155.13. Your feet are safely set upon the road that leads the world to God. 2 Look
not to ways that seem to lead you elsewhere. 3 Dreams are not a worthy guide for you
who are God's Son. 4 Forget not He has placed His Hand in yours, and given you your
brothers in His trust that you are worthy of His trust in you. 5 He cannot be deceived. 6 His
trust has made your pathway certain and your goal secure. 7 You will not fail your brothers
nor your Self.
W-pI.155.14. And now He asks but that you think of Him a while each day, that He may
speak to you and tell you of His Love, reminding you how great His trust; how limitless His
Love. 2 In your Name and His Own, which are the same, we practice gladly with this thought
today:
3 I will step back and let Him lead the way, For I would walk along the road to Him.
LESSON 156.
I walk with God in perfect holiness.
W-pI.156.1. Today's idea but states the simple truth that makes the thought of sin
impossible. 2 It promises there is no cause for guilt, and being causeless it does not exist. 3
It follows surely from the basic thought so often mentioned in the text; ideas leave not
their source. 4 If this be true, how can you be apart from God? 5 How could you walk the
world alone and separate from your Source?
W-pI.156.2. We are not inconsistent in the thoughts that we present in our curriculum.
2 Truth must be true throughout, if it be true. 3 It cannot contradict itself, nor be in
parts uncertain and in others sure. 4 You cannot walk the world apart from God, because
you could not be without Him. 5 He is what your life is. 6 Where you are He is. 7 There
is one life. 8 That life you share with Him. 9 Nothing can be apart from Him and live.
W-pI.156.3. Yet where He is, there must be holiness as well as life. 2 No attribute of
His remains unshared by everything that lives. 3 What lives is holy as Himself, because
what shares His life is part of Holiness, and could no more be sinful than the sun could
choose to be of ice; the sea elect to be apart from water, or the grass to grow with roots
suspended in the air.
W-pI.156.4. There is a light in you which cannot die; whose presence is so holy that
the world is sanctified because of you. 2 All things that live bring gifts to you, and
offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. 3 The scent of flowers is their gift to
you. 4 The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from
the heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness,
while the wind sinks to a whisper round your holy head.
W-pI.156.5. The light in you is what the universe longs to behold. 2 All living things
are still before you, for they recognize Who walks with you. 3 The light you carry is
their own. 4 And thus they see in you their holiness, saluting you as savior and as God. 5
Accept their reverence, for it is due to Holiness Itself, which walks with you, transforming
in Its gentle light all things unto Its likeness and Its purity.
W-pI.156.6. This is the way salvation works. 2 As you step back, the light in you steps
forward and encompasses the world. 3 It heralds not the end of sin in punishment and
death. 4 In lightness and in laughter is sin gone, because its quaint absurdity is seen. 5
It is a foolish thought, a silly dream, not frightening, ridiculous perhaps, but who
would waste an instant in approach to God Himself for such a senseless whim?
W-pI.156.7. Yet you have wasted many, many years on just this foolish thought. 2 The
past is gone, with all its fantasies. 3 They keep you bound no longer. 4 The approach to
God is near. 5 And in the little interval of doubt that still remains, you may perhaps
lose sight of your Companion, and mistake Him for the senseless, ancient dream that now is
past.
W-pI.156.8. "Who walks with me?" 2 This question should be asked a thousand times a day,
till certainty has ended doubting and established peace. 3 Today let doubting cease. 4
God speaks for you in answering your question with these words:
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.
Into His Presence would I enter now.
W-pI.157.1. This is a day of silence and of trust. 2 It is a special time of promise in
your calendar of days. 3 It is a time Heaven has set apart to shine upon, and cast a
timeless light upon this day, when echoes of eternity are heard. 4 This day is holy, for it
ushers in a new experience; a different kind of feeling and awareness. 5 You have spent long
days and nights in celebrating death. 6 Today you learn to feel the joy of life.
W-pI.157.2. This is another crucial turning point in the curriculum. 2 We add a new
dimension now; a fresh experience that sheds a light on all that we have learned already, and
prepares us for what we have yet to learn. 3 It brings us to the door where learning ceases,
and we catch a glimpse of what lies past the highest reaches it can possibly attain. 4 It
leaves us here an instant, and we go beyond it, sure of our direction and our only goal.
W-pI.157.3. Today it will be given you to feel a touch of Heaven, though you will
return to paths of learning. 2 Yet you have come far enough along the way to alter time
sufficiently to rise above its laws, and walk into eternity a while. 3 This you will learn to do
increasingly, as every lesson, faithfully rehearsed, brings you more swiftly to this holy place and
leaves you, for a moment, to your Self.
W-pI.157.4. He will direct your practicing today, for what you ask for now is what He
wills. 2 And having joined your will with His this day, what you are asking must be given
you. 3 Nothing is needed but today's idea to light your mind, and let it rest in still
anticipation and in quiet joy, wherein you quickly leave the world behind.
W-pI.157.5. From this day forth, your ministry takes on a genuine devotion, and a glow
that travels from your fingertips to those you touch, and blesses those you look upon. 2 A
vision reaches everyone you meet, and everyone you think of, or who thinks of you. 3 For your
experience today will so transform your mind that it becomes the touchstone for the
holy Thoughts of God.
W-pI.157.6. Your body will be sanctified today, its only purpose being now to bring the
vision of what you experience this day to light the world. 2 We cannot give experience
like this directly. 3 Yet it leaves a vision in our eyes which we can offer everyone, that
he may come the sooner to the same experience in which the world is quietly forgot, and
Heaven is remembered for a while.
W-pI.157.7. As this experience increases and all goals but this become of little worth,
the world to which you will return becomes a little closer to the end of time; a little
more like Heaven in its ways; a little nearer its deliverance. 2 And you who bring it
light will come to see the light more sure; the vision more distinct. 3 The time will come
when you will not return in the same form in which you now appear, for you will have no
need of it. 4 Yet now it has a purpose, and will serve it well.
W-pI.157.8. Today we will embark upon a course you have not dreamed of. 2 But the Holy
One, the Giver of the happy dreams of life, Translator of perception into truth, the holy
Guide to Heaven given you, has dreamed for you this journey which you make and start today,
with the experience this day holds out to you to be your own.
W-pI.157.9. Into Christ's Presence will we enter now, serenely unaware of everything
except His shining face and perfect Love. 2 The vision of His face will stay with you, but
there will be an instant which transcends all vision, even this, the holiest. 3 This you
will never teach, for you attained it not through learning. 4 Yet the vision speaks of your
rememberance of what you knew that instant, and will surely know again.
LESSON 158.
Today I learn to give as I receive.
W-pI.158.1. What has been given you? 2 The knowledge that you are a mind, in Mind and
purely mind, sinless forever, wholly unafraid, because you were created out of love. 3 Nor
have you left your Source, remaining as you were created. 4 This was given you as knowledge
which you cannot lose. 5 It was given as well to every living thing, for by that
knowledge only does it live.
W-pI.158.2. You have received all this. 2 No one who walks the world but has received
it. 3 It is not this knowledge which you give, for that is what creation gave. 4 All this
cannot be learned. 5 What, then, are you to learn to give today? 6 Our lesson yesterday
evoked a theme found early in the text. 7 Experience cannot be shared directly, in the
way that vision can. 8 The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in
time to every mind. 9 Yet is that time determined by the mind itself, not taught.
W-pI.158.3. The time is set already. 2 It appears to be quite arbitrary. 3 Yet there is
no step along the road that anyone takes but by chance. 4 It has already been taken by
him, although he has not yet embarked on it. 5 For time but seems to go in one direction.
6 We but undertake a journey that is over. 7 Yet it seems to have a future still unknown
to us.
W-pI.158.4. Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come
and go as if by magic. 2 Yet there is a plan behind appearances that does not change. 3
The script is written. 4 When experience will come to end your doubting has been set. 5
For we but see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining
we make it once again; reviewing mentally what has gone by.
W-pI.158.5. A teacher does not give experience, because he did not learn it. 2 It
revealed itself to him at its appointed time. 3 But vision is his gift. 4 This he can give
directly, for Christ's knowledge is not lost, because He has a vision He can give to anyone who
asks. 5 The Father's Will and His are joined in knowledge. 6 Yet there is a vision
which the Holy Spirit sees because the Mind of Christ beholds it too.
W-pI.158.6. Here is the joining of the world of doubt and shadows made with the
intangible. 2 Here is a quiet place within the world made holy by forgiveness and by love. 3 Here
are all contradictions reconciled, for here the journey ends. 4 Experience--unlearned,
untaught, unseen--is merely there. 5 This is beyond our goal, for it transcends what needs to
be accomplished. 6 Our concern is with Christ's vision. 7 This we can attain.
W-pI.158.7. Christ's vision has one law. 2 It does not look upon a body, and mistake it
for the Son whom God created. 3 It beholds a light beyond the body; an idea beyond what
can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of
guilt from dreams of sin. 4 It sees no separation. 5 And it looks on everyone, on every
circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees.
W-pI.158.8. This can be taught; and must be taught by all who would achieve it. 2 It
requires but the recognition that the world can not give anything that faintly can compare with
this in value; nor set up a goal that does not merely disappear when this has been
perceived. 3 And this you give today: See no one as a body. 4 Greet him as the Son of God he is,
acknowledging that he is one with you in holiness.
W-pI.158.9. Thus are his sins forgiven him, for Christ has vision that has power to
overlook them all. 2 In His forgiveness are they gone. 3 Unseen by One they merely disappear,
because a vision of the holiness that lies beyond them comes to take their place. 4 It matters
not what form they took, nor how enormous they appeared to be, nor who seemed to be
hurt by them. 5 They are no more. 6 And all effects they seemed to have are gone with them,
undone and never to be done.
W-pI.158.10. Thus do you learn to give as you receive. 2 And thus Christ's vision looks
on you as well. 3 This lesson is not difficult to learn, if you remember in your
brother you but see yourself. 4 If he be lost in sin, so must you be; if you see light in him,
your sins have been forgiven by yourself. 5 Each brother whom you meet today provides
another chance to let Christ's vision shine on you, and offer you the peace of God.
W-pI.158.11. It matters not when revelation comes, for that is not of time. 2 Yet time
has still one gift to give, in which true knowledge is reflected in a way so accurate its
image shares its unseen holiness; its likeness shines with its immortal love. 3 We practice
seeing with the eyes of Christ today. 4 And by the holy gifts we give, Christ's vision looks
upon ourselves as well.
LESSON 159.
I give the miracles I have received.
W-pI.159.1. No one can give what he has not received. 2 To give a thing requires first
you have it in your own possession. 3 Here the laws of Heaven and the world agree. 4 But
here they also separate. 5 The world believes that to possess a thing, it must be kept. 6
Salvation teaches otherwise. 7 To give is how to recognize you have received. 8 It is the proof
that what you have is yours.
W-pI.159.2. You understand that you are healed when you give healing. 2 You accept
forgiveness as accomplished in yourself when you forgive. 3 You recognize your brother as yourself,
and thus do you perceive that you are whole. 4 There is no miracle you cannot give,
for all are given you. 5 Receive them now by opening the storehouse of your mind where
they are laid, and giving them away.
W-pI.159.3. Christ's vision is a miracle. 2 It comes from far beyond itself, for it
reflects eternal love and the rebirth of love which never dies, but has been kept obscure. 3
Christ's vision pictures Heaven, for it sees a world so like to Heaven that what God created
perfect can be mirrored there. 4 The darkened glass the world presents can show but twisted
images in broken parts. 5 The real world pictures Heaven's innocence.
W-pI.159.4. Christ's vision is the miracle in which all miracles are born. 2 It is
their source, remaining with each miracle you give, and yet remaining yours. 3 It is the
bond by which the giver and receiver are united in extension here on earth, as they are one
in Heaven. 4 Christ beholds no sin in anyone. 5 And in His sight the sinless are as one.
6 Their holiness was given by His Father and Himself.
W-pI.159.5. Christ's vision is the bridge between the worlds. 2 And in its power can
you safely trust to carry you from this world into one made holy by forgiveness. 3 Things
which seem quite solid here are merely shadows there; transparent, faintly seen, at times
forgot, and never able to obscure the light that shines beyond them. 4 Holiness has been
restored to vision, and the blind can see.
W-pI.159.6. This is the Holy Spirit's single gift; the treasure house to which you can
appeal with perfect certainty for all the things that can contribute to your happiness. 2 All
are laid here already. 3 All can be received but for the asking. 4 Here the door is
never locked, and no one is denied his least request or his most urgent need. 5 There is no
sickness not already healed, no lack unsatisfied, no need unmet within this golden treasury of
Christ.
W-pI.159.7. Here does the world remember what was lost when it was made. 2 For here it
is repaired, made new again, but in a different light. 3 What was to be the home of sin
becomes the center of redemption and the hearth of mercy, where the suffering are healed and
welcome. 4 No one will be turned away from this new home, where his salvation waits. 5 No one
is stranger to him. 6 No one asks for anything of him except the gift of his acceptance
of his welcoming.
W-pI.159.8. Christ's vision is the holy ground in which the lilies of forgiveness set
their roots. 2 This is their home. 3 They can be brought from here back to the world, but
they can never grow in its unnourishing and shallow soil. 4 They need the light and warmth
and kindly care Christ's charity provides. 5 They need the love with which He looks on
them. 6 And they become His messengers, who give as they received.
W-pI.159.9. Take from His storehouse, that its treasures may increase. 2 His lilies do
not leave their home when they are carried back into the world. 3 Their roots remain. 4
They do not leave their source, but carry its beneficence with them, and turn the world
into a garden like the one they came from, and to which they go again with added fragrance.
5 Now are they twice blessed. 6 The messages they brought from Christ have been
delivered, and returned to them. 7 And they return them gladly unto Him.
W-pI.159.10. Behold the store of miracles set out for you to give. 2 Are you not worth
the gift, when God appointed it be given you? 3 Judge not God's Son, but follow in the way
He has established. 4 Christ has dreamed the dream of a forgiven world. 5 It is His
gift, whereby a sweet transition can be made from death to life; from hopelessness to hope.
6 Let us an instant dream with Him. 7 His dream awakens us to truth. 8 His vision gives
the means for a return to our unlost and everlasting sanctity in God.
LESSON 160.
I am at home. Fear is the stranger here.
W-pI.160.1. Fear is a stranger to the ways of love. 2 Identify with fear, and you will
be a stranger to yourself. 3 And thus you are unknown to you. 4 What is your Self remains
an alien to the part of you which thinks that it is real, but different from yourself.
5 Who could be sane in such a circumstance? 6 Who but a madman could believe he is what
he is not, and judge against himself?
W-pI.160.2. There is a stranger in our midst, who comes from an idea so foreign to the
truth he speaks a different language, looks upon a world truth does not know, and
understands what truth regards as senseless. 2 Stranger yet, he does not recognize to whom he
comes, and yet maintains his home belongs to him, while he is alien now who is at home. 3
And yet, how easy it would be to say, "This is my home. 4 Here I belong, and will not
leave because a madman says I must."
W-pI.160.3. What reason is there for not saying this? 2 What could the reason be except
that you had asked this stranger in to take your place, and let you be a stranger to
yourself? 3 No one would let himself be dispossessed so needlessly, unless he thought there
were another home more suited to his tastes.
W-pI.160.4. Who is the stranger? 2 Is it fear or you who are unsuited to the home which
God provided for His Son? 3 Is fear His Own, created in His likeness? 4 Is it fear that
love completes, and is completed by? 5 There is no home can shelter love and fear. 6
They cannot coexist. 7 If you are real, then fear must be illusion. 8 And if fear is real,
then you do not exist at all.
W-pI.160.5. How simply, then, the question is resolved. 2 Who fears has but denied
himself and said, "I am the stranger here. 3 And so I leave my home to one more like me than
myself, and give him all I thought belonged to me." 4 Now is he exiled of necessity, not
knowing who he is, uncertain of all things but this; that he is not himself, and that his home
has been denied to him.
W-pI.160.6. What does he search for now? 2 What can he find? 3 A stranger to himself
can find no home wherever he may look, for he has made return impossible. 4 His way is
lost, except a miracle will search him out and show him that he is no stranger now. 5 The
miracle will come. 6 For in his home his Self remains. 7 It asked no stranger in, and took no
alien thought to be Itself. 8 And It will call Its Own unto Itself in recognition of what is
Its Own.
W-pI.160.7. Who is the stranger? 2 Is he not the one your Self calls not? 3 You are
unable now to recognize this stranger in your midst, for you have given him your rightful
place. 4 Yet is your Self as certain of Its Own as God is of His Son. 5 He cannot be
confused about creation. 6 He is sure of what belongs to Him. 7 No stranger can be interposed
between His knowledge and His Son's reality. 8 He does not know of strangers. 9 He is certain
of His Son.
W-pI.160.8. God's certainty suffices. 2 Who He knows to be His Son belongs where He has
set His Son forever. 3 He has answered you who ask, "Who is the stranger?" 4 Hear His
Voice assure you, quietly and sure, that you are not a stranger to your Father, nor is your
Creator stranger made to you. 5 Whom God has joined remain forever one, at home in Him, no
stranger to Himself.
W-pI.160.9. Today we offer thanks that Christ has come to search the world for what
belongs to Him. 2 His vision sees no strangers, but beholds His Own and joyously unites with
them. 3 They see Him as a stranger, for they do not recognize themselves. 4 Yet as they
give Him welcome, they remember. 5 And He leads them gently home again, where they belong.
W-pI.160.10. Not one does Christ forget. 2 Not one He fails to give you to remember,
that your home may be complete and perfect as it was established. 3 He has not forgotten
you. 4 But you will not remember Him until you look on all as He does. 5 Who denies his
brother is denying Him, and thus refusing to accept the gift of sight by which his Self is
clearly recognized, his home remembered and salvation come.
LESSON 161.
Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.
W-pI.161.1. Today we practice differently, and take a stand against our anger, that our
fears may disappear and offer room to love. 2 Here is salvation in the simple words in
which we practice with today's idea. 3 Here is the answer to temptation which can never fail
to welcome in the Christ where fear and anger had prevailed before. 4 Here is Atonement
made complete, the world passed safely by and Heaven now restored. 5 Here is the answer
of the Voice for God.
W-pI.161.2. Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind. 2 But part of it
is now unnatural. 3 It does not look on everything as one. 4 It sees instead but
fragments of the whole, for only thus could it invent the partial world you see. 5 The purpose
of all seeing is to show you what you wish to see. 6 All hearing but brings to your mind
the sounds it wants to hear.
W-pI.161.3. Thus were specifics made. 2 And now it is specifics we must use in
practicing. 3 We give them to the Holy Spirit, that He may employ them for a purpose which is
different from the one we gave to them. 4 Yet He can use but what we made, to teach us from a
different point of view, so we can see a different use in everything.
W-pI.161.4. One brother is all brothers. 2 Every mind contains all minds, for every
mind is one. 3 Such is the truth. 4 Yet do these thoughts make clear the meaning of
creation? 5 Do these words bring perfect clarity with them to you? 6 What can they seem to be
but empty sounds; pretty, perhaps, correct in sentiment, yet fundamentally not understood
nor understandable. 7 The mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer
grasp abstraction in the sense that it is all-encompassing. 8 We need to see a little, that
we learn a lot.
W-pI.161.5. It seems to be the body that we feel limits our freedom, makes us suffer,
and at last puts out our life. 2 Yet bodies are but symbols for a concrete form of fear. 3
Fear without symbols calls for no response, for symbols can stand for the meaningless.
4 Love needs no symbols, being true. 5 But fear attaches to specifics, being false.
W-pI.161.6. Bodies attack, but minds do not. 2 This thought is surely reminiscent of
our text, where it is often emphasized. 3 This is the reason bodies easily become fear's
symbols. 4 You have many times been urged to look beyond the body, for its sight presents the
symbol of love's "enemy" Christ's vision does not see. 5 The body is the target for attack,
for no one thinks he hates a mind. 6 Yet what but mind directs the body to attack? 7 What
else could be the seat of fear except what thinks of fear?
W-pI.161.7. Hate is specific. 2 There must be a thing to be attacked. 3 An enemy must
be perceived in such a form he can be touched and seen and heard, and ultimately killed.
4 When hatred rests upon a thing, it calls for death as surely as God's Voice proclaims
there is no death. 5 Fear is insatiable, consuming everything its eyes behold, seeing itself
in everything, compelled to turn upon itself and to destroy.
W-pI.161.8. Who sees a brother as a body sees him as fear's symbol. 2 And he will
attack, because what he beholds is his own fear external to himself, poised to attack, and
howling to unite with him again. 3 Mistake not the intensity of rage projected fear must spawn.
4 It shrieks in wrath, and claws the air in frantic hope it can reach to its maker and
devour him.
W-pI.161.9. This do the body's eyes behold in one whom Heaven cherishes, the angels
love and God created perfect. 2 This is his reality. 3 And in Christ's vision is his
loveliness reflected in a form so holy and so beautiful that you could scarce refrain from
kneeling at his feet. 4 Yet you will take his hand instead, for you are like him in the sight
that sees him thus. 5 Attack on him is enemy to you, for you will not perceive that in his
hands is your salvation. 6 Ask him but for this, and he will give it to you. 7 Ask him not
to symbolize your fear. 8 Would you request that love destroy itself? 9 Or would you have
it be revealed to you and set you free?
W-pI.161.10. Today we practice in a form we have attempted earlier. 2 Your readiness is
closer now, and you will come today nearer Christ's vision. 3 If you are intent on
reaching it, you will succeed today. 4 And once you have succeeded, you will not be willing to
accept the witnesses your body's eyes call forth. 5 What you will see will sing to you of
ancient melodies you will remember. 6 You are not forgot in Heaven. 7 Would you not remember
it?
W-pI.161.11. Select one brother, symbol of the rest, and ask salvation of him. 2 See
him first as clearly as you can, in that same form to which you are accustomed. 3 See his
face, his hands and feet, his clothing. 4 Watch him smile, and see familiar gestures which
he makes so frequently. 5 Then think of this: What you are seeing now conceals from you
the sight of one who can forgive you all your sins; whose sacred hands can take away the
nails which pierce your own, and lift the crown of thorns which you have placed upon your
bleeding head. 6 Ask this of him, that he may set you free:
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-pI.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.
I am as God created me.
W-pI.162.1. This single thought, held firmly in the mind, would save the world. 2 From
time to time we will repeat it, as we reach another stage in learning. 3 It will mean far
more to you as you advance. 4 These words are sacred, for they are the words God gave in
answer to the world you made. 5 By them it disappears, and all things seen within its misty
clouds and vaporous illusions vanish as these words are spoken. 6 For they come from God.
W-pI.162.2. Here is the Word by which the Son became his Father's happiness, His Love
and His completion. 2 Here creation is proclaimed, and honored as it is. 3 There is no
dream these words will not dispel; no thought of sin and no illusion which the dream
contains that will not fade away before their might. 4 They are the trumpet of awakening that
sounds around the world. 5 The dead awake in answer to its call. 6 And those who live and
hear this sound will never look on death.
W-pI.162.3. Holy indeed is he who makes these words his own; arising with them in his
mind, recalling them throughout the day, at night bringing them with him as he goes to
sleep. 2 His dreams are happy and his rest secure, his safety certain and his body healed,
because he sleeps and wakens with the truth before him always. 3 He will save the world,
because he gives the world what he receives each time he practices the words of truth.
W-pI.162.4. Today we practice simply. 2 For the words we use are mighty, and they need
no thoughts beyond themselves to change the mind of him who uses them. 3 So wholly is it
changed that it is now the treasury in which God places all His gifts and all His Love, to be
distributed to all the world, increased in giving; kept complete because its sharing is unlimited.
4 And thus you learn to think with God. 5 Christ's vision has restored your sight by
salvaging your mind.
W-pI.162.5. We honor you today. 2 Yours is the right to perfect holiness you now accept.
3 With this acceptance is salvation brought to everyone, for who could cherish sin
when holiness like this has blessed the world? 4 Who could despair when perfect joy is
yours, available to all as remedy for grief and misery, all sense of loss, and for complete
escape from sin and guilt?
W-pI.162.6. And who would not be brother to you now; you, his redeemer and his savior.
2 Who could fail to welcome you into his heart with loving invitation, eager to unite
with one like him in holiness? 3 You are as God created you. 4 These words dispel the night,
and darkness is no more. 5 The light is come today to bless the world. 6 For you have
recognized the Son of God, and in that recognition is the world's.
LESSON 163.
There is no death. The Son of God is free.
W-pI.163.1. Death is a thought that takes on many forms, often unrecognized. 2 It may
appear as sadness, fear, anxiety or doubt; as anger, faithlessness and lack of trust; concern
for bodies, envy, and all forms in which the wish to be as you are not may come to
tempt you. 3 All such thoughts are but reflections of the worshipping of death as savior and
as giver of release.
W-pI.163.2. Embodiment of fear, the host of sin, god of the guilty and the lord of all
illusions and deceptions, does the thought of death seem mighty. 2 For it seems to hold all
living things within its withered hand; all hopes and wishes in its blighting grasp; all
goals perceived but in its sightless eyes. 3 The frail, the helpless and the sick bow down
before its image, thinking it alone is real, inevitable, worthy of their trust. 4 For it
alone will surely come.
W-pI.163.3. All things but death are seen to be unsure, too quickly lost however hard
to gain, uncertain in their outcome, apt to fail the hopes they once engendered, and to
leave the taste of dust and ashes in their wake, in place of aspirations and of dreams. 2
But death is counted on. 3 For it will come with certain footsteps when the time has come
for its arrival. 4 It will never fail to take all life as hostage to itself.
W-pI.163.4. Would you bow down to idols such as this? 2 Here is the strength and might
of God Himself perceived within an idol made of dust. 3 Here is the opposite of God
proclaimed as lord of all creation, stronger than God's Will for life, the endlessness of love
and Heaven's perfect, changeless constancy. 4 Here is the Will of Father and of Son
defeated finally, and laid to rest beneath the headstone death has placed upon the body of the
holy Son of God.
W-pI.163.5. Unholy in defeat, he has become what death would have him be. 2 His epitaph,
which death itself has written, gives no name to him, for he has passed to dust. 3 It
says but this: "Here lies a witness God is dead." 4 And this it writes again and still
again, while all the while its worshippers agree, and kneeling down with foreheads to the
ground, they whisper fearfully that it is so.
W-pI.163.6. It is impossible to worship death in any form, and still select a few you
would not cherish and would yet avoid, while still believing in the rest. 2 For death is
total. 3 Either all things die, or else they live and cannot die. 4 No compromise is
possible. 5 For here again we see an obvious position, which we must accept if we be sane; what
contradicts one thought entirely can not be true, unless its opposite is proven false.
W-pI.163.7. The idea of the death of God is so preposterous that even the insane have
difficulty in believing it. 2 For it implies that God was once alive and somehow perished; killed,
apparently, by those who did not want Him to survive. 3 Their stronger will could
triumph over His, and so eternal life gave way to death. 4 And with the Father died the Son as
well.
W-pI.163.8. Death's worshippers may be afraid. 2 And yet, can thoughts like these be
fearful? 3 If they saw that it is only this which they believe, they would be instantly
released. 4 And you will show them this today. 5 There is no death, and we renounce it now in
every form, for their salvation and our own as well. 6 God made not death. 7 Whatever form
it takes must therefore be illusion. 8 This the stand we take today. 9 And it is given us
to look past death, and see the life beyond.
W-pI.163.9. <Our Father, bless our eyes today. 2 We are Your messengers, and we would
look upon the glorious reflection of Your Love which shines in everything. 3 We live and
move in You alone. 4 We are not separate from Your eternal life. 5 There is no death, for
death is not Your Will. 6 And we abide where You have placed us, in the life we share with
You and with all living things, to be like You and part of You forever. 7 We accept Your
Thoughts as ours, and our will is one with Yours eternally. 8 Amen.>
LESSON 164.
Now are we one with Him Who is our Source.
W-pI.164.1. What time but now can truth be recognized? 2 The present is the only time
there is. 3 And so today, this instant, now, we come to look upon what is forever there; not
in our sight, but in the eyes of Christ. 4 He looks past time, and sees eternity as
represented there. 5 He hears the sounds the senseless, busy world engenders, yet He hears them
faintly. 6 For beyond them all He hears the song of Heaven, and the Voice for God more clear,
more meaningful, more near.
W-pI.164.2. The world fades easily away before His sight. 2 Its sounds grow dim. 3 A
melody from far beyond the world increasingly is more and more distinct; an ancient call to
which He gives an ancient answer. 4 You will recognize them both, for they are but your
answer to your Father's Call to you. 5 Christ answers for you, echoing your Self, using your
voice to give His glad consent; accepting your deliverance for you.
W-pI.164.3. How holy is your practicing today, as Christ gives you His sight and hears
for you, and answers in your name the Call He hears! 2 How quiet is the time you give to
spend with Him, beyond the world. 3 How easily are all your seeming sins forgot, and all
your sorrows unremembered. 4 On this day is grief laid by, for sights and sounds that come
from nearer than the world are clear to you who will today accept the gifts He gives.
W-pI.164.4. There is a silence into which the world can not intrude. 2 There is an
ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost. 3 There is a sense of holiness in you
the thought of sin has never touched. 4 All this today you will remember. 5
Faithfulness in practicing today will bring rewards so great and so completely different from all
things you sought before, that you will know that here your treasure is, and here your rest.
W-pI.164.5. This is the day when vain imaginings part like a curtain, to reveal what
lies beyond them. 2 Now is what is really there made visible, while all the shadows which
appeared to hide it merely sink away. 3 Now is the balance righted, and the scale of judgment
left to Him Who judges true. 4 And in His judgment will a world unfold in perfect innocence
before your eyes. 5 Now will you see it with the eyes of Christ. 6 Now is its
transformation clear to you.
W-pI.164.6. Brother, this day is sacred to the world. 2 Your vision, given you from far
beyond all things within the world, looks back on them in a new light. 3 And what you
see becomes the healing and salvation of the world. 4 The valuable and valueless are both
perceived and recognized for what they are. 5 And what is worthy of your love receives your love,
while nothing to be feared remains.
W-pI.164.7. We will not judge today. 2 We will receive but what is given us from
judgment made beyond the world. 3 Our practicing today becomes our gift of thankfulness for our
release from blindness and from misery. 4 All that we see will but increase our joy,
because its holiness reflects our own. 5 We stand forgiven in the sight of Christ, with all
the world forgiven in our own. 6 We bless the world, as we behold it in the light in which
our Savior looks on us, and offer it the freedom given us through His forgiving vision,
not our own.
W-pI.164.8. Open the curtain in your practicing by merely letting go all things you
think you want. 2 Your trifling treasures put away, and leave a clean and open space within
your mind where Christ can come, and offer you the treasure of salvation. 3 He has need of
your most holy mind to save the world. 4 Is not this purpose worthy to be yours? 5 Is not
Christ's vision worthy to be sought above the world's unsatisfying goals?
W-pI.164.9. Let not today slip by without the gifts it holds for you receiving your
consent and your acceptance. 2 We can change the world, if you acknowledge them. 3 You may not
see the value your acceptance gives the world. 4 But this you surely want; you can
exchange all suffering for joy this very day. 5 Practice in earnest, and the gift is yours. 6
Would God deceive you? 7 Can His promise fail? 8 Can you withhold so little, when His Hand
holds out complete salvation to His Son?
LESSON 165.
Let not my mind deny the Thought of God.
W-pI.165.1. What makes this world seem real except your own denial of the truth that
lies beyond? 2 What but your thoughts of misery and death obscure the perfect happiness and
the eternal life your Father wills for you? 3 And what could hide what cannot be
concealed except illusion? 4 What could keep from you what you already have except your choice
to see it not, denying it is there?
W-pI.165.2. The Thought of God created you. 2 It left you not, nor have you ever been
apart from it an instant. 3 It belongs to you. 4 By it you live. 5 It is your Source of life,
holding you one with it, and everything is one with you because it left you not. 6 The
Thought of God protects you, cares for you, makes soft your resting place and smooth
your way, lighting your mind with happiness and love. 7 Eternity and everlasting life shine
in your mind, because the Thought of God has left you not, and still abides with you.
W-pI.165.3. Who would deny his safety and his peace, his joy, his healing and his peace
of mind, his quiet rest, his calm awakening, if he but recognized where they abide? 2
Would he not instantly prepare to go where they are found, abandoning all else as worthless
in comparison with them? 3 And having found them, would he not make sure they stay with
him, and he remain with them?
W-pI.165.4. Deny not Heaven. 2 It is yours today, but for the asking. 3 Nor need you
perceive how great the gift, how changed your mind will be before it comes to you. 4 Ask to
receive, and it is given you. 5 Conviction lies within it. 6 Till you welcome it as yours,
uncertainty remains. 7 Yet God is fair. 8 Sureness is not required to receive what only your
acceptance can bestow.
W-pI.165.5. Ask with desire. 2 You need not be sure that you request the only thing you
want. 3 But when you have received, you will be sure you have the treasure you have
always sought. 4 What would you then exchange for it? 5 What would induce you now to let it
fade away from your ecstatic vision? 6 For this sight proves that you have exchanged your
blindness for the seeing eyes of Christ; your mind has come to lay aside denial, and accept the
Thought of God as your inheritance.
W-pI.165.6. Now is all doubting past, the journey's end made certain, and salvation
given you. 2 Now is Christ's power in your mind, to heal as you were healed. 3 For now you
are among the saviors of the world. 4 Your destiny lies there and nowhere else. 5 Would
God consent to let His Son remain forever starved by his denial of the nourishment he
needs to live? 6 Abundance dwells in him, and deprivation cannot cut him off from God's
sustaining Love and from his home.
W-pI.165.7. Practice today in hope. 2 For hope indeed is justified. 3 Your doubts are
meaningless, for God is certain. 4 And the Thought of Him is never absent. 5 Sureness must abide
within you who are host to Him. 6 This course removes all doubts which you have interposed
between Him and your certainty of Him.
W-pI.165.8. We count on God, and not upon ourselves, to give us certainty. 2 And in His
Name we practice as His Word directs we do. 3 His sureness lies beyond our every doubt.
4 His Love remains beyond our every fear. 5 The Thought of Him is still beyond all
dreams and in our minds, according to His Will.
LESSON 166.
I am entrusted with the gifts of God.
W-pI.166.1. All things are given you. 2 God's trust in you is limitless. 3 He knows His
Son. 4 He gives without exception, holding nothing back that can contribute to your
happiness. 5 And yet, unless your will is one with His, His gifts are not received. 6 But what
would make you think there is another will than His?
W-pI.166.2. Here is the paradox that underlies the making of the world. 2 This world is
not the Will of God, and so it is not real. 3 Yet those who think it real must still
believe there is another will, and one that leads to opposite effects from those He wills. 4
Impossible indeed; but every mind that looks upon the world and judges it as certain, solid,
trustworthy and true believes in two creators; or in one, himself alone. 5 But never in one God.
W-pI.166.3. The gifts of God are not acceptable to anyone who holds such strange
beliefs. 2 He must believe that to accept God's gifts, however evident they may become,
however urgently he may be called to claim them as his own, is to be pressed to treachery
against himself. 3 He must deny their presence, contradict the truth, and suffer to preserve
the world he made.
W-pI.166.4. Here is the only home he thinks he knows. 2 Here is the only safety he
believes that he can find. 3 Without the world he made is he an outcast; homeless and afraid. 4
He does not realize that it is here he is afraid indeed, and homeless, too; an outcast
wandering so far from home, so long away, he does not realize he has forgotten where he came
from, where he goes, and even who he really is.
W-pI.166.5. Yet in his lonely, senseless wanderings, God's gifts go with him, all
unknown to him. 2 He cannot lose them. 3 But he will not look at what is given him. 4 He
wanders on, aware of the futility he sees about him everywhere, perceiving how his little lot
but dwindles, as he goes ahead to nowhere. 5 Still he wanders on in misery and poverty,
alone though God is with him, and a treasure his so great that everything the world contains
is valueless before its magnitude.
W-pI.166.6. He seems a sorry figure; weary, worn, in threadbare clothing, and with feet
that bleed a little from the rocky road he walks. 2 No one but has identified with him,
for everyone who comes here has pursued the path he follows, and has felt defeat and
hopelessness as he is feeling them. 3 Yet is he really tragic, when you see that he is following
the way he chose, and need but realize Who walks with him and open up his treasures to be
free?
W-pI.166.7. This is your chosen self, the one you made as a replacement for reality. 2
This is the self you savagely defend against all reason, every evidence, and all the
witnesses with proof to show this is not you. 3 You heed them not. 4 You go on your appointed
way, with eyes cast down lest you might catch a glimpse of truth, and be released from
self-deception and set free.
W-pI.166.8. You cower fearfully lest you should feel Christ's touch upon your shoulder,
and perceive His gentle hand directing you to look upon your gifts. 2 How could you
then proclaim your poverty in exile? 3 He would make you laugh at this perception of
yourself. 4 Where is self-pity then? 5 And what becomes of all the tragedy you sought to make
for him whom God intended only joy?
W-pI.166.9. Your ancient fear has come upon you now, and justice has caught up with you
at last. 2 Christ's hand has touched your shoulder, and you feel that you are not alone.
3 You even think the miserable self you thought was you may not be your Identity. 4
Perhaps God's Word is truer than your own. 5 Perhaps His gifts to you are real. 6 Perhaps He
has not wholly been outwitted by your plan to keep His Son in deep oblivion, and go the
way you chose without your Self.
W-pI.166.10. God's Will does not oppose. 2 It merely is. 3 It is not God you have
imprisoned in your plan to lose your Self. 4 He does not know about a plan so alien to His Will.
5 There was a need He did not understand, to which He gave an Answer. 6 That is all. 7
And you who have this Answer given you have need no more of anything but this.
W-pI.166.11. Now do we live, for now we cannot die. 2 The wish for death is answered,
and the sight that looked upon it now has been replaced by vision which perceives that you
are not what you pretend to be. 3 One walks with you Who gently answers all your fears
with this one merciful reply, "It is not so." 4 He points to all the gifts you have each
time the thought of poverty oppresses you, and speaks of His Companionship when you
perceive yourself as lonely and afraid.
W-pI.166.12. Yet He reminds you still of one thing more you had forgotten. 2 For His
touch on you has made you like Himself. 3 The gifts you have are not for you alone. 4 What
He has come to offer you, you now must learn to give. 5 This is the lesson that His
giving holds, for He has saved you from the solitude you sought to make in which to hide from
God. 6 He has reminded you of all the gifts that God has given you. 7 He speaks as well
of what becomes your will when you accept these gifts, and recognize they are your own.
W-pI.166.13. The gifts are yours, entrusted to your care, to give to all who chose the
lonely road you have escaped. 2 They do not understand they but pursue their wishes. 3 It is
you who teach them now. 4 For you have learned of Christ there is another way for them to
walk. 5 Teach them by showing them the happiness that comes to those who feel the touch of
Christ, and recognize God's gifts. 6 Let sorrow not tempt you to be unfaithful to your trust.
W-pI.166.14. Your sighs will now betray the hopes of those who look to you for their
release. 2 Your tears are theirs. 3 If you are sick, you but withhold their healing. 4 What
you fear but teaches them their fears are justified. 5 Your hand becomes the giver of
Christ's touch; your change of mind becomes the proof that who accepts God's gifts can never
suffer anything. 6 You are entrusted with the world's release from pain.
W-pI.166.15. Betray it not. 2 Become the living proof of what Christ's touch can offer
everyone. 3 God has entrusted all His gifts to you. 4 Be witness in your happiness to how
transformed the mind becomes which chooses to accept His gifts, and feel the touch of Christ. 5
Such is your mission now. 6 For God entrusts the giving of His gifts to all who have
received them. 7 He has shared His joy with you. 8 And now you go to share it with the world.
LESSON 167.
There is one life, and that I share with God.
W-pI.167.1. There are not different kinds of life, for life is like the truth. 2 It
does not have degrees. 3 It is the one condition in which all that God created share. 4
Like all His Thoughts, it has no opposite. 5 There is no death because what God created
shares His life. 6 There is no death because an opposite to God does not exist. 7 There is no
death because the Father and the Son are One.
W-pI.167.2. In this world, there appears to be a state that is life's opposite. 2 You
call it death. 3 Yet we have learned that the idea of death takes many forms. 4 It is the
one idea which underlies all feelings that are not supremely happy. 5 It is the alarm to
which you give response of any kind that is not perfect joy. 6 All sorrow, loss, anxiety and
suffering and pain, even a little sigh of weariness, a slight discomfort or the merest
frown, acknowledge death. 7 And thus deny you live.
W-pI.167.3. You think that death is of the body. 2 Yet it is but an idea, irrelevant to
what is seen as physical. 3 A thought is in the mind. 4 It can be then applied as mind
directs it. 5 But its origin is where it must be changed, if change occurs. 6 Ideas leave not
their source. 7 The emphasis this course has placed on that idea is due to its centrality in
our attempts to change your mind about yourself. 8 It is the reason you can heal. 9 It
is the cause of healing. 10 It is why you cannot die. 11 Its truth established you as one
with God.
W-pI.167.4. Death is the thought that you are separate from your Creator. 2 It is the
belief conditions change, emotions alternate because of causes you cannot control, you did
not make, and you can never change. 3 It is the fixed belief ideas can leave their source,
and take on qualities the source does not contain, becoming different from their own
origin, apart from it in kind as well as distance, time and form.
W-pI.167.5. Death cannot come from life. 2 Ideas remain united to their source. 3 They
can extend all that their source contains. 4 In that, they can go far beyond themselves. 5
But they can not give birth to what was never given them. 6 As they are made, so will
their making be. 7 As they were born, so will they then give birth. 8 And where they come
from, there will they return.
W-pI.167.6. The mind can think it sleeps, but that is all. 2 It cannot change what is
its waking state. 3 It cannot make a body, nor abide within a body. 4 What is alien to the
mind does not exist, because it has no source. 5 For mind creates all things that are,
and cannot give them attributes it lacks, nor change its own eternal, mindful state. 6 It
cannot make the physical. 7 What seems to die is but the sign of mind asleep.
W-pI.167.7. The opposite of life can only be another form of life. 2 As such, it can be
reconciled with what created it, because it is not opposite in truth. 3 Its form may
change; it may appear to be what it is not. 4 Yet mind is mind, awake or sleeping. 5 It is
not its opposite in anything created, nor in what it seems to make when it believes it
sleeps.
W-pI.167.8. God creates only mind awake. 2 He does not sleep, and His creations cannot
share what He gives not, nor make conditions which He does not share with them. 3 The
thought of death is not the opposite to thoughts of life. 4 Forever unopposed by opposites of
any kind, the Thoughts of God remain forever changeless, with the power to extend forever
changelessly, but yet within themselves, for they are everywhere.
W-pI.167.9. What seems to be the opposite of life is merely sleeping. 2 When the mind
elects to be what it is not, and to assume an alien power which it does not have, a foreign
state it cannot enter, or a false condition not within its Source, it merely seems to go to
sleep a while. 3 It dreams of time; an interval in which what seems to happen never has
occurred, the changes wrought are substanceless, and all events are nowhere. 4 When the mind
awakes, it but continues as it always was.
W-pI.167.10. Let us today be children of the truth, and not deny our holy heritage. 2
Our life is not as we imagine it. 3 Who changes life because he shuts his eyes, or makes
himself what he is not because he sleeps, and sees in dreams an opposite to what he is? 4 We
will not ask for death in any form today. 5 Nor will we let imagined opposites to life
abide even an instant where the Thought of life eternal has been set by God Himself.
W-pI.167.11. His holy home we strive to keep today as He established it, and wills it
be forever and forever. 2 He is Lord of what we think today. 3 And in His Thoughts, which
have no opposite, we understand there is one life, and that we share with Him, with all
creation, with their thoughts as well, whom He created in a unity of life that cannot
separate in death and leave the Source of life from where it came.
W-pI.167.12. We share one life because we have one Source, a Source from which
perfection comes to us, remaining always in the holy minds which He created perfect. 2 As we were,
so are we now and will forever be. 3 A sleeping mind must waken, as it sees its own
perfection mirroring the Lord of life so perfectly it fades into what is reflected there. 4 And
now it is no more a mere reflection. 5 It becomes the thing reflected, and the light which
makes reflection possible. 6 No vision now is needed. 7 For the wakened mind is one
that knows its Source, its Self, its Holiness.
LESSON 168.
Your grace is given me. I claim it now.
W-pI.168.1. God speaks to us. 2 Shall we not speak to Him? 3 He is not distant. 4 He
makes no attempt to hide from us. 5 We try to hide from Him, and suffer from deception. 6 He
remains entirely accessible. 7 He loves His Son. 8 There is no certainty but this, yet
this suffices. 9 He will love His Son forever. 10 When his mind remains asleep, He loves
him still. 11 And when his mind awakes, He loves him with a never-changing Love.
W-pI.168.2. If you but knew the meaning of His Love, hope and despair would be
impossible. 2 For hope would be forever satisfied; despair of any kind unthinkable. 3 His grace
His answer is to all despair, for in it lies remembrance of His Love. 4 Would He not
gladly give the means by which His Will is recognized? 5 His grace is yours by your
acknowledgment. 6 And memory of Him awakens in the mind that asks the means of Him whereby its sleep
is done.
W-pI.168.3. Today we ask of God the gift He has most carefully preserved within our
hearts, waiting to be acknowledged. 2 This the gift by which God leans to us and lifts us up,
taking salvation's final step Himself. 3 All steps but this we learn, instructed by His
Voice. 4 But finally He comes Himself, and takes us in His Arms and sweeps away the
cobwebs of our sleep. 5 His gift of grace is more than just an answer. 6 It restores all
memories the sleeping mind forgot; all certainty of what Love's meaning is.
W-pI.168.4. God loves His Son. 2 Request Him now to give the means by which this world
will disappear, and vision first will come, with knowledge but an instant later. 3 For in
grace you see a light that covers all the world in love, and watch fear disappear from every
face as hearts rise up and claim the light as theirs. 4 What now remains that Heaven be
delayed an instant longer? 5 What is still undone when your forgiveness rests on
everything?
W-pI.168.5. It is a new and holy day today, for we receive what has been given us. 2
Our faith lies in the Giver, not our own acceptance. 3 We acknowledge our mistakes, but He
to Whom all error is unknown is yet the One Who answers our mistakes by giving us the
means to lay them down, and rise to Him in gratitude and love.
W-pI.168.6. And He descends to meet us, as we come to Him. 2 For what He has prepared
for us He gives and we receive. 3 Such is His Will, because He loves His Son. 4 To Him we
pray today, returning but the word He gave to us through His Own Voice, His Word, His Love:
5 Your grace is given me. 6 I claim it now. 7 Father, I come to You. 8 And You will
come to me who ask. 9 I am the Son You love.
LESSON 169.
By grace I live. By grace I am released.
W-pI.169.1. Grace is an aspect of the Love of God which is most like the state
prevailing in the unity of truth. 2 It is the world's most lofty aspiration, for it leads beyond
the world entirely. 3 It is past learning, yet the goal of learning, for grace cannot come
until the mind prepares itself for true acceptance. 4 Grace becomes inevitable
instantly in those who have prepared a table where it can be gently laid and willingly received;
an altar clean and holy for the gift.
W-pI.169.2. Grace is acceptance of the Love of God within a world of seeming hate and
fear. 2 By grace alone the hate and fear are gone, for grace presents a state so opposite
to everything the world contains, that those whose minds are lighted by the gift of grace
can not believe the world of fear is real.
W-pI.169.3. Grace is not learned. 2 The final step must go beyond all learning. 3 Grace
is not the goal this course aspires to attain. 4 Yet we prepare for grace in that an
open mind can hear the Call to waken. 5 It is not shut tight against God's Voice. 6 It has
become aware that there are things it does not know, and thus is ready to accept a state
completely different from experience with which it is familiarly at home.
W-pI.169.4. We have perhaps appeared to contradict our statement that the revelation of
the Father and the Son as One has been already set. 2 But we have also said the mind
determines when that time will be, and has determined it. 3 And yet we urge you to bear witness
to the Word of God to hasten the experience of truth, and speed its advent into every
mind that recognizes truth's effects on you.
W-pI.169.5. Oneness is simply the idea God is. 2 And in His Being, He encompasses all
things. 3 No mind holds anything but Him. 4 We say "God is," and then we cease to speak, for
in that knowledge words are meaningless. 5 There are no lips to speak them, and no part
of mind sufficiently distinct to feel that it is now aware of something not itself. 6 It
has united with its Source. 7 And like its Source Itself, it merely is.
W-pI.169.6. We cannot speak nor write nor even think of this at all. 2 It comes to
every mind when total recognition that its will is God's has been completely given and
received completely. 3 It returns the mind into the endless present, where the past and future
cannot be conceived. 4 It lies beyond salvation; past all thought of time, forgiveness and
the holy face of Christ. 5 The Son of God has merely disappeared into his Father, as his
Father has in him. 6 The world has never been at all. 7 Eternity remains a constant state.
W-pI.169.7. This is beyond experience we try to hasten. 2 Yet forgiveness, taught and
learned, brings with it the experiences which bear witness that the time the mind itself
determined to abandon all but this is now at hand. 3 We do not hasten it, in that what you will
offer was concealed from Him Who teaches what forgiveness means.
W-pI.169.8. All learning was already in His Mind, accomplished and complete. 2 He
recognized all that time holds, and gave it to all minds that each one might determine, from a
point where time was ended, when it is released to revelation and eternity. 3 We have
repeated several times before that you but make a journey that is done.
W-pI.169.9. For oneness must be here. 2 Whatever time the mind has set for revelation
is entirely irrelevant to what must be a constant state, forever as it always was;
forever to remain as it is now. 3 We merely take the part assigned long since, and fully
recognized as perfectly fulfilled by Him Who wrote salvation's script in His Creator's Name, and
in the Name of His Creator's Son.
W-pI.169.10. There is no need to further clarify what no one in the world can
understand. 2 When revelation of your oneness comes, it will be known and fully understood. 3 Now
we have work to do, for those in time can speak of things beyond, and listen to words
which explain what is to come is past already. 4 Yet what meaning can the words convey to
those who count the hours still, and rise and work and go to sleep by them?
W-pI.169.11. Suffice it, then, that you have work to do to play your part. 2 The ending
must remain obscure to you until your part is done. 3 It does not matter. 4 For your
part is still what all the rest depends on. 5 As you take the role assigned to you,
salvation comes a little nearer each uncertain heart that does not beat as yet in tune with God.
W-pI.169.12. Forgiveness is the central theme that runs throughout salvation, holding
all its parts in meaningful relationships, the course it runs directed and its outcome
sure. 2 And now we ask for grace, the final gift salvation can bestow. 3 Experience that
grace provides will end in time, for grace foreshadows Heaven, yet does not replace the
thought of time but for a little while.
W-pI.169.13. The interval suffices. 2 It is here that miracles are laid; to be returned
by you from holy instants you receive, through grace in your experience, to all who see
the light that lingers in your face. 3 What is the face of Christ but his who went a
moment into timelessness, and brought a clear reflection of the unity he felt an instant back
to bless the world? 4 How could you finally attain to it forever, while a part of you
remains outside, unknowing, unawakened, and in need of you as witness to the truth?
W-pI.169.14. Be grateful to return, as you were glad to go an instant, and accept the
gifts that grace provided you. 2 You carry them back to yourself. 3 And revelation stands
not far behind. 4 Its coming is ensured. 5 We ask for grace, and for experience that comes
from grace. 6 We welcome the release it offers everyone. 7 We do not ask for the
unaskable. 8 We do not look beyond what grace can give. 9 For this we can give in the grace that
has been given us.
W-pI.169.15. Our learning goal today does not exceed this prayer. 2 Yet in the world,
what could be more than what we ask this day of Him Who gives the grace we ask, as it was
given Him?
3 By grace I live. 4 By grace I am released.
5 By grace I give. 6 By grace I will release.
LESSON 170.
There is no cruelty in God and none in me.
W-pI.170.1. No one attacks without intent to hurt. 2 This can have no exception. 3 When
you think that you attack in self-defense, you mean that to be cruel is protection; you
are safe because of cruelty. 4 You mean that you believe to hurt another brings you
freedom. 5 And you mean that to attack is to exchange the state in which you are for something
better, safer, more secure from dangerous invasion and from fear.
W-pI.170.2. How thoroughly insane is the idea that to defend from fear is to attack! 2
For here is fear begot and fed with blood, to make it grow and swell and rage. 3 And thus
is fear protected, not escaped. 4 Today we learn a lesson which can save you more delay
and needless misery than you can possibly imagine. 5 It is this:
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
3 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.171.1. (151) All things are echoes of the Voice for God.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.171.2. (152) The power of decision is my own.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 172.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.172.1. (153) In my defenselessness my safety lies.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.172.2. (154) I am among the ministers of God.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 173.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.173.1. (155) I will step back and let Him lead the way.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.173.2. (156) I walk with God in perfect holiness.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 174.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.174.1. (157) Into His Presence would I enter now.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.174.2. (158) Today I learn to give as I receive.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 175.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.175.1. (159) I give the miracles I have received.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.175.2. (160) I am at home. 2 Fear is the stranger here.
3 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 176.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.176.1. (161) Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.176.2. (162) I am as God created me.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 177.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.177.1. (163) There is no death. 2 The Son of God is free.
3 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.177.2. (164) Now are we one with Him Who is our Source.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 178.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.178.1. (165) Let not my mind deny the Thought of God.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.178.2. (166) I am entrusted with the gifts of God.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 179.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.179.1. (167) There is one life, and that I share with God.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.179.2. (168) Your grace is given me. 2 I claim it now.
3 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
LESSON 180.
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.180.1. (169) By grace I live. 2 By grace I am released.
3 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
W-pI.180.2. (170) There is no cruelty in God and none in me.
2 God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
Introduction to Lessons 181-200.
W-pI.in.181-200.1. Our next few lessons make a special point of firming up your
willingness to make your weak commitment strong; your scattered goals blend into one intent. 2 You
are not asked for total dedication all the time as yet. 3 But you are asked to practice
now in order to attain the sense of peace such unified commitment will bestow, if only
intermittently. 4 It is experiencing this that makes it sure that you will give your total
willingness to following the way the course sets forth.
W-pI.in.181-200.2. Our lessons now are geared specifically to widening horizons, and
direct approaches to the special blocks that keep your vision narrow, and too limited to let
you see the value of our goal. 2 We are attempting now to lift these blocks, however
briefly. 3 Words alone can not convey the sense of liberation which their lifting brings. 4
But the experience of freedom and of peace that comes as you give up your tight control of
what you see speaks for itself. 5 Your motivation will be so intensified that words
become of little consequence. 6 You will be sure of what you want, and what is valueless.
W-pI.in.181-200.3. And so we start our journey beyond words by concentrating first on
what impedes your progress still. 2 Experience of what exists beyond defensiveness remains
beyond achievement while it is denied. 3 It may be there, but you cannot accept its presence.
4 So we now attempt to go past all defenses for a little while each day. 5 No more than
this is asked, because no more than this is needed. 6 It will be enough to guarantee
the rest will come.
LESSON 181.
I trust my brothers, who are one with me.
W-pI.181.1. Trusting your brothers is essential to establishing and holding up your
faith in your ability to transcend doubt and lack of sure conviction in yourself. 2 When you
attack a brother, you proclaim that he is limited by what you have perceived in him. 3
You do not look beyond his errors. 4 Rather, they are magnified, becoming blocks to your
awareness of the Self that lies beyond your own mistakes, and past his seeming sins as well as
yours.
W-pI.181.2. Perception has a focus. 2 It is this that gives consistency to what you see.
3 Change but this focus, and what you behold will change accordingly. 4 Your vision
now will shift, to give support to the intent which has replaced the one you held before.
5 Remove your focus on your brother's sins, and you experience the peace that comes from
faith in sinlessness. 6 This faith receives its only sure support from what you see in
others past their sins. 7 For their mistakes, if focused on, are witnesses to sins in you. 8
And you will not transcend their sight and see the sinlessness that lies beyond.
W-pI.181.3. Therefore, in practicing today, we first let all such little focuses give
way to our great need to let our sinlessness become apparent. 2 We instruct our minds that
it is this we seek, and only this, for just a little while. 3 We do not care about our
future goals. 4 And what we saw an instant previous has no concern for us within this
interval of time wherein we practice changing our intent. 5 We seek for innocence and nothing
else. 6 We seek for it with no concern but now.
W-pI.181.4. A major hazard to success has been involvement with your past and future
goals. 2 You have been quite preoccupied with how extremely different the goals this course
is advocating are from those you held before. 3 And you have also been dismayed by the
depressing and restricting thought that, even if you should succeed, you will inevitably lose
your way again.
W-pI.181.5. How could this matter? 2 For the past is gone; the future but imagined. 3
These concerns are but defenses against present change of focus in perception. 4 Nothing
more. 5 We lay these pointless limitations by a little while. 6 We do not look to past
beliefs, and what we will believe will not intrude upon us now. 7 We enter in the time of
practicing with one intent; to look upon the sinlessness within.
W-pI.181.6. We recognize that we have lost this goal if anger blocks our way in any
form. 2 And if a brother's sins occur to us, our narrowed focus will restrict our sight,
and turn our eyes upon our own mistakes, which we will magnify and call our "sins." 3 So,
for a little while, without regard to past or future, should such blocks arise we will
transcend them with instructions to our minds to change their focus, as we say:
4 It is not this that I would look upon.
5 I trust my brothers, who are one with me.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
I will be still an instant and go home.
W-pI.182.1. This world you seem to live in is not home to you. 2 And somewhere in your
mind you know that this is true. 3 A memory of home keeps haunting you, as if there were a
place that called you to return, although you do not recognize the voice, nor what it is the
voice reminds you of. 4 Yet still you feel an alien here, from somewhere all unknown. 5
Nothing so definite that you could say with certainty you are an exile here. 6 Just a
persistent feeling, sometimes not more than a tiny throb, at other times hardly remembered,
actively dismissed, but surely to return to mind again.
W-pI.182.2. No one but knows whereof we speak. 2 Yet some try to put by their suffering
in games they play to occupy their time, and keep their sadness from them. 3 Others
will deny that they are sad, and do not recognize their tears at all. 4 Still others will
maintain that what we speak of is illusion, not to be considered more than but a dream. 5 Yet
who, in simple honesty, without defensiveness and self-deception, would deny he
understands the words we speak?
W-pI.182.3. We speak today for everyone who walks this world, for he is not at home. 2
He goes uncertainly about in endless search, seeking in darkness what he cannot find; not
recognizing what it is he seeks. 3 A thousand homes he makes, yet none contents his
restless mind. 4 He does not understand he builds in vain. 5 The home he seeks can not be made
by him. 6 There is no substitute for Heaven. 7 All he ever made was hell.
W-pI.182.4. Perhaps you think it is your childhood home that you would find again. 2
The childhood of your body, and its place of shelter, are a memory now so distorted that
you merely hold a picture of a past that never happened. 3 Yet there is a Child in you Who
seeks His Father's house, and knows that He is alien here. 4 This childhood is eternal,
with an innocence that will endure forever. 5 Where this Child shall go is holy ground.
6 It is His Holiness that lights up Heaven, and that brings to earth the pure
reflection of the light above, wherein are earth and Heaven joined as one.
W-pI.182.5. It is this Child in you your Father knows as His Own Son. 2 It is this
Child Who knows His Father. 3 He desires to go home so deeply, so unceasingly, His voice
cries unto you to let Him rest a while. 4 He does not ask for more than just a few instants
of respite; just an interval in which He can return to breathe again the holy air that
fills His Father's house. 5 You are His home as well. 6 He will return. 7 But give Him just
a little time to be Himself, within the peace that is His home, resting in silence and
in peace and love.
W-pI.182.6. This Child needs your protection. 2 He is far from home. 3 He is so little
that He seems so easily shut out, His tiny voice so readily obscured, His call for help
almost unheard amid the grating sounds and harsh and rasping noises of the world. 4 Yet does
He know that in you still abides His sure protection. 5 You will fail Him not. 6 He will
go home, and you along with Him.
W-pI.182.7. This Child is your defenselessness; your strength. 2 He trusts in you. 3 He
came because He knew you would not fail. 4 He whispers of His home unceasingly to you.
5 For He would bring you back with Him, that He Himself might stay, and not return again
where He does not belong, and where He lives an outcast in a world of alien thoughts. 6
His patience has no limits. 7 He will wait until you hear His gentle Voice within you,
calling you to let Him go in peace, along with you, to where He is at home and you with Him.
W-pI.182.8. When you are still an instant, when the world recedes from you, when
valueless ideas cease to have value in your restless mind, then will you hear His Voice. 2 So
poignantly He calls to you that you will not resist Him longer. 3 In that instant He will take
you to His home, and you will stay with Him in perfect stillness, silent and at peace,
beyond all words, untouched by fear and doubt, sublimely certain that you are at home.
W-pI.182.9. Rest with Him frequently today. 2 For He was willing to become a little
Child that you might learn of Him how strong is he who comes without defenses, offering only
love's messages to those who think he is their enemy. 3 He holds the might of Heaven in
His hand and calls them friend, and gives His strength to them, that they may see He
would be Friend to them. 4 He asks that they protect Him, for His home is far away, and He
will not return to it alone.
W-pI.182.10. Christ is reborn as but a little Child each time a wanderer would leave
his home. 2 For he must learn that what he would protect is but this Child, Who comes
defenseless and Who is protected by defenselessness. 3 Go home with Him from time to time today. 4
You are as much an alien here as He.
W-pI.182.11. Take time today to lay aside your shield which profits nothing, and lay
down the spear and sword you raised against an enemy without existence. 2 Christ has called
you friend and brother. 3 He has even come to ask your help in letting Him go home
today, completed and completely. 4 He has come as does a little child, who must beseech his
father for protection and for love. 5 He rules the universe, and yet He asks unceasingly that
you return with Him, and take illusions as your gods no more.
W-pI.182.12. You have not lost your innocence. 2 It is for this you yearn. 3 This is
your heart's desire. 4 This is the voice you hear, and this the call which cannot be denied.
5 The holy Child remains with you. 6 His home is yours. 7 Today He gives you His
defenselessness, and you accept it in exchange for all the toys of battle you have made. 8 And now the
way is open, and the journey has an end in sight at last. 9 Be still an instant and go
home with Him, and be at peace a while.
LESSON 183.
I call upon God's Name and on my own.
W-pI.183.1. God's Name is holy, but no holier than yours. 2 To call upon His Name is
but to call upon your own. 3 A father gives his son his name, and thus identifies the son
with him. 4 His brothers share his name, and thus are they united in a bond to which they
turn for their identity. 5 Your Father's Name reminds you who you are, even within a world
that does not know; even though you have not remembered it.
W-pI.183.2. God's Name can not be heard without response, nor said without an echo in
the mind that calls you to remember. 2 Say His Name, and you invite the angels to surround
the ground on which you stand, and sing to you as they spread out their wings to keep
you safe, and shelter you from every worldly thought that would intrude upon your holiness.
W-pI.183.3. Repeat God's Name, and all the world responds by laying down illusions. 2
Every dream the world holds dear has suddenly gone by, and where it seemed to stand you find
a star; a miracle of grace. 3 The sick arise, healed of their sickly thoughts. 4 The
blind can see; the deaf can hear. 5 The sorrowful cast off their mourning, and the tears of
pain are dried as happy laughter comes to bless the world.
W-pI.183.4. Repeat the Name of God, and little names have lost their meaning. 2 No
temptation but becomes a nameless and unwanted thing before God's Name. 3 Repeat His Name, and
see how easily you will forget the names of all the gods you valued. 4 They have lost the
name of god you gave them. 5 They become anonymous and valueless to you, although before
you let the Name of God replace their little names, you stood before them worshipfully,
naming them as gods.
W-pI.183.5. Repeat the Name of God, and call upon your Self, Whose Name is His. 2
Repeat His Name, and all the tiny, nameless things on earth slip into right perspective. 3
Those who call upon the Name of God can not mistake the nameless for the Name, nor sin for
grace, nor bodies for the holy Son of God. 4 And should you join a brother as you sit with
him in silence, and repeat God's Name along with him within your quiet mind, you have
established there an altar which reaches to God Himself and to His Son.
W-pI.183.6. Practice but this today; repeat God's Name slowly again and still again. 2
Become oblivious to every name but His. 3 Hear nothing else. 4 Let all your thoughts become
anchored on this. 5 No other word we use except at the beginning, when we say today's idea but
once. 6 And then God's Name becomes our only thought, our only word, the only thing that
occupies our minds, the only wish we have, the only sound with any meaning, and the only Name
of everything that we desire to see; of everything that we would call our own.
W-pI.183.7. Thus do we give an invitation which can never be refused. 2 And God will
come, and answer it Himself. 3 Think not He hears the little prayers of those who call on
Him with names of idols cherished by the world. 4 They cannot reach Him thus. 5 He cannot
hear requests that He be not Himself, or that His Son receive another name than His.
W-pI.183.8. Repeat God's Name, and you acknowledge Him as sole Creator of reality. 2
And you acknowledge also that His Son is part of Him, creating in His Name. 3 Sit silently,
and let His Name become the all-encompassing idea that holds your mind completely. 4
Let all thoughts be still except this one. 5 And to all other thoughts respond with this,
and see God's Name replace the thousand little names you gave your thoughts, not realizing
that there is one Name for all there is, and all that there will be.
W-pI.183.9. Today you can achieve a state in which you will experience the gift of
grace. 2 You can escape all bondage of the world, and give the world the same release you
found. 3 You can remember what the world forgot, and offer it your own remembering. 4 You
can accept today the part you play in its salvation, and your own as well. 5 And both can
be accomplished perfectly.
W-pI.183.10. Turn to the Name of God for your release, and it is given you. 2 No prayer
but this is necessary, for it holds them all within it. 3 Words are insignificant, and
all requests unneeded when God's Son calls on his Father's Name. 4 His Father's Thoughts
become his own. 5 He makes his claim to all his Father gave, is giving still, and will
forever give. 6 He calls on Him to let all things he thought he made be nameless now, and in
their place the holy Name of God becomes his judgment of their worthlessness.
W-pI.183.11. All little things are silent. 2 Little sounds are soundless now. 3 The
little things of earth have disappeared. 4 The universe consists of nothing but the Son of
God, who calls upon his Father. 5 And his Father's Voice gives answer in his Father's holy
Name. 6 In this eternal, still relationship, in which communication far transcends all
words, and yet exceeds in depth and height whatever words could possibly convey, is peace
eternal. 7 In our Father's Name, we would experience this peace today. 8 And in His Name, it
shall be given us.
LESSON 184.
The Name of God is my inheritance.
W-pI.184.1. You live by symbols. 2 You have made up names for everything you see. 3
Each one becomes a separate entity, identified by its own name. 4 By this you carve it out
of unity. 5 By this you designate its special attributes, and set it off from other
things by emphasizing space surrounding it. 6 This space you lay between all things to which
you give a different name; all happenings in terms of place and time; all bodies which are
greeted by a name.
W-pI.184.2. This space you see as setting off all things from one another is the means
by which the world's perception is achieved. 2 You see something where nothing is, and
see as well nothing where there is unity; a space between all things, between all things
and you. 3 Thus do you think that you have given life in separation. 4 By this split you
think you are established as a unity which functions with an independent will.
W-pI.184.3. What are these names by which the world becomes a series of discrete events,
of things ununified, of bodies kept apart and holding bits of mind as separate
awarenesses? 2 You gave these names to them, establishing perception as you wished to have
perception be. 3 The nameless things were given names, and thus reality was given them as well. 4
For what is named is given meaning and will then be seen as meaningful; a cause of true
effect, with consequence inherent in itself.
W-pI.184.4. This is the way reality is made by partial vision, purposefully set against
the given truth. 2 Its enemy is wholeness. 3 It conceives of little things and looks
upon them. 4 And a lack of space, a sense of unity or vision that sees differently, become
the threats which it must overcome, conflict with and deny.
W-pI.184.5. Yet does this other vision still remain a natural direction for the mind to
channel its perception. 2 It is hard to teach the mind a thousand alien names, and
thousands more. 3 Yet you believe this is what learning means; its one essential goal by which
communication is achieved, and concepts can be meaningfully shared.
W-pI.184.6. This is the sum of the inheritance the world bestows. 2 And everyone who
learns to think that it is so accepts the signs and symbols that assert the world is real. 3
It is for this they stand. 4 They leave no doubt that what is named is there. 5 It can be
seen, as is anticipated. 6 What denies that it is true is but illusion, for it is the
ultimate reality. 7 To question it is madness; to accept its presence is the proof of sanity.
W-pI.184.7. Such is the teaching of the world. 2 It is a phase of learning everyone who
comes must go through. 3 But the sooner he perceives on what it rests, how questionable
are its premises, how doubtful its results, the sooner does he question its effects. 4
Learning that stops with what the world would teach stops short of meaning. 5 In its proper
place, it serves but as a starting point from which another kind of learning can begin, a
new perception can be gained, and all the arbitrary names the world bestows can be
withdrawn as they are raised to doubt.
W-pI.184.8. Think not you made the world. 2 Illusions, yes! 3 But what is true in earth
and Heaven is beyond your naming. 4 When you call upon a brother, it is to his body
that you make appeal. 5 His true Identity is hidden from you by what you believe he really
is. 6 His body makes response to what you call him, for his mind consents to take the
name you give him as his own. 7 And thus his unity is twice denied, for you perceive him
separate from you, and he accepts this separate name as his.
W-pI.184.9. It would indeed be strange if you were asked to go beyond all symbols of
the world, forgetting them forever; yet were asked to take a teaching function. 2 You have
need to use the symbols of the world a while. 3 But be you not deceived by them as well.
4 They do not stand for anything at all, and in your practicing it is this thought
that will release you from them. 5 They become but means by which you can communicate in
ways the world can understand, but which you recognize is not the unity where true
communication can be found.
W-pI.184.10. Thus what you need are intervals each day in which the learning of the
world becomes a transitory phase; a prison house from which you go into the sunlight and
forget the darkness. 2 Here you understand the Word, the Name which God has given you; the
one Identity which all things share; the one acknowledgment of what is true. 3 And then
step back to darkness, not because you think it real, but only to proclaim its unreality in
terms which still have meaning in the world that darkness rules.
W-pI.184.11. Use all the little names and symbols which delineate the world of darkness.
2 Yet accept them not as your reality. 3 The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but He does
not forget creation has one Name, one meaning, and a single Source which unifies all
things within Itself. 4 Use all the names the world bestows on them but for convenience, yet
do not forget they share the Name of God along with you.
W-pI.184.12. God has no name. 2 And yet His Name becomes the final lesson that all
things are one, and at this lesson does all learning end. 3 All names are unified; all space
is filled with truth's reflection. 4 Every gap is closed, and separation healed. 5 The
Name of God is the inheritance He gave to those who chose the teaching of the world to take
the place of Heaven. 6 In our practicing, our purpose is to let our minds accept what
God has given as the answer to the pitiful inheritance you made as fitting tribute to the
Son He loves.
W-pI.184.13. No one can fail who seeks the meaning of the Name of God. 2 Experience
must come to supplement the Word. 3 But first you must accept the Name for all reality, and
realize the many names you gave its aspects have distorted what you see, but have not
interfered with truth at all. 4 One Name we bring into our practicing. 5 One Name we use to unify
our sight.
W-pI.184.14. And though we use a different name for each awareness of an aspect of
God's Son, we understand that they have but one Name, which He has given them. 2 It is this
Name we use in practicing. 3 And through Its use, all foolish separations disappear which
kept us blind. 4 And we are given strength to see beyond them. 5 Now our sight is blessed
with blessings we can give as we receive.
W-pI.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.
I want the peace of God.
W-pI.185.1. To say these words is nothing. 2 But to mean these words is everything. 3
If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further sorrow possible
for you in any form; in any place or time. 4 Heaven would be completely given back to
full awareness, memory of God entirely restored, the resurrection of all creation fully
recognized.
W-pI.185.2. No one can mean these words and not be healed. 2 He cannot play with dreams,
nor think he is himself a dream. 3 He cannot make a hell and think it real. 4 He wants
the peace of God, and it is given him. 5 For that is all he wants, and that is all he
will receive. 6 Many have said these words. 7 But few indeed have meant them. 8 You have
but to look upon the world you see around you to be sure how very few they are. 9 The
world would be completely changed, should any two agree these words express the only thing
they want.
W-pI.185.3. Two minds with one intent become so strong that what they will becomes the
Will of God. 2 For minds can only join in truth. 3 In dreams, no two can share the same
intent. 4 To each, the hero of the dream is different; the outcome wanted not the same for
both. 5 Loser and gainer merely shift about in changing patterns, as the ratio of gain to
loss and loss to gain takes on a different aspect or another form.
W-pI.185.4. Yet compromise alone a dream can bring. 2 Sometimes it takes the form of
union, but only the form. 3 The meaning must escape the dream, for compromising is the goal
of dreaming. 4 Minds cannot unite in dreams. 5 They merely bargain. 6 And what bargain
can give them the peace of God? 7 Illusions come to take His place. 8 And what He means is
lost to sleeping minds intent on compromise, each to his gain and to another's loss.
W-pI.185.5. To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams. 2 For no one
means these words who wants illusions, and who therefore seeks the means which bring
illusions. 3 He has looked on them, and found them wanting. 4 Now he seeks to go beyond them,
recognizing that another dream would offer nothing more than all the others. 5 Dreams are one to
him. 6 And he has learned their only difference is one of form, for one will bring the
same despair and misery as do the rest.
W-pI.185.6. The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with other minds,
for that is how peace is obtained. 2 And when the wish for peace is genuine, the means
for finding it is given, in a form each mind that seeks for it in honesty can understand.
3 Whatever form the lesson takes is planned for him in such a way that he can not
mistake it, if his asking is sincere. 4 But if he asks without sincerity, there is no form in
which the lesson will meet with acceptance and be truly learned.
W-pI.185.7. Let us today devote our practicing to recognizing that we really mean the
words we say. 2 We want the peace of God. 3 This is no idle wish. 4 These words do not
request another dream be given us. 5 They do not ask for compromise, nor try to make another
bargain in the hope that there may yet be one that can succeed where all the rest have failed.
6 To mean these words acknowledges illusions are in vain, requesting the eternal in the
place of shifting dreams which seem to change in what they offer, but are one in
nothingness.
W-pI.185.8. Today devote your practice periods to careful searching of your mind, to
find the dreams you cherish still. 2 What do you ask for in your heart? 3 Forget the words
you use in making your requests. 4 Consider but what you believe will comfort you, and
bring you happiness. 5 But be you not dismayed by lingering illusions, for their form is not
what matters now. 6 Let not some dreams be more acceptable, reserving shame and secrecy
for others. 7 They are one. 8 And being one, one question should be asked of all of
them, "Is this what I would have, in place of Heaven and the peace of God?"
W-pI.185.9. This is the choice you make. 2 Be not deceived that it is otherwise. 3 No
compromise is possible in this. 4 You choose God's peace, or you have asked for dreams. 5 And
dreams will come as you requested them. 6 Yet will God's peace come just as certainly, and to
remain with you forever. 7 It will not be gone with every twist and turning of the road,
to reappear, unrecognized, in forms which shift and change with every step you take.
W-pI.185.10. You want the peace of God. 2 And so do all who seem to seek for dreams. 3
For them as well as for yourself, you ask but this when you make this request with deep
sincerity. 4 For thus you reach to what they really want, and join your own intent with what
they seek above all things, perhaps unknown to them, but sure to you. 5 You have been weak
at times, uncertain in your purpose, and unsure of what you wanted, where to look for it,
and where to turn for help in the attempt. 6 Help has been given you. 7 And would you
not avail yourself of it by sharing it?
W-pI.185.11. No one who truly seeks the peace of God can fail to find it. 2 For he
merely asks that he deceive himself no longer by denying to himself what is God's Will. 3 Who
can remain unsatisfied who asks for what he has already? 4 Who could be unanswered who
requests an answer which is his to give? 5 The peace of God is yours.
W-pI.185.12. For you was peace created, given you by its Creator, and established as
His Own eternal gift. 2 How can you fail, when you but ask for what He wills for you? 3
And how could your request be limited to you alone? 4 No gift of God can be unshared. 5 It
is this attribute that sets the gifts of God apart from every dream that ever seemed to
take the place of truth.
W-pI.185.13. No one can lose and everyone must gain whenever any gift of God has been
requested and received by anyone. 2 God gives but to unite. 3 To take away is meaningless to Him.
4 And when it is as meaningless to you, you can be sure you share one Will with Him,
and He with you. 5 And you will also know you share one Will with all your brothers, whose
intent is yours.
W-pI.185.14. It is this one intent we seek today, uniting our desires with the need of
every heart, the call of every mind, the hope that lies beyond despair, the love attack
would hide, the brotherhood that hate has sought to sever, but which still remains as God
created it. 2 With Help like this beside us, can we fail today as we request the peace of God
be given us?
LESSON 186.
Salvation of the world depends on me.
W-pI.186.1. Here is the statement that will one day take all arrogance away from every
mind. 2 Here is the thought of true humility, which holds no function as your own but that
which has been given you. 3 It offers your acceptance of a part assigned to you, without
insisting on another role. 4 It does not judge your proper role. 5 It but acknowledges the Will
of God is done on earth as well as Heaven. 6 It unites all wills on earth in Heaven's
plan to save the world, restoring it to Heaven's peace.
W-pI.186.2. Let us not fight our function. 2 We did not establish it. 3 It is not our
idea. 4 The means are given us by which it will be perfectly accomplished. 5 All that we
are asked to do is to accept our part in genuine humility, and not deny with
self-deceiving arrogance that we are worthy. 6 What is given us to do, we have the strength to do. 7
Our minds are suited perfectly to take the part assigned to us by One Who knows us well.
W-pI.186.3. Today's idea may seem quite sobering, until you see its meaning. 2 All it
says is that your Father still remembers you, and offers you the perfect trust He holds in
you who are His Son. 3 It does not ask that you be different in any way from what you are.
4 What could humility request but this? 5 And what could arrogance deny but this? 6
Today we will not shrink from our assignment on the specious grounds that modesty is
outraged. 7 It is pride that would deny the Call for God Himself.
W-pI.186.4. All false humility we lay aside today, that we may listen to God's Voice
reveal to us what He would have us do. 2 We do not doubt our adequacy for the function He
will offer us. 3 We will be certain only that He knows our strengths, our wisdom and our
holiness. 4 And if He deems us worthy, so we are. 5 It is but arrogance that judges otherwise.
W-pI.186.5. There is one way, and only one, to be released from the imprisonment your
plan to prove the false is true has brought to you. 2 Accept the plan you did not make
instead. 3 Judge not your value to it. 4 If God's Voice assures you that salvation needs your
part, and that the whole depends on you, be sure that it is so. 5 The arrogant must cling
to words, afraid to go beyond them to experience which might affront their stance. 6 Yet
are the humble free to hear the Voice which tells them what they are, and what to do.
W-pI.186.6. Arrogance makes an image of yourself that is not real. 2 It is this image
which quails and retreats in terror, as the Voice for God assures you that you have the
strength, the wisdom and the holiness to go beyond all images. 3 You are not weak, as is the
image of yourself. 4 You are not ignorant and helpless. 5 Sin can not tarnish the truth in
you, and misery can come not near the holy home of God.
W-pI.186.7. All this the Voice for God relates to you. 2 And as He speaks, the image
trembles and seeks to attack the threat it does not know, sensing its basis crumble. 3 Let it
go. 4 Salvation of the world depends on you, and not upon this little pile of dust. 5
What can it tell the holy Son of God? 6 Why need he be concerned with it at all?
W-pI.186.8. And so we find our peace. 2 We will accept the function God has given us,
for all illusions rest upon the weird belief that we can make another for ourselves. 3 Our
self-made roles are shifting, and they seem to change from mourner to ecstatic bliss of
love and loving. 4 We can laugh or weep, and greet the day with welcome or with tears.
5 Our very being seems to change as we experience a thousand shifts in mood, and our
emotions raise us high indeed, or dash us to the ground in hopelessness.
W-pI.186.9. Is this the Son of God? 2 Could He create such instability and call it Son?
3 He Who is changeless shares His attributes with His creation. 4 All the images His
Son appears to make have no effect on what he is. 5 They blow across his mind like
wind-swept leaves that form a patterning an instant, break apart to group again, and scamper off.
6 Or like mirages seen above a desert, rising from the dust.
W-pI.186.10. These unsubstantial images will go, and leave your mind unclouded and
serene, when you accept the function given you. 2 The images you make give rise to but
conflicting goals, impermanent and vague, uncertain and ambiguous. 3 Who could be constant in his
efforts, or direct his energies and concentrated drive toward goals like these? 4 The
functions which the world esteems are so uncertain that they change ten times an hour at their
most secure. 5 What hope of gain can rest on goals like this?
W-pI.186.11. In lovely contrast, certain as the sun's return each morning to dispel the
night, your truly given function stands out clear and wholly unambiguous. 2 There is no
doubt of its validity. 3 It comes from One Who knows no error, and His Voice is certain
of Its messages. 4 They will not change, nor be in conflict. 5 All of them point to one
goal, and one you can attain. 6 Your plan may be impossible, but God's can never fail
because He is its Source.
W-pI.186.12. Do as God's Voice directs. 2 And if It asks a thing of you which seems
impossible, remember Who it is that asks, and who would make denial. 3 Then consider this; which
is more likely to be right? 4 The Voice that speaks for the Creator of all things, Who
knows all things exactly as they are, or a distorted image of yourself, confused, bewildered,
inconsistent and unsure of everything? 5 Let not its voice direct you. 6 Hear instead
a certain Voice, which tells you of a function given you by your Creator Who remembers
you, and urges that you now remember Him.
W-pI.186.13. His gentle Voice is calling from the known to the unknowing. 2 He would
comfort you, although He knows no sorrow. 3 He would make a restitution, though He is complete;
a gift to you, although He knows that you have everything already. 4 He has Thoughts
which answer every need His Son perceives, although He sees them not. 5 For Love must give,
and what is given in His Name takes on the form most useful in a world of form.
W-pI.186.14. These are the forms which never can deceive, because they come from
Formlessness Itself. 2 Forgiveness is an earthly form of love, which as it is in Heaven has no form.
3 Yet what is needed here is given here as it is needed. 4 In this form you can
fulfill your function even here, although what love will mean to you when formlessness has
been restored to you is greater still. 5 Salvation of the world depends on you who can
forgive. 6 Such is your function here.
LESSON 187.
I bless the world because I bless myself.
W-pI.187.1. No one can give unless he has. 2 In fact, giving is proof of having. 3 We
have made this point before. 4 What seems to make it hard to credit is not this. 5 No one
can doubt that you must first possess what you would give. 6 It is the second phase on
which the world and true perception differ. 7 Having had and given, then the world asserts
that you have lost what you possessed. 8 The truth maintains that giving will increase what
you possess.
W-pI.187.2. How is this possible? 2 For it is sure that if you give a finite thing away,
your body's eyes will not perceive it yours. 3 Yet we have learned that things but
represent the thoughts that make them. 4 And you do not lack for proof that when you give ideas
away, you strengthen them in your own mind. 5 Perhaps the form in which the thought seems
to appear is changed in giving. 6 Yet it must return to him who gives. 7 Nor can the form
it takes be less acceptable. 8 It must be more.
W-pI.187.3. Ideas must first belong to you, before you give them. 2 If you are to save
the world, you first accept salvation for yourself. 3 But you will not believe that this
is done until you see the miracles it brings to everyone you look upon. 4 Herein is the
idea of giving clarified and given meaning. 5 Now you can perceive that by your giving is
your store increased.
W-pI.187.4. Protect all things you value by the act of giving them away, and you are
sure that you will never lose them. 2 What you thought you did not have is thereby proven
yours. 3 Yet value not its form. 4 For this will change and grow unrecognizable in time,
however much you try to keep it safe. 5 No form endures. 6 It is the thought behind the form
of things that lives unchangeable.
W-pI.187.5. Give gladly. 2 You can only gain thereby. 3 The thought remains, and grows
in strength as it is reinforced by giving. 4 Thoughts extend as they are shared, for they
can not be lost. 5 There is no giver and receiver in the sense the world conceives of
them. 6 There is a giver who retains; another who will give as well. 7 And both must gain
in this exchange, for each will have the thought in form most helpful to him. 8 What he
seems to lose is always something he will value less than what will surely be returned to
him.
W-pI.187.6. Never forget you give but to yourself. 2 Who understands what giving means
must laugh at the idea of sacrifice. 3 Nor can he fail to recognize the many forms which
sacrifice may take. 4 He laughs as well at pain and loss, at sickness and at grief, at poverty,
starvation and at death. 5 He recognizes sacrifice remains the one idea that stands behind them
all, and in his gentle laughter are they healed.
W-pI.187.7. Illusion recognized must disappear. 2 Accept not suffering, and you remove
the thought of suffering. 3 Your blessing lies on everyone who suffers, when you choose to
see all suffering as what it is. 4 The thought of sacrifice gives rise to all the forms
that suffering appears to take. 5 And sacrifice is an idea so mad that sanity dismisses
it at once.
W-pI.187.8. Never believe that you can sacrifice. 2 There is no place for sacrifice in
what has any value. 3 If the thought occurs, its very presence proves that error has arisen
and correction must be made. 4 Your blessing will correct it. 5 Given first to you, it
now is yours to give as well. 6 No form of sacrifice and suffering can long endure before
the face of one who has forgiven and has blessed himself.
W-pI.187.9. The lilies that your brother offers you are laid upon your altar, with the
ones you offer him beside them. 2 Who could fear to look upon such lovely holiness? 3 The
great illusion of the fear of God diminishes to nothingness before the purity that you will
look on here. 4 Be not afraid to look. 5 The blessedness you will behold will take away all
thought of form, and leave instead the perfect gift forever there, forever to increase,
forever yours, forever given away.
W-pI.187.10. Now are we one in thought, for fear has gone. 2 And here, before the altar
to one God, one Father, one Creator and one Thought, we stand together as one Son of
God. 3 Not separate from Him Who is our Source; not distant from one brother who is part
of our one Self Whose innocence has joined us all as one, we stand in blessedness, and
give as we receive. 4 The Name of God is on our lips. 5 And as we look within, we see the
purity of Heaven shine in our reflection of our Father's Love.
W-pI.187.11. Now are we blessed, and now we bless the world. 2 What we have looked upon
we would extend, for we would see it everywhere. 3 We would behold it shining with the
grace of God in everyone. 4 We would not have it be withheld from anything we look upon. 5
And to ensure this holy sight is ours, we offer it to everything we see. 6 For where we
see it, it will be returned to us in form of lilies we can lay upon our altar, making it a
home for Innocence Itself, Who dwells in us and offers us His Holiness as ours.
LESSON 188.
The peace of God is shining in me now.
W-pI.188.1. Why wait for Heaven? 2 Those who seek the light are merely covering their
eyes. 3 The light is in them now. 4 Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all.
5 Light is not of the world, yet you who bear the light in you are alien here as well.
6 The light came with you from your native home, and stayed with you because it is your
own. 7 It is the only thing you bring with you from Him Who is your Source. 8 It shines
in you because it lights your home, and leads you back to where it came from and you
are at home.
W-pI.188.2. This light can not be lost. 2 Why wait to find it in the future, or believe
it has been lost already, or was never there? 3 It can so easily be looked upon that
arguments which prove it is not there become ridiculous. 4 Who can deny the presence of what he
beholds in him? 5 It is not difficult to look within, for there all vision starts. 6 There is
no sight, be it of dreams or from a truer Source, that is not but the shadow of the seen
through inward vision. 7 There perception starts, and there it ends. 8 It has no source but
this.
W-pI.188.3. The peace of God is shining in you now, and from your heart extends around
the world. 2 It pauses to caress each living thing, and leaves a blessing with it that
remains forever and forever. 3 What it gives must be eternal. 4 It removes all thoughts of the
ephemeral and valueless. 5 It brings renewal to all tired hearts, and lights all vision
as it passes by. 6 All of its gifts are given everyone, and everyone unites in giving
thanks to you who give, and you who have received.
W-pI.188.4. The shining in your mind reminds the world of what it has forgotten, and
the world restores the memory to you as well. 2 From you salvation radiates with gifts
beyond all measure, given and returned. 3 To you, the giver of the gift, does God Himself
give thanks. 4 And in His blessing does the light in you shine brighter, adding to the
gifts you have to offer to the world.
W-pI.188.5. The peace of God can never be contained. 2 Who recognizes it within himself
must give it. 3 And the means for giving it are in his understanding. 4 He forgives
because he recognized the truth in him. 5 The peace of God is shining in you now, and in all
living things. 6 In quietness is it acknowledged universally. 7 For what your inward vision
looks upon is your perception of the universe.
W-pI.188.6. Sit quietly and close your eyes. 2 The light within you is sufficient. 3 It
alone has power to give the gift of sight to you. 4 Exclude the outer world, and let
your thoughts fly to the peace within. 5 They know the way. 6 For honest thoughts,
untainted by the dream of worldly things outside yourself, become the holy messengers of God
Himself.
W-pI.188.7. These thoughts you think with Him. 2 They recognize their home. 3 And they
point surely to their Source, Where God the Father and the Son are One. 4 God's peace is
shining on them, but they must remain with you as well, for they were born within your mind,
as yours was born in God's. 5 They lead you back to peace, from where they came but to
remind you how you must return.
W-pI.188.8. They heed your Father's Voice when you refuse to listen. 2 And they urge
you gently to accept His Word for what you are, instead of fantasies and shadows. 3 They
remind you that you are the co-creator of all things that live. 4 For as the peace of God is
shining in you, it must shine on them.
W-pI.188.9. We practice coming nearer to the light in us today. 2 We take our wandering
thoughts, and gently bring them back to where they fall in line with all the thoughts
we share with God. 3 We will not let them stray. 4 We let the light within our minds
direct them to come home. 5 We have betrayed them, ordering that they depart from us. 6 But
now we call them back, and wash them clean of strange desires and disordered wishes. 7 We
restore to them the holiness of their inheritance.
W-pI.188.10. Thus are our minds restored with them, and we acknowledge that the peace
of God still shines in us, and from us to all living things that share our life. 2 We
will forgive them all, absolving all the world from what we thought it did to us. 3 For it
is we who make the world as we would have it. 4 Now we choose that it be innocent, devoid
of sin and open to salvation. 5 And we lay our saving blessing on it, as we say:
6 The peace of God is shining in me now.
7 Let all things shine upon me in that peace, And let me bless them with the light in
me.
LESSON 189.
I feel the Love of God within me now.
W-pI.189.1. There is a light in you the world can not perceive. 2 And with its eyes you
will not see this light, for you are blinded by the world. 3 Yet you have eyes to see
it. 4 It is there for you to look upon. 5 It was not placed in you to be kept hidden from
your sight. 6 This light is a reflection of the thought we practice now. 7 To feel the
Love of God within you is to see the world anew, shining in innocence, alive with hope, and
blessed with perfect charity and love.
W-pI.189.2. Who could feel fear in such a world as this? 2 It welcomes you, rejoices
that you came, and sings your praises as it keeps you safe from every form of danger and of
pain. 3 It offers you a warm and gentle home in which to stay a while. 4 It blesses you
throughout the day, and watches through the night as silent guardian of your holy sleep.
5 It sees salvation in you, and protects the light in you, in which it sees its own. 6
It offers you its flowers and its snow, in thankfulness for your benevolence.
W-pI.189.3. This is the world the Love of God reveals. 2 It is so different from the
world you see through darkened eyes of malice and of fear, that one belies the other. 3 Only
one can be perceived at all. 4 The other one is wholly meaningless. 5 A world in which
forgiveness shines on everything, and peace offers its gentle light to everyone, is inconceivable
to those who see a world of hatred rising from attack, poised to avenge, to murder and
destroy.
W-pI.189.4. Yet is the world of hatred equally unseen and inconceivable to those who
feel God's Love in them. 2 Their world reflects the quietness and peace that shines in them;
the gentleness and innocence they see surrounding them; the joy with which they look
out from the endless wells of joy within. 3 What they have felt in them they look upon,
and see its sure reflection everywhere.
W-pI.189.5. What would you see? 2 The choice is given you. 3 But learn and do not let
your mind forget this law of seeing: You will look upon that which you feel within. 4 If
hatred finds a place within your heart, you will perceive a fearful world, held cruelly in
death's sharp-pointed, bony fingers. 5 If you feel the Love of God within you, you will look
out on a world of mercy and of love.
W-pI.189.6. Today we pass illusions, as we seek to reach to what is true in us, and
feel its all-embracing tenderness, its Love which knows us perfect as itself, its sight
which is the gift its Love bestows on us. 2 We learn the way today. 3 It is as sure as Love
itself, to which it carries us. 4 For its simplicity avoids the snares the foolish
convolutions of the world's apparent reasoning but serve to hide.
W-pI.189.7. Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and
what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about
yourself. 2 Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of
every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. 3 Hold onto
nothing. 4 Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever
learned before from anything. 5 Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly
empty hands unto your God.
W-pI.189.8. Is it not He Who knows the way to you? 2 You need not know the way to Him.
3 Your part is simply to allow all obstacles that you have interposed between the Son
and God the Father to be quietly removed forever. 4 God will do His part in joyful and
immediate response. 5 Ask and receive. 6 But do not make demands, nor point the road to God by
which He should appear to you. 7 The way to reach Him is merely to let Him be. 8 For in that
way is your reality proclaimed as well.
W-pI.189.9. And so today we do not choose the way in which we go to Him. 2 But we do
choose to let Him come. 3 And with this choice we rest. 4 And in our quiet hearts and open
minds, His Love will blaze its pathway of itself. 5 What has not been denied is surely there,
if it be true and can be surely reached. 6 God knows His Son, and knows the way to him.
7 He does not need His Son to show Him how to find His way. 8 Through every opened
door His Love shines outward from its home within, and lightens up the world in innocence.
W-pI.189.10. <Father, we do not know the way to You. 2 But we have called, and You
have answered us. 3 We will not interfere. 4 Salvation's ways are not our own, for they
belong to You. 5 And it is unto You we look for them. 6 Our hands are open to receive Your
gifts. 7 We have no thoughts we think apart from You, and cherish no beliefs of what we are,
or Who created us. 8 Yours is the way that we would find and follow. 9 And we ask but
that Your Will, which is our own as well, be done in us and in the world, that it become a
part of Heaven now. 10 Amen.>
LESSON 190.
I choose the joy of God instead of pain.
W-pI.190.1. Pain is a wrong perspective. 2 When it is experienced in any form, it is a
proof of self-deception. 3 It is not a fact at all. 4 There is no form it takes that will
not disappear if seen aright. 5 For pain proclaims God cruel. 6 How could it be real in
any form? 7 It witnesses to God the Father's hatred of His Son, the sinfulness He sees in
him, and His insane desire for revenge and death.
W-pI.190.2. Can such projections be attested to? 2 Can they be anything but wholly
false? 3 Pain is but witness to the Son's mistakes in what he thinks he is. 4 It is a dream
of fierce retaliation for a crime that could not be committed; for attack on what is
wholly unassailable. 5 It is a nightmare of abandonment by an Eternal Love, which could not
leave the Son whom It created out of love.
W-pI.190.3. Pain is a sign illusions reign in place of truth. 2 It demonstrates God is
denied, confused with fear, perceived as mad, and seen as traitor to Himself. 3 If God is
real, there is no pain. 4 If pain is real, there is no God. 5 For vengeance is not part of
love. 6 And fear, denying love and using pain to prove that God is dead, has shown that
death is victor over life. 7 The body is the Son of God, corruptible in death, as mortal as
the Father he has slain.
W-pI.190.4. Peace to such foolishness! 2 The time has come to laugh at such insane
ideas. 3 There is no need to think of them as savage crimes, or secret sins with weighty
consequence. 4 Who but a madman could conceive of them as cause of anything? 5 Their witness, pain,
is mad as they, and no more to be feared than the insane illusions which it shields,
and tries to demonstrate must still be true.
W-pI.190.5. It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. 2 Nothing external to your
mind can hurt or injure you in any way. 3 There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach
down and bring oppression. 4 No one but yourself affects you. 5 There is nothing in the
world that has the power to make you ill or sad, or weak or frail. 6 But it is you who have
the power to dominate all things you see by merely recognizing what you are. 7 As you
perceive the harmlessness in them, they will accept your holy will as theirs. 8 And what was
seen as fearful now becomes a source of innocence and holiness.
W-pI.190.6. My holy brother, think of this awhile: The world you see does nothing. 2 It
has no effects at all. 3 It merely represents your thoughts. 4 And it will change
entirely as you elect to change your mind, and choose the joy of God as what you really want. 5
Your Self is radiant in this holy joy, unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable, forever
and forever. 6 And would you deny a little corner of your mind its own inheritance, and
keep it as a hospital for pain; a sickly place where living things must come at last to die?
W-pI.190.7. The world may seem to cause you pain. 2 And yet the world, as causeless,
has no power to cause. 3 As an effect, it cannot make effects. 4 As an illusion, it is
what you wish. 5 Your idle wishes represent its pains. 6 Your strange desires bring it evil
dreams. 7 Your thoughts of death envelop it in fear, while in your kind forgiveness
does it live.
W-pI.190.8. Pain is the thought of evil taking form, and working havoc in your holy
mind. 2 Pain is the ransom you have gladly paid not to be free. 3 In pain is God denied the
Son He loves. 4 In pain does fear appear to triumph over love, and time replace
eternity and Heaven. 5 And the world becomes a cruel and a bitter place, where sorrow rules and
little joys give way before the onslaught of the savage pain that waits to end all joy
in misery.
W-pI.190.9. Lay down your arms, and come without defense into the quiet place where
Heaven's peace holds all things still at last. 2 Lay down all thoughts of danger and of fear. 3
Let no attack enter with you. 4 Lay down the cruel sword of judgment that you hold
against your throat, and put aside the withering assaults with which you seek to hide your
holiness.
W-pI.190.10. Here will you understand there is no pain. 2 Here does the joy of God
belong to you. 3 This is the day when it is given you to realize the lesson that contains all
of salvation's power. 4 It is this: Pain is illusion; joy, reality. 5 Pain is but sleep;
joy is awakening. 6 Pain is deception; joy alone is truth.
W-pI.190.11. And so again we make the only choice that ever can be made; we choose
between illusions and the truth, or pain and joy, or hell and Heaven. 2 Let our gratitude unto
our Teacher fill our hearts, as we are free to choose our joy instead of pain, our
holiness in place of sin, the peace of God instead of conflict, and the light of Heaven for the
darkness of the world.
LESSON 191.
I am the holy Son of God Himself.
W-pI.191.1. Here is your declaration of release from bondage of the world. 2 And here
as well is all the world released. 3 You do not see what you have done by giving to the
world the role of jailer to the Son of God. 4 What could it be but vicious and afraid,
fearful of shadows, punitive and wild, lacking all reason, blind, insane with hate?
W-pI.191.2. What have you done that this should be your world? 2 What have you done
that this is what you see? 3 Deny your own Identity, and this is what remains. 4 You look
on chaos and proclaim it is yourself. 5 There is no sight that fails to witness this to
you. 6 There is no sound that does not speak of frailty within you and without; no breath
you draw that does not seem to bring you nearer death; no hope you hold but will dissolve
in tears.
W-pI.191.3. Deny your own Identity, and you will not escape the madness which induced
this weird, unnatural and ghostly thought that mocks creation and that laughs at God. 2
Deny your own Identity, and you assail the universe alone, without a friend, a tiny
particle of dust against the legions of your enemies. 3 Deny your own Identity, and look on
evil, sin and death, and watch despair snatch from your fingers every scrap of hope,
leaving you nothing but the wish to die.
W-pI.191.4. Yet what is it except a game you play in which Identity can be denied? 2
You are as God created you. 3 All else but this one thing is folly to believe. 4 In this
one thought is everyone set free. 5 In this one truth are all illusions gone. 6 In this
one fact is sinlessness proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the central core of
its existence and its guarantee of immortality.
W-pI.191.5. But let today's idea find a place among your thoughts and you have risen
far above the world, and all the worldly thoughts that hold it prisoner. 2 And from this
place of safety and escape you will return and set it free. 3 For he who can accept his true
Identity is truly saved. 4 And his salvation is the gift he gives to everyone, in
gratitude to Him Who pointed out the way to happiness that changed his whole perspective of the
world.
W-pI.191.6. One holy thought like this and you are free: You are the holy Son of God
Himself. 2 And with this holy thought you learn as well that you have freed the world. 3 You
have no need to use it cruelly, and then perceive this savage need in it. 4 You set it free
of your imprisonment. 5 You will not see a devastating image of yourself walking the
world in terror, with the world twisting in agony because your fears have laid the mark of
death upon its heart.
W-pI.191.7. Be glad today how very easily is hell undone. 2 You need but tell yourself:
3 I am the holy Son of God Himself. 4 I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain; I cannot
suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks.
5 And in that thought is everything you look on wholly changed.
W-pI.191.8. A miracle has lighted up all dark and ancient caverns, where the rites of
death echoed since time began. 2 For time has lost its hold upon the world. 3 The Son of God
has come in glory to redeem the lost, to save the helpless, and to give the world the
gift of his forgiveness. 4 Who could see the world as dark and sinful, when God's Son has
come again at last to set it free?
W-pI.191.9. You who perceive yourself as weak and frail, with futile hopes and
devastated dreams, born but to die, to weep and suffer pain, hear this: All power is given unto
you in earth and Heaven. 2 There is nothing that you cannot do. 3 You play the game of
death, of being helpless, pitifully tied to dissolution in a world which shows no mercy to
you. 4 Yet when you accord it mercy, will its mercy shine on you.
W-pI.191.10. Then let the Son of God awaken from his sleep, and opening his holy eyes,
return again to bless the world he made. 2 In error it began, but it will end in the
reflection of his holiness. 3 And he will sleep no more and dream of death. 4 Then join with me
today. 5 Your glory is the light that saves the world. 6 Do not withhold salvation longer. 7
Look about the world, and see the suffering there. 8 Is not your heart willing to bring
your weary brothers rest?
W-pI.191.11. They must await your own release. 2 They stay in chains till you are free.
3 They cannot see the mercy of the world until you find it in yourself. 4 They suffer
pain until you have denied its hold on you. 5 They die till you accept your own eternal
life. 6 You are the holy Son of God Himself. 7 Remember this, and all the world is free. 8
Remember this, and earth and Heaven are one.
LESSON 192.
I have a function God would have me fill.
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
All things are lessons God would have me learn.
W-pI.193.1. God does not know of learning. 2 Yet His Will extends to what He does not
understand, in that He wills the happiness His Son inherited of Him be undisturbed; eternal and
forever gaining scope, eternally expanding in the joy of full creation, and eternally open and
wholly limitless in Him. 3 That is His Will. 4 And thus His Will provides the means to
guarantee that it is done.
W-pI.193.2. God sees no contradictions. 2 Yet His Son believes he sees them. 3 Thus he
has a need for One Who can correct his erring sight, and give him vision that will lead
him back to where perception ceases. 4 God does not perceive at all. 5 Yet it is He Who
gives the means by which perception is made true and beautiful enough to let the light of
Heaven shine upon it. 6 It is He Who answers what His Son would contradict, and keeps his
sinlessness forever safe.
W-pI.193.3. These are the lessons God would have you learn. 2 His Will reflects them
all, and they reflect His loving kindness to the Son He loves. 3 Each lesson has a central
thought, the same in all of them. 4 The form alone is changed, with different
circumstances and events; with different characters and different themes, apparent but not real. 5
They are the same in fundamental content. 6 It is this:
7 Forgive, and you will see this differently.
W-pI.193.4. Certain it is that all distress does not appear to be but unforgiveness. 2
Yet that is the content underneath the form. 3 It is this sameness which makes learning
sure, because the lesson is so simple that it cannot be rejected in the end. 4 No one can
hide forever from a truth so very obvious that it appears in countless forms, and yet is
recognized as easily in all of them, if one but wants to see the simple lesson there.
W-pI.193.5. <Forgive, and you will see this differently.>
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
3 I will forgive, and this will disappear.
4 To every apprehension, every care and every form of suffering, repeat these selfsame
words. 5 And then you hold the key that opens Heaven's gate, and brings the Love of God the
Father down to earth at last, to raise it up to Heaven. 6 God will take this final step
Himself. 7 Do not deny the little steps He asks you take to Him.
LESSON 194.
I place the future in the Hands of God.
W-pI.194.1. Today's idea takes another step toward quick salvation, and a giant stride
it is indeed! 2 So great the distance is that it encompasses, it sets you down just short
of Heaven, with the goal in sight and obstacles behind. 3 Your foot has reached the
lawns that welcome you to Heaven's gate; the quiet place of peace, where you await with
certainty the final step of God. 4 How far are we progressing now from earth! 5 How close are we
approaching to our goal! 6 How short the journey still to be pursued!
W-pI.194.2. Accept today's idea, and you have passed all anxiety, all pits of hell, all
blackness of depression, thoughts of sin, and devastation brought about by guilt. 2
Accept today's idea, and you have released the world from all imprisonment by loosening the
heavy chains that locked the door to freedom on it. 3 You are saved, and your salvation thus
becomes the gift you give the world, because you have received.
W-pI.194.3. In no one instant is depression felt, or pain experienced or loss perceived.
2 In no one instant sorrow can be set upon a throne, and worshipped faithfully. 3 In
no one instant can one even die. 4 And so each instant given unto God in passing, with
the next one given Him already, is a time of your release from sadness, pain and even
death itself.
W-pI.194.4. God holds your future as He holds your past and present. 2 They are one to
Him, and so they should be one to you. 3 Yet in this world, the temporal progression still
seems real. 4 And so you are not asked to understand the lack of sequence really found
in time. 5 You are but asked to let the future go, and place it in God's Hands. 6 And you
will see by your experience that you have laid the past and present in His Hands as
well, because the past will punish you no more, and future dread will now be meaningless.
W-pI.194.5. Release the future. 2 For the past is gone, and what is present, freed from
its bequest of grief and misery, of pain and loss, becomes the instant in which time
escapes the bondage of illusions where it runs its pitiless, inevitable course. 3 Then is each
instant which was slave to time transformed into a holy instant, when the light that
was kept hidden in God's Son is freed to bless the world. 4 Now is he free, and all his
glory shines upon a world made free with him, to share his holiness.
W-pI.194.6. If you can see the lesson for today as the deliverance it really is, you
will not hesitate to give as much consistent effort as you can, to make it be a part of you.
2 As it becomes a thought that rules your mind, a habit in your problem-solving
repertoire, a way of quick reaction to temptation, you extend your learning to the world. 3 And
as you learn to see salvation in all things, so will the world perceive that it is saved.
W-pI.194.7. What worry can beset the one who gives his future to the loving Hands of
God? 2 What can he suffer? 3 What can cause him pain, or bring experience of loss to him?
4 What can he fear? 5 And what can he regard except with love? 6 For he who has escaped
all fear of future pain has found his way to present peace, and certainty of care the
world can never threaten. 7 He is sure that his perception may be faulty, but will never
lack correction. 8 He is free to choose again when he has been deceived; to change his mind
when he has made mistakes.
W-pI.194.8. Place, then, your future in the Hands of God. 2 For thus you call the
memory of Him to come again, replacing all your thoughts of sin and evil with the truth of
love. 3 Think you the world could fail to gain thereby, and every living creature not
respond with healed perception? 4 Who entrusts himself to God has also placed the world within
the Hands to which he has himself appealed for comfort and security. 5 He lays aside
the sick illusions of the world along with his, and offers peace to both.
W-pI.194.9. Now are we saved indeed. 2 For in God's Hands we rest untroubled, sure that
only good can come to us. 3 If we forget, we will be gently reassured. 4 If we accept
an unforgiving thought, it will be soon replaced by love's reflection. 5 And if we are
tempted to attack, we will appeal to Him Who guards our rest to make the choice for us that
leaves temptation far behind. 6 No longer is the world our enemy, for we have chosen that we
be its friend.
LESSON 195.
Love is the way I walk in gratitude.
W-pI.195.1. Gratitude is a lesson hard to learn for those who look upon the world amiss.
2 The most that they can do is see themselves as better off than others. 3 And they
try to be content because another seems to suffer more than they. 4 How pitiful and
deprecating are such thoughts! 5 For who has cause for thanks while others have less cause? 6 And
who could suffer less because he sees another suffer more? 7 Your gratitude is due to Him
alone Who made all cause of sorrow disappear throughout the world.
W-pI.195.2. It is insane to offer thanks because of suffering. 2 But it is equally
insane to fail in gratitude to One Who offers you the certain means whereby all pain is
healed, and suffering replaced with laughter and with happiness. 3 Nor could the even partly
sane refuse to take the steps which He directs, and follow in the way He sets before them,
to escape a prison that they thought contained no door to the deliverance they now
perceive.
W-pI.195.3. Your brother is your "enemy" because you see in him the rival for your
peace; a plunderer who takes his joy from you, and leaves you nothing but a black despair so
bitter and relentless that there is no hope remaining. 2 Now is vengeance all there is
to wish for. 3 Now can you but try to bring him down to lie in death with you, as useless
as yourself; as little left within his grasping fingers as in yours.
W-pI.195.4. You do not offer God your gratitude because your brother is more slave than
you, nor could you sanely be enraged if he seems freer. 2 Love makes no comparisons. 3
And gratitude can only be sincere if it be joined to love. 4 We offer thanks to God our
Father that in us all things will find their freedom. 5 It will never be that some are loosed
while others still are bound. 6 For who can bargain in the name of love?
W-pI.195.5. Therefore give thanks, but in sincerity. 2 And let your gratitude make room
for all who will escape with you; the sick, the weak, the needy and afraid, and those
who mourn a seeming loss or feel apparent pain, who suffer cold or hunger, or who walk the
way of hatred and the path of death. 3 All these go with you. 4 Let us not compare
ourselves with them, for thus we split them off from our awareness of the unity we share with
them, as they must share with us.
W-pI.195.6. We thank our Father for one thing alone; that we are separate from no
living thing, and therefore one with Him. 2 And we rejoice that no exceptions ever can be
made which would reduce our wholeness, nor impair or change our function to complete the
One Who is Himself completion. 3 We give thanks for every living thing, for otherwise we
offer thanks for nothing, and we fail to recognize the gifts of God to us.
W-pI.195.7. Then let our brothers lean their tired heads against our shoulders as they
rest a while. 2 We offer thanks for them. 3 For if we can direct them to the peace that we
would find, the way is opening at last to us. 4 An ancient door is swinging free again; a
long forgotten Word re-echoes in our memory, and gathers clarity as we are willing once
again to hear.
W-pI.195.8. Walk, then, in gratitude the way of love. 2 For hatred is forgotten when we
lay comparisons aside. 3 What more remains as obstacles to peace? 4 The fear of God is
now undone at last, and we forgive without comparing. 5 Thus we cannot choose to overlook
some things, and yet retain some other things still locked away as "sins." 6 When your
forgiveness is complete you will have total gratitude, for you will see that everything has earned
the right to love by being loving, even as your Self.
W-pI.195.9. Today we learn to think of gratitude in place of anger, malice and revenge.
2 We have been given everything. 3 If we refuse to recognize it, we are not entitled
therefore to our bitterness, and to a self-perception which regards us in a place of merciless
pursuit, where we are badgered ceaselessly, and pushed about without a thought or care for us
or for our future. 4 Gratitude becomes the single thought we substitute for these insane
perceptions. 5 God has cared for us, and calls us Son. 6 Can there be more than this?
W-pI.195.10. Our gratitude will pave the way to Him, and shorten our learning time by
more than you could ever dream of. 2 Gratitude goes hand in hand with love, and where one
is the other must be found. 3 For gratitude is but an aspect of the Love which is the
Source of all creation. 4 God gives thanks to you, His Son, for being what you are; His Own
completion and the Source of love, along with Him. 5 Your gratitude to Him is one with His to you.
6 For love can walk no road except the way of gratitude, and thus we go who walk the
way to God.
LESSON 196.
It can be but myself I crucify.
W-pI.196.1. When this is firmly understood and kept in full awareness, you will not
attempt to harm yourself, nor make your body slave to vengeance. 2 You will not attack
yourself, and you will realize that to attack another is but to attack yourself. 3 You will be
free of the insane belief that to attack a brother saves yourself. 4 And you will
understand his safety is your own, and in his healing you are healed.
W-pI.196.2. Perhaps at first you will not understand how mercy, limitless and with all
things held in its sure protection, can be found in the idea we practice for today. 2 It may,
in fact, appear to be a sign that punishment can never be escaped because the ego,
under what it sees as threat, is quick to cite the truth to save its lies. 3 Yet must it
fail to understand the truth it uses thus. 4 But you can learn to see these foolish
applications, and deny the meaning they appear to have.
W-pI.196.3. Thus do you also teach your mind that you are not an ego. 2 For the ways in
which the ego would distort the truth will not deceive you longer. 3 You will not
believe you are a body to be crucified. 4 And you will see within today's idea the light of
resurrection, looking past all thoughts of crucifixion and of death, to thoughts of liberation and
of life.
W-pI.196.4. Today's idea is one step we take in leading us from bondage to the state of
perfect freedom. 2 Let us take this step today, that we may quickly go the way
salvation shows us, taking every step in its appointed sequence, as the mind relinquishes its
burdens one by one. 3 It is not time we need for this. 4 It is but willingness. 5 For what
would seem to need a thousand years can easily be done in just one instant by the grace of
God.
W-pI.196.5. The dreary, hopeless thought that you can make attacks on others and escape
yourself has nailed you to the cross. 2 Perhaps it seemed to be salvation. 3 Yet it
merely stood for the belief the fear of God is real. 4 And what is that but hell? 5 Who could
believe his Father is his deadly enemy, separate from him, and waiting to destroy his
life and blot him from the universe, without the fear of hell upon his heart?
W-pI.196.6. Such is the form of madness you believe, if you accept the fearful thought
you can attack another and be free yourself. 2 Until this form is changed, there is no
hope. 3 Until you see that this, at least, must be entirely impossible, how could there be
escape? 4 The fear of God is real to anyone who thinks this thought is true. 5 And he will
not perceive its foolishness, or even see that it is there, so that it would be possible
to question it.
W-pI.196.7. To question it at all, its form must first be changed at least as much as
will permit fear of retaliation to abate, and the responsibility returned to some extent to
you. 2 From there you can at least consider if you want to go along this painful path.
3 Until this shift has been accomplished, you can not perceive that it is but your
thoughts that bring you fear, and your deliverance depends on you.
W-pI.196.8. Our next steps will be easy, if you take this one today. 2 From there we go
ahead quite rapidly. 3 For once you understand it is impossible that you be hurt except
by your own thoughts, the fear of God must disappear. 4 You cannot then believe that
fear is caused without. 5 And God, Whom you had thought to banish, can be welcomed back
within the holy mind He never left.
W-pI.196.9. Salvation's song can certainly be heard in the idea we practice for today.
2 If it can but be you you crucify, you did not hurt the world, and need not fear its
vengeance and pursuit. 3 Nor need you hide in terror from the deadly fear of God projection
hides behind. 4 The thing you dread the most is your salvation. 5 You are strong, and it is
strength you want. 6 And you are free, and glad of freedom. 7 You have sought to be both weak
and bound, because you feared your strength and freedom. 8 Yet salvation lies in them.
W-pI.196.10. There is an instant in which terror seems to grip your mind so wholly that
escape appears quite hopeless. 2 When you realize, once and for all, that it is you you
fear, the mind perceives itself as split. 3 And this had been concealed while you
believed attack could be directed outward, and returned from outside to within. 4 It seemed to
be an enemy outside you had to fear. 5 And thus a god outside yourself became your mortal
enemy; the source of fear.
W-pI.196.11. Now, for an instant, is a murderer perceived within you, eager for your
death, intent on plotting punishment for you until the time when it can kill at last. 2 Yet
in this instant is the time as well in which salvation comes. 3 For fear of God has
disappeared. 4 And you can call on Him to save you from illusions by His Love, calling Him Father
and yourself His Son. 5 Pray that the instant may be soon,--today. 6 Step back from fear,
and make advance to love.
W-pI.196.12. There is no Thought of God that does not go with you to help you reach
that instant, and to go beyond it quickly, surely and forever. 2 When the fear of God is
gone, there are no obstacles that still remain between you and the holy peace of God. 3 How
kind and merciful is the idea we practice! 4 Give it welcome, as you should, for it is
your release. 5 It is indeed but you your mind can try to crucify. 6 Yet your redemption,
too, will come from you.
LESSON 197.
It can be but my gratitude I earn.
W-pI.197.1. Here is the second step we take to free your mind from the belief in
outside force pitted against your own. 2 You make attempts at kindness and forgiveness. 3 Yet
you turn them to attack again, unless you find external gratitude and lavish thanks. 4
Your gifts must be received with honor, lest they be withdrawn. 5 And so you think God's
gifts are loans at best; at worst, deceptions which would cheat you of defenses, to ensure
that when He strikes He will not fail to kill.
W-pI.197.2. How easily are God and guilt confused by those who know not what their
thoughts can do. 2 Deny your strength, and weakness must become salvation to you. 3 See
yourself as bound, and bars become your home. 4 Nor will you leave the prison house, or claim
your strength, until guilt and salvation are not seen as one, and freedom and salvation are
perceived as joined, with strength beside them, to be sought and claimed, and found and
fully recognized.
W-pI.197.3. The world must thank you when you offer it release from your illusions. 2
Yet your thanks belong to you as well, for its release can only mirror yours. 3 Your
gratitude is all your gifts require, that they be a lasting offering of a thankful heart,
released from hell forever. 4 Is it this you would undo by taking back your gifts, because they
were not honored? 5 It is you who honor them and give them fitting thanks, for it is
you who have received the gifts.
W-pI.197.4. It does not matter if another thinks your gifts unworthy. 2 In his mind
there is a part that joins with yours in thanking you. 3 It does not matter if your gifts
seem lost and ineffectual. 4 They are received where they are given. 5 In your gratitude
are they accepted universally, and thankfully acknowledged by the Heart of God Himself. 6
And would you take them back, when He has gratefully accepted them?
W-pI.197.5. God blesses every gift you give to Him, and every gift is given Him,
because it can be given only to yourself. 2 And what belongs to God must be His Own. 3 Yet you
will never realize His gifts are sure, eternal, changeless, limitless, forever giving
out, extending love and adding to your never-ending joy while you forgive but to attack
again.
W-pI.197.6. Withdraw the gifts you give, and you will think that what is given you has
been withdrawn. 2 But learn to let forgiveness take away the sins you think you see outside
yourself, and you can never think the gifts of God are lent but for a little while,
before He snatches them away again in death. 3 For death will have no meaning for you then.
W-pI.197.7. And with the end of this belief is fear forever over. 2 Thank your Self for
this, for He is grateful only unto God, and He gives thanks for you unto Himself. 3 To
everyone who lives will Christ yet come, for everyone must live and move in Him. 4 His Being in
His Father is secure, because Their Will is One. 5 Their gratitude to all They have
created has no end, for gratitude remains a part of love.
W-pI.197.8. Thanks be to you, the holy Son of God. 2 For as you were created, you
contain all things within your Self. 3 And you are still as God created you. 4 Nor can you dim
the light of your perfection. 5 In your heart the Heart of God is laid. 6 He holds you
dear, because you are Himself. 7 All gratitude belongs to you, because of what you are.
W-pI.197.9. Give thanks as you receive it. 2 Be you free of all ingratitude to anyone
who makes your Self complete. 3 And from this Self is no one left outside. 4 Give thanks
for all the countless channels which extend this Self. 5 All that you do is given unto Him.
6 All that you think can only be His Thoughts, sharing with Him the holy Thoughts of
God. 7 Earn now the gratitude you have denied yourself when you forgot the function God
has given you. 8 But never think that He has ever ceased to offer thanks to you.
LESSON 198.
Only my condemnation injures me.
W-pI.198.1. Injury is impossible. 2 And yet illusion makes illusion. 3 If you can
condemn, you can be injured. 4 For you have believed that you can injure, and the right you
have established for yourself can be now used against you, till you lay it down as
valueless, unwanted and unreal. 5 Then does illusion cease to have effects, and those it seemed
to have will be undone. 6 Then are you free, for freedom is your gift, and you can now
receive the gift you gave.
W-pI.198.2. Condemn and you are made a prisoner. 2 Forgive and you are freed. 3 Such is
the law that rules perception. 4 It is not a law that knowledge understands, for
freedom is a part of knowledge. 5 To condemn is thus impossible in truth. 6 What seems to be
its influence and its effects have not occurred at all. 7 Yet must we deal with them a
while as if they had. 8 Illusion makes illusion. 9 Except one. 10 Forgiveness is illusion
that is answer to the rest.
W-pI.198.3. Forgiveness sweeps all other dreams away, and though it is itself a dream,
it breeds no others. 2 All illusions save this one must multiply a thousandfold. 3 But
this is where illusions end. 4 Forgiveness is the end of dreams, because it is a dream of
waking. 5 It is not itself the truth. 6 Yet does it point to where the truth must be, and
gives direction with the certainty of God Himself. 7 It is a dream in which the Son of God
awakens to his Self and to his Father, knowing They are One.
W-pI.198.4. Forgiveness is the only road that leads out of disaster, past all suffering,
and finally away from death. 2 How could there be another way, when this one is the
plan of God Himself? 3 And why would you oppose it, quarrel with it, seek to find a
thousand ways in which it must be wrong; a thousand other possibilities?
W-pI.198.5. Is it not wiser to be glad you hold the answer to your problems in your
hand? 2 Is it not more intelligent to thank the One Who gives salvation, and accept His
gift with gratitude? 3 And is it not a kindness to yourself to hear His Voice and learn the
simple lessons He would teach, instead of trying to dismiss His words, and substitute
your own in place of His?
W-pI.198.6. His words will work. 2 His words will save. 3 His words contain all hope,
all blessing and all joy that ever can be found upon this earth. 4 His words are born in
God, and come to you with Heaven's love upon them. 5 Those who hear His words have heard
the song of Heaven. 6 For these are the words in which all merge as one at last. 7 And as
this one will fade away, the Word of God will come to take its place, for it will be
remembered then and loved.
W-pI.198.7. This world has many seeming separate haunts where mercy has no meaning, and
attack appears as justified. 2 Yet all are one; a place where death is offered to God's
Son and to his Father. 3 You may think They have accepted. 4 But if you will look again
upon the place where you beheld Their blood, you will perceive a miracle instead. 5 How
foolish to believe that They could die! 6 How foolish to believe you can attack! 7 How
mad to think that you could be condemned, and that the holy Son of God can die!
W-pI.198.8. The stillness of your Self remains unmoved, untouched by thoughts like
these, and unaware of any condemnation which could need forgiveness. 2 Dreams of any kind
are strange and alien to the truth. 3 And what but truth could have a Thought which builds
a bridge to it that brings illusions to the other side?
W-pI.198.9. Today we practice letting freedom come to make its home with you. 2 The
truth bestows these words upon your mind, that you may find the key to light and let the
darkness end:
3 Only my condemnation injures me.
4 Only my own forgiveness sets me free.
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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.
I am not a body. am free.
W-pI.199.1. Freedom must be impossible as long as you perceive a body as yourself. 2
The body is a limit. 3 Who would seek for freedom in a body looks for it where it can not
be found. 4 The mind can be made free when it no longer sees itself as in a body, firmly
tied to it and sheltered by its presence. 5 If this were the truth, the mind were
vulnerable indeed!
W-pI.199.2. The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways,
beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with strength and power
to do whatever it is asked. 2 Attack thoughts cannot enter such a mind, because it has
been given to the Source of love, and fear can never enter in a mind that has attached
itself to love. 3 It rests in God. 4 And who can be afraid who lives in Innocence, and only
loves?
W-pI.199.3. It is essential for your progress in this course that you accept today's
idea, and hold it very dear. 2 Be not concerned that to the ego it is quite insane. 3 The
ego holds the body dear because it dwells in it, and lives united with the home that it
has made. 4 It is a part of the illusion that has sheltered it from being found illusory
itself.
W-pI.199.4. Here does it hide, and here it can be seen as what it is. 2 Declare your
innocence and you are free. 3 The body disappears, because you have no need of it except the
need the Holy Spirit sees. 4 For this, the body will appear as useful form for what the
mind must do. 5 It thus becomes a vehicle which helps forgiveness be extended to the
all-inclusive goal that it must reach, according to God's plan.
W-pI.199.5. Cherish today's idea, and practice it today and every day. 2 Make it a part
of every practice period you take. 3 There is no thought that will not gain thereby in
power to help the world, and none which will not gain in added gifts to you as well. 4 We
sound the call of freedom round the world with this idea. 5 And would you be exempt from the
acceptance of the gifts you give?
W-pI.199.6. The Holy Spirit is the home of minds that seek for freedom. 2 In Him they
have found what they have sought. 3 The body's purpose now is unambiguous. 4 And it becomes
perfect in the ability to serve an undivided goal. 5 In conflict-free and unequivocal
response to mind with but the thought of freedom as its goal, the body serves, and serves its
purpose well. 6 Without the power to enslave, it is a worthy servant of the freedom which the
mind within the Holy Spirit seeks.
W-pI.199.7. Be free today. 2 And carry freedom as your gift to those who still believe
they are enslaved within a body. 3 Be you free, so that the Holy Spirit can make use of
your escape from bondage, to set free the many who perceive themselves as bound and
helpless and afraid. 4 Let love replace their fears through you. 5 Accept salvation now, and
give your mind to Him Who calls to you to make this gift to Him. 6 For He would give you
perfect freedom, perfect joy, and hope that finds its full accomplishment in God.
W-pI.199.8. You are God's Son. 2 In immortality you live forever. 3 Would you not
return your mind to this? 4 Then practice well the thought the Holy Spirit gives you for
today. 5 Your brothers stand released with you in it; the world is blessed along with you,
God's Son will weep no more, and Heaven offers thanks for the increase of joy your practice
brings even to it. 6 And God Himself extends His Love and happiness each time you say:
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.
There is no peace except the peace of God.
W-pI.200.1. Seek you no further. 2 You will not find peace except the peace of God. 3
Accept this fact, and save yourself the agony of yet more bitter disappointments, bleak
despair, and sense of icy hopelessness and doubt. 4 Seek you no further. 5 There is nothing
else for you to find except the peace of God, unless you seek for misery and pain.
W-pI.200.2. This is the final point to which each one must come at last, to lay aside
all hope of finding happiness where there is none; of being saved by what can only hurt;
of making peace of chaos, joy of pain, and Heaven out of hell. 2 Attempt no more to win
through losing, nor to die to live. 3 You cannot but be asking for defeat.
W-pI.200.3. Yet you can ask as easily for love, for happiness, and for eternal life in
peace that has no ending. 2 Ask for this, and you can only win. 3 To ask for what you have
already must succeed. 4 To ask that what is false be true can only fail. 5 Forgive yourself
for vain imaginings, and seek no longer what you cannot find. 6 For what could be more
foolish than to seek and seek and seek again for hell, when you have but to look with open
eyes to find that Heaven lies before you, through a door that opens easily to welcome you?
W-pI.200.4. Come home. 2 You have not found your happiness in foreign places and in
alien forms that have no meaning to you, though you sought to make them meaningful. 3 This
world is not where you belong. 4 You are a stranger here. 5 But it is given you to find the
means whereby the world no longer seems to be a prison house or jail for anyone.
W-pI.200.5. Freedom is given you where you beheld but chains and iron doors. 2 But you
must change your mind about the purpose of the world, if you would find escape. 3 You will
be bound till all the world is seen by you as blessed, and everyone made free of your
mistakes and honored as he is. 4 You made him not; no more yourself. 5 And as you free the one,
the other is accepted as he is.
W-pI.200.6. What does forgiveness do? 2 In truth it has no function, and does nothing.
3 For it is unknown in Heaven. 4 It is only hell where it is needed, and where it must
serve a mighty function. 5 Is not the escape of God's beloved Son from evil dreams that he
imagines, yet believes are true, a worthy purpose? 6 Who could hope for more, while there
appears to be a choice to make between success and failure; love and fear?
W-pI.200.7. There is no peace except the peace of God, because He has one Son who
cannot make a world in opposition to God's Will and to his own, which is the same as His. 2
What could he hope to find in such a world? 3 It cannot have reality, because it never was
created. 4 Is it here that he would seek for peace? 5 Or must he see that, as he looks on it,
the world can but deceive? 6 Yet can he learn to look on it another way, and find the
peace of God.
W-pI.200.8. Peace is the bridge that everyone will cross, to leave this world behind. 2
But peace begins within the world perceived as different, and leading from this fresh
perception to the gate of Heaven and the way beyond. 3 Peace is the answer to conflicting goals,
to senseless journeys, frantic, vain pursuits, and meaningless endeavors. 4 Now the way
is easy, sloping gently toward the bridge where freedom lies within the peace of God.
W-pI.200.9. Let us not lose our way again today. 2 We go to Heaven, and the path is
straight. 3 Only if we attempt to wander can there be delay, and needless wasted time on thorny
byways. 4 God alone is sure, and He will guide our footsteps. 5 He will not desert His
Son in need, nor let him stray forever from his home. 6 The Father calls; the Son will
hear. 7 And that is all there is to what appears to be a world apart from God, where bodies
have reality.
W-pI.200.10. Now is there silence. 2 Seek no further. 3 You have come to where the road
is carpeted with leaves of false desires, fallen from the trees of hopelessness you
sought before. 4 Now are they underfoot. 5 And you look up and on toward Heaven, with the
body's eyes but serving for an instant longer now. 6 Peace is already recognized at last, and
you can feel its soft embrace surround your heart and mind with comfort and with love.
W-pI.200.11. Today we seek no idols. 2 Peace can not be found in them. 3 The peace of
God is ours, and only this will we accept and want. 4 Peace be to us today. 5 For we have
found a simple, happy way to leave the world of ambiguity, and to replace our shifting goals
and solitary dreams with single purpose and companionship. 6 For peace is union, if it
be of God. 7 We seek no further. 8 We are close to home, and draw still nearer every time
we say:
9 There is no peace except the peace of God, And I am glad and thankful it is so.
REVIEW VI
Introduction
W-pI.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-pI.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-pI.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:
3 I am not a body. 4 I am free.
5 For I am still as God created me.
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-pI.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-pI.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-pI.rVI.in.6. When you are tempted, hasten to proclaim your freedom from temptation,
as you say:
2 This thought I do not want. 3 I choose instead ___
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-pI.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.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.201.1. (181) I trust my brothers, who are one with me.
2 No one but is my brother. 3 I am blessed with oneness with the universe and God, my
Father, one Creator of the whole that is my Self, forever One with me.
4 I am not a body. 5 I am free.
6 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 202.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.202.1. (182) I will be still an instant and go home.
2 Why would I choose to stay an instant more where I do not belong, when God Himself
has given me His Voice to call me home?
3 I am not a body. 4 I am free.
5 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 203.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.203.1. (183) I call upon God's Name and on my own.
2 The Name of God is my deliverance from every thought of evil and of sin, because it
is my own as well as His.
3 I am not a body. 4 I am free.
5 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 204.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.204.1. (184) The Name of God is my inheritance.
2 God's Name reminds me that I am His Son, not slave to time, unbound by laws which
rule the world of sick illusions, free in God, forever and forever one with Him.
3 I am not a body. 4 I am free.
5 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 205.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.205.1. (185) I want the peace of God.
2 The peace of God is everything I want. 3 The peace of God is my one goal; the aim of
all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life, while I abide
where I am not at home.
4 I am not a body. 5 I am free.
6 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 206.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.206.1. (186) Salvation of the world depends on me.
2 I am entrusted with the gifts of God, because I am His Son. 3 And I would give His
gifts where He intended them to be.
4 I am not a body. 5 I am free.
6 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 207.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.207.1. (187) I bless the world because I bless myself.
2 God's blessing shines upon me from within my heart, where He abides. 3 I need but
turn to Him, and every sorrow melts away, as I accept His boundless Love for me.
4 I am not a body. 5 I am free.
6 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 208.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.208.1. (188) The peace of God is shining in me now.
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.
5 I am not a body. 6 I am free.
7 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 209.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.209.1. (189) I feel the Love of God within me now.
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.
6 I am not a body. 7 I am free.
8 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 210.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.210.1. (190) I choose the joy of God instead of pain.
2 Pain is my own idea. 3 It is not a Thought of God, but one I thought apart from Him
and from His Will. 4 His Will is joy, and only joy for His beloved Son. 5 And that I
choose, instead of what I made.
6 I am not a body. 7 I am free.
8 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 211.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.211.1. (191) I am the holy Son of God Himself.
2 In silence and in true humility I seek God's glory, to behold it in the Son whom He
created as my Self.
3 I am not a body. 4 I am free.
5 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 212.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.212.1. (192) I have a function God would have me fill.
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.
5 I am not a body. 6 I am free.
7 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 213.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.213.1. (193) All things are lessons God would have me learn.
2 A lesson is a miracle which God offers to me, in place of thoughts I made that hurt
me. 3 What I learn of Him becomes the way I am set free. 4 And so I choose to learn His
lessons and forget my own.
5 I am not a body. 6 I am free.
7 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 214.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.214.1. (194) I place the future in the Hands of God.
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.
6 I am not a body. 7 I am free.
8 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 215.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.215.1. (195) Love is the way I walk in gratitude.
2 The Holy Spirit is my only Guide. 3 He walks with me in love. 4 And I give thanks to
Him for showing me the way to go.
5 I am not a body. 6 I am free.
7 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 216.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.216.1. (196) It can be but myself I crucify.
2 All that I do I do unto myself. 3 If I attack, I suffer. 4 But if I forgive,
salvation will be given me.
5 I am not a body. 6 I am free.
7 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 217.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.217.1. (197) It can be but my gratitude I earn.
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?
4 I am not a body. 5 I am free.
6 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 218.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.218.1. (198) Only my condemnation injures me.
2 My condemnation keeps my vision dark, and through my sightless eyes I cannot see the
vision of my glory. 3 Yet today I can behold this glory and be glad.
4 I am not a body. 5 I am free.
6 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 219.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.219.1. (199) I am not a body. 2 I am free.
3 I am God's Son. 4 Be still, my mind, and think a moment upon this. 5 And then return
to earth, without confusion as to what my Father loves forever as His Son.
6 I am not a body. 7 I am free.
8 For I am still as God created me.
LESSON 220.
I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
W-pI.220.1. (200) There is no peace except the peace of God.
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.
4 I am not a body. 5 I am free.
6 For I am still as God created me.
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.
Peace to my mind. Let all my thoughts be still.
W-pII.221.1. <Father, I come to You today to seek the peace that You alone can give. 2
I come in silence. 3 In the quiet of my heart, the deep recesses of my mind, I wait and
listen for Your Voice. 4 My Father, speak to me today. 5 I come to hear Your Voice in
silence and in certainty and love, sure You will hear my call and answer me.>
W-pII.221.2. Now do we wait in quiet. 2 God is here, because we wait together. 3 I am
sure that He will speak to you, and you will hear. 4 Accept my confidence, for it is yours.
5 Our minds are joined. 6 We wait with one intent; to hear our Father's answer to our
call, to let our thoughts be still and find His peace, to hear Him speak to us of what we
are, and to reveal Himself unto His Son.
LESSON 222.
God is with me. I live and move in Him.
W-pII.222.1. God is with me. 2 He is my Source of life, the life within, the air I
breathe, the food by which I am sustained, the water which renews and cleanses me. 3 He is my
home, wherein I live and move; the Spirit which directs my actions, offers me Its Thoughts,
and guarantees my safety from all pain. 4 He covers me with kindness and with care, and
holds in love the Son He shines upon, who also shines on Him. 5 How still is he who
knows the truth of what He speaks today!
W-pII.222.2. <Father, we have no words except Your Name upon our lips and in our minds,
as we come quietly into Your Presence now, and ask to rest with You in peace a while.>
LESSON 223.
God is my life. I have no life but His.
W-pII.223.1. I was mistaken when I thought I lived apart from God, a separate entity
that moved in isolation, unattached, and housed within a body. 2 Now I know my life is
God's, I have no other home, and I do not exist apart from Him. 3 He has no Thoughts that
are not part of me, and I have none but those which are of Him.
W-pII.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.
God is my Father, and He loves His Son.
W-pII.224.1. My true Identity is so secure, so lofty, sinless, glorious and great,
wholly beneficent and free from guilt, that Heaven looks to It to give it light. 2 It lights
the world as well. 3 It is the gift my Father gave to me; the one as well I give the world.
4 There is no gift but this that can be either given or received. 5 This is reality,
and only this. 6 This is illusion's end. 7 It is the truth.
W-pII.224.2. <My Name, O Father, still is known to You. 2 I have forgotten It, and do
not know where I am going, who I am, or what it is I do. 3 Remind me, Father, now, for I
am weary of the world I see. 4 Reveal what You would have me see instead.>
LESSON 225.
God is my Father, and His Son loves Him.
W-pII.225.1. <Father, I must return Your Love for me, for giving and receiving are the
same, and You have given all Your Love to me. 2 I must return it, for I want it mine in
full awareness, blazing in my mind and keeping it within its kindly light, inviolate,
beloved, with fear behind and only peace ahead. 3 How still the way Your loving Son is led
along to You!>
W-pII.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.
My home awaits me. I will hasten there.
W-pII.226.1. If I so choose, I can depart this world entirely. 2 It is not death which
makes this possible, but it is change of mind about the purpose of the world. 3 If I believe
it has a value as I see it now, so will it still remain for me. 4 But if I see no value
in the world as I behold it, nothing that I want to keep as mine or search for as a
goal, it will depart from me. 5 For I have not sought for illusions to replace the truth.
W-pII.226.2. <Father, my home awaits my glad return. 2 Your Arms are open and I hear
Your Voice. 3 What need have I to linger in a place of vain desires and of shattered dreams,
when Heaven can so easily be mine?>
LESSON 227.
This is my holy instant of release.
W-pII.227.1. <Father, it is today that I am free, because my will is Yours. 2 I
thought to make another will. 3 Yet nothing that I thought apart from You exists. 4 And I am
free because I was mistaken, and did not affect my own reality at all by my illusions. 5
Now I give them up, and lay them down before the feet of truth, to be removed forever from
my mind. 6 This is my holy instant of release. 7 Father, I know my will is one with
Yours.>
W-pII.227.2. And so today we find our glad return to Heaven, which we never really left.
2 The Son of God this day lays down his dreams. 3 The Son of God this day comes home
again, released from sin and clad in holiness, with his right mind restored to him at last.
LESSON 228.
God has condemned me not. No more do I.
W-pII.228.1. My Father knows my holiness. 2 Shall I deny His knowledge, and believe in
what His knowledge makes impossible? 3 Shall I accept as true what He proclaims as false? 4
Or shall I take His Word for what I am, since He is my Creator, and the One Who knows
the true condition of His Son?
W-pII.228.2. <Father, I was mistaken in myself, because I failed to realize the Source
from which I came. 2 I have not left that Source to enter in a body and to die. 3 My
holiness remains a part of me, as I am part of You. 4 And my mistakes about myself are dreams.
5 I let them go today. 6 And I stand ready to receive Your Word alone for what I really
am.>
LESSON 229.
Love, which created me, is what I am.
W-pII.229.1. I seek my own Identity, and find It in these words: "Love, which created
me, is what I am." 2 Now need I seek no more. 3 Love has prevailed. 4 So still It waited
for my coming home, that I will turn away no longer from the holy face of Christ. 5 And
what I look upon attests the truth of the Identity I sought to lose, but which my Father
has kept safe for me.
W-pII.229.2. <Father, my thanks to You for what I am; for keeping my Identity
untouched and sinless, in the midst of all the thoughts of sin my foolish mind made up. 2 And
thanks to You for saving me from them. 3 Amen.>
LESSON 230.
Now will I seek and find the peace of God.
W-pII.230.1. In peace I was created. 2 And in peace do I remain. 3 It is not given me
to change my Self. 4 How merciful is God my Father, that when He created me He gave me
peace forever. 5 Now I ask but to be what I am. 6 And can this be denied me, when it is
forever true?
W-pII.230.2. <Father, I seek the peace You gave as mine in my creation. 2 What was
given then must be here now, for my creation was apart from time, and still remains beyond
all change. 3 The peace in which Your Son was born into Your Mind is shining there
unchanged. 4 I am as You created me. 5 I need but call on You to find the peace You gave. 6 It
is Your Will that gave it to Your Son.>
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.
Father, I will but to remember You.
W-pII.231.1. <What can I seek for, Father, but Your Love? 2 Perhaps I think I seek for
something else; a something I have called by many names. 3 Yet is Your Love the only
thing I seek, or ever sought. 4 For there is nothing else that I could ever really want to
find. 5 Let me remember You. 6 What else could I desire but the truth about myself?>
W-pII.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.
Be in my mind, my Father, through the day.
W-pII.232.1. <Be in my mind, my Father, when I wake, and shine on me throughout the
day today. 2 Let every minute be a time in which I dwell with You. 3 And let me not forget
my hourly thanksgiving that You have remained with me, and always will be there to hear
my call to You and answer me. 4 As evening comes, let all my thoughts be still of You
and of Your Love. 5 And let me sleep sure of my safety, certain of Your care, and happily
aware I am Your Son.>
W-pII.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.
I give my life to God to guide today.
W-pII.233.1. <Father, I give You all my thoughts today. 2 I would have none of mine. 3
In place of them, give me Your Own. 4 I give You all my acts as well, that I may do
Your Will instead of seeking goals which cannot be obtained, and wasting time in vain
imaginings. 5 Today I come to You. 6 I will step back and merely follow You. 7 Be You the Guide,
and I the follower who questions not the wisdom of the Infinite, nor Love whose tenderness
I cannot comprehend, but which is yet Your perfect gift to me.>
W-pII.233.2. Today we have one Guide to lead us on. 2 And as we walk together, we will
give this day to Him with no reserve at all. 3 This is His day. 4 And so it is a day of
countless gifts and mercies unto us.
LESSON 234.
Father, today I am Your Son again.
W-pII.234.1. Today we will anticipate the time when dreams of sin and guilt are gone,
and we have reached the holy peace we never left. 2 Merely a tiny instant has elapsed
between eternity and timelessness. 3 So brief the interval there was no lapse in continuity,
nor break in thoughts which are forever unified as one. 4 Nothing has ever happened to
disturb the peace of God the Father and the Son. 5 This we accept as wholly true today.
W-pII.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.
God in His mercy wills that I be saved.
W-pII.235.1. I need but look upon all things that seem to hurt me, and with perfect
certainty assure myself, "God wills that I be saved from this," and merely watch them disappear.
2 I need but keep in mind my Father's Will for me is only happiness, to find that only
happiness has come to me. 3 And I need but remember that God's Love surrounds His Son and keeps
his sinlessness forever perfect, to be sure that I am saved and safe forever in His Arms.
4 I am the Son He loves. 5 And I am saved because God in His mercy wills it so.
W-pII.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.
I rule my mind, which I alone must rule.
W-pII.236.1. I have a kingdom I must rule. 2 At times, it does not seem I am its king
at all. 3 It seems to triumph over me, and tell me what to think, and what to do and feel.
4 And yet it has been given me to serve whatever purpose I perceive in it. 5 My mind
can only serve. 6 Today I give its service to the Holy Spirit to employ as He sees fit. 7
I thus direct my mind, which I alone can rule. 8 And thus I set it free to do the Will
of God.
W-pII.236.2. <Father, my mind is open to Your Thoughts, and closed today to every
thought but Yours. 2 I rule my mind, and offer it to You. 3 Accept my gift, for it is Yours to
me.>
LESSON 237.
Now would I be as God created me.
W-pII.237.1. Today I will accept the truth about myself. 2 I will arise in glory, and
allow the light in me to shine upon the world throughout the day. 3 I bring the world the
tidings of salvation which I hear as God my Father speaks to me. 4 And I behold the world that
Christ would have me see, aware it ends the bitter dream of death; aware it is my
Father's Call to me.
W-pII.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.
On my decision all salvation rests.
W-pII.238.1. <Father, Your trust in me has been so great, I must be worthy. 2 You
created me, and know me as I am. 3 And yet You placed Your Son's salvation in my hands, and
let it rest on my decision. 4 I must be beloved of You indeed. 5 And I must be steadfast
in holiness as well, that You would give Your Son to me in certainty that he is safe Who
still is part of You, and yet is mine, because He is my Self.>
W-pII.238.2. And so, again today, we pause to think how much our Father loves us. 2 And
how dear His Son, created by His Love, remains to Him Whose Love is made complete in
him.
LESSON 239.
The glory of my Father is my own.
W-pII.239.1. Let not the truth about ourselves today be hidden by a false humility. 2
Let us instead be thankful for the gifts our Father gave us. 3 Can we see in those with
whom He shares His glory any trace of sin and guilt? 4 And can it be that we are not among
them, when He loves His Son forever and with perfect constancy, knowing he is as He created
him?
W-pII.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.
Fear is not justified in any form.
W-pII.240.1. Fear is deception. 2 It attests that you have seen yourself as you could
never be, and therefore look upon a world which is impossible. 3 Not one thing in this world
is true. 4 It does not matter what the form in which it may appear. 5 It witnesses but
to your own illusions of yourself. 6 Let us not be deceived today. 7 We are the Sons of
God. 8 There is no fear in us, for we are each a part of Love Itself.
W-pII.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.>
3. What Is the World?
W-pII.3.1. The world is false perception. 2 It is born of error, and it has not left
its source. 3 It will remain no longer than the thought that gave it birth is cherished. 4
When the thought of separation has been changed to one of true forgiveness, will the
world be seen in quite another light; and one which leads to truth, where all the world must
disappear and all its errors vanish. 5 Now its source has gone, and its effects are
gone as well.
W-pII.3.2. The world was made as an attack on God. 2 It symbolizes fear. 3 And what is
fear except love's absence? 4 Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter
not, and where His Son could be apart from Him. 5 Here was perception born, for knowledge
could not cause such insane thoughts. 6 But eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely. 7 Now
mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has gone.
W-pII.3.3. The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. 2 And now they go to find
what has been given them to seek. 3 Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world
was made to witness and make real. 4 They see in its illusions but a solid base where
truth exists, upheld apart from lies. 5 Yet everything that they report is but illusion
which is kept apart from truth.
W-pII.3.4. As sight was made to lead away from truth, it can be redirected. 2 Sounds
become the call for God, and all perception can be given a new purpose by the One Whom God
appointed Savior to the world. 3 Follow His light, and see the world as He beholds it. 4 Hear
His Voice alone in all that speaks to you. 5 And let Him give you peace and certainty,
which you have thrown away, but Heaven has preserved for you in Him.
W-pII.3.5. Let us not rest content until the world has joined our changed perception. 2
Let us not be satisfied until forgiveness has been made complete. 3 And let us not
attempt to change our function. 4 We must save the world. 5 For we who made it must behold it
through the eyes of Christ, that what was made to die can be restored to everlasting life.
LESSON 241.
This holy instant is salvation come.
W-pII.241.1. What joy there is today! 2 It is a time of special celebration. 3 For
today holds out the instant to the darkened world where its release is set. 4 The day has
come when sorrows pass away and pain is gone. 5 The glory of salvation dawns today upon a
world set free. 6 This is the time of hope for countless millions. 7 They will be united now,
as you forgive them all. 8 For I will be forgiven by you today.
W-pII.241.2. <We have forgiven one another now, and so we come at last to You again. 2
Father, Your Son, who never left, returns to Heaven and his home. 3 How glad are we to
have our sanity restored to us, and to remember that we all are one.>
LESSON 242.
This day is God's. It is my gift to Him.
W-pII.242.1. I will not lead my life alone today. 2 I do not understand the world, and
so to try to lead my life alone must be but foolishness. 3 But there is One Who knows all
that is best for me. 4 And He is glad to make no choices for me but the ones that lead
to God. 5 I give this day to Him, for I would not delay my coming home, and it is He Who
knows the way to God.
W-pII.242.2. <And so we give today to You. 2 We come with wholly open minds. 3 We do
not ask for anything that we may think we want. 4 Give us what You would have received by
us. 5 You know all our desires and our wants. 6 And You will give us everything we need
in helping us to find the way to You.>
LESSON 243.
Today I will judge nothing that occurs.
W-pII.243.1. I will be honest with myself today. 2 I will not think that I already know
what must remain beyond my present grasp. 3 I will not think I understand the whole
from bits of my perception, which are all that I can see. 4 Today I recognize that this is
so. 5 And so I am relieved of judgments that I cannot make. 6 Thus do I free myself and
what I look upon, to be in peace as God created us.
W-pII.243.2. <Father, today I leave creation free to be itself. 2 I honor all its
parts, in which I am included. 3 We are one because each part contains Your memory, and
truth must shine in all of us as one.>
LESSON 244.
I am in danger nowhere in the world.
W-pII.244.1. <Your Son is safe wherever he may be, for You are there with him. 2 He
need but call upon Your Name, and he will recollect his safety and Your Love, for they are
one. 3 How can he fear or doubt or fail to know he cannot suffer, be endangered, or
experience unhappiness, when he belongs to You, beloved and loving, in the safety of Your
Fatherly embrace?>
W-pII.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.
Your peace is with me, Father. I am safe.
W-pII.245.1. <Your peace surrounds me, Father. 2 Where I go, Your peace goes there
with me. 3 It sheds its light on everyone I meet. 4 I bring it to the desolate and lonely
and afraid. 5 I give Your peace to those who suffer pain, or grieve for loss, or think
they are bereft of hope and happiness. 6 Send them to me, my Father. 7 Let me bring Your
peace with me. 8 For I would save Your Son, as is Your Will, that I may come to recognize my
Self.>
W-pII.245.2. And so we go in peace. 2 To all the world we give the message that we have
received. 3 And thus we come to hear the Voice for God, Who speaks to us as we relate
His Word; Whose Love we recognize because we share the Word that He has given unto us.
LESSON 246.
To love my Father is to love His Son.
W-pII.246.1. Let me not think that I can find the way to God, if I have hatred in my
heart. 2 Let me not try to hurt God's Son, and think that I can know his Father or my Self.
3 Let me not fail to recognize myself, and still believe that my awareness can contain
my Father, or my mind conceive of all the love my Father has for me, and all the love
which I return to Him.
W-pII.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-pII.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.
W-pII.247.2. <So would I look on everyone today. 2 My brothers are Your Sons. 3 Your
Fatherhood created them, and gave them all to me as part of You, and my own Self as well. 4 Today
I honor You through them, and thus I hope this day to recognize my Self.>
LESSON 248.
Whatever suffers is not part of me.
W-pII.248.1. I have disowned the truth. 2 Now let me be as faithful in disowning
falsity. 3 Whatever suffers is not part of me. 4 What grieves is not myself. 5 What is in pain
is but illusion in my mind. 6 What dies was never living in reality, and did but mock
the truth about myself. 7 Now I disown self-concepts and deceits and lies about the holy
Son of God. 8 Now am I ready to accept him back as God created him, and as he is.
W-pII.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.
Forgiveness ends all suffering and loss.
W-pII.249.1. Forgiveness paints a picture of a world where suffering is over, loss
becomes impossible and anger makes no sense. 2 Attack is gone, and madness has an end. 3 What
suffering is now conceivable? 4 What loss can be sustained? 5 The world becomes a place of joy,
abundance, charity and endless giving. 6 It is now so like to Heaven that it quickly is
transformed into the light that it reflects. 7 And so the journey which the Son of God began has
ended in the light from which he came.
W-pII.249.2. <Father, we would return our minds to You. 2 We have betrayed them, held
them in a vise of bitterness, and frightened them with thoughts of violence and death. 3
Now would we rest again in You, as You created us.>
LESSON 250.
Let me not see myself as limited.
W-pII.250.1. Let me behold the Son of God today, and witness to his glory. 2 Let me not
try to obscure the holy light in him, and see his strength diminished and reduced to
frailty; nor perceive the lacks in him with which I would attack his sovereignty.
W-pII.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.
I am in need of nothing but the truth.
W-pII.251.1. I sought for many things, and found despair. 2 Now do I seek but one, for
in that one is all I need, and only what I need. 3 All that I sought before I needed not,
and did not even want. 4 My only need I did not recognize. 5 But now I see that I need
only truth. 6 In that all needs are satisfied, all cravings end, all hopes are finally
fulfilled and dreams are gone. 7 Now have I everything that I could need. 8 Now have I
everything that I could want. 9 And now at last I find myself at peace.
W-pII.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.
The Son of God is my Identity.
W-pII.252.1. My Self is holy beyond all the thoughts of holiness of which I now
conceive. 2 Its shimmering and perfect purity is far more brilliant than is any light that I
have ever looked upon. 3 Its love is limitless, with an intensity that holds all things
within it, in the calm of quiet certainty. 4 Its strength comes not from burning impulses
which move the world, but from the boundless Love of God Himself. 5 How far beyond this
world my Self must be, and yet how near to me and close to God!
W-pII.252.2. <Father, You know my true Identity. 2 Reveal It now to me who am Your Son,
that I may waken to the truth in You, and know that Heaven is restored to me.>
LESSON 253.
My Self is ruler of the universe.
W-pII.253.1. It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. 2
Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. 3 What happens is what I desire. 4 What
does not occur is what I do not want to happen. 5 This must I accept. 6 For thus am I led
past this world to my creations, children of my will, in Heaven where my holy Self abides
with them and Him Who has created me.
W-pII.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.
Let every voice but God's be still in me.
W-pII.254.1. <Father, today I would but hear Your Voice. 2 In deepest silence I would
come to You, to hear Your Voice and to receive Your Word. 3 I have no prayer but this: I
come to You to ask You for the truth. 4 And truth is but Your Will, which I would share
with You today.>
W-pII.254.2. Today we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions. 2 When such
thoughts occur, we quietly step back and look at them, and then we let them go. 3 We do not
want what they would bring with them. 4 And so we do not choose to keep them. 5 They are
silent now. 6 And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love, God speaks to us and tells us of
our will, as we have chosen to remember Him.
LESSON 255.
This day I choose to spend in perfect peace.
W-pII.255.1. It does not seem to me that I can choose to have but peace today. 2 And
yet, my God assures me that His Son is like Himself. 3 Let me this day have faith in Him
Who says I am God's Son. 4 And let the peace I choose be mine today bear witness to the
truth of what He says. 5 God's Son can have no cares, and must remain forever in the peace
of Heaven. 6 In His Name, I give today to finding what my Father wills for me, accepting
it as mine, and giving it to all my Father's Sons, along with me.
W-pII.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.
God is the only goal I have today.
W-pII.256.1. The way to God is through forgiveness here. 2 There is no other way. 3 If
sin had not been cherished by the mind, what need would there have been to find the way to
where you are? 4 Who would still be uncertain? 5 Who could be unsure of who he is? 6
And who would yet remain asleep, in heavy clouds of doubt about the holiness of him whom
God created sinless? 7 Here we can but dream. 8 But we can dream we have forgiven him in
whom all sin remains impossible, and it is this we choose to dream today. 9 God is our goal;
forgiveness is the means by which our minds return to Him at last.
W-pII.256.2. <And so, our Father, would we come to You in Your appointed way. 2 We
have no goal except to hear Your Voice, and find the way Your sacred Word has pointed out
to us.>
LESSON 257.
Let me remember what my purpose is.
W-pII.257.1. If I forget my goal I can be but confused, unsure of what I am, and thus
conflicted in my actions. 2 No one can serve contradicting goals and serve them well. 3 Nor can
he function without deep distress and great depression. 4 Let us therefore be determined
to remember what we want today, that we may unify our thoughts and actions meaningfully,
and achieve only what God would have us do this day.
W-pII.257.2. <Father, forgiveness is Your chosen means for our salvation. 2 Let us not
forget today that we can have no will but Yours. 3 And thus our purpose must be Yours
as well, if we would reach the peace You will for us.>
LESSON 258.
Let me remember that my goal is God.
W-pII.258.1. All that is needful is to train our minds to overlook all little senseless
aims, and to remember that our goal is God. 2 His memory is hidden in our minds,
obscured but by our pointless little goals which offer nothing, and do not exist. 3 Shall we
continue to allow God's grace to shine in unawareness, while the toys and trinkets of the world
are sought instead? 4 God is our only goal, our only Love. 5 We have no aim but to
remember Him.
W-pII.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.
Let me remember that there is no sin.
W-pII.259.1. Sin is the only thought that makes the goal of God seem unattainable. 2
What else could blind us to the obvious, and make the strange and the distorted seem more
clear? 3 What else but sin engenders our attacks? 4 What else but sin could be the source of
guilt, demanding punishment and suffering? 5 And what but sin could be the source of
fear, obscuring God's creation; giving love the attributes of fear and of attack?
W-pII.259.2. <Father, I would not be insane today. 2 I would not be afraid of love,
nor seek for refuge in its opposite. 3 For love can have no opposite. 4 You are the Source
of everything there is. 5 And everything that is remains with You, and You with it.>
LESSON 260.
Let me remember God created me.
W-pII.260.1. <Father, I did not make myself, although in my insanity I thought I did.
2 Yet, as Your Thought, I have not left my Source, remaining part of Who created me. 3
Your Son, my Father, calls on You today. 4 Let me remember You created me. 5 Let me
remember my Identity. 6 And let my sinlessness arise again before Christ's vision, through
which I would look upon my brothers and myself today.>
W-pII.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.
5. What Is the Body?
W-pII.5.1. The body is a fence the Son of God imagines he has built, to separate parts
of his Self from other parts. 2 It is within this fence he thinks he lives, to die as it
decays and crumbles. 3 For within this fence he thinks that he is safe from love. 4
Identifying with his safety, he regards himself as what his safety is. 5 How else could he be
certain he remains within the body, keeping love outside?
W-pII.5.2. The body will not stay. 2 Yet this he sees as double safety. 3 For the Son
of God's impermanence is "proof" his fences work, and do the task his mind assigns to
them. 4 For if his oneness still remained untouched, who could attack and who could be
attacked? 5 Who could be victor? 6 Who could be his prey? 7 Who could be victim? 8 Who the
murderer? 9 And if he did not die, what "proof" is there that God's eternal Son can be
destroyed?
W-pII.5.3. The body is a dream. 2 Like other dreams it sometimes seems to picture
happiness, but can quite suddenly revert to fear, where every dream is born. 3 For only love
creates in truth, and truth can never fear. 4 Made to be fearful, must the body serve the
purpose given it. 5 But we can change the purpose that the body will obey by changing what we
think that it is for.
W-pII.5.4. The body is the means by which God's Son returns to sanity. 2 Though it was
made to fence him into hell without escape, yet has the goal of Heaven been exchanged for
the pursuit of hell. 3 The Son of God extends his hand to reach his brother, and to help
him walk along the road with him. 4 Now is the body holy. 5 Now it serves to heal the mind
that it was made to kill.
W-pII.5.5. You will identify with what you think will make you safe. 2 Whatever it may
be, you will believe that it is one with you. 3 Your safety lies in truth, and not in
lies. 4 Love is your safety. 5 Fear does not exist. 6 Identify with love, and you are safe.
7 Identify with love, and you are home. 8 Identify with love, and find your Self.
LESSON 261.
God is my refuge and security.
W-pII.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.
W-pII.261.2. <Let me not seek for idols. 2 I would come, my Father, home to You today.
3 I choose to be as You created me, and find the Son whom You created as my Self.>
LESSON 262.
Let me perceive no differences today.
W-pII.262.1. <Father, You have one Son. 2 And it is he that I would look upon today. 3
He is Your one creation. 4 Why should I perceive a thousand forms in what remains as
one? 5 Why should I give this one a thousand names, when only one suffices? 6 For Your Son
must bear Your Name, for You created him. 7 Let me not see him as a stranger to his
Father, nor as stranger to myself. 8 For he is part of me and I of him, and we are part of
You Who are our Source, eternally united in Your Love; eternally the holy Son of God.>
W-pII.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.
My holy vision sees all things as pure.
W-pII.263.1. <Father, Your Mind created all that is, Your Spirit entered into it, Your
Love gave life to it. 2 And would I look upon what You created as if it could be made
sinful? 3 I would not perceive such dark and fearful images. 4 A madman's dream is hardly fit
to be my choice, instead of all the loveliness with which You blessed creation; all its
purity, its joy, and its eternal, quiet home in You.>
W-pII.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.
I am surrounded by the Love of God.
W-pII.264.1. <Father, You stand before me and behind, beside me, in the place I see
myself, and everywhere I go. 2 You are in all the things I look upon, the sounds I hear, and
every hand that reaches for my own. 3 In You time disappears, and place becomes a
meaningless belief. 4 For what surrounds Your Son and keeps him safe is Love Itself. 5 There is no
Source but this, and nothing is that does not share Its Holiness; that stands beyond
Your one creation, or without the Love which holds all things within Itself. 6 Father, Your
Son is like Yourself. 7 We come to You in Your Own Name today, to be at peace within
Your everlasting Love.>
W-pII.264.2. My brothers, join with me in this today. 2 This is salvation's prayer. 3
Must we not join in what will save the world, along with us?
LESSON 265.
Creation's gentleness is all I see.
W-pII.265.1. I have indeed misunderstood the world, because I laid my sins on it and
saw them looking back at me. 2 How fierce they seemed! 3 And how deceived was I to think
that what I feared was in the world, instead of in my mind alone. 4 Today I see the world
in the celestial gentleness with which creation shines. 5 There is no fear in it. 6 Let
no appearance of my sins obscure the light of Heaven shining on the world. 7 What is
reflected there is in God's Mind. 8 The images I see reflect my thoughts. 9 Yet is my mind at
one with God's. 10 And so I can perceive creation's gentleness.
W-pII.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-pII.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-pII.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.
My heart is beating in the peace of God.
W-pII.267.1. Surrounding me is all the life that God created in His Love. 2 It calls to
me in every heartbeat and in every breath; in every action and in every thought. 3
Peace fills my heart, and floods my body with the purpose of forgiveness. 4 Now my mind is
healed, and all I need to save the world is given me. 5 Each heartbeat brings me peace; each
breath infuses me with strength. 6 I am a messenger of God, directed by His Voice, sustained
by Him in love, and held forever quiet and at peace within His loving Arms. 7 Each
heartbeat calls His Name, and every one is answered by His Voice, assuring me I am at home in
Him.
W-pII.267.2. <Let me attend Your Answer, not my own. 2 Father, my heart is beating in
the peace the Heart of Love created. 3 It is there and only there that I can be at home.>
LESSON 268.
Let all things be exactly as they are.
W-pII.268.1. <Let me not be Your critic, Lord, today, and judge against You. 2 Let me
not attempt to interfere with Your creation, and distort it into sickly forms. 3 Let me be
willing to withdraw my wishes from its unity, and thus to let it be as You created it.
4 For thus will I be able, too, to recognize my Self as You created me. 5 In love was I
created, and in love will I remain forever. 6 What can frighten me, when I let all things be
exactly as they are?>
W-pII.268.2. Let not our sight be blasphemous today, nor let our ears attend to lying
tongues. 2 Only reality is free of pain. 3 Only reality is free of loss. 4 Only reality is
wholly safe. 5 And it is only this we seek today.
LESSON 269.
My sight goes forth to look upon Christ's face.
W-pII.269.1. <I ask Your blessing on my sight today. 2 It is the means which You have
chosen to become the way to show me my mistakes, and look beyond them. 3 It is given me to
find a new perception through the Guide You gave to me, and through His lessons to surpass
perception and return to truth. 4 I ask for the illusion which transcends all those I made. 5
Today I choose to see a world forgiven, in which everyone shows me the face of Christ, and
teaches me that what I look upon belongs to me; that nothing is, except Your holy Son.>
W-pII.269.2. Today our sight is blessed indeed. 2 We share one vision, as we look upon
the face of Him Whose Self is ours. 3 We are one because of Him Who is the Son of God; of
Him Who is our own Identity.
LESSON 270.
I will not use the body's eyes today.
W-pII.270.1. <Father, Christ's vision is Your gift to me, and it has power to
translate all that the body's eyes behold into the sight of a forgiven world. 2 How glorious and
gracious is this world! 3 Yet how much more will I perceive in it than sight can give.
4 The world forgiven signifies Your Son acknowledges his Father, lets his dreams be
brought to truth, and waits expectantly the one remaining instant more of time which ends
forever, as Your memory returns to him. 5 And now his will is one with Yours. 6 His function
now is but Your Own, and every thought except Your Own is gone.>
W-pII.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.
6. What Is the Christ?
W-pII.6.1. Christ is God's Son as He created Him. 2 He is the Self we share, uniting us
with one another, and with God as well. 3 He is the Thought which still abides within
the Mind that is His Source. 4 He has not left His holy home, nor lost the innocence in
which He was created. 5 He abides unchanged forever in the Mind of God.
W-pII.6.2. Christ is the link that keeps you one with God, and guarantees that
separation is no more than an illusion of despair, for hope forever will abide in Him. 2 Your
mind is part of His, and His of yours. 3 He is the part in which God's Answer lies; where
all decisions are already made, and dreams are over. 4 He remains untouched by anything
the body's eyes perceive. 5 For though in Him His Father placed the means for your
salvation, yet does He remain the Self Who, like His Father, knows no sin.
W-pII.6.3. Home of the Holy Spirit, and at home in God alone, does Christ remain at
peace within the Heaven of your holy mind. 2 This is the only part of you that has reality
in truth. 3 The rest is dreams. 4 Yet will these dreams be given unto Christ, to fade
before His glory and reveal your holy Self, the Christ, to you at last.
W-pII.6.4. The Holy Spirit reaches from the Christ in you to all your dreams, and bids
them come to Him, to be translated into truth. 2 He will exchange them for the final dream
which God appointed as the end of dreams. 3 For when forgiveness rests upon the world and
peace has come to every Son of God, what could there be to keep things separate, for what
remains to see except Christ's face?
W-pII.6.5. And how long will this holy face be seen, when it is but the symbol that the
time for learning now is over, and the goal of the Atonement has been reached at last?
2 So therefore let us seek to find Christ's face and look on nothing else. 3 As we
behold His glory, will we know we have no need of learning or perception or of time, or
anything except the holy Self, the Christ Whom God created as His Son.
LESSON 271.
Christ's is the vision I will use today.
W-pII.271.1. Each day, each hour, every instant, I am choosing what I want to look upon,
the sounds I want to hear, the witnesses to what I want to be the truth for me. 2
Today I choose to look upon what Christ would have me see, to listen to God's Voice, and
seek the witnesses to what is true in God's creation. 3 In Christ's sight, the world and
God's creation meet, and as they come together all perception disappears. 4 His kindly sight
redeems the world from death, for nothing that He looks on but must live, remembering
the Father and the Son; Creator and creation unified.
W-pII.271.2. <Father, Christ's vision is the way to You. 2 What He beholds invites
Your memory to be restored to me. 3 And this I choose, to be what I would look upon today.>
LESSON 272.
How can illusions satisfy God's Son?
W-pII.272.1. <Father, the truth belongs to me. 2 My home is set in Heaven by Your Will
and mine. 3 Can dreams content me? 4 Can illusions bring me happiness? 5 What but Your
memory can satisfy Your Son? 6 I will accept no less than You have given me. 7 I am
surrounded by Your Love, forever still, forever gentle and forever safe. 8 God's Son must be as
You created him.>
W-pII.272.2. Today we pass illusions by. 2 And if we hear temptation call to us to stay
and linger in a dream, we turn aside and ask ourselves if we, the Sons of God, could be
content with dreams, when Heaven can be chosen just as easily as hell, and love will
happily replace all fear.
LESSON 273.
The stillness of the peace of God is mine.
W-pII.273.1. Perhaps we are now ready for a day of undisturbed tranquility. 2 If this
is not yet feasible, we are content and even more than satisfied to learn how such a day
can be achieved. 3 If we give way to a disturbance, let us learn how to dismiss it and
return to peace. 4 We need but tell our minds, with certainty, "The stillness of the peace of
God is mine," and nothing can intrude upon the peace that God Himself has given to His
Son.
W-pII.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-pII.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.
>
W-pII.274.2. A special blessing comes to us today, from Him Who is our Father. 2 Give
this day to Him, and there will be no fear today, because the day is given unto love.
LESSON 275.
God's healing Voice protects all things today.
W-pII.275.1. Let us today attend the Voice for God, which speaks an ancient lesson, no
more true today than any other day. 2 Yet has this day been chosen as the time when we will
seek and hear and learn and understand. 3 Join me in hearing. 4 For the Voice for God
tells us of things we cannot understand alone, nor learn apart. 5 It is in this that all
things are protected. 6 And in this the healing of the Voice for God is found.
W-pII.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.
The Word of God is given me to speak.
W-pII.276.1. What is the Word of God? 2 "My Son is pure and holy as Myself." 3 And thus
did God become the Father of the Son He loves, for thus was he created. 4 This the Word
His Son did not create with Him, because in this His Son was born. 5 Let us accept His
Fatherhood, and all is given us. 6 Deny we were created in His Love and we deny our Self, to be
unsure of who we are, of Who our Father is, and for what purpose we have come. 7 And yet, we
need but to acknowledge Him Who gave His Word to us in our creation, to remember Him and so
recall our Self.
W-pII.276.2. <Father, Your Word is mine. 2 And it is this that I would speak to all my
brothers, who are given me to cherish as my own, as I am loved and blessed and saved by
You.>
LESSON 277.
Let me not bind Your Son with laws I made.
W-pII.277.1. <Your Son is free, my Father. 2 Let me not imagine I have bound him with
the laws I made to rule the body. 3 He is not subject to any laws I made by which I try to
make the body more secure. 4 He is not changed by what is changeable. 5 He is not slave
to any laws of time. 6 He is as You created him, because he knows no law except the law
of love.>
W-pII.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.
If I am bound, my Father is not free.
W-pII.278.1. If I accept that I am prisoner within a body, in a world in which all
things that seem to live appear to die, then is my Father prisoner with me. 2 And this do I
believe, when I maintain the laws the world obeys must I obey; the frailties and the sins
which I perceive are real, and cannot be escaped. 3 If I am bound in any way, I do not know
my Father nor my Self. 4 And I am lost to all reality. 5 For truth is free, and what is
bound is not a part of truth.
W-pII.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-pII.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-pII.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.
What limits can I lay upon God's Son?
W-pII.280.1. Whom God created limitless is free. 2 I can invent imprisonment for him,
but only in illusions, not in truth. 3 No Thought of God has left its Father's Mind. 4 No
Thought of God is limited at all. 5 No Thought of God but is forever pure. 6 Can I lay limits
on the Son of God, whose Father willed that he be limitless, and like Himself in freedom
and in love?
W-pII.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.>
7. What Is the Holy Spirit?
W-pII.7.1. The Holy Spirit mediates between illusions and the truth. 2 Since He must
bridge the gap between reality and dreams, perception leads to knowledge through the grace
that God has given Him, to be His gift to everyone who turns to Him for truth. 3 Across the
bridge that He provides are dreams all carried to the truth, to be dispelled before the
light of knowledge. 4 There are sights and sounds forever laid aside. 5 And where they
were perceived before, forgiveness has made possible perception's tranquil end.
W-pII.7.2. The goal the Holy Spirit's teaching sets is just this end of dreams. 2 For
sights and sounds must be translated from the witnesses of fear to those of love. 3 And when
this is entirely accomplished, learning has achieved the only goal it has in truth. 4 For
learning, as the Holy Spirit guides it to the outcome He perceives for it, becomes the means to
go beyond itself, to be replaced by the eternal truth.
W-pII.7.3. If you but knew how much your Father yearns to have you recognize your
sinlessness, you would not let His Voice appeal in vain, nor turn away from His replacement for
the fearful images and dreams you made. 2 The Holy Spirit understands the means you made,
by which you would attain what is forever unattainable. 3 And if you offer them to Him,
He will employ the means you made for exile to restore your mind to where it truly is at
home.
W-pII.7.4. From knowledge, where He has been placed by God, the Holy Spirit calls to
you, to let forgiveness rest upon your dreams, and be restored to sanity and peace of mind.
2 Without forgiveness will your dreams remain to terrify you. 3 And the memory of all
your Father's Love will not return to signify the end of dreams has come.
W-pII.7.5. Accept your Father's gift. 2 It is a Call from Love to Love, that It be but
Itself. 3 The Holy Spirit is His gift, by which the quietness of Heaven is restored to God's
beloved Son. 4 Would you refuse to take the function of completing God, when all He wills is
that you be complete?
LESSON 281.
I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.
W-pII.281.1. <Father, Your Son is perfect. 2 When I think that I am hurt in any way,
it is because I have forgotten who I am, and that I am as You created me. 3 Your Thoughts
can only bring me happiness. 4 If ever I am sad or hurt or ill, I have forgotten what
You think, and put my little meaningless ideas in place of where Your Thoughts belong, and
where they are. 5 I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts. 6 The Thoughts I think with
You can only bless. 7 The Thoughts I think with You alone are true.>
W-pII.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.
I will not be afraid of love today.
W-pII.282.1. If I could realize but this today, salvation would be reached for all the
world. 2 This the decision not to be insane, and to accept myself as God Himself, my Father
and my Source, created me. 3 This the determination not to be asleep in dreams of death,
while truth remains forever living in the joy of love. 4 And this the choice to recognize
the Self Whom God created as the Son He loves, and Who remains my one Identity.
W-pII.282.2. <Father, Your Name is Love and so is mine. 2 Such is the truth. 3 And can
the truth be changed by merely giving it another name? 4 The name of fear is simply a
mistake. 5 Let me not be afraid of truth today.>
LESSON 283.
My true Identity abides in You.
W-pII.283.1. <Father, I made an image of myself, and it is this I call the Son of God.
2 Yet is creation as it always was, for Your creation is unchangeable. 3 Let me not
worship idols. 4 I am he my Father loves. 5 My holiness remains the light of Heaven and the
Love of God. 6 Is not what is beloved of You secure? 7 Is not the light of Heaven infinite?
8 Is not Your Son my true Identity, when You created everything that is?>
W-pII.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.
I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.
W-pII.284.1. Loss is not loss when properly perceived. 2 Pain is impossible. 3 There is
no grief with any cause at all. 4 And suffering of any kind is nothing but a dream. 5
This is the truth, at first to be but said and then repeated many times; and next to be
accepted as but partly true, with many reservations. 6 Then to be considered seriously more and
more, and finally accepted as the truth. 7 I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.
8 And I would go beyond these words today, and past all reservations, and arrive at
full acceptance of the truth in them.
W-pII.284.2. <Father, what You have given cannot hurt, so grief and pain must be
impossible. 2 Let me not fail to trust in You today, accepting but the joyous as Your gifts;
accepting but the joyous as the truth.>
LESSON 285.
My holiness shines bright and clear today.
W-pII.285.1. Today I wake with joy, expecting but the happy things of God to come to me.
2 I ask but them to come, and realize my invitation will be answered by the thoughts
to which it has been sent by me. 3 And I will ask for only joyous things the instant I
accept my holiness. 4 For what would be the use of pain to me, what purpose would my
suffering fulfill, and how would grief and loss avail me if insanity departs from me today, and
I accept my holiness instead?
W-pII.285.2. <Father, my holiness is Yours. 2 Let me rejoice in it, and through
forgiveness be restored to sanity. 3 Your Son is still as You created him. 4 My holiness is part
of me, and also part of You. 5 And what can alter Holiness Itself?>
LESSON 286.
The hush of Heaven holds my heart today.
W-pII.286.1. <Father, how still today! 2 How quietly do all things fall in place! 3
This is the day that has been chosen as the time in which I come to understand the lesson
that there is no need that I do anything. 4 In You is every choice already made. 5 In You
has every conflict been resolved. 6 In You is everything I hope to find already given me.
7 Your peace is mine. 8 My heart is quiet, and my mind at rest. 9 Your Love is Heaven,
and Your Love is mine.>
W-pII.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.
You are my goal, my Father. Only You.
W-pII.287.1. Where would I go but Heaven? 2 What could be a substitute for happiness? 3
What gift could I prefer before the peace of God? 4 What treasure would I seek and find
and keep that can compare with my Identity? 5 And would I rather live with fear than
love?
W-pII.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.
Let me forget my brother's past today.
W-pII.288.1. <This is the thought that leads the way to You, and brings me to my goal.
2 I cannot come to You without my brother. 3 And to know my Source, I first must
recognize what You created one with me. 4 My brother's is the hand that leads me on the way to
You. 5 His sins are in the past along with mine, and I am saved because the past is gone.
6 Let me not cherish it within my heart, or I will lose the way to walk to You. 7 My
brother is my savior. 8 Let me not attack the savior You have given me. 9 But let me honor him
who bears Your Name, and so remember that It is my own.>
W-pII.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.
The past is over. It can touch me not.
W-pII.289.1. Unless the past is over in my mind, the real world must escape my sight. 2
For I am really looking nowhere; seeing but what is not there. 3 How can I then
perceive the world forgiveness offers? 4 This the past was made to hide, for this the world
that can be looked on only now. 5 It has no past. 6 For what can be forgiven but the past,
and if it is forgiven it is gone.
W-pII.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.
My present happiness is all I see.
W-pII.290.1. Unless I look upon what is not there, my present happiness is all I see. 2
Eyes that begin to open see at last. 3 And I would have Christ's vision come to me this
very day. 4 What I perceive without God's Own Correction for the sight I made is
frightening and painful to behold. 5 Yet I would not allow my mind to be deceived by the belief
the dream I made is real an instant longer. 6 This the day I seek my present happiness,
and look on nothing else except the thing I seek.
W-pII.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.>
8. What Is the Real World?
W-pII.8.1. The real world is a symbol, like the rest of what perception offers. 2 Yet
it stands for what is opposite to what you made. 3 Your world is seen through eyes of
fear, and brings the witnesses of terror to your mind. 4 The real world cannot be perceived
except through eyes forgiveness blesses, so they see a world where terror is impossible,
and witnesses to fear can not be found.
W-pII.8.2. The real world holds a counterpart for each unhappy thought reflected in
your world; a sure correction for the sights of fear and sounds of battle which your world
contains. 2 The real world shows a world seen differently, through quiet eyes and with a mind
at peace. 3 Nothing but rest is there. 4 There are no cries of pain and sorrow heard, for
nothing there remains outside forgiveness. 5 And the sights are gentle. 6 Only happy
sights and sounds can reach the mind that has forgiven itself.
W-pII.8.3. What need has such a mind for thoughts of death, attack and murder? 2 What
can it perceive surrounding it but safety, love and joy? 3 What is there it would choose
to be condemned, and what is there that it would judge against? 4 The world it sees
arises from a mind at peace within itself. 5 No danger lurks in anything it sees, for it is
kind, and only kindness does it look upon.
W-pII.8.4. The real world is the symbol that the dream of sin and guilt is over, and
God's Son no longer sleeps. 2 His waking eyes perceive the sure reflection of his Father's
Love; the certain promise that he is redeemed. 3 The real world signifies the end of time,
for its perception makes time purposeless.
W-pII.8.5. The Holy Spirit has no need of time when it has served His purpose. 2 Now He
waits but that one instant more for God to take His final step, and time has
disappeared, taking perception with it as it goes, and leaving but the truth to be itself. 3 That
instant is our goal, for it contains the memory of God. 4 And as we look upon a world forgiven,
it is He Who calls to us and comes to take us home, reminding us of our Identity which
our forgiveness has restored to us.
LESSON 291.
This is a day of stillness and of peace.
W-pII.291.1. Christ's vision looks through me today. 2 His sight shows me all things
forgiven and at peace, and offers this same vision to the world. 3 And I accept this vision in
its name, both for myself and for the world as well. 4 What loveliness we look upon today!
5 What holiness we see surrounding us! 6 And it is given us to recognize it is a
holiness in which we share; it is the Holiness of God Himself.
W-pII.291.2. <This day my mind is quiet, to receive the Thoughts You offer me. 2 And I
accept what comes from You, instead of from myself. 3 I do not know the way to You. 4
But You are wholly certain. 5 Father, guide Your Son along the quiet path that leads to
You. 6 Let my forgiveness be complete, and let the memory of You return to me.>
LESSON 292.
A happy outcome to all things is sure.
W-pII.292.1. God's promises make no exceptions. 2 And He guarantees that only joy can
be the final outcome found for everything. 3 Yet it is up to us when this is reached; how
long we let an alien will appear to be opposing His. 4 And while we think this will is
real, we will not find the end He has appointed as the outcome of all problems we perceive,
all trials we see, and every situation that we meet. 5 Yet is the ending certain. 6 For
God's Will is done in earth and Heaven. 7 We will seek and we will find according to
His Will, which guarantees that our will is done.
W-pII.292.2. <We thank You, Father, for Your guarantee of only happy outcomes in the
end. 2 Help us not interfere, and so delay the happy endings You have promised us for
every problem that we can perceive; for every trial we think we still must meet.>
LESSON 293.
All fear is past and only love is here.
W-pII.293.1. All fear is past, because its source is gone, and all its thoughts gone
with it. 2 Love remains the only present state, whose Source is here forever and forever. 3
Can the world seem bright and clear and safe and welcoming, with all my past mistakes
oppressing it, and showing me distorted forms of fear? 4 Yet in the present love is obvious, and
its effects apparent. 5 All the world shines in reflection of its holy light, and I
perceive a world forgiven at last.
W-pII.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.
My body is a wholly neutral thing.
W-pII.294.1. I am a Son of God. 2 And can I be another thing as well? 3 Did God create
the mortal and corruptible? 4 What use has God's beloved Son for what must die? 5 And yet
a neutral thing does not see death, for thoughts of fear are not invested there, nor is
a mockery of love bestowed upon it. 6 Its neutrality protects it while it has a use. 7
And afterwards, without a purpose, it is laid aside. 8 It is not sick nor old nor hurt. 9
It is but functionless, unneeded and cast off. 10 Let me not see it more than this today;
of service for a while and fit to serve, to keep its usefulness while it can serve, and
then to be replaced for greater good.
W-pII.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.
The Holy Spirit looks through me today.
W-pII.295.1. Christ asks that He may use my eyes today, and thus redeem the world. 2 He
asks this gift that He may offer peace of mind to me, and take away all terror and all
pain. 3 And as they are removed from me, the dreams that seemed to settle on the world are
gone. 4 Redemption must be one. 5 As I am saved, the world is saved with me. 6 For all of
us must be redeemed together. 7 Fear appears in many different forms, but love is one.
W-pII.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.
The Holy Spirit speaks through me today.
W-pII.296.1. <The Holy Spirit needs my voice today, that all the world may listen to
Your Voice, and hear Your Word through me. 2 I am resolved to let You speak through me, for
I would use no words but Yours, and have no thoughts which are apart from Yours, for
only Yours are true. 3 I would be savior to the world I made. 4 For having damned it I
would set it free, that I may find escape, and hear the Word Your holy Voice will speak to
me today.>
W-pII.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.
Forgiveness is the only gift I give.
W-pII.297.1. Forgiveness is the only gift I give, because it is the only gift I want. 2
And everything I give I give myself. 3 This is salvation's simple formula. 4 And I, who
would be saved, would make it mine, to be the way I live within a world that needs
salvation, and that will be saved as I accept Atonement for myself.
W-pII.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.
I love You, Father, and I love Your Son.
W-pII.298.1. My gratitude permits my love to be accepted without fear. 2 And thus am I
restored to my reality at last. 3 All that intruded on my holy sight forgiveness takes away. 4
And I draw near the end of senseless journeys, mad careers and artificial values. 5 I
accept instead what God establishes as mine, sure that in that alone I will be saved; sure
that I go through fear to meet my Love.
W-pII.298.2. <Father, I come to You today, because I would not follow any way but
Yours. 2 You are beside me. 3 Certain is Your way. 4 And I am grateful for Your holy gifts
of certain sanctuary, and escape from everything that would obscure my love for God my
Father and His holy Son.>
LESSON 299.
Eternal holiness abides in me.
W-pII.299.1. My holiness is far beyond my own ability to understand or know. 2 Yet God,
my Father, Who created it, acknowledges my holiness as His. 3 Our Will, together,
understands it. 4 And Our Will, together, knows that it is so.
W-pII.299.2. <Father, my holiness is not of me. 2 It is not mine to be destroyed by
sin. 3 It is not mine to suffer from attack. 4 Illusions can obscure it, but can not put
out its radiance, nor dim its light. 5 It stands forever perfect and untouched. 6 In it
are all things healed, for they remain as You created them. 7 And I can know my holiness.
8 For Holiness Itself created me, and I can know my Source because it is Your Will that
You be known.>
LESSON 300.
Only an instant does this world endure.
W-pII.300.1. This is a thought which can be used to say that death and sorrow are the
certain lot of all who come here, for their joys are gone before they are possessed, or even
grasped. 2 Yet this is also the idea that lets no false perception keep us in its hold, nor
represent more than a passing cloud upon a sky eternally serene. 3 And it is this serenity we
seek, unclouded, obvious and sure, today.
W-pII.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.>
9. What Is the Second Coming?
W-pII.9.1. Christ's Second Coming, which is sure as God, is merely the correction of
mistakes, and the return of sanity. 2 It is a part of the condition that restores the never
lost, and re-establishes what is forever and forever true. 3 It is the invitation to God's
Word to take illusion's place; the willingness to let forgiveness rest upon all things
without exception and without reserve.
W-pII.9.2. It is the all-inclusive nature of Christ's Second Coming that permits it to
embrace the world and hold you safe within its gentle advent, which encompasses all living
things with you. 2 There is no end to the release the Second Coming brings, as God's creation
must be limitless. 3 Forgiveness lights the Second Coming's way, because it shines on
everything as one. 4 And thus is oneness recognized at last.
W-pII.9.3. The Second Coming ends the lessons that the Holy Spirit teaches, making way
for the Last Judgment, in which learning ends in one last summary that will extend beyond
itself, and reaches up to God. 2 The Second Coming is the time in which all minds are given
to the hands of Christ, to be returned to spirit in the name of true creation and the
Will of God.
W-pII.9.4. The Second Coming is the one event in time which time itself can not affect.
2 For every one who ever came to die, or yet will come or who is present now, is
equally released from what he made. 3 In this equality is Christ restored as one Identity, in
which the Sons of God acknowledge that they all are one. 4 And God the Father smiles upon
His Son, His one creation and His only joy.
W-pII.9.5. Pray that the Second Coming will be soon, but do not rest with that. 2 It
needs your eyes and ears and hands and feet. 3 It needs your voice. 4 And most of all it
needs your willingness. 5 Let us rejoice that we can do God's Will, and join together in its
holy light. 6 Behold, the Son of God is one in us, and we can reach our Father's Love
through Him.
LESSON 301.
And God Himself shall wipe away all tears.
W-pII.301.1. <Father, unless I judge I cannot weep. 2 Nor can I suffer pain, or feel I
am abandoned or unneeded in the world. 3 This is my home because I judge it not, and
therefore is it only what You will. 4 Let me today behold it uncondemned, through happy eyes
forgiveness has released from all distortion. 5 Let me see Your world instead of mine. 6 And all
the tears I shed will be forgotten, for their source is gone. 7 Father, I will not judge
Your world today.>
W-pII.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.
Where darkness was I look upon the light.
W-pII.302.1. <Father, our eyes are opening at last. 2 Your holy world awaits us, as
our sight is finally restored and we can see. 3 We thought we suffered. 4 But we had
forgot the Son whom You created. 5 Now we see that darkness is our own imagining, and light
is there for us to look upon. 6 Christ's vision changes darkness into light, for fear
must disappear when love has come. 7 Let me forgive Your holy world today, that I may look
upon its holiness and understand it but reflects my own.>
W-pII.302.2. Our Love awaits us as we go to Him, and walks beside us showing us the way.
2 He fails in nothing. 3 He the End we seek, and He the Means by which we go to Him.
LESSON 303.
The holy Christ is born in me today.
W-pII.303.1. Watch with me, angels, watch with me today. 2 Let all God's holy Thoughts
surround me, and be still with me while Heaven's Son is born. 3 Let earthly sounds be quiet,
and the sights to which I am accustomed disappear. 4 Let Christ be welcomed where He is at
home. 5 And let Him hear the sounds He understands, and see but sights that show His
Father's Love. 6 Let Him no longer be a stranger here, for He is born again in me today.
W-pII.303.2. <Your Son is welcome, Father. 2 He has come to save me from the evil self
I made. 3 He is the Self that You have given me. 4 He is but what I really am in truth.
5 He is the Son You love above all things. 6 He is my Self as You created me. 7 It is
not Christ that can be crucified. 8 Safe in Your Arms let me receive Your Son.>
LESSON 304.
Let not my world obscure the sight of Christ.
W-pII.304.1. I can obscure my holy sight, if I intrude my world upon it. 2 Nor can I
behold the holy sights Christ looks upon, unless it is His vision that I use. 3 Perception is
a mirror, not a fact. 4 And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward. 5 I
would bless the world by looking on it through the eyes of Christ. 6 And I will look upon
the certain signs that all my sins have been forgiven me.
W-pII.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.
There is a peace that Christ bestows on us.
W-pII.305.1. Who uses but Christ's vision finds a peace so deep and quiet,
undisturbable and wholly changeless, that the world contains no counterpart. 2 Comparisons are still
before this peace. 3 And all the world departs in silence as this peace envelops it,
and gently carries it to truth, no more to be the home of fear. 4 For love has come, and
healed the world by giving it Christ's peace.
W-pII.305.2. <Father, the peace of Christ is given us, because it is Your Will that we
be saved. 2 Help us today but to accept Your gift, and judge it not. 3 For it has come
to us to save us from our judgment on ourselves.>
LESSON 306.
The gift of Christ is all I seek today.
W-pII.306.1. What but Christ's vision would I use today, when it can offer me a day in
which I see a world so like to Heaven that an ancient memory returns to me? 2 Today I can
forget the world I made. 3 Today I can go past all fear, and be restored to love and holiness
and peace. 4 Today I am redeemed, and born anew into a world of mercy and of care; of
loving kindness and the peace of God.
W-pII.306.2. <And so, our Father, we return to You, remembering we never went away;
remembering Your holy gifts to us. 2 In gratitude and thankfulness we come, with empty hands and
open hearts and minds, asking but what You give. 3 We cannot make an offering sufficient
for Your Son. 4 But in Your Love the gift of Christ is his.>
LESSON 307.
Conflicting wishes cannot be my will.
W-pII.307.1. <Father, Your Will is mine, and only that. 2 There is no other will for
me to have. 3 Let me not try to make another will, for it is senseless and will cause me
pain. 4 Your Will alone can bring me happiness, and only Yours exists. 5 If I would have
what only You can give, I must accept Your Will for me, and enter into peace where conflict
is impossible, Your Son is one with You in being and in will, and nothing contradicts
the holy truth that I remain as You created me.>
W-pII.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.
This instant is the only time there is.
W-pII.308.1. I have conceived of time in such a way that I defeat my aim. 2 If I elect
to reach past time to timelessness, I must change my perception of what time is for. 3
Time's purpose cannot be to keep the past and future one. 4 The only interval in which I can
be saved from time is now. 5 For in this instant has forgiveness come to set me free. 6
The birth of Christ is now, without a past or future. 7 He has come to give His present
blessing to the world, restoring it to timelessness and love. 8 And love is ever-present, here
and now.
W-pII.308.2. <Thanks for this instant, Father. 2 It is now I am redeemed. 3 This
instant is the time You have appointed for Your Son's release, and for salvation of the world
in him.>
LESSON 309.
I will not fear to look within today.
W-pII.309.1. Within me is eternal innocence, because it is God's Will that it be there
forever and forever. 2 I, His Son, whose will is limitless as is His Own, can will no change
in this. 3 For to deny my Father's Will is to deny my own. 4 To look within is but to
find my will as God created it, and as it is. 5 I fear to look within because I think I
made another will that is not true, and made it real. 6 Yet it has no effects. 7 Within me
is the Holiness of God. 8 Within me is the memory of Him.
W-pII.309.2. <The step I take today, my Father, is my sure release from idle dreams of
sin. 2 Your altar stands serene and undefiled. 3 It is the holy altar to my Self, and
there I find my true Identity.>
LESSON 310.
In fearlessness and love I spend today.
W-pII.310.1. <This day, my Father, would I spend with You, as You have chosen all my
days should be. 2 And what I will experience is not of time at all. 3 The joy that comes to
me is not of days nor hours, for it comes from Heaven to Your Son. 4 This day will be
Your sweet reminder to remember You, Your gracious calling to Your holy Son, the sign Your
grace has come to me, and that it is Your Will I be set free today.>
W-pII.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.
I judge all things as I would have them be.
W-pII.311.1. Judgment was made to be a weapon used against the truth. 2 It separates
what it is being used against, and sets it off as if it were a thing apart. 3 And then it
makes of it what you would have it be. 4 It judges what it cannot understand, because it
cannot see totality and therefore judges falsely. 5 Let us not use it today, but make a gift
of it to Him Who has a different use for it. 6 He will relieve us of the agony of all the
judgments we have made against ourselves, and re-establish peace of mind by giving us
God's Judgment of His Son.
W-pII.311.2. <Father, we wait with open mind today, to hear Your Judgment of the Son
You love. 2 We do not know him, and we cannot judge. 3 And so we let Your Love decide what
he whom You created as Your Son must be.>
LESSON 312.
I see all things as I would have them be.
W-pII.312.1. Perception follows judgment. 2 Having judged, we therefore see what we
would look upon. 3 For sight can merely serve to offer us what we would have. 4 It is
impossible to overlook what we would see, and fail to see what we have chosen to behold. 5 How
surely, therefore, must the real world come to greet the holy sight of anyone who takes the
Holy Spirit's purpose as his goal for seeing. 6 And he cannot fail to look upon what Christ
would have him see, and share Christ's Love for what he looks upon.
W-pII.312.2. <I have no purpose for today except to look upon a liberated world, set
free from all the judgments I have made. 2 Father, this is Your Will for me today, and
therefore it must be my goal as well.>
LESSON 313.
Now let a new perception come to me.
W-pII.313.1. <Father, there is a vision which beholds all things as sinless, so that
fear has gone, and where it was is love invited in. 2 And love will come wherever it is
asked. 3 This vision is Your gift. 4 The eyes of Christ look on a world forgiven. 5 In His
sight are all its sins forgiven, for He sees no sin in anything He looks upon. 6 Now let His
true perception come to me, that I may waken from the dream of sin and look within upon
my sinlessness, which You have kept completely undefiled upon the altar to Your holy
Son, the Self with which I would identify.>
W-pII.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.
I seek a future different from the past.
W-pII.314.1. From new perception of the world there comes a future very different from
the past. 2 The future now is recognized as but extension of the present. 3 Past mistakes
can cast no shadows on it, so that fear has lost its idols and its images, and being
formless, it has no effects. 4 Death will not claim the future now, for life is now its goal,
and all the needed means are happily provided. 5 Who can grieve or suffer when the present
has been freed, extending its security and peace into a quiet future filled with joy?
W-pII.314.2. <Father, we were mistaken in the past, and choose to use the present to
be free. 2 Now do we leave the future in Your Hands, leaving behind our past mistakes,
and sure that You will keep Your present promises, and guide the future in their holy
light.>
LESSON 315.
All gifts my brothers give belong to me.
W-pII.315.1. Each day a thousand treasures come to me with every passing moment. 2 I am
blessed with gifts throughout the day, in value far beyond all things of which I can
conceive. 3 A brother smiles upon another, and my heart is gladdened. 4 Someone speaks a word
of gratitude or mercy, and my mind receives this gift and takes it as its own. 5 And
everyone who finds the way to God becomes my savior, pointing out the way to me, and giving me
his certainty that what he learned is surely mine as well.
W-pII.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-pII.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.
W-pII.316.2. <Father, I would accept Your gifts today. 2 I do not recognize them. 3
Yet I trust that You Who gave them will provide the means by which I can behold them, see
their worth, and cherish only them as what I want.>
LESSON 317.
I follow in the way appointed me.
W-pII.317.1. I have a special place to fill; a role for me alone. 2 Salvation waits
until I take this part as what I choose to do. 3 Until I make this choice, I am the slave of
time and human destiny. 4 But when I willingly and gladly go the way my Father's plan
appointed me to go, then will I recognize salvation is already here, already given all my
brothers and already mine as well.
W-pII.317.2. <Father, Your way is what I choose today. 2 Where it would lead me do I
choose to go; what it would have me do I choose to do. 3 Your way is certain, and the end
secure. 4 The memory of You awaits me there. 5 And all my sorrows end in Your embrace, which
You have promised to Your Son, who thought mistakenly that he had wandered from the sure
protection of Your loving Arms.>
LESSON 318.
In me salvation's means and end are one.
W-pII.318.1. In me, God's holy Son, are reconciled all parts of Heaven's plan to save
the world. 2 What could conflict, when all the parts have but one purpose and one aim? 3
How could there be a single part that stands alone, or one of more or less importance than
the rest? 4 I am the means by which God's Son is saved, because salvation's purpose is
to find the sinlessness that God has placed in me. 5 I was created as the thing I seek. 6
I am the goal the world is searching for. 7 I am God's Son, His one eternal Love. 8 I
am salvation's means and end as well.
W-pII.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.
I came for the salvation of the world.
W-pII.319.1. Here is a thought from which all arrogance has been removed, and only
truth remains. 2 For arrogance opposes truth. 3 But when there is no arrogance the truth
will come immediately, and fill up the space the ego left unoccupied by lies. 4 Only the
ego can be limited, and therefore it must seek for aims which are curtailed and limiting.
5 The ego thinks that what one gains, totality must lose. 6 And yet it is the Will of
God I learn that what one gains is given unto all.
W-pII.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.
My Father gives all power unto me.
W-pII.320.1. The Son of God is limitless. 2 There are no limits on his strength, his
peace, his joy, nor any attributes his Father gave in his creation. 3 What he wills with his
Creator and Redeemer must be done. 4 His holy will can never be denied, because his
Father shines upon his mind, and lays before it all the strength and love in earth and Heaven.
5 I am he to whom all this is given. 6 I am he in whom the power of my Father's Will
abides.
W-pII.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.>
11. What Is Creation?
W-pII.11.1. Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts, in number infinite, and
everywhere without all limit. 2 Only love creates, and only like itself. 3 There was no time when
all that it created was not there. 4 Nor will there be a time when anything that it
created suffers any loss. 5 Forever and forever are God's Thoughts exactly as they were and as
they are, unchanged through time and after time is done.
W-pII.11.2. God's Thoughts are given all the power that their own Creator has. 2 For He
would add to love by its extension. 3 Thus His Son shares in creation, and must
therefore share in power to create. 4 What God has willed to be forever One will still be One
when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it
was before the thought of time began.
W-pII.11.3. Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth. 2
Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making
every part container of the whole. 3 Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate; forever
held within His holy Will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection and
of any spot upon its sinlessness.
W-pII.11.4. We are creation; we the Sons of God. 2 We seem to be discrete, and unaware
of our eternal unity with Him. 3 Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there
still is certainty. 4 For love remains with all its Thoughts, its sureness being theirs. 5
God's memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their
Creator. 6 Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God's Will be done
on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us.
W-pII.11.5. Our Father calls to us. 2 We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the
Name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose Holiness His Own creation shares; Whose
Holiness is still a part of us.
LESSON 321.
Father, my freedom is in You alone.
W-pII.321.1. <I did not understand what made me free, nor what my freedom is, nor
where to look to find it. 2 Father, I have searched in vain until I heard Your Voice
directing me. 3 Now I would guide myself no more. 4 For I have neither made nor understood the
way to find my freedom. 5 But I trust in You. 6 You Who endowed me with my freedom as Your
holy Son will not be lost to me. 7 Your Voice directs me, and the way to You is opening
and clear to me at last. 8 Father, my freedom is in You alone. 9 Father, it is my will
that I return.>
W-pII.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.
I can give up but what was never real.
W-pII.322.1. I sacrifice illusions; nothing more. 2 And as illusions go I find the
gifts illusions tried to hide, awaiting me in shining welcome, and in readiness to give
God's ancient messages to me. 3 His memory abides in every gift that I receive of Him. 4 And
every dream serves only to conceal the Self which is God's only Son, the likeness of
Himself, the Holy One Who still abides in Him forever, as He still abides in me.
W-pII.322.2. <Father, to You all sacrifice remains forever inconceivable. 2 And so I
cannot sacrifice except in dreams. 3 As You created me, I can give up nothing You gave me. 4
What You did not give has no reality. 5 What loss can I anticipate except the loss of fear,
and the return of love into my mind?>
LESSON 323.
I gladly make the "sacrifice" of fear.
W-pII.323.1. <Here is the only "sacrifice" You ask of Your beloved Son; You ask him to
give up all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely
let Your Love come streaming in to his awareness, healing him of pain, and giving him
Your Own eternal joy. 2 Such is the "sacrifice" You ask of me, and one I gladly make; the
only "cost" of restoration of Your memory to me, for the salvation of the world.>
W-pII.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.
I merely follow, for I would not lead.
W-pII.324.1. <Father, You are the One Who gave the plan for my salvation to me. 2 You
have set the way I am to go, the role to take, and every step in my appointed path. 3 I
cannot lose the way. 4 I can but choose to wander off a while, and then return. 5 Your loving
Voice will always call me back, and guide my feet aright. 6 My brothers all can follow
in the way I lead them. 7 Yet I merely follow in the way to You, as You direct me and
would have me go.>
W-pII.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.
All things I think I see reflect ideas.
W-pII.325.1. This is salvation's keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind,
which starts with my idea of what I want. 2 From there, the mind makes up an image of the
thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. 3 These images are
then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one's own. 4 From
insane wishes comes an insane world. 5 From judgment comes a world condemned. 6 And from
forgiving thoughts a gentle world comes forth, with mercy for the holy Son of God, to offer him
a kindly home where he can rest a while before he journeys on, and help his brothers
walk ahead with him, and find the way to Heaven and to God.
W-pII.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.
I am forever an Effect of God.
W-pII.326.1. <Father, I was created in Your Mind, a holy Thought that never left its
home. 2 I am forever Your Effect, and You forever and forever are my Cause. 3 As You
created me I have remained. 4 Where You established me I still abide. 5 And all Your
attributes abide in me, because it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause that Cause and
Its Effect are indistinguishable. 6 Let me know that I am an Effect of God, and so I have
the power to create like You. 7 And as it is in Heaven, so on earth. 8 Your plan I follow
here, and at the end I know that You will gather Your effects into the tranquil Heaven of
Your Love, where earth will vanish, and all separate thoughts unite in glory as the Son of
God.>
W-pII.326.2. Let us today behold earth disappear, at first transformed, and then,
forgiven, fade entirely into God's holy Will.
LESSON 327.
I need but call and You will answer me.
W-pII.327.1. I am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith. 2
For God has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself. 3 Let me but learn from
my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to me. 4 This is the
faith that will endure, and take me farther and still farther on the road that leads to Him.
5 For thus I will be sure that He has not abandoned me and loves me still, awaiting but
my call to give me all the help I need to come to Him.
W-pII.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.
I choose the second place to gain the first.
W-pII.328.1. What seems to be the second place is first, for all things we perceive are
upside down until we listen to the Voice for God. 2 It seems that we will gain autonomy
but by our striving to be separate, and that our independence from the rest of God's
creation is the way in which salvation is obtained. 3 Yet all we find is sickness, suffering
and loss and death. 4 This is not what our Father wills for us, nor is there any second to
His Will. 5 To join with His is but to find our own. 6 And since our will is His, it is
to Him that we must go to recognize our will.
W-pII.328.2. <There is no will but Yours. 2 And I am glad that nothing I imagine
contradicts what You would have me be. 3 It is Your Will that I be wholly safe, eternally at peace.
4 And happily I share that Will which You, my Father, gave as part of me.>
LESSON 329.
I have already chosen what You will.
W-pII.329.1. <Father, I thought I wandered from Your Will, defied it, broke its laws,
and interposed a second will more powerful than Yours. 2 Yet what I am in truth is but
Your Will, extended and extending. 3 This am I, and this will never change. 4 As You are
One, so am I one with You. 5 And this I chose in my creation, where my will became forever
one with Yours. 6 That choice was made for all eternity. 7 It cannot change, and be in
opposition to itself. 8 Father, my will is Yours. 9 And I am safe, untroubled and serene, in
endless joy, because it is Your Will that it be so.>
W-pII.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.
I will not hurt myself again today.
W-pII.330.1. Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function. 2 Why should we
attack our minds, and give them images of pain? 3 Why should we teach them they are powerless,
when God holds out His power and His Love, and bids them take what is already theirs?
4 The mind that is made willing to accept God's gifts has been restored to spirit, and
extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of God united with its own. 5 The Self which
God created cannot sin, and therefore cannot suffer. 6 Let us choose today that He be our
Identity, and thus escape forever from all things the dream of fear appears to offer us.
W-pII.330.2. <Father, Your Son can not be hurt. 2 And if we think we suffer, we but
fail to know our one Identity we share with You. 3 We would return to It today, to be made
free forever from all our mistakes, and to be saved from what we thought we were.>
12. What Is the Ego?
W-pII.12.1. The ego is idolatry; the sign of limited and separated self, born in a body,
doomed to suffer and to end its life in death. 2 It is the "will" that sees the Will
of God as enemy, and takes a form in which it is denied. 3 The ego is the "proof" that
strength is weak and love is fearful, life is really death, and what opposes God alone is true.
W-pII.12.2. The ego is insane. 2 In fear it stands beyond the Everywhere, apart from
All, in separation from the Infinite. 3 In its insanity it thinks it has become a victor
over God Himself. 4 And in its terrible autonomy it "sees" the Will of God has been
destroyed. 5 It dreams of punishment, and trembles at the figures in its dreams; its enemies,
who seek to murder it before it can ensure its safety by attacking them.
W-pII.12.3. The Son of God is egoless. 2 What can he know of madness and the death of
God, when he abides in Him? 3 What can he know of sorrow and of suffering, when he lives
in eternal joy? 4 What can he know of fear and punishment, of sin and guilt, of hatred
and attack, when all there is surrounding him is everlasting peace, forever conflict-free
and undisturbed, in deepest silence and tranquility?
W-pII.12.4. To know reality is not to see the ego and its thoughts, its works, its acts,
its laws and its beliefs, its dreams, its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and the
cost belief in it entails. 2 In suffering, the price for faith in it is so immense that
crucifixion of the Son of God is offered daily at its darkened shrine, and blood must flow before
the altar where its sickly followers prepare to die.
W-pII.12.5. Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light; the altar
to illusions to the shrine of Life Itself. 2 And peace will be restored forever to the
holy minds which God created as His Son, His dwelling place, His joy, His love, completely
His, completely one with Him.
LESSON 331.
There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.
W-pII.331.1. <How foolish, Father, to believe Your Son could cause himself to suffer!
2 Could he make a plan for his damnation, and be left without a certain way to his
release? 3 You love me, Father. 4 You could never leave me desolate, to die within a world of
pain and cruelty. 5 How could I think that Love has left Itself? 6 There is no will except
the Will of Love. 7 Fear is a dream, and has no will that can conflict with Yours. 8
Conflict is sleep, and peace awakening. 9 Death is illusion; life, eternal truth. 10 There is
no opposition to Your Will. 11 There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.>
W-pII.331.2. Forgiveness shows us that God's Will is One, and that we share it. 2 Let
us look upon the holy sights forgiveness shows today, that we may find the peace of God.
3 Amen.
LESSON 332.
Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free.
W-pII.332.1. The ego makes illusions. 2 Truth undoes its evil dreams by shining them
away. 3 Truth never makes attack. 4 It merely is. 5 And by its presence is the mind
recalled from fantasies, awaking to the real. 6 Forgiveness bids this presence enter in, and
take its rightful place within the mind. 7 Without forgiveness is the mind in chains,
believing in its own futility. 8 Yet with forgiveness does the light shine through the dream of
darkness, offering it hope, and giving it the means to realize the freedom that is its
inheritance.
W-pII.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.
Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here.
W-pII.333.1. Conflict must be resolved. 2 It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied,
disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it
would be escaped. 3 It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the
reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. 4 For only
then are its defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears.
W-pII.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.
Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.
W-pII.334.1. I will not wait another day to find the treasures that my Father offers me.
2 Illusions are all vain, and dreams are gone even while they are woven out of
thoughts that rest on false perceptions. 3 Let me not accept such meager gifts again today. 4
God's Voice is offering the peace of God to all who hear and choose to follow Him. 5 This is
my choice today. 6 And so I go to find the treasures God has given me.
W-pII.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.
I choose to see my brother's sinlessness.
W-pII.335.1. Forgiveness is a choice. 2 I never see my brother as he is, for that is
far beyond perception. 3 What I see in him is merely what I wish to see, because it stands
for what I want to be the truth. 4 It is to this alone that I respond, however much I
seem to be impelled by outside happenings. 5 I choose to see what I would look upon, and
this I see, and only this. 6 My brother's sinlessness shows me that I would look upon my
own. 7 And I will see it, having chosen to behold my brother in its holy light.
W-pII.335.2. <What could restore Your memory to me, except to see my brother's
sinlessness? 2 His holiness reminds me that he was created one with me, and like myself. 3 In him
I find my Self, and in Your Son I find the memory of You as well.>
LESSON 336.
Forgiveness lets me know that minds are joined.
W-pII.336.1. Forgiveness is the means appointed for perception's ending. 2 Knowledge is
restored after perception first is changed, and then gives way entirely to what remains
forever past its highest reach. 3 For sights and sounds, at best, can serve but to
recall the memory that lies beyond them all. 4 Forgiveness sweeps away distortions, and opens
the hidden altar to the truth. 5 Its lilies shine into the mind, and call it to return
and look within, to find what it has vainly sought without. 6 For here, and only here, is
peace of mind restored, for this the dwelling place of God Himself.
W-pII.336.2. <In quiet may forgiveness wipe away my dreams of separation and of sin. 2
Then let me, Father, look within, and find Your promise of my sinlessness is kept; Your
Word remains unchanged within my mind, Your Love is still abiding in my heart.>
LESSON 337.
My sinlessness protects me from all harm.
W-pII.337.1. My sinlessness ensures me perfect peace, eternal safety, everlasting love,
freedom forever from all thought of loss; complete deliverance from suffering. 2 And
only happiness can be my state, for only happiness is given me. 3 What must I do to know
all this is mine? 4 I must accept Atonement for myself, and nothing more. 5 God has
already done all things that need be done. 6 And I must learn I need do nothing of myself, for
I need but accept my Self, my sinlessness, created for me, now already mine, to feel
God's Love protecting me from harm, to understand my Father loves His Son; to know I am the
Son my Father loves.
W-pII.337.2. <You Who created me in sinlessness are not mistaken about what I am. 2 I
was mistaken when I thought I sinned, but I accept Atonement for myself. 3 Father, my
dream is ended now. 4 Amen.>
LESSON 338.
I am affected only by my thoughts.
W-pII.338.1. It needs but this to let salvation come to all the world. 2 For in this
single thought is everyone released at last from fear. 3 Now has he learned that no one
frightens him, and nothing can endanger him. 4 He has no enemies, and he is safe from all
external things. 5 His thoughts can frighten him, but since these thoughts belong to him alone,
he has the power to change them and exchange each fear thought for a happy thought of
love. 6 He crucified himself. 7 Yet God has planned that His beloved Son will be redeemed.
W-pII.338.2. <Your plan is sure, my Father,--only Yours. 2 All other plans will fail.
3 And I will have thoughts that will frighten me, until I learn that You have given me
the only Thought that leads me to salvation. 4 Mine alone will fail, and lead me nowhere.
5 But the Thought You gave me promises to lead me home, because it holds Your promise to
Your Son.>
LESSON 339.
I will receive whatever I request.
W-pII.339.1. No one desires pain. 2 But he can think that pain is pleasure. 3 No one
would avoid his happiness. 4 But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and dangerous.
5 Everyone will receive what he requests. 6 But he can be confused indeed about the
things he wants; the state he would attain. 7 What can he then request that he would want
when he receives it? 8 He has asked for what will frighten him, and bring him suffering. 9
Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want, and only this, that we may spend this
day in fearlessness, without confusing pain with joy, or fear with love.
W-pII.339.2. <Father, this is Your day. 2 It is a day in which I would do nothing by
myself, but hear Your Voice in everything I do; requesting only what You offer me, accepting
only Thoughts You share with me.>
LESSON 340.
I can be free of suffering today.
W-pII.340.1. <Father, I thank You for today, and for the freedom I am certain it will
bring. 2 This day is holy, for today Your Son will be redeemed. 3 His suffering is done. 4
For he will hear Your Voice directing him to find Christ's vision through forgiveness, and
be free forever from all suffering. 5 Thanks for today, my Father. 6 I was born into
this world but to achieve this day, and what it holds in joy and freedom for Your holy Son
and for the world he made, which is released along with him today.>
W-pII.340.2. Be glad today! 2 Be glad! 3 There is no room for anything but joy and
thanks today. 4 Our Father has redeemed His Son this day. 5 Not one of us but will be saved
today. 6 Not one who will remain in fear, and none the Father will not gather to Himself,
awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love.
13. What Is a Miracle?
W-pII.13.1. A miracle is a correction. 2 It does not create, nor really change at all.
3 It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. 4 It
undoes error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the function of
forgiveness. 5 Thus it stays within time's limits. 6 Yet it paves the way for the return of
timelessness and love's awakening, for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.
W-pII.13.2. A miracle contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one.
2 And thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it fails
entirely to understand its ways. 3 A miracle inverts perception which was upside down before,
and thus it ends the strange distortions that were manifest. 4 Now is perception open to
the truth. 5 Now is forgiveness seen as justified.
W-pII.13.3. Forgiveness is the home of miracles. 2 The eyes of Christ deliver them to
all they look upon in mercy and in love. 3 Perception stands corrected in His sight, and
what was meant to curse has come to bless. 4 Each lily of forgiveness offers all the world
the silent miracle of love. 5 And each is laid before the Word of God, upon the universal
altar to Creator and creation in the light of perfect purity and endless joy.
W-pII.13.4. The miracle is taken first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind
has been made ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. 2 Yet
faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really there. 3 And thus
the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it rested on a world more real than
what you saw before; a world redeemed from what you thought was there.
W-pII.13.5. Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty
world, where starved and thirsty creatures come to die. 2 Now they have water. 3 Now the
world is green. 4 And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is born can
never die, for what has life has immortality.
LESSON 341.
I can attack but my own sinlessness,
And it is only that which keeps me safe.
W-pII.341.1. <Father, Your Son is holy. 2 I am he on whom You smile in love and
tenderness so dear and deep and still the universe smiles back on You, and shares Your Holiness.
3 How pure, how safe, how holy, then, are we, abiding in Your Smile, with all Your Love
bestowed upon us, living one with You, in brotherhood and Fatherhood complete; in sinlessness
so perfect that the Lord of Sinlessness conceives us as His Son, a universe of Thought
completing Him.>
W-pII.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.
I let forgiveness rest upon all things,
For thus forgiveness will be given me.
W-pII.342.1. <I thank You, Father, for Your plan to save me from the hell I made. 2 It
is not real. 3 And You have given me the means to prove its unreality to me. 4 The key
is in my hand, and I have reached the door beyond which lies the end of dreams. 5 I stand
before the gate of Heaven, wondering if I should enter in and be at home. 6 Let me not
wait again today. 7 Let me forgive all things, and let creation be as You would have it be
and as it is. 8 Let me remember that I am Your Son, and opening the door at last, forget
illusions in the blazing light of truth, as memory of You returns to me.>
W-pII.342.2. Brother, forgive me now. 2 I come to you to take you home with me. 3 And
as we go, the world goes with us on our way to God.
LESSON 343.
I am not asked to make a sacrifice
To find the mercy and the peace of God.
W-pII.343.1. <The end of suffering can not be loss. 2 The gift of everything can be
but gain. 3 You only give. 4 You never take away. 5 And You created me to be like You, so
sacrifice becomes impossible for me as well as You. 6 I, too, must give. 7 And so all things are
given unto me forever and forever. 8 As I was created I remain. 9 Your Son can make no
sacrifice, for he must be complete, having the function of completing You. 10 I am complete
because I am Your Son. 11 I cannot lose, for I can only give, and everything is mine eternally.
>
W-pII.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.
Today I learn the law of love; that what
I give my brother is my gift to me.
W-pII.344.1. <This is Your law, my Father, not my own. 2 I have not understood what
giving means, and thought to save what I desired for myself alone. 3 And as I looked upon the
treasure that I thought I had, I found an empty place where nothing ever was or is or
will be. 4 Who can share a dream? 5 And what can an illusion offer me? 6 Yet he whom I
forgive will give me gifts beyond the worth of anything on earth. 7 Let my forgiven brothers
fill my store with Heaven's treasures, which alone are real. 8 Thus is the law of love
fulfilled. 9 And thus Your Son arises and returns to You.>
W-pII.344.2. How near we are to one another, as we go to God. 2 How near is He to us. 3
How close the ending of the dream of sin, and the redemption of the Son of God.
LESSON 345.
I offer only miracles today,
For I would have them be returned to me.
W-pII.345.1. <Father, a miracle reflects Your gifts to me, Your Son. 2 And every one I
give returns to me, reminding me the law of love is universal. 3 Even here, it takes a
form which can be recognized and seen to work. 4 The miracles I give are given back in just
the form I need to help me with the problems I perceive. 5 Father, in Heaven it is
different, for there, there are no needs. 6 But here on earth, the miracle is closer to Your
gifts than any other gift that I can give. 7 Then let me give this gift alone today, which,
born of true forgiveness, lights the way that I must travel to remember You.>
W-pII.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.
Today the peace of God envelops me,
And I forget all things except His Love.
W-pII.346.1. <Father, I wake today with miracles correcting my perception of all
things. 2 And so begins the day I share with You as I will share eternity, for time has
stepped aside today. 3 I do not seek the things of time, and so I will not look upon them. 4
What I seek today transcends all laws of time and things perceived in time. 5 I would
forget all things except Your Love. 6 I would abide in You, and know no laws except Your law
of love. 7 And I would find the peace which You created for Your Son, forgetting all the
foolish toys I made as I behold Your glory and my own.>
W-pII.346.2. And when the evening comes today, we will remember nothing but the peace
of God. 2 For we will learn today what peace is ours, when we forget all things except
God's Love.
LESSON 347.
Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is
The weapon I would use against myself,
To keep the miracle away from me.
W-pII.347.1. <Father, I want what goes against my will, and do not want what is my
will to have. 2 Straighten my mind, my Father. 3 It is sick. 4 But You have offered freedom,
and I choose to claim Your gift today. 5 And so I give all judgment to the One You
gave to me to judge for me. 6 He sees what I behold, and yet He knows the truth. 7 He looks
on pain, and yet He understands it is not real, and in His understanding it is healed.
8 He gives the miracles my dreams would hide from my awareness. 9 Let Him judge today.
10 I do not know my will, but He is sure it is Your Own. 11 And He will speak for me, and
call Your miracles to come to me.>
W-pII.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.
I have no cause for anger or for fear,
For You surround me. And in every need
That I perceive, Your grace suffices me.
W-pII.348.1. <Father, let me remember You are here, and I am not alone. 2 Surrounding
me is everlasting Love. 3 I have no cause for anything except the perfect peace and joy I
share with You. 4 What need have I for anger or for fear? 5 Surrounding me is perfect
safety. 6 Can I be afraid, when Your eternal promise goes with me? 7 Surrounding me is
perfect sinlessness. 8 What can I fear, when You created me in holiness as perfect as Your Own?
>
W-pII.348.2. God's grace suffices us in everything that He would have us do. 2 And only
that we choose to be our will as well as His.
LESSON 349.
Today I let Christ's vision look upon
All things for me and judge them not, but give
Each one a miracle of love instead.
W-pII.349.1. <So would I liberate all things I see, and give to them the freedom that
I seek. 2 For thus do I obey the law of love, and give what I would find and make my own.
3 It will be given me, because I have chosen it as the gift I want to give. 4 Father,
Your gifts are mine. 5 Each one that I accept gives me a miracle to give. 6 And giving as I
would receive, I learn Your healing miracles belong to me.>
W-pII.349.2. Our Father knows our needs. 2 He gives us grace to meet them all. 3 And so
we trust in Him to send us miracles to bless the world, and heal our minds as we return
to Him.
LESSON 350.
Miracles mirror God's eternal Love.
To offer them is to remember Him,
And through His memory to save the world.
W-pII.350.1. <What we forgive becomes a part of us, as we perceive ourselves. 2 The
Son of God incorporates all things within himself as You created him. 3 Your memory
depends on his forgiveness. 4 What he is, is unaffected by his thoughts. 5 But what he looks
upon is their direct result. 6 Therefore, my Father, I would turn to You. 7 Only Your
memory will set me free. 8 And only my forgiveness teaches me to let Your memory return to me,
and give it to the world in thankfulness.>
W-pII.350.2. And as we gather miracles from Him, we will indeed be grateful. 2 For as
we remember Him, His Son will be restored to us in the reality of Love.
14. What Am I?
W-pII.14.1. <I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection
of His Love. 2 In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. 3 In me is
love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. 4 I am the holy home
of God Himself. 5 I am the Heaven where His Love resides. 6 I am His holy Sinlessness
Itself, for in my purity abides His Own.>
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.
My sinless brother is my guide to peace.
My sinful brother is my guide to pain.
And which I choose to see I will behold.
W-pII.351.1. <Who is my brother but Your holy Son? 2 And if I see him sinful I
proclaim myself a sinner, not a Son of God; alone and friendless in a fearful world. 3 Yet this
perception is a choice I make, and can relinquish. 4 I can also see my brother sinless,
as Your holy Son. 5 And with this choice I see my sinlessness, my everlasting Comforter
and Friend beside me, and my way secure and clear. 6 Choose, then, for me, my Father,
through Your Voice. 7 For He alone gives judgment in Your Name.>
LESSON 352.
Judgment and love are opposites. From one
Come all the sorrows of the world. But from
The other comes the peace of God Himself.
W-pII.352.1. <Forgiveness looks on sinlessness alone, and judges not. 2 Through this I
come to You. 3 Judgment will bind my eyes and make me blind. 4 Yet love, reflected in
forgiveness here, reminds me You have given me a way to find Your peace again. 5 I am redeemed
when I elect to follow in this way. 6 You have not left me comfortless. 7 I have within me
both the memory of You, and One Who leads me to it. 8 Father, I would hear Your Voice and
find Your peace today. 9 For I would love my own Identity, and find in It the memory of You.
>
LESSON 353.
My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today
Have but one purpose; to be given Christ
To use to bless the world with miracles.
W-pII.353.1. <Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use in any way that
best will serve the purpose that I share with Him. 2 Nothing is mine alone, for He and I
have joined in purpose. 3 Thus has learning come almost to its appointed end. 4 A while I
work with Him to serve His purpose. 5 Then I lose myself in my Identity, and recognize that
Christ is but my Self.>
LESSON 354.
We stand together, Christ and I, in peace
And certainty of purpose. And in Him
Is His Creator, as He is in me.
W-pII.354.1. <My oneness with the Christ establishes me as Your Son, beyond the reach
of time, and wholly free of every law but Yours. 2 I have no self except the Christ in me.
3 I have no purpose but His Own. 4 And He is like His Father. 5 Thus must I be one
with You as well as Him. 6 For who is Christ except Your Son as You created Him? 7 And what
am I except the Christ in me?>
LESSON 355.
There is no end to all the peace and joy,
And all the miracles that I will give,
When I accept God's Word. Why not today?
W-pII.355.1. <Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? 2 For You
will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. 3 I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I
need but reach out my hand to find it. 4 Even now my fingers touch it. 5 It is very
close. 6 I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever. 7 It is You I choose, and
my Identity along with You. 8 Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and
Creator, and his Love.>
LESSON 356.
Sickness is but another name for sin.
Healing is but another name for God.
The miracle is thus a call to Him.
W-pII.356.1. <Father, You promised You would never fail to answer any call Your Son
might make to You. 2 It does not matter where he is, what seems to be his problem, nor what
he believes he has become. 3 He is Your Son, and You will answer him. 4 The miracle
reflects Your Love, and thus it answers him. 5 Your Name replaces every thought of sin, and who
is sinless cannot suffer pain. 6 Your Name gives answer to Your Son, because to call
Your Name is but to call his own.>
LESSON 357.
Truth answers every call we make to God,
Responding first with miracles, and then
Returning unto us to be itself.
W-pII.357.1. <Forgiveness, truth's reflection, tells me how to offer miracles, and
thus escape the prison house in which I think I live. 2 Your holy Son is pointed out to me,
first in my brother; then in me. 3 Your Voice instructs me patiently to hear Your Word,
and give as I receive. 4 And as I look upon Your Son today, I hear Your Voice
instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall be: 5 "Behold his
sinlessness, and be you healed.>"
LESSON 358.
No call to God can be unheard nor left
Unanswered. And of this I can be sure;
His answer is the one I really want.
W-pII.358.1. <You Who remember what I really am alone remember what I really want. 2
You speak for God, and so You speak for me. 3 And what You give me comes from God Himself.
4 Your Voice, my Father, then is mine as well, and all I want is what You offer me, in
just the form You choose that it be mine. 5 Let me remember all I do not know, and let my
voice be still, remembering. 6 But let me not forget Your Love and care, keeping Your
promise to Your Son in my awareness always. 7 Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self
is all.>
LESSON 359.
God's answer is some form of peace. All pain
Is healed; all misery replaced with joy.
All prison doors are opened. And all sin
Is understood as merely a mistake.
W-pII.359.1. <Father, today we will forgive Your world, and let creation be Your Own.
2 We have misunderstood all things. 3 But we have not made sinners of the holy Sons of
God. 4 What You created sinless so abides forever and forever. 5 Such are we. 6 And we
rejoice to learn that we have made mistakes which have no real effects on us. 7 Sin is
impossible, and on this fact forgiveness rests upon a certain base more solid than the shadow
world we see. 8 Help us forgive, for we would be redeemed. 9 Help us forgive, for we would
be at peace.>
LESSON 360.
Peace be to me, the holy Son of God.
Peace to my brother, who is one with me.
Let all the world be blessed with peace through us.
W-pII.360.1. <Father, it is Your peace that I would give, receiving it of You. 2 I am
Your Son, forever just as You created me, for the Great Rays remain forever still and
undisturbed within me. 3 I would reach to them in silence and in certainty, for nowhere else can
certainty be found. 4 Peace be to me, and peace to all the world. 5 In holiness were we created,
and in holiness do we remain. 6 Your Son is like to You in perfect sinlessness. 7 And
with this thought we gladly say "Amen.">
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.
LESSONS 361 to 365.
This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.
W-pII.361-5.1. And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. 2 If I need a
thought, that will He also give. 3 And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind,
these are the gifts I will receive of Him. 4 He is in charge by my request. 5 And He will
hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son.
EPILOGUE
W.ep.1. This course is a beginning, not an end. 2 Your Friend goes with you. 3 You are
not alone. 4 No one who calls on Him can call in vain. 5 Whatever troubles you, be certain
that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and
ask it of Him. 6 He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to
trouble you. 7 He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts. 8 His
certainty is yours. 9 You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you.
W.ep.2. You are as certain of arriving home as is the pathway of the sun laid down
before it rises, after it has set, and in the half-lit hours in between. 2 Indeed, your
pathway is more certain still. 3 For it can not be possible to change the course of those whom
God has called to Him. 4 Therefore obey your will, and follow Him Whom you accepted as
your voice, to speak of what you really want and really need. 5 His is the Voice for God
and also yours. 6 And thus He speaks of freedom and of truth.
W.ep.3. No more specific lessons are assigned, for there is no more need of them. 2
Henceforth, hear but the Voice for God and for your Self when you retire from the world, to seek
reality instead. 3 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. 4 His is the Word that God has given you. 5 His is the Word you chose to be your
own.
W.ep.4. And now I place you in His hands, to be His faithful follower, with Him as
Guide through every difficulty and all pain that you may think is real. 2 Nor will He give
you pleasures that will pass away, for He gives only the eternal and the good. 3 Let Him
prepare you further. 4 He has earned your trust by speaking daily to you of your Father and
your brother and your Self. 5 He will continue. 6 Now you walk with Him, as certain as is
He of where you go; as sure as He of how you should proceed; as confident as He is of the
goal, and of your safe arrival in the end.
W.ep.5. The end is certain, and the means as well. 2 To this we say "Amen." 3 You will
be told exactly what God wills for you each time there is a choice to make. 4 And He will
speak for God and for your Self, thus making sure that hell will claim you not, and
that each choice you make brings Heaven nearer to your reach. 5 And so we walk with Him
from this time on, and turn to Him for guidance and for peace and sure direction. 6 Joy
attends our way. 7 For we go homeward to an open door which God has held unclosed to welcome
us.
W.ep.6. We trust our ways to Him and say "Amen." 2 In peace we will continue in His way,
and trust all things to Him. 3 In confidence we wait His answers, as we ask His Will
in everything we do. 4 He loves God's Son as we would love him. 5 And He teaches us how
to behold him through His eyes, and love him as He does. 6 You do not walk alone. 7 God's
angels hover near and all about. 8 His Love surrounds you, and of this be sure; that I
will never leave you comfortless.