Lesson 264 ~ I am surrounded by the Love of God.

Father, You stand before and behind me, beside me in the place I see myself, and everywhere I go.  You are in every hand that reaches for my own.  In You, "time" disappears and  "place" becomes a meaningless belief.  Your Love surrounds Your Son and keeps him Safe.  There is nothing that does not share Your Holiness.  Nothing exists beyond Your Creation.  In You is my Reality.  I come to be at Peace within Your Everlasting Love.  There is nothing and no one outside myself.  There is One Son and he is Safe in Heaven, dreaming a dream of "separation from" His Father.  Anything that seems to be "outside" me is not Real.  Eternity is within me, and I am within the Father. 

Lesson 263 ~ Holy Vision sees all things Right

Father, Your Mind created All That Is.  Your Spirit entered into It and Your Love gave Life to It.  How could I have thoughts of sin and death?  How could it be possible that I am "separated from" You?  Your Love does not allow for anything but Perfection for Your Son. I will lay aside the dark and fearful images.  A madman's dream is hardly fit to be my choice in place of the Loveliness of Your Creation, with all its Purity and Joy; my Eternal, Quiet Home in You.  While I remain "outside" the Gate of Heaven and seem to see a world outside me, I will lay aside these dreams in my mind and instead embrace Truth.  There is nothing and no one "outside" me.  It has all been a dream and that dream is already over.  While I seem to see "others," I will see them in Innocence and walk with them together to our Father's house.  The Son of God is One with His Father.  The Son of God is Safe in Heaven dreaming of exile to a world "apart from" God.  Today I will Awaken and be glad, for the dream comes to an end.

Lesson 262 ~ There is only the One.

Father, You have One Son.  I am he.  Why should I perceive a thousand forms in what is One?  Why should I give a thousand names, when only One name will do?  Your Son bears Your Name and Your Inheritance, for You created him.  I will see no strangers today.  All seeming "brothers" are part of me and I of them, as we are part of You Who are our Source.  We are Eternally United in Your Love, Safe in Heaven with You Father, dreaming of exile to a world apart.  I will recognize the Truth about myself today.  I will be Home and rest in Unity.  In the State of Mind known as Heaven, exists Eternal Peace, Love, Joy, and Truth..........and nowhere else can this be found. 

Lesson 261 ~ God is my Refuge.

I identify with what I desire and what I think will bring me happiness and success.  I can continue to search in dreams, or I can search where the only True Happiness and Satisfaction can be found.  Today, I live in God.  In Him I find my Refuge, Strength, and Happiness.  In God is my Identity.  In God I will find Peace and Satisfaction.  Father, I come Home to You today. I choose to be as You created me:  Your Holy Son.  I can continue dreaming of a world apart from You.....or I can Awaken and be Happy. 

Lesson 260 ~ God created me. I am with Him now.

Father, I did not create a world apart from You.  In my "unconscious" insanity, I thought I did.  Yet I am Your Creation and I have not left my Source.  I call on You today, Father.  Let me remember that You created me.  Let me remember my Identity as Your Son.  There is no "world,"  there are no "others."  I am not a "body."  Any "others" I see, are thoughts of separation from You projected "outside" me, no matter how "good and noble," or how "bad" they seem to be.  Illusion in any form, is a thought of separation projected "outside" me.  The Son of God lives in Peace,  Love, and Oneness with his Father.  If I experience anything other than Eternal and Everlasting Peace and Love,  I am dreaming.  My Identity is in my Father.  I am One with Him and He with me.  Perfect Innocence is my Reality.

Lesson 259 ~ "Sin" and my fantasy-world do NOT exist.

God is my goal. "Sin" is the thought that makes the goal of God seem unachievable.  What else could make the strange and distorted appear "clear?"  What else could make attack seem reasonable?  What else could be the source of guilt and fear?  What else could demand sacrifice, punishment, and suffering?  What but "sin" could give "love" the attributes of jealousy and pain?  I seemingly created an existence "apart from" God.  In Reality this is impossible, but in fantasy, anything is possible.  "Sin" is the glue that holds my fantasy-world together.  Father, You are the Source of Everything There Is.  Everything There Is remains with You and You with It.  I will not be insane today.  I will not be afraid of Love, nor seek for comfort in Love's opposite.  For Love can have no opposite.  "Sin" and my fantasy-world do not exist. 

Lesson 258 ~ My goal is God.

All that is needed to train my mind to overlook the world of dreams, is to remember that my goal is God.  My mind has hidden His Memory, which is obscured by my pointless little goals in a world that does not exist.  Will I continue to let God's Grace shine in unawareness, while I preoccupy my mind with glitter and dust in the world of dreams?  God is my only goal today. He is my only Love.  I have no agenda except to remember Him.  Father, my goal is to follow the way that leads to You.  This is my one and only goal today.  What could satisfy all my needs and desires except to be Home in You?

Lesson 257 ~ Forgiveness is my purpose.

If I remember this one goal, I will never be unsure of anything.  If I forget this goal I will experience deep distress and great depression.  I have one choice to make:  do I want dreams, illusions and hell, or I do want Reality, Truth, and Heaven?  Despite the many choices I seem to have in the world of dreams, there is only ONE.  Today I will unify my thoughts and actions, remember my one goal and purpose, and achieve what God would have me do.  Father, the means for my salvation is forgiveness.   I am Safe in Heaven, dreaming of exile from my only True Home.  Forgiveness will lead to my Awakening.

Lesson 255 ~ Today I choose Peace.

It does not seem to me that I can choose to have only Peace.  But I can.  God assures me that His Son (me) is like Himself.  Today I will have faith in Him Who says I am God's Son.  Today I choose Peace, and the result will bear witness to the Truth of what God tells me.  God's Son has no cares and remains Forever in the Peace of Heaven.  In God's Name, I offer this day to finding what my Father Wills for me, accepting it as mine and offering it all to those I see, while I seem to see a world outside me.  Father, let me pass this day with You.  The Peace You gave Your Son is still in his mind, and It is there I choose to spend today.  No matter what the "world" presents me today, I still choose Peace.

Lesson 254 ~ ***** Let every voice but God's be still.

Today I will let no worldly thoughts, or "ego-thoughts," direct my words or actions.  When they do occur, I will pause to look at them, and then let them go.  I do not want what they would bring me.  In the Stillness of the Quiet in my mind, God speaks to me and tells me of His Love.  Father I hear only Your Voice today.  In Quiet and Stillness, I come to You today to receive Truth.

Lesson 253 ~ Reality is a choice.

I am the dreamer of the dream.  The "world" or universe is a dream in my mind.  There is nothing and no one outside me.  It is impossible that anything in the world comes to me by chance or accident.  In the world of dreams, I rule my destiny.  What seems to happen is exactly what I desire (separation from God), even though I may not be consciously aware of it.  What does not happen is what I do not want to happen.  I must accept this.  I can only desire two things:  a world seemingly apart from God, OR an existence with God.  Illusions or Truth.  Hell or Heaven.  Fantasy or Reality........ Understanding and accepting this, I am lead past the world of dreams to Heaven where I live as God's Son, with Him Who created me.  I am Safe in Heaven with my Father having a dream of being apart from Him.  Heaven is all around and within me.  I have blinded myself to It by creating a fantasy of being "separated from" God.  In order for me to Awaken to Reality, I must do my part by replacing all false thoughts with Thoughts of Truth and my Father will do the rest. 

Lesson 252 ~ I am the Holy Son of God

The Son of God is my Identity; Holy beyond all earth-bound thoughts of holiness.  My Holiness is Shimmering, Pure, and more Brilliant that any sight I have ever seen in the world of dreams.  Its Love is Limitless, Calm, Certain, and holds all things within It.  Its Strength does not come from the burning impulses which run the world, but from the Boundless Love of God Himself.  There is nothing and no one "outside" myself.  The world I seem to experience is a dream in my mind.  Yet, while I see this dream-world, I must treat all I see with the Love and Respect due the creation ~ or miscreation ~ of the Holy Son of God.  All that seems to attack, sadden, grieve, or bother me in any way, shape, or form, is a creation of my own making to "prove" to me that I am "separated from" God.  I can NEVER be separated from God.  I am Safe with my Father dreaming a dream of "separation from" my Father, a dream which can never be.  Yet in fantasy, anything is possible.  Today I will lay aside any thought or feeling which is not Eternal Peace, Love, or Joy.......and embrace only Truth.  I will do my part in my Awakening and God will do the rest.  How unlike the dream-world is my True Identity as Son of God.  Father, You know my True Identity as Your Son.  I will do my part of laying aside ~ or forgiving ~ illusions.  And You will reveal to me my Identity as Your Son that I may Awaken to Truth in You, and Know that Heaven is restored to me. 

Lesson 251 ~ I need only Truth.

I have looked for many things in the world of dreams and found only despair, guilt, sin, loss, and death.  In the dream-world I sometimes seem to receive what I desire, yet only to be left wanting for more.  Today I seek for only ONE thing:  TRUTH.  All that I desired before, I did not truly need and did not even want.  My one and only need I did not recognize.  But now, I see that I need only TRUTH.  In Truth, all needs are satisfied, all cravings end, all hopes are fulfilled, and all dreams are gone.  Truth is everything that I could want or need.  At last I find myself at Peace. Father, I am grateful for Your Peace.  You restored what I have denied myself.  My Sonship with You satisfies all my wants and needs. 

Lesson 250 ~ Identify only with Truth.

I will see the Son of God in me today and witness to His Glory.  I will not obscure His Holy Light by dwelling on illusions of separation, nor reduce the Son of God in me to weakness and frailty by entertaining thoughts of anger, impatience, judgment, or sorrow.  The Son of God in me is my ONLY Reality.  The part of me who thinks it lives in a world apart from God, waking up every morning to yet another battle, returning home every night in defeat, is only a dream...an illusion...a fantasy.  The Son of God is Who I Am.  I am One with God and He is One with me.  THIS is my only Reality.   Father I am Your Son.  Today I will see Gentleness instead of illusions.  Salvation is as simple as replacing thoughts of illusions with Thoughts of Truth. Today I see Truly and identify only with Son of God in me. 

Lesson 249 ~ Forgiveness: the answer to all problems

Forgiveness reminds me that the "world of separation" is not Real.  The Son of God cannot possibly exist in a world of suffering, loss, anger, attack and madness, when what God Willed for His Son was Perfect and Eternal Peace, Love, Joy, Serenity and Bliss.  I will replace all thoughts of illusion with Thoughts of Truth to Awaken to Reality.  "Salvation" is as simple as that.  I am Safe in Heaven with my Father, dreaming a dream of separation, therefore it is not possible that the Son of God is "separate from" His Father.  When I do my part ~ forgiveness ~ the world will reflect the healing taking place in my mind.  I will see a place of joy, abundance, charity, and endless giving.  It will become so much like Heaven, that it is quickly transformed into the Light it reflects.  The hapless journey which the Son of God began has ended in the Light From Which he came.  Father, I return my mind to You.  I have laid aside Reality to embrace illusions/dreams/fantasies of bitterness, violence, and death.  Now I Rest again in You.  I am grateful.

Lesson 248 ~ Lost in a fantasy.

In the seeming world of separation, I have laid aside Truth to embrace illusions.  Today, I will lay aside illusions and embrace Truth.  Whatever suffers is not a part of me.  What grieves is not myself.  What is in pain is only an illusion in my mind.  What dies was never living in Reality.  There is nothing and no one "outside" myself.  Pain, grief, suffering, and death are all illusions that help to sustain the "world of separation."  I am God's Holy Son, who seemingly entertained a thought of "separation from" God.  Though it is not possible in Reality, in fantasy anything is possible.  And fantasy it is.  Today I will lay aside the thought that I live in a "body," in a world "outside" myself, populated with other "bodies," and think only Thoughts of Truth.  Father, my Ancient Love for You returns and lets me remember myself as Your Holy Son.  I am as You created me, not what I imagined myself to be.  Now Your Love is remembered, for Your Love is my own and I understand that They are One.

Lesson 247 ~ Without forgiveness I will be blind.

Sin is the world's symbol of separation.  If I seem to see "sin" anywhere I, myself, will suffer.  Forgiveness is the only means for my Awakening.  No matter what "others" seem to say or do, forgiveness is the only answer.  In order for me to understand that there is no "world," no "others," no "bodies," and nothing "outside" myself......I must forgive.  Only then will God's Love be experienced.  The world of separation thrives on chaos, hatred, envy, jealousy, death, loss, grief, sadness, impatience, annoyance, judgment, and anything that is not Truth.  To experience Reality, I lay the world aside and embrace only Truth.  When I look for chaos, I WILL find it.  When I look for sadness, I WILL find it.  In the same way, when I look for Love, I WILL find It.  When I look for Peace, I WILL find It, when I look for Truth, I WILL find It.  I cannot look for both illusions and Truth at the same time.  I must choose one or the other.  Today, I look on everyone and everything as an opportunity for forgiveness.  I seemingly created a world outside myself and populated it with "others."  God will use this apparent miscreation of mine, for His Own Purposes, to bring me back to an Awareness of Him.  I honor all I see as a tool of my Father, and I will use each as an opportunity to choose Truth. 

Lesson 246 ~ I Love God's Son in whatever form he appears today.

I must let go of hatred, envy, jealousy, impatience (all thoughts and feelings that are not Peace, Love, and Joy) in order to find the way to God.  I must lay aside illusions and dreams, and embrace only Truth.  I can do this over many "lifetimes," or I can do this now.  Hating myself or another, is one and the same, for there is only One Son.  If I entertain thoughts of hate toward myself, or revenge toward "another," my mind becomes further immersed in the dream of separation.  For there is no "other."  There is no "world."  There are no "bodies."  There is no "me." The only Reality is One Mind.  While "I" seem to exist in a body, within a world of other bodies, I can use every opportunity, encounter, every decision and thought, as another chance for forgiveness, love, and another step closer to Awakening to Reality.  God's Will and my own are One.  That is simple Truth.  Truth is always simple.  Illusions are always convoluted and chaotic.  Today I choose to embrace only Love and forgiveness and give It silently away to whatever forms appear to me in each moment of this day. 

Lesson 245 ~ Father, You are with me. I am Safe.

Father, You are with me wherever I go.  Your Joy sheds Its Light on everyone I meet.  Your Love consoles the desolate, the lonely, and those afraid.  I give Your Peace to those who suffer pain, grieve for loss or think they are without Hope and Happiness.   Send them to me, Father.  While I see a world "outside" me, I will remember that everyone and everything offers me an opportunity for forgiveness and Awakening.  While I seem to see a world "outside" me, it will reflect back to me my own healing.  I seemingly created a world apart from God to give me an experience of "apart-from-God."  Yet God can use this seeming miscreation of mine for His Own Purposes....it is my choice whether or not to accept His Help.  I WILL eventually accept His Help, it is only a matter of "time."  I can only deny my Reality as His Son for so long before Its Loving Song beckons me gladly Home.  Each thought I have and every decision I make is a choice for Heaven or a choice for dreams.  Will I ruminate on dreams ~  which is a very difficult thing for the Son of God to do ~ or will I choose Truth, which is the easiest and most comfortable choice for the Son of God?  Dreams are difficult to maintain.  Heaven is my Natural State of Being.........And so I go in God's Peace, Love, and Joy.  While I seem to see a world outside me, I will offer the message of Truth I have received.  In this way, I come to recognize God's Voice.  Heaven requires no penance or sacrifice.  Heaven is my Natural State and my Reality with God.  Heaven is as easy and natural to me as breathing is to the body.  In Peace, Love, and Joy is how God created me to be.  I will lay aside dreams and embrace Truth....then I will quietly give It away to all I seem to see while I seem to see it....and God will take the final step in my Awakening. 

Lesson 244 ~ I am in danger nowhere in the world.

Father, I am Safe wherever I am, for You are there with me.  I need only call Your Name and I will recognize Your Safety and Love.  The "physical" world is not Real, Thought is my only Reality, and I am a Thought of You. How can I can fear or doubt?  I cannot suffer, be endangered or experience unhappiness because I am Your Son, created in Love, Peace, and Serenity. Father, I need only remind myself that I am in the Safety of Your Loving Embrace..........This is the Truth I seek. I am the Son of God. What my Reality Is and what I think my "reality" is, are two different things. Nothing can be a threat to God and nothing can harm His Beloved Son.  I am Safe with my Father in Heaven, dreaming of exile to a world "apart from" Him. God gives me the tools to Awaken to Reality. I need only choose to use them.

Lesson 243 ~ Today I judge nothing that occurs.

I will be honest with myself today.  From my tiny bits of perspective, I will not assume I understand anything.  Today I recognize that I do not know anything and have no knowledge on which to judge.  Today I am relieved of judgments I cannot possibly make.  I Free myself and all I seem to see, to be in Peace.  Is this a denial of "reality?"  YES!  For what seems to be my "reality" is just a dream - a fantasy - an illusion.  And what seems to be a dream (Heaven) is my only Reality.  I have created a living hell by my desire to experience "separation from" God.  Yet there is a way Home.  With God's Help and with His Words of Truth, I will find It. He has given me the ONE answer to all my seeming problems.  Father, today I leave Truth Free to be Itself.  I honor all Its Parts, of which I am included.  Each "Part" contains the Whole Memory of You.  I do not exist in a world where I am caged in a body, and everything and everyone exists outside of me.  The only Reality is Pure Thought.  I go within to find Truth.  And when I find It, It will be reflected in the world I seem to see, while I seem to see it...until I remember my Reality and I see the "world" no more. 

Lesson 242 ~ This day I give to God.

Lesson 241 ~ My Sanity is restored to me.

The darkened world I seem to live in is now Illuminated with Truth.  The day has come when my sorrows pass away and my pain is gone.  I recognize that there is nothing "outside" me, and the Love and Goodness that seem to be outside me, in the form of objects or bodies, is deep within, never to die, wither or walk away.  Mind is my only Reality, and I am part of the Mind of God.  Father, Your Son, who never left, returns to his Home in Heaven.  How glad I am to have my Sanity restored. 

Lesson 240 ~ Fear is not justified in any form.

The world of dreams presents many forms of fear.  Fear is deception.  The presence of fear witnesses to dreams.  Not one thing in the world of dreams is true, no matter in what form it may appear, good or bad.  Everything in the world of dreams witness to the illusion of "separation."  All things "outside" me tell me that I am not whole and complete.  I will not be deceived today.  I am the Son of God.  There is no fear in the Son of God, for I am a part of Love Itself.  Father, how foolish are my fears.  You would never allow Your Son to suffer.  I suffer by my own choice.  Father, You hold out Perfect Joy to me, yet I choose dreams.  Give me faith today to recognize my True Self as Your Son.  I will embrace only Thoughts of Truth and lay aside ~ forgive ~  all thoughts and feelings apart from Love. Only then will I understand my Holiness and accept the Love which is my Inheritance. 

Lesson 239 ~ The Father's Glory is my own.

I will not let the Truth about me be hidden by false humility.  I will be grateful that my version of my "self" is not my True Self and that the Father's Version is my only Reality.  The rest of the Sonship is disguised in other "bodies" in the "world," but there is only One Son, not many sons in separate "bodies."  If there is no trace of guilt in God, there is no trace of guilt in God's Son.  I am like the Father in all ways, except I did not create myself.  Thank You Father, for the Light that Shines forever in me.....a Light I share with You.  There is One Son.  I am United with the Father, at Peace with all Creation and with my Self. 

Lesson 238 ~ On my decision salvation rests.

I am worthy.  My Father created me, trusts me, and Knows me as I am.  When I made the decision to venture off into a "world of separation,"  my Father Gently inserted salvation within the dream and let it rest on my decision.  He Loves me indeed.  There is a part of me that remembers my Sonship and when I look for this part of me, I will find It.  It will be reflected back to me from the "world."  Yet, it is my choice.  I can choose illusions or I can choose my Sonship and Heaven.  Today I think about how much my Father Loves me.  I was created in Love as His Son to exist in Eternal Joy and Peace.  My salvation is as simple as choosing the thoughts that will occupy my mind.  My thoughts seem to come to me against my will.  Yet it is ME who is calling forth the thoughts I think.  I must accept this and use this Knowledge to choose salvation instead of dreams.  Will I dwell on thoughts of illusions and dreams, or brush them aside and think on Thoughts of Truth?  It is my choice. 

Lesson 237 ~ I am doing this to myself.

Today I will accept the Truth about myself.  I will go forth in Glory and allow the Light in me to Shine on the "world" throughout the day.  And I will see this Light reflected back to me by the "world."  For there is no world, only Mind.  The world of separation ends in bitter death, but Truth tells me I am dreaming.....indulging in a fantasy.  Yet while I "see" a world before me, it can become a happy world when I embrace Thoughts of Truth....until I see the world no more.  Father, Jesus Christ represents the Sonship healed and whole.  In Truth there are no separate bodies moving through aspects of  "time."  It is all taking place in my mind.  I am doing it to myself.  I am Safe in Heaven with You Father, dreaming of exile to a world of separation.  Everything I "see" is some aspect of my mind, and I will treat it with tender care and love, or move past it, realizing that it is only a dream.  I am the Holy Son of God, lost in a dream.  But not lost forever, because the Father Wills that I am One with Him. 

Lesson 236 ~ I will choose only Thoughts of Truth.

In the dream I have a "kingdom" I must rule.  At times it does not seem that I am in control of it at all.  It seems to rule over me and tell me what to think, what to do, and what to feel.  And yet God gave me a mind to serve whatever purpose I desire.  My mind serves me.  I am not its servant.  Today I give its service to God.  In doing so, I set my mind Free to do the Will of God.  God Wills me Eternal Joy, Peace, and Happiness.  In the world of dreams I have chosen to experience "separation."  I am lost in a dream.  But I can easily be "un-lost" by changing my thoughts from chaos, impatience, hatred, anger, and judgment to Thoughts of Truth.  I will remember Heaven by changing my thoughts.  Father, I close my mind to every thought except for Yours.  I am in charge of my mind and today I offer it to You. 

Lesson 235 ~ God Wills that I am with Him in Heaven. And so I am.

I need to look upon all things that seem to hurt me and with Perfect Certainty assure myself, "God Wills that I be saved from this."  Then merely experience illusion disappear.  Keep in mind that God's Will for me is Happiness.  Keep this in mind at all times, and only God's Happiness can come to me.  God's Love surrounds His Son (me!) and keeps me forever with Him.   God Wills that I be with Him now and Always in Perfect Happiness.   Do I choose Perfect Happiness, or do I choose the ruminating, chaotic thoughts of the "world?"  Each time a thought comes into my mind, I have a choice to make.  Is the thought one of Perfect Happiness?  If not, I can dismiss the thought from my mind.  Father, Heaven is mine.  Your Love created me and made me forever a Part of You, in Innocence and Holiness.  I have no "guilt" or "sin" in me, for there is none in You.  If the Father is sinless, then so is the Son, Forever and Always.  No matter what the dream tells me, I am Your Son and my Reality is Peace and Joy.

Lesson 234 ~ Father, today I am Your Son again.

Today, I anticipate the time when dreams of "sin" and "guilt" are gone, and I have reached the Holy Peace I never left.  Only a tiny instant has elapsed between Eternity, dreams, and return to Eternity.  So brief was the interval there was never a break in the Continuity of Eternity, nor lapse in the Thoughts that are One.  Nothing has ever happened to disturb the Peace of God and His Son. It was only a fantasy, a mere dream of madness.  This I can accept as Wholly True today.  Thank You, Father, that I cannot lose the Memory of You and Your Love.  I recognize my Safety and thank You for the Loving Help I have received, for Your Eternal Patience and for the Knowledge that things are not as they seem.  I am not a body in a world of bodies.....I am Peacefully, Lovingly, and Joyfully Part of the Mind of God.  Here I rest Safe and Secure. 

Lesson 233 ~ I ask God to guide me today.

I think I live in a world as an independent being, making my own choices and decisions, determining my own successes and failures.  Yet this is the cause of all my problems.  I am NOT a separate being, living on a planet spinning around in space.  There is no world.  There are no bodies.  Mind is the ONLY Reality and I am Part of the Mind of God.  I do NOT exist, create, move, think or choose apart from God. The thought of "separation" is the cause of all grief, impatience, anxiety, hatred, anger, injustice, annoyance, and unfairness.  Father I give You all my thoughts today, for in Reality I cannot think apart from You.  The thoughts I have in the world of dreams are not even my Real Thoughts.  My thoughts are preoccupied with illusions and madness.  In place of these thoughts, give me Your Own.  Instead of seeking for that which can never be found, I ask to do Your Will instead.  Today I come to You.  I will step back and merely follow You.  I will not question the Wisdom of the Infinite and I will not question a Love I cannot comprehend, both of which are Your Perfect Gift to me.  Today I have one Guide to lead me.  I will give this day to Him with no reservations at all.  I walk this day with Him and so it is a day of countless Gifts and Mercies.

Lesson 232 ~ Father, be in my mind throughout the day.

Father, be in my mind and Shine on me throughout the day.  Let every waking minute be a time in which I dwell with You.  Whenever I call on You, You will Answer me.  Let me sleep Sure of my Safety, Certain of Your Care, and Happily Aware than I am Your Son.  This is as every day should be.  Today I practice the end of fear.  I will trust everything to my Father, Who will reveal All Things to me.  I will replace the darkness in my mind with the Joy and Love of God.  I will exchange thoughts of dreams for Thoughts of Truth.  And my heart will be glad. 

Lesson 231 ~ I want only to remember my Father.

Perhaps I think I want or need something in the world of dreams; a "something" I have called by many names.  I have been unable to experience My Father's Love because I have been preoccupied with a fantasy of separation from God.  Yet the only thing I need look for is my Father and His Love.  I do not even need look for It, for It has Always Been.  Father there is nothing else that I could ever really want to find.  Let me remember You.  What else could I desire but Truth?  This is my will and I share this will with all my brothers in time.  To remember God is Heaven.  This I seek and only This I need find.

Lesson 230 ~ I will seek and find the Peace of God.

I was created in Peace, and in Peace do I remain.  The Power of Creation was not given me to change myself from the Holy Son of God to a soul trapped in a body living in a world of chaos and changing emotions.  When God created me, He gave me Peace Forever.  Though I can imagine that I am without Peace in a world that offers no escape from death, I remain in Peace as my Father created me.  Today, I ask only to be as God created me to be.  Will God deny me this, when what He created is Eternal and Forever True?  Father I seek only the Peace you gave me.  What you gave must be here now.  Your Creation is apart from time and space and remains beyond all change.  The Peace Your Son was born into, in Your Mind, is still Shining There Unchanged.  I am as You created me.  I only need to call on You to find the Peace You gave.  It is Your Will, Father, that Your Son have Your Peace. 

Lesson 230 ~ I will seek and find the Peace of God.

I was created in Peace, and in Peace do I remain.  The Power of Creation was not given me to change myself from the Holy Son of God to a soul trapped in a body living in a world of chaos and changing emotions.  When God created me, He gave me Peace Forever.  Though I can imagine that I am without Peace in a world that offers no escape from death, I remain in Peace as my Father created me.  Today, I ask only to be as God created me to be.  Will God deny me this, when what He created is Eternal and Forever True?  Father I seek only the Peace you gave me.  What you gave must be here now.  Your Creation is apart from time and space and remains beyond all change.  The Peace Your Son was born into, in Your Mind, is still Shining There Unchanged.  I am as You created me.  I only need to call on You to find the Peace You gave.  It is Your Will, Father, that Your Son have Your Peace. 

Lesson 229 ~ Love, Which Created me, is What I am.

I seek my Identity and find it in these words:  "Love, Which created me, is What I am." I need look no more.  Love has prevailed.  So Still and Sure, It waited for my coming Home.  I will stop looking for Love where it can never be.  I will no longer turn away from the Holy Face of God and the Reality of my Self as His Son.  Father, I thank You for What I am; for keeping my Identity as Your Son Safe for me, though I seemed to lay it aside to dream.  I Thank You that illusions are not Real and that my Reality is with You in Perfect and Eternal Peace and Love. 

Lesson 228 ~ I am very Holy.

My Father Knows my Holiness.  Will I deny God's Knowing and instead, believe in a world of dreams?  A world apart from Perfect and Eternal Love, Joy, Freedom, Contentment, and Peace is possible only in fantasy and dreams.  I will take God's Word for what I am.  God is my Creator and One Who Knows the True Condition of His Son.  He does not condemn me, therefore I cannot condemn myself.  Father I was mistaken in myself.  I failed to realize that You are my Source.  Perfect Holiness is Who I am.  I have not left You to enter into a body and die.  My Holiness is part of me as I am a Part of You.  My mistakes about who I am are just dreams.  I let them go today.  I take Your Word alone, for Who I Really Am. 

Lesson 227 ~ Today is my Awakening.

The Father's Will and mine are One.  I can lay this Reality aside and indulge in a fantasy of "separation," but nevertheless, Truth is True for now and Always.  Nothing I think "apart from" the Will of God exists.  Anything I think outside of Love, Peace, Wholeness and Unity, Joy, Serenity, and Contentment is not Reality.  I am Free of the world of dreams!  I was mistaken that it was my "reality."  Now I lay my dream at the feet of Truth to be removed forever from my mind.  This is my Holy moment of release.  Father, I know my will is One with Yours.  Today is my glad return to Heaven, which I never left.  Today, the Son of God lays down his dreams.  Today, the Son of God is Home!  He is released from "sin" and drenched in Holiness, with his Right Mind restored to him at last. 

Lesson 226 ~ Heaven awaits me. I need only follow the way.

I have been using illusions to replace Truth.  But if I choose, I can leave this world entirely.  Not by death, but by changing my mind about the purpose of this world.  The purpose I gave the world was to give me an experience of "separation from" God, but I can change my mind and use the world to show me the way Home with God's Help.  If I believe the world has value for anything other than Awakening to Reality, it will remain the same for me.  But if I see no value, nothing I want to keep and no goals that need to be achieved.....It will vanish.  Today I accept the world as the dream it is, and all the "people" as aspects of the One Mind which has seemingly been separated and made physical.   I accept that I need accomplish nothing, nor have any goals except for ONE:  to return my mind to the Awareness of Reality.  I accept that I am not in my right mind and that I am experiencing a fantasy rather than Reality.  The "world" was seemingly created by my fantasy to experience being "apart from" God.  In Reality, time and space do not exist.  Mountains, oceans and galaxies exist only as part of the dream.  Father, you await my glad return.  I have always been Safe in You, dreaming of an existence apart from You.  Now I am able to hear Your Voice calling to me, I see Your Arms open to welcome me.  What need do I have to linger in a place of shattered dreams and unfulfilled desires, when Heaven can so easily be mine?

Lesson 225 ~ God is my Father and I Love Him.

Father I return Your Love for me.  Giving and receiving are the same, and You have given all Your Love to me.  I must return It for Those are the Laws of Heaven.  I want this Love in my full Awareness, blazing in my mind.  Fear is behind me now and there is only Peace ahead.  How Gentle the way Your loving Son is led along the road to You!  The way is open and still.  It is Heaven that I seek.  Heaven is my True Home and only Reality.  I will find the Oneness I seek as I accomplish these few final steps which end a journey that was never begun.

Lesson 224 ~ God, my Father, Loves His Son.

My True Identity is so Secure, so Lofty, so Sinless, Glorious, Great, Wholly Beneficent and free from guilt, because this is what God made me to be.  My True Identity Lights all I experience, including the dream-world which seems to be my reality.  My True Identity can not  be fully hidden from me even in the dream-world.  My True Identity as God's Son is my only Reality.  It is Truth.  Father, my name is still known to You, is it I who have forgotten it.  I do not know where I am going, who I am, or what I am suppose to do.  Remind me Father.  I am very weary of the world I see.  Show me what You would have me see instead. 

Lesson 223 ~ God is Life. There is no life except in Him.

I was mistaken when I thought I lived apart from God as a separate entity, moving in isolation, unattached and housed within a body.  I know now, that my Life is in God.  I have no other home and I do not exist apart from Him.  God has no Thoughts that are not mine, and I have no thoughts that are not His.  Father, let me see the face of the Sonship healed and whole, instead of my mistakes.  Your Holy Son is sinless...sinlessness is my Reality.  I am lonely and restless in a world of dreams.  I search and search and am never satisfied.  I yearn for something and do not know what it is.  I collect "things" to fill the emptiness, only to be left wanting. Heaven is my Home. Today I will return.  My name is Yours, Father, and today I acknowledge that I am Your Son. 

Lesson 222 ~ I live and move in God.

God is my Source of Life.  It is not body, heart, breath, or brain that keeps me alive, it is God.  Nothing "outside" me exists.  Reality is Pure Thought, and the Foundation that sustains me is God Himself.  I live and move in God.  He is the Spirit Which directs my actions, offers me Its Thoughts, guarantees my Safety from all pain, covers me with kindness and care, and holds in Love His only Beloved Son.  The Father shines on the Son....and the Son shines on the Father.  Be still and know this Truth today.  Father I have no words except for Your Name upon my lips and in my mind.  I come quietly into Your Presence now to rest in Your Peace. 

Lesson 221 ~ Quiet all thoughts and make room for Peace.

The only peace that is worthy of the Son, is the Peace of God.  I come in silence to the Father.  In the quiet of my own heart and the deep recesses of my mind, I wait and listen for God's Voice.  I come to hear God's Voice in Silence, Certainty, and Love.  I can be sure that when I call on my Father, He will hear my call and answer me.  God will speak to me and I will hear Him.  I will let my thoughts be still and find His Peace.  He will speak to me of What I Am, and reveal Himself to His Son.   

Forgiveness.

Forgiveness recognizes that what I thought my "brother" did to me has not occurred.  It does not pardon "sin" and make it Real.  Forgiveness sees there was no sin.

What is sin except a false idea about God's Son?  Forgiveness merely sees sin's falsity and lets it go.  What is Free to take its place now is the Will of God. 

An unforgiving thought witnesses to a closed mind that chooses only dreams.  The distortions and falsities of dreams are kept more hidden and obscure.  Unforgiving thoughts cause me to believe more firmly in the dream. 

Forgiveness is still and quietly does nothing.  It merely looks, waits and makes no judgment.  I will do nothing but let God show me what to do.

Part II

Words are obstacles to Communication.  Like the story of the Tower of Babel, words help to separate and divide.  Yet ACIM uses words, as it uses everything in the dream, to Awaken me to Reality.  ACIM is simple and clear.  A mind engulfed in dreams will resist the words of salvation, which will come across as "boring," "stupid," "sexist," or "hard to read."  My mind will resist what it does not want. 

But even with ACIM, words will only go so far.  Now it is time for a Direct Experience of Truth.  The lessons that remain are merely introductions to the times in which I will leave the world of pain and enter into Peace.  I begin to reach the goal this Course has set and find the end toward which my practicing was always geared.  Each lesson now is merely a beginning.  For I wait in quiet expectation.  God has promised He will take the final step Himself.  And I am certain that His Promises are kept.  I have come far along the road....and now I wait for Him.  I expect my Father to reveal Himself as He has promised.  God has not left His Son in madness. 

Now is the time of "prophecy" fulfilled.  Now are all "Ancient Promises" fully kept.  God's Will is done!  I have practiced replacing thoughts of madness with Thoughts of Truth as instructed.  I have practiced forgiving "others" and my "self" for sins that were never committed in a world that never existed.  I have practiced forgiving "others" only to experience that there are no "others,"  there is only the One Son. 

So now, I sit quietly with an open and clear mind and wait upon my Father.  I have recognized that it is my will to be with Him, not in a world of insanity.  It is God's Will that He and I are One.  I could never have come this far unless I saw ~ however dimly ~ that God's Will IS my own.

God Himself has taught me how to leave the world of sorrow in exchange for Reality.  I will not look back.  I will look ahead and fix my eyes on the journey's end.  I will behold an Experience beyond the dream I made. 

I have allowed ego to guide my journey in the dream-world.  But now I follow God's Guidance to "save" me from my dream.  God's Thoughts have Lit the darkness of my mind.  His Love has called to me unceasingly since "time" began.  The Memory of God is shimmering across the wide horizon of my mind.  A moment more and I will be Safely Home, Where God would have me be. 

The need for practice is almost done.  I will come to understand that I need only call to God and all temptations disappear.  Instead of words, I only need to feel His Love.  Instead of prayers, I only need to call His Name.  Instead of judging, I need only be still and let all things be healed. 

Lesson 220 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

"There is no peace, except the Peace of God."   Any peace, love, joy, or serenity I seem to experience in a body, always has degrees of intensity. It is not without a tinge of judgment, and it never lasts.   That is the way of the "world."  I seemingly created the world for an experience of "apart from" God.  Everything I seem to experience here is "outside" myself.  ACIM tells me that there is nothing outside myself.  There are no "others,"  there is only the One Son and His Father.  Yet while I experience the dream, ACIM teaches me to use it to Awaken to Reality.  The "others" I see are mirrors of my dream-thoughts.  When negative or positive thoughts arise, I seem to be projecting them at and onto "others."  But since there are no "others,"  the thoughts remain in my mind keeping me attached to the dream.  When I encounter an "other," instead of anger or judgment, ACIM tells me to offer forgiveness.  Forgiveness leads to my relinquishment of the dream.  Forgiveness of "others" is my forgiveness of myself.  Today I will not wander from the way of Peace and forgiveness, for I am lost and alone in the dream.  Forgiveness is also a dream because forgiveness is not needed in Heaven.  But it is the only dream that leads me Home. 

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 219 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

"I am not a body.  I am Free."   I am the Son that God Loves Wholly and Completely.  Thought is the only Reality. God's Son cannot be limited in a "body."  God's Son can only be Joyful, Peaceful, Loving, Happy, Content, Serene and Free.  I wIll quiet my mind and think a moment on this, and experience without confusion, how my Father feels about me. 

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 218 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

"My judgment and condemnation injures only ME."   My condemnation keeps my vision dark and traps me further in the illusion.  Through sightless eyes I cannot see the Vision of Heaven and my Glory as God's Son. Yet today I can experience this Glory and be glad.  I will replace all thoughts of loss, sadness, worry, impatience, anger, judgment, and condemnation with Thoughts of Truth, and experience my Reality as God's Son. 

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 217 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

"It is my own gratitude I earn."   The ocean and the waves are one.  The sun and its rays are one.  God and His Son are One.  The Son cannot be separated from His Father.  The Son and the Father are One, and there are no divisions or distinctions in God.   In the dream, it seems the Son is divided into many, each with his own "consciousness," each with his own "body," and each person seemingly has to "earn" his way to Heaven.  I can be grateful this is only a dream.  There is no separation, no distinctions, no bodies, and nothing to "earn."  I am Safe in God, having a fantasy of a world "apart from" God.  No harm can come to me.  I am encompassed in Love, Joy, Peace, and Happiness.  It is only my own thoughts that hold me prisoner in a world of dreams.  Today I replace dream-thoughts with Thoughts of Truth, to Awaken me to Reality.  It may seem that I have to do this over and over and the whole process takes "time."  Yet time is already over.  The Son never left the Father.  I can Awaken in an "instant" or in "ten-thousand years."  Time is a dream too.  When I have decided I am done dreaming, I chose, not death ~ which keeps me in the cycle of the dream ~ but Thoughts of Truth which lead me Home.  When I hate, it is myself who feels the pain.  When I Love, I am released.  When I am grateful, this gratitude fills my mind and benefits me.  There is only One Son...and I am He. 

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 216 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

"I crucify only myself."   When I entertain any thought that is not Loving, it is only myself that will feel the effects.  There is only One Son.  The "world" is an illusion in my mind.  If there is nothing outside me and everything that seems to be outside me is all in my imagination, then any sadness, anger, grief, envy, judgment, or hatred remains foremost in my own mind, holding me within the illusion. If  I "attack" in thought, word, or deed, I am the only one who suffers. Today, I replace any unloving thought with Love, and I Awaken to Reality.  If I forgive, salvation is mine.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

Lesson 215 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

"I walk the Way of Love.  And I am grateful."   God is my only Guide, the only Voice I hear.  He speaks the language of the dream that I may hear His Words and come to remember my Reality as His Son.  I was created to exist in Love.  If I seem to be having another experience, it can only be a fantasy of something that does not exist.  I am as God created me:  Eternally and Unchangingly Perfect, Joyful, Serene, Peaceful, Happy, and Loving.  Yet the dream seems so "real."  The thoughts I think haunt me:  I am not good enough...I am a terrible person...I am an inadequate parent...an absentee daughter and sister...I am terrible at my job...I do not pay enough attention to my pets...I am fat and lazy...I do not make enough money...I had a terrible childhood...I am nobody special...I suck as a human being...people are cruel...life ends in death...war in Syria is imminent...children are being abused...human rights are violated every day somewhere in the world.  God did not create this nightmare, I did.  I am Safe in Heaven with my Father, dreaming a dream of being "away from" Him.  The only way to Awaken, is to replace thoughts of dreaming with Thoughts of Truth.  The resulting experience will reinforce Reality.  Heaven cannot be learned, only experienced.  Today I will replace dreams with Thoughts of Truth, and experience my Reality with God. 

I am not a body.  I am Free.  I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 214 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

"I place everything in the Hands of God."    The "past" and the "future" exist only in dreams.  Now I am Free from both.  For what God gives can only be for Good. If something is not 110% Eternally and Unchangingly Good, Joyful, Peaceful, Serene, Happy, Loving.......then it is only fantasy.   Today I accept only what God gives.  And what God gives belongs to me.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 213 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

"All things can work for my salvation."  The thoughts I think in the world of dreams are not even my True Thoughts.  They are thoughts consumed with the world of dreams ~ the world I imagined for an experience "apart from" God.  The Lessons in ACIM can substitute for the unreal thoughts that hurt my mind.  Mind is the only Reality.  Yet it seems there is a "physical" world:  if I stub my toe, I am in pain;  if someone dies, they never come back.  My five senses seem to witness to the "reality" of the world of dreams.  And I never question this reality.  ACIM asks me to question the reality of the physical world and gives me lessons and suggestions on how to do that.  In the physical world, I sleep and dream.  ACIM tells me that, perhaps, when I seem to "awaken" from one dream, it is only to experience another dream.  It tells me that my experience in the "physical" world is like a dream.  Yes, dreams I can understand.  ACIM speaks to me in the language of the dream that I may come to experience Reality.  Reality cannot be learned and understood, but only experienced.   All things in the dream can be used for my salvation.  Each lesson in ACIM can be used to replace thoughts of the dream-world.  ALL thoughts in the world of dreams hurt me, even the ones that seem "good," because they keep me from experiencing my Reality with God. Today, I choose to learn God's lessons, and forget my own.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 212 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.   For I am still as God created me.

"My only function in the world of dreams is forgiveness."   The function I give the fantasy-world is an experience of "apart from" God.  Yet God gives me another function for my dream:  forgiveness.   I forgive everything and everyone.  How long can I hold a grudge against a dream?  How can I grieve when I have invented death myself?  I have invented this dream-world, then I become upset when it shows me what I command it to show me!  Today I lay aside dreams and replace thoughts of dreams with Thoughts of Reality.  Forgiveness is a dream too, but it is the only dream that breeds no others leading to my Awakening.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 211 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

Lesson 210 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

"I choose the Joy of God instead of pain."   My Reality is Heaven, anything not of l.p.Heaven exists only in dreams.  Mind is the only Reality.  There is nothing outside me.  Pain is my own idea.  Pain ~ like everything else in my fantasy-world ~ represents my "separation from" God.  Pain is not Reality.  God's Will for me is Perfect Joy.  I exist in Perfect Joy and Peace, yet I dream about "separation" and "pain."  It is my own choice keeping me "separated from" Reality.  I can choose differently.  God Wills Perfect and Eternal Joy, Peace, Love, Happiness, Contentment, Life, and Wholeness for His Son.  I am His Son.  Today I set aside the dream and choose what my Father Wills for me.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

Lesson 209 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

"I feel the Love of God within me now."    I am God's Son, Safe in Heaven with Eternal Love, Joy, Peace, Safety, Freedom, Serenity, and Wholeness encompassing my being.....just as He created me.  Yet, I have mentally chosen to set Heaven "aside" and experience the fantasy of a "world apart from God."  It is fantasy, not Reality.   And it is all happening in my mind.  There is nothing "outside" or "apart from" me.  The only Reality is the One Mind, which includes God and His Son.  Though I can imagine other "realities," only what is of God can Truly Exist.  Only Love, Peace, Oneness, Freedom, and Joy can Exist.  If I am experiencing anything other than this, I am dreaming........or day-dreaming is a better word.  The Love of God created All There Is.  The Love of God created me.  The Love of God is Everything I am.  The Love of God is All There Is.  Anything else is fantasy.  "Death" does not save me from anguish, grief, poverty, sadness, or rage.........."death" does not exist.  God created Life, and Life is my only Reality.  If I "kill" myself, I will only return to the world of madness in a different "body" and a different "lifetime."  The way I escape the world of insanity, is to remember my Reality and Awaken.  Today I will replace all thoughts of madness with Thoughts of Truth.  God will do the rest.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 208 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free. For I am still as God created me.

"The Peace of God is shining in me now."   I will be still and let all thoughts of the "world" be silenced. In that stillness I find the Peace of God.  It is deep within me.  No dream or fantasy can obliterate my Reality as God's Son. Though the dream takes precedent in my life right now, I can replace thoughts of dreams with Thoughts of Truth.  It can happen in an instant, or it can take ten thousand "years."  It is up to me.  What I desire, I WILL receive.  Do I desire Perfect and Eternal Peace, Joy, Love, Happiness, and Serenity?  Or do I want to experience more dreams?  It is all up to me.  Heaven waits.  I am Safe in Heaven with my Father, dreaming of exile to a world "apart from" Him.  It is only a dream.  Now I choose to Awaken.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

Lesson 207 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.  

When I bless the world, I bless myself.   The world is a dream in my mind, a fantasy.  So when I offer blessing to the "world," I offer blessing to my own mind.  When I bless my mind or myself, the "world" will be blessed as well.....until I see the world no more. I am still as God created me because He created me to be His Son: Happy, Joyful, Content, Peaceful, and Loving. It seems that I am a soul in a body, living in a world where I define my experience through perception and contrast, where I am "me" and everyone else is "other," (including those I seem to "love"). Just because this seems to be my reality, does not mean it is.  My Reality is with God.  My Reality is not a fantasy.  I seem to see only fantasy because that is what I want to see, I have chosen an experience of being "apart from" God.  When I want to be with God...when I want Wholeness, Love, Peace, Joy, Serenity, Certainty and Freedom I WILL have It.  It can be an instant, or it can take ten thousand "years."  Until I choose, I chain myself to dreams and fantasy.  I can only hide from Reality for so long before I decide pain, fear and hell are too great a burden to bear and I cry out to God, as souls have been doing since the dawn of "time."   I need only turn to Him and every sorrow melts away as I accept His boundless Love for me.  When I give up thoughts of jealousy, anger, pain, sickness, death, separation, even slight annoyance, and replace these thoughts of fantasy with Thoughts of Truth, I Awaken to Truth.  Yet while I choose fantasy, fantasy will be my "reality."  God does not separate Himself from me.  He does not hold me at arms length.  I have chosen to think thoughts of separation from Him.  I can choose other thoughts. Today I choose Thoughts of Truth.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

Lesson 206 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.  

"Salvation of the world depends on me."   Salvation of the "world" depends on me because the "world" is a dream in my mind....a fantasy of being "apart from" God. Mind is the only Reality, there is nothing outside me.   I split my mind into "many," placed each of these "souls" into "bodies" and put them in a place called "earth," and seemingly created all sorts of "chaos" that I imagined would be in a world "apart from" God.  I need only heal my own mind, and the world ~ viola! ~ will heal!  When my mind heals, the world of dreams in my mind will heal and finally disappear, as God Awakens me to Reality.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 205 ~ Review VI

I am not  a body.  I am Free. For I am still as God created me.

"I choose the Peace of God."   If I were in my right mind, I would realize the Peace of God is everything I want.  It is my one goal.  My only useful purpose and function in the world of dreams.  It is the only thing worth having.  I can have the Peace of God even in the world of dreams, when I lay aside illusions in my mind, and replace them with Thoughts of Truth.  The Peace of God is always available to me.  It is I, myself, who chooses.  Today the Peace of God is all I choose.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.  

Lesson 204 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.  

"The Name of God is my Inheritance."   I am God's Son.  I am not a slave to time.  I am not bound by laws which rule a world of sick illusions.  I am Free in God.  I am Eternally One with God. I am Safe in Heaven, dreaming of exile to a world "apart from" God.  I will replace illusions in my mind with Thoughts of Truth to experience Reality.

I am not a body.  I am Free.   For I am still as God created me.  

Lesson 203 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

"I call upon God's Name and on my own."   God's Name and my own are One and The Same.  While I choose the world of madness, I will not understand or experience this Reality.  My True Self is One with God.  When I call on God, I call on my True Self who is One with God.  I can choose a world of madness with every thought I think or decision I make, or I can replace thoughts of the "world" with Thoughts of Truth.  I can decide for forgiveness, in place of judgment.  I will clear my mind and allow only Thoughts of Truth to enter.

I am not a body. I am Free.  For I am still as God created me. 

Lesson 202 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.  

"I will be still an instant and go Home."   Why would I chose to stay an instant longer where I do not belong?  God Himself is calling me Home.  Going Home is as easy as changing my thoughts.  Nothing Real exists "outside" me.  All that seems to be "outside" me is a fantasy.  All roads lead Home, because Home is my only Reality. Meditation is one of those roads; AA, Al-anon, and other self-help programs are another way; religion, and so on. I set aside "stinkin' thinkin'" and dwell on thoughts such as "Let go and let God,"  "this too shall pass," "one day at a time."    Yet the self-help programs and religions deal with the "world" and all its "problems" as "reality."  ACIM instructs that this is not my "reality" and that I am doing it to myself! ACIM goes a step further and instructs me to clear my mind of thoughts of the world, replacing those with reflections of Truth.   ACIM will bring me to salvation faster.  ACIM clears through all the muck and tells me clearly: There is no "world,"  there are no "others," I am not a "body," there is nothing "outside" me.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.  

Lesson 201 ~ Review VI

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God Created me.

"I trust my brothers, who are One with me."    There is no "world," no "bodies," nor anything outside me.  Heaven is deep within me.  All that I seem to see with my eyes is a figment of my imagination and a dream in my mind.  I can continue to attack and fear, or I can see the world through forgiveness and use a 'forgiven world' to Awaken me to Reality with God.  Look upon any "body" as a brother, for that "brother" is myself ~ a part of my mind projected "outward."  When "he" (I) seems to say or do "bad" or "upsetting" things, I will forgive him (myself).  I trust my "brothers" because "they" are a part of my mind.  When I decide to change my mind about what the world is for (forgiveness vs. being "apart from" God), the world will change too.

I am not a body.  I am Free.  For I am still as God created me.

Review VI

For this review I will take ONE idea each day and practice it as often as possible. Fifteen minutes or less morning and evening, and hourly throughout the day is recommended and as often as possible in between.  This seems like an impossible request, but this is a Course in mind-training.  My mind is frantic and undisciplined.  I can choose to  fill my mind with worries and thoughts of the "world," or I can choose to fill my mind with reflections of Truth.  This is a decision for Peace or chaos....Heaven or hell...Love or fear.  I choose with every thought that I allow to make its home in my mind.  One is Reality, the other is a fantasy of madness.

Each of the ideas by itself would be sufficient for salvation if it were learned Truly. With this in mind I will carefully review these last 20 lessons.  Each contains the whole curriculum if understood, practiced, accepted and applied to all that seems to come into my mind or my "physical life."

I have a function which rises above the "world."  This function is forgiveness ~ my only True function in the world of insanity.  Each ACIM lesson helps me offer forgiveness and Awaken to Reality.  Accepting and applying its lessons will bring about a deep relinquishment of everything that clutters up my mind, making my mind deaf to Reason, Sanity and simple Truth.  I will attempt to get beyond words and rituals.  I will attempt to reach a quickened pace along a shorter path to the Serenity and Peace of God.  I will close my eyes and forget all I thought I knew and understood.

I will permit no idle thought to go unchallenged, quickly replacing it with reflections of Truth from the ACIM lessons.  The Power of Heaven works with me.  It speaks of Quiet and Peace, and gives my thoughts whatever meaning they may have.  The Oneness of Heaven will teach me what to do, say and think.  It will not fail to be available to me.

Lesson 200 ~ There is no Peace except the Peace of God.

I can save myself the agony of bitter disappointments, bleak despair, icy hopelessness and doubt. I will not seek for Peace from a world of madness.  Unless I want more misery and pain, I will stop my restless searching in a world of insanity.

This is the final point to which I must come:  to lay aside all hope of finding Happiness where there is none.....looking for salvation in what can only hurt me....making Peace of chaos, Joy of pain, and Heaven out of hell.  I will stop trying to win through losing, in a world that was created to show me "loss."  I will not look to death to give me an appreciation for Life.  When I look to anything of the world of dreams to satisfy me in any way......I ask for defeat.  The world of dreams was imagined by me when I had the thought:  'what would it be like without God?' I created it to show me a world without the aspects and attributes of God.....the "opposite" of Heaven. It is in this fantasy-world that I now find myself.

My Reality is a Place of Love, Happiness and Eternal Life in a Peace that has no end. When I ask for Reality, I can only win.  To ask for Reality is to ask for what is already mine, so I must succeed.  To ask that what is false (a world of dreams) be True, can only fail.  I must forgive myself for dreams of madness; for trying to imagine what could never be.  What could be more foolish than to search over and over for hell, when all I need do is look with open eyes to find Heaven through a door that opens easily to welcome me?

God calls me Home.  I have not found lasting and complete Happiness is a world of madness where "life" always ends in death, "peace" is follow closely by restlessness and "joy" often turns to sorrow.  Though I try to make this world meaningful, it can never be. This world is not where I belong.  I am a stranger here.

The means have been given me to see the world of dreams differently, until I need it no longer and it disappears.  I will be bound to the world of madness until I see it through the eyes of forgiveness.  I think my thoughts have no effects, but it is my very thoughts that keep me in prison.  Changing my thoughts is the only thing that will Awaken me to my Reality in Heaven with God.  Thoughts are the only things that matter.  Thought is the only thing that is Real when I think with the Thoughts of God.

I will change my mind about the purpose of the world and give it a blessed purpose with one goal:  forgive everyone and everything, and realize it is all a dream.  Today, I bring my thoughts in line with the Thoughts of God with the reflections of Truth offered in ACIM.

What does forgiveness do?  In Truth it has no function and does nothing.  Forgiveness is unknown in Heaven.  It is only hell where forgiveness is needed and where it must serve a mighty function.  It helps God's Own Beloved Son escape from insane dreams; dreams that the Son believes are Real.

Peace is the bridge I cross to leave this world behind.  Peace begins in the world of dreams when I perceive the world with the function of forgiveness. This fresh perspective will lead directly to the Gate of Heaven and the Way Beyond. Peace is the answer to conflicting goals, senseless journeys, frantic pursuits, and meaningless endeavors.

Now my way will be easy; gently sloping toward the bridge where Freedom lies within the Peace of God.  I will not lose my way.  The Path to Heaven is easy and straight. Only if I attempt to wander can there be delay and needless wasted time.  God alone is Sure.  He, Himself, will guide my footsteps. The Father calls; the Son will hear.  That is all there is to what appears to be a world "apart from" God.

Now I rest in Silence.  I will search no further.  I came to a place where the road was carpeted with leaves of false desires, fallen from the trees of hopelesness.  Yet my path is made clear now and I can see a different road to choose.  Peace is recognized at last.  I can feel its soft embrace surround my heart and mind with Comfort and Love.

Peace, Love, and Joy cannot be found in a world of dreams.  I have found a simple, happy way to leave the world of madness by replacing my shifting goals and solitary dreams with a single purpose and the Companionship of Heaven.  Peace is Union if it is of God.  I need seek no further to calm my restless soul.  I am close to Home and draw nearer each time I think on the words that reflect Truth.  There is no peace except the Peace of God.  And I am glad and thankful that it is so.

"There is no Peace except the Peace of God."

Lesson 199 ~ Forgiveness: the way Home.

If I can condemn, I can be injured.  Injury is part of the dream, so "injury" is possible in dreams.  Yet, I can decide that "injury" is valueless, unwanted, and unreal.........and decide, instead, for Freedom.

Condemn and I am made prisoner.  Forgive and I am Free.  Such is the law that rules perception.  Condemnation is impossible in Truth.  What seems to be its influence and its effects have not occurred at all.  Yet I must deal with illusions at the level of the dream, and the dream tells me they have occurred.  Illusion makes illusion except one: forgiveness.  Forgiveness is the illusion that is answer to all the rest.

Forgiveness sweeps all other dreams away, although it is itself a dream, it breeds no others.  Forgiveness is where illusion ends.  Forgiveness is the end of dreams, because it is a dream of Awakening.  Forgiveness is not itself Truth, but only points the way to Truth.  It is the only road that leads out of disaster, past all suffering, and away from death.  There is no need to find a thousand ways in which forgiveness must be wrong.  There is no need to look to anything else for salvation.

The answer to all my problems has been given me.  All hope, blessing, and joy that can ever be found on this earth are in these words which reflect Truth.  Forgiveness is the Song of Heaven.

The "world" has many places where mercy has no meaning and attack appears justified.  Yet all illusions are the same ~ "proof" that I am not God's Son and that I am separated from God.  How foolish to believe I can die and that I can be separated from God.  My Reality with God remains untouched by thoughts like these.  Dreams of any kind are alien to Truth.

Today I practice letting Freedom come to make Its home with me.  Truth places these words in my mind that I may find the key to Light and let the darkness end:  my condemnation hurts me;  my forgiveness sets me Free.

All suffering hides unforgiving thoughts.  Yet there is no pain that forgiveness cannot heal. I am God's Son.  Perfect.  Holy.  Innocent.   The world and all its strange beliefs can be laid aside with the one illusion that points the way to salvation: forgiveness.   As I forgive "others" their trespasses, I will see my own Innocence shining upon me from the Face of Christ (the Sonship healed and Whole).

There is a Silence all around the world.  A Stillness which replaces the frantic rush of thoughts which make no sense.  There is a Tranquil Light across the face of the earth, made quiet in a dreamless sleep.  The Word of God alone remains upon the "world" which is a dream in my mind.  The "world" will be perceived only an instant longer, then the need for symbols is over.  Everything I ever thought I made will completely vanish from the mind that God knows forever to be His Only, Beloved Son.

"Forgiveness: the way Home."

Lesson 198 ~ My condemnation hurts only me.

Injury is impossible.  Yet illusion (condemnation) makes illusion (injury). In the dream, if I can condemn, I can be injured.  Injury is part of the dream, so "injury" is possible (in the dream) ~ I can injure others, others can injure me. But I can decide that "injury" is valueless, unwanted, and unreal.........and decide, instead, for Freedom.

Condemn, and I am made a prisoner.  Forgive and I am Free.  Such is the law that rules perception.  Condemnation is impossible in Truth.  What seems to be its influence and its effects have not occurred at all.  Yet I must deal with them at the level of the dream, and the dream tells me they have occurred.  Illusion makes illusion except one: forgiveness.  Forgiveness is the illusion that is answer to all the rest.

Forgiveness sweeps all other dreams away, although it is itself a dream, it breeds no others.  Forgiveness is where illusion ends.  Forgiveness is the end of dreams, because it is a dream of Awakening.  Forgiveness is not itself Truth, but only points the way to Truth.  It is the only road that leads out of disaster, past all suffering, and away from death.  There is no need to find a thousand ways in which forgiveness must be wrong.  There is no need to look to anything else for salvation.

The answer to all my problems has been given me.  All hope, blessing, and joy that can ever be found on this earth are in these words which reflect Truth.  Forgiveness is the Song of Heaven.

The "world" has many illusions where mercy has no meaning and attack appears justified.  Yet all illusions are the same: "proof" that I am not God's Son and that I am separated from God.  How foolish to believe I can die!  That I can be separated from God.  My Reality with God remains untouched by thoughts like these.  Dreams of any kind are alien to Truth.

Today I practice letting Freedom come to make Its home with me.  Truth places these words in my mind that I may find the key to Light, and let the darkness end:  my condemnation hurts me;  my forgiveness sets me Free.

All suffering hides unforgiving thoughts.  Yet there is no form of pain that forgiveness cannot heal. I am God's Son.  Perfect.  Holy.  Innocent.   The world and all its strange beliefs can be laid aside with the one illusion that points the way to salvation: forgiveness.   As I forgive "others" their trespasses, I will see my own Innocence shining upon me from the Face of Christ (the Sonship healed and Whole).

There is a Silence all around the world.  A Stillness replaces the frantic rush of thoughts which make no sense.  There is a Tranquil Light dawning across the face of the earth, made quiet in a dreamless sleep.  The Word of God alone remains upon the "world," which is a dream in my mind.  The "world" will be perceived only an instant longer, then the need for symbols is over.  Everything I ever thought I made will completely vanish from the mind that God knows forever to be His Only, Beloved Son.

"My condemnation hurts only me."

Lesson 197 ~ The Gratitude I offer comes back to me.

There are no "outside forces" pitted against me.  There is nothing "outside" me.  In the dream-world I make attempts at kindness and forgiveness, yet unless I receive "external" gratitude and lavish thanks, I attack.  I expect my "gifts" to be received with honor, or I withdraw them.  With efforts like these, my idea of God is that His Gifts are loans at best; at worst, they are deceptions that cause me to lower my defenses, only to leave me stripped of all dignity with death waiting to devour me.  My idea of God can only be understood in the context of my own feeble "worldly" thoughts.

How easily are God and guilt confused by the mind which does not understand what its thoughts can do.  My thoughts are very Powerful.  They have created an alternate "reality." When I deny my Strength (as God's Own Son), weakness becomes "salvation" to me.  When I see myself as bound in a body, in a world of chaos, this jail becomes my "home."  Unwilling to recognize my Strength, I refuse to leave my prison house.  In this state of mind I see "guilt" and "salvation" as one.  Salvation only seems available to me in the world of dreams as long as I see myself as "guilty," "bad," and "sinful."

The goal of ACIM is to awaken me from the dream of separation from God.

My own gratitude is all my gifts of kindness and forgiveness require.  I need no gratitude or thanks from "anyone else."  There is only the One, so any gratitude I offer comes back to me.  It does not matter if "another" thinks my gifts are unworthy, there is a part of "his mind" that joins with "my mind" in thanking me......it does not matter if my gifts seem unaccepted and ineffectual, they are received where they are given, and thankfully Acknowledged by the Heart of God Himself.  Would I take back my gifts when God Himself has gratefully accepted them?

God blesses every gift I give, because when I "give" I give to the One, which includes God and my Self and all the "selves" that seem to exist.  If I take back my gifts of kindness and forgiveness, I will believe that God can take back His Own Gifts to me. So I learn to let forgiveness take away the "sins" I think I see outside myself and I will never again think the Gifts of God are temporary only to be taken away again in "death."  With the end of this belief, the illusions of fear and death are no more.

ACIM is helping me to recognize myself as God's Son once again.  I was lost in a dream, but now I am found....

I cannot dim the Light of my Perfection.  In my own heart is the Heart of God.  He holds me dear because I am Himself.  All gratitude I give belongs to me, because there is only the One.  I will give thanks and be grateful for the words of Truth I have received and for the countless opportunities to "forgive."   For in offering forgiveness, it comes back to me and my own mind is healed.  I am learning again, to think with the Mind of God ~ my True State of Being....my Reality.  I will earn the gratitude I have denied myself by offering it to "others."

"The Gratitude I offer comes back to me."

Lesson 196 ~ It is only myself I crucify.

When this is firmly understood and kept in full Awareness, I will not think thoughts of negativity toward any "others."  To attack any other in thought, word, or deed is to attack myself.  To dwell on thoughts of envy and jealousy when a co-worker gets the job that should have gone to me, is to keep myself firmly entrenched in the world of madness.  There are no "others," there is no "world," and I am not a "body."  It is all taking place in my mind, and I am choosing a dream of madness over Sanity.  Mind is the only Reality.  And because Mind is the only Reality, I am hurting my mind by filling it with negativity and keeping myself from Reality.  Heaven is all around and within me, but it is like I am off in my own little corner thinking thoughts of crucifixion and death, and CHOOSING to do so, over and over and over.  Heaven is my Reality, yet I choose insanity!  Each time I "attack" another, I pound another nail for my own crucifixion...I push another thorn into my own skull.

I am doing this to myself!

The fear of God is real to me when I believe in insanity.  It is foolish to fear Peace, Love, Joy, Happiness, Serenity, Wholeness.......but when I choose madness this is exactly what is happening.  It is my own thoughts that bring me fear.  My deliverance and salvation depends on ME.  It is impossible for me to be hurt except by my own thoughts.

ACIM offers Thoughts reflecting Truth.  ACIM is a self-study course.   It can be studied in a group, but since there is only One of us appearing as "many," when I heal my "individual" mind, I heal "all" minds.  Replacing thoughts of madness with Thoughts of Truth, I teach my mind that I am not a "self" in a "body" in a "world" "separated from" Heaven.  As my mind heals, this healing will be reflected by the world I seem to see, until I see a "world" no more, and God Awakens me to Reality.  I am not separated from Heaven.  I only seem to be.

ACIM gives me "daily" thoughts of Truth to lead to my Awakening.  Time is an illusion, but ACIM speaks the language of dreams while it interprets for me the Truth of Reality.  Reality needs to be interpreted for me because I believe in dreams.  It is not "time" I need to achieve salvation, but willingness.  For what would seem to require a "thousand years" can easily be done in just "one instant".....by the Grace of God. "Time" has no meaning in Heaven.  The only thing that comes close to Eternity in the dream, is the time of "now" ~ the present.

A world of madness is what I experience.  Until I change my mind about what I desire ~ Heaven or insanity ~ there is no hope.  Yet I have the ability to change my mind.  It is as simple as replacing thoughts of madness with Thoughts of Truth.  Thoughts of impatience with Thoughts of Truth.  Thoughts of anxiety with Thoughts of Truth. Thoughts of resentment with Thoughts of Truth.  Over and over and over, until Truth is all I remember.

Heaven is all around and within me, yet I choose dreams of murder, madness, and death.  It is as easy as changing my thoughts, and salvation is mine.  I call on God to save me from illusions by His Love. He is my Father and I am His Son.  There is no Thought of God that does not go with me in my journey to Love.  When I let illusions go, there are no obstacles that remain between me and the Holy Peace of God.  I am One with God and He is One with me.  It is only in the dream that I seem to be apart from Him, in a world of chaos and insanity.

It is only myself I crucify.  Yet my redemption, too, will come from me.  The "world" can have a new function for me.  Instead of "proving" to me that I am "separated from" Oneness and "apart from" God, I will let the world show me my salvation.  I change the world by changing my mind about the world.  The world reflects my state of mind.  When my mind heals the world heals, until the world is no more.

"It is only myself I crucify."

Lesson 195 ~ I walk The Way of Love, with gratitude.

Gratitude is a hard lesson to learn when I look upon a troubled world.  In the dream-world I compare myself to others.  I see myself as better than some, not as good as others.  I feel grateful than I am not suffering as others,  that I was not born with a cleft palate, nor am quadriplegic like Christopher Reeve, poor like some, or unschooled and ignorant like others.  I do not have to prostitute myself for drugs or money.  I do not have to beg or forage for my daily food.  Yet how pitiful and sad are such thoughts! How can I have cause for thanks when many seem to have no cause for thanks? How could I possibly suffer less when I see anyone suffering at all?  None of this is my Reality!  This is the world of dreams....the fantasy of "me" living in a "world" separated from my Father.  This seems to be my existence "apart from" Heaven.

My brother seems to be my enemy because I see in him the rival for my peace; he gets the position that should have gone to me; she marries the man who should have been mine; he has the bigger house; she makes more money than I; he gets more respect from co-workers; she is much more beautiful; he has a charismatic personality.  Now vengeance is the only thing to wish for.

Gratitude makes no sense in a world of suffering.  It is insane to offer thanks for suffering, but it is equally insane not to offer gratitude for learning that it is all a dream.  I am grateful to my Father for creating my Changeless Reality.  I am grateful to learn that all sorrow, suffering, and separation has been just a dream.  I am grateful to learn that I am Safe in Heaven with my Father, dreaming. It was all a dream of exile to a sad and strange world.

Love makes no comparisons.  There are no bargains and no comparisons in the name of Love.  I am separate from no Living, Eternal thing.  I am One with God.  Hatred is forgotten when I lay comparisons aside.  Today I will replace anger, malice, jealousy, envy, and revenge with gratitude.  My gratitude paves the way to God.  My only gratitude is for learning that this is all a dream.

"I walk The Way of Love, with gratitude."

Lesson 194 ~ I place the future in God's Hands.

Today is my Independence Day.  I am Free from the "world" and all I thought it was.  I am Free to see my salvation in the world instead of using the world as a means to "separate" myself from God.  I am Free to choose Love and Peace over sin and guilt.  I am Free to choose Life over death.

Today's idea takes a giant stride toward quick salvation, setting me down just short of Heaven.  My foot has reached the lawns that welcome me to Heaven's Gate.  How short is the remaining journey.

When I accept today's idea, I have saved "years" of anxiety, depression, and thoughts of sin and devastation brought about by guilt.  When I accept today's idea, I release my mind from the heavy chains that locked the door to Freedom.  I am saved, and my salvation becomes the gift I give the world, until I see the world no more.   Each instant given to God in passing, with the next one given Him already, is a time of release from sadness, pain, and death itself.

There is no "past," there is no "future," there is only the Eternal Now.  Yet in the world of dreams, the progression of "time" still seems real.  I am asked to give the past to God to heal and make pure, and place the future in His Hands.  My experience of doing this will show me that the past will punish me no more and the future I dread is meaningless.

I will see the lesson for today as the deliverance it really is and I will not hesitate to give it as much consistent effort as I can.  I will let it become the thought that rules my mind, a new habit in my problem-solving repertoire and a way of quick reaction to thoughts that bring me down.  And I will extend my learning to the "world," I see until I see the world no more.

When I give my future to the Loving Hands of God I no longer need to worry.  There is nothing to suffer or fear.  Nothing can cause me pain or loss.  I have only Love to offer.  I have escaped all guilt of the past, all fear of the future and have found my way to present Peace.  My perception may be faulty, but I will always have words of Truth to correct me.  And when I have been deceived, I am Free to choose again. When I make mistakes, I am Free to change my mind and choose differently.

I will place my future in the Hands of God.  I call on the Memory of Him to come and replace all my thoughts of "sin" and "evil" with the Truth of Love.  As my mind heals, the "world" heals with me, and this healing will be reflected back to me from the world.  When my mind is fully healed, God Himself will fully Awaken me and I see the world of dreams no more.

In God's Hands I rest untroubled, sure that only Good can come to me.  If I forget, I will be Gently reassured.  If I accept an unforgiving thought, I can replace it with Love's Reflection.  If I am tempted to attack ~ in thought, word or deed ~ I will appeal to Him Who guards my rest to make the choice for me that leaves temptation behind.

The "world" is no longer my enemy.  I have chosen that it be my friend and show me my salvation.

"I place the future in God's Hands."

Lesson 193 ~ Forgive, and I will see this differently

God's Will is for His Son's Happiness to be Undisturbed and Eternally Expanding in the Joy of Full Creation.  God does not know of "learning."  "Learning" is part of the dream, but God uses the dream for His Own Purposes, and He will use "learning" to Awaken me to Reality.

God sees no contradictions nor opposites.  Yet I believe I see them, thus my vision needs correction.  "Perception" is the "vision" of dreams.  God's World is Pure Knowing and He does not "perceive" at all, though He gives the means by which perception is made True and Beautiful enough to let the Light of Heaven illuminate my dreams.  The lessons in ACIM reflect God's Will and the Loving Kindness extended to the Son He loves.  Each lesson has the same fundamental content, which is:  Forgive, and I will see this differently.

All distress is only unforgiveness.  Unforgiveness is the content under the form, no matter what form the problem seems to take.  I cannot hide forever from a Truth so obvious that It appears in countless forms, even in my dreams.  One is as easily recognized as another if I Truly want to see the simple lesson that is present.  Forgive, and I will see this differently.

In all my sorrow and sadness, in all my pain and suffering, regardless of its form, these are the words God speaks to me.  These are the words which end temptation and guilt.  These are the words which end the dream of sin and rid my mind of fear.  These are the words by which salvation comes to my mind.  Forgive, and I will see this differently.

When I am tempted to believe that pain is real and death becomes my choice instead of Life, I will remember to repeat these words.  I will say these words and understand their power to release my mind from bondage.  These are words which give me Power over all the events that seem to have power over me.  I will hold these words in full Awareness, not forgetting they apply to everyone and everything I see. Forgive, and I will see this differently.

God does not want me to suffer.  He wants to help me forgive myself for thinking I created an existence "apart from" Him.  He would not leave an unforgiving thought without correction.  He would not allow one thorn or nail to hurt His Holy Son in any way. God Wills His Son be Free.

I will attempt to overcome a thousand seeming obstacles to Peace today.  I will let mercy come to me more quickly.  There is no need to wait another day, another minute or another second.  The only use for "time" is forgiveness.  I will give all my concerns to Him Who Knows the way.  Truth is God's Message.

To every concern, care, or form of suffering, I will repeat these words.  My "return" to Heaven does not come from "death," but from the Awakening of my mind to Life.  I am in Heaven right now, though dreaming a dream of exile.  I will forgive, Awaken, and be Home.

"Forgive, and I will see this differently"

Lesson 192 ~ Forgiveness is my only function in this world.

My function in Heaven is being God's Son.  My function in the world of dreams is forgiveness.  Until I experience the Truth ~ that I am doing this to myself ~ I must forgive all I see and everything that seems to upset and annoy me.

My function as God's Son means nothing in a world of envy, hatred, and attack. Therefore, I have a function in the world of dreams on its own terms in a language it understands: forgiveness. Forgiveness is the means by which un-truth can be un-done.  It is the means by which I let illusions go. Heaven merely waits for my "return" to be acknowledged by me.   I never left Heaven; I only imagined that I did.

Reality has no meaning in the world of dreams.  Forgiveness is the closest thing to Heaven that the "world" can understand.  The world of dreams is all about form, and Heaven has no form.  Form must be translated into Formlessness.

Forgiveness gently looks upon all things in the world and sees them disappear, leaving the world a clean slate on which the Word of God can now replace the senseless symbols written there before.  Through forgiveness, I overcome the fear of death, for death will hold no attraction for me once guilt is gone.  Through forgiveness, I will perceive the body not as my "self," but as a teaching aid to be laid aside when learning is complete.

The mind, without the body, makes no mistakes.  The mind does not think it will die and it does not worry about being the victim of attack.  Anger is impossible without the body.  What fears could I have when I realize the core of anguish and fear is a dream?  Forgiveness relieves the mind of thinking that the body is its home. Forgiveness restores the Peace that God intended for His Holy Son.  Forgiveness persuades the Son, lost in a dream, to take a different look at what he thinks he is. With anger gone and the idea of sacrifice laid aside, pain will be lifted from my sick and tortured mind.

I will forgive, step by step, everything that vexes me.  I will forgive the alarm clock that wakens me from my comfortable sleep, remembering that it only witnesses to my separation from God, which is a dream.  I will forgive my anxiousness about getting anywhere on time, remembering that I am the Holy Son of God, Safe in Heaven and need be anxious about nothing.  I will forgive the darkness in which I drive to work, realizing that it is  yet another witness to a dream that cannot be.  I need forgiveness to perceive the un-reality of the dream.  Without its kindly light, I grope in darkness, using "reason" to justify my rage and attack.  My understanding is so limited that what I think I understand is only confusion born of error.  I am lost in the mists of shifting dreams and fearful thoughts, my eyes shut tight against the Light, my mind engaged in worshipping what is not there.

Christ is the Sonship Healed and Whole.  Each time I forgive (someone or something I see, think of, or imagine), I am born again in Christ.  When I imprison anyone or anything with anger or judgment, I imprison myself.  A jailer is not free, for he is bound together with his prisoner to be sure he does not escape, so he spends his time keeping watch.  The bars that limit the prisoner, also limit the jailer. Freedom for one of them, is Freedom for both.

Today, I wiIl hold nothing or no one prisoner.  I will release instead of bind, for by this I am made Free.  My fear, judgment, anger, envy, impatience, jealousy, and annoyance is like a sword held to my own throat, keeping me bound to a world "apart from" God. I will be aware of the thoughts and emotions that come to mind.  When I feel a stab of anger, I will lay it aside and replace it with Truth.  Each brother, each situation, each thought of the world is now savior to me, for they give me unlimited opportunity for forgiveness, releasing me from a prison house of death.  I owe each my thanks.

I will be merciful today for I, myself, deserve my mercy.  Every "brother" deserves my mercy, for my brother is my Self.  My only function here on earth is forgiveness. There is nothing else I need do.  I will replace every thought of the world with forgiveness, to remember my Reality.

"Forgiveness is my only function in this world."