A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume 3eCLARIFICATION OF
TERMS
Practice Song of Prayer
FOUNDATION FOR INNER PEACE
Published by the Foundation for Inner Peace P.O. Box 598, Mill
Valley, CA 94942
www.acim.org
Combined Volume (Third Edition) copyrighted 2007 by the Foundation
for A Course in Miracles, www.facim.org Portions also independently
copyrighted
All right reserved. No copyrighted portions or aspects of this book
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
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or by any information or retrieval system, without prior written
permission of the Foundation for A Course in Miracles, 41397
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A Course in Miracles was first published in three volumes in June,
1976 by the Foundation for Inner Peace
ISBN 978-1-883360-35-1 978-1-883360-25-2 Hard cover ISBN
978-1-883360-24-5 Soft cover & Kindle Version ISBN
978-1-883360-26-9 Mass Market Paperback
Back Cover
The Combined Volume, Third Edition of A Course in Miracles is the
only edition that contains in one place all of the writings that
Dr. Helen Schucman, its scribe, authorized to be printed. It is
published solely by the Foundation for Inner Peace, the
organization chosen by Dr. Schucman in 1975 for this purpose. This
Combined Volume also includes the Supplements to A Course in
Miracles: “Psychology: Purpose, Process and Practice” and “The Song
of Prayer.” These sections are extensions of the Course principles,
which were dictated to Dr. Schucman shortly after she completed A
Course in Miracles.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents: Preface Table of Contents: Text Table of
Contents: Workbook Lessons 1-120) Table of Contents: Workbook
(Lessons 121-240) Table of Contents: Workbook (Lessons 241-365)
Table of Contents: Manual for Teachers Table of Contents:
Clarification of Terms Table of Contents: Psychotherpay Table of
Contents: Song of Prayer
PREFACE
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
TEXT
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1. THE MEANING OF MIRACLES I. Principles of Miracles II.
Revelation, Time and Miracles III. Atonement and Miracles IV. The
Escape from Darkness V. Wholeness and Spirit VI. The Illusion of
Needs VII. Distortions of Miracle Impulses
Chapter 2. THE SEPARATION AND THE ATONEMENT I. The Origins of
Separation II. The Atonement as Defense III. The Altar of God IV.
Healing as Release from Fear V. The Function of the Miracle Worker
A. Special Principles of Miracle Workers
VI. Fear and Conflict VII. Cause and Effect VIII. The Meaning of
the Last Judgment
Chapter 3. THE INNOCENT PERCEPTION I. Atonement without Sacrifice
II. Miracles as True Perception III. Perception versus Knowledge
IV. Error and the Ego V. Beyond Perception VI. Judgment and the
Authority Problem VII. Creating versus the Self-Image
Chapter 4. THE ILLUSIONS OF THE EGO Introduction I. Right Teaching
and Right Learning II. The Ego and False Autonomy III. Love without
Conflict IV. This Need Not Be V. The Ego-Body Illusion VI. The
Rewards of God VII. Creation and Communication
Chapter 5. HEALING AND WHOLENESS Introduction I. The Invitation to
the Holy Spirit
II. The Voice for God III. The Guide to Salvation IV. Teaching and
Healing V. The Ego’s Use of Guilt VI. Time and Eternity VII. The
Decision for God
Chapter 6. THE LESSONS OF LOVE Introduction I. The Message of the
Crucifixion II. The Alternative to Projection III. The
Relinquishment of Attack IV. The Only Answer V. The Lessons of the
Holy Spirit A. To Have, Give All to All B. To Have Peace, Teach
Peace to Learn It C. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom
Chapter 7. THE GIFTS OF THE KINGDOM I. The Last Step II. The Law of
the Kingdom III. The Reality of the Kingdom IV. Healing as the
Recognition of Truth V. Healing and the Changelessness of Mind VI.
From Vigilance to Peace VII. The Totality of the Kingdom VIII. The
Unbelievable Belief
IX. The Extension of the Kingdom X. The Confusion of Pain and Joy
XI. The State of Grace
Chapter 8. THE JOURNEY BACK I. The Direction of the Curriculum II.
The Difference between Imprisonment and Freedom III. The Holy
Encounter IV. The Gift of Freedom V. The Undivided Will of the
Sonship VI. The Treasure of God VII. The Body as a Means of
Communication VIII. The Body as Means or End IX. Healing as
Corrected Perception
Chapter 9. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ATONEMENT I. The Acceptance of
Reality II. The Answer to Prayer III. The Correction of Error IV.
The Holy Spirit’s Plan of Forgiveness V. The Unhealed Healer VI.
The Acceptance of Your Brother VII. The Two Evaluations VIII.
Grandeur versus Grandiosity
Chapter 10.
THE IDOLS OF SICKNESS Introduction I. At Home in God II. The
Decision to Forget III. The God of Sickness IV. The End of Sickness
V. The Denial of God
Chapter 11. GOD OR THE EGO Introduction I. The Gifts of Fatherhood
II. The Invitation to Healing III. From Darkness to Light IV. The
Inheritance of God’s Son V. The “Dynamics” of the Ego VI. Waking to
Redemption VII. The Condition of Reality VIII. The Problem and the
Answer
Chapter 12. THE HOLY SPIRIT’S CURRICULUM I. The Judgment of the
Holy Spirit II. The Way to Remember God III. The Investment in
Reality IV. Seeking and Finding V. The Sane Curriculum VI. The
Vision of Christ VII. Looking Within
VIII. The Attraction of Love for Love
Chapter 13. THE GUILTLESS WORLD Introduction I. Guiltlessness and
Invulnerability II. The Guiltless Son of God III. The Fear of
Redemption IV. The Function of Time V. The Two Emotions VI. Finding
the Present VII. Attainment of the Real World VIII. From Perception
to Knowledge IX. The Cloud of Guilt X. Release from Guilt XI. The
Peace of Heaven
Chapter 14. TEACHING FOR TRUTH Introduction I. The Conditions of
Learning II. The Happy Learner III. The Decision for Guiltlessness
IV. Your Function in the Atonement V. The Circle of Atonement VI.
The Light of Communication VII. Sharing Perception with the Holy
Spirit VIII. The Holy Meeting Place IX. The Reflection of
Holiness
X. The Equality of Miracles XI. The Test of Truth
Chapter 15. THE HOLY INSTANT I. The Two Uses of Time II. The End of
Doubt III. Littleness versus Magnitude IV. Practicing the Holy
Instant V. The Holy Instant and Special Relationships VI. The Holy
Instant and the Laws of God VII. The Needless Sacrifice VIII. The
Only Real Relationship IX. The Holy Instant and the Attraction of
God X. The Time of Rebirth XI. Christmas as the End of
Sacrifice
Chapter 16. THE FORGIVENESS OF ILLUSIONS I. True Empathy II. The
Power of Holiness III. The Reward of Teaching IV. The Illusion and
the Reality of Love V. The Choice for Completion VI. The Bridge to
the Real World VII. The End of Illusions
Chapter 17. FORGIVENESS AND THE HOLY
RELATIONSHIP I. Bringing Fantasy to Truth II. The Forgiven World
III. Shadows of the Past IV. The Two Pictures V. The Healed
Relationship VI. Setting the Goal VII. The Call for Faith VIII. The
Conditions of Peace
Chapter 18. THE PASSING OF THE DREAM I. The Substitute Reality II.
The Basis of the Dream III. Light in the Dream IV. The Little
Willingness V. The Happy Dream VI. Beyond the Body VII. I Need Do
Nothing VIII. The Little Garden IX. The Two Worlds
Chapter 19. THE ATTAINMENT OF PEACE I. Healing and Faith II. Sin
versus Error III. The Unreality of Sin IV. The Obstacles to Peace
A. The First Obstacle: The Desire to Get Rid of It
i. The Attraction of Guilt B. The Second Obstacle: The Belief the
Body is Valuable for What It Offers i. The Attraction of Pain C.
The Third Obstacle: The Attraction of Death i. The Incorruptible
Body D. The Fourth Obstacle: The Fear of God i. The Lifting of the
Veil
Chapter 20. THE VISION OF HOLINESS I. Holy Week II. The Gift of
Lilies III. Sin as an Adjustment IV. Entering the Ark V. Heralds of
Eternity VI. The Temple of the Holy Spirit VII. The Consistency of
Means and End VIII. The Vision of Sinlessness
Chapter 21. REASON AND PERCEPTION Introduction I. The Forgotten
Song II. The Responsibility for Sight III. Faith, Belief and Vision
IV. The Fear to Look Within V. The Function of Reason VI. Reason
versus Madness
VII. The Last Unanswered Question VIII. The Inner Shift
Chapter 22. SALVATION AND THE HOLY RELATIONSHIP Introduction I. The
Message of the Holy Relationship II. Your Brother’s Sinlessness
III. Reason and the Forms of Error IV. The Branching of the Road V.
Weakness and Defensiveness VI. The Light of the Holy
Relationship
Chapter 23. THE WAR AGAINST YOURSELF Introduction I. The
Irreconcilable Beliefs II. The Laws of Chaos III. Salvation without
Compromise IV. Above the Battleground
Chapter 24. THE GOAL OF SPECIALNESS Introduction I. Specialness as
a Substitute for Love II. The Treachery of Specialness III. The
Forgiveness of Specialness IV. Specialness versus Sinlessness V.
The Christ in You
VI. Salvation from Fear VII. The Meeting Place
Chapter 25. THE JUSTICE OF GOD Introduction I. The Link to Truth
II. The Savior from the Dark III. Perception and Choice IV. The
Light You Bring V. The State of Sinlessness VI. The Special
Function VII. The Rock of Salvation VIII. Justice Returned to Love
IX. The Justice of Heaven
Chapter 26. THE TRANSITION I. The “Sacrifice” of Oneness II. Many
Forms; One Correction III. The Borderland IV. Where Sin Has Left V.
The Little Hindrance VI. The Appointed Friend VII. The Laws of
Healing VIII. The Immediacy of Salvation IX. For They Have Come X.
The End of Injustice
Chapter 27. THE HEALING OF THE DREAM I. The Picture of Crucifixion
II. The Fear of Healing III. Beyond All Symbols IV. The Quiet
Answer V. The Healing Example VI. The Witnesses to Sin VII. The
Dreamer of the Dream VIII. The “Hero” of the Dream
Chapter 28. THE UNDOING OF FEAR I. The Present Memory II. Reversing
Effect and Cause III. The Agreement to Join IV. The Greater Joining
V. The Alternate to Dreams of Fear VI. The Secret Vows VII. The Ark
of Safety
Chapter 29. THE AWAKENING I. The Closing of the Gap II. The Coming
of the Guest III. God’s Witnesses IV. Dream Roles V. The Changeless
Dwelling Place VI. Forgiveness and the End of Time
VII. Seek Not Outside Yourself VIII. The Anti-Christ IX. The
Forgiving Dream
Chapter 30. THE NEW BEGINNING Introduction I. Rules for Decision
II. Freedom of Will III. Beyond All Idols IV. The Truth behind
Illusions V. The Only Purpose VI. The Justification for Forgiveness
VII. The New Interpretation VIII. Changeless Reality
Chapter 31. THE FINAL VISION I. The Simplicity of Salvation II.
Walking with Christ III. The Self-Accused IV. The Real Alternative
V. Self-Concept versus Self VI. Recognizing the Spirit VII. The
Savior’s Vision VIII. Choose Once Again
WORKBOOK FOR STUDENTS INTRODUCTION PART I LESSON 1. Nothing I see
in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place]
means anything. 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. LESSON 3. I do not understand anything
I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this
place]. 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]. LESSON 5. I am never upset for the reason I
think. LESSON 6. I am upset because I see something that is not
there. LESSON 7. I see only the past. LESSON 8. My mind is
preoccupied with past thoughts. LESSON 9. I see nothing as it is
now.
LESSON 10. My thoughts do not mean anything. LESSON 11. My
meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world. LESSON 12.
I am upset because I see a meaningless world. LESSON 13. A
meaningless world engenders fear. LESSON 14. God did not create a
meaningless world. LESSON 15. My thoughts are images that I have
made. LESSON 16. I have no neutral thoughts. LESSON 17. I see no
neutral things. LESSON 18. I am not alone in experiencing the
effects of my seeing. LESSON 19. I am not alone in experiencing the
effects of my thoughts. LESSON 20. I am determined to see. LESSON
21. I am determined to see things differently. LESSON 22.
What I see is a form of vengeance. LESSON 23. I can escape from the
world I see by giving up attack thoughts. LESSON 24. I do not
perceive my own best interests. LESSON 25. I do not know what
anything is for. LESSON 26. My attack thoughts are attacking my
invulnerability. LESSON 27. Above all else I want to see. LESSON
28. Above all else I want to see things differently. LESSON 29. God
is in everything I see. LESSON 30. God is in everything I see
because God is in my mind. LESSON 31. I am not the victim of the
world I see. LESSON 32. I have invented the world I see. LESSON 33.
There is another way of looking at the world. LESSON 34. I could
see peace instead of this.
LESSON 35. My mind is part of God’s. I am very holy. LESSON 36. My
holiness envelops everything I see. LESSON 37. My holiness blesses
the world. LESSON 38. There is nothing my holiness cannot do.
LESSON 39. My holiness is my salvation. LESSON 40. I am blessed as
a Son of God. LESSON 41. God goes with me wherever I go. LESSON 42.
God is my strength. Vision is His gift. LESSON 43. God is my
Source. I cannot see apart from Him. LESSON 44. God is the light in
which I see. LESSON 45. God is the Mind with which I think. LESSON
46. God is the Love in which I forgive. LESSON 47. God is the
strength in which I trust. LESSON 48. There is nothing to
fear.
LESSON 49. God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day. LESSON 50.
I am sustained by the Love of God. REVIEW I Introduction LESSON 51.
The review for today covers the following ideas: LESSON 52. Today’s
review covers these ideas: LESSON 53. Today we will review the
following: LESSON 54. These are the review ideas for today: LESSON
55. Today’s review includes the following: LESSON 56. Our review
for today covers the following: LESSON 57. Today let us review
these ideas: LESSON 58. These ideas are for review today: LESSON
59. The following ideas are for review today: LESSON 60. These
ideas are for today’s review: LESSON 61. I am the light of the
world.
LESSON 62. Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
LESSON 63. The light of the world brings peace to every mind
through my forgiveness. LESSON 64. Let me not forget my function.
LESSON 65. My only function is the one God gave me. LESSON 66. My
happiness and my function are one. LESSON 67. Love created me like
itself. LESSON 68. Love holds no grievances. LESSON 69. My
grievances hide the light of the world in me. LESSON 70. My
salvation comes from me. LESSON 71. Only God’s plan for salvation
will work. LESSON 72. Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan
for salvation. LESSON 73. I will there be light. LESSON 74.
There is no will but God’s. LESSON 75. The light has come. LESSON
76. I am under no laws but God’s. LESSON 77. I am entitled to
miracles. LESSON 78. Let miracles replace all grievances. LESSON
79. Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved. LESSON 80.
Let me recognize my problems have been solved. REVIEW II
Introduction LESSON 81. Our ideas for review today are: LESSON 82.
We will review these ideas today: LESSON 83. Today let us review
these ideas: LESSON 84. These are the ideas for today’s review:
LESSON 85. Today’s review will cover these ideas: LESSON 86. These
ideas are for review today: LESSON 87.
Our review today will cover these ideas: LESSON 88. Today we will
review these ideas: LESSON 89. These are our review ideas for
today: LESSON 90. For this review we will use these ideas: LESSON
91. Miracles are seen in light. LESSON 92. Miracles are seen in
light, and light and strength are one. LESSON 93. Light and joy and
peace abide in me. LESSON 94. I am as God created me. LESSON 95. I
am one Self, united with my Creator. LESSON 96. Salvation comes
from my one Self. LESSON 97. I am spirit. LESSON 98. I will accept
my part in God’s plan for salvation. LESSON 99. Salvation is my
only function here. LESSON 100. My part is essential to God’s plan
for salvation.
LESSON 101. God’s Will for me is perfect happiness. LESSON 102. I
share God’s Will for happiness for me. LESSON 103. God, being Love,
is also happiness. LESSON 104. I seek but what belongs to me in
truth. LESSON 105. God’s peace and joy are mine. LESSON 106. Let me
be still and listen to the truth. LESSON 107. Truth will correct
all errors in my mind. LESSON 108. To give and to receive are one
in truth. LESSON 109. I rest in God. LESSON 110. I am as God
created me. REVIEW III Introduction LESSON 111. For morning and
evening review: LESSON 112. For morning and evening review: LESSON
113. For morning and evening review:
LESSON 114. For morning and evening review: LESSON 115. For morning
and evening review: LESSON 116. For morning and evening review:
LESSON 117. For morning and evening review: LESSON 118. For morning
and evening review: LESSON 119. For morning and evening review:
LESSON 120. For morning and evening review: LESSON 121. Forgiveness
is the key to happiness. LESSON 122. Forgiveness offers everything
I want. LESSON 123. I thank my Father for His gifts to me. LESSON
124. Let me remember I am one with God. LESSON 125. In quiet I
receive God’s Word today. LESSON 126. All that I give is given to
myself. LESSON 127. There is no love but God’s.
LESSON 128. The world I see holds nothing that I want. LESSON 129.
Beyond this world there is a world I want. LESSON 130. It is
impossible to see two worlds. LESSON 131. No one can fail who seeks
to reach the truth. LESSON 132. I loose the world from all I
thought it was. LESSON 133. I will not value what is valueless.
LESSON 134. Let me perceive forgiveness as it is. LESSON 135. If I
defend myself I am attacked. LESSON 136. Sickness is a defense
against the truth. LESSON 137. When I am healed I am not healed
alone. LESSON 138. Heaven is the decision I must make. LESSON 139.
I will accept Atonement for myself. LESSON 140. Only salvation can
be said to cure. REVIEW IV Introduction
LESSON 141. My mind holds only what I think with God LESSON 142. My
mind holds only what I think with God. LESSON 143. My mind holds
only what I think with God. LESSON 144. My mind holds only what I
think with God. LESSON 145. My mind holds only what I think with
God. LESSON 146. My mind holds only what I think with God. LESSON
147. My mind holds only what I think with God. LESSON 148. My mind
holds only what I think with God. LESSON 149. My mind holds only
what I think with God. LESSON 150. My mind holds only what I think
with God. LESSON 151. All things are echoes of the Voice for God.
LESSON 152. The power of decision is my own. LESSON 153. In my
defenselessness my safety lies. LESSON 154. I am among the
ministers of God.
LESSON 155. I will step back and let Him lead the way. LESSON 156.
I walk with God in perfect holiness. LESSON 157. Into His Presence
would I enter now. LESSON 158. Today I learn to give as I receive.
LESSON 159. I give the miracles I have received. LESSON 160. I am
at home. Fear is the stranger here. LESSON 161. Give me your
blessing, holy Son of God. LESSON 162. I am as God created me.
LESSON 163. There is no death. The Son of God is free. LESSON 164.
Now are we one with Him Who is our Source. LESSON 165. Let not my
mind deny the Thought of God. LESSON 166. I am entrusted with the
gifts of God. LESSON 167. There is one life, and that I share with
God. LESSON 168. Your grace is given me. I claim it now.
LESSON 169. By grace I live. By grace I am released. LESSON 170.
There is no cruelty in God and none in me. REVIEW V Introduction
LESSON 171. God is but Love, and therefore so am I. LESSON 172. God
is but Love, and therefore so am I. LESSON 173. God is but Love,
and therefore so am I. LESSON 174. God is but Love, and therefore
so am I. LESSON 175. God is but Love, and therefore so am I. LESSON
176. God is but Love, and therefore so am I. LESSON 177. God is but
Love, and therefore so am I. LESSON 178. God is but Love, and
therefore so am I. LESSON 179. God is but Love, and therefore so am
I. LESSON 180. God is but Love, and therefore so am I. Introduction
to Lessons 181-200. LESSON 181.
I trust my brothers, who are one with me. LESSON 182. I will be
still an instant and go home. LESSON 183. I call upon God’s Name
and on my own. LESSON 184. The Name of God is my inheritance.
LESSON 185. I want the peace of God. LESSON 186. Salvation of the
world depends on me. LESSON 187. I bless the world because I bless
myself. LESSON 188. The peace of God is shining in me now. LESSON
189. I feel the Love of God within me now. LESSON 190. I choose the
joy of God instead of pain. LESSON 191. I am the holy Son of God
Himself. LESSON 192. I have a function God would have me fill.
LESSON 193. All things are lessons God would have me learn. LESSON
194. I place the future in the Hands of God. LESSON 195.
Love is the way I walk in gratitude. LESSON 196. It can be but
myself I crucify. LESSON 197. It can be but my gratitude I earn.
LESSON 198. Only my condemnation injures me. LESSON 199. I am not a
body. I am free. LESSON 200. There is no peace except the peace of
God. REVIEW VI Introduction LESSON 201. I am not a body. I am free.
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. LESSON 203. I am not a
body. I am free. 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. LESSON
205. I am not a body. I am free. 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. LESSON 207. I am not a body. I am free. 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. LESSON 209. I am not a body. I am free.
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. LESSON 211. I am not a
body. I am free. 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. LESSON
213. I am not a body. I am free. 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. LESSON 215.
I am not a body. I am free. 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. LESSON 217. I am not a body. I am free. 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. LESSON 219. I am not a body. I am free.
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. PART II Introduction 1.
What Is Forgiveness? LESSON 221. Peace to my mind. Let all my
thoughts be still. LESSON 222. God is with me. I live and move in
Him. LESSON 223. God is my life. I have no life but His. LESSON
224. God is my Father, and He loves His Son.
LESSON 225. God is my Father, and His Son loves Him. LESSON 226. My
home awaits me. I will hasten there. LESSON 227. This is my holy
instant of release. LESSON 228. God has condemned me not. No more
do I. LESSON 229. Love, which created me, is what I am. LESSON 230.
Now will I seek and find the peace of God. 2. What Is Salvation?
LESSON 231. Father, I will but to remember You. LESSON 232. Be in
my mind, my Father, through the day. LESSON 233. I give my life to
God to guide today. LESSON 234. Father, today I am Your Son again.
LESSON 235. God in His mercy wills that I be saved. LESSON 236. I
rule my mind, which I alone must rule. LESSON 237. Now would I be
as God created me. LESSON 238.
On my decision all salvation rests. LESSON 239. The glory of my
Father is my own. LESSON 240. Fear is not justified in any form. 3.
What Is the World? LESSON 241. This holy instant is salvation come.
LESSON 242. This day is God’s. It is my gift to Him. LESSON 243.
Today I will judge nothing that occurs. LESSON 244. I am in danger
nowhere in the world. LESSON 245. Your peace is with me, Father. I
am safe. LESSON 246. To love my Father is to love His Son. LESSON
247. Without forgiveness I will still be blind. LESSON 248.
Whatever suffers is not part of me. LESSON 249. Forgiveness ends
all suffering and loss. LESSON 250. Let me not see myself as
limited. 4. What Is Sin? LESSON 251.
I am in need of nothing but the truth. LESSON 252. The Son of God
is my Identity. LESSON 253. My Self is ruler of the universe.
LESSON 254. Let every voice but God’s be still in me. LESSON 255.
This day I choose to spend in perfect peace. LESSON 256. God is the
only goal I have today. LESSON 257. Let me remember what my purpose
is. LESSON 258. Let me remember that my goal is God. LESSON 259.
Let me remember that there is no sin. LESSON 260. Let me remember
God created me. 5. What Is the Body? LESSON 261. God is my refuge
and security. LESSON 262. Let me perceive no differences today.
LESSON 263. My holy vision sees all things as pure. LESSON 264. I
am surrounded by the Love of God.
LESSON 265. Creation’s gentleness is all I see. LESSON 266. My holy
Self abides in you, God’s Son. LESSON 267. My heart is beating in
the peace of God. LESSON 268. Let all things be exactly as they
are. LESSON 269. My sight goes forth to look upon Christ’s face.
LESSON 270. I will not use the body’s eyes today. 6. What Is the
Christ? LESSON 271. Christ’s is the vision I will use today. LESSON
272. How can illusions satisfy God’s Son? LESSON 273. The stillness
of the peace of God is mine. LESSON 274. Today belongs to love. Let
me not fear. LESSON 275. God’s healing Voice protects all things
today. LESSON 276. The Word of God is given me to speak. LESSON
277. Let me not bind Your Son with laws I made. LESSON 278.
If I am bound, my Father is not free. LESSON 279. Creation’s
freedom promises my own. LESSON 280. What limits can I lay upon
God’s Son? 7. What Is the Holy Spirit? LESSON 281. I can be hurt by
nothing but my thoughts. LESSON 282. I will not be afraid of love
today. LESSON 283. My true Identity abides in You. LESSON 284. I
can elect to change all thoughts that hurt. LESSON 285. My holiness
shines bright and clear today. LESSON 286. The hush of Heaven holds
my heart today. LESSON 287. You are my goal, my Father. Only You.
LESSON 288. Let me forget my brother’s past today. LESSON 289. The
past is over. It can touch me not. LESSON 290. My present happiness
is all I see. 8. What Is the Real World? LESSON 291.
This is a day of stillness and of peace. LESSON 292. A happy
outcome to all things is sure. LESSON 293. All fear is past and
only love is here. LESSON 294. My body is a wholly neutral thing.
LESSON 295. The Holy Spirit looks through me today. LESSON 296. The
Holy Spirit speaks through me today. LESSON 297. Forgiveness is the
only gift I give. LESSON 298. I love You, Father, and I love Your
Son. LESSON 299. Eternal holiness abides in me. LESSON 300. Only an
instant does this world endure. 9. What Is the Second Coming?
LESSON 301. And God Himself shall wipe away all tears. LESSON 302.
Where darkness was I look upon the light. LESSON 303. The holy
Christ is born in me today. LESSON 304. Let not my world obscure
the sight of Christ.
LESSON 305. There is a peace that Christ bestows on us. LESSON 306.
The gift of Christ is all I seek today. LESSON 307. Conflicting
wishes cannot be my will. LESSON 308. This instant is the only time
there is. LESSON 309. I will not fear to look within today. LESSON
310. In fearlessness and love I spend today. 10. What Is the Last
Judgment? LESSON 311. I judge all things as I would have them be.
LESSON 312. I see all things as I would have them be. LESSON 313.
Now let a new perception come to me. LESSON 314. I seek a future
different from the past. LESSON 315. All gifts my brothers give
belong to me. LESSON 316. All gifts I give my brothers are my own.
LESSON 317. I follow in the way appointed me. LESSON 318.
In me salvation’s means and end are one. LESSON 319. I came for the
salvation of the world. LESSON 320. My Father gives all power unto
me. 11. What Is Creation? LESSON 321. Father, my freedom is in You
alone. LESSON 322. I can give up but what was never real. LESSON
323. I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear. LESSON 324. I merely
follow, for I would not lead. LESSON 325. All things I think I see
reflect ideas. LESSON 326. I am forever an Effect of God. LESSON
327. I need but call and You will answer me. LESSON 328. I choose
the second place to gain the first. LESSON 329. I have already
chosen what You will. LESSON 330. I will not hurt myself again
today. 12. What Is the Ego? LESSON 331.
There is no conflict, for my will is Yours. LESSON 332. Fear binds
the world. Forgiveness sets it free. LESSON 333. Forgiveness ends
the dream of conflict here. LESSON 334. Today I claim the gifts
forgiveness gives. LESSON 335. I choose to see my brother’s
sinlessness. LESSON 336. Forgiveness lets me know that minds are
joined. LESSON 337. My sinlessness protects me from all harm.
LESSON 338. I am affected only by my thoughts. LESSON 339. I will
receive whatever I request. LESSON 340. I can be free of suffering
today. 13. What Is a Miracle? LESSON 341. I can attack but my own
sinlessness, And it is only that which keeps me safe. LESSON 342. I
let forgiveness rest upon all things, For thus forgiveness will be
given me. LESSON 343. I am not asked to make a sacrifice
To find the mercy and the peace of God. LESSON 344. Today I learn
the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift to me.
LESSON 345. I offer only miracles today, For I would have them be
returned to me. LESSON 346. Today the peace of God envelops me, And
I forget all things except His Love. LESSON 347. Anger must come
from judgment. Judgment is The weapon I would use against myself,
To keep the miracle away from me. 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. 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. LESSON 350. Miracles mirror
God’s eternal Love. To offer them is to remember Him, And through
His memory to save the world. 14. What Am I? 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. 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.
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. 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.
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?
LESSON 356. Sickness is but another name for sin. Healing is but
another name for God. The miracle is thus a call to Him. LESSON
357. Truth answers every call we make to God, Responding first with
miracles, and then
Returning unto us to be itself. 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. 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.
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. FINAL LESSONS. Introduction 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.
EPILOGUE
2. WHO ARE THEIR PUPILS?
3. WHAT ARE THE LEVELS OF TEACHING?
4. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD’S TEACHERS? I. Trust A.
Development of Trust II. Honesty III. Tolerance IV. Gentleness V.
Joy VI. Defenselessness VII. Generosity VIII. Patience IX.
Faithfulness X. Open-Mindedness
5. HOW IS HEALING ACCOMPLISHED? I. The Perceived Purpose of
Sickness II. The Shift in Perception III. The Function of the
Teacher of God
6. IS HEALING CERTAIN?
8. HOW CAN PERCEPTION OF ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES BE AVOIDED?
9. ARE CHANGES REQUIRED IN THE LIFE SITUATION OF GOD’S
TEACHERS?
10. HOW IS JUDGMENT RELINQUISHED?
11. HOW IS PEACE POSSIBLE IN THIS WORLD?
12. HOW MANY TEACHERS OF GOD ARE NEEDED TO SAVE THE WORLD?
13. WHAT IS THE REAL MEANING OF SACRIFICE?
14. HOW WILL THE WORLD END?
15. IS EACH ONE TO BE JUDGED IN THE END?
16. HOW SHOULD THE TEACHER OF GOD SPEND HIS DAY?
17. HOW DO GOD’S TEACHERS DEAL WITH MAGIC THOUGHTS?
18. HOW IS CORRECTION MADE?
19. WHAT IS JUSTICE?
21. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF WORDS IN HEALING?
22. HOW ARE HEALING AND ATONEMENT
RELATED?
24. IS REINCARNATION SO?
26. CAN GOD BE REACHED DIRECTLY?
27. WHAT IS DEATH?
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
3. FORGIVENESS–THE FACE OF CHRIST
4. TRUE PERCEPTION–KNOWLEDGE
1. THE PURPOSE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY Introduction
2. THE PROCESS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY Introduction I. The Limits on
Psychotherapy II. The Place of Religion in Psychotherapy III. The
Role of the Psychotherapist IV. The Process of Illness V. The
Process of Healing VI. The Definition of Healing VII. The Ideal
Patient-Therapist Relationship
3. THE PRACTICE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY I. The Selection of Patients II.
Is Psychotherapy a Profession? III. The Question of Payment
SONG OF PRAYER
1. PRAYER
Introduction I. True Prayer II. The Ladder of Prayer III. Praying
for Others IV. Praying with Others V. The Ladder Ends
2. FORGIVENESS Introduction I. Forgiveness of Yourself II.
Forgiveness-to-Destroy III. Forgiveness-for-Salvation
3. HEALING Introduction I. The Cause of Sickness II. False versus
True Healing III. Separation versus Union IV. The Holiness of
Healing
PREFACE
This Preface was written in 1977, in response to many requests for
a brief introduction to A Course in Miracles®. The first two
parts–How It Came; What It Is–Helen Schucman wrote herself; the
final part–What It Says–was written by the process of inner
dictation described in the Preface.
How It Came
A Course in Miracles began with the sudden decision of two people
to join in a common goal. Their names were Helen Schucman and
William Thetford, Professors of Medical Psychology at Columbia
University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.
It does not matter who they were, except that the story shows that
with God all things are possible. They were anything but spiritual.
Their relationship with each other was difficult and often
strained, and they were concerned with personal and professional
acceptance and status. In general, they had considerable investment
in the values of the world. Their lives were hardly in accord with
anything that the Course advocates. Helen, the one who received the
material, describes herself:
Psychologist, educator, conservative in
theory and atheistic in belief, I was working in a prestigious and
highly academic setting. And then something happened that triggered
a chain of events I could never have predicted. The head of my
department unexpectedly announced that he was tired of the angry
and aggressive feelings our attitudes reflected, and concluded that
“there must be another way.” As if on cue, I agreed to help him
find it. Apparently this Course is the other way.
Although their intention was serious, they had great difficulty in
starting out on their joint venture. But they had given the Holy
Spirit the “little willingness” that, as the Course itself was to
emphasize again and again, is sufficient to enable Him to use any
situation for His purposes and provide it with His power. To
continue Helen’s first-person account:
Three startling months preceded the actual writing, during which
time Bill suggested that I write down the highly symbolic dreams
and descriptions of the strange images that were coming to me.
Although I had grown more accustomed to the unexpected by that
time, I was still very surprised when I wrote, “This is a course in
miracles.” That was my introduction to the Voice. It made no
sound,
but seemed to be giving me a kind of rapid, inner dictation which I
took down in a shorthand notebook. The writing was never automatic.
It could be interrupted at any time and later picked up again. It
made me very uncomfortable, but it never seriously occurred to me
to stop. It seemed to be a special assignment I had somehow,
somewhere agreed to complete. It represented a truly collaborative
venture between Bill and myself, and much of its significance, I am
sure, lies in that. I would take down what the Voice “said” and
read it to him the next day, and he typed it from my dictation. I
expect he had his special assignment, too. Without his
encouragement and support I would never have been able to fulfill
mine. The whole process took about seven years. The Text came
first, then the Workbook for Students, and finally the Manual for
Teachers. Only a few minor changes have been made. Chapter titles
and subheadings have been inserted in the Text, and some of the
more personal references that occurred at the beginning have been
omitted. Otherwise the material is substantially unchanged.
The names of the collaborators in the recording of
the Course do not appear on the cover because the Course can and
should stand on its own. It is not intended to become the basis for
another cult. Its only purpose is to provide a way in which some
people will be able to find their own Internal Teacher.
What It Is
As its title implies, the Course is arranged throughout as a
teaching device. It consists of three books: a 669-page Text, a
488-page Workbook for Students, and a 92-page Manual for Teachers.
The order in which students choose to use the books, and the ways
in which they study them, depend on their particular needs and
preferences. The curriculum the Course proposes is carefully
conceived and is explained, step by step, at both the theoretical
and practical levels. It emphasizes application rather than theory,
and experience rather than theology. It specifically states that “a
universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not
only possible but necessary” (Manual, p. 77). Although Christian in
statement, the Course deals with universal spiritual themes. It
emphasizes that it is but one version of the universal curriculum.
There are many others, this
one differing from them only in form. They all lead to God in the
end. The Text is largely theoretical, and sets forth the concepts
on which the Course’s thought system is based. Its ideas contain
the foundation for the Workbook’s lessons. Without the practical
application the Workbook provides, the Text would remain largely a
series of abstractions which would hardly suffice to bring about
the thought reversal at which the Course aims. The Workbook
includes 365 lessons, one for each day of the year. It is not
necessary, however, to do the lessons at that tempo, and one might
want to remain with a particularly appealing lesson for more than
one day. The instructions urge only that not more than one lesson a
day should be attempted. The practical nature of the Workbook is
underscored by the introduction to its lessons, which emphasizes
experience through application rather than a prior commitment to a
spiritual goal:
Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to
believe, and others may seem to be quite startling. This does not
matter. You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed
to do. You are not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only
to use them. It is their use that will give them
meaning to you, and will show you that they are true. Remember only
this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and
you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively
resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy. But
do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the
workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be,
use them. Nothing more than that is required (Workbook, p.
2).
Finally, the Manual for Teachers, which is written in question and
answer form, provides answers to some of the more likely questions
a student might ask. It also includes a clarification of a number
of the terms the Course uses, explaining them within the
theoretical framework of the Text. The Course makes no claim to
finality, nor are the Workbook lessons intended to bring the
student’s learning to completion. At the end, the reader is left in
the hands of his or her own Internal Teacher, Who will direct all
subsequent learning as He sees fit. While the Course is
comprehensive in scope, truth cannot be limited to any finite form,
as is clearly recognized in the statement at the end of the
Workbook:
This Course is a beginning, not an end…No
more specific lessons are assigned, for there is no more need of
them. Henceforth, hear but the Voice for God…He will direct your
efforts, telling you exactly what to do, how to direct your mind,
and when to come to Him in silence, asking for His sure direction
and His certain Word (Workbook, p. 487).
What It Says
Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God. This is how A Course in Miracles
begins. It makes a fundamental distinction between the real and the
unreal; between knowledge and perception. Knowledge is truth, under
one law, the law of love or God. Truth is unalterable, eternal and
unambiguous. It can be unrecognized, but it cannot be changed. It
applies to everything that God created, and only what He created is
real. It is beyond learning because it is beyond time and process.
It has no opposite; no beginning and no end. It merely is. The
world of perception, on the other hand, is the world of time, of
change, of beginnings and endings. It is based on interpretation,
not on facts. It is the world of birth and death, founded
on the belief in scarcity, loss, separation and death. It is
learned rather than given, selective in its perceptual emphases,
unstable in its functioning, and inaccurate in its interpretations.
From knowledge and perception respectively, two distinct thought
systems arise which are opposite in every respect. In the realm of
knowledge no thoughts exist apart from God, because God and His
Creation share one Will. The world of perception, however, is made
by the belief in opposites and separate wills, in perpetual
conflict with each other and with God. What perception sees and
hears appears to be real because it permits into awareness only
what conforms to the wishes of the perceiver. This leads to a world
of illusions, a world which needs constant defense precisely
because it is not real. When you have been caught in the world of
perception you are caught in a dream. You cannot escape without
help, because everything your senses show merely witnesses to the
reality of the dream. God has provided the Answer, the only Way
out, the true Helper. It is the function of His Voice, His Holy
Spirit, to mediate between the two worlds. He can do this because,
while on the one hand He knows the truth, on the other He also
recognizes our illusions, but without believing in them. It is the
Holy Spirit’s goal to help us escape
from the dream world by teaching us how to reverse our thinking and
unlearn our mistakes. Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit’s great
learning aid in bringing this thought reversal about. However, the
Course has its own definition of what forgiveness really is just as
it defines the world in its own way. The world we see merely
reflects our own internal frame of reference–the dominant ideas,
wishes and emotions in our minds. “Projection makes perception”
(Text, p. 445). We look inside first, decide the kind of world we
want to see and then project that world outside, making it the
truth as we see it. We make it true by our interpretations of what
it is we are seeing. If we are using perception to justify our own
mistakes–our anger, our impulses to attack, our lack of love in
whatever form it may take–we will see a world of evil, destruction,
malice, envy and despair. All this we must learn to forgive, not
because we are being “good” and “charitable,” but because what we
are seeing is not true. We have distorted the world by our twisted
defenses, and are therefore seeing what is not there. As we learn
to recognize our perceptual errors, we also learn to look past them
or “forgive.” At the same time we are forgiving ourselves, looking
past our distorted self-concepts to the Self That God created in us
and as us.
Sin is defined as “lack of love” (Text, p. 11). Since love is all
there is, sin in the sight of the Holy Spirit is a mistake to be
corrected, rather than an evil to be punished. Our sense of
inadequacy, weakness and incompletion comes from the strong
investment in the “scarcity principle” that governs the whole world
of illusions. From that point of view, we seek in others what we
feel is wanting in ourselves. We “love” another in order to get
something ourselves. That, in fact, is what passes for love in the
dream world. There can be no greater mistake than that, for love is
incapable of asking for anything. Only minds can really join, and
whom God has joined no man can put asunder (Text, p. 356). It is,
however, only at the level of Christ Mind that true union is
possible, and has, in fact, never been lost. The “little I” seeks
to enhance itself by external approval, external possessions and
external “love.” The Self That God created needs nothing. It is
forever complete, safe, loved and loving. It seeks to share rather
than to get; to extend rather than project. It has no needs and
wants to join with others out of their mutual awareness of
abundance. The special relationships of the world are destructive,
selfish and childishly egocentric. Yet, if given to the Holy
Spirit, these relationships can
become the holiest things on earth–the miracles that point the way
to the return to Heaven. The world uses its special relationships
as a final weapon of exclusion and a demonstration of separateness.
The Holy Spirit transforms them into perfect lessons in forgiveness
and in awakening from the dream. Each one is an opportunity to let
perceptions be healed and errors corrected. Each one is another
chance to forgive oneself by forgiving the other. And each one
becomes still another invitation to the Holy Spirit and to the
remembrance of God. Perception is a function of the body, and
therefore represents a limit on awareness. Perception sees through
the body’s eyes and hears through the body’s ears. It evokes the
limited responses which the body makes. The body appears to be
largely self-motivated and independent, yet it actually responds
only to the intentions of the mind. If the mind wants to use it for
attack in any form, it becomes prey to sickness, age and decay. If
the mind accepts the Holy Spirit’s purpose for it instead, it
becomes a useful way of communicating with others, invulnerable as
long as it is needed, and to be gently laid by when its use is
over. Of itself it is neutral, as is everything in the world of
perception. Whether it is used for the goals of the ego or the Holy
Spirit depends
entirely on what the mind wants. The opposite of seeing through the
body’s eyes is the vision of Christ, which reflects strength rather
than weakness, unity rather than separation, and love rather than
fear. The opposite of hearing through the body’s ears is
communication through the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, which
abides in each of us. His Voice seems distant and difficult to hear
because the ego, which speaks for the little, separated self, seems
to be much louder. This is actually reversed. The Holy Spirit
speaks with unmistakable clarity and overwhelming appeal. No one
who does not choose to identify with the body could possibly be
deaf to His messages of release and hope, nor could he fail to
accept joyously the vision of Christ in glad exchange for his
miserable picture of himself. Christ’s vision is the Holy Spirit’s
gift, God’s alternative to the illusion of separation and to the
belief in the reality of sin, guilt and death. It is the one
correction for all errors of perception; the reconciliation of the
seeming opposites on which this world is based. Its kindly light
shows all things from another point of view, reflecting the thought
system that arises from knowledge and making return to God not only
possible but inevitable. What was regarded as injustice done to one
by someone else now becomes a call for help
and for union. Sin, sickness and attack are seen as misperceptions
calling for remedy through gentleness and love. Defenses are laid
down because where there is no attack there is no need for them.
Our brothers’ needs become our own, because they are taking the
journey with us as we go to God. Without us they would lose their
way. Without them we could never find our own. Forgiveness is
unknown in Heaven, where the need for it would be inconceivable.
However, in this world, forgiveness is a necessary correction for
all the mistakes that we have made. To offer forgiveness is the
only way for us to have it, for it reflects the law of Heaven that
giving and receiving are the same. Heaven is the natural state of
all the Sons of God as He created them. Such is their reality
forever. It has not changed because it has been forgotten.
Forgiveness is the means by which we will remember. Through
forgiveness the thinking of the world is reversed. The forgiven
world becomes the gate of Heaven, because by its mercy we can at
last forgive ourselves. Holding no one prisoner to guilt, we become
free. Acknowledging Christ in all our brothers, we recognize His
Presence in ourselves. Forgetting all our misperceptions, and with
nothing from the past to hold us back, we can remember God. Beyond
this, learning cannot
go. When we are ready, God Himself will take the final step in our
return to Him.
A Course in Miracles
TEXT
INTRODUCTION
T-in.1. This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only
the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you
can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what
you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at
teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be
taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the
awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance.
The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have
no opposite. T-in.2. This course can therefore be summed up very
simply in this way:
Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
Chapter 1. THE MEANING OF MIRACLES
I. Principles of Miracles
T-1.I.1. There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not
“harder” or “bigger” than another. They are all the same. All
expressions of love are maximal. T-1.I.2. Miracles as such do not
matter. The only thing that matters is their Source, which is far
beyond evaluation. T-1.I.3. Miracles occur naturally as expressions
of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this
sense everything that comes from love is a miracle. T-1.I.4. All
miracles mean life, and God is the Giver of life. His Voice will
direct you very specifically. You will be told all you need to
know. T-1.I.5. Miracles are habits, and should be involuntary. They
should not be under conscious control. Consciously selected
miracles can be misguided. T-1.I.6. Miracles are natural. When they
do not occur something has gone wrong. T-1.I.7. Miracles are
everyone’s right, but purification is necessary first. T-1.I.8.
Miracles are healing because they supply a lack; they are performed
by those who
temporarily have more for those who temporarily have less. T-1.I.9.
Miracles are a kind of exchange. Like all expressions of love,
which are always miraculous in the true sense, the exchange
reverses the physical laws. They bring more love both to the giver
and the receiver. T-1.I.10. The use of miracles as spectacles to
induce belief is a misunderstanding of their purpose. T-1.I.11.
Prayer is the medium of miracles. It is a means of communication of
the created with the Creator. Through prayer love is received, and
through miracles love is expressed. T-1.I.12. Miracles are
thoughts. Thoughts can represent the lower or bodily level of
experience, or the higher or spiritual level of experience. One
makes the physical, and the other creates the spiritual. T-1.I.13.
Miracles are both beginnings and endings, and so they alter the
temporal order. They are always affirmations of rebirth, which seem
to go back but really go forward. They undo the past in the
present, and thus release the future. T-1.I.14. Miracles bear
witness to truth. They are convincing because they arise from
conviction. Without conviction they deteriorate into magic,
which is mindless and therefore destructive; or rather, the
uncreative use of mind. T-1.I.15. Each day should be devoted to
miracles. The purpose of time is to enable you to learn how to use
time constructively. It is thus a teaching device and a means to an
end. Time will cease when it is no longer useful in facilitating
learning. T-1.I.16. Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating
it is as blessed to give as to receive. They simultaneously
increase the strength of the giver and supply strength to the
receiver. T-1.I.17. Miracles transcend the body. They are sudden
shifts into invisibility, away from the bodily level. That is why
they heal. T-1.I.18. A miracle is a service. It is the maximal
service you can render to another. It is a way of loving your
neighbor as yourself. You recognize your own and your neighbor’s
worth simultaneously. T-1.I.19. Miracles make minds osne in God.
They depend on cooperation because the Sonship is the sum of all
that God created. Miracles therefore reflect the laws of eternity,
not of time. T-1.I.20. Miracles reawaken the awareness that the
spirit, not the body, is the altar of truth. This is the
recognition that leads to the healing power of the miracle.
T-1.I.21. Miracles are natural signs of forgiveness.
Through miracles you accept God’s forgiveness by extending it to
others. T-1.I.22. Miracles are associated with fear only because of
the belief that darkness can hide. You believe that what your
physical eyes cannot see does not exist. This leads to a denial of
spiritual sight. T-1.I.23. Miracles rearrange perception and place
all levels in true perspective. This is healing because sickness
comes from confusing the levels. T-1.I.24. Miracles enable you to
heal the sick and raise the dead because you made sickness and
death yourself, and can therefore abolish both. You are a miracle,
capable of creating in the likeness of your Creator. Everything
else is your own nightmare, and does not exist. Only the creations
of light are real. T-1.I.25. Miracles are part of an interlocking
chain of forgiveness which, when completed, is the Atonement.
Atonement works all the time and in all the dimensions of time.
T-1.I.26. Miracles represent freedom from fear. “Atoning” means
“undoing.” The undoing of fear is an essential part of the
Atonement value of miracles. T-1.I.27. A miracle is a universal
blessing from God through me to all my brothers. It is the
privilege of the forgiven to forgive. T-1.I.28. Miracles are a way
of earning release from fear. Revelation induces a state in which
fear has already been abolished. Miracles are thus a means and
revelation is an end. T-1.I.29. Miracles praise God through you.
They praise Him by honoring His creations, affirming their
perfection. They heal because they deny body-identification and
affirm spirit- identification. T-1.I.30. By recognizing spirit,
miracles adjust the levels of perception and show them in proper
alignment. This places spirit at the center, where it can
communicate directly. T-1.I.31. Miracles should inspire gratitude,
not awe. You should thank God for what you really are. The children
of God are holy and the miracle honors their holiness, which can be
hidden but never lost. T-1.I.32. I inspire all miracles, which are
really intercessions. They intercede for your holiness and make
your perceptions holy. By placing you beyond the physical laws they
raise you into the sphere of celestial order. In this order you are
perfect. T-1.I.33. Miracles honor you because you are lovable. They
dispel illusions about yourself and perceive the light in you. They
thus atone for your
errors by freeing you from your nightmares. By releasing your mind
from the imprisonment of your illusions, they restore your sanity.
T-1.I.34. Miracles restore the mind to its fullness. By atoning for
lack they establish perfect protection. The spirit’s strength
leaves no room for intrusions. T-1.I.35. Miracles are expressions
of love, but they may not always have observable effects. T-1.I.36.
Miracles are examples of right thinking, aligning your perceptions
with truth as God created it. T-1.I.37. A miracle is a correction
introduced into false thinking by me. It acts as a catalyst,
breaking up erroneous perception and reorganizing it properly. This
places you under the Atonement principle, where perception is
healed. Until this has occurred, knowledge of the Divine Order is
impossible. T-1.I.38. The Holy Spirit is the mechanism of miracles.
He recognizes both God’s creations and your illusions. He separates
the true from the false by His ability to perceive totally rather
than selectively. T-1.I.39. The miracle dissolves error because the
Holy Spirit identifies error as false or unreal. This is the same
as saying that by perceiving light, darkness automatically
disappears.
T-1.I.40. The miracle acknowledges everyone as your brother and
mine. It is a way of perceiving the universal mark of God.
T-1.I.41. Wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles. They
thus correct, or atone for, the faulty perception of lack.
T-1.I.42. A major contribution of miracles is their strength in
releasing you from your false sense of isolation, deprivation and
lack. T-1.I.43. Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind, or
a state of miracle-readiness. T-1.I.44. The miracle is an
expression of an inner awareness of Christ and the acceptance of
His Atonement. T-1.I.45. A miracle is never lost. It may touch many
people you have not even met, and produce undreamed of changes in
situations of which you are not even aware. T-1.I.46. The Holy
Spirit is the highest communication medium. Miracles do not involve
this type of communication, because they are temporary
communication devices. When you return to your original form of
communication with God by direct revelation, the need for miracles
is over. T-1.I.47. The miracle is a learning device that lessens
the need for time. It establishes an out-of- pattern time interval
not under the usual laws of
time. In this sense it is timeless. T-1.I.48. The miracle is the
only device at your immediate disposal for controlling time. Only
revelation transcends it, having nothing to do with time at all.
T-1.I.49. The miracle makes no distinction among degrees of
misperception. It is a device for perception correction, effective
quite apart from either the degree or the direction of the error.
This is its true indiscriminateness. T-1.I.50. The miracle compares
what you have made with creation, accepting what is in accord with
it as true, and rejecting what is out of accord as false.
II. Revelation, Time and Miracles
T-1.II.1. Revelation induces complete but temporary suspension of
doubt and fear. It reflects the original form of communication
between God and His creations, involving the extremely personal
sense of creation sometimes sought in physical relationships.
Physical closeness cannot achieve it. Miracles, however, are
genuinely interpersonal, and result in true closeness to others.
Revelation unites you directly with God. Miracles unite you
directly with your brother. Neither emanates from
consciousness,
but both are experienced there. Consciousness is the state that
induces action, though it does not inspire it. You are free to
believe what you choose, and what you do attests to what you
believe. T-1.II.2. Revelation is intensely personal and cannot be
meaningfully translated. That is why any attempt to describe it in
words is impossible. Revelation induces only experience. Miracles,
on the other hand, induce action. They are more useful now because
of their interpersonal nature. In this phase of learning, working
miracles is important because freedom from fear cannot be thrust
upon you. Revelation is literally unspeakable because it is an
experience of unspeakable love. T-1.II.3. Awe should be reserved
for revelation, to which it is perfectly and correctly applicable.
It is not appropriate for miracles because a state of awe is
worshipful, implying that one of a lesser order stands before his
Creator. You are a perfect creation, and should experience awe only
in the Presence of the Creator of perfection. The miracle is
therefore a sign of love among equals. Equals should not be in awe
of one another because awe implies inequality. It is therefore an
inappropriate reaction to me. An elder brother is entitled to
respect for his greater experience, and obedience for his greater
wisdom. He is also entitled to love
because he is a brother, and to devotion if he is devoted. It is
only my devotion that entitles me to yours. There is nothing about
me that you cannot attain. I have nothing that does not come from
God. The difference between us now is that I have nothing else.
This leaves me in a state which is only potential in you. T-1.II.4.
“No man cometh unto the Father but by me” does not mean that I am
in any way separate or different from you except in time, and time
does not really exist. The statement is more meaningful in terms of
a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. You stand below me and I
stand below God. In the process of “rising up,” I am higher because
without me the distance between God and man would be too great for
you to encompass. I bridge the distance as an elder brother to you
on the one hand, and as a Son of God on the other. My devotion to
my brothers has placed me in charge of the Sonship, which I render
complete because I share it. This may appear to contradict the
statement “I and my Father are one,” but there are two parts to the
statement in recognition that the Father is greater. T-1.II.5.
Revelations are indirectly inspired by me because I am close to the
Holy Spirit, and alert to the revelation-readiness of my brothers.
I can
thus bring down to them more than they can draw down to themselves.
The Holy Spirit mediates higher to lower communication, keeping the
direct channel from God to you open for revelation. Revelation is
not reciprocal. It proceeds from God to you, but not from you to
God. T-1.II.6. The miracle minimizes the need for time. In the
longitudinal or horizontal plane the recognition of the equality of
the members of the Sonship appears to involve almost endless time.
However, the miracle entails a sudden shift from horizontal to
vertical perception. This introduces an interval from which the
giver and receiver both emerge farther along in time than they
would otherwise have been. The miracle thus has the unique property
of abolishing time to the extent that it renders the interval of
time it spans unnecessary. There is no relationship between the
time a miracle takes and the time it covers. The miracle
substitutes for learning that might have taken thousands of years.
It does so by the underlying recognition of perfect equality of
giver and receiver on which the miracle rests. The miracle shortens
time by collapsing it, thus eliminating certain intervals within
it. It does this, however, within the larger temporal
sequence.
III. Atonement and Miracles
T-1.III.1. I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I
undertook to begin. When you offer a miracle to any of my brothers,
you do it to yourself and me. The reason you come before me is that
I do not need miracles for my own Atonement, but I stand at the end
in case you fail temporarily. My part in the Atonement is the
cancelling out of all errors that you could not otherwise correct.
When you have been restored to the recognition of your original
state, you naturally become part of the Atonement yourself. As you
share my unwillingness to accept error in yourself and others, you
must join the great crusade to correct it; listen to my voice,
learn to undo error and act to correct it. The power to work
miracles belongs to you. I will provide the opportunities to do
them, but you must be ready and willing. Doing them will bring
conviction in the ability, because conviction comes through
accomplishment. The ability is the potential, the achievement is
its expression, and the Atonement, which is the natural profession
of the children of God, is the purpose. T-1.III.2. “Heaven and
earth shall pass away” means that they will not continue to exist
as separate states. My word, which is the
resurrection and the life, shall not pass away because life is
eternal. You are the work of God, and His work is wholly lovable
and wholly loving. This is how a man must think of himself in his
heart, because this is what he is. T-1.III.3. The forgiven are the
means of the Atonement. Being filled with spirit, they forgive in
return. Those who are released must join in releasing their
brothers, for this is the plan of the Atonement. Miracles are the
way in which minds that serve the Holy Spirit unite with me for the
salvation or release of all of God’s creations. T-1.III.4. I am the
only one who can perform miracles indiscriminately, because I am
the Atonement. You have a role in the Atonement which I will
dictate to you. Ask me which miracles you should perform. This
spares you needless effort, because you will be acting under direct
communication. The impersonal nature of the miracle is an essential
ingredient, because it enables me to direct its application, and
under my guidance miracles lead to the highly personal experience
of revelation. A guide does not control but he does direct, leaving
it up to you to follow. “Lead us not into temptation” means
“Recognize your errors and choose to abandon them by following my
guidance.” T-1.III.5. Error cannot really threaten truth,
which can always withstand it. Only the error is actually
vulnerable. You are free to establish your kingdom where you see
fit, but the right choice is inevitable if you remember this:
Spirit is in a state of grace forever. Your reality is only spirit.
Therefore you are in a state of grace forever.
Atonement undoes all errors in this respect, and thus uproots the
source of fear. Whenever you experience God’s reassurances as
threat, it is always because you are defending misplaced or
misdirected loyalty. When you project this to others you imprison
them, but only to the extent to which you reinforce errors they
have already made. This makes them vulnerable to the distortions of
others, since their own perception of themselves is distorted. The
miracle worker can only bless them, and this undoes their
distortions and frees them from prison. T-1.III.6. You respond to
what you perceive, and as you perceive so shall you behave. The
Golden Rule asks you to do unto others as you would have them do
unto you. This means that the perception of both must be accurate.
The Golden Rule is the rule for appropriate behavior. You cannot
behave appropriately unless you perceive correctly. Since you and
your neighbor are equal members of one family, as you perceive both
so
you will do to both. You should look out from the perception of
your own holiness to the holiness of others. T-1.III.7. Miracles
arise from a mind that is ready for them. By being united this mind
goes out to everyone, even without the awareness of the miracle
worker himself. The impersonal nature of miracles is because the
Atonement itself is one, uniting all creations with their Creator.
As an expression of what you truly are, the miracle places the mind
in a state of grace. The mind then naturally welcomes the Host
within and the stranger without. When you bring in the stranger, he
becomes your brother. T-1.III.8. That the miracle may have effects
on your brothers that you may not recognize is not your concern.
The miracle will always bless you. Miracles you are not asked to
perform have not lost their value. They are still expressions of
your own state of grace, but the action aspect of the miracle
should be controlled by me because of my complete awareness of the
whole plan. The impersonal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures
your grace, but only I am in a position to know where they can be
bestowed. T-1.III.9. Miracles are selective only in the sense that
they are directed towards those who can use them for themselves.
Since this makes it
inevitable that they will extend them to others, a strong chain of
Atonement is welded. However, this selectivity takes no account of
the magnitude of the miracle itself, because the concept of size
exists on a plane that is itself unreal. Since the miracle aims at
restoring the awareness of reality, it would not be useful if it
were bound by laws that govern the error it aims to correct.
IV. The Escape from Darkness
T-1.IV.1. The escape from darkness involves two stages: First, the
recognition that darkness cannot hide. This step usually entails
fear. Second, the recognition that there is nothing you want to
hide even if you could. This step brings escape from fear. When you
have become willing to hide nothing, you will not only be willing
to enter into communion but will also understand peace and joy.
T-1.IV.2. Holiness can never be really hidden in darkness, but you
can deceive yourself about it. This deception makes you fearful
because you realize in your heart it is a deception, and you exert
enormous efforts to establish its reality. The miracle sets reality
where it belongs. Reality belongs only to spirit, and the miracle
acknowledges only truth. It thus dispels illusions
about yourself, and puts you in communion with yourself and God.
The miracle joins in the Atonement by placing the mind in the
service of the Holy Spirit. This establishes the proper function of
the mind and corrects its errors, which are merely lacks of love.
Your mind can be possessed by illusions, but spirit is eternally
free. If a mind perceives without love, it perceives an empty shell
and is unaware of the spirit within. But the Atonement restores
spirit to its proper place. The mind that serves spirit is
invulnerable. T-1.IV.3. Darkness is lack of light as sin is lack of
love. It has no unique properties of its own. It is an example of
the “scarcity” belief, from which only error can proceed. Truth is
always abundant. Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have
everything have no needs of any kind. The purpose of the Atonement
is to restore everything to you; or rather, to restore it to your
awareness. You were given everything when you were created, just as
everyone was. T-1.IV.4. The emptiness engendered by fear must be
replaced by forgiveness. That is what the Bible means by “There is
no death,” and why I could demonstrate that death does not exist. I
came to fulfill the law by reinterpreting it. The law itself, if
properly understood, offers only protection. It is those who have
not yet changed their minds who
brought the “hell-fire” concept into it. I assure you that I will
witness for anyone who lets me, and to whatever extent he permits
it. Your witnessing demonstrates your belief, and thus strengthens
it. Those who witness for me are expressing, through their
miracles, that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation in
favor of the abundance they have learned belongs to them.
V. Wholeness and Spirit
T-1.V.1. The miracle is much like the body in that both are
learning aids for facilitating a state in which they become
unnecessary. When spirit’s original state of direct communication
is reached, neither the body nor the miracle serves any purpose.
While you believe you are in a body, however, you can choose
between loveless and miraculous channels of expression. You can
make an empty shell, but you cannot express nothing at all. You can
wait, delay, paralyze yourself, or reduce your creativity almost to
nothing. But you cannot abolish it. You can destroy your medium of
communication, but not your potential. You did not create yourself.
T-1.V.2. The basic decision of the miracle-minded is not to wait on
time any longer than is necessary. Time can waste as well as be
wasted.
The miracle worker, therefore, accepts the time- control factor
gladly. He recognizes that every collapse of time brings everyone
closer to the ultimate release from time, in which the Son and the
Father are One. Equality does not imply equality now. When everyone
recognizes that he has everything, individual contributions to the
Sonship will no longer be necessary. T-1.V.3. When the Atonement
has been completed, all talents will be shared by all the Sons of
God. God is not partial. All His children have His total Love, and
all His gifts are freely given to everyone alike. “Except ye become
as little children” means that unless you fully recognize your
complete dependence on God, you cannot know the real power of the
Son in his true relationship with the Father. The specialness of
God’s Sons does not stem from exclusion but from inclusion. All my
brothers are special. If they believe they are deprived of
anything, their perception becomes distorted. When this occurs the
whole family of God, or the Sonship, is impaired in its
relationships. T-1.V.4. Ultimately, every member of the family of
God must return. The miracle calls him to return because it blesses
and honors him, even though he may be absent in spirit. “God is not
mocked” is not a warning but a reassurance. God would be
mocked if any of His creations lacked holiness. The creation is
whole, and the mark of wholeness is holiness. Miracles are
affirmations of Sonship, which is a state of completion and
abundance. T-1.V.5. Whatever is true is eternal, and cannot change
or be changed. Spirit is therefore unalterable because it is
already perfect, but the mind can elect what it chooses to serve.
The only limit put on its choice is that it cannot serve two
masters. If it elects to do so, the mind can become the medium by
which spirit creates along the line of its own creation. If it does
not freely elect to do so, it retains its creative potential but
places itself under tyrannous rather than Authoritative control. As
a result it imprisons, because such are the dictates of tyrants. To
change your mind means to place it at the disposal of true
Authority. T-1.V.6. The miracle is a sign that the mind has chosen
to be led by me in Christ’s service. The abundance of Christ is the
natural result of choosing to follow Him. All shallow roots must be
uprooted, because they are not deep enough to sustain you. The
illusion that shallow roots can be deepened, and thus made to hold,
is one of the distortions on which the reverse of the Golden Rule
rests. As these false underpinnings are given up, the equilibrium
is temporarily experienced as unstable. However, nothing is less
stable than an
upside-down orientation. Nor can anything that holds it upside down
be conducive to increased stability.
VI. The Illusion of Needs
T-1.VI.1. You who want peace can find it only by complete
forgiveness. No learning is acquired by anyone unless he wants to
learn it and believes in some way that he needs it. While lack does
not exist in the creation of God, it is very apparent in what you
have made. It is, in fact, the essential difference between them.
Lack implies that you would be better off in a state somehow
different from the one you are in. Until the “separation,” which is
the meaning of the “fall,” nothing was lacking. There were no needs
at all. Needs arise only when you deprive yourself. You act
according to the particular order of needs you establish. This, in
turn, depends on your perception of what you are. T-1.VI.2. A sense
of separation from God is the only lack you really need correct.
This sense of separation would never have arisen if you had not
distorted your perception of truth, and had thus perceived yourself
as lacking. The idea of order of needs arose because, having made
this fundamental error, you had already fragmented
yourself into levels with different needs. As you integrate you
become one, and your needs become one accordingly. Unified needs
lead to unified action, because this produces a lack of conflict.
T-1.VI.3. The idea of orders of need, which follows from the
original error that one can be separated from God, requires
correction at its own level before the error of perceiving levels
at all can be corrected. You cannot behave effectively while you
function on different levels. However, while you do, correction
must be introduced vertically from the bottom up. This is because
you think you live in space, where concepts such as “up” and “down”
are meaningful. Ultimately, space is as meaningless as time. Both
are merely beliefs. T-1.VI.4. The real purpose of this world is to
use it to correct your unbelief. You can never control the effects
of fear yourself, because you made fear, and you believe in what
you made. In attitude, then, though not in content, you resemble
your Creator, Who has perfect faith in His creations because He
created them. Belief produces the acceptance of existence. That is
why you can believe what no one else thinks is true. It is true for
you because it was made by you. T-1.VI.5. All aspects of fear are
untrue because they do not exist at the creative level, and
therefore do not exist at all. To whatever extent you are willing
to submit your beliefs to this test, to that extent are your
perceptions corrected. In sorting out the false from the true, the
miracle proceeds along these lines:
Perfect love casts out fear. If fear exists, Then there is not
perfect love. But: Only perfect love exists. If there is fear, It
produces a state that does not exist.
Believe this and you will be free. Only God can establish this
solution, and this faith is His gift.
VII. Distortions of Miracle Impulses
T-1.VII.1. Your distorted perceptions produce a dense cover over
miracle impulses, making it hard for them to reach your own
awareness. The confusion of miracle impulses with physical impulses
is a major perceptual distortion. Physical impulses are misdirected
miracle impulses. All real pleasure comes from doing God’s Will.
This is because not doing it is a denial of Self. Denial of Self
results in illusions, while correction of the error brings release
from it. Do not deceive yourself into believing that you can relate
in peace
to God or to your brothers with anything external. T-1.VII.2. Child
of God, you were created to create the good, the beautiful and the
holy. Do not forget this. The Love of God, for a little while, must
still be expressed through one body to another, because vision is
still so dim. You can use your body best to help you enlarge your
perception so you can achieve real vision, of which the physical
eye is incapable. Learning to do this is the body’s only true
usefulness. T-1.VII.3. Fantasy is a distorted form of vision.
Fantasies of any kind are distortions, because they always involve
twisting perception into unreality. Actions that stem from
distortions are literally the reactions of those who know not what
they do. Fantasy is an attempt to control reality according to
false needs. Twist reality in any way and you are perceiving
destructively. Fantasies are a means of making false associations
and attempting to obtain pleasure from them. But although you can
perceive false associations, you can never make them real except to
yourself. You believe in what you make. If you offer miracles, you
will be equally strong in your belief in them. The strength of your
conviction will then sustain the belief of the miracle receiver.
Fantasies become totally unnecessary as the wholly satisfying
nature of reality becomes apparent to
both giver and receiver. Reality is “lost” through usurpation,
which produces tyranny. As long as a single “slave” remains to walk
the earth, your release is not complete. Complete restoration of
the Sonship is the only goal of the miracle- minded. T-1.VII.4.
This is a course in mind training. All learning involves attention
and study at some level. Some of the later parts of the course rest
too heavily on these earlier sections not to require their careful
study. You will also need them for preparation. Without this, you
may become much too fearful of what is to come to make constructive
use of it. However, as you study these earlier sections, you will
begin to see some of the implications that will be amplified later
on. T-1.VII.5. A solid foundation is necessary because of the
confusion between fear and awe to which I have already referred,
and which is often made. I have said that awe is inappropriate in
connection with the Sons of God, because you should not experience
awe in the presence of your equals. However, it was also emphasized
that awe is proper in the Presence of your Creator. I have been
careful to clarify my role in the Atonement without either over- or
understating it. I am also trying to do the same with yours. I have
stressed that awe is not an appropriate reaction to me
because of our inherent equality. Some of the later steps in this
course, however, involve a more direct approach to God Himself. It
would be unwise to start on these steps without careful
preparation, or awe will be confused with fear, and the experience
will be more traumatic than beatific. Healing is of God in the end.
The means are being carefully explained to you. Revelation may
occasionally reveal the end to you, but to reach it the means are
needed.
Chapter 2. THE SEPARATION AND THE ATONEMENT
I. The Origins of Separation
T-2.I.1. To extend is a fundamental aspect of God which He gave to
His Son. In the creation, God extended Himself to His creations and
imbued them with the same loving Will to create. You have not only
been fully created, but have also been created perfect. There is no
emptiness in you. Because of your likeness to your Creator you are
creative. No child of God can lose this ability because it is
inherent in what he is, but he can use it inappropriately by
projecting. The inappropriate use of extension, or projection,
occurs when you believe that some emptiness or lack exists in you,
and that you can fill it with your own ideas instead of truth. This
process involves the following steps: First, you believe that what
God created can be changed by your own mind. Second, you believe
that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or lacking. Third,
you believe that you can distort the creations of God, including
yourself. Fourth, you believe that you can create yourself, and
that the direction of your own creation is up to you. T-2.I.2.
These related distortions represent a
picture of what actually occurred in the separation, or the “detour
into fear.” None of this existed before the separation, nor does it
actually exist now. Everything God created is like Him. Extension,
as undertaken by God, is similar to the inner radiance that the
children of the Father inherit from Him. Its real source is
internal. This is as true of the Son as of the Father. In this
sense the creation includes both the creation of the Son by God,
and the Son’s creations when his mind is healed. This requires
God’s endowment of the Son with free will, because all loving
creation is freely given in one continuous line, in which all
aspects are of the same order. T-2.I.3. The Garden of Eden, or the
pre- separation condition, was a state of mind in which nothing was
needed. When Adam listened to the “lies of the serpent,” all he
heard was untruth. You do not have to continue to believe what is
not true unless you choose to do so. All that can literally
disappear in the twinkling of an eye because it is merely a
misperception. What is seen in dreams seems to be very real. Yet
the Bible says that a deep sleep fell upon Adam, and nowhere is
there reference to his waking up. The world has not yet experienced
any comprehensive reawakening or rebirth. Such a rebirth is
impossible as long as you continue to project or
miscreate. It still remains within you, however, to extend as God
extended His Spirit to you. In reality this is your only choice,
because your free will was given you for your joy in creating the
perfect. T-2.I.4. All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic
misperception that you have the ability to usurp the power of God.
Of course, you neither can nor have been able to do this. Here is
the real basis for your escape from fear. The escape is brought
about by your acceptance of the Atonement, which enables you to
realize that your errors never really occurred. Only after the deep
sleep fell upon Adam could he experience nightmares. If a light is
suddenly turned on while someone is dreaming a fearful dream, he
may initially interpret the light itself as part of his dream and
be afraid of it. However, when he awakens, the light is correctly
perceived as the release from the dream, which is then no longer
accorded reality. This release does not depend on illusions. The
knowledge that illuminates not only sets you free, but also shows
you clearly that you are free. T-2.I.5. Whatever lies you may
believe are of no concern to the miracle, which can heal any of
them with equal ease. It makes no distinctions among
misperceptions. Its sole concern is to distinguish between truth on
the one hand, and
error on the other. Some miracles may seem to be of greater
magnitude than others. But remember the first principle in this
course; there is no order of difficulty in miracles. In reality you
are perfectly unaffected by all expressions of lack of love. These
can be from yourself and others, from yourself to others, or from
others to you. Peace is an attribute in you. You cannot find it
outside. Illness is some form of external searching. Health is
inner peace. It enables you to remain unshaken by lack of love from
without and capable, through your acceptance of miracles, of
correcting the conditions proceeding from lack of love in
others.
II. The Atonement as Defense
T-2.II.1. You can do anything I ask. I have asked you to perform
miracles, and have made it clear that miracles are natural,
corrective, healing and universal. There is nothing they cannot do,
but they cannot be performed in the spirit of doubt or fear. When
you are afraid of anything, you are acknowledging its power to hurt
you. Remember that where your heart is, there is your treasure
also. You believe in what you value. If you are afraid, you are
valuing wrongly. Your understanding will then inevitably value
wrongly, and by endowing all thoughts with equal power
will inevitably destroy peace. That is why the Bible speaks of “the
peace of God which passeth understanding.” This peace is totally
incapable of being shaken by errors of any kind. It denies the
ability of anything not of God to affect you. This is the proper
use of denial. It is not used to hide anything, but to correct
error. It brings all error into the light, and since error and
darkness are the same, it corrects error automatically. T-2.II.2.
True denial is a powerful protective device. You can and should
deny any belief that error can hurt you. This kind of denial is not
a concealment but a correction. Your right mind depends on it.
Denial of error is a strong defense of truth, but denial of truth
results in miscreation, the projections of the ego. In the service
of the right mind the denial of error frees the mind, and
re-establishes the freedom of the will. When the will is really
free it cannot miscreate, because it recognizes only truth.
T-2.II.3. You can defend truth as well as error. The