Lesson 176 ~ Review V

God is Love, therefore so am I.

"Give me your Blessing Holy Son of God."    My healed and Whole mind....the mind which knows its Reality with the Father in Eternal Peace and Joy....is the Son of God.  I am the Son of God, but I refuse claim to my Sonship when I indulge in fantasies of separation.  I am a Prince who dreams he is a pauper.  An Innocent who declares himself a sinner.  I am One Son, though I dream I am many.  I am Peace, though I dream I am at war.  I am fully Satisfied, though I fantasize of boredom and chaos.  I am Home with my Father, though I dream I must search and search and search for Happiness.  Today I will ask my True Self ~ God's Holy Son ~ for His blessing.  I will lay aside dreams of myself to remember the Truth of Who I Am.


"I am as God created me."   I am not the dream I imagined myself to be.  I am the Son of God, Pure and Innocent.  My Reality is one of Peace, Love, Joy, Wholeness and Serenity.   In my mind, I will lay aside thoughts of dreaming and embrace Thoughts of Truth.  Whenever chaos, boredom, anxiety, worry, jealousy, envy, impatience or anger cross my mind, I will replace them with Thoughts of Truth.  An experience of great Relief will fill my mind and I will know these Thoughts to be Real and True.  I can hear and read words of Truth, but until I apply Them and experience Their Effects for myself, I will not believe.  My Awakening is guaranteed by God.  It is only my own willingness that decides for or against Truth.  Today I choose Truth.

Lesson 175 ~ Review V

God is Love, therefore so am I.

"I give the miracles I have received."   This is the miracle:  the Knowledge that the world of madness is all a dream; that I am in Heaven with my Father, dreaming a dream of debt, pain and poverty.  I am dreaming a dream that there are those with very much and those with very little.  I am dreaming a dream that I have lost my one true love and no one else will ever love me.  I am dreaming a dream that my children hate me.  I am dreaming a dream that I am worthless, unlovable, stupid, ugly and dull. I am dreaming a dream that I am an addict.  I am dreaming a dream that I am a hoarder.  Yet the miracle is, the Knowledge that any problems I seem to have in the world are only in my mind.  And the many problems I seem to have can be condensed into one:  I believe I am separated from God.  I believe I am separated from Eternal Joy, Peace, Happiness, Serenity and Love.  I have split Love and Joy into symbols that only seem to represent "love" and "joy" and projected them from my mind into a "world" in the form of objects and bodies.  The "love" that seems to be outside me in the form of a body is in my mind.  The "joy" that seems to be in the form of a particular relationship is in my mind.  The "happiness" that seems to be in the form of "good health and social status" is within me.  The Love, Joy, Peace and Happiness that I think is "outside" me is deep within me, as is my Remembrance of Heaven.  My True Self is as God's Son.  As God's Son I have all the Attributes of God.  Therefore, I am Happiness, Joy, Peace, Serenity and Love.  There is nothing "outside" me.  My Reality is Pure Thought.  THIS is the miracle.  The Knowledge that leads to my Awakening is the miracle. Now I must give, to experience this Truth.  Give it, not in the form of evangelizing or preaching, but by offering silent blessing and forgiveness in my mind. I will offer thoughts of kindness and peace, and my "actions" will follow.  When I change my mind and my thoughts, I change how I see the "world," until I realize there is no "world" and I Awaken to Heaven.


"I am at Home with God.  Fear is the stranger that lingers in my mind."   Mind is the only Reality.  Nothing "physical" exists.  Nothing exists "outside" me.  It is impossible that I exist "outside" or "apart from" God.  All fear, chaos, turmoil, grief, boredom and anxiety exists only in my mind and cannot be relieved by anything "outside" me.   They can only be relieved by replacing them with Thoughts of Truth.  ACIM gives me Thoughts of Truth. Most religions contain Thoughts of Truth.  All roads lead to God, because God is All There Is.  I can dream of "separation from" God.  I can fantasize about being "apart from" Happiness.  The "world" is a symbol of my thought of separation from God.  My "body" is a symbol of my thought of separation from God. "Money" is a symbol of my thought of separation from God.  "War" is a symbol of my thought of separation from God.  Symbols are not Reality.  Nothing outside me exists. The change and instability that appears "outside" me is happening in my mind.  I love my children, but they eventually grow up.  I love my spouse, but spouses grow old, senile, leave or die. I love a beautiful day, but day changes to night or rain comes to spoil the sunshine.  I AM MAKING IT ALL UP.  The companionship, tenderness and love of  "another" is all in my mind, projected "outside" me into a body-symbol that seems to represent companionship, tenderness and love. There is nothing and no one outside me.  Love, Peace, Joy, Happiness and Serenity cannot be represented by symbols.  The only Reality is the One Mind.  I have never left Home. Truth helps me remember.

Lesson 174 ~ Review V

God is Love, therefore so am I.

"I enter into His Presence now."   My Reality is Pure Thought.  The world of the "physical" exists only in dreams.  My Reality is Perfect and Eternal Joy, Love, Peace, Wholeness and Serenity with God.   I enter into the Awareness of God's Presence anytime I chose Truth over illusions.  There is no time I am not in the Presence of God. I am not Aware of the Presence of God while I embrace "separation from" God in my thoughts.  The Awareness of my Reality with God will come when I embrace Truth.


"Today, I give as I have received."   From ACIM I have received specific instructions ~specific lessons~ on how to let go of illusions and "remember" my Reality with God. Truth is simple.  The fantasy of separation from God is convoluted, chaotic and complicated.  My Awareness of Reality is a matter of laying aside illusions and accepting Truth.

Lesson 173 ~ Review V

God is Love, therefore so am I.

"Step back and let Him lead the way."    Part of the illusion of living "apart from" God is that I think I am thinking my own thoughts, making my own decisions and carving my own path in life.  The Reality is, I can do nothing apart from God.  It is time to "go" Home....it is time to Awaken to my Reality with God.  Today I will replace all thoughts with Thoughts of Truth in today's lesson, and I will give all decisions to God.  My Reality is Peace, Joy, Love and Contentment.  If I experience none of those, I can be sure I am immersed in illusions.   Reality is only a thought away.  My Reality is Pure Thought.  There is nothing "outside" me.  The outside is only a manifestation or projection of the inside.  I change my reality by changing my mind about what is my reality.


"Walk with God in Perfect Holiness."    My Reality is with God in Perfect Holiness.  I am not in a "body," in a "world," suffering from the chaos and insanity forced upon me by others.  I am doing it to myself.  ACIM is a Course in mind training.  My mind is mad with thoughts of separation from God.  I am learning to Awaken to Reality by embracing Thoughts of Truth. Repeat these Thoughts of Truth throughout the day to replace thoughts of madness.

Lesson 172 ~ Review V

God is Love and therefore so am I.

"My Safety lies in my defenselessness."   I will lay down all defenses, for they keep the world of shadows foremost in my mind.  Defenses only serve to perpetuate the world of madness.  I am Safe with my Father, dreaming a dream of insanity.  I am God's Son.  I have everything, including Perfect Safety. There is nothing I must defend myself "from."


"I am God's Son."    I am not imprisoned in a body, waiting to die before I can join my Father.  "Bodies" and "death" are illusions.  I am with my Father, but I do not see Him because I think only of madness.  I will lay aside madness and replace it with Thoughts of Truth.  When I choose Truth as my only experience, my Father Gently Awakens me to Reality.

Lesson 171 ~ Review V

God is Love and therefore so am I.

"All things echo God's Voice."   I can hide from God, but that would be like a drop of water trying to hide from the ocean.  Or a sunbeam trying to hide from the sun.  It just is not possible.  Though in my imagination, anything is possible.  I can imagine a place apart from God, but in Reality it can never be.  Even in my dream of madness, Truth is all around me.  It is not seen with "physical eyes," it is experienced with the mind and "seen" in a way that surpasses human vision.


"The power of decision is my own."  I can choose to dwell on the world of illusions:
 the thoughts, words, and deeds of insanity....or I can choose to replace it with Words of Truth.  Words of Truth bring me to the ultimate Experience of Truth, which will prove without a doubt that what they symbolize is True.  It is my choice...my decision.  I choose what will occupy my mind.

Review V

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 go 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 170 ~ Madness ends today.

When I attack, mentally, emotionally and/or physically, it is with intent to hurt.  No exceptions. When I think I attack in self-defense against an emotional or physical assault, I essentially believe that being cruel is protecting myself.  I protect myself with cruelty.  It seems that to hurt another brings me freedom from "them" hurting "me."

Fear is born and fed with blood.  It grows, swells and rages In the vicious cycle of attack/defense.  In the world of dreams fear is protected, not escaped.  Today's lesson will save me from more delay and needless misery than I can imagine.  And here is Truth:  I have made it all up.  I have projected my fears and insecurities onto a "physical" world. Not only do I feel awkward, stupid, worthless, even murderous inside, but I have projected these out onto a "world" where the actors in my play perform the parts I have assigned to them.  My "defense" against insanity only reinforces its "reality."  When I lay down my defenses, only then will I perceive Truth.

God is Love.  His Son is Love.  Yet in creating a world "apart from" God I have given birth to the "enemy" of Love.....an opposite to Heaven.  Only in fantasy is this possible yet, I call it "reality."   In the world of madness, Love is my enemy and cruelty is my god. Harsh punishment is given relentlessly to those who ask if the world is reasonable or sane. It is only my enemies who are "unreasonable" and "insane," while I am always "merciful" and "just."

I have created a world of madness, populated it with "enemies,"  written the script for attack and now defend myself from all of it.  There is nowhere I can escape insanity. For if I cannot find it in my own mind, it is surely "out there" in the "world."   More fear is not the answer to my escape from a world of fear.  In seemingly creating a world apart from God, my biggest fear is of God Himself.  For if it were possible to break away from God and create my own world ~ in essence, usurp God ~ then I would fear Him and believe that He would retaliate. God is now the enemy....at least in the insane part of my mind.  But I am no longer wholly insane.

My world of madness is one of chaos and confusion; a constant search for happiness and peace. Cruelty seems to be a part of  "love."  And my idea of God now includes vengeance and wrath; He is terrible, cruel and jealous.

Today, madness comes to an end.  The choice I make today is certain.  I look one last time upon the world of insanity and call it my "reality" no longer.  I have reached this place before, but I turned away, hoping dreams would yet offer "happiness."  This time I leave it behind.  God's Love merely asks that I lay down all defenses as mere foolishness and watch the madness crumble into dust.

I am the Son of God.  I am like my Father.  No cruelty abides in my Father and none in me. God's Peace is mine.  I can bless the world of madness because I realize that it is only a dream.  I give thanks to my Father, who holds me Safe with Him in Happiness, Joy, Peace, and Love, and lay aside foolish dreams. Today I replace rambling thoughts of madness with Thoughts of Truth in the lessons of ACIM.

"There is no cruelty in God and none in me."

Lesson 167 ~ Death does not exist.

There is no opposite to Life.  There is no death because an opposite to God does not exist.

In the world of dreams, there appears to be a state that is Life's opposite called "death."   In ACIM I have learned that the idea of death takes many forms:  fear, hatred, grief, impatience, envy, greed, etc.  "Death" is the one idea that is the foundation for all feelings that are not Supreme Happiness and Perfect Joy.  All sorrow, loss, anxiety, suffering and pain, a little sigh of weariness, a slight discomfort or mere frown.......all give a nod to death, and so deny Life.  Death is the thought that I am separate from my Creator.  Death is the sign of a mind asleep.

I think that death is of the body.  Yet "death" is only an idea ~ a thought ~ irrelevant to "physical."  A thought is in the mind and it is applied as the mind directs.  A thought must be changed at its origin....the mind....if change is to occur.

The mind can think it sleeps, but that is all.  It cannot change its Reality with God. The "physical" does not exist.  Mind creates all things that are, but it cannot give them attributes it lacks.  My Reality with God in Perfect Peace, Joy, and Happiness is All There Is. Anything else does not exist.  The physical cannot be Real because "physical" is a state of being where a world seems to exist "outside" of me.  In Reality there is only Oneness, there is nothing "outside" Oneness.

I am a Thought of God, and Thoughts of  God remain Forever Changeless.  What seems to be the opposite of Life is merely sleeping.  When the mind chooses to be what it is not, it merely seems to sleep a while.  It dreams of "time," an interval in which what seems to happen never occurred, the changes brought about are meaningless, and all events are nowhere. When the mind Awakens, it continues as it always was...in Perfect Peace, Joy, and Happiness.

Today I will be a student of Truth and honor my Holy Heritage.  My "life" is not as I imagined it.  Am I able to disappear just by closing my eyes?  Can I change who I really am by wearing a costume?  For this is what I am doing when I imagine a world "outside" myself.  I will not dwell on illusion in any form today.

There is One Life and I share It with God.  My sleeping mind must Awaken, and the Awakened mind knows its Source, its Self, and its Holiness.

"My Reality is with God."

Lesson 166 ~ God gives me Everything.

God has given me Everything.  His Trust in me is Limitless.  He knows His Son. He holds back nothing which contributes to my Happiness.  God gives. But I have not accepted.  I have chosen a world of insanity over His Gifts to me.

The world of separation is not the Will of God and so it is not Real.  Yet I have chosen the world of dreams over Heaven to be foremost in my thoughts.  I have forgotten that I am God's Son, Safe in Heaven with my Father.

God's Gifts are with me always, even in the lonely, senseless wanderings of the world. I can never lose what God has given, though I can imagine that I wander in misery and poverty.  I see only futility everywhere and the little I seem to have appears to be taken from me.  I am a sorry figure; weary, worn, in threadbare clothing with feet that bleed from the rocky road I walk.  The saddest thing is that I have chosen this way as my "reality."  God intended only Joy for His Son, yet I choose only tragedy.

God's Will does not oppose.  It merely Is.  He will not oppose my choice for dreaming. I dream of death, yet God gives me the only possible Answer:  "Child, there is only Life!" There is nothing more I need.  Now I live, for I cannot die.  My wish for death is answered by God's merciful reply, "It is not so."   God speaks of His Companionship when I perceive myself as lonely and afraid.  The Gifts God gives me I must now learn to give, or "project," in thought, word and deed while I "see" a world of dreams before me.

"God gives me Everything."

Lesson 165 ~ Eternity and Everlasting Life are in my mind.

What makes the world of dreams seem real is my denial of Truth.  My obsessive thoughts of misery and death in the world of insanity hide from me the Perfect Happiness and Eternal Life my Father Wills for me.  What could keep from me the Heaven God Wills, except my choice to deny It?

The Mind of God created me.   God has not left me, nor have I ever been apart from Him an instant.  God is the Source of Life, holding me One with Him.  God's Thought protects me, cares for me, softens my resting place and smooths my way.  It Lights my mind with Happiness and Love.   Eternity and Everlasting Life shine in my mind, because I am One with God and He has never left me, nor I Him. 

Everytime I entertain a thought, idea, or emotion that is not Perfect Love or Joy, I am denying my Reality with God.  Today I will stop denying Truth.  Until I welcome Reality as mine, uncertainty remains.  Yet certainty is not required to receive what only my acceptance can bring.  Heaven is mine, but I must accept It in place of illusions.  And when I receive It, I will be absolutely certain that I have the Treasure I have always wanted. 

I am the Son of God and the Power of God is in me.  My salvation from the fantasy of "separation" is coming ever near.  There is only Abundance in me.  I cannot be cut off from my True Home with God and His Sustaining Love. 

While I see a world of dreams before me, I will practice these words of Truth, in Hope.  For Hope is indeed justified.  My doubts are meaningless, for God is Certain.  God is as near as my Thoughts.  I can always choose to turn my thoughts to Him, laying   illusion aside. 

Today I will count on God, not myself.  In the world of dreams I seem to rely only on myself, denying the Reality of God except as a far-away, impartial diety.  This is what causes all my turmoil.  It is not possible to be apart from God, though in dreams anything is possible.  In His Name today, I practice as His Word directs.  His Sureness overcomes any doubt.  His Love dispels my fear.   The thoughts I think in the world of dreams are not my Real Thoughts, they are sick thoughts obsessed with the world of madness.  Today, I think with the Mind of God.  I will tap into these Holy Thoughts of Truth.

"I think Thoughts of Truth with the Mind of God."

Lesson 164 ~ Hear the Ancient Call.

Truth can be recognized now.  The "past" and the "future" are part of the dream and do not exist.  The present is the only time there is.  And so today, this instant ~now~ I come to look on what is Forever There; not in the eyes of the body, but in the eyes of Christ (the Sonship healed and United).  The Christ looks past "time" and sees only Eternity.  He hears the sounds of the senseless, busy world, yet he hears them only faintly.  Beyond them all, He hears the Song of Heaven and God's Voice Clear and Meaningful.

The world fades easily away before the Christ-Vision. Its sounds grow dim.  A Melody from far beyond the world is increasingly more and more distinct.  It is an Ancient Call to which the Son gives an Ancient Answer.  I will recognize them both, for they are but my answer to my Father's Call to me.  The Christ answers for me, echoing my True Self, using my voice to give His glad consent and accept my salvation for me.

My daily lessons are very Holy indeed.  For they are written in the language of the dream, but speak of Truth and Reality.  They lead me toward my Awakening.  Christ is the Sonship Healed and Whole, and the Christ is all my "brothers" and myself.  The Christ in me recognizes the Christ in my brother.  The Christ in me leads me Home.

How quiet is the time I give to spend with the Christ, beyond the world of dreams. How easily are my "sins" forgotten and my "sorrows" unremembered.  On this day grief is laid aside, for Sights and Sounds that come from Reality are nearer to me than my "body."  I will accept the gift these lessons offer me.

There is a Silence in me into which the world cannot intrude.  There is an Ancient Peace I carry in my heart and have not lost.  There is a sense of Holiness in me that the thought of "sin" and the image of dreams has never touched.  All This I will remember today. Faithfulness in my practicing will bring rewards so Great and so completely different from the things I sought in the world of dreams.  I will recognize my Treasure and my Peace instantly; for Reality is completely Natural to me.  Peace, Joy, and Love are my Natural State of Being.  It is the dream of madness that is difficult to maintain and alien to my Nature.

God Judges His Son Innocent and Holy.  Today, illusions will part like a curtain to reveal What Lies Beyond.  Shadows of dreams will fade away.  This transformation happens in my mind, for Mind is All There Is; but it will be reflected in the world I see while I still seem to "see" it.

This day is Sacred.  Seeing with the Christ-Vision is what these lessons offer me. Everything is seen anew.  The Valuable and the valueless are both perceived and recognized for what they are.  And what is worthy of my love receives my love, and nothing to be feared remains.

I will not judge anything today.  I will replace thoughts of fear, hatred, justice, boredom, retaliation, doubt, or jealousy with Thoughts of Truth.  I will accept into my mind, only what is given me in the Christ-Vision.  My practice today becomes a gift of thanks for my release from blindness and misery.  I will offer a blessing no matter what the world of dreams shows me, for illusions will always falsely witness to the "separation from" God, not the joining with Him.

Today I will let go all thoughts of madness and all things I think I want.  I will put meaningless "treasures" away and leave a clean, open space within my mind where Christ can come to offer salvation.  The Christ-Vision is a million times more valuable that any of the world's unsatisfying goals.  I will not let today pass by without the gifts the Christ-Vision holds for me.  I can exchange all suffering for Joy this very day by replacing all thoughts of madness with Thoughts of Truth.  The Hand of God holds out complete salvation to His Holy Son.

"Hear the Ancient Call."

Lesson 163 ~ There is no death.

Death is a thought that takes on many forms.  Often these forms go unrecognized as sadness, fear, anxiety or doubt; as anger, faithlessness or lack of trust; concern for my body or other bodies; envy, jealousy, and all forms in which I call forth witnesses to the idea of being ''separated from" God.

In the world of dreams, only death seems to release me from the suffering of the body and the world, and so it seems that death is my "savior."  Death seems to hold all living things in its withered hand.  The frail, helpless and sick bow down before its image thinking death alone is real, inevitable and worthy of my trust;  for death I can count on.....it is the only thing that will surely come.  All things except for death are unsure.  Everything else is uncertain in outcome.  Death, I can count on.  It will come with certain footsteps when the time has arrived.

Death is the god to which I bow.  Death seems to be mightier than God Himself, for death consumes all 'life," taking the good with the bad.  The Will of Father and Son are finally defeated and laid to rest beneath the headstone death has placed upon the body of God's Holy Son.  If God's Son can die, God Himself is vulnerable to death's certainty.  The epitaph death wrote on the Son's tombstone is this;  "Here lies a witness that God is dead." And it writes this again and still again, and the worshippers agree.  Kneeling down with faces to the ground, they whisper fearfully that it is so.

ACIM tells me: There is no death.  Death seems real in the world of dreams, but ACIM tells me:  There is no world.  I am dreaming a dream; lost in a fantasy; caught up in a story of madness.  IF death were Real, it would be complete and total, even God Himself would be subject to death.  Either all things die, or they Live and cannot die. No compromise in Reality is possible.  If I am Sane, I must accept the only Sane answer.

The idea of the death of God is so preposterous that even in my insanity I have difficulty believing it.  In the world of dreams, Christianity tells me that God, in the form of the Son, was once alive but killed by those who feared His message.  Momentarily, the world triumphed over God's Son, and in that moment, Eternal Life seemed to give way to death, and the Son and Father both perished.  In the world of dreams I worship death, which seems to offer the only relief from the suffering of the body and mind.
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There is no death. There is no world.  There are no bodies.  I am Safe with my Father, dreaming of exile to a world of insanity.  Like the story of the Prodigal Son, I realize it is time to return Home.  Today I renounce death in every form.  God did not make death, and what was seemingly created "apart from" God does not exist.  Whatever form death takes ~ fear, hatred, anxiety, worry, lost love, temporary joy, grief, sadness ~ is an illusion.  This is the stand I take today.  This Holy Knowledge is given me today.  When I accept it and project it outward in my thoughts, words and deeds, it is made complete, for receiving and giving are One.  Today I will look past death and see the Life beyond.

My Father will bless my eyes today and I will see the Glorious reflection of His Love, which shines in everything.  I live and move in my Father.  I am not separated from His Eternal Life.  There is no death.  Death is an illusion.  A world "apart from" God is an illusion. Insanity is not God's Will, therefore it is not so.

I exist where God has placed me......in the Life I share with Him and all Living Things. I accept God's Will and God's Thoughts as my own.  I am One with Him Eternally.

"I am Free"

Lesson 162 ~ I am as God created me.

I am God's Son in Heaven with my Father....just as He created me. This single phrase alone, held firmly in my mind, could bring me salvation. These words are sacred, for they are the words God gave in answer to the world I made.  By these words does the dream-world disappear.

I am my Father's Happiness, His Love and His Completion.  God Himself would be incomplete without me.  But it is impossible that God is incomplete, so I must be mistaken about who I am and where I think I exist. There is no dream the words in today's lesson cannot dispel, no thought of sin that will not fade away before their Might. There is no illusion or upsetting thought which cannot be replaced with these words of Truth. They are the trumpet of Awakening that reverberates throughout my mind.  The dead live, the lame walk, the deaf hear, and the blind see in response to these words.

Today I will make these words my own and be Blessed indeed.  I will use them in response to any illusion, any thought or any feeling that disturbs the Perfect Peace that is my Reality. I am in the Presence of my Father, now and Eternally.  I am Safe, Eternally Happy, healed and Whole.  My Reality is being One with my Father.  I am no longer lost in a dream.  When I accept Truth as my own, I will project (give) my healing outward, just as I project the world of dreams outward, but this time I will project Truth and Happiness instead, and see Them reflected back to me.

Truth is simple and today I practice simply.  The words I use are Mighty and they need no thoughts beyond themselves to heal my mind.  I am learning to think with Heaven...with God.  The Christ-Vision has restored my "sight" by salvaging my mind.

I am entitled to Perfect Happiness, Wholeness, and Holiness.  I only need accept and with this acceptance is salvation complete.  The healing accepted in my mind will be evident in the world of dreams.  I have been projecting fear, unhappiness, sadness, worry, envy, jealousy, and separation. With Truth, I will project something altogether different.......something that reflects Heaven in all its Glorious Reality.

How can I despair when Perfect Joy is mine, available as remedy for grief, misery, all sense of loss and complete escape from sin and guilt?  The world of dreams will then show me my healing to myself.   Everyone is my dearest friend.  All things exist for my utmost Happiness.  God Wills that it be so!  In my brother is my salvation, for each encounter offers opportunities for forgiveness and salvation.  How could I fail to welcome my brother into my heart?

I am as God created me.  These words dispel the night and darkness exists no more. The Light has come to heal my mind.  I recognize the Son of God, who was once a stranger to me, but now I see that I am He.

"I am as God created me."

Lesson 161 ~ I am blessed.

Today I take a stand against my anger so that my fears disappear and I make room for Love.  Where fear and anger prevailed before, the answer to my anxiety, sadness, neediness, worry, envy, jealousy, discomfort, or any other "temptation" is in today's lesson. Today's lesson passes the world by and restores Heaven to my weary mind.

Complete abstraction is the natural condition of the mind.  But part of my mind is presently unnatural.  My ego-mind does not see everything as One.  It only sees fragments of the Whole, and this is how it invented the fantasy-world.

The purpose of "seeing" in the world of dreams is to show me what I desire to see (a world "apart from" God).  My hearing only brings those sounds to my mind that I want to hear (a world "apart from" God).   It seems that life in the world is "happening to" me.   But it is I who created the entire illusion.  I create a world that is "apart," "divided" into many things and very specific.  And it is all this,  "apart-ness," "division" and "specificity," which God uses in Awakening me to Reality.  God uses the language of the dream.  He will not force Himself on my will.  He waits Lovingly and Patiently for my invitation.  When I lay aside the "world," which is only a fantasy in my weary mind, I create space for Reality to enter my Awareness.

God uses all aspects of the illusion to teach me a different point of view.  He teaches me to see a different use for everything.  One brother is all brothers.  Every mind contains all minds.  Such is Truth.  Yet my mind taught itself to think specifically and can no longer grasp abstract Reality.

It seems that my body limits me.  It limits my freedom, makes me suffer and finally dies and ends my "life."  Yet my body is only a symbol of fear.  Fear attaches to specifics.  Fear without symbols calls for no response.  Symbols stand only for the meaningless.  Love needs no symbols, being True.

It seems that bodies attack but minds do not.  This is the reason "bodies" easily become fear's symbols.  Yet I am urged to look beyond the body, for the sight of the body presents the symbol of Love's "enemy," if Love could have an enemy.  The body is always the target for attack, for I do not think I can hurt, punish, or hate a mind.  But knowing what I know through ACIM, I must ask myself, "what directs the body to attack?"  What else could be the home of fear except the mind which imagines fear?

Hate is specific.  There must be some thing for me to direct my hatred toward and some thing to be attacked.  An enemy must be perceived in a form in which can be touched, seen, heard........and ultimately killed.  For when hatred rests upon a thing it calls for "death," as surely as God's Voice proclaims "there is no death!"  Fear is insatiable, consuming everything it beholds, seeing itself in everything, compelled to turn upon and to destroy even its creator.  Fear feeds on death and destruction.

When I see "bodies," I see symbols of fear.  I will attack (physically or mentally) these symbols because what I see is my own fear outside of myself, poised to attack.  I cannot mistake the intensity of the rage that fear gives birth.  It shrieks in wrath and claws the air in frantic hope that it can reach the "creator" of the dream of madness ~ myself!

This is how the ego-self, the body's eyes, behold the one Heaven cherishes, the angels Love and God created Perfect.  Christ-Vision (the world seen through forgiveness) will show my Self to me as Son of God, in a form so Holy and Beautiful that I could scarcely keep myself from kneeling at his feet.

Attack on "another" or on myself in any form keeps salvation from reaching my Awareness. God uses my "brothers" as opportunities for salvation through forgiveness. I will not allow my brother to symbolize my fear. I will not trust the body's eyes to witness to Truth.  What Christ-Vision will show me will sing to me of Ancient Melodies I vaguely remember.  God has not forgotten me.  Will I now lay illusions beside, if only for a moment, to remember Him?

I will come nearer to Heaven today with the guidance of Christ-Vision. I will select one brother ~ a symbol of all the rest ~ and ask him for my salvation.  I will see him first as clearly as I can in my mind, in the same form to which I am accustomed.  I will picture his face, hands, feet, and clothing.  I will watch him smile and notice the familiar gestures which he makes.  Then I will consider this:  What I am seeing hides from me my salvation. My brother's sacred hands can take away the nails which pierce my own; they will lift the crown of thorns which I myself have placed on my bleeding head.  I will silently ask a blessing from my brother.  The Son of God in him will recognize the Son of God in me.  I will look at my brother again and see in him my salvation.

Today's idea is my safe escape from anger and fear, and I will use it the instant I am tempted to attack myself or another in thought, word, or deed.  The instant an emotion of worry, boredom, restlessness, or impatience comes over me, I will silently remember that Christ-Vision now guides me and I have nothing to fear.  I will see my brother suddenly transformed from enemy into savior and from devil into Christ.

"The Holy Son of God blesses me."