Lesson 97
I am spirit.
1. Today’s idea identifies you with your one Self. ²It accepts no split identity, nor tries to weave opposing factors into unity. ³It simply states the truth. ⁴Practice this truth today as often as you can, for it will bring your mind from conflict to the quiet fields of peace. ⁵No chill of fear can enter, for your mind has been absolved from madness, letting go illusions of a split identity.
2. We state again the truth about your Self, the holy Son of God Who rests in you, whose mind has been restored to sanity. ²You are the spirit lovingly endowed with all your Father’s Love and peace and joy. ³You are the spirit which completes Himself, and shares His function as Creator. ⁴He is with you always, as you are with Him.
3. Today we try to bring reality still closer to your mind. ²Each time you practice, awareness is brought a little nearer at least; sometimes a thousand years or more are saved. ³The minutes which you give are multiplied over and over, for the miracle makes use of time, but is not ruled by it. ⁴Salvation is a miracle, the first and last; the first that is the last, for it is one.
4. You are the spirit in whose mind abides the miracle in which all time stands still; the miracle in which a minute spent in using these ideas becomes a time that has no limit and that has no end. ²Give, then, these minutes willingly, and count on Him Who promised to lay timelessness beside them. ³He will offer all His strength to every little effort that you make. ⁴Give Him the minutes which He needs today, to help you understand with Him you are the spirit that abides in Him, and that calls through His Voice to every living thing; offers His sight to everyone who asks; replaces error with the simple truth.
5. The Holy Spirit will be glad to take five minutes of each hour from your hands, and carry them around this aching world where pain and misery appear to rule. ²He will not overlook one open mind that will accept the healing gifts they bring, and He will lay them everywhere He knows they will be welcome. ³And they will increase in healing power each time someone accepts them as his thoughts, and uses them to heal.
6. Thus will each gift to Him be multiplied a thousandfold and tens of thousands more. ²And when it is returned to you, it will surpass in might the little gift you gave as much as does the radiance of the sun outshine the tiny gleam a firefly makes an uncertain moment and goes out. ³The steady brilliance of this light remains and leads you out of darkness, nor will you be able to forget the way again.
7. Begin these happy exercises with the words the Holy Spirit speaks to you, and let them echo round the world through Him:
²Spirit am I, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free to forgive, and free to save the world.
³Expressed through you, the Holy Spirit will accept this gift that you received of Him, increase its power and give it back to you.
8. Offer each practice period today gladly to Him. ²And He will speak to you, reminding you that you are spirit, one with Him and God, your brothers and your Self. ³Listen for His assurance every time you speak the words He offers you today, and let Him tell your mind that they are true. ⁴Use them against temptation, and escape its sorry consequences if you yield to the belief that you are something else. ⁵The Holy Spirit gives you peace today. ⁶Receive His words, and offer them to Him.
Lesson 96
Salvation comes from my one Self.
1. Although you are one Self, you experience yourself as two; as both good and evil, loving and hating, mind and body. ²This sense of being split into opposites induces feelings of acute and constant conflict, and leads to frantic attempts to reconcile the contradictory aspects of this self-perception. ³You have sought many such solutions, and none of them has worked. ⁴The opposites you see in you will never be compatible. ⁵But one exists.
2. The fact that truth and illusion cannot be reconciled, no matter how you try, what means you use and where you see the problem, must be accepted if you would be saved. ²Until you have accepted this, you will attempt an endless list of goals you cannot reach; a senseless series of expenditures of time and effort, hopefulness and doubt, each one as futile as the one before, and failing as the next one surely will.
3. Problems that have no meaning cannot be resolved within the framework they are set. ²Two selves in conflict could not be resolved, and good and evil have no meeting place. ³The self you made can never be your Self, nor can your Self be split in two, and still be what It is and must forever be. ⁴A mind and body cannot both exist. ⁵Make no attempt to reconcile the two, for one denies the other can be real. ⁶If you are physical, your mind is gone from your self-concept, for it has no place in which it could be really part of you. ⁷If you are spirit, then the body must be meaningless to your reality.
4. Spirit makes use of mind as means to find its Self expression. ²And the mind which serves the spirit is at peace and filled with joy. ³Its power comes from spirit, and it is fulfilling happily its function here. ⁴Yet mind can also see itself divorced from spirit, and perceive itself within a body it confuses with itself. ⁵Without its function then it has no peace, and happiness is alien to its thoughts.
5. Yet mind apart from spirit cannot think. ²It has denied its Source of strength, and sees itself as helpless, limited and weak. ³Dissociated from its function now, it thinks it is alone and separate, attacked by armies massed against itself and hiding in the body’s frail support. ⁴Now must it reconcile unlike with like, for this is what it thinks that it is for.
6. Waste no more time on this. ²Who can resolve the senseless conflicts which a dream presents? ³What could the resolution mean in truth? ⁴What purpose could it serve? ⁵What is it for? ⁶Salvation cannot make illusions real, nor solve a problem that does not exist. ⁷Perhaps you hope it can. ⁸Yet would you have God’s plan for the release of His dear Son bring pain to him, and fail to set him free?
7. Your Self retains Its Thoughts, and they remain within your mind and in the Mind of God. ²The Holy Spirit holds salvation in your mind, and offers it the way to peace. ³Salvation is a thought you share with God, because His Voice accepted it for you and answered in your name that it was done. ⁴Thus is salvation kept among the Thoughts your Self holds dear and cherishes for you.
8. We will attempt today to find this thought, whose presence in your mind is guaranteed by Him Who speaks to you from your one Self. ²Our hourly five-minute practicing will be a search for Him within your mind. ³Salvation comes from this one Self through Him Who is the Bridge between your mind and It. ⁴Wait patiently, and let Him speak to you about your Self, and what your mind can do, restored to It and free to serve Its Will.
9. Begin with saying this:
²Salvation comes from my one Self. ³Its Thoughts are mine to use.
⁴Then seek Its Thoughts, and claim them as your own. ⁵These are your own real thoughts you have denied, and let your mind go wandering in a world of dreams, to find illusions in their place. ⁶Here are your thoughts, the only ones you have. ⁷Salvation is among them; find it there.
10. If you succeed, the thoughts that come to you will tell you you are saved, and that your mind has found the function that it sought to lose. ²Your Self will welcome it and give it peace. ³Restored in strength, it will again flow out from spirit to the spirit in all things created by the Spirit as Itself. ⁴Your mind will bless all things. ⁵Confusion done, you are restored, for you have found your Self.
11. Your Self knows that you cannot fail today. ²Perhaps your mind remains uncertain yet a little while. ³Be not dismayed by this. ⁴The joy your Self experiences It will save for you, and it will yet be yours in full awareness. ⁵Every time you spend five minutes of the hour seeking Him Who joins your mind and Self, you offer Him another treasure to be kept for you.
12. Each time today you tell your frantic mind salvation comes from your one Self, you lay another treasure in your growing store. ²And all of it is given everyone who asks for it, and will accept the gift. ³Think, then, how much is given unto you to give this day, that it be given you!
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-96/salvation-comes-from-my-one-self/en/s/500
Lesson 95
I am one Self, united with my Creator.
1. Today’s idea accurately describes you as God created you. ²You are one within yourself, and one with Him. ³Yours is the unity of all creation. ⁴Your perfect unity makes change in you impossible. ⁵You do not accept this, and you fail to realize it must be so, only because you believe that you have changed yourself already.
2. You see yourself as a ridiculous parody on God’s creation; weak, vicious, ugly and sinful, miserable and beset with pain. ²Such is your version of yourself; a self divided into many warring parts, separate from God, and tenuously held together by its erratic and capricious maker, to which you pray. ³It does not hear your prayers, for it is deaf. ⁴It does not see the oneness in you, for it is blind. ⁵It does not understand you are the Son of God, for it is senseless and understands nothing.
3. We will attempt today to be aware only of what can hear and see, and what makes perfect sense. ²We will again direct our exercises towards reaching your one Self, which is united with Its Creator. ³In patience and in hope we try again today.
4. The use of the first five minutes of every waking hour for practicing the idea for the day has special advantages at the stage of learning in which you are at present. ²It is difficult at this point not to allow your mind to wander, if it undertakes extended practice. ³You have surely realized this by now. ⁴You have seen the extent of your lack of mental discipline, and of your need for mind training. ⁵It is necessary that you be aware of this, for it is indeed a hindrance to your advance.
5. Frequent but shorter practice periods have other advantages for you at this time. ²In addition to recognizing your difficulties with sustained attention, you must also have noticed that, unless you are reminded of your purpose frequently, you tend to forget about it for long periods of time. ³You often fail to remember the short applications of the idea for the day, and you have not yet formed the habit of using the idea as an automatic response to temptation.
6. Structure, then, is necessary for you at this time, planned to include frequent reminders of your goal and regular attempts to reach it. ²Regularity in terms of time is not the ideal requirement for the most beneficial form of practice in salvation. ³It is advantageous, however, for those whose motivation is inconsistent, and who remain heavily defended against learning.
7. We will, therefore, keep to the five-minutes-an-hour practice periods for a while, and urge you to omit as few as possible. ²Using the first five minutes of the hour will be particularly helpful, since it imposes firmer structure. ³Do not, however, use your lapses from this schedule as an excuse not to return to it again as soon as you can. ⁴There may well be a temptation to regard the day as lost because you have already failed to do what is required. ⁵This should, however, merely be recognized as what it is; a refusal to let your mistake be corrected, and an unwillingness to try again.
8. The Holy Spirit is not delayed in His teaching by your mistakes. ²He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go. ³Let us therefore be determined, particularly for the next week or so, to be willing to forgive ourselves for our lapses in diligence, and our failures to follow the instructions for practicing the day’s idea. ⁴This tolerance for weakness will enable us to overlook it, rather than give it power to delay our learning. ⁵If we give it power to do this, we are regarding it as strength, and are confusing strength with weakness.
9. When you fail to comply with the requirements of this course, you have merely made a mistake. ²This calls for correction, and for nothing else. ³To allow a mistake to continue is to make additional mistakes, based on the first and reinforcing it. ⁴It is this process that must be laid aside, for it is but another way in which you would defend illusions against the truth.
10. Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. ²They are attempts to keep you unaware you are one Self, united with your Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace. ³This is the truth, and nothing else is true. ⁴Today we will affirm this truth again, and try to reach the place in you in which there is no doubt that only this is true.
11. Begin the practice periods today with this assurance, offered to your mind with all the certainty that you can give:
²I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace.
³Then close your eyes and tell yourself again, slowly and thoughtfully, attempting to allow the meaning of the words to sink into your mind, replacing false ideas:
⁴I am one Self.
⁵Repeat this several times, and then attempt to feel the meaning that the words convey.
12. You are one Self, united and secure in light and joy and peace. ²You are God’s Son, one Self, with one Creator and one goal; to bring awareness of this oneness to all minds, that true creation may extend the allness and the unity of God. ³You are one Self, complete and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the world, and let the light in you come through to teach the world the truth about yourself.
13. You are one Self, in perfect harmony with all there is, and all that there will be. ²You are one Self, the holy Son of God, united with your brothers in that Self; united with your Father in His Will. ³Feel this one Self in you, and let It shine away all your illusions and your doubts. ⁴This is your Self, the Son of God Himself, sinless as Its Creator, with His strength within you and His Love forever yours. ⁵You are one Self, and it is given you to feel this Self within you, and to cast all your illusions out of the one Mind that is this Self, the holy truth in you.
14. Do not forget today. ²We need your help; your little part in bringing happiness to all the world. ³And Heaven looks to you in confidence that you will try today. ⁴Share, then, its surety, for it is yours. ⁵Be vigilant. ⁶Do not forget today. ⁷Throughout the day do not forget your goal. ⁸Repeat today’s idea as frequently as possible, and understand each time you do so, someone hears the voice of hope, the stirring of the truth within his mind, the gentle rustling of the wings of peace.
15. Your own acknowledgment you are one Self, united with your Father, is a call to all the world to be at one with you. ²To everyone you meet today, be sure to give the promise of today’s idea and tell him this:
³You are one Self with me, united with our Creator in this Self. ⁴I honor you because of What I am, and What He is, Who loves us both as One.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-95/i-am-one-self-united-with-my-creator/en/s/499
Lesson 94
I am as God created me.
1. Today we continue with the one idea which brings complete salvation; the one statement which makes all forms of temptation powerless; the one thought which renders the ego silent and entirely undone. ²You are as God created you. ³The sounds of this world are still, the sights of this world disappear, and all the thoughts that this world ever held are wiped away forever by this one idea. ⁴Here is salvation accomplished. ⁵Here is sanity restored.
2. True light is strength, and strength is sinlessness. ²If you remain as God created you, you must be strong and light must be in you. ³He Who ensured your sinlessness must be the guarantee of strength and light as well. ⁴You are as God created you. ⁵Darkness cannot obscure the glory of God’s Son. ⁶You stand in light, strong in the sinlessness in which you were created, and in which you will remain throughout eternity.
3. Today we will again devote the first five minutes of each waking hour to the attempt to feel the truth in you. ²Begin these times of searching with these words:
³I am as God created me.
⁴I am His Son eternally.
⁵Now try to reach the Son of God in you. ⁶This is the Self that never sinned, nor made an image to replace reality. ⁷This is the Self that never left Its home in God to walk the world uncertainly. ⁸This is the Self that knows no fear, nor could conceive of loss or suffering or death.
4. Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all idols and self-images aside; go past the list of attributes, both good and bad, you have ascribed to yourself; and wait in silent expectancy for the truth. ²God has Himself promised that it will be revealed to all who ask for it. ³You are asking now. ⁴You cannot fail because He cannot fail.
5. If you do not meet the requirement of practicing for the first five minutes of every hour, at least remind yourself hourly:
²I am as God created me.
³I am His Son eternally.
⁴Tell yourself frequently today that you are as God created you. ⁵And be sure to respond to anyone who seems to irritate you with these words:
⁶You are as God created you.
⁷You are His Son eternally.
⁸Make every effort to do the hourly exercises today. ⁹Each one you do will be a giant stride toward your release, and a milestone in learning the thought system which this course sets forth.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-94/i-am-as-god-created-me/en/s/498
Lesson 93
Light and joy and peace abide in me.
1. You think you are the home of evil, darkness and sin. ²You think if anyone could see the truth about you he would be repelled, recoiling from you as if from a poisonous snake. ³You think if what is true about you were revealed to you, you would be struck with horror so intense that you would rush to death by your own hand, living on after seeing this being impossible.
2. These are beliefs so firmly fixed that it is difficult to help you see that they are based on nothing. ²That you have made mistakes is obvious. ³That you have sought salvation in strange ways; have been deceived, deceiving and afraid of foolish fantasies and savage dreams; and have bowed down to idols made of dust,—all this is true by what you now believe.
3. Today we question this, not from the point of view of what you think, but from a very different reference point, from which such idle thoughts are meaningless. ²These thoughts are not according to God’s Will. ³These weird beliefs He does not share with you. ⁴This is enough to prove that they are wrong, but you do not perceive that this is so.
4. Why would you not be overjoyed to be assured that all the evil that you think you did was never done, that all your sins are nothing, that you are as pure and holy as you were created, and that light and joy and peace abide in you? ²Your image of yourself cannot withstand the Will of God. ³You think that this is death, but it is life. ⁴You think you are destroyed, but you are saved.
5. The self you made is not the Son of God. ²Therefore, this self does not exist at all. ³And anything it seems to do and think means nothing. ⁴It is neither bad nor good. ⁵It is unreal, and nothing more than that. ⁶It does not battle with the Son of God. ⁷It does not hurt him, nor attack his peace. ⁸It has not changed creation, nor reduced eternal sinlessness to sin, and love to hate. ⁹What power can this self you made possess, when it would contradict the Will of God?
6. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. ²Over and over this must be repeated, until it is accepted. ³It is true. ⁴Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. ⁵Nothing can touch it, or change what God created as eternal. ⁶The self you made, evil and full of sin, is meaningless. ⁷Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light and joy and peace abide in you.
7. Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought;—you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself. ²Whatever evil you may think you did, you are as God created you. ³Whatever mistakes you made, the truth about you is unchanged. ⁴Creation is eternal and unalterable. ⁵Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. ⁶You are and will forever be exactly as you were created. ⁷Light and joy and peace abide in you because God put them there.
8. In our longer exercise periods today, which would be most profitable if done for the first five minutes of every waking hour, begin by stating the truth about your creation:
²Light and joy and peace abide in me.
³My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
⁴Then put away your foolish self-images, and spend the rest of the practice period in trying to experience what God has given you, in place of what you have decreed for yourself.
9. You are what God created or what you made. ²One Self is true; the other is not there. ³Try to experience the unity of your one Self. ⁴Try to appreciate Its Holiness and the love from which It was created. ⁵Try not to interfere with the Self which God created as you, by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sinfulness you have made to replace It. ⁶Let It come into Its Own. ⁷Here you are; This is You. ⁸And light and joy and peace abide in you because this is so.
10. You may not be willing or even able to use the first five minutes of each hour for these exercises. ²Try, however, to do so when you can. ³At least remember to repeat these thoughts each hour:
⁴Light and joy and peace abide in me.
⁵My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
⁶Then try to devote at least a minute or so to closing your eyes and realizing that this is a statement of the truth about you.
11. If a situation arises that seems to be disturbing, quickly dispel the illusion of fear by repeating these thoughts again. ²Should you be tempted to become angry with someone, tell him silently:
³Light and joy and peace abide in you.
⁴Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
⁵You can do much for the world’s salvation today. ⁶You can do much today to bring you closer to the part in salvation that God has assigned to you. ⁷And you can do much today to bring the conviction to your mind that the idea for the day is true indeed.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-93/light-and-joy-and-peace-abide-in-me/en/s/497
Lesson 92
Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.
1. The idea for today is an extension of the previous one. ²You do not think of light in terms of strength, and darkness in terms of weakness. ³That is because your idea of what seeing means is tied up with the body and its eyes and brain. ⁴Thus you believe that you can change what you see by putting little bits of glass before your eyes. ⁵This is among the many magical beliefs that come from the conviction you are a body, and the body’s eyes can see.
2. You also believe the body’s brain can think. ²If you but understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea. ³It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun and gives it all its warmth; or that you held the world within your hand, securely bound until you let it go. ⁴Yet this is no more foolish than to believe the body’s eyes can see; the brain can think.
3. It is God’s strength in you that is the light in which you see, as it is His Mind with which you think. ²His strength denies your weakness. ³It is your weakness that sees through the body’s eyes, peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself; the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless. ⁴These are seen through eyes that cannot see and cannot bless.
4. Strength overlooks these things by seeing past appearances. ²It keeps its steady gaze upon the light that lies beyond them. ³It unites with light, of which it is a part. ⁴It sees itself. ⁵It brings the light in which your Self appears. ⁶In darkness you perceive a self that is not there. ⁷Strength is the truth about you; weakness is an idol falsely worshipped and adored that strength may be dispelled, and darkness rule where God appointed that there should be light.
5. Strength comes from truth, and shines with light its Source has given it; weakness reflects the darkness of its maker. ²It is sick and looks on sickness, which is like itself. ³Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. ⁴It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply. ⁵It sees that lack in anyone would be a lack in all. ⁶And so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one. ⁷Its strength is shared, that it may bring to all the miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love.
6. Weakness, which looks in darkness, cannot see a purpose in forgiveness and in love. ²It sees all others different from itself, and nothing in the world that it would share. ³It judges and condemns, but does not love. ⁴In darkness it remains to hide itself, and dreams that it is strong and conquering, a victor over limitations that but grow in darkness to enormous size.
7. It fears and it attacks and hates itself, and darkness covers everything it sees, leaving its dreams as fearful as itself. ²No miracles are here, but only hate. ³It separates itself from what it sees, while light and strength perceive themselves as one. ⁴The light of strength is not the light you see. ⁵It does not change and flicker and go out. ⁶It does not shift from night to day, and back to darkness till the morning comes again.
8. The light of strength is constant, sure as love, forever glad to give itself away, because it cannot give but to itself. ²No one can ask in vain to share its sight, and none who enters its abode can leave without a miracle before his eyes, and strength and light abiding in his heart.
9. The strength in you will offer you the light, and guide your seeing so you do not dwell on idle shadows that the body’s eyes provide for self-deception. ²Strength and light unite in you, and where they meet, your Self stands ready to embrace you as Its Own. ³Such is the meeting place we try today to find and rest in, for the peace of God is where your Self, His Son, is waiting now to meet Itself again, and be as one.
10. Let us give twenty minutes twice today to join this meeting. ²Let yourself be brought unto your Self. ³Its strength will be the light in which the gift of sight is given you. ⁴Leave, then, the dark a little while today, and we will practice seeing in the light, closing the body’s eyes and asking truth to show us how to find the meeting place of self and Self, where light and strength are one.
11. Morning and evening we will practice thus. ²After the morning meeting, we will use the day in preparation for the time at night when we will meet again in trust. ³Let us repeat as often as we can the idea for today, and recognize that we are being introduced to sight, and led away from darkness to the light where only miracles can be perceived.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-92/miracles-are-seen-in-light-and-light-and-strength/en/s/496
Lesson 91
Miracles are seen in light.
1. It is important to remember that miracles and vision necessarily go together. ²This needs repeating, and frequent repeating. ³It is a central idea in your new thought system, and the perception that it produces. ⁴The miracle is always there. ⁵Its presence is not caused by your vision; its absence is not the result of your failure to see. ⁶It is only your awareness of miracles that is affected. ⁷You will see them in the light; you will not see them in the dark.
2. To you, then, light is crucial. ²While you remain in darkness, the miracle remains unseen. ³Thus you are convinced it is not there. ⁴This follows from the premises from which the darkness comes. ⁵Denial of light leads to failure to perceive it. ⁶Failure to perceive light is to perceive darkness. ⁷The light is useless to you then, even though it is there. ⁸You cannot use it because its presence is unknown to you. ⁹And the seeming reality of the darkness makes the idea of light meaningless.
3. To be told that what you do not see is there sounds like insanity. ²It is very difficult to become convinced that it is insanity not to see what is there, and to see what is not there instead. ³You do not doubt that the body’s eyes can see. ⁴You do not doubt the images they show you are reality. ⁵Your faith lies in the darkness, not the light. ⁶How can this be reversed? ⁷For you it is impossible, but you are not alone in this.
4. Your efforts, however little they may be, have strong support. ²Did you but realize how great this strength, your doubts would vanish. ³Today we will devote ourselves to the attempt to let you feel this strength. ⁴When you have felt the strength in you, which makes all miracles within your easy reach, you will not doubt. ⁵The miracles your sense of weakness hides will leap into awareness as you feel the strength in you.
5. Three times today, set aside about ten minutes for a quiet time in which you try to leave your weakness behind. ²This is accomplished very simply, as you instruct yourself that you are not a body. ³Faith goes to what you want, and you instruct your mind accordingly. ⁴Your will remains your teacher, and your will has all the strength to do what it desires. ⁵You can escape the body if you choose. ⁶You can experience the strength in you.
6. Begin the longer practice periods with this statement of true cause and effect relationships:
²Miracles are seen in light.
³The body’s eyes do not perceive the light.
⁴But I am not a body. ⁵What am I?
⁶The question with which this statement ends is needed for our exercises today. ⁷What you think you are is a belief to be undone. ⁸But what you really are must be revealed to you. ⁹The belief you are a body calls for correction, being a mistake. ¹⁰The truth of what you are calls on the strength in you to bring to your awareness what the mistake conceals.
7. If you are not a body, what are you? ²You need to be aware of what the Holy Spirit uses to replace the image of a body in your mind. ³You need to feel something to put your faith in, as you lift it from the body. ⁴You need a real experience of something else, something more solid and more sure; more worthy of your faith, and really there.
8. If you are not a body, what are you? ²Ask this in honesty, and then devote several minutes to allowing your mistaken thoughts about your attributes to be corrected, and their opposites to take their place. ³Say, for example:
⁴I am not weak, but strong.
⁵I am not helpless, but all powerful.
⁶I am not limited, but unlimited.
⁷I am not doubtful, but certain.
⁸I am not an illusion, but a reality.
⁹I cannot see in darkness, but in light.
9. In the second phase of the exercise period, try to experience these truths about yourself. ²Concentrate particularly on the experience of strength. ³Remember that all sense of weakness is associated with the belief you are a body, a belief that is mistaken and deserves no faith. ⁴Try to remove your faith from it, if only for a moment. ⁵You will be accustomed to keeping faith with the more worthy in you as we go along.
10. Relax for the rest of the practice period, confident that your efforts, however meager, are fully supported by the strength of God and all His Thoughts. ²It is from Them that your strength will come. ³It is through Their strong support that you will feel the strength in you. ⁴They are united with you in this practice period, in which you share a purpose like Their Own. ⁵Theirs is the light in which you will see miracles, because Their strength is yours. ⁶Their strength becomes your eyes, that you may see.
11. Five or six times an hour, at reasonably regular intervals, remind yourself that miracles are seen in light. ²Also, be sure to meet temptation with today’s idea. ³This form would be helpful for this special purpose:
⁴Miracles are seen in light. ⁵Let me not close my eyes because of this.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-91/miracles-are-seen-in-light/en/s/495
Lesson 90
For this review we will use these ideas:
1. (79) **Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.**
²Let me realize today that the problem is always some form of grievance that I would cherish. ³Let me also understand that the solution is always a miracle with which I let the grievance be replaced. ⁴Today I would remember the simplicity of salvation by reinforcing the lesson that there is one problem and one solution. ⁵The problem is a grievance; the solution is a miracle. ⁶And I invite the solution to come to me through my forgiveness of the grievance, and my welcome of the miracle that takes its place.
2. Specific applications of this idea might be in these forms:
²This presents a problem to me which I would have resolved.
³The miracle behind this grievance will resolve it for me.
⁴The answer to this problem is the miracle that it conceals.
3. (80) **Let me recognize my problems have been solved.**
²I seem to have problems only because I am misusing time. ³I believe that the problem comes first, and time must elapse before it can be worked out. ⁴I do not see the problem and the answer as simultaneous in their occurrence. ⁵That is because I do not yet realize that God has placed the answer together with the problem, so that they cannot be separated by time. ⁶The Holy Spirit will teach me this, if I will let Him. ⁷And I will understand it is impossible that I could have a problem which has not been solved already.
4. These forms of the idea will be useful for specific applications:
²I need not wait for this to be resolved.
³The answer to this problem is already given me, if I will accept it.
⁴Time cannot separate this problem from its solution.
Lesson 89
These are our review ideas for today:
1. (77) **I am entitled to miracles.**
²I am entitled to miracles because I am under no laws but God’s. ³His laws release me from all grievances, and replace them with miracles. ⁴And I would accept the miracles in place of the grievances, which are but illusions that hide the miracles beyond. ⁵Now I would accept only what the laws of God entitle me to have, that I may use it on behalf of the function He has given me.
2. You might use these suggestions for specific applications of this idea:
²Behind this is a miracle to which I am entitled.
³Let me not hold a grievance against you, [name], but offer you the miracle that belongs to you instead.
⁴Seen truly, this offers me a miracle.
3. (78) **Let miracles replace all grievances.**
²By this idea do I unite my will with the Holy Spirit’s, and perceive them as one. ³By this idea do I accept my release from hell. ⁴By this idea do I express my willingness to have all my illusions be replaced with truth, according to God’s plan for my salvation. ⁵I would make no exceptions and no substitutes. ⁶I want all of Heaven and only Heaven, as God wills me to have.
4. Useful specific forms for applying this idea would be:
²I would not hold this grievance apart from my salvation.
³Let our grievances be replaced by miracles, [name].
⁴Beyond this is the miracle by which all my grievances are replaced.
Lesson 88
Today we will review these ideas:
1. (75) **The light has come.**
²In choosing salvation rather than attack, I merely choose to recognize what is already there. ³Salvation is a decision made already. ⁴Attack and grievances are not there to choose. ⁵That is why I always choose between truth and illusion; between what is there and what is not. ⁶The light has come. ⁷I can but choose the light, for it has no alternative. ⁸It has replaced the darkness, and the darkness has gone.
2. These would prove useful forms for specific applications of this idea:
²This cannot show me darkness, for the light has come.
³The light in you is all that I would see, [name].
⁴I would see in this only what is there.
3. (76) **I am under no laws but God’s.**
²Here is the perfect statement of my freedom. ³I am under no laws but God’s. ⁴I am constantly tempted to make up other laws and give them power over me. ⁵I suffer only because of my belief in them. ⁶They have no real effect on me at all. ⁷I am perfectly free of the effects of all laws save God’s. ⁸And His are the laws of freedom.
4. For specific forms in applying this idea, these would be useful:
²My perception of this shows me I believe in laws that do not exist.
³I see only the laws of God at work in this.
⁴Let me allow God’s laws to work in this, and not my own.
Lesson 87
Our review today will cover these ideas:
1. (73) **I will there be light.**
²I will use the power of my will today. ³It is not my will to grope about in darkness, fearful of shadows and afraid of things unseen and unreal. ⁴Light shall be my guide today. ⁵I will follow it where it leads me, and I will look only on what it shows me. ⁶This day I will experience the peace of true perception.
2. These forms of this idea would be helpful for specific applications:
²This cannot hide the light I will to see.
³You stand with me in light, [name].
⁴In the light this will look different.
3. (74) **There is no will but God’s.**
²I am safe today because there is no will but God’s. ³I can become afraid only when I believe there is another will. ⁴I try to attack only when I am afraid, and only when I try to attack can I believe that my eternal safety is threatened. ⁵Today I will recognize that all this has not occurred. ⁶I am safe because there is no will but God’s.
4. These are some useful forms of this idea for specific applications:
²Let me perceive this in accordance with the Will of God.
³It is God’s Will you are His Son, [name], and mine as well.
⁴This is part of God’s Will for me, however I may see it.
Lesson 86
These ideas are for review today:
1. (71) **Only God’s plan for salvation will work.**
²It is senseless for me to search wildly about for salvation. ³I have seen it in many people and in many things, but when I reached for it, it was not there. ⁴I was mistaken about where it is. ⁵I was mistaken about what it is. ⁶I will undertake no more idle seeking. ⁷Only God’s plan for salvation will work. ⁸And I will rejoice because His plan can never fail.
2. These are some suggested forms for applying this idea specifically:
²God’s plan for salvation will save me from my perception of this.
³This is no exception in God’s plan for my salvation.
⁴Let me perceive this only in the light of God’s plan for salvation.
3. (72) **Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.**
²Holding grievances is an attempt to prove that God’s plan for salvation will not work. ³Yet only His plan will work. ⁴By holding grievances, I am therefore excluding my only hope of salvation from my awareness. ⁵I would no longer defeat my own best interests in this insane way. ⁶I would accept God’s plan for salvation, and be happy.
4. Specific applications for this idea might be in these forms:
²I am choosing between misperception and salvation as I look on this.
³If I see grounds for grievances in this, I will not see the grounds for my salvation.
⁴This calls for salvation, not attack.
Lesson 85
Today’s review will cover these ideas:
1. (69) **My grievances hide the light of the world in me.**
²My grievances show me what is not there, and hide from me what I would see. ³Recognizing this, what do I want my grievances for? ⁴They keep me in darkness and hide the light. ⁵Grievances and light cannot go together, but light and vision must be joined for me to see. ⁶To see, I must lay grievances aside. ⁷I want to see, and this will be the means by which I will succeed.
2. Specific applications for this idea might be made in these forms:
²Let me not use this as a block to sight.
³The light of the world will shine all this away.
⁴I have no need for this. ⁵I want to see.
3. (70) **My salvation comes from me.**
²Today I will recognize where my salvation is. ³It is in me because its Source is there. ⁴It has not left its Source, and so it cannot have left my mind. ⁵I will not look for it outside myself. ⁶It is not found outside and then brought in. ⁷But from within me it will reach beyond, and everything I see will but reflect the light that shines in me and in itself.
4. These forms of the idea are suitable for more specific applications:
²Let this not tempt me to look away from me for my salvation.
³I will not let this interfere with my awareness of the Source of my salvation.
⁴This has no power to remove salvation from me.
Lesson 84
These are the ideas for today’s review:
1. (67) **Love created me like itself.**
²I am in the likeness of my Creator. ³I cannot suffer, I cannot experience loss and I cannot die. ⁴I am not a body. ⁵I would recognize my reality today. ⁶I will worship no idols, nor raise my own self-concept to replace my Self. ⁷I am in the likeness of my Creator. ⁸Love created me like itself.
2. You might find these specific forms helpful in applying the idea:
²Let me not see an illusion of myself in this.
³As I look on this, let me remember my Creator.
⁴My Creator did not create this as I see it.
3. (68) **Love holds no grievances.**
²Grievances are completely alien to love. ³Grievances attack love and keep its light obscure. ⁴If I hold grievances I am attacking love, and therefore attacking my Self. ⁵My Self thus becomes alien to me. ⁶I am determined not to attack my Self today, so that I can remember Who I am.
4. These specific forms for applying this idea would be helpful:
²This is no justification for denying my Self.
³I will not use this to attack love.
⁴Let this not tempt me to attack myself.
Lesson 83
Today let us review these ideas:
1. (65) **My only function is the one God gave me.**
²I have no function but the one God gave me. ³This recognition releases me from all conflict, because it means I cannot have conflicting goals. ⁴With one purpose only, I am always certain what to do, what to say and what to think. ⁵All doubt must disappear as I acknowledge that my only function is the one God gave me.
2. More specific applications of this idea might take these forms:
²My perception of this does not change my function.
³This does not give me a function other than the one God gave me.
⁴Let me not use this to justify a function God did not give me.
3. (66) **My happiness and my function are one.**
²All things that come from God are one. ³They come from Oneness, and must be received as one. ⁴Fulfilling my function is my happiness because both come from the same Source. ⁵And I must learn to recognize what makes me happy, if I would find happiness.
4. Some useful forms for specific applications of this idea are:
²This cannot separate my happiness from my function.
³The oneness of my happiness and my function remains wholly unaffected by this.
⁴Nothing, including this, can justify the illusion of happiness apart from my function.
Lesson 82
We will review these ideas today:
1. (63) **The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.**
²My forgiveness is the means by which the light of the world finds expression through me. ³My forgiveness is the means by which I become aware of the light of the world in me. ⁴My forgiveness is the means by which the world is healed, together with myself. ⁵Let me, then, forgive the world, that it may be healed along with me.
2. Suggestions for specific forms for applying this idea are:
²Let peace extend from my mind to yours, [name].
³I share the light of the world with you, [name].
⁴Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is.
3. (64) **Let me not forget my function.**
²I would not forget my function, because I would remember my Self. ³I cannot fulfill my function if I forget it. ⁴And unless I fulfill my function, I will not experience the joy that God intends for me.
4. Suitable specific forms of this idea include:
²Let me not use this to hide my function from me.
³I would use this as an opportunity to fulfill my function.
⁴This may threaten my ego, but cannot change my function in any way.
Lesson 81
Our ideas for review today are:
1. (61) **I am the light of the world.**
²How holy am I, who have been given the function of lighting up the world! ³Let me be still before my holiness. ⁴In its calm light let all my conflicts disappear. ⁵In its peace let me remember Who I am.
2. Some specific forms for applying this idea when special difficulties seem to arise might be:
²Let me not obscure the light of the world in me.
³Let the light of the world shine through this appearance.
⁴This shadow will vanish before the light.
3. (62) **Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.**
²It is through accepting my function that I will see the light in me. ³And in this light will my function stand clear and perfectly unambiguous before my sight. ⁴My acceptance does not depend on my recognizing what my function is, for I do not yet understand forgiveness. ⁵Yet I will trust that, in the light, I will see it as it is.
4. Specific forms for using this idea might include:
²Let this help me learn what forgiveness means.
³Let me not separate my function from my will.
⁴I will not use this for an alien purpose.
Lesson 80
Let me recognize my problems have been solved.
1. If you are willing to recognize your problems, you will recognize that you have no problems. ²Your one central problem has been answered, and you have no other. ³Therefore, you must be at peace. ⁴Salvation thus depends on recognizing this one problem, and understanding that it has been solved. ⁵One problem, one solution. ⁶Salvation is accomplished. ⁷Freedom from conflict has been given you. ⁸Accept that fact, and you are ready to take your rightful place in God’s plan for salvation.
2. Your only problem has been solved! ²Repeat this over and over to yourself today, with gratitude and conviction. ³You have recognized your only problem, opening the way for the Holy Spirit to give you God’s answer. ⁴You have laid deception aside, and seen the light of truth. ⁵You have accepted salvation for yourself by bringing the problem to the answer. ⁶And you can recognize the answer, because the problem has been identified.
3. You are entitled to peace today. ²A problem that has been resolved cannot trouble you. ³Only be certain you do not forget that all problems are the same. ⁴Their many forms will not deceive you while you remember this. ⁵One problem, one solution. ⁶Accept the peace this simple statement brings.
4. In our longer practice periods today, we will claim the peace that must be ours when the problem and the answer have been brought together. ²The problem must be gone, because God’s answer cannot fail. ³Having recognized one, you have recognized the other. ⁴The solution is inherent in the problem. ⁵You are answered, and have accepted the answer. ⁶You are saved.
5. Now let the peace that your acceptance brings be given you. ²Close your eyes, and receive your reward. ³Recognize that your problems have been solved. ⁴Recognize that you are out of conflict; free and at peace. ⁵Above all, remember that you have one problem, and that the problem has one solution. ⁶It is in this that the simplicity of salvation lies. ⁷It is because of this that it is guaranteed to work.
6. Assure yourself often today that your problems have been solved. ²Repeat the idea with deep conviction, as frequently as possible. ³And be particularly sure to apply the idea for today to any specific problem that may arise. ⁴Say quickly:
⁵Let me recognize this problem has been solved.
7. Let us be determined not to collect grievances today. ²Let us be determined to be free of problems that do not exist. ³The means is simple honesty. ⁴Do not deceive yourself about what the problem is, and you must recognize it has been solved.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-80/let-me-recognize-my-problems-have-been-solved/en/s/483
Lesson 79
Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.
1. A problem cannot be solved if you do not know what it is. ²Even if it is really solved already you will still have the problem, because you will not recognize that it has been solved. ³This is the situation of the world. ⁴The problem of separation, which is really the only problem, has already been solved. ⁵Yet the solution is not recognized because the problem is not recognized.
2. Everyone in this world seems to have his own special problems. ²Yet they are all the same, and must be recognized as one if the one solution that solves them all is to be accepted. ³Who can see that a problem has been solved if he thinks the problem is something else? ⁴Even if he is given the answer, he cannot see its relevance.
3. That is the position in which you find yourself now. ²You have the answer, but you are still uncertain about what the problem is. ³A long series of different problems seems to confront you, and as one is settled the next one and the next arise. ⁴There seems to be no end to them. ⁵There is no time in which you feel completely free of problems and at peace.
4. The temptation to regard problems as many is the temptation to keep the problem of separation unsolved. ²The world seems to present you with a vast number of problems, each requiring a different answer. ³This perception places you in a position in which your problem solving must be inadequate, and failure is inevitable.
5. No one could solve all the problems the world appears to hold. ²They seem to be on so many levels, in such varying forms and with such varied content, that they confront you with an impossible situation. ³Dismay and depression are inevitable as you regard them. ⁴Some spring up unexpectedly, just as you think you have resolved the previous ones. ⁵Others remain unsolved under a cloud of denial, and rise to haunt you from time to time, only to be hidden again but still unsolved.
6. All this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem, and therefore not to let it be resolved. ²If you could recognize that your only problem is separation, no matter what form it takes, you could accept the answer because you would see its relevance. ³Perceiving the underlying constancy in all the problems that seem to confront you, you would understand that you have the means to solve them all. ⁴And you would use the means, because you recognize the problem.
7. In our longer practice periods today we will ask what the problem is, and what is the answer to it. ²We will not assume that we already know. ³We will try to free our minds of all the many different kinds of problems we think we have. ⁴We will try to realize that we have only one problem, which we have failed to recognize. ⁵We will ask what it is, and wait for the answer. ⁶We will be told. ⁷Then we will ask for the solution to it. ⁸And we will be told.
8. The exercises for today will be successful to the extent to which you do not insist on defining the problem. ²Perhaps you will not succeed in letting all your preconceived notions go, but that is not necessary. ³All that is necessary is to entertain some doubt about the reality of your version of what your problems are. ⁴You are trying to recognize that you have been given the answer by recognizing the problem, so that the problem and the answer can be brought together and you can be at peace.
9. The shorter practice periods for today will not be set by time, but by need. ²You will see many problems today, each one calling for an answer. ³Our efforts will be directed toward recognizing that there is only one problem and one answer. ⁴In this recognition are all problems resolved. ⁵In this recognition there is peace.
10. Be not deceived by the form of problems today. ²Whenever any difficulty seems to rise, tell yourself quickly:
³Let me recognize this problem so it can be solved.
⁴Then try to suspend all judgment about what the problem is. ⁵If possible, close your eyes for a moment and ask what it is. ⁶You will be heard and you will be answered.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-79/let-me-recognize-the-problem-so-it-can-be-solved/en/s/482
Lesson 78
Let miracles replace all grievances.
1. Perhaps it is not yet quite clear to you that each decision that you make is one between a grievance and a miracle. ²Each grievance stands like a dark shield of hate before the miracle it would conceal. ³And as you raise it up before your eyes, you will not see the miracle beyond. ⁴Yet all the while it waits for you in light, but you behold your grievances instead.
2. Today we go beyond the grievances, to look upon the miracle instead. ²We will reverse the way you see by not allowing sight to stop before it sees. ³We will not wait before the shield of hate, but lay it down and gently lift our eyes in silence to behold the Son of God.
3. He waits for you behind your grievances, and as you lay them down he will appear in shining light where each one stood before. ²For every grievance is a block to sight, and as it lifts you see the Son of God where he has always been. ³He stands in light, but you were in the dark. ⁴Each grievance made the darkness deeper, and you could not see.
4. Today we will attempt to see God’s Son. ²We will not let ourselves be blind to him; we will not look upon our grievances. ³So is the seeing of the world reversed, as we look out toward truth, away from fear. ⁴We will select one person you have used as target for your grievances, and lay the grievances aside and look at him. ⁵Someone, perhaps, you fear and even hate; someone you think you love who angered you; someone you call a friend, but whom you see as difficult at times or hard to please, demanding, irritating or untrue to the ideal he should accept as his, according to the role you set for him.
5. You know the one to choose; his name has crossed your mind already. ²He will be the one of whom we ask God’s Son be shown to you. ³Through seeing him behind the grievances that you have held against him, you will learn that what lay hidden while you saw him not is there in everyone, and can be seen. ⁴He who was enemy is more than friend when he is freed to take the holy role the Holy Spirit has assigned to him. ⁵Let him be savior unto you today. ⁶Such is his role in God your Father’s plan.
6. Our longer practice periods today will see him in this role. ²You will attempt to hold him in your mind, first as you now consider him. ³You will review his faults, the difficulties you have had with him, the pain he caused you, his neglect, and all the little and the larger hurts he gave. ⁴You will regard his body with its flaws and better points as well, and you will think of his mistakes and even of his “sins.”
7. Then let us ask of Him Who knows this Son of God in his reality and truth, that we may look on him a different way, and see our savior shining in the light of true forgiveness, given unto us. ²We ask Him in the holy Name of God and of His Son, as holy as Himself:
³Let me behold my savior in this one You have appointed as the one for me to ask to lead me to the holy light in which he stands, that I may join with him.
⁴The body’s eyes are closed, and as you think of him who grieved you, let your mind be shown the light in him beyond your grievances.
8. What you have asked for cannot be denied. ²Your savior has been waiting long for this. ³He would be free, and make his freedom yours. ⁴The Holy Spirit leans from him to you, seeing no separation in God’s Son. ⁵And what you see through Him will free you both. ⁶Be very quiet now, and look upon your shining savior. ⁷No dark grievances obscure the sight of him. ⁸You have allowed the Holy Spirit to express through him the role God gave Him that you might be saved.
9. God thanks you for these quiet times today in which you laid your images aside, and looked upon the miracle of love the Holy Spirit showed you in their place. ²The world and Heaven join in thanking you, for not one Thought of God but must rejoice as you are saved, and all the world with you.
10. We will remember this throughout the day, and take the role assigned to us as part of God’s salvation plan, and not our own. ²Temptation falls away when we allow each one we meet to save us, and refuse to hide his light behind our grievances. ³To everyone you meet, and to the ones you think of or remember from the past, allow the role of savior to be given, that you may share it with him. ⁴For you both, and all the sightless ones as well, we pray:
⁵Let miracles replace all grievances.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-78/let-miracles-replace-all-grievances/en/s/481