I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.
1. Today’s idea offers the only way out of fear that will ever succeed.
²Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless.
³But this cannot fail.
⁴Every thought you hold gives rise to some segment of the world you see.
⁵That is why we must work with your thoughts if your perception of the world is to be changed.
2. If the cause of the world you see is your attack thoughts, then you must learn that you do not want those thoughts.
²There is no point in lamenting the world.
³There is no point in trying to change it.
⁴The world cannot change because it is merely an effect.
⁵But what does make sense is to change your thoughts about the world.
⁶By doing this, you are changing the cause.
⁷And then the effect will change automatically.I
3. The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance.
²Every one of your perceptions of “external reality” is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts.
³One might well ask if this can truly be called seeing.
⁴Is not “fantasy” a more appropriate word for this process, and “hallucination” a more fitting term for its result? II
4. You see the world you made, but you do not see yourself as the maker of the images.III
²You cannot be saved from the world, but you can escape from its cause.IV
³This is what salvation means, for where is the world you see once its cause is gone?
⁴True Vision already holds in place what you will see instead of what you see now.
⁵Gentleness can light up your images and so transform them that you will love them, even though they were made from hate.
⁶For that transformation is not yours alone to make.V
5. Today’s idea introduces the notion that you are not trapped in the world you see, because its cause can be changed.VI
²This change requires, first, that you identify the cause, and then, that you let it go so it can be replaced.
³The first two steps in this process require your cooperation.
⁴The final one does not.VII
⁵For the images have already been replaced.
⁶You need only take the first two steps to be shown that this is so.VIII
6. Today’s idea requires five practice periods, as well as frequent application throughout the day as needed.
²Repeat the idea slowly and silently as you look around; then close your eyes and spend about a minute searching your mind for as many attack thoughts as you can find.
³As each one crosses your mind, say:
⁴I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about ____.
⁵Hold each thought in awareness as you say this, then let it go and move on to the next.
7. In your practice periods, be sure to include both the thoughts in which you attack and those in which you are attacked.
²The effects of both are exactly the same, because they are exactly the same.
³You do not yet recognize this, and you are only asked, for now, to treat them as the same in today’s practice.
⁴We are still in the stage of identifying the cause of the world you see.
⁵When you finally learn that thoughts of attacking and of being attacked are not different, you will be ready to let the cause go.
I This paragraph effectively summarizes the strategy of this Course for reversing your thought system:
First, you become aware that the world is an illusion.
Then, you recognize that the world you behold is a creation of your mind, and you take responsibility for it.
Finally, you relinquish seeing it that way by deciding to change its cause: your attack thoughts.
Then the change occurs. But it is no longer due to anything you do; it is something that is given to you. Your contribution to this process ends with the expression of your firm willingness to see a different world. The rest happens of itself.
II The world is not a “reality” in itself, but the projection of your own thoughts represented in the form of images. All the work you do with this Course consists of becoming aware of this truth and purifying your thoughts, removing from them every component of attack, so as to align them with the truth.
This change is reflected on the perceptual level as the vision of the “real world,” where benevolent thoughts give rise to a happy dream.
III “My thoughts are images I have made” (W-15). This is because you call “world” your thoughts about a world that, in fact, does not exist.
IV You can free yourself from the world of suffering you behold if you relinquish your attack thoughts, since they are the cause of the world you perceive.
V That is the function of the Holy Spirit; your only contribution to that transformation is to invite Him to perform His work… in your mind.
VI You are not trapped in the world you see, but in the one you interpret. Yet since that interpretation depends solely on you, you can change it at will.
VII These three steps are: First, becoming aware of your attack thoughts. Then, forgiving them, which means relinquishing them. Finally, allowing the Holy Spirit to show you that illusion that provoked your fear and anger, now reinterpreted in benevolent terms.
VIII These last lines begin to introduce a powerful idea that, in time, will acquire crucial importance: the notion that you are not the author of your own salvation; it is something accomplished for you.
This idea is fundamental because you—as ego—are incapable of truly changing by yourself, though you probably believe you can. That is why it could be said that this is a Course in not-doing. You will never be the agent of your salvation, since your individual mind is precisely the cause of the apparent separation.
To go deeper into this concept, you may review the first Section of Chapter 30: Rules for Decision.