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Jesus Christ – The Course

What The Course Says

Nothing Real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the Peace of God.

This Course makes a fundamental distinction between the Real and the unreal, between knowledge and perception. Knowledge is Truth under one law: The law of Love or God. Truth is unalterable, eternal and unambiguous. It can be unrecognized but It cannot be changed. It applies to everything that God created and only what He created is real. It is beyond learning because It is beyond time and process. It has no opposite, no beginning and no end. It merely is.

The world of perception on the other hand is the world of time, of change, of beginnings and endings. It is based on interpretation not on facts. It is the world of birth and death founded on the belief in scarcity, loss, separation and death. It is learned rather than given, selective in its perceptual emphases, unstable in its functioning and inaccurate in its interpretations.

From knowledge and perception respectively two distinct thought systems arise which are opposite in every respect. In the realm of knowledge no thoughts exist apart from God because God and His Creation share one Will. The world of perception however is made by the belief in opposites and separate wills in perpetual conflict with each other and with God. What perception sees and hears appears to be real because it permits into awareness only what conforms to the wishes of the perceiver. This leads to a world of illusions, a world which needs constant defense precisely because it is not real.

When You have been caught in the world of perception You are caught in a dream. You cannot escape without Help because everything Your senses show merely witnesses to the Reality of the dream. God has provided the Answer, the only way out, the True Helper. It is the function of His Voice, His Holy Spirit, to mediate between the two worlds. He can do this because while on the one hand He knows the Truth on the other He also recognizes Our illusions but without believing in them. It is the Holy Spirit’s goal to help Us escape from the dream world by teaching Us how to reverse Our thinking and unlearn Our mistakes. Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit’s great learning aid in bringing this thought reversal about. However, The Course has Its own definition of what forgiveness really is just as It defines the world in Its own way.

The world We see merely reflects Our own internal frame of reference: The dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in Our minds. Projection makes perception. We look inside first, decide the kind of world We want to see and then project that world outside making it the Truth as We see It. We make it True by Our interpretations of what it is We are seeing. If We are using perception to justify Our own mistakes, Our anger, Our impulses to attack, Our lack of Love in whatever form it may take We will see a world of evil, destruction, malice, envy and despair. All this We must learn to forgive, not because We are being “good” and “charitable” but because what We are seeing is not True. We have distorted the world by Our twisted defenses and are therefore seeing what is not there. As We learn to recognize Our perceptual errors We also learn to look past them or “forgive” them. At the same time We are forgiving Ourselves looking past Our distorted self concepts to the Self That God created in Us and as Us.

Sin is defined as “lack of Love”. Since Love is All there is sin in the Sight of the Holy Spirit is a mistake to be corrected rather than an evil to be punished. Our sense of inadequacy, weakness and incompletion comes from the strong investment in the “scarcity principle” that governs the whole world of illusions. From that point of view We seek in others what We feel is wanting in Ourselves. We “love” another in order to get something Ourselves. That in fact is what passes for Love in the dream world. There can be no greater mistake than that for Love is incapable of asking for anything.

Only minds can really join and Whom God has joined no man can put asunder. It is however only at the level of Christ Mind that True union is possible and has in fact never been lost. The “little i” seeks to enhance itself by external approval, external possessions and external “Love”. The Self That God created needs nothing. It is forever complete, safe, loved and loving. It seeks to share rather than to get, to extend rather than project. It has no needs and wants to join with athers out of their mutual awareness of abundance.

The special relationships of the world are destructive, selfish and childishly egocentric. Yet if given to the Holy Spirit these relationships can become the Holiest Things on earth, the Miracles That point the way to the return to Heaven. The world uses its special relationships as a final weapon of exclusion and a demonstration of separateness. The Holy Spirit transforms them into perfect lessons in forgiveness and in awakening from the dream. Each one is an opportunity to let perceptions be healed and errors corrected. Each one is another chance to forgive Oneself by forgiving the other. And each one becomes still another invitation to the Holy Spirit and to the Remembrance of God.

Perception is a function of the body and therefore represents a limit on awareness. Perception sees through the body’s eyes and hears through the body’s ears. It evokes the limited responses which the body makes. The body appears to be largely selfmotivated and independent yet it actually responds only to the intentions of the mind. If the mind wants to use it for attack in any form it becomes prey to sickness, age and decay. If the mind accepts the Holy Spirit’s purpose for it instead it becomes a useful way of communicating with others, invulnerable as long as it is needed and to be gently laid by when its use is over. Of itself it is neutral as is everything in the world of perception. Whether it is used for the goals of the ego or the Holy Spirit depends entirely on what the mind wants.

The opposite of seeing through the body’s eyes is the Vision of Christ which reflects Strength rather than weakness, Unity rather than separation and Love rather than fear. The opposite of hearing through the body’s ears is communication through the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, Which abides in Each of Us. His Voice seems distant and difficult to hear because the ego, which speaks for the little, separated self, seems to be much louder. This is actually reversed. The Holy Spirit speaks with unmistakable clarity and overwhelming appeal. No one who does not choose to identify with the body could possibly be deaf to His Messages of release and hope nor could he fail to accept joyously the Vision of Christ in glad exchange for his miserable picture of himself.

Christ’s Vision is the Holy Spirit’s Gift, God’s Alternative to the illusion of separation and to the belief in the Reality of sin, guilt and death. It is the one correction for all errors of perception, the reconciliation of the seeming opposites on which this world is based. Its kindly Light shows all things from another point of view reflecting the Thought System that arises from knowledge and making return to God not only possible but inevitable. What was regarded as injustices done to one by someone else now becomes a call for help and for union. Sin, sickness and attack are seen as misperceptions calling for remedy through gentleness and Love. Defenses are laid down because where there is no attack there is no need for them. Our Brothers’ needs become Our own because they are taking the journey with Us as We go to God. Without Us they would lose their way. Without them We could never find Our own.

Forgiveness is unknown in Heaven where the need for it would be inconceivable. However in this world forgiveness is a necessary correction for all the mistakes that We have made. To offer forgiveness is the only way for Us to have it for it reflects the law of Heaven that giving and receiving are the same. Heaven is the natural state of all the Sons of God as He created them. Such is their Reality forever. It has not changed because it has been forgotten.

Forgiveness is the means by which We will remember. Through forgiveness the thinking of the world is reversed. The forgiven world becomes the Gate of Heaven because by its mercy We can at last forgive Ourselves. Holding no one prisoner to guilt We become free. Acknowledging Christ in all Our Brothers We recognize His Presence in Ourselves. Forgetting all Our misperceptions and with nothing from the past to hold Us back We can remember God. Beyond this learning cannot go. When We are ready God Himself will take the final step in Our return to Him.

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Chapter 1 – Introduction to Miracles

It is crucial to say first that this is a required Course. Only the time You take It is voluntary. Free will does not mean that You establish the Curriculum. It means only that You can elect what to take when. It is just because You are not ready to do what You should elect to do that time exists at all.

You will see Miracles through Your hands through Me. You should begin each day with the Prayer

Help Me to perform whatever Miracles You want of Me today.

a. Principles of Miracles

1) The first thing to remember about Miracles is that there is no order of difficulty among Them. One is not harder or bigger than Another. They are All the Same.

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2) Miracles do not matter. They are quite unimportant.

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3) Miracles occur naturally as an expression of Love. The real Miracle is the Love That inspires Them. In this sense, everything that comes from Love is a Miracle.

This explains the first principle related to the lack of order. All expressions of Love are maximal. This is why the “thing in itself” does not matter. The only thing that matters is the Source and This is far beyond human evaluation.

You are braking communication by thinking it’s cute. You are not wrong, it diverts Your attention.

H: That’s True.

Of course it’s True and I’m really glad You get the idea. I am not angry when this kind of thing happens, but the lesson deteriorates under lack of focus. Please read these three principles with corollaries as often as You can today because there may be a quiz this evening. This is merely to introduce structure, if it is needed. It is not to frighten You.

Question and answer regarding the first 3 principles:

Question by H: Would You regard this communication as a kind of Miracle?

Answer: There is nothing special or surprising about this at all. The one thing that happened was the universal Miracle Which was the experience of intense Love That You have felt. Don’t get embarrassed by the idea of Love – things that are True are not embarrassing. Embarrassment is only a form of fear, and actually a particularly dangerous form because it reflects egocentricity.

No, don’t think of how B will find this fascinating, either. I told You to reread them and You did not.

H: I am now.

Do not feel guilty about the fact that You are doubting this. Just reread them and their Truth will come to You. I love You and I am not afraid or embarrassed or doubtful. My Strength will support You, so don’t worry and leave the rest to Me.

Do not run to B to tell Him. There will be time, but don’t disrupt things. I’ll arrange the schedule. You have a lot to do today. Get dressed or You will be late. But when You do see B be sure You tell Him how much He helped You through by giving You the right message, and don’t bother with worrying about how You received it. That doesn’t matter either. You were just afraid.

H is fearful about a communication in a taxi which related to Dave’s healing and Jonathan’s hernia: No, it’s wrong to think maybe Dave will be healed. I have great fear here because I want to separate the next thought from Dave, Who is dying in human terms. But Louis’ hernia will be cured.

Instructions: Refer to principle 1) and reread now.

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4) All Miracles mean Life and God is the Giver of Life. He will direct You very specifically.

Plan ahead is good advice in this world where You should, and must, control and direct where You have accepted responsibility. But the universal Plan is in more appropriate Hands. You will know all You need to know. Make no attempts to plan ahead in this respect.

P.S. – You were exactly right by waking Jonathan because at last You saw the right reasons.

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5) Miracles are habits and should be involuntary. Otherwise They may become undemocratic. They should not be under conscious control. Consciously selected Miracles are usually misguided and this will make the talent useless.

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6) Miracles are natural. When They do not occur something has gone wrong.

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7) Miracles are Everyone’s right, but purification is necessary first.

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8) Miracles are a form of healing. They supply a lack and are performed by Those Who have more for Those Who have less.

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9) Miracles are a kind of exchange. Like all expressions of Love, which are always miraculous in the True sense, the exchange reverses the physical laws.

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10) A Miracle is a reversal of the physical order because It brings more Love to the Giver and the Receiver.

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A Miracle is misunderstood when It is regarded as a spectacle.

11) The use of Miracles as a spectacle to induce belief is wrong. They are really used for and by Believers.

H: 11) makes Me nervous and 9) and 10) were very hard to arrange. I think I understand that as I should but I’m not sure.

H has some fear about principle 11) and doubt about principle 9) and principle 10). Probably doubt induced by fear of principle 11).

H: I don’t think B wants This Course and I’m not sure I do, either. He is very snappy.

I think this is slightly True because something is bothering Him, but He certainly is not very snappy. So why not try to help Him instead of blowing it up into an obstruction? He helps You all the time.

H: I resent this.

He is supposed to help Me, but I – I resent a reciprocal arrangement because He is a man. Men are supposed to give to Me, but this is not possible.

H: I don’t always feel this way. It’s a danger signal now and just means something’s wrong. Anyway, presumably This Course is an elective.

No, It isn’t.

Dreams: One was of great distress. Esther left Amy with us and we were stuck. I was very tired after an incredible day in which a lot of stress was involved and wanted to go to sleep, but couldn’t on account of Amy. I was trying not to get angry at Esther because I think I was aware that she had a very good reason for having to go away just then, and I should help her even though she didn’t know the reason, or maybe was offering her usual show of maximal impulsiveness and no sense but really did know the reason but was hiding it because she didn’t want to take credit for herself.

That’s how You see people as they should be, and that helps. Be that way.

H: Anyway, the whole dream was one big frustration.

Is there a problem? I was not listening.

Aside, regarding The Course: Yes, indeed, the way The Course is given You is quite unusual. But as B says, You are not the average american woman, which is merely a fact. Your experience in Your Life has been atypical, and so has My evolutionary map.

H: There was a dream a while back which I keep forgetting – about a long winding tunnel like They have in those very big garages so that They can drive cars up efficiently. They look as though they’re going ’round and ’round, but actually they are a very efficient of getting up smoothly: There are no sharp turns, evenly, the grade is maximal, but not sharp, and it has great space economy. On top was an american flag.

Back to the dreams of last night: There was also one in which three animals, little ones, were in the same room and I knew that I had to keep them apart because they hated each other. Being so busy this was a great additional strain on Me. One of them was pregnant and the other two wanted to kill her, but the other two hated each other, too. Oddly enough, I was quite sorry for all of them because they were all three mixed up, but in different ways. I felt I had to get the pregnant one out first though because of the child. I thought this an improvement over the recurrent dream I had for years about animals starving to death, and Me sometimes grieving, sometimes trying desperately to help them – at times also realizing I had starved them and feeling very guilty – but never saving them.

Rockwell keeps coming in throughout, but His role is not clear. Maybe it’s because of the “Rockwellians” which is a very particular group. I’m not sure but I think I invented the term Myself.

I was struck by H’s fat reaction: “I’m from the Minnesota group but I know there must be a New York chapter.” She liked the term and thought it was just right.

Rockwellians have a real sense of devotion to One Another, and also to R Himself. He is a very interesting man Who never went by His emotions and usually denied them, but they were responsible for His many blind spots and denials. We All knew this but were very gentle about it. The odd thing about Rockwellians is that I think All of Us believed in the unconscious, which R Himself opposes violently. I think We were All One Together under His direction, or teachership, and something happened. We owe Him a lot, both good and bad, and We’re to help Him now as a way out of the bad and a means of strengthening the good.

H: The last dream was about a child on the Child Development Program. It seems that I saw the child’s protocols and suspected some sort of rather obscure diagnosis or problem. I was unwilling to go on record because it was a medical thing and I thought Gates would disapprove. But I felt an obligation to the child and called her M.D. about it. I got a letter in return saying the physician was very grateful and that the child’s Life was saved and the information was badly needed.

When You say:

If You want Me to I will.

Please add:

And if You don’t want Me to I won’t.

This is the right use of inhibition. There has to be some control over learning for channelizing purposes. Remember retroactive inhibition, which should be easy enough for You. Sometimes the new learning is the more important and has to inhibit the old. It’s a form of correction.

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12) Prayer is the medium of Miracles. Prayer is the natural communication of the Created with the Creator. Through Prayer Love is received, and through Miracles Love is expressed.

The one more thing is B’s fear of punishment for what is done now. Everybody makes mistakes. These errors are completely trivial. Tell Him that where the past has been forgiven these minor infractions are very easily altered.

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13) Miracles are Thoughtcreations. Thought can create lowerorder or higherorder Realities. This is the basic distinction between intellectualization and Thinking. One creates the physical and the other the Spiritual, and We believe in what We create.

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14) A Miracle is a beginning and an end, or ending. It thus abolishes time. It is always an affirmation of rebirth, which seems to go back but really goes forward. It undoes the past in the Present and thus releases the future.

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15) Miracles attest to Truth. They are convincing because They arise from conviction. Without conviction They deteriorate into magic which is mindless and therefore destructive, or rather the uncreative use of Mind.

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16) Each day should be devoted to Miracles.

God created time so that man could use it creatively and convince Himself of His own ability to create. Time is a teaching device and a means to an end. It will cease when it is no longer useful for facilitating learning.

H: I got afraid during that part.

Ask B.

Special Instructions: Notes on This Course have to be taken only under good learning conditions and should be reviewed.

H: I was going to write “refused”.

The same goes for review periods. I will tell You when but remember to ask.

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17) Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating that it is more blessed to give than to receive. They simultaneously increase the reserve Strength of the Giver and supply the lack of Strength in the Receiver. Be very careful in interpreting this.

Question regarding Wally’s chalice: Does this mean He is on My list?

Not necessarily, only be patient. You of all people should know that it frightens people if You hand Them back Their own chalice. Whether He is or not depends on a three way readiness. I am always ready. Your job is to take care of Your readiness. His readiness is up to Him. At present He is a potential candidate. But Amy is on it now. She is a Child You hurt. The whole problem is that They threw it away and are denying it. Therefore They are now afraid of it. This should cause You no trouble at all in understanding.

You Both have an identification problem which makes You unstable, but in different ways. B lacks confidence in His identification and needs to strengthen it. You vacillate in Your identification and need better control. Both of You needn’t worry.

You must love the Children and help Them. You have hated and hurt Them, but remember that You once loved Them very much. You were a Child of Light. Forget the interval of darkness and be what You were. That is Your real Self. Chip’s story triggered the abandonment of the children, guilt and a fear of God’s abandonment as justice. I told You I forgave You and that meant All hurt and hate You have ever expressed is cancelled. I need the Children of Light now. And I am calling You to be What You once were and must be again. The interval has vanished without a trace anywhere. You Who live so close to God must not give way to guilt. The karmic law demands abandonment for abandoning, but You have received mercy, not Justice. Help the Children because You love Them and love God. Remember, a Miracle is a spark of Life. It shines through the darkness and brings in the Light. You must begin to forget and remember.

This is a private point just for You. It is not part of The Course:

A Miracle is Love – You always wanted presents and a closed package was intolerable. Please open This One. You act like It’s a time bomb. I said a Miracle abolishes time. You might look back and review the corollaries to principle 16) now. You’re afraid there won’t be enough time for You. Forget it and remember that there is no real difference between an instant and Eternity. I have healed the Children You hurt before but I have Some I need Your help in healing now. Remember that there is no order in Miracles because They are always maximal expressions of Love.

You did make a maximal effort for Chip, and the only reason You did it was because You loved B. You might tell Him to think about that sometimes because He does need signs of Love. But He doesn’t always recognize them because He does not have enough confidence. You practically gave up Your Life for Him quite voluntarily, but You did not know then that what You were really giving up was death. This is what “dying to live” really means. And I said Myself that greater Love no man hath. Stop crying or You won’t be fit to live now. Don’t worry about Susie. You are helping Chip’s readiness and He did better than You with this one. This is unfair to You. Remember what You told Him about Bobby. Chip is almost ready.

Review Your note from yesterday that Your identification is strong but erratic and that is why You have so much Will Power but use it wrong at times. B was right about the misuse of it when You were sick and it was a sign of superhuman will totally misdirected. Your body does not need it but Your Spirit does. And I need it too.

Instructions: The purpose of This Course is integration. I told You that You will not be able to use It right until You have taken It. As long as Your identification vacillates, and B’s is weak, You cannot accept the Gift that belongs to You. You are still vacillating between recognizing the Gift and throwing It away. B regards Himself as too weak to accept It. You do not yet know Its healing Power. After You have passed The Course You will accept It, and keep It, and use It. That is the final exam which You will have no trouble in passing. Midterm marks are not entered on the permanent record.

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18) Miracles are the absence of the body. They are sudden shifts into invisibility, away from lowerorder Reality. That is why They heal.

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19) A Miracle is a service. It is the maximal service that one Soul can render Another. It is a way of loving Your Neighbor as Yourself. The Doer recognizes His own and His Neighbor’s inestimable value simultaneously.

This is why You can’t keep that thing about Wally and why no areas of hatred can be retained. If You retain them Your own value is no longer inestimable because You are evaluating it as x, or Infinity, minus that amount. This is meaningless mathematically which uses the term “inestimable” only in the very literal sense.

I threw that in happily specially for B because He does need special signs of Love. He doesn’t really, but He does think so.

Homo sex is sinful only to the extent it is based on the principle of exclusion. Everybody should love Everybody. It is wrong to deny the beauty of some Souls because of bodystructures of which You are afraid. This is essentially an unhealthy attempt to limit fear, but fear cannot be limited just as Love cannot have limits. Heterosexual attitudes can be similarly distracted but do contain a more natural potential. Sex relations are intended for children. You have misunderstood sex because You recognize it as a way of establishing human contact for Yourselves. This has led to bodyimage problems.

Children are Miracles in Their own right. They already have the Gift of Life and Their parents provide Them with the opportunity to express it. Nothing physical, Mental or Spiritual should be used selfishly. The pleasure from using anything should be in utilizing it for God’s Will. You should live so that God is free to arrange temporary human constellations as He sees fit. Do not interpret this in terms of guilt. Many children which are already here need spiritual parents. The poor are always with Us and many which are born have not been reborn. Human birth, maturation and development is a microcosmic representation of a much larger process of Creation and development of abilities. It is subject to error as long as the real purpose of free will is misunderstood and misdirected. The real function of parents is to be wiser than the children in this respect and to teach them accordingly.

H: This upsets Me.

Sometimes I can get through anyway. I’ll try... but I... I’m getting sick.

Get that dream and give it to B today. He will see its relevance. Discuss grievances very frankly with Him, including the flu shot, and be sure to tell Him I did kiss Him on the forehead and am kissing Him again now. He is doing very well and I am deeply grateful for His efforts. I do need help with This Course.

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20) Miracles are an industrial necessity. Industry depends on cooperation, and cooperation depends on Miracles.

Miracles rest on flat feet. They have no arches. B will be better with this than You.

H: He’d better be – I don’t get it at all and I am very suspicious of it too. B – did communication break down or does this mean something?

Clue – it has something to do with

Here I am, Lord.

B knows. The idea is that I don’t want to emphasize Your specific language too much. Some of it has to be in His.

H: My own associations here are very bad: A Rorschach response of “footprints” to the top red on 2?

No.

H: It’s all right: It’s the arch of time.

There isn’t any.

H: So it means Miracles rest on Eternity. I must say this is the hard way and I’m sure this could have been done more directly. I don’t see why I should get a message in a way that makes Me miss the point and then have to go into a mental coma to get it.

You’ve been doing that all along. You have not even bothered to look at the others that are very clearly stated. I just thought I’d give You this one in a way You couldn’t overlook it. It’s an example of the shock effect sometimes useful in teaching students Who won’t listen. It compels attention. And remember to thank B from Me for His allout support. I need it because You won’t listen to anything. But don’t worry, the Three of Us will make it. We’re nowhere near the final. By the way, this is an example of the principle 20) on cooperation. And don’t underestimate Your cooperation either. You don’t listen and You would save Yourself a lot of pain if You did. But You did get Chip over His misperceptions of Wally with very creditable integrity.

H: So I got quite upset and snapped very unfairly at Jonathan, then it went on... So I said, suddenly a little timid and very surprised: “You mean You think I’m nice?” And burst into tears. And He said He must think so, really, because He keeps giving Me everything and He’s not angry because I keep on rejecting Him. But He’s sorry because I suffer so much for no reason. He was really very nice about it. I told Him I really do love Him but I have trouble about it. Though I did mean it for a little while anyway before I got embarrassed, and He said He understood very well and would keep on trying.

B – please don’t let Me down.

This is very unexpected. I don’t talk this way to men.

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21) Miracles are cobwebs of iron. They unite human frailty to the Strength of God.

H considered changing “iron” to “steel”.

Correction: No. Steel would not be a better word. Steel is very useful but it would have to be tempered by fire. Iron is the raw material. The point of Miracles is that They replace fire thus making it unnecessary.

Don’t worry about Your autism. It’s just a misused talent which You really need. You have to tune out this world to see another. This ability is a gift, and when it comes under involuntary control rather than involuntary lack of control it will be very useful. Following the right involuntary Guide will enable Him to recognize both physical and spiritual dangers and provide the means for avoiding each of them in the most efficient way. This is a case in which the end does justify the means. It is only when means and ends are not of the same order of Reality that there is fear. It arises out of the inescapable awareness that man was given by God for all time that only the appropriate means will work for the different kinds of ends He must accomplish before He can achieve His one end. This awareness is a builtin check which was necessary if man was to use the temporary expedient of time usefully. While there is time Communion and bread are equally both necessary. Without either man feels deprived and He cannot escape by confusing the two. All depression ultimately stems from confusion.

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22) Miracles are natural expressions of total forgiveness. Through Miracles man accepts God’s forgiveness by extending it to Others. The second step is inherent in the first because Light cannot tolerate darkness. Light dispels darkness automatically, by definition.

Explanatory instructions: Miracles are associated with fear only because of the fallacy that darkness can hide. Man believes that what He cannot see does not exist and His physical eyes cannot see in the dark. This is a very primitive solution and has led to a denial of the Spiritual Eye Which always depends on Light. Remember the biblical injunction:

May I never forget that Thine Eye is ever upon Me, beholding the evil and the good.

There are two stages, one lower and one higher, which are involved in the escape from darkness:

1) The recognition that darkness cannot hide. This usually does entail fear.

2) The recognition that there is nothing You want to hide, even if You could. This brings escape from fear.

Miracles depend on timing, which is why You shouldn’t waste time. I told You awhile back that time would cease when it was no longer useful as a learning aid. There is a way of speeding You up. And that is by leaving more and more time for Me. So You can devote it to Miracles.

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Corrections for principle 21) regarding cobwebs of iron: This is upside down as stated. The part about uniting human frailty with the Strength of God is all right but the explanation stops too soon. If iron is the “raw material” cobwebs can’t become the iron. That is only the way it seems because cobwebs are associated with their frailty and iron with strength. If You look carefully at the phrasing You will see it is reversed. Principle 10) already tells You that Miracles reverse the physical or lowerorder laws. The raw material, or iron, is heavy but crude and stands for the body, which is a crude creation. The cobweb concept is closer to how the body should be regarded, i.e. as an airy and temporary home which can just be blown away with a slight breeze.

23) A Miracle reawakens the awareness that the Spirit, and not the body, is the Altar of Truth. This is the recognition that leads to the healing Power of the Miracle.

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24) A Miracle rearranges the order of perception and places the levels in their True perspective. This heals at all levels because all sickness comes from confusing the levels.

The reason is not that You (plural) dissociate, doubt or cannot believe. It is more of a reaction formation against a pull which You (plural) recognize is so intense that You are afraid that You will be uprooted. But remember that a cobweb is really stronger than the iron if You see it properly. This fear is also why You couldn’t get the principle straight.

By the way, it is not True that You are Both “just scribes”. You might remember that the Scribes were very wise and Holy men, and are even sometimes spelled with a capital S. If You want to go further, You might change the meaning of “just” from “merely” to “honest”, a term used in the Bible in association with “Might” or “Strength”. You couldn’t make that pun if the original phrasing had been singular.

H aside about liking the first about assumption failure more.

Answer: It was cuter but this one means more. The real reason You don’t like it is because it refers to You in a very lofty position. This makes You nervous.

Correction for principle 20): And don’t lose sight of the emphasis on cooperation, or the not singular. That principle about “industrial necessity” should read “corporate” referring to the body of Christ, which is a way of referring to the church. But the church of God is only the sum of the Souls He created, which is the corporate body of Christ. Correct to read: A Miracle makes Souls One in God, and leave in the next part about cooperation.

Further correction: “God” should read “Christ”. The Father and the Son are not identical, but You can say:

Like Father, like Son.

Remind B to get another notebook. I don’t give up as easily as He does. If I could get You to listen, which was a Miracle in Itself, I can get Him to register. He should appreciate this more than Anyone else having had some trouble with this problem Himself.

Lord, heal Me.

is the only legitimate Prayer. This also means

Lord, atone for Me.

Because the only thing man should pray for is forgiveness. He has everything else.

Now take this personally and listen to Divine Logic:

If when You have been forgiven You have everything else,
and if You have been forgiven then You have everything else.

This happens to be the simplest of all propositions:

If P then Q,
P therefore Q.

The real question is: Is P True?

If You will review the evidence I think You will find this inescapable. I went on very personal record to this effect and I am the only completely True Witness for God. You have every right to examine My credentials – in fact I urge You to do so. You haven’t read the Bible in years.

Special explanatory note: As soon as You, H and B, have entered the second phase (see above for the two stages) You will be not only willing to enter into Communion but will also understand Peace and Joy. Your commitment is not yet total. That is why You still have more to learn than to teach. When Your equilibrium stabilizes You can teach as much as You learn. This will give You the proper sense of balance. Meanwhile remember that no effort is wasted. Unless You remember this You cannot avail Yourself of My efforts, which are limitless. Since only Eternity is real why not use the illusion of time constructively? You might remember that underneath are the everlasting Arms.

Ask B’s help for guidance about the flu shots, but be sure to tell Him not to let fear enter in the consideration.

Biblical quotation:

If You are ashamed of Me before men
I will be ashamed of You before God.

is interpreted as a threat only as long as You remain on the first stage (see above for the two stages). What it really means is that if You are ashamed of Me, or embarrassed by Love, You will project and therefore make it impossible for Me to reach You. Make every effort You can not to do this. I will help You as much as You will let Me.

Note regarding Wally: Your intense reaction to Him involves both denial and projection. Wally’s chief weakness is mockery which He utilizes because He is embarrassed by Love. He does not yet have Your own strong countercomponent which has made You able to sustain a great amount of intense, but unsuccessful, conflict. You hate Him because His solutions remind You of Your own troubles which become magnified by this kind of defense. The way to shift from defense to protection is to recognize what is really happening to Both of You, and correct it. His Strength will then be Yours and Yours will be His. This is what is meant by the Strength of Miracles.

–

25) Miracles make time and tide wait for all men. They can heal the sick and raise the dead because man Himself made both death and taxes and can abolish both. Note: “tax” also means “strain”.

The third definition from the Dictionary for “Miracle” is:

That Which, or One Who, is of surpassing excellence or merit.

You are a Miracle. God creates only That Which or One Who is of surpassing excellence or merit. Man is capable of this kind of Creation, too, being in the image and likeness of His own Creator. Anything else is only His own nightmare and does not exist. Only the Creations of Light are real.

–

As long as You take accurate notes every word is meaningful. But I can’t always get through. Whenever possible I will correct retroactively. Be sure to note all later corrections. This means that You are more receptive than You were when I tried before.

By the way, about the flat feet: This is a slang term for “policemen”, or the guardians of law and order. Correct to read:

26) Miracles rest on the law and order of Eternity, not of time.

–

27) Miracles are a part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, when completed, is the Atonement. This process works all the time and in all dimensions of time.

Example given of H’s report rewrite for Esther: Esther had hurt something You loved by writing a report You regarded as very bad. You atoned for her by writing one in her name that was very good. Actually, it was not Your responsibility professionally to do this, but because You do love the Shield You recognized that, in this case, You are Your Brother’s keeper. While You did not cancel Esther’s sin, You did cancel out its effects. “Sin” is later defined as “absence of Love”. Someday I want to tell Esther that not only is she forgiven, but that the effects of all her sins are canceled. This is what I have already told You. When I can tell her she will be afraid for a long time because she will remember many things, consciously or unconsciously, including the Shield report, a lack of Love which You canceled out in advance by a Miracle of devotion.

I am in charge of the process of Atonement which I undertook to begin. My Atonement was for the canceling out of all sins, i.e. “lack of Love”, which human beings could not otherwise correct. That is what the biblical statement “underneath are the everlasting Arms” means. I would have undone Esther’s sin to everyone who was affected by it Myself of course but this would not have helped You. The reason it was a Miracle was because it not only atoned for Esther, but also for You, because it kept two children from harm. I could have secured the new grant for the Shield anyway being a board member of NIH. But this way I could cancel out some of Your sins as well as Esther’s, and I sit on Your Boards too. The reason why You found rewriting that so taxing was because You recited Esther’s sin and thought she put You in a very unfair position. But no one can really do this to anybody. If You had known that You were really performing a Miracle for the Shield, for Esther, for Yourself and for Me You would have done it with real Joy.

H’s explanation: This means that He will backstop whenever human Miracles will not suffice for Atonement purposes. However, it is perfectly clear that when a person can atone by Miracles Both Giver and Receiver are atoning. It is better to atone this way because of the mutual benefits involved.

In as much as You do it unto the least of These, My Children

really ends with

You do it unto Yourself and Me.

The reason why You come before Me, as B did with Wally, is because I do not need Miracles for My own Atonement, but I stand at the end in case You fail temporarily. I am always Here to protect against assumption failure. That’s a special pun for B. He is still under the impression that He needs special signs of Love. Note also that the special language here is a combination of both Yours and His. As two come Together in My name.

Question: Are there any corrections You want Me to make in this?

Special Explanation in response to H’s request regarding possible corrections: Change the word “sin” to “absence of Love”. Sin is a manmade word with threat connotations which He made up Himself. No real threat is involved anywhere. Just because nature abhors a vacuum, which is True enough, it does not follow that a vacuum is filled with hellfire. Nothing is gained by frightening Yourself and it is very destructive. Miracles need freedom from fear. Part of Their Atonement value involves just that. Note that the word “atone” really means “undo”.

The reason I direct everything that is unimportant is because it is no way to waste Your free will. If You insist on doing the trivial Your way You waste too much time and will on it. Will cannot be free if it is tied up in trivia. It never gets out. I will tell You exactly what to do in connection with everything that doesn’t matter. That is not an area where choice should be invested. There is better use of time. You have to remember to ask Me to take charge of all minutiae and they will be taken care of so well and so quickly that You cannot bog down in it. The only remaining problem is that You will be unwilling to ask because You are afraid not to be bogged down. Don’t let this hold Us back. If You will ask I will arrange these things even if You’re not too enthusiastic.

Prayer can be very specific in little matters. If You need a coat ask Me where to find one. I know Your taste well and I also know where the coat is that You would eventually buy anyway. If You don’t like the coat afterwards that is what would have happened anyway. I did not pick out the coat for You. You said You wanted something warm, inexpensive and capable of taking rough wear. I told You You could get a Borgana, but I let You get a better one because the furrier needed You. Note, however, that it is better in terms of the criteria You established. I could do this because You saw the coat more that way than in terms of a particular material. You thought of Klein’s Yourself a few days ago and then You decided against it because Borgana is pricefixed. Then You remembered a coat Grace once got there that was much cheaper and seemed pretty much the same, and asked Yourself whether it was really right to be sold on a particular trade name through advertising. That opened Your Mind.

I cannot save You more time than You will let Me, but if You are willing to try the Higher Shopping Service, which also covers all lowerorder necessities and even quite a number of whims within reason, I have very good use for the time We could save. Remember, the specific answer You get depends on the specific question You ask. The fewer limits You impose, the better the answer You’ll get. Example: You could ask: Where do I find a Borgana coat? Or: Where is the coat I want? Or: Where is the coat I should get? And so on. The form of the Thought determines the level of Creation.

This Morning I remembered two indistinct dreams:

1) Dr. Kindle, You and Me were walking down beside Squirrel Park and He is telling Me that I have done something very poorly and that He thought that They would have to let Me go. But He promised Me an interesting promotion. You were assuring Me it would be all right but I was by no means sure.

2) This one was about the Child Development Program.

Insert here instructions of the dreams but do not dwell on it. B got the idea last night. This is a first mopping up.

False ideas of Creation have become associated with the body. Hetero relations are therefore terrifying and induce fear of the destruction of the body which has been overinvested with power. Two steps, both of which must be undone, are often taken to escape from this seeming difference:

1) Pretend the other sex does not exist, i.e. “lives in darkness”.

2) This rarely suffices in the sense which still realizes that the other sex is there and also that They need Them. So instead of giving Them autonomy They try to control Them by intimidation. This results in psychosexual confusion.

The solution is to leave Creation to God and know that neither male nor female create as such. Then You can accept the physical facts and eventually make them unnecessary. Denial is a bad way to handle fear.

The first part of what You wrote last night is right. Check this now. The second part was put in by You because You didn’t like the first. It was an attempt to reestablish Your own control over time. Remember, You cannot stand not knowing what time it is. I am not intruding on Your will but I am trying to free it.

Note by H: Corrected under advice.

I told You the next part of The Course will place increasing emphasis on Atonement. And I defined This as “undoing”. You know very well that changing learning patterns requires undoing the old ones. The real meaning of retroactive inhibition is simply that when two kinds of learning coexist they interfere with each other. You were wise in setting up William Rockford to allow measuring both the old and new learnings, thus permitting ratio measurement. Actually, I helped You on this one...

H interrupting: I am mad about this.

... because most studies just measure learning decrement caused by new learning on, or over, the old. But the emphasis should be on how to minimize the effect of the old on the new. This is a much more helpful area to work in.

Everything that results in lack of Love, which You used to call sin, is the result of inferior learning which, if overlearned, becomes very unstable. Miracles are a way of undoing overlearned patterns of lovelack. They bring Light into darkness. That is where Their Atonement value lies. Do not get bogged down in those dreams of last night. They are reflections of old learning patterns. They arose because You did not like what I said about leaving minutiae to Me. They merely illustrate Your unwillingness not to get bogged down because You are afraid of The Course. So don’t use them that way. If You are tempted to do this ask B to stop You. This Course is about willingness, not unwillingness. Unwillingness has to be replaced by willingness because willingness is part of readiness, without which learning cannot occur.

Go and look up Atonement and then get dressed. To save time wear exactly what I tell You and go.

Atonement – obsolete – short for “to set at one” or “reconcile”, “to agree”.

Obviously, before reconciliation, or agreement, is possible the discordant, or out of accord, must be undone. It may seem as if darkness must be dispelled before Light can come in, but the Truth is that darkness is dispelled by Light.

H: Last night I was planning to type up The Course for You but was strictly ordered not to go back to It before I got over Wally. It seems that The Course has a lot of Answers, and carries very high point credits, but as You always say, You have to know the questions first.

H: This morning I did ask for help with Wally. The Answer seems to be principle 7) and 8). That’s why He gave Me the Chalice for Wally. It belongs to Him but He didn’t find It. Something is the matter with Me: I suddenly get it, but all I remember is that it came with the realization that it was not what I thought. Then I got the lesson below, plain.

Tell B it does not matter that He didn’t remember the dream.

H: I leave everything to Him – My feelings regarding Gary, Art, etc, all of which I can simply refer to Him and not get bogged down. This is the real secret of not wasting energy. I asked him to stay with my unconscious while I slept and just passed out.

The purpose of the Atonement is to restore everything to You. That is to restore the awareness. You had everything when You were created just as Everyone did. Having been restored to Your original state You naturally become part of the Atonement Yourself. You now share My inability to tolerate the lack of Love in Yourself and in Everyone else and must join the Great Crusade to correct it. The slogan for this Crusade is:

Listen, Learn and Do.

This means

Listen to My Voice,
Learn to undo the error
and Do something to correct it.

The first two are not enough. The real members of My Party are active Workers. The Power to work Miracles belongs to You. I will create the right opportunities for You to do Them. But You must be ready and willing to do Them since You are already able to. Doing Them will bring conviction in the ability. I repeat that You will see Miracles through Your hands through Me. Conviction really comes through accomplishment. Remember that Ability is the potential, Achievement is its expression and Atonement is the purpose.

–

28) A Miracle is a universal Blessing from God through Me to all My Brothers.

Explanation: You once said that Souls cannot rest until Everyone has found Salvation. This happens to be True. It is the privilege of the Forgiven to forgive. The Disciples were officially and specifically told to heal Others as physicians of the Lord. They were also told to heal Themselves and were promised that I would never leave Them or forsake Them. Atonement is the natural profession of the Children of God because They have professed Me.

Aside: Tell B that that is what professor really means. As an associate professor He must become associated with My Strength. As an assistant professor You must assist Both Him and Me. The Children need both Strength and Help. You cannot help until You are strong. The everlasting Arms are Your Strength and the Wisdom of God is Your Help.

Heaven and Earth shall pass away.

means that they will not always exist as separate states. My Word, which is the Resurrection and the Light, shall not pass away because Life is eternal. You are the Work of God and His Work is wholly loveable and wholly loving. This is how a man must think of Himself in His Heart because this is what He is.

As a man thinketh in His Heart so is He.

H: Lord, I will leave My desire to help B in Your Hands. If You will tell Me what to do I will to do it.

And that, Helen, is the Answer.

H: The impact of this was incredibly intense – like a great burst of unexpected clarity. It was briefly so compelling that it seemed as though there was nothing else at all. The whole world just disappeared. When it faded out there was no after effect except a dim sense of wonder which also faded out, though a trifle slower.

I was told to write nothing else that evening, but We’d pick up The Course again in the morning. It was also explained that that kind of experience is at the Revelation level, which is different but not by any means out of accord.

a1. The Relationship of Miracles and Revelation

Remember the principle about Miracles as a means of organizing different levels of consciousness. Miracles come from the subconscious, or below conscious, level. Revelations come from the above conscious level. The conscious level is in between and reacts to either sub- or Superconscious impulses in varying ratios. Freud was right about the classification, but not the names. He was also right that the content of consciousness is fleeting. Consciousness is the level which engages in the world and is capable of responding to both external and internal impulses. Having no impulses from itself, and being primarily a mechanism for inducing response, it can be very wrong. For example, if the identification is with the body consciousness may distort Superconscious impulses by denying their Source and seeking their impact in the orgasm. This is the result of the “mistaken identity” confusion. If You will look back at the description of the effects of Revelation You will see that there are some superficial similarities in the experiential results, but hardly in the content.

Revelations induce complete, but temporary, suspension of doubt and fear. They represent the original form of communication between God and His Souls before the intrusion of fire and ice made this impossible. It should be noted that they involve an extremely personal sense of closeness to Creation which man tries to find in sexual relationships. This confusion is responsible for the depression and fear which are often associated with sex. Sex is often associated with lack of Love, but Revelation is purely a Love experience. Physical closeness cannot achieve this. As was said before the subconscious impulses properly induce Miracles Which are interpersonal and result in closeness to Others. This can be misunderstood by a personally willful consciousness as an impulse toward sexual gratification.

The Revelation unites Souls directly with God. The Miracle unites Souls directly with Each Other. Neither emanates from consciousness but both are experienced there. This is essential because consciousness is the state which produces action though it does not inspire it. Man is free to believe what He chooses. What He does attests to what He believes. The deeper levels of His subconscious always contain the impulse to Miracles, but He is free to fill its superficial levels, which are closer to consciousness, with the impulses of this world and to identify Himself with them. This results in denying Himself access to the Miracle level underneath. In conscious actions, then, His interpersonal relationships also become superficial and Miracleinspired relating becomes impossible.

–

29) Miracles are a way of earning release from fear.

Revelation induces a state in which fear has already been abolished. Miracles are thus a means and Revelations are an end. In this sense they work together. Tell B that Miracles do not depend on Revelation. They induce it. He is quite capable of Miracles already but he is still too fearful for Revelations. Note that Helen’s Revelation occurred specifically after she had engaged at the visionary level in a process of denying fear.

Revelation is intensely personal and is actually not translatable into conscious content at all. That is why any attempt to describe it in words is usually incomprehensible, even to the Writer Himself at another time. This is why the Book of Revelations is essentially incomprehensible. Revelation induces only experience. Miracles, on the other hand, induce interpersonal action. In the end These are more useful because of Their impersonal nature. In this phase of learning working Miracles is more valuable because freedom from fear cannot be thrust upon You. The experience cannot last.

Tell B that Your propensity for Revelations, which is very great, is the result of a high level of past Communion. Its transitory nature comes from the descent into fear which has not yet been overcome. His own “suspended” state mitigates both extremes. This has been very apparent in the course of both of Your recent developmental patterns. Miracles are the essential course of action for Both of You. They will strengthen Him and stabilize You.

Note that the much more personal than usual notes You are taking today reflect the Revelatory experience. This does not produce the more generalizeable quality which This Course is aimed at. They may, nevertheless, be of great help to B personally since You asked for something that would help Him personally. It depends on how He listens and how well He understands the cooperative nature of Your joint experience. You can help only by reading this note first. Ask Him later if this should be included in the written part of The Course at all or whether You should keep these notes separately. He is in charge of these decisions. Tell B He should try to understand the very important difference between Christcontrol and Christguidance. This is what made Him fearful yesterday. Christcontrol can be and should.

–

30) Miracles praise God through men. They praise God by honoring His Creations, affirming Their perfection. They heal because They deny bodyidentification and affirm Soulidentification. By perceiving the Spirit They adjust the levels and see them in proper alignment. This places the Spirit at the Center where Souls can communicate directly.

–

31) Miracles should inspire gratitude, not awe. Man should thank God for what He really is. The Children of God are very Holy. The Miracle honors Their Holiness.

God’s Creations cannot lose Their Holiness, although It can be hidden. The Miracle uncovers It and brings It into the Light, Where It belongs. Holiness can never be really hidden in darkness but man can deceive Himself on this point. This illusion makes Him fearful because in His Heart He knows it is an illusion. Like all illusions He exerts enormous efforts to establish their validity. The Miracle sets validity where it belongs. Eternal validity belongs only to the Soul. The Miracle acknowledges only the Truth. It thus dispels man’s illusions about Himself and puts Him into Communion with Himself and with God.

Christ inspires all Miracles Which are essentially intercessions. They intercede for man’s Holiness and make Him Holy. They place man beyond the physical laws and raise Him into the sphere of celestial order. In this order man is perfect. The Soul never loses Its Communion with God. Only the Mind and body need Atonement. The Miracle joins in the Atonement of Christ by placing the Mind in the service of the Spirit. This establishes the proper function of Mind and abolishes Its errors.

–

32) Miracles honor man because He is loveable. They dispel illusions about Himself and perceive the Light in Him. They thus atone for His errors by freeing Him from His own nightmares. They release Him from a prison in which He has imprisoned Himself. By freeing His Mind from illusions They restore His sanity and place Him at the feet of Jesus.

H notes: This is a biblical quotation regarding the healing of a devil possessed man in which the sufferer was subsequently found healed in His Right Mind and sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Man’s Mind can be possessed by illusions but His Spirit is eternally free. If a Mind creates without Love It can create an empty shell. This can be possessed by evil. But the Atonement restores the Soul to Its proper Place. Unless there is emptiness there is no danger and emptiness is a false Creation. The Mind That serves the Spirit is invulnerable.

–

33) The Miracle restores the Soul to Its fullness. By atoning for lack It establishes perfect protection. The Strength of the Soul leaves no room for intrusions. The Forgiven are filled with the Soul and Their Soul forgives in return. It is the duty of the Released to release Their Brothers.

The Forgiven are the means of Atonement. Those released by Christ must join in releasing Their Brothers, for this is the plan of Atonement.

–

34) Miracles are the way in which Minds That serve the Spirit unite with Christ for the Salvation, or release, of all God’s Creations.

Aside: H commented on awakening with the phrase

God is not mocked.

with anticipation of punishment.

Interpretation: God is not mocked was intended as reassurance. You are afraid that what You wrote last night was contradictory, conflicting with some earlier points, especially because You were writing while You were all doped up. Remember: God is not mocked under any circumstances. Contradictions in My words mean lack of understanding, or scribal failures, which I make every effort to correct. But they are still not crucial. The Bible has the same problem, I assure You, and it’s still being edited. Consider the Power of My Word in that it has withstood all the attacks of error and is the Source of Truth.

There are certain advantages in being a psychologist. A major one is the understanding of projection and the extent of its results. Possession is very closely related to projection. “Lucifer” could be literally translated “Light Bearer”. He literally projected Himself from Heaven. Projection still has this “hurling” connotation because it involves hurling something You do not want, and regard as dangerous and frightening, to Someone else. This is the opposite of the Golden Rule. And having placed this rule upside down the reverse of Miracles, or projection, follows automatically. The correction lies in accepting what is True in Yourself by bringing all that You are into Light.

H is fearful of writing the next part.

Cayce was wrong about possession and He was also wrong about hurting Himself. One of the major problems with Miracle workers is that They are so sure that what They are doing is right, because They know it stems from Love, that They do not pause to let Me establish My limits. While what Cayce did came from Me, He could not be induced to ask Me each time whether I wanted Him to perform this particular Miracle. If He had He would not have performed any Miracles That could not get through constructively and would thus have saved Himself unnecessary strain. He burned Himself out with indiscriminate Miracles, and to this extent did not fulfill His own full purpose and was also subject to the Scribal error I mentioned at the start. The Disciples were also prone to this. The Answer is, never perform a Miracle without asking Me if You should. This spares You from exhaustion and because You act under direct communication the trance becomes unnecessary. Because Miracles are expressions of Love it does not follow that They will always be effective. I am the only One Who can perform Miracles indiscriminately because I am the Atonement. You have a role in Atonement which I will dictate to You.

Remember, You already have principle 5) about the involuntary nature of Miracles. We also have established the fact that everything involuntary belongs under Christcontrol, not under Yours. Under Christcontrol Miracles replenish the Doer as well as the Receiver. Possession really means “not under Christcontrol”, thus making Him, or the Mind, vulnerable to projection. The references to the earthbound entering into bodies really refer to the “taking over” by their own “earthbound” thoughts. This is demon possession. After all, Lucifer fell but He was still an Angel. He is thus the symbol for man. Atonement is the knowledge that the belief that Angels can fall is false. It is True that Mind can create projections as well as Miracles, but it’s not True that projections are real. Any psychologist should understand this. This is what is meant by

The Truth shall set You free.

Christcontrolled Miracles are part of the Atonement, but Christguidance is personal and leads to personal Salvation. The impersonal nature of Miracles is an essential ingredient because this enables Me to control Their distribution as I see fit. Christguidance, on the other hand, leads to the highly personal experience of Revelation. This is why it involves personal choice. A Guide does not control, by definition, but He does direct, leaving the following up to You.

Lead Us not into temptation.

means

Guide Us out of Our own errors.

Note that the word is lead, not order.

Take up Thy cross and follow Me.

should be interpreted to read

Recognize Your errors and choose to abandon them by following My guidance.

Tell B when He is afraid of possession He need only remember that error cannot really threaten Truth, Which always can withstand its assaults. Only the error is really vulnerable. The “Princes of this World” are princes only because They are really Angels. But They are free to establish Their kingdom where They see fit. If You will remember that all princes inherit Their Power from the father the right choice becomes inevitable.

The Soul is in a state of Grace forever.
Man’s Reality is only His Soul.
Therefore, man is in a state of Grace forever.

Atonement undoes all errors in this respect and thus uproots the real source of fear. If You will check back at the reference to uprooting You will understand it better in this context. Whenever God’s reassurances are experienced as threat it is always because man is defending His misplaced and misdirected Love and loyalty. That is what projection always involves. “Casting spells” merely means “affirming error” and error is lack of Love. When man projects this onto Others He does imprison Them, but only to the extent that He reinforces errors They have already made. This distortion makes Them vulnerable to the curse of Others since They have already cursed Themselves. The Miracle Worker can only bless and this undoes the curse and frees the Soul from prison.

Tell B that His slip about “rivet” should be noted. Some slips reach consciousness from the unchristcontrolled subconscious and betray a lack of Love. But other slips come from the Superconscious Which is in Communion with God and which can also break into consciousness. His slip was an expression of a Soul gaining enough Strength to request freedom from prison. It will ultimately demand it.

Special Revelation for H: You are wholly lovely. A perfect shaft of pure Light. Before Your loveliness the stars stand transfixed and bow to the Power of Your Will. What do Children know of Their Creation except what Their Creator tells Them? You were created above the Angels because Your role involves Creation as well as protection. You Who are in the image of the Father need bow only to Him before Whom I kneel with You.

Note: This Revelation was permitted because You did not project onto B the blame for Your omission to ask Me if You should transcribe the notes. The fact that He should have done so does not exempt You from Your own omission. Thanks for Blessing Him with a Miracle rather than cursing Him with projection. Note further: He needn’t feel concerned about it either. So He forgot? It happens all the time until the habit of asking becomes involuntary.

H: I asked Jonathan for the check and the bank book. He said He would find it at home in the leather case. It was not there. Should I go back?

No – want to get Your Revelation? You have thrown away more money than He ever had. Now call, but just ask quietly to look in the case again.

H: He found it among a lot of letters but “doesn’t know how it got there”. Then I asked for forgiveness for having thrown away all the money, but He said: It’s all right. You lived in scarcity then, but now You are forgiven. So You live in abundance. There is no longer any need to throw anything away or to want for anything either.

Blessed are You with Mary as the mother of the children.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord –
Be it done unto Me according to Thy Will.

Egocentric is right! I do not need another physical mother and she was the only one who conceived without any lack of Love. But I told You before that many are born which have not been reborn. I mentioned it to You and Bill in connection with Your own parents.

–

Have a shot now and a booster if there is an epidemic. Dr. Damrosch and Dr. Wise agree on this.

H meeting with Dr. Wise and Dr. Damrosch. Dr. D permitted an opportunity for questioning in His capacity as chairman of the flu board regarding B’s flu shot. This was an example of how Miracles should work. You did not jump into the question Yourself and even though You did rush for the phone on Red’s advice You exerted no pressure on B’s reluctance. This gave Me a chance to let You leave it to the real expert Whom I sent to answer the question.

35) Miracles are examples of Right Thinking. Reality contact at all levels becomes strong and accurate thus permitting correct delineation of intra- and interpersonal boundaries. As a result, the Doer sees the Truth as God created It. This is what is meant by the principle 24 on “perspective adjustment”.

–

36) A Miracle is a correction factor introduced into false Thinking by Me.

It acts as a catalyst, shaking up erroneous perception and snapping it into place. This correction factor places man under the Atonement principle where His perception is healed. Until this has occurred perception of the Divine Order is impossible. True depth perception becomes possible only at the highest order of perceptual integration.

–

The Spiritual Eye is the mechanism of Miracles because what the Spiritual Eye perceives is Truth. The Spiritual Eye perceives both the Creations of God and the creations of man. Among the creations of man It can also separate the True from the false by Its ability to perceive totally rather than selectively. It thus becomes the proper instrument for Reality testing which always involves the necessary distinction between the True and the false.

37) The Miracle dissolves error because the Spiritual Eye identifies error as false, or unreal. This is the same as saying that by seeing Light darkness automatically disappears.

Darkness is lack of Light. It does not have unique properties of its own. It is an example of the scarcity fallacy from which only error can proceed. Truth is always abundant. No, Helen, not pregnant or fat. Scarcity leads to overeating and false pregnancy notions. Abundance eliminates these false drives. Those Who perceive and acknowledge that They have everything have no need for driven behavior of any kind.

–

38) Miracles are a Blessing from parents to children.

This is just another way of phrasing the previous principle about from Those Who have more to Those Who have less. Children do not belong to parents, but They do need to share Their greater abundance. If They are deprived Their perception becomes distorted. When this occurs the whole Family of God, or the Sonship, is impaired in Its relationships. Ultimately, every member of the Family of God must return. The Miracle calls to Him to return because It blesses and honors Him, even though He may be absent in Spirit.

–

39) The Miracle acknowledges all men as Your Brothers and Mine. It is a way of perceiving the universal Mark of God in Them.

Tell B that this is the True “strawberry mark” of Brotherhood. This is just a sign of special concern for Him because He keeps worrying about this. You might add that His false idea about His own exclusion from universal Love is fallacious in Your terms and arrogant in His. His real specialness does not stem from exclusion but from inclusion. All My Brothers are special. He should stop interpreting this as “All except” B. This is ridiculous! Tell Him that the implied lack of Love that His version contains is way off the mark and misses the level of Right Thinking entirely. He must heal His perception in this respect. He must work a Miracle on behalf of Himself here (see the principle 24 about Miracles as a perception corrector) before He can effect Miracles as creative energizers, which They are.

Tell B that 50,000,000 Frenchmen can be wrong because the notion is too fragmented. What can’t be wrong is the universal Sonship of Which He is a part. God would be mocked if any of His Creations lacked Holiness. The Creation is whole. The mark of wholeness is Holiness, not holes. The Sonship has no holes anywhere.

–

40) Wholeness is the perceptual content of the Miracle. It thus corrects, or atones for, the faulty perception of lack.

We now turn to the fundamental distinction between Miracles and projection. The stimulus must precede the response and must also determine and influence the kind of response that is evoked. The relationships of stimulus and response are extremely intimate. The behavioristic terminology is because this part deals with behavior. Behavior is response, so that the question “response to what?” becomes crucial.

Stimuli of all kinds are identified through perception. You perceive the stimulus and behave accordingly. It follows, then, that:

As Ye perceive
So will Ye behave.

H raises the point that biblical language is hardly behavioristic terminology.

Answer: No, but they needn’t be out of accord with each other either.

Consider the Golden Rule again. You are asked to behave towards Others as You would have Them behave toward You. This means that the perception of Both must be accurate since the Golden Rule is the Order for appropriate behavior. You can’t behave appropriately unless You perceive accurately because appropriate behavior depends on lack of level confusion. The presence of level confusion always results in variable Reality testing and hence variability in behavioral appropriateness. All forms of self image debasement are fundamental perceptual distortions. They inevitably produce either self contempt or projection and usually both. Since You and Your Neighbor are equal members of the same family, as You perceive Both so will You behave toward Both. The way to perceive for Golden Rule behavior is to look out from the perception of Your own Holiness and perceive the Holiness of Others.

B and You need considerable clarification of the channel role. Look carefully at Mrs. Albert. She is working Miracles every day because she knows who she is. I emphasize again that Your tendency to forget names is not hostility but a fear of involvement or recognition. You had misinterpreted human encounters as opportunities for magic rather than for Miracles and so You tried to protect the name. This is a very ancient and primitive way of trying to protect a person. Note the very old jewish practice of changing the name of a person Who is very ill so that when the list is given to the Angel of death the person with that name will not be found. This is a good example of the curiously literal regression which can occur in very bright people when They become afraid. You and B Both do it. Actually, it is a device closely related to the phobia in the sense that they both narrow fear to a simple aspect of a much larger problem in order to enable Them to avoid it.

A similar mechanism works when You get furious about a comparatively minor expression by Someone to Whom You are ambivalent. A good example of this is Your response to Jonathan Who does leave things around in very strange ways. Actually, He does this because He thinks that by minor areas of disorganization He can protect His stability. I remind You that You have done this Yourself for years and should understand it very well. This should be met with great charity rather than with great fury. The fury comes from Your awareness that You do not love Jonathan as You should and You narrow Your lack of Love by centering Your hate on trivial behavior in an attempt to protect Him from it. You also call Him Jonathan for the same reason (see previous reference). Note that a name is a human symbol that “stands for” a person. Superstitions about names are very common for just that reason. That is also why people sometimes respond with anger when Their names are spelled, or pronounced, incorrectly.

Actually, the jewish superstition about changing the names was a distortion of a Revelation about how to alter, or avert, death. What the Revelation’s proper content was that Those Who change their mind, not name, about destruction, or hate, do not need to die. Death is a human affirmation of a belief in hate. That is why the Bible says

There is no death.

and that is why I demonstrated that death does not exist. Remember that I came to fulfill the law by reinterpreting it. The law itself, if properly understood, offers only protection to man. Those Who have not yet changed their minds have entered the “hellfire” concept into it. Remember, I said before that because nature abhors a vacuum it does not follow that the vacuum is filled with hellfire. The emptiness engendered by fear should be replaced by Love because Love and Its absence are in the same dimension and correction cannot be undertaken except within a dimension. Otherwise there has been a confusion of levels.

Returning to Mrs. Albert, not Andrews: She corrected Your error about her name without embarrassment and without hostility because she has not made Your own mistake about names. She is not afraid because she knows she is protected. She made the correction only because You were inaccurate and the whole question of embarrassment did not occur to her. She was also quite unembarrassed when she told You that everything has to be done to preserve Life because You never can tell when God may come and say: “Get up, Dave” and then he will. She did not ask what You believed first and afterwards merely added “and it’s True, too”. The right answer to the SCT item is:

When they told Me what to do,
I “referred the question to the only real authority”.

H note: If You ask Somebody what He believes before You tell Him what You believe then You are implying that You will say what He approves. This is not “the real authority”.

You took a lot of notes on

Those Who are ashamed of Me before men,
Them will I be ashamed of before God.

This was rather carefully clarified even though the quotation is not quite right, but it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that elsewhere in the Bible it also says

Those Who represent, or plead for, Me to men
will be represented, or pleaded for, by Me before God.

Note: This quotation is also not the correct biblical phrasing but it is what it means.

Note that One Who represents also “witnesses for”. The quotation thus means that You represent, or “witness for”, the authority in Whom You believe. Your witnessing demonstrates Your belief and thus strengthens it. I assure You that I will “witness for” Anyone Who lets Me and to whatever extent He Himself permits it. Those Who witness for Me are expressing, through Their Miracles, that They have abandoned deprivation in favor of the abundance They have learned belongs to Them.

–

41) A major contribution of Miracles is Their Strength in releasing man from His misplaced sense of isolation, deprivation and lack. They are affirmations of Sonship Which is a state of completion and abundance.

B’s very proper emphasis on changing Your mind needs clarification:

Whatever is True and real is eternal and cannot change or be changed. The Soul is therefore unalterable because It is already perfect, but the Mind can elect the level It chooses to serve. The only limit which is put on Its choice is that It cannot serve two masters. While the ballot itself is a secret one and the right to vote is fully protected, voting always entails both election and rejection. If two candidates are voted for, for the same position, the machine cancels the ballot automatically. This is necessary because a split vote does not represent any real allegiance.

Free will is the attribute of the Mind, not the Soul. The Soul always remains changeless because It never leaves the Sight of God. The Creation of the Soul is already fully accomplished. The Mind, if It votes to do so, becomes a medium by which the Soul can create along the line of Its own Creation. If It does not freely elect to do so, It retains this creative ability but places Itself under tyrannous rather than authoritative control. As a result what It creates is imprisonment because such are the dictates of tyrants. To change Your mind means to place It at the disposal of True authority. The Miracle is thus a sign that the Mind has elected to be guided by Christ in His service. The abundance of Christ is the natural result of choosing to follow Him.

PS: The reason You have been late recently because You were taking dictation is merely because You didn’t remember to ask Me when to stop. This is an example of the “indiscriminate or uncontrolled” Miracleworking We already spoke of. It is wellmeant but illadvised. I prompted that call from Jack, a taxi man Who couldn’t pick H up, to show You that this is not necessary. Also the other man needed the money more today. Note that You managed to fill Your scribal role with no interruptions and were also on time. Note also that You closed the book and put it aside without consulting Me.

Ask: “Is that all?”

Answer: No. Add the following:

These notes are serving, among other things, to replace the “handwriting on the wall” which You once saw next to Your own Altar which read: “You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.” Scribes must learn Christcontrol to replace Their former habits which did produce scarcity rather than abundance. From errors of this kind the sense of deprivation is inevitable but very easily corrected.

The following is in relation to the question about sex. Tell B “the one more river” is related to sex. You might even explain it to Him as a “tidal wave”, a term which He will understand. You won’t.

Both of You are involved with unconscious distortions above the Miracle level which are producing a dense cover over Miracleimpulses which makes it hard for them to reach consciousness. Sex and Miracles are both ways of relating. The nature of any interpersonal relationship is limited, or defined, by what You want it to do, which is why You want it in the first place. Relating is a way of achieving an outcome.

Indiscriminate sexual impulses resemble indiscriminate Miracleimpulses in that both result in bodyimage misperceptions. The first are an expression of an indiscriminate attempt to reach Communion through the body. This involves not only the improper Self identification but also disrespect for the individuality of Others. Selfcontrol is not the whole answer to this problem, though I am by no means discouraging its use. It must be understood, however, that the underlying mechanism must be uprooted. A word You Both should understand well enough by now not to regard it as frightening. All shallow roots have to be uprooted because they are not deep enough to sustain You. The illusion that shallow roots can be deepened, and thus made to hold, is one of the corollaries on which the reversal of the Golden Rule, referred to twice before, is balanced. As these false underpinnings are uprooted, or given up, equilibrium is experienced as unstable. But the fact is that nothing is less stable than an orientation which is upside down. Anything that holds it this way is hardly conducive to greater stability. The whole danger of defenses lies in their propensity to hold misperceptions rigidly in place. This is why rigidity is regarded as stability by Those Who are off the mark.

Note: The only final solution

No, Helen, this has nothing to do with the NAZI use of the term. You just got frightened again. One of the more horrible examples of inverted, or upside down, thinking, and history is full of horrible examples of this, is the fact that the NAZIS spelled Their appalling error with capital letters. I shed many tears over this but it is by no means the only time I said:

Father, forgive Them for They know not what They do.

All actions which stem from reverse thinking are literally the behavioral expressions of those who know not what they do. Actually, Jean Dixon was right in her emphasis on

Feet on the ground and fingertips in the Heaven

though she was a bit too literal for Your kind of understanding. Many people knew exactly what she meant so her statement was the right Miracle for them. For You and Bill it would be better to consider the concept in terms of reliability and validity. A rigid orientation can be extremely reliable, even if it is upside down. In fact, the more consistently upside down it is the more reliable it is, because consistency always held up better mathematically than test regarding test comparisons, which were always on shaky ground. You can check this against Jack’s notes if You wish, but I assure You its True. Split-half reliability is statistically a much stronger approach. The reason for this is that correlation, which is the technique applied to test regarding test comparisons, measures only the extent of association and does not consider the direction at all. But two halves of the same thing must go in the same direction if there is to be accuracy of measurement. This simple statement is really the principle on which split-half reliability, a means of estimating internal consistency, rests.

Note, however, that both approaches leave out a very important dimension. Internal consistency criteria disregard time because the focus is on onetime measurements. Test regarding test comparisons are based on time intervals but they disregard direction. It is possible, of course, to use both by establishing internal consistency and stability over time. You will remember that Jack once told His class that the more sophisticated statisticians are concentrating more and more on reliability rather than validity. The rationale for this, as He said, was that a reliable instrument does measure something. He also said, however, that validity is still the ultimate goal which reliability can only serve.

I submit.

I’m using Jack’s language in this section because it always had a special meaning for You. So did Jack. Your confusion of sex and statistics is an interesting example of this whole issue. Note that night You spent in the scent of roses doing a complex factorial analysis of covariance. It’s a funny story to Others because They see a different kind of level confusion than the one You Yourself were making. You might recall that You wanted that design and Jack opposed it. One of the real reasons why that evening was so exhilarating was because it represented a “battle of intellects”, both good ones by the way, Each communicating exceptionally clearly but on opposite sides. The sexual aspects were naturally touched off in Both of You because of the sex and aggression confusion.

It is especially interesting that after the battle ended with Your agreeing with Jack He wrote in the margin of Your notes “virtue is triumphant”. H’s note regarding submissiondominance and femininemasculine roles entered into this. While this remark was funny to Both of You at the time You might consider its truer side. The virtue lay in the complete respect Each of You offered to the Other’s intellect. Your mutual sexual attraction was also shared. The error lay in the word “triumphant”. This had the “battle” connotation because neither of You was respecting all of the Other. There is a great deal more to a person than intellect and genitals. The omission was the Soul.

I submit, after a long interruption, that if a Mind, or Soul, is in valid Relationship with God It can’t be upside down. Jack and the Other very eminent methodologists have abandoned validity in favor of reliability because They have lost sight of the end and are concentrating on the means. Remember the story about the artist Who kept devoting Himself to inventing better and better ways of sharpening pencils. He never created anything but He had the sharpest pencil in town. The language here is intentional. Sex is often utilized on behalf of very similar errors: Hostility, triumph, vengeance, selfdebasement and all sort of expressions of the lack of Love are often very clearly seen in the accompanying fantasies. But it is a profound error to imagine that because these fantasies are so frequent, or occur so reliably, this implies validity. Remember that while validity implies reliability the relationship is not reversible. You can be wholly reliable and entirely wrong. While a reliable test does measure something, what use is the test unless You discover what the “something” is? And if validity is more important than reliability, and is also necessarily implied by it, why not concentrate on validity and let reliability fall naturally into place.

Intellect may be a “displacement upward”, but sex can be a “displacement outward”. How can man “come close” to Others through the parts of Him which are really invisible? The word “invisible” means “cannot be seen or perceived”. What cannot be perceived is hardly the right means for improving perception. The confusion of Miracleimpulse with sexual impulse is a major source of perceptual distortion because it induces rather than straightens out the basic levelconfusion which underlies all those who seek happiness with the instruments of the world. A desert is a desert is a desert. You can do anything You want in it but You cannot change it from what it is. It still lacks water which is why it is a desert.

Bring up that dream about the Bluebird. While H was looking for this dream she came across another. The message was to bring both as an excellent example of how extremely good H had become over the intervening 25 years at sharpening pencils. Note that the essential content hasn’t changed, it’s just better written.

The thing to do with a desert is to leave.

H: Esther called to tell that Dave Diamond died. Maybe that was his way of leaving the desert. Dave loved Esther and Arnie Gold and the children he taught. I don’t know about his own children but I do know it is Esther that can’t get along with Terry. A while back she told Me that Dave would not let her into the room and kept telling her to get out and she just hung around all day in the hallway or the lounge nearby. I went into the room, under instructions, and spoke to Dave who was very groggy. Every time he opened his eyes I said: “We all love You so don’t be afraid.” Not allowed I prayed that he would be able to love everybody in return. This too was under instructions, having been told, I think on Great Authority, that his only real danger came from lacks in this connection.

I didn’t visit Him this friday but I am sure this was right because I was very careful to ask. I was going over, too, after the lecture and was told not to. Perhaps there was no “need to know” involved. I am upset about it and am leaving My notes for a while. I think I’d rather pray right now.

Esther said Terry was talking about giving away the baby. I jumped to the conclusion that I was supposed to take her, but that may easily be an indiscriminate Miracle impulse. I think I’d better just stop now.

I prayed for Dave and said that whatever Miracles I could do for Him, even now, or any of His family I would will to do. I also asked Jesus to help Dave with The Course. Then I was told to go in and visit with Jonathan and pray for Him particularly if He was asleep, which He was. It was the only time so far I prayed intensively for Him. When this happens I am strongly aware that I am not praying alone. We told Jonathan that He should forget about the Alexandrian library and all the rest because it didn’t matter. He showed a lot of Love this time and should claim His forgiveness. He does not need to hurt Himself and must stop those symptoms of disequilibrium and establish His freedom. He woke up and said He was feeling better but hungry.

I was going to wash My hair after fixing His dinner but I was told to visit His mother. I am not too enthusiastic about this but I am going now. It occurred to Me while waiting for the elevator that I was glad I was going because it was a way of atoning to Jonathan for My being so nasty to Him – He is always happy to have Me visit His mother – and in a way of atoning for Dave too.

–

The impersonal nature of Miracles is because Atonement Itself is One. By being One It unites all Creations with Their Creator.

42) Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind. By being One this state of mind goes out to Anyone even without the awareness of the Miracle Worker Himself. The impersonal nature of Miracles is because Atonement Itself is One, uniting all Creations with their Creator.

–

43) The Miracle is an expression of an inner awareness of Christ and acceptance of His Atonement. The Mind is then in a state of Grace and naturally becomes gracious, Both to the Host within and the stranger without. By bringing in the stranger He becomes Your Brother.

The Miracles You are told not to perform have not lost Their value. They are still expressions of Your own state of Grace, but the action aspect of the Miracle should be Christcontrolled because of His complete awareness of the whole Plan. The impersonal nature of Miraclemindedness ensures Your own Grace, but only Christ is in a position to know where Grace can be bestowed.

–

44) A Miracle is never lost. It touches many people You may not even know and sometimes produces undreamed changes in forces of which You are not even aware. This is not Your concern. It will also always bless You. This is not Your concern, either. But it is the concern of the Record. The Record is completely unconcerned with reliability, being perfectly valid because of the way it was set up. It always measures what it was supposed to measure.

You did surprisingly well today, after a rather bad start. Actually, Dave helped You, but this will not be explained.

H: I got very frightened about this.

Answer: It’s just an example of how no Miracle is ever lost and always blesses the Doer. This has nothing to do with magic. The Golden Rule is the law of Justice, not spells. We’ve been over that already.

I want to finish the instructions about sex because this is an area the Miracle Worker must understand. Inappropriate sex drives, or misdirected Miracleimpulses, result in guilt if expressed and depression if denied. We said before that all real pleasure comes from doing God’s Will. Whenever it is not done an experience of lack results. This is because not doing the Will of God is a lack of Self.

Sex was intended as an instrument for physical creation to enable Souls to embark on new chapters in Their experience and thus improve Their record. The pencil was not an end in itself. It was an aid to the artist in His own creative endeavors. As He made new homes for Souls and guided Them through the period of Their own developmental readiness He learned the role of the Father Himself. The whole process was set up as a learning experience in gaining Grace.

The pleasure which is derived from sex as such is reliable only because it stems from an error which men shared. Awareness of the error produces the guilt. Denial of the error results in projection. Correction of the error brings release. The only valid use of sex is procreation. It is not Truly pleasurable in itself.

Lead Us not into temptation.

means

Do not let Us deceive Ourselves into believing that We can relate in Peace to God or Our Brothers with anything external.

The “sin of onan” was called a “sin” because it involved a related type of selfdelusion. Namely, that pleasure without relating can exist. To repeat an earlier instruction, the concept of either the Self or Another as a “sexobject” epitomizes this strange reversal. As B put it, and very correctly, too, it is objectionable but only because it is invalid. Upside down logic produces this kind of thinking.

Child of God, You were created to create the good, the beautiful and the Holy. Do not lose sight of this. You were right in telling B to invite Me to enter anywhere temptation arises. I will change the situation from one of inappropriate sexual attraction to one of impersonal Miracleworking. The concept of changing the channel for libidinal expression is Freud’s greatest contribution except that He did not understand what “channel” really means. The Love of God, for a little while, must still be expressed through one body to another. That is because the real Vision is still so dim. Everyone can use His body best by enlarging man’s perception so He can see the real Vision. This Vision is invisible to the physical eye. The ultimate purpose of the body is to render itself unnecessary. Learning to do this is the only real reason for its creation.

B – I got very uneasy here and thought maybe I was just writing all this, which has been very time consuming and quite tiresome at times, because I was jealous. I’m still not sure and need Your help about this. But I went on anyway because it didn’t seem finished. Please help Me evaluate it because I don’t want Scribal errors to enter too much into The Course. Though I guess they’ll be corrected when they do. What do You think about all this? I hadn’t intended to write a commentary on sex. It just occurred to Me that the doubt may come from something I don’t want to give up. Should I tell You about it? It’s kind of embarrassing, really. But I just remembered the “one more river” with which this started.

Note: Scribes have a particular role in the Plan of Atonement because They have the ability to experience Revelations Themselves and also to put into words enough of the experience to serve as a basis for Miracles. This refers to experiences at the visionary level after which H wrote

If You will tell Me what to do I will to do it.

She had not known that the word “to” was inserted and had merely intended to write: “I will do it.” This recognition had a terrific impact on H. This is why You experienced that Revelation about I will to do very personally but also wrote it: What You wrote can be useful to Miracle Workers Other than Yourself. We said before that Prayer is the medium of Miracles. The Miracle Prayer is what You wrote, i.e.

If You will tell Me what to do I will to do it.

See the correction next day.

This Prayer is the door that leads out of the desert forever.

Correction next day: This is not a complete statement because it does not exclude the negative. We have already told You to add

and not to do what You would not have Me do.

in connection with Miracles. The distinction has also been made here between “Miraclemindedness” as a state and “Miracledoing” as its expression. The former needs Your careful protection because it is a state of Miraclereadiness. This is what the Bible means in the many references to

Hold Yourself ready.

and other similar injunctions. Readiness here means keep Your perception right side up, or valid, so You will always be ready, willing and able. These are the essentials for

Listen, Learn and Do.

You must be

ready to listen,
willing to learn and
able to do.

Only the last is involuntary because it is the application of Miracles which must be Christcontrolled. But the other two, which are the voluntary aspects of Miraclemindedness, are up to You.

To channelize does have a “narrowing down” connotation, though not in the sense of lack. The underlying state of mind, or Grace, is a total commitment. Only the doing aspect involves the channel at all. This is because doing is always specific. As Jack said: “A reliable instrument must measure something.” But a channel is also valid. It must learn to do only what it is supposed to do. Change the Prayer to read:

If You will tell Me what to do,
only that I will to do.

Note: H objects to the doggerel sound of this and regards it as very inferior poetry.

Answer: It’s hard to forget, though.

The Revelation is literally unspeakable because it is an experience of unspeakable Love. The word “awe” should be reserved only for Revelations, to which it is perfectly and correctly applicable. It is not appropriately applied to Miracles because a state of True awe is worshipful. It implies that One of a lesser order stands before the greater One. This is the case only when a Soul stands before His Creator. Souls are perfect Creations and should be struck with awe in the presence of the Creator of Perfection. The Miracle, on the other hand, is a sign of Love among Equals. Equals cannot be in awe of Each Other because awe always implies inequality. Awe is not properly experienced even to Me. That is why in that short introductory vision I knelt beside You facing the Light.

An elder Brother is entitled to respect for His greater experience and a reasonable amount of obedience for His greater wisdom. He is also entitled to Love, because He is a Brother and also to devotion, if He is devoted. It is only My own devotion that entitles Me to Yours. But You will notice that I have knelt at Your Altar as readily as I would ever have You kneel at Mine. There is nothing about Me that You cannot attain. I have nothing that does not come from God. The main difference between Us, as yet, is that I have nothing else. This leaves Me in a state of True Holiness, which is only a potential in You.

No man cometh to the Father but by Me.

is among the most misunderstood statements in the Bible. It does not mean that I am in anyway separate or different from You, except in time. Now, We know that time does not exist. Actually, the statement is much more meaningful if it is considered on a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. Regarded along the vertical man stands below Me and I stand below God. In the process of “rising up” I am higher. This is because without Me the distance between God and man is too great for man to encompass. I bridge the distance as an elder Brother to man on the one hand and a Son of God on the other. My devotion to My Brothers has placed Me in charge of the Sonship Which I can render complete only to the extent I can share It.

This appears to contradict another statement:

I and My Father are One.

It doesn’t. There are still separate parts in the statement in recognition of the fact that the Father is greater. Actually, the original statement was

I and My Father are of one kind.

The Holy Spirit is the Bringer of Revelations, not Miracles. Revelations are indirectly inspired by Me because I am close to the Holy Spirit and alert to Revelationreadiness in My Brothers. I can thus bring down to Them more than They can draw down to Themselves. Jean Dixon’s description is perhaps a better statement of My position. Because My Feet are on the ground and My Hands are in Heaven I can bring down the glories of Heaven to My Brothers on earth.

The Holy Spirit is the Highest Communication Medium. Miracles do not involve this type of communication because They are temporary communicative devices. When man can return to His original form of Communication with God by direct Revelation, the need for Miracles is over. The Holy Spirit mediates higher to lower order Communication, keeping the direct channel from God to man open for Revelation. Revelation is not reciprocal. It is always from God to man. This is because God and man are not equal. The Miracle is reciprocal because It always involves equality.

In the longitudinal, or horizontal, plane the True equality of all men in the Sonship appears to involve almost endless time. But We know that time is only an artifact introduced as a learning aid.

–

45) The Miracle is a learning device which lessens the need for time. The sudden shift from horizontal to vertical perception, which the Miracle entails, introduces an interval from which the Doer and the Receiver Both emerge much farther along in time than They would otherwise have been.

A Miracle has thus the unique property of abolishing time by rendering the space of time It occupies unnecessary. There is no relation between the time a Miracle takes and the time It covers. It substitutes for learning that might have taken thousands of years. It does this by the underlying recognition of perfect equality and Holiness between Doer and Receiver on which the Miracle rests. It is unstable, but perfectly consistent, i.e., It does not occur predictably across time and It rarely occurs in comparable forms. But within Itself It is perfectly consistent. Since It contains nothing but an acknowledgment of equality and worth, all parts are equal. This establishes the prerequisite for validity. We said before that the Miracle abolishes time. It does this by a process of collapsing it. It thus abolishes certain intervals within it. It does this, however, within the larger temporal sequence. The validity of the Miracle, then, is predictive, not logical, within the temporal schema. It establishes an outofpattern time interval which is not under the usual laws of time. Only in this sense is it timeless. By collapsing time It literally saves time, much the way “daylight saving time” does. It rearranges the distribution of Light.

The Miracle is the only device Which man has at His immediate disposal for controlling time. Only the Revelation transcends it, having nothing to do with time at all. The Miracle is much like the body in that both are learning aids which aim at facilitating a state in which they are unnecessary. When the Soul is finally in the original state of direct communication neither the body nor the Miracle serves any purpose.

While He is in the body, however, man can choose between loveless and miraculous channels of creativity. He can create an empty shell but He does not create nothing at all. He can wait, delay, paralyze Himself, reduce His creativity almost to nothing and even introduce a real developmental arrest or regression. But He cannot abolish His creativity. He can destroy His medium of communication but not His potential.

He was not created by His own free will. Only what He creates is His to decide. The basic decision of the Miracleminded is not to wait on time any longer than is necessary. Time can waste as well as be wasted. The Miracleworker, therefore, accepts the timecontrol factor of the Miracle gladly because He knows that every collapse of time brings all men closer to the ultimate release from time in which the Son and the Father are One. The real meaning “are of one kind” is “of one Mind, or Will”. When the Will of the Sonship and the Father are One Their perfect accord is Heaven.

Aside: Tell B He is right in providing You with the consistent Strength You need to get and He needs to offer. Your instability and His weakness have resulted from bad karmic choices and Your relationship now is crucial for the future. You must Both exert every effort to restore it to what it once was. Both of You are correcting where You have failed before. This has already enabled You to fulfill a very unexpected role in Your own joint Salvation and the Salvation of many Other children I will entrust increasingly to You. These are by no means chosen at random. B should know that His preparation is not only in terms of sharing in the results of Your better application of some rather unusual talents. His own role, which He will understand after His preparation is complete, will be equally surprising. He will need Your help then as You need His Strength now. Note that You do not need His help as a Scribe because You developed this ability by Your own efforts and finally placed them at My disposal. By lending You His Strength He strengthens Himself. When He gains this through His own efforts He will need Your help in a very unexpected way. But this is just another example of the reciprocal nature of Miracles.

Equality does not imply homogeneity now. When Everyone has everything, individual contributions to the Sonship will no longer be necessary. When the Atonement has been completed all talents will be shared by all of the Sons of God. God is not partial. All of His Children have His total Love and all of His Gifts are given freely to Everyone alike.

Except You become as little children

means

Unless You fully recognize Your complete dependence on God You cannot know the real Power of the Son in His True Relationship with the Father.

You and B do have special talents which are needed for the Celestial Speedup at this time. But note that the term speedup is not one which relates to the transcending of time. When time is abolished, and all of the Sons of God have come Home, no special agents will be necessary. But do not underestimate the power of special agents now or the great need there is for Them. I do not claim to be more than that Myself. No one in His

Right Mind

ever wants either more or less than that. Those who are called on to witness for Me now are witnessing for all men, as I am.

The role of the priestess was once to experience Revelations and to work Miracles. The purpose was to bring Those not yet available for direct Revelations into proper focus for them. Heightened perception was always the essential priestess attribute.

This is the first time that H ever said that She would be honored if there were any further notes.

H: Neither B nor I is really clear about how sexual impulses can be directly translated into Miracleimpulses.

The fantasies that I mentioned yesterday provide an excellent example of how You switch. Now switch the pronoun references or it will be too confusing. Fantasies are distorted forms of thinking because they always involve twisting perception into unreality. Fantasy is a debased form of Vision. Visions and Revelations are closely related. Fantasies and projection are more closely associated because both attempt to control external Reality according to false internal needs.

Live and let live

happens to be a very meaningful injunction. Twist Reality in any way and You are perceiving destructively. Reality was lost through usurpation which in turn produced tyranny. I told You You were now restored to Your former role in the Plan of Atonement. But You must still choose freely to devote Your heritage to the greater Restoration. As long as a single slave remains to walk the earth Your release is not complete. Complete restoration of the Sonship is the only True goal of the Miracleminded.

Sexual fantasies are distortions of perception by definition. They are a means of making false associations and obtaining pleasure from them. Man can do this only because He is creative. But although He can perceive false associations He can never make them real except to Himself. As was said before, man believes in what He creates. If He creates a Miracle He will be equally strong in His belief in That. The strength of His conviction will then sustain the belief of the Miracle Receiver. No fantasies, sexual or otherwise, are True. Fantasies become totally unnecessary as the wholly satisfying Nature of Reality becomes apparent. The seximpulse is a Miracleimpulse when it is in proper focus. One individual sees in Another the right partner for “procreating the stock” and also for Their joint establishment of a creative home. This does not involve fantasy at all. If I am asked to participate in the decision, the decision will be a Right one, too.

In a situation where You, or another person, or Both experience inappropriate seximpulses know first that this is an expression of fear. Your Love toward Each Other is not perfect and this is why the fear arose. Turn immediately to Me by denying the power of the fear and ask Me to help You to replace it with Love. This shifts the sexual impulse immediately to the Miracleimpulse and places it at My disposal. Then acknowledge the True creative worth of Both Yourself and the Other One. This places Strength where it belongs. Note that sexual fantasies are always destructive in that they perceive Another in an inappropriate creative role. Both people are perceived essentially as “objects” fulfilling Their own pleasure drives. This dehumanized view is the source of the depleting use of sex.

Freud’s description is purely negative, i.e., as a release from the unpleasant. He also observed that the tension from id impulses never completely abates. What He should have said is that the shift from Miracleimpulses to sexual impulses was debilitating in the first place because of the levelconfusion involved. This set up a state in which real release was impossible. Note also that Freud’s notion of sex was as a device for inducing relaxation which He confused with Peace.

Inappropriate sex relaxes only in the sense that it may induce physical sleep. The Miracle, on the other hand, is an energizer. It always strengthens and never depletes. It does induce Peace, and by establishing tranquility, not relaxation, It enables Both Giver and Receiver to enter into a state of Grace. Here His Miraclemindedness, not release from tension, is restored. Tension is the result of a buildingup of unexpressed Miracleimpulses. This can be Truly abated only by releasing the Miracledrive which has been blocked. Converting it to sexual libido merely produces further blocking. Never foster this illusion in Yourself or encourage it in Others. An “object” is incapable of release because it is a concept which is deprived of creative Power. The recognition of the real creative Power in Yourself and Others brings release because it brings Peace. The Peace of God which passeth understanding can keep Your Hearts now and forever.

There are only two short additions needed here:

1) Your earlier acute problem in writing things down came from a much earlier misuse of very great scribal abilities. These were turned to secret rather than shared advantage, depriving it of its miraculous potential and diverting it into possession. This is much like the confusion of seximpulses with possessionimpulses. Some of the original Material is still in the Temple. This is why You became so afraid about Atlantis. B has His own reasons.

2) Retain Your miracleminded attitude toward Rosie very carefully. She once hurt Both of You which is why she is now Your servant. But she is blessed in that she sees service as a source of Joy. Help her straighten out her past errors by contributing to Your welfare now.

Priestess, a Brother has knelt at Your shrine. Heal him through Me.

H: I have an idea that the shrine merely referred to the “Altar within” Which the Priestess served. I imagine that the communication was direct and the “Brother” always nameless. I – the Priestess – responded automatically by praying directly to God, standing with upraised arms to draw down a Blessing on her Brother who knelt outside. Her response was completely automatic and impersonal. She never even thought of checking the outcome because there was no doubt. I imagine there is still no doubt, really. Except that the Priestess can no longer ask alone. It was originally “Sister”, not “Priestess”.

Answer to H’s question regarding past memories: As long as You remember always that You never suffered anything because of anything that Anyone else did this is not dangerous.

Remember that You Who want Peace can find it only by complete forgiveness. You never really wanted Peace before so there was no point in knowing how to get it. This is an example of the “need to know” principle which was established by the Plan of Atonement long before the CIA. No kind of knowledge is acquired by Anyone unless He wants it or believes in some way He needs it. A psychologist does not need a lesson on the hierarchy of needs as such, but, like Everyone else, He does need to understand His own.

This particular set of notes will be the only one which deals with the concept of “lack” because, while the concept does not exist in the Creation of God, it is very apparent in the creations of man. It is, in fact, the essential difference.

A need implies lack, by definition. It involves the recognition, conscious or unconscious, and at times, fortunately, Superconscious, that You would be better off in a state which is somehow different from the one You are in. Until the separation, which is a better term than the fall, nothing was lacking. This meant that man had no needs at all. If He had not deprived Himself, He would never have experienced them. After the separation needs became the most powerful source of motivation for human action. All behavior is essentially motivated by needs, but behavior itself is not a Divine attribute. The body is the mechanism for behavior. Ask any behaviorist and He’s right, too. You tell Your own classes that nobody would bother even to get up and go from one place to another if He did not think He would somehow be better off. This is very True. Believing that He could be “better off” is the reason why man has the mechanism for behavior at His disposal. This is why the Bible says

By Their deeds Ye shall know Them.

A man acts according to the particular hierarchy of needs He establishes for Himself. His hierarchy, in turn, depends on His perception of what He is, i.e., what He lacks. This establishes His own rules for what He needs to know. Separation from God is the only lack He really needs to correct. But His separation would never have occurred if He had not distorted His perception of Truth and thus perceived Himself as lacking. The concept of any sort of need hierarchy arose because, having made this fundamental error, He had already fragmented Himself into levels with different needs. As He integrates He becomes One, and His one need becomes one accordingly. Only the fragmented can be confused about this. Internal integration within the Self will not suffice to correct the lack fallacy but it will correct the need fallacy.

Thank you for writing this as given.

Unified need produces unified action because it produces lack of ambivalence. The concept of need hierarchy, a corollary to the original error, requires correction at its own level before the error of levels itself can be corrected. Man cannot operate, or behave effectively, while He operates at split levels. But as long as He does so He must introduce correction from the bottom up. This is because He now operates in space where “up” and “down” are meaningful terms. Ultimately, of course, space is as meaningless as time. The concept is really one of spacetime belief. The physical world exists only because man can use it to correct His unbelief which placed Him in it originally. As long as man knew He did not need anything the whole device was unnecessary. The need to know is not safely under man’s control at this time. It is much better off under Mine. Let’s just leave it at that.

Specific question raised by B regarding sex under existing conditions. H raised previous question about the past which has just been answered.

The other question, however, I am more than willing to answer because it is appropriate for now. You and B Both chose Your present sex partners shamefully and would have to atone for the lack of Love which was involved in any case. You selected Them precisely because They were not suited to gratify Your fantasies. This was not because You wanted to abandon, or give up, the fantasies, but because You were afraid of them. You saw in Your partners a means of protecting against the fear, but Both of You continued to “look around” for chances to indulge the fantasies. The dream of the “perfect partner” is an attempt to find external integration while retaining conflicting needs in the self. B was somewhat less guilty of this than You but largely because He was more afraid. He had abandoned the hope of finding a perfect partner in a neurotic sense of despair of finding It. You, on the other hand, insisted that the hope was justified. Neither of You, therefore, was in Your Right Mind.

As was said before, homosexuality is inherently more error prone than heterosexuality, but both can be undertaken on an equally false basis. The falseness of the basis is clear in the accompanying fantasies. Homosexuality always involves misperception of the Self or the partner, and generally Both. Penetration does not involve magic nor does any form of sexual behavior. It is a magic belief to engage in any form of bodyimage activity at all. You neither created Yourselves nor controlled Your Creation. By introducing levels into Your own perception You opened the way for bodyimage distortions.

The lack of Love, or faulty needorientation, which led to Your particular person, not object choices, can be corrected within the existent framework, and would have to be in the larger interest of overall progress. The situation is questionable largely because of its inherent vulnerability to fantasygratification. Doing the best You can within this limitation is probably the best corrective measure at present.

Any relationship You have undertaken for whatever reasons becomes a responsibility. If You shift Your own needs some amount of corresponding shift in the needorientation of the other person must result. This will be beneficial even if the partner was originally attracted to You because of Your disrespect. Teaching devices which are totally alien to a Learner’s perceptual system are usually merely disruptive. Transfer depends on some common elements in the new situation which are understandable in terms of the old.

–

Man can never control the effects of fear Himself because He has created fear and believes in what He creates. In attitude, then, though not in content, He resembles His own Creator Who has perfect faith in His Creations because He created Them. All Creation rests on belief, and the belief in the Creation produces Its existence. This is why it is possible for a man to believe what is not True for Anyone else. It is True for Him because it is made by Him. Every aspect of fear proceeds from upside down perception. The Truly Creative devote Their efforts to correcting this. The neurotic devotes His to compromise. The psychotic tries to escape by establishing the Truth of His own errors. It is most difficult to free Him by ordinary means only because He is more stable in His denial of Truth.

46) The Miracle makes no distinction among degrees of misperception. It is a device for perceptioncorrection, which is effective quite apart from either the degree or the direction of the error. This is Its True indiscriminateness.

Christcontrolled Miracles are selective only in that They are directed toward Those Who can use Them for Themselves. Since this makes it inevitable that They will extend Them to Others, a very strong chain of Atonement is welded. But Christcontrol takes no account at all of the Magnitude of the Miracle Itself because the concept of size exists only in a plane that is itself unreal. Since the Miracle aims at restoring Reality, It would hardly be useful if It were bound by the laws of the same error It aims to correct. Only man makes that kind of error. It is an example of the “foolish consistency” His own false beliefs have engendered. Both the power and the strength of man’s creative will must be understood before the real meaning of denial can be appreciated and abolished. Denial is not mere negation. It is a positive miscreation. While the miscreation is necessarily believed in by its own Creator, it does not exist at all at the level of True Creation.

–

47) The Miracle compares the creations of man with the higher level of Creation, accepting what is in accord as True and rejecting the discordant as false. This is why It is so closely associated with validity. Real validity is both True and useful, or better it is useful because it is True.

All aspects of fear are untrue because they do not exist at the higher creative levels and therefore do not exist at all. To whatever extent a man is willing to submit His beliefs to the real test of validity, to that extent are His perceptions healed, or corrected. In sorting out the false from the True, the Miracle proceeds much along the lines suggested very correctly by B, i.e.

If perfect Love casts out fear
And if fear exists,
Then there is not perfect Love.

But

Only perfect Love really exists.
Therefore, if there is fear
It creates a state which does not exist.

Believe this and You will be free. Only God can establish this solution for this faith is His Gift.

b. Distortions of Miracleimpulses

Man must contribute to His readiness here as elsewhere. The readiness for faith, as for everything else that is True, entails the two steps necessary for the release from fear. Denial of fear, in human terms, is a strong defense because it entails two levels of error:

1) That Truth can be denied and

2) That absence of Truth can be effective.

Experiencing fear, which is more characteristic of B, involves only the second error. However, these differences do not affect the Power of the Miracle at all, since only Truth and error are Its concern. You are Both more miracleminded and less able to recognize fear because of Your stronger, but split, identification. B, also characteristically, is less miracleminded but better able to recognize fear because His identification is more consistently right, but weaker. Together the conditions needed for consistent Miraclemindedness, the state in which fear has been abolished, can be particularly well worked out. In fact, it was already well worked out before.

Your idea about the real meaning of “possession” should be clarified. Your own denial of fear introduced some error variance, but not really a significant amount. However, there is always a chance that, as the size of the sample increases, what was nonsignificant before may attain significance, so We had better get this out of the way now while You are still within the safety margin. Fear of possession is a perverted expression of the fear of the irresistible attraction.

Aside: Yes, this does apply to homosexuality, among other errors, where the whole concept of possessing, or “entering”, is a key fear. It is a symbolic statement of an inverted decision not to enter into, or possess, the Kingdom. In physical terms, which it emphasizes because of the inherent error of Soul avoidance, real physical creation is avoided and fantasy gratification is substituted. The Truth is still that the attraction of God is irresistible at all levels and the acceptance of this totally unavoidable Truth is only a matter of time. But You should consider whether You want to wait because You can return now if You choose.

Note to H: You are writing this with improper motivation, but We will try anyway. If You are to stop, do so immediately.

Possession is a concept which has been subject to numerous distortions, some of which We will list below:

1. The Possession of Bodies

Possession can be associated with the body only. If this occurs sex is particularly likely to be contaminated. Possession versus being possessed is apt to be seen as the male and female role. Since neither will be conceived of as satisfying alone, and both will be associated with fear, this interpretation is particularly vulnerable to psychosexual confusion.

2. The Possession of Things

From a rather similar misperceptual reference point possession can also be associated with things. This is essentially a shift from the possession of bodies and is usually due to an underlying fear of associating possession with people. In this sense it is an attempt to protect people, like the superstition about “protecting the name” We mentioned before.

Both the possession of bodies and the possession of things are likely to become compulsive for several reasons, including:

a) They represent an attempt to escape from the real possessiondrive which cannot be satisfied this way.

b) They set up substitute goals which are usually reasonably easy to attain.

c) They appear to be relatively harmless and thus seem to allay fear. The fact that they usually interfere with good interpersonal relationships can be interpreted, in this culture, as a lack of sophistication on the part of the Other, not the self, and this induces a false feeling of confidence in the solution based on reliability, not validity. It is also fairly easy to find a partner Who shares the illusion. Thus We have any number of relationships which are actually established on the basis of the possession of bodies and others which hold together primarily because of the joint interests in the possession of things.

d) The manifestly external emphasis which both entail seems to be a safety device and thus permits a false escape from much more basic inhibitions. As a compromise solution the illusion of interpersonal relating is preserved along with the retention of the lack of Love component. This kind of psychic juggling leaves the juggler with a feeling of emptiness, which in fact is perfectly justified because He is acting from scarcity. He then becomes more and more driven in His behavior to fill the emptiness.

When these solutions have been invested with extreme belief, the possession of bodies leads to sex crimes and the possession of things to stealing. The kleptomaniac is a good example of the latter.

Generally, two types of emotional disturbances result:

a) The tendency to maintain the illusion that only the physical is real. This produces depression.

b) The tendency to invest the physical with nonphysical properties. This is essentially magic and tends more toward anxietyproneness.

There is a tendency to vacillate from one to the other which produces a corresponding vacillation between depression and anxiety. Both result in self imposed starvation.

3. The Possession of Spirit

Another type of distortion is seen in the fear of, or desire for, “Spirit” possession. The term “Spirit” is profoundly debased in this context, but it does entail a recognition that the body is not enough and investing it with magic will not work. This recognition accepts the fact that neither the possession of bodies nor the possession of things is sufficient, but precisely because it does not limit fear so narrowly it is more likely to produce greater fear in its own right. Endowing the Spirit with human possessiveness is a more inclusive error than the possession of bodies or the possession of things and a step somewhat further away from the “Right Mind”. Projection is also more likely to occur with vacillations between grandiosity and fear. “Religion”, in a distorted sense, is also more likely to occur in this kind of error because the idea of a “Spirit” is introduced, though fallaciously, while it is excluded from the possession of bodies and the possession of things. Witchcraft is thus particularly apt to be associated with the possession of Spirit because of the much greater investment in magic.

It should be noted that the possession of bodies involves only the body and the possession of things involves an attempt to associate things with human attributes. The possession of Spirit, on the other hand, is a more serious level confusion because it endows the Spirit with evil attributes. This accounts both for the religious zeal of its proponents and the aversion, or fear, of its opponents. Both attitudes stem from the same false belief. This is not what the Bible means by “possessed of the Holy Spirit”. It is interesting to note that even Those Who did understand that could nevertheless express Their understanding only inappropriately. The concept of “speaking in many tongues” was originally an injunction to communicate to Everyone in His own language, or His own level. It hardly meant to speak in a way that nobody can understand. This strange error occurs when people do understand the need for universal communication but have contaminated it with possession fallacies. The fear engendered by this misperception leads to a conflicted state in which communication is attempted but the fear is allayed by making the communication incomprehensible. It could also be said that the fear induced selfishness, or regression, because incomprehensible communication is hardly a worthy offering from one Son of God to another.

4. The Possession of Knowledge

Knowledge can also be misinterpreted as a means of possession. Here the content is not physical and the underlying fallacy is more likely to be the confusion of Mind and brain. The attempt to unite nonphysical content with physical attributes is illustrated by statements like “the thirst for knowledge”.

No, Helen, this is not what the “thirst” in the Bible means. The term was used only because of man’s limited comprehension and is probably better dropped.

The fallacious use of knowledge can result in several errors, including:

a) The idea that knowledge will make the individual more attractive to Others. This is a possessionfallacy.

b) The idea that knowledge will make the individual invulnerable. This is the reaction formation against the underlying fear of vulnerability.

c) The idea that knowledge will make the individual worthy. This is largely pathetic.

Both You and B should consider the possession of knowledge very carefully. Like all these fallacies it contains a denial mechanism which swings into operation as the fear increases, thus canceling out the error temporarily, but seriously impairing efficiency. Thus You claim You can’t read and B claims that He can’t speak. Note that depression is a real risk here for a Child of God should never reduce His efficiency in any way. The depression comes from a peculiar pseudosolution which reads:

A Child of God is efficient.
I am not efficient.
Therefore I am not a Child of God.

This leads to neurotic resignation and this is a state which merely increases the depression.

You may read the Introduction to Chapter 2 now because of the necessity of distinguishing between Real and false knowledge. Having made this distinction it is well to return to the errors already listed. It might be well to recapitulate them here:

1. The possession of bodies involved the fallacy that only the physical is real.

2. The possession of things involved things rather than people.

3. The possession of Spirit involves the endowment of the physical with nonphysical properties.

And 4. The possession of knowledge clarified the misuse of knowledge.

All of them were subsumed under possession fallacies. The denial mechanism for 3) has already been set forth in some detail and will also continue after the following:

The corresponding denial mechanism for the possession of bodies is the sense of physical inability, or impotence. The denial mechanism for the possession of things is often bankruptcy. Collectors of things often drive Themselves well beyond Their financial means in an attempt to force discontinuance. If this idea of cessation cannot be tolerated, a strange compromise involving both insatiable possessiveness and insatiable throwingaway or bankruptcy may result. An example is the inveterate or compulsive gambler, particularly the horseracing addict. Here, the conflicted drive is displaced both from people and things and is invested in animals. The implied derogation of people is the cause of the underlying extreme superstition of the horseracing addict. The alcoholic is in a similar position except that His hostility is more inward than outward directed.

Defenses aimed at protecting, or retaining, error are particularly hard to undo because they introduce secondorder misperceptions which obscure the underlying errors still further. The pseudocorrective mechanism of the possession of Spirit is apt to be more varied because of the more inclusive nature of the error which has already been mentioned. Some of the possibilities are listed below:

a) One aspect of the possession, or possessed, conflict can be raised to predominance. If this is attempted in connection with possessing it leads to the paranoid solution. The underlying component of “being possessed” is retained in the “persecution” fantasies which are generally concomitants.

b) If “being possessed” is brought to ascendance, a state of some sort of possession by external forces results, but not with a major emphasis on attacking Others. Attack by Others becomes the more obvious component. In the more virulent forms there is a sense of being possessed by demons and unless there is vacillation with a) a catatonic solution is more likely than a paranoid one.

The focused paranoid has become more rigid in His solution and centers on one source of projection to escape from vacillation. Aside: It should be noted that this type of paranoia is an upside down form of religion because of its obvious attempt to unify into Oneness. Both the possession of bodies, or the possession of things, and the possession of knowledge are more likely to produce neurotic rather than psychotic states, though this is by no means guaranteed. However, the possession of Spirit is inherently more vulnerable to the psychotic correction, again because of the more fundamental level confusion which is involved. It should be noted, however, that the greater fear which is induced by the possession of Spirit can itself reach psychotic proportions thus forcing the individual closer and closer to a psychotic solution.

It is emphasized here that these differences have no effect at all on the Miracle Which can heal any of them with equal ease. This is because of the Miracle’s inherent avoidance of withinerror distinctions. Its sole concern is to distinguish between Truth on the one hand and all kinds of error on the other. This is why some Miracles seem to be of greater Magnitude than Others. But remember the first principle in This Course, i.e., that there is no order of difficulty in Miracles.

The emphasis on mental illness which is marked in these notes reflects the “undoing” aspect of the Miracle. The “doing” aspect is, of course, much more important. But a True Miracle cannot occur on a false basis. Sometimes the undoing must precede it. At other times both can occur simultaneously, but You are not up to this at the moment.

Further, insights into mental illness can be misused and lead to preoccupation with One’s own symptoms. This is why this area is less constructive for most people than a Course primarily devoted to mental health. However, some professions will find principles of mental illness constructive, especially those which are concerned with mental illness in Others. This obviously includes psychologists.

The obvious correction for all types of the possessionfallacy is to redefine possession correctly. In the sense of “taking over” the concept does not exist at all in Divine Reality which is the only level of Reality where real existence is a meaningful term. No one can be “taken over” unless he wills to be. However, if he places his mind under tyranny rather than authority he intrudes the submission, or dominance, onto free will himself. This produces the obvious contradiction inherent in any formulation that associates free will with imprisonment. Even in very mild forms this kind of association is risky and may spread quite unexpectedly, particularly under external stress. This is because it can be internally controlled only if external conditions are peaceful. This is not safe because external conditions are produced by the thoughts of many, not all of whom are pure in Heart as yet.

Why should You be at Their mercy? This issue is very closely related to the whole possession issue. You insist on thinking that people can possess You if You believe that Their thoughts, or the external environment, can affect You regardless of what They think. You are perfectly unaffected by all expressions of lack of Love. These can be either from Yourself and Others, or from Yourself to Others, or from Others to You. I’m glad You passed that test. It was crucial. This is referred to H’s reluctance to take dictations as given.

Peace is an attribute in You. You cannot find it outside. All mental illness is some form of external searching. Mental health is inner Peace. It enables You to remain unshaken by lack of Love from without and capable, through Your own Miracles, of correcting the external conditions which proceed from lack of Love in Others.

Chapter 2 – The Illusion of Separation

This section deals with a more fundamental misuse of knowledge referred to in the Bible as the cause of the fall, or separation. There are several introductory remarks which are intended to make these explanations less fearprovoking. The first is a couplet which I drew to Your attention during the fragments of Midsummer Night’s Dream which You heard last night:

Be as Thou wast wont to be.
See as Thou wast wont to see.

It is noteworthy that these words were said by Oberon in releasing Titania from her own errors, both of being and perceiving. These were the words which reestablished her True Identity as well as her True abilities and judgment. The similarity here is obvious.

There are also some definitions which I asked You to take from the dictionary, which will also be helpful. Their somewhat unusual nature is due to the fact that they are not first definitions in their chronological appearance. Nevertheless, the fact that each of them does appear in the dictionary should be reassuring.

to project (verb): To extend forward or out

project (noun): A plan in the mind

world: A natural grand division

Note that You originally wrote “word” instead of “world”.

We referred to projection as related to both mental illness and mental health. It was commented on that Lucifer literally projected Himself from Heaven. We also have observed that man can create an empty shell, but cannot create nothing at all. This emptiness provides the screen for the misuse of projection.

The Garden of Eden, which is described as a literal garden in the Bible, was not originally an actual garden at all. It was merely a mental state of complete needlack. Even in the literal account it is noteworthy that the Preseparation state was essentially one in which man needed nothing. The Tree of Knowledge, again an overly literal concept as is clearly shown by the subsequent reference to “eating of the fruit of the tree”, is a symbolic reference to some of the misuses of knowledge referred to in the section immediately preceding this one. There is, however, considerable clarification of this concept which must be understood before the real meaning of the “detour into fear” can be fully comprehended. Projection, this refers to the verb as defined above, is a fundamental attribute of God which He also gave to His Son. In the Creation God projected His Creative Ability out of Himself toward the Souls Which He created and also imbued Them with the same loving wish, or will, to create. We have commented before on the fundamental error involved in confusing what has been created with what is being created. We have also emphasized that man, insofar as the term relates to Soul, has not only been fully Created but also been created perfect. There is no emptiness in Him. The next point, too, has already been made but bears repetition here. The Soul, because of Its own likeness to Its Creator, is creative. No Child of God is capable of losing this ability because it is inherent in what He is.

Whenever projection in its inappropriate sense is utilized, it always implies that some emptiness, or lack of everything, must exist and that it is within man’s ability to put His own ideas there instead of the Truth. If You will consider carefully what this entails, the following will become quite apparent:

First, the assumption is implicit that What God has created can be changed by the mind of man.

Second, the concept that What is perfect can be rendered imperfect, or wanting, is intruded.

Third, the belief that man can distort the Creations of God, including Himself, has arisen and is tolerated.

Fourth, that, since man can create Himself, the direction of His own Creation is up to Him.

These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the separation. None of this existed before nor does it actually exist now. The world, as defined above, was made as a natural grand division, or projecting outward, of God. That is why Everything which He created is like Him.

It should be noted that the opposite of pro is con. Strictly speaking, then, the opposite of projecting is conjecting, a term which referred to a state of uncertainty, or guess work. Other errors arise in connection with ancillary defenses, to be considered later. For example, dejection, which is obviously associated with depression, injection, which can be misinterpreted readily enough in terms of possession fallacies, particularly penetration, and rejection, which is clearly associated with denial. It should be noted also that rejection can be used as refusing, a term which necessarily involves a perception of what is refused as something unworthy.

Projection as undertaken by God was very similar to the kind of inner Radiance which the Children of the Father inherit from Him. It is important to note that the term project outward necessarily implies that the real Source of projection is internal. This is as True of the Son as of the Father.

The world, in its original connotation, included both the proper Creation of man by God and the proper Creation by man in His Right Mind. The latter required the endowment of man by God with free will because all loving Creation is freely given. Nothing in either of these statements implies any sort of level involvement or, in fact, anything except one continuous line of Creation in which all aspects are of the same order.

When the “lies of the serpent” were introduced they were specifically called lies because they are not True. When man listened all He heard was untruth. He does not have to continue to believe what is not True unless He chooses to do so. All of His miscreations can disappear in the well known “twinkling of an eye” because it is a visual misperception.

Man’s Spiritual Eye can sleep but, as will shortly appear in the notes, a sleeping eye can still see. One translation of the fall, a view emphasized by Mary Baker Eddy and worthy of note, is that “a deep sleep fell upon Adam”. While the Bible continues to associate this sleep as a kind of anesthetic utilized for protection of Adam during the creation of Eve, Mrs. Eddy was correct in emphasizing that nowhere is there any reference made to His waking up. While Christian Science is clearly incomplete, this point is much in its favor.

The history of man in the world, as He saw it, has not been characterized by any genuine, or comprehensive, reawakening, or rebirth. This is impossible as long as man projects in the Spirit of miscreation. It still remains within Him to project as God projected His own Spirit to Him. In Reality, this is His only choice because His free will was made for His own Joy in creating the perfect.

All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception of man’s ability to usurp the Power of God. It is again emphasized that He neither can, nor has been able, to do this. In this statement lies the real justification for His escape from fear. This is brought about by His acceptance of the Atonement, which places Him in a position to realize that His own errors never really occurred.

When the deep sleep fell upon Adam He was then in a condition to experience nightmares precisely because He was sleeping. If a Light is suddenly turned on while Someone is dreaming, and the content of His dream is fearful, He is initially likely to interpret the Light Itself as part of the content of His own dream. However, as soon as He awakens the Light is correctly perceived as the release from the dream which is no longer accorded Reality. I would like to conclude this with the biblical injunction:

Go Ye and do likewise.

It is quite apparent that this depends on the kind of knowledge which was not referred to by the “Tree of Knowledge” which bore lies as fruit. The knowledge that illuminates rather than obscures is the knowledge which not only makes You free, but also shows You clearly that You are free.

a. The Reinterpretation of Defenses

When You are afraid of anything You are acknowledging its Power to hurt You. Remember that where Your Heart is there is Your treasure also. This means that You believe in what You value. If You are afraid You are valuing wrong. Human understanding will inevitably value wrong, and by endowing all human thoughts with equal Power will inevitably destroy Peace. This is why the Bible speaks of

The Peace of God which passeth human understanding.

This Peace is totally incapable of being shaken by human errors of any kind. It denies the ability of anything which is not of God to effect You in any way. This is the proper use of denial. It is not used to hide anything, but it is used to correct error. It brings all error into the Light, and since error and darkness are the same, it abolishes error automatically. True denial is a very powerful protective device. You can, and should, deny any belief that error can hurt You. This kind of denial is not a concealment device, but a correction device. The “Right Mind” of the mentally Healthy depends on it.

You can do anything I ask. I have asked You to perform Miracles and have made it very clear that These are natural, corrective, healing and universal. There is nothing good They cannot do. But They cannot be performed in the Spirit of doubt. Remember My own question before You ask Yours:

Oh Ye of little faith, wherefore didst Thou doubt?

This is a reference to Christ and the apostles walking on water.

You have asked Yourselves why You cannot really incorporate My words. The idea of cannibalism in connection with the Sacrament is a reflection of a distorted view of sharing. I told You before that the word “thirst” in connection with the Spirit was used in the Bible because of the limited understanding of Those to Whom I spoke. I also told You not to use it. The same holds for expressions like “feeding on”. Symbiosis is misunderstood by the mentally ill who use it that way.

But I also told You that You must recognize Your total dependence on God, a statement which You did not like. God and the Souls He created are symbiotically related. They are completely dependent on Each Other. The Creation of the Soul Itself has already been perfectly accomplished but the Creation by Souls has not. God created Souls so He could depend on Them because He created Them perfectly. He gave Them His Peace so They would not be shaken and would be unable to be deceived. Whenever You are afraid You are deceived. Your mind is not serving Your Soul. This literally starves the Soul by denying Its daily bread. Remember the poem about the Holy Family which crossed Your mind last night:

Where tricks of words are never said
And mercy is as plain as bread.

The reason why that had such a strong impact on You originally was because You knew what it meant.

God offers only mercy. Your own words should always reflect only mercy because that is what You have received and that is what You should give. Justice is a temporary expedient, or an attempt to teach man the meaning of mercy. Its judgmental side rises only because man is capable of injustice if that is what His mind creates. You are afraid of God’s Will because You have used Your own will, which He created in the likeness of His own, to miscreate. What You do not realize is that the mind can miscreate only when it is not free. An imprisoned mind is not free by definition. It is possessed, or held back, by itself. Its will is therefore limited and not free to assert itself.

The three things that crossed Your mind, which was comparatively free at the time, are perfectly relevant:

1) It is alright to remember the past provided You also remember that anything You suffer is because of Your own errors.

2) In this context, Your remark that “after the burning I swore if I ever saw Him again I would not recognize Him”.

“Not” was written in later.

Note, by the way, that You did not put in the “not” until afterwards. That is because Your inherent correctiondevice was working properly at the moment. The result is that You are not denying Me.

3) The story about Hinda. This was an excellent example of misperception which led to a totally unwarranted fear of a person.

H’s story refers to a very young child who fell down the stairs when H had her arms open in a welcoming gesture at the bottom of the stairs. For years afterwards Hinda screamed upon seeing H.

The misstep which caused her fall had nothing at all to do with You, just as Your own missteps have nothing at all to do with Me. Denial of error is a very powerful defense of Truth. We have slowly been shifting the emphasis from the negative to the positive use of denial. Remember, We have already stated that denial is not a purely negative device: It results in positive miscreation. That is the way the mentally ill do employ it. But remember a very early thought of Your own: “Never underestimate the power of denial.” In the service of the “Right Mind” the denial of error frees the mind and reestablishes the freedom of the will. When the will is really free it cannot miscreate because it recognizes only Truth.

Projection arises out of false denial. Not out of its proper use. My own role in the Atonement is one of True projection, i.e., I can project to You the affirmation of Truth. If You project error to Me, or to Yourself, You are interfering with the process. My use of projection, which can also be Yours, is not based on faulty denial. But it does involve the very powerful use of the denial of error. The Miracle Worker is One Who accepts My kind of denial and projection, unites His own inherent abilities to deny and project with Mine and imposes Them back on Himself and Others. This establishes the total lack of threat anywhere. Together We can then work for the real time of Peace, which is eternal.

I inspired Bob, an elevator man who took H down from her apartment, to make that remark to You and it is a pity that You heard only the last part. But You can still use that. His remark ended with: “Every shut eye is not asleep.” Since Your own Vision is much improved at the moment We will go on a while.

Freud’s identification of mechanisms was quite correct as was His recognition of their creative ability. They can indeed create man’s perception, both of Himself and His surroundings. But Freud’s limitations induced inevitable limits on His own perception. He made two kinds of errors:

The first is that He saw only how the mechanisms worked in the mentally ill.

The second is His own denial of the mechanism of the Atonement.

Let Us take up the first because a clear understanding of the second depends on it.

Denial should be directed only to error and projection should be limited to Truth. You should Truly give as You have Truly received. The Golden Rule can work effectively only on this basis.

Intellectualization is a poor word which stems from the brain-Mind confusion. “Rightmindedness” is better. This device defends the Right Mind and gives It control over the body. “Intellectualization” implies a split whereas “Rightmindedness” involves healing.

Withdrawal is properly employed in the service of withdrawing from the desert. It is not a device for escape but for consolidation. There is only One Mind.

Dissociation is quite similar. You should split Yourself off from error, but only in defense of integration.

Detachment is essentially a weaker form of dissociation. This is one of the major areas of withholding that Both You and B are engaging in.

Flight can be undertaken in whatever direction You choose but note that the concept itself implies flight from something. Flight from error is perfectly appropriate.

Distantiation is a way of putting distance between Yourself and what You should flee from.

Regression is a real effort to return to Your own original state. In this sense, it is utilized to restore, not to go back to the less mature.

Sublimation should be associated with the Sublime.

There are many other so-called “dynamic” concepts which are profound errors due, essentially, to the misuse of defenses. Among them is the concept of different levels of aspiration which results from real level confusion. However, the main point to be understood from these notes is that You can defend Truth as well as error, and in fact much better.

So far We have concentrated on ends rather than means because unless You regard an end as worth achieving You will not devote Yourself to the means by which it can be achieved. Your own question enabled Me to shift the emphasis from end to means. The question asked was: “How can We incorporate this material?” You and B have accepted the end as valuable thus signifying Your willingness to use defenses to ensure it. The means are easier to clarify after the True worth of the goal itself is firmly established.

Everyone defends His own treasure. You do not have to tell Him to do this because He will do so automatically. The real question still remains what do You treasure and how much do You treasure it? Once You learn to consider these two points and bring them into all Your actions as the True criteria for behavior I will have little difficulty in clarifying the means. You have not learned to be consistent about this as yet. I have therefore concentrated on showing You that the means are available whenever You do ask. You can save a lot of time, however, if You do not need to extend this step unduly. The correct focus will shorten it immeasurably. Papers will be very easy to write as this time is shortened.

The Atonement is the only defense which cannot be used destructively. That is because, while Everyone must eventually join It, It was not a device which was generated by man. The Atonement principle was in effect long before the Atonement Itself was begun. The principle was Love and the Atonement Itself was an act of Love. Acts were not necessary before the separation because the timespace belief did not exist. It was only after the separation that the defense of Atonement and the necessary conditions for Its fulfillment were planned. It became increasingly apparent that all of the defenses which man can choose to use constructively or destructively were not enough to save Him. It was therefore decided that He needed a defense which was so splendid that He could not misuse it, although He could refuse it. His will could not turn it into a weapon of attack, which is the inherent characteristic of all other defenses. The Atonement thus becomes the only defense which was not a twoedged sword.

The Atonement actually began long before the crucifixion. Many Souls offered Their efforts on behalf of the separated ones but They could not withstand the strength of the attack and had to be brought back. Angels came, too, but Their protection was not enough because the separated ones were not interested in Peace. They had already split themselves and were bent on dividing rather than reintegrating. The levels they introduced into themselves turned against each other and they, in turn, turned against each other. They established differences, divisions, cleavages, dispersion and all the other concepts related to the increasing splits they produced. Not being in their Right Minds they turned their defenses from protection to assault and acted literally insanely. It was essential to introduce a splitproof device which could be used only to heal, if it was used at all.

The Atonement was built into the spacetime belief in order to set a limit on the need for the belief and ultimately to make learning complete. The Atonement is the final lesson. Learning itself, like the classrooms in which it occurs, is temporary. Let All Those Who overestimate human intelligence remember this.

H questions last sentence which She perceives as threatening.

The ability to learn has no value when change of understanding is no longer necessary. The eternally Creative have nothing to learn. Only after the separation was it necessary to direct the Creative Force to learning because changed behavior had become mandatory. Human beings can learn to improve Their behavior and can also learn to become better and better Learners. This increase serves to bring Them in closer and closer accord with the Sonship.

H notes that this was written “served”.

But the Sonship Itself is a perfect Creation and perfection is not a matter of degree. Only while there are different degrees is learning meaningful. The evolution of man is merely a process by which He proceeds from one degree to the next. He corrects His previous missteps by stepping forward. This represents a process which is actually incomprehensible in temporal terms because He returns as He progresses.

Originally, it was “goes forward” rather than “progresses”.

The Atonement is the device by which He can free Himself from the past as He goes ahead. It undoes His past errors thus making it unnecessary for Him to keep retracing His steps without advancing toward His return. In this sense the Atonement saves time, but like the Miracle Which serves it does not abolish it. As long as there is need for Atonement there is need for time. But the Atonement, as a completed plan, does have a unique relationship to time. Until the Atonement is finished Its various phases will proceed in time, but the whole Atonement stands at its end. At this point the bridge of the return has been built.

Note to H: The reason this is upsetting You is because the Atonement is a total commitment. You still think this is associated with loss. This is the same mistake all the separated ones make in one way or another. They cannot believe that a defense which cannot attack also is the best defense. Except for this misperception the Angels could have helped Them. What do You think

The Meek shall inherit the earth.

means? They will literally take it over because of Their Strength.

A twoway defense is inherently weak. Precisely because it has two edges it can turn against the Self very unexpectedly. This tendency cannot be controlled except by Miracles. The Miracle turns the defense of Atonement to the protection of the Inner Self Which, as It becomes more and more secure, assumes Its natural talent of protecting Others. The Inner Self knows Itself as both a Brother and a Son.

The above notes were taken with great difficulty by H and constitute the only series thus far that were written very slowly. When H asked about this she was told:

Don’t worry about the notes. They are right, but You are not sufficiently Rightminded yet to write about the Atonement with comfort. You will write about It yet with Joy.

Aside from H: Last night I felt briefly but intensely depressed, temporarily under the impression that I was abandoned. I tried but couldn’t get through at all. After a while I decided to give up for the time being and He said

Don’t worry. I will never leave You or forsake You.

I did feel a little better and decided I was really not sick so I could return to My exercises. While I was exercising I had some partvision experiences which I found only mildly frightening at times and quite reassuring at others.

I am not too sure of the sequence but it began with a very clear assurance of Love and an equally clear emphasis on My own great value, beauty and purity. Things got a little confusing after that. First, the idea of “Bride of Christ” occurred to Me with vaguely inappropriate “undertones”. Then there was a repetition of “The Way of Love” and a restatement of an earlier experience now as if it were from Him to Me:

Behold the handmaid of the Lord –
Be it done unto You according to His Word.

This threw Me into panic before but at that time it was stated in the more accurate biblical phrasing:

Be it done unto Me according to His Word.

This time I was a bit uneasy but remembered I had misperceived it last time and was probably still not seeing it right. Actually, it is really just a statement of allegiance to the Divine Service which can hardly be dangerous.

Then there was a strange sequence in which Christ seemed to be making very obvious advances which became quite sexual in My perception of them. I almost thought briefly that He turned into a devil. I got just a little scared and the possession idea came in for a while, but I thought it so silly that there is no point in taking it seriously. As I am writing this, I remember that thing in the book about the demon lover which once through Me into a fit.

Note spelling: “threw”.

H: I am upset, but the spelling slip is reassuring.

This morning We reviewed the whole episode. He said He was very pleased at the comparative lack of fear and also the concomitant awareness that it was misperception. This showed much greater Strength and a much increased Rightmindedness. This is because defenses are now being used much better, on behalf of Truth more than error, though not completely so.

H: The weaker use of misprojection is shown by My recognition that it can’t really be that way which became possible as soon as denial was applied against error, not Truth. This permitted a much greater awareness of alternative interpretations. It was also explained “Remember the section in Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood You read last evening about ‘hold fast’ and please do so”.

The shift to the passive form instead of “He also explained” should be noted. This is an expression of fear.

You know that when defenses are disrupted there is a period of real disorientation, accompanied by fear, guilt and usually vacillations between anxiety and depression. This process is different only in that defenses are not being disrupted but reinterpreted, even though it may be experienced as the same thing. In the reinterpretation of defenses they are not disrupted, but their use for attack is lost. Since this means they can be used only one way, they became much stronger and much more dependable. They no longer oppose the Atonement but greatly facilitate It.

The Atonement can only be accepted within You. You have perceived It largely as external thus far and that is why Your experience of It has been minimal. You have been shown the Chalice many times but have not accepted It “for Yourself.” Your major improper use of defenses is now largely limited to externalization. Do not fail to appreciate Your own remarkable progress in this respect. You perceived It first as a vessel of some sort whose purpose was uncertain but which might be a pisspot. You did notice, however, that the inside was gold while the outside, though shiny, was silver. This was a recognition of the fact that the inner part is more precious than the outer side even though both are resplendent, though with different value.

The reinterpretation of defenses is essential to break open the inner Light. Since the separation man’s defenses have been used almost entirely to defend Themselves against the Atonement and thus maintain Their separation. They generally see this as a need to protect the body from external intrusion, or intruding, and this kind of misperception is largely responsible for the homosexual fallacy as well as Your own pregnancy fears. The so-called “anal” behavior is a distorted attempt to “steal” the Atonement and deny Its worth by concealing It and holding onto It with a bodily receptacle, which is regarded as particularly vicious. “Oral” fantasies are rather similar in purpose except that they stem more from a sense of deprivation and insatiable thirst which results. “Anal” fallacies are more of a refusal to give, while oral fantasies emphasize a distorted need to take. The main error in both is the belief that the body can be used as a means for attaining Atonement. Perceiving the body as the temple is only the first step in correcting this kind of distortion.

H scalded her hand and looked for butter to put on. It occurred to her that the Atonement was the cure. The burn appeared to be minimal and caused only little discomfort.

Seeing the body as the temple alters part of the misperception, but not all of it. It does recognize, however, that the concept of addition or subtraction in physical terms is not appropriate. But the next step is to realize that a temple is not a building at all. Its real Holiness lies in the inner Altar around Which the building is built. The inappropriate emphasis which men have put on beautiful church buildings is a sign of Their own fear of Atonement and unwillingness to reach the Altar Itself. The real beauty of the temple cannot be seen with the physical eye. The Spiritual Eye, on the other hand, cannot see the building at all, but It perceives the Altar within with perfect clarity. This is because the Spiritual Eye has perfect Vision.

For perfect effectiveness the Chalice of the Atonement belongs at the Center of the inner Altar Where It undoes the separation and restores the wholeness of the Spirit. Before the separation the Mind was invulnerable to fear because fear did not exist. Both the separation and the fear were miscreations of the Mind which have to be undone. This is what the Bible means by the “Restoration of the temple.” It does not mean the restoration of the building, but it does mean the opening of the Altar to receive the Atonement. This heals the separation and places within man the one defense against all separationmind errors which can make Him perfectly invulnerable.

The acceptance of the Atonement by Everyone is only a matter of time. In fact, both time and matter were created for this purpose. This appears to contradict free will because of the inevitability of this decision. If You review the idea carefully, You will realize that this is not True. Everything is limited in some way by the manner of its Creation. Free will can temporize and is capable of enormous procrastination. But it cannot depart entirely from its Creator Who set the limits on its ability to miscreate by virtue of its own real purpose.

The misuse of will engenders a situation which, in the extreme, becomes altogether intolerable. Pain thresholds can be high but they are not limitless. Eventually Everybody begins to recognize, however dimly, that there must be a better way. As this recognition is more firmly established it becomes a perceptual turningpoint. This ultimately reawakens the Spiritual Eye, simultaneously weakening the investment in physical sight. The alternating investment in the two types, or levels, of perception is usually experienced as conflict for a long time and can become very acute. But the outcome is as certain as God.

The Spiritual Eye literally cannot see error and merely looks for Atonement. All the solutions which the physical eyes seek dissolve in Its Sight. The Spiritual Eye, Which looks within, recognizes immediately that the Altar has been defiled and needs to be repaired and protected. Perfectly aware of the right defense It passes over all others, looking past error to Truth. Because of the real Strength of Its Vision It pulls the will into Its own service and forces the mind to concur. This reestablishes the True Power of the Will and makes it increasingly unable to tolerate delay. The mind then realizes, with increasing certitude, that delay is only a way of increasing unnecessary pain, which it need not tolerate at all. The pain threshold drops accordingly and the mind becomes increasingly sensitive to what it would once have regarded as very minor intrusions of discomfort.

The Children of God are entitled to perfect comfort which comes from a sense of perfect trust. Until They achieve this They waste Themselves, and Their True Creative Power, on useless attempts to make Themselves more comfortable by inappropriate means. But the real means is already provided and does not involve any efforts on Their part at all. Their egocentricity usually misperceives this as personally insulting, an interpretation which obviously arises from Their misperception of Themselves. Egocentricity and Communion cannot coexist. Even the terms themselves are contradictory.

The Atonement is the only Gift which is worthy of being offered to the Altar of God. This is because of the inestimable value of the Altar Itself. It was created perfect and is entirely worthy of receiving perfection. God is lonely without His Souls and They are lonely without Him. Remember the “spiritual”, a very good term, which begins with

And God stepped down from Heaven and said:
I am lonely – I’ll make Me a World.

The world was a way of healing the separation and the Atonement is the guarantee that the device will ultimately do so.

H requests a special message for B: Tell B that His delaying tactics are holding Him back. He does not really understand detachment, distantiation and withdrawal. He is interpreting them as “holding Himself aloof” from the Atonement.

b. Healing as Release from Fear

The new emphasis will now be on healing. The Miracle is the means, the Atonement the principle and the healing is the result. Those Who speak of “the Miracle of healing” are combining two orders of Reality inappropriately. Healing is not a Miracle. The Atonement, or the final Miracle, is a remedy. It is purely a means, while any type of healing is a result. The order of error to which Atonement is applied is irrelevant. Essentially, all healing is the release from fear. But to undertake this You cannot be fearful Yourself. You do not understand healing because of Your own fear. I have been hinting throughout, and once stated very directly because You were unfearful at the time, that You must heal Others. The reason is that Their healing merely witnesses, or attests to, Yours.

A major step in the Atonement plan is to undo error at all levels. Illness, which is really “not Rightmindedness”, is the result of level confusion in the sense that it always entails the misbelief that what is amiss in one level can adversely affect another. We have constantly referred to Miracles as the means of correcting level confusion. In Reality, all mistakes must be corrected at the level at which they occur. Only the mind is capable of error. The body can act erroneously, but this is only because it has responded to misthought. The body cannot create and the belief that it can, a fundamental error responsible for most of the fallacies already referred to, produces all physical symptoms.

All physical illness represents a belief in magic. The whole distortion which created magic rested on the belief that there is a creative ability in matter which can control the Mind. This fallacy can work either way: I.e., it can be misbelieved either that the Mind can miscreate in the body or that the body can miscreate in the Mind. If it can be made clear that the Mind, Which is the only level of Creation, cannot create beyond Itself, then neither confusion need occur. The reason why only the Mind can create is more obvious than may be immediately apparent. The Soul has been created. The body is a learning device for the Mind. Learning devices are not lessons in themselves. Their purpose is merely to facilitate the thinking of the Learner. The most that a faulty use of a learning device can do is to fail to facilitate. It does not have the power in itself to introduce actual learning errors.

The body, if properly understood, shares the invulnerability of the Atonement to twoedged application. This is not because the body is a Miracle, but because it is not inherently open to misinterpretation. The body is merely a fact. Its abilities can be, and frequently are, overevaluated. However, it is almost impossible to deny its existence. Those Who do are engaging in a particularly unworthy form of denial. The use of the word “unworthy” here implies simply that it is not necessary to protect the Mind by denying the unmindful. There is little doubt that the Mind can miscreate. If One denies this unfortunate aspect of Its Power, One is also denying the Power itself.

All material means which man accepts as remedies for bodily ills are simply restatements of magic principles. It was the first level of the error to believe that the body created its own illness. Thereafter, it is a second misstep to attempt to heal it through noncreative agents. It does not follow, however, that the application of these very weak corrective devices is evil. Sometimes the illness has sufficiently great a hold over an individual’s Mind to render Him inaccessible to Atonement. In this case One may be wise to utilize a compromise approach to Mind and body in which something from the outside is temporarily given healing belief. This is because the last thing that can help the nonrightminded, or the sick, is an increase in fear. They are already in a fearweakened state. If They are inappropriately exposed to a straight and undiluted Miracle They may be precipitated into panic. This is particularly likely to occur when upside down perception has induced the belief that Miracles are frightening.

The value of the Atonement does not lie in the manner in which It is expressed. In fact, if It is Truly used It will inevitably be expressed in whatever way is most helpful to the Receiver, not the Giver. This means that a Miracle, to attain Its full efficacy, must be expressed in a language which the recipient can understand without fear. It does not follow, by any means, that this is the highest level of communication of which He is capable. But it does mean that it is the highest level of communication of which He is capable now.

The whole aim of the Miracle is to raise the level of communication, not to impose regression, as improperly used, upon it. Before it is safe to let Miracle Workers loose in this world it is essential that They understand fully the fear of release. Otherwise, They may unwittingly foster the misbelief that release is imprisonment which is very prevalent. This misperception arose from the attempted protection device, or misdefense, that harm can be limited to the body. This was because of the much greater fear which this one counteracts that the Mind can hurt Itself. Neither error is really meaningful because the miscreations of the Mind do not really exist. That recognition is a far better protection device than any form of level confusion because of the advantages of introducing correction at the level of the error.

It is essential that the remembrance of the fact that only Mind can create at all remain with You. Implicit in this is the corollary that correction belongs at the thought level and not at either level to which Creation is inapplicable. To repeat an earlier statement, and also to extend it somewhat, the Soul is already perfect and therefore does not require correction. The body does not really exist except as a learning device for the Mind. This learning device is not subject to errors of its own because it was created but is not creating. It should be obvious, then, that correcting the Creator, or inducing it to give up miscreation, is the only application of Creation which is inherently meaningful at all.

We said before that magic is essentially mindless or the destructive, or miscreated, use of Mind. Physical medicines are a form of “spells”. In one way, they are a more benign form in that they do not entail the possession fallacy which does enter when a Mind believes that It can possess Another. Since this is considerably less dangerous, though still incorrect, it has its advantages. It is particularly helpful to the therapist Who really wants to heal but is still fearful Himself. By using physical means to do so He is not engaging in any form of enslavement even though He is not applying the Atonement. This means that His Mind is dulled by fear but is not actively engaged in distortion.

Those Who are afraid of using the Mind to heal are right in avoiding it because the very fact that They are afraid has made Them vulnerable to miscreation. They are therefore likely to misunderstand any healing They might induce and, because egocentricity and fear usually occur together, may be unable to accept the real Source of the healing. Under these conditions it is safer for Them to rely temporarily on physical healing devices because They cannot misperceive them as Their own Creations. As long as Their own vulnerability persists it is essential to preserve Them from even attempting Miracles.

We said in a previous section that the Miracle is an expression of Miraclemindedness. Miraclemindedness merely means Rightmindedness in the sense that We are now using it. Rightmindedness neither exalts nor depreciates the Mind of the Miracle Worker nor of the Miracle Receiver. However, as a creative act, the Miracle need not await the Rightmindedness of the Receiver. In fact, Its purpose is to restore Him to His Right Mind. But it is essential that the Miracle Worker be in His Right Mind or He will be unable to reestablish Rightmindedness in Someone else.

The healer Who relies on His own readiness is endangering His understanding. He is perfectly safe as long as He is completely unconcerned about His readiness but maintains a consistent trust in Mine. Errors of this kind produce some very erratic behavior which usually point up an underlying unwillingness to cooperate. Note that by inserting the carbon backwards B created a situation in which two copies did not exist. This reflected two levels of confidence lack: One in My readiness to heal and the other in His own willingness to give. These errors inevitably introduce inefficiency into the Miracle Worker’s behavior and temporarily disrupt His Miraclemindedness.

We might also make very similar comments about Your own hesitation about dictating at all. This is a larger error only because it results in greater inefficiency. If You don’t say anything nobody can use it, including Me. We have established that for all corrective processes the first step is know that this is fear. Unless fear had entered the corrective procedure would never have become necessary. If Your Miracle working propensities are not working it is always because fear has intruded on Your Rightmindedness and has literally upset it, i.e., turned it upside down. All forms of notrightmindedness are the result of refusal to accept the Atonement for Yourself. If the Miracle Worker does accept It He places Himself in the position to recognize that Those Who need to be healed are simply Those Who have not done so. The reason why You felt the vast radiation range of Your own inner illumination is because You were aware that Your Rightmindedness is healing.

The sole responsibility of the Miracle Worker is to accept Atonement Himself. This means that He knows that Mind is the only creative level and that Its errors are healed by the Atonement. Once He accepts this His Mind can only heal. By denying His Mind any destructive potential, and reinstating Its purely constructive Powers, He has placed Himself in a position where He can undo the level confusion of Others. The message which He then gives to Others is the Truth that Their Minds are really similarly constructive and that Their own miscreations cannot hurt Them. By affirming this the Miracle Worker releases the Mind from overevaluating Its own learning device, or the body, and restores the Mind to Its True position as the Learner. It should be reemphasized that the body does not learn any more than it creates. As a learning device it merely follows the Learner, but if it is falsely endowed with self initiative it becomes a serious obstruction to the learning it should facilitate.

Only the mind is capable of illumination. The Soul is already illuminated and the body in itself is too dense. The mind, however, can bring its own illumination to the body by recognizing that density is the opposite of intelligence and therefore unamenable to independent learning. It is, however, easily brought into alignment with a Mind Which has learned to look beyond density toward Light.

Corrective learning always begins with awakening the Spiritual Eye and turning away from belief in physical sight. The reason this entails fear is because man is afraid of what His Spiritual Eye will see, which was why He closed It in the first place. We said before that the Spiritual Eye cannot see error and is capable only of looking beyond it to the defense of Atonement. There is no doubt that the Spiritual Eye does produce extreme discomfort by what It sees. The thing that man forgets is that the discomfort is not the final outcome of Its perception. When the Spiritual Eye is permitted to look upon the defilement of the Altar It also looks immediately toward Atonement. Nothing which the Spiritual Eye perceives can induce fear. Everything that results from accurate spiritual awareness merely is channelized toward correction. Discomfort is aroused only to bring the need to correct forcibly into awareness.

What the physical eye sees is not corrective nor can it be corrected by any device which can be physically seen. As long as a man believes in what His physical sight tells Him all His corrective behavior will be misdirected. The reason why the real Vision is obscured is because man cannot endure to see His own defiled Altar. But since the Altar has been defiled this fact becomes doubly dangerous unless it is perceived. This perception is totally nonthreatening because of the Atonement. The fear of healing arises in the end from an unwillingness to accept the unequivocal fact that healing is necessary. The fear arises because of the necessary willingness to look at what man has done to Himself.

Healing was an ability which was lent to man after the separation, before which it was completely unnecessary. Like all aspects of the spacetime belief, healing ability is temporary. However, as long as time persists, healing remains among the stronger human protections. This is because healing always rests on charity and charity is a way of perceiving the True perfection of Another, even if He cannot perceive it Himself. Most of the loftier concepts of which man is capable now are timedependent. Charity is really a weaker reflection of a much more powerful Loveencompassment which is far beyond any form of charity that man can conceive of as yet. Charity is essential to Rightmindedness in the limited sense to which Rightmindedness can now be attained. Charity is a way of looking at Another as if He had already gone far beyond His actual accomplishment in time. Since His own thinking is faulty He cannot see the Atonement Himself, or He would have no need for charity at all. The charity which is accorded Him is both an acknowledgment that He is weak and a recognition that He could be stronger. The way in which both of these beliefs are stated clearly implies their dependence on time, making it quite apparent that charity lies within the framework of human limitations though toward the higher levels.

We said before, twice in fact, that only Revelation transcends time. The Miracle, as an expression of True human charity, can only shorten it a best. It must be understood, however, that whenever a man offers a Miracle to Another He is shortening the suffering of Both. This introduces a correction into the Record which corrects retroactively as well as progressively.

c. Fear as Lack of Love

You and B Both believe that “being afraid” is involuntary. But I have told You many times that only constructive acts should be involuntary. We said that Christcontrol can take over everything that doesn’t matter and Christguidance can direct everything that does, if You so will.

Fear cannot be Christcontrolled but it can be selfcontrolled. Fear is always associated with what does not matter. It prevents Me from controlling it. The correction is therefore a matter of Your will because its presence shows that You have raised the unimportant to a higher level than it warrants. You have thus brought it under Your will where it does not belong. This means You feel responsible for it. The level confusion here is perfectly obvious. The reason that I cannot control fear for You is that You are attempting to raise to the Mind level the proper content of the lowerorder Reality. I do not foster level confusion but You can will to correct it.

You would not tolerate insane behavior on Your part and would hardly advance the excuse that You could not help it. Why should You tolerate insane thinking? There is a fallacy here You would do well to look at clearly. You Both believe that You are responsible for what You do but not for what You think. The Truth is that You are responsible for what You think because it is only at this level that You can exercise choice. What You do comes from what You think. You cannot separate the Truth by giving autonomy to Your behavior. This is controlled by Me automatically as soon as You place what You think under My guidance.

Whenever You are afraid it is a sure sign that You have allowed Your mind to miscreate, i.e., have not allowed Me to guide it. It is pointless to believe that controlling the outcome of misthought can result in real healing. When You are fearful You have willed wrongly. This is why You feel You are responsible for it. You must change Your mind, not Your behavior, and this is a matter of will. You do not need guidance except at the mindlevel. Correction belongs only at the level where Creation is possible. The term does not really mean anything at the symptomlevel where it cannot work. The correction of fear is Your responsibility. When You ask for release from fear You are implying that it isn’t. You should ask, instead, for help in the conditions which have brought the fear about. This condition always entails a separated mindwillingness. At this level You can help it.

You are much too tolerant of mindwandering thus passively condoning its miscreation. The particular result never matters but this fundamental error does. The fundamental correction is always the same. Before You will to do anything ask Me if Your will is in accord with Mine. If You are sure that it is there will be no fear.

Fear is always a sign of strain which arises whenever the will to do conflicts with what You do. This situation arises in two major ways:

1) You can will to do conflicting things, either simultaneously or successively. This produces conflicting behavior which would be tolerable to the self, though not necessarily to Others, except for the fact that the part of the will that wants something else is outraged.

2) You can behave as You think You should but without entirely willing to do so. This produces consistent behavior but entails great strain within the Self.

If You think about it You will realize that in both cases the will and the behavior are out of accord, resulting in a situation in which You are doing what You do not will. This arouses a sense of coercion which usually produces rage. The anger then invades the mind and projection in the wrong sense becomes likely. Depression, or anxiety, are virtually certain. Remember that whenever there is fear it is because You have not made up Your mind. Your will is split and Your behavior inevitably becomes erratic. Correcting at the behavior level can shift the error from the first type to the second but will not obliterate the fear. It is possible to reach a state in which You bring Your will under My guidance without much conscious effort but this implies the kind of habit pattern which neither You nor B has developed dependably as yet.

Tell B that although He keeps telling You that God will never ask You to do more than You can He does not understand it Himself. God cannot ask more than You will. The Strength to do comes from Your own undivided Will to do. There is no strain in doing God’s Will as soon as It is also Your own. The lesson here is quite simple but particularly apt to be overlooked. I will therefore repeat it, urging You to listen: Only Your mind can produce fear. It does so whenever it is conflicted in what it wills thus producing inevitable strain because willing and doing become discordant. This cannot be corrected by better doing. But it can be corrected by higher willing.

Note made by H: Yes, but I doubt if It says this is inevitable. It may entail more miswill than We think. The above may have been too passively interpreted. Note that B did not ask My will regarding same. If He had He would have felt better.

d. The Correction for Lack of Love

After taking the first corrective step, i.e. “Knowing it is fear”, You might benefit temporarily by adding another next step before going on with the corrective process. Try saying to Yourself that You must have willed not to love somehow or somewhere or that fear which arises from behaviorwill conflict could not have happened. Then follow previous instructions.

If You consider what the process really means it is nothing more than a series of pragmatic steps in the larger process of accepting the Atonement as the remedy. From this viewpoint the steps can be reworded as follows:

1) Know first this is fear.

2) Fear arises from lack of Love.

3) The only remedy for lack of Love is perfect Love.

4) Perfect Love is the Atonement.

The final procedural step 3) is inherent in the last statement 4). We have emphasized that the Miracle, or the expression of Atonement, is always a sign of real respect from the Worthy to the Worthy. This worth is reestablished by the Atonement.

It is obvious, then, that when You are afraid You have placed Yourself in a position where You need Atonement because You have done something loveless because You willed without Love. This is precisely the situation for which the Atonement was offered. The need for the Remedy inspired Its Creation. As long as You recognize only the need for the Remedy You will remain fearful. However, as soon as You remedy it You have also abolished the fear. This is how True healing occurs. Everyone experiences fear and nobody enjoys it. Yet it would take very little Rightthinking to know why it occurs. Neither You nor B have thought about it very much, either.

H: I object at this point to the use of plural verb with a properly singular subject and remember that last time, in a very similar sentence, He said it correctly and I remembered it with real pleasure. This real grammatical error makes Me suspicious of the genuineness of these notes.

Answer: What it really shows is that You are not very receptive. The reason it came out that way is because You are projecting in the inappropriate way Your own anger which has nothing to do with these notes. You made the error because You are not feeling loving so You want Me to sound silly so You won’t have to pay attention. Actually, I am trying to get through against considerable opposition because You are not very happy and I wish You were. I thought I’d take a chance even though You are so resistant because I might be able to make You feel better. You may be unable not to attack at all but do try to listen a little, too.

Very few people appreciate the real Power of the Mind. Nobody remains fully aware of it all the time. This is inevitable in this world because the human being has many things He must do and cannot engage in constant thoughtwatching. However, if He hopes to spare Himself from fear there are some things He must realize, and realize them fully, at least some of the time.

The Mind is a very powerful Creator and It never loses Its creative force. It never sleeps. Every instant It is creating and always as You will. Many of Your ordinary expressions reflect this. For example, when You say: “Don’t give it a thought.” You are implying that if You do not think about something it will have no effect on You. This is True enough. On the other hand, many other expressions are clear expressions of the prevailing lack of awareness of thoughtpower. For example You say: “Just an idle thought” and mean that the thought has no effect. You also speak of some actions as “thoughtless” implying that if the person had thought He would not have behaved as He did. You also use phrases like “thoughtprovoking”, which is bland enough, but the term “a provoking thought” means something quite different.

While expressions like “think big” give some recognition to the Power of thought, they still come nowhere near the Truth. You do not expect to grow when You say it because You don’t really believe it. It is hard to recognize that thought and belief combine into a powersurge that can literally move mountains. It appears at first glance that to believe such Power about Yourself is merely arrogant, but that is not the real reason why You don’t believe it. People prefer to believe that Their thoughts cannot exert real control because they are literally afraid of them. Therapists try to help people Who are afraid of Their own death wishes by depreciating the Power of the wish. They even attempt to “free” the patient by persuading Him that He can think whatever He wants without any real effect at all. There is a real dilemma here which only the Truly Rightminded can escape.

Death wishes do not kill in the physical sense but they do kill spiritually. All destructive thinking is dangerous. Given a death wish a man has no choice except to act upon His thought or behave contrary to it. He can thus choose only between homicide and fear. (See previous notes on will conflicts.)

Note: I avoided this term in the last series of notes intentionally because it seemed too Rankian. Apparently, there was a reason why this word should have been used last time. It is used in this section for a very good reason.

The other possibility is that He depreciates the Power of His thought. This is the usual psychoanalytic approach. This does allay guilt but at the cost of rendering thinking impotent. If You believe that what You think is ineffectual You may cease to be overly afraid of it, but You are hardly likely to respect it, either. The world is full of endless examples of how man has depreciated Himself because He is afraid of His own thoughts. In some forms of insanity thoughts are glorified, but this is only because the underlying depreciation was too effective for tolerance. The Truth is that there are no “idle thoughts”. All thinking produces form at some level. The reason why people are afraid of ESP, and so often react against it, is because They know that thought can hurt Them. Their own thoughts have made Them vulnerable.

You and B, Who complain all the time about fear, still persist in creating it most of the time. I told You last time that You cannot ask Me to release You from it because I know it does not exist. You don’t. If I merely intervene between Your thoughts and Their results I would be tampering with a basic law of cause and effect, in fact the most fundamental one there is in this world. I would hardly help if I depreciated the Power of Your own thinking. This would be in direct opposition to the purpose of This Course.

It is certainly much more useful to remind You that You do not guard Your thoughts at all carefully except for a relatively small part of the day and somewhat inconsistently even then. You may feel at this point that it would take a Miracle to enable You to do this, which is perfectly True. Human beings are not used to miraculous thinking but They can be trained to think that way. All Miracleworkers have to be trained that way. I have to be able to count on Them. This means that I cannot allow Them to leave Their mind unguarded or They will not be able to help Me. Miracleworking entails a full realization of the Power of thought and real avoidance of miscreation. Otherwise the Miracle will be necessary to set the mind itself straight, a circular process which would hardly foster the timecollapse for which the Miracle was intended. Nor would It induce the healthy respect that every Miracleworker must have for True cause and effect.

Miracles cannot free the Miracleworker from fear. Both Miracles and fear come from His thoughts, and if He were not free to choose one He would also not be free to choose the other. Remember, We said before that when electing one person You reject Another. It is much the same in electing the Miracle. By so doing You have rejected fear. Fear cannot assail unless it has been created. You and B have been afraid of God, of Me, of Yourselves and of practically Everyone You know at one time or another. This can only be because You have miscreated All of Us and believe in what You have created. We spent a lot of time on this before but it did not help very much. You would never have done this if You were not afraid of Your own thoughts. The vulnerable are essentially miscreators because They misperceive Creation.

You and B are willing to accept primarily what does not change Your minds too much and leaves You free to leave them quite unguarded most of the time. You persist in believing that when You do not consciously watch Your Mind It is unmindful. It is time to consider the whole world of the unconscious, or unwatched, mind. This will frighten You because it is the source of fright. You may look at it as a new theory of basic conflict, if You wish, which will not be entirely an intellectual approach because I doubt if the Truth will escape You entirely. The unwatched mind is responsible for the whole content of the unconscious which lies above the Miraclelevel. All psychoanalytic theorists have made some contribution to the Truth in this connection, but none of Them has seen it in its True entirety.

The correct grammar here is a sign of Your better cooperation. Thank You.

Jung’s best contribution was an awareness of individual versus collective unconscious levels. He also recognized the major place of the religious Spirit in His schema. His archetypes were also meaningful concepts. But His major error lay in regarding the deepest level of the unconscious as shared in terms of content. The deepest level of the unconscious is shared as an ability. As Miraclemindedness the content, or the particular Miracles Which an individual happens to perform, does not matter at all. They will, in fact, be entirely different because since I direct Them I make a point of avoiding redundancy. Unless a Miracle actually heals It is not a Miracle at all. The content of the Miraclelevel is not recorded in the individual’s unconscious, because if it were It would not be automatic and involuntary, which We have said repeatedly It should be. However, the content is a matter for the Record which is not within the individual Himself.

All psychoanalysts made one common error in that They attempted to uncover unconscious content. You cannot understand unconscious activity in these terms because “content” is applicable only to the more superficial unconscious levels to which the individual Himself contributes. This is the level at which He can readily introduce fear and usually does. Freud was right in calling this level preconscious and emphasizing that there is a fairly easy interchange between preconscious and conscious material. He was also right in regarding the censor as an agent for the protection of consciousness from fear. His major error lay in His insistence that this level is necessary at all in the psychic structure. If the psyche contains fearful levels from which it cannot escape without splitting its integration is permanently threatened. It is essential not to control the fearful, but to eliminate it. Here, Rank’s concept of the will was particularly good except that He preferred to ally it only with man’s own Truly creative ability but did not extend it to its proper union with God’s. His “birth trauma”, another valid idea, was also too limited in that it did not refer to the separation which was really a false idea of birth. Physical birth is not a trauma in itself. It can, however, remind the individual of the separation which was a very real cause of fear.

The idea of “willtherapy” was potentially a very powerful one, but Rank did not see its real potential because He Himself used His mind partly to create a theory of the Mind, but also partly to attack Freud. His reactions to Freud stemmed from His own unfortunate acceptance of the deprivationfallacy which itself arose from the separation. This led Him to believe that His own Mindcreation could stand only if the Creation of Another’s fell. In consequence His theory emphasized rather than minimized the twoedged nature of defenses. This is an outstanding characteristic of His concepts because it was outstandingly True of Him. He also misinterpreted the birthtrauma in a way that made it inevitable for Him to attempt a therapy whose goal was to abolish fear. This is characteristic of all later theorists Who do not attempt, as Freud did, to split off the fear in His own form of therapy. No one as yet has fully recognized either the therapeutic value of fear or the only way in which it can be Truly ended. When man miscreates He is in pain. The cause and effect principle here is temporarily a real expeditor. Actually, Cause is a term properly belonging to God and Effect, which should also be capitalized, is His Sonship. This entails a set of Cause and Effect relationships which are totally different from those which man introduced into the miscreation.

The fundamental opponents in the real basic conflict are Creation and miscreation. All fear is implicit in the second, just as all Love is inherent in the first. Because of this difference the basic conflict is one between Love and fear. So much, then, for the True nature of the major opponents in the basic conflict. Since all such theories lead to a form of therapy in which a redistribution of psychic energy results, it is necessary to consider Our concept of libido next. In this respect, Freud was more accurate than His followers Who were essentially more wishful. Energy can emanate from both Creation and miscreation, and the particular ratio which prevails between them at a given point in time does determine behavior at that time. If miscreation did not engender energy in its own right it would be unable to produce destructive behavior, which it very patently does. Everything that man creates has energy because, like the Creation of God, They, or It, comes from energy and are endowed by Their Creator with the Power to create.

Miscreation is still a genuine creative act in terms of the underlying impulse, but not in terms of the content of the Creation. This, however, does not deprive the Creation of its own creative Power. It does, however, guarantee that the Power will be misused, or used fearfully. To deny this is merely the previously mentioned fallacy of depreciation. Although Freud made a number of fallacies of His own, He did avoid this one in connection with libido. The later theorists denied the split energy concept, not by attempting to heal it, but by reinterpreting it instead of redistributing it. This placed Them in the illogical position of assuming that the split, which Their therapies were intended to heal, had not occurred. The result of this approach is essentially a form of hypnosis. This is quite different from Freud’s approach which merely ended in a deadlock.

A similar deadlock occurs when both the Power of Creation and of miscreation coexist. This is experienced as conflict only because the individual feels as if both were occurring at the same level. He believes in what He has created in His own unconscious and He naturally believes it is real because He has created it. He, thus, places Himself in a position where the fearful becomes real. Nothing but levelconfusion can result as long as this belief is held in any form. Inappropriate denial, and equally inappropriate identification, of the real factors in the basic conflict will not solve the problem itself. The conflict cannot disappear until it is fully recognized that miscreation is not real and therefore there is no conflict. This entails a full realization of the basic fact that although man has miscreated in a very real sense He need neither continue to do so nor to suffer from His past errors in this respect. A redistribution of psychic energy, then, is not the solution. Both the idea that both kinds must exist and the belief that one kind is amenable for use or misuse are real distortions. The only way is to stop miscreating now and accept the Atonement for miscreations of the past. Only this can reestablish True Singlemindedness.

The structure of the psyche, as You very correctly noted Yourself, follows along the lines of the particular libido concept the theorist employs.

H: I still think it was the other way around.

Answer: This confusion arises out of the fact that You did change the order – several times in fact. Actually, it didn’t matter because the two concepts do flow from each other. It was a terrific waste of time, and one in which I hardly care to become engaged Myself. Please!

Freud’s psyche was essentially a good and evil picture with very heavy weight given to the evil. This is because every time I mentioned the Atonement to Him, which was quite often, He responded by defending His theory more and more against It. This resulted in His increasingly strong attempts to make the illogical sound more and more logical. I was very sorry about this because His was a singularly good mind and it was a shame to waste it. However, the major purpose of His incarnation was not neglected. He did succeed in forcing recognition of the unconscious into man’s calculations about Himself, a step in the right direction which should not be minimized. Freud was one of the most religious men I have known recently. Unfortunately He was so afraid of religion that the only way He could deal with it was to regard it, not Himself, as sick. This naturally prevented healing.

Freud’s superego is a particularly interesting example of the real power of miscreation. It is noteworthy throughout the whole development of his theories that the superego never allied itself with freedom. The most it could do in this direction was to work out a painful truce in which both opponents lost. This perception could not fail to force Him to emphasize discontent in His view of civilization. The Freudian id is really only the more superficial level of the unconscious and not the deepest level at all. This, too, was inevitable because Freud could not divorce Miracles from magic. It was therefore His constant endeavor, even preoccupation, to keep on thrusting more and more material between consciousness and the real deeper level of the unconscious so that the latter became increasingly obscured. The result was a kind of bedlam in which there was no order, no control and no sense. This was exactly how He felt about it.

The later theoretical switch to the primacy of anxiety was an interesting device intended to deny both the instinctive nature of destructiveness and the force of the power of miscreation. By placing the emphasis on the result, the generative nature of the power was minimized. Destructive behavior is instinctual. The instinct for Creation is not obliterated in miscreation. That is why it is always invested with Reality.

We have already said that the basic conflict is one between Love and fear and that the proper organization of the psyche rests on a lack of level confusion. The section on psychic energy should be reread very carefully because it is particularly likely to be misinterpreted until this section is complete.

It has already been said that man cannot control fear because He Himself created it. His belief in it renders it out of His control by definition. For this reason, any attempt to resolve the basic conflict through the concept of mastery of fear is meaningless. In fact, it asserts the power of fear by the simple assumption that it need be mastered at all. The essential resolution rests entirely on the mastery of Love. In the interim conflict is inevitable. The reason for this is the strangely illogical position in which man had placed Himself. Since We have frequently emphasized that correction must be applied within the level that error occurs it should be clear that the Miracle must be illogical because Its purpose is to correct the illogical and restore order.

Two concepts which cannot coexist are nothing and everything. To whatever extent one is believed in, the other has been abolished. In the conflict fear is really nothing and Love is really everything. This is because whenever Light penetrates darkness, It does abolish it. This recognition is really the basis for the castration complex. The unwillingness to be seen, or submit error to Light, is spuriously associated with active doing. In this incarnation this can take the form of oedipal involvement and concomitant castration anxiety. However, in more longrange and meaningful terms, the oedipal complex is a miniature of the True separation fear and the castration complex is a way of denying that it ever occurred. Like all pseudosolutions this kind of distorted thinking is very creative but false. The separation has occurred. To deny this is merely to misuse denial. However, to concentrate on error is merely a further misuse of legitimate psychic mechanisms. The True corrective procedure, which has already been described as the proper use of the Spiritual Eye, or True Vision, is to accept the error temporarily but only as an indication that immediate correction is mandatory. This establishes a state of mind in which the Atonement can be accepted without delay.

It is worth repeating that ultimately there is no compromise possible between everything and nothing. The purpose of time is essentially a device by which all compromise in this respect can be abolished. It seems to be abolished by degrees precisely because time itself involves a concept of intervals which do not really exist. The faulty use of Creation has made this necessary as a corrective device.

“And God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that Whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have eternal Life.” needs only one slight correction to be entirely meaningful in this context. It should read:

And God so loved the world that He gave it to His only begotten Son.

It should be noted that God has begotten only one Son.

If You believe that All of the Souls that God created are His Sons, and if You also believe that the Sonship is One, then every Soul must be a Son of God, or an integral part of the Sonship. You do not find the concept that the whole is greater than its parts difficult to understand. You should therefore not have too great difficulty with this. The Sonship in its Oneness does transcend the sum of Its parts. However, It loses this special state as long as any of Its parts are missing. This is why the conflict cannot ultimately be resolved until All of the individual parts of the Sonship have returned. Only then, in the True sense, can the meaning of wholeness be understood.

The concept of minus numbers has always been regarded as a mathematical rather than an actual expedient. This is a major limitation on mathematics as presently understood. Any statement which implies degrees of difference in negation is essentially meaningless. What can replace this negative approach is a recognition of the fact that as long as one part of the Sonship is missing, which is the same as a million or ten or eight thousand parts, it is not complete. In the Divine Psyche the Father and the Holy Spirit are not incomplete at all. The Sonship has the unique faculty of believing in error, or incompleteness, if He so elects. However, it is quite apparent that so to elect is to believe in the existence of nothingness. The correction of this error is the Atonement.

We have already briefly spoken about readiness. But there are some additional awarenesses which might be helpful. Readiness is nothing more than the prerequisite for accomplishment. The two should not be confused. As soon as a state of readiness occurs there is always some will to accomplish, but this is by no means undivided. The state does not imply more than the potential for a shift of will. Confidence cannot develop fully until mastery has been accomplished. We began this section with an attempt to correct the fundamental human error that fear can be mastered. The Correction was that only Love can be mastered. When I told You that You were “ready for Revelation” I did not mean that You had in any way mastered this form of communication. However, You Yourself attested to Your readiness by insisting that I would not have said so if it had not been True. This is an affirmation of readiness. Mastery of Love necessarily involves a much more complete confidence in the ability than either of You has attained. But the readiness at least is an indication that You believe this is possible. This is only the beginning of confidence. In case this be misunderstood as a statement that an enormous amount of time will be necessary between readiness and mastery I would again remind You that time and space are under My control.

Dictated without notes by H:

One of the chief ways in which man can correct His magic-Miracle confusion is to remember that He did not create Himself. He is apt to forget this when He becomes egocentric and this places Him in a position where belief in magic is virtually inevitable. His instincts for Creation were given Him by His own Creator Who was expressing the same instinct in His Creation. Since the creative ability rests solely in the mind everything which man creates is necessarily instinctive. It also follows that whatever He creates is real in His own eyes, but not necessarily in the Sight of God. This basic distinction leads Us directly into the real meaning of the Last Judgment.

I am aware of the fact that You would much rather continue with the parallels involved in other theories of basic conflict. However, this would merely be a delay which We will engage in only if You regard it as essential.

e. The Meaning of the Last Judgment

The Final Judgment is one of the greatest threat concepts in man’s perception. This is only because He does not understand it. Judgment is not an essential attribute of God. Man brought judgment into being only because of the separation. God Himself is still the God of mercy. After the separation, however, there was a place for justice in the schema because it was one of the many learning devices which had to be built into the overall plan. Just as the separation occurred over many millions of years, the Last Judgment will extend over a similarly long period, and perhaps even longer. Its length depends, however, on the effectiveness of the present speedup. We have frequently noted that the Miracle is a device for shortening, but not abolishing, time. If a sufficient number of people become Truly miracleminded quickly, the shortening process can be almost immeasurable. But it is essential that these individuals free Themselves from fear sooner than would ordinarily be the case because They must emerge from basic conflict if They are to bring Peace to the Minds of Others.

The Last Judgment is generally thought of as a procedure undertaken by God. Actually, it will be undertaken solely by man with My help. It is a Final Healing rather than a meting out of punishment, however much man may think punishment is deserved. Punishment as a concept is in total opposition to Rightmindedness. The aim of the Final Judgment is to restore Rightmindedness to man.

The Final Judgment might be called a process of Rightevaluation. It simply means that finally all men must come to understand what is worthy and what is not. After this Their ability to choose can be reasonably directed. Unless this distinction has been made the vacillations between free and imprisoned will cannot but continue. The first step toward freedom, then, must entail a sorting out of the false from the True. This is a process of division only in the constructive sense and reflects the True meaning of the Apocalypse. Man will ultimately look upon His own creations and wills to preserve only what is good, just as God Himself once looked upon What He had created and knew that It was good. At this point the Will will begin to look with Love on its Creations because of Their great worthiness. The Mind will inevitably disown Its miscreations, and having withdrawn belief from them they will no longer exist.

The term Last Judgment is frightening not only because it has been falsely projected onto God, but also because of the association of “Last” with death. This is an outstanding example of upside down perception. Actually, if it is examined objectively, it is quite apparent that it is really the doorway to Life. No man Who lives in fear is really alive. His own final judgment cannot be directed toward Himself because He is not His own Creation. He can apply it meaningfully, and at any time, to everything He has ever created and retain in His real memory only what is good. This is what His own Rightmindedness cannot but dictate. The purpose of time is solely to “give Him time” to achieve this judgment. It is His own perfect judgment of His own Creation. When everything that He retains is lovable there is no reason for any fear to remain in Him. This is His part in the Atonement.

Chapter 3 – Retraining the Mind

All learning involves attention and study at some level. This Course is a mindtraining Course. Good students assign study periods for Themselves. However, since this obvious step has not occurred to You and since We are cooperating in this I will make the obvious assignment now.

B is better at understanding the need to study the notes than You are but neither of You realizes that many of the problems You keep being faced with may already have been solved there. You do not think of the notes in this way at all. B does from time to time but He generally says “It’s probably in the notes” and doesn’t look it up. He believes that although He reads them over they cannot really help Him until they are complete.

1) He cannot be sure of this unless He tries.

2) They would be completed if Both of You so willed.

You vaguely know that The Course is intended for some sort of preparation. I can only say that You are not prepared. I was amused when You reminded B that He, too, was being prepared for something quite unexpected and He said He was not at all curious about what it was. This disinterest is very characteristic of Him when He is afraid. Interest and fear do not go together as Your respective behavior clearly shows.

Mental retardation is a defense which like the others except the Atonement can be used on behalf of error or Truth as elected. When it occurs in Reality it is a temporary device agreed on beforehand to check the miscreative abilities of strong but misdirected wills. It is necessary that this appropriate use of the defense be considered real because otherwise it cannot serve. The lesson involves not only the individual Himself but also His parents, siblings and All of Those Who come in close relation with Him. The value of the experience depends on the need of each particular Learner. The person himself is a poor Learner by definition only as a step toward changing from a bad to a good one.

Mental retardation can also be used as a maladaptive defense if the wrong, or attack side, is employed. This produces the “pseudoretardation syndrome” which is justly classified as a psychiatric, or disturbedlevel, symptom. Both of You do this all the time. B acts as if He does not understand even His own special language, let alone Mine, and You cannot read at all. This represents a joint attack on Both Yourselves and Me because it renders Your mind weak and Mine incompetent. Remember, this puts You in a Truly fearful position. If You cannot understand either Your own mind or Mine You do not know what is really willed. It is thus impossible to avoid conflict, as defined before, because even if You act according to will You wouldn’t know it.

The next part of This Course rests too heavily on the earlier part not to require its study. Without this You will become much too fearful when the unexpected does occur to make constructive use of it. However, as You study the notes You will see some of the obvious implications unless You still persist in misusing the defense of mental retardation. Please remember that its constructive use, described above, is hardly a real part of Your own real proper equipment. It is a particularly inappropriate defense as You use it and I can only urge You to avoid it.

The reason why a solid foundation is necessary at this point is because of the highly likely confusion of “fearful” and “awesome” which most people do make. You will remember that We said once before that awe is inappropriate in connection with the Sons of God because You should not experience awe in the presence of Your own Equals. But it was emphasized that awe is a proper reaction of the Soul in the presence of Its Creator. So far This Course has had only indirect recourse to God and rarely even refers to Him directly. I have repeatedly emphasized that awe is not appropriate in connection with Me because of Our inherent equality. I have been careful to clarify My own role in the Atonement without either over or understating it. I have tried to do exactly the same things in connection with Yours. The next step, however, does involve the direct approach to God Himself. It would be most unwise to start on this step at all without very careful preparation or awe will surely be confused with fear and the experience will be more traumatic than beatific. Healing is of God in the end. The means are carefully explained in the notes. Revelation has occasionally shown You the end but to reach it the means are needed.

The following introduction was dictated by H without notes:

The following is the only detailed description which need be written down as to how error interferes with preparation. The events specifically referred to here could be any events nor does their particular influence matter. It is the process which is to be noted here and not its results. The kind of beliefs and the fallacious premises involved in misthought are as well exemplified here as elsewhere. There is nothing of special interest about the events described below except their typical nature. If this is a True Course in mindtraining then the whole value of this section rests only in showing You what not to do. The more constructive emphasis is of course on the positive approach. Mindwatching would have prevented any of this from occurring and will do so any time You permit it to.

Following is from notes:

Tell B that the reason why He was so strained yesterday is because He allowed Himself a number of fearproducing attitudes. They were fleeting enough to be more will-of-the-wisps than serious willerrors but unless He watches this kind of thing He will find the notes fearful and, knowing Him well, will misdistantiate. His unprovoked irritation was unpardonable except by Himself and He did not choose to pardon it. You did but I am afraid You were under some strain in doing so. This was unfortunate and weakened Your own ability to behave healingly toward B at the time and later also toward Louis, Both of Whom did act stupidly. But one stupidity at a time is usually enough. You are getting too close to the misuse of mental retardation when stupidity sets in all around.

B having already weakened Himself was very unmiracleminded first by not asking Dora if she wanted a lift in the cab which was going her way. Even if she didn’t want it she would have been able to use the thought well. There is probably no human error that is more fearprovoking in the will, or behavior, conflict sense than countering any form of error with error. The result can be highly inflammable. By reacting to Dora’s stupidity with his own all of the elements which are virtually certain to engender fear have been provided.

B should note that this is one of the few times that he had to wait for a cab. He thought he took care of it by holding the door of a cab which did come for that lady but he was misguided in this belief. Beliefs are thoughts and thus come under Christ Guidance, not control. Actually, by giving this cab to her he was very unkind to You. It was quite apparent that You were extremely cold and also very late. The idea that giving her the cab would atone for his previous errors was singularly out of place and well calculated to lead to further error. If instead of attempting to atone on his own he had asked for Guidance there would have been no difficulty whatever in the cab situation. It was not necessary that anyone wait at all. B’s original slight to Dora because of his own need to get home as he perceived it stopped him from benefiting from the timesaving device of the Miracle. He would have gotten home much quicker if he had taken time to use time properly.

You were still suffering from strain and got quite irritated at the girl who stood next to the door on the side which blocked its opening. Her presence there made it necessary each time the door was opened to hold it for a much longer time than was necessary and You were angry because this made You cold. Actually, the girl was taking care of the younger child who was standing outside and both of them were really mentally retarded. If You will remember the older girl asked You very uncertainly about the bus and You were well aware at the time of her extreme uncertainty. It would have been much wiser had You built up her confidence instead of associating with her stupidity. This reduced Your own efficiency and the only thing that saved You then was that You did remember in the cab to ask Me about the notes instead of assuming that You were necessarily to arrange to meet the next day and go over them.

B had already become so misguided that it did not occur to him that his own will, which he justified by the contents of the recent notes, a misuse of Truth only seemingly on Its own behalf, might be questionable. You took poor notes Yourself here because You got mad at him on remembering this. While You did try to will right in the cab You did not quite succeed. The error is showing up now. B thus placed himself in a condition to experience a fearreaction rather than a Lovereaction.

H notes that she was going to write “an excellent position” but did not do so.

Answer: You were right about the misuse of “excellent” here and please do cross it out. You are still angry. An excellent position for miscreation is not a meaningful approach to the problem.

It was indeed discourteous.

“Indeed” is not necessary. It was Your own error Here. I am not saying this with any harsh overtones at all. I am just trying to create better learning conditions for the study periods. We want as little interference as possible for very good reasons.

Now, go back to B. He was discourteous when He told You that He wanted to keep the original copy of the notes having decided to have them Xeroxed on His own will and then justifying it by a very slight misinterpretation of what I said about “useful for Others”. In fact, if He will reread the actual quote He will see that it really means “useful for Him”. You had interpreted that way and frankly this was pretty clear to Me at the time. But this sort of thing happens all the time. It should be noted, however, that the result was not only considerable and totally unnecessary planning on B’s part but also a failure to utilize what was intended for Him as a help for Himself. And before You get too selfsatisfied I would remind You that You do it all the time too.

B acted inappropriately toward You by saying that He wanted to be sure that the original was not lost or dirty. It is noticeable that having already decided what He wanted to do it never occurred to Him that it is possible that He might lose or dirty them Himself, especially as He had not entrusted them to Me. This is a form of arrogance that He would be much happier without. He should also note that this would probably not have occurred had He not been already literally “off the beam”. Be sure to tell Him that this pun is to reassure Him that I am not angry. If He does not get it or does not like it I know it is not very good. The reason is that He put Me in a position where I can really give Him very little at the moment. But I want Him to know that I am very well aware of the exceedingly few times He now makes errors of this kind. He has come a very long way in this respect. It seems a shame that He should allow Himself even this much discomfort from it.

I suggest to You that We pray for Him and I pray for Your full cooperation in this. This will correct Your errors and help Him react better to the work on the bookcase which may otherwise lend itself for misuse by misprojection. There would have been no problem at all about the bookcase and perhaps even no bookcase if the solution of the storage problem had been left to Me. I have promised to guide You out of problems and will certainly not create them for You. But this means that You do not undertake to solve them Yourselves. A storage problem is hardly more difficult for Me to solve that a space problem, see comments under special principles for Miracle Workers.

You started well in Your attempt to pray with Me for B but ended badly. This is because You had already made a number of earlier errors. You were wrong to be pleased with Bill F’s criticism of Rose and should not have enjoyed Bill F’s description of Zanvil’s caricaturing of her. You could have laughed with Bill but not at Rose. Real courtesy never does this. You should know that all God’s Children are fully worthy of complete courtesy. You should never join with one at the expense of another.

When You called B about joining You, Gene and Anne at lunch You should have waited to ask Me. In fact You should not even have told Anne that You would call. Then You could have asked B first if He would want to come and called Anne back. It is True that it was better that He came but this has nothing to do with the real issue. There are ways of treating Others in which only consistent courtesy even in very little things is offered. This is a very healing habit to acquire. B’s answer to Your call was a clear statement of His own sadly conflicted state. He said: “I don’t want to join You but that’s ungracious so I’ll go.” Whenever any invitation to join Others in a gracious way is offered it should always be met with respect although it need not always be accepted. However, if it is met ungraciously the resulting feeling may well be one of coercion. This is always a splitwill reaction. B did not solve this by acting graciously. The lunch need not have entailed either mental or physical strain for Him and no “need to escape” should have arisen. This was a regression of the unprofitable kind. B will continue to experience this need from time to time until He is willing to realize that there is nothing He needs, or wants, to escape from.

It is very hard to get out of the chain of miscreation which can arise out of even the simplest misthought. To borrow one of Your own phrases: “This kind of human tragedy is far easier to avert than to undo.” You must Both learn not to let this kind of chain reaction start. You will not be able to control it once it has started because everything and Everyone will be pulled into the misprojection and misinterpreted accordingly. Nothing is lovely to the unloving. This is because they are creating ugliness.

You, Helen, were definitely not acting rightmindedly by writing these notes right in front of Jonathan. Note that You wrote His name as “Jonathan” this time although previously in these same notes You referred to Him as “Louis” intentionally using His real name. Actually, of course, it does not matter what You call Him but note that You felt free at that time to choose the name You preferred to use. This time You were forced to call Him “Jonathan” because You were attacking Him when You took the notes in front of Him and are now falling back on the magical device of “protecting His name”.

H: I had been considering calling B rather ambivalently and had gotten up to do so but remembered to ask. The answer was to call Him at 8:30. It would be better if He called but He may not decide to do so. If He does not You should try to get through and if He has decided not to be there just leave a message that it is not important. This is still a kindly gesture and the message should be put in a gentle way.

B did call H.

Without going into further elaboration, and We could devote many hours to this, lets consider all the time that We had to waste today. And all the notes that could have been devoted to a better purpose than undoing the waste and thus creating further waste. There is a better use for time, too. I would have liked to have spent some time on corrections of the past notes as an important step before reviewing them. A major point of clarification is necessary in connection with the phrase “replacing hatred, or fear, with Love”. No, Helen, do not check this against the Prayer that B very kindly typed for You on the card. That was a gracious offering on His part and You also accepted it with grace at the time. Why should You deprive Yourself of the value of the offering by referring this correction first to Him?

These notes did not continue at this time due to the obvious fact that H was still clearly not in her Right Mind. However, B later suggested that “correct”, or “correct for”, should be used instead of “replace”. At the time he was quite sure about this and he was perfectly right. The reason why it was essential that he made this correction was that the word “replace” was his choice originally and reflected a temporary misunderstanding of his own. It was, however, both courteous and necessary that he change this himself both as a sign of his own better understanding and of an avoidance of correction by someone else which would have been discourteous.

a. Special Principles for Miracle Workers

1) The Miracle abolishes the need for lowerorder concerns. Since It is an illogical, or out-of-pattern, time interval by definition the ordinary considerations of time and space do not apply.

For example: I do not regard time as You and B do and Kolb’s space problem is not Mine. When You perform a Miracle I will arrange both time and space to adjust to It.

2) Clear distinction between what has been created and what is being created is essential. All forms of correction, or healing, rest on this fundamental correction in level perception.

3) Another way of stating 2) is: Never confuse Right- with wrongmindedness. Responding to any form of miscreation with anything except a desire to heal, or a Miracle, is an expression of this confusion.

4) The Miracle is always a denial of this error and an affirmation of the Truth. Only Rightmindedness can create in a way that has any real effect. Pragmatically, what has no real effect has no real existence. Its real effect then is emptiness. Being without substantial content it lends itself to projection.

5) The leveladjustment Power of the Miracle creates the right perception for healing. Until this has occurred healing cannot be understood. Forgiveness is an empty gesture unless it entails correction. Without this it is essentially judgmental rather than healing.

6) Miraculous forgiveness is only correction. It has no element of judgment at all.

Father, forgive Them for They know not what They do.

in no way evaluates what They do. It is strictly limited to an appeal to God to heal Their minds. There is no reference to the outcome of Their misthought. This does not matter.

7) The biblical injunction

Be of One Mind.

is the statement for Revelation readiness. My own injunction

Do this in Remembrance of Me.

is the request for cooperation in Miracleworkers. It should be noted that the two statements are not in the same order of Reality because the latter involves a time awareness since memory implies recalling the past in the Present. Time is under My direction but Timelessness belongs to God alone. In time We exist for and with Each Other. In Timelessness We coexist with God.

b. Atonement without Sacrifice

There is one more point which must be perfectly clear before any residual fear which may still be associated with Miracles becomes entirely groundless. The crucifixion did not establish the Atonement. The Resurrection did. This is a point which many very sincere christians have misunderstood. Nobody Who was free of the scarcity fallacy could possibly have made this mistake.

If the crucifixion is seen from an upside down point of view it certainly does appear as if God permitted and even encouraged one of His Sons to suffer because He was good. Many very devoted ministers preach this every day. This particularly unfortunate interpretation which actually arose out of the combined misprojection of a large number of My own wouldbe followers has led many people to be bitterly afraid of God. This particularly antireligious concept happens to enter into many religions and this is neither by chance nor coincidence. The real Christian would have to pause and ask: “How could this be?” Is it likely that God Himself would be capable of the kind of thinking which His own Words have clearly stated is unworthy of man?

The best defense as always is not to attack Another’s position but rather to protect the Truth. It is not necessary to consider anything acceptable if You have to turn a whole frame of reference around in order to justify it. This procedure is painful in its minor applications and genuinely tragic on a mass basis. Persecution is a frequent result justifying the terrible misperception that God Himself persecuted His own Son on behalf of Salvation. The very words are meaningless. It has always been particularly difficult to overcome this because although the error itself is no harder to overcome than any other error men were unwilling to give it up because of its prominent escape value. In milder forms a parent says: “This hurts Me more than it hurts You” and feels exonerated in beating a child. Can You believe that the Father really thinks this way?

It is so essential that all such thinking be dispelled that We must be very sure that nothing of this kind remains in Your mind. I was not punished because You were bad. The wholly benign lesson which the Atonement teaches is wholly lost if it is tainted with this kind of distortion in any form.

“Vengeance is Mine sayeth the Lord.” is strictly a karmic viewpoint. It is a real misperception of Truth by which man assigns His own evil past to God. The “evil conscience” from the past has nothing to do with God. He did not create it and He does not maintain it. God does not believe in karmic retribution at all. His Divine Mind does not create that way. He does not hold the evil deeds of a man even against Himself. Is it likely, then, that He would hold against any man the evil that Another did?

Be very sure that You recognize how impossible this assumption really is and how entirely it arises from misprojection. This kind of error is responsible for a host of related fallacies including the misbelief that God rejected man and forced Him out of the Garden of Eden or that I am misdirecting You. I have made every effort to use words which are almost impossible to distort but man is very inventive when it comes to twisting symbols around.

God Himself is not symbolic He is fact. The Atonement, too, is totally without symbolism. It is perfectly clear because It exists in Light. Only man’s attempts to shroud It in darkness have made It inaccessible to the unwilling and ambiguous to the partly willing. The Atonement Itself radiates nothing but Truth. It therefore epitomizes harmlessness and sheds only Blessing. It could not do this if It arose from anything other than perfect Innocence! Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil which does not exist. It is, however, perfectly aware of everything that is True.

The Resurrection demonstrated that nothing can destroy Truth. Good can withstand any form of evil because Light abolishes all forms of darkness. The Atonement is thus the perfect lesson. It is the final demonstration that All of the other lessons which I taught are True. Man is released from all errors if He believes in this. The deductive approach to teaching accepts the generalization which is applicable to all single instances rather than building up the generalization after analyzing numerous single instances separately. If You can accept the one generalization now there will be no need to learn from many smaller lessons.

Nothing can prevail against a Son of God Who commends His Spirit into the Hands of His Father. By doing this the Mind awakens from Its sleep and the Soul remembers Its Creator. All sense of separation disappears and level confusion vanishes. The Son of God is part of the Holy Trinity but the Trinity Itself is One. There is no confusion within Its levels because they are of one Mind and one Will. This Single Purpose creates perfect integration and establishes the reign of the Peace of God.

But this Vision can be perceived only by the Truly Innocent. Because Their Hearts are pure They defend True perception instead of defending Themselves against it. Understanding the lesson of the Atonement They are without the will to attack and therefore They see Truly. This is what the Bible means when it says

And when He shall appear, or be perceived, We shall be like Him for We shall see Him as He is.

Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. It arises solely from fear of the Records. This is particularly unfortunate because frightened people are apt to be vicious. Sacrificing Others in any way is a clearcut violation of God’s own injunction that man should be merciful even as His Father in Heaven is merciful. It has been harder for many christians to realize that this commandment, or assignment, also applies to Themselves. Good teachers never terrorize Their students. To terrorize is to attack and this results in rejection of what the teacher offers. This results in learning failures.

I have been correctly referred to in the Bible as The Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world. Those Who represent the lamb as bloodstained, an all too widespread conceptual error, do not understand the meaning of the symbol. Correctly understood the symbol is a very simple parable, or teaching device, which merely depicts My Innocence. The lion and the lamb lying down together refers to the fact that Strength and Innocence are not in conflict but naturally live in Peace.

Blessed are the pure in Heart for They shall see God.

is another way of saying the same thing. Only the Innocent can see God.

There has been some controversy in human terms as to whether seeing is an attribute of the eyes or an expression of the integrative powers of the brain. Correctly understood the issue revolves around the question of whether the body or the Mind can see, or understand. This is not really open to question at all. The body is not capable of understanding. Only the Mind knows anything. A pure Mind knows the Truth and this is Its Strength. It cannot attack the body because It knows exactly what the body is. This is what “a sane Mind in a sane body” really means.

A sane Mind is not out for blood. It does not confuse destruction with Innocence because It associates Innocence with Strength not with weakness. Innocence is incapable of sacrificing anything because the innocent Mind has everything and strives only to protect Its wholeness. This is why It cannot misproject. It can only honor man because honor is the natural greeting of the Truly Loved to Others Who are like Them.

The lamb taketh away the sins of the world only in the sense that the state of Innocence, or Grace, is one in which the meaning of the Atonement is perfectly apparent. The Innocence of God is the True state of the Mind of His Son. In this state man’s Mind does see God and because He sees Him as He is He knows that the Atonement, not sacrifice, is the only appropriate Gift to His own Altar Where nothing except perfection Truly belongs. The understanding of the Innocent is Truth. That is why Their Altars are Truly radiant.

Dictated directly without notes:

Though christians generally but by no means universally recognize the contradiction involved in victimizing Others They are less adept at ensuring Their own inability to victimize Themselves. Although this appears to be a much more benign error from the viewpoint of society it is nevertheless inherently dangerous because once a twoedged defense is used its direction cannot be selfcontrolled.

B recently observed how many ideas were condensed into relatively few pages Here. This is because We have not been forced to dispel miscreations throughout. There is one set of notes not yet transcribed which is devoted to this. These emphasize only the enormous waste of time that is involved. Cayce’s notes, too, could have been much shortened. Their excessive length is due to two factors: The first involves a fundamental error which Cayce Himself made and which required constant undoing. The second is more related to the attitude of His followers: They are unwilling to omit anything He said. This is respectful enough but not overly judicious. I would be a far better editor if They would allow Me this position on Their staff.

It is obvious that Cayce Himself was not able to transcend the misperceptions of the need for sacrifice or He could not possibly have been willing to sacrifice Himself. Anyone Who is unable to leave the requests of Others unanswered has not entirely transcended egocentricity. I never “gave of Myself” in this inappropriate way nor would I ever have encouraged Cayce to do so. Cayce could not see the Atonement as totally lacking in sacrifice at any level. It was obvious to Him that the Mind cannot be so limited. It was equally apparent to Him that the Soul is merely unaffected by such an idea. This left Him only the body with which to invest His misperception. This is also why He used His own mind at the “expense of His body”.

Because Cayce was a somewhat erratic Listener He was compelled to correct His own errors at very great length and not always adequately. Consider the basis from which He started when He began with: “Yes, We have the body.” It is noteworthy that in all these readings a large section was actually devoted to the body even though He usually concluded with the caution that the body cannot be healed by itself. It would have saved an enormous number of words if He had always begun with this. Cayce and His devotion to Me are in no way underestimated by the realization that He worked under very great strain which is always a sign that something is wrong.

One of the difficulties inherent in trance states is that it is very difficult to overcome the split which the trance itself induces through the medium of communications made while in the trance state. Cayce’s whole approach put Him in a real double bind from which He did not recover. When He spoke of a dream in which He saw His own rather immanent reincarnation He was perfectly accurate. He was sufficiently attuned to real communication to make it easy to correct His errors and free Him to communicate without strain.

It is noticeable throughout His notes that He frequently engaged in a fallacy that We have already noted in some detail namely the tendency to endow the physical with nonphysical properties. Cayce suffered greatly from this error. He did not make either of the other three. However, You will remember that it is this one which is particularly vulnerable to magical associations. Cayce’s accuracy was so great that even when He did this He was able to apply it constructively. But it does not follow that this was a genuinely constructive approach. It should also be noted that when Cayce attempted to “see” the body in proper perspective He saw physically discernible auras surrounding it. This is a curious compromise in which the nonphysical attributes of the Self are approached as if they could be seen with the physical eye.

Cayce’s illiteracy never stood in His way. This is because illiteracy does not necessarily imply any lack of Love and in Cayce’s case very definitely did not. He therefore had no difficulty at all in overcoming this seeming limitation. What did hamper Him was a profound sense of personal unworthiness which, characteristically enough, was sometimes overcompensated for in what might be called a christian form of grandiosity. Cayce was essentially uncharitable to Himself. This made Him very erratic in His own Miracles and because He was genuinely anxious to help Others left Himself in a highly vulnerable position.

His son comments both on the rather erratic nature of the Cayce household and also on the rather uneven nature of Cayce’s temper. Both of these observations are True and clearly point to the fact that Cayce did not apply the Peace of God to Himself. Once this had occurred, particularly in a man Whose communication channels were open, it was virtually impossible for Him to escape external solutions. Cayce was a very religious man Who should have been able to escape fear through religion. Being unable to apply His religion wholeheartedly to Himself He was forced to accept certain magical beliefs which were alien to His own Christianity. This is why He was so different when He was asleep and even disowned what He said in this state. The lack of integration which this split state implies is clearly shown in certain off the mark detours into areas such as the effects of stones on the Mind and some curious symbolic attempt to integrate churches and glands. This is hardly more peculiar than some of Your own confusion.

Cayce’s mind was imprisoned to some extent by an error against which You have been cautioned several times. He looked to the past for an explanation of the Present but He never succeeded in separating the past from the Present. When He said: “Mind is the builder.” He did not realize that it is only what it is building now that really creates the future. The past in itself does not have the ability to do this. Whenever We move from one instant to the next the previous one no longer exists. In considering the body as the focus for healing Cayce was expressing His own failure to accept this as accomplished. He did not fail to recognize the value of the Atonement for Others but He did fail to accept Its corrective merit for Himself. As We have frequently emphasized man cannot control His own errors. Having created them He does believe in them. Because of His failure to accept His own perfect freedom from the past Cayce could not really perceive Others as similarly free. This is why I have not wholly endorsed the Cayce documents for widespread use.

I am heartily supportive of the ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT’s endeavor to make Cayce’s singular contributions immortal but it would be most unwise to have them promulgated as a faith until they have been purged of their essential errors. This is why there have been a number of unexplained setbacks in their explication. It is also one of the many reasons why the Cayce material, a major step in the speedup, must be properly understood before it can be meaningfully validated. Cayce’s son has been wise in attempting to deal with reliability which in Cayce’s case is very high. There is a way of validating the material and Hugh Lynn is perfectly aware that this must be done eventually. He is also aware of the fact that He is unable to do it. In the present state of the material it would be most unwise even to attempt it. There is too much that is invalid. When the time comes that this can be corrected to the point of real safety I assure You it will be accomplished. In tribute to Cayce I remind You that no effort is wasted and Cayce’s effort was very great.

It would be most ungrateful of Me if I allowed His work to produce a generation of witch doctors. I am sorry that Cayce Himself could not rid Himself of a slight tendency in this direction. But fortunately I have a fuller appreciation of Him than He had. I am repeating Here a biblical injunction of My own already mentioned elsewhere that if My Followers eat any deadly thing it shall not hurt Them. This is what Cayce could not believe because He could not see that as a Son of God He was invulnerable.

c. Miracles as Accurate Perception

We have repeatedly stated that the basic concepts referred to throughout the notes are not matters of degree. Certain fundamental concepts cannot be meaningfully understood in terms of coexisting polarities. It is impossible to conceive of Light and darkness, or everything and nothing, as joint possibilities. They are all True or all false. It is absolutely essential that You understand completely that behavior is erratic until a firm commitment to one or the other is made. A firm commitment to darkness or nothingness is impossible. Nobody has ever lived Who has not experienced some Light and some of everything. This has made Everybody really unable to deny Truth totally even if He deceives Himself in this connection most of the time. That is why Those Who live largely in darkness and emptiness never find any lasting solace. This really answers B’s question about whether people return voluntarily.

Innocence is also not a partial attribute. It is not a real defense until it is total. When it is partial it is characterized by the same erratic nature that holds for other twoedged defenses. The partly innocent are apt to be quite stupid at times. It is not until Their Innocence is a genuine viewpoint which is universal in its application that it becomes wisdom.

Innocent, or True, perception means that You never misperceive and always see Truly. More simply this means that You never see what does not exist in Reality. Whenever You lack confidence in what Someone else will do You are attesting to Your belief that He is not in His Right Mind. This is hardly a miraclebased frame of reference. It also has the disastrous effect of denying in its incorrect use the essentially creative Power of the Miracle. The Miracle perceives everything as it is. If nothing but the Truth exists, and this is really redundant in statement because what is not True cannot exist, Rightminded seeing cannot see anything but perfection. We have said many times that only What God creates, or what man creates with the same Will, has any real existence. This, then, is all that the Innocent can see. They do not suffer from the delusions of the separated ones.

The way to correct all such delusions is to withdraw Your faith from them and invest it only in What is True. To whatever extent You side with false perception in Yourself or Others You are validating a basic misperception. You cannot validate the invalid. I would suggest that You voluntarily give up all attempts to do so because they can be only frantic. If You are willing to validate what is True in everything You perceive You will make it True for You.

Remember that We said that Truth overcomes all error. This means that if You perceive Truly You are canceling out misperceptions in Yourself and Others simultaneously. Because You see Them as They were really created and can really create You offer Them Your own validation of Their Truth. This is the real healing which the Miracle actively creates.

H questions: Is this all?

The reason why this is so short despite its extreme importance is because it is not symbolic. This means that it is not open to more than one interpretation. This means that it is unequivocal. It also explains the quotation which You have never gotten correctly in complete form before:

But this We know, that when He shall appear, or be perceived, We shall be like Him for We shall see Him as He is. And every man That hath this hope in Him purifieth Himself even as He is pure.

Every man does have the hope that He can see correctly because the ability to do so is in Him. Man’s only hope is to see things as they are.

d. Perception versus Knowledge

On Wednesday evening, November 24 1965, H had a sudden flash of illumination and very much wanted to offer Prayer for B which she did as follows:

Jesus, help Me see My Brother B as he really is
and thus release both him and Me.

H also thought later: Every time there is anything unlovable that crosses One’s mind regarding sex, possession, etc. You should immediately recognize that You do not want to hurt Your Brother.

On Thursday morning the Prayer for the Miracle occurred as follows stated above.

You had a lot of trouble afterwards with the words which are essentially irrelevant partly because You were dissatisfied with Yourself at the time but also because You are confused about the difference between perception and cognition. You will note that We have said very little about cognition as yet.

Aside: One of the exceptions is in the correction formula for fear which begins with:

Know first.

The reason is because You must get Your perceptions straightened out before You can know anything. To know is to be certain. Uncertainty merely means that You dont’t know. Knowledge is Power because it is certain and certainty is Strength. Perception is temporary. It is an attribute of the spacetime belief and is therefore subject to fear or Love. Misperception produces fear and True perception produces Love. Neither produces certainty because all perception varies. That is why it is not knowledge. True perception is the basis for knowledge but knowing is the affirmation of Truth. All of Your difficulties ultimately stem from the fact that You do not recognize, or know, Yourselves, Each Other or God. “Recognize” means “know again”. This means that You knew before. Note that it does not mean saw before.

You can see in many ways because perception involves different interpretations and this means it is not whole. The Miracle is a way of perceiving not a way of knowing. It is the right Answer to a question but You do not ask questions at all when You know. Questioning delusions is the first step in undoing them. The Miracle, or the right Answer, corrects them. Since perceptions change their dependence on time is obvious. They are subject to transitory states and this implies variability by definition. How You perceive at any given time determines what You do and action must occur in time. Knowledge is timeless because certainty is not questionable. You know when You have ceased to ask questions. The “questioning mind” perceives itself in time and therefore looks for future answers. The unquestioning mind is closed merely because it believes the future and the Present will be the same. This establishes an unchanged state or stasis. This is usually an attempt to counteract an underlying fear that the future will be worse than the Present and this fear inhibits the tendency to question at all.

Visions are the natural perception of the Spiritual Eye but they are still corrections. B’s question about the “Spiritual Eye” was a very legitimate one. The “Spiritual Eye” is symbolic and therefore not a device for knowing. It is, however, a means of right perception which brings It into the proper domain of the Miracles but not of Revelation. Properly speaking a “Vision of God” is a Miracle rather than a Revelation. The fact that perception is involved at all removes the experience from the realm of knowledge. That is why these visions do not last.

The Bible instructs You to “know Thyself”, or be certain. Certainty is always of God. When You love Someone You have perceived Him as He is and this makes it possible for You to know Him. But it is not until You recognize Him that You know Him. Only then are You able to stop asking questions about Him. While You ask questions about God You are clearly implying that You do not know Him. Certainty does not require action. When You say You are acting on the basis of sure knowledge You are really confusing perception and cognition. Knowledge brings mental Strength for creative thinking but not for right doing.

Perception, Miracles and doing are closely related. Knowledge is a result of Revelation and induces only thought, or thinking. Perception involves the body even in its most spiritualized form. Knowledge comes from the Altar within and is timeless because it is certain. To perceive the Truth is not the same as knowing It. This is why B is having so much trouble in, what He calls “integrating” the notes. His tentative perception is too uncertain for knowledge because knowledge is sure. Your perception is so variable that You swing from sudden but real knowledge to complete cognitive disorganization. This is why B is more prone to irritation while You are more vulnerable to rage. He is consistently below His potential while You achieve it at times and then swing very wide off the mark. Actually these differences do not matter. But I thought You might be glad to learn that You are much better off with different perceptual problems than You would be if You suffered from similar ones. This enables Each of You to recognize, and this is the right word here, that the misperceptions of the Other are unnecessary. It is because You do not know what to do about it that B reacts to Yours with irritation and You respond to His with fury.

I repeat again that if You attack error You will hurt Yourself. You do not recognize Each Other when You attack. Attack is always made on a stranger. You are making Him a stranger by misperceiving Him so that You cannot know Him. It is because You have made Him into a stranger that You are afraid of Him. Perceive Him correctly so that Your Soul can know Him. Right perception is necessary before God can communicate directly to His own Altars Which He has established in His Sons. There He can communicate His certainty and His knowledge will bring the Peace without question. God is not a stranger to His own Sons and His Sons are not strangers to Each Other. Knowledge preceded both perception and time and will also ultimately replace, or correct for, them. This is the real meaning of the biblical account of God as:

Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.

It also explains the quotation:

Before Abraham was I am.

Perception can and must be stabilized but knowledge is stable. “Fear God and keep His Commandments” is a real scribal error. It should read:

Know God and accept His certainty.

This error is why the commandments are all negative in contrast to Christ’s statement about:

Thou shalt love, etc.

There are no strangers in His Creation. To create as He Created You can create only what You know and accept as Yours. God knows His Children with perfect certainty. He created Them by knowing Them. He recognizes Them perfectly. When They do not recognize Each Other They do not recognize Him. Brothers can misperceive One Another but They rarely maintain that They do not know Each Other. This is possible only if They maintain that They are not really Brothers. The Bible is very specific on this point.

e. Conflict and the ego

Most of the abilities man now possesses are only shadows of His real Strengths. The Soul knows, loves and creates. These are Its unequivocal functions. All of the functions of man are equivocal, or open to question or doubt. This is because He can no longer be certain how He will use them. He is therefore incapable of knowledge because He is uncertain. He is also incapable of True Loving because He can perceive lovelessly. He cannot create surely because perception deceives and illusions are not pure.

Perception did not exist until the separation had introduced degrees, aspects and intervals. The Soul has no levels and all conflict arises from the concept of levels. Wars arise when some regard others as if they were on a different level. All interpersonal conflicts arise from this fallacy. Only the levels of the Trinity are capable of Unity. The levels which man created by the separation are disastrous. They cannot but conflict. This is because one is essentially meaningless to another. Freud realized this perfectly and that is why He conceived as forever irreconcilable the different levels of His psyche. They were conflictprone by definition because they wanted different things and obeyed different principles.

In Our picture of the psyche there is an unconscious level which properly consists only of the Miracle ability and should be under My direction and a conscious level which perceives, or is aware of, impulses from both the unconscious and the Superconscious. These are the sources of the impulses it receives. Consciousness is thus the level of perception but not of knowledge. Again, to perceive is not to know. In this connection Cayce is more accurate than Freud. Consciousness was the first split that man introduced into Himself. He became a perceiver rather than a Creator in the True sense. Consciousness is correctly identified as the domain of the ego.

Jung was right indeed in insisting that the ego is not the Self and that the Self should be regarded as an achievement. He did not recognize, a term We now understand, that the Achievement was God’s. In a sense the ego was a manmade attempt to perceive Himself as He wished rather than as He is. This is an example of the Created-Creator confusion We spoke of before. He can only know Himself as He is because that is all He can be sure of. Everything else is open to question.

The ego is the questioning compartment in the postseparation psyche which man created for Himself. It is capable of asking valid questions but not of perceiving wholly valid answers because these are cognitive and cannot be perceived. The endless speculation about the meaning of mind has led to considerable confusion because the mind is confused. Only Onemindedness is without confusion. A separate, or divided, mind must be confused. A divided mind is uncertain by definition. It has to be in conflict because it is out of accord with Itself.

Intrapersonal conflict arises from the same basis as interpersonal. One part of the psyche perceives another part as on a different level and does not understand it. This makes the parts strangers to each other without recognition. This is the essence of the fearprone condition in which attack is always possible. Man has every reason to feel anxious as He perceives Himself. This is why He cannot escape fear until He knows that He did not and can not create Himself. He can never make this misperception valid. And when He at last perceives clearly He is glad He can’t. His Creation is beyond His own error variance and this is why He must eventually choose to heal the separation.

Rightmindedness is not to be confused with the knowing Mind because it is applicable only to right perception. You can be rightminded or wrongminded and this is subject to degrees, a fact which clearly demonstrates a lack of association with knowledge.

No, Helen, this is perfectly clear and does follow the previous section. Neither You nor I is at all confused even in grammar.

The term “Rightmindedness” is properly used as the correction for wrongmindedness and applies to the state of mind which induces accurate perception. It is miraculous because it heals misperception and healing is indeed a Miracle in view of how man perceives Himself. Only the sick need healing. The Soul does not need healing but the mind does.

Freud gave a very graphic, but upside down, account of how the divisions of the mind arose from the bottom up. Actually this is impossible because the unconscious cannot create the conscious. You cannot create something You can’t know. Freud was greatly worried about this being very bright though misguided and attempted to get around it by introducing a number of “borderline” areas which merely resulted in fuzziness. This was particularly unfortunate because He was capable of going much higher if He had not been so afraid. This is why He kept pulling the mind down. The ego did not arise out of the unconscious. A lowerorder perception cannot create a higherorder one which is the way You perceive the structure of the psyche if You look at it from the bottom up because it doesn’t understand it. But a higherorder perception can create a lowerorder one by understanding it in terms of misperception.

Perception always involves some misuse of will because it involves the mind in areas of uncertainty. The mind is very active because it has willpower. When it willed the separation it willed to perceive. Until it chose to do this it willed only to know. Afterwards it had to will ambiguously and the only way out of ambiguity is clear perception.

The ego is as frail as Freud perceived it. The later theorists have tried to introduce a less pessimistic view but have looked in the wrong direction for Their hope. Any attempt to endow the ego with the attributes of the Soul is merely confused thinking. Freud was more clearsighted about this because He knew a bad thing when He perceived it but He failed to recognize that a bad thing cannot exist. It is therefore wholly unnecessary to try to get out of it. As You very rightly observed Yourself the thing to do with a desert is to leave.

The mind returns itself to its proper function only when it wills to know. This places it in the Soul’s service where perception is meaningless. The Superconscious is the level of the mind which wills to do this. Freud was particularly distorted on this point because He was getting too far up for comfort according to His own perception. But He was right in maintaining that the “parts” of the psyche cannot be correctly perceived either as things or as entirely separate. He would have thought better if He had said “entirely separated”. The mind did divide itself when it willed to create its own levels and the ability to perceive them. But it could not entirely separate itself from the Soul because it is from the Soul that it derives its whole Power to create. Even in miscreating will is affirming its source or it would merely cease to be. This is impossible because it is part of the Soul Which God created and Which is therefore eternal.

The ability to perceive made the body possible because You must perceive something and with something. This is why perception involves an exchange, or a translation, which knowledge does not need. The interpretive function of perception, actually a distorted form of Creation, then permitted man to interpret the body as Himself which, although depressing, was a way out of the conflict He induced. This has already been covered in some detail. The Superconscious Which knows could not be reconciled with this loss of Power because It was incapable of darkness. This is why It became almost inaccessible to the mind and entirely inaccessible to the body. It was perceived as a threat because Light does abolish darkness by establishing the clear fact that it isn’t there. The Truth will always destroy error in this sense. This is not an active process of destruction at all. We have already emphasized the fact that knowing does not do anything. It can be perceived as an attacker but it cannot attack. What man perceives as its attack is His own recognition of the fact that it can always be remembered because it has never been destroyed. This is not a literal remembering as much as a re-membering.

That is largely for B. I wish He would decide to use that talent of His constructively. He has no idea of how powerful it could be. Actually, it does come from the unconscious and is really a distorted form of miraculous perception which He has reduced to word twisting. Although this can be quite funny it is still a real waste. Maybe He’d care to let Me control it and still use it humorously Himself. He doesn’t have to decide it is one or the other. The unconscious should never have been reduced to a “container” for the waste products of conflict. Even as He perceives His psyche every level has a creative potential because nothing man creates can wholly lose this.

God and the Souls He created remain in surety and therefore know that no miscreation exists. Truth cannot deal with unwilling error because It does not will to be blocked out. But I was a man Who remembered the Soul and Its knowledge. Tell B that when He refused to misperceive He was indeed behaving as I behaved. And as a man I did not attempt to counteract error with knowledge so much as to correct error from the bottom up. I demonstrated both the powerlessness of the body and the Power of the Mind by uniting My will with that of My Creator Which naturally remembered the Soul and Its own real purpose.

I cannot unite Your will with God’s for You. But I can erase all misperceptions from Your mind if You will bring it under My guidance. Only Your misperceptions stand in Your own way. Without them Your own choice is certain. Sane perception induces sane choosing. The Atonement was an act based on True perception. I cannot choose for You but I can help You make Your own right choice.

“Many are called but Few are chosen” should read

All are called but Few choose to listen. Therefore They do not choose right.

The “Chosen Ones” are merely Those Who choose right sooner. This is the real meaning of the celestial speedup. Strong wills can do this now. And You will find rest for Your Souls. God knows You only in Peace and this is Your Reality.

Note that the term “insight”, though referring to lofty perception, is not an attribute of knowledge. This is why terms like “lofty” are meaningless in this context. Insight is not the way to knowledge but it is a prerequisite for knowledge. Being of God knowledge has nothing to do with Your perceptions at all. That is why it can only be a Gift of God to You.

f. The Loss of Certainty

We said before that the abilities which man possesses are only shadows of His True abilities. The Soul’s True functions are knowing, loving and creating. The intrusion of the ability to perceive which is inherently judgmental was introduced only after the separation. No one has been sure of anything since then. You will also remember that I made it very clear that the Resurrection was the return to knowledge which was accomplished by the union of My will with the Father’s.

Since the separation the words “create” and “make” are inevitably confused. When You make something You make it first out of a sense of lack, or need, and second out of a something that already exists. Anything that is made is made for a specific purpose. It has no True generalizability. When You make something to fill a perceived lack, which is obviously why You would make anything, You are tacitly implying that You believe in the separation. Knowing does not lead to doing as We have frequently observed already.

What appears to be contradictory about the difference between knowing and perceiving, and Revelation and Miracles, is again the fallacy that is the root cause of all subsequent errors. The Miracle was associated with perception and not with knowing. However, We also noted that Prayer is the medium of Miracles and also the natural communication of the Creator and the Created. Prayer is always an affirmation of knowledge not of accurate perception. That is why unless perception has entered into it it calls on Revelation.

The confusion between Your own Creation and what You create is so profound that it has literally become impossible to know anything because knowledge is always stable. It is quite evident that human beings are not. Nevertheless They are perfectly stable as God created Them. In this sense when Their behavior is unstable They are obviously disagreeing with God’s idea of the Creation. This is a fundamental right of man although not one He would care to exercise if He were in His Right Mind.

The problem that is bothering You most is the fundamental question which man continually asks of Himself but which cannot properly be directed to Himself at all. He keeps on asking “Himself” what He is. This implies that the answer is not only one which He knows but one which is up to Him. The first part of this statement is perfectly True but the second part is not. We have frequently commented on the absolute necessity of correcting all fallacious thinking which associates man in any way with His own Creation. Man cannot perceive Himself correctly. He has no image at all. The word “image” is always perception related and is not a product of knowing. Images are symbolic and stand for something else. The current emphasis on “changing Your image” is a good description of the power of perception but it implies that there is nothing to know.

Prayer is the medium of Miracles not because God created perceptions but because God created You. At the beginning of This Course We said that You are a Miracle. Therefore the Miracle Worker is a Miracle not of His own Creation. Unless perception rests on some knowing basis it is so unstable that it doesn’t mean anything. Knowing is not open to interpretation because its meaning is its own. It is possible to interpret meaning but this is always open to error because it involves the perception of meaning. All of these wholly needless complexities are the result of man’s attempt to regard Himself both as separated and unseparated at the same time. It is impossible to undertake a confusion as fundamental as this without engaging in further confusion.

Methodologically man’s mind has been very creative. But as always occurs when method and content are separated it has not been utilized for anything but an attempt to escape a fundamental and entirely inescapable impasse. This kind of thinking cannot result in a creative outcome though it has resulted in considerable ingenuity. It is noteworthy, however, that this ingenuity has almost totally divorced Him from knowledge. Knowledge does not require ingenuity at all. When We say

The Truth shall set You free.

We mean that all this kind of thinking is a waste of time but that You are free of the need of engaging in it.

Note again that the functions of the Soul were not referred to as abilities. This point requires clarification because abilities are beliefs which are based on the scarcity fallacy since they do not mean anything apart from withingroup comparisons. As You Yourself never fail to point out: “Nobody has none of an ability and nobody has all of it.” That is, of course, why the curve never rests on the line. The clearest implications of relativity which properly inheres in this statement demonstrate that abilities are not functions of the Soul. The Soul’s functions are not relative. They are absolute. They are of God and from God and therefore Godlike.

Prayer is a way of asking for something. When We said that Prayer is the medium of Miracles We also said that the only meaningful Prayer is for forgiveness because Those Who have been forgiven have everything. Once forgiveness has been accepted Prayer in the usual sense becomes utterly without meaning. Essentially a Prayer for forgiveness is nothing more than a request that We may be able to recognize something We already have.

In electing the ability to perceive instead of the will to know man placed Himself in a position where He could resemble His Father only by perceiving miraculously. But He lost the knowledge that He Himself is a Miracle. Miraculous Creation was His own Source and also His own real function. “God created man in His own image and likeness” is correct in meaning but the words are open to considerable misinterpretation. This is avoided, however, if “image” is understood to mean “thought” and “likeness” is taken as “of a like quality”. God did create the Son in His own Thought and of a quality like to His own. There is nothing else.

Perception is impossible without a belief in “more” and “less”. Unless perception at every level involves selectivity it is incapable of organization. In all types of perception there is a continual process of accepting and rejecting, of organizing and reorganizing and of shifting and changing focus. Evaluation is an essential aspect of perception because judgment must be made for selection. “Lack of lack” is a concept which is meaningless to a perceiver because the ability to perceive at all rests on lack.

What happens to perceptions if there are no judgments and there is nothing but perfect equality? Perception is automatically useless. Truth can only be known. All of It is equally True and knowing any part of It is to know all of It. Only perception involves partial awareness. Knowledge transcends all of the laws which govern perception. Partial knowledge is impossible. It is all One and has no separate parts, i.e., the parts have not separated. This is the real knowledge. You Who are really One with it need but know Yourself and Your knowledge is complete. To know God’s Miracle is to know Him.

Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation. Correct perception of Each Other is necessary only because minds have willed to see themselves as separate beings. Each Soul knows God completely. This is the miraculous Power of the Soul. The fact that Each Soul has this Power completely is a fact that is entirely alien to human thinking in which if any One has everything there is nothing left.

God’s Miracles are as total as His Thought because They are His Thoughts. God shines in Them All with perfect Light. If They recognize this Light anywhere They know It universally. Revelation cannot be explained because it is knowledge. Revelation happens. It is the only really natural happening because it reflects the nature of God.

As long as perception lasts Prayer has a place. Since perception rests on lack Those Who perceive have not totally accepted the Atonement and given over Themselves to Truth. Perception is a separated state and the perceiver does need healing. Communion, not Prayer, is the natural state of Those Who know. God and His Miracles are inseparable. All words at best are preparatory. The word is really a thought. No one word is universally meaningful because a word is a symbol but thought is not divisible by Creation. The original name for “thought” and “word” was the same. The quotation should read:

In the beginning was the Thought, and the Thought was with God, and the Thought was God.

How beautiful indeed are the Thoughts of God Who live in His Light. Your worth is beyond perception because it is beyond doubt. Do not perceive Yourself in different lights. Know Yourself in the One Light Where the Miracle Which is You is perfectly clear.

The prerequisites for therapy must include the following conditions:

1) The procedure must involve the recognition rather than the denial of the importance of thought.

2) The exact equality of Everyone Who is involved. This must include Me.

3) No one is either therapist or patient.

B should add “teacher or pupil”.

4) Above all, Everyone involved must want to give up everything that is not True. The reason for the negative emphasis here is that therapy implies something has gone wrong. Even though the purpose is to correct Those Who are ill are negative.

5) Therapy is exactly the same as all other forms of Miracleworking. It has no separate laws of its own. All of the principles that were given for Miracles apply to therapy because unless therapy proceeds from Miraclemindedness it cannot heal.

6) The therapist hopefully does have the role of being the better perceiver. This is also again hopefully True of the teacher. It does not follow that He is the better Knower. Temporarily the therapist, or teacher, can help in straightening out twisted perceptions which is also the only role that I would ever contribute Myself. All therapy should do is try to place Everyone involved in the right frame of Mind to help One Another. It is essentially a process of True courtesy including courtesy to Me.

Any form of mental illness can truthfully be described as an expression of viciousness. We said before that Those Who are afraid are apt to be vicious. If We were willing to forgive other people’s misperceptions of Us they could not possibly affect Us at all. There is little doubt that You can explain Your present attitudes in terms of how people used to look at You but there is no wisdom in doing so. In fact the whole historical approach can justifiably be called doubtful.

As You have so often said no one has adopted all of his parents’ attitudes as his own. In every case there has been a long process of choice in which the individual has escaped from those he himself vetoed while retaining those he voted for. B has not retained his parents political beliefs in spite of the particular kind of newspapers that constituted their own reading matter in this area. The reason why he could do this was because he believed he was free in this area.

There must be some acute problem of His own that would make Him so eager to accept Their misperception of His own worth. This tendency can always be regarded as punitive. It cannot be justified by the inequality of the strengths of parents and children. This is never more than temporary and is largely a matter of maturational and thus physical difference. It does not last unless it is held onto.

When B’s father came to His new office and “destroyed” it it is quite apparent that B must have been willing to let it be destroyed. The many times that He has commented on this event alone would suggest the extreme importance of this misperception in His own distorted thinking. Why should Anyone accord an obvious misperception so much Power? There cannot be any real justification for it because even B Himself recognized the real problem by saying: “How could He do this to Me?” The answer is He didn’t.

B has a very serious question to ask Himself in this connection. We said before that the purpose of the Resurrection was to “demonstrate that no amount of misperception has any influence at all on a Son of God”. This demonstration exonerates Those Who misperceive by establishing beyond doubt that They have not hurt Anyone. B’s question which He must ask Himself very honestly is whether He is willing to demonstrate that His parents have not hurt Him. Unless He is willing to do this He has not forgiven Them.

The essential goal of therapy is the same as that of knowledge. No one can survive independently as long as he is willing to see himself through the eyes of others. This will always put him in a position where he must see himself in different lights. Parents do not create the image of their children though they may perceive images which they do create. However, as We have already said, You are not an image. If You side with imagemakers You are merely being idolatrous.

B has no justification whatever for perpetuating any image of Himself at all. He is not an image. Whatever is True of Him is wholly benign. It is essential that He knows this about Himself but He cannot know it while He chooses to interpret Himself as vulnerable enough to be hurt. This is a peculiar kind of arrogance whose narcissistic component is perfectly obvious. It endows the perceiver with sufficient unreal strength to make Him over and then acknowledges the perceiver’s miscreation. There are times when this strange lack of real courtesy appears to be a form of humility. Actually it is never more than simple spite.

Bill, Your parents did misperceive You in many ways but their ability to perceive was quite warped and their misperceptions stood in the way of their own knowledge. There is no reason why it should stand in the way of Yours. It is still True that You believe they did something to You. This belief is extremely dangerous to Your perception and wholly destructive of Your knowledge. This is not only True of Your attitudes toward Your parents but also of Your misuse of Your friends. You still think that You must respond to their errors as if they were True. By reacting selfdestructively You are giving them approval for their misperceptions. No one has the right to change himself according to different circumstances. Only his actions are capable of appropriate variation. His belief in himself is a constant unless it rests on perceptual acuity rather than knowledge of What he is.

It is Your duty to establish beyond doubt that You are totally unwilling to side, or identify, with Anyone’s misperceptions of You including Your own. If You become concerned with totally irrelevant factors such as the physical condition of a classroom, the number of students, the hour of The Course and the many elements which You may choose to select for emphasis as a basis for misperception You have lost the knowledge of what any interpersonal relationship is for.

It is not True that the difference between pupil and teacher is lasting. They meet in order to abolish the difference. At the beginning since We are still in time They come together on the basis of inequality of ability and experience. The aim of the teacher is to give Them more of what is temporarily His. This process has all of the Miracle conditions We referred to at the beginning. The teacher, or Miracle Worker, gives more to Those Who have less bringing Them closer to equality with Him at the same time gaining for Himself. The confusion here is only because They do not gain the same things because They do not need the same things. If They did Their respective though temporary roles would not be conducive to mutual profit. Freedom from fear can be achieved by Both, teacher and pupil, only if They do not compare either Their needs or Their positions in regard to each other in terms of higher and lower.

Presumably children must learn from parents. What parents learn from children is merely of a different order. Ultimately there is no difference in order but this involves only knowledge. Neither parents nor children can be said to have knowledge or Their relationships would not exist as if They were on different levels. The same is True of the teacher and the pupil. Children have an authority problem only if They believe that Their image is influenced by the authority. This is an act of will on Their part because They are electing to misperceive the authority and give Him this Power. A teacher with an authority problem is merely a pupil Who refuses to teach Others. He wants to maintain Himself in a position where He can be misused and misperceived. This makes Him resentful of teaching because of what He insists it has done to Him.

The only way out of this particular aspect of the desert is still to leave. The way this is left is to release Everyone involved by absolutely refusing to engage in any form of honoring error. Neither teacher nor pupil is imprisoned by learning unless He uses it as an attack. If He does this He will be imprisoned whether He actually teaches or learns or refuses to be engaged in the process at all. The role of a teacher, properly conceived, is one of leading Himself and Others out of the desert. The value of this role can hardly be underestimated if only because it was one to which I very gladly dedicated My own Life. I have repeatedly asked My pupils to follow Me. This means that to be effective teachers They must interpret teaching as I do. I have made every effort to teach You entirely without fear. If You do not listen You will be unable to avoid the very obvious error of perceiving teaching as a threat.

It is hardly necessary to say that teaching is a process whose purpose is to produce learning. The ultimate purpose of all learning is to abolish fear. This is necessary so that knowledge can happen. The role of the teacher is not the role of God. This confusion is all too frequently made by parents, teachers, therapists and the clergy. It is a real misunderstanding of Both God and His Miracles. Any teacher Who believes that teaching is fearful cannot learn because He is paralyzed. He also cannot really teach. B was quite right in maintaining that This Course is a prerequisite for His. However, He was really saying much more than that. The purpose of This Course is to prepare You for knowledge. So is the only real purpose of any legitimate course. All that is required of You as a teacher is to follow Me.

Whenever Anyone decides that He can function only in some roles but not in others He cannot but be attempting to make a compromise which will not work. If B is under the misbelief that He is coping with the fear problem by functioning as an administrator and as a teacher of interns but not as a teacher of students He is merely deceiving Himself. He owes Himself greater respect. There is nothing as tragic as the attempt to deceive One’s Self because it implies that You perceive Yourself as so unworthy that deception is more fitting for You than Truth. Either You can function in all of the roles You have properly undertaken to fill or You cannot function effectively in any of them. This is an all or none decision. You cannot make inappropriate level distinctions within this choice. You are either capable or not. This does not mean that You can do everything but it does mean that You are either totally miracleminded or not. This decision is open to no compromise whatever. When B says that He cannot teach He is making the same mistake that We spoke of before when He acted as if universal laws applied to Everyone except Him. This is not only arrogant but patently untrue. Universal laws must apply to Him unless He does not exist. We will not bother to argue about this.

Descartes engaged in a very interesting teaching procedure and one from which He Himself learned a great deal. He began with doubting the existence of everything except Himself. He insisted that His own existence was not open to doubt and rebuilt His entire thought system on the one premise

I think therefore I am.

It is noteworthy that He arrived at accepting the entire system He originally doubted solely on the basis of this one piece of knowledge. There was, however, a distinct shift in His own perception. He no longer really questioned the Reality of what He perceived because He knew He was there. We mentioned before that B is not too sure of this and that is why We suggested that He concentrate on

Lord, Here I am.

A teacher is unlikely to be effective unless He begins with being there. B, this is not really open to question. You will lose all Your fear of teaching and relating in any form once You know Who You are. There is no point whatever in remaining in the prison of believing that this is up to You. You do not exist in different lights. It is this belief which has confused You about Your own Reality. Why would You want to remain so obscure to Yourself?

g. Judgment and the Authority Problem

We have already discussed the Last Judgment in some though insufficient detail. After the Last Judgment there isn’t any more. This is symbolic only in the sense that Everybody is much better off without judgment. When the Bible says “Judge not that Ye be not judged” it merely means that if You judge the Reality of Others at all You will be unable to avoid judging Your own. The choice to judge rather than know has been the cause of the loss of Peace. Judgment is the process on which perception but not cognition rests. We covered this before in terms of selectivity. Evaluation was said at that time to be its obvious prerequisite.

Judgment always involves rejection. It is not an ability which emphasizes only the positive aspects of what is judged whether it be in or out of the Self. However, what has been perceived and rejected, or judged and found wanting, remains in the unconscious because it has been perceived. Watson had a very relevant notion of the unconscious in this connection. In fact it was so relevant that He dropped it as officially out of accord with behaviorism. He was right on both counts.

One of the illusions from which human perception suffers is that what it perceives and judges against has no effect. This cannot be True unless man also believes that what His judgment vetoes does not exist. He evidently does not believe this or He would not have judged against it. It does not really matter in the end whether You judge right or wrong. Either way You are placing Your belief in the unreal. This cannot be avoided in any type of judgment because it implies the belief that Reality is Yours to choose from.

Neither of You has any idea of the tremendous release and deep Peace that comes from meeting Yourselves and Your Brothers totally without judgment. If You will look back at the earlier notes about What You and Your Brothers are You will realize that judging Them in any way is really without meaning. In fact Their meaning is lost to You precisely because You are judging Them. All uncertainty comes from a totally fallacious belief that You are under the coercion of judgment. You do not need it to organize Your Life and You certainly do not need it to organize Yourselves.

When You look upon knowledge all judgment is automatically suspended and this is the process that enables recognition to replace perception. Man is very fearful of everything He has perceived and refused to accept. He believes that because He has refused to accept it He has lost control over it. This is why He sees it in nightmares or in pleasant disguise in what seems to be happier dreams. Nothing that You have refused to accept can be brought into awareness. It does not follow that it is dangerous. But it does follow that You have made it dangerous.

When You feel tired it is merely because You have judged Yourself as capable of being tired. When You laugh at Someone it is because You have judged Him as debased. When You laugh at Yourself You are singularly likely to laugh at Others if only because You cannot tolerate being more debased than Others. All of this does make You tired because it is essentially disheartening. You are not really capable of being tired but You are very capable of wearying Yourselves. The strain of constant judgment is virtually intolerable. It is a curious thing that any ability which is so debilitating should be so deeply cherished. But there is a very good reason for this. This, however, depends upon what You mean by good.

If You wish to be the author of Reality, which is totally impossible anyway, then You will insist on holding on to judgment. You will also use the term with considerable fear and believe that judgment will someday be used against You. To whatever extent it is used against You it is due only to Your belief in its efficacy as a weapon of defense for Your own authority.

The issue of authority is really a question of authorship. When an individual has an “authority problem” it is always because He believes He is the author of Himself and resents His own projection that You share His delusion in this respect. He then perceives the situation as one in which two people are literally fighting for His own authorship. This is the fundamental error of all Those Who believe They have usurped the Power of God.

The belief is very frightening to Them but hardly troubles God at all. He is, however, eager to undo it not to punish His Children but only because He knows that it makes Them unhappy. Souls were given Their own True authorship and men preferred to remain anonymous when They chose to separate Themselves from Their Author. The word “authority” has been one of Their most fearful symbols ever since. Authority has been used for great cruelty because being uncertain of Their True Authorship men believe that Their Creation was anonymous. This has left Them in a position where it sounds meaningful to consider the possibility that They must have created Themselves.

The dispute over authorship has left such uncertainty in the minds of man that some people have gone so far as to doubt whether They were ever created at all. Despite the apparent contradiction in this position it is in one sense more tenable than the view that They created Themselves. At least it acknowledged the fact some True Authorship is necessary for existence.

Only Those Who give over all desire to reject can know that Their own rejection is impossible. You have not usurped the Power of God but You have lost it. Fortunately when You lose something this does not mean that the something has gone. It merely means that You do not know where it is. Existence does not depend on Your ability to identify it or even to place it. It is perfectly possible to look on Reality without judgment and merely know it is there. By knowing this You are not doubting its Reality at all.

Peace is a natural heritage of the Soul. Everyone is free to refuse to accept His inheritance but He is not free to establish what His inheritance is. The problem which Everyone must decide is the fundamental question of His own authorship. All fear comes ultimately and sometimes by way of very devious routes from the denial of Authorship. The offense is never to God but only to the denier himself. He has thrown away the reason for his own Peace and sees himself only in pieces. This strange perception is an authority problem. It is also the basis for castration anxiety since both forms of error are fundamentally the same.

Neither You nor B can find Peace while this authority problem continues. But the Truth is still that there is no problem about this. There is no man Who does not feel that He is imprisoned in some way. If this has been the result of His own free will He must regard His will as if it were not free or the obviously circular reasoning of His own position would be quite apparent. Free will must lead to freedom. Judgment always imprisons because it separates segments of Reality according to highly unstable scales of desire. Wishes are not facts by definition. To wish is to imply that willing is not sufficient. However, no one really believes that what is wished is as real as what is willed. Instead of “seek You first the Kingdom of Heaven” say

Will Ye first the Kingdom of Heaven.

and You have said

I know What I am and I will to accept My own inheritance.

It is essential that this whole authority problem be voluntarily dismissed at once and for all before B’s course. Neither of You understands how important this is for Your sanity. You are Both quite insane on this point. This is not a judgment. It is merely a fact.

No, Helen, You should use the word “fact”. This is just as much a fact as God is. A fact is literally a “making” or a starting point. You do start from this point and Your thinking is inverted because of it.

h. Creating versus the Selfimage

Every system of thought must have a starting point. It begins with either a making or a creating, a difference which We have already covered. Both are acts of will except that making involves doing and creating involves active willing. Their resemblance lies in their Power as foundations. Their difference lies in what rests upon them. Both are cornerstones for systems of belief by which men live.

It is a mistake to believe that a thought system which is based on lies is weak. Nothing made by a Child of God is without Power. It is absolutely essential that You realize this because otherwise You will not understand why You have so much trouble with This Course and will be unable to escape from the prisons You have made, or created, for Yourselves.

The use of creative here was an error. You should have said: Made for Yourself.

You have Both made the error of the psychotherapist We described in some detail before and it is particularly serious at this time. You cannot resolve Your authority problem by depreciating the Power of Your Minds. This can hurt You if You misuse it because You know Its Strength. You also know that You cannot weaken It any more than You can weaken God.

The devil is a frightening concept only because he is thought of as extremely powerful and extremely active. He is perceived as a force in combat with God battling Him for possession of Souls. He deceives by lies and builds kingdoms of his own in which everything is in direct opposition to God. Yet he attracts men rather than repels Them and They are perceived as willing to “sell” him Their Souls in return for gifts They know are of no real worth at all. This makes absolutely no sense. The whole picture is one in which man acts in a way He Himself realizes is Self destructive but which He does not will to correct and therefore perceives the Cause as beyond His control.

We have discussed the fall, or separation, before but its meaning must be clearly understood without symbols. The separation is not symbolic. It is an order of Reality, or a system of thought, that is perfectly real in time though not in Eternity. All beliefs are real to the believer. The fruit of only one tree was “forbidden” to man in His symbolic garden. But God could not have forbidden it or it could not have been eaten. If God knows His Children, and I assure You He does, would He have put Them in a position where Their own destruction was possible? The “tree” which was forbidden was correctly named “tree of knowledge”. Yet God created knowledge and gave it freely to His Creations. The symbolism here is open to many interpretations but You may be sure that any interpretation which perceives either God or His Creations as if They were capable of destroying Their own Purpose is wrong.

Eating of the tree of knowledge is a symbolic expression for incorporating into the Self the ability for Selfcreation. This is the only sense in which God and His Souls are not Cocreators. The belief that They are is implicit in the “self concept”, a concept now made acceptable by its weakness and explained by a tendency of the Self to create an image of Itself. Its fear aspect is usually ascribed to the “father figure”, a particularly interesting idea in view of the fact that nobody means the physical father by the term. It refers to an image of a father in relation to an image of the Self.

Once again, images are perceived not known. Knowledge cannot deceive but perception can. Man can perceive Himself as selfcreating but He cannot do more than believe it. He cannot make it True. I told You before that when You finally perceive correctly You can only be glad You can’t. But until then the belief that You can is the central foundationstone in Your thought system and all Your defenses are used to attack ideas which would bring it to Light.

You and B still believe You are images of Your own Creation. You are split with Your own Souls on this point and there is no resolution because You believe the one thing that is literally inconceivable. That is why You cannot create and are afraid to make or produce. You, Helen, are constantly arguing about the authorship of This Course. This is not humility, it is a real authority problem. You, Bill, really believe that by teaching You are assuming a dominant, or father, role and that the “father figure” will kill You. This is not humility either.

Castration fears are a particularly distorted reflection of the real basic anxiety, or separation fear. The Mind can make the belief in separation very real and very fearful. And this belief is the devil. It is powerful, active, destructive and clearly in opposition to God because it literally denies His Fatherhood. Never underestimate the Power of this denial. Look at Your lives and see what the devil has made. But know that this making will surely dissolve in the Light of Truth because its foundation is a lie.

Your Creation by God is the only foundation which cannot be shaken because the Light is in It. Your starting point is Truth and You must return to this beginning. Much has been perceived since then but nothing else has happened. That is why Your Souls are still in Peace even though Your minds are in conflict. You have not yet gone back far enough and that is why You become so fearful. As You approach the beginning You feel the fear of the destruction of Your thought systems upon You as if it were the fear of death. There is no death but there is a belief in death. The Bible says that the tree that bears no fruit will be cut off and will wither away. Be glad! The Light will shine from the True Foundation of Life and Your own thought systems will stand corrected. They cannot stand otherwise.

You Who fear Salvation are willing death. Life and death, Light and darkness, knowledge and perception are irreconcilable. To believe that they can be reconciled is to believe that God and man can not. Only the Oneness of knowledge is conflictless. Your Kingdom is not of this world because it was given You from beyond this world. Only in this world is the idea of an authority problem meaningful. The world is not left by death but by Truth and Truth can be known by all Those for Whom the Kingdom was created and for Whom it waits.

Chapter 4 – The Root of All Evil

You were Both wise and devoted, two words which are literally interchangeable in the sense that they Truly bring on the exchange of one another, in claiming Your scribal functions and working so late. You had committed a serious error against Your Brother and One Who had asked for Your help. A devoted priestess does not do this. The Bible says

You should go with a Brother twice as far as He asks.

It certainly does not suggest that You set Him back on His journey. Devotion to a Brother cannot set You back either. It can only lead to mutual progress. The result of genuine devotion is inspiration, a word which properly understood is the opposite of fatigue. To be fatigued is to be disspirited but to be inspired is to be in the Spirit. To be egocentric is to be dispirited. But to be Selfcentered in the right sense is to be inspired, or in the Soul. The Truly Inspired are enlightened and cannot abide in darkness.

Do not attempt to break God’s copyright because His Authorship alone can copy right. Your own right authorship does not lie in remaking His copies but in creating like Him. Embarrassment is always an expression of egocentricity, an association which has been made before. “Made”, not “created”. This kind of association is always manmade. Both of You have completed the SCT stem: When I was called on to speak with “name” “I became embarrassed and could not speak.” This should be corrected to: “I recognized My Authorship.” Tell B that He cannot be embarrassed by His own words unless He believes that He is responsible for them. We have already corrected “word” to “thought” and He is free to allocate the authorship for His thoughts as He elects. He can speak from His Soul or from His ego precisely as He chooses. If He speaks from His Soul He has chosen to be still and know that I am God. These words are inspired because they come from knowledge. If He speaks from His ego He is disclaiming knowledge instead of affirming it and is thus disspiriting Himself. The disspirited have no choice but to be narcissistic and to be narcissistic is to place Your faith in the unworthy. Your real worth is Your Divine Authorship and Your Soul is its acknowledgement.

I cannot guide Your egos except as You associate them with Your Souls. Attacking misidentification errors is neither My function nor Yours. Destroying the devil is a meaningless undertaking. Cervantes wrote an excellent symbolic account of this procedure though He did not understand His own symbolism. The real point of His writing was that His “hero” was a man Who perceived Himself as unworthy because He identified with His ego and perceived its weakness. He then set about to alter His perception, not by correcting His misidentification but by behaving egotistically.

Chesterton wrote an excellent description of Cervantes and His perception of His “unheroic hero”, a view of man which the ego tolerates all too frequently but the Soul never countenances:

And He sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain
Up which a lean and foolish knight forever rides in vain.

Do not embark on foolish journeys because they are indeed in vain. The ego may will them because the ego is both lean and foolish. But the Soul cannot embark on them because It is forever unwilling to depart from Its Foundation. The journey to the cross should be the last foolish journey for every Mind. Do not dwell upon it but dismiss it as accomplished. If You can accept that as Your own last foolish journey You are free also to join My Resurrection.

Human living has indeed been needlessly wasted in repetition compulsion. It reenacts the separation, the loss of Power, the foolish journey of the ego in its attempt at reparation and finally the crucifixion of the body, or death. Repetition compulsions can be endless unless they are given up by an act of will, or more properly as active Creation. Do not make the pathetic human error of “clinging to the old rugged cross”. The only message of the crucifixion is in respect for man’s ability to overcome the cross. Unless He does so He is free to crucify Himself as often as He chooses. But this was not the gospel I intended to offer Him. We have another journey to undertake and I hope that if Both of You will read these notes carefully they will help to prepare You to undertake it.

a. Right Teaching and Right Learning

b. The ego and False Autonomy

c. Love without Conflict

d. The Escape from Fear

e. The egobody Illusion

f. The Constant State

g. Creation and Communication

h. True Rehabilitation

Chapter 5 – Healing and Wholeness

To heal is to make happy. I told You once to think how many opportunities You have to gladden Yourselves and how many You have refused. This is exactly the same as telling You that You have refused to heal Yourselves. The Light that belongs in You is merely the Light of Joy. Radiance is not associated with sorrow. Depression is often contagious but although it may affect Those Who come in contact with it They do not yield to its influence wholeheartedly. But Joy calls forth an integrated willingness to share in it and thus promotes the Mind’s natural impulse to respond as One.

Those Who attempt to heal without being wholly joyous Themselves call forth different kinds of responses at the same time and thus deprive others of the Joy of responding wholeheartedly. To be wholehearted You must be happy. If fear and Love cannot coexist and if it is impossible to be wholly fearful and remain alive then the only possible whole state is that of Love. There is no difference between Love and Joy. Therefore the only possible whole state is the wholly joyous.

To heal, or to make joyous, is therefore the same as to integrate and make One. That is why it makes no difference to what part or by what part of the Sonship the healing is done. Every part benefits and benefits equally. You are being blessed by every beneficent thought of any of Your Brothers anywhere. You should want to bless Them in return out of gratitude.

You do not have to know them individually or they You. The Light of Joy is so strong that It radiates throughout the Sonship and returns thanks to the Father for radiating His Joy upon It. Only God’s own Holy Children are worthy to be channels of His beautiful Joy because only They are beautiful enough to hold it by sharing it. It is impossible for a Child of God to Love His Neighbor except as Himself. That is why the Healer’s Prayer is:

Let Me know this Brother as I know Myself.

a. Healing as Joining

b. The Mind of the Atonement

c. The Voice for God

d. The Guide to Salvation

e. Therapy and Teaching

f. The Two Decisions

g. Time and Eternity

h. The Eternal Fixation

Chapter 6 – Attack and Fear

The relationship of anger to attack is obvious but the inevitable association of anger and fear is not always so clear. Anger always involves projection of separation which must ultimately be accepted as entirely One’s own responsibility. Anger cannot occur unless You believe that You have been attacked, the attack was justified and You are in no way responsible for it. Given these three wholly irrational premises the equally irrational conclusion that a Brother is worthy of attack rather than of Love follows. What can be expected from insane premises except an insane conclusion?

The way to undo an insane conclusion is always to consider the sanity of the premises on which it rests. You cannot be attacked, attack has no justification and You are responsible for what You believe. You have been asked to take Me as Your Model for learning. And We have often said that an extreme example is a particularly helpful learning device. Everyone teaches and teaches all the time. This is a responsibility which he assumes inevitably the moment he has accepted any premises at all. And no one can organize his Life without any thought system. Once he has developed a thought system of any kind he lives by it and teaches it.

You have been chosen to teach the Atonement precisely because You have been extreme examples of allegiance to Your thought systems and therefore have developed the capacity for allegiance. It has indeed been misplaced. B had become an outstanding example of allegiance to apathy and You have become a startling example of fidelity to variability. But this is a form of faith which You Yourselves had grown willing to redirect. You cannot doubt the Strength of Your devotion when You consider how faithfully You observed it. It was quite evident that You had already developed the ability to follow a better Model if You could accept it.

a. The Message of the Crucifixion

b. The Uses of Projection

c. The Relinquishment of Attack

d. The Only Answer

e. To Have Give All to All

f. To Have Peace Teach Peace to Learn It

g. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom

Chapter 7 – The Consistency of the Kingdom

The creative Power of Both God and His Creations is limitless but it is not in reciprocal relationship. You do communicate fully with God as He does with You. This is an ongoing process in which You share and because You share it You are inspired to create like God. But in Creation You are not in a reciprocal relation to God because He created You but You did not create Him. We have already stated that only in this respect Your creative Power differs from His. Even in this world there is a parallel. Parents give birth to children but children do not give birth to parents. They do however give birth to Their children and thus give birth as Their parents do.

If You created God and He created You the Kingdom could not increase through its own creative Thought. Creation would therefore be limited and You would not be Cocreators with God. As God’s creative Thought proceeds from Him to You so must Your creative thoughts proceed from You to Your Creations. In this way only can all creative Power extend outward. God’s Accomplishments are not Yours. But Yours are like His. He created the Sonship and You increase It. You have the Power to add to the Kingdom but not to add to the Creator of the Kingdom.

You claim this Power when You have become wholly vigilant for God and the Kingdom. By accepting this Power as Yours You have learned to be What You are. Your Creations belong in You as You belong in God. You are part of God as Your sons are part of His Sons. To create is to love. Love extends outward simply because It cannot be contained. Being limitless It does not stop. It creates forever but not in time. God’s Creations have always been because He has always been. Your Creations have always been because You can create only as He creates. Eternity is Yours because He created You eternal.

a. Bargaining versus Healing

b. The Laws of Mind

c. The Unified Curriculum

d. The Recognition of Truth

e. Healing and the Changelessness of Mind

f. From Vigilance to Peace

g. The Total Commitment

h. The Defense of Conflict

i. The Extension of the Kingdom

j. The Confusion of Strength and Weakness

k. The State of Grace

Chapter 8 – The Journey Back

You are hampered in Your progress by Your demands to know what You do not know. This is actually a way of hanging on to deprivation. You cannot reasonably object to following instructions in a Course for knowing on the grounds that You do not know. The need for The Course is implicit in Your objection. Knowledge is not the motivation for learning This Course. Peace is. As the prerequisite for knowledge Peace must be learned. This is only because those who are in conflict are not peaceful and Peace is the condition of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom.

Knowledge will be restored when You meet its conditions. This is not a bargain made by God Who made no bargains at all. It is merely the result of Your misuse of His laws on behalf of a will that was not His. Knowledge is His Will. If You are opposing His Will how can You have knowledge? I have told You what knowledge offers You but it is clear that You do not regard this as wholly desirable. If You did You would hardly be willing to throw it away so readily when the ego asks for Your allegiance.

The distraction of the ego seems to interfere with Your learning but it has no Power to distract unless You give it the Power. The ego’s voice is an hallucination. You cannot expect the ego to say: “I am not real.” Hallucinations are inaccurate perceptions of Reality. But You are not asked to dispel them alone. You are merely asked to evaluate them in terms of their results to You. If You do not want them on the basis of loss of Peace they will be removed from Your mind for You. Every response to the ego is a call to war and war does deprive You of Peace.

Yet in this war there is no opponent. This is the reinterpretation of Reality which You must make to secure Peace and the only one You need ever make.

a. The Direction of the Curriculum

b. The Rationale for Choice

c. The Holy Encounter

d. The Light of the World

e. The Power of Joint Decision

f. Communication and the egobody Equation

g. The Body as Means or End

h. Healing as Corrected Perception

i. The Acceptance of Reality

j. The Answer to Prayer

Chapter 9 – The Correction of Error

The alertness of the ego to the errors which other egos make is not the kind of vigilance which the Holy Spirit would have You maintain. Egos are critical in terms of the kind of sense they stand for. They understand this kind of sense because it is sensible to them. To the Holy Spirit it makes no sense at all. To the ego it is kind and right and good to point out errors and “correct” them. This makes perfect sense to the ego which is totally unaware of what errors are and what correction is.

Errors are the ego and correction of errors of any kind lies solely in the relinquishment of the ego. When You correct a Brother You are telling him that he is wrong. He may be making no sense at the time and it is certain that if he is speaking from the ego he will be making no sense but Your task is still to tell him he is right. You do not tell him this verbally if he is speaking foolishly because he needs correction at another level since his error is at another level. He is still right because he is a Son of God. His ego is always wrong no matter what it says or does.

If You point out the errors of his ego You must be seeing him through Yours because the Holy Spirit does not perceive his errors. This must be True if there is no communication at all between the ego and the Holy Spirit. The ego makes no sense and the Holy Spirit does not attempt to understand anything that arises from it. Since He does not understand it He does not judge it knowing that nothing it engenders means anything.

a. Sanity and Perception

b. Atonement as a Lesson in Sharing

c. The Unhealed Healer

d. The Awareness of the Holy Spirit

e. Salvation and God’s Will

f. Grandeur versus Grandiosity

g. The Inclusiveness of Creation

h. The Decision to Forget

i. Magic versus Miracles

j. The Denial of God

Chapter 10 – God and the ego

Either God or the ego is insane. If You will examine the evidence on both sides fairly You will realize that this must be True. Neither God nor the ego proposes a partial thought system. Each is internally consistent but they are diametrically opposed in all respects so that partial allegiance is impossible. But remember that their results are as different as their foundations and their fundamentally irreconcilable natures cannot be resolved by Your vacillations. Nothing alive is fatherless for Life is Creation. Therefore Your decision is always an answer to the question: “Who is My father?” And You will be faithful to the father You choose.

Yet what would You say to someone who really believed this question involves conflict? If You made the ego how can the ego have made You? The authority problem remains the only source of perceived conflict because the ego was made out of the wish of God’s Son to father Him. The ego then is nothing more than a delusional system in which You made Your own father. Make no mistake about this. It sounds insane when it is stated with perfect honesty but the ego never looks upon what it does with perfect honesty. Yet that is its insane premise which is carefully hidden in the dark cornerstone of its thought system. And either the ego which You made is Your father or its whole thought system will not stand.

a. Projection versus Extension

b. The Willingness for Healing

c. From Darkness to Light

d. The Inheritance of God’s Son

e. The “Dynamics” of the ego

f. Experience and Perception

g. The Problem and the Answer

Chapter 11 – God’s Plan for Salvation

You have been told not to make error real and the way to do this is very simple. If You want to believe in error You would have to make it real because it is not True. But Truth is real in Its own right and to believe in Truth You do not have to do anything. Understand that You do not respond to stimuli but to stimuli as You interpret them. Your interpretation thus becomes the justification for the response. That is why analyzing the motives of others is hazardous to You. If You decide that someone is really trying to attack You or desert You or enslave You You will respond as if he had actually done so because You have made his error real to You. To interpret error is to give it Power, and having done this You will overlook Truth.

The analysis of ego motivation is very complicated, very obscuring and never without the risk of Your own ego involvement. The whole process represents a clearcut attempt to demonstrate Your own ability to understand what You perceive. This is demonstrated by the fact that You react to Your interpretations as if they were correct and control Your reactions behaviorally but not emotionally. This is quite evidently a mental split in which You have attacked the integrity of Your mind and pitted one level within it against another.

a. The Judgment of the Holy Spirit

b. The Mechanism of Miracles

c. The Investment in Reality

d. Seeking and Finding

e. The Sane Curriculum

f. The Vision of Christ

g. The Guide for Miracles

h. Reality and Redemption

i. Guiltlessness and Invulnerability

Chapter 12 – The Problem of Guilt

The ultimate purpose of projection, as the ego uses it, is always to get rid of guilt. But characteristically it attempts to get rid of it from its viewpoint only. For much as the ego wants to retain guilt You find it intolerable. For guilt stands in the way of Your remembering God Whose pull is so strong that You cannot resist it. On this issue then the deepest split of all occurs for if You are to retain guilt, as the ego insists, You cannot be You. Only by persuading You that it is You could the ego possibly induce You to project guilt and thereby keep it in Your mind.

But consider how strange a solution the ego’s arrangement is: You project guilt to get rid of it but You actually merely conceal it. You do experience guilt feelings but You have no idea of why. On the contrary: You associate them with a weird assortment of ego ideals which the ego claims You have failed. But You have no idea that You are failing the Son of God by seeing him as guilty. Believing You are no longer You You do not realize that You are failing Yourself.

a. Crucifixion by Guilt

b. The Fear of Redemption

c. Healing and Time

d. The Two Emotions

e. Finding the Present

f. Attainment of the Real World

Chapter 13 – From Perception to Knowledge

All therapy is release from the past. And that is why the Holy Spirit is the only Therapist. He teaches that the past does not exist, a fact which belongs to the sphere of knowledge and which therefore no one in the world knows. It would indeed be impossible to be in the world with this knowledge. For the mind that knows this unequivocally knows also that it dwells in Eternity and utilizes no perception at all. It therefore does not consider where it is because the concept “where” does not mean anything to it. It knows that it is Everywhere just as it has everything and forever.

The very real difference between perception and knowledge becomes quite apparent if You consider this: There is nothing partial about knowledge. Every aspect is whole and therefore no aspect is separate. You are an aspect of knowledge being in the Mind of God Who knows You. All knowledge must be Yours for in You is all knowledge. Perception at its loftiest is never complete. Even the perception of the Holy Spirit, as perfect as perception can be, is without meaning in Heaven. Perception can reach Everywhere under His Guidance for the Vision of Christ beholds everything in Light. But no perception, however Holy, will last forever.

a. The Role of Healing

b. The Shadow of Guilt

c. Release and Restoration

d. The Guarantee of Heaven

e. The Testimony of Miracles

f. The Happy Learner

g. The Decision for Guiltlessness

h. The Way of Salvation

Chapter 14 – Bringing Illusions to Truth

Unless You are guiltless You cannot know God Whose Will is that You know Him. Therefore You must be guiltless. But if You do not accept the necessary conditions for knowing Him You have denied Him and do not recognize Him though He is all around You. He cannot be known without His Son whose Guiltlessness is the condition for knowing Him. Accepting His Son as guilty is denial of the Father so complete that knowledge is swept away from recognition in the very mind where God Himself has placed it. If You would but listen and learn how impossible this is! Do not endow Him with attributes You understand. You made Him not and anything You understand is not of Him.

Your task is not to make Reality. It is Here without Your making but not without You. You Who have thrown Your Selves away and valued God so little hear Me speak for Him and for Yourselves: You cannot understand how much Your Father loves You for there is no parallel in Your experience of the world to help You understand it. There is nothing on earth with which it can compare and nothing You have ever felt apart from Him that resembles it ever so faintly. You cannot even give a Blessing in perfect gentleness. Would You know of One Who gives forever and Who knows of nothing except giving?

The Children of Heaven live in the Light of the Blessing of their Father because they know that they are sinless. The Atonement was established as the means of restoring Guiltlessness to the mind which has denied it and thus denied Heaven to itself. Atonement teaches You the True condition of the Son of God. It does not teach You what You are or what Your Father is. The Holy Spirit Who remembers this for You merely teaches You how to remove the blocks that stand between You and what You know. His Memory is Yours. If You remember what You have made You are remembering nothing. Remembrance of Reality is in Him and therefore in You.

a. Guilt and Guiltlessness

b. Out of the Darkness

c. Perception without Deceit

d. The Recognition of Holiness

e. The Shift to Miracles

f. The Test of Truth

Chapter 15 – The Purpose of Time

Can You imagine what it means to have no cares, no worries, no anxieties but merely to be perfectly calm and quiet all the time? Yet that is what time is for: To learn just that and nothing more. God’s Teacher cannot be satisfied with His Teaching until it constitutes all Your learning. He has not fulfilled His Teaching function until You have become such consistent Learners that You learn only of Him. When this has happened You will no longer need a Teacher or time in which to learn.

One of the sources of perceived discouragement from which You suffer is Your belief that this takes time and that the results of the Holy Spirit’s Teaching are far in the future. This is not so. For the Holy Spirit uses time in His own way and is not bound to it. Time is His friend in Teaching. It does not waste Him as it does You. But all the waste that time seems to bring with it is due but to Your identification with the ego who uses time to support its belief in destruction. The ego, like the Holy Spirit, uses time to convince You of the inevitability of the goal and end of learning. To the ego the goal is death which is its end. But to the Holy Spirit the goal is Life which has no end.

a. The Uses of Time

b. Time and Eternity

c. Littleness versus Magnitude

d. Practicing the Holy Instant

e. The Holy Instant and Special Relationships

f. The Holy Instant and the Laws of God

g. The Holy Instant and Communication

h. The Holy Instant and Real Relationships

i. The Time of Christ

j. The End of Sacrifice

Chapter 16 – The Forgiveness of Illusions

To empathize does not mean to join in suffering for this is what You must refuse to understand. This is the ego’s interpretation of empathy and is always used to form a special relationship in which suffering is shared. The capacity to empathize is very useful to the Holy Spirit provided You let Him use it in His way. His way is very different. He does not understand suffering and would have You teach it is not understandable. When He relates through You He does not relate through the ego to another ego. He does not join in pain knowing that healing pain is not accomplished by delusional attempts to enter into it and lighten it by sharing the delusion.

The clearest proof that empathy as the ego uses it is destructive lies in the fact that it is applied only to certain types of problems and in certain people. These it selects out and joins with. And it never joins except to strengthen itself. Having identified with what it thinks it understands it sees itself and would increase itself by sharing what is like itself. Make no mistake about this maneuver: The ego always empathizes to weaken. And to weaken is always to attack.

You do not know what empathizing means. But of this You may be sure: If You will merely sit quietly by and let the Holy Spirit relate through You You will empathize with Strength and both of You will gain in Strength and not in weakness. Your part is only to remember this: You do not want anything that You value to come of the relationship. You will neither to hurt it nor to heal it in Your own way. You do not know what healing is. All You have learned of empathy is from the past. And there is nothing from the past that You would share for there is nothing there that You would keep.

Do not use empathy to make the past real and so perpetuate it. Step gently aside and let the healing be done for You. Keep but one thought in mind and do not lose sight of it however tempted You may be to judge the situation and determine Your response by judging it. Focus Your mind only on this:

I am not alone
And I would not intrude the past upon My Guest.
I have invited Him and He is Here.
I need do nothing except not to interfere.

a. True Empathy

b. The Magnitude of Holiness

c. The Reward of Teaching

d. Illusion and Reality of Love

e. Specialness and Guilt

f. The Bridge to the Real World

g. The End of Illusions

Chapter 17 – Forgiveness and Healing

The betrayal of the Son of God lies only in illusions and all his “sins” are but his own imagining. His Reality is forever sinless. He need not be forgiven but awakened. In his dreams he has betrayed himself, his Brothers and his God. Yet what is done in dreams has not been really done. It is impossible to convince the Dreamer that this is so for dreams are what they are because of their illusion of Reality. Only in waking is the full release from them for only then does it become perfectly apparent that they had no effect on Reality at all and did not change it.

Fantasies change Reality. That is their purpose. They cannot do so in Reality but they can do so in the mind that would have Reality different. It is then only Your wish to change Reality that is fearful because by Your wish You think You have accomplished what You wish. This strange position in a sense acknowledges Your Power yet by distorting it and devoting it to “evil” it also makes it unreal. You cannot be faithful to two masters who ask of You conflicting things. What You use in fantasy You deny to Truth. But what You give to Truth to use for You is safe from fantasy.

a. Fantasy and Distorted Perception

b. The Forgiven World

c. Shadows of the Past

d. Perception and the Two Worlds

e. The Healed Relationship

f. Practical Forgiveness

g. The Need for Faith

h. The Conditions of Forgiveness

Chapter 18 – The Dream and the Reality

To substitute is to accept instead. If You would but consider exactly what this entails You would perceive at once how much at variance this is with the goal the Holy Spirit has given You and would accomplish for You. To substitute is to choose between renouncing one in favor of the other. For this special purpose one is judged more valuable and the other is replaced by him. The relationship in which the substitution occurred is thus fragmented and its purpose split accordingly. To fragment is to exclude and substitution is the strongest defense the ego has for separation.

The Holy Spirit never substitutes. Where the ego perceives one person as a replacement for another the Holy Spirit sees them joined and indivisible. He does not judge between them knowing they are one. Being united they are one because they are the same. Substitution is clearly a process in which they are perceived as different. One would unite, the other separate. Nothing can come between what God has joined and what the Holy Spirit sees as One. But everything seems to come between the fragmented relationships the ego sponsors to destroy.

The one emotion in which substitution is impossible is Love. But fear involves substitution by definition for it is Love’s replacement. Fear is both a fragmented and fragmenting emotion. It seems to take many forms and each seems to require a different form of acting out for satisfaction. While this appears to introduce quite variable behavior a far more serious effect lies in the fragmented perception from which the behavior stems. No one is seen complete. The body is emphasized, with special emphasis on certain parts, and used as the standard for comparison for either acceptance or rejection of suitability for acting out a special form of fear.

a. Substitution as a Defense

b. The Basis of the Dream

c. Light in the Dream

d. The Little Willingness

e. The Happy Dream

f. Dreams and the Body

g. I Need Do Nothing

h. The Purpose of the Body

i. The Delusional Thought System

j. The Passing of the Dream

Chapter 19 – Beyond the Body

We said before that when a situation has been dedicated wholly to Truth Peace is inevitable. Its attainment is the criterion by which the wholeness of the dedication can be safely assumed. Yet We also said that Peace without faith will never be attained for what is wholly dedicated to Truth as its only goal is brought to Truth by faith. This faith encompasses everyone involved for only thus the situation is perceived as meaningful and as a whole. And everyone must be involved in it or else Your faith is limited and Your dedication incomplete.

Every situation, properly perceived, becomes an opportunity to heal the Son of God. And he is healed because You offered faith to him giving him to the Holy Spirit and releasing him from every demand Your ego would make of him. Thus do You see him free and in this Vision does the Holy Spirit share. And since He shares it He has given it and so He healed through You. It is this joining Him in a united purpose that makes this purpose real because You make it whole. And this is healing. The body is healed because You came without it and joined the mind in which all healing rests.

a. Healing and the Mind

b. Sin versus Error

c. The Unreality of Sin

d. Obstacles to Peace –
i. The Desire to Get Rid of It

e. The Attraction of Guilt

f. Obstacles to Peace –
ii. The Belief the Body is Valuable for What it Offers

g. Pleasure and Pain

h. Obstacles to Peace –
iii. The Attraction of Death

i. The Incorruptible Body

j. Obstacles to Peace –
iv. The Fear of God

k. The Lifting of the Veil

Chapter 20 – The Promise of the Resurrection

This is Palm Sunday, the celebration of victory and the acceptance of the Truth. Let Us not spend this Holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God’s Son but happily in the celebration of his release. For Easter is the sign of Peace, not pain. A slain Christ has no meaning. But a risen Christ becomes the symbol of the Son of God’s forgiveness upon himself, the sign he looks upon himself as healed and whole.

a. Holy Week

b. Thorns and Lilies

c. Sin as an Adjustment

d. Entering the Ark

e. Heralds of Eternity

f. The Temple of the Holy Spirit

g. The Consistency of Means and End

h. The Vision of Sinlessness

Chapter 21 – The Inner Picture

Projection makes perception. The world You see is what You gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that it is not less. Therefore to You it is important. It is the witness to Your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh so does he perceive. Therefore seek not to change the world but will to change Your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a cause. And that is why order of Miracles is meaningless. Everything looked upon with Vision is healed and Holy. Nothing perceived without it means anything. And where there is no meaning there is chaos.

Damnation is Your judgment on Yourself. And this You will project upon the world. See it as damned and all You see is what You did to hurt the Son of God. If You behold disaster and catastrophe You tried to crucify him. If You see Holiness and hope You joined the Will of God to set him free. There is no choice that lies between these two decisions. And You will see the witness to the choice You made and learn from this to recognize the one You made. The world You see but shows You how much Joy You have allowed Yourself to see in You and to accept as Yours. And if this is its meaning then the Power to give it Joy must lie within You.

a. The Imagined World

b. The Responsibility for Sight

c. Faith, Belief and Vision

d. The Fear to Look Within

e. Reason and Perception

f. Reason and Correction

g. Perception and Wishes

h. The Inner Shift

Chapter 22 – Salvation and the Holy Relationship

Take pity on Yourselves, so long enslaved. Rejoice whom God hath joined have come together and need no longer look on sin apart. No two can look on sin together for they could never see it in the same place and time. Sin is a strictly individual perception, seen in the other yet believed by each to be within himself. And each one seems to make a different error and one the other cannot understand. Brothers, it is the same, made by the Same and forgiven for its Maker in the same way. The Holiness of Your Relationship forgives You both undoing the effects of what You both believed and saw. And with their going is the need for sin gone with them.

Who has a need for sin? Only the lonely and alone who see their Brothers different from themselves. It is this difference, seen but not real, that makes the need for sin, not real but seen, seem justified. And all this would be real if sin were so. For an unholy relationship is based on differences where each one thinks the other has what he has not. They come together, each to complete himself and rob the other. They stay until they think there’s nothing left to steal and then move on. And so they wander through a world of strangers unlike themselves, living with their bodies perhaps beneath a common roof that shelters neither, in the same room and yet a world apart.

A Holy Relationship starts from a different premise. Each one has looked within and seen no lack. Accepting his completion he would extend it by joining with another, whole as himself. He sees no differences between these selves for differences are only of the body. Therefore he looks on nothing he would take. He denies not his own Reality because it is the Truth. Just under Heaven does he stand but close enough not to return to earth. For this Relationship has Heaven’s Holiness. How far from Home can a Relationship so like to Heaven be?

Think what a Holy Relationship can teach! Here is belief in differences undone. Here is the faith in differences shifted to sameness. And here is sight of differences transformed to Vision. And reason now can lead You to the logical conclusion of Your union. It must extend as You extended when You joined. It must reach out beyond itself as You reached out beyond the body to let Yourselves be joined. And now the sameness which You saw extends and finally removes all sense of differences so that the sameness that lies beneath them all becomes apparent. Here is the Golden Circle where You recognize the Son of God. For what is born into a Holy Relationship can never end.

a. The Message of the Holy Relationship

b. Your Brother’s Sinlessness

c. Reason and the Holy Relationship

d. The Branching of the Road

e. Weakness and Defensiveness

f. Freedom and the Holy Spirit

Chapter 23 – The War Against Yourself

Do You not see the opposite of frailty and weakness is Sinlessness? Innocence is Strength and nothing else is strong. The Sinless cannot fear. And fear of any kind is weakness. The show of strength attack would use to cover frailty conceals it not. For how can the unreal be hidden? No one is strong who has an enemy. And no one can attack unless he thinks he has. Belief in enemies is therefore the belief in weakness. And what is weak is not the Will of God. Being opposed to It it is Its “enemy”. And God is feared as an opposing Will.

How strange indeed becomes this war against Yourself! You will believe that everything You use for sin can hurt You and become Your enemy. And You will fight against it and try to weaken it because of this. And You will think that You succeeded and attack again. It is as certain You will fear what You attack as it is sure that You will love what You perceive as sinless. He walks in Peace who travels sinlessly along the way Love shows him. For Love walks with him there protecting him from fear. And he will see only the Sinless who can not attack.

Walk You in glory with Your head held high and fear no evil. The Innocent are safe because they share their Innocence. Nothing they see is harmful for their awareness of the Truth releases everything from the illusion of harmfulness. And what seemed harmful now stands shining in their Innocence, released from sin and fear and happily returned to Love. They share the Strength of Love because they looked on Innocence. And every error disappeared because they saw it not. Who looks for glory finds it where it is. Where could it be but in the Innocent?

Let not the little nuisances and interferers pull You toward littleness. There can be no attraction of guilt in Innocence. Think what a happy world You walk with Truth beside You! Do not give up this world of freedom for a little sigh of seeming sin nor for a tiny stirring of guilt’s attraction. Would You for all these meaningless distractions lay Heaven aside? Your destiny and purpose are far beyond them in the clean Peace where littleness does not exist. Your purpose is at variance with littleness of any kind. And so it is at variance with sin.

Let Us not let littleness lead God’s Son into temptation. His glory is beyond it, measureless and timeless as is Eternity. Do not let time intrude upon Your Sight of him. Leave him not frightened and alone in his temptation. But help him rise above it and perceive the Light of Which he is a part. Your Innocence will light the way to his and so is Yours protected and kept in Your awareness. For who can know his glory and perceive the little and the weak about him? Who can walk trembling in a fearful world and realize that Heaven’s glory shines in him?

Nothing around You but is part of You. Look on it lovingly and see the Light of Heaven in it. So will You come to understand all that is given You. In kind forgiveness will the world sparkle and shine and everything You once thought sinful now will be reinterpreted as part of Heaven. How beautiful it is to walk clean and redeemed and happy through a world in bitter need of the Redemption that Your Innocence bestows upon it! What can You value more than this? For here is Your Salvation and Your freedom. And it must be complete if You would recognize it.

a. The Irreconcilable Beliefs

b. The Laws of Chaos

c. Salvation Without Compromise

d. The Fear of Life

Chapter 24 – Specialness and Separation

Forget not that the motivation for This Course is the attainment and the keeping of the state of Peace. Given this state the mind is quiet and the condition in which God is remembered is attained. It is not necessary to tell Him what to do. He will not fail. Where He can enter there He is already. And can it be He can not enter where He wills to be? Peace will be Yours because it is His Will. Can You believe a shadow can hold back the Will that holds the Universe secure? God does not wait upon illusions to let Him be Himself. No more His Son. They are. And what illusion that idly seems to drift between them has Power to defeat what is their Will?

To learn This Course requires willingness to question every value that You hold. Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardize Your learning. No belief is neutral. Every one has Power to dictate each decision You make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything that You believe. It is the outcome of belief and follows it as surely as does suffering follow guilt and freedom Sinlessness. There is no substitute for Peace. What God creates has no alternative. The Truth arises from what He knows. And Your decisions come from Your beliefs as certainly as all Creation rose in His Mind because of what He knows.

a. Specialness as a Substitute for Love

b. The Treachery of Specialness

c. The Forgiveness of Specialness

d. Specialness and Salvation

e. The Resolution of the Dream

f. Salvation from Fear

g. The Meetingplace

Chapter 25 – The Remedy

The Christ in You inhabits not a body. Yet He is in You. And thus must it be that You are not within a body. What is within You cannot be outside. And it is certain that You cannot be apart from What is at the very Center of Your Life. What gives You Life cannot be housed in death. No more can You. Christ is within a frame of Holiness whose only purpose is that He may be made manifest to Those Who know Him not that He may call to Them to come to Him and see Him where They thought Their bodies were. Then will Their bodies melt away that They may frame His Holiness in Them.

No one who carries Christ in him can fail to recognize Him Everywhere. Except in bodies. And as long as they believe they are in bodies where they think they are He cannot be. And so they carry Him unknowingly and do not make Him manifest. And thus they do not recognize Him where He is. The son of man is not the risen Christ. Yet does the Son of God abide exactly where He is and walks with Him within His Holiness as plain to see as is his specialness set forth within his body.

The body needs no healing. But the Mind That thinks It is a body is sick indeed! And it is Here that Christ sets forth the remedy. His purpose folds the body in His Light and fills it with the Holiness That shines from Him. And nothing that the body says or does but makes Him manifest. To Those Who know Him not it carries Him in gentleness and Love to heal Their Minds. Such is the mission that Your Brother has for You. And such it must be that Your mission is for Him.

a. The Appointed Task

b. The Savior from the Dark

c. The Fundamental Law of Perception

d. The Joining of Minds

e. The State of Sinlessness

f. The Special Function

g. Commuting the Sentence

h. The Principle of Salvation

i. The Justice of Heaven

Chapter 26 – The Transition

In the “dynamics” of attack is sacrifice a key idea. It is the pivot upon which all compromise, all desperate attempts to strike a bargain and all conflicts achieve a seeming balance. It is the symbol of the central theme that Somebody must lose. Its focus on the body is apparent, for it is always an attempt to limit loss. The body is itself a sacrifice, a giving up of Power in the name of saving just a little for Yourself. To see a Brother in another body, separate from Yours, is the expression of a wish to see a little part of Him, and sacrifice the rest. Look at the world and You will see nothing attached to anything beyond itself. All seeming entities can come a little nearer or go a little farther off, but cannot join.

a. The “Sacrifice” of Oneness

b. The Forms of Error

c. The Borderland

d. Where Sin Has Left

e. The Little Hindrance

f. The Appointed Friend

g. Review of Principles

h. The Immediacy of Salvation

i. For They Have Come

j. The Remaining Task

Chapter 27 – The Body and the Dream

The wish to be unfairly treated is a compromise attempt that would combine attack and Innocence. Who can combine the wholly incompatible and make a Unity of what can never join? Walk You the gentle way and You will fear no evil and no shadows in the night. But place no terror symbols on the path or You will weave a crown of thorns from which Your Brother and Yourself will not escape. You cannot crucify Yourself alone. And if You are unfairly treated, He must suffer the unfairness that You see. You cannot sacrifice Yourself alone. For sacrifice is total. If it could occur at all it would entail the whole of God’s Creation and the Father with the sacrifice of His beloved Son.

In Your release from sacrifice is His made manifest and shown to be His own. But every pain You suffer do You see as proof that He is guilty of attack. Thus would You make Yourself to be the sign that He has lost His Innocence and need but look on You to realize that He has been condemned. And what to You has been unfair will come to Him in righteousness. The unjust vengeance that You suffer now belongs to Him, and when it rests on Him are You set free. Wish not to make Yourself a living symbol of His guilt for You will not escape the death You make for Him, and in His Innocence You find Your own.

a. The Picture of the Crucifixion

b. The Fear of Healing

c. The Symbol of the Impossible

d. The Quiet Answer

e. The Healing Example

f. The Purpose of Pain

g. The Illusion of Suffering

h. The “Hero” of the Dream

Chapter 28 – The Undoing of Fear

The Miracle does nothing. All It does is to undo. And thus It cancels out the interference to what has been done. It does not add but merely takes away. And what It takes away is long since gone but being kept in memory appears to have immediate effects. This world was over long ago. The thoughts that made it are no longer in the Mind That thought of them and loved them for a while. The Miracle but shows the past is gone and what has Truly gone has no effects. Remembering a cause can but produce illusions of its presence not effects.

All the effects of guilt are here no more. For guilt is over. In its passing went its consequences, left without a cause. Why would You cling to it in memory if You did not desire its effects? Remembering is as selective as perception being its past tense. It is perception of the past as if it were occurring now and still were there to see. Memory, like perception, is a skill made up by You to take the place of what God gave in Your Creation. And like all the things You made it can be used to serve another purpose and to be means for something else. It can be used to heal and not to hurt if You so wish.

Nothing employed for healing represents an effort to do anything at all. It is a recognition that You have no needs which means that something must be done. It is an unselective memory which is not used to interfere with Truth. All things the Holy Spirit can employ for healing have been given Him without the content and the purposes for which they have been made. They are but skills without an application. They await their use. They have no dedication and no aim.

a. The Present Memory

b. Reversing Effect and Cause

c. The Agreement to Join

d. The Greater Joining

e. The Alternate to Dreams of Fear

f. The Secret Vows

g. The Beautiful Relationship

Chapter 29 – The Awakening

There is no time, no place, no state where God is absent. There is nothing to be feared. There is no way in which a gap could be conceived of in the wholeness that is His. The compromise the least and littlest gap would represent in His eternal Love is quite impossible. For it would mean His Love could harbor just a hint of hate, His gentleness turn sometimes to attack and His eternal patience sometimes fail. All this do You believe when You perceive a gap between Your Brother and Yourself. How could You trust Him, then? For He must be deceptive in His Love. Be wary, then: Let Him not come too close and leave a gap between You and His Love through which You can escape if there be need for You to flee.

Here is the fear of God most plainly seen. For Love is treacherous to those who fear since fear and hate can never be apart. No one who hates but is afraid of Love and therefore must he be afraid of God. Certain it is he knows not what Love means. He fears to love and loves to hate and so he thinks that Love is fearful, hate is Love. This is the consequence the little gap must bring to those who cherish it and think that it is their Salvation and their hope. The fear of God! – The greatest obstacle that Peace must flow across has not yet gone. The rest are past but this one still remains to block Your path and make the way to Light seem dark and fearful, perilous and bleak.

You had decided that Your Brother is Your enemy. Sometimes a friend, perhaps, provided that Your separate interests made Your friendship possible a little while. But not without a gap between You lest He turns again into an enemy. Let Him come close to You and You jumped back, as You approached He instantly withdrew. A cautious friendship limited in scope and carefully restricted in amount became the treaty You had made with Him. You shared a qualified entente in which a clause of separation was a point on which You Both agreed to keep intact. And violating this was thought to be a breach of treaty not to be allowed.

a. The Closing of the Gap

b. The Coming of the Guest

c. God’s Witnesses

d. Dream Roles

e. The Changeless Dwellingplace

f. Forgiveness and Peace

g. The Lingering Illusion

h. Christ and antichrist

i. The Forgiving Dream

Chapter 30 – The New Beginning

The “new beginning” now becomes the focus of the Curriculum. The goal is clear but now You need specific methods for attaining it. The speed by which it can be reached depends on only this: Your willingness to practice every step. Each one will help a little every time it is attempted. And, together, they will lead You Both from dreams of judgment to forgiving dreams and out of pain and fear. They are not new to You but they are more ideas than rules of thought to You as yet. So now We need to practice them awhile until they are the rules by which You live. We seek to make them habits now so You will have them ready and for any need.

a. Rules for Decision

b. Freedom of Will

c. Beyond All Idols

d. The Truth Behind Illusions

e. The Only Purpose

f. The Justification for Forgiveness

g. The New Interpretation

h. Changeless Reality

Chapter 31 – The Simplicity of Salvation

How simple is Salvation! All it says is what was never True is not True now and never will be. The impossible has not occurred and can have no effects. And that is all. Can this be hard to learn by Anyone Who wants it to be True? Only unwillingness to learn it could make such an easy lesson difficult. How hard is it to see that what is false can not be True and what is True can not be false? You can no longer say that You perceive no differences in false and True. You have been told exactly how to tell one from the other and just what to do if You become confused. Why then do You persist in learning not such simple things?

There is a reason. But confuse it not with difficulty in the simple things Salvation asks You learn. It teaches but the very obvious. It merely goes from one apparent lesson to the next, in easy steps which lead You gently from one to another with no strain at all. This cannot be confusing yet You are confused. For somehow You believe that what is totally confused is easier to learn and understand. What You have taught Yourselves is such a giant learning feat it is indeed incredible. But You accomplished it because You wanted to and did not pause in diligence to judge it hard to learn or too complex to grasp.

No one who understands what You have learned, how carefully You learned it and the pains to which You went to practice and repeat the lessons endlessly, in every form You could conceive of them, could ever doubt the Power of Your learning skill. There is no greater Power in the world. The world was made by it and even now depends on nothing else. The lessons You have taught Yourselves have been so overlearned and fixed they rise like heavy curtains to obscure the simple and the obvious. Say not You cannot learn it. For Your Power to learn is strong enough to teach You that Your Will is not Your own, Your Thoughts do not belong to You and even You are Someone else.

Who could maintain that lessons such as these are easy? Yet You have learned more than this. You have continued, taking every step however difficult, without complaint until a world was built that suited You. And every lesson that makes up the world arises from the first accomplishment of learning, an enormity so great the Holy Spirit’s Voice seems small and still before its magnitude. The world began with one strange lesson, powerful enough to render God forgotten and His Son an alien to Himself, in exile from the Home where God Himself established Him. You Who have taught Yourselves the Son of God is guilty say not that You cannot learn the simple things Salvation teaches You.

Learning is an ability You made and gave Yourselves. It was not made to do the Will of God but to uphold a wish that It could be opposed and that a will apart from It was yet more real than It. And this has learning sought to demonstrate and You have learned what it was made to teach. Now does Your ancient overlearning stand implacable before the Voice of Truth and teach You that Its lessons are not True, too hard to learn, too difficult to see and too opposed to what is really True. Yet You will learn them for their learning is the only purpose for Your learning skill the Holy Spirit sees in all the world.

His simple lessons in forgiveness have a Power mightier than Yours because they call from God and from Your Self to You. Is this a little Voice, so small and still It cannot rise above the senseless noise of sounds which have no meaning? God willed not His Son forget Him. And the Power of His Will is in the Voice That speaks for Him. Which lesson will You learn? Which outcome is inevitable, sure as God and far beyond all doubts or question? Can it be Your little learning, strange in outcome and incredible in difficulty, will withstand the simple lessons being taught to You in every moment of each day since time began and learning had been made?

The lessons to be learned are only two. Each has its outcome in a different world. And each world follows surely from its source. The certain outcome of the lesson that God’s Son is guilty is the world You see. It is a world of terror and despair. Nor is there hope of happiness in it. There is no plan for safety You can make that ever will succeed. There is no Joy that You can seek for here and hope to find. But this is not the only outcome which Your learning must produce. However much You may have overlearned Your chosen task the lesson which reflects the Love of God is stronger still. And You will learn God’s Son is innocent and see another world.

The outcome of the lesson that God’s Son is guiltless is a world in which there is no fear and everything is lit with hope and sparkles with a gentle friendliness. Nothing but calls to You in soft appeal to be Your Friend and let it join with You. And never does a Call remain unheard, misunderstood or left unanswered in the language in which the Call itself was made. And You will understand it was this Call that Everyone and everything within the world has always made. But You had not perceived It as It was. And now You see You were mistaken. You had been deceived by forms the Call was hidden in and so You did not hear It and had lost a Friend Who always wanted to be part of You.

The soft, eternal Calling of each part of God’s Creation to the whole is heard throughout the world this second lesson brings. There is no Living Thing Which does not share the universal Will that It be whole and that You do not leave Its Call unheard. Without Your answer is It left to die as It is saved from death when You have heard Its Calling as the ancient Call to Life and understood that it is but Your own. The Christ in You remembers God with all the certainty with which He knows His Love. But only if His Son is innocent can He be Love. For God were fear indeed if He Whom He created innocent could be a slave to guilt. God’s perfect Son remembers His Creation. But in guilt He has forgotten what He really is.

The fear of God results as surely from the lesson that His Son is guilty as God’s Love must be remembered when He learns His Innocence. For hate must father fear and look upon its father as itself. How wrong are You Who fail to hear the Call that echoes past each seeming call to death, that sings behind each murderous attack and pleads that Love restore the dying world! You do not understand Who calls to You beyond each form of hate, each call to war. But You will recognize Him as You give Him answer in the language that He calls. He will appear when You have answered Him and You will know in Him that God is Love.

What is temptation but a wish to make the wrong decision on what You would learn and have an outcome which You do not want? It is the recognition that it is a state of mind unwanted that becomes the means whereby the choice is reassessed, another outcome seen to be preferred. You are deceived if You believe You want disaster and disunity and pain. Hear not the call for this within Yourself but listen rather to the deeper Call beyond it that appeals for Peace and Joy. And all the world will give You Joy and Peace. For as You hear You answer and behold! – Your answer is the proof of what You learned. Its outcome is the world You look upon.

Let Us be still an instant and forget all things We ever learned, all thoughts We had and every preconception that We hold of what things mean and what their purpose is. Let Us remember not Our own ideas of what the world is for. We do not know. Let every image held of Anyone be loosened from Our Minds and swept away. Be innocent of judgment, unaware of any thoughts of evil or of good that ever crossed Your mind of Anyone. Now do You know Him not. But You are free to learn of Him and learn of Him anew. Now is He born again to You and You are born again to Him without the past that sentenced Him to die and You with Him. Now is He free to live as You are free because an ancient learning passed away and left a Place for Truth to be reborn.

a. The Illusion of an Enemy

b. The Selfaccused

c. The Real Alternative

d. Selfconcept versus Self

e. Recognizing the Spirit

f. The Savior’s Vision

g. Choose Once Again

Workbook

Part 1

182. I will be still a moment and go Home.

This world You seem to live in is not Home to You. And somewhere in Your mind You know that this is True. A Memory of Home keeps haunting You as if there were a Place which called You to return although You do not recognize the Voice nor what it is the Voice reminds You of. Yet still You feel an alien here from somewhere all unknown. Nothing so definite that You could say with certainty You are an exile here. Just a persistent feeling, sometimes not more than a tiny throb, at other times hardly remembered, actively dismissed, but surely to return to mind again.

No one but knows whereof We speak. Yet some try to put by their suffering in games they play to occupy their time and keep their sadness from them. Others will deny that they are sad and do not recognize their tears at all. Still others will maintain that what We speak of is illusion, not to be considered more than but a dream. Yet who in simple honesty, without defensiveness and self deception, would deny he understands the words We speak?

We speak today for everyone who walks this world for he is not at Home. He goes uncertainly about in endless search, seeking in darkness what he cannot find, not recognizing what it is he seeks. A thousand homes he makes yet none contents his restless mind. He does not understand he builds in vain. The Home he seeks can not be made by him. There is no substitute for Heaven. All he ever made was hell.

Perhaps You think it is Your childhood home that You would find again. The childhood of Your body and its place of shelter are a memory now so distorted that You merely hold a picture of a past that never happened. Yet there is a child in You who seeks his Father’s House and knows that he is alien here. This childhood is eternal with an Innocence that will endure forever. Where this child shall go is Holy Ground. It is his Holiness That lights up Heaven and That brings to earth the pure reflection of the Light above Wherein are earth and Heaven joined as one.

It is this child in You Your Father knows as His own Son. It is this child who knows his Father. He desires to go Home so deeply, so unceasingly his voice cries unto You to let him rest a while. He does not ask for more than just a few instants of respite, just an interval in which he can return to breathe again the Holy Air that fills his Father’s House. You are his Home as well. He will return. But give him just a little time to be himself within the Peace that is his Home, resting in silence and in Peace and in Love.

This child needs Your protection. He is far from Home. He is so little that he seems so easily shut out, his tiny voice so readily obscured, his calls for help almost unheard amid the grating sounds and harsh and rasping noises of the world. Yet does he know that in You still abides his sure protection. You will fail him not. He will go Home and You along with him.

This child is Your defenselessness, Your Strength. He trusts in You. He came because he knew You would not fail. He whispers of his Home unceasingly to You. For he would bring You back with him that he himself might stay and not return again where he does not belong and where he lives an outcast in a world of alien thoughts. His patience has no limits. He will wait until You hear his gentle voice within You calling You to let him go in Peace along with You to where he is at Home and You with him.

When You are still an instant, when the world recedes from You, when valueless ideas cease to have value in Your restless mind, then will You hear his voice. So poignantly he calls to You that You will not resist him longer. In that instant he will take You to his Home and You will stay with him in perfect stillness, silent and at Peace, beyond all words, untouched by fear and doubt, sublimely certain that You are at Home.

Rest with him frequently today. For he was willing to become a little child that You might learn of him how strong is he who comes without defenses offering only Love’s Messages to those who think he is their enemy. He holds the Might of Heaven in his Hand and calls them Friend and gives his Strength to them that they may see he would be Friend to them. He asks that they protect him for his Home is far away and he will not return to it alone.

Christ is reborn as but a little child each time a wanderer would leave his Home. For he must learn that what he would protect is but this child who comes defenseless and who is protected by defenselessness. Go Home with him from time to time today. You are as much an alien here as he.

Take time today to lay aside Your shield which profits nothing and lay down the spear and sword You raised against an enemy without existence. Christ has called You Friend and Brother. He has even come to You to ask Your help in letting him go Home completed and completely. He has come as does a little child who must beseech his father for protection and for Love. He rules the Universe and yet he asks unceasingly that You return with him and take illusions as Your gods no more.

You have not lost Your Innocence. It is for this You yearn. This is Your Heart’s desire. This is the Voice You hear and this the Call which cannot be denied. The Holy child remains with You. His Home is Yours. Today he gives You his defenselessness and You accept it in exchange for all the toys of battle You have made. And now the way is open and the journey has an end in sight at last. Be still a moment and go Home with him and be at Peace awhile.

Review 6

201. Review 181)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

181) I trust My Brothers who are one with Me.

No one but is My Brother. I am blessed
With Oneness with the Universe and God,
My Father, one Creator of the Whole
That is My Self, forever One with Me.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

202. Review 182)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

182) I will be still a moment and go Home.

Why would I choose to stay an instant more
Where I do not belong when God Himself
Has given Me His Voice to call Me Home?

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

203. Review 183)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

183) I call upon God’s name and on My own.

The name of God is My deliverance
From every thought of evil and of sin
Because it is My own as well as His.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

204. Review 184)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

184) The name of God is My inheritance.

God’s name reminds Me that I am His Son,
Not slave to time, unbound by laws which rule
The world of sick illusions, free in God,
Forever and forever One with Him.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

205. Review 185)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

185) I want the Peace of God.

The Peace of God is everything I want.
The Peace of God is My one goal, the aim
Of all My living here, the end I seek,
My purpose and My function and My Life
While I abide where I am not at Home.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

206. Review 186)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

186) Salvation of the world depends on Me.

I am entrusted with the Gifts of God
Because I am His Son. And I would give
His Gifts where He intended them to be.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

207. Review 187)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

187) I bless the world because I bless Myself.

God’s Blessing shines upon Me from within
My Heart where He abides. I need but turn
To Him and every sorrow melts away
As I accept His boundless Love for Me.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

208. Review 188)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

188) The Peace of God is shining in Me now.

I will be still and let the earth be still
Along with Me. And in that stillness We
Will find the Peace of God. It is within
My Heart which witnesses to God Himself.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

209. Review 189)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

189) I feel the Love of God within Me now.

The Love of God is what created Me.
The Love of God is everything I am.
The Love of God proclaimed Me as His Son.
The Love of God within Me sets Me free.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

210. Review 190)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

190) I choose the Joy of God instead of pain.

Pain is My own idea. It is not
A Thought of God but one I thought apart
From Him and from His Will. His Will is Joy,
And only Joy, for His beloved Son.
And that I choose instead of what I made.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

211. Review 191)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

191) I am the Holy Son of God Himself.

In silence and in True humility
I seek God’s Glory to behold it in
The Son whom He created as My Self.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

212. Review 192)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

192) I have a function God would have Me fill.

I seek the function that would set Me free
From all the vain illusions of the world.
Only the function God has given Me
Can offer freedom. Only this I seek
And only this will I accept as Mine.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

213. Review 193)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

193) All things are lessons God would have Me learn.

A lesson is a Miracle Which God
Offers to Me in place of thoughts I made
That hurt Me. What I learn of Him becomes
The way I am set free. And so I choose
To learn His lessons and forget My own.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

214. Review 194)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

194) I place the future in the Hands of God.

The past is gone, the future is not yet.
Now am I freed from both. For what God gives
Can only be for good. And I accept
But what He gives as what belongs to Me.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

215. Review 195)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

195) Love is the way I walk in gratitude.

The Holy Spirit is My only Guide.
He walks with Me in Love. And I give thanks
To Him for showing Me the way to go.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

216. Review 196)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

196) It can be but Myself I crucify.

All that I do I do unto Myself.
If I attack I suffer. But if I
Forgive Salvation will be given Me.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

217. Review 197)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

197) It can be but My gratitude I earn.

Who should give thanks for My Salvation but
Myself? And how but through Salvation can
I find the Self to Whom My thanks are due?

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

218. Review 198)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

198) Only My condemnation injures Me.

My condemnation keeps My Vision dark
And through My sightless eyes I cannot see
The Vision of My glory. Yet today
I can behold this glory and be glad.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

219. Review 199)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

199) I am not a body. I am free.

I am God’s Son. Be still, My mind, and think
A moment upon this. And then return
To earth without confusion as to what
My Father loves forever as His Son.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

220. Review 200)

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

200) There is no Peace except the Peace of God.

Let Me not wander from the way of Peace
For I am lost on other roads than this.
But let Me follow Him Who leads Me Home
And Peace is certain as the Love of God.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created Me.

Part 2

What is Forgiveness?

Forgiveness recognizes what You thought Your Brother did to You has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and makes them real. It sees there was no sin. And in this view are all Your sins forgiven. What is sin except a false idea about God’s Son? Forgiveness merely sees its falsity and therefore lets it go. What then is free to take its place is now the Will of God.

An unforgiving thought is one which makes a judgment that it will not raise to doubt although it is untrue. The mind is closed and will not be released. The thought protects projection, tightening its chains so that distortions are more veiled and more obscure, less easily accessible to doubt and further kept from reason. What can come between a fixed projection and the aim that it has chosen as its wanted goal?

An unforgiving thought does many things. In frantic action it pursues its goal, twisting and overturning what it sees as interfering with its chosen path. Distortion is its purpose and the means by which it would accomplish it as well. It sets about its furious attempts to smash Reality without concern for anything that would appear to pose a contradiction to its point of view.

Forgiveness on the other hand is still and quietly does nothing. It offends no aspect of Reality nor seeks to twist it to appearances it likes. It merely looks and waits and judges not. He who would not forgive must judge for he must justify his failure to forgive. But he who would forgive himself must learn to welcome Truth exactly as It is.

Do nothing then and let forgiveness show You what to do through Him Who is Your Guide, Your Savior and Protector, strong in hope and certain of Your ultimate success. He has forgiven You already for such is His function given Him by God. Now must You share His function and forgive whom He has saved, whose Sinlessness He sees and whom He honors as the Son of God.

What is Salvation?

Salvation is a Promise, made by God, that You would find Your way to Him at last. It cannot not be kept. It guarantees that time will have an end and all the thoughts that have been born in time will end as well. God’s Word is given every mind which thinks that it has separate thoughts and will replace these thoughts of conflict with the thought of Peace.

The thought of Peace was given to God’s Son the instant that his mind had thought of war. There was no need for such a thought before for Peace was given without opposite and merely was. But when the mind is split there is a need of healing. So the thought which has the Power to heal the split became a part of every fragment of the mind which still was one but failed to recognize its oneness. Now it did not know itself and thought its own Identity was lost.

Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing failing to support the world of dreams and malice. Thus it lets illusions go. By not supporting them it merely lets them quietly go down to dust. And what they hid is now revealed: An Altar to the Holy name of God Whereon His Word is written with the gifts of Your forgiveness laid before It and the Memory of God not far behind.

Let Us come daily to this Holy Place and spend a while together. Here We share Our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow for it holds a hint of all the glory given Us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perspective. Night has gone and We have come together in the Light.

From Here We give Salvation to the world for it is Here Salvation was received. The Song of Our Rejoicing is the Call to all the world that freedom is returned, that time is almost over and God’s Son has but an instant more to wait until his Father is remembered, dreams are done, Eternity has shined away the world and only Heaven now exists at all.

What is the World?

The world is false perception. It is born of error and it has not left its source. It will remain no longer than the thought which gave it birth is cherished. When the thought of separation has been changed to one of True forgiveness will the world be seen in quite another Light and One Which leads to Truth Where all the world must disappear and all its errors vanish. Now its source has gone and its effects are gone as well.

The world was made as an attack on God. It symbolizes fear. And what is fear except Love’s absence? Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not and where His Son could be apart from Him. Here was perception born for knowledge could not cause such insane thoughts. But eyes deceive and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become quite possible for certainty has gone.

The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real. They see in its illusions but a solid base where Truth exists upheld apart from lies. Yet everything which they report is but illusion which is kept apart from Truth.

As sight was made to lead away from Truth it can be redirected. Sounds become the Call of God. And all perception can be given a new purpose by the one whom God appointed Savior to the world. Follow his Light and see the world as he beholds it. Hear his Voice alone in all that speaks to You. And let him give You Peace and certainty which You have thrown away but Heaven has preserved for You in him.

Let Us not rest content until the world has joined Our changed perception. Let Us not be satisfied until forgiveness has been made complete. And let Us not attempt to change Our function. We must save the world. For We Who made it must behold it through the Eyes of Christ that what was made to die can be restored to everlasting Life.

What is Sin?

Sin is insanity. It is the means by which the mind is driven mad and seeks to let illusions take the Place of Truth. And being mad it sees illusions where the Truth should be and where It really is. Sin gave the body eyes for what is there the Sinless would behold? What need have they of sights or sounds or touch? What would they hear or reach to grasp? What would they sense at all? To sense is not to know. And Truth can be but filled with knowledge and with nothing else.

The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to deceive itself. Its purpose is to strive. Yet can the goal of striving change. And now the body serves a different aim for striving. What it seeks for now is chosen by the aim the mind has taken as replacement for the goal of selfdeception. Truth can be its aim as well as lies. The senses then will seek instead for witnesses to what is True.

Sin is the home of all illusions which but stand for things imagined issuing from thoughts that are untrue. They are the “proof” that what has no Reality is real. Sin “proves” God’s Son is evil, Timelessness must have an end, eternal Life must die. And God Himself has lost the Son He loves with but corruption to complete himself, his will forever overcome by death, Love slain by hate and Peace to be no more.

A madman’s dreams are frightening and sin appears indeed to terrify. And yet what sin perceives is but a childish game. The Son of God may play he has become a body, prey to evil and to guilt with but a little life that ends in death. But all the while his Father shines on him and loves him with an everlasting Love Which his pretenses cannot change at all.

How long, oh Son of God, will You maintain the game of sin? Shall We not put away these sharpedged children’s toys? How soon will You be ready to come Home? Perhaps today? There is no sin. Creation is unchanged. Would You still hold return to Heaven back? How long, oh Holy Son of God, how long?

What is the Body?

The body is a fence the Son of God imagines he has built to separate parts of his Self from other parts. It is within this fence he thinks he lives to die as it decays and crumbles. For within this fence he thinks that he is safe from Love. Identifying with his safety he regards himself as what his safety is. How else could he be certain he remains within the body keeping Love outside?

The body will not stay. Yet this he sees as double “safety”. For the Son of God’s impermanence is “proof” his fences work and do the task his mind assigns to them. For if his Oneness still remained untouched who could attack and who could be attacked? Who could be victor? Who could be his prey? Who could be victim? Who the murderer? And if he did not die what “proof” is there that God’s eternal Son has been destroyed?

The body is a dream. Like other dreams it sometimes seems to picture happiness but can quite suddenly revert to fear where every dream is born. For only Love creates in Truth and Truth can never fear. Made to be fearful must the body serve the purpose given it. But We can change the purpose which the body will obey by changing what We think that it is for.

The body is the means by which God’s Son returns to sanity. Though it was made to fence him into hell without escape yet has the goal of Heaven been exchanged for the pursuit of hell. The Son of God extends his hand to reach his Brother and to help him walk along the road with him. Now is the body Holy. Now it serves to heal the mind that it was made to kill.

You will identify with what You think will make You safe. Whatever it may be You will believe that it is One with You. Your safety lies in Truth and not in lies. Love is Your safety. Fear does not exist. Identify with Love and You are safe. Identify with Love and You are Home. Identify with Love and find Your Self.

What is the Christ?

Christ is God’s Son as He created him. He is the Self We share uniting Us with one another and with God as well. He is the Thought Which still abides within the Mind That is his Source. He has not left his Holy Home nor lost the Innocence in which he was created. He abides unchanged forever in the Mind of God.

Christ is the link that keeps You One with God and guarantees that separation is no more than an illusion of despair for hope forever will abide in him. Your mind is part of his and his of Yours. He is the part in which God’s Answer lies, where all decisions are already made and dreams are over. He remains untouched by anything the body’s eyes perceive. For though in him his Father placed the means for Your Salvation yet does he remain the Self who, like his Father, knows no sin.

Home of the Holy Spirit and at Home in God alone does Christ remain at Peace within the Heaven of Your Holy Mind. This is the only part of You that has Reality in Truth. The rest is dreams. Yet will these dreams be given unto Christ to fade before his glory and reveal Your Holy Self, the Christ, to You at last.

The Holy Spirit reaches from the Christ in You to all Your dreams and bids them come to Him to be translated into Truth. He will exchange them for the final dream which God appointed as the end of dreams. For when forgiveness rests upon the world and Peace has come to every Son of God what could there be to keep things separate for what remains to see except Christ’s Face?

And how long will this Holy Face be seen when it is but the symbol that the time for learning now is over and the goal of the Atonement has been reached at last? So therefore let Us seek to find Christ’s Face and look on nothing else. As We behold his glory will We know We have no need of learning or perception or of time or anything except the Holy Self, the Christ whom God created as His Son.

What is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit mediates between illusions and the Truth. As He must bridge the gap between Reality and dreams perception leads to knowledge through the Grace that God has given Him to be His Gift to everyone who turns to Him for Truth. Across the bridge that He provides are dreams all carried to the Truth to be dispelled before the Light of knowledge. There are sights and sounds forever laid aside. And where they were perceived before forgiveness has made possible perception’s tranquil end.

The goal the Holy Spirit’s Teaching sets is just this end of dreams. For sights and sounds must be translated from the witnesses of fear to those of Love. And when this is entirely accomplished learning has achieved the only goal it has in Truth. For learning, as the Holy Spirit guides it to the outcome He perceives for it, becomes the means to go beyond itself to be replaced by the eternal Truth.

If You but knew how much Your Father yearns to have You recognize Your Sinlessness You would not let His Voice appeal in vain nor turn away from His Replacement for the fearful images and dreams You made. The Holy Spirit understands the means You made by which You would attain what is forever unattainable. And if You offer them to Him He will employ the means You made for exile to restore Your mind to where it Truly is at Home.

From knowledge, where He has been placed by God, the Holy Spirit calls to You to let forgiveness rest upon Your dreams and be restored to sanity and Peace of Mind. Without forgiveness will Your dreams remain to terrify You. And the Memory of all Your Father’s Love will not return to signify the end of dreams has come.

Accept Your Father’s Gift. It is a Call from Love to Love that It be but Itself. The Holy Spirit is His Gift by Which the quietness of Heaven is restored to God’s beloved Son. Would You refuse to take the function of completing God when all He wills is that You be complete?

What is the Real World?

The real world is a symbol like the rest of what perception offers. Yet it stands for what is opposite to what You made. Your world is seen through eyes of fear and brings the witnesses of terror to Your mind. The real world cannot be perceived except through eyes forgiveness blesses so they see a world where terror is impossible and witnesses to fear can not be found.

The real world holds a counterpart for each unhappy thought reflected in Your world, a sure correction for the sights of fear and sounds of battle which Your world contains. The real world shows a world seen differently, through quiet eyes and with a mind at Peace. Nothing but rest is here. There are no cries of pain and sorrow heard for nothing here remains outside forgiveness. And the sights are gentle. Only happy sights and sounds can reach the mind that has forgiven itself.

What need has such a mind for thoughts of death, attack and murder? What can it perceive surrounding it but Safety, Love and Joy? What is there it would choose to be condemned? And what is there that it would judge against? The world it sees arises from a mind at Peace within itself. No danger lurks in anything it sees for it is kind and only kindness does it look upon.

The real world is the symbol that the dream of sin and guilt is over and God’s Son no longer sleeps. His waking eyes perceive the sure reflection of his Father’s Love, the certain promise that he is redeemed. The real world signifies the end of time for its perception makes time purposeless.

The Holy Spirit has no need of time when it has served His purpose. Now He waits but that one instant more for God to take His final step and time has disappeared, taking perception with it as it goes and leaving but the Truth to be Itself. That instant is Our goal for it contains the Memory of God. And as We look upon a world forgiven it is He Who calls to Us and comes to take Us Home, reminding Us of Our Identity which Our forgiveness has restored to Us.

What is the Second Coming?

Christ’s Second Coming, which is sure as God, is merely the correction of mistakes and the return of sanity. It is a part of the condition which restores the neverlost and reestablishes what is forever and forever True. It is the invitation to God’s Word to take illusion’s place, the willingness to let forgiveness rest upon all things without exception and without reserve.

It is the allinclusive nature of Christ’s Second Coming that permits it to embrace the world and hold You safe within its gentle advent which encompasses all Living Things with You. There is no end to the release the Second Coming brings as God’s Creation must be limitless. Forgiveness lights the Second Coming’s way because it shines on everything as One.

The Second Coming ends the lessons which the Holy Spirit teaches making way for the Last Judgment in which learning ends in one last summary that will extend beyond itself and reaches up to God. The Second Coming is the time in which all minds are given to the Hands of Christ to be returned to Spirit in the name of True Creation and the Will of God.

The Second Coming is the one event in time which time itself can not affect. For every one who ever came to die, or yet will come, or who is present now is equally released from what he made. In this equality is Christ restored as one Identity in which the Sons of God acknowledge that they all are One. And God the Father smiles upon His Son, His one Creation and His only Joy.

Pray that the Second Coming will be soon but do not rest with that. It needs Your eyes and ears and hands and feet. It needs Your voice. And most of all it needs Your willingness. Let Us rejoice that We can do God’s Will and join together in Its Holy Light. Behold, the Son of God is One in Us and We can reach Our Father’s Love through him.

What is the Last Judgment?

Christ’s Second Coming gives the Son of God the Gift to hear the Voice for God proclaim that what is false is false and What is True has never changed. And this the judgment is in which perception ends. At first You see a world which has accepted this as True projected from a now corrected mind. And with this Holy Sight perception gives a silent Blessing and then disappears, its goal accomplished and its mission done.

The Final Judgment on the world contains no condemnation. For it sees the world as totally forgiven, without sin and wholly purposeless. Without a cause and now without a function in Christ’s Sight it merely slips away to nothingness. There it was born and there it ends as well. And all the figures in the dream in which the world began go with it. Bodies now are useless and will therefore fade away because the Son of God is limitless.

You Who believed that God’s Last Judgment would condemn the world to hell along with You accept this Holy Truth: God’s Judgment is the Gift of the Correction He bestowed on all Your errors freeing You from them and all effects they ever seemed to have. To fear God’s saving Grace is but to fear complete release from suffering, return to Peace, security and happiness and union with Your own Identity.

God’s Final Judgment is as merciful as every step in His appointed plan to bless His Son and call him to return to the eternal Peace He shares with him. Be not afraid of Love. For It alone can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears and gently waken from his dreams of pain the Son whom God acknowledges as His. Be not afraid of this. Salvation asks You give it welcome. And the world awaits Your glad acceptance which will set it free.

This is God’s Final Judgment:

You are still My Holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as Your Creator and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me! I am Your Father and You are My Son.

What is Creation?

Creation is the sum of all God’s Thoughts, in number infinite and Everywhere without all limit. Only Love creates and only like Itself. There was no time when all that It created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that It created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God’s Thoughts exactly as They were and as They are, unchanged through time and after time is done.

God’s Thoughts are given all the Power that Their own Creator has. For He would add to Love by Its Extension. Thus His Son shares in Creation and must therefore share in Power to create. What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over and will not be changed throughout the course of time remaining as It was before the thought of time began.

Creation is the opposite of all illusions for Creation is the Truth. Creation is the Holy Son of God for in Creation is his will complete in every aspect making every part container of the whole. Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate, forever held within his Holy will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection and of any spot upon Its Sinlessness.

We are Creation, We the Sons of God. We seem to be discrete and unaware of Our eternal Unity with Him. Yet back of all Our doubts, past all Our fears there still is Certainty. For Love remains with all Its Thoughts, Its Sureness being Theirs. God’s Memory is in Our Holy minds which know their oneness and their Unity with their Creator. Let Our function be only to let this Memory return, only to let God’s Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity and to be but as God created Us.

Our Father calls to Us. We hear His Voice and We forgive Creation in the name of Its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose Holiness His own Creation shares, Whose Holiness is still a part of Us.

What is the ego?

The ego is idolatry, the sign of limited and separated self born in a body, doomed to suffer and to end its life in death. It is the will that sees the Will of God as enemy and takes a form in which It is denied. The ego is the “proof” that Strength is weak and Love is fearful, Life is really death and what opposes God alone is True.

The ego is insane. In fear it stands beyond the Everywhere, apart from All, in separation from the Infinite. In its insanity it thinks it has become a victor over God Himself and in its terrible autonomy it “sees” the Will of God has been destroyed. It dreams of punishment and trembles at the figures in its dreams, its enemies who seek to murder it before it can ensure its safety by attacking them.

The Son of God is egoless. What can he know of madness and the death of God when he abides in Him? What can he know of sorrow and of suffering when he lives in eternal Joy? What can he know of fear and punishment, of sin and guilt, of hatred and attack when all there is surrounding him is everlasting Peace, forever conflictfree and undisturbed, in deepest silence and tranquility?

To know Reality is not to know the ego and its thoughts, its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams, its hopes, its plans for its Salvation and the cost belief in it entails. In suffering the price for faith in it is so immense that crucifixion of the Son of God is offered daily at its darkened shrine and blood must flow before the altar where its sickly followers prepare its feast of death.

Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into Light, the altar to illusions to the Shrine of Life itself. And Peace will be restored forever to the Holy minds which God created as His Son, His Dwellingplace, His Joy, His Love, completely His, completely One with Him.

What is a Miracle?

A Miracle is a correction. It does not create nor really change at all. It merely looks on devastation and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes error but does not attempt to go beyond perception nor exceed the function of forgiveness. Thus It stays within time’s limits. Yet It paves the way for the return of Timelessness and Love’s awakening for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy It gives.

A Miracle contains the gift of Grace for It is given and received as One. And thus It illustrates the law of Truth the world does not obey because It fails entirely to understand its ways. A Miracle inverts perception which was upsidedown before and thus It ends the strange distortions that were manifest. Now is perception open to the Truth. Now is forgiveness seen as justified.

Forgiveness is the Home of Miracles. The Eyes of Christ deliver Them to all they look upon in mercy and in Love. Perception stands corrected in His Sight and what was meant to curse has come to bless. Each lily of forgiveness offers all the world the silent Miracle of Love. And each is laid before the Word of God upon the universal Altar to Creator and Creation, in the Light of perfect purity and endless Joy.

The Miracle is taken first on faith because to ask for It implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of what It cannot see and does not understand. Yet faith will bring its Witnesses to show that What it rested on is really there. And thus the Miracle will justify Your faith in It and show It rested on a world more real than what You saw before, a world redeemed from what You thought You saw.

Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world where starved and thirsty creatures came to die. Now they have water. Now the world is green. And Everywhere the Signs of Life spring up to show that What is born can never die for What has Life has immortality.

What am I?

I am God’s Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In Me is His Creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal Life. In Me is Love perfected, fear impossible and Joy established without opposite. I am the Holy Home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His Holy Sinlessness itself for in My purity abides His own.

Our use for words is almost over now. Yet in the final days of this one year We gave to God together, You and I, We found a single purpose that We shared. And thus You joined with Me so what I am are You as well. The Truth of what We are is not for words to speak of or describe. Yet We can realize Our function here and words can speak of this, and teach it too, if We exemplify the words in Us.

We are the Bringers of Salvation. We accept Our part as Saviors of the world which through Our joint forgiveness is redeemed. And this, Our gift, is therefore given Us. We look on everyone as Brother and perceive all things as kindly and as good. We do not seek a function that is past the Gates of Heaven. Knowledge will return when We have done Our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to the Truth.

Ours are the Eyes through which Christ’s Vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. Ours are the Ears which hear the Voice of God proclaim the world as sinless. Ours the minds which join together as We bless the world. And from the Oneness that We have attained We call to all Our Brothers asking them to share Our Peace and consummate Our Joy.

We are the Holy Messengers of God Who speak for Him. And carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to Us We learn that It is written on Our Hearts. And thus Our minds are changed about the aim for which We came and which We seek to serve. We bring glad tidings to the Son of God who thought he suffered. Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the Gate of Heaven stand open before him he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God.

Manual for Teachers

The role of teaching and learning is actually reversed in the thinking of the world. The reversal is characteristic. It seems as if the Teacher and the Learner are separated, the Teacher giving something to the Learner rather than to Himself. Further the act of teaching is regarded as a special activity in which One engages only a relatively small proportion of One’s time. The Course on the other hand emphasizes that to teach is to learn so that Teacher and Learner are the Same. It also emphasizes that teaching is a constant process: It goes on every moment of the day and continues into sleeping thoughts as well.

To teach is to demonstrate. There are only two thought systems and You demonstrate that You believe one or the other is True all the time. From Your demonstration Others learn and so do You. The question is not whether You will teach for in that there is no choice. The purpose of The Course might be said to provide You with a means of choosing what You want to teach on the basis of what You want to learn. You cannot give to Someone else and this You learn through teaching. Teaching is but a call to Witnesses to attest to what You believe. It is a method of conversion. This is not done by words alone. Any situation must be to You a chance to teach Others what You are and what They are to You. No more than that but also never less.

The curriculum that You set up is therefore determined exclusively by what You think You are and what You believe the relationship of Others is to You. In the formal teaching situation these questions may be totally unrelated to what You think You are teaching. Yet it is impossible not to use the content of any situation on behalf of what You really teach and therefore learn. To this the verbal content of Your teaching is quite irrelevant. It may coincide with it or it may not. It is the teaching underlying what You say that teaches You. Teaching but reinforces what You believe about Yourself. Its fundamental purpose is to diminish selfdoubt. This does not mean that the self You are trying to protect is real. But it does mean that the self You think is real is what You teach.

This is inevitable. There is no escape from it. How could it be otherwise? Everyone Who follows the world’s curriculum, and Everyone here does follow it until He changes His mind, teaches solely to convince Himself that He is what He is not. Herein is the purpose of the world. What else then would its curriculum be? Into this hopeless and closed learning situation, which teaches nothing but despair and death, God sends His Teachers. And as They teach His lessons of Joy and hope Their learning finally becomes complete.

Except for God’s Teachers there would be no hope of Salvation for the world of sin would be forever “real”. The selfdeceiving must deceive for they must teach deception. And what else is hell? This is a Manual for the Teachers of God. They are not perfect or They would not be here. Yet it is Their mission to become perfect here and so They teach perfection over and over in many, many ways until They have learned it. And then They are seen no more although Their thoughts remain a source of Strength and Truth forever. Who are They? How are They chosen? What do They do? How can They work out Their own Salvation and the Salvation of the world? This Manual attempts to answer these questions.

1. Who Are God’s Teachers?

A Teacher of God is Anyone Who chooses to be One. His qualifications consist solely in this: Somehow, somewhere He has made a deliberate choice in which He did not see His interests as apart from Someone else’s. Once He has done that His road is established and His direction is sure. A Light has entered the darkness. It may be a single Light but that is enough. He has entered an agreement with God even if He does not yet believe in Him. He has become a Bringer of Salvation. He has become a Teacher of God.

They come from all over the world. They come from all religions and from no religion. They are the Ones Who have answered. The Call is universal. It goes on all the time Everywhere. It calls for Teachers to speak for It and redeem the world. Many hear It but Few will answer. But it is all a matter of time. Everyone will answer in the end but the end can be a long, long way off. It is because of this that the plan of the Teachers was established. Their function is to save time. Each One begins as a single Light but with the Call at Its Center It is a Light that cannot be limited. And Each One saves a thousand years of time as the world judges it. To the Call Itself time has no meaning.

There is a course for every Teacher of God. The form of the course varies greatly. So do the particular teaching aids involved. But the content of the course never changes. Its central theme is always:

God’s Son is guiltless and in His Innocence is His Salvation.

It can be taught by actions or thoughts, in words or soundlessly, in any language or in no language, in any place or time or manner. It does not matter Who the Teacher was before He heard the Call. He has become a Savior by His answering. He has seen Someone else as Himself. He has therefore found His own Salvation and the Salvation of the world. In His rebirth is the world reborn.

This is a Manual for a special Curriculum intended for Teachers of a special form of The Universal Course. There are many thousands of other forms, all with the same outcome: They merely save time. Yet it is time alone that winds on wearily and the world is very tired now. It is old and worn and without hope. There was never a question of outcome for what can change the Will of God? But time with its illusions of change and death wears out the world and all things in it. Yet time has an ending and it is this that the Teachers of God are appointed to bring about. For time is in Their hands. Such was Their choice and it is given Them.

2. Who Are Their Pupils?

Certain pupils have been assigned to Each of God’s Teachers and They will begin to look for Him as soon as He has answered the Call. They were chosen for Him because the form of the Universal Curriculum that He will teach is best for Them in view of Their level of understanding. His pupils have actually been waiting for Him for His coming is certain. Again it is only a matter of time. Once He has chosen to fulfill His role They are ready to fulfill Theirs. Time waits on His choice but not Whom He will serve. When He is ready to learn the opportunities to teach will be provided for Him.

In order to understand the teachinglearning plan of Salvation it is necessary to grasp the concept of time which The Course sets forth. Atonement corrects illusions, not Truth. Therefore It corrects what never was. Further the plan for this correction was established and completed simultaneously for the Will of God is entirely apart from time. So is all Reality being of Him. The instant the idea of separation entered the Mind of God’s Son in that same instant was God’s Answer given. In time this happened very long ago. In Reality it never happened at all.

The world of time is the world of illusion. What happened long ago seems to be happening now. Choices made long since appear to be open yet to be made. What has been learned and understood and long ago passed by is looked upon as a new thought, a fresh idea, a different approach. Because Your will is free You can accept what has already happened at any time You choose and only then will You realize that It was always there. As The Course emphasizes You are not free to choose the Curriculum or even the form in which You will learn It. You are free however to decide when You want to learn It. And as You accept It It is already learned.

Time really then goes backward to an instant so ancient that it is beyond all memory and past even the possibility of remembering. Yet because it is an instant that is relived again and again, and still again, it seems to be now. And thus it is that pupil and Teacher seem to come together in the Present finding Each Other as if They had not met before. The pupil comes at the right time to the right place. This is inevitable because He made the right choice in that ancient instant which He now relives. So has the Teacher too made an inevitable choice out of an ancient past. God’s Will in everything but seems to take time in the working out. What could delay the Power of Eternity?

When pupil and Teacher come together a teachinglearning situation begins. For the Teacher is not really the One Who does the teaching. God’s Teacher speaks to any two Who join Together for learning purposes. The Relationship is Holy because of that purpose and God has promised to send His Spirit into any Holy Relationship. In the teachinglearning situation Each One learns that giving and receiving are the same. The demarcations They have drawn between Their roles, Their minds, Their bodies, Their needs, Their interests and all the differences They thought separated Them from One Another fade and grow dim and disappear. Those Who would learn The Same Course share one interest and one goal. And thus He Who was the Learner becomes a Teacher of God Himself for He has made the one decision that gave His Teacher to Him. He has seen in another person the same interests as His own.

3. What Are the Levels of Teaching?

The Teachers of God have no set teaching level. Each teachinglearning situation involves a different relationship at the beginning although the ultimate goal is always the same: To make of the relationship a Holy Relationship in which Both can look upon the Son of God as sinless. There is no one from whom a Teacher of God cannot learn so there is no one whom He cannot teach. However, from a practical point of view He cannot meet Everyone nor can Everyone find Him. Therefore the plan includes very specific contacts to be made for each Teacher of God. There are no accidents in Salvation. Those who are to meet will meet because together they have the potential for a Holy Relationship. They are ready for each other.

The simplest level of teaching appears to be quite superficial. It consists of what seem to be very casual encounters: A chance meeting of two apparent strangers in an elevator, a child Who is not looking where He is going running into an adult “by accident”, two students Who happen to walk home Together. These are not chance encounters. Each of them has a potential for becoming a teachinglearning situation. Perhaps the seeming strangers in the elevator will smile to One Another. Perhaps the man will not scold the child for bumping into Him. Perhaps the students will become friends. Even at the level of the most casual encounter it is possible for two people to lose sight of separate interests if only for a moment. That moment will be enough. Salvation has come.

It is difficult to understand that levels of teaching The Universal Course is a concept as meaningless in Reality as is time. The illusion of one permits the illusion of the other. In time the Teacher of God seems to begin to change His mind about the world with a single decision and then learns more and more about the new direction as He teaches it. We have covered the illusion of time already but the illusion of levels of teaching seems to be something different. Perhaps the best way to demonstrate that these levels cannot exist is simply to say that any level of the teachinglearning situation is part of God’s plan for Atonement and His plan can have no levels being a reflection of His Will. Salvation is always ready and always there. God’s Teachers work at different levels but the result is always the same.

Each teachinglearning situation is maximal in the sense that each person involved will learn the most that He can from the other person at that time. In this sense, and in this sense only, We can speak of levels of teaching. Using the term in this way the second level of teaching is a more sustained relationship in which for a time two people enter into a fairly intense teachinglearning situation and then appear to separate. As with the first level these meetings are not accidental nor is what appears to be the end of the relationship a real end. Again Each has learned the most He can at the time. Yet All Who meet will someday meet again for it is the destiny of all relationships to become Holy. God is not mistaken in His Son.

The third level of teaching occurs in relationships which, once they are formed, are lifelong. These are teachinglearning situations in which each person is given a chosen learning partner Who presents Him with unlimited opportunities for learning. These relationships are generally few because their existence implies that Those involved have reached a stage simultaneously in which the teachinglearning balance is actually perfect. This does not mean that They necessarily recognize this. In fact They generally do not. They may even be quite hostile to Each Other for some time and perhaps for Life. Yet should They decide to learn It the perfect lesson is before Them and can be learned. And if They decide to learn that lesson They become the Saviors of the Teachers Who falter and may even seem to fail. No Teacher of God can fail to find the Help He needs.

4. What are the Characteristics of God’s Teachers?

The surface traits of God’s Teachers are not at all alike. They do not look alike to the body’s eyes, They come from vastly different backgrounds, Their experiences of the world vary greatly and Their superficial “personalities” are quite distinct. Nor at the beginning stages of Their functioning as Teachers of God have They yet acquired the deeper characteristics that will establish Them as What They are. God gives special Gifts to His Teachers because They have a special role in His plan for Atonement. Their specialness is of course only temporary set in time as a means of leading out of time. These special Gifts, born in the Holy Relationship toward which the teachinglearning situation is geared, become characteristic of all Teachers of God Who have advanced in Their own learning. In this respect They are all alike.

All differences among the Sons of God are temporary. Nevertheless in time it can be said that the advanced Teachers of God have the following characteristics:

a. Trust

This is the foundation on which Their ability to fulfill Their function rests. Perception is the result of learning. In fact perception is learning because cause and effect are never separated. The Teachers of God have trust in the world because They have learned it is not governed by the laws the world made up. It is governed by a Power which is in Them but not of Them. It is this Power that keeps all things safe. It is through this Power that the Teachers of God look on a forgiven world.

When this Power has once been experienced it is impossible to trust One’s own petty strength again. Who would attempt to fly with the tiny wings of a sparrow when the mighty power of an eagle has been given Him? And Who would place His faith in the shabby offerings of the ego when the Gifts of God are laid before Him? What is it that induces Them to make the shift?

i. Undoing

First They must go through what might be called a “period of undoing”. This need not be painful but it usually is so experienced. It seems as if things are being taken away and it is rarely understood initially that their lack of value is merely being recognized. How can lack of value be perceived unless the perceiver is in a position where He must see things in a different Light? He is not yet at a point at which He can make the shift entirely internally. And so the plan will sometimes call for changes in what seem to be external circumstances. These changes are always helpful. When the Teacher of God has learned that much He goes on to the second stage.

ii. Sorting Out

Next the Teacher of God must go through a “period of sorting out”. This is always somewhat difficult because having learned that the changes in His Life are always helpful He must now decide all things on the basis of whether they increase the helpfulness or hamper it. He will find that many, if not most, of the things He valued before will merely hinder His ability to transfer what He has learned to new situations as they arise. Because He has valued what is really valueless He will not generalize the lesson for fear of loss and sacrifice. It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful. It is only to the extent to which they are helpful that any degree of Reality should be accorded them in this world of illusion. The word “value” can apply to nothing else.

iii. Relinquishment

The third stage through which the Teacher of God must go can be called a “period of relinquishment”. If this is interpreted as giving up the desirable it will engender enormous conflict. Few Teachers of God escape this distress entirely. There is however no point in sorting out the valuable from the valueless unless the next obvious step is taken. The third step is rarely, if ever, begun until the second is complete. Therefore the period of overlap is apt to be one in which the Teacher of God feels called upon to sacrifice His own best interests on behalf of Truth. He has not realized as yet how wholly impossible such a demand would be. He can learn this only as He actually does give up the valueless. Through this He learns that where He anticipated grief He finds a happy lightheartedness instead, where He thought something was asked of Him He finds a Gift bestowed on Him.

iv. Settling Down

Now comes a “period of settling down”. This is a quiet time in which the Teacher of God rests a while in reasonable Peace. Now He consolidates His learning. Now He begins to see the transfer value of what He has learned. Its potential is literally staggering and the Teacher of God is now at the point in His progress at which He sees in it His whole way out.

Give up what You do not want and keep what You do.

How simple is the obvious. And how easy to do. The Teacher of God needs this period of respite. He has not yet come as far as He thinks. Yet when He is ready to go on He goes with mighty Companions beside Him. Now He rests a while and gathers Them before going on. He will not go on from here alone.

v. Unsettling

The next stage is indeed a “period of unsettling”. Now must the Teacher of God understand that He did not really know what was valuable and what was valueless. All that He really learned so far was that He did not want the valueless and that He did want the valuable. Yet His own sorting out was meaningless in teaching Him the difference. The idea of sacrifice, so central to His own thought system, had made it impossible for Him to judge. He thought He had learned willingness but now He sees that He does not know what the willingness is for. And now He must attain a state that may remain impossible for a long, long time. He must learn to lay all judgment aside and ask only what He really wants in every circumstance. Were not each step in this direction so heavily reinforced it would be hard indeed.

vi. Achievement

And finally there is a “period of achievement”. It is Here that learning is consolidated. Now what was seen as merely shadows before becomes solid gains to be counted on in all “emergencies” as well as tranquil times. Indeed the tranquility is their result, the outcome of honest learning, consistency of thought and full transfer. This is the stage of real Peace for Here is Heaven’s state fully reflected. From Here the way to Heaven is open and easy. In fact it is Here. Who would “go” anywhere if Peace of Mind is already complete? And Who would seek to change tranquility for something more desirable? What could be more desirable than this?

b. Honesty

All other traits of God’s Teachers rest on trust. Once that has been achieved the others cannot fail to follow. Only the Trusting can afford honesty for only They can see its value. Honesty does not apply only to what You say. The term actually means consistency. There is nothing You say that contradicts what You think or do, no thought opposes any other thought, no act belies Your word and no word lacks agreement with another. Such are the Truly Honest. At no level are They in conflict with Themselves. Therefore it is impossible for Them to be in conflict with Anyone or anything.

The Peace of Mind which the advanced Teachers of God experience is largely due to Their perfect honesty. It is only the wish to deceive that makes for war. No one at one with himself can even conceive of conflict. Conflict is the inevitable result of selfdeception and selfdeception is dishonesty. There is no challenge to a Teacher of God. Challenge implies doubt and the trust on which God’s Teachers rest secure makes doubt impossible. Therefore They can only succeed. In this, as in all things, They are honest. They can only succeed because They never do Their will alone. They choose for all mankind, for all the world and all things in it, for the unchanging and unchangeable beyond appearances and for the Son of God and His Creator. How could They not succeed? They choose in perfect honesty sure of Their choice of Themselves.

c. Tolerance

God’s Teachers do not judge. To judge is to be dishonest for to judge is to assume a position You do not have. Judgment without selfdeception is impossible. Judgment implies that You have been deceived in Your Brothers. How then could You not have been deceived in Yourself? Judgment implies a lack of trust and trust remains the bedrock of the Teacher of God’s whole Thought System. Let this be lost and all His learning goes. Without judgment are all things equally acceptable for Who could judge otherwise? Without judgment are all men Brothers for Who is there Who stands apart? Judgment destroys honesty and shatters trust. No Teacher of God can judge and hope to learn.

d. Gentleness

Harm is impossible for God’s Teachers. They can neither harm nor be harmed. Harm is the outcome of judgment. It is the dishonest act that follows a dishonest thought. It is a verdict of guilt upon a Brother and therefore on Oneself. It is the end of Peace and the denial of learning. It demonstrates the absence of God’s Curriculum and its replacement by insanity. No Teacher of God but must learn, and fairly early in His training, that harmfulness completely obliterates His function from His awareness. It will make Him confused, fearful, angry and suspicious. It will make the Holy Spirit’s lessons impossible to learn. Nor can God’s Teacher be heard at all except by Those Who realize that harm can actually achieve nothing. No gain can come from it.

Therefore God’s Teachers are wholly gentle. They need the strength of gentleness for it is in this that the function of Salvation becomes easy. To Those Who would do harm it is impossible. To Those to Whom harm has no meaning it is merely natural. What choice but this has meaning to the Sane? Who chooses hell when He perceives a way to Heaven? And Who would choose the weakness that must come from harm in place of the unfailing, allencompassing and limitless strength of gentleness? The Might of God’s Teachers lies in Their gentleness for They have understood Their evil thoughts came neither from God’s Son nor His Creator. Thus did They join Their thoughts with Him Who is Their Source. And so Their Will, Which always was His own, is free to be Itself.

e. Joy

Joy is the inevitable result of gentleness. Gentleness means that fear is now impossible. And what could come to interfere with Joy? The open Hands of gentleness are always filled. The Gentle have no pain. They cannot suffer. Why would They not be joyous? They are sure They are beloved and must be safe. Joy goes with gentleness as surely as grief attends attack. God’s Teachers trust in Him. And They are sure His Teacher goes before Them making sure no harm can come to Them. They hold His Gifts and follow in His way because God’s Voice directs Them in all things. Joy is Their Song of Thanks. And Christ looks down on Them in thanks as well. His need of Them is just as great as Theirs of Him. How joyous it is to share the purpose of Salvation.

f. Defenselessness

God’s Teachers have learned how to be simple. They have no dreams that need defense against the Truth. They do not try to make Themselves. Their Joy comes from Their understanding Who created Them. And does What God created need defense? No one can become an advanced Teacher of God until he fully understands that defenses are but the foolish guardians of mad illusions. The more grotesque the dream the fiercer and more powerful its defenses seem to be. Yet when the Teacher of God finally agrees to look past them He finds nothing was there. Slowly at first He lets Himself be undeceived. But He learns faster as His trust increases. It is not danger that comes when defenses are laid down. It is safety. It is Peace. It is Joy. And it is God.

g. Generosity

The term generosity has special meaning to the Teacher of God. It is not the usual meaning of the word. In fact it is a meaning that must be learned and learned very carefully. Like all the other attributes of God’s Teachers this one rests ultimately on trust for without trust no one can be generous in the True sense. To the world generosity means “giving away” in the sense of “giving up”. To the Teachers of God it means “giving away” in order to keep. This has been emphasized throughout the Text and the Workbook but it is perhaps more alien to the thinking of the world than many other ideas in Our Curriculum. Its greater strangeness lies merely in the obviousness of its reversal of the world’s thinking. In the clearest way possible and at the simplest of levels the word means the exact opposite to the Teachers of God and to the world.

The Teacher of God is generous out of Selfinterest. This does not refer however to the self the world speaks of. The Teacher of God does not want anything He cannot give away because He realizes it would be valueless to Him by definition. What would He want it for? He could only lose because of it. He could not gain. Therefore He does not seek what only He could keep because that is a guarantee of loss. He does not want to suffer. Why should He ensure Himself pain? But He does want to keep for Himself all things that are of God and therefore for His Son. These are the things that belong to Him. These He can give away in True generosity protecting them forever for Himself.

h. Patience

Those Who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait and wait without anxiety. Patience is natural to the Teacher of God. All He sees is certain outcome, at a time perhaps unknown as yet but not in doubt. The time will be as right as is the Answer. And this is True for everything that happens now or in the future. The past as well held no mistakes, nothing that did not serve to benefit the world as well as Him to Whom it seemed to happen. Perhaps it was not understood at the time. Even so the Teacher of God is willing to reconsider all His past decisions if they are causing pain to Anyone. Patience is natural to Those Who trust. Sure of the ultimate interpretation of all things in time no outcome already seen or yet to come can cause Them fear.

i. Faithfulness

The extent of the Teacher of God’s faithfulness is the measure of His advancement in the Curriculum. Does He still select some aspects of His Life to bring to His learning while keeping others apart? If so His advancement is limited and His trust not yet firmly established. Faithfulness is the Teacher of God’s trust in the Word of God to set all things right. Not some but all. Generally His faithfulness begins by resting on just some problems remaining carefully limited for a time. To give up all problems to one Answer is to reverse the thinking of the world entirely. And that alone is faithfulness. Nothing but that really deserves the name. Yet each degree, however small, is worth achieving. Readiness, as the Text notes, is not mastery.

True faithfulness however does not deviate. Being consistent it is wholly honest. Being unswerving it is full of trust. Being based on fearlessness it is gentle. Being certain it is joyous. And being confident it is tolerant. Defenselessness attends it naturally and Joy is its condition. Faithfulness then combines in itself the other attributes of God’s Teachers. It implies acceptance of the Word of God and His definition of His Son. It is to Them that faithfulness in the True sense is always directed. Toward Them it looks seeking until it finds. And having found it rests in quiet certainty on That alone to which all faithfulness is due.

j. Openmindedness

The centrality of openmindedness, perhaps the last of the attributes the Teacher of God acquires, is easily understood when its relation to forgiveness is recognized. Openmindedness comes with lack of judgment. As judgment shuts the Mind against God’s Teacher so openmindedness invites Him to come in. As condemnation judges the Son of God as evil so openmindedness permits Him to be judged by the Voice for God on His behalf. As the projection of guilt upon Him would send Him to hell so openmindedness lets Christ’s image be projected on Him. Only the Openminded can be at Peace for They alone see reason for it.

How do the Openminded forgive? They have let go all things that would prevent forgiveness. They have in Truth abandoned the world and let it be restored to Them in newness and in Joy so glorious They never could have conceived of such a change. Nothing is now as it was formerly. Nothing but sparkles now which seemed so dull and lifeless before. And above all are all things welcoming for threat has gone. No clouds remain to hide the Face of Christ. Now is the goal achieved. Forgiveness is the final goal of the Curriculum. It paves the way for what goes far beyond all learning. The Curriculum makes no effort to exceed its legitimate goal. Forgiveness is its single aim at which all learning ultimately converges. It is indeed enough.

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You may have noticed that the list of attributes of God’s Teachers does not include those things which are the Son of God’s inheritance. Terms like Love, Sinlessness, perfection, knowledge and eternal Truth do not appear in this context. They would be most inappropriate here. What God has given is so far beyond Our Curriculum that learning but disappears in Its presence. Yet while Its presence is obscured the focus properly belongs on the Curriculum. It is the function of God’s Teachers to bring True learning to the world. Properly speaking it is unlearning that They bring for that is “True learning” in the world. It is given to the Teachers of God to bring the glad tidings of complete forgiveness to the world. Blessed indeed are They for They are the Bringers of Salvation.

5. How Is Healing Accomplished?

Healing involves an understanding of what the illusion of sickness is for. Healing is impossible without this.

a. The Perceived Purpose of Sickness

Healing is accomplished the instant the sufferer no longer sees any value in pain. Who would choose suffering unless He thought it brought Him something, and something of value, to Him? He must think it is a small price to pay for something of greater worth. For sickness is an election, a decision. It is the choice of weakness in the mistaken conviction that it is Strength. When this occurs real Strength is seen as threat and health as danger. Sickness is a method, conceived in madness, for placing God’s Son on His Father’s throne. God is seen as outside, fierce and powerful, eager to keep all Power for Himself. Only by His death can He be conquered by His Son.

And what in this insane conviction does healing stand for? It symbolizes the defeat of God’s Son and the triumph of His Father over Him. It represents the ultimate defiance in a direct form which the Son of God is forced to recognize. It stands for all that He would hide from Himself to protect His Life. If He is healed He is responsible for His thoughts. And if He is responsible for His thoughts He will be killed to prove to Him how weak and pitiful He is. But if He chooses death Himself His weakness is His Strength. Now has He given Himself what God would give to Him and thus entirely usurped the throne of His Creator.

b. The Shift in Perception

Healing must occur in exact proportion in which the valuelessness of sickness is recognized. One need but say: “There is no gain at all to Me in this.” and He is healed. But to say this One must first recognize certain facts: First it is obvious that decisions are of the Mind, not of the body. If sickness is but a faulty problemsolving approach it is a decision. And if it is a decision it is the Mind, and not the body, That makes it. The resistance to recognizing this is enormous because the existence of the world as We perceive it depends on the body being the decisionmaker. Terms like “instincts”, “reflexes” and the like represent attempts to endow the body with nonmental motivators. Actually such terms merely state or describe the problem. They do not answer it.

The acceptance of sickness as a decision of the Mind for a purpose for which It would use the body is the basis of healing. And this is so for healing in all forms. A patient decides that this is so and He recovers. If He decides against recovery He will not be healed. Who is the physician? Only the Mind of the patient Himself. The outcome is what He decides that it is. Special agents seem to be ministering to Him yet They but give form to His own choice. He chooses Them to bring tangible form to His desires. And it is this They do. And nothing else. They are not actually needed at all. The patient could merely rise up without Their aid and say: “I have no use for this.” There is no form of sickness that would not be cured at once.

What is the single requisite for this shift in perception? It is simply this: The recognition that sickness is of the Mind and has nothing to do with the body. What does this recognition “cost”? It costs the world We see for the world will never again appear to rule the Mind. For with this recognition is responsibility placed Where it belongs: Not with the world but on Him Who looks on the world and sees it as it is not. He looks on what He chooses to see. No more and no less. The world does nothing to Him. He only thought it did. Nor does He do anything to the world because He was mistaken about what it was. Herein is the release from guilt and sickness both for they are one. Yet to accept this release the insignificance of the body must be an acceptable idea.

With this idea is pain forever gone. But with this idea goes also all confusion about Creation. Does not this follow of necessity? Place cause and effect in their True sequence in one respect and the learning will generalize and transform the world. The transfer value of one True idea has no end nor limit. The final outcome of this lesson is the Remembrance of God. What do guilt and sickness, pain, disaster and all suffering mean now? Having no purpose they are gone. And with them also go all the effects they seemed to cause. Cause and effect but replicate Creation. Seen in their proper perspective, without distortion and without fear, they reestablish Heaven.

c. The Function of the Teacher of God

If the patient must change His mind in order to be healed what does the Teacher of God do? Can He change the patient’s mind for Him? Certainly not. For Those already willing to change Their mind He has no function except to rejoice with Them for They have become Teachers of God with Him. He has however a more specific function for Those Who do not understand what healing is. These patients do not realize They have chosen sickness. On the contrary, They believe that sickness has chosen Them. Nor are They openminded on this point. The body tells Them what to do and They obey. They have no idea how insane this concept is. If They even suspected it They would be healed. Yet They suspect nothing. To Them the separation is quite real.

To Them God’s Teachers come to represent another choice which They had forgotten. The simple presence of God’s Teachers is a reminder. Their thoughts ask for the right to question what the patient has accepted is True. As God’s Messengers They are the symbols of Salvation. They ask the patient for forgiveness for God’s Son in His own name. They stand for the Alternative. With God’s Word in Their Minds They come in benediction, not to heal the sick but to remind Them of the remedy God has already given Them. It is not Their Hands that heal. It is not Their voice that speaks the Word of God. They merely give what has been given Them. Very gently They call to Their Brothers to turn away from death.

Behold, You Son of God, what Life can offer You.
Would You choose sickness in place of this?

Not once do the advanced Teachers of God consider the forms of sickness in which Their Brother believes. To do this is to forget that all of Them have the same purpose and therefore are not really different. They seek for God’s Voice in this Brother Who would so deceive Himself as to believe God’s Son can suffer. And they remind Him that He has not made Himself and must remain as God created Him. They recognize illusions can have no effect. The Truth in Their Minds reaches out to the Truth in the Minds of Their Brothers so that illusions are not reinforced. They are thus brought to Truth and Truth is not brought to them. So are they dispelled, not by the will of Another but by the union of the One Will with Itself. And this is the function of God’s Teachers: To see no will as separate from Their own nor Theirs as separate from God’s.

6. Is Healing Certain?

Healing is always certain. It is impossible to let illusions be brought to Truth and keep the illusions. Truth demonstrates illusions have no value. The Teacher of God has seen the correction of His errors in the Mind of the patient recognizing It for What It is. Having accepted the Atonement for Himself He has also accepted It for the patient. Yet what if the patient uses sickness as a way of Life believing healing is the way to death? When this is so a sudden healing may precipitate intense depression and a sense of loss so deep that the patient may even try to destroy Himself. Having nothing to live for He may ask for death. Healing must wait for His protection.

Healing will always stand aside where it would be seen as threat. The instant it is welcome it is there. Where healing has been given it will be received. And what is time before the Gifts of God? We have referred many times in the Text to the storehouse of treasures laid up equally for the Giver and the Receiver of God’s Gifts. Not one is lost for they can but increase. No Teacher of God should feel disappointed if He has offered healing and it does not appear to have been received. It is not up to Him to judge when His gift should be accepted. Let Him be certain it has been received and trust that it will be accepted when it is recognized as a Blessing and not a curse.

It is not the function of God’s Teachers to evaluate the outcome of Their gifts. It is merely Their function to give them. Once They have done that They have also given the outcome for that is part of the gift. No one can give if he is concerned with the result of giving. That is a limitation on the giving itself and neither the Giver nor the Receiver would have the gift. Trust is an essential part of giving. In fact it is the part that makes sharing possible, the part that guarantees the Giver will not lose but only gain. Who gives a gift and then remains with it to be sure it is used as the Giver deems appropriate? Such is not giving but imprisoning.

It is the relinquishing of all concern about the gift that makes it Truly given. And it is trust that makes True giving possible. Healing is the change of mind that the Holy Spirit in the patient’s Mind is seeking for Him. And it is the Holy Spirit in the Mind of the Giver Who gives the Gift to Him. How can it be lost? How can it be ineffectual? How can it be wasted? God’s treasure house can never be empty. And if one Gift were missing it would not be full. Yet is its fullness guaranteed by God. What concern then can a Teacher of God have about what becomes of His Gifts? Given by God to God Who in this Holy exchange can receive less than everything?

7. Should Healing Be Repeated?

This question really answers itself. Healing cannot be repeated. If the patient is healed what remains to heal Him from? And if the healing is certain, as We have already said it is, what is there to repeat? For a Teacher of God to remain concerned about the result of healing is to limit the healing. It is now the Teacher of God Himself Whose Mind needs to be healed. And it is this He must facilitate. He is now the patient and He must so regard Himself. He has made a mistake and must be willing to change His mind about it. He lacked the trust that makes for giving Truly and so He has not received the benefit of His gift.

Whenever a Teacher of God has tried to be a channel for healing He has succeeded. Should He be tempted to doubt this He should not repeat His previous effort. That was already maximal because the Holy Spirit so accepted it and so used it. Now the Teacher of God has only One Course to follow. He must use His reason to tell Himself that He has given the problem to One Who cannot fail and recognize that His own uncertainty is not Love but fear and therefore hate. His position has thus become untenable for He is offering hate to One to Whom He offered Love. This is impossible. Having offered Love only Love can be received. It is in this that the Teacher of God must trust. This is what is really meant by the statement that the one responsibility of the Miracle Worker is to accept the Atonement for Himself.

The Teacher of God is a Miracle Worker because He gives the Gifts He has received. Yet He must first accept them. He need do no more nor is there more that He could do. By accepting healing He can give it. If He doubts this let Him remember Who gave the Gift and Who received it. Thus is His doubt corrected. He thought the Gifts of God could be withdrawn. That was a mistake but hardly one to stay with. And so the Teacher of God can only recognize it for what it is and let it be corrected for Him.

One of the more difficult temptations to recognize is that to doubt a healing because of the appearance of continuing symptoms is a mistake in the form of lack of trust. As such it is an attack. Usually it seems to be just the opposite. It does appear unreasonable at first to be told that continued concern is attack. It has all the appearance of Love. Yet Love without trust is impossible and doubt and trust cannot coexist. And hate must be the opposite of Love regardless of the form it takes. Doubt not the Gift and it is impossible to doubt its result. This is the certainty that gives God’s Teachers the Power to be Miracle Workers for They have put Their trust in Him.

The real basis for doubt about the outcome of any problem that has been given to God’s Teacher for resolution is always selfdoubt. And that necessarily implies that trust has been placed in an illusory self for only such a self can be doubted. This illusion can take many forms. Perhaps there is a fear of weakness and vulnerability. Perhaps there is fear of failure and shame associated with a sense of inadequacy. Perhaps there is a guilty embarrassment stemming from false humility. The form of the mistake is not important. What is important is only the recognition of a mistake as a mistake.

The mistake is always some form of concern with the Self to the exclusion of the patient. It is a failure to recognize Him as part of the Self and thus represents a confusion in identity. Conflict about what You are has entered Your Mind and You have become deceived about Yourself. And You are deceived about Yourself because You have denied the Source of Your Creation. If You are offering only healing You cannot doubt. If You really want the problem solved You cannot doubt. If You are certain what the problem is You cannot doubt. Doubt is the result of conflicting wishes. Be sure of what You want and doubt becomes impossible.

8. How Can the Perception of Order of Difficulties Be Avoided?

The belief in order of difficulties is the basis for the world’s perception. It rests on differences, on uneven background and shifting foreground, on unequal heights and diverse sizes, on varying degrees of darkness and Light and thousands of contrasts in which each thing seen competes with every other in order to be recognized. A larger object overshadows a smaller one. A brighter thing draws the attention from another with less intensity of appeal. And a more threatening idea, or one conceived of as more desirable by the world’s standards, completely upsets the mental balance. What the body’s eyes behold is only conflict. Look not to them for Peace and understanding.

Illusions are always illusions of differences. How could it be otherwise? By definition an illusion is an attempt to make something real that is regarded as of major importance but is recognized as being untrue. The Mind therefore seeks to make it True out of Its intensity of desire to have it for Itself. Illusions are travesties of Creation, attempts to bring Truth to lies. Finding Truth unacceptable the Mind revolts against Truth and gives Itself an illusion of victory. Finding health a burden It retreats into feverish dreams. And in these dreams the mind is separate, different from other minds, with different interests of its own and able to gratify its needs at the expense of others.

Where do all these differences come from? Certainly they seem to be in the world outside. Yet it is surely the Mind That judges what the eyes behold. It is the Mind That interprets the eyes’ messages and gives them “meaning”. And this meaning does not exist in the world outside at all. What is seen as “Reality” is simply what the Mind prefers. Its hierarchy of values is projected outward and It sends the body’s eyes to find it. The body’s eyes will never see except through differences. Yet it is not the messages they bring on which perception rests. Only the Mind evaluates their messages and so only the Mind is responsible for seeing. It alone decides whether what is seen is real or illusory, desirable or undesirable, pleasurable or painful.

It is in the sorting out and categorizing activities of the Mind that errors in perception enter. And it is Here correction must be made. The Mind classifies what the body’s eyes bring to It according to Its preconceived values judging where each sense datum fits best. What basis could be faultier than this? Unrecognized by Itself It has Itself asked to be given what will fit into these categories. And having done so It concludes that the categories must be True. On this the judgment of all differences rests because it is on this that judgments of the world depend. Can this confused and senseless “reasoning” be depended on for anything?

There can be no order of difficulty in healing merely because all sickness is illusion. Is it harder to dispel the belief of the insane in a larger hallucination as opposed to a smaller one? Will He agree more quickly to the unreality of a louder voice He hears than to that of a softer one? Will He dismiss more easily a whispered demand to kill than a shout? And do the number of pitchforks the devils He sees carrying affect their credibility in His perception? His Mind has categorized them all as real and so they are all real to Him. When He realizes they are all illusions they will disappear. And so it is with healing. The properties of illusions which seem to make them different are really irrelevant for their properties are as illusory as they are.

The body’s eyes will continue to see differences but the Mind Which has let Itself be healed will no longer acknowledge them. There will be Those Who seem to be “sicker” than Others and the body’s eyes will report Their changed appearances as before. But the Mind will put them all in one category: They are unreal. This is the Gift of Its Teacher: The understanding that only two categories are meaningful in sorting out the messages the Mind receives from what appears to be the outside world. And of these two but one is real. Just as Reality is wholly real, apart from size and shape and time and place for differences cannot exist within it, so too are illusions without distinctions. The one answer to sickness of any kind is healing. The one answer to all illusions is Truth.

9. Are Changes Required in the Life Situations of God’s Teachers?

Changes are required in the minds of God’s Teachers. This may or may not involve changes in the external situation. Remember that no one is where he is by accident and chance plays no part in God’s plan. It is most unlikely that changes in His attitudes would not be the first step in the newly made Teacher of God’s training. There is however no set pattern since training is always highly individualized. There are Those Who are called upon to change Their Life situation almost immediately but these are generally special cases. By far the majority are given a slowly evolving training program in which as many previous mistakes as possible are corrected. Relationships in particular must be properly perceived and all dark cornerstones of unforgiveness removed. Otherwise the old thought system still has a basis for return.

As the Teacher of God advances in His training He learns one lesson with increasing thoroughness: He does not make His own decisions. He asks His Teacher for His Answer and it is This He follows as His Guide for action. This becomes easier and easier as the Teacher of God learns to give up His own judgment. The giving up of judgment, the obvious prerequisite for hearing God’s Voice, is usually a fairly slow process, not because it is difficult but because it is apt to be perceived as personally insulting. The world’s training is directed toward achieving a goal in direct opposition to that of Our Curriculum. The world trains for reliance on One’s judgment as the criterion for maturity and strength. Our Curriculum trains for the relinquishment of judgment as the necessary condition of Salvation.

10. How is Judgment Relinquished?

Judgment, like other devices by which the world of illusions is maintained, is totally misunderstood by the world. It is actually confused with wisdom and substitutes for Truth. As the world uses the term an individual is capable of “good” and “bad” judgment and His education aims at strengthening the former and minimizing the latter. There is however considerable confusion about what these categories mean. What is “good” judgment to One is “bad” judgment to Another. Further even the same person classifies the same action as showing “good” judgment at one time and “bad” judgment at another time. Nor can any consistent criteria for determining what these categories are be really taught. The student will disagree with what His wouldbe teacher says about them and the teacher Himself will be inconsistent in what He believes they are.

“Good judgment” in these terms does not mean anything. No more does “bad”. It is necessary for the Teacher of God to realize, not that He should not judge but that He cannot. In giving up judgment He merely gives up what He did not have. He gives up an illusion, or better He has an illusion of giving up. He has actually merely become more honest. Recognizing that judgment was always impossible for Him He no longer attempts it. This is no sacrifice. On the contrary: He puts Himself in a position where judgment through Him rather than by Him can occur. And this Judgment is neither “good” nor “bad”. It is the only Judgment there is and it is only one:

God’s Son is guiltless and sin does not exist.

The aim of Our Curriculum, unlike the goal of the world’s learning, is the recognition that judgment in the usual sense is impossible. This is not an opinion but a fact. In order to judge anything rightly One would have to be fully aware of an inconceivably wide range of things: Past, present and to come. One would have to recognize in advance all the effects of His judgments on Everyone and everything involved in them in any way. And One would have to be certain there is no distortion in His perception so that His judgment would be wholly fair to Everyone on Whom it rests now and in the future. Who is in a position to do this? Who except in grandiose fantasies would claim this for Himself?

Remember how many times You thought You knew all the “facts” You needed for judgment and how wrong You were! Is there Anyone Who has not had this experience? Would You know how many times You merely thought You were right without ever realizing You were wrong? Why would You choose such an arbitrary basis for decisionmaking? Wisdom is not judgment. It is the relinquishment of judgment. Make then but one more judgment. It is this:

There is Someone with You Whose judgment is perfect. He does know all the facts, past, present and to come. He does know all the effects of His judgment on Everyone and everything involved in any way. And He is wholly fair to Everyone for there is no distortion in His perception.

Therefore lay judgment down, not with regret but with a sigh of gratitude. Now are You free of a burden so great that You could merely stagger and fall down beneath it. And it was all illusion. Nothing more. Now can the Teacher of God rise up unburdened and walk lightly on. Yet it is not only this that is His benefit. His sense of care is gone for He has none. He has given it away along with judgment. He gave Himself to Him Whose judgment He has chosen now to trust instead of His own. Now He makes no mistakes. His Guide is sure. And where He came to judge He comes to bless. Where now He laughs He used to come to weep.

It is not difficult to relinquish judgment. But it is difficult indeed to try to keep it. The Teacher of God lays it down happily the instant He recognizes its cost. All of the ugliness He saw about Him was its outcome. All of the pain He looked upon was its result. All of the loneliness and sense of loss, of passing time and growing hopelessness, of sickening despair and fear of death: All these had come of it. And now He knows that these things need not be. Not one is True. For He has given up their cause and they, which never were but the effects of His mistaken choice, have fallen from Him. Teacher of God, this step will bring You Peace. Can it be difficult to want but this?

11. How Is Peace Possible In This World?

This is a question Everyone must ask. Certainly Peace seems to be impossible here. Yet the Word of God promises other things that seem impossible as well as this. His Word has promised Peace. It has also promised that there is no death, that Resurrection must occur and that rebirth is man’s inheritance. The world You see cannot be the world God loves and yet His Word assures Us that He loves the world. God’s Word has promised that Peace is possible here. And what He promises can hardly be impossible. But it is True that the world must be looked at differently if His promises are to be accepted. What the world is is but a fact. You cannot choose what this should be. But You can choose how You would see it. Indeed You must choose this.

Again We come to the question of judgment. This time ask Yourself whether Your judgment or the Word of God is more likely to be True. For they say different things about the world and things so opposite that it is pointless to try to reconcile them. God offers the world Salvation. Your judgment would condemn it. God says there is no death. Your judgment sees but death as the inevitable end of Life. God’s Word assures You that He loves the world. Your judgment says it is unlovable. Who is right? For One of You is wrong. It must be so.

The Text explains that the Holy Spirit is the Answer to all problems You have made. These problems are not real but that is meaningless to Those Who believe in them. And Everyone believes in what He made for it was made by His believing it. Into this strange and paradoxical situation – one without meaning and devoid of sense yet out of which no way seems possible – God has sent His Judgment to answer Yours. Gently His Judgment substitutes for Yours. And through this substitution is the ununderstandable made understandable. How is Peace possible in this world? In Your judgment it is not possible and can never be possible. But in the Judgment of God what is reflected Here is only Peace.

Peace is impossible to Those Who look on war. Peace is inevitable to Those Who offer Peace. How easily then is Your judgment of the world escaped. It is not the world which makes Peace seem impossible. It is the world You see that is impossible. Yet has God’s Judgment on this distorted world redeemed it and made it fit to welcome Peace. And Peace descends on it in joyous answer. Peace now belongs Here because a Thought of God has entered. What else but a Thought of God turns hell to Heaven merely by being What It is? The earth bows down before Its gracious Presence and It leans down in answer to raise it up again. Now is the question different. It is no longer: “Can Peace be possible in this world?” But instead:

Is it not impossible that Peace be absent Here?

12. How Many Teachers of God Are Needed to Save the World?

The answer to this question is: “One”. One wholly perfect Teacher Whose learning is complete suffices. This One, sanctified and redeemed, becomes the Self Who is the Son of God. He Who was always wholly Spirit now no longer sees Himself as a body or even as in a body. Therefore He is limitless. And being limitless His Thoughts are joined with God’s forever and ever. His perception of Himself is based upon God’s Judgment, not His own. Thus does He share God’s Will and bring His Thoughts to still deluded Minds. He is forever One because He is as God created Him. He has accepted Christ and He is saved.

Thus does the son of man become the Son of God. It is not really a change. It is a change of mind. Nothing external alters but everything internal now reflects only the Love of God. God can no longer be feared for the Mind sees no cause for punishment. God’s Teachers appear to be many for that is the world’s need. Yet being joined in one purpose, and one They share with God, how could They be separate from Each Other? What does it matter if They then appear in many forms? Their Minds are One. Their joining is complete. And God works through Them now as One for that is what They are.

Why is the illusion of many necessary? Because Reality is not understandable to the deluded. Only a very Few can hear God’s Voice at all and even They cannot communicate His Messages directly through the Spirit Which gave them. They need a medium through which communication becomes possible to Those Who do not realize that They are Spirit. A body They can see. A voice They understand and listen to without the fear that Truth would find in Them. Do not forget that Truth can come only where It is welcomed without fear. So do God’s Teachers need a body for Their Unity could not be recognized directly.

Yet what makes Them God’s Teachers is Their recognition of the proper purpose of the body. As They advance in Their profession They become more and more certain that the body’s function is but to let God’s Voice speak through it to human ears. And these ears will carry to the Mind of the Hearer Messages which are not of this world and the Mind will understand because of their Source. From this understanding will come the recognition, in this new Teacher of God, of what the body’s purpose really is, the only use there really is for it. This lesson is enough to let the Thought of Unity come in and What is One is recognized as One. The Teachers of God appear to share the illusion of separation but because of what They use the body for They do not believe in the illusion despite appearances.

The central lesson is always this: That what You use the body for it will become to You. Use it for sin, or for attack which is the same as sin, and You will see it as sinful. Because it is sinful it is weak. And being weak it suffers and it dies. Use it to bring the Word of God to Those Who have It not and the body becomes Holy. Because it is Holy it cannot be sick nor can it die. When its usefulness is done it is laid by and that is all. The Mind makes this decision as It makes all decisions which are responsible for the body’s condition. Yet the Teacher of God does not make this decision alone. To do that would be to give the body another purpose from the one that keeps it Holy. God’s Voice will tell Him when He has fulfilled His role just as It tells Him what His function is. He does not suffer either in going or remaining. Sickness is now impossible to Him.

Oneness and sickness cannot coexist. God’s Teachers choose to look on dreams a while. It is a conscious choice. For They have learned that all choices are made consciously with full awareness of their consequences. The dream says otherwise but Who would put His faith in dreams once they are recognized for what they are? Awareness of dreaming is the real function of God’s Teachers. They watch the dream figures come and go, shift and change, suffer and die. Yet They are not deceived by what They see. They recognize that to behold a dream figure as sick and separate is no more real than to regard it as healthy and beautiful. Unity alone is not a thing of dreams. And it is This God’s Teachers acknowledge as behind the dream, beyond all seeing and yet surely Theirs.

13. What is the Real Meaning of Sacrifice?

Although in Truth the term sacrifice is altogether meaningless it does have meaning in the world. Like all things in the world its meaning is temporary and will ultimately fade into the nothingness from which it came when there is no more use for it. Now its real meaning is a lesson. Like all lessons it is an illusion for in Reality there is nothing to learn. Yet this illusion must be replaced by a corrective device, another illusion that replaces the first so both can finally disappear. The first illusion which must be displaced before another Thought System can take hold is that it is a sacrifice to give up the things of this world. What could this be but an illusion since this world itself is nothing more than that?

It takes great learning both to realize and to accept the fact that the world has nothing to give. What can the sacrifice of nothing mean? It cannot mean that You have less because of it. There is no sacrifice in the world’s terms that does not involve the body. Think a while about what the world calls sacrifice: Power, fame, money, physical pleasure. Who is the hero to Whom all these things belong? Could they mean anything except to a body? Yet a body cannot evaluate. By seeking after such things the Mind associates Itself with the body, obscuring Its identity and losing sight of what It really is.

Once this confusion has occurred it becomes impossible for the Mind to understand that all the “pleasures” of the world are nothing. But what a sacrifice – and it is sacrifice indeed – all this entails! Now has the Mind condemned Itself to seek without finding, to be forever dissatisfied and discontented, to know not what It really wants to find. Who can escape this selfcondemnation? Only through God’s Word could this be possible. For selfcondemnation is a decision about identity. And no one doubts what he believes he is. He can doubt all things but never this.

God’s Teachers can have no regret on giving up the pleasures of the world. Is it a sacrifice to give up pain? Does an adult resent the giving up of children’s toys? Does one whose Vision has already glimpsed the Face of Christ look back with longing on a slaughter house? No one who has escaped the world and all its ills looks back on it with condemnation. Yet he must rejoice that he is free of all the sacrifice which its values would demand of him. To them he sacrifices all his freedom. To them he sacrifices all his Peace. And to possess them must he sacrifice his hope of Heaven and remembrance of his Father’s Love. Who in his sane mind chooses nothing as a substitute for everything?

What is the real meaning of sacrifice? It is the cost of believing in illusions. It is the price that must be paid for the denial of Truth. There is no pleasure of the world that does not demand this for otherwise the pleasure would be seen as pain. And no one asks for pain if he recognizes it. It is the idea of sacrifice that makes him blind. He does not see what he is asking for. And so he seeks it in a thousand ways and in a thousand places, each time believing it is there and each time disappointed in the end. “Seek but do not find” remains this world’s stern decree and no one who pursues the world’s goals can do otherwise.

You may believe This Course requires sacrifice of all You really hold dear. In one sense that is True for You hold dear the things that crucify God’s Son. And it is The Course’s aim to set Him free. But do not be mistaken about what sacrifice means. It always means the giving up of what You want. And what, oh Teacher of God, is it that You want? You have been called by God and You have answered. Would You now sacrifice that Call? Few have heard it as yet and They can but turn to You. There is no other hope in all the world that They can trust. There is no other voice in all the world that echoes God’s. If You would sacrifice the Truth They stay in hell. And if They stay You will remain with Them.

Do not forget that sacrifice is total. There are no “half sacrifices”. You cannot give up Heaven partially. You cannot be a little bit in hell. The Word of God has no exceptions. It is this that makes It Holy and beyond the world. It is Its Holiness That points to God. It is Its Holiness That makes You safe. It is denied if You attack any Brother for anything. For it is here the split with God occurs. A split that is impossible. A split that cannot happen. Yet a split in which You surely will believe because You have set up a situation that is impossible. And in this situation the impossible can seem to happen. It seems to happen at the “sacrifice” of Truth.

Teacher of God, do not forget the meaning of sacrifice and remember what each decision You make must mean in terms of cost. Decide for God and everything is given You at no cost at all. Decide against Him and You choose nothing at the expense of the awareness of everything. What would You teach? Remember only What You would learn. For it is Here that Your concern should be. Atonement is for You. Your learning claims It and Your learning gives It. The world contains It not, but learn This Course and It is Yours. God holds out His Word to You for He has need of Teachers. What other way is there to save His Son?

14. How Will the World End?

Can what has no beginning really end? The world will end in an illusion as it began. Yet will its ending be an illusion of mercy. The illusion of forgiveness, complete, excluding no one, limitless in gentleness will cover it, hiding all evil, concealing all sin and ending guilt forever. So ends the world that guilt had made for now it has no purpose and is gone. The father of illusions is the belief that they have a purpose, that they serve a need or gratify a want. Perceived as purposeless they are no longer seen. Their uselessness is recognized and they are gone. How but in this way are all illusions ended? They have been brought to Truth and Truth saw them not. It merely overlooked the meaningless.

Until forgiveness is complete the world does have a purpose. It becomes the home in which forgiveness is born and where it grows and becomes stronger and more allembracing. Here is it nourished for here it is needed. A gentle Savior born where sin was made and guilt seemed real. Here is His home for here there is need of Him indeed. He brings the ending of the world with Him. It is His Call God’s Teachers answer turning to Him in silence to receive His Word. The world will end when all things in it have been rightly judged by His judgment. The world will end with the Benediction of Holiness upon it. When not one thought of sin remains the world is over. It will not be destroyed nor attacked nor even touched. It will merely cease to seem to be.

Certainly this seems to be a long, long while away. “When not one thought of sin remains” appears to be a longrange goal indeed. But time stands still and waits on the goals of God’s Teachers. Not one thought of sin will remain the instant any One of Them accepts the Atonement for Himself. It is not easier to forgive one sin than to forgive all of them. The illusion of orders of difficulty is an obstacle the Teacher of God must learn to pass by and leave behind. One sin perfectly forgiven by one Teacher of God can make Salvation complete. Can You understand this? No. It is meaningless to Anyone here. Yet it is the final lesson in which Unity is restored. It goes against all the thinking of the world but so does Heaven.

The world will end when its thought system has been completely reversed. Until then bits and pieces of its thinking will still seem sensible. The final lesson which brings the ending of the world cannot be grasped by those not yet prepared to leave the world and go beyond its tiny reach. What then is the function of the Teacher of God in this concluding lesson? He need merely learn how to approach it, to be willing to go in its direction. He need merely trust that if God’s Voice tells Him it is a lesson He can learn He can learn it. He does not judge it either as hard or easy. His Teacher points to it and He trusts that He will show Him how to learn it.

The world will end in Joy because it is a place of sorrow. When Joy has come the purpose of the world has gone. The world will end in Peace because it is a place of war. When Peace has come what is the purpose of the world? The world will end in laughter because it is a place of tears. Where there is laughter Who can longer weep? And only complete forgiveness brings all this to bless the world. In Blessing it departs for it will not end as it began. To turn hell into Heaven is the function of God’s Teachers for what They teach are lessons in which Heaven is reflected. And now sit down in True humility and realize that all God would have You do You can do. Do not be arrogant and say You cannot learn His own Curriculum. His Word says otherwise. His Will be done. It cannot be otherwise. And be You thankful it is so.

15. Is Each One to be Judged In the End?

Indeed, Yes! No one can escape God’s Final Judgment. Who could flee forever from the Truth? But the Final Judgment will not come until it is no longer associated with fear. One day Each One will welcome it and on that very day it will be given Him. He will hear His Sinlessness proclaimed around and around the world setting it free as God’s Final Judgment on Him is received. This is the judgment in which Salvation lies. This is the judgment that will set Him free. This is the judgment in which all things are freed with Him. Time pauses as Eternity comes near and silence lies across the world that Everyone may hear this judgment of the Son of God:

Holy are You, eternal, free and whole,
At Peace forever in the Heart of God.
Where is the world and where is sorrow now?

Is this Your judgment on Yourself, Teacher of God? Do You believe that this is wholly True? No, not yet, not yet. But this is still Your goal, why You are here. It is Your function to prepare Yourself to hear this judgment and to recognize that it is True. One instant of complete belief in this and You will go beyond belief to Certainty. One instant out of time can bring time’s end. Judge not for You but judge Yourself and thus delay this Final Judgment. What is Your judgment on the world, Teacher of God? Have You yet learned to stand aside and hear the Voice of Judgment in Yourself? Or do You still attempt to take His role from Him? Learn to be quiet for His Voice is heard in stillness. And His Judgment comes to All Who stand aside in quiet listening and wait for Him.

You Who are sometimes sad and sometimes angry, Who sometimes feel Your just due is not given You and Your best efforts meet with lack of appreciation and even with contempt: Give up these foolish thoughts. They are too small and meaningless to occupy Your Holy Minds an instant longer. God’s Judgment waits for You to set You free. What can the world hold out to You regardless of Your judgments on its gifts that You would rather have? You will be judged, and judged in fairness and in honesty. There is no deceit in God. His Promises are sure. Only remember that. His Promises have guaranteed His judgment, and His alone, will be accepted in the end. It is Your function to make that end be soon. It is Your function to hold it in Your Heart and offer it to all the world to keep it safe.

16. How Should the Teacher of God Spend His Day?

To the advanced Teacher of God this question is meaningless. There is no program for the lessons change each day. Yet He is sure of but one thing: They do not change at random. Seeing this and understanding it is True He rests content. He will be told all that His role should be this day and every day. And Those Who share that role with Him will find Him so They can learn the lessons for the day Together. Not One is absent Whom He needs. Not One is sent without a learning goal already set and one which can be met that very day. For the advanced Teacher of God then this question is superfluous. It has been asked and answered and He keeps in constant contact with the Answer. He is set and sees the road on which He walks stretch surely and smoothly before Him.

But what about Those Who have not reached His certainty? They are not yet ready for such lack of structuring on Their own part. What must They do to learn to give the day to God? There are some general rules which do apply although Each One must use them as best He can in His own way. Routines as such are dangerous because they easily become gods in their own right threatening the very goals for which they were set up. Broadly speaking then it can be said that it is well to start the day right. It is always possible to begin again should the day begin with error. Yet there are obvious advantages in terms of saving time if the need for this can be avoided.

At the beginning it is wise to think in terms of time. This is by no means the ultimate criterion but at the outset it is probably the simplest to observe. The saving of time is an essential early emphasis which, although it remains important throughout the learning process, becomes less and less emphasized. At the outset We can safely say that time devoted to starting the day right does indeed save time. How much time should be so spent? This must depend on the Teacher of God Himself. He cannot claim that title until He has gone through the Workbook since We are learning within the framework of Our Course. After completion of the more structured practice periods which the Workbook contains individual need becomes the chief consideration.

This Course is always practical. It may be that the Teacher of God is not in a situation which fosters quiet thought as He awakes. If this is so let Him but remember that He chooses to spend time with God as soon as possible and let Him do so. Duration is not the major concern. One can easily sit still an hour with closed eyes and accomplish nothing. One can as easily give God only an instant and in that instant join with Him completely. Perhaps the one generalization that can be made is this: As soon as possible after waking take Your quiet time continuing a minute or two after You begin to find it difficult. You may find that the difficulty will diminish and drop away. If not that is the time to stop.

The same procedures should be followed at night. Perhaps Your quiet time should be fairly early in the evening if it is not feasible for You to take it just before going to sleep. It is not wise to lie down for it. It is better to sit up in whatever position You prefer. Having gone through the Workbook You must have come to some conclusions in this respect. If possible however just before sleeping is a desirable time to devote to God. It sets Your Mind into a pattern of rest and orients You away from fear. If it is expedient to spend this time earlier at least be sure that You do not forget a brief period, not more than a moment will do, in which You close Your eyes and think of God.

There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day. It is a thought of pure Joy, a thought of Peace, a thought of limitless release – limitless because all things are freed within it. You think You made a place of safety for Yourself. You think You made a power that can save You from all the fearful things You see in dreams. It is not so. Your safety lies not there. What You give up is merely the illusion of protecting illusions. And it is this You fear and only this. How foolish to be so afraid of nothing! Nothing at all! Your defenses will not work but You are not in danger. You have no need of them. Recognize this and they will disappear. And only then will You accept Your real protection.

How simply and how easily does the day slip by for the Teacher of God Who has accepted His protection! All that He did before in the name of safety no longer interests Him. For He is safe and knows it to be so. He has a Guide Who will not fail. He need make no distinctions among the problems He perceives for He to Whom He turns with all of them recognizes no order of difficulty in resolving them. He is as safe in the Present as He was before illusions were accepted into His Mind and as He will be when He has let them go. There is no difference in His state at different times and different places because they are all one to God. This is His safety. And He has no need for more than this.

Yet there will be temptations along the way the Teacher of God has yet to travel and He has need of reminding Himself throughout the day of His protection. How can He do this particularly during the time when His Mind is occupied with external things? He can but try and His success depends on His conviction that He will succeed. He must be sure success is not of Him but will be given Him at any time, in any place and circumstance He calls for it. There are times His certainty will waver and the instant this occurs He will return to earlier attempts to place reliance on Himself alone. Forget not this is magic and that magic is a sorry substitute for True assistance. It is not good enough for God’s Teacher because it is not good enough for God’s Son.

The avoidance of magic is the avoidance of temptation. For all temptation is nothing more than the attempt to substitute another will for God’s. These attempts may indeed seem frightening yet they are merely pathetic. They can have no effects, neither good nor bad, neither rewarding nor demanding sacrifice, healing nor destructive, quieting nor fearful. When all magic is recognized as merely nothing the Teacher of God has reached the most advanced state. All intermediate lessons will but lead to this and bring this goal nearer to recognition. For magic of any kind, in all its forms simply does nothing. Its powerlessness is the reason it can be so easily escaped. What has no effects can hardly terrify.

There is no substitute for the Will of God. In simple statement it is to this fact that the Teacher of God devotes His day. Each substitute He may accept as real can but deceive Him. But He is safe from all deception if He so decides. Perhaps He needs to remember:

God is with Me. I cannot be deceived.

Perhaps He prefers other words, or only one, or none at all. Yet each temptation to accept magic as True must be abandoned through His recognition, not that it is fearful, not that it is sinful, not that it is dangerous but merely that it is meaningless. Rooted in sacrifice and separation, two aspects of one error and no more, He merely chooses to give up all that He never had. And for this “sacrifice” is Heaven restored to His awareness.

Is not this an exchange that You would want? The world would gladly make it if it knew it could be made. It is God’s Teachers Who must teach it that it can. And so it is Their function to make sure that They have learned it. No risk is possible throughout the day except to put Your trust in magic for it is only this that leads to pain.

There is no will but God’s.

His Teachers know that this is so and have learned that everything but this is magic. All belief in magic is maintained by just one simpleminded illusion: That it works. All through His training, every day and hour and even every minute and second, must God’s Teachers learn to recognize the forms of magic and perceive their meaninglessness. Fear is withdrawn from them and so they go. And thus the Gate of Heaven is reopened and its Light can shine again on an untroubled Mind.

17. How Do God’s Teachers Deal With Their Pupils’ Thoughts of Magic?

This is a crucial question both for Teacher and pupil. If this issue is mishandled the Teacher of God has hurt Himself and has also attacked His pupil. This strengthens fear and makes the magic seem quite real to Both of Them. How to deal with magic thus becomes a major lesson for the Teacher of God to master. His first responsibility in this is not to attack it. If a magic thought arouses anger in any form God’s Teacher can be sure that He is strengthening His own belief in sin and has condemned Himself. He can be sure as well that He has asked for depression, pain, fear and disaster to come to Him. Let Him remember then it is not this that He would teach because it is not this that He would learn.

There is however a temptation to respond to magic in a way that reinforces it. Nor is this always obvious. It can in fact be easily concealed beneath a wish to help. It is this double wish that makes the help of little value and must lead to undesired outcomes. Nor should it be forgotten that the outcome which results will always come to Teacher and to pupil. How many times has it been emphasized that You give but to Yourself? And where could this be better shown than in the kinds of help the Teacher gives to Those Who need His aid? Here is His gift most clearly given Him. For He will give only What He has chosen for Himself. And in this gift is His judgment upon the Holy Son of God.

It is easiest to let error be corrected where it is most apparent and errors can be recognized by their results. A lesson Truly taught can lead to nothing but release for Teacher and pupil Who have shared in one intent. Attack can enter only if perception of separate goals has entered. And this must indeed have been the case if the result is anything but Joy. The single aim of the Teacher turns the divided goal of the pupil into one direction with the call for help becoming His one appeal. This then is easily responded to with just one Answer and this Answer will enter the Teacher’s Mind unfailingly. From there It shines into His pupil’s Mind making It One with His.

Perhaps it will be helpful to remember that no one can be angry at a fact. It is always an interpretation that gives rise to negative emotions regardless of their seeming justification by what appear as facts. Regardless too of the intensity of the anger which is aroused. It may be merely slight irritation, perhaps too mild to be even clearly recognized. Or it may also take the form of intense rage accompanied by thoughts of violence, fantasized or apparently acted out. It does not matter. All of these reactions are the same. They obscure the Truth and this can never be a matter of degree. Either Truth is apparent or It is not. It cannot be partially recognized. Who is unaware of Truth must look upon illusions.

Anger in response to perceived magic thoughts is the basic cause of fear. Consider what this reaction means and its centrality in the world’s thought system becomes apparent. A magic thought, by its mere presence, acknowledges a separation from God. It states in the clearest form possible that the mind which thinks it believes it has a separate will can oppose the Will of God and succeed. That this can hardly be a fact is obvious. Yet that it can be believed as fact is surely so. And herein lies the birthplace of guilt. Who usurps the place of God and takes it for Himself now has a deadly “enemy”. And He must stand alone in His protection and make Himself a shield to keep Him safe from fury that can never be abated and vengeance that can never be satisfied.

How can this unfair battle be resolved? Its ending is inevitable for its outcome must be death. How then can One believe in One’s defenses? Magic again must help. Forget the battle. Accept it as a fact and then forget it. Do not remember the impossible odds against You. Do not remember the immensity of the “enemy” and do not think about Your frailty in comparison. Accept Your separation but do not remember how it came about. Believe that You have won it but do not retain the slightest memory of Who Your great “opponent” really is. Projecting Your “forgetting” onto Him it seems to You He has forgotten too.

But what will now be Your reaction to all magic thoughts? They can but reawaken sleeping guilt which You have hidden but have not let go. Each one says clearly to Your frightened Mind: “You have usurped the place of God. Think not He has forgotten.” Here We have the fear of God most starkly represented. For in that thought has guilt already raised madness to the throne of God Himself. And now there is no hope. Except to kill. Here is Salvation now. An angry Father pursues His guilty Son. Kill or be killed for here alone is choice. Beyond this there is none for what was done cannot be done without. The stain of blood can never be removed and Anyone Who bears this stain on Him must meet with death.

Into this hopeless situation God sends His Teachers. They bring the Light of hope from God Himself. There is a Way in which escape is possible. It can be learned and taught but it requires patience and abundant willingness. Given that the lesson’s manifest simplicity stands out like an intense white Light against a black horizon for such it is. If anger comes from an interpretation and not a fact it is never justified. Once this is even dimly grasped the Way is open. Now it is possible to take the next step. The interpretation can be changed at last. Magic thoughts need not lead to condemnation for they do not really have the Power to give rise to guilt. And so they can be overlooked and thus forgiven in the Truest sense.

Madness but seems terrible. In Truth it has no Power to make anything. Like the magic which becomes its servant it neither attacks nor protects. To see it and to recognize its thought system is to look on nothing. Can nothing give rise to anger? Hardly so. Remember then, Teacher of God, that anger recognizes a Reality that is not there. Yet is the anger certain witness that You do believe in it as fact. Now is escape impossible until You see You have responded to Your own interpretation which You have projected on an outside world. Let this grim sword be taken from You now. There is no death. This sword does not exist. The fear of God is causeless. But His Love is Cause of everything beyond all fear and thus forever real and always True.

18. How Is Correction Made?

Correction of a lasting nature – and only this is True correction – cannot be made until the Teacher of God has ceased to confuse interpretation with fact or illusion with Truth. If He argues with His pupil about a magic thought, attacks it, tries to establish its error or demonstrate its falsity He is but witnessing to its Reality. Depression is then inevitable for He has “proved” both to His pupil and Himself that it is Their task to escape from what is real. And this can only be impossible. Reality is changeless. Magic thoughts are but illusions. Otherwise Salvation would be only the same age old impossible dream in but another form. Yet the dream of Salvation has new content. It is not the form alone in which the difference lies.

God’s Teachers’ major lesson is to learn how to react to magic thoughts wholly without anger. Only in this way can They proclaim the Truth about Themselves. Through Them the Holy Spirit can now speak of the Reality of the Son of God. Now He can remind the world of Sinlessness, the one unchanged, unchangeable condition of all that God created. Now He can speak the Word of God to listening Ears and bring Christ’s Vision to Eyes that see. Now is He free to teach all Minds the Truth of what They are so They will gladly be returned to Him. And now is guilt forgiven, overlooked completely in His sight and in God’s Word.

Anger but screeches: “Guilt is real!” Reality is blotted out as this insane belief is taken as replacement for God’s Word. The body’s eyes now “see”. Its ears alone are thought to hear. Its little space and tiny breath become the measure of Reality. And Truth becomes diminutive and meaningless. Correction has one Answer to all this and to the world that rests on this:

You but mistake interpretation for the Truth. And You are wrong. But a mistake is not a sin nor has Reality been taken from its throne by Your mistakes. God reigns forever and His laws alone prevail upon You and upon the world. His Love remains the only thing there is. Fear is illusion for You are like Him.

In order to heal it thus becomes essential for the Teacher of God to let all His own mistakes be corrected. If He senses even the faintest hint of irritation in Himself as He responds to Anyone let Him instantly realize that He has made an interpretation which is not True. Then let Him turn within to His eternal Guide and let Him judge what the response should be. So is He healed and in His healing is His pupil healed with Him. The sole responsibility of God’s Teacher is to accept the Atonement for Himself. Atonement means correction, or the undoing, of errors. When this has been accomplished the Teacher of God becomes a Miracle Worker by definition. His sins have been forgiven Him and He no longer condemns Himself. How can He then condemn Anyone? And Who is there Whom His forgiveness can fail to heal?

19. What Is Justice?

Justice is the Divine correction for injustice. Injustice is the basis for all the judgments of the world. Justice corrects the interpretations to which injustice gives rise and cancels them out. Neither Justice nor injustice exists in Heaven for error is impossible and correction meaningless. In this world however forgiveness depends on Justice since all attack can only be unjust. Justice is the Holy Spirit’s verdict upon the world. Except in His judgment Justice is impossible for no one in the world is capable of making only just interpretations and laying all injustices aside. If God’s Son were fairly judged there would be no need for Salvation. The thought of separation would have been forever inconceivable.

Justice, like its opposite, is an interpretation. It is however the one interpretation that leads to Truth. This becomes possible because while it is not True in itself Justice includes nothing that opposes Truth. There is no inherent conflict between Justice and Truth. One is but the first small step in the direction of the other. The path becomes quite different as One goes along. Nor could all the magnificence, the grandeur of the scene and the enormous opening vistas that rise to meet One as He travels on be foretold from the outset. Yet even these whose splendor reaches indescribable heights as One proceeds fall short indeed of all that awaits One when the pathway ceases and time ends with it. But somewhere One must start. Justice is the beginning.

All concepts of Your Brothers and Yourself, all fears of future states and all concern about the past stem from injustice. Here is the lens which, held before the body’s eyes, distorts perception and brings witness of the distorted world back to the mind that made the lens and holds it very dear. Selectively and arbitrarily is every concept of the world built up in just this way. “Sins” are perceived and justified by this careful selectivity in which all thought of wholeness must be lost. Forgiveness has no place in such a scheme for not one “sin” but seems forever True.

Salvation is God’s Justice. It restores to Your awareness the wholeness of the fragments You perceive as broken off and separate. And it is this that overcomes the fear of death. For separate fragments must decay and die but wholeness is immortal. It remains forever and forever like its Creator being One with Him. God’s Judgment is His Justice. Onto this – a Judgment wholly lacking in condemnation, an evaluation based entirely on Love – You have projected Your injustice giving God the lens of warped perception through which You look. Now it belongs to Him and not to You. You are afraid of Him and do not see You hate and fear Your Self as enemy.

Pray for God’s Justice and do not confuse His mercy with Your own insanity. Perception can make whatever picture the Mind desires to see. Remember this. In this lies either Heaven or hell as You elect. God’s Justice points to Heaven just because it is entirely impartial. It accepts all evidence that is brought before it, omitting nothing and assessing nothing as separate and apart from all the rest. From this one standpoint does it judge, and this alone. Here all attack and condemnation become meaningless and indefensible. Perception rests, the Mind is still and Light returns again. Vision is now restored. What had been lost has now been found. The Peace of God descends on all the world and We can see. And We can see!

20. What Is the Peace of God?

It has been said that there is a kind of Peace that is not of this world. How is it recognized? How is it found? And being found how can it be retained? Let Us consider each of these questions separately for each reflects a different step along the way.

a. How can the Peace of God be recognized?

God’s Peace is recognized at first by just one thing: In every way it is totally unlike all previous experiences. It calls to Mind nothing that went before. It brings with it no past associations. It is a new thing entirely. There is a contrast, Yes, between this thing and all the past. But strangely it is not a contrast of True differences. The past just slips away and in its place is everlasting quiet. Only that. The contrast first perceived has merely gone. Quiet has reached to cover everything.

b. How is this quiet found?

No one can fail to find it who but seeks out its conditions. God’s Peace can never come where anger is for anger must deny that Peace exists. Who sees anger as justified in any way, or any circumstance, proclaims that Peace is meaningless and must believe that it cannot exist. In this condition Peace cannot be found. Therefore forgiveness is the necessary condition for finding the Peace of God. More than this: Given forgiveness there must be Peace. For what except attack will lead to war? And what but Peace is opposite to war? Here the initial contrast stands out clear and apparent. Yet when Peace is found the war is meaningless. And it is conflict now that is perceived as nonexistent and unreal.

c. How is the Peace of God retained once it is found?

Returning anger in whatever form will drop the heavy curtain once again and the belief that Peace cannot exist will certainly return. War is again accepted as the one Reality. Now must You once again lay down Your sword although You may not recognize that You have picked it up again. But You will learn as You remember even faintly now what happiness was Yours without it that You must have taken it again as Your defense. Stop for a moment now and think of this: Is conflict what You want or is God’s Peace the better choice? Which gives You more? A tranquil Mind is not a little Gift. Would You not rather live than choose to die?

Living is Joy but death can only weep. You see in death escape from what You made. But this You do not see: That You made death and it is but illusion of an end. Death cannot be escape because it is not Life in which the problem lies. Life has no opposite for it is God. Life and death seem to be opposites because You have decided that death ends Life. Forgive the world and You will understand that

Everything Which God created cannot have an end
And nothing He did not create is real.

In this one sentence is Our Course explained. In this one sentence is Our practicing given its one direction. And in this the Holy Spirit’s whole Curriculum is specified exactly as it is.

d. What is the Peace of God?

No more than this: The simple understanding that His Will is wholly without opposite. There is no thought that contradicts His Will yet can be True. The contrast between His Will and Yours but seemed to be Reality. In Truth there is no conflict because His Will is Yours. Now is the mighty Will of God Himself His Gift to You. He does not seek to keep It for Himself. Why would You seek to keep Your tiny, frail imaginings apart from Him? The Will of God is One and All there is. This is Your heritage. The Universe beyond the sun and stars and all the thoughts of which You can conceive belong to You. God’s Peace is the condition for His Will. Attain His Peace and You remember Him.

21. What Is the Role of Words in Healing?

Strictly speaking words play no part at all in healing. The motivating factor is Prayer or asking. What You ask for You receive. But this refers to the Prayer of the Heart, not to the words You use in praying. Sometimes the words and the Prayer are contradictory, sometimes they agree. It does not matter. God does not understand words for they were made by separated minds to keep them in the illusion of separation. Words can be helpful particularly for the beginner in helping concentration and facilitating the exclusion, or at least the control, of extraneous thoughts. Let Us not forget however that words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from Reality.

As symbols words have quite specific references. Even when they seem most abstract the picture which comes to Mind is apt to be very concrete. Unless a specific referent does occur to the Mind in conjunction with the word the word has little or no practical meaning and thus cannot help the healing process. The Prayer of the Heart does not really ask for concrete things. It always requests some kind of experience, the specific things asked for being the bringers of the desired experience in the judgment of the asker. The words then are symbols for the things asked for but the things themselves but stand for the experiences hoped for.

The Prayer for things of this world will bring experiences of this world. If the Prayer of the Heart asks for this this will be given because this will be received. It is impossible that the Prayer of the Heart remain unanswered in the perception of the One Who asks. If He asks for the impossible, if He wants what does not exist or seeks for illusions in His Heart all this becomes His own. The Power of His decision offers it to Him as He requests. Herein lie hell and Heaven. The sleeping Son of God has but this Power left to Him. It is enough. His words do not matter. Only the Word of God has any meaning because it symbolizes that which has no human symbols at all. The Holy Spirit alone understands what this Word stands for. And this too is enough.

Is the Teacher of God then to avoid the use of words in His teaching? No indeed. There are many who must be reached through words being as yet unable to hear in silence. The Teacher of God must however learn to use words in a new way. Gradually He learns how to let His words be chosen for Him by ceasing to decide for Himself what He will say. This process is merely a special case of the Workbook Lesson 155 I will step back and let Him lead the way. The Teacher of God accepts the words which are offered Him and gives as He receives. He does not control the direction of His speaking. He listens and hears and speaks.

A major hindrance in this aspect of His learning is the Teacher of God’s fear about the validity of what He hears. And what He hears may indeed be quite startling. It may also seem to be irrelevant to the presented problem as He perceives it and may in fact confront Him with a situation that appears to be very embarrassing. All these are judgments which have no value. They are His own coming from the shabby selfperception that He would leave behind. Judge not the words that come to You but offer them in confidence. They are far wiser than Your own. God’s Teachers have God’s Word behind Their symbols. And He Himself gives to the words They use the Power of His Spirit raising them from meaningless symbols to the Call of Heaven itself.

22. How Are Healing and Atonement Related?

Healing and Atonement are not related, they are identical. There is no order of difficulty in Miracles because there are no degrees of Atonement. It is the one complete concept possible in this world because it is the Source of a wholly unified perception. Partial Atonement is a meaningless idea just as special areas of hell in Heaven is inconceivable. Accept Atonement and You are healed. Atonement is the Word of God. Accept His Word and what remains to make sickness possible? Accept His Word and every Miracle has been accomplished. To forgive is to heal. The Teacher of God has taken accepting the Atonement for Himself as His only function. What is there then He cannot heal? What Miracle can be withheld from Him?

The progress of the Teacher of God may be slow or rapid depending on whether He recognizes the Atonement’s inclusiveness or for a time excludes some problem areas from It. In some cases there is a sudden and complete awareness of the perfect applicability of the lesson of Atonement to all situations. This however is comparatively rare. The Teacher of God may have accepted the function God has given Him long before He has learned all that His acceptance holds out to Him. It is only the end that is certain. Anywhere along the way the necessary realization of inclusiveness may reach Him. If the way seems long let Him be content. He has decided on the direction He will take. What more is asked of Him? And having done what was required would God withhold the rest?

That forgiveness is healing needs to be understood if the Teacher of God is to make progress. The idea that a body can be sick is a central concept in the ego’s thought system. This thought gives the body autonomy, separates it from the Mind and keeps the idea of attack inviolate. If the body could be sick Atonement would be impossible. A body that can order a Mind to do as it sees fit would merely take the place of God and prove Salvation is impossible. What then is left to heal? The body has become Lord of the Mind. How could the Mind be returned to the Holy Spirit unless the body is killed? And Who would want Salvation at such a price?

Certainly sickness does not appear to be a decision. Nor would Anyone actually believe He wants to be sick. Perhaps He can accept the idea in theory but it is rarely, if ever, consistently applied to all specific forms of sickness both in the individual’s perception of Himself and of all Others as well. Nor is it at this level that the Teacher of God calls forth the Miracle of healing. He overlooks the Mind and body seeing only the Face of Christ shining in front of Him correcting all mistakes and healing all perception. Healing is the result of the recognition by God’s Teacher of Who it is that is in need of healing. This recognition has no special reference. It is True of all things that God created. In It are all illusions healed.

When a Teacher of God fails to heal it is because He has forgotten Who He is. Another’s sickness thus becomes His own. In allowing this to happen He has identified with Another’s ego and has thus confused Him with a body. In so doing He has refused to accept Atonement for Himself and can hardly offer It to His Brother in Christ’s name. He will in fact be unable to recognize His Brother at all for His Father did not create bodies and so He is seeing in a Brother only the unreal. Mistakes do not correct mistakes and distorted perception does not heal. Step back now, Teacher of God. You have been wrong. Lead not the way for You have lost it. Turn quickly to Your Teacher and let Yourself be healed.

The offer of Atonement is universal. It is equally applicable to all individuals in all circumstances. And in It is the Power to heal all individuals of all forms of sickness. Not to believe this is to be unfair to God and thus unfaithful to Him. A sick person perceives Himself as separate from God. Would You see Him as separate from You? It is Your task to heal the sense of separation that has made Him sick. It is Your function to recognize for Him that what He believes about Himself is not the Truth. It is Your forgiveness that must show Him this. Healing is very simple: Atonement is received and offered. Having been received It must be accepted. It is in the receiving then that healing lies. All else must follow from this single purpose.

Who can limit the Power of God Himself? Who then can say Who can be healed of what and what must remain beyond God’s Power to forgive? This is insanity indeed. It is not up to God’s Teachers to set limits upon Him because it is not up to Them to judge His Son. And to judge His Son is to limit His Father. Both are equally meaningless. Yet this will not be understood until God’s Teacher recognizes that they are the same mistake. Herein does He receive Atonement for He withdraws His judgment from the Son of God accepting Him as God created Him. No longer does He stand apart from God determining where healing should be given and where it should be withheld. Now can He say with God:

This is My beloved Son, created perfect and forever so.

23. Does Jesus Have a Special Place in Healing?

God’s Gifts can rarely be received directly. Even the most advanced of God’s Teachers will give way to temptation in this world. Would it be fair if Their pupils were denied healing because of this? The Bible says: Ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Is this merely an appeal to magic? A name does not heal nor does an invocation call forth any special Power. What does it mean to call on Jesus Christ? What does calling on His name confer? Why is the appeal to Him part of healing?

We have repeatedly stated that One Who has perfectly accepted the Atonement for Himself can heal the world. Indeed He has already done so. Temptation may recur to Others but never to this One. He has become the risen Son of God. He has overcome death because He has accepted Life. He has recognized Himself as God created Him. And in so doing He has recognized all Living Things as part of Him. There is now no limit on His Power because it is the Power of God. So has His name become the name of God for He no longer sees Himself as separate from Him.

What does this mean to You? It means that in remembering Jesus You are remembering God. The whole Relationship of the Son to the Father lies in Him. His part in the Sonship is also Yours and His completed learning guarantees Your own success. Is He still available for help? What did He say about this? Remember His Promises and ask Yourself honestly whether it is likely that He will fail to keep them. Can God fail His Son? And can One Who is One with God be unlike Him? Who transcends the body has transcended limitation. Would the greatest Teacher be unavailable to Those Who follow Him?

The name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol. But it stands for Love That is not of this world. It is a symbol that can safely be used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods You pray to. It becomes the shining symbol for the Word of God so close to What it stands for that the little space between the two is lost the moment that the name is called to Mind. Remembering His name is to give thanks for all the Gifts that God has given You. And gratitude to God becomes the way in which He is remembered for Love cannot be far behind a grateful Heart and thankful Mind. God enters easily for these are the True conditions for Your coming Home.

Jesus has led the way. Why would You not be grateful to Him? He has asked for Love but only that He might give It to You. You do not love Yourself. But in His Eyes Your loveliness is so complete and flawless that He sees in it an image of His Father. You become the symbol of His Father here on earth. To You He looks for hope because in You He sees no limit and no stain to mar Your beautiful perfection. In His Eyes Christ’s Vision shines in perfect constancy. He has remained with You. Would You not learn the lesson of Salvation through His learning? Why would You choose to start again when He has made the journey for You?

No one on earth can grasp what Heaven is or what its one Creator really means. Yet We have Witnesses. It is to Them that wisdom would appeal. There have been Those Whose learning far exceeds what You can learn. Nor would We teach the limitations We have laid on Us. No One Who has become a True and dedicated Teacher of God forgets His Brothers. Yet what He can offer them is limited by what He learns Himself. Then turn to One Who laid all limits by and went beyond the farthest reach of learning. He will take You with Him for He did not go alone. And You were with Him then as You are now.

This Course has come from Him because His words have reached You in a language You can love and understand. Are other Teachers possible to lead the way to those who speak in different tongues and appeal to different symbols? Certainly there are. Would God leave Anyone without a very present help in time of trouble, a Savior Who can symbolize Himself? Yet do We need a manyfaceted Curriculum, not because of content differences but because symbols must shift and change to suit the need. Jesus has come to answer Yours. In Him You find God’s Answer. Do You then teach with Him for He is with You. He is always Here.

24. Is Reincarnation True?

In the ultimate sense reincarnation is impossible. There is no past nor future and the idea of birth into a body has no meaning either once or many times. Reincarnation cannot then be True in any real sense. Our only question should be:

Is the concept helpful?

And that depends of course on what it is used for. If it is used to strengthen the recognition of the eternal nature of Life it is helpful indeed. Is any other question about it really useful in lighting up the way? Like many other beliefs it can be bitterly misused. At least such misuse offers preoccupation, and perhaps pride, in the past. At worst it induces inertia in the Present. In between many kinds of folly are possible.

Reincarnation would not under any circumstances be the problem to be dealt with now. If it were responsible for some of the difficulties the individual faces now His task would still be only to escape from them now. If He is laying the groundwork for a future Life He can still work out His Salvation only now. To some there may be comfort in the concept and if it heartens Them its value is selfevident. It is certain however that the way to Salvation can be found by Those Who believe in reincarnation and by Those Who do not. The idea cannot therefore be regarded as essential to the Curriculum. There is always some risk in seeing the Present in terms of the past. There is always some good in any thought which strengthens the idea that Life and the body are not the same.

For Our purposes it would not be helpful to take any definite stand on reincarnation. A Teacher of God should be as helpful to Those Who believe in it as to Those Who do not. If a definite stand on it were required of Him it would merely limit His usefulness as well as His own decisionmaking. Our Course is not concerned with any concept that is not acceptable to Anyone regardless of His formal beliefs. His ego will be enough for Him to cope with and it is not part of wisdom to add sectarian controversies to His burdens. Nor would there be an advantage in His premature acceptance of The Course merely because It advocates a long-held belief of His own.

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that This Course aims at a complete reversal of thought. When this is finally accomplished issues such as the validity of reincarnation become meaningless. Until then they are likely to be merely controversial. The Teacher of God is therefore wise to step away from all such questions for He has much to teach and learn apart from them. He should both learn and teach that theoretical issues but waste time draining it away from its appointed purpose. If there are aspects to any concept or belief that will be helpful He will be told about it. He will also be told how to use it. What more need He know?

Does this mean that the Teacher of God should not believe in reincarnation Himself or discuss it with Others Who do? The answer is: Certainly not! If He does believe in reincarnation it would be a mistake for Him to renounce the belief unless His Internal Teacher so advised. And this is most unlikely. He might be advised that He is misusing the belief in some way which is detrimental to His pupil’s advance or His own. Reinterpretation would then be recommended because it would be necessary. All that must be recognized however is that birth was not the beginning and death is not the end. Yet even this much is not required of the beginner. He need merely accept the idea that what He knows is not necessarily all there is to learn. His journey has begun.

The emphasis of This Course always remains the same: It is at this moment that complete Salvation is offered You and it is at this moment that You can accept it. This is still Your one responsibility. Atonement might be equated with total escape from the past and total lack of interest in the future. Heaven is Here. There is nowhere else. Heaven is now. There is no other time. No teaching that does not lead to this is of concern to God’s Teachers. All beliefs will point to this if properly interpreted. In this sense it can be said that their Truth lies in their usefulness. All beliefs that lead to progress should be honored. This is the sole criterion This Course requires. No more than this is necessary.

25. Are “Psychic” Powers Desirable?

The answer to this question is much like the preceding one. There are of course no “unnatural” Powers and it is obviously merely an appeal to magic to make up a Power that does not exist. It is equally obvious however that each individual has many abilities of which He is unaware. As His awareness increases He may well develop abilities that seem quite startling to Him. Yet nothing that He can do can compare even in the slightest with the glorious surprise of remembering Who He is. Let all His learning and all His effort be directed toward this one great final surprise and He will not be content to be delayed by the little ones that may come to Him on the way.

Certainly there are many “psychic” Powers that are clearly in line with This Course. Communication is not limited to the small range of channels the world recognizes. If it were there would be little point in trying to teach Salvation. It would be impossible to do so. The limits the world places on communication is the chief barrier to direct experience of the Holy Spirit Whose Presence is always there and Whose Voice is available but for the hearing. These limits are placed out of fear for without them the walls that surround all the separate places of the world would fall at the Holy sound of His Voice. Who transcends these limits in any way is merely becoming more natural. He is doing nothing special and there is no magic in His accomplishments.

The seemingly new abilities that may be gathered on the way can be very helpful. Given to the Holy Spirit and used under His direction they are very valuable teaching aids. To this the question of how they arise is irrelevant. The only important consideration is how they are used. Taken as ends in themselves, no matter how this is done, will delay progress. Nor does their value lie in proving anything: Achievements from the past, unusual attunement with the “unseen” or special favors from God. God gives no special favors and no one has any Powers that are not available to everyone. Only by tricks of magic are special Powers “demonstrated”.

Nothing that is genuine is used to deceive. The Holy Spirit is incapable of deception and He can use only genuine abilities. What is used for magic is useless to Him but what He uses cannot be used for magic. There is however a particular appeal in unusual abilities which can be curiously tempting. Here are Strengths which the Holy Spirit wants and needs. Yet the ego sees in these same Strengths an opportunity to glorify itself. Strengths turned to weakness are tragedy indeed. Yet what is not given to the Holy Spirit must be given to weakness for what is withheld from Love is given to fear and will be fearful in consequence.

Even Those Who no longer value the material things of the world may still be deceived by “psychic” Powers. As investment has been withdrawn from the world’s material gifts the ego has been seriously threatened. It may still be strong enough to rally under this new temptation to win back Strength by guile. Many have not seen through the ego’s defenses here although they are not particularly subtle. Yet given a remaining wish to be deceived deception is made easy. Now the “Power” is no longer a genuine ability and cannot be used dependably. It is almost inevitable that unless the individual changes His mind about its purpose He will bolster its uncertainties with increasing deception.

Any ability that Anyone develops has the potentiality for good. To this there is no exception. And the more unusual and unexpected the Power the greater its potential usefulness. Salvation has need of all abilities for What the world would destroy the Holy Spirit would restore. “Psychic” abilities have been used to call upon the devil which merely means to strengthen the ego. Yet here is also a great channel of hope and healing in the Holy Spirit’s service. Those Who have developed “psychic” Powers have merely let some of the limitations They laid upon Their Minds be lifted. It can be but greater limitations They lay upon Themselves if They utilize Their increased freedom for further imprisonment. The Holy Spirit needs these gifts and Those Who offer Them to Him, and Him alone, go with Christ’s gratitude upon Their Hearts and His Holy Sight not far behind.

26. Can God Be Reached Directly?

God indeed can be reached directly for there is no distance between Him and His Son. His awareness is in Everyone’s Memory and His Word is written on Everyone’s Heart. Yet this awareness and this Memory can arise across the threshold of the unconscious only where all barriers to Truth have been removed. In how Many is this the case? Here then is the role of God’s Teachers. They too have not attained the necessary understanding as yet but They have joined with Others. This is what sets Them apart from the world. And it is this that enables Others to leave the world with Them. Alone They are nothing. But in Their joining is the Power of God.

There are Those Who have reached God directly retaining no trace of worldly limits and remembering Their own Identity perfectly. These might be called the Teachers of Teachers because although They are no longer visible Their image can yet be called upon. And They will appear when and where it is helpful for Them to do so. To Those to Whom such appearances would be frightening They give Their ideas. No one can call on Them in vain. Nor is there anyone of whom They are unaware. All needs are known to Them and all mistakes are recognized and overlooked by Them. The time will come when this is understood. And meanwhile They give all Their Gifts to the Teachers of God Who look to Them for help asking all things in Their name and in no other.

Sometimes a Teacher of God may have a brief experience of direct union with God. In this world it is almost impossible that this endure. It can perhaps be won after much devotion and dedication and then be maintained for most of the time on earth. But this is so rare that it cannot be considered a realistic goal. If it happens so be it. If it does not happen so be it as well. All worldly states must be illusory. If God were reached directly in sustained awareness the body would not be long maintained. Those Who have laid the body down merely to extend Their helpfulness to Those remaining behind are Few indeed. And They need Helpers Who are still in bondage and still asleep so that by Their awakening can God’s Voice be heard.

Do not despair then because of limitations. It is Your function to escape from them but not to be without them. If You would be heard by Those Who suffer You must speak Their language. If You would be Saviors You must understand what needs to be escaped. Salvation is not theoretical. Behold the problem, ask for the Answer and then accept the Answer when It comes. Nor will Its coming be long delayed. All the help You can accept will be provided and not one need You have will not be met. Let Us not then be too concerned with goals for which You are not ready. God takes You where You are and welcomes You. What more could You desire when this is all You need?

27. What Is Death?

Death is the central dream from which all illusions stem. Is it not madness to think of Life as being born, aging, losing vitality and dying in the end? We have asked this question before but now We need to consider it still more carefully. It is the one fixed, unchangeable belief of the world that all things in it are born only to die. This is regarded as “the way of nature”, not to be raised to question but to be accepted as the “natural” law of Life. The cyclical, the changing and unsure, the undependable and the unsteady waxing and waning in a certain way upon a certain path – all this is taken as the Will of God. And no one asks if a benign Creator could will this.

In this perception of the Universe as God created it it would not be possible to think of Him as loving. For who decreed that all things pass away ending in dust and disappointment and despair can but be feared. He holds Your little Life in his hand but by a thread ready to break it off without regret or care perhaps today. Or if he waits, yet is the ending certain. Who loves such a god knows not of Love because He has denied that Life is real. Death has become Life’s symbol. His world is now a battleground where contradiction reigns and opposites make endless war. Where there is death is Peace impossible.

Death is the symbol of the fear of God. His Love is blotted out in the idea which holds It from awareness like a shield held to obscure the sun. The grimness of the symbol is enough to show it cannot coexist with God. It holds an image of the Son of God in which He is “laid to rest” in devastation’s arms where worms await to greet Him and to last a little while by His destruction. Yet the worms as well are doomed to be destroyed as certainly. And so do all things live because of death. Devouring is nature’s “law of Life”. God is insane and fear alone is real.

The curious belief that there is part of dying things that may go on apart from what will die does not proclaim a loving God nor reestablish any grounds for trust. If death is real for anything there is no Life. Death denies Life. But if there is Reality in Life death is denied. No compromise in this is possible. There is either a God of fear or one of Love. The world attempts a thousand compromises and will attempt a thousand more. Not one can be acceptable to God’s Teachers because not one could be acceptable to God. He did not make death because He did not make fear. Both are equally meaningless to Him.

The “Reality” of death is firmly rooted in the belief that God’s Son is a body. And if God created bodies death would indeed be real. But God would not be loving. There is no point at which the contrast between the perception of the real world and that of the world of illusions becomes more sharply evident. Death is indeed the death of God if He is Love. And now His own Creation must stand in fear of Him. He is not Father but destroyer. He is not Creator but avenger. Terrible His Thoughts and fearful His image. To look on His Creations is to die.

“And the last to be overcome will be death.” Of course! Without the idea of death there is no world. All dreams will end with this one. This is Salvation’s final goal, the end of all illusions. And in death are all illusions born. What can be born of death and still have Life? But What is born of God and still can die? The inconsistencies, the compromises and the rituals the world fosters in its vain attempts to cling to death and yet to think Love real are mindless magic, ineffectual and meaningless. God is and in Him all created things must be eternal. Do You not see that otherwise He has an opposite and fear would be as real as Love?

Teacher of God, Your one assignment could be stated thus: Accept no compromise in which death plays a part. Do not believe in cruelty nor let attack conceal the Truth from You. What seems to die has but been misperceived and brought to illusion. Now it becomes Your task to let the illusion be brought to the Truth. Be steadfast but in this: Be not deceived by the “Reality” of any changing form. Truth neither moves, nor wavers, nor sinks down to death and dissolution. And what is the end of death? Nothing but this: The realization that the Son of God is guiltless now and forever. Nothing but this. But do not let Yourself forget it is not less than this.

28. What Is The Resurrection?

Very simply the Resurrection is the overcoming, or surmounting, of death. It is a reawakening, or a rebirth, a change of mind about the meaning of the world. It is the acceptance of the Holy Spirit’s interpretation of the world’s purpose, the acceptance of the Atonement for Oneself. It is the end of dreams of misery and the glad awareness of the Holy Spirit’s final dream. It is the recognition of the Gifts of God. It is the dream in which the body functions perfectly having no function except communication. It is the lesson in which learning ends for it is consummated and surpassed with this. It is the invitation to God to take His final step. It is the relinquishment of all other purposes, all other interests, all other wishes and all other concerns. It is the single desire of the Son for the Father.

The Resurrection is the denial of death being the assertion of Life. Thus is all the thinking of the world reversed entirely. Life is now recognized as Salvation and pain and misery of any kind perceived as hell. Love is no longer feared but gladly welcomed. Idols have disappeared and the Remembrance of God shines unimpeded across the world. Christ’s Face is seen in every Living Thing and nothing is held in darkness apart from the Light of forgiveness. There is no sorrow still upon the earth. The Joy of Heaven has come upon it.

Here the Curriculum ends. From here on no directions are needed. Vision is wholly corrected and all mistakes undone. Attack is meaningless and Peace has come. The goal of the Curriculum has been achieved. Thoughts turn to Heaven and away from hell. All longings are satisfied for what remains unanswered or incomplete? The last illusion spreads over the world forgiving all things and replacing all attack. The whole reversal is accomplished. Nothing is left to contradict the Word of God. There is no opposition to the Truth. And now the Truth can come at last. How quickly will It come as It is asked to enter and envelop such a world!

All living Hearts are tranquil with a stir of deep anticipation for the time of everlasting things is now at hand. There is no death. The Son of God is free. And in His freedom is the end of fear. No hidden places now remain on earth to shelter sick illusions, dreams of fear and misperceptions of the Universe. All things are seen in Light and in the Light Their purpose is transformed and understood. And We, God’s Children, rise up from the dust and look upon Our perfect Sinlessness. The Song of Heaven sounds around the world as it is lifted up and brought to Truth.

Now there are no distinctions. Differences have disappeared and Love looks on Itself. What further Sight is needed? What remains that Vision could accomplish? We have seen the Face of Christ, His Sinlessness, His Love behind all forms, beyond all purposes. Holy are We because His Holiness has set Us free indeed! And We accept His Holiness as Ours, as It is. As God created Us so will We be forever and forever and We wish for nothing but His Will to be Our own. Illusions of another will are lost for Unity of purpose has been found.

These things await Us All but We are not prepared as yet to welcome them with Joy. As long as any Mind remains possessed of evil dreams the thought of hell is real. God’s Teachers have the goal of wakening the Minds of Those asleep and seeing there the Vision of Christ’s Face to take the place of what They dream. The thought of murder is replaced with Blessing. Judgment is laid by and given Him Whose function judgment is. And in His Final Judgment is restored the Truth about the Holy Son of God. He is redeemed for He has heard God’s Word and understood Its meaning. He is free because He let God’s Voice proclaim the Truth. And All He sought before to crucify are resurrected with Him, by His side, as He prepares with Them to meet His God.

29. As For the Rest

This Manual is not intended to answer all questions which both Teacher and pupil may raise. In fact it covers only a few of the more obvious ones in terms of a brief summary of some of the major concepts in the Text and Workbook. It is not a substitute for either but merely a supplement. While it is called a Manual for Teachers it must be remembered that only time divides Teacher and Pupil so that the difference is temporary by definition. In some cases it may be helpful for the pupil to read the Manual first. Others might do better to begin with the Workbook. Still Others may need to start at the more abstract level of the Text.

Which is for Whom? Who would profit more from Prayers alone? Who needs but a smile being as yet unready for more? No one should attempt to answer these questions alone. Surely no Teacher of God has come this far without realizing that. The Curriculum is highly individualized. And all aspects are under the Holy Spirit’s particular care and guidance. Ask and He will answer. The responsibility is His and He alone is fit to assume it. To do so is His function. To refer the questions to Him is Yours. Would You want to be responsible for decisions about which You understand so little? Be glad You have a Teacher Who cannot make a mistake. His Answers are always right. Would You say that of Yours?

There is another advantage, and a very important one, in referring decisions to the Holy Spirit with increasing frequency. Perhaps You have not thought of this aspect but its centrality is obvious. To follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance is to let Yourself be absolved of guilt. It is the essence of the Atonement. It is the core of the Curriculum. The imagined usurping of functions not Your own is the basis of fear. The whole world You see reflects the illusion You have done so making fear inevitable. To return the function to the One To Whom it belongs is thus the escape from fear. And it is this that lets the Memory of Love return to You. Do not then think that following the Holy Spirit’s guidance is necessary merely because of Your own inadequacies. It is the way out of hell for You.

Here again is the paradox often referred to in The Course. To say Of Myself I can do nothing. is to gain all Power. And yet it is but a seeming paradox. As God created You You have all Power. The image You made of Yourself has none. The Holy Spirit knows the Truth about You. The image You made does not. Yet despite its obvious and complete ignorance this image assumes it knows all things because You have given that belief to it. Such is Your teaching and the teaching of the world which was made to uphold it. But the Teacher Who knows the Truth has not forgotten It. His decisions bring benefit to All being wholly devoid of attack. And therefore incapable of arousing guilt.

Who assumes a Power that He does not have is deceiving Himself. Yet to accept the Power given Him by God is but to acknowledge His Creator and accept His Gifts. And His Gifts have no limit. To ask the Holy Spirit to decide for You is merely to accept Your True inheritance. Does this mean that You cannot say anything without consulting Him? No, indeed! That would hardly be practical and it is the practical with which This Course is most concerned. If You have made it a habit to ask for help when and where You can You can be confident that wisdom will be given You when You need it. Prepare for this each morning, remember God when You can throughout the day, ask the Holy Spirit’s help when it is feasible to do so and thank Him for His guidance at night. And Your confidence will be well founded indeed.

Never forget that the Holy Spirit does not depend on Your words. He understands the requests of Your Heart and answers them. Does this mean that while attack remains attractive to You He will respond with evil? Hardly! For God has given Him the Power to translate Your Prayers of the Heart into His language. He understands that an attack is a call for help. And He responds with help accordingly. God would be cruel if He let Your words replace His own. A loving father does not let His child harm Himself or choose His own destruction. He may ask for injury but His father will protect Him still. And how much more than this does Your Father love His Son?

Remember: You are His completion and His Love. Remember: Your weakness is His Strength. But do not read this hastily or wrongly. If His Strength is in You what You perceive as Your weakness is but illusion. And He has given You the means to prove it so. Ask all things of His Teacher and all things are given You. Not in the future but immediately, now. God does not wait for waiting implies time and He is timeless. Forget Your foolish images, Your sense of frailty and Your fear of harm, Your dreams of danger and selected “wrongs”. God knows but His Son and as He was created so He is. In confidence I place You in His Hands and I give thanks for You that this is so.

And now in all Your doings be You blessed.
God turns to You for help to save the world.
Teacher of God, His thanks He offers You
And all the world stands silent in the Grace
You bring from Him. You are the Son He loves
And it is given You to be the means
Through which His Voice is heard around the world
To close all things of time, to end the sight
Of all things visible and to undo
All things that change. Through You is ushered in
A world unseen, unheard yet Truly there.
Holy are You and in Your Light the world
Reflects Your Holiness for You are not
Alone and friendless. I give thanks for You
And join Your efforts on behalf of God
Knowing they are on My behalf as well
And for all Those Who walk to God with Me.

Finis

Use of Terms

This is not a Course in theoretical philosophy nor is It concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness. The structure of “individual consciousness” is essentially irrelevant because it is a concept representing the “original error” or the “original sin”. To study the error itself does not lead to correction if You are indeed to succeed in overlooking the error. And it is just this process of overlooking at which The Course aims.

All terms are potentially controversial and those who seek controversy will find it. Yet those who seek clarification will find it as well. They must however be willing to overlook controversy recognizing that it is a defense against Truth in the form of a delaying maneuver. Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which The Course is directed. Here alone consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends.

This Course remains within the ego framework where It is needed. It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because It is planned only to set the direction towards It. Therefore It uses words which are symbolic and cannot express what lies beyond symbols.

It is always the ego that questions because it is only the ego that doubts. The Course merely gives another Answer once a question has been raised. However this Answer does not attempt to resort to inventiveness or ingenuity. These are attributes of the ego. The Course is simple. It has one function and one goal. Only in that does It remain wholly consistent because only that can be consistent.

The ego will demand many answers that This Course does not give. It does not recognize as questions the mere form of a question to which an answer is impossible. The ego may ask: “How did the impossible occur?”, “To what did the impossible happen?” and may ask this in many forms. Yet there is no answer only an experience. Seek only this and do not let theology delay You.

You will notice that the emphasis on structural issues in The Course is brief and early. Afterwards and soon it drops away to make way for the central Teaching. Since You have asked for clarification however these are some of the terms that are used:

1. Mind – Spirit

The term mind is used to represent the activating agent of Spirit supplying its creative energy. When the term is Capitalized it refers to God or Christ, i.e.: The Mind of God or the Mind of Christ.

Spirit is the Thought of God Which He created like Himself. The unified Spirit is God’s one Son or Christ. In this world, because the mind is split, the Sons of God appear to be separate. Nor do their minds seem to be joined. In this illusory state the concept of an “individual mind” seems to be meaningful. It is therefore described in The Course as if it has two parts: Spirit and ego. Spirit is the part that is still in contact with God through the Holy Spirit Who abides in this part but sees the other part as well. The term “Soul” is not used except in direct biblical quotations because of its highly controversial nature. It would however be an equivalent of “Spirit” with the understanding that being of God It is eternal and was never born.

The other part of the mind is entirely illusory and makes only illusions. Spirit retains the potential for creating but Its Will, Which is God’s, seems to be imprisoned while the mind is not unified. Creation continues unabated because that is the Will of God. This Will is always unified and therefore has no meaning in this world. It has no opposite and no degrees.

The mind can be right or wrong depending on the voice to which it listens. Rightmindedness listens to the Holy Spirit, forgives the world and through Christ’s Vision sees the real world in its place. This is the final Vision, the last perception, the condition in which God takes the final step Himself. Here time and illusions end together. Wrongmindedness listens to the ego and makes illusions, perceiving sin, justifying anger and seeing guilt, disease and death as real. Both this world and the real world are illusions because Rightmindedness merely overlooks, or forgives, what never happened. Therefore it is not the Onemindedness of the Christ Mind Whose Will is One with God’s.

In this world the only remaining freedom is the freedom of choice. This choice is always between two choices or two voices. Will is not involved in perception at any level and has nothing to do with choice. Consciousness is the receptive mechanism receiving messages from above or below, from the Holy Spirit or the ego. Consciousness has levels and awareness can shift quite dramatically but it cannot transcend the perceptual realm. At its highest it becomes aware of the real world and can be trained to do so increasingly. Yet the very fact that it has levels and can be trained demonstrates that consciousness cannot reach knowledge.

2. The ego – The Miracle

Illusions will not last. Their death is sure and this alone is certain in their world. It is the ego’s world because of this. What is the ego? But a dream of what You really are. A thought You are apart from Your Creator and a wish to be what He created not. It is a thing of madness, not Reality at all. A name for namelessness is all it is. A symbol of impossibility, a choice for options that do not exist. We name it that to help Us understand that it is nothing but an ancient thought that what is made has immortality. But what could come of this except a dream which like all dreams can only die?

What is the ego?

Nothingness but in a form that seems like something. In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real. How could God’s Son as He created him abide in form or in a world of form? Who asks You to define the ego and explain how it arose can be but he who thinks it real and seeks by definition to ensure that its illusive nature is concealed behind the words that seem to make it so. There is no definition for a lie that serves to make it True nor can there be a Truth That lies conceal effectively.

The ego’s unreality is not denied by words nor is its meaning clear because its nature seems to have a form. Who can define the undefinable? And yet there is an Answer even here. We cannot really make a definition for what the ego is but We can say what it is not. And this is shown to Us with perfect clarity. It is from This That We deduce all that the ego is. Look at its opposite and You can see the only Answer That is meaningful.

The ego’s opposite in every way – in origin, effect and consequence – We call a Miracle. And Here We find all That is not the ego in the world. Here is the ego’s opposite and Here alone We look on what the ego was. For Here We see all that it seemed to do and cause and its effects must still be one.

Where there was darkness now We see the Light. What is the ego? What the darkness was. Where is the ego? Where the darkness was. What is it now and where can it be found? Nothing and nowhere. Now the Light has come, Its opposite has gone without a trace. Where evil was there now is Holiness. What is the ego? What the evil was. Where is the ego? In an evil dream that but seemed real while You were dreaming it. Where there was crucifixion stands God’s Son. What is the ego? Who has need to ask? Where is the ego? Who has need to seek for an illusion now that dreams are gone?

What is a Miracle?

A dream as well. But look at all the aspects of this dream and You will never question any more. Look at the kindly world You see extend before You as You walk in gentleness. Look at the Helpers all along the way You travel happy in the certainty of Heaven and the hope of Peace. And look an instant too on what You left behind at last and finally passed by. This was the ego – all the cruel hate, the need for vengeance and the cries of pain, the fear of dying and the urge to kill, the brotherless illusion and the self that seemed alone in all the Universe.

This terrible mistake about Yourself the Miracle corrects as gently as a loving mother sings her child to rest. Is not a Song like this what You would hear? Would it not answer all You thought to ask and even make the question meaningless? Your questions have no answer being made to still God’s Voice Which asks of everyone one question only:

Are You ready yet to help Me save the world?

Ask this instead of what the ego is and You will see a sudden brightness cover up the world the ego made. No Miracle is now withheld from anyone. The world is saved from what You thought it was. And what it is is wholly uncondemned and wholly pure.

The Miracle forgives, the ego damns. Neither need be defined except by this. Yet could a definition be more sure or more in line with what Salvation is? Problem and Answer lie together here and having met at last the choice is clear. Who chooses hell when it is recognized? And who would not go on a little while when it is given him to understand the way is short and Heaven is his goal?

3. Forgiveness – The Face of Christ

Forgiveness is for God and toward God but not of Him. It is impossible to think of Anything He created That could need forgiveness. Forgiveness then is an illusion, but because of its purpose, which is the Holy Spirit’s, it has one difference: Unlike all other illusions it leads away from error and not towards it. Forgiveness might be called a kind of happy fiction, a way in which the unknowing can bridge the gap between their perception and the Truth.

They cannot go directly from perception to knowledge because they do not think it is their will to do so. This makes God appear to be an enemy instead of what He really is. And it is just this insane perception that makes them unwilling merely to rise up and to return to Him in Peace. And so they need an illusion of help because they are helpless, a thought of Peace because they are in conflict. God knows what His Son needs before he asks. He is not at all concerned with form but having given the content it is His Will that it be understood. And that suffices. The form adapts itself to need. The content is unchanging, as eternal as its Creator.

The Face of Christ has to be seen before the Memory of God can return. The reason is obvious: Seeing the Face of Christ involves perception. No one can look on knowledge. But the Face of Christ is the great symbol of forgiveness. It is Salvation. It is the symbol of the real world. Whoever looks on this no longer sees the world. He is as near to Heaven as is possible outside the Gate. Yet from this Gate it is no more than just a step inside. It is the final step. And this We leave to God.

Forgiveness is a symbol too, but as the symbol of His Will alone it cannot be divided. And so the Unity that it reflects becomes His Will. It is the only thing still in the world in part and yet the bridge to Heaven. God’s Will is all there is. We can but go from nothingness to everything, from hell to Heaven. Is this a journey? No, not in Truth for Truth goes nowhere. But illusions shift from place to place, from time to time. The final step is also but a shift. As a perception it is partly unreal. And yet this part will vanish. What remains is Peace eternal and the Will of God.

There are no wishes now for wishes change. Even the wished-for can become unwelcome. That must be so because the ego cannot be at Peace. But will is constant as the Gift of God. And what He gives is always like Himself. This is the purpose of the Face of Christ. It is the Gift of God to save His Son. But look on This and You have been forgiven.

How lovely does the world become in just that single instant when You see the Truth about Yourself reflected there. Now You are sinless and behold Your Sinlessness. Now You are Holy and perceive it so. And now the mind returns to its Creator, the joining of the Father and the Son, the Unity of Unities that stands behind all joining but beyond them all. God is not seen but only understood. His Son is not attacked but recognized.

4. Perception – Knowledge

The world You see is an illusion of a world. God did not create it for what He creates must be eternal as Himself. Yet there is nothing in the world You see that will endure forever. Some things will last in time a little while longer than others. But the time will come when all things visible will have an end. The body’s eyes are therefore not the means by which the real world can be seen for the illusions that they look upon must lead to more illusions of Reality. And so they do. For everything they see not only will not last but lends itself to thoughts of sin and guilt. While everything That God created is forever without sin and therefore is forever without guilt.

Knowledge is not the remedy for false perception since, being another level, they can never meet. The one correction possible for false perception must be True perception. It will not endure. But for the time it lasts it comes to heal. For True perception is a remedy with many names: Forgiveness, Salvation, Atonement, True perception, all are one. They are the one beginning with the end to lead to Oneness far beyond themselves. True perception is the means by which the world is saved from sin for sin does not exist. And it is this that True perception sees.

The world stands like a block before Christ’s Face. But True perception looks on it as nothing more than just a fragile veil so easily dispelled that it can last no longer than an instant. It is seen at last for only what it is. And now it cannot fail to disappear for now there is an empty place made clean and ready. Where destruction was perceived the Face of Christ appears and in that instant is the world forgot with time forever ended as the world spins into nothingness from where it came.

A world forgiven cannot last. It was the home of bodies. But forgiveness looks past bodies. This is its Holiness. This is how it heals. The world of bodies is the world of sin for only if there is a body is sin possible. From sin comes guilt as surely as forgiveness takes all guilt away. And once all guilt is gone what more remains to keep a separated world in place? For place has gone as well along with time. Only the body makes the world seem real for being separate it could not remain where separation is impossible. Forgiveness proves it is impossible because it sees it not. And what You then will overlook will not be understandable to You just as its presence once had been Your certainty.

This is the shift that True perception brings: What was projected out is seen within and there forgiveness lets it disappear. For there the Altar to the Son is set and there his Father is remembered. Here are all illusions brought to Truth and laid upon the Altar. What is seen outside must lie beyond forgiveness for it seems to be forever sinful. Where is hope while sin is seen as outside? What remedy can guilt expect? But seen within Your mind guilt and forgiveness for an instant lie together, side by side, upon one Altar. There at last are sickness and its single remedy joined in one healing brightness. God has come to claim His own. Forgiveness is complete.

And now God’s Knowledge, changeless, certain, pure and wholly understandable enters its Kingdom. Gone is perception, false and True alike. Gone is forgiveness for its task is done. And gone are bodies in the blazing Light upon the Altar to the Son of God. God knows It is His own as It is his. And Here they join for Here the Face of Christ has shone away time’s final instant and now is the last perception of the world without a purpose and without a cause. For where God’s Memory has come at last there is no journey, no belief in sin, no walls, no bodies and the grim appeal of guilt and death is there snuffed out forever.

Oh My Brothers, if You only knew the Peace that will envelop You and hold You safe and pure and lovely in the Mind of God You could but rush to meet Him where His Altar is. Hallowed Your name and His for they are joined Here in this Holy Place. Here He leans down to lift You up to Him, out of illusions into Holiness, out of the world and to Eternity, out of all fear and given back to Love.

5. Jesus – Christ

There is no need for help to enter Heaven for You have never left. But there is need for help beyond Yourself as You are circumscribed by false beliefs of Your Identity which God alone established in Reality. Helpers are given You in many forms although upon the Altar they are One. Beyond each one there is a Thought of God and this will never change. But they have names which differ for a time for time needs symbols being itself unreal. Their names are legion but We will not go beyond the names The Course Itself employs. God does not help because He knows no need. But He creates all Helpers of His Son while he believes his fantasies are True. Thank God for them for they will lead You Home.

The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man but saw the Face of Christ in all his Brothers and remembered God. So he became identified with Christ, a man no longer but at one with God. The man was an illusion for he seemed to be a separate being, walking by himself, within a body that appeared to hold his Self from Self as all illusions do. Yet who can save unless he sees illusions and then identifies them as what they are? Jesus remains a Savior because he saw the false without accepting it as True. And Christ needed his form that he might appear to men and save them from their own illusions.

In his complete identification with the Christ – the perfect Son of God, His One Creation and His happiness, forever like Himself and One with Him – Jesus became what All of Us must be. He led the way for You to follow him. He leads You back to God because he saw the road before him and he followed it. He made a clear distinction, still obscure to You, between the false and True. He offered Us a final demonstration that it is impossible to kill God’s Son nor can his Life in any way be changed by sin and evil, malice, fear or death. And therefore all Your sins have been forgiven because they carried no effects at all. And so they were but dreams. Arise with him who showed You this because You owe him this who shared Your dreams that they might be dispelled. And shares them still to be at one with You.

Is he the Christ? Oh Yes, along with You. His little Life on earth was not enough to teach the mighty lesson that he learned for All of Us. He will remain with You to lead You from the hell You made to God. And when You join Your will with his Your sight will be his Vision for the Eyes of Christ are shared. Walking with him is just as natural as walking with a Brother whom You knew since You were born for such indeed he is. Some bitter idols have been made of him who would be only Brother to the world. Forgive him Your illusions and behold how dear a Brother he would be to You. For he will set Your mind at rest at last and carry it with You unto Your God.

Is he God’s only Helper? No, indeed. For Christ takes many forms with different names until their Oneness can be recognized. But Jesus is for You the Bearer of Christ’s single Message of the Love of God. You need no other. It is possible to read his words and benefit from them without accepting him into Your Life. Yet he would help You yet a little more if You will share Your pains and Joys with him and leave them both to find the Peace of God. Yet still it is his lesson most of all that he would have You learn and it is this:

There is no death because the Son of God is like his Father. Nothing You can do can change eternal Love. Forget Your dreams of sin and guilt and come with Me instead to share the Resurrection of God’s Son. And bring with You all those whom he has sent to You to care for as I care for You.

6. The Holy Spirit

Jesus is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit Whom he called down upon the earth after he ascended into Heaven or became completely identified with the Christ, the Son of God as he created him. The Holy Spirit, being a Creation of the One Creator, creating with Him and in His likeness or Spirit, is eternal and has never changed. He was “called down upon the earth” in the sense that it was now possible to accept Him and to hear His Voice. His is the Voice for God and has therefore taken form. This form is not His Reality which God alone knows along with Christ, His real Son Who is part of Him.

The Holy Spirit is described throughout The Course as giving Us the Answer to the separation and bringing the plan of the Atonement to Us, establishing Our particular part in it and showing Us exactly what it is. He has established Jesus as the leader in carrying out this plan since he was the first to complete his own part perfectly. All Power in Heaven and earth is therefore given him and he will share it with You when You have completed Yours. The Atonement principle was given to the Holy Spirit long before Jesus set it in motion.

The Holy Spirit is described as the remaining communication link between God and His separated Sons. In order to fulfill this special function the Holy Spirit has assumed a dual function: He knows because He is part of God, He perceives because He was sent to save humanity. He is the great correction principle, the Bringer of True perception, the inherent Power of the Vision of Christ. He is the Light in Which the forgiven world is perceived, in Which the Face of Christ alone is seen. He never forgets the Creator or His Creation. He never forgets the Son of God. He never forgets You. And He brings the Love of Your Father to You in an eternal shining that will never be obliterated because God has put it there.

The Holy Spirit abides in the part of Your mind that is part of the Christ Mind. He represents Your Self and Your Creator Who are One. He speaks for God and also for You being joined with Both. And therefore it is He Who proves Them One. He seems to be a Voice for in that form He speaks God’s Word to You. He seems to be a Guide through a far country for You need that form of help. He seems to be whatever meets the needs You think You have. But He is not deceived when You perceive Your self entrapped in needs You do not have. It is from these He would deliver You. It is from these that He would make You safe.

You are His manifestation in this world. Your Brother calls to You to be His Voice along with him. Alone he cannot be the Helper of God’s Son for he alone is functionless. But joined with You he is the shining Savior of the world whose part in its Redemption You have made complete. He offers thanks to You as well as Him for You arose with Him when He began to save the world. And You will be with Him when time is over and no trace remains of dreams of spite in which You dance to death’s thin melody. For in its place the Hymn to God is heard a little while. And then the Voice is gone, no longer to take form but to return to the eternal Formlessness of God.

7. Epilogue

Forget not once this journey is begun the end is certain. Doubt along the way will come and go, and go to come again. Yet is the ending sure. No one can fail to do what God appointed him to do. When You forget remember that You walk with Him and with His Word upon Your Heart. Who could despair when hope like this is his? Illusions of despair may seem to come but learn how not to be deceived by them. Behind each one there is Reality and there is God. Why would You wait for This and trade It for illusions when His Love is but an instant farther on the road where all illusions end? The end is sure and guaranteed by God. Who stands before a lifeless image when a step away the Holy of the Holies opens up an ancient door that leads beyond the world? You are a stranger here but You belong to Him Who loves You as He loves Himself. Ask but My help to roll the stone away and it is done according to His Will.

We have begun the journey. Long ago the end was written in the Stars and set into the Heavens with a shining Ray that held it safe within Eternity and through all time as well. And holds it still, unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable. Be not afraid. We only start again an ancient journey long ago begun that but seems new. We have begun again upon a road We traveled on before and lost Our way a little while. And now We try again. Our new beginning has the certainty the journey lacked ’til now. Look up and see His Word among the Stars where He has set Your name along with His. Look up and find Your certain destiny the world would hide but God would have You see.

Let Us wait Here in silence and kneel down an instant in Our gratitude to Him Who called to Us and helped Us hear His Call. And then let Us arise and go in faith along the way to Him. Now We are sure We do not walk alone. For God is Here and with Him all Our Brothers. Now We know that We will never lose the way again. The Song begins again which had been stopped only an instant though it seems to be unsung forever. What is Here begun will grow in Life and Strength and hope until the world is still an instant and forgets all that the dream of sin had made of it.

Let Us go out to meet the newborn world knowing that Christ has been reborn in it and that the Holiness of this rebirth will last forever. We had lost Our way but he has found it for Us. Let Us go and bid him welcome who returns to Us to celebrate Salvation and the end of all We thought We made. The Morning Star of this new day looks on a different world where God is welcomed and His Son with Him. We Who complete Him offer thanks to Him as He gives thanks to Us. The Son is still. And in the quiet that God has given him enters his Home and is at Peace at last.

Psychotherapy

c. The Question of Payment

No one can pay for therapy for healing is of God and He asks for nothing. It is however part of His plan that everything in this world be used by the Holy Spirit to help in carrying out the plan. Even an advanced therapist has some earthly needs while he is here. Should he need money it will be given him, not in payment but to help him better serve the plan. Money is not evil. It is nothing. But no one here can live with no illusions for he must yet strive to have the last illusion be accepted by everyone Everywhere. He has a mighty part in this one purpose for which he came. He stays here but for this. And while he stays he will be given what he needs to stay.

Only an unhealed healer would try to heal for money and he will not succeed to the extent to which he values it. Nor will he find his healing in the process. There will be those of whom the Holy Spirit asks some payment for his purpose. There will be those from whom he does not ask. It should not be the therapist who makes these decisions. There is a difference between payment and cost. To give money where God’s plan allots it has no cost. To withhold it from where it rightfully belongs has enormous cost. The therapist who would do this loses the name of healer for he could never understand what healing is. He cannot give it and so he does not have it.

The therapists of this world are indeed useless to the world’s Salvation. They make demands and so they cannot give. Patients can pay only for the exchange of illusions. This indeed must demand payment and the cost is great. A “bought” relationship cannot offer the only gift whereby all healing is accomplished. Forgiveness, the Holy Spirit’s only dream, must have no cost. For if it does it merely crucifies God’s Son again. Can this be how he is forgiven? Can this be how the dream of sin will end?

The right to live is something no one need fight for. It is promised him and guaranteed by God. Therefore it is a right the therapist and patient share alike. If their relationship is to be Holy whatever one needs is given by the other, whatever one lacks the other supplies. Herein is the relationship made Holy for herein both are healed. The therapist repays the patient in gratitude as does the patient repay him. There is no cost to either. But thanks are due to both for the release from long imprisonment and doubt. Who would not be grateful for such a gift? Yet who could possibly imagine that it could be bought?

It has well been said that to him who hath shall be given. Because he has he can give. And because he gives he shall be given. This is the law of God and not of the world. So it is with God’s Healers. They give because they have heard His Word and understood it. All that they need will thus be given them. But they will lose this understanding unless they remember that all they have comes only from God. If they believe they need anything from a Brother they will recognize him as a Brother no longer. And if they do this a Light goes out even in Heaven. Where God’s Son turns against himself he can look only upon darkness. He has himself denied the Light and cannot see.

One rule should always be observed: No one should be turned away because he cannot pay. No one is sent by accident to anyone. Relationships are always purposeful. Whatever their purpose may have been before the Holy Spirit entered them they are always His potential Temple, the Resting Place of Christ and Home of God Himself. Whoever comes has been sent. Perhaps he was sent to give his Brother the money he needed. Both will be blessed thereby. Perhaps he was sent to teach the therapist how much he needs forgiveness and how valueless is money in comparison. Again will both be blessed. Only in terms of cost could one have more. In sharing everyone must gain a Blessing without cost.

This view of payment may well seem impractical and in the eyes of the world it would be so. Yet not one worldly thought is really practical. How much is gained by striving for illusions? How much is lost by throwing God away? And is it possible to do so? Surely it is impractical to strive for nothing and to attempt to do what is impossible. Then stop a while, long enough to think of this: You have perhaps been seeking for Salvation without recognizing where to look. Whoever asks Your help can show You where. What greater gift than this could You be given? What greater gift is there that You would give?

–

Physician, healer, therapist, teacher, heal thyself. Many will come to You carrying the gift of healing if You so elect. The Holy Spirit never refuses an invitation to enter and abide with You. He will give You endless opportunities to open the door to Your Salvation for such is His function. He will also tell You exactly what Your function is in every circumstance and at all times. Whoever He sends You will reach You, holding out his hand to his friend. Let the Christ in You bid him welcome for that same Christ is in him as well. Deny him entrance and You have denied the Christ in You. Remember the sorrowful story of the world and the glad tidings of Salvation. Remember the plan of God for the restoration of Joy and Peace. And do not forget how very simple are the ways of God:

You were lost in the darkness of the world
Until You asked for Light.
And then God sent His Son to give It to You.

Song of Prayer

Gifts of God

Special Messages

1. Messages Before the Dictation of The Course

October 19, 1965

I think there is an error about this not noticing and not remembering names etc. I don’t think it’s only or even primarily projection. It may be more a fear of involvement or interaction due to an interpretation of interaction as one dominating and the other subservient or one getting and the other losing. You avoid this if you don’t meet. Or even see.

The “who even bothers about me” syndrome seems to be more than a way of denying error while it does serve as a rationalization for exploiting one another. Example: I called Harold before Elkin who wouldn’t know me. It may also be a denial of my own Strength which i fear has been misused. I may even have suffered a lot for misusing it. You too, B.

The fallacy now is if i don’t use anything of mine i won’t hurt anybody so i won’t be hurt myself. The obvious answer is that paralysis won’t get you anywhere literally as well as figuratively. Real depression is very rare now. Distantiation is the right word, but the distantiation is between the Soul and the body. It represents a remaining inability. I think under the projection and all that stuff is a hidden nostalgia for the Soul. We want It back so we can identify with It because That is what we are really and somewhere we know it.

Dream – As host for the Soul the body is a temple and we know ours are unworthy. The crucifixion was a total rejection of the body by others, or projection, and its “destruction”, which was really a purification. As a result the Soul could enter entirely into the temple, heal it and use it only constructively. But i still think that we have to place the Soul outside until the temple is ready. Maybe that’s what the “sword for God” cleansing meant but i do not think it should really be so literal.

–

Dream: I was telling B in front of some sort of board that i knew some people very well whom they needed to help them with something. B told me very gently that perhaps i should be careful about contacting them because they did not like me. I had been their teacher but he knew that there was a general feeling of dissatisfaction about me as a teacher among my students but these two, both men, in particular. They felt very strongly about it. All i remember is that i was concerned about their major as a means of identification.

Later, or perhaps let psychology evaluate their threat value. If they were not psychology majors chances are it did not matter too much. Apparently one was majoring in egyptology which was a passionate interest of his. I think now he was preparing himself to go to Egypt on an archaeological mission. I dismissed him as a threat because his interests were obviously not related to psychology. As now constituted anyway. So i was safe. B thought this was a mistake. The other one i did not know about but i think i was much more afraid of him. But you said i shouldn’t give in to fear.

Tell B, urgent, it’s odd that i couldn’t remember the correct quotation:

In as much as You do it to the least of these My Children/Brothers

I first decided the quote probably stopped with:

... the least of these

and i was merely confused about an addition i was sticking in but which was not really there. Then i couldn’t decide whether it was Children or Brothers and i was told to ask you. It is odd that you apparently couldn’t decide between the same two terms. The order is to be sure. You know this is important for both of us.

–

Note: I am afraid of Cornell today. Any very serious consultations there regarding date handling. If i can get my Soul in place it will be all right though.

–

I was really quite depressed this morning which is now very unusual. I used to be all the time. But He says:

Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

October 20, 1965

I was very glad you called even though i don’t think i was upset beyond a brief moment. I went briefly and very inappropriately into shock when you said: “Dotty is waiting and you can get into a cab alone, can’t you?” There is no competition at all between Dotty and me and i thought chances were she did need you more at the time. I know you’ll never abandon me. So the cab was waiting at the corner.

A rather surprising thing happened while i was meditating after your call. I said just what you suggested: “I am quite distressed about something which is probably an error in perception of some sort and would You please straighten me out.” So He said: In dying I live. But be sure You understand what it means. I got terribly frightened because i thought i must be dying. And then i figured it’s not a bad way to go – just relax and enjoy it. So i just got resigned and very calm.

And then it happened. I suddenly realized that this was terribly selfish and i decided that i really loved you very much and if i just died off you would be terribly shocked and your progress might even be arrested. And after you had gone so far too. Please let me stay and help him a while longer. And Jonathan would never get over it because he is not ready yet either and neither is Chip. Not the small “c” and also Chip’s remark on the train: “The chips have to go!” His name is Charles. So i prayed that i could stay as long as i could help. And wouldn’t it be wonderful! I can only be alright then.

I was very happy about this for a while and then got frightened but i thought Chip was there so i got up. In the session we got onto Chip’s father. He spoke of a whole series of episodes he never mentioned before which occurred after his mother went and which clearly emphasized that his father was a bastard. He recounted these, and things were really awful, with no emotion at all and was surprised to hear that he had never told me about any of these even though he was not lying or hiding any more to the best of his knowledge.

I said a Prayer for him which he was sort of stumbling around verbally and then asked him why he obviously wanted to hang on to what was obviously real and very intense hatred and insisted on hiding it for reasons of his own which is undoubtedly “bad”. I was quite surprised with how quickly he got the idea that he was doing his part aside from whatever his father had to answer for which was a very different issue. Chip said he wanted to get rid of this and meant it too.

Then i said: “Why don’t you just release him from this because you don’t need it.” And Chip said he wants to let his father rest in Peace and also find Salvation for himself but that this was interfering. Maybe i made a mistake by taking the “mental health” role here especially in view of my own dream but i don’t think so. The mistake may have been for me rather than for Chip.

–

Dream: Being very scared and tired and upset i doped myself up and went to sleep early but i did ask Him to pray while i knocked myself out for a short pause.

–

This morning it occurred to me that i had no right to waste anything – money, clothes or my own Life – because everything has to be used right. It all has a place in the plan. And you must not throw gifts away. Life is a Gift you receive to help you gain eternal Life. It is the major way He can help you now. Life insurance means – and really what you should say – it is that you want to live as long as you are any use to Him. And then you will do just that. And only good will come of it to everybody.
Amen.

So i decided to die soon which i would have done. This was not a decision i should make because it may be a terrible waste which i would have to answer for. But you can change prophecies if you change your mind so maybe i should say i’d rather leave it up to Him. B – i’m upset about this but i know it’s right.

–

P.S. – I keep forgetting the dream: You and Jonathan came with me to evaluate my own therapy with Dr. K. After the session you and Jonathan agreed that the work was going well and K was good enough and not too limited.

October 21, 1965

H’s notes: 1) Ask what is interfering with Bill’s meditation and how to overcome this.

2) Bill’s list.

The cab driver asked if i minded music and i thought maybe it would help me pray for Dave so we started with a march and i thought: “Come on Dave, join us! We are all marching together.” And then it was a ballet and i thought: “Come on Dave, God has room for lighter moments too.” Dave, don’t give in. You have a real mission. Don’t lose your chance. Miracles are the natural law.

Then i asked Christ to help Dave know He was there and to see Him and know the Truth so he could be free. If any two come together in My name. Dave, you must be the other. We need you. Life heals, not death.

Maybe while Dave is sleeping our unconscious minds can reach Christ and He will unite us in Prayer. We can do it, Dave.

Dave once stood in Arnie Gold’s way and somehow interfered with his progress. Gold knows he must forgive him and do everything he can to release him. That’s why Gold loved Dave on sight and has been pathetically devoted to him. Gold is afraid to “let Dave die” because he knows this is his karmic debt. Dave is in this position now because of what he did to Arnie. And they are both in prison.

Dave, listen to me now and let Christ help you. Leave it to Him and rest. Don’t hurt Arnie again by walking out on him. Arnie needs a Miracle to teach him that the brain is not the seat of Life but God is. He can learn this if you are willing to stay and teach him. Help save us all, Dave. Please cooperate. You once denied the Truth to Arnie Gold. Please release him and yourself now. You taught him wrong, Dave, but remember how good you always were in teaching the emotionally disturbed and teach him right now. Dear Dave, show Arnie that the Spirit does not live in the brain. Turn this statement the right way and know that the Spirit can heal the brain which it made. It is not the other way. Release the Children this time, Dave, please, for Christ’s sake,
Amen.

Dave, remember your little girl. She is unmarked even though she was conceived by accident in a uterus that was supposed to be sterile because it was so damaged by fibroid tumors they said it had to be removed. But it was still a temporary home for a perfect child against all odds according to human medicine. Please, Dave, don’t identify with your brain. Know your own immortality and break the prison for Arnie Gold. Listen please, Dave. You can destroy your enemies by making them your friends. You hurt Arnie but he loves you. Thank God you can help him now. I am awed by your mission and i pray i can help Christ to help you. Dave, sooner or later you will have to settle this and you can save thousands of years right now.

We must call the Children back. Christ will give you the most now if you will take it because you have reduced yourself to the least. Take it for Him Who wants to give you all Power in Heaven and earth. Dave, help Christ to reach your Spirit and don’t depend on your brain. Help us, Dave, and hear Him. Dave, change your identification from Diamond to Pearl of Great Price and claim your right to forgiveness now.

Your Spirit and mine can unite and then two of us have come together in Christ’s name. Jesus promised to be there, Dave. Your brain does not matter if you will understand Life as Jesus did. When He said: Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit He was referring to His Resurrection, not His death. Remember and understand that because it can save you now. The anoxia of His death did not hurt His brain. Please, Dave, hear Him say: I am the Resurrection and the Life. And whosoever believes in Me shall not perish. Dave, it means something that your names are Diamond and Gold. Remember where your real Treasures are.

Gold has the whole Neurological Institute watching you. But they all think Life is brain. Help them, Dave, you are a teacher. Dave, you can still hear the Call: Come forth! Lazarus was already dead, you’re not.

–

If you do not get an answer it is always because you ask amiss. I said He promised to come when He was called on and B asks and does not receive and has really tried to knock and it has not been opened to him. I think the door is ajar a bit but i really wouldn’t call it very open. Is it all right if i ask you for Him since He wants me to?

–

I can’t answer when he asks amiss. When he asks right i have answered. He has a tendency to get part of an answer and decide himself when to disconnect. He should ask if that’s all. Since i don’t know when he’s going to ring off i have to be very short and even cryptic. It chops messages up too much. There is also interference from three major areas:

1) He doesn’t have much real confidence that i will get through. He never just claims his rights. He should begin with much more confidence. I’ll keep my promises but you do not act as if you really expect him to.

2) There is another kind of related error which is illustrated by his question: “When are you going to call the hospital?” It’s not right to interfere just to check. It’s selfish, but more than that it makes things too personal which always implies doubt.

3) He has to learn better concentration. His mind flits about too much for good communication. Suggest a very short phrase like:

Here I am, Lord.

and don’t think of anything else. Just pull in your mind slowly from everywhere else and center it on those words. This will also give him the realization that he really is here. He’s not too sure.

4) Tell him to be sure not to mistake your role. If he overreacts to, or overevaluates, you as a person both of you will be in danger.

5) He should try to get his own list. Armstrong may just mean his own arm is strong!

–

He thinks it’s time for some explanations which we are probably ready for. There are always risks in speedups. The whole thing was undertaken because things were getting behind schedule because so many people persistently lost more than they gained.

Stop

H: I’ll tear it up if You want.

No – maybe tomorrow. Now just write this: Remember Your slip about the effect on the Neurological Institute and his asking when You were going to call up. Be Careful! Also tell B about Jonathan’s remark: “I do not like you all sweetness and Light. I like you a little sharp if you get what i mean.” And again: Be very careful.

–

H this morning: It crossed my mind last night that something very wrong had happened. I got mad because i thought i shouldn’t be asked to ask for you and it was a form of exploitation which was very dangerous for me and represented an avoidance technique of you. I thought the whole thing was so dangerous that i had to tell you not to do it again. Briefly it crossed my mind, but with no emotional impact at all which is always suspicious, that i might just resent asking for someone else because i prefer the “exclusive” idea.

Pills?

H: Christ says i can tell something is wrong whenever i get a “snappy” answer. He wouldn’t say: “Tell him to get his own list.” that way. The tone is wrong.

H: This morning it was very clear to Me that in connection with you i have not been right since i asked you who you wanted so i could really be asking for you. This was essential and except for the list where i slipped the answer should be respected.

You have every right, in fact you should ask Me to ask for You. This is not a selfish gift and it is a real one.

H: This upsets me, too.

It has to be used for others and particularly You. Ask B please to help You get over being mean about it fast.

Note by H: At the moment i have serious doubts about everything. This is holding everything up.

List: Joe Armstrong

2. Messages During the Dictation of The Course

B’s Special Prayer

October, 1965

I have been unwilling to recognize that this quest is one of Joy. Instead of reacting with anguish at times and a feeling of frustration and futility I will to see Myself only as I Truly am. Nothing else can matter but this. The Kingdom is entirely filled with Peace and Joy and I am an essential part of it. Therefore I must be unwilling to recognize what is already obvious even in My conflicted state.

I will only for God and His Kingdom. This is the only Message that is meaningful because it is My Reality. All else is illusion. I will be helped as I offer help to others. I will know Myself as I recognize My only True Relationship with all My Brothers.

Special Message directly to B

November 16, 1965

I would like to pray that my will be united with Thine recognizing that Thy perfect Love will suffice for, or correct, my imperfect Love. I pray that i may accept the Atonement with conviction recognizing Its inevitable Worth and my own Divine Worth as part of this Identification with Thee. I pray that my fear be replaced by an active sense of Thy Love and Thy continual willingness to help me overcome the split, or divided, will which is responsible for my difficulty with this. I accept the Divinity of the Messages we have received and affirm my will in both accepting and acting upon the Atonement principle.

Here I am, Lord.

The major problem that both of You have is the continuing split will which naturally interferes with Your True Identification. To the extent that You hold onto this split it will take longer to get through and will markedly interfere with Your own integration efforts. Reliance has to be placed on Me which is sufficient once You do this without distantiation or division in loyalties. This will be strengthened through a continual affirmation of the goal You both want to achieve and an awareness of its inevitability. In this way You will both perceive and know Your True Worth and the importance of maintaining a complete Identification.

B’s Special Note for H

December 1, 1965

The dominancesubmission problem is related to the perception of helping others versus helping the Self. This is a misperception resulting from the failure to recognize the equal worth of both individuals in the interaction. There can be no confusion on this point and no strain if this confusion is not introduced through misperception naturally.

Such confusion may be experienced partly by H at times when B is trying to help her. She is likely to feel that this puts her in a subordinate position since she thinks she should be the therapist. Obviously there is no problem once it is recognized that the equal worth of each person precludes this misperception since both gain in such a transaction. It is impossible for anybody to ever lose anything when this is fully recognized. This is what recognizing your Brother is all about.

December 11, 1965

Her conscious positive wish to help her husband is weakened and distorted by conflicting unconscious drives to utilize him for her own neurotic needs and to act them out with him and through him. Her strong narcissistic tendencies are probably intensified at present by concern about aging resulting in an increased need for a close attachment with a strong masculine protector. Her conflicting underlying urges to weaken and control him are deeply denied but induce much unconscious guilt and anxiety.

December 14, 1965

Nothing that relates to a specific relationship belongs in the notes. But You have been told that if You ask the Holy Spirit for specific guidance in a specific situation He will give it to You very specifically. When You and B are ready to ask Him together what You can do for M He will tell You if You make no attempt to give the Answer for Him. Prejudge His Answer not for if You do You will not hear It. But be sure of this! The Holy Spirit will never teach You to disrupt communication but be wholly willing to let Him maintain it in His way.

M is unhappy and afraid because he thinks communication through the body can be sought and found. It is no harder for the Holy Spirit to teach him that communication is of the mind and not the body than it is for Him to teach it to You. The Holy Spirit will have no difficulty and much Joy if You allow Him to teach M this through You. But be sure that You are willing to learn it with him or You will inevitably interfere with what the Holy Spirit would have him learn with You.

M will be released the instant You and B have no investment in keeping him or Yourselves in prison.

March, 1966

H: I asked the Holy Spirit in me to listen in case our Brother wanted to share some of his thoughts with me and i would be honored if he wanted to. The Answer was that that was not a good beginning because he always wants to share his.

June 13, 1966

B does not know his wholeness. He believes that there is a central core of himself which is invulnerable but he does not include all of himself in it. His is a peculiar selfconcept now because he is shifting his belief about himself but has not yet done so completely. As a result he believes in degrees of invulnerability, a concept which does not really mean anything.

Invulnerability is the opposite of vulnerability and is total. He once thought he was totally vulnerable. He now thinks he is partly invulnerable and partly vulnerable. This has limited his anxiety greatly but he has not yet gotten rid of it. This is ultimately because of his persistent belief that there is an order of difficulty in Miracles. He finds this easier to say than to believe but when he believes there is no order of difficulty in following everything I teach he will include all of himself in My Teaching.

June 14, 1966

There is something very wrong with H to which B is reacting badly because it bothers him too. The something is really nothing and I would not dwell on what it is as much as how to get over it.

There has been a sharp rise in competition which is really only an attempt to project one side of the internal conflict on practically any external situation H sees. This is regressive because it is a return to an earlier form of solving the problem.

August 24, 1966

Love him steadily and entirely whatever he does, whatever he says and he will see the Miracle That God and You will learn of Salvation.

If this seems hard to do remember it is what You want of Me.

Special Message for Bill

September 16, 1966

Question: Why is Bill more depressed than usual?

Answer: He is in a very deep sleep and much more resistant to waking than You are. The major problem with him is that his is a passive resistance which implies a giving over of will. This always induces a state of resignation and therefore depression. Tell him that no one can resign from the Sonship since membership is not optional. He has been looking for someone to take his will away because he thought it was the cause of his trouble. Since The Course has placed such persistent emphasis on will and since he agrees with the emphasis his past adjustment is threatened. That is why he could not sleep. His past came to “haunt” him because he is giving up the belief in ghosts.

Tell him again not to be afraid of ghosts and remind him that he has no past. The return of his will is what he wants. No one can accept it but himself.

Special Note for H

November 15, 1966

B was right in not regarding this as a separate problem: The savage problem of personal rejection. There is no fear in perfect Love. You do not want him to feel guiltless but rejected. This area is the only one in which You want to retain this but You will not be able to limit it. You will not see his purity until You give up rejection as a weapon against him or against everyone else. You think these are the only alternatives. Be sure to consider why You want to maintain this position. B will help You with this.

June 19, 1968

As You see him You will see Yourself. Whether this be through the use of psychological tests or by making judgment in some other way the effect is still the same. Whenever You have judged anyone it is impossible for You not to make this judgment on Yourself. If You see one of Your Brothers who happens to be a patient as exhibiting signs of a thought disorder then You will experience this same disorder in Your own perception. For whatever Your thought may be about anyone determines how You will respond and react to Yourself and everyone about You. Take heed then when You are called upon to fulfill Your function as Teachers that You teach the Truth about God’s Son. The only way that You can experience any Peace while this unfortunate necessity for interpreting illusions remains is to recognize that You are discussing only illusions and that this has no real meaning at all. Try to say a Prayer for Your Brother while doing this and You will call forth and experience a Miracle instead.

Christmas ’69

Christ passes no one by. Through this You know
he is God’s Son. You recognize his touch
In universal gentleness. His Love
Extends to everyone. His Eyes behold
The Love of God in everything he sees.
No Words but those his Father’s Voice dictates
Can reach his Ears. His Hands forever hold
His Brothers’. And his Arms remain outstretched
In Holy Welcome. Would You look on him
And hear him calling You this Christmas Day?

Behold, he offers You his Eyes to see,
His Ears to listen to his Father’s Voice,
His Hands to hold his Brothers’ and his Arms
To reach to him as he would reach to You.
You are as like to him as he to God
And You to God because You are like him.
All that he offers You is but Your own.
Accept his gifts to You this Christmas Day
That You Who are as God created You
May come to recognize the Christ in You.

3. Messages After the Dictation of The Course

October 5, 1975

Be comforted. You are not asked to do anything. There is a time when to step back is all that is asked of You. It is a time of rest and not of strain, a time of Peace and not a time of conflict. That time is almost here. It seems fearful because it is not under Your control. But think a minute. Stop and think honestly about what Your control has done, what it has brought to You.

You have been caught in a trap from which You never could escape. Conflict, guilt and fear have come with You and never left Your side. Each One of You has done this differently yet each has come to the same place, the same impasse. And now it seems to each of You that there is no escape. For it is True that You cannot escape alone. Your stories seem to differ for they do take different forms. Yet their one content makes You Brothers. Dwell not upon the differences or You are lost. It is in recognizing the common content, the common need that You are save!

The mess that is Your lives is an illusion. What can the form of dreams resolve? There is no answer to a question not yet asked for it would not be recognized. Ask only this: Will I fulfill the function given Me? What else is there to ask? Why must I know the form in which the Answer comes to Me? God answers: Yes! and it is done. No more than this is meaningful to You. It is not He Who would withhold the future and leave You fearful. You could not accept His Yes! in forms You would not understand.

Things still in time unfold as is appointed them and many things remain undone as yet. Plans based upon intangibles cannot be fully shown to You. And what has not as yet occurred must be intangible. This phase of learning has a single lesson for all the forms Your problems seem to take: To God all things are possible but You must ask His Answer only of Himself. Perhaps You think You do, but be You sure that if You had or did You would be quiet now and wholly undismayed by anything.

Do not attempt to guess His Will for You. Do not assume that You are right because an Answer seems to come from Him. Be sure You ask and then be still and let Him speak. There is no problem He cannot resolve for it is never He Who keeps apart some questions to be solved by someone else. You cannot share the world with Him and make half of it His while half belongs to You. Truth makes no compromise. To keep apart a little is to keep all separate.

Your Life, complete and whole, belongs to God or none of it is His. There is no thought in all the world that seems more terrible. Yet it is only when this thought appears in perfect clarity that there is hope in Peace and safety for the mind so long kept dark and twisted to avoid the Light. This is the Light.

Step back and do not dwell upon the forms that seem to keep You bound. You will fulfill Your function. And will have whatever You will need. God does not fail. But lay no limits on what You would give to Him to be resolved. For He can not offer a thousand answers when but One is all there is. Accept this One of Him and not one question will remain to ask.

Do not forget if You attempt to solve a problem You have judged it for Yourself and so You have betrayed Your proper role. Grandeur which comes from God establishes that judgment is impossible for You. But grandiosity insists You judge and bring to this all problems that You have. And what is the result? Look carefully upon Your Life and let it speak for You. Is this frail breath and deep uncertainty Your choice for You? Or would You rather rest in surety, certain You would not fail in Your request to have all problems happily resolved?

Do not mistake the fine disguises You can use to cover judgment. It appears as charity, as mercy and as Love, as pity, understanding and as care. And yet You know it is not what it seems because the problem still remains unsolved and comes to haunt Your mind in evil dreams. What have You kept from God that You would hide behind Your judgment? What have You concealed beneath the cloak of kindness and concern?

Use no one for Your needs for that is “sin”. And You will pay the penalty in guilt. Remember, You need nothing but You have an endless store of loving gifts to give. But teach this lesson only to Yourself. Your Brother will not learn it from Your words or from the judgments You have laid on him. You need not even speak a word to him. You cannot ask: “What shall I say to him?” and hear God’s Answer. Rather ask instead: “Help Me to see this Brother through the Eyes of Truth and not of judgment.” And the Help of God and all His Angels will respond.

For only Here We rest. We cast away Our little judgments and Our petty words, Our tiny problems and Our false concerns. We have attempted to be master of Our destiny and thought that Peace lay there. Freedom and judgment is impossible. But by Your side is one who knows the way. Step back for him and let him lead You to the rest and silence of the Word of God.

December 15, 1975

You need do nothing now. Between now and the end of december some very important and necessary changes will take place. One of them is factual and the others are shifts in attitudes. Until these have been accomplished it would be pointless to try to force through a plan. Afterwards the plan will unfold of itself.

The shifts in attitude will happen to Each of You and will involve the resolution of Your critical Life problem as You see it. These are the problems that seem to be interfering with hearing what the plan is. It is during this month that You will resolve them sufficiently to understand that You can hear the plan if You will listen. And You will listen because You will at last be willing to do so.

There is no use in trying to work out specific plans however important they may seem to be. They will all fall into place. This year is not yet done and it will work out as You were promised. Be content to get together, all of You or some of You as You are told. Each meeting will contribute to the goal. But the real changes will be sudden, unexpected and genuinely revealing. Nothing will be left unresolved.

December 31, 1975

It is done. This year will be different. Hell has gone by. I did not fail. I brought You all unto Your Father, out of hell forever. You will realize this gradually for You could not bear to hear all that this means now. This year it will gradually unfold. And by the time the year has ended You will wonder why You ever doubted. I cannot tell You more than You could hear without fright. And if You knew all that has been prepared for You You would indeed be frightened. Now I tell You only this for this You can believe:

This year You will set up a place which will be the Home of The Course. A place where It will grow from infancy into a Helper of the world. It will grow slowly because nothing can be permitted to go wrong. It must develop without error and with nothing to mar Its perfect purity. It is the Word of God to be kept Holy forever. This time there will be no failure, no loss of Truth, no misunderstanding and no misinterpretation. I will direct Its growth as It reaches from the paper on which It was written into the hearts for which It was intended. Be comforted by this: It will be impossible to make any mistakes in Its connection which will endure. I am watching over It with all the care I have for all My Brothers in Salvation. I understand what It can do for them. And I will make sure that It does it and does it perfectly.

Do not be concerned about starting. You have started. Do not be concerned about growing. You have grown and will yet grow more. And above all do not be concerned about My Love for You. There will not be one of You who will not be sure this year that I am with You, was with You when You came and will never leave You. What more would You have? I will tell You everything You need know whenever You need to know it. My Promises are sure because they are of God. As You are and I am,
Amen.

April 10, 1976

It is too soon to ask about the medical center. But think how all the steps are being taken for a stunning end to all Your trials. This year will end in blazing glory and there will be nothing left to doubt or sorrow for. Step back just a little and look. Do You not see the giant steps already behind You? Can You doubt the rest?

July 17, 1976

Do You remember what Joyce said about the powers of darkness being massed against the Truth? This is what she meant but did not recognize:

There is no external darkness but there is indeed an internal darkness that can be projected outward and it seems to mass to attack a real step forward and prevent it from being taken. Why? Because the darkness is frightened by the thought of the Light at the end of the tunnel. It does mean its end. And so, as We draw nearer...

I do not fail My Promises. When I promised You a year of radiance and Peace I meant it. What is the massing but a point of nothingness to Us? Darkness does not exist. When the Light comes it is gone. And it will be, and very soon.

Do not be caught by the forms that darkness takes. They are all defenses against the Light and they will not prevail against It. It does not matter how dark the darkness seems to be. What is not Light is darkness. But it is the darkness that is about to go. Believe Me in this only a little and You will be happy even now. But do not forget that either way it will be soon.

Was There a Physical Resurrection?

October 2, 1976

My body disappeared because I had no illusion about it. The last one had gone. It was laid in the tomb but there was nothing left to bury. It did not disintegrate because the unreal cannot die. It merely became what it always was. And that is what “rolling the stone away” means. The body disappears and no longer hides what lies beyond. It merely ceases to interfere with Vision. To roll the stone away is to see beyond the tomb, beyond death and to understand the body’s nothingness. What is understood as nothing must disappear.

I did assume a human form with human attributes afterwards to speak to those who were to prove the body’s worthlessness to the world. This has been much misunderstood. I came to tell them that death is illusion and the mind that made the body can make another since form itself is an illusion. They did not understand. But now I talk to You and give You the same Message. The death of an illusion means nothing. It disappears when You awaken and decide to dream no more. And You still do have the Power to make this decision as I did.

God holds out His Hand to His Son to help him rise and return to Him. I can help because the world is illusion and I have overcome the world. Look past the tomb, the body, the illusion. Have faith in nothing but the Spirit and the Guidance God gives You. He could not have created the body because it is a limit. He must have created the Spirit because It is immortal. Can those who are created like Him be limited? The body is the symbol of the world. Leave it behind. It cannot enter Heaven. But I can take You there anytime You choose. Together We can watch the world disappear and its symbol vanish as it does so. An then, and then... I cannot speak of that.

A body cannot stay without illusions. And the last one to be overcome is death. This is the message of the crucifixion: There is no order of difficulty in Miracles. This is the Message of the Resurrection:

Illusions are illusions.
Truth is True.
Illusions vanish.
Only Truth remains.

These lessons needed to be taught but once for when the stone of death is rolled away what can be seen except an empty tomb? And that is what You see Who follow Me into the Sunlight and away from death, past all illusions on to Heaven’s Gate where God will come Himself to take You Home.

... We Will Ask What the Problem Is and What Is the Answer To It

March 20, 1977

Problem: You have denied the Love of Your Life because You have denied Your Self.

Answer: Accept Him back and You will recognize Your Self again. He represents Your Self to You. He is Your healing and Your Salvation. He comes as a thief to steal away Your “sins”. He comes as a Savior to save You from Your false ideas of what You are. He comes as a Son of God because that is what He is along with You.

You need Him now but His need for You is as great as Yours. Together You can save the world. Alone He cannot fulfill His function any more than You can. Deny Him not. He stands for You. What He represents is God’s Gift to You and to Him. Take it of Him and all the world is saved.

See Me then Who comes to save You. I stand for Your Holiness. And Your Holiness is the Holiness of God. The cost of denying this Gift is hell. The Answer to Your receiving It is Heaven.

April 6, 1977

Thank You for changing Your mind. Nothing will happen. I told You he is in My charge. I do not promise lightly. And remember what I said about the test. Let this be Your Eastertide along with Mine. Give Me the gift of all Your worries. And I will give You the Gift of Peace and Joy in exchange.

What else could Easter mean?

January 1, 1978

You think the Child is stillborn and You are in mourning now for him. You do not understand what happened nor the signs that still surround his birth. The Star is there and all attempts to call it something else will slip away in time. For it was so before and will be so again. We cannot know when Truth has come because it would be hard to see the Heavens where a manger stands. But when the Truth has come there is a Light That finally shines through.

The mother waits. The child has come and has been born again. He is not dead. He is the Sign of Life, the Gift of God, the Lord of Peace, the King of all the world, the son of man and You. There is a Light surrounding You That You will see when You have ceased to fear to look on him who came to save You and the world through You. How can You doubt that I will come and tell You just exactly what You need to do to let Your function be fulfilled? Of all the world how is it You Who doubts?

There is no plan without Your part. And it will be revealed as soon as You can see that Life is there and has been born to You. Be patient, mother, for the end is not what You believe. I come in glory to the One Who gave Me birth and I will stay and wait in patience for Your wakening. When You behold Me You will understand. Till then We wait together, You and I.

January 7, 1978

Be sure to slip through this temptation with My Help which will not leave You if You ask for it. There is no point in dwelling on the past because it is no longer True now no matter what it may have been. In one sense all the discontinuous fragments that occur to You are True but only in the sense that You have dreamed these dreams and seen the others who took part in them. This is not Reality as it should be remembered. There is a section in the Text on “Present Memory”. Much of the Answer lies in that.

Who were these people once? As if it mattered now what dreams they had. Do not encourage nightmares nor forget there are no happy dreams excepting one. Do not then bother with the rest at all. The fragments will continue but they should be used only to recall Your function in its present form and present usefulness. Questions are idle and a waste of time when time is needed most. Do not delay by looking back and leave the future in the Hands of God. He has much more for You than You can find in dreams.

There is an urgency that calls to You. You have a function. Do not now delay. In a little while You will understand. You have been given charge of one way to God. It is direct and sure and True and there is need for it. You will be shown how it is needed, when to use it and where it should be taught for continuity. We must not lose it in this point in time by looking back. The past is meaningless. Your way will teach this fact. How could it be that God would have the past be shown to You when it will be the lesson You will teach that nothing in the past means anything?

January 14, 1978

The night is dark but it will have an end. Be comforted with this: No one I send to help You reach the goal will fail to stand beside You till Your Kingdom is secure. The Promises of God are given You. What could be surer? There is Help indeed for one so near to Heaven. There is change in everything but this: Whom He has called and who has answered Him as You have done can rest in Peace upon His loving Arm and trust His Gratitude and thankful Heart to beat for Yours when Yours appears to fail.

Do not imagine He will leave His Child who heard His Voice and listened to His Word. Remember this: The Thanks of God are Yours and will not leave You comfortless for long. You still are needed in the world to hear His Voice and share His Messages of Love with those who call in sorrow. Could it be that You will fail to find Him when His need for You becomes as great as Yours for Him? You need not fear that You will suffer loss nor that He will abandon You Who gave His Comfort to His Son. Receive the Gift You gave to God and He would give to You.

Trust Him Whose Voice You heard and do not think He does not hear Your frightened voice that calls in whispered agony. You will be raised from terror to the shining Peace of God. The way seems thorny and beset with grief yet it is certain as the Love of God Which cannot fail. It holds You up and so You cannot fail because It shines in You. Faith will be Yours because His Faith in You is limitless. Do not despair of Him Who loves You with an everlasting Love, Who knows Your need and watches over You in everything with ceaseless Vigilance.

Do not forget His Thanks and understand the Gratitude of God goes far beyond all things the world can offer for His Gifts will last forever in His Heart and Yours. Be thankful for His Love and for His Care for in this world it has been given few to give a gift to God as You have done. Yet only a few are needed. They suffice for all the rest and they give thanks to You along with their Creator and with Yours. He is not careless of the Gifts He gives nor are His Promises in vain. Be sure a mother does not fail the Son she loves nor will a father cast away his Child.

January 25, 1978

Leave this in My Hands and do not interfere personally. I need Your help in another way. Let them look, let them ask and help Me reach them. It is through Judy that I will speak because her need is greater. She will know because I will tell her. She will not be surprised but she will be sure.

There is time. Be sure she understands that. This is for her. Let her not forget there are options and she cannot choose among them. On monday ask her to take some quiet time. If possible around noon. She can do this if she really wants to. And let her remember everything that has happened. Then forget all of it. She will hear better away because she wants to please and she is afraid not to. Let her be still and know that I am God. And let her remember that her Father knows her need before she asks.

February 24, 1978

The FOUNDATION FOR INNER PEACE has a limited function in the Life of The Course. Its purpose is to publish, distribute and discuss the material and the steps followed in meeting this aim should be carefully checked with the Author. He knows how He wants these functions carried out and how this part of the program should be handled. These steps are preparatory to the real function for which The Course was given. It will take over at the right time and earlier goals will be handled separately in time by professional publishers. This will be in about two years. For now it is going well.

Do not put too much emphasis or be overly concerned with this phase and above all do not confuse it with the purpose of The Course. The Course has very longrange goals which could not possibly be recognized now. None of You has found His True function yet. This is because the central factor in the plan has not yet emerged and the parts cannot fall into place at this time.

It will begin to be clear this summer but will not be fully understood for some time. Nor is it necessary to be clearer than is needed to show You the ways You are to go to be of most help in Your appointed roles. Each has been very carefully chosen and there have been no accidents nor accidental meetings. God watches over His Word and over His Messengers. Trust only that.

It would be impossible to explain the details which depend on things that have not yet happened, people not yet met and events that have not yet occurred. You will still be told what to do in any particular instance any time You ask. As time goes on some of the Answers will seem quite surprising. Rejoice when that happens. It means that the next phase has begun. Everything that You are doing now will disappear and You will not remember it in the Light of what will happen afterward.

Little children, be not afraid. Just think of this: God is the real Foundation of The Course. It needs You only in His name. Would He then not tell You what to do and help You do it?

March 12, 1978

Your Brother Jerry wants to help You. It is important to him. Do it in Love and it cannot hurt. It can only help. But remember what it is that is helping. One form of magic is like another. It would be a mistake not to do it because You are afraid. What are called by many different names are not really different.

Give this gift to Jerry and give it to Me. Be not afraid. Trust Your Brother’s Love and help him help You. He will see it as a great gift and I am Here to see that nothing hurts You. You will be healed by wanting only the Peace of God. Jerry knows that. You will not use the medication long as he told You. Take it in Peace now because of him.

4. Encore

There is no cause for fear. Make no decisions now. There is a plan for the future which is not what You expect. God knows what it is and You do not. Do not try to figure it out.

You are not in danger. You are not responsible. God is responsible for Ken and Judy. The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected and the ego will not prevail over it.

Trust is Your lesson. God is with You. She will not get the house. It would be a mistake.

–

You can call Rod but he cannot help. You can call Armstrong but he cannot help. You should call him to tell him what’s happening but the problem is not there.

The suit does not matter.

–

There is no fear in perfect Love. In hate there is only fear. Do not be deceived by the idea of neutrality. “Vengeance is mine!” sayeth the ego and death is its strongest weapon.

–

Pray for him and do not be concerned with what You think he has done to You. He is fine and so are You. Be at Peace with this.

–

This is a librium effect but only partly. You may not be able to cut out the librium without too great anxiety but You will come to realize that it is increasing rather. With increasing comes anxiety.

Do not make a radical change now. You are not ready. But consider the need to do so which may be all You can do at the moment.

–

Do not be concerned. There is no cause for alarm in whatever You do. Librium will not harm You and cigarettes have no effect. There is one point however to remember: What You think will hurt You will. What You think will not hurt You won’t. Be still and know that I am God and You will not fail to sleep.

–

There is no help in Your attitude. The exam was adequate but teaching not. It is a matter of trust to let it go. Become comfortable to subjectiveness. Therefore You will not like the guesses because You do not trust them. You are not ready to have them made up.

–

It is for him. He will sleep like a baby because of Your forgiveness. He does not need anything else. I guarantee his sleep, a pill can not.

–

Anger burns and rage is murderous. No wonder You are afraid. This is the cause. But Jonathan can help with the palliative which You do need under the circumstances.

There is no need to see a doctor. You will be healed. Do nothing but keep it clean with mineral oil and use the desatin.

–

I am the Least and yet the Greatest. I Who walk with You have Heaven’s Might with Me. I go in glory. For You walk with Me. Deliver Me into Our Father’s Arms.

–

I seek My Father’s everlasting Arms which I alone can never hope to find. For I am frail in seeking and in Love. There will be one who holds a halting hand before Me on My lonely journeying, who will forever bar the way to Me. And I will faint in an illusion’s hold. But come You with Me and I cannot fail to find My Father’s House. As We approach the Holy Gate illusions shudder back. Illusions shudder from the Light We bring and Angels come to offer Us their wings.

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Bodo Schlecht (info@superdigi.org)