Category: Libro de Ejercicios

God’s Love surrounds me.

1. Father,

You are before me and behind me,

at my side,

wherever I stand,

and everywhere I go.^I

²You are in everything I behold,

in the sounds I hear,

and in every hand that reaches out to mine.^II

³In You, time disappears,

and space becomes a senseless thought.

⁴For what surrounds Your Son and keeps him safe is Love Itself.

⁵There is no other Source but Love,

and nothing that does not share Its Holiness,

nothing beyond Your one Creation,

and nothing lacking the Love that holds all things within Itself.

⁶Father,

Your Son is like You.

⁷Today we come to You in Your Name,

to rest in peace within Your everlasting Love.

2. My brothers, join with me today in this intent.

²This is the prayer of salvation.

³Shall we not unite in what will save the world, and us along with it?

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^I Psalm 139:5 “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me.”

Just as fish are unaware of the water in which they live, you too do not realize that you dwell in the Love of God. The sun illumines the planets that revolve around it, yet it is not aware that it is light. In the same way, you do not perceive reality, for perception functions only through differences and contrasts, while reality does not change—it simply is.

You are aware of what you lack or what you have in excess, but not of what is. The world you see is a story of supposed absences of love, and you have trained your eyes to notice those absences and instructed your mind to attend to them.

Let go of what does not exist and celebrate what is already there. Stop inventing stories and feel the Love of God within you. Be grateful for your own existence. That Love surrounds you, sustains you, and accompanies you always. Yet you will not experience it until you are willing to see it and to live it by sharing it. Then you will no longer need anyone to convince you—you will know it for yourself.

“The Love of God surrounds me” is not merely a poetic phrase; it is an experience. And the preparation for that experience is an act of will: the willingness to see it. Today you can choose to join that intention and say with all your heart: I want to see the Love of God in everything that surrounds me. That willingness alone is enough for you to begin perceiving it—in what you see, in what you hear, in those who accompany you.

Try it: decide to see the Love of God around you. That single decision will open your perception and show you that it has always been there, sustaining you.

^II Workbook Lesson 29 “God is in everything I see.”

Father, open my eyes to Your Love and help me remember that I am always safe in You.

My holy vision sees all things as pure.

1. Father,

Your Mind created all that is,

Your Spirit entered into it,

and Your Love gave it life.

²How then could I behold what You created as if it could be defiled?

³I do not want to perceive those dark and fearful images.

⁴I cannot prefer a madman’s dream

to all the beauty with which You blessed Creation,

to all its purity,

to all its joy,

and to its everlasting, peaceful home in You.

2. And while we still stand before the gates of Heaven, let us look on all we see with holy vision and through the eyes of Christ.^I

²Let every appearance seem pure to us, that we may pass it by in innocence, walking together to our Father’s house as brothers and the holy Sons of God.^II

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^I In truth, you see what you want to see. Though you may not yet believe it, it is the truth. And you do not believe it because you do not want to believe it. Your will shapes your perception far more than you imagine. First you desire something, then you see it, and finally you convince yourself that you believe in it because you have seen it—when, in fact, you saw it because you first wanted to see it.

You are responsible for everything you see, but you do not wish to assume that responsibility because you fear your own power. And in a way, you are right: you have reason to distrust the idea you hold of yourself, because it is false. You believe yourself guilty of a terrible crime, convincing yourself that there is something in you deserving of punishment. You have buried that guilt in your unconscious, but it remains there, expressing itself as mistrust of yourself, of others, and of God. And that is why you insist on privacy, on hiding with your sins, as if there were something that must not come to light.

Do you not see that all this is pure fantasy? You invented that original sin, and the guilty world you think you see is but the echo of that absurd belief. You are not guilty of anything, nor is the world. Forgive yourself and forgive everything, and you will discover that what appears outside is nothing but your own purity. Try it, and you will see.

The key lies in your will. You see what you want to see, and if you want to see purity, you will. It is an act of decision: you can focus on darkness or on light. You can train your mind to look in others only for what is good, however small it may seem, and relate only to that. Even if it is but a tiny spark, if you cling to it as to a thread of love, you will soon discover that other lights begin to kindle in that person—and in you as well.

That is the power of your mind: to light up the world. And with every relationship in which you choose to see purity, your vision becomes holier and more real. The world changes with you because you look upon it differently. This is not self-deception; it is the lucid choice of what you wish to see.

^II John 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

I choose to see purity, and purity will unfold before me.

 Let me not see differences today.

1. Father, You have one Son.

²And it is him I wish to behold today.

³He is Your only Creation.

⁴Why would I perceive a thousand forms in what remains one?

⁵Why would I give a thousand names

when one alone will do? ^I

⁶For Your Son must bear Your Name,

since You created him.

⁷Let me not see him as a stranger to his Father,

nor a stranger to myself.

⁸For he is part of me and I of him,

and both of us are part of You,

for You are our Source,

and we are forever joined in Your Love,

and forever are we the holy Son of God.

2. We, who are one, would recognize today the truth about ourselves.

²We would return home and rest in unity.

³For there lies peace, which cannot be sought nor found anywhere but there.^II

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^I The mechanism of illusion is change. To change is the idea that “what is” can cease to be and become something else. Ontologically, it is absurd, yet within the dream it seems possible. Change kills the present by turning it into the past and burying it in the grave of memory. Thus arises time: the belief that life is death, and that love—the pure joy of being—has no foundation.

Change and difference are the same idea. The word difference, from the Latin differentia—“quality that distinguishes between two or more things”—comes from differre, meaning “to carry apart into separation.” And space is nothing but the pretense that such separation can be measured. Separation, change, difference, time, and space are aspects of a single illusion—the great parody of the real.

And do not forget that illusion comes from the Latin verb illúdere, which means “to mock.” The mockery is you, deceiving yourself with what cannot be.

To cease seeing differences is to awaken, and to want to cease seeing them is already to want to awaken. You are the unalterable, that which never changes nor can change, and you know it because you have always been yourself. The only thing that has changed are your beliefs, and since they change, they are not true.

Today you are invited to begin with what is nearest: your brothers. Recognize them as one with you, and stop seeing differences among them. When you succeed, you will see that this same unity extends to everything you perceive—trees, mountains, stars, the whole world. The strategy is simple: begin with what is most familiar, and from there your mind will learn to undo the idea of separation in all its forms.

You do not yet need the mystical experience of total union. It is enough to take this first step: to look without differences and to recognize that there is no “other.” This is the training that leads to truth.

^II Psalm 34:14 “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.”

Today I remember that what is real does not change; therefore, my true reality neither changes nor can change.

I remain as God created me, no matter what the world or the voice of the ego in my holy mind may say.

I rest in that certainty, and there I find the Peace of God.

God is my refuge and my security.

1. I will identify with what I think provides me refuge and security.^I

²I will see myself where I believe my strength lies, and I will think I dwell within a fortress where I am safe and cannot be attacked.

³Let me not seek security in danger today, nor try to find my peace in murderous attack.

⁴I live in God.

⁵In Him I find my refuge and my strength.^II

⁶In Him lies my Identity.

⁷In Him dwells everlasting peace.

⁸And only there will I remember Who I truly am.

2. Let me not pursue idols.^III

²Today I would return home to You,

my Father.

³I choose to be as You created me,

and to see the Son You created as my Self.

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^I It is no coincidence that after having read what the body is, you are now offered something infinitely better: to remember that your safety is in God. The great difference is that this idea is strictly true, whereas the idea of being a body was nothing but a misunderstanding.

Your mind is still dulled by the dream and cannot think clearly. It doesn’t matter. You do not need to use the mind as you now understand it—you have other resources; use the heart. The mind, seduced by separation, dreams; the heart does not—it remains awake.

Try this simple exercise in discernment:

—When you think you are a body, do you feel limited, sad, or threatened? Then it is not true.

—When you think that God is your Father, that He created you in love and cares for you eternally, do you feel peace? Then that is the truth.

You may recall that many illusions once seemed to bring you comfort but later disappointed you. It was not your heart that deceived you, but your confusion in mistaking idols for God. The yearning behind it was legitimate. Now, however, we speak of your Creator, and your heart does not err.

Your mind needs guidance, for on its own it loses itself in fears and fantasies. Therefore, rely on Jesus and on the Holy Spirit. They remind you that your refuge is in God and that your safety is invulnerable.

Ultimately, the Course has a very simple purpose: to remove your fear. Jesus speaks to a mind that dreams, to someone who is having a nightmare. He cannot awaken you by force, for your will is sacred, but He can ease your fear. And as fear weakens, it will become much easier for you to choose to awaken.

This lesson, then, is a practical strategy for releasing fear: shift your identification from what seems fragile—the body—to what is invulnerable—God and your true Self.

^II Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

^III Hosea 4:12 “My people seek counsel from their wooden idols, and their staff informs them; for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God.”

God is my refuge and my safety.

When I rest in that idea, fear fades away.

Let me remember God created me.

1. Father,

I did not create myself,

though in my madness I believed I did.

²But as I am Your Thought,

I have not left my Source,

and I remain part of What created me.

³My Father,

Your Son calls on You today.

⁴Let me remember that You created me.^I

⁵Let me remember my Identity.

⁶And let my sinlessness rise again before the vision of Christ,

with which I would behold my brothers and myself today.

2. Now we remember our Source, and in It we finally find our true Identity.

²Holy we are indeed, for our Source knows not sin. ³And we, who are His Sons, are like each other and like Him.

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^I Today’s is the fourth consecutive reminder of the recent Lessons.

These days we have devoted ourselves to remembering:

• What my purpose is.

• That God is my goal.

• That sin does not exist.

• That God created me.

These four ideas do not ask you to believe in anything new, but to remember what you already know. It is not about adding more beliefs, but about releasing the false ones and returning to the memory of what you are. That remembrance is the thread that runs through these Lessons: Jesus insists again and again that you exercise your will to remember, for remembering is the way to salvation.

When you leave the body, you see clearly what is now hidden from you. But it is here, in this life, in time and space, that you can choose again. That is why this instant is so precious: now you can remember that God created you, and that your true Identity has never changed.

The body, in this context, is not an obstacle. It is a means for learning, a training ground where the mind is re-educated and restored to sanity. It is not necessary to hate the body or see it as an enemy; it is enough to understand that it is a dream, and that its function can be transformed. What was made to conceal Love can be used by the Holy Spirit to remind you that only Love is real.

Do not lose yourself in curiosities or divert your attention to unnecessary speculations. The Course has a clear and sufficient purpose: to train your mind to forgive, and thus to remember your Identity in God. That is your task, here and now. And it is more than enough.

Father, may I remember today that You created me, that my Identity remains intact in You, and that my sinlessness shines before the vision of Christ.

May I see my brothers and myself today as You created us—united, holy, and eternal.

Let me remember that sin does not exist.

1. Sin is the one thought that makes the goal of reaching God seem unattainable.^I

²What else could keep us from seeing the obvious, and make what is truly strange and distorted appear clearer than what is beyond all doubt?

³What else but sin leads us to attack?

⁴What else but sin is the source of guilt, demanding punishment and pain?

⁵And what else but sin is the source of fear, which darkens God’s Creation and attributes to Love the traits of fear and attack?

2. Father,

today I do not want to be insane.

²I do not want to fear Love,

nor do I want to seek refuge in its opposite.

³For Love can have no opposite.

⁴You are the Source of all that is.

⁵And all that is remains with You and in You.

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^I Here and now, everything you experience rests upon the idea you hold of yourself. The identity you believe yourself to be becomes the orbital center of your universe, and from it arise your perception and all your beliefs. The only thing that stands between that illusory idea and your true identity is sin.

The notion of sin is one of the mind’s most blasphemous inventions, for it assumes that you—or anyone—can be imperfect and act against the Will of God. But to think it possible to transgress the Creator’s Will is, at best, a deranged delusion. It is to dream of the impossible. You dream that you sin, that others sin against you, and that dream poisons your life. Sin is the lie that sustains your nightmares.

That is why forgiveness is the only way: to cease seeing sin in yourself or in others is to cease dreaming. Every time you look with guilt, you suffer. Every time you believe in sin, you punish yourself. That is mental masochism, the great illness of this world—to harm yourself and then deny it. It is like driving a finger into your own eye and crying out in pain, or like a child who insists on smelling the garbage and then complains of the stench. The problem is not the pain but the lack of honesty: not recognizing that it is you who cause it.

Sin corrects nothing—it aggravates errors. It does not prevent future sins—it multiplies them. It does not heal your mind—it sickens it. It does not lead you to life—it leads you to death. And yet, acknowledging yourself as responsible for your choices—even when you sometimes choose poorly—is a step of immense dignity. More dignified is the one who admits, “Yes, I have chosen this,” than he who deceives himself by pretending to be innocent while repeating the same story. Self-deception is the greatest obstacle. It is not about being “good” or “bad”; what matters is honesty, for from that springs the possibility of change.

Look beyond this life and this body: what matters is not the human biography, but the life of the soul in its long learning. Even those who seem to sink into terrible errors are generating a contrast that will sooner or later lead them to another choice. Time in this world is precious because here you can choose again; here you can change. After death there is vision, but no change, for there is no time. And that is why this instant is precious: here and now you have the opportunity to forgive and be free.

The final message is one of hope: all this has already happened. The return Home is inevitable, for what you are has never changed. Salvation is assured, though for now we entertain ourselves by dreaming. Sin is only a shadow that fades before the honesty of forgiveness. Acknowledge it, release it, and remember: you are perfect because you are the Child of Perfection.

Father, today I choose not to be insane. I do not wish to fear Love nor to seek refuge in its opposite.

Let my mind remember that sin does not exist, and that all I am remains with You and in You.

Let me remember that God is my goal.

1. All that is required is to train our minds to overlook every trivial and senseless aim, and remember that God is our goal.^I

²The memory of Him lies hidden within our minds.

³It has been concealed by our petty and meaningless pursuits, which give us nothing and are not even real.

⁴Shall we remain unaware of the radiance of God’s Grace, chasing instead the trinkets and toys of the world?

⁵God is our only goal and our only Love.

⁶We have no other purpose but to remember Him.

2. Our only goal is to walk the path that leads to You.

²We have no other aim but this.

³What could we desire but to remember You?

⁴What else could we be seeking but our Identity?

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^I Read this Lesson with great attention, and then rest. Read it again, and rest again. Do this several times, even over several days. Do not strive to believe or to understand anything—simply read and rest. Nothing more is required.

Recognize that right now you do not have God as your goal because you have forgotten Him. And notice that the Lesson does not ask you to make God your goal, but to remember that God is your goal. In truth, God is not a goal—God is your Reality. Yet while forgetfulness lasts, the practice is to remember: to train the mind to overlook all trivial and senseless aims, and to return, again and again, to that single purpose—to remember God.

His Memory lies hidden in your mind, veiled by petty, meaningless pursuits that bring you nothing and, moreover, are unreal. Will you remain unaware of the radiance of God’s Grace, chasing the toys and trinkets of the world in Its place? God is your only Goal and your only Love. There is no other purpose but to remember Him.

Forgiveness is the means: to forgive is to let pass, to withhold value from the lesser goals that compete for your attention—your brother’s guilt, your worries, any mental trifles. Thus the mind is simplified. And to purify means precisely that: to make it one, to restore to it the simplicity of a single will. Today choose one goal only, and focus your will upon it. Do not force anything: think of Him often, keep Him present in your life, and that is enough. Constancy, more than effort, opens the way to Remembrance.

This Lesson connects with the previous ones: God is my only goal today (W-256), Let me not forget my purpose (W-257). The thread is clear: forgiveness, purpose, remembrance. Mental training to choose again and to sustain that choice with gentleness and perseverance. Read and rest; release and remember; let pass and return to God.

Father, may I remember today that You are my Goal.

Remove from my mind all petty aims, and let Your Memory rise gently within me until only Your Love remains in my awareness.

Let me not forget my purpose.

1. If I forget what my goal is, I will live in confusion and uncertainty about my own identity; and so, my behavior will be conflicted.

²No one can pursue conflicting goals and succeed.^I

³All he does will be filled with deep distress and steeped in heavy depression.

⁴That is why today we are determined to remember what it is we truly want, so that we may align our thoughts and actions in a way that gives them meaning, and accomplish only what God would have us do.

2. Father,

forgiveness is the means You have appointed for our salvation.

²Let us not forget today that we can have no will but Yours.

³Therefore,

our purpose must also be Yours,

if we are to find the peace You have prepared for us.

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^I  The unification of purpose is the cornerstone upon which rests the mental training you have undertaken. To succeed in attaining a miracle-minded state—one capable of working miracles—it is essential that your mind focus on a single goal. And the goal of thisCourse is that you remember and embrace the purity that you are. Pure means only one. There is no greater danger to your holy mind than dispersion, for when the will is divided, it is weakened.

Focusing your mind on a single mission will inevitably lead you to your goal, for in truth, when your purpose is clear, the goal is already achieved. The essential condition of every spiritual path is honesty. Be honest with yourself, examine your mind, see clearly what your priorities are, and reorder them. Place the mission God has entrusted to you before all others. You need not reject or fight against them; simply relegate them to the background. They will fade away of themselves once they cease to receive your love and attention.

God has given you a very simple mission: to be happy. Your Father created you for that, and you can attain that happiness even here. But you will do so only if you make it your highest priority. Confusion arises from not knowing what happiness is. Therefore, it is always wise to remember: happiness is joy in the heart, peace and light in the mind, and the absolute certainty that such a state is eternal.

What could be more disconcerting than to have no purpose, to drift without direction? It is a state of anxiety and unrest. No one can pursue conflicting goals and succeed. Everything he does will be done with deep fatigue and discouragement. That is why today we resolve to remember what it is we truly want—and then go for it.

Jesus repeats it to us again and again: “What is it that you want, my brother?” That is the key question. Be honest, recognize your purpose, and devote yourself to it. In these last lessons we have seen how everything is connected: I want peace, I want to keep my mind fixed on God, I want always to remember my purpose. The will is involved in all of these. That is the great teaching: to use the will with clarity, not to let it drift, but to focus it on a single purpose.

Father, may I not forget my purpose today.

May my will be joined with Yours, that my heart may find peace and my mind rest in the joy of remembering You.

God is my only goal today.

1. The way to God is through forgiveness.

²There is no other way.^I

³If the mind had not given value to sin, what need would there be to find a path to where you already are?

⁴Who could harbor uncertainty?

⁵Who could fail to be sure of who he is?

⁶And who could remain asleep, lost in murky doubts about the holiness of him whom God created sinless?

⁷Here we can only dream.

⁸But we can dream that we have forgiven the one in whom all sin is impossible, and this is the dream we choose today.

⁹God is our goal, and forgiveness is the means by which our minds at last return to Him.

2. And so it is,

our Father,

we would come to You,

in the way You have appointed.

²We have no other desire but to hear Your Voice,

and find the path Your holy Word has shown.

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^I Dreams are not abandoned by dying, but by ceasing to believe in them. And what is forgiveness if not the end of belief in sin? Your enemy is not your brother who seems to attack you, nor the cruel world that seems to oppress you, nor even your body that seems to confine you. Your true enemy is your own beliefs: that obsessive tendency to think that your mind’s latest thought is true.

Stop deceiving yourself! Let go of the stories you tell and be at peace. Forgive your imaginings, let fantasies pass by, for you already know they are not true. Do not try to draw perverse pleasure from them, for salvation cannot be found in illusion, but only in what is real.

In the dream of the world, you, your brother, and everyone seem guilty. That is precisely the plot of the dream that captivates you and from which you draw a false pleasure in punishing and being punished. That is the problem: you do not clearly distinguish between pain and pleasure, and because you are confused, you confuse them. Forgiveness is the way out of that confusion. To forgive is to stop dreaming. And that is simple. Only you can make it difficult.

The way to God is through forgiveness. There is no other. For forgiveness is nothing more than letting illusions pass, ceasing to give them value. If the mind had never granted power to sin—to illusions—what need would there be to find a way to reach God, when you already dwell in Him?

The greatest obstacle that separates you from God is not the things of the world that may still remind you of His beauty—a sunrise, a flower, a starry sky—but the guilt you project upon your brother. That illusion of sin is the most powerful distraction, the one that most draws you away from the idea of God. To forgive the brother in whom sin is impossible is the greatest step toward your awakening.

God is my only goal today. This is the basic exercise of purification: to focus the mind upon a single purpose. To purify means to simplify—to choose only one thing, to set aside all other aims, and fix your gaze upon God. At first we work with the heavier illusions, those of guilt and condemnation. But later, even sensory experiences are left behind. The path leads us inward, where all grows still and God reveals His Presence.

Father, today I choose forgiveness as my only way to You.

May every illusion of sin dissolve in my mind, that I may remember You as my only goal and know myself in Your Love.

I choose to spend this day in perfect peace.

1. It does not seem possible to me today to choose only peace.^I

²Yet my God assures me that His Son is like Himself.

³Let me have faith today in Him Who says I am God’s Son.

⁴And let the peace I have decided to experience today bear witness to the truth of what He says.^II

⁵The Son of God can know no cares, and must abide forever in the peace of Heaven.

⁶In His Name I dedicate this day to finding what my Father wills for me, to accepting it as mine, and to giving it to all my Father’s Sons and to myself.

2. And this is how I choose to spend this day with You,

my Father.

²Your Son has not forgotten You.

³The peace You gave him still abides within his mind,

and it is there I choose to spend this day.

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^I In truth, everything I experience in the dream of the world depends on the idea I hold of myself. That is why the world I see is my own responsibility. And that idea I sustain about myself, in turn, depends on what I want to be—on what I wish to believe I am—for it is nothing but a belief.

My idea of myself is not my reality, which is unchanging. It is simply the expression of my will within the dream, the fantasy I choose to enact here. It is evident that I can use that fantasy to attack myself, to punish myself, and to suffer—but I can also choose peace and love. I am the master of my dream. I am free to dream whatever I wish, and I have the power to do so. I can believe in anything: in limits and helplessness, in being a victim of others or of circumstances—and so it will be. But the crucial question is: what do I want to do with my freedom, with my will, and with my power?

I choose to spend this day in perfect peace. And though it may not always seem possible to choose only peace, God assures me that His Son is as He is. Therefore, I can place my faith in the One who declares that I am His Son. The peace I decide to experience today bears witness to the truth of what He says. The Son of God cannot be troubled; he must abide forever in the peace of Heaven.

To choose peace is an act of will. It is the exercise of the capacity to decide what state of mind I wish to inhabit. Here, I do not have before me an embodied model to imitate, such as Jesus in person. That is why I need a mental model. The Course offers me this description of the Son of God and asks me to embody it as if I already were that. And in that as if lies the power: for when I evoke it—when I imitate those qualities—I discover that they were already within me, waiting to be used.

The mind is always telling stories—of sorrow, anger, fear, guilt—and the body responds with tears or rage as if they were real. I do this constantly, without realizing it. Then why not use that same capacity to evoke peace, strength, and love? There is nothing dishonest about it. The mental states of suffering are no more authentic than those of peace; all are illusory. If I can evoke a negative state and live it as real, I can also evoke peace and live it as true. This is the practice the Course proposes: a training of the mind, a Raja Yoga, an art of choosing thoughts and holding them throughout the day.

That is why today I commit myself to live as if I were already fully the Son of God—to embody peace even while my mind doubts—to exercise my freedom to choose again. For peace is not merely possible; it is already within me, waiting for my decision to live in it.

^II John 1:7–8 “He came as a witness, to bear witness to the Light, that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but came to bear witness to the Light.”

John 18:37 “Pilate said to Him, ‘Then You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’”

Father, today I choose peace as my only goal. Help me remember that my will is one with Yours, and that Your peace is also mine.