I Feel the Love of God Within Me Now.
1. There is a light within you that the world cannot perceive.
²And with its eyes you will not see it, for the world has blinded you.I
³Yet you have eyes to see it.II
⁴It is there for you to behold.
⁵It was not placed in you to be kept hidden from your sight.
⁶This light is a reflection of the thought we now practice.
⁷To feel the Love of God within you is to behold a world renewed, radiant in innocence, filled with hope, and blessed with perfect charity and love.III
2. Who could feel fear in such a world?
²This world welcomes you, rejoices that you have come, sings your praises, and keeps you safe from all danger and pain.
³It offers you a warm and gentle home where you may stay awhile.
⁴It blesses you by day and watches over you at night like a silent guardian of your holy sleep.
⁵This world sees in you its salvation and protects the light within you, in which it sees its own.IV
⁶It offers you its flowers and its snow in gratitude for your kindness.
3. This is the world the Love of God reveals to you.V
²It is so unlike the world you see through eyes clouded by malice and fear, that one denies the other.
³Only one of them can truly be perceived.
⁴The other means nothing at all.
⁵To those who see a world of hatred, born of attack, bent on vengeance, murder, and destruction, a world where forgiveness shines on everything and peace gently offers all its light is inconceivable.
4. Yet the world of hatred is just as invisible and inconceivable to those who feel the Love of God within them.
²Their world reflects the stillness and the Peace that shine within them, the tenderness and innocence they see around them, the joy with which they look out from the boundless springs of inner happiness.
³They behold what they have felt within, and see Its unmistakable reflection everywhere.
5. Which world do you want to see?
²You can choose.
³But you must learn the law that governs vision and keep it firmly in your mind:
⁴You will behold what you feel within.
⁵If hatred finds a place within your heart, you will perceive a fearful world, cruelly gripped by death’s bony fingers and razor claws.
⁶But if you feel the Love of God within you, you will behold a world of mercy and of love.
6. Today we will set illusions aside and try to reach the Truth within us, to feel His boundless tenderness that embraces all things; His Love, which knows us as perfectly as He Himself; and His vision, which is the gift His Love bestows.
²Today we will learn the way.
³It is as sure as Love Itself, to which it leads.
⁴For its simplicity avoids the traps that the absurd and complex reasoning of the world would seek to hide.
7. Simply do this:
²Be still and lay aside all thoughts about what you are and what God is.
³Forget all that you have learned about the world, and all the images you hold of yourself.
⁴Empty your mind of everything you think is true or false, good or bad—of every thought you deem worthy, and of all the ideas of which you are ashamed.
⁵Hold on to nothing.
⁶Bring not with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before about anything.
⁷Forget this world, forget this course, and with empty hands go to your God.VI
8. Is it not He Who knows the way to you?
²You need not know the way to Him.VII
³Your part is only to allow the obstacles you have placed between the Son and his Father to be quietly removed forever.
⁴God will do His part in joyful and immediate response.
⁵Ask and receive.VIII
⁶But do not make demands, nor tell Him how and by what means He should appear to you.
⁷The way to Him is simply to allow Him to be what He is.
⁸For in that same way your reality is also declared.IX
9. Therefore, today we do not choose the way by which we go to Him.
²But we do choose to let Him come to us.
³And in this choice we rest.
⁴His Love will find its way into our quiet hearts and open minds.
⁵What has not been denied must surely be found, if it is real and can be reached.
⁶God knows His Son and knows how to reach him.
⁷He does not need His Son to show Him how.
⁸Through every open door His Love shines outward from Its home within you, and lights the world in innocence.
10. Father,
we do not know the way to You.
²But we have called,
and You have answered us.
³We will not interfere.
⁴The ways of salvation are not ours,
but Yours.
⁵And it is to You we come to find them.
⁶Our hands are open to receive Your gifts.
⁷We have no thoughts that we do not think with You,
nor do we hold beliefs about what we are or Who created us.
⁸Yours is the way we seek to find and follow.
⁹And we ask only that Your Will,
which is also ours,
be done in us and in the world,
so that the world may become a part of Heaven.X
10Amen.
I The eyes of the body: physical vision.
II The eyes of Christ: spiritual vision.
III You may wonder what “the Love of God” really means, for it might lead you to think it refers to something very special, perhaps rare or difficult to experience. But it is not so—do not be misled by the words. The Love of God is simply love, for there are not different kinds of love; there is only one, and it is the Love of God. And when you experience love and attribute it to anything else, you are in fact feeling the Love of God reflected in that illusion, for illusions can also inspire love—and indeed they do, constantly. They are called “illusions” because you deceive yourself about what they are, but that does not mean there cannot be something genuine behind them. The love a mother feels for her child is completely genuine and constitutes a beautiful reflection of the Love of God; yet that does not make real the little body she beholds, which remains an illusion.
This Course uses the expression “Love of God” when you are not deceived about the origin of the love you feel—nothing more than that. But rest assured that you experience the Love of God constantly, for otherwise you would not only not be alive, you would not even exist.
You live immersed in the ocean of God’s Love, for that is all that exists; it is just that your mind, fragmented and affected by an egocentric perception of existence, is unaware of it and tends to invent “absences of love” in which it then believes. But when, for whatever reason, your perspective changes and you experience joy in your heart, peace in your mind, and a sense of safety and invulnerability, you are undoubtedly experiencing that “Love of God” of which this Course speaks.
Therefore, do not think it is something unattainable for you. Not only can you experience it, but you must strive to feel it at all times. And this Course offers you a magnificent curriculum to help you achieve it. As you do, you will come to understand that it is not something exclusive that resides only within you; you will see it everywhere—and that will be the renewed world the Text calls the “real world.”
IV This lesson is a direct invitation to experience, not to understand. To feel the Love of God within you now is not a devotional statement but a point of contact with what is real. It is not about imagining it or forcing it, but allowing it—to open yourself, even a little, to the remembrance of something that has never left. And when it happens—even if only as a flash—you cannot keep silent. You need to share it. For sharing it is remembering it.
The most powerful aspect of this lesson is the practice itself: recognize the love within you and express it. Not to convince anyone, but to strengthen it in yourself. To the extent that you share it, you affirm it. And in affirming it, you establish it as your new identity. What you give defines you. And what defines you, others learn from you.
That is why it is so important to understand this dynamic: when you express an elevated state of mind, others register it. And when they register it, they begin to expect it. And when they expect it, they reinforce it in you. You are educating the world in who you are. If you give guilt, the world will return guilt to you. If you give love, the world will remind you that you are love—even in the moments when you forget.
This is an extraordinary spiritual investment: you are sowing in others the image of who you truly are, so that they may return it to you when you most need it. You do this without speeches, without strategies—only with presence. For one who has felt the Love of God within cannot conceal it. He does not need to convince—only to radiate. And that radiance transforms your surroundings not through magic, but through resonance. This is how the world changes: when someone decides to remember who they are and is unafraid to show it.
Do you remember how often you have been told that your mission is to save the world, and that your function, assigned by God, is to be happy? The result of fulfilling your role impeccably is precisely the realization of the real world—for you, for your brothers, and for all living creatures. That is the goal of this Course; that is what you are learning here.
V This is the real world: the dream purified of all thought of fear and evil. It is the world that beholds you as a body that shelters the Son of God.
VI This beautiful paragraph—one of the most enchanting and luminous in thisCourse—perfectly summarizes its message. But notice that many Lessons devoted to the undoing of old habits and to mental training have had to pass before reaching the moment when it is fitting to urge you to abandon everything, even this veryCourse, and turn toward God without concern. It is the absolute surrender of the ego to the Creator of the universe. It is the way to reach God.
The formula is quite simple:
– Quiet your mind.
– Abandon every idea.
– Empty your mind.
– Cling to nothing.
– Retain nothing of the past.
– Forget everything.
– And go to God.
Or even simpler: forget your mind and follow your heart.
See where the problem lies: you have a mind possessed by an idea completely foreign to your true nature; an idea that has deceived you with a false perception of yourself and of everything. That is why it is essential that you stop believing in the dictates of that mind. You do not need them. To think you do is merely part of the deception. You are the Son of God, and you have nothing to worry about; your only task during this brief instant in which you believe you live in time is not to allow yourself to be deceived by the dictates of the ego. That is all.
But do not underestimate the absolute necessity of remaining alert to the ego. You created the ego; it receives its power and cunning from you, and you continually recreate it, for you must know that time itself is also your invention. As long as you believe you live in time, the ego is fully active. Yet this need not trouble you, for when you acknowledge your responsibility in having created it, you will have taken the reins of your mind and will merely await your Father’s rescue—which will not delay.
Never worry about anything. Worries are always, always of the ego. If at any moment the thought of your salvation troubles you, if you doubt that you are doing this Course correctly, if you fear that you have sinned or not loved enough, you must recognize that this too is of the ego, and withdraw at once from fear, guilt, and restlessness.
Focus only on being happy and on offering your happiness to others, as the Holy Spirit directs you. Everything else is unnecessary. Accept with joy and dignity the responsibilities you have assumed in this world; they are part of your path to God. And if at any time the illusion exceeds your ability to maintain peace, do what you can, forgive, forgive yourself, and move on.
You have already advanced far along your path, and your mental training will continue to provide you with more and more tools for facing difficult situations. The time will also come when you will have completed your learning and be fully prepared to work miracles and heal your brothers. Stop thinking about yourself and think of them, for they truly need you.
Remain in peace and be happy.
VII John 14:5 “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?’”
VIII Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
IX Your reality is proclaimed simply by being what you are. You need do nothing else. You must do nothing more. In fact, you must cease doing anything that does not correspond to your nature and your dignity.
X Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”