I Am: A Course In Miracles (acim)

lesson 41 â??God goes with me wherever I go.â?? Todayâ??s idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment which all the separated ones experience. Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss. The separated ones have invented many â??curesâ?? for what they believe to be â??the ills of the world.â?? But the one thing they do not do is to question the reality of the problem.Yet its effects cannot be cured because it is not real. The idea for today has the power to end all this foolishness forever. And foolishness it is, despite the serious and tragic forms it may take. Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the whole world. It 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 these beliefs. You can never be d

lesson 40 â??I am blessed as a Son of God.â?? Today we will begin to insert some of the happy things to which you are entitled, being what you are. No long practice periods are required today, but very frequent short ones are necessary. Once every ten minutes would be highly desirable, and you are urged to attempt this and to adhere to this schedule whenever possible. If you forget, try again. If there are long interruptions, try again.Whenever you remember, try again. You need not close your eyes for the exercise periods, although you will probably find it more helpful if you do. However, you may be in a number of situations during the day when closing your eyes would not be appropriate. Do not miss a practice period because of this.You can practice quite well under almost any circumstance, if you really want to. Todayâ??s exercises take little time and no effort. Repeat todayâ??s idea, and then add several of the attributes which you associate with being a Son of God, applying them to yourself. One prac

lesson 39 â??My holiness is my salvation.â?? If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? Like the text for which this workbook was written, the ideas which are used for the exercises are very simple, very clear and totally unambiguous. We are not concerned with intellectual feats nor logical toys.We are dealing only in the very obvious, which has been overlooked in the clouds of complexity in which you think you think. If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? This is not difficult, surely.The hesitation you may feel in answering is not due to the ambiguity of the question. But do you believe that guilt is hell? If you did, you would see at once how direct and simple the text is, and you would not need a workbook at all. No-one needs practice to gain what is already his. We have already said that your holiness is the salvation of the world.What about your own salvation?You cannot give what you do not have. A savior must be saved. How else can he teach salvation? Todayâ??s exercises will apply to you alone, reco

lesson 38 â??There is nothing my holiness cannot do.â?? Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind. Your holiness is totally unlimited in its power because it establishes you as a Son of God, at one with the Mind of his Creator. Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest.Through your holiness the power of God is made available.And there is nothing the power of God cannot do. Your holiness, then, can remove all pain, can end all sorrow, and can solve all problems. It can do so in connection with yourself and with anyone else. It is equal in its power to help anyone, because it is equal in its power to save anyone. If you are holy, so is everything God created.You are holy because all things He created are holy.And all things He created are holy because you are. In todayâ??s exercises, we will apply the power of your holiness to all problems, difficulties or suffering in any form that you happen to think of

lesson 37 â??My holiness blesses the world.â?? This idea contains the first glimmerings of your true function in the world, or why you are here.Your purpose is to see the world through your own holiness.Thus are you and the world blessed together. No- one loses; nothing is taken away from anyone; everyone gains through your holy vision. It signifies the end of sacrifice, because it offers everyone his full due. And he is entitled to everything, because it is his birthright as a Son of God. There is no other way in which the idea of sacrifice can be removed from the worldâ??s thinking. Any other way of seeing will inevitably demand payment of someone or something. As a result, the perceiver will lose. Nor will he have any idea why he is losing.Yet is his wholeness restored to his awareness through your vision.Your holiness blesses him by asking nothing of him. Those who see themselves as whole make no demands. Your holiness is the salvation of the world. It lets you teach the world that it is one with you,

lesson 36 â??My holiness envelops everything I see.â?? Todayâ??s idea extends the idea for yesterday from the perceiver to the perceived. You are holy because your mind is part of Godâ??s. And because you are holy, your sight must be holy as well.â??Sinlessâ?? means without sin.You cannot be without sin a little.You are sinless or not. If your mind is part of Godâ??s you must be sinless, or a part of His Mind would be sinful.Your sight is related to His holiness, not to your ego and therefore not to your body. Four three to five minute practice periods are required for today. Try to distribute them fairly evenly, and make the shorter applications frequently, to protect your protection throughout the day.The longer practice periods should take this form: First, close your eyes and repeat the idea for today several times slowly. Then open your eyes and look quite slowly about you, applying the idea specifically to whatever you note in your casual survey. Say, for example: â??My holiness envelops that rug.â

lesson 35 â??My mind is part of Godâ??s. I am very holy.â?? Todayâ??s idea does not describe the way you see yourself now. It does, however, describe what vision will show you. It is difficult for anyone who thinks he is in this world to believe this of himself.Yet the reason he thinks he is in this world is because he does not believe it. You will believe that you are part of where you think you are. That is because you surround yourself with the environment you want.And you want it to protect the image of yourself that you have made.The image is part of it.What you see while you believe you are in it is seen through the eyes of the image. It is not vision. Images cannot see. The idea for today presents a very different view of yourself. By establishing your Source it establishes your Identity, and it describes you as you must really be in truth.We will use a somewhat different kind of application for todayâ??s idea, because the emphasis for today is on the perceiver, rather than on what he perceives. F

lesson 34 â??I could see peace instead of this.â?? The idea for today begins to describe the conditions that prevail in the other way of seeing. Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. It must begin with your own thoughts, and then extend outward. It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises. Three longer practice periods are required for todayâ??s exercises. One in the morning and one in the evening is advised, with an additional one to be undertaken at any time inbetween which seems most conducive to readiness. All applications should be done with your eyes closed. It is your inner world to which the applications of todayâ??s idea should be made. Some five minutes of mind searching are required for each of the longer practice periods. Search your mind for fear thoughts, anxiety provoking situations, â??offendingâ?? personalities or events, or anything else about which you are harboring unloving thoughts. Note them all casually, repeating the idea for today slowly as

lesson 33 â??There is another way of looking at the world.â?? Todayâ??s idea is an attempt to recognize that you can shift your perception of the world in both its outer and inner aspects.A full five minutes should be devoted to the morning and evening application. In these practice periods, the idea should be repeated as often as you find profitable, though unhurried applications are essential. Alternate between surveying your outer and inner perceptions, but without an abrupt sense of shifting. Merely glance casually around the world you perceive as outside yourself, then close your eyes and survey your inner thoughts with equal casualness. Try to remain equally uninvolved in both, and to maintain this detachment as you repeat the idea throughout the day. The shorter exercise periods should be as frequent as possible. Specific applications of todayâ??s idea should also be made immediately when any situation arises which tempts you to become disturbed. For these applications, say: â??There is another wa

lesson 32 â??I have invented the world I see.â?? Today we are continuing to develop the theme of cause and effect. You are not the victim of the world you see because you invented it. You can give it up as easily as you made it up.You will see it or not see it, as you wish. While you want it you will see it; when you no longer want it, it will not be there for you to see. The idea for today, like the preceding ones, applies to your inner and outer worlds, which are actually the same. However, 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. In todayâ??s exercises, try to introduce the thought that both are in your own imagination. 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.Then close your eyes and look around your inner world.Try to t

lesson 31 â??I am not the victim of the world I see.â?? Todayâ??s idea is the introduction to your declaration of release.Again, the idea should be applied to both the world you see without and the world you see within. In applying the idea, we will use a form of practice which will be used more and more, with changes as indicated. Generally 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. Two longer periods of practice with the idea for today are needed, one in the morning and one at night.Three to five minutes for each of them is recommended. During that time, look about you slowly while repeating the idea two or three times.Then close your eyes, and apply the same idea to your inner world.You will escape from both together, for the inner is the cause of the outer. As you survey your inner world, merely let whatever thoughts cross your mind come into your awareness, each t

lesson 30 â??God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.â?? The idea for today is the springboard for vision. From this idea will the world open up before you, and you will look upon it and see in it what you have never seen before. Nor will what you saw before be even faintly visible to you. Today we are trying to use the new kind of projection.We are not attempting to get rid of what we do not like by seeing it outside. Instead, we are trying to see in the world what is in our minds, and what we want to recognize is there.Thus we are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it apart from us. That is the fundamental difference between vision and the way you see. Todayâ??s idea should be applied as often as possible throughout the day. Whenever you have a moment or so, repeat it to yourself slowly, looking about you, and trying to realize that the idea applies to everything you do see now, or could see now if it were within the range of your sight. Real vision is not limited to conc

lesson 29 â??God is in everything I see.â?? The idea for today explains why you can see all purpose in anything. It explains why nothing is separate, by itself or in itself. And it explains why nothing you see means anything. In fact, it explains every idea we have used thus far, and all subsequent ones as well. Todayâ??s idea is the whole basis for vision. You will probably find this idea very difficult to grasp at this point. You may find it silly, irreverent, senseless, funny and even objectionable. Certainly God is not in a table, for example, as you see it.Yet we emphasized yesterday that a table shares the purpose of the universe. And what shares the purpose of the universe shares the purpose of its Creator. Try then, today, to begin to learn how to look on all things with love, appreciation and open-mindedness.You do not see them now. Would you know what is in them? Nothing is as it appears to you. Its holy purpose stands beyond your little range.When vision has shown you the holiness that lights u

lesson 28 â??Above all else I want to see things differently.â?? Today we are really giving specific application to the idea for yesterday. In these practice periods, you will be making a series of definite commitments.The question of whether you will keep them in the future is not our concern here. If you are willing at least to make them now, you have started on the way to keeping them. And we are still at the beginning. You may wonder why it is important to say, for example,â??Above all else I want to see this table differently.â?? In itself it is not important at all.Yet what is by itself? And what does â??in itself â?? mean? You see a lot of separate things about you, which really means you are not seeing at all.You either see or not.When you have seen one thing differently, you will see all things differently.The light you will see in any one of them is the same light you will see in them all. When you say, â??Above all else I want to see this table differently,â?? you are making a commitment to wit

lesson 27 â??Above all else I want to see.â?? Todayâ??s idea expresses something stronger than mere determination. It gives vision priority among your desires.You may feel hesitant about using the idea on the ground that you are not sure you really mean it.This does not matter.The purpose of todayâ??s exercises is to bring the time when the idea will be wholly true a little nearer. There may be a great temptation to believe that some sort of sacrifice is being asked of you when you say you want to see above all else. If you become uneasy about the lack of reservation involved, add: â??Vision has no cost to anyone.â?? If fear of loss still persists, add further: â??It can only bless.â?? The idea for today needs many repetitions for maximum benefit. It should be used at least every half hour, and more often if possible. You might try for every fifteen or twenty minutes. It is recommended that you set a definite time interval for using the idea when you wake or shortly afterwards, and attempt to adhere to

lesson 26 â??My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.â?? It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked you are not invulnerable. You see attack as a real threat. That is because you believe that you can really attack. And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you. It is this law that will ultimately save you. But you are misusing it now.You must therefore learn how it can be used for your own best interests, rather than against them. Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack. And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable.Attack thoughts therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are. Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together. They contradict each other. The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself. If attack thoughts must entail the belief that you are vulnerable, their effect is to weaken you in your own eyes.Thus they have a

lesson 25 â??I do not know what anything is for.â?? Purpose is meaning. Todayâ??s idea explains why nothing you see means anything. You do not know what it is for. Therefore it is meaningless to you. Everything is for your own best interests.That is what it is for; that is its purpose; that is what it means. It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified. It is in recognizing this that what you see is given meaning. You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals.These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not you. This false identification makes you incapable of understanding what anything is for. As a result, you are bound to misuse it.When you believe this, you will try to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them. Another way of describing the goals you now perceive as valuable is to say that they are all concerned with â??personalâ?? interests. Since you have no personal inte

lesson 24 â??I do not perceive my own best interests.â?? In no situation which arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy.Therefore you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the results.What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong. It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests.Yet they are your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived. Otherwise, you will not recognize what they are. If you realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could be taught what they are. But in the presence of your conviction that you do know what they are, you cannot learn. The idea for today is a step toward opening your mind so that learning can begin. The exercises for today require much more honesty than you are accustomed to using. A few subjects, honestly and carefully considered in each of the five practice periods which should be undertaken today, will be more helpful than a mo

lesson 23 â??I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.â?? The idea for today contains the only way out of fear that will succeed. Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless. But this way cannot fail. Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed. If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it is these thoughts which you do not want.There is no point in lamenting the world.There is no point in trying to change the world. It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. Here you are changing the cause. The effects will change automatically. The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance. Each of your perceptions of â??external realityâ?? is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. One can well a

lesson 22 â??What I see is a form of vengeance.â?? Todayâ??s idea accurately describes the way anyone who holds attack thoughts in his mind must see the world. Having projected his anger onto the world, he sees vengeance about to strike at him. His own attack is thus perceived as self defense.This becomes an increasingly vicious circle until he is willing to change how he sees. Otherwise, thoughts of attack and counter attack will preoccupy him, and people his entire world.What peace of mind is possible to him then? It is from this savage fantasy that you want to escape. Is it not joyous news to hear that it is not real? Is it not a happy discovery to find that you can escape? You made what you would destroy; everything that you hate and would attack and kill.All that you fear does not exist. Look at the world about you at least five times today, for at least a minute each time. As your eyes move slowly from one object to another, from one body to another, say to yourself: â??I see only the perishabl