June 30th 2015  Review I 

Lesson 53
Review of Lessons 11 - 15 

• Intention:  Begin the day by reading the five ideas, with the comments included.  Thereafter, it is not necessary to follow any particular order in considering them, though each one should be practiced at least once.  Devote two minutes or more to each practice period, thinking about the idea and the related comments after reading them over.  Do this as often as possible during the day.  If any one of the five ideas appeals to you more than the other, concentrate on that one.  At the end of the day, however, be sure to review all of them once more.

• Practice:  It is not necessary to cover the comments that follow each idea either literally or thoroughly in the practice periods.  Try, rather, to emphasize the central point of each comment and how it relates to its associated idea.  After reading each idea and its related comments, the exercise should be done with your eyes closed and if possible, when you are alone in a quiet place. 
    
•  Application:  The purpose of your learning is to enable you to bring the quiet with you, and to heal distress and turmoil.  This is not done by avoiding them and seeking a haven of isolation for yourself.  You will yet learn that peace is part of you, and requires only that you be there to embrace any situation in which you are.  And finally you will learn that there is no limit to where you are, so that your peace is everywhere, as you are.
    
  You will note that, for review purposes, some of the ideas are not given in quite their original form.  Use them as they are given here.  It is not necessary to return to the original statements, nor to apply the ideas as was suggested then.  We are now emphasizing the relationships among the first fifty of the ideas we have covered, and the cohesiveness of the thought system to which they are leading.you.

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(11)  My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.
Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world that pictures them can have no meaning.  What is producing this world is insane, and so is what it produces.  Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well as insane ones.  I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing.
  

(12)  I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
Insane thoughts are upsetting.  They produce a world in which there is no order anywhere.  Only chaos rules a world that represents chaotic thinking, and chaos has no laws.  I cannot live in peace in such a world.  I am grateful that this world is not real, and that I need not see it at all unless I choose to value it.  And I do not choose to value what is totally insane and has no meaning.
     

(13)  A meaningless world engenders fear.
The totally insane engenders fear because it is completely undependable, and offers no grounds for trust.  Nothing in madness is dependable.  It holds out no safety and no hope.  But such a world is not real.  I have give it the illusion of reality, and have suffered from my belied in it.  Now I choose to withdraw this belief, and place my trust in reality.  In choosing this, I will escape all the effects of the world of fear, because I am acknowledging that it does not exist.  
  
(14)  God did not create a meaningless world.
How can a meaningless world exist if God did not create it?  He is the Source of all meaning, and everything that is real is in His Mind.  It is in my mind too, because He created it with me.  Why should I continue to suffer from the effects of my own insane thoughts, when the perfection of creation is my home?  Let me remember the power of my decision, and recognize where I really abide.
     
(15)  My thoughts are images that I have made.
Whatever I see reflects my thoughts.  It is my thoughts that tell me where I am and what I am.  The fact that I see a world in which there is suffering and loss and death shows me that I am seeing only the representation of my insane thoughts, and am not allowing my real thoughts to cast their beneficent light on what iI see.  Yet God's way is sure.  The images I have made cannot prevail against Him because it is not my will that they do so.  My will is His, and I will place no other gods before Him.
     

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Insights/comments:

• The mechanics of how we seem to exist in a world of illusions is the focus of today's ideas.  It is exactly like the common experience we have of dreaming.  When we dream, we created a three-dimensional world and fill it with whatever we want, trees, sky, lakes, rivers, buildings, people and situations.  We then enter into our dream as a particular character and experience our dream life through that character in whatever scenes we've created.  For all intents and purposes our dream life is as real as the life we recognize in our waking state, but with different rules, like the ability to move seamlessly between one dream location and another instantly. 
    
  It is clearly obvious that our dream world is generated from our thoughts, but what is not so obvious, is that our thoughts are also the source of our waking world.  We will know this more clearly when at some point we wake up and realize that all that happened in our dream was unreal and therefore without effects.  In the mean time, and to facilitate our awakening, it is helpful to remember the difference between God's world of reality and the apparent reality of dreams:  God's world is eternally full of peace and joy, while our dream worlds *dreaming and waking) are temporary and provide fleeting joys. 

I and my Creator are One. 

June 29th 2015  Review I 

Lesson 52
Review of Lessons 6 - 10 

• Intention:  Begin the day by reading the five ideas, with the comments included.  Thereafter, it is not necessary to follow any particular order in considering them, though each one should be practiced at least once.  Devote two minutes or more to each practice period, thinking about the idea and the related comments after reading them over.  Do this as often as possible during the day.  If any one of the five ideas appeals to you more than the other, concentrate on that one.  At the end of the day, however, be sure to review all of them once more.

• Practice:  It is not necessary to cover the comments that follow each idea either literally or thoroughly in the practice periods.  Try, rather, to emphasize the central point of each comment and how it relates to its associated idea.  After reading each idea and its related comments, the exercise should be done with your eyes closed and if possible, when you are alone in a quiet place. 
    
•  Application:  The purpose of your learning is to enable you to bring the quiet with you, and to heal distress and turmoil.  This is not done by avoiding them and seeking a haven of isolation for yourself.  You will yet learn that peace is part of you, and requires only that you be there to embrace any situation in which you are.  And finally you will learn that there is no limit to where you are, so that your peace is everywhere, as you are.
    
  You will note that, for review purposes, some of the ideas are not given in quite their original form.  Use them as they are given here.  It is not necessary to return to the original statements, nor to apply the ideas as was suggested then.  We are now emphasizing the relationships among the first fifty of the ideas we have covered, and the cohesiveness of the thought system to which they are leading you.

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(6)  I am upset because I see what is not there.
Reality is never frightening.  It is impossible that it could upset me.  Reality brings only perfect peace.  When I am upset, it is always because I have replaced reality with illusions I made up.  The illusions are upsetting because I have given them reality, and thus regard reality as an illusion.  Nothing in God's creation is affected in any way by this confusion of mine.  I am always upset by nothing.
  

(7)  I see only the past.
As I look about, I condemn the world I look upon.  I call this seeing.  I hold the past against everyone and everything making them my enemies.  When I have forgiven myself and remember Who I am, I will bless everyone and everything I see.  There will be no past, and therefore no enemies.  And I will look with love on all that I failed to see before.
     

(8)  My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.
I see only my own thoughts, and my mind is preoccupied with the past.  What, then, can I see as it is?  Let me remember that I look on the past to prevent the present from dawning on my mind.  Let me understand that I am trying to use time against God.  Let me learn to give the past away, realizing that in so doing I am giving up nothing.  
  
(9)  I see nothing as it is now.
If I see nothing as it is now, it can truly be said that I see nothing.  I can see only what is now.  The choice is not whether to see the past or the present; the choice is merely whether to see or not.  What I have chosen to see has cost me vision.  Now I would choose again, that I may see.
     
(10)  My thoughts do not mean anything.
I have no private thoughts.  Yet it is only private thoughts of which I am aware.  What can these thoughts mean?  They do not exist, and so they mean nothing.  Yet my mind is part of creation and part of its Creator.  Would I not rather join the thinking of the universe than to obscure all that is really mine with my pitiful and meaningless "private" thoughts?
  

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Insights/comments:

• Again, the ideas we review today bring home the important distinction between the world that God created and the world that we made-up.  God's world can only bring peace and joy.  God's world is real and "reality is never frightening."  Therefore, if I feel afraid, lost, without peace or joy, then I must be in my make-believe world of illusions and dreams, and all that I think I see in that world, I see amiss.  This means that all my perceived fears and worries are illusions, as are too my apparent joys.  This is a great insight for it allows us now the means to recognize what is truly real, for now we have a criteria, a way to identify and evaluate unreality from reality.  The criteria is simply the recognition that any awareness of even the slightest negativity, sadness, pain, or loss, is proof that we are in the world of illusions.  Now we can give up our perceived "unreality" because we recognize it as nothing but a dream, and awaken to God's unchanging reality where all is shared because all is one.

I and my Creator are One. 

June 26th 2015  Review I 

Lesson 51
Review of Lessons 1 - 5 

• Intention:  Begin the day by reading the five ideas, with the comments included.  Thereafter, it is not necessary to follow any particular order in considering them, though each one should be practiced at least once.  Devote two minutes or more to each practice period, thinking about the idea and the related comments after reading them over.  Do this as often as possible during the day.  If any one of the five ideas appeals to you more than the other, concentrate on that one.  At the end of the day, however, be sure to review all of them once more.

• Practice:  It is not necessary to cover the comments that follow each idea either literally or thoroughly in the practice periods.  Try, rather, to emphasize the central point of each comment and how it relates to its associated idea.  After reading each idea and its related comments, the exercise should be done with your eyes closed and if possible, when you are alone in a quiet place.  

• Two practice periods (morning and evening) for ten minutes, in which we spend two minutes reading and thinking about each of the five ideas and their associated comments given.  In addition, during the day from time to time, spend at least two minutes thinking about the five ideas in any order, giving emphasis to any that appeal to you.
    
•  Application:  The purpose of your learning is to enable you to bring the quiet with you, and to heal distress and turmoil.  This is not done by avoiding them and seeking a haven of isolation for yourself.  You will yet learn that peace is part of you, and requires only that you be there to embrace any situation in which you are.  And finally you will learn that there is no limit to where you are, so that your peace is everywhere, as you are.
  .You will note that, for review purposes, some of the ideas are not given in quite their original form.  Use them as they are given here.  It is not necessary to return to the original statements, nor to apply the ideas as was suggested then.  We are now emphasizing the relationships among the first fifty of the ideas we have covered, and the cohesiveness of the thought system to which they are leading you.

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(1)  Nothing I see means anything.
The reason this is so is that I see nothing, and nothing has no meaning.  It is necessary that I recognize this, that I may learn to see.  What I think I see now is taking the place of vision.  I must let it go by realizing it has no meaning, so that vision may take its place.
  

(2)  I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me.
I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see.  This is not vision.  It is merely an illusion of reality, because my judgments have been made quite apart from reality.  I am willing to recognize the lack of validity in my judgments, because I wan to see.  My judgments have hurt me, and I do not want to see according to them.
     

(3)  I do not understand anything I see.
How could I understand what I see when I have judged it amiss?  What I see is the projection of my own errors of thought.  I do not understand what I see because it is not understandable.  There is no sense in trying to understand it.  But there is every reason to let it go, and make room for what can be seen and understood and loved.  I can exchange what I see now for this merely by being willing to do so.  Is not this a better choice than the one I made before?  
  
(4)  These thoughts do not mean anything.
The thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything because I am trying to think without God.  What I call "my" thoughts are not my real thoughts.  My real thoughts are the thoughts I think with God.  I am not aware of them because I have made my (ego) thoughts to take their place.  I am willing to recognize that my ego thoughts do not mean anything, and to let them go.  I choose to have them be replaced by what they were intended to replace.  My thoughts are meaningless, but all creation lies in the thoughts I think with God.
     
(5)  I am never upset for the reason I think.
I am never upset for the reason I think because I am constantly trying to justify my thoughts.  I am constantly trying to make them true.  I make all things my enemies, so that my anger is justified and my attacks are warranted.  I have not realized how much I have misused everything I see by assigning this role to it.  I have done this to defend a thought system that has hurt me, and that I no longer want.  I am willing to let it go.
  

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Insights/comments:

• What is it that ties these five ideas together for us?  They represent a total renunciation of the world as we currently experience it, externally as well as internally.  Because we normally believe the world outside to be separate from us, our first step of renunciation is to realize that the world outside has no intrinsic meaning of its own; we have given everything in our outer world all the meaning and value that it has; this is “make believe”; we made it up then agreed to believe that its real, so the outer world is really only a projection of our inner world, our likes, dislikes, laws and judgments, which have no basis in God’s reality, which is the only true reality!  Realizing this, the second step of renunciation is to  withdraw all the meaning we gave to our make-believe world through our inner thoughts by letting go of our judgments about everything, letting the world be as it is.  In this way, we begin to break free of our self-made illusions and begin to see the real world that God created perfect.  This little willingness to let go of our judgments is the thread that ties these five ideas together; without our judgments there can be no condemnation of anything, and without condemnation there is no need for punishment, and without punishment of any kind, we finally have the basis for peace..

I and my Creator are One. 

June 25th 2014  Lesson 50

I am sustained by the Love of God. 

Here is the answer to every problem that will confront you, today and tomorrow and throughout time.  In this world, you believe you are sustained by everything but God.  Your faith is placed in the most trivial and insane symbols; pills, money, "protective" clothing, influence, prestige, being liked, knowing the "right" people, and an endless list of forms of nothingness that you endow with magical powers. 
  
All these things are your replacements for the Love of God.  All these things are cherished to ensure a body identification.  They are songs of praise to the ego.  Do not put your faith in the worthless.  It will not sustain you.
  
Only the Love of God will protect you in all circumstances.  It will lift you out of every trial, and raise you high above all the perceived dangers of this world into a climate of perfect peace and safety.  It will transport you into a state of mind that nothing can threaten, nothing can disturb, and where nothing can intrude upon the eternal calm of the Son of God.
  
Put not your faith in illusions.  They will fail you,  Put all your faith in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and forever unfailing.  This is the answer to whatever confronts you today.  Through the Love of God within you, you can resolve all seeming difficulties without effort and in sure confidence.  Tell yourself this often today.  It is a declaration of release from the belief in idols.  It is your acknowledgment of the truth about yourself.

• Intention:   Two ten-minute practice periods are required for today, one in the morning and one in the evening.   
    
• Practice:  In each practice period, let today's idea sink deep into your consciousness.  Repeat it, think about it, let related thoughts come to help you recognize its truth, and allow peace to flow over you like a blanket of protection and surety.  Let no idle and foolish thoughts enter to disturb the holy mind of the Son of God.  Such is the Kingdom of Heaven.  Such is the resting place where your Father has placed you forever..
    
• Application:   Do not forget to repeat today's idea very frequently.
       

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Insights/comments:

• Today's idea is indeed the complete answer to every problem, for only One who is all-knowing and all-powerful can respond to any situation in a way that is beneficial to all.  Any solution we arrive at can, at best, be incomplete, for our ego mind lacks the vision to know, far less satisfy, what everyone needs, and for all time.  So if we really want a complete solution, our only recourse is to place our trust in God.  This is an easy task if we recognize that God indeed loves us and wants exactly what we want for ourselves, that which is in our own best interest.  Not the best interest of our ego, but the best interest of our true Self as He created us:  perfect, Spirit, free.  Our self-made ego can perceive only so far and it is time we realize that ego solutions only cause additional problems,  create unwanted side effects, and provide only limited and temporary solutions, if at all.  The question we mus ask and answer truly is simply this:  "Do we want a complete solution?". 

I and my Creator are One.  

June 24th 2014  Lesson 49

God's Voice speaks to me all through the day. 

It is quite possible to listen to God's Voice all through the day without interrupting your regular activities in any way.  The part of your mind in which truth abides is in constant communication with God, whether you are aware of it or not.  It is the other part of your mind that functions in the world and obeys the world's laws.  It is this part that is constantly distracted, disorganized and highly uncertain.
  
The part that is listening to the Voice for God is calm, always at rest and wholly certain.  It is really the only part there is.  The other part is a wild illusion, frantic and distraught, but without reality of any kind.  Try today to listen to it.  Try to identify with the part of your mind where stillness and peace reign forever.  Try to hear God's Voice call to you lovingly, reminding you that your Creator has not forgotten His Son.

• Intention:   We will need at least four five-minute practice periods today, and more if possible.  We will try actually to hear God's Voice reminding you of Him and of your Self.  We will approach this happiest and holiest of thoughts with confidence, knowing that in doing so we are joining our will with the Will of God.  He wants you to hear His Voice.  He gave It to you to be heard.   
    
• Practice:  Listen in deep silence.  Be very still and open your mind.  Go past all the raucous shrieks and sick imaginings that cover your real thoughts and obscure your eternal link with God.  Sink deep into the peace that waits for you beyond the frantic, riotous thoughts and sights and sounds of this insane world.  You do not live here.  We are trying to reach your real home.  We are trying to reach the place where you are truly welcome.  We are trying to reach God.
    
• Application:   Do not forget to repeat today's idea very frequently.  Do so with your eyes open when necessary, but closed when possible.  And be sure to sit quietly and repeat the idea for today whenever you can, closing your eyes on the world, and realizing that you are inviting God's Voice to speak to you. 
       

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Insights/comments:

• It is written that "the Kingdom of Heaven is within us."  God created His Kingdom and being omnipresent is always one with it.  And we, being part of His Creation, must therefore be at one with Him and His Kingdom.  We are the Kingdom of Heaven, and we remain as God created us, perfect, Spirit, and free.  The oneness of God's creation is what enables His Voice to communicate with us, His Creation, all through the day. 

I and my Creator are One.  

June 23rd 2014  Lesson 48

There is nothing to fear. 

The idea for today simply states a fact.  It is not a fact to those who believe in illusions, but illusions are not facts.  In truth there is nothing to fear.  It is very easy to recognize this.  But it is very difficult to recognize it for those who want illusions to be true.

• Intention:   Today's practice periods will be very short, very simple and very frequent.  Merely repeat the idea as often as possible.   
    
• Practice: Repeat today's idea with your eyes open at any time and in any situation.  It is strongly recommended, however, that you take a minute or so whenever possible to close your eyes and repeat the idea slowly to yourself several times.  It is particularly important that you use the idea immediately, should anything disturb your peace of mind.
    
  When God is the strength in which I trust, indeed, there is nothing to fear.
      
• Application:   The presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting in your own strength.  The awareness that there is nothing to fear shows that somewhere in your mind, though not necessarily in a place you recognize as yet, you have remembered God, and let His strength take the place of your weakness.  The instant you are willing to do this there is indeed nothing to fear. 
       

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Insights/comments:

• The basis of fear is the awareness of some weakness that makes us feel vulnerable.  This awareness can lead to the experience of pain, loss, or suffering of some kind.  The solution is simply to remember that this awareness is really an illusion, for God created us perfect.  All forms of weakness ultimately have their basis in forgetting our true identity as perfect children of God.  We can strengthen a weakness by supporting it with something that is strong, but that is only a temporary fix.  The most effective solution is to investigate the reality of the weakness in the first place.
    
  God is the source of all that is, and being all-powerful, there is no possibility that something He created can be weak.  There is no room for weakness in His creations for there is no weakness in Him.  We are His creation and so we too must, by definition, be strong.  Weakness then has no real basis and must therefore be an illusion, a dream or a fantasy.  Knowing this we can therefore treat any perceived weakness as what it is, an illusion.  We need not be afraid of it for what is not real can have no effects.  It is a perception, and we need only acknowledge it as such, knowing that perceptions are unreal. 
    
  A stick appears broken when part of it is placed in water at a certain angle.  This is an optical illusion we perceive due to the differences in the density of air and water.  We know the stick is not broken, in spite of what we perceive.  This is the way to treat all perceptions:  acknowledge that we perceive what we perceive, but know that it is only an illusion, and unreal, and we therefore need not be afraid.

I and my Creator are One.  

June 22nd 2014  Lesson 47

God is the strength in which I trust. 

If you are trusting in your own strength, you have every reason to be apprehensive, anxious and fearful.  What can you predict or control?  What is there in you that can be counted on?  What would give you the ability to be aware of all the facets of any problem, and to resolve them in such a way that only good can come of it?  What is there in you that gives you the recognition of the right solution, and the guarantee that it will be accomplished?
  
Of yourself you can do none of these things.  To believe that you can is to put your trust where trust is unwarranted, and to justify fear, anxiety, depression, anger and sorrow.  Who can put his faith in weakness and feel safe?  Yet who can put his faith in strength and feel weak?
  
God is your safety in every circumstance.  His Voice speaks for Him in all situations and in every aspect of all situations, telling you exactly what to do to call upon His strength and His protection.  There are no exceptions because God has no exceptions.  And the Voice which speaks for Him thinks as He does.
  
Today we will try to reach past your own weakness to the Source of real strength. 

• Intention:   Four five-minute practice periods are necessary today, and longer and more frequent ones are urged. 
    
• Practice:  Close your eyes and begin, as usual, by repeating the idea for the day.  Then spend a minute or two in searching for situations in your life which you have invested with fear, dismissing each one by telling yourself:
    
  God is the strength in which I trust.
  
  Now try to slip past all concerns related to your own sense of inadequacy.  In this latter phase of the practice period, try to reach down into your mind to a place of real safety.  You will recognize that you have reached it if you feel a sense of deep peace, however briefly.  Let go all the trivial things that churn and bubble on the surface of your mind, and reach down and below them to the Kingdom of Heaven.  There is a place in you where there is perfect peace.  There is a place in you where nothing is impossible. There is a place in you where the strength of God abides.
  
  During the day, repeat the idea often.  Use it as your answer to any disturbance. Remember that peace is your right, because you are giving your trust to the strength of God.
  
      
• Application:   It is obvious that any situation that causes you concern is associated with feelings of inadequacy, for otherwise you would believe that you could deal with the situation successfully.  It is not by trusting yourself that you will gain confidence.  But the strength of God in you is successful in all things.  The recognition of your own frailty is a necessary step in the correction of your errors, but it is hardly a sufficient one in giving you the confidence which you need, and to which you are entitled.  You must also gain an awareness that confidence in your real strength is fully justified in every respect and in all circumstances.  
       

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Insights/comments:

• Clearly this is the solution to every perceived problem or situation that we face for the strength of God is infallible.  To put our trust in what is infallible is to guarantee success.  This does not mean that we do nothing ourselves, but this is the way we recognize and gain confidence in the inspiration that comes from the Voice for God within us.  That Voice which always motivates us to act with confidence in a particular direction.   If it is God-inspired, then we can be confident that we will succeed.  The inspiration is ours to act upon, this is our part, the outcome we leave to God.

I and my Creator are One.  

June 21st 2014  Lesson 46

God is the Love in with which I forgive. 

God does not forgive because He has never condemned.  And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary.  Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions.  Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them.  As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.

Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness.  Fear condemns and love forgives.  Forgiveness thus undoes what fear has produced, returning the mind to the awareness of God.  For this reason, forgiveness can truly be called salvation.  It is the means by which illusions disappear.

• Intention:  Three five-minute practice periods are required for today, and as many shorter ones as possible. 
    
• Practice:  Begin the longer practice periods by repeating today's idea to yourself, as usual.  Close your eyes as you do so, and spend a minute or two in searching your mind for those whom you have not forgiven.  It does not matter "how much" you have not forgiven them.  You have forgiven them entirely or not at all.  Anyone you do not like is a suitable subject. Mention each one by name, and say:
    
  God is the Love in which I forgive you, [name].
  
  The purpose of the firs phase of today's practice periods is to put you in a position to forgive yourself.  After you have applied the idea to all those who have come to mind, tell yourself:
    
  God is the Love in which I forgive myself.
          

  Then devote the remainder of the practice period to adding related ideas such as:
    
  

  God is the Love with which I forgive myself.

  God is the Love in which I am blessed.

    
  The form of the application may vary considerably, but the central idea should not be lost sight of.  You might say, of r example:
    
  

  I cannot be guilty because I am a Son of God.

  I have already been forgiven.

  No fear is possible in a mind beloved of God.

  There is no need to attack because love has forgiven me.

    
  End the practice period with a repetition of today's idea as originally stated.
      
• Application:   In the shorter practice periods may consist either of a repetition of the idea for today in the original or in a related form, as you prefer.  Be sure, however to make more specific applications if they are needed.  They will be needed at any time during the day when you become aware of any kind of negative reaction to anyone, present or not.  In that event, tell him silently:  
    
  God is the Love in which I forgive you.
    

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Insights/comments:

• Today's thought emphasizes the great value of forgiveness:  it undoes the illusions of fear and returns our mind to the awareness of God.  And thus is the means for our salvation.  We are the only ones we need to forgive, but it is easier to practice forgiving others so that we can more easily forgive ourselves.  Every time we notice the pinch of some negative feeling it means that we have condemned someone or something and we need to forgive them.  The benefit is always to our own self for truly we are all one.  Every time we forgive someone we allow ourselves to awaken more to God's presence. 

I and my Creator are One.