Lesson 57
Today let us review these ideas:
1. (31) **I am not the victim of the world I see.**
²How can I be the victim of a world that can be completely undone if I so choose? ³My chains are loosened. ⁴I can drop them off merely by desiring to do so. ⁵The prison door is open. ⁶I can leave simply by walking out. ⁷Nothing holds me in this world. ⁸Only my wish to stay keeps me a prisoner. ⁹I would give up my insane wishes and walk into the sunlight at last.
2. (32) **I have invented the world I see.**
²I made up the prison in which I see myself. ³All I need do is recognize this and I am free. ⁴I have deluded myself into believing it is possible to imprison the Son of God. ⁵I was bitterly mistaken in this belief, which I no longer want. ⁶The Son of God must be forever free. ⁷He is as God created him, and not what I would make of him. ⁸He is where God would have him be, and not where I thought to hold him prisoner.
3. (33) **There is another way of looking at the world.**
²Since the purpose of the world is not the one I ascribed to it, there must be another way of looking at it. ³I see everything upside down, and my thoughts are the opposite of truth. ⁴I see the world as a prison for God’s Son. ⁵It must be, then, that the world is really a place where he can be set free. ⁶I would look upon the world as it is, and see it as a place where the Son of God finds his freedom.
4. (34) **I could see peace instead of this.**
²When I see the world as a place of freedom, I realize that it reflects the laws of God instead of the rules I made up for it to obey. ³I will understand that peace, not war, abides in it. ⁴And I will perceive that peace also abides in the hearts of all who share this place with me.
5. (35) **My mind is part of God’s.** ²**I am very holy.**
³As I share the peace of the world with my brothers, I begin to understand that this peace comes from deep within myself. ⁴The world I look upon has taken on the light of my forgiveness, and shines forgiveness back at me. ⁵In this light I begin to see what my illusions about myself kept hidden. ⁶I begin to understand the holiness of all living things, including myself, and their oneness with me.
Lesson 56
Our review for today covers the following:
1. (26) **My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.**
²How can I know who I am when I see myself as under constant attack? ³Pain, illness, loss, age and death seem to threaten me. ⁴All my hopes and wishes and plans appear to be at the mercy of a world I cannot control. ⁵Yet perfect security and complete fulfillment are my inheritance. ⁶I have tried to give my inheritance away in exchange for the world I see. ⁷But God has kept my inheritance safe for me. ⁸My own real thoughts will teach me what it is.
2. (27) **Above all else I want to see.**
²Recognizing that what I see reflects what I think I am, I realize that vision is my greatest need. ³The world I see attests to the fearful nature of the self-image I have made. ⁴If I would remember who I am, it is essential that I let this image of myself go. ⁵As it is replaced by truth, vision will surely be given me. ⁶And with this vision, I will look upon the world and on myself with charity and love.
3. (28) **Above all else I want to see differently.**
²The world I see holds my fearful self-image in place, and guarantees its continuance. ³While I see the world as I see it now, truth cannot enter my awareness. ⁴I would let the door behind this world be opened for me, that I may look past it to the world that reflects the Love of God.
4. (29) **God is in everything I see.**
²Behind every image I have made, the truth remains unchanged. ³Behind every veil I have drawn across the face of love, its light remains undimmed. ⁴Beyond all my insane wishes is my will, united with the Will of my Father. ⁵God is still everywhere and in everything forever. ⁶And we who are part of Him will yet look past all appearances, and recognize the truth beyond them all.
5. (30) **God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.**
²In my own mind, behind all my insane thoughts of separation and attack, is the knowledge that all is one forever. ³I have not lost the knowledge of Who I am because I have forgotten it. ⁴It has been kept for me in the Mind of God, Who has not left His Thoughts. ⁵And I, who am among them, am one with them and one with Him.
Lesson 55
Today’s review includes the following:
1. (21) **I am determined to see things differently.**
²What I see now are but signs of disease, disaster and death. ³This cannot be what God created for His beloved Son. ⁴The very fact that I see such things is proof that I do not understand God. ⁵Therefore I also do not understand His Son. ⁶What I see tells me that I do not know who I am. ⁷I am determined to see the witnesses to the truth in me, rather than those which show me an illusion of myself.
2. (22) **What I see is a form of vengeance.**
²The world I see is hardly the representation of loving thoughts. ³It is a picture of attack on everything by everything. ⁴It is anything but a reflection of the Love of God and the Love of His Son. ⁵It is my own attack thoughts that give rise to this picture. ⁶My loving thoughts will save me from this perception of the world, and give me the peace God intended me to have.
3. (23) **I can escape from this world by giving up attack thoughts.**
²Herein lies salvation, and nowhere else. ³Without attack thoughts I could not see a world of attack. ⁴As forgiveness allows love to return to my awareness, I will see a world of peace and safety and joy. ⁵And it is this I choose to see, in place of what I look on now.
4. (24) **I do not perceive my own best interests.**
²How could I recognize my own best interests when I do not know who I am? ³What I think are my best interests would merely bind me closer to the world of illusions. ⁴I am willing to follow the Guide God has given me to find out what my own best interests are, recognizing that I cannot perceive them by myself.
5. (25) **I do not know what anything is for.**
²To me, the purpose of everything is to prove that my illusions about myself are real. ³It is for this purpose that I attempt to use everyone and everything. ⁴It is for this that I believe the world is for. ⁵Therefore I do not recognize its real purpose. ⁶The purpose I have given the world has led to a frightening picture of it. ⁷Let me open my mind to the world’s real purpose by withdrawing the one I have given it, and learning the truth about it.
Lesson 54
These are the review ideas for today:
1. (16) **I have no neutral thoughts.**
²Neutral thoughts are impossible because all thoughts have power. ³They will either make a false world or lead me to the real one. ⁴But thoughts cannot be without effects. ⁵As the world I see arises from my thinking errors, so will the real world rise before my eyes as I let my errors be corrected. ⁶My thoughts cannot be neither true nor false. ⁷They must be one or the other. ⁸What I see shows me which they are.
2. (17) **I see no neutral things.**
²What I see witnesses to what I think. ³If I did not think I would not exist, because life is thought. ⁴Let me look on the world I see as the representation of my own state of mind. ⁵I know that my state of mind can change. ⁶And so I also know the world I see can change as well.
3. (18) **I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.**
²If I have no private thoughts, I cannot see a private world. ³Even the mad idea of separation had to be shared before it could form the basis of the world I see. ⁴Yet that sharing was a sharing of nothing. ⁵I can also call upon my real thoughts, which share everything with everyone. ⁶As my thoughts of separation call to the separation thoughts of others, so my real thoughts awaken the real thoughts in them. ⁷And the world my real thoughts show me will dawn on their sight as well as mine.
4. (19) **I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.**
²I am alone in nothing. ³Everything I think or say or do teaches all the universe. ⁴A Son of God cannot think or speak or act in vain. ⁵He cannot be alone in anything. ⁶It is therefore in my power to change every mind along with mine, for mine is the power of God.
5. (20) **I am determined to see.**
²Recognizing the shared nature of my thoughts, I am determined to see. ³I would look upon the witnesses that show me the thinking of the world has been changed. ⁴I would behold the proof that what has been done through me has enabled love to replace fear, laughter to replace tears, and abundance to replace loss. ⁵I would look upon the real world, and let it teach me that my will and the Will of God are one.
Lesson 53
Today we will review the following:
1. (11) **My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.**
²Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world that pictures them can have no meaning. ³What is producing this world is insane, and so is what it produces. ⁴Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well as insane ones. ⁵I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing.
2. (12) **I am upset because I see a meaningless world.**
²Insane thoughts are upsetting. ³They produce a world in which there is no order anywhere. ⁴Only chaos rules a world that represents chaotic thinking, and chaos has no laws. ⁵I cannot live in peace in such a world. ⁶I am grateful that this world is not real, and that I need not see it at all unless I choose to value it. ⁷And I do not choose to value what is totally insane and has no meaning.
3. (13) **A meaningless world engenders fear.**
²The totally insane engenders fear because it is completely undependable, and offers no grounds for trust. ³Nothing in madness is dependable. ⁴It holds out no safety and no hope. ⁵But such a world is not real. ⁶I have given it the illusion of reality, and have suffered from my belief in it. ⁷Now I choose to withdraw this belief, and place my trust in reality. ⁸In choosing this, I will escape all the effects of the world of fear, because I am acknowledging that it does not exist.
4. (14) **God did not create a meaningless world.**
²How can a meaningless world exist if God did not create it? ³He is the Source of all meaning, and everything that is real is in His Mind. ⁴It is in my mind too, because He created it with me. ⁵Why should I continue to suffer from the effects of my own insane thoughts, when the perfection of creation is my home? ⁶Let me remember the power of my decision, and recognize where I really abide.
5. (15) **My thoughts are images that I have made.**
²Whatever I see reflects my thoughts. ³It is my thoughts that tell me where I am and what I am. ⁴The fact that I see a world in which there is suffering and loss and death shows me that I am seeing only the representation of my insane thoughts, and am not allowing my real thoughts to cast their beneficent light on what I see. ⁵Yet God’s way is sure. ⁶The images I have made cannot prevail against Him because it is not my will that they do so. ⁷My will is His, and I will place no other gods before Him.
Lesson 52
Today’s review covers these ideas:
1. (6) **I am upset because I see what is not there.**
²Reality is never frightening. ³It is impossible that it could upset me. ⁴Reality brings only perfect peace. ⁵When I am upset, it is always because I have replaced reality with illusions I made up. ⁶The illusions are upsetting because I have given them reality, and thus regard reality as an illusion. ⁷Nothing in God’s creation is affected in any way by this confusion of mine. ⁸I am always upset by nothing.
2. (7) **I see only the past.**
²As I look about, I condemn the world I look upon. ³I call this seeing. ⁴I hold the past against everyone and everything, making them my enemies. ⁵When I have forgiven myself and remembered Who I am, I will bless everyone and everything I see. ⁶There will be no past, and therefore no enemies. ⁷And I will look with love on all that I failed to see before.
3. (8) **My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.**
²I see only my own thoughts, and my mind is preoccupied with the past. ³What, then, can I see as it is? ⁴Let me remember that I look on the past to prevent the present from dawning on my mind. ⁵Let me understand that I am trying to use time against God. ⁶Let me learn to give the past away, realizing that in so doing I am giving up nothing.
4. (9) **I see nothing as it is now.**
²If I see nothing as it is now, it can truly be said that I see nothing. ³I can see only what is now. ⁴The choice is not whether to see the past or the present; the choice is merely whether to see or not. ⁵What I have chosen to see has cost me vision. ⁶Now I would choose again, that I may see.
5. (10) **My thoughts do not mean anything.**
²I have no private thoughts. ³Yet it is only private thoughts of which I am aware. ⁴What can these thoughts mean? ⁵They do not exist, and so they mean nothing. ⁶Yet my mind is part of creation and part of its Creator. ⁷Would I not rather join the thinking of the universe than to obscure all that is really mine with my pitiful and meaningless “private” thoughts?
Lesson 51
The review for today covers the following ideas:
1. (1) **Nothing I see means anything.**
²The reason this is so is that I see nothing, and nothing has no meaning. ³It is necessary that I recognize this, that I may learn to see. ⁴What I think I see now is taking the place of vision. ⁵I must let it go by realizing it has no meaning, so that vision may take its place.
2. (2) **I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me.**
²I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see. ³This is not vision. ⁴It is merely an illusion of reality, because my judgments have been made quite apart from reality. ⁵I am willing to recognize the lack of validity in my judgments, because I want to see. ⁶My judgments have hurt me, and I do not want to see according to them.
3. (3) **I do not understand anything I see.**
²How could I understand what I see when I have judged it amiss? ³What I see is the projection of my own errors of thought. ⁴I do not understand what I see because it is not understandable. ⁵There is no sense in trying to understand it. ⁶But there is every reason to let it go, and make room for what can be seen and understood and loved. ⁷I can exchange what I see now for this merely by being willing to do so. ⁸Is not this a better choice than the one I made before?
4. (4) **These thoughts do not mean anything.**
²The thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything because I am trying to think without God. ³What I call “my” thoughts are not my real thoughts. ⁴My real thoughts are the thoughts I think with God. ⁵I am not aware of them because I have made my thoughts to take their place. ⁶I am willing to recognize that my thoughts do not mean anything, and to let them go. ⁷I choose to have them be replaced by what they were intended to replace. ⁸My thoughts are meaningless, but all creation lies in the thoughts I think with God.
5. (5) **I am never upset for the reason I think.**
²I am never upset for the reason I think because I am constantly trying to justify my thoughts. ³I am constantly trying to make them true. ⁴I make all things my enemies, so that my anger is justified and my attacks are warranted. ⁵I have not realized how much I have misused everything I see by assigning this role to it. ⁶I have done this to defend a thought system that has hurt me, and that I no longer want. ⁷I am willing to let it go.
Lesson 50
I am sustained by the Love of God.
1. Here is the answer to every problem that will confront you, today and tomorrow and throughout time. ²In this world, you believe you are sustained by everything but God. ³Your faith is placed in the most trivial and insane symbols; pills, money, “protective” clothing, influence, prestige, being liked, knowing the “right” people, and an endless list of forms of nothingness that you endow with magical powers.
2. All these things are your replacements for the Love of God. ²All these things are cherished to ensure a body identification. ³They are songs of praise to the ego. ⁴Do not put your faith in the worthless. ⁵It will not sustain you.
3. Only the Love of God will protect you in all circumstances. ²It will lift you out of every trial, and raise you high above all the perceived dangers of this world into a climate of perfect peace and safety. ³It will transport you into a state of mind that nothing can threaten, nothing can disturb, and where nothing can intrude upon the eternal calm of the Son of God.
4. Put not your faith in illusions. ²They will fail you. ³Put all your faith in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and forever unfailing. ⁴This is the answer to whatever confronts you today. ⁵Through the Love of God within you, you can resolve all seeming difficulties without effort and in sure confidence. ⁶Tell yourself this often today. ⁷It is a declaration of release from the belief in idols. ⁸It is your acknowledgment of the truth about yourself.
5. For ten minutes, twice today, morning and evening, let the idea for today sink deep into your consciousness. ²Repeat it, think about it, let related thoughts come to help you recognize its truth, and allow peace to flow over you like a blanket of protection and surety. ³Let no idle and foolish thoughts enter to disturb the holy mind of the Son of God. ⁴Such is the Kingdom of Heaven. ⁵Such is the resting place where your Father has placed you forever.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-50/i-am-sustained-by-the-love-of-god/en/s/452
Lesson 48
There is nothing to fear.
1. The idea for today simply states a fact. ²It is not a fact to those who believe in illusions, but illusions are not facts. ³In truth there is nothing to fear. ⁴It is very easy to recognize this. ⁵But it is very difficult to recognize it for those who want illusions to be true.
2. Today’s practice periods will be very short, very simple and very frequent. ²Merely repeat the idea as often as possible. ³You can use it with your eyes open at any time and in any situation. ⁴It is strongly recommended, however, that you take a minute or so whenever possible to close your eyes and repeat the idea slowly to yourself several times. ⁵It is particularly important that you use the idea immediately, should anything disturb your peace of mind.
3. The presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting in your own strength. ²The awareness that there is nothing to fear shows that somewhere in your mind, though not necessarily in a place you recognize as yet, you have remembered God, and let His strength take the place of your weakness. ³The instant you are willing to do this there is indeed nothing to fear.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-48/there-is-nothing-to-fear/en/s/450
Lesson 43
God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.
1. Perception is not an attribute of God. ²His is the realm of knowledge. ³Yet He has created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge. ⁴Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in your mind. ⁵With this link with God, perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge. ⁶That is its function as the Holy Spirit sees it. ⁷Therefore, that is its function in truth.
2. In God you cannot see. ²Perception has no function in God, and does not exist. ³Yet in salvation, which is the undoing of what never was, perception has a mighty purpose. ⁴Made by the Son of God for an unholy purpose, it must become the means for the restoration of his holiness to his awareness. ⁵Perception has no meaning. ⁶Yet does the Holy Spirit give it a meaning very close to God’s. ⁷Healed perception becomes the means by which the Son of God forgives his brother, and thus forgives himself.
3. You cannot see apart from God because you cannot be apart from God. ²Whatever you do you do in Him, because whatever you think, you think with His Mind. ³If vision is real, and it is real to the extent to which it shares the Holy Spirit’s purpose, then you cannot see apart from God.
4. Three five-minute practice periods are required today, one as early and one as late as possible in the day. ²The third may be undertaken at the most convenient and suitable time that circumstances and readiness permit. ³At the beginning of these practice periods, repeat the idea for today to yourself with eyes open. ⁴Then glance around you for a short time, applying the idea specifically to what you see. ⁵Four or five subjects for this phase of the practice period are sufficient. ⁶You might say, for example:
⁷God is my Source. ⁸I cannot see this desk apart from Him.
⁹God is my Source. ¹⁰I cannot see that picture apart from Him.
5. Although this part of the exercise period should be relatively short, be sure that you select the subjects for this phase of practice indiscriminately, without self-directed inclusion or exclusion. ²For the second and longer phase, close your eyes, repeat today’s idea again, and then let whatever relevant thoughts occur to you add to the idea in your own personal way. ³Thoughts such as:
⁴I see through the eyes of forgiveness.
⁵I see the world as blessed.
⁶The world can show me myself.
⁷I see my own thoughts, which are like God’s.
⁸Any thought related more or less directly to today’s idea is suitable. ⁹The thoughts need not bear any obvious relationship to the idea, but they should not be in opposition to it.
6. If you find your mind wandering; if you begin to be aware of thoughts which are clearly out of accord with today’s idea, or if you seem to be unable to think of anything, open your eyes, repeat the first phase of the exercise period, and then attempt the second phase again. ²Do not allow any protracted period to occur in which you become preoccupied with irrelevant thoughts. ³Return to the first phase of the exercises as often as necessary to prevent this.
7. In applying today’s idea in the shorter practice periods, the form may vary according to the circumstances and situations in which you find yourself during the day. ²When you are with someone else, for example, try to remember to tell him silently:
³God is my Source. ⁴I cannot see you apart from Him.
⁵This form is equally applicable to strangers as it is to those you think are closer to you. ⁶In fact, try not to make distinctions of this kind at all.
8. Today’s idea should also be applied throughout the day to various situations and events that may occur, particularly to those which seem to distress you in any way. ²For this purpose, apply the idea in this form:
³God is my Source. ⁴I cannot see this apart from Him.
9. If no particular subject presents itself to your awareness at the time, merely repeat the idea in its original form. ²Try today not to allow any long periods of time to slip by without remembering today’s idea, and thus remembering your function.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-43/god-is-my-source-i-cannot-see-apart-from-him/en/s/445
Lesson 41
God goes with me wherever I go.
1. Today’s idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience. ²Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. ³So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss.
2. The separated ones have invented many “cures” for what they believe to be “the ills of the world.” ²But the one thing they do not do is to question the reality of the problem. ³Yet its effects cannot be cured because the problem is not real. ⁴The idea for today has the power to end all this foolishness forever. ⁵And foolishness it is, despite the serious and tragic forms it may take.
3. Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world. ²It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it will heal the mind that thought these things were real, and suffered out of its allegiance to them.
4. You can never be deprived of your perfect holiness because its Source goes with you wherever you go. ²You can never suffer because the Source of all joy goes with you wherever you go. ³You can never be alone because the Source of all life goes with you wherever you go. ⁴Nothing can destroy your peace of mind because God goes with you wherever you go.
5. We understand that you do not believe all this. ²How could you, when the truth is hidden deep within, under a heavy cloud of insane thoughts, dense and obscuring, yet representing all you see? ³Today we will make our first real attempt to get past this dark and heavy cloud, and to go through it to the light beyond.
6. There will be only one long practice period today. ²In the morning, as soon as you get up if possible, sit quietly for some three to five minutes, with your eyes closed. ³At the beginning of the practice period, repeat today’s idea very slowly. ⁴Then make no effort to think of anything. ⁵Try, instead, to get a sense of turning inward, past all the idle thoughts of the world. ⁶Try to enter very deeply into your own mind, keeping it clear of any thoughts that might divert your attention.
7. From time to time, you may repeat the idea if you find it helpful. ²But most of all, try to sink down and inward, away from the world and all the foolish thoughts of the world. ³You are trying to reach past all these things. ⁴You are trying to leave appearances and approach reality.
8. It is quite possible to reach God. ²In fact it is very easy, because it is the most natural thing in the world. ³You might even say it is the only natural thing in the world. ⁴The way will open, if you believe that it is possible. ⁵This exercise can bring very startling results even the first time it is attempted, and sooner or later it is always successful. ⁶We will go into more detail about this kind of practice as we go along. ⁷But it will never fail completely, and instant success is possible.
9. Throughout the day use today’s idea often, repeating it very slowly, preferably with eyes closed. ²Think of what you are saying; what the words mean. ³Concentrate on the holiness that they imply about you; on the unfailing companionship that is yours; on the complete protection that surrounds you.
10. You can indeed afford to laugh at fear thoughts, remembering that God goes with you wherever you go.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-41/god-goes-with-me-wherever-i-go/en/s/443
Lesson 40
I am blessed as a Son of God.
1. Today we will begin to assert some of the happy things to which you are entitled, being what you are. ²No long practice periods are required today, but very frequent short ones are necessary. ³Once every ten minutes would be highly desirable, and you are urged to attempt this schedule and to adhere to it whenever possible. ⁴If you forget, try again. ⁵If there are long interruptions, try again. ⁶Whenever you remember, try again.
2. You need not close your eyes for the exercise periods, although you will probably find it more helpful if you do. ²However, you may be in a number of situations during the day when closing your eyes would not be feasible. ³Do not miss a practice period because of this. ⁴You can practice quite well under any circumstances, if you really want to.
3. Today’s exercises take little time and no effort. ²Repeat the idea for today, and then add several of the attributes you associate with being a Son of God, applying them to yourself. ³One practice period might, for example, consist of the following:
⁴I am blessed as a Son of God.
⁵I am happy, peaceful, loving and contented.
⁶Another might take this form:
⁷I am blessed as a Son of God.
⁸I am calm, quiet, assured and confident.
⁹If only a brief period is available, merely telling yourself that you are blessed as a Son of God will do.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-40/i-am-blessed-as-a-son-of-god/en/s/442
Lesson 39
My holiness is my salvation.
1. If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? ²Like the text for which this workbook was written, the ideas used for the exercises are very simple, very clear and totally unambiguous. ³We are not concerned with intellectual feats nor logical toys. ⁴We are dealing only in the very obvious, which has been overlooked in the clouds of complexity in which you think you think.
2. If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? ²This is not difficult, surely. ³The hesitation you may feel in answering is not due to the ambiguity of the question. ⁴But do you believe that guilt is hell? ⁵If you did, you would see at once how direct and simple the text is, and you would not need a workbook at all. ⁶No one needs practice to gain what is already his.
3. We have already said that your holiness is the salvation of the world. ²What about your own salvation? ³You cannot give what you do not have. ⁴A savior must be saved. ⁵How else can he teach salvation? ⁶Today’s exercises will apply to you, recognizing that your salvation is crucial to the salvation of the world. ⁷As you apply the exercises to your world, the whole world stands to benefit.
4. Your holiness is the answer to every question that was ever asked, is being asked now, or will be asked in the future. ²Your holiness means the end of guilt, and therefore the end of hell. ³Your holiness is the salvation of the world, and your own. ⁴How could you to whom your holiness belongs be excluded from it? ⁵God does not know unholiness. ⁶Can it be He does not know His Son?
5. A full five minutes are urged for the four longer practice periods for today, and longer and more frequent practice sessions are encouraged. ²If you want to exceed the minimum requirements, more rather than longer sessions are recommended, although both are suggested.
6. Begin the practice periods as usual, by repeating today’s idea to yourself. ²Then, with closed eyes, search out your unloving thoughts in whatever form they appear; uneasiness, depression, anger, fear, worry, attack, insecurity and so on. ³Whatever form they take, they are unloving and therefore fearful. ⁴And so it is from them that you need to be saved.
7. Specific situations, events or personalities you associate with unloving thoughts of any kind are suitable subjects for today’s exercises. ²It is imperative for your salvation that you see them differently. ³And it is your blessing on them that will save you and give you vision.
8. Slowly, without conscious selection and without undue emphasis on any one in particular, search your mind for every thought that stands between you and your salvation. ²Apply the idea for today to each of them in this way:
³My unloving thoughts about _________ are keeping me in hell. ⁴My holiness is my salvation.
9. You may find these practice periods easier if you intersperse them with several short periods during which you merely repeat today’s idea to yourself slowly a few times. ²You may also find it helpful to include a few short intervals in which you just relax and do not seem to be thinking of anything. ³Sustained concentration is very difficult at first. ⁴It will become much easier as your mind becomes more disciplined and less distractible.
10. Meanwhile, you should feel free to introduce variety into the exercise periods in whatever form appeals to you. ²Do not, however, change the idea itself as you vary the method of applying it. ³However you elect to use it, the idea should be stated so that its meaning is the fact that your holiness is your salvation. ⁴End each practice period by repeating the idea in its original form once more, and adding:
⁵If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?
11. In the shorter applications, which should be made some three or four times an hour and more if possible, you may ask yourself this question, repeat today’s idea, and preferably both. ²If temptations arise, a particularly helpful form of the idea is:
³My holiness is my salvation from this.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-39/my-holiness-is-my-salvation/en/s/441
Lesson 35
My mind is part of God’s. I am very holy.
1. Today’s idea does not describe the way you see yourself now. ²It does, however, describe what vision will show you. ³It is difficult for anyone who thinks he is in this world to believe this of himself. ⁴Yet the reason he thinks he is in this world is because he does not believe it.
2. You will believe that you are part of where you think you are. ²That is because you surround yourself with the environment you want. ³And you want it to protect the image of yourself that you have made. ⁴The image is part of this environment. ⁵What you see while you believe you are in it is seen through the eyes of the image. ⁶This is not vision. ⁷Images cannot see.
3. The idea for today presents a very different view of yourself. ²By establishing your Source it establishes your Identity, and it describes you as you must really be in truth. ³We will use a somewhat different kind of application for today’s idea because the emphasis for today is on the perceiver, rather than on what he perceives.
4. For each of the three five-minute practice periods today, begin by repeating today’s idea to yourself, and then close your eyes and search your mind for the various kinds of descriptive terms in which you see yourself. ²Include all the ego-based attributes which you ascribe to yourself, positive or negative, desirable or undesirable, grandiose or debased. ³All of them are equally unreal, because you do not look upon yourself through the eyes of holiness.
5. In the earlier part of the mind-searching period, you will probably emphasize what you consider to be the more negative aspects of your perception of yourself. ²Toward the latter part of the exercise period, however, more self-inflating descriptive terms may well cross your mind. ³Try to recognize that the direction of your fantasies about yourself does not matter. ⁴Illusions have no direction in reality. ⁵They are merely not true.
6. A suitable unselected list for applying the idea for today might be as follows:
²I see myself as imposed on.
³I see myself as depressed.
⁴I see myself as failing.
⁵I see myself as endangered.
⁶I see myself as helpless.
⁷I see myself as victorious.
⁸I see myself as losing out.
⁹I see myself as charitable.
¹⁰I see myself as virtuous.
7. You should not think of these terms in an abstract way. ²They will occur to you as various situations, personalities and events in which you figure cross your mind. ³Pick up any specific situation that occurs to you, identify the descriptive term or terms you feel are applicable to your reactions to that situation, and use them in applying today’s idea. ⁴After you have named each one, add:
⁵But my mind is part of God’s. ⁶I am very holy.
8. During the longer exercise periods, there will probably be intervals in which nothing specific occurs to you. ²Do not strain to think up specific things to fill the interval, but merely relax and repeat today’s idea slowly until something occurs to you. ³Although nothing that does occur should be omitted from the exercises, nothing should be “dug out” with effort. ⁴Neither force nor discrimination should be used.
9. As often as possible during the day, pick up a specific attribute or attributes you are ascribing to yourself at the time and apply the idea for today to them, adding the idea in the form stated above to each of them. ²If nothing particular occurs to you, merely repeat the idea to yourself, with closed eyes.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-35/my-mind-is-part-of-gods-i-am-very-holy/en/s/437
Lesson 34
I could see peace instead of this.
1. The idea for today begins to describe the conditions that prevail in the other way of seeing. ²Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. ³It must begin with your own thoughts, and then extend outward. ⁴It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises.
2. Three longer practice periods are required for today’s exercises. ²One in the morning and one in the evening are advised, with an additional one to be undertaken at any time in between that seems most conducive to readiness. ³All applications should be done with your eyes closed. ⁴It is your inner world to which the applications of today’s idea should be made.
3. Some five minutes of mind searching are required for each of the longer practice periods. ²Search your mind for fear thoughts, anxiety-provoking situations, “offending” personalities or events, or anything else about which you are harboring unloving thoughts. ³Note them all casually, repeating the idea for today slowly as you watch them arise in your mind, and let each one go, to be replaced by the next.
4. If you begin to experience difficulty in thinking of specific subjects, continue to repeat the idea to yourself in an unhurried manner, without applying it to anything in particular. ²Be sure, however, not to make any specific exclusions.
5. The shorter applications are to be frequent, and made whenever you feel your peace of mind is threatened in any way. ²The purpose is to protect yourself from temptation throughout the day. ³If a specific form of temptation arises in your awareness, the exercise should take this form:
⁴I could see peace in this situation instead of what I now see in it.
6. If the inroads on your peace of mind take the form of more generalized adverse emotions, such as depression, anxiety or worry, use the idea in its original form. ²If you find you need more than one application of today’s idea to help you change your mind in any specific context, try to take several minutes and devote them to repeating the idea until you feel some sense of relief. ³It will help you if you tell yourself specifically:
⁴I can replace my feelings of depression, anxiety or worry [or my thoughts about this situation, personality or event] with peace.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-34/i-could-see-peace-instead-of-this/en/s/436
Lesson 32
I have invented the world I see.
1. Today we are continuing to develop the theme of cause and effect. ²You are not the victim of the world you see because you invented it. ³You can give it up as easily as you made it up. ⁴You will see it or not see it, as you wish. ⁵While you want it you will see it; when you no longer want it, it will not be there for you to see.
2. The idea for today, like the preceding ones, applies to your inner and outer worlds, which are actually the same. ²However, since you see them as different, the practice periods for today will again include two phases, one involving the world you see outside you, and the other the world you see in your mind. ³In today’s exercises, try to introduce the thought that both are in your own imagination.
3. Again we will begin the practice periods for the morning and evening by repeating the idea for today two or three times while looking around at the world you see as outside yourself. ²Then close your eyes and look around your inner world. ³Try to treat them both as equally as possible. ⁴Repeat the idea for today unhurriedly as often as you wish, as you watch the images your imagination presents to your awareness.
4. For the two longer practice periods three to five minutes are recommended, with not less than three required. ²More than five can be utilized, if you find the exercise restful. ³To facilitate this, select a time when few distractions are anticipated, and when you yourself feel reasonably ready.
5. These exercises are also to be continued during the day, as often as possible. ²The shorter applications consist of repeating the idea slowly, as you survey either your inner or outer world. ³It does not matter which you choose.
6. The idea for today should also be applied immediately to any situation that may distress you. ²Apply the idea by telling yourself:
³I have invented this situation as I see it.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-32/i-have-invented-the-world-i-see/en/s/434
Lesson 31
I am not the victim of the world I see.
1. Today’s idea is the introduction to your declaration of release. ²Again, the idea should be applied to both the world you see without and the world you see within. ³In applying the idea, we will use a form of practice which will be used more and more, with changes as indicated. ⁴Generally speaking, the form includes two aspects, one in which you apply the idea on a more sustained basis, and the other consisting of frequent applications of the idea throughout the day.
2. Two longer periods of practice with the idea for today are needed, one in the morning and one at night. ²Three to five minutes for each of these are recommended. ³During that time, look about you slowly while repeating the idea two or three times. ⁴Then close your eyes, and apply the same idea to your inner world. ⁵You will escape from both together, for the inner is the cause of the outer.
3. As you survey your inner world, merely let whatever thoughts cross your mind come into your awareness, each to be considered for a moment, and then replaced by the next. ²Try not to establish any kind of hierarchy among them. ³Watch them come and go as dispassionately as possible. ⁴Do not dwell on any one in particular, but try to let the stream move on evenly and calmly, without any special investment on your part. ⁵As you sit and quietly watch your thoughts, repeat today’s idea to yourself as often as you care to, but with no sense of hurry.
4. In addition, repeat the idea for today as often as possible during the day. ²Remind yourself that you are making a declaration of independence in the name of your own freedom. ³And in your freedom lies the freedom of the world.
5. The idea for today is also a particularly useful one to use as a response to any form of temptation that may arise. ²It is a declaration that you will not yield to it, and put yourself in bondage.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-31/i-am-not-the-victim-of-the-world-i-see/en/s/433
Lesson 29
God is in everything I see.
1. The idea for today explains why you can see all purpose in everything. ²It explains why nothing is separate, by itself or in itself. ³And it explains why nothing you see means anything. ⁴In fact, it explains every idea we have used thus far, and all subsequent ones as well. ⁵Today’s idea is the whole basis for vision.
2. You will probably find this idea very difficult to grasp at this point. ²You may find it silly, irreverent, senseless, funny and even objectionable. ³Certainly God is not in a table, for example, as you see it. ⁴Yet we emphasized yesterday that a table shares the purpose of the universe. ⁵And what shares the purpose of the universe shares the purpose of its Creator.
3. Try then, today, to begin to learn how to look on all things with love, appreciation and open-mindedness. ²You do not see them now. ³Would you know what is in them? ⁴Nothing is as it appears to you. ⁵Its holy purpose stands beyond your little range. ⁶When vision has shown you the holiness that lights up the world, you will understand today’s idea perfectly. ⁷And you will not understand how you could ever have found it difficult.
4. Our six two-minute practice periods for today should follow a now familiar pattern: Begin with repeating the idea to yourself, and then apply it to randomly chosen subjects about you, naming each one specifically. ²Try to avoid the tendency toward self-directed selection, which may be particularly tempting in connection with today’s idea because of its wholly alien nature. ³Remember that any order you impose is equally alien to reality.
5. Your list of subjects should therefore be as free of self-selection as possible. ²For example, a suitable list might include:
³God is in this coat hanger.
⁴God is in this magazine.
⁵God is in this finger.
⁶God is in this lamp.
⁷God is in that body.
⁸God is in that door.
⁹God is in that waste basket.
¹⁰In addition to the assigned practice periods, repeat the idea for today at least once an hour, looking slowly about you as you say the words unhurriedly to yourself. ¹¹At least once or twice, you should experience a sense of restfulness as you do this.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-29/god-is-in-everything-i-see/en/s/431
Lesson 28
Above all else I want to see things differently.
1. Today we are really giving specific application to the idea for yesterday. ²In these practice periods, you will be making a series of definite commitments. ³The question of whether you will keep them in the future is not our concern here. ⁴If you are willing at least to make them now, you have started on the way to keeping them. ⁵And we are still at the beginning.
2. You may wonder why it is important to say, for example, “Above all else I want to see this table differently.” ²In itself it is not important at all. ³Yet what is by itself? ⁴And what does “in itself” mean? ⁵You see a lot of separate things about you, which really means you are not seeing at all. ⁶You either see or not. ⁷When you have seen one thing differently, you will see all things differently. ⁸The light you will see in any one of them is the same light you will see in them all.
3. When you say, “Above all else I want to see this table differently,” you are making a commitment to withdraw your preconceived ideas about the table, and open your mind to what it is, and what it is for. ²You are not defining it in past terms. ³You are asking what it is, rather than telling it what it is. ⁴You are not binding its meaning to your tiny experience of tables, nor are you limiting its purpose to your little personal thoughts.
4. You will not question what you have already defined. ²And the purpose of these exercises is to ask questions and receive the answers. ³In saying, “Above all else I want to see this table differently,” you are committing yourself to seeing. ⁴It is not an exclusive commitment. ⁵It is a commitment that applies to the table just as much as to anything else, neither more nor less.
5. You could, in fact, gain vision from just that table, if you would withdraw all your own ideas from it, and look upon it with a completely open mind. ²It has something to show you; something beautiful and clean and of infinite value, full of happiness and hope. ³Hidden under all your ideas about it is its real purpose, the purpose it shares with all the universe.
6. In using the table as a subject for applying the idea for today, you are therefore really asking to see the purpose of the universe. ²You will be making this same request of each subject that you use in the practice periods. ³And you are making a commitment to each of them to let its purpose be revealed to you, instead of placing your own judgment upon it.
7. We will have six two-minute practice periods today, in which the idea for the day is stated first, and then applied to whatever you see about you. ²Not only should the subjects be chosen randomly, but each one should be accorded equal sincerity as today’s idea is applied to it, in an attempt to acknowledge the equal value of them all in their contribution to your seeing.
8. As usual, the applications should include the name of the subject your eyes happen to light on, and you should rest your eyes on it while saying:
²Above all else I want to see this _________ differently.
³Each application should be made quite slowly, and as thoughtfully as possible. ⁴There is no hurry.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-28/above-all-else-i-want-to-see-things-differently/en/s/430
Lesson 24
I do not perceive my own best interests.
1. In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy. ²Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. ³What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong. ⁴It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests. ⁵Yet they are your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived. ⁶Otherwise, you will not recognize what they are.
2. If you realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could be taught what they are. ²But in the presence of your conviction that you do know what they are, you cannot learn. ³The idea for today is a step toward opening your mind so that learning can begin.
3. The exercises for today require much more honesty than you are accustomed to using. ²A few subjects, honestly and carefully considered in each of the five practice periods which should be undertaken today, will be more helpful than a more cursory examination of a large number. ³Two minutes are suggested for each of the mind-searching periods which the exercises involve.
4. The practice periods should begin with repeating today’s idea, followed by searching the mind, with closed eyes, for unresolved situations about which you are currently concerned. ²The emphasis should be on uncovering the outcome you want. ³You will quickly realize that you have a number of goals in mind as part of the desired outcome, and also that these goals are on different levels and often conflict.
5. In applying the idea for today, name each situation that occurs to you, and then enumerate carefully as many goals as possible that you would like to be met in its resolution. ²The form of each application should be roughly as follows:
³In the situation involving _________, I would like _________ to happen, and _________ to happen,
and so on. ⁴Try to cover as many different kinds of outcomes as may honestly occur to you, even if some of them do not appear to be directly related to the situation, or even to be inherent in it at all.
6. If these exercises are done properly, you will quickly recognize that you are making a large number of demands of the situation which have nothing to do with it. ²You will also recognize that many of your goals are contradictory, that you have no unified outcome in mind, and that you must experience disappointment in connection with some of your goals, however the situation turns out.
7. After covering the list of as many hoped-for goals as possible, for each unresolved situation that crosses your mind say to yourself:
²I do not perceive my own best interests in this situation,
and go on to the next one.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-24/i-do-not-perceive-my-own-best-interests/en/s/426