aCourCIM2the Course

“aCourCIM2”

aCourCIM2

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about “aCourCIM2”

This document “aCourCIM2” is a careful reproduction of what may have been the fourth “version” of Jesus’Course – “A Course in Miracles, Second Edition (U.S.) 1992” (“ACIM2”). ACIM2 was preceded by“A Course in Miracles, First Edition (U.S.) 1976 (or “ACIM1”). ACIM1 was a redaction of the ur-Courseand/or the HLC-Course; ACIM2 was a redaction of ACIM1. Related documents “aCoURse” and “aCourCE”contain notes about the ur-Course (“uC”) and the HLC-Course (“HC”).

Redaction of the ur-Course and/or the HLC-Course into ACIM1 apparently was primarily undertaken byHelen Schucman (née Cohn) with Kenneth Wapnick. Redaction of ACIM1 into ACIM2 apparently wasprimarily undertaken by Kenneth Wapnick. Throughout the first quarter-century after the Course wasReceived, ACIM1 or ACIM2 became the initial encounter with the Course for most Course-students.

aCourCIM2 accurately reproduces A Course in Miracles, Second Edition – hence “aCourCIM2” [ah+kor+sim +0tu

– or just ah+kor+0sim ]. However, users should satisfy themselves as to its authenticity, accuracy and usefulness– and should refer to ACIM2 for utmost accuracy. As with all gnostic writings, the affinity of ACIM2 (and

therefore aCourCIM 2) to universal Truth can be determined only by one’s own inner process of recognition.

ACIM2 is divided into 31 Chapters, bookmarked herein. (Some ACIM2 Chapter divisions differ from HCChapter divisions.) ACIM2 is page-numbered, but an alternative page numbering system is introduced inaCourCIM2, as small green upper-left-corner numbers (“a2” denoting the aCourCIM 2 reproduction of ACIM2):

a 2 p - • • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a2 PREFACE

a 2 T • . • • - • • • . . . . . . . . . . . . a2 TEXT

a 2 W 1 - • • • / a 2 W 2 - • • . . . . . . . a2 WORKBOOK FOR STUDENTS, PART I / PART II

a 2 M • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a2 MANUAL FOR TEACHERS

a 2 C • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a2 CLARIFICATION OF TERMS

a 2 P • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a2 PSY CHOTHERAPY: PURPOSE, PROCESS AND PRACTICE

a 2 S P • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a2 THE SONG O F PRAYER Prayer, Forgiveness, Healing

The “• . • •” digits immediately following the characters “ a 2 T” denote aCourCE “round” and ACIM2 “Chapter,”respectively. aCourCIM2 page numbers simply follow the ACIM2 page sequence.

In aCourCIM2, the published citation system of ACIM2 is removed. Unlike the not-of-the-world Content ofthe Course, the ACIM2 citation system was a subsequent accretion to the Course’s form. The ACIM2 citationsystem thus can be the subject of worldly rights and claim; hence its removal.

For convenient citation, aCourCIM2 lines are numbered (as with this paragraph), in the same style used in aCoURse 2

and aCourCE. (For aCourCIM 2 line num bering to be m eaningful, its line breaks w ere matched with those in ACIM2. A technical 3

issue then required the “full text justification ” in ACIM2 to be replaced with “left tex t justif ication ” in aCourCIM 2.) As with 4

aCoURse and aCourCE, on each page in aCourCIM2 top-of-page numbers and headers share line 1 (number 1 5

is undisplayed), and content begins on line 2. aCourCIM2 citation is logical – e.g. 6

a 2 T 1 .0 6 -1 0 4 :3 1 û aCourCIM 2 reproduction | ACIM2 |Text part | HC round 1 | ACIM 2 Chapter 6 | page 104 | l ine 31 7

For use via either computer or paper, aCourCIM2 is optimized for color. For printing, aCourCIM2 isoptimized for the standard international paper size (“A4” – 210x297 millimeters). Printing on comparablepaper sizes (e.g. “U.S. Letter” – 8½x11 inches) may be accommodated via software print settings.

aCourCIM2

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The ACIM2 content of aCourCIM2 begins on the next page.aCourCIM2 can be distinguished from other presentations of Jesus’ Course by

a green “a2” beginning each aCourCIM2 page number and a gold “aCourCIM2” watermark.

aCourCIM2 is freely available to all who want it – but only for the purpose of accepting Atonement oneself.

aCourCIM2 availability follows seven steps. Step 1 includes material corresponding to HC round 1.Over six following steps, aCourCIM2 will then include HC round 2, HC round 3, HC round 4,

Workbook PART I, Workbook PART II, and finally all remaining ACIM2 material.

In that stepped sequence and tempo, all members of the awakening Sonship

are Invited to join, focusing together on the Message of the Course.

Jesus’ Course was given in freedom by All to all.

aCourCIM2 is dedicated in gratitude to All.

aCourCIM2 is given in freedom to all.

“To Have, Give All to All”a2T1.06-104:31

stepÎ

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A COURSE IN MIRACLES 2

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A COURSE IN MIRACLES 2

COMBINED VOLUME 3

Second Edition 4

I 5

TEXT 6

II 7

WORKBOOK FOR STUDENTS 8

III 9

MANUAL FOR TEACHERS 10

FOUNDATION FOR INNER PEACE 11

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PREFACE 2

This Preface was written in 1977, in response to many requests for a brief 3

introduction to A Course in Miracles. The first two parts–How It Came; What It 4

Is–Helen Schucman wrote herself; the final part–What It Says–was written by 5

the process of inner dictation described in the Preface. 6

How It Came 7

A Course in Miracles began with the sudden decision of two 8

people to join in a common goal. Their names were Helen Schuc- 9

man and William Thetford, Professors of Medical Psychology at 10

Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in 11

New York City. It does not matter who they were, except that the 12

story shows that with God all things are possible. They were any- 13

thing but spiritual. Their relationship with each other was dif- 14

ficult and often strained, and they were concerned with personal 15

and professional acceptance and status. In general, they had con- 16

siderable investment in the values of the world. Their lives were 17

hardly in accord with anything that the Course advocates. Helen, 18

the one who received the material, describes herself: 19

Psychologist, educator, conservative in theory and atheistic in 20

belief, I was working in a prestigious and highly academic setting. 21

And then something happened that triggered a chain of events I 22

could never have predicted. The head of my department unexpec- 23

tedly announced that he was tired of the angry and aggressive feel- 24

ings our attitudes reflected, and concluded that "there must be 25

another way." As if on cue, I agreed to help him find it. Apparently 26

this Course is the other way. 27

Although their intention was serious, they had great difficulty 28

in starting out on their joint venture. But they had given the Holy 29

Spirit the "little willingness" that, as the Course itself was to em- 30

phasize again and again, is sufficient to enable Him to use any 31

situation for His purposes and provide it with His power. 32

To continue Helen's first-person account: 33

Three startling months preceded the actual writing, during which 34

time Bill suggested that I write down the highly symbolic dreams 35

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and descriptions of the strange images that were coming to me. 2

Although I had grown more accustomed to the unexpected by that 3

time, I was still very surprised when I wrote, "This is a course in 4

miracles." That was my introduction to the Voice. It made no 5

sound, but seemed to be giving me a kind of rapid, inner dictation 6

which I took down in a shorthand notebook. The writing was never 7

automatic. It could be interrupted at any time and later picked up 8

again. It made me very uncomfortable, but it never seriously oc- 9

curred to me to stop. It seemed to be a special assignment I had 10

somehow, somewhere agreed to complete. It represented a truly col- 11

laborative venture between Bill and myself, and much of its sig- 12

nificance, I am sure, lies in that. I would take down what the Voice 13

"said" and read it to him the next day, and he typed it from my 14

dictation. I expect he had his special assignment, too. Without his 15

encouragement and support I would never have been able to fulfill 16

mine. The whole process took about seven years. The Text came 17

first, then the Workbook for Students, and finally the Manual for 18

Teachers. Only a few minor changes have been made. Chapter titles 19

and subheadings have been inserted in the Text, and some of the 20

more personal references that occurred at the beginning have been 21

omitted. Otherwise the material is substantially unchanged. 22

The names of the collaborators in the recording of the Course 23

do not appear on the cover because the Course can and should 24

stand on its own. It is not intended to become the basis for 25

another cult. Its only purpose is to provide a way in which some 26

people will be able to find their own Internal Teacher. 27

What It Is 28

As its title implies, the Course is arranged throughout as a 29

teaching device. It consists of three books: a 669-page Text, a 488- 30

page Workbook for Students, and a 92-page Manual for Teachers. 31

The order in which students choose to use the books, and the 32

ways in which they study them, depend on their particular needs 33

and preferences. 34

The curriculum the Course proposes is carefully conceived 35

and is explained, step by step, at both the theoretical and practi- 36

cal levels. It emphasizes application rather than theory, and ex- 37

perience rather than theology. It specifically states that "a 38

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universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is 2

not only possible but necessary" (Manual, p. 77). Although Chris- 3

tian in statement, the Course deals with universal spiritual 4

themes. It emphasizes that it is but one version of the universal 5

curriculum. There are many others, this one differing from them 6

only in form. They all lead to God in the end. 7

The Text is largely theoretical, and sets forth the concepts on 8

which the Course's thought system is based. Its ideas contain the 9

foundation for the Workbook's lessons. Without the practical ap- 10

plication the Workbook provides, the Text would remain largely 11

a series of abstractions which would hardly suffice to bring about 12

the thought reversal at which the Course aims. 13

The Workbook includes 365 lessons, one for each day of the 14

year. It is not necessary, however, to do the lessons at that tempo, 15

and one might want to remain with a particularly appealing les- 16

son for more than one day. The instructions urge only that not 17

more than one lesson a day should be attempted. The practical 18

nature of the Workbook is underscored by the introduction to its 19

lessons, which emphasizes experience through application rather 20

than a prior commitment to a spiritual goal: 21

Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to 22

believe, and others may seem to be quite startling. This does not 23

matter. You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed 24

to do. You are not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only to 25

use them. It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and 26

will show you that they are true. 27

Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need 28

not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of 29

them you may actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease 30

their efficacy. But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in ap- 31

plying the ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reac- 32

tions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than that is 33

required (Workbook, p. 2). 34

Finally, the Manual for Teachers, which is written in question 35

and answer form, provides answers to some of the more likely 36

questions a student might ask. It also includes a clarification of a 37

number of the terms the Course uses, explaining them within the 38

theoretical framework of the Text. 39

The Course makes no claim to finality, nor are the Workbook 40

lessons intended to bring the student's learning to completion. At 41

the end, the reader is left in the hands of his or her own Internal 42

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Teacher, Who will direct all subsequent learning as He sees fit. 2

While the Course is comprehensive in scope, truth cannot be 3

limited to any finite form, as is clearly recognized in the state- 4

mended at the end of the Workbook: 5

This Course is a beginning, not an end...No more specific les- 6

sons are assigned, for there is no more need of them. Henceforth, 7

hear but the Voice for God...He will direct your efforts, telling you 8

exactly what to do, how to direct your mind, and when to come to 9

Him in silence, asking for His sure direction and His certain Word 10

(Workbook, p. 487). 11

What It Says 12

Nothing real can be threatened. 13

Nothing unreal exists. 14

Herein lies the peace of God. 15

This is how A Course in Miracles begins. It makes a fundamental 16

distinction between the real and the unreal; between knowledge 17

and perception. Knowledge is truth, under one law, the law of 18

love or God. Truth is unalterable, eternal and unambiguous. It can 19

be unrecognized, but it cannot be changed. It applies to every- 20

thing that God created, and only what He created is real. It is 21

beyond learning because it is beyond time and process. It has no 22

opposite; no beginning and no end. It merely is. 23

The world of perception, on the other hand, is the world of 24

time, of change, of beginnings and endings. It is based on inter- 25

pretation, not on facts. It is the world of birth and death, founded 26

on the belief in scarcity, loss, separation and death. It is learned 27

rather than given, selective in its perceptual emphases, unstable 28

in its functioning, and inaccurate in its interpretations. 29

From knowledge and perception respectively, two distinct 30

thought systems arise which are opposite in every respect. In the 31

realm of knowledge no thoughts exist apart from God, because 32

God and His Creation share one Will. The world of perception, 33

however, is made by the belief in opposites and separate wills, in 34

perpetual conflict with each other and with God. What percep- 35

tion sees and hears appears to be real because it permits into 36

awareness only what conforms to the wishes of the perceiver. 37

This leads to a world of illusions, a world which needs constant 38

defense precisely because it is not real. 39

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When you have been caught in the world of perception you are 2

caught in a dream. You cannot escape without help, because 3

everything your senses show merely witnesses to the reality of 4

the dream. God has provided the Answer, the only Way out, the 5

true Helper. It is the function of His Voice, His Holy Spirit, to 6

mediate between the two worlds. He can do this because, while 7

on the one hand He knows the truth, on the other He also recog- 8

nizes our illusions, but without believing in them. It is the Holy 9

Spirit's goal to help us escape from the dream world by teaching 10

us how to reverse our thinking and unlearn our mistakes. For- 11

giveness is the Holy Spirit's great learning aid in bringing this 12

thought reversal about. However, the Course has its own defini- 13

tion of what forgiveness really is just as it defines the world in its 14

own way. 15

The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of 16

reference–the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our 17

minds. "Projection makes perception" (Text, p. 445). We look in- 18

side first, decide the kind of world we want to see and then 19

project that world outside, making it the truth as we see it. We 20

make it true by our interpretations of what it is we are seeing. If 21

we are using perception to justify our own mistakes–our anger, 22

our impulses to attack, our lack of love in whatever form it may 23

take–we will see a world of evil, destruction, malice, envy and 24

despair. All this we must learn to forgive, not because we are 25

being "good" and "charitable," but because what we are seeing is 26

not true. We have distorted the world by our twisted defenses, 27

and are therefore seeing what is not there. As we learn to recog- 28

nize our perceptual errors, we also learn to look past them or 29

"forgive." At the same time we are forgiving ourselves, looking 30

past our distorted self-concepts to the Self That God created in us 31

and as us. 32

Sin is defined as "lack of love" (Text, p. 11). Since love is all 33

there is, sin in the sight of the Holy Spirit is a mistake to be cor- 34

rected, rather than an evil to be punished. Our sense of inade- 35

quacy, weakness and incompletion comes from the strong 36

investment in the "scarcity principle" that governs the whole 37

world of illusions. From that point of view, we seek in others 38

what we feel is wanting in ourselves. We "love" another in order 39

to get something ourselves. That, in fact, is what passes for love 40

in the dream world. There can be no greater mistake than that, 41

for love is incapable of asking for anything. 42

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Only minds can really join, and whom God has joined no man 2

can put asunder (Text, p. 356). It is, however, only at the level of 3

Christ Mind that true union is possible, and has, in fact, never 4

been lost. The "little I" seeks to enhance itself by external ap- 5

proval, external possessions and external "love." The Self That 6

God created needs nothing. It is forever complete, safe, loved and 7

loving. It seeks to share rather than to get; to extend rather than 8

project. It has no needs and wants to join with others out of their 9

mutual awareness of abundance. 10

The special relationships of the world are destructive, selfish 11

and childishly egocentric. Yet, if given to the Holy Spirit, these 12

relationships can become the holiest things on earth–the miracles 13

that point the way to the return to Heaven. The world uses its 14

special relationships as a final weapon of exclusion and a 15

demonstration of separateness. The Holy Spirit transforms them 16

into perfect lessons in forgiveness and in awakening from the 17

dream. Each one is an opportunity to let perceptions be healed 18

and errors corrected. Each one is another chance to forgive oneself 19

by forgiving the other. And each one becomes still another invita- 20

tion to the Holy Spirit and to the remembrance of God. 21

Perception is a function of the body, and therefore represents a 22

limit on awareness. Perception sees through the body's eyes and 23

hears through the body's ears. It evokes the limited responses 24

which the body makes. The body appears to be largely self- 25

motivated and independent, yet it actually responds only to the 26

intentions of the mind. If the mind wants to use it for attack in 27

any form, it becomes prey to sickness, age and decay. If the mind 28

accepts the Holy Spirit's purpose for it instead, it becomes a use- 29

ful way of communicating with others, invulnerable as long as it 30

is needed, and to be gently laid by when its use is over. Of itself it 31

is neutral, as is everything in the world of perception. Whether it 32

is used for the goals of the ego or the Holy Spirit depends entirely 33

on what the mind wants. 34

The opposite of seeing through the body's eyes is the vision of 35

Christ, which reflects strength rather than weakness, unity rather 36

than separation, and love rather than fear. The opposite of hearing 37

through the body's ears is communication through the Voice for 38

God, the Holy Spirit, which abides in each of us. His Voice seems 39

distant and difficult to hear because the ego, which speaks for the 40

little, separated self, seems to be much louder. This is actually 41

reversed. The Holy Spirit speaks with unmistakable clarity and 42

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overwhelming appeal. No one who does not choose to identify 2

with the body could possibly be deaf to His messages of release 3

and hope, nor could he fail to accept joyously the vision of Christ 4

in glad exchange for his miserable picture of himself. 5

Christ's vision is the Holy Spirit's gift, God's alternative to the 6

illusion of separation and to the belief in the reality of sin, guilt 7

and death. It is the one correction for all errors of perception; the 8

reconciliation of the seeming opposites on which this world is 9

based. Its kindly light shows all things from another point of 10

view, reflecting the thought system that arises from knowledge 11

and making return to God not only possible but inevitable. What 12

was regarded as injustice done to one by someone else now 13

becomes a call for help and for union. Sin, sickness and attack are 14

seen as misperceptions calling for remedy through gentleness 15

and love. Defenses are laid down because where there is no at- 16

tack there is no need for them. Our brothers' needs become our 17

own, because they are taking the journey with us as we go to 18

God. Without us they would lose their way. Without them we 19

could never find our own. 20

Forgiveness is unknown in Heaven, where the need for it 21

would be inconceivable. However, in this world, forgiveness is a 22

necessary correction for all the mistakes that we have made. To 23

offer forgiveness is the only way for us to have it, for it reflects 24

the law of Heaven that giving and receiving are the same. 25

Heaven is the natural state of all the Sons of God as He created 26

them. Such is their reality forever. It has not changed because it 27

has been forgotten. 28

Forgiveness is the means by which we will remember. 29

Through forgiveness the thinking of the world is reversed. The 30

forgiven world becomes the gate of Heaven, because by its mercy 31

we can at last forgive ourselves. Holding no one prisoner to guilt, 32

we become free. Acknowledging Christ in all our brothers, we 33

recognize His Presence in ourselves. Forgetting all our misper- 34

ceptions, and with nothing from the past to hold us back, we can 35

remember God. Beyond this, learning cannot go. When we are 36

ready, God Himself will take the final step in our return to Him. 37

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A COURSE IN MIRACLES 2

TEXT 3

FOUNDATION FOR INNER PEACE 4

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CONTENTS 2

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3

Chapter 1 THE MEANING OF MIRACLES 4

Principles of Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5

Revelation, Time and Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6

Atonement and Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7

The Escape from Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 8

Wholeness and Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 9

The Illusion of Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 10

Distortions of Miracle Impulses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 11

Chapter 2 THE SEPARATION AND THE ATONEMENT 12

The Origins of Separation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 13

The Atonement as Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 14

The Altar of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 15

Healing as Release from Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 16

The Function of the Miracle Worker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 17

Special Principles of Miracle Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 18

Fear and Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 19

Cause and Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 20

The Meaning of the Last Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 21

Chapter 3 THE INNOCENT PERCEPTION 22

Atonement without Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 23

Miracles as True Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 24

Perception versus Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 25

Error and the Ego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 26

Beyond Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 27

Judgment and the Authority Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 28

Creating versus the Self-Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 29

Chapter 4 THE ILLUSIONS OF THE EGO 30

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 31

Right Teaching and Right Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 32

The Ego and False Autonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 33

Love without Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 34

This Need Not Be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 35

The Ego-Body illusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 36

The Rewards of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 37

Creation and Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 38

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Chapter 5 HEALING AND WHOLENESS 2

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 3

The Invitation to the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4

The Voice for God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 5

The Guide to Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 6

Teaching and Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 7

The Ego s Use of Guilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 8

Time and Eternity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 9

The Decision for God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 10

Chapter 6 THE LESSONS OF LOVE 11

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 12

The Message of the Crucifixion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 13

The Alternative to Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 14

The Relinquishment of Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 15

The On1y Answer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 16

The Lessons of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 17

To Have, Give All to All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 18

To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 19

Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 20

Chapter 7 THE GIFTS OF THE KINGDOM 21

The Last Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 22

The Law of the Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 23

The Reality of the Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 24

Healing as the Recognition of Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 25

Healing and the Changelessness of Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 26

From Vigilance to Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 27

The Totality of the Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 28

The Unbelievable Belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 29

The Extension of the Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 30

The Confusion of Pain and Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 31

The State of Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 32

Chapter 8 THE JOURNEY BACK 33

The Direction of the Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 34

The Difference between Imprisonment and Freedom . . . . . . . . 139 35

The Holy Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 36

The Gift of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 37

The Undivided Will of the Sonship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 38

The Treasure of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 39

The Body as a Means of Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 40

The Body as Means or End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 41

Healing as Corrected Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 42

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Chapter 9 THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ATONEMENT 2

The Acceptance of Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 3

The Answer to Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 4

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INTRODUCTION 2

This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the 3

time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you 4

can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect 5

what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim 6

at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be 7

taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the 8

awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. 9

The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can 10

have no opposite. 11

This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way: 12

Nothing real can be threatened. 13

Nothing unreal exists. 14

Herein lies the peace of God. 15

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Chapter 1 2

THE MEANING OF MIRACLES 3

Principles of Miracles 4

1. There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not "harder" 5

or "bigger" than another. They are all the same. All expressions 6

of love are maximal. 7

2. Miracles as such do not matter. The only thing that matters is 8

their Source, Which is far beyond evaluation. 9

3. Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real 10

miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything 11

that comes from love is a miracle. 12

4. All miracles mean life, and God is the Giver of life. His Voice 13

will direct you very specifically. You will be told all you need to 14

know. 15

5. Miracles are habits, and should be involuntary. They should 16

not be under conscious control. Consciously selected miracles 17

can be misguided. 18

6. Miracles are natural. When they do not occur something has 19

gone wrong. 20

7. Miracles are everyone's right, but purification is necessary 21

first. 22

8. Miracles are healing because they supply a lack; they are per- 23

formed by those who temporarily have more for those who tem- 24

porarily have less. 25

9. Miracles are a kind of exchange. Like all expressions of love, 26

which are always miraculous in the true sense, the exchange 27

reverses the physical laws. They bring more love both to the 28

giver and the receiver. 29

10. The use of miracles as spectacles to induce belief is a mis- 30

understanding of their purpose. 31

11. Prayer is the medium of miracles. It is a means of communica- 32

tion of the created with the Creator. Through prayer love is 33

received, and through miracles love is expressed. 34

12. Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can represent the lower or 35

bodily level of experience, or the higher or spiritual level of ex- 36

perience. One makes the physical, and the other creates the 37

spiritual. 38

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13. Miracles are both beginnings and endings, and so they alter 2

the temporal order. They are always affirmations of rebirth, 3

which seem to go back but really go forward. They undo the 4

past in the present, and thus release the future. 5

14. Miracles bear witness to truth. They are convincing because 6

they arise from conviction. Without conviction they deteriorate 7

into magic, which is mindless and therefore destructive; or 8

rather, the uncreative use of mind. 9

15. Each day should be devoted to miracles. The purpose of time 10

is to enable you to learn how to use time constructively. It is thus 11

a teaching device and a means to an end. Time will cease when it 12

is no longer useful in facilitating learning. 13

16. Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating it is as blessed 14

to give as to receive. They simultaneously increase the strength 15

of the giver and supply strength to the receiver. 16

17. Miracles transcend the body. They are sudden shifts into in- 17

visibility, away from the bodily level. That is why they heal. 18

18. A miracle is a service. It is the maximal service you can render 19

to another. It is a way of loving your neighbor as yourself. You 20

recognize your own and your neighbor's worth simultaneously. 21

19. Miracles make minds one in God. They depend on coopera- 22

tion because the Sonship is the sum of all that God created. 23

Miracles therefore reflect the laws of eternity, not of time. 24

20. Miracles reawaken the awareness that the spirit, not the body, 25

is the altar of truth. This is the recognition that leads to the heal- 26

ing power of the miracle. 27

21. Miracles are natural signs of forgiveness. Through miracles 28

you accept God's forgiveness by extending it to others. 29

22. Miracles are associated with fear only because of the belief that 30

darkness can hide. You believe that what your physical eyes can- 31

not see does not exist. This leads to a denial of spiritual sight. 32

23. Miracles rearrange perception and place all levels in true 33

perspective. This is healing because sickness comes from confus- 34

ing the levels. 35

24. Miracles enable you to heal the sick and raise the dead because 36

you made sickness and death yourself, and can therefore abolish 37

both. You are a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of 38

your Creator. Everything else is your own nightmare, and does 39

not exist. Only the creations of light are real. 40

25. Miracles are part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, 41

when completed, is the Atonement. Atonement works all the 42

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time and in all the dimensions of time. 2

26. Miracles represent freedom from fear. "Atoning" means "un- 3

doing." The undoing of fear is an essential part of the Atone- 4

mended value of miracles. 5

27. A miracle is a universal blessing from God through me to all 6

my brothers. It is the privilege of the forgiven to forgive. 7

28. Miracles are a way of earning release from fear. Revelation 8

induces a state in which fear has already been abolished. 9

Miracles are thus a means and revelation is an end. 10

29. Miracles praise God through you. They praise Him by honor- 11

ing His creations, affirming their perfection. They heal because 12

they deny body-identification and affirm spirit-identification. 13

30. By recognizing spirit, miracles adjust the levels of perception 14

and show them in proper alignment. This places spirit at the 15

center, where it can communicate directly. 16

31. Miracles should inspire gratitude, not awe. You should thank 17

God for what you really are. The children of God are holy and 18

the miracle honors their holiness, which can be hidden but never 19

lost. 20

32. I inspire all miracles, which are really intercessions. They in- 21

tercede for your holiness and make your perceptions holy. By 22

placing you beyond the physical laws they raise you into the 23

sphere of celestial order. In this order you are perfect. 24

33. Miracles honor you because you are lovable. They dispel il- 25

lusions about yourself and perceive the light in you. They thus 26

atone for your errors by freeing you from your nightmares. By 27

releasing your mind from the imprisonment of your illusions, 28

they restore your sanity. 29

34. Miracles restore the mind to its fullness. By atoning for lack 30

they establish perfect protection. The spirit's strength leaves no 31

room for intrusions. 32

35. Miracles are expressions of love, but they may not always have 33

observable effects. 34

36. Miracles are examples of right thinking, aligning your percep- 35

tions with truth as God created it. 36

37. A miracle is a correction introduced into false thinking by me. 37

It acts as a catalyst, breaking up erroneous perception and reor- 38

ganizing it properly. This places you under the Atonement prin- 39

ciple, where perception is healed. Until this has occurred, 40

knowledge of the Divine Order is impossible. 41

38. The Holy Spirit is the mechanism of miracles. He recognizes 42

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both God's creations and your illusions. He separates the true 2

from the false by His ability to perceive totally rather than selec- 3

tively. 4

39. The miracle dissolves error because the Holy Spirit identifies 5

error as false or unreal. This is the same as saying that by per- 6

ceiving light, darkness automatically disappears. 7

40. The miracle acknowledges everyone as your brother and mine. 8

It is a way of perceiving the universal mark of God. 9

41. Wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles. They thus 10

correct, or atone for, the faulty perception of lack. 11

42. A major contribution of miracles is their strength in releasing 12

you from your false sense of isolation, deprivation and lack. 13

43. Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind, or a state of 14

miracle-readiness. 15

44. The miracle is an expression of an inner awareness of Christ 16

and the acceptance of His Atonement. 17

45. A miracle is never lost. It may touch many people you have 18

not even met, and produce undreamed of changes in situations 19

of which you are not even aware. 20

46. The Holy Spirit is the highest communication medium. 21

Miracles do not involve this type of communication, because 22

they are temporary communication devices. When you return to 23

your original form of communication with God by direct revela- 24

tion, the need for miracles is over. 25

47. The miracle is a learning device that lessens the need for time. 26

It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval not under the usual 27

laws of time. In this sense it is timeless. 28

48. The miracle is the only device at your immediate disposal for 29

controlling time. Only revelation transcends it, having nothing 30

to do with time at all. 31

49. The miracle makes no distinction among degrees of misper- 32

ception. It is a device for perception-correction, effective quite 33

apart from either the degree or the direction of the error. This is 34

its true indiscriminateness. 35

50. The miracle compares what you have made with creation, ac- 36

cepting what is in accord with it as true, and rejecting what is out 37

of accord as false. 38

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Revelation, Time and Miracles 2

Revelation induces complete but temporary suspension of 3

doubt and fear. It reflects the original form of communication 4

between God and His creations, involving the extremely per- 5

sonal sense of creation sometimes sought in physical relation- 6

ships. Physical closeness cannot achieve it. Miracles, however, 7

are genuinely interpersonal, and result in true closeness to 8

others. Revelation unites you directly with God. Miracles unite 9

you directly with your brother. Neither emanates from con- 10

sciousness, but both are experienced there. Consciousness is the 11

state that induces action, though it does not inspire it. You are 12

free to believe what you choose, and what you do attests to what 13

you believe. 14

Revelation is intensely personal and cannot be meaningfully 15

translated. That is why any attempt to describe it in words is 16

impossible. Revelation induces only experience. Miracles, on 17

the other hand, induce action. They are more useful now be- 18

cause of their interpersonal nature. In this phase of learning, 19

working miracles is important because freedom from fear cannot 20

be thrust upon you. Revelation is literally unspeakable because 21

it is an experience of unspeakable love. 22

Awe should be reserved for revelation, to which it is perfectly 23

and correctly applicable. It is not appropriate for miracles be- 24

cause a state of awe is worshipful, implying that one of a lesser 25

order stands before his Creator. You are a perfect creation, and 26

should experience awe only in the presence of the Creator of per- 27

fection. The miracle is therefore a sign of love among equals. 28

Equals should not be in awe of one another because awe implies 29

inequality. It is therefore an inappropriate reaction to me. An 30

elder brother is entitled to respect for his greater experience, and 31

obedience for his greater wisdom. He is also entitled to love be- 32

cause he is a brother, and to devotion if he is devote. It is only 33

my devotion that entitles me to yours. There is nothing about 34

me that you cannot attain. I have nothing that does not come 35

from God. The difference between us now is that I have nothing 36

else. This leaves me in a state which is only potential in you. 37

"No man cometh unto the Father but by me" does not mean 38

that I am in any way separate or different from you except in 39

time, and time does not really exist. The statement is more 40

meaningful in terms of a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. 41

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You stand below me and I stand below God. In the process of 2

"rising up," I am higher because without me the distance be- 3

tween God and man would be too great for you to encompass. I 4

bridge the distance as an elder brother to you on the one hand, 5

and as a Son of God on the other. My devotion to my brothers 6

has placed me in charge of the Sonship, which I render complete 7

because I share it. This may appear to contradict the statement "I 8

and my Father are one," but there are two parts to the statement 9

in recognition that the Father is greater. 10

Revelations are indirectly inspired by me because I am close to 11

the Holy Spirit, and alert to the revelation-readiness of my 12

brothers. I can thus bring down to them more than they can 13

draw down to themselves. The Holy Spirit mediates higher to 14

lower communication, keeping the direct channel from God to 15

you open for revelation. Revelation is not reciprocal. It proceeds 16

from God to you, but not from you to God. 17

The miracle minimizes the need for time. In the longitudinal 18

or horizontal plane the recognition of the equality of the mem- 19

bers of the Sonship appears to involve almost endless time. 20

However, the miracle entails a sudden shift from horizontal to 21

vertical perception. This introduces an interval from which the 22

giver and receiver both emerge farther along in time than they 23

would otherwise have been. The miracle thus has the unique 24

property of abolishing time to the extent that it renders the inter- 25

val of time it spans unnecessary. There is no relationship be- 26

tween the time a miracle takes and the time it covers. The 27

miracle substitutes for learning that might have taken thousands 28

of years. It does so by the underlying recognition of perfect 29

equality of giver and receiver on which the miracle rests. The 30

miracle shortens time by collapsing it, thus eliminating certain 31

intervals within it. It does this, however, within the larger tem- 32

poral sequence. 33

Atonement and Miracles 34

I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I undertook 35

to begin. When you offer a miracle to any of my brothers, you do 36

it to yourself and me. The reason you come before me is that I do 37

not need miracles for my own Atonement, but I stand at the end 38

in case you fail temporarily. My part in the Atonement is the 39

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cancelling out of all errors that you could not otherwise correct. 2

When you have been restored to the recognition of your original 3

state, you naturally become part of the Atonement yourself. As 4

you share my unwillingness to accept error in yourself and 5

others, you must join the great crusade to correct it; listen to my 6

voice, learn to undo error and act to correct it. The power to 7

work miracles belongs to you. I will provide the opportunities to 8

do them, but you must be ready and willing. Doing them will 9

bring conviction in the ability, because conviction comes through 10

accomplishment. The ability is the potential, the achievement is 11

its expression, and the Atonement, which is the natural profes- 12

sion of the children of God, is the purpose. 13

"Heaven and earth shall pass away" means that they will not 14

continue to exist as separate states. My word, which is the resur- 15

rection and the life, shall not pass away because life is eternal. 16

You are the work of God, and His work is wholly lovable and 17

wholly loving. This is how a man must think of himself in his 18

heart, because this is what he is. 19

The forgiven are the means of the Atonement. Being filled 20

with spirit, they forgive in return. Those who are released must 21

join in releasing their brothers, for this is the plan of the Atone- 22

mended. Miracles are the way in which minds that serve the Holy 23

Spirit unite with me for the salvation or release of all of God's 24

creations. 25

I am the only one who can perform miracles indiscriminately, 26

because I am the Atonement. You have a role in the Atonement 27

which I will dictate to you. Ask me which miracles you should 28

perform. This spares you needless effort, because you will be 29

acting under direct communication. The impersonal nature of 30

the miracle is an essential ingredient, because it enables me to 31

direct its application, and under my guidance miracles lead to 32

the highly personal experience of revelation. A guide does not 33

control but he does direct, leaving it up to you to follow. "Lead 34

us not into temptation" means "Recognize your errors and 35

choose to abandon them by following my guidance." 36

Error cannot really threaten truth, which can always withstand 37

it. Only the error is actually vulnerable. You are free to establish 38

your kingdom where you see fit, but the right choice is inevitable 39

if you remember this: 40

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Spirit is in a state of grace forever. 2

Your reality is only spirit. 3

Therefore you are in a state of grace forever. 4

Atonement undoes all errors in this respect, and thus uproots the 5

source of fear. Whenever you experience God's reassurances as 6

threat, it is always because you are defending misplaced or mis- 7

directed loyalty. When you project this to others you imprison 8

them, but only to the extent to which you reinforce errors they 9

have already made. This makes them vulnerable to the distor- 10

tions of others, since their own perception of themselves is dis- 11

torted. The miracle worker can only bless them, and this undoes 12

their distortions and frees them from prison. 13

You respond to what you perceive, and as you perceive so 14

shall you behave. The Golden Rule asks you to do unto others as 15

you would have them do unto you. This means that the percep- 16

tion of both must be accurate. The Golden Rule is the rule for 17

appropriate behavior. You cannot behave appropriately unless 18

you perceive correctly. Since you and your neighbor are equal 19

members of one family, as you perceive both so you will do to 20

both. You should look out from the perception of your own holi- 21

ness to the holiness of others. 22

Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them. By being 23

united this mind goes out to everyone, even without the aware- 24

ness of the miracle worker himself. The impersonal nature of 25

miracles is because the Atonement itself is one, uniting all crea- 26

tions with their Creator. As an expression of what you truly are, 27

the miracle places the mind in a state of grace. The mind then 28

naturally welcomes the Host within and the stranger without. 29

When you bring in the stranger, he becomes your brother. 30

That the miracle may have effects on your brothers that you 31

may not recognize is not your concern. The miracle will always 32

bless you. Miracles you are not asked to perform have not lost 33

their value. They are still expressions of your own state of grace, 34

but the action aspect of the miracle should be controlled by me 35

because of my complete awareness of the whole plan. The im- 36

personal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures your grace, but 37

only I am in a position to know where they can be bestowed. 38

Miracles are selective only in the sense that they are directed 39

towards those who can use them for themselves. Since this makes 40

it inevitable that they will extend them to others, a strong chain of 41

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Atonement is welded. However, this selectivity takes no account 2

of the magnitude of the miracle itself, because the concept of size 3

exists on a plane that is itself unreal. Since the miracle aims at 4

restoring the awareness of reality, it would not be useful if it were 5

bound by laws that govern the error it aims to correct. 6

The Escape from Darkness 7

The escape from darkness involves two stages: First, the recog- 8

nition that darkness cannot hide. This step usually entails fear. 9

Second, the recognition that there is nothing you want to hide 10

even if you could. This step brings escape from fear. When you 11

have become willing to hide nothing, you will not only be willing 12

to enter into communion but will also understand peace and joy. 13

Holiness can never be really hidden in darkness, but you can 14

deceive yourself about it. This deception makes you fearful be- 15

cause you realize in your heart it is a deception, and you exert 16

enormous efforts to establish its reality. The miracle sets reality 17

where it belongs. Reality belongs only to spirit, and the miracle 18

acknowledges only truth. It thus dispels illusions about your- 19

self, and puts you in communion with yourself and God. The 20

miracle joins in the Atonement by placing the mind in the service 21

of the Holy Spirit. This establishes the proper function of the 22

mind and corrects its errors, which are merely lacks of love. 23

Your mind can be possessed by illusions, but spirit is eternally 24

free. If a mind perceives without love, it perceives an empty 25

shell and is unaware of the spirit within. But the Atonement 26

restores spirit to its proper place. The mind that serves spirit is 27

invulnerable. 28

Darkness is lack of light as sin is lack of love. It has no unique 29

properties of its own. It is an example of the "scarcity" belief, 30

from which only error can proceed. Truth is always abundant. 31

Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything 32

have no needs of any kind. The purpose of the Atonement is 33

to restore everything to you; or rather, to restore it to your aware- 34

ness. You were given everything when you were created, just as 35

everyone was. 36

The emptiness engendered by fear must be replaced by for- 37

giveness. That is what the Bible means by "There is no death," 38

and why I could demonstrate that death does not exist. I came to 39

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fulfill the law by reinterpreting it. The law itself, if properly un- 2

derstood, offers only protection. It is those who have not yet 3

changed their minds who brought the "hell-fire" concept into it. 4

I assure you that I will witness for anyone who lets me, and to 5

whatever extent he permits it. Your witnessing demonstrates 6

your belief, and thus strengthens it. Those who witness for me 7

are expressing, through their miracles, that they have abandoned 8

the belief in deprivation in favor of the abundance they have 9

learned belongs to them. 10

Wholeness and Spirit 11

The miracle is much like the body in that both are learning aids 12

for facilitating a state in which they become unnecessary. When 13

spirit's original state of direct communication is reached, neither 14

the body nor the miracle serves any purpose. While you believe 15

you are in a body, however, you can choose between loveless and 16

miraculous channels of expression. You can make an empty shell, 17

but you cannot express nothing at all. You can wait, delay, 18

paralyze yourself, or reduce your creativity almost to nothing. 19

But you cannot abolish it. You can destroy your medium of com- 20

munication, but not your potential. You did not create yourself. 21

The basic decision of the miracle-minded is not to wait on time 22

any longer than is necessary. Time can waste as well as be 23

wasted. The miracle worker, therefore, accepts the time-control 24

factor gladly. He recognizes that every collapse of time brings 25

everyone closer to the ultimate release from time, in which the 26

Son and the Father are one. Equality does not imply equality 27

now. When everyone recognizes that he has everything, in- 28

dividual contributions to the Sonship will no longer be necessary. 29

When the Atonement has been completed, all talents will be 30

shared by all the Sons of God. God is not partial. All His 31

children have His total Love, and all His gifts are freely given to 32

everyone alike. "Except ye become as little children" means that 33

unless you fully recognize your complete dependence on God, 34

you cannot know the real power of the Son in his true relation- 35

ship with the Father. The specialness of God's Sons does not 36

stem from exclusion but from inclusion. All my brothers are spe- 37

cial. If they believe they are deprived of anything, their percep- 38

tion becomes distorted. When this occurs the whole family of 39

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God, or the Sonship, is impaired in its relationships. 2

Ultimately, every member of the family of God must return. 3

The miracle calls him to return because it blesses and honors 4

him, even though he may be absent in spirit. "God is not mocked" 5

is not a warning but a reassurance. God would be mocked if any 6

of His creations lacked holiness. The creation is whole, and the 7

mark of wholeness is holiness. Miracles are affirmations of Son- 8

ship, which is a state of completion and abundance. 9

Whatever is true is eternal, and cannot change or be changed. 10

Spirit is therefore unalterable because it is already perfect, but 11

the mind can elect what it chooses to serve. The only limit put on 12

its choice is that it cannot serve two masters. If it elects to do so, 13

the mind can become the medium by which spirit creates along 14

the line of its own creation. If it does not freely elect to do so, it 15

retains its creative potential but places itself under tyrannous 16

rather than Authoritative control. As a result it imprisons, be- 17

cause such are the dictates of tyrants. To change your mind 18

means to place it at the disposal of true Authority. 19

The miracle is a sign that the mind has chosen to be led by me 20

in Christ's service. The abundance of Christ is the natural result 21

of choosing to follow Him. All shallow roots must be uprooted, 22

because they are not deep enough to sustain you. The illusion 23

that shallow roots can be deepened, and thus made to hold, is 24

one of the distortions on which the reverse of the Golden Rule 25

rests. As these false underpinnings are given up, the equilibrium 26

is temporarily experienced as unstable. However, nothing is less 27

stable than an upside-down orientation. Nor can anything that 28

holds it upside down be conducive to increased stability. 29

The Illusion of Needs 30

You who want peace can find it only by complete forgiveness. 31

No learning is acquired by anyone unless he wants to learn it and 32

believes in some way that he needs it. While lack does not 33

exist in the creation of God, it is very apparent in what you have 34

made. It is, in fact, the essential difference between them. Lack 35

implies that you would be better off in a state somehow different 36

from the one you are in. Until the "separation," which is the 37

meaning of the "fall," nothing was lacking. There were no needs 38

at all. Needs arise only when you deprive yourself. You act ac- 39

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cording to the particular order of needs you establish. This, in 2

turn, depends on your perception of what you are. 3

A sense of separation from God is the only lack you really need 4

correct. This sense of separation would never have arisen if you 5

had not distorted your perception of truth, and had thus per- 6

ceived yourself as lacking. The idea of order of needs arose be- 7

cause, having made this fundamental error, you had already 8

fragmented yourself into levels with different needs. As you in- 9

tegrate you become one, and your needs become one accordingly. 10

Unified needs lead to unified action, because this produces a 11

lack of conflict. 12

The idea of orders of need, which follows from the original 13

error that one can be separated from God, requires correction at 14

its own level before the error of perceiving levels at all can be 15

corrected. You cannot behave effectively while you function on 16

different levels. However, while you do, correction must be in- 17

troduced vertically from the bottom up. This is because you 18

think you live in space, where concepts such as "up" and "down" 19

are meaningful. Ultimately, space is as meaningless as time. 20

Both are merely beliefs. 21

The real purpose of this world is to use it to correct your un- 22

belief. You can never control the effects of fear yourself, because 23

you made fear, and you believe in what you made. In attitude, 24

then, though not in content, you resemble your Creator, Who has 25

perfect faith in His creations because He created them. Belief 26

produces the acceptance of existence. That is why you can 27

believe what no one else thinks is true. It is true for you because 28

it was made by you. 29

All aspects of fear are untrue because they do not exist at the 30

creative level, and therefore do not exist at all. To whatever ex- 31

tent you are willing to submit your beliefs to this test, to that 32

extent are your perceptions corrected. In sorting out the false 33

from the true, the miracle proceeds along these lines: 34

Perfect love casts out fear. 35

If fear exists, 36

Then there is not perfect love. 37

But: 38

Only perfect love exists. 39

If there is fear, 40

It produces a state that does not exist. 41

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Believe this and you will be free. Only God can establish this 2

solution, and this faith is His gift. 3

Distortions of Miracle Impulses 4

Your distorted perceptions produce a dense cover over miracle 5

impulses, making it hard for them to reach your own awareness. 6

The confusion of miracle impulses with physical impulses is a 7

major perceptual distortion. Physical impulses are misdirected 8

miracle impulses. All real pleasure comes from doing God's 9

Will. This is because not doing it is a denial of Self. Denial of Self 10

results in illusions, while correction of the error brings release 11

from it. Do not deceive yourself into believing that you can re- 12

late in peace to God or to your brothers with anything external. 13

Child of God, you were created to create the good, the beauti- 14

ful and the holy. Do not forget this. The Love of God, for a little 15

while, must still be expressed through one body to another, be- 16

cause vision is still so dim. You can use your body best to help 17

you enlarge your perception so you can achieve real vision, of 18

which the physical eye is incapable. Learning to do this is the 19

body's only true usefulness. 20

Fantasy is a distorted form of vision. Fantasies of any kind are 21

distortions, because they always involve twisting perception into 22

unreality. Actions that stem from distortions are literally the 23

reactions of those who know not what they do. Fantasy is an 24

attempt to control reality according to false needs. Twist reality 25

in any way and you are perceiving destructively. Fantasies are a 26

means of making false associations and attempting to obtain 27

pleasure from them. But although you can perceive false as- 28

sociations, you can never make them real except to yourself. You 29

believe in what you make. If you offer miracles, you will be 30

equally strong in your belief in them. The strength of your con- 31

viction will then sustain the belief of the miracle receiver. Fan- 32

tasies become totally unnecessary as the wholly satisfying nature 33

of reality becomes apparent to both giver and receiver. Reality 34

is "lost" through usurpation, which produces tyranny. As long 35

as a single "slave" remains to walk the earth, your release is not 36

complete. Complete restoration of the Sonship is the only goal 37

of the miracle-minded. 38

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Chapter 1 THE MEANING OF MIRACLES

16

a2T1.01-016

This is a course in mind training. All learning involves atten- 2

tion and study at some level. Some of the later parts of the 3

course rest too heavily on these earlier sections not to require 4

their careful study. You will also need them for preparation. 5

Without this, you may become much too fearful of what is to 6

come to make constructive use of it. However, as you study 7

these earlier sections, you will begin to see some of the implica- 8

tions that will be amplified later on. 9

A solid foundation is necessary because of the confusion be- 10

tween fear and awe to which I have already referred, and which 11

is often made. I have said that awe is inappropriate in connec- 12

tion with the Sons of God, because you should not experience 13

awe in the presence of your equals. However, it was also em- 14

phasized that awe is proper in the presence of your Creator. I 15

have been careful to clarify my role in the Atonement without 16

either over- or understating it. I am also trying to do the same 17

with yours. I have stressed that awe is not an appropriate reac- 18

tion to me because of our inherent equality. Some of the later 19

steps in this course, however, involve a more direct approach to 20

God Himself. It would be unwise to start on these steps without 21

careful preparation, or awe will be confused with fear, and the 22

experience will be more traumatic than beatific. Healing is of 23

God in the end. The means are being carefully explained to you. 24

Revelation may occasionally reveal the end to you, but to reach 25

it the means are needed. 26

aCourCIM2

17

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Chapter 2 2

THE SEPARATION AND THE ATONEMENT 3

The Origins of Separation 4

To extend is a fundamental aspect of God which He gave to 5

His Son. In the creation, God extended Himself to His creations 6

and imbued them with the same loving Will to create. You have 7

not only been fully created, but have also been created perfect. 8

There is no emptiness in you. Because of your likeness to your 9

Creator you are creative. No child of God can lose this ability 10

because it is inherent in what he is, but he can use it inap- 11

propriately by projecting. The inappropriate use of extension, or 12

projection, occurs when you believe that some emptiness or lack 13

exists in you, and that you can fill it with your own ideas instead 14

of truth. This process involves the following steps: 15

First, you believe that what God created can be changed by 16

your own mind. 17

Second, you believe that what is perfect can be rendered im- 18

perfect or lacking. 19

Third, you believe that you can distort the creations of God, 20

including yourself. 21

Fourth, you believe that you can create yourself, and that the 22

direction of your own creation is up to you. 23

These related distortions represent a picture of what actually 24

occurred in the separation, or the "detour into fear." None of this 25

existed before the separation, nor does it actually exist now. 26

Everything God created is like Him. Extension, as undertaken 27

by God, is similar to the inner radiance that the children of the 28

Father inherit from Him. Its real source is internal. This is as 29

true of the Son as of the Father. In this sense the creation in- 30

cludes both the creation of the Son by God, and the Son's cre- 31

ations when his mind is healed. This requires God's endowment 32

of the Son with free will, because all loving creation is freely 33

given in one continuous line, in which all aspects are of the same 34

order. 35

The Garden of Eden, or the pre-separation condition, was a 36

state of mind in which nothing was needed. When Adam lis- 37

tened to the "lies of the serpent," all he heard was untruth. You 38

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a2T1.02-018

do not have to continue to believe what is not true unless you 2

choose to do so. All that can literally disappear in the twinkling 3

of an eye because it is merely a misperception. What is seen in 4

dreams seems to be very real. Yet the Bible says that a deep sleep 5

fell upon Adam, and nowhere is there reference to his waking up. 6

The world has not yet experienced any comprehensive 7

reawakening or rebirth. Such a rebirth is impossible as long as 8

you continue to project or miscreate. It still remains within you, 9

however, to extend as God extended His Spirit to you. In reality 10

this is your only choice, because your free will was given you for 11

your joy in creating the perfect. 12

All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception that 13

you have the ability to usurp the power of God. Of course, you 14

neither can nor have been able to do this. Here is the real basis 15

for your escape from fear. The escape is brought about by your 16

acceptance of the Atonement, which enables you to realize that 17

your errors never really occurred. Only after the deep sleep fell 18

upon Adam could he experience nightmares. If a light is sud- 19

denly turned on while someone is dreaming a fearful dream, he 20

may initially interpret the light itself as part of his dream and be 21

afraid of it. However, when he awakens, the light is correctly 22

perceived as the release from the dream, which is then no longer 23

accorded reality. This release does not depend on illusions. The 24

knowledge that illuminates not only sets you free, but also shows 25

you clearly that you are free. 26

Whatever lies you may believe are of no concern to the 27

miracle, which can heal any of them with equal ease. It makes no 28

distinctions among misperceptions. Its sole concern is to distin- 29

guish between truth on the one hand, and error on the other. 30

Some miracles may seem to be of greater magnitude than others. 31

But remember the first principle in this course; there is no order 32

of difficulty in miracles. In reality you are perfectly unaffected 33

by all expressions of lack of love. These can be from yourself and 34

others, from yourself to others, or from others to you. Peace is an 35

attribute in you. You cannot find it outside. Illness is some 36

form of external searching. Health is inner peace. It enables 37

you to remain unshaken by lack of love from without and 38

capable, through your acceptance of miracles, of correcting the 39

conditions proceeding from lack of love in others. 40

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The Atonement as Defense

19

a2T1.02-019

The Atonement as Defense 2

You can do anything I ask. I have asked you to perform 3

miracles, and have made it clear that miracles are natural, correc- 4

tive, healing and universal. There is nothing they cannot do, but 5

they cannot be performed in the spirit of doubt or fear. When 6

you are afraid of anything, you are acknowledging its power to 7

hurt you. Remember that where your heart is, there is your 8

treasure also. You believe in what you value. If you are afraid, 9

you are valuing wrongly. Your understanding will then inevita- 10

bly value wrongly, and by endowing all thoughts with equal 11

power will inevitably destroy peace. That is why the Bible 12

speaks of "the peace of God which passeth understanding." 13

This peace is totally incapable of being shaken by errors of any 14

kind. It denies the ability of anything not of God to affect you. 15

This is the proper use of denial. It is not used to hide anything, 16

but to correct error. It brings all error into the light, and since 17

error and darkness are the same, it corrects error automatically. 18

True denial is a powerful protective device. You can and 19

should deny any belief that error can hurt you. This kind of 20

denial is not a concealment but a correction. Your right mind 21

depends on it. Denial of error is a strong defense of truth, but 22

denial of truth results in miscreation, the projections of the ego. 23

In the service of the right mind the denial of error frees the mind, 24

and re-establishes the freedom of the will. When the will is really 25

free it cannot miscreate, because it recognizes only truth. 26

You can defend truth as well as error. The means are easier to 27

understand after the value of the goal is firmly established. It is a 28

question of what it is for. Everyone defends his treasure, and will 29

do so automatically. The real questions are, what do you 30

treasure, and how much do you treasure it? Once you have 31

learned to consider these questions and to bring them into all 32

your actions, you will have little difficulty in clarifying the 33

means. The means are available whenever you ask. You can, 34

however, save time if you do not protract this step unduly. The 35

correct focus will shorten it immeasurably. 36

The Atonement is the only defense that cannot be used 37

destructively because it is not a device you made. The Atone- 38

ment principle was in effect long before the Atonement began. 39

The principle was love and the Atonement was an act of love. 40

Acts were not necessary before the separation, because belief in 41

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Chapter 2 THE SEPARATION AND THE ATONEMENT

20

a2T1.02-020

space and time did not exist. It was only after the separation that 2

the Atonement and the conditions necessary for its fulfillment 3

were planned. Then a defense so splendid was needed that it 4

could not be misused, although it could be refused. Refusal 5

could not, however, turn it into a weapon of attack, which is the 6

inherent characteristic of other defenses. The Atonement thus 7

becomes the only defense that is not a two-edged sword. It can 8

only heal. 9

The Atonement was built into the space-time belief to set a 10

limit on the need for the belief itself, and ultimately to make 11

learning complete. The Atonement is the final lesson. Learning 12

itself, like the classrooms in which it occurs, is temporary. The 13

ability to learn has no value when change is no longer necessary. 14

The eternally creative have nothing to learn. You can learn to 15

improve your perceptions, and can become a better and better 16

learner. This will bring you into closer and closer accord with the 17

Sonship; but the Sonship itself is a perfect Creation and perfec- 18

tion is not a matter of degree. Only while there is a belief in 19

differences is learning meaningful. 20

Evolution is a process in which you seem to proceed from one 21

degree to the next. You correct your previous missteps by step- 22

ping forward. This process is actually incomprehensible in tem- 23

poral terms, because you return as you go forward. The 24

Atonement is the device by which you can free yourself from the 25

past as you go ahead. It undoes your past errors, thus making it 26

unnecessary for you to keep retracing your steps without ad- 27

vancing to your return. In this sense the Atonement saves time, 28

but like the miracle it serves, does not abolish it. As long as there 29

is need for Atonement, there is need for time. But the Atonement 30

as a completed plan has a unique relationship to time. Until the 31

Atonement is complete, its various phases will proceed in time, 32

but the whole Atonement stands at time's end. At that point the 33

bridge of return has been built. 34

The Atonement is a total commitment. You may still think this 35

is associated with loss, a mistake all the separated Sons of God 36

make in one way or another. It is hard to believe a defense that 37

cannot attack is the best defense. This is what is meant by "the 38

meek shall inherit the earth." They will literally take it over be- 39

cause of their strength. A two-way defense is inherently weak 40

precisely because it has two edges, and can be turned against you 41

very unexpectedly. This possibility cannot be controlled except 42

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The Altar of God

21

a2T1.02-021

by miracles. The miracle turns the defense of Atonement to your 2

real protection, and as you become more and more secure you 3

assume your natural talent of protecting others, knowing your- 4

self as both a brother and a Son. 5

The Altar of God 6

The Atonement can only be accepted within you by releasing 7

the inner light. Since the separation, defenses have been used 8

almost entirely to defend against the Atonement, and thus main- 9

tain the separation. This is generally seen as a need to protect the 10

body. The many body fantasies in which minds engage arise 11

from the distorted belief that the body can be used as a means for 12

attaining "atonement." Perceiving the body as a temple is only 13

the first step in correcting this distortion, because it alters only 14

part of it. It does recognize that Atonement in physical terms is 15

impossible. The next step, however, is to realize that a temple is 16

not a structure at all. Its true holiness lies at the inner altar 17

around which the structure is built. The emphasis on beautiful 18

structures is a sign of the fear of Atonement, and an unwilling- 19

ness to reach the altar itself. The real beauty of the temple can- 20

not be seen with the physical eye. Spiritual sight, on the other 21

hand, cannot see the structure at all because it is perfect vision. 22

It can, however, see the altar with perfect clarity. 23

For perfect effectiveness the Atonement belongs at the center 24

of the inner altar, where it undoes the separation and restores the 25

wholeness of the mind. Before the separation the mind was in- 26

vulnerable to fear, because fear did not exist. Both the separation 27

and the fear are miscreations that must be undone for the restora- 28

tion of the temple, and for the opening of the altar to receive the 29

Atonement. This heals the separation by placing within you the 30

one effective defense against all separation thoughts and making 31

you perfectly invulnerable. 32

The acceptance of the Atonement by everyone is only a matter 33

of time. This may appear to contradict free will because of the 34

inevitability of the final decision, but this is not so. You can tem- 35

porize and you are capable of enormous procrastination, but you 36

cannot depart entirely from your Creator, Who set the limits on 37

your ability to miscreate. An imprisoned will engenders a situa- 38

tion which, in the extreme, becomes altogether intolerable. 39

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Chapter 2 THE SEPARATION AND THE ATONEMENT

22

a2T1.02-022

Tolerance for pain may be high, but it is not without limit. Even- 2

tually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there 3

must be a better way. As this recognition becomes more firmly 4

established, it becomes a turning-point. This ultimately 5

reawakens spiritual vision, simultaneously weakening the in- 6

vestment in physical sight. The alternating investment in the 7

two levels of perception is usually experienced as conflict, which 8

can become very acute. But the outcome is as certain as God. 9

Spiritual vision literally cannot see error, and merely looks for 10

Atonement. All solutions the physical eye seeks dissolve. 11

Spiritual vision looks within and recognizes immediately that 12

the altar has been defiled and needs to be repaired and protected. 13

Perfectly aware of the right defense it passes over all others, 14

looking past error to truth. Because of the strength of its vision, it 15

brings the mind into its service. This re-establishes the power of 16

the mind and makes it increasingly unable to tolerate delay, 17

realizing that it only adds unnecessary pain. As a result, the 18

mind becomes increasingly sensitive to what it would once have 19

regarded as very minor intrusions of discomfort. 20

The children of God are entitled to the perfect comfort that 21

comes from perfect trust. Until they achieve this, they waste 22

themselves and their true creative powers on useless attempts to 23

make themselves more comfortable by inappropriate means. But 24

the real means are already provided, and do not involve any ef- 25

fort at all on their part. The Atonement is the only gift that is 26

worthy of being offered at the altar of God, because of the value 27

of the altar itself. It was created perfect and is entirely worthy of 28

receiving perfection. God and His creations are completely de- 29

pendent on each other. He depends on them because He created 30

them perfect. He gave them His peace so they could not be 31

shaken and could not be deceived. Whenever you are afraid you 32

are deceived, and your mind cannot serve the Holy Spirit. This 33

starves you by denying you your daily bread. God is lonely 34

without His Sons, and they are lonely without Him. They must 35

learn to look upon the world as a means of healing the separa- 36

tion. The Atonement is the guarantee that they will ultimately 37

succeed. 38

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Healing as Release from Fear

23

a2T1.02-023

Healing as Release from Fear 2

Our emphasis is now on healing. The miracle is the means, the 3

Atonement is the principle, and healing is the result. To speak of 4

"a miracle of healing" is to combine two orders of reality inap- 5

propriately. Healing is not a miracle. The Atonement, or the 6

final miracle, is a remedy and any type of healing is a result. The 7

kind of error to which Atonement is applied is irrelevant. All 8

healing is essentially the release from fear. To undertake this you 9

cannot be fearful yourself. You do not understand healing be- 10

cause of your own fear. 11

A major step in the Atonement plan is to undo error at all 12

levels. Sickness or "not-right-mindedness" is the result of level 13

confusion, because it always entails the belief that what is amiss 14

on one level can adversely affect another. We have referred to 15

miracles as the means of correcting level confusion, for all mis- 16

takes must be corrected at the level on which they occur. Only 17

the mind is capable of error. The body can act wrongly only 18

when it is responding to misthought. The body cannot create, 19

and the belief that it can, a fundamental error, produces all physi- 20

cal symptoms. Physical illness represents a belief in magic. The 21

whole distortion that made magic rests on the belief that there is 22

a creative ability in matter which the mind cannot control. This 23

error can take two forms; it can be believed that the mind can 24

miscreate in the body, or that the body can miscreate in the mind. 25

When it is understood that the mind, the only level of creation, 26

cannot create beyond itself, neither type of confusion need occur. 27

Only the mind can create because spirit has already been 28

created, and the body is a learning device for the mind. Learning 29

devices are not lessons in themselves. Their purpose is merely to 30

facilitate learning. The worst a faulty use of a learning device 31

can do is to fail to facilitate learning. It has no power in itself to 32

introduce actual learning errors. The body, if properly under- 33

stood, shares the invulnerability of the Atonement to two-edged 34

application. This is not because the body is a miracle, but be- 35

cause it is not inherently open to misinterpretation. The body is 36

merely part of your experience in the physical world. Its abilities 37

can be and frequently are overevaluated. However, it is almost 38

impossible to deny its existence in this world. Those who do so 39

are engaging in a particularly unworthy form of denial. The 40

term "unworthy" here implies only that it is not necessary to 41

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Chapter 2 THE SEPARATION AND THE ATONEMENT

24

a2T1.02-024

protect the mind by denying the unmindful. If one denies this 2

unfortunate aspect of the mind's power, one is also denying the 3

power itself. 4

All material means that you accept as remedies for bodily ills 5

are restatements of magic principles. This is the first step in 6

believing that the body makes its own illness. It is a second 7

misstep to attempt to heal it through non-creative agents. It does 8

not follow, however, that the use of such agents for corrective 9

purposes is evil. Sometimes the illness has a sufficiently strong 10

hold over the mind to render a person temporarily inaccessible to 11

the Atonement. In this case it may be wise to utilize a com- 12

promise approach to mind and body, in which something from 13

the outside is temporarily given healing belief. This is because 14

the last thing that can help the non-right-minded, or the sick, is 15

an increase in fear. They are already in a fear-weakened state. If 16

they are prematurely exposed to a miracle, they may be 17

precipitated into panic. This is likely to occur when upside- 18

down perception has induced the belief that miracles are 19

frightening. 20

The value of the Atonement does not lie in the manner in 21

which it is expressed. In fact, if it is used truly, it will inevitably 22

be expressed in whatever way is most helpful to the receiver. 23

This means that a miracle, to attain its full efficacy, must be ex- 24

pressed in a language that the recipient can understand without 25

fear. This does not necessarily mean that this is the highest level 26

of communication of which he is capable. It does mean, how- 27

ever, that it is the highest level of communication of which he is 28

capable now. The whole aim of the miracle is to raise the level of 29

communication, not to lower it by increasing fear. 30

The Function of the Miracle Worker 31

Before miracle workers are ready to undertake their function 32

in this world, it is essential that they fully understand the fear of 33

release. Otherwise they may unwittingly foster the belief that 34

release is imprisonment, a belief that is already very prevalent. 35

This misperception arises in turn from the belief that harm can 36

be limited to the body. That is because of the underlying fear 37

that the mind can hurt itself. None of these errors is meaningful, 38

because the miscreations of the mind do not really exist. This 39

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The Function of the Miracle Worker

25

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recognition is a far better protective device than any form of level 2

confusion, because it introduces correction at the level of the 3

error. It is essential to remember that only the mind can create, 4

and that correction belongs at the thought level. To amplify an 5

earlier statement, spirit is already perfect and therefore does not 6

require correction. The body does not exist except as a learning 7

device for the mind. This learning device is not subject to errors 8

of its own, because it cannot create. It is obvious, then, that in- 9

ducing the mind to give up its miscreations is the only applica- 10

tion of creative ability that is truly meaningful. 11

Magic is the mindless or the miscreative use of mind. Physical 12

medications are forms of "spells," but if you are afraid to use the 13

mind to heal, you should not attempt to do so. The very fact that 14

you are afraid makes your mind vulnerable to miscreation. You 15

are therefore likely to misunderstand any healing that might 16

occur, and because egocentricity and fear usually occur together, 17

you may be unable to accept the real Source of the healing. 18

Under these conditions, it is safer for you to rely temporarily on 19

physical healing devices, because you cannot misperceive them 20

as your own creations. As long as your sense of vulnerability 21

persists, you should not attempt to perform miracles. 22

I have already said that miracles are expressions of miracle- 23

mindedness, and miracle-mindedness means right-mindedness. 24

The right-minded neither exalt nor depreciate the mind of the 25

miracle worker or the miracle receiver. However, as a correction, 26

the miracle need not await the right-mindedness of the receiver. 27

In fact, its purpose is to restore him to his right mind. It is essen- 28

tial, however, that the miracle worker be in his right mind, how- 29

ever briefly, or he will be unable to re-establish right-mindedness 30

in someone else. 31

The healer who relies on his own readiness is endangering his 32

understanding. You are perfectly safe as long as you are com- 33

pletely unconcerned about your readiness, but maintain a consis- 34

tent trust in mine. If your miracle working inclinations are not 35

functioning properly, it is always because fear has intruded on 36

your right-mindedness and has turned it upside down. All 37

forms of not-right-mindedness are the result of refusal to accept 38

the Atonement for yourself. If you do accept it, you are in a 39

position to recognize that those who need healing are simply 40

those who have not realized that right-mindedness is healing. 41

The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atone- 42

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a2T1.02-026

ment for himself. This means you recognize that mind is the only 2

creative level, and that its errors are healed by the Atonement. 3

Once you accept this, your mind can only heal. By denying 4

your mind any destructive potential and reinstating its purely 5

constructive powers, you place yourself in a position to undo the 6

level confusion of others. The message you then give to them is 7

the truth that their minds are similarly constructive, and their 8

miscreations cannot hurt them. By affirming this you release the 9

mind from overevaluating its own learning device, and restore 10

the mind to its true position as the learner. 11

It should be emphasized again that the body does not learn 12

any more than it creates. As a learning device it merely follows 13

the learner, but if it is falsely endowed with self-initiative, it be- 14

comes a serious obstruction to the very learning it should 15

facilitate. Only the mind is capable of illumination. Spirit is al- 16

ready illuminated and the body in itself is too dense. The mind, 17

however, can bring its illumination to the body by recognizing 18

that it is not the learner, and is therefore unamenable to learning. 19

The body is, however, easily brought into alignment with a mind 20

that has learned to look beyond it toward the light. 21

Corrective learning always begins with the awakening of 22

spirit, and the turning away from the belief in physical sight. 23

This often entails fear, because you are afraid of what your 24

spiritual sight will show you. I said before that the Holy Spirit 25

cannot see error, and is capable only of looking beyond it to the 26

defense of Atonement. There is no doubt that this may produce 27

discomfort, yet the discomfort is not the final outcome of the per- 28

ception. When the Holy Spirit is permitted to look upon the 29

defilement of the altar, He also looks immediately toward the 30

Atonement. Nothing He perceives can induce fear. Everything 31

that results from spiritual awareness is merely channelized 32

toward correction. Discomfort is aroused only to bring the need 33

for correction into awareness. 34

The fear of healing arises in the end from an unwillingness to 35

accept unequivocally that healing is necessary. What the physi- 36

cal eye sees is not corrective, nor can error be corrected by any 37

device that can be seen physically. As long as you believe in 38

what your physical sight tells you, your attempts at correction 39

will be misdirected. The real vision is obscured, because you 40

cannot endure to see your own defiled altar. But since the altar 41

has been defiled, your state becomes doubly dangerous unless it 42

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is perceived. 2

Healing is an ability that developed after the separation, before 3

which it was unnecessary. Like all aspects of the belief in space 4

and time, it is temporary. However, as long as time persists, 5

healing is needed as a means of protection. This is because heal- 6

ing rests on charity, and charity is a way of perceiving the perfec- 7

tion of another even if you cannot perceive it in yourself. Most of 8

the loftier concepts of which you are capable now are time- 9

dependent. Charity is really a weaker reflection of a much more 10

powerful love-encompassment that is far beyond any form of 11

charity you can conceive of as yet. Charity is essential to right- 12

mindedness in the limited sense in which it can now be attained. 13

Charity is a way of looking at another as if he had already gone 14

far beyond his actual accomplishments in time. Since his own 15

thinking is faulty he cannot see the Atonement for himself, or he 16

would have no need of charity. The charity that is accorded him 17

is both an acknowledgment that he needs help, and a recognition 18

that he will accept it. Both of these perceptions clearly imply 19

their dependence on time, making it apparent that charity still 20

lies within the limitations of this world. I said before that only 21

revelation transcends time. The miracle, as an expression of 22

charity, can only shorten it. It must be understood, however, that 23

whenever you offer a miracle to another, you are shortening the 24

suffering of both of you. This corrects retroactively as well as 25

progressively. 26

Special Principles of Miracle Workers 27

(1) The miracle abolishes the need for lower-order concerns. 28

Since it is an out-of-pattern time interval, the ordinary con- 29

siderations of time and space do not apply. When you perform a 30

miracle, I will arrange both time and space to adjust to it. 31

(2) A clear distinction between what is created and what is 32

made is essential. All forms of healing rest on this fundamental 33

correction in level perception. 34

(3) Never confuse right- and wrong-mindedness. Responding 35

to any form of error with anything except a desire to heal is an 36

expression of this confusion. 37

(4) The miracle is always a denial of this error and an affirma- 38

tion of the truth. Only right-mindedness can correct in a way 39

that has any real effect. Pragmatically, what has no real effect has 40

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a2T1.02-028

no real existence. Its effect, then, is emptiness. Being without 2

substantial content, it lends itself to projection. 3

(5) The level-adjustment power of the miracle induces the right 4

perception for healing. Until this has occurred healing cannot be 5

understood. Forgiveness is an empty gesture unless it entails 6

correction. Without this it is essentially judgmental, rather than 7

healing. 8

(6) Miracle-minded forgiveness is only correction. It has no ele- 9

ment of judgment at all. The statement "Father forgive them for 10

they know not what they do" in no way evaluates what they do. 11

It is an appeal to God to heal their minds. There is no reference 12

to the outcome of the error. That does not matter. 13

(7) The injunction "Be of one mind" is the statement for 14

revelation-readiness. My request "Do this in remembrance of me" 15

is the appeal for cooperation from miracle workers. The two 16

statements are not in the same order of reality. Only the latter 17

involves an awareness of time, since to remember is to recall the 18

past in the present. Time is under my direction, but timelessness 19

belongs to God. In time we exist for and with each other. In 20

timelessness we coexist with God. 21

(8) You can do much on behalf of your own healing and that of 22

others if, in a situation calling for help, you think of it this way: 23

I am here only to be truly helpful. 24

I am here to represent Him Who sent me. 25

I do not have to worry about what to say or what 26

to do, because He Who sent me will direct me. 27

I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing 28

He goes there with me. 29

I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal. 30

Fear and Conflict 31

Being afraid seems to be involuntary; something beyond your 32

own control. Yet I have said already that only constructive acts 33

should be involuntary. My control can take over everything that 34

does not matter, while my guidance can direct everything that 35

does, if you so choose. Fear cannot be controlled by me, but it 36

can be self-controlled. Fear prevents me from giving you my 37

control. The presence of fear shows that you have raised body 38

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thoughts to the level of the mind. This removes them from my 2

control, and makes you feel personally responsible for them. 3

This is an obvious confusion of levels. 4

I do not foster level confusion, but you must choose to correct 5

it. You would not excuse insane behavior on your part by saying 6

you could not help it. Why should you condone insane think- 7

ing? There is a confusion here that you would do well to look at 8

clearly. You may believe that you are responsible for what you 9

do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are respon- 10

sible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you 11

can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think. 12

You cannot separate yourself from the truth by "giving" 13

autonomy to behavior. This is controlled by me automatically as 14

soon as you place what you think under my guidance. When- 15

ever you are afraid, it is a sure sign that you have allowed your 16

mind to miscreate and have not allowed me to guide it. 17

It is pointless to believe that controlling the outcome of mis- 18

thought can result in healing. When you are fearful, you have 19

chosen wrongly. That is why you feel responsible for it. You 20

must change your mind, not your behavior, and this is a matter of 21

willingness. You do not need guidance except at the mind level. 22

Correction belongs only at the level where change is possible. 23

Change does not mean anything at the symptom level, where it 24

cannot work. 25

The correction of fear is your responsibility. When you ask for 26

release from fear, you are implying that it is not. You should ask, 27

instead, for help in the conditions that have brought the fear 28

about. These conditions always entail a willingness to be 29

separate. At that level you can help it. You are much too tolerant 30

of mind wandering, and are passively condoning your mind's 31

miscreations. The particular result does not matter, but the fun- 32

damental error does. The correction is always the same. Before 33

you choose to do anything, ask me if your choice is in accord 34

with mine. If you are sure that it is, there will be no fear. 35

Fear is always a sign of strain, arising whenever what you 36

want conflicts with what you do. This situation arises in two 37

ways: First, you can choose to do conflicting things, either simul- 38

taneously or successively. This produces conflicted behavior, 39

which is intolerable to you because the part of the mind that 40

wants to do something else is outraged. Second, you can behave 41

as you think you should, but without entirely wanting to do so. 42

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This produces consistent behavior, but entails great strain. In 2

both cases, the mind and the behavior are out of accord, resulting 3

in a situation in which you are doing what you do not wholly 4

want to do. This arouses a sense of coercion that usually 5

produces rage, and projection is likely to follow. Whenever there 6

is fear, it is because you have not made up your mind. Your 7

mind is therefore split, and your behavior inevitably becomes er- 8

ratic. Correcting at the behavioral level can shift the error from 9

the first to the second type, but will not obliterate the fear. 10

It is possible to reach a state in which you bring your mind 11

under my guidance without conscious effort, but this implies a 12

willingness that you have not developed as yet. The Holy Spirit 13

cannot ask more than you are willing to do. The strength to do 14

comes from your undivided decision. There is no strain in doing 15

God's Will as soon as you recognize that it is also your own. The 16

lesson here is quite simple, but particularly apt to be overlooked. 17

I will therefore repeat it, urging you to listen. Only your mind 18

can produce fear. It does so whenever it is conflicted in what it 19

wants, producing inevitable strain because wanting and doing 20

are discordant. This can be corrected only by accepting a 21

unified goal. 22

The first corrective step in undoing the error is to know first 23

that the conflict is an expression of fear. Say to yourself that you 24

must somehow have chosen not to love, or the fear could not 25

have arisen. Then the whole process of correction becomes noth- 26

ing more than a series of pragmatic steps in the larger process of 27

accepting the Atonement as the remedy. These steps may be 28

summarized in this way: 29

Know first that this is fear. 30

Fear arises from lack of love. 31

The only remedy for lack of love is perfect love. 32

Perfect love is the Atonement. 33

I have emphasized that the miracle, or the expression of Atone- 34

ment, is always a sign of respect from the worthy to the worthy. 35

The recognition of this worth is re-established by the Atone- 36

ment. It is obvious, then, that when you are afraid, you have 37

placed yourself in a position where you need Atonement. You 38

have done something loveless, having chosen without love. This 39

is precisely the situation for which the Atonement was offered. 40

The need for the remedy inspired its establishment. As long as 41

you recognize only the need for the remedy, you will remain fear- 42

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ful. However, as soon as you accept the remedy, you have 2

abolished the fear. This is how true healing occurs. 3

Everyone experiences fear. Yet it would take very little right- 4

thinking to realize why fear occurs. Few appreciate the real 5

power of the mind, and no one remains fully aware of it all the 6

time. However, if you hope to spare yourself from fear there are 7

some things you must realize, and realize fully. The mind is very 8

powerful, and never loses its creative force. It never sleeps. 9

Every instant it is creating. It is hard to recognize that thought 10

and belief combine into a power surge that can literally move 11

mountains. It appears at first glance that to believe such power 12

about yourself is arrogant, but that is not the real reason you do 13

not believe it. You prefer to believe that your thoughts cannot 14

exert real influence because you are actually afraid of them. 15

This may allay awareness of the guilt, but at the cost of perceiv- 16

ing the mind as impotent. If you believe that what you think is 17

ineffectual you may cease to be afraid of it, but you are hardly 18

likely to respect it. There are no idle thoughts. All thinking 19

produces form at some level. 20

Cause and Effect 21

You may still complain about fear, but you nevertheless persist 22

in making yourself fearful. I have already indicated that you 23

cannot ask me to release you from fear. I know it does not exist, 24

but you do not. If I intervened between your thoughts and their 25

results, I would be tampering with a basic law of cause and ef- 26

fect; the most fundamental law there is. I would hardly help you 27

if I depreciated the power of your own thinking. This would be 28

in direct opposition to the purpose of this course. It is much 29

more helpful to remind you that you do not guard your thoughts 30

carefully enough. You may feel that at this point it would take a 31

miracle to enable you to do this, which is perfectly true. You are 32

not used to miracle-minded thinking, but you can be trained to 33

think that way. All miracle workers need that kind of training. 34

I cannot let you leave your mind unguarded, or you will not be 35

able to help me. Miracle working entails a full realization of the 36

power of thought in order to avoid miscreation. Otherwise a 37

miracle will be necessary to set the mind itself straight, a circular 38

process that would not foster the time collapse for which the 39

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a2T1.02-032

miracle was intended. The miracle worker must have genuine 2

respect for true cause and effect as a necessary condition for the 3

miracle to occur. 4

Both miracles and fear come from thoughts. If you are not free 5

to choose one, you would also not be free to choose the other. By 6

choosing the miracle you have rejected fear, if only temporarily. 7

You have been fearful of everyone and everything. You are 8

afraid of God, of me and of yourself. You have misperceived or 9

miscreated us, and believe in what you have made. You would 10

not have done this if you were not afraid of your own thoughts. 11

The fearful must miscreate, because they misperceive creation. 12

When you miscreate you are in pain. The cause and effect prin- 13

ciple now becomes a real expediter, though only temporarily. 14

Actually, "Cause" is a term properly belonging to God, and His 15

"Effect" is His Son. This entails a set of Cause and Effect 16

relationships totally different from those you introduce into 17

miscreation. The fundamental conflict in this world, then, is be- 18

tween creation and miscreation. All fear is implicit in the 19

second, and all love in the first. The conflict is therefore one 20

between love and fear. 21

It has already been said that you believe you cannot control 22

fear because you yourself made it, and your belief in it seems to 23

render it out of your control. Yet any attempt to resolve the error 24

through attempting the mastery of fear is useless. In fact, it as- 25

serts the power of fear by the very assumption that it need be 26

mastered. The true resolution rests entirely on mastery through 27

love. In the interim, however, the sense of conflict is inevitable, 28

since you have placed yourself in a position where you believe in 29

the power of what does not exist. 30

Nothing and everything cannot coexist. To believe in one is to 31

deny the other. Fear is really nothing and love is everything. 32

Whenever light enters darkness, the darkness is abolished. 33

What you believe is true for you. In this sense the separation has 34

occurred, and to deny it is merely to use denial inappropriately. 35

However, to concentrate on error is only a further error. The 36

initial corrective procedure is to recognize temporarily that there 37

is a problem, but only as an indication that immediate correction 38

is needed. This establishes a state of mind in which the Atone- 39

ment can be accepted without delay. It should be emphasized, 40

however, that ultimately no compromise is possible between 41

everything and nothing. Time is essentially a device by which 42

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The Meaning of the Last Judgment

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all compromise in this respect can be given up. It only seems to 2

be abolished by degrees, because time itself involves intervals 3

that do not exist. Miscreation made this necessary as a correc- 4

tive device. The statement "For God so loved the world that He 5

gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 6

should not perish but have everlasting life" needs only one slight 7

correction to be meaningful in this context; "He gave it to His 8

only begotten Son." 9

It should especially be noted that God has only one Son. If all 10

His creations are His Sons, every one must be an integral part of 11

the whole Sonship. The Sonship in its oneness transcends the 12

sum of its parts. However, this is obscured as long as any of its 13

parts is missing. That is why the conflict cannot ultimately be 14

resolved until all the parts of the Sonship have returned. Only 15

then can the meaning of wholeness in the true sense be under- 16

stood. Any part of the Sonship can believe in error or incom- 17

pleteness if he so chooses. However, if he does so, he is believing 18

in the existence of nothingness. The correction of this error is the 19

Atonement. 20

I have already briefly spoken about readiness, but some addi- 21

tional points might be helpful here. Readiness is only the pre- 22

requisite for accomplishment. The two should not be confused. 23

As soon as a state of readiness occurs, there is usually some degree 24

of desire to accomplish, but it is by no means necessarily un- 25

divided. The state does not imply more than a potential for a 26

change of mind. Confidence cannot develop fully until mastery 27

has been accomplished. We have already attempted to correct 28

the fundamental error that fear can be mastered, and have em- 29

phasized that the only real mastery is through love. Readiness is 30

only the beginning of confidence. You may think this implies 31

that an enormous amount of time is necessary between readiness 32

and mastery, but let me remind you that time and space are 33

under my control. 34

The Meaning of the Last Judgment 35

One of the ways in which you can correct the magic-miracle 36

confusion is to remember that you did not create yourself. You 37

are apt to forget this when you become egocentric, and this puts 38

you in a position where a belief in magic is virtually inevitable. 39

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Your will to create was given you by your Creator, Who was 2

expressing the same Will in His creation. Since creative ability 3

rests in the mind, everything you create is necessarily a matter of 4

will. It also follows that whatever you alone make is real in your 5

own sight, though not in the Mind of God. This basic distinction 6

leads directly into the real meaning of the Last Judgment. 7

The Last Judgment is one of the most threatening ideas in your 8

thinking. This is because you do not understand it. Judgment is 9

not an attribute of God. It was brought into being only after the 10

separation, when it became one of the many learning devices to 11

be built into the overall plan. Just as the separation occurred 12

over millions of years, the Last Judgment will extend over a 13

similarly long period, and perhaps an even longer one. Its length 14

can, however, be greatly shortened by miracles, the device for 15

shortening but not abolishing time. If a sufficient number be- 16

come truly miracle-minded, this shortening process can be vir- 17

tually immeasurable. It is essential, however, that you free 18

yourself from fear quickly, because you must emerge from the 19

conflict if you are to bring peace to other minds. 20

The Last Judgment is generally thought of as a procedure un- 21

dertaken by God. Actually it will be undertaken by my brothers 22

with my help. It is a final healing rather than a meting out of 23

punishment, however much you may think that punishment is 24

deserved. Punishment is a concept totally opposed to right- 25

mindedness, and the aim of the Last Judgment is to restore right- 26

mindedness to you. The Last Judgment might be called a process 27

of right evaluation. It simply means that everyone will finally 28

come to understand what is worthy and what is not. After this, 29

the ability to choose can be directed rationally. Until this dis- 30

tinction is made, however, the vacillations between free and 31

imprisoned will cannot but continue. 32

The first step toward freedom involves a sorting out of the 33

false from the true. This is a process of separation in the con- 34

structive sense, and reflects the true meaning of the Apocalypse. 35

Everyone will ultimately look upon his own creations and 36

choose to preserve only what is good, just as God Himself looked 37

upon what He had created and knew that it was good. At this 38

point, the mind can begin to look with love on its own creations 39

because of their worthiness. At the same time the mind will in- 40

evitably disown its miscreations which, without belief, will no 41

longer exist. 42

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The Meaning of the Last Judgment

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The term "Last Judgment" is frightening not only because it 2

has been projected onto God, but also because of the association 3

of "last" with death. This is an outstanding example of upside- 4

down perception. If the meaning of the Last Judgment is objec- 5

tively examined, it is quite apparent that it is really the doorway 6

to life. No one who lives in fear is really alive. Your own last 7

judgment cannot be directed toward yourself, because you are 8

not your own creation. You can, however, apply it meaningfully 9

and at any time to everything you have made, and retain in your 10

memory only what is creative and good. This is what your right- 11

mindedness cannot but dictate. The purpose of time is solely to 12

"give you time" to achieve this judgment. It is your own perfect 13

judgment of your own perfect creations. When everything you 14

retain is lovable, there is no reason for fear to remain with you. 15

This is your part in the Atonement. 16

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Chapter 3 2

THE INNOCENT PERCEPTION 3

Atonement without Sacrifice 4

A further point must be perfectly clear before any residual fear 5

still associated with miracles can disappear. The crucifixion did 6

not establish the Atonement; the resurrection did. Many sincere 7

Christians have misunderstood this. No one who is free of the 8

belief in scarcity could possibly make this mistake. If the 9

crucifixion is seen from an upside-down point of view, it does 10

appear as if God permitted and even encouraged one of His Sons 11

to suffer because he was good. This particularly unfortunate in- 12

terpretation, which arose out of projection, has led many people 13

to be bitterly afraid of God. Such anti-religious concepts enter 14

into many religions. Yet the real Christian should pause and ask, 15

"How could this be?" Is it likely that God Himself would be 16

capable of the kind of thinking which His Own words have clear- 17

ly stated is unworthy of His Son? 18

The best defense, as always, is not to attack another's position, 19

but rather to protect the truth. It is unwise to accept any concept 20

if you have to invert a whole frame of reference in order to justify 21

it. This procedure is painful in its minor applications and 22

genuinely tragic on a wider scale. Persecution frequently results 23

in an attempt to "justify" the terrible misperception that God 24

Himself persecuted His Own Son on behalf of salvation. The 25

very words are meaningless. It has been particularly difficult to 26

overcome this because, although the error itself is no harder to 27

correct than any other, many have been unwilling to give it up in 28

view of its prominent value as a defense. In milder forms a 29

parent says, "This hurts me more than it hurts you," and feels 30

exonerated in beating a child. Can you believe our Father really 31

thinks this way? It is so essential that all such thinking be dis- 32

pelled that we must be sure that nothing of this kind remains in 33

your mind. I was not "punished" because you were bad. The 34

wholly benign lesson the Atonement teaches is lost if it is tainted 35

with this kind of distortion in any form. 36

The statement "Vengeance is Mine, sayeth the Lord" is a 37

misperception by which one assigns his own "evil" past to God. 38

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Atonement without Sacrifice

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The "evil" past has nothing to do with God. He did not create it 2

and He does not maintain it. God does not believe in retribution. 3

His Mind does not create that way. He does not hold your "evil" 4

deeds against you. Is it likely that He would hold them against 5

me? Be very sure that you recognize how utterly impossible this 6

assumption is, and how entirely it arises from projection. This 7

kind of error is responsible for a host of related errors, including 8

the belief that God rejected Adam and forced him out of the Gar- 9

den of Eden. It is also why you may believe from time to time 10

that I am misdirecting you. I have made every effort to use 11

words that are almost impossible to distort, but it is always pos- 12

sible to twist symbols around if you wish. 13

Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. It arises solely 14

from fear, and frightened people can be vicious. Sacrificing in 15

any way is a violation of my injunction that you should be merci- 16

ful even as your Father in Heaven is merciful. It has been hard 17

for many Christians to realize that this applies to themselves. 18

Good teachers never terrorize their students. To terrorize is to 19

attack, and this results in rejection of what the teacher offers. The 20

result is learning failure. 21

I have been correctly referred to as "the lamb of God who 22

taketh away the sins of the world," but those who represent the 23

lamb as blood-stained do not understand the meaning of the 24

symbol. Correctly understood, it is a very simple symbol that 25

speaks of my innocence. The lion and the lamb lying down 26

together symbolize that strength and innocence are not in con- 27

flict, but naturally live in peace. "Blessed are the pure in heart 28

for they shall see God" is another way of saying the same thing. 29

A pure mind knows the truth and this is its strength. It does not 30

confuse destruction with innocence because it associates in- 31

nocence with strength, not with weakness. 32

Innocence is incapable of sacrificing anything, because the in- 33

nocent mind has everything and strives only to protect its whole- 34

ness. It cannot project. It can only honor other minds, because 35

honor is the natural greeting of the truly loved to others who are 36

like them. The lamb "taketh away the sins of the world" in the 37

sense that the state of innocence, or grace, is one in which the 38

meaning of the Atonement is perfectly apparent. The Atonement 39

is entirely unambiguous. It is perfectly clear because it exists in 40

light. Only the attempts to shroud it in darkness have made it 41

inaccessible to those who do not choose to see. 42

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The Atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. It therefore 2

epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only blessing. It could not 3

do this if it arose from anything but perfect innocence. Innocence 4

is wisdom because it is unaware of evil, and evil does not exist. 5

It is, however, perfectly aware of everything that is true. The 6

resurrection demonstrated that nothing can destroy truth. Good 7

can withstand any form of evil, as light abolishes forms of dark- 8

ness. The Atonement is therefore the perfect lesson. It is the 9

final demonstration that all the other lessons I taught are true. If 10

you can accept this one generalization now, there will be no need 11

to learn from many smaller lessons. You are released from all 12

errors if you believe this. 13

The innocence of God is the true state of the mind of His Son. 14

In this state your mind knows God, for God is not symbolic; He 15

is Fact. Knowing His Son as he is, you realize that the Atone- 16

ment, not sacrifice, is the only appropriate gift for God's altar, 17

where nothing except perfection belongs. The understanding of 18

the innocent is truth. That is why their altars are truly radiant. 19

Miracles as True Perception 20

I have stated that the basic concepts referred to in this course 21

are not matters of degree. Certain fundamental concepts cannot 22

be understood in terms of opposites. It is impossible to conceive 23

of light and darkness or everything and nothing as joint pos- 24

sibilities. They are all true or all false. It is essential that you 25

realize your thinking will be erratic until a firm commitment to 26

one or the other is made. A firm commitment to darkness or 27

nothingness, however, is impossible. No one has ever lived who 28

has not experienced some light and some thing. No one, therefore, 29

is able to deny truth totally, even if he thinks he can. 30

Innocence is not a partial attribute. It is not real until it is total. 31

The partly innocent are apt to be quite foolish at times. It is not 32

until their innocence becomes a viewpoint with universal ap- 33

plication that it becomes wisdom. Innocent or true perception 34

means that you never misperceive and always see truly. More 35

simply, it means that you never see what does not exist, and al- 36

ways see what does. 37

When you lack confidence in what someone will do, you are 38

attesting to your belief that he is not in his right mind. This is 39

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hardly a miracle-based frame of reference. It also has the dis- 2

astrous effect of denying the power of the miracle. The miracle 3

perceives everything as it is. If nothing but the truth exists, right- 4

minded seeing cannot see anything but perfection. I have said 5

that only what God creates or what you create with the same Will 6

has any real existence. This, then, is all the innocent can see. 7

They do not suffer from distorted perception. 8

You are afraid of God's Will because you have used your own 9

mind, which He created in the likeness of His Own, to miscreate. 10

The mind can miscreate only when it believes it is not free. An 11

"imprisoned" mind is not free because it is possessed, or held 12

back, by itself. It is therefore limited, and the will is not free to 13

assert itself. To be one is to be of one mind or will. When the 14

Will of the Sonship and the Father are one, their perfect accord is 15

Heaven. 16

Nothing can prevail against a Son of God who commends his 17

spirit into the Hands of his Father. By doing this the mind 18

awakens from its sleep and remembers its Creator. All sense of 19

separation disappears. The Son of God is part of the Holy 20

Trinity, but the Trinity Itself is one. There is no confusion within 21

Its Levels, because They are of one Mind and one Will. This 22

single purpose creates perfect integration and establishes the 23

peace of God. Yet this vision can be perceived only by the truly 24

innocent. Because their hearts are pure, the innocent defend true 25

perception instead of defending themselves against it. Under- 26

standing the lesson of the Atonement they are without the wish 27

to attack, and therefore they see truly. This is what the Bible 28

means when it says, "When He shall appear (or be perceived) we 29

shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 30

The way to correct distortions is to withdraw your faith in 31

them and invest it only in what is true. You cannot make untruth 32

true. If you are willing to accept what is true in everything you 33

perceive, you let it be true for you. Truth overcomes all error, 34

and those who live in error and emptiness can never find lasting 35

solace. If you perceive truly you are cancelling out mispercep- 36

tions in yourself and in others simultaneously. Because you see 37

them as they are, you offer them your acceptance of their truth so 38

they can accept it for themselves. This is the healing that the 39

miracle induces. 40

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Perception versus Knowledge 2

We have been emphasizing perception, and have said very lit- 3

tle about knowledge as yet. This is because perception must be 4

straightened out before you can know anything. To know is to 5

be certain. Uncertainty means that you do not know. Knowl- 6

edge is power because it is certain, and certainty is strength. Per- 7

ception is temporary. As an attribute of the belief in space and 8

time, it is subject to either fear or love. Misperceptions produce 9

fear and true perceptions foster love, but neither brings certainty 10

because all perception varies. That is why it is not knowledge. 11

True perception is the basis for knowledge, but knowing is the 12

affirmation of truth and beyond all perceptions. 13

All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recog- 14

nize yourself, your brother or God. To recognize means to 15

"know again," implying that you knew before. You can see in 16

many ways because perception involves interpretation, and this 17

means that it is not whole or consistent. The miracle, being a 18

way of perceiving, is not knowledge. It is the right answer to a 19

question, but you do not question when you know. Questioning 20

illusions is the first step in undoing them. The miracle, or the 21

right answer, corrects them. Since perceptions change, their de- 22

pendence on time is obvious. How you perceive at any given 23

time determines what you do, and actions must occur in time. 24

Knowledge is timeless, because certainty is not questionable. 25

You know when you have ceased to ask questions. 26

The questioning mind perceives itself in time, and therefore 27

looks for future answers. The closed mind believes the future 28

and the present will be the same. This establishes a seemingly 29

stable state that is usually an attempt to counteract an underlying 30

fear that the future will be worse than the present. This fear in- 31

hibits the tendency to question at all. 32

True vision is the natural perception of spiritual sight, but it is 33

still a correction rather than a fact. Spiritual sight is symbolic, 34

and therefore not a device for knowing. It is, however, a means 35

of right perception, which brings it into the proper domain of the 36

miracle. A "vision of God" would be a miracle rather than a 37

revelation. The fact that perception is involved at all removes the 38

experience from the realm of knowledge. That is why visions, 39

however holy, do not last. 40

The Bible tells you to know yourself, or to be certain. Certainty 41

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is always of God. When you love someone you have perceived 2

him as he is, and this makes it possible for you to know him. 3

Until you first perceive him as he is you cannot know him. 4

While you ask questions about him you are clearly implying that 5

you do not know God. Certainty does not require action. When 6

you say you are acting on the basis of knowledge, you are really 7

confusing knowledge with perception. Knowledge provides the 8

strength for creative thinking, but not for right doing. Percep- 9

tion, miracles and doing are closely related. Knowledge is the 10

result of revelation and induces only thought. Even in its most 11

spiritualized form perception involves the body. Knowledge 12

comes from the altar within and is timeless because it is certain. 13

To perceive the truth is not the same as to know it. 14

Right perception is necessary before God can communicate 15

directly to His altars, which He established in His Sons. There 16

He can communicate His certainty, and His knowledge will bring 17

peace without question. God is not a stranger to His Sons, and 18

His Sons are not strangers to each other. Knowledge preceded 19

both perception and time, and will ultimately replace them. That 20

is the real meaning of "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 21

end," and "Before Abraham was I am." Perception can and must 22

be stabilized, but knowledge is stable. "Fear God and keep His 23

commandments" becomes "Know God and accept His certainty." 24

If you attack error in another, you will hurt yourself. You can- 25

not know your brother when you attack him. Attack is always 26

made upon a stranger. You are making him a stranger by 27

misperceiving him, and so you cannot know him. It is because 28

you have made him a stranger that you are afraid of him. Per- 29

ceive him correctly so that you can know him. There are no 30

strangers in God's creation. To create as He created you can cre- 31

ate only what you know, and therefore accept as yours. God 32

knows His children with perfect certainty. He created them by 33

knowing them. He recognizes them perfectly. When they do 34

not recognize each other, they do not recognize Him. 35

Error and the Ego 36

The abilities you now possess are only shadows of your real 37

strength. All of your present functions are divided and open to 38

question and doubt. This is because you are not certain how you 39

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will use them, and are therefore incapable of knowledge. You are 2

also incapable of knowledge because you can still perceive love- 3

lessly. Perception did not exist until the separation introduced 4

degrees, aspects and intervals. Spirit has no levels, and all con- 5

flict arises from the concept of levels. Only the Levels of the 6

Trinity are capable of Unity. The levels created by the separation 7

cannot but conflict. This is because they are meaningless to each 8

other. 9

Consciousness, the level of perception, was the first split intro- 10

duced into the mind after the separation, making the mind a per- 11

ceiver rather than a creator. Consciousness is correctly identified 12

as the domain of the ego. The ego is a wrong-minded attempt to 13

perceive yourself as you wish to be, rather than as you are. Yet 14

you can know yourself only as you are, because that is all you 15

can be sure of. Everything else is open to question. 16

The ego is the questioning aspect of the post-separation self, 17

which was made rather than created. It is capable of asking 18

questions but not of perceiving meaningful answers, because 19

these would involve knowledge and cannot be perceived. The 20

mind is therefore confused, because only One-mindedness can be 21

without confusion. A separated or divided mind must be con- 22

fused. It is necessarily uncertain about what it is. It has to be in 23

conflict because it is out of accord with itself. This makes its 24

aspects strangers to each other, and this is the essence of the fear- 25

prone condition, in which attack is always possible. You have 26

every reason to feel afraid as you perceive yourself. This is why 27

you cannot escape from fear until you realize that you did not 28

and could not create yourself. You can never make your misper- 29

ceptions true, and your creation is beyond your own error. That 30

is why you must eventually choose to heal the separation. 31

Right-mindedness is not to be confused with the knowing 32

mind, because it is applicable only to right perception. You can 33

be right-minded or wrong-minded, and even this is subject to 34

degrees, clearly demonstrating that knowledge is not involved. 35

The term "right-mindedness" is properly used as the correction 36

for "wrong-mindedness," and applies to the state of mind that 37

induces accurate perception. It is miracle-minded because it 38

heals misperception, and this is indeed a miracle in view of how 39

you perceive yourself. 40

Perception always involves some misuse of mind, because it 41

brings the mind into areas of uncertainty. The mind is very ac- 42

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tive. When it chooses to be separated it chooses to perceive. 2

Until then it wills only to know. Afterwards it can only choose 3

ambiguously, and the only way out of ambiguity is clear percep- 4

tion. The mind returns to its proper function only when it wills 5

to know. This places it in the service of spirit, where perception 6

is changed. The mind chooses to divide itself when it chooses to 7

make its own levels. But it could not entirely separate itself from 8

spirit, because it is from spirit that it derives its whole power to 9

make or create. Even in miscreation the mind is affirming its 10

Source, or it would merely cease to be. This is impossible, be- 11

cause the mind belongs to spirit which God created and which is 12

therefore eternal. 13

The ability to perceive made the body possible, because you 14

must perceive something and with something. That is why per- 15

ception involves an exchange or translation, which knowledge 16

does not need. The interpretative function of perception, a dis- 17

torted form of creation, then permits you to interpret the body as 18

yourself in an attempt to escape from the conflict you have in- 19

duced. Spirit, which knows, could not be reconciled with this 20

loss of power, because it is incapable of darkness. This makes 21

spirit almost inaccessible to the mind and entirely inaccessible to 22

the body. Thereafter, spirit is perceived as a threat, because light 23

abolishes darkness merely by showing you it is not there. Truth 24

will always overcome error in this way. This cannot be an active 25

process of correction because, as I have already emphasized, 26

knowledge does not do anything. It can be perceived as an at- 27

tacker, but it cannot attack. What you perceive as its attack is 28

your own vague recognition that knowledge can always be 29

remembered, never having been destroyed. 30

God and His creations remain in surety, and therefore know 31

that no miscreation exists. Truth cannot deal with errors that you 32

want. I was a man who remembered spirit and its knowledge. 33

As a man I did not attempt to counteract error with knowledge, 34

but to correct error from the bottom up. I demonstrated both the 35

powerlessness of the body and the power of the mind. By uni- 36

ting my will with that of my Creator, I naturally remembered 37

spirit and its real purpose. I cannot unite your will with God's 38

for you, but I can erase all misperceptions from your mind if you 39

will bring it under my guidance. Only your misperceptions 40

stand in your way. Without them your choice is certain. Sane 41

perception induces sane choosing. I cannot choose for you, but I 42

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can help you make your own right choice. "Many are called but 2

few are chosen" should be, "All are called but few choose to lis- 3

ten." Therefore, they do not choose right. The "chosen ones" 4

are merely those who choose right sooner. Right minds can do 5

this now, and they will find rest unto their souls. God knows 6

you only in peace, and this is your reality. 7

Beyond Perception 8

I have said that the abilities you possess are only shadows of 9

your real strength, and that perception, which is inherently 10

judgmental, was introduced only after the separation. No one 11

has been sure of anything since. I have also made it clear that the 12

resurrection was the means for the return to knowledge, which 13

was accomplished by the union of my will with the Father's. We 14

can now establish a distinction that will clarify some of our sub- 15

sequent statements. 16

Since the separation, the words "create" and "make" have be- 17

come confused. When you make something, you do so out of a 18

specific sense of lack or need. Anything made for a specific pur- 19

pose has no true generalizability. When you make something to 20

fill a perceived lack, you are tacitly implying that you believe in 21

separation. The ego has invented many ingenious thought sys- 22

tems for this purpose. None of them is creative. Inventiveness is 23

wasted effort even in its most ingenious form. The highly 24

specific nature of invention is not worthy of the abstract 25

creativity of God's creations. 26

Knowing, as we have already observed, does not lead to 27

doing. The confusion between your real creation and what you 28

have made of yourself is so profound that it has become literally 29

impossible for you to know anything. Knowledge is always 30

stable, and it is quite evident that you are not. Nevertheless, you 31

are perfectly stable as God created you. In this sense, when your 32

behavior is unstable, you are disagreeing with God's Idea of your 33

creation. You can do this if you choose, but you would hardly 34

want to do it if you were in your right mind. 35

The fundamental question you continually ask yourself cannot 36

properly be directed to yourself at all. You keep asking what it is 37

you are. This implies that the answer is not only one you know, 38

but is also one that is up to you to supply. Yet you cannot per- 39

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ceive yourself correctly. You have no image to be perceived. The 2

word "image" is always perception-related, and not a part of 3

knowledge. Images are symbolic and stand for something else. 4

The idea of "changing your image" recognizes the power of per- 5

ception, but also implies that there is nothing stable to know. 6

Knowing is not open to interpretation. You may try to "inter- 7

pret" meaning, but this is always open to error because it refers 8

to the perception of meaning. Such incongruities are the result of 9

attempts to regard yourself as separated and un-separated at the 10

same time. It is impossible to make so fundamental a confusion 11

without increasing your overall confusion still further. Your 12

mind may have become very ingenious, but as always happens 13

when method and content are separated, it is utilized in a futile 14

attempt to escape from an inescapable impasse. Ingenuity is to- 15

tally divorced from knowledge, because knowledge does not re- 16

quire ingenuity. Ingenious thinking is not the truth that shall set 17

you free, but you are free of the need to engage in it when you are 18

willing to let it go. 19

Prayer is a way of asking for something. It is the medium of 20

miracles. But the only meaningful prayer is for forgiveness, be- 21

cause those who have been forgiven have everything. Once for- 22

giveness has been accepted, prayer in the usual sense becomes 23

utterly meaningless. The prayer for forgiveness is nothing more 24

than a request that you may be able to recognize what you al- 25

ready have. In electing perception instead of knowledge, you 26

placed yourself in a position where you could resemble your 27

Father only by perceiving miraculously. You have lost the 28

knowledge that you yourself are a miracle of God. Creation is 29

your Source and your only real function. 30

The statement "God created man in his own image and like- 31

ness" needs reinterpretation. "Image" can be understood as 32

"thought," and "likeness" as "of a like quality." God did create 33

spirit in His Own Thought and of a quality like to His Own. 34

There is nothing else. Perception, on the other hand, is impos- 35

sible without a belief in "more" and "less." At every level it in- 36

volves selectivity. Perception is a continual process of accepting 37

and rejecting, organizing and reorganizing, shifting and chang- 38

ing. Evaluation is an essential part of perception, because judg- 39

ments are necessary in order to select. 40

What happens to perceptions if there are no judgments and 41

nothing but perfect equality? Perception becomes impossible. 42

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Truth can only be known. All of it is equally true, and knowing 2

any part of it is to know all of it. Only perception involves par- 3

tial awareness. Knowledge transcends the laws governing per- 4

ception, because partial knowledge is impossible. It is all one 5

and has no separate parts. You who are really one with it need 6

but know yourself and your knowledge is complete. To know 7

God's miracle is to know Him. 8

Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation. 9

Correct perception of your brother is necessary, because minds 10

have chosen to see themselves as separate. Spirit knows God 11

completely. That is its miraculous power. The fact that each one 12

has this power completely is a condition entirely alien to the 13

world's thinking. The world believes that if anyone has every- 14

thing, there is nothing left. But God's miracles are as total as His 15

Thoughts because they are His Thoughts. 16

As long as perception lasts prayer has a place. Since percep- 17

tion rests on lack, those who perceive have not totally accepted 18

the Atonement and given themselves over to truth. Perception is 19

based on a separated state, so that anyone who perceives at all 20

needs healing. Communion, not prayer, is the natural state of 21

those who know. God and His miracle are inseparable. How 22

beautiful indeed are the Thoughts of God who live in His Light! 23

Your worth is beyond perception because it is beyond doubt. 24

Do not perceive yourself in different lights. Know yourself in 25

the One Light where the miracle that is you is perfectly clear. 26

Judgment and the Authority Problem 27

We have already discussed the Last Judgment, but in insuffi- 28

cient detail. After the Last Judgment there will be no more. 29

Judgment is symbolic because beyond perception there is no 30

judgment. When the Bible says "Judge not that ye be not 31

judged," it means that if you judge the reality of others you will 32

be unable to avoid judging your own. 33

The choice to judge rather than to know is the cause of the loss 34

of peace. Judgment is the process on which perception but not 35

knowledge rests. I have discussed this before in terms of the 36

selectivity of perception, pointing out that evaluation is its ob- 37

vious prerequisite. Judgment always involves rejection. It never 38

emphasizes only the positive aspects of what is judged, whether 39

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in you or in others. What has been perceived and rejected, or 2

judged and found wanting, remains in your mind because it has 3

been perceived. One of the illusions from which you suffer is the 4

belief that what you judged against has no effect. This cannot be 5

true unless you also believe that what you judged against does 6

not exist. You evidently do not believe this, or you would not 7

have judged against it. In the end it does not matter whether 8

your judgment is right or wrong. Either way you are placing 9

your belief in the unreal. This cannot be avoided in any type of 10

judgment, because it implies the belief that reality is yours to 11

select from. 12

You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace 13

that comes from meeting yourself and your brothers totally 14

without judgment. When you recognize what you are and what 15

your brothers are, you will realize that judging them in any way 16

is without meaning. In fact, their meaning is lost to you precisely 17

because you are judging them. All uncertainty comes from the 18

belief that you are under the coercion of judgment. You do not 19

need judgment to organize your life, and you certainly do not 20

need it to organize yourself. In the presence of knowledge all 21

judgment is automatically suspended, and this is the process that 22

enables recognition to replace perception. 23

You are very fearful of everything you have perceived but have 24

refused to accept. You believe that, because you have refused to 25

accept it, you have lost control over it. This is why you see it in 26

nightmares, or in pleasant disguises in what seem to be your hap- 27

pier dreams. Nothing that you have refused to accept can be 28

brought into awareness. It is not dangerous in itself, but you 29

have made it seem dangerous to you. 30

When you feel tired, it is because you have judged yourself as 31

capable of being tired. When you laugh at someone, it is because 32

you have judged him as unworthy. When you laugh at yourself 33

you must laugh at others, if only because you cannot tolerate the 34

idea of being more unworthy than they are. All this makes you 35

feel tired because it is essentially disheartening. You are not real- 36

ly capable of being tired, but you are very capable of wearying 37

yourself. The strain of constant judgment is virtually intolerable. 38

It is curious that an ability so debilitating would be so deeply 39

cherished. Yet if you wish to be the author of reality, you will 40

insist on holding on to judgment. You will also regard judgment 41

with fear, believing that it will someday be used against you. 42

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This belief can exist only to the extent that you believe in the 2

efficacy of judgment as a weapon of defense for your own 3

authority. 4

God offers only mercy. Your words should reflect only mercy, 5

because that is what you have received and that is what you 6

should give. Justice is a temporary expedient, or an attempt to 7

teach you the meaning of mercy. It is judgmental only because 8

you are capable of injustice. 9

I have spoken of different symptoms, and at that level there is 10

almost endless variation. There is, however, only one cause for 11

all of them: the authority problem. This is "the root of all evil." 12

Every symptom the ego makes involves a contradiction in terms, 13

because the mind is split between the ego and the Holy Spirit, so 14

that whatever the ego makes is incomplete and contradictory. 15

This untenable position is the result of the authority problem 16

which, because it accepts the one inconceivable thought as its 17

premise, can produce only ideas that are inconceivable. 18

The issue of authority is really a question of authorship. 19

When you have an authority problem, it is always because you 20

believe you are the author of yourself and project your delusion 21

onto others. You then perceive the situation as one in which 22

others are literally fighting you for your authorship. This is the 23

fundamental error of all those who believe they have usurped 24

the power of God. This belief is very frightening to them, but 25

hardly troubles God. He is, however, eager to undo it, not to 26

punish His children, but only because He knows that it makes 27

them unhappy. God's creations are given their true Authorship, 28

but you prefer to be anonymous when you choose to separate 29

yourself from your Author. Being uncertain of your true Author- 30

ship, you believe that your creation was anonymous. This leaves 31

you in a position where it sounds meaningful to believe that you 32

created yourself. The dispute over authorship has left such un- 33

certainty in your mind that it may even doubt whether you really 34

exist at all. 35

Only those who give over all desire to reject can know that 36

their own rejection is impossible. You have not usurped the 37

power of God, but you have lost it. Fortunately, to lose something 38

does not mean that it has gone. It merely means that you do not 39

remember where it is. Its existence does not depend on your 40

ability to identify it, or even to place it. It is possible to look on 41

reality without judgment and merely know that it is there. 42

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Peace is a natural heritage of spirit. Everyone is free to refuse 2

to accept his inheritance, but he is not free to establish what his 3

inheritance is. The problem everyone must decide is the fun- 4

damental question of authorship. All fear comes ultimately, and 5

sometimes by way of very devious routes, from the denial of 6

Authorship. The offense is never to God, but only to those who 7

deny Him. To deny His Authorship is to deny yourself the 8

reason for your peace, so that you see yourself only in segments. 9

This strange perception is the authority problem. 10

There is no one who does not feel that he is imprisoned in 11

some way. If this is the result of his own free will he must regard 12

his will as not free, or the circular reasoning in this position 13

would be quite apparent. Free will must lead to freedom. Judg- 14

ment always imprisons because it separates segments of reality 15

by the unstable scales of desire. Wishes are not facts. To wish is 16

to imply that willing is not sufficient. Yet no one in his right 17

mind believes that what is wished is as real as what is willed. 18

Instead of "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven" say, "Will ye 19

first the Kingdom of Heaven," and you have said, "I know what I 20

am and I accept my own inheritance." 21

Creating versus the Self-Image 22

Every system of thought must have a starting point. It begins 23

with either a making or a creating, a difference we have already 24

discussed. Their resemblance lies in their power as foundations. 25

Their difference lies in what rests upon them. Both are corner- 26

stones for systems of belief by which one lives. It is a mistake to 27

believe that a thought system based on lies is weak. Nothing 28

made by a child of God is without power. It is essential to realize 29

this, because otherwise you will be unable to escape from the 30

prison you have made. 31

You cannot resolve the authority problem by depreciating the 32

power of your mind. To do so is to deceive yourself, and this 33

will hurt you because you really understand the strength of the 34

mind. You also realize that you cannot weaken it, any more than 35

you can weaken God. The "devil" is a frightening concept be- 36

cause he seems to be extremely powerful and extremely active. 37

He is perceived as a force in combat with God, battling Him for 38

possession of His creations. The devil deceives by lies, and 39

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builds kingdoms in which everything is in direct opposition to 2

God. Yet he attracts men rather than repels them, and they are 3

willing to "sell" him their souls in return for gifts of no real 4

worth. This makes absolutely no sense. 5

We have discussed the fall or separation before, but its mean- 6

ing must be clearly understood. The separation is a system of 7

thought real enough in time, though not in eternity. All beliefs 8

are real to the believer. The fruit of only one tree was "forbid- 9

den" in the symbolic garden. But God could not have forbidden 10

it, or it could not have been eaten. If God knows His children, 11

and I assure you that He does, would He have put them in a 12

position where their own destruction was possible? The "forbid- 13

den tree" was named the "tree of knowledge." Yet God created 14

knowledge and gave it freely to His creations. The symbolism 15

here has been given many interpretations, but you may be sure 16

that any interpretation that sees either God or His creations as 17

capable of destroying Their Own purpose is in error. 18

Eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge is a symbolic ex- 19

pression for usurping the ability for self-creating. This is the 20

only sense in which God and His creations are not co-creators. 21

The belief that they are is implicit in the "self-concept," or the 22

tendency of the self to make an image of itself. Images are per- 23

ceived, not known. Knowledge cannot deceive, but perception 24

can. You can perceive yourself as self-creating, but you cannot 25

do more than believe it. You cannot make it true. And, as I said 26

before, when you finally perceive correctly you can only be glad 27

that you cannot. Until then, however, the belief that you can is 28

the foundation stone in your thought system, and all your de- 29

fenses are used to attack ideas that might bring it to light. You 30

still believe you are an image of your own making. Your mind is 31

split with the Holy Spirit on this point, and there is no resolution 32

while you believe the one thing that is literally inconceivable. 33

That is why you cannot create and are filled with fear about 34

what you make. 35

The mind can make the belief in separation very real and very 36

fearful, and this belief is the "devil." It is powerful, active, 37

destructive and clearly in opposition to God, because it literally 38

denies His Fatherhood. Look at your life and see what the devil 39

has made. But realize that this making will surely dissolve in the 40

light of truth, because its foundation is a lie. Your creation by 41

God is the only foundation that cannot be shaken, because the 42

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light is in it. Your starting point is truth, and you must return to 2

your Beginning. Much has been seen since then, but nothing has 3

really happened. Your Self is still in peace, even though your 4

mind is in conflict. You have not yet gone back far enough, and 5

that is why you become so fearful. As you approach the Begin- 6

ning, you feel the fear of the destruction of your thought system 7

upon you as if it were the fear of death. There is no death, but 8

there is a belief in death. 9

The branch that bears no fruit will be cut off and will wither 10

away. Be glad! The light will shine from the true Foundation of 11

life, and your own thought system will stand corrected. It cannot 12

stand otherwise. You who fear salvation are choosing death. 13

Life and death, light and darkness, knowledge and perception, 14

are irreconcilable. To believe that they can be reconciled is to 15

believe that God and His Son can not. Only the oneness of 16

knowledge is free of conflict. Your kingdom is not of this world 17

because it was given you from beyond this world. Only in this 18

world is the idea of an authority problem meaningful. The 19

world is not left by death but by truth, and truth can be known 20

by all those for whom the Kingdom was created, and for whom 21

it waits. 22

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Chapter 4 2

THE ILLUSIONS OF THE EGO 3

Introduction 4

The Bible says that you should go with a brother twice as far as 5

he asks. It certainly does not suggest that you set him back on 6

his journey. Devotion to a brother cannot set you back either. It 7

can lead only to mutual progress. The result of genuine devotion 8

is inspiration, a word which properly understood is the opposite 9

of fatigue. To be fatigued is to be dis-spirited, but to be inspired 10

is to be in the spirit. To be egocentric is to be dis-spirited, but to 11

be Self-centered in the right sense is to be inspired or in spirit. 12

The truly inspired are enlightened and cannot abide in darkness. 13

You can speak from the spirit or from the ego, as you choose. 14

If you speak from spirit you have chosen to "Be still and know 15

that I am God." These words are inspired because they reflect 16

knowledge. If you speak from the ego you are disclaiming 17

knowledge instead of affirming it, and are thus dis-spiriting 18

yourself. Do not embark on useless journeys, because they are 19

indeed in vain. The ego may desire them, but spirit cannot em- 20

bark on them because it is forever unwilling to depart from its 21

Foundation. 22

The journey to the cross should be the last "useless journey." 23

Do not dwell upon it, but dismiss it as accomplished. If you can 24

accept it as your own last useless journey, you are also free to join 25

my resurrection. Until you do so your life is indeed wasted. It 26

merely re-enacts the separation, the loss of power, the futile at- 27

tempts of the ego at reparation, and finally the crucifixion of the 28

body, or death. Such repetitions are endless until they are volun- 29

tarily given up. Do not make the pathetic error of "clinging to 30

the old rugged cross." The only message of the crucifixion is that 31

you can overcome the cross. Until then you are free to crucify 32

yourself as often as you choose. This is not the Gospel I in- 33

tended to offer you. We have another journey to undertake, and 34

if you will read these lessons carefully they will help prepare you - 35

to undertake it. 36

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Right Teaching and Right Learning 2

A good teacher clarifies his own ideas and strengthens them by 3

teaching them. Teacher and pupil are alike in the learning 4

process. They are in the same order of learning, and unless they 5

share their lessons conviction will be lacking. A good teacher 6

must believe in the ideas he teaches, but he must meet another 7

condition; he must believe in the students to whom he offers the 8

ideas. 9

Many stand guard over their ideas because they want to 10

protect their thought systems as they are, and learning means 11

change. Change is always fearful to the separated, because they 12

cannot conceive of it as a move towards healing the separation. 13

They always perceive it as a move toward further separation, 14

because the separation was their first experience of change. You 15

believe that if you allow no change to enter into your ego you 16

will find peace. This profound confusion is possible only if you 17

maintain that the same thought system can stand on two founda- 18

tions. Nothing can reach spirit from the ego, and nothing can 19

reach the ego from spirit. Spirit can neither strengthen the ego 20

nor reduce the conflict within it. The ego is a contradiction. 21

Your self and God's Self are in opposition. They are opposed in 22

source, in direction and in outcome. They are fundamentally 23

irreconcilable, because spirit cannot perceive and the ego cannot 24

know. They are therefore not in communication and can never 25

be in communication. Nevertheless, the ego can learn, even 26

though its maker can be misguided. He cannot, however, make 27

the totally lifeless out of the life-given. 28

Spirit need not be taught, but the ego must be. Learning is 29

ultimately perceived as frightening because it leads to the relin- 30

quishment, not the destruction, of the ego to the light of spirit. 31

This is the change the ego must fear, because it does not share 32

my charity. My lesson was like yours, and because I learned it I 33

can teach it. I will never attack your ego, but I am trying to teach 34

you how its thought system arose. When I remind you of your 35

true creation, your ego cannot but respond with fear. 36

Teaching and learning are your greatest strengths now, be- 37

cause they enable you to change your mind and help others to 38

change theirs. Refusing to change your mind will not prove that 39

the separation has not occurred. The dreamer who doubts the 40

reality of his dream while he is still dreaming is not really healing 41

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his split mind. You dream of a separated ego and believe in a 2

world that rests upon it. This is very real to you. You cannot 3

undo it by not changing your mind about it. If you are willing to 4

renounce the role of guardian of your thought system and open it 5

to me, I will correct it very gently and lead you back to God. 6

Every good teacher hopes to give his students so much of his 7

own learning that they will one day no longer need him. This is 8

the one true goal of the teacher. It is impossible to convince the 9

ego of this, because it goes against all of its own laws. But 10

remember that laws are set up to protect the continuity of the 11

system in which the lawmaker believes. It is natural for the ego 12

to try to protect itself once you have made it, but it is not natural 13

for you to want to obey its laws unless you believe them. The ego 14

cannot make this choice because of the nature of its origin. You 15

can, because of the nature of yours. 16

Egos can clash in any situation, but spirit cannot clash at all. If 17

you perceive a teacher as merely "a larger ego" you will be 18

afraid, because to enlarge an ego would be to increase anxiety 19

about separation. I will teach with you and live with you if you 20

will think with me, but my goal will always be to absolve you 21

finally from the need for a teacher. This is the opposite of the 22

ego-oriented teacher's goal. He is concerned with the effect of 23

his ego on other egos, and therefore interprets their interaction as 24

a means of ego preservation. I would not be able to devote 25

myself to teaching if I believed this, and you will not be a 26

devoted teacher as long as you believe it. I am constantly being 27

perceived as a teacher either to be exalted or rejected, but I do not 28

accept either perception for myself. 29

Your worth is not established by teaching or learning. Your 30

worth is established by God. As long as you dispute this every- 31

thing you do will be fearful, particularly any situation that lends 32

itself to the belief in superiority and inferiority. Teachers must be 33

patient and repeat their lessons until they are learned. I am will- 34

ing to do this, because I have no right to set your learning limits 35

for you. Again, - nothing you do or think or wish or make is 36

necessary to establish your worth. This point is not debatable 37

except in delusions. Your ego is never at stake because God did 38

not create it. Your spirit is never at stake because He did. Any 39

confusion on this point is delusional, and no form of devotion is 40

possible as long as this delusion lasts. 41

The ego tries to exploit all situations into forms of praise for 42

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itself in order to overcome its doubts. It will remain doubtful as 2

long as you believe in its existence. You who made it cannot 3

trust it, because in your right mind you realize it is not real. The 4

only sane solution is not to try to change reality, which is indeed 5

a fearful attempt, but to accept it as it is. You are part of reality, 6

which stands unchanged beyond the reach of your ego but 7

within easy reach of spirit. When you are afraid, be still and 8

know that God is real, and you are His beloved Son in whom He 9

is well pleased. Do not let your ego dispute this, because the ego 10

cannot know what is as far beyond its reach as you are. 11

God is not the author of fear. You are. You have chosen to 12

create unlike Him, and have therefore made fear for yourself. 13

You are not at peace because you are not fulfilling your function. 14

God gave you a very lofty function that you are not meeting. 15

Your ego has chosen to be afraid instead of meeting it. When 16

you awaken you will not be able to understand this, because it is 17

literally incredible. Do not believe the incredible now. Any attempt 18

to increase its believableness is merely to postpone the inevitable. 19

The word "inevitable" is fearful to the ego, but joyous to the 20

spirit. God is inevitable, and you cannot avoid Him any more 21

than He can avoid you. 22

The ego is afraid of the spirit's joy, because once you have ex- 23

perienced it you will withdraw all protection from the ego, and 24

become totally without investment in fear. Your investment is 25

great now because fear is a witness to the separation, and your 26

ego rejoices when you witness to it. Leave it behind! Do not 27

listen to it and do not preserve it. Listen only to God, Who is as 28

incapable of deception as is the spirit He created. Release your- 29

self and release others. Do not present a false and unworthy pic- 30

ture of yourself to others, and do not accept such a picture of 31

them yourself. 32

The ego has built a shabby and unsheltering home for you, 33

because it cannot build otherwise. Do not try to make this im- 34

poverished house stand. Its weakness is your strength. Only 35

God could make a home that is worthy of His creations, who 36

have chosen to leave it empty by their own dispossession. Yet 37

His home will stand forever, and is ready for you when you 38

choose to enter it. Of this you can be wholly certain. God is as 39

incapable of creating the perishable as the ego is of making the 40

eternal. 41

Of your ego you can do nothing to save yourself or others, but 42

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of your spirit you can do everything for the salvation of both. 2

Humility is a lesson for the ego, not for the spirit. Spirit is 3

beyond humility, because it recognizes its radiance and gladly 4

sheds its light everywhere. The meek shall inherit the earth be- 5

cause their egos are humble, and this gives them truer percep- 6

tion. The Kingdom of Heaven is the spirit's right, whose beauty 7

and dignity are far beyond doubt, beyond perception, and stand 8

forever as the mark of the Love of God for His creations, who are 9

wholly worthy of Him and only of Him. Nothing else is suffi- 10

ciently worthy to be a gift for a creation of God Himself. 11

I will substitute for your ego if you wish, but never for your 12

spirit. A father can safely leave a child with an elder brother who 13

has shown himself responsible, but this involves no confusion 14

about the child's origin. The brother can protect the child's body 15

and his ego, but he does not confuse himself with the father be- 16

cause he does this. I can be entrusted with your body and your 17

ego only because this enables you not to be concerned with them, 18

and lets me teach you their unimportance. I could not under- 19

stand their importance to you if I had not once been tempted to 20

believe in them myself. Let us undertake to learn this lesson 21

together so we can be free of them together. I need devoted 22

teachers who share my aim of healing the mind. Spirit is far 23

beyond the need of your protection or mine. Remember this: 24

In this world you need not have tribulation because I have 25

overcome the world. That is why you should be of good cheer. 26

The Ego and False Autonomy 27

It is reasonable to ask how the mind could ever have made the 28

ego. In fact, it is the best question you could ask. There is, how- 29

ever, no point in giving an answer in terms of the past because 30

the past does not matter, and history would not exist if the same 31

errors were not being repeated in the present. Abstract thought 32

applies to knowledge because knowledge is completely imper- 33

sonal, and examples are irrelevant to its understanding. Percep- 34

tion, however, is always specific, and therefore quite concrete. 35

Everyone makes an ego or a self for himself, which is subject to 36

enormous variation because of its instability. He also makes an 37

ego for everyone else he perceives, which is equally variable. 38

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Their interaction is a process that alters both, because they were 2

not made by or with the Unalterable. It is important to realize 3

that this alteration can and does occur as readily when the inter- 4

action takes place in the mind as when it involves physical 5

proximity. Thinking about another ego is as effective in chang- 6

ing relative perception as is physical interaction. There could be 7

no better example that the ego is only an idea and not a fact. 8

Your own state of mind is a good example of how the ego was 9

made. When you threw knowledge away it is as if you never 10

had it. This is so apparent that one need only recognize it to see 11

that it does happen. If this occurs in the present, why is it 12

surprising that it occurred in the past? Surprise is a reasonable 13

response to the unfamiliar, though hardly to something that oc- 14

curs with such persistence. But do not forget that the mind need 15

not work that way, even though it does work that way now. 16

Think of the love of animals for their offspring, and the need 17

they feel to protect them. That is because they regard them as 18

part of themselves. No one dismisses something he considers 19

part of himself. You react to your ego much as God does to His 20

creations, - with love, protection and charity. Your reactions to 21

the self you made are not surprising. In fact, they resemble in 22

many ways how you will one day react to your real creations, 23

which are as timeless as you are. The question is not how you 24

respond to the ego, but what you believe you are. Belief is an ego 25

function, and as long as your origin is open to belief you are 26

regarding it from an ego viewpoint. When teaching is no longer 27

necessary you will merely know God. Belief that there is 28

another way of perceiving is the loftiest idea of which ego think- 29

ing is capable. That is because it contains a hint of recognition 30

that the ego is not the Self. 31

Undermining the ego's thought system must be perceived as 32

painful, even though this is anything but true. Babies scream in 33

rage if you take away a knife or scissors, although they may well 34

harm themselves if you do not. In this sense you are still a baby. 35

You have no sense of real self-preservation, and are likely to 36

decide that you need precisely what would hurt you most. Yet 37

whether or not you recognize it now, you have agreed to 38

cooperate in the effort to become both harmless and helpful, at- 39

tributes that must go together. Your attitudes even toward this 40

are necessarily conflicted, because all attitudes are ego-based. 41

This will not last. Be patient a while and remember that the 42

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outcome is as certain as God. 2

Only those who have a real and lasting sense of abundance can 3

be truly charitable. This is obvious when you consider what is 4

involved. To the ego, to give anything implies that you will have 5

to do without it. When you associate giving with sacrifice, you 6

give only because you believe that you are somehow getting 7

something better, and can therefore do without the thing you 8

give. Giving to get" is an inescapable law of the ego, which 9

always evaluates itself in relation to other egos. It is therefore 10

continually preoccupied with the belief in scarcity that gave rise 11

to it. Its whole perception of other egos as real is only an attempt 12

to convince itself that it is real. "Self-esteem" in ego terms means 13

nothing more than that the ego has deluded itself into accepting 14

its reality, and is therefore temporarily less predatory. This "self- 15

esteem" is always vulnerable to stress, a term which refers to any 16

perceived threat to the ego's existence. 17

The ego literally lives by comparisons. Equality is beyond its 18

grasp, and charity becomes impossible. The ego never gives out 19

of abundance, because it was made as a substitute for it. That is 20

why the concept of "getting" arose in the ego's thought system. 21

Appetites are "getting" mechanisms, representing the ego's need 22

to confirm itself. This is as true of body appetites as it is of the 23

so-called "higher ego needs." Body appetites are not physical in 24

origin. The ego regards the body as its home, and tries to satisfy 25

itself through the body. But the idea that this is possible is a 26

decision of the mind, which has become completely confused 27

about what is really possible. 28

The ego believes it is completely on its own, which is merely 29

another way of describing how it thinks it originated. This is 30

such a fearful state that it can only turn to other egos and try to 31

unite with them in a feeble attempt at identification, or attack 32

them in an equally feeble show of strength. It is not free, how- 33

ever, to open the premise to question, because the premise is its 34

foundation. The ego is the mind's belief that it is completely on 35

its own. The ego's ceaseless attempts to gain the spirit's acknowl- 36

edgment and thus establish its own existence are useless. Spirit 37

in its knowledge is unaware of the ego. It does not attack it; it 38

merely cannot conceive of it at all. While the ego is equally un- 39

aware of spirit, it does perceive itself as being rejected by some- 40

thing greater than itself. This is why self-esteem in ego terms 41

must be delusional. The creations of God do not create myths, 42

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although creative effort can be turned to mythology. It can do 2

so, however, only under one condition; what it makes is then 3

no longer creative. Myths are entirely perceptual, and so am- 4

biguous in form and characteristically good-and-evil in nature 5

that the most benevolent of them is not without fearful con- 6

notations. 7

Myths and magic are closely associated, since myths are usual- 8

ly related to ego origins, and magic to the powers the ego 9

ascribes to itself. Mythological systems generally include some 10

account of "the creation," and associate this with its particular 11

form of magic. The so-called "battle for survival" is only the 12

ego's struggle to preserve itself, and its interpretation of its own 13

beginning. This beginning is usually associated with physical 14

birth, because it is hard to maintain that the ego existed before 15

that point in time. The more "religiously" ego-oriented may 16

believe that the soul existed before, and will continue to exist 17

after a temporary lapse into ego life. Some even believe that the 18

soul will be punished for this lapse. However, salvation does not 19

apply to spirit, which is not in danger and does not need to be 20

salvaged. 21

Salvation is nothing more than "right-mindedness," which is 22

not the One-mindedness of the Holy Spirit, but which must be 23

achieved before One-mindedness is restored. Right-mindedness 24

leads to the next step automatically, because right perception is 25

uniformly without attack, and therefore wrong-mindedness is 26

obliterated. The ego cannot survive without judgment, and is 27

laid aside accordingly. The mind then has only one direction in 28

which it can move. Its direction is always automatic, because it 29

cannot but be dictated by the thought system to which it adheres. 30

It cannot be emphasized too often that correcting perception is 31

merely a temporary expedient. It is necessary only because 32

misperception is a block to knowledge, while accurate perception 33

is a stepping-stone towards it. The whole value of right percep- 34

tion lies in the inevitable realization that all perception is un- 35

necessary. This removes the block entirely. You may ask how 36

this is possible as long as you appear to be living in this world. 37

That is a reasonable question. You must be careful, however, 38

that you really understand it. Who is the "you" who are living in 39

this world? Spirit is immortal, and immortality is a constant 40

state. It is as true now as it ever was or ever will be, because it 41

implies no change at all. It is not a continuum, nor is it under- 42

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stood by being compared to an opposite. Knowledge never in- 2

volves comparisons. That is its main difference from everything 3

else the mind can grasp. 4

Love without Conflict 5

It is hard to understand what "The Kingdom of Heaven is 6

within you" really means. This is because it is not under- 7

standable to the ego, which interprets it as if something outside is 8

inside, and this does not mean anything. The word "within" is 9

unnecessary. The Kingdom of Heaven is you. What else but you 10

did the Creator create, and what else but you is His Kingdom? 11

This is the whole message of the Atonement; a message which in 12

its totality transcends the sum of its parts. You, too, have a 13

Kingdom that your spirit created. It has not ceased to create be- 14

cause of the ego's illusions. Your creations are no more fatherless 15

than you are. Your ego and your spirit will never be co-creators, 16

but your spirit and your Creator will always be. Be confident 17

that your creations are as safe as you are. 18

The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and 19

the ego will not prevail against it. Amen. 20

This is written in the form of a prayer because it is useful in 21

moments of temptation. It is a declaration of independence. You 22

will find it very helpful if you understand it fully. The reason 23

you need my help is because you have denied your own Guide 24

and therefore need guidance. My role is to separate the true from 25

the false, so truth can break through the barriers the ego has set 26

up and can shine into your mind. Against our united strength 27

the ego cannot prevail. 28

It is surely apparent by now why the ego regards spirit as its 29

"enemy." The ego arose from the separation, and its continued 30

existence depends on your continuing belief in the separation. 31

The ego must offer you some sort of reward for maintaining this 32

belief. All it can offer is a sense of temporary existence, which 33

begins with its own beginning and ends with its own ending. It 34

tells you this life is your existence because it is its own. Against 35

this sense of temporary existence spirit offers you the knowledge 36

of permanence and unshakable being. No one who has ex- 37

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perienced the revelation of this can ever fully believe in the ego 2

again. How can its meager offering to you prevail against the 3

glorious gift of God? 4

You who identify with your ego cannot believe God loves you. 5

You do not love what you made, and what you made does not 6

love you. Being made out of the denial of the Father, the ego has 7

no allegiance to its maker. You cannot conceive of the real 8

relationship that exists between God and His creations because 9

of your hatred for the self you made. You project onto the ego 10

the decision to separate, and this conflicts with the love you feel 11

for the ego because you made it. No love in this world is 12

without this ambivalence, and since no ego has experienced love 13

without ambivalence the concept is beyond its understanding. 14

Love will enter immediately into any mind that truly wants it, 15

but it must want it truly. This means that it wants it without 16

ambivalence, and this kind of wanting is wholly without the 17

ego's "drive to get." 18

There is a kind of experience so different from anything the 19

ego can offer that you will never want to cover or hide it again. It 20

is necessary to repeat that your belief in darkness and hiding is 21

why the light cannot enter. The Bible gives many references to 22

the immeasurable gifts which are for you, but for which you 23

must ask. This is not a condition as the ego sets conditions. It is 24

the glorious condition of what you are. 25

No force except your own will is strong enough or worthy 26

enough to guide you. In this you are as free as God, and must 27

remain so forever. Let us ask the Father in my name to keep you 28

mindful of His Love for you and yours for Him. He has never 29

failed to answer this request, because it asks only for what He has 30

already willed. Those who call truly are always answered. Thou 31

shalt have no other gods before Him because there are none. 32

It has never really entered your mind to give up every idea 33

you ever had that opposes knowledge. You retain thousands of 34

little scraps of fear that prevent the Holy One from entering. 35

Light cannot penetrate through the walls you make to block it, 36

and it is forever unwilling to destroy what you have made. No 37

one can see through a wall, but I can step around it. Watch your 38

mind for the scraps of fear, or you will be unable to ask me to do 39

so. I can help you only as our Father created us. I will love you 40

and honor you and maintain complete respect for what you have 41

made, but I will not uphold it unless it is true. I will never for- 42

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sake you any more than God will, but I must wait as long as you 2

choose to forsake yourself. Because I wait in love and not in 3

impatience, you will surely ask me truly. I will come in response 4

to a single unequivocal call. 5

Watch carefully and see what it is you are really asking for. Be 6

very honest with yourself in this, for we must hide nothing from 7

each other. If you will really try to do this, you have taken the 8

first step toward preparing your mind for the Holy One to enter. 9

We will prepare for this together, for once He has come, you will 10

be ready to help me make other minds ready for Him. How long 11

will you deny Him His Kingdom? 12

In your own mind, though denied by the ego, is the declara- 13

tion of your release. God has given you everything. This one fact 14

means the ego does not exist, and this makes it profoundly 15

afraid. In the ego's language, "to have" and "to be" are different, 16

but they are identical to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows 17

that you both have everything and are everything. Any distinc- 18

tion in this respect is meaningful only when the idea of "getting," 19

which implies a lack, has already been accepted. That is why we 20

make no distinction between having the Kingdom of God and 21

being the Kingdom of God. 22

The calm being of God's Kingdom, which in your sane mind is 23

perfectly conscious, is ruthlessly banished from the part of the 24

mind the ego rules. The ego is desperate because it opposes 25

literally invincible odds, whether you are asleep or awake. Con- 26

sider how much vigilance you have been willing to exert to 27

protect your ego, and how little to protect your right mind. Who 28

but the insane would undertake to believe what is not true, and 29

then protect this belief at the cost of truth? 30

This Need Not Be 31

If you cannot hear the Voice for God, it is because you do not 32

choose to listen. That you do listen to the voice of your ego is 33

demonstrated by your attitudes, your feelings and your behavior. 34

Yet this is what you want. This is what you are fighting to keep, 35

and what you are vigilant to save. Your mind is filled with 36

schemes to save the face of your ego, and you do not seek the face 37

of Christ. The glass in which the ego seeks to see its face is dark 38

indeed. How can it maintain the trick of its existence except with 39

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mirrors? But where you look to find yourself is up to you. 2

I have said that you cannot change your mind by changing 3

your behavior, but I have also said, and many times, that you can 4

change your mind. When your mood tells you that you have 5

chosen wrongly, and this is so whenever you are not joyous, then 6

know this need not be. In every case you have thought wrongly 7

about some brother God created, and are perceiving images your 8

ego makes in a darkened glass. Think honestly what you have 9

thought that God would not have thought, and what you have 10

not thought that God would have you think. Search sincerely for 11

what you have done and left undone accordingly, and then 12

change your mind to think with God's. This may seem hard to 13

do, but it is much easier than trying to think against it. Your 14

mind is one with God's. Denying this and thinking otherwise 15

has held your ego together, but has literally split your mind. As a 16

loving brother I am deeply concerned with your mind, and urge 17

you to follow my example as you look at yourself and at your 18

brother, and see in both the glorious creations of a glorious 19

Father. 20

When you are sad, know this need not be. Depression comes 21

from a sense of being deprived of something you want and do 22

not have. Remember that you are deprived of nothing except by 23

your own decisions, and then decide otherwise. 24

When you are anxious, realize that anxiety comes from the 25

capriciousness of the ego, and know this need not be. You can be as 26

vigilant against the ego's dictates as for them. 27

When you feel guilty, remember that the ego has indeed vio- 28

lated the laws of God, but you have not. Leave the "sins" of the 29

ego to me. That is what Atonement is for. But until you change 30

your mind about those whom your ego has hurt, the Atonement 31

cannot release you. While you feel guilty your ego is in com- 32

mand, because only the ego can experience guilt. This need not be. 33

Watch your mind for the temptations of the ego, and do not be 34

deceived by it. It offers you nothing. When you have given up 35

this voluntary dis-spiriting, you will see how your mind can 36

focus and rise above fatigue and heal. Yet you are not sufficient- 37

ly vigilant against the demands of the ego to disengage yourself. 38

This need not be. 39

The habit of engaging with God and His creations is easily 40

made if you actively refuse to let your mind slip away. The prob- 41

lem is not one of concentration; it is the belief that no one, includ- 42

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ing yourself, is worth consistent effort. Side with me consistently 2

against this deception, and do not permit this shabby belief to 3

pull you back. The disheartened are useless to themselves and to 4

me, but only the ego can be disheartened. 5

Have you really considered how many opportunities you have 6

had to gladden yourself, and how many of them you have 7

refused? There is no limit to the power of a Son of God, but he 8

can limit the expression of his power as much as he chooses. 9

Your mind and mine can unite in shining your ego away, releas- 10

ing the strength of God into everything you think and do. Do 11

not settle for anything less than this, and refuse to accept any- 12

thing but this as your goal. Watch your mind carefully for any 13

beliefs that hinder its accomplishment, and step away from them. 14

Judge how well you have done this by your own feelings, for 15

this is the one right use of judgment. Judgment, like any other 16

defense, can be used to attack or protect; to hurt or to heal. The 17

ego should be brought to judgment and found wanting there. 18

Without your own allegiance, protection and love, the ego can- 19

not exist. Let it be judged truly and you must withdraw al- 20

legiance, protection and love from it. 21

You are a mirror of truth, in which God Himself shines in per- 22

fect light. To the ego's dark glass you need but say, "I will not 23

look there because I know these images are not true." Then let 24

the Holy One shine on you in peace, knowing that this and only 25

this must be. His Mind shone on you in your creation and 26

brought your mind into being. His Mind still shines on you and 27

must shine through you. Your ego cannot prevent Him from 28

shining on you, but it can prevent you from letting Him shine 29

through you. 30

The First Coming of Christ is merely another name for the 31

creation, for Christ is the Son of God. The Second Coming of 32

Christ means nothing more than the end of the ego's rule and the 33

healing of the mind. I was created like you in the first, and I have 34

called you to join with me in the second. I am in charge of the 35

Second Coming, and my judgment, which is used only for 36

protection, cannot be wrong because it never attacks. Yours may 37

be so distorted that you believe I was mistaken in choosing you. 38

I assure you this is a mistake of your ego. Do not mistake it for 39

humility. Your ego is trying to convince you that it is real and I 40

am not, because if I am real, I am no more real than you are. That 41

knowledge, and I assure you that it is knowledge, means that 42

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Christ has come into your mind and healed it. 2

I do not attack your ego. I do work with your higher mind, the 3

home of the Holy Spirit, whether you are asleep or awake, just as 4

your ego does with your lower mind, which is its home. I am 5

your vigilance in this, because you are too confused to recognize 6

your own hope. I am not mistaken. Your mind will elect to join 7

with mine, and together we are invincible. You and your brother 8

will yet come together in my name, and your sanity will be re- 9

stored. I raised the dead by knowing that life is an eternal at- 10

tribute of everything that the living God created. Why do you 11

believe it is harder for me to inspire the dis-spirited or to stabilize 12

the unstable? I do not believe that there is an order of difficulty 13

in miracles; you do. I have called and you will answer. I un- 14

derstand that miracles are natural, because they are expressions 15

of love. My calling you is as natural as your answer, and as 16

inevitable. 17

The Ego-Body Illusion 18

All things work together for good. There are no exceptions 19

except in the ego's judgment. The ego exerts maximal vigilance 20

about what it permits into awareness, and this is not the way a 21

balanced mind holds together. The ego is thrown further off 22

balance because it keeps its primary motivation from your 23

awareness, and raises control rather than sanity to pre- 24

dominance. The ego has every reason to do this, according to the 25

thought system which gave rise to it and which it serves. Sane 26

judgment would inevitably judge against the ego, and must be 27

obliterated by the ego in the interest of its self-preservation. 28

A major source of the ego's off-balanced state is its lack of dis- 29

crimination between the body and the Thoughts of God. 30

Thoughts of God are unacceptable to the ego, because they clear- 31

ly point to the nonexistence of the ego itself. The ego therefore 32

either distorts them or refuses to accept them. It cannot, how- 33

ever, make them cease to be. It therefore tries to conceal not only 34

"unacceptable" body impulses, but also the Thoughts of God, be- 35

cause both are threatening to it. Being concerned primarily with 36

its own preservation in the face of threat, the ego perceives them 37

as the same. By perceiving them as the same, the ego attempts to 38

save itself from being swept away, as it would surely be in the 39

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presence of knowledge. 2

Any thought system that confuses God and the body must be 3

insane. Yet this confusion is essential to the ego, which judges 4

only in terms of threat or non-threat to itself. In one sense the 5

ego's fear of God is at least logical, since the idea of Him does 6

dispel the ego. But fear of the body, with which the ego identifies 7

so closely, makes no sense at all. 8

The body is the ego's home by its own election. It is the only 9

identification with which the ego feels safe, since the body's vul- 10

nerability is its own best argument that you cannot be of God. 11

This is the belief that the ego sponsors eagerly. Yet the ego hates 12

the body, because it cannot accept it as good enough to be its 13

home. Here is where the mind becomes actually dazed. Being 14

told by the ego that it is really part of the body and that the body 15

is its protector, the mind is also told that the body cannot protect 16

it. Therefore, the mind asks, "Where can I go for protection?" to 17

which the ego replies, "Turn to me." The mind, and not without 18

cause, reminds the ego that it has itself insisted that it is iden- 19

tified with the body, so there is no point in turning to it for 20

protection. The ego has no real answer to this because there is 21

none, but it does have a typical solution. It obliterates the ques- 22

tion from the mind's awareness. Once out of awareness the 23

question can and does produce uneasiness, but it cannot be 24

answered because it cannot be asked. 25

This is the question that must be asked: "Where can I go for 26

protection?" "Seek and ye shall find" does not mean that you 27

should seek blindly and desperately for something you would 28

not recognize. Meaningful seeking is consciously undertaken, 29

consciously organized and consciously directed. The goal must 30

be formulated clearly and kept in mind. Learning and wanting 31

to learn are inseparable. You learn best when you believe what 32

you are trying to learn is of value to you. However, not every- 33

thing you may want to learn has lasting value. Indeed, many of 34

the things you want to learn may be chosen because their value 35

will not last. 36

The ego thinks it is an advantage not to commit itself to any- 37

thing that is eternal, because the eternal must come from God. 38

Eternalness is the one function the ego has tried to develop, but 39

has systematically failed to achieve. The ego compromises with 40

the issue of the eternal, just as it does with all issues touching on 41

the real question in any way. By becoming involved with tan- 42

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gential issues, it hopes to hide the real question and keep it out of 2

mind. The ego's characteristic busy-ness with nonessentials is 3

for precisely that purpose. Preoccupations with problems set up 4

to be incapable of solution are favorite ego devices for impeding 5

learning progress. In all these diversionary tactics, however, the 6

one question that is never asked by those who pursue them is, 7

"What for?" This is the question that you must learn to ask in 8

connection with everything. What is the purpose? Whatever it 9

is, it will direct your efforts automatically. When you make a 10

decision of purpose, then, you have made a decision about your 11

future effort; a decision that will remain in effect unless you 12

change your mind. 13

The Rewards of God 14

The ego does not recognize the real source of "threat," and if 15

you associate yourself with the ego, you do not understand the 16

situation as it is. Only your allegiance to it gives the ego any 17

power over you. I have spoken of the ego as if it were a separate 18

thing, acting on its own. This was necessary to persuade you 19

that you cannot dismiss it lightly, and must realize how much of 20

your thinking is ego-directed. We cannot safely let it go at that, 21

however, or you will regard yourself as necessarily conflicted as 22

long as you are here, or as long as you believe that you are here. 23

The ego is nothing more than a part of your belief about your- 24

self. Your other life has continued without interruption, and has 25

been and always will be totally unaffected by your attempts to 26

dissociate it. 27

In learning to escape from illusions, your debt to your brother 28

is something you must never forget. It is the same debt that you 29

owe to me. Whenever you act egotistically towards another, you 30

are throwing away the graciousness of your indebtedness and 31

the holy perception it would produce. The term "holy" can be 32

used here because, as you learn how much you are indebted to 33

the whole Sonship, which includes me, you come as close to 34

knowledge as perception can. The gap is then so small that 35

knowledge can easily flow across it and obliterate it forever. 36

You have very little trust in me as yet, but it will increase as 37

you turn more and more often to me instead of to your ego for 38

guidance. The results will convince you increasingly that this 39

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choice is the only sane one you can make. No one who learns 2

from experience that one choice brings peace and joy while 3

another brings chaos and disaster needs additional convincing. 4

Learning through rewards is more effective than learning 5

through pain, because pain is an ego illusion, and can never in- 6

duce more than a temporary effect. The rewards of God, how- 7

ever, are immediately recognized as eternal. Since this 8

recognition is made by you and not the ego, the recognition itself 9

establishes that you and your ego cannot be identical. You may 10

believe that you have already accepted this difference, but you 11

are by no means convinced as yet. The fact that you believe you 12

must escape from the ego shows this; but you cannot escape from 13

the ego by humbling it or controlling it or punishing it. 14

The ego and the spirit do not know each other. The separated 15

mind cannot maintain the separation except by dissociating. 16

Having done this, it denies all truly natural impulses, not be- 17

cause the ego is a separate thing, but because you want to believe 18

that you are. The ego is a device for maintaining this belief, but 19

it is still only your decision to use the device that enables it to 20

endure. 21

How can you teach someone the value of something he has 22

deliberately thrown away? He must have thrown it away be- 23

cause he did not value it. You can only show him how miserable 24

he is without it, and slowly bring it nearer so he can learn how 25

his misery lessens as he approaches it. This teaches him to as- 26

sociate his misery with its absence, and the opposite of misery 27

with its presence. It gradually becomes desirable as he changes 28

his mind about its worth. I am teaching you to associate misery 29

with the ego and joy with the spirit. You have taught yourself 30

the opposite. You are still free to choose, but can you really want 31

the rewards of the ego in the presence of the rewards of God? 32

My trust in you is greater than yours in me at the moment, but 33

it will not always be that way. Your mission is very simple. You 34

are asked to live so as to demonstrate that you are not an ego, and 35

I do not choose God's channels wrongly. The Holy One shares 36

my trust, and accepts my Atonement decisions because my will is 37

never out of accord with His. I have said before that I am in 38

charge of the Atonement. This is only because I completed my 39

part in it as a man, and can now complete it through others. My 40

chosen channels cannot fail, because I will lend them my strength 41

as long as theirs is wanting. 42

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I will go with you to the Holy One, and through my perception 2

He can bridge the little gap. Your gratitude to your brother is the 3

only gift I want. I will bring it to God for you, knowing that to 4

know your brother is to know God. If you are grateful to your 5

brother, you are grateful to God for what He created. Through 6

your gratitude you come to know your brother, and one moment 7

of real recognition makes everyone your brother because each of 8

them is of your Father. Love does not conquer all things, but it 9

does set all things right. Because you are the Kingdom of God I 10

can lead you back to your own creations. You do not recognize 11

them now, but what has been dissociated is still there. 12

As you come closer to a brother you approach me, and as you 13

withdraw from him I become distant to you. Salvation is a col- 14

laborative venture. It cannot be undertaken successfully by 15

those who disengage themselves from the Sonship, because they 16

are disengaging themselves from me. God will come to you only 17

as you will give Him to your brothers. Learn first of them and 18

you will be ready to hear God. That is because the function of 19

Love is one. 20

Creation and Communication 21

It is clear that while the content of any particular ego-illusion 22

does not matter, its correction is more helpful in a specific context. 23

Ego-illusions are quite specific, although the mind is naturally 24

abstract. Part of the mind becomes concrete, however, when it 25

splits. The concrete part believes in the ego, because the ego 26

depends on the concrete. The ego is the part of the mind that 27

believes your existence is defined by separation. 28

Everything the ego perceives is a separate whole, without the 29

relationships that imply being. The ego is thus against com- 30

munication, except insofar as it is utilized to establish separateness 31

rather than to abolish it. The communication system of the ego is 32

based on its own thought system, as is everything else it dictates. 33

Its communication is controlled by its need to protect itself, and it 34

will disrupt communication when it experiences threat. This dis- 35

ruption is a reaction to a specific person or persons. The specificity 36

of the ego's thinking, then, results in spurious generalization which 37

is really not abstract at all. It merely responds in certain specific 38

ways to everything it perceives as related. 39

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In contrast, spirit reacts in the same way to everything it 2

knows is true, and does not respond at all to anything else. Nor 3

does it make any attempt to establish what is true. It knows that 4

what is true is everything that God created. It is in complete and 5

direct communication with every aspect of creation, because it is 6

in complete and direct communication with its Creator. This 7

communication is the Will of God. Creation and communication 8

are synonymous. God created every mind by communicating 9

His Mind to it, thus establishing it forever as a channel for the 10

reception of His Mind and Will. Since only beings of a like order 11

can truly communicate, His creations naturally communicate 12

with Him and like Him. This communication is perfectly 13

abstract, since its quality is universal in application and not sub- 14

ject to any judgment, any exception or any alteration. God 15

created you by this and for this. The mind can distort its func- 16

tion, but it cannot endow itself with functions it was not given. 17

That is why the mind cannot totally lose the ability to com- 18

municate, even though it may refuse to utilize it on behalf of 19

being. 20

Existence as well as being rest on communication. Existence, 21

however, is specific in how, what and with whom communica- 22

tion is judged to be worth undertaking. Being is completely 23

without these distinctions. It is a state in which the mind is in 24

communication with everything that is real. To whatever extent 25

you permit this state to be curtailed you are limiting your sense 26

of your own reality, which becomes total only by recognizing all 27

reality in the glorious context of its real relationship to you. This 28

is your reality. Do not desecrate it or recoil from it. It is your real 29

home, your real temple and your real Self. 30

God, Who encompasses all being, created beings who have 31

everything individually, but who want to share it to increase their 32

joy. Nothing real can be increased except by sharing. That is 33

why God created you. Divine Abstraction takes joy in sharing. 34

That is what creation means. "How," "what" and "to whom" 35

are irrelevant, because real creation gives everything, since it can 36

create only like itself. Remember that in the Kingdom there is no 37

difference between having and being, as there is in existence. In 38

the state of being the mind gives everything always. 39

The Bible repeatedly states that you should praise God. This 40

hardly means that you should tell Him how wonderful He is. He 41

has no ego with which to accept such praise, and no perception 42

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with which to judge it. But unless you take your part in the 2

creation, His joy is not complete because yours is incomplete. 3

And this He does know. He knows it in His Own Being and its 4

experience of His Son's experience. The constant going out of 5

His Love is blocked when His channels are closed, and He is 6

lonely when the minds He created do not communicate fully 7

with Him. 8

God has kept your kingdom for you, but He cannot share His 9

joy with you until you know it with your whole mind. Revelation 10

is not enough, because it is only communication from God. God 11

does not need revelation returned to Him, which would clearly be 12

impossible, but He does want it brought to others. This cannot be 13

done with the actual revelation; its content cannot be expressed, 14

because it is intensely personal to the mind that receives it. It can, 15

however, be returned by that mind to other minds, through the 16

attitudes the knowledge from the revelation brings. 17

God is praised whenever any mind learns to be wholly help- 18

ful. This is impossible without being wholly harmless, because 19

the two beliefs must coexist. The truly helpful are invulnerable, 20

because they are not protecting their egos and so nothing can 21

hurt them. Their helpfulness is their praise of God, and He will 22

return their praise of Him because they are like Him, and they 23

can rejoice together. God goes out to them and through them, 24

and there is great joy throughout the Kingdom. Every mind that 25

is changed adds to this joy with its individual willingness to 26

share in it. The truly helpful are God's miracle workers, whom I 27

direct until we are all united in the joy of the Kingdom. I will 28

direct you to wherever you can be truly helpful, and to whoever 29

can follow my guidance through you. 30

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Chapter 5 2

HEALING AND WHOLENESS 3

Introduction 4

To heal is to make happy. I have told you to think how many 5

opportunities you have had to gladden yourself, and how many 6

you have refused. This is the same as telling you that you have 7

refused to heal yourself. The light that belongs to you is the light 8

of joy. Radiance is not associated with sorrow. Joy calls forth an 9

integrated willingness to share it, and promotes the mind's 10

natural impulse to respond as one. Those who attempt to heal 11

without being wholly joyous themselves call forth different kinds 12

of responses at the same time, and thus deprive others of the joy 13

of responding whole-heartedly. 14

To be whole-hearted you must be happy. If fear and love can- 15

not coexist, and if it is impossible to be wholly fearful and remain 16

alive, the only possible whole state is that of love. There is no 17

difference between love and joy. Therefore, the only possible 18

whole state is the wholly joyous. To heal or to make joyous is 19

therefore the same as to integrate and to make one. That is why 20

it makes no difference to what part or by what part of the Son- 21

ship the healing is offered. Every part benefits, and benefits 22

equally. 23

You are being blessed by every beneficent thought of any of 24

your brothers anywhere. You should want to bless them in 25

return, out of gratitude. You need not know them individually, 26

or they you. The light is so strong that it radiates throughout the 27

Sonship and returns thanks to the Father for radiating His joy 28

upon it. Only God's holy children are worthy channels of His 29

beautiful joy, because only they are beautiful enough to hold it by 30

sharing it. It is impossible for a child of God to love his neighbor 31

except as himself. That is why the healer's prayer is: 32

Let me know this brother as I know myself. 33

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The Invitation to the Holy Spirit 2

Healing is a thought by which two minds perceive their one- 3

ness and become glad. This gladness calls to every part of the 4

Sonship to rejoice with them, and lets God go out into them and 5

through them. Only the healed mind can experience revelation 6

with lasting effect, because revelation is an experience of pure 7

joy. If you do not choose to be wholly joyous, your mind cannot 8

have what it does not choose to be. Remember that spirit knows 9

no difference between having and being. The higher mind thinks 10

according to the laws spirit obeys, and therefore honors only the 11

laws of God. To spirit getting is meaningless and giving is all. 12

Having everything, spirit holds everything by giving it, and thus 13

creates as the Father created. While this kind of thinking is to- 14

tally alien to having things, even to the lower mind it is quite 15

comprehensible in connection with ideas. If you share a physi- 16

cal possession, you do divide its ownership. If you share an 17

idea, however, you do not lessen it. All of it is still yours al- 18

though all of it has been given away. Further, if the one to 19

whom you give it accepts it as his, he reinforces it in your mind 20

and thus increases it. If you can accept the concept that the 21

world is one of ideas, the whole belief in the false association the 22

ego makes between giving and losing is gone. 23

Let us start our process of reawakening with just a few simple 24

concepts: 25

Thoughts increase by being given away. 26

The more who believe in them the stronger they become. 27

Everything is an idea. 28

How, then, can giving and losing be associated? 29

This is the invitation to the Holy Spirit. I have said already that 30

I can reach up and bring the Holy Spirit down to you, but I can 31

bring Him to you only at your own invitation. The Holy Spirit is 32

in your right mind, as He was in mine. The Bible says, "May the 33

mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus," and uses this as a 34

blessing. It is the blessing of miracle-mindedness. It asks that 35

you may think as I thought, joining with me in Christ thinking. 36

The Holy Spirit is the only part of the Holy Trinity that has a 37

symbolic function. He is referred to as the Healer, the Comforter 38

and the Guide. He is also described as something "separate," 39

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apart from the Father and from the Son. I myself said, "If I go I 2

will send you another Comforter and He will abide with you." 3

His symbolic function makes the Holy Spirit difficult to under- 4

stand, because symbolism is open to different interpretations. As 5

a man and also one of God's creations, my right thinking, which 6

came from the Holy Spirit or the Universal Inspiration, taught me 7

first and foremost that this Inspiration is for all. I could not have 8

It myself without knowing this. The word "know" is proper in 9

this context, because the Holy Spirit is so close to knowledge that 10

He calls it forth; or better, allows it to come. I have spoken before 11

of the higher or "true" perception, which is so near to truth that 12

God Himself can flow across the little gap. Knowledge is al- 13

ways ready to flow everywhere, but it cannot oppose. Therefore 14

you can obstruct it, although you can never lose it. 15

The Holy Spirit is the Christ Mind which is aware of the 16

knowledge that lies beyond perception. He came into being with 17

the separation as a protection, inspiring the Atonement principle 18

at the same time. Before that there was no need for healing, for 19

no one was comfortless. The Voice of the Holy Spirit is the Call 20

to Atonement, or the restoration of the integrity of the mind. 21

When the Atonement is complete and the whole Sonship is 22

healed there will be no call to return. But what God creates is 23

eternal. The Holy Spirit will remain with the Sons of God, to 24

bless their creations and keep them in the light of joy. 25

God honored even the miscreations of His children because 26

they had made them. But He also blessed His children with a 27

way of thinking that could raise their perceptions so high they 28

could reach almost back to Him. The Holy Spirit is the Mind of 29

the Atonement. He represents a state of mind close enough to 30

One-mindedness that transfer to it is at last possible. Perception 31

is not knowledge, but it can be transferred to knowledge, or cross 32

over into it. It might even be more helpful here to use the literal 33

meaning of transferred or "carried over," since the last step is 34

taken by God. 35

The Holy Spirit, the shared Inspiration of all the Sonship, in- 36

duces a kind of perception in which many elements are like those 37

in the Kingdom of Heaven itself: 38

First, its universality is perfectly clear, and no one who attains 39

it could believe for one instant that sharing it involves anything 40

but gain. 41

Second, it is incapable of attack and is therefore truly open. 42

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This means that although it does not engender knowledge, it 2

does not obstruct it in any way. 3

Finally, it points the way beyond the healing that it brings, 4

and leads the mind beyond its own integration toward the paths 5

of creation. It is at this point that sufficient quantitative change 6

occurs to produce a real qualitative shift. 7

The Voice for God 8

Healing is not creating; it is reparation. The Holy Spirit 9

promotes healing by looking beyond it to what the children of 10

God were before healing was needed, and will be when they 11

have been healed. This alteration of the time sequence should be 12

quite familiar, because it is very similar to the shift in the percep- 13

tion of time that the miracle introduces. The Holy Spirit is the 14

motivation for miracle-mindedness; the decision to heal the 15

separation by letting it go. Your will is still in you because God 16

placed it in your mind, and although you can keep it asleep you 17

cannot obliterate it. God Himself keeps your will alive by trans- 18

mitting it from His Mind to yours as long as there is time. The 19

miracle itself is a reflection of this union of will between Father 20

and Son. 21

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of joy. He is the Call to return with 22

which God blessed the minds of His separated Sons. This is the 23

vocation of the mind. The mind had no calling until the separa- 24

tion, because before that it had only being, and would not have 25

understood the call to right thinking. The Holy Spirit is God's 26

Answer to the separation; the means by which the Atonement 27

heals until the whole mind returns to creating. 28

The principle of Atonement and the separation began at the 29

same time. When the ego was made, God placed in the mind the 30

call to joy. This call is so strong that the ego always dissolves at 31

its sound. That is why you must choose to hear one of two voices 32

within you. One you made yourself, and that one is not of God. 33

But the other is given you by God, Who asks you only to listen to 34

it. The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. His is the 35

Voice That calls you back to where you were before and will be 36

again. It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice 37

and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn. It is 38

the final lesson that I learned, and God's Sons are as equal as 39

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learners as they are as sons. 2

You are the Kingdom of Heaven, but you have let the belief in 3

darkness enter your mind and so you need a new light. The 4

Holy Spirit is the radiance that you must let banish the idea of 5

darkness. His is the glory before which dissociation falls away, 6

and the Kingdom of Heaven breaks through into its own. Before 7

the separation you did not need guidance. You knew as you will 8

know again, but as you do not know now. 9

God does not guide, because He can share only perfect 10

knowledge. Guidance is evaluative, because it implies there is a 11

right way and also a wrong way, one to be chosen and the other 12

to be avoided. By choosing one you give up the other. The 13

choice for the Holy Spirit is the choice for God. God is not in you 14

in a literal sense; you are part of Him. When you chose to leave 15

Him He gave you a Voice to speak for Him because He could no 16

longer share His knowledge with you without hindrance. Direct 17

communication was broken because you had made another 18

voice. 19

The Holy Spirit calls you both to remember and to forget. You 20

have chosen to be in a state of opposition in which opposites are 21

possible. As a result, there are choices you must make. In the 22

holy state the will is free, so that its creative power is unlimited 23

and choice is meaningless. Freedom to choose is the same power 24

as freedom to create, but its application is different. Choosing 25

depends on a split mind. The Holy Spirit is one way of choosing. 26

God did not leave His children comfortless, even though they 27

chose to leave Him. The voice they put in their minds was not 28

the Voice for His Will, for which the Holy Spirit speaks. 29

The Voice of the Holy Spirit does not command, because it is 30

incapable of arrogance. It does not demand, because it does not 31

seek control. It does not overcome, because it does not attack. It 32

merely reminds. It is compelling only because of what it reminds 33

you of. It brings to your mind the other way, remaining quiet 34

even in the midst of the turmoil you may make. The Voice for 35

God is always quiet, because it speaks of peace. Peace is stronger 36

than war because it heals. War is division, not increase. No one 37

gains from strife. What profiteth it a man if he gain the whole 38

world and lose his own soul? If you listen to the wrong voice 39

you have lost sight of your soul. You cannot lose it, but you can 40

not know it. It is therefore "lost" to you until you choose right. 41

The Holy Spirit is your Guide in choosing. He is in the part of 42

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your mind that always speaks for the right choice, because He 2

speaks for God. He is your remaining communication with God, 3

which you can interrupt but cannot destroy. The Holy Spirit is 4

the way in which God's Will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. 5

Both Heaven and earth are in you, because the call of both is in 6

your mind. The Voice for God comes from your own altars to 7

Him. These altars are not things; they are devotions. Yet you 8

have other devotions now. Your divided devotion has given you 9

the two voices, and you must choose at which altar you want to 10

serve. The call you answer now is an evaluation because it is a 11

decision. The decision is very simple. It is made on the basis of 12

which call is worth more to you. 13

My mind will always be like yours, because we were created as 14

equals. It was only my decision that gave me all power in 15

Heaven and earth. My only gift to you is to help you make the 16

same decision. This decision is the choice to share it, because the 17

decision itself is the decision to share. It is made by giving, and is 18

therefore the one choice that resembles true creation. I am your 19

model for decision. By deciding for God I showed you that this 20

decision can be made, and that you can make it. 21

I have assured you that the Mind that decided for me is also in 22

you, and that you can let it change you just as it changed me. 23

This Mind is unequivocal, because it hears only one Voice and 24

answers in only one way. You are the light of the world with me. 25

Rest does not come from sleeping but from waking. The Holy 26

Spirit is the call to awaken and be glad. The world is very tired, 27

because it is the idea of weariness. Our task is the joyous one of 28

waking it to the Call for God. Everyone will answer the Call of 29

the Holy Spirit, or the Sonship cannot be as one. What better 30

vocation could there be for any part of the Kingdom than to re- 31

store it to the perfect integration that can make it whole? Hear 32

only this through the Holy Spirit within you, and teach your 33

brothers to listen as I am teaching you. 34

When you are tempted by the wrong voice, call on me to 35

remind you how to heal by sharing my decision and making it 36

stronger. As we share this goal, we increase its power to attract 37

the whole Sonship, and to bring it back into the oneness in which 38

it was created. Remember that "yoke" means "join together," 39

and "burden" means "message." Let us restate "My yoke is easy 40

and my burden light" in this way; "Let us join together, for my 41

message is Light." 42

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I have enjoined you to behave as I behaved, but we must 2

respond to the same Mind to do this. This Mind is the Holy 3

Spirit, Whose Will is for God always. He teaches you how to 4

keep me as the model for your thought, and to behave like me as 5

a result. The power of our joint motivation is beyond belief, but 6

not beyond accomplishment. What we can accomplish together 7

has no limits, because the Call for God is the call to the unlimited. 8

Child of God, my message is for you, to hear and give away as 9

you answer the Holy Spirit within you. 10

The Guide to Salvation 11

The way to recognize your brother is by recognizing the Holy 12

Spirit in him. I have already said that the Holy Spirit is the 13

bridge for the transfer of perception to knowledge, so we can use 14

the terms as if they were related, because in His Mind they are. 15

This relationship must be in His Mind because, unless it were, 16

the separation between the two ways of thinking would not be 17

open to healing. He is part of the Holy Trinity, because His Mind 18

is partly yours and also partly God's. This needs clarification, 19

not in statement but in experience. 20

The Holy Spirit is the idea of healing. Being thought, the idea 21

gains as it is shared. Being the Call for God, it is also the idea of 22

God. Since you are part of God it is also the idea of yourself, as 23

well as of all His creations. The idea of the Holy Spirit shares the 24

property of other ideas because it follows the laws of the 25

Universe of which it is a part. It is strengthened by being given 26

away. It increases in you as you give it to your brother. Your 27

brother does not have to be aware of the Holy Spirit in himself or 28

in you for this miracle to occur. He may have dissociated the Call 29

for God, just as you have. This dissociation is healed in both of 30

you as you become aware of the Call for God in him, and thus 31

acknowledge its being. 32

There are two diametrically opposed ways of seeing your 33

brother. They must both be in your mind, because you are the 34

perceiver. They must also be in his, because you are perceiving 35

him. See him through the Holy Spirit in his mind, and you will 36

recognize Him in yours. What you acknowledge in your brother 37

you are acknowledging in yourself, and what you share you 38

strengthen. 39

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The Voice of the Holy Spirit is weak in you. That is why you 2

must share It. It must be increased in strength before you can 3

hear It. It is impossible to hear It in yourself while It is so weak 4

in your mind. It is not weak in Itself, but It is limited by your 5

unwillingness to hear It. If you make the mistake of looking for 6

the Holy Spirit in yourself alone your thoughts will frighten you 7

because, by adopting the ego's viewpoint, you are undertaking 8

an ego-alien journey with the ego as guide. This is bound to 9

produce fear. 10

Delay is of the ego, because time is its concept. Both time and 11

delay are meaningless in eternity. I have said before that the 12

Holy Spirit is God's Answer to the ego. Everything of which the 13

Holy Spirit reminds you is in direct opposition to the ego's no- 14

tions, because true and false perceptions are themselves opposed. 15

The Holy Spirit has the task of undoing what the ego has made. 16

He undoes it at the same level on which the ego operates, or the 17

mind would be unable to understand the change. 18

I have repeatedly emphasized that one level of the mind is not 19

understandable to another. So it is with the ego and the Holy 20

Spirit; with time and eternity. Eternity is an idea of God, so the 21

Holy Spirit understands it perfectly. Time is a belief of the ego, 22

so the lower mind, which is the ego's domain, accepts it without 23

question. The only aspect of time that is eternal is now. 24

The Holy Spirit is the Mediator between the interpretations of 25

the ego and the knowledge of the spirit. His ability to deal with 26

symbols enables Him to work with the ego's beliefs in its own 27

language. His ability to look beyond symbols into eternity 28

enables Him to understand the laws of God, for which He 29

speaks. He can therefore perform the function of reinterpreting 30

what the ego makes, not by destruction but by understanding. 31

Understanding is light, and light leads to knowledge. The Holy 32

Spirit is in light because He is in you who are light, but you 33

yourself do not know this. It is therefore the task of the Holy 34

Spirit to reinterpret you on behalf of God. 35

You cannot understand yourself alone. This is because you 36

have no meaning apart from your rightful place in the Sonship, 37

and the rightful place of the Sonship is God. This is your life, 38

your eternity and your Self. It is of this that the Holy Spirit 39

reminds you. It is this that the Holy Spirit sees. This vision 40

frightens the ego because it is so calm. Peace is the ego's greatest 41

enemy because, according to its interpretation of reality, war is the 42

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guarantee of its survival. The ego becomes strong in strife. If you 2

believe there is strife you will react viciously, because the idea of 3

danger has entered your mind. The idea itself is an appeal to the 4

ego. The Holy Spirit is as vigilant as the ego to the call of danger, 5

opposing it with His strength just as the ego welcomes it. The 6

Holy Spirit counters this welcome by welcoming peace. Eternity 7

and peace are as closely related as are time and war. 8

Perception derives meaning from relationships. Those you ac- 9

cept are the foundations of your beliefs. The separation is merely 10

another term for a split mind. The ego is the symbol of separa- 11

tion, just as the Holy Spirit is the symbol of peace. What you 12

perceive in others you are strengthening in yourself. You may let 13

your mind misperceive, but the Holy Spirit lets your mind 14

reinterpret its own misperceptions. 15

The Holy Spirit is the perfect teacher. He uses only what your 16

mind already understands to teach you that you do not under- 17

stand it. The Holy Spirit can deal with a reluctant learner 18

without going counter to his mind, because part of it is still for 19

God. Despite the ego's attempts to conceal this part, it is still 20

much stronger than the ego, although the ego does not recognize 21

it. The Holy Spirit recognizes it perfectly because it is His Own 22

dwelling place; the place in the mind where He is at home. You 23

are at home there, too, because it is a place of peace, and peace is 24

of God. You who are part of God are not at home except in His 25

peace. If peace is eternal, you are at home only in eternity. 26

The ego made the world as it perceives it, but the Holy Spirit, 27

the reinterpreter of what the ego made, sees the world as a teach- 28

ing device for bringing you home. The Holy Spirit must perceive 29

time, and reinterpret it into the timeless. He must work through 30

opposites, because He must work with and for a mind that is in 31

opposition. Correct and learn, and be open to learning. You 32

have not made truth, but truth can still set you free. Look as the 33

Holy Spirit looks, and understand as He understands. His un- 34

derstanding looks back to God in remembrance of me. He is in 35

communion with God always, and He is part of you. He is your 36

guide to salvation, because He holds the remembrance of things 37

past and to come, and brings them to the present. He holds this 38

gladness gently in your mind, asking only that you increase it in 39

His Name by sharing it to increase His joy in you. 40

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Teaching and Healing 2

What fear has hidden still is part of you. Joining the Atone- 3

ment is the way out of fear. The Holy Spirit will help you 4

reinterpret everything that you perceive as fearful, and teach you 5

that only what is loving is true. Truth is beyond your ability to 6

destroy, but entirely within your ability to accept. It belongs to 7

you because, as an extension of God, you created it with Him. It 8

is yours because it is part of you, just as you are part of God 9

because He created you. Nothing that is good can be lost be- 10

cause it comes from the Holy Spirit, the Voice for creation. Noth- 11

ing that is not good was ever created, and therefore cannot be 12

protected. The Atonement is the guarantee of the safety of the 13

Kingdom, and the union of the Sonship is its protection. The 14

ego cannot prevail against the Kingdom because the Sonship is 15

united. In the presence of those who hear the Holy Spirit's call 16

to be as one, the ego fades away and is undone. 17

What the ego makes it keeps to itself, and so it is without 18

strength. Its existence is unshared. It does not die; it was merely 19

never born. Physical birth is not a beginning; it is a continuing. 20

Everything that continues has already been born. It will in- 21

crease as you are willing to return the unhealed part of your 22

mind to the higher part, returning it undivided to creation. I 23

have come to give you the foundation, so your own thoughts can 24

make you really free. You have carried the burden of unshared 25

ideas that are too weak to increase, but having made them you 26

did not realize how to undo them. You cannot cancel out your 27

past errors alone. They will not disappear from your mind 28

without the Atonement, a remedy not of your making. The 29

Atonement must be understood as a pure act of sharing. That is 30

what I meant when I said it is possible even in this world to listen 31

to one Voice. If you are part of God and the Sonship is one, you 32

cannot be limited to the self the ego sees. 33

Every loving thought held in any part of the Sonship belongs 34

to every part. It is shared because it is loving. Sharing is God's 35

way of creating, and also yours. The ego can keep you in exile 36

from the Kingdom, but in the Kingdom itself it has no power. 37

Ideas of the spirit do not leave the mind that thinks them, nor 38

can they conflict with each other. However, ideas of the ego can 39

conflict because they occur at different levels and also include 40

opposite thoughts at the same level. It is impossible to share 41

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opposing thoughts. You can share only the thoughts that are of 2

God and that He keeps for you. And of such is the Kingdom of 3

Heaven. The rest remains with you until the Holy Spirit has 4

reinterpreted them in the light of the Kingdom, making them, 5

too, worthy of being shared. When they have been sufficiently 6

purified He lets you give them away. The decision to share 7

them is their purification. 8

I heard one Voice because I understood that I could not atone 9

for myself alone. Listening to one Voice implies the decision to 10

share It in order to hear It yourself. The Mind that was in me is 11

still irresistibly drawn to every mind created by God, because 12

God's Wholeness is the wholeness of His Son. You cannot be 13

hurt, and do not want to show your brother anything except your 14

wholeness. Show him that he cannot hurt you and hold nothing 15

against him, or you hold it against yourself. This is the meaning 16

of "turning the other cheek." 17

Teaching is done in many ways, above all by example. Teach- 18

ing should be healing, because it is the sharing of ideas and the 19

recognition that to share ideas is to strengthen them. I cannot 20

forget my need to teach what I have learned, which arose in me 21

because I learned it. I call upon you to teach what you have 22

learned, because by so doing you can depend on it. Make it de- 23

pendable in my name because my name is the Name of God's 24

Son. What I learned I give you freely, and the Mind that was in 25

me rejoices as you choose to hear it. 26

The Holy Spirit atones in all of us by undoing, and thus lifts 27

the burden you have placed in your mind. By following Him 28

you are led back to God where you belong, and how can you find 29

the way except by taking your brother with you? My part in the 30

Atonement is not complete until you join it and give it away. As 31

you teach so shall you learn. I will never leave you or forsake 32

you, because to forsake you would be to forsake myself and God 33

Who created me. You forsake yourself and God if you forsake 34

any of your brothers. You must learn to see them as they are, and 35

understand they belong to God as you do. How could you treat 36

your brother better than by rendering unto God the things that 37

are God's? 38

The Atonement gives you the power of a healed mind, but the 39

power to create is of God. Therefore, those who have been for- 40

given must devote themselves first to healing because, having 41

received the idea of healing, they must give it to hold it. The full 42

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power of creation cannot be expressed as long as any of God's 2

ideas is withheld from the Kingdom. The joint will of the Son- 3

ship is the only creator that can create like the Father, because 4

only the complete can think completely, and the thinking of God 5

lacks nothing. Everything you think that is not through the Holy 6

Spirit is lacking. 7

How can you who are so holy suffer? All your past except its 8

beauty is gone, and nothing is left but a blessing. I have saved all 9

your kindnesses and every loving thought you ever had. I have 10

purified them of the errors that hid their light, and kept them for 11

you in their own perfect radiance. They are beyond destruction 12

and beyond guilt. They came from the Holy Spirit within you, 13

and we know what God creates is eternal. You can indeed 14

depart in peace because I have loved you as I loved myself. You 15

go with my blessing and for my blessing. Hold it and share it, 16

that it may always be ours. I place the peace of God in your 17

heart and in your hands, to hold and share. The heart is pure to 18

hold it, and the hands are strong to give it. We cannot lose. My 19

judgment is as strong as the wisdom of God, in Whose Heart and 20

Hands we have our being. His quiet children are His blessed 21

Sons. The Thoughts of God are with you. 22

The Ego's Use of Guilt 23

Perhaps some of our concepts will become clearer and more 24

personally meaningful if the ego's use of guilt is clarified. The 25

ego has a purpose, just as the Holy Spirit has. The ego's purpose 26

is fear, because only the fearful can be egotistic. The ego's logic is 27

as impeccable as that of the Holy Spirit, because your mind has 28

the means at its disposal to side with Heaven or earth, as it elects. 29

But again, remember that both are in you. 30

In Heaven there is no guilt, because the Kingdom is attained 31

through the Atonement, which releases you to create. The word 32

"create" is appropriate here because, once what you have made is 33

undone by the Holy Spirit, the blessed residue is restored and 34

therefore continues in creation. What is truly blessed is inca- 35

pable of giving rise to guilt, and must give rise to joy. This makes 36

it invulnerable to the ego because its peace is unassailable. It is 37

invulnerable to disruption because it is whole. Guilt is always 38

disruptive. Anything that engenders fear is divisive because it 39

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obeys the law of division. If the ego is the symbol of the separa- 2

tion, it is also the symbol of guilt. Guilt is more than merely not 3

of God. It is the symbol of attack on God. This is a totally 4

meaningless concept except to the ego, but do not underestimate 5

the power of the ego's belief in it. This is the belief from which 6

all guilt really stems. 7

The ego is the part of the mind that believes in division. How 8

could part of God detach itself without believing it is attacking 9

Him? We spoke before of the authority problem as based on the 10

concept of usurping God's power. The ego believes that this is 11

what you did because it believes that it is you. If you identify 12

with the ego, you must perceive yourself as guilty. Whenever 13

you respond to your ego you will experience guilt, and you will 14

fear punishment. The ego is quite literally a fearful thought. 15

However ridiculous the idea of attacking God may be to the 16

sane mind, never forget that the ego is not sane. It represents a 17

delusional system, and speaks for it. Listening to the ego's voice 18

means that you believe it is possible to attack God, and that a 19

part of Him has been torn away by you. Fear of retaliation from 20

without follows, because the severity of the guilt is so acute that 21

it must be projected. 22

Whatever you accept into your mind has reality for you. It is 23

your acceptance of it that makes it real. If you enthrone the ego 24

in your mind, your allowing it to enter makes it your reality. 25

This is because the mind is capable of creating reality or making 26

illusions. I said before that you must learn to think with God. To 27

think with Him is to think like Him. This engenders joy, not 28

guilt, because it is natural. Guilt is a sure sign that your thinking 29

is unnatural. Unnatural thinking will always be attended with 30

guilt, because it is the belief in sin. The ego does not perceive sin 31

as a lack of love, but as a positive act of assault. This is neces- 32

sary to the ego's survival because, as soon as you regard sin as a 33

lack, you will automatically attempt to remedy the situation. 34

And you will succeed. The ego regards this as doom, but you 35

must learn to regard it as freedom. 36

The guiltless mind cannot suffer. Being sane, the mind heals 37

the body because it has been healed. The sane mind cannot con- 38

ceive of illness because it cannot conceive of attacking anyone or 39

anything. I said before that illness is a form of magic. It might be 40

better to say that it is a form of magical solution. The ego 41

believes that by punishing itself it will mitigate the punishment 42

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of God. Yet even in this it is arrogant. It attributes to God a 2

punishing intent, and then takes this intent as its own preroga- 3

tive. It tries to usurp all the functions of God as it perceives 4

them, because it recognizes that only total allegiance can be 5

trusted. 6

The ego cannot oppose the laws of God any more than you 7

can, but it can interpret them according to what it wants, just as 8

you can. That is why the question, "What do you want?" must 9

be answered. You are answering it every minute and every 10

second, and each moment of decision is a judgment that is any- 11

thing but ineffectual. Its effects will follow automatically until 12

the decision is changed. Remember, though, that the alternatives 13

themselves are unalterable. The Holy Spirit, like the ego, is a 14

decision. Together they constitute all the alternatives the mind 15

can accept and obey. The Holy Spirit and the ego are the only 16

choices open to you. God created one, and so you cannot eradi- 17

cate it. You made the other, and so you can. Only what God 18

creates is irreversible and unchangeable. What you made can 19

always be changed because, when you do not think like God, you 20

are not really thinking at all. Delusional ideas are not real 21

thoughts, although you can believe in them. But you are wrong. 22

The function of thought comes from God and is in God. As 23

part of His Thought, you cannot think apart from Him. 24

Irrational thought is disordered thought. God Himself orders 25

your thought because your thought was created by Him. Guilt 26

feelings are always a sign that you do not know this. They also 27

show that you believe you can think apart from God, and want 28

to. Every disordered thought is attended by guilt at its incep- 29

tion, and maintained by guilt in its continuance. Guilt is 30

inescapable by those who believe they order their own thoughts, 31

and must therefore obey their dictates. This makes them feel 32

responsible for their errors without recognizing that, by accep- 33

ting this responsibility, they are reacting irresponsibly. If the sole 34

responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement 35

for himself, and I assure you that it is, then the responsibility for 36

what is atoned for cannot be yours. The dilemma cannot be 37

resolved except by accepting the solution of undoing. You 38

would be responsible for the effects of all your wrong thinking if it 39

could not be undone. The purpose of the Atonement is to 40

save the past in purified form only. If you accept the remedy for 41

disordered thought, a remedy whose efficacy is beyond doubt, 42

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how can its symptoms remain? 2

The continuing decision to remain separated is the only pos- 3

sible reason for continuing guilt feelings. We have said this 4

before, but did not emphasize the destructive results of the 5

decision. Any decision of the mind will affect both behavior and 6

experience. What you want you expect. This is not delusional. 7

Your mind does make your future, and it will turn it back to full 8

creation at any minute if it accepts the Atonement first. It will 9

also return to full creation the instant it has done so. Having 10

given up its disordered thought, the proper ordering of thought 11

becomes quite apparent. 12

Time and Eternity 13

God in His knowledge is not waiting, but His Kingdom is 14

bereft while you wait. All the Sons of God are waiting for your 15

return, just as you are waiting for theirs. Delay does not matter 16

in eternity, but it is tragic in time. You have elected to be in time 17

rather than eternity, and therefore believe you are in time. Yet 18

your election is both free and alterable. You do not belong in 19

time. Your place is only in eternity, where God Himself placed 20

you forever. 21

Guilt feelings are the preservers of time. They induce fears of 22

retaliation or abandonment, and thus ensure that the future will 23

be like the past. This is the ego's continuity. It gives the ego a 24

false sense of security by believing that you cannot escape from 25

it. But you can and must. God offers you the continuity of eter- 26

nity in exchange. When you choose to make this exchange, you 27

will simultaneously exchange guilt for joy, viciousness for love, 28

and pain for peace. My role is only to unchain your will and set 29

it free. Your ego cannot accept this freedom, and will oppose it at 30

every possible moment and in every possible way. And as its 31

maker, you recognize what it can do because you gave it the 32

power to do it. 33

Remember the Kingdom always, and remember that you who 34

are part of the Kingdom cannot be lost. The Mind that was in me 35

is in you, for God creates with perfect fairness. Let the Holy 36

Spirit remind you always of His fairness, and let me teach you 37

how to share it with your brothers. How else can the chance to 38

claim it for yourself be given you? The two voices speak for 39

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different interpretations of the same thing simultaneously; or al- 2

most simultaneously, for the ego always speaks first. Alternate 3

interpretations were unnecessary until the first one was made. 4

The ego speaks in judgment, and the Holy Spirit reverses its 5

decision, much as a higher court has the power to reverse a lower 6

court's decisions in this world. The ego's decisions are always 7

wrong, because they are based on the error they were made to 8

uphold. Nothing the ego perceives is interpreted correctly. Not 9

only does the ego cite Scripture for its purpose, but it even inter- 10

prets Scripture as a witness for itself. The Bible is a fearful thing 11

in the ego's judgment. Perceiving it as frightening, it interprets it 12

fearfully. Being afraid, you do not appeal to the Higher Court 13

because you believe its judgment would also be against you. 14

There are many examples of how the ego's interpretations are 15

misleading, but a few will suffice to show how the Holy Spirit 16

can reinterpret them in His Own Light. 17

"As ye sow, so shall ye reap" He interprets to mean what you 18

consider worth cultivating you will cultivate in yourself. Your 19

judgment of what is worthy makes it worthy for you. 20

"Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord" is easily reinterpreted if 21

you remember that ideas increase only by being shared. The 22

statement emphasizes that vengeance cannot be shared. Give it 23

therefore to the Holy Spirit, Who will undo it in you because it 24

does not belong in your mind, which is part of God. 25

"I will visit the sins of the fathers unto the third and fourth 26

generation," as interpreted by the ego, is particularly vicious. It 27

becomes merely an attempt to guarantee the ego's own survival. 28

To the Holy Spirit, the statement means that in later generations 29

He can still reinterpret what former generations had mis- 30

understood, and thus release the thoughts from the ability to 31

produce fear. 32

"The wicked shall perish" becomes a statement of Atone- 33

ment, if the word "perish" is understood as "be undone." 34

Every loveless thought must be undone, a word the ego can- 35

not even understand. To the ego, to be undone means to be 36

destroyed. The ego will not be destroyed because it is part of 37

your thought, but because it is uncreative and therefore un- 38

sharing, it will be reinterpreted to release you from fear. The 39

part of your mind that you have given to the ego will merely 40

return to the Kingdom, where your whole mind belongs. You 41

can delay the completion of the Kingdom, but you cannot 42

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introduce the concept of fear into it. 2

You need not fear the Higher Court will condemn you. It will 3

merely dismiss the case against you. There can be no case 4

against a child of God, and every witness to guilt in God's crea- 5

tions is bearing false witness to God Himself. Appeal everything 6

you believe gladly to God's Own Higher Court, because it speaks 7

for Him and therefore speaks truly. It will dismiss the case 8

against you, however carefully you have built it up. The case 9

may be fool-proof, but it is not God-proof. The Holy Spirit will 10

not hear it, because He can only witness truly. His verdict will 11

always be "thine is the Kingdom," because He was given to you 12

to remind you of what you are. 13

When I said "I am come as a light into the world," I meant that 14

I came to share the light with you. Remember my reference to 15

the ego's dark glass, and remember also that I said, "Do not look 16

there." It is still true that where you look to find yourself is up to 17

you. Your patience with your brother is your patience with your- 18

self. Is not a child of God worth patience? I have shown you 19

infinite patience because my will is that of our Father, from 20

Whom I learned of infinite patience. His Voice was in me as It is 21

in you, speaking for patience towards the Sonship in the Name of 22

Its Creator. 23

Now you must learn that only infinite patience produces im- 24

mediate effects. This is the way in which time is exchanged for 25

eternity. Infinite patience calls upon infinite love, and by 26

producing results now it renders time unnecessary. We have 27

repeatedly said that time is a learning device to be abolished 28

when it is no longer useful. The Holy Spirit, Who speaks for God 29

in time, also knows that time is meaningless. He reminds you of 30

this in every passing moment of time, because it is His special 31

function to return you to eternity and remain to bless your crea- 32

tions there. He is the only blessing you can truly give, because 33

He is truly blessed. Because He has been given you freely by 34

God, you must give Him as you received Him. 35

The Decision for God 36

Do you really believe you can make a voice that can drown out 37

God's? Do you really believe you can devise a thought system 38

that can separate you from Him? Do you really believe you can 39

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plan for your safety and joy better than He can? You need be 2

neither careful nor careless; you need merely cast your cares 3

upon Him because He careth for you. You are His care because 4

He loves you. His Voice reminds you always that all hope is 5

yours because of His care. You cannot choose to escape His care 6

because that is not His Will, but you can choose to accept His 7

care and use the infinite power of His care for all those He 8

created by it. 9

There have been many healers who did not heal themselves. 10

They have not moved mountains by their faith because their 11

faith was not whole. Some of them have healed the sick at times, 12

but they have not raised the dead. Unless the healer heals him- 13

self, he cannot believe that there is no order of difficulty in 14

miracles. He has not learned that every mind God created is 15

equally worthy of being healed because God created it whole. 16

You are merely asked to return to God the mind as He created it. 17

He asks you only for what He gave, knowing that this giving 18

will heal you. Sanity is wholeness, and the sanity of your 19

brothers is yours. 20

Why should you listen to the endless insane calls you think are 21

made upon you, when you can know the Voice for God is in you? 22

God commended His Spirit to you, and asks that you commend 23

yours to Him. He wills to keep it in perfect peace, because you 24

are of one mind and spirit with Him. Excluding yourself from 25

the Atonement is the ego's last-ditch defense of its own existence. 26

It reflects both the ego's need to separate, and your willingness 27

to side with its separateness. This willingness means that you do 28

not want to be healed. 29

But the time is now. You have not been asked to work out the 30

plan of salvation yourself because, as I told you before, the 31

remedy could not be of your making. God Himself gave you the 32

perfect Correction for everything you made that is not in accord 33

with His holy Will. I am making His plan perfectly explicit to 34

you, and will also tell you of your part in it, and how urgent it is 35

to fulfill it. God weeps at the "sacrifice" of His children who 36

believe they are lost to Him. 37

Whenever you are not wholly joyous, it is because you have 38

reacted with a lack of love to one of God's creations. Perceiving 39

this as "sin" you become defensive because you expect attack. 40

The decision to react in this way is yours, and can therefore be 41

undone. It cannot be undone by repentance in the usual sense, 42

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because this implies guilt. If you allow yourself to feel guilty, 2

you will reinforce the error rather than allow it to be undone 3

for you. 4

Decision cannot be difficult. This is obvious, if you realize that 5

you must already have decided not to be wholly joyous if that is 6

how you feel. Therefore, the first step in the undoing is to recog- 7

nize that you actively decided wrongly, but can as actively decide 8

otherwise. Be very firm with yourself in this, and keep yourself 9

fully aware that the undoing process, which does not come from 10

you, is nevertheless within you because God placed it there. 11

Your part is merely to return your thinking to the point at which 12

the error was made, and give it over to the Atonement in peace. 13

Say this to yourself as sincerely as you can, remembering that 14

the Holy Spirit will respond fully to your slightest invitation: 15

I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace. 16

I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise. 17

I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace. 18

I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the 19

consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him. 20

I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me. 21

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Chapter 6 2

THE LESSONS OF LOVE 3

Introduction 4

The relationship of anger to attack is obvious, but the relation- 5

ship of anger to fear is not always so apparent. Anger always 6

involves projection of separation, which must ultimately be ac- 7

cepted as one's own responsibility, rather than being blamed on 8

others. Anger cannot occur unless you believe that you have 9

been attacked, that your attack is justified in return, and that you 10

are in no way responsible for it. Given these three wholly irra- 11

tional premises, the equally irrational conclusion that a brother is 12

worthy of attack rather than of love must follow. What can be 13

expected from insane premises except an insane conclusion? The 14

way to undo an insane conclusion is to consider the sanity of the 15

premises on which it rests. You cannot be attacked, attack has no 16

justification, and you are responsible for what you believe. 17

You have been asked to take me as your model for learning, 18

since an extreme example is a particularly helpful learning 19

device. Everyone teaches, and teaches all the time. This is a 20

responsibility you inevitably assume the moment you accept any 21

premise at all, and no one can organize his life without some 22

thought system. Once you have developed a thought system of 23

any kind, you live by it and teach it. Your capacity for allegiance 24

to a thought system may be misplaced, but it is still a form of 25

faith and can be redirected. 26

The Message of the Crucifixion 27

For learning purposes, let us consider the crucifixion again. 28

I did not dwell on it before because of the fearful connotations 29

you may associate with it. The only emphasis laid upon it so 30

far has been that it was not a form of punishment. Nothing, 31

however, can be explained in negative terms only. There is a 32

positive interpretation of the crucifixion that is wholly devoid 33

of fear, and therefore wholly benign in what it teaches, if it is 34

properly understood. 35

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The crucifixion is nothing more than an extreme example. Its 2

value, like the value of any teaching device, lies solely in the kind 3

of learning it facilitates. It can be, and has been, misunderstood. 4

This is only because the fearful are apt to perceive fearfully. I 5

have already told you that you can always call on me to share my 6

decision, and thus make it stronger. I have also told you that the 7

crucifixion was the last useless journey the Sonship need take, 8

and that it represents release from fear to anyone who under- 9

stands it. While I emphasized only the resurrection before, the 10

purpose of the crucifixion and how it actually led to the resurrec- 11

tion was not clarified then. Nevertheless, it has a definite con- 12

tribution to make to your own life, and if you will consider it 13

without fear, it will help you understand your own role as a 14

teacher. 15

You have probably reacted for years as if you were being 16

crucified. This is a marked tendency of the separated, who al- 17

ways refuse to consider what they have done to themselves. 18

Projection means anger, anger fosters assault, and assault 19

promotes fear. The real meaning of the crucifixion lies in the 20

apparent intensity of the assault of some of the Sons of God upon 21

another. This, of course, is impossible, and must be fully under- 22

stood as impossible. Otherwise, I cannot serve as a model for 23

learning. 24

Assault can ultimately be made only on the body. There is 25

little doubt that one body can assault another, and can even 26

destroy it. Yet if destruction itself is impossible, anything that is 27

destructible cannot be real. Its destruction, therefore, does not 28

justify anger. To the extent to which you believe that it does, you 29

are accepting false premises and teaching them to others. The 30

message the crucifixion was intended to teach was that it is not 31

necessary to perceive any form of assault in persecution, because 32

you cannot be persecuted. If you respond with anger, you must 33

be equating yourself with the destructible, and are therefore 34

regarding yourself insanely. 35

I have made it perfectly clear that I am like you and you are 36

like me, but our fundamental equality can be demonstrated only 37

through joint decision. You are free to perceive yourself as per- 38

secuted if you choose. When you do choose to react that way, 39

however, you might remember that I was persecuted as the 40

world judges, and did not share this evaluation for myself. And 41

because I did not share it, I did not strengthen it. I therefore 42

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offered a different interpretation of attack, and one which I want 2

to share with you. If you will believe it, you will help me teach it. 3

As I have said before, "As you teach so shall you learn." If you 4

react as if you are persecuted, you are teaching persecution. This 5

is not a lesson a Son of God should want to teach if he is to realize 6

his own salvation. Rather, teach your own perfect immunity, 7

which is the truth in you, and realize that it cannot be assailed. 8

Do not try to protect it yourself, or you are believing that it is 9

assailable. You are not asked to be crucified, which was part of 10

my own teaching contribution. You are merely asked to follow 11

my example in the face of much less extreme temptations to 12

misperceive, and not to accept them as false justifications for 13

anger. There can be no justification for the unjustifiable. Do not 14

believe there is, and do not teach that there is. Remember al- 15

ways that what you believe you will teach. Believe with me, and 16

we will become equal as teachers. 17

Your resurrection is your reawakening. I am the model for 18

rebirth, but rebirth itself is merely the dawning on your mind of 19

what is already in it. God placed it there Himself, and so it is 20

true forever. I believed in it, and therefore accepted it as true for 21

me. Help me to teach it to our brothers in the name of the 22

Kingdom of God, but first believe that it is true for you, or you 23

will teach amiss. My brothers slept during the so-called "agony 24

in the garden," but I could not be angry with them because I 25

knew I could not be abandoned. 26

I am sorry when my brothers do not share my decision to hear 27

only one Voice, because it weakens them as teachers and as 28

learners. Yet I know they cannot really betray themselves or me, 29

and that it is still on them that I must build my church. There is 30

no choice in this, because only you can be the foundation of 31

God's church. A church is where an altar is, and the presence of 32

the altar is what makes the church holy. A church that does not 33

inspire love has a hidden altar that is not serving the purpose for 34

which God intended it. I must found His church on you, because 35

those who accept me as a model are literally my disciples. Dis- 36

ciples are followers, and if the model they follow has chosen to 37

save them pain in all respects, they are unwise not to follow him. 38

I elected, for your sake and mine, to demonstrate that the most 39

outrageous assault, as judged by the ego, does not matter. As the 40

world judges these things, but not as God knows them, I was 41

betrayed, abandoned, beaten, torn, and finally killed. It was 42

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clear that this was only because of the projection of others onto 2

me, since I had not harmed anyone and had healed many. 3

We are still equal as learners, although we do not need to have 4

equal experiences. The Holy Spirit is glad when you can learn 5

from mine, and be reawakened by them. That is their only pur- 6

pose, and that is the only way in which I can be perceived as the 7

way, the truth and the life. When you hear only one Voice you 8

are never called on to sacrifice. On the contrary, by being able to 9

hear the Holy Spirit in others you can learn from their experi- 10

ences, and can gain from them without experiencing them direct- 11

ly yourself. That is because the Holy Spirit is one, and anyone 12

who listens is inevitably led to demonstrate His way for all. 13

You are not persecuted, nor was I. You are not asked to repeat 14

my experiences because the Holy Spirit, Whom we share, makes 15

this unnecessary. To use my experiences constructively, however, 16

you must still follow my example in how to perceive them. My 17

brothers and yours are constantly engaged in justifying the un- 18

justifiable. My one lesson, which I must teach as I learned it, is 19

that no perception that is out of accord with the judgment of the 20

Holy Spirit can be justified. I undertook to show this was true in 21

an extreme case, merely because it would serve as a good teach- 22

ing aid to those whose temptation to give in to anger and assault 23

would not be so extreme. I will with God that none of His Sons 24

should suffer. 25

The crucifixion cannot be shared because it is the symbol of 26

projection, but the resurrection is the symbol of sharing because 27

the reawakening of every Son of God is necessary to enable the 28

Sonship to know its wholeness. Only this is knowledge. 29

The message of the crucifixion is perfectly clear: 30

Teach only love, for that is what you are. 31

If you interpret the crucifixion in any other way, you are using 32

it as a weapon for assault rather than as the call for peace for 33

which it was intended. The Apostles often misunderstood it, and 34

for the same reason that anyone misunderstands it. Their own 35

imperfect love made them vulnerable to projection, and out of 36

their own fear they spoke of the "wrath of God" as His 37

retaliatory weapon. Nor could they speak of the crucifixion en- 38

tirely without anger, because their sense of guilt had made them 39

angry. 40

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These are some of the examples of upside-down thinking in 2

the New Testament, although its gospel is really only the mes- 3

sage of love. If the Apostles had not felt guilty, they never could 4

have quoted me as saying, "I come not to bring peace but a 5

sword." This is clearly the opposite of everything I taught. Nor 6

could they have described my reactions to Judas as they did, if 7

they had really understood me. I could not have said, "Betrayest 8

thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" unless I believed in betrayal. 9

The whole message of the crucifixion was simply that I did not. 10

The "punishment" I was said to have called forth upon Judas 11

was a similar mistake. Judas was my brother and a Son of God, 12

as much a part of the Sonship as myself. Was it likely that I 13

would condemn him when I was ready to demonstrate that con- 14

demnation is impossible? 15

As you read the teachings of the Apostles, remember that I told 16

them myself that there was much they would understand later, 17

because they were not wholly ready to follow me at the time. I 18

do not want you to allow any fear to enter into the thought sys- 19

tem toward which I am guiding you. I do not call for martyrs but 20

for teachers. No one is punished for sins, and the Sons of God 21

are not sinners. Any concept of punishment involves the projec- 22

tion of blame, and reinforces the idea that blame is justified. The 23

result is a lesson in blame, for all behavior teaches the beliefs that 24

motivate it. The crucifixion was the result of clearly opposed 25

thought systems; the perfect symbol of the "conflict" between the 26

ego and the Son of God. This conflict seems just as real now, and 27

its lessons must be learned now as well as then. 28

I do not need gratitude, but you need to develop your 29

weakened ability to be grateful, or you cannot appreciate God. 30

He does not need your appreciation, but you do. You cannot 31

love what you do not appreciate, for fear makes appreciation im- 32

possible. When you are afraid of what you are you do not ap- 33

preciate it, and will therefore reject it. As a result, you will teach 34

rejection. 35

The power of the Sons of God is present all the time, because 36

they were created as creators. Their influence on each other is 37

without limit, and must be used for their joint salvation. Each 38

one must learn to teach that all forms of rejection are meaning- 39

less. The separation is the notion of rejection. As long as you 40

teach this you will believe it. This is not as God thinks, and you 41

must think as He thinks if you are to know Him again. 42

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Remember that the Holy Spirit is the communication link be- 2

tween God the Father and His separated Sons. If you will listen 3

to His Voice you will know that you cannot either hurt or be hurt, 4

and that many need your blessing to help them hear this for 5

themselves. When you perceive only this need in them, and do 6

not respond to any other, you will have learned of me and will be 7

as eager to share your learning as I am. 8

The Alternative to Projection 9

Any split in mind must involve a rejection of part of it, and this 10

is the belief in separation. The wholeness of God, which is His 11

peace, cannot be appreciated except by a whole mind that recog- 12

nizes the wholeness of God's creation. By this recognition it 13

knows its Creator. Exclusion and separation are synonymous, as 14

are separation and dissociation. We have said before that the 15

separation was and is dissociation, and that once it occurs projec- 16

tion becomes its main defense, or the device that keeps it going. 17

The reason, however, may not be so obvious as you think. 18

What you project you disown, and therefore do not believe is 19

yours. You are excluding yourself by the very judgment that you 20

are different from the one on whom you project. Since you have 21

also judged against what you project, you continue to attack it 22

because you continue to keep it separated. By doing this uncon- 23

sciously, you try to keep the fact that you attacked yourself out of 24

awareness, and thus imagine that you have made yourself safe. 25

Yet projection will always hurt you. It reinforces your belief in 26

your own split mind, and its only purpose is to keep the separa- 27

tion going. It is solely a device of the ego to make you feel diff- 28

erent from your brothers and separated from them. The ego 29

justifies this on the grounds that it makes you seem "better" than 30

they are, thus obscuring your equality with them still further. 31

Projection and attack are inevitably related, because projection is 32

always a means of justifying attack. Anger without projection is 33

impossible. The ego uses projection only to destroy your percep- 34

tion of both yourself and your brothers. The process begins by 35

excluding something that exists in you but which you do not 36

want, and leads directly to excluding you from your brothers. 37

We have learned, however, that there is an alternative to 38

projection. Every ability of the ego has a better use, because its 39

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abilities are directed by the mind, which has a better Voice. The 2

Holy Spirit extends and the ego projects. As their goals are op- 3

posed, so is the result. 4

The Holy Spirit begins by perceiving you as perfect. Knowing 5

this perfection is shared He recognizes it in others, thus 6

strengthening it in both. Instead of anger this arouses love for 7

both, because it establishes inclusion. Perceiving equality, the 8

Holy Spirit perceives equal needs. This invites Atonement auto- 9

matically, because Atonement is the one need in this world that is 10

universal. To perceive yourself this way is the only way in which 11

you can find happiness in the world. That is because it is the 12

acknowledgment that you are not in this world, for the world is 13

unhappy. 14

How else can you find joy in a joyless place except by realizing 15

that you are not there? You cannot be anywhere God did not put 16

you, and God created you as part of Him. That is both where 17

you are and what you are. It is completely unalterable. It is total 18

inclusion. You cannot change it now or ever. It is forever true. It 19

is not a belief, but a Fact. Anything that God created is as true as 20

He is. Its truth lies only in its perfect inclusion in Him Who 21

alone is perfect. To deny this is to deny yourself and Him, since 22

it is impossible to accept one without the other. 23

The perfect equality of the Holy Spirit's perception is the 24

reflection of the perfect equality of God's knowing. The ego's 25

perception has no counterpart in God, but the Holy Spirit 26

remains the bridge between perception and knowledge. By ena- 27

bling you to use perception in a way that reflects knowledge, you 28

will ultimately remember it. The ego would prefer to believe 29

that this memory is impossible, yet it is your perception the Holy 30

Spirit guides. Your perception will end where it began. Every- 31

thing meets in God, because everything was created by Him and 32

in Him. 33

God created His Sons by extending His Thought, and retaining 34

the extensions of His Thought in His Mind. All His Thoughts are 35

thus perfectly united within themselves and with each other. 36

The Holy Spirit enables you to perceive this wholeness now. 37

God created you to create. You cannot extend His Kingdom 38

until you know of its wholeness. 39

Thoughts begin in the mind of the thinker, from which they 40

reach outward. This is as true of God's Thinking as it is of yours. 41

Because your mind is split, you can perceive as well as think. 42

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Yet perception cannot escape the basic laws of mind. You per- 2

ceive from your mind and project your perceptions outward. Al- 3

though perception of any kind is unreal, you made it and the 4

Holy Spirit can therefore use it well. He can inspire perception 5

and lead it toward God. This convergence seems to be far in the 6

future only because your mind is not in perfect alignment with 7

the idea, and therefore does not want it now. 8

The Holy Spirit uses time, but does not believe in it. Coming 9

from God He uses everything for good, but He does not believe 10

in what is not true. Since the Holy Spirit is in your mind, your 11

mind can also believe only what is true. The Holy Spirit can 12

speak only for this, because He speaks for God. He tells you to 13

return your whole mind to God, because it has never left Him. If 14

it has never left Him, you need only perceive it as it is to be 15

returned. The full awareness of the Atonement, then, is the 16

recognition that the separation never occurred. The ego cannot 17

prevail against this because it is an explicit statement that the ego 18

never occurred. 19

The ego can accept the idea that return is necessary because it 20

can so easily make the idea seem difficult. Yet the Holy Spirit 21

tells you that even return is unnecessary, because what never 22

happened cannot be difficult. However, you can make the idea of 23

return both necessary and difficult. Yet it is surely clear that the 24

perfect need nothing, and you cannot experience perfection as a 25

difficult accomplishment, because that is what you are. This is 26

the way in which you must perceive God's creations, bringing all 27

of your perceptions into the one line the Holy Spirit sees. This 28

line is the direct line of communication with God, and lets your 29

mind converge with His. There is no conflict anywhere in this 30

perception, because it means that all perception is guided by the 31

Holy Spirit, Whose Mind is fixed on God. Only the Holy Spirit 32

can resolve conflict, because only the Holy Spirit is conflict-free. 33

He perceives only what is true in your mind, and extends out- 34

ward only to what is true in other minds. 35

The difference between the ego's projection and the Holy 36

Spirit's extension is very simple. The ego projects to exclude, 37

and therefore to deceive. The Holy Spirit extends by recognizing 38

Himself in every mind, and thus perceives them as one. Nothing 39

conflicts in this perception, because what the Holy Spirit per- 40

ceives is all the same. Wherever He looks He sees Himself, and 41

because He is united He offers the whole Kingdom always. This 42

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is the one message God gave to Him and for which He must 2

speak, because that is what He is. The peace of God lies in that 3

message, and so the peace of God lies in you. The great peace of 4

the Kingdom shines in your mind forever, but it must shine out- 5

ward to make you aware of it. 6

The Holy Spirit was given you with perfect impartiality, and 7

only by recognizing Him impartially can you recognize Him at 8

all. The ego is legion, but the Holy Spirit is one. No darkness 9

abides anywhere in the Kingdom, but your part is only to allow 10

no darkness to abide in your own mind. This alignment with 11

light is unlimited, because it is in alignment with the light of the 12

world. Each of us is the light of the world, and by joining our 13

minds in this light we proclaim the Kingdom of God together 14

and as one. 15

The Relinquishment of Attack 16

As we have already emphasized, every idea begins in the mind 17

of the thinker. Therefore, what extends from the mind is still in 18

it, and from what it extends it knows itself. The word "knows" is 19

correct here, because the Holy Spirit still holds knowledge safe in 20

your mind through His impartial perception. By attacking noth- 21

ing, He presents no barrier to the communication of God. There- 22

fore, being is never threatened. Your Godlike mind can never be 23

defiled. The ego never was and never will be part of it, but 24

through the ego you can hear and teach and learn what is not 25

true. You have taught yourself to believe that you are not what 26

you are. You cannot teach what you have not learned, and what 27

you teach you strengthen in yourself because you are sharing it. 28

Every lesson you teach you are learning. 29

That is why you must teach only one lesson. If you are to be 30

conflict-free yourself, you must learn only from the Holy Spirit 31

and teach only by Him. You are only love, but when you deny 32

this, you make what you are something you must learn to 33

remember. I said before that the message of the crucifixion was, 34

"Teach only love, for that is what you are." This is the one 35

lesson that is perfectly unified, because it is the only lesson 36

that is one. Only by teaching it can you learn it. As you teach 37

so will you learn." If that is true, and it is true indeed, do not 38

forget that what you teach is teaching you. And what you project 39

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or extend you believe. 2

The only safety lies in extending the Holy Spirit, because as 3

you see His gentleness in others your own mind perceives itself 4

as totally harmless. Once it can accept this fully, it sees no need 5

to protect itself. The protection of God then dawns upon it, as- 6

suring it that it is perfectly safe forever. The perfectly safe are 7

wholly benign. They bless because they know that they are 8

blessed. Without anxiety the mind is wholly kind, and because it 9

extends beneficence it is beneficent. Safety is the complete relin- 10

quishment of attack. No compromise is possible in this. Teach 11

attack in any form and you have learned it, and it will hurt you. 12

Yet this learning is not immortal, and you can unlearn it by not 13

teaching it. 14

Since you cannot not teach, your salvation lies in teaching the 15

exact opposite of everything the ego believes. This is how you 16

will learn the truth that will set you free, and will keep you free 17

as others learn it of you. The only way to have peace is to teach 18

peace. By teaching peace you must learn it yourself, because you 19

cannot teach what you still dissociate. Only thus can you win 20

back the knowledge that you threw away. An idea that you share 21

you must have. It awakens in your mind through the conviction 22

of teaching it. Everything you teach you are learning. Teach 23

only love, and learn that love is yours and you are love. 24

The Only Answer 25

Remember that the Holy Spirit is the Answer, not the question. 26

The ego always speaks first. It is capricious and does not mean 27

its maker well. It believes, and correctly, that its maker may 28

withdraw his support from it at any moment. If it meant you 29

well it would be glad, as the Holy Spirit will be glad when He has 30

brought you home and you no longer need His guidance. The 31

ego does not regard itself as part of you. Herein lies its primary 32

error, the foundation of its whole thought system. 33

When God created you He made you part of Him. That is why 34

attack within the Kingdom is impossible. You made the ego 35

without love, and so it does not love you. You could not remain 36

within the Kingdom without love, and since the Kingdom is love, 37

you believe that you are without it. This enables the ego to 38

regard itself as separate and outside its maker, thus speaking for 39

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the part of your mind that believes you are separate and outside 2

the Mind of God. The ego, then, raised the first question that 3

was ever asked, but one it can never answer. That question, 4

"What are you?" was the beginning of doubt. The ego has never 5

answered any questions since, although it has raised a great 6

many. The most inventive activities of the ego have never done 7

more than obscure the question, because you have the answer 8

and the ego is afraid of you. 9

You cannot understand the conflict until you fully understand 10

the basic fact that the ego cannot know anything. The Holy Spirit 11

does not speak first, but He always answers. Everyone has called 12

upon Him for help at one time or another and in one way or 13

another, and has been answered. Since the Holy Spirit answers 14

truly He answers for all time, which means that everyone has the 15

answer now. 16

The ego cannot hear the Holy Spirit, but it does believe that 17

part of the mind that made it is against it. It interprets this as a 18

justification for attacking its maker. It believes that the best 19

defense is attack, and wants you to believe it. Unless you do 20

believe it you will not side with it, and the ego feels badly in need 21

of allies, though not of brothers. Perceiving something alien to 22

itself in your mind, the ego turns to the body as its ally, because 23

the body is not part of you. This makes the body the ego's friend. 24

It is an alliance frankly based on separation. If you side with 25

this alliance you will be afraid, because you are siding with an 26

alliance of fear. 27

The ego uses the body to conspire against your mind, and be- 28

cause the ego realizes that its "enemy" can end them both merely 29

by recognizing they are not part of you, they join in the attack 30

together. This is perhaps the strangest perception of all, if you 31

consider what it really involves. The ego, which is not real, at- 32

tempts to persuade the mind, which is real, that the mind is the 33

ego's learning device; and further, that the body is more real than 34

the mind is. No one in his right mind could possibly believe this, 35

and no one in his right mind does believe it. 36

Hear, then, the one answer of the Holy Spirit to all the ques- 37

tions the ego raises: You are a child of God, a priceless part of His 38

Kingdom, which He created as part of Him. Nothing else exists 39

and only this is real. You have chosen a sleep in which you have 40

had bad dreams, but the sleep is not real and God calls you to 41

awake. There will be nothing left of your dream when you hear 42

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Him, because you will awaken. Your dreams contain many of 2

the ego's symbols and they have confused you. Yet that was only 3

because you were asleep and did not know. When you wake you 4

will see the truth around you and in you, and you will no longer 5

believe in dreams because they will have no reality for you. Yet 6

the Kingdom and all that you have created there will have great 7

reality for you, because they are beautiful and true. 8

In the Kingdom, where you are and what you are is perfectly 9

certain. There is no doubt, because the first question was never 10

asked. Having finally been wholly answered, it has never been. 11

Being alone lives in the Kingdom, where everything lives in God 12

without question. The time spent on questioning in the dream 13

has given way to creation and to its eternity. You are as certain as 14

God because you are as true as He is, but what was once certain 15

in your mind has become only the ability for certainty. 16

The introduction of abilities into being was the beginning of 17

uncertainty, because abilities are potentials, not accomplish- 18

ments. Your abilities are useless in the presence of God's ac- 19

complishments, and also of yours. Accomplishments are results 20

that have been achieved. When they are perfect, abilities are 21

meaningless. It is curious that the perfect must now be per- 22

fected. In fact, it is impossible. Remember, however, that when 23

you put yourself in an impossible situation you believe that the 24

impossible is possible. 25

Abilities must be developed before you can use them. This is 26

not true of anything that God created, but it is the kindest solu- 27

tion possible for what you made. In an impossible situation, you 28

can develop your abilities to the point where they can get you out 29

of it. You have a Guide to how to develop them, but you have no 30

commander except yourself. This leaves you in charge of the 31

Kingdom, with both a Guide to find it and a means to keep it. 32

You have a model to follow who will strengthen your command, 33

and never detract from it in any way. You therefore retain the 34

central place in your imagined enslavement, which in itself 35

demonstrates that you are not enslaved. 36

You are in an impossible situation only because you think it is 37

possible to be in one. You would be in an impossible situation if 38

God showed you your perfection, and proved to you that you 39

were wrong. This would demonstrate that the perfect are inade- 40

quate to bring themselves to the awareness of their perfection, 41

and thus side with the belief that those who have everything 42

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need help and are therefore helpless. This is the kind of "reason- 2

ing" in which the ego engages. God, Who knows that His crea- 3

tions are perfect, does not affront them. This would be as impossible as 4

the ego's notion that it has affronted Him. 5

That is why the Holy Spirit never commands. To command is 6

to assume inequality, which the Holy Spirit demonstrates does 7

not exist. Fidelity to premises is a law of mind, and everything 8

God created is faithful to His laws. Fidelity to other laws is also 9

possible, however, not because the laws are true, but because you 10

made them. What would be gained if God proved to you that 11

you have thought insanely? Can God lose His Own certainty? I 12

have frequently said that what you teach you are. Would you 13

have God teach you that you have sinned? If He confronted the 14

self you made with the truth He created for you, what could you 15

be but afraid? You would doubt your right mind, which is the 16

only place where you can find the sanity He gave you. 17

God does not teach. To teach is to imply a lack, which God 18

knows is not there. God is not conflicted. Teaching aims at 19

change, but God created only the changeless. The separation 20

was not a loss of perfection, but a failure in communication. A 21

harsh and strident form of communication arose as the ego's 22

voice. It could not shatter the peace of God, but it could shatter 23

yours. God did not blot it out, because to eradicate it would be to 24

attack it. Being questioned, He did not question. He merely 25

gave the Answer. His Answer is your Teacher. 26

The Lessons of the Holy Spirit 27

Like any good teacher, the Holy Spirit knows more than you 28

do now, but He teaches only to make you equal with Him. You 29

had already taught yourself wrongly, having believed what was 30

not true. You did not believe in your own perfection. Would 31

God teach you that you had made a split mind, when He knows 32

your mind only as whole? What God does know is that His com- 33

munication channels are not open to Him, so that He cannot im- 34

part His joy and know that His children are wholly joyous. 35

Giving His joy is an ongoing process, not in time but in eternity. 36

God's extending outward, though not His completeness, is 37

blocked when the Sonship does not communicate with Him as 38

one. So He thought, "My children sleep and must be awakened." 39

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How can you wake children in a more kindly way than by a 2

gentle Voice That will not frighten them, but will merely remind 3

them that the night is over and the light has come? You do not 4

inform them that the nightmares that frightened them so badly 5

are not real, because children believe in magic. You merely reas- 6

sure them that they are safe now. Then you train them to recog- 7

nize the difference between sleeping and waking, so they will 8

understand they need not be afraid of dreams. And so when bad 9

dreams come, they will themselves call on the light to dispel 10

them. 11

A wise teacher teaches through approach, not avoidance. He 12

does not emphasize what you must avoid to escape from harm, 13

but what you need to learn to have joy. Consider the fear and 14

confusion a child would experience if he were told, "Do not do 15

this because it will hurt you and make you unsafe; but if you do 16

that instead, you will escape from harm and be safe, and then 17

you will not be afraid." It is surely better to use only three 18

words: "Do only that!" This simple statement is perfectly clear, 19

easily understood and very easily remembered. 20

The Holy Spirit never itemizes errors because He does not 21

frighten children, and those who lack wisdom are children. Yet 22

He always answers their call, and His dependability makes them 23

more certain. Children do confuse fantasy and reality, and they 24

are frightened because they do not recognize the difference. The 25

Holy Spirit makes no distinction among dreams. He merely 26

shines them away. His light is always the call to awaken, 27

whatever you have been dreaming. Nothing lasting lies in 28

dreams, and the Holy Spirit, shining with the Light from God 29

Himself, speaks only for what lasts forever. 30

To Have, Give All to All 31

When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you 32

will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is 33

accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished 34

through death, because death is nothing. Everything is ac- 35

complished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind. 36

The body neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you 37

who are life. If we share the same mind, you can overcome death 38

because I did. Death is an attempt to resolve conflict by not 39

deciding at all. Like any other impossible solution the ego at- 40

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tempts, it will not work. 2

God did not make the body, because it is destructible, and 3

therefore not of the Kingdom. The body is the symbol of what 4

you think you are. It is clearly a separation device, and therefore 5

does not exist. The Holy Spirit, as always, takes what you have 6

made and translates it into a learning device. Again as always, 7

He reinterprets what the ego uses as an argument for separation 8

into a demonstration against it. If the mind can heal the body, 9

but the body cannot heal the mind, then the mind must be 10

stronger than the body. Every miracle demonstrates this. 11

I have said that the Holy Spirit is the motivation for miracles. 12

He always tells you that only the mind is real, because only the 13

mind can be shared. The body is separate, and therefore cannot 14

be part of you. To be of one mind is meaningful, but to be one 15

body is meaningless. By the laws of mind, then, the body is 16

meaningless. 17

To the Holy Spirit, there is no order of difficulty in miracles. 18

This is familiar enough to you by now, but it has not yet become 19

believable. Therefore, you do not understand it and cannot use 20

it. We have too much to accomplish on behalf of the Kingdom to 21

let this crucial concept slip away. It is a real foundation stone of 22

the thought system I teach and want you to teach. You cannot 23

perform miracles without believing it, because it is a belief in 24

perfect equality. Only one equal gift can be offered to the equal 25

Sons of God, and that is full appreciation. Nothing more and 26

nothing less. Without a range, order of difficulty is meaningless, 27

and there must be no range in what you offer to your brother. 28

The Holy Spirit, Who leads to God, translates communication 29

into being, just as He ultimately translates perception into 30

knowledge. You do not lose what you communicate. The ego 31

uses the body for attack, for pleasure and for pride. The insanity 32

of this perception makes it a fearful one indeed. The Holy Spirit 33

sees the body only as a means of communication, and because 34

communicating is sharing it becomes communion. Perhaps you 35

think that fear as well as love can be communicated; and there- 36

fore can be shared. Yet this is not so real as it may appear. Those 37

who communicate fear are promoting attack, and attack always 38

breaks communication, making it impossible. Egos do join 39

together in temporary allegiance, but always for what each one 40

can get separately. The Holy Spirit communicates only what 41

each one can give to all. He never takes anything back, because 42

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He wants you to keep it. Therefore, His teaching begins with 2

the lesson: 3

To have, give all to all. 4

This is a very preliminary step, and the only one you must take 5

for yourself. It is not even necessary that you complete the step 6

yourself, but it is necessary that you turn in that direction. 7

Having chosen to go that way, you place yourself in charge of 8

the journey, where you and only you must remain. This step 9

may appear to exacerbate conflict rather than resolve it, because 10

it is the beginning step in reversing your perception and turning 11

it right-side up. This conflicts with the upside-down perception 12

you have not yet abandoned, or the change in direction would 13

not have been necessary. Some remain at this step for a long 14

time, experiencing very acute conflict. At this point they may try 15

to accept the conflict, rather than take the next step towards its 16

resolution. Having taken the first step, however, they will be 17

helped. Once they have chosen what they cannot complete 18

alone, they are no longer alone. 19

To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It 20

All who believe in separation have a basic fear of retaliation 21

and abandonment. They believe in attack and rejection, so that is 22

what they perceive and teach and learn. These insane ideas are 23

clearly the result of dissociation and projection. What you teach 24

you are, but it is quite apparent that you can teach wrongly, and 25

can therefore teach yourself wrong. Many thought I was attack- 26

ing them, even though it was apparent I was not. An insane 27

learner learns strange lessons. What you must recognize is that 28

when you do not share a thought system, you are weakening it. 29

Those who believe in it therefore perceive this as an attack on 30

them. This is because everyone identifies himself with his 31

thought system, and every thought system centers on what you 32

believe you are. If the center of the thought system is true, only 33

truth extends from it. But if a lie is at its center, only deception 34

proceeds from it. 35

All good teachers realize that only fundamental change will 36

last, but they do not begin at that level. Strengthening motiva- 37

tion for change is their first and foremost goal. It is also their last 38

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and final one. Increasing motivation for change in the learner is 2

all that a teacher need do to guarantee change. Change in 3

motivation is a change of mind, and this will inevitably produce 4

fundamental change because the mind is fundamental. 5

The first step in the reversal or undoing process is the undoing 6

of the getting concept. Accordingly, the Holy Spirit's first lesson 7

was "To have, give all to all." I said that this is apt to increase 8

conflict temporarily, and we can clarify this still further now. At 9

this point, the equality of having and being is not yet perceived. 10

Until it is, having appears to be the opposite of giving. Therefore, 11

the first lesson seems to contain a contradiction, since it is being 12

learned by a conflicted mind. This means conflicting motivation, 13

and so the lesson cannot be learned consistently as yet. Further, 14

the mind of the learner projects its own conflict, and thus does 15

not perceive consistency in the minds of others, making him 16

suspicious of their motivation. This is the real reason why, in 17

many respects, the first lesson is the hardest to learn. Still 18

strongly aware of the ego in yourself, and responding primarily 19

to the ego in others, you are being taught to react to both as if 20

what you do believe is not true. 21

Upside down as always, the ego perceives the first lesson as 22

insane. In fact, this is its only alternative since the other pos- 23

sibility, which would be much less acceptable to it, would ob- 24

viously be that it is insane. The ego's judgment, here as always, 25

is predetermined by what it is. The fundamental change will still 26

occur with the change of mind in the thinker. Meanwhile, the 27

increasing clarity of the Holy Spirit's Voice makes it impossible 28

for the learner not to listen. For a time, then, he is receiving con- 29

flicting messages and accepting both. 30

The way out of conflict between two opposing thought sys- 31

tems is clearly to choose one and relinquish the other. If you 32

identify with your thought system, and you cannot escape this, 33

and if you accept two thought systems which are in complete 34

disagreement, peace of mind is impossible. If you teach both, 35

which you will surely do as long as you accept both, you are 36

teaching conflict and learning it. Yet you do want peace, or you 37

would not have called upon the Voice for peace to help you. Its 38

lesson is not insane; the conflict is. 39

There can be no conflict between sanity and insanity. Only 40

one is true, and therefore only one is real. The ego tries to per- 41

suade you that it is up to you to decide which voice is true, but 42

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the Holy Spirit teaches you that truth was created by God, and 2

your decision cannot change it. As you begin to realize the quiet 3

power of the Holy Spirit's Voice, and Its perfect consistency, it 4

must dawn on your mind that you are trying to undo a decision 5

that was irrevocably made for you. That is why I suggested 6

before that you remind yourself to allow the Holy Spirit to decide 7

for God for you. 8

You are not asked to make insane decisions, although you can 9

think you are. It must, however, be insane to believe that it is up 10

to you to decide what God's creations are. The Holy Spirit per- 11

ceives the conflict exactly as it is. Therefore, His second lesson is: 12

To have peace, teach peace to learn it. 13

This is still a preliminary step, since having and being are still 14

not equated. It is, however, more advanced than the first step, 15

which is really only the beginning of the thought reversal. The 16

second step is a positive affirmation of what you want. This, 17

then, is a step in the direction out of conflict, since it means that 18

alternatives have been considered, and one has been chosen as 19

more desirable. Nevertheless, the term "more desirable" still im- 20

plies that the desirable has degrees. Therefore, although this step 21

is essential for the ultimate decision, it is clearly not the final one. 22

Lack of order of difficulty in miracles has not yet been accepted, 23

because nothing is difficult that is wholly desired. To desire 24

wholly is to create, and creating cannot be difficult if God Him- 25

self created you as a creator. 26

The second step, then, is still perceptual, although it is a giant 27

step toward the unified perception that reflects God's knowing. 28

As you take this step and hold this direction, you will be push- 29

ing toward the center of your thought system, where the fun- 30

damental change will occur. At the second step progress is 31

intermittent, but the second step is easier than the first because it 32

follows. Realizing that it must follow is a demonstration of a 33

growing awareness that the Holy Spirit will lead you on. 34

Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom 35

We said before that the Holy Spirit is evaluative, and must be. 36

He sorts out the true from the false in your mind, and teaches 37

you to judge every thought you allow to enter it in the light of 38

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what God put there. Whatever is in accord with this light He 2

retains, to strengthen the Kingdom in you. What is partly in ac- 3

cord with it He accepts and purifies. But what is out of accord 4

entirely He rejects by judging against. This is how He keeps the 5

Kingdom perfectly consistent and perfectly unified. Remember, 6

however, that what the Holy Spirit rejects the ego accepts. This is 7

because they are in fundamental disagreement about everything, 8

being in fundamental disagreement about what you are. The 9

ego's beliefs on this crucial issue vary, and that is why it 10

promotes different moods. The Holy Spirit never varies on this 11

point, and so the one mood He engenders is joy. He protects it 12

by rejecting everything that does not foster joy, and so He alone 13

can keep you wholly joyous. 14

The Holy Spirit does not teach you to judge others, because He 15

does not want you to teach error and learn it yourself. He would 16

hardly be consistent if He allowed you to strengthen what you 17

must learn to avoid. In the mind of the thinker, then, He is 18

judgmental, but only in order to unify the mind so it can perceive 19

without judgment. This enables the mind to teach without judg- 20

ment, and therefore to learn to be without judgment. The undo- 21

ing is necessary only in your mind, so that you will not project, 22

instead of extend. God Himself has established what you can 23

extend with perfect safety. Therefore, the Holy Spirit's third les- 24

son is: 25

Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. 26

This is a major step toward fundamental change. Yet it still 27

has an aspect of thought reversal, since it implies that there is 28

something you must be vigilant against. It has advanced far from 29

the first lesson, which is merely the beginning of the thought 30

reversal, and also from the second, which is essentially the iden- 31

tification of what is more desirable. This step, which follows 32

from the second as the second follows from the first, emphasizes 33

the dichotomy between the desirable and the undesirable. It 34

therefore makes the ultimate choice inevitable. 35

While the first step seems to increase conflict and the second 36

may still entail conflict to some extent, this step calls for consis- 37

tent vigilance against it. I have already told you that you can be 38

as vigilant against the ego as for it. This lesson teaches not only 39

that you can be, but that you must be. It does not concern itself 40

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with order of difficulty, but with clear-cut priority for vigilance. 2

This lesson is unequivocal in that it teaches there must be no 3

exceptions, although it does not deny that the temptation to 4

make exceptions will occur. Here, then, your consistency is 5

called on despite chaos. Yet chaos and consistency cannot 6

coexist for long, since they are mutually exclusive. As long as 7

you must be vigilant against anything, however, you are not 8

recognizing this mutual exclusiveness, and still believe that you 9

can choose either one. By teaching what to choose, the Holy 10

Spirit will ultimately teach you that you need not choose at all. 11

This will finally liberate your mind from choice, and direct it 12

towards creation within the Kingdom. 13

Choosing through the Holy Spirit will lead you to the 14

Kingdom. You create by your true being, but what you are you 15

must learn to remember. The way to remember it is inherent in 16

the third step, which brings together the lessons implied in the 17

others, and goes beyond them towards real integration. If you 18

allow yourself to have in your mind only what God put there, 19

you are acknowledging your mind as God created it. Therefore, 20

you are accepting it as it is. Since it is whole, you are teaching 21

peace because you believe in it. The final step will still be taken 22

for you by God, but by the third step the Holy Spirit has 23

prepared you for God. He is getting you ready for the transla- 24

tion of having into being by the very nature of the steps you must 25

take with Him. 26

You learn first that having rests on giving, and not on getting. 27

Next you learn that you learn what you teach, and that you want 28

to learn peace. This is the condition for identifying with the 29

Kingdom, since it is the condition of the Kingdom. You have 30

believed that you are without the Kingdom, and have therefore 31

excluded yourself from it in your belief. It is therefore essential 32

to teach you that you must be included, and that the belief that 33

you are not is the only thing that you must exclude. 34

The third step is thus one of protection for your mind, allow- 35

ing you to identify only with the center, where God placed the 36

altar to Himself. Altars are beliefs, but God and His creations are 37

beyond belief because they are beyond question. The Voice for 38

God speaks only for belief beyond question, which is the 39

preparation for being without question. As long as belief in God 40

and His Kingdom is assailed by any doubts in your mind, His 41

perfect accomplishment is not apparent to you. This is why you 42

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must be vigilant on God's behalf. The ego speaks against His 2

creation, and therefore engenders doubt. You cannot go beyond 3

belief until you believe fully. 4

To teach the whole Sonship without exception demonstrates 5

that you perceive its wholeness, and have learned that it is one. 6

Now you must be vigilant to hold its oneness in your mind be- 7

cause, if you let doubt enter, you will lose awareness of its whole- 8

ness and will be unable to teach it. The wholeness of the 9

Kingdom does not depend on your perception, but your aware- 10

ness of its wholeness does. It is only your awareness that needs 11

protection, since being cannot be assailed. Yet a real sense of 12

being cannot be yours while you are doubtful of what you are. 13

This is why vigilance is essential. Doubts about being must not 14

enter your mind, or you cannot know what you are with certain- 15

ty. Certainty is of God for you. Vigilance is not necessary for 16

truth, but it is necessary against illusions. 17

Truth is without illusions and therefore within the Kingdom. 18

Everything outside the Kingdom is illusion. When you threw 19

truth away you saw yourself as if you were without it. By 20

making another kingdom that you valued, you did not keep only 21

the Kingdom of God in your mind, and thus placed part of your 22

mind outside it. What you made has imprisoned your will, and 23

given you a sick mind that must be healed. Your vigilance 24

against this sickness is the way to heal it. Once your mind is 25

healed it radiates health, and thereby teaches healing. This es- 26

tablishes you as a teacher who teaches like me. Vigilance was 27

required of me as much as of you, and those who choose to teach 28

the same thing must be in agreement about what they believe. 29

The third step, then, is a statement of what you want to 30

believe, and entails a willingness to relinquish everything else. 31

The Holy Spirit will enable you to take this step, if you follow 32

Him. Your vigilance is the sign that you want Him to guide you. 33

Vigilance does require effort, but only until you learn that effort 34

itself is unnecessary. You have exerted great effort to preserve 35

what you made because it was not true. Therefore, you must 36

now turn your effort against it. Only this can cancel out the need 37

for effort, and call upon the being which you both have and are. 38

This recognition is wholly without effort since it is already true 39

and needs no protection. It is in the perfect safety of God. 40

Therefore, inclusion is total and creation is without limit. 41

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THE GIFTS OF THE KINGDOM 3

The Last Step 4

The creative power of God and His creations is limitless, but 5

they are not in reciprocal relationship. You communicate fully 6

with God, as He does with you. This is an ongoing process in 7

which you share, and because you share it, you are inspired to 8

create like God. Yet in creation you are not in a reciprocal rela- 9

tion to God, since He created you but you did not create Him. I 10

have already told you that only in this respect your creative 11

power differs from His. Even in this world there is a parallel. 12

Parents give birth to children, but children do not give birth to 13

parents. They do, however, give birth to their children, and thus 14

give birth as their parents do. 15

If you created God and He created you, the Kingdom could 16

not increase through its own creative thought. Creation would 17

therefore be limited, and you would not be co-creator with God. 18

As God's creative Thought proceeds from Him to you, so must 19

your creative thought proceed from you to your creations. Only 20

in this way can all creative power extend outward. God's ac- 21

complishments are not yours, but yours are like His. He created 22

the Sonship and you increase it. You have the power to add to 23

the Kingdom, though not to add to the Creator of the Kingdom. 24

You claim this power when you become vigilant only for God 25

and His Kingdom. By accepting this power as yours you have 26

learned to remember what you are. 27

Your creations belong in you, as you belong in God. You are 28

part of God, as your sons are part of His Sons. To create is to 29

love. Love extends outward simply because it cannot be con- 30

tained. Being limitless it does not stop. It creates forever, but not 31

in time. God's creations have always been, because He has al- 32

ways been. Your creations have always been, because you can 33

create only as God creates. Eternity is yours, because He created 34

you eternal. 35

The ego, on the other hand, always demands reciprocal rights, 36

because it is competitive rather than loving. It is always willing 37

to strike a bargain, but it cannot understand that to be like 38

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another means that no bargains are possible. To gain you must 2

give, not bargain. To bargain is to limit giving, and this is not 3

God's Will. To will with God is to create like Him. God does not 4

limit His gifts in any way. You are His gifts, and so your gifts 5

must be like His. Your gifts to the Kingdom must be like His 6

gifts to you. 7

I gave only love to the Kingdom because I believed that was 8

what I was. What you believe you are determines your gifts, and 9

if God created you by extending Himself as you, you can only 10

extend yourself as He did. Only joy increases forever, since joy 11

and eternity are inseparable. God extends outward beyond 12

limits and beyond time, and you who are co-creator with Him 13

extend His Kingdom forever and beyond limit. Eternity is the 14

indelible stamp of creation. The eternal are in peace and joy 15

forever. 16

To think like God is to share His certainty of what you are, and 17

to create like Him is to share the perfect Love He shares with 18

you. To this the Holy Spirit leads you, that your joy may be 19

complete because the Kingdom of God is whole. I have said that 20

the last step in the reawakening of knowledge is taken by God. 21

This is true, but it is hard to explain in words because words are 22

symbols, and nothing that is true need be explained. However, 23

the Holy Spirit has the task of translating the useless into the 24

useful, the meaningless into the meaningful, and the temporary 25

into the timeless. He can therefore tell you something about this 26

last step. 27

God does not take steps, because His accomplishments are not 28

gradual. He does not teach, because His creations are change- 29

less. He does nothing last, because He created first and for 30

always. It must be understood that the word "first" as applied to 31

Him is not a time concept. He is first in the sense that He is the 32

First in the Holy Trinity Itself. He is the Prime Creator, because 33

He created His co-creators. Because He did, time applies neither 34

to Him nor to what He created. The "last step" that God will 35

take was therefore true in the beginning, is true now, and will be 36

true forever. What is timeless is always there, because its being 37

is eternally changeless. It does not change by increase, because 38

it was forever created to increase. If you perceive it as not in- 39

creasing you do not know what it is. You also do not know 40

Who created it. God does not reveal this to you because it was 41

never hidden. His light was never obscured, because it is His 42

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Will to share it. How can what is fully shared be withheld and 2

then revealed? 3

The Law of the Kingdom 4

To heal is the only kind of thinking in this world that 5

resembles the Thought of God, and because of the elements they 6

share, can transfer easily to it. When a brother perceives himself 7

as sick, he is perceiving himself as not whole, and therefore in 8

need. If you, too, see him this way, you are seeing him as if he 9

were absent from the Kingdom or separated from it, thus making 10

the Kingdom itself obscure to both of you. Sickness and separa- 11

tion are not of God, but the Kingdom is. If you obscure the 12

Kingdom, you are perceiving what is not of God. 13

To heal, then, is to correct perception in your brother and your- 14

self by sharing the Holy Spirit with him. This places you both 15

within the Kingdom, and restores its wholeness in your mind. 16

This reflects creation, because it unifies by increasing and in- 17

tegrates by extending. What you project or extend is real for you. 18

This is an immutable law of the mind in this world as well as in 19

the Kingdom. However, the content is different in this world, 20

because the thoughts it governs are very different from the 21

Thoughts in the Kingdom. Laws must be adapted to circum- 22

stances if they are to maintain order. The outstanding charac- 23

teristic of the laws of mind as they operate in this world is that by 24

obeying them, and I assure you that you must obey them, you 25

can arrive at diametrically opposed results. This is because the 26

laws have been adapted to the circumstances of this world, in 27

which diametrically opposed outcomes seem possible because 28

you can respond to two conflicting voices. 29

Outside the Kingdom, the law that prevails inside is adapted 30

to "What you project you believe." This is its teaching form, be- 31

cause outside the Kingdom learning is essential. This form im- 32

plies that you will learn what you are from what you have 33

projected onto others, and therefore believe they are. In the 34

Kingdom there is no teaching or learning, because there is no 35

belief. There is only certainty. God and His Sons, in the surety of 36

being, know that what you extend you are. That form of the law 37

is not adapted at all, being the law of creation. God Himself 38

created the law by creating by it. And His Sons, who create like 39

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Him, follow it gladly, knowing that the increase of the Kingdom 2

depends on it, just as their own creation did. 3

Laws must be communicated if they are to be helpful. In ef- 4

fect, they must be translated for those who speak different lan- 5

guages. Nevertheless, a good translator, although he must alter 6

the form of what he translates, never changes the meaning. In 7

fact, his whole purpose is to change the form so that the original 8

meaning is retained. The Holy Spirit is the translator of the laws 9

of God to those who do not understand them. You could not do 10

this yourself because a conflicted mind cannot be faithful to one 11

meaning, and will therefore change the meaning to preserve the 12

form. 13

The Holy Spirit's purpose in translating is exactly the opposite. 14

He translates only to preserve the original meaning in all 15

respects and in all languages. Therefore, He opposes the idea 16

that differences in form are meaningful, emphasizing always that 17

these differences do not matter. The meaning of His message is al- 18

ways the same; only the meaning matters. God's law of creation 19

does not involve the use of truth to convince His Sons of truth. 20

The extension of truth, which is the law of the Kingdom, rests 21

only on the knowledge of what truth is. This is your inheritance 22

and requires no learning at all, but when you disinherited your- 23

self you became a learner of necessity. 24

No one questions the connection of learning and memory. 25

Learning is impossible without memory since it must be consis- 26

tent to be remembered. That is why the Holy Spirit's teaching is 27

a lesson in remembering. I said before that He teaches remem- 28

bering and forgetting, but the forgetting is only to make the 29

remembering consistent. You forget in order to remember better. 30

You will not understand His translations while you listen to 31

two ways of interpreting them. Therefore you must forget or relin- 32

quish one to understand the other. This is the only way you can 33

learn consistency, so that you can finally be consistent. 34

What can the perfect consistency of the Kingdom mean to those 35

who are confused? It is apparent that confusion interferes with 36

meaning, and therefore prevents the learner from appreciating it. 37

There is no confusion in the Kingdom, because there is only one 38

meaning. This meaning comes from God and is God. Because it 39

is also you, you share it and extend it as your Creator did. This 40

needs no translation because it is perfectly understood, but it does 41

need extension because it means extension. Communication is 42

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perfectly direct and perfectly united. It is totally free, because 2

nothing discordant ever enters. That is why it is the Kingdom of 3

God. It belongs to Him and is therefore like Him. That is its 4

reality, and nothing can assail it. 5

The Reality of the Kingdom 6

The Holy Spirit teaches one lesson, and applies it to all in- 7

dividuals in all situations. Being conflict-free, He maximizes all 8

efforts and all results. By teaching the power of the Kingdom of 9

God Himself, He teaches you that all power is yours. Its applica- 10

tion does not matter. It is always maximal. Your vigilance does 11

not establish it as yours, but it does enable you to use it always 12

and in all ways. When I said "I am with you always," I meant it 13

literally. I am not absent to anyone in any situation. Because I 14

am always with you, you are the way, the truth and the life. You 15

did not make this power, any more than I did. It was created to 16

be shared, and therefore cannot be meaningfully perceived as 17

belonging to anyone at the expense of another. Such a percep- 18

tion makes it meaningless by eliminating or overlooking its real 19

and only meaning. 20

God's meaning waits in the Kingdom, because that is where 21

He placed it. It does not wait in time. It merely rests in the 22

Kingdom because it belongs there, as you do. How can you who 23

are God's meaning perceive yourself as absent from it? You can 24

see yourself as separated from your meaning only by experi- 25

encing yourself as unreal. This is why the ego is insane; it 26

teaches that you are not what you are. That is so contradictory it 27

is clearly impossible. It is therefore a lesson you cannot really 28

learn, and therefore cannot really teach. Yet you are always 29

teaching. You must, therefore, be teaching something else, even 30

though the ego does not know what it is. The ego, then, is al- 31

ways being undone, and does suspect your motives. Your mind 32

cannot be unified in allegiance to the ego, because the mind does 33

not belong to it. Yet what is "treacherous" to the ego is faithful 34

to peace. The ego's "enemy" is therefore your friend. 35

I said before that the ego's friend is not part of you, because the 36

ego perceives itself at war and therefore in need of allies. You 37

who are not at war must look for brothers and recognize all whom 38

you see as brothers, because only equals are at peace. Because 39

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God's equal Sons have everything, they cannot compete. Yet if 2

they perceive any of their brothers as anything other than their 3

perfect equals, the idea of competition has entered their minds. 4

Do not underestimate your need to be vigilant against this idea, 5

because all your conflicts come from it. It is the belief that con- 6

flicting interests are possible, and therefore you have accepted the 7

impossible as true. Is that different from saying you perceive 8

yourself as unreal? 9

To be in the Kingdom is merely to focus your full attention on 10

it. As long as you believe you can attend to what is not true, you 11

are accepting conflict as your choice. Is it really a choice? It 12

seems to be, but seeming and reality are hardly the same. You 13

who are the Kingdom are not concerned with seeming. Reality is 14

yours because you are reality. This is how having and being are 15

ultimately reconciled, not in the Kingdom, but in your mind. 16

The altar there is the only reality. The altar is perfectly clear in 17

thought, because it is a reflection of perfect Thought. Your right 18

mind sees only brothers, because it sees only in its own light. 19

God has lit your mind Himself, and keeps your mind lit by His 20

Light because His Light is what your mind is. This is totally 21

beyond question, and when you question it you are answered. 22

The Answer merely undoes the question by establishing the fact 23

that to question reality is to question meaninglessly. That is why 24

the Holy Spirit never questions. His sole function is to undo the 25

questionable and thus lead to certainty. The certain are perfectly 26

calm, because they are not in doubt. They do not raise questions, 27

because nothing questionable enters their minds. This holds 28

them in perfect serenity, because this is what they share, knowing 29

what they are. 30

Healing as the Recognition of Truth 31

Truth can only be recognized and need only be recognized. In- 32

spiration is of the Holy Spirit, and certainty is of God according 33

to His laws. Both, therefore, come from the same Source, since 34

inspiration comes from the Voice for God and certainty comes 35

from the laws of God. Healing does not come directly from God, 36

Who knows His creations as perfectly whole. Yet healing is still 37

of God, because it proceeds from His Voice and from His laws. It 38

is their result, in a state of mind that does not know Him. The 39

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state is unknown to Him and therefore does not exist, but those 2

who sleep are unaware. Because they are unaware, they do not 3

know. 4

The Holy Spirit must work through you to teach you He is in 5

you. This is an intermediary step toward the knowledge that 6

you are in God because you are part of Him. The miracles the 7

Holy Spirit inspires can have no order of difficulty, because every 8

part of creation is of one order. This is God's Will and yours. 9

The laws of God establish this, and the Holy Spirit reminds you 10

of it. When you heal, you are remembering the laws of God and 11

forgetting the laws of the ego. I said before that forgetting is 12

merely a way of remembering better. It is therefore not the op- 13

posite of remembering when it is properly perceived. Perceived 14

improperly, it induces a perception of conflict with something 15

else, as all incorrect perception does. Properly perceived, it can 16

be used as a way out of conflict, as all proper perception can. 17

The ego does not want to teach everyone all it has learned, 18

because that would defeat its purpose. Therefore it does not real- 19

ly learn at all. The Holy Spirit teaches you to use what the ego 20

has made, to teach the opposite of what the ego has "learned." 21

The kind of learning is as irrelevant as is the particular ability 22

that was applied to the learning. All you need do is make the 23

effort to learn, for the Holy Spirit has a unified goal for the effort. 24

If different abilities are applied long enough to one goal, the 25

abilities themselves become unified. This is because they are 26

channelized in one direction, or in one way. Ultimately, then, 27

they all contribute to one result, and by so doing, their similarity 28

rather than their differences is emphasized. 29

All abilities should therefore be given over to the Holy Spirit, 30

Who understands how to use them properly. He uses them only 31

for healing, because He knows you only as whole. By healing 32

you learn of wholeness, and by learning of wholeness you learn 33

to remember God. You have forgotten Him, but the Holy Spirit 34

understands that your forgetting must be translated into a way of 35

remembering. 36

The ego's goal is as unified as the Holy Spirit's, and it is bec- 37

ause of this that their goals can never be reconciled in any way 38

or to any extent. The ego always seeks to divide and separate. 39

The Holy Spirit always seeks to unify and heal. As you heal you 40

are healed, because the Holy Spirit sees no order of difficulty in 41

healing. Healing is the way to undo the belief in differences, 42

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being the only way of perceiving the Sonship as one. This per- 2

ception is therefore in accord with the laws of God, even in a state 3

of mind that is out of accord with His. The strength of right 4

perception is so great that it brings the mind into accord with 5

His, because it serves His Voice, Which is in all of you. 6

To think you can oppose the Will of God is a real delusion. 7

The ego believes that it can, and that it can offer you its own 8

"will" as a gift. You do not want it. It is not a gift. It is nothing at 9

all. God has given you a gift that you both have and are. When 10

you do not use it, you forget that you have it. By not remember- 11

ing it, you do not know what you are. Healing, then, is a way of 12

approaching knowledge by thinking in accordance with the laws 13

of God, and recognizing their universality. Without this recog- 14

nition, you have made the laws meaningless to you. Yet the 15

laws are not meaningless, since all meaning is contained by them 16

and in them. 17

Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven, because that is where the 18

laws of God operate truly, and they can operate only truly be- 19

cause they are the laws of truth. But seek this only, because you 20

can find nothing else. There is nothing else. God is All in all in a 21

very literal sense. All being is in Him Who is all Being. You are 22

therefore in Him since your being is His. Healing is a way of 23

forgetting the sense of danger the ego has induced in you, by not 24

recognizing its existence in your brother. This strengthens the 25

Holy Spirit in both of you, because it is a refusal to acknowledge 26

fear. Love needs only this invitation. It comes freely to all the 27

Sonship, being what the Sonship is. By your awakening to it, 28

you are merely forgetting what you are not. This enables you to 29

remember what you are. 30

Healing and the Changelessness of Mind 31

The body is nothing more than a framework for developing 32

abilities, which is quite apart from what they are used for. 33

That is a decision. The effects of the ego's decision in this matter 34

are so apparent that they need no elaboration, but the Holy 35

Spirit's decision to use the body only for communication has 36

such a direct connection with healing that it does need clarifica- 37

tion. The unhealed healer obviously does not understand his 38

own vocation. 39

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Only minds communicate. Since the ego cannot obliterate the 2

impulse to communicate because it is also the impulse to create, 3

it can only teach you that the body can both communicate and 4

create, and therefore does not need the mind. The ego thus tries 5

to teach you that the body can act like the mind, and is therefore 6

self-sufficient. Yet we have learned that behavior is not the level 7

for either teaching or learning, since you can act in accordance 8

with what you do not believe. To do this, however, will weaken 9

you as a teacher and a learner because, as has been repeatedly 10

emphasized, you teach what you do believe. An inconsistent les- 11

son will be poorly taught and poorly learned. If you teach both 12

sickness and healing, you are both a poor teacher and a poor 13

learner. 14

Healing is the one ability everyone can develop and must 15

develop if he is to be healed. Healing is the Holy Spirit's form of 16

communication in this world, and the only one He accepts. He 17

recognizes no other, because He does not accept the ego's con- 18

fusion of mind and body. Minds can communicate, but they can- 19

not hurt. The body in the service of the ego can hurt other 20

bodies, but this cannot occur unless the body has already been 21

confused with the mind. This situation, too, can be used either 22

for healing or for magic, but you must remember that magic al- 23

ways involves the belief that healing is harmful. This belief is its 24

totally insane premise, and so it proceeds accordingly. 25

Healing only strengthens. Magic always tries to weaken. 26

Healing perceives nothing in the healer that everyone else does 27

not share with him. Magic always sees something "special" in 28

the healer, which he believes he can offer as a gift to someone 29

who does not have it. He may believe that the gift comes from 30

God to him, but it is quite evident that he does not understand 31

God if he thinks he has something that others lack. 32

The Holy Spirit does not work by chance, and healing that is of 33

Him always works. Unless the healer always heals by Him the 34

results will vary. Yet healing itself is consistent, since only con- 35

sistency is conflict-free, and only the conflict-free are whole. By 36

accepting exceptions and acknowledging that he can sometimes 37

heal and sometimes not, the healer is obviously accepting incon- 38

sistency. He is therefore in conflict, and is teaching conflict. Can 39

anything of God not be for all and for always? Love is incapable 40

of any exceptions. Only if there is fear does the idea of excep- 41

tions seem to be meaningful. Exceptions are fearful because they 42

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are made by fear. The "fearful healer" is a contradiction in 2

terms, and is therefore a concept that only a conflicted mind 3

could possibly perceive as meaningful. 4

Fear does not gladden. Healing does. Fear always makes ex- 5

ceptions. Healing never does. Fear produces dissociation, be- 6

cause it induces separation. Healing always produces harmony, 7

because it proceeds from integration. It is predictable because it 8

can be counted on. Everything that is of God can be counted on, 9

because everything of God is wholly real. Healing can be 10

counted on because it is inspired by His Voice, and is in accord 11

with His laws. Yet if healing is consistent it cannot be inconsis- 12

tently understood. Understanding means consistency because 13

God means consistency. Since that is His meaning, it is also 14

yours. Your meaning cannot be out of accord with His, because 15

your whole meaning and your only meaning comes from His and 16

is like His. God cannot be out of accord with Himself, and you 17

cannot be out of accord with Him. You cannot separate your 18

Self from your Creator, Who created you by sharing His Being 19

with you. 20

The unhealed healer wants gratitude from his brothers, but he 21

is not grateful to them. That is because he thinks he is giving 22

something to them, and is not receiving something equally 23

desirable in return. His teaching is limited because he is learning 24

so little. His healing lesson is limited by his own ingratitude, 25

which is a lesson in sickness. True learning is constant, and so 26

vital in its power for change that a Son of God can recognize his 27

power in one instant and change the world in the next. That is 28

because, by changing his mind, he has changed the most power- 29

ful device that was ever given him for change. This in no way 30

contradicts the changelessness of mind as God created it, but you 31

think that you have changed it as long as you learn through the 32

ego. This places you in a position of needing to learn a lesson 33

that seems contradictory; - you must learn to change your mind 34

about your mind. Only by this can you learn that it is changeless. 35

When you heal, that is exactly what you are learning. You are 36

recognizing the changeless mind in your brother by realizing that 37

he could not have changed his mind. That is how you perceive 38

the Holy Spirit in him. It is only the Holy Spirit in him that never 39

changes His Mind. He himself may think he can, or he would 40

not perceive himself as sick. He therefore does not know what 41

his Self is. If you see only the changeless in him you have not 42

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really changed him. By changing your mind about his for him, 2

you help him undo the change his ego thinks it has made in him. 3

As you can hear two voices, so you can see in two ways. One 4

way shows you an image, or an idol that you may worship out of 5

fear, but will never love. The other shows you only truth, which 6

you will love because you will understand it. Understanding is 7

appreciation, because what you understand you can identify 8

with, and by making it part of you, you have accepted it with 9

love. That is how God Himself created you; in understanding, in 10

appreciation and in love. The ego is totally unable to understand 11

this, because it does not understand what it makes, does not ap- 12

preciate it and does not love it. It incorporates to take away. It 13

literally believes that every time it deprives someone of some- 14

thing, it has increased. I have spoken often of the increase of the 15

Kingdom by your creations, which can only be created as you 16

were. The whole glory and perfect joy that is the Kingdom lies 17

in you to give. Do you not want to give it? 18

You cannot forget the Father because I am with you, and I 19

cannot forget Him. To forget me is to forget yourself and Him 20

Who created you. Our brothers are forgetful. That is why they 21

need your remembrance of me and of Him Who created me. 22

Through this remembrance, you can change their minds about 23

themselves, as I can change yours. Your mind is so powerful a 24

light that you can look into theirs and enlighten them, as I can 25

enlighten yours. I do not want to share my body in communion 26

because this is to share nothing. Would I try to share an illusion 27

with the most holy children of a most holy Father? Yet I do want 28

to share my mind with you because we are of one Mind, and that 29

Mind is ours. See only this Mind everywhere, because only this 30

is everywhere and in everything. It is everything because it en- 31

compasses all things within itself. Blessed are you who perceive 32

only this, because you perceive only what is true. 33

Come therefore unto me, and learn of the truth in you. The 34

mind we share is shared by all our brothers, and as we see 35

them truly they will be healed. Let your mind shine with mine 36

upon their minds, and by our gratitude to them make them 37

aware of the light in them. This light will shine back upon you 38

and on the whole Sonship, because this is your proper gift to 39

God. He will accept it and give it to the Sonship, because it is 40

acceptable to Him and therefore to His Sons. This is true com- 41

munion with the Holy Spirit, Who sees the altar of God in 42

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everyone, and by bringing it to your appreciation, He calls upon 2

you to love God and His creation. You can appreciate the Son- 3

ship only as one. This is part of the law of creation, and therefore 4

governs all thought. 5

From Vigilance to Peace 6

Although you can love the Sonship only as one, you can per- 7

ceive it as fragmented. It is impossible, however, to see some- 8

thing in part of it that you will not attribute to all of it. That is 9

why attack is never discrete, and why it must be relinquished 10

entirely. If it is not relinquished entirely it is not relinquished at 11

all. Fear and love make or create, depending on whether the ego 12

or the Holy Spirit begets or inspires them, but they will return to 13

the mind of the thinker and they will affect his total perception. 14

That includes his concept of God, of His creations and of his 15

own. He will not appreciate any of them if he regards them fear- 16

fully. He will appreciate all of them if he regards them with love. 17

The mind that accepts attack cannot love. That is because it 18

believes it can destroy love, and therefore does not understand 19

what love is. If it does not understand what love is, it cannot 20

perceive itself as loving. This loses the awareness of being, in- 21

duces feelings of unreality and results in utter confusion. Your 22

thinking has done this because of its power, but your thinking 23

can also save you from this because its power is not of your 24

making. Your ability to direct your thinking as you choose is 25

part of its power. If you do not believe you can do this you have 26

denied the power of your thought, and thus rendered it power- 27

less in your belief. 28

The ingeniousness of the ego to preserve itself is enormous, 29

but it stems from the very power of the mind the ego denies. 30

This means that the ego attacks what is preserving it, which 31

must result in extreme anxiety. That is why the ego never recog- 32

nizes what it is doing. It is perfectly logical but clearly insane. 33

The ego draws upon the one source that is totally inimical to its 34

existence for its existence. Fearful of perceiving the power of this 35

source, it is forced to depreciate it. This threatens its own exist- 36

ence, a state which it finds intolerable. Remaining logical but 37

still insane, the ego resolves this completely insane dilemma in a 38

completely insane way. It does not perceive its existence as 39

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threatened by projecting the threat onto you, and perceiving your 2

being as nonexistent. This ensures its continuance if you side 3

with it, by guaranteeing that you will not know your own Safety. 4

The ego cannot afford to know anything. Knowledge is total, 5

and the ego does not believe in totality. This unbelief is its origin, 6

and while the ego does not love you it is faithful to its own an- 7

tecedents, begetting as it was begotten. Mind always reproduces 8

as it was produced. Produced by fear, the ego reproduces fear. 9

This is its allegiance, and this allegiance makes it treacherous to 10

love because you are love. Love is your power, which the ego 11

must deny. It must also deny everything this power gives you 12

because it gives you everything. No one who has everything 13

wants the ego. Its own maker, then, does not want it. Rejection 14

is therefore the only decision the ego could possibly encounter, if 15

the mind that made it knew itself. And if it recognized any part 16

of the Sonship, it would know itself. 17

The ego therefore opposes all appreciation, all recognition, all 18

sane perception and all knowledge. It perceives their threat as 19

total, because it senses that all commitments the mind makes are 20

total. Forced, therefore, to detach itself from you, it is willing to 21

attach itself to anything else. But there is nothing else. The mind 22

can, however, make up illusions, and if it does so it will believe in 23

them, because that is how it made them. 24

The Holy Spirit undoes illusions without attacking them, be- 25

cause He cannot perceive them at all. They therefore do not exist 26

for Him. He resolves the apparent conflict they engender by per- 27

ceiving conflict as meaningless. I have said before that the Holy 28

Spirit perceives the conflict exactly as it is, and it is meaningless. 29

The Holy Spirit does not want you to understand conflict; He 30

wants you to realize that, because conflict is meaningless, it is not 31

understandable. As I have already said, understanding brings 32

appreciation and appreciation brings love. Nothing else can be 33

understood, because nothing else is real and therefore nothing 34

else has meaning. 35

If you will keep in mind what the Holy Spirit offers you, you 36

cannot be vigilant for anything but God and His Kingdom. The 37

only reason you may find this hard to accept is because you may 38

still think there is something else. Belief does not require 39

vigilance unless it is conflicted. If it is, there are conflicting com- 40

ponents within it that have led to a state of war, and vigilance has 41

therefore become essential. Vigilance has no place in peace. It is 42

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necessary against beliefs that are not true, and would never have 2

been called upon by the Holy Spirit if you had not believed the 3

untrue. When you believe something, you have made it true for 4

you. When you believe what God does not know, your thought 5

seems to contradict His, and this makes it appear as if you are 6

attacking Him. 7

I have repeatedly emphasized that the ego does believe it can 8

attack God, and tries to persuade you that you have done this. If 9

the mind cannot attack, the ego proceeds perfectly logically to the 10

belief that you must be a body. By not seeing you as you are, it 11

can see itself as it wants to be. Aware of its weakness the ego 12

wants your allegiance, but not as you really are. The ego there- 13

fore wants to engage your mind in its own delusional system, 14

because otherwise the light of your understanding would dispel 15

it. It wants no part of truth, because the ego itself is not true. If 16

truth is total, the untrue cannot exist. Commitment to either 17

must be total; they cannot coexist in your mind without splitting 18

it. If they cannot coexist in peace, and if you want peace, you 19

must give up the idea of conflict entirely and for all time. This 20

requires vigilance only as long as you do not recognize what is 21

true. While you believe that two totally contradictory thought 22

systems share truth, your need for vigilance is apparent. 23

Your mind is dividing its allegiance between two kingdoms, 24

and you are totally committed to neither. Your identification with 25

the Kingdom is totally beyond question except by you, when you 26

are thinking insanely. What you are is not established by your 27

perception, and is not influenced by it at all. Perceived problems 28

in identification at any level are not problems of fact. They are 29

problems of understanding, since their presence implies a belief 30

that what you are is up to you to decide. The ego believes this 31

totally, being fully committed to it. It is not true. The ego there- 32

fore is totally committed to untruth, perceiving in total contradic- 33

tion to the Holy Spirit and to the knowledge of God. 34

You can be perceived with meaning only by the Holy Spirit 35

because your being is the knowledge of God. Any belief you 36

accept apart from this will obscure God's Voice in you, and will 37

therefore obscure God to you. Unless you perceive His creation 38

truly you cannot know the Creator, since God and His creation 39

are not separate. The oneness of the Creator and the creation is 40

your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power. This 41

limitless power is God's gift to you, because it is what you are. If 42

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you dissociate your mind from it you are perceiving the most 2

powerful force in the universe as if it were weak, because you do 3

not believe you are part of it. 4

Perceived without your part in it, God's creation is seen as 5

weak, and those who see themselves as weakened do attack. The 6

attack must be blind, however, because there is nothing to attack. 7

Therefore they make up images, perceive them as unworthy and 8

attack them for their unworthiness. That is all the world of the 9

ego is. Nothing. It has no meaning. It does not exist. Do not try 10

to understand it because, if you do, you are believing that it can 11

be understood and is therefore capable of being appreciated and l 12

oved. That would justify its existence, which cannot be justified. 13

You cannot make the meaningless meaningful. This can only 14

be an insane attempt. 15

Allowing insanity to enter your mind means that you have not 16

judged sanity as wholly desirable. If you want something else 17

you will make something else, but because it is something else, it 18

will attack your thought system and divide your allegiance. You 19

cannot create in this divided state, and you must be vigilant 20

against this divided state because only peace can be extended. 21

Your divided mind is blocking the extension of the Kingdom, 22

and its extension is your joy. If you do not extend the Kingdom, 23

you are not thinking with your Creator and creating as He 24

created. 25

In this depressing state the Holy Spirit reminds you gently that 26

you are sad because you are not fulfilling your function as co- 27

creator with God, and are therefore depriving yourself of joy. 28

This is not God's choice but yours. If your mind could be out of 29

accord with God's, you would be willing without meaning. Yet 30

because God's Will is unchangeable, no conflict of will is pos- 31

sible. This is the Holy Spirit's perfectly consistent teaching. 32

Creation, not separation, is your will because it is God's, and 33

nothing that opposes this means anything at all. Being a perfect 34

accomplishment, the Sonship can only accomplish perfectly, ex- 35

tending the joy in which it was created, and identifying itself 36

with both its Creator and its creations, knowing they are one. 37

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The Totality of the Kingdom 2

Whenever you deny a blessing to a brother you will feel 3

deprived, because denial is as total as love. It is as impossible to 4

deny part of the Sonship as it is to love it in part. Nor is it pos- 5

sible to love it totally at times. You cannot be totally committed 6

sometimes. Denial has no power in itself, but you can give it the 7

power of your mind, whose power is without limit. If you use it 8

to deny reality, reality is gone for you. Reality cannot be partly 9

appreciated. That is why denying any part of it means you have 10

lost the awareness of all of it. Yet denial is a defense, and so it is 11

as capable of being used positively as well as negatively. Used 12

negatively it will be destructive, because it will be used for at- 13

tack. But in the service of the Holy Spirit, it can help you recog- 14

nize part of reality, and thus appreciate all of it. Mind is too 15

powerful to be subject to exclusion. You will never be able to 16

exclude yourself from your thoughts. 17

When a brother acts insanely, he is offering you an opportunity 18

to bless him. His need is yours. You need the blessing you can 19

offer him. There is no way for you to have it except by giving it. 20

This is the law of God, and it has no exceptions. What you deny 21

you lack, not because it is lacking, but because you have denied it 22

in another and are therefore not aware of it in yourself. Every 23

response you make is determined by what you think you are, and 24

what you want to be is what you think you are. What you want 25

to be, then, must determine every response you make. 26

You do not need God's blessing because that you have forever, 27

but you do need yours. The ego's picture of you is deprived, 28

unloving and vulnerable. You cannot love this. Yet you can very 29

easily escape from this image by leaving it behind. You are not 30

there and that is not you. Do not see this picture in anyone, or 31

you have accepted it as you. All illusions about the Sonship are 32

dispelled together as they were made together. Teach no one that 33

he is what you would not want to be. Your brother is the mirror 34

in which you see the image of yourself as long as perception 35

lasts. And perception will last until the Sonship knows itself as 36

whole. You made perception and it must last as long as you want it. 37

Illusions are investments. They will last as long as you value 38

them. Values are relative, but they are powerful because they are 39

mental judgments. The only way to dispel illusions is to 40

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withdraw all investment from them, and they will have no life 2

for you because you will have put them out of your mind. While 3

you include them in it, you are giving life to them. Except there 4

is nothing there to receive your gift. 5

The gift of life is yours to give, because it was given you. You 6

are unaware of your gift because you do not give it. You cannot 7

make nothing live, since nothing cannot be enlivened. Therefore, 8

you are not extending the gift you both have and are, and so you 9

do not know your being. All confusion comes from not extend- 10

ing life, because that is not the Will of your Creator. You can do 11

nothing apart from Him, and you do do nothing apart from Him. 12

Keep His way to remember yourself, and teach His way lest you 13

forget yourself. Give only honor to the Sons of the living God, 14

and count yourself among them gladly. 15

Only honor is a fitting gift for those whom God Himself 16

created worthy of honor, and whom He honors. Give them the 17

appreciation God accords them always, because they are His 18

beloved Sons in whom He is well pleased. You cannot be apart 19

from them because you are not apart from Him. Rest in His Love 20

and protect your rest by loving. But love everything He created, 21

of which you are a part, or you cannot learn of His peace and 22

accept His gift for yourself and as yourself. You cannot know 23

your own perfection until you have honored all those who were 24

created like you. 25

One child of God is the only teacher sufficiently worthy to 26

teach another. One Teacher is in all minds and He teaches the 27

same lesson to all. He always teaches you the inestimable worth 28

of every Son of God, teaching it with infinite patience born of the 29

infinite Love for which He speaks. Every attack is a call for His 30

patience, since His patience can translate attack into blessing. 31

Those who attack do not know they are blessed. They attack 32

because they believe they are deprived. Give, therefore, of your 33

abundance, and teach your brothers theirs. Do not share their 34

illusions of scarcity, or you will perceive yourself as lacking. 35

Attack could never promote attack unless you perceived it as a 36

means of depriving you of something you want. Yet you cannot 37

lose anything unless you do not value it, and therefore do not 38

want it. This makes you feel deprived of it, and by projecting 39

your own rejection you then believe that others are taking it from 40

you. You must be fearful if you believe that your brother is at- 41

tacking you to tear the Kingdom of Heaven from you. This is the 42

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ultimate basis for all the ego's projection. 2

Being the part of your mind that does not believe it is respon- 3

sible for itself, and being without allegiance to God, the ego is 4

incapable of trust. Projecting its insane belief that you have been 5

treacherous to your Creator, it believes that your brothers, who 6

are as incapable of this as you are, are out to take God from you. 7

Whenever a brother attacks another, that is what he believes. 8

Projection always sees your wishes in others. If you choose to 9

separate yourself from God, that is what you will think others are 10

doing to you. 11

You are the Will of God. Do not accept anything else as your 12

will, or you are denying what you are. Deny this and you will 13

attack, believing you have been attacked. But see the Love of 14

God in you, and you will see it everywhere because it is 15

everywhere. See His abundance in everyone, and you will know 16

that you are in Him with them. They are part of you, as you are 17

part of God. You are as lonely without understanding this as 18

God Himself is lonely when His Sons do not know Him. The 19

peace of God is understanding this. There is only one way out of 20

the world's thinking, just as there was only one way into it. Un- 21

derstand totally by understanding totality. 22

Perceive any part of the ego's thought system as wholly in- 23

sane, wholly delusional and wholly undesirable, and you have 24

correctly evaluated all of it. This correction enables you to per- 25

ceive any part of creation as wholly real, wholly perfect and 26

wholly desirable. Wanting this only you will have this only, and 27

giving this only you will be only this. The gifts you offer to the 28

ego are always experienced as sacrifices, but the gifts you offer to 29

the Kingdom are gifts to you. They will always be treasured by 30

God because they belong to His beloved Sons, who belong to 31

Him. All power and glory are yours because the Kingdom is His. 32

The Unbelievable Belief 33

We have said that without projection there can be no anger, but 34

it is also true that without extension there can be no love. These 35

reflect a fundamental law of the mind, and therefore one that 36

always operates. It is the law by which you create and were 37

created. It is the law that unifies the Kingdom, and keeps it in 38

the Mind of God. To the ego, the law is perceived as a means of 39

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getting rid of something it does not want. To the Holy Spirit, it is 2

the fundamental law of sharing, by which you give what you 3

value in order to keep it in your mind. To the Holy Spirit it is the 4

law of extension. To the ego it is the law of deprivation. It there- 5

fore produces abundance or scarcity, depending on how you 6

choose to apply it. This choice is up to you, but it is not up to 7

you to decide whether or not you will utilize the law. Every 8

mind must project or extend, because that is how it lives, and 9

every mind is life. 10

The ego's use of projection must be fully understood before the 11

inevitable association between projection and anger can be final- 12

ly undone. The ego always tries to preserve conflict. It is very 13

ingenious in devising ways that seem to diminish conflict, be- 14

cause it does not want you to find conflict so intolerable that you 15

will insist on giving it up. The ego therefore tries to persuade 16

you that it can free you of conflict, lest you give the ego up and 17

free yourself. Using its own warped version of the laws of God, 18

the ego utilizes the power of the mind only to defeat the mind's 19

real purpose. It projects conflict from your mind to other minds, 20

in an attempt to persuade you that you have gotten rid of the 21

problem. 22

There are two major errors involved in this attempt. First, 23

strictly speaking, conflict cannot be projected because it cannot 24

be shared. Any attempt to keep part of it and get rid of another 25

part does not really mean anything. Remember that a conflicted 26

teacher is a poor teacher and a poor learner. His lessons are con- 27

fused, and their transfer value is limited by his confusion. The 28

second error is the idea that you can get rid of something you do 29

not want by giving it away. Giving it is how you keep it. The 30

belief that by seeing it outside you have excluded it from within 31

is a complete distortion of the power of extension. That is why 32

those who project are vigilant for their own safety. They are 33

afraid that their projections will return and hurt them. Believing 34

they have blotted their projections from their own minds, they 35

also believe their projections are trying to creep back in. Since 36

the projections have not left their minds, they are forced to 37

engage in constant activity in order not to recognize this. 38

You cannot perpetuate an illusion about another without per- 39

petuating it about yourself. There is no way out of this, because 40

it is impossible to fragment the mind. To fragment is to break 41

into pieces, and mind cannot attack or be attacked. The belief 42

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that it can, an error the ego always makes, underlies its whole use 2

of projection. It does not understand what mind is, and therefore 3

does not understand what you are. Yet its existence is dependent 4

on your mind, because the ego is your belief. The ego is a con- 5

fusion in identification. Never having had a consistent model, it 6

never developed consistently. It is the product of the misapplica- 7

tion of the laws of God by distorted minds that are misusing their 8

power. 9

Do not be afraid of the ego. It depends on your mind, and as you 10

made it by believing in it, so you can dispel it by withdrawing 11

belief from it. Do not project the responsibility for your belief in 12

it onto anyone else, or you will preserve the belief. When you are 13

willing to accept sole responsibility for the ego's existence you 14

will have laid aside all anger and all attack, because they come 15

from an attempt to project responsibility for your own errors. 16

But having accepted the errors as yours, do not keep them. Give 17

them over quickly to the Holy Spirit to be undone completely, so 18

that all their effects will vanish from your mind and from the 19

Sonship as a whole. 20

The Holy Spirit will teach you to perceive beyond your belief, 21

because truth is beyond belief and His perception is true. The 22

ego can be completely forgotten at any time, because it is a totally 23

incredible belief, and no one can keep a belief he has judged to be 24

unbelievable. The more you learn about the ego, the more you 25

realize that it cannot be believed. The incredible cannot be un- 26

derstood because it is unbelievable. The meaninglessness of per- 27

ception based on the unbelievable is apparent, but it may not be 28

recognized as being beyond belief, because it is made by belief. 29

The whole purpose of this course is to teach you that the ego is 30

unbelievable and will forever be unbelievable. You who made 31

the ego by believing the unbelievable cannot make this judgment 32

alone. By accepting the Atonement for yourself, you are decid- 33

ing against the belief that you can be alone, thus dispelling the 34

idea of separation and affirming your true identification with the 35

whole Kingdom as literally part of you. This identification is as 36

beyond doubt as it is beyond belief. Your wholeness has no 37

limits because being is infinity. 38

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The Extension of the Kingdom 2

Only you can limit your creative power, but God wills to 3

release it. He no more wills you to deprive yourself of your crea- 4

tions than He wills to deprive Himself of His. Do not withhold 5

your gifts to the Sonship, or you withhold yourself from God! 6

Selfishness is of the ego, but Self-fullness is of spirit because that 7

is how God created it. The Holy Spirit is in the part of the mind 8

that lies between the ego and the spirit, mediating between them 9

always in favor of the spirit. To the ego this is partiality, and it 10

responds as if it were being sided against. To spirit this is truth, 11

because it knows its fullness and cannot conceive of any part 12

from which it is excluded. 13

Spirit knows that the awareness of all its brothers is included 14

in its own, as it is included in God. The power of the whole 15

Sonship and of its Creator is therefore spirit's own fullness, 16

rendering its creations equally whole and equal in perfection. 17

The ego cannot prevail against a totality that includes God, and 18

any totality must include God. Everything He created is given all 19

His power, because it is part of Him and shares His Being with 20

Him. Creating is the opposite of loss, as blessing is the opposite 21

of sacrifice. Being must be extended. That is how it retains the 22

knowledge of itself. Spirit yearns to share its being as its Creator 23

did. Created by sharing, its will is to create. It does not wish to 24

contain God, but wills to extend His Being. 25

The extension of God's Being is spirit's only function. Its full- 26

ness cannot be contained, any more than can the fullness of its 27

Creator. Fullness is extension. The ego's whole thought system 28

blocks extension, and thus blocks your only function. It 29

therefore blocks your joy, so that you perceive yourself as unful- 30

filled. Unless you create you are unfulfilled, but God does not 31

know unfulfillment and therefore you must create. You may not 32

know your own creations, but this can no more interfere with 33

their reality than your unawareness of your spirit can interfere 34

with its being. 35

The Kingdom is forever extending because it is in the Mind of 36

God. You do not know your joy because you do not know your 37

own Self-fullness. Exclude any part of the Kingdom from your- 38

self and you are not whole. A split mind cannot perceive its full- 39

ness, and needs the miracle of its wholeness to dawn upon it and 40

heal it. This reawakens the wholeness in it, and restores it to the 41

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Kingdom because of its acceptance of wholeness. The full ap- 2

preciation of the mind's Self-fullness makes selfishness impos- 3

sible and extension inevitable. That is why there is perfect peace 4

in the Kingdom. Spirit is fulfilling its function, and only com- 5

plete fulfillment is peace. 6

Your creations are protected for you because the Holy Spirit, 7

Who is in your mind, knows of them and can bring them into 8

your awareness whenever you will let Him. They are there as 9

part of your own being, because your fulfillment includes them. 10

The creations of every Son of God are yours, since every creation 11

belongs to everyone, being created for the Sonship as a whole. 12

You have not failed to increase the inheritance of the Sons of 13

God, and thus have not failed to secure it for yourself. Since it 14

was the Will of God to give it to you, He gave it forever. Since it 15

was His Will that you have it forever, He gave you the means for 16

keeping it. And you have done so. Disobeying God's Will is mean- 17

ingful only to the insane. In truth it is impossible. Your Self-full- 18

ness is as boundless as God's. Like His, It extends forever and in 19

perfect peace. Its radiance is so intense that It creates in perfect 20

joy, and only the whole can be born of Its wholeness. 21

Be confident that you have never lost your Identity and the 22

extensions which maintain It in wholeness and peace. Miracles 23

are an expression of this confidence. They are reflections of both 24

your proper identification with your brothers, and of your 25

awareness that your identification is maintained by extension. 26

The miracle is a lesson in total perception. By including any 27

part of totality in the lesson, you have included the whole. 28

The Confusion of Pain and Joy 29

The Kingdom is the result of premises, just as this world is. 30

You may have carried the ego's reasoning to its logical con- 31

clusion, which is total confusion about everything. If you really 32

saw this result you could not want it. The only reason you could 33

possibly want any part of it is because you do not see the whole 34

of it. You are willing to look at the ego's premises, but not at 35

their logical outcome. Is it not possible that you have done the 36

same thing with the premises of God? Your creations are the 37

logical outcome of His premises. His thinking has established 38

them for you. They are exactly where they belong. They belong 39

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in your mind as part of your identification with His, but your 2

state of mind and your recognition of what is in it depend on 3

what you believe about your mind. Whatever these beliefs may 4

be, they are the premises that will determine what you accept 5

into your mind. 6

It is surely clear that you can both accept into your mind what 7

is not there, and deny what is. Yet the function God Himself 8

gave your mind through His you may deny, but you cannot 9

prevent. It is the logical outcome of what you are. The ability to 10

see a logical outcome depends on the willingness to see it, but its 11

truth has nothing to do with your willingness. Truth is God's 12

Will. Share His Will and you share what He knows. Deny His 13

Will as yours, and you are denying His Kingdom and yours. 14

The Holy Spirit will direct you only so as to avoid pain. Surely 15

no one would object to this goal if he recognized it. The problem 16

is not whether what the Holy Spirit says is true, but whether you 17

want to listen to what He says. You no more recognize what is 18

painful than you know what is joyful, and are, in fact, very apt to 19

confuse the two. The Holy Spirit's main function is to teach you 20

to tell them apart. What is joyful to you is painful to the ego, and 21

as long as you are in doubt about what you are, you will be con- 22

fused about joy and pain. This confusion is the cause of the 23

whole idea of sacrifice. Obey the Holy Spirit, and you will be 24

giving up the ego. But you will be sacrificing nothing. On the 25

contrary, you will be gaining everything. If you believed this, 26

there would be no conflict. 27

That is why you need to demonstrate the obvious to yourself. 28

It is not obvious to you. You believe that doing the opposite of 29

God's Will can be better for you. You also believe that it is pos- 30

sible to do the opposite of God's Will. Therefore, you believe that 31

an impossible choice is open to you, and one which is both fear- 32

ful and desirable. Yet God wills. He does not wish. Your will is 33

as powerful as His because it is His. The ego's wishes do not 34

mean anything, because the ego wishes for the impossible. You 35

can wish for the impossible, but you can will only with God. 36

This is the ego's weakness and your strength. 37

The Holy Spirit always sides with you and with your strength. 38

As long as you avoid His guidance in any way, you want to be 39

weak. Yet weakness is frightening. What else, then, can this 40

decision mean except that you want to be fearful? The Holy 41

Spirit never asks for sacrifice, but the ego always does. When 42

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you are confused about this distinction in motivation, it can only 2

be due to projection. Projection is a confusion in motivation, and 3

given this confusion, trust becomes impossible. No one gladly 4

obeys a guide he does not trust, but this does not mean that the 5

guide is untrustworthy. In this case, it always means that the 6

follower is. However, this, too, is merely a matter of his own 7

belief. Believing that he can betray, he believes that everything 8

can betray him. Yet this is only because he has elected to follow 9

false guidance. Unable to follow this guidance without fear, he 10

associates fear with guidance, and refuses to follow any guidance 11

at all. If the result of this decision is confusion, this is hardly 12

surprising. 13

The Holy Spirit is perfectly trustworthy, as you are. God Him- 14

self trusts you, and therefore your trustworthiness is beyond 15

question. It will always remain beyond question, however much 16

you may question it. I said before that you are the Will of God. 17

His Will is not an idle wish, and your identification with His 18

Will is not optional, since it is what you are. Sharing His Will 19

with me is not really open to choice, though it may seem to be. 20

The whole separation lies in this error. The only way out of the 21

error is to decide that you do not have to decide anything. 22

Everything has been given you by God's decision. That is His 23

Will, and you cannot undo it. 24

Even the relinquishment of your false decision-making 25

prerogative, which the ego guards so jealously, is not ac- 26

complished by your wish. It was accomplished for you by the 27

Will of God, Who has not left you comfortless. His Voice will 28

teach you how to distinguish between pain and joy, and will lead 29

you out of the confusion you have made. There is no confusion 30

in the mind of a Son of God, whose will must be the Will of the 31

Father, because the Father's Will is His Son. 32

Miracles are in accord with the Will of God, Whose Will you do 33

not know because you are confused about what you will. This 34

means that you are confused about what you are. If you are 35

God's Will and do not accept His Will, you are denying joy. The 36

miracle is therefore a lesson in what joy is. Being a lesson in 37

sharing it is a lesson in love, which is joy. Every miracle is thus a 38

lesson in truth, and by offering truth you are learning the dif- 39

ference between pain and joy. 40

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The State of Grace 2

The Holy Spirit will always guide you truly, because your joy 3

is His. This is His Will for everyone because He speaks for the 4

Kingdom of God, which is joy. Following Him is therefore the 5

easiest thing in the world, and the only thing that is easy, because 6

it is not of the world. It is therefore natural. The world goes 7

against your nature, being out of accord with God's laws. The 8

world perceives orders of difficulty in everything. This is be- 9

cause the ego perceives nothing as wholly desirable. By 10

demonstrating to yourself there is no order of difficulty in 11

miracles, you will convince yourself that, in your natural state, 12

there is no difficulty at all because it is a state of grace. 13

Grace is the natural state of every Son of God. When he is not 14

in a state of grace, he is out of his natural environment and does 15

not function well. Everything he does becomes a strain, because 16

he was not created for the environment that he has made. He 17

therefore cannot adapt to it, nor can he adapt it to him. There is 18

no point in trying. A Son of God is happy only when he knows 19

he is with God. That is the only environment in which he will 20

not experience strain, because that is where he belongs. It is also 21

the only environment that is worthy of him, because his own 22

worth is beyond anything he can make. 23

Consider the kingdom you have made and judge its worth 24

fairly. Is it worthy to be a home for a child of God? Does it 25

protect his peace and shine love upon him? Does it keep his 26

heart untouched by fear, and allow him to give always, without 27

any sense of loss? Does it teach him that this giving is his joy, 28

and that God Himself thanks him for his giving? That is the only 29

environment in which you can be happy. You cannot make it, 30

any more than you can make yourself. It has been created for 31

you, as you were created for it. God watches over His children 32

and denies them nothing. Yet when they deny Him they do not 33

know this, because they deny themselves everything. You who 34

could give the Love of God to everything you see and touch and 35

remember, are literally denying Heaven to yourself. 36

I call upon you to remember that I have chosen you to teach 37

the Kingdom to the Kingdom. There are no exceptions to this 38

lesson, because the lack of exceptions is the lesson. Every Son 39

who returns to the Kingdom with this lesson in his heart has 40

healed the Sonship and given thanks to God. Everyone who 41

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learns this lesson has become the perfect teacher, because he has 2

learned it of the Holy Spirit. 3

When a mind has only light, it knows only light. Its own 4

radiance shines all around it, and extends out into the darkness 5

of other minds, transforming them into majesty. The Majesty of 6

God is there, for you to recognize and appreciate and know. 7

Recognizing the Majesty of God as your brother is to accept your 8

own inheritance. God gives only equally. If you recognize His 9

gift in anyone, you have acknowledged what He has given you. 10

Nothing is so easy to recognize as truth. This is the recognition 11

that is immediate, clear and natural. You have trained yourself 12

not to recognize it, and this has been very difficult for you. 13

Out of your natural environment you may well ask, "What is 14

truth?" since truth is the environment by which and for which 15

you were created. You do not know yourself, because you do not 16

know your Creator. You do not know your creations because 17

you do not know your brothers, who created them with you. I 18

have already said that only the whole Sonship is worthy to be 19

co-creator with God, because only the whole Sonship can create 20

like Him. Whenever you heal a brother by recognizing his 21

worth, you are acknowledging his power to create and yours. 22

He cannot have lost what you recognize, and you must have the 23

glory you see in him. He is a co-creator with God with you. 24

Deny his creative power, and you are denying yours and that of 25

God Who created you. 26

You cannot deny part of truth. You do not know your crea- 27

tions because you do not know their creator. You do not know 28

yourself because you do not know yours. Your creations cannot 29

establish your reality, any more than you can establish God's. 30

But you can know both. Being is known by sharing. Because 31

God shared His Being with you, you can know Him. But you 32

must also know all He created, to know what they have shared. 33

Without your Father you will not know your fatherhood. The 34

Kingdom of God includes all His Sons and their children, who 35

are as like the Sons as they are like the Father. Know, then, the 36

Sons of God, and you will know all creation. 37

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Chapter 8 2

THE JOURNEY BACK 3

The Direction of the Curriculum 4

Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. 5

Peace is. This is the prerequisite for knowledge only because 6

those who are in conflict are not peaceful, and peace is the condi- 7

tion of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom. 8

Knowledge can be restored only when you meet its conditions. 9

This is not a bargain made by God, Who makes no bargains. It 10

is merely the result of your misuse of His laws on behalf of an 11

imaginary will that is not His. Knowledge is His Will. If you are 12

opposing His Will, how can you have knowledge? I have told 13

you what knowledge offers you, but perhaps you do not yet 14

regard this as wholly desirable. If you did you would not be so 15

ready to throw it away when the ego asks for your allegiance. 16

The distractions of the ego may seem to interfere with your 17

learning, but the ego has no power to distract you unless you 18

give it the power to do so. The ego's voice is an hallucination. 19

You cannot expect it to say "I am not real." Yet you are not 20

asked to dispel your hallucinations alone. You are merely asked 21

to evaluate them in terms of their results to you. If you do not 22

want them on the basis of loss of peace, they will be removed 23

from your mind for you. 24

Every response to the ego is a call to war, and war does 25

deprive you of peace. Yet in this war there is no opponent. This 26

is the reinterpretation of reality that you must make to secure 27

peace, and the only one you need ever make. Those whom you 28

perceive as opponents are part of your peace, which you are 29

giving up by attacking them. How can you have what you give 30

up? You share to have, but you do not give it up yourself. When 31

you give up peace, you are excluding yourself from it. This is a 32

condition so alien to the Kingdom that you cannot understand 33

the state that prevails within it. 34

Your past learning must have taught you the wrong things, 35

simply because it has not made you happy. On this basis alone 36

its value should be questioned. If learning aims at change, and 37

that is always its purpose, are you satisfied with the changes 38

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your learning has brought you? Dissatisfaction with learning 2

outcomes is a sign of learning failure, since it means that you did 3

not get what you wanted. 4

The curriculum of the Atonement is the opposite of the cur- 5

riculum you have established for yourself, but so is its outcome. 6

If the outcome of yours has made you unhappy, and if you want 7

a different one, a change in the curriculum is obviously neces- 8

sary. The first change to be introduced is a change in direction. 9

A meaningful curriculum cannot be inconsistent. If it is planned 10

by two teachers, each believing in diametrically opposed ideas, it 11

cannot be integrated. If it is carried out by these two teachers 12

simultaneously, each one merely interferes with the other. This 13

leads to fluctuation, but not to change. The volatile have no 14

direction. They cannot choose one because they cannot relin- 15

quish the other, even if it does not exist. Their conflicted cur- 16

riculum teaches them that all directions exist, and gives them no 17

rationale for choice. 18

The total senselessness of such a curriculum must be fully 19

recognized before a real change in direction becomes possible. 20

You cannot learn simultaneously from two teachers who are in 21

total disagreement about everything. Their joint curriculum 22

presents an impossible learning task. They are teaching you en- 23

tirely different things in entirely different ways, which might be 24

possible except that both are teaching you about yourself. Your 25

reality is unaffected by both, but if you listen to both, your mind 26

will be split about what your reality is. 27

The Difference between Imprisonment and Freedom 28

There is a rationale for choice. Only one Teacher knows what 29

your reality is. If learning to remove the obstacles to that 30

knowledge is the purpose of the curriculum, you must learn it of 31

Him. The ego does not know what it is trying to teach. It is 32

trying to teach you what you are without knowing what you are. 33

It is expert only in confusion. It does not understand anything 34

else. As a teacher, then, the ego is totally confused and totally 35

confusing. Even if you could disregard the Holy Spirit entirely, 36

which is impossible, you could still learn nothing from the ego, 37

because the ego knows nothing. 38

Is there any possible reason for choosing a teacher such as this? 39

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Does the total disregard of anything it teaches make anything 2

but sense? Is this the teacher to whom a Son of God should turn 3

to find himself? The ego has never given you a sensible answer 4

to anything. Simply on the grounds of your own experience 5

with its teaching, should not this alone disqualify it as your fu- 6

ture teacher? Yet the ego has done more harm to your learning 7

than this alone. Learning is joyful if it leads you along your 8

natural path, and facilitates the development of what you have. 9

When you are taught against your nature, however, you will 10

lose by your learning because your learning will imprison you. 11

Your will is in your nature, and therefore cannot go against it. 12

The ego cannot teach you anything as long as your will is free, 13

because you will not listen to it. It is not your will to be im- 14

prisoned because your will is free. That is why the ego is the 15

denial of free will. It is never God Who coerces you, because He 16

shares His Will with you. His Voice teaches only in accordance 17

with His Will, but that is not the Holy Spirit's lesson because that 18

is what you are. The lesson is that your will and God's cannot be 19

out of accord because they are one. This is the undoing of every- 20

thing the ego tries to teach. It is not, then, only the direction of 21

the curriculum that must be unconflicted, but also the content. 22

The ego tries to teach that you want to oppose God's Will. 23

This unnatural lesson cannot be learned, and the attempt to 24

learn it is a violation of your own freedom, making you afraid of 25

your will because it is free. The Holy Spirit opposes any im- 26

prisoning of the will of a Son of God, knowing that the will of the 27

Son is the Father's. The Holy Spirit leads you steadily along the 28

path of freedom, teaching you how to disregard or look beyond 29

everything that would hold you back. 30

We have said that the Holy Spirit teaches you the difference 31

between pain and joy. That is the same as saying He teaches you 32

the difference between imprisonment and freedom. You cannot 33

make this distinction without Him because you have taught 34

yourself that imprisonment is freedom. Believing them to be the 35

same, how can you tell them apart? Can you ask the part of your 36

mind that taught you to believe they are the same, to teach you 37

how they are different? 38

The Holy Spirit's teaching takes only one direction and has 39

only one goal. His direction is freedom and His goal is God. Yet 40

He cannot conceive of God without you, because it is not God's 41

Will to be without you. When you have learned that your will is 42

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God's, you could no more will to be without Him than He could 2

will to be without you. This is freedom and this is joy. Deny 3

yourself this and you are denying God His Kingdom, because He 4

created you for this. 5

When I said, "All power and glory are yours because the 6

Kingdom is His," this is what I meant: The Will of God is without 7

limit, and all power and glory lie within it. It is boundless in 8

strength and in love and in peace. It has no boundaries because 9

its extension is unlimited, and it encompasses all things because 10

it created all things. By creating all things, it made them part of 11

itself. You are the Will of God because that is how you were 12

created. Because your Creator creates only like Himself, you are 13

like Him. You are part of Him Who is all power and glory, and 14

are therefore as unlimited as He is. 15

To what else except all power and glory can the Holy Spirit 16

appeal to restore God's Kingdom? His appeal, then, is merely to 17

what the Kingdom is, and for its own acknowledgment of what it 18

is. When you acknowledge this you bring the acknowledgment 19

automatically to everyone, because you have acknowledged 20

everyone. By your recognition you awaken theirs, and through 21

theirs yours is extended. Awakening runs easily and gladly 22

through the Kingdom, in answer to the Call for God. This is the 23

natural response of every Son of God to the Voice for his Creator, 24

because It is the Voice for his creations and for his own extension. 25

The Holy Encounter 26

Glory to God in the highest, and to you because He has so 27

willed it. Ask and it shall be given you, because it has already 28

been given. Ask for light and learn that you are light. If you want 29

understanding and enlightenment you will learn it, because your 30

decision to learn it is the decision to listen to the Teacher Who 31

knows of light, and can therefore teach it to you. There is no 32

limit on your learning because there is no limit on your mind. 33

There is no limit on His teaching because He was created to 34

teach. Understanding His function perfectly He fulfills it per- 35

fectly, because that is His joy and yours. 36

To fulfill the Will of God perfectly is the only joy and peace 37

that can be fully known, because it is the only function that can 38

be fully experienced. When this is accomplished, then, there is 39

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no other experience. Yet the wish for other experience will block 2

its accomplishment, because God's Will cannot be forced upon 3

you, being an experience of total willingness. The Holy Spirit 4

understands how to teach this, but you do not. That is why you 5

need Him, and why God gave Him to you. Only His teaching 6

will release your will to God's, uniting it with His power and 7

glory and establishing them as yours. You share them as God 8

shares them, because this is the natural outcome of their being. 9

The Will of the Father and of the Son are one, by Their exten- 10

sion. Their extension is the result of Their oneness, holding Their 11

unity together by extending Their joint Will. This is perfect crea- 12

tion by the perfectly created, in union with the Perfect Creator. 13

The Father must give fatherhood to His Son, because His Own 14

Fatherhood must be extended outward. You who belong in God 15

have the holy function of extending His Fatherhood by placing 16

no limits upon it. Let the Holy Spirit teach you how to do this, 17

for you can know what it means only of God Himself. 18

When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As 19

you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you will 20

treat yourself. As you think of him you will think of yourself. 21

Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose your- 22

self. Whenever two Sons of God meet, they are given another 23

chance at salvation. Do not leave anyone without giving salva- 24

tion to him and receiving it yourself. For I am always there with 25

you, in remembrance of you. 26

The goal of the curriculum, regardless of the teacher you 27

choose, is "Know thyself." There is nothing else to seek. 28

Everyone is looking for himself and for the power and glory he 29

thinks he has lost. Whenever you are with anyone, you have 30

another opportunity to find them. Your power and glory are in 31

him because they are yours. The ego tries to find them in your- 32

self alone, because it does not know where to look. The Holy 33

Spirit teaches you that if you look only at yourself you cannot 34

find yourself, because that is not what you are. Whenever you 35

are with a brother, you are learning what you are because you are 36

teaching what you are. He will respond either with pain or with 37

joy, depending on which teacher you are following. He will be 38

imprisoned or released according to your decision, and so will 39

you. Never forget your responsibility to him, because it is your 40

responsibility to yourself. Give him his place in the Kingdom 41

and you will have yours. 42

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The Kingdom cannot be found alone, and you who are the 2

Kingdom cannot find yourself alone. To achieve the goal of the 3

curriculum, then, you cannot listen to the ego, whose purpose is 4

to defeat its own goal. The ego does not know this, because it 5

does not know anything. But you can know it, and you will 6

know it if you are willing to look at what the ego would make of 7

you. This is your responsibility, because once you have really 8

looked at it you will accept the Atonement for yourself. What 9

other choice could you make? Having made this choice you will 10

understand why you once believed that, when you met someone 11

else, you thought he was someone else. And every holy en- 12

counter in which you enter fully will teach you this is not so. 13

You can encounter only part of yourself because you are part 14

of God, Who is everything. His power and glory are every- 15

where, and you cannot be excluded from them. The ego teaches 16

that your strength is in you alone. The Holy Spirit teaches that 17

all strength is in God and therefore in you. God wills no one suf- 18

fer. He does not will anyone to suffer for a wrong decision, 19

including you. That is why He has given you the means for un- 20

doing it. Through His power and glory all your wrong decisions 21

are undone completely, releasing you and your brother from 22

every imprisoning thought any part of the Sonship holds. Wrong 23

decisions have no power, because they are not true. The im- 24

prisonment they seem to produce is no more true than they are. 25

Power and glory belong to God alone. So do you. God gives 26

whatever belongs to Him because He gives of Himself, and 27

everything belongs to Him. Giving of yourself is the function He 28

gave you. Fulfilling it perfectly will let you remember what you 29

have of Him, and by this you will remember also what you are in 30

Him. You cannot be powerless to do this, because this is your 31

power. Glory is God's gift to you, because that is what He is. See 32

this glory everywhere to remember what you are. 33

The Gift of Freedom 34

If God's Will for you is complete peace and joy, unless you 35

experience only this you must be refusing to acknowledge His 36

Will. His Will does not vacillate, being changeless forever. 37

When you are not at peace it can only be because you do not 38

believe you are in Him. Yet He is All in all. His peace is com- 39

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plete, and you must be included in it. His laws govern you be- 2

cause they govern everything. You cannot exempt yourself from 3

His laws, although you can disobey them. Yet if you do, and 4

only if you do, you will feel lonely and helpless, because you are 5

denying yourself everything. 6

I am come as a light into a world that does deny itself every- 7

thing. It does this simply by dissociating itself from everything. 8

It is therefore an illusion of isolation, maintained by fear of the 9

same loneliness that is its illusion. I said that I am with you al- 10

ways, even unto the end of the world. That is why I am the light 11

of the world. If I am with you in the loneliness of the world, the 12

loneliness is gone. You cannot maintain the illusion of loneliness 13

if you are not alone. My purpose, then, is still to overcome the 14

world. I do not attack it, but my light must dispel it because of 15

what it is. Light does not attack darkness, but it does shine it 16

away. If my light goes with you everywhere, you shine it away 17

with me. The light becomes ours, and you cannot abide in dark- 18

ness any more than darkness can abide wherever you go. The 19

remembrance of me is the remembrance of yourself, and of Him 20

Who sent me to you. 21

You were in darkness until God's Will was done completely by 22

any part of the Sonship. When this was done, it was perfectly 23

accomplished by all. How else could it be perfectly ac- 24

complished? My mission was simply to unite the will of the Son- 25

ship with the Will of the Father by being aware of the Father's 26

Will myself. This is the awareness I came to give you, and your 27

problem in accepting it is the problem of this world. Dispelling it 28

is salvation, and in this sense I am the salvation of the world. The 29

world must therefore despise and reject me, because the world is 30

the belief that love is impossible. If you will accept the fact that I 31

am with you, you are denying the world and accepting God. My 32

will is His, and your decision to hear me is the decision to hear 33

His Voice and abide in His Will. As God sent me to you so will I 34

send you to others. And I will go to them with you, so we can 35

teach them peace and union. 36

Do you not think the world needs peace as much as you do? 37

Do you not want to give it to the world as much as you want to 38

receive it? For unless you do, you will not receive it. If you want 39

to have it of me, you must give it. Healing does not come from 40

anyone else. You must accept guidance from within. The 41

guidance must be what you want, or it will be meaningless to 42

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you. That is why healing is a collaborative venture. I can tell 2

you what to do, but you must collaborate by believing that I 3

know what you should do. Only then will your mind choose to 4

follow me. Without this choice you could not be healed because 5

you would have decided against healing, and this rejection of my 6

decision for you makes healing impossible. 7

Healing reflects our joint will. This is obvious when you con- 8

sider what healing is for. Healing is the way in which the separa- 9

tion is overcome. Separation is overcome by union. It cannot be 10

overcome by separating. The decision to unite must be un- 11

equivocal, or the mind itself is divided and not whole. Your 12

mind is the means by which you determine your own condition, 13

because mind is the mechanism of decision. It is the power by 14

which you separate or join, and experience pain or joy according- 15

ly. My decision cannot overcome yours, because yours is as 16

powerful as mine. If it were not so the Sons of God would be 17

unequal. All things are possible through our joint decision, but 18

mine alone cannot help you. Your will is as free as mine, and 19

God Himself would not go against it. I cannot will what God 20

does not will. I can offer my strength to make yours invincible, 21

but I cannot oppose your decision without competing with it and 22

thereby violating God's Will for you. 23

Nothing God created can oppose your decision, as nothing 24

God created can oppose His Will. God gave your will its power, 25

which I can only acknowledge in honor of His. If you want to be 26

like me I will help you, knowing that we are alike. If you want to 27

be different, I will wait until you change your mind. I can teach 28

you, but only you can choose to listen to my teaching. How else 29

can it be, if God's Kingdom is freedom? Freedom cannot be 30

learned by tyranny of any kind, and the perfect equality of all 31

God's Sons cannot be recognized through the dominion of one 32

mind over another. God's Sons are equal in will, all being the 33

Will of their Father. This is the only lesson I came to teach. 34

If your will were not mine it would not be our Father's. This 35

would mean you have imprisoned yours, and have not let it be 36

free. Of yourself you can do nothing, because of yourself you are 37

nothing. I am nothing without the Father and you are nothing 38

without me, because by denying the Father you deny yourself. I 39

will always remember you, and in my remembrance of you lies 40

your remembrance of yourself. In our remembrance of each 41

other lies our remembrance of God. And in this remembrance 42

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lies your freedom because your freedom is in Him. Join, then, 2

with me in praise of Him and you whom He created. This is our 3

gift of gratitude to Him, which He will share with all His crea- 4

tions, to whom He gives equally whatever is acceptable to Him. 5

Because it is acceptable to Him it is the gift of freedom, which is 6

His Will for all His Sons. By offering freedom you will be free. 7

Freedom is the only gift you can offer to God's Sons, being an 8

acknowledgment of what they are and what He is. Freedom is 9

creation, because it is love. Whom you seek to imprison you do 10

not love. Therefore, when you seek to imprison anyone, in- 11

cluding yourself, you do not love him and you cannot identify 12

with him. When you imprison yourself you are losing sight of 13

your true identification with me and with the Father. Your iden- 14

tification is with the Father and with the Son. It cannot be with 15

one and not the other. If you are part of one you must be part 16

of the other, because they are one. The Holy Trinity is holy 17

because It is One. If you exclude yourself from this union, you 18

are perceiving the Holy Trinity as separated. You must be in- 19

cluded in It, because It is everything. Unless you take your 20

place in It and fulfill your function as part of It, the Holy Trinity 21

is as bereft as you are. No part of It can be imprisoned if Its 22

truth is to be known. 23

The Undivided Will of the Sonship 24

Can you be separated from your identification and be at 25

peace? Dissociation is not a solution; it is a delusion. The 26

delusional believe that truth will assail them, and they do not 27

recognize it because they prefer the delusion. Judging truth as 28

something they do not want, they perceive their illusions which 29

block knowledge. Help them by offering them your unified 30

mind on their behalf, as I am offering you mine on behalf of 31

yours. Alone we can do nothing, but together our minds fuse 32

into something whose power is far beyond the power of its 33

separate parts. By not being separate, the Mind of God is estab- 34

lished in ours and as ours. This Mind is invincible because it is 35

undivided. 36

The undivided will of the Sonship is the perfect creator, being 37

wholly in the likeness of God, Whose Will it is. You cannot be 38

exempt from it if you are to understand what it is and what you 39

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are. By the belief that your will is separate from mine, you are 2

exempting yourself from the Will of God which is yourself. Yet to 3

heal is still to make whole. Therefore, to heal is to unite with 4

those who are like you, because perceiving this likeness is to 5

recognize the Father. If your perfection is in Him and only in 6

Him, how can you know it without recognizing Him? The 7

recognition of God is the recognition of yourself. There is no 8

separation of God and His creation. You will realize this when 9

you understand that there is no separation between your will 10

and mine. Let the Love of God shine upon you by your accept- 11

ance of me. My reality is yours and His. By joining your mind 12

with mine you are signifying your awareness that the Will of 13

God is one. 14

God's Oneness and ours are not separate, because His Oneness 15

encompasses ours. To join with me is to restore His power to you 16

because we are sharing it. I offer you only the recognition of His 17

power in you, but in that lies all truth. As we unite, we unite 18

with Him. Glory be to the union of God and His holy Sons! All 19

glory lies in them because they are united. The miracles we do 20

bear witness to the Will of the Father for His Son, and to our joy 21

in uniting with His Will for us. 22

When you unite with me you are uniting without the ego, be- 23

cause I have renounced the ego in myself and therefore cannot 24

unite with yours. Our union is therefore the way to renounce the 25

ego in you. The truth in both of us is beyond the ego. Our suc- 26

cess in transcending the ego is guaranteed by God, and I share 27

this confidence for both of us and all of us. I bring God's peace 28

back to all His children because I received it of Him for us all. 29

Nothing can prevail against our united wills because nothing 30

can prevail against God's. 31

Would you know the Will of God for you? Ask it of me who 32

know it for you and you will find it. I will deny you nothing, as 33

God denies me nothing. Ours is simply the journey back to God 34

Who is our home. Whenever fear intrudes anywhere along the 35

road to peace, it is because the ego has attempted to join the 36

journey with us and cannot do so. Sensing defeat and angered 37

by it, the ego regards itself as rejected and becomes retaliative. 38

You are invulnerable to its retaliation because I am with you. 39

On this journey you have chosen me as your companion instead 40

of the ego. Do not attempt to hold on to both, or you will try to 41

go in different directions and will lose the way. 42

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The ego's way is not mine, but it is also not yours. The Holy 2

Spirit has one direction for all minds, and the one He taught me 3

is yours. Let us not lose sight of His direction through illusions, 4

for only illusions of another direction can obscure the one for 5

which God's Voice speaks in all of us. Never accord the ego the 6

power to interfere with the journey. It has none, because the 7

journey is the way to what is true. Leave all illusions behind, 8

and reach beyond all attempts of the ego to hold you back. I go 9

before you because I am beyond the ego. Reach, therefore, for 10

my hand because you want to transcend the ego. My strength 11

will never be wanting, and if you choose to share it you will do 12

so. I give it willingly and gladly, because I need you as much as 13

you need me. 14

The Treasure of God 15

We are the joint will of the Sonship, whose wholeness is for all. 16

We begin the journey back by setting out together, and gather in 17

our brothers as we continue together. Every gain in our strength 18

is offered for all, so they too can lay aside their weakness and add 19

their strength to us. God's welcome waits for us all, and He will 20

welcome us as I am welcoming you. Forget not the Kingdom of 21

God for anything the world has to offer. 22

The world can add nothing to the power and the glory of God 23

and His holy Sons, but it can blind the Sons to the Father if they 24

behold it. You cannot behold the world and know God. Only 25

one is true. I am come to tell you that the choice of which is true 26

is not yours to make. If it were, you would have destroyed your- 27

self. Yet God did not will the destruction of His creations, having 28

created them for eternity. His Will has saved you, not from your- 29

self but from your illusion of yourself. He has saved you for 30

yourself. 31

Let us glorify Him Whom the world denies, for over His 32

Kingdom the world has no power. No one created by God can 33

find joy in anything except the eternal; not because he is deprived 34

of anything else, but because nothing else is worthy of him. 35

What God and His Sons create is eternal, and in this and this 36

only is their joy. 37

Listen to the story of the prodigal son, and learn what God's 38

treasure is and yours: This son of a loving father left his home 39

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and thought he had squandered everything for nothing of any 2

value, although he had not understood its worthlessness at the 3

time. He was ashamed to return to his father, because he thought 4

he had hurt him. Yet when he came home the father welcomed 5

him with joy, because the son himself was his father's treasure. 6

He wanted nothing else. 7

God wants only His Son because His Son is His only treasure. 8

You want your creations as He wants His. Your creations are 9

your gift to the Holy Trinity, created in gratitude for your crea- 10

tion. They do not leave you any more than you left your Creator, 11

but they extend your creation as God extended Himself to you. 12

Can the creations of God Himself take joy in what is not real? 13

And what is real except the creations of God and those that are 14

created like His? Your creations love you as you love your 15

Father for the gift of creation. There is no other gift that is eter- 16

nal, and therefore there is no other gift that is true. How, then, 17

can you accept anything else or give anything else, and expect joy 18

in return? And what else but joy would you want? You made 19

neither yourself nor your function. You made only the decision 20

to be unworthy of both. Yet you cannot make yourself unwor- 21

thy because you are the treasure of God, and what He values is 22

valuable. There can be no question of its worth, because its 23

value lies in God's sharing Himself with it and establishing its 24

value forever. 25

Your function is to add to God's treasure by creating yours. 26

His Will to you is His Will for you. He would not withhold 27

creation from you because His joy is in it. You cannot find joy 28

except as God does. His joy lay in creating you, and He extends 29

His Fatherhood to you so that you can extend yourself as He did. 30

You do not understand this because you do not understand 31

Him. No one who does not accept his function can understand 32

what it is, and no one can accept his function unless he knows 33

what he is. Creation is the Will of God. His Will created you to 34

create. Your will was not created separate from His, and so you 35

must will as He wills. 36

An "unwilling will" does not mean anything, being a con- 37

tradiction in terms that actually means nothing. When you think 38

you are unwilling to will with God, you are not thinking. God's 39

Will is thought. It cannot be contradicted by thought. God does 40

not contradict Himself, and His Sons, who are like Him, cannot 41

contradict themselves or Him. Yet their thought is so powerful 42

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that they can even imprison the mind of God's Son, if they so 2

choose. This choice does make the Son's function unknown to 3

him, but never to his Creator. And because it is not unknown to 4

his Creator, it is forever knowable to him. 5

There is no question but one you should ever ask of your- 6

self; - "Do I want to know my Father's Will for me?" He will not 7

hide it. He has revealed it to me because I asked it of Him, and 8

learned of what He had already given. Our function is to work 9

together, because apart from each other we cannot function at all. 10

The whole power of God's Son lies in all of us, but not in any of 11

us alone. God would not have us be alone because He does not 12

will to be alone. That is why He created His Son, and gave him 13

the power to create with Him. Our creations are as holy as we 14

are, and we are the Sons of God Himself, as holy as He is. 15

Through our creations we extend our love, and thus increase the 16

joy of the Holy Trinity. You do not understand this, because you 17

who are God's Own treasure do not regard yourself as valuable. 18

Given this belief, you cannot understand anything. 19

I share with God the knowledge of the value He puts upon 20

you. My devotion to you is of Him, being born of my knowledge 21

of myself and Him. We cannot be separated. Whom God has 22

joined cannot be separated, and God has joined all His Sons with 23

Himself. Can you be separated from your life and your being? 24

The journey to God is merely the reawakening of the knowledge 25

of where you are always, and what you are forever. It is a jour- 26

ney without distance to a goal that has never changed. Truth can 27

only be experienced. It cannot be described and it cannot be ex- 28

plained. I can make you aware of the conditions of truth, but 29

the experience is of God. Together we can meet its conditions, 30

but truth will dawn upon you of itself. 31

What God has willed for you is yours. He has given His Will 32

to His treasure, whose treasure it is. Your heart lies where your 33

treasure is, as His does. You who are beloved of God are wholly 34

blessed. Learn this of me, and free the holy will of all those who 35

are as blessed as you are. 36

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The Body as a Means of Communication 2

Attack is always physical. When attack in any form enters 3

your mind you are equating yourself with a body, since this is the 4

ego's interpretation of the body. You do not have to attack physi- 5

cally to accept this interpretation. You are accepting it simply by 6

the belief that attack can get you something you want. If you did 7

not believe this, the idea of attack would have no appeal for you. 8

When you equate yourself with a body you will always ex- 9

perience depression. When a child of God thinks of himself in 10

this way he is belittling himself, and seeing his brothers as 11

similarly belittled. Since he can find himself only in them, he has 12

cut himself off from salvation. 13

Remember that the Holy Spirit interprets the body only as a 14

means of communication. Being the communication link be- 15

tween God and His separated Sons, the Holy Spirit interprets 16

everything you have made in the light of what He is. The ego 17

separates through the body. The Holy Spirit reaches through it to 18

others. You do not perceive your brothers as the Holy Spirit 19

does, because you do not regard bodies solely as a means of join- 20

ing minds and uniting them with yours and mine. This inter- 21

pretation of the body will change your mind entirely about its 22

value. Of itself it has none. 23

If you use the body for attack, it is harmful to you. If you use 24

it only to reach the minds of those who believe they are bodies, 25

and teach them through the body that this is not so, you will un- 26

derstand the power of the mind that is in you. If you use the 27

body for this and only for this, you cannot use it for attack. In 28

the service of uniting it becomes a beautiful lesson in com- 29

munion, which has value until communion is. This is God's way 30

of making unlimited what you have limited. The Holy Spirit 31

does not see the body as you do, because He knows the only 32

reality of anything is the service it renders God on behalf of the 33

function He gives it. 34

Communication ends separation. Attack promotes it. The 35

body is beautiful or ugly, peaceful or savage, helpful or harmful, 36

according to the use to which it is put. And in the body of 37

another you will see the use to which you have put yours. If the 38

body becomes a means you give to the Holy Spirit to use on 39

behalf of union of the Sonship, you will not see anything physical 40

except as what it is. Use it for truth and you will see it truly. 41

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Misuse it and you will misunderstand it, because you have al- 2

ready done so by misusing it. Interpret anything apart from the 3

Holy Spirit and you will mistrust it. This will lead you to hatred 4

and attack and loss of peace. 5

Yet all loss comes only from your own misunderstanding. 6

Loss of any kind is impossible. But when you look upon a 7

brother as a physical entity, his power and glory are "lost" to you 8

and so are yours. You have attacked him, but you must have 9

attacked yourself first. Do not see him this way for your own 10

salvation, which must bring him his. Do not allow him to belittle 11

himself in your mind, but give him freedom from his belief in 12

littleness, and thus escape from yours. As part of you, he is holy. 13

As part of me, you are. To communicate with part of God Him- 14

self is to reach beyond the Kingdom to its Creator, through His 15

Voice Which He has established as part of you. 16

Rejoice, then, that of yourself you can do nothing. You are not 17

of yourself. He of Whom you are has willed your power and 18

glory for you, with which you can perfectly accomplish His holy 19

Will for you when you accept it for yourself. He has not 20

withdrawn His gifts from you, but you believe you have 21

withdrawn them from Him. Let no Son of God remain hidden 22

for His Name's sake, because His Name is yours. 23

The Bible says, "The Word (or thought) was made flesh." 24

Strictly speaking this is impossible, since it seems to involve the 25

translation of one order of reality into another. Different orders 26

of reality merely appear to exist, just as different orders of 27

miracles do. Thought cannot be made into flesh except by 28

belief, since thought is not physical. Yet thought is communica- 29

tion, for which the body can be used. This is the only natural 30

use to which it can be put. To use the body unnaturally is to lose 31

sight of the Holy Spirit's purpose, and thus to confuse the goal of 32

His curriculum. 33

There is nothing so frustrating to a learner as a curriculum he 34

cannot learn. His sense of adequacy suffers, and he must become 35

depressed. Being faced with an impossible learning situation is 36

the most depressing thing in the world. In fact, it is ultimately 37

why the world itself is depressing. The Holy Spirit's curriculum 38

is never depressing, because it is a curriculum of joy. Whenever 39

the reaction to learning is depression, it is because the true goal of 40

the curriculum has been lost sight of. 41

In this world, not even the body is perceived as whole. Its 42

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purpose is seen as fragmented into many functions with little or 2

no relationship to each other, so that it appears to be ruled by 3

chaos. Guided by the ego, it is. Guided by the Holy Spirit, it is 4

not. It becomes a means by which the part of the mind you tried 5

to separate from spirit can reach beyond its distortions and return 6

to spirit. The ego's temple thus becomes the temple of the Holy 7

Spirit, where devotion to Him replaces devotion to the ego. In 8

this sense the body does become a temple to God; His Voice 9

abides in it by directing the use to which it is put. 10

Healing is the result of using the body solely for communica- 11

tion. Since this is natural it heals by making whole, which is also 12

natural. All mind is whole, and the belief that part of it is physi- 13

cal, or not mind, is a fragmented or sick interpretation. Mind 14

cannot be made physical, but it can be made manifest through the 15

physical if it uses the body to go beyond itself. By reaching out, 16

the mind extends itself. It does not stop at the body, for if it does 17

it is blocked in its purpose. A mind that has been blocked has 18

allowed itself to be vulnerable to attack, because it has turned 19

against itself. 20

The removal of blocks, then, is the only way to guarantee help 21

and healing. Help and healing are the normal expressions of a 22

mind that is working through the body, but not in it. If the mind 23

believes the body is its goal it will distort its perception of the 24

body, and by blocking its own extension beyond it, will induce 25

illness by fostering separation. Perceiving the body as a separate 26

entity cannot but foster illness, because it is not true. A medium 27

of communication loses its usefulness if it is used for anything 28

else. To use a medium of communication as a medium of attack 29

is an obvious confusion in purpose. 30

To communicate is to join and to attack is to separate. How 31

can you do both simultaneously with the same thing and not 32

suffer? Perception of the body can be unified only by one pur- 33

pose. This releases the mind from the temptation to see the body 34

in many lights, and gives it over entirely to the One Light in 35

Which it can be really understood. To confuse a learning device 36

with a curriculum goal is a fundamental confusion that blocks 37

the understanding of both. Learning must lead beyond the body 38

to the re-establishment of the power of the mind in it. This can 39

be accomplished only if the mind extends to other minds, and 40

does not arrest itself in its extension. This arrest is the cause of all 41

illness, because only extension is the mind's function. 42

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The opposite of joy is depression. When your learning 2

promotes depression instead of joy, you cannot be listening to 3

God's joyous Teacher and learning His lessons. To see a body as 4

anything except a means of communication is to limit your mind 5

and to hurt yourself. Health is therefore nothing more than 6

united purpose. If the body is brought under the purpose of the 7

mind, it becomes whole because the mind's purpose is one. At- 8

tack can only be an assumed purpose of the body, because apart 9

from the mind the body has no purpose at all. 10

You are not limited by the body, and thought cannot be made 11

flesh. Yet mind can be manifested through the body if it goes 12

beyond it and does not interpret it as limitation. Whenever you 13

see another as limited to or by the body, you are imposing this 14

limit on yourself. Are you willing to accept this, when your 15

whole purpose for learning should be to escape from limitations? 16

To conceive of the body as a means of attack and to believe that 17

joy could possibly result, is a clear-cut indication of a poor 18

learner. He has accepted a learning goal in obvious contradiction 19

to the unified purpose of the curriculum, and one that is interfer- 20

ing with his ability to accept its purpose as his own. 21

Joy is unified purpose, and unified purpose is only God's. 22

When yours is unified it is His. Believe you can interfere with 23

His purpose, and you need salvation. You have condemned 24

yourself, but condemnation is not of God. Therefore it is not 25

true. No more are any of its seeming results. When you see a 26

brother as a body, you are condemning him because you have 27

condemned yourself. Yet if all condemnation is unreal, and it 28

must be unreal since it is a form of attack, then it can have no 29

results. 30

Do not allow yourself to suffer from imagined results of what 31

is not true. Free your mind from the belief that this is possible. 32

In its complete impossibility lies your only hope for release. But 33

what other hope would you want? Freedom from illusions lies 34

only in not believing them. There is no attack, but there is un- 35

limited communication and therefore unlimited power and 36

wholeness. The power of wholeness is extension. Do not ar- 37

rest your thought in this world, and you will open your mind 38

to creation in God. 39

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The Body as Means or End 2

Attitudes toward the body are attitudes toward attack. The 3

ego's definitions of anything are childish, and are always based 4

on what it believes the thing is for. This is because it is incapable 5

of true generalizations, and equates what it sees with the func- 6

tion it ascribes to it. It does not equate it with what it is. To the 7

ego the body is to attack with. Equating you with the body, it 8

teaches that you are to attack with. The body, then, is not the 9

source of its own health. The body's condition lies solely in your 10

interpretation of its function. Functions are part of being since 11

they arise from it, but the relationship is not reciprocal. The 12

whole does define the part, but the part does not define the 13

whole. Yet to know in part is to know entirely because of the 14

fundamental difference between knowledge and perception. In 15

perception the whole is built up of parts that can separate and 16

reassemble in different constellations. But knowledge never 17

changes, so its constellation is permanent. The idea of part- 18

whole relationships has meaning only at the level of perception, 19

where change is possible. Otherwise, there is no difference be- 20

tween the part and whole. 21

The body exists in a world that seems to contain two voices 22

fighting for its possession. In this perceived constellation the 23

body is seen as capable of shifting its allegiance from one to the 24

other, making the concepts of both health and sickness meaning- 25

ful. The ego makes a fundamental confusion between means and 26

end as it always does. Regarding the body as an end, the ego has 27

no real use for it because it is not an end. You must have noticed 28

an outstanding characteristic of every end that the ego has ac- 29

cepted as its own. When you have achieved it, it has not satisfied 30

you. This is why the ego is forced to shift ceaselessly from one 31

goal to another, so that you will continue to hope it can yet offer 32

you something. 33

It has been particularly difficult to overcome the ego's belief in 34

the body as an end, because it is synonymous with the belief in 35

attack as an end. The ego has a profound investment in sick- 36

ness. If you are sick, how can you object to the ego's firm belief 37

that you are not invulnerable? This is an appealing argument 38

from the ego's point of view, because it obscures the obvious 39

attack that underlies the sickness. If you recognized this and 40

also decided against attack, you could not give this false witness 41

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to the ego's stand. 2

It is hard to perceive sickness as a false witness, because you 3

do not realize that it is entirely out of keeping with what you 4

want. This witness, then, appears to be innocent and trust- 5

worthy because you have not seriously cross-examined him. If 6

you had, you would not consider sickness such a strong witness 7

on behalf of the ego's views. A more honest statement would be 8

that those who want the ego are predisposed to defend it. There- 9

fore, their choice of witnesses should be suspect from the begin- 10

ning. The ego does not call upon witnesses who would disagree 11

with its case, nor does the Holy Spirit. I have said that judgment 12

is the function of the Holy Spirit, and one He is perfectly 13

equipped to fulfill. The ego as a judge gives anything but an 14

impartial judgment. When the ego calls on a witness, it has al- 15

ready made the witness an ally. 16

It is still true that the body has no function of itself, because it 17

is not an end. The ego, however, establishes it as an end because, 18

as such, its true function is obscured. This is the purpose of 19

everything the ego does. Its sole aim is to lose sight of the func- 20

tion of everything. A sick body does not make any sense. It 21

could not make sense because sickness is not what the body is 22

for. Sickness is meaningful only if the two basic premises on 23

which the ego's interpretation of the body rests are true; that the 24

body is for attack, and that you are a body. Without these 25

premises sickness is inconceivable. 26

Sickness is a way of demonstrating that you can be hurt. It is a 27

witness to your frailty, your vulnerability, and your extreme need 28

to depend on external guidance. The ego uses this as its best 29

argument for your need for its guidance. It dictates endless 30

prescriptions for avoiding catastrophic outcomes. The Holy 31

Spirit, perfectly aware of the same situation, does not bother to 32

analyze it at all. If data are meaningless there is no point in 33

analyzing them. The function of truth is to collect information 34

that is true. Any way you handle error results in nothing. The 35

more complicated the results become the harder it may be to 36

recognize their nothingness, but it is not necessary to examine all 37

possible outcomes to which premises give rise in order to judge 38

them truly. 39

A learning device is not a teacher. It cannot tell you how you 40

feel. You do not know how you feel because you have accepted 41

the ego's confusion, and you therefore believe that a learning 42

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device can tell you how you feel. Sickness is merely another ex- 2

ample of your insistence on asking guidance of a teacher who 3

does not know the answer. The ego is incapable of knowing how 4

you feel. When I said that the ego does not know anything, I said 5

the one thing about the ego that is wholly true. But there is a 6

corollary; if only knowledge has being and the ego has no 7

knowledge, then the ego has no being. 8

You might well ask how the voice of something that does not 9

exist can be so insistent. Have you thought about the distorting 10

power of something you want, even if it is not real? There are 11

many instances of how what you want distorts perception. No 12

one can doubt the ego's skill in building up false cases. Nor can 13

anyone doubt your willingness to listen until you choose not to 14

accept anything except truth. When you lay the ego aside, it 15

will be gone. The Holy Spirit's Voice is as loud as your willing- 16

ness to listen. It cannot be louder without violating your 17

freedom of choice, which the Holy Spirit seeks to restore, never to 18

undermine. 19

The Holy Spirit teaches you to use your body only to reach 20

your brothers, so He can teach His message through you. This 21

will heal them and therefore heal you. Everything used in ac- 22

cordance with its function as the Holy Spirit sees it cannot be 23

sick. Everything used otherwise is. Do not allow the body to be 24

a mirror of a split mind. Do not let it be an image of your own 25

perception of littleness. Do not let it reflect your decision to at- 26

tack. Health is seen as the natural state of everything when inter- 27

pretation is left to the Holy Spirit, Who perceives no attack on 28

anything. Health is the result of relinquishing all attempts to use 29

the body lovelessly. Health is the beginning of the proper 30

perspective on life under the guidance of the one Teacher Who 31

knows what life is, being the Voice for Life Itself. 32

Healing as Corrected Perception 33

I said before that the Holy Spirit is the Answer. He is the 34

Answer to everything, because He knows what the answer to 35

everything is. The ego does not know what a real question is, 36

although it asks an endless number. Yet you can learn this as you 37

learn to question the value of the ego, and thus establish your 38

ability to evaluate its questions. When the ego tempts you to 39

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sickness do not ask the Holy Spirit to heal the body, for this 2

would merely be to accept the ego's belief that the body is the 3

proper aim of healing. Ask, rather, that the Holy Spirit teach you 4

the right perception of the body, for perception alone can be dis- 5

torted. Only perception can be sick, because only perception can 6

be wrong. 7

Wrong perception is the wish that things be as they are not. 8

The reality of everything is totally harmless, because total harm- 9

lessness is the condition of its reality. It is also the condition of 10

your awareness of its reality. You do not have to seek reality. It 11

will seek you and find you when you meet its conditions. Its 12

conditions are part of what it is. And this part only is up to you. 13

The rest is of itself. You need do so little because your little part 14

is so powerful that it will bring the whole to you. Accept, then, 15

your little part, and let the whole be yours. 16

Wholeness heals because it is of the mind. All forms of sick- 17

ness, even unto death, are physical expressions of the fear of 18

awakening. They are attempts to reinforce sleeping out of fear of 19

waking. This is a pathetic way of trying not to see by rendering 20

the faculties for seeing ineffectual. "Rest in peace" is a blessing 21

for the living, not the dead, because rest comes from waking, not 22

from sleeping. Sleep is withdrawing; waking is joining. 23

Dreams are illusions of joining, because they reflect the ego's 24

distorted notions about what joining is. Yet the Holy Spirit, too, 25

has use for sleep, and can use dreams on behalf of waking if you 26

will let Him. 27

How you wake is the sign of how you have used sleep. To 28

whom did you give it? Under which teacher did you place it? 29

Whenever you wake dispiritedly, it was not given to the Holy 30

Spirit. Only when you awaken joyously have you utilized sleep 31

according to His purpose. You can indeed be "drugged" by 32

sleep, if you have misused it on behalf of sickness. Sleep is no 33

more a form of death than death is a form of unconsciousness. 34

Complete unconsciousness is impossible. You can rest in peace 35

only because you are awake. 36

Healing is release from the fear of waking and the substitution 37

of the decision to wake. The decision to wake is the reflection of 38

the will to love, since all healing involves replacing fear with 39

love. The Holy Spirit cannot distinguish among degrees of error, 40

for if He taught that one form of sickness is more serious than 41

another, He would be teaching that one error can be more real 42

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than another. His function is to distinguish only between the 2

false and the true, replacing the false with the true. 3

The ego, which always wants to weaken the mind, tries to 4

separate it from the body in an attempt to destroy it. Yet the ego 5

actually believes that it is protecting it. This is because the ego 6

believes that mind is dangerous, and that to make mindless is to 7

heal. But to make mindless is impossible, since it would mean to 8

make nothing out of what God created. The ego despises weak- 9

ness, even though it makes every effort to induce it. The ego 10

wants only what it hates. To the ego this is perfectly sensible. 11

Believing in the power of attack, the ego wants attack. 12

The Bible enjoins you to be perfect, to heal all errors, to take no 13

thought of the body as separate and to accomplish all things in 14

my name. This is not my name alone, for ours is a shared iden- 15

tification. The Name of God's Son is one, and you are enjoined to 16

do the works of love because we share this oneness. Our minds 17

are whole because they are one. If you are sick you are 18

withdrawing from me. Yet you cannot withdraw from me alone. 19

You can only withdraw from yourself and me. 20

You have surely begun to realize that this is a very practical 21

course, and one that means exactly what it says. I would not ask 22

you to do things you cannot do, and it is impossible that I could 23

do things you cannot do. Given this, and given this quite literal- 24

ly, nothing can prevent you from doing exactly what I ask, and 25

everything argues for your doing it. I give you no limits because 26

God lays none upon you. When you limit yourself we are not of 27

one mind, and that is sickness. Yet sickness is not of the body, 28

but of the mind. All forms of sickness are signs that the mind is 29

split, and does not accept a unified purpose. 30

The unification of purpose, then, is the Holy Spirit's only way 31

of healing. This is because it is the only level at which healing 32

means anything. The re-establishing of meaning in a chaotic 33

thought system is the way to heal it. Your task is only to meet the 34

conditions for meaning, since meaning itself is of God. Yet your 35

return to meaning is essential to His, because your meaning is 36

part of His. Your healing, then, is part of His health, since it is 37

part of His Wholeness. He cannot lose this, but you can not 38

know it. Yet it is still His Will for you, and His Will must stand 39

forever and in all things. 40

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Chapter 9 2

THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ATONEMENT 3

The Acceptance of Reality 4

Fear of the Will of God is one of the strangest beliefs the 5

human mind has ever made. It could not possibly have occurred 6

unless the mind were already profoundly split, making it pos- 7

sible for it to be afraid of what it really is. Reality cannot 8

"threaten" anything except illusions, since reality can only 9

uphold truth. The very fact that the Will of God, which is what 10

you are, is perceived as fearful, demonstrates that you are afraid 11

of what you are. It is not, then, the Will of God of which you are 12

afraid, but yours. 13

Your will is not the ego's, and that is why the ego is against 14

you. What seems to be the fear of God is really the fear of your 15

own reality. It is impossible to learn anything consistently in a 16

state of panic. If the purpose of this course is to help you remem- 17

ber what you are, and if you believe that what you are is fearful, 18

then it must follow that you will not learn this course. Yet the 19

reason for the course is that you do not know what you are. 20

If you do not know what your reality is, why would you be so 21

sure that it is fearful? The association of truth and fear, which 22

would be highly artificial at most, is particularly inappropriate in 23

the minds of those who do not know what truth is. All this could 24

mean is that you are arbitrarily associating something beyond 25

your awareness with something you do not want. It is evident, 26

then, that you are judging something of which you are totally 27

unaware. You have set up this strange situation so that it is im- 28

possible to escape from it without a Guide Who does know what 29

your reality is. The purpose of this Guide is merely to remind 30

you of what you want. He is not attempting to force an alien will 31

upon you. He is merely making every possible effort, within the 32

limits you impose on Him, to re-establish your own will in your 33

awareness. 34

You have imprisoned your will beyond your own awareness, 35

where it remains, but cannot help you. When I said that the Holy 36

Spirit's function is to sort out the true from the false in your 37

mind, I meant that He has the power to look into what you have 38

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hidden and recognize the Will of God there. His recognition of 2

this Will can make it real to you because He is in your mind, and 3

therefore He is your reality. If, then, His perception of your mind 4

brings its reality to you, He is helping you to remember what you 5

are. The only source of fear in this process is what you think you 6

will lose. Yet it is only what the Holy Spirit sees that you can 7

possibly have. 8

I have emphasized many times that the Holy Spirit will never 9

call upon you to sacrifice anything. But if you ask the sacrifice of 10

reality of yourself, the Holy Spirit must remind you that this is 11

not God's Will because it is not yours. There is no difference 12

between your will and God's. If you did not have a split mind, 13

you would recognize that willing is salvation because it is com- 14

munication. 15

It is impossible to communicate in alien tongues. You and 16

your Creator can communicate through creation, because that, 17

and only that is your joint Will. A divided mind cannot com- 18

municate, because it speaks for different things to the same mind. 19

This loses the ability to communicate simply because confused 20

communication does not mean anything. A message cannot be 21

communicated unless it makes sense. How sensible can your 22

messages be, when you ask for what you do not want? Yet as 23

long as you are afraid of your will, that is precisely what you are 24

asking for. 25

You may insist that the Holy Spirit does not answer you, but it 26

might be wiser to consider the kind of questioner you are. You 27

do not ask only for what you want. This is because you are 28

afraid you might receive it, and you would. That is why you 29

persist in asking the teacher who could not possibly give you 30

what you want. Of him you can never learn what it is, and this 31

gives you the illusion of safety. Yet you cannot be safe from truth, 32

but only in truth. Reality is the only safety. Your will is your 33

salvation because it is the same as God's. The separation is noth- 34

ing more than the belief that it is different. 35

No right mind can believe that its will is stronger than God's. 36

If, then, a mind believes that its will is different from His, it can 37

only decide either that there is no God or that God's Will is fear- 38

ful. The former accounts for the atheist and the latter for the mar- 39

tyr, who believes that God demands sacrifices. Either of these 40

insane decisions will induce panic, because the atheist believes he 41

is alone, and the martyr believes that God is crucifying him. Yet 42

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no one really wants either abandonment or retaliation, even 2

though many may seek both. Can you ask the Holy Spirit for 3

"gifts" such as these, and actually expect to receive them? He 4

cannot give you something you do not want. When you ask the 5

Universal Giver for what you do not want, you are asking for 6

what cannot be given because it was never created. It was never 7

created, because it was never your will for you. 8

Ultimately everyone must remember the Will of God, because 9

ultimately everyone must recognize himself. This recognition is 10

the recognition that his will and God's are one. In the presence of 11

truth, there are no unbelievers and no sacrifices. In the security 12

of reality, fear is totally meaningless. To deny what is can only 13

seem to be fearful. Fear cannot be real without a cause, and God 14

is the only Cause. God is Love and you do want Him. This is 15

your will. Ask for this and you will be answered, because you 16

will be asking only for what belongs to you. 17

When you ask the Holy Spirit for what would hurt you He 18

cannot answer because nothing can hurt you, and so you are ask- 19

ing for nothing. Any wish that stems from the ego is a wish for 20

nothing, and to ask for it is not a request. It is merely a denial in 21

the form of a request. The Holy Spirit is not concerned with 22

form, being aware only of meaning. The ego cannot ask the Holy 23

Spirit for anything, because there is complete communication 24

failure between them. Yet you can ask for everything of the Holy 25

Spirit, because your requests to Him are real, being of your right 26

mind. Would the Holy Spirit deny the Will of God? And could 27

He fail to recognize it in His Son? 28

You do not recognize the enormous waste of energy you ex- 29

pend in denying truth. What would you say of someone who 30

persists in attempting the impossible, believing that to achieve it 31

is to succeed? The belief that you must have the impossible in 32

order to be happy is totally at variance with the principle of crea- 33

tion. God could not will that happiness depended on what you 34

could never have. The fact that God is Love does not require 35

belief, but it does require acceptance. It is indeed possible for 36

you to deny facts, although it is impossible for you to change 37

them. If you hold your hands over your eyes, you will not see 38

because you are interfering with the laws of seeing. If you deny 39

love, you will not know it because your cooperation is the law of 40

its being. You cannot change laws you did not make, and the 41

laws of happiness were created for you, not by you. 42

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Any attempt to deny what is must be fearful, and if the attempt 2

is strong it will induce panic. Willing against reality, though im- 3

possible, can be made into a very persistent goal even though 4

you do not want it. But consider the result of this strange 5

decision. You are devoting your mind to what you do not want. 6

How real can this devotion be? If you do not want it, it was 7

never created. If it were never created, it is nothing. Can you 8

really devote yourself to nothing? 9

God in His devotion to you created you devoted to everything, 10

and gave you what you are devoted to. Otherwise you would 11

not have been created perfect. Reality is everything, and you 12

have everything because you are real. You cannot make the un- 13

real because the absence of reality is fearful, and fear cannot be 14

created. As long as you believe that fear is possible, you will not 15

create. Opposing orders of reality make reality meaningless, and 16

reality is meaning. 17

Remember, then, that God's Will is already possible, and noth- 18

ing else will ever be. This is the simple acceptance of reality, 19

because only that is real. You cannot distort reality and know 20

what it is. And if you do distort reality you will experience 21

anxiety, depression and ultimately panic, because you are trying 22

to make yourself unreal. When you feel these things, do not try 23

to look beyond yourself for truth, for truth can only be within 24

you. Say, therefore: 25

Christ is in me, and where He is God must be, 26

for Christ is part of Him. 27

The Answer to Prayer 28

Everyone who ever tried to use prayer to ask for something 29

has experienced what appears to be failure. This is not only true 30

in connection with specific things that might be harmful, but also 31

in connection with requests that are strictly in line with this 32

course. The latter in particular might be incorrectly interpreted 33

as "proof" that the course does not mean what it says. You must 34

remember, however, that the course states, and repeatedly, that 35

its purpose is the escape from fear. 36

Let us suppose, then, that what you ask of the Holy Spirit is 37

what you really want, but you are still afraid of it. Should this be 38

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the case, your attainment of it would no longer be what you want. 2

This is why certain specific forms of healing are not achieved, 3

even when the state of healing is. An individual may ask for 4

physical healing because he is fearful of bodily harm. At the 5

same time, if he were healed physically, the threat to his thought 6

system might be considerably more fearful to him than its physi- 7

cal expression. In this case he is not really asking for release from 8

fear, but for the removal of a symptom that he himself selected. 9

This request is, therefore, not for healing at all. 10

The Bible emphasizes that all prayer is answered, and this is 11

indeed true. The very fact that the Holy Spirit has been asked for 12

anything will ensure a response. Yet it is equally certain that no 13

response given by Him will ever be one that would increase fear. 14

It is possible that His answer will not be heard. It is impossible, 15

however, that it will be lost. There are many answers you have 16

already received but have not yet heard. I assure you that they 17

are waiting for you. 18

If you would know your prayers are answered, never doubt a 19

Son of God. Do not question him and do not confound him, for 20

your faith in him is your faith in yourself. If you would know 21

God and His Answer, believe in me whose faith in you cannot be 22

shaken. Can you ask of the Holy Spirit truly, and doubt your 23

brother? Believe his words are true because of the truth that is in 24

him. You will unite with the truth in him, and his words will be 25

true. As you hear him you will hear me. Listening to truth is the 26

only way you can hear it now, and finally know it. 27

The message your brother gives you is up to you. What does 28

he say to you? What would you have him say? Your decision 29

about him determines the message you receive. Remember that 30

the Holy Spirit is in him, and His Voice speaks to you through 31

him. What can so holy a brother tell you except truth? But are 32

you listening to it? Your brother may not know who he is, but 33

there is a light in his mind that does know. This light can shine 34

into yours, giving truth to his words and making you able to hear 35

them. His words are the Holy Spirit's answer to you. Is your 36

faith in him strong enough to let you hear? 37

You can no more pray for yourself alone than you can find joy 38

for yourself alone. Prayer is the restatement of inclusion, 39

directed by the Holy Spirit under the laws of God. Salvation is 40

of your brother. The Holy Spirit extends from your mind to his, 41

and answers you. You cannot hear the Voice for God in yourself 42

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alone, because you are not alone. And His answer is only for 2

what you are. You will not know the trust I have in you unless 3

you extend it. You will not trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 4

or believe that it is for you unless you hear it in others. It must 5

be for your brother because it is for you. Would God have 6

created a Voice for you alone? Could you hear His answer ex- 7

cept as He answers all of God's Sons? Hear of your brother 8

what you would have me hear of you, for you would not want 9

me to be deceived. 10

I love you for the truth in you, as God does. Your deceptions 11

may deceive you, but they cannot deceive me. Knowing what 12

you are, I cannot doubt you. I hear only the Holy Spirit in you, 13

Who speaks to me through you. If you would hear me, hear my 14

brothers in whom God's Voice speaks. The answer to all prayers 15

lies in them. You will be answered as you hear the answer in 16

everyone. Do not listen to anything else or you will not hear truly. 17

Believe in your brothers because I believe in you, and you will 18

learn that my belief in you is justified. Believe in me by believing in 19

them, for the sake of what God gave them. They will answer 20

you if you learn to ask only truth of them. Do not ask for bless- 21

ings without blessing them, for only in this way can you learn 22

how blessed you are. By following this way you are seeking the 23

truth in you. This is not going beyond yourself but toward your- 24

self. Hear only God's Answer in His Sons, and you are answered. 25

To disbelieve is to side against, or to attack. To believe is to 26

accept, and to side with. To believe is not to be credulous, but to 27

accept and appreciate. What you do not believe you do not ap- 28

preciate, and you cannot be grateful for what you do not value. 29

There is a price you will pay for judgment, because judgment is 30

the setting of a price. And as you set it you will pay it. 31

If paying is equated with getting, you will set the price low but 32

demand a high return. You will have forgotten, however, that to 33

price is to value, so that your return is in proportion to your 34

judgment of worth. If paying is associated with giving it cannot 35

be perceived as loss, and the reciprocal relationship of giving and 36

receiving will be recognized. The price will then be set high, 37

because of the value of the return. The price for getting is to lose 38

sight of value, making it inevitable that you will not value what 39

you receive. Valuing it little, you will not appreciate it and you 40

will not want it. 41

Never forget, then, that you set the value on what you receive, 42

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and price it by what you give. To believe that it is possible to get 2

much for little is to believe that you can bargain with God. God's 3

laws are always fair and perfectly consistent. By giving you 4

receive. But to receive is to accept, not to get. It is impossible not 5

to have, but it is possible not to know you have. The recognition 6

of having is the willingness for giving, and only by this willing- 7

ness can you recognize what you have. What you give is there- 8

fore the value you put on what you have, being the exact 9

measure of the value you put upon it. And this, in turn, is the 10

measure of how much you want it. 11

You can ask of the Holy Spirit, then, only by giving to Him, 12

and you can give to Him only where you recognize Him. If you 13

recognize Him in everyone, consider how much you will be 14

asking of Him, and how much you will receive. He will deny 15

you nothing because you have denied Him nothing, and so you 16

can share everything. This is the way, and the only way to have 17

His answer, because His answer is all you can ask for and want. 18

Say, then, to everyone: 19

Because I will to know myself, I see you as God's 20

Son and my brother. 21

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